Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Example-Based Learning for View-Based Human Face Detection

We present an example-based learning approach for locating vertical frontal views of human faces in complex scenes. The technique models the distribution of human face patterns by means of a few view-based "face" and "nonface" model clusters. At each image location, a difference feature vector is computed between the local image pattern and the distribution-based model. A trained classifier determines, based on the difference feature vector measurements, whether or not a human face exists at the current image location. We show empirically that the distance metric we adopt for computing difference feature vectors, and the "nonface" clusters we include in our distribution-based model, are both critical for the success of our system.
Classifying sentential modality in legal language: a use case in financial regulations, acts and directives

Texts expressed in legal language are often difficult and time consuming for lawyers to read through, particularly for the purpose of identifying relevant deontic modalities (obligations, prohibitions and permissions). By nature, the language of law is strict, hence the predominant use of modal logic as a substitute for the syntactical ambiguity in natural language, specifically, deontic and alethic logic for the respective modalities. However, deontic modalities which express obligations, prohibitions and permissions, can have varying degree and preciseness to which they correspond to a matter, strict deontic logic does not allow for such quantitative measures. Therefore, this paper outlines a data-driven approach by classifying deontic modalities using ensembled Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) that incorporate domain specific legal distributional semantic model (DSM) representations, in combination with, a general DSM representation. We propose to use well calibrated probability estimates from these classifiers as an approximation to the degree which an obligation/prohibition or permission belongs to a given class based on SME annotated sentences. Best results show 82.33 % accuracy on a held-out test set.
Predicting Visual Outcome following Surgery for Idiopathic Macular Holes

Since Kelly and Wendel [Arch Ophthalmol 1991;109:654-659] first reported successfully treating macular holes (MHs) using pars plana vitrectomy in 1991, MH surgery has been constantly improved. For example, introducing the removal of the internal limiting membrane considerably increased the closure rate of MHs, and the advent of microincision vitrectomy surgery reduced surgical trauma and decreased patient discomfort after surgery. As modern MH surgery can achieve a higher anatomical success rate and alleviate patients' postoperative distress, postoperative visual outcomes have lately become the primary concern. Informing patients of the expected visual acuity and visual improvement before surgery is ideal, but predicting postoperative visual outcomes is difficult because a large number of factors are associated with them. In this paper, we review previous studies and provide accumulating evidence for the relationship between individual prognostic factors and visual outcomes after MH surgery.
TREATING COCAINE-USING METHADONE PATIENTS: PREDICTORS OF OUTCOMES IN A PSYCHOSOCIAL CLINICAL TRIAL

Cocaine-using methadone patients in two clinics were assigned to 8 months of enhanced methadone treatment—primarily cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for cocaine use—while similar patients in two “sibling” clinics were assigned to standard methadone treatment during 1995–1998. Cocaine use declined significantly from baseline to 4- and 12-month follow-ups. Patients receiving CBT rated the quality of their counseling relationship higher and obtained more supportive services than those receiving standard treatment. However, study treatment condition itself was not associated with outcome. Baseline measures associated with poorer outcomes across both treatment conditions were: currently enrolled in methadone treatment (in contrast to being newly enrolled), higher cocaine use frequency, greater cocaine use associated problem recognition, and an ambivalent attitude toward methadone. The results are consistent with some previous clinical trials showing that psychosocial treatments of different intensities result in similar declines in cocaine use. The findings indicate that methadone maintenance treatment can help dually-addicted patients reduce their cocaine use.
ACL 2016 The 4th BioASQ Workshop A challenge on large-scale biomedical semantic indexing and question answering

The goal of this task is to push the research frontier towards hybrid information systems. We aim to promote systems and approaches that are able to deal with the whole diversity of the Web, especially for, but not restricted to, the context of biomedicine. This goal is pursued by the organization of challenges. The fourth challenge, as the previous challenges, consisted of two tasks: semantic indexing and question answering. 16 systems participated by 7 different participating teams for the semantic indexing task. The question answering task was tackled by 37 different systems, developed by 11 different teams. 25 of the systems participated in the phase A of the task, while 12 participated in phase B. 3 of the teams participated in both phases of the question answering task. Overall, as in previous years, the best systems were able to outperform the strong baselines. This suggests that advances over the state of the art were achieved through the BIOASQ challenge but also that the benchmark in itself is very challenging. In this paper, we present the data used during the challenge as well as the technologies which were at the core of the participants’ frameworks.
Executive Attention Deficits In Persons With Aphasia: Conflict Resolution and Goal Maintenance

