Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adding vs. Averaging in Distributed Primal-Dual Optimization

Distributed optimization methods for large-scale machine learning suffer from a communication bottleneck. It is difficult to reduce this bottleneck while still efficiently and accurately aggregating partial work from different machines. In this paper, we present a novel generalization of the recent communication-efficient primal-dual framework (COCOA) for distributed optimization. Our framework, COCOA+, allows for additive combination of local updates to the global parameters at each iteration, whereas previous schemes with convergence guarantees only allow conservative averaging. We give stronger (primal-dual) convergence rate guarantees for both COCOA as well as our new variants, and generalize the theory for both methods to cover non-smooth convex loss functions. We provide an extensive experimental comparison that shows the markedly improved performance of COCOA+ on several real-world distributed datasets, especially when scaling up the number of machines.
Parkinsonism and neck extensor myopathy: a new syndrome or coincidental findings?

BACKGROUND Dropped head in parkinsonism has been attributed to dystonia or unbalanced muscle rigidity. To our knowledge, isolated neck extensor myopathy with parkinsonism has been described in only one patient. OBJECTIVES To assess the occurrence of neck extension weakness resulting in dropped head in patients with parkinsonism and to explore whether the head drop might be the consequence of neck extensor myopathy. PATIENTS AND METHODS All patients who were evaluated because of parkinsonism in the Department of Neurology in our hospital between January 1, 1997, and December 31, 1999, and were found to have both parkinsonism and neck extension weakness resulting in head drop were studied. The patients underwent clinical examination, blood tests including the levels of creatine kinase and myoglobin and neurophysiological evaluation with needle electromyography and autonomic tests. Open biopsy on a neck muscle was performed in the patients who could cooperate. RESULTS Of 459 patients evaluated because of parkinsonism, 7 were found to have neck extensor weakness resulting in head drop. Needle electromyography revealed myopathic changes in all 7 patients. Muscle biopsy, which was performed in 5 patients, disclosed myopathic changes in all 5 patients. Electron microscopy revealed mitochondrial abnormalities in 2 of these 7 patients. Three of the patients had concomitant neck rigidity that could contribute to the neck position. All 7 patients had autonomic dysfunction and 6 responded poorly to levodopa therapy, making a diagnosis of multiple system atrophy probable. CONCLUSION Parkinsonism may be associated with isolated neck extensor myopathy resulting in dropped head, and this condition should be suggestive of multiple system atrophy.
Variations in patterns of care and outcomes after acute myocardial infarction for Medicare beneficiaries in fee-for-service and HMO settings.

OBJECTIVE To assess revascularization and mortality after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) for all Medicare patients in fee-for-service (FFS) and health maintenance organization (HMO) settings in California. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING Hospital discharge abstract and death certificate data linked with Medicare enrollment files for patients aged 65 and over with Medicare coverage (69,040) discharged from a California-licensed hospital in 1994-1996. STUDY DESIGN Risk-adjusted results were assessed for HMOs and FFS, as well as for FFS beneficiaries from areas served by each plan. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS Risk models were based on all sampled patients. The HMO patients were aggregated into 17 pseudoplans: 5 individual plans, 4 large plans split geographically (10 observations), and 2 "pseudoplans" of small HMOs. Observed versus expected 30-day mortality rates, lengths-of-stay (LOS) during the index hospitalization and any transfers, revascularization (coronary artery bypass graft [CABG] surgery and/or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty [PTCA]) during the index hospitalization or 30 days after admission, were calculated for each pseudoplan. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Risk-adjusted death rate was slightly higher in FFS than in HMO settings (p < .01 with one risk adjustment model, n.s. with another). Three pseudoplans had significantly (p < .01) better than expected mortality rates. One pseudoplan was significantly worse (p < .05) with one risk adjustment model but not the other. The LOS and revascularization rates varied widely, but were not associated with outcomes. Plans with among the best results had the lowest LOS and revascularization rates. These pseudoplans were less likely to have their patients initially admitted to a hospital with revascularization capability, but the hospitals they used had higher CABG volumes. Even if CABG facilities were available during the index admission, in these plans with better than expected mortality rates, revascularization was often postponed or carried out elsewhere. CONCLUSIONS For Medicare patients having an AMI in the mid-1990s in California, risk-adjusted outcomes were no different, or slightly better on average, for those in HMOs than in FFS. Not all plans performed equally well, so understanding what leads to differences in quality is more important than simple comparisons of HMOs versus FFS.
Real Risk, Inflation Risk, and the Term Structure

