Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Leadership in Social Networks: Evidence from the Forty-Eighters in the Civil War

A growing theoretical literature emphasizes that prominent individuals (‘leaders’) can be instrumental in changing behaviors and beliefs inside social networks, and consequently play an important role in shaping the path of history. We test this assertion in the context of the U.S. Civil War. Our analysis is organized around a natural experiment: leaders of the failed German revolution of 1848-49 were expelled to the U.S., and became important anti-slavery campaigners who helped mobilize Union Army volunteers. We find that towns where Forty-Eighters settled in the 1850s increased their enlistments by ten men per hundred adult males over the course of the war, or roughly eighty percent. The Forty-Eighters’ influence worked at least in part through the local press and local social clubs. In the army, Forty-Eighter officers reduced their companies’ desertion rate. In the long run, towns where Forty-Eighters settled were more likely to form a local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
High Prevalence of Multiple Arterial Bed Lesions in Patients With Fibromuscular Dysplasia: The ARCADIA Registry (Assessment of Renal and Cervical Artery Dysplasia)

Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) commonly affects the renal and cervical arteries but has been described to affect other vascular beds as well. The prevalence of and clinical characteristics associated with multisite FMD (string-of-beds or focal stenoses affecting at least 2 vascular beds) are not known. In the prospective ARCADIA registry (Assessment of Renal and Cervical Artery Dysplasia), symptomatic patients with renal artery (RA) FMD underwent tomographic- or magnetic resonance-angiography from the aortic arch to the intracranial arteries and those with cervical FMD from the diaphragm to the pelvis. Of 469 patients (84.0% women), 225 (48.0%) had multisite FMD. In addition, 86 of 244 patients with single-site disease had dissections or aneurisms affecting other vascular beds, totaling 311 patients (66.3%) with lesions in >1 vascular bed. Among patients with a cerebrovascular presentation, the prevalence of RA lesions was higher in patients with than in those without hypertension (odds ratio, 3.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.99–6.15). Among patients with a renal presentation, the prevalence of cervical lesions was higher in patients with bilateral than in those with unilateral RA lesions (odds ratio, 1.9; 95% confidence interval, 0.99–3.57). In conclusion, FMD is a systemic arterial disease. At least 2 vascular beds were affected by dysplastic stenoses in 48.0% of cases and by dysplastic stenoses, aneurysms, and dissections in 66.1% of cases. RA imaging should be proposed to hypertensive patients with a cerebrovascular presentation. Cervical artery imaging should be considered in patients with a renal presentation and bilateral RA lesions. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: www.Clinicaltrials. gov. Unique identifier: NCT02884141.
An experimental cost index model for the analysis of service cost differentials of Iowa school districts

The purpose of the study was to construct a service cost index (SCI) for a sample of Iowa school districts and to use the SCI to examine the relationship school district size has to efficiency of educational services delivery. The SCI was based upon the computation of the cost of delivering a fixed market basket of services to a typical student in each of 44 randomly selected Iowa high schools. The Minimum Curriculum Requirements and Standards for Approved Schools, as outlined in the Code of Iowa, comprised the market basket of services. Instruction, administration, support, and transportation cost components comprised the SCI. Relationships were examined by Pearson’s product moment correlations between the SCI, component costs, average salary, pupil/teacher ratio, and school district enrollment. Significance of the correlation coefficients was tested at the . 01 level. Simple regression analysis and curvilinear regression analysis were used to further analyze the data. Both a regression line and second degree polynomial curve were fitted to the data. Study results indicated a significant negative relationship between the SCI and school district enrollment. Instructional, administrative, and transportation components were also negatively correlated with enrollment. A negative correlation was also obtained between pupil/teacher ratio and the SCI. A positive correlation between average teacher salary and the SCI was not found. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Consensus Development on Poll Date Issue: Critical Analysis of Headline Discourse of Pakistani Print Media

