Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Monoclonal Antibody Supernatant and Ascites Fluid Production

Procedures detailing the production of monoclonal antibody supernatants, including the production of larger amounts (liters), are presented here. The protocol for large‐scale production of hybridomas or cells (e.g., for isolation of cellular proteins) involves a similar procedure. A method for producing and obtaining ascites fluid containing the monoclonal antibody is also presented. The unit ends with a set of recommendations developed by the Committee on Methods of Producing Monoclonal Antibodies (Institute of Laboratory Animal Research, National Research Council). The recommendations are designed to foster the judicious use of animals for the production of monoclonal antibodies and to strongly encourage the use of in vitro methods whenever possible.
Adapting to the System or the Student? Exploring Teacher Adaptations to Disadvantaged Students in an English and a Belgian Secondary School

This article builds on research on teacher adaptations to students by exploring how Belgian and English national contexts influence teachers’ definitions of educational success, their explanations of educational failure, and their allocation of scarce educational resources to disadvantaged students. Ethnographic data from one Flemish (Belgian) and one English secondary multicultural school suggest that teachers in both schools adapt their expectations to students in line with the perceived ability and interests of students. However, differences between England and Flanders in how students and schools are evaluated can help to explain differences between Flemish and English teachers’ allocation of scarce educational resources and responsibility for educational success. The conclusions discuss the implications of these findings for social policy and further research.
The denial of class struggle by British Governments in their anti-union discourse (1978–2007)

Class struggle is the means by which workers can pursue the goal of their liberation from the exploitation of capital. Trade Unions lead many of the battles that are part of the general struggle and, through those battles, help to improve the material conditions of the workers but, at the same time, they create class consciousness. The denial of the existence of class struggle is part of governments' anti-union strategy. This paper aims to isolate instances of class struggle denial in the anti-union discourse of the British Governments from 1978 to 2007. The research is characterised by a post-disciplinary approach which helps to put the historical and economic facets of the problem in the right perspective. The actual analysis of the texts taken into consideration is carried out through a pragma-dialectic approach to argumentation theory and by applying the analytical tools provided by systemic–functional linguistics.
Application of a Framework for Educational Provision—Research Findings and Implications for Education for Sustainability

Learning for sustainability has the potential to play a significant role in enhancing social ecological resilience—as individuals and institutions develop the capacity to adaptively manage the environment. This article outlines an audience and learning needs analysis of irrigators in Western Australia's East Wanneroo area. Interviews were conducted to identify the learning needs and preferences of the irrigation community, and to develop an understanding of their current knowledge, practices, and their understanding of the social ecological system. Interview data indicated limited horticultural and ecological understanding, and also revealed the existence of institutional barriers to the adoption of more sustainable practice.
Investigating Reward-Modulation in Denoising Autoencoders

This report describes the basic concepts of machine learning, and introduces a mechanism of combining supervised and unsupervised learning called reward modulation, where having modulation of 0 means that training is fully unsupervised, and having modulation of 1 means that training is fully supervised. The reward modulation was varied over time in three ways: as a step function (equivalent to the common method of fine tuning), as a linear function, and as a hyperbolic function. This method was applied to denoising autoencoders, and the denoising autoencoders were then used to classify MNIST images and to learn to solve the grid world and maze world Markov decision processes. While changing reward modulation over time seems to have a noticable impact on the classification task, there is no obvious impact on the MDP tasks. However, this may be due to the small size of the problems involved, so more testing is required on larger grids and mazes.
Fuzzy neural network genetic approach to design the SOC estimator for battery powered electric scooter

This paper presents a new method for estimating the individual battery state-of-charge (SOC) of electric scooter (ES). The proposed method is to model ES batteries by using the fuzzy inference neural network system. A reduced form genetic algorithm (RGA) is employed to tune control point of the B-spline membership functions (BMFs) and the weightings of the fuzzy neural network (FNN). The proposed FNN with RGA (FNNRGA) optimization approach can achieve the faster learning rate and lower estimating error than the conventional gradient descent method. The validity of the SOC estimator is further verified by a constructed multiple input multiple output (MIMO) FNN structure for estimating the SOCs of battery powered ES. A fixed velocity discharging profiles of the ES batteries are investigated to train the FNN for precise estimating the SOCs of the battery strings. Furthermore, a testing data profile is used to demonstrate the superior robust and over-fitting suppressed performance of the proposed method. The estimated SOCs are directly compared with the actual SOCs under different FNN methods, verifying the accuracy and the effectiveness of the proposed intelligent modeling method.
Telling is compelling: the impact of student reports of bullying on teacher intervention

