Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Unprecedented Epidemic in Youth Violence

The epidemic of youth violence that began in the mid-1980s has been demographically concentrated among black male youths: the homicide-commission rate for this group increased by a factor of about 4.5. A number of patterns stand out: one of every four or five serious crimes of violence, and one of ten homicides, are committed by juveniles who are less than age eighteen; the proportion of arrests for violent crimes, however, that involved juveniles (20 percent) was about the same in 1994 as in 1965. A decline in the adolescent population has been balanced by an increase in rates of arrest. Youths kill more often than they are killed, and there is a great deal of crossover killing (in both directions) between adolescents and older people. The claim that the explosion in youth violence can be attributed to "superpredators," with each cohort having greater prevalence of such fiends than the last, does not accord well with available data. There is a clear indication of increased gun availability during the epidemic: every category of homicide, as well as other violent crimes, exhibited an increase in gun use. While the sizes of successive youth cohorts are increasing and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, that is not a sound basis for predicting that the volume of youth violence will also increase.
A national review of vertical HIV transmission

Objectives:Prevention of vertical HIV transmission has evolved significantly in Canada over the last two decades. The aim of this analysis is to describe the surveillance programme used, rate of vertical HIV transmission and changing epidemiology of HIV-affected pregnancies in Canada. Design:National perinatal HIV surveillance programme. Methods:From 1990, annual retrospective data was collected on demographic and clinical characteristics of HIV-infected mothers and their infants referred to 22 participating sites across Canada either before/during pregnancy or within 3 months after delivery. Factors impacting HIV transmission and demographic features were explored. Results:Two thousand, six hundred and ninety-two mother–infant pairs were identified. The overall rate of vertical HIV transmission was 5.2%, declining to 2.9% since 1997. The rate of transmission for mothers who received HAART was 1%, and 0.4% if more than 4 weeks of HAART was given. Forty percent of women delivered by caesarean section, with no difference in transmission rate compared with vaginal delivery for women treated with HAART (1.4 vs. 0.6%, P = 0.129) but significant risk reduction for those who did not receive HAART (3.8 vs. 10.3%, P = 0.016). Black women were the largest group; proportions of black and aboriginal women increased significantly over time (P < 0.001 for both). Heterosexual contact was the most common risk category for maternal infection (65%), followed by injection drug use (IDU) (25%). Conclusion:Vertical HIV transmission in Canada has decreased dramatically for women treated with HAART therapy. All pregnant women should be evaluated for HIV infection and programmes expanded to reach vulnerable populations including aboriginal, immigrant and IDU women.
Setting Decision Process Optimization into Stochastic vs. Petri Nets Contexts

In this work we introduce a new modeling paradigm for developing decision process representation for shortest-path problem and games. Whereas in previous work, attention was restricted to tracking the net using as a utility function Bellman's equation, this work uses a Lyapunov-like function. In this sense, we are changing the traditional cost function by a trajectory-tracking function which is also an optimal cost-to-target function for tracking the net. This makes a significant difference in the conceptualization of the problem domain, allowing the replacement of the Nash equilibrium point by the Lyapunov equilibrium point in shortest-path game theory. Two different formal theoretic approaches are employed to represent the problem domain: i) Markov decision process and, ii) place-transitions Petri Nets having as a feature a Markov decision process, called Decision Process Petri nets (DPPN). The main point of this paper is its ability to represent the system-dynamic and trajectory-dynamic properties of a decision process. Within the system-dynamic properties framework we prove new notions of equilibrium and stability. In the trajectory-dynamic properties framework, we optimize the trajectory function value used for path planning via a Lyapunov-like function, obtaining as a result new characterizations for final decision points (optimum points) and stability. We show that the system-dynamic and Lyapunov trajectory-dynamic properties of equilibrium, stability and final decision points (optimum points) meet under certain restrictions. Moreover, we generalize the problem to join with game theory. We show that the Lyapunov equilibrium point coincides with the Nash equilibrium point under certain restrictions. As a consequence, all the properties of equilibrium and stability are preserved in game theory under certain restrictions. This is the most important contribution of this work. The potential of this approach remains in its formal proof simplicity for the existence of an equilibrium point. To the best of our knowledge the approach seems to be new in decision process, game theory and Petri Nets.
Hyperoxia-induced airway remodeling in immature rats. Correlation with airway responsiveness.

