Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A max-plus based randomized algorithm for solving a class of HJB PDEs

McEneaney introduced the curse of dimensionality free method for the special class of infinite horizon optimal control problems where the Hamiltonian is represented as a maximum of quadratic affine functions. This method is featured by its cubic complexity with respect to the state space dimension, but the number of basis functions is multiplied by the number of switches at each iteration, referred to as the `curse of complexity'. In previous works, an SDP-based pruning technique was incorporated into the method in order to reduce the curse of complexity. Its efficiency was proved on many examples. In this paper we develop a new max-plus based randomized algorithm to solve the same class of infinite horizon optimal control problems. The major difference between the new algorithm and the previous SDP-based curse of dimensionality free method is that, instead of adding a large number of functions and then pruning the less useful ones, the new algorithm finds in cheap computation time (linear in the current number of basis functions), by a randomized procedure, useful quadratic functions and adds only those functions to the set of basis functions. Experimental results show that the max-plus randomized algorithm can reach the same precision order obtained by the SDP-based method with a speedup varying from 10 up to 100 and that the maximal precision order attainable by the new algorithm is much better than what can be done by the SDP-based algorithm in reasonable computation time. Besides, with the randomized algorithm we are now able to tackle switched problems with more number of switches, which will allow us to extend the algorithm to more general classes of optimal control problems.
Proteomic approach to the identification of cell membrane proteins

The expression of plasma membrane proteins in human monocyte‐derived U937 cells was examined by cell disruption and isolation of microsomal fractions. Two alternative procedures for cell disruption, Dounce homogenization and nitrogen cavitation, were compared. Cell homogenization and sequential centrifugation resulted in an approximately fivefold enrichment of plasma membrane proteins in the microsomal fraction. However, identification of 30 such apparently enriched proteins by two‐dimensional (2‐D) electrophoresis, proteolytic digestion, and mass spectrometry revealed that only eight were plasma membrane proteins, the remaining 22 being contaminants. In contrast, nitrogen cavitation followed by sequential centrifugation and solubilization of proteins with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and 3‐[(3‐cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]‐1‐propane‐sulfonate (CHAPS) detergent yielded subcellular fractions, including microsomes, that showed little overlap in constituent proteins as revealed by 2‐D electrophoresis. These results highlight the importance of obtaining pure plasma mem branes and complete solubilization of membrane proteins for proteomic analysis.
Media discourse in a hyper connected society: a comparison between media frame and Twitter discourse during media strike

Purpose – This study aims to examine the impact of news frames associated with traditional media and with Twitter discourse on social issues. Design/methodology/approach – Using semantic network analysis, it identifies the role of new alternative channels as well as discussing ways of understanding and consuming news content in the changing media environment. Additionally, it focuses on the dominant Twitter communicators who rank high in betweenness centrality. Findings – The results confirmed that traditional news media tend to superficially describe main events and media strikes without comment. They tended to consciously or unconsciously favor media corporations by engendering anxiety and conflict or by restraining reports on the rationales of the strike. Twitter discourse, on the contrary, positively represents the striker's arguments and frequently reveals support of the strike. Research limitations/implications – The data set of this study was specialized, not generalized. However, the findings exte.
Mechanistic insights into an engineered riboswitch: a switching element which confers riboswitch activity

While many different RNA aptamers have been identified that bind to a plethora of small molecules only very few are capable of acting as engineered riboswitches. Even for aptamers binding the same ligand large differences in their regulatory potential were observed. We address here the molecular basis for these differences by using a set of unrelated neomycin-binding aptamers. UV melting analyses showed that regulating aptamers are thermally stabilized to a significantly higher degree upon ligand binding than inactive ones. Regulating aptamers show high ligand-binding affinity in the low nanomolar range which is necessary but not sufficient for regulation. NMR data showed that a destabilized, open ground state accompanied by extensive structural changes upon ligand binding is important for regulation. In contrast, inactive aptamers are already pre-formed in the absence of the ligand. By a combination of genetic, biochemical and structural analyses, we identified a switching element responsible for destabilizing the ligand free state without compromising the bound form. Our results explain for the first time the molecular mechanism of an engineered riboswitch.
School-to-Work and Technical Preparation: Teacher Attitudes and Practices Regarding the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities

