Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Challenges for Online Deliberation Research: A Literature Review

While pure deliberation has still not been found online, the field of online deliberation research is blossoming. Born out of the "frustrations and possibilities" of the 1990s, a current theme in the field is to re-link deliberative theory with empirical political science. The aim of this systematic literature review is to sort out and examine important features of this development; to identify and categorise important research themes and issues as well as to pinpoint some research gaps. Using citation analysis as a method for article selection, 788 abstracts were retrieved and out of these, 130 items were chosen for further analysis. First the review shows that researchers from several different disciplines are involved in the field and that these researchers are studying online deliberation in a variety of arenas aided by a wide range of methods. Second the review reveals that the field struggles with a highly diversified concept of deliberation; that newer theoretical developments are underutilised in the operationalisation of theoretical concepts for empirical analyses, and that it there is a rather low degree of cumulativity in the field. Finally, more attention is paid on deliberation per se, rather than the political and democratic consequences of deliberation.
Stochastic Functional Differential Equations with Markovian Switching

The main aim of this paper is to investigate the exponential stability of stochastic functional differential equations with Markovian switching. The Razumikhin argument and the generalized Ito formula will play an important role in this paper. Applying our new results to several important types of equations e.g. stochastic differential delay equations and stochastic differential equations, both with Markovian switching, we obtain a number of very useful results. Several examples are also given for illustration.
Supporting Marin County Youth Suffering from Anxiety and Depression

This toolkit was created to help shed light on the impact a stressful high school environment can have on today’s youth, and provide teachers, students, and parents with up-to-date information on what resources are available within the county of Marin. When working with adolescents, it is important to consider environmental threats to their mental health (i.e., lack of sleep) in order to make proper referrals and treatment plans. A study done by Kelley, Lockley, Kelley, & Evans (2017) implemented a 10:00 a.m. start time at an urban school in England. By delaying school start times, Kelley et al., found that absences related to illness were reduced by 50 percent compared to national rates. In general, school systems in the United States are not currently structured to ensure students can function at their maximum potential, and their academics, health, and relationships are deteriorating as a result. More importantly, suicide is becoming more prevalent in high schools within the United States, which means prevention programs need to be reevaluated or implemented to help Marin youth cope with academic and social stress. This guide will provide the community with psychoeducation on depression and anxiety; potential risk factors, how to help, and what treatment options are available.
The Immune Self , the Sign , and the Testes

The immune self is one of the main organizing concepts in immunology. However, it is not quite clear what the immune self is and heated debates are taken place among immunologists concerning the usefulness and the meaning of this concept. In this paper, I argue that the problem of the immune self is analogous to the problem of finding the meanings of the sign in semiotics. Following this suggestion, I would like to present the idea that the immune system is a meaning-making system (Neuman 2004) and in this context to provide a novel conceptualization of the immune self that integrates several ideas from immunology and semiotics.
Leukocytosis and resistance to septic shock in intercellular adhesion molecule 1-deficient mice

Intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) is one of three immunoglobulin superfamily members that bind to the integrins lymphocyte function associated 1 (LFA-1) and Mac-1 on leukocytes. We have generated mice that are genetically and functionally deficient in ICAM-1. These mice have elevated numbers of circulating neutrophils and lymphocytes, as well as diminished allogeneic T cell responses and delayed type hypersensitivity. Mutant mice are resistant to lethal effects of high doses of endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide [LPS]), and this correlates with a significant decrease in neutrophil infiltration in the liver. Production of inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha or interleukin 1 is normal in ICAM-1-deficient mice, and thus protection appears to be related to a diminution in critical leukocyte-endothelial interactions. After sensitization with D- galactosamine (D-Gal), ICAM-1-deficient mice are resistant to the lethal effect of low doses of exotoxin (Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin B [SEB]), which has been shown to mediate its toxic effects via the activation of specific T cells. In this model, ICAM-1-mediated protection against SEB lethality correlates with a decrease in the systemic release of inflammatory cytokines, as well as with prevention of extensive hepatocyte necrosis and hemorrhage. ICAM-1-deficient mice sensitized with D-Gal, however, are not protected from lethality when challenged with low doses of endotoxin (LPS). These studies show that the different contribution of ICAM-1 in the activation of either T cells or macrophages is decisive for the fatal outcome of the shock in these two models. This work suggests that anti-ICAM-1 therapy may be beneficial in both gram-positive and -negative septic shock, either by reducing T cell activation or by diminishing neutrophil infiltration.
A new graph labelling on trees

