Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Temporomandibular joint in adult rheumatoid arthritis. A comparative evaluation of 100 cases.

As emphasized by Uotila (1964), medical interest in the stomatognathic system of patients with rheumatoid arthritis has been mainly concerned with the theories of focal infection. In recent years these concepts have become less commonly accepted and the interest accordingly reduced. However, the temporomandibular joints may be considered amongst the more important of the body and a practical clinical consideration of their reaction to systemic disease is an obvious requirement. The knowledge that rheumatoid arthritis affects the temporomandibular joint has been on record for a number of years, but the reported incidence of manifestations in this joint vary greatly in the literature (Table I). The majority of previous studies have dealt with relatively small numbers of patients.
Shape analysis for mobile ambients

The ambient calculus is a calculus of computation that allows active processes to move between sites. We present an analysis inspired by state-of-the-art pointer analyses that safety and accurately predicts which processes may turn up at what sites during the execution of a composite system. The analysis models sets of processes by sets of regular tree grammars enhanced with context-dependent counts, and it obtains its precision by combining a powerful redex materialisation with a strong redex reduction (in the manner of the strong updates performed in pointer analyses). The underlying ideas are flexible and scale up to general tree structures admitting powerful restructuring operations.
The Cost of Private Transportation in the Netherlands, 1992-1999

User-cost indexes provide important information about the welfare implications of durable goods purchases. In this paper indexes for the cost of private transportation are developed, based on the costs associated with using new passenger cars sold in 1992-1999, in the Netherlands. The paper examines the existence of differences between car model based user-cost indexes and CPI based indexes. Use is made of information about prices and technical characteristics of about 7,000 car models. In addition, data on user costs are used. The results show that total annual user costs have increased about 4.8% over the observation period vs. 10.6% according to the CPI based index. Fixed costs have increased about 9% both for the car model and the CPI based index. Operating costs have decreased more than 3% according to the car model based index, whereas an increase of more than 13% is observed for the CPI based index. JEL Classification: C43, D12, E31
Air-Entraining Concrete Bubble Distribution Fractal Dimension and Anti-Chloride Ion Diffusion Characteristics

Usually resistant to salt water corrosion of concrete prepared with fly ash and slag grinding fine admixture, however, such mixed concrete frost resistance is bad, resistant to seawater freeze-thaw performance is worse, usually with higher air-entraining, can overcome the defects. In the project, even if the liquidity of concrete is very good, the difference in bubble size and its distribution is very complicated. In order to prepare the concrete with high resistant to seawater freezing-thawing and corrosion, this paper studied on the relationship of the high air content of concrete with high resistance to sea water freezing-thawing and chloride ion diffusion coefficient. It was found that concrete air content, bubble fractal dimension and electric flux has good correlation, concrete anti-chloride ion diffusion ability can introduce bubbles cluster fractal dimension and bubbles distribution fractal dimension to characterization. With the increase of fractal dimension, the concrete resistance to chloride ion diffusion capacity enhanced. the complexity of the bubble was reflected from the bubble distribution fractal dimension, which objectively describes the gradation of bubbles, bubbles gradation improved greatly improve the concrete anti-chloride ion diffusion capacity.
Graph-based approaches to word sense induction

This thesis is a study of Word Sense Induction (WSI), the Natural Language Processing (NLP) task of automatically discovering word meanings from text. WSI is an open problem in NLP whose solution would be of considerable benefit to many other NLP tasks. It has, however, has been studied by relatively few NLP researchers and often in set ways. Scope therefore exists to apply novel methods to the problem, methods that may improve upon those previously applied. This thesis applies a graph-theoretic approach to WSI. In this approach, word senses are identifed by finding particular types of subgraphs in word co-occurrence graphs. A number of original methods for constructing, analysing, and partitioning graphs are introduced, with these methods then incorporated into graphbased WSI systems. These systems are then shown, in a variety of evaluation scenarios, to return results that are comparable to those of the current best performing WSI systems. The main contributions of the thesis are a novel parameter-free soft clustering algorithm that runs in time linear in the number of edges in the input graph, and novel generalisations of the clustering coeficient (a measure of vertex cohesion in graphs) to the weighted case. Further contributions of the thesis include: a review of graph-based WSI systems that have been proposed in the literature; analysis of the methodologies applied in these systems; analysis of the metrics used to evaluate WSI systems, and empirical evidence to verify the usefulness of each novel method introduced in the thesis for inducing word senses.
Wireless sensor networks - new challenges in software engineering

