Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
More testing should be taught

Terry Shepard, Margaret Lamb, and Diane Kelly If testing is broadened to include all of Verification and Validation (V&V), the situation is even more serious. Highly effective practices such as software inspection [5] are hardly taught at all, and many computer science professors do not know (or care) what inspection is and why it is valuable. With the current pace of software development, V&V techniques must become ever more efficient and effective. Students today are not well equipped to apply widely practiced techniques, and have even further to go to understand techniques that could improve current practice. They are graduating with a serious gap in the knowledge they need to be effective software developers. Even new software engineering curricula tend to be weak in V&V. We describe the teaching of testing in an undergraduate software specialization in a computer engineering curriculum and in a graduate course on V&V, and we compare the two different approaches. We believe the equivalent of several courses on testing, software quality, and the broader issues of V&V should be available to undergraduates, and should be mandatory for software engineers. The undergraduate curriculum we describe is moving in this direction by including V&V material in several courses. At the graduate level, particularly for students who already have industrial experience, a significant part of the material can be concentrated into a single course, sacrificing depth in favor of breadth. Software V&V techniques are part of the larger discipline of software engineering. Software engineering is an emerging discipline, first identified more than 30 years ago [9]. Today, most undergraduate computing curricula are based on the 1991 ACM/IEEE Computing Curriculum (www.acm.org/education/curricula.html). It sets a minimum of only eight lecture hours to cover the whole of V&V, including reviews, testing, and elementary proofs of correctness. This situation is only slightly improved in the draft Curriculum 2001 (www.acm.org/sigcse/cc2001/): there are fewer hours (six) suggested in the core for software validation; formal proofs of correctness are gone, and inspection has been added. More recently, curricula in software engineering (as opposed to computer science) have started to appear. There is not yet a definitive source for guidance on such curricula. One source is the 1999 Guidelines for Software Engineering Education, Version 1.0 (www.sei.cmu.edu). While there is more attention Testing typically takes 50% or more of the resources for software development projects. Curi-
ON THE BPP HIERARCHY

In this paper we give arguments both for and against the existence of an oracle A, relative to which BPP equals probabilistic linear time. First, we prove a structure theorem for probabilistic oracle machines, which says that either we can x the output of the machine by setting the answer to only polynomially many oracle strings, or else we can set part of the oracle such that the machine becomes improper. This theorem could help complete the construction of the oracle A, which was proposed by Fortnow and Sipser in 2]. Second, we show that there are previously unknown problems with this construction. Thus the question whether probabilistic polynomial time has a hierarchy relative to all oracles remains completely open.
The discovery of labile methyl esters on proliferating cell nuclear antigen by MS/MS

The post‐translational modification of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) has been implicated in modulating its function for over 20 years. With multiple interacting partners, PCNA is involved in processes ranging from DNA replication and repair to cell cycle control and apoptosis. The ability of PCNA to distinguish between specific binding partners in different tasks is currently of intense interest, and several post‐translational modifications have been reported to modulate its function. Unfortunately, these reports have produced contradictory information on the type(s) of modification present on the molecule. Here we report a detailed structural analysis of a single acidic PCNA isoform, cancer‐specific polyferating nuclear anitgen (csPCNA), isolated from breast cancer cells by 2D‐PAGE and LC‐MS/MS. With this approach we fully characterized the csPCNA isoform and confidently identified a single post‐translational modification, methyl esterification. Interestingly, the methyl esters consistently localized to 15 specific glutamic and aspartic acid residues of csPCNA. The methyl esterification of csPCNA represents a novel type of post‐translational modification in mammalian cells that could ultimately hold the key towards unlocking its diverse functions.
Degradation of STAT 5 proteins in 3 T 3L 1 adipocytes is induced by TNF-and cycloheximide in a manner independent of STAT 5 A activation

Floyd ZE, Segura BM, He F, Stephens JM. Degradation of STAT5 proteins in 3T3-L1 adipocytes is induced by TNFand cycloheximide in a manner independent of STAT5A activation. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 292: E461–E468, 2007. First published September 19, 2006; doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00334. 2006. —Tumor necrosis factor(TNF) is a multifunctional cytokine that has been implicated as a causative factor in obesity-linked insulin resistance. It is commonly accepted that macrophage-derived TNFacts in a paracrine manner on adjacent adipocytes to inhibit the expression of various adipocyte genes and to attenuate insulin signaling. Several studies have revealed that signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)5 proteins are modulated during adipogenesis and can modulate the transcription of some adipocyte genes. In this study, we demonstrate that TNFtreatment, in the presence of cycloheximide, also results in the rapid turnover of STAT5A and STAT5B in a process that is independent of STAT5 activation by tyrosine phosphorylation. In addition, STAT5B is more labile than STAT5A under these conditions, suggesting that the COOH terminus of STAT5 may be involved in the turnover of each protein. Initial characterization of the TNFand cycloheximide-mediated degradation of STAT5 indicates that inhibition of the proteasome stabilizes both forms of STAT5 in the presence of TNF. In addition, the use of an NFB inhibitor results in the stabilization of STAT5A in the presence of TNFand cycloheximide, indicating that the degradation of STAT5 proteins under these conditions may involve the NFB pathway. STAT5 proteins are abundantly expressed in mature adipocytes and are normally extremely stable proteins under a wide range of conditions. However, our results demonstrate that the potentiation of TNFmediated signaling in the presence of cyclohexmide is associated with a significant increase in the degradation of STAT5 proteins in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.
The Hostile Interpretations Questionnaire

