Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diagnostics with answer sets: Dealing with unobservable fluents

In this paper we present the architecture for an agent capable of operating a physical device and performing diagnosis and repair of the device when malfunctions occur. We expand the algorithm for diagnostics and repair from our previous work to domains in which the states of some components are not observable. The algorithm, based on our new formalism of testing, employs the multiple computation of stable models.
FACTORS INFLUENCING MOBILE SERVICES ADOPTION: A BRAND-EQUITY PERSPECTIVE

The purpose of this study is to develop and validate empirically a research model that depicts the relationships between the identified key value proposition attributes of mobile value-added services and the core factors of brand equity. Survey data collected from 497 mobile value-added service consumers were examined using structural equation modeling to validate the research model. The results show that the mobile service attributes of personalization, and identifiability have significant positive determines ‎ on the key brand equity factors, including brand loyalty, perceived quality, and brand awareness. Additionally, the results approve the significance of all three of the brand equity factors in interpreting consumer purchase goal in the context of mobile value-added service consumption. The research results provide insights into how mobile value-added services may be better designed and delivered to increase brand equity and, in turn, profits.
Considerations for source pulses and antennas in UWB radio systems

This paper addresses two vital design considerations in ultrawide-band radio systems. One is that radiated power density spectrum shaping must comply with certain emission limit mask for coexistence with other electronic systems. Another is that the design of source pulses and transmitting/receiving antennas should be optimal for the performance of overall systems. The design of source pulses and transmitting/receiving antennas under the two considerations is discussed. First, the characteristics of transmitting/receiving antenna systems are described by a system transfer function. Then, the design of source pulses and transmitting antennas are studied based on the considerations for emission limits. Finally, the design of transmitting and receiving antennas are investigated in terms of pulse fidelity and system transmission efficiency. In the studies, thin wire dipoles with narrow bandwidths and planar dipoles with broad bandwidths are exemplified.
Transcriptome-Wide Analysis of Uncapped mRNAs in Arabidopsis Reveals Regulation of mRNA Degradation[W]

The composition of the transcriptome is determined by a balance between mRNA synthesis and degradation. An important route for mRNA degradation produces uncapped mRNAs, and this decay process can be initiated by decapping enzymes, endonucleases, and small RNAs. Although uncapped mRNAs are an important intermediate for mRNA decay, their identity and abundance have never been studied on a large scale until recently. Here, we present an experimental method for transcriptome-wide profiling of uncapped mRNAs that can be used in any eukaryotic system. We applied the method to study the prevalence of uncapped transcripts during the early stages of Arabidopsis thaliana flower development. Uncapped transcripts were identified for the majority of expressed genes, although at different levels. By comparing uncapped RNA levels with steady state overall transcript levels, our study provides evidence for widespread mRNA degradation control in numerous biological processes involving genes of varied molecular functions, implying that uncapped mRNA levels are dynamically regulated. Sequence analyses identified structural features of transcripts and cis-elements that were associated with different levels of uncapping. These transcriptome-wide profiles of uncapped mRNAs will aid in illuminating new regulatory mechanisms of eukaryotic transcriptional networks.
Characteristics and personality profiles of first 100 patients admitted to a secure forensic adolescent hospital

ABSTRACT Bluebird House is a mixed-gender adolescent medium-secure forensic unit. There is a paucity of data available about this unique patient group. We aimed to explore the demographic, clinical and personality characteristics of the first 100 patients admitted to a mixed-gender adolescent medium-secure forensic unit. We used a retrospective cross-sectional study of the first 100 consecutive patients admitted to Bluebird House. Demographic and clinical data were collected from the medical notes including the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory. The first 100 young people admitted to an adolescent medium-secure unit have had very high incident rates, particularly amongst the females. Incident rate was correlated with a history of sexual assault in female patients. The males were more likely to have been referred from custody and more likely to have a diagnosis of psychosis or autism. We describe similarities and differences to the first 100 admissions admitted to the first secure psychiatric unit for adolescents in Manchester over 20 years ago.
Impact of the ground plane topology on the performances of a pyramidal multiband quadri-element antenna

