Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Silver polyvinyl pyrrolidone nanoparticles exhibit a capsular polysaccharide influenced bactericidal effect against Streptococcus pneumoniae

Streptococcus pneumoniae remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The highly adaptive nature of S. pneumoniae exemplifies the need for next generation antimicrobials designed to avoid high level resistance. Metal based nanomaterials fit this criterion. Our study examined the antimicrobial activity of gold nanospheres, silver coated polyvinyl pyrrolidone (AgPVP), and titanium dioxide (TiO2) against various serotypes of S. pneumoniae. Twenty nanometer spherical AgPVP demonstrated the highest level of killing among the tested materials. AgPVP (0.6 mg/mL) was able to kill pneumococcal serotypes 2, 3, 4, and 19F within 4 h of exposure. Detailed analysis of cultures during exposure to AgPVP showed that both the metal ions and the solid nanoparticles participate in the killing of the pneumococcus. The bactericidal effect of AgPVP was lessened in the absence of the pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide. Capsule negative strains, JD908 and RX1, were only susceptible to AgPVP at concentrations at least 33% higher than their respective capsule expressing counterparts. These findings suggest that mechanisms of killing used by nanomaterials are not serotype dependent and that the capsular polysaccharide participates in the inhibition. In the near future these mechanisms will be examined as targets for novel antimicrobials.
Feature Selection and Classification for Gene Expression Data Using Evolutionary Computation

An evolutionary rough feature selection algorithm is proposed for classifying gene expression patterns. Since the data typically consist of a large number of redundant features, an initial redundancy reduction of the attributes is done to enable faster convergence. Rough set theory is employed to generate the distinction table that enable PSO to find reducts, which represent the minimal sets of non-redundant features capable of discerning between all objects. The effectiveness of the algorithm is demonstrated on three benchmark cancer datasets viz. Colon, Lymphoma and Leukemia using MOGA.
Evaluation of the adoption of an information systems security policy

Information Systems Security (ISS) is a relevant fact for current organizations. This paper focuses on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) as although all organizations have their own requirements as far as information security is concerned, SMEs offer one of the most interesting cases for studying the issue of information security policies in particular, and information security in general. Within the organizational universe, SMEs assume a unique relevance due to their high number, which makes information security efficiency a crucial issue. There are several measures which can be implemented in order to ensure the effective protection of information assets, among which the adoption of ISS policies stands out. A recent survey concluded that among 307 SMEs, only 15 indicated to have an ISS policy. The conclusion drawn from that study was that the adoption of ISS policies has not become a reality yet. As an attempt to mitigate this fact, an academic-practitioner collaboration effort was established regarding the implementation of ISS policies in three SMEs. These interventions were conceived as Action Research (AR) projects. This article aims to constitute an empirical study on the applicability of the Action Research method in information systems, more specifically by assessing the adoption of an ISS policy in six SMEs, and identifying the critical success factors in adopting an ISS policy. The research question we intend to answer is to what extent this research method is adequate to reach the proposed goal. The results of the study suggest that AR is a promising means for the evaluation of ISS policies adoption. It can both act as a research method that improves the understanding about the reasons why the policy has been abandoned, for example by the users, and as a change method, assisting practitioners to overcome barriers and suggesting measures to be implemented in order to allow the ISS policy to be properly followed by all the company users on a daily basis.
Evaluation model of B2C e-commerce site based on consumer Perspective

Based on the principle of AHP, this paper establishes B2C e-commerce site evaluation system,whose Perspective start from consumer. This paper regards the quality of B2C e-commerce site as overall goal, and set product, price, service, Credibility as first indicators, at the same time, which establishes 15 secondary indicators. Finally, this paper utilizes AHP to establish the quantitative index system.
A Novel Approach for Data Privacy Using Attribute Based Scheme Algorithm for Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is the mass storage area that helps the user to access the data anywhere. There are so many platforms provided by the cloud service provider. They are SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) etc. Though security is not fully provided by the cloud service provider to reshape the advances in information technology, cloud computing is expected as an updated technology. The data was securely stored in the cloud and if it is corrupted then the proxy is implemented to regenerate the corrupted data in the cloud. Thus security and integrity is successfully achieved. This is further extended by implementing efficient file fetching by the third party user. To maintain efficient file fetching system Multi authority cloud model is proposed. The model is continuing with the proposed entities such as Attribute authority (AA), Certificate Authority (CA) and Third party end user. The data is encrypted by the owner and stored in the cloud server. CA is used to delegate the Secret Key (SK) to AA and Public Kay (PK) to user. After Checking the authentication of the owner CA provides PK to the owner only then the owner is allowed to upload the data in cloud, the data is encrypted and outsource to the cloud server. Using SK the third party user is allowed to view the data from the cloud. If the user enter the wrong key or misuse the data, user will be revoked. If the User needs to download or update or delete the data in the cloud the user need to send a Data Access Privilege (DAP) request to the respective owner. Certificate authority is responsible to generate a key to the entities such as User, Data Owner and attributes. Index Terms – Cloud Computing, Security, Third Party Auditor (TPA), Proxy, RSA Algorithm, Regeneration, Multiuser Authentication.
P2-366 Amyloid deposition begins in the striatum of presenilin-1 mutation carriers from two unrelated pedigrees

