Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
About Appropriation of Mobile Applications: The Applicability of Structural Features and Spirit

This paper presents early findings of a study on how users appropriate a computerised mobile system designed to administer service orders. The theoretical lens used was Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST) and focused on Structural Features, Spirit and Appropriation of Structure. In order to accomplish the purpose, two aspects were to be considered: the system’s structure and the user’s appropriation, because the structure of a system affects the appropriation of the system. The study was conducted at a large international company’s Swedish subsidiary operating in heavy industry, machines and transportation. The methods used were a blend of several instruments, such as analysing documents, observations and interviews. These qualitative empirical data were analysed from the perspective of AST. The initial results demonstrate that some of the tested constructs within AST are not applicable to computerised mobile information and therefore some adjustments must be made in AST to fit the mobile computing domain. In order to test these results further, at least two possible strategies lie ahead: either a closer study of the underlying assumptions of Structural Features and Spirit or a broader test of more of the propositions in the AST framework. (Less)
Cooperative and Critical Roles for Both G Domains in the GTPase Activity and Cellular Function of Ribosome-Associated Escherichia coli EngA

ABSTRACT To probe the cellular phenotype and biochemical function associated with the G domains of Escherichia coli EngA (YfgK, Der), mutations were created in the phosphate binding loop of each. Neither an S16A nor an S217A variant of G domain 1 or 2, respectively, was able to support growth of an engA conditional null. Polysome profiles of EngA-depleted cells were significantly altered, and His6-EngA was found to cofractionate with the 50S ribosomal subunit. The variants were unable to complement the abnormal polysome profile and were furthermore significantly impacted with respect to in vitro GTPase activity. Together, these observations suggest that the G domains have a cooperative function in ribosome stability and/or biogenesis.
Activities of Hexadecylphosphocholine (Miltefosine), AmBisome, and Sodium Stibogluconate (Pentostam) againstLeishmania donovani in Immunodeficient scidMice

ABSTRACT In both scid and BALB/c mouse-Leishmania donovani models, hexadecyphosphocholine (miltefosine) and AmBisome had similar levels of activity. In contrast, sodium stibogluconate (Pentostam) was significantly less active againstL. donovani in scid mice than in BALB/c mice. The in vitro anti-leishmanial activity of miltefosine was similar in peritoneal macrophages derived from both scid and BALB/c mice, whereas Pentostam and AmBisome were significantly more active in the latter.
Oxytocin receptor gene polymorphism, perceived social support, and psychological symptoms in maltreated adolescents

Abstract Despite the detrimental consequences of child maltreatment on developmental processes, some individuals show remarkable resilience, with few signs of psychopathology, while others succumb to dysfunction. Given that oxytocin has been shown to be involved in social affiliation, attachment, social support, trust, empathy, and other social or reproductive behaviors, we chose to examine the possible moderation of maltreatment effects on perceived social support and on psychological symptoms by a common single nucleotide polymorphism (rs53576) in the oxytocin receptor gene. We studied adolescents (N = 425) aged approximately 13–15, including participants with objectively documented maltreatment histories (N = 263) and a nonmaltreated comparison group from a comparable low socioeconomic status background (N = 162). There was a significant genotype by maltreatment interaction, such that maltreated adolescents with the G/G genotype perceived significantly lower social support compared to maltreated A-carriers, with no effect of genotype in the comparison group. Maltreated G/Gs also reported higher levels of internalizing symptoms than did A-carriers, even though they did not differ from them on objective measures of maltreatment (type, duration, or severity). G/G homozygotes may be more attuned to negative social experiences, such as family maltreatment, while maltreated A-carriers were indistinguishable from nonmaltreated adolescents in levels of mental health symptoms.
Boundaries of systolic groups