This disclosure relates to a system for fluidizing and transporting particulate material. The particulate material is fed into a fluidizing container from a hopper through two independently operated, serially arranged valves. The valves are controlled such that the closest valve to the container is opened first and closed last, after a charge has been delivered to the container to prevent flow of pressurized air through the hopper. Special blending nozzles are disclosed for an optional blending operation during the fluidizing and transporting process, particularly of certain materials. The outlet conduit from the container has an isolating valve, upstream from a fluid conveyor means, to permit the container to be filled with a new charge while the previous charge is being transported to its destination. Special control means are provided to operate the valves in proper timed sequence to minimize the time cycle for each charge.
Optimization Strategies for DNA Microarray-Based Detection of Bacteria with 16S rRNA-Targeting Oligonucleotide Probes

ABSTRACT The usability of the DNA microarray format for the specific detection of bacteria based on their 16S rRNA genes was systematically evaluated with a model system composed of six environmental strains and 20 oligonucleotide probes. Parameters such as secondary structures of the target molecules and steric hindrance were investigated to better understand the mechanisms underlying a microarray hybridization reaction, with focus on their influence on the specificity of hybridization. With adequate hybridization conditions, false-positive signals could be almost completely prevented, resulting in clear data interpretation. Among 199 potential nonspecific hybridization events, only 1 false-positive signal was observed, whereas false-negative results were more common (17 of 41). Subsequent parameter analysis revealed that this was mainly an effect of reduced accessibility of probe binding sites caused by the secondary structures of the target molecules. False-negative results could be prevented and the overall signal intensities could be adjusted by introducing a new optimization strategy called directed application of capture oligonucleotides. The small number of false-positive signals in our data set is discussed, and a general optimization approach is suggested. Our results show that, compared to standard hybridization formats such as fluorescence in situ hybridization, a large number of oligonucleotide probes with different characteristics can be applied in parallel in a highly specific way without extensive experimental effort.
Diffuse correlation spectroscopy for measurement of cerebral blood flow: future prospects

Abstract. Diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) is an emerging optical modality used to measure cortical cerebral blood flow. This outlook presents a brief overview of the technology, summarizing the advantages and limitations of the method, and describing its recent applications to animal, adult, and infant cohorts. At last, the paper highlights future applications where DCS may play a pivotal role individualizing patient management and enhancing our understanding of neurovascular coupling, activation, and brain development.
Optical properties of ZnO thin films prepared by automatic sol-gel method

In this work, ZnO thin films were deposited on glass substrate using automatic sol-gel process, rather than conventional sol-gel process, and the optical properties of the prepared films were also measured. Using zinc acetate, ethanol, diethanolamine and de-ionized water, ZnO films were prepared by varying the number of coatings (2-5 dipping iterations) for zinc acetate concentrations of 1.0 mol/L. The films were decomposed at 300°C for 1 h and, after giving final coating, were annealed at 500°C for 2 h. Optical transmittance measurements of the deposited films have been carried out with UV/Visible spectrometer at 200-900 wavelengths. The prepared ZnO films have been found to be highly transparent in the visible range. The average transmittance of ZnO films for 2 coatings has been found to be of 92% in the visible range with high absorbance in the UV-region and the direct and indirect allowed band gap has been found to be of 3.21 eV and 3.08 eV respectively.
TEORIA DO PROSPECTO: COMO AS FINANÇAS COMPORTAMENTAIS PODEM EXPLICAR A TOMADA DE DECISÃO THEORY OF THE PROSPECTUS: HOW THE BEHAVIORAL FINANCE MAY EXPLAIN THE DECISION- MAKING

