Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Semantic Web Search Engine

In this report, we discuss the architecture and implementation of the Semantic Web Search Engine (SWSE). Following traditional search engine architecture, SWSE consists of crawling, data enhancing, indexing and a user interface for search, browsing and retrieval of information; unlike traditional search engines, SWSE operates over RDF Web data (loosely also known as Linked Data) which implies unique challenges for the system design, architecture, algorithms, implementation and user interface. In particular, many challenges exist in adopting Semantic Web technologies for Web data: the unique challenges of the Web (in terms of scale, unreliability, inconsistency and noise) are largely overlooked by the current Semantic Web standards. In this report, we detail the current SWSE system, initially detailing the architecture and later elaborating upon the function, design, implementation and performance of each individual component. In so doing, we also give an insight into how current Semantic Web standards can be tailored, in a best-effort manner, for use on Web data. Throughout, we offer evaluation and complementary argumentation to support our design choices, and also offer discussion on future directions and open research questions. Later, we also provide candid discussion relating to the diffculties currently faced in bringing such a search engine into the mainstream, and lessons learnt from roughly five years working on the Semantic Web Search Engine project. 1Digital Enterprise Research Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway E-mail: {firstname.lastname}@deri.org 2Institut of Applied Informatics and Formal Description Methods – AFIB, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology E-mail: harth@kit.edu Acknowledgements: This work was supported by Science Foundation Ireland under Grant No. SFI/08/CE/I1380 (Lion-2) and by an IRCSET grant. Copyright c © 2010 by the authors Searching and Browsing LinkedData with SWSE: the SemanticWeb Search Engine 1;2 Aidan Hogan , Andreas Harth , J urgen Umbrich , Sheila Kinsella , Axel Polleres , Stefan Decker a aDigital Enterprise Research Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway bAIFB, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
Your work may be killing you! Workaholism, sleep problems and cardiovascular risk

ABSTRACT This study tests the relationships between workaholism (i.e. working excessively and compulsively), sleep problems and cardiovascular risk in 537 employees from five Spanish hospitals. Four types of worker (i.e. workaholics, positive workers, compulsive workers and hard workers) were distinguished, and their health indicators were compared. The results showed that workaholics experienced significantly more sleep problems (i.e. morning tiredness, sleeping while driving and sleeping fewer hours both on weekdays and at weekends, with poorer quality), had higher relative risk scores, and consumed more caffeine and alcohol than the other patterns of worker (positive, compulsive and hard workers). Further analyses revealed that sleep problems fully mediated the relationship between workaholism (i.e. working excessively and compulsively) and cardiovascular risk. The study emphasizes the fact that being a workaholic might be a significant risk factor for having sleep problems and cardiovascular disease.
The Spectral Wound: sexual violence, public memories and the Bangladesh war of 1971

There are, of course, places where readers might desire more. Though Weinstein cogently explains why she does not treat the classic Rio–São Paulo rivalry, it would be interesting to know how her analysis bears on (or even historicizes) the adage that ‘the Northeast begins in Rio de Janeiro’. Likewise, her arguments about the role of women, though brilliantly articulated, leave us wondering about contemporaneous movements which likewise evoked women as ‘apolitical’ guardians of the hearth – from fascist Europeans to integralist Brazilians. Finally, the insightfulness of her arguments about the 1932 uprising might benefit from discussion of how the co-production of mass identity and inequality could fare without such an acute crisis – a moment which, as Weinstein rightly points out, crystallized belonging in part because of the extremity of the stakes. These quibbles, however, are more than anything a testament to the work’s overall strength. Like many a great monograph, The Color of Modernity is so compelling and well written as to leave us wanting more of its author’s evident gifts.
Staircase Network: structural language identification via hierarchical attentive units

Language recognition system is typically trained directly to optimize classification error on the target language labels, without using the external, or meta-information in the estimation of the model parameters. However labels are not independent of each other, there is a dependency enforced by, for example, the language family, which affects negatively on classification. The other external information sources (e.g. audio encoding, telephony or video speech) can also decrease classification accuracy. In this paper, we attempt to solve these issues by constructing a deep hierarchical neural network, where different levels of meta-information are encapsulated by attentive prediction units and also embedded into the training progress. The proposed method learns auxiliary tasks to obtain robust internal representation and to construct a variant of attentive units within the hierarchical model. The final result is the structural prediction of the target language and a closely related language family. The algorithm reflects a "staircase" way of learning in both its architecture and training, advancing from the fundamental audio encoding to the language family level and finally to the target language level. This process not only improves generalization but also tackles the issues of imbalanced class priors and channel variability in the deep neural network model. Our experimental findings show that the proposed architecture outperforms the state-of-the-art i-vector approaches on both small and big language corpora by a significant margin.
Resolving New Keynesian Anomalies with Wealth in the Utility Function

