Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Footprints of development and change : essays in memory of Professor V.K.R.V. Rao commemorating his birth centenary

This volume endeavours to present the terrain of development thinking in various fields of specialisation. The authors include Professor V.K. R.V. Rao Chair Professors and winners of V.K. R.V. Rao Prizes instituted by the Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi. The subjects covered are as varied as economic theory, macro models, differing approaches to explaining development, concerns of inequality and poverty, changes in community life, India's foreign policy questions, empowering vulnerable sections, etc. The most important feature of this volume is its in-depth analysis of these develop-mental issues and the challenges to the Indian academia.
FIRE: Infrastructure for Experience-Based Systems with Common Sense

We believe that the flexibility and robustness of common sense reasoning comes from analogical reasoning, learning, and generalization operating over massive amounts of experience. Million-fact knowledge bases are a good starting point, but are likely to be orders of magnitude smaller, in terms of ground facts, than will be needed to achieve human-like common sense reasoning. This paper describes the FIRE reasoning engine which we have built to experiment with this approach. We discuss its knowledge base organization, including coarse-coding via mentions and a persistent TMS to achieve efficient retrieval while respecting the logical environment formed by contexts and their relationships in the KB. We describe its stratified reasoning organization, which supports both reflexive reasoning (Ask, Query) and deliberative reasoning (Solve, HTN planner). Analogical reasoning, learning, and generalization are supported as part of reflexive reasoning. To show the utility of these ideas, we describe how they are used in the Companion cognitive architecture, which has been used in a variety of reasoning and learning experiments.
Pressures toward Uniformity in Groups: A Dynamic Structural Equation Model

In this paper a dynamic structural equation model consisting of a set of difference equations has been constructed in order to examine the process by which groups generate pressures toward uniformity. The model is based on Festinger's hypotheses about communication resulting from such pressures. Parameters of the model have been estimated from a consideration of one of the equilibrium conditions of the model. Hypothetical time paths that describe the dynamic behaviour of the system have been generated by a series of computer simulation runs. These graphs describe the process by which group cohesiveness and discrepancy in opinions among group members adjust to each other over time. The model has lead to a number of major insights into this dynamic process. The results of the simulation indicate the existence of multiple equilibrium points for the system and that the relevance of the issue for the group's functioning is a critical factor in determining the rate at which a new equilibrium is reached once the initial equilibrium is disturbed. Groups can and do attempt to influence members in order to achieve uniformity of opinions, beliefs, values and behaviour (Asch, 1951; Deutsch and Gerard, 1955; Scott 1965). Cartwrght and Zander (1968) in reviewing the theoretical explanations of why groups attempt to achieve uniformity point out four functions that such pressure serves; namely goal attainment (Festinger, 1950), group maintenance (Stock, Whitman and Lieberman, 1958), the development of social reality through consensus (Festinger, 1954; Schachter, 1959), and achievement of consensus concerning group relations with its social surroundings (Burns, 1955; Cohen, 1955; Yinger, 1950). As a result discrepancies in opinions, beliefs, values and behaviour, give rise to pressures on members to communicate with one another. Festinger (1950) in his investigations of informal social communications has enumerated a set of hypotheses concerning such communication that results from group pressures to achieve uniformity. Several of his hypotheses are concerned with members of the group as a whole and form the basis of one model by Simon and Guetzkow (1955) involving a set of differential equations. In the following section of this paper Festinger's verbal theory will be recast as a causal model (Blalock, 1969). A dynamic structural equation model will be developed consisting of a set of difference equations. This structural model will form the basis of a computer simulation model which will be validated with data from studies by Festinger, Schachter and Back (1950), Festinger and Thibaut (1951) and Back (1951).
Microbial Methane Production Associated with Carbon Steel Corrosion in a Nigerian Oil Field

Microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) in oil field pipeline systems can be attributed to many different types of hydrogenotrophic microorganisms including sulfate reducers, methanogens and acetogens. Samples from a low temperature oil reservoir in Nigeria were analyzed using DNA pyrotag sequencing. The microbial community compositions of these samples revealed an abundance of anaerobic methanogenic archaea. Activity of methanogens was demonstrated by incubating samples anaerobically in a basal salts medium, in the presence of carbon steel and carbon dioxide. Methane formation was measured in all enrichments and correlated with metal weight loss. Methanogens were prominently represented in pipeline solids samples, scraped from the inside of a pipeline, comprising over 85% of all pyrosequencing reads. Methane production was only witnessed when carbon steel beads were added to these pipeline solids samples, indicating that no methane was formed as a result of degradation of the oil organics present in these samples. These results were compared to those obtained for samples taken from a low temperature oil field in Canada, which had been incubated with oil, either in the presence or in the absence of carbon steel. Again, methanogens present in these samples catalyzed methane production only when carbon steel was present. Moreover, acetate production was also found in these enrichments only in the presence of carbon steel. From these studies it appears that carbon steel, not oil organics, was the predominant electron donor for acetate production and methane formation in these low temperature oil fields, indicating that the methanogens and acetogens found may contribute significantly to MIC.
Bone-to-implant contact around immediately loaded direct laser metal-forming transitional implants in human posterior maxilla.

