Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Freshmen’s CL Curriculum: The Benefits of Redundancy

In the course of the European Bologna accord on higher education, German universities have been reorganizing their traditional "Magister" and "Diplom" studies into modularized bachelor's and master's programs. This revision provides a chance to update the programs. In this paper we introduce the curriculum of a first semester B.A. program in Computational Linguistics which was taught for the first time last semester. In addition, we analyze the syllabi of four mandatory courses of the first semester to identify overlapping content which led to redundancies. We suggest for future semesters to reorganize the schedules in a way that students encounter recurring topics iteratively in a constructive way.
The use of cryogenically ground rubber tires as a filler in polyolefin blends

The effects of cryogenically ground rubber tires (CGT) on some of the mechanical properties of blends with linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) are presented. Precoating the CGT particles with an ethylene-acrylic acid copolymer is shown to overcome most of the deleterious effects of adding CGT to LLDPE, while still retaining composite processability. A blend of 40 wt% EAA coated CGT particles with LLDPE is shown to have impact and tensile strengths that are 90% of those for the pure LLDPE, representing increases of 60 and 20%, respectively, over blends with uncoated particles. Blends of LLDPE with ground tire bladders demonstrate that even better mechanical properties can be obtained with similar large rubber particle size but somewhat better adhesion. For HDPE, however, it is shown that with large rubber particles, moderate adhesion is not sufficient to produce useful composites.
CWC22-dependent pre-mRNA splicing and eIF4A3 binding enables global deposition of exon junction complexes

In metazoan cells, spliced mRNAs are marked by the exon junction complex (EJC), a multi-protein complex that serves as a key regulator of post-transcriptional mRNA metabolism. Deposition of EJCs on mRNA is intimately linked to the splicing process. The spliceosomal protein CWC22 directly binds the core EJC-protein eIF4A3, guides it to the spliceosome and initiates EJC assembly. In addition, CWC22 is involved in the splicing process itself, but the molecular details of its dual function remain elusive. Here we analyze the mechanisms, by which CWC22 co-regulates pre-mRNA splicing and EJC assembly. We show that the core of CWC22 is sufficient to mediate both pre-mRNA splicing and EJC assembly. Nonetheless, both processes can be functionally uncoupled with an eIF4A3-binding deficient mutant of CWC22, which impedes EJC assembly. A C-terminal domain of CWC22 strongly enhances its spliceosomal interaction and likely regulates its function. High-throughput RNA-sequencing identifies global defects of pre-mRNA splicing and downregulation of diverse gene expression pathways in CWC22-depleted cells. We propose a model, in which CWC22 represents an integral component of the spliceosome and orchestrates pre-mRNA splicing and eIF4A3 binding to achieve global assembly of exon junction complexes.
A linear prefilter for image sampling with ringing artifact control

When sampling a continuous image or subsampling a discrete image, aliasing artifacts can be controlled by filtering the data prior to sampling. Bandlimiting filters completely avoid aliasing artifacts, but have to find a compromise between blur and ringing artifacts. In this paper, we propose a new joint definition of blur/ringing artifacts, that associates to a given bandlimited prefilter its so-called spread-ringing curve. We then build a set of filters yielding the optimal blur/ringing compromise according to the previous definition. We show on experiments that such filters yield sharper images for a given level of ringing artifact.
Solving Cross-Selling Problems with Ensemble Learning: A Case Study

This paper shows our solution to PAKDD Competition 2007 as a case study of cross-selling problems. Following a brief description of the data mining task, we discuss several difficulties to be confronted with in the task from the view of data mining. Then, we show how to do the data pre-processing. In the solution we proposed, to weaken class imbalance of the modeling dataset externally, we combine under-sampling and over-sampling techniques. Besides, we adjust the parameters of each base learner internally to solve cost-sensitivity. Next, we get an ensemble of base learners to achieve a better predicting performance. Experimental results on prediction dataset of real world provided by PAKDD Competition 2007 show that our solution is effective and efficient with its AUC value 60.73%.
Complex permittivity measurements of dielectrics for space antenna radome and substrates in X-band

A variety of material measurement systems based on transmission/reflection line method are available to characterize the dielectric properties of materials by extracting the S-parameters using a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA). A waveguide material measurement facility based on transmission/reflection line method has been developed in-house in order to accurately deduct relative dielectric permittivity and tangent loss values of dielectric materials used for manufacturing antenna radome and substrate. In this paper, the experimental measurements of VESPEL, PTFE (Teflon), and RO5880 have been realized in X-band (8–12 GHz) with a very low standard deviation.
Recycling of Concentration Tailings of Iron Ore for the Production of Concrete Block (Pavers)