An understanding of the relationship between attentional deficits and language processing can provide insight into the language disorders in persons with aphasia (PWA) (McNeil, Odell & Tseng, 1991). Executive attention is a critical component of the attentional system (Cowan, 2005). Core features of executive attention are goal maintenance and conflict resolution (Engle, Kane & Tuholski, 1999). The relationships among executive attention, language processing and aphasia have not been studied extensively. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of goal maintenance and conflict resolution in word-level processing in PWA. Picture-Word Interference (PWI) tasks were used whereby written words were superimposed on pictures in congruent (word and picture match), neutral (word with polygon) or incongruent (word with non-matching picture) conditions. The incongruent condition was presented at 19% and 73% proportion. Ten PWA and 20 normal individuals (NI) categorized words into animal or non-animal. Button press response times (RT) and error were measured. Conflict resolution was measured by comparing RTs in the incongruent condition to those in both the neutral and congruent conditions. Goal maintenance was measured by comparing Errors on the incongruent condition between the two proportions. A mixed model examined RTs among conditions for the 19% incongruent proportion between groups. PWA showed significantly (p<.05) longer RTs for the incongruent and neutral conditions, but no significant group difference for the congruent conditions. The NI showed significantly more errors on the lower proportion, however, the PWA showed no significant difference between two proportions. Given that there was no significant group difference on the congruent condition, the significantly longer RTs for the PWA on the incongruent conditions is interpreted as evidence that PWA demonstrated impaired on conflict resolution. The finding that NI showed a significant proportion effect and the PWA did not is interpreted as evidence that the PWA demonstrated impaired goal maintenance. RT and error data indicate deficits of these components of executive attention in the PWA. Moderately high correlation coefficients for the PWA between RTs from the incongruent condition and measures of working memory and aphasia severity suggest a meaningful relationship between these attentional impairments and language processing impairments.
Using Shifts in Amino Acid Frequency and Substitution Rate to Identify Latent Structural Characters in Base-Excision Repair Enzymes

Protein evolution includes the birth and death of structural motifs. For example, a zinc finger or a salt bridge may be present in some, but not all, members of a protein family. We propose that such transitions are manifest in sequence phylogenies as concerted shifts in substitution rates of amino acids that are neighbors in a representative structure. First, we identified rate shifts in a quartet from the Fpg/Nei family of base excision repair enzymes using a method developed by Xun Gu and coworkers. We found the shifts to be spatially correlated, more precisely, associated with a flexible loop involved in bacterial Fpg substrate specificity. Consistent with our result, sequences and structures provide convincing evidence that this loop plays a very different role in other family members. Second, then, we developed a method for identifying latent protein structural characters (LSC) given a set of homologous sequences based on Gu's method and proximity in a high-resolution structure. Third, we identified LSC and assigned states of LSC to clades within the Fpg/Nei family of base excision repair enzymes. We describe seven LSC; an accompanying Proteopedia page (http://proteopedia.org/wiki/index.php/Fpg_Nei_Protein_Family) describes these in greater detail and facilitates 3D viewing. The LSC we found provided a surprisingly complete picture of the interaction of the protein with the DNA capturing familiar examples, such as a Zn finger, as well as more subtle interactions. Their preponderance is consistent with an important role as phylogenetic characters. Phylogenetic inference based on LSC provided convincing evidence of independent losses of Zn fingers. Structural motifs may serve as important phylogenetic characters and modeling transitions involving structural motifs may provide a much deeper understanding of protein evolution.
The role of embodied emotions in perceptual decisions and categorization of sounds

How do people react emotionally to sound? In particular how does emotion affect interpretation, perceptual judgment and categorization of auditory stimuli? This thesis explored 1) how sound and emotion relate to each other, 2) whether this relationship can be modified by embodied associations and 3) if the emotional responses influence the perceptual decisions of sounds. Paper I investigated the emotional reactions to the perception of the acoustic properties of frequency and intensity. Paper II investigated whether the relationship between emotion and perception could be associated with each other through an embodied perspective. Paper III further investigated the embodied relations, using thermal stimuli instead, to discern whether embodied associations would influence information processing. Paper IV and Paper V examined whether emotional responses influence the perceptual decisions of sound, and whether additional non-physical factors in the sound affect this relationship. Taken together, in each of the empirical studies we may conclude that emotions are central for perception and perceptual decisions of sounds. Further, this relationship must take the embodied perspective into account. The co-experiences of emotional responses and perceptual aspects appear to create a robust association pattern that affects both inter-personal relations as well as intra-personal reactions. It may also be concluded that there are several application possibilities in the intersection between emotion, perception and cognition, both concerning general health and well-being as well as in sound design of various products.
A Follow-up Study of Comparable Mental and General Hospital Patients

