Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Social Influence Qualities of Social Network Sites: A Qualitative and Experimental Investigation

Abstract : While social network sites (SNS) are a popular form of new media, the literature has not investigated the social influence of these sites. Using a mixed method approach of qualitative interviews and a laboratory experiment, this study tests a process model predicting the effects of communication processes and technology on social influence. This model suggested that SNSs may be more effective at social influence than face-to-face communication. A qualitative study was performed to determine whether the hypotheses were plausible whereby it was suggested that SNSs may influence others and SNSs might be a more effective when compared to others. Qualitative results illustrate that social network sites have several strengths over traditional communications mediums and that they can be used to influence others. The results of the experiment found that face-to-face communication was more effective than social network sites at influencing others. The data implies that sharing more ideas, when combined with slower communications mediums such as SNSs, can actually result in less effective social influence attempts. However, Facebook participants overwhelmingly felt that they needed more time to complete tasks. Thus, it is not yet possible to reject the theory that SNSs have the potential to be more influential than face-to-face communication.
Reciprocal relationship between reactive oxygen species and cyclooxygenase-2 and vascular dysfunction in hypertension.

AIMS This study evaluates a possible relationship between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2-derived products in conductance and resistance arteries from hypertensive animals. Angiotensin II (Ang II)-infused mice or spontaneously hypertensive rats treated with the NAD(P)H Oxidase inhibitor apocynin, the mitochondrion-targeted SOD2 mimetic Mito-TEMPO, the superoxide dismutase analog tempol, or the COX-2 inhibitor Celecoxib were used. RESULTS Apocynin, Mito-TEMPO, and Celecoxib treatments prevented Ang II-induced hypertension, the increased vasoconstrictor responses to phenylephrine, and the reduced acetylcholine relaxation. The NOX-2 inhibitor gp91ds-tat, the NOX-1 inhibitor ML171, catalase, and the COX-2 inhibitor NS398 abolished the ex vivo effect of Ang II-enhancing phenylephrine responses. Antioxidant treatments diminished the increased vascular COX-2 expression, prostanoid production, and/or participation of COX-derived contractile prostanoids and thromboxane A(2) receptor (TP) in phenylephrine responses, observed in arteries from hypertensive models. The treatment with the COX-2 inhibitor normalized the increased ROS production (O(2)·(-) and H(2)O(2)), NAD(P)H Oxidase expression (NOX-1, NOX-4, and p22phox) and activity, MnSOD expression, and the participation of ROS in vascular responses in both hypertensive models. Apocynin and Mito-TEMPO also normalized these parameters of oxidative stress. Apocynin, Mito-TEMPO, and Celecoxib improved the diminished nitric oxide (NO) production and the modulation by NO of phenylephrine responses in the Ang II model. INNOVATION This study provides mechanistic evidence of circuitous relationship between COX-2 products and ROS in hypertension. CONCLUSION The excess of ROS from NAD(P)H Oxidase and/or mitochondria and the increased vascular COX-2/TP receptor axis act in concert to induce vascular dysfunction and hypertension.
Clinical pharmacy interventions by community pharmacists during the dispensing process.

AIMS To evaluate the professional contact between the community pharmacist and general practitioner during the dispensing process on issues other than the legality or simple clarification of the prescription. METHODS Fourteen community pharmacists from five adjacent localities completed details of each clinical pharmacy intervention during 1 week of each month for a period of 1 year. Each week of the month was randomly selected. When a community pharmacist had to contact the prescriber, during the dispensing of a prescription, the following data were recorded: brief patient details, the prescribed drug therapy, the reason for intervention, the outcome and the time taken. The main outcome measures were the type and nature of each intervention, the BNF category of the drug involved and the time taken. A multidisciplinary clinical panel assessed the potential of each intervention to alter the outcome of the patient's clinical management and to prevent a drug related hospital admission. These assessments were ranked between 0 and 10 (100% confident). RESULTS During a period covering 1 week per month over 1 year, 1503 clinical pharmacy interventions were made out of 201 000 items dispensed. When normalized for the dispensing volume of each community pharmacy the lower the number of items dispensed then the greater was the percentage of interventions (P=0.013). The clinical panel decided that between 19 (0.01% of the total items dispensed) and 242 (0.12%) interventions may have prevented a drug-related hospital admission, 71 (0.04%) to 483 (0.24%) could have prevented harm whilst 103 (0.05%) to 364 (0.18%) had the potential to improve the efficacy of the intended therapeutic plan. The panel also decided that 748 (0.37%) interventions improved the clinical outcome and could have saved a visit to or by the general practitioner. Conclusion Clinical pharmacy provided by a community pharmacist during the dispensing process has the potential to provide a valuable contribution to health care.
Chain formation in low density dipolar hard spheres: A Monte Carlo study.

