Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
User reputation in a comment rating environment

Reputable users are valuable assets of a web site. We focus on user reputation in a comment rating environment, where users make comments about content items and rate the comments of one another. Intuitively, a reputable user posts high quality comments and is highly rated by the user community. To our surprise, we find that the quality of a comment judged editorially is almost uncorrelated with the ratings that it receives, but can be predicted using standard text features, achieving accuracy as high as the agreement between two editors! However, extracting a pure reputation signal from ratings is difficult because of data sparseness and several confounding factors in users' voting behavior. To address these issues, we propose a novel bias-smoothed tensor model and empirically show that our model significantly outperforms a number of alternatives based on Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Buzz and Epinions datasets.
Tight Lower Bounds on Graph Embedding Problems

We prove that unless the Exponential Time Hypothesis (ETH) fails, deciding if there is a homomorphism from graph G to graph H cannot be done in time |V(H)|o(|V(G)|). We also show an exponential-time reduction from Graph Homomorphism to Subgraph Isomorphism. This rules out (subject to ETH) a possibility of |V(H)|o(|V(H)|)-time algorithm deciding if graph G is a subgraph of H. For both problems our lower bounds asymptotically match the running time of brute-force algorithms trying all possible mappings of one graph into another. Thus, our work closes the gap in the known complexity of these fundamental problems. Moreover, as a consequence of our reductions, conditional lower bounds follow for other related problems such as Locally Injective Homomorphism, Graph Minors, Topological Graph Minors, Minimum Distortion Embedding and Quadratic Assignment Problem.
Nuciferine Prevents Hepatic Steatosis and Injury Induced by a High-Fat Diet in Hamsters

Background Nuciferine is a major active aporphine alkaloid from the leaves of N. nucifera Gaertn that possesses anti-hyperlipidemia, anti-hypotensive, anti-arrhythmic, and insulin secretagogue activities. However, it is currently unknown whether nuciferine can benefit hepatic lipid metabolism. Methodology/Principal Findings In the current study, male golden hamsters were randomly divided into four groups fed a normal diet, a high-fat diet (HFD), or a HFD supplemented with nuciferine (10 and 15 mg/kg·BW/day). After 8 weeks of intervention, HFD-induced increases in liver and visceral adipose tissue weight, dyslipidemia, liver steatosis, and mild necroinflammation in hamsters were analyzed. Nuciferine supplementation protected against HFD-induced changes, alleviated necroinflammation, and reversed serum markers of metabolic syndrome in hamsters fed a HFD. RT-PCR and western blot analyses revealed that hamsters fed a HFD had up-regulated levels of genes related to lipogenesis, increased free fatty acid infiltration, and down-regulated genes involved in lipolysis and very low density lipoprotein secretion. In addition, gene expression of cytochrome P4502E1 and tumor necrosis factor-α were also increased in the HFD group. Nuciferine supplementation clearly suppressed HFD-induced alterations in the expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism. Conclusions/Significance Nuciferine supplementation ameliorated HFD-induced dyslipidemia as well as liver steatosis and injury. The beneficial effects of nuciferine were associated with altered expression of hepatic genes involved in lipid metabolism.
Effect of smoking on erythorbic acid pharmacokinetics.

Considerable evidence exists that smoking significantly lowers the concentration of plasma antioxidants. While for most antioxidants this effect appears to result mainly from altered dietary habits, ascorbic acid has recently been shown to be depleted by smoking per se. However, the direct cause of ascorbate depletion remains unclear. Erythorbic acid is a stereoisomer of ascorbic acid commonly used as antioxidant in foodstuffs and has the same redox properties as ascorbic acid. We therefore investigated if erythorbic acid could be used as a non-isotopic marker of smoking-induced oxidative stress. In a sample of smokers (n 10) and non-smokers (n 10), the pharmacokinetics of erythorbic acid were followed after a single oral dose (1 g) and subsequently, the effect of a 2-week ascorbic acid supplementation (0.5 g/d) on erythorbic acid kinetics was studied in a double-blind, placebo-controlled fashion. There were no significant effects of smoking or supplementation on relative bioavailability (difference in area under curve, AUC 0-infinity) of erythorbic acid (smokers 357 (sd 119), non-smokers 414 (sd 142) micromol.h/l; P=0.34). Time to reach maximum plasma concentration (Tmax) was significantly less in smokers (P=0.03). If the relative pharmacokinetics of erythorbic acid between smokers and non-smokers compares with those of AA, our present results do not suggest that altered pharmacokinetics is likely to play a major role in the ascorbic acid depletion consistently observed in smokers.
Comparative Profiling of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strains Reveals Differential Expression of Novel Unique and Conserved Small RNAs

