Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Designing hand gesture interfaces for easing students participation from their spot

The lack of interactivity in the classroom has been identified as an important barrier to make the learning processes more effective. Although several instructional strategies and dynamics have been proposed, including the use of supporting technology, the problem remains open. This paper explores the feasibility of using touchless hand gestures (THG) during lectures in order to promote and ease the students' participation, and thus increasing their interactivity. Particularly, this work focuses on supporting the students' participation from their own spot in the classroom, as a strategy to help them feel comfortable and increase their participation during lectures. After conducting a literature review, no proposals or guidelines helping developers create THG-based applications to support such a participation strategy for the classroom scenario were found. Therefore, the authors used the literature review and their own experience to define a set of design aspects that should be considered when developing this type of applications. The suitability of this design guideline was evaluated with a user study with two applications. The quantitative and qualitative results show the students' participation from their spot could be feasible of being used in practice and it could increase the interaction during lectures. Moreover, the proposed design guidelines are shown to be suitable to support the development of these applications.
Derivative-free nonlinear Kalman Filtering for control of three-phase voltage source converters

The paper is concerned with proving differential flatness of the three-phase voltage source converter (VSC) model and its resulting description in the Brunovksy (canonical) form. For the linearized canonical model of the converter a feedback controller is designed. At a second stage, a novel Kalman Filtering method (derivative-free nonlinear Kalman Filtering) is introduced. The proposed Kalman Filter is redesigned as disturbance observer for estimating perturbations in the VSC model. These estimated disturbance terms are finally used by a feedback controller that enables the DC output voltage to track desirable setpoints. The efficiency of the proposed state estimation-based control scheme is tested through simulation experiments.
Improving the Mapping Process in Ontology-based user Profiles for Web Personalization Systems

Web personalization systems that have emerged in recent years enhance the retrieval process based on each user's interests and preferences. A key feature in developing an effective web personalization system is to build and model user profiles accurately. In this paper, we propose an approach that implicitly tracks users' browsing behaviour in order to build an ontology-based user profile. The main goal of this paper is to investigate techniques to improve the accuracy of this user profile. We focus in particular on the mapping process which involves mapping the collected web pages the user has visited to concepts in a reference ontology. For this purpose, we introduce two techniques to enhance the mapping process: one that maintains the user's general and specific interests without the user's involvement, and one that exploits browsing and search contexts. We evaluate the factors that impact the overall performance of both techniques and show that our techniques improve the overall accuracy of the user profile.
Identification of stage-specific sporozoite antigens of Toxoplasma gondii by monoclonal antibodies.

Stage-specific antigens of Toxoplasma gondii have not been reported. We developed a panel of monoclonal antibodies that identified unique surface membrane antigens on the sporozoite and oocyst wall of T. gondii. These monoclonal antibodies failed to react with T. gondii tachyzoite surface membrane antigens in several immunologic assays. A comparison of surface membrane radioiodinated tachyzoites and sporozoites by one- and two-dimensional electrophoresis showed that T. gondii sporozoites have two major membrane proteins of approximate m.w. 67,000 and 25,000, not present in the tachyzoite stage. Two of the stage-specific monoclonal antibodies (2E4 and 5A4) were directed against the sporozoite 67,000 m.w. protein. In addition, T. gondii sporozoites are deficient in the major radioiodinated tachyzoite protein P30, which is identified by both human and mouse convalescent antitoxoplasma antisera. A convalescent antitoxoplasma serum failed to recognize sporozoite antigens by both immunoprecipitation and reaction with nitrocellulose transfer blots.
Genetic contribution to variation in atherothrombotic phenotypes in the Asian Indian population

