Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic variations in multiple myeloma II: association with effect of treatment

Association studies on genetic variation to treatment effect may serve as a predictive marker for effect of treatment and can also uncover biological pathways behind drug effect. Single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been studied in relation to high‐dose treatment (HDT), thalidomide‐ and bortezomib‐based therapy, maintenance treatment with interferon‐α and in relation to therapy‐related adverse effects caused by treatment. Candidate genes for prediction of effect of HDT include DNA repair genes, CYP genes and genes involved in inflammation and apoptosis such as IL1B and RAI. In thalidomide‐ and bortezomid‐based therapy, candidate genes include TNFA and genes involved in the nuclear factor kappa B pathway (NFKB2 and TRAF3), respectively. In maintenance treatment with interferon‐α, a polymorphism in gene NFKB1 is a candidate gene for prediction for effect. Adverse effect includes infection, osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), venous thrombotic events (VTE) and peripheral neuropathy (PN). A SNP in MBL2 and MPO gene was associated with septicemia and a SNP in the gene CYP2C8 was strongly associated with ONJ. Several SNPs in genes encoding DNA repair, apoptosis, inflammation and genes involved in function of the nervous system have been associated with VTE induced by thalidomide and with PN induced by bortezomib. SNP analysis is simple and can be performed, e.g., on blood and buccal cells. Further analysis of SNPs in clinical trials is needed, and collaboration between scientific groups will be an advantage because SNP analysis required large number of patients.
Tensor Decomposition for 3D Bars Problem

In this paper, we compare performance of several dimension reduction techniques, namely SVD, NMF and SDD. The qualitative comparison is evaluated on a collection of bars. We compare the quality of these methods from on the base of the visual impact. We also compare dimension reduction techniques SVD and HO-SVD on tensors - 3D bars.
Problem solving training for schizophrenia: Rationale and review

Background: Training patients in structured problem solving strategies is one of the oldest cognitive behavioural therapy methods. Recent social, psychological and neuropsychiatric research provides a multifactorial rationale for methods that strengthen patients' ability to carry out stepwise problem solving in their real life problems. Aim: This paper reviews the rationale for Problem Solving Training with reference to recent biomedical and psychosocial research and describes several preliminary studies of its benefits. Method: A four-phase programme of 24 weekly or bi-weekly lessons in small groups begins with patient's pratical everyday problems before moving to gradually more complex and emotionally charged interpersonal, personal and crisis issues in an attempt to restore generic problem solving abilities and improve long-term recovery from schizophrenia. Results: Preliminary outcome studies show promising outcomes on a reduction in rehospitalizations as well as clinical, social and neurocognitive measures and a multi-centred randomized controlled study in progess. Conclusions: Renewed interest in cognitive functioning, including social problem solving skills and social cognition in schizophrenia has led us to reconsider the potential value of cognitive-behavioural problem solving training as a rehabilitation strategy.
On the Ethnicisation of New Zealand Politics: The Foreshore and Seabed Controversy in Context1

As a case study, the author looks at developments since 2003 in the controversy around the ownership of the New Zealand foreshore and seabed. She argues in favour of a detailed analysis of the relationships between the minority and majority populations and their impact on internal tensions and mobilisation, as well as on the development of ideologies. The article identifies key factors, moments and processes in recent New Zealand history that combined and had the effect of emphasising ethnic differences and polarising the relationships between the minority and majority populations. The analysis relies on Eric Schwimmer's work, in particular on his definitions of ‘real competition’ and ‘symbolic competition’.
The achaete‐scute gene complex of Drosophila melanogaster comprises four homologous genes.

We have determined the nucleotide sequence of two genes of the achaete ‐ scute complex (AS‐C) and show that they are homologous to two previously sequenced members of the same locus. These four genes are interspersed with other transcription units of unknown function. We also study the expression of one of these genes by in situ hybridization and compare it with the other three genes. We suggest that the complete function ascribed to the AS‐C by genetic experiments is carried out by the four homologous genes. We discuss the possible biochemical function of the AS‐C in neurogenesis in the light of the homologies of the four genes with the mammalian myc family.
Development and Psychometric Testing of Four Scales to Measure Perceptions and Family Influences on Parental Smoking in Taiwan

We developed and psychometrically tested four scales for measuring the perceptions of parental smokers and family members’ influences on smoking behavior in the presence of children in Taiwan. Data were collected from 309 parental smokers with school-aged children. The results of factor analysis revealed two to three factors within each scale, and the reliability was between 0.63 and 0.91, based on Cronbach’s alpha. Our findings provide preliminary support for the reliability and validity of the scales. The collective application of the scales is comprehensive that may constitute a feasible approach for preventing parental smoking.
Feminist Lives in Victorian England: Private Roles and Public Commitment

Preface: configuring feminism historically. Part 1 Private lives: family, faith and politics reappropriating adulthood understanding the empty places - love, friendship, and women's networks. Part 2 Public commitment: disrupting the dark continent breaking the male monopoly - politics, law and feminism invading the public sphere - employment, education and the middle class women nurturing the sickly plants - women, labour and unionism. Conclusion: organizing principles - re-reading the political geneaology of feminism.
Psychosocial Factors Influencing Intentions to Exercise of Young Students from Grades 7 to 9.

