Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A computational model of emotion and personality in e-learning environments

One of the currently most important discussions in artificial intelligence is modeling personality and emotion in artificial intelligence, chiefly in Human-Computer-Interaction (HCI). The purpose of this research is designing a general model that identifies a user’s affective status based on user’s personality and emotion. The proposed model is composed of two main modules: personality and emotion modules. The personality module detects personality type of a user based on two approaches: determining personality through users’ actions in a system and using sequential behavioral pattern mining to determine personality. In the emotion module, we propose a computational model to calculate a user’s desirability based on personality in e-learning environments. The desirability of an event is one of the most important factors in determining a user’s emotions. The proposed model has been evaluated in simulated and real e-learning environments. The results show that the model formulates the relationship between personality and emotions with adequate accuracy.
GMP-Compliant Isolation and Large-Scale Expansion of Bone Marrow-Derived MSC

Background Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) have gained importance in tissue repair, tissue engineering and in immunosupressive therapy during the last years. Due to the limited availability of MSC in the bone marrow, ex vivo amplification prior to clinical application is requisite to obtain therapeutic applicable cell doses. Translation of preclinical into clinical-grade large-scale MSC expansion necessitates precise definition and standardization of all procedural parameters including cell seeding density, culture medium and cultivation devices. While xenogeneic additives such as fetal calf serum are still widely used for cell culture, its use in the clinical context is associated with many risks, such as prion and viral transmission or adverse immunological reactions against xenogeneic components. Methods and Findings We established animal-free expansion protocols using platelet lysate as medium supplement and thereby could confirm its safety and feasibility for large-scale MSC isolation and expansion. Five different GMP-compliant standardized protocols designed for the safe, reliable, efficient and economical isolation and expansion of MSC was performed and MSC obtained were analyzed for differentiation capacity by qPCR and histochemistry. Expression of standard MSC markers as defined by the International Society for Cellular Therapy as well as expression of additional MSC markers and of various chemokine and cytokine receptors was analysed by flow cytometry. Changes of metabolic markers and cytokines in the medium were addressed using the LUMINEX platform. Conclusions The five different systems for isolation and expansion of MSC described in this study are all suitable to produce at least 100 millions of MSC, which is commonly regarded as a single clinical dose. Final products are equal according to the minimal criteria for MSC defined by the ISCT. We showed that chemokine and integrin receptors analyzed had the same expression pattern, suggesting that MSC from either of the systems show equal characteristics of homing and adhesion.
Draft Genome Sequences of Facultative Methylotrophs, Gemmobacter sp. Strain LW1 and Mesorhizobium sp. Strain 1M-11, Isolated from Movile Cave, Romania

ABSTRACT Facultative methylotrophs belonging to the genera Gemmobacter and Mesorhizobium were isolated from microbial mat and cave water samples obtained from the Movile Cave ecosystem. Both bacteria can utilize methylated amines as their sole carbon and nitrogen source. Here, we report the draft genome sequences of Gemmobacter sp. strain LW1 and Mesorhizobium sp. strain IM1.
Design and Implementation of Prosthetic Arm using Gear Motor Control Technique with Appropriate Testing

Any part of the human body replication procedure commences the prosthetic control science. This paper highlights the hardware design technique of a prosthetic arm with implementation of gear motor control aspect. The prosthetic control arm movement has been demonstrated in this paper applying processor programming and with the successful testing of the designed prosthetic model. The architectural design of the prosthetic arm here has been replaced by lighter material instead of heavy metal, as well as the traditional EMG (electro myographic) signal has been replaced by the muscle strain.
Optimization of cell lysis and protein digestion protocols for the analysis of HeLa S3 cells by LC‐MS/MS

In order to maximize the number of proteins identified from Hela S3 cell lysate we tested various cell lysis, protein precipitation and digestion protocols. First, we compared three different lysis buffers, two mechanical cell disruption methods and two precipitation methods. Then, we tested six different in‐solution digestion protocols, three different in‐gel digestion protocols and ten different peptide extraction protocols. The result is a proposal for an optimized protocol to prepare the whole cell lysate samples from HeLa S3 cells.
A Structural Approach to Estimating the Effect of Taxation on the Labour Market Dynamics of Older Workers

