Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Tris, MOPS, and phosphate buffers on the hydrolysis of polyethylene terephthalate films by polyester hydrolases

The enzymatic degradation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) occurs at mild reaction conditions and may find applications in environmentally friendly plastic waste recycling processes. The hydrolytic activity of the homologous polyester hydrolases LC cutinase (LCC) from a compost metagenome and TfCut2 from Thermobifida fusca KW3 against PET films was strongly influenced by the reaction medium buffers tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (Tris), 3‐(N‐morpholino)propanesulfonic acid (MOPS), and sodium phosphate. LCC showed the highest initial hydrolysis rate of PET films in 0.2 m Tris, while the rate of TfCut2 was 2.1‐fold lower at this buffer concentration. At a Tris concentration of 1 m, the hydrolysis rate of LCC decreased by more than 90% and of TfCut2 by about 80%. In 0.2 m MOPS or sodium phosphate buffer, no significant differences in the maximum initial hydrolysis rates of PET films by both enzymes were detected. When the concentration of MOPS was increased to 1 m, the hydrolysis rate of LCC decreased by about 90%. The activity of TfCut2 remained low compared to the increasing hydrolysis rates observed at higher concentrations of sodium phosphate buffer. In contrast, the activity of LCC did not change at different concentrations of this buffer. An inhibition study suggested a competitive inhibition of TfCut2 and LCC by Tris and MOPS. Molecular docking showed that Tris and MOPS interfered with the binding of the polymeric substrate in a groove located at the protein surface. A comparison of the Ki values and the average binding energies indicated MOPS as the stronger inhibitor of the both enzymes.
Locally adaptive dimensionality reduction for indexing large time series databases

Similarity search in large time series databases has attracted much research interest recently. It is a difficult problem because of the typically high dimensionality of the data. The most promising solutions involve performing dimensionality reduction on the data, then indexing the reduced data with a multidimensional index structure. Many dimensionality reduction techniques have been proposed, including Singular Value Decomposition (SVD), the Discrete Fourier transform (DFT), and the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). In this work we introduce a new dimensionality reduction technique which we call Adaptive Piecewise Constant Approximation (APCA). While previous techniques (e.g., SVD, DFT and DWT) choose a common representation for all the items in the database that minimizes the global reconstruction error, APCA approximates each time series by a set of constant value segments of varying lengths such that their individual reconstruction errors are minimal. We show how APCA can be indexed using a multidimensional index structure. We propose two distance measures in the indexed space that exploit the high fidelity of APCA for fast searching: a lower bounding Euclidean distance approximation, and a non-lower bounding, but very tight Euclidean distance approximation and show how they can support fast exact searching, and even faster approximate searching on the same index structure. We theoretically and empirically compare APCA to all the other techniques and demonstrate its superiority.
Integration of Navigation and Action Selection Functionalities in a Computational Model of Cortico-Basal-Ganglia–Thalamo-Cortical Loops

This article describes a biomimetic control architecture affording an animat both action selection and navigation functionalities. It satisfies the survival constraint of an artificial metabolism and supports several complementary navigation strategies. It builds upon an action selection model based on the basal ganglia of the vertebrate brain, using two interconnected cortico-basal-ganglia–thalamo-cortical loops: A ventral one concerned with appetitive actions and a dorsal one dedicated to consummatory actions. The performances of the resulting model are evaluated in simulation. The experiments assess the prolonged survival permitted by the use of high-level navigation strategies and the com plementarity of navigation strategies in dynamic environments. The correctness of the behavioral choices in situations of antagonistic or synergetic internal states are also tested. Finally, the modeling choices are discussed with regard to their biomimetic plausibility, while the experimental results are estimated in terms of animat adaptivity.
Classification of automorphisms on a deformation family of hyper-Kähler four-folds by $p$-elementary lattices

We give a classification of all non-symplectic automorphisms of prime order p acting on irreducible holomorphic symplectic fourfolds deformation equivalent to the Hilbert scheme of two points on a K3 surface, for p=2,3 and 7\leq p \leq 19. Our classification relates the isometry classes of two natural lattices associated to the action of the automorphism on the second cohomology group with integer coefficients with some invariants of the fixed locus and we provide explicit examples. As an application, we find new examples of non-natural non-symplectic automorphisms.
Societal Constraints, Systemic Disadvantages and Homelessness: An Individual Case Study