This study explored the psychometric properties and construct validity of a new measure of hostility, the Hostile Interpretations Questionnaire (HIQ). The sample consisted of 146 violent offenders incarcerated in a Canadian federal institution. Participants completed a battery of self-report psychometric measures as part of a pre-release psychological assessment. Results indicated that the HIQ had acceptable internal consistency reliability (r = .86) and demonstrated construct validity with relevant anger/hostility measures. Implications of the findings with respect to theory and practice are considered.
High-sensitivity C-reactive protein and exercise-induced changes in subjects suspected of coronary artery disease

Background Inflammation plays a major role in the development of atherosclerosis. We wanted to investigate the effects of exercise on high-sensitivity (hs) C-reactive protein (CRP) in subjects who were suspected of having coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods Blood samples were obtained before, 5 minutes after, and 20 hours after an exercise test in 155 subjects who were suspected of CAD. Coronary anatomy was evaluated by computed tomography coronary angiography and/or coronary angiography. Results Median baseline hs-CRP was higher in subjects with ≥50% coronary artery lumen diameter stenosis (n=41), compared with non-CAD-subjects (n=114), 2.93 mg/L (interquartile range 1.03–5.06 mg/L) and 1.30 mg/L (interquartile range 0.76–2.74 mg/L), respectively, P=0.007. In multivariate analyses testing conventional risk factors, hs-CRP proved borderline significant, odds ratio =2.32, P=0.065. Adding baseline hs-CRP to the results of the exercise test did not improve the diagnostic evaluation. Baseline natural logarithm (Ln) hs-CRP was positively associated with body mass index and baseline Ln-transformed hs troponin T levels, and negatively associated with the daily life activity level. An increase in hs-CRP of 0.13 mg/L (interquartile range 0.05–0.24 mg/L) from baseline to 5 minutes after peak exercise was found (P<0.0001), but the increase was not associated with presence of CAD. From baseline to 20 hours after exercise, no increase in hs-CRP was found. Conclusion In conclusion, hs-CRP was not independently associated with CAD. Hs-CRP increased immediately as a response to the exercise, and the increase was modest and not associated with CAD. The results indicate that exercise has potential to cause unwanted variations in hs-CRP and that exercise prior to hs-CRP measurements in subjects included in epidemiological studies, therefore, should be avoided.
The Friendship Assemblage

In an age in which social networking sites have become the preferred way of socializing online, the question of how to think about the contours of friendship in and through these mediated spaces becomes all the more important. In contrast to much existing research on online friendship, this article takes on a software-sensitive approach. Through a close reading of various sociotechnical processes in which friendship is activated on Facebook (i.e., registering, making a profile, finding friends, communicating, etc.), this article suggests that friendships online need to be understood as a gathering of heterogeneous elements that include both humans and nonhumans. Moreover, this article attempts to show how the traditional notion of friendship as something created between equals and free of structural constraints does not apply to the realm of social networking sites, where software increasingly assists users in making certain choices about who will and who will not be their friends.
Piecewise continuous models for resistivity soundings

A robust method is presented for constructing layered Earth models from surface resistivity data. The algorithm automatically accommodates any number of discontinuities without the need to specify a priori its number or location in the vertical profile. It further includes automatic correction factors for the common segmentation of Schlumberger soundings due to static shift effects.
Comparing parents' perceptions of IVF conceived children's behavior with naturally conceived children

La conception apres des methodes reproductives assistees est associee a un stress emotionnel et physique considerable. Les parents doivent souvent attendre dix annees ou plus avant de concevoir. Ceci faisant partie d'une etude en cours au Royaume Uni, nous avons evalue 140 enfants concus par ICSI (injection intracytoplasmique de sperme) et 101 enfants de controle concus naturellement, en faisant remplir aux parents l'Inventaire de Comportement de l'Enfant d'Eyberg lorsque leurs enfants avaient deux ans. Les parents d'enfants concus apres des methodes reproductives assistees ont fait etat de moins de problemes de comportement. Les implications pour le developpement a long terme sont discutees.
Waning protection after fifth dose of acellular pertussis vaccine in children.