This paper studies the technological feasibility of using iron ore tailings as additives in cement pavers for the optimization of the mechanical properties and color modulation.Thus, to study the physical, chemical, optical and morphological properties of the tailings, they were characterized for the composition, mineralogy and granulometry. To optimize the procedure of preparing iron ore tailings as additives in the production of new concrete pavers and to determine their effects on the properties of pavers they, were added in ratios of 0% to 50% in substitution of traditional aggregates. The pavers were characterized for hermeticity and mechanical properties.
Prototype-based mining of numeric data streams

Great organizations collect open-ended and time-changing data received at a high speed. The possibility of extracting useful knowledge from these potentially infinite databases is a new challenge in Data Mining. In this paper we propose an anytime incremental learning algorithm for mining numeric data streams. Within Supervised Learning, our approach is based on prototypes and hypercubic decision rules, concerning with the simplicity of the model provided and the time complexity as primary goals. Experimental results with synthetic databases of 100 gigabytes show a good performance from streams of data in continuous transformation.
Evaluating Traffic Redirection Mechanisms for High Availability Servers

The availability of cloud applications and their respective server high availability is affected by inefficient load balancing configurations, denial of service attacks (DoS), link failures, power outages etc. As these issues may never disappear, traffic redirection from the affected server to a backup one is an important procedure followed for restoring the provided service. In this work, we initially evaluate a reverse proxy server-based scheme for traffic redirection, using High Availability proxy server(HAproxy) and also we develop a Software Defined Network (SDN)-based solution. We compare the proxy server-based and the SDN-based schemes, exhibiting how each can be used to mitigate downtime in case of a failure, providing high availability.
Optical simulations and prototyping of microcrystalline silicon solar cells with integrated plasmonic reflection grating back contacts

Light-trapping is a key issue for high efficiency thin-film silicon solar cells. In this work, the interaction of incident light with microcrystalline silicon solar cells applying a plasmonic reflection grating back contact is studied with threedimensional electromagnetic simulations and via the measured spectral response of prototypes. The investigated plasmonic reflection grating back contact consists of half-ellipsoidal silver nanostructures arranged in square lattice at the back contact of a n-i-p substrate type microcrystalline silicon solar cell. Experimental results of prototypes of these solar cells show significantly enhanced short circuit current densities in comparison to flat cells and even a small enhancement of the short circuit current density in comparison to the conventional random texture light-trapping concept of thin-film silicon solar cell. A very good agreement was found for the simulated and measured spectral response of the solar cell. From the simulated three-dimensional electromagnetic field distributions detailed absorption profiles were calculated allowing a spatially resolved evaluation of parasitic losses inside the n-i-p type microcrystalline silicon solar cell.
Optimizing nutrient management for farm systems

Increasing the inputs of nutrients has played a major role in increasing the supply of food to a continually growing world population. However, focusing attention on the most important nutrients, such as nitrogen (N), has in some cases led to nutrient imbalances, some excess applications especially of N, inefficient use and large losses to the environment with impacts on air and water quality, biodiversity and human health. In contrast, food exports from the developing to the developed world are depleting soils of nutrients in some countries. Better management of all essential nutrients is required that delivers sustainable agriculture and maintains the necessary increases in food production while minimizing waste, economic loss and environmental impacts. More extensive production systems typified by ‘organic farming’ may prove to be sustainable. However, for most of the developed world, and in the developing world where an ever-growing population demands more food, it will be essential to increase the efficiency of nutrient use in conventional systems. Nutrient management on farms is under the control of the land manger, the most effective of whom will already use various decision supports for calculating rates of application to achieve various production targets. Increasingly, land managers will need to conform to good practice to achieve production targets and to conform to environmental targets as well.
Near-recursive optical flow from weighted image differences

This correspondence derives a formal link between temporally weighted frame differences, or disturbance fields, which carry limited information suitable for motion detection, and the optic flow (OF), which carries richer information on local image motion. We use this link to derive a novel, simple, near-recursive optic flow algorithm based on a recursive-filter formulation. Most quantities involved are computed recursively, using only data from the current and previous frame. We can limit expensive OF calculations to pixels where motion magnitude is sufficiently high using image differences which the algorithm computes anyway. Experimental results with well-known synthetic, ground-truthed test sequences and standard performance metrics indicate good quantitative performance. Tests with real sequences suggest similar or better performance than a well-known, similar algorithm due to Lucas and Kanade (LK).
Interstitial elements in Ti–13Nb–13Zr alloy produced by powder metallurgy using hydride powders