Research increasingly recognises the importance of student bystander and adult educator shared responsibility for successful bully prevention. The role of teacher observations versus student reports of bullying, as well as staff preparedness, as predictors of teacher involvement was investigated in 115 middle school teachers. Being told by students about bullying incidents was the strongest predictor of teacher involvement. However, the relation between being told about bullying, or observing it, and coaching students on how to manage bullying was most evident when teachers felt highly prepared to handle bullying situations. Results from this study point to the pivotal role that both teacher preparedness and student reporting play in teacher responsiveness to bullying. Implications for training school professionals and bully prevention programmes are discussed.
Co-development of child-mother gestures over the second and the third years

This study looks at whether there is a relationship between mother and infant gesture production. Specifically, it addresses the extent of articulation in the maternal gesture repertoire and how closely it supports the infant production of gestures. Eight Spanish mothers and their 1- and 2-year-old babies were studied during 1 year of observations. Maternal and child verbal production, gestures and actions were recorded at their homes on five occasions while performing daily routines. Results indicated that mother and child deictic gestures (pointing and instrumental) and representational gestures (symbolic and social) were very similar at each age group and did not decline across groups. Overall, deictic gestures were more frequent than representational gestures. Maternal adaptation to developmental changes is specific for gesturing but not for acting. Maternal and child speech were related positively to mother and child pointing and representational gestures, and negatively to mother and child instrumental gestures. Mother and child instrumental gestures were positively related to action production, after maternal and child speech was partialled out. Thus, language plays an important role for dyadic communicative activities (gesture‐gesture relations) but not for dyadic motor activities (gesture‐action relations). Finally, a comparison of the growth curves across sessions showed a closer correspondence for mother‐child deictic gestures than for representational gestures. Overall, the results point to the existence of an articulated maternal gesture input that closely supports the child gesture production. Copyright # 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Detection and mitigation of the eclipse attack in chord overlays

Abstract Distributed Hash Table-based overlays are widely used to support efficient information routing and storage in structured peer- to-peer networks, but they are also subject to numerous attacks aimed at disrupting their correct functioning. In this paper we analyze the impact of the Eclipse attack on a Chord-based overlay in terms of number of key lookups intercepted by a collusion of malicious nodes. Moreover, we propose some modifications to the Chord routing protocol in order to mitigate its effects. Such countermeasures can operate in a distributed fashion or assume the presence of a centralized trusted entity and introduce a limited traffic overhead. The effectiveness of the proposed mitigation techniques has been shown through numerical results.
Measurement of Serum Amyloid a by Commonly Used Automated Analysers

Serum amyloid A (SAA) is a sensitive acute phase protein; its serum level can increase from its normal concentration by up to 1000-fold. Although a series of recent studies have indicated the clinical usefulness of monitoring SAA in several inflammatory disorders, I SAA does not appear to be widely measured in the clinical laboratories. One reason for its limited availability is the absence of methods which can be performed by automated analysers used for multiple biochemical tests. We have described a latex agglutination nephelometric immunoassay (LA assay) for measuring SAA concentration in serum. However, the method can be performed only with a limited number of analysers. We have therefore modified the latex reagents and assay conditions so that SAA assays can be performed by commonly used automated analysers. A Hitachi 7070 analyser was used for this work, it does not have a pre-dilution function, thus prozone phenomenon may occur at high levels of SAA. To avoid this problem, anti-SAA monoclonal and polyclonal antibody-coated latex particles were used. The latex reagents were prepared from rabbit polyclonal antibodies? or murine monoclonal antibody and polystyrene latex particles of mean diameter; 0·1 /lm, at concentrations of 2·6 giL and 20 g/L, respectively, were mixed in 0·1 M HEPES buffer, pH 7-4 for 60min at 37"C. After being washed by centrifugation, the latex particles were suspended at 0·4% in 5 mM HEPES buffer. The latex reagent used for the assay consists of 4 volumes of polyclonal antibody-conjugate and one of monoclonal antibody-conjugate. Three microlitres of sample was mixed with 225/lL of HEPES buffer containing 5 giL bovine serum albumin, 10g/L horse serum and 120 giL choline chloride and was incubated with 75/lL of the latex reagent at 3TC. The change in turbidity at 660 nm after a 4 min incubation was used to determine the SAA concentration. The same assay standard (SAA-rich high density lipoproteins) as described in the previous LA assay," six levels of SAA (0, 12,5, 25, 50, 100 Ann Clin Biochem 1997; 34: 569-574
(2014). A statistical and clustering study on Youtube 2D and 3D video recommendation graph. In 2014 6th International