OBJECTIVE Direct laser metal forming (DLMF) is a procedure in which a high-power laser beam is directed onto a metal powder bed and programmed to fuse particles according to a computer-aided design file, generating a thin metal layer. This histologic study evaluated the bone-to-implant contact (BIC%) around immediately loaded DLMF transitional implants retrieved after 2 months from posterior human maxillae. METHODS Twelve totally edentulous individuals (mean age, 66.14 ± 2.11 years) received DLMF transitional implants divided in twelve immediately loaded (IL) and twelve unloaded (UI) implants. These transitional implants were placed between conventional implants to support the interim complete maxillary denture during the healing period. After 8 weeks, the transitional implants and the surrounding tissue were removed and prepared for histomorphometric analysis. RESULTS Mature woven preexisting bone lined by newly formed bone in early stages of maturation were found around all retrieved implants. Histometric evaluation indicated that the mean BIC% was 45.20 ± 7.68% and 34.10 ± 7.85% for IL and UI, respectively (P <0.05). CONCLUSION The present data obtained in humans showed that, although both IL and UI presented good BIC%, IL DLMF implants had a higher BIC% in the posterior maxilla.
Rapid Dephosphorylation of the TorR Response Regulator by the TorS Unorthodox Sensor in Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT Induction of the torCAD operon, encoding the trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) respiratory system, is tightly controlled by the TorS-TorR phosphorelay system in response to TMAO availability. TorS is an unorthodox sensor that contains three phosphorylation sites and transphosphorylates TorR via a four-step phosphorelay, His443→Asp723→His850→Asp(TorR). In this study, we provide genetic evidence that TorS can dephosphorylate phospho-TorR when TMAO is removed. Dephosphorylation probably occurs by a reverse phosphorelay, Asp(TorR)→His850→Asp723, since His850 and Asp723 are both essential in this process. By using reverse transcriptase PCR, we also show that TMAO removal results in shutoff of toroperon transcription in less than 2 min. Based on our results and on analogy to other phosphorelay signal transduction systems, we propose that reverse phosphotransfer could be a rapid and efficient mechanism to inactivate response regulators.
Link Prediction in a Modified Heterogeneous Bibliographic Network

Researchers have discovered, in recent years, the advantages of modeling complex systems using heterogeneous information networks. These networks are comprised of heterogeneous sets of nodes and edges that better represent the different entities and relationships often found in the real world. Although heterogeneous networks provide a richer semantic view of the data, the added complexity makes it difficult to directly apply existing techniques that work well on homogeneous networks. In this paper, we propose a graph modification process that alters an existing heterogeneous bibliographic network into another network, with the purpose of highlighting the important relations in the bibliographic network. Several importance scores, some adopted from existing work and others defined in this work, are then used to measure the importance of links in the modified network. The link prediction problem is studied on the modified network by implementing a random walk-based algorithm on the network. The importance scores and the structure of the modified graph are used to guide a random walker towards relevant parts of the graph, i.e. towards nodes to which new links will be created in the future. The different properties of the proposed algorithm are evaluated experimentally on a real world bibliographic network, the DBLP. Results show that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art supervised technique as well as various approaches based on topology and node attributes.
Association of Mitochondrial Genetic Variation with Carotid Atherosclerosis

In human pathology, several diseases are associated with somatic mutations in the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA). Even though mitochondrial dysfunction leads to increased oxidative stress, the role of mitochondrial mutations in atherosclerosis has not received much attention so far. In this study we analyzed the association of mitochondrial genetic variation with the severity of carotid atherosclerosis, as assessed by carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and the presence of coronary heart disease (CHD) in 190 subjects from Moscow, Russia, a population with high CHD occurrence. cIMT was measured by high-resolution B-mode ultrasonography and mtDNA heteroplasmies by a pyrosequencing-based method. We found that heteroplasmies for several mutations in the mtDNA in leukocytes, including C3256T, T3336C, G12315A, G13513A, G14459A, G14846A, and G15059A mutations, were significantly (p<0.001) associated with both the severity of carotid atherosclerosis and the presence of CHD. These findings indicate that somatic mitochondrial mutations have a role in the development of atherosclerosis.
A test of the validity of range of motion studies of fossil archosaur elbow mobility using repeated-measures analysis and the extant phylogenetic bracket

