Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Organization and transcription of the myo-inositol operon, iol, of Bacillus subtilis

Previous determination of the nucleotide sequence of the iol region of the Bacillus subtilis genome allowed us to predict the structure of the iol operon for myo-inositol catabolism, consisting of 10 iol genes (iolA to iouJ); iolG corresponds to idh, encoding myo-inositol 2-dehydrogenase (Idh). Primer extension analysis suggested that an inositol-inducible promoter for the iol operon (iol promoter) might be a promoter-like sequence in the 5' region of iolA, which is probably recognized by sigmaA. S1 nuclease analysis implied that a rho-independent terminator-like structure in the 3' region of iolJ might be a terminator for iol transcription. Disruption of the iol promoter prevented synthesis of the iol transcript as well as that of Idh, implying that the iol operon is most probably transcribed as an 11.5-kb mRNA containing the 10 iol genes. Immediately upstream of the iol operon, two genes (iolR and iolS) with divergent orientations to the iol operon were found. Disruption of iolR (but not iolS) caused constitutive synthesis of the iol transcript and Idh, indicating that the iolR gene encodes a transcription-negative regulator (presumably a repressor) for the iol operon. Northern and S1 nuclease analyses revealed that the iolRS genes were cotranscribed from another inositol-inducible promoter, which is probably recognized by sigmaA. The promoter assignments of the iol and iolRS operons were confirmed in vivo with a lacZ fusion integrated into the amyE locus.
Reliability of Bahasa Malaysia version of family environment scale and its measurement issues

Objective: Family Environment Scale (FES) is one of the most widely used instruments to measure many family aspects. Cross cultural adaptation of the original FES is essential prior to local utilization as different cultures percept their family environments differently. We attempted to translate the FES into the Bahasa Malaysia language for adolescents, evaluate its reliability using internal consistency and compare its results with the original study. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, involving adolescents aged 12-17 from four secondary schools. The adolescents were selected using quota sampling for different age, ethnic and academic performance. The study was divided into four phases, namely: i) translation of FES, ii) pilot test iii) internal consistency reliability test and iv) comparison of the study results with the original FES. Results: A total of 295 adolescents participated in this study. All of the reliability measurements generated (ranged between Cronbach’s alpha 0.10 - 0.70) were lower than those originally reported for this instrument (ranged between Cronbach’s alpha 0.61 -0.78). Five subscales in the Bahasa Malaysia version were found to be less than Cronbach’s alpha 0.5, which were below the acceptable level for practical or research use. There was considerable variation observed between the sample population of this study and that of the original study, which could be due to the social cultural differences. Conclusion: The Bahasa Malaysia version of FES requires further culturally appropriate revision. A new measuring scale could also be devised to provide an accurate evaluation of the family environment as perceived by Malaysian adolescents, which has acceptable levels of reliability and validity.
Structure validity of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R18 in Greek population

The aim of the present study was to examine the factor structure of the TFEQ-R18. The project was conducted in greek population; thus, the questionnaire was translated in greek language. 495 males and females aged between 12-45 years old participated in the present study. There were used a series of CFA techniques for structure analysis. Confirmatory and exploratory analyses were conducted. Several criteria were used to test the hypotheses factor structures of the AIMS. The results of CFA’s showed that the R-18 item instrument had adequate psychometric properties for measuring three dimensions of eating behavior of the Greek population However these results \revealed that an R-16 item instrument was better adapted to the Greek population . The present study provided encouraging preliminary evidence supporting selected psychometric properties of the TFEQ-R18. This instrument seems to be a valid measure of the tendencies of cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating and emotional eating of Greek population.
A Multi-Dimensional , Unified User Model for Cross-System Personalization

Personalization is an established method for reducing information overload and facilitating targeted access to relevant information objects in an information system. However, the use of the information collected about a user and his current context in a user profile is traditionally restricted to a single system, although many user tasks require information handling activities that span several systems, like searching in different collections. The potential advantage of reusing profiles in other systems is increased by the advent of flexible service architectures for information systems like digital libraries that dynamically incorporate services with specific personalization characteristics. This paper discusses an approach in support of cross-system personalization. Building upon an ontology-based unified user context model, which describes the relevant dimensions of the user and his working context(s), this approach uses the metaphor of a context passport that accompanies users on their travel through the information space. When interacting with a system the relevant “context-of-use” is extracted from this context passport and is used for improved support of the respective information-related activity. The approach is discussed in more detail for the relationship dimension of the unified user context model.
Enhancing the Realism of Sketch and Painted Portraits With Adaptable Patches