Absorption of interstitial elements during the processing of Ti–13Nb–13Zr alloy using hydride powders was investigated. Oxygen, nitrogen and carbon contents were quantified in the steps of hydriding and milling of powders and after sintering of green compacts. The influence of the hydriding treatment was analysed regarding the interstitial contents in the raw materials. Milling and sintering were evaluated according to a 33 factorial design considering the effects of milling time of titanium hydride from 1 to 11 h, sintering temperature between 1000 and 1400°C and holding time from 1 to 5 h. The results showed that the oxygen contents in sintered samples are strongly affected by the hydriding and milling of powders. The effects of the sintering temperature and holding time were found to be significant mainly for the increase in nitrogen and carbon contents. The results of the factorial design, along with the study of microstructural evolution allowed the optimisation of the process parameters in order to obtain the alloy with the lowest possible contents of interstitial elements and homogeneous microstructure.
Time-resolved Analysis of the Matrix Metalloproteinase 10 Substrate Degradome*

Proteolysis is an irreversible post-translational modification that affects intra- and intercellular communication by modulating the activity of bioactive mediators. Key to understanding protease function is the system-wide identification of cleavage events and their dynamics in physiological contexts. Despite recent advances in mass spectrometry-based proteomics for high-throughput substrate screening, current approaches suffer from high false positive rates and only capture single states of protease activity. Here, we present a workflow based on multiplexed terminal amine isotopic labeling of substrates for time-resolved substrate degradomics in complex proteomes. This approach significantly enhances confidence in substrate identification and categorizes cleavage events by specificity and structural accessibility of the cleavage site. We demonstrate concomitant quantification of cleavage site spanning peptides and neo-N and/or neo-C termini to estimate relative ratios of noncleaved and cleaved forms of substrate proteins. By applying this strategy to dissect the matrix metalloproteinase 10 (MMP10) substrate degradome in fibroblast secretomes, we identified the extracellular matrix protein ADAMTS-like protein 1 (ADAMTSL1) as a direct MMP10 substrate and revealed MMP10-dependent ectodomain shedding of platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRα) as well as sequential processing of type I collagen. The data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange Consortium with identifier PXD000503.
Gastrin-Producing Endocrine Cells: A Novel Source of Histamine in the Rat Stomach.

Gastrin and histamine both potently stimulate secretion of acid into the gastric lumen. How these agents interact and how their release is controlled is poorly understood. Therefore, we decided to look for histamine in the antral portion of the rat stomach where the gastrin-producing G cells are located. We used immunocytochemical methods to visualize histamine, histidine decarboxylase (HDC, the enzyme that converts histidine to histamine), and the type 1 vesicular monoamine transporter (VMAT1, the protein responsible for moving histamine into vesicles for storage and release). We were surprised to find that histamine, HDC, and VMAT1 were all present in G cells. Our results suggest that G cells synthesize and secrete gastrin and histamine. Whether histamine acts in concert with gastrin to stimulate acid secretion, or functions as an autocrine inhibitor of gastrin release remains to be seen.
Numerical Simulation of SHPB Experiment on Dynamic Behaviour of Ceramic Particle Reinforced MMCs

The dynamic behaviour of ceramic particle reinforced metal matrix composites (MMCs) is a key to its application. In this paper, the computational micro-mechanics method (CMM) is used to simulate SHPB experiment of MMCs. The numerical SHPB’s specimen of MMCs is firstly generated by CMM. Then, for verifying the correction of numerical experiment, the Al2O3/6061- T6Al composite is used to carry out numerical experiment, and the Johnson-Holmquist (JH-2) damage model is used to describe the ceramic mechanics behaviour, and a comparison between this numerical method and Unit Cell analytical model is carried out. Lastly, the dynamic behaviour of T6061Al/Al2O3 is investigated by this method.
Interconnected Linguistic Architecture

The context of the reported research is the documentation of software technologies such as object/relational mappers, web-application frameworks, or code generators. We assume that documentation should model a macroscopic view on usage scenarios of technologies in terms of involved artifacts, leveraged software languages, data flows, conformance relationships, and others. In previous work, we referred to such documentation also as 'linguistic architecture'. The corresponding models may also be referred to as 'megamodels' while adopting this term from the technological space of modeling/model-driven engineering. This work is an inquiry into making such documentation less abstract and more effective by means of connecting (mega)models, systems, and developer experience in several ways. To this end, we adopt an approach that is primarily based on prototyping (i.e., implementa- tion of a megamodeling infrastructure with all conceivable connections) and experimentation with showcases (i.e., documentation of concrete software technologies). The knowledge gained by this research is a notion of interconnected linguistic architecture on the grounds of connecting primary model elements, inferred model elements, static and runtime system artifacts, traceability links, system contexts, knowledge resources, plugged interpretations of model elements, and IDE views. A corresponding suite of aspects of interconnected linguistic architecture is systematically described. As to the grounding of this research, we describe a literature survey which tracks scattered occurrences and thus demonstrates the relevance of the identified aspects of interconnected linguistic architecture. Further, we describe the MegaL/Xtext+IDE infrastructure which realizes interconnected linguistic architecture. The importance of this work lies in providing more formal (ontologically rich, navigable, verifiable) documentation of software technologies helping developers to better understand how to use technologies in new systems (prescriptive mode) or how technologies are used in existing systems (descriptive mode).
Genome maintenance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: the role of SUMO and SUMO-targeted ubiquitin ligases

