Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transmission of Ideology through Translation: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Orwell’s “Coming up for Air” and its Persian Translations

The present Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)-based study was an attempt to probe into the manipulation of ideologies in translations. The researcher employed a CDA approach, based on Fairclough (1989) to investigate the probable impacts of different ideologies prevailing in separate socio-historical situations in the translations of the novel “Coming up for Air”. To carry out this analytical descriptive corpus-based study, two translations of the novel in different socio-historical conditions in Iran were examined both at micro and macro levels. At micro-level, the lexical choices and translator’s strategies for rendering them were analyzed and at macro level the macro features such as prefaces and footnotes in the translated books were studied. The results of this research showed that both translators used the strategies such as synonymy, hyponymy, antonymy, overwording, formal and informal words, euphemism and omission respectively. The difference between the percentages of the strategies, they used for translating ideological lexicon was not significantly different at the probability levels of 95% and 99%. So, at the micro level, there was a harmony among the strategies that the translators have applied for translating ideological lexicons. However, at the macro level regarding preface, footnote Roshanfekr (2011) by applying75.5% of English names in footnotes attempted to preserve the ideological aspects of the writer while Razavi(1984) used English names just 23.11% and rendered footnotes with Persian explanation proved the translator’s lack of knowledge or interest in giving appropriate information in this regard. Roshanfekr (2011) presented a preface with numerous positive and supportive ideas about the author and his skill in writing a novel but Razavi (1984), the other translator, did not write preface on his translation and did not give any idea about the author and story to his readers may be due to the political situation and the restrictions of those days in Iran, such as war, Economic sanctions and cultural conflicts with the western world. Therefore the analysis of the data proved that there was no neutral use of language and translation. Key words: text, critical discourse analysis, ideology, micro and macro level
New LMI Approach to Fuzzy $H_{\infty}$ Filter Designs

This brief is concerned with the H infin filtering problem for a class of discrete-time fuzzy systems. The objective is to find a new way to design a stable filter guaranteeing the asymptotic stability and a prescribed H infin performance of the filtering error system. By using the fuzzy Lyapunov function approach and adding slack matrix variables, a new condition for H infin performance analysis is proposed. Then, a linear matrix inequality (LMI)-based approach is developed for designing the fuzzy H infin filter, which can be obtained from the solution of convex optimization problems. When these LMIs are feasible, an explicit expression of a desired H infin fuzzy filter is given. Finally, a numerical example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness and less conservatism of the proposed approach.
Windblown dust contributes to high PM2.5 concentrations.

The revised National Ambient Air Quality Standards for PM include fine particulate standards based upon mass measurements of PM2.5. It is possible in arid and semi-arid regions to observe significant coarse mode intrusion in the PM2.5 measurement. In this work, continuous PM10, PM2.5, and PM1.0 were measured during several windblown dust events in Spokane, WA. PM2.5 constituted approximately 30% of the PM10 during the dust event days, compared with approximately 48% on the non-dusty days preceding the dust events. Both PM10 and PM2.5 were enhanced during the dust events. However, PM1.0 was not enhanced during dust storms that originated within the state of Washington. During a dust storm that originated in Asia and impacted Spokane, PM1.0 was also enhanced, although the Asian dust reached Washington during a period of stagnation and poor dispersion, so that local sources were also contributing to high particulate levels. The "intermodal" region of PM, defined as particles ranging in aerodynamic size from 1.0 to 2.5 microns, was found to represent a significant fraction of PM2.5 (approximately 51%) during windblown dust events, compared with 28% during the non-dusty days before the dust events.
Interferon beta induces T-helper 2 immune deviation in MS

