Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stealing the Initiative: How State Government Responds to Direct Democracy

This book uses eleven recent California initiatives and referendums to provide readers with a set of analytical tools and examples that will help them better understand real politics. It clarifies the public consequences, and studies the great variations of what happens to initiatives that win on Election Day and withstand judicial review. Research is presented in an effective and efficient manner, along with key factors that lead policy actors to implement and enforce initiatives and referendums fully, partially, and not at all—a social phenomenon that affects our lives in fundamental ways. A wide range of policy areas cover tobacco tax, transportation, legislative spending provision, term limits provision, open primaries, and bilingual education. This book also includes varied conclusions about how to reform the initiative process to improve direct democracy. For citizens who want to understand and/or increase their role in government.
Efficient pairwise composite likelihood estimation for spatial‐clustered data

Spatial‐clustered data refer to high‐dimensional correlated measurements collected from units or subjects that are spatially clustered. Such data arise frequently from studies in social and health sciences. We propose a unified modeling framework, termed as GeoCopula, to characterize both large‐scale variation, and small‐scale variation for various data types, including continuous data, binary data, and count data as special cases. To overcome challenges in the estimation and inference for the model parameters, we propose an efficient composite likelihood approach in that the estimation efficiency is resulted from a construction of over‐identified joint composite estimating equations. Consequently, the statistical theory for the proposed estimation is developed by extending the classical theory of the generalized method of moments. A clear advantage of the proposed estimation method is the computation feasibility. We conduct several simulation studies to assess the performance of the proposed models and estimation methods for both Gaussian and binary spatial‐clustered data. Results show a clear improvement on estimation efficiency over the conventional composite likelihood method. An illustrative data example is included to motivate and demonstrate the proposed method.
Lane confidence fusion for visual occupancy estimation

Detection and tracking of road lanes is vital to a wide range of driver assistance systems. Confidence measures on tracked lanes are necessary to create reliable assistance systems. On curvy, multi-lane roads, adaptive cruise control systems could greatly benefit from information of lane location and curvature to identify the leading vehicle.We present a novel approach to estimating unobstructed lane length using visual lane confidence measures. The gradient between individually calculated lane confidence segments of a lane model provided by a lane tracker is used to estimate the distance to leading cars or obstacles on lanes. To achieve this goal, various confidence measures are defined, and a confidence fusion method based on Dempster Shafer is presented.
Cirrhosis and Advanced Fibrosis in Hispanics in Texas: The Dominant Contribution of Central Obesity

Liver cirrhosis is a leading cause of death in Hispanics and Hispanics who live in South Texas have the highest incidence of liver cancer in the United States. We aimed at determining the prevalence and associated risk factors of cirrhosis in this population. Clinical and demographic variables were extracted for 2466 participants in the community-based Cameron County Hispanic Cohort in South Texas. Aspartate transaminase to Platelet Ratio Index (APRI) was used to predict cirrhosis in Cameron County Hispanic Cohort. The prevalence of cirrhosis using APRI≥2 was 0.94%, which is nearly 4-fold higher than the national prevalence. Using APRI≥1, the overall prevalence of cirrhosis/advanced fibrosis was 3.54%. In both analyses, highest prevalence was observed in males, specifically in the 25–34 age group. Risk factors independently associated with APRI≥2 and APRI≥1 included hepatitis C, diabetes and central obesity with a remarkable population attributable fraction of 52.5% and 65.3% from central obesity, respectively. Excess alcohol consumption was also independently associated with APRI≥2. The presence of patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing-3 gene variants was independently associated with APRI≥1 in participants >50 years old. Males with both central obesity and excess alcohol consumption presented with cirrhosis/advanced fibrosis at a young age. Alarmingly high prevalence of cirrhosis and advanced fibrosis was identified in Hispanics in South Texas, affecting young males in particular. Central obesity was identified as the major risk factor. Public health efforts are urgently needed to increase awareness and diagnosis of advanced liver fibrosis in Hispanics.
ELLIPTICITY METHODS IN LIE THEORY