Abstract Our main purpose was to examine the influence of personal attributes and family environment upon the exercise intentions of students in grades 7 to 9. Fishbein's (1967) psychosocial model was applied. This predicts intentions from attitudes and subjective norms. The subjects were 698 students of both sexes attending grades 7 to 9 at two junior high schools in Metro Toronto. The results do not fully support Fishbein's concepts that external variables increase the prediction of exercise intentions relative to variables normally included in his model. Attitudes, current physical activity habits, and prior experience of exercise all contributed significantly to explaining the variance in exercise intentions. Nevertheless, over 50% of the total variance in exercise intentions remained unexplained. Since more variance of exercise intentions could be explained in students who had personal experience of physical activity early in childhood, our results support the value of early socialization towards phy.
Adaptable VLIW processor: The reconfigurable technology approach

Traditional processor design approaches using CISC and RISC philosophies suffer from low performance. One of alternative approaches to improve system performance is instruction level parallelism (ILP). Among the processor architectures supporting ILP, very long instruction word (VLIW) processors offer some advantages such as low power consumption and hardware complexity. In this paper, we introduce our adaptable VLIW processor that can adapt its functionality and organization at design time so that the processor configuration is optimized for a specific application. Based on the reconfigurable technology approach, we propose our design framework that allows users to configure the VLIW processor according to parallelism level of a particular application. The design framework also helps designers implement the processor on FPGA platforms without knowing HDLs. We conduct our experiments by synthesizing the proposed VLIW processor with four different FPGA families and by developing three applications using our proposed VLIW processor. The synthesis results show that our processor can work at up 174.89 MHz when implemented with the Xilinx Virtex 7 FPGA devices. The experimental results show that the proposed VLIW processor can achieve speed-ups by up to 22.6× when compared to the NIOS II RISC-like softcore processor at the same working frequency.
A comparison of L1 and african-mother-tongue acoustic models for south african English speech recognition

Speaker accent inﬂuences the performance of automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems. Knowledge of accent based acoustic variations can therefore be used in the development of more robust systems. The goal of this project is to characterize the vowels and diphthongs of second language (L2) South African English to aid in the adaptation of existing ﬁrst language (L1) English recognition systems for better L2 performance. This paper investigates the differences between the vowels and diphthongs of L1 and L2 English in South Africa and is speciﬁcally aimed at L2 English speakers with a native African mother tongue for instance isi-Xhosa, isi-Zulu, Tswana or Sepedi. The vowel systems of English, and African languages, as described in the linguistic literature, are compared to predict the expected deviations of L2 South African English from the L1 norm. Acoustic models based on formant and Mel-scaled cepstral features of 80 context dependent phonemes from L1 and L2 speakers are compared. Our ﬁndings agree well with those linguistically predicted, in particular, evidence of equivalence-classiﬁcation, peripheralization of schwa and changes in diphthong strength are observed.
Health-related behavioural change—a test of a new model

Abstract Numerous studies have demonstrated that planned health education and health promotion interventions are not particularly successful in bringing about behavioural change. It is suggested that the reasons for this are the fallacious theoretical assumptions underlying many intervention strategies and the failure to place sufficient emphasis on the context in which health-related behaviours occur. Studies of self-initiated behavioural change suggest that the antecedents of change are often events or processes which bring a previously routinised and unremarked behaviour into new focus. This paper describes a preliminary test of a new model of behavioural change in which a group of lay people were recruited to act as paid interviewers on a food survey in their own area. The survey was particularly concerned with the consumption of high fibre foods. he and post-test measures of the interviewers' own food habits as compared with those of a control group indicated modest support for the proposed model. Im.
Lower bounds on the minimum pseudodistance for linear codes with q-ary PSK modulation over AWGN

We present lower bounds on the minimum pseudocodeword effective Euclidean distance (or minimum ldquopseudodistancerdquo) for coded modulation systems using linear codes with q-ary phase-shift keying (PSK) modulation over the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. These bounds apply to both binary and nonbinary coded modulation systems which use direct modulation mapping of coded symbols. The minimum pseudodistance may serve as a first-order measure of error-correcting performance for both linear-programming and message-passing based receivers. In the case of a linear-programming based receiver, the minimum pseudodistance may be used to form an exact bound on the codeword error rate of the system.
The structure of dyadic conversations and sex differences in social style

