Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Digital era local government in England : service reform and the Internet

digital era local government in england service reform and the internet tom nicholls green templeton college university of oxford Local governments have been developing online services, aiming to better serve the public and reduce administrative costs. However, the impact of this work, and the links between governments’ online and offline activities, remain uncertain. Using a new full-population dataset of the UK government web, this thesis directly analyses the structure and content of government online. It argues that recent digital-centric public administration theories, typified by the Digital Era Governance quasi-paradigm, are not empirically supported by the UK local government experience. Instead, it argues for a positive but critical attitude to the value of technology in public administration. New methods are developed for full-text empirical analysis of government web crawl data and the use of machine learning approaches for adding attributes to full-population data.Webometric and content analyses of the . gov.uk web are conducted, together with a time-series panel regression of English local government cost, service quality, satisfaction, and an expert assessment of web provision. English local government online is highly heterogeneous and there is remarkably little intrinsic structure to the . gov.uk web. Geography is weakly visible in online government structures, but there is little evidence that online structures closely reflect the offline activities of government. Empirically, English local governments’ web development levels are found not to be associated with improvement in the cost of, quality of, or satisfaction with council services, challenging the merit of online approaches to service improvement. Overall, the importance of digital-centric approaches to local government service improvement is challenged. A more nuanced theoretical approach to online service delivery is advocated, which discards utopian enthusiasm and focuses on concrete service improvements. It is recommended that full-population quantitative analyses be used more broadly in political science, with awareness of both the opportunities and the challenges associated with them.
Aneusomy of chromosomes 7 and 17 detected by fish in prostate cancer and the effects of selection in vitro

Twenty prostate tumor specimens, obtained from radical prostatectomies, and two lymph node metastases were examined by classical and molecular cytogenetic methods. A sample from each tumor was analyzed histologically and used for touch preparations. Adjacent samples were used for preparation of single‐cell suspensions before cell culture (DirFISH) and for establishing cell cultures, which were subsequently harvested for classical G‐banding analysis. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was performed on touch preparations, DirFISH, and cells obtained from tissue culture. Biotinylated pericentromeric probes for chromosomes 7 and 17, in addition to a digoxigenin‐labeled X‐chromosome probe, were used in a dual‐color FISH assay. The results indicated that, in uncultured tumor cells, chromosome 17 was lost in 55% of specimens, chromosome 7 was gained in 16% of specimens, and 9% of specimens showed large tetraploid populations. After cell culture, 23% of specimens showed loss of chromosome 17, no specimens showed gain of chromosome 7, and no tetraploid populations were present. This study suggests that loss of chromosome 17 may play an important role in the development of prostate cancer, and that genetic changes observed after selection in vitro may not represent those in the original tumor.
Imaging of traumatic brain injury: a review of the recent medical literature.

OBJECTIVE This article provides a summary of some of the important articles published during the period 2005-2009 on the topic of imaging findings in head trauma. The intent is to provide the latest information regarding the diagnosis of important abnormalities and new insights into their clinical significance. CONCLUSION With the growing realization that even mild head injury can lead to various types of neurocognitive deficits, medical imaging of brain injury has assumed even greater importance than previously.
A Novel In Situ Assay for the Identification and Characterization of Soluble Nuclear Mobility Factors

The development of green fluorescent protein (GFP) technology combined with live cell microscopy techniques have revealed the dynamic properties of GFP-tagged proteins in the nucleus. The mobility of a GFP-tagged protein can be assessed using a quantitative photobleaching technique, fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) analysis. FRAP experiments demonstrate that many nuclear proteins are highly mobile within the nucleus. However, the factors within the nucleus that regulate this mobility are not known. This is partly due to an absence of protocols that can be used to identify such nuclear mobility factors. We developed a novel in situ assay that combines a biochemical permeabilization and extraction procedure with a quantitative FRAP technique, a method we used to uncover a new functional role for molecular chaperones in the nuclear mobility of steroid receptors. This assay can readily be adapted to identify and characterize other nuclear mobility factors.
Depression and its 6-month course in untreated hemodialysis patients: A preliminary prospective follow-up study in turkey

The major goal of this study is to assess the frequency of psychiatric disorders in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients, who were on hemodialysis (HD) treatment in Turkey. Additionally, it aims to determine whether depression, anxiety, and functional and occupational levels of patients who did not receive any psychiatric treatments change at the end of 6 months. We conducted Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV, Clinical Version on 50 HD patients, and 16 (32%) fulfilled the criteria for a psychiatric disorder. Depressive disorder, not otherwise specified, was observed in 12 (24%) patients. Adjustment disorder with depressed mood and dysthymic disorder were observed in 8% of our population. Fourteen patients were followed up for 6 months. All patients were assessed with Hamilton Depression (HDRS), Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS), and Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) at baseline and at 6 months. The comparisons of baseline and 6 months HDRS, HARS, and GAF scale scores did not reveal any statistically significant differences in 14 depressed patients. The level of depression, anxiety, and functional and occupational impairment did not remit spontaneously in our untreated depressed HD patients. We believe that further studies regarding categorization, prognosis, and treatment of these patients are needed to better understand what to do when we encounter depressive ESRD patients.
Teaching Reform of International Students in China: From the Perspective of Promoting Political Ideology of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics

