Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Why Does Unsupervised Pre-training Help Deep Learning?

Much recent research has been devoted to learning algorithms for deep architectures such as Deep Belief Networks and stacks of auto-encoder variants, with impressive results obtained in several areas, mostly on vision and language data sets. The best results obtained on supervised learning tasks involve an unsupervised learning component, usually in an unsupervised pre-training phase. Even though these new algorithms have enabled training deep models, many questions remain as to the nature of this difficult learning problem. The main question investigated here is the following: how does unsupervised pre-training work? Answering this questions is important if learning in deep architectures is to be further improved. We propose several explanatory hypotheses and test them through extensive simulations. We empirically show the influence of pre-training with respect to architecture depth, model capacity, and number of training examples. The experiments confirm and clarify the advantage of unsupervised pre-training. The results suggest that unsupervised pre-training guides the learning towards basins of attraction of minima that support better generalization from the training data set; the evidence from these results supports a regularization explanation for the effect of pre-training.
Characterization of Lyme Borreliosis Isolates from Patients with Erythema Migrans and Neuroborreliosis in Southern Sweden

ABSTRACT Southern Sweden is an area of Lyme borreliosis (LB) endemicity, with an incidence of 69 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. The most frequent clinical manifestations are erythema migrans (77%) and neuroborreliosis (16%). There was no record of humanBorrelia strains being isolated from patients in this region before the prospective study reported here. Borreliaspirochetes were isolated from skin and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from LB patients living in the region. A total of 39 strains were characterized by OspA serotype analysis, species-specific PCR, and signature nucleotide analysis of the 16S rRNA gene. Of 33 skin isolates, 31 (93.9%) were Borrelia afzelii strains and 2 (6.1%) were Borrelia garinii strains. Of six CSF isolates, five (83.3%) were B. garinii and one (16.7%) wasB. afzelii. Neither Borrelia burgdorferisensu stricto strains nor multiple infections were observed. TheB. afzelii isolates were of OspA serotype 2. ThreeB. garinii strains were of OspA serotype 5, and the remaining four strains were of OspA serotype 6. All of theB. garinii strains belonged to the same 16S ribosomal DNA ribotype class. Our findings agree with earlier findings from other geographic regions in Europe where B. afzelii and B. garinii have been recovered predominately from skin and CSF cultures, respectively. To further study the possible presence in Sweden of the genotype B. burgdorferi sensu stricto, which is known to be present in Europe and to occur predominately in patients with Lyme arthritis, molecular detection of Borrelia-specific DNA in synovial samples from Lyme arthritis patients should be performed.
Involvement of GABAB Receptor Signaling in Antipsychotic-like Action of the Novel Orthosteric Agonist of the mGlu4 Receptor, LSP4-2022

Considering that ligands of metabotropic glutamate and GABA receptors may exert beneficial effects on schizophrenia, we assessed the actions of the first mGlu4-selective orthosteric agonist, LSP4-2022, in several tests reflecting positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia. Moreover, we investigated the possible involvement of GABAB receptors in LSP4-2022-induced actions. Hyperactivity induced by MK-801 or amphetamine and DOI-induced head twitches in mice were used as the models of positive symptoms. The social interaction test, modified forced swim test (FST), and novel object recognition (NOR) test were used as the models of negative and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia. LSP4-2022 inhibited hyperactivity (in a dose-dependent manner, 0.5-2 mg/kg) induced by MK-801 or amphetamine and DOI-induced head twitches. In mGlu4 receptor knockout mice, LSP4-2022 was not effective. However, it reversed MK-801-induced impairment in the social interaction test and the MK-801-induced increase of immobility in the modified FST. In the NOR test, LSP4-2022 was active at a dose of 2 mg/kg. GABAB receptor antagonist, CGP55845 (10 mg/kg), reversed LSP4-2022-induced effects in hyperactivity and head twitch tests. At the same time, the simultaneous administration of subeffective doses of LSP4-2022 (0.1 mg/kg) and a positive allosteric modulator of GABAB receptor PAM, GS39783 (0.1 mg/kg), induced clear antipsychotic-like effects in those two tests. Such an interaction between mGlu4 and GABAB receptors was not observed in the social interaction and NOR tests. Therefore, we suggest that the activation of the mGlu4 receptor is a promising approach facilitating the discovery of novel antipsychotic drugs, and that the interplay between mGlu4 and GABAB receptors may become the basis for a novel therapy for schizophrenic patients with predomination of positive symptoms.
Meta-Analysis of Studies Comparing Single and Multi-Tablet Fixed Dose Combination HIV Treatment Regimens

