Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative Chemistry of Propolis from Eight Brazilian Localities

Propolis is a complex honeybee product with resinous aspect, containing plant exudates and beeswax. Their color, texture, and chemical composition vary, depending on the location of the hives and local flora. The most studied Brazilian propolis is the green (alecrim-do-campo) type, which contains mainly prenylated phenylpropanoids and caffeoylquinic acids. Other types of propolis are produced in Brazil, some with red color, others brown, grey, or black. The aim of the present work was to determine the chemical profiles of alcohol and chloroform extracts of eight samples of propolis, corresponding to six Brazilian regions. Methanol and chloroform extracts were obtained and analyzed by HPLC/DAD/ESI/MS and GC/MS. Two chemical profiles were recognized among the samples analyzed: (1) black Brazilian propolis, characterized chiefly by flavanones and glycosyl flavones, stemming from Picos (Piauí state) and Pirenópolis (Goiás state); (2) green Brazilian propolis, characterized by prenylated phenylpropanoids and caffeoylquinic acids, stemming from Cabo Verde (Bahia state), Lavras and Mira Bela (Minas Gerais state), Pariquera-Açu and Bauru (São Paulo state), and Ponta Grossa (Paraná state). The present work represents the first report of prenylated flavonoids in Brazilian propolis and schaftoside (apigenin-8-C-glucosyl-6-C-arabinose) in green propolis.
The Relationship between Membership in Virtual Networks and Desire to Divorce and Subjective Judgment

The goal of the present study was to investigate the relationship between membership in social networks and desire to divorce and subjective judgment among married women and men in Isfahan City. The research method was correlational and the population under study in this research was comprised of all married women and men of Isfahan City in 2015. The sample size included 217 couples that were randomly selected from public places. Measurement tools include the questionnaire of membership in social networks by Moqimi & Latifi (2015), the questionnaire of desire to divorce by Rooselt, Johnson & Moro (1986) and the questionnaire of life orientation by Shear & Carver (1985). For the data analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression were used. The findings showed that the sample members’ level of use of social networks was 67.7 (20.3 men and 47.5 women), 57.6 (16.6 men and 41.0 women), 54.4 (14.7 men and 39.6 women), 11.5 (2.3 men and 9.2 women) and 36.4 (11.1 men and 25.3 women) for WhatsApp, Viber, Line, Instagram and other networks respectively, and in general married women had accounted for a higher share. The results of regression showed that at the P<0.1 level of significance, there is a relationship between membership in social networks and desire to divorce and subjective judgment among married women and men in Isfahan City; this means that with the increase of desire to divorce, average membership in social networks among the couples increases. Moreover, there was an inverse relationship between the direction of subjective judgment and membership in social networks.
Social Question Answering

Community question answering (CQA) sites use a collaborative paradigm to satisfy complex information needs. Although the task of matching questions to their best answers has been tackled for more than a decade, the social question-answering practice is a complex process. The factors influencing the accuracy of question-answer matching are many and hard to disentangle. We approach the task from an application-oriented perspective, probing the space of several dimensions relevant to this problem: features, algorithms, and topics. We gather under a learning to rank framework the most extensive feature set used in literature to date, including 225 features from five different families. We test the power of such features in predicting the best answer to a question on the largest dataset from Yahoo Answers used for this task so far (40M answers) and provide a faceted analysis of the results along different topical areas and question types. We propose a novel family of distributional semantics measures that most of the time can seamlessly replace widely used linguistic similarity features, being more than one order of magnitude faster to compute and providing greater predictive power. The best feature set reaches an improvement between 11% and 26% in P@1 compared to recent well-established state-of-the-art methods.
DNA methylation status as a biomarker of anti‐epidermal growth factor receptor treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer

Anti‐epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) treatment is an effective option for metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment. However, there are few reliable biomarkers to predict the clinical response to anti‐EGFR treatment. We investigated the genome‐wide DNA methylation status in metastatic colorectal cancer to identify associations between the methylation status and clinical response to anti‐EGFR antibody. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 97 patients (45 patients for the first cohort and 52 patients for the second cohort) who received anti‐EGFR treatment for KRAS wild‐type metastatic CRC. Then we analyzed the associations between genome‐wide DNA methylation status and clinical response to anti‐EGFR treatment, and evaluated the predictive power and value of the methylation status statistically. As a result, each cohort was classified into highly methylated CRC and low methylated CRC subgroups by unsupervised clustering analyses. In the first cohort, clinical outcomes were significantly better in the low methylated CRC subgroup than in the highly methylated CRC subgroup (response rate, 35.7% vs 6.3%, P = 0.03; disease control rate, 75% vs 31.3%, P = 0.005; hazard ratio for progression‐free survival, 0.27; 95% confidence interval, 0.13–0.57, P < 0.001; overall survival, 0.19; 95% confidence interval, 0.06–0.54, P < 0.001). These results were reproducible in the second cohort. The genome‐wide methylation status was a predictive factor of progression‐free survival and overall survival independently of RAS mutation status. In conclusion, we found that the genome‐wide DNA methylation status is a powerful epigenetic predictor of anti‐EGFR treatment in patients with KRAS wild‐type metastatic colorectal cancer (UMIN000005490).
Handling Boot Storms in Virtualized Data Centers—A Survey