We estimate a dynamic structural life-cycle model of employment, non-employment and retirement that includes endogenous accumulation of human capital and intertemporal non-separabilities in preferences. Additionally, the model accounts for the effect of the tax and transfer system on work incentives. The structural parameter estimates are used to evaluate the effects of a tax reform targeted at low income individuals on employment behavior and retirement decisions.
Spectroscopy, MOST Photometry, and Interferometry of MWC 314: Is it an LBV or an interacting binary?

MWC 314 is a bright candidate luminous blue variable (LBV) that resides in a fairly close binary system, with an orbital period of 60.753 ± 0.003? d. We observed MWC 314 with a combination of optical spectroscopy, broad-band ground- and space-based photometry, as well as with long baseline, near-infrared interferometry. We have revised the single-lined spectroscopic orbit and explored the photometric variability. The orbital light curve displays two minima each orbit that can be partially explained in terms of the tidal distortion of the primary that occurs around the time of periastron. The emission lines in the system are often double-peaked and stationary in their kinematics, indicative of a circumbinary disc. We find that the stellar wind or circumbinary disc is partially resolved in the K'-band with the longest baselines of the CHARA Array. From this analysis, we provide a simple, qualitative model in an attempt to explain the observations. From the assumption of Roche Lobe overflow and tidal synchronization at periastron, we estimate the component masses to be M1 ˜ 5? M? and M2 ˜ 15? M? , which indicates a mass of the LBV that is extremely low. In addition to the orbital modulation, we discovered two pulsational modes with the MOST satellite. These modes are easily supported by a low-mass hydrogen-poor star, but cannot be easily supported by a star with the parameters of an LBV. The combination of these results provides evidence that the primary star was likely never a normal LBV, but rather is the product of binary interactions. As such, this system presents opportunities for studying mass-transfer and binary evolution with many observational techniques.
Models for exploring genome-fitness mapping in an introductory course

7 Evolutionary theory presents a number of conceptual hurdles for the undergraduate student. 8 In addition, the extended timespan over which many evolutionary processes occur, coupled with 9 the time constraints of the typical undergraduate laboratory, restricts the range of relevant labo10 ratory exercises available to augment instruction in an undergraduate course. Computer-based 11 simulations have the potential to overcome this barrier as they allow interaction with models 12 of natural processes which occur on long timescales. Such simulations allow the student to 13 pursue what would be impossible at the bench: to investigate multiple scenarios and to collect, 14 visualize, and analyze large amounts of data. Here, we describe a set of agent-based models, de15 veloped using the NetLogo platform, designed to facilitate developing a better understanding of 16 the interplay between random processes, organismal fitness, encoding, and genomic sequence 17 space. 18 2 PeerJ Preprints | https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints. 2647v1 | CC BY 4.0 Open Access | rec: 19 Dec 2016, publ: 19 Dec 2016
Excluding A Grid Minor In Planar Digraphs

In [Directed tree-width, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 82 (2001), 138-154] we introduced the notion of tree-width of directed graphs and presented a conjecture, formulated during discussions with Noga Alon and Bruce Reed, stating that a digraph of huge tree-width has a large "cylindrical grid" minor. Here we prove the conjecture for planar digraphs, but many steps of the proof work in general. This is an unedited and unpolished manuscript from October 2001. Since many people asked for copies we are making it available in the hope that it may be useful. The conjecture was proved by Kawarabayashi and Kreutzer in arXiv:1411.5681.
Efficient Reinforcement Learning with Hierarchies of Machines by Leveraging Internal Transitions

In the context of hierarchical reinforcement learning, the idea of hierarchies of abstract machines (HAMs) is to write a partial policy as a set of hierarchical finite state machines with unspecified choice states, and use reinforcement learning to learn an optimal completion of this partial policy. Given a HAM with deep hierarchical structure, there often exist many internal transitions where a machine calls another machine with the environment state unchanged. In this paper, we propose a new hierarchical reinforcement learning algorithm that automatically discovers such internal transitions, and shortcircuits them recursively in the computation of Q values. The resulting HAMQ-INT algorithm outperforms the state of the art significantly on the benchmark Taxi domain and a much more complex RoboCup Keepaway domain.
Microsoft Cambridge at TREC 13: Web and Hard Tracks

