Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experiments with the M & N tree-searching program

The M & N procedure is an improvement to the mini-max backing-up procedure widely used in computer programs for game-playing and other purposes. It is based on the principle that it is desirable to have many options when making decisions in the face of uncertainty. The mini-max procedure assigns to a MAX (MIN) node the value of the highest (lowest) valued successor to that node. The M & N procedure assigns to a MAX (MIN) node some function of the M (N) highest (lowest) valued successors. An M & N procedure was written in LISP to play the game of kalah, and it was demonstrated that the M & N procedure is significantly superior to the mini-max procedure. The statistical significance of important conclusions is given. Since information on statistical significance has often been lacking in papers on computer experiments in the artificial intelligence field, these experiments can perhaps serve as a model for future work.
Academic Motivation in Self-Efficacy, Task Value, Achievement Goal Orientations, and Attributional Beliefs

The author assessed academic self-efficacy, task value, ability and effort attributions and mastery, performanceapproach, and performance-avoidance achievement-goal orientations in reference to English, Korean, mathematics, and general school learning among 389 Korean high school girls. Results corroborated M. Bong's (2001) previous report that students form motivational beliefs that are subject-matter specific and that some beliefs generalize more than others across multiple academic domains. On average, attributional beliefs appeared least "generalizable," followed by task value and mastery achievement-goal orientations. Academic self-efficacy beliefs were correlated moderately, whereas performance-approach and performance-avoidance achievement-goal orientations demonstrated strong correlation across different contexts. Motivational beliefs in each of the specific school subjects were more strongly correlated with motivational beliefs in general school learning than with beliefs in other areas of subject matter.
Introducing a Probabilistic Structure on Sequential Dynamical Systems, Simulation and Reduction of Probabilistic Sequential Networks

A probabilistic structure on sequential dynamical systems is in- troduced here, the new model will be called Probabilistic Sequential Network, PSN. The morphisms of Probabilistic Sequential Networks are defined using two algebraic conditions. It is proved here that two homomorphic Probabilistic Sequential Networks have the same equilibrium or steady state probabilities if the morphism is either an epimorphism or a monomorphism. Additionally, the proof of the set of PSN with its morphisms form the category PSN, having the category of sequential dynamical systems SDS, as a full subcategory is given. Several examples of morphisms, subsystems and simulations are given.
Rigorous Analysis of Uniaxial Discontinuities Microwave Components Using a New Multimodal Variational Formulation

A new multimodal variational formulation (NVMF) analysis is used for a rigorous analysis of four microwave subsystems with multiple discontinuities: one double-step and one quadruplestep empty-ridged waveguide discontinuity, one iris-coupled cavities filter with four resonators and one impedance transformer. The Sparameters of each structure are deduced from its total impedance matrix, without cascading the S-parameters of individual discontinuities as with the most methods based on mode-matching technique; the convergence study versus the accessible modes is no long necessary, which makes this passive microwave circuit’s analysis and design tool very efficient.
Understanding Emotion from a Superordinate Dimensional Perspective: A Productive Way Forward for Communication Processes and Effects Studies

Emotion is the fuel of human communication. Researchers who have dedicated themselves to deep theoretical understanding of communication processes and effects must come to grips with just how interwoven emotion is with every phenomenon they investigate. Fortunately, our colleagues in psychology have developed extensive lines of research on human emotion that have led to rigorous theoretical models. The two models that have guided a large majority of the research are the discrete and dimensional views of emotion (Nabi & Wirth, 2008). This essay will compare and contrast the two dominant theoretical models of human emotion focusing on how a dimensional theoretical perspective on human emotion provides a superordinate organizational structure to human emotion.
PORE-SCALE HETEROGENEITY ASSESSED BY THE LATTICE-BOLTZMANN METHOD

A digital imaging technique is used to characterize pore-scale structures and to predict fluid flow at the scale. Heterogeneity at the pore-scale can be assessed by the micro-Computed Tomography (micro-CT), which provides complicated boundary conditions of porous media, and it can also be identified by the numerical flow simulation using the lattice-Boltzmann method (LBM) on the digital image. Both the LBM and the digital image are used to estimate the Representative Element Volume (REV) of the rock. Different types and sizes of pore-scale structures are evaluated in terms of the effects of heterogeneity and the porosity–permeability correlations. Numerical simulation on the digital image of porous media is useful to understand its heterogeneity and such digital experiments can add value to the laboratory measurements.
Spatial orientation of glycoproteins in membranes of rat liver rough microsomes. II. Transmembrane disposition and characterization of glycoproteins

