Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Techniques for computing with low-independence randomness

During the past two decades, randomness has emerged as a central tool in the development of computational procedures. For example, there are many well known problems for which randomness can be used to design an algorithm that works well with high probability on all inputs, whereas the best known deterministic algorithms fail miserably on worst-case inputs. Unfortunately, generating truly random bits can be very difficult and/or expensive. This thesis shows that for several large and important classes of computational problems, however, a weaker and less expensive form of randomness--namely, k-wise independent distributions--will suffice. As a consequence, we are able to devise improved algorithms and cryptographic protocols for a wide variety of problems. The most important applications of this work are listed below. (1) We obtain the first efficient parallel approximation algorithm for set cover. This linear processor, NC algorithm obtains a performance guarantee within a (1 + $\epsilon$) factor of the best sequential algorithm, while achieving a near-optimal speedup. This algorithm has applications in many areas, including parallel learning theory. (2) We provide a general technique for removing randomness from parallel algorithms that depend on up to polylogarithmic independence. The technique substantially generalizes the benefit function framework of Luby to include functions which are a sum of a polynomial number of arbitrary functions of $O$(log $n$) boolean variables each. Special cases of polylogarithmic variable functions and multivalued random variables are also considered. As applications of these techniques, we provide the best known deterministic NC approximation algorithms for set discrepancy, weighted discrepancy, lattice approximation, edge coloring, and other problems. (3) We give the first construction of a secure signature scheme that is based solely on the existence of one-way functions (where by secure we mean secure against existential forgery under adaptive chosen message attack). This improves upon the best previously known construction which requires the existence of a one-way permutation. Our construction is, in fact, optimal: the existence of one-way functions is both a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of secure signature schemes. As part of constructing a signature scheme, we show how to construct a family of one-way hash functions given any one-way function. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Extracting Topic-related Opinions and their Targets in NTCIR-7

In recent years, there have been many interests in opinion resources such as online news, blogs, and forums. With this tendency, many opinionrelated applications are proposed to quench an opinion-seeking desire of users. However, selecting publicly interesting opinions is important to improve the effectiveness of such opinion applications, by focusing more on important opinions. To achieve this goal, we propose an opinion mining system which extracts topic-related opinions (at sentence level) and identifies their targets. Our system can be characterized with probabilistic divergence based keyword extraction, language model based topic relevance determination with web-snippets expansion, and heuristic feature based target identification. Experimental results show that our approach is promising.
Effects of heat treatment on internal browning and membrane fatty acid in loquat fruit in response to chilling stress.

BACKGROUND Chilling injury (CI) limits the storage period and shelf-life of red-fleshed loquat fruit (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.), which leads to a remarkable loss after cold storage. To develop an effective technique to reduce CI, the effects of a 38 degrees C heat treatment in air for 5 h, plus storage at 1 degrees C for 35 days, on internal browning (IB) and membrane fatty acid composition of the loquat cv. Jiefangzhong were investigated. RESULTS Heat treatment delayed the occurrence of IB and inhibited the increase of IB index in 'Jiefangzhong' loquat fruit. Heat treatment maintained lower levels of electrolyte leakage and malondialdehyde content, and inhibited the increases in phospholipase D and lipoxygenase activities compared with the control fruit. Meanwhile, heat treatment inhibited the increases in palmitic, stearic and oleic acid levels and delayed the decreases in linoleic and linolenic acid contents, thus maintaining higher unsaturated/saturated fatty acid ratio than the control. CONCLUSION These results suggest that the reduction of IB in chilled loquat fruit by heat treatment might due to maintenance of membrane integrity and higher unsaturated/saturated fatty acid ratio.
Developmental trends and gender differences in construing the self and parents

Abstract Canadian students (192 girls and 173 boys, ranging in age from 8 to 18 years) in francophone schools individually categorized themselves and both of their parents on 12 bipolar constructs, such as genereux(se)-avaricieux(se) [generous-stingy]. The degree of differentiation between parents correlated with age to about the same extent for both boys and girls. There was also a correlation between age and the degree to which students differentiated themselves from parents of their own and apposite gender. Moreover, differentiation between parents was correlated with the degree of differentiation of self from each parent. Across all age groups, both boys and girls differentiated themselves more from parents of the opposite gender than from aprents of the same gender. Girls and boys differentiated themselves from their mothers to about the same extent; however, girls differentiated themselves from their fathers significantly more than did boys.
Characterization of Fiber Types in Different Muscles of the Hindlimb in Female Weanling and Adult Wistar Rats

