Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Book Reviews

This book reviews some speci® c aspects in the area of the non-parametric mixture models. In particular, it covers the non-parametric maximum likelihood estimation of mixtures and the use of the computer package C.A. MAN (Computer-assisted analysis of mixtures) developed by the author. The use of mixtures, however, is much wider. They are used for approximating densities and functions, and for marker identi® cation in QTL analysis, to mention a few topics. A classical and good reference about mixtures is still the book by Titterington, et al. (1985). There are also more recent books focusing on particular aspects, such as, for example, McLachlan & Krishnan (1997), who dedicate the whole monograph to the EM algorithm and extensions. The book by BoÈ hning is very interesting from an applied point of view. As the author says in the preface, mixture models provide a natural framework for practitioners to deal with unobserved heterogeneity or extra-population heterogeneity. In many applications, under standard assumptions, the population is homogeneous, leading to a simple density. If the assumptions are violated because of population extra-variability, mixture models can capture this variability. It is sensible to think that data come from not just one population, but from several sub-populations. Since one has not observed to which subpopulation each observed datum belongs, it is possible to treat the variable that is describing the sub-population membership as a latent variable. The corresponding marginal model is a speci® c form of a non-parametric mixture model. The approach is non-parametric for the mixing distribution, including leaving the number of sub-populations of the mixing distribution unknown. In the book there are several applications of mixture modelling: meta-analysis, disease mapping, fertility studies, estimation of prevalence under clustering, and estimation of the distribution function of survival time under interval-censoring. All of them are solved using the package developed by the author, which is freely available at the author’s webpage, http://www.medizin. fu-berlin.de/ sozmed/bo1.html. In the book’s appendix, a brief description appears, which shows how to work with C.A. MAN. As far as the disease mapping application is concerned, the mixture models presented by BoÈ hning do not incorporate spatial correlations, one of the main criticism of this approach. However, it seems that there must be situations in which spatially structured variation is not present and the extra-variability can only be due to the unstructured heterogeneity, which is usually associated with covariates not included in the model. As a non-expert in the ® eld of mixture modelling, I can see this book will be helpful for practitioners. Students and people interested in the ® eld of mixture modelling as a whole, need to have the books by Titterington et al. (1985) and McLachlan & Krishnan (1997).
A segment-based approach to classify agricultural lands by using multi-temporal optical and microwave data

This research study aims to classify crop diversity in agricultural land with a segment-based approach using multi-temporal Kompsat-2 and Environmental Satellite (Envisat) advanced synthetic aperture radar (ASAR) data acquired in June, July and August on Karacabey Plain, Turkey. Analyses start with the image segmentation process applied to the fused optical images to search homogenous objects. The segmentation outputs are evaluated using multiple goodness measures, which take into consideration area and location similarities. Image classifications are performed on each multispectral (MS) single date image. In order to combine the most probable classes of the thematic maps, distance maps are generated. Evaluations of the thematic maps are performed through confusion matrices based on pixel-based and segment-based approaches. The results indicate that the highest overall accuracy of 88.71% and a kappa result of 0.86 are provided for the segment-based approach of the combined thematic map along with the microwave data, which is around 10% higher than the related pixel-based results.
Two-Way Immersion for the Next Generation: Models, Policies, and Principles

ABSTRACT The potential of TWI to close the achievement gap for English language learners and to provide both native English speakers and native partner-language speakers with access to a high-quality education with positive academic, language, and sociocultural outcomes is clear. In this article, I argue that the realization of this potential for TWI programs today and in the future requires TWI educators to contextualize their practices beyond the dualities of the program. Specifically, the article discusses how the increased cultural and linguistic diversity of TWI students in the program questions the native speaker/nonnative speaker dichotomy. Further, it argues that the strict separation of the languages for instruction needs to be contextualized in light of the holistic nature of bilingualism.
BOOK REVIEW

