Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aggregate estimation over a microblog platform

Microblogging platforms such as Twitter have experienced a phenomenal growth of popularity in recent years, making them attractive platforms for research in diverse fields from computer science to sociology. However, most microblogging platforms impose strict access restrictions (e.g., API rate limits) that prevent scientists with limited resources - e.g., who cannot afford microblog-data-access subscriptions offered by GNIP et al. - to leverage the wealth of microblogs for analytics. For example, Twitter allows only 180 queries per 15 minutes, and its search API only returns tweets posted within the last week. In this paper, we consider a novel problem of estimating aggregate queries over microblogs, e.g., "how many users mentioned the word 'privacy' in 2013? ". We propose novel solutions exploiting the user-timeline information that is publicly available in most microblogging platforms. Theoretical analysis and extensive real-world experiments over Twitter, Google+ and Tumblr confirm the effectiveness of our proposed techniques.
Human Rights Ethics: A Rational Approach

"Human Rights Ethics" makes an important contribution to contemporary philosophical and political debates concerning the advancement of global justice and human rights. Butler's book also lays claim to a significant place in both normative ethics and human rights studies in as much as it seeks to vindicate a universalistic, rational approach to human rights ethics. In the spirit of Hegel and Habermas. Butler proposes to vindicate a "totally rational account of human rights," but one that depends on a right to freedom of thought in its universal modes.
Optimizing fixture layout in a point-set domain

This paper describes an approach to optimal design of a fixture layout with the minimum required number of elements, i.e., six locators and a clamp. The approach applies to parts with arbitrary 3D geometry and is restricted to be within a discrete domain of locations for placing the fixture elements of non-frictional contacts. The paper addresses two major issues: 1) to develop an efficient algorithm for fixture synthesis in the point set domain; and 2) to evaluate the acceptable fixture designs based on several performance criteria and to select the optimal fixture according to practical requirements. The performance objectives considered include the workpiece localization accuracy, and the norm and dispersion of the locator contact forces. An interchange algorithm with random initiation is developed. Also, the fixture performance characteristics are evaluated to understand their tradeoffs. The importance of the accurate localization and the contact force balance is discussed.
Effects and Mechanism of Action of Aminophylline on Cardiac Function and Regional Blood Flow Distribution in Conscious Dogs

The effects of aminophylline, 1 mg/kg/min infused intravenously for 10 minutes, were examined on left ventricular (LV) diameter, pressure, and indexes of myocardial contractility, as well as systemic, coronary and regional hemodynamics in conscious dogs. Aminophylline increased mean arterial pressure 12 ± 2%, LV systolic pressure 8 ± 1%, LV dP/dt 20 ± 2%, velocity of myocardial fiber shortening 13 ± 2% and heart rate 5 ± 2%, and reduced LV end-diastolic diameter 2 ± 0.5%. Vascular resistance rose in the systemic bed 13 ± 5%, the coronary bed 26 ± 3%, the mesenteric bed 26 ± 5% and the iliac bed 36 ± 4%, but did not rise in the renal bed. Both β-adrenergic receptor blockade with propranolol and chronic treatment with reserpine attentuated but did not abolish the positive inotropic response induced by aminophylline. Alphaadrenergic receptor blockade with phentolamine prevented aminophylline-induced vasoconstriction in the systemic, coronary, mesenteric and iliac beds. In contrast to the vasoconstriction with i.v. aminophylline, when the drug was infused directly into the iliac artery, it elicited marked iliac vasodilation. Thus, in the intact conscious dog, i.v. aminophylline, in a dose that had little effect on heart rate, increased LV contractility and reduced preload. The increase in contractility was dependent in part on intact β-adrenergic nervous activity and endogenous catecholamine stores. The increases in systemic, coronary, iliac and mesenteric resistances involved a-adrenergic mechanisms. These actions appear to involve autonomic mechanisms, because the only direct effect of aminophylline on the iliac artery was marked vasodilation.
Acute Annular Urticaria in Infants and Children

