Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reducing Annotation Effort Using Generalized Expectation Criteria

Abstract : Generalized expectation (GE) criteria [McCallum et al., 2007] are terms in objective functions that assign scores to values of model expectations. In this paper we introduce GE-FL, a method that uses GE to train a probabilistic model using associations between input features and classes rather than complete labeled instances. Specifically, here the expectations are model predicted class distributions on unlabeled instances that contain selected input features. The score function is the KL divergence from reference distributions estimated using feature-class associations. We show that a multinomial logistic regression model trained with GE-FL outperforms several baseline methods that use feature-class associations. Next, we compare with a method that incorporates feature-class associations into Boosting [Schapire et al., 2002] and find that it requires 400 labeled instances to attain the same accuracy as GE-FL, which uses no labeled instances. In human annotation experiments, we show that labeling features is on average 3.7 times faster than labeling documents, a result that supports similar findings in previous work [Raghavan et al., 2006]. Additionally, using GE-FL provides a 1.0% absolute improvement in final accuracy over semi-supervised training with labeled documents. The accuracy difference is often much more pronounced with only a few minutes of annotation, where we see absolute accuracy improvements as high as 40%.
Active Learning for Dialogue Act Classification

Active learning techniques were employed for classification of dialogue acts over two dialogue corpora, the English human-human Switchboard corpus and the Spanish human-machine Dihana corpus. It is shown clearly that active learning improves on a baseline obtained through a passive learning approach to tagging the same data sets. An error reduction of 7% was obtained on Switchboard, while a factor 5 reduction in the amount of labeled data needed for classification was achieved on Dihana. The passive Support Vector Machine learner used as baseline in itself significantly improves the state of the art in dialogue act classification on both corpora. On Switchboard it gives a 31% error reduction compared to the previously best reported result.
Stathmin Mediates Hepatocyte Resistance to Death from Oxidative Stress by down Regulating JNK

Stathmin 1 performs a critical function in cell proliferation by regulating microtubule polymerization. This proliferative function is thought to explain the frequent overexpression of stathmin in human cancer and its correlation with a bad prognosis. Whether stathmin also functions in cell death pathways is unclear. Stathmin regulates microtubules in part by binding free tubulin, a process inhibited by stathmin phosphorylation from kinases including c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). The involvement of JNK activation both in stathmin phosphorylation, and in hepatocellular resistance to oxidative stress, led to an examination of the role of stathmin/JNK crosstalk in oxidant-induced hepatocyte death. Oxidative stress from menadione-generated superoxide induced JNK-dependent stathmin phosphorylation at Ser-16, Ser-25 and Ser-38 in hepatocytes. A stathmin knockdown sensitized hepatocytes to both apoptotic and necrotic cell death from menadione without altering levels of oxidant generation. The absence of stathmin during oxidative stress led to JNK overactivation that was the mechanism of cell death as a concomitant knockdown of JNK1 or JNK2 blocked death. Hepatocyte death from JNK overactivation was mediated by the effects of JNK on mitochondria. Mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization occurred in stathmin knockdown cells at low concentrations of menadione that triggered apoptosis, whereas mitochondrial β-oxidation and ATP homeostasis were compromised at higher, necrotic menadione concentrations. Stathmin therefore mediates hepatocyte resistance to death from oxidative stress by down regulating JNK and maintaining mitochondrial integrity. These findings demonstrate a new mechanism by which stathmin promotes cell survival and potentially tumor growth.
Lactulose Increases Equol Production and Improves Liver Antioxidant Status in Barrows Treated with Daidzein

Equol, one of the intestinal microflora metabolites of daidzein, has gained much attention for having greater bioactivity than its precursor (daidzein and daidzin) and seeming to be promoted by hydrogen gas. The effects of lactulose on the equol-producing capacity and liver antioxidant status of barrows treated with daidzein were investigated in this study. Male castrated piglets (barrows) of Landrace×Duroc, aged 40 days, were randomly divided into the following three groups: control group (C, n = 12, fed an isoflavones-free basic diet), daidzein group (D, n = 12, fed an isoflavones-free basic diet with 50 mg/kg of daidzein supplementation) and daidzein+lactulose group (D+L, n = 12, fed an isoflavones-free basic diet with 1% of lactulose and 50 mg/kg of daidzein supplementation). After 20 days, the profile of short-chain fatty acids in the colon digesta showed that lactulose significantly increased the fermented capacity in the gastrointestinal tract of the barrows. First-void urinary equol concentrations were significantly higher in the D+L group than in the D group (3.13±0.93 compared to 2.11±0.82 μg/ml, respectively). Furthermore, fecal equol levels were also significantly higher in the D+L group than in the D group (12.00±2.68 compared to 10.00±2.26 μg/g, respectively). The population of bacteroidetes and the percentage of bacteroidetes to bacteria in feces were higher in the D+L group than in the D group. The DGGE profiles results indicate that lactulose might shift the pathways of hydrogen utilization, and changing the profiles of SRB in feces. Moreover, the D+L group had weak enhancement of T-SOD and CuZn-SOD activities in the livers of barrows treated with daidzein.
How Well Do Test Case Prioritization Techniques Support Statistical Fault Localization

