Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improving Text Classification Using EM with Background Text

For many text classification tasks, sets of background text are easily available from the Web and other online sources. We show that such background text can greatly improve text classification performance by treating the background text as unlabeled data and using existing techniques based on EM for iteratively labeling this background text. Although results are most pronounced when the background text falls into categories that mirror those present in the training and test data, we show improved classification accuracy even though the use of background text violates many of the assumptions underlying the original approach, especially in the presence of limited training data.
The apoptotic ring: A novel entity with phosphorylated histones H2AX and H2B, and activated DNA damage response kinases

We recently showed that histone H2AX phosphorylated on serine 139 (γ-H2AX), a hallmark of DNA damage response (DDR), also forms early during apoptosis induced by death receptor activation. Here, we extend and discuss our findings on apoptotic γ-H2AX, which differs from the well-established DDR with nuclear foci. During apoptosis induced by death receptors agonists (TRAIL and FasL) and staurosporine, γ-H2AX is initiated in the nuclear periphery immediately inside the nuclear envelope while total H2AX remains distributed throughout the nucleus. This process is readily detectable by immunofluorescence microscopy and we refer to it as the “γ-H2AX ring”. It is conserved both in cancer and normal cells. The γ-H2AX ring contains the activated checkpoints kinases, ATM, Chk2 and DNA-PK; the latter being the main effector for the apoptotic γ-H2AX phosphorylation. Notably, we show here that the γ-H2AX ring coincides with phosphorylated H2B on serine 14 (PS14-H2B), another histone modification associated with apoptosis. The coordinated phosphorylations of H2AX and H2B suggest a previously unrecognized histone phosphorylation signature for apoptosis consisting of γ-H2AX together with PS14-H2B and possibly PY142-H2AX. This signature (“phospho-histone 2 code”) together with the γ-H2AX ring provides a new feature to monitor and study apoptosis.
ANALISA PENGARUH DIMENSI EKUITAS MEREK TERHADAP MINAT BELI KONSUMEN MIDTOWN HOTEL SURABAYA

Abstrak— Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui bagaimana dimensi ekuitas merek mempengaruhi minat beli konsumen terhadap Midtown Hotel Surabaya. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengidentifikasi faktor dari ekuitas merek yang mampu mempengaruhi minat beli tersebut. Secara teoritik, dimensi ekuitas merek mampu membentuk minat beli konsumen jika produsen mampu menjaga dan meningkatkan kepercayaan konsumen terhadap merek tersebut. Adapun empat dimensi yang akan diteliti dari ekuitas merek, yaitu brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, dan brand loyalty terhadap minat beli konsumen Midtown Hotel Surabaya. Penelitian ini dilakukan di Surabaya dengan 100 orang responden. Kuisioner didesain menggunakan skala likert dan dianalisis dengan menggunakan analisa regresi linear. Hasil peneltian ini menunjukkan bahwa Ekuitas memiliki pengaruh terhadap buying intention. Akan tetapi, hanya Brand Awareness, Perceived Quality, dan Brand Loyalty yang memiliki pengaruh signifikan.
Fluoroquinolone Resistance in Invasive Streptococcus pyogenes Isolates Due to Spontaneous Mutation and Horizontal Gene Transfer

ABSTRACT Fluoroquinolone resistance in Streptococcus pyogenes has been described only anecdotally. In this study we describe two invasive ciprofloxacin-resistant S. pyogenes isolates (ciprofloxacin MICs, 8 mg/liter), one of which shows evidence of interspecies recombination. The quinolone resistance-determining regions of gyrA and parC were sequenced. In both isolates, there was no evidence for an efflux pump and no mutation in gyrA. Both isolates had an S79F mutation in parC that is known to confer fluoroquinolone resistance. In addition, a D91N mutation in parC, which is not related to fluoroquinolone resistance but is a feature of the parC sequence of Streptococcus dysgalactiae, was found in one isolate. The parC nucleotide sequence of that isolate showed greater diversity than that of S. pyogenes. A GenBank search and phylogenetic analysis suggest that this isolate acquired resistance by horizontal gene transfer from S. dysgalactiae. Statistical testing for recombination confirmed interspecies recombination of a 90-bp sequence containing the S79F mutation from S. dysgalactiae. For the other isolate, we could confirm that it acquired resistance by spontaneous mutation by identifying the susceptible ancestor in an outbreak setting.
Spatial characteristics of professional tennis serves with implications for serving aces: A machine learning approach

