Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Creating a Community Rather Than a Course—Possibilities and Dilemmas in an MOOC

In this article, a massive open online course (MOOC) made by and for Swedish teachers will be presented and discussed in order to determine what possibilities and dilemmas are involved when creating and participating in an MOOC that is meant to be a community rather than a course. By analysing interviews of the organisers as well as blog posts and surveys answered by participants, the conclusions that can be drawn point to the ambiguity of the boundary created between participating in a community and in a course. The way one is expected to participate in the MOOC differs from how one is usually expected to participate in professional development courses. The social aspects of a community become the focus for the participants in the MOOC rather than the content that it is addressing. The skeletal structure of the MOOC inhibits the participation of those who are unaccustomed to the digital environment where it takes place. Furthermore, the division of labour between participants and organisers is affected by the notion of course and therefore becomes ambiguous and creates tensions for both organisers and participants.
Neuropathology of AIDS: An Autopsy Review of 284 Cases from Brazil Comparing the Findings Pre- and Post-HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy) and Pre- and Postmortem Correlation

A retrospective study of central nervous system (CNS) in 284 autopsy AIDS cases in Brazil (1989–2008) divided into 3 groups: A (without antiretroviral treatment: 163 cases); B (other antiretroviral therapies: 76 cases); C (HAART for 3 months or more: 45 cases). In 165 (58.1%) cases, relevant lesions were found, predominantly infections (54.2%); the most frequent was toxoplasmosis (29.9%) followed by cryptococcosis (15.8%), purulent bacterial infections (3.9%), and HIV encephalitis (2.8%); non-Hodgkin lymphomas occurred in 1.4% and vascular lesions in 1.1%. There was no difference when compared the frequency of lesion among the groups; however, toxoplasmosis was less common while HIV encephalitis was more frequent in group C related to A. CNS lesions remain a frequent cause of death in AIDS; however, the mean survival time was four times greater in group C than in A. In 91 (55.1%) of 165 cases with relevant brain lesions (or 32% of the total 284 cases), there was discordance between pre- and postmortem diagnosis; disagreement type 1 (important disease that if diagnosed in life could change the patient prognosis) occurred in 49 (53.8%) of 91 discordant cases (17.6% of the total 284) indicating the autopsy importance, even with HAART and advanced diagnostics technologies.
Molecular modeling and analysis of fragilysin, the Bacteroides fragilis toxin.

Bacteroides fragilis is a member of the normal colonic microflora of most mammals and is the anaerobe most commonly isolated from human clinical specimens. It is associated with abscesses, soft-tissue infections, and bacteremias [1]. In the mid 1980s, Myers et al. [la] reported that some strains of B. fragilis produced a toxin that could be detected in ligated ileal loops of lambs. Since then, enterotoxigenic B. fragilis strains have been implicated as the cause of diarrhea in calves, piglets, foals, rabbits, and, more recently, humans [2]. The results from these studies together support the role of enterotoxigenic B. fragilis in gastrointestinal diseases in humans and animals. In 1992, Weikel et al. [3] showed that culture filtrates from the enterotoxigenic strains caused rapid morphological changes on human colon carcinoma cell lines, particularly HT-29, which are characterized by cell rounding and dissociation of F-actin. Furthermore, in 1996, Donelli et al. [4] showed that B. fragilis toxin-treated HT-29 cells demonstrated membrane blebbing and reorganization of their F-actin structure. We have purified the toxin (fragilysin) from culture supematants of enterotoxigenic B. fragilis. This toxin is a small polypeptide (~20,600 molecular weight) that causes fluid secretion in intestinal loops at 10 /g/mL and rounding of HT-29 cells at -10 ng/mL [5, 6]. Recently, in collaboration with Wells et al. [7], we showed that fragilysin increases bacterial intemalization and modulates the epithelial permeability of HT-29 enterocytes. Further studies at our laboratory have confirmed that fragilysin affects the tight junctions of epithelial cells (authors' unpublished data). These data suggest that fragilysin may disrupt the epithelial paracellular barrier through proteolytic degradation. The degradation of these extracellular proteins would then allow for cytoskeletal rearrangements because these proteins are directly linked through the cytoplasmic membrane [8]. We sequenced peptides obtained by proteolytic and chemical digestion of fragilysin and obtained sequences that were then used to generate primers for single specific primer (SSP)-PCR [9]. This process generated a fragment that contained a match to a consensus motif with zinc-metalloproteinases, especially within the metzincin superfamily. Further studies show that fragilysin has proteolytic activity. Fragilysin degrades a number of cellular proteins including fibrinogen, human complement C3, cytoskeletal proteins and some extracellular matrix proteins such as collagen IV [9]. We found that the purified toxin causes fluid secretion and exfoliation of the surface epithelial cells in vivo, and we have demonstrated that the proteolytic activity of the toxin is responsible for this effect [6]. Metalloproteinases have emerged as important virulence factors in a number of diverse pathogenic organisms including bacteria
A Catalog of Neutral and Deleterious Polymorphism in Yeast

