Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The ability of professional standards to mitigate aggressive reporting

This paper investigates whether replacing a standard that employs a vague, verbal disclosure threshold with a standard that employs a more stringent, numerical threshold mitigates the aggressiveness of reporting decisions. Two experiments were performed in a tax setting. The results indicate that (1) when a verbal standard is in place, tax practitioners use the latitude inherent in a verbal standard to support aggressive reporting decisions, and (2) when a numerical standard is in place, tax practitioners use insteadthe latitude available in assessing evidential support to justify an aggressive reporting decision. This shift in incentive effect is pronounced enough to render reporting decisions made underthe numerical standard as aggressive as reporting decisions made under the verbal standard. These results indicate that replacing verbal thresholds with numerical thresholds may not diminish the aggressiveness of reporting decisions.
High affinity and specificity of dimeric binding of thyroid hormone receptors to DNA and their ligand-dependent dissociation.

The thyroid hormone receptors are ligand-dependent, DNA binding, trans-acting transcriptional factors belonging to the erbA-related steroid/thyroid hormone receptor superfamily. We report here the high affinity and specificity of dimeric DNA binding of human thyroid hormone receptor-alpha 1 (hTR alpha 1) and hTR beta 1 and the effect of T3 on its DNA binding. Gel mobility shift assay showed that hTR alpha 1 and -beta 1 bind to the rat GH-thyroid hormone response element (TRE) and rat malic enzyme (rME)-TRE as a monomer, dimer, and oligomer in the absence of T3 and bind to an irrelevant DNA sequence from the adenovirus 5 promoter only as a monomer. In competition studies using unlabeled TRE, dimer binding was displaced by lower concentrations of TRE than was the monomer, indicating that the dimeric binding has higher affinity than the monomer binding. These results suggest that the formation of dimers of TR increases the specificity and affinity for the response element. Surprisingly, T3 disrupted dimer binding and increased the intensity of monomer binding to rME-TRE in a dose-dependent manner. This does not occur with the rat GH-TRE. We also demonstrate that this disruption of dimeric binding by T3 occurred on a TRE formed by a direct repeat and not on a palindromic TRE. Furthermore, a mutant hTR beta (Mf), which has no detectable ligand-binding activity because of a glycine to arginine substitution at amino acid 340 in the hormone-binding domain, does not show dissociation from rME-TRE after the addition of T3. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Analysis and design of monotonic type-2 fuzzy inference systems

The prior knowledge – monotonicity property – is helpful for system analysis, modeling and design, especially when no specific physical structure knowledge about systems is available. This paper presents how to use interval type-2 fuzzy logic systems (IT2FLSs) to incorporate the monotonicity property into system design. First, we present sufficient conditions on the parameters of IT2FLSs to ensure the monotonicity between the inputs and outputs of IT2FLSs. Then, we transform the design of monotonic IT2FLSs to the least squares problem with linear-inequality constraints. At last, simulations are given to show the usefulness of the monotonicity property and the advantages of monotonic IT2FLSs under noisy circumstances.
Efficacy and predictability of soft tissue ablation using a prototype Raman-shifted alexandrite laser

