Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatic Identification of Sarcasm Target: An Introductory Approach

Past work in computational sarcasm deals primarily with sarcasm detection. In this paper, we introduce a novel, related problem: sarcasm target identification i.e., extracting the target of ridicule in a sarcastic sentence). We present an introductory approach for sarcasm target identification. Our approach employs two types of extractors: one based on rules, and another consisting of a statistical classifier. To compare our approach, we use two baselines: a naive baseline and another baseline based on work in sentiment target identification. We perform our experiments on book snippets and tweets, and show that our hybrid approach performs better than the two baselines and also, in comparison with using the two extractors individually. Our introductory approach establishes the viability of sarcasm target identification, and will serve as a baseline for future work.
Regulation of HIF-1α signaling and chemoresistance in acute lymphocytic leukemia under hypoxic conditions of the bone marrow microenvironment

Overcoming resistance to chemotherapy is the main therapeutic challenge in the treatment of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). Interactions between leukemia cells and the microenvironment promote leukemia cell survival and confer resistance to chemotherapy. Hypoxia is an integral component of bone marrow (BM) microenvironment. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1), a key regulator of the cellular response to hypoxia, regulates cell growth and metabolic adaptation to hypoxia. HIF-1α expression, analyzed by Reverse Phase Protein Arrays in 92 specimens from newly diagnosed patients with pre-B-ALL, had a negative prognostic impact on survival (p = 0.0025). Inhibition of HIF-1α expression by locked mRNA antagonist (LNA) promoted chemosensitivity under hypoxic conditions, while pharmacological or genetic stabilization of HIF-1α under normoxia inhibited cell growth and reduced apoptosis induction by chemotherapeutic agents. Co-culture of pre-B ALL or REH cells with BM-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) under hypoxia resulted in further induction of HIF-1α protein and acquisition of the glycolytic phenotype, in part via stroma-induced AKT/mTOR signaling. mTOR blockade with everolimus reduced HIF-1α expression, diminished glucose uptake and glycolytic rate and partially restored the chemosensitivity of ALL cells under hypoxia/stroma co-cultures. Hence, mTOR inhibition or blockade of HIF-1α-mediated signaling may play an important role in chemosensitization of ALL cells under hypoxic conditions of the BM microenvironment.
Responses of Well-Differentiated Airway Epithelial Cell Cultures from Healthy Donors and Patients with Cystic Fibrosis to Burkholderia cenocepacia Infection

ABSTRACT Well-differentiated cultures established from airway epithelia of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF cultures) exhibited goblet cell hyperplasia, increased secretion of mucus, and higher basal levels of interleukin-8 than similarly cultured cells from healthy donors. Upon apical infection with low doses (104 to 105 CFU) of Burkholderia cenocepacia isolate BC7, the two cultures gave different responses. While normal cultures trapped the added bacteria in the mucus layer, killed and/or inhibited bacterial replication, and prevented bacterial invasion of the cells, CF cultures failed to kill and/or supported the growth of bacteria, leading to invasion of underlying epithelial cells, compromised transepithelial permeability, and cell damage. Depletion of the surface mucus layer prior to bacterial infection rendered the normal cultures susceptible to bacterial invasion, but the invading bacteria were mainly confined to vacuoles within the cells and appeared to be nonviable. In contrast, bacteria that invaded cells in CF cultures were found free in the cytoplasm surrounded by intermediate filaments and also between cells. Cultured CF airway epithelium was therefore more susceptible to infection than normal epithelium. This mimics CF tissue in vivo and illustrates differences in the way epithelia in CF patients and normal subjects handle bacterial infection. In addition, we found that the CF and normal cell cultures responded differently not only to isolate BC7 but also to isolates of other B. cepacia complex species. We therefore conclude that this cell culture model is suitable for investigation of B. cepacia complex pathogenesis in CF patients.
The Involvement of the University Community in Tutorial Action: A Case Study

The University of Alicante has committed itself to the design and development of a tutorial relationship comparable to a collaborative learning professionalization space. This has come true through the implementation of the tutorial programme. The importance of this programme is its commitment to create collaboration spaces among students in the same degree impregnated a quality communication and interaction, where students work competences that optimize their learning process. This is the framework which focuses on analyzing the results generated by the implementation of the tutorial action programme during the 2006–2007 academic year taking the perceptions and opinions of tutors as the main reference. The qualitative design has been considered the most favourable one in the present case because it offers us a descriptive response to the problem; furthermore, qualitative assessments are drawn which permit us to quantify and infer categories. The results of this research provide positive evidence suggesting that tutorial action at the University of Alicante is an action based on the principles of networked collaboration, commitment and reflection on practice, which encourages students to develop competences that optimize their university experience.
Survey on 3D channel modeling : From theory to standardization

