Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Semantic enrichment for adaptive expert search

Expert finding and the identification of similar professionals are important tasks for many services provided by companies and institutions. Most of research works focus on a limited set of users, characterized by the same kind of main activities, e.g., researchers, or exploit external knowledge, such as predefined ontologies. An heterogeneous environment, with possible lack of information, and not well structured data, puts forward new challenges, to address the problem of adapting user profiling and consequently expert search. In this paper, we present a first attempt to create an expert search system to support users (such as researchers, students, authors) in finding experts to get in contact or to start a cooperation with in the field of textbook research. Hereby we semantically enrich user profiles building a Community Knowledge Graph (CKG) which defines relationships among users and related items. Furthermore, we present first experimental results that base on real users.
The construct validity of union commitment: Development and dimensionality of a shorter scale

This paper presents two studies examining the dimensionality and construct validity of the union commitment scale (Gordon, Philpot, Burt, Thompson & Spiller, 1980). In the first study, analysis of the 20-item (Friedman & Harvey, 1986) and 30-item (Gordon et al., 1980) versions of the scale in two large samples (N = 229 and N = 551) suggests that (a) both versions of the scale share a common factor structure and (b) the interpretation of the belief in unionism dimension is confounded with the use of negatively worded items. We propose a shorter 13-item scale measuring union loyality, responsibility to the union and willingness to work for the union. In the second study (N = 847), the dimensionality and construct validity of the shorter scale is examined and supported.
A physical model of electron trapping/detrapping in electrically stressed oxide

A physical model of electron trapping/detrapping in electrically stressed oxide has been proposed in this paper. The new model is based on both inelastic multi-phonon trap-assisted tunneling and thermal emission, and also considers the capture effect of oxide bulk traps. It handles every trap separately, and establishes the dynamic procedure of traps capture and emission of electrons. Finally, through the proposed model we may accurately and effectively obtain the filling state of all the oxide traps at any stress and any time, which is very useful for the modeling of the endurance and data retention characteristics of floating gate nonvolatile memories.
Key Features of Intertidal Food Webs That Support Migratory Shorebirds

The migratory shorebirds of the East Atlantic flyway land in huge numbers during a migratory stopover or wintering on the French Atlantic coast. The Brouage bare mudflat (Marennes-Oléron Bay, NE Atlantic) is one of the major stopover sites in France. The particular structure and function of a food web affects the efficiency of carbon transfer. The structure and functioning of the Brouage food web is crucial for the conservation of species landing within this area because it provides sufficient food, which allows shorebirds to reach the north of Europe where they nest. The aim of this study was to describe and understand which food web characteristics support nutritional needs of birds. Two food-web models were constructed, based on in situ measurements that were made in February 2008 (the presence of birds) and July 2008 (absence of birds). To complete the models, allometric relationships and additional data from the literature were used. The missing flow values of the food web models were estimated by Monte Carlo Markov Chain – Linear Inverse Modelling. The flow solutions obtained were used to calculate the ecological network analysis indices, which estimate the emergent properties of the functioning of a food-web. The total activities of the Brouage ecosystem in February and July are significantly different. The specialisation of the trophic links within the ecosystem does not appear to differ between the two models. In spite of a large export of carbon from the primary producer and detritus in winter, the higher recycling leads to a similar retention of carbon for the two seasons. It can be concluded that in February, the higher activity of the ecosystem coupled with a higher cycling and a mean internal organization, ensure the sufficient feeding of the migratory shorebirds.
Professional growth plans: Possibilities and limitations of an organizationwide employee development strategy

Professional growth plans, while not a new approach to employee development, are rarely mandated as standard supervisory practice. This article offers a study of widescale mandatory implementation of professional growth plans (PGPs) in Canadian school systems, as an approach to fostering continuous professional learning. Reported benefits include greater employee commitment to learning; increased employee focus on purposes for their own development; increased collegiality; and employees' sense of self-affirmation. Tensions over control and direction, between organizational desires to guide employee development and professionals' desires for autonomy, need to be worked through. But with sufficient employee-supervisor trust, dialogue, flexibility, and patience, the findings suggest that PGPs motivate dialogue and questioning that energizes collective learning and professional practice.
C'Mon: a predictable monitoring infrastructure for system-level latent fault detection and recovery

Embedded and real-time systems must balance between many often conflicting goals including predictability, high utilization, efficiency, reliability, and SWaP (size, weight, and power). Reliability is particularly difficult to achieve without significantly impacting the other factors. Though reliability solutions exist for application-level, they are invalidated by system-level faults that are particularly difficult to detect and recover from. This paper presents the C'Mon system for predictably and efficiently monitoring system-level execution, and validating that it conforms with the high-level analytical models that underlie the timing guarantees of the system. Latent faults such as timing errors, incorrect scheduler decisions, unbounded priority inversions, or deadlocks are detected, the faulty component is identified, and using previous work in system recovery, the system is brought back to a stable state - all without missing deadlines.
Protein Interactome of Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer

Muscle invasive bladder carcinoma is a complex, multifactorial disease caused by disruptions and alterations of several molecular pathways that result in heterogeneous phenotypes and variable disease outcome. Combining this disparate knowledge may offer insights for deciphering relevant molecular processes regarding targeted therapeutic approaches guided by molecular signatures allowing improved phenotype profiling. The aim of the study is to characterize muscle invasive bladder carcinoma on a molecular level by incorporating scientific literature screening and signatures from omics profiling. Public domain omics signatures together with molecular features associated with muscle invasive bladder cancer were derived from literature mining to provide 286 unique protein-coding genes. These were integrated in a protein-interaction network to obtain a molecular functional map of the phenotype. This feature map educated on three novel disease-associated pathways with plausible involvement in bladder cancer, namely Regulation of actin cytoskeleton, Neurotrophin signalling pathway and Endocytosis. Systematic integration approaches allow to study the molecular context of individual features reported as associated with a clinical phenotype and could potentially help to improve the molecular mechanistic description of the disorder.
Discovering the roots: uniform closure results for algebraic classes under factoring

Newton iteration (NI) is an almost 350 years old recursive formula that approximates a simple root of a polynomial quite rapidly. We generalize it to a matrix recurrence (allRootsNI) that approximates all the roots simultaneously. In this form, the process yields a better circuit complexity in the case when the number of roots r is small but the multiplicities are exponentially large. Our method sets up a linear system in r unknowns and iteratively builds the roots as formal power series. For an algebraic circuit f(x1,…,xn) of size s we prove that each factor has size at most a polynomial in: s and the degree of the squarefree part of f. Consequently, if f1 is a 2Ω(n)-hard polynomial then any nonzero multiple ∏i fiei is equally hard for arbitrary positive ei’s, assuming that ∑ideg(fi) is at most 2O(n). It is an old open question whether the class of poly(n)-sized formulas (resp. algebraic branching programs) is closed under factoring. We show that given a polynomial f of degree nO(1) and formula (resp. ABP) size nO(logn) we can find a similar size formula (resp. ABP) factor in randomized poly(nlogn)-time. Consequently, if determinant requires nΩ(logn) size formula, then the same can be said about any of its nonzero multiples. As part of our proofs, we identify a new property of multivariate polynomial factorization. We show that under a random linear transformation τ, f(τx) completely factors via power series roots. Moreover, the factorization adapts well to circuit complexity analysis. This with allRootsNI are the techniques that help us make progress towards the old open problems; supplementing the large body of classical results and concepts in algebraic circuit factorization (eg. Zassenhaus, J.NT 1969; Kaltofen, STOC 1985-7 & B'urgisser, FOCS 2001).
Cloning and Characterization of Gluconolactone Oxidase of Penicillium cyaneo-fulvum ATCC 10431 and Evaluation of Its Use for Production of d-Erythorbic Acid in Recombinant Pichia pastoris

ABSTRACT A d-erythorbic acid-forming soluble flavoprotein, gluconolactone oxidase (GLO), was purified from Penicillium cyaneo-fulvum strain ATCC 10431 and partially sequenced. Peptide sequences were used to isolate a cDNA clone encoding the enzyme. The cloned gene (accession no. AY576053 ) exhibits high levels of similarity with the genes encoding other known eukaryotic lactone oxidases and also with the genes encoding some putative prokaryotic lactone oxidases. Analysis of the coding sequence of the GLO gene indicated the presence of a typical secretion signal sequence at the N terminus of GLO. No other targeting or anchoring signals were found, suggesting that GLO is the first known lactone oxidase that is secreted rather than targeted to the membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum or mitochondria. Experimental evidence, including the N-terminal sequence of mature GLO and data on glycosylation and localization of the enzyme in native and recombinant hosts, supports this analysis. The GLO gene was expressed in Pichia pastoris, and recombinant GLO was produced by using the strong methanol-induced AOX1 promoter. In order to evaluate the suitability of purified GLO for production of d-erythorbic acid, we immobilized it on N-hydroxysuccinimide-activated Sepharose and found that the immobilized GLO retained full activity during immobilization but was rather unstable under reaction conditions. Our results show that both soluble and immobilized forms of GLO can, in principle, be used for production of d-erythorbic acid from d-glucono-δ-lactone or (in combination with glucose oxidase and catalase) from glucose. We also demonstrated the feasibility of glucose-d-erythorbic acid fermentation with recombinant strains coexpressing GLO and glucose oxidase genes, and we analyzed problems associated with construction of efficient d-erythorbic acid-producing hosts.
Rugby players' satisfaction with custom-fitted mouthguards made with different materials.

