Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ju l 2 00 3 UPR-1017-T SU ( 4 ) Instantons on Calabi-Yau Threefolds with Z 2 × Z 2 Fundamental Group

Structure group SU(4) gauge vacua of both weakly and strongly coupled heterotic superstring theory compactified on torus-fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds Z with Z2×Z2 fundamental group are presented. This is accomplished by constructing invariant, stable, holomorphic rank four vector bundles on the simply connected cover of Z. Such bundles can descend either to Hermite-Yang-Mills instantons on Z or to twisted gauge fields satisfying the Hermite-Yang-Mills equation corrected by a non-trivial flat B-field. It is shown that large families of such instantons satisfy the constraints imposed by particle physics phenomenology. The discrete parameter spaces of those families are presented, as well as a lower bound on the dimension of the continuous moduli of any such vacuum. In conjunction with Z2 × Z2 Wilson lines, these SU(4) gauge vacua can lead to standard-like models at low energy with an additional U(1)B−L symmetry. This U(1)B−L symmetry is very helpful in naturally suppressing nucleon decay.
E Series of Prostaglandin Receptor 2-Mediated Activation of Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase/Activator Protein-1 Signaling Is Required for the Mitogenic Action of Prostaglandin E2 in Esophageal Squamous-Cell Carcinoma

The use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is associated with a lower risk for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, in which overexpression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is frequently reported. Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), a COX-2-derived eicosanoid, is implicated in the promotion of cancer growth. However, the precise role of PGE2 in the disease development of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma remains elusive. In this study, we investigated the effect of PGE2 on the proliferation of cultured esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cells (HKESC-1). Results showed that HKESC-1 cells expressed all four series of prostaglandin (EP) receptors, namely, EP1 to EP4 receptors. In this regard, PGE2 and the EP2 receptor agonist (±)-15-deoxy-16S-hydroxy-17-cyclobutyl PGE1 methyl ester (butaprost) markedly increased HKESC-1 cell proliferation. Moreover, the mitogenic effect of PGE2 was significantly attenuated by RNA interference-mediated knockdown of the EP2 receptor, indicating that this receptor mediated the mitogenic effect of PGE2. In this connection, PGE2 and butaprost induced phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 (Erk1/2), whose down-regulation by RNA interference significantly attenuated PGE2-induced cell proliferation. In addition, PGE2 and butaprost increased c-Fos expression and activator protein 1 (AP-1) transcriptional activity, which were abolished by the mitogen-activated protein kinase/Erk kinase inhibitor 1,4-diamino-2,3-dicyano-1,4-bis(o-aminophenylmercapto)-butadiene ethanolate (U0126). AP-1-binding inhibitor curcumin also partially reversed the mitogenic effect of PGE2. Taken together, these data demonstrate for the first time that the EP2 receptor mediates the mitogenic effect of PGE2 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma via activation of the Erk/AP-1 pathway. This study supports the growth-promoting action of PGE2 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and the potential application of EP2 receptor antagonists in the treatment of this disease.
Un criterio de optimizaci ´on conjunta para la detecci ´on ciega de usuarios en DS-CDMA

—In this work we study the use of algorithms of blind signal extraction applied to the users detection in DS-CDMA communications systems. At the uplink, in this kind of systems, users transmit in an asynchronous way and with different powers. Typically propagation channels are multipath, what causes the near-far problem. We address inverse ﬁlter criterion introduced by Tugnait in [1] and we show that a prewhitening preprocessing approach together with the joint combination of several higher order cumulants improves the detector performance.
Using Arabic microblogs features in determining credibility

The increased usage of Twitter as a medium for reporting news and sharing information between people has caught the attention of researchers from different disciplines. One of the research directions is the analysis of online information from the perspective of its credibility. This paper aims to assess and analyze the credibility of tweets in Arabic language. In order to achieve the stated goal, first we employ the idea of crowdsourcing where users can explicitly express their opinions about credibility of a set of tweets. This information coupled with the data about tweets' features enable us to investigate which features may indicate the credibility level of a tweet, e.g. tweet with attached image and was authored by a person who posts a lot of tweets will be, with high probability, a credible tweet. We distinguish three main groups of features: authority and topical expertise (of the source), data quality (of the content), and popularity (of the content and the source). We argue that content data quality factor based on content linguistic features in addition to source authority is more important than content popularity in identifying credible messages. In addition to this, we identified three experts who also rated the credibility of tweets and based on that we investigate the level of agreement between experts and the crowd, and we identify which expert represents the crowd in the best way. This can allow us to select the most representative expert when it is needed. This study is a pilot of a large study that aims at predicting credibility of Arabic Twitter messages using machine learning approaches.
The Effect of Gaze Manipulation on Preference Decisions: A Study of Football Shirt Evaluation