Large-scale virtual machine (VM) deployment in virtualized data centers is a very slow process. This is primarily due to the resource bottlenecks that are created at the storage, network, and host physical machines when a large number of VMs are requested simultaneously. For companies that provide virtual desktops to their employees, it is common to encounter such requests each day, when their employees turn up for work. In addition, a large number of VMs are often required to be deployed instantly, in order to absorb a spike in the workload, at online e-commerce websites. In such scenarios, long deployment times are unacceptable, and reducing them is of paramount importance. In this article, we first abstract out the key techniques suggested in the literature to speed up this deployment process. We follow this with a classification of these techniques into a taxonomy and propose a framework that can be used to compare them. Finally, we identify problem areas that warrant further research and bring out the shortcomings of the current state-of-the-art solutions.
A Representation for Temporal Sequence and Duration in Massively Parallel Networks

One of the major representational problems in massively parallel or connectionist models is the difficulty of representing temporal constraints. Temporal constraints are important and crucial sources of information for event perception in general. This paper describes a novel scheme which provides massively parallel models with the ability to represent and recognize temporal constraints such as sequence and duration by exploiting link to link interactions. This relatively unexplored yet powerful mechanism is used to represent rule-like constraints and behaviors. The temporal sequence of a set of nodes is defined as the constraints or the temporal context in which these nodes should be activated. This representation is quite robust in the sense that it captures subtleties in both the strength and scope (order) of temporal constraints. Duration is also represented using a similar mechanism. The duration of a concept is represented as a memory trace of the activation of this concept. The state of this trace can be used to generate a fuzzy set like classification of the duration.
Modelling of Parameter and Bound Estimation Laws for Adaptive-Robust Control of Mechanical Manipulators Using Variable Function Approach

Two different approaches have been actively studied to maintain performance in the presence of parametric uncertainties: adaptive control and robust control. The basic philosophy of adaptive controller is that incorporates some sort of parameter estimation and adaptive controller can learn from experiences in the sense that parameters are changed. Some of the adaptive control laws introduced by Craig et al.(1987), Middleton&Goodwin (1988), Spong&Ortega (1990) require the acceleration measurements and/or the computation of the inverse of the inertia matrix containing estimated parameters. Later, Slotine&Li (1987, 1988) Spong et.al (1990), Egeland&Godhavn (1994) have derived adaptive control algorithms without using the joint accelerations and the inverse of inertia matrix. Other adaptive control laws are proposed in references (Carelli et al 1995, Kelly et al 1989, Burkan&Uzmay 2005, Burkan 2005, Burkan, 2006). Comparative studies of adaptive control laws are given in references (Ortega&Spong 1989, Colbaugh at al 1996). On the other hand, robust control has been successfully used to design controller with disturbance, unmodelled dynamics and other sources of uncertainty. The papers about application these techniques for the background of robotic application are given in survey papers (Abdullah at al 1991, Sage at al 1999). Based on the approach of Corless-Leitmann (1981), Spong (1992) developed a new robust control law. In this approach (Spong 1992), the Leitmann (1981) or Corless-Leitmann (1981) approach was used to design a robust controller. Different extension of the scheme by Spong (1992) has been developed by Liu&Goldenberg (1996a, 1997), Yaz (1993), Candudas de Wit et al. (1996). An adaptive scheme of uncertainty bound is given in the papers (Koo&Kim 1994, Burkan and Uzmay 2003b, Burkan and Uzmay 2005). Similar algorithms have proposed by Dawson at. al. (1993) and Zenieh&Corless (1997). Comparative studies of robust controllers are given in the references (Liu & Goldenberg 1996b, Jaritz & Spong (1996).
Resurgence and critical youth empowerment in Whitefish River First Nation