Graphs are excellent structures for storing, searching, and retrieving large amounts of data. By reducing an instance of a problem to a standard graph problem, we may be able to use well-known graph algorithms to provide an optimal solution, such as graphs in bioinformatics. Binary search trees in phylogenetic trees are organized so that each node has a label. A new graph labelling on trees is defined, and the properties of trees having this labelling are shown.
Load balancing for sustainable ICT

The herein paper addresses the issue of providing a model and guidelines for constructing a sustainable ICT environment at the University of Luxembourg. A particular context is thus considered, based on a real-life project that has as aim to provide a sustainable environment for the ICT infrastructure of the university. According to the different environment constraints and requirements, the objectives are to minimize electricity consumption by employing virtualization techniques and also to reduce carbon emissions by creating a load balanced charge of the computers that build the infrastructure. The quality of service is also addressed by provisioning factors. A multi-objective dynamic approach is considered in order to cope with the simultaneous optimization of the mentioned objectives and the dynamic nature of the system.
A Prototype for Executable and Portable Electronic Clinical Quality Measures Using the KNIME Analytics Platform

Electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) based on the Quality Data Model (QDM) cannot currently be executed against non-standardized electronic health record (EHR) data. To address this gap, we prototyped an implementation of a QDM-based eCQM using KNIME, an open-source platform comprising a wide array of computational workflow tools that are collectively capable of executing QDM-based logic, while also giving users the flexibility to customize mappings from site-specific EHR data. To prototype this capability, we implemented eCQM CMS30 (titled: Statin Prescribed at Discharge) using KNIME. The implementation contains value set modules with connections to the National Library of Medicine’s Value Set Authority Center, QDM Data Elements that can query a local EHR database, and logical and temporal operators. We successfully executed the KNIME implementation of CMS30 using data from the Vanderbilt University and Northwestern University EHR systems.
The TIGR Gene Indices: reconstruction and representation of expressed gene sequences

Expressed sequence tags (ESTs) have provided a first glimpse of the collection of transcribed sequences in a variety of organisms. However, a careful analysis of this sequence data can provide significant additional functional, structural and evolutionary information. Our analysis of the public EST sequences, available through the TIGR Gene Indices (TGI; http://www.tigr.org/tdb/tdb.html ), is an attempt to identify the genes represented by that data and to provide additional information regarding those genes. Gene Indices are constructed for selected organisms by first clustering, then assembling EST and annotated gene sequences from GenBank. This process produces a set of unique, high-fidelity virtual transcripts, or tentative consensus (TC) sequences. The TC sequences can be used to provide putative genes with functional annotation, to link the transcripts to mapping and genomic sequence data, and to provide links between orthologous and paralogous genes.
Spatial variation in the chemical composition of natal otoliths from a reef fish in the Galápagos Islands

Over the past decade, researchers have used variation in the chemical composition of fish otoliths (earstones) to address a number of ecological questions, such as stock assessment and assessing rates of movement of individuals among habitats or life-history stages. However, these methods have yet to be applied successfully to the study of larval connectivity, a major unanswered question in marine ecology. Accomplishing this task requires a reference collection of pre-pelagic natal otoliths and accurate measurement of the chemical signatures of otoliths cores of recruits. We analyzed the chemical composition of natal otoliths from near-term benthic eggs of a damselfish (Stegastes beebei) from all regions of the Galapagos Archipelago. There was no consistent variation in chemical signature at the largest scale, among regions in the archipelago (separated by ~100 to 150 km). However, we found significant variation among islands within each region (10s of km), and among clutches within islands. In addition, we found that otolith cores of newly settled recruits often differed chemically from natal otoliths (which ultimately make up the otolith core as the fish grows). Variation at smaller spatial scales but not larger ones implies that otolith chemistry will only be usable if larvae disperse short distances in this system, and additional work is required to understand the relationship between the chemistry of natal otoliths and recruit cores. Otolith chemistry has the potential to address questions of connectivity, but our data suggest that these methods should be applied cautiously.
Partial match retrieval of multidimensional data

A precise analysis of partial match retrieval of multidimensional data is presented. The structures considered here are multidimensional search trees (<italic>k</italic>-d-trees) and digital tries (<italic>k</italic>-d-tries), as well as structures designed for efficient retrieval of information stored on external devices. The methods used include a detailed study of a differential system around a regular singular point in conjunction with suitable contour integration techniques for the analysis of <italic>k</italic>-d-trees, and properties of the Mellin integral transform for <italic>k</italic>-d-tries and extendible cell algorithms.
Adaptive Unicast Video Streaming With Rateless Codes and Feedback

