Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Argument Against Static Stretching Before Sport and Physical Activity

KEY POINTS JTreexercise static stretching has been used by coaches and athletes for decades in the hope of improving performance and preventing injuries. The scientific literature of the 1980s and 1990s suggested that preexercise static stretching was a good addition to athletes' warm-up before initiation of physical activity. ''^ This article reviews the current literature and provides information to propose a valid argument against the widely held belief that slow static stretching before sport and physical activity is beneficial. Static stretching has been used as a warm-up activity for decades, without any credible research to support its benefits for performance or injury prevention.
Creating probabilistic databases from imprecise time-series data

Although efficient processing of probabilistic databases is a well-established field, a wide range of applications are still unable to benefit from these techniques due to the lack of means for creating probabilistic databases. In fact, it is a challenging problem to associate concrete probability values with given time-series data for forming a probabilistic database, since the probability distributions used for deriving such probability values vary over time. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to create tuple-level probabilistic databases from (imprecise) time-series data. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that introduces a generic solution for creating probabilistic databases from arbitrary time series, which can work in online as well as offline fashion. Our approach consists of two key components. First, the dynamic density metrics that infer time-dependent probability distributions for time series, based on various mathematical models. Our main metric, called the GARCH metric, can robustly capture such evolving probability distributions regardless of the presence of erroneous values in a given time series. Second, the Ω-View builder that creates probabilistic databases from the probability distributions inferred by the dynamic density metrics. For efficient processing, we introduce the σ-cache that reuses the information derived from probability values generated at previous times. Extensive experiments over real datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.
Constitutive Somatostatin Receptor Subtype-3 Signaling Suppresses Growth Hormone Synthesis

Somatostatin signals through somatostatin receptor subtypes (SSTR) 2 and 5 to attenuate GH secretion. Although expressed in normal pituitary glands and in GH-secreting pituitary tumors, SSTR3 function was unclear, and we have now determined the role of SSTR3 in somatotroph function. Stable rat pituitary tumor cell (GC) transfectants of human SSTR3 (GpSSTR3WT) showed suppression of rat (r) GH promoter activity, GH mRNA expression, and secreted GH concordant with suppressed cAMP/protein kinase A (PKA) signaling. In contrast, cAMP levels and GH expression were unchanged in cells expressing a mutant SSTR3 DRY motif (GpSSTR3R141A). GH expression was rescued by treatment of GpSSTR3WT with forskolin and 8-bromo-cAMP. GpSSTR3WT exhibited activation of glycogen synthase kinase3-β (GSK3-β), a PKA substrate, which was also reversed by 8-Bromo-cAMP treatment. Moreover, SSTR3-dependent GH transcriptional inhibition was rescued by inhibition of GSK3-β. GpSSTR3WT exhibited elevated Pit-1 serine phosphorylation and decreased Pit-1 occupancy of the rGH promoter with sustained Pit-1 expression. GSK3-β and Pit-1 physically interacted with each other, indicating that Pit-1 may be a GSK3-β phosphorylation substrate. In conclusion, constitutive SSTR3 activity mediates transcriptional repression of GH through cAMP/PKA, leading to subsequent activation of GSK3-β and increased Pit-1 phosphorylation and ultimately attenuating Pit-1 binding to the rGH promoter.
Quality Monitoring as an Institutional Enterprise

Abstract The impact of external quality monitoring on one Swedish university institution is reported. Using this university as a case, it is argued that the impact, so far, is indirect and must be seen in relation to other substantial changes which recently have affected the institutions. The improvement‐oriented approach to external monitoring launched by the National Agency has encouraged the institutions to increase their concern for their own strategic management as an important means for coping with new demands and expectations, and thus also for enhancing quality.
Histone deacetylase inhibitor treatment downregulates VLA-4 adhesion in hematopoietic stem cells and acute myeloid leukemia blast cells

