Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Taxonomy of Police Technology’s Racial Inequity Problems

Over the past several years, increased awareness of racial inequity in policing, combined with increased scrutiny of police technologies, have sparked concerns that new technologies may aggravate inequity in policing. To help address these concerns, some advocates and scholars have proposed requiring police agencies to seek and obtain legislative approval before adopting a new technology, or requiring the completion of “algorithmic impact assessments” to evaluate new tools. In order for policymakers, police agencies, or scholars to evaluate whether and how particular technologies may aggravate existing inequities, however, the problem must be more clearly defined. Some scholars have explored inequity in depth as it relates to specific police technologies. But to date, none have provided an explanation of how police technology aggravates inequity that can be applied across all technologies—including future technologies we have not yet encountered. This Article fills that gap. It offers a proposed new taxonomy that parses the ways in which police technology may aggravate inequity as five distinct problems: police technology may (1) replicate inequity in policing, (2) mask inequity in policing, (3) transfer inequity from elsewhere to policing, (4) exacerbate inequitable policing harms, and/or (5) compromise oversight of inequity in policing. Naming and defining these problems will help police agencies, policymakers, and scholars alike analyze proposed new police technologies through an equity lens and craft policies that respond appropriately. This framework should be built into evaluations of police tools performed in accordance with Community Control Over Police Surveillance (“CCOPS”) ordinances being passed in a growing number of cities. To assist with these practical applications of the taxonomy, this Article also offers a model equity impact assessment for proposed police technologies, and explains why the time is ripe for introduction of such an assessment. Finally, this Article explains how the proposed taxonomy and impact assessment tool can be used to evaluate new technologies through an equity lens in contexts beyond the criminal legal system. As policymakers consider requiring algorithmic impact assessments in other domains, they can draw on the framework provided in this Article for one possible model.
Gluteus Medius Activity during 3 Variations of Isometric Single-Leg Stance

Context: Gluteus medius (GM) contraction during single-leg stance prevents the contralateral pelvis from “dropping,” providing stability for lower extremity motion. Objective: To determine which combination of hip rotation and abduction exercise results in the greatest activity of the GM and whether the GM responds to increased loads in these exercises. Design and Setting: Repeated measures, laboratory. Subjects: 20 healthy volunteers. Interventions: Resistance (2.26 and 4.53 kg) was provided to 3 variations of a single-leg-stance exercise: hip abduction only, abduction-internal rotation (ABD-IR), and abduction-external rotation. Measurements: Muscle activity was recorded from the anterior and middle portions of the GM using surface electromyography. Results: ABD-IR produced the most activity in the anterior and middle sections of the GM muscle. The 4.53-kg load produced significantly more activity than the 2.26-kg load (P < .05). Conclusions: The GM is most active when performing abduction and internal r.
Sex, synchrony, and skin contact: integrating multiple behaviors to assess pathogen transmission risk

Direct pathogen and parasite transmission is fundamentally driven by a population’s contact network structure and its demographic composition and is further modulated by pathogen life-history traits. Importantly, populations are most often concurrently exposed to a suite of pathogens, which is rarely investigated, because contact networks are typically inferred from spatial proximity only. Here, we use 5 years of detailed observations of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) that distinguish between four different types of social contact. We investigate how demography (sex and age) affects these different social behaviors. Three of the four social behaviors can be used as a proxy for understanding key routes of direct pathogen transmission (sexual contact, skin contact, and aerosol contact of respiratory vapor above the water surface). We quantify the demography-dependent network connectedness, representing the risk of exposure associated with the three pathogen transmission routes, and quantify coexposure risks and relate them to individual sociability. Our results suggest demography-driven disease risk in bottlenose dolphins, with males at greater risk than females, and transmission route-dependent implications for different age classes. We hypothesize that male alliance formation and the divergent reproductive strategies in males and females drive the demography-dependent connectedness and, hence, exposure risk to pathogens. Our study provides evidence for the risk of coexposure to pathogens transmitted along different transmission routes and that they relate to individual sociability. Hence, our results highlight the importance of a multibehavioral approach for a more complete understanding of the overall pathogen transmission risk in animal populations, as well as the cumulative costs of sociality.
New model of a thunderstorm downburst and its effect on structures

Recent history has shown that downburst thunderstorm can be devastating especially for transmission lines composed of towers relied by an electric cable with numerous reported failures of these structures. The literature is very active in the domain of downburst but failed until now to produce a model that predicts the structural response to downburst solicitation. This paper proposes a new approach of downburst modelling based on physical thought and applies it to Andrews A.F. B. downburst event simulation. This model stands on a new decomposition of downburst wind velocity which makes appear a synoptic background wind velocity component to combine with the classic downburst-related velocity component. In the aim of applying this new model to transmission lines structures in the future, the response of one known case of vertical structure (CAARC building) and one known case of cable structure is studied. The cable case is discussed further by simulating different downburst trajectories and a random sampling of the downburst wind field is processed in order to get statistics data from the structural response of the cable such as the correlation coefficients.
Efficient Distortion Prediction of Additively Manufactured Parts Using Bayesian Model Transfer Between Material Systems