Realizing unrealistic faces is a complicated task that requires a rich imagination and comprehension of facial structures. When face matching, warping or stitching techniques are applied, existing methods are generally incapable of capturing detailed personal characteristics, are disturbed by block boundary artefacts, or require painting‐photo pairs for training. This paper presents a data‐driven framework to enhance the realism of sketch and portrait paintings based only on photo samples. It retrieves the optimal patches of adaptable shapes and numbers according to the content of the input portrait and collected photos. These patches are then seamlessly stitched by chromatic gain and offset compensation and multi‐level blending. Experiments and user evaluations show that the proposed method is able to generate realistic and novel results for a moderately sized photo collection.
The Ste5 Scaffold Allosterically Modulates Signaling Output of the Yeast Mating Pathway

Scaffold proteins organize signaling proteins into pathways and are often viewed as passive assembly platforms. We found that the Ste5 scaffold has a more active role in the yeast mating pathway: A fragment of Ste5 allosterically activated autophosphorylation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase Fus3. The resulting form of Fus3 is partially active—it is phosphorylated on only one of two key residues in the activation loop. Unexpectedly, at a systems level, autoactivated Fus3 appears to have a negative regulatory role, promoting Ste5 phosphorylation and a decrease in pathway transcriptional output. Thus, scaffolds not only direct basic pathway connectivity but can precisely tune quantitative pathway input-output properties.
Synthesis and Antimicrobial Properties of Chitosan: A Case Study

In the present study, an attempt was made to synthesis of chitosan from chitin extracted from crab shells. Chitosan is the second most abundant natural polymer. The different methods such as deproteinization, demineralization, and deacetylation respectively were used in synthesis of chitosan from chitin. Antimicrobial activity was studied and it was found that Chitosan is extremely good in inhibiting the growth of microorganisms; confirmed by the results obtained from experiments. In order to evaluate antimicrobial activity, the serial dilution method was used towards Escherichia Coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtillis. shell) is generated from the seafood handling plant and the waste is directly dumps into the landfills and this have made a serious administration and natural issues. The production of chitosan from crab/prawn shells obtained from seafood handling plant is economically viable and environment friendly way to overcome this problem. The present work reports preparation of Chitosan using crab exoskeletons and subsequently this lab made Chitosan was evaluated for its antimicrobial properties against eleven most commonly found microorganism. In this study, we prepared a series of chitosan solution and checked them for antimicrobial activity against Escherichia Coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtillis [7]. Our main goal of this work is to combine the antimicrobial activity of chitosan in order to design biocompatible antimicrobial biomaterials.
Applying Self-Determination Theory to College Students’ Physical-Activity Behavior: Understanding the Motivators for Physical (In)Activity

Physical activity is necessary for college students as only 20%–40% engage in the recommended amounts (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2010). This article qualitatively examines college-student motivators and hindrances for physical activity in order to develop effective interventions. Although a primary theory in psychology, Self-Determination Theory relies heavily upon social contexts as catalysts for motivation. Communication can cause both within- and between-person differences in motivation. Findings suggest that college-student motivation is greatly influenced by the communication between themselves, their important relationships (e.g., friends, family, and significant other), and societal pressures. Moreover, findings reveal that college students seem to be more motivated through extrinsic means rather than more autonomous forms of motivation.
Temporally consistent snow cover estimation from noisy, irregularly sampled measurements

We propose a method for accurate and temporally consistent surface classification in the presence of noisy, irregularly sampled measurements, and apply it to the estimation of snow coverage over time. The input imagery is extremely challenging, with large variations in lighting and weather distorting the measurements. Initial snow cover estimations are obtained using a Gaussian Mixture Model of color. To achieve a temporally consistent snow cover estimation, we use a Markov Random Field that penalizes rapid fluctuations in the snow state, and show that the penalty term needs to be quite large, resulting in slow reactivity to changes. We thus propose a classifier to separate good from uninformative images, which allows to use a smaller penalty term. We show that the incorporation of domain knowledge to discard uninformative images leads to better reactivity to changes in snow coverage as well as more accurate snow cover estimations.
Surface Fluxes and Ocean Coupling in the Tropical Intraseasonal Oscillation