Abstract. Previous research showed that mid-infrared free-electron lasers could reproducibly ablate soft tissue with little collateral damage. The potential for surgical applications motivated searches for alternative tabletop lasers providing thermally confined pulses in the 6- to-7-μm wavelength range with sufficient pulse energy, stability, and reliability. Here, we evaluate a prototype Raman-shifted alexandrite laser. We measure ablation thresholds, etch rates, and collateral damage in gelatin and cornea as a function of laser wavelength (6.09, 6.27, or 6.43 μm), pulse energy (up to 3 mJ/pulse), and spot diameter (100 to 600 μm). We find modest wavelength dependence for ablation thresholds and collateral damage, with the lowest thresholds and least damage for 6.09 μm. We find a strong spot-size dependence for all metrics. When the beam is tightly focused (∼100-μm diameter), ablation requires more energy, is highly variable and less efficient, and can yield large zones of mechanical damage (for pulse energies >1 mJ). When the beam is softly focused (∼300-μm diameter), ablation proceeded at surgically relevant etch rates, with reasonable reproducibility (5% to 12% within a single sample), and little collateral damage. With improvements in pulse-energy stability, this prototype laser may have significant potential for soft-tissue surgical applications.
Analysis of the Deubiquitinating Enzymes of the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract Attachment of proteins to ubiquitin is reversed by specialized proteases called deubiquitinating enzymes (Dubs), which are also essential for ubiquitin precursor processing. In the genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, 17 potential DUB genes can be discerned. We have now constructed strains deleted for each of these genes. Surprisingly, given the essential nature of the ubiquitin system, none of the mutants is lethal or strongly growth defective under standard conditions, although a number have detectable abnormalities. Including results from this study, 14 of the 17 Dubs have now been shown to have ubiquitin-cleaving activity. The most extensively characterized yeast Dub is Doa4, which is required for both ubiquitin homeostasis and proteasome-dependent proteolysis. To help determine what distinguishes Doa4 functionally from other Dubs, we have cloned a DOA4 ortholog from the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis. The K. lactis protein is 42% identical to Doa4, but unexpectedly the K. lactis gene is slightly closer in nucleotide sequence to UBP5, which cannot substitute for DOA4 even in high dosage. The data suggest that the DOA4 locus underwent a duplication after the divergence of K. lactis and S. cerevisiae. This information will facilitate fine-structure analysis of the Doa4 protein to help delineate its key functional elements.
Detailed heat generation simulations via the Monte Carlo method

As current device technologies advance into the sub-continuum regime, they operate at length scales on the order of the electron and phonon mean free path. The ballistic conditions lead to strong non-equilibrium at nanometer length scales. The electron-phonon interaction is not energetically or spatially uniform and the generated phonons have widely varying contributions to heat transport. This work examines the microscopic details of Joule heating in bulk silicon with Monte Carlo simulations including acoustic and optical phonon dispersion. The approach provides an engineering tool for electro-thermal analysis of future nano-devices.
Effects of Humans on Behaviour of Wildlife Exceed Those of Natural Predators in a Landscape of Fear

Background Human disturbance can influence wildlife behaviour, which can have implications for wildlife populations. For example, wildlife may be more vigilant near human disturbance, resulting in decreased forage intake and reduced reproductive success. We measured the effects of human activities compared to predator and other environmental factors on the behaviour of elk (Cervus elaphus Linnaeus 1758) in a human-dominated landscape in Alberta, Canada. Methodology/Principal Findings We collected year-round behavioural data of elk across a range of human disturbances. We estimated linear mixed models of elk behaviour and found that human factors (land-use type, traffic and distance from roads) and elk herd size accounted for more than 80% of variability in elk vigilance. Elk decreased their feeding time when closer to roads, and road traffic volumes of at least 1 vehicle every 2 hours induced elk to switch into a more vigilant behavioural mode with a subsequent loss in feeding time. Other environmental factors, thought crucial in shaping vigilance behaviour in elk (natural predators, reproductive status of females), were not important. The highest levels of vigilance were recorded on public lands where hunting and motorized recreational activities were cumulative compared to the national park during summer, which had the lowest levels of vigilance. Conclusions/Significance In a human-dominated landscape, effects of human disturbance on elk behaviour exceed those of habitat and natural predators. Humans trigger increased vigilance and decreased foraging in elk. However, it is not just the number of people but also the type of human activity that influences elk behaviour (e.g. hiking vs. hunting). Quantifying the actual fitness costs of human disturbance remains a challenge in field studies but should be a primary focus for future researches. Some species are much more likely to be disturbed by humans than by non-human predators: for these species, quantifying human disturbance may be the highest priority for conservation.
Surface Sampling Methods for Bacillus anthracis Spore Contamination

