Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A modular toolkit for environmental Rhodococcus, Gordonia, and Nocardia enables complex metabolic manipulation

Soil-dwelling Actinomycetes are a diverse and ubiquitous component of the global microbiome, but largely lack genetic tools comparable to those available in model species such as E. coli or Pseudomonas putida, posing a fundamental barrier to their characterization and utilization as hosts for biotechnology. To address this, we have developed a modular plasmid assembly framework along with a series of genetic control elements for the previously genetically intractable Gram-positive environmental isolate Rhodococcus ruber C208 and demonstrate conserved functionality in diverse environmental isolates of Rhodococcus, Nocardia and Gordonia. This toolkit encompasses Mycobacteriale origins of replication, broad-host range antibiotic resistance markers, transcriptional and translational control elements, fluorescent reporters, a tetracycline-inducible system, and a counter-selectable marker. We use this toolkit to interrogate the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway in Rhodococcus erythropolis N9T-4, a weakly carotenogenic environmental isolate and engineer higher pathway flux towards the keto-carotenoid canthaxanthin. This work establishes several new genetic tools for environmental Mycobacteriales and provides a synthetic biology framework to support the design of complex genetic circuits in these species. IMPORTANCE Soil-dwelling Actinomycetes, particularly the Mycobacteriales, include both diverse new hosts for sustainable biomanufacturing and emerging opportunistic pathogens. Rhodococcus, Gordonia and Nocardia are three abundant genera with particularly flexible metabolisms and untapped potential for natural product discovery. Among these, Rhodococcus ruber C208 was shown to degrade polyethylene, Gordonia paraffinivorans can assimilate carbon from solid hydrocarbons, and Nocardia neocaledoniensis (and many other Nocardia) possesses dual isoprenoid biosynthesis pathways. Many species accumulate high levels of carotenoid pigments, indicative of highly active isoprenoid biosynthesis pathways which may be harnessed for fermentation of terpenes and other commodity isoprenoids. Modular genetic toolkits have proven valuable for both fundamental and applied research in model organisms, but such tools are lacking for most Actinomycetes. Our suite of genetic tools and DNA assembly framework were developed for broad functionality and to facilitate rapid prototyping of genetic constructs in these organisms.
Development of radial frequency pattern perception in macaque monkeys

Infant primates see poorly, and most perceptual functions mature steadily beyond early infancy. Behavioral studies on human and macaque infants show that global form perception, as measured by the ability to integrate contour information into a coherent percept, improves dramatically throughout the first several years after birth. However, it is unknown when sensitivity to curvature and shape emerges in early life. We studied the development of shape sensitivity in eighteen macaques, aged 2 months to 10 years. Using radial frequency stimuli (RFS), circular targets whose radii are modulated sinusoidally, we tested monkeys’ ability to discriminate RFS from circles as a function of the depth and frequency of sinusoidal modulation. We implemented a new 4-choice oddity task and compared the resulting data with that from a traditional 2-alternative task. Behavioral performance at all radial frequencies improved with age. Performance was better for higher radial frequencies, suggesting the developing visual system prioritizes processing of fine visual details that are ecologically relevant. By utilizing two complementary methods, we were able to capture a comprehensive developmental trajectory for shape perception.
Investigating the Effect of Drilling Parameters and Mud Rheology for the Flow of Yield Power Law Fluid through Annulus

Fluid flow in the annulus has been the center of numerous studies, whether from the oil industry or academia. This study deals with numerical simulations using computational fluid dynamics technique to investigate the parameters that affect the pressure gradient in the annulus for the flow of Yield Power Law fluids. The study analyses the effect of cutting concentration through volume fraction, flow rate, inclination, eccentricity and rheological properties of drilling fluid on the pressure losses though the annulus. Previous work in the field of study has provided models which aided the industry to better predict hole cleaning efficiency and pressure losses. The benefits of better pressure loss predictions are well documented with potential millions in saving from drilling optimization with the use of modeling. Some of the more advanced studies have included the kinetic theory of granular flow for example to great effect to model hydrodynamics.
Please Scroll down for Article Journal of Cognitive Psychology Variation in Working Memory Capacity and Forgetting over Both the Short and the Long Term: an Application of the Population Dilution Model

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
Technological Opportunism and Radical Technology Adoption : An Application t o E-Budness

