Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Definition of the System Model

This chapter is devoted to the definition of a system model tailored towards UML. The hierarchy of theories that compose the system model is stepwise introduced. These theories are combined into a theory of sophisticated state transition systems. The semantics of a word in a UML sublanguage, i.e., a diagram, can then be defined by a set of such transition systems. Given two or more actual diagrams, possibly forming a complete UML model, the semantics of them together is defined by the intersection of their translations into the system model. In other words, consistency of a model is defined by non-empty intersection of the sets containing the transition systems that implement the diagrams individually.
Adolescent's changes in psychological need satisfaction are associated with changes in physical activity over time

According to Deci and Ryan (2002), people have psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness, and when fulfilled these needs are associated with increased well-being and behavioural persistence. Cross-sectional studies have supported this proposition, but longitudinal studies are needed to extend research. The purpose of this study was: (a) examine longitudinal measurement invariance of scores from psychological need satisfaction subscales, and (b) examine longitudinal associations between perceived competence, autonomy, and relatedness and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Participants were adolescents ( N = 842, M age = 10.80 years, SD = .64) enrolled in the Monitoring Activities of Teenagers to Comprehend their Habits (MATCH) study (Belanger et al., 2013). Self-report measures of psychological need satisfaction and MVPA were completed every 4 months over a 2-year period (2011-13). Measurement invariance analyses showed that scores from the psychological need satisfaction subscales demonstrated strong invariance (i.e., invariant factor loadings and intercepts) and partial strict invariance (i.e., invariant factor loadings and intercepts, and all but two item errors) over time. Results of the growth modeling indicated that the intercepts for perceptions of competence ( r = .58), autonomy ( r = .49), and relatedness ( r = .45) were positively associated with initial MVPA level. Although a higher initial MVPA level was associated with a greater decline in MVPA ( r = -.28), the slopes for perceptions of competence ( r = 48), autonomy ( r = .46), and relatedness ( r = .48) were positively associated with the slope for MVPA ( p < .05). Overall, invariance results provided evidence that the same constructs were measured over time, and thus methods for studying change could be applied. To this end, as psychological need satisfaction increased over 2 years, so did MVPA levels. In light of these findings, teachers, parents, and coaches should foster perceptions of psychological need satisfaction to increase MVPA in adolescents. Acknowledgments: The MATCH project is supported by the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation (#20130729) and by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Sport Canada through the joint Sport Participation Research Initiative (#862-2010-0001).
Do Cognitive and Physical Functions Age in Concert from Age 70 to 76? Evidence from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

Abstract The present study concerns the relation of mental and bodily characteristics to one another during ageing. The ‘common cause’ theory of ageing proposes that declines are shared across multiple, seemingly-disparate functions, including both physical and intellectual abilities. The concept of ‘reserve’ suggests that healthier cognitive (and perhaps bodily) functions from early in life are protective against the effects of senescence across multiple domains. In three waves of physical and cognitive testing data from the longitudinal Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (n = 1,091 at age 70 years; n = 866 at 73; n = 697 at 76), we used multivariate growth curve modeling to test the ‘common cause’ and ‘reserve’ hypotheses. Support for both concepts was mixed: although levels of physical functions and cognitive functions were correlated with one another, physical functions did not decline together, and there was little evidence for shared declines in physical and mental functions. Early-life intelligence, a potential marker of system integrity, made a significant prediction of the levels, but not the slopes, of later life physical functions. These data suggest that common causes, which are likely present within cognitive functions, are not as far-reaching beyond the cognitive arena as has previously been suggested. They also imply that bodily reserve may be similar to cognitive reserve in that it affects the level, but not the slope, of ageing-related declines.
Effects of Team Personality Composition on Member Performance: A Multilevel Perspective

Personality traits are often theorized to affect team performance by predisposing members to perform individual-level behaviors. Yet, member personality traits may also affect team performance by creating contextual influences on member behaviors. As such, the purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of team personality composition on individual-level performance using hierarchical linear modeling. A range of effects for team-level elevation were observed, but few effects emerged for team-level heterogeneity. Main effects from elevation in Extraversion and Openness to Experience were consistently observed across analyses. The main effects from team elevation in Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, however, were only observed prior to controlling for individual-level trait scores or when using a group-mean centering method for individual-level trait scores. In addition, elevation in Conscientiousness and heterogeneity in Emotional Stability moderated the relationships between individual trait scores and performance, such that individual-level relations were stronger when team elevation was higher (Conscientiousness) and heterogeneity was lower (Emotional Stability). These findings provide evidence that team member personality can influence performance through contextual phenomena.
Statistical modeling of F0 and timing of Swiss German dialects

This study examines the timing and fundamental frequency behavior of 40 Swiss German speakers from four different dialect regions. Prosodic behavior of each dialect is analyzed using statistical tests against the backdrop of detecting dialectspecific patterns as well as cross-dialectal differences. We find that variation in F0 as well as in timing is vast across the dialects, with one of the dialects, the Southwestern Alpine variety, exhibiting particularly salient F0 and timing features. The results confirm earlier impressionistic observations on this unexplored topic of Swiss German prosody.
Comorbid medical conditions among depressed elderly patients discharged home after acute psychiatric care.

