Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deciding Task Schedules for Temporal Planning via Auctions

We present an auction-based approach to allocate tasks that have complex time constraints and interdependencies to a group of cooperative agents. The approach combines the advantages of planning and scheduling with the ability to make distributed decisions. We focus on methods for modeling and evaluating the decisions an agent must make when deciding how to schedule tasks. In particular, we discuss how to specify task schedules when requesting quotes from other agents. The way tasks are scheduled affects the number and types of bids received, and therefore the quality of the solutions that can be produced.
An empirical investigation into the role of API-level refactorings during software evolution

It is widely believed that refactoring improves software quality and programmer productivity by making it easier to maintain and understand software systems. However, the role of refactorings has not been systematically investigated using fine-grained evolution history. We quantitatively and qualitatively studied API-level refactorings and bug fixes in three large open source projects, totaling 26523 revisions of evolution. The study found several surprising results: One, there is an increase in the number of bug fixes after API-level refactorings. Two, the time taken to fix bugs is shorter after API-level refactorings than before. Three, a large number of refactoring revisions include bug fixes at the same time or are related to later bug fix revisions. Four, API-level refactorings occur more frequently before than after major software releases. These results call for re-thinking refactoring's true benefits. Furthermore, frequent floss refactoring mistakes observed in this study call for new software engineering tools to support safe application of refactoring and behavior modifying edits together.
Myocardial Blood Flow at Rest and During Pharmacological Vasodilation in Cardiac Transplants During and After Successful Treatment of Rejection

The relative intracoronary flow reserve has been found to be reduced during acute transplant rejection, but the effects of rejection on absolute flows at rest and during hyperemia have not been established previously. This has now become possible through noninvasive quantification of myocardial blood flow with positron emission tomography. Methods and ResultsMyocardial blood flow (MBF) at rest and during dipyridamole-induced hyperemia was quantified in 10 transplant patients (group A) during an acute, biopsy-proven rejection episode and again after successful immunosuppressive treatment and in 6 transplant patients (group B) without prior rejection episodes. In group A patients, MBF during rejection averaged 1.7±0.3 mL · min−1 · g−1 at rest and 2.5±0.9 mL · min−1 · g−1 during hyperemia; after recovery, MBF at rest had declined to 1.2±0.3 mL · −1 · g−1 (P < .001) but had increased to 3.9±1.1 mL−1. g−1 (P < .001) during hyperemia. Flows after recovery from rejection were similar to those in the group B patients (0.9±0.2 and 3.9±0.7 mL · min−1 · g−1). Flow reserve in the group A patients was only 1.5±0.5 during rejection but improved to 3.4±0.9 at recovery (P < .001) and thus remained lower than in the control patients (4.5±0.7, P < .05). Minimal coronary resistance during dipyridamole vasodilation was ele- vated during rejection (40±11 mm Hg · mL−1 · min−1 after recovery, it no longer differed from that in the group B patients (26±11 versus 22±4 mm Hg · mL−1 · min−1 g−1). MBF during rejection was increased relative to cardiac work, as demonstrated by significantly higher ratios of blood flow to rate-pressure product than those at recovery and in the control patients. ConclusionsA decrease in hyperemic and an increase in resting myocardial blood flow, in excess to cardiac work, account for the previously reported reduction in coronary flow reserve. Because both alterations improve with antirejection treatment, they may reflect reversible alterations, presumably of endothelial function, local coagulation, and edema. The compromise in flow reserve and hyperemic flows may contribute to acute and chronic injury from rejection and thus provides a rationale for exercise restriction during rejection. The results further suggest a potential role for serial noninvasive flow measurements to guide immunosuppressive therapy.
Defining the target for radiotherapy of head and neck cancer

Abstract The greatest challenge for radiation therapy is to attain the highest probability of cure with the least morbidity. Implementation of conformal radiotherapy techniques offers the possibility to target irregularly shaped volumes while optimally sparing the normal tissues. This implies however an accurate knowledge of the exact tumour extension. In order to perfectly delineate the primary tumour and to optimise the radiation dose administered to normal tissues, it is necessary for patients to undergo imaging studies. Both anatomical and functional imaging studies are currently being evaluated for treatment planning of head and neck cancer.
Normal human sweat contains interleukin‐8

Sweating in humans is induced by physical or emotional stress, which raises the possibility that sweating may relate to host defense. We therefore asked whether human eccrine sweat attracts leukocytes and found that it is chemotactic for human neutrophils. This activity was due to several chemoattractants, one of which was interleukin‐8 (IL‐8). Using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization IL‐8 and its mRNA have been detected in sweat gland epithelium, indicating that IL‐8 is produced in situ. This establishes a pattern of physiological IL‐8 secretion by exocrine glands and suggests that, in addition to its role as a major inflammatory mediator, IL‐8 also has physiological homeostatic functions. J. Leukoc. Biol. 57: 434–437; 1995.
Characterization of Cell Wall Lipids from the Pathogenic Phase of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis Cultivated in the Presence or Absence of Human Plasma