As Financas Comportamentais contrariam o modelo onde os mercados sao eficientes e os agentes racionais, pois os individuos podem ser influenciados por suas crencas e experiencias passadas. O objetivo deste trabalho foi replicar o estudo seminal de Kahneman e Tversky. Alem disso, procurou verificar se as pessoas atuantes no mercado de trabalho e com nivel superior tem uma percepcao de risco diferente de pessoas que ainda nao trabalham, mas que estao em processo de formacao. Os resultados comprovaram que os agentes nao sao racionais e que a qualificacao e a experiencia profissional nao influenciam a tomada de decisao dos agentes. The Behavioral Finance contradicts the model where markets are efficient and agents are rational, because individuals may be influenced by their beliefs and past experiences. The aim of this study was to replicate the seminal study of Kahneman and Tversky. Furthermore, to verify whether the people who are employed and have a higher level education has a different risk perception of people who still do not work, but which are in process of formation. Results showed that agents are not rational and that the qualifications and experience do not influence the decision making of agents
Teachers’ Everyday Professional Development

Although a lot is known about teacher development by means of formal learning activities, research on teachers’ everyday learning is limited. In the current systematic review, we analyzed 74 studies focusing on teachers’ informal learning to identify teachers’ learning activities, antecedents for informal learning, and learning outcomes. In addition, we examined whether beginning and more experienced teachers differ with regard to informal learning. Results revealed different types of learning activities in the two groups and interesting relationships among different antecedents and various learning outcomes. Moreover, it can be concluded that the main difference between beginning and more experienced teachers lies not in the type of learning activities they undertake but rather in their attitudes toward learning, their learning outcomes, and how they are influenced by their context.
The Seeds of Spatial Grammar in the Manual Modality

Sign languages modulate the production of signs in space and use this spatial modulation to refer back to entities-to maintain coreference. We ask here whether spatial modulation is so fundamental to language in the manual modality that it will be invented by individuals asked to create gestures on the spot. English speakers were asked to describe vignettes under 2 conditions: using gesture without speech, and using speech with spontaneous gestures. When using gesture alone, adults placed gestures for particular entities in non-neutral locations and then used those locations to refer back to the entities. When using gesture plus speech, adults also produced gestures in non-neutral locations but used the locations coreferentially far less often. When gesture is forced to take on the full burden of communication, it exploits space for coreference. Coreference thus appears to be a resilient property of language, likely to emerge in communication systems no matter how simple.
A parallel region based object recognition system

Object recognition is a key problem in the field of computer vision. However, highly accurate object recognition systems are also computationally intensive, which limits their applicability. In this paper, we focus on a state-of-the-art object recognition system. We identify key computations of the system, examine efficient algorithms for parallelizing key computations, and develop a parallel object recognition system. The time taken by the training procedure on 127 images, with an average size of 0.15 M pixels, is reduced from 2332 seconds to 20 seconds. Similarly, the classification time of one 0.15 M pixel image is reduced from 331 seconds to 2.78 seconds. This efficient implementation of the object recognition system now makes it practical to train hundreds of images within minutes, and makes it possible to analyze image databases with hundreds or thousands of images in minutes, which was previously not possible.
Presence of matrix vesicles in the body of odontoblasts and in the inner third of dentinal tissue: A scanning electron microscopyc study

