Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PAK promotes morphological changes by acting upstream of Rac

The serine/threonine kinase p21‐activated kinase (PAK) has been implicated as a downstream effector of the small GTPases Rac and Cdc42. While these GTPases evidently induce a variety of morphological changes, the role(s) of PAK remains elusive. Here we report that overexpression of βPAK in PC12 cells induces a Rac phenotype, including cell spreading/membrane ruffling, and increased lamellipodia formation at growth cones and shafts of nerve growth factor‐induced neurites. These effects are still observed in cells expressing kinase‐negative or Rac/Cdc42 binding‐deficient PAK mutants, indicating that kinase‐ and p21‐binding domains are not involved. Furthermore, lamellipodia formation in all cell lines, including those expressing Rac binding‐deficient PAK, is inhibited significantly by dominant‐negative RacN17. Equal inhibition is achieved by blocking PAK interaction with the guanine nucleotide exchange factor PIX using a specific N‐terminal PAK fragment. We conclude that PAK, via its N‐terminal non‐catalytic domain, acts upstream of Rac mediating lamellipodia formation through interaction with PIX.
UML-based tool support for separating application and architectural evolution

In analogy to civil engineering, the "load-bearing walls" of a software system bear significant importance for software evolution. Unfortunately, documentation and evolution of such "walls" in the form of software architecture has proven to be problematic, because instead of individual classes and objects, the important artifacts may be collections of design elements and their relations, whose collective evolution should be considered. In this paper, we introduce a tool where architecturally significant concepts, defined in the form of patterns, can be separated from application specific details. This separation allows diverging evolution of applications and patterns forming their architecture, with an option to enforce the architecture in applications. Moreover, the tool helps in correcting the designs in case an error has been made or patterns forming the architecture have been upgraded.
Connectivity Constrained Multi-UGV Surveillance

Abstract This paper addresses the problem of connectivity constrained surveillance of a given polyhedral area with obstacles using a group of Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs). The considered communication restrictions may involve both line-of-sight constraints and limited sensor range constraints. In this paper, the focus is on dynamic information graphs, G , which are required to be kept recurrently connected. The main motivation for introducing this weaker notion of connectivity is security and surveillance applications where the sentry vehicles may have to split temporary in order to complete the given mission efficiently but are required to establish contact recurrently in order to exchange information or to make sure that all units are intact and well-functioning. From a theoretical standpoint, recurrent connectivity is shown to be sufficient for exponential convergence of consensus filters for the collected sensor data.
Signature Quantization in Fading CDMA with Limited Feedback

In this work, we analyze the performance of a signature quantization scheme for reverse-link Direct Sequence (DS)- Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). Assuming perfect estimates of the channel and interference covariance, the receiver selects the signature that minimizes interference power or maximizes signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) for a desired user from a signature codebook. The codebook index corresponding to the optimal signature is then relayed to the user with a finite number of bits via a feedback channel. Here we are interested in the performance of a Random Vector Quantization (RVQ) codebook, which contains independent isotropically distributed vectors. Assuming arbitrary transmit power allocation, we consider additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel first with no fading and subsequently, with multipath fading. We derive the corresponding SINR in a large system limit at the output of matched filter and linear minimum mean squared error (MMSE) receiver. Numerical examples show that the derived large system results give a good approximation to the performance of finite-size system and that the MMSE receiver achieves close to a single-user performance with only one feedback bit per signature element.
Dynamic loss minimization using improved deadbeat-direct torque and flux control for interior permanent magnet synchronous machines

Direct torque control (DTC) has become a widely acceptable alternative to field oriented control (FOC). Deadbeat-direct torque and flux control (DB-DTFC) is a significant improvement over the classical DTC methods and provides the opportunities for fast torque control and dynamic loss minimization control. The existing high switching frequency DB-DTFC solution is based on approximate discrete time models. This paper presents a low switching frequency model so that even at low switching frequencies, proper DB-DTFC control can be achieved. The instantaneous dynamic loss model, which is a function of Volt-sec selection in each switching period, containing nonlinear effects such as minor hysteresis loops is theoretically derived and evaluated by both FEA simulation and experiments. With this calibrated dynamic loss model, deadbeat dynamic loss minimization control is implemented and integrated in DB-DTFC. Finally, the dynamic loss minimization control is evaluated experimentally and compared with the existing steady state loss minimization control.
Relationship between vertical shear rate and kinetic energy dissipation rate in stably stratified flows

