Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling of Multi-Agent Systems in the Presence of Uncertainty: The Case of Inforn~ation Economy

\We discuss some issues involved in modeling of complex systems composed of dynamically int,eracting agents. We describe a prototype of simulation environment INFOGEN created for modeling of such systems with the aim of evaluating strategies of enterprizes in the information economy, but applicable to general multiagent systems. The case study is presented along with the mathematical description of the multi-agent systems.
Causes of Renal Allograft Loss: Progress in the 1980s, Challenges for the 1990s

A variety of refinements in the care of kidney transplant recipients have been instituted over the past decade. The authors studied the overall impact of these refinements on kidney allograft losses at a single institution. To do this they compared the causes and rates of graft loss for primary kidney transplants in the 1970s (January 1,1970 to December 31,1979; n = 1012; 657 nondi-abetics, 355 diabetics; 617 living donors, 395 cadaver donors) versus the 1980s (January 1, 1980 to December 31, 1989; n = 1,384; 756 nondiabetics, 628 diabetics; 740 living donors, 644 cadaver donors). Overall patient survival improved significantly, with rates at 1, 5, and 10 years of 94%, 84%, and 68% for the 1980s, compared with 86%, 69%, and 57% for the 1970s (p < 0.001). Actuarial graft survival also improved significantly, with rates at 1, 5, and 10 years of 86%, 71%, and 52% for the 1980s, compared with 73%, 58%, and 43% for the 1970s (p < 0.001). This improvement occurred even though there were proportionately more cadaver donors and diabetic recipients in the 1980s. For both decades combined, 24% of the lost grafts were due to chronic rejection, 18% to cardiovascular causes of death with function, 13% to infectious causes of death with function, and 11% to acute rejection. The overall gain in graft survival rates in the 1980s was principally due to fewer cases of acute rejection and fewer infectious deaths. Improvement in graft survival due to the two leading causes–chronic rejection and cardiovascular causes of death–was relatively small, if any. These data indicate that future kidney transplantation research should emphasize prevention of chronic rejection and cardiovascular death.
Global Sociology: The World as a Singular System

Over the years, sociology has exhibited a partly dialectical and partly alternating emphasis on the global and on the particular. Many early theorists emphasized the unity of mankind, or attempted to order civilizations according to various theories of history. Subsequently, there was a retreat to description and data collection, particularly in the United States; the rediscovery of other times and other places, but in a predominantly relativistic context; and the use of "systems" concepts to exaggerate the sovereignty of society. The renewed quest for generality appears to be partly an autonomous development within the scholarly discipline, as exemplified by "comparative analysis" and emphasis on common functional requisites. A seemingly more powerful influence has been the course of contemporary history, which is divisive in important and conspicuous ways, but has elements of unity, such as the universal quest for economic growth and political participation. Though the degree to which common structural features will emerge from somewhat common goals and the use of pooled techniques is an empirical question of great theoretical import, the methodological moral is drawn that our systems must at times cut across national frontiers and, indeed, here and there, become global.
Effects of off-pump and on-pump coronary-artery bypass grafting at 1 year.

BACKGROUND Previously, we reported that there was no significant difference at 30 days in the rate of a primary composite outcome of death, myocardial infarction, stroke, or new renal failure requiring dialysis between patients who underwent coronary-artery bypass grafting (CABG) performed with a beating-heart technique (off-pump) and those who underwent CABG performed with cardiopulmonary bypass (on-pump). We now report results on quality of life and cognitive function and on clinical outcomes at 1 year. METHODS We enrolled 4752 patients with coronary artery disease who were scheduled to undergo CABG and randomly assigned them to undergo the procedure off-pump or on-pump. Patients were enrolled at 79 centers in 19 countries. We assessed quality of life and cognitive function at discharge, at 30 days, and at 1 year and clinical outcomes at 1 year. RESULTS At 1 year, there was no significant difference in the rate of the primary composite outcome between off-pump and on-pump CABG (12.1% and 13.3%, respectively; hazard ratio with off-pump CABG, 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.77 to 1.07; P=0.24). The rate of the primary outcome was also similar in the two groups in the period between 31 days and 1 year (hazard ratio, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.55 to 1.13; P=0.19). The rate of repeat coronary revascularization at 1 year was 1.4% in the off-pump group and 0.8% in the on-pump group (hazard ratio, 1.66; 95% CI, 0.95 to 2.89; P=0.07). There were no significant differences between the two groups at 1 year in measures of quality of life or neurocognitive function. CONCLUSIONS At 1 year after CABG, there was no significant difference between off-pump and on-pump CABG with respect to the primary composite outcome, the rate of repeat coronary revascularization, quality of life, or neurocognitive function. (Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research; CORONARY ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00463294.).
Farmer-Owned Brands?