Abstract Availability of a single source review of once-daily fixed-dose single tablet regimen (STR) and multiple tablet fixed-dose regimen (MTR) would optimally inform healthcare providers and policy makers involved in the management of population with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). We conducted a meta-analysis of published literature to compare patient adherence, clinical, and cost outcomes of STR to MTR. Published literature in English between 2005 and 2014 was searched using Embase, PubMed (Medline in-process), and ClinicalTrials.Gov databases. Two-level screening was undertaken by 2 independent researchers to finalize articles for evidence synthesis. Adherence, efficacy, safety, tolerability, healthcare resource use (HRU), and costs were assessed comparing STR to MTR. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed and heterogeneity examined using meta-regression. Thirty-five articles were identified for qualitative evidence synthesis, of which 9 had quantifiable data for meta-analysis (4 randomized controlled trials and 5 observational studies). Patients on STR were significantly more adherent when compared to patients on MTR of any frequency (odds ratio [OR]: 2.37 [95% CI: 1.68, 3.35], P < 0.001; 4 studies), twice-daily MTR (OR: 2.53 [95% CI: 1.13, 5.66], P = 0.02; 2 studies), and once-daily MTR (OR: 1.81 [95% CI: 1.15, 2.84], P = 0.01; 2 studies). The relative risk (RR) for viral load suppression at 48 weeks was higher (RR: 1.09 [95% CI: 1.04, 1.15], P = .0003; 3 studies) while RR of grade 3 to 4 laboratory abnormalities was lower among patients on STR (RR: 0.68 [95% CI: 0.49, 0.94], P = 0.02; 2 studies). Changes in CD4 count at 48 weeks, any severe adverse events (SAEs), grade 3 to 4 AEs, mortality, and tolerability were found comparable between STR and MTR. Several studies reported significant reduction in HRU and costs among STR group versus MTR. Study depicted comparable tolerability, safety (All-SAE and Grade 3–4 AE), and mortality and fewer Grade 3 to 4 lab abnormalities and better viral load suppression and adherence among patients on FDC-containing STR versus MTR; literature depicted favorable HRU and costs for STRs. These findings may help decision makers especially in resource-poor settings to plan for optimal HIV disease management when the choice of both STRs and MTRs are available.
A Test Circuit for GaN HEMTs Dynamic $R_{\text{ON}}$ Characterization in Power Electronics Applications

Wide bandgap devices such as gallium nitride (GaN) high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) are a promising technology in the field of power electronics. Due to the physical properties of the GaN and the device design, they can outperform their silicon counterparts for the design of highly efficient power switching converters. However, its design should face certain effects that can diminish its performance. One such effect is the degradation mechanism known as dynamic ON-resistance (dynamic $R_{\mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}}$ ), being its mitigation one of the main objectives in the design of the device. In this paper, a circuit is proposed for assessing if this effect is present in GaN transistors in power electronics applications. The circuit allows testing the GaN HEMTs with different stress voltages and times maintaining the desired current level, and allows for repeating the test in successive switching pulses, with adjustable switching frequency and duty cycle, always with the same current, mimicking a real power electronics application.
What Values and Traits Do Parents Teach to Their Children? New Data from 54 Countries

