Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How to Make Software Agents Do the Right Thing: An Introduction to Reinforcement Learning

1 Doing the Right Thing You're about to let a \spider" loose on the Internet. How do you know if it will seek out the information you want, without disrupting the net? You're in charge of writing the scheduling algorithm for a bank of elevators. How do you know when to go up and when to go down? In general, how do you make software do the right thing for its users? How do you even know what the right thing is? Many people see agents and agent-based programming ushering in a new era in computing, particularly in the environment of the internet. The optimists believe that all the protocols for data transfer, encryption, security, and payment will be sorted out in a year or so, and we can then go about writing new and exciting agent-based applications. This article explains why programming agents is not just business-as-usual; rather it requires a new way of looking at problems and their solutions. When you hire a human agent to do something for you, you rarely spell out a detailed plan of action. Instead, you deene the state of the environment that you want to achieve (e.g., you tell a contractor that you want a new front porch with comfortable seating, for under $2000). In more complex and uncertain situations, you specify your preferences rather than stating outright goals, as when you tell a stock broker agent that the more money you make the better, but count capital gains as, say, 30% better than dividend income. Your hired agent then takes actions on your behalf, even negotiates with other agents, all to help you achieve your preferences. We would like our software agents to behave the same way.
A novel loss function for the overall risk criterion based discriminative training of HMM models

In this paper, 1 we propose a novel loss function for the overall risk criterion estimation of hidden Markov models. For continuous speech recognition, the overall risk criterion estimation with the proposed loss function aims to directly maximise word recognition accuracy on the training database. We propose reestimation equations for the HMM parameters, which are derived using the Extended Baum-Welch algorithm. Using HMM, trained with the proposed method, a decrease of word recognition error rate of up to 17.3% has been achieved for the phoneme recognition task on the TIMIT database.
Instructional Styles Used by Regular Classroom Teachers while Teaching Recently Mainstreamed ESL Students: Six Urban Middle School Teachers in Texas Share Their Experiences and Perceptions.

It is the teachers of America who meet the daily challenge of addressing the culturally diverse needs of both immigrant and native students. Researchers demonstrate that understanding the background and culture and immigrant children is a necessary component for teachers to provide a more successful educational experience for these students (Banks, 2001; Gay, 2000; Olson, 1997; Sleeter & Grant, 1991). Much educational research illuminates that the majority of teachers who do not have English as a Second Language (ESL) background or training can be illequipped to work with immigrant, nonEnglish speaking, and culturally diverse children (Trueba, Cheng, & Ima, 1993; Ladson-Billings, 1994). Research reveals that 75% of non-English speaking students are placed with teachers who lack specialized training in second language acquisition, English as a second language, or bilingual education (McKeon,1994). What instructional methods do nonESL trained teachers use in their classrooms with ESL students? Byrnes et al. (1998) examined the practices used by regular classroom teachers involved in teaching ESL students. Using survey data, the researcher team examined teachers’ knowledge about second language learning and their classroom practices. The findings of this study suggested that teachers who had not typically received formal training in second-language learning demonstrated inadequate teaching strategies for ESL students. The study demonstrated that there were inadequate resources available to regular classroom non-ESL teachers, and that these teachers were engaged in teaching practices that were detrimental to the academic and personal development of ESL students. Many states including Texas require that all students pass state standardized tests (TAKS: Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) to graduate from high school. The impact of such state mandates also effects ESL students at the middle school level who are now required within three years to achieve on-grade level academic goals in a second language. What specific teaching strategies do regular content middle school teachers use to ensure that their ESL students can meet state level expectations? This article presents the results of a qualitative research study conducted in one Texas urban middle school. One of the purposes of the study was to investigate the instructional methods used by regular classroom teachers to address the unique needs of ESL students recently main-streamed into these teachers’ regular content classes.
Un algorithme générique d'extraction de bi-ensembles sous contraintes dans des données booléennes

L'existence d'algorithmes complets pour l'extraction souscontraintes de concepts formels (e.g., tous les conceptsfrequents) permet d'exploiter de grands jeux de donnees et a denombreuses applications. Cependant, lorsque les donnees traiteessont bruitees, il semble important d'introduire une tolerance auxexceptions. Pour cela, nous avons plonge le calcul de conceptsformels dans un cadre plus general d'extraction de bi-ensembles souscontraintes, i.e., un calcul d'associations d'ensembles d'objets etd'ensembles d'attributs satisfaisant des contraintes. Nous proposonsun algorithme original, correct, et complet pour calculer descollections de bi-ensembles sous contraintes. Sa genericitepermet de discuter de mecanismes fondamentaux comme la specificationdeclarative des proprietes des motifs, l'enumeration ou encore lapropagation des contraintes. Deux instances concretes del'algorithme sont presentees et evaluees.
State-Dependent Interactions between Excitatory Neuromodulators in the Neuronal Control of Breathing

