Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
GlossOnt: A Concept-focused Ontology Building Tool

The demand for ontologies is rapidly growing especially due to developments in knowledge management, E-commerce and the Semantic Web. Building an ontology and a background knowledge base manually is so costly and time-consuming that it hampers progress in intelligent information access. Therefore, semi-automatic or automatic construction of ontologies is very useful. This paper presents a concept-focused ontology building method based on text mining technology. The method focuses on a particular domain concept at a time and actively acquires source documents for the ontological knowledge about the concepts. It begins with the analysis of glossary definitions about the target concept by extracting classes and relationships. Then, it generates advanced queries from the result of glossary definition processing and activates a Web search engine to obtain more documents relevant to the target concept. The method extends the ontological knowledge by extracting more domain-specific concepts and relationships from the search documents. By focusing on a specific concept and highly relevant document set, this method suffers less ambiguity and can identify domain concepts and relations more accurately. In addition, by acquiring source documents from the Web on demand, the method can produce up-to-date ontologies.
Satisfiability Planning with Constraints on the Number of Actions

We investigate satisfiability planning with restrictions on the number of actions in a plan. Earlier work has considered encodings of sequential plans for which a plan with the minimal number of time steps also has the minimum number of actions, and parallel (partially ordered) plans in which the number of actions may be much higher than the number of time steps. For a given problem instance finding a parallel plan may be much faster than finding a corresponding sequential plan but there is also the possibility that the parallel plan contains unnecessary actions. Our work attempts to combine the advantages of parallel and sequential plans by efficiently finding parallel plans with as few actions as possible. We propose techniques for encoding parallel plans with constraints on the number of actions. Then we give algorithms for finding a plan that is optimal with respect to a given number of steps and an anytime algorithm for successively finding better and better plans. We show that as long as guaranteed optimality is not required, our encodings for parallel plans are often much more efficient in finding plans of good quality than a sequential encoding.
The Fundamental Dimensions of Social Relationship: a Theoretical Statement

Despite a noteworthy empirical convergence by a number of investigators on at least two basic dimensions of social relationship, namely Control and Affection (as they are often called), additional factors frequently emerge as well. This leads to some perplexity as to how many basic dimensions of interaction there are. To clarify the ambiguity, the concept of the division of labor is examined. The division of labor, it is suggested here, always involves some technical activity going on among the actors Beyond this there is a need for co-ordination, response to exigency, setting of priorities, etc. These require that some actors do what other actors tell them to do. When it is asked why an actor complies with another actor's wish, demand or request, a possible answer, which underlies the model of social interaction presented here, is as follows: (1) compliance because of coercion, and (2) compliance because the actor wants to do so. These two bases for compliance may be understood to imply the two standard sociological categories of Power relations (in the Weberian sense) and Status relations, respectively. It is argued further, for heuristic purposes, that all social relationships can be explicated by positioning actors in a two-dimensional space constituted by orthogonal axes of power and status Examination of disparate factor analytic evidence suggests strongly that factors in addition to Control and Affection, which are shown to be essentially equivalent to Power and Status, are either technical activity or are not of direct sociological interest Support for this argument is also adduced from a consideration of learning theory.
Globalizing forms of elite sociability: varieties of cosmopolitanism in Paris social clubs

This article examines the cultivation of transnational connections, cosmopolitanism and global class consciousness among members of elite social clubs in Paris. Drawing from interviews with members, it compares how – according to their respective characteristics – various social clubs promote different kinds of bourgeois cosmopolitanism, while rejecting the more recent internationalism of upper-middle-class service clubs such as the Rotary. Each club's peculiar ethos, practice and representations of social capital are related to the features of competing clubs through relations of mutual symbolic distinction; for example, some clubs emphasize the ‘genuineness’ of links while stigmatizing others for the accent they put on utility. The varied forms of cosmopolitanism that they promote partly replicate these logics of distinction, eliciting struggles over the authenticity or inauthenticity of transnational connections. Yet, clubs also oppose each other according to the unequal emphasis that they place on international ties per se, which creates a competing axiology within the symbolic economy of social capital accumulation.
Assessing the psychometric properties of Kember and Leung’s Reflection Questionnaire