This paper presents investigations performed on the ground plane topology of a pyramidal multiband quadri-element antenna recently introduced mainly for radio navigation applications. The analyses led to a new topology of ground plane that reduces the overall height of the antenna without affecting the electrical performances of the antenna, mainly input matching and radiation patterns. A solution with flat ground plane is also investigated for applications requiring further compactness. Simulations results are presented for the different considered design assuming a frequency plan including radio navigation frequency bands (L1/L5) as well as satellite telemetry frequency band (S-band). Only the lower frequency band is considered as it is the one mostly affected by the ground plane topology.
A Novel Visual Cryptography Scheme

Visual Cryptography is a new cryptographic technique which allows visual information (pictures, text, etc.) to be encrypted in such a way that the decryption can be performed by human, without any decryption algorithm. Here we propose a Data hiding in halftone images using conjugate ordered dithering (DHCOD) algorithm which is a modified version of Data hiding in halftone images using conjugate error diffusion technique (DHCED). We use this DHOCD algorithm for proposing a new three phase visual cryptography scheme. DHCOD technique is used to hide an binary visual pattern in two or more ordered dither halftone images, which can be from the same or different multi-tone images. In proposed scheme we shall generate the shares using basic visual cryptography model and then embed them into a cover image using a DHCOD technique, so that the shares will be more secure and meaningful.
Virtual groundwater transfers from overexploited aquifers in the United States

Significance Irrigated agriculture is contributing to the depletion of the Central Valley, High Plains, and Mississippi Embayment aquifer systems. Agricultural production within these aquifer regions comprises a significant portion of the domestic and international cereal supply; thus, potential food security implications arise if production significantly decreases to bring groundwater withdrawals within sustainable limits. For the first time to our knowledge, this study tracks and quantifies the food and embodied groundwater resources from these aquifer systems to their final destination and determines the major US cities, US states, and countries that are currently most reliant upon them. Tracing virtual groundwater transfers highlights the role of distant demands on local groundwater sustainability and the fact that aquifer depletion must be considered within its global context. The High Plains, Mississippi Embayment, and Central Valley aquifer systems within the United States are currently being overexploited for irrigation water supplies. The unsustainable use of groundwater resources in all three aquifer systems intensified from 2000 to 2008, making it imperative that we understand the consumptive processes and forces of demand that are driving their depletion. To this end, we quantify and track agricultural virtual groundwater transfers from these overexploited aquifer systems to their final destination. Specifically, we determine which US metropolitan areas, US states, and international export destinations are currently the largest consumers of these critical aquifers. We draw upon US government data on agricultural production, irrigation, and domestic food flows, as well as modeled estimates of agricultural virtual water contents to quantify domestic transfers. Additionally, we use US port-level trade data to trace international exports from these aquifers. In 2007, virtual groundwater transfers from the High Plains, Mississippi Embayment, and Central Valley aquifer systems totaled 17.93 km3, 9.18 km3, and 6.81 km3, respectively, which is comparable to the capacity of Lake Mead (35.7 km3), the largest surface reservoir in the United States. The vast majority (91%) of virtual groundwater transfers remains within the United States. Importantly, the cereals produced by these overexploited aquifers are critical to US food security (contributing 18.5% to domestic cereal supply). Notably, Japan relies upon cereals produced by these overexploited aquifers for 9.2% of its domestic cereal supply. These results highlight the need to understand the teleconnections between distant food demands and local agricultural water use.
Qualitative properties of ionic flows via Poisson-Nernst-Planck systems with Bikerman's local hard-sphere potential: Ion size effects

