Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Singular Solutions of the Biharmonic Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation

We consider singular solutions of the $L^2$-critical biharmonic nonlinear Schrodinger equation. We prove that the blowup rate is bounded by a quartic-root, the solution approaches a quasi–self-similar profile, and a finite amount of $L^2$-norm, which is no less than the critical power, concentrates into the singularity. We also prove the existence of a ground-state solution. We use asymptotic analysis to show that the blowup rate of peak-type singular solutions is slightly faster than that of a quartic-root, and the self-similar profile is given by the ground-state standing wave. These findings are verified numerically (up to focusing levels of $10^8$) using an adaptive grid method. We also use the spectral renormalization method to compute the ground state of the standing-wave equation, and the critical power for collapse, in one, two, and three dimensions.
Herschel–ATLAS: counterparts from the ultraviolet–near-infrared in the science demonstration phase catalogue

We present a technique to identify optical counterparts of 250-μm-selected sources from the Herschel–ATLAS survey. Of the 6621 250 μm > 32-mJy sources in our science demonstration catalogue we find that ∼60 per cent have counterparts brighter than r = 22.4 mag in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Applying a likelihood ratio technique we are able to identify 2423 of the counterparts with a reliability R > 0.8. This is approximately 37 per cent of the full 250-μm catalogue. We have estimated photometric redshifts for each of these 2423 reliable counterparts, while 1099 also have spectroscopic redshifts collated from several different sources, including the GAMA survey. We estimate the completeness of identifying counterparts as a function of redshift, and present evidence that 250-μm-selected Herschel–ATLAS galaxies have a bimodal redshift distribution. Those with reliable optical identifications have a redshift distribution peaking at z ≈ 0.25 ± 0.05, while submillimetre colours suggest that a significant fraction with no counterpart above the r-band limit have z > 1. We also suggest a method for selecting populations of strongly lensed high-redshift galaxies. Our identifications are matched to UV–NIR photometry from the GAMA survey, and these data are available as part of the Herschel–ATLAS public data release.
Cell type‐dependent activation of 5‐lipoxygenase by arachidonic acid

5‐Lipoxygenase (5‐LO) is the key enzyme in the biosynthesis of proinflammatory leukotrienes. We show that stimulation of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL), rat basophilic leukemia (RBL)‐1, or transfected HeLa cells with arachidonic acid (AA) caused prominent 5‐LO product formation that coincided with the activity of extracellular signal‐regulated kinases (ERKs) and p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase. 5‐LO product formation in AA‐stimulated PMNL and RBL‐1 cells was independent of Ca2+. However, in HeLa cells expressing a 5‐LO mutant lacking potential 5‐LO phosphorylation sites, removal of Ca2+ caused a prominent loss of 5‐LO activity. For Mono Mac 6 (MM6) cells, A failed to activate ERKs, and AA‐induced 5‐LO product formation was only minute. Also, activation of ERKs by phorbol esters did not lead to prominent 5‐LO product synthesis. Instead, 5‐LO activation in MM6 cells required Ca2+ or alternative signaling pathways induced by hyperosmotic stress. In summary, mechanisms for activation of 5‐LO differ considerably between cell types.
KDP Aqueous Solution-in-Oil Microemulsion for Ultra-Precision Chemical-Mechanical Polishing of KDP Crystal

A novel functional KH2PO4 (KDP) aqueous solution-in-oil (KDP aq/O) microemulsion system for KDP crystal ultra-precision chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) was prepared. The system, which consisted of decanol, Triton X-100, and KH2PO4 aqueous solution, was available at room temperature. The functional KDP aq/O microemulsion system was systematically studied and applied as polishing solution to KDP CMP technology. In this study, a controlled deliquescent mechanism was proposed for KDP polishing with the KDP aq/O microemulsion. KDP aqueous solution, the chemical etchant in the polishing process, was caged into the micelles in the microemulsion, leading to a limitation of the reaction between the KDP crystal and KDP aqueous solution only if the microemulsion was deformed under the effect of the external force. Based on the interface reaction dynamics, KDP aqueous solutions with different concentrations (cKDP) were applied to replace water in the traditional water-in-oil (W/O) microemulsion. The practicability of the controlled deliquescent mechanism was proved by the decreasing material removal rate (MRR) with the increasing of the cKDP. As a result, the corrosion pits on the KDP surface were avoided to some degree. Moreover, the roughnesses of KDP with KDP aq/O microemulsion (cKDP was changed from 10 mM to 100 mM) as polishing solutions were smaller than that with the W/O microemulsion. The smallest surface root-mean-square roughness of 1.5 nm was obtained at a 30 mmol/L KDP aq solution, because of the most appropriate deliquescent rate and MRR.
Dicer Is Required for Maintaining Adult Pancreas