The curriculum “Globalization and World Politics” is guided by the 2015-2017 Action Plan for International Students and aims at cultivating talents with Chinese spirits, international vision and abilities of international competition and cooperation. The curriculum intends to conduct teaching reform for international students in China and incorporates materials with political ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics into textbooks which could embody Chinese context. In addition, case teaching method and immersive teaching method are applied to stimulate students’ initiatives and enthusiasm to optimize the course teaching methodology. The results we obtained demonstrate that the successful lessons of teaching reform have sublimated international students’ Chinese spirits and provided resources support for the development of China’s diplomacy and the “going global” strategy. Finally, the research puts forward four suggestions to further implement the teaching reform. Keywords—international students in China; political ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics; textbook reform; case teaching method; immersive teaching method
Graphical analysis of 6-fluoro-L-dopa trapping: effect of inhibition of catechol-O-methyltransferase.

UNLABELLED Graphical methods to analyze tracer time-course data allow reliable quantitation of the rate of incorporation of tracer from plasma into a "trapped" kinetic component, even when the details of the kinetic model are unknown. Applications of the method over long time periods often expose the slow reversibility of the trapping process. In the extended graphical method, both trapping rate and a presumed first-order loss rate constant are estimated simultaneously from the time-course data. METHODS We applied the extended graphical method to 6-fluoro-L-dopa (6-FD), simultaneously estimating the rate of uptake (Ki) and the rate constant for loss from the trapped component (K(loss)) in a single fitting procedure. We applied this approach to study the effects of two catechol-O-methyl-transferase inhibitors on the kinetics of 6-FD in cynomolgus monkeys. RESULTS Inhibition of peripheral O-methylation with either inhibitor, confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography analysis of labeled compounds in arterial plasma, had no significant effect on Ki, in agreement with previously reported studies. In contrast, tolcapone, a catechol-O-methyl-transferase inhibitor, having central effects in addition to peripheral effects at the dosage used, decreased K(loss) by 40% from control values (p < 0.002), whereas nitecapone, which has no known central activity, had no significant effect. CONCLUSION This method provides insight into the neurochemical basis for the kinetic behavior of 6-FD in both health and disease and may be used to define the action of centrally active drugs that influence the metabolism of dopamine.
Notice of RetractionUncertainty analysis of turbine blade fatigue life distribution based on Bayesian inference

This paper investigated the application of Bayes' theorem in life distribution. The uncertainty of the model itself was rarely cared about Bayesian theory. So probability distribution model uncertainty and structural parameter uncertainty was researched through Bayes' theorem. This paper developed the fatigue life distribution mode of turbine blade. Firstly, find the best model by quantification of fatigue life distribution model; then update the parameters of the model; finally, calculate Bayesian posterior probability by Markov Chain Monte Carlo Algorithm (MCMC) in OpenBUGS.
Effect of Monitoring Technique on Quality of Conservation Science

Monitoring free‐ranging animals in their natural habitat is a keystone of ecosystem conservation and increasingly important in the context of current rates of loss of biological diversity. Data collected from individuals of endangered species inform conservation policies. Conservation professionals assume that these data are reliable—that the animals from whom data are collected are representative of the species in their physiology, ecology, and behavior and of the populations from which they are drawn. In the last few decades, there has been an enthusiastic adoption of invasive techniques for gathering ecological and conservation data. Although these can provide impressive quantities of data, and apparent insights into animal ranges and distributions, there is increasing evidence that these techniques can result in animal welfare problems, through the wide‐ranging physiological effects of acute and chronic stress and through direct or indirect injuries or compromised movement. Much less commonly, however, do conservation scientists consider the issue of how these effects may alter the behavior of individuals to the extent that the data they collect could be unreliable. The emerging literature on the immediate and longer‐term effects of capture and handling indicate it can no longer be assumed that a wild animal's survival of the process implies the safety of the procedure, that the procedure is ethical, or the scientific validity of the resulting data. I argue that conservation professionals should routinely assess study populations for negative effects of their monitoring techniques and adopt noninvasive approaches for best outcomes not only for the animals, but also for conservation science.
Research on the Impact of Different Amount of Subsidy with Regard to Overcapacity: Evidence from Steel CO. in China