Abstract The genome of the cell is often exposed to DNA damaging agents and therefore requires an intricate well-regulated DNA damage response (DDR) to overcome its deleterious effects. The DDR needs proper regulation for its timely activation, repression, as well as appropriate choice of repair pathway. Studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae have advanced our understanding of the DNA damage response, as well as the mechanisms the cell employs to maintain genome stability and how these mechanisms are regulated. Eukaryotic cells utilize post-translational modifications as a means for fine-tuning protein functions. Ubiquitylation and SUMOylation involve the attachment of small protein molecules onto proteins to modulate function or protein–protein interactions. SUMO in particular, was shown to act as a molecular glue when DNA damage occurs, facilitating the assembly of large protein complexes in repair foci. In other instances, SUMOylation alters a protein's biochemical activities, and interactions. SUMO-targeted ubiquitin ligases (STUbLs) are enzymes that target SUMOylated proteins for ubiquitylation and subsequent degradation, providing a function for the SUMO modification in the regulation and disassembly of repair complexes. Here, we discuss the major contributions of SUMO and STUbLs in the regulation of DNA damage repair pathways as well as in the maintenance of critical regions of the genome, namely rDNA regions, telomeres and the 2 μm circle in budding yeast.
Induction of Resistance to BRAF Inhibitor Is Associated with the Inability of Spry2 to Inhibit BRAF-V600E Activity in BRAF Mutant Cells

The clinical benefits of oncogenic BRAF inhibitor therapies are limited by the emergence of drug resistance. In this study, we investigated the role of a negative regulator of the MAPK pathway, Spry2, in acquired resistance using BRAF inhibitor-resistant derivatives of the BRAF-V600E melanoma (A375P/Mdr). Real-time RT-PCR analysis indicated that the expression of Spry2 was higher in A375P cells harboring the BRAF V600E mutation compared with wild-type BRAF-bearing cells (SK-MEL-2) that are resistant to BRAF inhibitors. This result suggests the ability of BRAF V600E to evade feedback suppression in cell lines with BRAF V600E mutations despite high Spry2 expression. Most interestingly, Spry2 exhibited strongly reduced expression in A375P/Mdr cells with acquired resistance to BRAF inhibitors. Furthermore, the overexpression of Spry2 partially restored sensitivity to the BRAF inhibitor PLX4720 in two BRAF inhibitor-resistant cells, indicating a positive role for Spry2 in the growth inhibition induced by BRAF inhibitors. On the other hand, long-term treatment with PLX4720 induced pERK reactivation following BRAF inhibition in A375P cells, indicating that negative feedback including Spry2 may be bypassed in BRAF mutant melanoma cells. In addition, the siRNA-mediated knockdown of Raf-1 attenuated the rebound activation of ERK stimulated by PLX4720 in A375P cells, strongly suggesting the positive role of Raf-1 kinase in ERK activation in response to BRAF inhibition. Taken together, these data suggest that RAF signaling may be released from negative feedback inhibition through interacting with Spry2, leading to ERK rebound and, consequently, the induction of acquired resistance to BRAF inhibitors.
Scientific discovery as a combinatorial optimisation problem: How best to navigate the landscape of possible experiments?

A considerable number of areas of bioscience, including gene and drug discovery, metabolic engineering for the biotechnological improvement of organisms, and the processes of natural and directed evolution, are best viewed in terms of a ‘landscape’ representing a large search space of possible solutions or experiments populated by a considerably smaller number of actual solutions that then emerge. This is what makes these problems ‘hard’, but as such these are to be seen as combinatorial optimisation problems that are best attacked by heuristic methods known from that field. Such landscapes, which may also represent or include multiple objectives, are effectively modelled in silico, with modern active learning algorithms such as those based on Darwinian evolution providing guidance, using existing knowledge, as to what is the ‘best’ experiment to do next. An awareness, and the application, of these methods can thereby enhance the scientific discovery process considerably. This analysis fits comfortably with an emerging epistemology that sees scientific reasoning, the search for solutions, and scientific discovery as Bayesian processes.