Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Civic Engagement and the Transition to Adulthood

Constance Flanagan and Peter Levine survey research on civic engagement among U.S. adolescents and young adults. Civic engagement, they say, is important both for the functioning of democracies and for the growth and maturation it encourages in young adults, but opportunities for civic engagement are not evenly distributed by social class or race and ethnicity.Today's young adults, note the authors, are less likely than those in earlier generations to exhibit many important characteristics of citizenship, raising the question of whether these differences represent a decline or simply a delay in traditional adult patterns of civic engagement. Flanagan and Levine also briefly discuss the civic and political lives of immigrant youth in the United States, noting that because these youth make up a significant share of the current generation of young adults, their civic engagement is an important barometer of the future of democracy.The authors next survey differences in civic participation for youth from different social, racial, and ethnic backgrounds. They explore two sets of factors that contribute to a lower rate of civic engagement among low-income and minority young adults. The first is cumulative disadvantage—unequal opportunities and influences before adulthood, especially parental education. The second is different institutional opportunities for civic engagement among college and non-college youth during the young-adult years. Flanagan and Levine survey various settings where young adults spend time—schools and colleges, community organizations, faith-based institutions, community organizing and activism projects, and military and other voluntary service programs—and examine the opportunities for civic engagement that each affords.As the transition to adulthood has lengthened, say the authors, colleges have become perhaps the central institution for civic incorporation of younger generations. But no comparable institution exists for young adults who do not attend college. Opportunities for sustained civic engagement by year-long programs such as City Year could provide an alternative opportunity for civic engagement for young adults from disadvantaged families, allowing them to stay connected to mainstream opportunities and to adults who could mentor and guide their way.
Models for Story Consistency and Interestingness in Single-Player RPGs

What are the elements that affect story interestingness or consistency in single-player videogames? The question is approached by comparing player evaluations (N=206) of 11 videogames against a set of features derived by formal (qualitative) analysis. Ordinal regression was used to analyze the collected data. The study posits that dialogue system, romance, moral choice, appearance customization, and support for different play styles relate to story evaluation. Females tend to judge game stories more favorably and those with doctoral degree less favorably than players with other education.
Experiments with monocular visual tracking and environment modeling

The purpose has been to find solutions for reliable real-time monocular visual tracking and simultaneous environment modeling. The goal is to estimate the relative motion of a camera with respect to a rigid scene by tracking features such as corners and lines. In the beginning, the 3-D locations of the features are not known accurately, but during the tracking process the model errors are reduced through the integration of new observations. The focus is on modeling measurement uncertainties and selecting the features to be extracted from image frames. Experiments have been performed by using a bank of trackers, each of which calculates estimates for location and motion using measurements of a few features at a time. <<ETX>>
Accuracy of a polymerase chain reaction-based assay for detection of pneumococcal bacteremia in children.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the utility of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assay for identifying pneumococcal DNA in the blood of pediatric patients with suspected bacteremia. METHODS Children evaluated at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh who were having blood drawn for culture had an additional 2 to 3 mL of blood (from the same sampling) obtained and placed in a sodium citrate tube for PCR processing (study group). The control group for this study consisted of children having blood drawn for biochemical analysis who were afebrile, well-appearing, and had no recent illnesses. Specimens were frozen at -70 degrees C and then batch-processed for PCR-based analyses with the JM201/202-204 primer/probe set. Amplified products were detected after liquid hybridization format wherein a 32P end-labeled probe was annealed to the amplified DNA and visualized by autoradiographic analysis after gel retardation. RESULTS Four hundred eighty study group patients and 103 controls had specimens tested by both PCR and blood culture. Twenty-six (5%) patients had a positive blood culture for a pathogenic organism (21 of which were Streptococcus pneumoniae). Twelve (57%) of the 21 patients with blood cultures positive for S pneumoniae also were positive by PCR. In addition, 206 study group patients and 16 controls with negative blood cultures had positive PCR results. A greater proportion of study group patients were PCR-positive/culture-negative than were controls (206/459 vs 16/103). CONCLUSION Although this assay currently lacks adequate sensitivity and specificity for clinical use, the high frequency of PCR-positive cases in patients with suspected bacteremia may indicate a greater role for S pneumoniae than had previously been appreciated. Further refinement of this assay as well as the development of a rapid PCR-based assay appears warranted.
Urinary excretion of the main metabolites of methamphetamine, including p-hydroxymethamphetamine-sulfate and p-hydroxymethamphetamine-glucuronide, in humans and rats