There are few large-scale studies that compare how parents socialize children across the globe and the implications of the different types of socialization. To fill this gap, the authors used data from a new study across 52,300 probabilistically selected respondents from 54 countries. They were asked what advice they would give to their children to instill desirable values and traits in them. Aggregated to the national level, the responses yield two main dimensions of national culture. The first (collectivism-individualism) captures differences approximately along the South-North geographic axis of the Earth and is strongly correlated with differences in economic and gender inequality. The second (monumentalism-flexibility) captures cultural differences approximately on the West-East geographic axis of the world and is strongly associated with national differences in educational achievement. Thus, some of the most important national differences worldwide are strongly related to cultural differences in parental ideologies for the socialization of their children, suggesting that culture has objective societal outcomes.
“Dirty” Workplace Politics and Well-Being

We build and empirically test an integrative model of gender, workplace politics, and stress by integrating social role theory and prescriptive gender stereotypes with the transactional theory of stress. To examine the effect of gender on the relation between exposure to non-sanctioned political influence tactics (NPITs; e.g., self-serving and socially undesirable behaviors such as manipulation and intimidation) and stress outcomes, we employed a daily diary design with 64 employed adults over the course of 12 working days. In support of our hypotheses, exposure to NPITs––that is, “dirty politics”––elicited a threat appraisal that, in turn, related to the activation of negative emotions. Moreover, unlike men, women who reported higher levels of NPITs experienced heightened levels of threat appraisal and ultimately negative emotions. We demonstrate that pairing social role theory with the transactional theory of stress is a useful approach for researchers interested in better understanding gender differences in the occupational stress process. Anyone interested in reducing stress in the workplace is encouraged not only to reduce the occurrence of NPITs, but also to consider ways to reduce the threat associated with them, especially for women.
Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells and Gingival Fibroblasts Seeded into Silk Fibroin Scaffolds Have the Same Ability in Attracting Vessels

Neovascularization is one of the most important processes during tissue repair and regeneration. Current healing approaches based on the use of biomaterials combined with stem cells in critical-size bone defects fail due to the insufficient implant vascularization and integration into the host tissues. Therefore, here we studied the attraction, ingrowth, and distribution of blood vessels from the chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane into implanted silk fibroin scaffolds seeded with either human dental pulp stem cells or human gingival fibroblasts. Perfusion capacity was evaluated by non-invasive in vivo Magnetic Resonance Imaging while the number and density of blood vessels were measured by histomorphometry. Our results demonstrate that human dental pulp stem cells and gingival fibroblasts possess equal abilities in attracting vessels within silk fibroin scaffolds. Additionally, the prolonged in vitro pre-incubation period of these two cell populations favors the homogeneous distribution of vessels within silk fibroin scaffolds, which further improves implant survival and guarantees successful healing and regeneration.
Changes in mouse barrel synapses consequent to sensory deprivation from birth

Neonatal sensory deprivation induced by whisker trimming affects significantly the functional organization of receptive fields in adult barrel cortex. In this study, the effects of deprivation on thalamocortical synapses and on asymmetrical and symmetrical synapses not of thalamic origin were examined. Thalamocortical synapses were labeled by lesion‐induced degeneration in adult (postnatal day 60) mice subjected to whisker trimming from birth, other synaptic types were unlabeled. Brains were processed for electron microscopy, and numerical densities of synapses were evaluated by using stereologic approaches for whisker trimmed vs. control animals. Results demonstrated no change in nonthalamic, asymmetrical synapses; however, a decrease of 52% in the numerical density of symmetrical synapses (46.3 vs. 88.5 million per mm3; Z = −2.121; P < 0.05) and a decrease of 43% in the numerical density of thalamocortical synapses (57.5 vs. 102.33 million per mm3; Z = −2.121; P < 0.05) were observed after deprivation. Thus, experience‐dependent plasticity of receptive fields in barrel cortex involves directly axons of both extrinsic and intracortical origin. The proportion of thalamocortical axospinous to axodendritic synapses was the same in control vs. deprived animals: in each instance, 80% of the synapses were axospinous (Z = 0.85; P = 0.2). These results suggest that neither excitatory neurons, whose thalamocortical synapses are primarily axospinous, nor inhibitory neurons, whose thalamocortical synapses are mainly axodendritic (White [1989] Cortical Circuits. Synaptic Organization of the Cerebral Cortex; Structure, Function, and Theory. 1989; Boston: Birkhauser), are affected preferentially by the deprivation‐associated decrease in thalamocortical synapses. J. Comp. Neurol. 457:75–86, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Functoriality in Resolution of Singularities

