Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Towards swarms of communication-enabled and intelligent sensotaxis-based bacterial microrobots capable of collective tasks in an aqueous medium

Experimental data and proofs of concepts are used to show the feasibility of providing the basic components and functionalities required for the implementation of intelligent untethered 150 × 300µm bacterial microrobots capable of sophisticated collective tasks under computer supervision and coordination. More specifically, we show that it is possible to embed within such microrobots, photovoltaic cells supplying ∼4µW necessary to power an internal microelectronic circuit providing embedded intelligence with the capability to communicate commands and data wirelessly to an external computer. We also show that such data or commands transmitted wirelessly could be used to instruct an external computer to send a swarm of flagellated bacteria to move such microrobots towards a specific target based on various sensory information acquired with specific sensors embedded in each microrobots. Similar to chemotaxis used by several species of flagellated bacteria, the algorithms used to move such microrobots could be governed by a larger range of sensory means, leading to what we refer to here as sensotaxis-based hybrid microrobots. The possibility of transmitting a request to a central computer to send a swarm of flagellated magnetotactic bacteria to provide propulsion and steering in order to move accurately to desired locations would allow such microrobots to perform collective tasks. A simple example suggesting the possibility of implementing accurate collective tasks by such hybrid microrobots is demonstrated experimentally where a microstructure emulating a V-shaped microrobot is moved and rotated autonomously using a swarm of approximately 3000 flagellated bacteria towards another similar V-shaped microstructure to form the character ‘M’ as in Microrobot.
Small Hydrophobic Protein of Human Metapneumovirus Does Not Affect Virus Replication and Host Gene Expression In Vitro

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) encodes a small hydrophobic (SH) protein of unknown function. HMPV from which the SH open reading frame was deleted (HMPVΔSH) was viable and displayed similar replication kinetics, cytopathic effect and plaque size compared with wild type HMPV in several cell-lines. In addition, no differences were observed in infection efficiency or cell-to-cell spreading in human primary bronchial epithelial cells (HPBEC) cultured at an air-liquid interphase. Host gene expression was analyzed in A549 cells infected with HMPV or HMPVΔSH using microarrays and mass spectrometry (MS) based techniques at multiple time points post infection. Only minor differences were observed in mRNA or protein expression levels. A possible function of HMPV SH as apoptosis blocker, as proposed for several members of the family Paramyxoviridae, was rejected based on this analysis. So far, a clear phenotype of HMPV SH deletion mutants in vitro at the virus and host levels is absent.
PERCEIVED COMPETENCE, DISCRIMINATION AND DEVIANT BEHAVIOUR AMONG UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEES: A MEDIATING STUDY

The study considered the mediating effect of perceived competence in the relationship between workplace discrimination and workplace deviant behavior among university employees in Southwestern Nigeria. Using a correlational research design, data were collected from university employees in four purposively selected Universities (n = 384, Females = 45.7%). Their age ranged from 21 to 63 years (median age = 48 years, SD = 9.36). Data collected using three standardized psychological scales were analysed using Pearson moment correlation and Hierarchical Multiple Regression analysis. Results showed that there was a significant inverse relationship between workplace discrimination and workplace deviant behaviour {r (382) = -. 57, p<0.05}, and that perceived competence mediated the relationship between workplace discrimination and workplace deviance among the respondents (β = -54; t = -.12.74; p<.01). The study concluded that workplace discrimination has significant negative relationship with workplace deviant behaviour and perceived competence mediated the relationship between workplace discrimination and work place deviant behaviour. Based on these findings, the study recommended that university managements should engage the services of professional organizational/industrial psychologists in developing psychological test aimed at improving competence among university staff which invariably will reduce work deviant behaviour .
Characterization of an Indoor MIMO channel in Frequency Domain using the 3D-SAGE Algorithm

In this paper, the frequency domain (FD) SAGE (Space-Alternating Generalized Expectation-maximization) algorithm has been extended to the MIMO case in order to determine the angular and temporal channel characteristics at both ends of the radio link. The implementation of the SAGE algorithm relies on the serial interference cancellation(SIC) technique which outperforms the conventional parallel interference cancellation (PIC) scheme when used in the frequency domain, especially in the common case of unequal power levels. The main purpose of our investigation has been twofold. Firstly, a synthetic environment was generated to testify the efficiency of the proposed algorithm in a severe multipath indoor scenario. Secondly, a measurement campaign was conducted and the obtained data were post- processed in order to assess the whole double-directional domain. The results revealed that the proposed algorithm demonstrates a stable performance and robustness as well as rapid convergence which are the principal criteria an estimation technique must fulfill.
A Quick Detection of Colluders in P2P CDNs to Avoid an Illegal Leak of the Contents

