Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptive Pairwise Preference Learning for Collaborative Recommendation with Implicit Feedbacks

Learning users' preferences is critical to enable personalized recommendation services in various online applications such as e-commerce, entertainment and many others. In this paper, we study on how to learn users' preferences from abundant online activities, e.g., browsing and examination, which are usually called implicit feedbacks since they cannot be interpreted as users' likes or dislikes on the corresponding products directly. Pairwise preference learning algorithms are the state-of-the-art methods for this important problem, but they have two major limitations of low accuracy and low efficiency caused by noise in observed feedbacks and non-optimal learning steps in update rules. As a response, we propose a novel adaptive pairwise preference learning algorithm, which addresses the above two limitations in a single algorithm with a concise and general learning scheme. Specifically, in the proposed learning scheme, we design an adaptive utility function and an adaptive learning step for the aforementioned two problems, respectively. Empirical studies show that our algorithm achieves significantly better results than the state-of-the-art method on two real-world data sets.
Self-stabilizing and Self-organizing Distributed Algorithms

Self-stabilization ensures automatic recovery from an arbitrary state; we define self-organization as a property of algorithms which display local attributes. More precisely, we say that an algorithm is self-organizing if (1) it converges in sublinear time and (2) reacts fast to topology changes. If s(n) is an upper bound on the convergence time and d(n) is an upper bound on the convergence time following a topology change, then s(n) ∈ o(n) and d(n) ∈ o(s(n)). The self-organization property can then be used for gaining, in sublinear time, global properties and reaction to changes. We present self-stabilizing and self-organizing algorithms for many distributed algorithms, including distributed snapshot and leader election. We present a new randomized self-stabilizing distributed algorithm for cluster definition in communication graphs of bounded degree processors. These graphs reflect sensor networks deployment. The algorithm converges in O(logn) expected number of rounds, handles dynamic changes locally and is, therefore, self-organizing. Applying the clustering algorithm to specific classes of communication graphs, in O(log n) levels, using an overlay network abstraction, results in a self-stabilizing and self-organizing distributed algorithm for hierarchy definition. Given the obtained hierarchy definition, we present an algorithm for hierarchical distributed snapshot. The algorithms are based on a new basic snap-stabilizing snapshot algorithm, designed for message passing systems in which a distributed spanning tree is defined and in which processors communicate using bounded links capacity. The combination of the self-stabilizing and self-organizing distributed hierarchy construction and the snapshot algorithm form an efficient self-stabilizer transformer. Given a distributed algorithm for a specific task, we are able to convert the algorithm into a self-stabilizing algorithm for the same task with an expected convergence time of O(log 2 n) rounds.
Distinguishing stopping behavior from spacing behavior with indirect methods.

A major controversy regarding fertility transitions in historical populations concerns whether the process consisted mainly of the diffusion of an innovation in stopping behavior termination of childbearing before the end of the reproductive lifespan or an adaptation to a new social and economic climate through more extensive spacing behavior deliberate prolongation of the intervals between births. The relative importance of stopping and spacing behaviors in fertility transitions also has implications for the general understanding of the way fertility-control decisions are made. This paper uses simulation methods to examine the ability of summary measures such as mean age at last birth and mean birth intervals to distinguish between the influence of increased stopping and spacing behaviors in fertility transitions. The author finds that while increases in some forms of spacing behavior do have a nonneglible negative impact upon mean age at last birth so that modest reductions in age last birth cannot on their own be used as conclusive evidence of increases in stopping behavior a technique such as McDonalds used together with changes in mean age at last birth can clearly differentiate between spacing behavior and stopping behavior. She also investigates the small-sample properties of mean age at last birth and finds that observed differences in mean age at last birth which are on the order of one or two years are unlikely to be due solely to the random variation which recurs in the small samples typically found in family reconstitution studies. The author found in subsequent analysis that examining changes in the pattern of increase of mean age at last birth with age at marriage is a more powerful way of distinguishing stopping from spacing than is examining changes in the overall mean age at last birth. Finally the author found that changes in the means of interbirth intervals prior to the last closed interval stratified by final parity are good diagnostic tools for distinguishing between stopping and spacing even when stopping behavior is less than 100% effective.
Cultura no grupo de brinquedo

