Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spaeris: A Multi-Agent System Specified by Agent UML

The agent-oriented approach has emerged as a novel and popular paradigm for modern management information system analysis, design and implementation. In this paper, the authors concentrate on the design of a real application: SPAERIS (shipping pollution accident emergence reflecting information system), using AUML(agent Unified Modeling Language). Furthermore, we explored and discussed the strengths and weaknesses of AUML, and made some appropriate extension of the approach to better realize our design objectives. The research produced a methodological basis for the analysis, design of distributed management information system. The SPAERIS has been delivered to the users and is on running.
RNA-seq Analysis Reveals Unique Transcriptome Signatures in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients with Distinct Autoantibody Specificities

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients exhibit immense heterogeneity which is challenging from the diagnostic perspective. Emerging high throughput sequencing technologies have been proved to be a useful platform to understand the complex and dynamic disease processes. SLE patients categorised based on autoantibody specificities are reported to have differential immuno-regulatory mechanisms. Therefore, we performed RNA-seq analysis to identify transcriptomics of SLE patients with distinguished autoantibody specificities. The SLE patients were segregated into three subsets based on the type of autoantibodies present in their sera (anti-dsDNA+ group with anti-dsDNA autoantibody alone; anti-ENA+ group having autoantibodies against extractable nuclear antigens (ENA) only, and anti-dsDNA+ENA+ group having autoantibodies to both dsDNA and ENA). Global transcriptome profiling for each SLE patients subsets was performed using Illumina® Hiseq-2000 platform. The biological relevance of dysregulated transcripts in each SLE subsets was assessed by ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) software. We observed that dysregulation in the transcriptome expression pattern was clearly distinct in each SLE patients subsets. IPA analysis of transcripts uniquely expressed in different SLE groups revealed specific biological pathways to be affected in each SLE subsets. Multiple cytokine signaling pathways were specifically dysregulated in anti-dsDNA+ patients whereas Interferon signaling was predominantly dysregulated in anti-ENA+ patients. In anti-dsDNA+ENA+ patients regulation of actin based motility by Rho pathway was significantly affected. The granulocyte gene signature was a common feature to all SLE subsets; however, anti-dsDNA+ group showed relatively predominant expression of these genes. Dysregulation of Plasma cell related transcripts were higher in anti-dsDNA+ and anti-ENA+ patients as compared to anti-dsDNA+ ENA+. Association of specific canonical pathways with the uniquely expressed transcripts in each SLE subgroup indicates that specific immunological disease mechanisms are operative in distinct SLE patients’ subsets. This ‘sub-grouping’ approach could further be useful for clinical evaluation of SLE patients and devising targeted therapeutics.
Psychiatry's age of enlightenment: optogenetics and the discovery of novel targets for the treatment of psychiatric disorders.

A major goal of neuroscience has been to understand the systems-level neural processes governing higher-order func tions, such as perception, cognition and emotion. Until recently, however, achievement of this goal has been limited by a lack of neuromodulatory tools capable of targeting distinct popula tions of neurons, based on either genetic identity or circuit con nectivity, in behaving animals with the temporal precision re quired for causality testing. Such a tool would finally enable direct linkage of distinct neural activity patterns to behaviour. Since its inception in 2005, 1 the field of opto genetics has been re sponsible for the rapid progress in our understanding of the in tricate neural circuit elements driving emotive behaviours rel evant to psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder. By using light pulses to turn specific populations of neurons on and off in awake, freely moving animals, optogenetics has finally provided science with a tool that has the spatial and temporal resolution required to causally link neural activity patterns to behaviour. It is becoming increasingly recognized that many psychi atric disorders are better conceptualized as diseases of abnor mal brain wiring and aberrant neural activity. Although in the past biological psychiatry has focused on chemical imbal ance as a pathophysiological driving force, this same ap proach may also explain the current paucity of truly effective treatment options for many psychiatric illnesses. Innovation and novel approaches that capitalize on the latest techno logic advancements are required for substantial progress. In this regard, it is an exciting time to be in the field of psychiatry, as optogenetics is leading to groundbreaking progress in our understanding of neurocircuit function in health and disease. This progress forces us to refocus and reconceptualize our under standing of the neural underpinnings of psychiatric disease and helps to identify novel targets for mechanisticbased therapeutic discovery. For basic and clinical scientists alike, an appreciation and understanding of this technology is essential in helping the field move forward. This editorial
When Comments and Quotes Collide: How Exemplars and Prior Attitudes Affect News Credibility

