Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Privacy-aware filter-based feature selection

A large amount of digital information collected and stored in databases creates new opportunities for knowledge discovery and data mining. The datasets, however, may contain personally identifiable information that needs to be protected. With high dimensionality of many large datasets, dimensionality reduction such as feature selection becomes indispensible. In this work, we aim at incorporating privacy into the very process of feature selection and as such, propose a privacy-aware filter-based feature selection method (PF-IFR). Our method enables data custodians to define a trade-off measure for controlling the amount of privacy and efficacy using filter-based feature selection techniques.
Usage of the S-type equivalences in medical data classification

In this article, properties and usability of equivalence operator is studied in medical data classification. It is shown how this operator can be weighted with differential evolution and aggregated with a generalized mean, and what kinds of measures for comparison can be achieved from this procedure. General definition for the comparison measure based on t-norm, t-conorm, negation and generalized mean is presented. Results achieved using procedure presented in this article seem to be very good with respect to the results achieved with the same medical data sets before.
Barrier-to-autointegration factor

Barrier-to-autointegration factor (BAF) is a DNA-bridging protein, highly conserved in metazoans. BAF binds directly to LEM (LAP2, emerin, MAN1) domain nuclear membrane proteins, including LAP2 and emerin. We used site-directed mutagenesis and biochemical analysis to map functionally important residues in human BAF, including those required for direct binding to DNA or emerin. We also tested wild-type BAF and 25 point mutants for their effects on nuclear assembly in Xenopus egg extracts, which contain ∼12 μM endogenous BAF dimers. Exogenous BAF caused two distinct effects: at low added concentrations, wild-type BAF enhanced chromatin decondensation and nuclear growth; at higher added concentrations, wild-type BAF completely blocked chromatin decondensation and nuclear growth. Mutants fell into four classes, including one that defines a novel functional surface on the BAF dimer. Our results suggest that BAF, unregulated, potently compresses chromatin structure, and that BAF interactions with both DNA and LEM proteins are critical for membrane recruitment and chromatin decondensation during nuclear assembly.
Solution structure of the C4 zinc finger domain of HDM2

HDM2 is a ubiquitin E3 ligase that is a key negative regulator of the tumor suppressor p53. Here, we report the determination of the solution structure of the C4 zinc finger domain of HDM2 using multidimensional NMR. The HDM2 C4 zinc finger domain has a fold consisting of a 310 helix followed by four β‐strands, which shares significant structural similarity to the zinc ribbon protein family. Family based sequence analysis identified two putative binding sites, one of which resembles an RNA binding motif.
A Euclidean Geometry Based Algebraic Construction Technique for Girth-8 Gallager LDPC Codes

A construction technique is proposed for low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes based on finite Euclidean geometries EG(m,2s). These codes are shown to be regular Gallager codes with Tanner graphs of girth eight. The minimum distance of these codes is shown to be lower-bounded by 2m. The codes are also amenable to an efficient partly parallel decoder implementation, which may be used in conjunction with the turbo decoding message passing (TDMP) algorithm for LDPC decoding. Finally, simulation results show that these codes have very good error-correcting performance
Intrinsically Motivated Acquisition of Modular Slow Features for Humanoids in Continuous and Non-Stationary Environments

A compact information-rich representation of the environment, also called a feature abstraction, can simplify a robot's task of mapping its raw sensory inputs to useful action sequences. However, in environments that are non-stationary and only partially observable, a single abstraction is probably not sufficient to encode most variations. Therefore, learning multiple sets of spatially or temporally local, modular abstractions of the inputs would be beneficial. How can a robot learn these local abstractions without a teacher? More specifically, how can it decide from where and when to start learning a new abstraction? A recently proposed algorithm called Curious Dr. MISFA addresses this problem. The algorithm is based on two underlying learning principles called artificial curiosity and slowness. The former is used to make the robot self-motivated to explore by rewarding itself whenever it makes progress learning an abstraction; the later is used to update the abstraction by extracting slowly varying components from raw sensory inputs. Curious Dr. MISFA's application is, however, limited to discrete domains constrained by a pre-defined state space and has design limitations that make it unstable in certain situations. This paper presents a significant improvement that is applicable to continuous environments, is computationally less expensive, simpler to use with fewer hyper parameters, and stable in certain non-stationary environments. We demonstrate the efficacy and stability of our method in a vision-based robot simulator.
Dream Content, Dream Recurrence and Well-Being: A Replication with a Younger Sample