Using the resource-based view of the firm, the authors hypothesize that differences in adoption of radical technoloqies among firms can be attributed to a sense-and-respond capability of firms with respect to new technologies;which is termed technological opportunism. Using survey data from senior managers in business-to-business firms. the authors studv the adootion of e-business. a radical technoloav with the ootential to alter business mod. ~ ~
2012 International Conference on Information Management, Innovation Management and Industrial Engineering

Capital stock is the basis of macroeconomic research, yet, China is no official announcement of the capital stock data, so, In order to improve the reliability and accuracy of follow-up study, by reviewing and comparing the existing research results in China, the author gives a method of calculating the capital stock by input-output table, And the author calculates the fixed capital stock of china and industrial sectors from 1986 to 2007 by PIM, further, compares the estimation results with the existing research. The capital-output ratio test shows that China is going through a capital deepening process. Further, by analyzing the capital stock of industrial sectors, we draw a conclusion, since the mid-90s, China's maj or industrial sectors have emerged in the process of capital deepening, but after the 1998, there was no capital deepening phenomenon.
Glacier surface characteristics derivation and monitoring using Hyperspectral datasets: a case study of Gepang Gath glacier, Western Himalaya

Abstract Mountain Glaciers are natural resources of fresh water and these affect the stream flow of the rivers, regional climate and further global climate. Observed trends and projected future evolutions of climate and Cryospheric variables clearly suggest a need to monitor these changes. Accordingly, the article presents the glacier features mapping using Hyperspectral remote sensing imagery. A freely available Hyperion satellite imagery acquired over Gepang Gath glacier in Himachal Pradesh, India is used for the study. Each class is identified based on their surface characteristics of spectral reflectance properties. Identification is simplified by demarcating the study glacier into accumulation and ablation areas through snowline. Accumulation area is characterized with high reflectance clean snow/ice and reduced moderate reflectance Snow/firn. The identification of classes in Hyperion imagery is validated using the spectral library from USGS and ASTER, and field spectra obtained from literature.
Cognitive Agents and Machine Learning by Example : Representation with Conceptual Graphs

Publisher's copyright statement: This is the accepted version of the following article: Gkiokas, Alexandros Cristea, A. I. (2018). Cognitive agents and machine learning by example representation with conceptual graphs. Computational Intelligence 34(2): 603-634, which has been published in nal form at https://doi.org/10.1111/coin.12167. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
Trojan ' Spy ' Shared ' Resource ' Modulate ' 5 ming ' Decode secret '

As we increasingly rely on computers to process and manage our personal data, safeguarding sensitive information from malicious hackers is a fast growing concern. Among many forms of information leakage, covert timing channels operate by establishing an illegitimate communication channel between two processes and transmitting information via timing modulation, violating the underlying system’s security policy. Recent studies have shown the vulnerability of popular computing environments, such as cloud, to these covert timing channels. In this work, we propose an algorithm to detect the possible presence of covert timing channels on shared hardware that use contention-based patterns for communication. Preliminary experiments demonstrate that our algorithm is able to successfully detect di↵erent types of covert timing channels at varying bandwidths, message patterns, and has zero false alarms.
Marine Reserves Promote Coral Reef Resilience by Mitigating Human Impacts Through the Restoration of Parrotfish Populations, Increasing Their Reproductive Output and Seeding Neighboring Overfished Reefs