The urinary concentrations of the main metabolites of methamphetamine (MA), specifically p-hydroxymethamphetamine-sulfate ( p-OHMA-Sul) and p-hydroxymethamphetamine-glucuronide ( p-OHMA-Glu), were directly measured in MA users and rats using an optimized LC-ESI MS method. The concentrations of the two conjugates in 50 MA human users’ urine ranged from 0.09 to 88.6 µM (0.02–21.7 µg ml−1) for p-OHMA-Sul and from <0.05 to 7.13 µM (<0.02–2.43 µg ml−1) for p-OHMA-Glu; the ratios of sulfate to glucuronide (S/G ratios) ranged from 2.2 to 37.1 (13.8 ± 8.1). The results demonstrate that the sulfation is quantitatively more important than glucuronidation for the conjugation of p-OHMA in humans. The urinary concentration time-dependency in two MA users also revealed that the conjugates were mostly excreted in urine within 3 days post-intake. In contrast, in rat, almost all of the conjugated p-OHMA (>99%) was excreted as the glucuronide in urine. These findings confirm that a large species variation exists in the conjugation of p-OHMA between humans and rats.
Subjective quality of life in out‐patients with schizophrenia: clinical and utilization correlates

The relationship between subjective quality of life (QOL), clinical measures, and service utilization was measured in out‐patients with schizophrenia. A total of 72 subjects completed the Quality of Life Interview and were also assessed by means of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, a battery of neuropsychological tests, and two measures of social functioning. Use of psychiatric services over a 2‐year period was ascertained from comprehensive records. Global subjective QOL was lower than patients' satisfaction with specific life domains. There were few significant correlations between satisfaction with, and objective measures of, specific life areas. In a multiple regression, patients' global subjective QOL was inversely related to their scores on the PANSS depression factor, and to the number of psychiatrist out‐patient visits.
Accelerometer test-retest reliability by data processing algorithms: results from the Twin Cities Walking Study.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to determine 1) the test-retest reliability of adult accelerometer-measured physical activity, and 2) how data processing decisions affect physical activity levels and test-retest reliability. METHODS 143 people wore the ActiGraph accelerometer for 2 7-day periods, 1 to 4 weeks apart. Five algorithms, varying nonwear criteria (20 vs. 60 min of 0 counts) and minimum wear requirements (6 vs. 10 hrs/day for ≥ 4 days) and a separate algorithm requiring ≥ 3 counts per min and ≥ 2 hours per day, were used to process the accelerometer data. RESULTS Processing the accelerometer data with different algorithms resulted in different levels of counts per day, sedentary, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Reliability correlations were very good to excellent (ICC = 0.70-0.90) for almost all algorithms and there were no significant differences between physical activity measures at Time 1 and Time 2. CONCLUSIONS This paper presents the first assessment of test-retest reliability of the Actigraph over separate administrations in free-living subjects. The ActiGraph was highly reliable in measuring activity over a 7-day period in natural settings but data were sensitive to the algorithms used to process them.
The Role of the Urea Cycle and Polyamines in Albumin Synthesis

Albumin synthesis is stimulated by those amino acids which increase urea synthesis and membrane bound polysome aggregation. Ornithine, an amino acid not incorporated into protein and produced from arginine in the urea cycle, is an albumin‐stimulating amino acid and is the precursor of the polyamines, and we have shown that the polyamine spermine promotes bound polysome aggregation. To test the concept that ureogenesis with its generation of ornithine might play a key role in albumin synthesis regulation via the polyamine pathway, isolated livers from fasted donors were perfused with ornithine, α‐difluoromethyl ornithine (DFMO), and spermine. In control experiments, albumin synthesis was 13.4 ± 0.8 mg per 100 gm liver per hr and polysome aggregation was 47%. These were increased in the presence of ornithine (26.0 ± 2.6 mg and 59%); if the livers were preperfused with DFMO before the addition of ornithine, then the expected increase in albumin synthesis and polysome reaggregation did not occur (16.3 ± 1.4 mg and 47%). However, if spermine was present with DFMO during the preperfusion, then the addition of ornithine had the expected effect (albumin synthesis = 26.1 ±1.2 mg and polysome aggregation = 62%). This suggests that if the ornithine to putrescine pathway is blocked, ornithine does not stimulate albumin synthesis and offers support to the concepts that (a) ornithine stimulation of albumin production is via polyamine synthesis and (b) that the urea cycle plays a more important role in protein metabolism than simply the pathway for nitrogen disposal.
Should the paradigm shift for low-grade follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma be toward less therapy?