The phase diagram of dipolar hard spheres has been determined by Monte Carlo simulation for reduced densities ρ * ranging from 0.02 to 0.3 and reduced temperatures T * from 0.08 to 0.25. For T * ≤0.15 the particles are found to associate to form chains which at the highest density are in a polarized ferroelectric state
The Panitumumab EGFR Complex Reveals a Binding Mechanism That Overcomes Cetuximab Induced Resistance

Panitumumab and cetuximab target the epidermal growth factor receptor for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. These therapies provide a significant survival benefit to patients with metastatic colorectal cancer with wild-type RAS. A single point mutation in the ectodomain of EGFR (S468R) confers acquired or secondary resistance in cetuximab treated patients, which is not observed in panitumumab-treated patients. Structural and biophysical studies presented here show this mutation directly blocks cetuximab binding to EGFR domain III and describes a unique mechanism by which panitumumab uses a central cavity to accommodate this mutation.
Kinematic control of aerodynamic forces on an inclined flapping wing with asymmetric strokes

In the present study, we conduct an experiment using a one-paired dynamically scaled model of an insect wing, to investigate how asymmetric strokes with different wing kinematic parameters are used to control the aerodynamics of a dragonfly-like inclined flapping wing in still fluid. The kinematic parameters considered are the angles of attack during the mid-downstroke (αmd) and mid-upstroke (αmu), and the duration (Δτ) and time of initiation (τp) of the pitching rotation. The present dragonfly-like inclined flapping wing has the aerodynamic mechanism of unsteady force generation similar to those of other insect wings in a horizontal stroke plane, but the detailed effect of the wing kinematics on the force control is different due to the asymmetric use of the angle of attack during the up- and downstrokes. For example, high αmd and low αmu produces larger vertical force with less aerodynamic power, and low αmd and high αmu is recommended for horizontal force (thrust) production. The pitching rotation also affects the aerodynamics of a flapping wing, but its dynamic rotational effect is much weaker than the effect from the kinematic change in the angle of attack caused by the pitching rotation. Thus, the influences of the duration and timing of pitching rotation for the present inclined flapping wing are found to be very different from those for a horizontal flapping wing. That is, for the inclined flapping motion, the advanced and delayed rotations produce smaller vertical forces than the symmetric one and the effect of pitching duration is very small. On the other hand, for a specific range of pitching rotation timing, delayed rotation requires less aerodynamic power than the symmetric rotation. As for the horizontal force, delayed rotation with low αmd and high αmu is recommended for long-duration flight owing to its high efficiency, and advanced rotation should be employed for hovering flight for nearly zero horizontal force. The present study suggests that manipulating the angle of attack during a flapping cycle is the most effective way to control the aerodynamic forces and corresponding power expenditure for a dragonfly-like inclined flapping wing.
Soft Weight-Sharing for Neural Network Compression

The success of deep learning in numerous application domains created the desire to run and train them on mobile devices. This however, conflicts with their computationally, memory and energy intense nature, leading to a growing interest in compression. Recent work by Han et al. (2015a) propose a pipeline that involves retraining, pruning and quantization of neural network weights, obtaining state-of-the-art compression rates. In this paper, we show that competitive compression rates can be achieved by using a version of “soft weight-sharing” (Nowlan & Hinton, 1992). Our method achieves both quantization and pruning in one simple (re-)training procedure. This point of view also exposes the relation between compression and the minimum description length (MDL) principle.
Estimating Web Development Costs: There Are Differences

T his past year, electronic commerce reportedly reached $5 billion in sales. Considering that this was during a recession , it is a marvelous achievement. You are probably thinking, " How was that achieved with the technology bubble bursting and Internet start-ups failing right and left? " The answer is simple. The larger businesses took the place of the smaller businesses. They moved to the Web with speed and enthusiasm, often for good business reasons. For example, General Electric reportedly saved $40 million in a single month compared with the same month in the previous year by moving its travel onto the Web [1]. Just as importantly, this move to the Web is heralding in a major change in the way we in the software community do business. For example, the large projects that we worked on in the past are being replaced by many small Web developments. These small projects are being done using different technology as well. Table 1 characterizes these changes to give some insight into the current trends. It highlights the move to agile methods [2], extreme programming methods [3], components [4], multimedia, and visual technologies by Web shops. These trends are motivated by the move to quicker-paced developments. Instead of developing software from requirements, these Web development projects are gluing components together using agile instead of traditional methods. They build prototypes and refactor [5] them instead of focusing on design. From Table 1, you will see that Web developments seem deficient in the areas of process, discipline, and estimating. That is not entirely true. As Mark Paulk recently pointed out, process improvement and extreme methods are not incompatible [9]. However, many of the large firms with which my firm has recently worked seem to have abandoned process paradigms and the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model ® (CMM ®), Software Capability Maturity Model ® (SW-CMM ®), and Capability Maturity Model Integration SM (CMMI SM) [10, 11] in their quest to speed time-to-market as they move to the Web. Those of us in the estimating community currently have not agreed upon how to address Web-based projects. The trouble is that the characteristics of the Web-based projects listed in Table 1 make it difficult for estimators to adapt and put their existing processes, metrics, and models to work operationally. Web projects are different. To highlight the challenges involved in the area of Web estimation, we have constructed …
Online 6 DOF augmented reality registration from natural features