ABSTRACT Online news outlets offers individuals with a variety of cues to public opinion such as quotes and comments, both of which have been shown to affect perceived public opinion. However, what happens when quotes embedded in news conflict with the sentiment of online comments? An experiment (N = 276) was conducted to investigate this question using a 3 (quote tone: issue supportive vs. issue opposition vs. no quote control) × 3 (comment tone: issue supportive vs. issue opposition vs. no comment control) design. Results revealed that counter-attitudinal online comments are less likely to decrease news credibility when accompanied by attitude consistent quotes. Perceptions of exemplar representativeness and similarity were also affected by exemplar congruity and prior issue attitudes. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings for exemplification theory and the practice of journalism are discussed.
An Equal-Spacing-Based Design for QoS Guarantee in IEEE 802.11e HCCA Wireless Networks

IEEE 802.11e standard develops a reference design for a sample scheduler and admission control unit to support the contention-free access. However, the reference design can not efficiently utilize the bandwidth. This paper proposes an equalspacing- based (equal-SP) design to address the problem. In the equal-SP design, which generalizes the reference design, each stream is scheduled with equal-spacing and different streams are scheduled with different spacings. The equal-SP design not only keeps all advantages of the reference design (i.e., it is simple, easy to implement, and can guarantee the delay requirement), but it is compatible with the standard and can also utilize the bandwidth efficiently.
Indonesian Teacher’s Code Switching and Mixing in EFL Context

The objectives of research are to investigate the frequency of teacher’s code switching and code mixing, the function of teacher’s code switching and code mixing in EFL Classroom, and teacher and students’ attitude toward it. This research focuses on analyzing EFL teacher’s utterances at 10th grade and by using Poplack, Musyken and Wardhaugh theory. The method of this study is case study. The data of the research is in the form of written recording utterances during teaching and learning process in the classroom, interview and questionnaire. Based on the analysis of the data, reveals that there are three major conclusions about teacher’s code switching and code mixing in EFL classroom. First, code switching and code mixing exist in EFL classroom. Second, the use of code switching and code mixing in EFL classroom has various functions includes topic switch, affective, repetitive, directive and phatic function, as proposed by Sert (2005) and Apple and Musyken (2006). Third, the data from the questionnaire reflects the positive attitude toward the use of code switching and code mixing along teaching and learning activities in the classroom. While both teacher and students agreed that code switching and code mixing can promote better understanding and be effective to make students understand their teacher’s practice instructions and material explanation.
The Body as Blind Spot: Towards Lived Experience and a Body-Specific Philosophy in Education

What do the philosophies of phenomenological scholars such as Husserl, Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty tell us about education in South Africa? How can we use the philosophies of these scholars to develop the minds of our learners and students holistically? Drawing from Husserl’s “lifeworld theory,” Heidegger’s notion of Dasein and Merleau-Ponty’s “lived body theory,” this paper argues for a shift towards a philosophy of “lived experience” in the classroom that views the “body,” which is often dismissed in an educational setting, as an authentic, intelligible and privileged metaphysical object for learning. We argue that teaching should not promote a domain-specific epistemological ethos to open up new pathways to knowing and understanding the natural world, but instead should adopt a body-specific ethos that leads to a process of understanding our “true self,” “true nature” or “true humanity. ” This means that education structured around preparing the masses for the corporate world should therefore not be our aim, but rather nurturing “body knowledge” that is already there.
Roles as Agent Dynamics in Multi-Agent Systems

Multi-agent systems have been developed for many years. However, little attention has been paid to agent dynamics the driving forces governing agents’ lives, work and contributions to a multi-agent system. Many questions related to the dynamic properties of a multi-agent system require study. This paper investigates this concern and proposes that roles and role-based architecture could be taken as dynamics for agents in a system. This paper contributes to multi-agent systems with a potential solution to such an important challenge, i.e., agent dynamics.
Affinity and Location of an Internal K+ Ion Binding Site in Shaker K Channels

We have examined the interaction between TEA and K+ ions in the pore of Shaker potassium channels. We found that the ability of external TEA to antagonize block of Shaker channels by internal TEA depended on internal K+ ions. In contrast, this antagonism was independent of external K+ concentrations between 0.2 and 40 mM. The external TEA antagonism of internal TEA block increased linearly with the concentration of internal K+ ions. In addition, block by external TEA was significantly enhanced by increases in the internal K+ concentration. These results suggested that external TEA ions do not directly antagonize internal TEA, but rather promote increased occupancy of an internal K+ site by inhibiting the emptying of that site to the external side of the pore. We found this mechanism to be quantitatively consistent with the results and revealed an intrinsic affinity of the site for K+ ions near 65 mM located ∼7% into the membrane electric field from the internal end of the pore. We also found that the voltage dependence of block by internal TEA was influenced by internal K+ ions. The TEA site (at 0 internal K+) appeared to sense ∼5% of the field from the internal end of the pore (essentially colocalized with the internal K+ site). These results lead to a refined picture of the number and location of ion binding sites at the inner end of the pore in Shaker K channels.
A Robust Descriptor for Tracking Vertical Lines in Omnidirectional Images and its Use in Robot Self-Calibration

