Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Centering in Naturally-Occurring Discourse: An Overview

The prediction of purely semantic or inferential theories of discourse understanding (cf. (Hobbs, 1985)) is that there should be no difference in coherence between (1) and (2). According to these theories, the agent in (1c), realized by the pronoun he, can only cospecify the discourse entity realized by Jeff because the verb soaping can only be related to the washing event, while the agent in 2c can only cospecify the discourse entity realized by Dick because the verb buffing can only be related to the waxing event.
Immunotherapy Treatments of Warm Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia

Warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia (WAIHA) is one of four clinical types of autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA), with the characteristics of autoantibodies maximally active at body temperature. It produces a variable anemia—sometimes mild and sometimes severe. With respect to the absence or presence of an underlying condition, WAIHA is either idiopathic (primary) or secondary, which determines the treatment strategies in practice. Conventional treatments include immune suppression with corticosteroids and, in some cases, splenectomy. In recent years, the number of clinical studies with monoclonal antibodies and immunosuppressants in the treatment of WAIHA increased as the knowledge of autoimmunity mechanisms extended. This thread of developing new tools of treating WAIHA is well exemplified with the success in using anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, Rituximab. Following this success, other treatment methods based on the immune mechanisms of WAIHA have emerged. We reviewed these newly developed immunotherapy treatments here in order to provide the clinicians with more options in selecting the best therapy for patients with WAIHA, hoping to stimulate researchers to find more novel immunotherapy strategies.
BEM Computations of 3-D Fully Nonlinear Free-Surface Flows Caused By Advancing Surface Disturbances

Deadline January 20, 2009 Manuscript Deadline (review) April 15, 2009 Three-day symposium sessions are being organized with emphasis on: Progress in Deep-Ocean Mining Programs, Nodules, Crust and Sulfide, Exploration, Mining Systems and Technology, Processing and Gas Hydrates and Engineering, Deepsea Drilling, Deep-Ocean Water Utilization Environment Science and Engineering E-mail your abstract in 300-400 words to: (1) One of the IOC members (session organizers); (2) ISOPE OMS-2009 IOC, ISOPE, 495 North Whisman Road, Suite 300, Mountain View, California 94043-5711 USA: Fax: +1-650-254-2038; meetings@isope.org. For detail, visit www.isope.org.
Energy Metabolism During Brain Ischemia: Stability During Reversible And Irreversible Damage

The permissible duration of brain ischemia without sustaining damage is short. Less clear are the mechanisms accounting for the vulnerability of brain to ischemic insults. Neurochemical factors implicated include impairment of energy synthesis by mitochondria and of energy-dependent processes such as synaptic transmission, ATPase activity, membrane conductance and altered protein and lipid synthesis. To clarify the vulnerability of energy metabolism, we investigated energy availability and synthesis in our model of global cerebral ischemia. Our studies evaluated in vitro mitochondrial ATP synthesis and the in vivo quantitation of the cortical adenylate pool. Results of our investigations support a growing body of evidence showing the energy state to be relatively stable to ischemia. We conclude that an energy-dependent process of brain is primarily vulnerable to ischemia.
Association Between Nocturnal Breastfeeding and Snacking Habits and the Risk of Early Childhood Caries in 18- to 23-Month-Old Japanese Children

Background Early childhood caries (ECC) is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases among children. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the association between nocturnal breastfeeding, snacking habits, or other risk factors and ECC in 18- to 23-month-old Japanese children. Methods Study subjects were 1675 children aged 18 to 23 months. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by parents or guardians of the children. The survey contents included such things as number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth per child, smokers in the home, nocturnal breastfeeding habit, snack times, kinds of snacks consumed ≥4 days a week, kinds of drinks consumed ≥4 days a week, parents brushing their child’s teeth daily, and the use of fluoride toothpaste. Logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate the odds of ECC. Results The average number of decayed, missing and filled teeth was 0.10. The prevalence of dental caries was 3.3%. Nocturnal breastfeeding habits were reported in 357 subjects (21.3%). After excluding items of multicollinearity, significant associations were observed between ECC and nocturnal breastfeeding, drinking or eating sweets after dinner every day, and the intake of candy, soda and/or isotonic drinks ≥4 days a week. Conclusions This study suggests that nocturnal breastfeeding and snacking habits are correlated with ECC.
Un-regularizing: approximate proximal point and faster stochastic algorithms for empirical risk minimization

