Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptação do Cognitive Estimation Test (CET) ao português brasileiro

Adaptation of the Cognitive Estimation Test (CET) to brazilian portuguese Cognitive estimation is an ability that involves searching for non-readily-available answers, requiring reasoning and problem- solving processes in order to find a response alternative. This ability can be investigated with the Cognitive Estimation Test (CET). The test exists in an English version and requires adaptations to be used in different languages. The aim of the present study was to adapt the CET to Brazilian Portuguese. The CET was translated from the original version in British English, then its items were submitted to theoretical and empirical analysis. The pilot study generated a 28-item scale with levels of internal consistency of 0.50 (Cronbach's Alpha), 0.58 (split half), and 0.73 (Guttmann). The test defined during the pilot study was then tested in a new sample, producing internal consistency values of 0.57 (Cronbach's Alpha), 0.60 (split half), and 0.74 (Guttman). A final version of the CET
Is multiparty computation any good in practice?

The aim of this paper is to present some of the recent progress in efficient secure multiparty computation (MPC). In MPC we have a set of parties owning a set of private inputs. The parties want to compute a function of their inputs, but they do not trust each other, therefore they need a cryptographic protocol to perform the computation in a way that 1) the output is correct and 2) cheating parties will not be able to learn any information about the honest parties inputs. Even though this problem has been formulated and essentially solved almost 30 years ago, practical solutions that can be relevant for real-world applications have been discovered only in the last few years. We will present some of these advances, trying to explain to a non-specialized audience the significance of the several existing security notions.
vMocity: Traveling VMs Across Heterogeneous Clouds

Current IaaS cloud providers typically adopt different underlying cloud infrastructures and are reluctant to provide consistent interfaces to facilitate cross-cloud interoperability. Such status quo significantly complicates inter-cloud virtual machine relocation and impedes the adoption of cloud services for more enterprises and individual users. In this paper, we propose vMocity, a middleware framework enabling VM relocation across heterogeneous IaaS clouds. vMocity extends the principles of cold migration and decouples VM's storage stack from their underlying virtualization platforms, which presents a homogeneous view of storage to cloud users. We deploy our prototype system across three representative commercial cloud platforms — Amazon EC2, Google Compute Engine, and VMware vSphere-based private cloud. Compared to existing approaches on both synthetic and real-world work-loads, vMocity can significantly reduce the disruption time, up to 27 times shorter, of relocated services and boost the recovery time, up to 1.8 times faster, to pre-relocation performance level. Our results demonstrate that vMocity is efficient and convenient for relocating VMs across clouds, offering freedom of choice to customers when facing a market of IaaS clouds to align with business objectives (cost, performance, service availability, etc.)
Saberes Profissionais de Professores de Matemática: Dilemas e Dificuldades. Realização de Tarefas de Investigação

As recomendacoes da Agenda do NCTM (1980), no sentido de se atribuir a resolucao de problemas um papel de primeiro plano no ensino da Matematica, tem sido apresentadas com frequencia desde essa data por destacadas figuras e por associacoes profissionais de varios paises. No entanto, e a publicacao do livro de George Polya, How To Solve It, em 1945, que marca o inicio do interesse em relacao a resolucao de problemas por parte dos educadores matematicos.
Fatigue of Reinforcing Steel Bars Subjected to Natural Corrosion

Under badly environmental conditions as well as complex loads, corrosion of embedded reinforcing steel bars in concrete is common for reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Fatigue of corrosion reinforcing steel bars is a key problem for old RC bridges. To assess the residual fatigue life of aged existing RC bridges, the most new study information on fatigue of natural corrosion reinforcement is analyzed, and axial tensile fatigue tests are conducted on fifteen naturally carbonation-induced corrosion steel bars. The fatigue test results indicate that the existence of corrosion pits reduces the fatigue life of steel bars significantly under the same fatigue stress; with the development of corrosion, the fatigue life of steel bars decays according to negative power exponent law approximately and the attenuation rate increases with stress level augment. For the complexity of fatigue and corrosion, further pertinent conclusions remain to be confirmed.
Joint Generation of Transliterations from Multiple Representations

Machine transliteration is often referred to as phonetic translation. We show that transliterations incorporate information from both spelling and pronunciation, and propose an effective model for joint transliteration generation from both representations. We further generalize this model to include transliterations from other languages, and enhance it with reranking and lexicon features. We demonstrate significant improvements in transliteration accuracy on several datasets.
Theory for the Secondary Eclipse Fluxes, Spectra, Atmospheres, and Light Curves of Transiting Extrasolar Giant Planets