We analyzed lesser diameter and distribution of fiber types in different skeletal muscles from female Wistar rats using a histoenzymology Myofibrillar Adenosine Tri-phosphatase (mATPase) method. Fragments from muscles were frozen and processed by mATPase in different pH. Adult and weanling rat soleus muscles presented a predominance of type I fibers and larger fiber diameters. In the plantar muscle in adult rats, the type IIB fibers demonstrated greater lesser diameter while in the weanling animals, types I and IIB fibers were larger. The plantar muscle of animals of both ages was composed predominantly of the type IID fibers. The type IID fibers were observed in similar amounts in the lateral gastrocnemius and the medial gastrocnemius muscles. Type IIB fibers showed predominance and presented higher size in comparison with other types in the EDL muscle. The present study shows that data on fiber type distribution and fiber lesser diameter obtained in adult animals cannot always be applied to weanling animals of the same species. Using the mATPase, despite the difficult handling, is an important tool to determine the different characteristics of the specific fibers in the skeletal muscle tissue.
A new effective method for estimating missing values in the sequence data prior to phylogenetic analysis

In this article we address the problem of phylogenetic inference from nucleic acid data containing missing bases. We introduce a new effective approach, called “Probabilistic estimation of missing values” (PEMV), allowing one to estimate unknown nucleotides prior to computing the evolutionary distances between them. We show that the new method improves the accuracy of phylogenetic inference compared to the existing methods “Ignoring Missing Sites” (IMS), “Proportional Distribution of Missing and Ambiguous Bases” (PDMAB) included in the PAUP software [26]. The proposed strategy for estimating missing nucleotides is based on probabilistic formulae developed in the framework of the Jukes-Cantor [10] and Kimura 2-parameter [11] models. The relative performances of the new method were assessed through simulations carried out with the SeqGen program [20], for data generation, and the BioNJ method [7], for inferring phylogenies. We also compared the new method to the DNAML program [5] and “Matrix Representation using Parsimony” (MRP) [13, 19] considering an example of 66 eutherian mammals originally analyzed in [17].
Incidence and Effects of Parallel Process in Psychotherapy Supervision

ABSTRACT The degree to which parallel process exists in supervision and the specific effects of parallel process from the viewpoint of the participants of psychotherapy supervision were investigated. Differences between supervisors and supervisees were examined as were differences between psychoanalytic and nonpsychoanalytic orientations. Three hundred subjects completed the Parallel Process Survey, which was designed specifically for this study. The results empirically validate the theoretical literature that suggests that parallel process exists, is utilized in psychotherapy supervision, is applicable to a variety of theoretical orientations, and has clear effects on the participants of psychotherapy supervision. While there was not unanimous agreement, very few subjects denied the existence of parallel process. Orientation differences were present, with the psychoanalytic orientation consistently reporting stronger existence and importance of parallel process and greater effects of parallel process tha.
High Sulfur Isotope Fractionation Associated with Anaerobic Oxidation of Methane in a Low-Sulfate, Iron-Rich Environment

Sulfur isotope signatures provide key information for the study of microbial activity in modern systems and the evolution of the Earth surface redox system. Microbial sulfate reducers shift sulfur isotope distributions by discriminating against heavier isotopes. This discrimination is strain-specific and often suppressed at sulfate concentrations in the lower micromolar range that are typical to freshwater systems and inferred for ancient oceans. Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is a sulfate-reducing microbial process with a strong impact on global sulfur cycling in modern habitats and potentially in the geological past, but its impact on sulfur isotope signatures is poorly understood, especially in low sulfate environments. We investigated sulfur cycling and 34S fractionation in a low-sulfate freshwater sediment with biogeochemical conditions analogous to Early Earth environments. The zone of highest AOM activity was associated in situ with a zone of strong 34S depletions in the pool of reduced sulfur species, indicating a coupling of sulfate reduction and AOM at sulfate concentrations < 50 µmol L-1. In slurry incubations of AOM-active sediment, the addition of methane stimulated sulfate reduction and induced a bulk sulfur isotope effect of ~29 ‰. Our results imply that sulfur isotope signatures may be strongly impacted by AOM even at sulfate concentrations two orders of magnitude lower than at present oceanic levels. Therefore, we suggest that sulfur isotope fractionation during AOM must be considered when interpreting 34S signatures in modern and ancient environment.
Animated transitions for empowering interactive information systems

Animated transitions are widely used in many different domains of human activity, ranging from cartoons and movies to computer science for powerfully conveying a message more effectively and efficiently about a phenomenon of interest. This paper reviews a series of techniques for defining, analyzing, and exploiting animated transitions in different types of interactive information systems. A general conceptual model is provided that explicitly links a model of an interactive information system, its model elements and relationships to animated transitions in order to adequately reflect any change of the model into animated transitions. Two instantiations of this conceptual framework are discussed: animated transitions for representing adaptation of the graphical user interface of an interactive system, along with its implementation; and animated transitions between user interface views during development life cycle.
Effects of γ- and Hydroxypropyl-γ-cyclodextrins on the Transport of Doxorubicin across an in Vitro Model of Blood-Brain Barrier