Rat liver microsomal glycoproteins were purified by affinity chromatography on concanavalin A Sepharose columns from membrane and content fractions, separated from rough microsomes (RM) treated with low concentrations of deoxycholate (DOC). All periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)-positive glycoproteins of RM showed affinity for concanavalin A Sepharose; even after sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) acrylamide gel electrophoresis, most of the microsomal glycoproteins bound [125I]concanavalin A added to the gels, as detected by autoradiography. Two distinct sets of glycoproteins are present in the membrane and content fractions derived from RM. SDS acrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that RM membranes contain 15--20 glycoproteins (15--22% of the total microsomal protein) which range in apparent mol wt from 23,000 to 240,000 daltons. A smaller set of glycoproteins (five to seven polypeptides), with apparent mol wt between 60,000 and 200,000 daltons, was present in the microsomal content fraction. The disposition of the membrane glycoproteins with respect to the membrane plane was determined by selective iodination with the lactoperoxidase (LPO) technique. Intact RM were labeled on their outer face with 131I and, after opening of the vesicles with 0.05% DOC, in both faces with 125I. An analysis of iodination ratios for individual proteins separated electrophoretically showed that in most membrane glycoproteins, tyrosine residues are predominantly exposed on the luminal face of the vesicles, which is the same face on which the carbohydrate moieties are exposed. Several membrane glycoproteins are also exposed on the cytoplasmic surface and therefore have a transmembrane disposition. In this study, ribophorins I and II, two integral membrane proteins (mol wt 65,000 and 63,000) characteristic of RM, were found to be transmembrane glycoproteins. It is suggested that the transmembrane disposition of the ribophorins may be related to their possible role in ribosome binding and in the vectorial transfer of nascent polypeptides into the microsomal lumen.
On the effectiveness of multiscale mode filters in edge preserving image filtering

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the multiscale mode filters (MSMF) in edge preserving image smoothing tasks. The MSMF can be viewed as a generalization of the mean shift filters. Therefore, the performances of the MSMF are compared with the performances of the mean shift filters. The goal of the study is to identify image types where the MSMF can be used with better results and to quantify the gain obtained by this filter. Compared with the conventional mean shift filter, the MSMF is proven to be most effective in restoring images with blurred edges and high noise levels.
Causes of mortality in diabetes mellitus: data from a tertiary teaching hospital in India

Background: Mortality studies can show the relative contribution of diabetes to mortality in the total population, and they can provide important descriptions of the changes in causes and frequency of diabetes mortality over time. Objective: To find the mortality pattern in people with diabetes admitted to a tertiary care hospital in a developing country, using underlying/contributory causes of death. Methods: In this retrospective study, mortality trends among people with diabetes admitted to Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, Kashmir, India were reviewed by screening the hospital records of all people with diabetes who died over the last 9 years, carrying forward earlier observations from the same centre. Results: Of 234 776 people admitted to the centre during the review period, 16 690 (7.11%) died; 741 (383 men) of these had diabetes mellitus mentioned on the death certificate. The mean (SD) age at death for people with diabetes was 60.07 (13.62) years in men and 57.36 (13.40) years in women. The leading contributory causes of death were infections (40.9%), chronic renal failure (33.6%), coronary artery disease (16.9%), cerebrovascular disease (13.2%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (6.9%), acute renal failure (6.2%), malignancy (4.2%), hypoglycaemia (3.5%) and diabetic ketoacidosis (3.4%). The cause of death could not be ascertained in 2.8% of cases; in 52.9%, 36.3% and 8.0% cases one, two and three or more causes, respectively, were recorded as the cause of death. Conclusions: The aetiological spectrum of mortality in people with diabetes at this Indian centre continues to be dominated by infections and renal failure, which is different from that in the developed world, where coronary artery disease and cerebrovascular disease are the principal causes of death in people with diabetes.
Blind xor: Low-Overhead Loss Recovery for Vehicular Safety Communications

