Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Semantics-aware Content-based Recommender Systems

Content-based recommender systems (CBRS) filter very large repositories of items (books, news, music tracks, TV assets, web pages? ) by analyzing items previously rated by a user and building a model of user interests, called user profile, based on the features of the items rated by that user. The user profile is then exploited to recommend new potentially relevant items. CBRS usually use textual features to represent items and user profiles, hence they inherit the classical problems of natural language ambiguity. The ever increasing interest in semantic technologies and the availability of several open knowledge sources have fueled recent progress in the field of CBRS. Novel research works have introduced semantic techniques that shift a keywordbased representation of items and user profiles to a concept-based one. In this talk I will focus on the main problems of CBRS, such as limited content analysis, and overspecialization, showing the current research directions for overcoming them, including • top-down semantic approaches, based on the use of different open knowledge sources (ontologies, Wikipedia, DBpedia) • bottom-up semantic approaches, based on the distributional hypothesis, which states that "words that occur in the same contexts tend to have similar meanings" • cross-language recommender systems and algorithms for learning multilingual content-based profiles • the generation of serendipitous recommendations Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. CBRecSys 2014, October 6, 2014, Silicon Valley, CA, USA. Copyright 2014 by the author(s). 1 Copyright 2014 for the individual papers by the paper’s authors. Copying permitted for private and academic purposes. This volume is published and copyrighted by its editors. BRecSys , October 6, 2014, Silicon Valley, CA, USA.
Postural control mechanisms during quiet standing in patients with diabetic sensory neuropathy.

OBJECTIVE The objective of the present study was to compare postural mechanisms identified by using dual force platform in healthy elderly community-dwelling subjects and diabetic sensory neuropathy (DSN) patients under different visual conditions. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The presence and the severity of the sensory neuropathy was evaluated with a clinical scale. Postural mechanisms and motor strategies of the ankle and hip joints were quantified by testing subjects in quiet stance on a dual force platform under two visual conditions (eyes open and eyes closed). Root mean square (RMS) values of the center of pressure (COP) time-varying signals and normalized cross-correlation function were used to estimate the contribution and the interdependence of postural control mechanisms. RESULTS DSN patients show larger RMS values of the COP(net) displacement in both anteroposterior and mediolateral (ML) directions. Motor strategies at the ankle joints are altered in DSN patients compared with healthy elderly subjects particularly in the ML direction. CONCLUSIONS This experiment is the first to highlight that even with vision, postural mechanisms at the ankle joints are impaired in DSN patients during quiet standing. Our results point out the importance of focusing on postural control instability in ML of DSN patients.
Establishment of a Southern Breast Cancer Cohort

Abstract: Breast cancer continues to be among the most common cancers affecting women in the United States. Researchers investigating the area are turning their attention to novel prevention, detection, and treatment options. Recent molecular epidemiology research has highlighted the effects of both genetic and environmental exposures on an individual’s risk of developing breast cancer and predicted response to treatment. Cohort designs are a potentially powerful tool that researchers can utilize to investigate the genetic and environmental factors affecting breast cancer risk and treatment options. This paper describes the recruitment of a community‐based cohort of women in a southern state. The Spit for the Cure Cohort (SFCC), being developed by researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (Little Rock, AR), is designed to be representative of the female population of the state with oversampling of women with a history of breast cancer and women of color. To date, the SFCC includes more than 14,000 women recruited from all 75 counties of Arkansas and six neighboring states. Methods used to recruit and maintain the cohort and collect both questionnaire data and genetic material are described, as are the demographic characteristics of the cohort as it currently exists. The recruitment methods utilized for the SFCC are rapidly building a breast cancer cohort and providing a large biorepository for molecular epidemiology research.
Angiotensinergic Regulation of Autonomic and Neuroendocrine Outputs: Critical Roles for the Subfornical Organ and Paraventricular Nucleus