Abstract At the zero lower bound, the New Keynesian model predicts that output and inflation collapse to implausibly low levels and that government spending and forward guidance have implausibly large effects. To resolve these anomalies, we introduce wealth into the utility function; the justification is that wealth is a marker of social status, and people value status. Since people partly save to accrue social status, the Euler equation is modified. As a result, when the marginal utility of wealth is sufficiently large, the dynamical system representing the zero-lower-bound equilibrium transforms from a saddle to a source, which resolves all the anomalies.
Exploring the Potential of Generative Adversarial Networks for Synthesizing Radiological Images of the Spine to be Used in In Silico Trials

In silico trials recently emerged as a disruptive technology, which may reduce the costs related to the development and marketing approval of novel medical technologies, as well as shortening their time-to-market. In these trials, virtual patients are recruited from a large database and their response to the therapy, such as the implantation of a medical device, is simulated by means of numerical models. In this work, we propose the use of generative adversarial networks to produce synthetic radiological images to be used in in silico trials. The generative models produced credible synthetic sagittal X-rays of the lumbar spine based on a simple sketch, and were able to generate sagittal radiological images of the trunk using coronal projections as inputs, and vice versa. Although numerous inaccuracies in the anatomical details may still allow distinguishing synthetic and real images in the majority of cases, the present work showed that generative models are a feasible solution for creating synthetic imaging data to be used in in silico trials of novel medical devices.
Minding the Gap: Reconciling Human and Technical Perspectives on the IoT for Healthy Ageing

There are two distinct bodies of literature on the Internet of Things, one that derives from a technical perspective, while the other comes from a human perspective. From a technical perspective, sensors can automatically detect physical activity, thus enabling elderly people to live independently, while sensors in essence check that they are active, remind them to take their pills, and so on. From a human perspective, people seek control over their lives, good health, social connection, and a sense of well-being that comes from having purpose and feeling competent in daily routines. So are technologies meant to enable users to stay in control of their lives and manage their relations and preferred routines, or do they undermine it, making elderly people feel subjects of surveillance and incompetent, disrupting their daily arrangements? And is there a middle path that we might take in design that creates innovative technologies that are aesthetic in form and function and empowering to use? In this paper, we offer a framework and examples of designs that bridge these perspectives.
Photoacoustic Imaging as an Early Biomarker of Radio Therapeutic Efficacy in Head and Neck Cancer

The negative impact of tumor hypoxia on radiotherapeutic efficacy is well recognized. However, an easy to use, reliable imaging method for assessment of tumor oxygenation in routine clinical practice remains elusive. Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) is a relatively new imaging technique that utilizes a combination of light and ultrasound (US) to enable functional imaging of tumor hemodynamic characteristics in vivo. Several clinical trials are currently evaluating the utility of PAI in cancer detection for breast, thyroid, and prostate cancer. Here, we evaluated the potential of PAI for rapid, label-free, non-invasive quantification of tumor oxygenation as a biomarker of radiation response in head and neck cancer. Methods: Studies were performed human papilloma virus- positive (HPV+) and -negative (HPV-) patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). PAI was utilized for longitudinal assessment of tumor hemodynamics (oxygenation saturation and hemoglobin concentration) before, during and after fractionated radiation therapy (fRT). Imaging datasets were correlated with histologic measures of vascularity (CD31), DNA damage (phosphorylated γH2AX) and statistical modeling of tumor growth. Results: A differential response to fRT was observed between HPV+ and HPV- xenografts. Temporal changes in tumor hemodynamics (oxygen saturation and hemoglobin concentration) measured by PAI showed significant association with treatment outcomes. PAI-based changes in oxygen saturation were detected within days after initiation of fRT prior to detectable change in tumor volume, highlighting the potential of PAI to serve as an early biomarker of therapeutic efficacy. Consistent with PAI results, immunohistochemical staining of vascularity (CD31) and DNA damage (phosphorylated γH2AX) revealed distinct patterns of response in HPV+ and HPV- xenografts. Conclusion: Collectively, our observations demonstrate the utility of PAI for temporal mapping of tumor hemodynamics and the value of PAI read-outs as surrogate measures of radiation response in HNSCC.
Torque Production , Sensation Thresholds and Perceived Discomfort Using Low and Medium Frequency Electrical Stimulation

