Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Understanding Crowds' Migration on the Web

Consider a network where nodes are websites and the weight of a link that connects two nodes corresponds to the average number of users that visits both of the two websites over longer timescales. Such user-driven Web network is not only invaluable for understanding how crowds' interests collectively spread on the Web, but also useful for applications such as advertising or search. In this paper, we manage to construct such a network by 'putting together' pieces of information publicly available from the popular analytics websites. Our contributions are threefold. First, we design a crawler and a normalization methodology that enable us to construct a user-driven Web network based on limited publicly-available information, and validate the high accuracy of our approach. Second, we evaluate the unique properties of our network, and demonstrate that it exhibits small-world, seed-free, and scale-free phenomena. Finally, we build an application, website selector, on top of the user-driven network. The core concept utilized in the website selector is that by exploiting the knowledge that a number of websites share a number of common users, an advertiser might prefer displaying his ads only on a subset of these websites to optimize the budget allocation, and in turn increase the visibility of his ads on other websites. Our websites elector system is tailored for ad commissioners and it could be easily embedded in their ad selection algorithms.
Corporate Social Responsibility: Issues for Human Resource Development Professionals

Recent human resource development (HRD) scholarship has called for greater focus on social responsibility and ecological sustainability. The purpose of this article is to explore the engagement of HRD professionals in corporate social responsibility (CSR), examining one central question: how do HRD professionals perceive their roles and challenges in implementing CSR in organizations that claim CSR to be a key focus of their corporate identity and operation? Understandings of CSR vary and are widely contested, but for the purposes of this discussion, CSR is defined as treating the stakeholders of the firm ethically or in a responsible manner. Drawing from a qualitative study of HRD managers in eight large North American firms declaring explicit commitment to CSR, the evidence shows that their engagement tends to focus on employee learning and promotion, employee ownership of development, and employee safety and respect. Overall, however, HRD appeared to be only marginally involved or interested in the firms' CSR activities. The article concludes with an argument for greater engagement of HRD in CSR and offers suggestions for research and practice towards this end.
The effect of body mass index on patient outcomes in a medical ICU.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To examine the effect of patient body mass index (BMI) on outcome in intensive care. DESIGN In a prospective study, the patients were classified into groups based on the calculated BMI, as follows: BMI < 19.0 (n = 350), > or = 19.0 and < 25.0 (n = 663), > or = 25.0 and < 29.9 (n = 585), > or = 30.0 and < 40.0 (n = 396), and > or = 40.0 (n = 154). Groups were compared by age, APACHE (acute physiology and chronic health evaluation) II score, mortality, ICU length of stay (LOS), hospital LOS, number receiving ventilation, and ventilator-days. Adverse events including nosocomial pneumonia, ventilator-days per patient, failed extubations, and line-related complications were recorded. SETTING The study was conducted in a 9-bed medical ICU of a 650-bed tertiary care hospital. MEASUREMENTS Height and weight were prospectively recorded for the first ICU admission during a hospital stay. RESULTS Between January 1, 1997, and August 1, 2001, 2,148 of 2,806 patients admitted to the ICU had height and weight recorded. There were no differences in APACHE II score, mortality, ICU LOS, hospital LOS, number receiving ventilation, ventilator-days, average total cost, or average variable cost among the five groups. However, the severely obese patients were more frequently female and younger than those who were overweight and obese (p < 0.001). Adverse events were infrequent, but there were no differences between the obese/very obese compared with others. CONCLUSION BMI has minimal effects on ICU outcome after patients are admitted to a critical care unit.
Pharmacological Inhibition of Endotoxin Responses Is Achieved by Targeting the TLR4 Coreceptor, MD-21