The migration of hematopoietic progenitor cells depends on a number of cell surface molecules. This study shows that treatment with histone deacetylase inhibitors downregulates the integrin VLA-4 on acute myeloid leukemia blast cells and hematopoietic stem cells, resulting in decreased adhesion of these cells to mesenchymal stromal cells. The α4β1 integrin very late activation antigen-4 (VLA-4) is an α4 (CD49d)/β1 (CD29) heterodimer. It plays a key role in the adhesion of both hematopoietic progenitor cells and leukemic blast cells to bone marrow stromal cells which express the vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) or produce fibronectin. VLA-4 expression has been associated with bone-marrow minimal residual disease, which causes relapse after chemotherapy in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia. Conversely, the absence of VLA-4 reduces bone marrow retention of both hematopoietic progenitor and leukemic blast cells. We report on the downregulation of VLA-4/CD49d for various acute myelogenous leukemia cells lines, on primary cells from patients with acute myelogenous leukemia, and on hematopoietic stem cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors on treatment with the histone deacetylase inhibitors suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid and valproic acid, which is associated with decreased adhesion to mesenchymal stromal cells. These findings suggest that HDAC-inhibitor treatment may on the one hand impair stem cell homing, while on the other it may improve peripheral blood stem cell mobilization and significantly help to reduce minimal residual disease from acute myelogenous leukemia.
Flocking control of multiple agents in noisy environments

Birds, bees, and fish often flock together in groups to find the source of food (target) based on local information. Inspired by this natural phenomenon, a flocking control algorithm is designed to coordinate the activities of multiple agents in noisy environments. Based on this algorithm, all agents can form a network and maintain connectivity. This is of great advantage for agents to exchange information. In addition, collision avoidance among agents is guaranteed in the whole process of target tracking. We show that even with noisy measurements the flocks can achieve cohesion and follow the moving target. We also investigate the stability and scalability of our algorithm. The numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
The Mediating Role of Well-Being and Self-Regulation of Emotions in Daily Executive Dysfunctions and Psychological Distress

Abstract An emerging literature has begun to document the emotional consequences of everyday executive functions on emotional distress. Little is known, however, about whether this relation is mediated by other variables. A multiple mediation model was proposed to integrate core concepts of daily executive dysfunctions with emotional distress in order to increase understanding of their relationship to psychological well-being and emotional regulation. The working hypothesis was that dimensions of well-being and emotional regulation may be a suitable mediator. It was hypothesized that dimensions of well-being and emotional regulation are a possible mediator between the executive dysfunctions and psychological distress. Participants were 122 undergraduate students from university courses in General Education and Social Education at, the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, with a mean age of 21.76. Results indicate that several dimensions of psychological well-being and emotional reappraisal strategies mediate the relationships between daily executive dysfunctions and psychological distress. Implications of these data are discussed.
Monitoring School Performance for 'Standards-based Reform'

Introduction For several years, stateDepartments of Education and many schooldistricts in the US have expended considerable resources collecting and analysing data that describe the performance of their schools. In most cases, they have established monitoring systems that entail annual or biennial achievement testing, and the collection of demographic data. In a few cases, data describing schooling processes, such as homework policies, classroom discipline, and parental involvement, are also collected. The aim of these monitoring systems is to garner information that will discern how well students in their jurisdiction fare compared with those in other jurisdictions; assess whether the achievement of learning outcomes in the jurisdiction is changing over time; and determine whether there are inequalities in achievement among students with differing ethnic or socioeconomic backgrounds. This kind of information is useful to school, district, and state administrators for making day-to-day decisions concerning the allocation of resources, the efficacy of certain programmes, and the strengths and weaknesses of their schooling system. But underlying this activity is the belief that routine monitoring encourages a process of self-examination and motivates educators to provide a better education. Administrators believe that monitoring can drive school improvement. This belief is fundamental to the recent calls for ‘standards-based reform’, which maintains that if states set high standards for performance, and hold schools accountable to meeting those standards through performance-based monitoring, then teachers and schools will change their practices in ways that bring about better student outcomes. An important principle underlying the case for standards-based reform is that the means for achieving the standards set by the state should be left to the schools; that is, school principals and teachers should be given the autonomy and flexibility to change their organisational structures, curriculum, and teaching practices as they deem appropriate (Rothman & Elmore, 1998). Thus, the emphasis of monitoring efforts is on student outcomes, not on schooling processes. The case for standards-basedreform also relies heavily on the assumption that it is possible to measure student performance against prescribed standards. Several prominent educational researchers have made a convincing case that traditional norm-referenced assessment techniques cannot achieve this aim, mainly because they emphasise lower-order thinking skills, isolated from any relevant social context. Moreover, longitudinal studies have shown that test
Macro-micro-macro y modelos estadísticos para redes