Video streaming over the Internet and packet-based wireless networks is sensitive to packet loss, which can severely damage the quality of the received video. To protect the transmitted video data against packet loss, application-layer forward error correction (FEC) is commonly used. Typically, for a given source block, the channel code rate is fixed in advance according to an estimation of the packet loss rate. However, since network conditions are difficult to predict, determining the right amount of redundancy introduced by the channel encoder is not obvious. To address this problem, we consider a general framework where the sender applies rateless erasure coding to every source block and keeps on transmitting the encoded symbols until it receives an acknowledgment from the receiver indicating that the block was decoded successfully. Within this framework, we design transmission strategies that aim at minimizing the expected bandwidth usage while ensuring successful decoding subject to an upper bound on the packet loss rate. In real simulations over the Internet, our solution outperformed standard FEC and hybrid automatic repeat request approaches. For the quarter common intermediate format Foreman sequence compressed with the H.264 video coder, the gain in average peak signal to noise ratio over the best previous scheme exceeded 3.5 dB at 90 kb/s.
Child Support and Low-Income Families: Perceptions, Practices, and Policy

Research publications reflect the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff, officers, or Board of Directors of the Public Policy Institute of California. Short sections of text, not to exceed three paragraphs, may be quoted without written permission provided that full attribution is given to the source and the above copyright notice is included. iii Foreword On January 1, 2000, the State of California will launch a brand new agency called the Department of Child Support Services. For the first time in the long and troubled history of child support enforcement, all functions will be consolidated under one umbrella organization. By breaking with past program management, the governor and state legislature have recognized the dramatic rise in single-parent households as a key public policy issue facing the state and the nation. Whether the single-agency approach proves to be successful, concern for the well-being of children raised in these households has emerged as the centerpiece of modern social policy. Maureen Waller and Robert Plotnick have taken a close look at the effects of tighter child support enforcement on poor families in particular. The result of their effort, Child Support and Low-Income Families: Perceptions, Practices, and Policy, finds complications on two fronts. First, families with welfare benefits provided under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program have few if iv any incentives to comply with certain child support regulations. Because cash contributions from noncustodial parents (usually fathers) go to the state government to offset welfare costs, many fathers either ignore the regulations or make minimal efforts to comply, preferring instead to offer in-kind support directly to mothers and children. The second complication concerns enforcement. Ignoring child support regulations results in sanctions against fathers that make them even worse off financially. Any penalty that discourages or prevents low-income fathers from working in the formal sector, for however brief a period, can only compound the financial difficulties of their families. The authors conclude that tougher enforcement practices are unlikely to help these families and that a range of new policy options should be considered. Many of these options focus on the incentives facing noncustodial parents. Parents need to benefit somehow from full compliance with child support regulations, and the report discusses a series of specific changes to accomplish this objective. Now that single parents head more than one-quarter of California's families, child support policy will be …
Applying Fishers' Ecological Knowledge to Construct Past and Future Lobster Stocks in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Chile

Over-exploited fisheries are a common feature of the modern world and a range of solutions including area closures (marine reserves; MRs), effort reduction, gear changes, ecosystem-based management, incentives and co-management have been suggested as techniques to rebuild over-fished populations. Historic accounts of lobster (Jasus frontalis) on the Chilean Juan Fernández Archipelago indicate a high abundance at all depths (intertidal to approximately 165 m), but presently lobsters are found almost exclusively in deeper regions of their natural distribution. Fishers' ecological knowledge (FEK) tells a story of serial depletion in lobster abundance at fishing grounds located closest to the fishing port with an associated decline in catch per unit effort (CPUE) throughout recent history. We have re-constructed baselines of lobster biomass throughout human history on the archipelago using historic data, the fishery catch record and FEK to permit examination of the potential effects of MRs, effort reduction and co-management (stewardship of catch) to restore stocks. We employed a bioeconomic model using FEK, fishery catch and effort data, underwater survey information, predicted population growth and response to MR protection (no-take) to explore different management strategies and their trade-offs to restore stocks and improve catches. Our findings indicate that increased stewardship of catch coupled with 30% area closure (MR) provides the best option to reconstruct historic baselines. Based on model predictions, continued exploitation under the current management scheme is highly influenced by annual fluctuations and unsustainable. We propose a community-based co-management program to implement a MR in order to rebuild the lobster population while also providing conservation protection for marine species endemic to the Archipelago.
ElephantTrap: A low cost device for identifying large flows