In continuous integration, a tight integration of test case prioritization techniques and fault-localization techniques may both expose failures faster and locate faults more effectively. Statistical fault-localization techniques use the execution information collected during testing to locate faults. Executing a small fraction of a prioritized test suite reduces the cost of testing, and yet the subsequent fault localization may suffer. This paper presents the first empirical study to examine the impact of test case prioritization on the effectiveness of fault localization. Among many interesting empirical results, we find that coverage-based and random techniques can be more effective than distribution-based techniques in supporting statistical fault localization.
Disentangled Representations in Neural Models

Representation learning is the foundation for the recent success of neural network models. However, the distributed representations generated by neural networks are far from ideal. Due to their highly entangled nature, they are di cult to reuse and interpret, and they do a poor job of capturing the sparsity which is present in real- world transformations. In this paper, I describe methods for learning disentangled representations in the two domains of graphics and computation. These methods allow neural methods to learn representations which are easy to interpret and reuse, yet they incur little or no penalty to performance. In the Graphics section, I demonstrate the ability of these methods to infer the generating parameters of images and rerender those images under novel conditions. In the Computation section, I describe a model which is able to factorize a multitask learning problem into subtasks and which experiences no catastrophic forgetting. Together these techniques provide the tools to design a wide range of models that learn disentangled representations and better model the factors of variation in the real world.
Biopharmaceutical characterisation of ciprofloxacin-metallic ion interactions: Comparative study into the effect of aluminium, calcium, zinc and iron on drug solubility and dissolution

Abstract Ciprofloxacin bioavailability may be reduced when ciprofloxacin is co-administered with metallic ion containing preparations. In our previous study, physicochemical interaction between ciprofloxacin and ferrous sulphate was successfully simulated in vitro. In the present work, comparative in vitro ciprofloxacin solubility and dissolution studies were performed in the reactive media containing aluminium hydroxide, calcium carbonate or zinc sulphate. Solid phases collected from the dissolution vessel with aluminium hydroxide, calcium carbonate and zinc sulphate were investigated for their properties. The results obtained indicate that different types of adducts may form and retard ciprofloxacin solubility and dissolution. In the case of aluminium, no phase changes were observed. The solid phase generated in the presence of calcium carbonate was identified as hydrated ciprofloxacin base. Similarly to iron, a new complex consistent with Zn(SO4)2(Cl)2(ciprofloxacin)2 × nH2O stoichiometry was generated in the presence of relatively high concentrations of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride and zinc sulphate, indicating that small volume dissolution experiments can be useful for biorelevant dissolution tests.
Composition of Hawaiian green turtle foraging aggregations: mtDNA evidence for a distinct regional population

To examine the stock composition of Hawaiian foraging populations and evaluate cur- rent life-history hypotheses, mtDNA control region sequences from immature and adult green turtles that forage around the Hawaiian Islands were compared to potential source nesting populations across the Pacific. We examined the stock composition of the feeding ground (FG) populations at 5 index sites across the Hawaiian Archipelago, as well as animals stranded in areas outside these index sites. Six haplotypes, based on mtDNA sequences, were observed among the 788 green turtles sam- pled around the Hawaiian Islands. Stock mixture analysis shows that the Hawaiian FG populations comprise one genetic stock derived from the nesting population at French Frigate Shoals (FFS), based on a mean estimate of 99.9% from FFS as opposed to other potential source stocks. We identified only 3 turtles with haplotypes not found at FFS, indicating that Hawaiian FGs might occasionally, albeit rarely, be visited by animals from rookeries outside the Hawaiian Archipelago, both in the eastern and western Pacific. These findings lead us to conclude that the numerous foraging aggregations around the Hawaiian Islands can be considered part of a distinct regional population for manage- ment. The finding that FGs scattered across a distance of over 2400 km belong to one genetic stock is unique among sea turtles, and allows Hawaiian green turtles to be assessed separately from other Pacific stocks with respect to risk. We explore the unique population ecology of Hawaiian green turtles with reference to the complex life history of this marine megaherbivore.
Psychophysical investigation of an auditory spatial illusion in cats: the precedence effect.