Reflective thinking is often stated as a learning outcome of baccalaureate nursing education, and as a characteristic of a competent professional; however, no consistent method exists to assess the extent to which students engage in reflective thinking. To address this need, Kember and Leung developed and tested a self-report questionnaire based on Mezirow’s conceptualisation of levels of reflective thinking. The purpose of this study was to test the psychometric properties of the Reflection Questionnaire, developed by Kember and Leung. A convenience sample (n = 538) of third-year baccalaureate nursing students from four collaborative nursing programmes in Ontario was used. Ethical approval was secured from 10 sites. Second-order confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were used to test the factor structure of the Reflection Questionnaire. This research was part of a larger study on reflective thinking and is a first step in validating a four-level measure of reflective thinking, in educational environments, with baccalaureate nursing students. The results of the second-order CFA provide support for the construct validity of reflective thinking. Results of this study contribute to the evidence supporting the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. Nurse educators can use this information when implementing the questionnaire, and learning the extent to which students are engaging in the reflective thinking process.
An efficient detection technique for synchronous CDMA communication systems based on the expectation maximization algorithm

Maximum likelihood detection of superimposed signals in code-division multiple access (CDMA) communication systems has a computational complexity that is exponential in the number of users, and its implementation is practically prohibitive even for a moderate number of users. Applying the expectation maximization algorithm to this problem, we decompose the multiuser detection problem into a series of single-user problems, and thus present an iterative computationally efficient algorithm for detection of superimposed signals in synchronous direct-sequence CDMA communication systems. The resulting structure includes the well-known multistage detector as one of its special cases. With a proper choice of its parameters, the new detector can achieve the advantages of both the multistage and conventional detector and have good performance for both strong and weak users.
Long-chain polyene status of preterm infants with regard to the fatty acid composition of their diet: Comparison between absolute and relative fatty acid levels in plasma and erythrocyte phospholipids

The long-chain polyene (LCP) status of thirty-nine premature infants (birth weight < 1800 g) was evaluated. Twenty-seven infants were fed on an artificial formula, twelve received their own mother's breast milk. Fatty acid compositions of both plasma and erythrocyte (RBC) phospholipids (PL) were determined in umbilical venous blood and in weekly postnatal blood samples until the 28th day of life. Individual fatty acid levels were expressed as absolute quantities (mg fatty acid/I plasma or RBC suspension) and as relative (mg/100 mg total fatty acids) values. The changes with time in the absolute values for 22:6n-3 and 20:4n-6 in plasma were strikingly different from those of the relative values for these fatty acids. In plasma PL the inter-group differences in the absolute postnatal values for 22:6n-3 (P < 0·0005) and 20:4n-6 (P < 0·05) and the relative values for 22:6n-3 (P < 0·02) were significant, with lower fatty acid values in the formula-fed infants. In RBC PL, no significant inter-group differences in the postnatal 22: 6n-3 and 20: 4n-6 values were found. Based on the assumption that it is desirable for formula-fed infants to achieve postnatal plasma LCP values at least comparable with those found in infants fed on human milk, the findings of the present study indicate that both n-3 and n-6 LCP should be added to preterm infant formulas. Moreover, the additional importance of absolute fatty acid levels was demonstrated, although analytical procedures need to be standardized to enable effective comparison of results from different research groups.
Deployed ARMOR protection: the application of a game theoretic model for security at the Los Angeles International Airport

Security at major locations of economic or political importance is a key concern around the world, particularly given the threat of terrorism. Limited security resources prevent full security coverage at all times, which allows adversaries to observe and exploit patterns in selective patrolling or monitoring, e.g. they can plan an attack avoiding existing patrols. Hence, randomized patrolling or monitoring is important, but randomization must provide distinct weights to different actions based on their complex costs and benefits. To this end, this paper describes a promising transition of the latest in multi-agent algorithms -- in fact, an algorithm that represents a culmination of research presented at AAMAS - into a deployed application. In particular, it describes a software assistant agent called ARMOR (Assistant for Randomized Monitoring over Routes) that casts this patrolling/monitoring problem as a Bayesian Stackelberg game, allowing the agent to appropriately weigh the different actions in randomization, as well as uncertainty over adversary types. ARMOR combines three key features: (i) It uses the fastest known solver for Bayesian Stackelberg games called DOBSS, where the dominant mixed strategies enable randomization; (ii) Its mixed-initiative based interface allows users to occasionally adjust or override the automated schedule based on their local constraints; (iii) It alerts the users if mixed-initiative overrides appear to degrade the overall desired randomization. ARMOR has been successfully deployed since August 2007 at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to randomize checkpoints on the roadways entering the airport and canine patrol routes within the airport terminals. This paper examines the information, design choices, challenges, and evaluation that went into designing ARMOR.
Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase levels at the normal and recurrent spontaneous abortion fetal–maternal interface

