Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predicting Interpersonal Relationship based on Mobile Communication Patterns

In this poster we propose a method to measure the intimacy scores of interpersonal relationships (IR) using mobile communication data. We draw on previous literature to define communication factors that affect intimacy. Using these factors, we implemented a pattern-based intimacy prediction method. We found 33 communication patterns, and the correlation of the predicted intimacy based on those patterns to the self-reported intimacy was 0.61 (p<0.01). Using this method, we can automatically predict IR.
Frequency Offset Estimation for OFDM Systems Using ICI Self-Cancellation Schemes

This paper presents a novel frequency offset estimator for inter-carrier-interference (ICI) self-cancellation coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, which map data symbols onto adjacent or symmetric subcarriers with weighting coefficients of +1 and -1. There are two major drawbacks for traditional ICI self-cancellation schemes. First, the common phase error (CPE) caused by the carrier frequency offset (CFO) can not be removed. Second, the performance is substantially degraded when CFO is large. To remedy these drawbacks, pilot sub-carriers are inserted and the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) proposed by Moose (1994) is adopted to eliminate CFO. If residual CFO is small enough, traditional ICI self-cancellation scheme can operate efficiently. In this paper, a second order estimator (SOE) is proposed to exploit the second order statistical properties of the demodulated pilot signals at the output of ICI self-cancellation demodulation. The SOE is combined with MLE to estimate CFO and the combined estimator is termed second order with maximum likelihood estimator (SO-MLE). The optimal weighting coefficient is determined by conducting simulation experiments. It is demonstrated that the proposed SO-MLE has the advantage of tolerating larger CFO and CPE than traditional MLE, and the ICI can thus be significantly diminished.
Decline of Class: A Group-Theoretic Approach

We present a framework of group cooperation and competition in which agents are concerned not only about their material payoffs but also about their psychological payoffs, derived from working with others per se. We show a material foundation to such psychology - the stronger a group's psychological preferences are, the greater the group's bargaining power will be in determining its terms of cooperation with other groups. We also generate implications that are consistent with two contemporary phenomena - the decline of class in the politics of industrial economies and the salience of race in the third world.
Performance Analysis of FSO Links over Unified Gamma-Gamma Turbulence Channels

In this work, we present a unified performance analysis of a free-space optical (FSO) link that accounts for pointing errors and both types of detection techniques (i.e. intensity modulation/direct detection as well as heterodyne detection). We, then, present unified exact closed-form expressions for various statistical characteristics of the end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a single link FSO transmission system. We capitalize on these unified results to offer unified exact closed-form expressions for various performance metrics. Additionally, we derive the asymptotic results for all the expressions derived earlier in the high SNR regime in terms of simple elementary functions. We also derive new asymptotic expressions for the ergodic capacity in the low as well as high SNR regimes in terms of simple elementary functions via utilizing moments. All the presented results are verified via computer-based Monte-Carlo simulations.
TWEAK/Fn14 Signaling Is Required for Liver Regeneration after Partial Hepatectomy in Mice

Background & Aims Pro-inflammatory cytokines are important for liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy (PH). Expression of Fibroblast growth factor-inducible 14 (Fn14), the receptor for TNF-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK), is induced rapidly after PH and remains elevated throughout the period of peak hepatocyte replication. The role of Fn14 in post-PH liver regeneration is uncertain because Fn14 is expressed by liver progenitors and TWEAK-Fn14 interactions stimulate progenitor growth, but replication of mature hepatocytes is thought to drive liver regeneration after PH. Methods To clarify the role of TWEAK-Fn14 after PH, we compared post-PH regenerative responses in wild type (WT) mice, Fn14 knockout (KO) mice, TWEAK KO mice, and WT mice treated with anti-TWEAK antibodies. Results In WT mice, rare Fn14(+) cells localized with other progenitor markers in peri-portal areas before PH. PH rapidly increased proliferation of Fn14(+) cells; hepatocytic cells that expressed Fn14 and other progenitor markers, such as Lgr5, progressively accumulated from 12–8 h post-PH and then declined to baseline by 96 h. When TWEAK/Fn14 signaling was disrupted, progenitor accumulation, induction of pro-regenerative cytokines, hepatocyte and cholangiocyte proliferation, and over-all survival were inhibited, while post-PH liver damage and bilirubin levels were increased. TWEAK stimulated proliferation and increased Lgr5 expression in cultured liver progenitors, but had no effect on either parameter in cultured primary hepatocytes. Conclusions TWEAK-FN14 signaling is necessary for the healthy adult liver to regenerate normally after acute partial hepatectomy.
Individual Differences in Exploration Using Desktop VR