Let us suppose G is right-multiply prime. Is it possible to extend hulls? We show that every semi-Gaussian subalgebra is measurable. It is not yet known whether Y 6= ∞, although [31] does address the issue of invertibility. Here, admissibility is clearly a concern.
Dual Labor Market Theory and the Institutionalization of Farmers’ Markets: Marginalized Workers Adapting to Inhospitable Conditions in Louisiana

There has been some evidence to suggest that women and people of color have optimized their status as marginalized employees in a dual labor economy by institutionalizing their expanding participation in secondary labor market activity. To determine the validity of this claim, the author explores the historical antecedents of dual labor markets, describes the hegemonic patterns evident in industrialized nations that reflect bifurcated labor market patterns, examines the institutionalization of other second-tier industries that have facilitated improvements for marginalized laborers in the past, and suggests that the recent institutionalization of yet another industry, urban farmers’ markets, provides compelling evidence that second-tier workers have successfully adapted under prevailing inhospitable and discriminatory labor market conditions. Data compiled from case studies drawn from registration lists and observational field techniques at two farmers’ markets located in the State of Louisiana supports the author’s second-tier adaptation paradigm.
MiniMASC: A Framework for Diverse Autonomic Adaptations of Web Service Compositions

When various technical and business changes related to Web service compositions occur, there is often a need for runtime adaptation with minimal human intervention. While many research projects work on particular types of such adaptation, much more research is needed on decision making for diverse autonomic adaptations, particularly to maximize business (as opposed to technical) metrics. Our MiniMASC middleware is a framework for diverse autonomic adaptations of Web service compositions, focusing on supporting such advanced decision-making algorithms. MiniMASC is relatively simple, light weight, modular, and extensible. It uses the WS-Policy4MASC policy language that can describe all information necessary for different types of adaptation. After presenting our classification of different types of decision making in adaptation of Web service compositions, this paper discusses how MiniMASC (with WS-Policy4MASC) can be used for implementing algorithms maximizing business metrics. Our tests show that the implementation of MiniMASC has a satisfactory performance and scales well.
Enhancing women's participation in economic development

This paper outlines the Bank's policy for enhancing women's participation in sustainable economic development and the underlying rationale and strategies. Because of more limited access to education and other opportunities, women's productivity relative to that of men's remains low in many developing countries. Lack of access to credit for female entrepreneurs limits the profitability and growth of their enterprises. Legal and regulatory barriers to women - which do not apply to men - exacerbate the inefficiencies of inequity. Several effective strategies for reducing the barriers to women's economic participation have emerged from the past two decades of project experience. Strategies for expanding girls' enrollment include reserving places for girls, establishing single-sex schools or classrooms, recruiting more female teachers, and designing school facilities to conform to the cultural standards of the community. Integrated services which combine nutrition, family planning, maternal and child health services, and primary health care tend to be the most effective in reaching women. The principal strategies for increasing women's participation in the formal labor force include removing all financial and legal barriers and providing more job opportunities. In agricultural regions, the main strategy is to help women obtain title to the land they farm. Innovative programs have demonstrated that financial services, mainly credit and savings, can be provided to poor women at competitive cost. The Bank's early programs tended to treat women as a special target group of beneficiaries in projects and programs. The policy framework is now broadening to reflect the ways in which the relations between women and men constrain or advance efforts to boost growth and reduce poverty for all.
The Prevalence of Compassion Fatigue and Burnout among Healthcare Professionals in Intensive Care Units: A Systematic Review

