Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Detection of the optical counterpart of the proposed double degenerate polar RX J1914+24

We have detected the optical counterpart of the proposed double degenerate polar RX J1914+24. The I-band light curve is modulated on the 9.5-min period seen in X-rays. There is no evidence for any other periods. No significant modulation is seen in J. The infrared colours of RX J1914+24 are not consistent with a main-sequence dwarf secondary star. Our ASCA spectrum of RX J1914+24 is typical of a heavily absorbed polar and our ASCA light curve also shows only the 9.5-min period. We find that the folded I band and X-ray light curves are out of phase. We attribute the I-band flux to the irradiated face of the donor star. The long-term X-ray light curve shows a variation in the observed flux of up to an order of magnitude. These observations strengthen the view that RX J1914+24 is indeed the first double degenerate polar to be detected. In this light, we discuss the synchronizing mechanisms in such a close binary and other system parameters.
Cancer-related parental beliefs: the Family Illness Beliefs Inventory (FIBI).

OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to develop a reliable and valid method for assessing the cancer-related beliefs of parents with a child in treatment for cancer. METHOD One hundred twenty-five families (119 mothers, 56 fathers) completed a measure of cancer-related beliefs written to reflect common themes associated with the diagnosis and treatment of childhood cancer. Participants also completed self-report questionnaires used for validation of the Family Illness Beliefs Inventory (FIBI). RESULTS Principal-components analysis was used to derive a 41-item five-factor solution from the maternal data--Factor 1: Treatment-Related Suffering; Factor 2: Death and Devastation; Factor 3: Caregiver Competence; Factor 4: Connection; and Factor 5: Finding Meaning. Correlations with validation measures supported the factor structure. Paternal data showed similar patterns. CONCLUSIONS The FIBI is a psychometrically sound method for identifying parental cancer-related beliefs. This measure may be helpful in developing and evaluating interventions to reduce parental distress related to childhood cancer and promote adaptive family functioning.
New Insights into the Role of the Immune Microenvironment in Breast Carcinoma

Recently, immune edition has been recognized as a new hallmark of cancer. In this respect, some clinical trials in breast cancer have reported imppressive outcomes related to laboratory immune findings, especially in the neoadjuvant and metastatic setting. Infiltration by tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) and their subtypes, tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) and myeloid-derived suppressive cells (MDSC) seem bona fide prognostic and even predictive biomarkers, that will eventually be incorporated into diagnostic and therapeutic algorithms of breast cancer. In addition, the complex interaction of costimulatory and coinhibitory molecules on the immune synapse and the different signals that they may exert represent another exciting field to explore. In this review we try to summarize and elucidate these new concepts and knowledge from a translational perspective focusing on breast cancer, paying special attention to those aspects that might have more significance in clinical practice and could be useful to design successful therapeutic strategies in the future.
Generalized Additive Models from a Neural Network Perspective

Recently, an interactive algorithm was proposed for the construction of generalized additive neural networks. Although the proposed method is sound, it has two drawbacks. It is subjective as it relies on the modeler to identify complex trends in partial residual plots and it can be very time consuming as multiple iterations of pruning and adding neurons to hidden layers of the neural network have to be done. In this article, an automatic algorithm is proposed that alleviates both drawbacks. Given a predictive modeling problem, the proposed strategy uses heuristic methods to identify optimal or near optimal generalized additive neural network topologies that are trained to compute the generalized additive model. The neural network approach is conceptually much simpler than many of the other approaches. It is also more accurate as heuristic methods are only used in identifying the appropriate neural network topologies and not in computing the generalized additive models.
Automated Classification of Data Races Under Both Strong and Weak Memory Models

Data races are one of the main causes of concurrency problems in multithreaded programs. Whether all data races are bad, or some are harmful and others are harmless, is still the subject of vigorous scientific debate [Narayanasamy et al. 2007; Boehm 2012]. What is clear, however, is that today's code has many data races [Kasikci et al. 2012; Jin et al. 2012; Erickson et al. 2010], and fixing data races without introducing bugs is time consuming [Godefroid and Nagappan 2008]. Therefore, it is important to efficiently identify data races in code and understand their consequences to prioritize their resolution. We present Portend+, a tool that not only detects races but also automatically classifies them based on their potential consequences: Could they lead to crashes or hangs? Could their effects be visible outside the program? Do they appear to be harmless? How do their effects change under weak memory models? Our proposed technique achieves high accuracy by efficiently analyzing multiple paths and multiple thread schedules in combination, and by performing symbolic comparison between program outputs. We ran Portend+ on seven real-world applications: it detected 93 true data races and correctly classified 92 of them, with no human effort. Six of them were harmful races. Portend+'s classification accuracy is up to 89% higher than that of existing tools, and it produces easy-to-understand evidence of the consequences of “harmful” races, thus both proving their harmfulness and making debugging easier. We envision Portend+ being used for testing and debugging, as well as for automatically triaging bug reports.
Chern-Simons term for BF theory and gravity as a generalized topological field theory in four-dimensions

