Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Existential arc consistency: Getting closer to full arc consistency in weighted CSPs

The weighted CSP framework is a soft constraint framework with a wide range of applications. Most current state-of-the-art complete solvers can be described as a basic depth-first branch and bound search that maintain some form of arc consistency during the search. In this paper we introduce a new stronger form of arc consistency, that we call existential directional arc consistency and we provide an algorithm to enforce it. The efficiency of the algorithm is empirically demonstrated in a variety of domains.
Molecular Basis for Fungal Selectivity of Novel Antimitotic Compounds

ABSTRACT Compounds that selectively disrupt fungal mitosis have proven to be effective in controlling agricultural pests, but no specific mitotic inhibitor is available for the treatment of systemic mycoses in mammalian hosts. In an effort to identify novel mitotic inhibitors, we used a cell-based screening strategy that exploited the hypersensitivity of a yeast α-tubulin mutant strain to growth inhibition by antimitotic agents. The compounds identified inhibited yeast nuclear division and included one structural class of compounds shown to be fungus specific. MC-305,904 and structural analogs inhibited fungal cell mitosis and inhibited the in vitro polymerization of fungal tubulin but did not block mammalian cell microtubule function or mammalian tubulin polymerization. Extensive analysis of yeast mutations that specifically alter sensitivity to MC-305,904 structural analogs suggested that compounds in the series bind to a site on fungal β-tubulin near amino acid 198. Features of the proposed binding site explain the observed fungal tubulin specificity of the series and are consistent with structure-activity relationships among a library of related compounds.
What's so ‘critical’ about critical disability studies?

This article self-reflexively turns the focus on disability studies to consider why critical disability studies (CDS) is emerging as the preferred nomenclature and whether this constitutes a radical paradigm shift, or simply signifies a maturing of the discipline. We first trace the emergence of disability studies as part of the disability rights movement, which harboured a primarily materialist critique against the normative status quo. The diversification of critical social theory that has occurred in recent years has opened up new modes of critical enquiry. Yet there are nevertheless several principles that we feel it is important to maintain and we briefly outline these: (1) the irreducibility of social life to objective facts; (2) the requirement of linking theory with praxis in the struggle for an autonomous and participatory society; (3) the necessity that a discipline or field of study be aware of its own historicity and critically reflect on its conceptual framework; and (4) the need to engage in a dialogue with other cultures on the issues and concepts of current significance. We subsequently trace some of the areas where critical theory has been employed in the study of disability. Critical social thought, grounded in the principles we discuss and developing innovative lines of enquiry, has the potential to render a wide range of issues and discourses heretofore obscured visible in the study of disability.
The Anthropometric Measurement of Schober's Test in Normal Taiwanese Population

The measurement of lower back mobility is essential in the assessment of lower back pain including ankylosing spondylitis. Original Schober's test (OST) and modified Schober's test (MST) are popularly conducted in daily rheumatology and orthopedics clinical practices. To our knowledge, this report is the only anthropometric reference study in a normal oriental population. The OST declined with age from 5.0 cm in the youngest (20–30 years old) to 3.1 cm in the aged (70–80 years old) male subjects and from 3.6 cm to 2.4 cm in the female subjects. The male OST was significantly more than the female OST. There was a good correlation between OST and MST in each of the three age groups of both sexes.
Plasmodium berghei Calcium Dependent Protein Kinase 1 Is Not Required for Host Cell Invasion

Plasmodium Calcium Dependent Protein Kinase (CDPK1) is required for the development of sexual stages in the mosquito. In addition, it is proposed to play an essential role in the parasite’s invasive stages possibly through the regulation of the actinomyosin motor and micronemal secretion. We demonstrate that Plasmodium berghei CDPK1 is dispensable in the parasite’s erythrocytic and pre-erythrocytic stages. We successfully disrupted P. berghei CDPK1 (PbCDPK1) by homologous recombination. The recovery of erythrocytic stage parasites lacking PbCDPK1 (PbCDPK1-) demonstrated that PbCDPK1 is not essential for erythrocytic invasion or intra-erythrocytic development. To study PbCDPK1’s role in sporozoites and liver stage parasites, we generated a conditional mutant (CDPK1 cKO). Phenotypic characterization of CDPK1 cKO sporozoites demonstrated that CDPK1 is redundant or dispensable for the invasion of mammalian hepatocytes, the egress of parasites from infected hepatocytes and through the subsequent erythrocytic cycle. We conclude that P. berghei CDPK1 plays an essential role only in the mosquito sexual stages.
MULTIUSER MIMO CHANNEL EQUALIZATION

