Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Immunological demonstration of Gq-protein in Limulus photoreceptors

Abstract The phototransduction cascade in invertebrates involves the coupling of rhodopsin activation to the action of the enzyme phospholipase C. This step is performed by G-proteins. An antibody against the α-subunit of a mouse Gq type G-protein recognized protein bands in Western blots of lateral eye and ventral nerve photoreceptors of Limulus. The protein bands had an apparent molecular mass of about 42 kDa. The antibody also recognized protein bands of a similar molecular mass in immunoblots of brain and intestine tissue. Immunoreactivity was found in lateral eye frozen sections where it was confined to the rhabdom region. When the antibody was applied to ultrathin sections of ventral nerve photoreceptors, the highest density of labeling was found on the rhabdomeral microvilli, but gold particles were also scattered in the cytoplasm. We conclude that a G-protein of the type Gq participates in the phototransduction of Limulus.
Research Commentary: Desperately Seeking the "IT" in IT Research - A Call to Theorizing the IT Artifact

The field of information systems is premised on the centrality of information technology in everyday socio-economic life. Yet, drawing on a review of the full set of articles published inInformation Systems Research ( ISR) over the past ten years, we argue that the field has not deeply engaged its core subject matter--the information technology (IT) artifact. Instead, we find that IS researchers tend to give central theoretical significance to the context (within which some usually unspecified technology is seen to operate), the discrete processing capabilities of the artifact (as separable from its context or use), or the dependent variable (that which is posited to be affected or changed as technology is developed, implemented, and used). The IT artifact itself tends to disappear from view, be taken for granted, or is presumed to be unproblematic once it is built and installed. After discussing the implications of our findings, we propose a research direction for the IS field that begins to take technology as seriously as its effects, context, and capabilities. In particular, we propose that IS researchers begin to theorize specifically about IT artifacts, and then incorporate these theories explicitly into their studies. We believe that such a research direction is critical if IS research is to make a significant contribution to the understanding of a world increasingly suffused with ubiquitous, interdependent, and emergent information technologies.
THE ALTERNATIVES IN LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT

Language testing differs from testing in other content areas because language teachers have more choices to make. The purpose of this article is to help language teachers decide what types of language tests to use in their particular institutions and classrooms for their specific purposes. The various kinds of language assessments are classified into three broad categories: (a) selected-response assessments (including true-false, matching, and multiple-choice assessments); (b) constructedresponse assessments (including fill-in, short-answer, and performance assessments); and (c) personal-response assessments (including conference, portfolio, and self- or peer assessments). For each assessment type, we provide a clear definition and explore its advantages and disadvantages. We end the article with a discussion of how teachers can make rational choices among the various assessment options by thinking about (a) the consequences of the washback effect of assessment procedures on language teaching and learning, (b) the significance of feedback based on the assessment results, and (c) the importance of using multiple sources of information in making decisions based on assessment information.
On Applying Imprecise Computation to Real-Time AI Systems

Imprecise computation is known as a technique for real-time systems where precise outputs are traded off for timely responses to system events. This paper discusses how the technique can be applied to a class of real-time AI systems designed for solving combinatorial problems and proposes an evaluation method for assessing if imprecise computation can satisfy both the timing and functional requirements of these systems.
The United States and the Discipline of International Relations: “Hegemonic Country, Hegemonic Discipline”

This paper focuses on the relationship between the way the discipline of International Relations (IR) is studied in the U.S. and U.S. foreign policy itself. Referring to the events of September 11 the paper argues that mainstream U.S. IR defines the appropriate methods of how to study international relations in such a narrow way as to restrict understanding of other cultures and rationalities. By relying on culturally and historically specific distinctions between politics and economics, between private and public, and between domestic and foreign policies, U.S. IR explains a narrow range of world political events and does so from a U.S. perspective. This makes it difficult to account for many of the most pressing inequalities in the world, and thus raises the question of the linkage between academia, the civil society in which it is located, and the role that it should serve in encouraging a wide debate on the motivations and views of those outside the U.S.
‘Dressage Is Full of Queens!’ Masculinity, Sexuality and Equestrian Sport

Attitudes towards sexuality are changing and levels of cultural homophobia decreasing, yet there remain very few openly gay men within sport. As a proving ground for heteromasculinity, sport has traditionally been a hostile environment for gay men. This article is based on an ethnographic study within a sporting subworld in which gay men do appear to be accepted: equestrian sport. Drawing on inclusive masculinity theory, equestrian sport is shown to offer an unusually tolerant environment for gay men in which heterosexual men of all ages demonstrate low levels of homophobia. Inclusive masculinity theory is a useful framework for exploring the changing nature of masculinities and this study demonstrates that gay men are becoming increasingly visible and accepted within once unreceptive locales, such as sport and rural communities. However, this more tolerant attitude is purchased at the expense of a subordinated feminine Other, perpetuating the dominance of men within competitive sport.
Force ratios in the quadriceps tendon and ligamentum patellae