During an investigation conducted December 17–20, 2001, we collected environmental samples from a U.S. postal facility in Washington, D.C., known to be extensively contaminated with Bacillus anthracis spores. Because methods for collecting and analyzing B. anthracis spores have not yet been validated, our objective was to compare the relative effectiveness of sampling methods used for collecting spores from contaminated surfaces. Comparison of wipe, wet and dry swab, and HEPA vacuum sock samples on nonporous surfaces indicated good agreement between results with HEPA vacuum and wipe samples. However, results from HEPA vacuum sock and wipe samples agreed poorly with the swab samples. Dry swabs failed to detect spores >75% of the time they were detected by wipe and HEPA vacuum samples. Wipe samples collected after HEPA vacuum samples and HEPA vacuum samples after wipe samples indicated that neither method completely removed spores from the sampled surfaces.
Automatic Violence Scenes Detection: A multi-modal approach

In this working note, we propose a set of features and a classication scheme for detecting automatically violent scenes in movies. The features are extracted from audio, video, and subtitles modalities of the movies. In violent scenes classication, we found the following features relevant: the short time audio energy, motion component, and shot words rate. We classied the shots into violent and non-violent using
Improving the accuracy of co-citation clustering using full text

Historically, co‐citation models have been based only on bibliographic information. Full‐text analysis offers the opportunity to significantly improve the quality of the signals upon which these co‐citation models are based. In this work we study the effect of reference proximity on the accuracy of co‐citation clusters. Using a corpus of 270,521 full text documents from 2007, we compare the results of traditional co‐citation clustering using only the bibliographic information to results from co‐citation clustering where proximity between reference pairs is factored into the pairwise relationships. We find that accounting for reference proximity from full text can increase the textual coherence (a measure of accuracy) of a co‐citation cluster solution by up to 30% over the traditional approach based on bibliographic information.
NFC mobile payment with Citizen Digital Certificate

With the increasing availability of smart handsets, the mobile phone is likely to become the device of choice for accessing sophisticated services and applications in a convenient yet secure manner. This is especially true with the introduction of Near Field Communication (NFC), which provides the phone with an interface allowing it to act as a smart card reader or to emulate smart cards. However the user registration process is relatively weak for access to mobile communication services and some third party application providers have concerns when security certification is totally reliant on the trust and processes of the mobile network operator. In contrast, the Citizen Digital Certificate (CDC) is a PKI based citizen identification card issued to a user by the government, following a rigorous user registration process. In our investigation we explore the combined use of NFC phones and the CDC card, by using the government card to endorse the security of credentials held within the NFC Security Element that is hosted within the phone's Subscriber Identity Module (SIM). In this paper, we propose and describe a secure mobile payment system solution for use in a traditional in-store environment, which combines the CDC PKI, the NFC secure element within the SIM and a 3G mobile network. Moreover, the solution provides a convenient user experience, which leverages from the wide-scale 3G network and the short-range contactless communication of NFC, and could replace the use of payment or service specific smart cards.
Increased cell proliferation and neurogenesis in the adult human Huntington's disease brain

Neurogenesis has recently been observed in the adult human brain, suggesting the possibility of endogenous neural repair. However, the augmentation of neurogenesis in the adult human brain in response to neuronal cell loss has not been demonstrated. This study was undertaken to investigate whether neurogenesis occurs in the subependymal layer (SEL) adjacent to the caudate nucleus in the human brain in response to neurodegeneration of the caudate nucleus in Huntington's disease (HD). Postmortem control and HD human brain tissue were examined by using the cell cycle marker proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), the neuronal marker βIII-tubulin, and the glial cell marker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). We observed a significant increase in cell proliferation in the SEL in HD compared with control brains. Within the HD group, the degree of cell proliferation increased with pathological severity and increasing CAG repeats in the HD gene. Most importantly, PCNA+ cells were shown to coexpress βIII-tubulin or GFAP, demonstrating the generation of neurons and glial cells in the SEL of the diseased human brain. Our results provide evidence of increased progenitor cell proliferation and neurogenesis in the diseased adult human brain and further indicate the regenerative potential of the human brain.
Carnitine in the perinatal metabolism of lipids. I. Relationship between maternal and fetal plasma levels of carnitine and acylcarnitines.

