Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Memorias Adaptables para la Construcción de Identidades Colectivas

Resumen La investigacion sobre la maleabilidad de la memoria humana ha mostrado como podemos incorporar informacion erronea dadas ciertas condiciones sociales. Esta linea de investigacion ha llevado a psicologos cognitivos a centrarse en los errores de la memoria y la desinformacion que puede ser causados por contagio social. Basado en el mismo efecto de contagio social, estudios recientes se han centrado en las caracteristicas potencialmente adaptables de la memoria. Dicha adaptabilidad nos facilita desarollar la confianza en los miembros de los grupos sociales a los que pertenecemos. Esto nos permite promover la cooperacion creando las condiciones para la formacion y mantenimiento de ‘comunidades de memoria’, que son la base para la construccion y la transmision de memoria colectivas. Si por un momento nos distanciamos de los actuales debates filosoficos acerca de si los grupos pueden tener una mente, y por lo tanto ellos mismos pueden formar memorias colectivas, esta puede ser definida como memorias individuales compartidas en una comunidad, que le confieren identidad a la comunidad. Las memorias colectivas pueden pertenecer a un proyecto identitario que los miembros de grupos sociales emplean para conservar su historia y mantener cohesion. El objetivo de nuestro articulo es investigar cuales son los factores sociales y cognitivos que promueven la formacion de memorias colectivas en interacciones sociales. Para esto discutimos numerosos estudios en psicologia social, cultural y cognitiva que se han centrado en encontrar y explicar los beneficios y costos de formar memorias colectivas. La evidencia empirica sugiere que la adaptabilidad de la memoria humana, y en consecuencia la capacidad que grupos sociales tienen para formar memorias colectivas sobre las cuales basar sus identidades sociales parece ser bastante independiente de la veracidad y precision de tales recuerdos.
Use of a Domain Specific Modeling Language for Realizing Versatile Dashboards

In order to make performance indicators a useful instrument to support managerial decision making, there is need to thoroughly analyse the business context indicators are used in as well as their mutual dependencies. For this purpose, it is recommended to design indicator systems that do not only include dedicated specifications of indicators, but that account for relevant relationships. In this paper, a DSML is proposed that enables the convenient design of consistent indicator systems at type level, which supports various kinds of analyses, and can serve as conceptual foundation for corresponding performance management systems, such as dashboard systems. Furthermore, indicator systems may also be used during run-time at the instance level to promote the distinguished interpretation of particular indicator values.
Maintenance of improvement in spinal mobility, physical function and quality of life in patients with ankylosing spondylitis after 5 years in a clinical trial of adalimumab

Objective. Chronic pain and progressive loss of physical function with AS may adversely affect health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The objective of this study was to assess the 5-year data regarding spinal mobility, physical function and HRQoL in patients with AS who participated in the Adalimumab Trial Evaluating Long-term Efficacy and Safety for AS (ATLAS) study. Methods. Patients received blinded adalimumab 40 mg or placebo every other week for 24 weeks, then open-label adalimumab for up to 5 years. Spinal mobility was evaluated using linear BASMI (BASMIlin). BASDAI, total back pain, CRP, BASFI, Short Form-36 and AS quality of life (ASQoL) were also assessed. Correlations between BASMIlin and clinical, functional and ASQoL outcomes after 12 weeks and after 5years of adalimumab exposure were evaluated using Spearman’s rank correlation. Associations were further analysed using multivariate regression. Results. Three hundred and eleven patients received ≥1 dose of adalimumab; 125 of the 208 patients originally randomized to adalimumab received treatment for 5 years. Improvements in BASMIlin were sustained through 5 years, with a mean change of –0.6 from baseline in the population who completed 5 years of treatment with adalimumab. Improvements in disease activity, physical function and ASQoL were also sustained through 5 years. BASMIlin was significantly correlated with all evaluated clinical outcomes (P < 0.001). The highest correlation was with BASFI at 12 weeks (r = 0.52) and at 5 years (r = 0.65). Multivariate regression analysis confirmed this association (P < 0.001). Conclusion. Treatment with adalimumab for up to 5 years demonstrated sustained benefits in spinal mobility, disease activity, physical function and HRQoL in patients with active AS. Spinal mobility was significantly associated with short- and long-term physical function in these patients. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ NCT00085644.
Shape correction of thin mirrors in a recongurable modular space telescope

In order to facilitate the construction of future large space telescopes, the development of low cost, low mass mirrors is necessary. However, such mirrors suffer from a lack of structural stability, stiffness, and shape accuracy. Active materials and actuators can be used to alleviate this deficiency. For observations in the visible wavelengths, the mirror surface must be controlled to an accuracy on the order of tens of nanometers. This paper presents an exploration of several mirror design concepts and compares their effectiveness at providing accurate shape control. The comparison test is the adjustment of a generic mirror from its manufactured spherical shape to the shape required by various off-axis mirrors in a segmented primary mirror array. A study of thermal effects is also presented and, from these results, a recommended design is chosen.
Characterizing normal forms for informational independence

