Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Flexible Constraint Model for Validating Plans with Durative Actions

Planning problems with durative actions represent one of the hot research topics in AI planning. Durative actions introduce numerical aspects to planning and so constraint satisfaction technology is becoming more popular in solving this new type of planning problems. The paper describes a constraint programming approach for validating and finishing partially ordered plans with durative actions. In particular, we propose a Boolean constraint model of the planning graph, a numerical constraint model of durative actions and precedence relations, and channeling constraints connecting both models. We also briefly discuss solving techniques for such integrated model, in particular using binary decision diagrams versus constraint propagation.
Hypoxia Inhibits Tumor Necrosis Factor-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand-Induced Apoptosis by Blocking Bax Translocation

The hypoxic environment in solid tumors results from oxygen consumption by rapid proliferation of tumor cells. Hypoxia has been shown to facilitate the survival of tumor cells and to be a cause of malignant transformation. Hypoxia also is well known to attenuate the therapeutic activity of various therapies in cancer management. These observations indicate that hypoxia plays a critical role in tumor biology. However, little is known about the effects of hypoxia on apoptosis, especially on apoptosis induced by tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), a potent apoptosis inducer that has been shown to specifically limit tumor growth without damaging normal cells and tissues in vivo. To address the effects of hypoxia on TRAIL-induced apoptosis, HCT116 human colon carcinoma cells were exposed to hypoxic or normoxic conditions and treated with soluble TRAIL protein. Hypoxia dramatically inhibited TRAIL-induced apoptosis in HCT116 cells, which are highly susceptible to TRAIL in normoxia. Hypoxia increased antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family member proteins and inhibitors of apoptosis proteins. Interestingly, these hypoxia-increased antiapoptotic molecules were decreased by TRAIL treatment to the levels lower than those of the untreated conditions, suggesting that hypoxia inhibits TRAIL-induced apoptosis via other mechanisms rather than up-regulation of these antiapoptotic molecules. Additional characterization revealed that hypoxia significantly inhibits TRAIL-induced translocation of Bax from the cytosol to the mitochondria in HCT116 and A549 cells, with the concomitant inhibition of cytochrome c release from the mitochondria. Bax-deficient HCT116 cells were completely resistant to TRAIL regardless of oxygen content, demonstrating a pivotal role of Bax in TRAIL-induced apoptotic signaling. Thus, our data indicate that hypoxia inhibits TRAIL-induced apoptosis by blocking Bax translocation to the mitochondria, thereby converting cells to a Bax-deficient state.
Androgen Receptor Acetylation Governs trans Activation and MEKK1-Induced Apoptosis without Affecting In Vitro Sumoylation and trans-Repression Function

ABSTRACT The androgen receptor (AR) is a nuclear hormone receptor superfamily member that conveys both trans repression and ligand-dependent trans-activation function. Activation of the AR by dihydrotestosterone (DHT) regulates diverse physiological functions including secondary sexual differentiation in the male and the induction of apoptosis by the JNK kinase, MEKK1. The AR is posttranslationally modified on lysine residues by acetylation and sumoylation. The histone acetylases p300 and P/CAF directly acetylate the AR in vitro at a conserved KLKK motif. To determine the functional properties governed by AR acetylation, point mutations of the KLKK motif that abrogated acetylation were engineered and examined in vitro and in vivo. The AR acetylation site point mutants showed wild-type trans repression of NF-κB, AP-1, and Sp1 activity; wild-type sumoylation in vitro; wild-type ligand binding; and ligand-induced conformational changes. However, acetylation-deficient AR mutants were selectively defective in DHT-induced trans activation of androgen-responsive reporter genes and coactivation by SRC1, Ubc9, TIP60, and p300. The AR acetylation site mutant showed 10-fold increased binding of the N-CoR corepressor compared with the AR wild type in the presence of ligand. Furthermore, histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) bound the AR both in vivo and in cultured cells and HDAC1 binding to the AR was disengaged in a DHT-dependent manner. MEKK1 induced AR-dependent apoptosis in prostate cancer cells. The AR acetylation mutant was defective in MEKK1-induced apoptosis, suggesting that the conserved AR acetylation site contributes to a pathway governing prostate cancer cellular survival. As AR lysine residue mutations that abrogate acetylation correlate with enhanced binding of the N-CoR repressor in cultured cells, the conserved AR motif may directly or indirectly regulate ligand-dependent corepressor disengagement and, thereby, ligand-dependent trans activation.
Parser engineering and performance profiling