Abstract: Characteristic features of acute annular urticaria in 34 infants and small children were large, erythematous annular and polycyclic lesions with violaceous centers, eyelid, hand, and foot edema, absence of angioedema of the airway, absence of pruritus, spontaneous resolution in 8 to 10 days, and frequent history of furazolidone medication for diarrhea. Nondermatologists often misdiagnose acute annular urticaria as erythema multiforme and unnecessarily overtreat patients. The differential diagnosis with other conditions presenting with annular lesions in children is discussed.
Histone Deacetylase 3 Interacts with and Deacetylates Myocyte Enhancer Factor 2

ABSTRACT The myocyte enhancer factor 2 (MEF2) family of transcription factors is not only important for controlling gene expression in normal cellular programs, like muscle differentiation, T-cell apoptosis, neuronal survival, and synaptic differentiation, but has also been linked to cardiac hypertrophy and other pathological conditions. Lysine acetylation has been shown to modulate MEF2 function, but it is not so clear which deacetylase(s) is involved. We report here that treatment of HEK293 cells with trichostatin A or nicotinamide upregulated MEF2D acetylation, suggesting that different deacetylases catalyze the deacetylation. Related to the trichostatin A sensitivity, histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4) and HDAC5, two known partners of MEF2, exhibited little deacetylase activity towards MEF2D. In contrast, HDAC3 efficiently deacetylated MEF2D in vitro and in vivo. This was specific, since HDAC1, HDAC2, and HDAC8 failed to do so. While HDAC4, HDAC5, HDAC7, and HDAC9 are known to recognize primarily the MEF2-specific domain, we found that HDAC3 interacts directly with the MADS box. In addition, HDAC3 associated with the acetyltransferases p300 and p300/CBP-associated factor (PCAF) to reverse autoacetylation. Furthermore, the nuclear receptor corepressor SMRT (silencing mediator of retinoid acid and thyroid hormone receptor) stimulated the deacetylase activity of HDAC3 towards MEF2 and PCAF. Supporting the physical interaction and deacetylase activity, HDAC3 repressed MEF2-dependent transcription and inhibited myogenesis. These results reveal an unexpected role for HDAC3 and suggest a novel pathway through which MEF2 activity is controlled in vivo.
Coordination of three-joint digit movements for rapid finger-thumb grasp.

Human thumb and index finger kinematics were examined for multiple repetitions of a simple grasp task as a means to evaluate motor planning and execution of these important hand movements. Subjects generated a rapid (approximately 90-ms duration) pinch movement of the index finger and thumb from an open-hand position. Approximately 400 repetitions were obtained from four naive subjects. The two-dimensional trajectory of the fingertip and the angular positions of the metacarpophalangeal (MP) and proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints of the index finger were recorded along with the angular position of the thumb interphalangeal joint (TH). Individual joint angular positions were transduced using planar electrogoniometers of an exoskeletal linkage design. Except for consistent single-peaked joint angle and digit trajectory velocity profiles, most kinematic features of the grasp varied considerably across trials, including fingertip spatial position at contact, specific finger paths, finger and thumb path distances, finger and thumb peak tangential velocities, and 5) individual joint rotation magnitudes and peak velocities. However, this kinematic variability was not random. Variable TH angular positioning was paralleled by complementary two-dimensional variations in the finger path. These fingertip adjustments were accomplished by actively controlled, reciprocal angular positioning of the MP and PIP joints. Specifically, with natural reductions in thumb flexion, MP flexion was greater while PIP flexion was reduced and vice versa. These adjustments acted to minimize variations in the point contact of the finger on the thumb and yielded a robust and seemingly natural preference for finger-thumb contact at the more distal surfaces of the digits. The kinematic variability was not due to the finger and thumb movements being controlled independently of digit contact. The variable appositional movements of the finger and thumb and the associated contact force were generated as a single action. This was indicated by an absence of kinematic or force adjustments after contact, smooth digit trajectories with a single peak in their tangential velocities, and finger-thumb contact that consistently occurred well after peak velocity. Likewise, because the variability in the kinematics of the grasp was systematic, it apparently was not due simply to sloppiness or noise in motor execution. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Adaptive depth estimation in image based visual servo control of dynamic systems.