The amyloid cascade hypothesis suggests that the aggregation and deposition of amyloid-β protein is an initiating event in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Using amyloid imaging technology, such as the positron emission tomography (PET) agent Pittsburgh compound-B (PiB), it is possible to explore the natural history of preclinical amyloid deposition in people at high risk for AD. With this goal in mind, asymptomatic (n = 5) and symptomatic (n = 5) carriers of presenilin-1 (PS1) mutations (C410Y or A426P) that lead to early-onset AD and noncarrier controls from both kindreds (n = 2) were studied with PiB–PET imaging and compared with sporadic AD subjects (n = 12) and controls from the general population (n = 18). We found intense and focal PiB retention in the striatum of all 10 PS1 mutation carriers studied (ages 35–49 years). In most PS1 mutation carriers, there also were increases in PiB retention compared with controls in cortical brain areas, but these increases were not as great as those observed in sporadic AD subjects. The two PS1 mutation carriers with a clinical diagnosis of early-onset AD did not show the typical regional pattern of PiB retention observed in sporadic AD. Postmortem evaluation of tissue from two parents of PS1C410Y subjects in this study confirmed extensive striatal amyloid deposition, along with typical cortical deposition. The early, focal striatal amyloid deposition observed in these PS1 mutation carriers is often is not associated with clinical symptoms.
On the Progression of Situation Calculus Basic Action Theories: Resolving a 10-year-old Conjecture

In a seminal paper, Lin and Reiter introduced a model-theoretic definition for the progression of the initial knowledge base of a basic action theory. This definition comes with a strong negative result, namely that for certain kinds of action theories, first-order logic is not expressive enough to correctly characterize this form of progression, and second-order axioms are necessary. However, Lin and Reiter also considered an alternative definition for progression which is always first-order definable. They conjectured that this alternative definition is incorrect in the sense that the progressed theory is too weak and may sometimes lose information. This conjecture, and the status of first-order definable progression, has remained open since then. In this paper we present two significant results about this alternative definition of progression. First, we prove the Lin and Reiter conjecture by presenting a case where the progressed theory indeed does lose information. Second, we prove that the alternative definition is nonetheless correct for reasoning about a large class of sentences, including some that quantify over situations. In this case the alternative definition is a preferred option due to its simplicity and the fact that it is always first-order.
DM Loss in k Haplotype Mice Reveals Isotype-Specific Chaperone Requirements 1

DM actions as a class II chaperone promote capture of diverse peptides inside the endocytic compartment(s). DM mutant cells studied to date express class II bound by class II-associated invariant chain-derived peptide (CLIP), a short proteolytic fragment of the invariant chain, and exhibit defective peptide-loading abilities. To evaluate DM functional contributions in k haplotype mice, we engineered a novel mutation at the DMa locus via embryonic stem cell technology. The present experiments demonstrate short-lived Ak/CLIP complexes, decreased Ak surface expression, and enhanced Ak peptide binding activities. Thus, we conclude that DM loss in k haplotype mice creates a substantial pool of empty or loosely occupied Ak conformers. On the other hand, the mutation hardly affects Ek activities. The appearance of mature compact Ek dimers, near normal surface expression, and efficient Ag presentation capabilities strengthen the evidence for isotype-specific DM requirements. In contrast to DM mutants described previously, partial occupancy by wild-type ligands is sufficient to eliminate antiself reactivity. Mass spectrometry profiles reveal Ak/CLIP and a heterogeneous collection of relatively short peptides bound to Ek molecules. These experiments demonstrate that DM has distinct roles depending on its specific class II partners.
Improved morphological decomposition for Arabic broadcast news transcription

We show the progress for Arabic speech recognition by incorporating contextual information into the process of morphological decomposition. The new approach achieves lower out-of-vocabulary and word error rates when compared to our previous work, in which the morphological decomposition relies on word-level information only. We also describe how the vocalization procedure is improved to produce pronunciations for some dialect Arabic words. By using the new approach, we reduced the word error by 0.8% absolute (4.7% relative) when compared to the baseline approach.
Reduced global positioning system (GPS) positioning error by mitigating ionospheric scintillation

