Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Theory of the GMM Kernel

In web search, data mining, and machine learning, two popular measures of data similarity are the cosine and the resemblance (the latter is for binary data). In this study, we develop theoretical results for both the cosine and the GMM (generalized min-max) kernel, which is a generalization of the resemblance. GMM has direct applications in machine learning as a positive definite kernel and can be efficiently linearized via probabilistic hashing to handle big data. Owing to its discrete nature, the hashed values can also be used to build hash tables for efficient near neighbor search. We prove the theoretical limit of GMM and the consistency result, assuming that the data follow an elliptical distribution, which is a general family of distributions and includes the multivariate normal and t-distribution as special cases. The consistency result holds as long as the data have bounded first moment (an assumption which typically holds for data commonly encountered in practice). Furthermore, we establish the asymptotic normality of GMM. We also prove the limit of cosine under elliptical distributions. In comparison, the consistency of GMM requires much weaker conditions. For example, when data follow a t-distribution with ν degrees of freedom, GMM typically provides a better estimate of similarity than cosine when ν < 8 (ν = 8 means the distribution is very close to normal). These theoretical results help explain the recent success of GMM and lay the foundation for further research.
Causes and recovery in anorexia nervosa: the patient's perspective.

OBJECTIVE We explored anorexic patients' subjective accounts of the causes of their anorexia and of the factors that fostered recovery. Subjective accounts could assist in understanding this complicated and often intractable disorder. METHOD All female new referrals to an eating disorders service underwent extensive interviews including open-ended questions about their beliefs concerning the causes of their anorexia nervosa and factors that led to recovery. Responses were categorized by two independent raters. RESULTS The most commonly mentioned perceived causes were dysfunctional families, weight loss and dieting, and stressful experiences and perceived pressure. The three most commonly cited factors contributing to recovery were supportive nonfamilial relationships, therapy, and maturation. DISCUSSION Individuals with anorexia nervosa perceive both external (family environment) and personal factors (dieting and stress) as contributory to their disorders. The results underscore the importance of interpersonal factors in recovery from anorexia nervosa and suggest that attention to this area in treatment may be beneficial.
Humorous Texts: A Semantic and Pragmatic Analysis

This book presents a theory of long humorous texts based on a revision and an upgrade of the General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH), a decade after its first proposal. The theory is informed by current research in psycholinguistics and cognitive science. It is predicated on the fact that there are humorous mechanisms in long texts that have no counterpart in jokes. The book includes a number of case studies, among them Oscar Wilde's Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Allais' story Han Rybeck. A ground-breaking discussion of the quantitative distribution of humor in select texts is presented.
Effect of a Signalled Delay between an Action and Outcome on Human Judgement of Causality

Three experiments examined the influence of a stimulus inserted between an action (pressing the space bar of a computer) and an associated delayed outcome (a triangle lighting up on the screen) on ratings of the causal effectiveness of that action. In Experiment 1, subjects rated an action that produced an outcome immediately as more causally effective than an action that produced a delayed outcome. The rating of the causal effectiveness of an action that produced a delayed outcome in which the delay was filled by a stimulus was higher than the rating of actions that produced the outcome after an unsignalled delay. In Experiment 2, the effect of a stimulus presented uncorrelated with the action or the outcome was examined and found not to enhance the rating of causal effectiveness of an action that produced a delayed outcome. In Experiment 3, the degree of correlation between the stimulus and the consequence was examined. Ratings of the causal effectiveness of the action were greater the higher percentage of delay intervals that were signalled.
The Effects of Intraventricular/Periventricular Blood on Cerebral 3′,5′-Cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate Concentration and Cerebrovascular Reactivity in Newborn Pigs