Background Working in the stressful environment of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is an emotionally charged challenge that might affect the emotional stability of medical staff. The quality of care for ICU patients and their relatives might be threatened through long-term absenteeism or a brain and skill drain if the healthcare professionals leave their jobs prematurely in order to preserve their own health. Purpose The purpose of this review is to evaluate the literature related to emotional distress among healthcare professionals in the ICU, with an emphasis on the prevalence of burnout and compassion fatigue and the available preventive strategies. Methods A systematic literature review was conducted, using Embase, Medline OvidSP, Cinahl, Web-of-science, PsychINFO, PubMed publisher, Cochrane and Google Scholar for articles published between 1992 and June, 2014. Studies reporting the prevalence of burnout, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress and vicarious trauma in ICU healthcare professionals were included, as well as related intervention studies. Results Forty of the 1623 identified publications, which included 14,770 respondents, met the selection criteria. Two studies reported the prevalence of compassion fatigue as 7.3% and 40%; five studies described the prevalence of secondary traumatic stress ranging from 0% to 38.5%. The reported prevalence of burnout in the ICU varied from 0% to 70.1%. A wide range of intervention strategies emerged from the recent literature search, such as different intensivist work schedules, educational programs on coping with emotional distress, improving communication skills, and relaxation methods. Conclusions The true prevalence of burnout, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress and vicarious trauma in ICU healthcare professionals remains open for discussion. A thorough exploration of emotional distress in relation to communication skills, ethical rounds, and mindfulness might provide an appropriate starting point for the development of further preventive strategies.
An Economic Analysis of Four-Year-Old Kindergarten in Wisconsin: Returns to the Education System. Pre-K Now Research Series.

An Economic Analysis of Four-Year-Old Kindergarten in Wisconsin: Returns to the Education System epartments of Education nationwide are finding that investments in pre-kindergarten programs yield significant later savings across the budgetary board, from reductions in special education expenditures to improved teacher-retention rates. This study shows that in Wisconsin, for every state dollar invested in pre-k, 68 cents would be returned in savings to the education system. In Milwaukee, the benefits are even greater at 76 cents saved for every $1 invested. Wisconsin already has a proud tradition of investing in pre-k. It is clear from these figures that those are dollars well spent and that increased investment will produce even greater returns.
Genetic Organization and Hypoxic Activation of the Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus ORF34-37 Gene Cluster

ABSTRACT Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the etiologic agent for Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) and primary effusion lymphoma (PEL). We previously reported that hypoxia activates KSHV lytic replication and that the promoter for open reading frame 34 (ORF34) contains a functional hypoxia-responsive element (HRE). ORF34 is part of a cluster of lytic genes (ORF34-37) that includes ORF36, a phosphotransferase, and ORF37, a shutoff exonuclease. Rapid amplification of cDNA ends analysis revealed that they share a common polyadenylation signal but have two start sites. Two transcripts were identified, one 3.4 kb encoding ORF35-37, and the other 4.2 kb encoding ORF34 and also having coding potential for ORF35-37. Exposure of PEL cell lines to hypoxia induced messages of lengths consistent with those of these transcripts. Reporter assays with Hep3B cells showed activation of both transcripts by hypoxia. The ORF34-37 promoter region has six consensus HREs. Sequential deletion, site-directed mutagenesis experiments, and Northern blot analysis of RNA produced by constructs indicated that the second HRE (HRE-2) plays a critical role in the hypoxic activation of both RNA transcripts. The ORF35-37 transcript was upregulated by cotransfected hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF). Electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrated that HRE-2 and ancillary sequences bind and compete for HIF with hypoxic Hep3B nuclear extract. The activation of this gene cluster by hypoxia may have implications for the pathogenesis of PEL and KS. Moreover, the activation of ORF36 by hypoxia might be exploited to develop targeted therapy for PEL, which arises in a hypoxic environment (pleural effusions).
Structural Insights into the Membrane Fusion Mechanism Mediated by Influenza Virus Hemagglutinin