SUMMARY Recent studies have presented range of motion (ROM) data in degrees for dinosaur forelimb joints, usually via physical manipulation of one individual. Using these data, researchers have inferred limb orientations, postures, gaits, ecological functions and even phylogenetic trends within clades. However, important areas of concern remain unaddressed; for example, how does ROM at a forelimb joint change after soft tissues are lost in archosaurs? And are fossil ROM methodologies amenable to reproducibility and statistical analysis? Here, we investigated these questions using the extant phylogenetic bracket of dinosaurs. Repeated measures of elbow joint ROM from Struthio camelus and Alligator mississippiensis forelimbs were statistically analyzed as they were sequentially dissected through five levels of tissue removal treatment. Our data indicate that there are no statistically significant differences in repeated measures of ROM between observers who use the same techniques. Extrinsic soft tissues, such as integument, muscles and ligaments were found to impede ROM at the elbow joint. Intrinsic soft tissues, such as articular cartilage, may increase ROM. The hypothesis that the articular surfaces of the bones within the elbow joints of archosaurs provide a general approximation of mobility is supported. Final ROMs were less than the initial ROMs in both taxa, which suggests that prior reports of elbow joint ROMs in degrees for nonavian dinosaurs may represent conservative estimates. We conclude that if observer bias and other variables are controlled for, ROM studies of fossil archosaur limbs can obtain useful degree data for inferring joint mobility in vivo.
Tracking with Occlusions via Graph Cuts

This work presents a new method for tracking and segmenting along time-interacting objects within an image sequence. One major contribution of the paper is the formalization of the notion of visible and occluded parts. For each object, we aim at tracking these two parts. Assuming that the velocity of each object is driven by a dynamical law, predictions can be used to guide the successive estimations. Separating these predicted areas into good and bad parts with respect to the final segmentation and representing the objects with their visible and occluded parts permit handling partial and complete occlusions. To achieve this tracking, a label is assigned to each object and an energy function representing the multilabel problem is minimized via a graph cuts optimization. This energy contains terms based on image intensities which enable segmenting and regularizing the visible parts of the objects. It also includes terms dedicated to the management of the occluded and disappearing areas, which are defined on the areas of prediction of the objects. The results on several challenging sequences prove the strength of the proposed approach.
Toward Communal Negotiation of Meaning in Schools: Principals’ Perceptions of Collective Learning from Success

Background In light of the growing complexity of schoolwork, it is important that faculty members move away from isolated learning toward a more collective type of thinking regarding teaching and learning issues. Purpose Whereas collective learning has mostly been approached from a deficit-based orientation (finding/solving problems and overcoming failures), this study examines principals’ perceptions (mindscapes) about the notion and strategy of collective learning from faculty members’ successful practices. Research Design The study employed a qualitative topic-oriented methodology to explore principals’ mindscapes concerning collective learning from success in schools. Data Collection and Analysis Data were collected via face-to-face interviews with 65 elementary, middle, and high school principals. The analysis process involved identifying common themes, contrasting patterns, and elucidating the differences among principals’ voices. Findings Principals argued that in contrast to collective learning processes to evaluate failures and problems, collective learning from successful practices requires a deliberate and conscious shift in mindset with regard to collaborative learning in schools. Principals perceived the competitive culture and the comparison of professional abilities among faculty members as major determinants of a productive collective learning from success. Principals envisioned their role in this interactive process as promoting a learning culture of inquiry, openness, and trust. Recommendations As a leadership strategy to foster collective learning in schools, both practitioners and researchers need to evaluate whether a learning community can be developed when staff members are encouraged to collectively analyze their successful practices and receive affirmation for doing so. It is important to further inquire how different stakeholders perceive this collaborative learning from successful practices.
Living in Scotland: Social and Economic Change since 1980

List of Tables in Main Text List of Supplementary Tables in Appendix I List of Figures in Main Text Preface Notes on the Authors Introduction 1. Population and Demography 2. Families and Households 3. Work and Employment 4. Income, Wealth and Poverty 5. Social Class and Social Opportunity (chapter written jointly with Cristina Iannelli) 6. Education and Life Chances 7. Consumption, Lifestyle and Culture 8. Conclusions Appendix I Supplementary Tables Appendix 2 Sources of Data Appendix 3 Measuring Social Class Appendix 4 Comparing Percentages References Index.
Ascent Guidance Comparisons