In MIMO receivers, the channel state needs to be estimated for equalization, detection, and for feedback to the transmitter in case of adaptive modulation and coding. Most current iterative [7, 16, 27] and non-iterative [25] schemes in the single-user MIMO case are training-based and rely on the transmission of pilot symbols. Alternatives to pilot-based algorithms are semi-blind schemes which exploit e.g. the known structure of the space-time code to allow reliable channel estimation during ongoing data transmission [2, 3, 18, 20]. Channel estimation and equalization for multiuser MIMO systems involve both information-theoretic [5, 17] and signal processing aspects. Early contributions to the field of MIMO communications assumed that the receiver has perfect channel state information. Recently there has been increased interest in the case where neither the receiver nor the transmitter know the channel state [11–13, 26]. We consider this case in Section 1.4. 2. In [2], a linear space-time modulation technique was proposed which allows the receiver to jointly estimate the channel and demodulate the data without prior channel knowledge at the transmitter or receiver. In Section 1.4. 2, this modulation scheme is extended to the case of multiple users. Section 1.4. 3 investigates iterative equalization, detection, and interference cancellation for CDMA with random spreading. An iterative space-time receiver is considered for the uplink of a coded CDMA system. This type of receiver was studied in [1, 19, 29] for perfect channel knowledge. The extension to multipath fading channels incorporating soft decisions for improved
The temporal courses of word frequency effect and syllable frequency effect of Chinese handwritten production in the old: An ERP study

design included word frequency of picture names (high vs. low) and syllable frequency of picture names (high vs. low) as within-participants and between-items variables. During the experiment, participants were instructed to write picture names as fast and accurately as possible. Behavioral data indicated the facilitation effects of word frequency and syllable frequency. Writing latencies were faster in picture names with high word frequency than those with low word frequency. Similarly, writing latencies were faster in picture names with high syllable frequency than those with low syllable frequency. There was no significant interaction between word frequency and syllable frequency for behavioral data. ERP data indicated that: (1) in the time window of 200~300 ms after pictures onset, we found independent word frequency effect and syllable frequency effect. The interaction between two variables was absent. (2) in the time window of 300~600 ms after pictures onset, we found the interaction between word frequency and syllable frequency, and distinct map distributions for both effects. (3) the onset latencies of word frequency and syllable frequency effects were 212 ms and 238 ms, respectively. We therefore suggest that the early word frequency effect may originate from the retrieval of orthographic information in the orthographic lexicon, while the early syllable frequency effect may originate from the retrieval of phonological information in the phonological lexicon. The syllable frequency, as a type of phonological information, influences the relatively late stage of written production. Our findings thus provide evidences for the orthography autonomy hypothesis, rather than the phonological mediation hypothesis.
Incomplete contracts, the port of Gaza, and the case for economic sovereignty

In this note, we reconsider the notion of ‘economic sovereignty. ’ We argue that a small country may need to invest in assets of the sort of a port even when the common scale-economy argument indicates that using a port of a neighbouring country will be more cost effective. The reason for such an investment would be purely strategic, as the sovereignty of the parties involved prevent them from writing down enforceable contracts. We show that such second-best strategic investments are likely to show accounting losses. The specific example of port of Gaza is used in order to make the analysis more vivid, and to demonstrate the pitfalls of policy recommendations based on standard first-best technological argument.
An Enhanced Heterologous Virus-Like Particle for Human Papillomavirus Type 16 Tumour Immunotherapy