Election is a very sensitive issue of every country because as a result of it, new political administration is elected by the people to run various matters of the state. In the developed countries, this democratic process is processed in a natural rhythm on proper time. But in the developing countries like Pakistan where democracy is not well rooted, election process is always uncertain due to unavoidable circumstances. Keeping in view the context, this study explores the role of media in representation of poll date issue for general elections 2013. In this respect, the headlines of three widely distributed English newspapers (DAWN, The News International and The Nation) have been selected by using Simple random sampling technique. The duration of the study ranges between July 2012 and December 2012 that is very significant pre-election period. Fairclough’s (1989) three dimensional model of Critical Discourse Analysis has been used to analyse the obtained data in the form of headlines of English newspapers in order to investigate the phenomenon.
Obesity, Abdominal Obesity and Alzheimer Disease

Background/Aims: Obesity has a strong association with vascular and metabolic diseases, which have been linked with Alzheimer disease (AD). While recent studies have reported an association between mid-life obesity and dementia, the role of later-life obesity is less clear. This study investigated the relation between AD, obesity and abdominal obesity at later-life in a case-control study. Methods: Participants were 50 consecutive patients with probable AD from memory disorders clinics in Launceston, Australia, and Bristol, England, and 75 cognitively normal controls. Height and weight [from which body mass index (BMI) was calculated] and hip and waist circumferences (from which waist-hip ratio was calculated) were measured. Participants were classified according to their BMI as: underweight (BMI <20.0 kg/m2); normal weight (BMI 20.0–24.9 kg/m2); overweight (BMI 25–29.9 kg/m2), or obese (BMI ≧30 kg/m2). They were classified as abdominally obese if their waist-hip ratio was >0.9 (men) or >0.8 (women). Results: AD was associated with obesity [OR 9.5, 95% CI 2.4–37.3, p = 0.001], underweight (OR 5.4, CI 0.9–33.7, p = 0.07) and abdominal obesity (OR 2.5, CI 1.1–5.7, p = 0.027) using logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex and location. The inclusion of metabolic risk factors in the model increased the ORs for obesity (OR 12.6, CI 2.8–56.5, p = 0.001) and underweight (OR 7.9, CI 1.0–66.3, p = 0.056). Conclusion: AD may be associated with obesity, underweight and abdominal obesity at later life. Larger prospective studies are required to investigate this further.
Influence of textual hedging and framing variations on decision making choices pertaining to the climate change issue.

Better methods of communication that enhance, not hinder, the efficient and equitable transfer of information from expert sources to decision makers and the general citizenry are being sought by those who must make decisions regarding complex environmental issues such as climate change. The effects of variations in two textual components, hedging and framing, on subjects' choices during an environmental decision making situation were investigated. Subjects were provided with information in a text passage that conveyed both the benefits and detriments associated with a decision to either support or not support large-scale climate change reductions in the U.S. Measures of subjects' attitudes, beliefs and decision intentions were derived from the Theory of Reasoned Action. Other measures, ' derived from risk communication studies, included trust in the credibility of information, clarity of information, and prioritization of information use during decision making. Subjects who participated were undergraduate students enrolled at The Ohio State University. The 160 participants were randomly assigned one of either 16 treatments or a control. Subjects received the same factual information regarding the climate change issue. However, each experimental treatment represented a different combination of
A Contourlet-Based Embedded Image Coding Scheme on Low Bit-Rate