Dicer1, an essential component of RNA interference and the microRNA pathway, has many important roles in the morphogenesis of developing tissues. Dicer1 null mice have been reported to die at E7.5; therefore it is impossible to study its function in adult tissues. We previously reported that Dicer1-hypomorphic mice, whose Dicer1 expression was reduced to 20% in all tissues, were unexpectedly viable. Here we analyzed these mice to ascertain whether the down-regulation of Dicer1 expression has any influence on adult tissues. Interestingly, all tissues of adult (8–10 week old) Dicer1-hypomorphic mice were histologically normal except for the pancreas, whose development was normal at the fetal and neonatal stages; however, morphologic abnormalities in Dicer1-hypomorphic mice were detected after 4 weeks of age. This suggested that Dicer1 is important for maintaining the adult pancreas.
Yeast H2A.Z, FACT complex and RSC regulate transcription of tRNA gene through differential dynamics of flanking nucleosomes

FACT complex is involved in elongation and ensures fidelity in the initiation step of transcription by RNA polymerase (pol) II. Histone variant H2A.Z is found in nucleosomes at the 5′-end of many genes. We report here H2A.Z-chaperone activity of the yeast FACT complex on the short, nucleosome-free, non-coding, pol III-transcribed yeast tRNA genes. On a prototype gene, yeast SUP4, chromatin remodeler RSC and FACT regulate its transcription through novel mechanisms, wherein the two gene-flanking nucleosomes containing H2A.Z, play different roles. Nhp6, which ensures transcription fidelity and helps load yFACT onto the gene flanking nucleosomes, has inhibitory role. RSC maintains a nucleosome abutting the gene terminator downstream, which results in reduced transcription rate in active state while H2A.Z probably helps RSC in keeping the gene nucleosome-free and serves as stress-sensor. All these factors maintain an epigenetic state which allows the gene to return quickly from repressed to active state and tones down the expression from the active SUP4 gene, required probably to maintain the balance in cellular tRNA pool.
Information Literacy and Digital Divide: The Case of the University of Botswana Students Studying Part-Time.

In Botswana, the costs and requirements to study full-time are very high. Not everyone can afford to study full-time without forfeiting their current roles, for example, in 1999 the Center for Continuing Education (CCE) in Botswana launched a Diploma in Primary Education distance education programme, to upgrade academic and professional qualifications of some 8000 primary certificate holders to diploma level. However, those teachers could not be released to attend courses in conventional institutions without compromising primary school work progress (Nage-Sibande, 2005: 250). Sometimes work and family life are core determinants to furthering education. Universities provide opportunities for students to choose their mode of learning as well as setting their pace of study. The University of Botswana (UB) like many other universities around the globe offers students the option to study and carry out other life commitments at the same time. This is in realization of the fact that learning part-time is a very important alternative and an opportunity for people to continue learning while they go on with their normal workloads and family or community responsibilities (Nage-Sibande, 2005). This paper will focus on students pursuing Part-time Diploma in Accounting and Business Studies programme (DABS) based at different geographical locations in the country. It is intended to discuss the plight of these students with regards to their lack of participation in the information literacy skills programme (ILS) offered to full-time undergraduate students as well as the inadequate access to both Information and Communication Technology and library resources. The paper will also discuss how their lack of access to ICT resources continues to widen the digital divide between those having access and those without access. Based on the authors’ past participation in the teaching of ILS to DABS students it will discuss the pivotal role played by UB staff in the teaching of Information Literacy Skills (ILS) to DABS students as well as the collaborations and partnerships between librarians and other stakeholders such as the Extra Mural Unit of the Center for Continuing Education (CCE); Communication and Study Skills Unit (CSSU) and Computer Science which made it possible for Librarians to actively participate in the teaching of ILS. Further, the paper will discuss the problems experienced regarding issues of student support and access to and provision of resources, which are essential to the successful provision of courses taken by part-time students. Lastly, the paper will discuss efforts made by the CCE, North branch library, in Francistown, which is the outreach arm of the Department of Library Services at UB, in ensuring that library materials are provided to satellite centers outside Francistown through Technical Colleges, and the challenges experienced in the process.
A Comparative Study of Data-Flow Architectures

educational or research purposes on condition that (1) this copyright notice is included, (2) proper attribution to the author or authors is made and (3) no commercial gain is involved. Abstract Partly as a result of the diversity of the architectures and system software, Data-Flow systems have not been compared directly. In this paper, three widely different Data-Flow systems are compared using a relatively uniform metric which is representative of the actual amount "work" performed by these systems to execute a small collection of common benchmarks. One feature, common to all Data-Flow systems, forms the basis for a metric for "work", the creation of tokens. By counting the creation of tokens in all parts of a Data-Flow system, an accurate measure of the work performed can be obtained. The three systems compared are the Manchester Data-Flow Machine, the Stateless Data-Flow Architecture (also from Manchester), and the CSIRAC II machine. All machines perform approximately the same amount of work when solving a collection of benchmark problems, but two systems (CSIRAC II and SDFA) exhibit successful exploitation of a memory hierarchy.
DRAPS: A Framework for Dynamic Reconfigurable Protocol Stacks

