Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Critical Assessment of the European Commission's Proposals for the Risk Assessment and Registration of Chemical Substances in the European Union

In May, 2003, the European Commission published detailed proposals relating to its 2001 White Paper – Strategy for a Future Chemicals Policy. The White Paper described a new registration system called the REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) system, for both new and existing chemicals. Subsequently, these detailed proposals were available for an eight-week consultation period for stakeholders to voice their views and concerns. In this paper, we describe our reactions to the Commission's more-detailed proposals. These include the creation of a European Chemicals Agency to implement the REACH system in conjunction with Competent Authorities (CAs) in Member States and the Commission itself. Unfortunately, many of our concerns and suggestions, previously voiced and shared with several other key stakeholders, remain unanswered, but are as relevant as when the White Paper was published. In particular, we are concerned about the lack of a clear and coherent strategy. There is no guidance for registrants on intelligent testing to maximise the use of non-animal approaches to safety testing, based on a combination of factors for estimating exposure levels, rather than mainly on production volumes. We are also concerned about the absence of a clear programme for the development, improvement and validation of new alternative methods, in conjunction with the Commission's own unit, the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods, as well as other organisations with relevant expertise and experience, including FRAME. Finally, we explain why such measures should be introduced, together with clearer guidelines for the respective roles of the Agency, the CAs and the Commission in implementing and harmonising the REACH system at the European Union and Member State levels. A series of recommendations are made, to improve the situation and to improve the risk assessment process.
Biological efficacy of L-lysine preparations containing biomass compared to L-lysine-HCl.

In two growth experiments on broilers of 6 to 27 days of age, the biological efficacy of three L-lysine preparations containing biomass was evaluated in comparison to L-lysine.HCl. L-lysine from the different sources was added in graded levels to a basal diet deficient in lysine, but adequate in all other nutrients. From multi-exponential regression analysis of weight gain and feed conversion responses, biological efficacy of the three L-lysine preparations containing biomass was estimated to be 97%, 103%, and 113%, respectively. None of these estimates was significantly different from 100%. Thus, it is concluded that the efficacy of the L-lysine preparations to deliver lysine is equivalent to L-lysine.HCl.
Application of the MPC to the robust control of the two-mass drive system

In this paper, a model predictive controller (MPC) for the speed control for an electrical drive with elastic connection is presented. The control methodology enables the drive's safety and physical limitations to be directly incorporated into control synthesis. The methodology for robust design based on the suitable selection of the system matrices of the MPC is presented. The simulation results show that the controller is very effective in regulating load speed for a wide-range of the changes of the load side inertia. Preliminary experimental results confirm the simulation study.
Adaptive image region-growing

Proposes a simple, yet general and powerful, region-growing framework for image segmentation. The region-growing process is guided by regional feature analysis; no parameter tuning or a priori knowledge about the image is required. To decide if two regions should be merged, instead of comparing the difference of region feature means with a predefined threshold, the authors adaptively assess region homogeneity from region feature distributions. This results in an algorithm that is robust with respect to various image characteristics. The merge criterion also minimizes the number of merge rejections and results in a fast region-growing process that is amenable to parallelization.
Work in progress — Enhancement of distance learning through hybrid e-learning approach

The usefulness of hybrid delivery in education has long been realized. With the advancement of computer and communication technologies and the introduction of Web-based authoring tools, its effectiveness has been further extended. In this regard, it has affected traditional distance-learning by transforming it from a static videotape delivery to a more dynamic format by adding/substituting the web as the delivery media. Our focus in this paper is the use of hybrid e-learning with a virtual face-to-face component for distance course delivery. We believe that hybrid e-learning, in conjunction with a synchronous online delivery, can minimize the negatives that are sometimes associated with more traditional, primarily asynchronous distance learning offerings. Details of this work, including design and delivery issues, student and course assessment, and required technology, as applied to a computer programming course, are included in the paper.
The AC5 protein encoded by Mungbean yellow mosaic India virus is a pathogenicity determinant that suppresses RNA silencing-based antiviral defenses.