The concept of informational independence plays a key role in most knowledge-based systems. Although de ned di erently in di erent contexts, its basic properties have been axiomatised by J. Pearl and his co-researchers. Pearl's axiomatic system o ers a set of inference rules for deriving new independence statements from an initial set of statements and as such allows for a normal form for representing independences. Pearl's axioms, however, focus on mutually disjoint sets of variables only. We show that focusing on disjoint sets of variables can hide various interesting properties of independence. We extend Pearl's axiomatic system to capture these properties and thereby introduce a new normal form for informational independence.
DNA Methylation as Clinically Useful Biomarkers—Light at the End of the Tunnel

A recent expansion of our knowledge about epigenetic changes strongly suggests that epigenetic rather than genetic features better reflect disease development, and consequently, can become more conclusive biomarkers for the detection and diagnosis of different diseases. In this paper we will concentrate on the current advances in DNA methylation studies that demonstrate a direct link between abnormal DNA methylation and a disease. This link can be used to develop diagnostic biomarkers that will precisely identify a particular disease. It also appears that disease-specific DNA methylation patterns undergo unique changes in response to treatment with a particular drug, thus raising the possibility of DNA methylation-based biomarkers for the monitoring of treatment efficacy, for prediction of response to treatment, and for the prognosis of outcome. While biomarkers for oncology are the most obvious applications, other fields of medicine are likely to benefit as well. This potential is demonstrated by DNA methylation-based biomarkers for neurological and psychiatric diseases. A special requirement for a biomarker is the possibility of longitudinal testing. In this regard cell-free circulating DNA from blood is especially interesting because it carries methylation markers specific for a particular disease. Although only a few DNA methylation-based biomarkers have attained clinical relevance, the ongoing efforts to decipher disease-specific methylation patterns are likely to produce additional biomarkers for detection, diagnosis, and monitoring of different diseases in the near future.
From static to dynamic ensemble of classifiers selection: Application to Arabic handwritten recognition

Arabic handwriting word recognition is a challenging problem due to Arabic's connected letter forms, consonantal diacritics and rich morphology. One way to improve the recognition rates classification task is to improve the accuracy of individual classifiers; another, is to apply ensemble of classifiers methods. To select the best classifier set from a pool of classifiers, the classifier diversity is considered one of the most important properties in static classifier selection. However, the advantage of dynamic ensemble selection versus static classifier selection is that used classifier set depends critically on the test pattern. In this paper, we propose two approaches for Arabic handwriting recognition AHR based on static and dynamic ensembles of classifiers selection. The first one selects statically the best set of classifiers from a pool of classifier already designed based on diversity measures. The second one represents a new algorithm based on Dynamic Ensemble of Classifiers Selection using Local Reliability measure DECS-LR. It chooses the most confident ensemble of classifiers to label each test sample dynamically. Such a level of confidence is measured by calculating the proposed local reliability measure using confusion matrixes constructed during training level. We show experimentally that both approaches provide encouraging results with the second one leading to a better recognition rate for AHR system using IFN_ENIT database.
A practical heuristic for finding graph minors

We present a heuristic algorithm for finding a graph $H$ as a minor of a graph $G$ that is practical for sparse $G$ and $H$ with hundreds of vertices. We also explain the practical importance of finding graph minors in mapping quadratic pseudo-boolean optimization problems onto an adiabatic quantum annealer.
The device model of interaction

Any interactive system can be described in terms of the devices it involves, and their interconnections. Similarly, each device can be described in terms of simpler devices and their interconnections. Such descriptions are strictly modular, and well structured. This observation allows any system to be described, at all levels, by the same language. Such descriptions have intuitive appeal for hardware as well as software components, and for process control applications as well as human-machine interaction. The Device model of interaction, as described here, can ease the job of designing user- friendly interactive systems, and can be adapted for automatic compilation. As an example, the design of an actual system component is discussed. The design is presented, at several levels, in a Pascal-like notation. It represents a module created to provide a human-machine interface via a graphic tablet, keyboard and video monitor.
Decreased Atherosclerotic Lesion Formation in Human Serum Paraoxonase Transgenic Mice

