Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Context, scale structure, and statistics in the interpretation of positive-form adjectives

Relative adjectives in the positive form exhibit vagueness and context-sensitivity. We suggest that these phenomena can be explained by the interaction of a free threshold variable in the meaning of the positive form with a probabilistic model of pragmatic inference. We describe a formal model of utterance interpretation as coordination, which jointly infers the value of the threshold variable and the intended meaning of the sentence. We report simulations exploring the effect of background statistical knowledge on adjective interpretation in this model. Motivated by these simulation results, we suggest that this approach can account for the correlation between scale structure and the relative/absolute distinction while also allowing for exceptions noted in previous work. Finally, we argue for a probabilistic explanation of why the sorites paradox is compelling with relative adjectives even though the second premise is false on a universal interpretation, and show that this account predicts Kennedy’s (2007) observation that the sorites paradox is more compelling with relative than with absolute adjectives.
Spatial pattern of MHC class II variation in the great snipe (Gallinago media)

The genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) code for proteins involved in antigen recognition and triggering of the adaptive immune response, and are therefore likely to be under selection from parasites. These selection regimes may vary in space and time. Here we report a strong geographical structure in MHC class II B genes of a migrating bird, the great snipe (Gallinago media). Genetic differentiation in the MHC between two ecologically distinct distributional regions (Scandinavian mountain populations vs. East European lowland populations) was still present after statistically controlling for the effect of selectively neutral variation (microsatellites) using partial Mantel tests. This suggests a role for selection in generating this spatial structure and that it represents local adaptation to different environments. Differentiation between populations within the two regions was negligible. Overall, we found a high number of MHC alleles (50, from 175 individuals). This, together with a tendency for a higher rate of nonsynonymous than synonymous substitutions in the peptide binding sites, and high Tajima's D in certain regions of the gene, suggests a history of balancing selection. MHC variation is often thought to be maintained by some form of balancing selection, but the nature of this selection remains unclear. Our results support the hypothesis that spatial variation in selection regimes contributes to the high polymorphism.
The yeast Shu complex couples error‐free post‐replication repair to homologous recombination

DNA post‐replication repair (PRR) functions to bypass replication‐blocking lesions and prevent damage‐induced cell death. PRR employs two different mechanisms to bypass damaged DNA. While translesion synthesis has been well characterized, little is known about the molecular events involved in error‐free bypass, although it has been assumed that homologous recombination (HR) is required for such a mode of lesion bypass. We undertook a genome‐wide synthetic genetic array screen for novel genes involved in error‐free PRR and observed evidence of genetic interactions between error‐free PRR and HR. Furthermore, this screen identified and assigned four genes, CSM2, PSY3, SHU1 and SHU2, whose products form a stable Shu complex, to the error‐free PRR pathway. Previous studies have indicated that the Shu complex is required for efficient HR and that inactivation of any of these genes is able to suppress the severe phenotypes of top3 and sgs1. We confirmed and further extended some of the reported observations and demonstrated that error‐free PRR mutations are also epistatic to sgs1. Based on the above analyses, we propose a model in which error‐free PRR utilizes the Shu complex to recruit HR to facilitate template switching, followed by double‐Holliday junction resolution by Sgs1‐Top3. This mechanism appears to be conserved throughout eukaryotes.
Stability-constrained generation rescheduling using energy margin sensitivities

In this paper, a structure preserving energy margin (EM) sensitivity-based analysis is presented to determine the amount of preventive generation rescheduling to stabilize a transiently unstable power system. An expression using a simplified model is derived to relate the change in the EM to change in generation. Utilising this expression, two approaches for generation rescheduling are developed which are applicable to detailed model of power systems. The proposed methods are applied to the 10-machine New England power system and 16-machine power system with detailed power system models.
The Effect of Water upon Deep Eutectic Solvent Nanostructure: An Unusual Transition from Ionic Mixture to Aqueous Solution