All neuronal networks are modulated by multiple neuropeptides and biogenic amines. Yet, few studies investigate how different modulators interact to regulate network activity. Here we explored the state-dependent functional interactions between three excitatory neuromodulators acting on neurokinin1 (NK1), α1 noradrenergic (α1 NE), and 5-HT2 serotonin receptors within the pre-Bötzinger complex (pre-BötC), an area critical for the generation of breathing. In anesthetized, in vivo mice, the reliance on endogenous NK1 activation depended on spontaneous breathing frequency and the modulatory state of the animal. Endogenous NK1 activation had no significant respiratory effect when stimulating raphe magnus and/or locus ceruleus, but became critical when α1 NE and 5-HT2 receptors were pharmacologically blocked. The dependence of the centrally generated respiratory rhythm on NK1 activation was blunted in the presence of α1 NE and 5-HT2 agonists as demonstrated in slices containing the pre-BötC. We conclude that a modulator's action is determined by the concurrent modulation and interaction with other neuromodulators. Deficiencies in one neuromodulator are immediately compensated by the action of other neuromodulators. This interplay could play a role in the state dependency of certain breathing disorders.
Delusional boot: securing hypervisors without massive re-engineering

The set of virtual devices offered by a hypervisor to its guest VMs is a virtualization component ripe with security exploits -- more than half of all vulnerabilities of today's hypervisors are found in this codebase. This paper presents Min-V, a hypervisor that disables all virtual devices not critical to running VMs in the cloud. Of the remaining devices, Min-V takes a step further and eliminates all remaining functionality not needed for the cloud. To implement Min-V, we had to overcome an obstacle: the boot process of many commodity OSes depends on legacy virtual devices absent from our hypervisor. Min-V introduces delusional boot, a mechanism that allows guest VMs running commodity OSes to boot successfully without developers having to re-engineer the initialization code of these commodity OSes, as well as the BIOS and pre-OS (e.g., bootloader) code. We evaluate Min-V and demonstrate that our security improvements incur no performance overhead except for a small delay during reboot of a guest VM. Our reliability tests show that Min-V is able to run unmodified Linux and Windows OSes on top of this minimal virtualization interface.
HER-2 overexpression is an independent marker of poor prognosis of advanced primary ovarian carcinoma: a multicenter study of the GINECO group.

BACKGROUND Despite numerous studies, no biological marker has been identified that accurately predicts prognosis of advanced ovarian cancer. Tumors from a homogeneous population of 117 patients with a stage III/IV ovarian cancer, enrolled in a multicenter prospective GINECO clinical trial were analyzed retrospectively. PATIENTS AND METHODS All patients received the same platinum-based combination therapy and were followed-up for a median of 68 months. Tumor expression of Ki67, BCL-2, BAX, P53 or c-erbB-2 proteins was evaluated immunohistochemically on paraffin-embedded tissues and their prognostic impact analyzed. RESULTS The median rate of Ki67-positive nuclear area was 30%. BCL-2, BAX and P53 proteins were expressed in 52, 54 and 71% of the tumors, respectively, while HER-2 protein was overexpressed in 16%. Only HER-2 overexpression was significantly associated with shorter progression-free survival and overall survival. According to our multivariate analysis, the HER-2 prognostic impact was independent of classical clinical prognostic factors. CONCLUSION HER-2 appeared to influence the outcome of advanced ovarian cancer patients included in a clinical trial with prolonged follow-up, thereby suggesting that HER-2 is a potential target for treatment of this cancer.
Lateral retrocanthal orbitotomy: a minimally invasive, canthus-sparing approach.

OBJECTIVE To develop and evaluate a minimally invasive technique of lateral orbitotomy that provides improved orbital access with fewer complications. METHODS A cadaver study was undertaken to develop a technique of transconjunctival lateral orbitotomy that preserves the structural integrity of the eyelid support system and provides extended access to the orbit from floor to roof. We then evaluated the procedure in an outcome study of 30 consecutive patients. RESULTS The cadaver investigations demonstrated that a transconjunctival lateral retrocanthal approach is technically possible and provides improved direct access to the lateral orbit. In the study of 30 consecutive procedures, there were no complications resulting from the surgical access. The wound healing was rapid, without tissue distortion or scars. The exposure was ample for all surgical interventions. CONCLUSIONS Lateral retrocanthal orbitotomy is a new approach that provides extended access to the entire lateral orbit. The technique is rapid and can be extended in a single continuous incision to the medial orbit. The structural integrity of the lateral retinaculum is preserved, which appears to improve the postoperative cosmetic and functional result.
Consumers’ Attitude Towards Fish Meat