This study was conducted to (1) investigate and compare maximum electrically induced isometric torque (MEIT), sensation thresholds (sensory, motor, and pain), and perceived discomfort using two forms of low frequency electrical stimulating currents (symmetric biphasic and faradic currents) and medium frequency electrical stimulating currents (Russian and interferential currents). (2) To determine relation between MEIT with both sensation threshold and perceived discomfort. Twenty healthy male subjects with mean age (252.4 years), mean height (1685.4 cm), and mean weight (70.54.1 kg) participated in the study. Each subject participated in 5 separate testing sessions, with 24 hours between each session. In the first session, maximum voluntary isometric torque (MVIT) of the right quadriceps femoris muscle was determined for each subjects. In the following 4 sessions, MEIT, sensation thresholds (sensory, motor, and pain), stimulus efficiency (pain threshold/motor threshold), and perceived discomfort were determined for the four studied currents one in each session at random order. Data analyses of the measured variables revealed that, electrical stimulation with low as well medium frequency are capable of inducing isometric torque which can be used as training stimulus for muscle strengthening. Symmetric biphasic current induced the highest isometric torque among the studied currents as it induced 48.6% of MVIT, while faradic current induced 36.8% and Russian and interferential current induced 44.6% and 30.7% respectively. The MEIT has strong positive correlation with stimulation efficiency, and mild to moderate negative correlation with perceived discomfort, sensory threshold and motor thresholds and no correlation with pain threshold. The highest correlation was recorded between MEIT and stimulation efficiency. The study demonstrated superior effect of symmetric biphasic current in inducing high level of isometric torque with minimum discomfort with the recommendation of its use in strengthening weak muscles. Stimulation efficiency is an important factor which determine the success of electrical stimulating current in increasing muscle strength.
Gender differences in brain regional homogeneity of healthy subjects after different sleep state

Objective To explore the gender differences in regional homogeneity(ReHo) of healthy subjects in functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI). Methods Twenty healthy subjects(ten males and ten females) were underwent the MRI exams twice:after normal sleep(NS) and 24 h sleep deprivation(SD). ReHo method was used to analyze the data,SPM5 software was used to perform t-test with a P value0.001 and cluster volume≥270 mm3 was used to determine statistical significance.Results There exists gender differences both after NS and SD.Conclusions ReHo can well reflect gender differences of healthy subjects after NS and SD.
Syllable-Based Sequence-to-Sequence Speech Recognition with the Transformer in Mandarin Chinese

Sequence-to-sequence attention-based models have recently shown very promising results on automatic speech recognition (ASR) tasks, which integrate an acoustic, pronunciation and language model into a single neural network. In these models, the Transformer, a new sequence-to-sequence attention-based model relying entirely on self-attention without using RNNs or convolutions, achieves a new single-model state-of-the-art BLEU on neural machine translation (NMT) tasks. Since the outstanding performance of the Transformer, we extend it to speech and concentrate on it as the basic architecture of sequence-to-sequence attention-based model on Mandarin Chinese ASR tasks. Furthermore, we investigate a comparison between syllable based model and context-independent phoneme (CI-phoneme) based model with the Transformer in Mandarin Chinese. Additionally, a greedy cascading decoder with the Transformer is proposed for mapping CI-phoneme sequences and syllable sequences into word sequences. Experiments on HKUST datasets demonstrate that syllable based model with the Transformer performs better than CI-phoneme based counterpart, and achieves a character error rate (CER) of \emph{$28.77\%$}, which is competitive to the state-of-the-art CER of $28.0\%$ by the joint CTC-attention based encoder-decoder network.
Symposium : Glucagon-Like Peptide 2 : Function and Clinical Applications Glucagon-Like Peptide-2 and Intestinal Adaptation : An Historical and Clinical Perspective 1

Of the many models of intestinal adaptation, the structural and functional changes seen in the residual small bowel following jejunectomy or ileectomy are the most predictable and best studied. There are three major mechanisms for these adaptive phenomena: changes in i ) luminal nutrition, ii ) pancreatico-biliary secretions and iii ) hormonal factors. Observations in a unique patient with an “enteroglucagon”-secreting tumor of the kidney associated with massive small bowel enlargement, provided the strongest evidence, at that time ( 30 y ago), in favor of hormonal factors. When the patient’s renal tumor was removed, the markedly increased circulating concentrations of the glucagon-like peptide (now presumed to be GLP-2) returned to normal–as did her intestinal anatomy. Subsequent studies showed that there are increased tissue and plasma enteroglucagon (and recently GLP-2) levels in many animal models of intestinal adaptation. This, and anecdotal evidence from three other case reports, coupled with contemporary studies of GLP-2, strongly suggest that this glucagon-like peptide is a potent, but not the sole, enterotrophin. J. Nutr. 133: 3703–3707, 2003.
A comparison of optic nerve head morphology viewed by spectral domain optical coherence tomography and by serial histology.