ABSTRACT This study sought to determine the features of an ideal serve in men’s professional tennis. A total of 25,680 first serves executed by 151 male tennis players during Australian Open competition were classified as either aces or returned into play. Spatiotemporal (impact location, speed, projection angles, landing location and relative player locations) and contextual (score) features of each serve were extracted from Hawk-Eye data and used to construct a classification tree model (with decision rules) that predicted serve outcome. k-means clustering was applied to the landing locations to quantify optimal landing locations for aces. The classification tree revealed that (1) serve directionality, relative to the returner; (2) the ball’s landing proximity to the nearest service box line and (3) serve speed classified aces with an accuracy of 87.02%. Hitting aces appeared more contingent on accuracy than speed, with serves directed >5.88° from the returner and landing <15.27 cm from a service box line most indicative of an ace. k-means clustering revealed four distinct locations (≈0.73 m wide × 2.35 m deep) in the corners of the service box that corresponded to aces. These landing locations provide empirically derived target locations for players to adhere to during practice and competition.
Mutations within the P2 Domain of Norovirus Capsid Affect Binding to Human Histo-Blood Group Antigens: Evidence for a Binding Pocket

ABSTRACT Noroviruses (NORs) are an important cause of acute gastroenteritis. Recent studies of NOR receptors showed that different NORs bind to different histo-blood group antigens (HBGAs), and at least four distinct binding patterns were observed. To determine the structure-function relationship for NORs and their receptors, two strains representing two of the four binding patterns were studied. Strain VA387 binds to HBGAs of A, B, and O secretors, whereas strain MOH binds to HBGAs of A and B secretors only. Using multiple sequence alignments, homology modeling, and structural analysis of NOR capsids, we identified a plausible “pocket” in the P2 domain that may be responsible for binding to HBGA receptors. This pocket consists of a conserved RGD/K motif surrounded by three strain-specific hot spots (N302, T337, and Q375 for VA387 and N302, N338, and E378 for MOH). Subsequent mutagenesis experiments demonstrated that all four sites played important roles in binding. A single amino acid mutation at T337 (to A) in VA387 or a double amino acid mutation at RN338 (to TT) in MOH abolished binding completely. Change of the entire RGD motif to SAS abolished binding in case of VA387, whereas single amino acid mutations in that motif did not have an apparent effect on binding to A and B antigens but decreased binding to H antigen. Multiple mutations at the RGK motif of MOH (SIRGK to TFRGD) completely knocked out the binding. Mutation of N302 or Q375 in VA387 affected binding to type O HBGA only, while switch mutants with three amino acid changes at either site from MOH to VA387 resulted in a weak binding to type O HBGAs. A further switch mutant with three amino acid changes at E378 from MOH to VA387 diminished the binding to type A HBGA only. Taken together, our data indicate that the binding pocket likely exists on NOR capsids. Direct evidence of this hypothesis requires crystallography studies.
Co‐administration of N‐acetylcysteine, vitamin B12 and folate in cognitively impaired hyperhomocysteinaemic patients