Summary Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a multifactorial disease, and family history is the best available tool to assess gene-environment interaction. This study addressed the heritability of quantitative traits, namely lipid, coagulation/fibrinolysis and pro-inflammatory markers in the ongoing family-based Indian Atherosclerosis Research Study and assessed the effect of the type/lineage of CAD family history on inheritance patterns in the highrisk Indian population. A total of 518 families comprising 2,305 individuals were recruited in phase I of the IARS; of these, 1,195 individuals from 220 families were included in the heritability analysis. With the exception of leptin, all phenotypes exhibited significant age- and sex-adjusted heritability (p<0.0001). Amongst all the phenotypes analysed after adjustment for confounding factors, the significantly higher heritability estimates of triglycerides (0.53, p<0.0001), lipoprotein (a) (0.83, p<0.0001) and interleukin-6 (0.46, p<0.0001) with low spouse pair correlations identifies them as possible CAD risk factors. Families with parental history of CAD had onset of CAD symptoms at much younger ages with significantly higher heritability of proinflammatory markers, whereas in families with sibling history of CAD, more risk factors were present at significantly higher levels. Triglycerides, lipoprotein (a) and interleukin-6 appear to be promising atherothrombotic candidate phenotypes in this population. Genes controlling these phenotypes are possible candidate genes linked with CAD. An informed understanding and incorporation of ‘family history’ as a screening tool may help in the prevention and pre-emption of CAD.
The coding principle and method for automatic recognition of Jia Gu Wen characters

Jia Gu Wen characters carved on turtle backs or animal bones with the features of drawings are the most ancient Chinese characters used about 3000 years ago. This paper proposes a theory and technique for Jia Gu Wen character recognition based on coding. The key idea is to treat a Jia Hu Wen character as a non-directed graph. Its topological features are extracted to be the basis of recognition. The approach proposed in this paper is also applicable to character recognition of other languages such as Japanese, Korean, Mongolian or Tibetan.
Gene Expression Profiles of Ileal Inflammatory Bowel Disease Correlate with Disease Phenotype and Advance Understanding of Its Immunopathogenesis

Background:Pouchitis may develop in patients with ulcerative colitis undergoing pouch surgery. We aimed to evaluate the de novo inflammation developing in the ileal pouch, hypothesizing that it may be similar to ileitis in Crohn's disease (CD). Methods:Patients with ulcerative colitis pouch were prospectively recruited, stratified according to disease behavior into normal pouch, chronic pouchitis, and Crohn's-like disease of the pouch groups, and compared with controls. Gene expression analysis was performed using microarrays, validated by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Gene ontology and clustering were evaluated using bioinformatic tools. Results:Sixty-six subjects were recruited. Although in ulcerative colitis ileum there were no significant gene expression alterations, patients with normal pouch had 168 significant alterations (fold change ≥ 2, corrected P ⩽ 0.05). In chronic pouchitis and Crohn's-like disease of the pouch, 490 and 1152 alterations were detected, respectively. High degree of overlap in gene expression alterations between the pouch subgroups was demonstrated. The magnitude of change correlated with pouch disease behavior. Gene expression profiles were more reflective of disease behavior compared with inflammatory indices. CD ileitis had 358 alterations, with a 90% overlap with pouchitis. Gene ontology analyses revealed multiple biological processes associated with pouch inflammation, including response to chemical stimulus, small molecule metabolic and immune system processes, and specific infection-related pathways such as Staphylococcus aureus, leishmaniasis, and tuberculosis. Conclusions:Gene alterations in pouch inflammation and CD overlap, suggesting that inflammatory bowel diseases is a spectrum, rather than distinct diseases. Pouchitis may serve as a model of CD. The novel pathways associated with inflammatory bowel diseases may decipher pathophysiology and suggest targets for intervention.
Direct colorimetric determination of hippuric acid in urine.

A direct colorimetric method is described for determination of hippuric acid in urine. Hippuric acid dissolved in pyridine—water (1:1) produces a color ( Amax = 410 nm) when benzenesulfonyl chloride is added. With the method based on this color reaction, urinary hippuric acid follows the Beer-Lambert law up to 1 mg/ml.
Control of Maturity-Onset Diabetes by Monitoring Fasting Blood Glucose and Body Weight