We study a quasi-one-dimensional steady-state Poisson-Nernst-Planck model for ionic flows through membrane channels with fixed boundary ion concentrations and electric potentials. We consider two ion species, one positively charged and one negatively charged, and assume zero permanent charge. Bikerman's local hard-sphere potential is included in the model to account for ion size effects on the ionic flow. The model problem is treated as a boundary value problem of a singularly perturbed differential system. Our analysis is based on the geometric singular perturbation theory but, most importantly, on specific structures of this concrete model. The existence of solutions to the boundary value problem for small ion sizes is established and, treating the ion sizes as small parameters, we also derive approximations of individual fluxes and I-V (current-voltage) relations, from which qualitative properties of ionic flows related to ion sizes are studied. A detailed characterization of complicated interactions among multiple and physically crucial parameters for ionic flows, such as boundary concentrations and potentials, diffusion coefficients and ion sizes, is provided.
Dissimilarity in the Folding of Human Cytosolic Creatine Kinase Isoenzymes

Creatine kinase (CK, EC 2.7.3.2) plays a key role in the energy homeostasis of excitable cells. The cytosolic human CK isoenzymes exist as homodimers (HMCK and HBCK) or a heterodimer (MBCK) formed by the muscle CK subunit (M) and/or brain CK subunit (B) with highly conserved three-dimensional structures composed of a small N-terminal domain (NTD) and a large C-terminal domain (CTD). The isoforms of CK provide a novel system to investigate the sequence/structural determinants of multimeric/multidomain protein folding. In this research, the role of NTD and CTD as well as the domain interactions in CK folding was investigated by comparing the equilibrium and kinetic folding parameters of HMCK, HBCK, MBCK and two domain-swapped chimeric forms (BnMc and MnBc). Spectroscopic results indicated that the five proteins had distinct structural features depending on the domain organizations. MBCK BnMc had the smallest CD signals and the lowest stability against guanidine chloride-induced denaturation. During the biphasic kinetic refolding, three proteins (HMCK, BnMc and MnBc), which contained either the NTD or CTD of the M subunit and similar microenvironments of the Trp fluorophores, refolded about 10-fold faster than HBCK for both the fast and slow phase. The fast folding of these three proteins led to an accumulation of the aggregation-prone intermediate and slowed down the reactivation rate thereby during the kinetic refolding. Our results suggested that the intra- and inter-subunit domain interactions modified the behavior of kinetic refolding. The alternation of domain interactions based on isoenzymes also provides a valuable strategy to improve the properties of multidomain enzymes in biotechnology.
Entity-Based System Dynamics

We describe a new platform for system dynamics modeling that supports detailed and object oriented modeling while preserving attractive features of existing tools, including a completely declarative language with a graphical representation. New concepts supporting this platform include collections of entities, attributes, relationships, aggregation and allocation functions, and actions, which are presented with examples. The design facilitates modularity and collaboration, provides a more natural description of detail than arrays, and solves sparse matrix problems. It has application to both traditional system dynamics, with modular sectors, and to agent based modeling.
PENGARUH GAYA KEPEMIMPINAN DAN DISIPLIN KERJA TERHADAP KINERJA PEGAWAI BADAN PENANAMAN MODAL DAN PROMOSI PROVINSI SUMATERA UTARA

Abstrak : Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh gaya kepemimpinan dan disiplin kerja terhadap kinerja pegawai pada badan penanaman modal dan promosi provinsi sumatera utara dengan jumlah populasi 60 orang. H asil dari penelitian bahwa variabel gaya kepemimpinan berpengaruh terhadap kepuasan kerja sebesar 3,726, variabel komunikasi berpengaruh terhadap kepuasan kerja sebesar 2,224, variabel gaya kepemimpinan dan komunikasi secara bersama-sama berpengaruh terhadap kepuasan kerja sebesar 15.495. Dapat disimpulkan bahwa ada pengaruh posoitif dan signifikan antara gaya kepemimpinan dan komunikasi terhadap kepuasan kerja pegawai pada Badan Penanaman Modal Dan Promosi Provinsi Sumatera Utara. Kata kunci : Gaya Kepemimpinan, Disiplin Kerja, Kinerja Pegawai
A damage detection method for instrumented civil structures using prerecorded Green’s functions and cross-correlation