For all systolic groups we construct boundaries which are EZ--structures. This implies the Novikov conjecture for torsion--free systolic groups. The boundary is constructed via a system of distinguished geodesics in a systolic complex, which we prove to have coarsely similar properties to geodesics in CAT(0) spaces.
SF3P: a framework to explore and prototype hierarchical compositions of real-time schedulers

The trend to integrate multiple functionalities on the same (off-the-shelf) hardware has made the selection of the right scheduling algorithm and configuration difficult. This selection requires the designer to validate any scheduling decision already during early design steps on the target architecture, e.g., by using a reconfigurable scheduling framework running in the user-space. In this paper, we first identify the requirements that such a scheduling framework must fulfill. Then, we propose SF3P: an open-source framework that meets these requirements. To this end, we define an interface common to all scheduling algorithms and separate the scheduling algorithm from its low-level implementation. With these features, SF3P can not only prototype a scheduler at high level of abstraction, but also execute the implemented task-set on specific hardware. Furthermore, SF3P can hierarchically compose scheduling algorithms, useful in the mixed criticality domain, and could also be used to explore different scheduling policies in the system optimization phase. We demonstrate these features by implementing SF3P on top of a POSIX-compliant operating system on two different platforms: Raspberry Pi and an Intel Core i7 desktop system.
Health views and metabolic syndrome in a Finnish rural community: a cross-sectional population study.

INTRODUCTION Metabolic syndrome (MetS) can be prevented through the promotion of healthy lifestyles. In rural areas, MetS is associated with unhealthy lifestyles and socioeconomic and demographic changes. However, there is scarce evidence on how health views contribute to the unhealthy lifestyles that result in MetS. METHODS The study involved adults in 8 birth cohorts between 30 and 65 years of age living in the rural community of Lapinlahti in eastern Finland. We assessed participants' demographic and lifestyle factors and health views. For assessment of health views, we applied factor analysis. For MetS classification, we used the 2005 criteria of the National Cholesterol Education Program. RESULTS The prevalence of MetS among the participants was 38%. In a backward logistic regression analysis adjusted for other variables, there was a significant association between MetS and older age (odds ratio [OR] 2.91) as well as low level of physical activity (OR 1.99). In a factor analysis, 4 principal factors of lay health views were identified, of which blame-shifting (OR 1.36, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.21-1.49)and social alienation (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.24-1.40) were significantly associated with MetS in an unadjusted logistic regression analysis. CONCLUSION It is important, particularly in primary health care, to recognize health views behind MetS and to empower communities in the prevention of MetS.
Targeting HIF-1α and HIF-2α to Overcome Treatment Resistance Mediated by Oncogenic KRAS in Colorectal Cancer

Epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors have shown promise in the treatment of colorectal cancers. However, activating KRAS mutations cause primary resistance to these agents and contribute to cancer progression. Downstream signaling of oncogenic KRAS induces activation of HIF-1α and HIF-2α which in turn activate genes that promote cell proliferation, obstruct cell death, and induce angiogenesis and metabolic adaptation. We will discuss clinical trial results with EGFR inhibitors, mechanism of resistance mediated by oncogenic KRAS, and strategies under clinical development to overcome KRAS-mediated resistance.
Bond Layer Properties and Geometry Effect on Interfacial Thermo-mechanical Stresses in Bi-material Electronic Packaging Assembly

Thermo-mechanical mismatch stress is one of the reasons for mechanical as well as functional failure between two or more connected devices. In electronic packaging, two or more plates or layers are bonded together by an extremely thin layer. This thin bonding layer works as an interfacial stress compliance which is expected to alleviate the interfacial stresses between the layers. Therefore, it is very important to identify the suitable interfacial bonding characteristics for reducing the interfacial thermal mismatch stresses to maintain the structural integrity. This research work examines the influences of bond layer properties and geometry on the interfacial shearing and peeling stresses in a bi-material assembly. In this study a closed form model of bi-layered assembly is used with the up-to-date bond layer shear stress compliance expression. The key bond layer properties namely Young’s modulus, coefficient of thermal expansion, Poisson’s ratio, and physical parameters like temperature and thickness are considered for interfacial stress evaluation. It is observed that the Young’s modulus, the thickness and the temperature of the bond layer have significant influence on the interfacial shearing and peeling stress. The results obtained are likely to be useful in designing bond layer properties in microelectronics and photonics applications.
Signal reconstruction from the phase of the bispectrum

