Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does Political Socialization at Home Boost Adolescents’ Expectation of Higher Education? An Analysis of Eighth-Grade Students in 35 Countries

This study uses comparative data to examine the impact of political socialization in the home on adolescents’ expectations of university participation. The first part of the study is an international partial replication of design and findings of an earlier Norwegian study published in 2011. It examines, in socioculturally diverse countries, the association between political socialization at home and adolescents’ expectation of higher education, before and after control for educational achievement, gender, and family socioeconomic status (SES). The study uses publicly available data collected in 2009 by IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) from large nationally representative samples of eighth-grade students in 35 countries. The second part of the study examines differences among countries with regard to the strength of net association with strong home-based political socialization, using country-level indicators to explore macro conditions associated with the relationship’s relative strength.
Facilitation of transmitter release from rat sympathetic neurons via presynaptic P2Y1 receptors

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE P2Y1, P2Y2, P2Y4, P2Y12 and P2Y13 receptors for nucleotides have been reported to mediate presynaptic inhibition, but unequivocal evidence for facilitatory presynaptic P2Y receptors is not available. The search for such receptors was the purpose of this study.
A hybrid control method of an exoskeleton robot for intention-driven walking rehabilitation of stroke patients

When the robotic exoskeleton is used for gait rehabilitation, the robot should recognize the intention of patients before moving. We can consider recognition of intentions for the robot as recognition of a time (when the patient wants to move) and a behavior (what the patient wants to do). In this paper, the intent-detection method consisting of a gait phase recognizer and a gait pattern generator using neural networks is introduced. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified briefly using recorded gait patterns.
FPGA Implementation of Adaptive Cordic Algorithm using HDL Mr .

In the evaluation of a wide variety of elementary functions, the CORDIC algorithm plays a vital role. It is a simple and well-designed method, but it suffers from long latency. The Adaptive CORDIC Algorithm is able to reduce the number of iterations by more than 30 percent, but its implementation in hardware consumes a large increase in cycle time, to accommodate its complex angle selection function. This restricts its use to those cases where the angle of rotation is fixed and known in advance, so that the angle selection can be performed offline. This paper presents the FPGA implementation of adaptive CORDIC algorithm using HDL with the help of Xilinx14.7 and Quartus9.1 Softwares. The method also has the advantage that all the angle constants are found in parallel, in a single step, by testing only the initial rotation angle, without having to perform successive CORDIC iterations. This dynamic Angle Recoding method can be formulated to use “sections,” to limit the number of range Comparators needed, to a reasonable value. There is an increase in the number of adaptive CORDIC iterations needed, but this problem can be mitigated by using a buffer in conjunction with the method of sections.
The Effect of Central Exit Examinations on Student Achievement: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Timss Germany

This paper makes use of the regional variation in schooling legislation within the German secondary education system to estimate the causal effect of central exit examinations on student performance. We propose a difference-in-differences framework that exploits the quasi-experimental nature of the German TIMSS middle-school sample. The estimates show that students in federal states with central exit examinations clearly outperform students in other federal states, but that only part of the difference can be attributed to central exit examinations. Our results suggest that central examinations increase student achievement by about one third school year equivalent.
iCautz: A high-capacity and fault-tolerant intercontainer network

Modular datacenters (MDC) use shipping containers as large pluggable building blocks for mega-datacenter. Although it simplifies the construction and maintenance of mega-datacenters, interconnecting hundreds or even thousands of containers is still challenging. In this paper, we present a high cacpacity and fault-tolerant inter-container datacenter network based on Kautz graph, called iCautz. Based on iCautz's topology, we propose the single-path and fault-tolerant routing algorithm. The theoretical analysis and simulations show that the network performance is of iCautz as well as MDCube, and it behaves much better than MDCube on fault-tolerance. When 10% servers fail, iCautz's throughput drops by 14.3%. When 10% switches fail, its throughput drops by only 6.2%.
An efficient identification method for friction in single-DOF motion control systems

This brief describes a new identification method for friction in single-degree-of-freedom (DOF) motion control systems, in which the friction model is not necessarily linear in parameters. The proposed method works well with any measurement data of velocity and input control force, as long as the initial and final velocities are identical. Most importantly, the proposed method requires neither the information of acceleration nor the accurate information of mass for its implementation, in contrast with the previously known offline identification methods. This feature is due to the orthogonality property between acceleration and any function of velocity, which is a unique property of single-DOF motion control systems. The performance of the proposed method is demonstrated through some simulation and experimental results.
Deterministic cavity quantum electrodynamics with trapped ions