It is generally accepted that begomoviruses in the family Geminiviridae encode four proteins (from AC1/C1 to AC4/C4) using the complementary-sense DNA as template. Although AC5/C5 coding sequences are increasingly annotated in databases for many begomoviruses, the evolutionary relationships and functions of this putative protein in viral infection are obscure. Here, we demonstrate several important functions of the AC5 protein of a bipartite begomovirus, Mungbean yellow mosaic India virus (MYMIV). Mutational analyses and transgenic expression showed that AC5 plays a critical role in MYMIV infection. Ectopic expression of AC5 from a Potato virus X (PVX) vector resulted in severe mosaic symptoms followed by a hypersensitive-like response in Nicotiana benthamiana. Furthermore, MYMIV AC5 effectively suppressed post-transcriptional gene silencing induced by single-stranded but not double-stranded RNA. AC5 was also able to reverse transcriptional gene silencing of a green fluorescent protein transgene by reducing methylation of promoter sequences, probably through repressing expression of a CHH cytosine methyltransferase (DOMAINS REARRANGED METHYLTRANSFERASE2) in N. benthamiana. Our results demonstrate that MYMIV AC5 is a pathogenicity determinant and a potent RNA silencing suppressor that employs novel mechanisms to suppress antiviral defenses, and suggest that the AC5 function may be conserved among many begomoviruses.
A SIMD-based software fault tolerance for ARM processors

This paper develops a SIMD-based software fault tolerance technique for ARM processors. The core technique employs instruction-level redundant execution to tolerate bit-flipping errors. The proposed approach is implemented in the LLVM compiler to generate reliable code automatically. For the tested benchmark programs, preliminary experiments show that the proposed approach can correctly generate fault-tolerant codes at costs of 4.7%–70.2% performance degradation on average compared with the original versions. The fault-tolerant versions of code are 1.44–2.54 times larger than the original versions.
Protein Folding in the Hydrophobic-Hydrophilic(HP) Model is NP-Complete

One of the simplest and most popular biophysical models of protein folding is the hydrophobic-hydrophilic (HP) model. The HP model abstracts the hydrophobic interaction in protein folding by labeling the amino acids as hydrophobic (H for nonpolar) or hydrophilic (P for polar). Chains of amino acids are configured as self-avoiding walks on the 3D cubic lattice, where an optimal conformation maximizes the number of adjacencies between H's. In this paper, the protein folding problem under the HP model on the cubic lattice is shown to be NP-complete. This means that the protein folding problem belongs to a large set of problems that are believed to be computationally intractable.
A hybrid approach for Arabic multi-word term extraction

Building a domain model from a specialized corpus requires identifying candidate terms. It also includes identifying semantic relations between terms. Once this model is constructed it can be used for many tasks of information retrieval. In this process, multi-word terms have a great importance. In the one hand they constitute domain relevant candidate terms. On the other hand syntactic relations that link their constituents can be used to infer semantic relations between terms. In this paper we propose to extract mutli-word terms from Arabic specialized corpora. The proposed approach uses linguistic rules based on morphological features and POS (Part Of Speech) tags to parse documents and retrieve candidate terms. Statistical measures are used to deal with ambiguities generated by the linguistic tools and to rank candidate terms according to their relevance. We present experiments on a corpus from the environment domain. We report high quality results that are confirm the targets set for the precision metric.
A Methodological Note on Setting-up Logging and Replay Mechanisms in InfoVis Systems

Information Visualization needs longitudinal studies to assess the usefulness, usability, and, more generally, the value of its techniques. However, most of the longitudinal studies conducted so far have involved human resources to collect and analyze evidences. Automatic logging and session replay mechanisms can help answering questions while limiting human collection and analysis of data. In this article, we describe how to set up these mechanisms in InfoVis systems with a minimal effort.
Two-Site “Simultaneous” Immunoassay with Monoclonal Antibodies for the Determination of Surfactant Apoproteins in Human Amniotic Fluid