Software development for wireless sensor networks requires novel programming paradigms and technologies. This article describes the concept of a new service oriented software architecture for mobile sensor networks. With this architecture, a flexible, scalable programming of applications based on an adaptive middleware is possible. The middleware supports mechanisms for cooperative data mining, self-organization, networking, and energy optimization to build higher-level service structures. The purpose of our research activities is the development of a framework, which radically simplifies the development of software for sensor network applications.
One-dimensional acoustic propagation model and spatial multi-point active noise control

This paper deals with active noise control (ANC) on a broadband frequency range for a 3D-cylindrical cavity closed on two sides. A 1D acoustic model is first derived by averaging the pressure on surfaces that are perpendicular to the acoustic propagation direction. Based on the novel analytic model proposed, robust Multi-Objective H∞ control (MOH∞) is considered to explore the possibilities of noise attenuation not only at the error signal got from the microphone, but around. The SISO feedback control scheme considered (one microphone measuring the residual noise and one loudspeaker) has no direct information on the disturbance noise. Within this framework, the achievable attenuations both with regard to frequency and to space are discussed.
Mutations and Binding Sites of Human Transcription Factors

Mutations in any genome may lead to phenotype characteristics that determine ability of an individual to cope with adaptation to environmental challenges. In studies of human biology, among the most interesting ones are phenotype characteristics that determine responses to drug treatments, response to infections, or predisposition to specific inherited diseases. Most of the research in this field has been focused on the studies of mutation effects on the final gene products, peptides, and their alterations. Considerably less attention was given to the mutations that may affect regulatory mechanism(s) of gene expression, although these may also affect the phenotype characteristics. In this study we make a pilot analysis of mutations observed in the regulatory regions of 24,667 human RefSeq genes. Our study reveals that out of eight studied mutation types, “insertions” are the only one that in a statistically significant manner alters predicted transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs). We also find that 25 families of TFBSs have been altered by mutations in a statistically significant manner in the promoter regions we considered. Moreover, we find that the related transcription factors are, for example, prominent in processes related to intracellular signaling; cell fate; morphogenesis of organs and epithelium; development of urogenital system, epithelium, and tube; neuron fate commitment. Our study highlights the significance of studying mutations within the genes regulatory regions and opens way for further detailed investigations on this topic, particularly on the downstream affected pathways.
The Association Between Subretinal Drusenoid Deposits in Older Adults in Normal Macular Health and Incident Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Purpose Subretinal drusenoid deposits (SDD) have been associated with the progression to late age-related macular degeneration (AMD). To determine whether SDD in eyes in normal macular health increases risk for early AMD, this study examined the association between presence of SDD at baseline in a cohort of older adults in normal macular health and incident AMD 3 years later. Methods Subjects enrolled in the Alabama Study on Early Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ALSTAR) were assessed for the presence of SDD using color fundus photos, infrared reflectance and fundus autofluorescence images, and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography volumes. The study sample included 799 eyes from 455 participants in normal macular health per grading of color fundus photographs using the 9-step Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) classification system. Age-related macular degeneration was defined as eyes having an AREDS grade ≥2 at the 3-year follow-up. Results Twenty-five percent of participants had SDD in one or both eyes at baseline. At follow-up visit, 11.9% of eyes in the sample developed AMD. Compared to eyes without SDD, those with SDD were 2.24 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.36–3.70) times more likely to have AMD at follow-up. After adjusting for age, C-reactive protein quartile, and family history of AMD, the association persisted. Conclusions Results suggest that SDD in older eyes with normal macular health as defined by the AREDS scale is a risk factor for the development of early AMD. Older adults in seemingly normal macular health yet having SDD may warrant closer clinical monitoring for the possible onset of early AMD.
Expression of T-helper-associated cytokines in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with retinopathy