Background—Serum paraoxonase (PON1), an enzyme carried on HDL, inhibits LDL oxidation, and in human population studies, low PON1 activity is associated with atherosclerosis. In addition, PON1 knockout mice are more susceptible to lipoprotein oxidation and atherosclerosis. To evaluate whether PON1 protects against atherosclerosis and lipid oxidation in a dose-dependent manner, we generated and studied human PON1 transgenic mice. Methods and Results—Human PON1 transgenic mice were produced by using bacterial artificial chromosome genomic clones. The mice had 2- to 4-fold increased plasma PON1 levels, but plasma cholesterol levels were unchanged. Atherosclerotic lesions were significantly reduced in the transgenic mice when both dietary and apoE-null mouse models were used. HDL isolated from the transgenic mice also protected against LDL oxidation more effectively. Conclusions—Our results indicate that PON1 protects against atherosclerosis in a dose-dependent manner and suggest that it may be a potential target for developing therapeutic agents for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.
Risk Factors of Periodontal Disease: Review of the Literature

Objectives. This paper aims to review the evidence on the potential roles of modifiable and nonmodifiable risk factors associated with periodontal disease. Data. Original articles that reported on the risk factors for periodontal disease were included. Sources. MEDLINE (1980 to Jan 2014), PubMed (using medical subject headings), and Google Scholar were searched using the following terms in different combinations: “periodontal disease,” “periodontitis,” “risk factors,” and “causal. ” This was supplemented by hand-searching in peer-reviewed journals and cross-referenced with the articles accessed. Conclusions. It is important to understand the etiological factors and the pathogenesis of periodontal disease to recognize and appreciate the associated risk factors. As periodontal disease is multifactorial, effective disease management requires a clear understanding of all the associated risk factors.
Parallel data generation for performance analysis of large, complex RDBMS

The exponential growth in the amount of data retained by today's systems is fostered by a recent paradigm shift towards cloud computing and the vast deployment of data-hungry applications, such as social media sites. At the same time systems are capturing more sophisticated data. Running realistic benchmarks to test the performance and robustness of these applications is becoming increasingly difficult, because of the amount of data that needs to be generated, the number of systems that need to generate the data and the complex structure of the data. These three reasons are intrinsically connected. Whenever large amounts of data are needed, its generation process needs to be highly parallel, in many cases across-systems. Since the structure of the data is becoming more and more complex, its parallel generation is extremely challenging. Over the years there have been many papers about data generators, but there has not been a comprehensive overview of the requirements of today's data generators covering the most complex problems to be solved. In this paper we present such an overview by analyzing the requirements of today's data generators and either explaining how the problems have been solved in existing data generators, or showing why the problems have not been solved yet.
The SIMILAR Corpus: A Resource To Foster The Qualitative Understanding of Semantic Similarity of Texts

We describe in this paper the SIMILAR corpus which was developed to foster a deeper and qualitative understanding of word-to-word semantic similarity metrics and their role on the more general problem of text-to-text semantic similarity. The SIMILAR corpus fills a gap in existing resources that are meant to support the development of text-to-text similarity methods based on word-level similarities. The existing resources, such as data sets annotated with paraphrase information between two sentences, do not provide word-to-word semantic similarity annotations and quality judgments at word-level. We annotated 700 pairs of sentences from the Microsoft Research Paraphrase corpus with word-to-word semantic similarity information using both a greedy and optimal protocol. We proposed a set of qualitative word-to-word semantic similarity relations which were then used to annotate the corpus. We also present a detailed analysis of various quantitative word-to-word semantic similarity metrics and how they relate to our qualitative relations. A software tool has been developed to facilitate the annotation of texts using the proposed protocol.
Image-Guided Robotic Flexible Needle Steering

This paper presents a robotic system for steering under real-time fluoroscopic guidance a flexible needle in soft tissue. Given a target and possible obstacle locations, the computer calculates the flexible needle-tip trajectory that avoids the obstacle and hits the target. Using an inverse kinematics algorithm, the needle base maneuvers required for a tip to follow this trajectory are calculated, enabling a robot to perform controlled needle insertion. Assuming small displacements, the flexible needle is modeled as a linear beam supported by virtual springs, where the stiffness coefficients of the springs can vary along the needle. Using this simplified model, the forward and inverse kinematics of the needle are solved analytically, enabling both path planning and path correction in real time. The needle shape is detected in real time from fluoroscopic images, and the controller commands the needle base motion that minimizes the needle tip error. This approach was verified experimentally using a robot to maneuver the base of a flexible needle inserted into a muscle tissue. Along the 40-mm trajectory that avoids the obstacle and hits the target, the error stayed below the 0.5-mm level. This study demonstrates the ability to perform closed-loop control and steering of a flexible needle by maneuvering the needle base so that its tip achieves a planned trajectory.
Work limitations, workplace concerns, and job satisfaction of persons with chronic disease.

