Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adopting a graphical perspective in interactive information retrieval research

OF THE DISSERTATION Adopting a Graphical Perspective in Interactive Information Retrieval Research by Matthew Mitsui Dissertation Director: Chirag Shah Previous work in interactive information retrieval (IIR) has explored the relationships between individuals’ search behavior, the characteristics of their search tasks, and their perceptions of their tasks, such as perceived topic familiarity and task difficulty. This work ultimately serves goals like personalization and search satisfaction. It is believed that predictions of task characteristics or searcher characteristics from observed behavior can help tailor search experiences to support task completion and search satisfaction. Often, research examines changes in behaviors when one or two characteristics change at a time. It applies methods such as t-tests, ANOVAs, and multivariate regression. This dissertation shows the limitations of this empirical framework. The contribution of this dissertation is in demonstrating that task characteristics, user characteristics, and behaviors should be empirically studied as a network of dependencies. It expands empirical work using graphical modeling, which can uniquely capture phenomena such as mediation and conditional independence. Research questions regarding mediation and conditional independence can hence now be answered with this different framework. This dissertation empirically shows when knowledge about behavior and certain task characteristics can be used to learn about other aspects of the task. It shows how task and user characteristics simultaneously affect behavior while potentially affecting
Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass with ileal transposition – an alternative surgical treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus and gastroesophageal reflux

Currently, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is considered as a gastrointestinal disease. Numerous studies have demonstrated that bariatric operations ameliorate T2DM significantly. The laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (L-RYGB) is considered as the gold standard procedure. We aimed to evaluate the feasibility and impact of L-RYGB with ileal transposition (or interposition) on diabetes resolution in a patient who has not benefited from any medical therapy, with its additional effect on the amelioration of gastroesophageal reflux disease. The patient was a 38-year-old diabetic woman with uncontrolled blood glucose despite medical treatment, with additional gastroesophageal reflux disease. Following the procedure, her biochemical parameters and reflux symptoms improved significantly within 10 months. We think that L-RYGB with ileal transposition may be easily employed to gain a maximum effect in diabetics with adverse prognosis. This technique may be an alternative in the treatment of type 2 diabetic patients with gastroesophageal reflux.
Regulation of Escherichia coli pyrC by the purine regulon repressor protein

The purine regulon repressor, PurR, was identified as a component of the Escherichia coli regulatory system for pyrC, the gene that encodes dihydroorotase, an enzyme in de novo pyrimidine nucleotide synthesis. PurR binds to a pyrC control site that resembles a pur regulon operator and represses expression by twofold. Mutations that increase binding of PurR to the control site in vitro concomitantly increase in vivo regulation. There are completely independent mechanisms for regulation of pyrC by purine and pyrimidine nucleotides. Cross pathway regulation of pyrC by PurR may provide one mechanism to coordinate synthesis of purine and pyrimidine nucleotides.
Orthogonal multiple access and information fusion: How many observations are needed?

In this paper, we consider a central estimating officer (CEO) scenario, where sensors observe a noisy version of a binary sequence generated by a single hidden source (the phenomenon). Distributed source coding is not used; rather, the correlation is exploited at the access point (AP), whose goal is to estimate, by properly fusing the data received through AWGN or block fading channels, this sequence. We assume that each node uses a classical channel code to transmit its information to the AP, where decoding is followed by fusion. In the decoding block, joint channel decoding (JCD) or separate channel decoding (SCD) are considered: in the former case, correlation is exploited in the decoding process, whereas in the latter case it is not. We first investigate the ultimate achievable performance limits with JCD (i.e., considering the multiple access channel), in terms of: (i) feasible capacity region in the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel case; (ii) outage feasible capacity region, in block faded channel case. This analysis provides preliminary insights on the impact of the number of observations. Then, we investigate the overall system performance in terms of bit error rate (BER), probability of outage (only in the block faded case), and probability of decision error (after fusion).
Ab initio study of the volume dependence of dynamical and thermodynamical properties of silicon.

