Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the Relative Complexity of Resolution Refinements and Cutting Planes Proof Systems

An exponential lower bound for the size of tree-like cutting planes refutations of a certain family of conjunctive normal form (CNF) formulas with polynomial size resolution refutations is proved. This implies an exponential separation between the tree-like versions and the dag-like versions of resolution and cutting planes. In both cases only superpolynomial separations were known [A. Urquhart, Bull. Symbolic Logic, 1 (1995), pp. 425--467; J. Johannsen, Inform. Process. Lett. , 67 (1998), pp. 37--41; P. Clote and A. Setzer, in Proof Complexity and Feasible Arithmetics, Amer. Math. Soc. , Providence, RI, 1998, pp. 93--117]. In order to prove these separations, the lower bounds on the depth of monotone circuits of Raz and McKenzie in [ Combinatorica, 19 (1999), pp. 403--435] are extended to monotone real circuits. An exponential separation is also proved between tree-like resolution and several refinements of resolution: negative resolution and regular resolution. Actually, this last separation also provides a separation between tree-like resolution and ordered resolution, and thus the corresponding superpolynomial separation of [A. Urquhart, Bull. Symbolic Logic, 1 (1995), pp. 425--467] is extended. Finally, an exponential separation between ordered resolution and unrestricted resolution (also negative resolution) is proved. Only a superpolynomial separation between ordered and unrestricted resolution was previously known [A. Goerdt, Ann. Math. Artificial Intelligence, 6 (1992), pp. 169--184].
The research of decision tree mining based on Hadoop

For a single node massive data, the mining calculation of the decision-tree is very large. In order to solve this problem, this paper proposes the HF_SPRINT parallel algorithm that bases on the Hadoop platform. The parallel algorithm optimizes and improves the SPRINT algorithm as well as realizes the parallelization. The experimental results show that this algorithm has high acceleration ratio and good scalability.
Multiculturalism in taiwan

This study explores the contradictions and challenges in the development of multiculturalism in cultural policy in Taiwan. The approach used involves an exposition and critique of the two dominant models of multiculturalism in Western theory – namely, liberal multiculturalism and postmodern multiculturalism. From the perspective of liberal multiculturalism, I argue that ignorance of multicultural citizenship limits the scope and impact of multicultural policy. I then go on to suggest that postmodern multiculturalism addresses problems related to the visibility of cultural differences and shifting identities. Through analysing the various contradictions and challenges inherent in these two approaches, this study hopes to identify appropriate forms of multiculturalism capable of taking into account both multicultural citizenship and the dynamics of cultural diversity.
Agreement between HADS classifications and single-item screening questions for anxiety and depression: a cross-sectional survey of cancer patients.

BACKGROUND We assessed agreement between reported anxiety and depression levels of cancer patients using (i) single self-report items and (ii) the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). We also explored whether anxiety and depression assessment by (i) single self-report items or (ii) the HADS was most strongly associated with a preference to be offered professional assistance. The proportion of patients indicating that they would accept (or were currently using) professional support if they were experiencing anxiety or depression was also examined. PATIENTS AND METHODS A consecutive sample of cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy at four metropolitan public hospitals in Australia completed a touch screen computer survey. A consecutive subsample of patients attending three of these treatment centres answered additional questions about psychological support preferences. RESULTS Of 304 respondents, 54% [95% confidence interval (CI) 48% to 60%] perceived that they were currently experiencing mild to severe anxiety and depression. 22% (95% CI 18% to 27%) indicated a preference to be offered professional help. There was moderate agreement between the HADS and single-item responses for categorisation of anxiety and depression. Patient-perceived mild to severe anxiety and depression levels appeared to be the best measure for identifying those with a preference to be offered professional assistance. Of a subsample of 193 respondents, 89% (95% CI 84% to 93%) indicated that if they were experiencing anxiety or depression, they would accept (or were currently using) professional support. CONCLUSIONS Single-item screening in a cancer care setting may not adequately capture clinical anxiety and depression. However, single-items assessing patients' perceived levels of anxiety and depression are useful indicators of whether patients want to be offered, and are likely to accept, psychosocial care.
Statistical properties of the volatility of price fluctuations.