We develop a family of accelerated stochastic algorithms that minimize sums of convex functions. Our algorithms improve upon the fastest running time for empirical risk minimization (ERM), and in particular linear least-squares regression, across a wide range of problem settings. To achieve this, we establish a framework based on the classical proximal point algorithm. Namely, we provide several algorithms that reduce the minimization of a strongly convex function to approximate minimizations of regularizations of the function. Using these results, we accelerate recent fast stochastic algorithms in a black-box fashion. Empirically, we demonstrate that the resulting algorithms exhibit notions of stability that are advantageous in practice. Both in theory and in practice, the provided algorithms reap the computational benefits of adding a large strongly convex regularization term, without incurring a corresponding bias to the original problem.
The Validation of a Pesticide Exposure Algorithm Using Biological Monitoring Results

A pesticide exposure algorithm was developed to calculate pesticide exposure intensity scores based on responses to questions about pesticide handling procedures and application methods in a self-administered questionnaire. The validity of the algorithm was evaluated through comparison of the algorithm scores with biological monitoring data from a study of 126 pesticide applicators who applied the herbicdes MCPA or 2,4-D. The variability in the algorithm scores calculated for these applicators was due primarily to differences in their use of personal protective equipment (PPE). Rubber gloves were worn by 75% of applicators when mixing and 22% when applying pesticides, rubber boots were worn by 33% when mixing and 23% when applying, and goggles were worn by 33% and 17% of applicators when mixing and when applying, respectively. Only 2% of applicators wore all three types of PPE when both mixing and applying, and 15% wore none of these three types of PPE when either mixing or applying. Substantial variability was also observed in the concentrations of pesticides detected in the post application urine samples. The concentration of MCPA detected in urine samples collected on the second day after the application ranged from less than < 1.0 to 610 μg/L among 84 of the applicators who applied MCPA. The concentrations of 2,4-D detected in the urine samples ranged from less than < 1.0 to 514 μg/L among 41 of the applicators who applied 2,4-D. When categorized into three groups based on the algorithm scores, the geometric mean in the highest exposure group was 20 μg/L compared with 5 μg/L in the lowest exposure group for the MCPA applicators, and 29 μg/L in highest exposure group compared with 2 μg/L in the low exposure group for the 2,4-D applicators. A regression analysis detected statistically significant trends in the geometric mean of the urine concentrations across the exposure categories for both the 2,4-D and the MCPA applicators. The algorithm scores, based primarily on the use of PPE, appear to provide a reasonably valid measure of exposure intensity for these applicators, however, further studies are needed to generalize these results to other types of pesticides and application methods.
A latent class analysis of psychotic symptoms in the general population

Objective: Individuals with psychotic symptoms may actually correspond to various subgroups, characterized by different patterns of psychotic symptoms as well as specific sociodemographic and clinical correlates. We aimed to identify groups of individuals from the general population with specific patterns of psychotic symptoms. Methods: In a 38,694-subject survey, a latent class analysis was performed to identify subgroups based on the distribution of seven psychotic symptoms taken from the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. The different classes were subsequently compared according to sociodemographic and clinical correlates. Results: The best fit was obtained with a four-class solution, including the following: (1) a class with a low prevalence of all psychotic symptoms (‘LOW’, 85.9%); (2) a class with a high prevalence of all psychotic symptoms (‘HAL + DEL’, 1.7%); and classes with a high prevalence of (3) hallucinations (‘HAL’, 4.5%) or (4) delusions (‘DEL’, 7.9%). The HAL + DEL class displayed higher rates of history of trauma, social deprivation and migrant status, while the HAL and DEL classes displayed intermediate rates between HAL + DEL and LOW. HAL + DEL displayed the highest rates of psychotic and non-psychotic disorders and the use of mental health treatment, while HAL and DEL displayed intermediate rates of these disorders between HAL + DEL and LOW. In comparison to the HAL class, psychotic and substance use disorders were more frequent in the DEL class, while anxiety and mood disorders were less frequent. Conclusion: These findings support the hypothesis of a continuum model relating the level of psychotic symptoms to the level of global psychopathology.
Ecosystem Expansion and Contraction in Streams Desert streams vary in both space and time and fluctuate dramatically in size

St re<l ms are hydrologically diverse and dynamic ecosystems. Flow may vary between extremes, from high-discharge floods to periods when surface water is absent. Although much is known about the role of floods in shaping ecological processes, far less is known about the biological and chemical changes that occu r du ring periods of water loss in stream ecosystems (Boulton and Suter 1986, Stanley and Fisher 1992). Nowhere is this lack of knowledge more apparent than in desert streams; these lotic ecosystems exist in a setting defined by water limitation, and periods of declining or absent flow are common. However, water loss is by no means unique to desert streams, because intermittent streams are found in many different environments. Moreover, escalating demands on a finite water supply arc increasing the likelihood of drying in streams and rivers worldwide. Irrigation, impoundment, diversion, and groundwater abstraction reduce streamflow in mesic and xeric regions alike. In arid and semiarid areas, large rivers that are devoid of water are common, and in more mesic locales, profligate water use decreases the total amount of surface water present
Performance evaluation of a machine learning algorithm for early application identification

