Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Discovering semantic relations from the web and organizing them with PATTY

PATTY is a system for automatically distilling relational patterns from the Web, for example, the pattern "X covered Y" between a singer and someone else's song. We have extracted a large collection of such patterns and organized them in a taxonomic manner, similar in style to the WordNet thesaurus but capturing relations (binary predicates) instead of concepts and classes (unary predicates). The patterns are organized by semantic types and synonyms, and they form a hierarchy based on subsumptions. For example, "X covered Y" is subsumed by "X sang Y", which in turn is subsumed by "X performed Y" (where X can be any musician, not just a singer). In this paper we give an overview of the PATTY system and the resulting collections of relational patterns. We discuss the four main components of PATTY's architecture and a variety of use cases, including the paraphrasing of relations, and semantic search over subjectpredicate- object triples. This kind of search can handle entities, relations, semantic types, noun phrases, and relational phrases.
Sense of community, a theory not a value: a response to Nowell and Boyd†

This is a response to the Nowell and Boyd (2010) article printed in this journal titled: Viewing Community as Responsibility as Well as Resource: Deconstructing the Theoretical Roots of Psychological Sense of Community. In that article, they argued that the McMillan theory of Sense of Community is a simplistic, needs-based theory that excludes responsibility as a part of Sense of Community. They base their critique of McMillan's theory on March and Olsen's many articles. In this article, McMillan responds. He argues that Nowell and Boyd (2010) have yet to understand his theory and that they use a false dichotomy to critique it. He suggests that Third Position Thinking (Newbrough, 1995; Newbrough & McMillan, 2005) would help undo false dichotomies and provide a better description of the juxtaposition of human values. McMillan contends that responsibility is an inherent part of his theory. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
On Self-Fault Diagnosis of the Distributed Systems

The problem of achieving fault diagnosis in a network of interconnected processing elements (called nodes) is considered. It is assumes that there is no central facility to control, coordinate or mediate among the processing elements. Every node can eventually determine the status of nodes and communication paths between them. A diagnostic algorithm for homogeneous systems (systems with only testing nodes) is given. The self-fault-diagnosis of inhomogeneous systems (systems with nodes of varying degrees of testing capability) is studied and diagnostic algorithms are proposed. >
The “Israel Lobby” and American Politics

In their recent book, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt argue that American support for Israel does not serve American interests. Nevertheless, they observe that American foreign policy regarding the Middle East, especially in recent years, has tilted strongly toward support for Israel, and they attribute this support to the influence of the “Israel lobby” in American domestic politics. Their book is principally an attempt to make a causal argument about American politics and policymaking. I examine three aspects of this argument—its causal logic, the use of evidence to support hypotheses, and the argument's connection with the state of knowledge about American politics—and conclude that the case for the Israel lobby as the primary cause of American support for Israel is at best a weak one, although it points to a number of interesting questions about the mechanisms of power in American politics. Mearsheimer and Walt's propositions about the direct influence of the Israel lobby on Congress and the executive branch are generally not supported by theory or evidence. Less conclusive and more suggestive, however, are their arguments about the lobby's apparent influence on the terms and boundaries of legitimate debate and discussion of Israel and the Middle East in American policymaking. These directions point to an alternative approach to investigating the apparent influence of the Israel lobby in American politics, focusing less on direct, overt power over policy outcomes and more on more subtle pathways of influence over policy agendas and the terms of policy discourse.
Fuzzy Adaptive Output Feedback Control of MIMO Nonlinear Systems With Partial Tracking Errors Constrained

In this paper, a partial tracking error constrained fuzzy output-feedback dynamic surface control (DSC) scheme is proposed for a class of uncertain multi-input and multi-output (MIMO) nonlinear systems. The considered MIMO nonlinear systems contain unknown functions and without the requirement of their states being available for the controller design. With the help of fuzzy logic systems identifying the MIMO unknown nonlinear systems, a fuzzy adaptive observer is established to estimate the unmeasured states. By transforming the tracking errors into new virtual error variables and based on the DSC backstepping recursive design technique, a new adaptive fuzzy output-feedback control method is developed. It is proved that the proposed control approach can guarantee that all the signals of the resulting closed-loop system are bounded and the partial state tracking errors are confined all times within the prescribed bounds. The simulation results and comparisons with the previous control approaches confirm the effectiveness and utility of the proposed scheme.
Outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infection Associated With Contamination of a Flexible Bronchoscope