We study the statistical properties of volatility, measured by locally averaging over a time window T, the absolute value of price changes over a short time interval deltat. We analyze the S&P 500 stock index for the 13-year period Jan. 1984 to Dec. 1996. We find that the cumulative distribution of the volatility is consistent with a power-law asymptotic behavior, characterized by an exponent mu approximately 3, similar to what is found for the distribution of price changes. The volatility distribution retains the same functional form for a range of values of T. Further, we study the volatility correlations by using the power spectrum analysis. Both methods support a power law decay of the correlation function and give consistent estimates of the relevant scaling exponents. Also, both methods show the presence of a crossover at approximately 1.5 days. In addition, we extend these results to the volatility of individual companies by analyzing a data base comprising all trades for the largest 500 U.S. companies over the two-year period Jan. 1994 to Dec. 1995.
Towards supporting evolution of service-oriented architectures through quality impact prediction

The difficulty in evolving service-oriented architectures with extra-functional requirements seriously hinders the spread of this paradigm in critical application domains. This work tries to offset this disadvantage by introducing a design-time quality impact prediction and trade-off analysis method, which allows software engineers to predict the extra-functional consequences of alternative design decisions and select the optimal architecture without costly prototyping.
Immunodominant CD4+ T-cell epitope within nonstructural protein 3 in acute hepatitis C virus infection

In acute hepatitis C virus infection, 50 to 70% of patients develop chronic disease. Considering the low rate of spontaneous viral clearance during chronic hepatitis C infection, the first few months of interaction between the patient's immune system and the viral population seem to be crucial in determining the outcome of infection. We previously reported the association between a strong and sustained CD4+ T-cell response to nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) of the hepatitis C virus and a self-limited course of acute hepatitis C infection. In this study, we identify an immunodominant CD4+ T-cell epitope (amino acids 1248 to 1261) that was recognized by the majority (14 of 23) of NS3-specific CD4+ T-cell clones from four of five patients with acute hepatitis C infection. This epitope can be presented to CD4+ T cells by HLA-DR4, -DR11, -DR12, -DR13, and -DR16. HLA-binding studies revealed a high binding affinity for 10 of 13 common HLA-DR alleles. Two additional CD4+ T-cell epitopes, amino acids 1388 to 1407 and amino acids 1450 to 1469, showed a very narrow pattern of binding to individual HLA-DR alleles. Our data suggest that the NS3-specific CD4+ T-cell response in acute hepatitis C infection is dominated by a single, promiscuous peptide epitope which could become a promising candidate for the development of a CD4+ T-cell vaccine.
Competitive inhibition by capsazepine of [3H]resiniferatoxin binding to central (spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia) and peripheral (urinary bladder and airways) vanilloid (capsaicin) receptors in the rat.

Capsazepine was reported to block capsaicin- and resiniferatoxin (RTX)-induced responses both in vivo and in vitro with Schild plots suggesting a competitive mechanism of action. We have used the [3H]RTX binding assay, thought to represent the vanilloid (capsaicin) receptor, to explore the inhibitory mechanism of capsazepine at the receptor level in the rat. In competition assays, capsazepine inhibited [3H]RTX binding by spinal cord, dorsal root ganglion (DRG) and urinary bladder membranes with similar Ki values of 4.0 +/- 0.3, 3.5 +/- 0.5 and 5.0 +/- 1.0 microM (mean +/- S.E.M.; three determinations), respectively. By contrast, capsazepine was 35- to 50-fold more potent for inhibiting specific [3H]RTX binding in the airways (Ki = 0.12 +/- 0.02 microM; mean +/- S.E.M.; four determinations). In experiments in which the concentration of [3H]RTX was varied, 10 microM capsazepine reduced the affinity of the vanilloid receptor expressed by DRG and spinal cord membranes for [3H]RTX from 15 +/- 3 to 43 +/- 5 pM, and from 20 +/- 3 to 80 +/- 5 pM (mean +/- S.E.M.; three determinations), respectively, without a measurable change in Bmax or in cooperativity index; these shifts in affinity yield Ki values of 5.2 and 3.3 microM for DRG and spinal cord membranes, respectively. Capsaicin inhibited [3H]RTX binding by spinal cord, DRG and urinary bladder membranes with a 6- to 13-fold higher potency than did capsazepine; the Ki values were 0.3 +/- 0.1, 0.6 +/- 0.4 and 0.5 +/- 0.2 microM (mean +/- S.E.M.; three determinations), respectively. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Yet another privacy metric for publishing micro-data