general hospitals regarding their success in treatment. These hospitals, however, do exert selection and the less hopeful cases are -a.pt to be sent directly to the mental hospital (4, 5). It means nothing to show that mental hospital patients do worse if they are more sick to begin with, In a previous study (7), we outlined an attempt to obtain a random selection of committed Saskatoon patients and to treat them at the University Hospital, Saskatoon (The Saskatoon Project). This experiment was a striking success as far as management problems were concerned. We would now like to turn to a different aspect of the problem. On follow-up one year from the original date of admission, how do these patients compare with similar patients from Saskatoon, committed and treated in the mental hospital one hundred miles away? As a criterion we use readmissions to any psychiatric centre in Saskatchewan. The criterion is a crude one, for many factors enter into readmissions. It is reasonable, nevertheless, to assume that the general hospital in the heart of a city, with its high concentration of medical effort, should be more successful in keeping these patients out of hospital than an overcrowded mental hospital one hundred miles away. This was our hypothesis.
Prostacyclin Induces Apoptosis of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells by a cAMP-Mediated Inhibition of Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase Activity and Can Counteract the Mitogenic Activity of Endothelin-1 or Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor

Abstract— Prostanoids can suppress vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation, but the mechanism through which this is mediated has not been identified. In this study, we show rat aortic VSMCs to express the EP1, EP2, EP3, EP4, and IP receptors. The EP4 receptor–specific agonist, 11-deoxy-PGE1, induced a time-dependent phosphorylation of protein kinase C and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 in serum-depleted (0.1%) VSMCs, whereas the EP2 receptor agonist, butaprost, was without effect. PGI2 or iloprost at the IP receptor inhibited basal ERK phosphorylation with IC50 values of ≈10 nmol/L. Iloprost also attenuated the sustained activation of ERK induced by endothelin-1 or basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). Endothelin-1 or bFGF significantly increased the number of VSMCs counted 24 hours later compared with basal, and both responses were blocked by the MEK inhibitor, U0126, or iloprost. Under basal conditions, U0126 or iloprost reduced the number of viable cells and increased caspase-3 activity, which could be reversed by coapplication with endothelin-1, bFGF, or the adenylate cyclase inhibitor, SQ22536. Endothelin-1, bFGF, or SQ22536 prevented the depression to below basal levels of ERK phosphorylation induced by iloprost. Forskolin activated caspase-3 and attenuated basal ERK phosphorylation, which were prevented by SQ22536, endothelin-1, or bFGF. These data suggest that iloprost induces apoptosis via a cAMP-mediated suppression of ERK activity. In turn, this apoptotic response can be blocked by a mitogenic stimulus that re-establishes ERK activity back to basal levels, but at the expense of any concomitant proliferative activity. However, ERK stimulation by a selective EP4 receptor agonist, suggests that prostanoids may have diverse and complex roles in VSMC physiology.
Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism the Effect of Stable Xenon on Icp Clinical Materials and Methods

Recent studies have suggested that under cer­ tain conditions, inhalation of stable xenon can cause an increase in CBF or intracranial pressure (ICP). We re­ viewed the ICP changes that occurred during 48 stable xenon/CT CBF studies in 23 comatose head-injured pa­ tients to determine if the concentration (32%) and dura­ tion of inhalation (4.S min) of stable xenon we used caused an increase in ICP. In the group as a whole, there was no significant difference between the mean ICP at the start of xenon inhalation and the mean ICP immediately Several reports have suggested that the inhalation of stable xenon causes an increase in CBF (Gur et aI. Hartmann et aI., 1987), and at least one study has found significant increases in the intracranial pres­ sure (ICP) of head-injured patients during Xel computed tomography (CT) CBF studies (Har­ rington et aI., 1986). We consider CBF information obtained with Xe/CT studies to be important in guiding our management of head-injured patients, but are obviously concerned about potential delete­ rious effects of stable xenon on ICP. Therefore, we reviewed the Xe/CT CBF studies obtained over the past year to determine if the concentration of stable xenon and the duration of inhalation used in our program causes an increase in ICP.
Determinants of Human Papillomavirus Coinfections among Montreal University Students: The Influence of Behavioral and Biologic Factors

