Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Object-oriented programming in the BETA programming language

Introduction - benefits of object-orientation, object-oriented programming and BETA introduction to basic concepts - perspectives on programming, object-oriented programming objects and patterns - overview, reference attributes, pattern attributes repetitions - reallocation, assignment and slice, the text pattern imperatives - introduction to evaluations, for-imperative, if-imperative, labels and jump imperatives, a large example, assignment and equality, computed references and computed remote name, detailed description of evaluations, block structure and scope rules, object kinds and construction modes sub-patterns - specialization by simple inheritance, specialization of actions, enter/exit-parts for sub-patterns, the object patterns, summary, qualifications and scope rules virtual procedure patterns, continued extension of a virtual patterns, more examples of using virtual patterns, benefits of virtual patterns, summary block structure - simple block structure, class grammar, flight reservation example virtual class patterns - directly qualified virtual class patterns, general parameterized class patterns part objects and reference attributes - part objects, reference attributes pattern variables - declaration of pattern variables, example procedural programming - functional classes, higher order procedure patterns, virtual classes and genericity deterministic alternation - execution stacks, generators, components and recursive procedure patterns, abstract super-patterns concurrency - concurrent execution of components, monitors, direct communication between components, compound systems, readers and writers problem non-determinstic alternation - alternating execution of components, a distributed calendar, bounded buffer, a simple game exception handling - simple exceptions, recovery, partial recovery, handlers for procedure patterns, system exceptions, language-defined exceptions, advanced design of exception patterns modularization - fragments, separation of interface and implementation, alternative implementations, programme variants, using several libraries, visibility and binding rules (part contents).
A comparison of performance and satisfaction between two types of group decision support systems

Group Decision Support Systems (GDSSs) and other electronic meeting technologies have been developed to support or replace traditional, verbal meetings. While extensive research has been conducted regarding the impact of these systems on the group decision making process, the vast majority of these studies have focused on groups meeting fact-to-face in one room. This paper focuses on how group members perform when distributed as non-proximate sub-groups (virtual legislative sessions) as compared to proximate, face-to-face groups (synchronous leg­ islative sessions). Experiments involving 12 groups of 10 members each showed that there were few significant differences in productivity and satisfaction between the two types of meeting formats. These and other results indicate that groups may operate productively in a virtual meeting environment.
Prostaglandin E2 as a read out for endotoxin detection in a bovine whole blood assay.

The detection of endotoxin contamination is an essential part of drug safety testing. The rabbit pyrogen test (RPT), the limulus amoebocyte lysate (LAL) test, and the monocyte activation test (MAT) are established methods for the detection of pyrogens. However, the RPT is insufficiently standardized; the LAL test is solely capable of identifying the presence of endotoxins, whereas the use of the MAT is limited by the availability of human blood. Here, we introduce a new procedure for testing endotoxin contamination using prostaglandin E2 (PGE2 ) release from bovine whole blood. We incubated bovine whole blood overnight with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Escherichia coli 0111:B4, concentrations ranging from 1.56 to 12.5 pg/mL, and found significantly increased PGE2 production for even the lowest LPS concentrations. Testing the possibility of storing the blood at 4 °C before use also yielded positive results as 1.56 pg/mL still significantly increased PGE2 production, thus suggesting some flexibility of the assay regarding time. These results emphasize the potential of using bovine whole blood for highly sensitive endotoxin testing. As a perspective, currently ongoing research aims to show whether the assay is also capable of detecting nonendotoxin pyrogens.
Simulating the pulling of stalled elongated peptide from the ribosome by the translocon

The nature of the coupling between the stalling of the elongated nascent peptide chain in the ribosome and its insertion through the translocon is analyzed, focusing on the recently discovered biphasic force that overcomes the stalling barrier. The origin of this long-range coupling is explored by coarse-grained simulations that combine the translocon (TR) insertion profile and the effective chemical barrier for the extension of the nascent chain in the ribosome. Our simulation determined that the inserted H segment is unlikely to climb the TR barrier in parallel with the peptide synthesis chemical step and that the nascent chain should first overcome the chemical barriers and move into the ribosome–TR gap region before the insertion into the TR tunnel. Furthermore, the simulations indicate that the coupled TR-chemistry free energy profile accounts for the biphasic force. Apparently, although the overall elongation/insertion process can be depicted as a tug-of-war between the forces of the TR and the ribosome, it is actually a reflection of the combined free-energy landscape. Most importantly, the present study helps to relate the experimental observation of the biphasic force to crucial information about the elusive path and barriers of the TR insertion process.
Proximal Policy Optimization Algorithms

