Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Building Dialogue on Prison Health: Improving Access to Harm Reduction in Federal Prisons

Abstract:Basé sur une étude qualitative effectuée auprès d'anciens prisonniers fédéraux en Ontario et de professionnels clés de la santé et de la communauté partout à travers le pays, ce commentaire cherche à établir un dialogue avec Service correctionnel Canada sur une mesure essentielle de réduction de risque en prison, notamment, les programmes d'aiguilles et de seringues en prison (PASP). Les participants ont élucidé les problèmes et défis principaux liés à l'implantation des PASP, citant les agents correctionnels et le syndicat qui les représente comme obstacles centraux. Puisqu'ils sont les travailleurs de première ligne dans le contexte carcéral et entrent le plus souvent en contact avec les prisonniers, les agents correctionnels jouent un rôle important dans la réussite de ces programmes indispensables. Mais malgré plus de vingt ans d'évaluations internationales qui ont démontré l'efficacité des PASP dans l'amélioration de la sécurité au travail, les agents correctionnels et les services carcéraux résistent toujours.Abstract:Drawing on a qualitative study with former federal prisoners in Ontario and key medical and community professionals from across the country, this commentary aims to build dialogue with the Correctional Service Canada on an essential harm reduction measure in prison, namely, prison needle and syringe programs (PNSPs). Research participants elucidated the main issues and challenges related to the implementation of PNSPs, listing correctional officers and the union that represents them as a central barrier. As the primary front-line workers in the prison setting and the staff with whom prisoners have the most frequent contact, correctional officers play a significant role in the success or failure of these indispensable programs. Yet despite the more than two decades of international evaluations that have demonstrated PNSP effectiveness in improving staff occupational safety, correctional officers and prison services remain resistant.
Properties of principal component methods for functional and longitudinal data analysis

The use of principal component methods to analyze functional data is appropriate in a wide range of different settings. In studies of "functional data analysis," it has often been assumed that a sample of random functions is observed precisely, in the continuum and without noise. While this has been the traditional setting for functional data analysis, in the context of longitudinal data analysis a random function typically represents a patient, or subject, who is observed at only a small number of randomly distributed points, with nonnegligible measurement error. Nevertheless, essentially the same methods can be used in both these cases, as well as in the vast number of settings that lie between them. How is performance affected by the sampling plan? In this paper we answer that question. We show that if there is a sample of n functions, or subjects, then estimation of eigenvalues is a semiparametric problem, with root-n consistent estimators, even if only a few observations are made of each function, and if each observation is encumbered by noise. However, estimation of eigenfunctions becomes a nonparametric problem when observations are sparse. The optimal convergence rates in this case are those which pertain to more familiar function-estimation settings. We also describe the effects of sampling at regularly spaced points, as opposed to random points. In particular, it is shown that there are often advantages in sampling randomly. However, even in the case of noisy data there is a threshold sampling rate (depending on the number of functions treated) above which the rate of sampling (either randomly or regularly) has negligible impact on estimator performance, no matter whether eigenfunctions or eigenvectors are being estimated.
Canadian artic Sovereignty: Local intervention by flocking UAVs

The importance of local intervention capability for the assertion of Canadian Sovereignty in the Northwest Passage is recognized. However, Canada lacks the ability to deploy, on demand, assets to search a wide area for rescue or surveillance purposes in the North. This fact motivated our investigation of the feasibility of a rapid intervention system based on a carrier-scouts design in which a number of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) would be transported, air launched and recovered by a carrier aircraft. These UAVs would have the ability to self-organize in formations that correspond to the task at hand. When searching for a target, they would fly in a linear pattern so that the search area swept per hour and the probability of detecting the target would be considerably increased. A 1973 report by the Tactical Combat Aircraft Programs of the Boeing Aerospace Company for the US Air Force and a 2007 thesis by Chalamont indicate that airborne launch and recovery of many UAVs from a carrier aircraft is feasible and requires only already existing technology. We propose here a solution to the remaining problem of managing simultaneously the many UAVs that are required by the vastness of the areas to be surveyed, with a minimum number of human controllers and communications. Namely, we present algorithms for the self-organization of the UAVs in the required formations. These allow for surveillance operations during which close-up images would be acquired of activities in a region of interest, and searching an area for assets in distress and providing a visual presence for such. We reach the conclusion that our proposed local intervention system with flocking UAVs is feasible and would provide a valuable asset for asserting Canadian Sovereignty in the North.
The Curious Question of Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Edema

