Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improving the requirements engineering process for an electronic clearinghouse

We present experience with improving the requirements engineering process for a telecommunications electronic clearinghouse that connects multiple trading partners. Software failures and faults were traced back to problems in the semi-structured requirements, which were written as message specifications (called "business rules") in a nonstandardized format using MS Word. To remedy these problems, we first designed a highly structured representation of the. essential information in Extensible Markup Language (XML), supported by XML Schema for precisely defining the requirements structure. Second, we developed XLEdit-a custom GUI for editing the XML documents in a friendly way while preserving their information structure. Third, to assist the requirements engineers with automated migration of the existing business rules, we developed a converter for translating from MS Word to the target XML format. The investment in the technology for structured requirements editing and validation is expected to increase customer satisfaction and dramatically improve the efficiency of the clearinghouse service.
The dynamics of Galactic centre pulsars: constraining pulsar distances and intrinsic spin-down

Through high-precision radio timing observations, we show that five recycled pulsars in the direction of the Galactic Centre (GC) have anomalous spin period time derivative ($\dot P$) measurements -- PSRs J1748$-$3009, J1753$-$2819, J1757$-$2745, and J1804$-$2858 show negative values of $\dot P$ and PSR J1801$-$3210 is found to have an exceptionally small value of $\dot P$. We attribute these observed $\dot P$ measurements to acceleration of these pulsars along their lines-of-sight (LOSs) due to the Galactic gravitational field. Using models of the Galactic mass distribution and pulsar velocities, we constrain the distances to these pulsars, placing them on the far-side of the Galaxy, providing the first accurate distance measurements to pulsars located in this region and allowing us to consider the electron density along these LOSs. We find the new electron density model YMW16 to be more consistent with these observations than the previous model NE2001. The LOS dynamics further constrain the model-dependent intrinsic $\dot P$ values for these pulsars and they are consistent with measurements for other known pulsars. In the future, the independent distance measurements to these and other pulsars near the GC would allow us to constrain the Galactic gravitational potential more accurately.
Using Sub-Optimal Plan Detection to Identify Commitment Abandonment in Discrete Environments

Assessing whether an agent has abandoned a goal or is actively pursuing it is important when multiple agents are trying to achieve joint goals, or when agents commit to achieving goals for each other. Making such a determination for a single goal by observing only plan traces is not trivial, as agents often deviate from optimal plans for various reasons, including the pursuit of multiple goals or the inability to act optimally. In this article, we develop an approach based on domain independent heuristics from automated planning, landmarks, and fact partitions to identify sub-optimal action steps—with respect to a plan—within a fully observable plan execution trace. Such capability is very important in domains where multiple agents cooperate and delegate tasks among themselves, such as through social commitments, and need to ensure that a delegating agent can infer whether or not another agent is actually progressing towards a delegated task. We demonstrate how a creditor can use our technique to determine—by observing a trace—whether a debtor is honouring a commitment. We empirically show, for a number of representative domains, that our approach infers sub-optimal action steps with very high accuracy and detects commitment abandonment in nearly all cases.
Further studies supporting the identity of congenital tritanopia and hereditary dominant optic atrophy.

Dominant inherited optic atrophy is usually a stationary disorder with typical findings of temporal optic nerve pallor, abnormal distance acuity, minimal visual-field defects, and characteristic color confusions in the blue-green region of the spectrum. Variability in the severity of these abnormalities is common, even within the same family. In patients with minimal disease, distance acuity may be close to normal and optic pallor may be so subtle that a definitive diagnosis cannot be made unless other obviously affected members of a family are seen. Our studies indicate that patients with dominantly inherited optic atrophy have similar color vision to that previously reported for subjects with congenital tritan defects. In fact, the almost identical color-vision profiles and pattern of inheritance of the two conditions lead us to question the existence of congenital tritan defect as an independent entity. Criteria are suggested for distinguishing the two conditions. It is emphasized that the utmost care should be taken to rule out dominant optic atrophy in future subjects in whom congenital tritanopia is suspected, both because of the strikingly similar characteristics of the two conditions, if these are indeed separate entities, and because the diagnosis of hereditary dominant atrophy may be easily missed.
Countably Infinite Multilevel Source Polarization for Non-Stationary Erasure Distributions