This paper presents a robust descriptor for matching vertical lines among omnidirectional images and a method for automatically calibrating an omnidirectional camera with the robot reference system. The first part of this paper describes how to build the feature descriptor. We show that the descriptor is unique and distinctive for each feature and is invariant to rotation and slight changes of illumination. The robustness of the descriptor is validated through real experiments on a wheeled robot. The second part of the paper is devoted to the extrinsic self-calibration of the camera with the robot reference system. We show that by implementing an extended Kalman filter that fuses the information of the visual features with the odometry, it is possible to extrinsically and automatically calibrate the camera while the robot is moving.
Undersampled MRI reconstruction comparison of TGV and TV

Reconstruction from partial k-space data is quite common nowadays in the field of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, it would result in image artifacts. Total variation (TV) based strategies were recently applied in many different MRI applications. The assumption of TV is that images are composed of piecewise constant, while generally it is not fit for some practical situations. In this paper, total generalized variation (TGV) was introduced tothereconstruction of MRI data collected on radially oriented sinusoidalexcursions (ROSE) in k-space to improve image quality in this case. And we draw a comparison based on experiments between TGV and TV in different situations.
A Theoretical Study of Extreme Parallelism in Sequence Alignments

In this paper, we describe fully parallelized architectures for one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many sequence alignments using Smith-Waterman algorithm. The architectures utilize the principles of parallelism and pipelining to the greatest extent in order to take advantage of both intrasequence and inter-sequence parallelization and to achieve high speed and throughput. First, we describe a parallelized Smith-Waterman algorithm for general single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) computers. The algorithm has an execution time of O(m+n), where m and n are the lengths of the two biological sequences to be aligned. Next, we propose a very-large-scale integration (VLSI) implementation of the parallel algorithm. Thirdly, we incorporate a pipelined architecture into the proposed VLSI circuit, producing a pipelined processor that can align a query sequence with a database of sequences at the speed of O(m+n+L), where m is the length of the query sequence and n and L are the maximum length and the number of sequences in the database, respectively. Finally, we make use of our pipeline architecture to perform all possible pairs of pair-wise alignments for a group of L sequences with a maximum sequence length of m in O(mL) time. Checking all pairs of pair-wise alignments is essential to the overlap-layout-consensus (OLC) approach for de novo assembly.
Integrated Expression Prediction and Speech Synthesis From Text

Generating expressive, naturally sounding, speech from text using a speech synthesis (TTS) system is a highly challenging problem. However for tasks such as audiobooks it is essential if their use is to become widespread. Generating expressive speech from text can be divided into two parts: predicting expressive information from text; and synthesizing the speech with a particular expression. Traditionally these components have been studied separately. This paper proposes an integrated approach, where the training data and representation of expressive synthesis is shared across the two components. There are several advantages to this scheme including: robust handling of automatically generated expressive labels; support for a continuous representation of expressions; and joint training of the expression predictor and speech synthesizer. Synthesis experiments indicated that the proposed approach produced far more expressive speech than both a neutral TTS and one where the expression was randomly selected. The experimental results also show the advantage of a continuous expressive synthesis space over a discrete space.
Spatial covariation between infection levels and intermediate host densities in two trematode species

Abstract Both theoretical arguments and empirical evidence suggest that parasite transmission depends on host density. In helminths with complex life cycles, however, it is not clear which host, if any, is the most important. Here, the relationships between the abundance of metacercariae in second intermediate hosts, and the local density of both the first and second intermediate hosts of two trematode species, are investigated. Samples of the snail Potamopyrgus antipodarum, the amphipod Paracalliope fluviatilis and the isopod Austridotea annectens were collected from ten stations in a New Zealand lake. In the trematode Coitocaecum parvum, neither the density of the snail first intermediate host nor that of the amphipod second intermediate host correlated with infection levels in amphipods. In contrast, in the trematode Microphallus, infection levels in isopod second intermediate hosts were positively associated with isopod density and negatively associated with the density of snail first intermediate hosts. These relationships are explained by a negative correlation between snail and isopod densities, mediated in part by their different use of macrophyte beds in the lake. Overall, the results suggest that, at least for Microphallus, local infection levels depend on local intermediate host densities.
Examining the effects of audiovisual associations on motion perception through task-based fMRI

