Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In North Carolina, It's Not Election Day—It's Election Month: An Analysis of the 2008 Election

As one of the most competitive presidential contests in 2008, North Carolina also experienced a dramatic surge in early voting. While the literature regarding early voting presents conflicting findings, the opportunity to merge this area of study in voting behavior with the idea that “place matters” enables researchers to explore integrated questions about the activities and decisions of voters. By using a precinct-level analysis of urban, suburban, and rural voters in 2004 and 2008, this research begins an exploration of the impact of location and the opportunity to cast early ballots in turning a formerly red Republican state into a hue of a Tar Heel-blue state.
Treatment with novel oral anticoagulants: indications, efficacy and risks

Purpose of reviewTo summarize data relevant to novel oral anticoagulants (nOACs), mainly apixaban, dabigatran and rivaroxaban, as alternatives to vitamin K antagonists (VKAs). Recent findingsRE-LY was the first contemporaneous study to compare a nOAC, dabigatran, with dose-adjusted warfarin, for prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in atrial fibrillation. Since then multiple studies have compared nOACs to warfarin for acute (RE-COVER, RECOVER-II, EINSTEIN-DVT and EINSTEIN-PE) and extended treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) (AMPLIFY-EXT, RE-MEDY and RE-SONATE). Additional studies have examined stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (ARISTOTLE and ROCKET-AF). We do not examine, in depth, use of nOACs in coronary artery disease. SummarynOACs are an acceptable alternative to VKAs in certain situations – these are at least as effective as warfarin for secondary prevention of VTE and for prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in patients with atrial fibrillation. These compare favorably with warfarin with respect to their rate of fatal and major bleeding. However, special attention should be given when using these drugs in certain patient populations, in particular in patients with renal insufficiency, those receiving additional antithrombotic therapy, those with questionable compliance, patients of child bearing potential and those with a high risk of gastrointestinal bleeding.
The Effects of Transport Accessibility and Jobs–Housing Balance on Commuting Time: Evidence from Beijing

Increases in commuting time have caused serious social and environmental problems in a physically fragmentizing mega-city. Some policy-makers attend to solve commuting-related problems through alternative land-use policies, in particular mixed land use and multi-functional structures, rather than mere transport programmes. This paper investigates the effects of the jobs–housing balance on commuting time at the community level in Beijing. The paper puts forward a new indicator of home-based job proximity to measure the jobs–housing balance. A 1500 household-based travel data set was used to aggregate the average commuting time of the 60 communities studied. Based on the results of a correlation analysis, findings suggest that home-based job proximity has the strongest significantly negative relationship with average community commuting time. In fact, the results of a two-step regression analysis suggest that 68.6% of the changes in average commuting time are explained overwhelmingly by the home-based job proximity variable. However, there are no significant associations between average commuting time and the variables of local public transport accessibility and private vehicle transport accessibility. Obviously, current urban policy, which relies predominantly on ambitious and expensive programmes of transport infrastructure provision must be rethought in Beijing. Improving the jobs–housing balance through the implemention of compact land development may be an alternative to reducing overall commuting duration.
Women and the question of sustainable development in a Philippine fishing village

SUMMARY This paper presents a case study of time use and contribution to the household income of men, women, and children in 12 households in a fishing village in Panay Island, central Philippines. The study highlights the differential impact of poverty on men and women and provides a glimpse of the intrahousehold dynamics within poor fishing households. Findings in previous studies in both industrialized and developing countries that women work longer hours than men were corroborated. Women contribute at least 22% to the household cash income and 40% of the value of unpaid labour. Their contribution to the household cash income becomes larger than that of men's when the value of livestock is computed. Women's daily participation in productive activities, such as fish vending and shucking oyster and mussel, unwittingly puts them in a position of being environmental recorders and verifiers of the state of fishery resources. Because they are burdened with the responsibility of making ends meet, they are als.
PENGARUH AKUNTABILITAS PUBLIK, PARTISIPASI MASYARAKAT DAN TRANSPARANSI KEBIJAKAN PUBLIK TERHADAP HUBUNGAN ANTARA PENGETAHUAN ANGGARAN DENGAN PENGAWASAN KEUANGAN DAERAH (APBD)

The purpose of this studi examined influence of public accountability, public participation and public policy transparancy on the relationship between budgeting knowledge and budgeting control. The sample study are legislative assembly at provincial (DPRD) and public such as Non Govermental Organization (NGO), public organization, public figure, academic, student and mass media in Kota Malang, Kabupaten Malang, and Kota Batu. Hypothesis are tested empirically used regression and Chow test. The result of study indicated that, first, budgeting knowledge are statically significant, positive coeficient indicated that high budgeting according legislative and public. The second, interaction between public accountability with budgeting knowledge are statically significant according legislative and public.The thrid, interaction between public participation with budgeting knowledge are statically significant according legislative, and not significant according public. The fourth, interaction public policy transparancy between with budgeting knowledge arestatically not significant.The Fifth, the result of chow test indicated that local financial control (APBD) funtion different are statically as well as council although public sample, so hyphothesis fifth are acceptance.
Can Price Limits Help When the Price is Falling? Evidence from Transactions Data on the Shanghai Stock Exchange

