Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Complete Circular Genome Sequence and Temperature Independent Adaptation to Anaerobiosis of Listeria weihenstephanensis DSM 24698

The aim of this study was to analyze the adaptation of the environmental Listeria weihenstephanensis DSM 24698 to anaerobiosis. The complete circular genome sequence of this species is reported and the adaptation of L. weihenstephanensis DSM 24698 to oxygen availability was investigated by global transcriptional analyses via RNAseq at 18 and 34°C. A list of operons was created based on the transcriptional data. Forty-two genes were upregulated anaerobically and 62 genes were downregulated anaerobically. The oxygen dependent gene expression of selected genes was further validated via qPCR. Many of the differentially regulated genes encode metabolic enzymes indicating broad metabolic adaptations with respect to oxygen availability. Genes showing the strongest oxygen-dependent adaption encoded nitrate (narGHJI) and nitrite (nirBD) reductases. Together with the observation that nitrate supported anaerobic growth, these data indicate that L. weihenstephanensis DSM 24698 performs anaerobic nitrate respiration. The wide overlap between the oxygen-dependent transcriptional regulation at 18 and 34°C suggest that temperature does not play a key role in the oxygen-dependent transcriptional regulation of L. weihenstephanensis DSM 24698.
Drug-Eluting or Bare Metal Stents for the Treatment of Saphenous Vein Graft Disease: A Bayesian Meta-Analysis

Background—Observational studies and randomized, controlled trials have yielded uncertain results regarding the benefits of drug-eluting stents (DES) for the treatment of saphenous vein graft (SVG) disease. The objective of this meta-analysis was to assess the cumulative evidence regarding the efficacy and effectiveness of DES to treat SVG compared with bare metal stent (BMS). Methods and Results—We conducted a bayesian hierarchical meta-analysis of all randomized, controlled trials and observational studies that compared clinical outcomes after DES or BMS placement in SVG disease. Our search resulted in 25 studies, cumulating 5755 patients. DES implantation was not associated with an increased risk of death (odds ratio [OR], 0.85; 95% credible intervals (CrI) [CrI], 0.62 to 1.21) or myocardial infarction (OR, 0.83; 95% CrI, 0.56 to 1.32), but wide CrIs preclude definitive conclusions. Target vessel revascularization (OR, 0.55; 95% CrI, 0.39 to 0.76) and target lesion revascularization (OR, 0.58; 95% CrI, 0.37 to 0.87) were both reduced by approximately 45% with DES. When combining these outcomes, the OR for major adverse cardiac events was reduced in patients treated with DES (OR, 0.62; 95% CrI, 0.46 to 0.81). Finally, the relative risk of stent thrombosis appeared lower with DES, although again the CrIs were very wide (OR, 0.54; 95% CrI, 0.13 to 1.39). Conclusions—In this study-level meta-analysis, the largest ever reported and the first using bayesian methods, the use of DES for the treatment of SVG disease reduces target vessel revascularization and target lesion revascularization procedures compared with BMS. Although there is no evidence to date to suggest increased rates of mortality, myocardial infarction, or stent thrombosis, further data are needed to address this safety issue.
CD44 Antibodies Inhibit Osteoclast Formation

Osteoclast differentiation is a complex process requiring multiple factors and sequential regulation. We have determined that CD44, a cell surface glycoprotein that is known to function as an adhesion receptor, is involved in this process. By immunocytochemistry, we show that CD44 is expressed in mouse osteoclasts that develop in primary cultures of bone marrow cells treated with 1α,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D3. Monoclonal antibodies to CD44 inhibit osteoclast formation in bone marrow cultures in a dose‐ and time‐dependent manner. In contrast, CD44 Fab monomer antibodies have no effect on osteoclast development, suggesting that the inhibition of differentiation by the whole antibodies is facilitated by cross‐linking of CD44 molecules. Cocultures of spleen cells and ST2 bone marrow stromal cells indicate that hematopoietic cells mediate the CD44 antibody inhibitory effect. CD44 antibodies do not inhibit osteoclast resorption of calcified matrix, indicating that CD44 is not absolutely required for resorption activity. These observations demonstrate that CD44 may play a role in osteoclast formation and suggest mechanisms by which CD44 antibody effects are mediated.
An elaboration likelihood model based longitudinal analysis of attitude change during the process of IT acceptance via education program

