Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relations Between Implicit Measures of Prejudice

Some recent findings suggest that different implicit measures of prejudice assess the same underlying construct, but other work suggests that they may not. In this experiment, White participants completed a version of a priming measure of racial attitudes that either encouraged categorization of the face primes in terms of race or did not encourage such categorization, and then completed the Implicit Association Test. Correspondence between the two measures was found only when categorization by race was required on the priming measure. Moreover, participants appeared more prejudiced when they were led to construe individuals in terms of race than when they were not so encouraged. The discussion focuses on the potential for dissociations between evaluations of a category and evaluations of members of the category.
Effect of Kangfuxin Solution on Chemo/Radiotherapy-Induced Mucositis in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients: A Multicenter, Prospective Randomized Phase III Clinical Study

Objective. To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Kangfuxin Solution, a pure Chinese herbal medicine, on mucositis induced by chemoradiotherapy in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. Methods. A randomized, parallel-group, multicenter clinical study was performed. A total of 240 patients were randomized to receive either Kangfuxin Solution (test group) or compound borax gargle (control group) during chemoradiotherapy. Oral mucositis, upper gastrointestinal mucositis, and oral pain were evaluated by Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v3.0 and the Verbal Rating Scale (VRS). Results. Of 240 patients enrolled, 215 were eligible for efficacy analysis. Compared with the control group, the incidence and severity of oral mucositis in the test group were significantly reduced (P = 0.01). The time to different grade of oral mucositis occurrence (grade 1, 2, or 3) was longer in test group (P < 0.01), and the accumulated radiation dose was also higher in test group comparing to the control group (P < 0.05). The test group showed lower incidence of oral pain and gastrointestinal mucositis than the control group (P < 0.01). No significant adverse events were observed. Conclusion. Kangfuxin Solution demonstrated its superiority to compound borax gargle on mucositis induced by chemoradiotherapy. Its safety is acceptable for clinical application.
Human movement generation based on convergent flow fields : a computational model and a behavioral experiment

Humans can move a hand smoothly on a straight or curved path towards a target while being able to adjust on-line to a changing goal position. How can we plan and generate such a movement such that we are still able to adapt to a dynamic environment? Next-state planning models have addressed this question by computing the control command from a function of the current state and goal; so far, however, these models have been restricted to straight trajectories (Shadmehr and Wise, 2005). Here, we present a new computational model for generating arbitrary movements that adapts to a new goal with a single parameter. Furthermore, we present a behavioral experiment with switching targets demonstrating that the curves resulting from the switch can be explained by our model. Our work combines ideas from pattern generation with dynamic systems and the observation of convergent force fields that control a frog leg after spinal stimulation. The discovery of spinal force fields suggests a combined control and planning strategy (Bizzi et al., 1991). The total effect of inverse dynamics and muscle elasticity results in these force fields whose equilibrium points can be controlled by the nervous system. If the brain knows the structure of these fields, it may plan to move a limb on a desired trajectory by appropriately sequencing and superimposing the convergent fields. Indeed, work in the frog provides evidence that the force fields are modulated by time-varying pulse or step functions (Giszter et al., 1993). For our model, we use acceleration fields instead of force fields. We assume simple linear fields, K(ci −x)−Dv, where the vectors x and v are the current position and velocity of the end-effector, e.g., hand; ci are the equilibrium points of the fields; K is a constant positive-definite matrix, and D is chosen such that the system is critically damped. Each field is weighted by a Gaussian pulse function ψi varying over time; the total field is a superposition of weighted local fields. To guarantee convergence to a goal position g, we add a field around g and increase its relative weight during the movement. The resulting time-varying acceleration is
Anomalous X-ray pulsars: persistent states with fallback disks

Abstract The anomalous X-ray pulsar 4U 0142+61 was recently detected in the mid infrared bands with the SPITZER Observatory (Wang, Chakrabarty and Kaplan: Nature 440, 772 (2006)). This observation is the first instance for a disk around an AXP. From a reanalysis of optical and infrared data, we show that the observations indicate that the disk is likely to be an active disk rather than a passive dust disk beyond the light cylinder, as proposed in the discovering paper. Furthermore, we show that the irradiated accretion disk model can also account for all the optical and infrared observations of the anomalous X-ray pulsars in the persistent state.
Information detective: a workstation for exploring three dimensional information space

Artificial reality is used to simulate two different kinds of space. One is the physical world. The other is a conceptual data model. A head mounted display can simulate the former. In this paper, we propose a system, Information Detective, to simulate the latter. Information Detective is a workstation for browsing complex information spaces. It consists of a small flat display and two tracking sensors. It behaves like a magnifying glass in three dimensional space and can show object details in a natural way. It is being developed to keep users from losing themselves in large and complex information spaces.
Implications of the New Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Risk-based Capital Standard

