Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Veterans’ Civilian Employment Experiences: Lessons Learnt From Focus Groups

Emerging evidence highlights employment as a key factor influencing the success of transition from military to civilian life. Historically, employment programs have focused on improving skills such as resume writing and interview skills. However, it is likely that employment challenges are more than these practical barriers. Four focus groups with employed and unemployed Gulf War Era II veterans were conducted aimed at moving past a practical perspective by gaining experiential understandings of veterans’ employment. Thematic analysis indicated that the veterans’ employment experiences were best understood temporally in two master themes: pretransition and the divergent experiences of veterans who did and did not plan ahead and living the transition and the veterans’ experiences of employment barriers and facilitators. Further to the two master themes, an underlying thread of the need for self-determination was evident. Interpretation of the results led to the development of recommendations for policy, service provision, and future research.
Genome annotation of Poly(lactic acid) degrading Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Sphingobacterium sp.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Sphinogobacterium sp. are well known for their ability to decontaminate many environmental pollutants like PAHs, dyes, pesticides and plastics. The present study reports the annotation of genomes from P. aeruginosa and Sphinogobacterium sp. that were isolated from compost, based on their ability to degrade poly(lactic acid), PLA, at mesophillic temperatures (~30°C). Draft genomes of both the strains were assembled from Illumina reads, annotated and viewed with an aim of gaining insight into the genetic elements involved in degradation of PLA. The draft-assembled genome of strain Sphinogobacterium strain S2 was 5,604,691 bp in length with 435 contigs (maximum length of 434,971 bp) and an average G+C content of 43.5%. The assembled genome of P. aeruginosa strain S3 was 6,631,638 bp long with 303 contigs (maximum contig length of 659,181 bp) and an average G+C content 66.17 %. A total of 5,385 (60% with annotation) and 6,437 (80% with annotation) protein-coding genes were predicted for strains S2 and S3 respectively. Catabolic genes for biodegradation of xenobiotic and aromatic compounds were identified on both draft genomes. Both strains were found to have the genes attributable to the establishment and regulation of biofilm, with more extensive annotation for this in S3. The genome of P. aeruginosa S3 had the complete cascade of genes involved in the transport and utilization of lactate while Sphinogobacterium strain S2 lacked lactate permease, consistent with its inability to grow on lactate. As a whole, our results reveal and predict the genetic elements providing both strains with the ability to degrade PLA at mesophilic temperature.
A Frequency Domain Approach for Fatigue Life Estimation from Finite Element Analysis

Fatigue damage is traditionally determined from time signals of loading, usually in the form of stress or strain. This approach is satisfactory for periodic loading but requires very large time records to accurately describe random loading processes. These may prove prohibitive for many finite element analyses especially when modelling dynamic resonance. Alternatively, a compact frequency domain fatigue calculation can be utilised where the random loading and response are categorised using Power spectral density (PSD) functions and the dynamic structure is modelled as a linear transfer function. This paper will review the available methods for performing fatigue analysis from PSDs and shows that the Dirlik method gives the best comparable results with the traditional time domain approaches. It also demonstrates how these techniques can be implemented in the Finite Element environment to rapidly identify critical areas in the structure.
Locating Corresponding Regions in Urban Environments

This paper presents a novel approach to locate corresponding regions between two views in urban environments despite the presence of repetitive structures and widely separated views. First we extract hypotheses of building facades, each defined by a rectangular region. The inputs from each pair of regions in two images derive a projective transformation model. Extracted lines and points are used to evaluate the transformation model by voting on the correctness of the model. For each region, we find its corresponding region with the highest votes. Thereafter, we have a set of most corresponding pairs of regions. We take those frequently occurred transformation models (1-3) as correct models since many of the regions in the set come from the same plane, or else they are outliers. We redo the finding most corresponding regions step with the correct transformation models for those outliers with higher votes than the best one among each correct model group. Lastly, we choose the best pair of most corresponding regions with the highest votes among each correct model group. Experimental results show that our approach is effective and reliable in the case of viewpoint, orientation and scale changes.
PSPWizard: machine-assisted definition of temporal logical properties with specification patterns

Model checking provides a powerful means to assert and verify desired system properties. But, for the verification process to become feasible, a correct formulation of these properties in a temporal logic is necessary - a potential barrier to application in practice. Research on property specification has supplied us with rich pattern catalogs that capture commonly occurring system properties in different temporal logics. Furthermore, these property specification pattern catalogs usually offer both a structured English grammar to facilitate the pattern selection and an associated template solutions to express the properties formally. Yet, the actual use of property specification patterns remains cumbersome, due to limited tool support. For this reason, we have developed the Property Specification Pattern Wizard (PSPWizard), a framework that defines an interface for the currently accepted property specification pattern libraries. PSPWizard consists of two main building blocks: a mapping generator that weaves a given pattern library with a target logic and a GUI front-end to the structured English grammar tailored to those patterns that are supported in the target logic.
RELATIONSHIP O F IRON AND EXTRACELLULAR VIRULENCE FACTORS TO