Automated damage detection methods have application to instrumented structures that are susceptible to types of damage that are difficult or costly to detect. The presented method has application to the detection of brittle fracture of welded beam-column connections in steel moment-resisting frames (MRFs), where locations of potential structural damage are known a priori. The method makes use of a prerecorded catalog of Green’s function templates and a cross-correlation method to detect the occurrence, location, and time of structural damage in an instrumented building. Unlike existing methods, the method is designed to recognize and use mechanical waves radiated by the original brittle fracture event, where the event is not known to have occurred with certainty and the resulting damage may not be visible. An experimental study is conducted to provide insight into applying the method to a building. A tap test is performed on a small-scale steel frame to test whether cross-correlation techniques and catalogued Green’s function templates can be used to identify the occurrence and location of an assumed-unknown event. Results support the idea of using a nondestructive force to characterize the building response to high-frequency dynamic failure such as weld fracture.
Direct binding of TUBB3 with DCC couples netrin-1 signaling to intracellular microtubule dynamics in axon outgrowth and guidance

Summary The coupling of axon guidance cues, such as netrin-1, to microtubule (MT) dynamics is essential for growth cone navigation in the developing nervous system. However, whether axon guidance signaling regulates MT dynamics directly or indirectly is unclear. Here, we report that TUBB3, the most dynamic &bgr;-tubulin isoform in neurons, directly interacts with the netrin receptor DCC, and that netrin-1 induces this interaction in primary neurons. TUBB3 colocalizes with DCC in the growth cones of primary neurons and MT dynamics is required for netrin-1-promoted association of TUBB3 with DCC. Netrin-1 not only increases co-sedimentation of DCC with polymerized MT, but also promotes MT dynamics in the growth cone. Knocking down TUBB3 inhibits netrin-1-induced MT dynamics, axon outgrowth and attraction in vitro and causes defects in commissural axon projection in the embryo. These results indicate that TUBB3 directly links netrin signaling pathways to MT dynamics and plays an important role in guiding commissural axons in vivo.
Multilevel Influences on Men’s Partner Violence Justification, Control Over Family Decisions, and Partner Violence Perpetration in Bangladesh

Objective: Men’s justification of intimate partner violence (IPV), control, and IPV perpetration persist globally. We tested feminist theories of dominant masculinity norms and gendered social learning in childhood to explain young married men’s violent attitudes and behaviors. Method: The sample was ever-married—junior men (18–29 years, n = 774), senior men (30–54 years, n = 2,398), and women (15–49 years, n = 3,841)—in 307 communities from the 2007 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. Two-level logistic regression models tested whether community norms of masculine dominance and childhood exposure to father-on-mother IPV were associated with higher odds of justifying IPV, controlling family decisions, and perpetrating physical IPV. Results: Compared with senior men, junior men more often justified IPV, controlled family decisions, and perpetrated physical IPV in the prior year; junior men also more often were exposed as children to father-on-mother IPV. In multilevel models, witnessing father-on-mother IPV in childhood and living amid stronger norms of masculine dominance were associated, respectively, with higher adjusted odds of justifying IPV (adjusted odds ratios [aORs] = 1.86 and 33.45), controlling family decisions (aORs = 2.03 and 25.03), and perpetrating physical IPV (aORs = 3.19 and 3.39). Conclusion: Findings support a situational, feminist social ecological model of the influences of community norms of masculine dominance and of gendered social learning on young men’s violent attitudes and behavior in marriage. Promoting positive masculinities and reducing men’s exposure to violence in childhood may be needed to curtail violence against women in Bangladesh and similar settings.
The Role of AHA Motifs in the Activator Function of Tomato Heat Stress Transcription Factors HsfA1 and HsfA2