We measured forces in the quadriceps tendon and ligamentum patellae in six human cadaver knee joints loaded through a range of flexion angles from 30 to 120°. Using standardized loads based on one‐sixth of maximum isometric quadriceps moments reported in human volunteers, we measured maximum average forces at 60° flexion of 532 N in the quadriceps tendon (FQ) and 470 N in the ligamentum patellae (FL). Linear extrapolation to full maximum extensor moments results in estimates of 3,200 N for FQ and 2,800 N for FL. The force ration (FL/FQ) reached a maximum value of 1.27 at 30° and minimums of 0.7 at 90 and 120° knee flexion. Contrary to prevailing opinion, our results indicate that the patella is not a simple pulley that serves only to change the direction of equal forces in the quadriceps tendon and ligamentum patellae. Instead, the ratio of forces in these structures varies significantly with flexion angle. The ratio appears to be determined by the changing location of the patellofemoral contact area relative to the insertions of the tendon and ligament. These findings emphasize the biomechanical importance of patellar length and of the vertical dimensions and locations of the patellofemoral contact area. Attempts at surgical intervention for the treatment of disorders of the extensor apparatus should recognize these variations. Procedures that tend to move the contact area more proximally (at a particular flexion angle) will also tend to decrease the FL/FQ ratio.
And the Injun goes “How!”: Representations of American Indian English in white public space

This article describes linguistic features used to depict fictional American Indian speech, a style referred to as “Hollywood Injun English,” found in movies, on television, and in some literature (the focus is on the film and television varieties). Grammatically, it draws on a range of nonstandard features similar to those found in “foreigner talk” and “baby talk,” as well a formalized, ornate variety of English; all these features are used to project or evoke certain characteristics historically associated with “the White Man's Indian. ” The article also exemplifies some ways in which these linguistic features are deployed in relation to particular characteristics stereotypically associated with American Indians, and shows how the correspondence between nonstandard, dysfluent speech forms and particular pejorative aspects of the fictional Indian characters subtly reproduce Native American otherness in contemporary popular American culture.I would like to thank the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and the University of Michigan for their support. This manuscript has also benefited from the following individuals' comments and suggestions: Gerald Carr, Eve Danziger, Philip Deloria, Joseph Gone, Jane Hill, Judith Irvine, Webb Keane, William Leap, Bruce Mannheim, and the anonymous reviewer. For their time and effort, I am truly grateful. All errors are my own.
Motivation for Ethno-cultural Continuity

The Motivation for Ethno-cultural Continuity (MEC) scale was developed to capture the agency of minority individuals in the long-term acculturation of their group and their dedication to cultural persistence over many generations. Study 1 presents the construction and validation of a pilot MEC scale, an 18-item unifactorial measure demonstrating good reliability (α = 0.95), convergent validity via its significant correlations with Collective Self-Esteem (r = 0.67), Perceived Collective Continuity (r = 0.54), Perceived Group Entitativity (r = 0.32), and discriminant validity in that it was unrelated to attitudes toward Assimilation (r = -.10, ns). Study 2 confirmed the structural equivalence of the final 10-item MEC scale and examined its prevalence and function across samples of New Zealand Jews, Māori, and Chinese (n = 311). Good scale reliability was found across cultures (α = 0.94 to 0.95). As expected, higher values were found among Jews and Māori than Chinese. Together with traditional ethnocentric predictors, MEC predicted intentions for endogamy and in turn selective dating for Jews and Māori, but not for Chinese. Results are interpreted in terms of existential uncertainty experienced by “small peoples” and the impact of collective interests on individual behavior.
Prevalence of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen in hospital based population in Bijapur, Karnataka

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection continues to be a serious health problem globally. Studying the prevalence of HBV infection in a geographical area aids in establishing magnitude of the problem. A teaching hospital based population study of Hepatitis B surface antigen is strong indicator of true HBV infection rate in the community as large number of patients from different backgrounds attend the hospital. Objectives: The study was conducted to know the prevalence of HBV infection in Bijapur, Karnataka. Methodology: A one step immunochromatographic method for detection of HBsAg was performed to diagnose HBV infection. 4283 sera samples were tested for HBsAg over a period of one year. Results: 1.63% samples were found with HBsAg. Age, gender, month wise and rural: urban distribution was studied. Conclusion: Seroprevalence of HBsAg was found less than the national average of 2-7%. This study highlights HBV infection rate in the community in this part of India.
Cultural influences on social feedback processing of character traits