We recently found that exposure of 21-day-old rats to hyperoxia (> 95% O2 for 8 days) significantly increased in vivo airway cholinergic responsiveness and that O2 exposure also increased airway epithelial and smooth muscle layer thicknesses in a separate cohort of animals. There was substantial variation in the magnitude of both the functional and structural responses to hyperoxia. The present study was designed to test whether the magnitude of O2-induced airway remodeling could account for individual differences in airway responsiveness after O2 exposure, as well as for the difference in responsiveness between air- and O2-exposed animals. We assessed in vivo airway responsiveness to aerosolized acetylcholine (ACh) and airway architecture in 14 O2- and 5 air-exposed, immature rats. Total respiratory system resistance was determined using a plethysmographic method. The mean thicknesses and fractional areas of the airway epithelial and smooth muscle layers were determined by contour tracing using a digitizing pad and microcomputer. Both the small (circumference < 1,000 microns) and central (circumference 1,000 to 4,000 microns) airways were studied. For O2-exposed rats, individual values of EC200 ACh correlated negatively with small airway smooth muscle layer thickness (r = -0.59, p < 0.05; ANOVA), small airway smooth muscle layer fractional area (r = -0.75, p < 0.01), small airway epithelial thickness (r = -0.54, p < 0.05), small airway epithelial fractional area (r = -0.69, p < 0.01), and central airway smooth muscle layer thickness (r = -0.53, p < 0.05). When both air- and O2-exposed animals were considered, EC200 ACh correlated negatively with all eight parameters of airway layer thickness and fractional area. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
New Standards and Old Inequalities: School Reform and the Education of African American Students

Despite the rhetoric of American equality, the school experiences of African American and other minority students in the United States continue to be substantially separate and unequal. Dramatically different learning opportunities-especially disparities in access to well-qualified teachers, high quality curriculum, and small schools and classes-are strongly related to differences in student achievement. Standards-based reforms have been launched throughout the United States with promises of greater equity, but, while students are held to common standards-and increasingly experience serious sanctions if they fail to achieve them-few states have equalized funding and access to the key educational resources neededfor learning. This paper outlines current disparities in educational access and proposes reforms needed to equalize opportunities to learn. The education reform movement in the United States has focused increasingly on the development of new standards for students: Virtually all states have begun to create standards for graduation, new curriculum frameworks to guide instruction, and new assessments to test students' knowledge. Many have put in place high-stakes testing systems that attach rewards and sanctions to students' scores on standardized tests. These rewards and sanctions include grade retention or promotion as well as graduation for students, merit pay awards or threats of dismissal for teachers and administrators, and extra funds or loss of registration, reconstitution, or loss of funds for schools. School districts across the country are weighing in with their own versions of standards-based reform, including new curricula, testing systems, accountability mechanisms, and promotion or graduation requirements. To be sure, there are other kinds of reforms being proposed. Sprinklings of charter schools and a few voucher programs aim to create new options for some students' education. "Bottom up" reforms of curriculum and assessment in some schools aim to provide more thoughtful and authentic learning experiences that challenge and excite students' interests and develop higher order thinking and performance skills. Reorganization of schedules and new school designs sometimes provide options for more in-depth study and longer-term relationships between adults and students. School-to-work programs promise greater options for some students who are enabled to connect more directly to the workplace. However, all of these efforts are partial and scattered. The constant of reforms today is standard setting for student achievement. The variable is educational opportunity. The rhetoric of "standards-based" reforms is appealing. Students cannot succeed in meeting the demands of the new economy if they do not encounter much more challenging work in school, many argue, and schools cannot be stimulated to improve unless the real
AGILE detection of delayed gamma-ray emission from GRB 080514B

GRB 080514B is the first gamma ray burst (GRB), since the time o f EGRET, for which individual photons of energy above several tens of MeV have been detected with a pair-conversion tracker telescope. This burst was discovered with the Italian AGILE gamma-ray satellite. The GRB was localized with a cooperation by AGILE and the interplanetary network (IPN). The gamma-ray imager (GRID) estimate of the position, obtained before the SuperAGILE-IPN localization, is found to be consistent with the burst position. The hard X-ray emission observed by SuperAGILE lasted about 7 s, while there is evidence that the emission above 30 MeV extends for a longer duration (at least 13 s). Similar behavior was seen in the past from a few other GRBs observed with EGRET. However, the latter measurements were affected, during the brightest phases, by instrumental dead time effects, resulting in only lower limits to the burst intensity. Thanks to the small dead time of th e AGILE/GRID we could assess that in the case of GRB 080514B the gamma-ray to X‐ray fl ux ratio changes significantly between the prompt and extend ed emission phase.
Political Science as the Missing Link in Housing Studies