We describe and argue for a strategy of performance profiling and comparison in the engineering of parsing systems for wide-coverage linguistic grammars. A performance profile is a precise, rich and structured snapshot of system (and grammar) behaviour at a given development point. The aim is to characterize system performance at a very detailed technical level, but at the same time to abstract away from idiosyncracies of particular processors. Profiles are obtained with minimal effort by applying a specialized profiling tool to a set of structured reference data (taken from both existing test suites and corpora), in conjunction with a uniform format for test data and processing results. The resulting profiles can be analyzed and visualized at various levels of granularity in order to highlight different aspects of system performance, thus providing a solid empirical basis for system refinement and optimization. Since profiles are stored in a database, comparison with earlier versions, different parameter settings, or other processing systems is straightforward. We apply several salient performance metrics in a contrastive discussion of various (one-pass, bottom-up, chart-based) parsing strategies (viz. passive vs. active and uni- vs. bidirectional approaches). Based on insights gained from detailed performance profiles, we outline and evaluate a novel ‘hyper-active’ parsing strategy. We also present preliminary profiles for techniques for ‘packing’ of local ambiguities with respect to (partial) subsumption of feature structures.
Upregulation of the Fas Receptor Death-Inducing Signaling Complex after Traumatic Brain Injury in Mice and Humans

Recent studies have implicated Fas in the pathogenesis of inflammatory, ischemic, and traumatic brain injury (TBI); however, a direct link between Fas activation and caspase-mediated cell death has not been established in injured brain. We detected Fas–Fas ligand binding and assembly of death-inducing signaling complexes (DISCs) [Fas, Fas-associated protein with death domain, and procaspase-8 or procaspase-10; receptor interacting protein (RIP)–RIP-associated interleukin-1β converting enzyme and CED-3 homolog-1/Ced 3 homologous protein with a death domain–procaspase-2] by immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting within mouse parietal cortex after controlled cortical impact. At the time of DISC assembly, procaspase-8 was cleaved and the cleavage product appeared at 48 hr in terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated biotinylated UTP nick end labeling-positive neurons. Cleavage of caspase-8 was accompanied by caspase-3 processing detected at 48 hr by immunohistochemistry, and by caspase-specific cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase at 12 hr. Fas pathways were also stimulated by TBI in human brain, because Fas expression plus Fas–procaspase-8 interaction were robust in contused cortical tissue samples surgically removed between 2 and 30 hr after injury. To address whether Fas functions as a death receptor in brain cells, cultured embryonic day 17 cortical neurons were transfected with an adenoviral vector containing the gene encoding Fas ligand. After 48 hr in culture, Fas ligand expression and Fas–procaspase-8 DISC assembly increased, and by 72 hr, cell death was pronounced. Cell death was decreased by ∼50% after pan-caspase inhibition (Z-Val-ALa-Asp(Ome)-fluoromethylketone). These data suggest that Fas-associated DISCs assemble in neurons overexpressing Fas ligand as well as within mouse and human contused brain after TBI. Therefore, Fas may function as a death receptor after brain injury.
Thermoelectric effects in submicron heterostructure barriers

Non isothermal electron transport in thin barrier heterostructures is investigated using Monte Carlo techniques. Particular attention is paid to the energy balance in thermionic emission, and the Joule heating in the barrier region. By introducing an energy relaxation length, an equation for the temperature distribution inside the device is derived. Conditions for creating a steady-state temperature gradient and for integrated cooling of electronic components are examined.
Depth Propagation with Key-Frame Considering Movement on the Z-Axis