This article describes the results of a national survey of attitudes and practices of secondary school-to-work and tech prep teachers regarding the inclusion of students with disabilities. The purpose of the study was to examine: (a) teacher attitudes toward inclusion; (b) practices and procedures being utilized to promote inclusion; (c) in-service training received by teachers regarding inclusionary practices; and (d) post-school outcomes perceived by teachers to be attainable for students with disabilities who participate in school-to-work and tech prep programs. One hundred and sixty-nine educators representing 45 states participated in this study. The results of this study indicate that secondary school-to-work and tech prep teachers do not feel prepared to meet the needs of students with disabilities who are enrolled in their courses. These teachers also report receiving little to no in-service training regarding inclusive practices, and the vast majority report that they have never participated in the development of Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for students with disabilities.
Reduced mitochondrial activity in colonocytes facilitates AMPKα2‐dependent inflammation

Intestinal inflammation is associated with low levels of mucosal ATP, highlighting the importance of mitochondrial function associated with ATP production in the pathophysiology of the disease. In the inflamed colon of humans and mice, we found decreased levels of mitochondrial complex cytochrome c oxidase I/IV and lower ATP levels. Thus, we generated colonic ρ0 cells with reduced mitochondrial function linked to ATP production by selective depletion of mitochondrial DNA. In these cells, RNA sequencing revealed a substantial number of differentially expressed transcripts, among which 240 belonged to inflammatory pathways activated in human inflamed colon and TNF‐α‐treated cells (false discovery rate < 0.05). TNF‐α treatment of colonic ρ0 cells augmented IL‐8 expression by 9‐fold (P < 0.01) via NF‐κB compared to TNF‐α‐treated control. Moreover, reduced mitochondrial function facilitated TNF‐α‐mediated NF‐κB luciferase promoter activity as a result of lowered inhibitory IκBα (nuclear factor of κ light polypeptide gene enhancer in B‐cell inhibitor, α), leading to elevated NF‐κB. In cells with reduced mitochondrial function, TNF‐α facilitated AMPKα2 activation by 8‐fold (P < 0.01), which was involved in NF‐κB‐dependent IL‐8 expression. Last, in human and mouse colon, anti‐TNF‐α treatment restored reduced mitochondria‐dependent inflammation. We propose that selective targeting of this novel mechanism provides new treatment opportunities for intestinal inflammation. —Heller, S. , Penrose, H. M. , Cable, C. , Biswas, D. , Nakhoul, H. , Baddoo, M. , Flemington, E. , Crawford, S. E. , Savkovic, S. D. Reduced mitochondrial activity in colonocytes facilitates AMPKα2‐dependent inflammation. FASEB J. 31, 2013–2025 (2017). www.fasebj. org
Impacts of Co-Solvent Flushing on Microbial Populations Capable of Degrading Trichloroethylene

With increased application of co-solvent flushing technologies for removal of nonaqueous phase liquids from groundwater aquifers, concern over the effects of the solvent on native microorganisms and their ability to degrade residual contaminant has also arisen. This study assessed the impact of ethanol flushing on the numbers and activity potentials of trichloroethylene (TCE)-degrading microbial populations present in aquifer soils taken immediately after and 2 years after ethanol flushing of a former dry cleaners site. Polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed soluble methane monooxygenase genes in methanotrophic enrichments, and 16S rRNA analysis identified Methylocystis parvus with 98% similarity, further indicating the presence of a type II methanotroph. Dissimilatory sulfite reductase genes in sulfate-reducing enrichments prepared were also observed. Ethanol flushing was simulated in columns packed with uncontaminated soils from the dry cleaners site that were dosed with TCE at concentrations observed in the field; after flushing, the columns were subjected to a continuous flow of 500 pore volumes of groundwater per week. Total acridine orange direct cell counts of the flushed and nonflushed soils decreased over the 15-week testing period, but after 5 weeks, the flushed soils maintained higher cell counts than the nonflushed soils. Inhibition of methanogenesis by sulfate reduction was observed in all column soils, as was increasing removal of total methane by soils incubated under methanotrophic conditions. These results showed that impacts of ethanol were not as severe as anticipated and imply that ethanol may mitigate the toxicity of TCE to the microorganisms.
Performance Analysis of a Packet Switch Based on Single-Buffered Banyan Network

