Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Can Literature Promote Justice?: Trauma Narrative and Social Action in Latin American Testimonio

As if in direct response to "The New Yorker's" question of "The Power of the Pen: Does Literature Change Anything? ", Kimberly Nance takes up the relationship between ethics and literature. With the 40th anniversary of the testimonio occurring in 2006, there has never been a better time to reconsider its role in achieving social justice. The advent of the testimonio - loosely, a political autobiography of a Latin American activist who hopes, through the telling of her life story, to bring about change - was met with a great deal of excitement by scholars who posited it as a radical new form of literature. Those accolades were almost immediately followed by a series of critical problems. In what sense were testimonios "true"? What right did privileged scholars in the U.S. have to engage accounts of suffering with traditional modes of criticism? Were questions of veracity or aesthetics more important? Were these texts autobiography or political screeds? It seemed critics didn't know quite what to make of the testimonio and so, after a brief bout of engagement, disregarded it. Nance, however, argues that any form as prolific as the testimonio is well worth examining, and that these questions, rather than being insurmountable, are exactly the questions with which scholars ought to be wrestling. If, as critics claim, that the testimonio is one of the most pervasive contemporary Latin American cultural genres, then it is high time for a comprehensive study of the genre such as Nance's.
The development of patient-reported outcome indices for multiple sclerosis (PRIMUS)

Background Complex diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) present dilemmas over the choice of patient-reported outcome measures as no single scale can inform on all types of MS impact from the patient’s perspective. Objective To develop an outcome tool, the Patient-Reported Indices for Multiple Sclerosis (PRIMUS), to assess MS symptoms, activities, and quality of life. Methods PRIMUS content was derived from qualitative interviews with UK MS patients and checked by clinical experts. Semi-structured cognitive debriefing interviews assessed scale face and content validity. PRIMUS scaling properties, reliability, and construct validity were assessed by a test–retest postal survey. Results Cognitive debriefing interviews (n = 15) demonstrated scale clarity, relevance, and comprehensiveness. The postal survey was completed by 135 patients with MS. After removal of misfitting items and those exhibiting differential item functioning, all scales fitted the Rasch model, confirming unidimensionality. For all scales, test–retest reliability exceeded 0.80. Scale scores were related to perceived MS severity, general health, and symptoms of depression. Moderate correlations were observed between PRIMUS and Nottingham Health Profile scores. Conclusions Clinicians and researchers can have confidence in scores obtained by respondents on the PRIMUS. The PRIMUS will aid the assessment of the impact of MS from the patient’s perspective.
A genomic perspective on nutrient provisioning by bacterial symbionts of insects

Many animals show intimate interactions with bacterial symbionts that provision hosts with limiting nutrients. The best studied such association is that between aphids and Buchnera aphidicola, which produces essential amino acids that are rare in the phloem sap diet. Genomic studies of Buchnera have provided a new means for inferring metabolic capabilities of the symbionts and their likely contributions to hosts. Despite evolutionary reduction of genome size, involving loss of most ancestral genes, Buchnera retains capabilities for biosynthesis of all essential amino acids. In contrast, most genes duplicating amino acid biosynthetic capabilities of hosts have been eliminated. In Buchnera of many aphids, genes for biosynthesis of leucine and tryptophan have been transferred from the chromosome to distinctive plasmids, a feature interpreted as a mechanism for overproducing these amino acids through gene amplification. However, the extent of plasmid-associated amplification varies between and within species, and plasmid-borne genes are sometimes fewer in number than single copy genes on the (polyploid) main chromosome. This supports the broader interpretation of the plasmid location as a means of achieving regulatory control of gene copy number and/or transcription. Buchnera genomes have eliminated most regulatory sequences, raising the question of the extent to which gene expression is moderated in response to changing demands imposed by host nutrition or other factors. Microarray analyses of the Buchnera transcriptome reveal only slight changes in expression of nutritionrelated genes in response to shifts in host diet, with responses less dramatic than those observed for the related nonsymbiotic species, Escherichia coli.
MACHINE LEARNING TECHNIQUES IN USABILITY-EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE SYSTEMS

Questionnaires are widely used instruments in usability evaluation, but their correct construction and administration may increase evaluation costs in terms of time and resources. In order to decrease them, evaluators often use “quick and dirty” questionnaires and, in some cases, obtain biased results. These costs could be reduced if information extracted from a baseline of past evaluations were used, applying the results of machine learning or mining process. In this work, we present how different tasks in a questionnaire life cycle can be more easily developed using machine learning algorithms, concretely, tasks related with the questionnaire design and the participants recruitment.
A novel implantation model for evaluation of bone healing response to dental implants: the goat iliac crest.