INTRODUCTION This study investigates the workplace experiences of people with chronic diseases, including their work limitations, emotional health, concerns about discrimination, and support from colleagues and employer. This study identifies the factors that contribute to work adjustment (job tenure and job satisfaction). METHODS A purposive sample of 136 persons aged 18 to 60 with chronic diseases who had been employed in the past 6 months completed a survey about their workplace experience. The questionnaire included several standardized instruments: the Perceived Health and Self-efficacy in Managing Chronic Disease Scale, Work Limitations Questionnaire, Overall Job Satisfaction Scale, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21. The researchers also designed original items to measure concerns about discriminatory practices, workplace support, and self-stigma. RESULTS Persons with chronic diseases were fairly satisfied with their jobs and had extended stays in those jobs. They reported a minor productivity loss and physical limitations. Most participants let co-workers, employers, and supervisors know they had chronic disease, but they were concerned about the support those people provide. Participants were more likely to be highly satisfied with their jobs if they had high self-efficacy in managing their disease, perceived more workplace support, and had less work limitations (especially output demands). Job tenure is associated age, education, and monthly income, but not clinical indicators. CONCLUSIONS Persons with chronic disease who were able to maintain good work adjustment tended to be "fit" with few work limitations and little emotional distress. The key factors affecting work adjustment were efficacy in managing their disease, workplace support, and output demands.
Education and intergenerational mobility: evidence from a natural experiment in Puerto Rico

The existence of intergenerational spillovers to public investments in schooling is often assumed in policy discussions regarding economic development. However, few studies to date have forwarded convincing evidence that externalities exist for developing countries. In this paper, we address this issue using the arguably exogenous schooling consequences of a major hurricane strike on Puerto Rico in the 1950s. Using data from the U.S. Census of Population for Puerto Rico, we first find that individuals on the margin of school entry at the time of the storm and residing in the most exposed regions of the island had significantly lower levels of education as adults than their counterparts in less exposed regions. Using the interaction of wind speed and age at the time of the storm as an instrument, we then find that maternal education is related to the probability that a child speaks English. Our estimates imply an additional year of education raises the probability that a child speaks English by between 4.3 and 4.5 percentage points, or approximately 24 to 28 percent. We find no conclusive evidence that parental education increases the probability that a child is enrolled, literate, or in an age-appropriate grade. On balance, these findings suggest that education is responsible at least in part for the persistence of human capital across generations.
Multicontrast MRI Reconstruction with Structure-Guided Total Variation

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a versatile imaging technique that allows different contrasts depending on the acquisition parameters. Many clinical imaging studies acquire MRI data for more than one of these contrasts---such as for instance T1 and T2 weighted images---which makes the overall scanning procedure very time consuming. As all of these images show the same underlying anatomy one can try to omit unnecessary measurements by taking the similarity into account during reconstruction. We will discuss two modifications of total variation---based on i) location and ii) direction---that take structural a priori knowledge into account and reduce to total variation in the degenerate case when no structural knowledge is available. We solve the resulting convex minimization problem with the alternating direction method of multipliers that separates the forward operator from the prior. For both priors the corresponding proximal operator can be implemented as an extension of the fast gradient projection method on the dual problem for total variation. We tested the priors on six data sets that are based on phantoms and real MRI images. In all test cases exploiting the structural information from the other contrast yields better results than separate reconstruction with total variation in terms of standard metrics like peak signal-to-noise ratio and structural similarity index. Furthermore, we found that exploiting the two dimensional directional information results in images with well defined edges, superior to those reconstructed solely using a priori information about the edge location.
The ginsenoside metabolite compound K, a novel agonist of glucocorticoid receptor, induces tolerance to endotoxin-induced lethal shock

Compound K (C‐K), a protopanaxadiol ginsenoside metabolite, was previously shown to have immunomodulatory effects. Here, we describe a novel therapeutic role for C‐K in the treatment of lethal sepsis through the modulation of Toll‐like receptor (TLR) 4‐associated signalling via glucocorticoid receptor (GR) binding. In mononuclear phagocytes, C‐K significantly repressed the activation of TLR4/lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐induced NF‐κB and mitogen‐activated protein kinases (MAPKs), as well as the secretion of pro‐inflammatory cytokines. However C‐K did not affect the TLR3‐mediated expression of interferon‐β or the nuclear translocation of IRF‐3. C‐K competed with the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone for binding to GR and activated glucocorticoid responsive element (GRE)‐containing reporter plasmids in a dose‐dependent manner. In addition, the blockade of GR with either the GR antagonist RU486 or a siRNA against GR substantially reversed the anti‐inflammatory effects of C‐K. Furthermore, TLR4‐dependent repression of inflammatory response genes by C‐K was mediated through the disruption of p65/interferon regulatory factor complexes. Importantly, pre‐ or post‐treatment with C‐K significantly rescued mice from Gram‐negative bacterial LPS‐induced lethal shock by lowering their systemic inflammatory cytokine levels and by reversing the lethal sequelae of sepsis. Collectively, these results demonstrate that C‐K, as a functional ligand of GR, regulates distinct TLR4‐mediated inflammatory responses, and suggest a novel therapy for Gram‐negative septic shock.