Objectives: The aim of this report is to present the results of a scanning electron microscopic study on the presence of matrix vesicles (MVs) found in human dentine. Study Design: Dentin tissue from 20 human bicuspids was analyzed by means of scanning electron microscopy. Results: MVs were found as outgrowths of the cellular membrane of the odontoblastic body, the more proximal portion of the odontoblastic process before entering the dentinal tubule and in the odontoblastic process within the inner third of the dentin. Size of MVs varied depending on location. In the inner third of dentin, they were seen in diverse positions; as membranal outgrowths, deriving from the odontoblastic process, lying free in the intratubular space and attached to the dentinal wall. Sometimes, they were seen organized forming groups of different sizes and shapes or as multivesicular chains running from the surface of the odontoblastic process to the tubular wall. MVs were present in places never considered: 1) the body of odontoblasts; 2) the most proximal part of the odontoblastic processes before entering the circumpulpal dentine and also: 3) in the inner third of dentinal tissue. Conclusions: According to our results, MVs not only participate during mantle dentin mineralization during early dentinogenesis, they also contribute during the mineralization process of the inner dentin. Key words:Dentin, microvesicles, secretory vesicles, dentin formation, dentin secretion.
Working Paper Series Innovation by Entrants and Incumbents Daron

We extend the basic Schumpeterian endogenous growth model by allowing incumbents to undertake innovations to improve their products, while entrants engage in more radical innovations to replace incumbents. Our model provides a tractable framework for the analysis of growth driven by both entry of new rms and productivity improvements by continuing rms. Unlike in the basic Schumpeterian models, subsidies to potential entrants might decrease economic growth because they discourage productivity improvements by incumbents in response to reduced entry, which may outweigh the positive e¤ect of greater creative destruction. As the model features entry of new rms and expansion and exit of existing rms, it also generates a non-degenerate equilibrium rm size distribution. We show that, when there is also costly imitation preventing any sector from falling too far below the average, the stationary rm size distribution is Pareto with an exponent approximately equal to one (the so-called Zipf distribution). We thank Sam Kortum, Erzo Luttmer, Ariel Pakes, and seminar participants at MIT and Toulouse Network on Information Technology Conference at Seattle for useful comments. We are particularly grateful to Xavier Gabaix for numerous useful suggestions at the early stages of this project. Financial support from the Toulouse Network on Information Technology is gratefully acknowledged.
Survival in a Marginal Role: The Professional Identity of the Physical Education Teacher

Any organization is a mass of integrated roles with constant demands and adaptations.l Role behaviour arises from these organizational demands and idiosyncratic needs, the person balancing advantages and disadvantages in given situations, making adaptation to both personality needs and organizational 'press'. Thus, Getzels and Guba have described role behaviour as the outcome of interplay between ideographic and nomothetic dimensions in an institutional setting2; and, in his analysis of organizations, Levinson took a similar position and suggested the concept of 'personal roledefinition' as a link between personality and social structure.3 As Parsons has pointed out, there is an element of'looseness' between personality and role performance.4 This element may be crucial within marginal roles in organizations. What are marginal roles? Stonequist has utilized the term 'marginality' to define roles in an organizational setting which are peripheral to the main functionings of the institution. Such individuals can be alienated.5 They may work very hard but lose direction because their roles are not clearly defined and they are subject to role strain.6 Where there is no clear system of rules which adequately defines the actor's behaviour in the system, and where his role is not central to the goals and function of the organization a marginal role-then he can be subject to type-casiing and role pressures. Wilson has discussed conflict which arises:
The role of microbiota in compensatory growth of protein‐restricted rats

Compensatory growth is a physiological phenomenon found in both humans and animals. However, the underlying mechanisms are unclear. In this study, for the first time, we investigated the role of microbiota in compensatory growth induced by protein restriction using a rat model. Weaned Sprague‐Dawley rats were fed a low protein diet (L group), a normal protein diet (N group) and a low protein diet for 2 weeks followed by a normal protein diet (LN group). The results showed that in contrast with the inhibited growth of rats in the L group, compensatory growth was observed in the LN group. Meanwhile, rats in the LN group had increased concentrations of total short chain fatty acids, particularly butyrate, and an altered bacterial composition with modified abundances of Peptostreptococcaceae, Bifidobacteriaceae, Porphyromonadaceae and Prevotellaceae in the colonic content. Furthermore, gene expression analysis indicated that the rats that experienced compensatory growth had improved barrier function and innate immune function in the colon. Our data revealed the importance of colonic microbiota in achieving compensatory growth.
Gray matter volume as an intermediate phenotype for psychosis: Bipolar-Schizophrenia Network on Intermediate Phenotypes (B-SNIP).

