Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Graph-Based Model for Disconnected Ad Hoc Networks

Recently, research on disconnected networks has been fostered by several studies on delay-tolerant networks, which are designed in order to sustain disconnected operations. We focus on the emerging notion of connectivity which exists in such networks, where the message exchange between nodes is enforced by leveraging storage capabilities at intermediate relays, with the aim of achieving connectivity over time. The problem, under the constraint of intermittent connectivity, is hence to devise efficient mechanisms for message delivery, and evaluate the performance thereof. In this paper, we introduce a graph-based model able to capture the evolution of the connectivity properties of such systems over time. We show that, for most networks of interest, such connectivity graphs can be modeled as Erdos-Renyi random graphs. Furthermore, we show that, under a uniformity assumption, the time taken for the connectivity graph to become connected scales as Theta((n log n)/lambda) with the number of nodes in the network. Hence we found that, using epidemic routing techniques, message delay is O((n log2 n)/(lambda log log n)). The model is validated by numerical simulations and by a comparison with the connectivity patterns emerging from real experiments.
The Contributions of Questionnaire Length, Format, and Type of Score to Response Inconsistency

IN methods of scaling based on the lam of comparative judgment (Guilford, 1954; Torgerson, 1958), i t is implicitly assumed that subjects make logically consistent choices between/among stimuli. I n practice, choices are observed which take the form of circular triads (thc choice of A over B, B over C, and C over A). Such circular triads may be taken as evidence of psychological equivalence among the stimuli. They may also reflect unreliability in the scaling (i.e., in the instrument) and/or in the subjects (judges). As such, circular triad scores should be related to measurement error. Support for the latter expectation is to be found in recent studies by TVeBsel and Ward (1967) and Hendel and Weiss (1968), which show that circular triad scores are negatively related to internal consistency and test-retest reliabilities. Circular triads have also been interpreted as manifestations of a personality trait, sometimes identified as response inconsistency. Such an interpretation was advocated by Gulliksen, Saunders and Tucker (1954), who reported that in two groups of college students at different universities, a curvilinear relationship was found betmeen number of circular triads obtained on a pair-comparison instrument, and average grades. The same interpretation was utilized by Pemberton (1966) in a study of the work preferences of
Robust correspondence and retrieval of articulated shapes

We consider the problem of shape correspondence and retrieval. Although our focus is on articulated shapes, the methods developed are applicable to any shape specified as a contour, in the 2D case, or a surface mesh, in 3D. We propose separate methods for 2D and 3D shape correspondence and retrieval, but the basic idea for both is to characterize shapes using intrinsic measures, defined by geodesic distances between points, to achieve robustness against bending in articulated shapes. In 2D, we design a local, geodesic-based shape descriptor, inspired by the well-known shape context for image correspondence. For 3D shapes, we first transform them into the spectral domain based on geodesic affinities to normalize bending and other common geometric transformations and compute correspondence and retrieval in the new domain. Various techniques to ensure robustness of results and efficiency are proposed. We present numerous experimental results to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approaches.
Effects of Network Structure, Competition and Memory Time on Social Spreading Phenomena

Online social media has greatly affected the way in which we communicate with each other. However, little is known about what fundamental mechanisms drive dynamical information flow in online social systems. Here, we introduce a generative model for online sharing behavior that is analytically tractable and that can reproduce several characteristics of empirical micro-blogging data on hashtag usage, such as (time-dependent) heavy-tailed distributions of meme popularity. The presented framework constitutes a null model for social spreading phenomena that, in contrast to purely empirical studies or simulation-based models, clearly distinguishes the roles of two distinct factors affecting meme popularity: the memory time of users and the connectivity structure of the social network.
Larval gryporhynchid tapeworms (Cestoda: Cyclophyllidea) of British freshwater fish, with a description of the pathology caused by Paradilepis scolecina