We propose a key-frame-based depth propagation method considering movement on the z-axis. First, a homography matrix is obtained through the feature points between points. Through this homography matrix information, a movement of objects or cameras is inferred in the direction of the z axis, thereby creating a depth map that compensates the movement. Then, bilateral filtering is executed to create a depth map with regard to the non-key frames. Through the experiment, a more accurate depth map can be obtained with the non-key-frame-based method due to the consideration of changes in the z-axis compared to the key-frame-based depth propagation method.
Sliding Window Based Fast Corner Matching Palmprint Authentication

Authentication time is the main and important part of the authentication system. Normally the response time should be fast but as the number of persons in the database increases, there is probability of more response time taken for authentication. The need of fast authentication system arises so that authentication time matching time is very less. This paper proposes a sliding window approach to make fast authentication system. The highlight of sliding window method is constant matching time, fast and can match translated images also. Several palmprint matching methods like match by correlation etc. are dependent upon the number of corners detected and so is the matching time. In sliding window method, matching time is constant as the numbers of matching operations are limited and the matching time is independent of the number of corners detected. The palmprint corner features extracted using two approaches Phase Congruency Corner Detector and Harris Corner Detector are binarized so that only useful information features is matched. The two approaches of Phase Congruency Corner Detector and Harris Corner Detector, when matched with hamming distance using sliding window can achieve recognition rate of 97.7% and 97.5% respectively.
Exploring the Application Behavior Space Using Parameterized Synthetic Benchmarks

The aim of this work is to propose such a framework, called BenchMaker, for constructing synthetic benchmarks whose code properties can be easily altered. BenchMaker enables altering inherent workload characteristics of a program by varying a limited number (40 in total) of key microarchitecture- independent program characteristics - changing the workload behavior is done by simply 'turning knobs'.
Infection-based self-configuration in agent societies

Norms have become a common mechanism to regulate the behavior of agents in multi-agent systems (MAS). However, establishing a stable set of norms is not trivial, particularly in dynamic environments, under changing (and unpredictable) conditions. We propose a computational model that facilitates agents in a MAS to collaboratively evolve their norms, reconfigure themselves, to adapt to changing conditions. Our approach borrows from the social contagion phenomenon to exploit the notion of positive infection: agents with good behaviors become infectious to spread their norms in the agent society. By combining infection and innovation, a mechanism allowing agents exploring new norms, our computational model helps MAS to continuously stabilize despite perturbations.
High Dynamic Range Image Encodings

We stand on the threshold of a new era in digital imaging, when image files will encode the color gamut and dynamic range of the original scene, rather than the limited subspace that can be conveniently displayed with 20 year-old monitor technology. In order to accomplish this goal, we need to agree upon a standard encoding for high dynamic range (HDR) image information. Paralleling conventional image formats, there are many HDR standards to choose from.
Investigation of reductions in motor efficiency caused by stator faults when operated from an inverter drive

Inverter driven motor systems have seen wider use in industry as energy reduction methods. Studies have been undertaken previously to understand the effects of voltage imbalances on motor efficiency and deratings. However, this has not been covered in much detail on inverter-driven motor systems. This paper aims to study the effect that motor stator resistance imbalances have on motor efficiency when used on inverter-driven systems. Motor imbalances may remain undetected by the inverter drive and can result in overheating and premature failure of the motor. Motor efficiency monitoring is now of greater interest due to new IEC standards defining new AC motor efficiency classes and this is also reviewed along with the standards for motor efficiency and inverter-operated motors.
The acquisition of Focus in L2 Spanish

