Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Position-Dependent Influence of the Three Trp Residues on the Membrane Activity of the Antimicrobial Peptide, Tritrpticin

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) constitute promising candidates for the development of new antibiotics. Among the ever-expanding family of AMPs, tritrpticin has strong antimicrobial activity against a broad range of pathogens. This 13-residue peptide has an unusual amino acid sequence that is almost symmetrical and features three central Trp residues with two Arg residues near each end of the peptide. In this work, the role of the three sequential Trp residues in tritrpticin was studied in a systematic fashion by making a series of synthetic peptides with single-, double- and triple-Trp substitutions to Tyr or Ala. 1H NMR and fluorescence spectroscopy demonstrated the ability of all of the tritrpticin-analog peptides to interact with negatively-charged membranes. Consequently, most tritrpticin analogs exhibited the ability to permeabilize synthetic ePC:ePG (egg-yolk phosphatidylcholine (ePC), egg-yolk phosphatidylglycerol (ePG)) vesicles and live Escherichia coli bacteria. The membrane perturbation characteristics were highly dependent on the location of the Trp residue substitution, with Trp6 being the most important residue and Trp8 the least. The membrane permeabilization activity of the peptides in synthetic and biological membranes was directly correlated with the antimicrobial potency of the peptides against E. coli. These results contribute to the understanding of the role of each of the three Trp residues to the antimicrobial activity of tritrpticin.
One step forward and two steps back in teaching an endangered language? Revisiting L2 reading in Irish

ABSTRACT Hickey’s (1991) article [Leisure reading in a second language: An experiment with audio tapes. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 4(2), 119-131. Retrieved from http://dx.doi. org/10.1080/07908319109525098] reported the benefits of audio-support for L2 reading of real books, showing gains in fluency and motivation among 9-year-old learners of Irish. In the 25 years since that, there have been significant changes in the educational and sociolinguistic context in which Irish and Irish reading are taught. That period encompassed a major shift in the curricular approach to teaching Irish, and changes in status. With the advent of a new primary school curriculum, it is time to revisit this topic and reflect on how changes in the interim have impacted on the teaching of L2 Irish reading. This article reviews the societal and educational changes relevant to teaching Irish in mainstream (English-medium) schools, offering insights into current practices from a qualitative study of teachers’ reflections on their pedagogical strategies, perceived priorities and difficulties encountered. Finally, it considers the advances made in the provision of materials supporting L2 Irish reading in the intervening years, and the challenges that remain with regard to promoting the use of those materials in mainstream classrooms.
Delay-limited capacity of parallel fading channels

The delay-limited capacity is defined as the transmission rate that can be guaranteed in all fading states under finite long-term power constraints. For the single-input single-output Rayleigh fading channel it is zero. In contrast it is greater than zero in channels with a certain kind of diversity, e.g., multiple antennas at one side of the link. The optimal transmission strategy in single-channel systems is channel inversion. If multiple parallel channels are available for transmission, the power allocation across channels influences the temporal power allocation. In this work, we study the delay-limited capacity of parallel fading channels. We implicitly characterize it using the temporal waterfilling-level and derive two lower bounds that are tight either for small or high SNR. Then, the results are applied to parallel weighted Gaussian fading channels and the impact of the weights is derived. Finally, we apply the result to the broadcast channel with common downlink information.
Flashlight and player detection in fighting sport for video summarization

In this paper, we present a method for generating fighting sport videos summary highlights using flashlight [N. Benjamas et al., May 2005] and player detection by detecting frames that contain close-up flashlight and players. Detected flashlight and distance between players is utilized in efficient summarization of fighting sport videos. The proposed algorithm first player was detected using skin color detection and connected component labeling. Then, the algorithm identifies the correct frame by calculating the distance between players that distance between one player and another one. Our algorithm accurately detects distance between players that it has the ability to capture inherently important events.
Being Like Your Girlfriend: Authenticity and the Shifting Borders of Intimacy in Sex Work

In the last decades a series of sexual services that offer company, talk, and more generally, what is understood as a ‘girlfriend experience’, are increasingly offered to a middle and upper-middle class clientele. These services involve a change in the boundaries of intimacy. We argue that they can be interpreted as part of the general process by which late capitalism has subsumed the 1968 critique that demanded liberation and authenticity. Based on an analysis of in-depth interviews with escorts and street walkers, we explore the discourse of authenticity in escort work in Spain and how the line is drawn between an ‘authentic intimacy’ that is sold, and a ‘private intimacy’, which involves the non-commodified affective life of the sex worker. We argue that escorts and street walkers draw these borders differently, the former emphasising authenticity in their service. Both, however, deploy a form of emotional labour.
Social network change detection using a genetic algorithm based back propagation neural network model