The question of whether pulmonary edema develops during exercise on land is controversial. Yet, the development of pulmonary edema during swimming and diving is well established. This paper addresses the current controversies that exist in the field of exercise-induced pulmonary edema on land and with water immersion. It also discusses the mechanisms by which pulmonary edema can develop during land exercise, swimming, and diving and the current gaps in knowledge that exist. Finally, this paper discusses how these fields can continue to advance and the areas where clinical knowledge is lacking.
Upregulation of chicken p15INK4b at senescence and in the developing brain

In mammalian cells, products of the INK4a-ARF locus play major roles in senescence and tumour suppression in different contexts, whereas the adjacent INK4b gene is more generally associated with transforming growth factor β (TGF-β)-mediated growth arrest. As the chicken genome does not encode an equivalent of INK4a, we asked whether INK4b and/or ARF contribute to replicative senescence in chicken cells. In chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEFs), INK4b levels increase substantially at senescence and the gene is transcriptionally silenced in two spontaneously immortalised chicken cell lines. By contrast, ARF levels are unaffected by prolonged culture or immortalisation. These expression patterns resemble the behaviour of INK4a and ARF in human fibroblasts. However, short-hairpin RNA (shRNA)-mediated knockdown of chicken INK4b or ARF provides only modest lifespan extension, suggesting that other factors contribute to senescence in CEFs. As well as underscoring the importance of the INK4b-ARF-INK4a locus in senescence, these findings imply that the encoded products have assumed different roles in different evolutionary niches. Although ARF RNA is not detectable in early chicken embryos, the INK4b transcript is expressed in the roof-plate of the developing hind-brain, consistent with a role in limiting cell proliferation.
ALIDA: Using machine learning for intent discernment in visual analytics interfaces

In this paper, we introduce ALIDA, an Active Learning Intent Discerning Agent for visual analytics interfaces. As users interact with and explore data in a visual analytics environment they are each developing their own unique analytic process. The goal of ALIDA is to observe and record the human-computer interactions and utilize these observations as a means of supporting user exploration; ALIDA does this by using interaction to make decision about user interest. As such, ALIDA is designed to track the decision history (interactions) of a user. This history is then utilized to enhance the user's decision-making process by allowing the user to return to previously visited search states, as well as providing suggestions of other search states that may be of interest based on past exploration modalities. The agent passes these suggestions (or decisions) back to an interactive visualization prototype, and these suggestions are used to guide the user, either by suggesting searches or changes to the visualization view. Current work has tested ALIDA under the exploration of homonyms for users wishing to explore word linkages within a dictionary. Ongoing work includes using ALIDA to guide users in transfer function design for volume rendering within scientific gateways.
Differentially Expressed Proteins in Malignant and Benign Adrenocortical Tumors

We have compared the microsomal protein composition of eight malignant and six benign adrenocortical tumors with proteomic methods. IGF2 had increased level in the malignant tumors, confirming previous microarray studies on the same material. Aldolase A, a glycolytic enzyme, also showed increased levels in the malignant tissue compared to the benign. Additionally, several proteins belonging to complex I in the mitochondrial respiration chain showed decreased levels in the malignant tissue. Taken together, this may indicate a shift in energy metabolism where glycolysis may be favored over tight coupling of glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration, a phenomenon known as the Warburg effect. One of the complex I proteins that showed decreased levels in the malignant tissue was GRIM-19. This protein has been suggested as a tumor suppressive protein by being a negative regulator of STAT3. In summary, an analysis of the microsomal proteome in adrenocortical tumors identifies groups of proteins as well as specific proteins differentially expressed in the benign and malignant forms. These proteins shed light on the biology behind malignancy and could delineate future drug targets.
Vector‐valued optimal Lipschitz extensions

Consider a bounded open set $\font\open=msbm10 at 10pt\def\R{\hbox{\open R}}U \subset \R^n$ and a Lipschitz function $\font\open=msbm10 at 10pt\def\R{\hbox{\open R}}g: \partial U \to \R^m$. Does this function always have a canonical optimal Lipschitz extension to all of U? We propose a notion of optimal Lipschitz extension and address existence and uniqueness in some special cases. In the case n = m = 2, we show that smooth solutions have two phases: in one they are conformal and in the other they are variants of infinity harmonic functions called infinity harmonic fans. We also prove existence and uniqueness for the extension problem on finite graphs. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
CASE Tool Design for Graph Semantic Based Aspect Oriented Model

Powerful CASE tools for Aspect Oriented System (AOS) are useful to improve the developer productivity and ensure syntactical correctness of the AOS model for effective system design. This paper has proposed a systematic approach to develop CASE tool for graph semantic based AOS model called, GAM, using meta-configurable environment called, Generic Modeling Environment (GME). Graph - semantic based Aspect Model (GAM) is a formal aspect oriented model to conceptualize the different facets of cross cutting concerns in AOS systems like join points, advices, PointCut etc. using graph based semantics. The proposed approach in this paper is comprised of set of semantic transformation rules for systematic mapping of concepts, semantics and notation syntax of GAM into the GME modeling paradigm elements. The approach is also supported with the correctness checking of such mapping using structural correspondence method. Moreover the expressiveness of the GME based CASE tool implementation of GAM has been illustrated using case study.
Self-Training without Reranking for Parser Domain Adaptation and Its Impact on Semantic Role Labeling