Cultural differences are generally explained by how people see themselves in relation to social interaction partners. While Western culture emphasizes independence, East Asian culture emphasizes interdependence. Despite this focus on social interactions, it remains elusive how people from different cultures process feedback on their own (and on others') character traits. Here, participants of either German or Chinese origin engaged in a face-to-face interaction. Consequently, they updated their self- and other-ratings of 80 character traits (e.g., polite, pedantic) after receiving feedback from their interaction partners. To exclude potential confounds, we obtained data from German and Chinese participants in Berlin [functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)] and in Beijing (behavior). We tested cultural influences on social conformity, positivity biases, and self-related neural activity. First, Chinese conformed more to social feedback than Germans (i.e., Chinese updated their trait ratings more). Second, regardless of culture, participants processed self- and other-related feedback in a positively biased way (i.e., they updated more toward desirable than toward undesirable feedback). Third, changes in self-related medial prefrontal cortex activity were greater in Germans than in Chinese during feedback processing. By investigating conformity, positivity biases, and self-related activity in relation to feedback obtained in a real-life interaction, we provide an essential step toward a unifying framework for understanding the diversity of human culture.
On the sign recovery by least absolute shrinkage and selection operator, thresholded least absolute shrinkage and selection operator, and thresholded basis pursuit denoising

Basis pursuit (BP), basis pursuit deNoising (BPDN), and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) are popular methods for identifying important predictors in the high‐dimensional linear regression model Y=Xβ+ε . By definition, when ε=0 , BP uniquely recovers β when Xβ=Xb and β≠b implies ‖b‖1>‖β‖1 (identifiability condition). Furthermore, LASSO can recover the sign of β only under a much stronger irrepresentability condition. Meanwhile, it is known that the model selection properties of LASSO can be improved by hard thresholding its estimates. This article supports these findings by proving that thresholded LASSO, thresholded BPDN, and thresholded BP recover the sign of β in both the noisy and noiseless cases if and only if β is identifiable and large enough. In particular, if X has iid Gaussian entries and the number of predictors grows linearly with the sample size, then these thresholded estimators can recover the sign of β when the signal sparsity is asymptotically below the Donoho–Tanner transition curve. This is in contrast to the regular LASSO, which asymptotically, recovers the sign of β only when the signal sparsity tends to 0. Numerical experiments show that the identifiability condition, unlike the irrepresentability condition, does not seem to be affected by the structure of the correlations in the X matrix.
Boys, Masculinities and PE

This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study which aimed to explore boys' perceptions and experiences of school-based physical education (PE) and involvement in extra-curricular and out-of-school physical activities. Drawing on group and individual interviews with 22 15-year-old boys in four inner-city comprehensive schools, it explores the nature, purposes and experiences of their physical education involvement both in and out of school. The data collected highlighted the need both to explore and to deconstruct the concept of a dominant hegemonic masculinity. Boys are generally 'censorious' of others who resist and spoil PE lessons. Games, sport and physical activity are shaped by masculine identities and are mediated by diverse processes that involve staff competence, pupil friendship networks, class membership and ethnic identity.
Least squares quantization in PCM

It has long been realized that in pulse-code modulation (PCM), with a given ensemble of signals to handle, the quantum values should be spaced more closely in the voltage regions where the signal amplitude is more likely to fall. It has been shown by Panter and Dite that, in the limit as the number of quanta becomes infinite, the asymptotic fractional density of quanta per unit voltage should vary as the one-third power of the probability density per unit voltage of signal amplitudes. In this paper the corresponding result for any finite number of quanta is derived; that is, necessary conditions are found that the quanta and associated quantization intervals of an optimum finite quantization scheme must satisfy. The optimization criterion used is that the average quantization noise power be a minimum. It is shown that the result obtained here goes over into the Panter and Dite result as the number of quanta become large. The optimum quautization schemes for 2^{b} quanta, b=1,2, \cdots, 7 , are given numerically for Gaussian and for Laplacian distribution of signal amplitudes.
A Low-Power Current-Mode Analog QRS-Detection Circuit for Wearable ECG Sensors

In this paper an ultra-low power current-mode analog circuit is proposed for detecting QRS complexes from the ECG signal. An accurate low-power operation is obtained by using a non-linear energy operator and designing all the transistors in subthreshold region. For improving the performance of the circuit, three filters with very-low cutoff frequencies are utilized which do not require large capacitors and so do not occupy large area. Two of the three filters are used for realizing onset detection method and the other is used for estimating a threshold which is required for QRS detection. Simulating over the entire MIT/BIH arrhythmia database shows the acceptable values of 98.69% for the average accuracy, 99.24% for the sensitivity and 99.38% for the positive prediction. The proposed circuit is implemented in 0.18 µm CMOS technology with a 1.8 V supply voltage. Using the proposed circuit, no analog-to-digital converter is required to be used which save a considerable portion of the power and the area. Consuming a 71 nW power, the proposed circuit is suitable for wearable and implantable ECG monitoring applications.
Prospector: Multiscale Energy Measurement of Networked Embedded Systems with Wideband Power Signals