Motivated by the negative thermal expansion observed for silicon between 20 K and 120 K, we present an ab initio study of the volume dependence of interatomic force constants, phonon frequencies of transverse-acoustic TA(X) and TA(L) modes, and of the associated mode Gruneisen parameters. The influence of successive nearest-neighbor shells is analyzed. Analytical formulas, taking into account interactions up to second-nearest neighbors, are developed for phonon frequencies of TA(X) and TA(L) modes and the corresponding mode Gruneisen parameters. We also analyze the volume and pressure dependence of various thermodynamic properties (specific heat, bulk modulus, and thermal expansion), and point out the effect of the negative mode Gruneisen parameters of the acoustic branches on these properties. Finally, we present the evolution of the mean-square atomic displacement and of the atomic temperature factor with the temperature for different volumes, for which the anomalous effects are even greater.
Towards emotion aware computing: A study of arousal modulation with multichannel event-related potentials, delta oscillatory activity and skin conductivity responses

Emotion identification has recently been considered as a key element in contemporary studies for advanced human-computer interaction. The achievement of this goal is usually attempted via methods incorporating facial expression and speech recognition, as well as, human motion analysis. In this paper it is attempted to fuse multi-modal physiological signals of the autonomic (skin conductance) and central nervous systems (EEG), through the use of appropriate feature extraction procedures discriminating emotional arousal modulations, to a neural network classifier. Thus, skin conductivity responses, evoked-related potential peaks, and delta frequency oscillatory patterns are analyzed for a comparatively large number of subjects exposed to different emotions, evoked by pictures selected from the International Affective Picture System. The achieved neural network classifications were encouraging. It was found that fear was successfully differentiated (100%), pleasant emotions differing in their arousal level were well distinguished (80%), but the discrimination of low arousing negative feelings such as melancholy was more difficult (70%). It is argued that physiological patterning of multimodal recordings may successfully contribute to the enhancement of human computer interaction and emotion aware computing.
Correlates of Intimate Partner Violence Among Men and Women in an Inner City Emergency Department

ABSTRACT The current study surveyed medical or injured patients (men and women) in an inner city emergency department to examine the rates and correlates of intimate partner violence, including substance use patterns. Over a 2-year period, participants (n = 10,744) self-administered a computerized health survey during their emergency department visit that included screening items regarding past year history of intimate partner violence (including victimization and aggression). Overall, rates of any intimate partner violence involvement in past year were 8.7% (7.3% victimization and 4.4% aggression); however, women were more likely than men to report intimate partner violence. When examining participants' substance use patterns, participants who reported using both alcohol and cocaine were most likely to report intimate partner violence. Predictors of partner aggression and victimization were remarkably similar. This article provides unique data regarding correlates of past year intimate partner violence history among a comprehensive sample of male and female emergency department patients presenting for medical complaints or injury.
KATANIN 1 Is Essential for Embryogenesis and Seed Formation in Arabidopsis

Cytoskeletal remodeling has a fundamental role, especially during transitional developmental stages when cells rapidly adopt new forms and roles, like gametogenesis, fertilization and concomitant embryogenesis and seed formation. KATANIN 1, a microtubule severing protein, fulfills a major regulatory mechanism of dynamic microtubule turnover in eukaryotes. Herein, we show that three well-established KATANIN 1 mutants, fra2, lue1 and ktn1-2 collectively display lower fertility and seed set in Arabidopsis. These lower fertility and seed set rates of fra2, lue1 and ktn1-2 mutants were correlated to abnormalities in the development of embryo proper and seed. Such phenotypes were rescued by transformation of mutants with functional pKTN1::GFP:KTN1 construct. This study significantly expands the already broad functional repertoire of KATANIN 1 and unravels its new role in embryo and seed development. Thus, KATANIN 1 significantly contributes to the fertility and proper embryo and seed formation in Arabidopsis.
Death by hanging in Western Australia