ABSTRACT Sport/play-based programs are part of new proposed solutions to provide educational and structured opportunities to empower youth and foster social change and community mobilization. While answering a recent call for more research examining these socio-political processes within sport-for-development programs, the purpose of this paper is to explore how the Indigenous youth experiences of the Youth Leadership Program (YLP) from the organization Right To Play could support what Indigenous scholars have called resurgence. This self-conscious traditionalism movement calls for Indigenous critical self-reflection, political thought, and cultural revival that are at the heart of re-empowerment and self-determination. Youth experiences enacted through the YLP are documented through the Critical Youth Empowerment (CYE) model that highlights processes of critical reflection leading to socio-political change. While providing a general appreciation of the YLP program and the application of the CYE model within an Indigenous context, the findings suggest that, to serve resurgence, culture and local knowledge need to be central in empowerment processes and youth programming.
Primate Cognition

As the cognitive revolution was slow to come to the study of animal behavior, the vast majority of what we know about primate cognition has been discovered in the last 30 years. Building on the recognition that the physical and social worlds of humans and their living primate relatives pose many of the same evolutionary challenges, programs of research have established that the most basic cognitive skills and mental representations that humans use to navigate those worlds are already possessed by other primates. There may be differences between humans and other primates, however, in more complex cognitive skills, such as reasoning about relations, causality, time, and other minds. Of special importance, the human primate seems to possess a species-unique set of adaptations for "cultural intelligence," which are broad reaching in their effects on human cognition.
A Donders’ Like Law for Arm Movements: The Signal not the Noise

Experiments were done to determine whether the starting position of the arm influences its final configuration (posture) when pointing to, or grasping, targets located within the common workspace of the arm. Subjects were asked to point to, or grasp, each of six targets from five, or seven, widely spaced starting positions. We found that the variability (standard deviation) of the arm’s configuration, measured as the angle of inclination of the plane delimited by the arm and forearm, averaged about 4° for comfortable speed pointing movements and was only slightly higher for fast pointing movements. Comfortable speed reaches to grasp the targets were associated with slightly lower variability (3.5°) in final arm configuration. The average variability of repeated movements to a given target from a single start position (3.5°) was comparable to that of movements from different start positions to the same target (4.2°). A small difference in final arm inclination angle, averaged across all subjects and targets, of 3° was found between two pairs of starting positions. This small and possibly idiosyncratic effect is within the “noise” of final arm orientation variability for repeated movements (i.e., 3.5°). Thus, the variability of final posture is not for the most part due to different start positions, it is inherent to movement per se. Our results reconcile conflicting previous studies and are consistent with past works suggesting that a Donders’ like law is indeed largely upheld for unconstrained visually guided arm movements. In summary, considering movements within a typical work space, when the hand is moved voluntarily to a given spatial location the posture of the arm is nearly the same regardless of its starting position. Importantly, variability is inherent to the rule.
Creativity and Innovation through Multidisciplinary and Multisectoral Cooperation

This paper explores the relation between creativity, innovation and new product development in multidisciplinary and multisectoral settings. We claim that the development of innovative products benefits from the generation of a high number of creative ideas. Moreover, we argue that the idea generation process can be particularly fruitful within collaborative multidisciplinary environments, where firms and Science and Technology institutions coexist and cooperate. Our approach draws on existing literature to investigate the creativity and idea generation process within the frame of multisectoral and multidisciplinary cooperation initiatives, involving firms and Science and Technology related institutions. We then call upon our own empirical work to identify conditions favourable to those processes and some issues that affect the fulfilment of the creative potential that exists in multidisciplinary groups.
Circulating carotenoids and risk of breast cancer: pooled analysis of eight prospective studies.

BACKGROUND Carotenoids, micronutrients in fruits and vegetables, may reduce breast cancer risk. Most, but not all, past studies of circulating carotenoids and breast cancer have found an inverse association with at least one carotenoid, although the specific carotenoid has varied across studies. METHODS We conducted a pooled analysis of eight cohort studies comprising more than 80% of the world's published prospective data on plasma or serum carotenoids and breast cancer, including 3055 case subjects and 3956 matched control subjects. To account for laboratory differences and examine population differences across studies, we recalibrated participant carotenoid levels to a common standard by reassaying 20 plasma or serum samples from each cohort together at the same laboratory. Using conditional logistic regression, adjusting for several breast cancer risk factors, we calculated relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using quintiles defined among the control subjects from all studies. All P values are two-sided. RESULTS Statistically significant inverse associations with breast cancer were observed for α-carotene (top vs bottom quintile RR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.71 to 1.05, P(trend) = . 04), β-carotene (RR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.70 to 0.98, P(trend) = . 02), lutein+zeaxanthin (RR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.70 to 1.01, P(trend) = . 05), lycopene (RR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.62 to 0.99, P(trend) = . 02), and total carotenoids (RR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.68 to 0.96, P(trend) = . 01). β-Cryptoxanthin was not statistically significantly associated with risk. Tests for heterogeneity across studies were not statistically significant. For several carotenoids, associations appeared stronger for estrogen receptor negative (ER(-)) than for ER(+) tumors (eg, β-carotene: ER(-): top vs bottom quintile RR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.36 to 0.77, P(trend) = . 001; ER(+): RR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.66 to 1.04, P(trend) = . 06; P(heterogeneity) = . 01). CONCLUSIONS This comprehensive prospective analysis suggests women with higher circulating levels of α-carotene, β-carotene, lutein+zeaxanthin, lycopene, and total carotenoids may be at reduced risk of breast cancer.
A new switch affine projection algorithm for acoustic echo cancellation