Polar transforms are central operations in the study of polar codes. This paper examines polar transforms for non-stationary memoryless sources on possibly infinite source alphabets. This is the first attempt of source polarization analysis over infinite alphabets. The source alphabet is defined to be a Polish group, and we handle the Arikan-style two-by-two polar transform based on the group. Defining erasure distributions based on the normal subgroup structure, we give recursive formulas of the polar transform for erasure distributions. We then show concrete examples of multilevel source polarization with countably infinite levels when the group is locally cyclic. We derive this result via elementary techniques in lattice theory.
Laminar shear stress acts as a switch to regulate divergent functions of NF‐κB in endothelial cells

Regions of the arterial tree exposed to laminar flow, which exerts high shear stress, are protected from inflammation, endothelial cell (EC) death and atherosclerosis. TNFα activates NF‐κB transcription factors, which potentially exert dual functions by inducing both proinflammatory and cytoprotective transcripts. We assessed whether laminar shear stress protects EC by modulating NF‐κB function. Human umbilical vein EC (HUVEC) were cultured under shear stress (12 dynes/cm2 for 16 h) using a parallel‐plate flow chamber or were maintained in static conditions. Comparative real‐time PCR revealed that preshearing significantly alters transcriptional responses to TNFα by enhancing the expression of cytoprotective molecules (Bcl‐2, MnSOD, GADD45β, A1) and suppressing proin‐flammatory transcripts (E‐selectin, VCAM‐1, IL‐8). We demonstrated using assays of nuclear localization, NF‐κB subunit phosphorylation, DNA‐binding, and transcriptional activity that NF‐κB is activated by TNFα in presheared HUVEC. Furthermore, a specific inhibitor revealed that NF‐κB is essential for the induction of cytoprotective transcripts in presheared EC. Finally, we observed that NF‐κB can be activated in vascular endo‐thelium exposed to laminar shear stress in NF‐κB‐luciferase reporter mice, thus validating our cell culture experiments. We conclude that shear stress primes EC for enhanced NF‐κB‐dependent cytoprotective responsiveness while attenuating proinflammatory activation. Thus modulation of NF‐κB function may underlie the atheroprotective effects of laminar shear stress. —Partridge, J., Carlsen, H. , Enesa, K. , Chaudhury, H. , Zakkar, M. , Luong, L. , Kinderlerer, A. , Johns, M. , Blomhoff, R. , Mason, J. C. , Haskard, D. O. , Evans, P. C. Laminar shear stress acts as a switch to regulate divergent functions of NF‐κB in endothelial cells. FASEB J. 21, 3553–3561 (2007)
Arginylation-Dependent Neural Crest Cell Migration Is Essential for Mouse Development

Coordinated cell migration during development is crucial for morphogenesis and largely relies on cells of the neural crest lineage that migrate over long distances to give rise to organs and tissues throughout the body. Recent studies of protein arginylation implicated this poorly understood posttranslational modification in the functioning of actin cytoskeleton and in cell migration in culture. Knockout of arginyltransferase (Ate1) in mice leads to embryonic lethality and severe heart defects that are reminiscent of cell migration–dependent phenotypes seen in other mouse models. To test the hypothesis that arginylation regulates cell migration during morphogenesis, we produced Wnt1-Cre Ate1 conditional knockout mice (Wnt1-Ate1), with Ate1 deletion in the neural crest cells driven by Wnt1 promoter. Wnt1-Ate1 mice die at birth and in the first 2–3 weeks after birth with severe breathing problems and with growth and behavioral retardation. Wnt1-Ate1 pups have prominent defects, including short palate and altered opening to the nasopharynx, and cranial defects that likely contribute to the abnormal breathing and early death. Analysis of neural crest cell movement patterns in situ and cell motility in culture shows an overall delay in the migration of Ate1 knockout cells that is likely regulated by intracellular mechanisms rather than extracellular signaling events. Taken together, our data suggest that arginylation plays a general role in the migration of the neural crest cells in development by regulating the molecular machinery that underlies cell migration through tissues and organs during morphogenesis.
The Vitronectin Receptor and its Associated CD47 Molecule Mediates Proinflammatory Cytokine Synthesis in Human Monocytes by Interaction with Soluble CD23