ABSTRACT. : Monoclonal antibodies against human surfactant apoproteins were prepared, which recognized 37, 34, and 62 kilodalton proteins in human lung lavage fluid and amniotic fluid. Two-site “simultaneous” immunoassay for the surfactant apoproteins was developed using the monoclonal antibodies. The assay was capable of measuring 10-640 ng of the apoproteins per ml of human amniotic fluid. The immunoassay was used to quantitate the apoproteins in 59 amniotic fluid samples from 23 to 41 wk gestation. The concentration of the surfactant apoproteins at less than 30 wk gestation was very low (mean 0.84/μg/ml). It then increased 6.5-fold from 34 to 36 wk gestation and 15.5-fold at more than 37 wk gestation. The simultaneous immunoassay with the monoclonal antibodies presented herein seems to be ideal for clinical use because of its high specificity, sensitivity, rapidity, simplicity, and a continuous unlimited supply of the antibodies. The results in this study show that the clinical use of the two-site simultaneous immunoassay with monoclonal antibodies to pulmonary surfactant apoproteins can predict fetal lung maturity more precisely.
Trail Making Test performance contributes to subjective judgment of visual efficiency in older adults

Introduction. The determinant factors that influence self-reported quality of vision have yet to be fully elucidated. This study evaluated a range of contextual information, established psychophysical tests, and in particular, a series of cognitive tests as potentially novel determinant factors. Materials & Methods. Community dwelling adults (aged 50+) recruited to Wave 1 of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, excluding those registered blind, participated in this study (N = 5,021). Self-reports of vision were analysed in relation to visual acuity and contrast sensitivity, ocular pathology, visual (Choice Response Time task; Trail Making Test) and global cognition. Contextual factors such as having visited an optometrist and wearing glasses were also considered. Ordinal logistic regression was used to determine univariate and multivariate associations. Results and Discussion. Poor Trail Making Test performance (Odds ratio, OR = 1.36), visual acuity (OR = 1.72) and ocular pathology (OR = 2.25) were determinant factors for poor versus excellent vision in self-reports. Education, wealth, age, depressive symptoms and general cognitive fitness also contributed to determining self-reported vision. Conclusions. Trail Making Test contribution to self-reports may capture higher level visual processing and should be considered when using self-reports to assess vision and its role in cognitive and functional health.
Application of the mean field methods to MRF optimization in computer vision

The mean field (MF) methods are an energy optimization method for Markov random fields (MRFs). These methods, which have their root in solid state physics, estimate the marginal density of each site of an MRF graph by iterative computation, similarly to loopy belief propagation (LBP). It appears that, being shadowed by LBP, the MF methods have not been seriously considered in the computer vision community. This study investigates whether these methods are useful for practical problems, particularly MPM (Maximum Posterior Marginal) inference, in computer vision. To be specific, we apply the naive MF equations and the TAP (Thouless-Anderson-Palmer) equations to interactive segmentation and stereo matching. In this paper, firstly, we show implementation of these methods for computer vision problems. Next, we discuss advantages of the MF methods to LBP. Finally, we present experimental results that the MF methods are well comparable to LBP in terms of accuracy and global convergence; furthermore, the 3rd-order TAP equation often outperforms LBP in terms of accuracy.
Blended deformable models

We develop a new class of parameterized models based on the linear interpolation of two parameterized shapes using a blending function. Using a small number of additional parameters, blending extends the coverage of shape primitives. In particular, it offers the ability to construct shapes whose genus can change. Blended models are incorporated into a physics-based shape estimation framework which uses dynamic deformable models with global and local deformations. We present experiments involving the extraction of complex shapes, including an example of dynamic genus change. <<ETX>>
Synthesis of mesoscale, crumpled, reduced graphene oxide roses by water-in-oil emulsion approach