High resolution direct numerical simulations of strongly stratified turbulence are analyzed in order to investigate the relationship between vertical shearing of horizontal motions and the dissipation rate of kinetic energy. The relative magnitude of each component of the dissipation rate is examined as a function of the Reynolds number and of the buoyancy Reynolds number. From the simulation results, in conjunction with published laboratory results, it is concluded that (1) the simulation results are consistent with the laboratory data but span a much larger range of buoyancy Reynolds number, (2) the ratio of the square of the vertical shear rate to the dissipation rate is a strong function of buoyancy Reynolds number, and (3) the approximation that vertical shear rate is the dominant cause of energy dissipation rate is only good when the buoyancy Reynolds number is less than order one.
The effects of initial population in genetic search for time constrained traveling salesman problems

We describe the application of Genetic Algorithms to the traveling salesman problem with time windows. A new type of crossover operator, called edge-type crossover, with a heuristically selected initial population, is used in the genetic search. When compared with alternative methods from the literature, experiments indicate that the heuristic initialization speeds the genetic search process.
Resources, capabilities, and the performance of industrial firms: A multivariate analysis

This study uses multivariate analysis to assess the basic question asked by resource-based view researchers: Do organizational resources and capabilities account for variations in firm performance? An analysis of survey responses of 93 industrial enterprises in Israel indicates that superiority of an industrial enterprise, in terms of four performance measures (return on sales, return on equity, market share change, and customer satisfaction), can be explained by a set of four core organizational resources and capabilities (managerial skills, organizational culture, organizational communication, and perceived organizational reputation). The results lend significant support to the premise of the resource-based view of strategic management. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Earnings forecasting in a global stock selection model and efficient portfolio construction and management

Stock selection models often use analysts’ expectations, momentum, and fundamental data. We find support for composite modeling using these sources of data for global stocks during the period 1997–2011. We also find evidence to support the use of SunGard APT and Axioma multi-factor models for portfolio construction and risk control. Three levels of testing for stock selection and portfolio construction models are developed and estimated. We create portfolios for January 1997–December 2011. We report three conclusions: (1) analysts’ forecast information was rewarded by the global market between January 1997 and December 2011; (2) analysts’ forecasts can be combined with reported fundamental data, such as earnings, book value, cash flow and sales, and also with momentum, in a stock selection model for identifying mispriced securities; and (3) the portfolio returns of the multi-factor risk-controlled portfolios allow us to reject the null hypothesis for the data mining corrections test. The earnings forecasting variable dominates our composite model in terms of its impact on stock selection.
Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry: Maryland Pilot Study: Findings from Baltimore

This is the final technical report for a pilot study of Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry. The study examined the process of prisoner reentry within the city of Baltimore. It involved self-administered surveys with 324 male and female prisoners. The study's purpose was both to examine the process of prisoner reintegration in Baltimore; as well as to test our survey instruments and research design in preparation for implementation of the study in three full-study sites. The report's purpose is to inform policymakers and service providers about how released prisoners navigate these challenges of reentry.
Exploring College Students’ Intention to Adopt e-Textbooks: A Modified Technology Acceptance Model

Abstract This study aims to verify and propose a modified technology acceptance model (TAM) to understand the antecedents of e-textbook adoption among college students. An extended TAM is to investigate college students’ intention to adopt e-textbooks. Measurement items were drawn and modified from existing validated scales. After data were collected from college students in Taiwan, structural equation modelling was employed to examine and compare the proposed model with the original model. Moreover, two tests were conducted to determine the extent of common method variance in the current data. The empirical findings support the inclusion of perceived enjoyment in the TAM. The proposed model explained 43% of the variance in behavioural intention, but explained 71% of the variance in attitudes, suggesting an explication of how the different determinants influence college students’ adoption of e-textbooks. The significance of the chi-square difference between the two models indicates that our proposed model shows a better fit to the data than the TAM does. Besides, perceived enjoyment is a critical factor in the influence of attitudes towards the usage of e-textbooks. Perceived ease of use is more influential than perceived usefulness in the determination of attitudes.
Divalent Ion Dependent Conformational Changes in an RNA Stem-Loop Observed by Molecular Dynamics

We compare the performance of five magnesium (Mg2+) ion models in simulations of an RNA stem loop which has an experimentally determined divalent ion dependent conformational shift. We show that despite their differences in parametrization and resulting van der Waals terms, including differences in the functional form of the nonbonded potential, when the RNA adopts its folded conformation, all models behave similarly across ten independent microsecond length simulations with each ion model. However, when the entire structure ensemble is accounted for, chelation of Mg2+ to RNA is seen in three of the five models, most egregiously and likely artifactual in simulations using a 12-6-4 model for the Lennard-Jones potential. Despite the simple nature of the fixed point-charge and van der Waals sphere models employed, and with the exception of the likely oversampled directed chelation of the 12-6-4 potential models, RNA–Mg2+ interactions via first shell water molecules are surprisingly well described by modern parameters, allowing us to observe the spontaneous conformational shift from Mg2+ free RNA to Mg2+ associated RNA structure in unrestrained molecular dynamics simulations.
Adaptation of Musca domestica L. Field Population to Laboratory Breeding Causes Transcriptional Alterations

