Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Advances in Intelligent Health Reasoning and its Application to IBDM

We report on an experiment of using model-based diagnosis (MBD) for advanced health monitoring of the hard-docking system of the international berthing and docking mechanism (IBDM). The results of this experiment illustrate our approach in solving two major problems of MBD: modeling an artifact of non-trivial size and managing the representation complexity for finding a root cause of failure. The qualitative model of the hard-docking system has 425 variables (161 components) and 1328 clauses wherein the diagnostic reasoner is capable of determining a quadruple failure in less than 6 s on a midrange PC. Our conclusion is that the qualitative modeling language LYDIA and the automated reasoning framework UPTIME are capable of delivering of sound and accurate diagnosis imposing only a moderate computational burden, making this technology attractive for future health monitoring applications.
Phonological encoding in speech production : Comments on Jurafsky et al . , Schiller et al . , and Heuven and Haan

What is phonological encoding? An introductory answer to this question may be helpful for a discussion of the papers in the present section. The term 'phonological encoding' has multiple uses, as Pat Keating signaled during the meeting from which this book stems in her introductory presentation: it can denote the encoding by phonology or the encoding of phonology. In the reading literature, for instance, the standard use of the term is this: 'Phonological encoding is writing a letter or word based on its sounds' i.e., the encoding of phonology by orthographic units. This is not the topic of the present section. The other use of the term, encoding of phonology was introduced in my book Speaking (1989). After a discussion of grammatical encoding, phonological encoding was introduced as follows:
Endocannabinoid dynamics gate spike-timing dependent depression and potentiation

Synaptic plasticity is a cardinal cellular mechanism for learning and memory. The endocannabinoid (eCB) system has emerged as a pivotal pathway for synaptic plasticity because of its widely characterized ability to depress synaptic transmission on short- and long-term scales. Recent reports indicate that eCBs also mediate potentiation of the synapse. However, it is not known how eCB signaling may support bidirectionality. Here, we combined electrophysiology experiments with mathematical modeling to question the mechanisms of eCB bidirectionality in spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) at corticostriatal synapses. We demonstrate that STDP outcome is controlled by eCB levels and dynamics: prolonged and moderate levels of eCB lead to eCB-mediated long-term depression (eCB-tLTD) while short and large eCB transients produce eCB-mediated long-term potentiation (eCB-tLTP). Moreover, we show that eCB-tLTD requires active calcineurin whereas eCB-tLTP necessitates the activity of presynaptic PKA. Therefore, just like glutamate or GABA, eCB form a bidirectional system to encode learning and memory. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.13185. 001
“Peers I Can Monitor, It’s Media That Really Worries Me!”

The current study examines proactive parenting strategies used to deal with potentially conflicting messages of values presented by agents outside the family. Forty European American mothers with children ages 11 to 16 participate in semistructured, in-depth interviews. Quantitative and qualitative findings reveal that parental strategy choice varies depending on the source of influence parents are combating, with parents using more controlling strategies in response to media influences than peer influences. Findings also suggest that parental cognitions of the degree of threat to values, the child’s susceptibility, and the importance of values are differentially predictive of parental strategy choice as a function of the source of influence. Parental goals have the most consistent influence on strategy choice, with more controlling goals consistently predicting more controlling parenting strategies. The current study adds to our knowledge of parenting in the face of conflicting sources of values and provides important questions for future research.
Photogrammetry for the preparation of archaeological excavation. A 3D restitution according to modern and archive images of Beaufort Castle landscape (Lebanon)

This paper presents the contribution of photogrammetry within the framework of the documentation of the Beaufort castle (South Lebanon), also called Qalaat el-Chaqif (12-17th century). After the withdrawal of the Israeli army of southern Lebanon, the Lebanese government asked for a consulting firm (J. Yasmine, DGA consultant) to establish general tender documents for the restoration of the Beaufort castle. Many parts of the site were destroyed or buried because of the war. In 2002, the castle has been surveyed by geodetic methods (GPS and total station techniques) to establish reference points and a revised map of the area. In 2003, J. Yasmine has completed the survey by aerial oblique images taken by helicopter and terrestrial images, following the recommendations of CIPA 3x3 rules. After the calibration of the different cameras, the block of images has been computed within the PhotoModelerTM package, in order to document and draw the parts difficult to reach by traditional topographic techniques and to check the homogeneity of this important historic building (approx. surface of 150m x 75m, height of 30m). Several archive images of the castle were taken by the French army between the years 1935 and 1937 (vertical and oblique overall views on glass plates). The aim of the project is to use this archive documentation in order to make a 3D restitution of the destroyed and buried historical structures of the castle within a photogrammetric project including both modern and archive images. A comparative restitution makes it possible to locate in a precise way the visible archaeological structures on the archive photographs. The contractor who will be in charge of the restoration will then have all information to release the great quantity of fill around the castle, in order to preserve intact the historical and archaeological structures which would be still in-situ below the embankment. The restitution will help the consultant to establish the framework of the excavation and restoration tasks, by showing the destroyed historical structures.
Induction of optimal anti‐viral neutralizing B cell responses by dendritic cells requires transport and release of virus particles in secondary lymphoid organs

