Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Submajority Rules: Forcing Accountability Upon Majorities

Legal and political theory have paid a great deal of attention to supermajority rules, which require a fraction of votes greater than 1/2+1 to reach a decision, and thus empower a minority to block change. In this paper I consider the opposite deviation from simple majority rule: submajority rules, under which a voting minority is granted the affirmative power to change the status quo. Among the examples I will consider are: - The Journal Clause, which allows 1/5 of the legislators present in either House to force a roll-call vote; - The discharge rule in the House, which (at various points, although not today) has permitted a specified minority of legislators to force bills out of committee for consideration on the floor; - Senate Rule XXII, under which a cloture petition is valid when signed by sixteen Senators; - The Seven Member Rule, under which a minority of designated committees in the House and Senate can require the executive branch to divulge information; - House Rule XI, which entitles committee minorities to call witnesses at hearings; - The famous Rule of Four that allows four Justices to grant a writ of certiorari and thereby put a case on the Supreme Court's agenda; - Rules governing direct democracy that permit a defined minority of a state's electorate to place a question on the ballot, or to force a recall election; - Rules governing international organizations, which frequently allow a defined minority to call an emergency session or to force a roll-call vote. Submajority rules are rarely discussed, either because they are assumed not to exist, or because they are assumed to lack any institutional virtues, or because submajoritarian decisions are assumed to be chronically unstable in light of the risk that subsequent majorities will reverse the submajority's decision. I will dispute all three assumptions. Submajority rules have important procedural and deliberative virtues: in a range of situations they enable a minority to force public accountability upon a majority, to the benefit of the institution as a whole. The reversibility problem can be, and is, dampened by other institutional rules and norms that protect submajoritarian decisions, or by the simpler expedient of adopting submajority rules only for decisions that are inherently irreversible or costly to reverse, such as decisions that release information into the public domain.
Modality switching and performance in a thought and speech controlled computer game

Providing multiple modalities to users is known to improve the overall performance of an interface. Weakness of one modality can be overcome by the strength of another one. Moreover, with respect to their abilities, users can choose between the modalities to use the one that is the best for them. In this paper we explored whether this holds for direct control of a computer game which can be played using a brain-computer interface (BCI) and an automatic speech recogniser (ASR). Participants played the games in unimodal mode (i.e. ASR-only and BCI-only) and multimodal mode where they could switch between the two modalities. The majority of the participants switched modality during the multimodal game but for the most of the time they stayed in ASR control. Therefore multimodality did not provide a significant performance improvement over unimodal control in our particular setup. We also investigated the factors which influence modality switching. We found that performance and peformance-related factors were prominently effective in modality switching.
Evaluation of the clinical value of the newly identified urine biomarker HIST1H4K for diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer in Bulgarian patients.

PURPOSE Searching for diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for prostate cancer (PC) is main public health priority. DNA methylation in body fluids is a stable, easily detectable and promising PC biomarker. The major advantages of urine-based assays are their noninvasive nature and the ability to monitor PC with heterogeneous foci. The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic value of the recently identified candidate PC biomarker HIST1H4K. METHODS We investigated DNA methylation of HIST1H4K in urine samples from 57 PC patients, 29 controls with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and 50 young asymptomatic men (YAM) by MethyLight real-time PCR. RESULTS The frequency of HIST1H4K promoter hypermethylation significantly discriminated PC patients from YAM (AUC =0.763; 95% CI 0.672-0.839; p<0.0001), but did not show any statistical difference between PC patients and BPH controls (AUC=0.513, 95% CI 0.402-0.622; p=0.8255). HIST1H4K could not outperform the prostatic specific antigen (PSA) in our sample (AUC=0.785; 95% CI 0.679-0.870; p<0.0001). Methylation of HIST1H4K showed significant correlation with aging (r=0.5418; p<0.0001), but with no other clinicopathological characteristics. CONCLUSION The results suggest that the promoter hypermethylation of HIST1H4K is rather due to aging than related to prostate carcinogenesis. To elucidate this observation analysis of larger samples is needed.
Adolescent Dilemmas of Landscape, Place, and Religious Experience in a Suffolk Parish

Geographers have traditionally discussed adolescence as an experience of turmoil and anxiety, which is often class and gender-specific. Almost invariably, that analysis has focused on the manifestations and interactions of rebellion, violent conflict, and social disadvantage. In this paper, however, elements of stability and less dramatic activity, as well as themes of change and anxiety within adolescence, are emphasised. The experience of dilemma within adolescence is shown to accommodate a plurality of influences and expressions beyond the relatively narrow experiences of violence and aggression. In order to examine these nuances of adolescent dilemmas, I will pursue a critical discourse analysis of data drawn from an extended programme of indigenous ethnography. The central theme of this analysis will consider the ways in which dilemmas within individual religious experience can inform, and remain informed by, the landscape and place interpretations of ten adolescents living in a Suffolk Parish. These interpretations include references to Christian ecumenical festivals. Consequently, this paper may be of interest to social and cultural geographers, particularly those interested in religio-geographical problems, as well as religious leaders and their lay assistants who arc involved in the instigation and organisation of festivals and similar religious events attended by adolescent people.
Identification of Granulicatella elegans from a case of infective endocarditis, based on the phenotypic characteristics and 16S rRNA gene sequence

