Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inequality, Public Opinion and Redistribution

According to the ‘median-voter’ hypothesis, greater inequality in the market distribution of earnings or income tends to produce greater generosity in redistributive policy. We outline the steps in the causal chain specified by the hypothesis and attempt to assess these steps empirically. Prior studies focusing on cross-country variation have found little support for the median-voter model. We examine over-time trends in eight nations during the 1980s and 1990s. Here too the median-voter hypothesis appears to have little utility.
Lp Testing and Learning of Discrete Distributions

The classic problems of testing uniformity of and learning a discrete distribution, given access to independent samples from it, are examined under general lp metrics. The intuitions and results often contrast with the classic l1 case. For p > 1, we can learn and test with a number of samples that is independent of the support size of the distribution: For 1 < p < 2, with a lp distance parameter ε, O(ü√1/εq) samples suffice for testing uniformity and O(1/εq) samples suffice for learning, where q=p/(p-1) is the conjugate of p. These bounds are tight precisely when the support size n of the distribution exceeds 1/εq, which seems to act as an upper bound on the "apparent" support size. For some lp metrics, uniformity testing becomes easier over larger supports: a 6-sided die requires fewer trials to test for fairness than a 2-sided coin, and a card-shuffler requires fewer trials than the die. In fact, this inverse dependence on support size holds if and only if p > 4/3. The uniformity testing algorithm simply thresholds the number of "collisions" or "coincidences" and has an optimal sample complexity up to constant factors for all 1 ≤ p ≤ 2. Another algorithm gives order-optimal sample complexity for l∞ uniformity testing. Meanwhile, the most natural learning algorithm is shown to have order-optimal sample complexity for all lp metrics. The author thanks Cément Canonne for discussions and contributions to this work.
Tumor-tropic endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs) loaded with near-infrared sensitive Au nanoparticles: A “cellular stove” approach to the photoablation of melanoma

In the photothermal treatments (PTs) of tumor, the localization of a high number of near-infrared (NIR) absorbing gold nanoparticles in the tumor mass is still a challenging issue. Here, we propose a promising strategy to deliver therapeutic chitosan-coated gold nanoparticles to tumor cells as hidden cargo of Endothelial Colony Forming Cells (ECFCs) endowed with an innate tumor-tropism. Remarkably, ECFC gold enrichement doesn't affect cell viability and preserves the endothelial lineage characteristics such as capillary morphogenesis and cell migration. We demonstrate that heavily Au-doped ECFCs are able to efficiently warm up the tumor environment, and kill the cancer cells via hyperthermic heating both in vitro as well as in vivo. Thus, we show an excellent thermotransductive property of gold enriched ECFCs and their capability to kill melanoma cells at moderate NIR light intensities.
Putaminal Mosaic Visualized by Tyrosine Hydroxylase Immunohistochemistry in the Human Neostriatum

Among the basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuits, the putamen plays a critical role in the “motor” circuits that control voluntary movements and motor learning. The human neostriatum comprises two functional subdivisions known as the striosome (patch) and matrix compartments. Accumulating evidence suggests that compartment-specific dysregulations of dopamine activity might be involved in the disease-specific pathology and symptoms of human striatal diseases including movement disorders. This study was undertaken to examine whether or how striatal dopaminergic innervations are organized into the compartmentalized architecture found in the putamen of adult human brains. For this purpose, we used a highly sensitive immunohistochemistry (IHC) technique to identify tyrosine hydroxylase (TH; EC 1.14.16.2), a marker for striatal dopaminergic axons and terminals, in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues obtained from autopsied human brains. Herein, we report that discrete compartmentalization of TH-labeled innervations occurs in the putamen, as in the caudate nucleus (CN), with a higher density of TH labeling in the matrix compared to the striosomes. Our results provide anatomical evidence to support the hypothesis that compartment-specific dysfunction of the striosome-matrix dopaminergic systems might contribute to the genesis of movement disorders.
The Lexical Basis of Sentence Processing: Formal, Computational, and Experimental Issues