We have employed radio-frequency trapping to localize a single 40Ca+-ion in a high-finesse optical cavity. By means of laser Doppler cooling, the position spread of the ion's wavefunction along the cavity axis was reduced to 42 nm, a fraction of the resonance wavelength of ionized calcium (λ = 397 nm). By controlling the position of the ion in the optical field, continuous and completely deterministic coupling of ion and field was realized. The precise three-dimensional location of the ion in the cavity was measured by observing the fluorescent light emitted upon excitation in the cavity field. The single-ion system is ideally suited to implement cavity quantum electrodynamics under cw conditions. To this end we operate the cavity on the D3/2–P1/2 transition of 40Ca+ (λ = 866 nm). Applications include the controlled generation of single-photon pulses with high efficiency and two-ion quantum gates.
Secular Change in the Femur Diaphyseal Biomechanical Properties of American Whites

abstract Over the past two centuries there have been documented secular changes in stature, weight, body proportions, and skeletal maturation rates in the United States. These changes along with a more sedentary lifestyle are likely reflected in femur morphology. Here we examine secular changes in diaphyseal cross-sectional size, shape, area, robusticity, and rigidity at midshaft and subtrochanteric of the femur using 395 adult white females and males from the United States born between the 1850s and the 1970s. The effect of secular change was controlled for an age effect. We also examine the relationship between femur length (proxy for stature) and femur head diameter (proxy for body weight) on measurements of diaphyseal size and biomechanical properties. The femur morphology of Americans born in the twentieth century reflects the combination of changes in stature, body build, and activity levels. Both sexes show significant changes in femur midshaft shape due primarily to a decrease in the mediolateral diameter. There are no significant changes at subtrochanteric in size or biomechanical properties in either sex after controlling for age variation. The results suggest that the changes in femur midshaft shape are primarily associated with a decrease in activity. The stability of the subtrochanteric dimensions and femur anteroposterior diameter may reflect a combination of decreased activity with a corresponding increase in femur length (moment arm) and a decrease in body breadth.
Local relative transfer function for sound source localization

The relative transfer function (RTF), i.e. the ratio of acoustic transfer functions between two sensors, can be used for sound' source localization / beamforming based on a microphone array. The RTF is usually defined with respect to a unique reference sensor. Choosing the reference sensor may be a difficult task, especially for dynamic acoustic environment and setup. In this paper we propose to use a locally normalized RTF, in short local-RTF, as an acoustic feature to characterize the source direction. Local-RTF takes a neighbor sensor as the reference channel for a given sensor. The estimated local-RTF vector can thus avoid the bad effects of a noisy unique reference and have smaller estimation error than conventional RTF estimators. We propose two estimators for the local-RTF and concatenate the values across sensors and frequencies to form a high-dimensional vector which is utilized for source localization. Experiments with real-world signals show the interest of this approach.
Microultrasound characterisation of ex vivo porcine tissue for ultrasound capsule endoscopy

Gastrointestinal (GI) disease development and progression is often characterised by cellular and tissue architectural changes within the mucosa and sub-mucosa layers. Current clinical capsule endoscopy and other approaches are heavily reliant on optical techniques which cannot detect disease progression below the surface layer of the tissue. To enhance the ability of clinicians to detect cellular changes earlier and more confidently, both quantitative and qualitative microultrasound (μUS) techniques are investigated in healthy ex vivo porcine GI tissue. This work is based on the use of single-element, focussed μUS transducers made with micromoulded piezocomposite operating at around 48 MHz. To explore the possibility that μUS can detect Crohn’s disease and other inflammatory bowel diseases, ex vivo porcine small bowel tissue samples were cannulised and perfused with phosphate-buffered saline followed by various dilutions of polystyrene microspheres. Comparison with fluorescent imaging showed that the microspheres had infiltrated the microvasculature of the samples and that μUS was able to successfully detect this as a mimic of inflammation. Samples without microspheres were analysed using quantitative ultrasound to assess mechanical properties. Attenuation coefficients of 1.78 ± 0.66 dB/mm and 1.92 ± 0.77 dB/mm were obtained from reference samples which were surgically separated from the muscle layer. Six intact samples were segmented using a software algorithm and the acoustic impedance, Z, for varying tissue thicknesses, and backscattering coefficient, BSC, were calculated using the reference attenuation values and tabulated.
Continuous-time proportional-integral distributed optimisation for networked systems

In this paper, we explore the relationship between dual decomposition and the consensus-based method for distributed optimisation. The relationship is developed by examining the similarities between the two approaches and their relationship to gradient-based constrained optimisation. By formulating each algorithm in continuous-time, it is seen that both approaches use a gradient method for optimisation with one using a proportional control term and the other using an integral control term to drive the system to the constraint set. Therefore, a significant contribution of this paper is to combine these methods to develop a continuous-time proportional-integral distributed optimisation method. Furthermore, we establish convergence using Lyapunov stability techniques and utilising properties from the network structure of the multi-agent system.
Interest Rate Pass-Through in Central and Eastern Europe: Reborn from Ashes Merely to Pass Away?

