Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Common variants in PERK, JNK, BIP and XBP1 genes are associated with the risk of prediabetes or diabetes‐related phenotypes in a Chinese population

Background Prediabetes is an early stage of &bgr;‐cell dysfunction presenting as insulin resistance. Evidences suggest that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is involved in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus and prediabetes. In a Chinese population with prediabetes, we investigated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the genes of PERK, JNK, XBP1, BIP and CHOP which encode molecular proteins involved in ER stress pathways. Methods Nine SNPs at the PERK, JNK, XBP1, BIP and CHOP loci were genotyped by mass spectrometry in 1 448 unrelated individuals. By using a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), 828 subjects were diagnosed as prediabetes and 620 subjects aged 55 years and over as normal controls based on WHO diagnostic criteria (1999) for diabetes mellitus. Results The allele C of SNP rs867529 at PERK locus was a risk factor for prediabetes, with the carriers of C allele genotype at a higher risk of prediabetes compared to non‐carriers (OR=1.279, 95% CI: 1.013‐1.614, P=0.039, after adjustment for age, sex and body mass index (BMI). The SNPs rs6750998 at PERK locus was associated with homeostasis model assessments of insulin resistance (HOMA‐IR) (P=0.019), and rs17037621 with BMI (P=0.044). The allele G of SNP rs10986663 in BIP gene was associated with a decreased risk of prediabetes (OR=0.699, 95% CI: 0.539‐0.907, P=0.007). The SNP rs2076431 in JNK gene was associated with fasting plasma glucose levels (P=0.006) and waist‐hip ratios (P=0.019). The SNP rs2239815 in XBP1 gene was associated with 2‐hour plasma glucose levels after 75 g oral glucose load (P=0.048) in the observed population. Conclusion Common variants at PERK and BIP loci contributed to the risk of prediabetes, and the genetic variations in JNK and XBP1 genes are associated with diabetes‐related clinical parameters in this Chinese population.
Reply to “Adequate Design of Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Studies Will Help Optimize Tuberculosis Treatment for the Future”

We thank Sturkenboom et al. ([1][1]) for their interest in our study and [their comments][2]. The pragmatic study design based on two sampling points, 2 and 6 h after drug intake, reflected the real-world approach taken in this study, sampling patients attending a government clinic rather than in
FBK: Machine Translation Evaluation and Word Similarity metrics for Semantic Textual Similarity

This paper describes the participation of FBK in the Semantic Textual Similarity (STS) task organized within Semeval 2012. Our approach explores lexical, syntactic and semantic machine translation evaluation metrics combined with distributional and knowledge-based word similarity metrics. Our best model achieves 60.77% correlation with human judgements (Mean score) and ranked 20 out of 88 submitted runs in the Mean ranking, where the average correlation across all the sub-portions of the test set is considered.
Universal and individual characteristics of postural sway during quiet standing in healthy young adults

The time course of the center of pressure (CoP) during human quiet standing, corresponding to body sway, is a stochastic process, influenced by a variety of features of the underlying neuro‐musculo‐skeletal system, such as postural stability and flexibility. Due to complexity of the process, sway patterns have been characterized in an empirical way by a number of indices, such as sway size and mean sway velocity. Here, we describe a statistical approach with the aim of estimating “universal” indices, namely parameters that are independent of individual body characteristics and thus are not “hidden” by the presence of individual, daily, and circadian variations of sway; in this manner it is possible to characterize the common aspects of sway dynamics across healthy young adults, in the assumption that they might reflect underlying neural control during quiet standing. Such universal indices are identified by analyzing intra and inter‐subject variability of various indices, after sorting out individual‐specific indices that contribute to individual discriminations. It is shown that the universal indices characterize mainly slow components of sway, such as scaling exponents of power‐law behavior at a low‐frequency regime. On the other hand, most of the individual‐specific indices contributing to the individual discriminations exhibit significant correlation with body parameters, and they can be associated with fast oscillatory components of sway. These results are consistent with a mechanistic hypothesis claiming that the slow and the fast components of sway are associated, respectively, with neural control and biomechanics, supporting our assumption that the universal characteristics of postural sway might represent neural control strategies during quiet standing.
Language learning beliefs and gender dynamics of university students in Egypt: an exploratory study

ii Acknowledgements . v List of Tables . x List of Figures . xi List of Abbreviations . xii Chapter 1Introduction . 1 1.1. Background . 1 1.2. Statement of the Problem . 3 1.3. Rationale for the Study . 4 1.4. Research Questions . 4 1.5. Definitions of Constructs . 5 1.5. 1. Theoretical Definitions of Constructs . 5 1.5. 2. Operational Definitions of Constructs . 6 1.6. Definition of Terms. 7 1.7. Delimitations of the Study . 7 Chapter 2 – Literature Review . 8 2.
The LIGM-Alpage architecture for the SPMRL 2013 Shared Task: Multiword Expression Analysis and Dependency Parsing