Cervical cancer is caused by high-risk, cancer-causing human papillomaviruses (HPV) and is the second highest cause of cancer deaths in women globally. The majority of cervical cancers express well-characterized HPV oncogenes, which are potential targets for immunotherapeutic vaccination. Here we develop a rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) virus-like particle (VLP)-based vaccine designed for immunotherapy against HPV16 positive tumours. An RHDV-VLP, modified to contain the universal helper T cell epitope PADRE and decorated with an MHC I-restricted peptide (aa 48–57) from the HPV16 E6, was tested for its immunotherapeutic efficacy against the TC-1 HPV16 E6 and E7-expressing tumour in mice. The E6-RHDV-VLP-PADRE was administered therapeutically for the treatment of a pre-existing TC-1 tumour and was delivered with antibodies either to deplete regulatory T cells (anti-CD25) or to block T cell suppression mediated through CTLA-4. As a result, the tumour burden was reduced by around 50% and the median survival time of mice to the humane endpoint was almost doubled the compared to controls. The incorporation of PADRE into the RHDV-VLP was necessary for an E6-specific enhancement of the anti-tumour response and the co-administration of the immune modifying antibodies contributed to the overall efficacy of the immunotherapy. The E6-RHDV-VLP-PADRE shows immunotherapeutic efficacy, prolonging survival for HPV tumour-bearing mice. This was enhanced by the systemic administration of immune-modifying antibodies that are commercially available for use in humans. There is potential to further modify these particles for even greater efficacy in the path to development of an immunotherapeutic treatment for HPV precancerous and cancer stages.
Exosomal ITGA3 interferes with non-cancerous prostate cell functions and is increased in urine exosomes of metastatic prostate cancer patients

Background Cancer cells are able to change the protein expression and behavior of non-cancerous surrounding cells. Exosomes, secreted by prostate cancer (PCa) cells, may have a functional role in cancer metastasis and present a promising source for protein biomarkers. The aim of the present study was to identify which proteins in exosomes can influence non-cancerous cells, and to determine whether we can use urine exosomal proteins to identify high-risk PCa patients. Method Exosomes were isolated by ultracentrifugation. Migration and invasion were studied by the transwell (invasion) assay. Proteomics was performed by LC-MS/MS and identified proteins were validated by Western blotting. Cellular uptake of fluorescent labeled PKH67-exosomes was measured by FACS. Results Based on comparative protein profiling by mass spectrometry-based proteomics of LNCaP- and PC3-exosomes, we selected ITGA3 and ITGB1, involved in migration/invasion, for further analyses. Inhibition of exosomal ITGA3 reduced the migration and invasion of non-cancerous prostate epithelial cells (prEC) almost completely. Cellular uptake of exosomes by prEC was higher with PC3-exosomes compared to LNCaP exosomes. Finally, ITGA3 and ITGB1 were more abundant in urine exosomes of metastatic patients (p<0.05), compared to benign prostate hyperplasia or PCa. Conclusion These data indicate exosomal ITGA3 and ITGB1 may play a role in manipulating non-cancerous surrounding cells and that measurement of ITGA3 and ITGB1 in urine exosomes has the potential to identify patients with metastatic PCa in a non-invasive manner.
The Circle Criterion for Synchronization in Nonlinearly Coupled Networks

Abstract The problem of synchronization (consensus) in nonlinearly coupled network is addressed. The agents of the network are assumed to identical and linear, however, they may have arbitrary order and be unstable. The interaction topology may switch and the couplings are uncertain, assumed only to satisfy conventional quadratic constraints. We offer easily verifiable synchronization criteria, based on the Kalman-Yakubovich-Popov lemma and extending a number of known result for agents with special dynamics. Those criteria are close in spirit to the celebrated circle criterion for the stability of Lurie systems.
Overexpression of pRB in human pancreatic carcinoma cells: function in chemotherapy-induced apoptosis.

