Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DiversiNews: Surfacing Diversity in Online News

For most events of at least moderate significance, there are likely tens, often hundreds or thousands of online articles reporting on it, each from a slightly different perspective. If we want to understand an event in depth, from multiple perspectives, we need to aggregate multiple sources and understand the relations between them. However, current news aggregators do not offer this kind of functionality. As a step towards a solution, we propose DiversiNews, a real-time news aggregation and exploration platfom whose main feature is a novel set of controls that allow users to contrast reports of a selected event based on topical emphases, sentiment differences and/or publisher geolocation. News events are presented in the form of a ranked list of articles pertaining to the event and an automatically generated summary. Both the ranking and the summary are interactive and respond in real time to user’s change of controls. We validated the concept and the user interface through user tests with positive results.
Propagation modelling in troposphere using paraxial form of Helmholtz equation

A new beam propagation method is developed based on direct approximations of Helmholtz equation. In this work, the Helmholtz equation applied on radiowave tropospheric propagation, properly manipulated, and resulting in a one dimensional form, is solved using finite element method. By using this method, horizontal and vertical tropospheric characteristics are assigned to every element, and different refractivity profiles can be entered at different stages. We also implement some abnormal environmental conditions to assess our method, and investigate ducting phenomena in troposphere.
Unraveling the Specific Regulation of the Central Pathway for Anaerobic Degradation of 3-Methylbenzoate

Background: The specific transcriptional regulation of the mbd pathway for anaerobic 3-methylbenzoate degradation is unknown. Results: The MbdR/3-methylbenzoyl-CoA couple controls the induction of the mbd genes. Conclusion: MbdR is the regulator of the mbd pathway in Azoarcus sp. CIB. Significance: This work highlights the importance of the regulatory systems in the evolution and adaptation of bacteria to the anaerobic degradation of aromatic compounds. The mbd cluster encodes the anaerobic degradation of 3-methylbenzoate in the β-proteobacterium Azoarcus sp. CIB. The specific transcriptional regulation circuit that controls the expression of the mbd genes was investigated. The PO, PB1, and P3R promoters responsible for the expression of the mbd genes, their cognate MbdR transcriptional repressor, as well as the MbdR operator regions (ATACN10GTAT) have been characterized. The three-dimensional structure of MbdR has been solved revealing a conformation similar to that of other TetR family transcriptional regulators. The first intermediate of the catabolic pathway, i.e. 3-methylbenzoyl-CoA, was shown to act as the inducer molecule. An additional MbdR-dependent promoter, PA, which contributes to the expression of the CoA ligase that activates 3-methylbenzoate to 3-methylbenzoyl-CoA, was shown to be necessary for an efficient induction of the mbd genes. Our results suggest that the mbd cluster recruited a regulatory system based on the MbdR regulator and its target promoters to evolve a distinct central catabolic pathway that is only expressed for the anaerobic degradation of aromatic compounds that generate 3-methylbenzoyl-CoA as the central metabolite. All these results highlight the importance of the regulatory systems in the evolution and adaptation of bacteria to the anaerobic degradation of aromatic compounds.
Predictability of machine learning techniques to forecast the trends of market index prices: Hypothesis testing for the Korean stock markets

The prediction of the trends of stocks and index prices is one of the important issues to market participants. Investors have set trading or fiscal strategies based on the trends, and considerable research in various academic fields has been studied to forecast financial markets. This study predicts the trends of the Korea Composite Stock Price Index 200 (KOSPI 200) prices using nonparametric machine learning models: artificial neural network, support vector machines with polynomial and radial basis function kernels. In addition, this study states controversial issues and tests hypotheses about the issues. Accordingly, our results are inconsistent with those of the precedent research, which are generally considered to have high prediction performance. Moreover, Google Trends proved that they are not effective factors in predicting the KOSPI 200 index prices in our frameworks. Furthermore, the ensemble methods did not improve the accuracy of the prediction.
Observations of the Earth's Radiation Budget in relation to atmospheric hydrology. 4: Atmospheric column radiative cooling over the world's oceans