Social network sites, like Facebook, Tweeter and Flickr provide users the opportunity to share their media content, such as videos, music tracks or photos. Beyond the fact that they can share information the users can also vote or comment on information posted by other users. Social networks take advantage of this activity and create groups and communities of users with similar interests. This categorization helps social network systems to support users with data, e.g. videos, photos or users proﬁles, that are relevant to their interests. In order to increase the effectiveness of navigation, analysis of social media content graphs needs to be done. In this paper, an analysis of the Youtube social media graph is presented. Graphs of 2D and 3D videos are considered in this analysis. Well known properties of web and social networks analysis, like the power-law distribution are discussed. Moreover, clustering methods are applied in order to study the existence of media content groups. Finally, the results of our analysis are discussed and directions of future work are presented.
A Causal Relation between Bioluminescence and Oxygen to Quantify the Cell Niche

Bioluminescence imaging assays have become a widely integrated technique to quantify effectiveness of cell-based therapies by monitoring fate and survival of transplanted cells. To date these assays are still largely qualitative and often erroneous due to the complexity and dynamics of local micro-environments (niches) in which the cells reside. Here, we report, using a combined experimental and computational approach, on oxygen that besides being a critical niche component responsible for cellular energy metabolism and cell-fate commitment, also serves a primary role in regulating bioluminescent light kinetics. We demonstrate the potential of an oxygen dependent Michaelis-Menten relation in quantifying intrinsic bioluminescence intensities by resolving cell-associated oxygen gradients from bioluminescent light that is emitted from three-dimensional (3D) cell-seeded hydrogels. Furthermore, the experimental and computational data indicate a strong causal relation of oxygen concentration with emitted bioluminescence intensities. Altogether our approach demonstrates the importance of oxygen to evolve towards quantitative bioluminescence and holds great potential for future microscale measurement of oxygen tension in an easily accessible manner.
EVIDENCE OF BULK ACCELERATION OF THE GRB X-RAY FLARE EMISSION REGION

Applying our recently developed generalized version of the high-latitude emission theory to the observations of X-ray flares in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), here we present clear observational evidence that the X-ray flare emission region is undergoing rapid bulk acceleration as the photons are emitted. We show that both the observed X-ray flare light curves and the photon index evolution curves can be simultaneously reproduced within a simple physical model invoking synchrotron radiation in an accelerating emission region far from the GRB central engine. Such an acceleration process demands an additional energy dissipation source other than kinetic energy, which points toward a significant Poynting flux in the emission region of X-ray flares. As the X-ray flares are believed to share a similar physical mechanism as the GRB prompt emission, our finding here hints that the GRB prompt emission jets may also carry a significant Poynting flux in their emitting region.
On-line IDDQ testing of security circuits

The new at-speed on-line IDDQ testing method is based upon the properties of a special class of security circuits. These circuits implement dual-rail encoding and return-to-spacer protocol, where the spacer is either all-zeroes or all-ones. The alternating spacers of different polarity guarantee that all wires switch once within each clock cycle, thus making energy consumed within a clock cycle independent from data processed. This property earlier used for security purposes is now exploited in order to separate the transient current from the quiescent current, thus making it possible to measure the latter under normal operation. Power signatures are analysed in the frequency domain and the fault signature filtration method is proposed. The proposed method can be used in both production, where it covers all interconnect stuck-at faults in just two clock periods; and on-line testing, where it guarantees the bounded and short period of self-test independent from data. From security point of view, it directly detects a side channel created under a fault injection attack.
Exhaled breath analysis for early cancer detection: principle and progress in direct mass spectrometry techniques

Abstract Volatile biomarker analysis in exhaled breath is becoming one of the desirable strategies for cancer detection because it may offer a relatively inexpensive, rapid, and non-invasive screening method for early diagnosis. Breath analysis has attracted a considerable amount of scientific and clinical interest over the past decade. However, breath is not yet used for routine medical diagnostic purposes. Challenges faced in the development of breath analysis for cancer diagnosis include developing techniques that can measure biomarkers in exhaled breath at ultratrace levels, providing definitive evidence for their presence and for the relationship between the proposed biomarker and the underlying condition. Various analytical methods are used for the detection of breath biomarkers. Gas chromatography-based methods which involve sample collection, analyte preconcentration, desorption, and separation steps are the most popular. However, direct-sampling mass spectrometry techniques have been proven more reliable for air analysis without prior sample pretreatment or chromatographic separation. This review focuses on the most commonly used direct mass spectrometry methods for the direct online analysis of endogenous cancer biomarkers in exhaled breath, with particular attention to principle of detection, method performance, advantages, shortcomings, recent advances, and applications within health-related studies for cancer biomarkers research. The principle behind the science of breath analysis for cancer diagnosis is also discussed.
Frequency Tuning and Modulation of a Quantum Cascade Laser with an Integrated Resistive Heater