The overall aim of this paper is to show the factors that may affect consumers’ attitude towards farmed fish products. Consumers ask new products on the basis of different quality attributes: stability, safety, composition, better health effects, environment protection, etc. Different and controversial opinions on farmed and wild fish are also explored by literature review. The authors pay attention also to fish welfare as an emerging issue and effective information about fish products as a factor exerting a positive influence on consumers’ decision of purchase. Some relevant legislative notes on the paper’s topics are also cited. The qualitative aspects of aquaculture fish and the consumers’ demand and choice need further studies, according to some factors, such as the changing consumers’ attitudes towards fish products, the different fish quality perception and the development in the aquaculture systems.
Serial IGRA testing of trainees in the healthcare sector in a country with low incidence for tuberculosis – a prospective cohort study

Background: Healthcare workers (HCW) are a risk group for tuberculosis (TB). That is why interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) serial testing is performed on HCWs repeatedly exposed to infectious patients or materials. However, the variability of IGRA in serial testing is not yet well understood. We therefore analysed the prevalence of positive IGRA results as well as conversion and reversion rates in the serial testing of healthcare trainees in a low-incidence country. Methods: In a prospective cohort study, all trainees (n=194) who began training as a nurse or healthcare worker at the Vivantes Healthcare Training Institute in Berlin on 1 October 2008 or 1 April 2009 were IGRA-tested at three different times during the three years of training. Socio-demographic data and possible risk factors (e.g., TB contacts, time spent abroad, area of work) were recorded by means of a standardised questionnaire. The QuantiFERON Gold In-Tube (QFT) was used as an IGRA. Results: At the beginning of the training the cohort comprised 194 trainees. 70% were female. Their average age was 23. The prevalence of positive QFT was 2.1% (4/194). In the first follow-up test, 2 out of 154 (1.3%) tested IGRA-positive, 151 (98%) had constantly negative results. One IGRA was constantly positive (0.6%) and there was one conversion and one reversion (0.6% respectively). In the second follow-up (n=142) there was again one conversion (0.7%), one reversion and the one constantly positive test result in all three QFT. This trainee had active TB in 2002. All other test results were constantly negative (n=139; 98%). No case of active tuberculosis was diagnosed over the three-year observation period. Contact with TB patients was reported by 42 (29.6%) trainees during the follow-up. The two trainees with a conversion in QFT had no known contact with TB patients. Discordant results in the three consecutive QFT were observed in three trainees (2.1%). Using a borderline zone from 0.2–0.7 IU/mL reduced the number of trainees with discordant results from three to one – a reversion. Conclusion: The prevalence rate of latent TB infection is low in healthcare trainees without known risk factors for TB infection in their history. The infection risk seems to be low in this population even though contacts with TB patients during the training were reported. Introducing a borderline zone for the interpretation of reversions and conversions in this cohort appears to be safe and reduces the number of discordant results and helps to avoid unnecessary chest X-rays and preventive treatment.
Chronic Mild Stress Modulates Activity-Dependent Transcription of BDNF in Rat Hippocampal Slices

Although activity-dependent transcription represents a crucial mechanism for long-lasting experience-dependent changes in the hippocampus, limited data exist on its contribution to pathological conditions. We aim to investigate the influence of chronic stress on the activity-dependent transcription of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). The ex vivo methodology of acute stimulation of hippocampal slices obtained from rats exposed to chronic mild stress (CMS) was used to evaluate whether the adverse experience may alter activity-dependent BDNF gene expression. CMS reduces BDNF expression and that acute depolarization significantly upregulates total BDNF mRNA levels only in control animals, showing that CMS exposure may alter BDNF transcription under basal conditions and during neuronal activation. Moreover, while the basal effect of CMS on total BDNF reflects parallel modulations of all the transcripts examined, isoform-specific changes were found after depolarization. This different effect was also observed in the activation of intracellular signaling pathways related to the neurotrophin. In conclusion, our study discloses a functional alteration of BDNF transcription as a consequence of stress. Being the activity-regulated transcription a critical process in synaptic and neuronal plasticity, the different regulation of individual BDNF promoters may contribute to long-lasting changes, which are fundamental for the vulnerability of the hippocampus to stress-related diseases.
The Potential for Transition Metal-Mediated Neurodegeneration in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Modulations of the potentially toxic transition metals iron (Fe) and copper (Cu) are implicated in the neurodegenerative process in a variety of human disease states including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). However, the precise role played by these metals is still very much unclear, despite considerable clinical and experimental data suggestive of a role for these elements in the neurodegenerative process. The discovery of mutations in the antioxidant enzyme Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD-1) in ALS patients established the first known cause of ALS. Recent data suggest that various mutations in SOD-1 affect metal-binding of Cu and Zn, in turn promoting toxic protein aggregation. Copper homeostasis is also disturbed in ALS, and may be relevant to ALS pathogenesis. Another set of interesting observations in ALS patients involves the key nutrient Fe. In ALS patients, Fe loading can be inferred by studies showing increased expression of serum ferritin, an Fe-storage protein, with high serum ferritin levels correlating to poor prognosis. Magnetic resonance imaging of ALS patients shows a characteristic T2 shortening that is attributed to the presence of Fe in the motor cortex. In mutant SOD-1 mouse models, increased Fe is also detected in the spinal cord and treatment with Fe-chelating drugs lowers spinal cord Fe, preserves motor neurons, and extends lifespan. Inflammation may play a key causative role in Fe accumulation, but this is not yet conclusive. Excess transition metals may enhance induction of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, a system that is already under strain in ALS. Taken together, the evidence suggests a role for transition metals in ALS progression and the potential use of metal-chelating drugs as a component of future ALS therapy.
OB-Fold Recognition Combining Sequence and Structural Motifs

