Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Constructing Sexuality, Constructing Vulnerability: The Degenerative Politics of Raising the Age of Consent in Canada

This paper explores how public policy is shaped by and shapes constructed notions of childhood and childhood sexuality in the regulation of young people’s sexuality in Canada. I use the framework developed by Helen Ingram and Anne Schneider (Ingram and Schneider 1993; 2005; Schneider and Ingram 1997; 2005.; 2008) who argue that the state, through public policy, may solidify, perpetuate or change socially constructed groups, the identities of which have become so entrenched that they are thought of as ‘natural. ’ Often, they argue, state actors through public policy not only reinforce the limits of political participation of target groups but also engage in a degenerative form of policy-making in which the manipulation of identities is used for political gain. In the case of dependents, while the rhetoric may express great concern for their welfare, they are not granted the freedom of responsibility and decision-making. The paper explores the children as a target population in the regulation of sexuality in several historic periods of the twentieth century including the recent debates and political process that resulted in the raising of the age of sexual consent to sixteen in Canada in 2008 and demonstrates that the constructed notion of childhood and childhood sexuality results in a targeted population of young people as dependents. As is often the case and demonstrated in this paper, there is no direct causal link between the proposed regulation of the targeted group and the ostensible purpose of the legislation which is to protect young people from sexual predators. Nevertheless, this constructed identity becomes of prime importance to political actors in persuading, influencing and bringing about concrete policy outcomes. At the same time the policy perpetuates ‘natural’ notions of childhood and childhood sexuality reinforcing dependent status on young people that enhances vulnerability, curtails responsibility and leaves them politically undermined. In the most recent period the manipulation of symbolic identities of children and youth for political purposes may fit the definition of a degenerative form of policy-making by the Conservative government.
Echo chambers in the age of misinformation

The wide availability of user-provided content in online social media facilitates the aggregation of people around common interests, worldviews, and narratives. Despite the enthusiastic rhetoric on the part of some that this process generates "collective intelligence", the WWW also allows the rapid dissemination of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that often elicite rapid, large, but naive social responses such as the recent case of Jade Helm 15 -- where a simple military exercise turned out to be perceived as the beginning of the civil war in the US. We study how Facebook users consume information related to two different kinds of narrative: scientific and conspiracy news. We find that although consumers of scientific and conspiracy stories present similar consumption patterns with respect to content, the sizes of the spreading cascades differ. Homogeneity appears to be the primary driver for the diffusion of contents, but each echo chamber has its own cascade dynamics. To mimic these dynamics, we introduce a data-driven percolation model on signed networks.
CLASSIFIER SYSTEMS AS ' ANIMAT ' ARCHITECTURES FOR ACTION SELECTION IN MMORPG

Classifier systems (CS) are used as control architectures for simulated animals or robots in order to decide what to do at each time. We will explain why these systems are good candidates for action selection mechanisms of Non Player Characters. After having described different classifier systems, we will introduce a new CS architecture, acting in a multi-agent environment, which is adapted to the specific constraints of the ‘Massively Multi-players Online Role Playing Games’.
The improbable nature of the implied correlation matrix from spatial regression models

Spatial lag dependence in a regression model is similar to the inclusion of a serially autoregressive term for the dependent variable in a time-series context. However, unlike in the time-series model, the implied covariance structure matrix from the spatial autoregressive model can have a very counterintuitive and improbable structure. A single value of spatial autocorrelation parameter can imply a large band of values of pair-wise correlations among different observations of the dependent variable, when the weight matrix for the spatial model is specified exogenously. This is illustrated using cigarette sales data (1963-1992) of 46 US states. It can be seen that that two "close" neighbours can have very low implied correlations compared to distant neighbours when the weighting scheme is the first-order contiguity matrix. However, if the weight matrix can capture the underlying dependence structure of the observations, then this unintuitive behaviour of implied correlation is corrected to a large extent. From this, the possibility of constructing the weight matrix (or the overall spatial dependence in the data) that is consistent with the underlying correlation structure of the dependent variable is explored. The suggested procedures produced very positive results indicating further research.
Trends and Volatility in Residential Property Prices in South Africa

