Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Software Comprehension through Concern-based Queries

A concern-based approach to support software comprehension and analysis is proposed. Concerns represent various aspects of a system, like features, architectural solutions, units of work, etc., which are interesting for some stakeholders. Using concern-based queries on the software artefacts, new derived information on the system can be exposed. The results of the queries are also represented as concerns and added to the concern repository. The approach thus supports the analyzer in gradually building up an understanding on the subject system to be analyzed.
Relative Shortening and Functional Tethering of Spinal Cord in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis?: Study With Multiplanar Reformat Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Somatosensory Evoked Potential

Study Design. MR imaging and multiplanar reconstruction were used to evaluate relative length of the spinal cord to the vertebral column in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Objectives. Ratio of spinal cord length to vertebral column length and position of the cerebellar tonsils were evaluated and correlated with somatosensory cortical evoked potentials (SSEP). Summary of Background Data. Tonsillar herniation, abnormal anthropometric growth, relative spinal overgrowth, and abnormal somatosensory function have been reported in AIS. All these observations suggest a possible neural origin of the etiopathogenesis of AIS, which can be linked to a disproportional growth between spinal column and cord. Methods. Two-dimensional sagittal MRI of the spine was performed in 28 AIS patients (14 mild curve; 14 severe curve) and 14 age-matched controls. Measurements of spinal cord, vertebral column length, and tonsillar position were made on reformat images and correlated with SSEP studies. Results. No significant differences in the absolute spinal cord length were found. However, there was significant relative segmental lengthening of the spinal column at the thoracic level in AIS patients with severe curve; hence, ratios of cord to vertebral column length were significantly reduced (P < 0.01). There was high interobserver reliability (0.9); 28% (8 of 28) scoliosis patients had low-lying cerebellar tonsils and abnormal SSEP, respectively. Conclusion. There was significantly reduced spinal cord to vertebral column ratios in the AIS patients with severe curve, suggesting a disproportional growth between the skeletal and the neural systems. The relative shortening and functional tethering of spinal cord may play an important role in the etiopathogenesis of AIS.
Rapid induction of cytokine gene expression in the lung after single and fractionated doses of radiation.

PURPOSE To investigate cytokine gene expression in the lung after single and fractionated doses of radiation, and to investigate the effect of steroids and the genetic background. MATERIALS AND METHODS Expression of cytokine genes (mTNF-alpha, mIL-1alpha, mIL-1beta, mIL-2, mIL-3, mIL-4, mIL-5, mIL-6, mIFN-gamma) in the lungs of C3H/HeJ and C57BL/6J mice was measured by RNase protection assay at different times after various doses of radiation. The effects of dexamethasone and fractionated radiation treatment on gene expression were also studied. RESULTS IL-1beta was the major cytokine induced in the lungs of C3H/HeJ mice within the first day after thoracic irradiation. Radiation doses as low as 1 Gy were effective. Responses to 20 Gy irradiation peaked within 4-8h and subsided by 24 h. With the exception of IL-1alpha and TNF-alpha, the other cytokines that were investigated had undetectable pre-treatment mRNA levels and were not radiation inducible. Similar responses were seen in C57BL/6J mice, although TNF-alpha was induced and there were some quantitative differences. Pre-treatment of C3H/HeJ mice with dexamethasone reduced basal and induced IL-1 levels, but complete inhibition was not achieved. Dexamethasone was also effective if given immediately after irradiation. Fractionated daily doses of radiation (4 Gy/day) helped to maintain cytokine gene expression for a longer period. CONCLUSIONS Inflammatory genes are rapidly induced in the lung by irradiation. This response cannot be readily abolished by steroid pre-treatment. Fractionated treatment schedules help to perpetuate the response.
An outbreak of cryptosporidiosis associated with exposure to swimming pool water

An outbreak of cryptosporidiosis among visitors to a public swimming pool occurred in the late summer of 2002. We performed a retrospective cohort study, including 3 cohorts, A) 178 school-children who visited the pool on a single occasion, B) 263 arbitrarily chosen school children, aged 6–12 y, and their household members, living within the municipality where the outbreak occurred, and C) an additional 28 individuals with laboratory confirmed cryptosporidiosis. The outbreak lasted 4 weeks and affected an estimated 800–1000 individuals. The primary attack rate was 40–50%. The median incubation period was 5 d (range 2–13 d). The secondary attack rate was 8–10%. Diarrhoea was reported by 93% of the patients, abdominal pain 89%, nausea 73%, and fever 40%. Fifty-four percent had<5 loose stools and 20% had>10 loose stools per d. The duration of symptoms was 4–10 d for 52% and>10 d for 34% of the cases. This is the first reported outbreak of pool associated cryptosporidiosis in Sweden and emphasizes the importance of proper control routines of swimming pools with continuous assessment of the quality of the water sources and filtration processes.
Forecasting the Day-Ahead Electricity Price in Nord Pool with Neural Networks: Some Preliminary Results

