Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phylogenetic analysis of methanotrophic communities in cover soils of a landfill in Ontario.

We examined the methanotrophs in the Trail Road Landfill soils, Ottawa, Ontario, through cultivation-independent molecular assay and the culturing approach. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of amplified methanotroph-specific 16S rDNA gene fragments revealed a more diverse type I (RuMP pathway) methanotrophic community than type II (serine pathway) in 17 soil samples taken along a 50 m transect. The type II methanotrophic community was less diverse, with the dominance of Methylocystis in almost all samples, and clustering with high similarity (85%-88%). Also, the results showed that the C/N ratio of soil organic matter could significantly affect the methanotrophic community structures. The DGGE results were supported by sequence analysis of cloned pmoA. Members of the genera Methylobacter (type I), Methylocaldum (type X), and Methylocystis (type II) appeared to be the dominant methanotrophs. From methanotrophic enrichments, we isolated type I Methylobacter sp. , and 3 type II Methylocystis spp. ,which appeared to be one of the dominant bacteria species in the soil sample from which isolates were obtained.
Look-Ahead Radar and Horizon Sensing for Coal Cutting Drums

Safe and efficient coal extraction requires advanced radar subsystems that can be mounted on cutting drums of coal mining machines. A look-ahead radar (LAR) must solve the radio geophysics problem of transmitting an electromagnetic (EM) wave through at least 6.1 m (20 ft) of coal to detect an air- or water-filled void. An up- or down-looking radar must determine the distance to the coal bed sedimentary rock boundary. The reflected EM wave from the void or boundary rock must be processed in real time in the radar electronics to determine the physical distance to the void or coal bed boundary. The distance determination requires the in situ measurement of the coal electrical conductivity or relative dielectric constant. Up or down (horizon) sensing enables selective cutting near the undulating sedimentary rock boundaries of the coal bed to address coal quality and ground control issues. Both sensors require subsystems for dynamic electric power generation, real-time measurement of antenna rotation angle, detection of weak coal-boundary reflected EM waves concurrently with the suppression of the significant larger first air-coal reflected wave, processing to determine distance through coal, and RF modem transmission of measured data from the cutting drum to the body of the mining machine and along the segmented or coiled-tubing drill pipe. This paper describes the development of the GPR subsystems and field test results.
Fast Software Implementations of Bilinear Pairings

Advancement in pairing-based protocols has had a major impact on the applicability of cryptography to the solution of more complex real-world problems. However, the computation of pairings in software still needs to be optimized for different platforms including emerging embedded systems and high-performance PCs. Few works in the literature have considered implementations of pairings on the former applications despite their growing importance in a post-PC world. In this paper, we investigate the efficient computation of the Optimal-Ate pairing over special class of pairing friendly Barreto-Naehrig curves in software at different security levels. We target both applications and perform our implementations on ARM-powered processors (with and without NEON instructions) and PC processors. We exploit state-of-the-art techniques and propose new optimizations to speed up the computation in the different levels including tower field and curve arithmetic. In particular, we extend the concept of lazy reduction to inversion in extension fields, analyze an efficient alternative for the sparse multiplication used inside the Miller’s algorithm and reduce further the cost of point/line evaluation formulas in affine and projective homogeneous coordinates. In addition, we study the efficiency of using M-type and D-type sextic twists in the pairing computation and carry out a detailed comparison between affine, Jacobian, and homogeneous coordinate systems. Our implementations on various mass-market emerging embedded devices significantly improve the state-of-the-art of pairing computation on ARM-powered devices and x86-64 PC platforms. For ARM implementations we achieved considerably faster computations in comparison to the counterparts.
Discourse causality recognition in the biomedical domain

With the advent of online publishing of scientific research came an avalanche of electronic resources and repositories containing knowledge encoded in some form or another. In the domain of biomedical sciences, research is now being published at a faster-than-ever pace, with several thousand articles per day. It is impossible for any human being to process that amount of information in due time, let alone apply it to their own needs. Thus appeared the necessity of being able to automatically retrieve relevant documents and extract useful information from text. Although it is now possible to distil essential factual knowledge from text, it is difficult to interpret the connections between the extracted facts. These connections, also known as discourse relations, make the text coherent and cohesive, and their automatic discovery can lead to a better understanding of the conveyed knowledge. One fundamental discourse relation is causality, as it is the one which explains reasons and allows for inferences to be made. This thesis is the first comprehensive study which focusses on recognising discourse causality in biomedical scientific literature. We first construct a manually annotated corpus of discourse causality and analyse its characteristics. Then, a methodology for automatically recognising causal relations using text mining and natural language processing techniques is presented. Furthermore, we investigate the automatic identification of additional information about the polarity, certainty, knowledge type and source of causal relations. The entire methodology is evaluated by empirical experiments, whose results show that it is possible to successfully extract causal relations from biomedical literature. Finally, we provide an example of a direct application of our research and offer ideas for further research directions and possible improvements to our methodology.
Volunteer English Teaching Experiences in a Foreign Country: A Case Study