Economics at Columbia University, and Senior Director and Chairman of the Advisory Committee at Sebago Associates, Inc., an economic policy consulting firm. Dr. Stiglitz is the winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Previously, Dr. Stiglitz served as the World Bank’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics and, before that, as the Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Vaccine therapy for pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is a lethal disease and currently available therapies have significant limitations. Pancreatic cancer is thus an ideal setting for the development of novel treatment modalities such as immunotherapy. However, relevant obstacles must be overcome for immunotherapeutic regimens against pancreatic cancer to be successful. Vaccine therapy relies on the administration of biological preparations that include an antigen that (at least ideally) is specifically expressed by malignant cells, boosting the natural ability of the immune system to react against neoplastic cells. There are a number of ways to deliver anticancer vaccines. Potent vaccines stimulate antigen presentation by dendritic cells, hence driving the expansion of antigen-specific effector and memory T cells. Unlike vaccines given as a prophylaxis against infectious diseases, anticancer vaccines require the concurrent administration of agents that interfere with the natural predisposition of tumors to drive immunosuppression. The safety and efficacy of vaccines against pancreatic cancer are nowadays being tested in early phase clinical trials.
Cost-Sensitive Batch Mode Active Learning: Designing Astronomical Observation by Optimizing Telescope Time and Telescope Choice

Astronomers and telescope operators must make decisions about what to observe given limited telescope time. To optimize this decision-making process, we present a batch, cost-sensitive, active learning approach that exploits structure in the unlabeled dataset, accounts for label uncertainty, and minimizes annotation costs. We first cluster the unlabeled instances in feature space. We next introduce an uncertainty-reducing selection criterion that encourages the batch of selected instances to span multiple clusters, in addition to taking into account annotation cost. Finally, we extend this criterion to incorporate the fact that nearby astronomical objects may be observed at the same time. On two large astronomical data sets, our approach balances the trade-offs among FOV, aperture, and time cost and, therefore, helps astronomers design effective experiments.
Promoter DNA Methylation of Farnesoid X Receptor and Pregnane X Receptor Modulates the Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy Phenotype

The intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a multifactorial liver disorder which pathogenesis involves the interplay among abnormal bile acid (BA) levels, sex hormones, environmental factors, and genetic susceptibility. The dynamic nature of ICP that usually resolves soon after delivery suggests the possibility that its pathobiology is under epigenetic modulation. We explored the status of white blood peripheral cells-DNA methylation of CpG-enriched sites at the promoter of targeted genes (FXR/NR1H4, PXR/NR1I2, NR1I3, ESR1, and ABCC2) in a sample of 88 ICP patients and 173 healthy pregnant women in the third trimester of their pregnancies. CpG dinucleotides at the gene promoter of nuclear receptors subfamily 1 members and ABCC2 transporter were highly methylated during healthy pregnancy. We observed significant differences at the distal (−1890) and proximal promoter (−358) CpG sites of the FXR/NR1H4 and at the distal PXR/NR1I2 (−1224) promoter, which were consistently less methylated in ICP cases when compared with controls. In addition, we observed that methylation at FXR/NR1H4-1890 and PXR/NR1I2-1224 promoter sites was highly and positively correlated with BA profiling, particularly, conjugated BAs. Conversely, methylation level at the proximal FXR/NR1H4-358 CpG site was significantly and negatively correlated with the primary cholic and secondary deoxycholic acid. In vitro exploration showed that epiallopregnanolone sulfate, a reported FXR inhibitor, regulates the transcriptional activity of FXR/NR1H4 but seems to be not involved in the methylation changes. In conclusion, the identification of epigenetic marks in target genes provides a basis for the understanding of adverse liver-related pregnancy outcomes, including ICP.
Analysis of Mixtures in Physical Spectra

A reversiblejump Markov chainMonteCarlotechniqueis appliedto estimatethe numberandparametersof peaksin ubiquitousphysicalproblems in theframework of Bayesianprobability theory. For measuredphysicalspectra oftenonly the functionalform of thestructuresis known but thenumberof the peaksandthe parametersareunknown. The full joint posteriordistribution for all parametersis sampledfor estimatingthenumberof componentsupportedby thesignificantinformationin thenoisydataandfor estimatingtheunknown parametersfor themostprobablenumberof components. Themethodis appliedto theclassicalOld Faithful densityestimationproblemandthephysicalproblemof resolutionenhancement andspectraldecompositionof high-resolutionelectron energy lossdata.
Do retail gasoline prices adjust symmetrically to crude oil price changes? the case of the Greek oil market