GPS has diverse application in current globalized world, its application has pervasive benefits not only to navigation and positioning, it is pivotal in industries like logistics, shipping, financial services and agriculture. Since the decision to shut down the Selectivity Availability (SA) by former U.S. President, Bill Clinton, ionospheric effect is now the primary concern of error contributing factors in GPS. Ionospheric scintillation induces rapid fluctuations in the phase and the amplitude of received GNSS signals. These rapid fluctuations or scintillation potentially introduce cycle slips, degrade range measurements, and if severe enough lead to loss of lock in phase and code. Global Ionospheric Scintillation Model (GISM) was used to compute amplitude scintillation parameter for each GPS satellite visible from Melaka, Malaysia (Latitude 20 14' N, Longitude 1020 16' E) as its location has strong equatorial scintillation behavior. The output data from GISM was then used to calculate the positioning error where it is depends on the Dilution of Precision (DOP) and User Equivalent Range Error (UERE). There are five schemes that were used. First, the positioning error was calculated for all the visible satellites with mask angle > 50. Secondly, the positioning error was calculated for 6 satellites that having lowest UERE. Thirdly, the positioning error was calculated for all the visible satellites with mask angle > 100. Fourthly, the positioning error was calculated for those satellites that have amplitude scintillation index, S4 <; 0.7. Lastly, the positioning error was calculated for those satellite having outliers> 10% of mean S4 for all satellites. Comparison of results from these schemes were then made.
Rapid prototyping for hardware accelerated elliptic curve public-key cryptosystems

A generator-based design and validation methodology for rapid prototyping of elliptic curve public-key cryptosystem hardware is described. By their very nature, cryptosystems challenge both design and validation. Pure RTL-based synthesis is as unsuitable as high-level synthesis. Instead, a generator program accepts the two main parameters - the key size and the multiplier radix - and creates a highly efficient custom RTL description which is synthesized into a FPGA. This approach benefits the design in that it allows one to effortlessly exploit the available resources on the FPGA for variable requirements of security and performance. It is also advantageous for validation of the correctness of the design as, for small parameter values, the design can be tested exhaustively. Thus, the correctness for large key sizes depends only on the correctness of the generator. Furthermore, deploying FPGAs supports integration of an ASIC realisation of the same algorithm, which boosts performance. By emulating its interface, the ASIC can be accommodated even before fabrication, thus enabling mixed FPGA/ASIC acceleration of elliptic curve cryptosystems.
A Novel Robust Cyclic Adaptive Beamforming Algorithm

Cyclic adaptive beamforming (CAB) algorithm becomes an efficient blind beamforming algorithm due to its low computation complexity and fast convergence rate. However, the robustness of CAB is not enough. To overcome the shortcomings, a novel robust CAB algorithm is presented. The new algorithm is based on a combination of the ideas in the CAB algorithm and the robust capon beamforming (RCB). It still belongs to robust CAB algorithm based on diagonal loading, but the amount of diagonal loading can be calculated precisely based on the uncertainty set of steering vectors. Experiment results show the feasibility of the new algorithm
Lidocaine injections targeting CA3 hippocampus impair long‐term spatial memory and prevent learning‐induced mossy fiber remodeling

Learning a spatial location induces remodeling of the mossy fiber terminal field (MFTF) in the CA3 subfield of the dorsal hippocampus (Ramirez‐Amaya et al. ( 2001 ) J Neurosci 21:7340–7348; Holahan et al. ( 2006 ) Hippocampus 16:560–570; Rekart et al. ( 2007a ) Learn Mem 14:416–421). These fibers appear to grow from the stratum lucidum into distal stratum oriens. Is this axonal growth dependent on “repeated and persistent” neural activity in the CA3 region during training? To address this issue, we targeted local inactivation of the MFTF region in a post‐training, consolidation paradigm. Male Wistar rats, bilaterally implanted with chronic indwelling cannulae aimed at the MFTF CA3 region, were trained on a hidden platform water maze task (10 trials per day for 5 days). Immediately after the 10th trial on each training day, rats were injected with lidocaine (4% w/v; 171 mM; n =7) or phosphate‐buffered saline (PBS; n = 7). Behavioral measures of latency, path length, and thigmotaxis were recorded, as was directional heading. A retention test (probe trial) was given 7 days after the last training day, and brains were subsequently processed for MFTF distribution (Timm's stain) and cannula location. Lidocaine treatment was found to block the learning‐associated structural remodeling of the MFTF that was reported previously and observed in the PBS‐injected controls. During training, the lidocaine group showed elevated latencies and a misdirected heading to locate the platform on the first trial of each training day. On the 7‐day retention probe trial, the lidocaine‐injected group showed poor retention indicated by the absence of a search bias in the area where the platform had been located during training. These data suggest that the reduction of neuronal activity in the CA3 region impairs long‐term storage of spatial information. As this was associated with reduced MFTF structural remodeling, it provides initial anatomical and behavioral evidence for an activity—dependent, presynaptic growth model of memory. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Teachers' Beliefs about Teaching Urban Indigenous Students in Taiwan.