Background The fungal cell wall is a complex and dynamic outer structure. In pathogenic fungi its components interact with the host, determining the infection fate. The present work aimed to characterize cell wall lipids from P. brasiliensis grown in the presence and absence of human plasma. We compared the results from isolates Pb3 and Pb18, which represent different phylogenetic species that evoke distinct patterns of experimental paracoccidioidomycosis. Methodology/Principal Findings We comparatively characterized cell wall phospholipids, fatty acids, sterols, and neutral glycolipids by using both electrospray ionization- and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses of lipids extracted with organic solvents followed by fractionation in silica-gel-60. We detected 49 phospholipid species in Pb3 and 38 in Pb18, including phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, and phosphatidic acid. In both Pb3 and Pb18, PC and PE had the most numerous species. Among the fatty acids, C18∶1 and C18∶2 were the most abundant species in both isolates, although C18∶2 was more abundant in Pb18. There was a different effect of plasma supplementation on fatty acids depending on the fungal isolate. The prevalent glycolipid species was Hex-C18∶0-OH/d19∶2-Cer, although other four minor species were also detected. The most abundant sterol in all samples was brassicasterol. Distinct profiles of cell wall and total yeast sterols suggested that the preparations were enriched for cell wall components. The presence of plasma in the culture medium specially increased cell wall brassicasterol abundance and also other lipids. Conclusions/Significance We here report an original comparative lipidomic analysis of P. brasiliensis cell wall. Our results open doors to understanding the role of cell wall lipids in fungal biology, and interaction with anti-fungal drugs and the host.
Prediction of poor survival by cyclooxygenase‐2 in patients with T4 nasopharyngeal cancer treated by radiation therapy: Clinical and in vitro studies

This study was undertaken to determine the status of cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) in nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) in Taiwanese patients and its relationship to survival after radiotherapy (RT). In addition, the effect of NS‐398, a potent selective COX‐2 inhibitor, was tested in vitro alone and in combination with radiation on NPC‐BM1 human NPC cells as a prelude to using this drug along with RT in the treatment of patients with NPC.
Correlation clustering with a fixed number of clusters

We continue the investigation of problems concerning correlation clustering or clustering with qualitative information, which is a clustering formulation that has been studied recently [5, 7, 8, 3]. The basic setup here is that we are given as input a complete graph on n nodes (which correspond to nodes to be clustered) whose edges are labeled + (for similar pairs of items) and - (for dissimilar pairs of items). Thus we have only as input qualitative information on similarity and no quantitative distance measure between items. The quality of a clustering is measured in terms of its number of agreements, which is simply the number of edges it correctly classifies, that is the sum of number of - edges whose endpoints it places in different clusters plus the number of + edges both of whose endpoints it places within the same cluster.In this paper, we study the problem of finding clusterings that maximize the number of agreements, and the complementary minimization version where we seek clusterings that minimize the number of disagreements. We focus on the situation when the number of clusters is stipulated to be a small constant k. Our main result is that for every k, there is a polynomial time approximation scheme for both maximizing agreements and minimizing disagreements. (The problems are NP-hard for every k ≥ 2.) The main technical work is for the minimization version, as the PTAS for maximizing agreements follows along the lines of the property tester for Max k-CUT from [13]. In contrast, when the number of clusters is not specified, the problem of minimizing disagreements was shown to be APX-hard [7], even though the maximization version admits a PTAS.
Modulatory Effects of the Piccolo Genotype on Emotional Memory in Health and Depression

Major depressive disorder (MDD) has been associated with biased memory formation for mood-congruent information, which may be related to altered monoamine levels. The piccolo (PCLO) gene, involved in monoaminergic neurotransmission, has previously been linked to depression in a genome-wide association study. Here, we investigated the role of the PCLO risk allele on functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) correlates of emotional memory in a sample of 89 MDD patients (64 PCLO risk allele carriers) and 29 healthy controls (18 PCLO risk allele carriers). During negative word encoding, risk allele carriers showed significant lower activity relative to non-risk allele carriers in the insula, and trend-wise in the anterior cingulate cortex and inferior frontal gyrus. Moreover, depressed risk allele carriers showed significant lower activity relative to non-risk allele carriers in the striatum, an effect which was absent in healthy controls. Finally, amygdalar response during processing new positive words vs. known words was blunted in healthy PCLO+ carriers and in MDD patients irrespective of genotype, which may indicate that signalling of salient novel information does not occur to the same extent in PCLO+ carriers and MDD patients. The PCLO risk allele may increase vulnerability for MDD by modulating local brain function with regard to responsiveness to salient stimuli (i.e. insula) and processing novel negative information. Also, depression-specific effects of PCLO on dorsal striatal activation during negative word encoding and the absence of amygdalar salience signalling for novel positive information further suggest a role of PCLO in symptom maintenance in MDD.
Gravitational Lensing by Elliptical Galaxies