The present paper investigates whether Greek gasoline prices respond symmetrically to changes in international oil prices. The study uses all available observations and applies the TAR (Threshold Auto-Regressive) methodology, which is considered to be the most reliable econometric technique based on statistical criteria. The adjustment of domestic retail gasoline prices to international oil price changes turns out to be asymmetric. This finding shows that the suppliers of gasoline tend to reduce their retail prices slowly when international oil prices fall, but increase them faster when international oil prices rise. The above result indicates lack of competitive conditions in the market under consideration.
Experiments on (Intelligent) Brute Force Methods for Appearance-Based Object Recognition

It has long been recognized that, in principle object recognition problems can be solved by simple, brute force methods. However, the approach has generally been held to be completely impractical. We argue that by combining a few more or less standard tricks with computational resources that are historically large, but completely feasible by recent standards , dramatic results can be achieved for a number of recognition problems. In particular, we describe a resource-intensive, appearance-based method that utilizes intermediate-level features to provide normalized keys into a large, memorized feature database, and Bayesian evidence combination coupled with a Hough-like indexing scheme to assemble object hypotheses from the memory. This system demonstrates robust recognition of a variety of 3-D shapes, ranging from sports cars and ghter planes to snakes and lizards over full spherical or hemispherical ranges (and pla-nar scale, translation and rotation). We report the results of various large-scale performance tests, involving , altogether, over 2000 separate test images. These include performance scaling with database size, robustness against clutter, and generic ability. The result of 97% forced choice accuracy with full ortho-graphic invariance for 24 complex curved 3-D objects over full viewing spheres or hemispheres is the best we are aware of for this type of problem.
Experimental study on using visual odometry for navigation in outdoor GPS-denied environments

This paper presents an experimental study on utilizing visual odometry (VO) for pose estimation of mobile robots in outdoor GPS-denied environments. The experiments have been done using two different stereo VO algorithms implemented in Robot Operating System (ROS). The results have been compared with ground truth and drift has been identified. Sensor integration has been successfully used to minimize the drift. Challenges and possible solutions have been presented for future research and development.
Fire Detection And 3d Fire Propagation Estimation For The Protection Of Cultural Heritage Areas

Beyond taking precautionary measures to avoid a forest fire, early warning and immediate response to a fire breakout are the only ways to avoid great losses and environmental and cultural heritage damages. To this end, this paper aims to present a computer vision based algorithm for wildfire detection and a 3D fire propagation estimation system. The main detection algorithm is composed of four sub-algorithms detecting (i) slow moving objects, (ii) smoke-coloured regions, (iii) rising regions, and (iv) shadow regions. After detecting a wildfire, the main focus should be the estimation of its propagation direction and speed. If the model of the vegetation and other important parameters like wind speed, slope, aspect of the ground surface, etc. are known; the propagation of fire can be estimated. This propagation can then be visualized in any 3D-GIS environment that supports KML files.
Co-Expression of Wild-Type P2X7R with Gln460Arg Variant Alters Receptor Function

The P2X7 receptor is a member of the P2X family of ligand-gated ion channels. A single-nucleotide polymorphism leading to a glutamine (Gln) by arginine (Arg) substitution at codon 460 of the purinergic P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) has been associated with mood disorders. No change in function (loss or gain) has been described for this SNP so far. Here we show that although the P2X7R-Gln460Arg variant per se is not compromised in its function, co-expression of wild-type P2X7R with P2X7R-Gln460Arg impairs receptor function with respect to calcium influx, channel currents and intracellular signaling in vitro. Moreover, co-immunoprecipitation and FRET studies show that the P2X7R-Gln460Arg variant physically interacts with P2X7R-WT. Specific silencing of either the normal or polymorphic variant rescues the heterozygous loss of function phenotype and restores normal function. The described loss of function due to co-expression, unique for mutations in the P2RX7 gene so far, explains the mechanism by which the P2X7R-Gln460Arg variant affects the normal function of the channel and may represent a mechanism of action for other mutations.
Altered dopamine ontogeny in the developmentally vitamin D deficient rat and its relevance to schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous group of disorders with unknown etiology. Although abnormalities in multiple neurotransmitter systems have been linked to schizophrenia, alterations in dopamine (DA) neurotransmission remain central to the treatment of this disorder. Given that schizophrenia is considered a neurodevelopmental disorder we have hypothesized that abnormal DA signaling in the adult patient may result from altered DA signaling during fetal brain development. Environmental and genetic risk factors can be modeled in rodents to allow for the investigation of early neurodevelopmental pathogenesis that may lead to clues into the etiology of schizophrenia. To address this we created an animal model of one such risk factor, developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency. DVD-deficient adult rats display an altered behavioral profile in response to DA releasing and blocking agents that are reminiscent of that seen in schizophrenia patients. Furthermore, developmental studies revealed that DVD deficiency also altered cell proliferation, apoptosis, and neurotransmission across the embryonic brain. In particular, DVD deficiency reduces the expression of crucial dopaminergic specification factors and alters DA metabolism in the developing brain. We speculate such alterations in fetal brain development may change the trajectory of DA neuron ontogeny to induce the behavioral abnormalities observed in adult offspring. The widespread evidence that both dopaminergic and structural changes are present in people who develop schizophrenia prior to onset also suggest that early alterations in development are central to the disease. Taken together, early alterations in DA ontogeny may represent a core feature in the pathology of schizophrenia. Such a mechanism could bring together evidence from multiple risk factors and genetic vulnerabilities to form a convergent pathway in disease pathophysiology.
Modified Breadth-first order-based link categorization for finding financial statement documents

