Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Book reviews: Ortuzar, J. de D. and Willumsen, L.G. 1990: Modelling transport. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. xvi - 376 pp. £34.95 cloth. ISBN: 0 471 92629 9

reminder of the complexity of the transport industry and of the changing socioeconomic background within which it operates. The principal trends and issues which are identified as requiring continuous monitoring and evaluation will be entirely familiar to the transport geographer and the context in which they are presented enables easy crossreference to be made between themes, main research areas and individual nations, and the book successfully achieves its objective of serving as a source of reference and information.
Altered Protease–Activated Receptor-1 Expression and Signaling in a Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Cell Line, NCI-H28, with Homozygous Deletion of the β-Catenin Gene

Protease activated receptors (PARs) are G-protein coupled receptors that are activated by an unique proteolytic mechanism. These receptors play crucial roles in hemostasis and thrombosis but also in inflammation and vascular development. PARs have also been implicated in tumor progression, invasion and metastasis. In this study, we investigated expression and signaling of PAR1 in nonmalignant pleural mesothelial (Met-5A) and malignant pleural mesothelioma (NCI-H28) cells. We found that the expression level of PAR1 was markedly higher in NCI-H28 cells compared to Met-5A and human primary mesothelial cells. Other three malignant pleural mesothelioma cell lines, i.e. REN, Ist-Mes2, and Mero-14, did not show any significant PAR1 over-expression compared to Met-5A cell line. Thrombin and PAR1 activating peptides enhanced Met-5A and NCI-H28 cell proliferation but in NCI-H28 cells higher thrombin concentrations were required to obtain the same proliferation increase. Similarly, thrombin caused extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 activation in both cell lines but NCI-H28 cells responded at higher agonist concentrations. We also determined that PAR1 signaling through Gq and G12/13 proteins is severely altered in NCI-H28 cells compared to Met-5A cells. On the contrary, PAR1 signaling through Gi proteins was persistently maintained in NCI-H28 cells. Furthermore, we demonstrated a reduction of cell surface PAR1 expression in NCI-H28 and malignant pleural mesothelioma REN cells. Thus, our results provide evidences for dysfunctional PAR1 signaling in NCI-H28 cells together with reduced plasma membrane localization. The role of PAR1 in mesothelioma progression is just emerging and our observations can promote further investigations focused on this G-protein coupled receptor.
SIRAP: a synchronization protocol for hierarchical resource sharingin real-time open systems

This paper presents a protocol for resource sharing in a hierarchical real-time scheduling framework. Targeting real-time open systems, the protocol and the scheduling framework significantly reduce the efforts and errors associated with integrating multiple semi-independent subsystems on a single processor. Thus, our proposed techniques facilitate modern software development processes, where subsystems are developed by independent teams (or subcontractors) and at a later stage integrated into a single product. Using our solution, a subsystem need not know, and is not dependent on, the timing behaviour of other subsystems; even though they share mutually exclusive resources. In this paper we also prove the correctness of our approach and evaluate its efficiency.
Story-writing, planning and creativity

This paper explores the different demands of scripted and unscripted story writing tasks and the extent to which the task prompts pupils to adopt different writing behaviours and attitudes. The results raise questions about how children are taught to write stories and suggest that a better understanding of the demands of story-writing task could challenge teacher attitudes and beliefs about imagination and creativity in writing.
Comparison of Molecular Properties of the Voltagek‐Sensitive Ca2+ Channel From Longitudinal Smooth Muscle of Rabbit Ileum With the Channel Purified From Transverse Tubules of Rabbit Skeletal Muscle

Dihydropyridine-sensitive calcium channels in membrane preparations from the longitudinal smooth muscle of rabbit ileum bound [3H]PN 200–110 with KD = 0.42 nM and Bmax = 265 fmol/mg. Calcium channels were labelled with [3H]PN 200–110 and solubilized with digitonin. The detergent-solubilized calcium channel had a sedimentation coefficient of 20.9 S in close agreement with the value of 20 S determined for the skeletal muscle calcium channel. Antibodies against the α-subunits of the skeletal muscle calcium channel specifically precipitated the calcium channel from smooth muscle. Our results suggest that the calcium channel from smooth muscle has a similar size and homologous α-subunits to those of the purified skeletal muscle calcium channel. (Circulation Research 1987;61(suppl I):I-24–1–29)
Investigating the needs of carers in the area of eating disorders: development of the Carers' Needs Assessment Measure (CaNAM)†