All our submissions from the Microsoft Research Cambridge (MSRC) team this year continue to explore issues in IR from a perspective very close to that of the original Okapi team, working first at City University of London, and then at MSRC. A summary of the contributions by the team, from TRECs 1 to 7 is presented in [3]. In this work, weighting schemes for ad-hoc retrieval were developed, inspired by a probabilistic interpretation of relevance; this lead, for instance, to the successful BM25 weighting function. These weighting schemes were extended to deal with pseudo relevance feedback (blind feedback). Furthermore, the Okapi team participated in most of the early interactive tracks, and also developed iterative relevance feedback strategies for the routing task. Following up on the routing work, TRECs 7–11 submissions dealt principally with the adaptive filtering task; this work is summarised in [5]. Last year MSRC entered only the HARD track, concentrating on the use of the clarification forms [6]. We hoped to make use of the query expansion methods developed for filtering in the context of feedback on snippets in the clarification forms. However, our methods were not very successful. In this year’s TREC we took part in the HARD and WEB tracks. In HARD, we tried some variations on the process of feature selection for query expansion. On the WEB track, we investigated the combination of information from different content fields and from link-based features. Section 3 briefly describes the system we used. Section 4 describes our HARD participation and Section 5 our TREC participation.
Modélisation systémique des étayages dans un environnement télétandem pour le français et le chinois langues étrangères : une étude interactionniste et écologique du soutien au développement de la compétence de communication

Cette these etudie les differentes formes d'etayage que les etudiants mettent en place dans un tandem par visiocoference poste a poste afin de s'entraider dans leurs apprentissages des langues francaise et chinoise. Nous passons en revue differentes etudes s'etant penchees sur les questions de l'apprentissage, l'interaction, l'apprentissage des langues dans l'interaction, la competence communicative, la multimodalite de la communication mediatisee par ordinateur. Pour les fins de notre recherche, nous avons compile un corpus de vingt heures environ d'interactions teletandem. En adoptant un positionnement epistemologique constructiviste, complexe, transdisciplinaire et comprehensif, nous elaborons une perspective interactionniste et ecologique degageant plusieurs niveaux d'analyse, analyses avant tout separement, ensuite en les reliant. Ainsi, nous etudions les positionnements discursifs d'expertise et differentes formes de sequences laterales d'etayage langagier. A l'aide de statistiques descriptives, nous degageons les configurations et les attracteurs du systeme binome teletandem et en analysons les potentialites pour le developpement de la competence communicative.
Smoothing Algorithm Based on Multi-Scale Morphological Reconstruction for Footprint Image

According to the character of footprint images, a smoothing algorithm based on multi-scale morphological reconstruction for footprint image is proposed in this paper. First of all, a non-idempotent connected operator which can be the criterion for multi-scale filter is defined and an condition to final scale space is decided on the basis of the feature of footprint image. Subsequently, the connected operator is imposed an increasing property so that not to give rise to artificial edges in filtered image. At last the connected zones of footprint image and their relations are described and the way of the multi-scale morphological adaptive reconstruction filtering for footprint image is implemented by using maximum tree structure. Lots of experimental results indicate that this algorithm can not only remove the noises of different-scale of footprint image, but also protect the outlines of footprint image. It's an effective smoothing method for footprint image.
Georeferencing from geoeye-1 imagery: early indications of metric performance

