Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Annotating the World Wide Web using Natural Language

This paper describes the START Information Server built at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Available on the World Wide Web since December 1993, the START Server provides users with access to multi-media information in response to questions formulated in English. Over the last 3 years, the START Server answered hundreds of thousands of questions from users all over the world. The START Server is built on two foundations: the sentence-level Natural Language processing capability provided by the START Natural Language system and the idea of natural language annotations for multi-media information segments. This paper starts with an overview of sentence-level processing in the START system and then explains how annotating information segments with collections of English sentences makes it possible to use the power of sentence-level natural language processing in the service of multi-media information access. The paper ends with a proposal to annotate the World Wide Web.
Overexpression and secretion of the soluble CTLA-4 splice variant in various autoimmune diseases and in cases with overlapping autoimmunity.

AIM To explore the potential genetic association of CTLA-4 Exon1 +49A/G and 3'UTR (AT)(n) to susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and overlapping (OP) autoimmunity; affected with more than one autoimmune disease. Expression of two major CTLA-4 isoforms; full length (mCTLA-4) and soluble (sCTLA-4) were explored in all subjects. A total of 680-age/gender/ethnically matched Kuwaitis were recruited and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-fragment analysis was employed for genotyping both markers. mCTLA-4 and sCTLA-4 mRNA expression were analyzed using quantitative real time-PCR. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to screen sCTLA-4 in all subjects' sera. RESULTS Only two CTLA-4 3'UTR (AT)(n) allelotypes; (AT)(15) and (AT)(6) were detected. The heterozygous (AT)(15/6) genotype confers protectivity rather than susceptibility to SLE (p=0.01, odds ratio=0.43, and confidence interval=0.21-0.86). No significant association was observed between Exon 1 +49A/G and any of the tested diseases. A consistently high serum sCTLA-4 level was observed in RA (6.8 ng/mL, p=0.005), SLE (6.34 ng/mL, p=0.007), and OP (8.75 ng/mL, p=0.012) compared to healthy control. A significant increase in the expression of sCTLA-4 mRNA was observed in OP (p=0.05) and SLE (p=0.047), while a significant increase in the expression of mCTLA-4 (p=0.01) was observed only in OP. CONCLUSION The present study is the first to report a statistically significant association between OP and serum sCTLA-4. The novelty of our study is the significance of CTLA-4 in the pathogenesis of OP besides SLE and RA.
Effect of silencer on polyomavirus DNA replication

We have cloned the cellular sequence termed box DNA from the enhancer region of polyomavirus F9 mutant fPyF9. Box DNA functions as a negative transcriptional element (silencer) in undifferentiated F9 cells but not in differentiated L cells. Plasmid DNAs containing the origin and enhancer of polyomavirus were used to measure simultaneously transcriptional and replication activities in transfected cells. DNA replication activity was significantly reduced under conditions in which the silencer was able to reduce enhancer activity in F9 cells. On the other hand, when the silencer could not repress enhancer activity in MOP-8 cells, which are mouse NIH 3T3 cells producing polyomavirus T antigen constitutively, replication activity was still intact. The silencer itself had no effect on DNA replication or transcription in either type of cells. Furthermore, the insertion of a 6-base oligonucleotide within a consensus sequence of box DNA abolished the repressive effect of the silencer on DNA replication and enhancer activities. These results suggest that enhancer factors, interacting with silencer factors, may be closely associated with the mechanism of replication.
Tiling strategies for optical follow-up of gravitational wave triggers by wide field of view telescopes

Aims. Binary neutron stars are among the most promising candidates for joint gravitational-wave and electromagnetic astronomy. The goal of this work is to investigate the strategy of using gravitational wave sky-localizations for binary neutron star systems, to search for electromagnetic counterparts using wide field of view optical telescopes. Methods. We examine various strategies of scanning the gravitational wave sky-localizations on the mock 2015-16 gravitational-wave events. First, we studied the performance of the sky-coverage using a naive tiling system that completely covers a given confidence interval contour using a fixed grid. Then we propose the ranked-tiling strategy where we sample the localization in discrete two dimensional intervals that are equivalent to the telescope’s field of view and rank them based on their sample localizations. We then introduce an optimization of the grid by iterative sliding of the tiles. Next, we conducted tests for all the methods on a large sample of sky-localizations that are expected in the first two years of operation of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We investigate the performance of the ranked-tiling for telescope arrays and compare their performance against monolithic giant field of view telescopes. Finally, we studied the ability of optical counterpart detection by various types of telescopes. Results. Our analysis reveals that the ranked-tiling strategy improves the localization coverage over the contour-covering method. The improvement is more significant for larger field of view telescopes. We also find that while optimization of position of tiles significantly improve the coverage from contour-covering tiles, the same for ranked-tiles leads to negligible improvement in coverage of the sky-localizations. We observed that distributing the field of view of the telescopes into arrays of multiple telescopes significantly improves the coverage e ciency by as much as 50% over a single large FOV telescope in 2016 localizations while scanning 100 deg 2 . Finally, in our analysis for a range of wide field-of-view telescopes we found improvement of counterpart detection upon sacrificing coverage of localization in order to achieve greater observation depth for very large field-of-view - small aperture telescopes, especially if the intrinsic brightness of the optical counterparts are weak.
Cooperative co-evolution using LSHADE with restarts for the CEC15 benchmarks

