Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
VUV spectroscopy and photochemistry of five interstellar and putative prebiotic molecules

For many years, our group has been investigating the VUV spectroscopy and photochemistry of molecules of astrophysical (Jochims et al. a,b; Leach et al. ; Schwell et al. ) and prebiotic interest (Schwell et al. ). Polyynes and cyano-polyynes that are abundant in the interstellar medium (ISM) and in planetary atmospheres, have been investigated too (e.g. Fray et al. ). An aerosol source for reactive and thermo-labile compounds has been developed (Gaie-Levrel et al. ) to perform gas-phase measurements. These are necessary to measure intrinsic molecular properties and to compare to quantum chemical calculations. Besides measuring absolute absorption and photoionization cross sections, dissociative channels and their involved excited states are identified for a number of molecules of interstellar interest. Branching ratios of the respective elementary photoreactions are determined in order to understand and model the photochemistry occurring in the ISM. Some very recent results on the dissociative photoionization of methylformate (MF), glycolaldehyde (GA), dimethylether (DIM), aminoacetonitrile (AAC) and cyanoacetylene (CA), are presented here.
What Is Wrong With ANOVA and Multiple Regression? Analyzing Sentence Reading Times With Hierarchical Linear Models

Most reading time studies using naturalistic texts yield data sets characterized by a multilevel structure: Sentences (sentence level) are nested within persons (person level). In contrast to analysis of variance and multiple regression techniques, hierarchical linear models take the multilevel structure of reading time data into account. They provide methods to estimate variance components and to model the influence of predictor variables on different levels as well as cross-level interactions between these predictors. This article gives a brief introduction to the method and proposes practical guidelines for its application to reading time data, including a discussion of power issues and the scaling of predictor variables. The basic principles of model building and hypothesis testing are illustrated with original data from a reading time study with naturalistic texts.
Improving MT coherence through text-level processing of input texts: the COMTIS project.

This paper presents an ongoing research project, started in March 2010 and sponsored by the Swiss National Science Foundation, which aims at improving machine translation output in terms of textual coherence. Coherence in text is mainly due to inter-sentential dependencies. Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) systems, currently sentence-based, often fail to translate these dependencies correctly. Within the COMTIS project, state-of-the-art linguistics research and Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques are combined to identify and to label inter-sentential dependencies that can be learned by SMT system in the training phase.
Genome-Wide Association Study and Selection Signatures Detect Genomic Regions Associated with Seed Yield and Oil Quality in Flax

A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed on a set of 260 lines which belong to three different bi-parental flax mapping populations. These lines were sequenced to an averaged genome coverage of 19× using the Illumina Hi-Seq platform. Phenotypic data for 11 seed yield and oil quality traits were collected in eight year/location environments. A total of 17,288 single nucleotide polymorphisms were identified, which explained more than 80% of the phenotypic variation for days to maturity (DTM), iodine value (IOD), palmitic (PAL), stearic, linoleic (LIO) and linolenic (LIN) acid contents. Twenty-three unique genomic regions associated with 33 quantitative trait loci (QTL) for the studied traits were detected, thereby validating four genomic regions previously identified. The 33 QTL explained 48–73% of the phenotypic variation for oil content, IOD, PAL, LIO and LIN but only 8–14% for plant height, DTM and seed yield. A genome-wide selective sweep scan for selection signatures detected 114 genomic regions that accounted for 7.82% of the flax pseudomolecule and overlapped with the 11 GWAS-detected genomic regions associated with 18 QTL for 11 traits. The results demonstrate the utility of GWAS combined with selection signatures for dissection of the genetic structure of traits and for pinpointing genomic regions for breeding improvement.
Human Cathelicidin Peptide LL-37 Modulates the Effects of IFN-γ on APCs1

The human cathelicidin peptide LL-37 is a multifunctional immunomodulatory and antimicrobial host defense peptide of the human immune system. LL-37 modulates host cell responses to microbial stimuli and also affects the action of other endogenous immune mediators such as IL-1β and GM-CSF. This activity of LL-37 is known to be complex, with the functional outcomes being dependent on the cell type and activation status, timing of exposure, and other immune mediators present. It was demonstrated in this study that LL-37 inhibited cellular responses to IFN-γ, the key cytokine of Th1-polarized immunity. The inhibitory activity of LL-37 on IFN-γ responses was characterized in monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, and B lymphocytes, showing suppression of cell activation, proliferation, and production of proinflammatory and Th1-polarizing cytokines, and Abs. It was further shown that in monocytes the suppressive effects of LL-37 were mediated through inhibition of STAT1-independent signaling events, involving both the p65 subunit of NF-κB and p38 MAPK. This study suggests that LL-37 modulates IFN-γ responses during both the innate and adaptive phases of immune responses, indicating a new immunomodulatory role for this endogenous peptide. These effects on IFN-γ activity should be taken into consideration in the development of cathelicidin-based peptides for therapeutic applications as immunomodulatory or microbicidal agents.
Reducing Domain Mismatch by Maximum Mean Discrepancy Based Autoencoders