In this study, we seek to better understand the interest rate pass-through in fi ve Central and Eastern European countries – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, the CEE-5 – and compare it with the pass-through in selected euro area countries – Austria, Germany and Spain. We fi nd that the pass-through is not operational for long-term market rates because of the unstable yield curve. We fi nd evidence that the pass-through from policy rates even transits through short-term market rates to long-term retail rates. Although nearly complete pass-through is detected for corporate lending rates in a majority of the CEE-5, pass-through estimates for several retail rates are generally lower than those reported in the literature, given the absence of cointegration between policy rates and long- or even short-term market rates. Although the pass-through is usually higher in the CEE-5 than in Austria and Germany, it has been declining over time in particular in Hungary and (with respect to lending rates) in Poland. The adoption of the euro seems to have slightly increased the pass-through in Spain and Austria but not in Germany.
Simulating commercial Java throughput workloads: a case study

We present our study on the simulation methodology for SPECjbb2000. The result shows that CPI can be practically used as a performance metric in place of throughput in the simulation. It is shown that SimPoint can successfully identify phases. With only a small number of clusters the user can reap most of the benefits of clustering analysis. A stationary main phase dominates the execution of the benchmark. We propose a method to accurately measure the CPI for the main phase with only one checkpoint. The error in the result can be quantified with a confidence interval.
Controlling Brownian motion applied to macroscopic group robots without mutual communication

We control macroscopic Brownian motion by group robots. To make an object track a required path, feedforward control input is found using our preceding model of continuum mechanical description. We use dynamical balance in continuum mechanics to calculate the feedforward input in each time. We see a phenomenon that the object does not move in a required direction in initial stage of Brownian motion. Due to the phenomenon, large feedback component added to the feedforward input is not avoided to make the object track a required path. We show that feedforward with feedback component works well. But appropriate prediction of a dead time must be incorporated into our continuum model.
Gene networks inference using dynamic Bayesian networks

This article deals with the identification of gene regulatory networks from experimental data using a statistical machine learning approach. A stochastic model of gene interactions capable of handling missing variables is proposed. It can be described as a dynamic Bayesian network particularly well suited to tackle the stochastic nature of gene regulation and gene expression measurement. Parameters of the model are learned through a penalized likelihood maximization implemented through an extended version of EM algorithm. Our approach is tested against experimental data relative to the S.O. S. DNA Repair network of the Escherichia coli bacterium. It appears to be able to extract the main regulations between the genes involved in this network. An added missing variable is found to model the main protein of the network. Good prediction abilities on unlearned data are observed. These first results are very promising: they show the power of the learning algorithm and the ability of the model to capture gene interactions.
Highly Selective Mercury Detection at Partially Oxidized Graphene/Poly(3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene):Poly(Styrenesulfonate) Nanocomposite Film-Modified Electrode

Partially oxidized graphene flakes (po-Gr) were obtained from graphite electrode by an electrochemical exfoliation method. As-produced po-Gr flakes were dispersed in water with the assistance of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). The po-Gr flakes and the po-Gr/PEDOT:PSS nanocomposite (po-Gr/PEDOT:PSS) were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In addition, we demonstrated the potential use of po-Gr/PEDOT:PSS electrode in electrochemical detection of mercury ions (Hg2+) in water samples. The presence of po-Gr sheets in PEDOT:PSS film greatly enhanced the electrochemical response for Hg2+. Cyclic voltammetry measurements showed a well-defined Hg2+ redox peaks with a cathodic peak at 0.23 V, and an anodic peak at 0.42 V. Using differential pulse stripping voltammetry, detection of Hg2+ was achieved in the range of 0.2 to 14 µM (R2 = 0.991), with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.19 µM for Hg2+. The electrode performed satisfactorily for sensitive and selective detection of Hg2+ in real samples, and the po-Gr/PEDOT:PSS film remains stable on the electrode surface for repeated use. Therefore, our method is potentially suitable for routine Hg2+ sensing in environmental water samples.
Adaptive extraction of highlights from a sport video based on excitement modeling