For empirical work on macro-micro-macro issues, it is indispensable to have statistical models reflecting in a plausible way the data structures and theoretical relations that are the basis of such issues. A basic family of models for macro-micro effects is provided by multilevel analysis. An important way of studying micromacro transitions is by means of simulation. Network modeling provides another, particularly appropriate, approach to macromicro-macro issues. Network models represent, in a more subtle way than multilevel models, that what can be observed at the macro level is the result of phenomena at the micro level, while these phenomena themselves are conditioned by the macro level. The use of appropriate statistical network models, with sufficient attention to model fit, can lead to important progress in our understanding of macro-micro-macro issues. This is more a matter of promises for the future than of past achievements, however. A major reason for the limitations in the current state of the art is that the feedback issues which are essential to how networks operate, are so difficult to express in statistical models in a manageable and plausible way. In models for single (i.e., one-moment) observations of a social network, the time dimension of the feedback process is beaten flat, which leads to grave difficulties both of interpretation and of mathematical modeling. Although modeling single observations of social networks still is necessary and useful, more insight may be gained from repeated (multi-moment) observations of social networks. If such a dynamic model would include not only the relations between actors but also changing actor attributes (e.g., attitudes, behavior, performance) and the larger pattern of social settings in which networks are embedded, it would capture a great part of what we regard as macro-micro-macro processes. Such an integrated model does not yet exist, but work is currently under way toward the construction of this type of models.
Odd minimum cut sets and b-matchings revisited

The famous Padberg-Rao separation algorithm for $b$-matching polyhedra can be implemented to run in $\mathcal{O}(|V|^2|E|\log(|V|^2/|E|))$ time in the uncapacitated case, and in $\mathcal{O}(|V||E|^2\log(|V|^2/|E|))$ time in the capacitated case. We give a new and simple algorithm for the capacitated case which can be implemented to run in $\mathcal{O}(|V|^2|E|\log(|V|^2/|E|))$ time.
‘At least they’re learning something’: the hazy line between collaboration and collusion

This paper reports the results of a study which investigated whether there is a common understanding of the terms plagiarism and collusion between students and staff. Participants made judgements on scenarios describing student behaviour in assessments. The results suggest that although plagiarism is well understood, the same can not be said of collusion. Both staff and students feel that collusion is much more acceptable than plagiarism because some learning is taking place. It appears that there is no consensus on the boundary between collaborative behaviour and collusion.
Phorbol Esters: Structure, Biological Activity, and Toxicity in Animals

Phorbol esters are the tetracyclic diterpenoids generally known for their tumor promoting activity. The phorbol esters mimic the action of diacyl glycerol (DAG), activator of protein kinase C, which regulates different signal transduction pathways and other cellular metabolic activities. They occur naturally in many plants of the family Euphorbiacaeae and Thymelaeaceae. The biological activities of the phorbol esters are highly structure specific. The phorbol esters, even at very low concentrations, show toxicological manifestations in animals fed diets containing them. This toxicity limits the use of many nutritive plants and agricultural by-products containing phorbol esters to be used as animal feed. Therefore, various chemical and physical treatments have been evaluated to extract or inactivate phorbol esters so that seed meals rich in proteins could be used as feed resources. However, not much progress has been reported so far. The detoxifying ability has also been reported in some molluscs and in liver homogenate of mice. Besides, possessing antinutritional and toxic effects, few derivatives of the phorbol esters are also known for their antimicrobial and antitumor activities. The molluscicidal and insecticidal properties of phorbol esters indicate its potential to be used as an effective biopesticide and insecticide.
Compressing Propositional Refutations Using Subsumption

We describe ongoing work on the use of subsumption to remove r edundant inferences from propositional resolution refutation proofs of the style generated by conflict driven c lause learning SAT solvers. This is used for faster LCF-styl e proof replay in interactive theorem provers. There may also be an application in the extraction of small unsatisfiable co r s.
Functional Capacity and Health-Related Quality of Life in Individuals Post Stroke

