Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Novel Relational Learning-to-Rank Approach for Topic-Focused Multi-document Summarization

Topic-focused multi-document summarization aims to produce a summary over a set of documents and conveys the most important aspects of a given topic. Most existing extractive methods view the task as a multi-criteria ranking problem over sentences, where relevance, salience and diversity are three typical requirements. However, diversity is a challenging problem as it involves modeling the relationship between sentences during ranking, where traditional methods usually tackle it in a heuristic or implicit way. In this paper, we propose a novel relational learning-to-rank approach (R-LTR) to solve this problem. Relational learning-to-rank is a new learning framework which further incorporates relationships into traditional learning-to-rank in an elegant way. Specifically, the ranking function is defined as the combination of content-based score of individual sentence, and relation-based score between the current sentence and those already selected. On this basis, we propose to learn the ranking function by minimizing the likelihood loss based on Plackett-Luce model, which can naturally model the sequential ranking procedure of candidate sentences. Stochastic gradient descent is then employed to conduct the learning process, and the summary is predicted by the greedy selection procedure based on the learned ranking function. Finally, we conduct extensive experiments on benchmark data sets TAC2008 and TAC2009. Experimental results show that our approach can significantly outperform the state-of-the-art methods from both quantitative and qualitative aspects.
Randomized trial of group therapy for repeated deliberate self-harm in adolescents.

OBJECTIVE To compare group therapy with routine care in adolescents who had deliberately harmed themselves on at least two occasions within a year. METHOD Single-blind pilot study with two randomized parallel groups that took place in Manchester, England. Sixty-three adolescents aged 12 through 16 years were randomly assigned to group therapy and routine care or routine care alone. Outcome data on suicide attempts were obtained without knowledge of treatment allocation on all randomized cases (62/63 by direct interview) on average 29 weeks later. The primary outcomes were depression and suicidal behavior. RESULTS In intention-to-treat analyses, adolescents who had group therapy were less likely to be "repeaters" at the end of the study (i.e., to have repeated deliberate self-harm on two or more further occasions) than adolescents who had routine care (2/32 versus 10/31; odds ratio 6.3), but the confidence intervals for this ratio were wide (95% confidence interval 1.4 to 28.7). They were also less likely to use routine care, had better school attendance, and had a lower rate of behavioral disorder than adolescents given routine care alone. The interventions did not differ, however, in their effects on depression or global outcome. CONCLUSIONS Group therapy shows promise as a treatment for adolescents who repeatedly harm themselves, but larger studies are required to assess more accurately the efficacy of this intervention.
Outcomes of Birmingham Hip Resurfacing: A Systematic Review

Purpose We performed a systematic review to assess the functional outcomes of Birmingham Hip Resurfacing as reported in peer-reviewed literature. Methods We performed a computerized search on the data sources up to February 2011. The following text and key words were searched: “Birmingham hip”, “Birmingham hip resurfacing” and “Hip resurfacing”. Each of these key words was again searched with “outcomes” following them. We also hand searched the bibliographies of the retrieved articles and our own files to identify specifically relevant articles. Results Fourteen retrospective studies and three prospective studies were included for review. Each of these studies was evaluated by the criteria given by Sackett and AACPDM. The design, patient criteria, intervention, outcomes, duration of follow up and results of the research were reported. Conclusions Although the technique of BHR does allow the femur to be spared, claims that it may allow patients to be more active need to be further investigated.
Classification of single-crystal “ diffuse ” images

In the x-ray diffraction experiment, we collected about 8 million diffraction images in total, where less then 0.3% (20 thousand) were “good” images that could be used for further scientific study. Even among those “good” images, about 95% was “non-diffuse” image (1b, 1d, 1f), and only 5% (1 thousand) was “diffuse” image (1a, 1c, 1e) that we decided to extract out using machine learning methods in this report. To achieve this goal, we built two models — the diffusion map method and the convolutional neural network (CNN) based on the famous VGG16 pipeline [5][6]. For training and testing, we only used a small portion of those 20 thousand “good” images due to the difficulty to label all of them within limited time. After several failed tried, we finally got a 91.3% classification accuracy for the diffusion map method and a 93.6% accuracy for the CNN model.
Java 2 distributed object middleware performance analysis and optimization

