Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of ced-9 dsRNA on Caenorhabditis elegans and Meloidogyne incognita.

Abstract: Problem Statement: In metazoans Programmed Cell Death (PCD) is essential for proper development. Suppression of PCD is needed to guarantee cell survival and in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans the regulation of PCD is accomplished by the function of the ced-9 gene. Approach: In this work the use of double stranded RNA (dsRNA) to knock-down ced-9 gene function was tested as means to induce PCD. Results: Our results indicate that dsRNA targeting the cell death protection gene ced-9 is effective at decreasing the fecundity of C. elegans by up to 21%. The decreased fecundity correlated with an increased presence of cell corpses in developing embryos. Endogenous ced-9 transcript levels were reduced in progeny of ced-3 mutant nematodes fed bacteria expressing ced-9 dsRNA. These data suggest that nematode fecundity can be reduced by ingestion and exposure to dsRNAs targeting regulation of the cell death pathway. In an attempt to determine if plant parasitic nematodes are susceptible to the targeting of the PCD regulatory pathway we exposed Meloidogyne incognita, a plant parasitic nematode, to ced-9 dsRNA; here we show that this exposure results in decreased gall formation in the tobacco plants. Conclusion/Recommendations: Our results provide the first steps toward using RNAi technologies to attempt nematode control by targeting cell death pathways. Ongoing research with transgenic plants designed to express dsRNA for ced-9-like sequences will further test the feasibility of generating plants with RNAi-based resistance to parasitic nematodes.
Integrating Logic Knowledge into Graph Regularization : an application to image tagging

This paper studies how prior knowledge in form of First Order Logic (FOL) clauses can be converted into a set of continuous constraints. These constraints can be directly integrated into a learning framework allowing to jointly learn from examples and semantic knowledge. In particular, in this paper we show how the constraints can be integrated into a regularization schema working over discrete domains. We consider tasks in which items are connected to each other by given relationships, thus yielding a graph, whose nodes correspond to the available objects. It is required to estimate a set of functions defined on each node of the graph, given a small set of labeled nodes for each function. The FOL constraints enforce dependencies, resulting from the FOL knowledge, among the values that the functions assume over the nodes. The experimental results evaluate the proposed technique on an image tagging task, showing how the proposed approach provides a significantly higher tagging accuracy than simple graph regularization. The experimental results show how the selection of a proper conversion process of the FOL clauses is fundamental in order to achieve good results.
Assessing the 'Choosiness' of Job Seekers. An Exploratory Approach and Evidence for Italy

We use data about job search and work preferences, typically collected in a Labour Force Survey, in order to construct an indicator of . choosiness. of the supply of job-seekers. The method for obtaining the indicator, first at individual level and then at aggregate levels, is based on results from multiple correspondence analysis. We investigate the informational value of the indicator by examining its stability over time and its predictive power on labour force transitions. Empirical analyses of cross-section and panel samples of job-seekers from the Italian quarterly Labour Force Survey clarify the potentials (and limitations) of the approach.
How do firms open up the front-end of service innovation? A case study of IT-based service firms in Thailand

This paper focusses on the openness in the front-end phase of service innovation and its impact on innovation success. The early stages of innovation are fuzzy and unstructured, thus often being called “fuzzy front-end” (FFE) by scholars. The FFE begins when an opportunity is considered worthy of further ideation, exploration, and assessment and ends when a firm decides to invest in — or terminate — an idea. Although openness has been identified as pivotal to innovation performance, little effort has been put into exploring its role in the early phase of innovation. By drawing on the data of a multiple case study in Thai online service firms, we are able to identify four key dimensions of FFE openness competence: prior related knowledge, top management support, the presence of workable prototype, and slack resource. Furthermore, we found three openness activities that often take place in the FFE phase of successful online service innovation, i.e., external search, inter-firm partnerships and customer experimentation. From a managerial perspective, our study provides useful insights to innovation managers aiming at enhancing front-end performance through openness.
Residual stress measurement round robin on an electron beamwelded joint between austenitic stainless steel 316 L ( N ) and ferritic steel P 91