This paper examines the strategies used by speakers of Spanish as a second language (L2) for marking Information Focus, a phenomenon found at the syntax–discourse interface. Sorace and colleagues have proposed the Interface Hypothesis, according to which the syntax–discourse interface poses unique challenges for bilinguals (Sorace, 2011). With respect to Spanish, there exists a gap between the theoretical and empirical literatures on Focus realization; the former suggests that Focus must appear in sentence-final position, yet recent experimental work challenges this claim, showing that Focus commonly remains in situ. Using a speeded production task, we compared the response patterns of L2 Spanish speakers to that of natives in order to bring additional evidence to bear on the debate. Results revealed an asymmetry: L2 learners converged with native speakers on Subject Focus but not on Object Focus, where proficiency mediated overall divergences, indicating a change toward more nativelike Focus-marking strategies over time. We discuss our findings in light of the Interface Hypothesis and existing theories of Focus marking in Spanish.
Knowledge Mining from Clinical Datasets Using Rough Sets and Backpropagation Neural Network

The availability of clinical datasets and knowledge mining methodologies encourages the researchers to pursue research in extracting knowledge from clinical datasets. Different data mining techniques have been used for mining rules, and mathematical models have been developed to assist the clinician in decision making. The objective of this research is to build a classifier that will predict the presence or absence of a disease by learning from the minimal set of attributes that has been extracted from the clinical dataset. In this work rough set indiscernibility relation method with backpropagation neural network (RS-BPNN) is used. This work has two stages. The first stage is handling of missing values to obtain a smooth data set and selection of appropriate attributes from the clinical dataset by indiscernibility relation method. The second stage is classification using backpropagation neural network on the selected reducts of the dataset. The classifier has been tested with hepatitis, Wisconsin breast cancer, and Statlog heart disease datasets obtained from the University of California at Irvine (UCI) machine learning repository. The accuracy obtained from the proposed method is 97.3%, 98.6%, and 90.4% for hepatitis, breast cancer, and heart disease, respectively. The proposed system provides an effective classification model for clinical datasets.
A hybrid architecture for function approximation

This paper proposes a new architecture to build a hybrid value function estimation based on a combination of temporal-different (TD) and on-line variant of random forest (RF). We call this implementation random-TD. First RF is induced into on-line mode in order to deal with large state space and memory constraints, while state-action mapping is based on the Bellman error, or on the TD error. The approach iteratively improves its value function by exploiting only relevant parts of action space. We evaluate the potential of the proposed procedure in terms of a reduction in the Bellman error with extended empirical studies on high-dimensional control problems (Ailerons, Elevator, Kinematics, and Friedman). The results demonstrate that our approach can significantly improve the performance of TD methods and speed up learning process.
TDSEP { an e(cid:14)cient algorithm for blind separation using time structure

An algorithm for blind source separation based on severaltime-delayed second-order correlation matrices is proposed. The technique to construct the unmixing matrix employs (cid:12)rst a whitening step and then an approximate simultaneous diagonalisation of several time-delayed second-order correlation matrices. Its e(cid:14)ciency and stability are demonstrated for linear arti(cid:12)cial mixtures with 17 sources.
Option Valuation in Jump-diffusion Models using the Exponential Runge-Kutta Methods

In this paper, we consider exponential Runge-Kutta methods for the numerical pricing of options. The methods are shown to be an alternative to other existing procedures for the numerical valuation of jump -diffusion models. We show that exponential Runge-Kutta methods give unconditional second order accuracy for European call options under Merton's jump -diffusion model with constant coefficients. Exponential integrators have good stability properties. These integrators are fully explicit and do not require the numerical solution of linear systems as in contrast to standard integrators. On the other hand, exponential integrators require the evolution of the exponential and related functions of the Jacobian matrix. Finally, the performance of the proposed methods is illustrated through some numerical experiments.
Öğretmen Adaylarının Konuşma Öz Yeterliklerine İlişkin Ölçek Geliştirme Çalışması