The ongoing deregulation of electricity sector worldwide has developed a competitive environment. These new challenges contribute to the development of a more reliable energy supply mechanism with lower cost and to the development of electricity exchanges. A better forecast of the expected electricity price helps market participants to improve their bidding strategies. In this paper, we try to investigate if a non-linear neural network estimator can provide some incremental value vs. a linear model. Our results which are in line with those of similar studies indicate that the nonparametric approach can improve the forecasting ability of linear models. Further work can be considered in the field of estimation of neural network interval forecast and the combination of wavelet analysis and neural network modeling.
On vibration signals analysis in Bridge Healthy Monitoring system using wavelet transform

The vibration signal is very important to the bridge healthy monitoring, because the variation of bridge vibration frequency indicates the changing of bridge structure state. Wavelet analysis theory is applied in this paper and study to analyses the monitoring data of bridge vibration signals in the bridge health monitoring system, and through multi-scale decomposition and reconstruction, as well as wavelet denoising, to enable classification and feature extraction from the vibration signals. And meantime through comparing with fast Fourier transform (FFT), it has demonstrated the validity of taking wavelet analysis as an instrument to analyses the vibration signal of bridge structure health monitoring.
TINY, a Dehydration-responsive Element (DRE)-binding Protein-like Transcription Factor Connecting the DRE- and Ethylene-responsive Element-mediated Signaling Pathways in Arabidopsis*

Dehydration-responsive element-binding proteins (DREBs) and ethylene-responsive element (ERE) binding factors are two major subfamilies of the AP2/ethylene-responsive element-binding protein family and play crucial roles in the regulation of abiotic- and biotic-stress responses, respectively. In the present work, we have reported a previously identified DREB-like factor, TINY, that was involved in both abiotic- and biotic-stress signaling pathways. TINY was capable of binding to both DRE and ERE with similar affinity and could activate the expression of reporter genes driven by either of these two elements in tobacco cells. The 15th amino acid in the APETALA2 (AP2)/ethylene-responsive element-binding factor domain was demonstrated to be essential for its specific binding to ERE, whereas the 14th and 19th amino acids were responsible for the binding to DRE. The expression of TINY was greatly activated by drought, cold, ethylene, and slightly by methyl jasmonate. Additionally, overexpression of TINY in Arabidopsis resulted in elevated expressions of both the DRE- and the ERE-containing genes. Moreover, the expression of DRE-regulated genes, such as COR6.6 and ERD10, was up-regulated upon ethylene treatment, and the expression of ERE-regulated genes, such as HLS1, was also increased by cold stress, when the expression of TINY was being induced. These results strongly suggested that TINY might play a role in the cross-talk between abiotic- and biotic-stress-responsive gene expressions by connecting the DRE- and ERE-mediated signaling pathways. The results herein might promote the understanding of the mechanisms of specific DNA recognition and gene expression regulation by DREBs.
A formal model for multi-protocol analysis

Formal models is the basis of protocol analysis, and existing formal models usually assume that only a single protocol runs in an untrusted network. However, when a protocol is deployed, it is usually run concurrently with other peer protocols on the network. As a result, these models cannot analyze multi-protocol security. In this paper, we build the formalization model for multi-protocol. This model is divided into two parts, one is static description, which is used to describe the message structure, communication steps and goals of the protocol, and the other is dynamic execution description. It is used to describe state change of agents in network.
E-Discovery and Data Privacy: A Practical Guide

It is not unusual in corporate litigation for the outcome of a case to hinge on the discovery in court of electronically-stored information (ESI). Yet in most jurisdictions (notably among EU Member States) the withholding of such information is required by privacy laws or even laws specifically blocking the transfer of data for discovery purposes. Companies that ignore such laws may face severe sanctions. In the United States, however, discovery of ESI is often compulsory, and failure to comply can lead to contempt of court and losing the case.
Effects of extension services on technology adoption and productivity among female and male farmers: Summary of ESSP working paper 49

This study contributes new empirical evidence on the gender difference in access to extension services in Ethiopia and how this translates to observed differences in technology adoption and agricultural productivity. Our results suggest that female house-hold heads and plot managers are less likely to get extension services and are less likely to access quality services than their male counterparts. Receiving advice from development agents, as agricultural extension officers in Ethiopia are called, is strongly and positively related to adoption of improved seed and fertilizer for both female and male headed households. How-ever, visits by or advice from development agents do not significantly affect productivity, for both females and males. The re-sults highlight the need for closing the gender gap in the provision of extension services and in productivity.
Computing summaries of string loops in C for better testing and refactoring

