Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Becoming cosmopolitan women while negotiating structurally limited choices: The case of Korean migrant sex workers in Australia

International labor mobility holds the promise that one can become a cosmopolitan citizen of the world. But this interpretation of mobility rarely features in research and media focused on Asian women who travel and engage in sex work. In both arenas, the dominant narrative is that migrant sex workers are poor, the victims of sex trafficking, and pose a risk to public health. This narrative is laced with Orientalist overtones of the Asian sex worker as the alluringly exotic ‘other’, passive and particularly vulnerable, and in need of rescue. However, the interviews of 11 Korean women sex workers based in Sydney, Australia, challenge this narrative. These women engaged in a transnational quest to become cosmopolitan citizens of the world, albeit making logical choices from structurally limited options shaped by their multiple identities as women, sex workers, and Korean, and their relative precarious position in the Australian labor market. Their stories highlight how migration and work can be an agentic process of self-expression and self-actualization of identity. This identity has emerged against the backdrop of shifting meanings and practices of social reproduction in Korea, a country that has experienced a highly compressed transition from developing, to modern capitalist state. Theoretically, the article draws on post-colonial feminist theory to shed light into the conflicting views on migrant sex workers in existing research, by focusing on the women’s voices, which have been neglected or silenced.
Race, Ethnicity, and Linguistic Isolation as Determinants of Participation in Public Health Surveillance Surveys

Introduction To plan, implement, and evaluate programs designed to improve health conditions among racial and ethnic minority populations in the United States, public health officials and researchers require valid and reliable health surveillance data. Monitoring chronic disease and behavioral risk factors among such populations, however, is challenging. This study assesses the effects of race, ethnicity, and linguistic isolation on rates of participation in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Methods County-level data from the 2003 BRFSS survey and 2000 U.S. census were used to examine the effects of race, ethnicity, and linguistic isolation on six measures of survey participation (i.e., rates of resolution, screening, cooperation, response, language barriers, and refusal). Results Participation rates were significantly lower in counties with higher percentages of black people and people who did not speak English. Response rates decreased by 4.6% in counties with the highest concentration of black residents compared with counties with few black residents. Likewise, response rates decreased by approximately 7% in counties in which a larger percentage of the population spoke only Spanish or another Indo-European language compared with counties in which all residents spoke English. Conclusion The negative relationship between the percentage of Spanish-only–speaking households and participation rates is troubling given that the BRFSS is conducted in both Spanish and English. The findings also indicate that more needs to be done to improve participation among other minorities. Researchers are investigating several ways of addressing disparities in participation rates, such as using postsurvey adjustments, developing more culturally appropriate data-collection procedures, and offering surveys in multiple languages.
RECOMMENDER SYSTEM FOR AUDIO RECORDINGS

Nowadays the largest E-commerce or E-service websites offer millions of products for sale. A Recommender system is defined as software used by such websites for recommending product items to users according to the users’ tastes. In this project, we develop a recommender system for a private multimedia web service company. In particular, we devise three recommendation engines using different data filtering methods – named weighted-average, K-nearest neighbors, and item-based – which are based on collaborative filtering techniques, which work by recording user preferences on items and by anticipating the future likes and dislikes of users by comparing the records, for prediction of user preference. To acquire proper input data for the three engines, we retrieve data from database using three data collection techniques: active filtering, passive filtering, and item-based filtering. For experimental purpose we compare prediction accuracy of those recommendation engines with the results from each engine and additionally we evaluate the performance of weighted-average method using an empirical analysis approach – a methodology which was devised for verification of predictive accuracy.
Secure beamforming for max-min SINR in multi-cell SWIPT systems

We consider the downlink of a dense multicell network where each cell region is divided into two zones. The users nearby their serving base station (BS) in the inner zone implement simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT), thus harvest energy and decode information using the power splitting approach. Further, they try to eavesdrop the information intended for other users within the same cell. The users in the outer zone of each cell only implement information decoding. Our objective is to maximize the minimum user equipment (UE) signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) under constraints on the BS transmit power, minimum energy harvesting levels of near-by users, and maximum SINR of eavesdroppers in the presence of multi-cell interference. For such a highly non-convex problem, semidefinite relaxation (SDR) may even fail to locate a feasible solution. We propose two methods to address such a difficult problem. In the spectral optimization, we express the rank-one constraints as a single reverse convex nonsmooth constraint and incorporate it into the optimization objective. In the difference-of-convex-functions iteration method, we directly solve for the beamforming vectors via quadratic programming (QP), avoiding the matrix rank constraints. In each iteration of the proposed algorithms, we only solve one simple convex semidefinite program (SDP) or QP. Our simulation results confirm that the proposed algorithms converge quickly after a few iterations. More importantly, our algorithms yield the performance that is very close to the theoretical bound given by SDP relaxation with comparable computational complexity.
Can Treadmill Perturbations Evoke Stretch Reflexes in the Calf Muscles?