This paper introduces a simple method for deriving climatological values of the longwave flux emitted from the clear sky atmosphere to the ice-free ocean surface. Simulations of the clear sky longwave fluxes to space and to the surface are employed in this study to assist in the development of this flux retrieval which requires monthly averaged column-integrated water vapor w and the clear sky top-of-atmosphere (TOA) outgoing longwave flux (both available from satellite measurements). It is shown using both theory and data from simulations how the ratio of the surface to TOA flux is a simple function of w and a validation of the simple relationship is presented based on a limited set of surface flux measurements. The rms difference between the retrieved surface fluxes and the simulated surface fluxes is approximately 6 W m−2. The clear sky column cooling rate of the atmosphere is derived from the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) values of the clear sky TOA flux and the surface flux retrieved using Special Scanning Microwave Imager (SSM/I) measurements of w together with ERBE clear sky fluxes. The relationship between this column cooling rate, w, and the sea surface temperature (SST) is explored and it is shown how the cooling rate systematically increases as both w and SST increase. The uncertainty implied in these estimates of cooling are approximately ±0.2 K d−1. The effects of clouds on this longwave cooling are also explored in a limited way by placing bounds on the possible impact of clouds on the column cooling rate based on certain assumptions about the effect of clouds on the longwave flux to the surface. While a more global assessment of the cloud effect must await use of new satellite data that will allow us to estimate the contributions by clouds to these surface fluxes, it is shown in this paper how the longwave effects of clouds in a moist atmosphere where the column water vapor exceeds approximately 30 kg m−2 may be estimated from presently available satellite data with an uncertainty estimated to be approximately 0.2 K d−1. Based on an approach described in this paper, we show how clouds in these relatively moist regions decrease the column cooling by almost 50% of the clear sky values and the existence of significant longitudinal gradients in column radiative heating across the equatorial and subtropical Pacific Ocean.
The Effects of Traffic Patterns on Power Consumption of Torus-Connected NoCs with Faults

High performance, reliability, transient and permanentfault-tolerance, and low energy consumption are majorobjectives of Networks-on-Chip (NoCs). Since,different applications impose various communicationrequirements in NoCs, a number of research studieshave revealed that the performance advantages ofrouting schemes are more noticeable on powerconsumption under different traffic patterns. However,the power consumption issues of NoCs have not beenthoroughly investigated in the presence of faultyregions. To the best of our knowledge, this research isthe first attempt to examine the effects of most populartraffic patterns (i.e., Uniform, Local, and Hot-Spot) onpower consumption of NoCs in the presence ofpermanent faults.
Selection of Reference Genes for Quantitative Gene Expression Studies in Platycladus orientalis (Cupressaceae) Using Real-Time PCR

Platycladus orientalis is a tree species that is highly resistant, widely adaptable, and long-lived, with lifespans of even thousands of years. To explore the mechanisms underlying these characteristics, gene expressions have been investigated at the transcriptome level by RNA-seq combined with a digital gene expression (DGE) technique. So, it is crucial to have a reliable set of reference genes to normalize the expressions of genes in P. orientalis under various conditions using the most accurate and sensitive method of quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). In this study, we selected 10 reference gene candidates from transcriptome data of P. orientalis, and examined their expression profiles by qRT-PCR using 29 different samples of P. orientalis, which were collected from plants of different ages, different tissues, and plants subjected to different treatments including cold, heat, salinity, polyethylene glycol (PEG), and abscisic acid (ABA). Three analytical software packages (geNorm, Bestkeeper, and NormFinder) were used to assess the stability of gene expression. The results showed that ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2 (UBC) and alpha-tubulin (aTUB) were the optimum pair of reference genes at all developmental stages and under all stress conditions. ACT7 was the most stable gene across different tissues and cold-treated samples, while UBQ was the most stably expressed reference gene for NaCl- and ABA-treated samples. In parallel, aTUB and UBC were used singly or in combination as reference genes to examine the expression levels of NAC (a homolog of AtNAC2) in plants subjected to various treatments with qRT-PCR. The results further proved the reliability of the two selected reference genes. Our study will benefit future research on the expression of genes in response to stress/senescence in P. orientalis and other members of the Cupressaceae.
Speaking up for the suffering (br)other: Weibo activism, discursive struggles, and minimal politics in China

More than two decades after China was first connected to the Internet, scholars still debate the political impact of online media. Yet, the debate is stalled by a limited view of both politics and the media’s role in political contestation. In order to offer a more nuanced account of the relationship between online media and politics, this article proposes a theoretical framework that pays attention to discursive struggles, identifies strategies to contest hegemonic discourses, and employs a broadened notion of politics, referred to as minimal politics. The framework is then used to analyze a corpus of Weibo (microblog) posts published by the charity organization, Love Save Pneumoconiosis (LSP). LSP activists use Weibo to campaign for medical treatment for workers with pneumoconiosis, and the article identifies two strategies of contestation in LSP activists’ online activism. First, LSP activists articulate alternative discourses that challenge the hegemony of official discourses. Second, LSP activists’ discourses are polyphonic expressions that legitimize the organization’s work, while subtly politicizing the problem of pneumoconiosis. The strategies of contestation used by LSP activists exemplify how political contestation is possible in repressive contexts and illustrate the need to refine the theories used to study the political impact of online media.
A high fidelity contrast improving model based on human vision mechanisms