Distortion in laser-based additive manufacturing (LBAM) is a critical issue that adversely affects the geometric integrity of additively manufactured parts and generally exhibits a complicated dependence on the underlying material. The differences in properties between distinct materials prevent the immediate application of a distortion model learned for one material to another, which introduces the challenge in LBAM of learning a distortion model for a new material system given past experiments. Current methods for investigating the distortion of different material systems typically involve finite element analysis or a large number of experiments in an empirical study. However, these methods do not learn from previous experiments and can incur significant costs in terms of computation, time, or resources. We propose a Bayesian model transfer methodology that is both physics-based and data-driven to leverage past experiments on previously studied material systems for more efficient distortion modeling of new systems. This method transfers distortion models across distinct materials based on the statistical effect equivalence framework by formulating the differences between two materials as a lurking variable. Our method reduces the experimentation and effort needed for specifying distortion models for new material systems. We validate our methodology in a case study of distortion model transfer from Ti–6Al–4V disks to 316L stainless steel disks. This case study is the first instance of model transfer between material systems and illustrates the ability of the Bayesian model transfer methodology to address the issue of comprehensive distortion modeling across varying material systems in LBAM. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4046408]
Understanding learner participation at scale: How and why

Understanding learner participation is essential to any learning environment to enhance teaching and learning, especially in large scale digital spaces, such as massive open online courses. However, there is a lack of research to fully capture the dynamic nature of massive open online courses and the different ways learners participate in these emerging massive e-learning ecologies. To fill in the research gap, this paper attempted to investigate the relationship between how learners choose to participate in a massive open online course, their initial motivation for learning, and the barriers they faced throughout the course. This was achieved through a combination of data-driven clustering approaches—to identify patterns of learner participation—and qualitative analysis of survey data—to better understand the learners’ motivation and the barriers they faced during the course. Through this study we show how, within the context of a Coursera massive open online course offered by the University of Illinois, learners with varied patterns of participation (Advanced, Balanced, Early, Limited, and Delayed Participation) reported similar motivations and barriers, but described differences in how their participation was impacted by those factors. These findings are significant to gain insights about learners’ needs which in turn serve as the basis to innovate more adaptive and personalized learning experiences and thus advance learning in these large scale environments.
Predicting students' knowledge after playing a serious game based on learning analytics data: A case study

Serious games have proven to be a powerful tool in education to engage, motivate, and help students learn. However, the change in student knowledge after playing games is usually measured with traditional (paper) prequestionnaires – postquestionnaires. We propose a combination of game learning analytics and data mining techniques to predict knowledge change based on in-game student interactions. We have tested this approach in a case study for which we have conducted preexperiments – postexperiments with 227 students playing a previously validated serious game on first aid techniques. We collected student interaction data while students played, using a game learning analytics infrastructure and the standard data format Experience API for Serious Games. After data collection, we developed and tested prediction models to determine whether knowledge, given as posttest results, can be accurately predicted. Additionally, we compared models both with and without pretest information to determine the importance of previous knowledge when predicting postgame knowledge. The high accuracy of the obtained prediction models suggests that serious games can be used not only to teach but also to measure knowledge acquisition after playing. This will simplify serious games application for educational settings and especially in the classroom easing teachers' evaluation tasks.
Treatment of Class II malocclusion with a flexible fixed functional appliance: A case series

Class II malocclusion is one of the most commonly occurring conditions, and the component mostly involved is mandibular retrognathism. The treatment modalities include both removable and fixed appliances. The advantage of fixed functional appliances is that it is not dependent on patient compliance. Various fixed functional appliances are available such as rigid, flexible, and hybrid. The present case series discusses a flexible type of fixed functional appliance, i.e. Sharma's bite corrector appliance in three cases: A 16-year-old female patient with Class II malocclusion due to mandibular retrognathism, a 14-year-old male patient with Class II malocclusion due to mandibular retrognathism, and a 17-year-old female patient with Class II malocclusion due to mandibular retrognathism. The effects produced by this appliance are similar to the conventional fixed functional appliances such as Forsus, Herbst, and also it has a distinct advantage of quick chairside fabrication, simple design, and inexpensive.
Co-occurring mental health and addiction disorders: The elusive path to integrated care