Evidence is accumulating for a relationship between homocysteine and cognition since our report of significantly elevated serum levels in patients with clinically diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (McCaddon et al., 1998). Clarke et al. (1998) observed elevated plasma homocysteine in histopathologically confirmed AD; patients with higher levels had greater radiological evidence of disease progression. Homocysteine levels predict cognitive decline in healthy elderly (McCaddon et al., 2001), and hyperhomocysteinaemia is a risk factor for dementia and AD (Seshadri et al., 2002). Potential mechanisms by which it exerts these effects include a direct toxicity on glutamate neurotransmission and cerebrovascular endothelium, and an indirect inhibition of transmethylation reactions. Plasma levels are largely determined by vitamin B12 and folate status but antioxidant therapy might also be required for optimal reduction within the nervous system (McCaddon et al., 2002). We evaluated the co-administration of N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a glutathione precursor and potent antioxidant, with B vitamin supplements in three cognitively impaired hyperhomocysteinaemic patients.
Knowledge-based Design Cost Estimation Through Extending Industry Foundation Classes

In order to overcome divergence of estimation with the same data, the proposed costing process adopts an integrated design of information system to design the process knowledge and costing system together. By employing and extending a widely used international standard, industry foundation classes, the system can provide an integrated process which can harvest information and knowledge of current quantity surveying practice of costing method and data. Knowledge of quantification is encoded from literatures, motivation case and standards. It can reduce the time consumption of current manual practice. The further development will represent the pricing process in a different type of knowledge representation. The hybrid types of knowledge representation can produce a reliable estimation for construction project. In a practical term, the knowledge management of quantity surveying can improve the system of construction estimation. The theoretical significance of this study lies in the fact that its content and conclusion make it possible to develop an automatic estimation system based on hybrid knowledge representation approach.
Imagining Others: Social daydreaming and the regulation of socio-emotional well-being

A remarkable feature of the human mind is its ability to escape the constraints of the external environment to mentally simulate past, alternative present, and possible future, realities. Such mental activity often occurs in the form of daydreaming or mind wandering where mental content is internally-generated, and independent of the thinker’s external environment and current task. Daydreaming occupies a central position in mental life and is estimated to consume up to a staggering 50% of waking thought. But why do we daydream? Is it simply an idle or detrimental activity that distracts us from the external world or might it serve some adaptive functions? In this thesis I develop and test the view that one of the core functions of social daydreaming (i.e. daydreams that involve the imagination of others) is to enable individuals to achieve and maintain a satisfactory level of socio-emotional well-being, both in the moment and over time, under conditions of social threat. This model of socioemotional well-being regulation via social daydreaming is tested and substantiated in three empirical studies which show (1) that naturally-occurring and volitional daydreaming about significant others can regulate momentary socio-emotional wellbeing under conditions of social threat and (2) that the content and emotional outcomes of social daydreams are associated with socio-emotional adaptation to a new environment over time. Taken together, these studies provide evidence for the functional role of social daydreaming in the regulation socio-emotional well-being, offer new insights into how the content and context of daydreaming are associated with its beneficial outcomes, and provide a broader conception of the role of other people in shaping and regulating feelings of interpersonal connection. Overall, the present research represents an initial step in describing how people’s imaginary, as well as actual, worlds contribute to their socio-emotional functioning.
Enhancing Self-efficacy in High-avoidance Motor Tasks: A Comparison of Modeling Techniques