Packet loss in vehicular networks can undermine the effectiveness of communication-based accident prevention systems. Traditionally, retransmission has been used to combat packet loss in communication networks. However, retransmission overhead is known to increase channel congestion in dense wireless vehicular networks, which increases the likelihood of packet loss due to collisions, limiting the loss recovery capacity of the retransmission algorithm. This paper presents a low-overhead retransmission algorithm called blind xor (BXOR). By xoring multiple packets into a single retransmission, BXOR recovers an increased number of lost packets per retransmission. BXOR keeps the overhead low by not trying to learn the loss status of the receivers via feedback, rather, which packets to xor are blindly decided by the retransmitter alone. It is mathematically proved that BXOR can outperform existing retransmission methods if the conditional reception probability (CRP) of the xored packets is greater than 0.5. The performance is maximized by xoring an optimal number of packets, which is a function of the CRP. It is also proved that there is a negative performance if BXOR is exercised for a CRP of less than 0.5. Guided by the analytical results, we propose a practical BXOR protocol, which opportunistically exercises the xor operation based on the current estimation of the CRP. Simulation experiments confirm that, within a 110-m radius of the original packet transmitter, BXOR can reduce the packet reception failure rate by up to 60% of the rates achievable by previously proposed retransmission algorithms.
The Role of Cultural Artifacts in the Interpretation of Metaphorical Expressions About Time

Across cultures, people employ space to construct representations of time. English exhibits two deictic space–time metaphors: the “moving ego” metaphor conceptualizes the ego as moving forward through time and the “moving time” metaphor conceptualizes time as moving forward towards the ego. Earlier research investigating the psychological reality of these metaphors has shown that engaging in certain types of spatial-motion thinking may influence how people reason about events in time. More recently, research has shown that people’s interactions with cultural artifacts may also influence their representations of time. Extending research on space–time mappings in new directions, three experiments investigated the role of cultural artifacts, namely calendars and clocks, in the interpretation of metaphorical expressions about time. Taken together, the results provide initial evidence that, in their interpretation of ambiguous metaphorical expressions about time, people automatically access and use spatial representations of absolute time, whereby moving forward in space corresponds with moving later in time. Moreover, asking participants to use a reverse space–time mapping causes interference, which is reflected through their temporal reasoning.
The Thalidomide Analogue, CC-4047, Induces Apoptosis Signaling and Growth Arrest in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Cells In vitro and In vivo

Purpose: Thalidomide and its analogues have shown promise in the treatment of multiple myeloma but their therapeutic potential has not been evaluated in models of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Experimental Design: We assessed the effects of the thalidomide analogue, CC-4047, on the growth and apoptosis signaling of human B cell precursor (BCP) ALL cell lines and freshly obtained childhood BCP-ALL cells grown with or without stromal cells. In addition, we studied the effects of CC-4047 on the progression and dissemination of xenotransplanted human BCP-ALL cells in nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency mice. Results: CC-4047 reduced the proliferation of human BCP-ALL cell lines in vitro. In contrast with the antileukemic effect of cytarabin, this was more pronounced when cell lines or freshly obtained childhood BCP-ALL cells were cocultured with stromal cells. CC-4047 induced the cleavage of caspase-3, caspase-9, and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase in stroma-cocultured BCP-ALL cells. The inhibition of tumor growth, caspase-3 cleavage, and reduced microvessel density was observed in nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency mice inoculated s.c. with childhood BCP-ALL cells upon CC-4047 treatment. After i.v. BCP-ALL xenotransplantation, CC-4047 reduced splenic dissemination. Conclusions: The thalidomide analogue, CC-4047, displays profound cytostatic effects on stroma-supported human ALL cells both in vitro and in vivo.
Structure, Function and Clinical Significance of Transferrin Receptors

Abstract Iron plays an essential role in a spectrum of metabolic processes. Cellular iron uptake is facilitated by transferrin receptor (TfR)-mediated endocytosis. In recent years more insight has been obtained in TfR physiology and the regulation of cellular iron homeostasis. The synthesis of TfR and the iron storage protein ferritin is regulated reciprocally at the post-transcriptional level according to the cellular iron status. As a result of externalization of TfR during the endocytic cycle, a soluble form of TfR can be detected in serum. The serum TfR (sTfR) level is closely related to erythroid TfR turnover and the prime determinants of the sTfR concentration are cellular iron demands and erythroid proliferation rate. In the absence of a hyperplastic erythropoiesis the sTfR level is a sensitive parameter of early tissue iron deficiency. The entire spectrum of body iron status can be assessed by measurement of serum ferritin and sTfR levels, with ferritin as marker of tissue iron stores and sTfR as index of tissue iron needs. The sTfR may be a promising tool to detect iron deficiency in inflammatory states and in the anaemia of chronic disease as its concentration is, in contrast to ferritin levels, not influenced by the acute phase response. Determination of sTfR levels may also improve assessment of body iron stores during pregnancy and in neonates. Finally, the sTfR may be a useful parameter to monitor erythropoiesis in various clinical settings, for instance in the prediction of the haematological response to erythropoietin treatment. However, standardization of the sTfR assay, with definition of reference and pathological ranges, is necessary for the definitive introduction of the sTfR as major parameter of iron metabolism.
SOCIAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES AND POLICY RESEARCH: THE CASE OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

