Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pro54DB: a database for experimentally verified sigma‐54 promoters

Summary: In prokaryotes, the &sgr;54 promoters are unique regulatory elements and have attracted much attention because they are in charge of the transcription of carbon and nitrogen‐related genes and participate in numerous ancillary processes and environmental responses. All findings on &sgr;54 promoters are favorable for a better understanding of their regulatory mechanisms in gene transcription and an accurate discovery of genes missed by the wet experimental evidences. In order to provide an up‐to‐date, interactive and extensible database for &sgr;54 promoter, a free and easy accessed database called Pro54DB (&sgr;54 promoter database) was built to collect information of &sgr;54 promoter. In the current version, it has stored 210 experimental‐confirmed &sgr;54 promoters with 297 regulated genes in 43 species manually extracted from 133 publications, which is helpful for researchers in fields of bioinformatics and molecular biology. Availability and Implementation: Pro54DB is freely available on the web at http://lin.uestc.edu.cn/database/pro54db with all major browsers supported. Contacts: greatchen@ncst.edu.cn or hlin@uestc.edu.cn
An innovative peak detection algorithm for photoplethysmography signals: an adaptive segmentation method

The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first purpose is to detect M-peaks from raw photoplethysmography (PPG) signals with no preprocessing method applied to the signals. The second purpose is to estimate heart rate variability (HRV) by finding the peaks in the PPG signal. HRV is a measure of the fluctuation of the time interval between heartbeats and is calculated based on time series between strokes derived from electrocardiogram (ECG), arterial pressure (AP), or PPG signals, separately. PPG is a method widely used to measure blood volume of tissue on the basis of blood volume change in every heartbeat. In the estimation of the HRV signal from the PPG signal, HRV is calculated by measuring the time intervals between the peak values in the PPG signal. In the present paper, a novel peak detection algorithm was developed for PPG signals. Finding peak values correctly from PPG signals, the HRV signal can be estimated. This peak detection algorithm has been called an adaptive segmentation method (ASM). In this method, the PPG signals are first separated into segments with sample sizes and then the peak points in these signals are detected by comparing with maximum points in these segments. To evaluate the estimated pulse rate and HRV signals from PPG, Poincare plots and time domain features including minimum, maximum, mean, mode, standard deviation, variance, skewness, and kurtosis values were used. Our experimental results demonstrated that ASM could be even used both in the estimation of HRV signals and to detect the peaks from raw and noisy PPG signals without a pre-processing method.
LABORATORY EVALUATION ON THE EFFECT OF CLOGGING ON PERMEABILITY OF POROUS ASPHALT MIXTURES

Porous asphalt mixture is one of the alternative solutions to increase pervious surface area due to urbanization. The uniqueness of porous asphalt surface textures and internal structures allows the mixture to become a temporary storm-water retention and capable to channel excessive storm water. However, one of the major problems that affect the performance of porous asphalt mixtures is the clogging. Therefore, this study aims to determine the effect of clogging towards the permeability of porous asphalt. A total of 30 gyratory compacted samples were fabricated according to aggregate gradation recommended by Malaysia Public Works Department. The clogging materials were collected from two different location, residential area and major highway. The composition and characteristics of the clogging materials were investigated using Plastic Limit, Liquid Limit and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The permeability test was conducted to investigate the permeability rate of the compacted samples based on different clogging material types, clogging concentrations and clogging cycles. In addition, the compacted samples were scanned using X-ray Computed Tomography to obtain the air voids distribution throughout the samples for comparison. It was found that higher concentration of clogging materials and clogging cycles reduced the rate of permeability. Clogging material collected from residential area has higher tendency to clog the void spaces compared to the one obtained from highway.
Which metrics for vertex-cut partitioning?

