Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An effective and efficient web news extraction technique for an operational newsIR system

Web information extraction, in particular web news extraction is an open research problem and it is a key point in NewsIR systems. Current techniques fail in the quality of the results, the high computational costs or the necessity of human intervention, all of them critical issues in a real system. We present an automated approach to news recognition and extraction based on a set of heuristics about the articles structure, that is currently applied in an operational system. We also built a data set to evaluate web news extraction methods. Our results in this collection of international news, composed of 4869 web pages from 15 different on-line sources, achieved a 97% of precision and a 94% of recall for the news recognition and extraction task.
Protective role of membrane tumour necrosis factor in the host’s resistance to mycobacterial infection

Tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) plays a critical role in the recruitment and activation of mononuclear cells in mycobacterial infection. The role of membrane TNF, in host resistance against Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG), was tested in knock‐in mice in which the endogenous TNF was replaced by a non‐cleavable and regulated allele (Δ1–12, TNFtm/tm). While 100% of mice with complete TNF deficiency (TNF−/−) succumbed to infection, 50% of TNFtm/tm mice were able to control M. bovis BCG infection and survived the experimental period. Membrane expressed TNF allowed a substantial recruitment of activated T cells and macrophages with granuloma formation and expression of bactericidal inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). Using virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection we confirm that membrane TNF conferred partial protection. Infection in TNFtm/tm double transgenic mice with TNF‐R1 or TNF‐R2 suggest protection is mediated through TNF‐R2 signalling. Therefore, the data suggest that membrane‐expressed TNF plays a critical role in host defence to mycobacterial infection and may partially substitute for soluble TNF.
Packaging the Genome: the Structure of Mitotic Chromosomes

Mitotic chromosomes are essential structures for the faithful transmission of duplicated genomic DNA into two daughter cells during cell division. Although more than 100 years have passed since chromosomes were first observed, it remains unclear how a long string of genomic DNA is packaged into compact mitotic chromosomes. Although the classical view is that human chromosomes consist of radial 30 nm chromatin loops that are somehow tethered centrally by scaffold proteins, called condensins, cryo-electron microscopy observation of frozen hydrated native chromosomes reveals a homogeneous, grainy texture and neither higher-order nor periodic structures including 30 nm chromatin fibres were observed. As a compromise to fill this huge gap, we propose a model in which the radial chromatin loop structures in the classic view are folded irregularly toward the chromosome centre with the increase in intracellular cations during mitosis. Consequently, compact native chromosomes are made up primarily of irregular chromatin networks cross-linked by self-assembled condensins forming the chromosome scaffold.
Poltica Fiscal Atravs do Ciclo e Operao dos Estabilizadores Fiscais

An electronic spreadsheet of the present invention includes a scenario manager having a preferred interface and methods for creating and managing various versions or "scenarios" of a spreadsheet model. Methods are provided for specifying an area of the model to track (capture area) and capturing various versions (modifications) of the base model. Additional methods are provided for automatically identifying and reporting information cells which are affected ("changing" and "result" cells) from version to version. Preferred storage methodology is also described for maintaining multiple versions of a spreadsheet or data model.
Height distributional distance transform methods for height field ray tracing

Height distributional distance transform (HDDT) methods are introduced as a new class of methods for height field ray tracing. HDDT methods utilize results of height field preprocessing. The preprocessing involves computing a height field transform representing an array of cone-like volumes of empty space above the height field surface that are as wide as possible. There is one cone-like volume balanced on its apex centered above each height field cell. Various height field transforms of this type are developed. Each is based on distance transforms of height field horizontal cross-sections. HDDT methods trace rays through empty cone-like volumes instead of through successive height field cells. The performance of HDDT methods is evaluated experimentally against existing height field ray tracing methods.
Short-Term and Long-Term Computing Models of Internet Diameter

Internet Diameter is an Internet property defined in this paper being of great significance in measuring Internet performance. Approaches in short-term and long-term computing of Internet Diameter were mainly discussed. In short-term part, the computing approach was based on a composite mathematical model made up of a fundamental framework - logistic model, together with additional adjustment models. Parameters in the composite model were finally confirmed through rounds of calculation by Genetic Algorithm. Approach in long-term computing is somewhat more complicated compared with the short-term one. It has a preliminary requirement that the variation of Internet Diameter should have primary features of dynamic Chaos system. Then, a property of Internet Diameter in Chaos point of view, e.g., correlation dimension, was calculated. And it helped construct a system of 3-dimension equations providing practical approaches for the computation of the long-term Internet Diameter.
Driven by a Social and Interactional Routine: Responding to a Mobile Phone Summons in a Car

