Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Testing-for-trust: the genetic selection model applied to component qualification

This paper presents a method and a tool for building trustable OO components. The methodology is based on an integrated design and test approach for OO software components. It is particularly adapted to a design-by-contract approach, where the specification is systematically derived into executable assertions (invariant properties, pre/postconditions of methods). This method, based on test qualification using fault injection (mutation analysis), also leads to contract improvements. We consider a component as an organic set composed of a specification, a given implementation and its embedded test cases. The testing-for-trust approach, using the mutation analysis, checks the consistency between specification implementation and tests. It points out the tests' lack of efficiency but also the lack of precision of the contracts. As an advanced way of enhancing the test set, the application of a genetic algorithm is presented as complementary of mutation analysis for test qualification. In this paper, the genetic selection model, a "darwinian" analogy, is thus used for the problem of efficient test selection. The feasibility of component validation by mutation analysis and its usefulness for test generation are studied as well as the robustness of trustable and self-testable components into an infected environment.
Speaker Diarization Based on Intensity Channel Contribution

The time delay of arrival (TDOA) between multiple microphones has been used since 2006 as a source of information (localization) to complement the spectral features for speaker diarization. In this paper, we propose a new localization feature, the intensity channel contribution (ICC) based on the relative energy of the signal arriving at each channel compared to the sum of the energy of all the channels. We have demonstrated that by joining the ICC features and the TDOA features, the robustness of the localization features is improved and that the diarization error rate (DER) of the complete system (using localization and spectral features) has been reduced. By using this new localization feature, we have been able to achieve a 5.2% DER relative improvement in our development data, a 3.6% DER relative improvement in the RT07 evaluation data and a 7.9% DER relative improvement in the last year's RT09 evaluation data.
Keyword query approach over RDF data based on tree template

With the large increment of semantic data available in the web, the demand for access to Semantic data is increasing. Keyword query is regarded as an intuitive paradigm, especially for the users who are not familiar with the data and the RDF query language. In this paper, an approach based on tree template is proposed, which can return ranked answers to keyword query without the help of data schema. With the proposed approach, K-step tree and tree template are presented to support efficient keyword query. K-step tree can be derived by breadth-first traversal of RDF data graph, while tree template extracts the schema of K-step tree. The online process conducted keyword query problem into two steps: (1) find K-step trees containing all query keywords; (2) generate minimal sub-trees as candidate results from K-step trees. Search space of sub-graph is greatly reduced from the original entire RDF data graph to the K-step tree. The experimental results show that the approach is feasible and effective.
Comfortable robot to human object hand-over

A method for robot to human object hand-over is presented that takes into account user comfort. Comfort is addressed by serving the object to facilitate user's convenience. The object is delivered so that the most appropriate part is oriented towards the person interacting with the robot. This approach, aimed at contributing to the development of socially aware robots, has not been considered in previous works. The robot system also supports sensory-motor skills like object and people detection, robot grasping and motion planning. The experimental setup consists of a six degrees of freedom robot arm with both an eye-in-hand laser scanner and a fixed range sensor. The user interacting with the robot can assume an arbitrary position in front of the robot. Experiments are reported from a user study.
Signal sequence recognition and protein targeting to the endoplasmic reticulum membrane.

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Culture and decision-making: Investigating cultural variations in the East Asian and North American online decision-making processes

Research in cross-cultural psychology suggests that East Asians hold holistic thinking styles whereas North Americans hold analytic thinking styles. The present study examines the influence of cultural thinking styles on the online decision-making processes for Hong Kong Chinese and European Canadians, with and without time constraints. We investigated the online decision-making processes in terms of (1) information search speed, (2) quantity of information used, and (3) type of information used. Results show that, without time constraints, Hong Kong Chinese, compared to European Canadians, spent less time on decisions and parsed through information more efficiently, and Hong Kong Chinese attended to both important and less important information, whereas European Canadians selectively focused on important information. No cultural differences were found in the quantity of information used. When under time constraints, all cultural variations disappeared. The dynamics of cultural differences and similarities in decision-making are discussed.
The BsmI Vitamin D Receptor Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (bb) Influences the Effect of Calcium Intake on Bone Mineral Density