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a highly adaptable bacterium that thrives in a broad range of ecological niches and can infect multiple hosts as diverse as plants, nematodes and mammals. In humans, it is an important opportunistic pathogen. This wide adaptability correlates with its broad genetic diversity. In this study, we used a deep-sequencing approach to explore the complement of small RNAs (sRNAs) in P. aeruginosa as the number of such regulatory molecules previously identified in this organism is relatively low, considering its genome size, phenotypic diversity and adaptability. We have performed a comparative analysis of PAO1 and PA14 strains which share the same host range but differ in virulence, PA14 being considerably more virulent in several model organisms. Altogether, we have identified more than 150 novel candidate sRNAs and validated a third of them by Northern blotting. Interestingly, a number of these novel sRNAs are strain-specific or showed strain-specific expression, strongly suggesting that they could be involved in determining specific phenotypic traits.
CSF biomarkers predict a more malignant outcome in Alzheimer disease

Objective: To investigate if patterns of CSF biomarkers (T-tau, P-tau, and Aβ42) can predict cognitive progression, outcome of cholinesterase inhibitor (ChEI) treatment, and mortality in Alzheimer disease (AD). Methods: We included outpatients with AD (n = 151) from a prospective treatment study with ChEI. At baseline, patients underwent cognitive assessments and lumbar puncture. The patients were assessed longitudinally. The 5-year survival rate was evaluated. CSF-Aβ42, T-tau, and P-tau were analyzed at baseline. K-means cluster analysis including the 3 CSF biomarkers was carried out. Results: Cluster 1 contained 87 patients with low levels of Aβ42 and relatively low levels of T-tau and P-tau. Cluster 2 contained 52 patients with low levels of Aβ42 and intermediate levels of T-tau and P-tau. Cluster 3 contained 12 patients with low levels of Aβ42 and very high levels of CSF T-tau and P-tau. There were no differences between the clusters regarding age, gender, years of education, baseline instrumental activities of daily living, or APOE genotype. Even though there was no difference between cluster 3 and the other clusters in disease duration or global rating, the patients in cluster 3 performed worse on cognitive tests already at baseline. Patients in cluster 3 exhibited a very poor outcome of ChEI treatment. Finally, cognition deteriorated faster over time and the mortality rate was substantially increased in cluster 3. Conclusion: A subgroup of patients with Alzheimer disease with extreme levels of CSF biomarkers exhibits worse clinical outcomes over time, including faster progression of cognitive deficits, no response to ChEI treatment, and a higher mortality.
Anxiety Induction in Virtual Environments: An Experimental Comparison of Three General Techniques

Anxiety induction and elicitation of associated physiological arousal with Virtual Environments (VEs) is important in diverse domains. This paper evaluates three general anxiety induction techniques. The first augments the VE with a health bar that is often displayed in video games to indicate when the user’s avatar gets hurt. The second augments the VE with aversive audio-visual stimuli which are employed in first-person shooter games when the user’s avatar gets hurt and include preset heartbeat sound. The third introduces in the previous technique a biofeedback mechanism to control heartbeat sound. The results we obtained on a VE that reproduces a fire evacuation indicate that the third technique produces much higher physiological arousal than the other two, and measures of users’ state anxiety are consistent with physiological results. We discuss possible reasons that could explain why the exploitation of auditory heartbeat biofeedback contributes to make the third technique more effective, by linking our study to research and theories of affect and emotions.
Stock market prediction system with modular neural networks