S This study investigated the effects of intraventricular/periventricular blood on cerebral cAMP production and cortical cerebrovascular reactivity. Under halothane and N2O anesthesia, 3 mL of either autologous blood or artificial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were injected into the left caudate nucleus; volume was adequate to result in extrusion of fluid or blood into the lateral ventricles of 1-2-d-old piglets. Twenty-four hours later, a closed cranial window was implanted over the left parietal cortex. Pial arteriolar responses to vasodilator and vasoconstrictor stimuli were monitored. Before the application of vasoactive agents, cortical periarachnoid CSF was collected for cAMP measurement. Pial arteriolar responses to topical application of endothelin-1 (10-9 and 10-8 M) and to leukotriene C4(10-10 and 10-9 M) were similar between the two groups. However, pial arteriolar responses to topical application of cAMP-mediated vasodilators, prostaglandin E2 (10-6 and 10-5 M), and histamine (10-6 and 10-5 M), respectively, were markedly reduced in the blood group when compared with the artificial CSF (control) group. Mean CSF cAMP level in the blood group was significantly lower than the control group (199 ± 31 versus 1092 ± 238 fmol/mL, p= 0.0006). We conclude that in newborn pigs intraventricular/periventricular blood results in a marked reduction of CSF cAMP concentration and attenuation of the cerebrovascular responses to cAMP-mediated vasodilators on the cortical surface remote from the site of blood or hematoma.
Rewards and employee creative performance: Moderating effects of creative self‐efficacy, reward importance, and locus of control

Summary The effects of extrinsic rewards on creative performance have been controversial, and scholars have called for the examination of the boundary conditions of such effects. Drawing upon expectancy theory, we attend to both reinforcement and self-determination pathways that reveal the informational and controlling functions of creativity-related extrinsic rewards. We further identify the individual dispositions that moderate these two pathways. Specifically, we propose that extrinsic rewards for creativity positively predict creative performance only when employees have high creative self-efficacy and regard such rewards as important. We likewise propose that extrinsic rewards positively affect the intrinsic motivation of employees with an internal locus of control, thus enhancing their creative performance. Results based on a sample of 181 employee–supervisor dyads largely supported these expectations. The current analysis enriches the creativity literature by combining different perspectives in a coherent framework, by demonstrating the positive effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation, and by demonstrating that the rewards–creativity relationship varies across employees depending on their individual differences. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A D.C. Programming Approach to the Sparse Generalized Eigenvalue Problem

In this paper, we consider the sparse eigenvalue problem wherein the goal is to obtain a sparse solution to the generalized eigenvalue problem. We achieve this by constraining the cardinality of the solution to the generalized eigenvalue problem and obtain sparse principal component analysis (PCA), sparse canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and sparse Fisher discriminant analysis (FDA) as special cases. Unlike the $\ell_1$-norm approximation to the cardinality constraint, which previous methods have used in the context of sparse PCA, we propose a tighter approximation that is related to the negative log-likelihood of a Student's t-distribution. The problem is then framed as a d.c. (difference of convex functions) program and is solved as a sequence of convex programs by invoking the majorization-minimization method. The resulting algorithm is proved to exhibit \emph{global convergence} behavior, i.e., for any random initialization, the sequence (subsequence) of iterates generated by the algorithm converges to a stationary point of the d.c. program. The performance of the algorithm is empirically demonstrated on both sparse PCA (finding few relevant genes that explain as much variance as possible in a high-dimensional gene dataset) and sparse CCA (cross-language document retrieval and vocabulary selection for music retrieval) applications.
First steps of laparoscopic surgery in a sub-Saharan African setting: a nine-month review at the Douala Gynaeco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital (Cameroon).

Objectives To describe the first laparoscopic surgeries in a tertiary hospital in Cameroon. Methods We carried out a descriptive study at the Douala Gynaeco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital (DGOPH). We examined the files of the 45 patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery from November 1, 2015 to July 31, 2016. Descriptive statistics were computed for patients’ characteristics and surgical parameters. Results Mean (SD) age was 36.8(11.9) years. Women made up 86.7% of the sample. Twelve patients (26.7%) had a previous laparotomy. Cash deposit (86.7%) was the main mode of payment. Thirty-two (71.1%) laparoscopies were gynaeco-obstetrical (GO) and 13 (28.9%) were digestive. Main indications were infertility (59.4%) and chronic cholecystitis (30.8%) for GO and digestive laparoscopies respectively. Mean (SD) durations were 89.1(57.5) and 55.5(41.0) minutes for digestive and GO laparoscopies respectively. Mean (SD) costs were 1065.4 (406.1) and 934.2 (657.0) USD for digestive and GO laparoscopies respectively. Mean (SD) lengths of hospital stays were 5.5 (2.5) and 5.5 (2.5) days for digestive and GO laparoscopies respectively. Local staff carried out all GO laparoscopies while foreign (Belgian) experts did digestive cases. Only one (2.2%) complication (colic perforation) was registered. Conclusion The beginnings of laparoscopy at the DGOPH were successful thanks to strong local leadership and Belgian technical assistance.
IGFBP2 modulates the chemoresistant phenotype in esophageal adenocarcinoma