In this paper we focus on vertex-cut graph partitioning and we investigate how it is possible to evaluate the quality of a partition before running the computation. To this purpose we scrutinize a set of metrics proposed in literature. We carry experiments with the widely-used framework for graph processing Apache GraphX and we perform an accurate statistical analysis. Our preliminary experimental results show that communication metrics like vertex-cut and communication cost are effective predictors on most of the cases.
Energy-efficient communication in the presence of synchronization errors

Communication systems are traditionally designed to have tight transmitter-receiver synchronization. This requirement has negligible overhead in the high-SNR regime. However, in many applications, such as wireless sensor networks, communication needs to happen primarily in the energy-efficient regime of low SNR, where requiring tight synchronization can be highly suboptimal. In this paper, we model the noisy channel with synchronization errors as an insertion/deletion/substitution channel. For this channel, we propose a new communication scheme that requires only loose transmitter-receiver synchronization. We show that the proposed scheme is asymptotically optimal for the Gaussian channel with synchronization errors in terms of energy efficiency as measured by the rate per unit energy. In the process, we also establish that the lack of synchronization causes negligible loss in energy efficiency. We further show that, for a general discrete memoryless channel with synchronization errors and a general cost function (with a zero-cost symbol) on the input, the rate per unit cost achieved by the proposed scheme is within a factor two of the information-theoretic optimum.
A unified differential evolution algorithm for constrained optimization problems

In this paper, a unified differential evolution algorithm, named UDE, is presented for real parameter constrained optimization problems. The proposed UDE algorithm is inspired from some popular DE variants existing in the literature such as CoDE, JADE, SaDE, and ranking-based mutation operator. The primary feature of UDE lies in unifying the main idea of CoDE, JADE, SaDE, and ranking-based mutation. UDE uses three trial vector generation strategies and two parameter settings. At each generation, UDE divides the current population into two sub-populations. In the top sub-population, UDE employs all the three trial vector generation strategies on each target vector, just like in CoDE. For the bottom sub-population, UDE employs strategy adaptation, in which the trial vector generation strategies are periodically self-adapted by learning from their experiences in generating promising solutions in the top sub-population. Further, UDE utilizes a DE mutation strategy based local search operation. The constraints are handled in UDE using static penalty method. In contrast to most of the DE variants presented in the literature, UDE employs a generational replacement strategy. The proposed UDE algorithm is tested on the 28 benchmark problems provided for the CEC 2017 competition on constrained real parameter optimization. The experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of the presented algorithm in solving constrained real parameter optimization problems.
Examining the effect of service experiences on the attitude towards and intention on using self-service technology

The intention of using self-service technology (SST) has been well documented in the marketing literature and researchers find that usefulness, ease of use, need for interaction, risk, technology anxiety, technology readiness, reliability and customers' personal factors all play a role in customers' intention on using SST. Yet few efforts have been made to examine how service experiences influence the intention of using SST. The main purpose of our current research is to fill this gap. With our research results, we propose that (1) the service experience of SST usage, which includes core service, employee service and servicescape, has a significant positive effect on customers' attitude towards SST and that (2) attitude towards SST has a significant positive effect on customers' intention on using SST. To our knowledge, this is the first research to look into the relationship between service experience and the intention on using SST. Thus, our conclusions not only are of theoretical significance but also contribute to the companies by advising them on how to improve customers' service experiences.
Efficient dissemination of personalized information using content-based multicast

In this paper we evaluate the situations in which CBM is advantageous. The benefits of CBM depend critically upon how well filters are placed at interior nodes of the IP multicast tree, and the costs depend upon those introduced by filters themselves. Further, we consider the benefits of allowing the filters to be mobile so as to respond to user mobility or changes in user interests, and the corresponding costs of filter mobility. We consider two criteria: minimizing total network bandwidth utilization and minimizing mean information delivery delay. For each criterion we develop an optimal filter placement algorithm, as well as a heuristic that executes faster than the optimal algorithm. Finally, we evaluate all the algorithms by means of simulation experiments. Our results indicate that filters can be effective in substantially reducing bandwidth and delay. We also find filter mobility is worthwhile if there is sufficient locality in the interests of users, or there is marked large-scale user mobility. We conclude with suggestions for further work.
Joint Scheduling and Fast Cell Selection in OFDMA Wireless Networks