Objective: To develop an instrument that can be used to assess the needs of carers of people with an eating disorder and to perform a pilot test of this measure. Method: A focus group was held with 12 carers of people with anorexia nervosa (AN). A self-report questionnaire, the Carers' Needs Assessment Measure (CaNAM), was developed from discussions of the focus group. A pilot test of the CaNAM was carried out with a sample of 28 carers of people with AN. Results: Carers of people with AN showed high levels of unmet needs in the domains of ‘Information about eating disorders’, ‘Support from other people/organizations’ and ‘Information received from general practitioners’. Discussion: Carers of people with AN show high levels of unmet needs. The dominant need was for practical and emotional help in dealing with the eating disorder. A revised version of the CaNAM is currently being tested with a larger sample of carers. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.
Dynamic object grasping by a triple-fingered robotic hand

This paper deals with dynamic object grasping and position control by using a triple-fingered robotic hand with hemispherical soft finger tips. In the authorspsila previous works, a dynamic object grasping method by using a pair of robotic fingers, called ldquoBlind Graspingrdquo, which does not need to use any external sensing, was proposed. However, it is so far assumed that spinning motion around the opposite axis for the object does not occur during the overall movement, because there are only two opposite fingers and thereby the spinning is uncontrollable. By introducing a surplus finger in addition to a pair of robotic fingers, this spinning can be inhibited and it becomes controllable. In this paper, a triple-fingered robotic hand system with nonholonomic constraints is modeled, and a control input to realize stable grasping with object position control is proposed. Its usefulness and effectiveness are illustrated through some numerical simulation results.
On the Role of Information in Contests ( R )

Consider a contest for a prize in which each player knows his own ability, but may or may not know those of his rivals (the complete or incomplete information regimes). Our main result is that, if the value of the prize is high, more e¤ort and output are engendered under incomplete information; whereas, if the value is low, that distinction goes to complete information. We also examine strategic behavior of a "contest manager" who is privy to information about the abilities of all the players. It turns out that, in order to inspire performance, it is often better for him neither to reveal all nor to conceal all, but to follow a middle path of partial revelation. JEL Classi cation: C70, C72, C79, D44, D63, D82.
Robust and Reduced Order H-Infinity Filtering via LMI Approach and Its Application to Fault Detection

The objective of this dissertation is to develop a practical methodology for designing full and reduced order H filter for plants with polytopic model uncertainty. Because the polytopic ∞ model description is convex, it is amenable to a Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI) formulation. Reduced order filters are desirable in applications where fast data processing is necessary. To improve robustness to model uncertainties, this dissertation reformulates an filter design 2 H technique as a reduced order H filter design methodology. Lyapunov functions are replaced ∞ with parameter-dependent Lyapunov functions to provide less conservative results. As the problem is formulated as an LMI, an admissible filter with suitable dynamic behavior can be obtained from the solution of a convex optimization problem. The advantages of this approach over earlier approaches are highlighted in a simple computational example. This filtering technique is used to design a fault detection filter. Robust fault detection filter (RFDF) design is formulated as a multi-objective H∞ optimization for a polytopic uncertain system. The order of the RFDF is reduced using LMI techniques and the detection performance is compared with the full order filter. An adaptive threshold is used to reduce the number of false alarms. Examples are presented to illustrate effectiveness of the order reduction.
Adaptation of lecture speech recognition system with machine translation output

In spoken language translation, integration of the ASR and MT components is critical for good performance. In this paper, we consider the recognition setting where a text translation of each utterance is also available. We present experiments with different ASR system adaptation techniques to exploit MT system outputs. In particular, N-best MT outputs are represented as an utterance-specific language model, which are then used to rescore ASR lattices. We show that this method improves significantly over ASR alone, resulting in an absolute WER reduction of more than 6% for both indomain and out-of-domain acoustic models.
Central nervous system relapse in patients with untreated HER2‐positive esophageal or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma

Although HER2‐positive breast cancers demonstrate a propensity for central nervous system (CNS) metastasis, it is unknown whether other HER2‐positive tumors, including adenocarcinomas of the esophagus/gastroesophageal junction (EAC), share this characteristic. Insight into this association may inform the development of HER2‐targeted therapies that penetrate the blood‐brain barrier. We examined HER2 overexpression and gene amplification in 708 patients with EAC who underwent curative‐intent surgery during a time period (1980–1997) when no patient received HER2‐targeted therapy. We identified patients whose site of first cancer recurrence was CNS and those who had a CNS relapse at any time. After a median follow‐up of 61.2 months, 3.4% (24/708) of patients developed CNS relapse (all involved the brain). Patients with HER2‐positive (vs ‐negative) primary tumors showed a higher 5‐year cumulative incidence of CNS relapse as first recurrence (5.8% vs. 1.2%; p = 0.0058) and at any time (8.3% vs. 2.4%; p = 0.0062). In a multivariable model that included covariates previously associated with HER2 or with CNS relapse in breast cancer, HER2 positivity was the only variable that was statistically significantly associated with shorter time to CNS relapse as first recurrence (p = 0.0026) or at any time (hazard ratio 4.3 [95% confidence interval 1.8 to 10.3]; p = 0.001). These are the first data in a non‐breast cancer to demonstrate an association between HER2 positivity and higher CNS relapse risk after surgery, and suggest that HER2‐positive EACs have a predilection for CNS metastases.
Sexual prejudice and labor market outcomes of gays and lesbians