This paper is a research output of DMW-Creep project which is part of a national UK programme through the RCUK Energy programme and India's Department of Atomic Energy. The research is focussed on understanding the characteristics of welded joints between austenitic stainless steel and ferritic steel that are widely used in many nuclear power generating plants and petrochemical industries as well as conventional coal and gas-fired power systems. The members of the DMW-Creep project have undertaken parallel round robin activities measuring the residual stresses generated by a dissimilar metal weld (DMW) between AISI 316L(N) austenitic stainless steel and P91 ferritic-martensitic steel. Electron beam (EB) welding was employed to produce a single bead weld on a plate specimen and an additional smoothing pass (known cosmetic pass) was then introduced using a defocused beam. The welding residual stresses have been measured by five experimental methods including (I) neutron diffraction (ND), (II) X-Ray diffraction (XRD), (III) contour method (CM), (IV) incremental deep hole drilling (iDHD) and (V) incremental centre hole drilling (iCHD). The round robin measurements of weld residual stresses are compared in order to characterise surface and sub-surface residual stresses comprehensively. © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Defective Product Detection Using Image Processing

: Automation is very important factor in an industry which manufactures product in mass quantity. After manufacturing product; to make decision of rejecting or accepting is taken by measuring quality parameters. To measure quality parameters such as dimensions and features of manufactured product inspection is done manually in almost manufacturing industries. Manual assessment is time consuming, costly, sometimes inaccurate and manual assessment for complicated shapes is very difficult. To overcome these problems quality control and quality management for sensitive industrial product is feasible by use of image processing techniques. In this study use of 2D and 3D image processing is compared to detect edge defects. To extract features of manufactured product from image of product Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used, defect detection in manufactured industrial products using edge detection methods gives the performance in acceptable range with them.
Aromatic polyamides and acrylic polymers as solid sensory materials and smart coated fibres for high acidity colorimetric sensing

Reusable colorimetric acid responsive coated fibres and manageable films or membranes have been successfully designed and prepared herein. The design of the materials rely on the preparation of condensation and addition monomers both having the azobenzene group, which is used as a dye moiety and as a weak basic motif, and a N,N-dimethylamino moiety. The N,N-dimethylamino moiety is also used as a weak, albeit stronger, basic group as well as an electron donor or electron withdrawal group, depending on its protonation state. For the sake of applicability, the coated fibres were cotton commodity fabrics, and high-tech aromatic polyamide yarns and fabrics. The high-performance aromatic polyamides and the versatile acrylic structures, along with the pendant weak basic groups, with pKas in water ranging from 1.78 to −0.5 and in air from −1.5 to −3.9, provide the materials with a colorimetric sensing capability over a wide acidity sensing window. This sensing window ranges from 1 × 10−2 to 3 M for perchloric acid in water and from 4 × 10−7 to 9 × 10−2 atm for vapour pressure of hydrogen chloride in air. The colour change of the sensory materials from yellow/blank to red or purple, which occurs upon contact with acidic media, was easily identified using the naked eye. Washing these materials with pure water recovered their original colour and permitted their reuse.
Existence of solutions for p(x)-Kirchhoff type problems with non-smooth potentials

We consider a class of p(x)-Kirchhoff type problem with a subdifferential term and a discontinuous perturbation. Assuming the existence of an ordered pair of appropriately defined upper and lower solutions, by the method of lower-upper solutions, penalization techniques, truncations, and results from nonlinear and multivalued analysis, we show the existence of solutions, and of extremal solutions in the interval defined by the lower and upper solution.
The TOPAZ Arctic monitor ing and prediction system

SYNOPSIS Ocean data assimilation systems allow combining remote-sensing and in-situ ocean observations with primitive equations ocean general circulation models (OGCM). They thus provide initial conditions for short-term ocean currents forecasts (ten days to one month) and boundary conditions to nested highresolution models of coastal seas and can be operated in hindcast to reproduce past events over long periods. At the time when the offshore activities are moving toward deeper waters and ice-covered seas, accurate monitoring and forecasting of the environment (particularly ocean currents and sea-ice) cannot be neglected. This paper presents the TOPAZ system, being the Arctic component of the MERSEA integrated system and one of the contributors to the GODAE international initiative. The system is based on the latest scientific developments in terms of ocean modelling with the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM), coupled with different biogeochemical modules and data assimilation with the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF). The paper presents validation results of the system and applications in nested regional models.
Doppler tomography of transiting exoplanets: a prograde, low-inclined orbit for the hot Jupiter CoRoT-11b

