Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Big Data and the brave new world of social media research

The recent Facebook study about emotional contagion has generated a high-profile debate about the ethical and social issues in Big Data research. These issues are not unprecedented, but the debate highlighted that, in focusing on research ethics and the legal issues about this type of research, an important larger picture is overlooked about the extent to which free will is compatible with the growth of deterministic scientific knowledge, and how Big Data research has become central to this growth of knowledge. After discussing the ‘emotional contagion study’ as an illustration, these larger issues about Big Data and scientific knowledge are addressed by providing definitions of data, Big Data and of how scientific knowledge changes the human-made environment. Against this background, it will be possible to examine why the uses of data-driven analyses of human behaviour in particular have recently experienced rapid growth. The essay then goes on to discuss the distinction between basic scientific research as against applied research, a distinction which, it is argued, is necessary to understand the quite different implications in the context of scientific as opposed to applied research. Further, it is important to recognize that Big Data analyses are both enabled and constrained by the nature of data sources available. Big Data research is bound to become more widespread, and this will require more awareness on the part of data scientists, policymakers and a wider public about its contexts and often unintended consequences.
Gene Duplication and Subsequent Differentiation of Esterases in Cactophilic Drosophila Species

Phytophagous insects are excellent model systems to study the genetic and ecological bases of adaptation and population differentiation because the host plant constitutes an immediate environmental factor that can affect the early stages of the life cycle (Matzkin, 2005; Matzkin et al., 2006). New host plant exploitation can result in genetic and biochemical adjustments to the new resource and to chemically distinct niches, which can include potentially toxic compounds, new mating environments, parasitoids, bacteria and fungi (Kircher, 1982; Fogleman & Abril, 1990; Via, 1990; Fogleman & Danielson, 2001). These adjustments are the result of a number of physiological changes, including those related to biochemical systems associated with adaptation to the new environment. The species of the Drosophila repleta group occupy different habitats, but their common feature is that they are phytophagous; that is, they lay eggs in rotting cacti cladodes. The developing larvae feed on the yeast that are part of the rotting process (Starmer & Gilbert, 1982; Pereira et al., 1983; Starmer et al., 1986), according to the cactus-Drosophila-yeast system; therefore, they are considered specialists. However, adults are generalists because they visit other food sources in their environment (Morais et al., 1994). This ecological specificity of cactophilic Drosophila directly influences species distribution, as they are always associated with the host cactus distribution (Tidon-Sklorz & Sene, 1995; Manfrin & Sene, 2006; Mateus and Sene, 2007). Drosophila has been used as a research model for more than a century, and the first report of gene duplication was described by Bridges for the Bar locus in D. melanogaster over 70 years ago (Bridges, 1936). Since that time, mainly after the advent of biochemical and molecular biology techniques, several other examples of duplicated genes have been presented, and pathways of evolution by gene duplication have been proposed (for example, Stephens, 1951; Nei, 1969). These pathways were thoroughly discussed in 1970 in Ohno’s book “Evolution by gene duplication” (Ohno, 1970). Subsequently, several other works have reviewed the mechanisms and roles of gene duplication in the evolutionary process (A. Wagner, 2002; Kondrashov et al., 2002; and Zhang, 2003). Currently, the genomes of twelve Drosophila species have been completely sequenced (Tweedie et al., 2009), but many aspects of the functional divergence of the products of a
A circle fitting procedure and its error analysis

An efficient least squares circle fitting procedure and its general random-error analysis are described. The first-order random errors of the center coordinates and the radius of the fitted circle are discussed in detail. The effect of data point distribution along the circle is investigated, and for an important microwave application (sliding termination measurements) the frequency dependence is also evaluated. The effects of the second-order error terms are also discussed and general formulas are given. Finally an estimation of data point error is provided.
Individual recognition in wild bottlenose dolphins: a field test using playback experiments

We conducted playback experiments with wild bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, to determine whether there is sufficient information in their individually distinctive signature whistles for individual recognition. We conducted experiments with members of a resident community of dolphins in waters near Sarasota, Florida, during temporary capture-release projects. We used a paired playback design, wherein the same two whistle sequences were predicted to evoke opposite responses from two different target animals. This design controlled for any unknown cues that may have been present in the playback stimuli. We predicted that mothers would respond more strongly to the whistles of their own independent offspring than to the whistles of a familiar, similar-aged nonoffspring. Similarly, we predicted that independent offspring would respond more strongly to the whistles of their own mother than to the whistles of a familiar, similar-aged female. Target animals were significantly (P<0.02) more likely to respond to the predicted stimuli, with responses measured by the number of head turns towards the playback speaker. In bottlenose dolphin societies, stable, individual-specific relationships are intermixed with fluid patterns of association between individuals. In primate species that live in similar 'fission-fusion' type societies, individual recognition is commonplace. Thus, when taken in the context of what is known about the social structure and behaviour of bottlenose dolphins, these playback experiments suggest that signature whistles are used for individual recognition. Copyright 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
A New Cost Function for Binary Classification Problems Based on the Distributions of the Soft Output for Each Class