An iterative algorithm for reconstructing a finite impulse response (FIR) signal from only the phase of its bispectrum is introduced. The algorithm is based on the key observation that the differences of the bicepstrum coefficients contain all the information concerning the phase of the signal, whereas their sums contain the magnitude information. Analysis and simulation examples are presented to demonstrate the algorithm's convergence properties. It is also demonstrated that imposing an energy constraint causes the convergence rate of the algorithm to improve dramatically. <<ETX>>
A successful parallel implementation of NSGA-II on GPU for the energy dispatch problem on hydroelectric power plants

Nowadays, hydraulic sources are responsible for most of the Brazil's energy production. Hydroelectric power plants (HPP) operators in Brazil usually distribute equally the total power required among the generator units available in the plant. However, studies show that this configuration does not guarantee that each generator unit operate close to its optimal operation point. The energy dispatch optimization problem consists in determining which generation units need to be on or off and what is their respective power-set, so that both the overall HPP costs is minimized and the power required by the plant is met. This paper presents a GPU-based parallel implementation of NSGA-II, to solve the energy dispatch problem of a HPP complaying with the real time restrictions posed by the operation of a real HPP from the reception of the power demand to the energy dispatch. Our implementation obtains better solutions than the sequential implementation currently available.
Atomic-Force Microscopy Analyses on Dislocation in Extinction Bands of Poly(dodecamethylene terephthalate) Spherulites Solely Packed of Single-Crystal-Like Lamellae

This study, using atomic-force and polarized-optical light (AFM and POM) microscopies on the extinction banded spherulites of poly(dodecamethylene terephthalate) (P12T) at high Tc = 110 °C with a film thickness kept at 1–3 µm, has verified that banded spherulites can be composed of stacks of entirely single-crystal-like lamellae free of any twisting, flipping, or bending, and no branching of lamellae. Defects in the crystal packing of extinction bands are present in both intra-band and inter-band regions. The intra-band defects originate from the miss-match in spiral-circling into circular bands while the inter-band defects are in the interfaces between successive bands where single crystals in the ridge are jammed to deformation, then suddenly precipitate prior to initiating another cycle of banding. The fish-scale lamellae, at the initiation of a cycle, are orderly packed as terrace-like single crystals; conversely, near or on the defected regions, they are highly jammed or squeezed and deformed to beyond recognition of their original single-crystal nature.
Multiscale oil slick segmentation with Markov chain model

A Markov chain model is applied for the segmentation of oil slicks acquired by SAR sensors. Actually, oil slicks have specific impact on ocean wave spectra. Initial wave spectra may be characterized by three kinds of waves, big, medium and small, which correspond physically to gravity and gravity-capillary waves. The increase of viscosity due to the presence of oil damps gravity-capillary waves. This induces a damping of the backscattering to the sensor, but also a dampening of the energy of the wave spectra. Thus, local segmentation of wave spectra may be achieved by the segmentation of a multiscale decomposition of the original SAR image. In this work, the unsupervised segmentation is achieved by using a vectorial extension of the Hidden Markov Chain (HMC) model. Parameters estimation is performed using the general Iterative Conditional Estimation (ICE) method. The problem of estimating multi-dimensional and non-Gaussian densities is solved by using a Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The algorithm has been applied on an ERS-PRI image. It yields interesting segmentation results with a very limited number of false alarms. Also, the multiscale segmentation proved to be an interesting alternative to classify marginal or degraded slicks.
CMB photons shedding light on dark matter