TO THE EDITOR: Although the quest for improved cure rates of any cancer is paramount, the suggestion by Cabanillas 1 that it is time for a paradigm shift in our approach to the goals of treatment of patients with advanced indolent or low-grade follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma (ALGFNHL) toward “cure” does not seem to be supported by an analysis of much of the published evidence over 30 years. Cabanillas 1 states that our paradigm should shift because ALGFNHLs are “characterized by a continuous relapse rate for the first 8 years, with a subsequent plateau in the FFS [failure-free survival] curve at 40%. ” 1(p15) However, no randomized studies in the pre– and post– rituximab era show benefit for initial treatment over watch and wait. 2 One of these studies compared initial systemic treatment at diagnosis with a watch and wait policy in 309 patients and found identical overall survival and disease-specific survival between these two approaches. More importantly, the actuarial chance of not needing chemotherapy at 10 years was 19% for all patients and 40% for patients older than age 70 years, the largest subgroup. 3 Another reason advanced for justifying this paradigm shift is that patients have “not been observed long enough to realize that there is indeed a plateau in the FFS curve. ” 1(p15) However, Cabanillas cites studies of selected and small numbers of patients. One looked at five treatment cohorts totaling 580 patients for a period of 25 years. 4 The five groups were all young; each had a median age younger than 55 years, well below the overall median for this disease of age 60 years and older. The two cohorts with the best FFS results had median follow-up of only 8.2 and 3.3 years. Longer follow-up of these recent cohorts is required to detect any sustainable plateau in the survival curves. Cabanillas’s other reason for justifying his claim that patients with ALGFNHLs are curable is that they have not previously been treated with effective chemoimmunotherapy. However, a recent systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective randomized trials assessing available evidence suggests that high-dose therapy (HDT) and autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT) as part of initial
The current role of laser/light sources in the treatment of male and female pattern hair loss

Over the past several years there has been great interest in the potential role of laser/light‐based treatments for male and female pattern hair loss. Despite aggressive marketing and centers claiming great success in the treatment of hair loss there is little scientific data supporting laser/light sources in hair loss. This paper is a consensus of hair loss experts on the current scientific data, mechanisms of action, safety, protocols and recommendations regarding laser/light treatment for hair loss. The authors believe that, while seemingly safe, there are no controlled, peer‐reviewed studies validating current devices for hair loss and that all patients should be medically evaluated for any hair loss by a physician specialist to rule out other underlying medical conditions or the etiology of hair loss.
Students ’ Perceptions of Flipped Model on Facebook for Educational Purposes

Flipped instruction is quite new in language education, but it is growing rapidly in popularity (Bergmann &Sams, 2012) to help teachers maximize the time for students’ practices.Althougha number of studies have concluded the positive effects of flipped classroom in teaching content subjects, little research has been done to examine its effects in language teaching and learning. This current study is; therefore, an attempt to investigate non-majored English students’ perceptions of this alternative teaching method utilizing Facebook as a platform to deliver learning material. The data are collected through a mixed method approach using two main tools e.g. questionnaires, and in-depth interviews. The results show that the students have considerably positive perceptions towards the flipped model and the Facebook platformin all aspects investigated. Given positive results, the flipped classroom via Facebook platformcould be a potential dimensionconsidered for language teaching and learning in EFL contexts.
Gene expression profile in circulating mononuclear cells after exposure to ultrafine carbon particles

Context: Exposure to particulate matter (PM) is associated with systemic health effects, but the cellular and molecular mechanisms are unclear. Objective: We hypothesized that, if circulating mononuclear cells play an important role in mediating systemic effects of PM, they would show gene expression changes following exposure. Materials and methods: Peripheral blood samples were collected before (0 h) and at 24 h from healthy subjects exposed to filtered air (FA) and ultrafine carbon particles (UFPs, 50 μg/m3) for 2 h in a previous study (n = 3 each). RNA from mononuclear cell fraction (>85% lymphocytes) was extracted, amplified and hybridized to Affymetrix HU133 plus 2 microarrays. Selected genes were confirmed in five additional subjects from the same study. Results: We identified 1713 genes (UFP 24 h vs. FA 0 and 24 h, P < 0.05, false discovery rate of 0.01). The top 10 upregulated genes (fold) were CDKN1C (1.86), ZNF12 (1.83), SRGAP2 (1.82), FYB (1.79), LSM14B (1.79), CD93 (1.76), NCSTN (1.70), DUSP6 (1.69), TACC1 (1.68), and H2AFY (1.68). Upregulation of CDKN1C and SRGAP2 was confirmed by real-time-PCR. We entered 1020 genes with a ratio >1.1 or <−1.1 into the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis and identified pathways related to inflammation, tissue growth and host defense against environmental insults, such as, insulin growth factor 1 signaling, insulin receptor signaling and NF-E2-related factor-2-mediated oxidative stress response pathway. Discussion and conclusions: Two-hour exposures to UFP produced gene expression changes in circulating mononuclear cells. These gene changes provide biologically plausible links to PM-induced systemic health effects, especially those in the cardiovascular system and glucose metabolism.
Implementation of Ahb Bus Tracer with Dynamic Multiresolution for Lossless Real Time Compression