The objective of Peer-to-Peer Content Delivery Networks is to deliver copyrighted contents to paid clients in an efficient and secure manner. To protect such contents from being distributed to unauthorized peers, Lou and Hwang proposed a proactive content poisoning scheme to restrain an illegal download conducted by unauthorized peers, and a scheme to identify colluders who illegally leak the contents to such unauthorized peers. In this paper, we propose three schemes which extend the Lou and Hwang's colluder detection scheme in two directions. The first idea is to introduce an intensive probing to the check of suspected peers, and the second idea is to adopt a reputation system to select reliable (non-colluder) peers as a decoy. The performance of the resulting scheme is evaluated by simulation. The result of simulations indicates that the proposed schemes detect colluders 30% earlier in average than the original scheme while keeping the accuracy of the colluder detection at medium collusion rate.
Effectiveness of discriminative training and feature transformation for reverberated and noisy speech

Automatic speech recognition in the presence of non-stationary interference and reverberation remains a challenging problem. The 2nd `CHiME' Speech Separation and Recognition Challenge introduces a new and difficult task with time-varying reverberation and non-stationary interference including natural background speech, home noises, or music. This paper establishes baselines using state-of-the-art ASR techniques such as discriminative training and various feature transformation on the middle-vocabulary sub-task of this challenge. In addition, we propose an augmented discriminative feature transformation that introduces arbitrary features to a discriminative feature transformation. We present experimental results showing that discriminative training of model parameters and feature transforms is highly effective for this task, and that the augmented feature transformation provides some preliminary benefits. The training code will be released as an advanced ASR baseline.
Evaluating Tactile Feedback in Graphical User Interfaces

Tactile feedback is a modality that has become more common in user interfaces due to overall development of haptic feedback hardware. However, it is still not well understood how to get benefit from this modality in graphical user interfaces. Answering this need of knowledge we present two experiments on how tactile feedback could be used in target selection tasks when using a tactile mouse. In the first experiment twelve subjects tested four different feedback conditions: (1) mouse vibrates when the cursor is on the target, (2) mouse vibrates when the cursor is near the target so that tremble is more powerful when the mouse is near the target, (3) mouse vibrates when the cursor is far from the target so that tremble is more powerful when the mouse is far the target, and (4) normal feedback in which the mouse does not vibrate at all. In the second experiment we used the best method from the first experiment and had different target sizes. We did not find significant differences in selection times. However, we got interesting results on how people liked to use tactile feedback.
Performance Analysis of Fog Effect on Free Space Optical Communication System

In this paper, the attenuation of FSO communication systems operating at selected wavelengths of 650nm, 850nm, 950nm and 1550nm in fog models is theoretically analyzed, using 16-PPM and NRZ-OOK modulation techniques over fog channel. Four fog models are employed for optical beam propagation horizontally at different wavelengths. The received signal power, SNR is analyzed. The characteristics of bit error rate BER for 16-PPM and NRZ -OOK optical modulation techniques are studied. Simulation results show that the performance of 1550nm is more suited for an FSO communication system. On the other hand, we discuss the suitability of modulation techniques under these fog models.
Adaptive Learning through Conceptual Lattice-based SCORM Meta-Objects

When dealing with computer-mediated adaptive learning, conceptual relationships among learning objects inside a repository are essential to provide dynamic creation of learning resources. Such creation could be performed through a proper selection of learning objects according to a wide range of factors, which can vary from students' previous knowledge through individual learning styles. This problem becomes harder when learning objects to be retrieved are not physically located inside a sole repository, leading to federated searches through a pool of repositories that follow some well-established standards like SCORM. SCORM is a set of standards that allows learning objects to be modeled in order to be interoperable and reusable through repositories and learning management systems. However, in spite of its generality, SCORM does not propose any way to provide conceptual relationships among learning objects. This paper presents an alternative architecture for using SCORM to provide an effective mapping of conceptual relationships among learning objects. It is shown a navigational architecture through SCORM objects based on Conceptual Lattice Theory. Conceptual lattices are used to formalize conceptual structures, being a natural way to specify learning objects. XLink-based semantically structured links and annotations are proposed over SCORM objects, which would allow a customized point-to-point, non-linear navigation through them
A Proposed Framework for Protection of Identity Based Attack in Zigbee