The abundance and identity of functional variation segregating in natural populations is paramount to dissecting the molecular basis of quantitative traits as well as human genetic diseases. Genome sequencing of multiple organisms of the same species provides an efficient means of cataloging rearrangements, insertion, or deletion polymorphisms (InDels) and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). While inbreeding depression and heterosis imply that a substantial amount of polymorphism is deleterious, distinguishing deleterious from neutral polymorphism remains a significant challenge. To identify deleterious and neutral DNA sequence variation within Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we sequenced the genome of a vineyard and oak tree strain and compared them to a reference genome. Among these three strains, 6% of the genome is variable, mostly attributable to variation in genome content that results from large InDels. Out of the 88,000 polymorphisms identified, 93% are SNPs and a small but significant fraction can be attributed to recent interspecific introgression and ectopic gene conversion. In comparison to the reference genome, there is substantial evidence for functional variation in gene content and structure that results from large InDels, frame-shifts, and polymorphic start and stop codons. Comparison of polymorphism to divergence reveals scant evidence for positive selection but an abundance of evidence for deleterious SNPs. We estimate that 12% of coding and 7% of noncoding SNPs are deleterious. Based on divergence among 11 yeast species, we identified 1,666 nonsynonymous SNPs that disrupt conserved amino acids and 1,863 noncoding SNPs that disrupt conserved noncoding motifs. The deleterious coding SNPs include those known to affect quantitative traits, and a subset of the deleterious noncoding SNPs occurs in the promoters of genes that show allele-specific expression, implying that some cis-regulatory SNPs are deleterious. Our results show that the genome sequences of both closely and distantly related species provide a means of identifying deleterious polymorphisms that disrupt functionally conserved coding and noncoding sequences.
Preparation of desiccation-resistant aquatic-living Nostoc flagelliforme (Cyanophyceae) for potential ecological application

Nostoc flagelliforme is a terrestrial edible cyanobacterium that grows in arid and semi‐arid steppes. The continued over‐exploitation in the last century has led to a sharp decline of this resource and a severe deterioration of the steppe ecology. Liquid‐cultured N. flagelliforme serves as promising algal ‘seeds’ for resource restoration. In this study, macroscopic (or visible) aquatic‐living colonies (MaACs) of N. flagelliforme were developed under weak light and high nitrogen conditions. In a 24 day shake‐flask culture, MaACs were propagated by about 4.5‐fold in biomass without loss of their macro‐morphology; at the same time, the addition of weak UV‐B treatment resulted in slightly bigger MaACs. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) k30, a water‐soluble polymer, was used to generate the coating around MaACs, and after full desiccation, the coated MaACs could recover their photosynthetic physiological activity when rehydrated, with 4% PVP k30 for coating being most effective. In contrast, PVP k30‐coated microscopic aquatic‐living colonies of N. flagelliforme and non‐coated MaACs showed no resistance to full desiccation. The macroscopic morphology or structure of MaACs should be crucial for the formation of protection by PVP k30 coating. PVP k30‐coated MaACs were more approaching to actual application for resource restoration.
Simple Heuristics as Equilibrium Strategies in Mutual Sequential Mate Search