The principal objective of this study was to gain insight into attitude changes occurring during IT acceptance from the perspective of elaboration likelihood model (ELM). In particular, the primary target of this study was the process of IT acceptance through an education program. Although the Internet and computers are now quite ubiquitous, and thus many people can come to an acceptance of IT organically – including acceptance of such products as new released online services or software, some software – most notably programming languages and spreadsheets – may require education programs, and the efficacy of that education may determine the rate of acceptance. Thus, education programs for such IT may be regarded as not only teaching and training how to use the product from a technical standpoint, but also as a process by which program participants are persuaded to have a positive attitude towards accepting the new IT. This study adopted an ELM based longitudinal approach to capture the changes in the roles of persuasion routes and attitude during IT acceptance – in this case, the education program. To validate empirically the suggested model, junior students majoring in business administration, all of whom were taking an Excel class, were surveyed twice – just after mid-term and just after their final exam. These data were analysed via partial least-square method to deduce some possible implications. Our results supported all the hypotheses put forward.
A viral sampling design for testing the molecular clock and for estimating evolutionary rates and divergence times

MOTIVATION The high pace of viral sequence change means that variation in the times at which sequences are sampled can have a profound effect both on the ability to detect trends over time in evolutionary rates and on the power to reject the Molecular Clock Hypothesis (MCH). Trends in viral evolutionary rates are of particular interest because their detection may allow connections to be established between a patient's treatment or condition and the process of evolution. Variation in sequence isolation times also impacts the uncertainty associated with estimates of divergence times and evolutionary rates. Variation in isolation times can be intentionally adjusted to increase the power of hypothesis tests and to reduce the uncertainty of evolutionary parameter estimates, but this fact has received little previous attention. RESULTS We provide approximations for the power to reject the MCH when the alternative is that rates change in a linear fashion over time and when the alternative is that rates differ randomly among branches. In addition, we approximate the standard deviation of estimated evolutionary rates and divergence times. We illustrate how these approximations can be exploited to determine which viral sample to sequence when samples representing different dates are available.
Print signatures for document authentication

We present a novel solution for authenticating printed paper documents by utilizing the inherent non--repeatable randomness existing in the printing process. For a document printed by a laser-printer, we extract the unique features of the non--repeatable print content for each copy. The shape profiles of this content are used as the feature to represent the uniqueness of that particular printed copy. These features along with some important document content is then captured as the print signature. We present theoretical and experimental details on how to register as well as authenticate this print signature. The security analysis of this technique is also presented. We finally provide experimental results to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method.
"Continuous-state Graphical Models for Object Localization, Pose Estimation and Tracking"

Reasoning about pose and motion of objects, based on images or video, is an important task for many machine vision applications. Estimating the pose of articulated objects such as people and animals is particularly challenging due to the complexity of the possible poses yet has applications in computer vision, medicine, biology, animation, and entertainment. Realistic natural scenes, object motion, noise in the image observations, incomplete evidence that arises from occlusions, and high dimensionality of the pose itself are all challenges that need to be addressed. In this thesis we propose a class of approaches that model objects using continuous-state graphical models. We show that these approaches can be used to effectively model complex objects by allowing tractable and robust inference algorithms that are able to infer pose of these objects in the presence of realistic appearance variations and articulations. We use continuous-state graphical models to model both rigid and articulated object structures; where nodes correspond to parts of objects and edges represent the constraints between parts encoded as statistical distributions. For rigid objects, these constraints can model spatial and temporal relationships between parts; for articulated objects kinematic, inter-penetration and occlusion relationships. Localization, pose estimation, and tracking can then be formulated as inference in these graphical models. This has a number of advantages over more traditional methods. First, these models allow inference algorithms that scale linearly with the number of body parts by breaking up the high-dimensional search for pose into a number of lower-dimensional collaborative searches. Secondly, partial occlusions can be dealt with robustly by propagating spatial information between parts. Thirdly, "bottom-up" information can be incorporated directly and effectively into the inference process, helping the algorithm to recover from transient tracking failures. We show that these hierarchical continuous-state graphical models can be used to solve the challenging problem of inferring the 3D pose of the person from a single monocular image.
TEDS: a High Speed Digital Mobile Communication Air Interface for Professional Users Part I: Overview of Physical Layer