The iron concentration in the culture medium used to prepare the inocula influenced the virulence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in a chronic pulmonary infection model in rats. Groups of rats were given transtracheal inocula of agar beads in which were embedded c. 1 O4 cfu of P. aeruginosa strain PA0 and the mutants of strain PAO, Fe5 and Fe18. When strain PA0 was grown in low-iron medium before infection, it caused severe parenchymal changes including a dense mononuclear cell infiltration in the alveolar spaces, as well as intraand peribronchial inflammation. When strain PA0 was grown in high-iron medium, the pathological changes in lungs were restricted to intraand peribronchial inflammation. Strain Fe5, in which the effect of iron on yields of elastase is deregulated, produced similar pathological changes regardless of whether it was grown in lowor high-iron media. All rats infected with strain Fel8, in which the effect of iron on yields of toxin A is deregulated, died within 48 h after infection. These data indicate that the iron concentration of the culture medium can influence the pathogenesis of P. aeruginosa in a chronic respiratory infection. These studies also suggest that the regulation of extracellular virulence factors by iron is important in the determination of P . aeruginosa virulence.
Shadow-resistant tracking in video

In this paper, we present a new method for tracking objects with shadows. Traditional motion-based tracking schemes cannot usually distinguish the shadow from the object itself, and this results in a falsely captured object shape, posing a severe difficulty for a pattern recognition task. In this paper we present a color processing scheme to project the image into an illumination invariant space such that the shadow's effect is greatly attenuated. The optical flow in this projected image together with the original image is used as a reference for object tracking so that we can extract the real object shape in the tracking process. We present a modified snake model for general video object tracking. Two new external forces are introduced into the snake equation based on the predictive contour such that (1) the active contour is attracted to a shape similar to the one in the previous video frame, and (2) chordal string constraints across the shape are applied so that the snake is correctly maintained when only partial features are obtained in some frames. The proposed method can deal with the problem of an object's ceasing movements temporarily, and can also avoid the problem of the snake tracking into the object interior. Global affine motion compensation makes the method applicable in a general video environment. Experimental results show that the proposed method can track the real object even if there is strong shadow influence.
Balanced loop retiming to effectively architect STT-RAM-based hybrid cache for VLIW processors

Loop retiming has been extensively studied to maximize instruction-level parallelism (ILP) of multiple function units by rearranging the dependence delays in a uniform loop. Recently loop retiming technique has been proposed to mitigate the migration overhead of STT-RAM-based hybrid cache by changing the interleaved read and write memory access pattern. However, the previous ILP-aware loop retiming is unaware of its impact on the hybrid cache's migration while the migration-aware loop retiming has not fully considered the parallelism of arithmetic and logical units (ALUs) in VLIW processors. This paper models the impacts of loop retiming on both ILP of ALUs and migration overhead in STT-RAM-based hybrid cache. An overall balanced loop retiming solution, considering both of the ALU part and the memory part, is devised to achieve high performance for VLIW processors. The experimental results across a set of benchmarks show that the proposed balanced retiming approach improves performance by 13.1%, 3.5% and 18.1% on average over the cases with no retiming, pure migration-aware retiming and pure ILP-aware retiming, respectively.
ToolBox: A Living Directory for UNIX Tools Owned by the Community ; CU-CS-747-94

Members of a community who work primarily at computer terminals are deprived from distributed cognition as it occurs in many other domains where people work with tools in a shared physical space. This makes it harder for individuals to pick up cues towards useful tools and their utilizations. Traditional help systems were unsuccessful to fill in this gap of information flow. People prefer to consult other people in their community because either their tool knowledge is contextualized appropriately or they know other people who can help. In this paper we describe the design and preliminary evaluation of a system that is actively looking for new tools and is interviewing potential experts. The result of these interviews is presented by weekly newsletters and a hypertext system in World Wide Web format. We specifically address design issues of and experience with the interviewing process and the presentation of the resulting information.
Perchlorate Exposure and Thyroid Function in Ammonium Perchlorate Workers in Yicheng, China

