Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Unwind-protect in portable Scheme

Programming languages that allow non-local control jumps also need to provide an unwind-protect facility. Unwind-protect associates a postlude with a given block B of code, and guarantees that the postlude will always be executed regardless of whether B concludes normally or is exited by a jump. This facility is routinely provided in all languages with first-order control operators. Unfortunately, in languages such as Scheme and ML with higher-order control, unwind-protect does not have a clear meaning, although the need for some form of protection continues to exist. We will explore the problem of specifying and implementing unwind-protect in the higher-order control scenario of Scheme.
Mining strongly correlated item pairs in large transaction databases

Correlation mining is an approach of drawing statistical relationship between items from transaction data. Most of the existing techniques use Pearson's correlation coefficient as a measure of correlation, which may not always perform well when data are noisy and binary in nature. Moreover, they require multi-pass over the database. This paper presents an effective and faster correlation mining technique to extract most strongly correlated item pairs from large transaction databases. As an alternative to Pearson's correlation coefficient, it presents a method of computing Spearman's rank order correlation coefficient from transaction data. The proposed technique found to perform satisfactorily in terms of execution time over several real and synthetic datasets, while comparing to other similar techniques. To justify its usefulness, an application of the proposed technique for extracting yeast genetic network from gene expression data is also reported.
Resolving the Perfectionist's ‘catch-22’ Techniques for Fundamental Change

This article builds on our previous work entitled “Reframing the Perfectionists' ‘Catch-22’ Dilemma: A systems thinking approach” (Ramsey & Ramsey, 2003) which explored the dynamic complexity of perfectionism using a systems thinking approach. Here we present anecdotal accounts of our attempts to provoke fundamental change among gifted adolescent females. These interventions use improvisation exercises to challenge the world view of perfectionist thinking. In addition, and counter to prevailing approaches, the perfectionists are encouraged to raise rather than lower their standards in an attempt to support a more balanced and sustainable life.
Pembrolizumab versus Chemotherapy for PD-L1-Positive Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.

BACKGROUND Pembrolizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody against programmed death 1 (PD-1) that has antitumor activity in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with increased activity in tumors that express programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1). METHODS In this open-label, phase 3 trial, we randomly assigned 305 patients who had previously untreated advanced NSCLC with PD-L1 expression on at least 50% of tumor cells and no sensitizing mutation of the epidermal growth factor receptor gene or translocation of the anaplastic lymphoma kinase gene to receive either pembrolizumab (at a fixed dose of 200 mg every 3 weeks) or the investigator's choice of platinum-based chemotherapy. Crossover from the chemotherapy group to the pembrolizumab group was permitted in the event of disease progression. The primary end point, progression-free survival, was assessed by means of blinded, independent, central radiologic review. Secondary end points were overall survival, objective response rate, and safety. RESULTS Median progression-free survival was 10.3 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.7 to not reached) in the pembrolizumab group versus 6.0 months (95% CI, 4.2 to 6.2) in the chemotherapy group (hazard ratio for disease progression or death, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.37 to 0.68; P<0.001). The estimated rate of overall survival at 6 months was 80.2% in the pembrolizumab group versus 72.4% in the chemotherapy group (hazard ratio for death, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.41 to 0.89; P=0.005). The response rate was higher in the pembrolizumab group than in the chemotherapy group (44.8% vs. 27.8%), the median duration of response was longer (not reached [range, 1.9+ to 14.5+ months] vs. 6.3 months [range, 2.1+ to 12.6+]), and treatment-related adverse events of any grade were less frequent (occurring in 73.4% vs. 90.0% of patients), as were grade 3, 4, or 5 treatment-related adverse events (26.6% vs. 53.3%). CONCLUSIONS In patients with advanced NSCLC and PD-L1 expression on at least 50% of tumor cells, pembrolizumab was associated with significantly longer progression-free and overall survival and with fewer adverse events than was platinum-based chemotherapy. (Funded by Merck; KEYNOTE-024 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02142738 .).
Effects of nicotine on human psychomotor performance

A comprehensive review was conducted to establish whether there were any grounds to the claim that nicotine can enhance human psychomotor performance. Among relevant studies, many failed to distinguish between absolute improvements due to the administration of nicotine (usually in the form of cigarettes) and the relief of the effects of nicotine abstinence among the preferred subject pool of tobacco smokers. However, a few investigations have avoided this anomaly by examining the effects of nicotine in minimally‐abstinent smokers or non‐smokers. The results of these studies suggest that nicotine has small, specific, positive effects on the central nervous system which may facilitate human attention, memory and sensori‐motor function.
Chemical composition and antimicrobial activities of the essential oil from the seeds of Enterolobium contortisiliquum (leguminosae)