Forthcoming networked systems require mechanisms for on-the-fly reconfiguration in their protocol stacks to be able to operate in different situations and networks. Since every protocol in a protocol stack has at least one peer protocol in another system, dynamic reconfiguration of a protocol raises the need for reconfiguration in the peer stack. For an assured dynamic (run-time) reconfiguration, executions of two peer protocols are stopped in a safe state, new protocols are initialized, and stacks switch to the new protocols at the same time. This paper proposes a software framework for dynamic reconfiguration of two communicating protocol stacks. A distributed algorithm is implemented in the framework of two communicating stacks in order to present an assured and synchronous reconfiguration of protocols. For demonstration, we have implemented a prototype of the framework and the algorithm to reconfigure two communicating TCP components by their secure version.
The Elevated Expression of a Mismatch Repair Protein Is a Predictor for Biochemical Recurrence After Radical Prostatectomy

Purpose: The inability to predict clinical outcome of prostate cancer is a major impediment to effective treatment decisions and patient counseling. New markers of recurrence are needed to improve the accuracy of risk assessment and treatment of prostate cancer. Our previous studies identified a mismatch repair protein, PMS2, to be elevated in prostate cancer; here, we investigate the prognostic potential of this marker. We hypothesized that the elevation of PMS2 would correlate with disease outcome. Experimental Design: Retrospective quantitative immunohistochemistry was done to measure PMS2 in high-grade cancers of 166 men treated by radical prostatectomy with a biochemical recurrence rate of 56%. Associations between PMS2 levels, pathologic variables, and biochemical recurrence over time were determined. Results: The mean level of PMS2 protein was consistently higher in both cancer-associated benign epithelium and cancer cells of patients who recurred, compared with nonrecurrent patients. PMS2 was an independent predictor of time-to-recurrence in Cox multivariate analyses and significantly stratified patients based on outcome. PMS2 was able to improve the sensitivity of total percent Gleason 4/5 as a risk factor for recurrence in this cohort. Conclusions: PMS2 protein levels were shown to be a predictor of time-to-recurrence after surgery. This study is the first to document that the elevation of a mismatch repair protein negatively correlates with prognosis and has implications in patient diagnosis and molecular profiling. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(1):57–64)
Road Traffic Congestion and Public Information: An Experimental Investigation

This paper reports two laboratory studies designed to study the impact of public information about past departure rates on congestion levels and travel costs. Our experimental design is based on a discrete version of Arnott, de Palma, and Lindsey’s (1990) bottleneck model where subjects have to choose their departure time in order to reach a common destination. Experimental treatments in our first study differ in terms of the level of public information on past departure rates and the relative cost of delay. In all treatments, congestion occurs and the observed total travel costs match the predicted ones. In other words, subjects' capacity to coordinate is neither affected by the availability of public information on past departure rates nor by the relative cost of delay. This absence of treatment effects is confirmed by our finding that a parameter-free reinforcement learning model best characterizes individual behavior. The number of experimental subjects taking the role of drivers is four times larger in our second study than in our first study. We observe that subjects’ capacity to coordinate is not affected by the size of the population.
Distinct Functions of POT1 at Telomeres

ABSTRACT The mammalian protein POT1 binds to telomeric single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), protecting chromosome ends from being detected as sites of DNA damage. POT1 is composed of an N-terminal ssDNA-binding domain and a C-terminal protein interaction domain. With regard to the latter, POT1 heterodimerizes with the protein TPP1 to foster binding to telomeric ssDNA in vitro and binds the telomeric double-stranded-DNA-binding protein TRF2. We sought to determine which of these functions—ssDNA, TPP1, or TRF2 binding—was required to protect chromosome ends from being detected as DNA damage. Using separation-of-function POT1 mutants deficient in one of these three activities, we found that binding to TRF2 is dispensable for protecting telomeres but fosters robust loading of POT1 onto telomeric chromatin. Furthermore, we found that the telomeric ssDNA-binding activity and binding to TPP1 are required in cis for POT1 to protect telomeres. Mechanistically, binding of POT1 to telomeric ssDNA and association with TPP1 inhibit the localization of RPA, which can function as a DNA damage sensor, to telomeres.
On the problem of optimizing data transfers for complex memory systems

Parallel supercomputers architectures with complex memory hierarchies or distributed memory systems have become very common. Unfortunately, the problems associated with restructuring software to take advantage of these memory systems are not easily solved. This paper presents an overview of some of the mathematical issues behind several of these problems and attempts to give a brief look at some of the potential solutions.
Straight after the turn: The role of the parietal lobes in egocentric space processing