In this paper, we study whether simple heuristics can arise as equilibrium strategies in mutual sequential mate search. To this aim, we extend the mate search model of Todd and Miller (1999), involving an adolescence (learning) phase followed by an actual mating phase, to a strategic game where the players, as the individuals in the mating population, choose before starting the adolescence phase, the best rule - among the four available search (aspiration adjustment) rules - to maximize their likelihood of mating, given the choice of other individuals. Conducting Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the use of the Take the Next Best Rule by the whole population never becomes a (Nash) equilibrium in the simulation range of adolescence lengths. While the unanimous use of the Adjust Relative Rule by the whole population arises as an equilibrium for a wide part of the simulation range, especially for medium to high adolescence lengths, the rules Adjust Up/Down and Adjust Relative/2 are unanimously chosen as equilibrium strategies for a small part of the simulation range and only when the adolescence is long and short, respectively.
Human capital and organizational performance: a study of Egyptian software companies

Purpose – The paper seeks to test empirically a variety of hypotheses related to human capital and organizational performance within software companies in Egypt.Design/methodology/approach – A valid research instrument was utilized to conduct a survey of 38 software companies who are representative of the 107 members of the Software Industry Chamber of Egypt. A correlation analysis and stepwise regression were conducted to ascertain the validity of the hypotheses.Findings – Statistical support was found for six of the nine hypotheses tested.Research limitations/implications – One of the limitations of this study is that human capital metrics were based on CEO self‐reported scores. Thus, the ability to generalize is limited to this context.Practical implications – Of all the human capital metrics collected, the number of superstar developers seems to be the most critical variable in predicting export intensity. Superstar developers are those individuals whose productivity equals four times that of the othe.
Life-Cycle Assessment of Biodiesel Production from Microalgae

L A U R E N T L A R D O N , * , † A R N A U D H É L I A S , † , ‡ B R U N O S I A L V E , § J E A N P H I L I P P E S T E Y E R , † A N D O L I V I E R B E R N A R D § INRA, UR50 Laboratoire de Biotechnologie de l’Environnement, Avenue des Etangs, 11100 Narbonne, France, Montpellier SupAgro, 2 Place Pierre Viala, 34060 Montpellier Cedex 1, France, and Comore, INRIA, BP93, Sophia-Antipolis Cedex 06902, France
powerJava: ontologically founded roles in object oriented programming languages

In this paper we introduce a new view on roles in Object Oriented programming languages, based on an ontological analysis of roles. A role is always associated with an object instance playing the role and also to an object instance (its institution) which represents its context. The definition of a role depends on the definition of the institution. This property allows to endow role-players with powers that can modify the state of the institution and of the other roles defined in it. As an example, we introduce a role construct in Java, where the abolve features are interpreted as follows. Roles are implemented as classes, which can be instantiated only in presence of an instance of the player and of an instance of an institution. The definition of a class implementing a role is included in the class of the institution, the role belongs to. Powers are methods which can access private fields and methods of the institution they belong to, and of the other roles of the same institution.
Antibacterial and Antiproliferative Activities of Plumericin, an Iridoid Isolated from Momordica charantia Vine

Plumericin, an iridoid lactone, was isolated with relatively high yield from Momordica charantia vine using the supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and the separation box (Sepbox) comprising dual combination of high-performance liquid chromatography and solid phase extraction. This compound showed antibacterial activity against Enterococcus faecalis and Bacillus subtilis with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values better than cloxacillin. Plumericin potently inhibited proliferation of two leukemic cancer cell lines: they were acute and chronic leukemic cancer cell lines, NB4 and K562, with the effective doses (ED50) of 4.35 ± 0.21 and 5.58 ± 0.35 μg/mL, respectively. In addition, the mechanism of growth inhibition in both cell lines was induced by apoptosis, together with G2/M arrest in K562 cells.
Effect of pH on Gene Expression and Thermal Tolerance of Early Life History Stages of Red Abalone (Haliotis rufescens)