OBJECTIVE The authors examined physical illness among elderly patients hospitalized for treatment of major depression, the impact of comorbidity on functional status, and the burden of comorbidity on post-discharge service needs. METHODS Data for this cross-sectional study were derived from patient interviews and abstracted from hospital charts. The sample comprised 195 older adults hospitalized for treatment of depression on the geropsychiatric unit of a large urban teaching hospital and discharged to home. Medical comorbidity was measured with the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale for Geriatrics. A psychiatrist confirmed DSM-IV for Axis I diagnosis of depression, and the Geriatric Depression Scale measured depression severity. Unit nurses administered the Mini-Mental State Exam. They assessed functional dependency via the OARS Multidimensional Functional Assessment Questionnaire. Service needs post-discharge were measured from physician discharge orders and patient scores on standardized tests. RESULTS Almost three-fourths of depressed elderly patients had at least one comorbid condition requiring first-line treatment; nearly half had two, and one-fourth had three or more. Comorbid physical illness and cognitive impairment was significantly and negatively associated with elderly patients' functional impairment at discharge. Depressed patients with higher medical comorbidity had significantly more needs for services after they left acute care. CONCLUSION Medical comorbidity needs to be assessed and considered in planning for post-acute care for depressed elderly patients discharged home.
PIAS3 induction of PRB sumoylation represses PRB transactivation by destabilizing its retention in the nucleus

Progesterone receptor (PR) plays a critical role in cell proliferation and differentiation, and its transcriptional activity is known to be modulated by cofactor proteins. In the present study, we demonstrated that in the presence of progesterone, protein inhibitor of activated STAT-3 (PIAS3) significantly inhibited the PR transcriptional activity and the expression of progesterone-responsive genes. Reduction of endogenous PIAS3 by PIAS3 small-interfering RNA enhanced PR transactivation in a ligand-dependent manner. PIAS3 interacted with PR both in vitro and in vivo and the interaction was enhanced by progesterone. Furthermore, our findings suggested that PIAS3 strongly induced PRB sumoylation at three sites, Lys-7, Lys-388 and Lys-531. In addition, novel roles in PRB nuclear retention and transactivation were identified for these sites. Our data also suggested that PIAS3 was recruited in a largely hormone-dependent manner in response to a progesterone-responsive promoter. Finally, we demonstrated that PIAS3 inhibited the DNA-binding activity of PR and influenced its nuclear export as well as PR transactivation. Taken together, these data strongly suggested that PIAS3 played an important physiological role in PR function.
Formalizing Epistemological Constituents of Emergence Raif

12Abstract. Social action depends on the knowledge about all levels of emergent structure and this knowledge is not limited to but produced by the local binary interactions, thus requiring reflexivity and intentionality. This knowledge resides in the impersonal area of symbol systems and is produced by a metalanguage which carries the knowledge of emergent structure beyond local networks to the topological knowledge of the macro phenomena. Individual agents use symbol systems as tool-kits to encode their intents, and use their world-views to ground the symbols and ethos to challenge meaning-symbol correspondences through their everyday practices. Symbolic interaction is not only the symbolic affirmation of shared social classifications and normative protocols that regulate interactions but is also making sense of expressive, symbolic behaviour and decoding the intent of the counterparts from these symbols. Meta-language is the key concept to understand how this knowledge is generated through semiotic relations. This paper develops the formal infrastructure of such a model and elaborates various mechanisms that can be implemented within a social simulation model.
Comparison of Different Types of Commercial Filtered Backprojection and Ordered-Subset Expectation Maximization SPECT Reconstruction Software