Disinhibition of reflexes is a problem amongst spastic patients, for it limits a smooth and efficient execution of motor functions during gait. Treadmill belt accelerations may potentially be used to measure reflexes during walking, i.e. by dorsal flexing the ankle and stretching the calf muscles, while decelerations show the modulation of reflexes during a reduction of sensory feedback. The aim of the current study was to examine if belt accelerations and decelerations of different intensities applied during the stance phase of treadmill walking can evoke reflexes in the gastrocnemius, soleus and tibialis anterior in healthy subjects. Muscle electromyography and joint kinematics were measured in 10 subjects. To determine whether stretch reflexes occurred, we assessed modelled musculo-tendon length and stretch velocity, the amount of muscle activity, as well as the incidence of bursts or depressions in muscle activity with their time delays, and co-contraction between agonist and antagonist muscle. Although the effect on the ankle angle was small with 2.8±1.0°, the perturbations caused clear changes in muscle length and stretch velocity relative to unperturbed walking. Stretched muscles showed an increasing incidence of bursts in muscle activity, which occurred after a reasonable electrophysiological time delay (163–191 ms). Their amplitude was related to the muscle stretch velocity and not related to co-contraction of the antagonist muscle. These effects increased with perturbation intensity. Shortened muscles showed opposite effects, with a depression in muscle activity of the calf muscles. The perturbations only slightly affected the spatio-temporal parameters, indicating that normal walking was retained. Thus, our findings showed that treadmill perturbations can evoke reflexes in the calf muscles and tibialis anterior. This comprehensive study could form the basis for clinical implementation of treadmill perturbations to functionally measure reflexes during treadmill-based clinical gait analysis.
Microstrip patch antenna for RFID applications

The microstrip patch antenna is a popular printed resonant antenna for narrow-band microwave wireless link applications such as radio frequency identification (RFID) systems that require semi-hemispherical coverage. In this paper, a 865 MHz microstrip patch antenna fed by a microstrip line designed on a substrate is considerably studied and thoroughly analyzed. The antenna has been designed using the 3D High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS). The initial design provides a gain of 4.2 dBi, while the final optimized design achieved a total antenna gain of 5.6 dBi and a return loss or reflection coefficient (S11) of −35dB at 865 MHz for 116 mm patch length. Modeling and optimization of the presented microstrip patch antenna has produced results that are suitable for RFID applications.
Story boundary detection in large broadcast news video archives: techniques, experience and trends

The segmentation of news video into story units is an important step towards effective processing and management of large news video archives. In the story segmentation task in TRECVID 2003, a wide variety of techniques were employed by many research groups to segment over 120-hour of news video. The techniques employed range from simple anchor person detector to soisticated machine learning models based on HMM and Maximum Entropy (ME) approaches. The general results indicate that the judicious use of multi-modality features coupled with rigorous machine learning models could produce effective solutions. This paper presents the algorithms and experience learned in TRECVID evaluations. It also points the way towards the development of scalable technology to process large news video corpuses.
Influence of active nuclear transport on caspase-3 localization and apoptotic chromatin changes

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the following people Prof. Dr. A. Wendel for giving me the opportunity to perform the research for my PhD thesis in his group. His interest in my work, support and his dedication to the Graduiertenkolleg " Biomedical Drug Research " are highly valued. Being accepted as a member of the Graduiertenkolleg was a great honor. The membership not only provided a platform for critical discussion of the project with the other members and scientists, but also offered the opportunity to broaden my horizon beyond the scientific level by the participation in diverse practical courses. Dr. T. Meergans for supervising my project. His insightful comments and input, broad knowledge and enthusiasm always helped me to stay on track throughout this research project. Additionally, I would like to thank him for devoting his time to the proofreading of this thesis. into his lab and Dr. E. May for providing valuable technical assistance in matters of microinjection and microscopy methodology. Without their kind cooperation, this work would not have been possible. PD Dr. W. Albig (University of Göttingen) for providing valuable assistance, support and accepting the assignment as external examiner of my thesis. All the present and former members of the chairs " Biochemical Pharmacology " and " Molecular Toxicology " for their individual contributions to the inspiring atmosphere and excellent working conditions by providing ideas, comments, solutions and practical help. The excellent technical support by Anne Hildebrandt is greatly appreciated. Katie Hartman for adding the finishing touches to this manuscript regarding the subtleties of the English language. Michael Walliser for making these three years a pleasure rather than mere work. Georg Odenthal for always standing at my side and being there when it counted most. This work is dedicated to my parents, grandmother and the memory of my grandfather for unconditionally loving, supporting and believing in me.
Pi pi scattering lengths at O(p^6): resonance estimates