This paper addresses the challenge of automatically extracting the highlights from sports TV broadcasts. In particular, we are interested in finding a generic method of highlights extraction, which does not require the development of models for the events that are thought to be interpreted by the users as highlights. Instead, we search for highlights in those video segments that are expected to excite the users most. It is namely realistic to assume that a highlighting event induces a steady increase in a user's excitement, as compared to other, less interesting events. We mimic the expected variations in a user's excitement by observing the temporal behavior of selected audiovisual low-level features and the editing scheme of a video. Relations between this noncontent information and the evoked excitement are drawn partly from psychophysiological research and partly from analyzing the live-video directing practice. The expected variations in a user's excitement are represented by the excitement time curve, which is, subsequently, filtered in an adaptive way to extract the highlights in the prespecified total length and in view of the preferences regarding the highlights strength: extraction can namely be performed with variable sensitivity to capture few "strong" highlights or more "less strong" ones. We evaluate and discuss the performance of our method on the case study of soccer TV broadcasts.
and John E . Pressure Research and Public Education of the American Heart Association Council on High Blood

In experimental animals, as in humans, techniques for measuring blood pressure (BP) have improved considerably over the past decade. In this document, we present recommendations for measuring BP in experimental animals with the goal of helping investigators select optimal methods for BP monitoring in the research laboratory. The advantages and disadvantages of various BP measurement methods are discussed and specific recommendations are provided for selecting the optimal technique depending on the study objective. Although indirect techniques that permit only sporadic measurements of BP may be suitable for some purposes, methods for directly measuring BP are generally preferred because of their ability to monitor the highly dynamic nature of BP in a comprehensive fashion. Selection of the methods to be used should ultimately be guided by the study objectives to insure that the techniques chosen are appropriate for the experimental questions being explored. (Hypertension. 2005;45:299-310.)
The Scaffold Protein Homer1b/c Links Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 5 to Extracellular Signal-Regulated Protein Kinase Cascades in Neurons

Group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) increase cellular levels of inositol-1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3) and thereby trigger intracellular Ca2+ release. Also, group I mGluRs are organized with members of Homer scaffold proteins into multiprotein complexes involved in postreceptor signaling. In this study, we investigated the relative importance of the IP3/Ca2+ signaling and novel Homer proteins in group I mGluR-mediated activation of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) in cultured rat striatal neurons. We found that selective activation of mGluR5, but not mGluR1, increased ERK1/2 phosphorylation. Whereas the IP3/Ca2+ cascade transmits a small portion of signals from mGluR5 to ERK1/2, the member of Homer family Homer1b/c forms a central signaling pathway linking mGluR5 to ERK1/2 in a Ca2+-independent manner. This was demonstrated by the findings that the mGluR5-mediated ERK1/2 phosphorylation was mostly reduced by a cell-permeable Tat-fusion peptide that selectively disrupted the interaction of mGluR5 with the Homer1b/c and by small interfering RNAs that selectively knocked down cellular levels of Homer1b/c proteins. Furthermore, ERK1/2, when only coactivated by both IP3/Ca2+- and Homer1b/c-dependent pathways, showed the ability to phosphorylate two transcription factors, Elk-1 and cAMP response element-binding protein, and thereby facilitated c-Fos expression. Together, we have identified two coordinated signaling pathways (a conventional IP3/Ca2+ vs a novel Homer pathway) that differentially mediate the mGluR5-ERK coupling in neurons. Both the Ca2+-dependent and -independent pathways are corequired to activate ERK1/2 to a level sufficient to achieve the mGluR5-dependent synapse-to-nucleus communication imperative for the transcriptional regulation.
Deterring Wage Theft: Alt-Labor, State Politics, and the Policy Determinants of Minimum Wage Compliance

Can stronger state-level public policies help protect workers from “wage theft? ” In recent years, workers' rights groups have responded to policy drift and legislative inaction at the national level by launching campaigns to enact stronger penalties for wage and hour violations at the state level. Many of these campaigns have been legislatively successful and formative for the development of “alt-labor. ” But are such policies actually effective in deterring wage theft? Previous scholarship has long concluded that although stronger penalties should theoretically make a difference, in practice, they do not. But by confining the analysis to the admittedly weak national-level regulatory regime, the existing literature has eliminated all variation from the costs side of the equation and overlooked the rich variety of employment laws that exist at the state level. Using an original dataset of state laws, new estimates of minimum wage violations, and difference-in-differences analyses of a dozen recently enacted “wage-theft laws,” I find that stronger penalties can, in fact, serve as an effective deterrent against wage theft, but the structure of the policy matters a great deal, as does its enforcement. The implications for workers' rights and the changing shape of the labor movement are discussed in detail.