We propose a new family of policy gradient methods for reinforcement learning, which alternate between sampling data through interaction with the environment, and optimizing a "surrogate" objective function using stochastic gradient ascent. Whereas standard policy gradient methods perform one gradient update per data sample, we propose a novel objective function that enables multiple epochs of minibatch updates. The new methods, which we call proximal policy optimization (PPO), have some of the benefits of trust region policy optimization (TRPO), but they are much simpler to implement, more general, and have better sample complexity (empirically). Our experiments test PPO on a collection of benchmark tasks, including simulated robotic locomotion and Atari game playing, and we show that PPO outperforms other online policy gradient methods, and overall strikes a favorable balance between sample complexity, simplicity, and wall-time.
Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature

Richard Rorty's Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature brings to light the deep sense of crisis within the profession of academic philosophy which is similar to the paralyzing pluralism in contemporary theology and the inveterate indeterminacy of literary criticism. Richard Rorty's provocative and profound meditations impel philosophers to examine the problematic status of their discipline— only to discover that modern European philosophy has come to an end. Rorty strikes a deathblow to modern European philosophy by telling a story about the emergence, development and decline of its primary props: the correspondence theory of truth, the notion of privileged representations and the idea of a self-reflective transcendental subject. Rorty's fascinating tale—his-story —is regulated by three fundamental shifts which he delineates in detail and promotes in principle: the move toward anti-realism or conventionalism in ontology, the move toward the demythologizing of the Myth of the Given or anti-foundationalism in epistemology, and the move toward detranscendentalizing the subject or dismissing the mind as a sphere of inquiry. The chief importance of Rorty's book is that it brings together in an original and intelligible narrative the major insights of the patriarchs of postmodern American philosophy—W. V. Quine, Wilfred Sellars, and Nelson Goodman— and persuasively presents the radical consequences of their views for contemporary philosophy. Rorty credits Wittgenstein, Heidegger and Dewey for having "brought us into a period of 'revolutionary' philosophy" by undermining the prevailing Cartesian and Kantian paradigms and advancing new conceptions of philosophy. And these monumental figures surely inspire Rorty. Yet, Rorty's philosophical debts—the actual sources of his particular anti-Cartesian and antiKantian arguments—are Quine's holism, Sellars' anti-foundationalism, and Goodman's pluralism. In short, despite his adamant attack on analytical philosophy—the last stage of modern European philosophy—Rorty feels most comfortable with the analytical form of philosophical argumentation (shunned by Wittgenstein and Heidegger). From the disparate figures of Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and Dewey, Rorty gets a historicist directive: to eschew the quest for certainty and the search for foundations.
Multiple Effects of the M184V Resistance Mutation in the Reverse Transcriptase of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1

The initial use of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) in treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease, followed by highly active antiretroviral therapy, has significantly diminished HIV-related morbidity and mortality (22). However, antiretroviral therapy has also led to the emergence of drug resistance, potentially leading to virological and clinical failure. This problem is offset to some extent by the finding that drug-resistant viruses may have a measurable replication disadvantage in comparison to wild-type strains in the absence of drug pressure (26). This diminution in viral replication capacity or fitness is the result of resistance-conferring mutations in the reverse transcriptase (RT) and protease enzymes of HIV that affect their function; these mutations are amplified and/or selected by antiviral drug pressure. Therapeutic regimens containing lamivudine (3TC) have been shown to be highly effective in the treatment of HIVinfected patients, despite the fact that a single mutation at position 184 involving a transition from methionine to valine (M184V) confers a loss of susceptibility to this drug of 100- to 1,000-fold (5). Moreover, 3TC selects for this mutation rapidly compared to the development of resistance to other drugs (16, 31, 35). The M184V mutation may also be selected on occasion by abacavir and didanosine (ddI), but it confers only low-level resistance to these compounds (11, 33), and in general, the presence of an M184V mutation alone, in the absence of other mutations, does not represent an obstacle to the use of either ddI or abacavir in antiviral chemotherapy. The M184V mutation is also associated with impaired viral fitness, increased RT fidelity, and hypersensitization to several other NRTIs (23). In this review, we discuss the various effects of the M184V mutation on viral fitness, delay of appearance of other mutations, and potential immunological consequences in HIV-infected individuals.
Information Workers and their Personal Information Management: a Literature Review