The early identification of applications through the observation and fast analysis of the associated packet flows is a critical building block of intrusion detection and policy enforcement systems. The simple techniques currently used in practice, such as looking at the transport port numbers or at the application payload, are increasingly less effective for new applications using random port numbers and/or encryption. Therefore, there is increasing interest in machine learning techniques capable of identifying applications by examining features of the associated traffic process such as packet lengths and inter-arrival times. However, these techniques require that the classification algorithm is trained with examples of the traffic generated by the applications to be identified, possibly on the link where the the classifier will operate. In this paper we provide two new contributions. First, we apply the C4.5 decision tree algorithm to the problem of early application identification (i.e. looking at the first packets of the flow) and show that it has better performance than the algorithms proposed in the literature. Moreover, we evaluate the performance of the classifier when training is performed on a link different from the link where the classifier operates. This is an important issue, as a pre-trained portable classifier would greatly facilitate the deployment and management of the classification infrastructure.
Vision-based loop closing for delayed state robot mapping

This paper shows results on outdoor vision-based loop closing for simultaneous localization and mapping. Our experiments show that for loops of over 50 m, the pose estimates maintained with a delayed-state extended information filter are consistent enough to guarantee assertion of vision- based pose constraints for loop closure, provided no necessary information links are added to the estimator. The technique computes relative pose constraints via a robust least squares minimization of 3D point correspondences, which are in turn obtained from the matching of SIFT features over candidate image pairs. We propose a loop closure test that checks both for closeness of means and for highly informative updates at the same time.
The Relationship between XRCC1 and XRCC3 Gene Polymorphisms and Lung Cancer Risk in Northeastern Chinese

Background The prevalence of lung cancer in China will be the world's highest if allowed to proceed uncurbed. To unravel its genetic underpinnings, we sought to investigate the association of three well-characterized nonsynonymous polymorphisms in XRCC1 (Arg194Trp and Arg399Gln) and XRCC3 (Thr241Met) genes with lung cancer risk in northeastern Chinese. Methodology/Principal Findings This study was hospital-based in design, encompassing 684 patients with lung cancer and 604 cancer-free controls. Genotyping was performed using the PCR-LDR (ligase detection reactions) method. Data were analyzed by R language and multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) software. Single-locus analysis identified significance in genotype distributions of polymorphism Arg194Trp (P = 0.002) and Arg399Gln (P = 0.017), and in allele distributions of Thr241Met (P = 0.005). Carriers of 399Gln/Gln genotype conferred a 147% increased risk relative to the non-carriers (odds ratio (OR): 2.47; 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.48–4.13; P<0.001). For Thr241Met, significance persisted under allelic (OR = 1.63; 95% CI: 1.14–2.33; P = 0.005), additive (OR = 1.64; 95% CI: 1.16–2.32; P = 0.005) and dominant (OR = 1.67; 95% CI: 1.17–2.38; P = 0.004) models. However, common allele combinations were comparable in frequency between patients and controls. In interaction analysis, the overall best MDR model included Arg399Gln and Thr241Met polymorphisms, with a maximal testing accuracy of 63.18% and a maximal cross-validation consistency of 10 out of 10 (P = 0.0175). Conclusions Our study significantly demonstrated an independent and synergistic contribution of XRCC1 Arg399Gln and XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphisms to lung cancer susceptibility in northeastern Chinese.
Traffic-related air pollution and lung function in children at 8 years of age: a birth cohort study.

RATIONALE Long-term exposure to air pollution has been related to lung function decrements in children, but the role of timing of exposure remains unknown. OBJECTIVES To assess the role of long-term exposure to air pollution on lung function in school-age children. METHODS More than 1,900 children in the Swedish birth cohort BAMSE were followed with repeated questionnaires, dynamic spirometry, and IgE measurements until 8 years of age. Outdoor concentrations of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 μm (PM(10)) from road traffic were estimated for residential, day care, and school addresses from birth and onward using dispersion modeling. The relationship between time-weighted average exposure during different time windows and FEV at 8 years was analyzed by linear regression, adjusting for potential confounding factors, including short-term exposure to air pollution. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS A 5th to 95th percentile difference in time-weighted average particulate matter less than 10 μm in aerodynamic diameter exposure during the first year of life was associated with a reduced FEV(1) of -59.3 ml (95% confidence interval, -113 to -5.6) at 8 years of age. The negative association was particularly pronounced in children concomitantly sensitized to common inhalant or food allergens (-136.9 ml; 95% confidence interval, -224.1 to -49.7). Exposure after the first year of life seemed to have less impact on lung function at 8 years. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicate that exposure to traffic-related air pollution during infancy affects lung function in children up to 8 years of age and particularly in those sensitized to common inhalant or food allergens.
Influenza Vaccination Is Associated With a Reduced Risk of Stroke