Each year a group of university students from English speaking countries go to Chile and work as volunteers under the National Volunteer Centre Program. The purpose of this case study is to examine how a group of novice volunteer teachers describe their experiences in a foreign country and how these experiences shape their understanding of teaching. Participants went through the process of open-ended questionnaires and one-on-one interviews of their experience. This study was sustained in the literature by the domains of volunteerism, English Language Teaching, and volunteerism and ELT, and a socio constructivist and experiential lens was adopted. Even though volunteer teaching abroad is an increasing worldwide trend, there are few studies that combine these areas, showing that the existing blend of volunteerism and English language teaching needs to be further examined. The analysis of the data showed that novice volunteer teachers experience five types of experiences when teaching English: language teaching experiences, language learning experiences, challenges, general experiences, and volunteering experiences. Novice teachers recalled their expectations before teaching and those were maintained, modified, or unfulfilled. Volunteers stated what teaching means to them after working in public schools, they were able to describe diverse language teaching experiences, and make recommendations to future volunteers.
Clinical laboratory assays for HER-2/neu amplification and overexpression: quality assurance, standardization, and proficiency testing.

OBJECTIVE To present and contrast the results of immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) proficiency testing surveys for HER-2/neu, as conducted by the Cell Markers and Cytogenetics Committees of the College of American Pathologists. DESIGN During the past 2 years, unstained sections from invasive breast carcinomas have been used for both immunohistochemistry and interphase FISH proficiency surveys. In most instances, the same cases were used for both the Cell Markers and Cytogenetics surveys. Additional data regarding interpretative variability for immunohistochemistry surveys have also been captured. RESULTS The number of laboratories performing FISH for HER-2/neu testing doubled during the 2-year period. The results of FISH testing have been remarkably concordant for laboratories submitting results. In contrast, the results of immunohistochemistry testing continue to highlight substantial variability among laboratories evaluating the same cases. The data show that this variability is at least in part due to variability in interpretation among observers, as well as inherent differences between immunohistochemistry and FISH techniques. CONCLUSIONS College of American Pathologists proficiency survey programs provide useful information about clinical testing for HER-2/neu amplification/overexpression.
An Empirical Study of Electricity Theft from Electricity Distribution Companies in Pakistan

Electricity theft is a common problem in many countries and energy worth billions of dollars is stolen annually from electricity grids. The problem has socioeconomic, political, environmental and technical roots, but the solution is generally sought solely through technical measures. This paper empirically investigates the effects of various factors including electricity price, per capita income, probability of detection, fines collected from offenders, weighted temperature index and load shedding, that may explain the theft. The study employed annual panel data obtained from nine electricity distribution companies in Pakistan for the period 1988–2010. The study estimates the Fixed Effects models through the least squares dummy variable (LSDV) technique and Generalised Method of Moments (GMM). Our results indicate that per capita income has significant negative and electricity price a positive effect on electricity theft with sufficiently high coefficient values. The probability of detection variable appears with a positive sign in both estimations indicating a poor deterrence. The results of LSDV show a positive impact of fine on conviction on electricity theft. But in GMM estimation, this variable appears with a right sign. The results from both models are robust in the case of load shedding and temperature variables. The findings show that economic variables are most significant in explaining electricity theft. The findings may also be applicable in other developing countries where hefty amounts of revenues are lost due to electricity theft.
A unique patterned diamond stamp for a periodically hierarchical nanoarray structure

A diamond stamp with a hierarchical pattern was designed for the direct preparation of a periodic nanoarray structure, which was prepared by the reactive ion etching technique with a hierarchical ultrathin alumina membrane (HUTAM) as a mask. The optimal etching conditions for fabricating the diamond stamp were discussed in order to realize a vertical nanopore structure, avoiding structural damage from lateral etching. By using this diamond stamp, a polymer film with the desired hierarchical nanorod array structure can be obtained easily via the simple stamping process, which greatly simplifies the processing procedure. More importantly, the stamp is reusable because of its super-hardness, which ensures the reproducibility of the nanorod array pattern. Another merit is that the smooth surface of the etched diamond can avoid the use of a release agent. Our results prove that this hard stamp can be used for quick preparation of an elaborate periodic nanoarray structure. This study is significant in that it solves the problems of high cost and easy damage of stamps in nanoimprint lithography, and it might inspire more sophisticated applications of such an ordered structure in nanoplasmonics, biochemical sensing and nanophotonic devices.
INVESTMENT IN TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE AS KEY DETERMINANT TO BOOSTING TECHNOLOGICAL-INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ZONES IN REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