BACKGROUND In the United States, children receive five doses of diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccine before 7 years of age. The duration of protection after five doses of DTaP is unknown. METHODS We assessed the risk of pertussis in children in California relative to the time since the fifth dose of DTaP from 2006 to 2011. This period included a large outbreak in 2010. We conducted a case-control study involving members of Kaiser Permanente Northern California who were vaccinated with DTaP at 47 to 84 months of age. We compared children with pertussis confirmed by a positive polymerase-chain-reaction (PCR) assay with two sets of controls: those who were PCR-negative for pertussis and closely matched controls from the general population of health-plan members. We used logistic regression to examine the risk of pertussis in relation to the duration of time since the fifth DTaP dose. Children who received whole-cell pertussis vaccine during infancy or who received any pertussis-containing vaccine after their fifth dose of DTaP were excluded. RESULTS We compared 277 children, 4 to 12 years of age, who were PCR-positive for pertussis with 3318 PCR-negative controls and 6086 matched controls. PCR-positive children were more likely to have received the fifth DTaP dose earlier than PCR-negative controls (P<0.001) or matched controls (P=0.005). Comparison with PCR-negative controls yielded an odds ratio of 1.42 (95% confidence interval, 1.21 to 1.66), indicating that after the fifth dose of DTaP, the odds of acquiring pertussis increased by an average of 42% per year. CONCLUSIONS Protection against pertussis waned during the 5 years after the fifth dose of DTaP. (Funded by Kaiser Permanente).
Gate sizing for constrained delay/power/area optimization

Gate sizing has a significant impact on the delay, power dissipation, and area of the final circuit. It consists of choosing for each node of a mapped circuit a gate implementation in the library so that a cost function is optimized under some constraints. For instance, one wants to minimize the power consumption and/or the area of a circuit under some user-defined delay constraints, or to obtain the fastest circuit within a given power budget. Although this technology-dependent optimization has been investigated for years, the proposed approaches sometimes rely on assumptions, cost models, or algorithms that make them unrealistic or impossible to apply on real-life large circuits. We discussed here a gate sizing algorithm (GS), and show how it is used to achieve constrained optimization. It can be applied on large circuits within a reasonable CPU time, e.g., minimizing the power of a 10000 gates circuit under some delay constraint in 2 h.
Fish Species Recognition from Video using SVM Classifier

To build a detailed knowledge of the biodiversity, the geographical distribution and the evolution of the alive species is essential for a sustainable development and the preservation of this biodiversity. Massive databases of underwater video surveillance have been recently made available for supporting designing algorithms targeting the identification of fishes. However these video datasets are rather poor in terms of video resolution, pretty challenging regarding both the natural phenomena to be considered such as murky water, seaweed moving the water current, etc, and the huge amount of data to be processed. We have designed a processing chain based on background segmentation, selection keypoints with an adaptive scale, description with OpponentSift and learning of each species by a binary linear Support Vector Machines classifier. Our algorithm has been evaluated in the context of our participation to the Fish task of the LifeCLEF2014 challenge. Compared to the baseline designed by the LifeCLEF challenge organizers, our approach reaches a better precision but a worse recall. Our performances in terms of species recognition (based only on the correctly detected bounding boxes) is comparable to the baseline, but our bounding boxes are often too large and our score is so penalized. Our results are thus really encouraging.
Induced gamma-band responses in the human EEG are related to attentional information processing

Synchronized neural activity in the frequency range above 20 Hz, the gamma-band, has been proposed as a signature of temporal feature binding. Here we suggest that selective attention facilitates synchronization of neural activity. Selective attention can be guided by bottom-up, stimulus driven, or top-down task-driven processes. Both processes will cause that stimuli are processed preferentially. While bottom-up processes might facilitate synchronization of neurons due to the salience of the stimulus, top-down processes may bias information selection by facilitating synchronization of neurons coding a certain location in space and/or of neurons related to the processing of certain features. Animal as well as human EEG studies support the notion of a link between induced gamma-band responses and attentive, sensory stimulus processing.
Modeling One-Switch Row-Column Scanning with Errors and Error Correction Methods

Single switch scanning has lots of different configuration options. One way to choose the most appropriate configuration for a client is to use a model to predict performance under different configurations. Most existing models expect error-free performance, however, and none integrates all the types of errors that can occur and the variety of error- correction methods that are available. A model is presented which predicts user performance for single-switch row- column scanning with errors and error-correction methods. The model is used to draw conclusions about the utility of different error-correction methods.
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Tourism: a Differential Passage Out of a Sociocultural Bubble to the "Open Space"

