Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transparency and Accountability After 2015: e-Parliament for Citizens' Engagement in the Ghanaian Environment

Beyond providing information, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) really contributes to citizens' participation to public debate. With the use of ICT, Civil societies have played a big role especially in the areas of training, research, relevant fora and conferences as contributions to enabling citizens understand the governance mechanisms which concern them. Focus of this paper shall be on the contribution of two NGOs in Ghana and the important contributions they are making in order to make E-Government, and especially e-Parliament a reality. It is believed that the process of modernizing Ghana's administrative services in the post 2015 era would have succeeded in satisfying the needs of citizens by providing them with electronic services to get informed on administrative processes in a bid to ensure transparency and accountability. This paper makes observations of the need for a radical change in the way that Ghana's Parliament serves its citizens and businesses and recommends a better ICT --based legislature to advance open and citizen-centred government. The paper is based upon compelling evidence from information given through interviews with the Head of Research, Ghana's Parliament and information from relevant Civil Society groups. The research element of the paper draws on the normative literature and current practice to identify contemporary ideas for e-government citizen engagement initiatives to enhance sustainable development in the post 2015 era.
Re-Engaging with Survey Non-Respondents: The BHPS, SOEP and HILDA Survey Experience

Previous research into the correlates and determinants of non-response in longitudinal surveys has focused exclusively on why it is that respondents at one survey wave choose not to participate at future waves. This is very understandable if non-response is always an absorbing state, but in many longitudinal surveys, and certainly most household panels, this is not the case. Indeed, in these surveys it is normal practice to attempt to make contact with many non-respondents at the next wave. This study differs from previous research by examining the process of re-engagement with previous wave non-respondents. Drawing on data from three national household panels it is found that the re-engagement decision is indeed distinctly different from the decision about continued participation. Further, these differences have clear implications for the way panel surveys should be administered given the desire to enhance overall response rates.
A Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice

We have performed a number of experiments with a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a one-dimensional optical lattice. Making use of the small momentum spread of a BEC and standard atom optics techniques, a high level of coherent control over an artificial solid-state system is demonstrated. We are able to load the BEC into the lattice ground state with a very high efficiency by adiabatically turning on the optical lattice. We coherently transfer population between lattice states and observe their evolution. Methods are developed and used to perform band spectroscopy. We use these techniques to build a BEC accelerator and a novel, coherent, large-momentum-transfer beam-splitter.
Gli-1/PI3K/AKT/NF-kB pathway mediates resistance to radiation and is a target for reversion of responses in refractory acute myeloid leukemia cells

Total body irradiation combined with chemotherapy is currently the most effective procedure as a preparative myeloablative regimen. However, resistance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy in refractory acute myeloid leukemia is associated with short-time recurrence after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. To address this issue, we used three cell lines, HL60, HL60/ADR (adriamycin-resistant cells), and HL60/RX (a radiation-resistant cell line established from HL60 cells), as cellular models to investigate the mechanism of the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway resulting in radioresistance, and the efficacy of LDE225 (an inhibitor of the Hh pathway) to enhance radiation sensitivity. Our results indicated that HL60/RX and HL60/ADR cells showed an increased in radioresistance and elevated activity of Hh pathway proteins compared with HL60 cells (P<0.001). In addition, LDE225 significantly reduced clonogenic survival with a sensitivity enhancement ratio (SER) of 1.283 for HL60/ADR and 1.245 for HL60/RX cells. The combination of LDE225 with irradiation significantly increased radiation-induced apoptosis and expression of γ-H2AX and BAK compared with single-treatment groups in both HL60/RX and HL60/ADR cells (P<0.001). In vivo, the combination of LDE225 with irradiation exerted a significant antitumor effect compared with the control and single agents in HL60/RX- and HL60/ADR-xenografted mouse models (P<0.001). Furthermore, our data obtained from western blot and IHC analyses showed that the activation of pAKT and NF-kB was reduced by LDE225 treatment in both HL60/ADR and HL60/RX cells. This demonstrates that the Gli-1/PI3K/AKT/NF-kB pathway plays a key role in resistance to radiation, and that inhibition of the Hh pathway sensitizes cells to radiation by overcoming radioresistance.
Determination of Magnetic Fields in the Winds from Hot Stars Using the Hanle Effect

Resonance lines that are sensitive to the Hanle effect are prominent in the UV spectra of early-type stars. To understand the differences from the solar application of the Hanle effect, we focus on the formation of P-Cygni lines both as a scattering process, and as one that allows a spectral isolation of sectors in the wind. Some complications occuring in the solar case are found to be absent for the Hanle effect for hot stars. Rocket observations from the Far Ultraviolet SpectroPolarimeter (FUSP) experiment should allow for a determination of fields in the dynamically interesting range from 1 to 300 Gauss.
Toward accessible health and fitness tracking for people with mobility impairments