The article reports findings from a qualitative study that draws on the methods of conversation analysis and on audio-video recordings of ordinary, real-life, non-experimental driving situations. The article shows what happens in a car after a mobile phone summons, i.e., the initial ring or beep of a car occupantâ€™s phone. It identifies three phases (i.e., orienting to, locating and handling a phone) that follow the summons and lead to an attempt at verbally responding to the summons. It is shown that the ringing of a phone (indicating an incoming call) or the beeping of a phone (indicating an incoming text message), as a socially and interactionally significant action, is treated as requiring a more or less immediate response. It is argued that this routinization of responding to a summons explains driversâ€™, and possible passengers,â€™ use of a mobile phone while traveling in a car.
The Inverted Hierarchy of Contract Interpretation and Supplementation

Contract interpretation and supplementation is conventionally conceived of as a multistage process, in which various sources, including express terms, course of performance, course of dealing, trade usages, default rules, and general standards of reasonableness, are sequentially resorted to. The decision maker should not turn to any particular source before exhausting the previous ones, and in case of inconsistency, each source trumps the following ones. A competing theory, inspired by Karl Llewellyn, maintains that the decision maker should be free to consider all the elements of the "bargain in fact" (the first four sources in the above list). Yet, it accepts that in case of inconsistency each source governs the following ones, and disregards the role of default rules and principles of contract law in the interpretive process. This Article argues that to some extent there is indeed a hierarchy among the sources, but it is an inverted one. The inverted hierarchy emphasizes the primacy of standards of reasonableness and good faith, legal default rules, and trade usages. The argument is made on three levels. First, close examination of legal doctrines and courts' practice reveals that they better conform to the inverted hierarchy than to the conventional one. Second, based on empirical findings and on economic, sociological, and psychological insights, it is argued that the actual behavior of contracting parties largely falls into line with the inverted hierarchy. Finally, it is claimed that the inverted model is ethically superior to the conventional one. It is justified not only on the basis of social conceptions of contract law (fairness in exchange, re-distributive justice, and paternalism), but also as a means for realizing the parties' actual intentions and enhancing economic efficiency.
Quantification of the Spatial Organization of the Nuclear Lamina as a Tool for Cell Classification

The nuclear lamina is the structural scaffold of the nuclear envelope that plays multiple regulatory roles in chromatin organization and gene expression as well as a structural role in nuclear stability. The lamina proteins, also referred to as lamins, determine nuclear lamina organization and define the nuclear shape and the structural integrity of the cell nucleus. In addition, lamins are connected with both nuclear and cytoplasmic structures forming a dynamic cellular structure whose shape changes upon external and internal signals. When bound to the nuclear lamina, the lamins are mobile, have an impact on the nuclear envelop structure, and may induce changes in their regulatory functions. Changes in the nuclear lamina shape cause changes in cellular functions. A quantitative description of these structural changes could provide an unbiased description of changes in cellular function. In this review, we describe how changes in the nuclear lamina can be measured from three-dimensional images of lamins at the nuclear envelope, and we discuss how structural changes of the nuclear lamina can be used for cell classification.
Extrahepatic recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after curative hepatic resection

Backgrounds/Aims This study was designed to compare the recurrence patterns after curative hepatectomy, to compare the prognosis according to the initial site of metastasis, and to investigate the independent predictive factors associated with extrahepatic recurrence in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients after curative hepatectomy. Methods From January 2000 to July 2009, 307 patients underwent curative hepatectomies for HCC at our institution; 152 patients showed recurrences. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to their initial recurrence site: the intrahepatic recurrence (IHR) group and extrahepatic recurrence (EHR) group. The IHR group was comprised of 111 patients and the EHR group was comprised of 41 patients. The study investigated the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative factors related to the recurrence pattern retrospectively and compared the prognoses of the patients. Results A five-year survival rate after an initial recurrence was lower in the EHR group (21.5%) than the IHR group (36.3%) (p<0.001). The preoperative alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level was an independent risk factor for extrahepatic recurrence (p=0.014). Conclusions Patients with a preoperative AFP level greater than 200 ng/ml have a higher incidence of extrahepatic metastases after a curative resection of HCC. Increased level of preoperative AFP is an indication for a short-term follow up hepatectomy.
Human-Powered Wearable Computing

Batteries add size, weight, and inconvenience to present-day mobile computers. This paper explores the possibility of harnessing the energy expended during the user's everyday actions to generate power for his or her computer, thus eliminating the impediment of batteries. An analysis of power generation through leg motion is presented in depth, and a survey of other methods such as generation by breath or blood pressure, body heat, and finger and limb motion is also presented.
Why does SBVH outperform KD-tree on parallel platforms?