Algorithms for resolution of singularities in characteristic zero are based on Hironaka’s idea of reducing the problem to a simpler question of desingularization of an “idealistic exponent” (or “marked ideal”). How can we determine whether two marked ideals are equisingular in the sense that they can be resolved by the same blowing-up sequences? We show there is a desingularization functor defined on the category of equivalence classes of marked ideals and smooth morphisms, where marked ideals are “equivalent” if they have the same sequences of “test transformations”. Functoriality in this sense realizes Hironaka’s idealistic exponent philosophy. We use it to show t
Compiling embedded languages

Functional languages are particularly well-suited to the interpretive implementations of Domain-Specific Embedded Languages (DSELs). We describe an implemented technique for producing optimizing compilers for DSELs, based on Kamin's idea of DSELs for program generation. The technique uses a data type of syntax for basic types, a set of smart constructors that perform rewriting over those types, some code motion transformations, and a back-end code generator. Domain-specific optimization results from chains of domain-independent rewrites on basic types. New DSELs are defined directly in terms of the basic syntactic types, plus host language functions and tuples. This definition style makes compilers easy to write and, in fact, almost identical to the simplest embedded interpreters. We illustrate this technique with a language Pan for the computationally intensive domain of image synthesis and manipulation.
Phonological Constraints on Morpheme Production 1 Phonological constraints on children ’ s production of English 3 rd person singulars

Purpose: Children variably produce grammatical morphemes at early stages of development, often omitting inflectional morphemes in obligatory contexts. This has typically been attributed to immature syntactic or semantic representations. In this study we investigated the hypothesis that children’s variable production of the 3 person singular morpheme -s interacts with the phonological complexity of the verb stem to which it is attached. Method: To explore this possibility, we examined longitudinal data from the spontaneous speech of 6 English-speaking children between 1;3-3;6 years, and elicited imitations from a crosssectional study of 23 2-year-olds (mean age of 2;2 years). Results: The results showed that children produced 3 person singular morphemes more accurately in phonologically simple coda contexts (e.g., sees) as compared to complex coda contexts (e.g., needs). In addition, children produced -s more accurately in utterance-final compared to utterance-medial position. Conclusions: The results provide strong support for the role of phonological complexity in explaining some of the variability in children’s production of 3 person singular -s. This suggests that future research will need to consider multiple factors, including phonological and positional effects, in constructing a comprehensive developmental theory of both grammatical competence and processes of speech planning and production.
The Emotional Characteristics of Section String Instruments with Different Pitch and Dynamics

Recent research has shown that different musical instrument sounds have strong emotional characteristics. This paper investigates how the emotional characteristics of the section bowed strings vary with pitch and dynamics, comparing the solo and section string results. The section and solo string results were somewhat similar overall, but with some notable differences as well. The emotional characteristics Happy, Heroic, Romantic, Comic, Calm, and Shy generally increased with pitch in an arching shape that peaked at C5, while Angry and Sad generally decreased with pitch. Scary was somewhat U-shaped. In terms of dynamics, the results showed that Happy, Heroic, Comic, Angry, and Scary were stronger for loud notes, while Romantic, Calm, Shy, and Sad were stronger for soft notes. These results provide audio engineers and musicians with possible suggestions for emphasizing various emotional characteristics of the section strings in orchestral recordings and performances.
Identification of excitatory and inhibitory motoneurons in the nematode Ascaris by electrophysiological techniques

