Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adversarial Deep Averaging Networks for Cross-Lingual Sentiment Classification

In recent years great success has been achieved in sentiment classification for English, thanks in part to the availability of copious annotated resources. Unfortunately, most languages do not enjoy such an abundance of labeled data. To tackle the sentiment classification problem in low-resource languages without adequate annotated data, we propose an Adversarial Deep Averaging Network (ADAN1) to transfer the knowledge learned from labeled data on a resource-rich source language to low-resource languages where only unlabeled data exist. ADAN has two discriminative branches: a sentiment classifier and an adversarial language discriminator. Both branches take input from a shared feature extractor to learn hidden representations that are simultaneously indicative for the classification task and invariant across languages. Experiments on Chinese and Arabic sentiment classification demonstrate that ADAN significantly outperforms state-of-the-art systems.
Resilience in the Face of Fragile X Syndrome

In this article, we communicate transformative findings from a case study on the resilience of a young woman with fragile X syndrome (FXS), a genetic condition involving mental impairment and physical, emotional, and behavioral challenges. We explored the resilience of “Lucy,” a spirited 16-year-old North American, using informal interviews with her, formal interviews with significant adults in her life, and observations (visual and anecdotal) over 20 months. In reporting the information-rich case of Lucy, well supported by her ecology to rise above full-mutation FXS, we encourage a positive perspective of living with FXS. Although we recognize the limitations of a single case study, our findings offer tentative, process-oriented insights into resilience in contexts of genetic disability, previously unreported in conjunction with FXS. We concluded that the processes informing Lucy’s resilience were partly her responsibility and partly her social ecology’s, and comprised intrapersonal agency, unconditional positive acceptance and belonging, and support toward mastery.
The Effectiveness of SOX Regulation: An Interview Study of Corporate Directors

ABSTRACT: This study provides insights on the effectiveness of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (U.S. House of Representatives 2002) in promoting high-quality financial reporting and good corporate governance, based on interviews conducted with 22 experienced directors from U.S. firms. Our analysis indicates that SOX has positively impacted the monitoring role of the audit committee (board), which directors attributed to the financial expertise and internal control requirements and heightened substantive diligence. However, some considered that an emphasis on financial expertise at the expense of legal expertise and financial markets expertise could compromise the quality of financial disclosures due to a lack of business savvy needed to inform accounting judgments and the standardization of reporting. SOX was also perceived as having led to a formalistic approach to accounting policy decision making by the audit committee and external auditor, as a buffer against litigation. While CEO certification was viewed as h.
The "Politicization" and "Culturization" of Ethnic Groups

English translation © 2011 M.E. Sharpe, Inc., from the Chinese original: Ma Rong, “Zu qun wenti de ‘zhengzhi hua’ he ‘wenhua hua,’” Beijing Daxue Shehuixue Xuekan (Bulletin of the Department of Sociology, Peking University), no. 1 (2004): 73–89, abridged. Translated by Ted Wang. Ma Rong is a professor at the Department of Sociology, Peking University. Chinese Sociology and Anthropology, vol. 42, no. 4, Summer 2010, pp. 31–45. © 2011 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN 0009–4625/2011 $9.50 + 0.00. DOI 10.2753/CSA0009-4625420402
Corneal Biomechanical Properties in Primary Open Angle Glaucoma and Normal Tension Glaucoma