Three dimensional beamforming (3D) (also elevation beamforming) is now gaining a growing interest among researchers in wireless communication. The reason can be attributed to its potential to enable a variety of strategies like sector or user specific elevation beamforming and cell-splitting. Since this technique cannot be directly supported by current LTE releases, the 3GPP is now working on defining the required technical specifications. In particular, a large effort is currently made to get accurate 3D channel models that support the elevation dimension. This step is necessary as it will evaluate the potential of 3D beamforming techniques to benefit from the richness of real channels. This work aims at presenting the ongoing 3GPP study item ”Study on 3D-channel model for Elevation Beamforming and FD-MIMO studies for LTE”, and positioning it with respect to previous standardization works.
A CLINICAL STUDY OF TYRAMINE AS AN ETIOLOGICAL FACTOR IN MIGRAINE

FOR MANY YEARS, in medical and lay literature, migraine attacks have been attributed to the ingestion of certain foods. A small minority of patients who give a typical history of migraine headaches believe that certain foods will precipitate their attacks. Some reports say that as many as thirty percent of migraine sufferers relate the incidence of some of their attacks to the eating of these foods.
Biliary excretion of irinotecan and its metabolites.

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to investigate the excretion of irinotecan hydrochloride (CPT-11) and its metabolites into the gastrointestinal lumen via the biliary route after intravenous administration of lactone and carboxylate forms of CPT-11. METHODS Biliary excretions of CPT-11 and its metabolites, SN-38 and SN-38-glucuronide, were investigated by an in vivo administration study using rats. The biliary excretion profiles for both the lactone and carboxylate forms of CPT-11 and its metabolites were determined. RESULTS After the i.v. injection of the lactone form of CPT-11, the cumulative biliary excretion of SN-38-glucuronide was much greater than that of CPT-11 and SN-38, and biliary excretion of SN-38 was less than that of CPT-11. Further, CPT-11 and SN-38 were mainly excreted into bile as carboxylate forms. After the administration of the CPT-11 carboxylate form, biliary excretion of SN-38-glucuronide was significantly smaller than that after the administration of CPT-11 lactone form. On the other hand, biliary excretion of CPT-11 and SN-38 was greater after dosing with the CPT-11 carboxylate form than that after the CPT-11 lactone form. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that the rate of conversion of lactone to carboxylate forms of CPT-11 and its metabolites plays a major role in the biliary excretion of these compounds.
Entry Mode Choice: Testing New Approaches to Measuring Psychic Distance and International Experience

While the issue of entry mode choice has been extensively studied for almost two decades, there has been remarkably little investigation into how researchers operationalize two key constructs: psychic distance and international experience. Using a large scale database of Nordic FDI over the mid 1990s, the authors demonstrate that a broader selection of psychic distance scales dramatically increases the ability to predict entry mode selection. Similarly, the authors demonstrate that when a refined approach to measuring international experience, which distinguishes between experience in similar and dissimilar countries, is employed, only culture-specific experience (i.e. experience in countries similar to the target market) appears to have a significant impact on entry mode selection.
The cost-effectiveness and public health benefit of nalmefene added to psychosocial support for the reduction of alcohol consumption in alcohol-dependent patients with high/very high drinking risk levels: a Markov model

Objectives To determine whether nalmefene combined with psychosocial support is cost-effective compared with psychosocial support alone for reducing alcohol consumption in alcohol-dependent patients with high/very high drinking risk levels (DRLs) as defined by the WHO, and to evaluate the public health benefit of reducing harmful alcohol-attributable diseases, injuries and deaths. Design Decision modelling using Markov chains compared costs and effects over 5 years. Setting The analysis was from the perspective of the National Health Service (NHS) in England and Wales. Participants The model considered the licensed population for nalmefene, specifically adults with both alcohol dependence and high/very high DRLs, who do not require immediate detoxification and who continue to have high/very high DRLs after initial assessment. Data sources We modelled treatment effect using data from three clinical trials for nalmefene (ESENSE 1 (NCT00811720), ESENSE 2 (NCT00812461) and SENSE (NCT00811941)). Baseline characteristics of the model population, treatment resource utilisation and utilities were from these trials. We estimated the number of alcohol-attributable events occurring at different levels of alcohol consumption based on published epidemiological risk-relation studies. Health-related costs were from UK sources. Main outcome measures We measured incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained and number of alcohol-attributable harmful events avoided. Results Nalmefene in combination with psychosocial support had an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of £5204 per QALY gained, and was therefore cost-effective at the £20 000 per QALY gained decision threshold. Sensitivity analyses showed that the conclusion was robust. Nalmefene plus psychosocial support led to the avoidance of 7179 alcohol-attributable diseases/injuries and 309 deaths per 100 000 patients compared to psychosocial support alone over the course of 5 years. Conclusions Nalmefene can be seen as a cost-effective treatment for alcohol dependence, with substantial public health benefits. Trial registration numbers This cost-effectiveness analysis was developed based on data from three randomised clinical trials: ESENSE 1 (NCT00811720), ESENSE 2 (NCT00812461) and SENSE (NCT00811941).
The Concept of Representation in Contemporary Democratic Theory