The feasibility of reducing the fasting blood glucose (FBG) level to <6 mmol/L has been studied in all 84 maturity-onset diabetic (MOD) patients in three general practices. Only 35 (48%) were initially “well controlled” by this criterion, although 72 (86%) had no postprandial glycosuria. Seventy-one patients were monitored for 6 mo. With additional oral hypoglycemic therapy where necessary, the number of “well controlled” increased from 29 (41%) to 54 (76%), associated with a significant decrease in the hemoglobin A1. The patients were subsequently assessed at two 3-monthly intervals, and a fasting plasma glucose >4 and <6 mmol/L was usually maintained. All but two patients with a fasting glucose level < 6 mmol/L had fasting triglyceride concentrations < 2 mmol/L. The fasting blood glucose can be assayed in general practice with glucose-oxidase strips, and control by this means is simpler, cheaper, and more effective than regular urine glucose monitoring.
Indoor Distributed Multiple-input Multiple-output (MIMO) System Capacity Research Based on Angular Domain Information

In this paper, we research the indoor distributed multi-input multi-output (MIMO) system. We propose a method based on channel angular domain information feedback to improve the indoor distributed MIMO system capacity and stability. We elaborate on the theoretical analysis and modelling process of this method. The simulation results show that using angular domain information at the transmitter to construct the channel information matrix according to the antenna selection to optimize the power allocation and making use of the indoor distributed MIMO offers extra spatial degrees of freedom gain and antenna diversity gain. The proposed approach can significantly improve the signal to noise ratio (SNR), system capacity and stabil- ity of the system.
Repeat-Length-Independent Broad-Spectrum Shuffling, a Novel Method of Generating a Random Chimera Library In Vivo

ABSTRACT We describe a novel method of random chimeragenesis based on highly frequent deletion formation in the Escherichia coli ssb-3 strain and a deletion-directed chimera selection system that uses the rpsL+ gene as a reporter. It enables the selection of chimeras without target gene expression and can therefore be applied to cytotoxic targets. When this system was applied to phospholipase D genes from Streptomyces septatus TH-2 and Streptomyces halstedii subsp. scabies K6 (examples of cytotoxic targets), chimeragenesis occurred between short identical sequences at the corresponding position of the parental genes with large variations. Chimeragenesis was >1,000 times more frequent in the ssb-3 background than in the ssb+ background. We called this system repeat-length-independent broad-spectrum shuffling. It enables the convenient chimeragenesis and functional study of chimeric proteins. In fact, we found two amino acid residues related to the thermostability of phospholipase D (Phe426 and Thr433) by comparing thermostability among the chimeric enzymes obtained.
Familial transmission of human longevity: A population-based study in an inland village of Sardinia (Italy), 1850-2010

This study investigates the role of familial transmission on individual survival in an inland community of Sardinia that stands for the exceptional longevity of its inhabitants. The analysis considers the complete survival trajectories of individuals born in the village of Villagrande Strisaili from unions in the period from 1850 to 1910 and aims to estimate the possible effect on the relationships parent–offspring and between siblings. Our results show that the frail familial component of the population, rather than the robust one, proves to be a good predictor of individual survival. No association between father survival and that of children was found. Having instead a long-living mother increases lifespan, especially for daughters. But the strongest relationship is that observed between siblings. The survival of siblings is positively associated with individual survival and this relationship is particularly strong for males. This finding points for both genetic and environment influence, and particularly of early-life conditions, on longevity.
Oxytocin retrogradely inhibits evoked, but not miniature, EPSCs in the rat supraoptic nucleus: role of N‐ and P/Q‐type calcium channels