The academic discipline of political science has a comparatively modest position in the field of housing studies. This article first confirms this by analysing the output of leading housing journals, measured in quantitative terms. Then five possible explanations to this situation are discussed. (1) Housing provision is implemented on the local level, while political science studies the national and international levels. (2) The central concepts of political science are not relevant to the study of housing issues. (3) Housing issues are not really political. (4) The central role of markets in housing provision makes political science irrelevant. (5) The economic incentives and institutional support for political scientists to study housing are insufficient. Some of these explanations are found to be groundless and others more plausible, but it is impossible to point out any single one of them as really conclusive. Finally it is discussed whether political scientists' low interest in housing issues is actually something to be deplored. It is claimed both that political theory could make important contributions to housing studies and, inversely, that theories of political science could be developed in interesting directions by being applied to the specific empirical context of housing.
Multiuser detectors with single-user parameter estimation on quasi-synchronous CDMA channels

We present simulated error rate and code delay/amplitude tracking performance for two recently developed detectors: the adaptive whitened matched filter, and the quasi-synchronous decorrelator. Rapid convergence (within 50 symbols) of the estimated amplitude and delay of the desired user is demonstrated based on an approximate joint maximum likelihood approach. The adaptive whitened matched filter exhibits better bit error rate performance than the decorrelator, but requires a complex eigenanalysis stage.
Educational Differentiation and Status Attainments: The Community College Controversy

Abstract Based on the Parnes data, the author analyzes how community college attendance shapes adult socioeconomic attainment among a homogeneous age population. The sample consists of young men and women ten years after high school graduation. Socioeconomic returns to level and kind of education are analyzed utilizing insights offered by human capital theory. Type of first college entered is a significant variable in analyzing differences in earning ability even when holding constant variation in ability, socioeconomic background and college goal The rate of return to each additional year of education for four-year college entrants is 7.9 percent; for community college entrants, 5.4 percent. Type of college entered is also a significant variable in analyzing differences in occupational status again holding constant all other variables in the model The average status of four-year college entrants' jobs is almost 12 points higher on the Duncan scale than those of community college entrants. Community colle.
Effect of intrathecal hyperbaric bupivacaine with small dose clonidine versus hyperbaric bupivacaine alone in lower abdominal surgeries: A comparative study

Context: The continued success of regional anesthetic techniques can be credited due to improved local anesthetic drugs, with lower toxicities and longer duration of action, but still many efforts are being done to increase the duration of the block and postoperative analgesia. Therefore, use of adjuvant drugs for anesthesia is intended to prolong analgesia and preventing deleterious clinical effects of local anesthetics. Aims: The present study is designed to evaluate effects of intrathecal hyperbaric bupivacaine versus hyperbaric bupivacaine with low dose clonidine on the onset and level of sensory and motor block, the intensity of motor blockade, and time of analgesia required in the postoperative period. Settings and Design: Study area were our operation theater and postanesthesia care unit of Department of Anesthesiology, this was a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, and double-blind study for a period of 1 year comprising of 60 patients. Materials and Methods: Patients were randomly allocated into two groups: Group 1 (S) (n = 30): Patients received intrathecal hyperbaric bupivacaine 12.5 mg with normal saline 0.5 ml and Group 2 (C) (n = 30): Patients received intrathecal hyperbaric bupivacaine 12.5 mg with 1 μg/kg clonidine (approximated to 0.5 ml with normal saline). Statistical Analysis: Two groups were compared by Student's t-test, Chi-square test; ANOVA and significance of mean difference bet were done by Newman–Keuls test. Results and Conclusion: Duration of analgesia was prolonged in Group C (363.07 ± 166.30 min) patients compared to Group S patients (226.95 ± 119 min) and they also required less top up analgesic in the postoperative period.
Feeding Ecology of Northeast Atlantic Mackerel, Norwegian Spring-Spawning Herring and Blue Whiting in the Norwegian Sea