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) patients commonly present with advanced stage disease and demonstrate resistance to therapy, with response rates below 40%. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of resistance is crucial for improvement of clinical outcomes. IGFBP2 is a member of the IGFBP family of proteins that has been reported to modulate both IGF and integrin signaling and is a mediator of cell growth, invasion and resistance in other tumor types. In this study, high IGFBP2 expression was observed in a subset of primary EACs and was found to be significantly higher in patients with shorter disease-free intervals as well as in treatment-resistant EACs as compared to chemonaive EACs. Modulation of IGFBP2 expression in EAC cell lines promoted cell proliferation, migration and invasion, implicating a role in the metastatic potential of these cells. Additionally, knockdown of IGFBP2 sensitized EAC cells to cisplatin in a serum-dependent manner. Further in vitro exploration into this chemosensitization implicated both the AKT and ERK pathways. Silencing of IGFBP2 enhanced IGF1-induced immediate activation of AKT and reduced cisplatin-induced ERK activation. Addition of MEK1/2 (selumetinib or trametinib) or AKT (AKT Inhibitor VIII) inhibitors enhanced siIGFBP2-induced sensitization of EAC cells to cisplatin. These results suggest that targeted inhibition of IGFBP2 alone or together with either the MAPK or PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in IGFBP2-overexpressing EAC tumors may be an effective approach for sensitizing resistant EACs to standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Depression in adolescent girls : science and prevention

Part I: Introduction. Strauman, Costanzo, Garber, Depression in Adolescent Girls: Challenges for Basic Science and Prevention. Part II: Basic Science Perspectives. Costello, Angold, Contributions from Epidemiology. Zavos, Gregory, Lau, Eley, New Behavior-genetic Approaches to Depression in Childhood and Adolescence: Gene-environment Interplay and the Role of Cognitions. Mezulis, Hyde, Simonson, Charbonneau, Integrating Affective, Biological, and Cognitive Vulnerability Models to Explain the Gender Difference in Depression: The ABC Model and its Implications for Intervention. Foster, Heier-Leitzell, The Public Costs of Depression in Adolescent Girls. McLaughlin, Nolen-Hoeksema, The Role of Rumination in Promoting and Preventing Depression in Adolescent Girls. Little, Sandler, Schoenfelder, Wolchik, A Contextual Model of Gender Differences in the Development of Depression After the Death of a Parent. Papadakis, Strauman, Stress, Coping, Socialization, and Goals: A Self-regulation Perspective on Gender and Depression in Adolescence. Part III: Prevention Science Perspectives. Garber, Downs, Prevention of Depression in Youth: Sex Differences in Effects. Clarke, DeBar, Yarborough, Primary Prevention of Secondary Depression: Indirect Prevention of Depression in Girls by Treating or Preventing Primary Obesity or Insomnia. Gillham, Chaplin, Preventing Girls' Depression During the Transition to Adolescence. Compas, Keller, Forehand, Preventive Intervention in Families of Depressed Parents: A Family Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention.
The set of solutions of random XORSAT formulae