The detection of Gram-negative LPS depends upon the proper function of the TLR4-MD-2 receptor complex in immune cells. TLR4 is the signal transduction component of the LPS receptor, whereas MD-2 is the endotoxin-binding unit. MD-2 appears to activate TLR4 when bound to TLR4 and ligated by LPS. Only the monomeric form of MD-2 was found to bind LPS and only monomeric MD-2 interacts with TLR4. Monomeric MD-2 binds TLR4 with an apparent Kd of 12 nM; this binding avidity was unaltered in the presence of endotoxin. E5564, an LPS antagonist, appears to inhibit cellular activation by competitively preventing the binding of LPS to MD-2. Depletion of endogenous soluble MD-2 from human serum, with an immobilized TLR4 fusion protein, abrogated TLR4-mediated LPS responses. By determining the concentration of added-back MD-2 that restored normal LPS responsiveness, the concentration of MD-2 was estimated to be ∼50 nM. Similarly, purified TLR4-Fc fusion protein, when added to the supernatants of TLR4-expressing cells in culture, inhibited the interaction of MD-2 with TLR4, thus preventing LPS stimulation. The ability to inhibit the effects of LPS as a result of the binding of TLR4-Fc or E5564 to MD-2 highlights MD-2 as the logical target for drug therapies designed to pharmacologically intervene against endotoxin-induced disease.
Medicare Part D coverage gap and diabetes beneficiaries.

OBJECTIVE To examine drug costs and entry and exit rates into the Part D coverage gap for beneficiaries with diabetes in Medicare Advantage managed care plans. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional observational study. METHODS Study patients were Medicare Advantage Part D beneficiaries with diabetes from 2 large California health plans who were continuously enrolled in 2006 and had a drug coverage gap starting at $2250. Entry and exit into the gap, total drug costs, and out-of-pocket drug costs were determined using pharmacy databases. RESULTS In 2006, 26% of the 42,801 beneficiaries with diabetes reached the coverage gap; 2% of beneficiaries exited the gap and qualified for catastrophic coverage. Beneficiaries incurred a mean of $2182 in total drug costs during 2006. Drug expenditures remained stable over the year for beneficiaries who did not enter the gap. For beneficiaries who entered the gap, total drug costs were higher overall and decreased at year's end as out-of-pocket expenses increased. CONCLUSIONS Fewer diabetes patients in this study entered the coverage gap than had been previously estimated, but the entry rate was much higher than that of the general Medicare Advantage Part D population. Patients entering the gap had lower subsequent monthly drug expenditures; this may be due to lower-than-expected drug prices and greater use of generics in managed care, or it may potentially signal poorer drug adherence. Future work should examine these hypotheses and explore risk factors for entering the Part D coverage gap.
Androgens Augment the Mitogenic Effects of Oocyte-Secreted Factors and Growth Differentiation Factor 9 on Porcine Granulosa Cells1

Abstract In this study, we test the hypothesis that the growth-promoting action of androgens on granulosa cells requires paracrine signaling from the oocyte. Mural granulosa cells (MGCs) from small antral (1–3 mm) prepubertal pig follicles were cultured in the presence or absence of denuded oocytes (DO) from the same follicles to determine whether mitogenic and/or steroidogenic responses, to combinations of FSH, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) were influenced by oocyte-secreted factors (OSFs). To further explore the identity of such factors we performed the same experiments, substituting growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9), a known OSF, for the DO. OSFs and GDF9 both potently enhanced IGF1-stimulated proliferation, and inhibited FSH-stimulated progesterone secretion. Alone, DHT had little effect on DNA synthesis, but significantly enhanced the mitogenic effects of OSFs or GDF9 in the presence of IGF1. Denuded oocytes, GDF9, and DHT independently inhibited FSH-stimulated progesterone secretion, and androgen, together with DO or GDF9, caused the most potent steroidogenic inhibition. Focusing on mitogenic effects, we demonstrate that both natural androgen receptor (AR) agonists, testosterone and DHT, dose-dependently augmented the mitogenic activity of DO or GDF9. Antiandrogen (hydroxyflutamide) treatment, which is used to block androgen receptor activity, opposed the interaction between androgen and GDF9. In conclusion, androgens stimulate porcine MGC proliferation in vitro by potentiating the growth-promoting effects of oocytes or GDF9, via a mechanism that involves the AR. These signaling pathways are likely to be important regulators of folliculogenesis in vivo, and may contribute to the excess follicle growth that is observed in androgen-treated female animals.
Aerial image classification using structural texture similarity