The impact of low level dust on the thyroid function of workers chronically exposed to ammonium perchlorate (AP) is uncertain and controversial. The aim of this study was to examine whether workers in China with long-term (>3 years) occupational exposure to low levels of AP dust had affected thyroid homeostasis. Mean occupational exposures to AP dust ranged from 0.43 to 1.17 mg/m3. Geometric means of post-shift urinary perchlorate levels were 20.5 µg/L for those exposed and 12.8 µg/L for the controls. No significant differences were found for thyroid function parameters of FT3, FT4, or log TSH or for TPO prevalence or thyroglobulin levels. Additionally, no differences in findings were observed for complete blood count (CBC), serum biochemical profile, or pulmonary function test. Median urinary iodine levels of 172 and 184 µg/L showed that the workers had sufficient iodine intake. This study found no effect on thyroid function from long term, low-level documented exposure to ammonium perchlorate. It is the first study to report both thyroid status parameters and urinary perchlorate, a biomarker of internal perchlorate exposure, in occupationally exposed workers in China.
Inter-mediando identidades : mediating identities in the exploration of Latina children's literature through drama /

Theories on multicultural education call for pedagogical strategies that invite students to engage in a critical inquiry of the meaning and implications of living in a diverse and pluralistic society (Nieto, 1996; Banks, 1995). However, the development of pedagogical practices that serve the purposes of multicultural education is a complex undertaking. Among the historically under and misrepresented groups within the school curriculum is the Latino/a community. In order to better understand the complexities of Latino/a community and identity in the classrooms, the curriculum has to be perceived in a “transformative approach” where like Banks (1994) suggested “[t]he structure of the curriculum is changed to enable students to view concepts, issues, events, and themes from the perspective of diverse ethnic and cultural groups” (p. 25). This qualitative study had two major purposes. First is to provide a better understanding of the way a Puerto Rican/Latina participant/researcher presents and studies literature written by Latinas with fifth graders. Second, it also looks at how students engage in the process of critically studying, interpreting and mediating literature written by Latinas. The first part of this study analyzed and situated the book Friends from the other side/Amioos del otro lado (1993) by Chicana writer Gloria Anzaldüa using Latina feminist literary theories to connect this piece of literature for children to the larger field of Latina literary criticism. This framework provided me as a researcher, with a better understanding of the complexity of identities, meanings and locations of being Latina and how these are portrayed by Latina authors of children's literature. The second part of this study explores fifth grade children’s responses to Friends from the Other Side/Amioos del otro lado (1993) by Gloria Anzaldua. The purpose of this classroom study was to understand how I, as a Puerto Rican/Latina participant/researcher facilitated the book and studied how the students and I locate, inter related and mediated our identities within this representation of Latina literature. Drama in education strategies were used as the main tool to engage in a critical and creative reflection of some of the aspects and meanings of being Latina and how we relate and make meaning of those aspects.
Study of the Effect of Growing Modes by Selective Laser Melting Method on Porosity in Copper Alloy Products

The results of the study of the dependence of the porosity of products grown from copper alloy powders by selective laser melting method on the process operating parameters: laser beam scanning speed and the specific energy are presented. The boundaries of the modes that provide the minimum porosity during the formation of a stable single fused path are determined. The granulometric analysis of the powders 99.7% Cu and PR-BrH was carried out using a particle size analyzer (HORI-BALA-350). The measurement range of particles extends from 100 nm to 1000 μm. The analyzer is based on the laser diffraction method; the computational algorithm is designed in accordance with the Mie scattering theory. The radiation source is a laser diode (λ = 605 nm, P = 5 mW), the detector is 64 photodiodes located on a logarithmic spiral, 6 silicon photodiodes are used for backscatter analysis. Microstructure studies were performed using metallographic analysis of transverse thin sections, for which a combined machine for automatic and manual cutting
Late Proterozoic low-latitude global glaciation: the snowball Earth

A fundamental question of earth history concerns the nature of the Late Proterozoic glaciogenic sequences that are known from almost all of the major cratonic areas, including North America, the Gondwana continents, and the Baltic Platform. A major controversy involves the probable latitude of formation for these deposits- were they formed at relatively high latitudes, as were those of the Permian and our modern glacial deposits, or were many of them formed much closer to the equator? Arguments supporting a low depositional latitude for many of these units have been discussed extensively for the past 30 years (e.g., Harland 1964), beginning with the field observations that some of the diamictites had a peculiar abundance of carbonate fragments, as if the ice had moved over carbonate platforms. Indeed, many of these units, such as the Rapitan Group of the Canadian Cordillera, are bounded above and below by thick carbonate sequences which, at least for the past 100 Ma, are only known to have been formed in the tropical belt within about 33° of the equator (Ziegler et al. 1984). Other anomalies include dropstones and varves in the carbonates, as well as evaporites (for a complete review, see Williams 1975). Either the earth was radically different during the late Precambrian glacial episode(s), or the major continental land masses spent an extraordinary amount of time traversing back and forth between the tropics and the poles.
Fundamental Limits of Detection of Galaxies in the Near and Mid Infrared