OBJECTIVES Despite the availability of numerous animal models for testing the biological performance of dental and orthopedic implants, the selection of a suitable model is complex. This paper presents a new model for objective and standardized evaluation of bone responses to implants using the iliac crest in goats. MATERIAL AND METHODS The feasibility of the iliac crest model regarding anatomy and implant positioning was determined using two cadaveric specimens and the bone structure was evaluated and compared with that of the goat femoral condyle. Additionally, the validity of the model was tested by performing an in vivo study. RESULTS By means of a rather simple, safe, fast and reproducible surgical procedure, the iliac crest in goats could be approached and allowed the implantation of maximally five dental implants per iliac crest. Because of the bilateral implantation possibility, statistical comparisons between groups on either side of the goat could be performed, resulting in a high statistical power, and hence a reduction in the number of animals required to obtain significant data. CONCLUSIONS In terms of surgical approach, anatomy and implant positioning, the iliac crest is the preferred model over the femoral condyle model. The iliac crest implantation model is suitable for evaluation of the osteogenic response to bone implant materials and represents a justified and deliberate alternative to the already existing animal models.
Multiscale Methods for Data Assimilation in Turbulent Systems

Data assimilation of turbulent signals is an important challenging problem because of the extremely complicated large dimension of the signals and incomplete partial noisy observations which usually mix the large scale mean flow and small scale fluctuations. Due to the limited computing power in the foreseeable future, it is desirable to use multiscale forecast models which are cheap and fast to mitigate the curse of dimensionality in turbulent systems; thus model errors from imperfect forecast models are unavoidable in the development of a data assimilation method in turbulence. Here we propose a suite of multiscale data assimilation methods which use stochastic Superparameterization as the forecast model. Superparameterization is a seamless multiscale method for parameterizing the effect of small scales by cheap local problems embedded in a coarse grid. The key ingredient of the multiscale data assimilation methods is the systematic use of conditional Gaussian mixtures which make the methods efficient by filtering a subspace whose dimension is smaller than the full state. The multiscale data assimilation methods proposed here are tested on a six dimensional conceptual dynamical model for turbulence which mimics interesting features of anisotropic turbulence including two way coupling between the large and small scale parts, intermittencies, and extreme events in the smaller scale fluctuations. Numerical results show that suitable multiscale data assimilation methods have high skill in estimating the most energetic modes of turbulent signals even with infrequent observation times.
Handoff Latency Minimization by Relative Distance Method

A mobile station (MS) undergoes handoff when it travels out of the coverage area of its current access point (AP) and tries to associate with another AP. In this paper we propose a method using GPS (Global Positioning System) to minimize the number of APs to be scanned by the MS during each handoff procedure. The entire geographical area is considered as a two dimensional plane divided into hexagonal coverage areas. Average Distance (d) is defined as the distance travelled by the MS in a time interval td (where td is defined as the total time delay in scanning, authentication etc. for a new AP). A new hexagonal area of side ‘b’ is created within the pre-existing hexagonal cell of side ‘a‘ by excluding the area covered by the MS in time td (as defined by ‘d’). A new variable‘s’ is defined which keeps track of the MS within the cell and when s>b handoff occurs. To minimize the number of APs to be scanned, cell sectoring approach is adopted in which every hexagonal cell is divided into 6 equal segments of 60 0 each. This will result in a reduction of number of APs to be scanned and the handoff latency will also be reduced to a great extent.
Dural Ectasia Is Associated With Back Pain in Marfan Syndrome

Study Design. A cross-sectional age- and sex-matched study comparing the prevalence and size of dural ectasia in two groups of patients with Marfan syndrome. Group I comprised patients with moderate to severe back pain and Group II comprised patients without back pain. Objectives. To determine whether the presence and size of dural ectasia is associated with back pain in patients with Marfan syndrome. Summary of Background Data. Dural ectasia is present in more than 60% of patients with Marfan syndrome. Moderate to severe back pain is present in more than 50% of patients with Marfan syndrome. Most cases of significant low back pain in patients with Marfan syndrome do not have a clear cause. It would be useful for the clinician to know whether dural ectasia may be a cause of back pain in patients with Marfan syndrome with no other source. Methods. Thirty two volunteers aged 30–50 with Marfan syndrome were enrolled as age- and sex-matched pairs with significant back pain (Group I) and without back pain (Group II). A completed questionnaire, physical examination, and magnetic resonance image of the lumbosacral spine were obtained. Dural volume caudal to L5 was calculated from the magnetic resonance data by specially designed software. Results. Dural ectasia was present in 76% of the patients in Group I, and 41% of the patients in Group II. The proportion of patients with dural ectasia was significantly higher in Group I. Furthermore, the mean dural volume was significantly higher in Group I, and a significant correlation between dural volume and Oswestry pain score was noted. Conclusions. The presence and size of dural ectasia are associated with back pain in the Marfan syndrome. However, a high prevalence of dural ectasia (41%) exists even in patients with Marfan syndrome without back pain. The mere presence of dural ectasia therefore does not necessarily mean the patient will be symptomatic even though the two are associated.
Gait changes in a line of mice artificially selected for longer limbs