Sexual prejudice and labor market outcomes of gays and lesbians i Abstract This paper presents results from a study of sexual prejudice and the labor market gap due to sexual orientation. We use data from a nationwide Swedish survey on public attitudes towards homosexuals and combine them with register data. In line with our theoretical prediction, we find that the relative employment and relative earnings of gay males are negatively affected by prejudice against homosexuals. The relationship is less clear for lesbians. Our interpretation of this is that the labor market disadvantage for gay males often documented in previous research to, at least, some extent is driven by prejudices against them.
Large-scale correlation mining for biomolecular network discovery

Continuing advances in high-throughput mRNA probing, gene sequencing and microscopic imaging technology is producing a wealth of biomarker data on many different living organisms and conditions. Scientists hope that increasing amounts of relevant data will eventually lead to better understanding of the network of interactions between the thousands of molecules that regulate these organisms. Thus progress in understanding the biological science has become increasingly dependent on progress in understanding the data science. Data mining tools have been of particular relevance since they can sometimes be used to effectively separate the “wheat” from the “chaff”, winnowing the massive amount of data down to a few important data dimensions. Correlation mining is a data mining tool that is particularly useful for probing statistical correlations between biomarkers and recovering properties of their correlation networks. However, since the number of correlations between biomarkers is quadratically larger than the number biomarkers, the scalability of correlation mining in the big data setting becomes an issue. Furthermore, there are phase transitions that govern the correlation mining discoveries that must be understood in order for these discoveries to be reliable and of high confidence. This is especially important to understand at big data scales where the number of samples is fixed and the number of biomarkers becomes unbounded, a sampling regime referred to as the ”purely-high dimensional setting. ” In this chapter, we will discuss some of the main advances and challenges in correlation mining in the context of large scale biomolecular networks with a focus on medicine. A new correlation mining application will be introduced: discovery of correlation sign flips between edges in a pair of correlation or partial correlation networks. The pair of networks could respectively correspond to a disease (or treatment) group and a control group. This paper is to appear as a chapter in the book Big Data over Networks from Cambridge University Press (ISBN: 9781107099005). 4 Large scale correlation mining for biomolecular network discovery
Radiosity with Multiresolution Meshes Thesis Proposal

The hierarchical radiosity algorithm solves for the global transfer of diffuse illumination in a scene. While its potential algorithmic complexity is superior to both previous radiosity methods and distributed ray tracing, for scenes containing detailed polygonal models, or highly tessellated curved surfaces, its time performance and memory consumption are less than ideal. Also, the density and orientation of the polygons in the input scene unduly affect the output of the method. The aim of this thesis will be to show that by using flexible surface hierarchies similar to those in the surface simplification literature, the use of regular refinement and to a large extent isotropic volume clusters can be avoided, increasing both the speed and the quality of the basic algorithm.
Feedback-free distributed video coding using parallelized design

Distributed video coding (DVC) has a great development during the past decade for its simpler encoder and higher robustness against the channel noises. However, typical DVC schemes, such as DISCOVER, are almost based on the feedback channel between the encoder and the decoder, and the decoding process is very complex, which causes difficulty in feedback-free or tight delay constraint video application. In order to resolve the problems mentioned above, a feedback-free distributed video codec with parallelized design is presented using general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPU). A rate control algorithm based on offline correlation noise model (OCNM) is proposed to improve the performance of the DVC system. Then the parallel decoding methods are applied, including parallel low density parity check code accumulate (LDPCA) code decoding algorithm and simplified 3DRS design. Compared to the system without using parallel technology, our parallel codec is shown to be 11~25 times faster by using GPU.
Structural basis for RNA replication by the hepatitis C virus polymerase