The vitronectin receptor, αvβ3 integrin, plays an important role in tumor cell invasion, angiogenesis, and phagocytosis of apoptotic cells. CD47, a member of the multispan transmembrane receptor family, physically and functionally associates with vitronectin receptor (VnR). Although vitronectin (Vn) is not a ligand of CD47, anti-CD47 and β3 mAbs suppress Vn, but not fibronectin (Fn) binding and function. Here, we show that anti-CD47, anti-β3 mAb and Vn, but not Fn, inhibit sCD23-mediated proinflammatory function (TNF-α, IL-12, and IFN-γ release). Surprisingly, anti-CD47 and β3 mAbs do not block sCD23 binding to αv +β3 + T cell lines, whereas Vn and an αv mAb (clone AMF7) do inhibit sCD23 binding, suggesting the VnR complex may be a functional receptor for sCD23. sCD23 directly binds αv +β3 +/CD47− cell lines, but coexpression of CD47 increases binding. Moreover, sCD23 binds purified αv protein and a single human αv chain CHO transfectant. We conclude that the VnR and its associated CD47 molecule may function as a novel receptor for sCD23 to mediate its proinflammatory activity and, as such, may be involved in the inflammatory process of the immune response.
Intensity of training and physiologic adaptation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The applicability of high-intensity training and the possibility of inducing physiologic adaptation to training are still uncertain in patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The purposes of this study were to evaluate the proportion of patients with moderate to severe COPD in whom high-intensity exercise training (30-min exercise session at 80% of baseline maximal power output [Wmax]) is feasible, and the response to training in these patients. We also sought to evaluate the possible influence of disease severity on the training intensity achieved and on the development of physiologic adaptation following endurance training. Forty-two patients with COPD (age = 66 +/- 7 yr, FEV1 = 38 +/- 13% predicted, [mean +/- SD]) were evaluated at baseline and after a 12-wk endurance training program. Each evaluation included a stepwise exercise test on an ergocycle up to the individual maximal capacity during which minute ventilation (VE), oxygen consumption (VO2), carbon dioxide production (VCO2), and arterial lactic acid concentrations were measured. The training consisted of 25 to 30-min exercise sessions on a calibrated ergocycle three times a week, with a target training intensity at 80% of Wmax. The training intensity was adjusted with the objective of reaching the target intensity, but also to ensure that the cycling exercise could be maintained for the specified duration. The training intensity sustained for the duration of each exercise session averaged 24.5 +/- 12.6, 51.7 +/- 17.4, 63.8 +/- 22.4, and 60.4 +/- 22.7% of Wmax at Weeks 2, 4, 10, and 12, respectively. High-intensity training was achieved in zero, three, five, and five patients at Weeks 2, 4, 10, and 12, respectively. A significant increase in VO2max and Wmax occurred with training (p < 0.0002). This improvement in exercise capacity was accompanied by a 6% and 17% reduction in VE and in arterial lactic acid concentration for a given work rate, respectively (p < 0.0001), suggesting that physiologic adaptation to training occurred. The intensity of training achieved, in % Wmax, was not influenced by the initial VO2max, age, or FEV1. The effects of training were compared in patients with an FEV1 > or = 40% or < 40% predicted. Percent changes in VO2max, Wmax, and VE, were significant and of similar magnitude for both groups, whereas the decrease in arterial lactic acid for a given work rate reached statistical significance only in those patients with an FEV1 > or = 40% predicted. We conclude that although most patients were unable to achieve high-intensity training as defined in this study, significant improvement in their exercise capacity was obtained and physiologic adaptation to endurance training occurred. The training intensity expressed as a percent of the individual maximum exercise capacity, and the relative effectiveness of training, were not influenced by the severity of airflow obstruction.
Safety and efficiency of flow diverters for treating small intracranial aneurysms: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background We evaluated the safety and efficiency of flow diverters (FDs) in treating small intracranial aneurysms (IAs). Materials and Methods We reviewed the literature published in PubMed and EMBASE. R for Project software was used to calculate the complete aneurysm occlusion rates, procedure-related neurologic mortality, procedure-related neurologic morbidity and procedure-related permanent morbidity. Results Ten observational studies were included in this analysis. The complete aneurysm occlusion rate was 84.23% (80.34%–87.76%), the procedure-related neurologic mortality was 0.87% (0.29%–1.74%), the procedure-related neurologic morbidity rate was 5.22% (3.62%–7.1%), the intracerebral haemorrhage rate was 1.42% (0.64%–2.49%), the ischemic rate was 2.35% (1.31%–3.68%), the subarachnoid haemorrhage rate was 0.03% (0%–0.32%) and the procedure-related permanent morbidity was 2.41% (0.81%–4.83%). Conclusions Treatment of small IAs with FDs may be correlated with high complete occlusion rates and low complication rates. Future long-term follow-up randomized trials will determine the optimal treatment for small IAs.
Gravitational Lensing by a Compound Population of Halos: Standard Models