Considerable recent work has focused on identifying the mechanisms through which circulating angiotensin II acts in the central nervous system (CNS) to control a variety of different autonomic and neuroendocrine effectors. The following review will focus on work identifying the subfornical organ (SFO), and its efferent projections to the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), as a critical component of the CNS circuitry activated by circulating angiotensin II. It will also summarize the current knowledge describing cellular mechanisms through which this peptide controls the excitability of both SFO and PVN neurons.
Causes of blindness and partial sight in the Bradford Metropolitan District from 1980 to 1985

A retrospective review of the BD8 forms submitted for the period 1980–85 in the Bradford Metropolitan District was conducted to ascertain the incidence and causes of blindness and partial sight. A total of 1485 cases were registered in this period of which 755 (50%) were included in the Blind register and 730 (49.2%) in the Partially Sighted register. Age‐related macular degeneration was the most important cause of visual handicap, accounting for 43.9% of all registrations, followed by glaucoma (16.2%), diabetic retinopathy (6.3%), myopic degeneration (6.1%), optic atrophy (4.4%), cerebrovascular disease (3.8%), cataracts (3.6%), retinal vascular occlusive disease (3.2%), corneal opacities (3.0%), congenital anomalies (2.7%), retinitis pigmentosa/tapeto‐retinal degeneration (1.9%), retinal detachment (1.8%) and others (3.1 %). The ratio of female to male registrations was 1.8:1. Eighty‐four per cent of this sample population was above the age of 60 years at the time of registration.
Applied Mathematical Theory for Monetary-Fiscal Interaction in a Supranational Monetary Union

I utilize a differentiable dynamical system a la Lotka-Voletrra and explain monetary and fiscal interaction in a supranational monetary union. The paper demonstrates an applied mathematical approach that provides useful insights about the interaction mechanisms in theoretical economics in general and a monetary union in particular. I find that a common central bank is necessary but not sufficient to tackle the new interaction problems in a supranational monetary union, such as the free-riding behaviour of fiscal policies. Moreover, I show that supranational institutions, rules or laws are essential to mitigate violations of decentralized fiscal policies.
Role of heme oxygenase‐1 in transplantation

Heme oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1) is the rate‐limiting enzyme in heme catabolism that converts heme to Fe++, carbon monoxide and biliverdin. HO‐1 acts anti‐inflammatory and modulates apoptosis in many pathological conditions. In transplantation, HO‐1 is overexpressed in organs during brain death, when undergoing ischemic damage and rejection. However, intentionally induced, it ameliorates pathological processes like ischemia reperfusion injury, allograft, xenograft or islet rejection, facilitates donor specific tolerance and alleviates chronic allograft changes. We herein consistently summarize the huge amount of data on HO‐1 and transplantation that have been generated in multiple laboratories during the last 15 years and suggest possible clinical implications and applications for the near future.
Time Irreversibility and Business Cycle Asymmetry

The problem of business-cycle symmetry is addressed within the context of time reversibility. To this effect, the authors introduce a time domain test of time reversibility, the TR test. In an application, they show that time irreversibility is the rule rather than the exception for two well-known representative macroeconomic data sets. This shows that many components of the business cycle have asymmetric fluctuations. The characterization of asymmetry provided by the TR test shows that many series exhibit steepness asymmetry. A few series appear to be either deep or sharp. Copyright 1996 by Ohio State University Press.
Clinical differences between idiopathic and scleroderma-related pulmonary hypertension.