We spot on the performance of two acceleration data structures for electromagnetic ray tracing purposes on GPU using the CUDA programming language, namely the KD-tree and the SBVH. Our implementations have been based on the approach made available by NVIDIA which takes into account for the programming optimizations made possible by the latest version of CUDA and for the latest NVIDIA GPU architectures.
Determinants Effects of Foreign Direct Investment in Middle East and North Africa Region: Panel Cointegration Analysis

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows and their macroeconomic determinants in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region during the period 1970-2010. Using recent panel data techniques, we take into account the both hypothesis economic dependencies and structural breaks. We find that economic openness, growth rate, economic instability and exchange rate have a long-run impact on FDI inflows in our panel.
Competitive interactions between felid species may limit the southern distribution of bobcats Lynx rufus

Bobcats are opportunistic felids occurring in a diverse range of habitats and with a widespread distribution from southern Canada to southern Mexico. To explore why the bobcat’s distribution stops at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, we modelled the ecological niches, projected as potential distributions, of the felid community (bobcat Lynx rufus, puma Puma concolor, jaguar Panthera onca, margay Leopardus wiedii, jaguarundi Herpailurus yagouaroundi, and ocelot Leopardus pardalis) in southern Mexico, using occurrence data, environmental maps, the computer algorithm GARP, and a GIS platform. The resulting geographical projection of the ecological niche of bobcats extends south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, suggesting that ecological conditions exist for the establishment of populations. The overlap of the modelled distribution of the bobcat was large with that of the puma (97%), but low with that of the ocelot (44%), margay (46%), jaguar (49%), and jaguarundi (52%), the latter three having relatively similar size and feeding habits to bobcats. Moreover, an independent analysis computing a geographic co-occurrence index showed a similar trend of geographic avoidance (valuesB4.60 showing a statistically significant anti-correlation) between bobcats with the margay, ocelot, jaguarundi, and jaguar, but not with the puma (values � 0.15), while all felids, except bobcats, showed a geographic co-occurrence in southern Mexico (values ranging from 1.91 to 4.71). The Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a lowland region with subtropical habitat, is unlikely to serve as a geographic and ecological barrier to bobcats. As mammal inventories have been conducted for over a century in this region with no records of bobcats, it is unlikely that bobcats are present but have just not been seen. Fossil records also provide no support for the presence of bobcats in that region in the past. Thus, competitive interactions with other felid species appear important in limiting the southern distribution of bobcats, preventing dispersal to a suitable but geographically reduced area south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
A local appearance contextual descriptor for object matching

We present a novel approach to measuring similarity between objects based on matching local “appearance contextual descriptor”. The descriptor has two components: Histogram of Oriented Gradient feature representing local patch appearance and the contextual descriptor capturing not only the spatial distribution of the non-reference patches relative to the reference patch but also the appearance similarities between the reference patch and the non-reference patches in the region. Corresponding patches within two similar objects will have similar contextual descriptors, though the patch appearances may have some difference. We treat recognition in a nearest-neighbor classification framework and match object in regions with no prior learning. We compare our method to commonly used methods and demonstrate its applicability to object detection and recognition.
Brain Function Decline in Healthy Retired Athletes who Sustained their Last Sports Concussion in Early Adulthood

Recent studies have shown that the detrimental effects of sports concussions on cognitive and motor function may persist up to a few years post-injury. The present study sought to investigate the effects of having sustained a sports concussion more than 30 years prior to testing on cognitive and motor functions. Nineteen healthy former athletes, in late adulthood (mean age = 60.79; SD = 5.16), who sustained their last sport-related concussion in early adulthood (mean age = 26.05; SD = 9.21) were compared with 21 healthy former athletes with no history of concussion (mean age = 58.89; SD = 9.07). Neuropsychological tests sensitive to age-related changes in cognition were administered. An auditory oddball paradigm was used to evoke P3a and P3b brain responses. Four TMS paradigms were employed to assess motor cortex excitability: (i) resting motor threshold; (ii) paired-pulse intracortical inhibition and intracortical facilitation; (iii) input/output curve and (iv) cortical silent period (CSP). A rapid alternating movement task was also used to characterize motor system dysfunctions. Relative to controls, former athletes with a history of concussion had: (i) lower performance on neuropsychological tests of episodic memory and response inhibition; (ii) significantly delayed and attenuated P3a/P3b components; (iii) significantly prolonged CSP and (iv) significantly reduced movement velocity (bradykinesia). The finding that the P3, the CSP as well as neuropsychological and motor indices were altered more than three decades post-concussion provides evidence for the chronicity of cognitive and motor system changes consecutive to sports concussion.
Case Retrieval Nets in AI & Law