Since premature infants have a limited capacity for fatty acid oxidation, supplementation with carnitine may improve their utilization of fat. Documentation of the source and extent of fetal carnitine reserves should explain the possible need for exogenous carnitine in the neonate. Correlation between free carnitine concentration in maternal and umbilical arterial plasma at birth (r = .45, P less than .01) indicates that the initial concentration of free carnitine in the newborn depends on the maternal level. Thin-layer chromatography shows more gamma-butyrobetaine in maternal than umbilical arterial plasma indicating higher availability of the precursor of carnitine biosynthesis. Elevated fatty acid oxidation in maternal tissues seems to be reflected by larger amounts of long-chain acylcarnitines in maternal plasma. Short-chain acylcarnitines, mainly acetylcarnitine, are higher in the umbilical vein than in maternal plasma (P less than .01) indicating that the conceptus (the placenta or fetus) is either producing more or utilizing less acetylcarnitine. Plasma levels of carnitine rapidly decrease in premature newborns during the first three days after birth if no exogenous carnitine is given (P less than .001), while no significant changes of total carnitine were detected in adult patients on total parenteral alimentation for one week. This difference indicates lower carnitine depots or limited capacity for carnitine biosynthesis in neonates. The possibility still requires further investigation that the development of the optimal rate of fatty acid oxidation in human newborns, as well as in other newborn mammals, may depend on the supply of exogenous carnitine.
Establishment of the Tree Shrew as an Alcohol-Induced Fatty Liver Model for the Study of Alcoholic Liver Diseases

Currently, the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver diseases (ALDs) is not clear. As a result, there is no effective treatment for ALDs. One limitation is the lack of a suitable animal model for use in studying ALDs. The tree shrew is a lower primate animal, characterized by a high-alcohol diet. This work aimed to establish a fatty liver model using tree shrews and to assess the animals’ suitability for the study of ALDs. Tree shrews were treated with alcohol solutions (10% and 20%) for two weeks. Hemophysiology, blood alcohol concentrations (BACs), oxidative stress factors, alcohol metabolic enzymes and hepatic pathology were checked and assayed with an automatic biochemical analyzer, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), western blot, hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining and oil red O staining, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Compared with the normal group, the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and malondialdehyde (MDA) were significantly enhanced in alcohol-treated tree shrews. However, the activity of reduced glutathione hormone (GSH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) declined. Notable changes in alcohol dehydrogenase(ADH1), aldehyde dehydrogenase(ALDH2), CYP2E1, UDP-glucuronosyl transferase 1A1 (UGT1A1) and nuclear factor erythroid-related factor 2 (Nrf2) were observed. HE and oil red O staining showed that hepatocyte swelling, hydropic degeneration, and adipohepatic syndrome occurred in the tree shrews. Alcohol can induce fatty liver-like pathological changes and result in alterations in liver function, oxidative stress factors, alcohol metabolism enzymes and Nrf2. Therefore, the established fatty liver model of tree shrews induced by alcohol should be a promising tool for the study of ALDs.
Design, Characterization and Analysis of a 0.35 μm CMOS SPAD

Most of the works about single-photon detectors rely on Single Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) designed with dedicated technological processes in order to achieve single-photon sensitivity and excellent timing resolution. Instead, this paper focuses on the implementation of high-performance SPADs detectors manufactured in a standard 0.35-micron opto-CMOS technology provided by AMS. We propose a series of low-noise SPADs designed with a variable pitch from 20 μm down to 5 μm. This opens the further way to the integration of large arrays of optimized SPAD pixels with pitch of a few micrometers in order to provide high-resolution single-photon imagers. We experimentally demonstrate that a 20-micron SPAD appears as the most relevant detector in terms of Signal-to-Noise ratio, enabling emergence of large arrays of SPAD.
Browserbite: cross‐browser testing via image processing