Konusma, insanlarin gunluk ve mesleki yasamlarinda en cok kullandigi dil becerisi alanlarindan biridir. Bireyler cesitli amaclara bagli olarak sozlu iletisim gerceklestirirler. Egitimin saglikli yuruyebilmesi de iletisimin kalitesine baglidir. Bu arastirmanin amaci ogretmen adaylarinin konusma oz yeterliklerini degerlendirecek bir olcme araci gelistirmektir. Arastirmada verilerin analizi icin SPSS 17.0 ve Mplus5.2 programi kullanilmistir. Elde edilen verilerin cozumlenmesinde acimlayici faktor analizi tekniklerinden temel bilesenler analizi ile dogrulayici faktor analizi kullanilmistir. Guvenirlik analizi; madde-toplam korelasyonu, alt ve ust % 27'lik gruplarin farklarinin iliskisiz t-testi kullanilarak denenmesi, Spearman Brown iki yari test korelasyonu ve Cronbach alfa ic tutarlilik katsayisi hesaplanmasi ile yapilmistir. Konusma Oz Yeterlik Olcegi (KOYO) olarak gelistirilen olcegin, ogretmen adaylarinin oz yeterliklerini olcmede kullanilabilecek, gecerli ve guvenilir bir arac oldugu belirlenmistir
Experience, outcomes and impact of delayed indication for video-assisted wide septal myectomy in 69 consecutive patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to evaluate outcomes in our department after surgery for obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and to establish the impact of a delay on the indication for surgery. METHODS From January 1998 to February 2011, 69 patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and left ventricular outflow tract obstruction at rest were operated on by the same team, and followed up for at least 1 year. We retrospectively analysed clinical data, echocardiography and ambulatory Holter electrocardiogram findings before surgery, early after surgery, at 3 months and annually at follow-up, to detect possible prognostic determinants. RESULTS We performed isolated septal myectomy in 59 patients and a combined procedure in 10 patients. Mean outflow tract gradient decreased by 72.2 mmHg (SD 37.3) and there was a mean reduction in thickness of 8.2 mm (SD 5.8) in the interventricular septum. Functional capacity, measured as New York Heart Association class, and angina of effort improved significantly after surgery (P < 0.0001). In-hospital mortality rate was 1.44% for isolated myectomy and 4.35% for combined procedures. Global actuarial survival at 5-year follow-up was 87.4%, but if those patients who were in functional class II or less at the time of surgery were considered, survival rose to 100%. However, 43 patients (62.3%) with functional class III or higher were operated upon. CONCLUSIONS Clinical, haemodynamic and mortality outcomes after surgery were excellent, especially in those patients with mild or few symptoms. However, in our location, surgery is still undertaken at an advanced stage of the natural history of the disease, which may adversely affect prognosis.
Building a prototype for network measurement virtual observatory

Online sharing of scientific information has accelerated the research activity in various different domains of science. This fact inspires us to initiate this kind of approach in the field of network research and review some projects pointing towards this direction. Using the experiences of similar efforts in other domains of sciences we are building a prototype node for Network Measurement Virtual Observatory. The goal of the observatory is to stimulate network research through sharing available measurement data along with analysis results and providing easy-to-use "online" network data analysis tools for network research and management purposes. We would also like to initiate discussion about standardization of network measurement data and to motivate other researchers to publish their own data and tools. In this paper we sketch the basic concept of Virtual Observatories and present a prototype system developed to share measurement data and tools associated with the ETOMIC measurement infrastructure.
Added-value of Early Post-stroke Spasticity Reduction during Arm-hand Rehabilitation in Improving Functional Arm-hand Skill Performance: A Multiple Baseline Single Case Experimental Design Study

Background: Focal spasticity management in patients in the sub-acute phase after a stroke is mainly based on expert opinion. Evidence for the optimal type and intensity of multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs is scarce. This study will investigate the added-value of reduction of early signs of spasticity in the sub-acute phase after stroke on arm-hand rehabilitation outcome involving a well-described rehabilitation intervention. Reduction of early signs of spasticity will be done using abobotulinum toxin A.