Contourlet transform (CT) is a new image representation method, which can efficiently represent contours and textures in images. However, CT is a kind of overcomplete transform with a redundancy factor of 4/3. If it is applied to image compression straightforwardly, the encoding bit-rate may increase to meet a given distortion. This fact baffles the coding community to develop CT-based image compression techniques with satisfactory performance. In this paper, we analyze the distribution of significant contourlet coefficients in different subbands and propose a new contourlet-based embedded image coding (CEIC) scheme on low bit-rate. The well-known wavelet-based embedded image coding (WEIC) algorithms such as EZW, SPIHT and SPECK can be easily integrated into the proposed scheme by constructing a virtual low frequency subband, modifying the coding framework of WEIC algorithms according to the structure of contourlet coefficients, and adopting a high-efficiency significant coefficient scanning scheme for CEIC scheme. The proposed CEIC scheme can provide an embedded bit-stream, which is desirable in heterogeneous networks. Our experiments demonstrate that the proposed scheme can achieve the better compression performance on low bit-rate. Furthermore, thanks to the contourlet adopted in the proposed scheme, more contours and textures in the coded images are preserved to ensure the superior subjective quality.
Candidate Selection, Overall Results, and Choosing the Right Operation

Lung transplantation offers potential improvement in survival and improved quality of life in patients with end-stage lung disease. International guidelines for candidate selection have been agreed upon to aid physicians and providers in selecting appropriate candidates for lung transplantation. In recent years the U.S. lung allocation score (LAS) has been developed and implemented in an attempt to both maximize utility of scarce donor organs and provide benefit to those in need of lung transplantation. This has helped in the process of offering transplantation to those with the greatest need and best chance of survival. Appropriate lung transplantation candidates should have life-threatening lung disease but remain otherwise healthy, because significant comorbidities may increase the risk of poor outcomes after transplantation limiting long-term survival. Improved outcomes are seen through early referrals to a specialized center and vigilant evaluation to select the most appropriate candidates for lung transplantation.
Improving co-presence with augmented visual communication cues for sharing experience through video conference

Video conferencing is becoming more widely used in areas other than face-to-face conversation, such as sharing real world experience with remote friends or family. In this paper we explore how adding augmented visual communication cues can improve the experience of sharing remote task space and collaborating together. We developed a prototype system that allows users to share live video view of their task space taken on a Head Mounted Display (HMD) or Handheld Display (HHD), and communicate through not only voice but also using augmented pointer or annotations drawn on the shared view. To explore the effect of having such an interface for remote collaboration, we conducted a user study comparing three video-conferencing conditions with different combination of communication cues: (1) voice only, (2) voice + pointer, and (3) voice + annotation. The participants used our remote collaboration system to share a parallel experience of puzzle solving in the user study, and we found that adding augmented visual cues significantly improved the sense of being together. The pointer was the most preferred additional cue by users for parallel experience, and there were different states of the users' behavior found in remote collaboration.
Modeling Writing Styles for Online Writer Identification: A Hierarchical Bayesian Approach

With the explosive growth of the tablet form factor and greater availability of pen-based direct input, writer identification in online environments is increasingly becoming critical for a variety of downstream applications such as intelligent and adaptive user environments, search, retrieval, indexing and digital forensics. Extant research has approached writer identification by using writing styles as a discriminative function between writers. In contrast, we model writing styles as a shared component of an individualâs handwriting. We develop a theoretical framework for this conceptualization and model this using a three level hierarchical Bayesian model (Latent Dirichlet Allocation). In this text-independent, unsupervised model each writerâs handwriting is modeled as a distribution over finite writing styles that are shared amongst writers. We test our model on a novel online/offline handwriting dataset IBM UB 1 which is being made available to the public. Our experiments show comparable results to current benchmarks and demonstrate the efficacy of explicitly modeling shared writing styles.
Green Tea Polyphenols Inhibit Colorectal Tumorigenesis in Azoxymethane-Treated F344 Rats