Seeds of Enterolobium contortisiliquum were subjected to steam distillation to obtain a light yellow essential oil in a yield of 3 ml/kg of seeds. The major components of the oil were identified using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and were furfural, limonene, linalool, estragole, carvone, and apiole with carvone representing more than 50% of the total composition. Antimicrobial activities of the essential oil were determined against four species of gram positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus luteus) and two gram negative bacteria (Klebsiella pneumoniae, Serratia Marcescencs). The essential oil inhibited the growth of all tested bacteria but was most effective against the gram positive bacteria. Chemicals that are responsible for the antibacterial effect of the essential oil were determined using the bio-autography thin layer chromatography (TLC) technique. The active compounds responsible for the activity were found to be carvone and estragole.
Constrained active appearance models

Active Appearance Models (AAMs) have been shown to be useful for interpreting images of deformable objects. Here we place the AAM matching algorithm in a statistical framework, allowing extra constraints to be applied. This enables the models to be combined with other methods of object location. We demonstrate how user interaction can be used to guide the search and give results of experiments showing the effect of constraints on the performance of model matching.
Techniques for transferring host-pathogen protein interactions knowledge to new tasks

We consider the problem of building a model to predict protein-protein interactions (PPIs) between the bacterial species Salmonella Typhimurium and the plant host Arabidopsis thaliana which is a host-pathogen pair for which no known PPIs are available. To achieve this, we present approaches, which use homology and statistical learning methods called “transfer learning. ” In the transfer learning setting, the task of predicting PPIs between Arabidopsis and its pathogen S. Typhimurium is called the “target task. ” The presented approaches utilize labeled data i.e., known PPIs of other host-pathogen pairs (we call these PPIs the “source tasks”). The homology based approaches use heuristics based on biological intuition to predict PPIs. The transfer learning methods use the similarity of the PPIs from the source tasks to the target task to build a model. For a quantitative evaluation we consider Salmonella-mouse PPI prediction and some other host-pathogen tasks where known PPIs exist. We use metrics such as precision and recall and our results show that our methods perform well on the target task in various transfer settings. We present a brief qualitative analysis of the Arabidopsis-Salmonella predicted interactions. We filter the predictions from all approaches using Gene Ontology term enrichment and only those interactions involving Salmonella effectors. Thereby we observe that Arabidopsis proteins involved e.g., in transcriptional regulation, hormone mediated signaling and defense response may be affected by Salmonella.
Assessing Approximate Fit in Categorical Data Analysis

A family of Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) statistics is proposed for assessing the goodness of approximation in discrete multivariate analysis with applications to item response theory (IRT) models. The family includes RMSEAs to assess the approximation up to any level of association of the discrete variables. Two members of this family are RMSEA2, which uses up to bivariate moments, and the full information RMSEAn. The RMSEA2 is estimated using the M2 statistic of Maydeu-Olivares and Joe (2005, 2006), whereas for maximum likelihood estimation, RMSEAn is estimated using Pearson's X2 statistic. Using IRT models, we provide cutoff criteria of adequate, good, and excellent fit using the RMSEA2. When the data are ordinal, we find a strong linear relationship between the RMSEA2 and the Standardized Root Mean Squared Residual goodness-of-fit index. We are unable to offer cutoff criteria for the RMSEAn as its population values decrease as the number of variables and categories increase.
Development of a self-reported Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ-SR)

BACKGROUND The Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ) is an established measure of health status for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It has been found to be reproducible and sensitive to change, but as an interviewer led questionnaire is very time consuming to administer. A study was undertaken to develop a self-reported version of the CRQ (CRQ-SR) and to compare the results of this questionnaire with the conventional interviewer led CRQ (CRQ-IL). METHODS Fifty two patients with moderate to severe COPD participated in the study. Subjects completed the CRQ-SR 1 week after completing the CRQ-IL, and a further CRQ-SR was administered 1 week later. For patients in group A (n=27) the dyspnoea provoking activities that they had previously selected were transcribed onto the second CRQ-SR, while patients in group B (n=25) were not informed of their previous dyspnoea provoking activities when they completed the second CRQ-SR. To assess the short term reproducibility and reliability of the CRQ-SR it was then administered twice at an interval of 7–10 days to a further group of 21 patients. The CRQ-IL was not administered. Longer term reproducibility was examined in 39 stable patients who completed the CRQ-SR at initial assessment and then again 7 weeks later. RESULTS Mean scores per dimension, mean differences, and limits of agreement are given for each dimension in the comparison of the two questionnaires. There were no statistically significant differences between the CRQ-IL and CRQ-SR in the mastery and fatigue dimensions (p>0.05). A statistically significant difference between the two scores was found in the dyspnoea dimension (p=0.006) and the emotional function dimension (p=0.04), but these differences were well within the minimum clinically important threshold. No statistically significant difference in the mean dyspnoea score was seen between groups A and B. The CRQ-SR was found to be reproducible both in the short term and after the longer period of 7 weeks, with no statistically or clinically significant differences in any dimension. Test-retest reliability was found to be high in each dimension, both in the short and longer term. CONCLUSIONS The CRQ-SR is a reproducible, reliable, and stable measure of health status. It compares well with the CRQ-IL but cannot be used interchangeably. The main advantage of the CRQ-SR over the CRQ-IL is that is quick to administer, reducing assessment time and hence cost.
Securing Causal Relationships in Distributed Systems