We have created a general methodology for calculating the wavelength-dependent light curves of close-in extrasolar giant planets (EGPs) as they traverse their orbits. Focusing on the transiting EGPs HD 189733b, TrES-1, and HD 209458b, we calculate planet/star flux ratios during secondary eclipse and compare them with the Spitzer data points obtained so far in the mid-infrared. We introduce a simple parameterization for the redistribution of heat to the planet's night side, derive constraints on this parameter (Pn), and provide a general set of predictions for planet/star contrast ratios as a function of wavelength, model, and phase. Moreover, we calculate average dayside and nightside atmospheric temperature/pressure profiles for each transiting planet/Pn pair with which existing and anticipated Spitzer data can be used to probe the atmospheric thermal structure of severely irradiated EGPs. We find that the baseline models do a good job of fitting the current secondary eclipse data set, but that the Spitzer error bars are not yet small enough to discriminate cleanly among all the various possibilities.
Bayesian Statistics in Software Engineering: Practical Guide and Case Studies

Statistics comes in two main flavors: frequentist and Bayesian. For historical and technical reasons, frequentist statistics has dominated data analysis in the past; but Bayesian statistics is making a comeback at the forefront of science. In this paper, we give a practical overview of Bayesian statistics and illustrate its main advantages over frequentist statistics for the kinds of analyses that are common in empirical software engineering, where frequentist statistics still is standard. We also apply Bayesian statistics to empirical data from previous research investigating agile vs. structured development processes, the performance of programming languages, and random testing of object-oriented programs. In addition to being case studies demonstrating how Bayesian analysis can be applied in practice, they provide insights beyond the results in the original publications (which used frequentist statistics), thus showing the practical value brought by Bayesian statistics.
Simulation models of obesity: a review of the literature and implications for research and policy

Simulation models (SMs) combine information from a variety of sources to provide a useful tool for examining how the effects of obesity unfold over time and impact population health. SMs can aid in the understanding of the complex interaction of the drivers of diet and activity and their relation to health outcomes. As emphasized in a recently released report of the Institute or Medicine, SMs can be especially useful for considering the potential impact of an array of policies that will be required to tackle the obesity problem. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of existing SMs for obesity. First, a background section introduces the different types of models, explains how models are constructed, shows the utility of SMs and discusses their strengths and weaknesses. Using these typologies, we then briefly review extant obesity SMs. We categorize these models according to their focus: health and economic outcomes, trends in obesity as a function of past trends, physiologically based behavioural models, environmental contributors to obesity and policy interventions. Finally, we suggest directions for future research.
H∞ filtering for nonuniformly sampled systems

This paper is concerned with the design of an H∞ filter for a discrete-time system, for which the measurement is sampled nonuniformly but the control is updated uniformly at a fast rate. It is shown that this type of system can be represented by a discrete-time Markovian jump system by modeling the nonuniform measurement using a Markov chain. A mode-dependent H∞ filter is constructed. Sufficient LMI conditions are derived to ensure stochastic stability and H∞ disturbance attenuation for the error system. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated through a numerical example.
CXCL12 Mediates Trophic Interactions between Endothelial and Tumor Cells in Glioblastoma

Emerging evidence suggests endothelial cells (EC) play a critical role in promoting Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cell proliferation and resistance to therapy. The molecular basis for GBM-EC interactions is incompletely understood. We hypothesized that the chemokine CXCL12 and its receptor CXCR4 could mediate direct interactions between GBM cells and tumor-associated endothelial cells and that disruption of this interaction might be the molecular basis for the anti-tumor effects of CXCR4 antagonists. We investigated this possibility in vivo and in an in vitro co-culture model that incorporated extracellular matrix, primary human brain microvascular ECs (HBMECs) and either an established GBM cell line or primary GBM specimens. Depletion of CXCR4 in U87 GBM cells blocked their growth as intracranial xenografts indicating that tumor cell CXCR4 is required for tumor growth in vivo. In vitro, co-culture of either U87 cells or primary GBM cells with HBMECs resulted in their co-localization and enhanced GBM cell growth. Genetic manipulation of CXCL12 expression and pharmacological inhibition of its receptors CXCR4 and CXCR7 revealed that the localizing and trophic effects of endothelial cells on GBM cells were dependent upon CXCL12 and CXCR4. These findings indicate that the CXCL12/CXCR4 pathway directly mediates endothelial cell trophic function in GBMs and that inhibition of CXCL12-CXCR4 signaling may uniquely target this activity. Therapeutic disruption of endothelial cell trophic functions could complement the structural disruption of anti-angiogenic regimens and, in combination, might also improve the efficacy of radiation and chemotherapy in treating GBMs.
Hypothalamic neurotransmitter concentrations and meat quality in stressed pigs offered excess dietary tryptophan and tyrosine.