Previous studies of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms and bone mineral density (BMD) have suggested that there may be differences in calcium absorption among groups of women with different VDR genotypes, and that the association may be stronger in younger women. To investigate the association between the VDR polymorphisms and BMD, this study was undertaken in the Framingham Study Cohort and a group of younger volunteers. Subjects from the Framingham Study (ages 69–90 years) included those who underwent BMD testing and who had genotyping for the VDR alleles (n = 328) using polymerase chain reaction methods and restriction fragment length polymorphisms with BsmI (B absence, b presence of cut site). A group of younger volunteer subjects (ages 18–68) also underwent BMD testing and VDR genotyping (n = 94). In Framingham Cohort subjects with the bb genotype, but not the Bb or BB genotypes, there were significant associations between calcium intake and BMD at five of six skeletal sites, such that BMD was 7–12% higher in those with dietary calcium intakes greater than 800 mg/day compared with those with intakes <500 mg/day. The data also suggested that BMD was higher in persons with the bb genotype only in the group with calcium intakes above 800 mg/day. No significant differences were found in the Framingham Cohort for age‐, sex‐, and weight‐adjusted BMD at any skeletal site between those with the BB genotype and those with the bb genotype regardless of 25‐hydroxyvitamin D levels or country of origin. In the younger volunteers, BMD of the femoral neck was 5.4% higher (p < 0.05) in the bb genotype group compared with the BB group and 11% higher (p < 0.05) in males with the bb genotype compared with the BB group. There were no significant differences at the lumbar spine. In this study, the association between calcium intake and BMD appeared to be dependent upon VDR genotype. The finding of an association between dietary calcium intake and BMD only in the bb genotype group suggests that the VDR genotype may play a role in the absorption of dietary calcium. Studies that do not consider calcium intake may not detect associations between VDR genotype and BMD. In addition, the association between VDR alleles and BMD may become less evident in older subjects.
Involvement of Arabidopsis ACYL-COENZYME A DESATURASE-LIKE2 (At2g31360) in the Biosynthesis of the Very-Long-Chain Monounsaturated Fatty Acid Components of Membrane Lipids1[W]

The Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) acyl-coenzyme A (CoA) desaturase-like (ADS) gene family contains nine genes encoding fatty acid desaturase-like proteins. The biological function of only one member of the family, fatty acid desaturase5 (AtADS3/FAD5, At3g15850), is known, and this gene encodes the plastidic palmitoyl-monogalactosyldiacylglycerol Δ7 desaturase. We cloned seven members of the gene family that are predicted not to have a chloroplast transit peptide and expressed them in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. All seven have previously undescribed desaturase activity on very-long-chain fatty acid (VLCFA) substrates and exhibit diverse regiospecificity, catalyzing introduction of double bonds relative to the methyl end of the molecule (n-x) at n-6 (AtADS4, At1g06350), n-7 (AtADS1.3, At1g06100 and AtADS4.2, At1g06360), n-9 (AtADS1, At1g06080 and AtADS2, At2g31360) or Δ9 (relative to the carboxyl end of the molecule) positions (AtADS1.2, At1g06090 and AtADS1.4, At1g06120). Through forward and reverse genetics it was shown that AtADS2 is involved in the synthesis of the 24:1(n-9) and 26:1(n-9) components (X:Y, where X is chain length and Y is number of double bonds) of seed lipids, sphingolipids, and the membrane phospholipids phosphatidylserine, and phosphatidylethanolamine. Plants deficient in AtADS2 expression showed no obvious phenotype when grown under normal growing conditions, but showed an almost complete loss of phosphatidylethanolamine(42:4), phosphatidylserine(42:4), dihydroxy-monohexosylceramide(42:2)-2, trihydroxy-monohexosylceramide(42:2)-3, and trihydroxy-glycosylinositolphosphoceramide(42:2)-3, lipid species that contain the VLCFA 24:1(n-9), and trihydroxy-glycosylinositolphosphoceramide(44:2)-3, a lipid containing 26:1(n-9). Acyl-CoA profiling of these plants revealed a major reduction in 24:1-CoA and a small reduction in 26:1-CoA. Overexpression of AtADS2 resulted in a substantial increase in the percentage of glycerolipid and sphingolipids species containing 24:1 and a dramatic increase in the percentage of very-long-chain monounsaturated fatty acids in the acyl-CoA pool. Plants deficient in AtADS1 expression had reduced levels of 26:1(n-9) in seed lipids, but no significant changes in leaf phospholipids or sphingolipids were observed. These findings indicate that the 24-carbon and 26-carbon monounsaturated VLCFAs of Arabidopsis result primarily from VLCFA desaturation, rather than by elongation of long chain monounsaturated fatty acids.
Methods to transform microarray data for cancer prediction

