Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Rhetoric of Interpretation

Contemporary thought about the nature of interpretation, especially in the human and social sciences, tends to stress the ways it differs from simple description, on the one hand, and from explanation on the other. This is not to suggest that interpretation, description and explanation are in any way mutually exclusive operations; indeed, we could well characterize description and explanation as different kinds of interpretation or, conversely, regard interpretation itself as a kind of explanation which features description over formal argument or demonstration as its modus operandi. But if we do wish to stress the differences between interpretation on the one side and both description and explanation on the other, we would have to insist on the propaedeutic and heuristic aspects, the pre-classificatory and preexplanatory functions of interpretation. We might wish to say that interpretation is what we do when we are uncertain how properly to describe some object or situation in which we have an interest and unsure about which of several available analytical methods should be used to explain it. As thus envisaged, interpretation is a product of thought in the preliminary stage of grasping an object by consciousness, thought in the effort of deciding, not only how to describe and explain such an object, but whether it can be adequately described or explained at all. Because interpretation typically entertains different ways of describing and explaining some object or situation deemed worthy of the
A Novel Method for Generating Scale Space Kernels Based on Wavelet Theory

The linear scale-space kernel is a Gaussian or Poisson function. These functions were chosen based on several axioms. This representation creates a good base for visualization when there is no information (in advanced) about which scales are more important. These kernels have some deficiencies, as an example, its support region goes from minus to plus infinite. In order to solve these issues several others scale-space kernels have been proposed. In this paper we present a novel method to create scale-space kernels from one-dimensional wavelet functions. In order to do so, we show the scale-space and wavelet fundamental equations and then the relationship between them. We also describe three different methods to generate two-dimensional functions from one-dimensional functions. Then we show results got from scale-space blob detector using the original and two new scale-space bases (Haar and Bi-ortogonal 4.4), and a comparison between the edges detected using the Gaussian kernel and Haar kernel for a noisy image. Finally we show a comparison between the scale space Haar edge detector and the Canny edge detector for an image with one known square in it, for that case we show the Mean Square Error (MSE) of the edges detected with both algorithms.
Interactive Facial Expression Reader and Extension to First Impression Improver

Facial expression plays an important role as non-verbal information in dialogue communication. People complement verbal information with non-verbal information to hold a smooth conversation. To date, collaboration between information engineering and psychology has enabled development of human facial expression recognition technology. Most of the related studies, however, have ended up with a laboratory-based demonstration. In this paper, focusing on the facial expression database, we overview the facial expression recognition technology. Then we present a simple application using the current status of the facial expression recognition technology. Finally we show prospect of the technology with a more realistic application.
The Incidence of Civil War: Theory and Evidence

This paper studies the incidence of civil war over time. We put forward a canonical model of civil war, which relates the incidence of conflict to circumstances, institutions and features of the underlying economy and polity. We use this model to derive testable predictions and to interpret the cross-sectional and times-series variations in civil conflict. Our most novel emprical finding is that higher world market prices of exported, as well as imported, commodities are strong and significant predictors of higher within-country incidence of civil war.
Comparison of Tuberculin Skin Testing Reactivity in Opioid-Dependent Patients Seeking Treatment with Methadone versus Buprenorphine: Policy Implications for Tuberculosis Screening

Background: Buprenorphine's availability in primary care settings offers increased access to treatment and linkage to primary care for opioid-dependent patients. Currently, tuberculin skin testing (TST) is recommended for patients enrolling in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT), but not for those enrolling in buprenorphine maintenance treatment (BMT). Objectives: To compare TST screening results in enrollees in BMT and MMT programs and assess the correlates of TST positivity among these subjects. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of a retrospective cohort study was conducted to compare concurrent TST results among contemporaneously matched groups of MMT and BMT patients in the same community. Results: TST positivity was ∼9% in both MMT and BMT settings (p = .27). Increased TST positivity was associated with being Black (AOR = 3.53, CI = 1.28–9.77), Hispanic (AOR = 3.11, CI = 1.12–8.60), and having higher education (AOR = 3.01, CI = 1.20–7.53). Conclusions: These results confirm a similar high prevalence of TST positivity in opioid-dependent patients enrolling in MMT and BMT programs. Racial and ethnic health disparities remain associated with TST positivity, yet a relationship between higher education and tuberculosis requires further investigation. Scientific significance: These data suggest the importance of incorporating TST screening in emerging BMT programs as a mechanism to provide increased detection and treatment of tuberculosis infection in opioid-dependent patient populations.
Prediction models for cardiovascular disease risk in the general population: systematic review