Objective: To define the in vitro effects of interferon beta 1a (IFN-β1a) on myelin basic protein (MBP)-reactive T cells and to determine its regulatory mechanism on cytokine networks in patients with MS. Methods: The proliferation and cytokine production of MBP-reactive T-cell clones were measured in thymidine uptake assays and ELISA respectively. The precursor frequency of MBP-reactive T cells was estimated in a microwell culture system. Results: IFN-β inhibited the proliferation of established MBP-reactive T-cell clones, which correlated with enhanced production of anti-inflammatory interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-10, and a decrease in tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and IFN-γ. When examined with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), IFN-β was found to reduce the in vitro T-cell responses to MBP, as indicated by the significantly decreased frequency of MBP-reactive T cells. The decreased frequency of MBP-reactive T cells corresponded to an augmented production of IL-4 and IL-10. Although the level of TNF-α and IFN-γ was generally unaltered or decreased, IFN-β appeared to enhance the production of IFN-γ in PBMCs derived from some individuals with MS. Conclusion: Interferon beta 1a (IFN-β) suppresses myelin basic protein (MBP)-reactive T cells and induces immune deviation toward the production of T-helper 2 cytokines, which may contribute to its therapeutic benefit in MS. The study also suggests some heterogeneity in MBP-reactive T-cell responses to IFN-β in different individuals with MS.
Optimizing chemotherapy by measuring reversal of P-glycoprotein activity in plasma membrane vesicles.

The appearance of multidrug resistance (MDR) of cancer cells is a major obstacle to successful chemotherapy. Several proteins have been identified that pump chemotherapeutic drugs out of cells, thus bringing about MDR. One representative pump is the P-glycoprotein, whose function can be inhibited by blockers (also known as reversers, modulators or chemosensitizers). In clinical application, many of these blockers are often not effective because they become bound to the plasma of the patients. The extent of plasma binding of the blocker varies in different persons and we have developed a 96-well kit to assay such inter-person differences. The assay uses membrane vesicles isolated from a human lymphoblastoid cell line (CEM Col1000). Uptake of rhodamine into the vesicles was measured with different concentrations of the blockers verapamil and XR9576 in presence of human plasma. The reverser XR9576 is nearly 30 times more effective than the classical blocker verapamil, the relevant K(m) values ranging from 2.66 to 45 nM for XR 9576 and 0.7 to 5.5 microM for verapamil. An even greater difference between these two drugs, nearly 1,000-fold, could be shown also in intact cells by calcein AM uptake experiments.
Research on the roles of transcription factors T-bet and GATA-3 in aplastic anemia.

BACKGROUND Aplastic anemia (AA) is a type of bone marrow hematopoietic system disease. The immune mediated hematopoietic inhibition is recognized as the most common pathogenesis of AA. However, the roles of the T-bet/GATA-3-mediated cell immune disorder in aplastic anemia (AA) is still unknown. METHODS Experimental samples were obtained from 27 patients with AA, including 15 cases of severe AA (SAA) and 12 cases of immune mediated AA (MAA), and 25 healthy volunteers (control group). The secretory levels of IFN-gamma and IL-4 cytokines were determined by ELISA. The mRNA expression levels of transcription factors T-bet, GATA-3, and FoxP3 were measured in PBMCs by RT-PCR. Th1, Th2, and T lymphocyte subsets were detected in peripheral blood by flow cytometry. RESULTS Compared to the healthy control group, the expression of T-bet mRNA and the percentage of Th1-type cells in the AA group significantly increased (p < 0.01), while the expression of GATA-3 and FoxP3 mRNA and the percentage of Th2-type cells decreased sharply (p < 0.05, p < 0.01). Compared with MAA, the expression of T-bet mRNA and the percentage of Th1-type cells increased significantly in SAA (p < 0.01); meanwhile, the expression of GATA-3 mRNA and the proportion of Th2-type cells decreased noticeably (p < 0.05, p < 0.01). Particularly, the percentage of CD3+ and CD3+CD8+ T cells in the AA group increased (p < 0.05), while the percentage of CD3+CD4+, CD4+CD25+, and CD4+CD8+ cells decreased (p < 0.05, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Abnormal expression of the transcription factors T-bet and GATA-3 contributes to the imbalance of Thl/Th2 lymphocytes associated with immune dysfunction, leading to the development and progression of AA.
Adult Weight Change and Risk of Postmenopausal Breast Cancer