In a previous paper, some deviations were found in the O(p^6) low-energy constants that contribute to the pi pi-scattering lengths. This work completes the study of all the relevant couplings (r_1, . r_6, r_S2). We also perform a reanalysis of the hadronical inputs used for the estimation (resonance masses, widths.), checking the impact of the input uncertainties on the determinations of the chiral couplings and the scattering lengths a^I_J. A good agreement is found with respect to former works, though our detailed analysis produces a more solid estimate of these couplings and slightly larger errors. The effect in the final values of the a^I_J is negligible after combining them with the other uncertainties, being the previous scattering length determinations sound and reliable. Nevertheless, the uncertainties derived here for the O(p^6) contributions to the scattering lengths point out the limitation on further improvements unless the precision of the O(p^6) low-energy couplings is properly increased.
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Promotes Assembly of the p130Cas Interactome to Drive Endothelial Chemotactic Signaling and Angiogenesis*

p130Cas is a polyvalent adapter protein essential for cardiovascular development, and with a key role in cell movement. In order to identify the pathways by which p130Cas exerts its biological functions in endothelial cells we mapped the p130Cas interactome and its dynamic changes in response to VEGF using high-resolution mass spectrometry and reconstruction of protein interaction (PPI) networks with the aid of multiple PPI databases. VEGF enriched the p130Cas interactome in proteins involved in actin cytoskeletal dynamics and cell movement, including actin-binding proteins, small GTPases and regulators or binders of GTPases. Detailed studies showed that p130Cas association of the GTPase-binding scaffold protein, IQGAP1, plays a key role in VEGF chemotactic signaling, endothelial polarization, VEGF-induced cell migration, and endothelial tube formation. These findings indicate a cardinal role for assembly of the p130Cas interactome in mediating the cell migratory response to VEGF in angiogenesis, and provide a basis for further studies of p130Cas in cell movement.
Increased expression of importin13 in endometriosis and endometrial carcinoma

Summary Background Importin13 (IPO13) is a novel potential marker of corneal epithelial progenitor cells. We investigated the expression and localization of IPO13 in endometrial, endometriotic and endometrial carcinoma tissue. Material/Methods IPO13 expression in endometrial, endometriotic and endometrial carcinoma tissue was examined by immunohistochemistry, qPCR and Western blot. Results Immunohistochemistry studies showed that IPO13 protein was expressed mainly in cytoplasm of glandular epithelial cell and stromal cells. The rate of importin13-positive cells in proliferative phase endometrium was higher (by about 6-fold) than that in secretory endometrium (P<0.05) and the rate of importin13-positive cells in endometriosis and endometrial carcinoma was higher than that in normal secretory phase endometrial tissues (by about 4- and 9-fold, respectively). Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed co-localization of IPO13 with CD34, CD45, c-kit, telomerase, CD90 and CD146. QPCR revealed significantly increased IPO13 mRNA in endometriosis and endometrial carcinoma versus secretory phase endometrium (by about 2- and 10-fold, respectively). Western blot analysis showed that IPO13 protein is enhanced in endometriosis and endometrial carcinoma versus secretory phase endometrium (p<0.05). Conclusions These results demonstrate an increased expression of IPO13 in endometriosis and endometrial carcinoma, which could be involved in the pathogenesis of endometriosis and endometrial carcinoma; IPO13 can serve as an endometrial progenitor/stem cell marker.
Studies on selecting partners of networked manufacturing based on ACO

The Microhabitat Ant Colony Optimization (MACO) algorithm is built up, which uses experience information and heuristic information with time parameters when positive feeds back. MACO combines Microhabitat Information Difference when local being optimized, without running into the precocity of Genetic Algorithms and the stagnation of the basic Ant Colony Optimization. The problem about selecting partners of the networked manufacturing enterprises dynamic alliance being the multi-objective optimizing differs from Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). The target function of optimizing selecting is created. The problem of multi-objective optimizing about the selecting partners is solved with MACO, and the optimized answer is achieved.
Deconstructing Dynamic Symbolic Execution

Dynamic symbolic execution (DSE) is a well-known technique for automatically generating tests to achieve higher levels of coverage in a program. Two keys ideas of DSE are to: (1) seed symbolic execution by executing a program on an initial input; (2) using concrete values from the program execution in place of symbolic expressions whenever symbolic reasoning is hard or not desired. We describe DSE for a simple core language and then present a minimalist implementation of DSE for Python (in Python) that follows this basic recipe. The code is available at https://www.github. com/thomasjball/PyExZ3/ (tagged “v1.0”) and has been designed to make it easy to experiment with and extend.
Diagnostic Yield and Safety of Endoscopic Ultrasound Guided Fine Needle Aspiration of Central Mediastinal Lung Masses