This paper proposes a new cost function for supervised training of neural networks in binary classification applications. This cost function aims at reducing the probability of classification error by reducing the overlap between distributions of the soft output for each class. The non parametric Parzen window method, with Gaussian kernels, is used to estimate the distributions from the training data set. The cost function has been implemented in a GRBF neural network and has been tested in a motion detection application from low resolution infrared images, showing some advantages with respect to the conventional mean squared error cost function and also with respect to the support vector machine, a reference binary classifier.
Predictors of institutional behavioural disturbance and offending in the community among young offenders

This study aimed to evaluate the contribution of conduct disorder (CD), substance misuse and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms to the history of delinquency, current institutional behavioural problems and critical incidents (CI). Fifty-four adolescents in a secure facility were screened for ADHD and CD and completed the Maudsley violence questionnaire, the disruptive behaviour and social problems scale and the self-report delinquency scale. Substance misuse history as well as CI over the previous 10 weeks were also recorded. Hierarchical multiple regressions showed that substance misuse and violent cognitions were the best predictors of self-reported delinquency. In contrast, ADHD predicted disruptive institutional behaviour above and beyond that of CD and substance misuse. The findings suggest that ADHD symptoms are important in predicting institutional behavioural disturbance, whereas substance misuse and violent cognitions are better predictors of delinquency in the community.
Dietary selenium supplementation modifies breast tumor growth and metastasis

The survival rate for breast cancer drops dramatically once the disease progresses to the metastatic stage. Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient credited with having high anticancer and chemopreventive properties. In our study, we investigated if dietary Se supplementation modified breast cancer development in vivo. Three diets supplemented with sodium selenite, methylseleninic acid (MSA) or selenomethionine (SeMet), as well as a Se‐deficient and a Se‐adequate diet were fed to mice before mammary gland inoculation of 4T1.2 cells. The primary tumor growth, the numbers of cancer cells present in lungs, hearts, livers, kidneys and femurs and several proinflammatory cytokines were measured. We found that inorganic selenite supplementation provided only short‐term delay of tumor growth, whereas the two organic SeMet and MSA supplements provided more potent growth inhibition. These diets also affected cancer metastasis differently. Mice fed selenite developed the most extensive metastasis and had an increased incidence of kidney and bone metastasis. On the other hand, mice fed the SeMet diet showed the least amount of cancer growth at metastatic sites. The MSA diet also provided some protection against breast cancer metastasis although the effects were less significant than those of SeMet. The cytokine profiles indicated that serum levels of interlukin‐2, interleukin‐6, interferon γ and vascular endothelial growth factor were elevated in SeMet‐supplemented mice. There was no significant difference in tumor growth and the patterns of metastasis between the Se‐deficient and Se‐adequate groups. Our data suggest that organic Se supplementation may reduce/delay breast cancer metastasis, while selenite may exacerbate it.
Economic growth, inequality and efficiency

Over the last decades, theoretical work has come up with a significant amount of concepts how the income inequality and economic growth may affect each other. The recent literature identifies many channels through inequality may have positive, negative or even both effects on economic performance, but in different time dimensions. The relationship has been researched from the both perspective: the impact of income inequality on economic growth, and how the economic growth and efficiency are related to income inequality. Despite of the amount of theoretical and empirical work, the relationship between efficiency and equality is far from being well understood.
Simulation of Tactical Communications Systems by Inferring Detailed Data from the Joint Theater-Level Computer-Aided Exercises

A new scheme for the simulation of tactical communications systems is introduced in which the mobility, call, and availability patterns for communications equipment are generated by using the data inferred from joint theater-level battle simulations. In this technique, the mobility, strength, and posture data related to military units are stored in a database by a military constructive simulation system during computer-aided exercises. Then, the mobility, call, and availability patterns for the communications equipment are derived from these data in the required detail and time resolution by the authors' models. The data structures and the statistical data used in these models, the description of a tactical communications system studied by using the authors' technique, and example results from this study are also presented.
Integrated multi-drive configuration for starter-alternator applications