Dendritic cells (DC) are sentinels of the immune system, transporting antigens from the periphery to secondary lymphoid organs. This study investigates the interactions of DC with B cells for the induction of anti‐viral neutralizing antibody responses. Using the vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein (VSV‐G) as a model antigen, we show that DC contain infection with cytopathic VSV in the presence of a functional IFN system, facilitating transport and release of low levels of live virus in secondary lymphoid organs. DC exposed to live virus induced efficient neutralizing anti‐viral B cell responses. In contrast, DC transporting UV‐inactivated viral antigens were poor activators of anti‐viral B cells, although they were capable of very efficiently inducing virus‐specific Th cells. Transgenic DC expressing a membrane‐bound form of VSV‐G induced neutralizing B cell responses; however, this DC‐induced, Th‐dependent B cell response was significantly slower than the anti‐viral B cell response induced by DC infected with live VSV, and was strongly dependent on concomitant priming of T help. These results suggest that DC may play a double role during infection with cytopathic virus: they transport and release live virus in secondary lymphoid tissues for optimal direct B cell induction and offer MHC class II‐associated determinants for induction of T help.
Reconceptualizing the Music Teacher Education Curriculum for the Colleges of Education in Nigeria

The Federal Government of Nigeria has realized that low educational quality has negative implications for sustainable national development, hence her commitment to develop national policies and national curriculum for teacher education to improve the quality of education (including music education). This article observes improvement in the preparation of musician-teachers as absolutely imperative to move modern music education as a field in the direction for continued growth. It traces out a historical past and explores present-day circumstances by analyzing and critiquing the National Commission for Colleges of Education’s document—Approved Minimum Academic Standards for Music. As the document is based on exogenous paradigms, it is argued that it cannot produce the change agent in the Nigerian musician-teacher. A reconceptualization of music teacher curriculum that is socioculturally sensitive is suggested for colleges of education in Nigeria as a way of moving it toward developing sound, effective, and creative musician-teachers.
Power Characterization of a Gbit/s FPGA Convolutional LDPC Decoder

In this paper, we present an FPGA implementation of parallel-node low-density-parity-check convolution-code encoder and decoder. A 2.4 Gbit/s rate-1/2 (3, 6) LDPC convolutional-code encoder and decoder were implemented on an Alter a development and education board (DE4). Detailed power measurements of the FPGA board for various configurations of the design have been conducted to characterize the power consumption of the decoder module. For a Eb/N0 of 5 dB, the decoder with 9 processor cores (pipelined decoder iteration stages) has a bit-error-rate performance of 10-10 and achieves an energy-per-coded-bit of 1.683 nJ based on raw power measurement results. The increase in Eb/N0 can effectively reduce the decoder power and energy-per-coded-bit for configurations with 5 or more processor cores for Eb/N0 <; 5 dB. The incremental decoder power cost and incremental energy-per-coded-bit also hold a linearly decreasing trend for each additional processor core.
[Evaluation of professional knowledge and attitudes on dementia patient care: a trans-cultural adaptation of an evaluation instrument].

OBJECTIVE To describe the trans-cultural adaptation of the evaluation instrument entitled Atenció Sanitària de Les Demències: la visió de L' Atenció Primarià from Catalan into versions in Portuguese for doctors and nurses. This study evaluates the knowledge and perspectives of these professionals in their treatment of patients diagnosed with dementia in cases of primary care. METHOD The adaptation followed internationally accepted rules, which include the following steps: translation, synthesis, back-translation, revision by a committee of specialists, and a test run with 35 practicing doctors and 35 practicing nurses in Brazil's Family Health Strategy (Estratégia Saúde da Família, or ESF in Portuguese). RESULTS The translation, synthesis, and back-translation steps were performed satisfactorily; only small adjustments were required. The committee of specialists verified the face validity in the version translated into Portuguese, and all of the items that received an agreement score lower than 80% during the initial evaluation were revised. In the test run, the difficulties presented by the health care professionals did not reach 15% of the sample, and therefore, no changes were made. CONCLUSION The Portuguese translation of the instrument can be considered semantically, idiomatically, culturally, and conceptually equivalent to the original Catalan version and is, therefore, appropriate for use in Brazil.
Finding Motifs in Promoter Regions