Objective To provide an overview of prediction models for risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the general population. Design Systematic review. Data sources Medline and Embase until June 2013. Eligibility criteria for study selection Studies describing the development or external validation of a multivariable model for predicting CVD risk in the general population. Results 9965 references were screened, of which 212 articles were included in the review, describing the development of 363 prediction models and 473 external validations. Most models were developed in Europe (n=167, 46%), predicted risk of fatal or non-fatal coronary heart disease (n=118, 33%) over a 10 year period (n=209, 58%). The most common predictors were smoking (n=325, 90%) and age (n=321, 88%), and most models were sex specific (n=250, 69%). Substantial heterogeneity in predictor and outcome definitions was observed between models, and important clinical and methodological information were often missing. The prediction horizon was not specified for 49 models (13%), and for 92 (25%) crucial information was missing to enable the model to be used for individual risk prediction. Only 132 developed models (36%) were externally validated and only 70 (19%) by independent investigators. Model performance was heterogeneous and measures such as discrimination and calibration were reported for only 65% and 58% of the external validations, respectively. Conclusions There is an excess of models predicting incident CVD in the general population. The usefulness of most of the models remains unclear owing to methodological shortcomings, incomplete presentation, and lack of external validation and model impact studies. Rather than developing yet another similar CVD risk prediction model, in this era of large datasets, future research should focus on externally validating and comparing head-to-head promising CVD risk models that already exist, on tailoring or even combining these models to local settings, and investigating whether these models can be extended by addition of new predictors.
Binary Separation on Heterogeneous Image

Earlier techniques are either based on boundary features [Kass et al., 1988] or manual sketches [Boykov and Lea, 2006]. In this project, we propose a new approach to partition “foreground” and “background” making use of distance data of real objects in the image. To be specific, when an image is taken by camera, there exists a one-to-one mapping from pixels in the image to real objects. For each image to be processed, we have additional data telling the distances between the camera and the real objects corresponding to some pixels in the image.
The Scandinavian Sarcoma Group Central Register: 6,000 patients after 25 years of monitoring of referral and treatment of extremity and trunk wall soft-tissue sarcoma

Purpose — We wanted to examine the potential of the Scandinavian Sarcoma Group (SSG) Central Register, and evaluate referral and treatment practice for soft-tissue sarcomas in the extremities and trunk wall (STS) in the Nordic countries. Background — Based on incidence rates from the literature, 8,150 (7,000–9,300) cases of STS of the extremity and trunk wall should have been diagnosed in Norway, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden from 1987 through 2011. The SSG Register has 6,027 cases registered from this period, with 5,837 having complete registration of key variables. 10 centers have been reporting to the Register. The 5 centers that consistently report treat approximately 90% of the cases in their respective regions. The remaining centers have reported all the patients who were treated during certain time periods, but not for the entire 25-year period. Results — 59% of patients were referred to a sarcoma center untouched, i.e. before any attempt at open biopsy. There was an improvement from 52% during the first 5 years to 70% during the last 5 years. 50% had wide or better margins at surgery. Wide margins are now achieved less often than 20 years ago, in parallel with an increase in the use of radiotherapy. For the centers that consistently report, 97% of surviving patients are followed for more than 4 years. Metastasis-free survival (MFS) increased from 67% to 73% during the 25-year period. Interpretation — The Register is considered to be representative of extremity and trunk wall sarcoma disease in the population of Scandinavia, treated at the reporting centers. There were no clinically significant differences in treatment results at these centers.
Light Signaling in Bud Outgrowth and Branching in Plants

Branching determines the final shape of plants, which influences adaptation, survival and the visual quality of many species. It is an intricate process that includes bud outgrowth and shoot extension, and these in turn respond to environmental cues and light conditions. Light is a powerful environmental factor that impacts multiple processes throughout plant life. The molecular basis of the perception and transduction of the light signal within buds is poorly understood and undoubtedly requires to be further unravelled. This review is based on current knowledge on bud outgrowth-related mechanisms and light-mediated regulation of many physiological processes. It provides an extensive, though not exhaustive, overview of the findings related to this field. In parallel, it points to issues to be addressed in the near future.
PLASMA MEMBRANES OF MAMMALIAN CELLS

