Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Towards Feasible Guidelines for the Annotation of Argument Schemes

The annotation of argument schemes represents an important step for argumentation mining. General guidelines for the annotation of argument schemes, applicable to any topic, are still missing due to the lack of a suitable taxonomy in Argumentation Theory and the need for highly trained expert annotators. We present a set of guidelines for the annotation of argument schemes, taking as a framework the Argumentum Model of Topics (Rigotti and Morasso, 2010; Rigotti, 2009). We show that this approach can contribute to solving the theoretical problems, since it offers a hierarchical and finite taxonomy of argument schemes as well as systematic, linguistically-informed criteria to distinguish various types of argument schemes. We describe a pilot annotation study of 30 persuasive essays using multiple minimally trained non-expert annotators . Our findings from the confusion matrixes pinpoint problematic parts of the guidelines and the underlying annotation of claims and premises. We conduct a second annotation with refined guidelines and trained annotators on the 10 essays which received the lowest agreement initially. A significant improvement of the inter-annotator agreement shows that the annotation of argument schemes requires highly trained annotators and an accurate annotation of argumentative components (premises and claims).
Overlapping substrate specificities of cytochrome P450 3A and P-glycoprotein for a novel cysteine protease inhibitor.

K02 (morpholine-urea-Phe-Hphe-vinylsulfone), a newly developed peptidomimetic, acts as a potent cysteine protease inhibitor, especially of cathepsins B and L (which are associated with cancer progression) and cruzain (a cysteine protease of Trypanosoma cruzi, which is responsible for Chagas' disease). Here we investigated features of the disposition of K02 using in vitro systems, characterizing the interaction of the drug with human cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A and P-glycoprotein (P-gp), a mediator of multidrug resistance (MDR) to cancer chemotherapy and a countertransporter in the intestine that limits oral drug bioavailability. P-gp functions as an ATP-dependent drug efflux pump to reduce intracellular cytotoxic concentrations. An HPLC assay was developed to analyze K02 and its metabolites formed in human liver microsomes. Three major primary metabolites were determined by LC/MS/MS to be hydroxylated products of the parent compound. A rabbit anti-CYP3A polyclonal antibody (200 microl antibody/mg microsomal protein) produced 75-94% inhibition of the formation of these three hydroxylated metabolites. Ketoconazole (5 microM), a selective CYP3A inhibitor, produced up to 75% inhibition, whereas other CYP-specific inhibitors, i.e. quinidine (CYP2D6), 7,8-benzoflavone (CYP1A2), and sulfaphenazole (CYP2C9), showed no significant effects. An identical metabolite formation profile for K02 was observed with cDNA-expressed human CYP3A4 (Gentest). These data demonstrate that K02 is a substrate for CYP3A. Formation of 1'-hydroxymidazolam, the primary human midazolam metabolite, was markedly inhibited by K02 via competitive processes, which suggests the potential for drug-drug interactions of K02 with other CYP3A substrates. K02 significantly inhibited the photoaffinity labeling of P-gp with azidopine and LU-49888, a photoaffinity analogue of verapamil. Transport studies with [14C]K02, using MDR1-transfected Madin-Darby canine kidney cell monolayers in the Transwell system, demonstrated that the basolateral-to-apical flux of K02 across MDR1-transfected Madin-Darby canine kidney cells was markedly greater than the apical-to-basolateral flux (ratio of 63 with 10 microM [14C]K02). This suggests that K02 is also a P-gp substrate. These studies are important for formulating strategies to increase the absorption and/or decrease the elimination of K02 and to optimize its delivery to malignant cells and parasite-infected host cells.
Local cerebral glucose utilization in rats with petit mal–like seizures

