Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evolving Fuzzy Rules for Relaxed-Criteria Negotiation

In the literature on automated negotiation, very few negotiation agents are designed with the flexibility to slightly relax their negotiation criteria to reach a consensus more rapidly and with more certainty. Furthermore, these relaxed-criteria negotiation agents were not equipped with the ability to enhance their performance by learning and evolving their relaxed-criteria negotiation rules. The impetus of this work is designing market-driven negotiation agents (MDAs) that not only have the flexibility of relaxing bargaining criteria using fuzzy rules, but can also evolve their structures by learning new relaxed-criteria fuzzy rules to improve their negotiation outcomes as they participate in negotiations in more e-markets. To this end, an evolutionary algorithm for adapting and evolving relaxed-criteria fuzzy rules was developed. Implementing the idea in a testbed, two kinds of experiments for evaluating and comparing EvEMDAs (MDAs with relaxed-criteria rules that are evolved using the evolutionary algorithm) and EMDAs (MDAs with relaxed-criteria rules that are manually constructed) were carried out through stochastic simulations. Empirical results show that: 1) EvEMDAs generally outperformed EMDAs in different types of e-markets and 2) the negotiation outcomes of EvEMDAs generally improved as they negotiated in more e-markets.
Alcohol craving and the dimensionality of alcohol disorders

Background ICD-10 includes a craving criterion for alcohol dependence while DSM-IV does not. Little is known about whether craving fits with or improves the DSM-IV criteria set for alcohol-use disorders. Method Data were derived from current drinkers (n=18 352) in the 1991–1992 National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey (NLAES), a nationally representative survey of US adults >17 years of age. The Alcohol Use Disorder and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule was used to assess the eleven DSM-IV dependence and abuse criteria, and alcohol craving. Exploratory factor, item response theory, and regression analyses were used to evaluate the psychometric properties and concurrent validity of DSM-based alcohol disorder criteria with the addition of alcohol craving. Results The past 12-month prevalence of craving was 1.3%. Craving formed part of a unidimensional latent variable that included existing DSM-IV criteria. Craving demonstrated high severity on the alcohol-use disorder continuum, resulting in an improved dimensional model with greater discriminatory ability compared with current DSM-IV criteria. Correlates of the diagnosis did not change with the addition of craving, and past 12-month craving was associated with prior alcohol dependence, depression, and earlier age of alcohol disorder onset among those with current DSM-IV alcohol dependence. Conclusions The addition of craving to the existing DSM-IV criteria yields a continuous measure that better differentiates individuals with and without alcohol problems along the alcohol-use disorder continuum. Few individuals are newly diagnosed with alcohol dependence given the addition of craving, indicating construct validity but redundancy with existing criteria.
Stimulus-Specific Adaptation in the Inferior Colliculus of the Anesthetized Rat

To identify sounds as novel, there must be some neural representation of commonly occurring sounds. Stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA) is a reduction in neural response to a repeated sound. Previous studies using an oddball stimulus paradigm have shown that SSA occurs at the cortex, but this study demonstrates that neurons in the inferior colliculus (IC) also show strong SSA using this paradigm. The majority (66%) of IC neurons showed some degree of SSA. Approximately 18% of neurons showed near-complete SSA. Neurons with SSA were found throughout the IC. Responses of IC neurons were reduced mainly during the onset component of the response, and latency was shorter in response to the oddball stimulus than to the standard. Neurons with near-complete SSA were broadly tuned to frequency, suggesting a high degree of convergence. Thus, some of the mechanisms that may underlie novelty detection and behavioral habituation to common sounds are already well developed at the midbrain.
Differential microRNA expression in aristolochic acid-induced upper urothelial tract cancers ex vivo