The paper examines the trends and volatility in residential property prices in South Africa from 1980Q1 to 2011Q4. The empirical analysis uses a range of unit root and stationary tests as well as a number of ARCH-family of models. The results from the trend analysis suggest that shocks to house prices tend to be permanent in nature. Investigation into the dynamic behaviour of house prices supports the existence of conditional volatility that is time-varying and persistent. Moreover, volatility is found to be asymmetric in news suggesting evidence of anti-leverage effects. Accordingly, these outcomes suggest that residential property could provide hedging opportunity to investors with regards to risk management.
Weak interaction and the mechanisms for neutron stability and decay

Purpose – The decay of the neutron is well known from the perspective of empirical quantification, but the ontological explanations are lacking for why the neutron should be stable within the nucleus and unstable outside. A theory is developed to explain the reasons for decay of the free neutron and stability of the bonded neutron. Method – The Cordus theory, a type of non-local hidden-variable (NLHV) design, provided the mathematical formalism of the principles for manipulating discrete forces and transforming one type of particule into another. This was used to determine the structures of the W and Z bosons, and the causes of neutron decay within this framework. Findings - The stability of the neutron inside the nucleus arises from the formation of a complementary bound state of discrete forces with the proton. The neutron is an intermediary between the protons, as the discrete forces of the protons are otherwise incompatible. This bond also gives a full complement of discrete forces to the neutron, hence its stability within the nucleus. The instability of the free neutron arises because its own discrete field structures are incomplete. Consequently it is vulnerable to external perturbation. The theory predicts the free neutron has two separate decay paths, which are mixed together in the β- process, the first determined by the local density of the fabric, and the second by the number of neutrinos encountered. The exponential life is recovered. The internal structures of the W bosons are determined. Implications – The W bosons are by-products from the weak decay process, and do not cause the decay. The weak decay is shown to be in the same class of phenomenon as annihilation, and is not a fundamental interaction. Originality – A novel theory has been constructed for the decay process, using a NLHV mechanics that is deeper than quantum theory. This new theory explains the stability-instability of the neutron and is consistent with the new theory for the stability of the nuclides.
Feasibility of salt reduction in processed foods in Argentina.

OBJECTIVE To assess an intervention to reduce salt intake based on an agreement with the food industry. METHODS Salt content was measured in bakery products through a national survey and biochemical analyses. Low-salt bread was evaluated by a panel of taste testers to determine whether a reduced salt bread could remain undetected. French bread accounts for 25% of the total salt intake in Argentina; hence, reducing its salt concentration from 2% to 1.4% was proposed and tested. A crossover trial was conducted to evaluate the reduction in urinary sodium and blood pressure in participants during consumption of the low-salt bread compared with ordinary bread. RESULTS Average salt content in bread was 2%. This study evaluated low-salt bread containing 1.4% salt. This reduction remained mostly undetected by the panels of taste testers. In the crossover trial, which included 58 participants, a reduction of 25 milliequivalents in 24 hour urine sodium excretion, a reduction in systolic blood pressure of 1.66 mmHg, and a reduction in diastolic blood pressure of 0.76 mmHg were found during the low-salt bread intake. CONCLUSIONS The study showed that dietary salt reduction was feasible and well accepted in the population studied through a reduction of salt content in bread. Although the effects on urinary sodium and blood pressure were moderate, a country wide intervention could have a greater public health impact.
Interventions for depression symptoms among adolescent survivors of war and displacement in northern Uganda: a randomized controlled trial.