Background. A cluster of patients with respiratory cultures positive for Pseudomonas aeruginosa with a unique antibiogram was observed during June and July 2007 at a 1,000-bed urban teaching hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. These P. aeruginosa isolates were recovered from bronchoscopically obtained specimens. Methods. A cross-sectional study was performed to assess whether the cluster was associated with exposure to a particular bronchoscope (B1); cultures from specimens from the bronchoscopes and the environment were obtained, and the P. aeruginosa isolate type was determined using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Records of patients exposed to B1 during the cluster period were reviewed. Results. Twelve patients with a culture positive for P. aeruginosa with the unique susceptibility pattern were identified in June-July 2007. No cases were documented from March 1 through May 31, 2007. Culture specimens obtained from B1 after high-level disinfection revealed P. aeruginosa, prompting removal of B1 from service on July 23, 2007. No cases occurred after that date. Eleven (55%) of 20 patients who were exposed to Bl during the cluster period had a culture positive for P. aeruginosa, compared with 1 (2%) of 53 patients who were exposed to other bronchoscopes (P < .001). PFGE patterns for P. aeruginosa isolates obtained from case patients and from B1 were identical. An engineering evaluation of B1 documented several internal damages. Two (10.5%) of 19 patients exposed to Bl during the cluster period may have developed P. aeruginosa infection following exposure to B1. Conclusions. An outbreak or pseudo-outbreak of P. aeruginosa infection occurred in association with use of a damaged bronchoscope. Periodic engineering maintenance may be needed to prevent bronchoscope contamination that is resistant to high-level disinfection.
Planning 3-D Collision-Free Dynamic Robotic Motion Through Iterative Reshaping

We propose a general and practical planning framework for generating 3-D collision-free motions that take complex robot dynamics into account. The framework consists of two stages that are applied iteratively. In the first stage, a collision-free path is obtained through efficient geometric and kinematic sampling-based motion planning. In the second stage, the path is transformed into dynamically executable robot trajectories by dedicated dynamic motion generators. In the proposed iterative method, those dynamic trajectories are sent back again to the first stage to check for collisions. Depending on the application, temporal or spatial reshaping methods are used to treat detected collisions. Temporal reshaping adjusts the velocity, whereas spatial reshaping deforms the path itself. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method through examples of a space manipulator with highly nonlinear dynamics and a humanoid robot executing dynamic manipulation and locomotion at the same time.
THE SOCIALIZING ROLE OF MOTOR ACTIVITIES AT PRIMARY SCHOOL LEVEL

Motor activities are considered the perfect setting in training young generations, being appreciated as an important socializing factor with increasingly higher value in modern society. Both the development of biological and psychological characteristics, shaped by socialization process contributes to the continuing forming as summing and exercising new social roles and acquiring new experiences. Social learning theory has shown that socialization is made best in sport. According to specialists, practicing physical activities or sports influences youth personality and creates positive effects on body and mind. Using sociological and group questionnaire method, we will analyze the role and importance of socialization in motor activities and their mark on group cohesion and integration of marginalized students.
Fracture Behavior Analysis of Semi-Circular Bending Test

The objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of air voids on the fracture properties of asphalt mixtures using SCB test in Discrete Element Method (DEM). Superpave and Coarse Matrix High Binder (CMHB) mixtures gradation were used to generate the percentages of aggregate, mastic, and air voids within the specimens. Aggregates and air voids were randomly generated for each asphalt mixture case. Model results illustrate that the crack initiation and propagation is controlled by the location of the aggregate particles and air voids in the mixture. Additionally, the absence of air voids above the tip of the notch increases the stiffness of the sample and increase its resistance to failure. The novelty of using DEM and the random generation technique for generating numerical specimens proved to be a useful approach in investigating the properties of the mastic, aggregate and interface as they relate to fracture of asphalt mixtures.
Using content-addressable networks for load balancing in desktop grids