This paper discusses the concept of culture in the context of playgroup microcultures. The child is viewed as an agent of culture creation and innovation, and the play group as a space of information where these processes occur. This view is based on the recognition of human species as biologically socio-cultural and on the assumption of precocious adaptations for this specificity. Episodes of free play activity among 10 to 60 month old children are analysed to detect the occurrence of creation, elaboration and transmission of cultural contents in child-child interactions, illustrating: (1) retrieval of the immediate social environment's culture and exploration of new possibilities of using these resources; (2) creation of new ludic rituals which can become part of the group's microculture; (3) aculturation, that is, assimilation of aspects of the group's microculture. Data are interpreted as evidences of the human pre-adaptation to a socio-cultural way of living.
Directional GPS antenna for indoor positioning applications

In this paper, a directional GPS antenna for L1 frequency | 1575MHz | with RHCP and a high directive gain is proposed for indoor positioning applications. The proposed antenna is made of a standard ofi the shelf GPS patch antenna with an additional conical re∞ector to enhance the gain and the beamwidth of the antenna. The angle of the cone re∞ector is optimized by HFSS 11 software. Finally, the cone is fabricated, integrated with the patch antenna and measured. The measurement results show that the antenna with the re∞ector has a 9dBi gain and a beamwidth of 60 degrees with an axial ratio of 1dB which agrees well with simulation results. Civil Global Positioning System (GPS) has become very popular in recent years and it has wide usage in many areas. With the latest technological advances such as Difierential GPS (DGPS), Assisted GPS (AGPS), civil GPS receivers are able to locate themselves with an error of 1{3 meters outdoors (1). Although GPS is very successful in outdoor areas, it is hard to decode GPS signals indoors due to the additional signal loss caused by the buildings. GPS signals are transmitted from the satellites orbiting around 20.000km in the sky. When these signals reach the earth surface, the strength of the signals is very low due to free space loss. For indoors, signals go through additional loss of 10{30dB (2), in which case, signal levels are too low for an ofi-the shelf GPS receiver to detect the satellite signals. In order to solve indoor coverage problem, we plan to build an indoor positioning system that uses the GPS infrastructure. This indoor positioning system consists of GPS pseudo-satellites (pseudolite) and a GPS receiver with improved positioning algorithms. A GPS pseudolite works like an RF repeater, i.e., it picks up a satellite signal, amplifles and then retransmits into the building in which there is no GPS signal coverage. It is crucial to have directional receive and transmit antennas for our indoor positioning system. A pseudolite should be able to pick up the satellite signal only from a given direction in the sky and transmit the amplifled signals to an indoor area. There are several ways to design directional antennas such as Yagi-Uda, horn, log periodic, re∞ector and parabolic antenna or phased array systems (3). Along these antennas, we choose the re∞ector antenna type since it is simple to manufacture, and also compact and robust in performance and low cost. In this paper, we propose a directional GPS antenna for L1 frequency | 1575MHz | with RHCP and a high directive gain. A standard ofi the shelf GPS patch antenna is used in the design, and the directivity increase is achieved through the use of a conical re∞ector. The cone is fabricated and integrated with the standard GPS patch antenna and flnally directional GPS antenna is measured. The organization of the rest of the paper will be as follows: in Section 2, the design procedure of the antenna is given. In Section 3, measurement results will be presented, and flnally the paper will be concluded. 2. ANTENNA DESIGN
Motivation and demotivation of university teachers