Objectives To localize indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) mRNA and protein and to undertake a functional study at the first trimester fetal–maternal interface in order to determine whether the distribution and function of IDO are related to recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA). Methods Women undergoing legal pregnancy termination and women with RSA participated in this prospective study. Immunohistochemistry and real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction were used to analyse levels of IDO protein and mRNA in placenta, decidua and HTR-8/SVneo cells. Culture medium collected from trophoblast villous explant or HTR-8/SVneo cell cultures was used to measure IDO activity in response to interferon (IFN)-γ treatment. Results A total of 40 healthy women and 26 women with RSA provided samples of placenta and decidua. For normal pregnancies, IDO protein and mRNA was identified in placental trophoblasts, invasive extravillous trophoblasts and decidual glandular epithelium. IFN-γ significantly increased IDO activity in trophoblast villous explants and HTR-8/SVneo cells. Levels of IDO protein and mRNA in the placenta and decidua from normal pregnancies were significantly higher than in those from RSA. Conclusions Decreased levels of IDO protein and mRNA in the placenta and decidua from RSA suggest an important role for IDO in the maintenance of normal pregnancy.
Population Growth, Urban Expansion, and Private Forestry in Western Oregon

Private forestlands in the United States face increasing pressures from growing populations, resulting in greater numbers of people living in closer proximity to forests. What often is called the "wildland/urban interface" is characterized by expansion of residential and other developed land uses onto forested landscapes in a manner that threatens forestlands as productive socioeconomic and ecological resources. Prevailing hypotheses suggest that such forestlands can become less productive, because forest owners reduce investments in forest management. We develop empirical models describing forest stocking, thinning, harvest, and tree planting in western Oregon, as functions of stand and site characteristics, ownership, and building densities. We use the models to examine the potential impacts of population growth and urban expansion, as described by increasing building densities, on the likelihood that forest owners maintain forest stocking, precommercial thin, harvest, and plant trees following harvest. Empirical results support the general conclusion that population growth and urban expansion are correlated with reduced forest management and investment on private forest- lands in western Oregon (USA). Results have potential implications for both economic outputs and ecological conditions, as well as for wildfire risks at the wildland/urban interface. FOR. SCI. 50(1):33-43.
Balloon Pulmonary Angioplasty: A Treatment Option for Inoperable Patients with Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension

In chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), stenoses or obstructions of the pulmonary arteries due to organized thrombi can cause an elevation in pulmonary artery resistance, which in turn can result in pulmonary hypertension. CTEPH can be cured surgically by pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA); however, patients deemed unsuitable for PEA due to lesion, advanced age, or comorbidities have a poor prognosis and limited treatment options. Recently, advances have been made in balloon pulmonary angioplasty for these patients, and this review highlights this recent progress.
Level set method for pulmonary vessels extraction

Pulmonary vessels extraction is of utmost importance in medical study. In this paper, we propose a new scheme to extract pulmonary vessels in CT images based on the level set method. A new region based speed function is designed and integrated with the previous edge based terms to evolve the front. Due to this region based speed term, the front could propagate even in thin vessel branches. The level set evolution is performed on a multiscale space where a new solution passing method is proposed that could induce a fast convergence rate. Meanwhile, an improved Hermes algorithm, we call it fast Hermes, is developed to evolve the level set evolution numerically. Experiments show that the segmentation results using our approach, especially in thin vessel branches extraction, are more promising than that of the usual level set method for segmentation.
Kinetics of Insulin Secretion from MIN6 Pseudoislets after Encapsulation in a Prototype Device of a Bioartificial Pancreas

Xenotransplantation of insulin-secreting cells from nonhuman sources is an alternative therapeutic approach to bypass the shortage of human pancreatic islet tissue for transplantation in order to treat insulin deficiency in type 1 diabetes mellitus. Therefore, we studied the suitability of pseudoislets generated from insulin-secreting MIN6 tissue culture cells to serve as a surrogate for replacement of pancreatic islets after encapsulation in a minicell, representing a prototype of a new bioartificial pancreas device. MIN6 pseudoislets showed an excellent insulin secretory responsiveness with a typical biphasic secretory pattern to glucose stimulation. When encapsulated in the minicell, insulin release from the pseudoislets in response to glucose stimulation was reduced. The initial first phase insulin secretory response was greatly attenuated. In contrast, the first phase insulin secretory response of the encapsulated pseudoislets was restored on stimulation with the sulfonylurea drug tolbutamide. Our results indicate that the reason for the attenuated first phase of release is the restricted permeability of the pores in the separating membrane in the minicell for the hydrophilic glucose molecule rather than a limited permeability for the secretion product insulin. The reduced release of insulin from the encapsulated pseudoislets could be compensated by overexpression of glucokinase in MIN6 cells, which resulted in an increased glucose responsiveness of the pseudoislets for stimulation with glucose. Thus, this minicell is a well-suited miniature test system for the evaluation of the feasibility of encapsulation of insulin-secreting cells and allows the testing of permeability properties of separating membranes in bioartificial pancreas devices.
Tetraspanins in Extracellular Vesicle Formation and Function

