Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Criminal Deterrence: A Review of the Literature

We review economics research regarding the effect of police, punishments, and work on crime, with a particular focus on papers from the last twenty years. Evidence in favor of deterrence effects is mixed. While there is considerable evidence that crime is responsive to police and to the existence of attractive legitimate labor-market opportunities, there is far less evidence that crime responds to the severity of criminal sanctions. We discuss fruitful directions for future work and implications for public policy.
Interleukin-12 in infectious diseases

Interleukin-12 (IL-12) is a potent immunoregulatory cytokine that is crucially involved in a wide range of infectious diseases. In several experimental models of bacterial, parasitic, viral, and fungal infection, endogenous IL-12 is required for early control of infection and for generation and perhaps maintenance of acquired protective immunity, directed by T helper type 1 (Th1) cells and mediated by phagocytes. Although the relative roles of IL-12 and gamma interferon in Th1-cell priming may be to a significant extent pathogen dependent, common to most infections is that IL-12 regulates the magnitude of the gamma interferon response at the initiation of infection, thus potentiating natural resistance, favoring Th1-cell development; and inhibiting Th2 responses. Treatment of animals with IL-12, either alone or as a vaccine adjuvant, has been shown to prevent disease by many of the same infectious agents, by stimulating innate resistance or promoting specific reactivity. Although IL-12 may enhance protective memory responses in vaccination or in combination with antimicrobial chemotherapy, it is yet unclear whether exogenous IL-12 can alter established responses in humans. Continued investigation into the possible application of IL-12 therapy to human infections is warranted by the role of the cytokine in inflammation, immunopathology, and autoimmunity.
Challenges for extracting biomedical knowledge from full text

At present, most biomedical Information Retrieval and Extraction tools process abstracts rather than full-text articles. The increasing availability of full text will allow more knowledge to be extracted with greater reliability. To investigate the challenges of full-text processing, we manually annotated a corpus of cited articles from a Molecular Interaction Map (Kohn, 1999). Our analysis demonstrates the necessity of full-text processing; identifies the article sections where interactions are most commonly stated; and quantifies both the amount of external knowledge required and the proportion of interactions requiring multiple or deeper inference steps. Further, it identifies a range of NLP tools required, including: identifying synonyms, and resolving coreference and negated expressions. This is important guidance for researchers engineering biomedical text processing systems.
Excitation Waveform Design for Lamb Wave Pulse Compression

Most ultrasonic guided wave methods focus on tone burst excitation to reduce the effect of dispersion so as to facilitate signal interpretation. However, the resolution of the output cannot attain a very high value because time duration of the excitation waveform cannot be very small. To overcome this limitation, a pulse compression technique is introduced to Lamb wave propagation to achieve a δ-like correlation so as to obtain a high resolution for inspection. Ideal δ-like correlation is impossible as only a finite frequency bandwidth can propagate. The primary purpose of this paper is to design a proper excitation waveform for Lamb wave pulse compression, which shortens the correlation as close as possible to a δ function. To achieve this purpose, the performance of some typical signals is discussed in pulse compression, which include linear chirp (L-Chirp) signal, nonlinear chirp (NLChirp) signal, Barker code (BC), and Golay complementary code (GCC). In addition, how the excitation frequency range influences inspection resolution is investigated. A strategy for the frequency range determination is established subsequently. Finally, an experiment is carried out on an aluminum plate where these typical signals are used as excitations at different frequency ranges. The quantitative comparisons of the pulse compression responses validate the theoretical findings. By utilizing the experimental data, the improvement of pulse compression in resolution compared with tone burst excitation is also validated, and the robustness of the waveform design method to inaccuracies in the dispersion compensation is discussed as well.
Coronary artery disease in Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a major public health problem worldwide. To our knowledge, there is no national data available from community based studies on prevalence of CAD in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Therefore, we designed this study with the objective to determine the prevalence of CAD among Saudis of both sexes, between the ages of 30-70-years in rural as well as urban communities. Further, to determine the prevalence and clinical pattern of the major modifiable risk factors for CAD among the same population. This work is part of a major national study on CAD in Saudis Study (CADISS). METHODS This is a community based study conducted by examining subjects in the age group of 30-70-years of selected households during 5-year period between 1995 and 2000 in KSA. Data were obtained from history using a validated questionnaire, and electrocardiography. The data were analyzed to provide prevalence of CAD and risk assessment model. RESULTS Nine hundred and forty-four subjects, out of 17232 were diagnosed to have CAD. Thus, the overall prevalence of CAD obtained from this study is 5.5% in KSA. The prevalence in males and females were 6.6% and 4.4% (P<0.0001). Urban Saudis have a higher prevalence of 6.2% compared to rural Saudis of 4% (P<0.0001). The following variables are found to be statistically significant risk factors in KSA: age, male gender, body mass index (BMI), hypertension, current smoking, fasting blood glucose, fasting cholesterol and triglycerides. CONCLUSION The overall prevalence of CAD in KSA is 5.5%. A national prevention program at community level as well as high risk groups should be implemented sooner to prevent the expected epidemic of CAD that we are seeing, beginning. Measures are needed to change lifestyle and to address the management of the metabolic syndrome, to reduce modifiable risk factors for CAD. A longitudinal study is needed to demonstrate the importance of reducing modifiable risk factors for CAD in KSA.
Swept Source Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography for Contact Lens-Related Corneal Vascularization