Cross‐browser compatibility testing is concerned with identifying perceptible differences in the way a Web page is rendered across different browsers or configurations thereof. Existing automated cross‐browser compatibility testing methods are generally based on document object model (DOM) analysis, or in some cases, a combination of DOM analysis with screenshot capture and image processing. DOM analysis, however, may miss incompatibilities that arise not during DOM construction but rather during rendering. Conversely, DOM analysis produces false alarms because different DOMs may lead to identical or sufficiently similar renderings. This paper presents a novel method for cross‐browser testing based purely on image processing. The method relies on image segmentation to extract ‘regions’ from a Web page and computer vision techniques to extract a set of characteristic features from each region. Regions extracted from a screenshot taken on a baseline browser are compared against regions extracted from the browser under test based on characteristic features. A machine learning classifier is used to determine if differences between two matched regions should be classified as an incompatibility. An evaluation involving 140 pages shows that the proposed method achieves an F‐score exceeding 90%, outperforming a state‐of‐the‐art cross‐browser testing tool based on DOM analysis. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Dictionary Identification - Sparse Matrix-Factorisation via ℓ1-Minimisation

This article treats the problem of learning a dictionary providing sparse representations for a given signal class, via $\ell_1$-minimisation. The problem can also be seen as factorising a $\ddim \times \nsig$ matrix $Y=(y_1 >. y_\nsig), y_n\in \R^\ddim$ of training signals into a $\ddim \times \natoms$ dictionary matrix $\dico$ and a $\natoms \times \nsig$ coefficient matrix $\X=(x_1. x_\nsig), x_n \in \R^\natoms$, which is sparse. The exact question studied here is when a dictionary coefficient pair $(\dico,\X)$ can be recovered as local minimum of a (nonconvex) $\ell_1$-criterion with input $Y=\dico \X$. First, for general dictionaries and coefficient matrices, algebraic conditions ensuring local identifiability are derived, which are then specialised to the case when the dictionary is a basis. Finally, assuming a random Bernoulli-Gaussian sparse model on the coefficient matrix, it is shown that sufficiently incoherent bases are locally identifiable with high probability. The perhaps surprising result is that the typically sufficient number of training samples $\nsig$ grows up to a logarithmic factor only linearly with the signal dimension, i.e. $\nsig \approx C \natoms \log \natoms$, in contrast to previous approaches requiring combinatorially many samples.
Evaluation of Lactobacillus sobrius/L. amylovorus as a New Microbial Marker of Pig Manure

ABSTRACT Based on a comparison of the dominant microbial populations in 17 pig manure samples and using a molecular typing method, we identified a species, Lactobacillus sobrius and Lactobacillus amylovorus (which now are considered a single species and are designated L. sobrius/amylovorus here), that was consistently found in manure. The aim of the present study was to confirm by real-time PCR the relevance of this species as a marker of pig fecal contamination. The specificity of L. sobrius/amylovorus was evaluated in human and animal DNA extracted from feces. The real-time PCR assay then was applied to water samples, including effluents from urban wastewater treatment plants, runoff water, and rivers. L. sobrius/amylovorus was consistently present in all samples of swine origin: 48 fecal samples, 18 from raw manure and 10 from biologically treated manure at mean concentrations of 7.2, 5.9, and 5.0 log10 cells/g, respectively. The species was not detected in any of the other livestock feces (38 samples from cattle and 16 from sheep), in the 27 human fecal samples, or in the 13 effluent samples from urban wastewater treatment plants. Finally, L. sobrius/amylovorus was not detected in runoff water contaminated by cattle slurry, but it was quantified at concentrations ranging from 3.7 to 6.5 log10 cells/100 ml in runoff water collected after pig manure was spread on soil. Among the stream water samples in which cultured Escherichia coli was detected, 23% tested positive for L. sobrius/amylovorus. The results of this study indicate that the quantification of L. sobrius/amylovorus using real-time PCR will be useful for identifying pig fecal contamination in surface waters.