Based on observed rotation curves of galaxies and theoretical simulations of dark matter halos, there are reasons for believing that at least three different types of dark matter halos exist in the universe classified by their masses M and the inner slope of mass density -α: population A (galaxies): 1010 h-1 M☉ ≲ M ≲ 2 × 1013 h-1 M☉, α ≈ 2; population B (cluster halos): M ≳ 2 × 1013 h-1 M☉, α ≈ 1.3; and population C (dwarf halos): M ≲ 1010 h-1 M☉, α ≈ 1.3. In this paper we calculate the lensing probability produced by such a compound population of dark halos for both image separation and time delay, assuming that the mass function of halos is given by the Press-Schechter function and the universe is described by a cold dark matter (CDM) LCDM, OCDM, or SCDM model. The LCDM model is normalized to the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe observations; OCDM and SCDM models are normalized to the abundance of rich clusters. We compare the predictions of the different cosmological models with observational data and show that both LCDM and OCDM models are marginally consistent with the current available data, but the SCDM model is ruled out. The fit of the compound model to the observed correlation between splitting angle and time delay is excellent, but the fit to the number versus splitting angle relation is only adequate using the small number of sources in the objective Jodrell-VLA Astrometric Survey/Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey. A larger survey of the same type would have great power in discriminating among cosmological models. Furthermore, population C in a LCDM model has a unique signature in the time domain, an additional peak at ~3 s potentially observable in GRBs, which makes it distinguishable from variants of CDM scenarios, such as warm dark matter, repulsive dark matter, or collisional dark matter. For image separations greater than 10'' the differently normalized LCDM models predict significantly different lensing probabilities, affording an additional lever to break the degeneracies in the CMB determination of cosmological parameters.
High-Dose Chemotherapy with Autologous Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Rescue for Pediatric Brain Tumor Patients: A Single Institution Experience from UCLA

Background. Dose-dependent response makes certain pediatric brain tumors appropriate targets for high-dose chemotherapy with autologous hematopoietic stem-cell rescue (HDCT-AHSCR). Methods. The clinical outcomes and toxicities were analyzed retrospectively for 18 consecutive patients ≤19 y/o treated with HDCT-AHSCR at UCLA (1999–2009). Results. Patients' median age was 2.3 years. Fourteen had primary and 4 recurrent tumors: 12 neural/embryonal (7 medulloblastomas, 4 primitive neuroectodermal tumors, and a pineoblastoma), 3 glial/mixed, and 3 germ cell tumors. Eight patients had initial gross-total and seven subtotal resections. HDCT mostly consisted of carboplatin and/or thiotepa ± etoposide (n = 16). Nine patients underwent a single AHSCR and nine ≥3 tandems. Three-year progression-free and overall survival probabilities were 60.5% ± 16 and 69.3% ± 11.5. Ten patients with pre-AHSCR complete remissions were alive/disease-free, whereas 5 of 8 with measurable disease were deceased (median followup: 2.3 yrs). Nine of 13 survivors avoided radiation. Single AHSCR regimens had greater toxicity than ≥3 AHSCR (P < .01). Conclusion. HDCT-AHSCR has a definitive, though limited role for selected pediatric brain tumors with poor prognosis and pretransplant complete/partial remissions.
Functional Characterization of FTDP-17 tau Gene Mutations through Their Effects on Xenopus Oocyte Maturation*