It has been argued that social science disciplines influence their members policy research via theoretical focus, methods, norms, and system maintenance mechanisms and that these forces inhibit the usefulness of policy research for policy-making. Political science is found to influence substantially its members policy research output and to decrease its policy usefulness, primarily by promoting explanations of policy, although the extent of influence and lack of usefulness are less than studies of other disciplines suggest. Whereas highly useful outcome analyses are produced less frequently than many advocates of policy research would hope, a sub-stantial body of policy research undertakes objectives that when satisfied, particularly in the area of problem definition, provide moderately useful output to decision makers. In addition, policy research output is remarkably diverse substantively, but less so in terms of the purposes it serves. Copyright 1989 by The Policy Studies Organization.
Merlin Regulates Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition of ARPE-19 Cells via TAK1-p38MAPK-Mediated Activation.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate the function of merlin, which is a binding partner of the hyaluronan receptor CD44, during the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of human retinal pigment epithelium (ARPE-19) cells. METHODS Human retinal pigment epithelium cells were stimulated with TNF-α and treated using epithelial-to-mesenchymal-transition inhibitors (a dynamin inhibitor or transforming growth factor-β-activated kinase 1 [TAK1] inhibitor). Levels of protein expression were assessed by immunoblot analysis, and localization of the relevant proteins was determined by immunofluorescence microscopy. Cell proliferation was evaluated by bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation assays. All experiments were performed in serum-free medium. RESULTS Tumor necrosis factor-α treatments downregulated the expression of merlin and led to the dissociation of CD44 and merlin. The ezrin-radixin-moesin (ERM) proteins were phosphorylated, and hyaluronan endocytosis was accelerated in merlin small interfering RNA (siMerlin)-transfected cells. Treatment with the endocytosis inhibitor dynasore blocked hyaluronan endocytosis, whereas treatment with TNF-α induced mesenchymal phenotypes and downregulation of merlin. Additionally, siMerlin transfection promoted p38MAPK phosphorylation, which was inhibited not only by TAK1 inhibitor treatment but also by TAK1 small interfering RNA (siRNA, siTAK1) transfection. The increased level of BrdU incorporation in siMerlin cells was reduced by additional siTAK1 transfection. Furthermore, TNF-α-induced mesenchymal differentiation and high motility were also inhibited by TAK1 inhibitor treatment and by siTAK1 transfection. CONCLUSIONS Our findings demonstrated that merlin exerts inhibitory effects on TNF-α-induced EMT by regulating hyaluronan endocytosis and the TAK1-p38MAPK signaling pathway. The proliferative and mesenchymal characteristics of RPE cells play important roles in the development of intraocular fibrotic disorders, such as proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR), and our findings provide new therapeutic strategies to prevent the development of PVR.
'Are You Sure You're Paying Attention?' - 'Uh-Huh' Communicating Understanding as a Marker of Attentiveness

We report on the first results of an experiment designed to investigate properties of communicative feedback produced by nonattentive listeners in dialogue. Listeners were found to produce less feedback when distracted by an ancillary task. A decreased number of feedback expressions communicating understanding was a particularly reliable indicator of distractedness. We argue this finding could be used to facilitate recognition of attentional states in dialogue system users. Index Terms: communicative feedback; dialogue; distraction; engagement; attention; dual task
Understanding community resilience and program factors that strengthen them

Any part of this publication may be cited, copied, translated into other languages or adapted to meet local needs without prior permission from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, provided that the source is clearly stated. Requests for commercial reproduction should be directed to the IFRC at secretariat@ifrc.org All photos used in this study are copyright of the IFRC unless otherwise indicated. 1226300-Summary Characteristics and Determinants of a Safe and Resilient Community Strategy 2020 voices the collective determination of the IFRC to move forward in tackling the major challenges that confront humanity in the next decade. Informed by the needs and vulnerabilities of the diverse communities with whom we work, as well as the basic rights and freedoms to which all are entitled, this strategy seeks to benefit all who look to Red Cross Red Crescent to help to build a more humane, dignified, and peaceful world. In this decade, the collective focus of the IFRC will be on achieving the following strategic aims: 1. Save lives, protect livelihoods, and strengthen recovery from disasters and crises 2. Enable healthy and safe living 3. Promote social inclusion and a culture of non-violence and peace Understanding community resilience and program factors that strengthen them June 2012 A comprehensive study of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies tsunami operation