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) coinfections are common among HPV-infected individuals, but the significance and etiology of these infections remain unclear. Though current evidence suggests that women with coinfections have increased HPV exposure (i.e., more sexual partners), it is also hypothesized that these women may represent a subgroup with increased biologic susceptibility. This study sought to examine determinants of coinfections in a cohort of young women, examining both behavioral and biologic factors related to HPV acquisition over time. Methods: Female university students (n = 537) in Montreal, Canada, were followed for 2 years at 6-month intervals. At each visit, cervical specimens were collected for cytology and HPV testing, and women completed a questionnaire about lifestyle and behavior. HLA alleles were typed from purified DNA collected from cervical specimens. Two definitions of coinfections were used: cumulative coinfection over follow-up and concurrent coinfection at each visit. Multiple logistic regression was used to determine predictors of both cumulative and concurrent coinfections using baseline and time-dependent covariates. Results: The most consistent determinant of coinfection occurrence was number of sexual partners, though several genes of the immune response (HLA-DQB1*06:02, HLA-G*01:01:03, and HLA-G*01:01:05) were also identified as significant predictors of cumulative coinfections. Conclusions: HPV coinfections mainly occur due to increased sexual activity, but biologic susceptibility may also be involved in a subset of women. Immunologic factors may put women at greater risk of coinfections over the long term, but short-term risk is almost exclusively driven by modifiable sexual behaviors. Impact: Additional research should continue to further identify immunologic biomarkers of HPV susceptibility. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 23(5); 812–22. ©2014 AACR.
Effect of Nalidixic Acid on the Growth of Deoxyribonucleic Acid Bacteriophages

The effect of nalidixic acid on the growth of various deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) bacteriophages has been investigated by one-step growth experiments. The Escherichia coli bacteriophages T5, λ, T7 and φR are strongly inhibited by nalidixic acid, whereas T4 and T2 are only partially inhibited. The Bacillus subtilis bacteriophages SP82, SP50, and φ29 are relatively unaffected by nalidixic acid. There is no correlation between those bacteriophages which can grow in the presence of nalidixic acid and the presence of an unusual base in the phage DNA.
A Partition-Based Approach to Structure Similarity Search

Graphs are widely used to model complex data in many applications, such as bioinformatics, chemistry, social networks, pattern recognition, etc. A fundamental and critical query primitive is to efficiently search similar structures in a large collection of graphs. This paper studies the graph similarity queries with edit distance constraints. Existing solutions to the problem utilize fixed-size overlapping substructures to generate candidates, and thus become susceptible to large vertex degrees or large distance thresholds. In this paper, we present a partition-based approach to tackle the problem. By dividing data graphs into variable-size non-overlapping partitions, the edit distance constraint is converted to a graph containment constraint for candidate generation. We develop efficient query processing algorithms based on the new paradigm. A candidate pruning technique and an improved graph edit distance algorithm are also developed to further boost the performance. In addition, a cost-aware graph partitioning technique is devised to optimize the index. Extensive experiments demonstrate our approach significantly outperforms existing approaches.
What Happens if There is a Dispute over Queensland Food Exports? A Survey Report

In Queensland, disputes between traders both domestic and international can be settled by a range of different mechanisms, from simple informal mediation (with a referee) to more formal arbitration (using a referee or a panel of referees, and set rules of procedure) and ultimately to full legal actions in court, the choice of court depending on the amounts involved. Parties to a dispute can use commercial organizations to help them resolve disputes (e.g. the Australian Commercial Dispute Centres in each State), or they can approach the Queenland Law Society or the Queensland Bar Association, which provide lists of experienced practitioners available to resolve disputes out of court. This is a much quicker and cheaper alternative to a court action, but where parties still cannot agree, the dispute must be finally resolved in court. Even then, the parties can still settle before the court makes a binding determination.
On the additional value of lectures in a problem-based curriculum.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this article is to report on a study conducted to investigate the additional value of lectures in problem-based learning. We hypothesized that lecture quality, as indicated by students, would have a positive influence on time students would spend on self-study, that they would increase intrinsic interest in subject matter and would have a positive influence on achievement. Lecture quality would, in this view, add to other factors that play a role in problem-based learning, such as prior knowledge of students, the quality of problems presented, the functioning of the tutor and small-group collaboration. METHOD The hypothesis on the influence of lecture quality on learning was assessed by means of testing a structural equating model, using data from 1500 students. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS We concluded that lecture quality does not affect time spent on study, does not add to achievement and does not influence intrinsic interest in subject matter. Post-hoc analysis, however, demonstrated the quality of lectures was related to other components of problem-based learning, not part of the presented model, such as students' perceptions of lectures as organizer of their study efforts or lectures as a means of putting the problems into a broader perspective.
Hot Stuff at Cold Start: HLTCOE participation at TAC 2014

The JHU HLTCOE participated in the Cold Start task in this year’s Text Analysis Conference Knowledge Base Population evaluation. This is our third year of participation in the task, and we continued our research with the KELVIN system. We submitted experimental variants that explore use of forward-chaining inference, slightly more aggressive entity clustering, refined multiple within-document conference, and prioritization of relations extracted from news sources.