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) represent a novel mechanism of intercellular communication as vehicles for intercellular transfer of functional membrane and cytosolic proteins, lipids, and RNAs. Microvesicles, ectosomes, shedding vesicles, microparticles, and exosomes are the most common terms to refer to the different kinds of EVs based on their origin, composition, size, and density. Exosomes have an endosomal origin and are released by many different cell types, participating in different physiological and/or pathological processes. Depending on their origin, they can alter the fate of recipient cells according to the information transferred. In the last two decades, EVs have become the focus of many studies because of their putative use as non-invasive biomarkers and their potential in bioengineering and clinical applications. In order to exploit this ability of EVs many aspects of their biology should be deciphered. Here, we review the mechanisms involved in EV biogenesis, assembly, recruitment of selected proteins, and genetic material as well as the uptake mechanisms by target cells in an effort to understand EV functions and their utility in clinical applications. In these contexts, the role of proteins from the tetraspanin superfamily, which are among the most abundant membrane proteins of EVs, will be highlighted.
Behavioral / Systems / Cognitive Functional , But Not Anatomical , Separation of “ What ” and “ When ” in Prefrontal Cortex

Christian K. Machens,1 Ranulfo Romo,2 and Carlos D. Brody3,4,5 1Group for Neural Theory, Inserm U960, Département d’études cognitives, École normale supérieure, 75005 Paris, France, 2Instituto de Fisiología Celular– Neurociencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 04510 México D.F. , México, and 3Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 4Princeton Neuroscience Institute, and 5Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544
Process studies of change in organization and management : unveiling temporality, activity, and flow

Process studies focus attention on how and why things emerge, develop, grow, or terminate over time. We identify various ontological assumptions underlying process research, explore its methods and challenges, and draw out some of its substantive contributions revealed in this Special Research Forum on Process Studies of Change in Organization and Management. Process studies take time seriously, illuminate the role of tensions and contradictions in driving patterns of change, and show how interactions across levels contribute to change. They may also reveal the dynamic activity underlying the maintenance and reproduction of stability.
What ’ s Transmitted ?

Sterelny et al. (1996) and Maynard Smith (2000) were the first to argue that genetic information should be understood in terms of teleofunctions, leading to a sense in which genes carry semantic information, with conditions of correctness or satisfaction. In Shea (2007a) I argued that a modified teleosemantic account could be sustained in the face of various objections to these views. The account has two key elements. First, semantic content comes into view only when we see DNA as carrying messages between generations, rather than sending messages during the course of individual development. Second, we need to be clear that there is a consumer of these messages. I argued that there is a real consumer: the process of development takes zygotic DNA as input and produces phenotypic traits as output – bracketing the intricacies of the actual processes of individual development. The message carried by DNA down the generations can only be discerned by considering the way that genes are designed to be consumed.
Rapid endocytosis provides restricted somatic expression of a K+ channel in central neurons

Trafficking motifs present in the intracellular regions of ion channels affect their subcellular location within neurons. The mechanisms that control trafficking to dendrites of central neurons have been identified, but it is not fully understood how channels are localized to the soma. We have now identified a motif within the calcium-activated potassium channel KCa2.1 (SK1) that results in somatic localization. Transfection of hippocampal neurons with KCa2.1 subunits causes expression of functional channels in only the soma and proximal processes. By contrast, expressed KCa2.3 subunits are located throughout the processes of transfected neurons. Point mutation of KCa2.1 within this novel motif to mimic a sequence present in the C-terminus of KCa2.3 causes expression of KCa2.1 subunits throughout the processes. We also demonstrate that blocking of clathrin-mediated endocytosis causes KCa2.1 subunit expression to mimic that of the mutated subunit. The role of this novel motif is therefore not to directly target trafficking of the channel to subcellular compartments, but to regulate channel location by subjecting it to rapid clathrin-mediated endocytosis.
Measuring quality of life: The medical perspective

Health-related quality of life refers to components of health status assessments – that is, physical, cognitive, affective, social, economic, and ego or personality-oriented aspects (PCASEE) of medical disorders. Whereas medical measurements of the PCASEE profile are attempts to identify objective indicators, the quality of life measurements identify subjective indicators. Self-rating scales are therefore relevant for quality of life assessments.