1 We previously reported that oxytocin (OXT), released from the dendrites of magnocellular neurons in the supraoptic nucleus (SON), acts retrogradely on presynaptic terminals to inhibit glutamatergic transmission. Here we test the hypothesis that oxytocin reduces calcium influx into the presynaptic terminal. 2 We used nystatin perforated‐patch recording in vitro to first identify the calcium channels involved in glutamatergic transmission in the SON. ω‐Conotoxin GVIA (ω‐CTx) and ω‐Agatoxin TK (ω‐Aga) both reduced evoked EPSC amplitude, while nicardipine and nickel had no effect. A combination of ω‐CTx and ω‐Aga completely abolished the evoked EPSCs. 3 This depressant effect was accompanied by an increase in the paired pulse ratio with no change in the kinetics of the evoked EPSCs, AMPA currents or postsynaptic cell properties. These results suggest that presynaptic N‐ and P/Q‐type calcium channels mediate glutamate release in the SON while L‐, T‐ and R‐type channels make little or no contribution. 4 Oxytocin‐induced reduction of the evoked EPSC was substantially occluded in the presence of ω‐CTx but only partially in the presence of ω‐Aga. 5 Amastatin, an endopeptidase inhibitor that increases the level of endogenous OXT, also reduced the evoked EPSC. This amastatin effect was also occluded by ω‐CTx and ω‐Aga. 6 Miniature EPSCs, which are independent of extracellular calcium, were unaffected by either ω‐CTx or by OXT, thus further substantiating an action of both compounds on calcium channels. 7 Therefore, dendritically released oxytocin acts mainly via a mechanism involving the N‐type channel, and to a lesser extent the P/Q‐type channel, to decrease excitatory transmission.
Compressed data collection for clustering-based sensor networks

In this paper, we propose an uneven clustering-based data collection strategy for sensor networks. The theory of Compressive sensing (CS) is used to reduce the transmissions for energy conservation in our method. We research the threshold of maximum transmission radius for heterogeneous nodes based on the energy consumption model. Then, the optimal cluster size is obtained with the help of the maximum radius. Finally, we construct an uneven-cluster network with a proposed CS-based load balance strategy. The simulations show that our method is better than other schemes in the field of energy efficacy.
Fluorescence scanning near‐field optical microscopy of polyfluorene composites

Fluorescence scanning near‐field optical microscopy (SNOM) is used to investigate binary polyfluorene‐based composites of varying composition. The samples investigated contain blends of the polymer poly(9,9′‐dioctylfluorene‐cobenzothiadiazole), F8BT, with similar polyfluorenes of wider band gap. Images acquired from a film containing 50% by weight F8BT exhibit a high degree of correlation between the topography and fluorescence, with an F8BT‐rich phase which protrudes from the surface of the film forming isolated regions with sizes from hundreds of nanometres to several micrometres. A film containing 10% by weight F8BT also has micrometre‐size F8BT‐rich regions, but also present are small and locally varying proportions of F8BT in the other polyfluorene component phase, indicating a hierarchy of phases within this sample. The fluorescence and topographic images of a third sample studied, containing 90% by weight F8BT, display no correlation, demonstrating that it is not always appropriate to use topographic information to determine the phase structure within polymer blends. The fluorescence SNOM images acquired from these samples are able to assist our understanding of the photovoltaic efficiency of devices fabricated from these films, which are governed by the extent of the interfacial area between these two constituent polymers.
Isolation and analysis of xlnR, encoding a transcriptional activator co‐ordinating xylanolytic expression in Aspergillus niger

Complementation by transformation of an Aspergillus niger mutant lacking xylanolytic activity led to the isolation of the xlnR gene. The xlnR gene encodes a polypeptide of 875 amino acids capable of forming a zinc binuclear cluster domain with similarity to the zinc clusters of the GAL4 superfamily of transcription factors. The XlnR‐binding site 5′‐GGCTAAA‐3′ was deduced after electrophoretic mobility shift assays, DNase I footprinting and comparison of various xylanolytic promoters. The importance of the second G within the presumed XlnR binding site 5′‐GGCTAAA‐3′ was confirmed in vitro and in vivo. The 5′‐GGCTAAA‐3′ consensus sequence is found within several xylanolytic promoters of various Aspergillus species and Penicillium chrysogenum. Therefore, this sequence may be an important and conserved cis‐acting element in induction of xylanolytic genes in filamentous fungi. Our results indicate that XlnR is a transcriptional activator of the xylanolytic system in A. niger.
Treatment advances in multiple myeloma