Transport infrastructure represents one of the most important human activities in each country. It is an indispensable component of the economy and plays a major role in spatial relations between locations, countries and major geographic areas. Transport infrastructure is highly effective to manage and planning Foreign direct investment (FDI) location choices. In order to create a favorable investment environment and to encourage foreign investors to invest in Macedonia, in last decade was paid especially attention to modernize road infrastructure and rehabilitation of existing roads, especially at the time when our country was the center of attention of foreign investors. Within this context, specific attention is paid on transport infrastructure abilities to improve their environmental and socio-economic performances of attracted the investigations in Technological–Industrial Development Zones (TIDZs). Technological–Industrial Development Zones (TIDZs) have been developed during the last two decades in many regions in the country to foster economic development and reduce the rate of unemployment. This paper presents structural analyzing study from Macedonian’s experiences on Technological–Industrial Development Zones (TIDZs), encompassing ambitious industrial projects to boosting economic development in regional and state aspect. The main focus are given for four Technological Industrial Development Zones, based on location factors abilities and economic developed criteria, different combinations of transport infrastructures measures, business models and best practices and experiences. Key words: transport infrastructure, FDI, Technological Industrial Development Zones (TIDZs)
Augmented data transmission for DTMB system

An augmented data transmission (ADT) scheme for the Digital Television Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcasting (DTMB) systems based on the technique of embedded constellation is proposed in this paper. With the proposed ADT scheme, the transmission rates of receivers with sufficient good channel conditions are increased at the cost of little impact to the performance of legacy receivers, which is verified by AMI analysis and BER simulation. Additional RF spectrum is not required and no additional complexity is introduced to legacy receivers. What's more, the proposed ADT scheme is backward compatible with the existing DTMB system.
RFE-SVM for discrimination of Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae through chromatography

Chromatography has been widely used in discrimination and quality control for Chinese medicines (CMs). Nevertheless, regular analytical approaches are not applicable if training samples are small while features are large. Support vector machine (SVM) with recursive feature elimination algorithm (RFE-SVM) is presented in this study for discrimination of Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae through small chromatographic samples. The primary strategies of the proposed method are as follows: firstly, features for analysis are extracted according to the aligned chromatographic fingerprints (CFs), then RFE was designed to filter some irrelevant features. As result, the remaining features were adopted as input features for the proposed approach in identification of Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae, a genuine herbal medicine of Guangdong Province. RFE-SVM classifier achieved a satisfactory prediction performance with an accuracy of 93.8%, following the leave-one-out cross validation procedure. The proposed algorithms improve the accuracy of identification significantly compared with SVM, Fscore-SVM and Hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) on chromatographic analysis. The study demonstrates the presented method shows interpretability and applicability for pattern recognition in chromatographic fingerprints of CMs on the occasion of limited training samples.
Steady‐state mRNA levels of interleukin‐1, integrins, cJun, and cFos in hairless mouse skin during short‐term chronic UV exposure and the effect of topical tretinoin

We have proposed that UV activation of cytokine and integrin signaling pathways may initiate the photoaging process and that one of the effects of tretinoin treatment may be to alter the cytokine and integrin patterns. In previous results, steady‐state mRNA levels of interleukin‐1α, tumor necrosis factor α, transforming growth factor β, collagenase, stromelysin, collagen, and integrins (α1 and α2) were increased in the skin of hairless mice that were either UV treated or concurrently treated with UV followed by topical tretinoin for 5 weeks. The aim of this study was to focus on the expression of α1, α2 and α5 integrins, IL‐1α, IL‐1β, cJun, and cFos at an earlier time point (3 weeks). Animals were UV irradiated thrice weekly for 3 weeks and were treated topically with either 0.05% tretinoin or the vehicle immediately after each exposure. Total RNA was prepared and used in RT‐PCR with radiolabeled dCTP and specific primers. UV slightly increased steady‐state mRNA levels for α1, α2 and α5 integrins whereas UV+tretinoin increased their expression (3‐, 2‐ and 7‐fold respectively). Steady‐state mRNA levels for IL‐1α, IL‐1β and cJun were increased with UV (3‐, 12‐ and 6‐fold respectively) and with UV+tretinoin (6‐, 7‐ and 9‐fold respectively). In contrast, cFos expression was unchanged. In situ staining for IL‐1α mRNA was slightly more abundant in mice treated for 3 weeks with UV and UV+ tretinoin than in controls whereas 5 weeks of UV+tretinoin treatment gave strongly positive staining. Results are consistent with cytokines and integrins mediating the effects of UV on the skin, with modulation of these effects by tretinoin.
Chitotriosidase, a marker of innate immunity, is elevated in patients with primary breast cancer.