Background and Aims. EUS-FNA is an accurate and safe technique to biopsy mediastinal lymph nodes. However, there are few data pertaining to the role of EUS-FNA to biopsy central lung masses. The aim of the study was to assess the diagnostic yield and safety of EUS-FNA of indeterminate central mediastinal lung masses. Methods. Design: Retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database; noncomparative. Setting: Tertiary referral center. From 10/2004 to 12/2010, all patients with a lung mass located within proximity to the esophagus were referred for EUS-FNA. Main Outcome Measurement: EUS-FNA diagnostic accuracy and safety. Results. 73 consecutive patients were included. EUS allowed detection in 62 (85%) patients with lack of visualization prohibiting FNA in 11 patients. Among sampled lesions, one patient (1/62 = 1.6%) had a benign lung mass (hamartoma), while the remaining 61 patients (61/62 = 98.4%) had a malignant mass (primary lung cancer: 55/61 = 90%; lung metastasis: 6/61 = 10%). The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of EUS-FNA were 96.7%, 100%, and 96.7%, respectively. The sensitivity was 80.8% when considering nonvisualized masses. One patient developed a pneumothorax (1/62 = 1.6%). Conclusions. EUS-FNA appears to be an accurate and safe technique for tissue diagnosis of central mediastinal lung masses.
Free markets and fettered consumers

Are consumers sufficiently self-interested and self-reliant so that privatized markets deliver the efficiency and welfare gains they promise? Why are consumers uncomfortable in markets, and in some case sufficiently opposed to market solutions to prevent their implementation? What can be done to prepare consumers so that they function satisfactorily in markets, and understand the advantages of market-based resource allocation? This paper examines the foundations of consumer behavior and attitudes in markets, and proposes a program of scientific research to determine how consumers cope in privatized markets, and the implications for market design of the limits of self-reliance.
Predictors of Stress and Coping among Nursing Students in the College of Nursing at University of Hail, Saudi Arabia

Background: Faced with a multiple roles from the demands of classroom and clinical area, nursing students are predisposed to stressful experience. As panacea thereof, an implementation of applicable coping intermediations to assist in the management of stress in nursing students is a pressing need. Methods: This research employed a cross-sectional analytical design using regression analysis in probing the association of the demographic variables affecting the perceived stress and coping among nursing students in the north-western region of Saudi Arabia. There were 200 nursing students (38% response rate) who participated in the study. The researcher used the Perceived Stress Scale by Cohen and COPE inventory by Carver. Results: The data suggests that majority of the respondents (61%; n=200) perceived a moderate amount of stress (20.52+7.59) as nursing students. In response to stress, the Saudi nursing students utilized emotionfocused coping strategy in the context of religious practices (3.53+0.31). Regression analysis, on the association of demographic variables to perceived stress, identified that the female nursing students (60%; n=200) have heightened perception of stress (p=.000; r2=.136; Coefficient=3.633). Meanwhile, in terms of the demographic variables to coping, results revealed that married (74.5%; n=200) students are more likely to cope negatively in response to stress (p=.025; r2=.061; B = -8.324), together with students belonging to the regular program (73.5%; n=200) with poor coping responses as well (p=.015; r2=.061; B = -16.160). Conclusion: Female gender can have an influence with the perceived stress of the nursing students. Moreover, married marital status and regular nursing program may have a high probability of affecting the coping mechanism of the nursing students negatively. To validate the conclusion, other factors such as clinical competence, selfesteem, time management abilities, family finances and quality of student life maybe sources of stress and can be considered in further assessing coping responses to stress in later studies. Further studies are recommended on other branches of education such as engineering, education and arts to evaluate similarity or contrast of results. It is important to explore the effect of stress on students and thoroughly assess their capacity in responding to stress. Stress management activities are a must to help achieve positive coping behaviors among nursing students.
Agonistic Dysfunction on Facebook in Zimbabwe: A Discourse Ethics Perspective

Abstract The problem of communication as a function of democracy has occupied research in the social sciences for several decades now. It has been particularly central to Habermas’s conceptualisation of the public sphere, deliberative democracy and discourse ethics, criticisms laid against his emphasis on rational argumentation notwithstanding. Although it is widely accepted that communication is a key element to citizen participation in public processes and the negotiation of social conflict, there have also been misgivings about the efficacy of offline mainstream media in undergirding these processes. But the advent of digital media, and by extension social media, has breathed life into optimistic views about communication’s potential to enhance democracy and facilitate inclusive discussion, despite some criticisms. This paper examines the dimensions of these binaries in a post-genocide context. It uses thematic and frame analysis to examine social interaction between people from the Shona and Ndebele ethno-linguistic groups on Facebook in Zimbabwe, against the background of the Gukurahundi genocide. It argues that given the emotional investment in contexts of unresolved traumatic experiences such as genocide, and the high degree of “rage” associated with such conditions, Habermas’s discourse ethics provides a useful framework for guiding online discursive encounters between conflicting citizens.