We report the detection of the Doppler shadow of the transiting hot Jupiter CoRoT-11b. Our analysis is based on line-profile tomography of time-series, Keck/HIRES high-resolution spectra acquired during the transit of the planet. We measured a sky-projected, spin-orbit angle lambda = 0.1 degrees +/- 2.6 degrees, which is consistent with a very low-inclined orbit with respect to the stellar rotation axis. We refined the physical parameters of the system using a Markov chain Monte Carlo simultaneous fitting of the available photometric and spectroscopic data. An analysis of the tidal evolution of the system shows how the currently measured obliquity and its uncertainty translate into an initial absolute value of less than about 10 degrees on the zero-age main sequence, for an expected average modified tidal quality factor of the star \textless Q'(*)\textgreater greater than or similar to 4 x 10(6). This is indicative of an inward migration scenario that would not have perturbed the primordial low obliquity of CoRoT-11b. Taking into account the effective temperature and mass of the planet host star (T-eff = 6440 K, M-* = 1.23 M-circle dot), the system can be considered a new telling exception to the recently proposed trend, according to which relatively hot and massive stars (T-eff \textgreater 6250 K, M-* \textgreater 1.2 M-circle dot) seem to be preferentially orbited by hot Jupiters with high obliquity.
Self-regulated learning in digital environments: theory, research, praxis

From a metacognitive perspective, self-regulated learning (SRL) refers to the cyclical processes of understanding the required task, developing a plan and implementing strategies to satisfy task requirements and monitoring the effectiveness of those strategies in achieving the desired outcome. A considerable volume of research establishes that the instructional tools available in digital learning environments are particularly useful in supporting SRL. This paper reviews current theoretical models and recent empirical investigations germane to applications of digital technology to promote SRL. SRL is promoted by teachers who provide instruction architecture that encourages students to ensure that the task is fully understood, select and execute effective plans and strategies and monitor personal progress toward task completion. Such instructional architecture is more readily applied in digital, as opposed to traditional, learning environments. Based upon such review of theoretical and applied research, a comprehensive instructional framework of SRL in digital environments is presented. This framework functions to inform those who design and teach in digital environments to reflect and explicitly address the degree to which their learners have the capacity to self-regulate.
Learning Transformation Invariance from Global to Local

Learning representations invariant to image transformations is fundamental to improving object recognition. We explore the connections between i-theory, Toroidal Subspace Analysis and slow subspace learning. All these methods can only achieve invariance to one transformation. Motivated by this limitation of these global methods we adapt the slow subspace approach to a local convolutional setting. Experimentally we show invariance to multiple transformations, and test object recognition performance.
A Continental‐Scale Hydroeconomic Model for Integrating Water‐Energy‐Land Nexus Solutions

This study presents the development of a new bottom‐up large‐scale hydroeconomic model, Extended Continental‐scale Hydroeconomic Optimization (ECHO), that works at a subbasin scale over a continent. The strength of ECHO stems from the integration of a detailed representation of local hydrological and technological constraints with regional and global policies, while accounting for the feedbacks between water, energy, and agricultural sectors. In this study, ECHO has been applied over Africa as a case study with the aim of demonstrating the benefits of this integrated hydroeconomic modeling framework. Results of this framework are overall consistent with previous findings evaluating the cost of water supply and adaptation to global changes in Africa. Moreover, results provide critical assessments of future investment needs in both supply‐ and demand‐side water management options, economic implications of contrasting future socioeconomic and climate change scenarios, and the potential trade‐offs among economic and environmental objectives. Overall, this study demonstrates the capacity of ECHO to address challenging research questions examining the sustainability of water supply and the impacts of water management on energy and food sectors and vice versa. As such, we propose ECHO as useful tool for water‐related scenario analysis and management options evaluation.
Extendibility of educational systems to include a learner-adaptive motivational module

Motivation is a key component of learning, no matter if it takes place in the classroom, via an online system or in a blended setting. Motivated learners feel more self-efficacious, they spend more effort and persist more on a task, they are more interested in the learning activities and they use more self-regulatory learning strategies. If in classroom teaching motivation is handled by teachers, in the case of online learning, motivation has been considered only in terms of content and ways of delivery. There is a need for considering motivation by educational systems in a more personalised way that would allow adequate interventional strategies to motivate learners. This paper explores the possibility of existing open-source educational systems to be extended with a motivational module.
Root Cutout Effects on the Aerodynamics of a Low-Aspect-Ratio Revolving Wing

Direct numerical simulations of the flow past a low-aspect-ratio revolving wing are performed. The wing undergoes an impulsively started 180 deg revolution about a vertical axis at angles of attack 15, 30, and 45 deg and chord-based Reynolds number 1000. The root cutout is varied at a fixed wing radius, R=4 chords, and the effects on the flow structure and aerodynamic performance of the wing are evaluated. It is shown that an optimum in aerodynamic efficiency exists at low root cutout. Results suggest that this optimum is due to the competition between low Reynolds number effects at the wing root and root vortex effects. In addition, it is shown that a large root cutout can inhibit leading-edge vortex burst that occurs at high angles of attack. However, despite the associated recovery in pressure forces near the wing tip, this inhibition has no significant impact on aerodynamic performance.
Germination and Establishment of Tillandsia eizii (Bromeliaceae) in the Canopy of an Oak Forest in Chiapas, Mexico