A direct relation between two types of topological field theories, Chern-Simons theory and BF theory, is presented by using "generalized differential calculus," which extends an ordinary p-form to an ordered pair of p and (p+1)-form. We first establish the generalized Chern-Weil homomormism for generalized curvature invariant polynomials in general even dimensional manifolds, and then show that BF gauge theory can be obtained from the action which is the generalized second Chern class with gauge group G. Particularly when G is taken as SL(2,C) in four dimensions, general relativity with a cosmological constant can be derived by constraining the topological BF theory.
Molecular Analysis of Oral Bacteria in Heart Valve of Patients With Cardiovascular Disease by Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction

AbstractStructural deficiencies and functional abnormalities of heart valves represent an important cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and a number of diseases, such as aortic stenosis, have been recently associated with infectious agents. This study aimed to analyze oral bacteria in dental plaque, saliva, and cardiac valves of patients with cardiovascular disease. Samples of supragingival plaque, subgingival plaque, saliva, and cardiac valve tissue were collected from 42 patients with heart valve disease. Molecular analysis of Streptococcus mutans, Prevotella intermedia, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Treponema denticola was performed through real-time PCR. The micro-organism most frequently detected in heart valve samples was the S. mutans (89.3%), followed by P. intermedia (19.1%), P. gingivalis (4.2%), and T. denticola (2.1%). The mean decayed, missing, filled teeth (DMFT) was 26.4 ± 6.9 (mean ± SD), and according to the highest score of periodontal disease observed for each patient, periodontal pockets > 4 mm and dental calculus were detected in 43.4% and 34.7% of patients, respectively. In conclusion, oral bacteria, especially S. mutans, were found in the cardiac valve samples of patients with a high rate of caries and gingivitis/periodontitis.
Estimation of sums of random variables: Examples and information bounds

This paper concerns the estimation of sums of functions of observable and unobservable variables. Lower bounds for the asymptotic variance and a convolution theorem are derived in general finite- and infinite-dimensional models. An explicit relationship is established between efficient influence functions for the estimation of sums of variables and the estimation of their means. Certain plug-in estimators are proved to be asymptotically efficient in finite-dimensional models, while u, v estimators of Robbins are proved to be efficient in infinite-dimensional mixture models. Examples include certain species, network and data confidentiality problems.
Positive and Negative Aspects of Facebook Use by Service Members During Deployment to Afghanistan: Associations With Perceived Social Support

This research examined Facebook (FB) use among 166 active-duty U.S. Service Members (SMs) deployed to Afghanistan. SMs anonymously completed a survey about FB use during their current deployment. Data were collected on FB network size, time spent on FB, FB use integration and emotional connection (via the Social Media Use and Integration Scale), maladaptive FB use (via the Maladaptive Facebook Use Scale), and perceived social support (via the Social Provisions Scale). The majority of SMs had FB accounts (81%, n = 135), which they used during deployment. FB use integration and emotional connection was positively associated with perceived social support, whereas maladaptive FB use and time spent on FB were negatively associated with perceived social support. Non-FB users were more highly educated, higher in rank, and older compared to FB users. FB integration into users’ social routines and users’ emotional connection to FB may help increase positive perceptions of social support among deployed SMs. Education on the constructive use of FB during deployment may be useful in enhancing perceived social support and reducing maladaptive FB use.
The effects of an SRSD-based writing intervention on the self-efficacy, writing apprehension, and writing performance of high school students: a mixed methods study