OBJECTIVE The study examined gray matter volume across psychosis diagnoses organized by dimensional and DSM-IV categories from the Bipolar-Schizophrenia Network on Intermediate Phenotypes (B-SNIP) sample. METHOD In total, 351 probands with psychosis (146 with schizophrenia, 90 with schizoaffective disorder, and 115 with psychotic bipolar I disorder), 369 of their first-degree relatives (134 were relatives of individuals with schizophrenia, 106 of individuals with schizoaffective disorder, and 129 of individuals with psychotic bipolar I disorder), and 200 healthy comparison subjects were assessed. Gray matter volumes from 3-T T1-weighted images were analyzed using the VBM8 toolbox for SPM8, and outcomes were determined at a false discovery rate-corrected threshold of p<0.005. RESULTS Across the psychosis dimension, probands (N=351) and relatives with psychosis spectrum disorders (N=34) showed substantial overlapping gray matter reductions throughout the neocortex, whereas relatives without psychosis spectrum (N=332) had normal gray matter volumes relative to comparison subjects. Across DSM-IV diagnoses, schizophrenia and schizoaffective probands showed overlapping gray matter reductions in numerous cortical and subcortical regions, whereas psychotic bipolar probands showed limited gray matter reductions localized to the frontotemporal cortex relative to comparison subjects. All relative groups had gray matter volumes that did not differ from comparison subjects. CONCLUSIONS Across the dimensional psychosis categories, these findings indicate extensive neocortical gray matter reductions in psychosis probands and relatives with psychosis spectrum disorders, possibly reflecting lifetime psychosis burden, but normal gray matter in nonpsychotic relatives. Traditional DSM-IV psychosis grouping revealed partially divergent gray matter phenotypes for probands with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (extensive neocortical or subcortical gray matter reductions) relative to those with psychotic bipolar disorder (smaller reductions were limited to frontotemporal regions). The dimensional conceptualization of psychosis appears useful in defining more homogenous disease categories that may help identify underlying psychosis biomarkers and develop a biologically driven diagnostic system and targeted treatments.
Micrococcaceae from the urinary tract in pregnancy

Gram-positive, catalase-positive cocci (Micrococcaceae) have been obtained from the bladder by suprapubic aspiration of urine in antenatal and postnatal patients. These bacteria have been compared with similar organisms isolated from midstream specimens of urine when the suprapubic specimen was sterile. Fourteen (70%) of 20 organisms isolated from the bladder were micrococci and six (30%) were staphylococci. In contrast 17 (85%) of 20 similar organisms contaminating midstream urine specimens were staphylococci and only three (15%) were micrococci.
Oxidative stress status in metastatic breast cancer patients receiving palliative chemotherapy and its impact on survival rates

Antineoplastic agents are known to induce the production of free radicals leading to cell damage. These adverse effects may fuel the acquisition of new mutations and the development of treatment resistances. We selected 30 metastatic breast cancer patients receiving palliative chemotherapy, and paired blood samples, before and after chemotherapy, were extracted. We analysed DNA, lipid and protein oxidative damage markers and determined the extent of antioxidant and repair defences activation at the systemic level. We found that the DNA repair activity of the KU86 enzyme was significantly lower after chemotherapy and the antioxidant capacity of the plasma was significantly higher after treatment. Cox regression analysis revealed a significant effect of KU86 activity on the survival rates of those patients who received anthracyclines as part of their treatment. The high clinical heterogeneity of metastatic breast cancer patients warrants further studies to clarify the role of DNA repair and systemic antioxidant capacities during chemotherapy.