In this paper, we test the performance of an LSHADE Cooperative Co-evolutionary (CC) algorithm using the CEC15 benchmarks. First, we apply the recently proposed Global Differential Grouping (GDG) to learn the underlying interdependencies of the problem variables. GDG divides both separable and non-separable variables among multiple sets. Second, the method adopts the LSHADE algorithm within the CC framework to simultaneously optimize the identified groups. Results are reported for all required problem sizes.
THE INFLUENCE OF POLYMER ON RHEOLOGICAL AND THERMO OXIDATIVE AGING PROPERTIES OF MODIFIED BITUMEN BINDERS

Polymer modified bitumen (PMB) has been used for many years to improve the performance of asphalt concretes against premature pavement defects. In this research, modified samples were prepared with 2%, 3%, 4%, 5% and 6% Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) polymer by weight of bitumen binder. The influence of LLDPE polymer was evaluated through binder properties test which includes penetration, softening point, storage stability, temperature susceptibility, rutting, fatigue and thermal oxidative aging resistance from a dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) measurements at a temperature of 20 O C to 60 O C. Results show that LLDPE polymer has a significant effect on binder properties. Penetration decreases and softening point increases with increasing LLDPE content on the modified binder after aging, which implies LLDPE improves the thermo oxidative aging resistance of the binder. Furthermore, the storage stability test shows that at higher LLDPE concentrations phase separation may occur. DSR analysis shows that modified binders have lower temperature susceptibility and higher aging resistance with increased stiffness and elastic behavior compared with unmodified binders. In addition, modified binders show enhanced resistance against high temperature rutting and at low temperature fatigue performance. It was found that the optimum LLDPE content is 6%.
Gsα deficiency in adipose tissue improves glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity without an effect on body weight

Significance The G protein Gsα mediates the activation of lipolysis in white and brown adipose tissue (WAT and BAT) and thermogenesis in BAT by sympathetic nerves. In this study we show that Gsα deficiency in BAT and WAT leads to cold intolerance and inactive BAT in mice, as expected, but does not alter body weight or energy balance, associated with a reduction in both lipolysis and lipogenesis. Despite having similar adiposity, these mice had improved insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism, possibly secondary to reduced release of free fatty acids and fatty acid binding protein 4 from adipose tissue. These findings show that Gsα in adipocytes is not required to maintain energy balance but still has an important effect on glucose metabolism. Gsα, the G protein that transduces receptor-stimulated cAMP generation, mediates sympathetic nervous system stimulation of brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis and browning of white adipose tissue (WAT), which are both potential targets for treating obesity, as well as lipolysis. We generated a mouse line with Gsα deficiency in mature BAT and WAT adipocytes (Ad-GsKO). Ad-GsKO mice had impaired BAT function, absent browning of WAT, and reduced lipolysis, and were therefore cold-intolerant. Despite the presence of these abnormalities, Ad-GsKO mice maintained normal energy balance on both standard and high-fat diets, associated with decreases in both lipolysis and lipid synthesis. In addition, Ad-GsKO mice maintained at thermoneutrality on a standard diet also had normal energy balance. Ad-GsKO mice had improved insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism, possibly secondary to the effects of reduced lipolysis and lower circulating fatty acid binding protein 4 levels. Gsα signaling in adipose tissues may therefore affect whole-body glucose metabolism in the absence of an effect on body weight.
Specificity of relations between adolescents’ cognitive emotion regulation strategies and symptoms of depression and anxiety