This paper considers the question of designing a fully image based visual servo control for a dynamic system. The work is motivated by the ongoing development of image based visual servo control of small aerial robotic vehicles. The observed targets considered are coloured blobs on a flat surface to which the normal direction is known. The theoretical framework is directly applicable to the case of markings on a horizontal floor or landing field. The image features used are a first order spherical moment for position and an image flow measurement for velocity. A fully non-linear adaptive control design is provided that ensures global stability of the closed-loop system.
An algorithm for medical management in male lower urinary tract symptoms

Purpose of review Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) as the main cause of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) may lead to acute urinary retention and need for BPH-related surgery. The present article describes the result of the recent trials on different medical treatment options. Recent findings Recent studies have shown the efficacy of new selective α-blockers (silodosin and naftopidil); however, there are limited data and no strong evidence for the use of these new agents. Combination therapy of α-blocker and 5α-reductase inhibitor results in great benefit for symptom improvement as well as risk reduction of disease progression and complications. The use of selective antimuscarinic agents in patients with moderate-to-severe symptoms and nonobstructive pattern recognized as overactive bladder type has also been successfully evaluated. There is also a potential clinical use of phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors in patients with coexisting LUTS and erectile dysfunction. Summary Initial evaluation and filling appropriate questionnaires of the disease severity and quality are important steps in medical management of LUTS. Other comorbidities including erectile dysfunction, cardiovascular diseases should also be evaluated. Using prostate volume, uroflowmetry, serum PSA, one could estimate the risk of clinical progression. Most patients benefit from combination therapy of α-blocker and 5α-reductase inhibitor.
Factors that influence cancer patients' anxiety following a medical consultation: impact of a communication skills training programme for physicians.

BACKGROUND No study has yet assessed the impact of physicians' skills acquisition after a communication skills training programme on the evolution of patients' anxiety following a medical consultation. This study aimed to compare the impact, on patients' anxiety, of a basic communication skills training programme (BT) and the same programme consolidated by consolidation workshops (CW), and to investigate physicians' communication variables associated with patients' anxiety. PATIENTS AND METHODS Physicians, after attending the BT, were randomly assigned to CW or to a waiting list. The control group was not a non-intervention group. Consultations with a cancer patient were recorded. Patients' anxiety was assessed with the State Trait Anxiety Inventory before and after a consultation. Communication skills were analysed according to the Cancer Research Campaign Workshop Evaluation Manual. RESULTS No statistically significant change over time and between groups was observed. Mixed-effects modelling showed that a decrease in patients' anxiety was linked with screening questions (P = 0.045), physicians' satisfaction about support given (P = 0.004) and with patients' distress (P < 0.001). An increase in anxiety was linked with breaking bad news (P = 0.050) and with supportive skills (P = 0.013). No impact of the training programme was observed. CONCLUSIONS This study shows the influence of some communication skills on the evolution of patients' anxiety. Physicians should be aware of these influences.
Study of the electrically evoked EMG and torque output during the muscle fatigue process in FES-induced static and dynamic contractions