Recently many schemes, including <i>k</i>-anonymity [8], <i>l</i>-diversity [6] and <i>t</i>-closeness [5] have been introduced for preserving individual privacy when publishing database tables. Furthermore <i>k</i>-anonymity and <i>l</i>-diversity have been shown to have weaknesses. In this paper, we show that <i>t</i>-closeness also has limitations, more specifically we argue that: i) choosing the correct value for <i>t</i> is difficult, ii) <i>t</i>-closeness does not allow some values of sensitive attributes to be more sensitive than other values, and iii) to prevent certain types of privacy leaks <i>t</i> must be set to such a small value that it produces low-quality published data. In this paper we propose a new privacy metric,(α<sub><i>i</i></sub>, β<sub><i>i</i></sub>)-closeness, that mitigates these problems. We also show how to calculate an optimal release table (in the full domain model) that satisfies (α<sub><i>i</i></sub>, β<sub><i>i</i></sub>)-closeness and we present experimental results that show that the data quality provided by 9α<sub><i>i</i></sub>, β;<sub><i>i</i></sub>),-closeness is higher than <i>t</i>-closeness, <i>k</i>-anonymity, and <i>l</i>-diversity while achieving the same privacy goals.
Characterization of A Three-Dimensional Organotypic Co-Culture Skin Model for Epidermal Differentiation of Rat Adipose-Derived Stem Cells

Objective The organotypic co-culture is a well-known technique to examine cellular interactions and their roles in stem cell proliferation and differentiation. This study aims to evaluate the effects of dermal fibroblasts (DFs) on epidermal differentiation of adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) using a three-dimensional (3D) organotypic co- culture technique. Materials and Methods In this experimental research study, rat DFs and ASCs were isolated and cultured separately on electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) matrices. The PCL matrices seeded by ASCs were superimposed on to the matrices seeded by DFs in order to create a 3D organotypic co-culture. In the control groups, PCL matrices seeded by ASCs were placed on matrices devoid of DFs. After 10 days, we assessed the expressions of keratinocyte-related genes by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and expression of pan-cytokeratin protein by immunofluorescence in the differentiated keratinocyte-like cells from co- culture and control groups. Keratinocyte-like cell morphologies were also observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results The early, intermediate, and terminal differentiation keratinocyte markers-Cytokeratin14, Filaggrin, and Involucrin significantly expressed in the co-culture groups com- pared to the control ones (P<0.05). We observed pan-cytokeratin in keratinocyte-like cells of both groups by immunofluorescence. SEM observation of the co-culture groups showed that the differentiated keratinocyte-like cells developed a polygonal cobblestone shape, considered characteristic of keratinocytes. Conclusion The 3D organotypic co-culture bilayered construct that consisted of DFs and ASCs was an effective technique for epidermal differentiation of ASCs. This co-culture might be useful for epidermal differentiation of stem cells for future applications in skin regeneration.
Research and Improvement of Mechanism of Searching Resource in Chord Network

Chord is a typical model of structured P2P network. However, there are some problems for the mechanism of searching resources in Chord, such as too much redundant information in the routing tables of nodes, the deviation of needed times of forwarding lookup messages among searching resources whose key values are located in different areas of identifier space, some available routing information being not used and the difficulty for supporting complex lookup, e.t. This paper proposes a scheme to add routing information to the routing tables. Meanwhile, it holds down the scale of routing tables by merging the items that have redundant information. In most cases, it makes the nodes actually have even less items in the routing tables than they used to. It also has the advantage that the deviation of time of routing a lookup message becomes smaller. Thus, it makes the performance of resource search more stable, the average hops of routing a lookup message diminished, the memory needed by the routing tables much less and the time of the transact shorter.
Towards Flexible Guarantees in Clouds: Adaptive Bandwidth Allocation and Pricing

