Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Semantic Interoperability in the IoT

The adoption of the Internet of Things is gradually increasing. However, there remains a significant obstacle that hinders its adoption as a truly ubiquitous technology: the ability of constrained devices to unambiguously exchange data with shared meaning. In this respect, the World Wide Web Consortium has developed the Web of Things architecture to provide semantic data exchange. However, such an architecture does not cover all possible use cases and still has important limitations. This article specifically addresses these issues. In particular, it discusses the design and implementation of a solution that extends the Web of Things architecture to achieve a higher level of semantic interoperability for the Internet of Things. The proposed solution relies on a human-assisted translation process and defines an architecture that enhances the semantic compatibility between components in the World Wide Web Consortium and the Internet Engineering Task Force. The effectiveness of the proposed solution is demonstrated through both a quantitative and a qualitative evaluation, in terms of performance and key properties in comparison with the state of the art.
Systematics of West African Miniopterus with the Description of a New Species

The phylogenetic relationships and species limits within the chiropteran family Miniopteridae are poorly known in mainland Africa. Recent systematic studies in Madagascar have shown that this is a species-rich family, yet only eight species are currently recognized or hypothesized for continental Africa. Based on partial cytochrome b sequences and morphometric analysis, we describe a new species of Miniopterus that is endemic to a restricted, montane region of Liberia and Guinea. Furthermore, the taxonomic status of the West African Miniopterus schreibersii villiersi is resolved and shown to be a distinct species, M. villiersi, that is not closely related to M. schreibersii. Finally, the species M. inflatus is revealed to be paraphyletic, with the central African rainforest populations apparently not closely related to the savanna forms in eastern and southern Africa. Based on the results of this study, the number of Miniopterus species in Africa has increased from eight to 11, with more cryptic species likely to be discovered.
Expression of Heterologous OsDHAR Gene Improves Glutathione (GSH)-Dependent Antioxidant System and Maintenance of Cellular Redox Status in Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942

An excess of reactive oxygen species (ROS) can cause severe oxidative damage to cellular components in photosynthetic cells. Antioxidant systems, such as the glutathione (GSH) pools, regulate redox status in cells to guard against such damage. Dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR, EC 1.8.5.1) catalyzes the glutathione-dependent reduction of oxidized ascorbate (dehydroascorbate) and contains a redox active site and glutathione binding-site. The DHAR gene is important in biological and abiotic stress responses involving reduction of the oxidative damage caused by ROS. In this study, transgenic Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 (TA) was constructed by cloning the Oryza sativa L. japonica DHAR (OsDHAR) gene controlled by an isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG)-inducible promoter (Ptrc) into the cyanobacterium to study the functional activities of OsDHAR under oxidative stress caused by hydrogen peroxide exposure. OsDHAR expression increased the growth of S. elongatus PCC 7942 under oxidative stress by reducing the levels of hydroperoxides and malondialdehyde (MDA) and mitigating the loss of chlorophyll. DHAR and glutathione S-transferase activity were higher than in the wild-type S. elongatus PCC 7942 (WT). Additionally, overexpression of OsDHAR in S. elongatus PCC 7942 greatly increased the glutathione (GSH)/glutathione disulfide (GSSG) ratio in the presence or absence of hydrogen peroxide. These results strongly suggest that DHAR attenuates deleterious oxidative effects via the glutathione (GSH)-dependent antioxidant system in cyanobacterial cells. The expression of heterologous OsDHAR in S. elongatus PCC 7942 protected cells from oxidative damage through a GSH-dependent antioxidant system via GSH-dependent reactions at the redox active site and GSH binding site residues during oxidative stress.
Performance Analysis of Resource Sharing During Downlink Multi-User Transmissions in CSMA/ECA Full Duplex WLANs