The annihilation or decay of Dark Matter (DM) particles could affect the thermal history of the universe and leave an observable signature in Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies. We update constraints on the annihilation rate of DM particles in the smooth cosmological background, using WMAP7 and recent small-scale CMB data. With a systematic analysis based on the Press-Schechter formalism, we also show that DM annihilation in halos at small redshift may explain entirely the reionization patterns observed in the CMB, under reasonable assumptions concerning the concentration and formation redshift of halos. We find that a mixed reionization model based on DM annihilation in halos as well as star formation at a redshift z~6.5 could simultaneously account for CMB observations and satisfy constraints inferred from the Gunn-Peterson effect. However, these models tend to reheat the inter-galactic medium (IGM) well above observational bounds: by including a realistic prior on the IGM temperature at low redshift, we find stronger cosmological bounds on the annihilation cross-section than with the CMB alone.
Entomological Monitoring and Evaluation: Diverse Transmission Settings of ICEMR Projects Will Require Local and Regional Malaria Elimination Strategies

The unprecedented global efforts for malaria elimination in the past decade have resulted in altered vectorial systems, vector behaviors, and bionomics. These changes combined with increasingly evident heterogeneities in malaria transmission require innovative vector control strategies in addition to the established practices of long-lasting insecticidal nets and indoor residual spraying. Integrated vector management will require focal and tailored vector control to achieve malaria elimination. This switch of emphasis from universal coverage to universal coverage plus additional interventions will be reliant on improved entomological monitoring and evaluation. In 2010, the National Institutes for Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) established a network of malaria research centers termed ICEMRs (International Centers for Excellence in Malaria Research) expressly to develop this evidence base in diverse malaria endemic settings. In this article, we contrast the differing ecology and transmission settings across the ICEMR study locations. In South America, Africa, and Asia, vector biologists are already dealing with many of the issues of pushing to elimination such as highly focal transmission, proportionate increase in the importance of outdoor and crepuscular biting, vector species complexity, and “sub patent” vector transmission.
Performance of hardware compressed main memory

A new memory subsystem called Memory Expansion Technology (MXT) has been built for compressing main memory contents. MXT effectively doubles the physically available memory. This paper provides an analysis of the performance impact of memory compression using the SPEC2000 benchmarks and a database benchmark. Results show that the hardware compression of memory has a negligible performance penalty compared to a standard memory. We also show that many applications' memory contents can be compressed usually by a factor of two to one. We demonstrate this using industry benchmarks, web server benchmarks, and contents of popular web sites.
Reminiscence Therapy using Image-Based Rendering in VR

We present a novel VR solution for Reminiscence Therapy (RT), developed jointly by a group of memory clinicians and computer scientists. RT involves the discussion of past activities, events or experiences with others, often with the aid of tangible props which are familiar items from the past; it is a popular intervention in dementia care. We introduce an immersive VR system designed for RT, which allows easy presentation of familiar environments. In particular, our system supports highly-realistic Image-Based Rendering in an immersive setting. To evaluate the effectiveness and utility of our system for RT, we perform a study with healthy elderly participants to test if our VR system can help with the generation of autobiographical memories. We adapt a verbal Autobiographical Fluency protocol to our VR context, in which elderly participants are asked to generate memories based on images they are shown. We compare the use of our image-based system for an unknown and a familiar environment. The results of our study show that the number of memories generated for a familiar environment is higher than that for an unknown environment using our system. This indicates that IBR can convey familiarity of a given scene, which is an essential requirement for the use of VR in RT. Our results also show that our system is as effective as traditional RT protocols, while acceptability and motivation scores demonstrate that our system is well tolerated by elderly participants.
WENN for individualized cleaning in imbalanced data