PurposeTo determine and compare the corneal biomechanical properties between eyes with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) and eyes with normal tension glaucoma (NTG). Patients and MethodsProspective cross-sectional study. Consecutive eligible POAG and NTG patients attending the Glaucoma Clinic had assessment of their corneal biomechanical properties—corneal hysteresis (CH) and corneal resistance factor (CRF)—using the Ocular Response Analyzer by an observer masked to the diagnosis. Exclusion criteria included previous intraocular surgery, corneal pathology, inflammatory connective tissue disease, and refraction of 5-dimensional or over. If both eyes were eligible, then the right eye was used for analysis. The main outcome measures were corneal hysteresis and CRF measurements. Data analysis was performed using the t test and general linear model. ResultsEighty-one patients (80 whites) were analyzed. Forty had NTG, whereas 41 had POAG. Thirty-five were females. There was a statistically significant difference in mean CH (NTG 9.6±1.3 mm Hg; POAG 9.0±1.4 mm Hg; P=0.01), but not in mean CRF (NTG 9.9±1.4; POAG 10.8±1.7; P=0.06). The highest recorded Goldmann applanation intraocular pressure (IOP) was statistically significantly associated with lower CH (P=0.01) and higher CRF (P=0.02). ConclusionsThere was a small but statistically significant difference in the mean CH between POAG and NTG (CH was higher in NTG). The highest recorded Goldmann applanation IOP was also statistically significantly correlated with lower CH and higher CRF, suggesting that alterations to the corneal biomechanical properties may occur as a result of chronic raised IOP in POAG.
How Islamic is al-Qaeda? The politics of Pan-Islam and the challenge of modernisation

This article investigates the contested ideology of al-Qaeda through an analysis of Osama bin Ladin’s writings and public statements issued between 1994 and 2011, set in relation to the development of Islamic thought and changing socio-political realities in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Challenging popular conceptions of Wahhabism and the “Salafi jihad”, it reveals an idealistic, Pan-Islamic sentiment at the core of his messages that is not based on the main schools of Islamic theology, but is the result of a crisis of meaning of Islam in the modern world. Both before and after the death of al-Qaeda’s iconic leader, the continuing process of religious, political and intellectual fragmentation of the Muslim world has led to bin Ladin’s vision for unity being replaced by local factions and individuals pursuing their own agendas in the name of al-Qaeda and Islam.
Test case generation based on time constraints

In real-time systems there are some messages exchanged within the system which must respect a certain delay, otherwise, the system cannot be considered correct. The test phase is essential in order to guarantee the correctness of these systems, and this phase cannot be correctly carried out unless all these factors are taken into account. This paper presents a test generation approach that looks at the use of time constraints and the messages exchange among the components for test purposes. In order to achieve our goal, we have adopted an efficient algorithm, called hit-or-jump, provided in a tool called Sirius, which supports the complete test generation phase.
ARF Impedes NPM/B23 Shuttling in an Mdm2-Sensitive Tumor Suppressor Pathway

ABSTRACT The ARF tumor suppressor is widely regarded as an upstream activator of p53-dependent growth arrest and apoptosis. However, recent findings indicate that ARF can also regulate the cell cycle in the absence of p53. In search of p53-independent ARF targets, we isolated nucleophosmin (NPM/B23), a protein we show is required for proliferation, as a novel ARF binding protein. In response to hyperproliferative signals, ARF is upregulated, resulting in the nucleolar retention of NPM and concomitant cell cycle arrest. The Mdm2 oncogene outcompetes NPM/B23 for ARF binding, and introduction of Mdm2 reverses ARF's p53-independent properties: in vitro, NPM is released from ARF-containing protein complexes, and in vivo S phase progression ensues. ARF induction by oncogenes or replicative senescence does not alter NPM/B23 protein levels but rather prevents its nucleocytoplasmic shuttling without inhibiting rRNA processing. By actively sequestering NPM in the nucleolus, ARF utilizes an additional mechanism of tumor suppression, one that is readily antagonized by Mdm2.
Prophylactic Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump Before Ventricular Assist Device Implantation Reduces Perioperative Medical Expenses and Improves Postoperative Clinical Course in INTERMACS Profile 2 Patients.