OBJECTIVES This study compared the comfort of two bimaxillary custom-fitted mouthguards. One type was made with silicone rubber and the other with methyl-methacrylate (acrylic). METHODS The study was a within-subject crossover clinical trial with 52 high-school rugby players who were randomly allocated to one of two groups. The first group wore a silicone mouthguard for 4 months and an acrylic one for the following 4-month period. The second group wore an acrylic mouthguard followed by a silicone one for similar periods. Comfort, bulkiness, stability, hardness, ability to talk and to breathe, oral dryness, nausea and inclination to chew were evaluated for each period using a Visual Analogue Scale questionnaire. RESULTS There was no significant difference concerning comfort, bulkiness, ability to talk and to breathe, oral dryness and nausea between silicone and acrylic mouthguards by group and time of examination (Three-way ANOVA P>0.05). Acrylic mouthguards were more stable and harder than silicone ones (Wilcoxon's test P<0.01). Tendency to chew was greater for silicone appliances (P<0.01). For stability, hardness and inclination to chew, there was no significant difference in the response of the players based on the sequence of use of the two types of mouthguard during the survey (Mann-Whitney test P>0.05). At the end of the study, 56% of the players preferred to keep the acrylic mouthguard and 44% chose the silicone one. This choice did not vary between the groups (chi2, P>0.05). CONCLUSION Silicone rubber mouthguards were well accepted by the players but technical improvements in silicone materials are needed to improve hardness and stability of silicone mouthguards for sport.
Recurrent neural network-based language models with variation in net topology, language, and granularity

In this paper, we study language models based on recurrent neural networks on three databases in two languages. We implement basic recurrent neural networks (RNN) and refined RNNs with long short-term memory (LSTM) cells. We use the corpora of Penn Tree Bank (PTB) and AMI in English, and the Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus (ASBC) in Chinese. On ASBC, we investigate word-based and character-based language models. For character-based language models, we look into the cases where the inter-word space is treated or not treated as a token. In summary, we report and comment on the performance of RNN language models with different databases, network topology, language, and granularity.
Complete Genome Sequence of Citrobacter freundii Myophage Miller

ABSTRACT Citrobacter freundii is a Gram-negative, opportunistic pathogen that can be fatal to newborns or immunocompromised patients. Bacteriophages against this bacterium can be useful for therapeutic purposes. Here, we describe the complete genome and the key features of the pseudo T-even C. freundii bacteriophage Miller.
A Logical Model of Nash Bargaining Solution

This paper presents a logical extension of Nash's Cooperative Bargaining Theory. We introduce a concept of entrenchment measurement, which maps propositions to real numbers, as a vehicle to represent agent's belief states and attitudes towards bargaining situations. We show that Nash's bargaining solution can be restated in terms of bargainers belief states. Negotiable items, bargaining outcomes and conflicting arguments can then be explicitly expressed in propositional logic meanwhile Nash's numerical solution to bargaining problem is still applicable.
Topmoumoute Online Natural Gradient Algorithm

Guided by the goal of obtaining an optimization algorithm that is both fast and yields good generalization, we study the descent direction maximizing the decrease in generalization error or the probability of not increasing generalization error. The surprising result is that from both the Bayesian and frequentist perspectives this can yield the natural gradient direction. Although that direction can be very expensive to compute we develop an efficient, general, online approximation to the natural gradient descent which is suited to large scale problems. We report experimental results showing much faster convergence in computation time and in number of iterations with TONGA (Topmoumoute Online natural Gradient Algorithm) than with stochastic gradient descent, even on very large datasets.
Viral Escape Mutant Epitope Maintains TCR Affinity for Antigen yet Curtails CD8 T Cell Responses