The overwhelming majority of state and local government employees in the United States have defined-benefit pension plans at work as their primary retirement benefit, either instead of or in addition to Social Security. This part of the U.S. retirement system is a patchwork with deep historical roots, as the authors of this book make clear. Their main argument throughout the book is that public employee pensions came into being due to social, economic, and political considerations at the time of their creation. But the issue of the future financial obligations associated with the financial promises was left for later generations to address. States and local governments as employers, however, face their own financial challenges, exactly at a time when their pensions need more money. The economic and financial crisis of 2007 to 2009 highlighted this problem, according to the authors, as massive losses of assets led to a pension underfunding—fewer assets than necessary to cover all future promised benefits—put pressure on state and local governments to reduce benefits and increase pension contributions. The book’s greatest value comes from the historical foundation of its argument. It provides the reader a detailed account of how defined-benefit plans came into being for the overwhelming majority of public employees in the United States. The authors highlight several key historical factors that led to the creation of these retirement plans at the time, all of which still play into retirement income policy discussions in the United States today. These factors include social considerations like basic income guarantees in retirement, economic considerations such as competition for skilled workers and retention of key personnel, and political and regulatory considerations such as the creation of Social Security for private-sector workers. The precursors to defined-benefit pensions were often old-age assistance programs run by the states prior to the Great Depression. The combination of progressive political elements, such as Theodore Roosevelt’s 1912 Social and Industrial Plank of the Progressive Party, and growing pressures from fraternal organizations, such as the Fraternal Order of Eagles,
Preface

It may appear odd that in the context of language acquisition, the contribution of consciousness was originally discussed almost exclusively in terms of its absence. Indeed, the very definition of language acquisition in children stresses the unconscious nature of linguistic development accompanied by little effort or awareness. It is no wonder then that the idea of unconscious processes took on an air of superiority also in the case of second and foreign language acquisition, and conscious reflection evident in monitoring came to be viewed as unnatural. If awareness was considered a positive at all, it was as something of a consolation prize rather than a true asset. It resembled a deficiency that is evident but is better left unmentioned, like a prosthesis for missing unconscious automaticity and intuition. As a result, in foreign language teaching, especially in communicative methodology models, direct grammar instruction was avoided or at best considered a necessary evil, as if in the hope that if conscious control is not overused, then natural processes will spontaneously kick in. The rationale behind this attitude is sound enough. ‘‘Lower’’ modes of language functioning such as handling grammar or phonology should not and do not require anything like rapt attention. This makes evolutionary sense. Given that language is one of the first skills acquired by children, it must be tailored to their cognitive style marked precisely by little reflective attention. Further, it is not just that there is no need for conscious analysis of one’s production, but that such conscious analysis is often impossible, even if we chose to focus on fine details of language production. As Jackendoff (1997) observes, many aspects of language functioning are under the radar of awareness and cannot register in a person’s conscious attention. ‘‘We can’t be aware of the frequency analysis our auditory system performs on an incoming sound wave; we just hear a sound’’ and processes like this happen ‘‘as if by magic’’ (p. 181). Thus, listeners are unaware of features like aspiration, vowel shortening, or voicing. This does not mean that learners cannot understand the principles responsible for allophonic processes, ‘‘[b]ut even when we figure out how the brain does it, we still won’t be able to catch ourselves in the act! ’’ (p. 181). This applies to a range of examples of linguistic phenomena, and Jackendoff ventures that the lexicon and the rules of grammar are in fact opaque to conscious report.
Gender specific impact of replication and recombination on rodent intron evolution

Mutation rate variability has been widely observed across mammalian genomes but the underlying causes are not yet fully understood. This thesis attempts to explain this variation, as assayed by the substitution rate of putatively neutral sites, across rodent genomes at three scales: genic, inter-autosomal and between chromosome types. It was shown that the method commonly employed to estimate the extent of male-bias in the mutation rate is flawed, suggesting that inter-chromosomal variation in mutation rates is not solely due to differences in the number of replications they undergo in each germ-line. Two novel models were proposed that incorporated an additional recombination-associated parameter to explain why, contrary to the theory of male-driven evolution, the autosomes evolve faster than the Y-chromosome. As number of replications could not fully account for mutational variability at any scale, the impact of the time during S-phase when replication occurs was explored. Differential timing of replication was shown to explain both inter-genic and some inter-autosomal variation in intronic substitution rates, with later replicating sequences evolving faster. However, controlling for different replication times failed to account for why number of replications could not explain differences in chromosomal divergence. Further, GC rich sequences were found to evolve slowly because they tend to replicate early. Finally, late replicating genes were found to have high recombination rates in females but low recombination rates in males. These previously unidentified relationships could explain why, owing to sex-specific covariance with replication timing, the strength of covariance between recombination rate and divergence was underestimated in males and overestimated in females. It might also explain why female recombination rates, unlike those in males, do not covary with GC content.
Influence of questionnaire design on response to mail surveys