BACKGROUND Although intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) is sometimes used before cardiac surgery to achieve better outcome in high-risk patients, the clinical impact of prophylactic IABP support before left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation in patients with worsening hemodynamics was unknown. METHODSANDRESULTS We enrolled 22 patients with worsening hemodynamics who had received IABP support before LVAD (IABP group), and also enrolled 22 patients receiving neither IABP nor extracorporeal membrane oxygenation before LVAD, who were selected on propensity score matching (non-IABP group). Although both groups had similar preoperative background, the IABP group had shorter postoperative intensive care unit (ICU) stay, and more improved hemodynamics (P<0.05 for all). Serum total bilirubin and creatinine decreased significantly in the IABP group compared with the non-IABP group during 1 month after LVAD implantation (P<0.05 for both). Medical expenses during perioperative ICU stay were significantly lower in the IABP group compared with the non-IABP group, even including the cost of preoperative IABP support (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Prophylactic IABP support in heart failure patients with worsening hemodynamics improves post-LVAD clinical course and reduces perioperative medical expenses.
The assessment of phonological memory skills in preschool children

Findings from a longitudinal study designed to investigate phonological working memory skills in preschool children are reported. Two phonological memory tests, digit span and nonword repetition, were given to a large cohort of children at 3, 4 and 5 years of age. The majority of children at all ages cooperated on both tests even at 3 years of age, indicating that the tasks are in principle suitable for use with young children. Individual differences in nonword repetition scores at 3 years were highly stable across the following two-year period ; there was, however, less stability in differences in the children's digit span scores across the same period. It is concluded that phonological memory skills can be reliably assessed in children as young as 3 years, and that the nonword repetition paradigm is highly suitable for this purpose.
Regulation of Endothelial Nitric-oxide Synthase during Hypoxia*

The mechanism by which nitric-oxide (NO) production increases during hypoxia is unknown. To explore the effect of hypoxia upon endothelial nitric-oxide synthase (ecNOS) activity and expression, we exposed bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC) to hypoxia (1% O2) for 0–24 h and measured levels of ecNOS mRNA, protein, and activity. The amount of ecNOS mRNA increases to more than twice the basal level after 6 h of hypoxia. Incubation of BAEC with actinomycin D during hypoxia prevents this increase, demonstrating that higher levels of mRNA observed during hypoxia are due to increased synthesis, not to increased stability of ecNOS mRNA. Levels of ecNOS protein increase throughout 24 h of hypoxia to more than twice normoxic levels. Although ecNOS expression increases within 2 h of hypoxia, total activity remains unchanged. To explore the transcriptional regulation of ecNOS, we constructed a reporter plasmid containing the ecNOS promoter region upstream of the luc gene and transfected this reporter plasmid into BAEC. In this system, hypoxia induces a linear increase over time in the expression of luciferase driven by the ecNOS promoter. It is concluded that hypoxia induces an increase in transcription of ecNOS in endothelial cells, activating the regulatory region of ecNOS by undefined transcription factors.
Prevalence of cholelithiasis among persons undergoing abdominal ultrasound at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana.

BACKGROUND The prevalence of gallstones among Ghanaians is unknown. We aimed to determine the prevalence of gallstones among persons undergoing abdominal ultrasound at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH). METHODS We performed a cross-sectional study of patients aged ≥14years presenting to KATH for abdominal ultrasound between 2009 and 2012. Patient demographics were recorded. The gallbladder was assessed by ultrasonography. Cholelithiasis was defined as presence of gallstones or absence of gallbladder. Data was expressed as descriptive and inferential statistics. RESULTS There were 2824 participants. 55% were females. Mean age was 47±18 years. Mean body mass index (BMI) was 24.0±5.5. Mean parity among females was 3±3. Prevalence of cholelithiasis was 5.9 (95%C.I:5.0,6.8). Females had a high prevalence compared to males (6.8 vs 4.7). Prevalence increased steadily by age. Prevalence was 6.6, 5.1 and 8.8 for patients with BMI <18.5, 18.5-24.9 and ≥30 respectively. Prevalence among women with parity of 0,1-5 and >5 was 3.1, 6.7 and 6.4 respectively.On multivariate regression analysis, female sex (AOR=1.55;p<0.05), age≥40 years (AOR=2.05;p<0.01), BMI<18.5 (AOR=1.25;p>0.05) or BMI≥30 (AOR=1.39;p>0.05) and family history of gallstones (AOR=11.9;p<0.01) increased the odds of cholelithiasis. CONCLUSIONS Prevalence of cholelithiasis among patients undergoing ultrasonography at KATH was 5.9. Patient age, sex and family history significantly influenced the prevalence.
Designing MIMO PIID controller using colonial competitive algorithm: Applied to distillation column process