Desktop grids have evolved to combine Peer-to-Peer and Grid computing techniques to improve the robustness, reliability and scalability of job execution infrastructures. However, efficiently matching incoming jobs to available system resources and achieving good load balance in a fully decentralized and heterogeneous computing environment is a challenging problem. In this paper, we extend our prior work with a new decentralized algorithm for maintaining approximate global load information, and a job pushing mechanism that uses the global information to push jobs towards underutilized portions of the system. The resulting system more effectively balances load and improves overall system throughput. Through a comparative analysis of experimental results across different system configurations and job profiles, performed via simulation, we show that our system can reliably execute Grid applications on a distributed set of resources both with low cost and with good load balance.
C-reactive protein is a predictor of complications after elective laparoscopic colorectal surgery: five-year experience

Introduction With the development and improvement of laparoscopic surgery, procedures have become common. However, post-operative complications occur when patients are released from hospital. These complications increase patients’ morbidity and mortality. They also lead to re-hospitalization, an extended recovery period, and an increase in the cost of treatment. Aim To evaluate and determine the prognostic properties of C-reactive protein in the early diagnosis of postoperative complications after a laparoscopic colon resection. Material and methods The prospective study included patients who underwent laparoscopic colorectal surgery in 2010–2014. The patients were divided into two groups – uncomplicated ones and those with complications. C-reactive protein concentrations in their blood serum were measured on the 2nd, 4th and 6th day after surgery. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the relation between C-reactive protein values measured on the 2nd, 4th and 6th postoperative day and related complications. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to determine the sensitivity and specificity of each C-reactive protein value measured on the 2nd, 4th and 6th postoperative day. Results One hundred and six patients were included in the trial; 14 of them had complications. On the second day, a C-reactive protein cut-off value of 88.6 mmol/l provided the highest sensitivity and specificity for predicting evolving complications, being 71.4% and 84.8% respectively (p = 0.003). The significant predictive cut-off value decreases and becomes more sensitive and specific each post-operative day. Conclusions It is possible to detect developing post-operative complications early on by monitoring C-reactive protein concentration levels in the blood serum on the 2nd, 4th, and 6th post-operative days.
Verification of the genomic identity of candidate microchimeric cells

Microchimerism has been studied in the context of a variety of diseases which include autoimmune diseases (such as systemic sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and autoimmune thyroid diseases), cancer (e. g. of the cervix, thyroid gland, lung, breast), tissue repair, transplantation and transfusion. It may become relevant in the context of cell-based non-invasive prenatal diagnosis. But how to safely identify individual microchimeric cells? This is a nontrivial question, for which a solution has recently been suggested.
Synthesis of freestanding HfO 2 nanostructures

Two new methods for synthesizing nanostructured HfO2 have been developed. The first method entails exposing HfTe2 powders to air. This simple process resulted in the formation of nanometer scale crystallites of HfO2. The second method involved a two-step heating process by which macroscopic, freestanding nanosheets of HfO2 were formed as a byproduct during the synthesis of HfTe2. These highly two-dimensional sheets had side lengths measuring up to several millimeters and were stable enough to be manipulated with tweezers and other instruments. The thickness of the sheets ranged from a few to a few hundred nanometers. The thinnest sheets appeared transparent when viewed in a scanning electron microscope. It was found that the presence of Mn enhanced the formation of HfO2 by exposure to ambient conditions and was necessary for the formation of the large scale nanosheets. These results present new routes to create freestanding nanostructured hafnium dioxide. PACS: 81.07. -b, 61.46. Hk, 68.37. Hk.
Color human slice segmentation based on texture information

This paper presents a method to segment the muscle issue in color human slice, which firstly turns the color human slice into gray image, then segment the muscle tissue based on the texture information utilizing threshold segmentation. We use the gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) to characterize the texture information, and then analyze the GLCM's parameters including the pixel pitch, the gray level and the template size to get appropriate values for the coming process. The experimental result shows that, this method can make good effect on the segmentation of muscle issue, locates the muscle tissue exactly and has higher robustness for noise points.
A Comprehensive Comparison of Normalization Methods for Loading Control and Variance Stabilization of Reverse-Phase Protein Array Data