A view of the HCV polymerase at work More than 3% of the world's population is infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), a predisposing factor for life-threatening liver diseases such as cirrhosis and cancer. HCV encodes a polymerase called NS5B that catalyzes replication of the viral RNA genome. Drugs inhibiting NS5B have shown impressive antiviral activity in recent clinical trials. Appleby et al. (see the Perspective by Bressanelli) reveal the inner workings of HCV RNA replication by analyzing crystal structures of stalled NS5B polymerase ternary complexes during the initiation and elongation of RNA synthesis. They also define the way in which sofosbuvir, a drug with potent clinical efficacy, interacts with the NS5B active site. Science, this issue p. 771; see also p. 715 Crystal structures of hepatitis C virus RNA replication complexes reveal the molecular workings of the viral RNA polymerase. [Also see Perspective by Bressanelli] Nucleotide analog inhibitors have shown clinical success in the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, despite an incomplete mechanistic understanding of NS5B, the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. Here we study the details of HCV RNA replication by determining crystal structures of stalled polymerase ternary complexes with enzymes, RNA templates, RNA primers, incoming nucleotides, and catalytic metal ions during both primed initiation and elongation of RNA synthesis. Our analysis revealed that highly conserved active-site residues in NS5B position the primer for in-line attack on the incoming nucleotide. A β loop and a C-terminal membrane–anchoring linker occlude the active-site cavity in the apo state, retract in the primed initiation assembly to enforce replication of the HCV genome from the 3′ terminus, and vacate the active-site cavity during elongation. We investigated the incorporation of nucleotide analog inhibitors, including the clinically active metabolite formed by sofosbuvir, to elucidate key molecular interactions in the active site.
Consuming the nation: Holidays, sports, and the production of collective belonging

Abstract The purpose of this article is to explain how Romanian and Hungarian university students in the ethnically mixed town of Cluj, Romania, experience and constitute collective national belonging at national holiday commemorations and international football competitions. Holidays and sports are important venues for the propagation of national, and sometimes nationalist, sensitivities. But neither the resurgence of nationalist politics in post-communist east Europe nor the nationalist inclinations of past generations of university students guarantee that the current generation will experience them – or themselves – in the same national terms. While much has been written about the production of holiday and sporting events, less has been said about the creative ways in which their audiences consume them. My aim in this study is to shift attention to the university students themselves and the modalities through which they constitute (and subvert) national cohesion through participation in (and avoidance of) holiday and sporting events.
Antifungal Susceptibility of 205 Candida spp. Isolated Primarily during Invasive Candidiasis and Comparison of the Vitek 2 System with the CLSI Broth Microdilution and Etest Methods

ABSTRACT Infections due to Candida spp. are frequent, particularly in immunocompromised and intensive care unit patients. Antifungal susceptibility tests are now required to optimize antifungal treatment given the emergence of acquired antifungal resistance in some Candida species. An antifungal susceptibility automated method, the Vitek 2 system (VK2), was evaluated. VK2 was compared to the CLSI broth microdilution reference method and the Etest procedure. For this purpose, 205 clinical isolates of Candida spp. , including 11 different species, were tested for fluconazole, voriconazole, and amphotericin B susceptibility. For azoles, essential agreement ranged from 25% to 100%, depending on the method used and the Candida species tested. Categorical agreements for all of the species averaged 92.2% and ranged from 14.3 to 100%, depending on the 24-h or 48-h MIC reading by the Etest and CLSI methods and on the Candida species. Results obtained for Candida albicans showed excellent categorical and essential agreements with the two comparative methods. For Candida glabrata, the essential agreement was high with the CLSI method but low with the Etest method, and several very major errors in interpretation were observed between VK2 and the Etest method for both azoles. Low MICs of fluconazole were obtained for all of the Candida krusei isolates, but the VK2 expert software corrected all of the results obtained to resistant. Amphotericin B results showed MICs of ≤1 mg/liter for 201 (VK2), 190 (CLSI), and 202 (Etest) isolates. The AST-YS01 Vitek 2 card system (bioMérieux) is a reliable and practical standardized automated antifungal susceptibility test. Nevertheless, more assays are needed to better evaluate C. glabrata fluconazole sensitivity.
GiNA, an Efficient and High-Throughput Software for Horticultural Phenotyping

Traditional methods for trait phenotyping have been a bottleneck for research in many crop species due to their intensive labor, high cost, complex implementation, lack of reproducibility and propensity to subjective bias. Recently, multiple high-throughput phenotyping platforms have been developed, but most of them are expensive, species-dependent, complex to use, and available only for major crops. To overcome such limitations, we present the open-source software GiNA, which is a simple and free tool for measuring horticultural traits such as shape- and color-related parameters of fruits, vegetables, and seeds. GiNA is multiplatform software available in both R and MATLAB® programming languages and uses conventional images from digital cameras with minimal requirements. It can process up to 11 different horticultural morphological traits such as length, width, two-dimensional area, volume, projected skin, surface area, RGB color, among other parameters. Different validation tests produced highly consistent results under different lighting conditions and camera setups making GiNA a very reliable platform for high-throughput phenotyping. In addition, five-fold cross validation between manually generated and GiNA measurements for length and width in cranberry fruits were 0.97 and 0.92. In addition, the same strategy yielded prediction accuracies above 0.83 for color estimates produced from images of cranberries analyzed with GiNA compared to total anthocyanin content (TAcy) of the same fruits measured with the standard methodology of the industry. Our platform provides a scalable, easy-to-use and affordable tool for massive acquisition of phenotypic data of fruits, seeds, and vegetables.