Domain mismatch, caused by the discrepancy between training and test data, can severely degrade the performance of speaker veriﬁcation (SV) systems. What’s more, both training and test data themselves could be composed of heterogeneous sub-sets, with each subset corresponding to one sub-domain. These multi-source mismatches can further degrade SV performance. This paper proposes incorporating maximum mean discrepancy (MMD) into the loss function of autoencoders to reduce theses mismatches. Speciﬁcally, we generalize MMD to measure the discrepancies among multiple distributions. We call this generalized MMD domain-wise MMD. Using domain-wise MMD as an objective function, we derive a domain-invariant autoencoder (DAE) for multi-source i-vector adaptation. The DAE directly encodes the features that minimize the multi-source mismatch. By replacing the original i-vectors with these domain-invariant feature vectors for PLDA training, we reduce the EER by 11.8% in NIST 2016 SRE when compared to PLDA without adaptation.
Behavioral Semantics of Modeling Languages: A Pragmatic Approach

Domain-specific modeling languages (DSMLs) are specialized languages tailored with concepts and features of a particular domain. The abstractions offered by DSMLs allow designers of software systems to ignore implementation details and instead focus on the system at a high level. While higher levels of abstraction can offer many advantages, there are still unresolved issues with DSMLs. One of these is the difficulty of applying formal verification methods. This dissertation presents two contributions that assist with the formal verification of domain-specific models. The first is a unified framework in which Statechart models of different semantic variants can be defined, simulated and verified. The key idea is that the user describes only the structure of a model, and then selects the semantics from a set of pluggable components. This allows a single model to be executed using multiple semantics, and a system comprised of interacting models using different semantics can be simulated and verified in a single environment. A lightweight method for specifying properties based on a pattern system was also developed. To perform analysis, the framework is integrated with Java Pathfinder, a software model checker, and Symbolic Pathfinder, its symbolic execution engine. Symbolic execution allows both test-vector generation and reachability analysis. The second major contribution is an extension to Formula, a modeling language and analysis tool from Microsoft Research, that calculates execution traces of models. The behavioral semantics are defined as a set of model transformations, each of which represents an atomic step of execution. The trace computing extension consists of three components. The first is a component that applies all applicable transformations to an input model at a given step and creates a separate trace for each application. The second component is used to create a separate trace for each non-deterministic choice of the input parameters that are passed to a transformation, making non-determinism inside a single execution step explicit to the trace computing module. The third component stores execution traces efficiently by computing and storing only the differences between consecutive steps in a trace when possible.
Antioxidant activities of kombucha prepared from three different substrates and changes in content of probiotics during storage

Kombucha is a health-promoting fermented beverage worldwide. The present study compared the free-radical scavenging abilities and total reducing power (TRP) of kombucha prepared from low-cost green tea (LGTK), black tea (BTK), and tea powder (TPK). LGTK had the highest scavenging abilities against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), superoxide anion and hydroxyl radicals, while BTK showed the highest TRP. Changes in content of probiotics in LGTK were investigated during storage as well. The number of acetic acid bacteria decreased moderately up to 10 days of storage. The number of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) decreased significantly, and their survival rate was only 0.98% at the 8th day of storage.
A Hi-Fi Audio Coding Technique for Wireless Communication based on Wavelet Packet Transformation

♠ This work was supported by National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) and National Electronic and Computer TEchnology Center (NECTEC) through the project “A Feasibility Study of Wireless Hi-Fi Audio Transmission using Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) Technique”, grant number NT−C005−47. ♣ SCORPion stands for Superior COmmunication Research and Prototyping for commercialization Abstract
DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES AND BRAND ASSOCIATIONS

This research aims to mine the relationship between demographic variables and brand associations, and study the relative importance of these variables. The study is conducted on fast-food restaurant brands chains in Jordan. The result ranks and evaluates the demographic variables in relation with the brand associations for the selected sample. Discovering brand associations according to demographic variables reveals many facts and linkages in the context of Jordanian culture. Suggestions are given accordingly for marketers to benefits from to build their strategies and direct their decisions. Also, data mining technique used in this study reflects a new trend for studying and analyzing marketing samples.
Routing Misbehabiour in Mobile Ad Hoc Network