In modern broadband cellular networks, the omnidirectional antenna at each cell is replaced by three or six directional antennas, one in every sector. While every sector can run its own scheduling algorithm, bandwidth utilization can be significantly increased if a joint scheduler makes these decisions for all the sectors. This gives rise to a new problem, referred to as “joint scheduling,” addressed in this paper for the first time. The problem is proven to be NP-hard, but we propose efficient algorithms with a worst-case performance guarantee for solving it. We then show that the proposed algorithms indeed substantially increase the network throughput.
Bloom filter based certificate validation for VANET: poster

Security and privacy are important properties that have to be considered for the adoption of Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs). Short-lived credentials, termed pseudonyms, are used to ensure message integrity and authentication while preserving vehicle (thus, their passengers') privacy. However, this introduces extra communication and computation overhead: pseudonyms have to be attached to the messages and signatures on pseudonyms and messages need to be verified before they can be accepted. In this poster, we are concerned with computation overhead for pseudonym validation. We preload vehicular On-Board Units (OBUs) with a Bloom Filter (BF) to facilitate pseudonym validation while traditional approach (i.e., signature verification on pseudonyms) can still be preserved as a fallback approach. We evaluate our scheme on automotive testbed with a preliminary implementation. Our scheme provides low processing delay for pseudonym validation at a cost of communication overhead for pre-downloading the BF.
Identity Concealment of Brain Images by Masking

In this paper, a novel method of concealment of facial information was proposed to protect the patient’s privacy. It consists with two steps: the construction of a standard brain template and substitution of the template to a new brain image data. Fifteen medical brain images are used to build the standard brain template. Registration and normalization procedures are applied to construct the standard brain templates by using B-Spline registration. Segmentation is used to substitute the original image for the template image and brain extraction. Canny-edge Level set segmentation algorithm is applied to segment a scalp-skull part from a whole brain volume data. New medical brain images are substituted for the standard template to construct the anonymous face models. In order to verify the validity of the anonymous face model, volumes of extracted brains from an original test brain and its anonymous brain were compared. The result shows that the actual brain part from the anonymous brain is exactly same as one which comes from an original medical brain image.
Carrier Mobility as a Function of Temperature in as-Grown and H-Intercalated Epitaxial Graphenes on 4H-SiC

The carrier velocity is measured as a function of electric field in as-grown and H-intercalaed epitaxial graphene grown on semi-insulating 4H-SiC in order to estimate the low field carrier mobility as a function of temperature. The mobility is also measured on the same samples as a function of temperature in a liquid Helium (He) cooled cryostat. The two temperature dependent measurements are compared in order to deduce the dominant carrier scattering mechanisms in both materials. In as-grown material, acoustic phonon scattering and impurity scattering both contribute, while impurity scattering dominates in H-intercalated material.
Three-dimensional architecture of carbon nanotube-anchored polymer nanofiber composite

Carbon nanotube (CNT)-anchored polymer nanofiber mats were designed by in situ spraying of carbon nanotubes while simultaneously electrospinning polymer nanofibers. The improved conductivity of the composite mat, high catalytic current (3400 mA/cm2/mg Pt) and long term stability of the composite mat was attributed to the efficient formation of CNT bridges between nanofibers.
Energy Analysis of Road Accidents Based on Close-Range Photogrammetry