tau gene mutations cause frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FTDP-17). Here we have used Xenopus oocyte maturation as an indicator of microtubule function. We show that wild-type four-repeat Tau protein inhibits maturation in a concentration-dependent manner, whereas three-repeat Tau has no effect. Of the seven four-repeat Tau proteins with FTDP-17 mutations tested, five (G272V, ΔK280, P301L, P301S, and V337M) failed to interfere significantly with oocyte maturation, demonstrating a greatly reduced ability to interact with microtubules. One mutant protein (R406W) almost behaved like wild-type Tau, and one (S305N) inhibited maturation more strongly than wild-type Tau. With the exception of R406W, wild-type Tau and all the mutants studied were similarly phosphorylated during the Xenopus oocyte maturation, and this was independent of their effects on this process. Data obtained with R406W and S305N may be related to charge changes (phosphorylation and basic amino acids). Our results demonstrate variable effects of FTDP-17 mutations on microtubules in an intact cell situation. Those findings establish Xenopus oocyte maturation as a system allowing the study of the functional effects oftau gene mutations in a quantitative manner.
Brief intervention in alcohol-positive traffic casualties: is it worth the effort?

AIMS This study aimed at testing the effectiveness of a brief motivational intervention (BI) compared with a minimal intervention (MI) for reducing alcohol consumption in adult, alcohol-positive traffic casualties. METHODS Patients were recruited at the emergency room of a trauma hospital and screened for alcohol by a qualitative saliva test (positive from a blood alcohol concentration of 0.02 g/l). Positive patients (13.3%) who accepted entering the study were randomly allocated into BI and MI. Baseline assessment was the same for all patients. Blind telephone follow-ups were performed at months 3, 6, and 12, and results were analysed by protocol and by intention-to-treat analysis. RESULTS After 1 year of follow-up, 67% of the patients had reduced their consumption, the percentage of heavy drinkers had dropped by 47%, and 62% of baseline AUDIT-C positive patients (hazardous drinkers) had become negative. Binge drinking dropped significantly (P < 0.05). Results at month 12 were in line with the previous ones. CONCLUSIONS The effectiveness of BI compared with MI has not been verified, but a significant reduction in consumption has been observed in the whole sample, without significant differences by type of intervention. The persistence and dimension of changes suggest a real effect of both interventions, although the lack of a pure control group does not allow definitive conclusions. Traffic casualties are in a teachable moments to benefit from easy and cheap interventions.
Detector tomography on IBM quantum computers and mitigation of an imperfect measurement

We use quantum detector tomography to characterize the qubit readout in terms of measurement POVMs on IBM Quantum Computers IBM Q 5 Tenerife and IBM Q 5 Yorktown. Our results suggest that the characterized detector model deviates from the ideal projectors by a few percent. Further improvement on this characterization can be made by adopting two- or more-qubit detector models instead of independent single-qubit detectors for all the qubits in one device. An unexpected behavior was seen in the physical qubit labelled as qubit 3 of IBM Q 5 Tenerife, which can be a consequence of detector crosstalk or qubit operations influencing each other and requires further investigation. This peculiar behavior is consistent with characterization from the more sophisticated approach of the gate set tomography. We also discuss how the characterized detectors' POVM, despite deviation from the ideal projectors, can be used to estimate the ideal detection distribution.