Abstract Larvae of the cyclophyllidean tapeworms Paradilepis scolecina (Rudolphi, 1819), Neogryporhynchus cheilancristrotus (Wedl, 1855) and Valipora campylancristrota (Wedl, 1855), are described from British freshwater fish. The morphometrics of the rostellar hooks, infection characteristics and host ranges of these parasites from fisheries in England and Wales are presented. Difficulties in the detection, handling and identification of these tapeworms are highlighted, and may in part explain the paucity of records from Britain. Tissue digestion was shown to be a useful technique for the examination of these parasites, providing clear and consistent preparations of the rostellar hooks for measurement. The pathological changes caused by P. scolecina to the liver of wild tench, Tinca tinca, are detailed for the first time. Tapeworms located in the hepatic parenchyma and pancreatic tissues caused little pathological damage and invoked only mild inflammatory responses. The small size of these tapeworms and their encapsulation within host tissues appear to limit the severity of pathology, compared with parasites that insert their rostellum during attachment.
Towards a better collaboration of static and dynamic analyses for testing concurrent programs

Testing concurrent programs remains a difficult task due to the non-deterministic nature of concurrent executions. Many approaches have been proposed to combine static and dynamic analysis to reduce the complexity of uncovering potential concurrency bugs. However, the existing collaboration schemes only provide a limited mechanism for exchanging relevant information between the two analyses. For example, alias information only flows from the static analysis module to the dynamic analysis module at the beginning of the dynamic analysis. Therefore, we cannot fully exploit the advantages of each type of analysis. Motivated by this observation, in this paper we present a new testing technique which enables a tighter collaboration between static analysis and dynamic analysis. In this collaboration scheme, static analysis and dynamic analysis interact iteratively throughout the whole testing process. Static analysis uses coarse-grained analysis to guide the dynamic analysis to concentrate on the relevant search space, while dynamic analysis collects concrete runtime information during the guided exploration. The runtime information provided by the dynamic analysis helps the static analysis to refine its coarse-grained analysis and provides better guidance on dynamic analysis. Currently, our implementation consists of a static analysis module based on Soot and a dynamic analysis module based on JPF (Java PathFinder).
The B subunit of Escherichia coli heat-labile toxin alters the development and antigen-presenting capacity of dendritic cells

Escherichia coli's heat‐labile enterotoxin (Etx) and its non‐toxic B subunit (EtxB) have been characterized as adjuvants capable of enhancing T cell responses to co‐administered antigen. Here, we investigate the direct effect of intravenously administered EtxB on the size of the dendritic and myeloid cell populations in spleen. EtxB treatment appears to enhance the development and turnover of dendritic and myeloid cells from precursors within the spleen. EtxB treatment also gives a dendritic cell (DC) population with higher viability and lower activation status based on the reduced expression of MHC‐II, CD80 and CD86. In this respect, the in vivo effect of EtxB differs from that of the highly inflammatory mediator lipopolysaccharide. In in vitro bone marrow cultures, EtxB treatment was also found to enhance the development of DC from precursors dependent on Flt3L. In terms of the in vivo effect of EtxB on CD4 and CD8 T cell responses in mice, the interaction of EtxB directly with DC was demonstrated following conditional depletion of CD11c+ DC. In summary, all results are consistent with EtxB displaying adjuvant ability by enhancing the turnover of DC in spleen, leading to newly mature myeloid and DC in spleen, thereby increasing DC capacity to perform as antigen‐presenting cells on encounter with T cells.
k(t)-factorization and CCFM: The solution for describing the hadronic final states everywhere?