Abstract Full Duplex (FD) wireless communications is considered to be the next big step for future Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). Old (IEEE 802.11ac) and new (IEEE 802.11ax) WLAN features are expected to co-exist with FD operation. Some of these features include Downlink Multi-User (DL MU) transmissions at the physical layer while at the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer techniques such as the Transmission Opportunity (TXOP) sharing mechanism facilitates these multiuser transmissions. The traditional Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) protocol is inadequate to support full duplex communications efficiently. A very promising adaptation of CSMA/CA and a powerful candidate as the basic channel access method for future WLANs is the Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Enhanced Collision Avoidance (CSMA/ECA). In this paper, we provide an analytical model to assess the performance of resource sharing techniques in full duplex WLANs operating with the CSMA/ECA protocol. Our analysis is based on Markov chains to obtain an estimate of the achievable throughput of the Quality of Service Access Point (QAP) during DL MU transmissions.
Perceived Parental Support and Adolescents’ Positive Self-Beliefs and Levels of Distress Across Four Countries

Previous research has shown that parental support has beneficial effects on the psychological well-being of adolescents. Going beyond prior research, the present study made distinctions between information, emotional, and financial parental support and examined adolescents from United States (N = 1,002), China (N = 1,172), South Korea (N = 3,993), and Japan (N = 1,112). The frequency and impact of different types of perceived parental support on adolescents’ positive self-belief and distress levels have been investigated. Consistent with the existing literature, the results showed American adolescents perceived greater emotional and informational support than others, while Chinese, Korean, and Japanese adolescents perceived greater tangible support compared to American adolescents. Notably, Chinese adolescents reported higher levels of parental support than other East Asian adolescents. The perceived parental support influenced positive self-beliefs equally across cultural groups, but informational support impacted distress to a greater degree for American adolescents than East Asian adolescents. The implications of the present research are discussed.
Glutathione Deficiency in Sinorhizobium meliloti Does Not Impair Bacteroid Differentiation But Induces Early Senescence in the Interaction With Medicago truncatula

Under nitrogen-limiting conditions, legumes are able to interact symbiotically with bacteria of the Rhizobiaceae family. This interaction gives rise to a new organ, named a root nodule. Root nodules are characterized by an increased glutathione (GSH) and homoglutathione (hGSH) content compared to roots. These low molecular thiols are very important in the biological nitrogen fixation. In order to characterize the modification of nodule activity induced by the microsymbiont glutathione deficiency, physiological, biochemical, and gene expression modifications were analyzed in nodules after the inoculation of Medicago truncatula with the SmgshB mutant of Sinorhizobium meliloti which is deficient in GSH production. The decline in nitrogen fixation efficiency was correlated to the reduction in plant shoot biomass. Flow cytometry analysis showed that SmgshB bacteroids present a higher DNA content than free living bacteria. Live/dead microscopic analysis showed an early bacteroid degradation in SmgshB nodules compared to control nodules which is correlated to a lower bacteroid content at 20 dpi. Finally, the expression of two marker genes involved in nitrogen fixation metabolism, Leghemoglobin and Nodule Cysteine Rich Peptide 001, decreased significantly in mutant nodules at 20 dpi. In contrast, the expression of two marker genes involved in the nodule senescence, Cysteine Protease 6 and Purple Acid Protease, increased significantly in mutant nodules at 10 dpi strengthening the idea that an early senescence process occurs in SmgshB nodules. In conclusion, our results showed that bacterial GSH deficiency does not impair bacterial differentiation but induces an early nodule senescence.
UV-B Induces Distinct Transcriptional Re-programing in UVR8-Signal Transduction, Flavonoid, and Terpenoids Pathways in Camellia sinensis