We compare self-training with and without reranking for parser domain adaptation, and examine the impact of syntactic parser adaptation on a semantic role labeling system. Although self-training without reranking has been found not to improve in-domain accuracy for parsers trained on the WSJ Penn Treebank, we show that it is surprisingly effective for parser domain adaptation. We also show that simple self-training of a syntactic parser improves out-of-domain accuracy of a semantic role labeler.
Implementation of a parentage control system in Portuguese beef-cattle with a panel of microsatellite markers

A study was conducted to assess the feasibility of applying a panel of 10 microsatellite markers in parentage control of beef cattle in Portugal. In the first stage, DNA samples were collected from 475 randomly selected animals of the Charolais, Limousin and Preta breeds. Across breeds and genetic markers, means for average number of alleles, effective number of alleles, expected heterozygosity and polymorphic information content, were 8.20, 4.43, 0.733 and 0.70, respectively. Enlightenment from the various markers differed among breeds, but the set of 10 markers resulted in a combined probability above 0.9995 in the ability to exclude a random putative parent. The marker-set thus developed was later used for parentage control in a group of 140 calves from several breeds, where there was the suspicion of possible faulty parentage recording. Overall, 76.4% of the calves in this group were compatible with the recorded parents, with most incompatibilities due to misidentification of the dam. Efforts must be made to improve the quality of pedigree information, with particular emphasis on information recorded at the calf's birth.
Towards self-adaptive networks on chip for massively parallel processors: multilevel quality of service programmability

This paper presents a novel Network on Chip able to offer flexibility to multi-threaded heterogeneous traffic applications typical of massive multicore chips. It combines different switching types and data control flow protocols, allowing to reprogram on the fly the total amount of bandwidth available per switching type. In principle this can be easily performed in runtime by the introduction of simple smart hardware performance counters in order to automatically improve the quality of service.
INVESTIGATING THE ROLE THAT COGNITIVE DEFUSION PLAYS WITHIN MINDFULNESS

Mindfulness has been shown to lead to reductions in psychological distress and improved wellbeing, but there is limited research on the mechanism of change. A cognitive shift in perspective has been suggested as a possible mechanism of change. Three different terms appear to refer to this shift in perspective: 1. Decentering, developed from cognitive behavioural therapy, involves the ability to observe one's thoughts and feelings as solely being events of the mind. 2. Defusion, developed from acceptance and commitment therapy, focuses on the ability to separate or distance from one’s thoughts, and 3. Metacognitive awareness, developed from mindfulnessbased cognitive therapy, involves experiencing negative thoughts as mental events rather than as fact. This dissertation empirically examines this cognitive shift in perspective over three studies. In Study 1, we found a modest association between trait measures of decentering and fusion (the counter process to defusion) although neither was found to be associated with metacognitive awareness. There were some similarities with regards to the strength of correlations with variables such as depression and social anxiety, but differences also emerged with variables such as mindfulness and cognitive reappraisal, suggesting that perhaps the measurement tools are capturing constructs more differently than expected. In Study 2, we examined whether it was possible to induce state changes in decentering and defusion. To do this, an exercise from each of the aforementioned research traditions was selected. We found that the defusion and metacognitive awareness exercises led individuals to be less fused with their thoughts compared to the decentering exercise. There were no significant differences found on our decentering outcome measure. These findings suggested that being fused in thoughts may be easier for individuals to report. Finally, for Study 3 we experimentally manipulated defusion after individuals received one of three audio interventions (mindfulness, relaxation, or control).
An engineerable procedure description method for industrial automation

Describing procedures is essential for modeling and controlling technical processes. Although various procedure description methods are available from computer science, system theory and industrial automation, they are only partially suitable as a generic method for engineering automation procedures. In order to close this gap, we propose a procedure description formalism together with a concept of its integration into existing automation systems. By utilizing of the proposed means we obtain an engineerable, generic and user accepted procedure description method.
Mobile Navigation and Information Services for Disabled Students in University Buildings: a Needs Assessment Investigation