In legged terrestrial locomotion, the duration of stance phase, i.e., when limbs are in contact with the substrate, is positively correlated with limb length, and negatively correlated with the metabolic cost of transport. These relationships are well documented at the interspecific level, across a broad range of body sizes and travel speeds. However, such relationships are harder to evaluate within species (i.e., where natural selection operates), largely for practical reasons, including low population variance in limb length, and the presence of confounding factors such as body mass, or training. Here, we compared spatiotemporal kinematics of gait in Longshanks, a long-legged mouse line created through artificial selection, and in random-bred, mass-matched Control mice raised under identical conditions. We used a gait treadmill to test the hypothesis that Longshanks have longer stance phases and stride lengths, and decreased stride frequencies in both fore- and hind limbs, compared with Controls. Our results indicate that gait differs significantly between the two groups. Specifically, and as hypothesized, stance duration and stride length are 8–10% greater in Longshanks, while stride frequency is 8% lower than in Controls. However, there was no difference in the touch-down timing and sequence of the paws between the two lines. Taken together, these data suggest that, for a given speed, Longshanks mice take significantly fewer, longer steps to cover the same distance or running time compared to Controls, with important implications for other measures of variation among individuals in whole-organism performance, such as the metabolic cost of transport.
Towards efficient sparse coding for scalable image annotation

Nowadays, content-based retrieval methods are still the development trend of the traditional retrieval systems. Image labels, as one of the most popular approaches for the semantic representation of images, can fully capture the representative information of images. To achieve the high performance of retrieval systems, the precise annotation for images becomes inevitable. However, as the massive number of images in the Internet, one cannot annotate all the images without a scalable and flexible (i.e., training-free) annotation method. In this paper, we particularly investigate the problem of accelerating sparse coding based scalable image annotation, whose off-the-shelf solvers are generally inefficient on large-scale dataset. By leveraging the prior that most reconstruction coefficients should be zero, we develop a general and efficient framework to derive an accurate solution to the large-scale sparse coding problem through solving a series of much smaller-scale subproblems. In this framework, an active variable set, which expands and shrinks iteratively, is maintained, with each snapshot of the active variable set corresponding to a subproblem. Meanwhile, the convergence of our proposed framework to global optimum is theoretically provable. To further accelerate the proposed framework, a sub-linear time complexity hashing strategy, e.g. Locality-Sensitive Hashing, is seamlessly integrated into our framework. Extensive empirical experiments on NUS-WIDE and IMAGENET datasets demonstrate that the orders-of-magnitude acceleration is achieved by the proposed framework for large-scale image annotation, along with zero/negligible accuracy loss for the cases without/with hashing speed-up, compared to the expensive off-the-shelf solvers.
Matching as an index of face familiarity

An experiment is reported which explores a method of assessing familiarity that does not rely on the overt recognition or identification of faces. Earlier findings (Clutterbuck & Johnston, 2002; Young, Hay, McWeeny, Flude, & Ellis, 1985) have shown that familiar faces can be matched faster on their internal features than unfamiliar faces. This study examines whether familiarization in the form of repeated exposure to novel faces over a 2 day period can facilitate internal feature match performance. Participants viewed each of a set of unfamiliar faces for 1 min in total. At test on the second day previously familiar (famous) faces were matched faster than unfamiliar and familiarized faces. However the familiarized faces were matched faster than the unfamiliar faces. We discuss the use of this task as a means of accessing a measure of familiarity formation and as a means of tracking how faces become familiar.
Body Orientation Estimation Using Template Matching Based on Shape and Skin Color Information