Teachers make up one of the lowest income groups in Turkey. Research tells us that with their large class sizes, poor structural and physical characteristics of the classes, and the inadequate professional conditions offered to teachers, education at the university level is not up to modern standards. The aim of the study reported in this paper is to examine sources of motivation and demotivation among teachers at a public university in Istanbul. Three hundred teachers (M = 112, F = 188) aged between 33 and 65, were asked two open‐ended questions regarding their motivational and demotivational tendencies towards their profession. Motivating aspects/factors of teaching have been compressed and categorised under four main units: Students, Career, Social Status and Ideals. Demotivating aspects/factors have been compressed and categorised under five different headings: Students, Economics, Structural and Physical Characteristics, Research and Working Conditions. Results show that students are the main source of motivation and demotivation for university teachers. Besides students, while career is a secondary motivational factor, economics and research are secondary demotivating factors.
The Impact of Ordinary Political Conversation on Public Opinion Expression: Is Existence of Discord Necessary?

This study examines the democratic impact of ordinary political conversation by tackling two interrelated research questions: (1) Does private conversation lead to more public opinion expression? (2) Is discord a necessary condition for conversation to exert its impact? Analysis of a survey conducted in Hong Kong shows that people who talk to family and friends about public affairs more frequently are more likely to engage in online political chats with strangers, to express a minority opinion, and to vote. However, the impact of conversation does not apply to every context of public opinion expression. There is also no robust evidence showing that the impact exists only among people who perceive differences in opinions in their social networks.
Rho‐kinase–dependent pathway mediates the hepatoprotective effects of sorafenib against ischemia/reperfusion liver injury in rats with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

During liver transplantation, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) aggravates ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury by activating various kinases and subsequently releasing cytokines and chemokines. Nonetheless, the effect of the multikinase inhibitor sorafenib on IR liver injury in rats with NASH has never been explored. Our study was designed to determine this effect and associated mechanisms in NASH rats. Sorafenib was acutely administered to NASH rats with IR liver injury that were or were not chronically pretreated with the Rho‐kinase–specific inhibitor fasudil. Then, the following were evaluated: mean arterial pressure; hepatic blood flow and microcirculatory dysfunction; hepatic inflammation (serum alanine aminotransferase); necrosis; apoptosis; leukocyte infiltration; CD45 staining; caspase levels and DNA fragmentation; various serum and hepatic cytokines; and proteins and genes of the Raf/mitogen‐activated protein–extracellular signal‐regulated kinase kinase (MEK)/extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK), p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase, and apoptosis pathways. In NASH rats with IR liver injury, hepatic inflammation, necrosis, apoptosis, leukocyte infiltration, and microcirculatory dysfunction were significantly attenuated by the acute administration of sorafenib through the inhibition of the hepatic release of macrophage inflammatory protein 2, keratinocyte chemoattractant, granulocyte‐monocyte colony‐stimulating factor, and hepatic caspase‐3 and caspase‐9 as well as DNA fragmentation. Furthermore, there was decreased expression of p‐Raf1 (where p indicates the phosphorylated form), p‐MEK1/2, p‐ERK1/2, p‐Rho‐kinase, B cell lymphoma 2–associated death promoter, and B cell lymphoma 2–associated X protein at the protein and messenger RNA levels. Notably, the aforementioned beneficial effects of sorafenib were significantly abolished by chronic pretreatment with the Rho‐kinase–specific inhibitor fasudil. This study demonstrated that the multikinase inhibitor sorafenib protects NASH rats from IR injury by interfering with the inflammation, necrotic, and apoptotic responses causing leukocyte‐dependent hepatic microcirculatory dysfunction. The hepatoprotective effects of sorafenib seem to work through the inhibition of the Rho‐kinase–dependent Raf/MEK/ERK pathway, which is up‐regulated during IR injury in the livers of NASH rats. Liver Transpl 18:1371–1383, 2012. © 2012 AASLD.
Dependence of Macrophage Phagocytic Efficacy on Antibody Concentration