Cancer classification based on microarray data has gained attention in recent years from the bioinformatics community, due to a high death toll of cancer and the significance of early diagnosis. Among the many steps in cancer classification, one that is underexplored and can significantly affect the classification performance is data transformation. We develop two transformation techniques, called the unity-based normalization with min-max interval (UBMI) and the standard score with trimmed mean (SSTM), and compare them with existing techniques in terms of accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. The results show that our proposed methods outperform the methods tested. Overall, for example, the SSTM achieves the highest values of accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity in 73 out of 138 cases. The UBMI is the runner up, with 51 winning cases. This advantage confirms the ability of the UBMI and SSTM to accentuate the difference between samples of distinct classes, and highlights the importance of data transformation, a step that otherwise is usually overlooked.
Virtual Studio : Distributed Musical Instruments on the Web

Our objective was to build a "Virtual Studio", an environment suited for creating musical compositions, interactively, on the web. Starting from this point, we studied the implementation of new computer based music instruments for distributed performance on the Web, called here as DMIs. We took advantage of the recent Java2 implementation to create a general model for developing interactive musical performance among Internet users. The DMIs were used in interactive performances where a MIDI Server receives several streams of MIDI data from several clients. In this paper, we present and analyse the performance of two DMIs: the first one is called "Rabisco" which allows the user to draw sound trajectories on the Web; the second, called "Cordas", is a fretted-string instrument implemented using class abstractions. In both examples, there is a heavy usage of Java Objected Oriented packages and they run in any browser supporting the current Java Virtual Machine (JVM) across the Web. We discuss the concept of each instrument, present the system implementation, results and discuss the research next step. Keyboards: Internet, Distributed Musical Instruments, Interactive Composition
An Assessment of the Vertical Movement of Water in a Flooded Paddy Rice Field Experiment Using Hydrus-1D

A quantitative estimation of the major components of the field water balance provides management decisions on how the scheme ought to be operated to ensure better distribution of irrigation water and increased delivery performance. Therefore, in this study, the water balance component in transplanted and broadcasted rice fields with conventional irrigation (flooding irrigation) in the Tanjung Karang Rice Irrigation Scheme (TAKRIS), Sawah Sempadan were observed and then modeled using Hydrus-1D numerical model during two consecutive rice growing seasons. During the off-season, irrigation water accounted for 59.6% of the total water input (irrigation + rainfall), but about 76.2% of total water input during the main season. During the main season, rainfall water only contributed to 23.8% of total water input and 40.4% during the off-season. Drainage water accounted for 37.3% of the total water input during the off-season and 43.7% during the main season, respectively, which was the main path of water losses from conventional rice fields, which indicates that maintaining a high water level and huge rainfall events during both seasons increased drainage water. Simulated ET during the off-season and the main season accounted for 38.1% and 49.5% of the total water input, respectively. Observed and simulated water percolation revealed about 17.1% to 19.2% of total water input during both seasons, respectively. Additionally, the water productivities analyzed from total water input and irrigation water were 0.43 and 0.72 kg m−3 during the off-season and 0.60 and 0.78 kg m−3 during the main season, respectively. The water productivity index evaluated from observed and modeled evapotranspiration was 1.03 and 1.13 kg m−3 during the off-season and 0.98 and 0.94 kg m−3 during the main season, respectively. The overall results revealed that Hydrus-1D simulations were a reasonable and effective tool for simulating vertical water flow in both broadcasted and transplanted rice experimental fields.
The politics of horizontal inequality: Indigenous opposition to wind farm development in Mexico

In less than a decade, foreign investors have erected more than 3,200 wind turbines across the Isthmus of Techuantepec investing billions of dollars and generating more than 90 per cent of Mexico’s wind energy. The isthmus is also home to more than one thousand indigenous communities whose ancestors settled in the region roughly 3,000 years ago. In most cases, wind farm construction has proceeded without significant community opposition. More recently, however, some indigenous communities have begun to protest against the wind turbines that are taking over their land and transforming their landscape. An intersectional approach highlights two distinct features of the politics of horizontal inequality. First, political strategies and demands may shift over time and across issue areas—opposition to windmills may be generated by exclusion from decision-making, inadequate compensation, or the violation of sacred land. Second, the lens of intersectionality focuses attention on the ways that such categories as race, class, ethnicity, gender, language and region intersect to challenge the ‘group-ness’ of any one of these categories. In the case of indigenous opposition to wind technology in Mexico, intersectionality explains the particular challenges inherent in securing ‘free prior and informed consent’, a cornerstone of contemporary policy toward indigenous peoples.
The Replacement of 10 Non-Conserved Residues in the Core Protein of JFH-1 Hepatitis C Virus Improves Its Assembly and Secretion