The aim of this study was to compare the performance of filtered backprojection (FBP) and ordered-subset expectation maximization (OSEM) reconstruction algorithms available in several types of commercial SPECT software. Methods: Numeric simulations of SPECT acquisitions of 2 phantoms were used: the National Electrical Manufacturers Association line phantom used for the assessment of SPECT resolution and a phantom with uniform, hot-rod, and cold-rod compartments. For FBP, no filtering and filtering of the projections with either a Butterworth filter (order 3 or 6) or a Hanning filter at various cutoff frequencies were considered. For OSEM, the number of subsets was 1, 4, 8, or 16, and the number of iterations was chosen to obtain a product number of iterations times the number of subsets equal to 16, 32, 48, or 64. The line phantom enabled us to obtain the reconstructed central, radial, and tangential full width at half maximum. The uniform compartment of the second phantom delivered the reconstructed mean pixel counts and SDs from which the coefficients of variation were calculated. Hot contrast and cold contrast were obtained from its rod compartments. Results: For FBP, the full width at half maximum, mean pixel count, coefficient of variation, and contrast were almost software independent. The only exceptions were a smaller (by 0.5 mm) full width at half maximum for one of the software types, higher mean pixel counts for 2 of the software types, and better contrast for 2 of the software types under some filtering conditions. For OSEM, the full width at half maximum differed by 0.1–2.5 mm with the different types of software but was almost independent of the number of subsets or iterations. There was a marked dependence of the mean pixel count on the type of software used, and there was a moderate dependence of the coefficient of variation. Contrast was almost software independent. The mean pixel count varied greatly with the number of iterations for 2 of the software types, and the coefficient of variation increased with the number of iterations for all types of software. The mean pixel count, coefficient of variation, and contrast were almost constant for a fixed product number of iterations times the number of subsets, whatever the number of subsets or iterations. Conclusion: Most of the types of software were equivalent for FBP or OSEM reconstruction. However, a few differences were observed with some types of software and should be considered when they are used.
Learning First Order Rules from Ambiguous Examples

We investigate here relational concept learning from examples when we only have a partial information regarding examples: each such example is qualified as ambiguous as we only know a set of its possible complete descriptions. A typical such situation arises in rule learning when truth values of some atoms are missing in the example description while we benefit from background knowledge. We first give a sample complexity result for learning from ambiguous examples, then we propose a framework for relational rule learning from ambiguous examples and describe the learning system LEAR. Finally we discuss various experiments in which we observe how LEAR copes with increasing degrees of incompleteness.
Barriers to Partnership Working in Public Health: A Qualitative Study

Background Public health provision in England is undergoing dramatic changes. Currently established partnerships are thus likely to be significantly disrupted by the radical reforms outlined in the Public Health White Paper. We therefore explored the process of partnership working in public health, in order to better understand the potential opportunities and threats associated with the proposed changes. Methodology/Principal Findings 70 participants took part in an in-depth qualitative study involving 40 semi-structured interviews and three focus group discussions. Participants were senior and middle grade public health decision makers working in Primary Care Trusts, Local Authorities, Department of Health, academia, General Practice and Hospital Trusts and the third sector in England. Despite mature arrangements for partnership working in many areas, and much support for joint working in principle, many important barriers exist. These include cultural issues such as a lack of shared values and language, the inherent complexity of intersectoral collaboration for public health, and macro issues including political and resource constraints. There is particular uncertainty and anxiety about the future of joint working relating to the availability and distribution of scarce and diminishing financial resources. There is also the concern that existing effective collaborative networks may be completely disrupted as the proposed changes unfold. The extent to which the proposed reforms might mitigate or potentiate these issues remains unclear. However the threats currently remain more salient than opportunities. Conclusions The current re-organisation of public health offers real opportunity to address some of the barriers to partnership working identified in this study. However, significant threats exist. These include the breakup of established networks, and the risk of cost cutting on effective public health interventions.
Performance evaluation of routing protocols in wireless mesh network

Wireless mesh network has been considered as a viable solution to offer broadband connectivity to rural community due to its ability to provide extended coverage and scalable deployment. However, there are still impediments that need to be addressed in terms of throughput degradation, latency and interference due to multi hop transmission and potential isolated nodes. In this contribution, an investigation of suitable routing protocol in the context of providing rural broadband communication is presented by evaluating various of routing approaches, namely reactive, proactive and hybrid routing protocols. Specifically, performance analysis was simulated for ad hoc on demand distance vector (AODV), optimized link state routing (OLSR) and hybrid wireless mesh protocol (HWMP). The impacts of traffic loads, number of sources and the network size on wireless mesh network have been investigated through the simulation. HWMP has a clear advantage compare to AODV and OLSR in terms of maximizing throughput and minimizing end to end delay.
Simultaneous occurrence of polar stratospheric clouds and upper-tropospheric clouds caused by blocking anticyclones in the Southern Hemisphere