Using reporter assays in tobacco protoplasts and yeast, we investigated the function of the acidic C-terminal activation domains of tomato heat stress transcription factors HsfA1 and HsfA2. Both transcription factors contain short, essential peptide motifs with a characteristic pattern of aromatic and large hydrophobic amino acid residues embedded in an acidic context (AHA motifs). The prototype is the AHA1 motif of HsfA2, which has the sequence DDIWEELL. Our mutational analysis supports the important role of the aromatic and large hydrophobic amino acid residues in the core positions of the AHA motifs. The pattern suggests the formation of an amphipathic, negatively charged helix as the putative contact region with components of the basal transcription complex. In support of this concept, proline or positively charged residues in or adjacent to the AHA motifs markedly reduce or abolish their activity. Both AHA motifs of HsfA1 and HsfA2 contribute to activator potential, and they can substitute for each other; however, there is evidence for sequence and positional specificity.
Enzymic characteristics of fat globule membranes from bovine colostrum and bovine milk

Fat globule membranes have been isolated from bovine colostrum and bovine milk by the dispersion of the fat in sucrose solutions at 4 degrees C and fractionation by centrifugation through discontinuous sucrose gradients. The morphology and enzymic characteristics of the separated fractions were examined. Fractions comprising a large proportion of the total extracted membrane were thus obtained having high levels of the Golgi marker enzymes UDP-galactose N- acetylglucosamine beta-4-galactosyltransferase and thiamine pyrophosphatase. A membrane-derived form of the galactosyltransferase has been solubilized from fat and purified to homogeneity. This enzyme is larger in molecular weight than previously studied soluble galactosyltransferases, but resembles in size the galactosyltransferase of lactating mammary Golgi membranes. In contrast, when fat globule membranes were prepared by traditional procedures, which involved washing the fat at higher temperatures, before extraction, galactosyltransferase was not present in the membranes, having been released into supernatant fractions, When the enzyme released by this procedure was partially purified and examined by gel filtration, it was found to be of a degraded form resembling in size the soluble galactosyltransferase of milk. The release is therefore attributed to the action of proteolytic enzymes. Our observations contrast with previous biochemical studies which suggested that Golgi membranes do not contribute to the milk fat globule membrane. They are, however, consistent with electron microscope studies of the fat secretion process, which indicate that secretory vesicle membranes, derived from the Golgi apparatus, may provide a large proportion of the fat globule membrane.
Wage Inequality and Entrepreneurship Job Market Paper

This paper provides a theory of wage inequality that hinges on entrepreneurship. The theory is motivated by new empirical findings. Among them, I document that in countries where barriers to entrepreneurship are high, wage inequality is low. As noted in the literature, differences in wage inequality across countries are, to a great extent, determined by differences in the skill premium, defined as the ratio between the wage of college graduates and that of workers with at most a high school diploma. A high degree of education has been found to be a salient characteristic of people who are entrepreneurs. In a world in which skilled people can choose between a wage job and entrepreneurship, barriers to entry reduce the value of entrepreneurship and lower skilled workers’ outside option. I formalize this idea in a simplified model of firms dynamics à la Hopenhayn (1992a) in which I introduce occupational choice in a general equilibrium setting. The model is parametrized on the entry rate of firms in the United States to match the observed skill premium assuming the cost of entry is zero. In a counterfactual exercise, the cost of entry in Italy is backed up by matching the entry rates in this country. Under the Italian entry rate, the model predicts for the U.S. a skill premium twenty percent lower than the actual one, accounting for more than a third of the difference in the observed skill premium between the two countries. ∗For helpful comments, suggestions and useful discussions I thank Francisco Buera, Jernej Copic, Maria Cristina De Nardi, Matthias Doepke, Francesco Giavazzi, Andrew Hollenhorst, Lee Ohanian, Pierre-Olivier Weill, and especially Andy Atkeson and Hugo Hopenhayn. The paper has benefitted from the comments of seminar participants at the UCLA Macro Proseminar, the 2009 Econometric Society Summer Meetings, the 2009 European Economic Association Annual Meeting. All remaining errors are my own. Contact: fedefra@ucla.edu