Research utilizing the individual case study method examined the complex issues related to pathways into and out of homelessness for an Aboriginal man from a First Nation community on the western James Bay in Canada. This instrumental case study focused on an individual’s story, rather than on a site or a group of individuals, an incident or a series of incidents, or a program [6] [15]. First, as a research tool, it provides insight into the issue of homelessness and some of its causes from the perspective of an Aboriginal person. Second, the in-depth data gathered allowed us to understand some of the factors that work and those that do not work in facilitating transitions out of homelessness. Third, as an educational tool, it allows people from the outside to have a better understanding of how systemic disadvantages contribute to individuals falling into homelessness.
In Caenorhabditis elegans Nanoparticle-Bio-Interactions Become Transparent: Silica-Nanoparticles Induce Reproductive Senescence

While expectations and applications of nanotechnologies grow exponentially, little is known about interactions of engineered nanoparticles with multicellular organisms. Here we propose the transparent roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans as a simple but anatomically and biologically well defined animal model that allows for whole organism analyses of nanoparticle-bio-interactions. Microscopic techniques showed that fluorescently labelled nanoparticles are efficiently taken up by the worms during feeding, and translocate to primary organs such as epithelial cells of the intestine, as well as secondary organs belonging to the reproductive tract. The life span of nanoparticle-fed Caenorhabditis elegans remained unchanged, whereas a reduction of progeny production was observed in silica-nanoparticle exposed worms versus untreated controls. This reduction was accompanied by a significant increase of the ‘bag of worms’ phenotype that is characterized by failed egg-laying and usually occurs in aged wild type worms. Experimental exclusion of developmental defects suggests that silica-nanoparticles induce an age-related degeneration of reproductive organs, and thus set a research platform for both, detailed elucidation of molecular mechanisms and high throughput screening of different nanomaterials by analyses of progeny production.
How can we elicit more complex thinking in Year 7 students for understanding and resolving life-issues?

This article explores the cognitive processes by which Year 7 students (aged 11 to 13 years) use personal viewpoints to interpret and resolve life-issues. A Christian school located in the North West of Sydney wanted to find out if the proportionally higher occurrence of discipline issues in newly enrolled Year 7 students could be explained by those students having a more diverse range of personal viewpoints than Year 7 students who had been enrolled for a longer time. To address this question, we conducted a survey of Year 7 students at the school in early 2015. The survey consisted of five open-ended questions related to a hypothetical school bullying situation. The students’ answers were coded according to the various types of personal viewpoints they used to form an interpretation of the scenario event and to resolve the issue. The students’ responses reflected 18 personal viewpoints across the five questions. Their answers varied in their use of complex personal viewpoints – that is, answers consisting of two or more simple personal viewpoints. A pattern was discerned from the varying proportions of complex viewpoints each question elicited, some questions drawing a high proportion of complex viewpoints. The differing proportions of complex personal viewpoints used in answering each of the five questions suggested that a higher proportion of complex personal viewpoints indicated the occurrence of enhanced complex thinking. A further finding was that students used a higher proportion of complex personal viewpoints when answering questions that challenged them to take a third-person perspective on the protagonists in the narrative.
Assessment of variations in control of asthma over time

Control and severity of asthma are two different but complementary concepts. The severity of asthma could influence the control over time. The aim of this study was to demonstrate this relationship. A total 365 patients with persistent asthma (severity) were enrolled and followed-up prospectively. Data were analysed using a continuous time homogeneous Markov model of the natural history of asthma. Control of asthma was defined according to three health states which were qualified: optimal, suboptimal and unacceptable control (states 1, 2 and 3). Transition forces (denoted λij from state i to state j) and transition probabilities between control states were assessed and the results stratified by asthma severity were compared. Models were validated by comparing expected and observed numbers of patients in the different states. Transition probabilities stabilised between 100–250 days and more rapidly in patients with mild-to-moderate asthma. Patients with mild-to-moderate asthma in suboptimal or unacceptable control had a high probability of transition directly to optimal control. Patients with severe asthma had a tendency to remain in unacceptable control. A Markov model is a useful tool to model the control of asthma over time. Severity modified clearly the health states. It could be used to compare the performance of different approaches to asthma management.
Norman Do the Art of Tiling with Rectangles