The plasma membrane surrounding living cells "plays a role in intracellular metabolism, but what distinguishes this structure from other organelles is that the plasma membrane also mediaces interactions between the cell and its external environment. The simplest of these interactions maintain a desirable intracellular milieu by bringing in needed substances and getting rid of waste products. The plasma membrane acts as a passive diffusion barrier to charged and large molecules, and in addition carries out facilitated diffusion, active transport, endocytosls (pinocytosis and phagocytosis), and exocytosis. Further, this membrane is involved in locomotion and chemotaxis, processes which could remove a cell from noxious surroundings or to a more nutritive medium. On a more complex level, cells must communicate with other cells; this is especially important in the formation and maintenance of multicellular organisms. The plasma membrane functions in the secretion and reception of hormones, conduction of nerve impulses, and direct cellular interactions such as adhesion and contact inhibition. Finally, on yet another level the plasma membrane riaay be involved in such sophisticated processes as immunological defense and information storage and retrieval. The "isolate-and-characterize" approach was first applied to plasma membranes around 1960. Unfortunately, our present state of knowledge in this field is not as great as might have been anticipated at that time. This slow progress is partially due to the considerable complexities inherent in working with membranes of any sort; but there are other factors as well. For example, many investigators have not been rigorous enough in their choice of plasma membrane markers and have not thoroughly analyzed their plasma membrane fractions for contamination by other subcellular particles; consequently, the true identity of many so-called plasma membrane preparations is uncertain. The vast majority of plasma membrane isolations have been preparative rather than analytical. Although the preparative approach is potentially a very valuable short-cut to an understanding of the entity being isolated, it can also lead to conclusions that are wrong unless really rigorous criteria are applied. Finally, most studies on plasma membranes are concerned simply with their chemical and enzymatic compositions; by isolating plasma membranes from the proper cell types, it should be possible to design experiments with more direct bearing on the functions of this organelle. Isolation of plasma membranes may conveniently be divided into five sequential steps--choice of the tissue to be used, selection of markers, disruption of the tissue, fractionation, and analysis. The following discussion combines some general comments about each of these steps with a review of the literature. The literature review extends through November 1971 and is limited to studies with mammalian cells. Of course, the information derived from mammalian cells should ultimately
Adjoint-based constrained control of Eulerian transportation networks: application to air traffic control

We use an Eulerian network model of the airspace to simulate air traffic in congested areas of airspace. The model relies on a set of coupled first order hyperbolic partial differential equations (PDEs), obtained from the original Lighthill-Whitham-Richards (LWR) traffic model. The Jameson-Schmidt-Turkel (JST) is selected among other numerical schemes to perform simulations, and evidence of numerical convergence is assessed against known analytical solutions. Linear numerical schemes are discarded because of their poor performance, thus prohibiting the use of linear optimization for controlling the network. Instead, the adjoint problem of the linearized network control problem is computed. The constraints of the problem are enforced using a logarithmic barrier method. Simulations are run with real air traffic data to demonstrate the applicability of the method for traffic management. Scenarios involving several airports between Chicago and the East Coast are investigated.
The olfactory system of migratory adult sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) is specifically and acutely sensitive to unique bile acids released by conspecific larvae

Larval sea lamprey inhabit freshwater streams and migrate to oceans or lakes to feed after a radical metamorphosis; subsequently, mature adults return to streams to spawn. Previous observations suggested that lamprey utilize the odor of conspecific larvae to select streams for spawning. Here we report biochemical and electrophysiological evidence that this odor is comprised of two unique bile acids released by larvae. High performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry demonstrated that larval sea lamprey produce and release two unique bile acids, allocholic acid (ACA) and petromyzonol sulfate (PS). Electro-olfactogram (EOG) recording also demonstrated that the olfactory system of migratory adult sea lamprey is acutely and specifically sensitive to ACA and PS; detection thresholds for these compounds were approximately 10(-12) M. ACA and PS were the most potent of 38 bile acids tested and cross-adaptation experiments suggested that adult sea lamprey have specific olfactory receptor sites associated with independent signal transduction pathways for these bile acids. These receptor sites specifically recognize the key substituents of ACA and PS such as a 5 alpha-hydrogen, three axial hydroxyls, and a C-24 sulfate ester or carboxyl. In conclusion, the unique lamprey bile acids, ACA and PS, are potent and specific stimulants of the adult olfactory system, strongly supporting the hypothesis that these unique bile acids function as migratory pheromones in lamprey.
Underwriter switching in the Japanese corporate bond market

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of firms switching the lead underwriter they use to underwrite their first and second public issues of corporate bonds in Japan between 1994 and 2002. A probit model which has as its dependent variable a 0-1 dummy variable taking the value one if the issuer switches lead underwriters, and zero otherwise, is used to analyze this problem. It is found that the probability of switch of underwriters between the first and second issues is significantly increased if the securities company subsidiary of a bank was the initial underwriter or the reputation of the underwriter of the initial underwriter worsens between the initial and the second issue. Evidence is also presented that suggests underwriters who can increase the degree of overpricing of the initial issue are more likely to be chosen to act as the underwriter of the second issue. Despite the theoretical suggestions that underwriting involves investment in durable firm-specific assets which might lead to initial issuers having an inside edge in being chosen to underwriter the second evidence, there is some weak evidence to suggest that switching of underwriters occurs when second issues are made relatively quickly after the first issue.
Expression of tenascin‐C in various human brain tumors and its relevance for survival in patients with astrocytoma

