Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Induced indirect defence in a lycaenid-ant association: the regulation of a resource in a mutualism

Indirect defences involve the protection of a host organism by a mutualistic partner. Threat of predation to the host organism may induce the production of rewards and/or signals that attract the mutualistic partner. In laboratory and field experiments we show that threatened lycaenid butterfly larvae (Plebejus acmon) produce more nectar rewards from their gland and were tended by protective ants twice as much as controls. Ant attendance did not affect the leaf consumption or feeding behaviour of larvae in the absence of predators. Inducible nectar production and indirect defence in this system may be a mechanism by which larvae provide rewards for services when they are needed the most. Such a system may stabilize the mutualistic association between lycaenid larvae and ants by preventing exploitation by either partner.
Alba-Domain Proteins of Trypanosoma brucei Are Cytoplasmic RNA-Binding Proteins That Interact with the Translation Machinery

Trypanosoma brucei and related pathogens transcribe most genes as polycistronic arrays that are subsequently processed into monocistronic mRNAs. Expression is frequently regulated post-transcriptionally by cis-acting elements in the untranslated regions (UTRs). GPEET and EP procyclins are the major surface proteins of procyclic (insect midgut) forms of T. brucei. Three regulatory elements common to the 3′ UTRs of both mRNAs regulate mRNA turnover and translation. The glycerol-responsive element (GRE) is unique to the GPEET 3′ UTR and regulates its expression independently from EP. A synthetic RNA encompassing the GRE showed robust sequence-specific interactions with cytoplasmic proteins in electromobility shift assays. This, combined with column chromatography, led to the identification of 3 Alba-domain proteins. RNAi against Alba3 caused a growth phenotype and reduced the levels of Alba1 and Alba2 proteins, indicative of interactions between family members. Tandem-affinity purification and co-immunoprecipitation verified these interactions and also identified Alba4 in sub-stoichiometric amounts. Alba proteins are cytoplasmic and are recruited to starvation granules together with poly(A) RNA. Concomitant depletion of all four Alba proteins by RNAi specifically reduced translation of a reporter transcript flanked by the GPEET 3′ UTR. Pulldown of tagged Alba proteins confirmed interactions with poly(A) binding proteins, ribosomal protein P0 and, in the case of Alba3, the cap-binding protein eIF4E4. In addition, Alba2 and Alba3 partially cosediment with polyribosomes in sucrose gradients. Alba-domain proteins seem to have exhibited great functional plasticity in the course of evolution. First identified as DNA-binding proteins in Archaea, then in association with nuclear RNase MRP/P in yeast and mammalian cells, they were recently described as components of a translationally silent complex containing stage-regulated mRNAs in Plasmodium. Our results are also consistent with stage-specific regulation of translation in trypanosomes, but most likely in the context of initiation.
ON THE CONTROL OF AUTOMATIC PROCESSES : A PARALLEL DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING MODEL OF THE STROOP EFFECT Technical Report AIP-40

A growing body of evidence suggests that traditional views of automaticity are in need of revision. For example, automaticity has often been treated as an all-or-none phenomenon, and traditional theories have held that automatic processes are independent of attention. Yet recent empirical data suggest that automatic processes are continuous, and furthermore are subject to attentional control. In this paper we present a model of attention which addresses these issues. Using a parallel distributed processing framework we propose that the attributes of automaticity depend upon the strength of a process and that strength increases with training. Using the Stroop effect as an example, we show how automatic processes are continuous and emerge gradually with practice. Specifically, we present a computational model of the Stroop task which simulates the time course of processing as well as the effects of learning. This is done by combining the cascade mechanism described by McClelland (1979) with the backpropagation learning algorithm (Rumelhart, Hinton, & Williams, 1986). The model is able to simulate performance in the standard Stroop task, as well as aspects of performance in variants of this task which manipulate SOA, response set, and the number of competing words in the display. These simulations demonstrate that when two processes are in competition, the weaker process can take on several of the attributes that have previously been associated with controlled processing: susceptibility to interference and a requirement for the allocation of attention. This suggests that the traditional distinction between controlled and automatic processing is in need of reconsideration. Cohen, Dunbar & McClelland Control of Automatic Processes
Java security: Web browsers and beyond