The TETRA enhanced data service (TEDS) standard has been developed within the Technical Committee TETRA of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute as a major upgrade to the existing narrow-band ETSI TETRA system to supply professional users with high-speed IP packet data services over wireless mobile channels. TEDS includes a number of innovative key features such as multicarrier-based modulation format, powerful payload and header encoding, link adaptation and others. The aim of this paper is to give a comprehensive overview of the TEDS standard with particular emphasis to the physical layer features. Upper layer protocols are treated in a companion paper. Representative link performance results obtained via computer simulations are given for typical wireless environment setups.
Large-Scale, Lineage-Specific Expansion of a Bric-a-Brac/Tramtrack/Broad Complex Ubiquitin-Ligase Gene Family in Rice[W]

Selective ubiquitination of proteins is directed by diverse families of ubiquitin-protein ligases (or E3s) in plants. One important type uses Cullin-3 as a scaffold to assemble multisubunit E3 complexes containing one of a multitude of bric-a-brac/tramtrack/broad complex (BTB) proteins that function as substrate recognition factors. We previously described the 80-member BTB gene superfamily in Arabidopsis thaliana. Here, we describe the complete BTB superfamily in rice (Oryza sativa spp japonica cv Nipponbare) that contains 149 BTB domain–encoding genes and 43 putative pseudogenes. Amino acid sequence comparisons of the rice and Arabidopsis superfamilies revealed a near equal repertoire of putative substrate recognition module types. However, phylogenetic comparisons detected numerous gene duplication and/or loss events since the rice and Arabidopsis BTB lineages split, suggesting possible functional specialization within individual BTB families. In particular, a major expansion and diversification of a subset of BTB proteins containing Meprin and TRAF homology (MATH) substrate recognition sites was evident in rice and other monocots that likely occurred following the monocot/dicot split. The MATH domain of a subset appears to have evolved significantly faster than those in a smaller core subset that predates flowering plants, suggesting that the substrate recognition module in many monocot MATH-BTB E3s are diversifying to ubiquitinate a set of substrates that are themselves rapidly changing. Intriguing possibilities include pathogen proteins attempting to avoid inactivation by the monocot host.
Evaluation of walk optimisation techniques for the NAO robot

Locomotion performance is a critical component of any humanoid robot application. The procedure of optimising a walk engine has a high cost in both resources and time. The selection of the most appropriate optimisation algorithm, fitness function, and parameter space to maximise the benefit-cost ratio can dramatically improve the performance of the optimisation process.
Capital Structure Arbitrage: Model Choice and Volatility Calibration

When identifying relative value opportunities across credit and equity markets, the arbitrageur faces two major problems, namely positions based on model misspeci cation and mismeasured inputs. Using credit default swap data, this paper addresses both concerns in a convergence-type trading strategy. In spite of dierences in assumptions governing default and calibration, we nd the exact structural model linking the markets second to timely key inputs. Studying an equally-weighted portfolio of all relative value positions, the excess returns are insigni cant when based on a traditional volatility from historical equity returns. However, relying on an implied volatility from equity options results in a substantial gain in strategy execution and highly signi cant excess returns - even when small gaps are exploited. The gain is largest in the speculative grade segment, and cannot be explained from systematic market risk factors. Although the strategy may seem attractive at an aggregate level, positions on individual obligors can be very risky.
Derivational morphophonology: exploring errors in third graders' productions.

