Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Superposition Based Learning Algorithm

By exploiting the properties of superposition and entanglement found in quantum systems Quantum Computation has been applied to the design of algorithms considerably more efficient than the known classical ones. Known examples are the Shor's factoring algorithm and the Grover's search algorithm. This paper investigates the possibility of employing Quantum Computing techniques to the design of learning algorithms for neural networks tasks such as pattern recognition. We propose a quantum learning algorithm for neural networks where all patterns of the training set are presented concurrently in superposition. In the process we propose a novel model of a quantum weightless neural node. The algorithm is a combination of a quantum search algorithm, a probabilistic quantum memory and a quantum neural network.
ScienceSpace: lessons for designing immersive virtual realities

ScienceSpace is a collection of immersive virtual realities designed to explore the potential utility of physical immersion and multisensory perception to aid in the learning of science. Through the design and evaluation of ScienceSpace, we are learning lessons about the virtual reality interface and the development of immersive virtual worlds for education. This paper descxibestheselessons.
ANGLOR: A Composite Machine-Learning Algorithm for Protein Backbone Torsion Angle Prediction

We developed a composite machine-learning based algorithm, called ANGLOR, to predict real-value protein backbone torsion angles from amino acid sequences. The input features of ANGLOR include sequence profiles, predicted secondary structure and solvent accessibility. In a large-scale benchmarking test, the mean absolute error (MAE) of the phi/psi prediction is 28°/46°, which is ∼10% lower than that generated by software in literature. The prediction is statistically different from a random predictor (or a purely secondary-structure-based predictor) with p-value <1.0×10−300 (or <1.0×10−148) by Wilcoxon signed rank test. For some residues (ILE, LEU, PRO and VAL) and especially the residues in helix and buried regions, the MAE of phi angles is much smaller (10–20°) than that in other environments. Thus, although the average accuracy of the ANGLOR prediction is still low, the portion of the accurately predicted dihedral angles may be useful in assisting protein fold recognition and ab initio 3D structure modeling.
Statistical error analysis for low power approximate adders

Low-power approximate adders provide basic building blocks for approximate computing hardware that have shown remarkable energy efficiency for error-resilient applications (like image/video processing, computer vision, etc.), especially for battery-driven portable systems. In this paper, we present a novel scalable, fast yet accurate analytical method to evaluate the output error probability of multi-bit low power adders for a predetermined probability of input bits. Our method recursively computes the error probability by considering the accurate cases only, which are considerably smaller than the erroneous ones. Our method can handle the error analysis of a wider-range of adders with negligible computational overhead. To ensure its rapid adoption in industry and academia, we have open-sourced our LabVIEW and MATLAB libraries.
Memory-based Learning of Word Translation

A basic task in machine translation is to choose the right translation for source words with several possible translations in the target language. In this paper we treat word translation as a word sense disambiguation problem and train memory-based classifiers on words with alternative translations. The training data was automatically labeled with the corresponding translations by word-aligning a parallel corpus. Results show that many words were translated with accuracy above the baseline.
Maternal Exposure to LPS Induces Hypomyelination in the Internal Capsule and Programmed Cell Death in the Deep Gray Matter in Newborn Rats

Epidemiologic and experimental findings implicate maternal infection in the etiology of injury to brain white matter, which may lead to cerebral palsy in preterm newborns. In the present study, inflammation and brain damage in 1- and 7-d-old rats were investigated after maternal inflammation. Intraperitoneal injection of 300 μg/kg of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide was administered to pregnant Wistar rats at d 19 and 20 of gestation (LPS group). Control females received a saline injection. Proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α, and IL-6 expression in the fetal brain were determined by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Brain injury was examined in 16-μm coronal brain sections by GFAP, MBP, caspase-3 immunohistochemistry, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling. Expression of IL-1β was significantly increased 3 d after maternal administration (P1). A significant increase in cell death occurred at P1 and P7 in specific brain areas, i.e. in the subventricular striatal zone at P1, and in 1) the periventricular striatum, 2) the periventricular white matter, and 3) the germinative ventricular zone at P7. We also observed typical astrogliosis and strong hypomyelination in the external and internal capsule in the LPS group at P7. These results demonstrate that maternal LPS treatment induces persistent fetal inflammatory reactions associated with significant white matter injury in progeny at P1 and P7. This model should be relevant for the study of the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in cerebral white matter damage in preterm human newborns and in the development of therapeutic strategies.
Clinical Uses of Cervical Vestibular-Evoked Myogenic Potential Testing in Pediatric Patients