We use transactions data to explore the magnet effects of price limit rules on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SHSE). When limit hits are imminent, stock prices are found to approach the price limits at faster rates, with higher trading intensity and larger price variation, supporting the magnet effect hypothesis of Subrahmanyam [Subrahmanyam, A. , 1994. Circuit breakers and market volatility: A theoretical perspective. Journal of Finance, 49, 237-254. ]. Moreover, when stock prices approach the floor limits, we observe lower than normal market conditions' trading volume and trade size but a wider spread. The panic selling psychology of individual investors for fear of illiquidity and the strategic trading decisions of discretionary traders during periods prior to price limit hits at the floors are conjectured as possible explanations for the observed price behaviors. Post-limit-hit analysis reveals evidence of delayed price discovery at the ceiling limit but price reversal at the floor.
All Roads Lead to Risk Preference: A Turnpike Theorem for Conditionally Independent Returns

Abstract An individual is repeatedly offered the opportunity to invest in a risky asset whose return distribution is unknown. Because the return distribution is constant over time, however, he is able to learn about that distribution by observing investment outcomes. Results are presented regarding the asymptotically optimal investment behavior of a risk-averse individual under these circumstances when his aim is to maximize the expected utility of his end-of-horizon wealth. For the class of isoelastic utility functions with constant relative risk averson less than one, the optimal investment approaches a constant proportion of wealth. The limiting proportion is the same as the proportion put up by the most optimistic individual when the investment opportunity is offered only once. These results are then extended by generalizing the class of utility functions under consideration and, at the same time, restricting the class of possible investment schemes. This paper is distinguished from the previous literature by the assumption of conditional independence of returns across periods.
Effects of puerarin combined with conventional therapy on ischemic stroke

This study evaluated the use of conventional therapy combined with puerarin on ischemic stroke. Eighty patients with ischemic stroke admitted to Tangshan Gongren Hospital from March 2014 to September 2015 were randomly divided into two groups. The control group was treated with conventional therapy. The observation group was treated with an additional puerarin injection of 400 mg/day. The patients in both groups were examined for clinical neurological signs and symptoms. The levels of biochemical markers as well as changes in hemorheology were measured after the intervention and compared among the groups. Our results indicate that the language expression was significantly better in the observation group after the intervention (p<0.05). Additionally, the aphasia quotient was higher (p<0.05), the neurological deficit score was lower (p<0.05), and the functional ability score was higher (p<0.05). The plasma S-100B and NSE levels were lower (p<0.05), the whole blood viscosity and plasma viscosity were lower (p<0.05), and the levels of corticotropin-releasing hormone, corticotropin, cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine were lower (p<0.05). Our findings led to the conclusion that the use of puerarin can effectively improve the language function, reduce neurological damage, reduce blood viscosity, reduce stress response and improve quality of life.
Performance Improvement Requires Putting New Perspectives and Old Lessons to Work

Performance improvement does not come easy. Well-meaning efforts of governments can often cause good managers-talented ones who want to deliver value to taxpayers-to become confused, frustrated, and even penalized. Performance improvement is most likely where productivity initiatives encourage the development of learning-oriented organizations. Some performance improvement schemes do work, especially where they promote collaboration, but many schemes fall by the wayside when political winds and governments change. Sometimes performance improvement requires looking anew at the potential of new technologies and even new ways to conceptualize improvement processes. These are some of the messages that were sounded at the 2nd Performance in Government Conference in London. The following symposium is a selection of the best papers from that international conference. The stresses between top-down and bottom-up approaches to performance improvement are a central theme to some of the articles. Well-publicized initiatives originated by central governments often ignore the needs of local managers for information that is requisite for actual performance improvement. Centrally mandated performance schemes tend to be designed to foster central political agendas. Those schemes can easily frustrate the development of information that helps to improve local service quality and efficiency. Ian Greener's report on the experiences of performance measurement in the National Health Service of the United Kingdom shows that efforts to measure performance date back to the service's founding more than a half century ago. His review also shows that these efforts have intensified in the past two decades, especially with the coming to power of the Thatcher government and more recently with the New
Pharmacology and Physiology of Melatonin in the Reduction of Oxidative Stress in vivo