A discussion is presented of a buying- and selling-time prediction system for stocks on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the analysis of internal representation. The system is based on modular neural networks. The authors developed a number of learning algorithms and prediction methods for the TOPIX (Tokyo Stock Exchange Prices Indexes) prediction system. The prediction system achieved accurate predictions, and the simulation on stocks trading showed an excellent profit
Preoperative gait analysis has a substantial effect on orthopedic decision making in children with cerebral palsy: Comparison between clinical evaluation and gait analysis in 60 patients

Background There is still some debate regarding the role of 3-dimensional gait analysis in routine preoperative evaluation of children with cerebral palsy. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate to what extent introduction of 3-D gait analysis changes preoperative surgical planning. Method Before gait analysis, 60 ambulatory children aged 10 (4–18) years with spastic cerebral palsy had a specific surgical plan outlined, based on clinical examination by orthopedic surgeons. After gait analysis, the proposed surgical procedures were reviewed to determine the frequency with which the treatment plans changed. A multidisciplinary team assessed the gait analysis. Results Treatment plans for 42 of the 60 patients were altered after gait analysis. Surgical treatment was recommended for 49 patients whereas 11 were recommended non-surgical treatment. Of the 253 specific surgical procedures proposed, 97 procedures were not recommended after gait analysis and 65 additional procedures were recommended after the analysis. Thus, the number of procedures proposed was reduced by 13%. A total of 318 specific surgical procedures were proposed either clinically, by gait analysis, or both. There was overall agreement between the referring orthopedic surgeons and gait analysis in 156 of these 318 procedures (49%). Gait analysis proposed more surgery for psoas tenotomy and rectus femoris transfer, whereas less surgery was proposed for other soft tissue and bony procedures. There was good accordance between gait analysis recommendations and the surgery performed subsequently (92%). Interpretation Gait analysis provided important additional information that modified preoperative surgical planning to a high degree. The high accordance between recommendations and surgery performed suggests that surgeons seriously consider the gait data and treatment recommendations.
Police Independence and the Military Police

This paper examines police independence in the context of the military police. The author concludes that the independence of the military police to investigate both Criminal Code and Code of Service Discipline offences should be recognized as part of the unwritten constitutional principle associated with the rule of law and as a principle of fundamental justice under s.7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The author examines the increased recognition of the importance of police investigative independence since the Somalia inquiry including the recent expansion of the command authority of the Canadian Forces Provost Marshall over all military police and relates police independence to the rule of law. The author concludes that while the military command structure has a legitimate interest in providing general and public policy guidance to the military police, that s.18. 5(3) of Bill C-41 as introduced but not enacted in the last Parliament violates police independence by enabling the Vice Chair of Defence Staff to issue instructions to the military police in specific cases. Such interferences with the investigative independence of the military police are inconsistent with increased post-Somalia recognition of police independence and could undermine the application of the rule of law to the Canadian military.
Water chemistry and its effects on the physiology and survival of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar smolts.

The physiological effects of episodic pH fluctuations on Atlantic salmon Salmo salar smolts in eastern Maine, U.S.A. , were investigated. During this study, S. salar smolts were exposed to ambient stream-water chemistry conditions at nine sites in four catchments for 3 and 6 day intervals during the spring S. salar smolt migration period. Plasma chloride, plasma glucose, gill aluminium and gill Na(+)- and K(+)-ATPase levels in S. salar smolts were assessed in relation to ambient stream-water chemistry during this migration period. Changes in both plasma chloride and plasma glucose levels of S. salar smolts were strongly correlated with stream pH, and S. salar smolt mortality occurred in one study site with ambient stream pH between 5·6 and 5·8 during the study period. The findings from this study suggest that physiological effects on S. salar smolts are strongly correlated with stream pH and that in rivers and streams with low dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations the threshold for physiological effects and mortality probably occurs at a higher pH and shorter exposure period than in rivers with higher DOC. Additionally, whenever an acidification event in which pH drops below 5·9 coincides with S. salar smolt migration in eastern Maine rivers, there is potential for a significant reduction in plasma ions of S. salar smolts.
Chick ovalbumin upstream promoter-transcription factors (COUP-TFs): coming of age.