Purpose Recent studies showed that immunological mechanisms were involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy (DR). T-helper (Th) cells play an important role in chronic inflammatory disorders and autoimmune diseases. Whether Th cells participate in the pathogenesis of DR remains unclear. Methods To evaluate the role of Th cells in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus with retinopathy, the concentrations of interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-9, IL-10, IL-12 p70, IL-13, IL-17A, IL-22, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in the serum of 29 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and 30 normal controls were measured with FlowCytomix Technology. IL-22 levels in unstimulated and stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were examined with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results We found that the mean IL-22 serum levels were slightly lower in diabetic patients than in normal controls. The IL-22 level of PBMCs was significantly elevated in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy compared with the level in patients with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, patients with non-DR, and healthy controls. Additionally, the IL-22 serum and PBMC levels were positively correlated with the duration of diabetes. Serum levels of other associated cytokines showed no significant change in diabetic patients compared to controls. Conclusions These results indicate a possible role of Th22 cells in DR, and IL-22 may be involved more in the pathogenesis of proliferative diabetic retinopathy than in other stages of DR.
A Deterministic Parser for Partially Free Word Order Languages

Choi(1984) proposed a model and its algorithms for parsing natural languages based on Petri nets (Peterson 1981). Its underlying grammar is called Semantic Petri Net Grammar (SPNG), whose grammatical framework is isomorphic to that of Lee's 1983 Augmented Montague Grammar (AMG). Each grammar rule of SPNG consists of a syntactic part that specifies an acceptable fragment of a parsing tree, and a semantic part that specifies how the logical formulas corresponding to the constitutents of the fragment are to be combined to yield the logical formula for the fragment in Intensional Logic. The parsing mechanism for SPNG resembles the execution rules of its underlying Petri net. For the control of parsing, each rule is fired after checking its common conditions and special conditions, and then common actions and special actions are applied to the input for the rule. Common conditions are checked before firing every rule. There are two types of common condition: case-matchability conditions and priority conditions. Special conditions are rule-dependent. Different rules have different special conditions. If a rule has a special condition, it is of higher priority over other rules that have no special condition. These mechanisms guarantee the deterministic parsing. Common actions are applied to every rule, whose roles are:(1) concatenation of expressions in input places, (2) derivation of the category of output expresisons, and (3) translation of the logical formulas of input expressions. Special actions are rule-dependent and some rules take no special action. A dynamic rule-packeting allows the SPNG parser to expect the next possible input structures and firable rules; which is a top-down mechanism. However, since the dynamic rule-packeting is made based on input strings, it is partially bottom-up. Input places of a rule transition play the role of the look-ahead facility.
Risks of Friendships on Social Networks

In this paper, we explore the risks of friends in social networks caused by their friendship patterns, by using real life social network data and starting from a previously defined risk model. Particularly, we observe that risks of friendships can be mined by analyzing users' attitude towards friends of friends. This allows us to give new insights into friendship and risk dynamics on social networks.
Bacteriophage Library Construction and Selection of Recombinant Antibodies

This unit describes the use of E. coli and bacteriophages to display a diverse library of antibody fragments equivalent in complexity to the mammalian immune repertoire, and subsequent screening of the library for antibody fragments with specific binding affinities. The methods are also used for affinity enhancement (maturation), through the display and selection of improved affinity mutants derived from a single parent antibody. This unit discusses the following key components needed in library construction technology: a repertoire of antibody genes, typically amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology; construction of scFv genes by PCR assembly; a method for producing a stable library, using bacteriophage that can both display individual antibodies on the viral surface and carry the gene encoding the antibody; a method of growing phage for selection; a method of selecting the highest‐affinity antibody from the phage library; a method for monitoring progress of phage selection; an affinity‐enhancement strategy for improving and manipulating the selected antibody; and expression of affinity‐enhanced antibodies.
PMSE 193-Halloysite clay nanotubes as a reservoir for corrosion inhibitors and template for layer-by-layer encapsulation

INTRODUCTION Corrosion of the metals is a serious technological problem. Benzotriazole and its derivatives are widely used for protection of variety of metals, especially copper and copper containing alloys . In highly corrosive environments, such as chloride containing aggressive media, inhibitive performance of anticorrosion agents alone may not be sufficient for metal protection. Therefore combination of metal corrosion inhibition with passive corrosion protection methods, such as painting, is required in most of the cases. Direct addition of benzotriazole into the paint is not effective since it is easily washed away with water. On the other hand, introduction of benzotriazole into paint with encapsulation seems to be the best solution. Different microcapsule designs were introduced, such as polyelectrolyte and polymer microcapsules, sol-gel nanoparticles, nanotubes, etc 5, . Herein we report the usage of naturally available halloysite clay nanotubes as reservoirs for the loading, storage and controlled release of the corrosion inhibitor benzotriazole. Anticorrosive properties of coatings can be improved by addition of loaded tubules into paints. Such kind of coatings will act as a self healing system for metals when the scratch is occurred.
Optimization Strategies for A/B Testing on HADOOP