We present a complete scalable system for 6 DOF camera tracking based on natural features. Crucially, the calculation is based only on pre-captured reference images and previous estimates of the camera pose and is hence suitable for online applications. We match natural features in the current frame to two spatially separated reference images. We overcome the wide baseline matching problem by matching to the previous frame and transferring point positions to the reference images. We then minimize deviations from the two-view and three-view constraints between the reference images and the current frame as a function of camera position parameters. We stabilize this calculation using a recursive form of temporal regularization that is similar in spirit to the Kalman filter. We can track camera pose over hundreds of frames and realistically integrate virtual objects with only slight jitter.
Thiopurine Metabolite Ratios for Monitoring Therapy in Pediatric Crohn Disease

Objectives: Thiopurines (azathioprine, 6-mercaptopurine) are a mainstay of treatment in Crohn disease (CD). Monitoring intracellular metabolite (6-thioguanine nucleotides [6-TGN] and 6-methylmercaptopurine [6-MMP]) levels can help optimize therapeutic efficacy and minimize potential toxicity. Determination of 6-MMP/6-TGN ratios may provide additional useful information, such as the identification of individuals with excessive thiopurine methyltransferase activity and disadvantageous 6-MMP overproduction. These patients are at increased risk of therapeutic failure and hepatotoxicity. The aim of the study was to evaluate the correlation of 6-MMP/6-TGN ratios with therapeutic efficacy and risk of hepatotoxicity in CD. Methods: The present study was a single-center cross-sectional study including pediatric patients with CD studied prospectively with clinical and laboratory assessments along with serial measurements of 6-MMP and 6-TGN. Clinical response was determined using established clinical indices. Results: The study included 238 pediatric patients with CD with a total of 1648 evaluation points. The patients were in steroid-free remission at 59.1% of the evaluation points. 6-MMP/6-TGN ratios of 4 to 24 were protective against relapse (odds ratio [OR] 0.52, 95% confidence interval [CI] −0.39 to 0.69, P = 0.001). Hepatotoxicity was associated with high 6-MMP levels (>3919 pmol/8 × 108 red blood cell count: OR 7.65, 95% CI 3.7–15.9, P = 0.001) and high 6-MMP/6-TGN ratios (>24: OR 5.35, 95% CI −3.43 to 8.43, P = 0.001). Conclusions: We observed significant associations between 6-MMP/6-TGN ratios and clinical response, and risk of hepatotoxicity. Our results suggest that determination of thiopurine metabolite ratios is a valuable tool for identification of patients at increased risk of therapeutic failure and hepatotoxicity.
A HUMAN CD46 TRANSGENIC PIG MODEL SYSTEM FOR THE STUDY OF DISCORDANT XENOTRANSPLANTATION

Background. Thechronic shortage in the supply of human organs available for allotransplantation has turned attention toward the use of animals as potential donors, with pigs as the most likely species under consideration. Hyperacute rejection, the initial and immediate barrier to a pig-to-primate xenograft, has been addressed by generation of transgenic pigs that express the human membrane-bound complement-regulatory proteins CD59 and/or CD55. Difficulty has been encountered in generation of transgenic animals that express a third membrane-bound complement-regulatory protein, CD46. Methods. We have generated transgenic animals by using a large genomic construct that encompasses the entire human CD46 gene. Results. We report the first description of transgenic mice and pigs that express high levels of human CD46 in a cell and tissue type-specific manner, resembling patterns of endogenous CD46 expression observed in human tissues. Furthermore, when human CD46 transgenic porcine hearts were transplanted into baboons, the grafts did not succumb to hyperacute rejection, and survival extended for up to 23 days. Under the same conditions, nontransgenic grafts underwent hyperacute rejection within 90 min. Conclusions. This is the first report to describe generation of transgenic pigs that express human CD46, and the first in vivo demonstration of the ability of human CD46 expressed on pig organs to regulate complement activation and overcome hyperacute rejection upon transplantation of a vascularized organ into nonhuman primates.
The Scope and Importance of Human Interruption in Human-Computer Interaction Design