A central issue in molecular biology is understanding the regulatory mechanisms that control gene expression. The availability of whole genome sequences opens the way for computational methods to search for the key elements in transcription regulation. These include methods for discovering the binding sites of DNA-binding proteins, such as transcription factors. A common representation of transcription factor binding sites is a position specific score matrix (PSSM). We developed a probabilistic approach for searching for putative binding sites. Given a promoter sequence and a PSSM, we scan the promoter and find the position with the maximal score. Then we calculate the probability to get such a maximal score or higher on a random promoter. This is the p-value of the putative binding site. In this way, we searched for putative binding sites in the upstream sequences of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, where some binding sites are known (according to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Promoters Database, SCPD). Our method produces either exact p-values, or a better estimate for them than other methods, and this improves the results of the search. For each gene we found its statistically significant putative binding sites. We measured the rates of true positives, by a comparison to the known binding sites, and also compared our results to these of MatInspector, a commercially available software that looks for putative binding sites in DNA sequences according to PSSMs. Our results were significantly better. In contrast with us, MatInspector doesn't calculate the exact statistical significance of its results.
Risk factors for prostate cancer: A national case‐control study

Statutory notification of cancer in New Zealand provided an opportunity to investigate risk factors for prostate cancer in a large national population‐based case‐control study. We analyzed data obtained from telephone interviews with 923 cases and 1,224 controls. For inclusion in the study, all subjects had to have been married at some time. We found an increased risk of prostate cancer among those with a history of prostate cancer in first degree relatives (RR 2.6; 95% CI, 1.9–3.7) and an increased risk of prostate cancer with length of marriage among men married only once and still married at interview. For a consecutive subgroup of 550 cases and 819 controls, data on height and weight at age 20 and at 5 years before interview were collected. Men less than or equal to 1.7 m in height at age 20 years had a lower risk of prostate cancer than men taller at that age. There was no association between weight or body mass index and risk of prostate cancer. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The synthesis of the rhamnogalacturonan II component 3-deoxy-D-manno-2-octulosonic acid (Kdo) is required for pollen tube growth and elongation

Despite a very complex structure, the sugar composition of the rhamnogalacturonan II (RG-II) pectic fraction is extremely conserved. Among its constituting monosaccharides is the seldom-observed eight-carbon sugar 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid (Kdo), whose phosphorylated precursor is synthesized by Kdo-8-P synthase. As an attempt to alter specifically the RG-II structure in its sugar composition and assess the consequences on the function of RG-II in cell wall and its relationship with growth, Arabidopsis null mutants were sought in the genes encoding Kdo-8-P synthase. Here, the isolation and characterization of one null mutant for the isoform 1 (AtkdsA1-S) and two distinct null mutants for the isoform 2 of Arabidopsis Kdo-8-P synthase (AtkdsA2-V and AtkdsA2-S) are described. Evidence is provided that AtkdsA2 gene expression is preferentially associated with plantlet organs displaying a meristematic activity, and that it accounts for 75% of the mRNAs to be translated into Kdo-8-P synthase. Furthermore, this predominant expression of AtKDSA2 over AtKDSA1 was confirmed by quantification of the cytosolic Kdo content in the mutants, in a variety of ecotypes. The inability to identify a double knockout mutant originated from pollen abortions, due to the inability of haploid pollen of the AtkdsA1- AtkdsA2- genotype to form an elongated pollen tube properly and perform fertilization.
Does the Acquisition of Spatial Skill Involve a Shift From Algorithm to Memory Retrieval?

Performance on verbal and mathematical tasks is enhanced when participants shift from using algorithms to retrieving information directly from memory (Siegler, 1988a). However, it is unknown whether a shift to retrieval is involved in dynamic spatial skill acquisition. For example, do athletes mentally extrapolate the trajectory of the ball, or do they retrieve the future location from memory? To examine this question, 2 experiments were conducted using a task paradigm similar to the game Pong—a ball was launched from 1 side of the screen and participants attempted to position a paddle to intercept the ball. In Experiment 1, participants responded to a limited number of repeated trajectories. During the learning phase, the response deadline was near the paddle. During the difficult phase, the response deadline was closer to the launch point. During the critical phase, novel trajectories were introduced at the difficult response deadline. If participants are using a retrieval strategy by the critical phase, performance should be significantly worse on the novel trajectories, whereas if they are using an algorithmic strategy, performance on the novel trials should be similar to performance on the repeated trajectories. In Experiment 2, half the participants followed an experimental paradigm similar to Experiment 1 and half experienced all novel trajectories throughout the task. Our results were consistent with a shift from algorithmic processing to retrieval—participants performed significantly better on repeated trajectories relative to novel trajectories. Furthermore, retrieval strategies enhance performance above and beyond what is gained by practicing the algorithm alone.
Cross-efficiency evaluation by the use of ideal and anti-ideal virtual DMUs’ assessment in DEA