Abstract The nanostructure of a series of choline chloride/urea/water deep eutectic solvent mixtures was characterized across a wide hydration range by neutron total scattering and empirical potential structure refinement (EPSR). As the structure is significantly altered, even at low hydration levels, reporting the DES water content is important. However, the DES nanostructure is retained to a remarkably high level of water (ca. 42 wt % H2O) because of solvophobic sequestration of water into nanostructured domains around cholinium cations. At 51 wt %/83 mol % H2O, this segregation becomes unfavorable, and the DES structure is disrupted; instead, water–water and DES–water interactions dominate. At and above this hydration level, the DES–water mixture is best described as an aqueous solution of DES components.
Statistical methodology in general psychiatric journals

Development of psychiatric research methods requires systematic review of their status. This study describes the frequency with which various statistical research designs and methods are reported in general psychiatric journals. All original research articles in four psychiatric journals in 1996 were reviewed: The American Journal of Psychiatry (AJP), The Archives of General Psychiatry (AGP), The British Journal of Psychiatry (BJP) and the Nordic Journal of Psychiatry (NJP). Evaluation included 448 regular articles, which reported original research findings based on systematic collection and statistical analysis of research data. Aspects measured were research design, statistical methodology, description of procedures and presentation of results. Percentage frequencies of reported statistical procedures were compared between the journals. The policy of determining statistical significance was still the most generally used method of conducting research. Compared to earlier reviews, readers of psychiatric reports in 1996 more frequently encountered computer-dependent multivariate techniques. There were differences in the utilization and reporting of statistical procedures among the journals. The authors of psychiatric journals might apply these results in designing their psychiatric research to present intelligible and compact analysis combined with a high quality presentation technique, thus being in line with the policy and presentation of the leading psychiatric journals.
The brief multidimensional students' life satisfaction scale-college version.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the psychometric properties of the BMSLSS-College among 723 college students. METHODS Internal consistency estimates explored scale reliability, factor analysis explored construct validity, and known-groups validity was assessed using the National College Youth Risk Behavior Survey and Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study. Criterion-related validity was explored through analyses with the CDC's health-related quality of life scale and a social isolation scale. RESULTS Acceptable internal consistency reliability, construct, known-groups, and criterion-related validity were established. CONCLUSIONS Findings offer preliminary support for the BMSLSS-C; it could be useful in large-scale research studies, applied screening contexts, and for program evaluation purposes toward achieving Healthy People 2010 objectives.
CHARACTERIZATION OF THE RIBOSOMAL RNA LOCUS OF PERKINSUS ATLANTICUS AND DEVELOPMENT OF A POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION-BASED DIAGNOSTIC ASSAY

The rRNA locus of Perkinsus atlanticus from the clam Ruditapes decussatus cultivated on the Atlantic coast of Spain was cloned and sequenced. Sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) from the rRNA locus were compared to sequences reported earlier for a P. atlanticus isolate from Portugal and to those from other Perkinsus species. The ITS1 sequence of the Spanish P. atlanticus isolate was identical to the Portuguese P. atlanticus sequence and had 76.6% identity to the ITS1 of Perkinsus marinus. The ITS2 sequence had 99.7% identity to the Portuguese P. atlanticus ITS2, 92.5% identity to the P. marinus ITS2, and 99.5% identity to the Perkinsus olseni ITS2. We report for first the time the small subunit (SSU) and nontranscribed spacer (NTS) of P. atlanticus. The P. atlanticus SSU sequence was 99.6% identical to that of an unidentified Perkinsus species from the Australian clam Anadara trapezia and 98.0% identical to that of P. marinus. Further, our results support the proposal that P. atlanticus, P. olseni, and the Perkinsus sp. from A. trapezia constitute a subgroup of Perkinsus species distributed in the Pacific and eastern Atlantic, different from P. marinus that is distributed along the western edge of the Atlantic. Based on the NTS sequence of P. atlanticus from Spain and the differences with P. marinus NTS (62.2% identity), we developed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based diagnostic assay with a lowest limit of detection of 0.01 amol of cloned NTS DNA as assessed on ethidium bromide-stained agarose gels. Specificity of the PCR-based assay was tested with samples from the clams R. decussatus, Ruditapes philippinarum, and Venerupis pullastra collected in P. atlanticus-enzootic areas of Spain. The specificity and sensitivity demonstrated for this NTS-based PCR assay validate its use as a tool for assessment of P. atlanticus in molluscs.
Endothelin ETA and ETB receptors cause vasoconstriction of human resistance and capacitance vessels in vivo.