BACKGROUND The effect of raloxifene, a selective estrogen-receptor modulator, on coronary heart disease (CHD) and breast cancer is not established. METHODS We randomly assigned 10,101 postmenopausal women (mean age, 67.5 years) with CHD or multiple risk factors for CHD to 60 mg of raloxifene daily or placebo and followed them for a median of 5.6 years. The two primary outcomes were coronary events (i.e., death from coronary causes, myocardial infarction, or hospitalization for an acute coronary syndrome) and invasive breast cancer. RESULTS As compared with placebo, raloxifene had no significant effect on the risk of primary coronary events (533 vs. 553 events; hazard ratio, 0.95; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.84 to 1.07), and it reduced the risk of invasive breast cancer (40 vs. 70 events; hazard ratio, 0.56; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.38 to 0.83; absolute risk reduction, 1.2 invasive breast cancers per 1000 women treated for one year); the benefit was primarily due to a reduced risk of estrogen-receptor-positive invasive breast cancers. There was no significant difference in the rates of death from any cause or total stroke according to group assignment, but raloxifene was associated with an increased risk of fatal stroke (59 vs. 39 events; hazard ratio, 1.49; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.00 to 2.24; absolute risk increase, 0.7 per 1000 woman-years) and venous thromboembolism (103 vs. 71 events; hazard ratio, 1.44; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.06 to 1.95; absolute risk increase, 1.2 per 1000 woman-years). Raloxifene reduced the risk of clinical vertebral fractures (64 vs. 97 events; hazard ratio, 0.65; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.47 to 0.89; absolute risk reduction, 1.3 per 1000). CONCLUSIONS Raloxifene did not significantly affect the risk of CHD. The benefits of raloxifene in reducing the risks of invasive breast cancer and vertebral fracture should be weighed against the increased risks of venous thromboembolism and fatal stroke. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00190593 [ClinicalTrials.gov].).
Training neurocontrollers for robustness via nprKF

We are interested in training neurocontrollers for robustness on discrete-time models of physical systems. Our neurocontrollers are implemented as recurrent neural networks. A model of the system to be controlled is known to the extent of parameters and/or signal uncertainties. Parameter values are drawn from a known distribution. For each instance of the model with specified parameters, a neurocontroller is trained by evaluating sensitivities of the model outputs to perturbations of the neurocontroller weights and incrementally updating the weights. Our training process strives to minimize a quadratic cost function averaged over many different models. In the end this process yields a robust neurocontroller, which is ready for deployment with fixed weights. We employ a derivative-free Kalman filter algorithm proposed in Norgaard, N. , et al. (2000) and extended in Feldkamp, L.A. , et al. (2001, 2002) and to neural network training. Our training algorithm combines effectiveness of a second-order training method with universal applicability to both differentiable and nondifferentiable systems. Our approach is that of model reference control, and it is similar in this sense to the approach in Prokhorov, D.V. , et al. (2001). We illustrate it with two examples.
Feedback control of the rate of peat formation

The role of peatlands in the global carbon cycle is confounded by two inconsistencies. First, peatlands have been a large reservoir for carbon sequestered in the past, but may be either net sources or net sinks at present. Second, long–term rates of peat accumulation (and hence carbon sequestration) are surprisingly steady, despite great variability in the short–term rates of peat formation. Here, we present a feedback mechanism that can explain how fine–scale and short–term variability in peat–forming processes is constrained to give steady rates of peat accumulation over longer time–scales. The feedback mechanism depends on a humpbacked relationship between the rate of peat formation and the thickness of the aerobic surface layer (the acrotelm), such that individual microforms (hummocks, lawns, hollows and pools) expand or contract vertically in response to fluctuations in the position of the water table. Hummocks (but not hollows) ‘evolve’ to a steady state where changes in acrotelm thickness compensate for climate–mediated variations in surface wetness. With long–term growth of a topographically confined peat deposit, the steady state gradually shifts to a thicker acrotelm (i.e. taller hummocks) and lower rates of peat formation and carbon sequestration.
Adverse reactions to methylphenidate treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: structure and associations with clinical characteristics and symptom control.