This report lays out the economic arguments in favor of the establishment of farmer-owned brands in Midwestern agriculture and presents four case studies based on successful efforts in this area in the European Union and the United States. The case studies involve Parma Ham, Brunello di Montalcino wine, Vidalia onions, and a third-party verification organization. The case studies show that these brands can be profitable for farmers, and emphasize the importance of restricting the supply of any successful brand. One of the case studies shows that this type of supply control can run afoul of antitrust regulations. [EconLit citations: Q130, Q180, R580. ] i¾© 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Agribusiness 20: 269-285, 2004.
Spatial cognition in Alzheimer's disease: subtypes of global-local impairment.

This study investigated whether subgroups of AD patients exhibit different patterns of impairment in analyzing global (configural) and local (detail) features of complex visual stimuli. A High Spatial AD subgroup (i.e., patients with better block constructions than naming) and a High Verbal AD subgroup (i.e., patients with better naming than block constructions) were impaired in analyzing both global and local forms. As predicted, however, the High Spatial AD patients exhibited greater impairment in analyzing the local forms than the High Verbal AD patients and normal controls. In contrast, the High Verbal AD patients exhibited greater impairment in analyzing the global forms than the High Spatial AD patients and normal controls. There was a striking separation of the subgroups: Using the local-global difference score, the hit rate for classifying these patients into the two subgroups was 91%. Robust correlations were found between the AD patients' ability to construct global and local forms and their scores on traditional visuospatial and verbal tests, respectively. The findings suggest that it may be misleading to subdivide AD patients using a verbal/spatial dichotomy, because even those AD patients who appear to have relative strengths on traditional visuospatial tests are likely to exhibit a primary impairment in analyzing local features of complex visual stimuli. The results underscore the importance of a process (qualitative) approach to neuropsychological assessment for a more valid understanding of the behavioral subtypes of Alzheimer's disease.
A Neuro-Fuzzy Application to Power System

Vulnerability control is a problematic task for system operator who under economic pressure may be reluctant to take preventive action against very harmful contingencies in order to guarantee providing continued service. This paper presents fast and accurate load shedding technique based on neuro-fuzzy controller for determining the amount of load shed to avoid a cascading outage. A case study is performed on the IEEE 300-bus test system so as to validate the performance of neuro-fuzzy controller in determining the amount of load shed. The development of new and accurate techniques for vulnerability control of power systems can provide tools for improving the reliability and continuity of power supply. This was confirmed by the results obtained in this research of which sample results are given in this paper.
Mapping user relationships for health information diffusion on microblogging in China: A social network analysis of Sina Weibo

This study applies social network analysis to examining the pattern of relationships among networked users on Sina Weibo, the most popular social networking site in China. Focusing on verified (or V-) users and ordinary (non-V-) users, this study maps three centrality attributes of the social network, in terms of in/out degree, closeness, betweenness, along with cliques, in the dissemination and sharing of health-related information in the virtual community. Findings reveal a ‘spider web’ pattern of relationship among 50 V-users and 50 non-V-users during a regular period of time, highlighting the dominant position of the V-users for health-related information diffusion. Data analysis then reports a ‘drifting dandelion’ pattern of network among those who shared the information about a health-related incident on Weibo. This study also provides further information about the topical categories of health-related messages shared during the regular period as well as the topics concerning the incident. The implications of social networking media for health communication are also discussed.
New immigrants and migrants in social housing in Britain: discursive themes and lived realities

The perception that new immigrants and migrants are unfairly advantaged in the allocation of social housing is one of the most frequently cited injustices of new immigration in Britain. Tapping into dominant notions of the immigrant as folk devil and a long tradition of scapegoating blameworthy groups for problems accessing social housing, this debate has all the hallmarks of a moral panic, with exaggeration and distortion raising public concern to a level disproportionate to any apparent or rational threat. This point is reinforced by a review of the experiences of new immigrants and migrants within the social housing allocation process.
Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae releases DNA and DNABII proteins via a T4SS-like complex and ComE of the type IV pilus machinery