Abstract Background: In individuals post stroke, cardiovascular and functional capacity is frequently reduced independent of severity. The psychological consequences of this reduction have only been briefly investigated. This study investigated the relationship between functional capacity and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in individuals post stroke. Method: Thirty subjects with a mild stroke were tested 60 ± 27 months (mean ± SD) post stroke. Functional capacity was quantified with the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) and perceived HRQoL was evaluated by using the Stroke Impact Scale (SIS) version 3.0 questionnaire. Results: The 6MWT distance walked was 353 ± 137 m, that is, 63% of the distance predicted for healthy adults. HRQoL was reduced with the lowest SIS scores in the domains of strength, hand function, and participation domains and the highest scores in the domains of mobility, communication, activities of daily living/instrumental activities of daily living (ADL/IADL), and memory. The SIS domains of hand function, strength, mobility, ADL/IADL, and participation were all positively correlated with 6MWT distance, with the strongest correlation for the latter four domains. Conclusion: Reductions in both functional capacity and HRQoL were documented. Functional capacity was positively correlated with six of the HRQoL domains and was strongest with the SIS domains most related to demands made on the individual throughout the day.
A Glimpse Behind the Mask: Facets of Narcissism and Feelings of Self-Worth

This study examined the connections that the facets of narcissism captured by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; Raskin & Hall, 1979) and the Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI; Pincus et al., 2009) have with self-esteem. This was accomplished by asking 372 participants to complete measures of narcissism and self-esteem level as well as daily diary measures concerning their state self-esteem and daily experiences. Our analyses found that the facets of narcissism differed in their associations with average level of self-esteem, fluctuations in state self-esteem over time, and self-esteem reactions following daily events. These results suggest that it is important to consider specific facets of narcissism when examining feelings of self-worth rather than relying on broader composite measures of narcissistic personality features. Implications of these results for our understanding of the dynamics of the narcissistic personality are discussed.
Aging and psychometric diagnosis of intellectual impairment: Some considerations on test scores and their use

This article discusses some problems arising from the use in diagnostics of psychometric test scores previously adjusted for the influence of age and of other concomitant variables (e.g., education). Some solutions adopted by an Italian Cooperative Study on the neuropsychological aspects of aging are reported, and the limits of the statistical processing of adjusted test scores are discussed.
Early Grouping Gets the Skew

We propose a new algorithm for external grouping with large results. Our approach handles skewed data gracefully and lowers the amount of random IO on disk considerably. Contrary to existing grouping algorithms, our new algorithm does not require the optimizer to employ complicated or error-prone procedures adjusting the parameters prior to query plan execution. We implemented several variants of our algorithm as well as the most commonly used algorithms for grouping and carried out extensive experiments on both synthetic and real data. The results of these experiments reveal the dominance of our approach. In case of heavily skewed data we outperform the other algorithms by a factor of two.
Wolves in Context: Using Survey Data to Situate Attitudes Within a Wider Cultural Framework

Studies of public attitudes toward wolves tend to be descriptive in nature, and few sophisticated analyses of complex attitude patterns have been conducted. Drawing on findings from qualitative studies, the present study analyzed nationally representative survey data from Norway in order to probe the relationships between attitudes toward wolves and such factors as education, urban/rural place of residence, cultural capital, and various value orientations: environmental orientation, general political values, and trust in formal or informal information sources. Structural equation modeling confirmed that attitudes are embedded in more general cultural patterns. Although the cultural level is influenced by structural factors, effects of the background variables were reduced or disappeared in a model that included value orientations. This finding demonstrates that in order to access the level of meaning by means of survey methods, carefully constructed instruments and causal models must be employed.
A study of tweet chats for breast cancer patients

One of the oldest patient communities on Twitter is characterized by the hashtag #bcsm, and it is a forum for breast cancer patients and survivors. This community has been hosting a weekly, moderated chat for the last three years. This paper describes work that analyzes the content of these chats and explores their effectiveness for the patients. The computational analysis compares the engagement, linguistic, and psychological facets of patients' tweets during the chats and out of the chats, and shows that there is a significant difference in the tweeting behavior by the patients in the two modes. The result shows the effectiveness of social media chats for cancer patients for the purposes of information exchange and support.
DNA Vaccines: Progress and Challenges1

In the years following the publication of the initial in vivo demonstration of the ability of plasmid DNA to generate protective immune responses, DNA vaccines have entered into a variety of human clinical trials for vaccines against various infectious diseases and for therapies against cancer, and are in development for therapies against autoimmune diseases and allergy. They also have become a widely used laboratory tool for a variety of applications ranging from proteomics to understanding Ag presentation and cross-priming. Despite their rapid and widespread development and the commonplace usage of the term “DNA vaccines,” however, the disappointing potency of the DNA vaccines in humans underscores the challenges encountered in the efforts to translate efficacy in preclinical models into clinical realities. This review will provide a brief background of DNA vaccines including the insights gained about the varied immunological mechanisms that play a role in their ability to generate immune responses.