To rank Decision Making Units (DMU) in Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), the peerevaluation based cross-efficiency method is generally used. Indeed, in this method, each DMU is evaluated from the view point of other DMUs. In this article, a method is suggested which instead examines each DMU just by using the weights resulting from the evaluation of ideal and anti-ideal virtual DMUs and thus exhibits a new secondary goal that possibly prevents the existence of multiple weights in cross-efficiency evaluation, in addition to introducing a new cross-efficiency score. The advantage of this method over the others is that it needs less computations in determining the crossefficiency score. To this end, some examples are illustrated which show how it differs with other methods. Keyword: Data Envelopment Analysis, Cross-Efficiency, Ideal and Anti-Ideal Virtual DMUs, Secondary Goal, Ranking.
Put away your microscopes: the ependymoma molecular era has begun

Purpose of review To synthesize, integrate, and comment on recent research developments to our understanding of the molecular basis of ependymoma (EPN), and to place this in context with current treatment and research efforts. Recent findings Our recent understanding of the histologically defined molecular entity EPN has rapidly advanced through genomic, transcriptomic, and epigenomic profiling studies. Summary These advancements lay the groundwork for development of future EPN biomarkers, models, and therapeutics. Our review discusses these discoveries and their impact on our clinical understanding of this disease. Lastly, we offer insight into clinical and research areas requiring further validation, and open questions remaining in the field.
Efficient unsupervised clustering for spatial birds population analysis along the river Loire

This paper focuses on application and comparison of Non Linear Dimensionality Reduction (NLDR) methods on natural high dimensional bird communities dataset along the Loire River (France). In this context, biologists usually use the well-known PCA in order to explain the upstream-downstream gradient.Unfortunately this method was unsuccessful on this kind of nonlinear dataset.The goal of this paper is to compare recent NLDR methods coupled with different data transformations in order to find out the best approach. Results show that Multiscale Jensen-Shannon Embedding (Ms JSE) outperform all over methods in this context.
A comprehensive analysis of the Omp85/TpsB protein superfamily structural diversity, taxonomic occurrence, and evolution

Members of the Omp85/TpsB protein superfamily are ubiquitously distributed in Gram-negative bacteria, and function in protein translocation (e.g., FhaC) or the assembly of outer membrane proteins (e.g., BamA). Several recent findings are suggestive of a further level of variation in the superfamily, including the identification of the novel membrane protein assembly factor TamA and protein translocase PlpD. To investigate the diversity and the causal evolutionary events, we undertook a comprehensive comparative sequence analysis of the Omp85/TpsB proteins. A total of 10 protein subfamilies were apparent, distinguished in their domain structure and sequence signatures. In addition to the proteins FhaC, BamA, and TamA, for which structural and functional information is available, are families of proteins with so far undescribed domain architectures linked to the Omp85 β-barrel domain. This study brings a classification structure to a dynamic protein superfamily of high interest given its essential function for Gram-negative bacteria as well as its diverse domain architecture, and we discuss several scenarios of putative functions of these so far undescribed proteins.
Role of brain natriuretic peptide in the diagnosis and management of heart failure: current concepts.

BACKGROUND Progression of heart failure is related to ventricular remodeling, a process associated to neurohormonal activation. Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), a member of the natriuretic peptide family, has recently emerged as an important neurohormone in the pathophysiology of heart failure. METHODS In this update, some of the recent advances on the role of BNP in heart failure are summarized. In particular, the role of BNP in diagnosis of heart disease, as a prognostic marker of cardiovascular events and as a possible guide to optimize heart failure therapy is discussed. RESULTS Recent results from 4,300 patients enrolled in the Valsartan Heart Failure Trial (Val-HeFT) confirmed that BNP is the strongest predictor of outcome in heart failure, when compared to other neurohormones and clinical markers. The current use of BNP in the screening and diagnosis of heart failure and its possible future roles are presented. CONCLUSION In recent years, there has been an impressive accumulation of data supporting an important role of BNP as a diagnostic and prognostic marker of heart failure. Development of rapid, accurate and affordable diagnostic methods will allow the routine monitoring of BNP in a wide spectrum of settings, from general practice to controlled clinical trials.
Implementing an Operational Risk Management Framework: Psycho-Social Factors in Tanzania

This qualitative study explored the psychosocial factors that affect the implementation of an operational risk management framework in a financial institution in Tanzania. A purposive sample of 39 participants from three financial institutions was interviewed using semistructured interviews. The data were analysed by means of qualitative content analysis and the open coding procedure of grounded theory was used to identify the highlighted themes. Findings suggest that there is a movement in Tanzania towards acknowledging the value of regulatory operational risk management practices, policies and procedures. Organisations that acquire cross-border interests should take cognisance of the psychosocial factors that affect the implementation of an operational risk management framework in order to address similar challenges.