ABSTRACT Spatial information processing with respect to an egocentric reference frame has been shown to recruit a fronto-parietal network along the dorsal stream. The present study investigates how brain lesions in the relevant areas affect the ability to navigate through computer-simulated tunnels shown from a first person perspective. Our results suggest that parietal, but not frontal, patients are impaired in this task. They confused the direction of tunnel turns more frequently and made less accurate judgments about the location of the end position. Errors in map drawing suggest that the impairment may be linked to deficits in updating cognitive heading in the absence of corresponding perceptual information from the virtual environment.
A Comprehensive Literature Review for Soil Covers and the Role of Rainfall Runoff in Soil Atmospheric Modelling

Soil cover systems are routinely designed to isolate mine waste that is prone to forming Acid Rock Drainage (ARD). The purpose of these covers is to prevent water and oxygen contact with sulphide bearing mine waste, thus avoid their oxidation. As a part of the cover design procedure, infiltration models are utilized to predict net infiltration into the cover system. In order to verify that the mechanisms used in these models are physically correct, these models require calibration. This is attainable by performing water balance controls, which require surface runoff measurements. This study presents a comprehensive literature review of the available models that predict rainfall runoff for soil cover systems design. A detailed discussion of the factors that influence rainfall runoff is also presented. In summary, it was concluded that available models to predict rainfall runoff are rare, and there is a need for improvements of existing models and/or developing new reliable models.
Adoption of e-assessment in Strathmore University

ICT can contribute to the development and efficiency of education management and administration. Efforts to introduce ICT in teaching, learning and assessment aim to help meet a wide variety of goals in the education sector. This paper is based on a research project that was carried out in Strathmore University by @iLabAfrica, funded by the Kenya Education Network (KENET). The research was driven by challenges facing traditional assessment of large classes. It aimed at identifying e-assessment tools, evaluating if differences existed between performances of students examined with traditional assessment and those examined with e-assessment and investigating the feasibility of implementing e-assessment to complement eLeaming in the University. Findings revealed that a variety of tools existed and that e-assessment was better than traditional assessment in terms of students' performance, management of large classes, flexibility and cost effectiveness.
A Comparison of Standard vs. Breakaway Bases: An Analysis of a Preventative Intervention for Softball and Baseball Foot and Ankle Injuries

More than 40 million individuals participate in organized baseball and softball leagues in the United States every year. Unfortunately, it has also been estimated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission that softball and baseball are the two main sports leading to emergency-room visits in the United States. A previous field study has determined that the utilization of breakaway bases has the potential of preventing 96% of sliding injuries, thereby preventing 1.7 million injuries a year in the United States with a savings of $2 billion a year in health care costs. It is the purpose of this study to analyze and compare the potential attenuating capabilities of various types of bases. We found the force at the ankle upon impact when compared to the standard base revealed all breakaway bases reduced the force of impact to a statistically significant level. The force at the foot upon impact when compared to the standard base revealed all breakaway bases reduced the force at variable levels, with the Rogers bases having the only statistically significant reduction. However, the force delivered to the tibia/fibula was increased with the Stay Down and Mag-Net large bases as compared to the standard stationary base. The moments of inversion/eversion and dorsiflexion/plantar flexion upon impact, when compared to the standard base, revealed all safety bases were reduced to a statistically significant level. We conclude breakaway bases reduce the force of impact and moments to a statistically significant level and confirm previous field studies. Though there is a difference among the breakaway bases themselves, they should be used on all fields.
A review of current statistical methodologies for in-storage sampling and surveillance in the grains industry

Abstract Effective, statistically robust sampling and surveillance strategies form an integral component of large agricultural industries such as the grains industry. Intensive in-storage sampling is essential for pest detection, integrated pest management (IPM), to determine grain quality and to satisfy importing nation's biosecurity concerns, while surveillance over broad geographic regions ensures that biosecurity risks can be excluded, monitored, eradicated or contained within an area. In the grains industry, a number of qualitative and quantitative methodologies for surveillance and in-storage sampling have been considered. Primarily, research has focussed on developing statistical methodologies for in-storage sampling strategies concentrating on detection of pest insects within a grain bulk; however, the need for effective and statistically defensible surveillance strategies has also been recognised. Interestingly, although surveillance and in-storage sampling have typically been considered independently, many techniques and concepts are common between the two fields of research. This review aims to consider the development of statistically based in-storage sampling and surveillance strategies and to identify methods that may be useful for both surveillance and in-storage sampling. We discuss the utility of new quantitative and qualitative approaches, such as Bayesian statistics, fault trees and more traditional probabilistic methods and show how these methods may be used in both surveillance and in-storage sampling systems.