This paper is focused on the performance analysis, comparison and optimization of distributed object middleware for Java 2: RMI (Remote Method Invocation), CORBA IDL (Interface Definition Language) and RMI-IIOP (Remote Method Invocation on Internet Inter-ORB Protocol). The paper presents the following contributions to the research on distributed object performance. First, a detailed performance analysis is provided with the comparison. These results help to understand how the models perform. Second, an overhead analysis has been done, which explains why there are differences in peRformance. Third, optimizations and improved performance for RMI-IIOP and CORBA IDL are presented. These show considerably better performance in all areas compared to the original versions.
Low CAIX expression and absence of VHL gene mutation are associated with tumor aggressiveness and poor survival of clear cell renal cell carcinoma

We attempted to describe, in a series of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the relationship between CAIX expression, VHL gene mutations, tumor characteristics and outcome. Radical nephrectomy was performed in 100 patients. Genomic DNA was extracted from frozen tumor samples. Four amplimers covering the whole coding sequence of the VHL gene were synthesized by PCR and sequenced. The monoclonal antibody M75 was used to evaluate CAIX protein expression immunohistochemically. VHL mutations were identified in 58 patients (58%) and high CAIX expression (>85%) was observed in 78 (78%). Tumors with VHL mutation showed higher CAIX expression than those without (p = 0.02). Low CAIX expression and absence of VHL mutation were associated with a more advanced tumors e.g., higher T stages and presence of metastases. VHL mutation and high CAIX expression predicted longer progression‐free survival (p = 0.037) and disease‐specific survival (p = 0.001), respectively. In combination, they defined three prognostic groups (p = 0.002): (i) good prognosis, defined as VHL mutation and high CAIX (2‐year survival: 86%), (ii) intermediate prognosis with either VHL mutation or high CAIX (69%), and (iii) poor prognosis with no VHL mutation and low CAIX (45%, median survival 18 months). CAIX expression, but not VHL mutational status, was an independent prognostic factor in multivariate analysis. Taken together, CAIX expression and VHL mutational status are able to stratify patients with clear cell RCC into distinct groups with regards to clinicopathological variables and prognosis, with low CAIX expression and absence of VHL mutation being associated with a poor clinicopathological phenotype and diminished survival. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Interactions of zebrafish peptide YYb with the neuropeptide Y-family receptors Y4, Y7, Y8a, and Y8b

The neuropeptide Y (NPY) system influences numerous physiological functions including feeding behavior, endocrine regulation, and cardiovascular regulation. In jawed vertebrates it consists of 3–4 peptides and 4–7 receptors. Teleost fishes have unique duplicates of NPY and PYY as well as the Y8 receptor. In the zebrafish, the NPY system consists of the peptides NPYa, PYYa, and PYYb (NPYb appears to have been lost) and at least seven NPY receptors: Y1, Y2, Y2-2, Y4, Y7, Y8a, and Y8b. Previously PYYb binding has been reported for Y2 and Y2-2. To search for peptide-receptor preferences, we have investigated PYYb binding to four of the remaining receptors and compared with NPYa and PYYa. Taken together, the most striking observations are that PYYa displays reduced affinity for Y2 (3 nM) compared to the other peptides and receptors and that all three peptides have higher affinity for Y4 (0.028–0.034 nM) than for the other five receptors. The strongest peptide preference by any receptor selectivity is the one previously reported for PYYb by the Y2 receptor, as compared to NPY and PYYa. These affinity differences may be helpful to elucidate specific details of peptide-receptor interactions. Also, we have investigated the level of mRNA expression in different organs using qPCR. All peptides and receptors have higher expression in heart, kidney, and brain. These quantitative aspects on receptor affinities and mRNA distribution help provide a more complete picture of the NPY system.
Obsolescence of electronics - the example of smartphones

Planned obsolescence has recently been a common allegation to manufacturers, but proof apart from isolated cases is missing. This paper analyses the situation for smartphones, looks at use- and lifetime of smartphones and the underlying reasons for their obsolescence. Surveys show that a majority of consumers believes in “planned obsolescence” as a fact on the market and would like to have more durable products. Regarding smartphones, broken screens and bad battery performance are often reported problems. At the same time, most phones are still functioning when being replaced after the average use time of two years. How do these two aspects combine? Short product cycles, new functionalities and features trigger replacement purchases (functional and psychological obsolescence) more strongly than broken devices. Necessary repair of products is expensive due to miniaturized product design, glued in batteries, and the limited availability of replacement parts (economical obsolescence). Besides, buying new products is often subsidized by provider contracts.
Role of Mediterranean SST in enhancing the European heat wave of summer 2003