Membrane fusion is involved in many fundamental cellular processes and entry of enveloped viruses into host cells. Influenza type A virus HA has long served as a paradigm for mechanistic studies of protein-mediated membrane fusion via large-scale structural rearrangements induced by acidic pH. Here we report the newly determined crystal structure of influenza B virus HA2 in the postfusion state. Together with a large number of previously determined prefusion structures of influenza A and B virus HA and a postfusion structure of influenza A/H3N2 HA2, we identified conserved features that are shared between influenza A and B virus HA in the conformational transition and documented substantial differences that likely influence the detailed mechanisms of this process. Further studies are needed to dissect the effects of these and other structural differences in HA conformational changes and influenza pathogenicity and transmission, which may ultimately expedite the discovery of novel anti-influenza fusion inhibitors.
Spiking neural network with RRAM: Can we use it for real-world application?

The spiking neural network (SNN) provides a promising solution to drastically promote the performance and efficiency of computing systems. Previous work of SNN mainly focus on increasing the scalability and level of realism in a neural simulation, while few of them support practical cognitive applications with acceptable performance. At the same time, based on the traditional CMOS technology, the efficiency of SNN systems is also unsatisfactory. In this work, we explore different training algorithms of SNN for real-world applications, and demonstrate that the Neural Sampling method is much more effective than Spiking Time Dependent Plasticity (STDP) and Remote Supervision Method (ReSuMe). We also propose an energy efficient implementation of SNN with the emerging metal-oxide resistive random access memory (RRAM) devices, which includes an RRAM crossbar array works as network synapses, an analog design of the spike neuron, and an input encoding scheme. A parameter mapping algorithm is also introduced to configure the RRAM-based SNN. Simulation results illustrate that the system achieves 91.2% accuracy on the MNIST dataset with an ultra-low power consumption of 3.5mW. Moreover, the RRAM-based SNN system demonstrates great robustness to 20% process variation with less than 1% accuracy decrease, and can tolerate 20% signal fluctuation with about 2% accuracy loss. These results reveal that the RRAM-based SNN will be quite easy to be physically realized.
Relevance-Vector-Machine Quantization and Density-Function Estimation : Application to HMM-Based Multi-Aspect Target Classification

The relevance vector machine (RVM) is applied for feature-vector quantization (codebook design) and for density-function estimation in high-dimensional feature space. The RVM represents a Bayesian extension of the widely applied support vector machine (SVM). The use of RVMs for quantization and density-function estimation is explored with application to discrete and continuous HMMs, respectively, with comparisons provided to traditional Lloyd codebook design and Gaussian-mixturemodel density-function estimation. The RVM-HMM algorithm is employed for multiaspect target classification, although such is of general utility in HMM applications. Example results are presented for measured multi-aspect acoustic scattering data from several underwater elastic targets.
aparoscopic totally extra-peritoneal hernia repair for bilateral pigelian hernias and coincident inguinal hernia : A case report

INTRODUCTION: Spigelian hernia (SH) is a rare ventral hernia occurring near the lateral border of the rectus muscle. The treatment remains controversial and depends on institutional expertise. Although laparoscopic surgery is a good adaptation for the repair of ventral hernias, only a few cases have been reported in the literature. Here, we report a case of totally extra-peritoneal (TEP) repair for bilateral SHs. PRESENTATION OF CASE: A 74-year-old Japanese man presented with asymptomatic bulges in the right lower abdominal quadrant. On physical examination, the bulges were located to the right of the lateral border of the abdominal rectus muscle and the right inguinal region in an upright position. We diagnosed right SH and coincident homonymous ipsilateral inguinal hernia (IH) by abdominal computed tomography and planned a curative operation by laparoscopy. By first laparoscopic exploration, we found an asymptomatic SH to the left of the lateral border of the abdominal rectus muscle and performed TEP repair for all hernias. The second laparoscopic exploration after fixing the mesh in place revealed that ase report the orifice of the right SH was scarred and stiffened by repeated prolapse. We finally eliminated the sac by ligation because of a fear causing of reduction en masse of the SH. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The use of laparoscopy simplified the diagnosis and facilitates the subsequent repair of the hernia. TEP approach is the ideal treatment for the simultaneous laparoscopic repair of SH and IH. © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of IJS Publishing Group Ltd. This is an open he CC access article under t
Influence of disease severity and optic disc size on the diagnostic performance of imaging instruments in glaucoma.

