Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulation of otic vesicle and hair cell stereocilia morphogenesis by Ena/VASP-like (Evl) in Xenopus

The inner ear is derived from a thickening in the embryonic ectoderm, called the otic placode. This structure undergoes extensive morphogenetic movements throughout its development and gives rise to all components of the inner ear. Ena/VASP-like (Evl) is an actin binding protein involved in the regulation of cytoskeletal dynamics and organization. We have examined the role of Evl during the morphogenesis of the Xenopus inner ear. Evl (hereafter referred to as Xevl) is expressed throughout otic vesicle formation and is enriched in the neuroblasts that delaminate to form the vestibulocochlear ganglion and in hair cells that possess mechanosensory stereocilia. Knockdown of Xevl perturbs epithelial morphology and intercellular adhesion in the otic vesicle and disrupts formation of the vestibulocochlear ganglion, evidenced by reduction of ganglion size, disorganization of the ganglion, and defects in neurite outgrowth. Later in embryogenesis, Xevl is required for development of mechanosensory hair cells. In Xevl knockdown embryos, hair cells of the ventromedial sensory epithelium display multiple abnormalities including disruption of the cuticular plate at the base of stereocilia and disorganization of the normal staircase appearance of stereocilia. Based on these data, we propose that Xevl plays an integral role in regulating morphogenesis of the inner ear epithelium and the subsequent development of the vestibulocochlear ganglion and mechanosensory hair cells.
Gravity Dual to Pure Confining Gauge Theory

We find a dual gravity theory to pure confining N=1 supersymmetric SU(N) gauge theory in four dimensions which has the correct gauge coupling running in addition to reproducing the appropriate pattern of chiral symmetry breaking. It is constructed in type IIB string theory on R^{1,3} X R^1 X S^2 X S^3 background with N number of electric D5 and 2N number of magnetic D7-branes filling four dimensional spacetime and wrapping respectively two and four cycles.
Subjective experiences of employment equity in South African organisations

Orientation: This article explores employees’ subjective experiences of employment equity (EE) within South African organisational contexts, adding diverse and in-depth insights to the post-apartheid EE discourse.Research purpose: The purpose is to hear the voices of employees of different social-cultural, racial and gender backgrounds on the experiences of EE in contemporary South African organisations.Motivation for the study: Research suggests that South African organisations are pressurised to redress past racial inequality. Understanding employees’ subjective experiences of EE adds value to the debate and provides the reader with an in-depth contemporary image of EE in post-apartheid South African organisations.Research approach/design and method: A hermeneutic phenomenological approach, within the qualitative interpretive paradigm, yielded in-depth, rich and detailed descriptions of employees’ experiences of EE in both the private and public sectors of the South African workplace.Main findings: Findings show five themes that are associated with experiences of EE within South African organisations. This study highlights differences of experiences regarding EE plans and processes based on racial background, gender and age, as well as on historical socio-cultural and racial classifications of being a member of advantaged and disadvantaged groups. The following findings are highlighted: the insight into the experiences of EE from the perspectives of the ‘born-frees’ (the differences in experiences of different age groups of employees) and the experienced discrimination of black male and female employees regarding race and the experiences of gender-based discrimination being described by black and white male employees.Practical/managerial implications: Findings show the focus of experiences of EE, the conflicting issues and what South African organisations need to focus on in terms of human resources management (HRM) and the development of employee relations across racial and gender divides. It shows which topics need to be addressed in employee development and training programmes to manage diversity constructively and effectively.Contribution/value-add: The findings can be used by human resources managers to: (1) monitor the progress towards EE competently and vigorously, (2) create awareness and communication within individuals, organisations and society regarding EE, (3) create best practices in order to benefit from EE (members of all racial, gender, cultural groups), (4) create a discourse on humanistic and reflexive HRM, and(5) implement consulting, training and development programmes in organisations that are strategically, sustainably and long-term orientated.
A Bispecific Protein Capable of Engaging CTLA-4 and MHCII Protects Non-Obese Diabetic Mice from Autoimmune Diabetes

Crosslinking ligand-engaged cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) to the T cell receptor (TCR) with a bispecific fusion protein (BsB) comprised of a mutant mouse CD80 and lymphocyte activation antigen-3 (LAG-3) has been shown to attenuate TCR signaling and to direct T-cell differentiation toward Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) in an allogenic mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR). Here, we show that antigen-specific Tregs can also be induced in an antigen-specific setting in vitro. Treatment of non-obese diabetic (NOD) female mice between 9–12 weeks of age with a short course of BsB elicited a transient increase of Tregs in the blood and moderately delayed the onset of autoimmune type 1 diabetes (T1D). However, a longer course of treatment (10 weeks) of 4–13 weeks-old female NOD animals with BsB significantly delayed the onset of disease or protected animals from developing diabetes, with only 13% of treated animals developing diabetes by 35 weeks of age compared to 80% of the animals in the control group. Histopathological analysis of the pancreata of the BsB-treated mice that remained non-diabetic revealed the preservation of insulin-producing β-cells despite the presence of different degrees of insulitis. Thus, a bifunctional protein capable of engaging CTLA-4 and MHCII and indirectly co-ligating CTLA-4 to the TCR protected NOD mice from developing T1D.
Combining distance-based formation shape control with formation translation