We propose a computational model of adjusting color contrast and luminance contrast nonlinearly, dynamically and adaptively based on the image content. It uses lateral inhibition mechanisms and adaptation (light/dark, color) mechanisms. Our model can improve the appearance of an image naturally, both locally and globally at the same time. Our transformation shows a reverse-S-shape response, with the curvature being determined based on the content characteristics of each individual image. We demonstrate the performance by image enhancement experiments. It shows good performance in not only luminance, but also chromaticity. Our model and transformation can be applied to many fields, especially, storing or repairing images of art or cultural heritage, because it can improve images preserving original subjective impression.
A Delayed Promotion Policy for Parity Games

Parity games are two-player infinite-duration games on graphs that play a crucial role in various fields of theoretical computer science. Finding efficient algorithms to solve these games in practice is widely acknowledged as a core problem in formal verification, as it leads to efficient solutions of the model-checking and satisfiability problems of expressive temporal logics, e.g., the modal muCalculus. Their solution can be reduced to the problem of identifying sets of positions of the game, called dominions, in each of which a player can force a win by remaining in the set forever. Recently, a novel technique to compute dominions, called priority promotion, has been proposed, which is based on the notions of quasi dominion, a relaxed form of dominion, and dominion space. The underlying framework is general enough to accommodate different instantiations of the solution procedure, whose correctness is ensured by the nature of the space itself. In this paper we propose a new such instantiation, called delayed promotion, that tries to reduce the possible exponential behaviours exhibited by the original method in the worst case. The resulting procedure not only often outperforms the original priority promotion approach, but so far no exponential worst case is known.
Gene expression during activation of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis conidia

This study focuses on gene expression during crucial biological phenomena of the dimorphic fungal human pathogen Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, the conidia‐to‐yeast (C‐Y) transition and the conidia‐to‐mycelia (C‐M) germination. We studied 10 genes involved in different cellular functions: oxidative stress response (alternative oxidase (AOX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), flavodoxin, conserved hypothetical protein (Y20)); cell metabolism (glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GADPH), cholestenol Delta‐isomerase (ChDI), glycine dehydrogenase (GDh)) and heat shock response (Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90)), and cell synthesis and wall structure (glucan synthase‐1 (GS‐1), α‐1,3‐glucan synthase (αGS), and mannosyltransferase (MT)). Gene expression was measured during the first 72 h and 96 h of C‐Y and C‐M, respectively, previously shown to be a fundamental time frame for the consolidation of these cellular processes. The gene expression of AOX, GAPDH, HSP90, MT, αGS, and GDh was significantly increased during the C‐Y transition, while SOD, ChDI, GAPDH, MT, GDh, and GS‐1 were increased during C‐M germination. Additionally, some were highly expressed in each process: AOX, HSP90, and αGS during C‐Y; SOD, ChDI, and GS‐1 during C‐M. Altogether, these data add new information regarding gene expression during the C‐Y and C‐M processes. Future research will be targeted to further characterize the true relevance of the studied genes during the morphological transition, either during adaptation to the environment or to the infected host. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Politics of Gay Rights and the Gender Gap: A Perspective on the Clergy

Abstract In this article, we explore the nexus of gender, religious leadership, and attitudes toward homosexuality and gay rights. Homosexuality has become a frontline issue in American politics, as illustrated most recently by gay marriage battles in the courts and state legislatures as well as state referenda campaigns designed to define marriage legally as the union of a man and a woman. Using survey data from a national random sample of 3,208 clergy who serve in six mainline Protestant denominations, we analyze the extent to which gender operates as a significant predictor of public speech on gay rights issues. Ordinal logistic regression allows us to demonstrate that women clergy are substantially more likely than their male counterparts to speak publicly on gay rights, as well as to model more generally the factors that compel clergy to take action to address this controversial issue in public.
Probing nanotube-nanopore interactions.

We demonstrate a new nanoscale system consisting of a nanotube threaded through a nanopore in aqueous solution. Its electrical and mechanical properties are sensitive to experimentally controllable conformational changes on sub-Angstrom length scales. Ionic current transport through a nanopore is significantly suppressed by the threading nanotube and the mechanical interactions between the nanotube and pore are accounted for by a folding geometry. The experiments provide first measurements of the longitudinal resolution and metrology of a solid-state nanopore "microscope. " This new nanostructure provides a means to study molecule-nanotube interactions in conducting ionic solutions as well as geometrical and surface properties of nanopores and nanotubes.
A Cross-Cultural Study of Moral Stage Structure in Hong Kong Chinese, English, and Americans