Abstract Verbal and non-verbal vocal cues of co-operation and competition were assessed in 120 freely-formed dyadic conversations. In line with previous research, female/female dyads were found to be the most cooperative. However, in female/female conversations, cooperation decreased, and non-verbal competition increased, when males were present. Male/male conversation did not exhibit significant changes in style when a female audience was present. Mixed-sex conversations showed evidence of compromise between the two conversational styles; however, females were still significantly more cooperative in conversational style than males, and males exhibited higher levels of verbal competitiveness than females.
Affective States and the Influence of Activated General Knowledge

Two studies examined the impact of information activation on individuals in different mood states. In Experiment 1, happy, neutral, or sad subjects judged whether certain attributes (behaviors or traits) apply to a particular target. Prior trait judgments decreased the time for judging behaviors exemplifying the trait, particularly for happy but not for sad subjects. In Experiment 2, happy or sad subjects indicated whether the same or a semantically related stimulus had already been presented. Sad subjects responded relatively faster than happy subjects after corresponding information had previously been activated. Additional analyses reveal that both patterns are not due to different response tendencies. The results suggest that happy mood supports judgmental inferences based on general knowledge structures, whereas sad mood facilitates the conservation of information.
Improving information and its communication in higher education: challenges and strategies

Abstract Knowledge, information and communication are crucial for organizational effectiveness and key to the ability of the organisation to respond to change. This article reports on the progress of a research and developmental project in a modular multi-campus university focusing on improving the quality and communication of information to students and other users. The research has uncovered challenges for developing an information and communications strategy in a large organisation and offers insights which may help other organisations in evaluating their own processes and procedures for effective communication of knowledge and information in the organisation.
Extremal Problems for t-Partite and t-Colorable Hypergraphs

Fix integers $t \ge r \ge 2$ and an $r$-uniform hypergraph $F$. We prove that the maximum number of edges in a $t$-partite $r$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices that contains no copy of $F$ is $c_{t, F}{n \choose r} +o(n^r)$, where $c_{t, F}$ can be determined by a finite computation. We explicitly define a sequence $F_1, F_2, \ldots$ of $r$-uniform hypergraphs, and prove that the maximum number of edges in a $t$-chromatic $r$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices containing no copy of $F_i$ is $\alpha_{t,r,i}{n \choose r} +o(n^r)$, where $\alpha_{t,r,i}$ can be determined by a finite computation for each $i\ge 1$. In several cases, $\alpha_{t,r,i}$ is irrational. The main tool used in the proofs is the Lagrangian of a hypergraph.
Managing Product Variants by Project Centralization

Many software systems are evolving continuously. The changes are reflected in a sequence of revised products, including both version updates and related product variants that are created by the clone-and-own approach. Separate management and analysis of these product variants waste storage and hinders uncovering their commonalities and variations for maintenance. In this paper, we explore the project centralization approach to manage product variants. Our technique shares common code whenever possible while keeping the version space of each project separate. We present the key issues of project centralization and its algorithms. We perform several case studies, where project centralization is applied to real-world software projects, demonstrating the potential usefulness of our approach.
Hunger: A Polemical Review*

Introduction The global food crisis of the early 1970s led to intensified research and writing on the hunger problem. Coming on the heels of a major international attempt to revolutionize food crop production in certain regions of the Third World the food crisis j o l t 4 both scientists and development planners. The optimism of the 1960s cvaporated and new ideas were put forward in an attempt to explain why 15 to 25 percent of the world’s population remained chronically malnourished. This paper critically reviews some recent attempts to understand the world food situation. We believe that such a thing as “food scarcity” or “hunger” must be investigated historically and materially, that is, concretely in terms of the dynamics of power and control in the production and reproduction cycles at the local level. We reject the crisis orientation common in attemps to understand various Third World problems. In the periphery, the crisis presents itself as “the environmental crisis,” “the urban crisis,” “the population crisis. ” Each of these so called “crises” has had its U.N. Conference (in Stockholm, Vancouver, Budapest, Rome and Nairobi respectively). At each, a group of dissenters has tried to focus attention on the need to contextualize the “crisis” in question. The message has been consistent: issues of people’s power and control over productive resources underlie all manifestations of “crisis” in the periphery (Rome Declaration Group, 1979). On occasions, national delegations to such “crisis” conferences have made the same point, beginning with China’s well-known assertion in Stockholm in 1972 that issues of economic development were primary, those of “environment” secondary (Peking Review, 1972). We recognize that in some ways the food situation in [he 1980s is more critical than in any year since the “crisis” of the early 1970s. This is because of the necessity of feeding large numbers of refugees and displaced persons in addition to the burden of poor harvests, continued high costs of petroleum-based farm inputs, accelerating urbanization, continued population growth,
Identification of a specific glycoprotein ligand for P-selectin (CD62) on myeloid cells