OBJECTIVE Pulmonary arterial hypertension related to scleroderma (PAH-Scl) is associated with high morbidity and mortality as well as poorer response to therapy and worse outcomes compared with the idiopathic form of PAH (IPAH). Scleroderma is an autoimmune disease that can affect left and right heart function directly through inflammation and fibrosis and indirectly through systemic and pulmonary hypertension. This study tested the hypothesis that an increased prevalence of left heart disease might explain the higher mortality in patients with PAH-Scl compared with patients with IPAH. METHODS The study was designed as a retrospective cohort study comparing the baseline clinical data from 91 consecutive patients (41 with IPAH and 50 with PAH-Scl). Cox proportional hazards models were used to predict the effect of clinical covariates on patient survival. RESULTS Patients with PAH-Scl had a lower mean pulmonary artery pressure (46.6 mm Hg versus 54.4 mm Hg in patients with IPAH; P = 0.002) despite similar levels of cardiac dysfunction (cardiac index 2.2 and 2.1 liters/minute/m(2), respectively; P = 0.19). Echocardiography revealed similar degrees of right ventricular dysfunction in the 2 groups, whereas a predominance of left heart dysfunction was observed in patients with PAH-Scl. One- and three-year survival estimates were 87.8% and 48.9%, respectively, in patients with PAH-Scl and 95.1% and 83.6%, respectively, in those with IPAH. Patients with PAH-Scl were 3.06 times more likely to die than were patients with IPAH, after controlling for the presence of pericardial effusion; there was no significant change in increased risk of death in PAH-Scl after controlling for left heart disease. CONCLUSION The results confirm that there are significant clinical and survival differences between IPAH and PAH-Scl. The presence of left heart disease, although more common in PAH-Scl, was not predictive of the higher mortality in these patients.
Extracellular RNAs: A Secret Arm of Immune System Regulation*

The immune system has evolved to protect multicellular organisms from the attack of a variety of pathogens. To exert this function efficiently, the system has developed the capacity to coordinate the function of different cell types and the ability to down-modulate the response when the foreign attack is over. For decades, immunologists believed that these two characteristics were primarily related to cytokine/chemokine-based communication and cell-to-cell direct contact. More recently, it has been shown that immune cells also communicate by transferring regulatory RNAs, microRNAs in particular, from one cell to the other. Several studies have suggested a functional role of extracellular regulatory RNAs in cell-to-cell communication in different cellular contexts. This minireview focuses on the potential role of extracellular RNA transfer in the regulation of adaptive immune response, also contextualizing it in a broader field of what is known of cell-free RNAs in communication among different organisms in the evolutionary scale.
Diffuse scattering in Ih ice

Single crystals of ice Ih, extracted from the subglacial Lake Vostok accretion ice layer (3621 m depth) were investigated by means of diffuse x-ray scattering and inelastic x-ray scattering. The diffuse scattering was identified as mainly inelastic and rationalized in the frame of ab initio calculations for the ordered ice XI approximant. Together with Monte-Carlo modelling, our data allowed reconsidering previously available neutron diffuse scattering data of heavy ice as the sum of thermal diffuse scattering and static disorder contribution.
Interleukin-4 Reversibly Inhibits Osteoclastogenesis via Inhibition of NF-κB and Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Signaling*

To define the molecular mechanism(s) by which interleukin (IL)-4 reversibly inhibits formation of osteoclasts (OCs) from bone marrow macrophages (BMMs), we examined the capacity of this T cell-derived cytokine to impact signals known to modulate osteoclastogenesis, which include those initiated by macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF), receptor for activation of NF-κB ligand (RANKL), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and IL-1. We find that although pretreatment of BMMs with IL-4 does not alter M-CSF signaling, it reversibly blocks RANKL-dependent activation of the NF-κB, JNK, p38, and ERK signals. IL-4 also selectively inhibits TNF signaling, while enhancing that of IL-1. Contrary to previous reports, we find that MEK inhibitors dose-dependently inhibit OC differentiation. To identify more proximal signals mediating inhibition of OC formation by IL-4, we used mice lacking STAT6 or SHIP1, two adapter proteins that bind the IL-4 receptor. IL-4 fails to inhibit RANKL/M-CSF-induced osteoclastogenesis by BMMs derived from STAT6-, but not SHIP1-, knockout mice. Consistent with this observation, the inhibitory effects of IL-4 on RANKL-induced NF-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase activation are STAT6-dependent. We conclude that IL-4 reversibly arrests osteoclastogenesis in a STAT6-dependent manner by 1) preventing IκB phosphorylation and thus NF-κB activation, and 2) blockade of the JNK, p38, and ERK mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways.
Passing for White, Passing for Black