Abstract. Previous studies have reported that polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) are frequently observed simultaneously with upper-tropospheric clouds (UCs) in the Southern Hemisphere. However, it has not yet been examined whether the UCs that simultaneously occur with PSCs are actually located below the height of the tropopause, which is modified by tropospheric disturbances. Furthermore, the mechanism of this simultaneous occurrence has not yet been clarified. This study statistically examines the simultaneous appearance of PSCs and UCs using the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) for the five austral winters of 2007–2011. From correlation analyses and statistical dependence tests, it is shown that the simultaneous occurrence frequencies of clouds with an altitude range of 15–25 km and 9–11 km are significant. The analyses based on tropopause-relative altitude suggest that the occurrence frequency of clouds at altitudes higher than 6 km above the local tropopause (i.e., PSCs) is significantly correlated with that of clouds around and slightly above the tropopause. These results indicate that the UCs observed simultaneously with PSCs reported in previous case studies are likely located around and slightly above the tropopause rather than in the troposphere. It is also shown that the simultaneous occurrence of PSCs and UCs is frequently associated with blocking highs that have large horizontal scales (several thousand kilometers) and tall structure (up to a height of ~15 km). The longitudinal variation of blocking high frequency accords well with that of the simultaneous occurrence frequency of PSCs and UCs. This fact suggests that the blocking highs provide a preferable condition for such simultaneous occurrences. Moreover, the composition of PSCs is investigated as a function of relative longitude of the anticyclones including blocking highs. It was discovered that relatively high proportions of STS (super-cooled ternary solutions), Ice, and Mix2 (mixture of nitric acid trihydrate and STS) types are distributed towards the windward, near, and leeward side of anticyclones in westerly background flows, respectively.
Commitment through Employee Volunteering: Accounting for the Motives of Inter‐Organisational Volunteers

This study investigated whether participating in inter-organisational (i.e. self-directed, non-strategic) employee volunteering, which is common but rarely studied, is associated with increased organisational commitment. We find evidence for this relation in a sample (N = 385) of employee volunteers and their non-volunteering co-workers. We statistically account for self-selection into the volunteering program by incorporating individual motives for volunteering. Volunteers compared to non-volunteers exhibited relatively stronger motives of expressing altruistic values and avoiding negative affect, but a weaker motive of attaining career advancement. Our findings point to an efficient way of increasing organisational commitment that is relatively inexpensive to implement. They also complement existing research from other employee volunteering contexts, pointing to a possible trade-off between the desired outcomes of effectively managing volunteering programs.
Paraphrasing Revisited with Neural Machine Translation

Recognizing and generating paraphrases is an important component in many natural language processing applications. A well-established technique for automatically extracting paraphrases leverages bilingual corpora to find meaning-equivalent phrases in a single language by “pivoting” over a shared translation in another language. In this paper we revisit bilingual pivoting in the context of neural machine translation and present a paraphrasing model based purely on neural networks. Our model represents paraphrases in a continuous space, estimates the degree of semantic relatedness between text segments of arbitrary length, and generates candidate paraphrases for any source input. Experimental results across tasks and datasets show that neural paraphrases outperform those obtained with conventional phrase-based pivoting approaches.
Relationship of multidrug resistance to rhodamine-123 selectivity between carcinoma and normal epithelial cells: taxol and vinblastine modulate drug efflux.

Preferential retention and cytotoxicity of Rhodamine-123 (Rho-123) was originally reported in a number of carcinoma cell types isolated from a variety of tissues as compared to normal epithelial cells from a limited number of other tissues. In the present study, we have examined Rho-123 selectivity in normal and tumor cell lines isolated from the same tissue source, i.e., human breast. We found that: (a) in matched pairs of normal and carcinoma breast cells, Rho-123 displays no preferential retention in either cell type; (b) there is no preferential toxicity in carcinoma as compared to normal breast cells; in fact, one of the carcinoma cell lines (MDA-MB231) shows moderate resistance to this dye; (c) all of the human breast cell lines do not express P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance; (d) the normal monkey kidney epithelial cell line CV-1, which was originally used as a model to demonstrate the relative resistance of normal epithelial cells to this drug, is found to express high levels of the mdr-1 gene, is resistant to other multidrug-resistant drugs (taxol and vinblastine), and its resistance to Rho-123 as well as decreased Rho-123 retention can be reversed by verapamil; and (e) taxol and vinblastine are found to block increased Rho-123 efflux in CV-1 cells. Thus, overall the data suggest that preferential retention and cytotoxicity of Rho-123 in carcinoma versus normal epithelial cells is related to the differential expression of the mdr-1 gene.