With the exponential growth of information on the World Wide Web, there is a challenge to find for a document that contains specific information on the Internet. There are many statistical documents that are available on the Web. However, to search, recognize and take these kinds of documents need much effort and also require much time. One of the solutions that can be used to do that is a web crawler. In this paper, we develop a method to search statistical documents, specifically on finance domain using a web crawler based on link categorization. The method is a modified form of Breadth-first ordering strategy, where every link that is found will be categorized into three groups: Positive link, Negative link and Neutral link. The objective is to identify whether the link is likely pointing into relevant documents or not. In addition, we also utilize keywords related financial domain to recognize a relevant document. Based on our experiments, the value of precision and F-measure score of the proposed method is higher than its baseline value.
Expertise in Workgroups ( English abstract of ‘ Expertise in Werkgroepen ’ )

Expertise and experts are concepts that are tricky to define. Many definitions have been proposed in the literature and they each highlight different aspects. Sternberg (1994) [4] defines expertise as superior analytical and creative abilities, and the ability to process and apply new information faster than non-experts. A century of psychological research into the field has focused mainly on skill at chess, which can be readily measured and subjected to laboratory experiments [3]. Expertise in softer, non-competitive areas such as knowledge organization and dissemination in universities and commercial organizations has been researched using the basic toolkit consisting of interviews, questionnaires and social network analyses.
Profit Index - Pertinent Risk of Financial Investment

Investors utility has been mathematically modeled at 1738 by Daniel Bernoulli as an attempt to capture investors preferences to lottery outcomes. Ever since the analysis of decision making under uncertainty has again become a major focus of interest. Kahneman and Tversky in 1979 suggested a more accurate description of preferences compared to expected utility theory stressing the asymmetric sensitivity between losses then gains. Consequently, downside risk measure such as VaR and CVaR were proposed as an indicator sensitive to the pertinent risk of financial investment. However this measures are indifferent to extrema events risk. Based on the newly proposed riskiness index by Aumann and Serrano (2008), we construct the PROFIT Index, a downside risk measure providing a "Pertinent Risk Of Financial Investment", sensitive to heavy tail risk that forms a complete order for all risk avers investors. We present a closed-form solution to the PROFIT Index, as a function of the return moments. The PROFIT Index is dynamically calibrated to the market, becoming a live indicator suitable for investors perception of risk.
Utilization of a test gradient enhances islet recovery from deceased donor pancreases.

BACKGROUND Islet transplantation is a viable treatment alternative for a select group of patients with type 1 diabetes. However, variables unique to the donor pancreas, such as age, fibrosis and edema, can influence the number and purity of the isolated islets. Thus isolation of a sufficient number of islets for transplantation from the pancreas remains challenging because of the lack of methods enabling reproducible isolation. METHODS Islets were isolated from 38 consecutive deceased donors using the semi-automated Ricordi method of islet isolation, and purified on a COBE 2991 cell processor using Ficoll-based continuous density gradients. Three different gradient protocols were used. These included a pre-defined gradient using different densities of Ficoll (1.100 g/mL and 1.077 g/mL) mixed with HBSS (group 1), a pre-defined gradient using single-density Ficoll (1.100 g/mL) mixed with University of Wisconsin solution (UW) (group 2) and a variable gradient using single-density Ficoll (1.100 g/mL) with UW and densities selected based on the results of test gradients (group 3). RESULTS Group 3 yielded a better recovery of islets (74%) than groups 1 (43%) or 2 (37%) (P=0.0144). Viability was significantly higher in groups 2 and 3 (P=0.0115). Purity was not significantly different among the groups. DISCUSSION This method, using a simple test gradient, is a significant process improvement that can improve islet recovery without loss of viability or purity and increase the number of islet products suitable for transplantation.