&NA; We present a review of the circumstances and medical findings of 280 fatalities due to hanging in Western Australia (WA) during the 5 yr period 1988–1992. Two hundred and forty one (241) of the cases were examined prospectively; the completed Coroner's files of a further 39 cases, from rural WA, were examined retrospectively. Most of the 280 deaths were in males (88%), and most were in the age range of 15–35 yrs (56%). Seven cases occurred in children aged 15 or less. There was one homicide, 14 cases thought to be accidental, and 261 suicides; in 4 cases the manner of death could not be determined. In one‐third of the cases there was a medical history of a psychiatric condition. The majority occurred in or around the decedent's home (71%). The most commonly used ligature was a rope (59%). Alcohol was the most commonly detected drug following post mortem analysis (30%). In WA then, there is one hanging death every 6.5 days, the majority being suicides, in men of young adult age, typically occurring in or around the home.
Phosphatase PP2C6 negatively regulates phosphorylation status of Pti1b kinase, a regulator of flagellin-triggered immunity in tomato

Plant immune responses, including the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), are triggered when pattern recognition receptors (PRR) become activated upon detection of microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs). Receptor-like cytoplasmic kinases are key components of PRR-dependent signaling pathways. In tomato two such kinases, Pti1a and Pti1b, are important positive regulators of the plant immune response. However, it is unknown how these kinases control plant immunity at the molecular level, and how their activity is regulated. To investigate these issues, we used mass spectrometry to search for interactors of Pti1b in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves and identified a protein phosphatase, PP2C6. An in vitro pull-down assay and in vivo split luciferase complementation assay verified this interaction. Pti1b was found to autophosphorylate on threonine-233 and this phosphorylation was abolished in the presence of PP2C6. An arginine-to-cysteine substitution at position 240 in the Arabidopsis MARIS kinase was previously reported to convert it into a constitutive-active form. The analogous substitution in Pti1b made it resistant to PP2C6 phosphatase activity, although it still interacted with PP2C6. Treatment of N. benthamiana leaves with the MAMP flg22 induced threonine phosphorylation of Pti1b. Expression of PP2C6, but not a phosphatase-inactive variant of this protein, in N. benthamiana leaves greatly reduced ROS production in response to treatment with MAMPs flg22 or csp22. The results indicate that PP2C6 acts as a negative regulator by dephosphorylating the Pti1b kinase, thereby interfering with its ability to activate plant immune responses.
Investigation of Infrared Photo-Detection Through Subgap Density-of-States in a-InGaZnO Thin-Film Transistors

Amorphous InGaZnO (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) are investigated for a possible application to infrared (IR) photodetector through subgap density-of-states over the forbidden bandgap. The origin of the sub-bandgap(<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${h}\nu < {E} _{g})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> photo-response in a-IGZO TFTs is due to optically pumped electrons from the photo-responsive subgap states (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${E} _{C}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${E} _{\textit {ph}}{<}{E}_{t}{<}{E}_{F})$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Among the sub-bandgap lights, we investigate the reproducible IR photo-response in a-IGZO TFTs as a photodetector without the persistent photoconductivity (PPC) effect. In this letter, we characterize the IR photo-response mechanism through various optical and electrical measurements on the wavelength, optical power, bias-modulated quasi-Fermi level, and photo-responsive states. This result is expected to provide independent and/or integrated IR detector with transparent substrate combined with a-IGZO TFTs.
Auditory Rehabilitation Effects on Speech Lateralization in Hearing-impaired Listeners