BACKGROUND Cancer progression has been associated with altered immune cell function and activation. Neopterin, which is secreted by interferon-γ stimulated macrophages, exhibits an association with multiple cancer types and metastatic disease. Chitotriosidase, which is secreted by chronically activated macrophages and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor stimulated neutrophils has not been studied in the setting of cancer. OBJECTIVE The goal of this discovery study was to screen chitotriosidase for diagnostic capacity in detecting cancer and compare its operating characteristics with those of neopterin. METHODS Serum from subjects with breast (n= 66) or prostate (n= 70) cancer, and from 204 subjects free of malignant disease were studied. Chitotriosidase was measured by enzyme activity assay, while neopterin was measured by a competitive enzyme immunoassay. Statistical analyses included group comparisons by Mann Whitney U test, diagnostic capacity by receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis and biomarker associations with physiologic and clinical measures by Spearman correlation. RESULTS Chitotriosidase activity was significantly higher in both cancer types compared with gender matched controls, though only in breast cancer was the diagnostic capacity significant (area under the ROC curve of 0.97 ± 0.01). In contrast, neopterin was significantly elevated in prostate cancer and exhibited discriminatory capacity (area under the ROC curve of 0.76 ± 0.05). Age, BMI, % body fat and metastasis were variables that correlated with neopterin, but not chitotriosidase levels. CONCLUSIONS The operating characteristics of serum chitotriosidase were different from neopterin and further analysis of chitotriosidase as a biomarker for breast cancer is warranted.
Detection and quantification of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in environmental samples by real-time PCR.

AIMS To apply the real-time Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method to detect and quantify Escherichia coli O157:H7 in soil, manure, faeces and dairy waste washwater. METHODS AND RESULTS Soil samples were spiked with E. coli O157:H7 and subjected to a single enrichment step prior to multiplex PCR. Other environmental samples suspected of harbouring E.coli O157:H7 were also analysed. The sensitivity of the primers was confirmed with DNA from E.coli O157:H7 strain 3081 spiked into soil by multiplex PCR assay. A linear relationship was measured between the fluorescence threshold cycle (C T ) value and colony counts (CFU ml(-1)) in spiked soil and other environmental samples. The detection limit for E.coli O157:H7 in the real-time PCR assay was 3.5 x 10(3) CFU ml(-1) in pure culture and 2.6 x 10(4) CFU g(-1) in the environmental samples. Use of a 16-h enrichment step for spiked samples enabled detection of <10 CFU g(-1) soil. E. coli colony counts as determined by the real-time PCR assay, were in the range of 2.0 x 10(2) to 6.0 x 10(5) CFU PCR (-1) in manure, faeces and waste washwater. CONCLUSIONS The real-time PCR-based assay enabled sensitive and rapid quantification of E. coli O157:H7 in soil and other environmental samples. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY The ability to quantitatively determine cell counts of E.coli O157:H7 in large numbers of environmental samples, represents considerable advancement in the area of pathogen quantification for risk assessment and transport studies.
Analysis of congress destinations' competitiveness using importance performance competitor analysis

ABSTRACT To be competitive and successful in congress tourism, destinations must learn which congress tourism-related attributes are important and how they perform against their main competitors. This study identifies the importance and performance of destination attributes in Antalya, Turkey, and compares the position of these attributes to those of its main rival in congress tourism, İstanbul. Importance performance competitor analysis results show that, according to domestic participants, Antalya has to focus on “sight-seeing and cultural attractions” and “outside entertainment. ” For international participants, “climate,” “choice of meeting and housing properties,” and “suitability of conference facilities” exhibit higher performance in Antalya than İstanbul.
Closed-Form Approximation for the Steady-State Performance of Second-Order Kalman Filters

The Kalman filter is adopted in a myriad of applications for providing the minimum mean square error estimation of time-varying parameters in a simple and systematic manner. However, determining the Kalman filter performance is not so straightforward, particularly when process noise is present. In that case, one must often resort to numerical evaluations of the recursive Bayesian Cramér–Rao bound, or alternatively to implement the filter and assess the performance through Montecarlo simulations. This letter is intended to circumvent this limitation. It proposes a closed-form approximation for the steady-state performance of a Kalman filter based on a second-order dynamic model, while at the same time providing a novel closed-form upper bound for the convergence time. These two results are obtained by reformulating the Kalman filter in batch mode and analyzing the inner structure of the Bayesian information matrix. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the goodness of the proposed approach.