1. Preface 2. Words, numbers and all that: The lexicon in sentence understanding (by Stevenson, Suzanne) 3. The lexicon in Optimality Theory (by Bresnan, Joan) 4. Optimality-theoretic Lexical Functional Grammar (by Johnson, Mark) 5. The lexicon and the laundromat (by Fodor, Jerry) 6. Semantics in the spin cycle: Competence and performance criteria for the creation of lexical entries (by Weinberg, Amy) 7. Connectionist and symbolist sentence processing (by Steedman, Mark) 8. A computational model of the grammatical aspects of word recognition as supertagging (by Kim, Albert E.) 9. Incrementality and lexicalism: A treebank study (by Lombardo, Vincenzo) 10. Modular architectures and statistical mechanisms: The case from lexical category disambiguation (by Crocker, Matthew) 11. Encoding and storage in working memory during sentence comprehension (by Stowe, Laurie A.) 12. The time course of information integration in sentence processing (by Spivey, Michael J.) 13. The lexical source of unexpressed participants and their role in sentence and discourse understanding (by Mauner, Gail) 14. Reduced relatives judged hard require constraint-based analyses (by Filip, Hana) 15. Predicting thematic role assignments in context (by Altmann, Gerry T.M.) 16. Lexical semantics as a basis for argument structure frequency biases (by Argamann, Vera) 17. Verb sense and verb subcategorization probabilities (by Roland, Doug) 18. Author index 19. Item index
Broadband GaN Dual-Gate HEMT Low Noise Amplifier

This paper presents a broadband low noise amplifier MMIC utilizing 0.2 urn AlGaN/GaN HEMT technology. The single-stage, resistive feedback amplifier is designed in co-planar waveguide (CPW) topology. It uses dual-gate devices with on-chip drain bias network to achieve 18 dB flat gain between 300 MHz -4 GHz. Measured noise figure is around 1.5 dB between 2 and 5 GHz, and better than 2 dB between 1 and 2 GHz. The amplifier is capable of 25 dBm saturated output power with 1 dB compression point around 20 dBm across the band. Due to high breakdown voltage of GaN devices, the LNA can withstand high input power and shows no sign of degradation.
Effect of linoleic acid supplementation on in vitro maturation, embryo development and apoptotic related gene expression in ovine

Background: Linoleic acid (LA) is a polyunsaturated fatty acid present in high concentrations in follicular fluid, when added to maturation culture media, it affects oocyte competence. Objective: In the present study, we investigated effect of linoleic acid supplementation on in vitro maturation, embryo development and apoptotic related gene expression in ovine Materials and Methods: The experiments conducted on 450 ovine Cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) with homogenous ooplasm and more than two compact layers of cumulus cells. For in vitro maturation COCs were randomly allocated into four treatment groups for 24 hr period. Treatment groups were as follow: control maturation media, 0 µM LA, 50 µM LA, 100 µM LA and 200 µM LA. The cumulus cell expansion and blastocysts rates were recorded. Total RNA was isolated from embryo pools, reverse transcribed into cDNA, and subjected to apoptotic gene expression by real-time PCR. Results: Highest concentration (200 µM/mL) of LA significantly decreased the rate of fully expanded cumulus cells 24 hr after in vitro maturation (IVM) and the percentage of blastocyste rate compared with the control (p<0.05). These inhibitory effects were associated with an increased in relative mRNA expression of Bax (Bcl-2- associated X) gene compared with controls. Conclusion: Data obtained in present study suggest that low concentration of LA used for maturation had no deleterious effect on subsequent embryonic development compared to high concentration of LA. Relative expression of Bcl-2 (B-cell lymphoma 2) and Bax in embryos seems to be associated with LA concentration.
A model for WLAN signal attenuation of the human body