The probability that high-redshift quasars are gravitationally-lensed by intervening galaxies increases rapidly with the cosmological constant, Ω Λ 0 (whilst being only weakly dependent on the density parameter, Ω m 0 ), and the low number of lenses observed implies that Ω Λ 0 ≲ 0.7 (e.g. Kochanek 1996). One of many uncertainties has been the (small) core radii of elliptical galaxies, which, at least naively, reduce their lensing cross-section. However, if ellipticals are normalised relative to their observed line-of-sight velocity dispersion, σ || , then increasing the core radius must result in an increased mass normalisation (specified by the assymptotic velocity dispersion, σ ∞ ).
Pyramidal Fisher Motion for Multiview Gait Recognition

The goal of this paper is to identify individuals by analyzing their gait. Instead of using binary silhouettes as input data (as done in many previous works) we propose and evaluate the use of motion descriptors based on densely sampled short-term trajectories. We take advantage of state-of-the-art people detectors to define custom spatial configurations of the descriptors around the target person. Thus, obtaining a pyramidal representation of the gait motion. The local motion features (described by the Divergence-Curl-Shear descriptor [1]) extracted on the different spatial areas of the person are combined into a single high-level gait descriptor by using the Fisher Vector encoding [2]. The proposed approach, coined Pyramidal Fisher Motion, is experimentally validated on the recent 'AVA Multiview Gait' dataset [3]. The results show that this new approach achieves promising results in the problem of gait recognition.
Presynaptic D1 Dopamine Receptors in Primate Prefrontal Cortex: Target-Specific Expression in the Glutamatergic Synapse

Dopaminergic modulation of glutamate neurotransmission in prefrontal cortex (PFC) microcircuits is commonly perceived as a basis for cognitive operations. Yet it appears that although the control of recurrent excitation between deep-layer prefrontal pyramids may involve presynaptic and postsynaptic D1 receptor (D1R) mechanisms, pyramid-to-interneuron communication will engage a postsynaptic D1R component. The substrate underlying such target-specific neuromodulatory patterns was investigated in the infragranular PFC with immunoelectron microscopy for D1R and parvalbumin, a marker for fast-spiking interneurons. In addition to their proverbial postsynaptic expression, gold-labeled D1Rs were distinctly distributed on perisynaptic/extrasynaptic membranes and the axoplasm of 13% of excitatory-like, presumably glutamatergic varicosities. Most importantly, presynaptic D1Rs were highly specific with regard to the cellular compartment and neurochemical identity of the postsynaptic neuron, being present in spine-targeting varicosities but distinctly absent from those synapsing with parvalbumin profiles often coexpressing D1Rs. We define therein an axonal D1 heteroreceptor component, apparently mediating volume neurotransmission, yet strategically positioned to convey target cell-specific modulation of the glutamatergic drive. We also indicate that presynaptic D1R mechanisms may indeed be associated with recurrent excitation in prefrontal microcircuits, consistent with physiological evidence for a role of these receptors in modulating the persistent activity-profile of neurons essential for working memory.
Live-range unsplitting for faster optimal coalescing

Register allocation is often a two-phase approach: spilling of registers to memory, followed by coalescing of registers. Extreme live-range splitting (i.e. live-range splitting after each statement) enables optimal solutions based on ILP, for both spilling and coalescing. However, while the solutions are easily found for spilling, for coalescing they are more elusive. This difficulty stems from the huge size of interference graphs resulting from live-range splitting. This paper focuses on coalescing in the context of extreme live-range splitting. It presents some theoretical properties that give rise to an algorithm for reducing interference graphs. This reduction consists mainly in finding and removing useless splitting points. It is followed by a graph decomposition based on clique separators. The reduction and decomposition are general enough, so that any coalescing algorithm can be applied afterwards. Our strategy for reducing and decomposing interference graphs preserves the optimality of coalescing. When used together with an optimal coalescing algorithm (e.g. ILP), optimal solutions are much more easily found. The strategy has been tested on a standard benchmark, the optimal coalescing challenge. For this benchmark, the cutting-plane algorithm for optimal coalescing (the only optimal algorithm for coalescing) runs 300 times faster when combined with our strategy. Moreover, we provide all the optimal solutions of the optimal coalescing challenge, including the three instances that were previously unsolved.
Management of pain associated with the insertion of intrauterine contraceptives