The quantitative 2‐[14C]deoxyglucose autoradiographic method was applied to the measurement of local cerebral metabolic rates for glucose in a model of genetic petit mal–like seizures in a strain of Wistar rats. During the experimental period, epileptic rats exhibited synchronous spike‐and‐wave discharges recorded from the cerebral cortex, whereas the electroencephalographic pattern of control animals was normal. An overall consistent increase in local cerebral metabolic rates for glucose was observed in epileptic rats as compared to nonepileptic control rats. This increase was statistically significant in 52 of the 59 cerebral structures studied and concerned all cerebral functional systems. These results are in accordance with positron emission tomography measurements in humans with typical childhood absence epilepsy. There is a lack of anatomical correlation between areas demonstrating hypermetabolism and areas where spike‐and‐wave discharges are recorded. Thus, the diffuse increase in cerebral energy metabolism in epileptic rats as compared to controls is not directly related to the occurrence of spike and wave discharges.
Conscious intention: a challenge for AIR theory

A primary goal of any theory of consciousness is to provide an informative account of what makes the difference between conscious and nonconscious mental states. Typically, whether or not a given theory is successful in this regard is measured with respect to its ability to explain what it is for paradigmatically sensory states, for example, visual, auditory, or somatosensory states, to be conscious. And it is often assumed, either implicitly or explicitly, that whatever account is supplied for such states can be safely generalized to accommodate other types of mental state as well.
Social Behavior of Young Siblings in the Family Context: Differences between Same-Sex and Different-Sex Dyads.

DUNN, JUDY, and KENDRICK, CAROL. Social Behavior of Young Siblings in The Family Context: Differences between Same-Sex and Different-Sex Dyads. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1981, 52, 12651273. Individual differences in the social behavior of young siblings were studied in 40 sibling pairs observed at home, when the infant sibling was aged 8 and 14 months. Differences between same-sex and different-sex sibling pairs were marked by the 14-month-old observations, with more frequent positive social behavior shown by both first child and infant sibling in same-sex pairs, and more frequent negative behavior by first children in different-sex pairs. Infants in both same-sex and different-sex pairs increased in negative behavior between 8 and 14 months. Stability of individual differences between 8and 14-month observations was found for positive behavior in same-sex pairs and for negative behavior in different-sex pairs. Differences in sibling behavior were related to mother-infant interaction. Frequent motherinfant interaction and a high proportion of play were negatively related to positive sibling interaction. Mothers of different-sex siblings played more with their infants than mothers of same-sex siblings.
Nice natives and mean migrants: the evolution of dispersal‐dependent social behaviour in viscous populations

There has been much interest in the evolution of social behaviour in viscous populations. While low dispersal increases the relatedness of neighbours, which tends to promote the evolution of indiscriminate helping behaviour, it can also increase competition between neighbours, which tends to inhibit the evolution of helping and may even favour harming behaviour. In the simplest scenario, these two effects exactly cancel, so that dispersal rate has no impact on the evolution of helping or harming. Here, we show that dispersal rate does matter when individuals can adjust their social behaviour conditional on whether they have dispersed or whether they have remained close to their place of origin. We find that nondispersing individuals are weakly favoured to indiscriminately help their neighbours, whereas dispersing individuals are more readily favoured to indiscriminately harm their neighbours.
A Pseudospectral Fictitious Point Method for High Order Initial-Boundary Value Problems

When pseudospectral approximations are used for space derivatives, one often encounters spurious eigenvalues. These can lead to severe time stepping difficulties for PDEs. This is especially the case for equations with high order derivatives in space, requiring multiple conditions at one or both boundaries. We note here that a very simple-to-implement fictitious point approach circumvents most of these difficulties. The new approach is tested on the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation and on a dispersive linear PDE featuring a time-space corner singularity.
Correlation between laryngobronchoscopy and pepsin in the diagnosis of extra-oesophageal reflux