1Graduate School of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, 1-104 Totsukamachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-8050 JAPAN 2Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa-shi, 359-1192 JAPAN 3The Brain and Mind Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 5B7 CANADA 4Research Institute, Kochi University of Technology, 185 Miyanokuchi, Tosayamada-cho, Kami-shi, Kochi, 782-8502 JAPAN 5Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Kojimachi Business Center Bldg. , 5-3-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-0083 JAPAN 6Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Informatics, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka, 432-8011 JAPAN
The forces generated within the musculature of the left ventricular wall

Objectives: To test the hypothesis that two populations of myocardial fibres—fibres aligned parallel to the surfaces of the wall and an additional population of fibres that extend obliquely through the wall—when working in concert produce a dualistic, self stabilising arrangement. Methods: Assessment of tensile forces in the walls of seven porcine hearts by using needle probes. Ventricular diameter was measured with microsonometry and the intracavitary pressure through a fluid filled catheter. Positive inotropism was induced by dopamine, and negative inotropism by thiopental. The preload was raised by volume load and lowered by withdrawal of blood. Afterload was increased by inflation of a balloon in the aortic root. The anatomical orientation of the fibres was established subsequently in histological sections. Results: The forces in the fibres parallel to the surface decreased 20–35% during systolic shrinkage of the ventricle, during negative inotropism, and during ventricular unloading. They increased 10–30% on positive inotropic stimulation and with augmentation in preload and afterload. The forces in the oblique transmural fibres increased 8–65% during systole, on positive inotropic medication, with an increase in afterload and during ventricular shrinkage, and decreased 36% on negative inotropic medication. There was a delay of up to 147 ms in the drop in activity during relaxation in the oblique transmural fibres. Conclusion: Although the two populations of myocardial fibres are densely interwoven, it is possible to distinguish their functions with force probes. The delayed drop in force during relaxation in obliquely oriented fibres indicates that they are hindered in their shortening to an extent that parallels any increase in mural thickness. The transmural fibres, therefore, contribute to stiffening of the ventricular wall and hence to confining ventricular compliance.
An adaptive soft-sensor for non-destructive cement-based material testing, through the use of RBF networks

This paper presents the development of a soft-sensor receiving as inputs Pressure Stimulated Current (PSC) characteristics in order to predict a critical mechanical property of cement-based materials, in a non-destructive manner. The soft-sensor is based on a Radial Basis Function (RBF) network that starts with an empty hidden layer and evolves its structure and synaptic weights as new data become available. Results have shown that the proposed approach can be used successfully to evolve a predictive tool based on input-output data, whereas it is superior compared to other adaptive modeling techniques.
Generation and perception of f_0 markedness in conversational speech with adverbs expressing degrees

Aiming at natural F 0 control for conversational speech synthesis, F 0 characteristics are analyzed from both generation and perception viewpoints. By systematically designing conversational situations and utterances with adverb phrases expressing different degree of markedness, their F 0 characteristics are compared. The comparison shows the consistent F 0 control dependencies not only on adverbs themselves but also on the attribute of neighboring adjective phrases. Strong positive/negative correlation is observed between the markedness of adverbs and F 0 height when an adjective phrase with a positive/negative image is followed to the current adverb phrase. These consistencies have been perceptually confirmed by naturalness evaluation tests using the same two-phrase samples with different F 0 heights. These results indicate the possibility of F 0 control for natural conversational speech using lexical markdness information and adjacent word attributes.
Validation of risk stratification schemes for predicting stroke and thromboembolism in patients with atrial fibrillation: nationwide cohort study

Objectives To evaluate the individual risk factors composing the CHADS2 (Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age≥75 years, Diabetes, previous Stroke) score and the CHA2DS2-VASc (CHA2DS2-Vascular disease, Age 65-74 years, Sex category) score and to calculate the capability of the schemes to predict thromboembolism. Design Registry based cohort study. Setting Nationwide data on patients admitted to hospital with atrial fibrillation. Population All patients with atrial fibrillation not treated with vitamin K antagonists in Denmark in the period 1997-2006. Main outcome measures Stroke and thromboembolism. Results Of 121 280 patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation, 73 538 (60.6%) fulfilled the study inclusion criteria. In patients at “low risk” (score=0), the rate of thromboembolism per 100 person years was 1.67 (95% confidence interval 1.47 to 1.89) with CHADS2 and 0.78 (0.58 to 1.04) with CHA2DS2-VASc at one year’s follow-up. In patients at “intermediate risk” (score=1), this rate was 4.75 (4.45 to 5.07) with CHADS2 and 2.01 (1.70 to 2.36) with CHA2DS2-VASc. The rate of thromboembolism depended on the individual risk factors composing the scores, and both schemes underestimated the risk associated with previous thromboembolic events. When patients were categorised into low, intermediate, and high risk groups, C statistics at 10 years’ follow-up were 0.812 (0.796 to 0.827) with CHADS2 and 0.888 (0.875 to 0.900) with CHA2DS2-VASc. Conclusions The risk associated with a specific risk stratification score depended on the risk factors composing the score. CHA2DS2-VASc performed better than CHADS2 in predicting patients at high risk, and those categorised as low risk by CHA2DS2-VASc were truly at low risk for thromboembolism.
Optimizing Infrastructure for Software Testing Using Virtualization