Today’s wirelessly networked embedded systems underlie a vast array of electronic devices, performing computation,communication, and input/output. A major design goal of these systems is energy efficiency. To achieve this goal, these systems are based on processors with numerous power and clock domains, variable clock rates, voltage scaling, and multiple hibernation states. These processors are designed into systems with sophisticated wireless transceivers and a diverse array of off-chip peripherals, and are linked through regulators to increasingly complexenergy supplies. As a result, modern networked embeddedsystems are characterized by myriad power consumption statesand significant power signal transients. Moreover, their power demands are multiscale in both magnitude and time, combining short bursts of high demand with long intervals of power-sipping sleep states. Thus the power supply signals have wideband spectra. In addition, due to noise, uniform relative precision across magnitude scales requires that measurement time increases with decreasing power. Tools are needed that support modeling, hardware/software optimization, and debugging for energy-centric embedded systems. This paper describes Prospector, an energy data acquisition system architecture for embedded systems thatallows rapid, accurate, and precise assessment of system-level power usage. Prospector uses a distributed control architecture; each component contributes efficiently to control, precision and accuracy, analysis, and visualization. It is based on computer-based control of multimeters to maximize accuracy, precision,¿exibility, and minimize target system overhead. Experimental results for a prototype Prospector system with a contemporary 16-bit ultra-low power microcontroller show that it can effectivelymeasure power over the extreme time and magnitude scales found in today’s embedded systems.
Hybrid Genetic Algorithm based Fuzzy Inference System for Data Regression

Regression analysis is one of the most popular methods of estimation or forecasting. For someone who is the non-domain expert to understand how the estimation decision is made, clarity and transparency of the regression model is required to reveal knowledge and information that evaluates the functional relationship between two objects, i.e., the independent and dependent objects the system represents. Hence, this paper presents the hybridization of Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Fuzzy Inference System (FIS)-based computational intelligence systems for tackling data regression problem (hereinafter denoted as GA-FIS-RG). With this regard, GA-FIS-RG first defines the membership functions with logical interpretation which is amendable by domain experts to human understanding, and then GA serves as an optimization tool to construct the best combination of rules in fuzzy inference system. For performance evaluations, we demonstrate the interpretability and applicability of GA-FIS-RG to data regression problems, i.e., the Santa-Fe Series-E and Auto MPG.
XOR based Methodology to Detect Hardware Trojan utilizing the Transition Probability

Hardware Trojan has become a serious security issue in recent times for both integrated chip (IC) industry and government due to the separation of the design phase and manufacturing phase of the IC industrial model. Hardware Trojan is a malicious logic added to a functional system by an adversary with an intention of system malfunction or failure. Due to its stealthy nature, traditional testing algorithms are not sufficient to detect such Trojans. Few attempts have been made for the detection of hardware trojan augmenting extra logic module in design phase inside the main circuit. However, those approaches suffer from various issues such as huge insertion overhead, high time complexity etc. In this context, an efficient methodology by inserting XOR gates inside a netlist is proposed here to detect the presence of Trojan. Experimental result shows that our proposed method achieved significant improvement in terms of number of transitions at possible vulnerable nets while overcoming the limitations of the previous works. Transition probability of the vulnerable nets has increased up to 5 times which is validated by various ISCAS-89 benchmark circuits.
Modulation of Adenovirus Vector Tropism via Incorporation of Polypeptide Ligands into the Fiber Protein

ABSTRACT The efficacy of adenovirus (Ad)-based gene therapy might be significantly improved if viral vectors capable of tissue-specific gene delivery could be developed. Previous attempts to genetically modify the tropism of Ad vectors have been only partially successful, largely due to the limited repertoire of ligands that can be incorporated into the Ad capsid. Early studies identified stringent size limitations imposed by the structure of the Ad fiber protein on ligands incorporated into its carboxy terminus and thus limited the range of potential ligand candidates to short peptides. We have previously identified the HI loop of the fiber knob domain as a preferred site for the incorporation of targeting ligands and hypothesized that the structural properties of this loop would allow for the insertion of a wide variety of ligands, including large polypeptide molecules. In the present study we have tested this hypothesis by deriving a family of Ad vectors whose fibers contain polypeptide inserts of incrementally increasing lengths. By assessing the levels of productivity and infectivity and the receptor specificities of the resultant viruses, we show that polypeptide sequences exceeding by 50% the size of the knob domain can be incorporated into the fiber with only marginal negative consequences on these key properties of the vectors. Our study has also revealed a negative correlation between the size of the ligand used for vector modification and the infectivity and yield of the resultant virus, thereby predicting the limits beyond which further enlargement of the fiber knob would not be compatible with the virion's integrity.