With advances in computer graphics, a number of innovative approaches to information visualization have been developed (e.g., Card et al, 1991). Some of these approaches create a mapping between information and corresponding structure in a virtual world. The resulting virtual worlds can be fully three dimensional (3D) or they can be implemented as a series of 2D birds-eye "snapshots" that are traversed as if they were in 3D, using operations such as panning and zooming interactively (2.5D). This paper reports a study that contrasted 3D and 2.5D performance for people with differing levels of spatial and structure learning ability. Four data collection methods were employed: search task scoring; subjective questionnaires; navigational activity logging and analysis; and administration of tests for spatial and structure-learning abilities. Analysis of the results revealed statistically significant effects of user abilities, and information environment designs. Overall, this research did not find a performance advantage for using a 3D rather than a 2.5D virtual world. In addition, users in the lowest quartile of spatial ability had significantly lower search performance in the 3D environment. The findings suggest that individual differences in traits such as spatial ability may be important in determining the usability and acceptability of 3D environments.
A prospective cohort study of pulmonary function during pregnancy in women with and without asthma

Abstract Background and objective: Pregnancy alters the severity of asthma unpredictably. Uncertainty still exists about longitudinal changes in pulmonary function during pregnancy in both healthy and asthmatic women. This study aimed to compare pulmonary function changes during pregnancy in healthy and asthmatic women and to determine the relationship between pulmonary function and asthma-related quality of life during pregnancy. A secondary aim was to investigate the application of forced expiratory volume in 6 s (FEV6) for monitoring asthma during pregnancy. Methods: Pregnant women with (n = 20) and without asthma (n = 20) had pulmonary function tests at 8–20, 21–28 and 29–40 weeks gestation. Those with asthma also completed the Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) and mini Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (mAQLQ) at each visit. Results: Pulmonary function declined in both groups at follow-up #1 (more markedly in those with asthma) but then improved at follow-up #2 (more markedly in those with asthma). In those with asthma, ACQ scores increased, while mAQLQ scores declined at follow-up #1; whilst at follow-up #2 these changes were in the opposite direction. FEV6 and forced vital capacity (FVC) were highly correlated (r = 0.88, p < 0.01) in asthmatics. Conclusions: Pulmonary function changes during second and third trimesters were more pronounced in asthmatics than in healthy women. FEV6 monitoring may assist pregnant women and their health professionals in optimizing asthma management. The changes in pulmonary function in women with asthma were not significantly associated with changes in asthma control or asthma-related quality of life.
Named Entity Recognition Using Appropriate Unlabeled Data, Post-processing and Voting

This paper reports how the appropriate unlabeled data, post-processing and voting can be effective to improve the performance of a Named Entity Recognition (NER) system. The proposed method is based on a combination of the following classifiers: Maximum Entropy (ME), Conditional Random Field (CRF) and Support Vector Machine (SVM). The training set consists of approximately 272K wordforms. The proposed method is tested with Bengali. A semi-supervised learning technique has been developed that uses the unlabeled data during training of the system. We have shown that simply relying upon the use of large corpora during training for performance improvement is not in itself sufficient. We describe the measures to automatically select effective documents and sentences from the unlabeled data. In addition, we have used a number of techniques to post-process the output of each of the models in order to improve the performance. Finally, we have applied weighted voting approach to combine the models. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach with the overall average recall, precision, and f-score values of 93.79%, 91.34%, and 92.55%, respectively, which shows an improvement of 19.4% in f-score over the least performing baseline ME based system and an improvement of 15.19% in f-score over the best performing baseline SVM based system. Povzetek: Razvita je metoda za prepoznavanje imen, ki temelji na uteuenem glasovanju veˇ c klasifikatorjev.
Recency, Records, and Recaps

Nash equilibrium takes optimization as a primitive, but suboptimal behavior can persist in simple stochastic decision problems. This has motivated the development of other equilibrium concepts such as cursed equilibrium and behavioral equilibrium. We experimentally study a simple adverse selection (or “lemons”) problem and find that learning models that heavily discount past information (i.e., display recency bias) explain patterns of behavior better than Nash, cursed, or behavioral equilibrium. Providing counterfactual information or a record of past outcomes does little to aid convergence to optimal strategies, but providing sample averages (“recaps”) gets individuals most of the way to optimality. Thus, recency effects are not solely due to limited memory but stem from some other form of cognitive constraints. Our results show the importance of going beyond static optimization and incorporating features of human learning into economic models used in both understanding phenomena and designing market institutions.
The Omega-3 Fatty Acid Docosahexaenoic Acid Modulates Inflammatory Mediator Release in Human Alveolar Cells Exposed to Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid of ARDS Patients