Purpose. To describe a novel technique of adapting a swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) to image corneal vascularization. Methods. In this pilot cross-sectional study, we obtained 3 × 3 mm scans, where 100,000 A-scans are acquired per second with optical axial resolution of 8 μm and lateral resolution of 20 μm. This was performed with manual “XYZ” focus without the anterior segment lens, until the focus of the corneoscleral surface was clearly seen and the vessels of interest were in focus on the corresponding red-free image. En face scans were evaluated based on image quality score and repeatability. Results. We analyzed scans from 10 eyes (10 patients) with corneal vascularization secondary to contact lens use in 4 quadrants, with substantial repeatability of scans in all quadrants (mean image quality score 2.7 ± 0.7; κ = 0.75). There was no significant difference in image quality scores comparing quadrants (superior temporal: 2.9 ± 0.6, superior nasal: 2.8 ± 0.4, inferior temporal: 2.5 ± 0.9, and inferior nasal: 2.4 ± 1.0; P = 0.276) and able to differentiate deep and superficial corneal vascularization. Conclusion. This early clinical study suggests that the swept-source OCTA used may be useful for examining corneal vascularization, which may have potential for clinical applications such as detecting early limbal stem cell damage.
Biographic forecasting: bridging the micro-macro gap in population forecasting

The paper outlines a new model for demographic projections by detailed population categories that are required in the development of sustainable (elderly) health care systems and pension systems. The methodology consists of a macro-model (MAC) that models demographic changes at the population level and a micro-model (MIC) that models demographic events at the individual level. Both models are multistate models that rely on rates of transition between states of existence or stages of life. MAC focuses on transitions among functional states by age and sex. The transitions determine the distribution of cohort members among functional states. The output of MAC consists of cohort biographies. MIC addresses demographic events and other life transitions at the individual level. It is a micro-simulation model that produces individual biographies. This paper describes approaches to functional population projection and provides a detailed description of the multistate model. It also contains an overview of the MicMac project.
Developing the Scholarship of Teaching Through Transformative Learning

Following a cognitive-developmental perspective, the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning is understood as a process of knowledge construction whereby knowledge claims are validated through reflection on teaching experience and educational theory. These reflective processes can be documented and peer reviewed. Teaching portfolios allow for the documentation of indicators of reflection. Indicators can be developed for each of three domains of teaching knowledge: (1) what we consider to be meaningful goals and purposes of higher education; (2) what we know about student learning and development in relation to these goals; and (3) what we know about the teaching and instructional design processes needed to bring about academic learning and development. Keywords: Learning about teaching, transformative learning, reflection, professionalism and citizenship, scholarship, documentation and peer review
Design synthesis from interaction and state-based specifications

Interaction-based and state-based modeling are two complementary approaches of behavior modeling. The former focuses on global interactions between system components. The latter concentrates on the internal states of individual components. Both approaches have been proven useful in practice. One challenging and important research objective is to combine the modeling power of both effectively and then use the combination as the basis for automatic design synthesis. We present a combination of interaction-based and state-based modeling, namely, live sequence charts and Z, for system specification. We then propose a way of generating distributed design from the combinations. Our approach handles systems with intensive interactive behaviors as well as complex state structures
Cardiac electrophysiology in mice: a matter of size

Over the last decade, mouse models have become a popular instrument for studying cardiac arrhythmias. This review assesses in which respects a mouse heart is a miniature human heart, a suitable model for studying mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias in humans and in which respects human and murine hearts differ. Section I considers the issue of scaling of mammalian cardiac (electro) physiology to body mass. Then, we summarize differences between mice and humans in cardiac activation (section II) and the currents underlying the action potential in the murine working myocardium (section III). Changes in cardiac electrophysiology in mouse models of heart disease are briefly outlined in section IV, while section V discusses technical considerations pertaining to recording cardiac electrical activity in mice. Finally, section VI offers general considerations on the influence of cardiac size on the mechanisms of tachy-arrhythmias.
Virological response to short-course maraviroc monotherapy does not predict viral tropism in HIV-1-infected treatment-naive patients.