Pale, soft, exudative (PSE) pork occurs, for the most part, from environmental stress on the pig. Amino acid intake may be related to stress susceptibility through hormone and neurotransmitter induction. Two experiments were conducted to determine whether supplementation of 5 g of tryptophan (TRP) or 10 g of tyrosine (TYR) per kilogram of a 14% CP diet would alter the response of pigs to stress as measured by hypothalamic neurotransmitter concentrations and incidence of PSE. Twenty-four (Exp. 1) and 36 (Exp. 2) 92-kg pigs were offered one of three diets: control, TRP-, or TYR-supplemented for 5 d before slaughter. Dietary TRP or TYR supplementation in Exp. 1. doubled (P less than .05) plasma TRP and TYR concentrations, respectively, and increased (P less than .05) 5-hydroxytryptamine, dihydroxyphenyl ethylamine, dihydroxyphenyl acetic acid, and homovanillic acid concentrations in the hypothalamus. Pigs that exhibited stress at slaughter had lower (P less than .05) hypothalamic concentrations of epinephrine, norepinephrine, and 5-hydroxytryptamine. In Exp. 2, pigs were trucked 55 km to a commercial meat packing facility and slaughtered without a rest period. This handling procedure was designed to invoke a high incidence of PSE pork and thus be a strong test of treatments. Supplemental dietary amino acids seemed to alter the frequency distribution of the severity of PSE pork. These data indicate that dietary manipulation of amino acid precursors of neurotransmitters may offer a practical means of reducing stress response in swine.
Exchange Rates Under Robustness: The Forward Premium Puzzle and Delayed Overshooting ∗

We show that the forward premium puzzle and the delayed overshooting of exchange rates can be rationalized by a desire for robustness against model misspecification. Specifically, optimizing agents that are uncertain about their model of the interest rate differential will make forecasts and portfolio decisions that are less sensitive to news than standard Bayesian updating. In equilibrium, this underreaction in the bond market generates the anomalies in the foreign exchange market. To provide an intuitive interpretation of the biases induced by robustness, we establish a link with the empirical literature on distorted beliefs via Girsanov-like change of measure results that transform uncertainty sets into distortions of the parameters of the probability distribution of the data-generating process. This transformation allows us to derive closed-form solutions to the agent’s problem and the equilibrium exchange rate that have the same form as a standard rational expectations equilibrium.
Quadriceps strength and functional capacity after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Harvesting the central third of the patellar tendon for autograft anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction is thought to compromise quadriceps strength and func tional capacity. We compared objective measurements of quadriceps strength and functional capacity in ath letes after patellar tendon autograft or allograft anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. We looked at 33 ac tive male patients (mean age, 24.3 years) who had anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions 12 to 24 months earlier using patellar tendon autograft (N = 15) or allograft (N = 18) techniques. All patients under went an intensive rehabilitation program. Quadriceps strength and power were assessed by measuring peak torque at 60 and 240 deg/sec, torque acceleration energy at 240 deg/sec, and the quadriceps index using a Cybex II isokinetic testing device. Functional capacity was evaluated based on the results of 3 specially designed functional performance tests and the hop test. Results revealed no significant difference between au tograft and allograft groups with respect to any of these parameters. These findings indicate that harvesting the central third of the patellar tendon for autograft anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction does not diminish quadriceps strength or functional capacity in highly active patients who have intensive rehabilitation. Thus, the recommendation to avoid patellar tendon autograft anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction to preserve quadriceps strength and functional capacity may be unnecessary.
Using software categories for the development of generative software

In model-driven development (MDD) software emerges by systematically transforming abstract models to concrete source code. Ideally, performing those transformations is to a large extent the task of code generators. One approach for developing a new code generator is to write a reference implementation and separate it into handwritten and generatable code. Typically, the generator developer manually performs this separation - a process that is often time-consuming, labor-intensive, difficult to maintain and may produce more code than necessary. Software categories provide a way for separating code into designated parts with defined dependencies, for example, “Business Logic” code that may not directly use “Technical” code. This paper presents an approach that uses the concept of software categories to semi-automatically determine candidates for generated code. The main idea is to iteratively derive the categories for uncategorized code from the dependencies of categorized code. The candidates for generated or handwritten code finally are code parts belonging to specific (previously defined) categories. This approach helps the generator developer in finding candidates for generated code more easily and systematically than searching by hand and is a step towards tool-supported development of generative software.
Intravesical Delivery of Rapamycin Suppresses Tumorigenesis in a Mouse Model of Progressive Bladder Cancer