The paper presents a study of an Integrated Multi-Drive (IMD) system, obtained by redesigning the stator winding of a standard electrical machine to derive a combination of several Sub-Machines (SMs). A single SM consists of an independent three-phase stator winding set sharing a common magnetic circuit including the rotor with the other SMs. Exploiting independent vector control for each SMs, the proposed structure can be considered as a complex electromechanical system with newer perspectives compared to standard single-shaft multi-drives systems where the machines are not magnetically coupled. In the paper, a new IMD configuration has been experimentally tested addressing starter-alternator application. Study results highlight the potential and flexibility of proposed integrated IMD to realize an energy conversion process with controllable multidirectional power flows, also providing a satisfying dynamic behavior to the system.
THE ALGEBRAIC SYSTEM OF RECURSIVE COMPLEX NUMBERS : AN EXTENSION TO THE FIELD OF COMPLEX NUMBERS

A set of numbers is introduced, it is named the set of Recursive Complex Numbers and it is denoted by C 1. The numbers are introduced as binary hierarchies among real numbers and as such they extend (and thus include) the set of complex numbers. A relation of equality (=) and two inner operations, addition and multiplication (+;) are deened in C 1 and the structure of the resulting algebraic system (C 1 ; +; ; =) is investigated. It is concluded that = is an equivalence relation in C 1 and it is shown that the algebra (C 1 ; +;) is a ring with the special property that all the regular elements of C 1 (other than zero divisors) possess an inverse with respect to multiplication (). Although the algebra of recursive complex numbers is founded using their Recursive form, other forms Cartesian, Algebraic and Matrix are also introduced. These forms may prove convenient when working with this newly developed algebraic system. The motivating problem leading to the development of such an algebraic system is also presented and, in an eeort to investigate this problem, a module over C 1 is introduced. Finally the numerical stability of the algorithms for the basic operations in C 1 is investigated when oating point arithmetic is used. A brief account to the RCN-Tbox (a MATLAB toolbox with code that performs basic tasks on C 1) is also provided. Abbreviated title: The Algebraic System of Recursive Complex Numbers 1. Introduction. The paper is organized as follows. The rst section attempts to bring the subject within the grasp of Computer Scientists, Pure and Applied Mathematicians. It consists of subsection 1.1 where a brief background is given, subsection 1.2 where computer arithmetic is introduced as an algebraic system (along with the relevant implications regarding the accuracy of results derived by computer arithmetic), and subsection 1.3 where the motivation that led to the development of the Recursive Complex Numbers is presented. In section 2 we lay the foundations of Recursive Complex Numbers using their recursive form. In section 3 we present three more forms of Recursive Complex Numbers, the Cartesian, Algebraic and Matrix forms. We also introduce a Module over the ring of Recursive Complex Numbers and appropriate metrics. In section 4 we investigate the numerical stability of the basic operations of Recursive Complex Numbers when they are performed in oating point arithmetic, as well …
Expression of an endoglucanase from Tribolium castaneum (TcEG1) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Insects are a largely unexploited resource in prospecting for novel cellulolytic enzymes to improve the production of ethanol fuel from lignocellulosic biomass. The cost of lignocellulosic ethanol production is expected to decrease by the combination of cellulose degradation (saccharification) and fermentation of the resulting glucose to ethanol in a single process, catalyzed by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae transformed to express efficient cellulases. While S. cerevisiae is an established heterologous expression system, there are no available data on the functional expression of insect cellulolytic enzymes for this species. To address this knowledge gap, S. cerevisiae was transformed to express the full‐length cDNA encoding an endoglucanase from the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (TcEG1), and evaluated the activity of the transgenic product (rTcEG1). Expression of the TcEG1 cDNA in S. cerevisiae was under control of the strong glyceraldehyde‐3 phosphate dehydrogenase promoter. Cultured transformed yeast secreted rTcEG1 protein as a functional β‐1,4‐endoglucanase, which allowed transformants to survive on selective media containing cellulose as the only available carbon source. Evaluation of substrate specificity for secreted rTcEG1 demonstrated endoglucanase activity, although some activity was also detected against complex cellulose substrates. Potentially relevant to uses in biofuel production rTcEG1 activity increased with pH conditions, with the highest activity detected at pH 12. Our results demonstrate the potential for functional production of an insect cellulase in S. cerevisiae and confirm the stability of rTcEG1 activity in strong alkaline environments.
Target definition of moving lung tumors in positron emission tomography: correlation of optimal activity concentration thresholds with object size, motion extent, and source-to-background ratio.