Sensitivity of tropical intraseasonal variability to mixed layer depth is examined in the modified National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Atmosphere Model 2.0. 1 (CAM), with relaxed Arakawa‐Schubert convection, coupled to a slab ocean model (SOM) whose mixed layer depth is fixed and geographically uniform, but varies from one experiment to the next. Intraseasonal west Pacific precipitation variations during boreal winter are enhanced relative to a fixed-SST (infinite mixed layer depth) simulation for mixed layer depths from 5 to 50 m, with a maximum at 20 m [interestingly, near the observed value in the regions where the Madden‐ Julian oscillation (MJO) is active], but are strongly diminished in the 2-m depth simulation. This nonmonotonicity of intraseasonal precipitation variance with respect to mixed layer depth was predicted by Sobel and Gildor using a highly idealized model. Further experiments with the same idealized model help to interpret results derived from the modified NCAR CAM. A sensitivity study shows that the convection‐surface flux feedback [wind-induced surface heat exchange (WISHE)] is important to the intraseasonal variability in the CAM. This helps to explain the behavior of the 2-m SOM simulation and the agreement with the idealized model. Although intraseasonal SST variations are stronger in the 2-m SOM simulation than in any of the other simulations, these SST variations are phased in such a way as to diminish the amplitude of equatorial latent heat flux variations. Reducing the mixed layer depth is thus nearly equivalent to eliminating WISHE, which in this model reduces intraseasonal variability. The WISHE mechanism in the model is nonlinear and occurs in a region of mean low-level westerlies. Since a very shallow mixed layer is effectively similar to wet land, it is suggested that the mechanism described here may explain the local minimum in MJO amplitude observed over the Maritime Continent region.
Prostate contouring in MRI guided biopsy

With MRI possibly becoming a modality of choice for detection and staging of prostate cancer, fast and accurate outlining of the prostate is required in the volume of clinical interest. We present a semi-automatic algorithm that uses a priori knowledge of prostate shape to arrive at the final prostate contour. The contour of one slice is then used as initial estimate in the neighboring slices. Thus we propagate the contour in 3D through steps of refinement in each slice. The algorithm makes only minimum assumptions about the prostate shape. A statistical shape model of prostate contour in polar transform space is employed to narrow search space. Further, shape guidance is implicitly imposed by allowing only plausible edge orientations using template matching. The algorithm does not require region-homogeneity, discriminative edge force, or any particular edge profile. Likewise, it makes no assumption on the imaging coils and pulse sequences used and it is robust to the patient's pose (supine, prone, etc.). The contour method was validated using expert segmentation on clinical MRI data. We recorded a mean absolute distance of 2.0 ± 0.6 mm and dice similarity coefficient of 0.93 ± 0.3 in midsection. The algorithm takes about 1 second per slice.
Internet Shopping , Towards Bi-Criteria Optimization Nathanaël Cheriere Training course performed between May 13 and July 12 , 2013 in team MOAIS from INRIA Grenoble Supervisors

This report focus on the Internet Shopping Problem, an optimization problem where the objective is to minimize the total cost of products bought on various websites while taking into account shipment costs and possible discounts. A new heuristic is introduced which provides approximated solutions and both an upper bound and an optimality result in a simplified case are proved. A more realistic model is used to create a benchmark on which the algorithm is tested and compared to previous solutions. To extend the study, the bi-criteria optimization on both the delivery times and the cost is explored, an algorithm is given and some examples are analysed.
Testing suprasegmental English through parroting

Parroting exercises in a foreign language are designed to make a student’s speech more native-like through imitation of specific native speech templates. In this paper we describe novel template-based methods for automatically estimating subjective scores for both intonation and rhythm in nonnative English. In terms of accuracy when automatically classifying a parroting speaker as a native or a learner, experimental results show that these new rhythm and intonation scores outperform similar baselines from nonnative speech assessment literature, and that they offer complementary discriminatory information when combined with automatic segment-level pronunciation scores, reaching a maximum classification accuracy of 89.8% on a corpus of parroting exercises. This suggests the general usefulness of these new scores in automatically assessing nonnative pronunciation in a computer-assisted pronunciation practice scenario.
for ovulation rate or uterine capacity Number of fetuses and conceptus growth throughout gestation in lines of pigs selected

Selection for 11 generations in swine for ovulation rate (OR) or uterine capacity (UC) resulted in 19.6% greater prenatal survival at term in UC compared with OR. Our objective was to characterize the number of fetuses throughout gestation in each line, including an unselected control (CO) line. Five hundred ninety-three gilts produced over 4 farrowing seasons were subjected to unilateral-hysterectomy-ovariectomy at 160 d of age and mated within line at 280 d of age. Gilts were assigned within sire family to be slaughtered (± 2 d) at d 25, 45, 65, 85, or 105 of gestation. Ovulation rate and number of live and dead fetuses were recorded for each pregnant gilt (n = 402). Fetal and placental weights were also recorded. Ovulation rate of OR line gilts (18.0 ± 0.3 ova) exceeded (P < 0.001) CO and UC lines (15.0 ± 0.3 and 14.0 ± 0.3 ova, respectively). Line and gestational age interacted to affect number of live fetuses (P < 0.001). Least squares means for CO were 10.1, 8.3, 7.2, 6.7, and 7.3 live fetuses for d 25, 45, 65, 85, and 105, respectively (average SE = 0.46 fetuses).
Stereotypical or just typical: how do US practitioners view the role and function of gender stereotypes in advertisements?