Aristolochic acid (AA) is a carcinogenic, mutagenic and nephrotoxic compound commonly isolated from members of the plant family of Aristolochiaceae (such as Aristolochia and Asarum) and used in Chinese herbal medicine. Use of AA and AA-containing plants causes chronic kidney disease (CKD) and upper urinary tract carcinoma (UUC); however, the underlying mechanism remains to be defined. miRNAs regulate a number of biological processes, including cell proliferation, differentiation and metabolism. This study explored differentially expressed miRNAs between AA-induced upper urothelial tract cancer (AAN-UUC) and non-AAN-UUC tissues. Patients with AAN-UUC and non-AAN-UUC (n=20/group) were recruited in the present study. Five tissue samples from each group were used for miRNA microarray profiling and the rest of the tissue samples were subjected to reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis including seven selected miRNAs for confirmation. A total of 29 miRNAs were differentially expressed between AAN-UUC and non-AAN-UUC tissues (P<0.05). TargenScan and Gene ontology analyses predicted the functions and targeted genes of these differentially expressed miRNAs, i.e. Akt3, FGFR3, PSEN1, VEGFa and AR. Subsequently, expression of the selected differentially expressed miRNAs (Hsa-miR-4795-5p, Hsa-miR-488, Hsa-miR-4784, Hsa-miR-330, Hsa-miR-3916, Hsa-miR-4274 and Hsa-miR-181c) was validated in another set of tissue samples. A total of 29 miRNAs were identified to be differentially expressed between AAN-UUC and non-AAN-UUC tissues and these miRNA target genes in FGFR3 and Akt pathways, which regulate cell growth and tumor progression, respectively.
Genome Instability at Common Fragile Sites: Searching for the Cause of Their Instability

Common fragile sites (CFS) are heritable nonrandomly distributed loci on human chromosomes that exhibit an increased frequency of chromosomal breakage under conditions of replication stress. They are considered the preferential targets for high genomic instability from the earliest stages of human cancer development, and increased chromosome instability at these loci has been observed following replication stress in a subset of human genetic diseases. Despite their biological and medical relevance, the molecular basis of CFS fragility in vivo has not been fully elucidated. At present, different models have been proposed to explain how instability at CFS arises and multiple factors seem to contribute to their instability. However, all these models involve DNA replication and suggest that replication fork stalling along CFS during DNA synthesis is a very frequent event. Consistent with this, the maintenance of CFS stability relies on the ATR-dependent checkpoint, together with a number of proteins promoting the recovery of stalled replication forks. In this review, we discuss mainly the possible causes that threaten the integrity of CFS in the light of new findings, paying particular attention to the role of the S-phase checkpoint.
Health Information Websites: Is the Health Consumer Being Well-Served?

Increasingly health consumers are looking to the Internet for health and medical information. In response to this government and government agencies are establishing websites to provide consumers with better access to health information. Health consumers however, face numerous problems searching health information websites including poor quality information, difficulty in finding relevant information and poor website usability. Further, while there is much research on trust and quality of health information, there is little on the effectiveness of health information websites from the consumer's perspective. This paper argues that for a health information website to be effective it must engender trust in the health consumer, have features and functionality that help users retrieve relevant information and be easy to use. This paper presents the results of a research project that examined Australian health websites from the perspective of quality, functionality and ease of use. We found that few health websites provide information on quality, limited use of technology is made to improve information retrieval and the usability of health websites is less than ideal. The research also identified factors that impact on the users’ perception of quality and overall effectiveness of websites and provides recommendations for designing more effective health information websites.
Tracking Change: A Look at the Ecological Footprint of Antibiotics and Antimicrobial Resistance