To the Editor Infective endocarditis is an uncommon life-threatening heart disease, and it is routinely diagnosed based on the presence of vegetations on echocardiography and positive blood cultures. However, some rare and fastidious microorganisms may also be the aetiologic agents of infective endocarditis, including Abiotrophia, the HACEK group (Haemophilus spp., Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, Cardiobacterium hominis, Eikenella corrodens and Kingella kingae), Brucella spp. , Bartonella spp. , Legionella spp. and Mycoplasma spp. Among them, some predominant pathogens of infective endocarditis are nutritionally variant streptococci (NVS), which require specific media and conditions such as L-cysteine-enriched medium. Granulicatella elegans is one of the most fastidious members among this group of bacteria, which was originally described as a member of a family of NVS in 1961. Since then, Collins and Lawson have proposed that G. elegans be reclassified with other species in a new genus, Granulicatella. G. elegans were found in a blood specimen from a patient suffering from infective endocarditis, and it was also regarded as one of the important pathogens in so-called ‘culture-negative endocarditis’. Meanwhile, some strains of the species could not be determined easily because some of their phenotypic characteristics did not correlate with the species descriptions published in the literature. Molecular methods, such as PCR amplification and DNA sequencing, are valuable in strain identification. In the study we were able to identify G. elegans from a patient with blood culture-positive infective endocarditis by phenotypic characteristics and 16S rRNA gene sequence.
On the distribution of the length of the longest increasing subsequence of random permutations

Let SN be the group of permutations of 1,2,. , N. If 7r E SN, we say that 7(i1),. , 7F(ik) is an increasing subsequence in 7r if il < i2 < . < ik and 7r(ii) < 7r(i2) < . < 7r(ik). Let 1N(r) be the length of the longest increasing subsequence. For example, if N = 5 and 7r is the permutation 5 1 3 2 4 (in one-line notation: thus 7r(1) = 5, 7r(2) = 1, . ), then the longest increasing subsequences are 1 2 4 and 1 3 4, and N() = 3. Equip SN with uniform distribution,
Summer feeding ecology of Great Pampa-finches

The aim of this study was to assemble data on the summer feeding ecology of the Great Pampa-finch, Embernagra platensis at the Laguna de Guaminí, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and to explore the differences related to the dietary patterns for each sex between winter and summer when possible. The stomach contents of 43 birds were analyzed. The animal fraction was composed of Hymenoptera (45.1%), Coleoptera (32.4%), Lepidoptera (6.0%), Araneae (5%) and Orthoptera (3.2%). The application of the index of relative importance (IRI) resulted in 1490.4 for Coleoptera, 428.5 for Hymenoptera and 162.5 for Lepidoptera caterpillars. The vegetal fraction consisted of Triticum aestivum (26.9%), Cyperaceous (25%), Poaceae (Gramineae) (19.3%) and Panicum sp. (11.2%). The IRI values were 893.8 for Triticum aestivum, 174.5 for Gramineae, 126.5 for Panicum sp. and 112.8 for Scirpus sp. The food niche width was 0.33 for both sexes; the diversity index resulted in 1.06 for females and 1.33 for males and specific diversity ranged from 1.87 to 2.84. A canonical component analysis (CCA) was performed on environmental and morphometric variables, and a Monte Carlo test confirmed the canonical correlations. A t-test showed that some birds harmonized with a logarithmic model and some with a geometric curve. During the summer, Embernagra platensis ingests Hymenoptera and Coleoptera more often than seeds, suggesting that two biological mechanisms could be taking place in this bird.
Preclinical research in Rett syndrome: setting the foundation for translational success