Mobile technologies may be helpful to support students with disability in navigating buildings and accessing useful services in higher education facilities. However, the design of appropriate mobile solutions depends on knowledge of the actual needs of disabled students, and is made diﬃcult by the lack of contributions in the literature about the point of view of disabled students on their experiences and diﬃculties in the higher education environment. This paper reports results of an interview-based study we carried out with 14 disabled students in our university. The study led to the identiﬁcation of signiﬁcant issues related to navigation of university buildings, access to supporting information services, and relationship with mobile information technology. In the paper, we discuss these issues and their possible impact on the design of mobile systems for disabled students that support indoor navigation and service provision in university buildings.
Facial paralysis probably related to systemic isotretinoin

We report a patient with severe acne who developed facial paralysis after two months of treatment with oral isotretinoin. Drug withdrawal resulted in a complete clinical recovery. Our case and a review of the literature indicate that oral isotretinoin might be capable of causing a dysfunction of predominantly sensory nerve fibers in some individuals. Clinicians should be aware of possible neurological sensorial symptoms during isotretinoin therapy.
Language attitudes, use, and competences of students of immigrant origin in Catalan secondary education: a moderated mediation model

Abstract Following the arrival of a large number of immigrants in Catalonia (Spain), a series of language and educational policies focused on language uses, competences, and attitudes have been implemented with the aim to promote newcomers’ social integration and to protect and maintain the regional language, Catalan. This study examines these key factors and how they relate to each other in the case of secondary education students of immigrant origin, also considering their L1 (Spanish or non-Spanish). Specifically, a comparison of the language attitudes, language uses, and competences in Catalan and Spanish of L1 Spanish and L1 non-Spanish participants revealed different patterns between the two groups, largely characterized by a preference for Spanish on the part of the former group. Furthermore, a moderated mediation model is proposed to explain how attitudes influence language competences through language use, as well as how these relationships vary depending on the L1.
Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: Does Assessment of Response After Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy Impact Management?

Colorectal cancer, the fourth most common malignancy worldwide, accounts for 12% of all cancer deaths in the United States. According to National Cancer Institute (NCI) Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data estimates, 142,820 men and women will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2013 (NCI, 2013). Rectal cancer is a subset of lower gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies and occurs with relatively common frequency. By definition, rectal malignancies begin anatomically just above the anal sphincter complex and extend proximally 12 to 15 cm (Fry, Mahmoud, Maron, & Bleier, 2008). The main histology of most rectal cancers is adenocarcinoma, which will be the subject of this article. In contrast to colon malignancies, the treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer typically involves some form of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. For some locally advanced tumors, patients may achieve a complete pathologic response following neoadjuvant treatment. The decision to avoid radical surgery for those with complete pathologic response continues to be a provocative debate. To understand this debate, one has to consider the historical background and how standard treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer came into use.
Down-regulation of C12orf59 is associated with a poor prognosis and VHL mutations in renal cell carcinoma

C12orf59 is newly identified gene in kidney. However, the relation of C12orf59 expression and clinic features is unknown. Here, our study showed that C12orf59 was broadly expressed in normal human tissues with high expression levels in kidney while its expression is beyond detectable in a panel of cancer cell lines. C12orf59 expression in RCC was significantly decreased compared with corresponding adjacent noncancerous tissues (P < 0.01). The decreased C12orf59 expression was correlated with lymph node status (P < 0.05), distant metastases (P < 0.05), poor survival (P < 0.001) (HR 3.00; 95% CI, 1.29–7.53), VHL non-sense mutations or frame-shift mutations (P < 0.01), and UMPP gene non-sense mutations or frame-shift mutations (P = 0.01). Thus, we propose that the decreased C12orf59 expression status is a prognostic biomarker of ccRCC and cooperates with the loss of VHL all the while promoting renal carcinogenesis.
Phonetic alignment constraints: consonant overlap and palatalization in English and Russian

The possibility of di! erences in phonetic alignment of phonological segments was examined by contrasting consonant sequences at word boundaries in Russian and English. In Experiment 1, two acoustic measures of consonant overlap, percent released and duration ratio, are computed for stop sequences at word boundaries, and results for English and Russian are compared. While signi"cant variation due to subject, phrase, and cluster type was found, English consistently showed signi"cantly greater overlap than Russian. A formal account of both the variation and the consistent di! erence is o! ered, incorporating the idea of phonetic alignment constraints within Byrd’s (1996b) &&phase window’’ framework. Experiment 2 examines the relationship between overlap and palatalization (or lack thereof) at word boundaries, with an acoustic study of /s#j/ sequences in both English and Russian. The claim of Zsiga (1995) that the apparent change from /s/ to /S/ in phrases such as &&press your point’’ can be attributed to overlap between the /s/ and /j/ gestures is tested and partially supported. In addition to alignment constraints, however, additional phonetic constraints must be taken into account. It is concluded that phonetic constraints must di! er from phonological both in containing quantitative information and in being evaluated through weighting rather than strict dominance. ( 2000 Academic Press