Banyan networks are being proposed for interconnecting memory and processor modules in multiprocessor systems as well as for packet switching in communication networks. This paper describes an analysis of the performance of a packet switch based on a single-buffered Banyan network. A model of a single-buffered Banyan network provides results on the throughput, delay, and internal blocking. Results of this model are combined with models of the buffer controller (finite and infinite buffers). It is shown that for balanced loads, the switching delay is low for loads below maximum throughput (about 45 percent per input link) and the blocking at the input buffer controller is low for reasonable buffer sizes.
Why 6 Mbps is Not (Always) the Optimum Data Rate for Beaconing in Vehicular Networks

The IEEE 802.11p standard has been created for vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to infrastructure communications. Vehicular networks require vehicles to periodically broadcast beacons in order to detect nearby vehicles or road infrastructure nodes and exchange critical information. The IEEE 802.11p standard defines different data rates that can be used for such transmissions, but 6 Mbps has been generally assumed as the default data rate. Limited efforts have been conducted to date to demonstrate whether 6 Mbps is the optimum data rate or not. This study addresses this issue, and demonstrates by means of simulations and field experiments that 6 Mbps is not (always) the optimum data rate for beaconing in vehicular networks. The conclusions are validated in both urban and highway environments.
Rising Damp: Sydney 1870-90

In the economic boom of the 1870s and '80s, many Australian workers believed fortunes could be made in the antipodes--the "worker's paradise"--and this belief drove thousands of men and women clear across the continent to burgeoning cities such as Sydney. In Rising Damp, the author confronts the assumption that employment was easy and a high standard of living prevailed in Sydney during the boom decades and illustrates the ways in which these assumptions hindered social and urban reform and exacerbated the problems accompanying such rapid expansion.
Immigration and the Family : Research and Policy on U.s. Immigrants

Contents: Preface. Part I: Who Migrates, and How Does It Affect Family Outcomes? R.G. Rumbaut, Ties That Bind: Immigration and Immigrant Families in the United States. L. Jensen, Y. Chitose, Immigrant Generations. G. Jasso, Migration and the Dynamics of Family Phenomena. M.C. Waters, Immigrant Families at Risk: Factors That Undermine Chances for Success. Part II: How Does the Migration Experience Affect Child and Adolescent Development? C.G. Coll, K. Magnuson, The Psychological Experience of Immigration: A Developmental Perspective. L.M. Laosa, Research Perspectives on Constructs of Change: Intercultural Migration and Developmental Transitions. M.L. de Leon Siantz, Factors That Impact Development Outcomes of Immigrant Children. Part III: How Do Family Structure and Process Change Across Succeeding Generations? R. Buriel, T. De Ment, Immigration and Sociocultural Change in Mexican, Chinese, and Vietnamese American Families. C. Hirschman, Understanding Family Change Across Generations: Problems of Conceptualization and Research Design. N. Kibria, The Concept of "Bicultural Families" and Its Implications for Research on Immigrant and Ethnic Families. G.R. Sodowsky, E.W. M. Lai, Asian Immigrant Variables and Structural Models of Cross-Cultural Distress. Part IV: What Policies Enhance or Impede Immigrant Family Links to U.S. Institutions? M. Fix, W. Zimmermann, Immigrant Families and Public Policy: A Deepening Divide. S.M. Bianchi, Whither the 1950s? The Family and Macroeconomic Context of Immigration amd Welfare Reform in the 1990s. B.L. Lowell, Immigrant Integration and Pending Legislation: Observations on Empirical Projections. N.S. Landale, Immigration and the Family: An Overview.
Teacher effectiveness and learning for mastery