PURPOSE This study describes a post hoc analysis of segmental, stress, and syllabification errors in third graders' productions of derived English words with the stress-changing suffixes -ity and -ic. We investigated whether (a) derived word frequency influences error patterns, (b) stress and syllabification errors always co-occur, and (c) derived word stress pattern affects errors. METHOD A total of 1,900 productions from 81 third-grade children were transcribed and coded. The targets were 8 high-frequency (HF) and 8 low-frequency (LF) real English words and 8 nonsense (NS) derived words. Participants combined a suffix and a base word to produce a derived word. The vowel-initial suffixes required both stress and syllabic changes in a base word. RESULTS Children made more segmental and stress errors on NS words than on HF and LF words, but more syllabification errors on LF words than on HF and NS words. More items among the LF words required vowel alternations than among the HF words. When syllabification was not mastered, stress was usually incorrect; however, when syllabification was correct, children often still erred on stress. Derived words that contained 2 trochaic feet were produced with fewer errors than were those that only had 1 trochaic foot. CONCLUSION Rather than a frequency effect, a lexical effect emerged such that real words were more similar to each other for segmental and stress errors than they were to NS words. Three findings suggest that prosody plays a role in errors: Children made more suprasegmental than segmental errors, they appeared to master syllabification before stress placement, and they produced fewer errors on derived words with 2 trochaic feet than on those with only 1 trochaic foot. Although these results are preliminary, they highlight the role of prosody in morphophonology.
Autonomous resource provision in virtual data centers

In recent years the advances in cloud computing and virtualization have created the need for autonomic resource provision. The correct provisioning of resources is a difficult task due to variations and uncertainty in workload demands. Most data center workload demands are very spiky in nature and often vary significantly during the course of a single day. Because the resource availability in a data center is generally unpredictable due to the shared feature of the cloud resources and because of the stochastic nature of the workload, severe service level agreement (SLA) violations may occur frequently. To overcome this problem, researcher's attention is diverted towards developing dynamic resource management strategies. In this paper, an autonomic resource controller is proposed that dynamically controls the resource allocation for data center's virtual containers. The controller has two parts: A resource modeler that models the non-linearity of the system by employing different Machine Learning techniques allowing the datacenter to allocate the appropriate resources and a resource fuzzy tuner that dynamically tunes the allocated resources using fuzzy logic to sustain the desired performance taking into consideration the enforcing of service differentiation among clients. Experimental results on a real data center dataset showed that the proposed resource controller can predict future resource needs while still sustaining performance goals stated in the SLA. Also, using the bagging and the boosting techniques along with model tree classifiers was demonstrated to be promising in terms of accuracy and performance.
Discourse and technology : multimodal discourse analysis