ABSTRACT In studying the cancer-preventive activities of green tea polyphenols, we previously demonstrated that dietary administration of polyphenon E (PPE) inhibited the formation of aberrant crypt foci (ACF) in the colon of azoxymethane (AOM)-treated F344 rats. Herein, we reported cancer-preventive activity of PPE using colorectal cancer as an end point. F344 rats were given two weekly injections of AOM, and then maintained on a 20% high-fat diet with or without 0.24% PPE for 34 wk. In the control group, 83% of rats developed colorectal tumors. Dietary PPE treatment significantly increased the plasma and colonic levels of tea polyphenols, and decreased tumor multiplicity and tumor size. Histological analysis indicated that PPE significantly decreased the incidence of adenocarcinoma, and the multiplicity of adenocarcinoma as well as the multiplicity of adenoma. PPE treatment significantly decreased plasma levels of proinflammatory eicosanoids, prostaglandin E2, and leukotriene B4. It also decreased β-catenin nuclear expression, induced apoptosis, and increased expression levels of RXRα, β, and γ in adenocarcinomas. In conclusion, our results convincingly demonstrated the inhibitory effects of orally administered PPE on colon carcinogenesis in AOM-treated rats and suggested possible biomarkers for the biological effects of green tea polyphenols.
Density profiles in sputtered molybdenum thin films and their effects on sodium diffusion in Cu(InxGa1−x)Se2 photovoltaics

Molybdenum (Mo) thin films were sputtered onto soda lime glass (SLG) substrates. The main variable in the deposition parameters, the argon (Ar) pressure p<inf>Ar</inf>, was varied in the range of 6–20 mTorr. Ex situ spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) was performed to find out that the dielectric functions ε of the Mo films were strongly dependent on p<inf>Ar</inf>, indicating a consistent and significant decrease in the Mo film density ρ<inf>Mo</inf> with increasing p<inf>Ar</inf>. This trend was confirmed by high-angle-annular-dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy. ε of Mo was then found to be correlated with secondary ion mass spectroscopy profiles of Sodium (Na) in the Cu(In<inf>x</inf>Ga<inf>1−x</inf>)Se<inf>2</inf> (CIGS) layer grown on top of Mo/SLG. Therefore, in situ optical diagnostics can be applied for process monitoring and optimization in the deposition of Mo for CIGS solar cells. Such capability is demonstrated with simulated optical transmission and reflectance of variously polarized incident light, using ε deduced from SE.
Immunochemical localization of the epitope for a monoclonal antibody that neutralizes human platelet-derived growth factor mitogenic activity

A monoclonal antibody (mAb), sis 1, generated against human c-sis-encoded platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) BB, was shown by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot (immunoblot) analysis to recognize human PDGF BB and human platelet PDGF AB but not the human PDGF AA. This monoclonal antibody potently inhibited PDGF receptor-binding and mitogenic activities of both human PDGF BB and PDGF AB but had no effect on PDGF AA. Finally, we demonstrated that an immunoaffinity-purified anti-c-sis peptide antibody (anti-V4) which also blocked binding of PDGF BB to its cognate receptor and competed with mAb sis 1 for binding to PDGF BB. All of these results suggest that mAb sis 1 recognizes an epitope of the c-sis gene product, PDGF BB, that spatially overlaps the V4 surface domain of PDGF BB, immunochemically localizing a region of PDGF BB critical for PDGF receptor binding and activation.
Modelling Cl− homeostasis and volume regulation of the cardiac cell

We aim at introducing a Cl− homeostasis to the cardiac ventricular cell model (Kyoto model), which includes the sarcomere shortening and the mitochondria oxidative phosphorylation. First, we examined mechanisms underlying the cell volume regulation in a simple model consisting of Na+/K+ pump, Na+–K+–2Cl− cotransporter 1 (NKCC1), cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, volume-regulated Cl− channel and background Na+, K+ and Cl− currents. The high intracellular Cl− concentration of approximately 30 mM was achieved by the balance between the secondary active transport via NKCC1 and passive currents. Simulating responses to Na+/K+ pump inhibition revealed the essential role of Na+/K+ pump in maintaining the cellular osmolarity through creating the negative membrane potential, which extrudes Cl− from a cell, confirming the previous model study in the skeletal muscle. In addition, this model well reproduced the experimental data such as the responses to hypotonic shock in the presence or absence of β-adrenergic stimulation. Finally, the volume regulation via Cl− homeostasis was successfully incorporated to the Kyoto model. The steady state was well established in the comprehensive cell model in respect to both the intracellular ion concentrations and the shape of the action potential, which are all in the physiological range. The source code of the model, which can reproduce every result, is available from http://www.sim-bio.org/.
Citizen Participation: Towards a Framework for Policy Assessment