Electronic health and fitness trackers have received substantial attention over the past decade, from new mobile and wearable technologies to evaluations of potential health impacts. These trackers, however, may not be accessible to people with mobility impairments, for whom activities such as running, walking, or climbing stairs can be difficult or impossible. To investigate the accessibility of wearable tracking devices and mobile apps, we conducted a study with 14 participants with a range of mobility impairments. The study included an in-person interview, evaluation of two off-the-shelf wearable devices, and a participatory design activity, followed by an optional week-long field evaluation of a mobile fitness app (to which 8 participants opted in). Our findings highlight widespread accessibility challenges with existing tracking technologies and provide implications for designing more inclusive solutions.
The Blue Planet: Informal International Police Networks and National Intelligence

Abstract : Mike Bayer's book, The Blue Planet: Informal International Police Networks and National Intelligence, makes a powerful argument for why the United States needs to make better use of its federal law enforcement agencies abroad as an integral part of our national counterterrorism strategy. Bayer's book criticizes the primacy of the military/intelligence model in our foreign counterintelligence strategy, arguing that the counterterrorism role reserved for the FBI makes insufficient use of the global networking capabilities of our many other American law enforcement agencies abroad. Bayer's book makes an important contribution to the literature on international governmental networks, such as the work of Anne-Marie Slaughter and Kal Raustiala, describing the unique ability that informal networks of cooperating law enforcement agencies have to collect information about local conditions and local communities that may prove crucial in identifying terrorist threats and preventing terrorist attacks. Bayer argues that such networks have proven immensely successful in investigating organized crime, but that these capabilities have been underused against international terrorist networks. By virtue of their omnipresence around the globe, police are "natural anticipatory collectors" of vast amounts of information. They are for that reason well-placed to detect suspicious activities, particularly given the overlap between terrorist cells and criminal networks. Law enforcement personnel have a unique ability to draw on trust and a common culture with their counterparts in other countries, resulting in a regular informal interchange of useful information. Building on the work of Mathieu Deflem, Bayer recognizes the particular advantage that the police enjoy by virtue of their professional autonomy and relative independence from the centers of political decision-making.
Performance of Dry Powder Inhalers with Single Dosed Capsules in Preschool Children and Adults Using Improved Upper Airway Models

The pulmonary administration of pharmaceutical aerosols to patients is affected by age-dependent variations in the anatomy of the upper airways and the inhalation pattern. Considering this aspect, different upper airway models, representing the geometries of adults and preschool children, and a conventional induction port according to the European Pharmacopeia were used for in vitro testing of dry powder inhalers with single dosed capsules (Cyclohaler®, Handihaler® and Spinhaler®). Deposition measurements were performed using steady flow rates of 30 and 60 L/min for the Handihaler®/Spinhaler® and 30, 60 and 75 L/min for the Cyclohaler®. The inhalation volume was set at 1 L. For the Cyclohaler®, the in vitro testing was supplemented by a pediatric inhalation profile. Slight differences of pulmonary deposition between the idealized adult (11%–15%) and pediatric (9%–11%) upper airway model were observed for the Cyclohaler®. The applied pediatric inhalation profile resulted in a reduction of pulmonary deposition by 5% compared to steady conditions and indicated the influence of the inhalation pattern on the amount of pulmonary deposited particles. The comparison of two pediatric upper airway models showed no differences. The performance of the Handihaler® was similar to the Cyclohaler®. The Spinhaler® showed an insufficient performance and limited reproducibility in our investigations.
Analysis and Simulation of Wound-Rotor Doubly-Fed Induction Machine

This paper analyzes the steady state characteristic of the wound rotor doubly fed induction machine when the rotor is excited with slip frequency. A motor model is also developed for conditions when the rotor excitation frequency doesn't equal to the slip frequency. The analytical model is verified by simulation results of a dynamic model built in Simulink. The stability of the machine is also analyzed based on a simplified linearized model, it is proven that the machine is not stable or marginally stable without any feedback control. Simulation results of step torque change are also used to verify the analysis. A simple controller is designed to stabilize the motor.
AUTOMATED SPEECH RECOGNITION APPROACH TO CONTINUOUS CUE-SYMBOLS GENERATION

The work described in this paper is with an aim of developing a system to aid deaf-dumb people which translates the voice into sign language. This system translates speech signal to American Sign Language. Words that correspond to signs from the American sign language dictionary calls a prerecorded American sign language (ASL) showing the sign that is played on the monitor of a portable computer. If the word does not have a corresponding sign in the sign language dictionary, it is finger spelled. This is done in real life by deaf for words that do not have specific signs like for proper names. Hidden Markov Model (HMM) is used for recognition of speech signal from the user and translated to cue symbols for vocally disabled people. The proposed task is a complementary work to the ongoing research work for recognizing the finger movement of a vocally disabled person, to speech signal called “Boltay Haath”. The proposed AISR system integrated with Boltay Haath system could eliminate the communication gap between the common man and vocally disabled people and extend in both ways.
Spatial error recovery using multi-directional inpainting