Background and Purpose— Vascular death rates and hospitalizations for stroke are increased during influenza epidemics. Influenza vaccination may prevent stroke. We investigated whether influenza vaccination is associated independently with reduced odds of stroke and whether effects are confined to stroke subgroups and winter seasons and shared by other vaccinations. Methods— During 18 months, we performed standardized interviews assessing vaccination status, risk factors, health-related behavior, and socioeconomic factors in 370 consecutive patients with ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) and 370 age- and sex-matched control subjects selected randomly from the population. Results— Influenza vaccination during the last vaccination campaign was less common in patients (19.2%) than control subjects (31.4%; P<0.0001). After adjustment for vascular risk factors, education, health-related behavior and other factors, influenza vaccination (odds ratio [OR], 0.46; 95% CI, 0.28 to 0.77) but not other combined recent vaccinations (OR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.42 to 1.43) were associated with reduced odds of stroke/TIA. Significant effects were found in men, older subjects (>65 years), subjects with previous vascular diseases, and regarding ischemic stroke; nonsignificant trends existed in women, younger subjects, and regarding hemorrhagic stroke. In etiologic subgroups of cerebral ischemia, similar effects were found. No protective effects were found during summer months; however, results also varied considerably between both winter seasons examined. Conclusions— These results support the hypothesis that influenza vaccination may be associated with reduced stroke risk. However, residual confounding cannot be excluded, and interventional studies are required to evaluate the role of influenza vaccination in stroke prevention.
Evolution of the Internet  $k$-Dense Structure

As the Internet autonomous system (AS)-level topology grows over time, some of its structural properties remain unchanged. Such time-invariant properties are generally interesting because they tend to reflect some fundamental processes or constraints behind Internet growth. As has been shown before, the time-invariant structural properties of the Internet include some most basic ones, such as the degree distribution or clustering. Here, we add to this time-invariant list a nontrivial property - k-dense decomposition. This property is derived from a recursive form of edge multiplicity, defined as the number of triangles that share a given edge. We show that after proper normalization, the k-dense decomposition of the Internet has remained stable over the last decade, even though the Internet size has approximately doubled, and so has the k-density of its k-densest core. This core consists mostly of content providers peering at Internet eXchange Points, and it only loosely overlaps with the high-degree or high-rank AS core, consisting mostly of tier-1 transit providers. We thus show that high degrees and high k-densities reflect two different Internet-specific properties of ASs (transit versus content providers). As a consequence, even though degrees and k-densities of nodes are correlated, the relative fluctuations are strong, and related to that, random graphs with the same degree distribution or even degree correlations as in the Internet, do not reproduce its k-dense decomposition. Therefore an interesting open question is what Internet topology models or generators can fully explain or at least reproduce the k-dense properties of the Internet.
Design and Performance Evaluation of a Solar Poultry Egg Incubator

The continuous rise and competitive demands for fossil fuel necessitate the need for alternative source of renewable energy. In many parts of the world there is a growing awareness that renewable energy has an important role to play in extending technology to farmers in developing countries to increase their productivity. Solar thermal technology is a technology that is rapidly gaining acceptance as an energy saving measure in agriculture application. It is fast becoming an alternative source of energy because of the high rate of depletion of the conventional energy sources. It is preferred to other alternative sources of energy such as wind and shale, because it is abundant, inexhaustible, and non-polluting. It is capable of meeting a significant portion of the world’s future energy needs with minimum of adverse environmental consequence [1-2].
Disturbance Increases Microbial Community Diversity and Production in Marine Sediments

Disturbance strongly impacts patterns of community diversity, yet the shape of the diversity-disturbance relationship remains a matter of debate. The topic has been of interest in theoretical ecology for decades as it has practical implications for the understanding of ecosystem services in nature. One of these processes is the remineralization of organic matter by microorganisms in coastal marine sediments, which are periodically impacted by disturbances across the sediment-water interface. Here we set up an experiment to test the hypothesis that disturbance impacts microbial diversity and function during the anaerobic degradation of organic matter in coastal sediments. We show that during the first 3 weeks of the experiment, disturbance increased both microbial production, derived from the increase in microbial abundance, and diversity of the active fraction of the community. Both community diversity and phylogenetic diversity increased, which suggests that disturbance promoted the cohabitation of ecologically different microorganisms. Metagenome analysis also showed that disturbance increased the relative abundance of genes diagnostic of metabolism associated with the sequential anaerobic degradation of organic matter. However, community composition was not impacted in a systematic way and changed over time. In nature, we can hypothesize that moderate storm disturbances, which impact coastal sediments, promote diverse, and productive communities. These events, rather than altering the decomposition of organic matter, may increase the substrate turnover and, ultimately, remineralization rates.