This brief resume summarizes the evidence which shows that melatonin is a significant free radical scavenger and antioxidant at both physiological and pharmacological concentrations in vivo. Surgical removal of the pineal gland, a procedure which lowers endogenous melatonin levels in the blood, exaggerates molecular damage due to free radicals during an oxidative challenge. Likewise, providing supplemental melatonin during periods of massive free radical production greatly lowers the resulting tissue damage and dysfunction. In the current review, these findings are considered in terms of neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, ischemia/reperfusion injury and aging. Besides being a highly effective direct free radical scavenger and indirect antioxidant, melatonin has several features that make it of clinical interest. Thus, melatonin is readily absorbed when it is administered via any route, it crosses all morphophysiological barriers, e.g., blood-brain barrier and placenta, with ease, it seems to enter all parts of every cell where it prevents oxidative damage, it preserves mitochondrial function, and it has low toxicity. While blood melatonin levels are normally low, tissue levels of the indoleamine can be considerably higher and at some sites, e.g., in bone marrow cells and bile, melatonin concentrations exceed those in the blood by several orders of magnitude. What constitutes a physiological level of melatonin must be redefined in terms of the bodily fluid, tissue and subcellular compartment being examined.
Presenilin‐1 Exists in Both Pre‐ and Post‐Golgi Compartments and Recycles Via COPI‐Coated Membranes

Presenilin‐1 is involved in intramembrane proteolysis of various proteins, but its intracellular site of action has remained elusive. Here, we determined by quantitative immunogold‐electron microscopy that presenilin‐1 in Chinese hamster ovary cells is present in pre‐Golgi compartments as well as at the plasma membrane and endosomes. Notably, a high percentage of presenilin‐1 resides in COPI‐coated membranes between the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi complex, indicating significant recycling to the endoplasmic reticulum. By contrast, the inactive aspartate mutant presenilin‐1D257A is relatively excluded from COPI‐coated membranes, concomitant with increased post‐Golgi levels. These data provide critical evidence for the scenario that the complex containing presenilin‐1 can serve as γ‐secretase at the plasma membrane or endosomes and suggest a role for COPI‐mediated retrograde transport in regulating post‐Golgi levels of presenilin‐1.
Unintended consequences of biofuels production?The effects of large-scale crop conversion on water quality and quantity

Printed on recycled paper I the search for renewable fuel alternatives, biofuels have gained strong political momentum. In the last decade, extensive mandates, policies, and subsidies have been adopted to foster the development of a biofuels industry in the United States. The Biofuels Initiative in the Mississippi Delta resulted in a 47-percent decrease in cotton acreage with a concurrent 288-percent increase in corn acreage in 2007. Because corn uses 80 percent more water for irrigation than cotton, and more nitrogen fertilizer is recommended for corn cultivation than for cotton, this widespread shift in crop type has implications for water quantity and water quality in the Delta. Increased water use for corn is accelerating water-level declines in the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer at a time when conservation is being encouraged because of concerns about sustainability of the groundwater resource. Results from a mathematical model calibrated to existing conditions in the Delta indicate that increased fertilizer application on corn also likely will increase the extent of nitrate-nitrogen movement into the alluvial aquifer. Preliminary estimates based on surface-water modeling results indicate that higher application rates of nitrogen increase the nitrogen exported from the Yazoo River Basin to the Mississippi River by about 7 percent. Thus, the shift from cotton to corn may further contribute to hypoxic (low dissolved oxygen) conditions in the Gulf of Mexico.
Bone Metabolism in Chronic Heart Failure

Purpose: Chronic Heart Failure (HF) is complicated by bone loss and osteoporosis, which have been linked to hyperparathyroidism. We studied the bone metabolism and possible role of cytokines in patients suffering from HF. Methods and results: We measured bone alkaline phosphatase (BALP), C-telopeptides of type I collagen (β-CTx) and Interleukin-(IL) 6 in 60 men, 56 ± 11 years of age, suffering from chronic HF, and in 13 age-matched men free from HF. We also measured total body and femoral bone densitometry and parathyroid hormone (PTH). The β-CTx concentrations were significantly higher in men with than in men without HF. The concentrations of BALP (12.4 ± 4.9 vs. 9.9 ± 3 μg/l; P=0.03) and β-CTx (0.67 ± 0.35 vs. 0.33 ± 0.21 ng/ml; P<0.001) were significantly higher in patients in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classes III or IV than in patients in classes I or II. Moderately strong correlations were observed between β-CTx, BALP, PTH and bone densitometry measurements. Positive correlations were observed between NYHA functional classes and a) mean PTH (r2=0.19; P<0.001) and b) mean β-CTx (r2=0.30; P<0.001) concentrations. Moreover, increasing serum β-CTx and BALP concentrations were correlated with measurements consistent with decreasing bone mass and increasing severity of HF. IL-6 was also correlated with β-CTx, BALP and PTH, though not with measurements of bone density. Increased serum concentrations of IL-6 were correlated with the severity of HF. β-CTx was a strong predictor of adverse clinical events (hazard ratio 6.32; 95% confidence interval 1.8-22.5; P=0.005), including after controlling for other prognostic markers of chronic HF severity and measurements of bone densitometry. Conclusion: Chronic HF, particularly at advanced stages, was associated with an acceleration of bone turnover and uncoupling of bone formation and resorption. These changes in bone metabolism, among others, could be due to secondary hyperparathyroidism and the chronic inflammatory state associated with chronic HF. The increased osteoclastic activity observed in chronic HF was associated with a poor prognosis.
SEARCHING FOR NEEDLES IN HAYSTACKS—LOOKING FOR GAMMA-RAY BURST γ-RAYS WITH THE FERMI/LAT DETECTOR