Changes in social networks may reflect an underlying significant events or behaviors within an organization. Detecting these changes effectively and efficiently could have the potential to enable the early warning, and faster response to both positive and negative organizational activities. In this paper, we use a genetic algorithm based back propagation (GABP) neural network model to quantitatively determine if and when a change has occurred. By selecting network measures as input and dynamic network behavior types as output, we get the GABP neural network model well trained. Then, this approach is applied to Enron social networks. The results indicate that this approach achieves higher detection precision.
Individual Differences in Evaluating the Credibility of Online Information in Science: Contributions of Prior Knowledge, Gender, Socioeconomic Status, and Offline Reading Ability

This study investigated how seventh grade students performed on a measure of online critical evaluation in science (the ORCA). The analysis included evaluating the extent to which critical evaluation also appeared to be an aspect of other elements of online research and comprehension, including reading to locate information, reading to synthesize information, and reading and writing to communicate information. Additionally, this study examined the extent to which several important individual difference variables affected students’ ability to critically evaluate information during online reading in science. The individual difference variables evaluated in this study included prior knowledge, gender, socioeconomic status, and offline reading ability. Participants (n = 1,434) included seventh grade students from two states in the Northeast United States. This study used a multiple theoretical perspectives approach (Labbo & Reinking, 1999) to frame the study. Three theoretical perspectives were employed that included theories of offline (RAND Reading Study Group, 2002; Anderson & Pearson, 1984) and online reading (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, Cammack, & Henry, 2013), perspectives on individual differences (Afflerbach, 2015), and a disciplinary literacy framework (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008) for science. These perspectives are integrated in a way that forms the basis for a framework of Elena Forzani – University of Connecticut ii critical evaluation of online information in science, a framework that takes into account the role of individual differences in the reading comprehension process. Multiple regression analysis was used to evaluate the shared variance among critical evaluation and the three other skill areas. Multilevel modeling (MLM) was used to compare mean differences in scores between critical evaluation and the other three skill areas. MLM also was used to evaluate the effects of the four individual difference variables on students’ online critical evaluation abilities. Both student-level and school-level effects were evaluated. Findings suggest that critical evaluation is a somewhat unique and difficult dimension of online research and comprehension. Findings also suggest that student-level prior knowledge, gender, and offline reading, as well as school-means for offline reading, have a significant effect on students’ ability to evaluate online information in science. Results are discussed in the context of theory development, research, assessment, and instruction. Individual Differences in Evaluating the Credibility of Online Information in Science: Contributions of Prior Knowledge, Gender, Socioeconomic Status, and Offline Reading Ability
The Role of Posterior Parietal Cortex in Episodic Memory Retrieval: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Studies (tDCS)

The role of posterior parietal cortex in episodic memory retrieval: transcranial Direct Current Stimulation studies (tDCS) by Denise Pergolizzi Advisor: Elizabeth F. Chua, Ph.D. Neuroimaging studies of recognition memory have shown that greater activity in the lateral posterior parietal cortex (PPC) correlates with successful recognition in a variety of paradigms, but experimental techniques that manipulate brain activity are necessary to determine the specific contribution of the PPC in episodic memory retrieval. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive technique that can be used to manipulate cortical excitability. The collection of experiments that comprise this dissertation use tDCS to determine: 1) whether or not the lateral PPC is causally involved in episodic retrieval, and 2) whether the lateral PPC has a direct role in memory accuracy for studied information or an indirect role that can influence retrieval judgments during episodic memory retrieval. We applied tDCS during three memory paradigms that have shown correlated activity in the parietal cortex. Experiments in Chapter 1 used a “false memory” paradigm to test whether the parietal cortex contributes to the “perceived oldness” of a memory and showed increased false recognition with tDCS over the PPC compared to sham tDCS. The experiment in Chapter 2 tested whether the parietal cortex is involved in item and source accuracy and showed decreased false recognition with tDCS over the parietal cortex compared to sham tDCS. To resolve these discrepant findings, the experiment in Chapter 3 tested whether the parietal cortex is important for integration of contextual cues and mnemonic information. Results showed greater utilization of cues predicting memoranda as “new” with tDCS over the parietal cortex compared to sham
Diminishing superconducting anisotropy in a layered iron arsenic PrFeAsO$_{1-y}$ single crystal

The magnetic torque of a high-quality PrFeAsO1−y single crystal has been investigated at temperatures from 10 K to 45K in magnetic fields from 5kG and 50 kG. We find that the superconducting anisotropy γ in PrFeAsO1−y can be approximated by γ = 1.08 + 0.0068T in all fields by employing the Kogan model. The reduced superconducting anisotropy in the PrFeAsO1−y crystal seems to be very promising in considering various high-Jc applications.
Chaos in models of the solar neighbourhood