Among the class of pollutants considered as ‘emerging contaminants’, antibiotic compounds including drugs used in medical therapy, biocides and disinfectants merit special consideration because their bioactivity in the environment is the result of their functional design. Antibiotics can alter the structure and function of microbial communities in the receiving environment and facilitate the development and spread of resistance in critical species of bacteria including pathogens. Methanogenesis, nitrogen transformation and sulphate reduction are among the key ecosystem processes performed by bacteria in nature that can also be affected by the impacts of environmental contamination by antibiotics. Together, the effects of the development of resistance in bacteria involved in maintaining overall ecosystem health and the development of resistance in human, animal and fish pathogens, make serious contributions to the risks associated with environmental pollution by antibiotics. In this brief review, we discuss the multiple impacts on human and ecosystem health of environmental contamination by antibiotic compounds.
Robust Algorithm for Exemplar-based Image Inpainting

This paper presents a robust algorithm for exemplar-based image inpainting. We focus on the development of a generic priority function to provide robust performance. With user intervention, the algorithm is easy to be applied to any image contents with different characteristics. We conduct experiments on several kinds of still images and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The performance is evaluated in terms of the visual quality and the perceptual reasonability.
A Method to Evaluate the Energy-Efficiency of Wide-Area Location Determination Techniques Used by Smartphones

Location-based services (LBS) are one of the most useful applications for smart phone users, but there is a significant energy cost in acquiring the user location. Continuous location sampling using GPS, Wi-Fi positioning system (WPS), and Global System for Mobile Communications Positioning System (GSMPS) typically deplete the battery within 12, 46, and 63 hours respectively, compared to 284 hours when GPS and Wi-Fi location positioning are turned-off. We present the design, implementation, and evaluation of a novel method to evaluate the energy-efficiency of GPS, WPS, and GSMPS location sensing technologies used by smart phones based upon a user-centred metric, battery depletion time. This metric depends upon three main factors: location sensor usage, user mobility context determination and location accuracy. Using solely the embedded smart phone accelerometer our pattern recognition model can within 2 seconds identify the user mobility state which in-turn manages the activation and deactivation of the location determination. Our results show that our hybrid energy efficient location sensing architecture can achieve energy-savings of up to 57% in typical circumstances.
Continuous control of autoimmune disease by antigen-dependent polyclonal CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in the regional lymph node

This study investigated the unresolved issue of antigen-dependency and antigen-specificity of autoimmune disease suppression by CD4+CD25+ T cells (T regs). Based on autoimmune ovarian disease (AOD) in day 3 thymectomized (d3tx) mice and polyclonal T regs expressing the Thy1.1 marker, we determined: (a) the location of recipient T cell suppression, (b) the distribution of AOD-suppressing T regs, and (c) the relative efficacy of male versus female T regs. Expansion of recipient CD4+ T cells, activation/memory marker expression, and IFN-γ production were inhibited persistently in the ovary-draining LNs but not elsewhere. The cellular changes were reversed upon Thy1.1+ T reg depletion, with emergence of potent pathogenic T cells and severe AOD. Similar changes were detected in the regional LNs during autoimmune dacryoadenitis and autoimmune prostatitis suppression. Although the infused Thy1.1+ T regs proliferated and were disseminated in peripheral lymphoid organs, only those retrieved from ovary-draining LNs adoptively suppressed AOD at a suboptimal cell dose. By depriving d3tx recipients of ovarian antigens, we unmasked the supremacy of ovarian antigen-exposed female over male T regs in AOD suppression. Thus, disease suppression by polyclonal T regs depends on endogenous antigen stimulation; this occurs in a location where potent antigen-specific T regs accumulate and continuously negate pathogenic T cell response.
M-ESTIMATION IN GARCH MODELS

This paper derives asymptotic normality of a class of M-estimators in the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedastic (GARCH) model. The class of estimators includes least absolute deviation and Huber's estimator in addition to the well-known quasi maximum likelihood estimator. For some estimators, the asymptotic normality results are obtained only under the existence of fractional unconditional moment assumption on the error distribution and some mild smoothness and moment assumptions on the score function.
Indian Model of Executive Burnout