Objective—Previous studies reported that the consequences of auditory rehabilitation were lateralized, with the right ear (RE) showing more improvement than the left ear (LE) over the time course of hearing aid (HA) use in elderly patients with symmetrical presbyacusis. It has been suggested that this asymmetry is linked to a change in speech lateralization. The aim of this study was to explore the consequences of HA use on interaural asymmetry in symmetrical sensorineural hearing impairment patients before and 4 months after binaural HA fitting. Material and Methods—Two types of perceptual task were chosen in order to measure speech lateralization: two dichotic listening tasks; and an identification task for a voice onset time continuum. Seven elderly, right-handed patients suffering from symmetrical presbyacusis were selected and tested before HA fitting and 4 months after. All measurements were made without the use of the HA, and the listeners were all first-time HA wearers. Results—Dichotic listening scores for words improved significantly over the course of HA use. Moreover, the dichotic listening task for syllables revealed an increase in auditory asymmetry after 4 months of HA use. Concerning the identification task, a significant difference between ears was found, with only the RE showing significant improvement with HA use. Conclusion—These results suggest that auditory rehabilitation is lateralized, with greater change as a result of HA use occurring in the RE than the LE in right-handed patients.
Case Definitions of Clinical Malaria in Children from Three Health Districts in the North Region of Cameroon

Malaria endemicity in Cameroon greatly varies according to ecological environment. In such conditions, parasitaemia, which is associated with fever, may not always suffice to define an episode of clinical malaria. The evaluation of malaria control intervention strategies mostly consists of identifying cases of clinical malaria and is crucial to promote better diagnosis for accurate measurement of the impact of the intervention. We sought out to define and quantify clinical malaria cases in children from three health districts in the Northern region of Cameroon. A cohort study of 6,195 children aged between 6 and 120 months was carried out during the raining season (July to October) between 2013 and 2014. Differential diagnosis of clinical malaria was performed using the parasite density and axillary temperature. At recruitment, patients with malaria-related symptoms (fever [axillary temperature ≥ 37.5°C], chills, severe malaise, headache, or vomiting) and a malaria positive blood smear were classified under clinical malaria group. The malaria attributable fraction was calculated using logistic regression models. Plasmodium falciparum was responsible for over 91% of infections. Children from Pitoa health district had the highest number of asymptomatic infections (45.60%) compared to those from Garoua and Mayo Oulo. The most suitable cut-off for the association between parasite densities and fever was found among children less than 24 months. Overall, parasite densities that ranged above 3,200 parasites per μl of blood could be used to define the malaria attributable fever cases. In groups of children aged between 24 and 59 months and 60 and 94 months, the optimum cut-off parasite density was 6,400 parasites per μl of blood, while children aged between 95 and 120 months had a cut-off of 800 parasites per μl of blood. In the same ecoepidemiological zone, clinical malaria case definitions are influenced by age and location (health district) and this could be considered when evaluating malaria intervention strategies in endemic areas.
Relationship between aortic stiffness and cardiovascular risk factors in a population of normotensives, white-coat normotensives, white-coat hypertensives, sustained hypertensives and diabetic patients.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relationship between carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) and office and ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) and other cardiovascular risk factors and to determine the discriminatory value of PWV in a large population including normotensive subjects (NT), white-coat normotensives (masked hypertension) (WCNT), and white-coat hypertensives (WCHT) compared to a group of treated and untreated hypertensive patients. METHODS The study population included a total of 688 subjects aged from 18 to 80 years, with no previous cardiovascular events, who underwent 24 h ABP monitoring, biochemical evaluation and determination of PWV and left ventricular mass index (LVMI). Subjects were classified as true normotensives (NT, n=132; normal office and ABP values), WCNT (n=39; office BP < 140/90 and daytime BP > or =135 or > or =85 mmHg), WCHT (n=87; office BP > or =140 or > or =90 and daytime BP < 135/85 mmHg). Untreated (UT-HT, n=154) and treated (T-HT, n=171) hypertensive patients and type 2 diabetic patients (DM, n=102) were also studied. RESULTS Values of PWV (m/s) in all groups were, in ascending order: NT (8.9 +/- 0.2) < WCHT (9.9 +/- 0.2) < T-HT (11.4 +/- 0.2) = WCNT (11.5 +/- 0.4) < UT-HT (11.9 +/- 0.3) < DM (12.6 +/- 0.4) (ANOVA, p = 0.043), and of LVMI (g/m2): NT (59 +/- 2) = WCHT (63 +/- 2) < WCNT (73 +/- 3) = T-HT (75 +/- 3) = UT-HT (77 +/- 3) < DM (84 +/- 4) (ANOVA, p < 0.05). The percentage of subjects with PWV values below the median (10.7 m/s) was higher (p < 0.02) in NT (81.8%) and WCHT (72.6%) than in UT-HT (49.2%), T-HT (43.6%), WCNT (47.6%) and DM (27.7%). In multiple regression analysis, taking PWV as the dependent variable, age (all groups), 24h systolic BP (UT-HT, T-HT, WCNT and DM) and 24h diastolic BP (NT and WCHT) were the variables that independently influenced the PWV value. CONCLUSIONS Higher values of PWV occur in clinical situations associated with higher cardiovascular risk. This is in agreement with risk stratification based on ABP values but not on office BP values. Lower PWV and LVMI values occur in NT and WCHT subjects, supporting a low cardiovascular risk in these groups. By contrast, higher PWV values were associated with higher ABP values in DM, hypertensive patients and white-coat normotensives, i.e. clinical situations that are associated with higher cardiovascular risk, who in the present study also exhibited higher LVMI than subjects with normal ABP values.
Assembly of a Complex Containing Cdc45p, Replication Protein A, and Mcm2p at Replication Origins Controlled by S-Phase Cyclin-Dependent Kinases and Cdc7p-Dbf4p Kinase