BACKGROUND Methylphenidate (MPH)-related adverse events are well characterized. Their predictors and their relationship with therapeutic effects are less well understood. Here we examine these issues in relation to two long-acting formulations. METHOD Comparison of Methylphenidates in the Analog Classroom Setting (COMACS) was made in a large (n = 184) placebo-controlled trial comparing Equasym XL/Metadate CD, Concerta, and placebo (PLA) using a Laboratory School protocol. Therapeutic effects were measured using direct observation, scores on a simple math productivity task and parent ratings. Parents also completed the Barkley Stimulant Side Effect Rating Scale (BSSERS). RESULTS The BSSERS had six factors: Emotionality, sleep/appetite, disengaged, dizzy, uninterested, and aches. Treatment effects were seen only for emotionality (which improved) and sleep and appetite (which worsened). Adverse events were not predictable from personal and clinical characteristics of patients. Sleep/appetite adverse events were not associated with therapeutic effects. Improvements in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and emotionality were correlated. DISCUSSION The results support a narrow conceptualization of MPH adverse events with problems restricted to appetite and sleep. These effects were not predictable on the basis of available information and may be due to an underlying mechanism rather distinct from those determining therapeutic effects.
The efficacy of the heat killing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

There is concern that current procedures for the heat inactivation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis may not be adequate. This raises serious safety issues for laboratory staff performing molecular investigations such as IS6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism typing. This paper confirms that the protocol of van Embden et al, as performed routinely in this laboratory, is safe and effective for the heat inactivation of M tuberculosis. This procedure involves complete immersion of a tube containing a suspension of one loopfull of growth in a water bath at 80°C for 20 minutes. Seventy four isolates were included in this investigation. Despite prolonged incubation for 20 weeks, none of the heat killed M tuberculosis suspensions produced visible colonies or gave a positive growth signal from liquid culture. This method did not affect the integrity of the DNA for subsequent molecular investigations.
Resposta dos anéis de crescimento de Araucaria angustifólia (Bertol.) O.Kuntze da região sul do Brasil aos forçantes geofísicos e climáticos

Compreender eventos geofisicos e climaticos do passado auxilia no entendimento a respeito da evolucao desses fenomenos no presente e tambem no futuro. Estudos desta natureza exigem que se conheca, ao menos, parte da historia climatica, desempenhando pesquisas diacronicas sobre o clima. Para se ter acesso a essas caracteristicas faz-se o uso dos registros naturais, pois eles podem ter grande alcance temporal, bem como substituir dados historicos faltantes ou pouco confiaveis. Estes registros sao testemunhos do ambiente que experimentaram, pois acumulam informacoes das mais variadas formas, podendo essas ser lidas e interpretadas futuramente. Inumeras ciencias empregam os registros naturais como fonte de informacao sobre o clima, atividade solar, poluentes e etc. Dentre os mais conhecidos, se destacam os aneis de crescimento de arvores por ser uma metodologia simples, de baixo custo e bastante eficaz no desenvolvimento de seu proposito. No presente estudo, fez-se o uso de amostras do lenho de arvores da especie Araucaria angustifolia(Bertol.) O. Kuntze, coletadas nos Estados do Parana e de Santa Catarina. Foram construidas series dendrocronologicas para Fazenda Rio Grande/PR (1620-2009), General Carneiro/PR (1629-2009) e Irani/SC (1727- 2009). Estas series foram utilizadas na investigacao de indicios da influencia da atividade solar e de eventos climaticos, em especial o El Nino Oscilacao Sul (Enos), no crescimento das arvores. A presenca de sinais, que podem estar relacionados aos eventos citados, foi investigada por meio de analise espectral classica, wavelets cruzadas e filtros Passa-Banda. As series apresentaram periodicidades relacionadas aos ciclos de 11, 22 e 58 anos da atividade solar. Sinais relacionados a eventos de Enos, cuja periodicidade varia entre 2 e 7 anos, tambem foram encontrados e incentivaram o estudo climatologico do local. Foram utilizadas series de temperatura e de precipitacao para Curitiba, e a serie mensal do Indice de Oscilacao Sul (IOS), que indica a fase e a intensidade do Enos. Devido a falta de series climatologicas historicas para General Carneiro e Irani, utilizaram-se dados de reanalise. Um estudo climatologico, feito com amostras de Fazenda Rio Grande, permitiu a reconstrucao do perfil de precipitacao para a primavera-verao, feita com o uso de correlacoes e da regressao linear. A serie de precipitacao instrumental mostrou que os periodos com maior volume de precipitacao estavam entre 1961-1977 e 1992-2000 e com menor volume entre 1978-1992 e entre 2000-2009. Esses perfis ficaram bem delineados pela serie reconstruida. O perfil da precipitacao para antes de 1961, dada pela serie reconstruida, mostra que houve maior indice pluviometrico para os meses de setembro-marco durante os periodos de 1907-1938 e 1939-1960, enquanto que o periodo de 1929-1937 registrou menor precipitacao.
Inapproximability of Maximum Edge Biclique, Maximum Balanced Biclique and Minimum k-Cut from the Small Set Expansion Hypothesis