ABSTRACT Macrophages ingest the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans only in the presence of opsonins, and this provides a remarkably clean system for the detailed analysis of phagocytosis. This system is also unusual in that antibody-mediated phagocytosis involves ingestion through both Fc and complement receptors in the absence of complement. Mathematical modeling was used to analyze and explain the experimental data that the macrophage phagocytic index increased with increasing doses of antibody despite saturating concentrations and declined at high concentrations. A model was developed that explains the increase in phagocytic index with increasing antibody doses, differentiates among the contributions from Fc and complement receptors, and provides a tool for estimating antibody concentrations that optimize efficacy of phagocytosis. Experimental results and model calculations revealed that blocking of Fc receptors by excess antibody caused a reduction in phagocytic index but increased phagocytosis through complement receptors rapidly compensated for this effect. At high antibody concentrations, a further reduction in phagocytic index was caused by interference with complement receptor ingestion as a consequence of saturation of the fungal capsule. The ability of our model to predict the antibody dose dependence of the macrophage phagocytic efficacy for C. neoformans strongly suggest that the major variables that determine the efficacy of this process have been identified. The model predicts that the affinity constant of the opsonic antibody for the Fc receptor and the association-dissociation constant of antibody from the microbial antigen are critical parameters determining the efficacy of phagocytosis.
A Perspective on the Symptoms and Causes of the Financial Crisis

Prior to the 2007–2008 financial crisis, banking sector profits were very high but the profitability of financial intermediation was poor. Using a novel model of banking, this article argues that the high profits were achieved through balance sheet expansion and growing default, liquidity, and term risk mismatches between assets and liabilities. As a result, large banks’ financial leverage rose as they became less liquid, setting the conditions for a systemic banking crisis. This article argues that the increase in financial leverage was possible due to misguided changes in the regulatory framework, specifically, the Basel I capital accord and reductions in reserve requirements. Finally, this article overviews and assesses the policy response in the aftermath of the crisis.
Non Starch Polysaccharides and Broiler Responses

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of various pectin to cellules ratios on carcass characteristics and visceral organs of broiler chickens. A total of 400 chickens were allocated to 4 treatments, 4 replications and 25 chickens in each at a completely randomize design. Treatments were consisted of control (treatment 1) or diets containing different pectin: cellulose ratios; 2:1 (treatment 2), 1.5:1.5 (treatment 3) and 1:2 (treatment 4), respectively. Carcass weights was significantly decreases at 21 days of age and increases at 42 days of age by treatment 2 (P<0.05). The lowest breast weights was obtained by treatment 4 at 21 days of age (P<0.05). The lowest and highest thighs weights were related to treatment 3 and 4 at 42 days of age, respectively (P<0.05). All treatments convinced a significant decreases in backside and neck weights rather than control at 21 and 42 days of age (P<0.05). A significantly decreases in wing weights were observed by treatments 3 and 4 rather than control and treatment 2 at 42 days of age (P<0.05). Treatments 2 and 3 induced a significant decreases and increases in intestinal weights at 21 and 42 days of age, respectively (P<0.05). A significant decrease in liver, heart and abdominal fat weighs were prompted by all treatment rather than control at 21 days of age (P<0.05) as well as abdominal fat weighs at 42 days of age (P<0.05). Treatments 4 and 2 tempt the lowest and highest proventriculus weights at 42 days of age, respectively (P<0.05). The greatest and lowest gizzard weights were shown by treatments 2 and 4 at 42 days of age, respectively (P<0.05). A significantly increases in liver weights and a significantly decreases in heart weights were obtained by Treatment 2 and all NSPs treatments rather than control, respectively (P<0.05). The results of current study have shown that various changes arise in physicochemical conditions of gastrointestinal tract (GIT) due to soluble and insoluble fibers interactions reflected to external (carcass traits) and internal (visceral organs) adaptations to alleviate fibers effects. Moreover, it is concluded that using of fibers in diet reduces fat depots and can manipulate to produce lean broilers.
Deep learning for undersampled MRI reconstruction