The precedence effect (PE) describes several spatial perceptual phenomena that occur when similar sounds are presented from two different locations and separated by a delay. The mechanisms that produce the effect are thought to be responsible for the ability to localize sounds in reverberant environments. Although the physiological bases for the PE have been studied, little is known about how these sounds are localized by species other than humans. Here we used the search coil technique to measure the eye positions of cats trained to saccade to the apparent locations of sounds. To study the PE, brief broadband stimuli were presented from two locations, with a delay between their onsets; the delayed sound meant to simulate a single reflection. Although the cats accurately localized single sources, the apparent locations of the paired sources depended on the delay. First, the cats exhibited summing localization, the perception of a "phantom" sound located between the sources, for delays < +/-400 micros for sources positioned in azimuth along the horizontal plane, but not for sources positioned in elevation along the sagittal plane. Second, consistent with localization dominance, for delays from 400 micros to about 10 ms, the cats oriented toward the leading source location only, with little influence of the lagging source, both for horizontally and vertically placed sources. Finally, the echo threshold was reached for delays >10 ms, where the cats first began to orient to the lagging source on some trials. These data reveal that cats experience the PE phenomena similarly to humans.
ʽYou’re not getting rid of usʼ. Performing acts of citizenship in times of emigration

ABSTRACT This article uses academic literature on acts of citizenship and performative citizenship to investigate the contestation, protest, and resistance actions carried out by the Marea Granate collective in defence of the citizenship rights of Spanish citizens living abroad. Marea Granate (Maroon Wave) is a transnational network of young Spanish emigrants that emerged in 2013 as a result of the recent widespread emigration provoked by the economic crisis and austerity politics in Spain. Based on their shared identity as economic exiles and demanding the right to participate in Spanish political life to change the conditions that led them to emigrate, the members of this organization have been carrying out innovative, creative citizenship acts that are breaking conventions and causing ruptures in the Spanish citizenship regime. These ‘transformative acts of recovering’, the term used to refer to Marea Granate’s demands and struggles for citizenship, have proven to be capable of being a driving force for change and also reveal the fluid and contested nature of citizenship in the contexts of austerity and emigration.
How Not to Do a Mindset Intervention: Learning from a Mindset Intervention among Students with Good Grades

The present study examined the effectiveness of a Growth Mindset intervention based on Dweck et al.'s (1995) theory in the Hungarian educational context. A cluster randomized controlled trial classroom experiment was carried out within the framework of a train-the-trainer intervention among 55 Hungarian 10th grade students with high Grade Point Average (GPA). The results suggest that students' IQ and personality mindset beliefs were more incremental in the intervention group than in the control group 3 weeks after the intervention. Furthermore, compared to both the baseline measure and the control group, students' amotivation decreased. However, no intrinsic and extrinsic motivation change was found. Students with low grit scores reported lower amotivation following the intervention. However, in the second follow-up measurement—the end of the semester—all positive changes disappeared; and students' GPA did not change compared to the previous semester. These results show that mindset beliefs are temporarily malleable and in given circumstances, they can change back to their pre-intervention state. The potential explanation is discussed in the light of previous mindset intervention studies and recent findings on wise social psychological interventions.
Essays in empirical microeconomics

This dissertation is comprised of three papers using empirical methods to study issues in public and social economics. My first paper, co-authored with Julian Betts, analyzes the performance of San Diego's charter schools using fixed-effect methods on panel student data. We find that charter school performance in San Diego varies by subject matter, grades served, school type and years of operation. In many cases, we find that charter school performance is indistinguishable from that of traditional public schools. Startup elementary charter schools perform poorly in math in early years, but catch up after year three, while conversion charter schools persistently underperform in both elementary math and reading, as well as in middle school reading. Checks for dynamic selection indicate that transitory performance dips preceding switches between school types do not strongly bias our estimates. Differences in performance do not seem to be due to school characteristics such as average class size and teacher experience. Analyses of differential impacts by student race and ethnicity suggest that charters may benefit some students more than others. Finally, an alternative test score measure indicates that charter schools at the middle school level may focus less on state -developed content standards than traditional public schools. My second paper investigates the relationships between measures of conflict and group composition and economic and social variables in US primary and secondary schools. Racial tension occurs most often when there is no majority group. More of it occurs when Asians or whites are the largest group than when blacks or Hispanics are the largest group. It is most prevalent in middle schools, and occurs more frequently in larger schools than smaller schools. When the race of the largest group is controlled for, racial tension increases with poverty, indicating there may be an economic component to racial tension. I find no strong evidence for any relationship between racial tension and between-group income disparities. I also find no evidence that recent changes in school racial composition are related to racial tension. Racial diversity in schools is associated with more racial tension, but not more violent activity or more gang activity. My third paper analyzes a panel of United States areas to investigate the contention that rising income inequality may increase crime rates. I first replicate findings from previous research that a strong positive correlation between local crime rates and local household income inequality appears across specifications in cross- section ordinary least squares regressions. I then demonstrate that the positive relationship between inequality and crime does not survive, and in fact reverses in some cases once local fixed effects are controlled for. I discuss and examine the possible reasons for this statistical reversal. While rising income inequality may have some negative social consequences, I find no strong evidence that it causes increased crime, at least in the short-term
OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE FOR YOUNG RADIO GALAXIES IS TRIGGERED BY ACCRETION DISK INSTABILITY