The XOR-satisfiability (XORSAT) problem requires finding an assignment of $n$ Boolean variables that satisfy $m$ exclusive OR (XOR) clauses, whereby each clause constrains a subset of the variables. We consider random XORSAT instances, drawn uniformly at random from the ensemble of formulae containing $n$ variables and $m$ clauses of size $k$. This model presents several structural similarities to other ensembles of constraint satisfaction problems, such as $k$-satisfiability ($k$-SAT), hypergraph bicoloring and graph coloring. For many of these ensembles, as the number of constraints per variable grows, the set of solutions shatters into an exponential number of well-separated components. This phenomenon appears to be related to the difficulty of solving random instances of such problems. We prove a complete characterization of this clustering phase transition for random $k$-XORSAT. In particular, we prove that the clustering threshold is sharp and determine its exact location. We prove that the set of solutions has large conductance below this threshold and that each of the clusters has large conductance above the same threshold. Our proof constructs a very sparse basis for the set of solutions (or the subset within a cluster). This construction is intimately tied to the construction of specific subgraphs of the hypergraph associated with an instance of $k$-XORSAT. In order to study such subgraphs, we establish novel local weak convergence results for them.
Unsupervised adaptive speech technology for limited resource languages: a case study for Tamil

This paper evaluates adaptive speech technology for creating low cost, rapidly deployable speech recognizers for new languages with very limited data. A multi-modal (speech and touch) dialog system in Tamil, which delivered agricultural information to rural villagers, is described. Based on the field recordings from this system, a number of automatic speech recognition (ASR) adaptation techniques are compared, including cross-language transfer (English to Tamil), multilingual training, bootstrapping, and model adaptation (supervised and unsupervised). For this small-vocabulary task, supervised model adaptation using a small amount of target speech data yields the best results. In the supervised mode, we find no significant performance difference between adapting models from English, and models from Tamil that used a medium-sized data set at a significant labeling cost. Unsupervised adaptation from English yields slightly inferior but comparable recognition results. In summary, we find that model adaptation from a language with existing resources, using a very small amount of target data is a viable option for rapidly building small-vocabulary speech recognizers.
Inhibition of Rat Mammary Gland Carcinogenesis by Simultaneous Targeting of Cyclooxygenase-2 and Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor γ

We examined the effect of celecoxib, a cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, and N-(9-fluorenyl-methyloxycarbonyl)-l-leucine (F-l-Leu), a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) agonist, separately and combined, on the development of methylnitrosourea (MNU)-induced rat mammary gland carcinogenesis. Celecoxib and F-l-Leu significantly reduced tumor incidence and multiplicity (P < 0.05). Combining both agents exerted higher (synergistic) cancer inhibition than separate treatments (P < 0.05). The effects of the test drugs on COX-2 and PPARγ expression and on the synthesis of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and 15-deoxy-Δ12,14-PGJ2 (15d-PGJ2) were examined in rat mammary normal (MNU-untreated), uninvolved, and tumor (MNU-treated) tissues. Celecoxib and F-l-Leu, separately, inhibited COX-2 and up-regulated PPARγ expression. These effects were paralleled by inhibition of PGE2 synthesis and up-regulation of 15d-PGJ2. Combined treatment resulted in higher alterations in COX-2 and PPARγ transcripts and PG synthesis compared with separate administrations. The effect of the test agents on Bcl2, BAX, and protein kinase Cα expression levels were examined in the rat mammary gland and the pro-(BAX:Bcl2) and anti-[PKCα*(Bcl2/BAX)] apoptotic ratios were evaluated. Each drug increased the proapoptotic ratio by 2- to 7-fold and reduced the antiapoptotic ratio by 2- to >8-fold in all tissues. Combined treatment, however, resulted in >9- to 14-fold up-regulation in the proapoptotic processes and 15- to >30-fold down-regulation in the antiapoptotic ones. Analyses were also carried out on the drug-induced modulation of cell cycle regulators and proliferation markers (cyclin-dependent kinase 1 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen). F-l-Leu and celecoxib each reduced the cyclin-dependent kinase 1 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen expression in the tumor. Higher down-regulation was attained in all tissues by combined treatment where cyclin-dependent kinase 1 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen almost retained the expression levels observed in the normal glands. In conclusion, simultaneous targeting of COX-2 and PPARγ may inhibit mammary cancer development more effectively than targeting each molecule alone. COX-2 inhibitors and PPARγ agonists coordinately mediate their anticancer effect via both COX-dependent (inhibition of COX-2, activation of PPARγ, and modulation PG synthesis) and COX-independent (induction of proapoptotic factors and inhibition of cell proliferation) pathways.
Assessing Readiness for Adherence to Treatment