PURPOSE To evaluate the influence of disease severity and optic disc size on the diagnostic accuracy of three imaging technologies for structural assessment in glaucoma: confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy, scanning laser polarimetry, and optical coherence tomography. METHODS One hundred five patients with glaucoma and 61 normal subjects were recruited from the Diagnostic Innovations in Glaucoma Study (DIGS). All individuals underwent imaging with the GDx Variable Corneal and Lens Compensator (VCC; Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc., Dublin, CA), the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph II (HRT II; Heidelberg Engineering, GmbH, Dossenheim, Germany), and the Stratus OCT (Stratus OCT; Carl-Zeiss Meditec, Inc.) within a 6-month period. Severity of disease was based on the AGIS (Advanced Glaucoma Intervention Study) visual field score. To evaluate the influence of severity of glaucoma and optic disc size on the diagnostic accuracy of the imaging instruments, the sensitivities of the tests were fitted as a function of the AGIS score and disc area, by using logistic marginal regression models. RESULTS The severity of visual field loss had a significant influence on the sensitivity of all imaging instruments. More severe disease was associated with increased sensitivity. This influence was similar among the three instruments. With regard to optic disc area, larger optic discs were associated with decreased sensitivity for the Stratus OCT parameter Average Thickness and the GDx VCC parameter Nerve Fiber Indicator, whereas small optic discs were associated with increased sensitivity. For the HRT II parameter Moorfields regression analysis classification, an inverse effect was observed. CONCLUSION The diagnostic performances of the GDx VCC, HRT II, and Stratus OCT were significantly influenced by the severity of the disease and optic disc size. These covariates should be taken into account when comparing the performances of these tests for glaucoma diagnosis.
Neutralizing Anti-IL20 Antibody Treatment Significantly Modulates Low Grade Inflammation without Affecting HbA1c in Type 2 Diabetic db/db Mice

Low grade inflammation is present in pre-clinical and human type 2 diabetes. In this process, several cytokines like IL-1β and inflammatory cells like macrophages are activated and demonstrated to participate to the disease initiation and progression. IL-20 is a cytokine known to play non-redundant roles in progression of several inflammatory diseases. To address the therapeutic effect of inhibiting the IL-20 pathway in diabetes, diabetic db/db mice were treated with neutralizing anti-IL20 antibodies in vivo and both metabolic and inflammatory parameters were followed. Diabetic islets expressed the IL-20 cytokine and all IL-20 receptor components in elevated levels compared to resting non-diabetic islets. Islets were responsive to ex vivo IL-20 stimulation measured as SOCS induction and KC and IL-6 production. Neutralizing anti-IL20 treatment in vivo had no effect on HbA1c or weight although the slope of blood glucose increase was lowered. In contrast, anti-IL20 treatment significantly reduced the systemic low-grade inflammation and modulated the local pancreatic immunity. Significant reduction of the systemic IL-1β and MCP-1 was demonstrated upon anti-IL20 treatment which was orchestrated with a reduced RANTES, IL-16 and IL-2 but increased TIMP-1, MCP-1 and IL-6 protein expression locally in the pancreas. Interestingly, anti-IL20 treatment induced an expansion of the myeloid suppressor CD11bGr1int macrophage while reducing the number of CD8 T cells. Taken together, anti-IL20 treatment showed moderate effects on metabolic parameters, but significantly altered the low grade local and systemic inflammation. Hence, future combination therapies with anti-IL20 may provide beneficial therapeutic effects in type 2 diabetes through a reduction of inflammation.