Government subsidy have an important impact on the production capacity of steel enterprises, it is yet unclear whether they reduce or aggravate enterprises’ overcapacity. We take the firm-level data of steel enterprises from 1998 to 2014 as a sample, the methods of Propensity score matching (PSM) and Difference-in-Difference (DID) are used to address the impact of government subsidy on overcapacity. The results show that government subsidy have not a generally significant impact on the overcapacity of enterprises, since the different levels of government subsidy on overcapacity has offset each other. Low-level subsidy has no significant impact on the overcapacity. The effect of medium-level subsidy is positive and statistically significant. While, the coefficient of the huge-level subsidy is significantly negative, indicating that enterprises with huge-level subsidy have more serious overcapacity. Furthermore, Mediation model is applied to provide strong evidence that rent-seeking investment and the weakening of research and development (R&D) incentives are the important channels for the huge-level subsidy curbing overcapacity.
Operation placement for application-specific digital microfluidic biochips

Microfluidic-based biochips are replacing the conventional biochemical analyzers, and are able to integrate onchip all the necessary functions for biochemical analysis using microfluidics. The digital microfluidic biochips are based on the manipulation of liquids not as a continuous flow, but as discrete droplets on an array of electrodes. Microfluidic operations, such as transport, mixing, split, are performed on this array by routing the corresponding droplets on a series of electrodes. Researchers have proposed several approaches for the synthesis of digital microfluidic biochips. All previous work assumes that the biochip architecture is given, and consider a rectangular shape for the electrode array. However, non-regular application-specific architectures are common in practice. In this paper, we are interested in determining a placement of operations for application-specific biochips, such that the application completion time is minimized. The proposed algorithm has been evaluated using several benchmarks.
Validation of aggregated risks models

Abstract Validation of risk models is required by regulators and demanded by management and shareholders. Those models rely in practice heavily on Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. Given their complexity, the convergence of the MC algorithm is difficult to prove mathematically. To circumvent this problem and nevertheless explore the conditions of convergence, we suggest an analytical approach. Considering standard models, we compute, via mixing techniques, closed form formulas for risk measures as Value-at-Risk (VaR) VaR or Tail Value-at-Risk (TVaR) TVaR on a portfolio of risks, and consequently for the associated diversification benefit. The numerical convergence of MC simulations of those various quantities is then tested against their analytical evaluations. The speed of convergence appears to depend on the fatness of the tail of the marginal distributions; the higher the tail index, the faster the convergence. We also explore the behaviour of the diversification benefit with various dependence structures and marginals (heavy and light tails). As expected, it varies heavily with the type of dependence between aggregated risks. The diversification benefit is also studied as a function of the risk measure, VaR or TVaR.
Application of Y-cap on noise attenuation in low power part of power converter

The high frequency voltage oscillation on the DC/DC gate driver of a H-bridge created during the turn-off intervals of the power switches has critical impact on component reliability and control quality. This noise can propagate freely in the low power plane to other functional circuits of the converter due to the performance degradation of EMI filter in high frequency range above 30MHz. In this paper, the origin of the high frequency voltage oscillation is analyzed and a new way of utilizing Y-cap is proposed to reduce this voltage oscillation before it propagates in the low power plane. The key idea is to provide a current return path with low impedance at the oscillation frequency from the input of DC/DC gate driver to the switches. Therefore, the high frequency voltage drop on DC/DC gate driver is attenuated. The proposed approach is practically effective to improve noise performance of a converter at the final stage design and maintenance phase with minimum efforts of calculation and measurement. To support the analysis, the experiments with a Buck converter with a typical H-bridge driver circuit are performed. Several combinations of Y-caps are used to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Learning strategies for small groups of professionals

The aim of this work is to present educational strategies to gaining new knowledge of a specified size within a specified period of time. It is primarily addressing small groups of professionals who critically are in need of applying selected pieces of knowledge very soon. We show how the techniques as coaching, mind maps, neurolinguistic programming not only enhance the creativity in education but also help in forming a qualitatively new relationship between educators and learners in adult education. Compared to other lifelong learning methods, the one presented here benefits of a substantially more intensive collaboration of educators and learners in all stages of the educational process - starting from the content specification, through the design of learning strategy to the evaluation of its outcomes. In a way, the learners become their own teachers. A tangible benefit of our approach is the optimized time period necessary for learning. An intangible one is the learners' enriched relationship between their work-life and the course. The latter is believed to enhance a creative potential of the person, his/her tacit knowledge and ability to recall it during professional activities i.e. facilitate its applicability.
Effectiveness of MeroGel hyaluronic acid on tympanic membrane perforations

