Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploiting Partial Problem Spaces Learned from Users' Interactions to Provide Key Tutoring Services in Procedural and Ill-Defined Domains

In previous works, we showed how sequential pattern mining can be used to extract a partial problem space from logged user interactions for a procedural and ill-defined domain where classic domain knowledge acquisition approaches don't work well. In this paper, we describe in details how such a problem space can support important tutoring services such as (1) recognizing the plan of a learner, (2) providing hints and (3) estimating the profile of a learner including its expertise level and missing or misunderstandood skills.
Prognostic Importance of the Nucleolar Organizer Region Score in Ovarian Epithelial Tumors

Objective: The score of the silver-stained nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) is frequently found to be high in malignant tumors. We studied AgNOR in ovarian epithelial tumors diagnosed in our hospital between 1993 and 1998. Materials and Method: In our study 67 ovarian epithelial tumors (18 cystadenoma, 16 borderline type, 34 cystadenocarcinoma) were stained using the method previously described by Crocker. One-way ANOVA and logistic regression tests were used to find the statistical relationship between grade, recurrence, mortality rates and AgNOR scores in tumors (p values of <0.05 were considered statistically significant). Results: The mean AgNOR scores of 28 mucinous and 39 serous ovary tumors were calculated. The lowest AgNOR score of 1.33 was found in cystadenomas and the highest AgNOR score of 4.92 was found in serous and mucinous cystadenocarcinomas. In addition the relationship between mortality rate, recurrence and AgNOR score in carcinomas were studied. Conclusion: AgNOR scores in carcinomas were found to be higher than adenomas, and the highest AgNOR score was found in grade-III carcinomas. This shows that the AgNOR score can be used as a prognostic index in malignancies.
Efficacy of a “Rescue” Ciprofloxacin-Based Regimen for Eradication of Helicobacter pylori Infection after Treatment Failures

The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of a ciprofloxacin-based regimen for H. pylori eradication failures as an alternative to bismuth based quadruple therapy. Methods. Design: prospective single-center study. Patients in whom a first eradication trial with omeprazole/esomeprazole, clarithromycin plus amoxicillin or tinidazole/metronidazole had failed were included. H. pylori status: established by histology, rapide urease test and polymerase chain reaction. Intervention: esomeprazole 20 mg, ciprofloxacin 500 mg, and metronidazole 500 mg, administered together before breakfast and dinner for 10 days. Susceptibility testing was performed by the Epsilometer test. Ciprofloxacin resistance was defined as a MIC of ≥1 μg/mL. Eradication was established by a negative 13C-UBT and 4–6 weeks post-therapy. Efficacy and side effects were determined. Results. 34 patients were enrolled, 32 completed the study. Compliance was excellent (100%). Side effects were mild. Ciprofloxacin-based therapy cured 65% (22/34) of patients by intention to treat and 69% (22/32) per protocol analysis. The prevalence of ciprofloxacin resistance was 8%. Conclusions. The effectiveness of ciprofloxacin-based therapy was greatly reduced despite the high prevalence of ciprofloxacin sensitive H. pylori strains. Bismuth based quadruple therapy still remain the best choice as a “rescue” regimen in our region.
Serum Creatine Kinase and Lactate Dehydrogenase Changes After Anterior Approaches to the Thoracic and Lumbar Spine

Ten patients undergoing anterior approaches to the thoracic and lumbar spine had prospective determinations of serum creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, and their myocardial-associated isoenzymes (CK-MB and the LD-1/LD-2 ratio). None of these patients experienced postoperative myocardial infarction. Skeletal muscle injury associated with anterior spinal surgery resulted in significant elevations of serum CK-MB on postoperative Day 1; however, the LD-1/LD-2 ratio did not change significantly. Although false-positive elevations of serum CK-MB occurred, no patient had a CK-MB value exceeding 50 IU/liter combined with an LD-1/LD-2 ratio exceeding 1.0 (so-called “flipped LD” pattern). In evaluating suspected postoperative myocardial infarction, the authors recommend determining the isoenzymes of both serum creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase. In postoperative patients, elevations of CK-MB exceeding 50 IU/liter combined with an LD-1/LD-2 ratio exceeding 1.0 should not be attributed to skeletal muscle injury alone after anterior approaches to the thoracic and lumbar spine.
Smiling and Vocalization in Infants as Indices of Perceptual-Cognitive Processes.