BACKGROUND The role of endothelin ETB receptors in mediating vasoconstriction in humans is unclear. As yet, there have been no in vivo studies in resistance vessels, and in vitro data have been contradictory. We therefore investigated the function of ETB receptors in vivo in human forearm resistance and hand capacitance vessels using endothelin-1 as a nonselective agonist at ETA and ETB receptors and endothelin-3 and sarafotoxin S6c as selective agonists at the ETB receptor. METHODS AND RESULTS A series of single-blind studies were performed, each in six healthy men. Brachial artery infusion of endothelin-1 and endothelin-3 caused slow-onset dose-dependent forearm vasoconstriction. Although endothelin-3 caused significantly less forearm vasoconstriction than endothelin-1 at low doses, vasoconstriction was similar to the two isopeptides at the highest dose (60 pmol/min). Endothelin-3 caused transient forearm vasodilatation at this dose, whereas endothelin-1 showed only a nonsignificant trend toward causing early vasodilatation. Intra-arterial sarafotoxin S6c caused a progressive reduction in forearm blood flow, although less than that to endothelin-1 (P = .04). Dorsal hand vein infusion of sarafotoxin S6c caused local venoconstriction that was also less than that to endothelin-1 (P = .002). CONCLUSIONS Selective ETB receptor agonists cause constriction of forearm resistance and hand capacitance vessels in vivo in humans, suggesting that both ETA and ETB receptors mediate vasoconstriction. Hence, antagonists at both ETA and ETB receptors, or inhibitors of the generation of endothelin-1, may be necessary to completely prevent vasoconstriction to endogenously generated endothelin-1.
Cross-species chromosome painting in the golden mole and elephant-shrew: support for the mammalian clades Afrotheria and Afroinsectiphillia but not Afroinsectivora

Cross–species painting (fluorescence in situ hybridization) with 23 (human Homo sapiens (HSA)) chromosome–specific painting probes (HSA 1–22 and the X) was used to delimit regions of homology on the chromosomes of the golden mole (Chrysochloris asiaticus) and elephant–shrew (Elephantulus rupestris). A cladistic interpretation of our data provides evidence of two unique associations, HSA 1/19p and 5/21/3, that support Afrotheria. The recognition of HSA 5/3/21 expands on the 3/21 synteny originally designated as an ancestral state for all eutherians. We have identified one adjacent segment combination (HSA2/8p/4) that is supportive of Afroinsectiphillia (aardvark, golden mole, elephant–shrew). Two segmental combinations (HSA 10q/17 and HSA 3/20) unite the aardvark and elephant–shrews as sister taxa. The finding that segmental syntenies in evolutionarily distant taxa can improve phylogenetic resolution suggests that they may be useful for testing sequence–based phylogenies of the early eutherian mammals. They may even suggest clades that sequence trees are not recovering with any consistency and thus encourage the search for additional rare genomic changes among afrotheres.
Unwrapping method for interferometric images

To analyze SAR interferometric data, an unwrapping process must be first performed. Most so far proposed solutions use either local or global methods. In this paper we propose a mixed method to solve this problem, based on a 3-step iterative process: a local unwrapping is first performed and then improved through a Markovian segmentation, false unwrapped residues are finally detected and corrected. A deterministic algorithm is used for the relaxation process; wrong unwrapped areas are corrected by a backtracking mechanism. Some results obtained by this approach, which presents a lower computational cost compared to complex stochastic unwrapping methods, are also presented.
Ultrastrong, Stiff and Multifunctional Carbon Nanotube Composites