Background. This study investigated whether the 1 : 2 ω-3/ω-6 ratio may reduce proinflammatory response in human alveolar cells (A549) exposed to an ex vivo inflammatory stimulus (bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) patients). Methods. We exposed A549 cells to the BALF collected from 12 ARDS patients. After 18 hours, fatty acids (FA) were added as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, ω-3) and arachidonic acid (AA, ω-6) in two ratios (1 : 2 or 1 : 7). 24 hours later, in culture supernatants were evaluated cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-10) and prostaglandins (PGE2 and PGE3) release. The FA percentage content in A549 membrane phospholipids, content of COX-2, level of PPARγ, and NF-κB binding activity were determined. Results. The 1 : 2 DHA/AA ratio reversed the baseline predominance of ω-6 over ω-3 in the cell membranes (P < 0.001). The proinflammatory cytokine release was reduced by the 1 : 2 ratio (P < 0.01 to <0.001) but was increased by the 1 : 7 ratio (P < 0.01). The 1 : 2 ratio reduced COX-2 and PGE2 (P < 0.001) as well as NF-κB translocation into the nucleus (P < 0.01), while it increased activation of PPARγ and IL-10 release (P < 0.001). Conclusion. This study demonstrated that shifting the FA supply from ω-6 to ω-3 decreased proinflammatory mediator release in human alveolar cells exposed to BALF of ARDS patients.
Cerebrovascular Reactivity Is a Main Determinant of White Matter Hyperintensity Progression in CADASIL

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Basal total cerebral blood flow (TCBF) and cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) are assumed to play an important role in the pathophysiology of small-vessel disease. Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is a unique monogenetic model to study the pathophysiology of arterial small-vessel disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of TCBF and CVR in the progression of MR imaging abnormalities in CADASIL. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Basal TCBF was measured in 25 NOTCH3 mutation carriers and 13 control subjects at baseline. CVR after administration of acetazolamide was measured in 14 NOTCH3 mutation carriers and 9 control subjects. Increase in white matter hyperintensities (WMHs), lacunar infarcts, and microbleeds on MR imaging was measured 7 years later. RESULTS: Lower CVR at baseline was associated with larger increase of WMHs (P = .001) but not with a larger increase of lacunar infarcts or microbleeds. TCBF at baseline was not associated with an increase of MR imaging abnormalities. CONCLUSIONS: Decreased CVR is a potential predictor of disease progression as indicated by increasing WMHs in CADASIL.
Security Kernel Design and Implementation: An Introduction

Providing highly reliable protection for computerized information has traditionally been a game of wits. No sooner are security controls introduced into systems than are penetrators finding ways to circumvent them. Security kernel technology provides a conceptual base on which to build secure computer systems, thereby replacing this game of wits with a methodical design process. The kernel approach is equally applicable to all types of systems, from general-purpose, multiuser operating systems to special-purpose systems such as communication processors-wherever the protection of shared information is a concern. Most computer installations rely solely on a physical security perimeter, protecting the computer and its users by guards, dogs, and fences. Communications between the computer and remote devices may be encrypted to geographically extend the security perimeter, but if only physical security is used, all users can potentially access all information in the computer system. Consequently, all users must be trusted to the same degree. When the system contains sensitive information that only certain users should access, we must introduce some additional protection mechanisms. One solution is to give each class of users a separate machine. This solution is becoming increasingly less costly because of declining hardware prices, but it does not address the controlled sharing of information among users. Sharing information within a single computer requires internal controls to isolate sensitive information. Continual efforts are being made to develop reliable internal security controls solely through tenacity and hard work. Unfortunately, these attempts have been uniformly unsuccessful for a number of reasons. The first is that the operating system and utility software are typically large and complex. The second is that no one has precisely defined the security provided by the internal controls. Finally, little has been done to ensure the cor-rectness of the security controls that have been implemented. The security kernel approach described here directly addresses the size and complexity problem by limiting the protection mechanism to a small portion of the system. The second and third problems are addressed by clearly defining a security policy and then following a rigorous methodology that includes developing a mathematical model, constructing a precise specification of behavior, and coding in a high-level language. The security kernel approach is based on the concept of the reference monitor, an abstract notion adapted from the models of Butler Lampson.I The reference monitor provides an underlying security theory for conceptualizing the idea of protection. In a reference monitor, all …
PD-L 1 / B 7 H-1 Inhibits the Effector Phase of Tumor Rejection by T Cell Receptor ( TCR ) Transgenic CD 8 T Cells