At first glance it seems absurd that busy people doing important jobs should want their computers to interrupt them. Interruptions are disruptive and people need to concentrate to make good decisions. However, successful job performance also frequently depends on people's abilities to (a) constantly monitor their dynamically changing information environments, (b) collaborate and communicate with other people in the system, and (c) supervise background autonomous services. These critical abilities can require people to simultaneously query a large set of information sources, continuously monitor for important events, and respond to and communicate with other human operators. Automated monitoring and alerting systems minimize the need to constantly monitor, but they induce alerts that may interrupt other activities. Such interrupting technologies are already widespread and include concurrent multitasking; mixed-initiative interaction; support for delegation and supervisory control of automation, including intelligent agents; and other distributed, background services and technologies that increase human-human communication.
A simple representation of surface active organic aerosol in cloud droplet formation

Abstract. Atmospheric aerosols often contain surface active organics. Surface activity can affect cloud droplet formation through both surface partitioning and surface tension reduction in activating droplets. However, a comprehensive thermodynamic account for these effects in Kohler modeling is computationally demanding and requires knowledge of both droplet composition and component molecular properties, which is generally unavailable. Here, a simple representation of activation properties for surface active organics is introduced and compared against detailed model predictions and laboratory measurements of CCN activity for mixed surfactant-salt particles from the literature. This simple organic representation is seen to work well for aerosol organic-inorganic composition ranges typically found in the atmosphere, and agreement with both experiments and detailed model predictions increases with surfactant strength. The simple representation does not require resolution of the organic aerosol composition and relies solely on properties of the organic fraction that can be measured directly with available techniques. It can thus potentially be applied to complex and ambient surface active aerosols. It is not computationally demanding, and therefore has high potential for implementation to atmospheric models accounting for cloud microphysics.
Capturing Localized Image Artifacts through a CNN-based Hyper-image Representation

Training deep CNNs to capture localized image artifacts on a relatively small dataset is a challenging task. With enough images at hand, one can hope that a deep CNN characterizes localized artifacts over the entire data and their effect on the output. However, on smaller datasets, such deep CNNs may overfit and shallow ones find it hard to capture local artifacts. Thus some image-based small-data applications first train their framework on a collection of patches (instead of the entire image) to better learn the representation of localized artifacts. Then the output is obtained by averaging the patch-level results. Such an approach ignores the spatial correlation among patches and how various patch locations affect the output. It also fails in cases where few patches mainly contribute to the image label. To combat these scenarios, we develop the notion of hyper-image representations. Our CNN has two stages. The first stage is trained on patches. The second stage utilizes the last layer representation developed in the first stage to form a hyper-image, which is used to train the second stage. We show that this approach is able to develop a better mapping between the image and its output. We analyze additional properties of our approach and show its effectiveness on one synthetic and two real-world vision tasks - no-reference image quality estimation and image tampering detection - by its performance improvement over existing strong baselines.
Fat metabolism during exercise in patients with mitochondrial disease.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether patients with defects of the respiratory chain have metabolic adaptations that promote a preferential use of fats or carbohydrates, similar to what is observed in metabolic myopathies affecting glycolysis or fat oxidation. DESIGN Causation and case-control study. Fat metabolism was determined by means of indirect calorimetry and stable isotope technique in patients and healthy subjects. Patients carried various types and loads (mean [SE], 72% [5%]) of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations in skeletal muscle. All subjects exercised at the same absolute workload (mean [SE], 65 [10] W), corresponding to 72% (in patients) and 30% (in healthy subjects) of maximum oxygen consumption. SETTING Neuromuscular research unit. PARTICIPANTS Ten patients with mtDNA mutations and 10 sex-matched healthy subjects. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Fat turnover, plasma concentrations of palmitate and total free fatty acids, glucose mobilization, and total carbohydrate oxidation. RESULTS Fat turnover and plasma concentrations of palmitate and total free fatty acids were similar in patients and healthy subjects at rest and during exercise. In line with the higher relative workload of the patients, glucose mobilization and total carbohydrate oxidation were higher in the patients compared with the healthy subjects. CONCLUSION During moderate-intensity exercise, the balance between fat and carbohydrate use in patients with mtDNA mutations matches that seen in healthy subjects, indicating that manipulating dietary fat and carbohydrate content is not a feasible therapeutic option to improve exercise intolerance in these disorders.
Semantic segmentation of street scenes by superpixel co-occurrence and 3D geometry

We present a novel approach for image semantic segmentation of street scenes into coherent regions, while simultaneously categorizing each region as one of the predefined categories representing commonly encountered object and background classes. We formulate the segmentation on small blob-based superpixels and exploit a visual vocabulary tree as an intermediate image representation. The main novelty of this generative approach is the introduction of an explicit model of spatial co-occurrence of visual words associated with super-pixels and utilization of appearance, geometry and contextual cues in a probabilistic framework. We demonstrate how individual cues contribute towards global segmentation accuracy and how their combination yields superior performance to the best known method on the challenging benchmark dataset which exhibits diversity of street scenes with varying viewpoints, large number of categories, captured in daylight and dusk.