Tiling pervades the art and architecture of various ancient civilizations. Toddlers grapple with tiling problems when they pack away their wooden blocks and home renovators encounter similar problems in the bathroom. However, rather than being a frivolous pastime, mathematicians have found the art of tiling to be brimming with beautiful mathematics, problems of fiendish difficulty, as well as important applications to the physical sciences. In this article, we will consider some of the more surprising results from the art of tiling with rectangles. One of the most famous of tiling conundrums is the following, a problem which almost every mathematician must have encountered at one time or another. Consider the regular 8 × 8 checkerboard which has been mutilated by removing two squares from opposite corners. How many ways are there to tile the remaining board with dominoes which can cover two adjacent squares? The answer to this problem, which may seem surprising to an unsuspecting audience, is that it is impossible to tile the mutilated checkerboard. Prior to removing the two squares, there is a myriad of ways to perform such a domino tiling — actually, 3604 = 12988816 ways to be precise! So why should such a trivial alteration of the board reduce this number to zero? The argument is stunning in its simplicity and the key to the solution lies in the seemingly unimportant colouring of the checkerboard into black and white squares. Of course, this colouring is such that the placement of any domino on the board will cover exactly one square of each colour. Thus, a necessary condition for the board to be tiled by dominoes is that there are an equal number of black and white squares. However, in mutilating our checkerboard, we have removed two squares of the same colour from a board that previously had 32 of each. From this disparity, we are led to the conclusion that the mutilated checkerboard cannot be tiled by dominoes, no matter how hard one might try.
Boundary stabilization and control of wave equations by means of a general multiplier method

We describe a general multiplier method to obtain boundary stabilization of the wave equation by means of a (linear or quasi-linear) Neumann feedback. This also enables us to get Dirichlet boundary control of the wave equation. This method leads to new geometrical cases concerning the "active" part of the boundary where the feedback (or control) is applied. Due to mixed boundary conditions, the Neumann feedback case generate singularities. Under a simple geometrical condition concerning the orientation of the boundary, we obtain a stabilization result in linear or quasi-linear cases.
Aggregate efficiency in random assignment problems

We introduce aggregate e‐ciency (AE) for random assignments (RA) by requiring higher expected numbers of agents be assigned to their more preferred choices. It is shown that the realizations of any aggregate e‐cient random assignment (AERA) must be an AE permutation matrix. While AE implies ordinally e‐ciency, the reverse does not hold. And there is no mechanism treating equals equally while satisfying weak strategyproofness and AE. But, a new mechanism, the reservation-1 (R1), is identifled and shown to provide an improvement on grounds of AE over the probabilistic serial mechanism of Bogomolnaia and Moulin (2001). We prove that R1 is weakly strategyproof, ordinally e‐cient, and weak envy{free. Moreover, the characterization of R1 displays that it is the probabilistic serial mechanism updated by a principle decreed by the Turkish parliament concerning the random assignment of new doctors: Modifying the axioms of Hashimoto, Hirata, Kesten, Kurino, and Unver (forthcoming) characterizing the probabilistic serial mechanism to satisfy this principle, fully characterizes R1.
Worker Performance in a Situated Crowdsourcing Market

We present an empirical study that investigates crowdsourcing performance in a situated market. Unlike online markets, situated crowdsourcing markets consist of workers who become serendipitously available for work in a particular location and context. So far, the literature has lacked a systematic study of task performance and uptake in such markets under varying incentives. In a 3-week field study, we demonstrate that in a situated crowdsourcing market, task uptake and accuracy are generally comparable with online markets. We also show that increasing task rewards in situated crowdsourcing leads to increased task uptake but not accuracy, while decreasing task rewards leads to decreases in both task uptake and accuracy. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS • We present a 3-week empirical study on worker performance in a situated crowdsourcing market. • We manipulate task rewards to investigate its effects on performance. • Increasing task rewards led to increased task uptake but not accuracy. • Decreasing task rewards led to decreased task uptake and accuracy. • We compare the performance of our reported tasks and literature using several types of crowdsourcing.
Exploring Student Learning and Leadership through a University-Community Choral Initiative

Within a rapidly changing higher education landscape, there is an increased need for universities to look beyond their ‘ivory towers’ and into their surrounding communities in preparing students for the ‘real world’. Findings from an Irish case study explore a children's choral university-community initiative within an urban area of socio-economic disadvantage. The choral initiative involved 14 student volunteers and 150 children. Qualitative research, carried out over two years, involved student focus group interviews and reflective surveys. The research illuminates the multifaceted nature of the learning experience for students and examines to what extent such an initiative can build choral leadership capacity to work in school and community settings.
Teaching Is a Natural Cognitive Ability for Humans