Tenascin‐C (TN‐C), a large extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoprotein with a molecular weight of 180–250 kilodaltons, is present in several normal adult tissues. TN‐C is up‐regulated during embryogenesis, in wound healing, and in tumor tissues. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most frequent and malignant astrocytic tumor comprised of poorly differentiated, neoplastic astrocytes. Recently, TN‐C‐based radioimmunotherapy was administered to patients with GBM.
Identifying stable breast cancer subgroups using semi-supervised fuzzy c-means on a reduced panel of biomarkers

The aim of this work is to identify clinically-useful and stable breast cancer subgroups using a reduced panel of biomarkers. First, we investigate the stability of subgroups generated using two different reduced panels of biomarkers on clustering of breast cancer data. The stability of the subgroups found are assessed based on comparison of agreement levels using Cohen's Kappa Index on clustering solutions from ssFCM methodologies, consensus K-means and model-based clustering. The clustering solutions obtained from the feature set which achieve the higher agreement is chosen for further biological and clinical evaluation to establish the subgroups are clinically-useful. Using a ssFCM methodology, we identified seven clinically-useful and stable breast cancer subgroups using a reduced panel by Soria et al. So far, the stability of the subgroups identified using the reduced panel of biomarkers have not yet been investigated.
Mobile Internet Adoption by Spanish Consumers

The chapter aims to present an in-depth study of the factors influencing Mobile Internet adoption. The authors analyse the influence of Internet use experience, compatibility, perceived financial risk, credibility and attitude towards Mobile Internet in the M-Internet adoption decision. After identifying the key drivers of M-Internet adoption, the second part of the chapter presents an empirical study of the Spanish market. Results based on a sample of 213 Internet users show that Internet use experience, MInternet compatibility, credibility and attitude are positive key drivers of M-Internet adoption. Perceived financial risk influences negatively on M-Internet usage intention. This chapter will give managers and students insight into the M-Internet industry and the different factors that influence M-Internet adoption. In addition, these factors can be applied to the specific context of the Spanish market.
Dynamical information retrieval modelling: a portfolio-armed bandit machine approach

The dynamic nature of document relevance is largely ignored by traditional Information Retrieval (IR) models, which assume that scores (relevance) for documents given an information need are static. In this paper, we formulate a general Dynamical Information Retrieval problem, where we consider retrieval as a stochastic, controllable process. The ranking action continuously controls the retrieval system's dynamics and an optimal ranking policy is found that maximizes the overall users' satisfaction during each period. Through deriving the posterior probability of the documents evolving relevancy from user clicks, we can provide a plug-in framework for incorporating a number of click models, which can be combined with Multi-Armed Bandit theory and Portfolio Theory of IR to create a dynamic ranking rule that takes rank bias and click dependency into account. We verify the versatility of our algorithms in a number of experiments and demonstrate improved performance over strong baselines and as a result significant performance gains have been achieved.
Synaptic Pruning by Microglia Is Necessary for Normal Brain Development

A good brain needs a good vacuum cleaner. Microglia are highly motile phagocytic cells that infiltrate and take up residence in the developing brain, where they are thought to provide a surveillance and scavenging function. However, although microglia have been shown to engulf and clear damaged cellular debris after brain insult, it remains less clear what role microglia play in the uninjured brain. Here, we show that microglia actively engulf synaptic material and play a major role in synaptic pruning during postnatal development in mice. These findings link microglia surveillance to synaptic maturation and suggest that deficits in microglia function may contribute to synaptic abnormalities seen in some neurodevelopmental disorders.
Analysis of evolving social network: methods and results from cell phone dataset case study

In this paper, we attempt to detect the changes in the structure of an evolving social network. We define a novel measure to quantify the dynamics of the network and use it to generate a timeline for the network that indicates the changes. We consider that any significant change in the network is as a result of occurrence of some event, and thus, identify the day or time step when the event took place. Further, the analysis involves identification of key individuals and their close associates that were active on that day. Finally, the case study involves identification of individuals having communication behaviour similar to the key individuals. To group such individuals, we use a recently proposed online clustering approach called evolving clustering (eClustering). We demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed quantification measures by conducting several experiments and comparing the results with the ground truth.