Plants are known to respond to Ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B: 280–320 nm) by generating phenolic metabolites which absorbs UV-B light. Phenolics are extraordinarily abundant in Camellia sinensis leaves and are considered, together with pleasant volatile terpenoids, as primary flavor determinants in tea beverages. In this study, we focused on the effects of UV-B exposure (at 35 μW cm–2 for 0, 0.5, 2, and 8 h) on tea transcriptional and metabolic alterations, specifically related to tea flavor metabolite production. Out of 34,737 unigenes, a total of 18,081 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) due to UV-B treatments were identified. Additionally, the phenylpropanoid pathway was found as one of the most significantly UV-B affected top 20 KEGG pathways while flavonoid and monoterpenoid pathway-related genes were enhanced at 0.5 h. In the UVR8-signal transduction pathway, UVR8 was suppressed at both short and long exposure of UV-B with genes downstream differentially expressed. Divergent expression of MYB4 at different treatments could have differentially altered structural and regulatory genes upstream of flavonoid biosynthesis pathways. Suppression of MYB4-1&3 at 0.5 h could have led to the up-regulation of structural CCOAOMT-1&2, HST-1&2, DFR-4, ANR-2, and LAR-1&3 genes resulting in accumulation of specialized metabolites at a shorter duration of UV-B exposure. Specialized metabolite profiling revealed the correlated alterations in the abundances of catechins and some volatile terpenoids in all the treatments with significant accumulation of specialized metabolites at 0.5 h treatment. A significant increase in specialized metabolites at 0.5 h treatment and no significant alteration observed at longer UVB treatment suggested that shorter exposure to UV-B led to different display in gene expression and accumulation of specialized metabolites in tea shoots in response to UV-B stress. Taken together, our results indicated that the UV-B treatment applied in this study differentially altered the UVR8-signal transduction, flavonoid and terpenoid pathways at transcriptional and metabolic levels in tea plants. Our results show strong potential for UV-B application in flavor improvement in tea at the industrial level.
Targeting the Oncogenic TBX2 Transcription Factor With Chromomycins

The TBX2 transcription factor plays critical roles during embryonic development and it is overexpressed in several cancers, where it contributes to key oncogenic processes including the promotion of proliferation and bypass of senescence. Importantly, based on compelling biological evidences, TBX2 has been considered as a potential target for new anticancer therapies. There has therefore been a substantial interest to identify molecules with TBX2-modulatory activity, but no such substance has been found to date. Here, we adopt a targeted approach based on a reverse-affinity procedure to identify the ability of chromomycins A5 (CA5) and A6 (CA6) to interact with TBX2. Briefly, a TBX2-DNA-binding domain recombinant protein was N-terminally linked to a resin, which in turn, was incubated with either CA5 or CA6. After elution, bound material was analyzed by UPLC-MS and CA5 was recovered from TBX2-loaded resins. To confirm and quantify the affinity (KD) between the compounds and TBX2, microscale thermophoresis analysis was performed. CA5 and CA6 modified the thermophoretic behavior of TBX2, with a KD in micromolar range. To begin to understand whether these compounds exerted their anti-cancer activity through binding TBX2, we next analyzed their cytotoxicity in TBX2 expressing breast carcinoma, melanoma and rhabdomyosarcoma cells. The results show that CA5 was consistently more potent than CA6 in all tested cell lines with IC50 values in the nM range. Of the cancer cell types tested, the melanoma cells were most sensitive. The knockdown of TBX2 in 501mel melanoma cells increased their sensitivity to CA5 by up to 5 times. Furthermore, inducible expression of TBX2 in 501mel cells genetically engineered to express TBX2 in the presence of doxycycline, were less sensitive to CA5 than the control cells. Together, the data presented in this study suggest that, in addition to its already recognized DNA-binding properties, CA5 may be binding the transcription factor TBX2, and it can contribute to its cytotoxic activity.
Measurement Science is the Science of Sciences - There is no Science without Measurement