Early-stage bladder cancer occurs as two distinct forms: namely, low-grade superficial disease and high-grade carcinoma in situ (CIS), which is the major precursor of muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Although the low-grade form is readily treatable, few, if any, effective treatments are currently available for preventing progression of nonmuscle-invasive CIS to invasive bladder cancer. Based on our previous findings that the mammalian target of Rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway is activated in muscle-invasive bladder cancer, but not superficial disease, we reasoned that suppression of this pathway might block cancer progression. To test this idea, we performed in vivo preclinical studies using a genetically engineered mouse model that we now show recapitulates progression from nonmuscle-invasive CIS to muscle-invasive bladder tumors. We find that delivery of Rapamycin, an mTOR inhibitor, subsequent to the occurrence of CIS effectively prevents progression to invasive bladder cancer. Furthermore, we show that intravesical delivery of Rapamycin directly into the bladder lumen is highly effective for suppressing bladder tumorigenesis. Thus, our findings show the potential therapeutic benefit of inhibiting mTOR signaling for treatment of patients at high risk of developing invasive bladder cancer. More broadly, our findings support a more widespread use of intravesical delivery of therapeutic agents for treatment of high-risk bladder cancer patients, and provide a mouse model for effective preclinical testing of potential novel agents.
Immunotherapy of Metastatic Melanoma Using Genetically Engineered GD2-Specific T cells

Purpose: Genetic engineering of human T lymphocytes to express tumor-directed chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) can produce antitumor effector cells that bypass tumor immune escape mechanisms that are due to abnormalities in protein-antigen processing and presentation. Moreover, these transgenic receptors can be directed to tumor-associated antigens that are not protein-derived, such as the ganglioside GD2, which is expressed in a high proportion of melanoma cells. Experimental Design: We generated chimeric T cells specific for the ganglioside GD2 by joining an extracellular antigen-binding domain derived from the GD2-specific antibody sc14.G2a to cytoplasmic signaling domains derived from the T-cell receptor ζ-chain, with the endodomains of the costimulatory molecules CD28 and OX40. We expressed this CAR in human T cells and assessed the targeting of GD2-positive melanoma tumors in vitro and in a murine xenograft. Results: Upon coincubation with GD2-expressing melanoma cells, CAR-GD2 T lymphocytes incorporating the CD28 and OX40 endodomains secreted significant levels of cytokines in a pattern comparable with the cytokine response obtained by engagement of the native CD3 receptor. These CAR-T cells had antimelanoma activity in vitro and in our xenograft model, increasing the survival of tumor-bearing animals. Conclusion: Redirecting human T lymphocytes to the tumor-associated ganglioside GD2 generates effector cells with antimelanoma activity that should be testable in subjects with disease. (Clin Cancer Res 2009;15(18):5852–60)
Volumetric glioma quantification: comparison of manual and semi-automatic tumor segmentation for the quantification of tumor growth

Background Volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is now widely available and routinely used in the evaluation of high-grade gliomas (HGGs). Ideally, volumetric measurements should be included in this evaluation. However, manual tumor segmentation is time-consuming and suffers from inter-observer variability. Thus, tools for semi-automatic tumor segmentation are needed. Purpose To present a semi-automatic method (SAM) for segmentation of HGGs and to compare this method with manual segmentation performed by experts. The inter-observer variability among experts manually segmenting HGGs using volumetric MRIs was also examined. Material and Methods Twenty patients with HGGs were included. All patients underwent surgical resection prior to inclusion. Each patient underwent several MRI examinations during and after adjuvant chemoradiation therapy. Three experts performed manual segmentation. The results of tumor segmentation by the experts and by the SAM were compared using Dice coefficients and kappa statistics. Results A relatively close agreement was seen among two of the experts and the SAM, while the third expert disagreed considerably with the other experts and the SAM. An important reason for this disagreement was a different interpretation of contrast enhancement as either surgically-induced or glioma-induced. The time required for manual tumor segmentation was an average of 16 min per scan. Editing of the tumor masks produced by the SAM required an average of less than 2 min per sample. Conclusion Manual segmentation of HGG is very time-consuming and using the SAM could increase the efficiency of this process. However, the accuracy of the SAM ultimately depends on the expert doing the editing. Our study confirmed a considerable inter-observer variability among experts defining tumor volume from volumetric MRIs.
Decreasing System Load by Caching in Structured P2P Systems

Peer to peer systems are distributed systems, decreasing system load is important for improving the scalability of systems. Caching is always used to achieve load balance in structured p2p systems currently, but none of the current caching algorithms take system load into consideration. We proposes a caching model for decreasing system load in structured peer to peer systems, describes how peer uses a passive file requested statistical algorithm to evaluate the reducible query load caused by caching a file to a neighbor, and discusses how to compute the updating overhead under different updating algorithms. Each peer determine whether caching a file to a neighbor is worthwhile is based on the relations between the query load reduced and the updating overhead caused by the caching. Simulation results indicate the caching model can decrease system load effectively.
Intrapharyngeal Distribution of Gastric Acid Refluxate

Objectives/Hypothesis Determination of intrapharyngeal distribution of gastric acid refluxate is needed to better understand the pathogenesis of reflux‐attributed aerodigestive tract disorders. The aims of the study were to determine intrapharyngeal distribution of gastric acid refluxate and to determine whether this distribution can better differentiate patients from control subjects compared with data obtained from a single hypopharyngeal site.