Abstract Objective: This study aimed to investigate pepsin as a marker of extra-oesophageal reflux disease by examining its presence in tracheal aspirates and correlating it with macroscopic changes on laryngobronchoscopy, along with the results of standard tests for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease and clinical features. Methods: A retrospective review was undertaken of a cohort of 188 paediatric patients who underwent laryngobronchoscopy at a tertiary children's hospital and for whom pepsin assay results of tracheal aspirates were available. An association analysis was performed. Results: The mean patient age was 3.99 (3.40–4.58) years, with a male preponderance (55 per cent). Positive changes on laryngobronchoscopy were significantly associated with positive tracheal pepsin findings (p < 0.0001) but not with positive standard gastro-oesophageal reflux disease investigations. A positive pepsin assay was significantly associated with a history of recurrent croup (p = 0.0385) and a diagnosis of cystic fibrosis (p = 0.0232). Conclusion: Macroscopic changes on laryngobronchoscopy were significantly associated with positive tracheal pepsin findings in this paediatric population, suggesting that extra-oesophageal reflux disease may be a contributing aetiology.
Chromogranin A and the α -subunit of glycoprotein hormones in medullary thyroid carcinoma and phaeochromocytoma

Using specific immunoradiometric assays, we evaluated the clinical usefulness of chromogranin A and the α-subunit of glycoprotein hormones in neuroendocrine tumours of neuroectodermic origin. The serum α-subunit of glycoprotein hormones was only slightly increased in 2 out of 44 medullary thyroid carcinoma or phaeochromocytoma patients with increased calcitonin or 24-hour urinary metanephrine levels. Serum chromogranin A was increased in 12 of 45 (27%) medullary thyroid carcinoma patients with an elevated calcitonin level and in 4 of 16 medullary thyroid carcinoma patients (25%) with an undetectable calcitonin level, in 5 of 7 phaeochromocytoma patients with increased urinary catecholamine and metabolite excretion, and in 2 of 3 patients with a non-functioning phaeochromocytoma. During follow-up, the course of chromogranin A was found to parallel that of tumour burden and/or 24-hour urinary metanephrine in 5 phaeochromocytoma patients. We conclude that chromogranin A measurement is not recommended for the diagnosis of medullary thyroid carcinoma patients. It may be useful in patients with functioning and non-functioning phaeochromocytomas as a follow-up marker. In neuroendocrine tumour patients with elevated calcitonin secretion, the serum α-subunit of glycoprotein hormone measurement may help differentiate medullary thyroid carcinoma or phaeochromocytoma patients from other endodermal-derived neuroendocrine tumour patients in whom it is frequently elevated. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign
Requirements Engineering Current Practice and Capability in Small and Medium Software Development Enterprises in New Zealand

This paper presents research on current industry practices with respect to requirements engineering as implemented within software development companies in New Zealand. A survey instrument is designed and deployed. The results are analysed and compared against what is internationally considered "best practice" and previous New Zealand and Australian studies. An attempt is made to assess the requirements engineering capability of New Zealand companies using both formal and informal frameworks
On representation learning for artificial bandwidth extension

Copyright © 2015 ISCA. Recently, sum-product networks (SPNs) showed convincing results on the ill-posed task of artificial bandwidth extension (ABE). However, SPNs are just one type of many architectures which can be summarized as representational models. In this paper, using ABE as benchmark task, we perform a comparative study of Gauss Bernoulli restricted Boltzmann machines, conditional restricted Boltzmann machines, higher order contractive autoencoders, SPNs and generative stochastic networks (GSNs). Especially the latter ones are promising architectures in terms of its reconstruction capabilities. Our experiments show impressive results of GSNs, achieving on average an improvement of 3.90dB and 4.08dB in segmental SNR on a speaker dependent (SD) and speaker independent (SI) scenario compared to SPNs, respectively.
Outlier rejection for visual odometry using parity space methods

Typically, random sample consensus (RANSAC) approaches are used to perform outlier rejection for visual odometry, however the use of RANSAC can be computationally expensive. The parity space approach (PSA) provides methodology to perform computationally efficient consistency checks for observations, without having to explicitly compute the system state. This work presents two outlier based rejection techniques, Group Parity Outlier Rejection and Parity Initialized RANSAC, which use the parity space approach to perform rapid outlier rejection. Experiments demonstrate the proposed approaches are able to compute solutions with increased accuracy and improved run-time when compared to RANSAC.
The meaning of representation in animal memory