Remote protein homology detection is an important step towards understanding protein function in living organisms. The problem is notoriously difficult; distant homologs can often be detected only by a combination of sequence and structural features. We propose a new framework, where important sequence and structural features are described by the user in the form of a descriptor, and the descriptor is then used to search a database of protein sequences and score potential candidates. We develop algorithms necessary to support such search using support vector machines and discrete optimization methods. We demonstrate our approach on the example of the telomere-binding OB-fold domain, showing that not only we can distinguish between Telo_bind family members and negatives, but we also identify proteins from related protein families carrying similar OB-fold domains. Prototype implementation of the descriptor search software is available for Linux operating system at http://compbio.fmph. uniba.sk/descal/
Global Patterns in Seasonal Activity of Influenza A/H3N2, A/H1N1, and B from 1997 to 2005: Viral Coexistence and Latitudinal Gradients

Despite a mass of research on the epidemiology of seasonal influenza, overall patterns of infection have not been fully described on broad geographic scales and for specific types and subtypes of the influenza virus. Here we provide a descriptive analysis of laboratory-confirmed influenza surveillance data by type and subtype (A/H3N2, A/H1N1, and B) for 19 temperate countries in the Northern and Southern hemispheres from 1997 to 2005, compiled from a public database maintained by WHO (FluNet). Key findings include patterns of large scale co-occurrence of influenza type A and B, interhemispheric synchrony for subtype A/H3N2, and latitudinal gradients in epidemic timing for type A. These findings highlight the need for more countries to conduct year-round viral surveillance and report reliable incidence data at the type and subtype level, especially in the Tropics.
Fault-Tolerant Semiconductor Memories

The dramatic increase in the use of computers has been accompanied by a need for fault-tolerant computing. This requirement can be seen in the real-time control of air traffic systems, nuclear power facilities, and medical life-support units, where faulty outputs or brief system failures could threaten life. Likewise, unmanned satellites and deep-space probes require maintenance-free computers. This need extends to virtually every nondisposable computer product, due to the soaring cost of computer servicing. At the same time, quadrupling single-chip memory storage every two years has required a comparable increase in memory reliability. Since more than half of all computer failures may be caused by faults in its random-access memory, improved performance requires increasing the time between failures in such devices. This increase should not significantly reduce memory-access speed, however, since writing to and reading from memory usually make up the slowest CPU task. This article addresses the pertinent issues in the design and implementation of memories that increase the mean time between failures, or MTBF, without substantially compromising access speed. Our focus is specifically on semiconductor RAM, which primarily appears in cache and main memories. A semiconductor RAM mav either be static or dynamic. Although a dynamic RAM utilizes a capacitor to store its binary state and requires periodic refreshing to restore its charge, its memory cells contain few components. It offers roughly four times more storage capacity than a comparablv sized static RAM die. A block diagram of a hypothetical RAM appears in Figure 1, which shows the additional circuitry needed to access an element in the memory array. Table 1 lists a variety of possible RAM failure modes: The fault-tolerant techniques described in this article concern run-time faults in the memory array, since a faulty I/0 unit, for example, would render the entire chip useless. Methods for circumventing manufacturing defects are briefly characterized in the box, "Fault tolerance in manufacturing" (page 52). The field of RAM testing extends, however, beyond the scope of the article, and classical fault-tolerant techniques for logic circuitry are described elsewhere. I Any memory error may be classified as hard, soft, or intermittent. Hard errors, which are permanent faults repaired by hardware replacement, are caused by harsh environmental abuse, manufacturing defects, and wear. They appear as "stuck-at" faults (where a given signal line is permanently set to logical 0 or 1), floating faults (where the line becomes disconnected and floats between values), or parametric faults (where the magnitude of a circuit parameter, such as threshold voltage, changes). Soft errors are transient faults that cause a memory cell to change its state temporarily. They are generally caused by power supply problems, but they have also been associated with effects of alpha-particles. Finally, errors attributable to design imperfections or system overloads are sometimes referred to as "intermittent" errors; they are not considered separately here.