John M. Hanson, M. Wade Shrader, and Craig A. Cruzen 2AbstractThis paper conlains results from ascent guidance studies conducted at the NASAMarshall Space Flight Center. The studies include investigation of different guidanceschemes for a variety of potential launch vehicles. Criteria of a successful ascent guidancescheme are low operations cost, satisfaction of load indicator constraints, and maxinlizationof performance. Results show that open-loop designs as a function of altitude or velocityare preferable to designs that are functions of time. Optimized open-loop trajectoriescan increase performance while maintaining load indicators within limits. Closed-loopatmospheric schemes that involve linear tangent steering or feedback of velocity terms fortrajectory modification did not yield any improvement. Early release of vacuum closed-loopguidance, including use during solid rocket booster operation, yields some improvements.Evaluation of a closed-loop optimization scheme for flying through the atmosphere showsno advantages over open-loop optimization. Dispersion study results for several potentialguidance schemes and launch vehicles are included in the paper and are not a discriminatorbetween guidance schemes. The prirnary cost driver is mission operations philosophy, notchoice of guidance scheme. More autonomous guidance schemes can help in movementtowards a philosophy that would reduce operations costs.IntroductionA good ascent guidance scheme can help by reducing cost, reducing loadindicators, and increasing performance. According to a 1988 study on the SpaceShuttle, about 20% of each mission's cost is due to mission design. This isnot primarily due to design of trajectories, but rather to the extensive effortexpended to ensure that the trajectories will be successfully flown and satisfyvehicle constraints [1]. Much of the reduction in cost that should be possibleis from a change in philosophy towards mission design, rather than use of adifferent guidance scheme. For example, if vehicle performance envelopes aredefined, ground programs can automatically verify that a given trajectory will besuccessful. This approach would reduce the cost by removing the need to spendtAn earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1994 AIAA Guidance. Navigation andControlConference, Scottsdale, Arizona, August 1994.2Aerospace Engineers, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35812.307
ADAPTIVE ACCURACY CONTROL OF NONLINEAR NEWTON-KRYLOV METHODS FOR MULTISCALE INTEGRATED HYDROLOGIC MODELS

In the popular Newton-Krylov methods for solving large-scale systems of nonlinear equations, inner linear systems resulting from outer Newton linearization are solved by Krylov iterative linear solvers. The accuracy control of Krylov solvers are based on the progress of the Newton iteration to achieve good local convergence while avoiding over-solving. In practice, the efficiency and robustness of Krylov solvers rely on the use of preconditioning. Unfortunately, the existing accuracy control schemes of Krylov solvers cannot be applied efficiently when a left preconditioner is utilized. This is a challenge for applications where it is necessary to employ a left preconditioner. An example of an application exhibiting this problem is Integrated Water Flow Model (IWFM), a water resources management and planning model developed by California Department of Water Resources. In IWFM, hydrologic quantities with different numerical scales, namely groundwater head, stream flow and lake elevation are simultaneously simulated. Consequently, its linear systems are badly scaled and require row equilibration and left preconditioning. In this paper, we formulate a new accuracy control scheme that can be used directly with left preconditioned systems to take advantages of the “cheap” residual norm available from Krylov solvers. The new scheme not only provides flexibility in using preconditioning but also is efficient in solving a series of nonlinear systems. In addition, we also present a scheme to formulate adaptive damping when backtracking is not feasible. Numerical results show that the combination of new schemes reduces the number of Newton iterations by up to 50% and reduces simulation time by up to 30% in IWFM.
Nutrition and Disease Consumption of Bing Sweet Cherries Lowers Circulating Concentrations of Inflammation Markers in Healthy Men and Women

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of consuming sweet cherries on plasma lipids and markers of inflammation in healthy humans. Healthy men and women (n 1⁄4 18) supplemented their diets with Bing sweet cherries (280 g/d) for 28 d. After a 12-h fast, blood samples were taken before the start of cherry consumption (study d 0 and 7), 14 and 28 d after the start of cherry supplementation (study d 21 and 35), and 28 d after the discontinuation (study d 64) of cherry consumption. After cherries were consumed for 28 d, circulating concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP), regulated upon activation, normal T-cell expressed, and secreted (RANTES), and NO decreased by 25 (P , 0.05), 21 (P , 0.05), and 18% (P 1⁄4 0.07) respectively. After the discontinuation of cherry consumption for 28 d (d 64), concentrations of RANTES continued to decrease (P 1⁄4 0.001), whereas those of CRP and NO did not differ from either d 7 (pre-cherries) or d 35 (post-cherries). Plasma concentrations of IL-6 and its soluble receptor, intercellular adhesion molecule-1, and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-2 did not change during the study. Cherry consumption did not affect the plasma concentrations of total-, HDL-, LDL-, and VLDLcholesterol, triglycerides, subfractions of HDL, LDL, VLDL, and their particle sizes and numbers. It also did not affect fasting blood glucose or insulin concentrations or a number of other chemical and hematological variables. Results of the present study suggest a selective modulatory effect of sweet cherries on CRP, NO, and RANTES. Such antiinflammatory effects may be beneficial for the management and prevention of inflammatory diseases. J. Nutr. 136: