Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extracting Lay Paraphrases of Specialized Expressions from Monolingual Comparable Medical Corpora

Whereas multilingual comparable corpora have been used to identify translations of words or terms, monolingual corpora can help identify paraphrases. The present work addresses paraphrases found between two different discourse types: specialized and lay texts. We therefore built comparable corpora of specialized and lay texts in order to detect equivalent lay and specialized expressions. We identified two devices used in such paraphrases: nominalizations and neo-classical compounds. The results showed that the paraphrases had a good precision and that nominalizations were indeed relevant in the context of studying the differences between specialized and lay language. Neo-classical compounds were less conclusive. This study also demonstrates that simple paraphrase acquisition methods can also work on texts with a rather small degree of similarity, once similar text segments are detected.
Improving the Address Translation Performance of Widely Shared Pages

Operating systems allow multiple processes to share physical objects, e.g., shared libraries, System V shared memory. Many UNIX implementations allow processes to use different virtual addresses known as aliases to map a shared physical page. Each alias traditionally requires separate page table and translation lookaside buffer (TLB) entries that contain identical translation information. In systems with many aliases, this results in significant memory demand for storing page tables and unnecessary TLB misses on context switches. This paper first describes a common-mask scheme that allows translations from many different virtual address spaces to the same physical address to share a single translation entry. It extends the process context id with a bit vector that identifies a set of common regions that a process shares with other processes. It requires aliases to use the same virtual address, but aliases with different virtual addresses are still supported in the conventional manner. We then study in detail the implementation and performance effects of applying the common-mask scheme to each level of the translation hierarchy: hardware fully-asociative and set-associative TLBs, memory-based set-associative software level-two TLBs, and finally hashed page tables. TLB performance improves as processes incur fewer TLB misses on context switches by sharing TLB entries for shared pages. On a set of multi-user benchmarks, we show that the common-mask scheme reduces the number of user TLB misses by up to 50% in a 256-entry fully-associative TLB and a 4096-entry level-two TLB. The memory used to store hashed page tables is dramatically reduced by requiring a single page table entry instead of separate page table entries for hundreds of aliases to a physical page. Common-mask hashed page tables use 97% less memory for an Oracle Financials database server workload. The scheme we propose is quite general and applicable in domains other than address translation where multiple keys map to the same data, e.g., virtually-tagged caches, associative processors, and relational databases.
Genotype and environment impacts on Canada western spring wheat bread-making quality and development of weather-based prediction models

Finlay, Gordon John. M.Sc., The University of Manitoba, February 2007. Genotype and Environment Impacts on Canada Western Spring Wheat Bread-making Quality and Development of Weather-based Prediction Models. Major Professor; Paul R. Bullock. A study was conducted to quantify weather conditions at specific growth stages of Canadian Western Spring wheat (Triticum aestivum) and relate those growing conditions to variations in wheat grade and quality characteristics and to develop pre-harvest prediction models for wheat quality using weather input data. The Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) genotypes AC Barrie, Superb, Elsa, Neepawa, Canada Prairie SpringWhite genotype (CPS-white) Vista and Canada Western White Spring (CWWS) genotype Snowbird were grown in five locations across the Canadian prairies during the 2003 and 2004 growing seasons, which provided a wide range growing conditions. The experimental layout at each location was a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Intensive weather data was collected during the growing season at each location and used to calculate accumulated heat stress, useful heat, moisture demand, moisture supply, moisture use and moisture stress variables for numerous crop development stages. Crop development was observed on a regular basis at each location in order to partition the growing season into several development stages. Grain samples from each plot were subjected to full visual analysis and official grading by the Canadian Grain Commission and were milled into flour using a Buhler Experimental flour mill at the University of Manitoba. Flour samples underwent an extensive analysis of flour, dough, and bread making quality. ANOVA indicated that genotype, environment and their interactions had significant effects on most quality parameters tested. Environmental contribution to wheat quality variance was considerably larger (62 to
SNP and mutation discovery using base-specific cleavage and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry

MOTIVATION Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) are believed to contribute strongly to the genetic variability in living beings, in particular their disease or drug side effect predispositions. Mutation-induced sequence variations are playing an important role in the development of cancer, among others. From this, it is clear that SNP and mutation discovery is of great interest in today's Life Sciences. Currently, such discovery is often performed utilizing electrophoresis-based Sanger Sequencing. Discovery of SNPs can also be performed by multiple sequence alignment of publicly available sequence data, but recent studies indicate that only a small percentage of SNPs can be discovered using this approach and, in particular, that SNPs with low frequency are often missed. Other SNP discovery methods only indicate the presence of a SNP in a sample region, but fail to resolve its characterization and localization. RESULTS We present a method to discover mutations and SNPs using base-specific cleavage and mass spectrometry. An amplicon of known reference sequence with length usually between 100 and 1000 nt is amplified, transcribed, and cleaved using base-specific endonucleases such as RNAse A or T1. The resulting cleavage products (or fragments) are analyzed by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and, comparing the measured spectra with those predicted in-silico, the goal is to discover and pinpoint sequence variations of the sample sequence compared to the reference sequence. A time-efficient algorithm for discovering sequence variations is presented that enables fast analysis of such variations even if the sample sequence differs significantly from the reference sequence.
Subtyping of Cryptosporidium cuniculus and genotyping of Enterocytozoon bieneusi in rabbits in two farms in Heilongjiang Province, China

Cryptosporidium spp. and Enterocytozoon bieneusi are two prevalent opportunistic pathogens in humans and animals. Currently, few data are available on genetic characterization of both pathogens in rabbits in China. The aim of the present study was to understand prevalence and genetic characterization of Cryptosporidium spp. and E. bieneusi in rabbits. We collected 215 fecal samples from 150 Rex rabbits and 65 New Zealand White rabbits on two different farms in Heilongjiang Province, China. Cryptosporidium spp. and E. bieneusi were tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing the partial small subunit of ribosomal DNA (SSU rDNA) and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA, respectively. Cryptosporidium was detected in 3.3% (5/150) of Rex rabbits and 29.2% (19/65) of New Zealand White rabbits. All the 24 Cryptosporidium isolates were identified as C. cuniculus. Enterocytozoon bieneusi was only found in 14.7% (22/150) of Rex rabbits. Five known genotypes: CHN-RD1 (n = 12), D (n = 3), Type IV (n = 2), Peru6 (n = 1), and I (n = 1), and three novel ones CHN-RR1 to CHN-RR3 (one each) were detected. By analyzing the 60-kDa glycoprotein (gp60) gene sequences of C. cuniculus isolates, three subtypes were obtained: VbA28 (n = 2), VbA29 (n = 16), and VbA32 (n = 3). All these three C. cuniculus subtypes were reported previously in humans. Four known E. bieneusi genotypes have been found to be present in humans. The three novel ones fell into zoonotic group 1. The results suggest zoonotic potential of C. cuniculus and E. bieneusi isolates in rabbits.
Sol-gel preparation and spectral characterization of Y2O3 powders doped with Yb3+ and Nd3+

Using a sol-gel process, we prepared samples of Y<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> powder that were doped and codoped with Nd<sup>3+</sup> and Yb<sup>3+</sup>. Samples were doped with different amounts of the rare earth ions in order to study the energy transfer between the dopant species. It was confirmed that energy transfer can be achieved allowing the Yb<sup>3+</sup> ions to be excited using Nd<sup>3+</sup> absorption peaks in the UV and visible wavelength regions. Optimum energy transfer occurred in samples doped with 0.5 at% Nd and 2 at% Yb.
The prevalence and characteristics associated with parent–infant bed-sharing in England