AbstractTo demonstrate the feasibility and clinical significance of cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) test in pediatric patients.Retrospective review study was conducted in a pediatric tertiary care facility. A total of 278 patients were identified with adequate data, including medical notes, results of cVEMP, and imaging studies.Among the total of 278 pediatric patients, only 3 children were not able to finish the cVEMP test successfully. In about 90% of the cases, the cVEMP test was requested to investigate a patient’s hearing loss and/or vestibular complaints. Over 90% of the cVEMP tests were ordered by specialists such as pediatric otolaryngologists or otologists. Obtained cVEMP results provided useful information in clinical diagnosis and management in all cases.It is feasible to conduct cVEMP testing in children, including infants, and cVEMP testing can provide valuable information in the diagnosis and management of hearing loss and vestibular impairment. This simple and noninvasive test should be embraced by pediatric professionals.
Identification of Novel Vaccine Candidates against Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii

Acinetobacter baumannii is an emerging opportunistic bacterium associated with nosocomial infections in intensive care units. The alarming increase in infections caused by A. baumannii is strongly associated with enhanced resistance to antibiotics, in particular carbapenems. This, together with the lack of a licensed vaccine, has translated into significant economic, logistic and health impacts to health care facilities. In this study, we combined reverse vaccinology and proteomics to identify surface-exposed and secreted antigens from A. baumannii. Using in silico prediction tools and comparative genome analysis in combination with in vitro proteomic approaches, we identified 42 antigens that could be used as potential vaccine targets. Considering the paucity of effective antibiotics available to treat multidrug-resistant A. baumannii infections, these vaccine targets may serve as a framework for the development of a broadly protective multi-component vaccine, an outcome that would have a major impact on the burden of A. baumannii infections in intensive care units across the globe.
Optimal Structure Weighted Retrieval

Improving ranking functions for structured information retrieval has received much attention since the inception of XML. Weighting document structures is one method providing significant improvement – but how good can these improvements be? Optimal structure weighted retrieval occurs when each query is processed using the optimal set of weights for that query. Optimal retrieval for a set of queries occurs when a set of weights optimized for that set of queries is used. Measuring mean average precision for each of these will give a performance upper bound for document structure weighted retrieval. In this investigation a near optimal set of weights is learned for TREC WSJ collection topics 101-200 using a genetic algorithm. Weights are learned for vector space inner product, naive probability and BM25 ranking functions and a performance upper bound is calculated. The upper bound using a different set of weights for each query, gives mean average precision improvements of about 15% for BM25 and naive probability; about 30% for inner product. This suggests structure weighting might be useful for relevance feedback. Optimal weights for the set of queries shows improvements of about 5% for naive probability and inner product, but of only about 1% for BM25; suggesting this technique is not as effective for ad hoc retrieval.
Beyond dyadic interdependence: Actor-oriented models for co-evolving social networks and individual behaviors

Actor-oriented models are described as a longitudinal strategy for examining the co-evolution of social networks and individual behaviors. We argue that these models provide advantages over conventional approaches due to their ability to account for inherent dependencies between individuals embedded in a social network (i.e., reciprocity, transitivity) and model interdependencies between network and behavioral dynamics. We provide a brief explanation of actor-oriented processes, followed by a description of parameter estimates, model specification, and selection procedures used by the Simulation Investigation for Empirical Network Analyses (SIENA) software program (Snijders, Steglich, Schweinberger, & Huisman, 2006). To illustrate the applicability of these models, we provide an empirical example investigating the co-evolution of friendship networks and delinquent behaviors in a longitudinal sample of Swedish adolescents with the goal of simultaneously assessing selection and influence processes. Findings suggest both processes play a substantive role in the observed dynamics of delinquent behaviors, with influence having a relatively stronger role than selection (especially in reciprocated friendships).
A 3‐Mb physical map of the chromosome region 8p21.3‐p22, including a 600‐kb region commonly deleted in human hepatocellular carcinoma, colorectal cancer, and non‐small cell lung cancer

To isolate a putative tumor suppressor gene(s), we have constructed a physical map and a detailed deletion map of chromosome region 8p21.3‐p22, where loss of heterozygosity (LOH) has been frequently seen in human hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), colorectal cancers (CRC), and non‐small cell lung cancers (NSCLC). The smallest commonly deleted region at 8p21.3‐p22 in HCC and CRC was between the loci defined by CI8‐245 and CI8‐2644; in NSCLC, a region between CI8‐1051 and CI8‐2644 was commonly deleted. A contiguous physical map of 12 cosmid markers in the 8p21.3‐p22 region was constructed by means of multi‐color fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and pulsed‐field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). On the basis of this physical map, which spans roughly 3.1 Mb, the estimated sizes of the commonly deleted regions were at most 1.2 Mb in HCC and CRC and 0.6 Mb in NSCLC. As four of the 12 physically ordered markers are located within the 0.6 Mb region commonly deleted in all three tumor types, nearly one fourth to one fifth of the target region has already been covered with cosmid inserts. Genes Chrom Cancer 10:7–14 (1994). © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Stable Non-BPS States in F- theory