In September of 2011, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the International Rett Syndrome Foundation (IRSF) and the Rett Syndrome Research Trust (RSRT) convened a workshop involving a broad cross-section of basic scientists, clinicians and representatives from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the pharmaceutical industry and private foundations to assess the state of the art in animal studies of Rett syndrome (RTT). The aim of the workshop was to identify crucial knowledge gaps and to suggest scientific priorities and best practices for the use of animal models in preclinical evaluation of potential new RTT therapeutics. This review summarizes outcomes from the workshop and extensive follow-up discussions among participants, and includes: (1) a comprehensive summary of the physiological and behavioral phenotypes of RTT mouse models to date, and areas in which further phenotypic analyses are required to enhance the utility of these models for translational studies; (2) discussion of the impact of genetic differences among mouse models, and methodological differences among laboratories, on the expression and analysis, respectively, of phenotypic traits; and (3) definitions of the standards that the community of RTT researchers can implement for rigorous preclinical study design and transparent reporting to ensure that decisions to initiate costly clinical trials are grounded in reliable preclinical data.
An a priori indicator of the discrimination power of discrete hidden Markov models

During the development of a hidden Markov model based handwriting recognition system, the testing phase takes a non-negligible amount of computation time. This is especially true for real application where the lexicon size is large. In order to shorten the development process, we propose an indicator of the system discrimination power. This indicator is calculated during training and its final value is obtained at the end of the training phase, without more calculation. Its definition consists of a modification of the observation probability of the validation corpus by the trained system. Some experiments were carried out and the results show clearly the correlation between this indicator and recognition rates.
Multiple Biopotentials Acquisition System for Wearable Applications

Wearable devices for monitoring vital signs such as heart-rate, respiratory rate and blood pressure are demonstrating to have an increasing role in improving quality of life and in allowing prevention for chronic cardiac diseases. However, the design of a wearable system without reference to ground potential requires multi-level strategies to remove noise caused from power lines. This paper describes a bio-potential acquisition embedded system designed with an innovative analog front-end, showing the performance in EEG and ECG applications and the comparison between different noise reduction algorithms. We demonstrate that the proposed system is able to acquire bio-potentials with a signal quality equivalent to state-of-the-art bench-top biomedical devices and can be therefore used for monitoring purpose, with the advantages of a low-cost low-power wearable
Sumoylation of Krüppel-like Factor 4 Inhibits Pluripotency Induction but Promotes Adipocyte Differentiation*

Background: It remains largely unexplored how post-translational modifications regulate reprogramming of somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Results: Substitution of the sole sumoylation site of the well known reprogramming factor KLF4 promotes iPS cell formation. Conclusion: KLF4 sumoylation inhibits iPS cell induction but stimulates adipocyte differentiation. Significance: The study highlights the importance of KLF4 sumoylation in regulating pluripotency and cell fate determination. Ectopic expression of transcription factors has been shown to reprogram somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. It remains largely unexplored how this process is regulated by post-translational modifications. Several reprogramming factors possess conserved sumoylation sites, so we investigated whether and how this modification regulates reprogramming of fibroblasts into iPS cells. Substitution of the sole sumoylation site of the Krüppel-like factor (KLF4), a well known reprogramming factor, promoted iPS cell formation. In comparison, much smaller effects on reprogramming were observed for sumoylation-deficient mutants of SOX2 and OCT4, two other classical reprogramming factors. We also analyzed KLF2, a KLF4 homolog and a member of the KLF family of transcription factors with a known role in reprogramming. KLF2 was sumoylated at two conserved neighboring motifs, but substitution of the key lysine residues only stimulated reprogramming slightly. KLF5 is another KLF member with an established link to embryonic stem cell pluripotency. Interestingly, although it was much more efficiently sumoylated than either KLF2 or KLF4, KLF5 was inactive in reprogramming, and its sumoylation was not responsible for this deficiency. Furthermore, sumoylation of KLF4 but not KLF2 or KLF5 stimulated adipocyte differentiation. These results thus demonstrate the importance KLF4 sumoylation in regulating pluripotency and adipocyte differentiation.
Bit Error Rate Analysis for OFDM Systems for MRC Receivers in Nakagami- m Fading Channel generated by Using Rayleigh and Ricean Fading

Error rates of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals are considered for system using multichannel reception with maximum ratio combining (MRC) receivers in Nakagami-m fading generated by sum of sinusoidal method using Rayleigh and Ricean channel. The paper also discusses the effect of frequency offsets, nakagami-m parameter m on OFDM systems. Also effect of frequency offset on signal to noise plus interference ratio (SINR) for different SNR values is discussed. A closed form expression for probability of error is derived and theoretical and simulated results are compared for various receivers, frequency offsets.
Experimental osteoporosis--different methods of ovariectomy in female white rats.