MANET is a collection of wireless nodes that can dynamically form a network to exchange information without using any pre-existing fixed network infrastructure. In general, routing protocols for MANETs are designed based on the assumption that all participating nodes are fully cooperative. Adhoc Network in the presence of nodes that agree to forward data packets but fail to do so, for example a node become selfish and refuse to forward data packets to other nodes or the node fail to forward data packet to the destination node or because of limited power, a node could enter an inactive state. Where routing itself a core challenge in mobile adhoc network, there are still some threats to the existing traditional routing mechanisms as adopted by mobile ad-hoc network. Our work focuses on to improve the performance of on demand routing algorithm in an ad hoc network in the presence of black hole nodes. In this work, we will address the question how to enable a system to operate in the presence of misbehaviour (black hole). Here I have proposed a bluff probe approach to detect and prevent black hole attacks in the Mobile Ad-hoc Networks. To achieve this we have simulated the Mobile adhoc network scenarios which includes Black Hole node using NS-2.34 Network Simulator program.
A study of Effectiveness of Human Resource Management Practices Relevant as Marketing Tool in Banking Sector in Indore, M.P., India

Over the years of my own experience in corporate sector, it was noticed that HR department function as a supporting role to all other departments especially marketing department.But, studies still overlooks that the efficiency of marketing department depends on the efficiency of HR department support system. If Human resource department is not supporting the marketing department with respect to salaries, incentives, morale, training, manpower requirement, branding etc.it is not possible for the marketing person to focus on product sales, my study will help banking sector develop a link between both these departments so that the gap between them is bridged and this model can be followed by other banks also. The purpose of this paper is to study the effectiveness and relevance of HRM practice as marketing tool. For reaching our goal we have first analyzed and examined the unique HRM practices implemented by different banks in Indore and also the functions namely Manpower planning, Staffing practices, Training and career development, Performance Appraisal, compensation and Incentive, Unionization, team work, Employee participation and Working conditions which form exclusive part of HRM practice, followed in various banks. After this we were able to find out the effectiveness and relevance of these identified exclusive HRM practices as a marketing tool in banking sector.
Fuzzy Motivations in a Multiple Agent Behaviour-Based Architecture

In this article we introduce a blackboard-based multiple agent system framework that considers biologically-based motivations as a means to develop a user friendly interface. The framework includes a population-based heuristic as well as a fuzzy logic-based inference system used toward scoring system behaviours. The heuristic provides an optimization environment and the fuzzy scoring mechanism is used to give a fitness score to possible system outputs (i.e. solutions). This framework results in the generation of complex behaviours which respond to previously specified motivations. Our multiple agent blackboard and motivation-based framework is validated in a low cost mobile robot specifically built for this task. The robot was used in several navigation experiments and the motivation profile that was considered included “curiosity”, “homing”, “energy” and “missions”. Our results show that this motivation-based approach permits a low cost multiple agent-based autonomous mobile robot to acquire a diverse set of fit behaviours that respond well to user and performance expectations. These results also validate our multiple agent framework as an incremental, flexible and practical method for the development of robust multiple agent systems.
Expansion of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells on Synthetic Substrate in Defined Medium

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) have the potential to generate patientspecific cells to treat many incurable diseases by cell replacement therapy. However, so far the culture of hiPSCs depends greatly on feeder cells or Matrigel which has safety issues. Thus, chemically defined substrates that could provide niches necessary for cell attachment and proliferation are preferred for clinical application of hiPSCs. Recently, Corning Life Sciences has developed synthetic peptide-functionalized cell culture surface, referred to as Corning® SynthemaxTM that support self-renewal and differentiation of human embryonic stem cell (hESC). In this work, we have collaborated with Corning to investigate the attachment, proliferation, and differentiation of hiPSCs on the Synthemax substrate. We demonstrated that iPS cells retained stable proliferation and pluripotency marker protein expression after growing on the Synthemax substrate for ten consecutive passages. Further examination reveals that integrins αVβ5 mediates attachment to the substrate. Moreover, we observed hiPSCs colonies were more compact on the Synthemax surface. This may be due to less activation of β-cateninmediated Wnt signaling pathway in cells on the synthetic peptide surface. In hiPSCs grown on the Synthemax Surface, we also found denser actin filaments in the cell-cell interface and downregulation of vinculin and up-regulation of zyxin, indicating the reorganization of cytoskeleton structure inside cells in response to cell-matrix interaction. This thesis is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council Thesis Director: ___________________________________ Dr. Sha Jin
Application of Multivariate Chemometry for Discrimination of Black Ballpoint Pen Inks Based on the IR Spectrum

This preliminary work investigates whether FTIR, in combination with multivariate analysis can be used to differentiate 24 black ballpoint pen inks from six different varieties. Ink entries from black ballpoint pens were analyzed directly on paper using micro ATR-FTIR spectroscopy technique and the data obtained was processed and evaluated by a series of multivariate chemometrics. Absorbance value from wavenumbers of 2000-675 cm -1 were first grouped into eight different clusters by cluster analysis (CA), followed by principal component analysis (PCA) to form a set of new variables. After that, discriminant analysis (DA) and one-way ANOVA were conducted using the new variables set. Results showed that six black ballpoint pen varieties could be classified into three main groups via discriminant analysis (DA). Differentiation analyses of six different pen varieties performed using one-way ANOVA indicated only two pairs of varieties cannot be differentiated at 95% confidence interval. It can be concluded that micro-ATR FTIR spectroscopy coupled with chemometric techniques could make a powerful non-destructive discriminating tool for analysis of inks based on their infrared spectrum.
Obstacle problems 15 3 Existence of minimizers 21 4 Euler-Lagrange equations 26 5 Generalized gradients of Clarke