Although increased circulating tumor antigen-specific CD8 T cells can be achieved by vaccination or adoptive transfer, tumor progression nonetheless often occurs through resistance to effector function. To develop a model for identifying mechanisms of resistance to antigen-specific CTLs, poorly immunogenic B16-F10 melanoma was transduced to express the K-binding peptide SIYRYYGL as a green fluorescent protein fusion protein that should be recognized by high-affinity 2C TCR transgenic T cells. Although B16.SIY cells expressed high levels of antigen and were induced to express K in response to IFN, they were poorly recognized by primed 2C/RAG2 / T cells. A screen for candidate inhibitory ligands revealed elevated PD-L1/B7H-1 on IFN-treated B16-F10 cells and also on eight additional mouse tumors and seven human melanoma cell lines. Primed 2C/RAG2 / /PD-1 / T cells showed augmented cytokine production, proliferation, and cytolytic activity against tumor cells compared with wild-type 2C cells. This effect was reproduced with anti-PD-L1 antibody present during the effector phase but not during the priming culture. Adoptive transfer of 2C/RAG2 / /PD-1 / T cells in vivo caused tumor rejection under conditions in which wild-type 2C cells or CTLA4-deficient 2C cells did not reject. Our results support interfering with PD-L1/PD-1 interactions to augment the effector function of tumor antigen-specific CD8 T cells in the tumor microenvironment.
Measuring parental language in flying start areas in Wales

There is substantial evidence to suggest that parenting plays a significant role in children’s development. The Welsh Government (WG) has recognised that early intervention programmes, designed to enhance parenting skills, can address social inequalities and reduce poor child outcomes. The Incredible Years (IY) series has strong evidence for improving parent and child outcomes with children from three to eight years. Consequently, the Incredible Years Parent-Toddler Programme (IYPTP) was one of five parent programmes selected for use in Flying Start areas in Wales in 2007 as part of the WG Flying Start Initiative. The take up of the IYPTP by a significant number of Authorities provided the first opportunity to assess the effectiveness of the 12-week programme in a rigorous randomised controlled trial (RCT). Videotaped observations of parents and children interacting during free-play were collected during the main trial and consequently the thesis is comprised of a number of sub-studies resulting from this data. The aims and specific objectives of the thesis were to: 1. Identify the strength of the relationship between socioeconomic disadvantage and poor parenting behaviours for a sample of parents living in targeted Flying Start areas. 2. Develop a reliable observational tool to measure parental language in Wales. 3. Evaluate the efficacy of using a behaviour based parenting programmes to enhance parental language. The observational data provided seven categories of parental language for assessment, five complex and two simple. Socioeconomic disadvantage was strongly associated with reductions in simple quantifications of parental speech and home stimulation measures. Two or more risks indicated a threshold for poor outcome. Simple measures of parental speech were also fairly stable over time and moderately associated with child language outcomes six months later. In contrast, complex measures were less stable over the short-term, and relations with socioeconomic disadvantage and child language outcomes were weak. Results generated from the efficacy study indicated that the IYPTP, a behaviour based parent programme, provides some benefit to two complex measures of parental language six-months post intervention for a sample of parents living in disadvantaged areas in Wales. Whilst these findings should be considered in line with the methodological limitations of the study the thesis does conclude that parenting programmes designed to enhance parenting behaviours may not be as beneficial to parental language than those that contain a stronger component of language coaching.
Regionality of disease progression predicts prognosis in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating neurological syndrome in which motor neurons degenerate relentlessly. Although the site of onset and the rate of spread have been studied extensively, little is known about whether focal as opposed to diffuse disease affects prognosis. We therefore tested the hypothesis that regionality of disease burden is a prognostic factor in ALS. We analysed clinical data from two large multicentre, longitudinal trials. Regionality was defined as the difference in progression rates in three domains as measured by the revised ALS Functional Rating Scale, omitting the respiratory domain from analysis. We used death by trial end as the outcome variable and tested this by logistic regression against predictor variables including regionality and overall rate of disease progression. There were 561 patients. Regionality of disease was independently associated with significantly higher chance of death by study end (odds ratio most diffuse against most focal category 0.354 (0.191, 0.657), p = 0.001), with a direct relationship between degree of regionality and odds of death. We have shown using clinical trial data that focal disease is associated with a worse prognosis in ALS. Measures of regionality warrant further independent consideration in the development of future prognostic models.
A class based approach to domain adaptation and constraint integration for empirical m-gram models

The rst class based adaptation approaches [FGH97, Ueb97] take the use of classes in the construction of statistical m-gram models one signi cant step further than just using them as a smoothing technique: The m-gram of classes is trained on the large background corpus while the word likelihoods given the class are estimated on the small target corpus. To make full use of this technique a specialized clusteralgorithm has been developed [FGH97, Ueb97]. In this paper we extend class adaptation to make use of the m-gram distribution of the target domain. As a second independent contribution this paper introduces an e cient morphing algorithm, that tries to achieve adaptation by using a stochastic mapping of words between the vocabularies of the respective domains. As a result we can show, that for small adaptation steps class based adaptation is a very useful technique. For larger adaptation steps the perplexity of the modi ed model is greatly improved, yet no improvement over the unadapted model was observed when used in linear interpolation. Whether this is due to the fact that we use class based adaptation or that we do just modify the unigram distribution is still unresolved, although the new stochastic mapping technique might help to give an answer to this question in the future.