There is an increasing need for algorithms for automatic analysis of remote sensing images and in this paper we address the problem of semantic classification of aerial images. For the task at hand we propose and evaluate local structural texture descriptor and similarity measure. Nearest neighbor classifier based on the proposed descriptor and similarity measure, as well as image-to-class similarity, improves classification rates over the state-of-the-art on two datasets of aerial images. We evaluate the design choices and show that rich subband statistics, perceptually-based structural texture similarity measure and image-to-class similarity all contribute to the good performance of our classifier.
Spatial peak shift and generalization in pigeons.

How pigeons generalize across spatial locations was examined in the 4 experiments reported in this article. During training, a square was presented at a fixed height at 1 of 2 horizontal locations on a monitor screen. One location (S +) signaled reward, whereas the other one (S -) signaled no reward. The birds were then tested occasionally with a range of locations. After training with S+ only, the generalization gradient peaked at S + and was approximately Gaussian in shape. After training with equal numbers of S + and S- trials, response rates were higher on the S + side of the distribution. This asymmetry diminished over testing. When the S + and S- were close together, the peak of responding was shifted on initial generalization tests. Generalization gradients along the orthogonal vertical dimension were approximately exponential in shape. This is the first demonstration of generalization and peak shift in the spatial domain. An important task for the experimental analysis of behavior has been to understand how stimuli present when behavior is reinforced to gain control over the behavior. Stimulus generalization--cesponding in a similar fashion despite changes in properties of a stimulus--and discriminationmresponding differently when a stimulus property is changed--are opposite ends of a continuum of stimulus control. Stimulus control typically is indexed by decremental stimulus generalization gradients, in which increasing changes in a stimulus value lead to increasing changes in responding. Guttman and Kalish (1956) conducted a now-classic study of stimulus generalization in pigeons. They reinforced pigeons on an intermittent schedule for pecking a key in the presence of a monochromatic light source. Different groups of pigeons were trained with different spectral stimuli. After a steady rate of responding emerged, the pigeons were tested in extinction with a range of spectral wavelengths on either side of, and including, the training value. Plots of responses as a function of spectral wavelength showed orderly generalization gradients, with the highest rate of responding at the
The mitogen-activated protein kinase Erk5 mediates human mesangial cell activation.

BACKGROUND Mesangial activation occurs in many forms of renal disease that progress to renal failure. Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are important mediators involved in the intracellular network of interacting proteins that transduce extracellular stimuli to intracellular responses. The extracellular signal-regulated kinases 5 (Erk5) MAPK pathway has been involved in regulating several cellular responses. Thus, we examined the expression of Erk5 in human renal tissue and the function of Erk5 in cultured human mesangial cells. METHODS Erk5 was visualized in human renal tissue by immunohistochemistry and in mesangial cells by immunofluorescence microscopy using the anti-Erk5 C-terminus antibody. Erk5 expression and activation, and collagen I expression were determined by western blot. To generate a dominant-negative form of the Erk5 in human mesangial cells, an EcoRI fragment from wild-type pCEFL-HA-Erk5 was subcloned into the EcoRI site of pCDNA3. Cell proliferation was analysed by an MTT-based assay. Cell contraction was analysed by studying the changes in the planar cell surface area. RESULTS Erk5 was expressed in the kidney, mainly localized at the glomerular mesangium. In cultured human mesangial cells, Erk5 was activated by foetal calf serum (FCS), high glucose, endothelin-1, platelet-activating factor (PAF), epidermal growth factor (EGF) and transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF-beta1). The expression of a dominant-negative form of Erk5 in human mesangial cells resulted in a significant decrease in proliferation, EGF-induced cell contraction and TGF-beta1-induced collagen I expression. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that Erk5 is involved in agonist-induced mesangial cell contraction, proliferation and ECM accumulation and point to a multifunctional role of Erk5 in the pathophysiology of glomerular mesangial cells.
FAST-TRACK REPORT Enculturated chimpanzees imitate rationally