This study compared the different fatigue processes of electrically elicited static and dynamic muscle contractions of quadriceps in five paraplegic subjects. An electrodynamometer was utilized for recording the generated torque output and controlling the isokinetic dynamic movements. Stimulus-evoked electromyography (EMG), after artifact suppression, was used to observe the fatigue process. Besides torque output, the measured EMG features included peak to peak amplitude, rise time to peak and peak to peak duration. The measurements were modeled by a hyperbolic tangent function, which allowed observance of their time constants, inflection times and relative residual levels during the fatigue process. The time constants as well as the inflection time of torque output and EMG features were compared between static and dynamic contractions. The inflection times of torque output and all EMG features measured during static contraction were found larger than those of dynamic contraction. In EMG temporal features, the inflection times of rise time to peak and peak to peak duration in static contractions were also found significantly larger than those of dynamic contractions. These conditions indicated that, from either contractile (torque curves) or excitation (EMG features) aspects, the electrically elicited muscle contraction in dynamic movement is prone to fatigue earlier and faster.
Lessons learnt in the use of a collaborative design environment

The paper discusses collaboration problems in large organizations where systems development takes place in distributed projects. We describe an in-house collaborative design environment, which has been used in several units in the NOKIA corporation. This environment called Timbuktu is evaluated based on our understanding after several years' consultation and interviews of knowledge sharing in distributed projects. We use two theories to introduce and analyze the subject: collaboration support as a social action theory, and theory of knowledge creation. Both of these theories are discussed in the context of collaborative design environments. The lessons learnt are aimed to guide developing collaboration environments for the future.
Evolutionary Psychology: The Science of Human Behavior and Evolution

Section I: Background: History and Evolution aeo Explaining Human Nature aeo Evolutionary Psychology: Basic Concepts aeo Evolutionary Psychology: Methods and Criticisms aeo Human Evolution I: Foundations aeo Human Evolution II: From Hominid to Human Section II: Action and Feeling aeo The Physical Human and the Control of Movement aeo The Function an Evolution of Emotions aeo The Adaptive and Maladaptive Significance of Emotions Section III: Cooperation aeo The Evolution of Cooperation aeo Cooperation between the Sexes I: Evolution aeo Cooperation between the Sexes II: The Male Perspective aeo Cooperation Between the Sexes III: The Female Perspective Section IV: Development and Family Dynamics aeo Parent/Offspring Conflicts: Prenatal and Postnatal aeo Childhood Development and Family Life Section V: Higher Cognition aeo Thought and Reasoning: Comparative Approaches aeo Thought and Reasoning: Evolution aeo The Evolution of Language aeo Right, Wrong, and a Sense of Self Epilogue: A Moral to the Story?
A Tissue-Specific Coactivator of Steroid Receptors, Identified in a Functional Genetic Screen

ABSTRACT Steroid receptors mediate responses to lipophilic hormones in a tissue- and ligand-specific manner. To identify nonreceptor proteins that confer specificity or regulate steroid signaling, we screened a human cDNA library in a steroid-responsive yeast strain. One of the identified cDNAs, isolated in the screen as ligand effect modulator 6, showed no homology to yeast or Caenorhabditis elegansproteins but high similarity to the recently described mouse coactivator PGC-1 and was accordingly termed hPGC-1. The hPGC-1 DNA encodes a nuclear protein that is expressed in a tissue-specific manner and carries novel motifs for transcriptional regulators. The expression of hPGC-1 in mammalian cells enhanced potently the transcriptional response to several steroids in a receptor-specific manner. hPGC-1-mediated enhancement required the receptor hormone-binding domain and was dependent on agonist ligands. Functional analysis of hPGC-1 revealed two domains that interact with steroid receptors in a hormone-dependent manner, a potent transcriptional activation function, and a putative dimerization domain. Our findings suggest a regulatory function for hPGC-1 as a tissue-specific coactivator for a subset of nuclear receptors.
Linkage between water stress tolerance and life history type in seedlings of nine chaparral species (Rhamnaceae)