GeoEye-1 was launched in September 2008, and after some five months of commissioning commenced commercial operations in February, 2009. With its 0.41m panchromatic and 1.65m multispectral resolution, GeoEye-1 represents a further step along the way to higher resolution capabilities for remote sensing satellites. Given experiences with precise georeferencing from its sister satellite, IKONOS, initial accuracy expectations for 3D georeferencing with ground control entered the 20-40cm range, and geolocation utilising metadata (orbit and attitude recordings) alone is specified at 2-3m. This paper describes an early experimental assessment of the accuracy of georeferencing from GeoEye-1 imagery. A stereo panchromatic image pair covering the Hobart HRSI test field in Australia was utilised in the testing. This test field, originally established to support metric testing of IKONOS imagery, comprises more than 100 precisely measured GCPs, of which 55 were deemed suitable for the GeoEye-1 tests. Three aspects were investigated with the resampled 50 cm imagery: the first was the geolocation accuracy attainable from utilising vendor supplied RPCs, ie those generated utilising metadata alone; the second was the accuracy attainable via bias-corrected RPCs; and the third involved application of a linear empirical model, not so much to offer an alternative geopositioning capability, but more to gain an insight into the degree of linearity of GeoEye-1’s east-to-west image scanning. The paper will highlight the fact that with bias-corrected RPCs and a single GCP, the RMS georeferencing accuracy reaches the unprecedented level of 0.10m (0.2 pixel) in planimetry and 0.25m (0.5 pixel) in height.
Mechanistic Models of Infectious Disease and Their Impact on Public Health

Abstract From the 1930s through the 1940s, Lowell Reed and Wade Hampton Frost used mathematical models and mechanical epidemic simulators as research tools and to teach epidemic theory to students at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (then the School of Hygiene and Public Health). Since that time, modeling has become an integral part of epidemiology and public health. Models have been used for explanatory and inferential purposes, as well as in planning and implementing public health responses. In this article, we review a selection of developments in the history of modeling of infectious disease dynamics over the past 100 years. We also identify trends in model development and use and speculate as to the future use of models in infectious disease dynamics.
Individuation of postlexical phonology for speech synthesis

Postlexical phonology exhibits a great deal of interspeaker variation, even within widely construed dialects such as American English. Contemporary speech synthesizers have concentrated on modeling the acoustic properties of individual speakers, but not necessarily their phonologies. We discuss a method for inferring individual postlexical phonologies from labeled corpora. Using this method, individualized phonologies can be combined with individualized acoustic models, thereby enabling a speech synthesizer to achieve a closer facsimile of an original voice.
Linear regression without correspondence

This article considers algorithmic and statistical aspects of linear regression when the correspondence between the covariates and the responses is unknown. First, a fully polynomial-time approximation scheme is given for the natural least squares optimization problem in any constant dimension. Next, in an average-case and noise-free setting where the responses exactly correspond to a linear function of i.i. d. draws from a standard multivariate normal distribution, an efficient algorithm based on lattice basis reduction is shown to exactly recover the unknown linear function in arbitrary dimension. Finally, lower bounds on the signal-to-noise ratio are established for approximate recovery of the unknown linear function by any estimator.
Draft Genome Sequence of Ureibacillus thermosphaericus Strain Thermo-BF, Isolated from Ramsar Hot Springs in Iran

ABSTRACT Ureibacillus thermosphaericus strain Thermo-BF is an aerobic, thermophilic bacillus which has been characterized to biosynthesize gold nanoparticles. Here we present the draft genome sequence of Ureibacillus thermosphaericus strain Thermo-BF which consists of a 2,864,162-bp chromosome. This is the first report of a shotgun sequenced draft genome of a species in the Ureibacillus genus.
Fast Probability Generating Function Method for Stochastic Chemical Reaction Networks

Chemical master equations of the stochastic reaction network can be reformulated into a partial dierential equation(PDE) of a probability generating function (PGF). Such PDEs are mostly hard to deal with due to variable coecients and lack of proper boundary conditions. In this paper, we propose a way to reduce PGF-PDEs into a sparse linear system of coecients of a power series solution. A power of such matrix gives a fast approximation of the solution. The process can be further accelerated by truncating high-order moments. The truncation also makes the method applicable to reaction networks with time-varying reaction rates. We show numerical accuracy of the method by simulating motivating biochemical examples including a viral infection model and G2=M model.
CR1 and CR1‐like: the primate immune adherence receptors