During transmission over error-prone networks, the compressed video signal may suffer a large drop in video quality for the block-based motion-compensation scheme. Error recovery is widely used in video decoders to reconstruct corrupted regions. In this paper, we propose a new spatial error recovery method utilizing multi-directional inpainting. It contains eight single-directional inpaintings which perform unsymmetrical matching to search for suitable information and keep local continuity. We also present a linear combination method which merges different directional matching patches to alleviate the error propagations. Experimental results show that the proposed method provides significant gains in both subjective and objective measurements.
The Public Management of Sport

Abstract This article proposes that sport policy problems exhibit the characteristics of ‘wicked problems’, in that they are difficult to define/interpret, are based in competing/uncertain causes, and generate further issues when solutions are applied. Drawing from the existing body of empirical work in Australia, Canada, the UK and New Zealand, it is further suggested that the modernization of government's partner national sport organizations (NSOs) is effectively wicked because it results in their commercialization and introduces challenges, dilemmas and tradeoffs. Possible consequences for central government agencies include a further emphasis towards elite sport, and a challenge of ensuring the responsiveness of NSOs in relation to diversity issues and their traditional representative functions. The author speculates on the paradox in the government expectation that commercialized NSOs can be repositories of ‘social capital’.
Socio-demographic characteristics of patients with diagnosed functional dyspepsia

Introduction The term “dyspepsia” comes from the Greek words “dys’ and ‘peptin”, which maen “ill digestion” or indigestion, although this set of symptoms in the adult clinic has little to do with the digestion or absorption process, and refers more to ailments related to the upper section of the gastrointestinal tract. Aim Assessment of the frequency of functional dyspepsia diagnosis, the characteristics of the group and an attempt to identify the accompanying symptoms, assessment of histological lesions and an attempt to answer question about the efficiency of anti-secretory and eradication therapy. Material and methods The study involved patients reporting for gastrofiberscopic examination due to dyspeptic ailments. A total of 230 patients were examined, including 140 women and 90 men, above 18 years of age. They underwent endoscopic examination, and a selected group with functional dyspepsia (FD), analysed using the ‘Gast’ questionnaire, underwent eradication therapy or proton pump inhibitors. Statistical analysis involved χ2 and Fischer’s test. Results The study involved 230 individuals with dyspeptic disorders. The largest age group was 46–60 years. These patients reported due to their ailments mostly in autumn and winter. The differentiated group with FD included 53 patients (23% of the clinical population). 69.8% of the FD group was infected with Helicobacter pylori (with 81.2% of the whole population, respectively). Individuals with FD reported improvement more often after being administered drugs to decrease gastric secretion, more often declared post-elementary education and suffered from non-gastric ailments yet still described their state of health as good. No positive therapeutic effect of eradication was noticed during the 6-month observation. Conclusions Due to the very high ratio of subjects with functional dyspepsia, also observed in the study sample, and the influence of civilization progress, we should expect increasing frequency of occurrence of this problem.
Which direction for organized labor? : essays on organizing, outreach, and internal transformations

With the decline of the labor movement in the United States over the past four decades, unions are facing the future with unresolved concerns over free trade agreements, dwindling memberships, and their own leverage with industry and government. Which Direction for Organized Labor? addresses critical questions facing the U.S. labor movements as it approaches the twenty-first century. It analyzes the overall state of organized labor and examines the direction it should take in rebuilding its strength and influence.
A spontaneous facial expression recognition method using head motion and AAM features

Facial expression recognition by artificial intelligence has become a hotspot and produced promising results in recent years. However, most recent work focuses on posed expressions whose involved muscles and dynamics are different from those of spontaneous ones. So this paper proposed a novel two-layer approach, combining dynamic head motion features with static appearance features, to recognize spontaneous expressions. Different from other methods, our method improved an existing eyes location algorithm and explored new head motion features calculated from locations of pupils to recognize fear firstly, and then used appearance features extracted by the AAM algorithm to recognize the remaining images. Comparative experiments on the natural visible and infrared facial expression database (NVIE) show the effectiveness of our approach.
A Low Noise Thermoelectric Infrared Detector Microsystem in a Digital CMOS Technology