The research described in this paper provides insights into tools and methods which are used by professional information workers to keep and to manage their personal information. A literature study was carried out on 23 scholar papers and articles, retrieved from the ACM Digital Library and Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA). The research questions were: - How do information workers keep and manage their information sources? - What aims do they have when building personal information collections? - What problems do they experience with the use and management of their personal collections? The main conclusion from the literature is that professional information workers use different tools and approaches for personal information management, depending on their personal style, the types of information in their collections and the devices which they use for retrieval. The main problem that they experience is that of information fragmentation over different collections and different devices. These findings can provide input for improvement of information literacy curricula in Higher Education. It has been remarked that scholar research and literature on Personal Information Management do not pay a lot of attention to the keeping and management of (bibliographic) data from external documentation. How people process the information from those sources and how this stimulates their personal learning, is completely overlooked. [The original publication is available at www.elpub. net]
So Many Hospitals, So Little Information: How Hospital Value‐Based Purchasing Is a Game of Chance

As part of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, participating Medicare hospitals have part of their Medicare reimbursements withheld and then redistributed based on quality performance. The Hospital Value Based Purchasing payment reimbursement plan relies partly on ordinal rankings of hospitals to determine how money is distributed. We analyze the quality metric distributions used for payment and show that there is not enough information to reliably differentiate hospitals from one another near the payment cutoffs; and conclude that a large part of the payment formula is driven by sampling variability rather than true quality information. This results in point allocation under the payment formula that is random for a large proportion of the hospitals. An alternative payment plan is discussed.
How pulmonary function changes after pectus excavatum correction surgery

Aim We aimed to determine the effects of minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum on pulmonary function and quality of life. Methods Minimally invasive pectus excavatum repair was undertaken in 80 patients with a mean age of 16.91 ± 4.37 years (range 7–30 years) and a mean Haller index of 4.07 ± 1.39; 85% of the patients were male. They and their parents completed the Nuss Questionnaire Modified for Adults, and pulmonary function tests were performed on the patients before and 6 months after the operation. Results The mean Nuss score was 31.06 ± 6.78 before the operation and it increased to 37.1 ± 8.31 (p = 0.000) 6 months after the operation. Forced vital capacity decreased from 3.70 ± 1.23 to 3.48 ± 1.03 L (p = 0.05) postoperatively. The percentage of expected forced vital capacity decreased from 83.21% ± 16.97% to 76.52% ± 20.98% (p = 0.01). There was no significant change in forced expiratory volume in 1 s. The mean ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 s to forced vital capacity was 86% preoperatively and it increased to 91% postoperatively (p = 0.000). Conclusions Minimally invasive pectus excavatum repair has a positive impact on the quality of life of pectus excavatum patients, but a negative impact on forced vital capacity. Follow-up studies are needed to assess the long-term changes in pulmonary function after this operation.
Associations of Internet Website Use With Weight Change in a Long-term Weight Loss Maintenance Program

Background The Weight Loss Maintenance Trial (WLM) compared two long-term weight-maintenance interventions, a personal contact arm and an Internet arm, with a no-treatment control after an initial six-month Phase I weight loss program. The Internet arm focused on use of an interactive website for support of long-term weight maintenance. There is limited information about patterns of website use and specific components of an interactive website that might help promote maintenance of weight loss. Objective This paper presents a secondary analysis of the subset of participants in the Internet arm and focuses on website use patterns and features associated with long-term weight maintenance. Methods Adults at risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) who lost at least 4 kilograms in an initial 20-week group-based, behavioral weight-loss program were trained to use an interactive website for weight loss maintenance. Of the 348 participants, 37% were male and 38% were African American. Mean weight loss was 8.6 kilograms. Participants were encouraged to log in at least weekly and enter a current weight for the 30-month study period. The website contained features that encouraged setting short-term goals, creating action plans, and reinforcing self-management habits. The website also included motivational modules, daily tips, and tailored messages. Based on log-in and weight-entry frequency, we divided participants into three website use categories: consistent, some, and minimal. Results Participants in the consistent user group (n = 212) were more likely to be older (P = .002), other than African American (P = .02), and more educated (P = .01). While there was no significant difference between website use categories in the amount of Phase I change in body weight (P = .45) or income (P = .78), minimal website users (n = 75) were significantly more likely to have attended fewer Phase I sessions (P = .001) and had a higher initial body mass index (BMI) (P < .001). After adjusting for baseline characteristics including initial BMI, variables most associated with less weight regain included: number of log-ins (P = .001), minutes on the website (P < .001), number of weight entries (P = .002), number of exercise entries (P < .001), and sessions with additional use of website features after weight entry (P = .002). Conclusion Participants defined as consistent website users of an interactive behavioral website designed to promote maintenance of weight loss were more successful at maintaining long-term weight loss. Trial Registration NCT00054925; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00054925 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5rC7523ue)
A history of English reflexives : from Old English into Early Modern English