Analysing and comprehending C programs that use strings is hard: using standard library functions for manipulating strings is not enforced and programs often use complex loops for the same purpose. We introduce the notion of memoryless loops that capture some of these string loops and present a counterexample-guided synthesis approach to summarise memoryless loops using C standard library functions, which has applications to testing, optimisation and refactoring. We prove our summarisation is correct for arbitrary input strings and evaluate it on a database of loops we gathered from thirteen open-source programs. Our approach can summarise over two thirds of memoryless loops in less than five minutes of computation time per loop. We then show that these summaries can be used to (1) improve symbolic execution (2) optimise native code, and (3) refactor code.
HIV‐1‐specific cell‐mediated immune responses induced by DNA vaccination were enhanced by mannan‐coated liposomes and inhibited by anti‐interferon‐γ antibody

The adjuvant effect of mannan‐coated liposomes on human immunodeficiency virus type‐1 (HIV‐1) DNA vaccine and the mechanism of this enhancement were studied. Coating of cationic liposomes with mannan significantly enhanced the ability of this vaccine to induce an HIV‐specific delayed‐type hypersensitivity (DTH) response. HIV‐specific cytotoxic T‐cell (CTL) activity elicited by DNA vaccination was also significantly enhanced with the mannan‐liposome cocktail. This mannan‐liposome‐mediated activity was greatly inhibited by in vivo injection of anti‐interferon (IFN)‐γ antibody, which suggests that IFN‐γ plays an important role in this HIV‐specific immune response. The results of both isotype‐specific antibody and cytokine analysis revealed that mannan‐liposome‐mediated DNA vaccination enhances Th1‐mediated immunity.
Female Market Work, Tax Regimes, and the Rise of the Service Sector

US regional variation shows a positive correlation between the size of the service economy and female market hours, which is partially driven by different tax regimes. Based on this fact, this paper develops a multi-sector model to: (1) quantify the effect of different tax regimes in incentivizing woman to enter the labor force, and (2) estimate the feedback effect from women entering the labor force on the service sector size. Counterfactual results suggest that tax progressivity has a stronger effect than tax levels on married female market hours and the speed of structural transformation. In addition, married households react more to progressivity increases and single households are more sensitive to level changes. These results highlight that models ignoring tax structures (levels and progressivity) and household heterogeneity (dual versus single earning households) could lead to erroneous policy conclusions.
Money Matters: Money 'Demand' is Meaningless

Much intellectual energy has been devoted over many decades to the concept of money "demand" and its significance for monetary policy. It is obvious that the non-bank private sector (NBPS) does hold non-interest-bearing money (incongruously called money "demand") for specific purposes (in the main, transactions), but in our view the concept is completely meaningless for monetary policy. Supporters of money "demand" significance exhibit a misunderstanding of the process of money creation and its direct link with the real economy: money creation is the direct outcome of domestic credit extension (DCE) (the raw-data R-squared for the countries tested approaches 1.0), and DCE growth represents nominal GDP growth (because the NBPS borrows to spend) (the raw-data R-squared approaches 1.0). The growth in DCE, in turn, is heavily influenced by the bank lending rate (particularly in real terms, with a lag), which is the target of the only instrument the central bank has: the policy interest rate (PIR) (the other instruments assist in making the PIR effective). Thus, interest rates and GDP are principal arguments in monetary matters, but not in the way portrayed in the money "demand" literature.
Scrapie strains maintain biological phenotypes on propagation in a cell line in culture

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and its human equivalent, variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD), are caused by the same strain of infectious agent, which is similar to, but distinct from, >20 strains of their sheep scrapie homologue. A better understanding of the molecular strain determinants could be obtained from cells in monoculture than from whole animal studies where different cell targeting is commonly a strain‐related feature. Although a few cell types can be infected with different strains, the phenotypes of the emergent strains have not been studied. We have cured the scrapie‐infected, clonal SMB cell line with pentosan sulfate, stably re‐infected it with a different strain of scrapie and shown that biological properties and prion protein profiles characteristic of each original strain are propagated faithfully in this single non‐neuronal cell type. These findings attest to the fact that scrapie strain determinants are stable and host‐independent in isolated cells.
Gene mutations and altered gene expression in azoxymethane‐induced colon carcinogenesis in rodents