This paper presents a deep learning method for faster magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) by reducing k-space data with sub-Nyquist sampling strategies and provides a rationale for why the proposed approach works well. Uniform subsampling is used in the time-consuming phase-encoding direction to capture high-resolution image information, while permitting the image-folding problem dictated by the Poisson summation formula. To deal with the localization uncertainty due to image folding, a small number of low-frequency k-space data are added. Training the deep learning net involves input and output images that are pairs of the Fourier transforms of the subsampled and fully sampled k-space data. Our experiments show the remarkable performance of the proposed method; only 29 of the k-space data can generate images of high quality as effectively as standard MRI reconstruction with the fully sampled data.
Mechanically induced ATP release from human osteoblastic cells.

Extracellular ATP is a widespread autocrine/paracrine signal since many animal cells release ATP in the extracellular medium; often this release is mechanosensitive, but the molecular mechanism is still unclear. The involvement of vesicular release, conductive channels, or ABC transporters has been suggested in different cell types. We investigated the mechanism of ATP release in human HOBIT osteoblastic cells, in which mechanical stimulation induced intercellular calcium waves sustained by both cell-to-cell coupling through gap junctions and ATP release. In this study we employed a luciferin-luciferase bioluminescence assay to measure the amount of ATP released under different stimulatory conditions. Given the role of connexin hemichannels in favoring passive NAD(+) transport [Bruzzone, S. , et al. (2001) FASEB J. 15, 10-12], the involvement of connexin hemichannels as putative ATP transporters was initially investigated. In HOBIT cells overexpressing connexin43 the amount of nucleotide released under basal and stimulated conditions was similar to non-transfected cells, ruling out a major involvement of connexin hemichannels in ATP transport. In nontransfected HOBIT cells mechanical stimulations induced by medium displacement and hypotonic stress consistently enhanced ATP efflux. Cytochalsin D treatment did not alter basal and stimulated ATP release, while elevated cAMP levels consistently reduced efflux in both cases. ATP released by hypotonic stress and medium displacement evoked intracellular Ca(2+) transients in fura2-loaded HOBIT cells, indicating that different mechanical stimuli activate physiological cell responses.
Kinematic and Mechanical Comparisons of Lumbar Hybrid Fixation Using Dynesys and Cosmic Systems

Study Design. The biomechanical effects of Dynesys and Cosmic fixators on transition and adjacent segments were evaluated using the finite-element method. Objective. This study investigated the load-transferring mechanisms of 2 dynamic fixators and the fixator-induced effects on the junctional problem of the adjacent segments. Summary of Background Data. The mobility and flexibility of Dynesys screw-spacer and Cosmic screw-hinge joints preserve motion and share loads for the transition segment. However, the differences in tissue responses and fixator mechanisms among these 2 fixators have not been investigated extensively. Methods. A lumbosacral model from L1 to S1 levels was developed and subjected to muscular contraction, ligamentous interconnection, compressive force, and trunk moment. A static fixator was instrumented at the moderately degenerative L4–L5 segment to serve as a comparison baseline. Subsequently, the 2 fixators were instrumented at the mildly degenerative L3–L4 segment. The tissue responses of the adjacent segments and the load transmission at the screw-spacer and bone-screw interfaces were compared. Results. Both systems show the ability to protect the transition segment but deteriorate the adjacent segments. The screw-hinge joint and the stiffer rod of the Cosmic system significantly constrained the motion pattern of the transition segment. Comparatively, the Dynesys screw-spacer interfaces make contact with and depart from each other during motion; thus providing higher mobility to the transition segment. However, the highly stressed distribution at the Cosmic bone-screw causes the screw and hinge prone to pullout and fatigue failures. Conclusion. Cosmic fixation can better protect the disc and facet joint of the transition segment than can the Dynesys. However, the screw-hinge joint strictly constrains intersegmental motion and deteriorates the junctional problem. The Cosmic system can be chosen to treat more severely degenerative transition segments. With higher flexibility, the Dynesys system is recommended for the transition segment that is healthy or mildly degenerative. Level of Evidence: N/A