This paper presents an efficient and low-cost approach for energy analysis of road accidents using images obtained using consumer-grade digital cameras and smartphones. The developed method could be used by security forces in order to improve the qualitative and quantitative analysis of traffic accidents. This role of the security forces is crucial to settle arguments; consequently, the remote and non-invasive collection of accident related data before the scene is modified proves to be essential. These data, taken in situ, are the basis to perform the necessary calculations, basically the energy analysis of the road accident, for the corresponding expert reports and the reconstruction of the accident itself, especially in those accidents with important damages and consequences. Therefore, the method presented in this paper provides the security forces with an accurate, three-dimensional, and scaled reconstruction of a road accident, so that it may be considered as a support tool for the energy analysis. This method has been validated and tested with a real crash scene simulated by the local police in the Academy of Public Safety of Extremadura, Spain.
CARMA: Collective Adaptive Resource-sharing Markovian Agents

In this paper we present CARMA, a language recently defined to support specification and analysis of collective adaptive systems. CARMA is a stochastic process algebra equipped with linguistic constructs specifically developed for modelling and programming systems that can operate in open-ended and unpredictable environments. This class of systems is typically composed of a huge number of interacting agents that dynamically adjust and combine their behaviour to achieve specific goals. A CARMA model, termed a collective, consists of a set of components, each of which exhibits a set of attributes. To model dynamic aggregations, which are sometimes referred to as ensembles, CARMA provides communication primitives that are based on predicates over the exhibited attributes. These predicates are used to select the participants in a communication. Two communication mechanisms are provided in the CARMA language: multicast-based and unicast-based. In this paper, we first introduce the basic principles of CARMA and then we show how our language can be used to support specification with a simple but illustrative example of a socio-technical collective adaptive system.
Transient Receptor Potential Canonical 3 Inhibitor Pyr3 Improves Outcomes and Attenuates Astrogliosis After Intracerebral Hemorrhage in Mice

Background and Purpose— Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) stems from the rupture of blood vessels in the brain, with the subsequent accumulation of blood in the parenchyma. Increasing evidence suggests that blood-derived factors induce excessive inflammatory responses that are involved in the progression of ICH-induced brain injury. Thrombin, a major blood-derived factor, leaks into the brain parenchyma on blood–brain barrier disruption and induces brain injury and astrogliosis. Furthermore, thrombin dynamically upregulates transient receptor potential canonical 3 channel, which contributes to pathological astrogliosis through a feed-forward upregulation of its own expression. The present study investigated whether Ethyl-1-(4-(2,3,3-trichloroacrylamide)phenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxylate (Pyr3), a specific transient receptor potential canonical 3 inhibitor, can improve functional outcomes and attenuate astrogliosis after ICH in mice. Methods— Male C57BL6 mice received an intracerebral infusion of collagenase or autologous blood to induce ICH. Pyr3 was given both intracerebroventricularly and intraperitoneally after ICH induction. ICH-induced brain injury was evaluated by quantitative assessment of neurological deficits, brain swelling, and injury volume after ICH. Astrocyte activation was evaluated by immunohistochemical assessment of changes in S100 protein expression. Results— Neurological deficits, neuronal injury, brain edema, and astrocyte activation were all significantly improved by administration of Pyr3. Moreover, delayed administration of Pyr3 at 6 hours or 1 day after blood or collagenase infusion, respectively, also improved the symptoms. Conclusions— Pyr3, a specific inhibitor of transient receptor potential canonical 3, reduced the perihematomal accumulation of astrocytes and ameliorated ICH–induced brain injury. Therefore, transient receptor potential canonical 3 provides a new therapeutic target for the treatment of hemorrhagic brain injury.
Structure of a new bulk Ti 5 Al 2 C 3 MAX phase produced by the topotactic transformation of Ti 2 AlC