We suggest that a multidisciplinary approach to teaching has potential to widen its scope. In that vein, we revisit our original claim that teaching is a natural cognitive ability among humans. We elaborate on three requirements for such an ability and report that, first, teaching strategies may be developmentally reliable. Findings indicate a possible normative developmental trajectory from age one year through adulthood. Second, teaching seems to be species-typical, that is, it is a universal human achievement. Third, human teaching with a theory of mind (ToM) is species-unique. Nonhuman animals may teach without a ToM. Teaching is often seen exclusively as what happens when an adult teacher teaches children in school settings. However, teaching's reach is greater than that. Adults teach youngsters in societies where there are no schools. Regardless if there are schools or not in a particular society, young children teach each other. These and other findings about teaching led us to claim, a decade ago, that teaching is a natural cognitive ability in humans (Strauss, Ziv, & Stein, 2002). That claim was subsequently expanded by Strauss (2005). In the ensuing years, the idea has been picked up by others, especially Csibra and Gergely (2009), and has been elaborated and expanded. We revisit our claim in light of advances occurring in a number of fields that impinge on our idea. In this article, we provide a panoramic view of teaching, define teaching, characterize properties of natural cognitive abilities, discuss the claim that teaching is a natural cognitive ability with emphasis on its being developmentally reliable, and make some final remarks.
Workforce development as an antipoverty strategy : What do we know ?

Figure 1 shows overall federal funding levels for employment and training programs at the Department of Labor (DOL). The figure plots annual expenditures on employment and job training from the Manpower Development Training Act (MDTA) in 1963 through WIA in 2003 in constant dollars. After peaking in real terms in 1979 at about $17 billion, funding declined until 1985, and has either remained flat or declined more since then. By 2003, inflation-adjusted funding had fallen by about 65 percent from its 1979 peak; by 2008, by nearly 70 percent. Moreover, because the real economy has more than doubled in size since 1979, this funding has fallen by about 87 percent in relative terms—from roughly 0.30 percent to 0.04 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Because WIA now funds a broader range of services for a broader set of participants than DOL employment and training programs did 30 years ago, the decline in spending on the disadvantaged, especially for direct employment or training, has been even greater. Outside the Department of Labor, employment and training expenditures have increased in some cases (e.g., for Pell grants) and decreased in others, but have not fully offset the dramatic declines in DOL funding, especially relative to the growing needs of the low-income population.
Developing Continuous SCM/CRM Forcing Using NWP Products Constrained by ARM Observations

This study examines the feasibility of using numerical weather prediction (NWP) model products to replace radiosondes to develop long-term continuous forcing, instead of just intensive operational periods (IOPs), for single-column models (SCMs) and cloud-resolving models (CRMs). This is motivated by the need for long-term continuous forcing for statistical studies of SCMs/CRMs results. Studies show that SCMs/CRMs results are sensitive to their detailed initial conditions. One way to reduce this sensitivity is through statistical studies of SCMs/CRMs results so that one can filter out those uninteresting random errors and focus on those physically important systematic errors. The long-term forcing can be obtained directly from NWP model analyses, but the forcing is largely affected by model physical parameterizations that are used in the data analysis procedure. To reduce the problem, we propose a combined NWP data analysis and the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program objective variational analysis approach to derive the long-term continuous forcing. In the combined system, NWP data provide vertical distribution of atmospheric state variables and the variational analysis is used to derive the required large-scale forcing data constrained by the ARM surface and top of the atmosphere (TOA) measurements. We conducted a preliminary study using data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) mesoscale model Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) analysis during the ARM SCM Summer 97 and Spring 2000 IOPs for this study. Results are compared with those from the ARM operational objective variational analysis (Zhang and Lin 1997; Zhang et al. 2001a,b) and those from the European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) analysis. Impacts of the derived forcing on Community Climate Model Version 3 (CCM3) SCM are also analyzed.
A Translation-Based Knowledge Graph Embedding Preserving Logical Property of Relations

This paper proposes a novel translation-based knowledge graph embedding that preserves the logical properties of relations such as transitivity and symmetricity. The embedding space generated by existing translation-based embeddings do not represent transitive and symmetric relations precisely, because they ignore the role of entities in triples. Thus, we introduce a role-specific projection which maps an entity to distinct vectors according to its role in a triple. That is, a head entity is projected onto an embedding space by a head projection operator, and a tail entity is projected by a tail projection operator. This idea is applied to TransE, TransR, and TransD to produce lppTransE, lppTransR, and lppTransD, respectively. According to the experimental results on link prediction and triple classification, the proposed logical property preserving embeddings show the state-of-the-art performance at both tasks. These results prove that it is critical to preserve logical properties of relations while embedding knowledge graphs, and the proposed method does it effectively.
The jets in 3C 66B

The nearby FRI radio source 3C 66B has been studied with the VIA at 1.5, 8 and 15 GHz with high resolution and sensitivity. The first detailed maps of the counterjet are presented. Polarization maps in the jet and counterjet are shown; in each a resolved parallel-field region surrounds a central core which changes from a parallel to a perpendicular field configuration. A model of the jets involving a relativistic central region and a slower outer sheath is discussed, and in this context 3C 66B is compared with similar sources.