Aims: To investigate the characteristics of parent–infant bed-sharing prevalence in England. Methods: Data on night-time sleeping practices from a two year, local, longitudinal study and a three-year, national, cross-sectional study were obtained. A total of 261 infants in North Tees were followed up at 1 and 3 months of age, as were 1095 infants aged 1 week to 1 year from five English health regions. Results: Data from both studies found that almost half of all neonates bed-shared at some time with their parents (local = 47%, 95% CI 41 to 54; national = 46%, 95% CI 34 to 58), and on any one night in the first month over a quarter of parents slept with their baby (local = 27%, 95% CI 22 to 33; national = 30%, 95% CI 20 to 42). Bed-sharing was not related to younger mothers, single mothers, or larger families, and was not more common in the colder months, at weekends, or among the more socially deprived families; in fact bed-sharing was more common among the least deprived in the first months of life. Breast feeding was strongly associated with bed-sharing, both at birth and at 3 months. Bed-sharing prevalence was uniform with infant age from 3 to 12 months; on any one night over a fifth of parents (national = 21%, 95% CI 18 to 24) slept with their infants. Conclusion: Bed-sharing is a relatively common practice in England, not specific to class, but strongly related to breast feeding.
Goals and options in keeping preterm babies warm

More than 50 years after Silverman showed the association between temperature control and mortality, recent data again stress the importance of the thermal environment of the preterm infant. The goals of care are straightforward: maintain a normal body temperature, ensure a stable thermal environment and avoid cold stress; but the options to achieve them are many and less certain. There is a problem in defining a ‘normal’ temperature. A single measurement will tell nothing about whether the baby is using energy for thermal balance. The preterm baby should be monitored with the continuous recording and display of a central and peripheral temperature. This will give an early indication of cold stress before any change is seen in the central temperature. Reducing evaporative heat losses at birth has improved temperatures on admission, although no studies have shown any effect on outcome. No data have shown that the use of incubators is any better than radiant heaters.
The P 4 -structure of perfect graphs

One of the most important outstanding open problems in algorithmic graph theory is to determine the complexity of recognizing perfect graphs. Results of Lovasz [33], Padberg [37] and Bland et al. [6] imply, as was first observed by Cameron [10] in 1982, that the problem of recognizing perfect graphs is in co-NP. So far it is not known whether this problem also belongs to NP, i.e., we do not know of any reasonable way to certify the perfection of an arbitrary graph.
IGF-I and IGFBP-3 Polymorphisms in Relation to Circulating Levels among African American and Caucasian Women

Circulating insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and IGF-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) levels have been associated with common diseases. Although family-based studies suggest that genetic variation contributes to circulating IGF-I and IGFBP-3 levels, analyses of associations with multiple IGF-I and IGFBP-3 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) have been limited, especially among African Americans. We evaluated 30 IGF-I and 15 IGFBP-3 SNPs and estimated diplotypes in association with plasma IGF-I and IGFBP-3 among 984 premenopausal African American and Caucasian women. In both races, IGFBP-3 rs2854746 (Ala32Gly) was positively associated with plasma IGFBP-3 (CC versus GG mean difference among Caucasians, 631 ng/mL; 95% confidence interval, 398-864; African Americans, 897 ng/mL; 95% confidence interval, 656-1,138), and IGFBP-3 diplotypes with the rs2854746 GG genotype had lower mean IGFBP-3 levels than reference diplotypes with the CG genotype, whereas IGFBP-3 diplotypes with the CC genotype had higher mean IGFBP-3 levels. IGFBP-3 rs2854744 (-202 A/C) was in strong linkage disequilibrium with rs2854746 in Caucasians only, but was associated with plasma IGFBP-3 in both races. Eight additional IGFBP-3 SNPs were associated with ≥5% differences in mean IGFBP-3 levels, with generally consistent associations between races. Twelve IGF-I SNPs were associated with ≥10% differences in mean IGF-I levels, but associations were generally discordant between races. Diplotype associations with plasma IGF-I did not parallel IGF-I SNP associations. Our study supports that common IGFBP-3 SNPs, especially rs2854746, influence plasma IGFBP-3 levels among African Americans and Caucasians but provides less evidence that IGF-I SNPs affect plasma IGF-I levels. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(3):954–66)
Defining Accountability using Causation and Evidence