Abstract A representation is a remnant of previous experience that allows that experience to affect later behavior. This paper develops a metatheoretical view of representation and applies it to issues concerning representation in animals. To describe a representational system one must specify the following: the domain or range of situations in the represented world to which the system applies; the content or set of features encoded and preserved by the system; the code or transformational rules relating features of the representation to the corresponding features of the represented world; the medium, or the representation's physical instantiation; and the dynamics, or how the system changes with time. In part because of the behaviorist assumption that the hypothetical, covert changes occurring in an organism during learning correspond to the overt physical changes that are observed, issues of representation in animal behavior have been largely ignored as irrelevant or misleading. However, it can be inferred that representations, acting as models of environmental regularities, operate at many levels of behavioral functioning, both cognitive and noncognitive. Objections to the use of this concept in explanations of animal behavior, based on the claim that it is indeterminate and on behaviorist considerations of parsimony, can be answered. Animal representations may be specialized in terms of tasks and species. Data from tasks involving spatial memory, delayed matching-to-sample, and sequence learning suggest some foundations for a general theory of animal representations.
An Examination of Charter School Equity

Many charter schools have arisen in urban areas, and they appear to enroll more students of color and low-income youth. In this article, the authors investigate the implications of charter school choice for equity. Three standards of equity—racial balance, resources, and outcome—are discussed. The authors review (a) the equity provisions of state charter legislation, (b) research on who may be choosing to send their children to charter schools and why, and (c) analyses of the demographics characteristics of charter schools' students. These analyses suggest that charter schools have not overcome racial isolation. The authors conclude the article with a discussion of the complexities of applying the three equity standards to charter schools.
Evaluation of the modified API 20C system for identification of clinically important yeasts

The modified API 20C system (Analytab Products, Inc.) containing 19 carbohydrate assimilation tests was used to identify stock cultures of clinical isolates and routine clinical isolates from the Mayo Clinic mycology laboratory. The system provided correct identifications for 96% of the 505 organisms tested. The API 20C represents a commercial system useful for the identification of yeasts from clinical specimens. Although reliable, it is not a complete system and must be used in conjunction with microscopic morphological features for definitive identification. Since the system requires 72 h for identification, it is not designed for the rapid presumptive identification of such organisms as Cryptococcus neoformans; other biochemical tests must be used for this purpose.
Failure of Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance to Detect Marked Diet-Induced Insulin Resistance in Dogs

Accurate quantification of insulin resistance is essential for determining efficacy of treatments to reduce diabetes risk. Gold-standard methods to assess resistance are available (e.g., hyperinsulinemic clamp or minimal model), but surrogate indices based solely on fasting values have attractive simplicity. One such surrogate, the homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), is widely applied despite known inaccuracies in characterizing resistance across groups. Of greater significance is whether HOMA-IR can detect changes in insulin sensitivity induced by an intervention. We tested the ability of HOMA-IR to detect high-fat diet–induced insulin resistance in 36 healthy canines using clamp and minimal model analysis of the intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT) to document progression of resistance. The influence of pancreatic function on HOMA-IR accuracy was assessed using the acute insulin response during the IVGTT (AIRG). Diet-induced resistance was confirmed by both clamp and minimal model (P < 0.0001), and measures were correlated with each other (P = 0.001). In striking contrast, HOMA-IR ([fasting insulin (μU/mL) × fasting glucose (mmol)]/22.5) did not detect reduced sensitivity induced by fat feeding (P = 0.22). In fact, 13 of 36 animals showed an artifactual decrease in HOMA-IR (i.e., increased sensitivity). The ability of HOMA-IR to detect diet-induced resistance was particularly limited under conditions when insulin secretory function (AIRG) is less than robust. In conclusion, HOMA-IR is of limited utility for detecting diet-induced deterioration of insulin sensitivity quantified by glucose clamp or minimal model. Caution should be exercised when using HOMA-IR to detect insulin resistance when pancreatic function is compromised. It is necessary to use other accurate indices to detect longitudinal changes in insulin resistance with any confidence.
In silico simulations of experimental protocols for cardiac modeling