T cells have the remarkable ability to recognize antigen with great specificity and in turn mount an appropriate and robust immune response. Critical to this process is the initial T cell antigen recognition and subsequent signal transduction events. This antigen recognition can be modulated at the site of TCR interaction with peptide:major histocompatibility (pMHC) or peptide interaction with the MHC molecule. Both events could have a range of effects on T cell fate. Though responses to antigens that bind sub-optimally to TCR, known as altered peptide ligands (APL), have been studied extensively, the impact of disrupting antigen binding to MHC has been highlighted to a lesser extent and is usually considered to result in complete loss of epitope recognition. Here we present a model of viral evasion from CD8 T cell immuno-surveillance by a lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) escape mutant with an epitope for which TCR affinity for pMHC remains high but where the antigenic peptide binds sub optimally to MHC. Despite high TCR affinity for variant epitope, levels of interferon regulatory factor-4 (IRF4) are not sustained in response to the variant indicating differences in perceived TCR signal strength. The CD8+ T cell response to the variant epitope is characterized by early proliferation and up-regulation of activation markers. Interestingly, this response is not maintained and is characterized by a lack in IL-2 and IFNγ production, increased apoptosis and an abrogated glycolytic response. We show that disrupting the stability of peptide in MHC can effectively disrupt TCR signal strength despite unchanged affinity for TCR and can significantly impact the CD8+ T cell response to a viral escape mutant.
Rethinking Social Power and the Right to the City Amidst China's Emerging Urbanism

In this paper we engage with a theoretical reflection on the concept of the right to the city amidst China's emerging urbanism. In particular, we conceptualize the right to the city as embedded within the complex geometries of power relations throughout the production process of China's urban modernity; and in this sense assert the right to urban life is inevitably entangled with a social project of altering dominant power structures. We suggest that the rights of three social groups—namely socialist workers in work units, rural migrants, and urban redevelopment displacees—to the modern Chinese city is situated within the uneven distribution of social power and corresponding infrastructures of social control, which contribute to these social groups' structural marginality in the process of urban social formation. In some cases, these social groups may be endowed with substantial rights to social welfare but the dominant power structure is left unquestioned and unchallenged, resulting in latent forms of social vulnerability. Therefore, the concept of the right to the city needs to be captured as a combination of the distribution of things (social welfare) and the mobilization of process (structural change). In this sense, a Hegelian teleology of linear social development to comprehend the rights issue amid China's emerging urbanism must be called into question.
Molecular cloning, chromosomal mapping, and sequence analysis of copper resistance genes from Xanthomonas campestris pv. juglandis: homology with small blue copper proteins and multicopper oxidase

Copper-resistant strains of Xanthomonas campestris pv. juglandis occur in walnut orchards throughout northern California. The copper resistance genes from a copper-resistant strain C5 of X. campestris pv. juglandis were cloned and located on a 4.9-kb ClaI fragment, which hybridized only to DNA of copper-resistant strains of X. campestris pv. juglandis, and was part of an approximately 20-kb region which was conserved among such strains of X. campestris pv. juglandis. Hybridization analysis indicated that the copper resistance genes were located on the chromosome. Plasmids conferring copper resistance were not detected in copper-resistant strains, nor did mating with copper-sensitive strains result in copper-resistant transconjugants. Copper resistance genes from X. campestris pv. juglandis shared nucleotide sequence similarity with copper resistance genes from Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, P. syringae, and X. campestris pv. vesicatoria. DNA sequence analysis of the 4.9-kb fragment from strain C5 revealed that the sequence had an overall G+C content of 58.7%, and four open reading frames (ORF1 to ORF4), oriented in the same direction. All four ORFs were required for full expression of copper resistance, on the basis of Tn3-spice insertional inactivation and deletion analysis. The predicted amino acid sequences of ORF1 to ORF4 showed 65, 45, 47, and 40% identity with CopA, CopB, CopC, and CopD, respectively, from P. syringae pv. tomato. The most conserved regions are ORF1 and CopA and the C-terminal region (166 amino acids from the C terminus) of ORF2 and CopB. The hydrophobicity profiles of each pair of predicted polypeptides are similar except for the N terminus of ORF2 and CopB. Four histidine-rich polypeptide regions in ORF1 and CopA strongly resembled the copper-binding motifs of small blue copper proteins and multicopper oxidases, such as fungal laccases, plant ascorbate oxidase, and human ceruloplasmin. Putative copper ligands of the ORF1 polypeptide product are proposed, indicating that the polypeptide of ORF1 might bind four copper ions: one type 1, one type 2, and two type 3.
The Use of Textbooks as a Tool During Collaborative Physics Learning

Abstract The study examined how features of student interaction, and the way an individual student contributes to that interaction (his or her participation), relates to the improvement of conceptual understanding within the domain of physics. The study also investigated how textbooks are used during collaborative work and how that use affects the quality of student interaction and outcomes. The participants were 56 students aged 15 or 16. The students worked in dyads on a concept-mapping task that functioned as an introduction for a new course about electricity. A condition in which the students were provided with 2 textbooks was compared with a condition without the availability of textbooks. The use of textbooks had a negative influence on the amount of elaboration and coconstruction in the student interaction. Individual learning outcomes were positively related to the amount of collaborative elaboration in the student interaction.