Studies of colon carcinogenesis in animal models are very useful to elucidate mechanisms and provide pointers to potential prevention approaches in the human situation. In the rat colon carcinogenesis model induced by azoxymethane (AOM), we have documented frequent mutations of specific genes. K‐ras mutations at codon 12 were found to be frequent in hyperplastic aberrant crypt foci (ACF) and large adenocarcinomas. In addition, mutations of the β‐catenin gene in its GSK‐3β phosphorylation consensus motif could also be identified in many adenomas and adenocarcinomas, and altered cellular localization of p‐catenin protein was observed in all of the dysplastic ACF, adenomas and adenocarcinomas examined, indicating that activation of Wnt signaling by accumulation of β‐catenin is a major mechanism in the AOM‐induced colon carcinogenesis model. Frequent gene mutations of β‐catenin and altered cellular localization of the protein are also features of AOM‐induced colon tumors in mice. Expression of enzymes associated with inflammation, such as inducible nitric oxide synthase (INOS) and the inducible type of cyclooxyge‐nase (COX), COX‐2, is increased in AOM‐induced rat colon carcinogenesis, and overproduction of nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandins is considered to be involved in colon tumor development. We have demonstrated that increased expression of INOS is an early and important event occurring in step with β‐catenin alteration in rat colon carcinogenesis. Activation of K‐ras was also found to be involved in up‐regulation of INOS in the presence of inflammatory stimuli. In addition, expression levels of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) receptors may be altered in colon cancers. For example, the EP, and EP2 subtypes have been shown to be up‐regulated and EP3 down‐regulated in AOM‐induced colon cancers in rats and mice. EP, and EP4 appear to be involved in ACF formation, while alteration in EP2 and EP3 is considered to contribute to later steps in colon carcinogenesis. Increased expression of some other gene products, such as the targets of Wnt/β‐catenin signaling, have also been reported. The further accumulation of data with this chemically‐induced animal colon carcinogenesis model should provide useful information for understanding colorectal neoplasia in man.
Regions of High Out-Of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Incidence and Low Bystander CPR Rates in Victoria, Australia

Background Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) remains a major public health issue and research has shown that large regional variation in outcomes exists. Of the interventions associated with survival, the provision of bystander CPR is one of the most important modifiable factors. The aim of this study is to identify census areas with high incidence of OHCA and low rates of bystander CPR in Victoria, Australia Methods We conducted an observational study using prospectively collected population-based OHCA data from the state of Victoria in Australia. Using ArcGIS (ArcMap 10.0), we linked the location of the arrest using the dispatch coordinates (longitude and latitude) to Victorian Local Government Areas (LGAs). We used Bayesian hierarchical models with random effects on each LGA to provide shrunken estimates of the rates of bystander CPR and the incidence rates. Results Over the study period there were 31,019 adult OHCA attended, of which 21,436 (69.1%) cases were of presumed cardiac etiology. Significant variation in the incidence of OHCA among LGAs was observed. There was a 3 fold difference in the incidence rate between the lowest and highest LGAs, ranging from 38.5 to 115.1 cases per 100,000 person-years. The overall rate of bystander CPR for bystander witnessed OHCAs was 62.4%, with the rate increasing from 56.4% in 2008–2010 to 68.6% in 2010–2013. There was a 25.1% absolute difference in bystander CPR rates between the highest and lowest LGAs. Conclusion Significant regional variation in OHCA incidence and bystander CPR rates exists throughout Victoria. Regions with high incidence and low bystander CPR participation can be identified and would make suitable targets for interventions to improve CPR participation rates.
Growth and analysis of crystal forms of toxic shock syndrome toxin 1

Native toxic shock syndrom toxin 1 (TSST‐1) purified from Staphylococcus aurius has been crystallized in four different forms. The highest resolution data (2.05 Å) was collected from orthorhombic crystals belonging to the space group C2221. The unit cell dimension are a = 108.7 Å, b = 177.5 Å, c = 97.6 Å. Rotation function analysis of this from indicates that there is trimer of toxin molecules in the asymmetric unit with a local 3‐fold axis parallel to the crystallographic c axis. Crystals of a double mutant of TSST‐1 have been grown which has a single molecule in the asymmetric unit and diffract to 1.9 Å. The space group is P21 with unit cell parameters of a = 44.4 Å, b = 34.0 Å, c = 55.2 Å, β = 93.0°. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
ICTs and lags in technical efficiency gains. A stochastic frontier approach over a panel of Italian manufacturing firms

This paper analyses the relationship between investment in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Technical Efficiency (TE). It uses a panel dataset of Italian manufacturing firms during the period 1995-2003. In contrast to much of the existing literature which focuses on the impact of ICT on labour or multifactor productivity, the paper analyses the relationship between ICT and TE using a stochastic frontier approach. Results show that ICT investment is positively associated with productivity and efficiency, but that the elasticities are lower than those associated with non-ICT capital and labour. Moreover, ICT investments have a positive effect on firm TE, and the impact of ICTs reduces firm inefficiency with a strong time lag since their adoption. Finally, the paper makes a methodological contribution by showing that a Cobb-Douglas production frontier is rejected in favour of a translog one.