Since the launch of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope on 2008 June 11, 55 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been observed at coordinates that fall within 66° of the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) boresight with precise localizations provided by the NASA Swift mission or other satellites. Imposing selection cuts to exclude low Galactic latitudes and high zenith angles reduces the sample size to 41. Using matched filter techniques, the Fermi/LAT photon data for these fields have been examined for evidence of bursts that have so far evaded detection at energies above 100 MeV. Following comparisons with similar random background fields, two events, GRB 080905A and GRB 091208B, stand out as excellent candidates for such an identification. After excluding the six bright bursts previously reported by the LAT team, the remaining 35 events exhibit an excess of LAT “diffuse” photons with a statistical significance greater than 2σ, independent of the matched filter analysis. After accounting for the total number of photons in the well-localized fields and including estimates of detection efficiency, one concludes that somewhere in the range of 11%–19% of all GRBs within the LAT field of view illuminate the detector with two or more energetic photons. These are the most stringent estimates of the high-energy photon content of GRBs to date. The two new events associated with high-energy photon emission have similar ratios of high- to low-energy fluences as observed previously. This separates them from bursts with similar low-energy fluences by a factor of 10, suggesting a distinct class of events rather than a smooth continuum.
Mobile localization based on improved non-line-of-sight classification

One of the main problems facing accurate localization using Time-of-Arrival (TOA) measurements in wireless communication systems is Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) propagation. Classification is among the important NLOS mitigation approaches whereby the system attempts to identify and localize with the LOS base stations (BSs) only. In this paper, the impact of the number of NLOS BSs and their geometrical distribution on the localization process is investigated. With the use of a residual test (RT) classification algorithm, it is shown that, under certain conditions, the system that localizes with all BSs (including both LOS and NLOS) can benefit from error cancellation, and may perform better than the system that implements “pure” classification. Based on this observation, it is concluded that BSs identified as NLOS should not always be dropped, and a modified classification algorithm is proposed. The new algorithm drops BSs identified as NLOS only when there are enough geometrically “well distributed” BSs to localize with. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can outperform other conventional classification schemes.
454 next generation-sequencing outperforms allele-specific PCR, Sanger sequencing, and pyrosequencing for routine KRAS mutation analysis of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples

Detection of KRAS mutations in archival pathology samples is critical for therapeutic appropriateness of anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies in colorectal cancer. We compared the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of Sanger sequencing, ARMS-Scorpion (TheraScreen®) real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), pyrosequencing, chip array hybridization, and 454 next-generation sequencing to assess KRAS codon 12 and 13 mutations in 60 nonconsecutive selected cases of colorectal cancer. Twenty of the 60 cases were detected as wild-type KRAS by all methods with 100% specificity. Among the 40 mutated cases, 13 were discrepant with at least one method. The sensitivity was 85%, 90%, 93%, and 92%, and the accuracy was 90%, 93%, 95%, and 95% for Sanger sequencing, TheraScreen real-time PCR, pyrosequencing, and chip array hybridization, respectively. The main limitation of Sanger sequencing was its low analytical sensitivity, whereas TheraScreen real-time PCR, pyrosequencing, and chip array hybridization showed higher sensitivity but suffered from the limitations of predesigned assays. Concordance between the methods was k = 0.79 for Sanger sequencing and k > 0.85 for the other techniques. Tumor cell enrichment correlated significantly with the abundance of KRAS-mutated deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), evaluated as ΔCt for TheraScreen real-time PCR (P = 0.03), percentage of mutation for pyrosequencing (P = 0.001), ratio for chip array hybridization (P = 0.003), and percentage of mutation for 454 next-generation sequencing (P = 0.004). Also, 454 next-generation sequencing showed the best cross correlation for quantification of mutation abundance compared with all the other methods (P < 0.001). Our comparison showed the superiority of next-generation sequencing over the other techniques in terms of sensitivity and specificity. Next-generation sequencing will replace Sanger sequencing as the reference technique for diagnostic detection of KRAS mutation in archival tumor tissues.