BACKGROUND Human pancreatic adenocarcinomas are highly resistant to chemotherapy. The p16 tumor-suppressor protein is inactivated in more than 90% of human pancreatic cancers. The p16 protein transcriptionally inhibits expression of retinoblastoma tumor-suppressor gene pRB. The pRB protein transcriptionally inhibits expression of the p16 gene. Because pRB normally prevents apoptosis, we investigated whether pRB is involved in resistance to chemotherapy-induced apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells. METHODS pRB expression was examined by immunohistochemistry in 106 human pancreatic tissue specimens. The human pancreatic tumor cell line Capan-1 (pRB+/p16-) was stably transfected with p16 to functionally inactivate pRB. pRB gene expression was examined by western and northern blot analyses, and pRB function was assessed by electrophoretic mobility shift assays and promoter transactivation studies for the transcription factor E2F. Changes in cell sensitivity to chemotherapy were measured by assays for cytotoxicity and apoptosis. RESULTS pRB was overexpressed in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas but was hardly detectable in other pancreatic malignancies, chronic pancreatitis, or nontransformed human pancreatic tissue. Expression of p16 in Capan-1 cells resulted in the loss of pRB gene and protein expression concomitant with increased activity of the transcription factor E2F, which was not detected in wild-type or control-transfected Capan-1 cells. Wild-type and control-transfected Capan-1 cells were resistant to chemotherapy-induced apoptosis, but pRB-depleted (i.e., p16-transfected) Capan-1 cells were highly sensitive. The effect was specific to pRB depletion because two other human pancreatic cancer cell lines that retained high pRB expression after p16 transfection were resistant to chemotherapy-induced apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS Overexpression of pRB is associated with human pancreatic duct-cell cancer and may allow pancreatic cancer cells to evade chemotherapy-induced apoptosis.
Extracting Wyner's Common Information Using Polar Codes and Polar Lattices

Explicit constructions of polar codes and polar lattices for both lossless and lossy Gray-Wyner problems are studied. Polar codes are employed to extract Wyner's common information of doubly symmetric binary source; polar lattices are then extended to extract that of a pair of Gaussian sources or multiple Gaussian sources. With regard to the discrete sources, the entire best-known region of the lossless Gray-Wyner problem are achieved by specifying the test channels to construct polar codes without time-sharing. As a result, we are able to give an interpretation that the Wyner's common information remains the same to the lossy case when the distortion is small [1]. Finally, the entire best-known lossy Gray-Wyner region for discrete sources can also be achieved using polar codes. With regard to the Gaussian sources, the best-known lossy Gray-Wyner region for bivariate Gaussian sources with a specific covariance matrix [1] can be achieved by using polar lattices. Moreover, we prove that extracting Wyner's common information of a pair of Gaussian sources is equivalent to implementing the lossy compression for a single Gaussian source, which implies that the common information can be extracted by a polar lattice for quantization. Furthermore, we extend this result to the case of multiple Gaussian sources.
Identifying the Critical Features That Affect the Job Performance of Survey Interviewers

In an attempt to build a good predictor of the performance of survey interviewers, we propose a feature selection method that derives the features¡¦ strength (i.e., degree of usefulness) from various feature subsets drawn from a pool of all the features. The method also builds a predictor by using support vector regression (SVR) as the learning machine and the selected features as variables. Applying the method to a collection of 278 instances obtained from 67 interviewers par-ticipating in eight survey projects, we identified three critical features, experience and two attributional style variables, out of fifteen features. Compared with results of four existing methods, the proposed predictor produced the smallest predictive error. Furthermore, the three features utilized by our method were also identified as the most important features by the four compared methods.
Unsupervised Learning of Ranking Functions for High-Dimensional Data

A growing number of problems in data analysis involve ranking variables from extremely high-dimensional datasets. However, when labelled data is unavailable, and underlying statistical models poorly understood, it becomes difficult to assess the likely effectiveness of various ranking functions, and thus make an appropriate choice of method. In this paper, we present an unsupervised approach to learning ranking functions, based on a simple but powerful notion of consistency. We present results on real and simulated data, which demonstrate the effectiveness of our learningbased method compared with widely-used statistical techniques.
Mentalization as a Predictor of Psychoanalytic Outcome: An Empirical Study of Transcribed Psychoanalytic Sessions Through the Lenses of a Computerized Text Analysis Measure of Reflective Functioning