CONTEXT Prior qualitative work with internally displaced persons in war-affected northern Uganda showed significant mental health and psychosocial problems. OBJECTIVE To assess effect of locally feasible interventions on depression, anxiety, and conduct problem symptoms among adolescent survivors of war and displacement in northern Uganda. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A randomized controlled trial from May 2005 through December 2005 of 314 adolescents (aged 14-17 years) in 2 camps for internally displaced persons in northern Uganda. INTERVENTIONS Locally developed screening tools assessed the effectiveness of interventions in reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety, ameliorating conduct problems, and improving function among those who met study criteria and were randomly allocated (105, psychotherapy-based intervention [group interpersonal psychotherapy]; 105, activity-based intervention [creative play]; 104, wait-control group [individuals wait listed to receive treatment at study end]). Intervention groups met weekly for 16 weeks. Participants and controls were reassessed at end of study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Primary measure was a decrease in score (denoting improvement) on a depression symptom scale. Secondary measures were improvements in scores on anxiety, conduct problem symptoms, and function scales. Depression, anxiety, and conduct problems were assessed using the Acholi Psychosocial Assessment Instrument with a minimum score of 32 as the lower limit for clinically significant symptoms (maximum scale score, 105). RESULTS Difference in change in adjusted mean score for depression symptoms between group interpersonal psychotherapy and control groups was 9.79 points (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.66-17.93). Girls receiving group interpersonal psychotherapy showed substantial and significant improvement in depression symptoms compared with controls (12.61 points; 95% CI, 2.09-23.14). Improvement among boys was not statistically significant (5.72 points; 95% CI, -1.86 to 13.30). Creative play showed no effect on depression severity (-2.51 points; 95% CI, -11.42 to 6.39). There were no statistically different improvements in anxiety in either intervention group. Neither intervention improved conduct problem or function scores. CONCLUSIONS Both interventions were locally feasible. Group interpersonal psychotherapy was effective for depression symptoms among adolescent girls affected by war and displacement. Other interventions should be investigated to assist adolescent boys in this population who have symptoms of depression. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00280319.
Are even maps on surfaces likely to be bipartite

We actually do more than that: we obtain the explicit asymptotic behaviour of the number of even maps and bipartite maps of given genus with any finite set of allowed face degrees. This uses a generalisation of the Bouttier-Di Francesco-Guitter bijection to the case of positive genus, a decomposition inspired by previous works of Marcus, Schaeffer and the author, and some involved manipulations of generating series counting paths. A special case of our results implies former conjectures of Gao.
Modeling and analysis of flexible queueing systems

We consider queueing systems with multiple classes of customers and heterogeneous servers where customers have the flexibility of being processed by more than one server and servers possess the capability of processing more than one customer class. We provide a unified framework for the modeling and analysis of these systems under arbitrary customer and server flexibility and for a rich set of control policies that includes customer/server‐specific priority schemes for server and customer selection. We use our models to generate several insights into the effect of system configuration and control policies. In particular, we examine the relationship between flexibility, control policies and throughput under varying assumptions for system parameters. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004
A Fast Adaptive Binarization Method Based on Sub Block OSTU and Improved Sauvola

This paper has advanced a novel hybrid binarization method combining global thresholding and local adaptive thresholding used for foreground and background segmenting. In global thresholding, sub block OSTU is used to achieve better performance for it can represent local distribution characteristics while global OSTU method cannot. Original image and binary image are scanned individually to locate sub blocks which require further process. Sauvola algorithm implementing integral image is then performed for a second binarization. Simulation results on several printform envelopes show that this algorithm can maintain the same performance with the improved Sauvola algorithm while reducing the processing time by 27.4%.
PPARs Mediate Lipid Signaling in Inflammation and Cancer

Lipid mediators can trigger physiological responses by activating nuclear hormone receptors, such as the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs). PPARs, in turn, control the expression of networks of genes encoding proteins involved in all aspects of lipid metabolism. In addition, PPARs are tumor growth modifiers, via the regulation of cancer cell apoptosis, proliferation, and differentiation, and through their action on the tumor cell environment, namely, angiogenesis, inflammation, and immune cell functions. Epidemiological studies have established that tumor progression may be exacerbated by chronic inflammation. Here, we describe the production of the lipids that act as activators of PPARs, and we review the roles of these receptors in inflammation and cancer. Finally, we consider emerging strategies for therapeutic intervention.
Into College, Out of Poverty? Policies to Increase the Postsecondary Attainment of the Poor

We review the experimental and quasi-experimental research evidence on the causal relationship between college costs and educational attainment, with a particular focus on low-income populations. The weight of the evidence indicates that reducing college costs can increase college entry and persistence. Simple and transparent programs appear to be most effective. Programs that link money to incentives and/or the takeup of academic support services appear to be particularly effective.
A new visit to an old problem in switched-capacitor converters