It was the new graduate student reception for my class, the first social event of my first semester in the best graduate department in my field in the country. I was full of myself, as we all were, full of pride at having made the final cut, full of arrogance at our newly recorded membership among the privileged few, the intellectual elite-this country's real aristocracy, my parents told me-full of confidence in our intellectual ability to prevail, to fashion original and powerful views about some topic we represented to ourselves only vaguely. I was a bit late and noticed that many turned to look at-no, scrutinize-me as I entered the room. I congratulated myself on having selected for wear my black velvet, bellbottom pants suit (yes, it was that long ago) with the cream silk blouse and crimson vest. One of the secretaries who'd
Preliminary results using free-space optical link at 1550 nm within mid-latitude urban area

The activity devoted to the deployment of a new free space optics (FSO) link set up in Rome (Italy) is illustrated together with a preliminary FSO channel modelling and coupled optical/meteorological measurements. The two-way optical link at 1550 nm is about 1 km long and has a transmission rate up 1.5 Gbps. Among dust, precipitation, turbulence, fog, and any flying objects affecting the capacity of the optical channel, a focus is placed on water particle effects (fog and rain). A semi-empirical model evaluation of these atmospheric effects is illustrated.
The Tobacco BLADE-ON-PETIOLE2 Gene Mediates Differentiation of the Corolla Abscission Zone by Controlling Longitudinal Cell Expansion1[C][W]

The BLADE-ON-PETIOLE (BOP) genes of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) have been shown to play an essential role in floral abscission by specializing the abscission zone (AZ) anatomy. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie differentiation of the AZ are largely unknown. In this study, we identified a tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) homolog of BOP (designated NtBOP2) and characterized its cellular function. In tobacco plants, the NtBOP2 gene is predominantly expressed at the base of the corolla in an ethylene-independent manner. Both antisense suppression of NtBOP genes and overexpression of NtBOP2 in tobacco plants caused a failure in corolla shedding. Histological analysis revealed that the differentiation of the corolla AZ was blocked in the transgenic flowers. This blockage was due to uncontrolled cell elongation at the region corresponding to wild-type AZ. The role of NtBOP2 in regulating cell elongation was further demonstrated in Bright Yellow 2 single cells: perturbation of NtBOP2 function by a dominant negative strategy led to the formation of abnormally elongated cells. Subcellular localization analysis showed that NtBOP2-green fluorescent protein fusion proteins were targeted to both the nucleus and cytoplasm. Yeast two-hybrid, firefly luciferase complementation imaging, and in vitro pull-down assays demonstrated that NtBOP2 proteins interacted with TGA transcription factors. Taken together, these results indicated that NtBOP2 mediated the differentiation of AZ architecture by controlling longitudinal cell growth. Furthermore, NtBOP2 may achieve this outcome through interaction with the TGA transcription factors and via an ethylene-independent signaling pathway.
The Determination of Selling Prices

THERE seems to be little doubt that 'cost-plus' pricing is fairly widely used in British industry. About 8o per cent of the firms in the survey by Hall and Hitch [i] claimed to use it some or all of the time. In a survey recently carried out by me on Merseyside, 70 per cent of the respondents claimed to use it for some or all of their products or services. ' The prevalence of the method, however, is not at all easy to understand. This is quite apart from difficulties over profit maximization or marginal-cost pricing; probably few people nowadays would put forward these principles as realistic generalizations about the behaviour of firms, however useful they may (or may not) be in macro-economics or welfare economics. It is not proposed to define cost-plus pricing at this stage; indeed, one of the main objects of the investigation reported here was to ascertain just what it does mean. As normally understood, cost-plus pricing has three obvious defects:
Nature of the R&D/Marketing co-operation in the design of technologically advanced new industrial products