Association between doxorubicin (DOX) and γ-cyclodextrin (γ-CD) or hydroxypropyl-γ-CD (HP-γ-CD) has been examined to increase the delivery of this antitumoral agent to the brain. The stoichiometry and the stability constant of γ-CD or HP-γ-CD and DOX complexes were determined in physiological medium by UV-visible spectroscopy. By using an in vitro model of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), endothelial permeability and toxicity toward the brain capillary endothelial cells of DOX, γ-CD, and HP-γ-CD were performed. For each CD, endothelial permeability was relatively low and a disruption of the BBB occurred at 20 μM, 20 mM, and 50 mM DOX, γ-CD, and HP-γ-CD, respectively. Increasing amounts of CDs were added to a fixed DOX concentration. Addition of γ-CD or HP-γ-CD, up to 15 and 35 mM, respectively, decreased the DOX delivery, probably due to the low complex penetration across the BBB and the decrease in free DOX concentration. Higher CD concentrations increased the DOX delivery to the brain, but this effect is due to a loss of BBB integrity. In contrast to what was observed on Caco-2 cell model with various drugs, CDs are not able to increase the delivery of DOX across our in vitro model of BBB.
Routinely frozen biopsies of human skeletal muscle are suitable for morphological and immunocytochemical analyses at transmission electron microscopy

The aim of the present investigation was to evaluate whether routinely frozen biopsies of human skeletal muscle may be suitable for morphological and immunocytochemical analyses at transmission electron microscopy. The fixation/embedding protocols we successfully used for decades to process fresh mammalian tissues have been applied to frozen muscle biopsies stored for one to four years in liquid nitrogen. After 2.5% glutaraldehyde -2% paraformaldehyde - 1% OsO4 fixation and embedding in epoxy resin, the ultrastructural morphology of myofibres and satellite cells as well as of their organelles and inclusions proved to be well preserved. As expected, after 4% paraformaldehyde - 0.5% glutaraldehyde fixation and embedding in LR White resin, the morphology of membrane-bounded organelles was relatively poor, although myofibrillar and sarcomeric organization was still recognizable. On the contrary, the myonuclei were excellently preserved and, after conventional staining with uranyl acetate, showed an EDTA-like effect, i.e. the bleaching of condensed chromatin, which allows the visualization of RNP-containing structures. These samples proved to be suitable for immunocytochemical analyses of both cytoskeletal and nuclear components, whereas the poor mitochondrial preservation makes unreliable any in situ investigation on these organelles. Keeping in mind the limitations found, these results open promising perspectives in the study of frozen skeletal muscle samples stored in the tissue banks; this would be especially interesting for rare muscle diseases, where the limited number of biopsies suitable for ultrastructural investigation has so far represented a great restriction in elucidating the cellular mechanisms responsible for the pathological phenotype.
A Data Management Framework for Distributed Biomedical Research Environments

Biomedical research increasingly depends on access to and analysis of distributed medical and biomedical data. In biomedical research, datasets are often collected at multiple locations, as it is difficult to recruit required patient populations at one location. The sensitive nature of these datasets leads to a need for secure sharing methods that can work with distributed databases and image archives. The efficient implementation of such methods is complicated by the fact that the researchers who need to access data are often behind firewalls that prohibit inbound connections. This restriction, combined with large data volumes and many small files, leads to significant data transfer challenges. We present a data management framework suitable for such distributed biomedical research environments and describe its application in the context of FBIRN, a distributed data-sharing system for medical researchers. The framework includes security tools, catalogs for managing datasets, and a secure data transfer service.
Using narratives to understand progress in youth alcohol and other drug treatment

Purpose – This paper aims to illustrate how narrative research techniques can be employed to promote greater understanding of young people's experiences of progress in residential alcohol and other drug treatment.Design/methodology/approach – Narrative inquiry is used to explore client understandings of what characterises progress in treatment for young people attending a residential detoxification and a residential rehabilitation service in Perth, Western Australia. This article focuses on stories of progress collected through in‐depth qualitative interviews, observation and participation with clients of the two services, over a five‐month period.Findings – Analysis of data revealed that young people were able to vividly describe their progress through treatment, and their drug taking trajectories can be conceptualised along five stages. The authors prepared narrative accounts to illustrate the features characteristic of each stage as identified by the young people. These composite narratives, written fr.
Exploring the Symbolic Meaning of Brands