During summer 2003 Europe was affected by one of the driest and most persistent heat waves. During this event, the Mediterranean Sea surface temperature (SST) was exceptionally warm (SST anomalies of 2–4°C). We investigate the possible role of the Mediterranean SST in enhancing the amplitude of the heat wave. Several Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM) sensitivity experiments were conducted with and without Mediterranean SST anomalies. First it was found that the AGCM was able to simulate the evolution and structure of the heat wave using observed global SST anomalies. The experiment with SST anomalies over the Mediterranean only was also able to simulate the upper level anticyclone over central Europe, even though it was weaker, and about half of the amplitude of the heat wave of the global SST anomaly experiment.
Zone Services - An Approach for Location-Based Data Collection

Classical location-based services (LBSs) automatically derive the current location of known persons in order to select, compile, or filter location-dependent information and present it to their users. Zone services work the other way round: they estimate the amount of persons which are located in a given geographic zone and optionally obtain personal information from them in order to compile statistical information like the number of persons staying in a zone, their average age, and marital status. Zone services address a broad field of applications, ranging from emergency services to mobile marketing and research. This paper presents an approach for realizing such services by using broadcast technologies in combination with terminal-based positioning like GPS. Because data collected in this way always runs the risk of being misused, the paper also presents a framework that allows observed persons to define and enforce their privacy preferences
The training type influence on male elite athletes’ ventilatory function

Background/aim To assess and compare measured ventilatory volumes (forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), peak expirium flow (PEF) and maximal voluntary ventilation (MVV)), ventilatory function capacities (forced vital capacity (FVC) and vital capacity (VC)) and FEV1/VC ratio in a sample of power and endurance elite athletes and their age-matched and sex-matched sedentary control group. Methods A cross-sectional study was applied on male elite athletes (n=470) who were classified according to the type of the predominantly performed exercise in the following way: group 1: endurance group (EG=270), group 2: power athletes group (SG=200) and group 3: sedentary control group (CG=100). The lung VC, FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC ratio, PEF and MVV were measured in all of the observed subjects, who were also classified with regard to body mass index (BMI) and the percentage of the body fat (BF%). Results The CG had the highest BF% value, while the endurance group had the lowest BMI and BF% value, which is significantly different from the other two groups (p<0.05). The observed values of VC, FVC and FEV1 in the EG were significantly higher than those from the other two groups (p<0.05). There were no differences concerning the observed FEV1/FVC ratio. Conclusions A continued endurance physical activity leads to adaptive changes in spirometric parameters (VC, FVC and FEV1), highlighting the fact that there is a need for specific consideration of different respiratory ‘pattern’ development in different types of sport, which also has to be further evaluated.
Scaling concurrent log-structured data stores

Log-structured data stores (LSM-DSs) are widely accepted as the state-of-the-art implementation of key-value stores. They replace random disk writes with sequential I/O, by accumulating large batches of updates in an in-memory data structure and merging it with the on-disk store in the background. While LSM-DS implementations proved to be highly successful at masking the I/O bottleneck, scaling them up on multicore CPUs remains a challenge. This is nontrivial due to their often rich APIs, as well as the need to coordinate the RAM access with the background I/O. We present cLSM, an algorithm for scalable concurrency in LSM-DS, which exploits multiprocessor-friendly data structures and non-blocking synchronization. cLSM supports a rich API, including consistent snapshot scans and general non-blocking read-modify-write operations. We implement cLSM based on the popular LevelDB key-value store, and evaluate it using intensive synthetic workloads as well as ones from production web-serving applications. Our algorithm outperforms state of the art LSM-DS implementations, improving throughput by 1.5x to 2.5x. Moreover, cLSM demonstrates superior scalability with the number of cores (successfully exploiting twice as many cores as the competition).
The Use of Artificial Neural Networks in Decision Support in Vesicoureteral Reflux Treatment

Aim: To develop a prediction model based on artificial neural networks (ANN) for the treatment selection in vesicoureteral reflux (VUR). Methods: A total of 96 children with VUR (145 ureteric units (UU)) were treated at our institution during 2004–2006. An ANN based on quick propagation architecture was created with the commercially available software package. The patients’ age and sex, the cause and grade of VUR, the affected ureter, the type of treatment (conservative, subureteric injection, or open surgery), existence of renal scar on DMSA, follow-up times and the number of injections were used as variables. These data were also transferred to a statistical software package and regression analysis was done. Results: In all, 105 UU showed no reflux, 5 UU showed improvements in reflux grade (considered only in the conservative management group), and the remaining 35 UU showed persistence. In the training group (n = 99), ANN showed 98.5% sensitivity, 92.5% specificity, 97% positive predictive value, and 96% negative predictive value in predicting treatment outcome. Conclusions: We have demonstrated that ANN can accurately predict the resolution of VUR, and thus could be useful in daily clinical practice. This approach would allow urologists to aid in the decision-making process of VUR treatment.
Current Status and Perspectives of Debugging in the K12 Classroom: A Qualitative Study