Mesoscale crumpled graphene oxide roses (GO roses) were synthesized by using colloidal graphene oxide (GO) variants as precursors for a hybrid emulsification-rapid evaporation approach. This process produced rose-like, spherical, reduced mesostructures of colloidal GO sheets, with corrugated surfaces and particle sizes tunable in the range of ∼800 nm to 15 μm. Excellent reproducibility for particle size distribution is shown for each selected speed of homogenizer rotor among different sample batches. The morphology and chemical structure of these produced GO roses was investigated using electron microscopy and spectroscopy techniques. The proposed synthesis route provides control over particle size, morphology and chemical properties of the synthesized GO roses.
Biomechanics Rules to limp by : joint compensation conserves limb function after peripheral nerve injury

Locomotion persists across all manner of internal and external perturbations. The objective of this study was to identify locomotor compensation strategies in rodent models of peripheral nerve injury. We found that hip-to-toe limb length and limb angle was preferentially preserved over individual joint angles after permanent denervation of rat ankle extensor muscles. These findings promote further enquiry into the significance of limb-level function for neuromechanical control of legged locomotion.
A new meta-heuristic optimization algorithm: Hunting Search

A novel optimization algorithm is presented based on group hunting of animals such as lions, wolves, and dolphins. Although these hunters have differences in the way of hunting but they are common in that all of them look for a prey in a group. The hunters encircle the prey and gradually tighten the ring of siege until they catch the prey. Also, each member of the group corrects its position based on its own position and the position of other members. If the prey escapes from the ring, the hunters reorganize the group to siege the prey again. Typical benchmark numerical optimization problems are also presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed Hunting Search (HuS) algorithm. The results indicate that the proposed method is a powerful search and optimization technique. It yields better solutions compared to those obtained using current algorithms when applied to continuous problems.
Delft University of Technology Towards high-quality multi-spot-welded joints in thermoplastic composite structures

Ultrasonic welding is a promising assembly technique for thermoplastic composites and it is wellsuited for spot welding. In this study, two typical welding process control strategies, i.e. displacementcontrolled and energy-controlled welding, were selected to manufacture spot-welded joints. The influence of different boundary conditions, provided by different welding jigs, on the welding process and the performance of thus-created welded joints were investigated. The optimum input energy was found dependent on the welding jigs, while the optimum displacement was consistent for achieving the maximum weld strength in both welding jigs. Therefore, displacement-controlled welding showed more potential in producing consistent welds in sequential multi-spot welding.
Efficient, Physically Plausible Finite Elements

This paper discusses FEM-based simulations of soft bodies in terms of speed and robustness. To be physically plausible, three fundamental laws must be respected: rotational invariance, Newton's law and Euler's law. We show that precomputed strain-displacement matrices generate nonphysical torques which can lead to visual artifacts. We then derive the fastest FEM-based method meeting our criteria of plausibility and robustness and discuss their limitations.
Genome-Wide Identification of Sorghum bicolor Laccases Reveals Potential Targets for Lignin Modification