The introduction of Java applets has taken the World Wide Web by storm. Java allows web creators to embellish their content with arbitrary programs which execute in the web browser, whether for simple animations or complex front-ends to other services. We examined the Java language and the Sun HotJava, Netscape Navigator, and Microsoft Internet Explorer browsers which support it, and found a significant number of flaws which compromise their security. These flaws arise for several reasons, including implementation errors, unintended interactions between browser features, differences between the Java language and bytecode semantics, and weaknesses in the design of the language and the bytecode format. On a deeper level, these flaws arise because of weaknesses in the design methodology used in creating Java and the browsers. In addition to the flaws, we discuss the underlying tension between the openness desired by web application writers and the security needs of their users, and we suggest how both might be accommodated.
More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor

"The authors restore metaphor to our lives by showing us that it's never gone away. We've merely been taught to talk as if it had: as though weather maps were more 'real' than the breath of autumn; as though, for that matter, Reason was really 'cool. ' What we're saying whenever we say is a theme this book illumines for anyone attentive. " -- Hugh Kenner, Johns Hopkins University "In this bold and powerful book, Lakoff and Turner continue their use of metaphor to show how our minds get hold of the world. They have achieved nothing less than a postmodern Understanding Poetry, a new way of reading and teaching that makes poetry again important. " -- Norman Holland, University of Florida
Detailed Analysis of Variants in FTO in Association with Body Composition in a Cohort of 70-Year-Olds Suggests a Weakened Effect among Elderly

Background The rs9939609 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the fat mass and obesity (FTO) gene has previously been associated with higher BMI levels in children and young adults. In contrast, this association was not found in elderly men. BMI is a measure of overweight in relation to the individuals' height, but offers no insight into the regional body fat composition or distribution. Objective To examine whether the FTO gene is associated with overweight and body composition-related phenotypes rather than BMI, we measured waist circumference, total fat mass, trunk fat mass, leg fat mass, visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue, and daily energy intake in 985 humans (493 women) at the age of 70 years. In total, 733 SNPs located in the FTO gene were genotyped in order to examine whether rs9939609 alone or the other SNPs, or their combinations, are linked to obesity-related measures in elderly humans. Design Cross-sectional analysis of the Prospective Investigation of the Vasculature in Uppsala Seniors (PIVUS) cohort. Results Neither a single SNP, such as rs9939609, nor a SNP combination was significantly linked to overweight, body composition-related measures, or daily energy intake in elderly humans. Of note, these observations hold both among men and women. Conclusions Due to the diversity of measurements included in the study, our findings strengthen the view that the effect of FTO on body composition appears to be less profound in later life compared to younger ages and that this is seemingly independent of gender.
Experimentally Demonstrated Echolocation in the Amazon River Porpoise, Inia Geoffrensis (Blainville)

Abstract : Echolocation and related behavior in the Amazon River porpoise Inia geoffrensis was investigated to demonstrate biological sonar within the context of operant conditioning. It was found that the Inia's click train ranged from 25 to 200 kHz; major energy was centered approximately at 100 kHz. The longest periods of silence for the Inia were 8 sec. Corollary behavior exhibited during the performance of the conditioned task indicated a two-step sonic appraisal of the stimulus condition.
Murine Noroviruses Comprising a Single Genogroup Exhibit Biological Diversity despite Limited Sequence Divergence

ABSTRACT Viruses within the genus Norovirus of the family Caliciviridae are the major cause of acute, nonbacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. Human noroviruses are genetically diverse, with up to 57% divergence in capsid protein sequences, and comprise three genogroups. The significance of such genetic diversity is not yet understood. The discovery of murine norovirus (MNV) and its ability to productively infect cultured murine macrophages and dendritic cells has provided an opportunity to determine the functional consequences of norovirus diversity in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, we compared the full-length genomes of 21 new MNV isolates with five previously sequenced MNV genomes and demonstrated a conserved genomic organization consisting of four open reading frames (ORFs) and a previously unknown region of nucleotide conservation in ORF2. A phylogenetic analysis of all 26 MNV genomes revealed 15 distinct MNV strains, with up to 13% divergence at the nucleotide level, that comprise a single genotype and genogroup. Evidence for recombination within ORF2 in several MNV genomes was detected by multiple methods. Serological analyses comparing neutralizing antibody responses between highly divergent strains suggested that the MNV genogroup comprises a single serotype. Within this single genogroup, MNV strains exhibited considerable biological diversity in their ability to grow in culture and to infect and/or persist in wild-type mice. The isolation and characterization of multiple MNV strains illustrate how genetic analysis may underestimate the biological diversity of noroviruses and provide a molecular map for future studies of MNV biology.
Load Modeling Effect on Voltage Stability in Radial Distribu-tion Systems – A Case Study