PURPOSE To compare serial optic nerve head (ONH) histology with interpolated B-scans generated from a three-dimensional (3-D) spectral domain (SD)-OCT ONH volume acquired in vivo from the same normal monkey eye. METHODS A 15 degrees ONH SD-OCT volume was acquired in a normal monkey eye, with IOP manometrically controlled at 10 mm Hg. After perfusion fixation at 10 mm Hg, the ONH was trephined, the specimen embedded in a paraffin block, and serial sagittal sections cut at 4-mum intervals. The location of each histologic section was identified within the optic disc photograph by matching the position of the retinal vessels and of Bruch's membrane opening. By altering the angles of rotation and incidence, interpolated B-scans matching the location of the histologic sections were generated with custom software. Structures identified in the histologic sections were compared with signals identified in the matched B-scans. RESULTS Close matches between histologic sections and interpolated B-scans were identified throughout the extent of the ONH. SD-OCT identified the neural canal opening as the termination of the Bruch's membrane-retinal pigment complex and border tissue as the innermost termination of the choroidal signal. The anterior lamina cribrosa and its continuity with the prelaminar glial columns were also detected by SD-OCT. CONCLUSIONS Volumetric SD-OCT imaging of the ONH generates interpolated B-scans that accurately match serial histologic sections. SD-OCT captures the anterior laminar surface, which is likely to be a key structure in the detection of early ONH damage in ocular hypertension and glaucoma.
LOW MOLECULAR WEIGHT CHITOSAN AS A VEHICLE FOR SOLUBILIZATION AND AMORPHIZATION OF NON STEROID ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DRUG FOR A NEW GUAR GUM-BASED COLON DELIVERY FORMULATION

The solubilization and amorphization of the poorly water soluble nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug, Etodolac (ETD) with a hydrophilic polymer, low molecular weight chitosan (CHT), have investigated. Phase solubility studies were carried out to obtain an insight on the nature of a possible interaction between ETD and CHT in solution. Binary systems of varying drug polymer ratios were prepared using different techniques namely physical mixing, cogrinding and kneading. Drug–polymer interactions were investigated in solid state by differential scanning calorimetry, powder X-ray diffractometry and scanning electron microscopy. The results obtained indicated loss of drug crystallinity. Dissolution rate studies revealed that the drug dissolution was improved with increasing the polymer concentration in the mixture in the following order kneading> co-grinding> physical mixing > pure drug. The prepared capsules containing the binary mixture prepared by kneading in the drug-polymer ratio of 1:19 were coated with guar gum (a film coating material) and their dissolution rates were tested in comparison with commercial capsules present in the Egyptian market. A coating of 10 layers of guar gum prevented the release of etodolac in the acidic pH and permitted its release in colonic environment.
Obesity and the Metabolic Syndrome in the Elderly – A Mini-Review

The metabolic syndrome is defined as a cluster of cardiometabolic risk factors which are related to insulin resistance. Beyond the importance of each separate risk factor, the aggregation of abdominal obesity, impaired glucose metabolism, dyslipidemia and hypertension, summarized as the metabolic syndrome, characterizes individuals with a significant increase in the risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In the prosperous countries of the world, the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome is about 20% in the adult population, and increases with increasing age, which is mainly attributed to the significant increase in overweight and obesity, also in elderly. Current data indicate that weight-loss therapy improves physical function, quality of life and the medical complications associated with obesity. This review summarizes epidemiologic data, diagnostic criteria and the clinical importance of the metabolic syndrome, the complex pathophysiologic mechanisms involved in the development of insulin resistance in elderly, and the various therapeutic options. According to these data the identification and treatment of patients with a metabolic syndrome would be an important approach to reduce morbidity and impairments in the elderly.
Alterations in hypothalamic synaptophysin and death markers may be associated with vasopressin impairment in sepsis survivor rats

The impairment in arginine vasopressin (AVP) secretion during sepsis is described in clinical and experimental studies and has been associated with oxidative stress, apoptosis and diminished activation of hypothalamic neurones. However, few studies have assessed these abnormalities in sepsis survivors. In the present study, we performed 2 sets of experiments on Wistar rats that had been subjected to sepsis by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) or nonmanipulated (naive) as a control. In the first set, tissues and blood were collected from survivor rats 10 days after CLP to quantify hypothalamic Bcl‐2, cleaved caspase‐3 and synaptophysin contents, as well as bacterial load. In the second set, survivor rats were submitted to an acute osmotic stimulus (hypertonic saline) and, after 30 minutes, water intake and AVP secretion were analysed. The sepsis‐surviving rats did not show bacterial load in tissues, although their hypothalamic synaptophysin and Bcl‐2 levels were decreased and the cleaved caspase‐3 level was increased compared to the control group. However, AVP secretion was significantly attenuated in the CLP survivor animals submitted to an acute osmotic stimulus. These results suggest that the persistent AVP impairment in sepsis survivor animals may be the result hypothalamic dysfunction associated with a synaptic deficit and decreased anti‐apoptotic protein expression.