Writing is an essential skill for optimal success in school and in the workforce. While academic ability and skill are critical for successful writing outcomes, alone such factors are insufficient for optimal outcomes. How students view themselves and their abilities is critical to academic success and to persisting in the face of frustration and failure. Students with low levels of writing self-efficacy, high levels of writing apprehension, and who fail to use self-regulatory strategies are less likely to be skilled writers or pursue opportunities perceived to demand larger amounts of writing. Conversely, students with higher levels of writing self-efficacy, lower levels of writing apprehension, and who use self-regulatory strategies are more likely to be successful writers in high school and beyond. This embedded mixed methods research study investigated and analyzed the effects of a Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) based writing intervention on levels of writing self-efficacy, writing apprehension, strategy-use, and writing performance of high school students in two science classes. Grounded in Bandura’s social cognitive theory, the study enhances quantitative data by incorporating qualitative data, notably a microanalysis component, the results showed that the intervention improved students’ feelings about their abilities to write, ameliorated writing apprehension, increased their use of self-regulatory strategies, and boosted writing performance. Future research suggestions are presented and implications for educational practice are discussed.
Live memory migration with matrix bitmap algorithm

Live migration of OS instance, a powerful instrument to facilitate system maintenance, load balancing, fault tolerance, has become the central issue of virtualization, while the memory Migration has always been the bottleneck. However, exiting algorithms suffer two problems. First, when facing those frequently modified pages, the performance would degrade profoundly. Second, though they do perform more preferable through some certain algorithms, the accessional resources are requisite, which might extraordinary scarce under heavy load conditions. These imperfections will lead to striking performance degradation of virtual machine services. Therefore, based on the “Program Locality Principle”, this paper presents the “matrix bitmap algorithm” that collects the dirty page information for many times before deciding whether to transfer the page or not. It provides a more reasonable approach to obtain the determination. Experiments demonstrate that when under heavy load conditions, if sufficient dirty page information is collected, the decrease in total migration time will achieve 50% without increasing the system burden of the original domain.
Cybersupervision of Entry Level Practicum Supervisees: The Effect on Acquisition of Counselor Competence and Confidence

CHAPMAN, RUSSELL ALAN. Cybersupervision of Entry Level Practicum Supervisees: The Effect on Acquisition of Counselor Competence and Confidence. (Under the direction of Dr. Sylvia C. Nassar Mc-Millan and Dr. Edwin R. Gerler, Jr.) The purpose of this dissertation paper is to propose and implement a research study in Cybersupervision (Watson, 2003). This research experiment is a N=1 case study design, replicated 5 times, to investigate counselor self-efficacy and skill competence in an online/distance learning practicum course. Cybersupervision, or electronically mediated counseling supervision and practice, is of growing interest to the profession. The research in this area is minimal, but does provide positive findings which indicate effective counselor training and supervision practices. This study’s purpose is not only to add to the research in this area, but also to show that counselor self-efficacy (CSE) can increase as counselor skill acquisition increases through the use of online counselor supervision (Cybersupervision). This researcher found the participants in this study increased both CSE and skill acquisition in all five experiments, and in 4 of 5 experiments the results were significant and conclusive. Cybersupervision of Entry Level Practicum Supervisees: The Effect on Acquisition of Counselor Competence and Confidence by Russell A. Chapman A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Do compositions of board and audit committee improve financial disclosures

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of corporate governance practices on the level of financial disclosures made by the Indian firms. This assumes importance in the context of the role of financial disclosures in addressing the agency problem. Design/methodology/approach Financial disclosure score is computed by considering disclosures provided by the generally accepted accounting principles and is the dependent variable. The independent variable – corporate governance score – is an index comprising internal governance mechanisms. The authors empirically examine the impact of corporate governance practices on financial disclosure using multiple regression model for 200 large listed Indian firms. Findings The study suggests that quality of governance practices significantly improves financial disclosure practices of the firm. Particularly, the composition of the audit committee is effective in improving disclosures. Practical implications The finding has implications for policy makers and practitioners. It will help investors, lenders, and other stakeholders to assess firms’ financial disclosure quality. In addition, the findings, suggest the influence of governance practices on disclosure, might help in the formulation of appropriate policies about board structure and audit function. It is also a call to investors to emphasize on governance quality of the investing firms. Originality/value The study builds a case for an urgent intervention for improving the existing governance standards to advance the quality of financial disclosure in an emerging market context.
On Group Structures Realized by Elliptic Curves over Arbitrary Finite Fields

We study the collection of group structures that can be realized as a group of rational points on an elliptic curve over a finite field (such groups are well known to be of rank at most two). We also study various subsets of this collection that correspond to curves over prime fields or to curves with a prescribed torsion. Some of our results are rigorous and are based on recent advances in analytic number theory; some are conditional under certain widely believed conjectures; and others are purely heuristic in nature.
Mixture model on the variance for the differential analysis of gene expression data