OBJECTIVES We aimed to evaluate whether virological response to a short course of maraviroc monotherapy could predict HIV-1 tropism. METHODS A clinical trial was performed in HIV-1 treatment-naive patients infected with R5- or non-R5-tropic virus determined using the Trofile(®) assay, with >1000 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL. Maraviroc was administered for 10 days. Viral load was measured at baseline and days 4, 7, 10 and 28. The main outcome measurement was the decline in HIV-1 RNA at day 10. The trial was registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov database (NCT01060618; TROPISMVC). RESULTS Forty patients [30 R5 and 10 dual/mixed (D/M)] were recruited. There was a significant decrease in HIV-1 RNA after 10 days of maraviroc treatment in patients with R5-tropic virus (median 1.52 log10 RNA copies/mL; 95% CI 1.23-1.63; P < 0.0001), but also in patients with D/M-tropic virus (median 1.62 log(10) RNA copies/mL; 95% CI 0.33-1.88; P = 0.00024). The difference in the HIV-1 RNA decrease (-0.16 log(10) RNA copies/mL; 95% CI -0.53 to 0.22) was not significant (P = 0.410). A decrease >0.5 log(10) RNA copies/mL was found in 96.3% of patients with R5-tropic virus and in 70% of patients with D/M-tropic virus (P = 0.052). The differences were not significant when a decline of 1 log(10) RNA copies/mL was considered (92.6% versus 70%; P = 0.11). CONCLUSIONS Treatment-naive patients infected with R5- or D/M-tropic virus have similar virological responses to a short course of maraviroc monotherapy. This clinical test thus cannot be used as a surrogate marker of viral tropism in this population.
A role for human Dicer in pre-RISC loading of siRNAs

RNA interference is a powerful mechanism for sequence-specific inhibition of gene expression. It is widely known that small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) targeting the same region of a target-messenger RNA can have widely different efficacies. In efforts to better understand the siRNA features that influence knockdown efficiency, we analyzed siRNA interactions with a high-molecular weight complex in whole cell extracts prepared from two different cell lines. Using biochemical tools to study the nature of the complex, our results demonstrate that the primary siRNA-binding protein in the whole cell extracts is Dicer. We find that Dicer is capable of discriminating highly functional versus poorly functional siRNAs by recognizing the presence of 2-nt 3′ overhangs and the thermodynamic properties of 2–4 bp on both ends of effective siRNAs. Our results suggest a role for Dicer in pre-selection of effective siRNAs for handoff to Ago2. This initial selection is reflective of the overall silencing potential of an siRNA.
Nervous systems of the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis are generated by ectoderm and endoderm and shaped by distinct mechanisms

As a sister group to Bilateria, Cnidaria is important for understanding early nervous system evolution. Here we examine neural development in the anthozoan cnidarian Nematostella vectensis in order to better understand whether similar developmental mechanisms are utilized to establish the strikingly different overall organization of bilaterian and cnidarian nervous systems. We generated a neuron-specific transgenic NvElav1 reporter line of N. vectensis and used it in combination with immunohistochemistry against neuropeptides, in situ hybridization and confocal microscopy to analyze nervous system formation in this cnidarian model organism in detail. We show that the development of neurons commences in the ectoderm during gastrulation and involves interkinetic nuclear migration. Transplantation experiments reveal that sensory and ganglion cells are autonomously generated by the ectoderm. In contrast to bilaterians, neurons are also generated throughout the endoderm during planula stages. Morpholino-mediated gene knockdown shows that the development of a subset of ectodermal neurons requires NvElav1, the ortholog to bilaterian neural elav1 genes. The orientation of ectodermal neurites changes during planula development from longitudinal (in early-born neurons) to transverse (in late-born neurons), whereas endodermal neurites can grow in both orientations at any stage. Our findings imply that elav1-dependent ectodermal neurogenesis evolved prior to the divergence of Cnidaria and Bilateria. Moreover, they suggest that, in contrast to bilaterians, almost the entire ectoderm and endoderm of the body column of Nematostella planulae have neurogenic potential and that the establishment of connectivity in its seemingly simple nervous system involves multiple neurite guidance systems.
Sentence Compression as Tree Transduction

This paper presents a tree-to-tree transduction method for sentence compression. Our model is based on synchronous tree substitution grammar, a formalism that allows local distortion of the tree topology and can thus naturally capture structural mismatches. We describe an algorithm for decoding in this framework and show how the model can be trained discriminatively within a large margin framework. Experimental results on sentence compression bring significant improvements over a state-of-the-art model.
Comparative evaluation of the antimicrobial activities of essential oils of Artemisia afra, Pteronia incana and Rosmarinus officinalis on selected bacteria and yeast strains