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are an order of magnitude stronger than any other current engineering fiber. However, for the past two decades, it has been a challenge to utilize their reinforcement potential in composites. Here, we report CNT composites with unprecedented multifunctionalities, including record high strength (3.8 GPa), high Young's modulus (293 GPa), electrical conductivity (1230 S·cm −1), and thermal conductivity (41 W m −1 K −1). These superior properties are derived from the long length, high volume fraction, good alignment and reduced waviness of the CNTs, which were produced by a novel-processing approach that can be easily scaled up for industrial production.
Self-tuning distributed fusion Kalman filter with asymptotic global optimality

For the multisensor systems with unknown model parameters and noise variances, by the system identification method, the estimators of the model parameters and noise variances can be obtained, and then substituting them into the steady-state optimal distributed fusion Kalman filter under the information filter form, a self-tuning distributed fusion Kalman filter is presented. Using the dynamic error system analysis (DESA) method, it is proved that the self-tuning distributed fusion Kalman filter converges to the steady-state optimal distributed fusion Kalman filter, so that it has asymptotic global optimality. It can be applied to the signal processing to obtain the self-tuning distributed fusion signal filter. A simulation example of a self-tuning fused filter for AR signal with 3-sensor shows its effectiveness.
Characterizing Common Cause Closed Probability Spaces*

A probability space is common cause closed if it contains a Reichenbachian common cause of every correlation in it and common cause incomplete otherwise. It is shown that a probability space is common cause incomplete if and only if it contains more than one atom and that every space is common cause completable. The implications of these results for Reichenbach's Common Cause Principle are discussed, and it is argued that the principle is only falsifiable if conditions on the common cause are imposed that go beyond the requirements formulated by Reichenbach in the definition of common cause.
Recent improvements to the IBM trainable speech synthesis system

In this paper we describe the current status of the trainable text-to-speech system at IBM. Recent algorithmic and database changes to the system have led to significant gains in the output quality. On the algorithms side, we have introduced statistical models for predicting pitch and duration targets which replace the rule-based target generation previously employed. Additionally, we have changed the cost function and the search strategy, introduced a post-search pitch smoothing algorithm, and improved our method of preselection. Through the combined data and algorithmic contributions, we have been able to significantly improve (p < 0.0001) the mean opinion score (MOS) of our female voice, from 3.68 to 4.85 when heard over loudspeakers and to 5.42 when heard over the telephone (seven point scale).
COMPARISON OF CRISP AND FUZZY KNN CLASSIFICATION ALGORITHMS

Recently, with the advances in information technology tools in the collection and generation of massive amounts of data had overwhelmed the human ability and traditional data analysis capabilities to analyze and use such data. The cognitive science field, learning theory and human learning processes are essential areas to create new intelligent computer systems that seek to execute tasks similar to natural human tasks such as classification. Such needs had called for the development of new field such as Machine Learning and Knowledge Discovery in Databases to utilize the use and benefits from such data in the form of knowledge. Classification is one of the most important and well known tasks in the field of Data Mining. In this paper, we focus on the Instant-Based Learning (IBL) classification method especially on the study of the K-nearest Neighbor classification algorithm from the crisp point view as well as the fuzzy. Computer system software is developed for the crisp and fuzzy K-nearest Neighbor classification algorithms with the introduction of the concept of Windowing of ID3. Our system is developed in Visual-Basic.net programming language. Some experiments as conducted by the use of well known data sets to conduct some comparison of the results.
Characteristics of fusion of respiratory syncytial virus with HEp-2 cells as measured by R18 fluorescence dequenching assay