SUMMARY The symbolic meaning of brands of trainers is explored using a free-response stimulus-bound methodology. Gender differences in the meaning of brands are related to thresholds of elaborative processing of advertising messages. Age differences are related to transformational aspects of advertising for fashion products. The implications for meaning research and strategic brand concept-image management are discussed.
Attribute-Based Oblivious Access Control

In an attribute-based system (ABS), users are identified by various attributes, instead of their identities. Since its seminal introduction, the attribute-based mechanism has attracted a lot of attention. However, current ABS schemes have a number of drawbacks: (i) the communication cost is linear in the number of the required attributes; (ii) the computation cost is linear in the number of the required attributes and (iii) there are no efficient verification algorithms for the secret keys. These drawbacks limit the use of ABS in practice. In this paper, we propose an attribute-based oblivious access control (ABOAC) scheme to address these problems, where only the receiver whose attributes satisfy the access policies can obtain services obliviously. As a result, the receiver does not release anything about the contents of the selected services and his attributes to the sender, and even the number and supersets of his attributes are protected. The sender only knows the number of the services selected by the authorized receiver. Notably, the costs of computation and communication are constant and independent of the number of required attributes. While, in the prior comparable schemes, both the costs of computation and communication are linear in the required attributes. Therefore, our ABOAC scheme provides a novel and elegant solution to protect user's privacy in the systems where both the bandwidth and the computing capability are limited, such as wireless sensor and actor networks, mobile ad hoc networks, etc.
Pattern mimicry of host eggs by the common cuckoo, as seen through a bird's eye

Cuckoo–host interactions provide classical examples of coevolution. Cuckoos place hosts under selection to detect and reject foreign eggs, while host defences result in the evolution of host-egg mimicry in cuckoos. Despite a long history of research, egg pattern mimicry has never been objectively quantified, and so its coevolution with host defences has not been properly assessed. Here, we use digital image analysis and modelling of avian vision to quantify the level of pattern mimicry in eight host species of the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus and their respective cuckoo host-races. We measure a range of pattern attributes, including marking size, diversity in size, contrast, coverage and dispersion. This new technique reveals hitherto unnoticed sophistication in egg pattern mimicry. We show that various features of host egg pattern are mimicked by the eggs of their respective cuckoo host-races, and that cuckoos have evolved better pattern mimicry for host species that exhibit stronger egg rejection. Pattern differs relatively more between eggs of different host species than between their respective cuckoo host-races. We suggest that cuckoos may have more ‘average’ markings in order to be able to use subsidiary hosts. Our study sheds new light on cuckoo–host coevolution and illustrates a new technique for quantifying animal markings with respect to the relevant animal visual system.
The Apprehension of Beauty: The Role of Aesthetic Conflict in Development, Art and Violence

Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of its first publication, the re-issue of this book which has become among the most significant and classic contributions to post-Kleinian thought and learning, is surely a welcome and much anticipated event. Aesthetics, beauty, and the aesthetic conflict, have been the building blocks of psychoanalysis, a revised developmental scheme of 'love-at-firstsight' mother-child relationship with its consequent good internal object formation, and the critical reading of literature and poetry. This book represents the gems of thought and discovery in the works of Meg Harris Williams and Donald Meltzer. --Gilead Nachmani, Psychoanalyst, William Alanson White Institute, New York. 'The Apprehension of Beauty' comprises in a nutshell the Meltzerian innovations in psychoanalytic thought, in particular his application of Bion's theory of the apprehension aroused by the 'new idea' as pointing specifically to the 'mystery' at the nucleus of the 'aesthetic conflict'. The book, assembled by two pairs of hands, reviews various aspects of the aesthetic conflict, alternating clinical essays and those of literary criticism, serving to demonstrate how the process set in motion in analysis and in the coming to fruition of an art work are essentially one. --Sandra Gosso, Specialist in Psychology of Art, Researcher at the Department of Philosophy, University of Pisa
Utility of Gestural Cues in Indexing Semantic Miscommunication

In multimedia data analysis, automated indexing of conversational video is an emerging topic. One challenging problem in this topic is the recognition of higher-level concepts, such as \emph{miscommunications} in conversations. While detecting these miscommunications is generally easy for the speakers as well as for observers, it is not currently understood which cues contribute to their detection and to what extent. We investigate the possibility of indexing the occurrence of miscommunications in psychotherapeutic face-to-face conversations from gestural patterns. The applicability of machine learning is investigated as a means of detecting miscommunication from gestural patterns observed in the conversations. Both simple and complex classifiers are constructed using different features taken from the gesture data. Both short-term and long-term effects are tested using different time window sizes. Also, two types of gestures, communicative and non-communicative, are considered. The experimental results suggest that there \emph{does not exist a single gestural feature} that can explain the occurrence of semantic miscommunication. Another interesting finding is that gestural cues correlate more with long-term gestural patterns than short-term ones.