Steepest descent control laws can be used for formation shape control based on specified interagent distances, assuming point agents with single integration of the control action to yield velocity. Separately, it is known how to achieve equal velocity for a collection of agents in a formation using consensus ideas, given appropriate properties for the graph describing information flows. This work shows how the two concepts of formation shape control and flocking behavior can be combined when one changes from an agent with single integration to one with double integration, and our new contribution is to do this when, as is common, there is a leader in the formation.
Reconfigurable platforms for ubiquitous computing

Ubiquitous computing requires flexibilty. Melting distributed electronic devices into everyday's life implies the need to adapt to evolving standards and dynamic environments. Furthermore, to gain user acceptance, such devices should be able to adapt to different usage patterns and user profiles. Scalability is also an important issue, allowing functional enhancements to already deployed systems. In this work we address these issues applying the concept of reconfigurability on different abstraction layers. Concerning the physical layer we discuss multistandard and standard update capabilities, dynamic power management and functional optimisation. Within this context we consider important design issues related to on-chip communication networks. Furthermore, dynamic reconfigurable processor architectures are analyzed with respect to applications in communications. Finally, in the service layer, we address device location, interconnection and clustering.
A New Compilation Path: From Python/NumPy to OpenCL

Jit4OpenCL is a new compiler that converts scientific applications written in Python/NumPy into OpenCL code. This compiler is based on unPython, an ahead-of-time compiler from Python/Numpy to an intermediate form and OpenMP code, and on jit4GPU, a just-in-time compiler that converts that intermediate code into AMD CAL code that is specific for AMD GPUs. The targeting of OpenCL provides a new evaluation point in the tradeoff between performance and portability for this type of application. Adapting the data access analysis to the OpenCL model was critical for the construction of this new compiler. An experimental evaluation compares the execution time of benchmarks compiled with jit4GPU and jit4OpenCL with highly optimized versions of the same benchmarks running on the CPU. Keywords-OpenCL, GPGPU, Python, Code Generation, Compilers, Just-in-Time Compilation
RUNNING HEAD : Mapping Facial Expression Mapping and Manipulating Facial Expression

opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of NSF or Carnegie Mellon University. ABSTRACT Non-verbal visual cues accompany speech to supplement the meaning of spoken words, signify emotional state, indicate position in discourse, and provide back-channel feedback. This visual information includes head movements, facial expressions and body gestures. In this paper we describe techniques for manipulating both verbal and non-verbal facial gestures in video sequences of people engaged in conversation. We are developing a system for use in psychological experiments, where the effects of manipulating individual components of non-verbal visual behaviour during live face-to-face conversation can be studied. In particular, the techniques we describe operate in real-time at video frame-rate and the manipulation can be applied so both participants in a conversation are kept blind to the experimental conditions. Audiovisual conversation is information rich, comprised of both the linguistic message content and non-linguistic information. This non-linguistic information might include facial expressions to convey emotional state, head nods to indicate emphatic stress, and posture and eye-gaze to signal turn-taking in discourse. There is increasing interest in understanding the relationship between verbal and non-verbal conversational cues. In large part, this interest comes from the entertainment industry, which requires lifelike animation of embodied characters. If interactive dialogue between animated characters is to be believable, it must seem realistic and lifelike. In psychology and speech perception, the ability to generate experimental stimuli using computer-generated characters is attractive as individual aspects of verbal and non-verbal cues can be manipulated to arbitrary precision and in complete isolation from each other (Massaro, 1998). In this paper, we describe the development of a system for automatically capturing, encoding and manipulating facial expressions and global head movements, and transferring this information from video sequences of one person to video sequences of another. In particular, we describe techniques that allow these manipulations to be accomplished in real-time at video frame-rate during face-to-face conversations and with both participants in the conversation being kept blind to the processing and manipulation of the visual cues accompanying the speech. This system is being developed to provide experimenters with the means for controlled investigation to better understand the mechanisms of communication and social interaction.
Chemical evolution of organic aerosol in Los Angeles during the CalNex 2010 study