Immune adherence describes the phenomenon in which complement‐opsonized substrates, such as immune complexes (IC), viruses, or bacteria, are bound by primate erythrocytes via erythrocyte complement receptors. In vivo studies have shown that this binding allows the erythrocyte to act as an inert shuttle, targeting IC to the monocyte phagocytic system and away from vulnerable tissue. Thus, immune adherence appears to play an integral role in the primate in promoting the safe clearance of circulating IC and preventing IC‐mediated pathologies. The complement receptors that mediate immune adherence comprise two unique but closely related gene products, either the type one complement receptor (CR1) in humans or CR1‐like in non‐human primates. This review focuses on the structure, function, and physiological role of the primate immune adherence receptors.
Cardioprotection by hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha transfection in skeletal muscle is dependent on haem oxygenase activity in mice.

AIMS The present study investigates whether the cardioprotection achieved by gene delivery of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1 alpha) depends on the downstream factor haem oxygenase (HMOX)-1. METHODS AND RESULTS Immortalized cardiomyocytes (HL-1 cells) were transfected with HIF-1 alpha or HMOX-1 and injured with hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)), and death was evaluated by trypan blue staining. Quadriceps muscles of mice were treated with DNA for HIF-1 alpha and HMOX-1, or sham-treated and electroporated, and 3 days later, hearts were isolated and subjected to global ischaemia and reperfusion. Some HIF-1 alpha- and sham-treated mice received the HMOX blocker zinc deuteroporphyrin 2,4-bis-glycol (ZnBG) (n = 6-8 in each group). HL-1 cells were stimulated with bilirubin or the carbon monoxide donor CORM-2 before injury with H(2)O(2). HL-1 cells which were transfected with HIF-1 alpha or HMOX-1 had an increased survival to H(2)O(2)-induced injury compared with empty vector (n = 10-12 per group; P < 0.01 for both). When HMOX-1-luciferase reporter mice were treated with HIF-1 alpha in the quadriceps muscle, increased luciferase activity was found locally, but nowhere else. Mice pre-treated with HIF-1 alpha or HMOX-1 had a reduced infarct size, improved post-ischaemic function, and increased serum bilirubin (P < 0.05). ZnBG inhibited all these effects afforded by HIF-1 alpha. Stimulation of HL-1 cells with bilirubin and CORM-2 reduced cell death evoked by H(2)O(2) (P < 0.05 for both, n = 11-15 in each group). CONCLUSION HIF-1 alpha and HMOX-1 provided protection against H(2)O(2)-induced damage in HL-1 cells. Remote gene delivery of HIF-1 alpha afforded cardioprotective effects. These were dependent on HMOX activity, as an HMOX blocker abolished the effects, and they were mimicked by pre-treatment with HMOX-1. Downstream to HMOX-1, bilirubin as well as carbon monoxide may be organ effectors.
Feasibility regions: exploiting tradeoffs between power and performance in disk drives

Low utilization immediately suggests that placing the system into a low power mode during idle times may considerably decrease power consumption. As future workload remains largely unknown, "when" to initiate a power saving mode and for "how long" to stay in this mode remains a challenging open problem, given that performance degradation of future jobs should not be compromised. We present a model and an algorithm that manages to successfully explore feasible regions of power and performance, and expose the system limitations according to both measures. Extensive analysis on a set of enterprise storage traces shows the algorithm's robustness for successfully identifying "when" and for "how long" one should activate a power saving mode given a set of power/performance targets that are provided by the user.
INS-PRESS for functional MRS: simultaneous with- and without-water suppression spectral acquisition on visual cortex of human brains at 3T

Fig 2. (a) Time courses of total NAA, choline, creatine and mI during the paradigm of 6.4-mins stimulation as in Fig 1(a). (b) Time courses of these four metabolites used the stimulation paradigm as in Fig 1(b). These spectra were quantitated after 32 scan averages. Error bars show the inter-subject standard deviations. INS-PRESS for functional MRS: simultaneous withand without-water suppression spectral acquisition on visual cortex of human brains at 3T