Accountability mechanisms complement preventive security and privacy mechanisms by detecting policy violations after they occur, identifying agents to blame for violations, and punishing the violators. The importance of accountability has been recognized in a wide range of areas in security and privacy including cryptographic protocols (e.g., contract-signing [1], auctions, voting [8], anonymity protocols including electronic cash and group signatures), computer systems (e.g., using audit logs for access control systems [9]), copyright protection [12], and privacy protection on the Web, healthcare, financial and other sectors [2], [12], [4], [3]. In this work, we seek to develop a definition of accountability that provides a semantic basis for identifying agents to blame for a policy violation. An important desideratum for this definition is that it be general, i.e., applicable to a broad set of application domains including the ones mentioned above. We plan to explore the possibility of algorithmically checking whether a given mechanism satisfies this definition and to use the definition to guide the design of new accountability mechanisms. Finally, we plan to examine the relationships between our definition and prior work on blame assignment (e.g., [1], [8], [7]). In this poster, we report on progress towards such a definition. Our view is that an agent should be blamed for a violation on an execution if that agent were at fault and the agent’s actions caused the violation. We formalize fault as deviations from expected behavior (e.g., not following the program that an honest participant in a cryptographic protocol is expected to follow or not discharging the responsibilities in an enterprise workflow). We formalize cause using ideas from counterfactual definitions of actual causation [6], [11], [10], [5], [13]. Since these definitions of causation are not properties of single executions, our definition of accountability is also not a trace property in contrast to some prior definitions in the literature [1], [8]. Also, in contrast to the prior work on causation using structural equations [11], [6], our definition is formalized using a model that explicitly captures the execution semantics of concurrent multi-agent systems. The level of abstraction of our model is thus closer to models for security protocols and enterprise workflows. Furthermore, while actual causation has been an extremely difficult concept to formalize in its full generality, we believe that by focusing on the restricted class of security and privacy mechanisms, we have a better chance of overcoming the various difficulties that this line of work has faced over the years.
Structural Determinants of Organizational Effectiveness

Increasing organizational effectiveness is one of the most important organizational goals for almost all organizations in every industry. This study reviews the function of organizational structure for increasing organizational effectiveness especially by focusing on software industry organizations. The structural variables considered in this research are formalization, specialization, centralization, organizational age and size. The survey prepared according to the research model was responded by 120 software firms. The collected data were analyzed using statistical test techniques. The findings show that formalization and specialization increase organizational effectiveness. On the other hand, increasing the organizational size decreases the organizational effectiveness. The results indicate that software companies should stay at small scales in their organizational size while increasing their organizational performances with the help of specialization and formalization.
Structure and mechanism of activity of the cyclic phosphodiesterase of Appr>p, a product of the tRNA splicing reaction

The crystal structure of the cyclic phosphodiesterase (CPDase) from Arabidopsis thaliana, an enzyme involved in the tRNA splicing pathway, was determined at 2.5 Å resolution. CPDase hydrolyzes ADP‐ribose 1″,2″‐cyclic phosphate (Appr>p), a product of the tRNA splicing reaction, to the monoester ADP‐ribose 1″‐phosphate (Appr‐1″p). The 181 amino acid protein shows a novel, bilobal arrangement of two αβ modules. Each lobe consists of two α‐helices on the outer side of the molecule, framing a three‐ or four‐stranded antiparallel β‐sheet in the core of the protein. The active site is formed at the interface of the two β‐sheets in a water‐filled cavity involving residues from two H‐X‐T/S‐X motifs. This previously noticed motif participates in coordination of a sulfate ion. A solvent‐exposed surface loop (residues 100–115) is very likely to play a flap‐like role, opening and closing the active site. Based on the crystal structure and on recent mutagenesis studies of a homologous CPDase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we propose an enzymatic mechanism that employs the nucleophilic attack of a water molecule activated by one of the active site histidines.
Management of Women with Cervical Cytologic Results Interpreted as Low-Grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion: The Foundation of the ASCCP Guidelines