I. Introduction II. The COUP-TF Gene Family A. Homology to other members of the steroid/thyroid hormone receptor superfamily B. Sequence homology within the COUP-TF gene family III. Biochemical Characteristics A. DNA-binding sites B. Molecular mechanism of COUP-TFs action 1. Competition for occupancy of the binding sites 2. Competition for RXR 3. Active repression 4. Transrepression 5. The role of COUP-TFs in transactivation IV. Expression Patterns of COUP-TFs During Development A. Expression patterns in zebrafish and Xenopus B. Expression patterns in mouse and chick V. Physiological Function of COUP-TFs A. Ectopic expression of svp in Drosophila B. Ectopic expression of COUP-TFI in Xenopus embryos C. Loss of function of COUP-TFI in mice D. Loss of function of COUP-TFII in mice VI. Regulation of the Expression of COUP-TF Genes A. Regulation of COUP-TF by retinoids B. Regulation of COUP-TF by sonic hedgehog (Shh) VII. Perspectives
Flint: batch-interactive data-intensive processing on transient servers

Cloud providers now offer transient servers, which they may revoke at anytime, for significantly lower prices than on-demand servers, which they cannot revoke. The low price of transient servers is particularly attractive for executing an emerging class of workload, which we call Batch-Interactive Data-Intensive (BIDI), that is becoming increasingly important for data analytics. BIDI workloads require large sets of servers to cache massive datasets in memory to enable low latency operation. In this paper, we illustrate the challenges of executing BIDI workloads on transient servers, where revocations (akin to failures) are the common case. To address these challenges, we design Flint, which is based on Spark and includes automated checkpointing and server selection policies that i) support batch and interactive applications and ii) dynamically adapt to application characteristics. We evaluate a prototype of Flint using EC2 spot instances, and show that it yields cost savings of up to 90% compared to using on-demand servers, while increasing running time by < 2%.
A Case Control Study Reveals that Polyomaviruria Is Significantly Associated with Interstitial Cystitis and Vesical Ulceration

Objectives To investigate whether polyomaviruses contribute to interstitial cystitis pathogenesis. Subjects and Methods A prospective study was performed with 50 interstitial cystitis cases compared with 50 age-matched, disease-free controls for the frequency of polyomaviruria. Associations between polyomaviruria and disease characteristics were analysed in cases. Polyomavirus in urine and bladder tissue was detected with species (JC virus vs. BK virus) specific, real-time PCR. Results Case patients were reflective of interstitial cystitis epidemiology with age range from 26–88 years (median 58) and female predominance (41/50 F). There was a significant increase in the frequency of polyomavirus shedding between cases and controls (p<0.02). Polyomavirus shedding, in particular BK viruria, was associated with vesical ulceration, a marker of disease severity, among interstitial cystitis cases after adjustment for age and sex (OR 6.8, 95% CI 1.89–24.4). There was a significant association among cases between the presence of BK viruria and response to intravesical Clorpactin therapy (OR 4.50, 95% CI 1.17–17.4). Conclusion The presence of polyomaviruria was found to be associated with the ulcerative form of interstitial cystitis. Clorpactin, which has anti-DNA virus activity, was more likely to improve symptoms in the presence of BK viruria. These data from this pilot study suggest associations between polyomaviruria and interstitial cystitis warranting further investigation.
Dopamine transporter mediated release of dopamine: Role of chloride