This paper examines in some detail the influence of the questionnaire design on the ratio and quality of responses to mail surveys. To this end an investigation using Dillman’s total design method for mail surveys was used and carried out in Spain. To minimize the effort required in filling in the questionnaire, Dillman proposes that the questionnaire should be easy to fill in, and stresses the importance of its having an attractive and pleasing off‐set. This paper will outline a series of elements to take into consideration on the dimensions and size of the questionnaire, on its cover pages, on the type and colour of paper used, on the ordering of the questions, the envelope and stamps used to send off the questionnaire. This paper lays out the the suggestions made by Dillman as well as those of others who have written on this theme.
Sexual Health for the Millennium

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are designed to resolve some of the most complicated and urgent social problems of our time and foster human development in the new millennium. This declaration and technical document asserts that promoting sexual health must play a key role in achieving the MDGs. The promotion of sexual health is central to the attainment of wellness and well-being and the achievement of sustainable development and more specifically to the implementation of the MDGs. Individuals and communities who experience sexual wellbeing are better positioned to contribute to the eradication of individual and societal poverty. By nurturing individual and social responsibility and equitable social interactions, promotion of sexual health fosters quality of life and the realization of peace. This document specifies and elaborates on eight distinct but inter-related aspects of sexual health that play important roles in fostering human development. To meaningfully and effectively contribute to the achievement of the MDGs, sexual health promotion programs must address the totality of human sexuality. For example, to effectively promote HIV sexual risk reduction, sexual health promotion programs must reflect and incorporate the reality that sexual relationships include gender and power dynamics and that the desire for intimacy and pleasure plays an instrumental role in shaping sexual behavior. All governments, international agencies, private sector and academic institutions, and sexual health organizations must develop an intersectoral approach that promotes sexual health as a distinct and essential strategy in attaining the MDGs. Sexual Health for the Millennium conceptualizes sexual health as multi-dimensional and specifically identifies and examines eight specific goals that together encompass an integrated and comprehensive approach to sexual health promotion. Finally, this technical document describes specific necessary actions that are particular to each of the eight goals of the declaration.
Introduction

This special edition of the Journal for Cultural Research originates in part from an academic conference held at the Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai in November 2014 on the theme of contemporary art, curating and social engagement in twenty-first century China. That conference, which was co-convened by myself as director of the Centre for East-Asian Cultural Studies at the University of Nottingham and Larys Frogier, director of RAM, included papers by an international group of speakers all of whom have growing or established profiles as scholars and/or critics of contemporary Chinese art and culture. The initial intention was to publish proceedings from that conference either as a special journal edition or edited collection. Those plans were partly derailed by the inability of some participants to extend their papers in a timely way for publication due to weight of other work – an increasingly common problem within academia where neoliberal imperatives have in many places taken precedence over scholarly research and publication. Other participants unfamiliar with scholarly publication also sadly, but understandably, declined the invitation to publish. As a consequence, it seemed that the RAM conference would leave no published trace. I was therefore extremely pleased when Lu Dai, my co-editor here, proposed this special edition of JCR on contemporary art in/from China and social engagement. Included in this special edition are a number of articles that relate to papers given at the RAM conference. Supplementing those articles are others specially commissioned to extend an engagement with the edition’s theme. In recent years, there has been a significant revival of academic/critical interest in the question of art and social engagement prompted in part by a so-called ‘social turn’ in the contemporary art world that has gained increasing traction since the global economic downturn of 2008. This revival has resulted in a number of high-profile exhibitions, conferences and publications including Weibel (2015) and Klanten, Hübner, Bieber, Alonzo, and Jansen (2011) signifying a return to oppositional discourses implicitly/explicitly critical of the complicity of institutionalised postmodernism with neoliberal capitalism. Largely absent in relation to the recent revival of academic/critical interest in the question of art and social engagement however, and in spite of persistent calls within the international art world for trans-cultural approaches to historical and theoretical interpretation, is any searching attention to conceptions of art’s critical relationship to society differing from those dominant in Western and heavily Westernised contexts. This edition aims to address that deficiency by presenting papers critically cognisant of particular conditions and concerns related to socially oriented artistic practices in the People’s Republic of China and related diasporic communities.
Distant

This article attempts to interpret Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s award‐winning film Distant [Uzak] (2002) through a discussion of social and cultural theory. Distant subtly chronicles the nature of the “distance” between two as individuals, between them and the other people in their lives, between them and strangers in their neighborhood, and between them and their country. They are essentially lost souls with little hope of resolving their problems and washing away their bitterness. To offer a systematic account of the film, the article especially elaborates on the concepts of time‐image, isolated modern life and urban solitude, and the direct link between dirt and strangeness.
Perioperative management of hypertension