Many studies have consistently reported that success in industrial new product innovation is linked with the degree of interfacing between R&D and Marketing in the early stages of the product development process. However, very little evidence of such an interface has been reported in advanced technology firms and the relevant literature provides little empirical material on the matter. Based on a pilot study of 23 new product projects in ten firms in the U.K. it is argued that, in many instances, firms are missing a fundamental issue in the R&D/Marketing cooperation. Too often, the interface is limited to the identification of general market need for a particular new product idea. The paper emphasises the fact that the interface should provide the means for an efficient product design procedure between R&D and Marketing. This design link should, in turn, profit both the engineering design of the product and its future marketability. The paper also outlines the advantages and the problems inherent in the exercise and proposes a framework for implementation.
Structural and Vector Autoregressive Approaches to Modelling Real Estateand Property Stock Prices in Singapore

Although studies have been conducted in the USA to test if property‐related investment vehicles are an alternative for direct real estate investment, there has been little research in Singapore. Tests the existence of a relationship between property stocks and real estate prices. Postulates a theoretical construct to analyse property stock and real estate prices, and reports on methodology and findings before drawing implications.
The Civic Web: Young People, the Internet, and Civic Participation

There has been widespread concern in contemporary Western societies about declining engagement in civic life; people are less inclined to vote, to join political parties, to campaign for social causes, or to trust political processes. Young people in particular are frequently described as alienated or apathetic. Some have looked optimistically to new media -- and particularly the Internet -- as a means of revitalizing civic life and democracy. Governments, political parties, charities, NGOs, activists, religious and ethnic groups, and grassroots organizations have created a range of youth-oriented websites that encourage widely divergent forms of civic engagement and use varying degrees of interactivity. But are young people really apathetic and lacking in motivation? Does the Internet have the power to re-engage those disenchanted with politics and civic life? Based on a major research project funded by the European Commission, this book attempts to understand the role of the Internet in promoting young people's participation. Examples are drawn from Hungary, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Kingdom -- countries offering contrasting political systems and cultural contexts. The book also addresses broader questions about the meaning of civic engagement, the nature of new forms of participation, and their implications for the future of civic life.
Soft Magnetic Material Status and Trends in Electric Machines

This paper gives an overview on the history and trends of magnetic materials used in electrical machines and motors. The presented materials include silicon–iron, nickel–iron, and cobalt–iron lamination steels, as well as amorphous and nanocrystalline magnetic materials and soft magnetic composites. Development trends and current usage of these selected materials are presented, giving an outlook on the new magnetic material research with regard to electrical machine applications.
Modeling Reveals That Dynamic Regulation of c-FLIP Levels Determines Cell-to-Cell Distribution of CD95-mediated Apoptosis*

The expression levels of caspase-8 inhibitory c-FLIP proteins play an important role in regulating death receptor-mediated apoptosis, as their concentration at the moment when the death-inducing signaling complex (DISC) is formed determines the outcome of the DISC signal. Experimental studies have shown that c-FLIP proteins are subject to dynamic turnover and that their stability and expression levels can be rapidly altered. Even though the influence of c-FLIP on the apoptotic behavior of a single cell has been captured in mathematical simulation studies, the effect of c-FLIP turnover and stability has not been investigated. In this study, a mathematical model of apoptosis was developed to analyze how the dynamic turnover and stability of the c-FLIP isoforms regulate apoptotic signaling for both individual cells and cell populations. Intercellular parameter and concentration distributions were used to describe the behavior of cell populations. Monte-Carlo simulations of cell populations showed that c-FLIP turnover is a key determinant of death receptor responses. The fact that the developed model simulates the state of whole cell populations makes it possible to validate it by comparison with empirical data. The proposed modeling approach can be used to further determine limiting factors in the DISC signaling process.