This article focuses on the problem of bandwidth allocation to users of Cloud data centers. An interesting approach is to use advance bandwidth reservation. Such systems usually assume all requests demand either bandwidth-guarantee (BG) or time-guarantee (TG), but not both. Hence the solutions are tailored for one type of requests. A BG request demands guarantee on bandwidth; whereas a TG request demands guarantee on time for transfer of data of specified volume. We define a new model that allows users to not only submit both kinds of requests, but also specify flexible demands. We tie up the problem of bandwidth allocation with differential pricing, that gives discounts to users based on the flexibility in their requests. We propose a two-phase, adaptive and flexible bandwidth allocator (A-FBA) that, in one phase admits and allocates minimal bandwidth to dynamically arriving user requests, and in another phase, allocates additional bandwidth for accepted requests maximizing revenue. The problem formulated in first phase is NP-hard, while the second phase can be solved in polynomial time. We show that, in comparison to a traditional deterministic model, the A-FBA not only increases the number of accepted requests significantly, but also does so by generating higher revenues.
An Intelligent Suspicious Activity Detection Framework (ISADF) for Video Surveillance Systems

Video Surveillance systems are playing vital role in ensuring the security at various public places like bus stops, railway stations, shopping malls, Airports etc. Suspicious activity recognition helps to prevent from threats and identify the causes after threat. Existing semi-automatic approaches depends on human intervention to detect the uncommon activities and suspicious behavior from video context. Due to these limitations they become non-intelligence, very slow and need more human observers. In this paper, to overcome these problems an Intelligent Suspicious Activity Detection Framework (ISADF) for Video data is proposed. This framework uses location dependent training data for intelligence and context (foreground) change information for suspicious activity detection. Experimental results show that ISADF is a high speed intelligent threat detection system than existing approaches.
Inactivation of pathogenic dermatophytes by ultraviolet irradiation in swimming pool thermal water

The effect of ultraviolet (UV) radiation from low-pressure mercury lamp against some pathogenic dermatophytes species such as Epidermophyton floccosum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton schoenleinii, Trichophyton tonsurans and Trichophyton violaceum suspended in thermal water was evaluated in laboratory-scale condition at various times. The main results showed that within 120 s of exposure, all species of dermatophytes are completely inactivated, which was evidenced by the absence of fungal regrowth, while after 60 s only T. tonsurans was recovered, with a reduction of 3.28 log. Shorter exposure times were not enough to completely inactivate all dermatophytes species. The samples treated with UV radiation for 120 s did not give evidence of fungal regrowth indicating that this disinfectant action is persistent over time. In conclusion, UV radiation can be proposed to reduce the risk of infection by dermatophytes eventually present in swimming pools that use thermal water.
IN VITRO ANALYSIS OF ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF VITAMIN C ALONE AND IN COMBINATION WITH ANTIBIOTICS ON GRAM POSITIVE ROD ISOLATED FROM SOIL OF A DUMPING SITE OF KOLKATA

In today’s fast moving world antibiotics resistance from soil borne infections isa major concern for us. So, medical practitioners have gained interest in treating infections with antioxidants containing dietary supplements, such as Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid) solely or in combination with antibiotics. In our investigation of soil samples containing various wastes showed the presence of Gram positive rods and 16s rDNA characterization confirmed the organism as Bacillus cereus strain KD125. In-vitro the antibiotic susceptibility test our isolate showed maximum sensitivity to Linezolid (LZ) and was found to be least sensitive or intermediate sensitive to Ampicillin (AMP). It is also found that Bacillus cereus strain KD125was sensitive to Vitamin C andin combination Vitamin C mostly decreased the antibacterial activity of Ampicillin (AMP), Linezolid (LZ), and Chloramphenicol (CHL) but had slightly increased the antibacterial activity of Azithromycin (AZT) and did not affect the antibacterial activity of LZ at higher concentration. This increase in antibacterial activity may be due to presence of flavonoids and phenolic present in Vitamin C. Moreover, it was also seen that observed LZ had maximum antibacterial activity in presence of Vitamin C. So, systematic use of Vitamin C alone or in combination can help to treat this food poisoning causing pathogen Bacillus cereus efficiently.
Bisphosphonates and Cancer: What Opportunities from Nanotechnology?