MARINE RESERVES PROMOTE CORAL REEF RESILIENCE BY MITIGATING HUMAN IMPACTS THROUGH THE RESTORATION OF PARROTFISH POPULATIONS, INCREASING THEIR REPRODUCTIVE OUTPUT AND SEEDING NEIGHBORING OVERFISHED REEFS Brian L. Stockwell Old Dominion University, 2017 Director: Dr. Kent E. Carpenter Coral reefs are some of the most productive ecosystems on the planet, providing fisheries resources for over a billion people with billions of dollars in revenue from tourism for developing nations. Coral reefs are under threat from overfishing and water pollution, resulting in less productive algae dominated reefs. Marine reserves are widely expected to promote the resilience of reefs by protecting and increasing the abundance of herbivorous fishes that can graze on algae, therefore directly or indirectly preventing coral to algal phase shifts. However, the ability of marine reserves to mitigate human impacts, restore herbivorous fish populations and seed nearby reefs is still poorly known. The study location was within the central Philippines wherein 58 reefs (30 marine reserves and 28 sites open to fishing) were surveyed and sampled. This study examined the relationships between anthropogenic stressors and reef health through regression analyses, determined shifts in sizes of reproductive female parrotfishes and how this restores reproductive output and utilized genetic techniques in detecting migration patterns. Results revealed that marine reserves were able to prevent the proliferation of algae and loss of coral in the face of increasing anthropogenic impacts, while the increase in parrotfish biomass within reserves was implicated in these benefits. Additionally reproductive female size and abundance increased within reserve boundaries compared to fished areas resulting in an exponential increase in egg production with increasing years of protection. Genetic analyses identified several related pairs of parrotfishes sampled at over 400kms apart, while migration analyses supported a north to south dispersal of immigrants. When coupled with ocean currents, reefs within the Sibuyan Sea or further north were highlighted as potential sources for reefs to the south in the Bohol Sea and Sulu Sea. These results are potentially encouraging for managers within the Philippines, indicating that marine reserves can promote the resiliency of coral reefs by preventing algal proliferation and promote coral growth. Additionally these reserves can restore the reproductive potential of ecologically important herbivorous fishes (i.e. parrotfishes) and seed nearby reefs.
occurrence and effects of leader delegation in virtual software teams

aBstraCt Virtual teams are an important work structure in software development projects. However, little is known about what constitutes effective virtual software team leadership, in particular, the amount of leader delegation that is appropriate in a virtual software-development environment. This study investigates virtual software team leader delegation and explores the impact of delegation strategies on virtual team performance mediated by team motivation, team flexibility and team satisfaction with the team leader. This research is a report of a pilot study run on student teams carried out to refine and test the research constructs and research model for a larger study run in corporations. The study found that virtual team leaders delegate more to competent virtual teams and that such delegation is positively correlated with team member satisfaction with their leader and with team member motivation. Overall, the work provides important information for software-based organizations interested in developing virtual team leadership skills.
ScienceDirect Complex Adaptive Systems , Publication 3

The purpose of this paper is to describe and evaluate a new algorithm for optimization. The new algorithm is named the Genetic Flock Algorithm. This algorithm is a type of hybrid of a Genetic Algorithm and a Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm. The paper discusses strengths and weaknesses of these two algorithms. It then explains how the Genetic Flock Algorithm combines features of both and gives details of the algorithm. All three algorithms are compared using eight standard optimization problems that are used in the literature. It is shown that the Genetic Flock Algorithm provides superior performance on 75% of the tested cases. In the remaining 25% of the cases it outperforms either the Genetic Algorithm or the Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm; it is never worse than both. Possible future improvements to the Genetic Flock Algorithm are briefly described.
Online Learning in Higher Education: Faculty Readiness in Nigerian Universities

This paper assessed lecturers' readiness for online learning in Nigerian universities. Recent developments in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have impacted every sector of society, including education. Consequently, online learning is growing considerably worldwide as today's students, being digital natives, are looking for more effective, efficient ways of obtaining information and knowledge in formal and informal settings. Educators, especially faculty members, are expected to give serious consideration to how education should be provided and sustained if their institutions will continue to remain relevant in the face of these developments. In this study, 188 lecturers from six universities were surveyed. Faculty readiness was defined in terms of the level of access to the Internet; the level of application of instructional design principles in courseware development for online learning; the current level of technology usage for learning, teaching and research; and influence of gender on ICT skills. This research employed the concurrent mixed-methods survey in evaluating lecturers' readiness for online learning in Nigeria. The research results showed positive online learning features (situational and dispositional), as there is evidence that faculty possessed relatively good Internet access; good evidence of adoption of courseware development principles required for online learning; and a high degree of basic technology usage, skills and competences needed for online learning. However, no significant influence of gender on lecturers' ICT skills was established. It was concluded that faculty members in Nigeria were ready for online learning.
Behavioral Customer Loyalty in Online Shopping: The Role of E-Service Quality & E-Recovery