The basic ideas of k(t)-factorization and CCFM parton evolution is discussed. The unintegrated gluon densities, obtained from CCFM fits to the proton structure function data at HERA are used to predict hadronic final state cross-sections like jet production at HERA, but also comparisons with recent measurements of heavy quark production at the Tevatron are presented. Finally, the k(t)-factorization approach is applied to Higgs production at high energy hadron-hadron colliders and the transverse momentum spectrum of Higgs production at the LHC is calculated.
Quantitative‐trait‐locus Mapping in the Presence of Locus Heterogeneity

Locus heterogeneity is a concern for quantitative trait locus mapping where phenotypes are likely to be influenced by more than one gene. We introduce a model which generalizes the locus heterogeneity model of Smith (1961) from dichotomous traits to quantitative traits and consider some test statistics for this model. The type I error rates and the power of these statistics are assessed through simulation studies. These statistics are applied to a linkage study of asthma genes.
A Multifaceted Model for Implementing Clinical Practice Guidelines Across the Continuum of Care

Much effort goes into producing high-quality evidence-based clinical practice guidelines; however, the effort is of little value if the guidelines are not incorporated into clinical practice. Research has identified in general which guideline implementation strategies work and which do not [1,2]. Approaches involving organizational change (eg, standing orders, reminders) have been shown to be more effective than interventions such as mailed guidelines, patient and provider education, and feedback [3‐6]. Another key finding is that combined strategies are more effective than a single strategy [7]. Further, computerized information and decision support systems based on guidelines are demonstrating great effectiveness in primary care and hospital settings [8‐11]. The use of multicomponent interventions that include information technology support are now being reported in larger, generally primary care settings and are demonstrating effectiveness in improving provider adherence to guidelines for chronic disease management [12‐16]. The primary care setting is not the only point of service at which clinical guidelines can be applied. Health care is delivered through a complex system of providers and settings, including primary care and specialty office visits, laboratory, pharmacy, emergency care, inpatient care, and self-care at home. Each setting represents an opportunity to implement guidelines. This article describes a multifaceted model for implementing clinical practice guidelines for diabetes across the continuum of care. Implemented within a large, integrated health care system, the model applies strategies that have been demonstrated to be effective, catching the patient at various points of service. Selected clinical and utilization data associated with model implementation also are reported.
Divergent effects of 4-1BB antibodies on antitumor immunity and on tumor-reactive T-cell generation.

4-1BB is an inducible receptor-like protein expressed rapidly by both CD4 and CD8 T-cells after activation. 4-1BB cross-linking, either by binding to 4-1BBL or by antibody ligation, delivers a costimulatory signal to enhance T-cell activation and proliferation. Previous studies have demonstrated that the administration of 4-1BB monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) induces antitumor immune responses. In the current study using several murine tumors, we examined the systemic effects of 4-1BB mAb on the growth of s.c. , intracranial (i.c.), and pulmonary metastases. In addition, the effects of 4-1BB mAb on the generation of antitumor effector T cells were examined. Treatment of 3-day i.c. MCA 205 sarcoma and GL261 glioma with the antibody resulted in prolongation of survival and cure of disease in some mice, whereas only minimal therapeutic effects were observed in established s.c. and pulmonary tumors. No antitumor effects against the poorly immunogenic B16/D5 melanoma were observed. Interestingly, successful treatment of i.c. tumors induced concomitant regression of s.c. tumors. Experiments using severe combined immunodeficient mice and mice depleted of either CD4 or CD8 T cells demonstrated T-cell dependence of the antitumor effects. For generation of effector T cells in the tumor-draining lymph nodes (LNs), administration of 4-1BB mAb had adverse effects, despite the apparent hypertrophy of the LNs. During in vitro activation of tumor-draining LN T cells with anti-CD3 and interleukin 2, the 4-1BB mAb augmented proliferation, resulting in an increase in CD8 T cells. However, they were less therapeutic than not treated LN cells. In adoptive immunotherapy, the coadministration of 4-1BB mAb enhanced the therapeutic efficacy. These results thus demonstrate the limits and potential advantages of 4-1BB antibody interactions with antitumor T cells in vivo and in vitro and suggest that therapeutic interactions of the antibody may be used in a variety of immunotherapeutic approaches.
Generating Reading Interventions Through Experimental Analysis of Academic Skills: Demonstration and Empirical Evaluation