Abstract The effect of an excellent or master teacher's use of learning for mastery (LFM) procedures on student learning was examined. Although LFM research strongly supports a procedural effect, close scrutiny suggests a possible teacher-effect/procedural-effect confounding. The authors extended previous research reporting a main effect for mastery learning when the teacher was rated average, but no main effect for an excellent or master teacher. Performance in 2 mastery and 2 traditional classes of intermediate algebra, taught by a master teacher, was compared. Findings from a 2 × 2 randomized factorial design that controlled for repeatable or mastery testing, the LFM procedure, and pretesting indicated that student achievement on a final examination did not differ across mastery and control classes; however, instructor time was more than double in the mastery classes.
Effects of Ad-Brand Incongruence

Abstract In this article, we add to the research on information incongruency in advertising with two studies of ad-brand incongruency. In the first study, subjects were exposed to either an ad that was congruent with the brand schema or an ad that was incongruent with the brand schema. Comparisons showed that the incongruent ad produced a lower ad attitude and ad credibility, but a higher brand attitude and more sophisticated processing of brand-related information. In the second study, the results of ad-brand incongruency on ad attitude, ad credibility and brand attitude were tested at one and two ad exposures. Furthermore, the impact of two moderating variables were tested: need for cognition (NFC), and attitude toward advertising. Theoretical and managerial implications from the two studies are discussed.
Affective choice of conflict management styles

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the affective factors underlying conflict behavior. Traditional conflict research assumes that when individuals face conflicts they follow a rational process, thus denying the role of emotion‐relevant variables.Design/methodology/approach – In total, 358 undergraduate students from the University of Santiago de Compostela were classified into four different affective groups (happy, inactive, sad, and surprised) based on their actual emotional experience and asked to complete ROCI‐II. ANOVA were conducted to test hypotheses.Findings – Results reveal that affective groups statistically differ in their self‐reported conflict management styles. Positive moods and feelings have been found to be related to the preference for more cooperative strategies.Research limitations/implications – This study is exploratory in nature and since hypotheses were only partly supported, future research should address this topic in depth.Practical implications – It has been sug.
NLRP3 inflammasome assembly is regulated by phosphorylation of the pyrin domain

NLRP3 is a cytosolic pattern recognition receptor that senses microbes and endogenous danger signals. Upon activation, NLRP3 forms an inflammasome with the adapter ASC, resulting in caspase-1 activation, release of proinflammatory cytokines and cell death. How NLRP3 activation is regulated by transcriptional and posttranslational mechanisms to prevent aberrant activation remains incompletely understood. Here, we identify three conserved phosphorylation sites in NLRP3 and demonstrate that NLRP3 activation is controlled by phosphorylation of its pyrin domain (PYD). Phosphomimetic residues in NLRP3 PYD abrogate inflammasome activation and structural modeling indicates that phosphorylation of the PYD regulates charge–charge interaction between two PYDs that are essential for NLRP3 activation. Phosphatase 2A (PP2A) inhibition or knock-down drastically reduces NLRP3 activation, showing that PP2A can license inflammasome assembly via dephosphorylating NLRP3 PYD. These results propose that the balance between kinases and phosphatases acting on the NLRP3 PYD is critical for NLRP3 activation.
DnaA initiator—also a transcription factor

The replication‐initiator protein DnaA is ubiquitous in the eubacterial world. It binds to an asymmetric 9 bp consensus DNA sequence, the DnaA box. Besides its primary function as an initiator, it acts as a transcription factor that represses or activates several genes, or terminates transcription, depending on the location and arrangement of DnaA boxes.
Curriculum-Based Measures: Development and Perspectives

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is an approach to measuring the academic growth of individual students. The essential purpose of CBM is to aid teachers in evaluating the effectiveness of the instruction they provide to individual students. While early research focused on the utility and effectiveness of CBM for increasing the achievement of students with learning disabilities, extensions of CBM research now address a broad range of educational issues in both special and general education with different populations and in new curriculum domains. This article provides a brief history of CBM clarifying its relationship to curriculum-based assessment, a summary of the primary features of CBM, and a rationale for its design. Extensions of CBM to new research domains are identified, and a perspective is provided on the place of CBM in the broader context of educational assessment.
Phase filter enhanced STED-4Pi fluorescence microscopy: theory and experiment