Background: Co-occurrence of mental health and addictions disorders occurs at a high rate, posing significant costs to affected individuals and society if left untreated. Although decades of research and policy reports have argued the necessity of integrated mental health and addiction services to effectively treat this population, it appears as though relatively little integration has been achieved. Methods: This exploratory study used key informant interviews to investigate the current state of integrated treatment in Ontario, Canada, potential models for integrated treatment and barriers to their implementation. Interview transcripts were analyzed inductively, and thematic analysis used to identify emerging themes. Results: Five domains were identified: organizational barriers, system barriers, historical barriers, barriers related to stigma and discrimination, and knowledge barriers. A key challenge is the absence of provincial direction and limited evidence on the relative effectiveness of the different integrated treatment models. Discussion and Conclusion: Insights from interviews with research, policy and provider experts clarify the relevant factors affecting the implementation of integrated treatment in Ontario. In identifying potential models of integration and the barriers to their implementation, further research is required to assess the relative effectiveness of the different integration models and to identify the critical organizational and system factors needed for successful implementation of integrated care. Avenues that merit further exploration are the fields of implementation science and complex adaptive systems.
Gut-derived Flavonifractor species variants are differentially enriched during in vitro incubation with quercetin

Flavonoids are a common component of the human diet with widely reported health-promoting properties. The gut microbiota transforms these compounds affecting the overall metabolic outcome of their consumption. Flavonoid-degrading bacteria are often studied in isolation under culture conditions that do not resemble the conditions in the colon and that eliminate the multiple interactions that take place in complex communities. In this study, a comparative metataxonomic analysis of fecal communities supplemented with the flavonoid quercetin led us to identify a potential competitive exclusion interaction between two sequence variants related to the flavonoid-degrading species, Flavonifractor plautii, that belong to the same genus but different species. During incubation of fecal slurries with quercetin, the relative abundance of these two variants was inversely correlated; one variant, ASV_65f4, increased in relative abundance in half of the libraries and the other variant, ASV_a45d, in the other half. This pattern was also observed with 6 additional fecal samples that were transplanted into germ-free mice fed two different diets. Mouse’s diet did not change the pattern of dominance of either variant, and initial relative abundances did not predict which one ended up dominating. Potential distinct metabolic capabilities of these two Flavonifractor-related species were evidenced, as only one variant, ASV_65f4, became consistently enriched in complex communities supplemented with acetate but no quercetin. Genomic comparison analysis of the close relatives of each variant revealed that ASV_65f4 may be an efficient ethanolamine-utilizing bacterium which may increase its fitness in media with no quercetin compared to ASV_a45d. Other discordant features between ASV_65f4- and ASV_a45d-related groups may be the presence of flagellar and galactose-utilization genes, respectively. Overall, we showed that the Flavonifractor genus harbors variants that present a pattern of negative co-occurrence and that may have different metabolic and structural traits, whether these differences affect the dynamic of quercetin degradation warrants further investigation.
Genome-wide analysis of DNA uptake by naturally competent Haemophilus influenzae

BACKGROUND DNA uptake is the first step in natural transformation of bacteria, leading to DNA internalization and recombination. It is, therefore, a key determinant in genome evolution. Most bacteria take up DNA indiscriminately, but in two families of Gram-negative bacteria the uptake machinery binds preferentially to short sequences called uptake signal sequences (USS). These sequences are highly enriched in their genomes, which causes preferential uptake of self-DNA over foreign DNA. RESULTS To fully characterize the effects of this preference, and to identify other sequence factors affecting uptake, we carried out a genome-wide analysis of DNA uptake using both measured uptake and the predictions from a sequence-based uptake model. Maps of DNA uptake were developed by recovering and deep sequencing genomic DNA that had been taken up by competent Haemophilus influenzae cells, and comparing sequencing coverage from recovered samples to coverage of the input DNA. Chromosomal DNA that had been sheared into short fragments (50-800bp) produced sharp peaks of uptake centered at USS, separated by valleys with 1000-fold lower uptake. Peaks heights were proportional to the USS scores predicted by the previously measured contribution to uptake of individual bases in each USS, as well as by predicted differences in DNA shape. Uptake of a long-fragment DNA preparation (1.5-17kb) had much less variation, with 90% of positions having uptake within 2-fold of the mean. Although the presence of a second USS within 100bp had no detectable effect on uptake of short fragments, uptake of long fragments increased with the local density of USS. Simulation of the uptake competition between H. influenzae DNA and the abundant human DNA in the respiratory tract DNA showed that the USS-based system allows H. influenzae DNA to prevail even when human DNA is present in 100-fold excess. CONCLUSION All detectable DNA uptake biases arose from sequences that fit the USS uptake motif, and presence of such sequences increased uptake of short DNA fragments by about 1000-fold. Preferred sequences also had rigidly bent AT-tracts and outer cores. Uptake of longer DNA fragments was much less variable, although detection of uptake biases was limited by strong biases intrinsic to the DNA sequencing process.
A Novel Approach for Transaction Management in Heterogeneous Distributed Real-Time Replicated Database Systems