The Reflective Functioning Scale (Fonagy, Target, Steele, & Steele, 1998) was developed to empirically assess the capacity to mentalize thoughts, intentions, feelings and beliefs of oneself and others in the context of attachment relationships (Jurist & Meehan, 2009). To overcome the complexity of the RF scale scoring, the Computerized Text Analysis measure of Reflective Functioning (CRF) was created by Fertuck, Mergenthaler, Target, Levy, and Clarkin (2012). We report the results of a preliminary study applying the CRF to a sample of 540 sessions comprising 27 psychoanalytic treatments. Results show that patients’ reflective functioning (RF), as measured at the beginning of treatment, was positively correlated with two global measures of healthy personality functioning—the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) and the Personality Health Index (PHI; Waldron et al., 2011)—as measured at the end of treatment. Even when the PHI and GAF levels at the beginning of treatment, the length of the treatments, and the average number of sessions per week were controlled for, these correlations remained significant. At the same time, the RF of patients did not increase throughout treatment. The implications of these results and the validity of CRF as an outcome predictor of long-term psychoanalytic treatment are discussed.
Ability of esCCO to track changes in cardiac output.

BACKGROUND We investigated whether cardiac output measured with pulse wave transit time (esCCO, Nihon Kohden, Tokyo, Japan) is able to track changes in cardiac output induced by an increase in preload (volume expansion/passive leg-raising) or by changes in vasomotor tone (variation in norepinephrine dosage) in critically ill patients. METHODS Eighty patients for whom the decision to give fluid (500 mL of saline over 15 min) (n=20), to perform passive leg-raising (n=20), and to increase (n=20) or to decrease (n=20) norepinephrine were included by the physician. Cardiac output was measured with pulse wave transit time (CO-esCCO) and transthoracic echocardiography (CO-TTE) before and after therapeutic intervention. RESULTS Comparison between CO-TTE and CO-esCCO showed a bias of -0.7 l min(-1) and limits of agreement of -4.4 to 2.9 l min(-1), before therapeutic intervention and a bias of -0.5 l min(-1) and limits of agreement of -4.2 to 3.2 l min(-1) after therapeutic intervention. Bias was correlated with systemic vascular resistance (r(2)=0.60, P<0.0001). Percentage error was 61% before and 59% after therapeutic intervention. Considering the overall data (n=80), the concordance rate was 84%, polar plot analysis revealed an angular bias (sd) of -11°(35°) and radial limits of agreement of (sd 50°). With regard to passive leg-raising and volume expansion groups (n=40), the concordance rate was 83%, the angular bias (sd) was -20°(36°) and radial limits of agreement ( 50°). Considering variations in norepinephrine dosage groups (n=40), the concordance rate was 86%, the angular bias (sd) was -1.8°(33°) and radial limits of agreement (40°). CONCLUSIONS esCCO was not able to track changes in cardiac output, induced by an increase in preload or by variations in vasomotor tone. Therefore, esCCO cannot guide haemodynamic interventions in critically ill patients.
mRNA poly(A) tail, a 3' enhancer of translational initiation

To evaluate the hypothesis that the 3' poly(A) tract of mRNA plays a role in translational initiation, we constructed derivatives of pSP65 which direct the in vitro synthesis of mRNAs with different poly(A) tail lengths and compared, in reticulocyte extracts, the relative efficiencies with which such mRNAs were translated, degraded, recruited into polysomes, and assembled into messenger ribonucleoproteins or intermediates in the translational initiation pathway. Relative to mRNAs which were polyadenylated, we found that nonpolyadenylated [poly(A)-]mRNAs had a reduced translational capacity which was not due to an increase in their decay rates, but was attributable to a reduction in their efficiency of recruitment into polysomes. The defect in poly(A)- mRNAs affected a late step in translational initiation, was distinct from the phenotype associated with cap-deficient mRNAs, and resulted in a reduced ability to form 80S initiation complexes. Moreover, poly(A) added in trans inhibited translation from capped polyadenylated mRNAs but stimulated translation from capped poly(A)- mRNAs. We suggest that the presence of a 3' poly(A) tail may facilitate the binding of an initiation factor or ribosomal subunit at the mRNA 5' end.