In a distributed system, it is often important to detect the causal relationships between events, where event e 1 is causally before event e 2 if e 1 happened before e 2 and could possibly have affected the occurrence of e 2 . In this paper we argue that it can be essential to security that a process determine, in the face of malicious attack, how two events are causally related. We formulate attacks on causality detection in terms of causal denial and forgery, formalize possible security goals with respect to causality, and present simple algorithms to attain these goals in some situations.
Architectures for an Event Notification Service Scalable to Wide-area Networks

abstract user-deﬁned types : in this case, the event service would pro-vide the features of a typed programming language that allows thedeﬁnition of abstract data types (e.g., an object-oriented language). Extending ﬁlters to user-deﬁned types can be done with easy exten-sions to the ﬁltering language similarly to query languages for object-oriented databases like O2 SQL or OQL. A ﬁlter might look like this: person.birthday. greaterThan ( Date “Dec 16” )) ;From the viewpoint of the application programmer, the latter solutionwould be best for its enhanced modeling features. However, because ﬁlterscould contain an arbitrary user-deﬁned code, it would be very difﬁcult to per-form optimizations based on the static analysis of ﬁlters. This would severelyimpact on scalability. Also, on a largescale, it might not be legitimate to assumethat every component of the system is able to understand an object orientedlanguage.From the viewpoint of the designer of the event service, the ﬁrst solutionis deﬁnitely the easiest one to implement. It poses less problems of encoding
Effects of somatostatin analogs on a growth hormone-releasing hormone secreting bronchial carcinoid, in vivo and in vitro studies.

CONTEXT A 56-yr-old woman presented with acromegaly, a pulmonary mass, and elevated levels of GHRH, GH, and IGF-I. Histological examination revealed a bronchial carcinoid with positive staining for GHRH. Somatostatin analogs (SAs) can play an important role in the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors, dependent on the somatostatin receptor subtype (sst) expression pattern. The sst pattern in bronchial carcinoids and effects of SAs have not been extensively investigated, particularly not for the recently developed universal SA SOM230 (Pasireotide) that has high affinity for sst1, 2, 3, and 5. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to investigate the in vivo response of a GHRH-producing bronchial carcinoid to octreotide (OCT), its sst-expression profile, and in vitro responses to different SAs, including SOM230. METHODS In vivo, 50 microg OCT was administered, and plasma GH and GHRH responses were determined. In vitro, the expression of ssts was analyzed by quantitative PCR. Furthermore, the effects of SOM230 and OCT on GHRH secretion were evaluated in primary cell cultures of the carcinoid tissue. RESULTS In vivo, OCT administration fully suppressed GH and GHRH levels. In vitro, sst1 mRNA was most abundant, followed by sst2 and sst5. Both SOM230 and OCT inhibited GHRH production dose dependently (SOM230 100 nm vs. control, P = 0.01; OCT 110 nm vs. control, P = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS In this case of a GHRH-producing bronchial carcinoid, we demonstrated that SOM230 was a potent inhibitor of GHRH production in vitro and was at least equally potent compared with OCT. Therefore, SOM230 may be a potential therapeutic agent to control GHRH secretion in ectopic acromegaly.
Application of sampling-based path planning for tunnel detection in dynamic protein structures

Behavior and properties of proteins as well as other bio-macromolecules is influenced by internal void space such as tunnels or cavities. Tunnels are paths leading from an active site inside the protein to its surface. Knowledge about tunnels and their evolution in time provides an insight into protein properties (e.g. stability or resistance to a co-solvent). Tunnels can be found using Voronoi diagrams (VD). To consider protein dynamics, that is represented by a sequence of protein snapshots, correspondences between VD in these snapshots need to be found. The computation of these correspondences is however time and memory consuming. In this paper, we propose a novel method for tunnel detection in dynamic proteins based on Rapidly Exploring Random Tree (RRT). The method builds a single configuration tree describing free space of the protein. The nodes of the tree are pruned according to protein dynamics. The proposed approach is compared to CAVER 3.0, one of the widely used freely available tools for protein analysis.
Have We Been Searching for Meaning in All the Wrong Places? Defining the "Search After Meaning" Principle in Comprehension