Abstract This article describes the application of experimental analysis methods for identifying reading fluency interventions for two elementary school students (fourth and fifth grade) referred for reading problems. For each student the experimental analyses examined use of rewards, instruction, and a treatment package containing both reward and instructional components across difficulty levels to determine the condition that led to the most efficient increases in reading fluency for each student. Based on the experimental analyses, individualized reading packages were developed that required minimal supervision. These interventions were carried out over time during normal instructional routines, and progress monitoring data were gathered to determine the effects of the interventions. Results are discussed in terms of how practitioners can use experimental analyses of academic skills within a broader response-to-intervention framework. Also, recommendations for future research in this area are made.
Adaptive responses to muscle lengthening and shortening in humans.

We tested the hypothesis that exercise training with maximal eccentric (lengthening) muscle actions results in greater gains in muscle strength and size than training with concentric (shortening) actions. Changes in muscle strength, muscle fiber size, and surface electromyographic (EMG) activity of the quadriceps muscle were compared after 36 sessions of isokinetic concentric (n = 8) or eccentric (n = 7) exercise training over 12 wk with use of a one-leg model. Eccentric training increased eccentric strength 3.5 times more (pre/post 46%, P < 0.05) than concentric training increased concentric strength (pre/post 13%). Eccentric training increased concentric strength and concentric training increased eccentric strength by about the same magnitude (5 and 10%, respectively, P > 0.05). Eccentric training increased EMG activity seven times more during eccentric testing (pre/post 86%, P < 0.05) than concentric training increased EMG activity during concentric testing (pre/post 12%). Eccentric training increased the EMG activity measured during concentric tests and concentric training increased the EMG activity measured during eccentric tests by about the same magnitude (8 and 11%, respectively, P > 0.05). Type I muscle fiber percentages did not change significantly, but type IIa fibers increased and type IIb fibers decreased significantly (P < 0.05) in both training groups. Type I fiber areas did not change significantly (P > 0.05), but type II fiber area increased approximately 10 times more (P < 0.05) in the eccentric than in the concentric group. It is concluded that adaptations to training with maximal eccentric contractions are specific to eccentric muscle actions that are associated with greater neural adaptation and muscle hypertrophy than concentric exercise.
Montclair State University Digital Montclair State University Digital Commons Commons

We present new Multiagent learning (MAL) algorithms with the general philosophy of policy convergence against some classes of opponents but otherwise ensuring high payoffs. We consider a 3-class breakdown of opponent types: (eventually) stationary, self-play and “other” (see Deﬁnition 4) agents. We start with ReDVaLeR that can satisfy policy convergence against the ﬁrst two types and no-regret against the third, but it needs to know the type of the opponents. This serves as a baseline to delineate the difﬁculty of achieving these goals. We show that a simple modiﬁcation on ReDVaLeR yields a new algorithm, RV σ( t ) , that achieves no-regret payoffs in all games, and convergence to Nash equilibria in self-play (and to best response against eventually stationary opponents — a corollary of no-regret) simultaneously, without knowing the opponent types , but in a smaller class of games than ReDVaLeR . RV σ( t ) effectively ensures the performance of a learner during the process of learning, as opposed to the performance of a learned behavior. We show that the expression for regret of RV σ( t ) can have a slightly better form than those of other comparable algorithms like GIGA and GIGA-WoLF though, contrastingly, our analysis is in continuous time. Moreover, experiments show that RV σ( t ) can converge to an equilibrium in some cases where GIGA, GIGA-WoLF would fail, and to better equilibria where GIGA, GIGA-WoLF converge to undesirable equilibria (coordination games). This important class of coordination games also highlights the key desirability of policy convergence as a criterion for MAL in self-play instead of high average payoffs. To our knowledge, this is also the ﬁrst successful (guaranteed) attempt at policy convergence of a no-regret algorithm in the Shapley game.
Service-learning and social justice education : strengthening justice-oriented community based models of teaching and learning