Nowadays, the internet has become a suitable platform for the trade of products and services. Online shopping transactions are carried out without face-to-face contact; thus, various factors can affect customers’ purchase intentions. In addition to aesthetics and ease of use, trust is a critical factor which allows customers to choose an online store. Online merchants need to find ways to keep trusting customers satisfied and loyal. This paper investigates how customer loyalty can be created and/or enhanced in online shopping. The statistical population of the study includes the customers of several online stores in Iran. Data collection is carried out using a questionnaire. The results indicate that information security and website performance influence e-service quality both positively and directly. Also, responsiveness, compensation, and contact positively influence e-recovery. E-recovery has positive impact on e-loyalty, which in turn significantly affects online repurchase.
Supports and Challenges to Language Teachers' Self-efficacy at Japanese Universities

: One type of belief that has gained popularity in educational psychology research over the past four decades and that is informative when examining teachers ʼ attitudes and capabilities, is that of self-efficacy. Research has established that teachers ʼ self-efficacy beliefs have a considerable impact on a wide variety of features that are important to both teaching and learning. The current study, in order to complete the essential groundwork for a new and methodologically sound quantitative teacher self-efficacy scale, qualitatively examined what potentially supports and challenges Japanese university English language teachers ʼ self-efficacy beliefs. Four themes found in the data (Autonomy, Colleagues, Money, and Students) spoke to qualities that could potentially support teachers ʼ self-efficacy. Three themes found in the data (Administration, Students, and Limited-term Contracts) spoke to qualities that could potentially weaken teachers ʼ self-efficacy.
Eecient Agnostic Learning of Neural Networks with Bounded Fan-in

We show that the class of two layer neural networks with bounded fan-in is eeciently learn-able in a realistic extension to the Probably Approximately Correct (PAC) learning model. In this model, a joint probability distribution is assumed to exist on the observations and the learner is required to approximate the neural network which minimizes the expected quadratic error. As special cases, the model allows learning real-valued functions with bounded noise, learning probabilistic concepts and learning the best approximation to a target function that cannot be well approximated by the neural network. The networks we consider have real-valued inputs and outputs, an unlimited number of threshold hidden units with bounded fan-in, and a bound on the sum of the absolute values of the output weights. The number of computation 1 steps of the learning algorithm is bounded by a polynomial in 1==, 1==, n and B where is the desired accuracy, is the probability that the algorithm fails, n is the input dimension and B is the bound on both the absolute value of the target (which may be a random variable) and the sum of the absolute values of the output weights. In obtaining the result, we also extended some results on iterative approximation of functions in the closure of the convex hull of a function class and on the sample complexity of agnostic learning with the quadratic loss function. iterative approximation, polynomial-time learning algorithm, rate of convergence, bounded fan-in neural networks.
Shade-Seeking Behavior of Rotationally-Grazed Cows and Calves in a Moderate Climate

In moderate climates there is some concern that the benefits of providing beef cattle shade on pasture may not outweigh the associated costs. Congregating in shade can result in manure accumulation and reduced pasture fertility. There is also a perception among producers that providing shade may reduce the time that cattle spend grazing. The objectives of this study were to quantify the shadeseeking behavior of beef cattle on pasture in relation to environmental conditions and to determine the effects of providing shade on the amount of time spent grazing in a moderate climate. Three beef cowcalf pairs were held on each of twelve 1.2-ha fields. Each field was divided into 8 rotationally grazed paddocks with a central lane-way leading to a water trough. On half of the fields a structure providing 80% shade was located in the lane-way. Cattle behavior was sampled for activity and location every 10 minutes during 6-h periods on 24 days from May-Dec 1998. Air temperature, relative humidity and black globe temperature were recorded once each hour during the observation periods. From the values for black globe temperature and relative humidity, the Black Globe Humidity Index (BGHI) was calculated. Overall, cows with shade spent (mean ± SEM) 18.0 ± 1.4% of time in shade. The amount of time cows spent in shade was significantly related to air temperature (P<0.05) and BGHI (P< 0.05). Cows without shade spent significantly more time at the water trough (P<0.05) and more time out on pasture (P<0.05) than cows with shade. Time spent at the water trough was significantly related to BGHI for cows without shade (P 0.10). However, time spent grazing was not affected by treatment (P>0.10). These data indicate that cattle will spend short periods of time in the shade even on cool days, but that the amount of shade-seeking is related to environmental conditions. Cattle without shade spend more time congregating at the water trough on hot days. Although cattle with shade spend less time out on pasture overall, this does not result in reduced grazing time.