The last decade of research in text processing has been marked by a debate between opposing views of comprehension: One side emphasizes discourse processing from the bottom-up, the other from the top-down. A central focus of the debate has been the principle of "search after meaning," posited by the top-down, constructionist approach (Graesser, Singer, & Trabasso, 1994). Our analysis suggests that this principle has two interpretations: (a) Search after meaning guides the activation of text-relevant knowledge early in processing and (b) search after meaning guides the evaluation of previously activated information during integration. We argue that only the later interpretation is viable and, if adopted, dispels much of the conflict between the two approaches. Moreover, we argue that the process by which integration occurs during comprehension has been ignored in much of the empirical literature on text comprehension; however, there are hints that evaluation may play a critical role.
Broadband passive range estimation using music

The problem of broadband range and bearing estimation is considered. It is demonstrated that the MUSIC technique can be implemented with an efficient search procedure, alternating maximization, for estimating range and bearing. Range-bearing estimation performance is compared via simulation to MVDR and to the Cramer-Rao lower bound. Experimental range estimation results with sea test data are also provided for a closing object emitting broadband and narrowband acoustic energy.
Revisiting Goal Probability Analysis in Probabilistic Planning

Maximizing goal probability is an important objective in probabilistic planning, yet algorithms for its optimal solution are severely underexplored. There is scant evidence of what the empirical state of the art actually is. Focusing on heuristic search, we close this gap with a comprehensive empirical analysis of known and adapted algorithms. We explore both, the general case where there may be 0-reward cycles, and the practically relevant special case of acyclic planning, like planning with a limited action-cost budget. We consider three different algorithmic objectives. We design suitable termination criteria, search algorithm variants, dead-end pruning methods using classical planning heuristics, and node selection strategies. Our evaluation on more than 1000 benchmark instances from the IPPC, resource-constrained planning, and simulated penetration testing reveals the behavior of heuristic search, and exhibits several improvements to the state of the art.
Microcontroller based high precision PSO algorithm for maximum solar power tracking

In this paper, a high precision robust algorithm incorporated with Microcontrollers for tracking maximum power point of PV panel based on particle swarm optimization has been proposed. Steady state error problems as well as problems related to sampling points and sampling direction of traditional swarm chasing algorithm have been successfully encountered in the proposed algorithm. Several swarms based on their decision and neighbor's decision try to converge through the lowest minimum path to reach the maximum power point. The Simulation, performed with MATLAB & PSIM, showed that individual swarm tracks MPPT point with efficiency more than 98%. The response is fast, robust and precise than traditional Algorithms. Step by step procedure of practical realization of the proposed algorithm using ATMEGA8 Microcontroller has been discussed thoroughly.
Ethnic Difference and Client Performance

Differences in value orientations related to ethnic differences and their effect on the client- social worker treatment process are examined by comparing groups of French-speaking and English-speaking Canadian Catholic lower-middle-class clients in family agencies and French-speaking and English-speaking social workers. Four specific questions are examined relating to value orientations of workers and clients from each ethnic group, interview con- tent, and the subsequent psychosocial adjustment of clients. It is concluded that clients and workers from different ethnic origins do have different value orientations and do perform differently in interviews and that clients from each group do achieve different levels of ad- justment following treatment.
Phenethyl isothiocyanate and indole-3-carbinol from cruciferous vegetables, but not furanocoumarins from apiaceous vegetables, reduced PhIP-induced DNA adducts in Wistar rats.

SCOPE We previously showed that apiaceous but not cruciferous vegetables reduced DNA adducts formed by 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4, 5-b]pyridine (PhIP) in rats. Here, we report the effects of the putative chemopreventive phytochemicals from these vegetables on PhIP metabolism and DNA adduct formation. METHODS AND RESULTS Rats received three supplemented diets: P + I (phenethyl isothiocyanate and indole-3-carbinol), furanocoumarins (FC, 5-methoxypsoralen, 8-methoxypsoralen, and isopimpinellin), and combination (P + I and FC). Phytochemical supplementation matched the levels in vegetables fed in our previous study. After 6 days, rats were injected with PhIP (10 mg/kg body wt) and killed after 24-h urine collection. Compared to the control, P + I increased activity of hepatic cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A1 (10.1-fold), CYP1A2 (3.62-fold), and sulfotransferase 1A1 (2.70-fold). The combination diet also increased CYP1A1 and CYP1A2 activity. Urinary metabolomics revealed that PhIP metabolite profiles generally agreed with biotransformation enzyme activities. P + I and combination diets reduced PhIP-DNA adducts by 43.5 and 24.1%, respectively, whereas FC had no effect on adducts, compared to the control diet. CONCLUSION Effects of phytochemicals on metabolic outcomes and markers of carcinogenesis might differ from fresh vegetables, thus limiting the inferences that one can draw from the effects of purified phytochemicals on the health benefits of the vegetables from which they derive.