Introduction Joel Westheimer and Joseph Kahne Critical Service-Learning as Social Justice Education: A Case Study of the Citizen Scholars Program Tania D. Mitchell Improving the Human Condition: Leadership for Justice-Oriented Service-Learning Marilynne Boyle-Baise, Betty Bridgwaters, Leslie Brinson, Nancy Hiestand, Beverly Johnson, and Pat Wilson We Know It's Service, but What are They Learning? Preservice Teachers' Understandings of Diversity Courtney A. Bell, Brian R. Horn, and Kevin C. Roxas Educating for the "Real World": The Hidden Curriculum of Community Service-Learning Raji Swaminathan Where's the Justice in Service-Learning? Institutionalizing Service-Learning from a Social Justice Perspective at a Jesuit University Sondra Cuban and Jeffrey Anderson Service-Learning for Social Justice in the Elementary Classroom: Can We Get There from Here? Rahima C. Wade "Not satisfied with stupid Band-Aids": A Portrait of a Justice-Oriented, Democratic Curriculum Serving a Disadvantaged Neighborhood Brian D. Schultz Justice-Learning: Service-Learning as Justice-Oriented Education Dan W. Butin
Nuclear factor‐κb activation is associated with glutamate‐evoked tissue transglutaminase up‐regulation in primary astrocyte cultures

We have previously demonstrated that alterations of cell redox state, evoked by glutamate, are associated with tissue transglutaminase increases in primary astrocyte cultures. Furthermore, glutamate exposure activated the nuclear factor (NF)‐κB pathway, and its effects were significantly reduced by antioxidants. Here, we investigated the possible involvement of activated NF‐κB pathway in glutamate‐evoked tissue transglutaminase up‐regulation in primary astrocytes. The presence of DNA binding activity by NF‐κB in nuclear extracts of astrocytes, treated for 24 hr with glutamate (500 μM) or untreated, was assessed by EMSA, using an oligonucleotide probe containing the NF‐κB consensus sequence present in the tissue transglutaminase promoter. Supershifting with monoclonal antibodies revealed that activated NF‐κB dimer complexes were composed of p50 and p65 subunits. Interestingly, the specific NF‐κB inhibitor SN50 (but not its inactive analogue SN50M), when added to cell cultures 30 min prior to glutamate treatment, was able gradually to reduce glutamate‐induced NF‐κB activation. Western blot analysis confirmed the reduction of the p50 amount in nuclear extracts. Notably, the preincubation with SN50 also diminished glutamate‐increased tissue transglutaminase expression, as showed by both RT‐PCR and Western blotting. Competition experiments, carried out with an excess of a probe containing the NF‐κB consensus sequence present in the κ‐light‐chain promoter, demonstrated a preferential binding of the tissue transglutaminase specific NF‐κB probe in the nuclear extracts of glutamate‐treated astrocytes compared with untreated astrocytes. These preliminary data suggest that NF‐κB activation, which has been demonstrated to be involved in astrocyte response to glutamate, could also be associated with the molecular pathway leading to glutamate‐evoked tissue transglutaminase up‐regulation. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Modelling polyfont printed characters with HMMs and a shift invariant Hamming distance

Rumours of the death of the problem of machine-printed text recognition have been greatly exaggerated. Reported results can be good enough to lead one to believe that this is a "solved problem". Closer analysis reveals test data that is often limited in its range of fonts and point sizes. Worse still, results are commonly quoted for noise-free images, ignoring the problems of recognising "real" documents such as faxes. Various methods have been proposed for modelling characters with Hidden Markov Models. The authors, amongst others, have suggested representing a character by analysing the pixel pattern in columns of its image, and linking sequential column patterns together with a HMM. In this paper we propose a method of quantising the patterns by means of a Shift Invariant Hamming Distance. A full experimental evaluation (45 fonts, 5 point sizes) in typical noise results in a recognition accuracy of 99% in the top-3 choices, and 94% top-choice for the best font. The method has a significant advantage in recognising noisy word images, due to classification being achieved without a prior segmentation of the word into characters.