Autotransplant-supported high-dose therapy has improved the outcome of multiple myeloma for two-thirds of patients with normal metaphase cytogenetics, 40% of whom enjoy a survival of >10 years. This approach has been challenged by the introduction of non-myeloablative allotransplants and novel drugs also targeting the microenvironment. Non-myeloablative allotransplantation may increase the cure rate but needs evaluation in patients with high-risk myeloma (abnormal cytogenetics) because of its high risk and absence of mature data. Novel drugs may induce marked responses in 10–20% of patients. However, little is known about the quality and duration of these responses and their long-term toxicities. Given the marked cytoreductive potential of autotransplantation, it should be considered a platform for more effective future therapies. Incorporation of novel agents in autotransplant protocols appears appropriate for good risk disease (normal cytogenetics), whereas non-myeloablative allotransplants or other immunological manipulations should only be tested in high-risk myeloma (abnormal cytogenetics). What have we accomplished? Little progress had been made in the first 30 years after the
Mutagenesis of Individual Pentatricopeptide Repeat Motifs Affects RNA Binding Activity and Reveals Functional Partitioning of Arabidopsis PROTON GRADIENT REGULATION3[C][W]

This work examines the functional differences among different PPR motifs of PROTON GRADIENT REGULATION3 by introducing a charged or nonpolar amino acid into the fourth position of the PPR and testing the effect on the functions in RNA stability and translation of two target genes. Pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) proteins bind RNA and act in multiple eukaryotic processes, including RNA editing, RNA stability, and translation. Here, we investigated the mechanism underlying the functional versatility of Arabidopsis thaliana PROTON GRADIENT REGULATION3 (PGR3), a chloroplast protein harboring 27 PPR motifs. Previous studies suggested that PGR3 acts in (1) stabilization of photosynthetic electron transport L (petL) operon RNA, (2) translation of petL, and (3) translation of ndhA. We showed here that replacement of the 4th amino acid of the 12th PPR with nonpolar or charged amino acids abolished functions (1) and (2) but not (3) of PGR3 by compromising the function of this specific PPR. This discovery enabled us to knock out the RNA binding ability of individual PPR motifs. Consequently, we showed that the 16 N-terminal PPRs were sufficient for function (1) via sequence-specific RNA binding, whereas the 11 C-terminal motifs were essential for functions (2) and (3) by activating translation. We also clarified that the 14th amino acid of the 12th PPR should be positively charged to make the PPR functionally active. Our finding opens up the possibility of selectively manipulating the functions of PPR proteins.
Multi-functional antennas using polarization-rotation artificial magnetic conductor structures

A novel polarization rotation technique based on an artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) structure is proposed. A new polarization-rotation AMC (PRAMC) with a height of only 0.04 λ0 is designed and a large polarization rotation bandwidth of 29.1% can be achieved. Firstly, the PRAMC is applied to design a low-profile circularly polarized dipole antenna with a broad axial ratio bandwidth and beamwidth. In addition, combining a PRAMC-based multi-polarized dipole antenna with a switch network, a novel polarization-reconfigurable antenna is achieved, in which three polarization states of right-handed, left-handed circular polarization (RHCP, LHCP) and +45° linear polarization (LP) can be realized by controlling the dc bias of the switches accordingly. Moreover, a new active corner-cut PRAMC loading with several varactors is proposed to achieve a novel frequency- and polarization-reconfigurable dipole antenna for applications in multi-function wireless communication systems.
Reversible data hiding

This paper presents a novel reversible data hiding algorithm, which can recover the original image without distortion from the marked image after the hidden data have been extracted. This algorithm utilizes the zero or the minimum point of the histogram and slightly modifies the pixel values to embed data. It can embed more data as compared to most of the existing reversible data hiding algorithms. A theoretical proof and numerous experiments show that the PSNR of the marked image generated by this method is always above 48 dB, which is much higher than other reversible data hiding algorithms. The algorithm has been applied to a wide range of different images successfully. Some experimental results are presented to demonstrate the validity of the algorithm.
A novel structure of random interleaver for turbo coding

In this paper a new form of random interleaver for turbo coding is introduced. This new structure is based on the probability distribution of the channel statistic model, instead of the uniform probability distribution. We use the normal (Gaussian) and Rayleigh probability distribution in accordance with the channel type, and compare them with dithered golden interleaver. For the simulated cases good performance is obtained with DGI interleaver when transmitting data in short block length (N=169bits), and better results are obtained with Gaussian and Rayleigh interleavers when using long block length (N=1024).