Upon annealing cold-pressed Ti2AlC, -325 mesh powders, at 1500 °C for 8 h in argon, the resulting partially sintered sample contained 43(±2) wt. % of the layered ternary carbide Ti5Al2C3. Herein, the X-ray powder diffraction pattern of Ti5Al2C3 is reported for the first time. Its structure and stoichiometry are confirmed through high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. This phase has a trigonal structure (space group P3) with a unit cell consisting of 3 formula units and cell parameters of a = 3.064 Å, c = 48.23 Å. The lattice parameters determined through first principles calculations agree reasonably well with the experimentally determined values. At 147.1 GPa, the calculated bulk modulus falls between the bulk moduli of the MAX phases Ti2AlC and Ti3AlC2. The transformation from Ti2AlC to Ti5Al2C3 is topotactic.
The mechanical and fire safety properties of bamboo fiber reinforced polylactide biocomposites fabricated by injection molding

Bamboo fiber was considered a good candidate for the reinforcement of green composites. The applications of bamboo fibers as reinforcements in fabric or structural forms to constitute composites have been widely investigated. This study conducted the process from the bamboo strips to the fibers that were compounded with the polylactide to form the composite pellets for the following injection molding process. Alkali treatment of bamboo fiber at 100℃ for 12 h could properly delignify the bamboo fiber strips, resulting in required bamboo fibers. After compounded with polylactide in a banbury mixer to form composite pellets, the injection molding process was used to make composites with improved mechanical properties, including the tensile strength, tensile modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus, and impact strength. The reinforced effect of the bamboo fiber on polylactide was quite apparent in our experiments. A simple rule of mixture was used to approximate the tensile strength and modulus of the bamboo fiber/polylactide composite. The fire safety improvement of the biocomposite was also investigated by adding fire retardant.
Parole et Traduction Automatique: Le Module de Reconnaissance RAPHAEL

Pour la traduction de parole, il est ndcessaire de disposer d'un syst~me de reconnaissance de la parole spontande grand vocabulaire, tournant en temps rdel. Le module RAPHAEL a dtd congu sur la plateforme logicielle de JANUS-III ddveloppde au laboratoire ISL (Interactive Systems Laboratory) des universitds Karlsruhe et Carnegie Mellon. Le corpus BREF-80 (textes lus extraits du Journal Le Monde) a 6td utilis6 pour le ddveloppement, l'apprentissage et l'dvaluation du module. Les rdsultats obtenus sont de l'ordre de 91% de bonne reconnaissance de mots. L'article ddcrit l'architecture du module de reconnaissance et son int6gration /~ un module de traduction automatique.
Sulforaphane protects immature hippocampal neurons against death caused by exposure to hemin or to oxygen and glucose deprivation

Oxidative stress is a mediator of cell death following cerebral ischemia/reperfusion and heme toxicity, which can be an important pathogenic factor in acute brain injury. Induced expression of phase II detoxification enzymes through activation of the antioxidant response element (ARE)/Nrf2 pathway has emerged as a promising approach for neuroprotection. Little is known, however, about the neuroprotective potential of this strategy against injury in immature brain cells. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that sulforaphane (SFP), a naturally occurring isothiocyanate that is also a known activator of the ARE/Nrf2 antioxidant pathway, can protect immature neurons from oxidative stress‐induced death. The hypothesis was tested with primary mouse hippocampal neurons exposed to either O2 and glucose deprivation (OGD) or hemin. Treatment of immature neurons with SFP immediately after the OGD during reoxygenation was effective in protecting immature neurons from delayed cell death. Exposure of immature hippocampal neurons to hemin induced significant cell death, and both pre‐ and cotreatment with SFP were remarkably effective in blocking cytotoxicity. RT‐PCR analysis indicated that several Nrf2‐dependent cytoprotective genes, including NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), heme oxygenase 1 (HO1), and glutamate‐cysteine ligase modifier subunit (GCLM), which is involved in glutathione biosynthesis, were up‐regulated following SFP treatment both in control neurons and following exposure to OGD and hemin. These results indicate that SFP activates the ARE/Nrf2 pathway of antioxidant defense and protects immature neurons from death caused by stress paradigms relevant to those associated with ischemic and traumatic injury to the immature brain. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.