Democratic theorists have paid increasing attention to problems of political representation over the past two decades. Interest is driven by (a) a political landscape within which electoral representation now competes with new and informal kinds of representation; (b) interest in the fairness of electoral representation, particularly for minorities and women; (c) a renewed focus on political judgment within democratic theory; and (d) a new appreciation that participation and representation are complementary forms of citizenship. We review recent innovations within democratic theory, focusing especially on problems of fairness, constituency definition, deliberative political judgment, and new, nonelectoral forms of representation.
Retirement Transitions Among Married Couples

SUMMARY Retirement is often viewed as an event when someone completely withdraws from paid employment. The purpose of the present study was to examine the patterns of retirement transitions evidenced in married couples in the Health and Retirement Study over an 8-year period (1992 to 2000). The sample consisted of White and Black married couples (N = 1,118) where both spouses were working and at least one spouse was aged 51 to 61 at baseline. A variety of complex retirement patterns were found. Husbands were more likely than wives to show a linear pattern (i.e., a transition directly from work to complete retirement). Transitions were related within couples. Policy and practice implications are discussed.
Ant Clustering Algorithm

Among the many bio-inspired techniques, ant clustering algorithms have received special attention, especially because they still require much investigation to improve performance, stability and other key features that would make such algorithms mature tools for data mining. Clustering with swarm-based algorithms is emerging as an alternative to more conventional clustering methods, such as e.g. k-means etc. This approach mimics the clustering behavior observed in real ant colonies. As a case study, this paper focus on the behavior of clustering procedures in this new approach. The proposed algorithm is evaluated in a number of wellknown benchmark data sets. Empirical results clearly show that ant clustering algorithm performs well when compared to another techniques.
An automated method for the measurement of folate activity

A new approach to the estimation of folate activity is described. The system may be used as a semi-automated method or as a fully automated method using the AutoAnalyzer or Mecolab equipment. The methods use a chloramphenicol-resistant strain of L. casei as the test organism, and this eliminates the need for sterilization or aseptic addition. The systems are able to handle extremely large numbers of samples in a relatively short time. Results are similar to those obtained by standard techniques.
Arcsyn: An Expressive And Efficient Additive Synthesis Architecture

Arcsyn is an architecture and control system for expressive additive synthesis; it provides satisfying dynamic behavior, compelling transients, and non-static tones. The complexity of additive synthesis is encapsulated within a musically sensitive control system inspired by instrument physics. Timbral information is represented in the frequency domain, and can be specified parametrically or made to use popular formats such as SDIF.
Parental behavioral and psychological control relationships to self-esteem, life satisfaction, depression, and antisocial behaviors

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between parental behavioral control, psychological control and self-esteem, life satisfaction, antisocial behaviors and depression among Turkish adolescents. Participants for the present study consisted of 333 adolescents (168 girls, 163 boys) between the age of 13 to 15 with a mean of 13.90 (SD=.514) years. Participants completed measures on behavioral control, psychological control and self-esteem, life satisfaction, antisocial behaviors and depression. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that behavioral control positively predicted life satisfaction, self-esteem, and negatively predicted antisocial behaviors and depression. Psychological control was significantly and positively predicted antisocial behaviors and depression, negatively predicted life satisfaction. Present study provided evidence for the role of behavioral and psychological control in adolescents’ self-esteem, life satisfaction, depression and antisocial behaviors. Also, findings underscore the role of differential associations of parental behavioral and psychological control with the well-being and ill-being of adolescents. Findings were discussed in terms of implications for parent education programs and family intervention program.
Chapter 5: Introducing Innovation to Those Who Matter Most—The P–12 Pupils’ Perceptions of Model-Based Instruction