Bisphosphonates (BPs) are synthetic analogues of naturally occurring pyrophosphate compounds. They are used in clinical practice to inhibit bone resorption in bone metastases, osteoporosis, and Paget's disease. BPs induce apoptosis because they can be metabolically incorporated into nonhydrolyzable analogues of adenosine triphosphate. In addition, the nitrogen-containing BPs (N-BPs), second-generation BPs, act by inhibiting farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) synthase, a key enzyme of the mevalonate pathway. These molecules are able to induce apoptosis of a number of cancer cells in vitro. Moreover, antiangiogenic effect of BPs has also been reported. However, despite these promising properties, BPs rapidly accumulate into the bone, thus hampering their use to treat extraskeletal tumors. Nanotechnologies can represent an opportunity to limit BP accumulation into the bone, thus increasing drug level in extraskeletal sites of the body. Thus, nanocarriers encapsulating BPs can be used to target macrophages, to reduce angiogenesis, and to directly kill cancer cell. Moreover, nanocarriers can be conjugated with BPs to specifically deliver anticancer agent to bone tumors. This paper describes, in the first part, the state-of-art on the BPs, and, in the following part, the main studies in which nanotechnologies have been proposed to investigate new indications for BPs in cancer therapy.
Partial-state feedback control of high-order cascade systems with unknown control direction

Without a priori knowledge of the signs of control directions, this paper investigates the robust asymptotic regulating problem for a class of high-order non-linear cascade systems with both dynamic and static uncertainties. Under some weaker assumptions, a partial-state feedback controller is proposed which ensures that all the signals of closed-loop system are globally uniformly bounded and all states can be regulated to the origin. The design procedure is illustrated through an example.
RACER: a reconfigurable constraint-length 14 Viterbi decoder

This paper describes the architecture and implementation of a constraint-length 14 Viterbi decoder that achieves a decoding rate of 41 Kbits/s. The system uses 36 Xilinx XC4010 FPGAs with seven processor cards and a custom backplane to implement a multi-ring general cascade Viterbi decoder architecture. The paper also shows how to achieve decoding rates of 1 Mbit/s using current FPGA technology. Comparisons are made to JPL's big Viterbi decoder, which uses custom ASICs.
How are PCORI-funded researchers engaging patients in research and what are the ethical implications?

ABSTRACT Background: Despite growing interest in patient engagement in research, there are few empirical investigations of the nature of engagement and its effects. This information is important, not only to inform practical decisions researchers and funders must make, but also to inform discussion of the ethical implications of engaging patients, which has received little attention to date. Methods: The aim of this study was to characterize patient engagement in research funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) as a step toward enhancing current understanding of the nature and effects of engagement and prompting an in-depth consideration of the ethical implications of engaging patients in research. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 19 PCORI-funded principal investigators and with 33 patients engaged in 18 of the same 19 projects. Results: Reasons cited for engaging patients included to enhance relevance and feasibility and to improve dissemination. While engagement occurred at different points during the research, patients were most commonly engaged in reviewing study materials and less commonly engaged at earlier points. Engagement varied by approach, frequency of interaction, and the extent to which patient input changed the research. Impacts of engagement included improving the relevance, feasibility, acceptability, and quality of the research. Conclusion: Our findings on the nature and impacts of engagement have importance not only for practical questions researchers, funders, and patients might raise, but also for several ethical considerations regarding patient engagement related to why patients are engaged, the kinds of patients engaged, when patients are engaged, and how patients are engaged. We discuss our findings in consideration of the main ethical issues they imply, including ethical rationales for engagement, justice-related concerns, and ethical concerns arising from when and how patients are engaged. As efforts to engage patients increase, this discussion provides insights that researchers, funders, and patients may find valuable.