F-theory on K3 admits non-BPS states that are represented as string junctions extending between 7-branes. We classify the non-BPS states which are guaranteed to be stable on account of charge conservation and the existence of a region of moduli space where the 7-branes supporting the junction can be isolated from the rest of the branes. We find three possibilities; the 7-brane configurations carrying: (i) the D_1 algebra representing a D7-brane near an orientifold O7-plane, whose stable non-BPS state was identified before, (ii) the exotic affine E_1 algebra, whose stable non-BPS state seems to be genuinely non-perturbative, and, (iii) the affine E_2 algebra representing a D7-brane near a pair of O7-planes. As a byproduct of our work we construct explicitly all 7-brane configurations that can be isolated in a K3. These include non-collapsible configurations of affine type.
Expectancies and Hypnotic Responsiveness: An Experimental-Design Flaw Revealed

Abstract Recent research suggests that expectancies about being hypnotized have a determinant role in the hypnotic experience. The authors analyzed the relationship between expectancies and the phenomenology of hypnosis using the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory and Hypnotic Assessment Procedure. Participants (115) were assigned either to the imagination (hypnosis labeled as imagination) or the hypnosis conditions. Results revealed only a minor influence of expectancies and none on the label “hypnosis” across all variables. These findings indicate that the methodology commonly used to study the influence of expectancies on hypnotic responsiveness and phenomenology might represent a flaw in favor of a causal relationship between expectancies and hypnotic experience.
A Bootstrapping Model of Frequency and Context Effects in Word Learning

Prior research has shown that people can learn many nouns (i.e., word-object mappings) from a short series of ambiguous situations containing multiple words and objects. For successful cross-situational learning, people must approximately track which words and referents co-occur most frequently. This study investigates the effects of allowing some word-referent pairs to appear more frequently than others, as is true in real-world learning environments. Surprisingly, high-frequency pairs are not always learned better, but can also boost learning of other pairs. Using a recent associative model (Kachergis, Yu, & Shiffrin, 2012), we explain how mixing pairs of different frequencies can bootstrap late learning of the low-frequency pairs based on early learning of higher frequency pairs. We also manipulate contextual diversity, the number of pairs a given pair appears with across training, since it is naturalistically confounded with frequency. The associative model has competing familiarity and uncertainty biases, and their interaction is able to capture the individual and combined effects of frequency and contextual diversity on human learning. Two other recent word-learning models do not account for the behavioral findings.
Degradation of naphthenic acids by sediment micro‐organisms

Aims: Naphthenic acids (NAs) are naturally occurring, linear and cyclic carboxylic surfactants associated with the acidic fraction of petroleum. NAs account for most of the acute aquatic toxicity of oil sands process‐affected water (OSPW). The toxicity of OSPW can be reduced by microbial degradation. The aim of this research was to determine the extent of NA degradation by sediment microbial communities exposed to varying amounts of OSPW.
Investigating a rare methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain: first description of genome sequencing and molecular characterization of CC15-MRSA

Purpose Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus CC15 strains (CC15-MRSA) have only been sporadically described in literature. This study was carried out to describe the genetic make-up for this rare MRSA strain. Methods Four CC15-MRSA isolates collected in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, between 2013 and 2014 were studied. Two isolates were from clinical infection and 2 from retail meat products. Whole genome sequencing was carried out using Illumina HiSeq2500 genome analyzer. Results All the CC15-MRSA isolates had the multilocus sequence typing profile ST1535, 13–13-1–1-81-11-13, which is a single locus variant of ST15. Of the 6 contigs related to the SCC element, one comprised a recombinase gene ccrAA, ccrC-PM1, fusC and a helicase, another one included mvaS, dru, mecA and 1 had yobV and Q4LAG7. The SCC element had 5 transposase genes, namely 3 identical paralogs of tnpIS431 and 2 identical paralogs of tnpIS256. Two identical copies of a tnpIS256-based insertion element flank the aacA-aphD gene. Two copies of this insertion element were present with 1 located in the SCC element and another inserted into the sasC gene. A short 3 kb region, which lacks any bacteriophage structural genes and site-specific DNA integrase, was inserted into the hlb gene. The hsdM and the 5’-part of the hsdS gene are replaced by a copy of the hsdM/hsdS paralogs from νSaβ giving rise to a new chimeric paralog of hsdS in νSaα. Conclusion CC15-MRSA shows a novel SCCmecV/SCCfus composite element. Its variant of hsdM/hsdS probably facilitated uptake of foreign mobile genetic elements that promoted emergence of CC15-MRSA. Close surveillance is needed to monitor spread and emergence of further CC15 MRSA strains.
The population tracking model : A simple , 1 scalable statistical model for neural population 2 data 3