Hypertension has a very high prevalence, affecting 46% of the population in the US; it is a major culprit for adverse cardiovascular outcomes, renal disease and stroke; it also carries a substantial impact in the perioperative period. It is frequently encountered in the perioperative time, and its presence can potentially affect the hemodynamic control during anesthesia. Intraoperatively, hypotension may be present associated with anesthesia; however hypertension may predominate postoperatively. The presence of uncontrolled hypertension preoperatively may lead to cancellation of surgical procedures with consequent adverse impact in multiple domains (psychological, social and financial) for patients and their families, as well as operational for the healthcare system. There is paucity of data providing guidance on ideal blood pressure values for elective anesthesia and surgery. We consider a reasonable goal to aim for a systolic pressure 140 mmHg or less and diastolic pressure 90 or less preoperatively. In patients with systolic pressure of 180 mmHg or higher or diastolic pressure of 110 mmHg or higher, we recommend postponing the surgery until achieving a better blood pressure control, given the associated increased risk for adverse perioperative cardiovascular outcomes. Most antihypertensive medications need to be continued perioperatively. We have reviewed the recommendations on perioperative management of different antihypertensive medications.
The politicisation of the Beijing Olympics

Since the beginning of the modern Olympic movement in the late nineteenth century, the Olympic Games has been used by politicians, religious groups, nationalists, extremists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governments and alliances of states to launch their political activities. In the twentieth century, the Olympics were involved in almost every major political event including the Irish Independence Movement, the Second World War, the Suez War, racial segregation in South Africa, the territorial disputes between Palestine and Israel, and the Cold War between the socialist bloc and the capitalist bloc. John MacAloon, a distinguished Olympic historian, concluded, ‘All Olympic Games are, of course, highly politically charged and sensitive in some regions of the world. How could they not be? ’. The Beijing Olympics was no exception. The Chinese government hoped that the Games could strengthen national unity and facilitate cultural and economic exchanges in order to stimulate China’s integration with the world. But the high visibility of the Games also exposed the country to political criticism. The Beijing Games became one of the most politicised Games in Olympic history.
Principales caractéristiques et voies de valorisation du tamarin

Introduction. Le tamarin est couramment utilise en zone intertropicale pour la preparation de nombreux plats ou boissons traditionnelles, mais ses utilisations industrielles sont recentes. Le tamarinier. Originaire de l'Afrique de l'Est, Tamarindus indica est la seule espece du genre. Les fruits de cet arbre sont des gousses contenant jusqu'a une dizaine de graines brunes, enveloppees dans une abondante pulpe acide. Le tamarinier peut produire jusqu'a 15 t.ha -1 . an -1 de gousses. Le tamarin. Le tamarin contient, environ, 30 % de pulpe, 40 % de graines et 30 % de cosse. Dans le fruit mur, la pulpe est de couleur brun rougeâtre. Sa teneur en eau avoisine 38 %. Elle est riche en pectines et en sucres reducteurs et renferme d'importantes quantites d'acides organiques constitues a 98 % d'acide tartrique. Le principal compose responsable de l'arome de la pulpe est le 2-acetyl-furanne. Le tamarin, non climacterique, doit etre imperativement cueilli lorsqu'il est parfaitement mur. Apres ecossage, la pulpe peut etre soit sechee au soleil, soit additionnee de sucre et etre ensuite stockee plusieurs mois sans alteration notable de sa qualite. Principales utilisations. Pratiquement toutes les parties de l'arbre sont valorisees notamment dans des preparations alimentaires ou pour leurs proprietes medicinales. Cependant, le fruit est la partie du vegetal la plus largement exploitee (jus, boisson sucree, condiment, confiserie, etc.). Procedes de transformation. La transformation traditionnelle du tamarin pour la preparation de plats et de boissons est tres repandue mais les utilisations industrielles sont relativement meconnues et peu developpees. Elles concernent surtout la fabrication de jus pasteurise, de concentre de tamarin et de poudre d'amande. Conclusion. Les caracteristiques particulieres des produits obtenus a partir du tamarin semblent interessantes a exploiter, notamment pour la fabrication de boissons rafraichissantes non alcoolisees.
Introduction

SUMMARY Adolescent smoking has increasingly become a topic of interest and research in the addiction field. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that most adolescents try smoking, over one-third become daily smokers, and nearly one quarter become addicted to cigarettes. While significant recent gains have been made in understanding and treating nicotine addiction among adults, similar gains have not been made in understanding and treating nicotine addiction among adolescents. Much work remains to be done concerning the developmental appropriateness and usefulness of conceptualizations, methods, and strategies initially developed for adult smoking.