ABSTRACT In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, replication origins are activated with characteristic timing during S phase. S-phase cyclin-dependent kinases (S-CDKs) and Cdc7p-Dbf4p kinase are required for origin activation throughout S phase. The activation of S-CDKs leads to association of Cdc45p with chromatin, raising the possibility that Cdc45p defines the assembly of a new complex at each origin. Here we show that both Cdc45p and replication protein A (RPA) bind to Mcm2p at the G1-S transition in an S-CDK-dependent manner. During S phase, Cdc45p associates with different replication origins at specific times. The origin associations of Cdc45p and RPA are mutually dependent, and both S-CDKs and Cdc7p-Dbf4p are required for efficient binding of Cdc45p to origins. These findings suggest that S-CDKs and Cdc7p-Dbf4p promote loading of Cdc45p and RPA onto a preformed prereplication complex at each origin with preprogrammed timing. TheARS1 association of Mcm2p, but not that of the origin recognition complex, is diminished by disruption of the B2 element ofARS1, a potential origin DNA-unwinding element. Cdc45p is required for recruiting DNA polymerase α onto chromatin, and it associates with Mcm2p, RPA, and DNA polymerase ɛ only during S phase. These results suggest that the complex containing Cdc45p, RPA, and MCMs is involved in origin unwinding and assembly of replication forks at each origin.
The Complexity of Causality and Responsibility for Query Answers and non-Answers

An answer to a query has a well-defined lineage expression (alternatively called how-provenance) that explains how the answer was derived. Recent work has also shown how to compute the lineage of a non-answer to a query. However, the cause of an answer or non-answer is a more subtle notion and consists, in general, of only a fragment of the lineage. In this paper, we adapt Halpern, Pearl, and Chockler's recent definitions of causality and responsibility to define the causes of answers and non-answers to queries, and their degree of responsibility. Responsibility captures the notion of degree of causality and serves to rank potentially many causes by their relative contributions to the effect. Then, we study the complexity of computing causes and responsibilities for conjunctive queries. It is known that computing causes is NP-complete in general. Our first main result shows that all causes to conjunctive queries can be computed by a relational query which may involve negation. Thus, causality can be computed in PTIME, and very efficiently so. Next, we study computing responsibility. Here, we prove that the complexity depends on the conjunctive query and demonstrate a dichotomy between PTIME and NP-complete cases. For the PTIME cases, we give a non-trivial algorithm, consisting of a reduction to the max-flow computation problem. Finally, we prove that, even when it is in PTIME, responsibility is complete for LOGSPACE, implying that, unlike causality, it cannot be computed by a relational query.