There is a long and diverse literature on gender stereotypes in advertising; however, US practitioners’ perspectives on the role and function of stereotypes in advertising remain unknown. Understanding professionals’ views on whether and how stereotypes communicate is important for anyone who believes it beneficial to reduce future stereotypical representations. Using qualitative interviews with 42 practitioners, this study detailed seven themes concerning professionals’ perceptions of the role and function of stereotypes in advertising, including beliefs that stereotypes are based in truth, are attractive to audiences, communicate quickly, simplify processing, prevent distraction, prevent thinking, and are the obvious solution. Practitioners felt stereotypes were used most appropriately when they were subverted or challenged in advertising messages. Stereotypes were most inappropriate when they reinforced negative perceptions. Four factors believed to drive the use of stereotypes in advertising are discussed.
TCLOUD: A New Model of Data Storage Providing Public Verifiability and Dynamic Data Recovery for Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a new paradigm of computing and is considered to be the next generation of information technology infrastructure for an enterprise. The distributed architecture of cloud data storage facilitates the customer to get benefits from the greater quality of storage and minimized the operating cost. This technology also brought numerous possible threats including data confidentiality, integrity and availability. A homomorphic based model of storage is proposed, which enable the customer and a third party auditor to perform the authentication of data stored on the cloud storage. This model performs the verification of huge file’s integrity and availability with less consumption of computation, storage and communication resources. The proposed model also supports public verifiability and dynamic data recovery.
Toward a New Approach for Modeling Dependability of Data Warehouse System

The sustainability of any Data Warehouse System (DWS) is closely correlated with user satisfaction. Therefore, analysts, designers and developers focused more on achieving all its functionality, without considering others kinds of requirement such as dependability s aspects. Moreover, these latter are often considered as properties of the system that will must be checked and corrected once the project is completed. The practice of "fix it later" can cause the obsolescence of the entire Data Warehouse System. Therefore, it requires the adoption of a methodology that will ensure the integration of aspects of dependability since the early stages of project DWS. In this paper, we first define the concepts related to dependability of DWS. Then we present our approach inspired from the MDA (Model Driven Architecture) approach to model dependability s aspects namely: availability, reliability, maintainability and security, taking into account their interaction.
Understanding the impact of gate-level physical reliability effects on whole program execution

This paper introduces a novel end-to-end platform called PERSim that allows FPGA accelerated full-system simulation of complete programs on prototype hardware with detailed fault injection that can capture gate delays and digital logic behavior of arbitrary circuits and provides full coverage. We use PERSim and report on five case studies spanning a diverse spectrum of reliability techniques including wearout prediction/detection (FIRST, Wearmon, TRIX), transient faults, and permanent faults (Sampling-DMR). PERSim provides unprecedented capability to study these techniques quantitatively when applied to a full processor and when running complete programs. These case studies demonstrate PERSim's robustness and flexibility - such a diverse set of techniques can be studied uniformly with common metrics like area overhead, power overhead, and detection latency. PERSim provides many new insights, of which two important ones are: i) We discover an important modeling “hole” - when considering the true logic delay behavior, non-critical paths can directly transition into logic faults, rendering insufficient delay-based detection/prediction mechanisms targeted at critical paths alone. ii) When Sampling-DMR was evaluated in a real system running full applications, detection latency is orders of magnitude lower than previously reported model-based worst-case latency - 107 seconds vs. 0.84 seconds, thus dramatically strengthening Sampling-DMR's effectiveness. The framework is released open source and runs on the Zync platform.
Chapter 8 Unitary Approaches to Dissipative Quantum Dynamics

We describe in detail a general system–bath strategy for investigating the quantum behavior of small systems interacting with complex environments. In this approach, a simplified heat bath is used as a surrogate for realistic environments, and explicit, unitary quantum simulations of the “universe” (the system plus the bath) are performed by means of high-dimensional wave-packet techniques. In this chapter, we describe the underly‐ ing Hamiltonians and the related reduced dynamical descriptions, show how to recast real-world problems into this form, introduce some of the methods currently used to deal with high-dimensional quantum dynamics, and present the results of this strategy when applied to numerous problems of physicochemical interest.