BACKGROUND Most intrauterine contraception (IUC) placements do not require pain relief. However, small proportions of nulliparous (∼17%) and parous (∼11%) women experience substantial pain that needs to be proactively managed. This review critically evaluates the evidence for pain management strategies, formulates evidence-based recommendations and identifies data gaps and areas for further research. METHODS A PubMed literature search was undertaken. Relevant articles on management of pain associated with IUC insertion, published in English between 1980 and November 2012, were identified using the following search terms: ‘intrauterine contraception’, ‘insertion’ and ‘pain’. RCTs were included; further relevant articles were also identified and included as appropriate. RESULTS Seventeen studies were identified and included: 12 RCTs and one non-randomized study of pre-insertion oral analgesia, cervical priming and local anaesthesia; one systematic review and one RCT on post-insertion analgesia and two non-randomized studies on non-pharmacological interventions. There was no conclusive evidence that any prophylactic pharmacological intervention reduces pain associated with IUC insertion. However, most of the regimens studied were adopted from hysteroscopy or abortion and effectiveness in specific subsets of women has not been studied adequately. A systematic review found non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAID) to be effective in reactively treating post-insertion pain, but no benefit was found with prophylactic use. CONCLUSIONS No prophylactic pharmacological intervention has been adequately evaluated to support routine use for pain reduction during or after IUC insertion. Women's anxiety about the procedure may contribute to higher levels of perceived pain, which highlights the importance of counselling, and creating a trustworthy, unhurried and professional atmosphere in which the experience of the provider also has a major role; a situation frequently referred to as ‘verbal anaesthesia’.
Expression of nitric oxide synthase and nitric oxide‐sensitive guanylate cyclase in the crustacean cardiac ganglion

The cardiac ganglion is a simple central pattern‐generating network that controls the rhythmic contractions of the crustacean heart. Enzyme assays and Western blots show that whole heart homogenates from the crab Cancer productus contain high levels of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of arginine to citrulline with concomitant production of the transmitter nitric oxide (NO). Crab heart NOS is calcium‐dependent and has an apparent molecular weight of 110 kDa. In the cardiac ganglion, antibodies to NOS and citrulline indicate the presence of a NOS‐like protein and NOS enzymatic activity in the four small pacemaker neurons and the five large motor neurons of the cardiac network. In addition, all cardiac neurons label positively with an antibody to cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP). The NO donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP, 10 mM) stimulates additional cGMP production in the isolated ganglion. This increase is blocked by [1H](1,2,4)oxadiazole(4,3‐a)quinoxalin‐1‐one (ODQ, 50 μM), an inhibitor of the NO‐sensitive soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC). Taken together, our data indicate that NO‐ and cGMP‐mediated signaling pathways are enriched in the cardiac system relative to other crab tissues and that the cardiac network may be a target for extrinsic and intrinsic neuromodulation via NO produced from the heart musculature and individual cardiac neurons, respectively. The crustacean cardiac ganglion is therefore a promising system for studying cellular and synaptic mechanisms of nitrergic neuromodulation in a simple pattern‐generating network. J. Comp. Neurol. 454:158–167, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
On a multi-timescale statistical feedback model for volatility fluctuations

We study, both analytically and numerically, an ARCH-like, multiscale model of volatility, which assumes that the volatility is governed by the observed past price changes on different time scales. With a power-law distribution of time horizons, we obtain a model that captures most stylized facts of financial time series: Student-like distribution of returns with a power-law tail, long-memory of the volatility, slow convergence of the distribution of returns towards the Gaussian distribution, multifractality and anomalous volatility relaxation after shocks. At variance with recent multifractal models that are strictly time reversal invariant, the model also reproduces the time assymmetry of financial time series: past large scale volatility influence future small scale volatility. In order to quantitatively reproduce all empirical observations, the parameters must be chosen such that our model is close to an instability, meaning that (a) the feedback effect is important and substantially increases the volatility, and (b) that the model is intrinsically difficult to calibrate because of the very long range nature of the correlations. By imposing the consistency of the model predictions with a large set of different empirical observations, a reasonable range of the parameters value can be determined. The model can easily be generalized to account for jumps, skewness and multiasset correlations.
Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Gender Risks for Adolescent Obesity in Southwestern Saudi Arabia

Background/Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate gender differences in obesity and related behavior among adolescent school boys and girls in southwestern Saudi Arabia. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study on a stratified sample of 1,249 adolescent boys and 620 adolescent girls, was conducted in southwestern Saudi Arabia. They were interviewed and examined for weight and height using standardized techniques. Results: The prevalence of obesity and overweight in the present study amounted to 23.2% among boys and 29.4% among girls. The following significant risk factors were identified; being a female [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) =1.372, 95% confidence interval (CI) =1.099-1.753] and lack of class physical exercise (aOR =1.452, 95% CI =1.149-2.117). Conclusion: Obesity among adolescents is a public health problem in Southwestern Saudi Arabia. The problem is more prevalent among girls. Thus, there is a need for a national programme in the country to prevent and control obesity among adolescents.