This paper describes the LIGM-Alpage system for the SPMRL 2013 Shared Task. We only participated to the French part of the dependency parsing track, focusing on the realistic setting where the system is informed neither with gold tagging and morphology nor (more importantly) with gold grouping of tokens into multi-word expressions (MWEs). While the realistic scenario of predicting both MWEs and syntax has already been investigated for constituency parsing, the SPMRL 2013 shared task datasets offer the possibility to investigate it in the dependency framework. We obtain the best results for French, both for overall parsing and for MWE recognition, using a reparsing architecture that combines several parsers, with both pipeline architecture (MWE recognition followed by parsing), and joint architecture (MWE recognition performed by the parser).
Multilevel Adaptive Aggregation for Markov Chains, with Application to Web Ranking

A multilevel adaptive aggregation method for calculating the stationary probability vector of an irreducible stochastic matrix is described. The method is a special case of the adaptive smoothed aggregation and adaptive algebraic multigrid methods for sparse linear systems and is also closely related to certain extensively studied iterative aggregation/disaggregation methods for Markov chains. In contrast to most existing approaches, our aggregation process does not employ any explicit advance knowledge of the topology of the Markov chain. Instead, adaptive agglomeration is proposed that is based on the strength of connection in a scaled problem matrix, in which the columns of the original problem matrix at each recursive fine level are scaled with the current probability vector iterate at that level. The strength of connection is determined as in the algebraic multigrid method, and the aggregation process is fully adaptive, with optimized aggregates chosen in each step of the iteration and at all recursive levels. The multilevel method is applied to a set of stochastic matrices that provide models for web page ranking. Numerical tests serve to illustrate for which types of stochastic matrices the multilevel adaptive method may provide significant speedup compared to standard iterative methods. The tests also provide more insight into why Google's PageRank model is a successful model for determining a ranking of web pages.
A full-band adaptive harmonic representation of speech

In this paper we present a full-band Adaptive Harmonic Model (aHM) that is able to accurately reconstruct stationary and non stationary parts of speech. The model does not require any voiced/unvoiced decision, neither an accurate estimation of the pitch contour. Its robustness is based on the previously suggested adaptive Quasi-Harmonic model (aQHM), which provides a mechanism for frequency correction and adaptivity of its basis functions to the characteristics of the input signal. The suggested method overcomes limitations of the initial method based on aQHM in detecting frequency tracks over time, especially at mid and high frequencies, by employing a bandlimited iterative procedure for the re-estimation of the fundamental frequency. Listening tests show that reconstructed speech using aHM is mainly indistinguishable from the original signal, outperforming standard sinusoidal models (SM) and the aQHMbased method, while it uses less parameters for the reconstruction than SM.
Innovating the 21st-Century University: It's Time!.

Don Tapscott (http://dontapscott.com; Twitter: @dtapscott) is the author or co-author of thirteen books on technology in society, including Grown Up Digital (2008), Growing Up Digital (1997), and Wikinomics (2006). He is Chairman of the think tank nGenera Insight and an Adjunct Professor at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, and he consults to universities in several countries. Anthony D. Williams (adw@anthonydwilliams.com) is a writer, speaker, and co-author of Wikinomics. He recently led nGenera Insight's worldwide investigation into the impact of Web 2.0 and wikinomics on the future of government and democracy. Tapscott and Williams will publish their new book, Macrowikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World, in September 2010.
A Neural Local Coherence Model

We propose a local coherence model based on a convolutional neural network that operates over the entity grid representation of a text. The model captures long range entity transitions along with entity-specific features without loosing generalization, thanks to the power of distributed representation. We present a pairwise ranking method to train the model in an end-to-end fashion on a task and learn task-specific high level features. Our evaluation on three different coherence assessment tasks demonstrates that our model achieves state of the art results outperforming existing models by a good margin.
High-throughput beamforming receiver for millimeter wave mobile communication