Loading control (LC) and variance stabilization of reverse-phase protein array (RPPA) data have been challenging mainly due to the small number of proteins in an experiment and the lack of reliable inherent control markers. In this study, we compare eight different normalization methods for LC and variance stabilization. The invariant marker set concept was first applied to the normalization of high-throughput gene expression data. A set of “invariant” markers are selected to create a virtual reference sample. Then all the samples are normalized to the virtual reference. We propose a variant of this method in the context of RPPA data normalization and compare it with seven other normalization methods previously reported in the literature. The invariant marker set method performs well with respect to LC, variance stabilization and association with the immunohistochemistry/florescence in situ hybridization data for three key markers in breast tumor samples, while the other methods have inferior performance. The proposed method is a promising approach for improving the quality of RPPA data.
Conceptual Rigor versus Practical Impact

The argument that empirical studies should be appraised in terms of multiple context-dependent criteria is reviewed. A distinction is made between `practical impact' appraisal and `conceptual rigor' assessment. The idea of replacing a test of statistical significance with multiple criteria is assessed and found inappropriate when we are concerned with conceptual rigor. A test of statistical significance can be profitably used to ascertain whether or not a theory is tenable vis-a-vis a set of experimental data. It is an indispensable step in the multi-step theory-corroboration procedure which is hypothetico-deductive in nature. The binary nature of a significance test is compatible with the evolving nature of scientific knowledge, which should be based on internally and externally valid research results. The use of multiple context-dependent criteria of impressiveness, on the other hand, is antithetical to the requirements of internal validity and of external validity. A case is made that criticisms of the use of significance tests and of the hypothetico-deductive approach do not detract from the contribution to conceptual rigor due to the use of a test of significance and of the hypothetico-deductive nature of theory corroboration experimentation.
Reducing Silica and Dust Exposures in Construction During Use of Powered Concrete-Cutting Hand Tools: Efficacy of Local Exhaust Ventilation on Hammer Drills

Concrete cutting in construction is a major source of exposure to respirable crystalline silica. To reduce exposures, local exhaust ventilation (LEV) may be integrated into the hand tools used in concrete cutting. Volunteers from the New England Laborers Training Center participated in a field study focused on the use of LEV on concrete-cutting hammer drills. A randomized block design field experiment employing four workers measured the efficacy of four hood-vacuum source combinations compared with no LEV in reducing dust and silica exposures. Using four-stage personal cascade impactors (Marple 294) to measure dust exposure, a total of 18 personal samples were collected. Reductions of over 80% in all three biologically relevant size fractions of dust (inhalable, thoracic, and respirable) were obtained by using any combination of hood and vacuum source. This study found that respirable dust concentrations were reduced from 3.77 mg/m3 to a range of 0.242 to 0.370 mg/m3; thoracic dust concentrations from 12.5 mg/m3 to a range of 0.774 to 1.23 mg/m3; and inhalable dust concentration from 47.2 mg/m3 to a range of 2.13 to 6.09 mg/m3. Silica concentrations were reduced from 0.308 mg/m3 to a range of 0.006 to 0.028 mg/m3 in the respirable size fraction, from 0.821 mg/m3 to a range of 0.043 to 0.090 mg/m3 in the thoracic size fraction, and from 2.71 mg/m3 to a range of 0.124 to 0.403 mg/m3 in the inhalable size fraction. Reductions in dust concentrations while using the four LEV systems were not statistically significantly different from each other.
SplitBox: Toward Efficient Private Network Function Virtualization

This paper presents SplitBox, an efficient system for privacy-preserving processing of network functions that are outsourced as software processes to the cloud. Specifically, cloud providers processing the network functions do not learn the network policies instructing how the functions are to be processed. First, we propose an abstract model of a generic network function based on match-action pairs. We assume that this function is processed in a distributed manner by multiple honest-but-curious cloud service providers. Then, we introduce our SplitBox system for private network function virtualization and present a proof-of-concept implementation on FastClick, an extension of the Click modular router, using a firewall as a use case. Our experimental results achieve a throughput of over 2 Gbps with 1 kB-sized packets on average, traversing up to 60 firewall rules.
On the performance of generalized likelihood ratio test for data-aided timing synchronization of MIMO systems

This paper studies the performance of the generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) proposed in [1] in the context of data-aided timing synchronization for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications systems and flat-fading channels. Herein paper, the asymptotic performance of the GLRT test is derived, and an upper bound for the detection probability is provided and shown to behave well as a benchmark for sufficiently large number of observations. Computer simulations are presented to corroborate the developed analytical performance benchmarks. In addition, choice of some system design parameters to improve the synchronization performance is discussed via computer simulations.