We use variational methods to study obstacle problems for geometrically exact (Cosserat) theories for the planar deformation of nonlinearly elastic rods. These rods can suffer flexure, extension, and shear. There is a marked difference between the behavior of a shearable and an unshearable rod. The set of admissible deformations is not convex, because of the exact geometry used. We first investigate the fundamental question of describing contact forces, which we necessarily treat as vector-valued Borel measures. Moreover, we introduce techniques for describing point obstacles. Then we prove existence for a very large class of problems. Finally, using nonsmooth analysis for handling the obstacle, we show that the Euler-Lagrange equations are satisfied almost everywhere. These equations provide very detailed structural information about the contact forces.
Evaluation of Hemodilution and Hypothermia in a Rat Model of Global Cerebral Ischemia

Cerebrovascular disease and trauma are major causes of death and disability in the United States. Studies have shown that hypothermia can reduce neuronal damage and improve recovery from cerebral ischemia or trauma in animal models, but the optimal use of hypothermia in combination with other treatment modalities has not been established. We studied the combined effect of hemodilution and hypothermia in a rat model of global cerebral ischemia based on the hypothesis that hypothermia may reduce neuronal oxygen requirements, whereas hemodilution may increase cerebral blood flow. Hemodilution was accomplished by intravenous injection of saline. Rats were randomly assigned to three experimental groups: normothermic with a sham injection (sham control), normothermic with a saline injection (normothermic), and hypothermic with a saline injection (hypothermic). Cerebral ischemia was produced by cauterization of the vertebral arteries followed by ligation of the carotid arteries for 10 min. Body and cerebral temperature, cerebral blood flow, and electroencephalographic activity were monitored during ischemia and a 2-h post-ischemic treatment. Cerebral ischemia was followed by a 15-min period of reactive hyperemia, and then a sustained period of hypoperfusion in all treatment groups. Mortality in the hypothermic group (0%) was significantly less than in sham animals (32%). The total number of viable hippocampal CA 1 neurons 21 d after ischemia was greater in the normothermic and hypothermic rats than in the sham group, but the differences were not significant. Motor function improved in all treatment groups between 7 and 21 d post-ischemia. The foot-fault test failed to show significant differences between groups at any time, though there was a trend toward a lower foot-fault rate in hypothermic animals at 7 d. Hypothermia significantly decreased mortality, but this improvement was not reflected by the total number of viable hippocampal neurons or by a motor function test. ©2000 Oklahoma Academy of Science
The Impact of Financial Reform on Private Savings in Bangladesh

Over the course of the last decade, Bangladesh has implemented a broad-based program of financial and market reforms, encompassing changes in the structure of the financial system, prudential and supervisory frameworks, and monetary management. This paper estimates a savings function to evaluate the impact of various determinants of private savings in Bangladesh—with special emphasis on the impact of financial reform. The results show that the level of income, real interest rates, and the share of agriculture in GDP have a positive impact on the savings rate. Dependency rate and public savings rate, on the other hand, have a negative impact on private savings. Interestingly, the financial reform index has a negative impact on private savings. Hence reforms that were initiated since the late 1980s had actually reduced savings.
On Minimum Depth of Cut in nanomachining

The concept of Minimum Depth of Cut (MDC) is that the depth of cut must be over a certain critical thickness before any chip is formed. It is actually a major limiting factor on achievable accuracy in nanomachining, because the generated surface roughness is primarily attributed to the ploughing process when the uncut chip thickness is less than the MDC. This paper presents an analysis of a cutting process where a sharp pointed diamond tool with an edge radius of an atom acts on a crystalline copper workpiece. From the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation results, the phenomena of rubbing, ploughing and cutting were observed. The formation of chip occurred from the depth of cut thickness of 30.0 Ǻ (3nm).
Transportation Research Analysis using NLP TechniqueS (TRANS)

Researchers in the transportation community are interested in analyzing the trends of research in their field. A website where people from the community could post their research needs, monitor and vote on others’ research ideas, view visualizations of research trends in the past, could be helpful to make this possible. In this paper, we describe our website project, titled Transportation Research Analysis using Natural Language Processing (NLP) TechniqueS, or TRANS. We explain the methodology we used to obtain data from the Transportation Research Board (TRB), extract information from data using NLP techniques, visualize the extracted information and publish a website that provides the required functionalities.