A low noise sensor interface for low-frequency thermoelectric infrared sensor applications is described which uses chopper technique to reduce low-frequency noise and offset. The circuit has been integrated in a transistor-only 1 ¿m single-poly, n-well CMOS process. It features a gain of 52 dB with a 500 Hz bandwidth and a CMRR of more than 70 dB. The equivalent input noise is 15 nV/¿Hz and free from 1/f-noise. The input offset is 1.5 ¿V for a tuning error of less than 4 %. The resulting sensor system allows the detection of a minimum required radiation signal of below 120 nW/mm2. The amplifier consumes 1.3 mW.
Currently Clinical Views on Genetics of Wilson's Disease

Objective: The objective of this study was to review the research on clinical genetics of Wilson's disease (WD). Data Sources: We searched documents from PubMed and Wanfang databases both in English and Chinese up to 2014 using the keywords WD in combination with genetic, ATP7B gene, gene mutation, genotype, phenotype. Study Selection: Publications about the ATP7B gene and protein function associated with clinical features were selected. Results: Wilson's disease, also named hepatolenticular degeneration, is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder characterized by abnormal copper metabolism caused by mutations to the copper-transporting gene ATP7B. Decreased biliary copper excretion and reduced incorporation of copper into apoceruloplasmin caused by defunctionalization of ATP7B protein lead to accumulation of copper in many tissues and organs, including liver, brain, and cornea, finally resulting in liver disease and extrapyramidal symptoms. It is the most common genetic neurological disorder in the onset of adolescents, second to muscular dystrophy in China. Early diagnosis and medical therapy are of great significance for improving the prognosis of WD patients. However, diagnosis of this disease is usually difficult because of its complicated phenotypes. In the last 10 years, an increasing number of clinical studies have used molecular genetics techniques. Improved diagnosis and prediction of the progression of this disease at the molecular level will aid in the development of more individualized and effective interventions, which is a key to transition from molecular genetic research to the clinical study. Conclusions: Clinical genetics studies are necessary to understand the mechanism underlying WD at the molecular level from the genotype to the phenotype. Clinical genetics research benefits newly emerging medical treatments including stem cell transplantation and gene therapy for WD patients.
BCR/ABL Oncogene Directly Controls MHC Class I Chain-Related Molecule A Expression in Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia1

MHC class I chain-related molecules (MIC) participate in immune surveillance of cancer through engagement of the NKG2D-activating receptor on NK and T cells. Decreased NKG2D expression and function upon chronic exposure to NKG2D ligands and/or soluble forms of MIC (sMIC) may participate in immune escape. In chronic myeloid leukemia, a malignancy caused by the BCR/ABL fusion oncoprotein, we showed cell surface expression of MICA on leukemic, but not healthy, donor hemopoietic CD34+ cells. At diagnosis, chronic myeloid leukemia patients had abnormally high serum levels of sMICA and weak NKG2D expression on NK and CD8+ T cells, which were restored by imatinib mesylate (IM) therapy. In the BCR/ABL+ cell line K562, IM decreased both surface MICA/B expression and NKG2D-mediated lysis by NK cells. Silencing BCR/ABL gene expression directly evidenced its role in the control of MICA expression. IM did not affect MICA mRNA levels, but decreased MICA protein production and release. Sucrose density gradient fractionation of K562 cytoplasmic extracts treated with IM showed a shift in the distribution of MICA mRNA from the polysomal toward the monosomal fractions, consistent with decreased translation. Among the major pathways activated by BCR/ABL that regulate translation, PI3K and mammalian target of rapamycin were shown to control MICA expression. These data provide evidence for direct control of MICA expression by an oncogene in human malignancy and indicate that posttranscriptional mechanisms may participate in the regulation of MICA expression.
Using Memory Diagrams When Teaching a Java-Based CS1

Understanding the execution of an object-oriented program can be a challenge for a student starting a CS1 course. Diagrams are a key technique to help students understand object abstraction through visualization, as well as a useful metric for student understanding of object-oriented concepts. We believe that a type of diagram that we call a memory diagram can be an effective visualization tool for the beginning object-oriented programmer. Memory diagrams differ from more well-known object diagrams in that they focus on how, in an abstract sense, the memory of the machine changes as the program executes. Though memory diagrams are a simple idea, by careful use of shape and placement, a number of key points about the meaning of a program fragment can be conveyed visually. We illustrate how memory diagrams help students understand programming by showing how they cover some of the key concepts in an objectoriented CS1 course. We have also found a correlation between a student's ability to construct these diagrams and that student's comprehension of object-oriented concepts. We are proposing to investigate this correlation further, which may lead to a practical metric for determining a student's future successes in CS1 and CS2, as well as pinpointing where certain students may require further assistance. Versions of memory diagrams have been used by other authors. However, we appear to have developed this approach further than others have. Categor ies and Subject Descr iptors D.1. 5 [Programming Techniques]: Object-Oriented Programming D.3. 3 [Programming Languages]: Language Constructs and Features Classes and Objects K.3. 2 [Computers and Education]: Computer and Information Science Education Computer Science Education