The Small Set Expansion Hypothesis (SSEH) is a conjecture which roughly states that it is NP-hard to distinguish between a graph with a small set of vertices whose expansion is almost zero and one in which all small sets of vertices have expansion almost one. In this work, we prove conditional inapproximability results for the following graph problems based on this hypothesis: - Maximum Edge Biclique (MEB): given a bipartite graph G, find a complete bipartite subgraph of G with maximum number of edges. We show that, assuming SSEH and that NP ! = BPP, no polynomial time algorithm gives n^{1 - epsilon}-approximation for MEB for every constant epsilon > 0. - Maximum Balanced Biclique (MBB): given a bipartite graph G, find a balanced complete bipartite subgraph of G with maximum number of vertices. Similar to MEB, we prove n^{1 - epsilon} ratio inapproximability for MBB for every epsilon > 0, assuming SSEH and that NP ! = BPP. - Minimum k-Cut: given a weighted graph G, find a set of edges with minimum total weight whose removal splits the graph into k components. We prove that this problem is NP-hard to approximate to within (2 - epsilon) factor of the optimum for every epsilon > 0, assuming SSEH. The ratios in our results are essentially tight since trivial algorithms give n-approximation to both MEB and MBB and 2-approximation algorithms are known for Minimum k-Cut [Saran and Vazirani, SIAM J. Comput. , 1995]. Our first two results are proved by combining a technique developed by Raghavendra, Steurer and Tulsiani [Raghavendra et al., CCC, 2012] to avoid locality of gadget reductions with a generalization of Bansal and Khot's long code test [Bansal and Khot, FOCS, 2009] whereas our last result is shown via an elementary reduction.
Maximizing Subset Accuracy with Recurrent Neural Networks in Multi-label Classification

Multi-label classification is the task of predicting a set of labels for a given input instance. Classifier chains are a state-of-the-art method for tackling such problems, which essentially converts this problem into a sequential prediction problem, where the labels are first ordered in an arbitrary fashion, and the task is to predict a sequence of binary values for these labels. In this paper, we replace classifier chains with recurrent neural networks, a sequence-to-sequence prediction algorithm which has recently been successfully applied to sequential prediction tasks in many domains. The key advantage of this approach is that it allows to focus on the prediction of the positive labels only, a much smaller set than the full set of possible labels. Moreover, parameter sharing across all classifiers allows to better exploit information of previous decisions. As both, classifier chains and recurrent neural networks depend on a fixed ordering of the labels, which is typically not part of a multi-label problem specification, we also compare different ways of ordering the label set, and give some recommendations on suitable ordering strategies.
Wit krijt schrijft beter : schoolloopbanen van allochtone jongeren in beeld

In het algemeen verlopen vele schoolloopbanen van allochtonen erg problematisch. Een groot deel van hen begint het secundair onderwijs al met achterstand, ze volgen met veel minder het algemeen secundair onderwijs, ze blijven vaker zitten en halen in veel mindere mate een einddiploma. De auteurs maken een indringende vergelijking tussen de schoolloopbaan van allochtonen en die van autochtonen en zoeken naar mogelijke verklaringen voor de grote onderwijsachterstand van allochtone jongeren. Is deze achterstand een gevolg van de slechtere sociaal-economische omstandigheden waarin deze jongeren opgroeien? Is het omdat zij en hun ouders minder vertrouwd zijn met onze cultuur en teveel vasthouden aan hun eigen cultuur? Is het veeleer een gevolg van een tekort aan mentale en praktische ondersteuning van het sociale milieu waarin ze opgroeien?