Essential oils are frequently used for flavour and fragrance in the perfume, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries. The antimicrobial activities of the essential oils of Artemisia afra, Pteronia incana and Rosmarinus officinalis were tested against 41 microbial strains. The test organisms were selected on the basis of their significance as food spoilage and/or poisoning, common human and plant pathogens. The agar diffusion assay was performed using nutrient agar and antibiotic medium. All the oils tested displayed some antimicrobial activities. However, the efficiency differed and depended both on the type and concentration of the oil, as well as the test microbial strain. Artemisia afra and R. officinalis showed similar and higher antimicrobial activity than P. incana. Due to their broad antimicrobial activities, the essential oils of the above plants growing in Eastern Cape may have preservative potential for the food and cosmetic industries.
Group-theoretic algorithms for matrix multiplication

We further develop the group-theoretic approach to fast matrix multiplication introduced by Cohn and Umans, and for the first time use it to derive algorithms asymptotically faster than the standard algorithm. We describe several families of wreath product groups that achieve matrix multiplication exponent less than 3, the asymptotically fastest of which achieves exponent 2.41. We present two conjectures regarding specific improvements, one combinatorial and the other algebraic. Either one would imply that the exponent of matrix multiplication is 2.
A Resampling-Based Markovian Model for Automated Colon Cancer Diagnosis

In recent years, there has been a great effort in the research of implementing automated diagnostic systems for tissue images. One major challenge in this implementation is to design systems that are robust to image variations. In order to meet this challenge, it is important to learn the systems on a large number of labeled images from a different range of variation. However, acquiring labeled images is quite difficult in this domain, and hence, the labeled training data are typically very limited. Although the issue of having limited labeled data is acknowledged by many researchers, it has rarely been considered in the system design. This paper successfully addresses this issue, introducing a new resampling framework to simulate variations in tissue images. This framework generates multiple sequences from an image for its representation and models them using a Markov process. Working with colon tissue images, our experiments show that this framework increases the generalization capacity of a learner by increasing the size and variation of the training data and improves the classification performance of a given image by combining the decisions obtained on its sequences.
Model building and judgment: Implications for benefit transfers with travel cost models

Benefit transfer is the process by which researchers take recreational demand models or other models which are estimated for one site or region and apply them to another site or region. Model estimation is frequently viewed as a simple exercise in classical statistics. Here it is argued that, while standard hypothesis testing plays a role in model estimation, it may be less important than the researcher's judgment about how the model ought to work. The power of economics lies principally with the logic of theory, and then with the strength of empirical evidence. These arguments are illustrated using the travel cost approach to estimating the demand for recreation. There are several major research issues (for example, the role of substitute prices) which influence the final estimates of benefits but which must be determined at least in part by the researcher. The implication for benefit transfer is that this is also within the realm of judgment for the researcher, but that it will be more acceptable when judgment is recognized. That is, the original benefit estimates are tailored for a specific application. They cannot be treated as if they came from a strictly random process. Recognizing this tailoring process will put the researcher in a better position for transferring model results.
PARAMETERIZED RSA ARCHITECTURES

—In this paper, new structures that implement the RSA cryptographic algorithm are presented. The core of these architectures is the modular exponential operation based on a modified Montgomery modular multiplier, where the operations of multiplication and modular reduction are carried out in parallel rather than in an interleaved way as in the traditional Montgomery multiplier. The digit approach has been adopted to implement the modified Montgomery multipliers, where by pipelining the feedback loops; one or two modular multiplication operations can be interleaved to use the same multiplier structure. Thus, RSA structures that use a single Montgomery multiplier, termed area-efficient architectures, and architectures that require two Montgomery multipliers, called speed-efficient architectures, are presented. The proposed architectures are scalable and parameterized. Furthermore, by varying the digit size and the level of pipelining, the designer is provided with an efficient way of choosing the architecture that suits better his/her requirements in terms of speed and area usage. The critical propagation path is shortened and data global broadcast can be avoided. The proposed architectures are well suited for description using a VHDL structural style where the user can chose the design parameters such as the word length, modulus, data size, digit size and pipelining level to describe the design. To facilitate the process of generating the proposed architectures for an FPGA-based implementation, an RSA encryption engine that produces a VHDL code has been developed where the design specifications can be entered using the engine’s GUI. The results of implementation using FPGA have shown that the proposed structures outperform similar work in the literature. For a 1024-bit exponentiation operation, their speed and area usage performances range from 5.67 ms and 37000 slices, to 16 ms and 8500 slices.