In this paper, we present a novel FPGA-based high-throughput beamforming MIMO receiver for millimeter wave mobile communication. With vast spectrum and small antenna element size, millimeter wave communication becomes very attractive and promising to support next generation mobile communication (5G). However, the high data rate requirement challenges both algorithm and architecture. In order to support the high data rate and to reduce the overhead of selecting the best beam pair, we propose a novel beamforming synchronization scheme more suitable for mobile communication. By further optimizing the algorithm and the architecture, we present a complete mobile receiver based on FPGA, which includes RF frontend, ADC, beamforming control, synchronization, channel estimator, soft MAP detector, and channel decoder. The design operates at 28 GHz carrier frequency with 500 MHz bandwidth. The throughput can reach 1.52 Gbps. We also performed the indoor and outdoor over-the-air transmission field tests. This work provides a platform for future millimeter wave mobile communication research.
A Hierarchical Modeling and Analysis for Grid Service Reliability

Grid computing is a recently developed technology. Although the developmental tools and techniques for the grid have been extensively studied, grid reliability analysis is not easy because of its complexity. This paper is the first one that presents a hierarchical model for the grid service reliability analysis and evaluation. The hierarchical modeling is mapped to the physical and logical architecture of the grid service system and makes the evaluation and calculation tractable by identifying the independence among layers. Various types of failures are interleaved in the grid computing environment, such as blocking failures, time-out failures, matchmaking failures, network failures, program failures, and resource failures. This paper investigates all of them to achieve a complete picture about grid service reliability. Markov models, queuing theory, and graph theory are mainly used to model, evaluate, and analyze the grid service reliability. Numerical examples are illustrated
Fast and High Accuracy Numerical Methods for the Solution of Nonlinear Klein–Gordon Equations

In this work we propose fast and high accuracy numerical methods for the solution of the one dimensional nonlinear Klein-Gordon (KG) equations. These methods are based on applying fourth order time-stepping schemes in combination with discrete Fourier transform to numerically solve the KG equations. After transforming each equation to a system of ordinary differential equations, the linear operator is not diagonal, but we can implement the methods such as for the diagonal case which reduces the time in the central processing unit (CPU). In addition, the conservation of energy in KG equations is investigated. Numerical results obtained from solving several problems possessing periodic, single, and breather-soliton waves show the high efficiency and accuracy of the mentioned methods.
Interacting with 3D and 2D Mobile Maps: An Exploratory Study

To study how users of mobile maps construct the referential relationship between points in the virtual space and in the surrounding physical space, a semi-natural field study was conducted in a built city environment, utilizing a photorealistic interactive map displayed on a PDA screen. The subjects (N=8) were shown a target (building) in the physical or in the virtual space and asked to point to the corresponding object in the other space. Two viewports, “2D” (top-down) and “3D” (street-level), were compared, both allowing the users to move freely. 3D surpassed 2D in performance (e.g., 23% faster task completion) and workload measures (e.g., 53% in NASA-TLX), particularly in non-proximal search tasks where the target lied outside the initial screen. Verbal protocols and search pattern visualizations revealed that subjects utilized varied perceptual-interactive search strategies, many of which were specific to the viewport type. These strategies are set and discussed in the terms of the theory of pragmatic and epistemic action (Kirsh & Maglio, 1994). It is argued that the purpose of such strategies was not to find the target directly by transforming either of the two spaces (pragmatic action), but to make the task processing requirements better aligned with the available cognitive resources (epistemic action). Implications to interface design are discussed with examples.
Medicine Wheel Imag(in)ings: Exploring Holistic Curriculum Perspectives

Here is a call that yearns for what has been separated and one that also rings with a joy at the resounding rhythm of life. Possibilities are all around us— the empty, the full, and all that lies between— the choices among them are ours, a choice to wake up, a choice to hear the call of our own heartbeat. Surely we recognize the rhythm, the spirit that animates our deepest places and pulsates through every now moment, that rhythm which vitalizes our being from its prison of numbness. But do we feel that rhythm? Do we hear that call?
Dendritic cell immunotherapy for stage IV melanoma

Active boosting of the antitumour immune response of patients with solid malignancies has been tested in a large number of trials. Isolated complete clinical responses have been reported, however, they have not been replicated in subsequent studies. We recently reported objective clinical responses to a dendritic cell/irradiated autologous tumour cell ‘vaccine’ in patients with distant metastatic (stage IV) melanoma. Here we describe our experience in a second cohort of patients with stage IV melanoma, using this dendritic cell-based immunotherapy in a cryopreserved format. Of 46 patients enroled into the study, three had complete remission of all detectable disease, and a further three had partial clinical responses. These data confirm that dendritic cell-based immunotherapy has potential as a therapy in a limited number of patients with stage IV melanoma. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that cryopreserved dendritic cells can elicit complete clinical responses in patients with advanced cancer. Our observations support randomized controlled trials to validate the findings.
Aalborg Universitet An Experimental Study in Generative Music for Exercising to Ease Perceived Exertion by use of Heart Beat Rate as a Control Parameter