Aims. We quantify the amount of chaos that exists in the local phase space. Methods. A sample of orbits from four different models of the solar neighbourhood phase space are analysed by a new chaos identification (and quantification) technique. While three of the models we used bear the signature of the perturbation due to both the Galactic bar and the spiral pattern, the last of the models is a bar-only one. We explore the models by comparing the corresponding values of chaos strength that are induced at the various energy levels. Results. We find that all the viable models that have been demonstrated to successfully reproduce the local phase space structure -models that include the bar as well as the spiral - bear strong chaoticity, though the model that implies the highest degree of chaos is the one in which overlap of the major resonances of the bar and the spiral occurs. The bar-only model is found to display regularity. We advance chaos as primarily responsible for the splitting of the Hyades-Pleiades mode (the larger mode) of the local velocity distribution.
Cross-Domain Collaborative Filtering: A Brief Survey

Cross-domain collaborative filtering (CF) is an emerging research topic in recommender systems. It aims to alleviate the sparsity problem in individual CF domains by transferring knowledge among related domains. In this paper, we will give a brief survey of the pilot studies in this research line in two dimensions: Collaborative Filtering Domains and Knowledge Transfer Styles. Some possible extensions for cross-domain CF will be discussed in the end.
Modeling and Simulating Wireless Sensor Transportation Monitoring Network

We have proposed a new wireless transportation monitoring scheme based on wireless sensor network (WSN), namely wireless sensor transportation monitoring network (WSTMN), which differs from some old wired schemes greatly. As a novel information acquisition technology, WSN has many advantages that help to improve the performance of transportation monitoring system. We simulated WSTMN in NS2, in which some new functions are extended. Some simulating experiments are designed to optimize these important parameters including energy consumption of sensor nodes, network density and data sensing rate, so as to optimize the WSTMN model. The WSTMN system is proven to be feasible with low system cost, low energy consumption and high efficiency. It prefers obviously to the old systems on the aspects of real-time control, enormous data computation and immunity to disturbances
Telematics – The Essential Cornerstone of Global Vehicle and Traffic Safety

The networking of active and passive safety (APIA) is the fundamental basis for comprehensive vehicle safety. Situation-relevant information relating to driver reactions, vehicle behaviour and traffic environment are fed into a crash probability calculator, which continually assesses the current crash risk and intervenes when necessary with appropriate measures to avoid a crash and reduce potential injuries. APIA provides effective protection not only for vehicle occupants but also for other, vulnerable road users. As this functionality up till now only relates to the vehicle itself, the next logical step is enhancement leading to the ultimate goal in safety performance, telematics. The integration of this embedded, in-vehicle wireless communication system allows Car-to-Car (C2C) and Car-to-Infrastructure (C2I) functionality for, e.g. hazard warning. This is an integral element of the cascaded Active Passive Integration Approach. This paper describes the current status in the functional potential attained by networking active and passive safety systems (APIA) and introduces the next ultimate step towards global vehicle and traffic safety, telematics.
An algorithm of uniform ultimate boundedness for switched linear systems

Uniform ultimate boundedness of a new class of switched linear systems is considered. A switched linear system in this class consists of m subsystems, and none of the individual subsystems need to be stabilizable. The switched linear system is shown to be uniformly ultimately bounded for any pre-given bound if the combination of controllable components of states for all subsystems covers the entire state space. An algorithm for the design of continuous controllers and the switching strategy is given to provide the design of continuous controllers and the switching strategy. Finally, the simulations show the validity of the result.
Prometeo: Project on Metacognition in Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is characterized by Metacognition/Mentalization deficits and Emotion Dysregulation (ED). BPD’s first-choice treatment is psychotherapy, but a comprehensive model has not yet been formulated, consequently also treatments result controversial. Study 1: Aims: to examine the relationships between Metacognitive Functions and ED and other clinical features in a BPD sample. Methods: Seventy patients were assessed for the inclusion and 45 BPD patients were included. Metacognitive functions were evaluated with Metacognition Assessment Interview (MAI). Specific self-reports measured respectively: ED (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, DERS), Alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale, TAS), Impulsiveness (Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, BIS), Mood (Beck Depression Inventory; BDI), Interpersonal Sensitivity (Inventory of Interpersonal Problems, IIP) and general psychopathology (Global Severity Index (GSI) of SCL-90). A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used to evaluate the relations between variables. Results: SEM showed that TAS score resulted a mediator between MAI total score and DERS score and DERS significantly predicted BIS, BDI, IIP and GSI scores. Conclusions: The general level of psychopathology and the other clinical variables seemed directly linked to ED. ED didn’t seem to correlate directly to Metacognition, but indirectly through Alexithymia. Study 2: Aims: to compare the effect of 1-year Metacognitive Interpersonal Therapy (MIT) and Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT) vs TAU (Treatment as usual) on Metacognition functions, ED and other clinical features in a BPD sample. Methods: Forty-five patients were divided in 3 groups: MIT (N=14), MBT (N=16) and TAU (N=15). MAI scores were the primary outcome, DERS, TAS, BIS, BDI, IIP and GSI of SCL-90 scores were the secondary outcomes. Linear Mixed model were used for the longitudinal evaluation of the results. Results: MAI total score improve in both experimental groups. Secondary outcomes improved, but the effect wasn’t statistically significant. Conclusions: Differentiation and Integration played a central role both in MIT and MBT.
The effect of delays on the performance of Layer Recurrent Network