The energy-efficiency issue of the switched-capacitor converters is still a highly controversial topic that requires a more in-depth exploration. This paper will address the issue by dissecting the analysis of the entire efficiency problem into two parts. In the first part, the efficiency analysis of charging the capacitor of an RC circuit under different aspects (partial charging, full charging, at zero capacitor voltage, at non-zero capacitor voltage, etc.) will be conducted. In the second part, the efficiency analysis of discharging the capacitor of an RC circuit with resistive and capacitive loads will be covered. A complete evaluation of the overall efficiency is then performed in terms of both the charging and discharging efficiencies of the capacitor. Additionally, it is shown in this paper that the claim that quasi-switched-capacitor converters are more lossy than switched-capacitor converters is a common misconception.
Enantioselectivity of Projection Neurons Innervating Identified Olfactory Glomeruli

Projection neurons (PNs) with arborizations in the sexually dimorphic “lateral large female glomerulus” (latLFG) in the antennal lobe (AL) of the moth Manduca sexta previously were shown to respond preferentially to antennal stimulation with (±)linalool, a volatile compound commonly emitted by plants. In the present study, using intracellular recording and staining techniques, we examined the responsiveness of latLFG-PNs to the enantiomers, (+)linalool and (–)linalool and found that (1) latLFG-PNs are more responsive to antennal stimulation with (+)linalool than with (–)linalool, (2) PNs with arborizations in a glomerulus adjacent to the latLFG are preferentially responsive to (–)linalool, and (3) PNs with arborizations confined to other glomeruli near the latLFG are equally responsive to both enantiomers of linalool. Structure-activity studies showed that the hydroxyl group in this tertiary terpene alcohol is the key feature of the molecule determining the response of enantioselective PNs to linalool. In contrast, the responses of non-enantioselective PNs are less dependent on the alcoholic functionality of linalool. Our findings show that PNs innervating a uniquely identifiable glomerulus respond preferentially to a particular enantiomer of an odor substance. Moreover, PNs with arborizations in a glomerulus adjacent to the latLFG, although less sensitive than latLFG-PNs to linalool, respond preferentially to the opposite enantiomer, demonstrating that information about stimulus-absolute configuration can be encoded in different olfactory glomeruli.
Effect of the Velvet Antler of Formosan Sambar Deer (Cervus unicolor swinhoei) on the Prevention of an Allergic Airway Response in Mice

Two mouse models were used to assay the antiallergic effects of the velvet antler (VA) of Formosan sambar deer (Cervus unicolor swinhoei) in this study. The results using the ovalbumin- (OVA-) sensitized mouse model showed that the levels of total IgE and OVA-specific IgE were reduced after VA powder was administrated for 4 weeks. In addition, the ex vivo results indicated that the secretion of T helper cell 1 (Th1), regulatory T (Treg), and Th17 cytokines by splenocytes was significantly increased (P < 0.05) when VA powder was administered to the mice. Furthermore, OVA-allergic asthma mice that have been orally administrated with VA powder showed a strong inhibition of Th2 cytokine and proinflammatory cytokine production in bronchoalveolar fluid compared to control mice. An increase in the regulatory T-cell population of splenocytes in the allergic asthma mice after oral administration of VA was also observed. All the features of the asthmatic phenotype, including airway inflammation and the development of airway hyperresponsiveness, were reduced by treatment with VA. These findings support the hypothesis that oral feeding of VA may be an effective way of alleviating asthmatic symptoms in humans.
A combined multi-scale deep learning and random forests approach for direct left ventricular volumes estimation in 3D echocardiography

Estimation of left ventricular (LV) volumes from 3D echocardiography (3DE) is a popular clinical approach in accurate assessment of left ventricular function for the diagnosis of cardiac disease. The segmentation of 3DE volumes is a crucial step in traditional methods. Nevertheless, segmentation itself is an extremely challenging problem due to the presence of speckle noise and discontinuous edges. Therefore, direct left ventricular volumes estimation methods without the segmentation become attractive in cardiac function analysis. The aim of this paper is to present a fully learning framework to estimate the left ventricular volume in 3DE. The proposed method combined unsupervised multi-scale convolutional deep network and random forests. The multi-scale convolution deep network adopted multi-scale convolutional filters to represent features of unlabeled end-diastolic and end-systolic 3DE volumes (EDV and ESV). And then we formulated left ventricular volume estimation as a regression problem and used random forests for efficient volume estimation. The experiments results suggested that our proposed method is feasible and can achieve higher accuracy, even in case of echocardiography images with irregular geometry.