The papers by Zelazo (1972) and Watson (1972) have em phasized the proposition that under some circumstances smiling and vocalization are neither responses innately elicited by social stimuli nor simple reinforced operants. Rather, both authors have sug gested that in some instances smiling and vocalization may be important indices of certain perceptual-cognitive events. Watson (1972) proposed that contingency analysis, the deter mination that the infant's responses have perceptual consequences, is a condition that elicits smiling and cooing. Moreover, Watson sug gests that contingency "games" between parent and child could form one basis of attachment. In addition to the data presented by Watson (1972), some of the most fascinating information on "the game" derives from anecdotes which suggest that exposure to a contingent stimulus in the first two months of life may well be an exceptionally powerful experience for the infant. One two-monther played for up to five hours a day with a mobile that rotated contingent with the infant's feet movements, and the mother began to use the apparatus as an inanimate baby sitter (Watson, personal com munication). Moreover, Watson clinically observed in one retarded subject that attachment-like behavior was exhibited to the contingent stimulus, that frustration and displeasure were evidenced when it was removed, and that refusal to respond in its presence occurred after a period of separation from the stimulus. If contingent stimula tion is one basis of early attachment, such experiences might operate in a manner similar to imprinting (Hess, 1970; Scott, 1968), but less rigidly constricted as to timing, object characteristics, etc. Fur thermore, if contingency experience is a powerful aspect of the formation of attachment in infancy, then perhaps psychologists should concentrate on teaching parents to behave contingently in the pres ence of their infants rather than defaulting to the use of inanimate objects. Zelazo (1972) has summarized evidence supporting the sug
Toxicological effects of PM0.25–2.0 particles collected from a photocopy center in three human cell lines

Abstract Printing devices such as photocopiers and printers emit predominantly nanoparticles, which may aggregate with time to form PM0.25–2.0 particles. To date, there are no reports on cytotoxic or genotoxic effects of PM0.25–2.0 particles emitted from photocopiers. This study's objective was to investigate the ability of PM0.25–2 fraction emitted from photocopiers, to induce pro-inflammatory cytokines, DNA damage and apoptosis in different human-derived cell lines. Three cell types, i.e. a THP-1 line, primary human nasal and small airway epithelial cells, were used. The airborne PM0.25–2.0 size fraction collected from a photocopy center was characterized for its physicochemical and morphological properties, dispersed in culture media and cells were treated with 30, 100 or 300 µg/ml doses. Levels of 13 cytokines and chemokines in the culture medium harvested at 6 and 24 h of treatment were measured using Luminex cytokine kits. In cells harvested at the same timepoints, DNA damage in cells was studied by Comet assay, and apoptosis was measured by cytofluorimetry using an Annexin V staining kit. The results indicate that in THP-1 cells, several cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, TNFα and IL-1β) were significantly elevated. Only IL-8 was significantly elevated in the primary nasal and small airway cells. Cells exposed to PM0.25–2.0 underwent apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner, but no significant differences were found in the extent of DNA damage at either timepoint. Airborne PM0.25–2.0 collected at one photocopier center was capable of inducing several pro-inflammatory cytokines and apoptosis, but no genotoxicity, in all cell lines suggesting a role for PM0.25–2.0 in our previously documented airway inflammation in human volunteers. Further toxicological evaluations of these particles across different toner manufacturers are warranted.
Gender Bias in STEM Fields