UNLABELLED Rats are currently principal laboratory animals, used to investigate osteoporosis. The aim of the study was to present and compare two operative methods of inducing osteoporosis in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS Ten 3 months old female Wistar rats were divided into two groups with five animals in each group. In the first group, ovariectomy was preceded by a mid-line dorsal skin incision, 3 cm long. After removing the ovary, the previous incision of the muscle required suturing. In the second group, ovariectomy was performed by two dorso-lateral incisions, approximately 1 cm long above the ovaries. With the use of a sharp dissecting scissors, the skin was cut almost together with the dorsal muscles and the peritoneal cavity was accessed. There was no need of muscle suturing. CONCLUSION The operation, performed in the second group, was technically easier, less time consuming and less harmful for the used female white rats.
The Collapse of Potential Space in Adolescents with Psychosomatic Disorders

The study applies Winnicott’s (1971) conceptualization of potential space to explore psychosomatic phenomena as manifested in Rorschach protocols of two adolescent outpatients. This approach for understanding psychosomatic disorders is based on Ogden’s (1986) model for defining different forms of collapse of potential or transitional space between reality and fantasy. Following Smith (1990), who applies this conceptualization to Rorschach work, the study compares data related to cognitive functioning derived from the Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 2003) from protocols of two adolescents with psychosomatic symptoms. The study also compares the results of a Rorschach index, the Reality-Fantasy Scale (RFS; Tibon, Handelzalts, & Weinberger, 2005), to detect different types of psychopathological manifestations conceptualized as forms of collapse of potential space. The results point toward substantial differences between the two protocols that are interpreted in terms of forms of collapse of potent.
An Empirical Investigation of the Effects of a Teaching Practicum on Prospective Faculty

The author examines the effectiveness of a Practicum in the Teaching of Psychology for the training of prospective faculty members. Specifically, the author examines the following questions: (a) In what areas do prospective faculty need more knowledge or skills, (b) what activities most increased self-efficacy, and (c) what can be learned through an intensive, single-subject design about the process of becoming a teacher? Pre- and posttesting and a qualitative protocol were used to examine the change process. Results indicated a profound need for information on a broad range of topics and revealed that feedback from students and the practicum instructor was the primary source of increasing self-efficacy.
Mapping self-confidence levels of nurses in their provision of nursing care to others with alcohol and tobacco dependence, using Rasch scaling

This study seeks to identify factors that influence the perceived complexity of providing nursing care to others (who are dependent on alcohol and tobacco) and the confidence of undergraduate student nurses to carry out this care. The research project is designed to explore whether there is a difference between the perceived complexities of 57 different nursing tasks and skills as understood by student nurses and their differing ages, gender and types of first language used. By using a probabilistic measurement approach (Rasch model), the study seeks to assess whether a scale of performance for learning can be constructed based on the difficulty of nursing care required and the self-rated capacity of the undergraduate nursing students to provide the nursing care. Outcomes of the study suggest that nursing students do differ significantly both in how they view the complexity of providing nurse care and their capacity to provide that nursing care. Recommendations are made for informing nursing education programs, in a bid to make nursing care as it relates to others who are substance dependent, more effective. Rasch scaling, partial credit model, attitude measurement, alcohol and tobacco dependence
The use of syllable segmentation information in continuous speech recognition hybrid systems applied to the Portuguese language

Recent works have showed that the use of syllables as the basic unit in a speech recognition system could be very useful. These works introduced methods exploiting syllable information as a mean to add robustness in ”traditional” systems that use phonemes/phones as the basic unit. Being the Portuguese a highly syllabic language we expected that information from syllables would introduce potential benefits in speech recognition tasks. Following these ideas we started by developing different methods of automatic syllable segmentation. Next we applied the best segmentation method to our large vocabulary continuous speech corpus (BD-PUBLICO) achieving an accuracy of 72%. We developed a process to use the segmentation information in the acoustic models of our baseline speech recognisers for the Portuguese language. The results obtained by the modified recognition systems on 5k and 27k vocabulary tasks showed that the use of basic syllable segmentation information helps the systems to improve their overall performance by roughly 10%.
Physiologically based simulation of clinical EMG signals

An algorithm that generates electromyographic (EMG) signals consistent with those acquired in a clinical setting is described. Signals are generated using a model constructed to closely resemble the physiology and morphology of skeletal muscle, combined with line source models of commonly used needle electrodes positioned in a way consistent with clinical studies. The validity of the simulation routines is demonstrated by comparing values of statistics calculated from simulated signals with those from clinical EMG studies of normal subjects. The simulated EMG signals may be used to explore the relationships between muscle structure and activation and clinically acquired EMG signals. The effects of motor unit (MU) morphology, activation, and neuromuscular junction activity on acquired signals can be analyzed at the fiber, MU and muscle level. Relationships between quantitative features of EMG signals and muscle structure and activation are discussed.
Multimodal coaching and its application to workplace, life and health coaching

This article highlights how the multimodal approach (Lazarus, 1989) has been adapted to the field of coaching and coaching psychology. It covers the basic theories underpinning the multimodal approach and illustrates the link between the theory and practice. Key multimodal strategies are covered including modality profiles, structural profiles, tracking and bridging.