Fingerprinting-based indoor localization involves building a signal strength radio map. This map is usually built manually by a person holding the mapping device, which results in orientation-dependent fingerprints due to signal attenuation by the human body. To offset this distortion, fingerprints are typically collected for multiple orientations, but this requires a high effort for large localization areas. In this paper, we propose an approach to reduce the mapping effort by modeling the WLAN signal attenuation caused by the human body. By applying the model to the captured signal to compensate for the attenuation, it is possible to generate an orientation-independent fingerprint. We demonstrate that our model is location and person independent and its output is comparable with manually created radio maps. By using the model, the WLAN scanning effort can be reduced by 75% to 87.5% (depending on the number of orientations).
Tumor LINE-1 methylation level and colorectal cancer location in relation to patient survival

Colorectal tumors arise with genomic and epigenomic alterations through interactions between neoplastic cells, immune cells, and microbiota that vary along the proximal to distal axis of colorectum. Long interspersed nucleotide element-1 (LINE-1) hypomethylation in colorectal cancer has been associated with worse clinical outcome. Utilizing 1,317 colon and rectal carcinoma cases in two U.S.-nationwide prospective cohort studies, we examined patient survival according to LINE-1 methylation level stratified by tumor location. Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess a statistical interaction between LINE-1 methylation level and tumor location in colorectal cancer-specific mortality analysis, controlling for potential confounders including microsatellite instability, CpG island methylator phenotype, and KRAS, BRAF, and PIK3CA mutations. A statistically significant interaction was found between LINE-1 methylation level and tumor location in colorectal cancer-specific mortality analysis (Pinteraction = 0.011). The association of LINE-1 hypomethylation with higher colorectal cancer-specific mortality was stronger in proximal colon cancers (multivariable hazard ratio [HR], 1.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.21 to 2.28) than in distal colon cancers (multivariable HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 0.81 to 1.72) or rectal cancers (multivariable HR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.57 to 1.34). Our data suggest the interactive effect of LINE-1 methylation level and colorectal cancer location on clinical outcome.
Stable Isotope and Trace Element Studies on Gladiators and Contemporary Romans from Ephesus (Turkey, 2nd and 3rd Ct. AD) - Implications for Differences in Diet

The gladiator cemetery discovered in Ephesus (Turkey) in 1993 dates to the 2nd and 3rd century AD. The aim of this study is to reconstruct diverse diet, social stratification, and migration of the inhabitants of Roman Ephesus and the distinct group of gladiators. Stable carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur isotope analysis were applied, and inorganic bone elements (strontium, calcium) were determined. In total, 53 individuals, including 22 gladiators, were analysed. All individuals consumed C3 plants like wheat and barley as staple food. A few individuals show indication of consumption of C4 plants. The δ13C values of one female from the gladiator cemetery and one gladiator differ from all other individuals. Their δ34S values indicate that they probably migrated from another geographical region or consumed different foods. The δ15N values are relatively low in comparison to other sites from Roman times. A probable cause for the depletion of 15N in Ephesus could be the frequent consumption of legumes. The Sr/Ca-ratios of the gladiators were significantly higher than the values of the contemporary Roman inhabitants. Since the Sr/Ca-ratio reflects the main Ca-supplier in the diet, the elevated values of the gladiators might suggest a frequent use of a plant ash beverage, as mentioned in ancient texts.
A two-state DNA lattice switched by DNA nanoactuator.

Controlled mechanical movement in molecular scale devices is one of the key goals of nanotechnology. DNA is an excellent candidate for the construction of such devices due to the specificity of base pairing and its robust physicochemical properties. Well-known as the genetic material, DNA has recently been explored as a smart material for constructing periodically patterned structures and nanomechanical devices. A variety of DNA-based molecular machines displaying rotational and open/close movements 8] have recently been demonstrated. Reversible shifting of the equilibrium between two conformational states is triggered by changes in external conditions or by the addition of a “DNA fuel strand” that provides the driving force for such changes. Incorporation of DNA devices into arrays could lead to complex structural states suitable for nanorobotic applications if each individual device can be addressed separately. Yan et al. have recently demonstrated a linear one-dimensional DNA array displaying a switch of cis and trans conformations through the rotational motion of a robust sequence-dependent DNA nanodevice. In the further exploration of the potential applications of DNA-based molecule machines in nanorobotics, a major challenge is to implement molecular machines into two-dimensional (2D) or threedimensional (3D) patterned arrays. This has numerous potential applications. 1) The size and shape of the lattice could be programmed through the control of sequencedependent devices, leading to controlled nanofabrication of molecular nanoelectronic wires with “on” and “off” states. For example, the tunneling effect of quantum-dot cellular automata could be actuated by controlling the distance between adjacent cells. 2) Molecules or nanoparticles could be selectively manipulated, for example, sorted and transported, by using molecular motor devices arranged on DNA
Factorizing appearance using epitomic flobject analysis