: Today, Cloud computing is most widely used system due to number of benefits to end users. In IT (Information Technology) organizations, cloud computing is most vital domain to work. There are different types of services such as SaaS, IaaS and PaaS provided by cloud computing based on the end users needs. Rather than using own resources for data storage and Management, organizations started to utilize cloud computing data storage systems. Cloud storage (eg. Amazon S3) is emerging as a popular service and most of the enterprises shifts their data workloads to the cloud. The popularity of Cloud computing system increased dramatically because it rent computing resources, bill on a pay-as-you-go basis and multiplex many users on same physical infrastructure. Cloud users are provided an illusion of infinite computing resources so that on demand resource consumption rate can be increased or decreased. Cloud computing offers the vision of a virtually infinite pool of computing, storage and networking resources where applications can be deployed. It is the popular solution for on-demand and dynamic resource provisioning. The provisioning & maintenance of cloud resources are done with the help of resource management techniques (RM). The RM techniques are responsible to keep the track of free resources and assign the resources from free pool to incoming tasks. Along with the growing demands of modern applications and workloads, cloud computing
Preliminary Product Acceptance and Initial Price of Virgin Red Palm Oil on African Expatriate Communnity in Jakarta

The development of the palm oil downstream industries is still limited eventhough various products can be made. The market acceptance becomes one of the important considerations. The research objective was to analyze the acceptance and initial price a new product of Virgin Red Palm Oil (VRPO), a kind of Red Palm Oil (RPO), one of the potential downstream palm oil products. A survey was conducted in Jakarta with African expatriate community as respondents. The samples of product VRPO with the brand of “Salmira” were given. After they tasted, they filled the questionnaire. The acceptance perception product was measured by likert scale, and initial price with the willingness to pay methods was investigated by open ended questions. The results analysed by average aprroached and optimum price used linear and logarithmic regression. This study found that product perception was very good especially in familliarity and reccomendation to buy. The new product was similar to the product available in their origin countries and when the product available, almost 90 % respondents would like to buy the product. Other results showed that packaging was preferred in 1 000 ml. The maximum willingnes to pay for 1 liter was IDR 150 000, and the minimum was IDR 20 000. The average price was IDR 70 370, and the optimum price with linear regression approached was IDR 70.809 and with the logarithmic regression approached was IDR 62.628. This study provides empirical evidence that the product is prospective eventhough it is still in the limited scope.The range willingness to pay also supports the decision maker to give the initial price.
Manuscript title: Opposing patterns of abnormal D1 and D2 receptor dependent cortico-striatal plasticity explain increased risk taking in patients with DYT1 dystonia

Patients with dystonia caused by the mutated TOR1A gene exhibit a risk neutral behaviour compared to controls who are risk averse in the same reinforcement learning task. We hypothesised this increased risk taking could be reproduced by a reinforcement learning model which included biologically realistic striatal plasticity learning rules. We aimed to test whether a specific combination of cortico-striatal plasticity abnormalities at D1 and D2 receptors could explain the abnormal behaviour. We found a model of cortico-striatal plasticity could generate simulated behaviour indistinguishable from patients only when both D1 and D2 plasticity was abnormally increased in opposite directions: specifically when D1 synaptic potentiation and D2 depotentiation were both increased. This result is consistent with previous observations in rodent models of cortico-striatal plasticity at D1 receptors, but contrasts with the pattern reported in vitro for D2 synapses. This suggests that additional factors in patients who manifest motor symptoms may lead to divergent effects on D2 synaptic plasticity that are not apparent in rodent models of this disease.
Unified Parkinson's disease rating scale と三次元動作解析を用いたパーキンソン病患者のリハビリテーションの有効性の検討

【目的】Unified Parkinson's desease rating scale (UPDRS)と三次元動作解析を用いてパーキンソン病のリハ戦略における身体運動機能の重要性を明らかにする．【対象と方法】対象は17 名で，体幹・下肢の関節可動域訓練，筋力増強訓練，ストレッチ訓練等のリハを約4 週間実施し，リハ前後で比較検討した．【結果】UPDRSを用いた評価では総合点でリハ前37. 9±13.2 点からリハ後27. 3±11.2 点に有意に減少し，ADL項目では12. 4±6.9 点から9. 5±6.3 点に，運動項目でも22. 5±7.5 点から15. 3±6.5 点に改善を認めた．UPDRSの運動項目を用いた評価ではパーキンソン症候では，筋強剛，無動で改善し，身体機能では体幹，上肢，下肢で改善した．三次元動作解析(N=9)では，歩幅，歩行速度で改善傾向があり，股関節角度変化と骨盤回旋角度変化で増大を認めた．【まとめ】身体運動機能のリハが，パーキンソン症候の改善と下肢・骨盤の関節角度の増大により歩幅と歩行速度の改善をさせた可能性を示唆した．