The characteristics of fusion of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) with HEp-2 cells were studied by the R18 fluorescence dequenching assay of membrane fusion. A gradual increase in fluorescence intensity indicative of virion-cell fusion was observed when R18-labeled RSV was incubated with HEp-2 cells. Approximately 35% dequenching of the probe fluorescence was observed in 1 h at 37 degrees C. Fusion showed a temperature dependence, with significant dequenching occurring above 18 degrees C. The dequenching was also dependent on the relative concentration of target membrane. Thus, increasing the concentration of target membrane resulted in increased levels of dequenching. In addition, viral glycoproteins were shown to be involved in this interaction, since dequenching was significantly reduced by pretreatment of labeled virus at 70 degrees C for 5 min or by trypsinization of R18-labeled virions prior to incubation with HEp-2 cells at 37 degrees C. The fusion of RSV with HEp-2 cells was unaffected over a pH range of 5.5 to 8.5, with some increase seen at lower pH values. Treatment of HEp-2 cells with ammonium chloride (20 and 10 mM), a lysosomotropic agent, during early stages of infection did not inhibit syncytium formation or progeny virion production by RSV. At the same concentrations of ammonium chloride, the production of vesicular stomatitis virus was reduced approximately 4 log10 units. These results suggest that fusion of the virus with the cell surface plasma membrane is the principal route of entry.
Individualizing user profile from viewing logs of several people for TV program recommendation

Recommendation services for e-commerce and content distribution sites are increasing in popularity. An individual is identified by a login certification, and then information pertaining to their interests and preferences are collected. Finally, the recommendation service recommends items to the user based on the information gathered. Recommendation services are not as popular for recommending television programs as they are for Web-based services. The primary reason for this discrepancy is that it is difficult to identify an individual sitting in front of a television, which is usually shared by several members of a family. Viewers generally do not want to perform additional operations on the remote control for login authentication rendering it impossible to create a user profile that contains personal interests and preferences. Therefore, in this study, we propose a technique to individualize a user profile from the combined viewing logs of several television viewers.
On the performance comparisons of several sparse reconstruction algorithms

It is hard to choose one appropriate sparse reconstruction algorithm from multiple existing algorithms in different occasions. Being aware of this difficulty, four typical sparse reconstruction algorithms are studied to present comprehensive performance evaluations in terms of reconstruction accuracy, super-resolution ability and noise immunity, and it is found that the BCS algorithm performs best in noise immunity, while the Lp-norm algorithm has an outstanding performance in super-resolution ability.
A Quantitative Analysis for Decomposing Visual Signal of the Gaze Displacement

When the head is unrestrained, the large amplitude gaze shifts are composed of coordinated eye and head movements. The position of the eyes at the onset of the gaze shift can alter the eye and head contributions to the movement. The movements of the eyes and head during the unrestrained-head gaze shift follow well-defined relationships. It is possible to predict the displacement of the eye and head components of the gaze shift, if the position of the target signal in the retina and the initial eye position in the orbit are known. In the present study we provide a quantitative analysis for decomposing the gaze displacement signal and propose a mathematical model to predict the displacement of the eye and head components of the gaze shift. We conclude that the displacements of the eye and the head components are determined by five factors: the current gaze displacement, the initial eye position, the upper limit of the range in which the eyes move freely without head contribution, the lower limit of the range in which the head moves only, and the maximal displacement of the visual target (maximal initial retinal error). The results of our proposed model are inline with data observed physiologically.
In vivo evidence for the role of the epsilon subunit as an inhibitor of the proton-translocating ATPase of Escherichia coli

The function of the epsilon subunit of the Escherichia coli proton-translocating ATPase has been examined by using a mutant defective in the uncC gene. Strains with a defective uncC gene show a reduction in both growth yield and growth rate that is more severe than for other unc mutants; this deleterious effect is shown to be a result of the ATPase activity of the F1 complex which is missing the epsilon subunit. In addition, the epsilon-deficient F1 is bound less tightly to the membrane. These data suggest that, in vivo, the epsilon subunit is capable of inhibiting the ATPase activity of F1 and also functions in the binding of F1 to F0.