Generally, the distribution systems have served for different types of loads like commercial, industrial, residential, agriculture and municipality etc. and diverse changes in consumption pattern occur at any part of the network at any time of the day. During light loading condition, the voltage profile can increase and vice versa for peak loading condition. Under these circumstances, it is worthwhile to understand the voltage stability for planning of any Volt/VAr controls. This paper has presented the voltage stability analysis of 12-bus and 85-bus standard radial distribution systems using line stability index. Different load models have been taken and under each model, the system performance as well as its stability discussed. The focal points are suitable for planning studies like Volt/VAr controls, optimal location of Distribution Generation (DG) or load shedding etc.
See what's enBlogue: real-time emergent topic identification in social media

With the increasing popularity of Web 2.0 streams, people become overwhelmed by the available information. This is partly countered by tagging blog posts and tweets, so that users can filter messages according to their tags. However, this is insufficient for detecting newly emerging topics that are not reflected by a single tag but are rather expressed by unusual tag combinations. This paper presents enBlogue, an approach for automatically detecting such emergent topics. EnBlogue uses a time-sliding window to compute statistics about tags and tag-pairs. These statistics are then used to identify unusual shifts in correlations, most of the time caused by real-world events. We analyze the strength of these shifts and measure the degree of unpredictability they include, used to rank tag-pairs expressing emergent topics. Additionally, this "indicator of surprise" is carried over to subsequent time points, as user interests do not abruptly vanish from one moment to the other. To avoid monitoring all tag-pairs we can also select a subset of tags, e. g. , the most popular or volatile of them, to be used as seed-tags for subsequent pair-wise correlation computations. The system is fully implemented and publicly available on the Web, processing live Twitter data. We present experimental studies based on real world datasets demonstrating both the prediction quality by means of a user study and the efficiency of enBlogue.
On Language Learner Agency: A Complex Dynamic Systems Theory Perspective

Agency has attracted considerable attention, especially of late. Nevertheless, perceptions of language learners as nonagentive persist. In this article the Douglas Fir Group's call for a transdisciplinary perspective is heeded in a Complex Dynamic Systems Theory's (CDST) conceptualization of agency. It is suggested that CDST maintains the structure? agency complementarity while bringing to the fore the relational and emergent nature of agency. Coordination dynamics is identified as a possible mechanism for the phylogenetic and ontogenetic emergence of agency. CDST further characterizes agency as spatially? temporally situated. It can be achieved and changed through iteration and co-adaptation. It is also multidimensional and heterarchical. In this era of posthumanism, an issue that is also taken up is whether it is only humans who have agency. The article then discusses educational practices that could support learner agency. Finally, the article closes with a discussion of agency and ethical action.
Experimental Analysis of the Ultra Wideband Propagation Channel Over the 3.1 GHz - 10.6 GHz Frequency Band

In order to design communication systems fully exploiting the FCC-defined ultra wideband (UWB) spectrum, an accurate knowledge of the propagation mechanisms is necessary. This paper presents a comprehensive UWB channel measurement campaign designed in the office indoor environment to cover the 3.1 GHz - 10.6 GHz frequency band. From an extensive set of recorded channel impulse responses (CIRs), statistical analyses permitted to extract the main UWB radio channel characteristics, such as the UWB path loss, delay spread and cluster and ray arrival rates. In particular, an alternative to the classical Saleh and Valenzuela approach is proposed for the description of UWB power delay profiles (PDPs). Our experimental set of collected parameters may be used to build a realistic model for the UWB radio channel
Asymptotically efficient adaptive allocation rules for the multiarmed bandit problem with switching cost

The authors consider multiarmed bandit problems with switching cost, define uniformly good allocation rules, and restrict attention to such rules. They present a lower bound on the asymptotic performance of uniformly good allocation rules and construct an allocation scheme that achieves the bound. It is found that despite the inclusion of a switching cost the proposed allocation scheme achieves the same asymptotic performance as the optimal rule for the bandit problem without switching cost. This is made possible by grouping together samples into blocks of increasing sizes, thereby reducing the number of switches to O(log n). Finally, an optimal allocation scheme for a large class of distributions which includes members of the exponential family is illustrated. >
A high-performance tiered storage system for a global spectrum observatory network

This paper describes the RF measurement storage and database architecture for long-term continuously running spectrum observatories in the US (at Chicago and Blacksburg) and in Turku, Finland. It also describes how the measurement band plan has been collaboratively created taking into account the specifications and limits of the receiving system. Collecting measurements from different geographical locations makes it possible to perform spatial and temporal analysis of the spectrum usage in different parts of the world. As the multi-site measurements are aggregated into one central database, very high requirements are set on the database architecture, equipment, capacity, speed and number of data connections.
ESM: Efficient and Scalable Data Center Multicast Routing