1 Chaparral shrub species along the southwest coast of North America survive wildfire by three different life history types: non‐sprouters (NS) are killed by fire and only re‐establish through germination of fire‐stimulated seeds; facultative sprouters (FS) re‐establish by a combination of vegetative sprouting and seed germination; and obligate sprouters (OS) only re‐establish by vegetative sprouting because their seeds do not survive fire. 2 Post‐fire seedlings of NS and FS re‐establish in open canopy gaps, whereas OS seedlings primarily recruit in deep shade during fire‐free intervals. 3 It was hypothesized that these life history differences, compared within the same family, Rhamnaceae, would result in differential seedling resistance to water stress such that NS > FS > OS. 4 Seedlings were grown in large pots in a common garden under treatments of sun, shade, irrigation and water stress. Mortality and physiology of seedlings were monitored for about 1 year. 5 In response to the water stress treatment in full sun, life history types were not different in their dry season predawn water potentials, which were extremely negative (< –9 MPa). Water potential of water‐stressed shade grown plants were also not different, but were less negative than the sun treatment during the dry season (about –6 MPa). 6 For plants grown in full sun under water stress, NS exhibited 23% mortality, FS 60% and OS 35% mortality, while irrigated controls had greatly reduced mortality across all life histories. Among shade grown plants under water stress, NS exhibited 30% mortality, FS 20% and OS 1% mortality. This pattern of differential mortality was the same for irrigated plants indicating that water stress was not the cause of mortality in the shade. 7 Greater stem and root resistance to water stress induced cavitation were strongly correlated with lower percent mortality during the summer dry season suggesting a link between these traits and fitness. 8 Synthesis. This study finds a link between life history type and water stress tolerance. Consistent with open canopy specialization, NS survived best in full sun. The FS and OS life history type had better survival in the shade. The OS was unexpectedly versatile, surviving well in the sun and shade. The evolutionary history of the life history types is discussed as an important factor in linking water stress tolerance and life history.
From ‘bad’ to ‘worse’: pragmatic scales and the (de)construction of cultural models

This article uses a cognitive-pragmatic approach to discourse which is informed by two basic concepts: cultural models and pragmatic scales. The data consist of an essay by a literary writer, Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place, as well as editorials and letters to the editor published in a Luxembourgish newspaper. The analysis reveals how the authors of the editorials and letters to the editor both rely upon and construct a particular cultural model about education in Luxembourg, and how the literary writer deconstructs her readers’ (at least potentially stereotypical) model of tourism. Rather than attempt to distinguish between different text genres on such a basis, the article focuses on cognitive aspects that are common to all discourse processing; in particular, it highlights the key role played by pragmatic scales in linking and structuring cultural models. The scales are invoked primarily by evaluative adjective forms such as bad, worse, etc., and they make possible a high degree of linguistic implicitness in the writers’ rhetorical and argumentative strategies. The article concludes that the consequent processes of moving information across evaluative scales and filling in missing values are characteristic of the way human beings think, and that they work together with other processes of reasoning (such as conceptual blending) to produce the full complexity, but also the potentially stereotyped nature, of human thinking.
Visibly pushdown languages

We propose the class of visibly pushdown languages as embeddings of context-free languages that is rich enough to model program analysis questions and yet is tractable and robust like the class of regular languages. In our definition, the input symbol determines when the pushdown automaton can push or pop, and thus the stack depth at every position. We show that the resulting class Vpl of languages is closed under union, intersection, complementation, renaming, concatenation, and Kleene-*, and problems such as inclusion that are undecidable for context-free languages are Exptime-complete for visibly pushdown automata. Our framework explains, unifies, and generalizes many of the decision procedures in the program analysis literature, and allows algorithmic verification of recursive programs with respect to many context-free properties including access control properties via stack inspection and correctness of procedures with respect to pre and post conditions. We demonstrate that the class Vpl is robust by giving two alternative characterizations: a logical characterization using the monadic second order (MSO) theory over words augmented with a binary matching predicate, and a correspondence to regular tree languages. We also consider visibly pushdown languages of infinite words and show that the closure properties, MSO-characterization and the characterization in terms of regular trees carry over. The main difference with respect to the case of finite words turns out to be determinizability: nondeterministic Büchi visibly pushdown automata are strictly more expressive than deterministic Muller visibly pushdown automata.