The hierarchical structure of Kohlberg's stages of moral judgment development was tested by conducting unidimensional unfolding on the stage scores generated by the rating responses to Rest's Defining Issues Test. The sample consisted of 620 Chinese subjects in Hong Kong, 100 English subjects in London, and 353 American subjects in the United States. The results supported the hierarchical structure, provided that a reduced Stage 4 score was constructed by deleting a few Stage 4 issue statements. Results also indicated that there were obvious cultural differences in perception of the Stage 4 issue statements. The Chinese tended to regard the Stage 4 statements as more similar to those of Stages 5 and 6, whereas the English and Americans tended to regard the Stage 4 statements as more similar to those of Stages 2 and 3. This finding is interpreted in terms of a cultural difference in the perspectives on social order, norm, and law.
Meanings of Maternal Caregiving: Children with End Stage Renal Disease

The study described in this article examined the lived experience of mothers who provide care for their children with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). A total of 32 mothers participated in interviews, and 8 were observed in their natural setting for a prolonged period. Findings illuminated unique meanings about maternal caregiving that were individually constructed by each caregiving mother. These meanings appeared to be related to previous maternal life experiences and future expectations for mothers’ lives. Implications call for sufficiently flexible resources that allow mothers to renegotiate care in ways that are consistent with unique maternal meanings and needs.
Self-Organized Mechanism for Distributed Setup of Multiple Heterogeneous Intrusion Detection Systems

We propose a distributed and self-organized framework for collaboration of multiple heterogeneous IDS sensors. The framework is based on a game-theoretical approach that optimizes behavior of each IDS sensor with respect to other sensors in highly dynamic environments. We formalize the proposed collaborative architecture as a game between defenders and attackers and transform the hard problem of heterogeneous collaboration into an easier problem of finding two functions that are used in the game-theoretical model to specialize the detection mechanisms on a specific type of malicious activity. The collaboration of such more specialized IDS nodes covers much wider range of attack classes, allowing the collaborating system to maximize the overall network security awareness. We have evaluated the proposed concept on real networks, where we have shown considerable improvements in the detection capabilities of intrusion detection devices thanks to the proposed collaboration model.
Kinetics for a Membrane Reactor Reducing Perchlorate

The major objectives of this work were to operate and construct an autohydrogenotrophic reactor and estimate perchlorate degradation kinetics. The results show that autohydrogenotrophic bacteria were cultured in the reactor and capable of removing 3.6 mg/d of perchlorate in the presence of excess hydrogen (99% removal). The reactor was successful in treating the average influent perchlorate concentration of 532 μg/L to the level of 3 μg/L. A first‐order relationship was obtained between the concentration of active biomass in the reactor and the hydraulic retention time for the given amount of substrate. During the kinetic loading study, perchlorate removal ranged from 100 to 50%. The kinetic rate of perchlorate degradation observed in this study was 1.62 hr −1. The significant degradation of perchlorate in these samples indicates the ubiquity of perchlorate‐reducing organisms. Additionally, nitrate was simultaneously removed during water treatment (greater than 90% removal). Because of the excess levels of hydrogen, simultaneous removal of nitrate was not believed to significantly affect perchlorate removal. The area of concern was the lack of complete control over biological treatment. The growth of sulfate‐reducing organisms in the reactor negatively affected perchlorate removal efficiency. There were no significant effects observed on the dissolved organic carbon and total suspended solids concentration of the effluent, suggesting that the treatment did not produce a large amount of biomass washout.
A conservation plan for a global biodiversity hotspot — the Cape Floristic Region , South Africa

We produced a conservation plan that achieved conservation targets for biodiversity pattern and process in the speciesand endemic-rich Cape Floristic Region of South Africa. Features given quantitative conservation targets were land classes, localities of Proteaceae and selected vertebrate (freshwater fish, amphibians and reptiles) species, population sizes for mediumand large-sized mammals, and six types of spatial surrogates for ecological and evolutionary processes. The plan was developed in several stages using C-Plan, a decision support system linked to a geographic information system. Accepting the existing reserve system as part of the plan, we first selected spatially fixed surrogates for biodiversity processes; then we included those planning units that were essential for achieving targets for land classes, Proteaceae and vertebrate species; next we included areas required to accommodate population and design targets for large and medium-sized mammals; we then selected planning units required to conserve entire upland–lowland and macroclimatic gradients; and finally we resolved the options for achieving remaining targets while also consolidating the design of conservation areas. The result was a system of conservation areas, requiring, in addition to the existing reserve system, 52% of the remaining extant habitat in the planning domain, as well as restorable habitat, that will promote the persistence and continued diversification of much of the region’s biota in the face of ongoing habitat loss and climate change. After describing the planning process, we discuss implementation priorities in relation to conservation value and vulnerability to habitat loss, as well as socio-economic, political and institutional constraints and opportunities. # 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.