Mark Spitzer, MD, Edward J. Wilkinson, MD, Daron Ferris, MD, Alan G. Waxman, MD, Kenneth D. Hatch, MD, Claudia Werner, MD, Marluce Bibbo, MD, Terence J. Colgan, MD, Terri Cornelison, MD, and Edward E. Partridge, MD North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, NY; University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL; Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA; University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM; Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, AZ; University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX; Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA; Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD; and University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
Neuroplastic Changes Following Brain Ischemia and their Contribution to Stroke Recovery: Novel Approaches in Neurorehabilitation

Ischemic damage to the brain triggers substantial reorganization of spared areas and pathways, which is associated with limited, spontaneous restoration of function. A better understanding of this plastic remodeling is crucial to develop more effective strategies for stroke rehabilitation. In this review article, we discuss advances in the comprehension of post-stroke network reorganization in patients and animal models. We first focus on rodent studies that have shed light on the mechanisms underlying neuronal remodeling in the perilesional area and contralesional hemisphere after motor cortex infarcts. Analysis of electrophysiological data has demonstrated brain-wide alterations in functional connectivity in both hemispheres, well beyond the infarcted area. We then illustrate the potential use of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques to boost recovery. We finally discuss rehabilitative protocols based on robotic devices as a tool to promote endogenous plasticity and functional restoration.
Application of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems on Water Resources Management

Water is a primary source of life and is required in sufficient quantity and acceptable quality to sustain all human activities such as domestic, agricultural and industrial needs. This requirement however, is hardly fulfilled due to various natural and anthropogenic activities. Remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques are useful in hydrological research and applications. Remote sensing observations enable improved characterization of the land surface which are relevant in hydrological studies. Remote sensing with its merits of providing spatially extensive, multi-temporal and cost effective data, has become a very handy tool in identifying hydrogeological processes. These studies have revealed the application of integrated remote sensing and GIS technologies in groundwater exploration and exploitation. Integrated remote sensing and GIS are widely used in groundwater mapping. Locating potential groundwater targets is becoming more convenient, cost effective than invasive methods and efficient with the advent of a number of satellite imagery. The nature of remote sensing-based groundwater exploration is to delineate all possible features connected with localization of groundwater. Data, driven out of remote sensing, support decisions related to sustainable development and groundwater management. Integration of remotely sensed data, GPS, and GIS technologies provides a valuable tool for monitoring and assessing water pollution. Remotely sensed data can be used to create a permanent geographically located database to provide a baseline for future comparisons hydrological studies. The integrated use of remotely sensed data, GPS, and GIS will enable consultants and natural resource managers to develop management plans for a variety of natural resource management applications.
Prediction for human motion tracking failures

We propose a new and effective method of predicting tracking failures and apply it to the robust analysis of gait and human motion. We define a tracking failure as an event and describe its temporal characteristics using a hidden Markov model (HMM). We represent the human body using a three-dimensional, multicomponent structural model, where each component is designed to independently allow the extraction of certain gait variables. To enable a fault-tolerant tracking and feature extraction system, we introduce a single HMM for each element of the structural model, trained on previous examples of tracking failures. The algorithm derives vector observations for each Markov model using the time-varying noise covariance matrices of the structural model parameters. When transformed with a logarithmic function, the conditional output probability of each HMM is shown to have a causal relationship with imminent tracking failures. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach on a variety of multiview video sequences of complex human motion.