Previously, `flobject analysis' was introduced as a method for using motion or stereo disparity information to train better models of static images. During training, but not during testing, optic flow is used as a cue for factorizing appearance-based image features into those belonging to different flow-defined objects, or flobjects. Here, we describe how the image epitome can be extended to model flobjects and introduce a suitable learning algorithm. Using the CityCars and City F'edestrians datasets, we study the tasks of object classification and localization. Our method performs significantly better than the original LDA-based flobject analysis technique, SIFT-based methods with and without spatial pyramid matching, and gist descriptors.
New Inflammation-Related Biomarkers during Malaria Infection

Malaria is one of the most prevalent infectious diseases worldwide with more than 250 million cases and one million deaths each year. One of the well-characterized malarial-related molecules is hemozoin (HZ), which is a dark-brown crystal formed by the parasite and released into the host during the burst of infected red blood cells. HZ has a stimulatory effect on the host immune system such as its ability to induce pro-inflammatory mediators responsible for some of the malaria related clinical symptoms such as fever. However, the host serum proteins interacting with malarial HZ as well as how this interaction modifies its recognition by phagocytes remained elusive. In the actual study, using proteomic liquid chromatographic mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and immunochemical approaches, we compared the serum protein profiles of malaria patients and healthy individuals. Particularly, we utilized the malarial HZ itself to capture serum proteins capable to bind to HZ, enabling us to identify several proteins such as apolipoprotein E (ApoE), serum amyloid A (SAA), gelsolin, complement factor H and fibrinogen that were found to differ among healthy and malaria individual. Of particular interest is LPS binding protein (LBP), which is reported herein for the first time in the context of malaria. LBP is usually produced during innate inflammatory response to gram-negative bacterial infections. The exact role of these biomarkers and acute phase responses in malaria in general and HZ in particular remains to be investigated. The identification of these inflammation-related biomarkers in malaria paves the way to potentially utilize them as diagnostic and therapeutic targets.
How is Effort Estimated in Agile Software Development Projects?

Effort estimation is the first of many steps in the software development process that can lead to a successful project’s completion. It is a complex task, that constitutes the basis for all subsequent steps related to planing and management. Effort estimation is also a very important part in agile software development projects. In order to achieve the highest possible levels of accuracy, software development teams can make use of different techniques, methods and approaches, including advising group effort estimation [Molokken and Jorgensen 2003], subjective expert judgement [Trendowicz and Jeffery 2014] and planning poker [Cohn 2005]. In a variety of approaches and methods used, different questions arise: What are the pros and cons of approaches for effort estimation, how can different models be applied to a different development environment and specific development team, and most importantly, how accurate is effort estimation when using a specific method or approach.The average error in effort estimation is measured between
Rapid-Onset Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) in a Patient Undergoing Metastatic Liver Resection: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Metastatic liver resection following cytoreductive chemotherapy is an accepted treatment for oligometastatic tumor diseases. Although pulmonary complications are frequently reported in patients undergoing liver surgery including liver transplantation, life-threatening acute respiratory failures in the absence of aspiration, embolism, transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI), pulmonary infection, or an obvious source of systemic sepsis are rare. We performed an extensive clinical review of a patient undergoing metastatic liver resection who had a clinical course compatible to an acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) without an obvious cause except for the surgical procedure and multiple preoperative chemotherapies. We hypothesize that either the surgical procedure mediated by cytokines and tumor necrosis factor or possible toxic effects of oxygen applied during general anesthesia were associated with life-threatening respiratory failure in the patient. Discrete and subclinical inflammated alveoli (probably due to multiple preoperative chemotherapies with substances at potential risk for interstitial pneumonitis as well as chest radiation) might therefore be considered as risk factors.
Visual-Spatial Orienting in Autism 1