This paper describes the design of ElephantTrap, a device which aims to cache the largest flows (the "elephants") on a network link. ElephantTrap differs from previous work on identifying large flows in one crucial sense: it does not attempt to accurately estimate the size of the flows it is trapping. This leads to an extremely lightweight design and a surprisingly good performance. ElephantTrap can be employed in the line cards of switches and routers and be used for diagnostics, anomaly detection and traffic engineering.
Superresolution with the focused plenoptic camera

Digital images from a CCD or CMOS sensor with a color filter array must undergo a demosaicing process to combine the separate color samples into a single color image. This interpolation process can interfere with the subsequent superresolution process. Plenoptic superresolution, which relies on precise sub-pixel sampling across captured microimages, is particularly sensitive to such resampling of the raw data. In this paper we present an approach for superresolving plenoptic images that takes place at the time of demosaicing the raw color image data. Our approach exploits the interleaving provided by typical color filter arrays (e.g., Bayer filter) to further refine plenoptic sub-pixel sampling. Our rendering algorithm treats the color channels in a plenoptic image separately, which improves final superresolution by a factor of two. With appropriate plenoptic capture we show the theoretical possibility for rendering final images at full sensor resolution.
The optimum running approximation of a matrix filterbank by pseudo inverse matrices

Firstly, we establish a theorem showing that approximation of a matrix filterbank, which minimizes the average value of squared norms of error based on pseudo inverse matrices, is essentially equivalent to the optimum approximation which is derived by Kida that minimizes various worst-case measures of approximation-error at the same time. Secondly, under a restriction that Fourier-transforms of the input-matrices and analysis-matrices are expressed by Fourier series with finite terms having bounded norms, we present concrete procedure of deriving synthesis matrices of the optimum running approximation obtained by taking pseudo inverse matrices which are composed of constant coefficient matrices and sampling matrices of the matrix filterbank. The synthesis-filterbanks in the past optimum running approximation by Kida are given by combinations of block-wise synthesis-filterbanks defined in separate small domains in the variable domain. Besides, in these past contributions, the restriction of continuity is necessary with respect to the measure of error. Under the above restriction, we prove that these complex restrictions are not necessary. Thirdly, we present a reciprocal theorem with respect to exchange of analysis-matrices and synthesis-matrices in a matrix filterbank.
Theoretical Models for Classical Cepheids. VIII. Effects of Helium and Heavy-Element Abundance on the Cepheid Distance Scale

Previous nonlinear fundamental pulsation models for classical Cepheids with metal content Z ≤ 0.02 are implemented with new computations at supersolar metallicity (Z = 0.03, 0.04) and selected choices of the helium-to-metal enrichment ratio ΔY/ΔZ. On this basis, we show that the location into the H-R diagram of the Cepheid instability strip is dependent on both metal and helium abundance, moving toward higher effective temperatures with decreasing metal content (at fixed Y) or with increasing helium content (at fixed Z). The contributions of helium and metals to the predicted period-luminosity and period-luminosity-color relations are discussed as well as the implications on the Cepheid distance scale. We suggest that the adoption of empirical V and I period-luminosity relations, as inferred by Cepheids at the LMC, to get distance moduli with an uncertainty of ±0.10 mag is fully justified for variables in the short-period range (P ≤ 10 days), at least with Z ≤ 0.04 and ΔY/ΔZ in the range of 2-4. Conversely, at longer periods (P > 10 days) a correction to LMC-based distance moduli may be needed, whose sign and amount depend on the helium and metal content of the Cepheids. Specifically, from fundamental pulsators with Z > 0.008 we derive that the correction (in magnitude) may be approximated as c = -6.03 + 17.80Y - 2.80 log Z + 8.19Y log Z, with a total intrinsic uncertainty of ±0.05 mag, whereas c = -0.23(±0.03) log(Z/0.008) if Z < 0.008. Based on these new results, we show that the empirical metallicity correction suggested by Cepheid observations in two fields of the galaxy M101 may be accounted for, provided that the adopted helium-to-metal enrichment ratio is reasonably high (ΔY/ΔZ ~ 3.5).
Music Motive Extraction Through Hanson Intervallic Analysis

Music motive extraction is an important concept to consider in music information retrieval. Among the possible applications are the creations of music databases that need of indexing tools and access in a dynamic way, copyright management and plagiarism detection, computer-aided composition, etc. This paper presents an unsupervised method for automatic music motive extraction from symbolic sources, using an intervallic analysis. The results are evaluated quantitatively using a melodic similarity technique