In this paper, a colonial competitive algorithm is applied to the problem of designing a multivariable PID controller. The goal is to design a controller to decouple the controlled process, and to track the desired inputs by outputs of the process as much as possible. The method is used to design a multi variable controller for a typical distillation column process. Also a GA and an analytical method are used to design the controller parameters. Comparison results among these methods show that the controller obtained by colonial competitive algorithm has better performance than the others.
Vulnerability-Specific Execution Filtering with Log-Based Architecture Lifeguards 15-740 Final Report

Instruction-grain dynamic monitoring tools can detect bugs and prevent security violations in executing programs. Traditionally, instructions from the monitoring tool are inserted into the currently executing program using well-established techniques such as binary rewriting, software-based emulation, or binary instrumentation in order to provide timely detection and possibly mitigation. Those techniques not only interrupt and temporarily halt the program execution, but also disrupt the resource allocation of the application (e.g., evicting register values to hold monitoring information). The Log-Based Architecture (LBA) [3] has been proposed as a method to utilize extra hardware resources (i.e., extra processing cores) in order to provide the expensive quality assurance properties of dynamic monitoring tools with only minimal slowdown. The support and optimizations of LBA can reduce typical monitoring overhead by an order of magnitude or greater. However, the monitoring of non-trivial properties on LBA can still slow application execution by 2-3×. In this work, we apply vulnerability-specific execution filtering [10] to instrument only instructions critical to specific application vulnerabilities and reduce the overall slowdown to less than 25% for typical executions. Additionally we perform a brief comparison of LBA to the state-of-the-art software-based taint tracking tool, Minemu [1]. Lastly, we discuss the possibilities presented in future work by the minimal overheads imposed by this configuration.
Manager Support for Work-Family Issues and its Impact on Employee-Reported Pain in the Extended Care Setting

Objective: Supervisor-level policies and the presence of a manager engaged in an employee's need to achieve work-family balance, or “supervisory support,” may benefit employee health, including self-reported pain. Methods: We conducted a census of employees at four selected extended care facilities in the Boston metropolitan region (n = 368). Supervisory support was assessed through interviews with managers and pain was reported by employees. Results: Our multilevel logistic models indicate that employees with managers who report the lowest levels of support for work-family balance experience twice as much overall pain as employees with managers who report high levels of support. Conclusions: Low supervisory support for work-family balance is associated with an increased prevalence of employee-reported pain in extended care facilities. We recommend that manager-level policies and practices receive additional attention as a potential risk factor for poor health in this setting.
Relay exchanges in elite short track speed skating

Abstract In short track speed skating, the relay exchange provides an additional strategic component to races by allowing a team to change the skater involved in the pack race. Typically executed every 1½ laps, it is the belief of skaters and coaches that during this period of the race, time can be gained or lost due to the execution of the relay exchange. As such, the aim of this study was to examine the influence of the relay exchange on a team’s progression through a 5000 m relay race. Using data collected from three World Cup relay events during the 2012–2013 season, the time taken to complete the straight for the scenarios with and without the relay exchange were compared at different skating speeds for the corner exit prior to the straight. Overall, the influence of the relay exchange was found to be dependent on this corner exit speed. At slower corner exit speeds (12.01–13.5 m/s), relay exchange straight times were significantly faster than the free skating scenario (P < 0.01). While at faster corner exit speeds (14.01–15 m/s), straight times were significantly slower (P < 0.001). The findings of this study suggest that the current norm of executing relay exchanges every 1½ laps may not be optimal. Instead, varying the frequency of relay exchange execution throughout the race could allow: (1) time to be gained relative to other teams; and (2) facilitate other race strategies by providing an improved opportunity to overtake.
Tracheal Insufflation of O2 (TRIO) at Low Flow Rates Sustains Life for Several Hours