We study the point-spread and optical transfer-function (OTF) of a stimulated emission depletion (STED)-4Pi fluorescence microscope that provides diffraction unlimited resolution along the optic axis. Our calculations take into account the orientation of the linear transition dipole moment of the fluorescent molecules with respect to that of the focal field. We demonstrate a subdiffraction axial resolution of 44–48 nm for water-immersion lenses, corresponding to a 7–8-fold expansion of the OTF beyond the diffraction barrier of a single lens confocal microscope, which is in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions for the conditions applied. Furthermore, we study phase modifications of the wavefront of the stimulating beam that strengthen weakly transferred frequencies within the OTF support. The enlarged bandwidth enables the separation of objects at 76 nm axial distance.
On the buffer occupancy of an IEEE 802.11 station in a hot-spot

In this paper we evaluate analytically the average occupancy of the transmission buffer of a 802.11 station (STA). The station belongs to a Wi-Fi Hot-Spot and exchanges data with a fixed host. The data exchange is regulated by the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The research interest is motivated by the fact that several papers assume that in these conditions the STA buffer is nearly empty. On the contrary, we prove that this assumption may be wrong and discuss the consequences of this fact. We test the proposed model by means of ns2 simulation, ascertain its accuracy, and highlight its limits.
On the Largest Component of a Hyperbolic Model of Complex Networks

We consider a model for complex networks that was introduced by Krioukov et al. In this model, $N$ points are chosen randomly inside a disk on the hyperbolic plane and any two of them are joined by an edge if they are within a certain hyperbolic distance. The $N$ points are distributed according to a quasi-uniform distribution, which is a distorted version of the uniform distribution. The model turns out to behave similarly to the well-known Chung-Lu model, but without the independence between the edges. Namely, it exhibits a power-law degree sequence and small distances but, unlike the Chung-Lu model and many other well-known models for complex networks, it also exhibits clustering. The model is controlled by two parameters $\alpha$ and $\nu$ where, roughly speaking, $\alpha$ controls the exponent of the power-law and $\nu$ controls the average degree. The present paper focuses on the evolution of the component structure of the random graph. We show that (a) for $\alpha > 1$ and $\nu$ arbitrary, with high probability, as the number of vertices grows, the largest component of the random graph has sublinear order; (b) for $\alpha < 1$ and $\nu$ arbitrary with high probability there is a "giant" component of linear order, and (c) when $\alpha=1$ then there is a non-trivial phase transition for the existence of a linear-sized component in terms of $\nu$.
Role of the centrosome in organizing the interphase microtubule array: properties of cytoplasts containing or lacking centrosomes

To study the role of the centrosome in microtubule organization in interphase cells, we developed a method for obtaining cytoplasts (cells lacking a nucleus) that did or did not contain centrosomes. After drug- induced microtubule depolymerization, cytoplasts with centrosomes made from sparsely plated cells reconstituted a microtubule array typical of normal cells. Under these conditions cytoplasts without centrosomes formed only a few scattered microtubules. This difference in degree of polymerization suggests that centrosomes affect not only the distribution but the amount of microtubules in cells. To our surprise, the extent of microtubules assembled increased with the cell density of the original culture. At confluent density, cytoplasts without centrosomes had many microtubules, equivalent to cytoplasts with centrosomes. The additional microtubules were arranged peripherally and differed from the centrosomal microtubules in their sensitivity to nocodazole. These and other results suggest that the centrosome stabilizes microtubules in the cell, perhaps by capping one end. Microtubules with greater sensitivity to nocodazole arise by virtue of change in the growth state of the cell and may represent free or uncapped polymers. These experiments suggest that the spatial arrangement of microtubules may change by shifting the total tubulin concentration or the critical concentration for assembly.