ABSTRACT A growing body of research on calcifying marine invertebrates suggests that ocean acidification will have deleterious effects on development and various physiological processes in these organisms. In laboratory experiments designed to mimic seawater chemistry in future oceans, we examined the effect of pH reduction, driven by the carbon dioxide (CO2) acidification of seawater, on larvae of the red abalone, Haliotis rufescens. Following development under CO2-acidified conditions, we measured 2 indicators of physiological response to low pH in 4 stages of larval development: (1) tolerance of acute thermal challenges and (2) quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction-determined expression of 2 genes involved in shell formation (engrailed and ap24). The results showed that low pH (pH 7.87 vs. pH 8.05 for control treatments) had a significant effect and decreased larval thermal tolerance for some developmental stages (pretorsion and late veliger), but not for others (posttorsion and premetamorphic veligers). In contrast to the thermal tolerance data, decreased pH did not affect the expression pattern of the 2 shell formation genes in any of the abalone larval stages. The results indicate larval stages were differentially sensitive to low pH conditions and this variability may play into the resilience of individual species to withstand environmental change in the longer term.
Collective Excitations of a Trapped Bose-Condensed Gas.

We investigate the low energy excitations of a dilute atomic Bose gas confined in a harmonic trap of frequency ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$ and interacting with repulsive forces. The dispersion law $\ensuremath{\omega}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}({2n}^{2}+2n\ensuremath{\ell}+3n+\ensuremath{\ell}{)}^{1/2}$ for the elementary excitations is obtained for large numbers of atoms in the trap, to be compared with the prediction $\ensuremath{\omega}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}(2n+\ensuremath{\ell})$ of the noninteracting harmonic oscillator model. Here $n$ is the number of radial nodes and $\ensuremath{\ell}$ is the orbital angular momentum. The effects of the kinetic energy pressure are estimated using a sum rule approach. Results are also presented for deformed traps and attractive forces.
Diversity increases biomass production for trematode parasites in snails

Increasing species diversity typically increases biomass in experimental assemblages. But there is uncertainty concerning the mechanisms of diversity effects and whether experimental findings are relevant to ecological process in nature. Hosts for parasites provide natural, discrete replicates of parasite assemblages. We considered how diversity affects standing-stock biomass for a highly interactive parasite guild: trematode parasitic castrators in snails. In 185 naturally occurring habitat replicates (individual hosts), diverse parasite assemblages had greater biomass than single-species assemblages, including those of their most productive species. Additionally, positive diversity effects strengthened as species segregated along a secondary niche axis (space). The most subordinate species—also the most productive when alone—altered the general positive effect, and was associated with negative diversity effects on biomass. These findings, on a previously unstudied consumer class, extend previous research to illustrate that functional diversity and species identity may generally both explain how diversity influences biomass production in natural assemblages of competing species.
“3D_Fault_Offsets,” a Matlab Code to Automatically Measure Lateral and Vertical Fault Offsets in Topographic Data: Application to San Andreas, Owens Valley, and Hope Faults