Rogers (1995) defines a social system as a group of people who share similar expertise and job responsibilities, and apply them in more or less similar settings—such as physical education teachers who conduct programs in P–12 schools. The social system comprises those who are making decisions to adopt an innovation as well as individuals or groups who act as change agents to influence decisions that lead to rejection, adoption, or discontinuance of an innovation (Rogers, 1995). The actions of change agents can take two forms—those that are made intentionally and explicitly to influence the adoption decisions of someone who is considering an innovation, and actions that are made for other reasons but still exert an influence on innovation adoption decisions. There is an identifiable set of potential intentional change agents for preservice teachers who would adopt model-based instruction (MBI) as the kind of pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 2004) needed for “best practice” in physical education: (a) physical education teacher education (PETE) program faculty members, (b) other students in the program, (c) cooperating teachers, (d) P–12 pupils, and (e) PETE students themselves. It is very likely that people in each of these groups have formulated opinions about MBI and would use their preferences to intentionally encourage or discourage a preservice teacher’s use and adoption of MBI. Students in a PETE program also come in contact with large numbers of P–12 pupils who they instruct in several lead-up practicums and the student teaching experience. It is unlikely that P–12 pupils become sufficiently aware to formulate a well-defined conceptualization of MBI that they would then use to intentionally influence a PETE student’s decisions about that approach. However, P–12 pupils are not tabulae rasa when it comes to formulating preferences for the content, structure, and pedagogy that they experience as learners in physical education (McCullick, Metzler, Cicek, Jackson, & Vickers, 2008); they have and will express those preferences in ways that have the potential to indirectly influence a teacher’s decision to reject, adopt, or discontinue any new content and/or instructional
Investigating speechreading and deafness.

BACKGROUND The visual speech signal can provide sufficient information to support successful communication. However, individual differences in the ability to appreciate that information are large, and relatively little is known about their sources. PURPOSE Here a body of research is reviewed regarding the development of a theoretical framework in which to study speechreading and individual differences in that ability. Based on the hypothesis that visual speech is processed via the same perceptual-cognitive machinery as auditory speech, a theoretical framework was developed by adapting a theoretical framework originally developed for auditory spoken word recognition. CONCLUSION The evidence to date is consistent with the conclusion that visual spoken word recognition is achieved via a process similar to auditory word recognition provided differences in perceptual similarity are taken into account. Words perceptually similar to many other words and that occur infrequently in the input stream are at a distinct disadvantage within this process. The results to date are also consistent with the conclusion that deaf individuals, regardless of speechreading ability, recognize spoken words via a process similar to individuals with hearing.
Domain-specific Web site identification: the CROSSMARC focused Web crawler

This paper presents techniques for identifying domain specific web sites that have been implemented as part of the EC-funded R&D project, CROSSMARC. The project aims to develop technology for extracting interesting information from domain-specific web pages. It is therefore important for CROSSMARC to identify web sites in which interesting domain specific pages reside (focused web crawling). This is the role of the CROSSMARC web crawler.
An ultra-low voltage, ultra-low power fully recycling folded cascode amplifier

A new ultra-low power fully recycling folded cascode amplifier with low supply voltage is presented. The new configuration benefits from higher transconductance, slew rate and gain in comparison with conventional recycling folded cascode. Furthermore, the phase-margin is enhanced and the input referred noise is reduced in this new configuration. Simulation results in standard 0.18 μm CMOS technology shows that the proposed amplifier achieves 316% improvement in gain bandwidth and 11 dB boosts in DC gain in comparison with the conventional folded cascode amplifier. The amplifier consumes 240nW @ 0.6 V which make it suitable for low-power biomedical applications.
Hypersonic - Model Analysis as a Service

Hypersonic is a Cloud-based tool that proposes a new approach to the deployment of model analysis facilities. It is implemented as a RESTful Web service API offering analysis features such as model clone detection. This approach allows the migration of resource intensive analysis algorithms from monolithic desktop modeling tools to a wide range of mobile and Web-based clients. As a technology demonstrator, a Web application acting as a client for the Hypersonic API has been implemented and made publicly available.
Myosin light chain kinase steady‐state kinetics: comparison of smooth muscle myosin II and nonmuscle myosin IIB as substrates

Myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) phosphorylates S19 of the myosin regulatory light chain (RLC), which is required to activate myosin's ATPase activity and contraction. Smooth muscles are known to display plasticity in response to factors such as inflammation, developmental stage, or stress, which lead to differential expression of nonmuscle and smooth muscle isoforms. Here, we compare steady‐state kinetics parameters for phosphorylation of different MLCK substrates: (1) nonmuscle RLC, (2) smooth muscle RLC, and heavy meromyosin subfragments of (3) nonmuscle myosin IIB, and (4) smooth muscle myosin II. We show that MLCK has a ~2‐fold higher kcat for both smooth muscle myosin II substrates compared with nonmuscle myosin IIB substrates, whereas Km values were very similar. Myosin light chain kinase has a 1.6‐fold and 1.5‐fold higher specificity (kcat/Km) for smooth versus nonmuscle‐free RLC and heavy meromyosin, respectively, suggesting that differences in specificity are dictated by RLC sequences. Of the 10 non‐identical RLC residues, we ruled out 7 as possible underlying causes of different MLCK kinetics. The remaining 3 residues were found to be surface exposed in the N‐terminal half of the RLC, consistent with their importance in substrate recognition. These data are consistent with prior deletion/chimera studies and significantly add to understanding of MLCK myosin interactions.