Layer Recurrent Network (LRN) is a dynamic network that has a feedback loop as well as a delay for each layer of the network except for the last layer. The main objective for this research is to study the effect of delays on the performance of the LRN in identifying a nonlinear model. A numerical experiment of the nonlinear model is set up before a set of input and output data is collected. The collected data is then used to train the LRN. The numbers of delays at the feedback loop is manipulated and the effect of the network performance is observed where it shows that the network has the best performance when the number of delay is set to more than the default/original value (which is one).
A CONTINUOUS REVIEW INVENTORY MODEL WITH STOCHASTIC PRICES PROCURED IN THE SPOT MARKET

Not only the amount of product demanded, but also the price of the product have a strong impact on a manufacturer's revenue. In this paper we consider a continuous-time inventory model where the spot price of the product stochastically fluctuates according to a Brownian motion. Should information on the spot price be available, the manufacturer would wish to buy the product on the spot market when profitable. The purpose of this paper is to find an optimal procurement policy so as to minimize total expected discounted costs over an infinite planning horizon. We extend the Sulem (1986) model into one in which the market price of the product follows a geometric Brownian motion. By applying this, we obtain the optimal cost as a solution to a quasi-variational inequality, and show that there exists an optimal procurement solution as an (s,S) policy. We clarify the dependence of the optimal (s,S) policy on the spot price at the procurement epoch. These values of the (s,S) policy can be used and revised in the following ordering cycles. Finally, some numerical examples are provided to investigate the analytical properties of the expected cost function as well as of the optimal policy.
Referenceless perceptual fog density prediction model

We propose a perceptual fog density prediction model based on natural scene statistics (NSS) and “fog aware” statistical features, which can predict the visibility in a foggy scene from a single image without reference to a corresponding fogless image, without side geographical camera information, without training on human-rated judgments, and without dependency on salient objects such as lane markings or traffic signs. The proposed fog density predictor only makes use of measurable deviations from statistical regularities observed in natural foggy and fog-free images. A fog aware collection of statistical features is derived from a corpus of foggy and fog-free images by using a space domain NSS model and observed characteristics of foggy images such as low contrast, faint color, and shifted intensity. The proposed model not only predicts perceptual fog density for the entire image but also provides a local fog density index for each patch. The predicted fog density of the model correlates well with the measured visibility in a foggy scene as measured by judgments taken in a human subjective study on a large foggy image database. As one application, the proposed model accurately evaluates the performance of defog algorithms designed to enhance the visibility of foggy images.
A messy reality: an analysis of New Zealand's elective surgery scoring system via media sources, 200–2006

Waiting lists for elective procedures are a characteristic feature of tax-funded universal health systems. New Zealand has gained a reputation for its ‘booking system’ for waiting list management, introduced in the early-1990s. The New Zealand system uses criteria to ‘score’ and then ‘book’ qualifying patients for surgery. This article aims to (i) describe key issues focused on by the media, (ii) identify local strategies and (iii) present evidence of variation. Newspaper sources were searched (2000–2006). A total of 1199 booking system stories were identified. Findings demonstrate, from a national system perspective, the extraordinarily difficult nature of maintaining overall control and coordination. Equity and national consistency are affected when hospitals respond to local pressure by reducing access to elective treatment. Findings suggest that central government probably needs to be closely involved in local-level management and policy adjustments; that through the study period, the New Zealand system appears to have been largely out of the control of government; and that governments elsewhere may need to be cautious when considering developing similar systems. Developing and implementing scoring and booking systems may always be a ‘messy reality’ with unintended consequences and throwing regional differences in service management and access into stark relief. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.