The current study focuses on girls’ and women’s reported experiences with gender bias in fields related to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). In the first set of analyses, I examined whether the prevalence of self-reported gender bias varied depending on the educational context. I then examined whether experiencing gender bias was associated with lower STEM self-concept and, if so, whether having a supportive network of STEM peers would buffer this effect. Data were collected through a self-report survey that was administered to high school girls who aspired to have STEM careers, women in STEM undergraduate majors, and women in STEM doctoral programs. Overall, 61% of participants reported experiencing gender bias in the past year, but the prevalence rate varied according to their phase of education and field of study. In particular, women in math-intensive undergraduate majors were especially likely to encounter gender bias, which predominately originated from male peers in their major. As expected, participants who encountered gender bias had lower STEM self-concept than participants who did not. However, this effect was attenuated for participants who also had a supportive network of STEM peers. These findings suggest that positive peer connections may be a valuable resource for girls and women in the STEM pipeline.
A Comparison of GPS Performance in a Scintillation Environment at Ascension Island

Abstract : Post-sunset disturbances in the equatorial ionosphere routinely cause rapid phase and amplitude fluctuations (i.e., scintillation) of radio waves propagating through the disturbed regions. The intensity of scintillations is positively correlated with the solar cycle and the associated signal fades will often exceed 20 dB at L-band frequencies during solar maximum. The effect of such an environment on the performance of GPS navigation systems is poorly understood. In March 2000 AFRL conducted a campaign at Ascension Island to test the performance of several GPS receivers under potentially severe scintillation conditions. Ascension Island is located at approximately 16 S magnetic latitude, a region of intense ionospheric disturbances. The systems tested included a Plessey GPS Builder, a Novatel-based prototype GPS Silicon Valley (GSV) Ionospheric Scintillation Monitor (ISM) modified specifically for scintillation applications, a custom High Gain Advanced GPS Receiver (HAGR) developed for AFRL by NAVSYS Corporation and an Ashtech Z-12. Overall, the Ashtech proved to be very robust at tracking the carrier signal amplitude and phase, but it experienced scintillation-induced navigation outages on four of the eight nights of observations. The responses of the different receivers during severe scintillation varied significantly, suggesting that models to simulate ionospheric effects on GPS performance must be receiver-specific.
Mechanical Properties for 95.5Sn&#8211;3.8Ag&#8211;0.7Cu Lead-Free Solder Alloy

Mechanical properties for 95.5Sn–3.8Ag–0.7Cu solder alloy were derived from bulk specimen tensile test and lap shear solder joint tests specimen. The tensile tests were carried out at three temperatures (25<tex>$^circhbox C$</tex>, 75<tex>$^circhbox C$</tex>, and 125<tex>$ ^circhbox C$</tex>) and at three different strain rates (<tex>$5.6times 10^-4 hbox s^-1$</tex>,<tex>$5.6times 10^-3$</tex>and<tex>$5.6times 10^-2 hbox s^-1$</tex>). Shear tests were carried out at three temperatures (25<tex>$ ^circhbox C$</tex>, 75<tex>$ ^circhbox C$</tex>, and 125<tex>$ ^circhbox C$</tex>) and at three different displacement rates (0.5, 0.05, and 0.005 mm/min). The specimen gave the highest strength at the fastest displacement rate and at room temperature of 25<tex>$ ^circhbox C$</tex>(0.61 Tm). The lowest strength occurs when the specimen is subjected to the slowest displacement rate at elevated temperature of 125<tex>$ ^circhbox C$</tex>(0.81 Tm). Constant-load creep tests for bulk specimen were also conducted at three different temperatures (25<tex>$ ^circhbox C$</tex>, 75<tex>$ ^circhbox C$</tex>, and 125<tex>$ ^circhbox C$</tex>), test results were compared with other reported data.
Association between unplanned readmission rate and volume of breast cancer operation cases

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between unplanned readmission and breast cancer operation cases, with the assumption that the rate of unplanned readmission within 30 days of surgery was solely due to postsurgical complications. We divided hospitals into three categories based on breast cancer operation cases: low‐volume hospitals (≤50 annual procedures), medium‐volume hospitals (51–99 annual procedures) and high‐volume hospitals (≥100 annual procedures). The medical records of 1351 subjects in 24 hospitals were investigated. We found unplanned readmission rates were significantly higher in hospitals with a lower surgical volume. From these three groups, a sample consisting of 1351 patients was created and 17 unplanned readmission cases (1.2%) were reported. Of these 17 cases, 12 (70.59%) cases were from low‐volume hospitals.
Temperature and pH Effects on Plant Uptake of Benzotriazoles by Sunflowers in Hydroponic Culture