A multivariate comparison was made among fifty-two recurrent, past-recurrent, and nonrecurrent dreamers aged eighteen to twenty-one. The participants completed measures of well-being and collected a fourteen-day sample of their own remembered dreams. Multivariate analysis showed that recurrent dreamers scored low on psychological well-being and reported more negative dream content. As was true in an earlier study, a single psychometric dimension, which we call psychological well-being, discriminated between the recurrent dream group and the other two groups over the entire set of well-being and dream content variables. As was true in two previous studies, dream archetypality was negatively correlated with a measure of neuroticism. We conclude that in both late teenagers and older adults, recurrent dreams occur in times of stress, are accompanied by negative dream content, and are associated with a deficit in psychological well-being.
Comparison of outcome measures from a trial of Mycophenolate mofetil in myasthenia gravis

We determined the strength of correlation among, and responsiveness of, outcome measures used in a multicenter, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial of mycophenolate mofetil in combination with prednisone in myasthenia gravis (MG). The primary efficacy measure was the change from baseline in the Quantitative MG (QMG) score at week 12. Secondary outcome measures included the MG—Activities of Daily Living profile (MG‐ADL) and MG Manual Muscle Test (MMT). The measures were collected at baseline and at weeks 4, 8, and 12 in the blinded study and at weeks 16, 20, 28, and 36 in an optional open‐label extension. At baseline, the QMG was moderately correlated with the MG‐ADL (r = 0.55, P < 0.0001) and the MMT (r = 0.53, P < 0.0001), but the correlation between the MG‐ADL and the MMT was lower (r = 0.30, P = 0.007). These findings were similar at weeks 4, 8, and 12. Similar correlations were found among the changes in scores from baseline at weeks 12 and 36. The MMT and MG‐ADL appeared to be the most sensitive measures for changes in MG status at weeks 12 and 36. Although a task force has recommended use of the QMG in prospective MG trials, the MMT and MG‐ADL appear to be suitable alternatives and offer potential advantages. No special training or equipment is required, and they take less time. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Muscle Nerve 38: 1429–1433, 2008
THE SPACE DENSITY OF COMPTON-THICK ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS AND THE X-RAY BACKGROUND

We constrain the number density and evolution of Compton-thick (CT) active galactic nuclei (AGNs). In the local universe, we use the wide-area surveys from the Swift and INTEGRAL satellites, while for high redshifts we explore candidate selections based on a combination of X-ray and mid-infrared (mid-IR) parameters. We find a significantly lower space density of CT AGNs in the local universe than expected from published AGN population synthesis models to explain the X-ray background (XRB). This can be explained by the numerous degeneracies in the parameters of those models; we use the high-energy surveys described here to remove those degeneracies. We show that only direct observations of CT AGNs can currently constrain the number of heavily obscured supermassive black holes. At high redshift, the inclusion of IR-selected CT AGN candidates leads to a much higher space density, implying (1) a different (steeper) evolution for these sources compared to less-obscured AGNs, (2) that the IR selection includes a large number of interlopers, and/or (3) that there is a large number of reflection-dominated AGNs missed in the INTEGRAL and Swift observations. The contribution of CT AGN to the XRB is small, ∼9%, with a comparable contribution to the total cosmic accretion, unless reflection-dominated CT AGNs significantly outnumber transmission-dominated CT AGNs, in which case their contribution can be much higher. Using estimates derived here for the accretion luminosity over cosmic time, we estimate the local mass density in supermassive black holes and find a good agreement with available constraints for an accretion efficiency of ∼10%. Transmission-dominated CT AGNs contribute only ∼8% to total black hole growth.
From Wireless Sensor Networks to Wireless Body Area Networks: Formal Modeling and Verification on Security Using PAT

Model checking has successfully been applied on verification of security protocols, but the modeling process is always tedious and proficient knowledge of formal method is also needed although the final verification could be automatic depending on specific tools. At the same time, due to the appearance of novel kind of networks, such as wireless sensor networks (WSN) and wireless body area networks (WBAN), formal modeling and verification for these domain-specific systems are quite challenging. In this paper, a specific and novel formal modeling and verification method is proposed and implemented using an expandable tool called PAT to do WSN-specific security verification. At first, an abstract modeling data structure for CSP#, which is built in PAT, is developed to support the node mobility related specification for modeling location-based node activity. Then, the traditional Dolev-Yao model is redefined to facilitate modeling of location-specific attack behaviors on security mechanism. A throughout formal verification application on a location-based security protocol in WSN is described in detail to show the usability and effectiveness of the proposed methodology. Furthermore, also a novel location-based authentication security protocol in WBAN can be successfully modeled and verified directly using our method, which is, to the best of our knowledge, the first effort on employing model checking for automatic analysis of authentication protocol for WBAN.
Extraction of Affine Invariant Features Using Fractal