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which cognitive emotion regulation strategies were “common or transdiagnostic correlates” of symptoms of depression and anxiety and/or “specific correlates” distinguishing one problem category from the other. The sample comprised 582 13- to 16-year-old secondary school students. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were measured by the SCL-90, and cognitive emotion regulation strategies were measured by the CERQ, in a cross-sectional design. Multivariate regression analyses were performed. Before controlling for comorbidity, the same cognitive emotion regulation strategies that were related to symptoms of depression were also related to symptoms of anxiety. However, after controlling for comorbid anxiety symptoms, rumination, self-blame (only girls), positive reappraisal, and positive refocusing (the latter two inversely) were uniquely (and significantly) associated with depression symptoms; and after controlling for comorbid depression symptoms, catastrophising and other-blame were uniquely related to anxiety symptoms. The results supported the cognitive content-specificity model, in which anxiety is supposed to be uniquely characterised by thoughts concerning the overestimation of threats and harm, and depression is supposed to be uniquely characterised by negative evaluations of self, and of past and future events.
Differences between liver and hepatoma cells in their complements of adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate-binding proteins and protein kinases.

Abstract The soluble fractions from both rat liver and an established hepatoma cell line (HTC cells) contain protein kinases and proteins which bind adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP). Liver cytosol exhibits somewhat more binding activity and less protein kinase activity than HTC cells. Protein kinase activity from both sources is stimulated by cyclic AMP. Scatchard plots for the binding of cyclic AMP have been compared at pH 4 and 6.5. At both pH values, liver shows nonlinear plots which are increased in curvature and apparent affinities by prior dialysis of the samples, mostly because of the removal of endogenous cyclic AMP. For HTC cells the Scatchard plot at pH 4 is also nonlinear and exhibits high binding affinity (Kd l 0.5 nm), but prior dialysis is unnecessary and the shape of the curve differs from that of liver. At pH 6.5, the binding affinity observed in HTC extracts (Kd g 10 nm) is lower than seen with liver and is insensitive to dialysis for a day or 2. However, this binding can be partially converted to higher affinity by aging or by overnight treatment at pH 4. The binding activity present in liver extracts is considerably less stable than that from HTC cells at pH 4 in the absence of cyclic AMP. Increasing the pH and adding cyclic AMP stabilize the binding activities from both sources. Much of the nonlinearity observed in the Scatchard binding plots is in the opposite direction from that caused by the instability of binding components at low concentrations of cyclic AMP. Chromatography on DEAE-cellulose shows that HTC extracts lack one of two major cyclic AMP-stimulated protein kinase fractions which are present in liver. The deficiency seems to be due primarily to the absence of a cyclic AMP-binding fraction. Chromatographically analogous protein kinase peaks are present in both HTC and liver extracts, although their proportions differ. The cyclic AMP-binding fraction which is present only in liver is very labile at pH 4 and accounts for the greater instability of binding activity in liver extracts compared with HTC samples. HTC cells and liver also differ in the properties of the cyclic AMP-stimulated protein kinase fraction which is common to both. The activity of this chromatographic fraction from HTC cells is less responsive to cyclic AMP and has a lower binding affinity than that from liver. This lower HTC binding affinity can be increased by the same treatments which are effective with unfractionated extracts.
Robust speaker change detection

Most commonly used criteria for speaker change detection like log likelihood ratio (LLR) and Bayesian information criterion (BIC) have an adjustable threshold/penalty parameter to make speaker change decisions. These parameters are not always robust to different acoustic conditions and have to be tuned. In this letter, we present a criterion which can be used to identify speaker changes in an audio stream without such tuning. The criterion consists of calculating the LLR of two models with the same number of parameters. Results on the Hub4 1997 evaluation set indicate that we achieve a performance comparable to using BIC with optimal penalty term.
Availability and Cost-Constrained Long-Reach Passive Optical Network Planning

To avoid huge data loss in the last mile of Internet service, Passive Optical Networks (PONs) need to be designed with a high availability guarantee. Because next generation PON includes extending the coverage of optical broadband access networks under the name long-reach PON, availability-guaranteed planning of PONs for long-reach access is required. In this paper, we propose a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP)-based approach, and a heuristic algorithm, for the planning of survivable long-reach passive optical networks. The MILP-based planning model mainly consists of cost and availability constraints, while having the objective of largest possible area coverage. The heuristic is called Locate-ONU-with-Lowest-Availability-Requirement-First (LOWLARF), and it performs a faster search for the nearly optimal locations of Optical Network Units (ONUs), Optical Line Terminal (OLT), and the optical splitter having the same objective and constraints with the MILP model. The proposed heuristic and the MILP model are compared in terms of the solution spaces provided for a small sized problem. The heuristic LOWLARF introduces the advantage of significantly degraded running time, and numerical results indicate that it can provide close results to those of the MILP-based planning. On the other hand, three survivability schemes are compared in terms of deployment cost, availability, and coverage by MILP-based planning and LOWLARF. The evaluation is done by two different availability requirement scenarios. The results show that, under both scenarios, the protection scheme offering a lower bound of 99.999% availability leads to the highest deployment cost while it covers the smallest area. The protection schemes that guarantee 99.99% availability by employing less redundancy can cover a larger area under both scenarios.
Gap Size and Wall Lesion Development Next to Composite