Burnout is described as a state of depletion of a person's resources and energy resulting in apathetic and impassive behaviour towards others, having dysfunctional repercussions on the individual and adverse effects on organizations. Though an enormous amount of research is available on “stress” in both Western and Indian contexts, there is very little research on “burnout” in the Indian workplaces. For this study, important considerations included evolving an exclusive construct of “executive burnout” in the industrial context which does not exist and also developing the construct of burnout in the Indian context. The Western construct of burnout using Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) developed in 1982 has largely been based on people occupations (like nurses and teachers) and later extended to non-service occupations. When tested by the author on the Indian sample of executives, it revealed the following: There is a difference in the dimension of diminished personal accomplishment which was not valid on the Indian sample. Those suffering from burnout did not have low personal accomplishment; on the contrary, high achieving executives were mostly found to suffer from burnout. Some dimensions, viz., ambiguity; dissatisfaction and powerlessness; inadequacy; and physical exhaustion, which were empirically found vital for executives in the Indian context, were not covered by MBI. With technological advancements, workplaces have undergone drastic changes and many executives work in situations which require very little people contact, implying that the construct of executive burnout is qualitatively different and needs to be evolved for better understanding of this pivotal problem. The author's professional interactions with executives from a variety of industry and a study of mental health professionals in India revealed that the problem of burnout has been acute and on the increase. This study identifies the determinants of burnout among Indian executives and thus evolves an Indian model of executive burnout to help the executives/organizations in taking preventive measures to mitigate this problem. Reliable tools are used on a representative sample of middle level executives from manufacturing and service industry representing both public and private sectors. Basic statistics, Pearson's correlation, factor analysis, t-test, and hierarchical regression test the hypotheses. The analysis of data reveal the following: Emotional intelligence mediates and leads to personal effectiveness which moderates the onset of burnout. Stress personality and personal inadequacy are personality-related predictors. Role expectation conflict, role stagnation, self-role distance, role overload, role erosion, resource inadequacy, inter-role distance, and role ambiguity are role- related predictors of burnout among executives in India. The author (2005) has found that burnout can be prevented with early detection, timely intervention, and enhancement of emotional intelligence.
Age de mise en place des unites superieures du Betique de Malaga et de la partie meridionale du Subbetique (transversale de la Sierra de Espuna, Province de Murcie, Espagne)

The upper units of the Sierra de Espuna, which belong to the Malaga nappe, were emplaced before the Auversian and after the upper Lutetian (Eocene). During this period, the Betic of Malaga was united with the inner part of the Subbetic. Situated between two major domains, the Rio de Pliego 9limiting zone9 contains postnappe beds in which the upper Eocene and then the Auversian, Oligocene, Aquitanian, and the Burdigalian [Miocene] are represented. In the transverse Espuna range, the second major tectonic event occurred in the middle Miocene, a period during which the Subbetic was thrust over the Prebetic autochthon.
Two-Thirds of Smear-Positive Tuberculosis Cases in the Community Were Undiagnosed in Northwest Ethiopia: Population Based Cross-Sectional Study

Background Tuberculosis (TB) case detection rate remains low in Ethiopia. One of the underlying reasons is the emphasis on passive case finding strategy which may seriously underestimate the burden of the disease. Estimating the prevalence of smear-positive pulmonary TB through active case finding at population level can help assessing the degree to which passive case detection is successful. Methods and findings This is population based cross-sectional study. The study population was all individuals aged ≥14 years. Interviews using a uniform questionnaire were done initially to identify individuals with chronic cough (≥15 days) and the two sputum (spot and morning) samples were gathered for standard smear microscopy. A total of 23,590 individuals aged ≥14 years were interviewed and 984 had a chronic cough for ≥15 days. Of 831 individuals who provided two sputum samples for acid fast bacilli (AFB), 41 had positive smears. A total of 22 smear-positive TB cases detected through passive case finding were on anti-TB treatment. The prevalence of new smear-positive TB was 174 per 100,000 in persons aged ≥14 years (95% CI: 121–227). The ratio of active to passive case finding was 2∶1. Higher rates of smear-positivity were observed among females [AOR: 3.28, 95% CI (1.54–6.77)], and in the age group ≥45 years [AOR: 2.26, 95% CI (1.12–4.59). Conclusions The study revealed that about two-thirds of patients with active TB remain undiagnosed and thus untreated. This may indicate the need for strengthening case detection at the community level. Furthermore, the high burden of TB among females and in the age group ≥45 years warrants appropriate measures to control the disease.
Ergodic theory for quantum semigroups