A physiological preparation in which it is possible to record responses in muscle to stimulation of single motoneurons of the nematode Ascaris lumbricoides is described. With this preparation we have determined the physiological sign (E or I; excitatory or inhibitory) of the neuromuscular synapses of 21 identified motoneurons--12 are excitatory and 9 inhibitory. Ascaris motoneurons had previously been classified by morphological criteria into seven classes (Stretton, A. O. W., R. M. Fishpool, E. Southgate, J. E. Donmoyer, J. P. Walrond, J. E. R. Moses, and I. S. Kass (1978) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 75: 3493–3497). Physiological studies were performed on members of five of these classes. Three classes of neurons (DE1, DE2, and DE3) are excitatory to dorsal muscle cells. Two classes (DI and VI) are inhibitory neurons which innervate the dorsal and ventral muscle cells, respectively. The motoneurons in Caenorhabditis elegans (White, J. E., E. Southgate, J. N. Thomson, and S. Brenner (1976) Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. (Biol.) 275: 327–348) can be divided into seven morphological classes which are very similar to those in Ascaris. Based upon the structure-function correlation in Ascaris, we have predicted which motoneurons are excitatory and which are inhibitory in C. elegans.
Work-based learning in social work education: the challenges and opportunities for the identities of work-based learners on university-based programs

ABSTRACT This article explores the experiences of work-based learners undertaking social work degrees in the UK. The article is based on research of work-based learners on undergraduate social work degrees based in two universities, a local face-to-face university and a national distance learning university. Based on narrative inquiry methods for data collection, the article presents two case studies from the wider study which provide narratives of ‘becoming’ and ‘being’ a student. Drawing on identity theory, the article analyses how identity is an important concept in understanding the challenges and opportunities for this group of students on their journeys into and through higher education. The paper concludes by considering the implications for current provision of social work education.
I Won the Auction But Don't Want the Prize

The “winner's curse” occurs in competitive situations when a successful buyer finds that he or she has paid too much for a commodity of uncertain value. This study provides an experimental demonstration of the winner's curse, and identifies factors that affect the existence and magnitude of this bidding abnormality. In an auction setting, two factors are shown to affect the incidence and magnitude of the winner's curse: (1) the degree of uncertainty concerning the value of the item up for bid and (2) the number of competing bidders. Increasing either factor will increase the range of value estimates and bids, making it more likely that the winning bidder will overestimate the true value of the commodity and thus overbid.
A Comparison of a Machine Learning Model with EuroSCORE II in Predicting Mortality after Elective Cardiac Surgery: A Decision Curve Analysis

Background The benefits of cardiac surgery are sometimes difficult to predict and the decision to operate on a given individual is complex. Machine Learning and Decision Curve Analysis (DCA) are recent methods developed to create and evaluate prediction models. Methods and finding We conducted a retrospective cohort study using a prospective collected database from December 2005 to December 2012, from a cardiac surgical center at University Hospital. The different models of prediction of mortality in-hospital after elective cardiac surgery, including EuroSCORE II, a logistic regression model and a machine learning model, were compared by ROC and DCA. Of the 6,520 patients having elective cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass, 6.3% died. Mean age was 63.4 years old (standard deviation 14.4), and mean EuroSCORE II was 3.7 (4.8) %. The area under ROC curve (IC95%) for the machine learning model (0.795 (0.755–0.834)) was significantly higher than EuroSCORE II or the logistic regression model (respectively, 0.737 (0.691–0.783) and 0.742 (0.698–0.785), p < 0.0001). Decision Curve Analysis showed that the machine learning model, in this monocentric study, has a greater benefit whatever the probability threshold. Conclusions According to ROC and DCA, machine learning model is more accurate in predicting mortality after elective cardiac surgery than EuroSCORE II. These results confirm the use of machine learning methods in the field of medical prediction.