Background The housefly, Musca domestica, has developed resistance to most insecticides applied for its control. Expression of genes coding for detoxification enzymes play a role in the response of the housefly when encountered by a xenobiotic. The highest level of constitutive gene expression of nine P450 genes was previously found in a newly-collected susceptible field population in comparison to three insecticide-resistant laboratory strains and a laboratory reference strain. Results We compared gene expression of five P450s by qPCR as well as global gene expression by RNAseq in the newly-acquired field population (845b) in generation F1, F13 and F29 to test how gene expression changes following laboratory adaption. Four (CYP6A1, CYP6A36, CYP6D3, CYP6G4) of five investigated P450 genes adapted to breeding by decreasing expression. CYP6D1 showed higher female expression in F29 than in F1. For males, about half of the genes accessed in the global gene expression were up-regulated in F13 and F29 in comparison with the F1 population. In females, 60% of the genes were up-regulated in F13 in comparison with F1, while 33% were up-regulated in F29. Forty potential P450 genes were identified. In most cases, P450 gene expression was decreased in F13 flies in comparison with F1. Gene expression then increased from F13 to F29 in males and decreased further in females. Conclusion The global gene expression changes massively during adaptation to laboratory breeding. In general, global expression decreased as a result of laboratory adaption in males, while female expression was not unidirectional. Expression of P450 genes was in general down-regulated as a result of laboratory adaption. Expression of hexamerin, coding for a storage protein was increased, while gene expression of genes coding for amylases decreased. This suggests a major impact of the surrounding environment on gene response to xenobiotics and genetic composition of housefly strains.
DevA, a GntR-Like Transcriptional Regulator Required for Development in Streptomyces coelicolor

ABSTRACT The gram-positive filamentous bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor has a complex developmental cycle with three distinct phases: growth of the substrate mycelium, development of reproductive structures called aerial hyphae, and differentiation of these aerial filaments into long chains of exospores. During a transposon mutagenesis screen, we identified a novel gene (devA) required for proper development. The devA mutant produced only rare aerial hyphae, and those that were produced developed aberrant spore chains that were much shorter than wild-type chains and had misplaced septa. devA encodes a member of the GntR superfamily, a class of transcriptional regulators that typically respond to metabolite effector molecules. devA forms an operon with the downstream gene devB, which encodes a putative hydrolase that is also required for aerial mycelium formation on R5 medium. S1 nuclease protection analysis showed that transcription from the single devA promoter was temporally associated with vegetative growth, and enhanced green fluorescent protein transcriptional fusions showed that transcription was spatially confined to the substrate hyphae in the wild type. In contrast, devAB transcript levels were dramatically upregulated in a devA mutant and the devA promoter was also active in aerial hyphae and spores in this background, suggesting that DevA might negatively regulate its own production. This suggestion was confirmed by gel mobility shift assays that showed that DevA binds its own promoter region in vitro.
DETERMINING CRITICAL SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE REQUIREMENTS OF IT PROFESSIONALS BY ANALYZING KEYWORDS IN JOB POSTINGS

In a constantly changing job market, Information Technology (IT) practitioners must keep their skills up-to-date. Educational institutions with Informational Technology curricula must also keep current in course offerings and programs of study. One way to maintain relevance is to examine and identify what IT skills and competencies are in demand. Job positions, indicating current expertise needed by companies, are good indicators of the types of IT skills that current and future IT professionals should possess in order to be marketable in a competitive labor market. This paper analyzes keyword data from job postings of a regional trade association to determine what skill sets and competencies are essential.
Effects of Corn and Soybean Meal Types on Rumen Fermentation, Nitrogen Metabolism and Productivity in Dairy Cows

Twelve multiparous Holstein dairy cows in mid-lactation were selected for a replicated 4×4 Latin square design with a 2 ×2 factorial arrangement to investigate the effects of corn and soybean meal (SBM) types on rumen fermentation, N metabolism and lactation performance in dairy cows. Two types of corn (dry ground [DGC] and steam-flaked corn [SFC]) and two types of SBM (solvent-extracted and heat-treated SBM) with different ruminal degradation rates and extents were used to formulate four diets with the same basal ingredients. Each period lasted for 21 days, including 14 d for adaptation and 7 d for sample collection. Cows receiving SFC had a lower dry matter (DM) and total N intake than those fed DGC. However, the milk yield and milk protein yield were not influenced by the corn type, resulting in higher feed and N utilization efficiency in SFC-fed cows than those receiving DGC. Ruminal acetate concentrations was greater and total volatile fatty acids concentrations tended to be greater for cows receiving DGC relative to cows fed SFC, but milk fat content was not influenced by corn type. The SFC-fed cows had lower ruminal ammonia-N, less urea N in their blood and milk, and lower fecal N excretion than those on DGC. Compared with solvent-extracted SBM-fed cows, cows receiving heat-treated SBM had lower microbial protein yield in the rumen, but similar total tract apparent nutrient digestibility, N metabolism measurements, and productivity. Excessive supply of metabolizable protein in all diets may have caused the lack of difference in lactation performance between SBM types. Results of the present study indicated that increasing the energy degradability in the rumen could improve feed efficiency, and reduce environmental pollution.
The Walking Dead: The Anthropocene as a Ruined Earth