P-selectin (CD62, GMP-140, PADGEM), a Ca(2+)-dependent lectin on activated platelets and endothelium, functions as a receptor for myeloid cells by interacting with sialylated, fucosylated lactosaminoglycans. P-selectin binds to a limited number of protease- sensitive sites on myeloid cells, but the protein(s) that carry the glycans recognized by P-selectin are unknown. Blotting of neutrophil or HL-60 cell membrane extracts with [125I]P-selectin and affinity chromatography of [3H]glucosamine-labeled HL-60 cell extracts were used to identify P-selectin ligands. A major ligand was identified with an approximately 250,000 M(r) under nonreducing conditions and approximately 120,000 under reducing conditions. Binding of P-selectin to the ligand was Ca2+ dependent and was blocked by mAbs to P-selectin. Brief sialidase digestion of the ligand increased its apparent molecular weight; however, prolonged digestion abolished binding of P- selectin. Peptide:N-glycosidase F treatment reduced the apparent molecular weight of the ligand by approximately 3,000 but did not affect P-selectin binding. Western blot and immunodepletion experiments indicated that the ligand was not lamp-1, lamp-2, or L-selectin, which carry sialyl Le(x), nor was it leukosialin, a heavily sialylated glycoprotein of similar molecular weight. The preferential interaction of the ligand with P-selectin suggests that it may play a role in adhesion of myeloid cells to activated platelets and endothelial cells.
Symmetry Reduced Model Checking for B

Symmetry reduction is a technique that can help alleviate the problem of state space explosion in model checking. The idea is to verify only a subset of states from each class (orbit) of symmetric states. This paper presents a framework for symmetry reduced model checking of B machines, which verifies a unique representative from each orbit. Symmetries are induced by the deferred set; a key component of the B language. This contrasts with strategies that require the introduction of a special data type into a language, to indicate symmetry. An extended version of the graph isomorphism program, nauty, is used to detect symmetries, and the symmetry reduction package has been integrated into the PROB model checker. Relevant algorithms are presented, and experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of the method, where exponential speedups are sometimes possible.
An Assessment of Two-Wheeler CO and PM10 Exposures Along ArterialMain Roads in Bangalore City, India

This study investigated 2-wheeler exposures to CO and PM10 along six standardized arterial main road stretches in Bangalore city in India during morning peak (9:00-11:00) and afternoon non-peak hours (13:00-15:00) using personal samplers. Background levels on a local street carrying no traffic and away from main roads were also monitored to determine the actual contributions of vehicular traffic to exposure. Road stretches were selected to compare exposures on two types of routes - inner arterials and outer arterials with different built form characteristics. Results indicate that average background PM10 and CO concentrations were much lower than the respective averages of the 2-wheeler exposures as expected. While PM10 exposures for inner arterials were higher than for outer arterials (p=0.007), differences were much larger for CO (p<0.001). Since the average run speeds were comparable for the stretches, the variations in PM10 and CO could be attributed to different vehicular compositions and built form characteristics of the stretches, but this needs to be verified through further investigation. PM10 exposures during non- peaks were lower than during morning peaks (p=0.02). However, CO exposures were not very different between non-peak hours and morning peak hours (p=0.138) despite comparable average run speeds and shows that even lower traffic volumes during non-peak hours result in high exposures. Results of various bivariate models indicate that average run speed is a good predictor of CO exposures (R 2 =0.56) but is only a minor predictor of PM10 exposures (R 2 =0.18) in Bangalore.
Noise reduction and ECG feature extraction using interpolation and Hilbert transform

An effective and reliable noise reduction and Electrocardiogram (ECG) feature extraction algorithm is proposed in this paper. Contaminated ECG samples are de-noised using a Butterworth lowpass and IIR notch filter. First derivative using Lagrange Five Point Interpolation formula and Hilbert Transform of those ECG samples are computed. Sample having maximum amplitude is found out from the transformed data and those samples having amplitude within a lead wise specific threshold of that maximum are selected. The point where those selected samples undergo slope alteration in the original time domain ECG signal is marked as R peak. After successful identification of R peak points, base line modulation correction is implemented using an empirically determined formula. Q and S points are identified by finding minimum amplitude on the either side of the most recently detected R peak. QRS onset and offset points are also detected. After detecting all these characteristic points, Heart Rate, R, Q and S peak heights and QRS duration are measured. Errors in these extracted ECG features are also calculated. The algorithm offers a good level of Sensitivity (99.84%), Positive Predictivity (99.84%) and Detection Accuracy (99.84%) of R peak. Different types of ECG data of all the 12 leads taken from PTB diagnostic ECG database (PTB-DB) is used for testing the performance of the proposed module.