Summary. In microarray experiments, accurate estimation of the gene variance is a key step in the identification of differentially expressed genes. Variance models go from the too stringent homoscedastic assumption to the overparameterized model assuming a specific variance for each gene. Between these two extremes there is some room for intermediate models. We propose a method that identifies clusters of genes with equal variance. We use a mixture model on the gene variance distribution. A test statistic for ranking and detecting differentially expressed genes is proposed. The method is illustrated with publicly available complementary deoxyribonucleic acid microarray experiments, an unpublished data set and further simulation studies.
Imaginal, Semantic, and Surface-Level Processing of Concrete and Abstract Words: An Electrophysiological Investigation

Words representing concrete concepts are processed more quickly and efficiently than words representing abstract concepts. Concreteness effects have also been observed in studies using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). The aim of this study was to examine concrete and abstract words using both reaction time (RT) and ERP measurements to determine (1) at what point in the stream of cognitive processing concreteness effects emerge and (2) how different types of cognitive operations influence these concreteness effects. Three groups of subjects performed a sentence verification task in which the final word of each sentence was concrete or abstract. For each group the truthfulness judgment required either (1) image generation, (2) a semantic decision, or (3) evaluation of surface characteristics. Concrete and abstract words produced similar RTs and ERPs in the surface task, suggesting that postlexical semantic processing is necessary to elicit concreteness effects. In both the semantic and imagery tasks, RTs were shorter for concrete than for abstract words. This difference was greatest in the imagery task. Also, in both of these tasks concrete words elicited more negative ERPs than abstract words between 300 and 550 msec (N400). This effect was widespread across the scalp and may reflect activation in a linguistic semantic system common to both concrete and abstract words. ERPs were also more negative for concrete than abstract words between 550 and 800 msec. This effect was more frontally distributed and was most evident in the imagery task. We propose that this later anterior effect represents a distinct ERP component (N700) that is sensitive to the use of mental imagery. The N700 may reflect the access of specific characteristics of the imaged item or activation in a working memory system specific to mental imagery. These results also support the extended dual-coding hypothesis that superior associative connections and the use of mental imagery both contribute to processing advantages for concrete words over abstract words.
ORDB, HORDE, ODORactor and other on-line knowledge resources of olfactory receptor-odorant interactions

We present here an exploration of the evolution of three well-established, web-based resources dedicated to the dissemination of information related to olfactory receptors (ORs) and their functional ligands, odorants. These resources are: the Olfactory Receptor Database (ORDB), the Human Olfactory Data Explorer (HORDE) and ODORactor. ORDB is a repository of genomic and proteomic information related to ORs and other chemosensory receptors, such as taste and pheromone receptors. Three companion databases closely integrated with ORDB are OdorDB, ORModelDB and OdorMapDB; these resources are part of the SenseLab suite of databases (http://senselab.med.yale.edu). HORDE (http://genome.weizmann.ac.il/horde/) is a semi-automatically populated database of the OR repertoires of human and several mammals. ODORactor (http://mdl.shsmu.edu.cn/ODORactor/) provides information related to OR-odorant interactions from the perspective of the odorant. All three resources are connected to each other via web-links. Database URL: http://senselab.med.yale.edu; http://genome.weizmann. ac.il/horde/; http://mdl.shsmu. edu.cn/ODORactor/
Distinct Information Representation and Processing for Goal-Directed Behavior in the Dorsolateral and Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex and the Dorsal Premotor Cortex

Although the lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) and dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) are thought to be involved in goal-directed behavior, the specific roles of each area still remain elusive. To characterize and compare neuronal activity in two sectors of the lPFC [dorsal (dlPFC) and ventral (vlPFC)] and the PMd, we designed a behavioral task for monkeys to explore the differences in their participation in four aspects of information processing: encoding of visual signals, behavioral goal retrieval, action specification, and maintenance of relevant information. We initially presented a visual object (an instruction cue) to instruct a behavioral goal (reaching to the right or left of potential targets). After a subsequent delay, a choice cue appeared at various locations on a screen, and the animals could specify an action to achieve the behavioral goal. We found that vlPFC neurons amply encoded object features of the instruction cues for behavioral goal retrieval and, subsequently, spatial locations of the choice cues for specifying the actions. By contrast, dlPFC and PMd neurons rarely encoded the object features, although they reflected the behavioral goals throughout the delay period. After the appearance of the choice cues, the PMd held information for action throughout the specification and preparation of reaching movements. Remarkably, lPFC neurons represented information for the behavioral goal continuously, even after the action specification as well as during its execution. These results indicate that area-specific representation and information processing at progressive stages of the perception–action transformation in these areas underlie goal-directed behavior.