ZigBee is used for emerging standard of lowpower, low-rate wireless communication which aims at interoperability and covers a full range of devices even including low- end battery-powered nodes. Zigbee is a specification for a suite of high-level communication protocols used to create personal area network built from small network. Zigbee network are vulnerable to Sybil attack in which a Sybil node send forges multiple identities to trick the system and conduct harmful attack. We propose a Sybil attack detection and prevention method using distance and address of node in Zigbee. In this technique, trusted node verifies other nodes and identifies the malicious node. We will implement this technique using NS2 with AODV protocol for mesh topology.
A robust watermarking scheme based on mean quantization

A robust watermarking scheme based on mean quantization and human visual system is proposed. Different from conventional quantization methods, each watermark bit is embedded by quantizing the mean value of a coefficient block with size 2times2 so as to make the embedded watermark more robust, and the account of modification is decided according to the characteristics of human visual system to gain better imperceptivity. In addition, we apply image scrambling to the watermark for improving its robustness against image clipping operation and security. The proposed algorithm recovers the watermark without any reference to the original image. Extensive experiments show that the proposed scheme has a good imperceptibility and high robustness to various common image processing attacks.
“Ask a Professional—Ask a Librarian”: Librarianship and the Chronic Struggle for Professional Status

Professionalizing occupations strive to convince the public, policy makers, and each other of their distinctiveness and legitimacy. Efforts to maintain professional status are a key facet of professional identity negotiation, which is complicated by technological, political, and economic threats. This study investigated librarians’ struggle to defend the legitimacy of their profession while facing threats to their status and values. Drawing on interviews (N = 32) and observations of librarians from multiple work sites, this study provides evidence for conceptualizing professionalization as an ongoing, macrosocial, communicative process through which individuals attempt to define and defend the profession. The findings contribute to institutional and communication theory of professional identity negotiation, offering the insight that the discursive resources provided by the profession shape professionals’ efforts to resist stigma facing the profession, and yet, those same professional discursive resources can make their navigation of material and discursive threats to the profession more difficult.
A Comparison of Several Linear Genetic Programming Techniques

A comparison between four Genetic Programming techniques is presented in this paper. The compared methods are Multi-Expression Programming, Gene Expression Programming, Grammatical Evolution, and Linear Genetic Programming. The comparison includes all aspects of the considered evolutionary algorithms: individual representation, fitness assignment, genetic operators, and evolutionary scheme. Several numerical experiments using five benchmarking problems are carried out. Two test problems are taken from PROBEN1 and contain real-world data. The results reveal that Multi-Expression Programming has the best overall behavior for the considered test problems, closely followed by Linear Genetic Programming.
A Mechanism Design-Based Secure Architecture for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

To avoid the single point of failure for the certificate authority (CA) in MANET, a decentralized solution is proposed where nodes are grouped into different clusters. Each cluster should contain at least two confident nodes. One is known as CA and the another as register authority RA. The Dynamic Demilitarized Zone (DDMZ) is proposed as a solution for protecting the CA node against potential attacks. It is formed from one or more RA node. The problems of such a model are: (1) Clusters with one confident node, CA, cannot be created and thus clusters' sizes are increased which negatively affect clusters' services and stability. (2) Clusters with high density of RA can cause channel collision at the CA. (3) Clusters' lifetime are reduced since RA monitors are always launched (i.e., resource consumption). In this paper, we propose a model based on mechanism design that will allow clusters with single trusted node (CA) to be created. Our mechanism will motivate nodes that does not belong to the confident community to participate by giving them incentives in the form of trust, which can be used for cluster's services. To achieve this goal, a RA selection algorithm is proposed that selects nodes based on a predefined selection criteria function. Finally, empirical results are provided to support our solutions.
Refining lexical translation training scheme for improving the quality of statistical phrase-based translation

Under word-based alignment, frequent words with consistent translations can be aligned at a high rate of precision. However, the words that are less frequent or exhibit diverse translations in training corpora generally do not have statistically significant evidences for confident alignments [7]. In this work, we will focus on proposing a bootstrapping algorithm to capture those less frequent or exhibit diverse alignments. Interestingly, we avoid making any explicit assumption concerning with the pair of languages used. As the result, we take the experimental evaluations on two phrase-based translation systems: the English-Vietnamese and English-French translation systems. Experiments point out a significant "boosting" capacity for the quality in overall for both these tasks.
Working Paper 6 / 2005 BAYESIAN METHODS IN INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION FORECASTING