Using a rapid (0.5 ml/min) flow rate superfusion system, the dopamine (DA) transporter mediated release of DA is further explored, and compared to the depolarization evoked release of DA in rat striatal synaptosomes preloaded with radioactive DA (3H‐DA). In this system external DA in the low μM range efficaciously releases the preloaded transmitter, the maximal response being reached at 3 μM DA. The external DA stimulated release is Ca2+‐independent, Cl−‐dependent, and blocked by both bupropion and nomifensine. The atypical antidepressant bupropion inhibits 3H‐DA accumulation to rat striatal synaptosomes with a calculated IC50 of 1.3 × 10−6M. Among DA uptake blockers some are known to act as DA releasing agents. Here we found that the DA uptake blocker nomifensine (30 μM) is unable to modify the baseline release of 3H‐DA, whereas bupropion (10 μM) clearly elevates the baseline release of 3H‐DA in a Ca2+‐independent and Cl−‐dependent manner. The non releasing agent nomifensine blocks the release of 3H‐DA induced by bupropion. The Ca2+‐dependent, high K+ depolarization evoked release of 3H‐DA is not modified by nomifensine and does not depend on the external Cl− concentration. When the depolarizing medium contains DA the carrier mediated release of 3H‐DA induced by the external DA is additive to the high K+ induced response. A drastic drop in the external Cl− concentration induces 3H‐DA release. This release of 3H‐DA induced by low external Cl− levels is completely blocked by nomifensine, which only slightly diminished the release of 3H‐DA induced by the absence of external Na+. On the basis of these results, it is concluded that: (1) Rapid perfusion flow rates eliminate DA reuptake. (2) DA uptake inhibitors either with or without DA releasing capabilities block the release of DA induced by μM levels of external DA. (3) By preventing translocation of the DA transporter mobile moiety, nomifensine may inhibit the release of DA induced by external DA or bupropion and by drastic drops in the external Cl−w concentration. (4) In the absence of nomifensine, the DA transporter works under both resting and depolarized conditions, but in contrast to the GABA transporter (Sitges et al.: Neurochem Res 18:1081–1087, 1993), the DA transporter does not contribute to the amount of the DA released by depolarization. (5) Reversal of the DA uptake carrier is favored by conditions increasing the internal DA levels. (6) Cl− rather than Na+ is a major determinant in 3H‐DA movements through the DA transporter. Copyright © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cross Cultural Variations in Attitude towards use of Psychological Support Among Police Officers

A body of literature exists that emphasises the importance of understanding attitudes and trends towards seeking psychological support in order to boost effective trauma management. In the context of police work, appropriate understanding and utilisation of support systems can help to gain mental preparedness and steadiness required to boost performance. The research reported here used a mixed methodological approach. Thematic and statistical analysis indicated that overall, the majority of police officers questioned preferred speaking to friends and family for psychological support or engaging in religious activities rather than consulting psychological services. A few of the police employed other techniques such as reading self-help books, and seeking religious guidance. Cross comparative analysis of anecdotal responses suggested significant themes around religion, affirmations, positive outlook, and trauma awareness. Importance and challenges related to individual differences in the use of psychological services are highlighted, along with recommendations to modify exis
Community in Gay Male Experience and Moral Discourse

Abstract The three sociological conceptions of community are outlined: the imagined community, community as friendship, and community as local organizations or groups. The extent to which gay men in New York City experience a gay community in each of these ways is investigated by means of in-depth interviews. The type of moral discourse utilized by the gay men interviewed is also discussed. Finally, gay men in New York City are compared to the new Russian Jewish community in Brooklyn as to which is more “postmodern. ”
A Resonant Controller With High Structural Robustness for Fixed-Point Digital Implementations

This paper presents a new resonant (R) controller. The proposed R controller is input-output equivalent to the conventional R controller but it is internally nonlinear. Its internal state variables are the transformed versions of the conventional R controller into the polar coordinates. It is, thus, given the name of polar form resonant (PFR) controller. While the PFR is totally equivalent to the R controller in continuous-time domain, it offers a much higher structural robustness when it comes to digital implementations. Particularly, it is shown in this paper that the PFR resolves the well-known structural sensitivity of the R controller for applications that need high sampling frequency and have word length limitations. Such a structural sensitivity is conventionally resolved by resorting to the delta-domain realizations. The PFR offers an alternative method to the delta-domain realization technique with even higher degree of robustness and easier stage of adjustment. Moreover, the PFR can easily be enhanced to accommodate frequency variations, a feature that is not easily attainable using the delta-domain method. Feasibility of the PFR controller is verified using a laboratory prototype of a single-phase uninterruptible power supply system operating at high sampling and switching frequencies where the control system is implemented on a field programmable gate array board.