In this work, we present a set of techniques that considerably improve the performance of executing concurrent MapReduce jobs. Our proposed solution relies on proper resource allocation for concurrent Hive jobs based on data dependency, inter-query optimization and modeling of Hadoop cluster load. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work towards Hive/MapReduce job optimization which takes Hadoop cluster load into consideration. We perform an experimental study that demonstrates 233% reduction in execution time for concurrent vs sequential execution schema. We report up to 40% extra reduction in execution time for concurrent job execution after resource usage optimization. The results reported in this paper were obtained in a pilot project to assess the feasibility of migrating A/B testing from Teradata + SAS analytics infrastructure to Hadoop. This work was performed on eBay production Hadoop cluster.
Model-checking infinite state-space systems with fine-grained abstractions using SPIN

In analyzing infinite-state systems, it is often useful to define multiple-valued predicates. Such predicates can determine the (finite) levels of desirability of the current system state and transitions between them. We can capture multiple-valued predicates as elements of a logic defined over finite total orders (FTOs). In this paper we extend automata-theoretic LTL model-checking to reasoning about a class of multiple-valued logics. We also show that model-checking over FTOs is reducible to classical model-checking, and thus can be implemented in SPIN.
Estimating terrain elevation maps from sparse and uncertain multi-sensor data

This paper addresses the issues of unstructured terrain modelling for the purpose of motion planning in an insect-like walking robot. Starting from the well-established elevation grid concept adopted to the specific requirements of a small legged robot with limited perceptual capabilities we extend this idea to a multi-sensor system consisting of a 2D pitched laser scanner, and a stereo vision camera. We propose an extension of the usual, ad hoc elevation grid update mechanism by incorporating formal treatment of the spatial uncertainty, and show how data from different sensors can be fused into a consistent terrain model. Moreover, this paper describes a novel method for filling-in missing areas of the elevation grid, which appear due to erroneous data or the line-of-sight constraints of the sensors. This method takes into account the uncertainty of the multi-sensor data collected in the elevation grid.
Performance Modeling under Resource Constraints Using Deep Transfer Learning

Tuning application parameters for optimal performance is a challenging combinatorial problem. Hence, techniques for modeling the functional relationships between various input features in the parameter space and application performance are important. We show that simple statistical inference techniques are inadequate to capture these relationships. Even with more complex ensembles of models, the minimum coverage of the parameter space required via experimental observations is still quite large. We propose a deep learning based approach that can combine information from exhaustive observations collected at a smaller scale with limited observations collected at a larger target scale. The proposed approach is able to accurately predict performance in the regimes of interest to performance analysts while outperforming many traditional techniques. In particular, our approach can identify the best performing configurations even when trained using as few as 1% of observations at the target scale. CCS CONCEPTS • General and reference → Performance; • Computing methodologies → Transfer learning; Model development and analysis; • Hardware → Power estimation and optimization;
Transcriptome-wide analyses of CstF64–RNA interactions in global regulation of mRNA alternative polyadenylation

Cleavage stimulation factor 64 kDa (CstF64) is an essential pre-mRNA 3′ processing factor and an important regulator of alternative polyadenylation (APA). Here we characterized CstF64–RNA interactions in vivo at the transcriptome level and investigated the role of CstF64 in global APA regulation through individual nucleotide resolution UV crosslinking and immunoprecipitation sequencing and direct RNA sequencing analyses. We observed highly specific CstF64–RNA interactions at poly(A) sites (PASs), and we provide evidence that such interactions are widely variable in affinity and may be differentially required for PAS recognition. Depletion of CstF64 by RNAi has a relatively small effect on the global APA profile, but codepletion of the CstF64 paralog CstF64τ leads to greater APA changes, most of which are characterized by the increased relative use of distal PASs. Finally, we found that CstF64 binds to thousands of dormant intronic PASs that are suppressed, at least in part, by U1 small nuclear ribonucleoproteins. Taken together, our findings provide insight into the mechanisms of PAS recognition and identify CstF64 as an important global regulator of APA.