An approach based on fractal is presented for extracting affine invariant features. Central projection transformation is employed to reduce the dimensionality of the original input pattern, and general contour (GC) of the pattern is derived. Affine invariant features cannot be extracted from GC directly due to shearing. To address this problem, a group of curves (which are called shift curves) are constructed from the obtained GC. Fractal dimensions of these curves can readily be computed and constitute a new feature vector for the original pattern. The derived feature vector is used in question for pattern recognition. Several experiments have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. Experimental results show that the proposed method can be used for object classification.
IT impacts on operation-level agility in service industries

This study examines the relationship between operation-level agility and firm performance in service industries. The study is augmented by investigating the role of IT resources and competence to achieve this specific type of agility. As of to date, most of the published literature in this stream of research has focused on manufacturing industry. This research is an early attempt to examine the strategic value of IT-enabled operational capabilities in service industry. We propose a theory-based model of the positive relationships among IT service competence, operation-level agility, and firm performance. Survey data of medium to large-size enterprises in service industries in the United States were used to validate the proposed model. The results indicate that operation-level agility is a significant driving force of firm performance in the service industries and that IT service competence significantly determines the operation-level agility. The results emphasize that IT-supported operation-level agility significantly leads to a better performance.
Adapting Erving Goffman's "Gender Advertisements"to Interpret Popular Sport Depictions of American Indians

This study focuses on ethnic depictions of American Indians drawn from visual images of popular sports culture. In specific, we analyze the imagery of community sporting institutions (high school, college and professional teams) for insight into cultural expectations of Native Americans’ social behaviors and social arrangements. As a conceptual and experimental piece, we employ the theoretical definitions of Goffman's (1976) Gender Advertisements to enable the reading and interpretation of the social codes underlining these American Indian ethnic depictions
Unsuspected pyocyanin effect in yeast under anaerobiosis

The blue–green phenazine, Pyocyanin (PYO), is a well‐known virulence factor produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, notably during cystic fibrosis lung infections. It is toxic to both eukaryotic and bacterial cells and several mechanisms, including the induction of oxidative stress, have been postulated. However, the mechanism of PYO toxicity under the physiological conditions of oxygen limitation that are encountered by P. aeruginosa and by target organisms in vivo remains unclear. In this study, wild‐type and mutant strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae were used as an effective eukaryotic model to determine the toxicity of PYO (100–500 μmol/L) under key growth conditions. Under respiro‐fermentative conditions (with glucose as substrate), WT strains and certain H2O2‐hypersensitive strains showed a low‐toxic response to PYO. Under respiratory conditions (with glycerol as substrate) all the strains tested were significantly more sensitive to PYO. Four antioxidants were tested but only N‐acetylcysteine was capable of partially counteracting PYO toxicity. PYO did not appear to affect short‐term respiratory O2 uptake, but it did seem to interfere with cyanide‐poisoned mitochondria through a complex III‐dependent mechanism. Therefore, a combination of oxidative stress and respiration disturbance could partly explain aerobic PYO toxicity. Surprisingly, the toxic effects of PYO were more significant under anaerobic conditions. More pronounced effects were observed in several strains including a ‘petite’ strain lacking mitochondrial DNA, strains with increased or decreased levels of ABC transporters, and strains deficient in DNA damage repair. Therefore, even though PYO is toxic for actively respiring cells, O2 may indirectly protect the cells from the higher anaerobic‐linked toxicity of PYO. The increased sensitivity to PYO under anaerobic conditions is not unique to S. cerevisiae and was also observed in another yeast, Candida albicans.
Mechanical Control of Morphogenesis by Fat/Dachsous/Four-Jointed Planar Cell Polarity Pathway

The Right Move During development, epithelial tissues deform to give rise to functional tissues and organs. How gene expression controls local cell mechanical properties to drive tissue deformation remains poorly understood. Bosveld et al. (p. 724, published online 12 April) have uncovered how the conserved Fat/Dachsous/Four-jointed signaling pathway controls local mechanical cell properties to generate global tissue contraction in Drosophila epithelial tissue. Polarized proto-cadherin and myosin induce an anisotropic tension at cell junctions and thereby shape epithelial tissue. During animal development, several planar cell polarity (PCP) pathways control tissue shape by coordinating collective cell behavior. Here, we characterize by means of multiscale imaging epithelium morphogenesis in the Drosophila dorsal thorax and show how the Fat/Dachsous/Four-jointed PCP pathway controls morphogenesis. We found that the proto-cadherin Dachsous is polarized within a domain of its tissue-wide expression gradient. Furthermore, Dachsous polarizes the myosin Dachs, which in turn promotes anisotropy of junction tension. By combining physical modeling with quantitative image analyses, we determined that this tension anisotropy defines the pattern of local tissue contraction that contributes to shaping the epithelium mainly via oriented cell rearrangements. Our results establish how tissue planar polarization coordinates the local changes of cell mechanical properties to control tissue morphogenesis.
Postgraduate students' attitudes towards research, their research self-efficacy and their knowledge of research