This thesis examines the variation and change in re exive pronouns from Old English into Early Modern English covering the period circa 800 to 1639. In Old English the locally bound re exive form was identical to the ordinary personal pronoun e.g. him, but at the start of the Middle English Period a new morphologically complex form emerged e.g. himself. Using data drawn from syntactically annotated corpora of Old English, Middle English and Early Modern English, the distribution of the two re exive forms is quantitatively compared in order to detail the variation between the two forms and the nature of the change from the old form to the new. Examination of re exives in Old English suggests that the origin of the new re exive is the old re exive plus the intensi er. By comparing the rates of such constructions in Old English, with the rates of the new re exive in Middle English, I demonstrate that the frequencies remain broadly stable, suggesting that there is not a signi cant change between the two periods. Similarly I provide evidence via multivariate analysis that the same factors determine the distribution of re exive versus re exive plus intensi er in Old English as determine the old re exive versus the new re exive in Middle English. I therefore advance the theory that the new re exive in Middle English remains semantically decomposable into re exive and intensi er. Therefore in Old and Middle English there is really only one re exive pronoun (him) which may or may not co-occur with the intensi er. The frequency of the `new re exive' forms increases in Early Modern English, until by the middle of this period they account for nearly all cases of local binding. This change is explained via two processes; rstly an alteration in the feature speci cation of pronominals which means that they can no longer function re exively and secondly the loss of the meaning of the intensi er which is subsequently reanalysed as a morphological element signalling coreference.
Mutagenic activity and mutational specificity of antiprotozoal drugs with and without nitrite treatment

We examined the mutagenic activities of six antiprotozoal drugs (three diaminopyrimidine compounds [pyrimethamine, diaveridine, and trimethoprim] and three 8‐aminoquinoline derivatives [primaquine, pentaquine, and pamaquine]) in Escherichia coli WP2uvrA/pKM101 and Salmonella typhimurium TA100 and TA98 with and without nitrite treatment. The diaminopyrimidine compounds showed no mutagenic activity under any condition in any strain. The 8‐aminoquinoline derivatives after nitrite treatment at 5–20 mM for 5 min at pH 3, on the contrary, showed clear mutagenicity in TA100 and WP2uvrA/pKM101 in the presence and absence of S9 mix. We concluded that 8‐aminoquinoline derivatives became mutagenic following nitrite treatment. In the Lac+ reversion assay with E. coli WP3101P–WP3106P, these nitrite‐treated compounds induced G:C → A:T transitions and G:C → T:A transversions in the absence of S9 mix. On the other hand, A:T → T:A transversions were induced only in the presence of S9 mix, suggesting a different kind of products may be responsible for the mutagenicity. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 39:43–48, 2002 © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Normal and pathological adaptations of articular cartilage to joint loading

Joints are functional units that transmit mechanical loads between contacting bones during normal daily or specialized activities, e.g., sports. All components of the joint, i.e. articular cartilage, bone, muscles, ligaments/tendons and nerves, participate in load transmission. Failure in any of these components can cause joint malfunction, which, in turn, may lead to accumulation of damage in other joint components. Mechanical forces have great influence on the synthesis and rate of turnover of articular cartilage molecules, such as proteoglycans (PGs). Regular cyclic loading of the joint enhances PG synthesis and makes cartilage stiff. On the other hand, loading appears to have less evident effects on the articular cartilage collagen fibril network. Continuous compression of the cartilage diminishes PG synthesis and causes damage of the tissue through necrosis. The prevailing view is that osteoarthrosis (OA) starts from the cartilage surface through PG depletion and fibrillation of the superficial collagen network. It has also been suggested that the initial structural changes take place in the subchondral bone, especially when the joint is exposed to an impact type of loading. This in turn would create an altered stress pattern on joint surfaces, which leads to structural damage and mechanical failure of articular cartilage. The importance of the neuromuscular system to the initiation and progression of OA is still poorly understood. Many surgical extra‐ and intra‐articular procedures have been used for the treatment of OA. Although some of the new methods, such as autologous chondrocyte transplantation and mosaicplasty, have given good clinical results, it is reasonable to emphasize that the methods still are experimental and more controlled studies are needed.