We assessed the effectiveness of repopulating the inner canopy and middle canopy of oak trees with seeds and seedlings of the epiphytic bromeliad Tillandsia eizii. Canopy germination was 4.7 percent, considerably lower than in vitro (92%). Of the tree‐germinated seedlings, only 1.5 percent survived 6 mo. In contrast, 9.3 percent of transplanted laboratory seedlings survived 15 mo. To repopulate trees, we recommend transplanting laboratory‐grown seedlings, as large as practically possible, to branches in the middle canopy.
A COBE Model of the Galactic Bar and Disk

A model of the bar and old stellar disk of the Galaxy has been derived from the survey of the Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) of the Cosmic Background Explorer at wavelengths of 1.25, 2.2, 3.5, and 4.9 μm. It agrees very well with the data, except in directions in which the near-infrared optical depth is high. Among the conclusions drawn from the model is that the Sun is located approximately 16.5 pc above the midpoint of the Galactic plane. The disk has an outer edge 4 kpc from the Sun and is warped like the H I layer. It has a central hole roughly the diameter of the inner edge of the 3 kpc molecular cloud ring, and within that hole lies a bright, strong, "early-type" bar, tilted approximately 14° from the Sun-Galactic center line. The model has 47 free parameters. The model is discussed in detail, and contour plots and images of the residuals are presented.
Broiler breeder paradox: a project report

A first product of this European project was a tool for scoring chick quality. A link was established between chick quality and embryonic physiological parameters such as heat production. Eggs from broiler breeders that give rise to rapidly growing broilers have a different embryonic development that may need modified incubation conditions. Within genotypes, better chick quality induces better liveability and faster growth in broiler production. Extensive data on broiler breeder production were generated. Feed restriction was necessary to maintain welfare and reproduction at acceptable levels in standard broiler breeders. The dw-experimental genotype (E) was more tolerant to ad libitum feeding. If an alternative to feed restriction had to be found, the use of a dw genotype with less severe feed restriction could be adopted. Fibre per se, or partial feed restriction during the growing period, only compensated to a small extent for the negative effects of early fast growth on later reproduction. The results of the project on behaviour did not support welfare concerns on feed restriction. They confirmed the hypothesis that environmental pecking is a displacement activity rather than a sign of frustration. Factors other than central control by pituitary hormones seem to be involved in the modulation of the laying rate. The local (intra-ovarian) role of growth factors such as Insulin-like Growth Factors (IGFs), Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMPs) and leptin are known to modulate the effect of gonadotrophins on ovarian function. For both BMPs and IGFs, feed restriction enhanced the interaction between growth factors and gonadotrophins as well as the proliferation of granulosa cells in vitro. Future genetic selection of broiler breeder production might aim at uncoupling the control of growth factors in the ovary from the selection for rapid growth to maintain or increase the growth rate of chicks without further penalising the already poor reproductive performance of broiler breeders. Putative quantitative trait loci for ovulation rate were identified in the project and may eventually facilitate selection by breeding companies for birds that could be fed enough feed to optimise their welfare.
Online Robust Model Predictive Control for Linear Fractional Transformation Systems Using Linear Matrix Inequalities

Abstract—In this paper, the problem of robust model predictive control (MPC) for discrete-time linear systems in linear fractional transformation form with structured uncertainty and norm-bounded disturbance is investigated. The problem of minimization of the cost function for MPC design is converted to minimization of the worst case of the cost function. Then, this problem is reduced to minimization of an upper bound of the cost function subject to a terminal inequality satisfying the l2-norm of the closed loop system. The characteristic of the linear fractional transformation system is taken into account, and by using some mathematical tools, the robust predictive controller design problem is turned into a linear matrix inequality minimization problem. Afterwards, a formulation which includes an integrator to improve the performance of the proposed robust model predictive controller in steady state condition is studied. The validity of the approaches is illustrated through a robust control benchmark problem.
Legitimacy of New Forms of Governance in Public Discourse - An Automated Media Content Analysis Approach Driven by Techniques of Computational Linguistics

For political scientists, it is increasingly important to explore large text collections without time-consuming human intervention. We are presenting a language technology tool kit that allows political scientists to extract information on various forms of governance from a comprehensive multilingual corpus. The tool kit allows searching for governance entities and measuring their salience, tonality and media frames. In substantial terms, our pipeline enables scholars of governance to extend their research focus to the previously neglected area of public communication.