Recent results of Zsidó, based on his previous work with Niculescu and Ströh, on actions of topological semigroups on von Neumann algebras, give a Jacobs–de Leeuw–Glicksberg splitting theorem at the von Neumann algebra (rather than Hilbert space) level. We generalize this to the framework of actions of quantum semigroups, namely Hopf–von Neumann algebras. To this end, we introduce and study a notion of almost periodic vectors and operators that is suitable for our setting.
Treatment of Ankyloglossia and Breastfeeding Outcomes: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVE: Ankyloglossia is a congenital condition characterized by an abnormally short, thickened, or tight lingual frenulum that restricts tongue mobility. The objective of this study was to systematically review literature on surgical and nonsurgical treatments for infants with ankyloglossia. METHODS: Medline, PsycINFO, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Embase were searched up to August 2014. Two reviewers independently assessed studies against predetermined inclusion/exclusion criteria. Two reviewers independently extracted data regarding participant and intervention characteristics and outcomes and assigned quality and strength-of-evidence ratings. RESULTS: Twenty-nine studies reported breastfeeding effectiveness outcomes (5 randomized controlled trials [RCTs], 1 retrospective cohort, and 23 case series). Four RCTs reported improvements in breastfeeding efficacy by using either maternally reported or observer ratings, whereas 2 RCTs found no improvement with observer ratings. Although mothers consistently reported improved effectiveness after frenotomy, outcome measures were heterogeneous and short-term. Based on current literature, the strength of the evidence (confidence in the estimate of effect) for this issue is low. We included comparative studies published in English. The evidence base is limited, consisting of small studies, short-term outcomes, and little information to characterize participants adequately. No studies addressed nonsurgical interventions, longer-term breastfeeding or growth outcomes, or surgical intervention compared with other approaches to improve breastfeeding, such as lactation consultation. CONCLUSIONS: A small body of evidence suggests that frenotomy may be associated with mother-reported improvements in breastfeeding, and potentially in nipple pain, but with small, short-term studies with inconsistent methodology, strength of the evidence is low to insufficient.
An evaluation of techniques for grabbing and manipulating remote objects in immersive virtual environments

Grabbing and manipulating virtual objects is an important user interaction for immersive virtual environments. We present implementations and discussion of six techniques which allow manipulation of remote objects. A user study of these techniques was performed which revealed their characteristics and deficiencies, and led to the development of a new class of techniques. These hybrid techniques provide distinct advantages in terms of ease of use and efficiency because they consider the tasks of grabbing and manipulation separately. CR Categories and Subject Descriptors: 1.3. 7 [Computer Graphics] :Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism - Virtual Reality; 1.3. 6 [Computer Graphics]:Methodology and Techniques - Interaction Techniques.
"Natural Images, Gaussian Mixtures and Dead Leaves"

Simple Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs) learned from pixels of natural image patches have been recently shown to be surprisingly strong performers in modeling the statistics of natural images. Here we provide an in depth analysis of this simple yet rich model. We show that such a GMM model is able to compete with even the most successful models of natural images in log likelihood scores, denoising performance and sample quality. We provide an analysis of what such a model learns from natural images as a function of number of mixture components — including covariance structure, contrast variation and intricate structures such as textures, boundaries and more. Finally, we show that the salient properties of the GMM learned from natural images can be derived from a simplified Dead Leaves model which explicitly models occlusion, explaining its surprising success relative to other models.