Knowledge in the legal domain assumes two distinct forms: case law and legislation. Case law complements legislation, and refers to the use of cases decided in court to provide interpretations to subjective aspects of the legislation. These cases are used as guidance in future similar cases. This paper presents a Case-Based Reasoning system that establishes legal case-bases, allowing the users to find and retrieve cases containing similarities with current ones. The system uses Case Retrieval Nets to index the cases, resulting in a very flexible retrieving process. Information Extraction techniques are used to semi-automate the conversion of legal texts into cases. The use of a legal ontology provides a path for integration with other systems.
The Current Incidence of Viral Disease in Korean Sweet Potatoes and Development of Multiplex RT-PCR Assays for Simultaneous Detection of Eight Sweet Potato Viruses

Sweet potato is grown extensively from tropical to temperate regions and is an important food crop worldwide. In this study, we established detection methods for 17 major sweet potato viruses using single and multiplex RT-PCR assays. To investigate the current incidence of viral diseases, we collected 154 samples of various sweet potato cultivars showing virus-like symptoms from 40 fields in 10 Korean regions, and analyzed them by RT-PCR using specific primers for each of the 17 viruses. Of the 17 possible viruses, we detected eight in our samples. Sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV) and sweet potato virus C (SPVC) were most commonly detected, infecting approximately 87% and 85% of samples, respectively. Furthermore, Sweet potato symptomless virus 1 (SPSMV-1), Sweet potato virus G (SPVG), Sweet potato leaf curl virus (SPLCV), Sweet potato virus 2 ( SPV2), Sweet potato chlorotic fleck virus (SPCFV), and Sweet potato latent virus (SPLV) were detected in 67%, 58%, 47%, 41%, 31%, and 20% of samples, respectively. This study presents the first documented occurrence of four viruses (SPVC, SPV2, SPCFV, and SPSMV-1) in Korea. Based on the results of our survey, we developed multiplex RT-PCR assays for simple and simultaneous detection of the eight sweet potato viruses we recorded.
General soft terms from Supergravity including D-terms

We derive general expressions for soft terms in supergravity where D-terms contribute significantly to the supersymmetry breaking. Such D-terms can produce large splitting between scalar and fermionic partners in the spectrum. By requiring that supersymmetry breaking sets the cosmological constant to zero, we then parameterize the soft terms when D-terms dominate over F-terms or are comparable to them. We present an application of our results to the split supersymmetry scenario and briefly address the issue of moduli stabilisation.
Suppression of ipsilateral motor cortex facilitates motor skill learning

The primary motor cortex (M1) plays a critical role in early aspects of motor skill learning. Given the notion of inter‐hemispheric competition, unilateral disruption of M1 may increase excitability of the unaffected motor cortex and thus improve motor learning with the ipsilateral hand. We applied slow‐frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) before the initiation of practice of a simple motor skill. Participants were randomly divided into three stimulation groups: (i) ipsilateral M1; (ii) contralateral M1; and (iii) Cz (control site). The mean execution time and error rate were recorded in four sessions distributed over 2 days. Disruption of M1 with rTMS slowed down skill acquisition with the contralateral hand, albeit non significantly, but paradoxically enhanced learning with the ipsilateral hand. This was evidenced by a significant decrease of execution time at the end of day 1 in the group that received rTMS over the ipsilateral M1 compared with both control groups (Cz and contralateral M1 stimulation). This supports the notion of inter‐hemispheric competition and provides novel insights that may be applicable to neurorehabilitation.
Clinical and virological response to antiretroviral drugs among HIV patients on first-line treatment in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.

INTRODUCTION In Tanzania, the follow-up on antiretroviral therapy (ART) response is based on clinical outcomes. We investigated virological response and ARV resistance mutations in relation to clinical response in ARV-treated patients. METHODOLOGY A cross-sectional study of a cohort of 150 patients taking first-line ART in Dar-es-Salaam was conducted. Data were collected using standardized questionnaires and patients' blood samples. HIV viral load testing and genotyping was performed on all viremic samples. Statistical analyses compared clinical responders and non-responders. RESULTS The median time on ART was 20 months; 71 (47%) patients were ART clinical responders. Clinical non-responders were more likely to have started ART with advanced disease with significantly lower median percentage weight gain (6% versus 20%) with respect to pre-treatment levels. Sixty-one (86%) and 64 (81%) of clinical responders and non-responders, respectively, had undetectable viral loads. Genotyping was successful in 24 (96%) virologically failing patients, among whom 83% had resistance mutations; 67% had dual nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI)/non-NRTI (NNRTI) resistance mutations. Seventeen (71%) and 19 (79%) patients had NRTI and NNRTI resistance mutations, respectively, which were related to the ART in use, with no difference between clinical responders and non-responders. The most prevalent subtypes were A and C, found in 9 (38%) and 7 (29%) patients, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The observed virological response was high and did not correlate with clinical response. The prevalence of ARV resistance mutations was high in viraemic patients and was related to the ARV prescribed. We recommend use of viral load monitoring during ART in Tanzania.