ABSTRACT This article describes a systematic approach to understanding the effect of environmental variables on plant uptake (phyto-uptake) of organic contaminants. Uptake (and possibly phytotransformation) of xenobiotics is a complex process that may differ from nutrient uptake. A specific group of xenobiotics (benzotriazoles) were studied using sunflowers grown hydroponically with changes of environmental conditions including solution volume, temperature, pH, and mixing. The response of plants to these stimuli was evaluated and compared using physiological changes (biomass production and water uptake) and estimated uptake rates (influx into plants), which define the uptake characteristics for the xenobiotic. Stirring of the hydroponic solution had a significant impact on plant growth and water uptake. Plants were healthier, probably because of a combination of factors such as improved aeration and increase in temperature. Uptake and possibly phytotransformation of benzotriazoles was increased accordingly. Experiments at different temperatures allowed us to estimate an activation energy for the reaction leading to triazole disappearance from the solution. The estimated activation energy was 43 kJ/mol, which indicates that the uptake process is kinetically limited. Culturing plants in triazole-amended hydroponic solutions at different pH values did not strongly affect the biomass production, water uptake, and benzotriazole uptake characteristics. The sunflowers showed an unexpected capacity to buffer the solution pH.
Coordinate Control of Proliferation and Migration by the p27Kip1/Cyclin-Dependent Kinase/Retinoblastoma Pathway in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells and Fibroblasts

Abstract— Previous studies have demonstrated a protective effect of the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor p27Kip1 against atherosclerosis and restenosis, two disorders characterized by abundant proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells and adventitial fibroblasts. These therapeutic effects might result from p27Kip1-dependent suppression of both cell proliferation and migration. However, the interplay between cell growth and locomotion remains obscure. We show here that p27Kip1 inhibits cellular changes that normally occur during cell locomotion (eg, lamellipodia formation and reorganization of actin filaments and focal adhesions). Importantly, a p27Kip1 mutant lacking CDK inhibitory activity failed to inhibit vascular smooth muscle cell and fibroblast proliferation and migration. Moreover, a constitutively active mutant of the retinoblastoma protein (pRb) insensitive to CDK-dependent hyperphosphorylation inhibited both cell proliferation and migration. In contrast, inactivation of pRb by forced expression of the adenoviral oncogene E1A correlated with high proliferative and migratory activity. Collectively, these results suggest that cellular proliferation and migration are regulated in a coordinated manner by the p27Kip1/CDK/pRb pathway. These findings might have important implications for the development of novel therapeutic strategies targeting the fibroproliferative/migratory component of vascular occlusive disorders.
The Application of a Fuzzy Clustering Neural Network to Acoustic-phonetic Mapping for Asr

Most state-of-the-art automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems use a vector of acoustic (spectral) parameters to recognise phones. The acoustic parameters reflect linguistic properties encoded in the signal. As shown in Koreman et al. (1999), mapping acoustic parameters onto phonetic features helps to extract these linguistic properties and leads to an increase in phone identification rate. In the experiment presented here, the Kohonen map used in Koreman et al. (1999) is replaced by a fuzzy neural network sensitive to density (FNNSD). This network has been applied successfully for clustering colour shades (Acciani et al., 1999), which are non-uniformly distributed data with overlaps. Overlaps between different phones typically occur in natural speech data, so that the fuzzy rules to compute cluster membership used in the FNNSD should be applicable to ASR. For each input, this kind of network attributes a continuous degree of membership of all phones. In this article we shall compare results of phoneme identification using a FNNSD with those using a Kohonen map.
Indexing weighted-sequences in large databases