This paper investigates whether generative music, adapted to a user's heart beat rate, can be used to ease the perceived exertion. A generative system was implemented and tested on 13 test participants in a controlled environment on a training bike. The test participants performed a cycling workout of three minutes in two conditions in a self-chosen pace, with and without music. Their pulse were used as the physiological exertion. The perceived exertion was rated by the test participants according to Borg’s 6-20 exertion scale. Five out of 13 participants showed indications supporting the notion, while 2 out of 13 indicated the opposite. 6 out of 13 participants neither showed indications supporting nor opposing the theory. The results could be useful for exercises, where the change of heart pulse is gradual, but further work is needed in cadance-based exercises. ACM Classification
Classification, Etiological Factors and Associated Disturbances

Editorial preface. 1. Anxiety and theories of emotion (C.R. Cloninger). 2. The assessment of state and trait anxiety (C.D. Spielberger and S.S. Krasner). 3. Categorical subtypes and dimensions of illness in the anxiety and related disorders (M. Roth). 4. Proposed revision of the DSM-III classification of anxiety disorders (R. Noyes, Jr.). 5. Classification of phobic disorders (I. Marks). 6. Developmental factors in anxiety (G. Parker). 7. Stressful life events and anxiety (G. Andrews). 8. Personality and the anxiety disorders: a review of clinical findings (P.P. Roy-Byrne, E.A. Ashleigh and J. Carr). 9. The assessment of changes in anxiety in therapeutics (R. Kellner and E.H. Uhlenhuth). 10. Anxiety, somatic sensations and bodily complaints (R. Kellner). 11. Anxiety in general medical patients (F. Creed). 12. Anxiety in adolescence (B.J. Tonge). 13. Anxiety in the elderly (D.W.K. Kay). 14. Mortality of anxiety (W. Coryell). 15. Specific or simple phobias (F.K. Judd and G.D. Burrows). 16. Social phobia (L.A. Papp, J.M. Gorman and M.R. Liebowitz). 17. The interrelationships between anxiety, alcoholism and drug addiction (K.J. Weiss). 18. Stress, anxiety and the cardiovascular system (S.R. Dager, P.P. Roy-Byrne and D.L. Dunner). 19. Anxiety related to central nervous system dysfunction (F. Strian and D. Ploog). 20. Anxiety as a factor in the causation of eating disorders (P.J.V. Beumont). 21. Anxiety and sexual dysfunction (A. Everaerd). 22. Anxiety and disordered sleep (A. Vela-Bueno, C.R. Soldatos and A. Kales). Subject index.
Self-Organized Distributed Sensor Network Entity Tracking

The sensor network paradigm uses multiple autonomous sensor nodes to cooperatively construct an ad hoc computational entity. The authors have implemented applications using this approach with a network of sensor prototypes. In the paper, entity tracking is described as a two-tier process: (i) clusters of nodes locally estimate parameters used in entity tracking (i.e. time, class, position, and heading), and (ii) local parameter association forms inter-cluster tracks. Ad hoc routing primitives are used. This supports self-organization at all levels. Derivations of entity tracking applications are given along with preliminary results.
Highly Selective Anti-Cancer Activity of Cholesterol-Interacting Agents Methyl-β-Cyclodextrin and Ostreolysin A/Pleurotolysin B Protein Complex on Urothelial Cancer Cells

Cholesterol content can vary distinctly between normal and cancer cells, with elevated levels in cancer cells. Here, we investigated cholesterol sequestration with methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MCD), and pore-formation with the ostreolysin A/pleurotolysin B (OlyA/PlyB) protein complex that binds to cholesterol/sphingomyelin-rich membrane domains. We evaluated the effects on viability of T24 invasive and RT4 noninvasive human urothelial cancer cells and normal porcine urothelial (NPU) cells. Cholesterol content strongly correlated with cancerous transformation, as highest in the T24 high-grade invasive urothelial cancer cells, and lowest in NPU cells. MCD treatment induced prominent cell death of T24 cells, whereas OlyA/PlyB treatment resulted in greatly decreased viability of the RT4 low-grade noninvasive carcinoma cells. Biochemical and transmission electron microscopy analyses revealed that MCD and OlyA/PlyB induce necrotic cell death in these cancer cells, while viability of NPU cells was not significantly affected by either treatment. We conclude that MCD is more toxic for T24 high-grade invasive urothelial cancer cells, and OlyA/PlyB for RT4 low-grade noninvasive urothelial cancer cells, and neither is toxic for NPU cells. The cholesterol and cholesterol/sphingomyelin-rich membrane domains in urothelial cancer cells thus constitute a selective therapeutic target for elimination of urothelial cancer cells.