Significance Extracellular DNA and DNABII proteins are essential structural components of the extracellular polymeric substance, or matrix, of the nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae biofilm; however, the mechanisms by which these elements are released from the bacterial cell for incorporation into the biofilm matrix are not yet characterized. Here, we propose a mechanism for active DNA release during biofilm formation that involves an inner-membrane complex (TraCG) and the ComE pore through which the type IV pilus is typically expressed. Knowledge of how and when DNA and DNABII proteins are released into the extracellular milieu for integration into the biofilm matrix will further our understanding of biofilm formation and maturation and, in turn, guide development of directed therapies for diseases with a biofilm etiology. Biofilms formed by nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHI) are central to the chronicity, recurrence, and resistance to treatment of multiple human respiratory tract diseases including otitis media, chronic rhinosinusitis, and exacerbations of both cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Extracellular DNA (eDNA) and associated DNABII proteins are essential to the overall architecture and structural integrity of biofilms formed by NTHI and all other bacterial pathogens tested to date. Although cell lysis and outer-membrane vesicle extrusion are possible means by which these canonically intracellular components might be released into the extracellular environment for incorporation into the biofilm matrix, we hypothesized that NTHI additionally used a mechanism of active DNA release. Herein, we describe a mechanism whereby DNA and associated DNABII proteins transit from the bacterial cytoplasm to the periplasm via an inner-membrane pore complex (TraC and TraG) with homology to type IV secretion-like systems. These components exit the bacterial cell through the ComE pore through which the NTHI type IV pilus is expressed. The described mechanism is independent of explosive cell lysis or cell death, and the release of DNA is confined to a discrete subpolar location, which suggests a novel form of DNA release from viable NTHI. Identification of the mechanisms and determination of the kinetics by which critical biofilm matrix-stabilizing components are released will aid in the design of novel biofilm-targeted therapeutic and preventative strategies for diseases caused by NTHI and many other human pathogens known to integrate eDNA and DNABII proteins into their biofilm matrix.
The structure and mechanism of action of papain.

The cysteine proteinases form a group of enzymes which depend for their enzymic activity on the thiol group of a cysteine residue. Several which occur in plants have been investigated extensively and include papain, ficin and stem bromelain (Smith & Kimmel i960). Although the term papain, introduced last century to describe the proteolytic principle in papaya latex (Wurtz & Bouchut 1879) is still used to describe crude dried latex, the crystalline enzyme is readily obtained (Kimmel & Smith 1954). Ficin is known to consist of several closely related enzymes which have been resolved (Sgarbieri, Gupte, Kramer & Whitaker 1964), but for most structural and mechanistic studies the unresolved mixture of enzymes has been used. Stem bromelain also appears to be a mixture of at least two proteolytic enzymes which have not yet been resolved (Ota, Moore & Stein 1962; Murachi 1964). In spite of the recognized heterogeneity of ficin and stem bromelain, it does seem that both structurally and mechanistically they are similar to papain. Only one bacterial cysteine proteinase has received a detailed study, namely, streptococcal proteinase, and it appears to have little or no relation in its amino acid sequence with the plant enzymes (Liu, Stein, Moore & Elliott 1965). The functional groups involved in the catalytic mechanism are apparently the same as in the plant proteinases (Gerwin, Stein & Moore 1966; Liu 1967; Husain & Lowe 1968 a , c ), but the mechanism of action has not been extensively studied. It may well be however that the plant and bacterial cysteine proteinases have converged onto a similar mechanism of action by two independent evolutionary pathways, as now seems apparent for the animal and bacterial serine proteinases (Alden, Wright & Kraut, this volume, p. 119). Because the tertiary crystal structure of papain (Drenth, Jansonius, Koekoek, Swen & Wolthers 1968; see also the preceding paper, p. 231) is now known, a critical survey of this enzyme is apposite.
Monitoring the Progress of Anytime Problem-Solving

Anytime algorithms offer a tradeoff between solution quality and computation time that has proved useful in applying artificial intelligence techniques to time-critical problems. To exploit this tradeoff, a system must be able to determine the best time to stop deliberation and act on the currently available solution. When the rate of improvement of solution quality is uncertain, monitoring the progress of the algorithm can improve the utility of the system. This paper introduces a technique for run-time monitoring of anytime algorithms that is sensitive to the variance of the algorithm's performance, the time-dependent utility of a solution, the ability of the run-time monitor to estimate the quality of the currently available solution, and the cost of monitoring. The paper examines the conditions under which the technique is optimal and demonstrates its applicability.
Confirmatory processes in attitude transmission: The role of shared reality

In social communication, do message senders’ expectations about message recipients play any role in the construction of social stereotypes? In particular, can senders’ expectations about recipients’ attitudes toward social groups initiate a confirmatory process whereby both senders and recipients come to hold the expected attitudes when there is no basis for them? In Study 1 senders composed messages biased in the direction of randomly assigned expectations about a recipient's attitudes toward students living on campus by selectively modifying items of gossip. Senders also subsequently reported attitudes biased in the direction of their messages. In Study 2 yoked participants read the original messages and formed attitudes that reflected the biased content of the original messages. Importantly, this confirmatory effect of attitude transmission was heightened by receivers’ perceptions that shared reality was created with the sender.
Formalization of Provenes Fuzzy Functional Depandency in Fuzzy Databases