Much has been made of the claim that humanity has ascended to the status of a terrestrial force and inaugurated a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. While attention has been paid to the contestable nature of the epoch and its disputed histories, insufficient attention has been paid to the significance of the Anthropocene for political praxis. Contrary to much Anthropocenic discourse that articulates a renewed sense of mastery over nature through assertions of humanity’s complete subsumption of the environment, recent work in both science and technology studies and human geography suggests an alternate reading of the Anthropocene as an epoch without mastery, one where humanity exists in a permanent state of vulnerability. The political significance of this state of vulnerability is explored through a reading of popular TV show The Walking Dead, a post-collapse narrative of a world in ruins and overrun by zombies. On a ruined earth, political praxis is orientated not towards a return of the earth to its previous productive state, but rather as an unending labour of survival and salvage. Survival is not a life reduced to bare life, but rather a state of tension between a life reduced to necessity, and the refusal to separate the question of how to live from the work of securing life itself. Left unresolved, this tension animates the politics of the Anthropocene, suggesting that in place of the teleology of progress social life is organised within it through unceasing care and repair time.
Group Differences in Early Support for Military Action in the Gulf

The article reports significant group differences in early support for military action in the Persian Gulf. Although the literature has reported mixed results on gender differences in foreign policy, the authors find a large and consistent gender gap that withstands controls for demographic and political variables. They also find significant racial and ethnic differences, with blacks, Hispanics, Arab-Americans, and Jews all less supportive of military action than whites. The racial gap widened when President Bush vetoed the civil rights bill, suggesting that domestic political events can affect foreign policy attitudes. Finally, they find significant generational differences, but these differences are almost exactly the opposite of those generally predicted by generational theories of foreign policy attitudes. The Vietnam generation and the Cold War generation were the most supportive, whereas the World War II and Reagan-Bush generations were substantially less supportive. These results hint at a life-cycle explanation of foreign policy attitudes.
Exact BER Analysis of OFDM Systems Communicating over Frequency-Selective Fading Channels Subjected to Carrier Frequency Offset

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been employed in numerous wireless standards. However, the performance of OFDM systems is degraded by both the carrier frequency offset (CFO) and the phase estimation error (PER). Hence new exact closed-form expressions are derived for calculating the average BER of OFDM systems in the presence of both CFO and PER in the context of frequency-selective Nakagami-m fading channels. Our simulation results verify the accuracy of our exact BER analysis. By contrast, the Gaussian approximation slightly over-estimates the average BER, especially when the normalized CFO is small, the number of OFDM subcarriers is low and when the fading is less severe.
Simulation of CTAS / FMS Air Traffic Management

A simulation of integrated air and ground operations was conducted to demonstrate procedures, flight management automation, data link technology, and air traffic control decision support tools for improving Air Traffic Management (ATM) efficiency. Air traffic controllers managed simulated arrival traffic using Center-TRACON Automation System (CTAS) tools. Flight crews in Flight Management System (FMS) and data link-equipped simulators were included in the arrival flows. Controller observations help understand CTAS tool use and arrival flow planning issues. Flight crew results indicate procedures developed for FMS and data link operations can work in concert with CTAS.
Moralization and intolerance of ideological outgroups

Moral conflicts are pervasive and potentially corrosive to democratic politics; however little is known about where moral convictions come from. We review evidence for the role of emotions, beliefs, the self, and even genetics in predicting moralization. The extent that moral convictions are emotionally-relevant and genetically based attitudes that are tightly intertwined with the self may help to explain their potency in predicting political behaviors and perceptions. In support of this idea we review recent work suggesting that both political liberals and conservatives are both intolerant towards ideological outgroups and that this intolerance is often based on perceived moral and value differences. Neither liberals nor conservatives are uniquely (im)moral, but rather both seek to defend the meaning provided by their political beliefs that are connected to their fundamental moral beliefs. Possible solutions to reduce moral conflict and promote cooperation