We present an index structure for managing weighted-sequences in large databases. A weighted-sequence is defined as a two-dimensional structure where each element in the sequence is associated with a weight. A series of network events, for instance, is a weighted-sequence in that each event has a timestamp. Querying a large sequence database by events' occurrence patterns is a first step towards understanding the temporal causal relationships among the events. The index structure proposed enables us to efficiently retrieve from the database all subsequences, possibly noncontiguous, that match a given query sequence both by events and by weights. The index method also takes into consideration the nonuniformfrequency distribution of events in the sequence data. In addition, our method finds a broad range of applications in indexing scientific data consisting of multiple numerical columns for discovery of correlations among these columns. For instance, indexing a DNA microarray that records expression levels of genes under different conditions enables us to search for genes whose responses to various experimental perturbations follow a given pattern. We demonstrate, using real-world data sets, that our method is effective and efficient.
Detection of Human Papillomavirus Type 16-Specific T Lymphocytes by a Recombinant Vaccinia Virus-Based Enzyme-Linked Immunospot Assay

ABSTRACT Cell-mediated immunity, particularly that induced by T cells, is thought to have a key role in controlling infection. The enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay has been successfully adapted to detect T-cell immune response to a variety of pathogens. However, it still remains a challenge to detect antigen-specific T cells when the numbers of circulating cells are low, such as in a local cervical infection caused by genital human papillomavirus (HPV). The goal of this study was to develop a protocol for enhanced detection of HPV-specific CD8+ T cells by examining a number of the variables involved in performing an ELISPOT assay. Since blood samples consistently positive for HPV-specific T cells are difficult to obtain, previously described human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) E6 52-61 (FAFRDLCIVY)-specific T-cell clone cells (13) seeded in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from an HLA-B57-positive blood donor were used. The variables examined were the amounts of primary and secondary anti-gamma interferon antibodies, amounts of antigen-presenting monocytes and recombinant vaccinia virus expressing the HPV16 E6 protein, and amounts of exogenous cytokines added (recombinant human interleukin-2 [rhIL-2] and rhIL-7). The amounts of antigen-presenting monocytes, followed by the concentration of exogenous rhIL-2, had the most pronounced and significant effects in enhancing sensitivity of the ELISPOT assay. Blood samples from six patients being monitored for abnormal Pap smear results and from 12 healthy volunteers were examined using the enhanced conditions.
Reproducible testing of distributed software with middleware virtualization and simulation

P2P Grids are Grids organized into P2P networks where participant exchange computing time so as to complete computational tasks. Evaluating the performance of scheduling algorithms enables one to deploy those that are efficient. Performance is often evaluated experimentally or through simulation because these algorithms (typically heuristics) are too complex to model analytically. Testing the implementation of P2P Grid middleware before it is deployed is also important: Reproducing configurations or conditions that lead to unexpected outcomes is thus valuable. A P2P Grid environment exhibits multiple sources of failure and is typically dynamic and uncontrollable. Reproducing even basic behavior of Grid nodes in a controllable and repeatable manner is thus exceedingly difficult. Such lack of control over the environment is a major challenge in the software engineering of P2P Grid middleware [7]. Simulators have been proposed to evaluate the performance of scheduling algorithms, but are often limited in scope, reusability and accuracy, i.e. they rely on simplified models. We introduce a software engineering pattern - that we call code once, deploy twice - to both reduce the distance between simulated and implemented algorithms and reproduce, at will, Grid configurations and environments: A simulator implementation of a Grid architecture is built by virtualizing its middleware implementation. An immediate benefit is that most of the code can be reused between both implementations; only communications between Grid nodes, multithreading within Grid nodes and actual task execution are coded differently. As a derived benefit, most of the code of the middleware can be tested within the controlled environment of the simulator, before it is deployed as-is. Another benefit is high simulation accuracy. We describe the implementation of a P2P Grid following the code once, deploy twice pattern, that we believe is also relevant to other Grid types (certainly Volunteer Grids [5, 4] and Desktop Grids [22], and possibly Globus-based Grids [3]).