This study investigated the effectiveness of participant, live, and videotape modeling on the learning of a high-avoidance springboard-diving task (back dive). The effectiveness of each form of modeling upon the strength of self-efficacy also was investigated. In accord with Bandura's (1977) self-efficacy theory, it was hypothesized that the participant-modeling group would perform more correct back dives and would show stronger efficacy expectations compared to the live-modeling group which in turn would perform better on these measures than the videotape group. Results indicated that the participant-modeling treatment produced more successful dives and stronger expectations of personal efficacy than either the live-modeling or videotaped-modeling treatments. The hypothesis that students in the live-modeling condition would perform better behaviorally and show stronger efficacy expectations than students in the videotape condition was not supported.
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There is no doubt that the development of diagnostic criteria has contributed greatly to epidemiological research in prion diseases, and Heath and colleagues emphasize this in surveillance studies of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). We caution, however, against a more broad application in clinical practice, particularly in governing decisions about clinical diagnosis, communication with patients/caregivers, and access to experimental therapies. The physician looking after a young patient with an unexplained rapidly progressive neuropsychiatric syndrome, dementia, or ataxia needs to make prompt clinical decisions. There are treatable alternative diagnoses, and an early firm diagnosis is essential. The pulvinar sign on magnetic resonance imaging is often not identified when patients are first imaged, and a requirement for a clinical duration of 6 months or greater makes a probable diagnosis impossible in the early stages of disease. Physicians who have cared for families affected by vCJD are aware of the complicated psychological issues generated by the perceived mismanagement of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy epidemic, which are often exacerbated by a delay or equivocation about diagnosis. Several families also choose experimental intracerebroventricular pentosan polysulfate therapy, which requires neurosurgery. In the context of these issues, the role of tonsillar biopsy is underemphasized by Heath et al and the criteria. In our experience of 60 biopsies, by far the largest series worldwide, tonsillar biopsy has 100% sensitivity and specificity, at any stage of the disease. Prion protein deposition in the tonsil can be patchy, and at least 20 germinal centers need to be examined. The number examined in 1 French case reported by Heath et al may not have been adequate to avoid a false-negative result. It is notable that of the 6 most recent patients suspected clinically of having vCJD in the United Kingdom, 3 did not meet epidemiological criteria for probable vCJD while alive. Two of these patients would have been misdiagnosed as sporadic CJD according to the updated clinical diagnostic criteria for sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease criteria; typical vCJD was diagnosed at autopsy in both. In a third patient, with a heterozygous codon 129 genotype reported by Kaski et al, the pulvinar sign was not thought to be present by all neuroradiologists, and no tissue was examined. It is reasonable to expect that tonsillar biopsy may have made the correct diagnosis in each of these cases. Given experience with transfusion-associated secondary vCJD, vCJD prions are likely to be present in significant titer in human blood, a diagnostic blood test based on detection of the infectious agent is clearly possible in principle, and if technologically achieved, will necessitate a complete revision of how we approach diagnosis in this disease.
Pediatric Norovirus Diarrhea in Nicaragua

ABSTRACT Information about norovirus (NoV) infections in Central America is limited. Through a passive community and hospital pediatric diarrhea surveillance program, a total of 542 stool samples were collected between March 2005 and February 2006 in León, Nicaragua. NoV was detected in 12% (65/542) of the children; of these, 11% (45/409) were in the community and 15% (20/133) were in the hospital, with most strains (88%) belonging to genogroup II. NoV infections were age and gender associated, with children of <2 years of age (P < 0.05) and girls (P < 0.05) being most affected. Breast-feeding did not reduce the number of NoV infections. An important proportion (57%) of NoV-infected children were coinfected with diarrheagenic Escherichia coli. A significant proportion (18/31) of NoV-positive children with dehydration required intravenous rehydration. Nucleotide sequence analysis (38/65) of the N-terminal and shell region in the capsid gene revealed that at least six genotypes (GI.4, GII.2, GII.4, GII.7, GII.17, and a potentially novel cluster termed “GII.18-Nica”) circulated during the study period, with GII.4 virus being predominant (26/38). The majority (20/26) of those GII.4 strains shared high nucleotide homology (99%) with the globally emerging Hunter strain. The mean viral load was approximately 15-fold higher in children infected with GII.4 virus than in those infected with other G.II viruses, with the highest viral load observed for the group of children infected with GII.4 and requiring intravenous rehydration. This study, the first of its type from a Central American country, suggests that NoV is an important etiological agent of acute diarrhea among children of <2 years of age in Nicaragua.
Individual and familial risk factors for adolescent psychopathy