This in situ study investigated whether there is a relationship between gap size and wall lesion development in dentin next to 2 composite materials, and whether a clinically relevant threshold for the gap size could be established. For 21 days, 14 volunteers wore a modified occlusal splint containing human dentin samples with 5 different interfaces: 4 gaps of 50 µm, 100 µm, 200 µm, or 400 µm and 1 non-bonded interface without a gap. Eight times a day, the splint with samples was dipped in a 20% sucrose solution for 10 minutes. Before and after caries development, specimens were imaged with transversal wavelength-independent microradiography (T-WIM), and lesion depth (LD) and mineral loss (ML) were calculated at the 5 different interfaces. After correction for the confounder location (more mesial or distal), a paired t test clustered within volunteers was performed for comparison of gap widths. Results showed no trend for a relationship between the corrected lesion depth and the gap size. None of the differences in lesion depth for the different gap sizes was statistically significant. Also, the composite material (AP-X or Filtek Supreme) gave no statistically significant differences in lesion depth and mineral loss. A minimum gap size could not be established, although, in a non-bonded interface without a measurable gap, wall lesion development was never observed.
A CMOS-Compatible Poly-Si Nanowire Device with Hybrid Sensor/Memory Characteristics for System-on-Chip Applications

This paper reports a versatile nano-sensor technology using “top-down” poly-silicon nanowire field-effect transistors (FETs) in the conventional Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible semiconductor process. The nanowire manufacturing technique reduced nanowire width scaling to 50 nm without use of extra lithography equipment, and exhibited superior device uniformity. These n type polysilicon nanowire FETs have positive pH sensitivity (100 mV/pH) and sensitive deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) detection ability (100 pM) at normal system operation voltages. Specially designed oxide-nitride-oxide buried oxide nanowire realizes an electrically Vth-adjustable sensor to compensate device variation. These nanowire FETs also enable non-volatile memory application for a large and steady Vth adjustment window (>2 V Programming/Erasing window). The CMOS-compatible manufacturing technique of polysilicon nanowire FETs offers a possible solution for commercial System-on-Chip biosensor application, which enables portable physiology monitoring and in situ recording.
Bridge flap technique as a single-step solution to mucogingival problems: A case series

Shallow vestibule, gingival recession, inadequate width of attached gingiva (AG) and aberrant frenum pull are an array of mucogingival problems for which several independent and effective surgical solutions are reported in the literature. This case series reports the effectiveness of the bridge flap technique as a single-step surgical entity for increasing the depth of the vestibule, root coverage, increasing the width of the AG and solving the problem of abnormal frenum pull. Eight patients with 18 teeth altogether having Millers class I, II or III recession along with problems of shallow vestibule, inadequate width of AG and with or without frenum pull underwent this surgical procedure and were followed-up till 9 months post-operatively. The mean root coverage obtained was 55% and the mean average gain in width of the AG was 3.5 mm. The mean percentage gain in clinical attachment level was 41%. The bridge flap technique can be an effective single-step solution for the aforementioned mucogingival problems if present simultaneously in any case, and offers considerable advantages over other mucogingival surgical techniques in terms of simplicity, limited chair-time for the patient and the operator, single surgical intervention for manifold mucogingival problems and low morbidity because of the absence of palatal donor tissue.
Zinc supplementation during pregnancy.

To the Editor. —As physicians involved in the care of pregnant women, we found the article by Dr Goldenberg and colleagues 1 dealing with the purported effect of zinc supplementation on pregnancy outcome interesting. The clear inference made by the authors, that 25 mg of zinc should be included in prenatal multivitamin/mineral tablets for general use, seems unsupported by the data. The study population consisted of 589 medically indigent African-American women with low plasma zinc levels. Even in this very specific group when appropriate adjustments were made for gestational age, "zinc supplementation was associated with an increase in birth weight of 38 g. and an increase in head circumference of 0.21 cm, neither of which was significant " (emphasis added). This is discordant from the claim made in the abstract, in which zinc supplementation was touted as being associated with a significant improvement in both of these factors. Even if zinc