This study looks at travel expectations, requirements, and consumer behavior of three groups of ultra-Orthodox Jews known as "Haredim," who are trapped between their own motivations and travel needs and those of the secular society surrounding them. This study postulated that since each subgroup within this unique community is different in its socioeconomic, cultural, and religious characteristics, it will reveal a significantly different set of travel expectations and consumer behavior patterns. The study made use of the Value Stretch methodology integrated into three focus groups, which were conducted with three haredi subgroups, namely, Sefaradim, Lithuanians, and Hasidim. These focus groups were accompanied by in-depth interviews with tour operators and some individual participants of the focus groups. Findings show that travel motivations, needs, and prerequisite travel expectations of these three subgroups are differential. Apparently, geographical proximity to secular communities and level of conformity to the haredi lifestyle are the leading factors that shape this differential pattern.
Reading comprehension by people with chronic aphasia: A comparison of three levels of visuographic contextual support

Background: People with aphasia often have concomitant reading comprehension deficits that interfere with their full participation in leisure and social activities involving written text comprehension. Aims: The purpose of this investigation was to explore the impact of three levels of visuographic support—(a) high‐context photographs, (b) low‐context photographs, and (c) no photographs—on the reading comprehension of narratives by people with chronic aphasia. Methods & Procedures: Participants were seven adults with chronic aphasia and concomitant reading comprehension deficits. Participants read three narratives, each presented with a different level of visuographic support. Using a repeated measures design, the researchers examined (a) reading comprehension response accuracy (measured in number of correct responses), (b) response time (measured in seconds), and (c) the participants' perceptions of image helpfulness. Outcomes & Results: Data analysis revealed that the participants demonstrated significantly increased response accuracy when either type of visuographic support was present. Participants demonstrated significantly faster response times in the no‐photographs condition than in the high‐ and low‐context conditions. Although not analysed for statistical significance, evaluation of descriptive statistics regarding participants' perception data supported the notion that pictures were helpful and tasks were easier when either type of visuographic support was present. Conclusions: Continued research is necessary to delineate the most efficient way to present visuographic supports to people with aphasia during reading comprehension tasks.
Formation and function of Weibel-Palade bodies

Weibel-Palade bodies (WPBs) are secretory organelles used for post-synthesis storage in endothelial cells that can, very rapidly, be triggered to release their contents. They carry a variety of bioactive molecules that are needed to mount a rapid response to the complex environment of cells that line blood vessels. They store factors that are essential to haemostasis and inflammation, as well as factors that modulate vascular tonicity and angiogenesis. The number of WPBs and their precise content vary between endothelial tissues, reflecting their differing physiological circumstances. The particular functional demands of the highly multimerised haemostatic protein von Willebrand Factor (VWF), which is stored in WPBs as tubules until release, are responsible for the cigar shape of these granules. How VWF tubules drive the formation of these uniquely shaped organelles, and how WPB density increases during maturation, has recently been revealed by EM analysis using high-pressure freezing and freeze substitution. In addition, an AP1/clathrin coat has been found to be essential to WPB formation. Following recruitment of cargo at the TGN, there is a second wave of recruitment that delivers integral and peripheral membrane proteins to WPBs, some of which is AP3 dependent.
The Role of Built Environments in Physical Activity, Eating, and Obesity in Childhood

Over the past forty years various changes in the U.S. "built environment" have promoted sedentary lifestyles and less healthful diets. James Sallis and Karen Glanz investigate whether these changes have had a direct effect on childhood obesity and whether improvements to encourage more physical activity and more healthful diets are likely to lower rates of childhood obesity. Researchers, say Sallis and Glanz, have found many links between the built environment and children's physical activity, but they have yet to find conclusive evidence that aspects of the built environment promote obesity. For example, certain development patterns, such as a lack of sidewalks, long distances to schools, and the need to cross busy streets, discourage walking and biking to school. Eliminating such barriers can increase rates of active commuting. But researchers cannot yet prove that more active commuting would reduce rates of obesity. Sallis and Glanz note that recent changes in the nutrition environment, including greater reliance on convenience foods and fast foods, a lack of access to fruits and vegetables, and expanding portion sizes, are also widely believed to contribute to the epidemic of childhood obesity. But again, conclusive evidence that changes in the nutrition environment will reduce rates of obesity does not yet exist. Research into the link between the built environment and childhood obesity is still in its infancy. Analysts do not know whether changes in the built environment have increased rates of obesity or whether improvements to the built environment will decrease them. Nevertheless, say Sallis and Glanz, the policy implications are clear. People who have access to safe places to be active, neighborhoods that are walkable, and local markets that offer healthful food are likely to be more active and to eat more healthful food—two types of behavior that can lead to good health and may help avoid obesity.