We present a detailed experimental investigation of the use of a novel actuator for frequency tuning and modulation in a quantum cascade laser (QCL) based on a resistive integrated heater (IH) placed close to the active region. This new actuator is attractive for molecular spectroscopy applications as it enables fast tuning of the QCL wavelength with a minor influence on the optical output power, and is electrically-controlled. Using a spectroscopic setup comprising a low-pressure gas cell, we measured the tuning and modulation properties of a QCL emitting at 7.8 μm as a function of the active region and IH currents. We show that a current step applied to the IH enables the laser frequency to be switched by 500 MHz in a few milliseconds, as fast as for a step of the current in the active region, and limited by heat dissipation towards the laser sub-mount. The QCL optical frequency can be modulated up to ~100 kHz with the IH current, which is one order of magnitude slower than for the QCL current, but sufficient for many spectroscopic applications. We discuss the experimental results using a thermal model of the heat transfer in terms of cascaded low-pass filters and extract the respective cut-off frequencies. Finally, we present a proof-of-principle experiment of wavelength modulation spectroscopy of a N2O transition performed with a modulation of the IH current and show some potential benefits in comparison to QCL current modulation, which results from the reduced associated amplitude modulation.
Fast Radial and Bilateral Symmetry Detection Using Inverted Gradient Hash Maps

This paper presents a fast and novel algorithm for both radial and bilateral symmetry detection based on inverted gradient hash maps (IGHMs). A hash map is an associative array that stores image gradient magnitudes and orientations in the form of an inverted index. This mapping of image gradients to their locations permits points of interest to be located very rapidly without needing to search through the image. Unlike other symmetry operators it is able to detect symmetries without needing the range of the symmetry to be known apriori. It can also easily detect large-scale symmetry. The method is described and experimentally evaluated against existing methods for both radial and bilateral symmetry detection.
Optimal strategies for a class of sequential control problems with precedence relations

Consider the following multi-phase project management problem. Each project is divided into several phases. All projects enter the next phase at the same point chosen by the decision maker based on observations up to that point. Within each phase, one can pursue the projects in any order. When pursuing the project with one unit of resource, the project state changes according to a Markov chain. The probability distribution of the Markov chain is known up to an unknown parameter. When pursued, the project generates a random reward depending on the phase and the state of the project and the unknown parameter. The decision maker faces two problems: (a) how to allocate resources to projects within each phase, and (b) when to enter the next phase, so that the total expected reward is as large as possible. In this paper we formulate the preceding problem as a stochastic scheduling problem and propose asymptotic optimal strategies, which minimize the shortfall from perfect information payoff. Concrete examples are given to illustrate our method.
Haemodialysis patients' views on their resuscitation status.

BACKGROUND Guidelines on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) recommend that decisions about resuscitation are part of every patient's care plan. We aimed to ascertain the initial views of a haemodialysis cohort in the UK regarding their CPR status in the event of an in-hospital cardiac arrest not related to dialysis. METHODS During outpatient clinic follow-up between January and March 2001, 66 haemodialysis patients were interviewed by one of two interviewers. A standard interview format was used, which included information on complications and outcome of CPR in haemodialysis patients. Patients had no prior opportunity to discuss the issue with a third party. RESULTS Fifty patients (76%) wished to receive CPR. Five patients decided against CPR, of whom two were depressed. Six patients were undecided. Five patients were excluded from the analysis because of lack of mental capacity or language difficulties. Patients who wished to receive CPR were significantly younger (59 +/- 16 vs 74 +/- 10 years, respectively; P < 0.01) and had a significantly higher serum albumin level compared with those who did not opt for CPR or were undecided. There was no difference in gender, comorbidity, length of time on dialysis, proportion of patients with adequate dialysis and mean haemoglobin level between those who wished CPR and those who did not. CONCLUSIONS The majority of haemodialysis patients wished to receive CPR. These patients were younger than those who did not opt for CPR. Clearer strategies on third-party consultation and follow-up interviews are needed to guarantee that patients' wishes are respected at all times.