This paper studies a new switch variable order affine projection algorithm (APA) for acoustic echo cancellation (AEC). Based on voice activity detection technique, a threshold calculated from the short-time energy of the far-end speech signal is derived to enable the APA to switch between the high- and low- order status. Algorithm convergence can thus be achieved when there is more input excitation and the computation cost can be saved when the input is relatively weak. To improve the applicability of the proposed algorithm to AEC, an efficient double talk detector is included to prevent algorithm divergence in double talk scenario. Simulations are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Comparing the Conceptual Graphs Extracted from Patent Claims

A patent claim defines the protection of the invention. It is usually very time consuming and laborious to manually conduct analysis on patents in any domain of interest. A maximal common edge subgraph (MCES) is a subgraph consisting of the largest number of edges common between two graphs G and G'. This paper automatically compares conceptual graphs, extracted from patent claims by an NLP parser, using anchored relaxation labeling.
The Role of Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, and Emotion Regulation as Protective Factors Against Disordered Eating in a Sample of University Students

The Role of Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, and Emotion Regulation as Protective Factors Against Disordered Eating in a Sample of University Students Lisa Paylo Meyer, M.A. Although eating disorders and related interventions have been heavily researched, less is known about potentially protective variables, including self-compassion, mindfulness, and emotion regulation. It is important to understand these constructs and their relationship to eating disorder symptoms because such factors may prevent these disorders in at-risk individuals and aid in more successful psychotherapeutic outcomes. Independent theories related to these variables and their relationship to disordered eating have been postulated, but not yet combined into a single model. In this study, 100 university students completed self-report surveys that were analyzed using a Path Analysis (PA) method. This method tested an integrated model of the influence of mindfulness, self-compassion, and emotion regulation on eating disorder symptoms. The results indicate that higher levels of self-compassion are related to higher levels of mindfulness, both of which are predictive of lower levels of emotion regulation difficulties and lower levels of disordered eating. Emotion regulation partially mediated the relationships between selfcompassion and eating disorder symptoms and between mindfulness and eating disorder symptoms through self-compassion. Self-compassion was also directly related to eating disorder symptoms. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research are provided in the context of the study’s limitations. PROTECTIVE FACTORS AGAINST EATING DISORDERS
Static single assignment for explicitly parallel programs

We describe and prove algorithms to convert programs which use the Parallel Computing Forum Parallel Sections construct into Static Single Assignment (SSA) form. This proces allows compilers to apply classical scalar optimization algorithms to explicitly parallel programs. To do so, we must define what the concept of dominator and dominance frontier mean in parallel programs. We also describe how we extend SSA form to handle parallel updates and still preserve the SSA properties.
Reinterpreting the Pioneer anomaly and its annual residual

In addition to its long-term constancy, the Pioneer (spacecraft) anomaly appears to only exist for bodies whose mass is less than that of: planets, moons, comets, and heavy asteroids of known mass. Assuming the observational evidence is reliable, and not the result of an unknown systematic effect, a violation of the Weak Principle of Equivalence is implied. To propose an additional force fails to satisfy this constraint. This paper presents a new hypothesis involving additional field energy in the form of: a finite number of lunar sourced constant amplitude (Lorentz invariant) wave-like undulations upon the gravitational field. Although apparently a futile suggestion, the author's model overcomes concerns regarding wave dissipation, wave generation, and the apparent constancy of the anomaly. A shortfall in motion arises because a tiny proportion of spacecraft kinetic energy is directed into a superposition of non-translational longitudinal oscillatory components. The restriction of this effect to low mass bodies is also addressed. Additionally, the annual residual of the Pioneer anomaly may be attributed to a real 356 day Callisto-Titan wave resonance. This hypothesis may also be readily applied to other solar system anomalies including: the Earth flyby anomaly, an apparent absence of small comets, an apparent paucity of smaller bodies in the Main Belt of asteroids, and residual doubts concerning the migrating planets hypothesis that addresses the too rapid formation of the ice giants Uranus and Neptune.