Self-reliance in debugging is both an important skill and a major challenge in learning to program. Debugging is distinct from general programming skills and needs to be taught explicitly. Nevertheless, when it comes to teaching and learning debugging, there are surprisingly few studies and results. The aim of this qualitative study is to investigate how students and teachers cope with errors in the K12 classroom, which debugging skills are conveyed, and why teachers teach or do not teach certain debugging skills. Therefore, in a first step, we identify skills considered relevant for debugging by applying desk research. We particularly focus on skills considered relevant for novices. Building upon this, we analyze 12 interviews of German high-school teachers using structured qualitative content analysis. The results show that especially weaker students are often helpless and apply a trial-and-error approach for coping with programming errors. It turns out that compile-time errors pose a big hurdle for many students. Teachers are mostly rushing from one student PC to the other, trying to help. Regarding the teaching of debugging skills, teachers focus on heuristics for common bugs as well as some debugging strategies. No systematic process on how to tackle and cope with errors is conveyed by teachers. Furthermore, they do not employ explicit teaching lessons on debugging. Overall, teachers lack a systematic approach for teaching debugging, as there are only insufficient concepts and materials.
Association of WNK1 Gene Polymorphisms and Haplotypes With Ambulatory Blood Pressure in the General Population

Background— Blood pressure (BP) is a heritable trait of major public health concern. The WNK1 and WNK4 genes, which encode proteins in the WNK family of serine-threonine kinases, are involved in renal electrolyte homeostasis. Mutations in the WNK1 and WNK4 genes cause a rare monogenic hypertensive syndrome, pseudohypoaldosteronism type II. We investigated whether polymorphisms in these WNK genes influence BP in the general population. Methods and Results— Associations between 9 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in WNK1 and 1 in WNK4 with ambulatory BP were studied in a population-based sample of 996 subjects from 250 white European families. The heritability estimates of mean 24-hour systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) were 63.4% and 67.9%, respectively. We found statistically significant (P<0.05) associations of several common SNPs and haplotypes in WNK1 with mean 24-hour SBP and/or DBP. The minor allele (C) of rs880054, with a frequency of 44%, reduced mean 24-hour SBP and DBP by 1.37 (95% confidence interval, −2.45 to −0.23) and 1.14 (95% confidence interval, −1.93 to −0.38) mm Hg, respectively, per copy of the allele. Conclusions— Common variants in WNK1 contribute to BP variation in the general population. This study shows that a gene causing a rare monogenic form of hypertension also plays a significant role in BP regulation in the general population. The findings provide a basis to identify functional variants of WNK1, elucidate any interactions of these variants with dietary intake or with response to antihypertensive drugs, and determine their impact on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
Intrinsic electrophysiological properties of entorhinal cortex stellate cells and their contribution to grid cell firing fields

The medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) is an increasingly important focus for investigation of mechanisms for spatial representation. Grid cells found in layer II of the MEC are likely to be stellate cells, which form a major projection to the dentate gyrus. Entorhinal stellate cells are distinguished by distinct intrinsic electrophysiological properties, but how these properties contribute to representation of space is not yet clear. Here, we review the ionic conductances, synaptic, and excitable properties of stellate cells, and examine their implications for models of grid firing fields. We discuss why existing data are inconsistent with models of grid fields that require stellate cells to generate periodic oscillations. An alternative possibility is that the intrinsic electrophysiological properties of stellate cells are tuned specifically to control integration of synaptic input. We highlight recent evidence that the dorsal-ventral organization of synaptic integration by stellate cells, through differences in currents mediated by HCN and leak potassium channels, influences the corresponding organization of grid fields. Because accurate cellular data will be important for distinguishing mechanisms for generation of grid fields, we introduce new data comparing properties measured with whole-cell and perforated patch-clamp recordings. We find that clustered patterns of action potential firing and the action potential after-hyperpolarization (AHP) are particularly sensitive to recording condition. Nevertheless, with both methods, these properties, resting membrane properties and resonance follow a dorsal-ventral organization. Further investigation of the molecular basis for synaptic integration by stellate cells will be important for understanding mechanisms for generation of grid fields.