Abstract. During the CalNex study (15 May to 16 June 2010) a large suite of instruments was operated at the Los Angeles area ground supersite to characterize the sources and atmospheric processing of atmospheric pollution. The thermal-desorption proton-transfer-reaction mass-spectrometer (TD-PTR-MS) was deployed to an urban area for the first time and detected 691 organic ions in aerosol samples, the mean total concentration of which was estimated as 3.3 μg m −3 . Based on comparison to total organic aerosol (OA) measurements, we estimate that approximately 50% of the OA mass at this site was directly measured by the TD-PTR-MS. Based on correlations with aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) OA components, the ions were grouped to represent hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA), local OA (LOA), semi-volatile oxygenated OA (SV-OOA), and low volatility oxygenated OA (LV-OOA). Mass spectra and thermograms of the ion groups are mostly consistent with the assumed sources and/or photochemical origin of the OA components. The mass spectra of ions representing the primary components HOA and LOA included the highest m/z , consistent with their higher resistance to thermal decomposition, and they were volatilized at lower temperatures (~ 150 °C). Photochemical ageing weakens C-C bond strengths (also resulting in chemical fragmentation), and produces species of lower volatility (through the addition of functional groups). Accordingly the mass spectra of ions representing the oxidized OA components (SV-OOA, and LV-OOA) lack the highest masses and they are volatilized at higher temperatures (250–300 °C). Chemical parameters like mean carbon number ( n C ), mean carbon oxidation state ( OS C ), and the atomic ratios O / C and H / C of the ion groups are consistent with the expected sources and photochemical processing of the aerosol components. Our data suggest that chemical fragmentation gains importance over functionalization as photochemical age of OA increases. Surprisingly, the photochemical age of OA decreases during the daytime hours, demonstrating the importance of rapid production of new (photochemically young) SV-OOA during daytime. The PTR detects higher organic N concentrations than the AMS, the reasons for which are not well understood and cannot be explained by known artifacts related to PTR or the AMS. The median atomic N / C ratio (6.4%) of the ion group representing LV-OOA is a factor 2 higher than N / C of any other ion group. This suggests a multiphase chemical source involving ammonium ions is contributing to LV-OOA.
The GUISurfer tool: towards a language independent approach to reverse engineering GUI code

Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are critical components of today's software. Developers are dedicating a larger portion of code to implementing them. Given their increased importance, correctness of GUIs code is becoming essential. This paper describes the latest results in the development of GUISurfer, a tool to reverse engineer the GUI layer of interactive computing systems. The ultimate goal of the tool is to enable analysis of interactive system from source code.
Tipping Point of Resistance: A Multi-Case Study of the Influence of School Culture on Classroom Positive Behavior Interventions and Support Practices

Public schools have seen an increase in the use of school-wide positive behavior intervention supports (SWPBIS) to address the emotional and behavioral needs of students. While SWPBIS is a validated, evidence-based practice, teachers often resist the use of this proactive intervention model claiming that they do not have the time or skills to develop interventions to address the students’ challenging behaviors. The purpose of this instrumental multi-case study was to systematically explore and compare the personal experiences of staff who ended their resistance to SWPBIS and successfully implemented at the classroom level. A Georgia middle school implementing SWPBIS at the operational level with identified staff who successfully made the paradigm shift to embrace SWPBIS was selected for this study using maximum variation of sampling. Site selection was based on school size, geographic location, Title I status, and inclusion practices. Triangulated data collection methods included semi-structured interviews, Collaborative School Culture Survey (CSCS), direct observations, and field notes. Initial data analysis used research questions as themes along with open coding of emergent themes. Pattern matching techniques allowed cross analysis within case findings using replication techniques and worksheets provided by Stake (2006). Teachers indicated a willingness to turn from resistance to SWPBIS when their administration models the tenants of SWBPIS. The greatest professional development need existed in understanding the basic principles of ABA. Recommendations for future research are given.
An identity-based Broadcast Encryption Scheme for mobile ad-hoc networks

Dynamic ad hoc networks facilitate interconnections between mobile devices without the support of any network infrastructure. In this paper, we propose a secure identity-based ad hoc protocol for mobile devices to construct a group key for a setup of a secure communication network in an efficient way and support dynamic changing of network topology. Unlike group key management protocols proposed previously in the literature, mobile devices can use our protocol to construct the group key by observing the others’ identity, like the MAC address, which distinguishes the device from the others. In contrast to other interactive protocols, we only need one broadcast to setup the group key and member removal is also highly efficient. Finally, we discuss the security issues and provide security proofs for our protocol. Keywords— dynamic mobile ad hoc network, identity-based, non-interactive, secure communication protocol, group key
Landmark image retrieval using visual synonyms