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) assembly is still poorly understood. It is thought that trafficking of the HCV core protein to the lipid droplet (LD) surface is essential for its multimerization and association with newly synthesized HCV RNA to form the viral nucleocapsid. We carried out a mapping analysis of several complete HCV genomes of all genotypes, and found that the genotype 2 JFH-1 core protein contained 10 residues different from those of other genotypes. The replacement of these 10 residues of the JFH-1 strain sequence with the most conserved residues deduced from sequence alignments greatly increased virus production. Confocal microscopy of the modified JFH-1 strain in cell culture showed that the mutated JFH-1 core protein, C10M, was present mostly at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane, but not at the surface of the LDs, even though its trafficking to these organelles was possible. The non-structural 5A protein of HCV was also redirected to ER membranes and colocalized with the C10M core protein. Using a Semliki forest virus vector to overproduce core protein, we demonstrated that the C10M core protein was able to form HCV-like particles, unlike the native JFH-1 core protein. Thus, the substitution of a few selected residues in the JFH-1 core protein modified the subcellular distribution and assembly properties of the protein. These findings suggest that the early steps of HCV assembly occur at the ER membrane rather than at the LD surface. The C10M-JFH-1 strain will be a valuable tool for further studies of HCV morphogenesis.
Perception of Climate Change and Impact on Land Allocation and Income: Empirical Evidence from Vietnam's Delta Region

Using a sample survey from Vietnam's M&RRD, this study examines both the factors affecting smallholder households’ perceptions of climate change, and the impact of climatic change on smallholders’ income and land allocation decisions. Results show a significant and negative impact of perception of climate change on income of smallholder households. Smallholders with perceived climate changes reduce land allocated to paddy crop. Farmers make strategic decision to counter the negative effects of climate change by increasing the amount of rented land for paddy crop production, while at the same time decreasing the amount of owned land allocated to paddy crop.
Taking the bitter with the sweet: relationship of supertasting and sweet preference with metabolic syndrome and dietary intake.

UNLABELLED Results examining the effects of tasting profile on dietary intake and health outcomes have varied. This study examined the interaction of sweet liker (SL) and supertaster (ST) (bitter taste test through phenylthiocarbamide [PTC]) status with incidence of metabolic syndrome. Participants (n = 196) as part of baseline testing in a behavioral weight loss study completed measures assessing SL and ST status, metabolic syndrome, and dietary intake. SLs were more likely to be African American. More women than men were STs. There was a significant interaction between ST and SL status as associated with metabolic syndrome, after adjustment for demographic characteristics. This interaction was also significantly associated with fiber and caloric beverage intake. Post hoc analyses showed that participants who were only an ST or SL appeared to have a decreased risk of having metabolic syndrome compared with those who have a combination or are neither taster groups (P = 0.047) and that SL + ST consumed less fiber than SL + non-ST (P = 0.04). Assessing genetic differences in taster preferences may be a useful strategy in the development of more tailored approaches to dietary interventions to prevent and treat metabolic syndrome. PRACTICAL APPLICATION Tasting profile, such as sweet liking (SL) or supertaster (ST), may be influenced by genetics, and therefore in turn, may influence dietary intake. The present study found an interaction between ST and SL status with incidence of metabolic syndrome and fiber and caloric beverage intake. Testing people for these tasting profiles may assist with tailoring dietary recommendations, particularly around fiber and caloric beverage intake, and provide a way to modify metabolic syndrome risk.
Does Income Smoothing Improve Earnings Informativeness?

This paper uses a new approach to examine whether income smoothing garbles earnings information or improves the informativeness of past and current earnings about future earnings and cash flows. We measure income smoothing by the negative correlation of a firm's change in discretionary accruals with its change in premanaged earnings. Using the approach of Collins et al. (1994), we find that the change in the current stock price of higher‐smoothing firms contains more information about their future earnings than does the change in the stock price of lower‐smoothing firms. This result is robust to decomposing earnings into cash flows and accruals and to controlling for firm size, growth, future earnings variability, private information search activities, and cross‐sectional correlations.
Progress in learning 3 vs. 2 keepaway

Reinforcement learning has been successfully applied to several subtasks in the RoboCup simulated soccer domain. Keepaway is one such task. One notable success in the keepaway domain has been the application of SMDP Sarsa(/spl lambda/) with tile-coding function approximation. However, this success was achieved with the help of some significant task simplifications, including the delivery of complete, noise-free world-state information to the agents. Here we demonstrate that this task simplification was unnecessary: the agents are able to learn even in the presence of noisy, incomplete information. We also scale up to larger problems than have been previously tried. The main contribution of this paper is a deeper understanding of the difficulties of scaling up reinforcement learning to RoboCup soccer. We address several focused questions about the previous results with detailed experiments.