In real world, body orientation is a problem of person identification. The variation of orientation makes features hard to be extracted in a uniform form. If the orientation is estimated, we can select suitable features based on orientation. It may improve the performance of person identification. For the reason, we propose a body orientation estimation method in this paper. First, body region in images is extracted by background subtraction technology. Template matching is adopted to estimate the body orientation. Because the head and trunk may face the different orientations, we construct the templates with the images of head and shoulder region. In addition to contours, shapes and skin color areas are reserved to provide more orientation information for templates. In the experiments, the average accuracy for detecting frontal, left, right, and back orientation is higher than 97.8%. It explains that shape and skin color information is credible to describe the orientations. Besides, the body orientation estimation scheme works in real-time.
Common Antiviral Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte Epitope for Diverse Arenaviruses

ABSTRACT Members of the Arenaviridae family have been isolated from mammalian hosts in disparate geographic locations, leading to their grouping as Old World types (i.e., lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus [LCMV], Lassa fever virus [LFV], Mopeia virus, and Mobala virus) and New World types (i.e., Junin, Machupo, Tacaribe, and Sabia viruses) (C. J. Peters, M. J. Buchmeier, P. E. Rollin, and T. G. Ksiazek, p. 1521–1551, in B. N. Fields, D. M. Knipe, and P. M. Howley [ed.], Fields virology, 3rd ed., 1996; P. J. Southern, p. 1505–1519, in B. N. Fields, D. M. Knipe, and P. M. Howley [ed.], Fields virology, 3rd ed., 1996). Several types in both groups—LFV, Junin, Machupo, and Sabia viruses—cause severe and often lethal human diseases. By sequence comparison, we noted that eight Old World and New World arenaviruses share several amino acids with the nucleoprotein (NP) that consists of amino acids (aa) 118 to 126 (NP 118–126) (RPQASGVYM) of LCMV that comprise the immunodominant cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) epitope forH-2 d mice (32). This Ld-restricted epitope constituted >97% of the total bulk CTLs produced in the specific antiviral or clonal responses ofH-2 d BALB mice. NP 118–126 of the Old World arenaviruses LFV, Mopeia virus, and LCMV and the New World arenavirus Sabia virus bound at high affinity to Ld. The primary H-2 d CTL anti-LCMV response as well as that of a CTL clone responsive to LCMV NP 118–126 recognized target cells coated with NP 118–126 peptides derived from LCMV, LFV, and Mopeia virus but not Sabia virus, indicating that a common functional NP epitope exists among Old World arenaviruses. Use of site-specific amino acid exchanges in the NP CTL epitope among these arenaviruses identified amino acids involved in major histocompatibility complex binding and CTL recognition.
The DnaA inhibitor SirA acts in the same pathway as Soj (ParA) to facilitate oriC segregation during Bacillus subtilis sporulation

DNA replication and chromosome segregation must be carefully regulated to ensure reproductive success. During Bacillus subtilis sporulation, chromosome copy number is reduced to two, and cells divide asymmetrically to produce the future spore (forespore) compartment. For successful sporulation, oriC must be captured in the forespore. New rounds of DNA replication are prevented in part by SirA, a protein that utilizes residues in its N‐terminus to directly target Domain I of the bacterial initiator, DnaA. Using a quantitative forespore chromosome organization assay, we show that SirA also acts in the same pathway as another DnaA regulator, Soj, to promote oriC capture in the forespore. By analyzing loss‐of‐function variants of both SirA and DnaA, we observe that SirA's ability to inhibit DNA replication can be genetically separated from its role in oriC capture. In addition, we identify substitutions near the C‐terminus of SirA and in DnaA Domain III that enhance interaction between the two proteins. One such variant, SirAP141T, remained functional in regard to inhibiting replication, but was unable to support oriC capture. Collectively, our results support a model in which SirA targets DnaA Domain I to inhibit DNA replication, and DnaA Domain III to facilitate Soj‐dependent oriC capture in the forespore.
PCA AND PNN ASSISTED AUTOMATED BRAIN TUMOR CLASSIFICATION

: The National Brain Tumor Foundation (NBTF) for research in United States estimated that 29,000 people in the U.S. were diagnosed with primary brain tumor each year and nearly 13000 people died according to the 2007 estimate. This count is continuously increasing. There are about 200 other types of tumors diagnosed in U.K. each year. Conventional methods of brain tumor classification and detection is by human inspection which are having certain disadvantages so Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN) with mathematical technique called Principal Component Analysis(PCA) is used to give more accurate and fast solution. Automated classification of brain tumors is performed in two stages. Feature extraction using PCA and classification using PNN. Probabilistic Neural Network is mathematical analogues of biological neuron system, and they are made up of a parallel interconnected system of nodes called neurons. Depending on the application, the learning scheme is chosen to train the neural network.