The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which an online module influenced honours students’ attitudes towards research, their research self-efficacy and their knowledge of research. An availability sample (N = 279) of postgraduate students enrolled for an online course in research methodology (n = 97 for semester 1 in 2012 and n = 182 for semester 2 in 2012) at a distance education institution in South Africa was used. The attitude towards research scale, self-developed research self-efficacy and knowledge test were administered in a single group pre-post test design. Dependent t-tests revealed that in general, students’ positive attitudes towards research, their research self-efficacy and their knowledge of research increased from the onset to the completion of the module. However, students’ perceptions of the usefulness of research for their careers declined and their research anxiety and self-efficacy with regard to data analysis remained unchanged on completion of the module. These findings indicate that addressing students’ perceptions of the usefulness of research for their careers and their research anxiety may be more complex than anticipated and that it could be a process that is independent of addressing students’ research self-efficacy and their knowledge of research.
Acute stress at work

Abankemployeebecomesthevictimofahold-up.Alargecompanyissuddenlyconfrontedwith the suicide of one of its co-workers. A moment of inattentiveness and suddenly aschoolteacher has to deal with a serious accident affecting a pupil. Fire-ﬁghters discover ina burned house the corpse of one of their colleagues. These are all forms of acute stress inwork situations. Unsuspectedly, an employee has to cope with an overwhelming experienceat work which he or she can hardly handle.The consequences of acute stress at work can be serious and sometimes long lastingfor those involved. One can discern direct emotional reactions, like dismay, shock anddisbelief. These are followed by reactions like fear, anger, depression and tiredness. Theemployee concerned will be angry for some time that such a thing happened to him orher, or will fear that it might happen again. Sometimes victims blame themselves for nothaving done enough. All of these reactions inﬂuence work performance and functioningat home. The employee ﬁnds it difﬁcult to concentrate, suffers from forgetfulness and hasdifﬁculties in communicating with others. After some time tensions at work may develop,which become apparent through deterioration of work performance, irritations, fatigue,burnout and absenteeism.The interest of scientists in the consequences of acute and extreme stress has a longhistory. Already in the second half of the nineteenth century scientists and clinicians dealtwith the psychological reactions after train accidents (for example, Erichsen, 1866; for ansee overview Trimble, 1981). The studies into the consequences of war stress during andafter the Second World War (Grinker & Spiegel, 1945) and into the effects of brief, taxingcircumstances (Basowitz et al., 1955) are also examples of this interest. However, in thedomain of work and health the attention of researchers has been directed mainly to chronicstress, as is shown by the many studies on work overload and role insecurity. Only recentlyscientists as well as practitioners have turned their attention to the impact of acute stressorsin the workplace.In this chapter we deal with the characteristics and consequences of acute stress in thework situation—especially confrontations with violence—and with aspects of victim as-sistance and organizational health care. Acute stress phenomena will be analysed in this
Searching Complex Data Without an Index

We show how query-specific content-based computation can be used for interactive search when a pre-computed index is not available. Rather than text or numeric data, we focus on complex data such as digital photographs and medical images. We describe a system that can perform such interactive searches on stored data as well as live Web data. The system is able to narrow the focus of a non-indexed search by using structured data sources such as relational databases. It can also leverage domain-specific software tools in search computations. We report on the design and implementation of this system, and its use in the health sciences.
Combining Prior Symbolic Knowledge and Constructive Neural Network Learning

Abstract The concepts of knowledge-based systems and machine learning are combined by integrating an expert system and a constructive neural networks learning algorithm. Two approaches are explored: embedding the expert system directly and converting the expert system rule base into a neural network. This initial system is then extended by constructively learning additional hidden units in a problem-specific manner. Experiments performed indicate that generalization of a combined system surpasses that of each system individually.
Dealing With the Stress of College

With an increase in nontraditional students attending college, there is a need to understand how work/school/life stress affects adult students. The purpose of this study is to test a comprehensive stress model that posits appraisal (cognitive evaluation) and coping as mediators between stressors/interrole conflict and psychosocial outcomes. The model proposes that higher levels of stressors/interrole conflict will be associated with lower positive and higher negative appraisals. The model also predicts that positive and negative appraisals will predict specific adaptive and maladaptive coping behaviors. Adaptive coping results in positive outcomes, whereas negative coping leads to negative outcomes. The results support appraisal and coping as partial mediators with positive appraisal and adaptive coping having the hypothesized positive effects. Family—school conflict and school—work conflict and work stressors, in particular, emerge as key stressors for the adult student. This study provides direction for future researchers and implications for adult higher education.