In this paper we establish equivalence between a theory of fuzzy functional dependences and a fragment of fuzzy logic. We give a way to interpret fuzzy functional dependences as formulas in fuzzy logic. This goal is realized in a few steps. Truth assignment of attributes is defined in terms of closeness between two tuples in a fuzzy relation. A corresponding fuzzy formula is associated to a fuzzy functional dependence. It is proved that if a relation satisfies a fuzzy functional dependence, then the corresponding fuzzy formula is satisfied and vice verse. Finally, equivalence of a fuzzy formulas and a set fuzzy functional dependence is demonstrated. Thus we are in position to apply the rule of resolution from fuzzy logic, while calculating fuzzy functional dependences.
Physical Activity Modifies the Effect of LPL, LIPC, and CETP Polymorphisms on HDL-C Levels and the Risk of Myocardial Infarction in Women of European Ancestry

Background—Recent genome-wide association studies have identified common variants associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Whether these associations are modified by physical activity, which increases HDL-C levels and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, is uncertain. Methods and Results—In a prospective cohort study of 22 939 apparently healthy US women of European ancestry, we selected 58 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 9 genes that demonstrated genome-wide association (P<5×10−8) with HDL-C levels and sought evidence of effect modification according to levels of physical activity. Physical activity modified the effects on HDL-C of 7 SNPs at 3 loci, and the strongest evidence of effect was observed for rs10096633 at lipoprotein lipase (LPL), rs1800588 at hepatic lipase (LIPC), and rs1532624 at cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) (each P-interaction <0.05). The per-minor-allele increase in HDL-C for rs1800588 at LIPC and rs1532624 at CETP was greater in active than inactive women, whereas the reverse was observed for rs10096633 at LPL. Minor-allele carrier status at the LPL SNP was associated with a reduced risk of myocardial infarction in active (hazard ratio, 0.51; 95% confidence interval 0.30–0.86) but not among inactive women (hazard ratio 1.13; 95% confidence interval 0.79 to 1.61; P-interaction=0.007). By contrast, carrier status at the CETP SNP was associated with a reduced risk of myocardial infarction regardless of activity level (hazard ratio, 0.72; 95% confidence interval, 0.57 to 0.92; P-interaction=0.71). No association between LIPC SNP carrier status and myocardial infarction risk was noted. Conclusions—The effects of common variants in the LPL, LIPC, and CETP genes on HDL-C levels are modified by physical activity. For a common variant in LPL, the impact on myocardial infarction varied by activity level, whereas the effects of a common variant in CETP on myocardial infarction risk did not.
A Real-Time Reliability Model for Ontology-Based Dynamic Web Service Composition

Ontology-based web service composition allows for integration of available web services in real-time to meet desired objectives. In order to evaluate the quality of composite web services at runtime, there is a pressing need to define a feasible real-time web service reliability model. In this paper, we present such a model. We first introduce a dynamic process model that supports the evaluation of web service reliability. Then we provide a hybrid reliability model for atomic web services by considering both software and hardware aspects of the services. In order to calculate efficiently the reliability of ontology-based dynamic composite web services, we present a recursive algorithm that evaluates the reliability of various service composition constructs in real-time. Finally, we use a case study to show how to compute and monitor the reliability of composite web services in real-time, and how our approach supports reliable ontology-based dynamic web service composition. Keywords-web service composition; ontology; reliability model; quality of service (QoS); dynamic process model; real-time.
OX 40 engagement and chemotherapy combination provides potent antitumor immunity with concomitant regulatory T cell apoptosis

The Rockefeller University Press $30.00 J. Exp. Med. Vol. 206 No. 5 1103-1116 www.jem. org/cgi/doi/10.1084/jem.20082205 1103 Clinically relevant cancers must establish efficient mechanisms of escaping destruction by the immune system. One of the most successful strategies of tumor-induced immune evasion is the recruitment, expansion, and activation of CD4+ Foxp3+ T reg cells (1, 2). T reg cells can potently inhibit immune responses and constitute a major barrier for eliciting effective antitumor immunity (3). Cancer patients suffering from a variety of malignancies have elevated numbers of tumor-associated T reg cells, and increased T reg cell levels correlate with poor prognosis (4–10). Not surprisingly, the inactivation or depletion of T reg cells has been actively pursued as means to develop more potent immune therapies. Depletion of T reg cells has been accomplished with alkylating agents such as cyclophosphamide (CTX) (11–17). As a chemotherapeutic drug, CTX is administered clinically at doses that directly kill tumor cells. However, immunologists have known for decades that CTX has significant effects on the immune system that can promote a favorable antitumor immune response (14, 18). In addition to specific effects of CTX on T reg cells, lymphocytes recovering from CTXinduced lymphopenia undergo homeostatic proliferation that can activate tumor-specific T cells (19). Reconstitution from CTX-induced lymphopenia is associated with elevated levels of numerous proinflammatory cytokines, which favors an antitumor immune response (20, 21). Moreover, direct tumor cell death can be associated with tissue necrosis and the release of CORRESPONDENCE Alan Houghton: houghtoa@mskcc.org