Virtualization technology and cloud computing have brought a paradigm shift in the way we utilize, deploy and manage computer resources. They allow fast deployment of multiple operating system as containers on physical machines which can be either discarded after use or checkpointed for later re-deployment. At European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), we have been using virtualization technology to quickly setup virtual machines for our developers with pre-configured software to enable them to quickly test/deploy a new version of a software patch for a given application. This paper reports both on the techniques that have been used to setup a private cloud on a commodity hardware and also presents the optimization techniques we used to remove deployment specific performance bottlenecks.
Lactic acid bacteria: life after genomics

As powerhouses for the food industry, lactic acid bacteria continue to be the focus of considerable interest. While traditionally applied in industrial dairy and other food fermentations, lactic acid bacteria are now used in a great variety of drinks, yoghurts or other products that are marketed with specific health benefits. This has been the largest growth segment in the functional foods market with an annual sales value of over a billion Euro. The lactic acid bacteria in these products include notably species of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium that are marketed as probiotics (Saxelin et al., 2005). Hence it is no surprise that these species are actively studied and often considered together as will be detailed below. The attention for these groups of lactic acid bacteria represents a marked shift in the attention from the traditional focus on strains of notably Lactococcus and Streptococcus spp. that are used as starters in important milk fermentations, resulting in commodity products, such as cheese and yoghurt. However, Lactococcus lactis can still be seen as a model for lactic acid bacteria as will be discussed below. All these genera belong to the Gram‐positive bacteria and produce lactic acid from sugars. Bifidobacteria belong to the Actinobacteria and contain genomic DNA with a high G+C content, while the other lactic acid bacteria are phylogenetically closely related and belong to the Firmicutes that are characterized by genomes with a low G + C content. It is of more than anecdotal importance to note here that the bacteria belonging to the Actinobacteria and Firmicutes make up the vast majority of microbial taxa present in our intestinal tract (Zoetendal et al., 2008). Both Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium spp. are early colonizers and belong to our microbes inside where – in adult life – they are notably present in the upper and lower intestinal tract respectively (Kleerebezem and Vaughan, 2009). This explains why the growing interest in these different groups of lactic acid bacteria and their application in health‐promoting products is paralleled by attention for their activity and diversity in the human body. The impact of consumed lactobacilli has recently been established in pioneering studies addressing the human response in the upper intestinal tract (van Baarlen et al., 2009; 2011). The results show specific and strain‐dependent transcriptional host responses that are dependent on the physiological state of the consumed cells. In this way, the provide support for the functionality of probiotics, which are often defined as microbial cultures providing when consumed in adequate amounts a health benefit to the host (Saxelin et al., 2005).
Markers of bone turnover in haemodialysis patients

patients with myeloma is likely to be increased because myeloma-associated with a bleeding diathesis (as the authors note). Indeed, the largest and most recent trial of plasmapheresis for myeloma-associated kidney failure did not specify kidney biopsy as an inclusion criterion because of concerns about the risks vs benefits of the procedure [2]. Can the authors specify how a biopsy result will—in many patients—sufficiently alter management beyond standard measures (such as volume expansion, control of hypercalcaemia, chemotherapy) to justify its increased risk? One answer might be that demonstration of the presence of acute cast nephropathy would prompt initiation of plasmapheresis. However, the largest trial of myeloma-associated acute renal failure did not show a clear benefit with this invasive therapy [2].
The Nature of Friendship Between Students With and Without Severe Disabilities