The emergency management of respiratory arrest can be a difficult problem. The authors hypothesized that tracheal insufflation of O2 (TRIO) at low flows could provide adequate oxygenation and sufficient CO2 elimination to sustain life until more definitive (but more difficult to implement) measures could be applied. Therefore, 10 anesthetized, paralyzed dogs (15.9–48.2 kg), initially ventilated with conventional mechanical ventilation (CMV) using room air, were studied. CMV was stopped and a 1− or 5-mm id catheter with a constant flow (V) of O2 ranging from 0.2 to 3.0 1/min was inserted to within 1 cm of the carina. With all flow rates, Pao2 and Paco2 initially increased with time; the rate of increase of Pao2 was greater and that of Paco2 was less, with increasing V. In three dogs studied at flow rates of 2.0 or 3.0 1/min, arterial blood gases reached a plateau after about 2 h: pH = 6.87; Pco2 = 164 mmHg; and Po1 = 363 mmHg (mean values). These studies were stopped at between 4 and 5 h, with no dogs showing any signs of cardiovascular or other decompensation. Results in which catheter position was studied indicated that as long as the catheter tip was at or past the carina, gas transport was similar to that observed when the catheter tip was 1 cm proximal to the carina. The authors conclude that TRIO at low flow rates can produce sufficient gas exchange to support life for prolonged periods in apneic dogs.
Parental Choice as National Policy in England and the United States

of reforms, parental choice plans come in many varieties, but each involves transferring some or all of the decision-making power to assign children to particular schools from local authority to parents and individual schools. Choice reforms also usually entail increasing the variety of schools that can be selected. Choice proposals can be placed on a continuum, with public school open-enrollment options at one end and voucher systems that include private schools at the other. Overarching this continuum is an implicit or explicit concern with academic excellence. Markets in education will allegedly free schools from bureaucratic restrictions and thus establish preconditions for "improvement. " Parental choice reforms would involve struggles on a variety of levels-the role of the state and civil society, the power that educators and government officials wield within the state, the form(s) of curriculum within the nation-state, and the distribution of educational benefits to students divided along class, regional, ethnic, and racial lines. Although scholars have devoted considerable attention to the politics of choice in the United States and other countries, comparative work has been limited until recently, and most of it has emanated from England.1 The United States and England provide a good basis for comparative analysis. Both are liberal-democratic, industrialized societies where the discourse of choice became salient during the ascendancy of what have
Understanding Equal Educational Opportunity: Social Justice, Democracy, and Schooling

Over the last several decades, equal educational opportunity has been eviscerated by the political right and has fallen into disrepute with postmodernists and the political left. Howe provides a vigorous defense of the "participatory interpretation" of equal educational opportunity, and employs it to critically evaluate several contemporary policy domains.
Defining rural hospital markets.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to examine the geographic scope of rural hospital markets. DATA SOURCES The study uses 1988 Medicare patient discharge records (MedPAR) and hospital financial information (HCRIS) for all rural hospitals participating in the Medicare Program. STUDY DESIGN Hospital-specific market areas are compared to county-based market areas using a series of geographic and socioeconomic-demographic dimensions as well as indicators of market competitiveness. The potential impact of alternative market configurations on health services research is explored by estimating a model of rural hospital closure. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS Hospital-specific market areas were defined using the zip code of patient origin. Zip code-level data were subsequently aggregated to the market level. FINDINGS Using the county as the hospital market area results not only in the inclusion of areas from which the hospital does not draw patients but also in the exclusion of areas from which it does draw patients. The empirical estimation of a model of rural hospital closure shows that the definition of a hospital market area does not jeopardize the ability to identify major risk factors for closure. CONCLUSIONS Market area definition may be key to identifying and monitoring populations at risk from rural hospital decisions to downsize or close their facilities. Further research into the market areas of rural hospitals that have closed would help to develop alternative, and perhaps more relevant, definitions of the population at risk.