:- In the system-on-chip (SoC) debugging and performance analysis/optimization, monitoring the on-chip bus signals are necessary. But, such signals are difficult to observe since they are deeply embedded in a SoC and no sufficient I/O pins to access those signals. Therefore, we embed a bus tracer in SoC to capture the bus signals and store them.The stored trace memory can be loaded to the trace analyzer software for analysis. In this paper a multiresolution AHB On-Chip bus tracer is proposed for system-on-chip (SoC) debugging and monitoring which is capable of capturing the bus trace with different resolutions and efficient built-in compression mechanisms.In addition, it allows the user to switch the trace resolution dynamically so that appropriate resolution levels can be applied to different segments of the trace. It also supports tracing after/before an event triggering, named post-triggering trace/pre-triggering trace, respectively. The SoC can be verified in field-programmable gate array.
Performance prediction of low cost integrated navigation system

In this paper, an architecture used for evaluating the performance of integrated navigation system based on low cost MEMS sensors and GPS receiver was proposed. The purpose of constructing this architecture is to reduce the testing cost and to give constructive advice for choosing the sensors and algorithms. Based on the detailed error modeling, various errors calibration and algorithms design, numerical simulation was performed to validate the efficiency of the proposed architecture.
Fine-time-granularity fast demand control of building HVAC facilities for future smart grid

Real-time demand control is expected for the future smart grid with intensive renewable energy sources (RESs). The Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) building HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air-Conditioning) facilities are popular in modern buildings in Japan, Europe, and other countries. The VRF HVAC type uses sophisticated refrigerant flow control devices. We propose a fine-time-granularity fast demand control scheme that replaces traditional coarse and slow demand controls, such as on/off adjustment of power consumption. However, the power consumption forecast of the VRF's devices for the entire building is extremely complicated. Therefore, we chose statistical forecast model approach. A 5-minute-interval Auto-Regressive (AR) model system identification was introduced. We conducted a trial simulation of fine-time-granularity fast demand control using our 5-minute-interval AR model as a preliminary evaluation for actual experiments.
A 0 . 18-m CMOS IA-32 Processor With a 4-GHz Integer Execution Unit

This paper describes the main features and functions of the Pentium® 4 processor microarchitecture. We present the front-end of the machine, including its new form of instruction cache called the trace cache, and describe the out-of-order execution engine, including a low latency double-pumped arithmetic logic unit (ALU) that runs at 4 GHz. We also discuss the memory subsystem, including the low-latency Level 1 data cache that is accessed in two clock cycles. We then describe some of the key features that contribute to the Pentium® 4 processor’s floating-point and multimedia performance. We provide some key performance numbers for this processor, comparing it to the Pentium® III processor.
Effects of Lactobacillus cultures on growth performance, abdominal fat deposition, serum lipids and weight of organs of broiler chickens

1. The effects of a mixture of 12 Lactobacillus strains (LC) on the growth performance, abdominal fat deposition, serum lipids and weight of organs of broiler chickens were studied from 1 to 42 d of age. 2. One hundred and thirty-six 1-d-old male broiler chicks were assigned at random to two dietary treatments: a basal diet (control), and a basal diet with 0·1% LC. 3. The supplementation of LC in broiler diets improved the body weight gain and feed conversion rate from 1 to 42 d of age and was effective in reducing abdominal fat deposition but only after 28 d of age. 4. The LC diets reduced serum total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and triglycerides in broilers from 21 to 42 d of age. However, there was no significant difference in serum high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol between control and LC-fed broilers. There was also no significant difference in the weights of organs of control and LC-fed broilers. 5. The results indicated that the mixture of 12 Lactobacillus strains have a hypolipidaemic effect on broilers.
Étude des problèmes de spilling et coalescing liés à l'allocation de registres en tant que deux phases distinctes. (A Study of Spilling and Coalescing in Register Allocation as Two Separate Phases)

The goal of register allocation is to assign the variables of a program to the registers or to spill them to memory whenever there are no register left. Minimizing the spilling is a difficult problem, tightly bounded with the colorability of the program. The SSA form simplifies the coloring by splitting variables : we discovered that it makes the interference graph chordal. Our first goal was to better understand from where the complexity of register allocation does come, and why SSA seems to simplify the problem, by revisiting to the original proof of Chaitin (1981). The difficulty comes from the presence of (critical) edges and the possibility to perform permutations of colors or not. We studied the spill problem under SSA and several versions of the coalescing problem. We used it to design new heuristics to better solve the coalescing problem, so that an aggressive splitting can be used beforehand. This led us to promote a better register allocation scheme : First, spilling to reduce the register pressure to the number of registers, possibly by splitting a lot; Then color the variables and perform coalescing to remove most of the added copies. This scheme is expected to perform well in an aggressive compiler. However, the high number of splits and the increased compilation time required to perform the coalescing is prohibitive for just-in-time (JIT) compilation. So, we devised a heuristic, called "permutation motion," that is intended to be used with SSA-based splitting in place of our more aggressive coalescing in a JIT context.