In this paper, we consider the incoherence problem of the visual words in bag-of-words vocabularies. Different from existing work, which performs assignment of words based solely on closeness in descriptor space, we focus on identifying pairs of independent, distant words - the visual synonyms - that are still likely to host image patches with similar appearance. To study this problems we focus on landmark images, where we can examine whether image geometry is an appropriate vehicle for detecting visual synonyms. We propose an algorithm for the extraction of visual synonyms in landmark images. To show the merit of visual synonyms, we perform two experiments. We examine closeness of synonyms in descriptor space and we show a first application of visual synonyms in a landmark image retrieval setting. Using visual synonyms, we perform on par with the state-of-the-art, but with six times less visual words.
Cost and Coverage Metrics for Measuring the Effectiveness of Test Case Prioritization Techniques

Regression testing is an important and also a very expensive activity in the software life cycle. To reduce the cost of regression testing, test cases are prioritized. One goal of test case prioritization technique is to increase a test suite’s rate of fault detection and to reduce the cost of regression testing. In his paper G. Rothermel [9] has provided a metric, Average Percentage of Fault Detected (APFD), for measuring rate of fault detection during prioritization. This metric assumes that all test cases and fault costs are uniform. In practice, test case and fault costs may vary, and in such cases the previous APFD metric can be unsatisfactory. This paper presents a metric for assessing the rate of fault detection of prioritized test cases, APFDc, that incorporates varying test cases and fault costs. We have also calculated other new metrics like Average Percentage of Statement Coverage (APSC), Average Percentage of Branch Coverage (APBC),Average Percentage of Loop Coverage (APLC) and Average Percentage of Condition Coverage (APCC) based on the coverage criterion for the various prioritization techniques performed. Test cases are executed using JUnit tool. Code cover tool is used to find code coverage information. Test case prioritization is performed based on coverage and cost information. By injecting mutation faults effectiveness of prioritization is measured. Finally, we have implemented all the metrics considering a few standard java programs.
Sensing Reversible Protein–Ligand Interactions with Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Field-Effect Transistors

We report on the reversible detection of CaptAvidin, a tyrosine modified avidin, with single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) field-effect transistors (FETs) noncovalently functionalized with biotin moieties using 1-pyrenebutyric acid as a linker. Binding affinities at different pH values were quantified, and the sensor’s response at various ionic strengths was analyzed. Furthermore, protein “fingerprints” of NeutrAvidin and streptavidin were obtained by monitoring their adsorption at several pH values. Moreover, gold nanoparticle decorated SWNT FETs were functionalized with biotin using 1-pyrenebutyric acid as a linker for the CNT surface and (±)-α-lipoic acid linkers for the gold surface, and reversible CaptAvidin binding is shown, paving the way for potential dual mode measurements with the addition of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS).
AC motor transients and EMI emission analysis in the ASD by parasitic resonance effects identification

Investigation of common mode (CM) electromagnetic interference (EMI) currents in an AC motor fed by the pulse width modulated (PWM) voltage converter requires a model of the motor that take into account parasitic capacitances existing in the motor windings. Presented CM transfer impedance analysis method shows that the motor voltage transient is strongly related to the resonance effects observed on the windings CM impedance. The wide frequency CM impedance characteristics analysis allows to identify and determine resonance effects which are the primary reasons for voltage ringing phenomena. The paper presents a circuit modelling method of the AC motor windings parasitic capacitances, which allows to take into account the change of the winding to ground capacitance for different frequency ranges in the conducted frequency range. The proposed circuit model and its parameter identification method make possible more accurate CM currents modelling in the AC motor windings fed by the converter.
Density-Connected Subspace Clustering for High-Dimensional Data

Several application domains such as molecular biology and geography produce a tremendous amount of data which can no longer be managed without the help of efficient and effective data mining methods. One of the primary data mining tasks is clustering. However, traditional clustering algorithms often fail to detect meaningful clusters because most real-world data sets are characterized by a high dimensional, inherently sparse data space. Nevertheless, the data sets often contain interesting clusters which are hidden in various subspaces of the original feature space. Therefore, the concept of subspace clustering has recently been addressed, which aims at automatically identifying subspaces of the feature space in which clusters exist. In this paper, we introduce SUBCLU (density-connected Subspace Clustering), an effective and efficient approach to the subspace clustering problem. Using the concept of density-connectivity underlying the algorithm DBSCAN [EKSX96], SUBCLU is based on a formal clustering notion. In contrast to existing grid-based approaches, SUBCLU is able to detect arbitrarily shaped and positioned clusters in subspaces. The monotonicity of density-connectivity is used to efficiently prune subspaces in the process of generating all clusters in a bottom up way. While not examining any unnecessary subspaces, SUBCLU delivers for each subspace the same clusters DBSCAN would have found, when applied to this subspace separately.