This paper proposes individualized cleaning for diverse imbalanced data sets. Existing techniques for data cleaning have difficulties with rare cases and outliers in minority class, especially, in highly unbalanced data. The drawback leads incomplete and imprecise examples to removal. In order to enhance the robustness and perform thorough data cleaning, we propose a weighted edited nearest neighbor (WENN), which detects and removes noisy examples from both classes intelligently. It considers individual characteristics of each imbalanced data, involving global class imbalance and local distribution. The main idea of the proposed method is to carefully put more focus on the majority class than the minority class during data cleaning. Extensive experiments over synthetic and real data clearly validate the superiority of our approach against other data cleaning methods.
Suv4-20h deficiency results in telomere elongation and derepression of telomere recombination

Mammalian telomeres have heterochromatic features, including trimethylated histone H3 at lysine 9 (H3K9me3) and trimethylated histone H4 at lysine 20 (H4K20me3). In addition, subtelomeric DNA is hypermethylated. The enzymatic activities responsible for these modifications at telomeres are beginning to be characterized. In particular, H4K20me3 at telomeres could be catalyzed by the novel Suv4-20h1 and Suv4-20h2 histone methyltransferases (HMTases). In this study, we demonstrate that the Suv4-20h enzymes are responsible for this histone modification at telomeres. Cells deficient for Suv4-20h2 or for both Suv4-20h1 and Suv4-20h2 show decreased levels of H4K20me3 at telomeres and subtelomeres in the absence of changes in H3K9me3. These epigenetic alterations are accompanied by telomere elongation, indicating a role for Suv4-20h HMTases in telomere length control. Finally, cells lacking either the Suv4-20h or Suv39h HMTases show increased frequencies of telomere recombination in the absence of changes in subtelomeric DNA methylation. These results demonstrate the importance of chromatin architecture in the maintenance of telomere length homeostasis and reveal a novel role for histone lysine methylation in controlling telomere recombination.
Septin: a factor in plasma that opsonizes lipopolysaccharide-bearing particles for recognition by CD14 on phagocytes

We have previously reported that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) binding protein (LBP) opsonizes endotoxin (LPS) for recognition by CD14 on phagocytes. Here we show that normal human plasma contains high titers of an activity that also binds LPS (Re, 595) and mediates recognition by CD14. Opsonization of LPS-coated particles with plasma enables the particles to be bound by phagocytes. Further, opsonization with plasma also enables subnanogram-per-milliliter concentrations of LPS to induce dramatic alterations in the function of leukocyte integrins on polymorphonuclear leukocytes and to induce secretion of tumor necrosis factor by monocytes, suggesting that opsonization by factors in plasma may be important in responses of cells to endotoxin. The opsonic activity in plasma appears distinct from LBP since it is not blocked by neutralizing antibodies against LBP. Surprisingly, the opsonic activity of plasma is not present in a single protein species, but at least two species must be combined to observe activity. Further, the opsonic activity of plasma for LPS is blocked by addition of protease inhibitors, suggesting that proteolytic activity or activities are required for opsonization. These properties are suggestive of the action of a protease cascade, but opsonic activity of plasma is not affected by blockade or depletion of either the complement or clotting cascades. We propose the name "septin" to describe this novel LPS- opsonizing activity in plasma.
Adaptive wavelet based identification and extraction of PQRST combination in randomly stretching ECG sequence

Cardiovascular system study using ECG signals have evolved tremendously in the domain of electronics and signal processing. However, there are certain floating challenges unresolved in the analysis and detection of abnormal performances of cardiovascular system. As the medical field is moving towards more automated and intelligent systems, wrong detection or wrong interpretations of ECG waveform of abnormal conditions can be quite fatal. Since the PQRST signals vary their positions randomly, the process of locating, identifying and classifying each feature can be cumbersome and it is prone to errors. Here we present an automated scheme using adaptive wavelet to detect prominent R-peak with extreme accuracy and algorithmically tag and mark the coexisting peaks P, Q, S, and T with almost same accuracy. The adaptive wavelet approach used in this scheme is capable of detecting R-peak in ECG with 99.99% accuracy along with the rest of the waveforms.