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the academic debate on participatory urban development in two ways: first, by proposing a methodological framework though which urban policies can be assessed; and second, through a case study that applies the framework, delivering an analysis of the policy intentions of the current Berlin administration. Design/methodology/approach The first section of this paper introduces the case study, placing it in the political context in Berlin and suggesting an initial reading of the relevant documents that frame policy in participatory urban development today. The second section includes an attempt at disambiguation, a conceptual and an analytical framework, followed by a preliminary assessment of the Berlin participatory policy. The final part of this paper draws conclusions and sets a possible future research agenda. Findings Participation is present in several passages of the Contract and refers to different possible readings of the term: participation as institutional framework, participation as rights, participation in the public sphere and participation as practice. Originality/value This paper contributes to the disambiguation of the concept of “citizen participation”, proposes a framework through which to assess policy and offers an initial analysis of the policy intentions of the current Berlin administration.
Bias-Variance Decomposition for model selection

Bias-variance decomposition is known to be a powerful tool when explaining the success of learning methods. By now it’s common practice to analyze newly developed techniques in terms of their bias and variance. Apart from an academic context however, the bias-variance decomposition is rarely applied when data mining in a more practical context. In this article I argue that there are several reasons why this is the case. Those are most importantly the lack of a single definition, and the sensitivity of the technique to various factors besides the combination of learning method and dataset. The starting point of this thesis to investigate what the added value of the decomposition would be in the context of model selection. This is done by comparing results from the standard crossvalidation procedure with results from the bias-variance decomposition. The conclusion is that under specific circumstances model-selection based on the outcome of the bias-variance composition will lead to bad choices. This is mainly due to instability issues which increase when the overall error is close to zero. This makes the case that results from the bias-variance decomposition are first and foremost estimations of concepts which are hard to directly measure.
Impaired wound healing in factor XIII deficient mice

Summary Factor XIII that stabilizes fibrin clots in the final stages of blood coagulation also participates in wound healing,as can be inferred from a delay in wound repair in some patients with inherited FXIII deficiency. In this study we evaluated the effect of FXIII on wound healing in FXIII-deficient mice. Three groups of mice (n = 10) were employed: control group, FXIII-deficient group and FXIII-deficient group treated with FXIII concentrate. Excisional wounds were left unsutured and undressed, and mice were followed for eleven days. FXIII-deficient mice exhibited impaired wound healing as has been demonstrated by 15%, 27% and 27% decrease in percentage of wound closure on day 4, 8 and 11, respectively. On day 11 complete healing was observed in control (100% closure), 73.23% in FXIII-deficient and 90.06% in FXIII deficient/FXIII-treated groups (p = 0.007 by ANOVA and p = 0.001 by t-test between control and FXIII-deficient groups). Scoring system representing maturation rate of the wounds showed that the scores for the control,FXIII-deficient and FXIIIdeficient/ FXIII treated groups were 94.9 ± 4.7, 61.5 ± 14.5 and 94.5 ± 6.4, respectively (p < 0.001 by ANOVA). Histological analysis of the lesions performed at day 11 disclosed delayed reepithelization and necrotized fissure in FXIII-deficient mice and normal healing in FXIII-deficient/FXIII-treated mice. The findings of this study confirm that in FXIII-deficient mice wound healing is delayed and the cellular and tissue defects can be corrected by treatment with FXIII, providing evidence for the essential role of FXIII in wound repair and remodeling.