Visual-spatial orienting in high-functioning adults with autism and both chronologicaland mental-age normal controls was examined. Three experiments were conducted in which stimuli were presented centrally and~or laterally (left or right of central fixation), and either detection or identification was required. The group with autism differed from normal controls by responding faster to central than to lateral stimuli, and by showing a left visual field advantage for stimulus detection only in the simplest condition (lateral presentations alone). Discussion focuses on the apparent abnormalities in disengaging~shifting attention, and on the coordination of attentional and motor systems in autism.
A Web Based Career Guidance Information System for Pre-Tertiary Institution Students in Nigeria

Web Based Career Guidance is very important to our Educational System. We have an existing Manual Career Guidance System with human counselors in charge, but this system is plagued with the following problems: few number of human counselors, unavailability of a counselor in a good number of schools, few number of counselors attending to students during school hours and the office of a counselor in schools are so unpopular that students hardly meet them for career counseling. We have been able to design an Online Career Guidance Information System targeting students in pre tertiary institutions in Nigeria to solve the afore- mentioned problems. The Online Web Based Career Guidance system was designed and implemented using data collected from interviewing human counselors and surveys. The following scripting languages were employed: PHP, MySQL, HTML, Java Script and CSS. The system was implemented and tested with 50 students and 76% of them found the career system very useful.
Multiple dynamic view support for cooperative work

VIEW Media is a cooperative hypermedia system, which supports cooperative work utilizing hypermedia documents. It provides fundamental functions for cooperative work support systems and enables developers to construct various groupware such as distributed presentation systems, education systems, conference systems, and so forth. This system provides a powerful and flexible mechanism of customization. The mechanism can alter presentation, structure, behavior and authority of hypermedia documents and workspace, which supports dynamic change of roles of users. This paper describes the purpose of VIEW Media, its basic model and implementation, and a user interface which supports conferences among users who have different access rights to shared documents.
Noninvasive Prediction of Ultimate Infarct Size at the Time of Acute Coronary Occlusion Based on the Extent and Magnitude of Collateral-Derived Myocardial Blood Flow

Background—We hypothesized that by detecting regions with adequate collateral-derived myocardial blood flow (MBF) within the risk area (RA), we could predict ultimate infarct size (IS) at the time of coronary occlusion. Methods and Results—Group 1 dogs (n=15) underwent coronary occlusion without reperfusion, whereas group 2 dogs (n=6) underwent both occlusion and reperfusion. RA was measured with aortic root injections of microbubbles. Myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) was performed with high mechanical index intermittent harmonic imaging at pulsing intervals (PIs) of <1 to 30 cardiac cycles during an intravenous infusion of microbubbles (Sonozoid). MBF was measured with radiolabeled microspheres, and postmortem tissue staining was used to determine IS. Perfusion defect size (PDS) on MCE varied with the PI and was largest at a PI of 2.6±0.4 seconds, where it correlated well with RA (r =0.82). PDS was smallest at a PI of ≥10.6±1.5 seconds, where it correlated closely with IS (r ≥0.92). Areas that underwent necrosis could be identified early after coronary occlusion as having the lowest microvascular flow velocity (&bgr;) and MCE-derived MBF (A×&bgr;). The results were similar with or without reperfusion. Because of variability in collateral-derived MBF, there was no correlation between RA and ultimate IS (P =0.37). The extent of regional dysfunction also correlated poorly with IS (r =0.31). Conclusions—MCE can be used immediately after coronary occlusion to define ultimate IS by measuring the magnitude and spatial extent of collateral-derived residual MBF within the RA. Thus, it could help individualize risk and management in acute myocardial infarction.