Despite the wealth of research on psychopathy in adulthood, little is known about the developmental antecedents of the disorder. The purpose of the present investigation was to examine developmental risk factors to psychopathy in two adolescent offender populations. In Study 1, subjects were 233 adolescent sexual offenders who had participated in a sex-offender treatment program between 1985 and 1992. Archival data were used to retrospectively complete the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV) and to code family background, individual, demographic, and criminological variables. PCL:YV scores were associated with physical abuse, parental social deviance, and adolescent Hyperactivity-Impulsivity-Attention (HIA) problems. In addition, relationships between PCL:YV scores and demographic and criminological variables were similar to those found in adult populations. In Study 2, mothers of 74 adolescent offenders completed questionnaires related to parenting strategies, physical abuse, maternal psychopathy, and child characteristics. The PCL:YV was completed using file information. PCL:YV scores were associated with physical abuse by father, maternal psychopathy, ineffective parenting strategies, and HIA. Results also indicated that the Psychopathy Screening Device, a measure of psychopathy in children, showed low concurrent validity with the PCL:YV. It was concluded that the investigation of risk factors is important to both our understanding of psychopathy and to early identification and treatment of those at risk for the disorder.
Limited agreement between written and video asthma symptom questionnaires

The prevalence of asthma remains difficult to determine with precision with no absolute or “gold” standard for diagnosis. A recently developed video questionnaire for epidemiological studies with less reliance on understanding written questions provides another tool for determining prevalence and severity of asthma. This report from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) examines the agreement between the ISAAC video questionnaires on respiratory symptoms and reported asthma. Between December 1993 and April 1995, 4952 children aged 13–14 years in two Canadian communities completed sequentially the ISAAC written and video questionnaires at school. The agreement between responses to the two questionnaires for reported wheeze ever, current wheeze, wheeze on exercise, and nocturnal wheeze (the latter three questions relating to symptoms in the last 12 months), and to any combination of the latter three questions was examined in the full sample and in those reporting diagnosed asthma, using concordance and kappa coefficients as measures of agreement.
Teacher Training In A Proactive Approach To Classroom Behaviour Management: Teacher and Student Outcomes

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of a brief teacher training program in proactive classroom management (PCM), on both teacher and student outcomes. The teacher training program was conducted in a large, inner city public school and was designed as an efficient and cost-effective approach to assisting school personnel in the prevention of off-task and disruptive student behavior. Four groups of teachers (N=16) participated in a single, 4-hour workshop that focused on didactic and performance-based training of such PCM procedures as building rapport, priming for transitions, scaffolding for success, building child tolerance to classroom stressors and teaching replacement behaviours. The program was implemented using a multiple baseline design across groups of teachers. Data were collected through classroom observations of teacher skill implementation and student behaviour (two students in each classroom who presented with behavioural challenges were observed), as well as pre and post self-report rating scale measures of teacher attributions and perceptions and student behaviour. Visual and statistical analyses of group and overall teacher data revealed significant increases in the use of reinforcement and antecedent strategies, reported use of rewards as an intervention strategy, reported levels of confidence in their ability to manage student misbehaviour, and a shift in teachers’ views of student misbehaviour as being more temporary rather than chronic. Significant decreases in teacher reactive responses and reported levels of student inattention and overactivity were also demonstrated. With respect to students, visual and statistical analyses of group and overall data revealed increases in student
Behavioral Identification in Coalitional Bargaining: An Experimental Analysis of Demand Bargaining and Alternating Offers

Alternating-offer and demand bargaining models of legislative bargaining make very different predictions in terms of both ex ante and ex post distribution of payoffs, as well as in the role of the order of play. The experiment shows that actual bargaining behavior is not as sensitive to the different bargaining rules as the theoretical point predictions, whereas the comparative statics are in line with both models. We compare our results to studies that attempt to distinguish between these two approaches using field data, finding strong similarities between the laboratory and field data regardless of the underlying bargaining process. Copyright The Econometric Society 2005.