The Norwegian spring-spawning (NSS) herring (Clupea harengus), blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) and Northeast Atlantic (NEA) mackerel (Scomber scombrus) are extremely abundant pelagic planktivores that feed in the Norwegian Sea (NS) during spring and summer. This study investigated the feeding ecology and diet composition of these commercially important fish stocks on the basis of biological data, including an extensive set of stomach samples in combination with hydrographical data, zooplankton samples and acoustic abundance data from 12 stock monitoring surveys carried out in 2005–2010. Mackerel were absent during the spring, but had generally high feeding overlap with herring in the summer, with a diet mainly based on calanoid copepods, especially Calanus finmarchicus, as well as a similar diet width. Stomach fullness in herring diminished from spring to summer and feeding incidence was lower than that of mackerel in summer. However, stomach fullness did not differ between the two species, indicating that herring maintain an equally efficient pattern of feeding as mackerel in summer, but on a diet that is less dominated by copepods and is more reliant on larger prey. Blue whiting tended to have a low dietary overlap with mackerel and herring, with larger prey such as euphausiids and amphipods dominating, and stomach fullness and feeding incidence increasing with length. For all the species, feeding incidence increased with decreasing temperature, and for mackerel so did stomach fullness, indicating that feeding activity is highest in areas associated with colder water masses. Significant annual effects on diet composition and feeding-related variables suggested that the three species are able to adapt to different food and environmental conditions. These annual effects are likely to have an important impact on the predation pressure on different plankton groups and the carrying capacity of individual systems, and emphasise the importance of regular monitoring of pelagic fish diets.
An outbreak of virulent systemic feline calicivirus disease.

OBJECTIVE To describe clinical and epidemiologic features of an outbreak of feline calicivirus (FCV) infection caused by a unique strain of FCV and associated with a high mortality rate and systemic signs of disease, including edema of the face or limbs. DESIGN Observational study. Animals-54 cats naturally infected with a highly virulent strain of FCV. PROCEDURE Information was collected on outbreak history, clinical signs, and characteristics of infected and exposed cats. RESULTS A novel strain of FCV (FCV-Kaos) was identified. Transmission occurred readily via fomites. Signs included edema and sores of the face and feet. Mortality rate was 40%, and adults were more likely than kittens to have severe disease (odds ratio, 9.56). Eleven (20%) cats had only mild or no clinical signs. Many affected cats had been vaccinated against FCV. Viral shedding was documented at least 16 weeks after clinical recovery. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Outbreaks of highly virulent FCV disease are increasingly common. Strains causing such outbreaks have been genetically distinct from one another but caused similar disease signs and were resistant to vaccination. All cats with suspicious signs (including upper respiratory tract infection) should be handled with strict hygienic precautions. Sodium hypochlorite solution should be used for disinfection following suspected contamination. All exposed cats should be isolated until negative viral status is confirmed. Chronic viral shedding is possible but may not be clinically important. This and similar outbreaks have been described as being caused by hemorrhagic fever-like caliciviruses, but hemorrhage is uncommonly reported. Virulent systemic FCV infection is suggested as an alternative description.
Filtrage Collaboratif avec un Algorithme d'Ordonnancement

A ce jour, la plupart des travaux en filtrage collaboratif se basent sur la prediction de notes pour generer des recommandations. Dans ce papier, nous choisissons d’explorer une autre voie, consistant a ordonner correctement les articles selon les gouts des utilisateurs. D’abord, nous definissons une erreur d’ordonnancement qui prend en compte les preferences par paires d’articles. Puis nous construisons un algorithme efficace qui optimise cette erreur. Enfin, nous testons notre approche sur une base standard de filtrage collaboratif. Pour cela, nous adaptons le protocole d’evaluation initialement propose par (Marlin, 2004a) pour la prediction de notes a notre cas, ou ce sont des preferences par paires qui sont predites. Nous comparons nos performances avec celles de deux methodes basees sur la prediction de notes. Nous suggerons differentes directions pour continuer l’exploration de notre approche basee sur la prediction d’ordres pour le filtrage collaboratif.
Functionality of Fatty Acid Chemoreception: A Potential Factor in the Development of Obesity?

Excess dietary fat consumption is recognized as a strong contributing factor in the development of overweight and obesity. Understanding why some individuals are better than others at regulating fat intake will become increasingly important and emerging associative evidence implicates attenuated fatty acid sensing in both the oral cavity and gastrointestinal (GI) tract in the development of obesity. Functional implications of impaired fatty acid chemoreception include diminished activation of the gustatory system, the cephalic response and satiety. This review will focus on knowledge from animal and human studies supporting the existence of oral fatty acid chemoreception including putative oral detection mechanisms, and how sensitivity to fatty acids is associated with fat consumption and fatty food preference.
Towards Multirobot Communication

Communications play an important role in multirobot systems. Since the advent of high-performance wireless local area network (WLAN) at relatively low cost, its use for wireless communication among multirobot has become a practical proposition. However, in a large system with many robots, it becomes difficult for all of robots to exchange information at a time because of their limited communication capacities. In this case, an efficient and reliable communication network is wanted. This paper presents some wireless communication schemes and their applications. Broad samplings of the research that is currently ongoing in the field of multirobot communication system are provided. Finally, a conclusion is given by identifying several additional open research issues in this field