The construction of the James Webb Space Telescope has brought attention to infrared astronomy and cosmology. The potential information about our universe to be gained by this mission and future infrared telescopes is staggering, but infrared observation faces many obstacles. These telescopes face large amounts of noise by many phenomena, from emission off of the mirrors to the cosmic infrared background. Infrared telescopes need to be designed in such a way that noise is minimized to achieve sufficient signal to noise ratio on high redshift objects. We will investigate current and planned space and ground based telescopes, model the noise they encounter, and discover their limitations. The ultimate of our investigation is to compare the sensitivity of these missions in the near and mid IR and to propose new missions. Our investigation is broken down into four major sections: current missions, noise, signal, and proposed missions. In the proposed missions section we investigate historical and current infrared telescopes with attention given to their location and properties. The noise section discusses the noise that an infrared telescope will encounter and set the background limit. The signal section will look at the spectral energy distributions (SED) of a few significant objects in our universe. We will calculate the intensity of the objects at various points on Earth and in orbit. In the final section we use our findings in the signal and noise sections to model integration times (observation time) for a variety of missions to achieve a given signal to noise ratio (SNR).
A schema-driven approach for knowledge-oriented retrieval and query formulation

In order to search across factual knowledge and content explicated using different data formats this paper leverages a generic data model (schema) that transforms keyword-based retrieval models and queries to knowledge-oriented models and semantically-expressive queries. As each of the transformed retrieval models capitalises on a specific evidence space (term, classification, relationship and attribute), we demonstrate two possible combinations of these spaces, namely macro-based or micro-based. For bare keyword-based queries we demonstrate how the data model can be used to augment the queries with classifications, relationships, etc. that reflect the underlying constraints and objects found in the heterogeneous knowledge bases. Using the IMDb benchmark the results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the instantiated retrieval models and the query reformulation process.
On Undirected Representations of Bayesian

Empirical studies clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of the nested jointree (NJT) representation in probabilistic inference. A NJT is a traditional Markov network (MN) together with a possible local MN nested in each clique. These nested MNs can themselves contain other nested MNs in a recur-sive manner. However, the NJT representation is not necessarily a faithful representation of a given Bayesian network (BN). This means that the eeectiveness of a NJT has been demonstrated while only exploiting some of the independency information available in the given BN. In this paper, we introduce a new kind of probabilistic network, called a hierarchical Markov network (HMN). A HMN is a hierarchy of MNs. We give an algorithm to transform a BN into a canonical HMN. The main result of this paper is that the constructed HMN is unique and equivalent to the input BN. Since HMNs are a faithful representation of BNs, a query may be optimized using in-dependencies in a HMN that otherwise would have gone unrepresented in a NJT approach.
Synthesis of human-readable Statecharts from Sequence Diagrams in the ROOM Environment cand

Due to their intuitive form, sequence diagrams are simple to write and understand and serve as a notation for system requirements and design. Statecharts are widely used for example for modeling of reactive systems and as a base for code generation. Variants of both diagram types are part of the ROOM and UML-RT frameworks that are widely used in industrial software modeling. This work proposes an approach to the automated synthesis of statecharts from sequence diagrams called statechart composer—SCC. The SCC starts with a possibly non-empty hierarchical statechart that can be manually created. Then the SCC adds behavior for each requirement sequence diagram incrementally. It introduces hierarchy into a statechart to simplify it and/or to increase traceability of requirements. An alpha version of the SCC is implemented as a plug-in for a commercial CASE-tool. keywords sequence diagram, statechart, synthesis, hierarchy, UML, ROOM, modeling, automation
Efficient Silencing of Gene Expression by an ASON–Bulge–DNAzyme Complex

Background DNAzymes are DNA molecules that can directly cleave cognate mRNA, and have been developed to silence gene expression for research and clinical purposes. The advantage of DNAzymes over ribozymes is that they are inexpensive to produce and exhibit good stability. The “10-23 DNA enzyme” is composed of a catalytic domain of 15 deoxynucleotides, flanked by two substrate-recognition domains of approximately eight nucleotides in each direction, which provides the complementary sequence required for specific binding to RNA substrates. However, these eight nucleotides might not afford sufficient binding energy to hold the RNA substrate along with the DNAzyme, which would interfere with the efficiency of the DNAzyme or cause side effects, such as the cleavage of non-cognate mRNAs. Methodology In this study, we inserted a nonpairing bulge at the 5′ end of the “10–23 DNA enzyme” to enhance its efficiency and specificity. Different sizes of bulges were inserted at different positions in the 5′ end of the DNAzyme. The non-matching bulge will avoid strong binding between the DNAzyme and target mRNA, which may interfere with the efficiency of the DNAzyme. Conclusions Our novel DNAzyme constructs could efficiently silence the expression of target genes, proving a powerful tool for gene silencing. The results showed that the six oligo bulge was the most effective when the six oligo bulge was 12–15 bp away from the core catalytic domain.