1. Multimodal Discourse Analysis as the Confluence of Discourse and TechnologyRon Scollon and Philip LeVine 2. Ten Reasons Why Linguists Should Pay Attention to Visual CommunicationTheo Van Leeuwen 3. The Problem of Context in Computer Mediated CommunicationRodney H. Jones 4. "The Way to Write a Phone Call": Multimodality in Novices' Use and Perceptions of Interactive Written Discourse (IWD)Angela Goddard 5. Trying on Voices: Using Questions to Establish Authority, Identity, and Recipient Design in Electronic DiscourseBoyd Davis and Peyton Mason 6. Mock Taiwanese-Accented Mandarin in the Internet Community in Taiwan: The Interaction between Technology, Linguistic Practice, and Language IdeologiesHsi-Yao Su 7. Materiality in Discourse: The Influence of Space and Layout in Making MeaningIngrid de Saint-Georges 8. The Multimodal Negotiation of Service EncountersLaurent Filliettaz 9. Multimodal Discourse Analysis: A Conceptual FrameworkSigrid Norris 10. Files, Forms, and Fonts: Mediational Means and Identity Negotiation in Immigration InterviewsAlexandra Johnston 11. Modalities of Turn-Taking in Blind/Sighted Interaction: Better to Be Seen and Not Heard? Elisa Everts 12. "Informed Consent" and Other Ethical Conundrums in Videotaping InteractionsElaine K. Yakura 13. The Moral Spectator: Distant Suffering in September 11th Live FootageLilie Chouliaraki 14. Ethnography of Language in the Age of Video: "Voices" as Multimodal Constructions in Some Contexts of Religious and Clinical AuthorityJoel Kuipers 15. Multimodality and New Communication TechnologiesCarey Jewitt 16. Origins: A Brief Intellectual and Technological History of the Emergence of Multimodal Discourse AnalysisFrederick Erickson 17. Studying WorkscapesMarilyn Whalen and Jack Whalen with Robert Moore, Geoff Raymond, Margaret Szymanski, and Erik Vinkhuyzen
Probabilistic Coverage Preserving Protocol with Energy Efficiency in Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper, we propose a k-coverage preserving protocol to achieve energy efficiency while ensuring the required coverage. In our protocol, we try to select a minimal active set of sensor nodes to reach energy conservation and maintain a complete area k-coverage. We model this problem as a minimum set cover problem and solve it by using a heuristic greedy algorithm. Based on the k-coverage preserving protocol, we then propose a protocol to deal with the probabilistic k-coverage requirement, in which each sensor could be assumed to be able to detect a nearby event with a certain probability. In the probabilistic k-coverage protocol, any point in the monitoring region can be sensed by at least k sensor nodes no lower than a confidence probability. Finally, we evaluate the performance of our protocols with simulations.
Dizziness in elderly individuals: otoneurological diagnosis and interference on the quality of life Tontura em idosos: diagnóstico otoneurológico e interferência na qualidade de vida

Purpose: To verify the otoneurological diagnosis of elderly individuals with dizziness and the interference of this symptom in their quality of life. Methods: Cross-sectional study, conducted with 56 elderly individuals with dizziness. Subjects’ mean age was 71.2 years, and they were submitted to otoneurological assessment, which involved: pure-tone, speech and impedance audiometry, balance assessment, testing for positional and positioning vertigo and nystagmus, and vectoelectronystagmography. A specific questionnaire for dizziness was used to assess the quality of life, the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI), which verifies the handicap effects pro voked by this symptom. Results: Rotatory dizziness was reported by 29 patients (51.8%), 75% presented some hearing complaint, and 69.6% had altered results in audiometry. Patients with vestibular complaints of positional dizziness presented significant difference for the physical aspect of the DHI. Patients with vestibular complaints of imbalance showed significant difference for the functional and emotional aspects. The computerized vectoelectronystagmography was altered in 47 patients (83.9%), indicating peripheral vestibular disorder in all cases. In the post-caloric assessment, hyperreflexia was the most prevalent alteration, and the most frequent diagnosis was Deficient Peripheral Vestibular Syndrome to the Left. Regarding quality of life, the functional aspect had the highest average score among the three aspects evaluated, and there was a significant difference between the functional and emotional aspects. Conclusion: Most elderly patients with dizziness present alterations in audiometry and vectoelectronystagmography, which indicate a disorder in the vestibulocochlear system; they also present impaired quality of life.
Fast and accurate packet delivery estimation based on DSSS chip errors

Fast and accurate link quality estimation is an important feature for wireless protocols such as routing, rate switching or handover. Existing signal strength based estimators tend to be fast but inaccurate while packet statistic based approaches are more accurate but require longer estimation times. We propose a new link quality estimation approach based on chip errors in symbols for direct sequence spread spectrum transceivers. The new link quality estimator is evaluated experimentally with software defined radios on IEEE 802.15. 4 for different link conditions, including multi-path and mobile scenarios. We show that our chip error based link quality estimator performs more accurately than received signal strength based estimators and much faster than the packet statistic based estimators with comparable accuracy. With our approach, only a single packet, or even a fraction of a packet (e.g., only a few symbols), is necessary to obtain similar performance as state-of-the-art approaches that require at least 10 packets.