Conclusions. Our results support the proposition that hyaluronic acid (HA) provides a moist wound-healing environment to aid in the healing process of tympanic membrane perforation. A single MeroGel administration can be effective as well as daily topical HA application in the treatment of tympanic membrane perforations. A single application of esterified HA may be more suitable for patients and also for otolaryngologists. Objective. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a single MeroGel application on traumatic tympanic membrane perforations in rats. Materials and methods. The posterior quadrant of the tympanic membranes in both ears of 24 male pathogen-free Sprague-Dawley rats was perforated with a 20-gauge needle. Subjects were divided into two groups: MeroGel and daily topical HA-treated groups. All subjects were sacrificed and histopathological examinations of the tympanic bullas were carried out. Results. Perforations of controls, and MeroGel- and daily HA-treated groups closed in 17/24 (70.8%), 11/12 (91.7%), and 12/12 (100%) ears, respectively. There was a significant difference between control and MeroGel-treated groups, and also between control and daily topical HA-treated groups for the presence of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), fibroblast growth factor (FGF), lymphocytes and collagen fibrils (p<0.05), whereas there was no significant difference between MeroGel- and daily topical HA-treated groups (p>0.05).
Preventive Effect of Eccentric Training on Acute Hamstring Injuries in Men’s Soccer

Background: The incidence of acute hamstring injuries is high in several sports, including the different forms of football. Purpose: The authors investigated the preventive effect of eccentric strengthening of the hamstring muscles using the Nordic hamstring exercise compared with no additional hamstring exercise on the rate of acute hamstring injuries in male soccer players. Study Design: Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 1. Methods: Fifty Danish male professional and amateur soccer teams (942 players) were allocated to an intervention group (461 players) or a control group (481 players). Players in the intervention group conducted a 10-week progressive eccentric training program followed by a weekly seasonal program, whereas players in the control group followed their usual training program. The main outcome measures were numbers of overall, new, and recurrent acute hamstring injuries during 1 full soccer season. Results: Fifty-two acute hamstring injuries in the control group compared with 15 injuries in the intervention group were registered. Comparing intervention versus the control group, overall acute hamstring injury rates per 100 player seasons were 3.8 versus 13.1 (adjusted rate ratio [RR], 0.293; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.150-0.572; P < .001). New injury rates per 100 player seasons were 3.1 versus 8.1 (RR, 0.410; 95% CI, 0.180-0.933; P = .034), whereas recurrent injury rates per 100 player seasons were 7.1 versus 45.8 (RR, 0.137; 95% CI, 0.037-0.509; P = .003). Number needed to treat [NNT] to prevent 1 acute hamstring injury (new or recurrent) is 13 (95% CI, 9-23) players. The NNT to prevent 1 new injury is 25 (95% CI, 15-72) players, and NNT to prevent 1 recurrent injury is 3 (95% CI, 2-6) players. Conclusion: In male professional and amateur soccer players, additional eccentric hamstring exercise decreased the rate of overall, new, and recurrent acute hamstring injuries.
Resident sinusoidal macrophages in the liver of the brown bullhead (Ictalurus nebulosus): An ultrastructural, functional and cytochemical study

Ultrastructural, functional, and cytochemical characteristics of resident sinusoidal macrophages (RSM) in brown bullhead (Ictalurus nebulosus) liver were examined. Following perfusion fixation of the hepatic vascular bed, light micrographs revealed RSM that possessed multiple elongate cytoplasmic processes and frequently contained erythrocytes in various stages of degradation. Following brief perfusion fixation, light microscope examination of vibratome sections of bullhead liver reacted for peroxidase revealed intensely positive RSM. By transmission electron microscopy, peroxidase activity was localized to the nuclear envelope and cytoplasmic granules of RSM and in endothelial and perisinusoidal fat‐storing cells. In cryostat sections of fresh‐frozen liver, glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase (G‐6‐PDH) was uniformly distributed over hepatocytes, whereas intensely positive punctate staining for G‐6‐PDH was localized over RSM. To test for phagocytosis by RSM, latex beads (0.81 μ) were injected into a tributary of the hepatic portal vein 2 min prior to perfusion fixation. Latex beads appeared either singly or in dense aggregates within RSM. Ultrastructurally, RSM were characterized by an irregularly shaped, eccentrically located nucleus, electron‐dense vacuoles, small patches of granular endoplasmic reticulum, a well‐developed Golgi apparatus, elongated mitochondria, desmosomes or desmosome‐like densities that served as a source of attachment to endothelial cells, and a centriole with radiating microtubules. Invaginations of the plasma membrane (vermiform processes) characteristic of mammalian Kupffer cells were not observed in bullhead RSM. The results indicated a resident cell population of sinusoidal macrophages in the bullhead liver with properties that protially resembled mammalian Kupffer cells. These results are important for the identification of the normal resident cells in the bullhead liver.