Human infants imitate others’ actions ‘rationally’: they copy a demonstrator’s action when that action is freely chosen, but less when it is forced by some constraint (Gergely, Bekkering & Kiraly, 2002). We investigated whether enculturated chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) also imitate rationally. Using Gergely and colleagues’ (2002) basic procedure, a human demonstrator operated each of six apparatuses using an unusual body part (he pressed it with his forehead or foot, or sat on it). In the Hands Free condition he used this unusual means even though his hands were free, suggesting a free choice. In the Hands Occupied condition he used the unusual means only because his hands were occupied, suggesting a constrained or forced choice. Like human infants, chimpanzees imitated the modeled action more often in the Hands Free than in the Hands Occupied condition. Enculturated chimpanzees thus have some understanding of the rationality of others’ intentional actions, and use this understanding when imitating others.
Iridoids from Scrophularia buergeriana attenuate glutamate‐induced neurotoxicity in rat cortical cultures

In previous work, we isolated 7 neuroprotective iridoid glycosides from the 90% MeOH fraction of Scrophularia buergeriana (Scrophulariaceae). We therefore investigated the mode of action of 8‐O‐E‐p‐methoxycinnamoyl‐harpagide (8‐MCA‐Harp), the most potent neuroprotective iridoid, and its aglycone, harpagide (Harp) using primary cultures of rat cortical cells in vitro. 8‐MCA‐Harp only revealed its neuroprotective activity in a pretreatment paradigm; this iridoid had more selectivity in protecting neurons against N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate (NMDA)‐induced neurotoxicity as opposed to that induced by kainic acid (KA). On the other hand, Harp exerted significant neuroprotective activity when it was administered either before or after glutamate insult and protected cultured neuronal cells from neurotoxicity induced by NMDA or KA. Furthermore, Harp significantly prevented the decrease of glutathione, an antioxidative compound in the brain, in our cultures. Finally, 8‐MCA‐Harp and Harp could successfully reduce the overproduction of nitric oxide and the level of cellular peroxide in cultured neurons. Collectively, these results suggested that Harp and 8‐MCA‐Harp protected primary cultured neurons against glutamate‐induced oxidative stress primarily by acting on the antioxidative defense system and on glutamatergic receptors, respectively. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A framework for discovering meaningful associations in the annotated life sciences web

During the last decade, life sciences researchers have gained access to the entire human genome, reliable high-throughput biotechnologies, affordable computational resources, and public network access. This has produced vast amounts of data and knowledge captured in the life sciences Web, and has created the need for new tools to analyze this knowledge and make discoveries. Consider a simplified Web of three publicly accessible data resources Entrez Gene, PubMed and OMIM. Data records in each resource are annotated with terms from multiple controlled vocabularies (CVs). The links between data records in two resources form a relationship between the two resources. Thus, a record in Entrez Gene, annotated with GO terms, can have links to multiple records in PubMed that are annotated with MeSH terms. Similarly, OMIM records annotated with terms from SNOMED CT may have links to records in Entrez Gene and PubMed. This forms a rich web of annotated data records. The objective of this research is to develop the Life Science Link ( LSLink) methodology and tools to discover meaningful patterns across resources and CVs. In a first step, we execute a protocol to follow links, extract annotations, and generate datasets of termlinks, which consist of data records and CV terms. We then mine the termlinks of the datasets to find potentially meaningful associations between pairs of terms from two CVs. Biologically meaningful associations of pairs of CV terms may yield innovative nuggets of previously unknown knowledge. Moreover, the bridge of associations across CV terms will reflect the practice of how scientists annotate data across linked data repositories. Contributions include a methodology to create background datasets, metrics for mining patterns, applying semantic knowledge for generalization, tools for discovery, and validation with biological use cases. Inspired by research in association rule mining and linkage analysis, we develop two metrics to determine support and confidence scores in the associations of pairs of CV terms. Associations that have a statistically significant high score and are biologically meaningful may lead to new knowledge. To further validate the support and confidence metrics, we develop a secondary test for significance based on the hypergeometric distribution. We also exploit the semantics of the CVs. We aggregate termlinks over siblings of a common parent CV term and use them as additional evidence to boost the support and confidence scores in the associations of the parent CV term. We provide a simple discovery interface where biologists can review associations and their scores. Finally, a cancer informatics use case validates the discovery of associations between human genes and diseases.
How Well the ICF Concepts of Functioning, Capacity and Performance are known Amongst the Finnish Specialists in Physical and RehabilitationMedicine?