The purpose of this interpretive study is to situate teachers’ understanding and interpretation of their experiences with indigenous students in city schools. This qualitative study examines six teachers’ perspectives of indigenous students and reveals factors that potentially impede or promote the success of indigenous students in Taiwanese urban schools. From the cross-case discussion, we learn that there is a need in the educational field for a reshaped perspective of indigenous students, along with changes in curriculum, instructional methods, and practices and policies. Hopefully, then, schooling experiences like those of indigenous teachers will be historical memories, not everyday occurrences, and their children will have more successful stories to tell about their school experiences.
Development of performance assessment and fault identification strategy based on kernel GDA

Statistical performance monitoring aims at improving process operation by distinguishing abnormal process conditions from common cause variations. However, for some complicated cases in industrial process, because of the nonlinear correlations between process variables, conventional linear statistical methods often have poor ability for monitoring these processes. In this paper, a novel nonlinear on-line performance monitoring and fault identification method based on kernel discriminant analysis (kernel GDA) was proposed. The basic idea of this method is to first map data in the original space into high-dimensional feature space via nonlinear kernel function and then extracts the optimal Fisher feature vector and discriminant vector to perform process monitoring. If faults occurred, it uses the similar degree between the present discriminant vector and the optimal vector of fault in historical dataset to diagnosis. The proposed method can effectively capture nonlinear relationship in process variables. It was evaluated by the application to the CSTR process and its effectiveness was demonstrated.
Latin@ undergraduates’ willingness to seek and attitudes towards counseling: An examination of cultural orientation and cultural fit

ABSTRACT We explored the differences between and relationships of gender, class, college generation, and previous counseling experience for cultural orientation, cultural fit, willingness to seek and attitudes towards counseling for 112 Latin@ undergraduates. Ethnic identity played a key role as differences by college generation emerged where first-generation college students reported higher levels of ethnic identity as well as a stronger relationship of ethnic identity and marginality than their continuing-generation counterparts. The current study provided evidence for a new emic-specific scale for Latin@ undergraduates’ willingness to seek counseling services. Practice implications for university personnel and student services providers are provided.
Disparate tendency of stress evolution of thin and thick electroplated Cu films at room temperature

The self-annealing effect of electroplated copper films was investigated by measuring the time dependence of the film stress for different film thicknesses between 1. 5µm and 20µm. This recrystallization process results in significant microstructure change and a film-thickness-dependent stress evolution at room temperature. This behavior can be explained by the superposition of grain growth and grain size dependent yielding. Existing models have been used and improved to describe the mechanisms related to stress evolution.
Computational Lexicons for Cross-Language Information Retrieval

In this paper we discuss a series of requirements that computational lexicons must fulfill in order to become effective resources for CLIR. We will argue that this objective can only be achieved through i) the design of advanced architectures for the lexicon, ii) lexical data standardization, and iii) the development of new methods for the automatic acquisition of semantic knowledge from texts.
Parametric Channel Estimation for OFDM Systems in Time-Varying Environment Based on Subspace Projecting and Tracking

Channel estimation is critical for coherent detection in OFDM systems. In pilot symbol aided channel estimation methods, the LS channel estimation can be viewed as a noisy observation of the true channel frequency response, so the noise component can be compressed through signal subspace projecting. In this paper, we focus on parametric channel estimation method combined with subspace projecting. First, we estimate the signal space of the OFDM system, and then we can use ESPRIT method to estimate the multipath delay of wireless channel, finally we use subspace projecting to get more accurate channel estimation. When the channel multipath delays vary with time, the signal subspace should be tracked to keep the efficiency of channel estimation. Computer simulations show that the performance of our method is much better than traditional channel estimation methods and its nonparametric counterpart.
Domain Adaptation under Target and Conditional Shift

Let X denote the feature and Y the target. We consider domain adaptation under three possible scenarios: (1) the marginal PY changes, while the conditional PX/Y stays the same (target shift), (2) the marginal PY is fixed, while the conditional PX/Y changes with certain constraints (conditional shift), and (3) the marginal PY changes, and the conditional PX/Y changes with constraints (generalized target shift). Using background knowledge, causal interpretations allow us to determine the correct situation for a problem at hand. We exploit importance reweighting or sample transformation to find the learning machine that works well on test data, and propose to estimate the weights or transformations by reweighting or transforming training data to reproduce the covariate distribution on the test domain. Thanks to kernel embedding of conditional as well as marginal distributions, the proposed approaches avoid distribution estimation, and are applicable for high-dimensional problems. Numerical evaluations on synthetic and real-world data sets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.