Friendships are developmentally important and personally beneficial relationships for all children and youth. Despite emphasis from families and educators of students with severe disabilities on the importance of promoting and supporting friendships with their typically developing (TD) peers in inclusive settings, such relationships remain infrequent. We conducted an integrative thematic literature review of research that directly examined the nature of friendship between students with and without severe disabilities to better understand how researchers define friendship, identify participants, and confirm participants’ friendships. Implications for future research are discussed. We also sought to identify themes in extant research to guide future intervention. The thematic findings point to the importance of adults providing direct support while fading their proximity to students, and of TD peers negotiating the ongoing tension between the roles of helper and friend.
Opening the Black Box: the Relationship between Neural Networks and Linear Discriminant Functions

Over the last ten years feed‐forward neural networks have become a popular tool for statistical decision making. During this time, they have been applied in many fields, including cytological classification. Neural networks are often treated as a black box, whose inner workings are concealed from the researcher. This is unfortunate, since the inner workings of a neural network can be understood in a manner similar to that of a linear discriminant function, which is the standard tool that researchers use for decision making. This paper discusses feed‐forward neural networks and some methods to improve their performance for classification problems. Their relationship to discriminant functions will be examined for a simple two‐dimensional classification problem.
Invariance Properties in the Dynamics of Positive Linear Systems

The paper explores the dynamics of asymptotically stable positive linear systems, with arbitrary initial conditions and constant input signals. We study both discrete- and continuous-time cases. We prove the existence of time-dependent invariant sets, defined in terms of Holder p-norms, with 1 les p les infin. Our results allow refining the qualitative analysis of positive linear systems. The investigated invariance properties are not generally valid for asymptotically stable linear systems, in the absence of the positivity condition
Staffing and Job Stress on Motivation of Employees in Al Ihsan General Hospital

Motivation has a very important role for the employees of the hospital in order to provide excellent service to the community. The importance of motivation, one of which is associated with the appropriate placement of human resources. This is done with the hope if the employee works in the right place and at the right position, then job motivation will increase. Based on the hypothesis, motivation of employee influenced job stress and heavy work environment can have an impact on employee stress. This research was conducted at Al Ihsan Hospital with a population of 75 employees. The data were obtained using a questionnaire and interview techniques. Data analysis is using structural equation modeling with the help of PLS analysis tools. The results showed that staffing and job stress have a significant effect on job motivation.
Study on Alliance of Audit Interests Based on Analytic Network Process

In a rapidly changing economic environment, the action about the alliance of audit interests acted by certificated public accountant (CPA) and manager of the public company made a great loss for the Company owners, potential investors and the public. The credibility of Certified Public Accountants for the whole has been received unprecedented attention. And the action also brought new challenges for regulators to strengthen supervision and control. This paper gives a fresh model which is Analytic Network Process (ANP), we can use it to study how we can get out of the alliance of audit interests standing at new position and with a new perspective. And constructed the index system which impact auditors of the lack of professional ethics,using the advantage of Analytic Network Process, taking into account the various impacts between indexes. So that the evaluation of the results was more scientific and rational. At last,the advises were given for regulators to improve the current mechanism for incentives and punishment.
De novo GTP Biosynthesis Is Critical for Virulence of the Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans

We have investigated the potential of the GTP synthesis pathways as chemotherapeutic targets in the human pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, a common cause of fatal fungal meningoencephalitis. We find that de novo GTP biosynthesis, but not the alternate salvage pathway, is critical to cryptococcal dissemination and survival in vivo. Loss of inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) in the de novo pathway results in slow growth and virulence factor defects, while loss of the cognate phosphoribosyltransferase in the salvage pathway yielded no phenotypes. Further, the Cryptococcus species complex displays variable sensitivity to the IMPDH inhibitor mycophenolic acid, and we uncover a rare drug-resistant subtype of C. gattii that suggests an adaptive response to microbial IMPDH inhibitors in its environmental niche. We report the structural and functional characterization of IMPDH from Cryptococcus, revealing insights into the basis for drug resistance and suggesting strategies for the development of fungal-specific inhibitors. The crystal structure reveals the position of the IMPDH moveable flap and catalytic arginine in the open conformation for the first time, plus unique, exploitable differences in the highly conserved active site. Treatment with mycophenolic acid led to significantly increased survival times in a nematode model, validating de novo GTP biosynthesis as an antifungal target in Cryptococcus.
Reusing automatic speech recognition platform for resource deficient languages

Indian subcontinent is diverse with several spoken languages in use and a wide range in literacy levels of the inhabitants. In this scenario, speech recognition based solution fits best to enable all strata of population access information. While speech recognition based solutions in the Western countries have moved into commercial use, they are far from being used in Indian scenario, mainly due to lack of language resources. Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) for Indian languages, including Indian English for India specific conditions is still maturing. In this paper, we show how existing resources can be effectively reused, to build usable speech based solution for resource deficient languages. We specifically employ PocketSphinx and Google Speech API to evaluate our ideas.