Multicast benefits group communications in saving network traffic and improving application throughput, both of which are important for data center applications. However, the technical trend of data center design poses new challenges for efficient and scalable multicast routing. First, the densely connected networks make traditional receiver-driven multicast routing protocols inefficient in multicast tree formation. Second, it is quite difficult for the low-end switches widely used in data centers to hold the routing entries of massive multicast groups. In this paper, we propose ESM, an efficient and scalable multicast routing scheme for data center networks. ESM addresses the challenges above by exploiting the feature of modern data center networks. Based on the regular topology of data centers, ESM uses a source-to-receiver expansion approach to build efficient multicast trees, excluding many unnecessary intermediate switches used in receiver-driven multicast routing. For scalable multicast routing, ESM combines both in-packet Bloom Filters and in-switch entries to make the tradeoff between the number of multicast groups supported and the additional bandwidth overhead. Simulations show that ESM saves 40% ~ 50% network traffic and doubles the application throughputs compared to receiver-driven multicast routing, and the combination routing scheme significantly reduces the number of in-switch entries required. We implement ESM on a Linux platform. The experimental results further demonstrate that ESM can well support online tree building for large-scale groups with churns, and the overhead of the combination forwarding engine is light-weighted.
Combined Feature Extraction on Medical X-ray Images

Medical images form an essential source of information for various important processes such as diagnosis of diseases, surgical planning, medical reference, research and training. Therefore, effective and meaningful search and classification of these images are vital. In this paper, the approaches of content-based image retrieval (CBIR) using low level features such as shape and texture are investigated in order to create a framework that classify medical X-ray image automatically. Gray level Co-occurrence Matrix, Canny Edge Operator, Local Binary Pattern and pixel level information of the images in this work act as image based feature representations which are adopted in our method. The state-of-the-art machine learning method, Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used for classification. In addition, the performance of image classification offered by combining the promising features stated above is investigated. Experimental results using 116 different classes of 11,000 X-ray images showed 90.7% classification accuracy.
Music Similarity Estimation with the Mean-Covariance Restricted Boltzmann Machine

Existing content-based music similarity estimation methods largely build on complex hand-crafted feature extractors, which are difficult to engineer. As an alternative, unsupervised machine learning allows to learn features empirically from data. We train a recently proposed model, the mean-covariance Restricted Boltzmann Machine, on music spectrogram excerpts and employ it for music similarity estimation. In k-NN based genre retrieval experiments on three datasets, it clearly outperforms MFCC-based methods, beats simple unsupervised feature extraction using k-Means and comes close to the state-of-the-art. This shows that unsupervised feature extraction poses a viable alternative to engineered features.
A Multiple Case Study Investigating Utah School District Approaches to Beginning Teacher Retention

The purpose of this multiple case study was to discover educator perceptions of Utah school district approaches to retaining beginning teachers. Throughout the study, the term “educator” collectively describes the study participants: district leaders, principals, mentors, and beginning teachers. The overarching concept that guided this study was Sher’s (1983) Three Cs of Education framework which categorizes the factors that impact teacher retention into the following three groups: Characteristics, Conditions, and Compensation. The central research question for this study was: How do educators describe Utah school districts’ approaches to retaining beginning teachers? The sub-questions for this study were: What are educator perceptions of the ways Utah school districts address teacher characteristics as an approach to retaining beginning teachers? What are educator perceptions of the ways Utah school districts address working conditions as an approach to retaining beginning teachers? What are educator perceptions of the ways Utah school districts address compensation as an approach to retaining beginning teachers? The methods used to collect the data included semi-structured individual interviews, a focus group interview, and documents from two school districts in the state of Utah. The data were analyzed using Yin’s (2014) case study analytical techniques. The cross-case analysis revealed school districts main approaches to teacher retention included raising salaries and implementing mentoring programs. However, the participants emphasized the importance of feeling valued and garnering community support in retaining teachers.
Precoloring Extension with Fixed Color Bound

Precoloring Extension (shortly PrExt) is the following problem: Given a graph G with some precolored vertices and a color bound k, can the precoloring of G be extended to a proper coloring of all vertices of G using not more than k colors? Answering an open problem from 6], we prove that PrExt with xed color bound k = 3 is NP-complete for bipartite (and even planar) graphs, and we prove a general result on parametrized PrExt. We also give a simpliied argument why PrExt with xed color bound is solvable in polynomial time for graphs of bounded treewidth (and hence also for chordal graphs).