Examining the effects of audiovisual associations on motion perception through task-based fMRI Objective: Previous studies showed that associative learning can lead to drastic changes in perceptual experience and unexpected levels of sensory plasticity in the adult brain. However, how associative learning is involved in shaping perception and the underlying neural mechanisms are quite poorly understood. In the current study, by taking advantage of well-studied visual motion-processing hierarchy, the roles of different brain areas in audiovisual association-induced changes in motion perception are investigated. Method: Using a previously developed audiovisual associative paradigm, behavioral and Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) data were collected from adult human participants (n=13) before and after the association phase. Behavioral data were collected through reports on visual motion direction. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was based on block design and the functional data were analyzed according to a general linear model. Results: Audiovisual associations, acquired within a short time and without any feedback, significantly affected the perception of motion direction. This effect was much more salient when the physical direction of visual motion was ambiguous. Moreover, fMRI findings pointed out that the BOLD activities across different cortical regions changed after the associative phase. Conclusion: Taken together, these findings indicate that low-level sensory, multisensory and high-level cognitive areas play a role in the effects of audiovisual associations on motion perception. In general, this suggests that our prior experiences acquired through associations may affect perceptual processing at different hierarchical levels and over different cortical areas.
Legal Standards, Enforcement and Corruption

Stricter laws require more incisive and costlier enforcement. Since enforcement activity depends both on available tax revenue and the honesty of officials, the optimal legal standard of a benevolent government is increasing in per-capita income and decreasing in officials' corruption. In contrast to the "tollbooth view" of regulation, the standard chosen by a self-interested government is a non-monotonic function of officials' corruption, and can be either lower or higher than that chosen by a benevolent regulator. International evidence on environmental regulation show that standards correlate positively with per-capita income, and negatively with corruption, consistently with the model's predictions for benevolent governments
Analysis of Somatic Mutations in K Transgenes

We have examined the nature and localization of somatic mutations in three tc transgenes cloned from IgG-secreting hybridomas. All of the mutations identified were single base substitutions. Mutations were localized to the variable (V) region and its flanking sequences. In every case, the nuclear matrix association region, K enhancer, and C gene were spared. These data indicate that the rearranged « gene contains the necessary sequences for targeting of the mutation process, and suggest that the observed localization of mutations to the V region reflects the inherent specificity of this mutation process.
Dynamic optimization for efficient strong atomicity

Transactional memory (TM) is a promising concurrency control alternative to locks. Recent work has highlighted important memory model issues regarding TM semantics and exposed problems in existing TM implementations. For safe, managed languages such as Java, there is a growing consensus towards strong atomicity semantics as a sound, scalable solution. Strong atomicity has presented a challenge to implement efficiently because it requires instrumentation of non-transactional memory accesses, incurring significant overhead even when a program makes minimal or no use of transactions. To minimize overhead, existing solutions require either a sophisticated type system, specialized hardware, or static whole-program analysis. These techniques do not translate easily into a production setting on existing hardware. In this paper, we present novel dynamic optimizations that significantly reduce strong atomicity overheads and make strong atomicity practical for dynamic language environments. We introduce analyses that optimistically track which non-transactional memory accesses can avoid strong atomicity instrumentation, and we describe a lightweight speculation and recovery mechanism that applies these analyses to generate speculatively-optimized but safe code for strong atomicity in a dynamically-loaded environment. We show how to implement these mechanisms efficiently by leveraging existing dynamic optimization infrastructure in a Java system. Measurements on a set of transactional and non-transactional Java workloads demonstrate that our techniques substantially reduce the overhead of strong atomicity from a factor of 5x down to 10% or less over an efficient weak atomicity baseline.
Homography-based visual servoing of wheeled mobile robots

By comparing the features of an object from a desired image to features of the object in the current image, geometric relationships are exploited to enable a Euclidean reconstruction from a homography matrix that relates the image-space feedback to the position/orientation of the wheeled mobile robot (WMR) in a local coordinate system. The information obtained from the homography is used to develop a kinematic controller that yields asymptotic regulation of the position/orientation of a WMR system that is modeled as an underactuated "kinematic wheel" subject to nonholonomic constraints. The control design is facilitated by performing the stability analysis in terms of the unmeasurable camera/WMR Euclidean position. In contrast to many of the previous homography-based visual servo controllers, the kinematic control law does not depend on the numerical estimation of depth measurements. The control design is based on the nonlinear model of the vision system and the mobile robot system and is analyzed through a Lyapunov-based stability analysis.