Laccase is a key enzyme in plant lignin biosynthesis as it catalyzes the final step of monolignols polymerization. Sweet sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is considered as an ideal feedstock for ethanol production, but lignin greatly limits the production efficiency. No comprehensive analysis on laccase has ever been conducted in S. bicolor, although it appears as the most promising target for engineering lignocellulosic feedstock. The aim of our work is to systematically characterize S. bicolor laccase gene family and to identify the lignin-specific candidates. A total of twenty-seven laccase candidates (SbLAC1-SbLAC27) were identified in S. bicolor. All SbLACs comprised the equivalent L1-L4 signature sequences and three typical Cu-oxidase domains, but exhibited diverse intron-exon patterns and relatively low sequence identity. They were divided into six groups by phylogenetic clustering, revealing potential distinct functions, while SbLAC5 was considered as the closest lignin-specific candidate. qRT-PCR analysis deciphered that SbLAC genes were expressed preferentially in roots and young internodes of sweet sorghum, and SbLAC5 showed high expression, adding the evidence that SbLAC5 was bona fide involved in lignin biosynthesis. Besides, high abundance of SbLAC6 transcripts was detected, correlating it a potential role in lignin biosynthesis. Diverse cis regulatory elements were recognized in SbLACs promoters, indicating putative interaction with transcription factors. Seven SbLACs were found to be potential targets of sbi-miRNAs. Moreover, putative phosphorylation sites in SbLAC sequences were identified. Our research adds to the knowledge for lignin profile modification in sweet sorghum.
The influence of atmosphere on the performance of pure-phase WZ and ZB InAs nanowire transistors

We compare the characteristics of phase-pure MOCVD grown ZB and WZ InAs nanowire transistors in several atmospheres: air, dry pure N2 and O2, and N2 bubbled through liquid H2O and alcohols to identify whether phase-related structural/surface differences affect their response. Both WZ and ZB give poor gate characteristics in dry state. Adsorption of polar species reduces off-current by 2–3 orders of magnitude, increases on–off ratio and significantly reduces sub-threshold slope. The key difference is the greater sensitivity of WZ to low adsorbate level. We attribute this to facet structure and its influence on the separation between conduction electrons and surface adsorption sites. We highlight the important role adsorbed species play in nanowire device characterisation. WZ is commonly thought superior to ZB in InAs nanowire transistors. We show this is an artefact of the moderate humidity found in ambient laboratory conditions: WZ and ZB perform equally poorly in the dry gas limit yet equally well in the wet gas limit. We also highlight the vital role density-lowering disorder has in improving gate characteristics, be it stacking faults in mixed-phase WZ or surface adsorbates in pure-phase nanowires.
Stromal Cell-Derived Factor-1 Retention and Cardioprotection for Ischemic Myocardium

Background—Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) is a chemoattractant of stem/progenitor cells, and several studies have shown that SDF-1 may improve ventricular function after infarction. SDF-1 is cleaved by proteases including matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and CD26/dipeptidylpeptidase-4 (DPP-4), which are activated in injured tissues. Methods and Results—We investigated the biodistribution and functional roles of SDF-1 in experimental ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats. Radiolabeled SDF-1 given by intracoronary injection was selectively concentrated in ischemic myocardium. The enhanced uptake of SDF-1 in ischemic myocardium was not mediated by its receptor, CXCR4. Mass spectrometry and Western analyses showed that SDF-1 was cleaved by DPP-4 in plasma and myocardium, whereas a bioengineered MMP-2/DPP-4–resistant form of SDF-1, SSDF-1(S4V), was highly stable. A single dose of SSDF-1(S4V) exhibited greater potency for cardioprotection than wild-type SDF-1. SSDF-1(S4V) improved cardiac function in rats even after a 3-hour ischemic period. Conclusions—These results show that a single dose of protease-resistant SSDF-1(S4V) after myocardial infarction leads to dramatic improvement in angiogenesis and ventricular function even 3 hours after the onset of ischemia, revealing a simple, clinically feasible approach to prevention of heart failure.
Human movement recognition using fuzzy clustering and discriminant analysis

In this paper a novel method for human movement representation and recognition is proposed. A movement is regarded as a sequence of basic movement patterns, the so-called dynemes. Initially, the fuzzy c-mean (FCM) algorithm is used to identify the dynemes in the input space, and then principal component analysis plus linear discriminant analysis (PCA plus LDA) is employed to project the postures of a movement to the identified dynemes. In this space, the posture representations of the movement are combined to represent the movement in terms of its comprising dynemes. This representation allows for efficient Mahalanobis or cosine-based nearest centroid classification of variable length movements.