Bolometric luminosities and black hole (BH) masses are estimated by various methods for a sample of young radio galaxies with known ages. We find that the ages are positively correlated with the bolometric luminosities in these young radio galaxies. This positive correlation is consistent with the theoretical prediction based on the radiation pressure instability of accretion disks in Czerny et al. The ages of young radio galaxies are also found to be consistent with the theoretical durations of outbursts in BH mass and accretion rate (in Eddington unit) plane, where the outbursts are assumed to be triggered by the radiation pressure instabilities. Our results provide observational evidence for the radiation pressure instability, which causes limit-cycle behavior, as a physical mechanism that may be responsible for these short-lived young radio galaxies.
Brain anatomical abnormalities in high-risk individuals, first-episode, and chronic schizophrenia: an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of illness progression.

OBJECTIVE The present study reviewed voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies on high-risk individuals with schizophrenia, patients experiencing their first-episode schizophrenia (FES), and those with chronic schizophrenia. We predicted that gray matter abnormalities would show progressive changes, with most extensive abnormalities in the chronic group relative to FES and least in the high-risk group. METHOD Forty-one VBM studies were reviewed. Eight high-risk studies, 14 FES studies, and 19 chronic studies were analyzed using anatomical likelihood estimation meta-analysis. RESULTS Less gray matter in the high-risk group relative to controls was observed in anterior cingulate regions, left amygdala, and right insula. Lower gray matter volumes in FES compared with controls were also found in the anterior cingulate and right insula but not the amygdala. Lower gray matter volumes in the chronic group were most extensive, incorporating similar regions to those found in FES and high-risk groups but extending to superior temporal gyri, thalamus, posterior cingulate, and parahippocampal gryus. Subtraction analysis revealed less frontotemporal, striatal, and cerebellar gray matter in FES than the high-risk group; the high-risk group had less gray matter in left subcallosal gyrus, left amygdala, and left inferior frontal gyrus compared with FES. Subtraction analysis confirmed lower gray matter volumes through ventral-dorsal anterior cingulate, right insula, left amygdala and thalamus in chronic schizophrenia relative to FES. CONCLUSIONS Frontotemporal brain structural abnormalities are evident in nonpsychotic individuals at high risk of developing schizophrenia. The present meta-analysis indicates that these gray matter abnormalities become more extensive through first-episode and chronic illness. Thus, schizophrenia appears to be a progressive cortico-striato-thalamic loop disorder.
Limbic Thalamic Lesions, Appetitively Motivated Discrimination Learning, and Training-Induced Neuronal Activity in Rabbits

A substantial literature implicates the anterior and mediodorsal (limbic) thalamic nuclei and the reciprocally interconnected areas of cingulate cortex in learning, memory, and attentional processes. Previous studies have shown that limbic thalamic lesions severely impair discriminative avoidance learning and that they block development of training-induced neuronal activity in the cingulate cortex. The present study investigated the possibility that the limbic thalamus and cingulate cortex are involved in reward-based discriminative approach learning, wherein head-extension responses yielding oral contact with a drinking spout that was inserted into the conditioning chamber after a positive conditional stimulus (CS+) were reinforced with a water reward but responses to the spout after a negative conditional stimulus (CS−) were not reinforced. In this task, the rabbits learned primarily to omit their prepotent responses to the spout on CS− trials. Acquisition was severely impaired in rabbits given limbic thalamic lesions before training. As during avoidance learning, posterior cingulate cortical neurons of control rabbits developed learning-related neuronal responses to task-relevant stimuli, but this activity was severely attenuated in rabbits with lesions. These results support a general involvement of the cingulothalamic circuitry in instrumental approach and avoidance learning. The fact that learning consisted of response omission indicated that the cingulothalamic role is not limited to acquisition or production of active behavioral responses, such as locomotion. It is proposed that cingulothalamic neurons mediate associative attention, wherein enhanced neuronal responses to stimuli associated with reinforcement facilitate the selection and production of task-relevant responses.