12 Our understanding of neural population coding has been limited by a lack of analysis methods 13 to characterize spiking data from large populations. The biggest challenge comes from the fact 14 that the number of possible network activity patterns scales exponentially with the number of 15 neurons recorded (⇠ 2Neurons). Here we introduce a new statistical method for characterizing neural 16 population activity that requires semi-independent fitting of only as many parameters as the square 17 of the number of neurons, so requiring drastically smaller data sets and minimal computation time. 18 1 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license peer-reviewed) is the author/funder. It is made available under a The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not . http://dx.doi. org/10.1101/064717 doi: bioRxiv preprint first posted online Jul. 19, 2016;
The variability in the effect of additional education on different mathematics skills in primary school - A regression discontinuity analysis

This paper explores the variability in the effect of an additional year of education on different basic mathematical skills, which are taught to children and explicitly repeated at different points in time during elementary school. In addition, the role of child specific characteristics and the role of the school is addressed. Using a regression discontinuity approach, we estimate the local education effect for a range of successive elementary school grade cohorts at six schools in the Netherlands, while including child specific characteristics and school fixed effects. The results indicate that the effect of education is contingent upon the mathematical skills and grade levels studied. A significant education effect is observed the year after children have first learned a mathematical skill and in the last year of primary school, which can be explained by the additional focus that is being put on elementary mathematics skills in these years. Furthermore, the outcomes suggest that children’s multiplication skills are significantly lower if their school emphasizes child centered, natural learning and multigrade teaching instead of traditional classroom learning.
The Clinical Effectiveness of the Extended-Scope Physiotherapist Role in Musculoskeletal Triage: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND Extended-scope physiotherapists (ESPs) are working in musculoskeletal (MSK) triage clinics to assess, diagnose and refer patients for appropriate management. However, there is inadequate appraisal of their clinical effectiveness. OBJECTIVES The aim of the present systematic review was to appraise the evidence on the diagnostic ability of ESPs in MSK triage, and patient and general practitioner (GP) satisfaction when seen by an ESP in a MSK clinic. METHOD CINAHL, AMED, MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched from 1989 to February 2014 using the keywords 'physiotherapy', 'extended practitioner' and 'musculoskeletal disease'. Data extraction was compiled using the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (2009) method. Diagnostic accuracy studies were assessed for methodological quality using the Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN). Patient/GP satisfaction was assessed using a tool adapted by Desmeules et al. (2012). RESULTS From 146 studies initially identified, 14 were eligible for review. Only one diagnostic study was of high quality, and satisfaction study scores ranged from 40% to 73%. All studies reported favourable outcomes for ESPs in MSK triage clinics, with ESPs demonstrating a good level of diagnostic ability in comparison with a gold standard such as surgery. In addition, patients and GPs were satisfied with the overall performance and service provided by ESPs. CONCLUSION The evidence suggests that ESPs are clinically effective. However, there were methodological shortcomings in the reviewed studies, and further research, using larger sample sizes, multiple locations and comparisons of the same patient cohorts, would strengthen the evidence available to influence future commissioning of these services. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cell resilience in species life spans: a link to inflammation?

Species differences in life span have been attributed to cellular survival during various stressors, designated here as ‘cell resilience’. In primary fibroblast cultures, cell resilience during exposure to free radicals, hypoglycemia, hyperthermia, and various toxins has shown generally consistent correlations with the species characteristic life spans of birds and mammals. However, the mechanistic links of cell resilience in fibroblast cultures to different species life spans are poorly understood. We propose that certain experimental stressors are relevant to somatic damage in vivo during inflammatory responses of innate immunity, particularly, resistance to reactive oxygen species (ROS), low glucose, and hyperthermia. According to this hypothesis, somatic cell resilience determines species differences in longevity during repeated infections and traumatic injuries in the natural environment. Infections and injury expose local fibroblasts and other cells to ROS generated by macrophages and to local temperature elevations. Systemically, acute phase immune reactions cause hypoglycemia and hyperthermia. We propose that cell resilience to somatic stressors incurred in inflammation is important in the evolution of longevity and that longer‐lived species are specifically more resistant to immune‐related stressors. This hypothesis further specifies Kirkwood’s disposable soma theory. We suggest expanding the battery of stressors and markers used for comparative studies to additional cell types and additional parameters relevant to host defense and to their ecological specificities.