The paper addresses selected methodological aspects of international migration forecasting. The objective is to present an overview of the existing methods and to propose an alternative based on the Bayesian statistics, combining the formality of inference with the subjective expert opinion. Uncertainty and judgement in migration forecasting are discussed, followed by an introduction to Bayesian statistics, and an overview of the existing forecasting methods. As an illustration, long-term migration between Germany and Poland is predicted for 2004–2010 using three Bayesian models. It is argued that due to the explicit incorporation of subjective elements in order to address the uncertainty issue, and due to the properties of the estimates and predictions, the Bayesian methods are a valuable tool for migration forecasting.
Distributed control for recruitment, scanning and subunit joining steps of translation initiation

Protein synthesis utilizes a large proportion of the available free energy in the eukaryotic cell and must be precisely controlled, yet up to now there has been no systematic rate control analysis of the in vivo process. We now present a novel study of rate control by eukaryotic translation initiation factors (eIFs) using yeast strains in which chromosomal eIF genes have been placed under the control of the tetO7 promoter system. The results reveal that, contrary to previously published reports, control of the initiation pathway is distributed over all of the eIFs, whereby rate control (the magnitude of their respective component control coefficients) follows the order: eIF4G > eIF1A > eIF4E > eIF5B. The apparent rate control effects of eIFs observed in standard cell-free extract experiments, on the other hand, do not accurately reflect the steady state in vivo data. Overall, this work establishes the first quantitative control framework for the study of in vivo eukaryotic translation.
Grounded Pronoun Learning and Pronoun Reversal

An embodied language-learning system is presented that can learn the correct deictic meanings for the wo rds “I” and “you. ” The system uses contextual clues from already understood words and sensory information from its environment to determine the most likely grounding for a new word. The system also serves as a model for the phenomenon of pronoun reversal among congenitally blind children, as the system l earns that “you” is its own name when it is blinded. The system is novel among grounded systems in that it learns language by observing interactions between other agents, rather than f rom a helpful caregiver, and in that it associates words with soc ial roles rather than reasoning about visual appearance alone.
A Telementoring Robot for Home Care

Assistive technologies for telementoring in homes constitute a very promising avenue to decrease load on the health care system, reduce hospitalization period and improve quality of life. Teleoperated from a distant location, a mobile robot with some autonomous capabilities could become a beneficial tool in telehealth applications. However, design issues related to such systems are broad and mostly unexplored (e.g. locomotion and navigation in home settings, remote interaction and patient acceptability, evaluation of clinical needs and its integration into health care information systems). Mobile robots operating in home environments must deal with constrained space and a great variety of obstacles and situations to handle. This paper presents the interdisciplinary design methodology followed to develop Telerobot, a telepresence assistive mobile robot for home care assistance of elderly people. Using field trials with existing platforms, focus groups and interviews, initial requirements for the new mobile robot platform with its augmented video user interfaces are outlined.
Research on a New Kind of Robust Backstepping Filter Derivative Control Method

A novel Lyapunov function, which contains a concept of transfer function, was constructed to prove the rightness of a new kind of robust backstepping filter derivative control method. Meanwhile, the relationship between Lyapunov function and transfer function was established, which is an important concept that can be applied in a large family of control systems. Also, the backstepping design technology is perfectly integrated with the PID control method, which was testified by the simulation result. And comparing with pure derivative method, better performance was achieved by the adopting of filter derivative method.
Assessing Poisson variation of intestinal tumour multiplicity in mice carrying a Robertsonian translocation

Summary. Tumour multiplicity is a frequently measured phenotype in animal studies of cancer biology. Poisson variation of this measurement represents a biological and statistical reference point that is usually violated, even in highly controlled experiments, owing to sources of variation in the stochastic process of tumour formation. A recent experiment on murine intestinal tumours presented conditions which seem to generate Poisson‐distributed tumour counts. If valid, this would support a claim about mechanisms by which the adenomatous polyposis coli gene is inactivated during tumour initiation. In considering hypothesis testing strategies, model choice and Bayesian approaches, we quantify the positive evidence favouring Poisson variation in this experiment. Statistical techniques used include likelihood ratio testing, the Bayes and Akaike information criteria, negative binomial modelling, reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo methods and posterior predictive checking. The posterior approximation that is based on the Bayes information criterion is found to be quite accurate in this small n case‐study.
Professional Development for New Classroom Spaces: Extending the Concerns-Based Adoption Model

This article outlines how a tertiary institution designed professional development, during the first year of a long-term building initiative, to support teachers moving into new collaborative learning spaces. The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) is used to reflect on professional development strategies employed to support teachers into using new classroom spaces. The stages of the CBAM were useful in considering the value of resources created for teacher development. The paper concludes with a discussion as to how effective the model proved to be in relation to teachers’ expressed concerns, and suggests expanding the CBAM parameters to reflect the complexity of professional development design for next-generation learning spaces.