Measuring fault offsets preserved at the ground surface is of primary importance to recover earthquake and long‐term slip distributions and understand fault mechanics. The recent explosion of high‐resolution topographic data, such as Lidar and photogrammetric digital elevation models, offers an unprecedented opportunity to measure dense collections of fault offsets. We have developed a new Matlab code, 3D_Fault_Offsets, to automate these measurements. In topographic data, 3D_Fault_Offsets mathematically identifies and represents nine of the most prominent geometric characteristics of common sublinear markers along faults (especially strike slip) in 3‐D, such as the streambed (minimum elevation), top, free face and base of channel banks or scarps (minimum Laplacian, maximum gradient, and maximum Laplacian), and ridges (maximum elevation). By calculating best fit lines through the nine point clouds on either side of the fault, the code computes the lateral and vertical offsets between the piercing points of these lines onto the fault plane, providing nine lateral and nine vertical offset measures per marker. Through a Monte Carlo approach, the code calculates the total uncertainty on each offset. It then provides tools to statistically analyze the dense collection of measures and to reconstruct the prefaulted marker geometry in the horizontal and vertical planes. We applied 3D_Fault_Offsets to remeasure previously published offsets across 88 markers on the San Andreas, Owens Valley, and Hope faults. We obtained 5,454 lateral and vertical offset measures. These automatic measures compare well to prior ones, field and remote, while their rich record provides new insights on the preservation of fault displacements in the morphology.
On the Minimization of Potential Transient Errors and SER in Logic Circuits Using SPFD

Sets of Pairs of Functions to be Distinguished (SPFD) is a functional flexibility representation method that was recently introduced in the logic synthesis domain, and promises superiority in exploring the flexibility offered by a design over all previous representation methods. In this work, we illustrate how the SPFD of a particular wire reveals information regarding the number of potential transient errors that may occur on that wire and may affect the output of the circuit. Using an SPFD-based rewiring method, we then demonstrate how to evolve a logic circuit in order to minimize the total number of potential transient errors in the circuit and, consequently, reduce its Soft Error Rate (SER) while controlling the effect on the rest of the design parameters, such as area, power, delay, and testability. Experimental results on ISCAS'89 and ITC'99 benchmark circuits indicate that the SER can be reduced at no additional overhead to any of the design parameters.
Zinc-finger transcription factors and the response of non-myelinating Schwann cells to axonal injury

Terminal Schwann cells (tSCs) are non-myelinating glia that cover the nerve terminal at the neuromuscular junction. They are required for the maintenance of the neuromuscular synapse and are likely to play essential roles in the restoration of synaptic connections after nerve injury. Terminal SCs acquire a reactive phenotype after nerve damage characterized by the extension of cellular processes that may facilitate reinnervation. The molecular signaling events underpinning the tSC reactive state remain elusive, in particular, little is known about transcription factors involved in the transcriptional reprogramming during tSC activation. Prior research implicated nine members of the zinc-finger transcription factor family in SC development and myelination, and levels of one such protein were reported increased in other nonmyelinating SCs after denervation. We hypothesize that zinc-finger transcription factors could play a role during tSC activation. Because of their relative paucity, tSCs are difficult to study molecularly. Here, we used the rat cervical sympathetic trunk (CST), an autonomic nerve in which non-myelinating SCs are the predominant cell type, to isolate zinc-finger protein (ZFP) cDNAs by RT-PCR. We isolated 29 unique ZFP sequences of which zinc proliferation 1 (Zipro1) was the most abundant. We found that after CST transection, levels for Zipro1 mRNA doubled and that Zipro1 protein expression increased in non-myelinating CST SCs. We also determined that Zipro 1 is expressed in tSCs and its levels increased following skeletal muscle denervation. Thus, Zipro1 is a
Combining Evolutionary Algorithms with Constraint Solving for Configuration Optimization

In Search based Software Engineering, well-known evolutionary algorithms are utilized to find the optimal solutions and address the configuration optimization problem for software product lines and trade off multiple often competing objectives. Previous work by Henard et al. showed the weakness of the constraint expressiveness and the optimality and speed. In this work, we propose a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm, which significantly improves the expressiveness from Boolean constraints to quantifier-free first-order constraints, particularly without sacrificing much performance. Furthermore, we propose a parallel portfolio approach. Empirical results demonstrate that this approach presents the performance superiority compared with the state-off-the-art and improves optimality as far as possible within a limited time budget. Finally, we present an overview of challenges in future.