T o date, existing interventions designed to improve adherence have had limited success. According to a recent review of random-ized clinical trials of adherence interventions (McDonald, Garg, & Haynes, 2002), theoretical, multifaceted interventions in clinic settings are common. Based on a review of 33 trials, including 39 interventions, less than half (19) were associated with statistically significant improvements in adherence. The most effective interventions were multi-faceted, combining several of the following common strategies: increased patient education and counseling, convenience of care, and patient involvement in care; use of reminders; and rewards or reinforcements for adherence (McDonald et al., 2002). Although these complex interventions may produce greater success in many cases, there are several limitations. Such interventions are not typically based on an empirically supported theoretical model, and thus combine various strategies in a " hit or miss " fashion. This makes it difficult to determine which strategies were most effective with which patients. Moreover , interventions that adopt a one-size-fits-all approach are not tailored to an individual's unique needs (Miller, 1997) and assume readiness to be adherent. Finally, using a wide variety of strategies with all patients is expensive and impractical to deliver. The transtheoretical model (TTM) has been suggested as an approach to overcome these limitations by delivering individualized, theoretically delivered interventions for entire populations of
Regret Bounds for Non-decomposable Metrics with Missing Labels

We consider the problem of recommending relevant labels (items) for a given data point (user). In particular, we are interested in the practically important setting where the evaluation is with respect to non-decomposable (over labels) performance metrics like the $F_1$ measure, and the training data has missing labels. To this end, we propose a generic framework that given a performance metric $\Psi$, can devise a regularized objective function and a threshold such that all the values in the predicted score vector above and only above the threshold are selected to be positive. We show that the regret or generalization error in the given metric $\Psi$ is bounded ultimately by estimation error of certain underlying parameters. In particular, we derive regret bounds under three popular settings: a) collaborative filtering, b) multilabel classification, and c) PU (positive-unlabeled) learning. For each of the above problems, we can obtain precise non-asymptotic regret bound which is small even when a large fraction of labels is missing. Our empirical results on synthetic and benchmark datasets demonstrate that by explicitly modeling for missing labels and optimizing the desired performance metric, our algorithm indeed achieves significantly better performance (like $F_1$ score) when compared to methods that do not model missing label information carefully.
Gemcitabine-based cytotoxic doublets chemotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer: updated subgroup meta-analyses of overall survival.

OBJECTIVE Previous meta-analyses showed a survival advantage with gemcitabine (GEM)-based combinations over GEM in advanced pancreatic cancer. Therefore, it would be valuable to explore the specific active regimens based on a subgroup meta-analysis. METHODS Updated data by comprehensive search of the literature from databases and conference proceedings. Subgroup meta-analysis compared GEM with GEM-based doublets chemotherapy in terms of 6-month overall survival (OS) and 1-year OS. RESULTS Eighteen randomized controlled trials with 4237 patients were included, which were divided into five subgroups: GEM/capecitabine, GEM/cisplatin, GEM/5-fluorouracil, GEM/irinotecan and GEM/oxaliplatin. In each subgroup, risk ratios (RRs) for 6-month OS were 0.85 (P = 0.04), 0.99 (P = 0.88), 0.95 (P = 0.46), 1.03 (P = 0.77) and 0.80 (P = 0.001), respectively, and RRs for 1-year OS were 0.94 (P = 0.14), 0.99 (P = 0.75), 0.96 (P = 0.19), 1.00 (P = 0.97) and 0.93 (P = 0.05), respectively. A meta-analysis of the trials with adequate information on performance status (PS) was performed in four trials with 1325 patients. Patients with a good PS did not show a survival benefit when receiving combination chemotherapy. RRs for 6-month and 1-year OS were 0.82 (P = 0.18) and 0.93 (P = 0.08). In contrast, application of combination chemotherapy to patients with a poor PS appeared to be harmful. RRs were 1.17 (P = 0.04) for 6-month OS and 1.09 (P = 0.04) for 1-year OS. CONCLUSIONS The meta-analysis indicated a significant survival benefit when GEM was either combined with capcitabine or oxaliplatin. On the basis of a preliminary subgroup analysis, pancreatic cancer patients with a poor PS appeared to have a worse survival benefit from GEM-based cytotoxic doublets.