Purpose: To investigate how well Finnish specialists in physical and rehabilitation medicine (PRM) are familiar with ICF-based concepts of functioning, capacity, and performance. Methods: In February 2013, the 5-minute survey was conducted amongst participants at the annual meeting of the Finnish Society of PRM. The 54 participants (response rate 81%) were asked to define the difference between concepts of functioning and capacity/performance. They were also asked to give some examples of medical tests related to these concepts. Two independent researchers evaluated the responses basing on appropriate definitions presented by ICF and researchers own experience. Results: Of respondents, 83% were able to define the concept of functioning accordingly to the ICF framework as a complex relationship between health condition and contextual factors. Instead, only 24% were capable to describe concept of capacity/performance as an ability to execute single tasks in a standard or current environment. Of respondents, 40% emphasized the physical dimension of performance. Over 80% of respondents suggested at least one test for assessment of the level of performance, but only 57% introduced an example of tests for measuring limitation of functioning. Conclusions: The ICF-based concepts of functioning and performance were not widely used amongst Finnish physicians specialized in PRM even if the responses to survey reflected the biopsychosocial way of understanding the functioning.
Exponential Sums From Half Quadratic Forms and Their Applications

In this paper, we consider a class of exponential sums from some half quadratic binomials. The exponential sums are proven to be eleven-valued with maximal magnitude (1/2(q - √q)) except for the trivial value q. As applications, first, we investigate the autocorrelation and cross-correlation distribution among the sequences in a sequence family. Second, we determine the weight distributions of several classes of linear codes. Some of the dual codes have minimum distance four, which are optimal with respect to the Hamming bound. Our results extend the result by Choi et al. and show that some correlation values in it do not occur.
Bridging the gap: a longitudinal study of the relationship between pedagogical continuity and early Chinese literacy acquisition

This longitudinal study examined the relationship between pedagogical continuity in literacy education and early literacy development by comparing Chinese children in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Stratified random sampling was used to select 24 preschool and Primary 1 classes in four communities catering to middle‐class families in each city. The 24 teachers were interviewed about their teaching methods and views on pedagogical continuity in individual sessions. Further, their teaching activities were videotaped over a period of a week. Their students (n = 758) completed a Chinese literacy attainment test at the beginning and at the end of the same academic year. Analyses indicated that Hong Kong students outperformed their Shenzhen counterparts in Chinese literacy attainment, at both preschool and primary levels, concurrently and longitudinally. This suggests that the holistic approach followed in Hong Kong might have a more positive impact on children's literacy development than the approach followed in Shenzhen. Implications of the findings for early childhood curriculum reform are discussed.
HIV and HCV prevalence and incarceration-related risks among injecting drug users in three West Bank governorates

ABSTRACT In the Middle East, the HIV epidemic among injecting drug users (IDUs) seems to be in an early phase, which increases the importance of prevention and systematic risk surveillance. To gain information about HIV and HCV infection rates among IDUs in the West Bank, a biobehavioral survey was conducted using time-location sampling in the Ramallah, Hebron, and Bethlehem governorates in 2013. The researchers recruited 288 Palestinian IDUs ages 16–64 (Mage = 39.2, SD = 11.11). While no HIV cases were found in the sample, 41% of participants tested positive for HCV. Imprisonment was common among participants (83%), so we explored the association of incarceration experience with HCV infection and HIV testing. In multivariate assessments, incarceration was shown to increase the odds of being infected with HCV and ever tested for HIV. HIV prevention should be strengthened in West Bank prisons and correctional facilities, and imprisonment for drug use re-examined.