A mathematical model of the AP involves the sum of different transmembrane ionic currents and the balance of intracellular ionic concentrations. To each ionic current corresponds an equation involving several effects. There are a number of model parameters that must be identified using specific experimental protocols in which the effects are considered as independent. However, when the model complexity grows, the interaction between effects becomes increasingly important. Therefore, model parameters identified considering the different effects as independent might be misleading. In this work, a novel methodology consisting in performing in silico simulations of the experimental protocol and then comparing experimental and simulated outcomes is proposed for parameter model identification and validation. The potential of the methodology is demonstrated by validating voltage-dependent L-type calcium current (ICaL) inactivation in recently proposed human ventricular AP models with different formulations. Our results show large differences between ICaL inactivation as calculated from the model equation and ICaL inactivation from the in silico simulations due to the interaction between effects and/or to the experimental protocol. Our results suggest that, when proposing any new model formulation, consistency between such formulation and the corresponding experimental data that is aimed at being reproduced needs to be first verified considering all involved factors.
The success–failure dichotomy revisited: young adults' motives to return to their rural home region

Researchers are increasingly aware that nonlinear perspectives of the transition into adulthood and non-economic motives, such as family and friends, may help to improve our understanding of young adults' migration decisions. This paper combines these new insights with the traditional economic success–failure arguments in order to explain young adults' return migration to their rural home region. We present four orientations in return motives: the social, family, functional and partner orientation. They consist of different combinations of the stereotypical success–failure arguments with non-serial transitional stages, and with different attachments to the home region. They also show that in some cases, return migration should actually be interpreted as staying in the home region, because the young adult returnees had not mentally left the region. We therefore state that our results provide a solid argument for reinterpreting the out-migration of young people from rural areas.
Elk-1 protein domains required for direct and SRF-assisted DNA-binding

The Ets-related Elk-1 protein can bind to purine-rich DNA target sites in a sequence specific fashion and, in addition, can form a ternary complex with the c-fos serum response element (SRE) and the serum response factor (SRF). We demonstrate that Elk-1 can readily interchange between its different interaction partners. The amino terminal ETS-domain of Elk-1 was shown to be necessary and sufficient for direct DNA-binding activity. For ternary complex formation with the SRE and SRF, both the Elk-1 ETS-domain as well as flanking sequences up to amino acid 169 were required. Removal of sequences between the ETS-domain and amino acids 137-169 did not abolish ternary complex formation. This suggests the Elk-1 region spanning amino acids 137-169 to contain a protein-protein interaction domain. Furthermore, we have shown that a single amino acid exchange introduced into the ETS-domain can drastically alter the direct DNA-binding affinity of Elk-1 without severely affecting SRF-assisted binding to the SRE. Thus, Elk-1 requires different propensities of the ETS-domain to exert its different modes of DNA sequence recognition.
Safer Roads Owing to Higher Gasoline Prices: How Long It Takes.

OBJECTIVES We investigated how much time passes before gasoline price changes affect traffic crashes. METHODS We systematically examined 2004 to 2012 Mississippi traffic crash data by age, gender, and race. Control variables were unemployment rate, seat belt use, alcohol consumption, climate, and temporal and seasonal variations. RESULTS We found a positive association between higher gasoline prices and safer roads. Overall, gasoline prices affected crashes 9 to 10 months after a price change. This finding was generally consistent across age, gender, and race, with some exceptions. For those aged 16 to 19 years, gasoline price increases had an immediate (although statistically weak) effect and a lagged effect, but crashes involving those aged 25 to 34 years was seemingly unaffected by price changes. For older individuals (≥ 75 years), the lagged effect was stronger and lasted longer than did that of other age groups. CONCLUSIONS The results have important health policy implications for using gasoline prices and taxes to improve traffic safety.