PURPOSE Hardware integration of fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET) with computed tomography (CT) in combined PET/CT scanners has provided radiation oncologists and physicists with new possibilities for 3-D treatment simulation. The use of PET/CT simulation for target delineation of lung cancer is becoming popular and many studies concerning automatic segmentation of PET images have been performed. Several of these studies consider size and source-to-background (SBR) in their segmentation methods but neglect respiratory motion. The purpose of the current study was to develop a functional relationship between optimal activity concentration threshold, tumor volume, motion extent, and SBR using multiple regression techniques by performing an extensive series of phantom scans simulating tumors of varying sizes, SBR, and motion amplitudes. Segmented volumes on PET were compared with the "motion envelope" of the moving sphere defined on cine CT. METHODS A NEMA IEC thorax phantom containing six spheres (inner diameters ranging from 10 to 37 mm) was placed on a motion platform and moved sinusoidally at 0-30 mm (at 5 mm intervals) and six different SBRs (ranging from 5:1 to 50:1), producing 252 combinations of experimental parameters. PET images were acquired for 18 min and split into three 6 min acquisitions for reproducibility. The spheres (blurred on PET images due to motion) were segmented at 1% of maximum activity concentration intervals. The optimal threshold was determined by comparing deviations between the threshold volume surfaces with a reference volume surface defined on cine CT. Optimal activity concentration thresholds were normalized to background and multiple regression was used to determine the relationship between optimal threshold, volume, motion, and SBR. Standardized regression coefficients were used to assess the relative influence of each variable. The segmentation model was applied to three lung cancer patients and segmented regions of interest were compared with those segmented on cine CT. RESULTS The resulting model and coefficients provided a functional form that fit the phantom data with an adjusted R2 = 0.96. The most significant contributor to threshold level was SBR. Surfaces of PET-segmented volumes of three lung cancer patients were within 2 mm of the reference CT volumes on average. CONCLUSIONS The authors successfully developed an expression for optimal activity concentration threshold as a function of object volume, motion, and SBR.
Biological variations of ADAMTS13 and von Willebrand factor in human adults

Background: The ultra-large von Willebrand factor (vWF) multimers are very active and must be degraded by ADAMTS13 for optimal activity. A severe functional deficiency of ADAMTS13 has been associated with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. The correct interpretation of patient vWF and ADAMTS13 plasma levels requires an understanding of the biological variation associated with these analytes. In the present paper, we aimed to determine the biological variation of ADAMTS13 and vWF in human adults. Materials and methods: Blood samples were collected weekly from 19 healthy subjects for 5 consecutive weeks. vWF activity and antigenicity were determined using aggregometric and immunoturbidimetric methods. ADAMTS13 antigenicity and activity were determined by ELISA. Results: The within-subject biological variations for vWF activity and antigenicity were 8.06% and 14.37%, respectively, while the between-subject biological variations were 18.5% and 22.59%, respectively. The index of individuality for vWF activity was 0.44, while vWF antigenicity was 0.64. Similarly, ADAMTS13 activity and antigenicity within-subject biological variations were 12.73% and 9.75%, respectively, while between-subject biological variations were 9.63% and 6.28%, respectively. The ADAMTS13 indexes of individuality were 1.32 and 1.55, respectively. Conclusion: We report high biological variation and individuality in vWF antigenicity and activity levels. However, ADAMTS13 antigenicity and activity displayed high biological variation, but low individuality. Thus, population-based reference intervals may be useful for monitoring ADAMTS13 antigenicity and activity, but not for vWF, which displays high individuality. These findings should be considered when determining the reference interval and other clinical variables associated with ADAMTS13 and vWF levels.
From Programme Theory to Constructivism

Theory-based evaluation utilizes terms such as ‘moderators’ and ‘CMO configurations’ to describe how the validity of a programme theory depends on the context in which it operates. From a constructivist perspective, however, contexts are influenced by ongoing social (re)construction. The truth value of a programme theory is contingent upon this construction. This helps explain why tests of programme theories provided by theory-based evaluators are often unconvincing to programme advocates. A typology of ‘magic’, ‘tragic’ and ‘competing’ programmes, each of which influence their contexts in different ways, is described and the implications for evaluation discussed.
Polaritonic Chemistry with Organic Molecules

We present an overview of the general concepts of polaritonic chemistry with organic molecules, i.e., the manipulation of chemical structure that can be achieved through strong coupling between confined light modes and organic molecules. Strong coupling and the associated formation of polaritons, hybrid light–matter excitations, lead to energy shifts in such systems that can amount to a large fraction of the uncoupled transition energy. This has recently been shown to significantly alter the chemical structure of the coupled molecules, which opens the possibility to manipulate and control reactions. We discuss the current state of theory for describing these changes and present several applications, with a particular focus on the collective effects observed when many molecules are involved in strong coupling.