Abstract Omnia in mensura et numero et pondere disposuisti is a famous Latin phrase from Solomon’s Book of Wisdom, dated to the mid first century BC, meaning that all things were ordered in measure, number, and weight. Naturally, the wisdom is appearing in its relation to man. The Wisdom of Solomon is understood as the perfection of knowledge of the righteous as a gift from God showing itself in action. Consequently, a natural and obvious conjecture is that measurement science is the science of sciences. In fact, it is a basis of all experimental and theoretical research activities. Each measuring process assumes an object of measurement. Some science disciplines, such as quantum physics, are still incomprehensible despite complex mathematical interpretations. No phenomenon is a real phenomenon unless it is observable in space and time, that is, unless it is a subject to measurement. The science of measurement is an indispensable ingredient in all scientific fields. Mathematical foundations and interpretation of the measurement science were accepted and further developed in most of the scientific fields, including physics, cosmology, geology, environment, quantum mechanics, statistics, and metrology. In this year, 2020, Measurement Science Review celebrates its 20th anniversary and we are using this special opportunity to highlight the importance of measurement science and to express our faith that the journal will continue to be an excellent place for exchanging bright ideas in the field of measurement science. As an illustration and motivation for usage and further development of mathematical methods in measurement science, we briefly present the simple least squares method, frequently used for measurement evaluation, and its possible modification. The modified least squares estimation method was applied and experimentally tested for magnetic field homogeneity adjustment.
Contribution of Increased Expression of Yin Yang 2 to Development of Cardiomyopathy

Yin Yang 2 (YY2) is a member of the Yin Yang family of transcription factors. Although the bioactivity of YY2 has been previously studied, its role in cardiovascular diseases is not known. We observed the increased expression of YY2 in failing human hearts compared with control hearts, raising the question of whether YY2 is involved in the pathogenesis of cardiomyopathy. To investigate the potential contribution of YY2 to the development of cardiomyopathy, we crossed two independent transgenic (Tg) mouse lines, pCAG-YY2-Tg+and alpha-myosin heavy chain-cre (α-MHC-Cre), to generate two independent double transgenic (dTg) mouse lines in which the conditional cardiomyocyte-specific expression of YY2 driven by the α-MHC promoter was mediated by Cre recombinase, starting at embryonic day 9.0. In dTg mice, we observed partial embryonic lethality and hearts with defective cardiomyocyte proliferation. Surviving dTg mice from both lines developed cardiomyopathy and heart failure that occurred with aging, showing different degrees of severity that were associated with the level of transgene expression. The development of cardiomyopathy was accompanied by increased levels of cardiac disease markers, apoptosis, and cardiac fibrosis. Our studies further revealed that the Cre-mediated cardiomyocyte-specific increase in YY2 expression led to increased levels of Beclin 1 and LC3II, indicating that YY2 is involved in mediating autophagic activity in mouse hearts in vivo. Also, compared with control hearts, dTg mouse hearts showed increased JNK activity. Because autophagy and JNK activity are important for maintaining cardiac homeostasis, the dysregulation of these signaling pathways may contribute to YY2-induced cardiomyopathy and heart failure in vivo.
Body Image, Physical Activity and Sport Involvement: A Study on Gender Differences

Abstract The aim of this study is to examine whether sport involvement i.e. identification with the domain of sports affect satisfaction with body image in men and women. 158 respondents from a tertiary educational institution provided data on their satisfaction with their body image, level of sport involvement, and level of physical activity. Independent t-tests were conducted to compare differences between and within genders. Female respondents (n=40) who were high in sport involvement reported a significantly lower level of dissatisfaction with their body image (M=.55, SD=.78) when compared to female respondents (n=44) who were low in sport involvement (M=.84, SD=.83; t=1.65, p<.05). There was no significant difference amongst male respondents. There was also no significant difference in satisfaction with body image across groups with varying levels of physical activity. This suggests that being involved in sport can affect body image satisfaction amongst females.
Optimization of Central Pattern Generator-Based Torque-Stiffness-Controlled Dynamic Bipedal Walking

In this paper, we propose a central pattern generator-based model to control the walking motion of a biped robot. The model independently controls the joint torque and joint stiffness in real time. Instead of the phase-dependent neural model used by Huang in 2014, we adopt the same structure for all the walking phases, reducing the number of connections between neurons. This reduction enables the employment of the particle swarm algorithm to find the optimal values of these parameters which lead to different solutions with different performance criteria. The simulation of the proposed method on a seven-link bipedal walking model gave a good performance in the range of walking speeds, which is referred to as versatility, and in walking pattern transition. The achieved walking gaits are 1-period cyclic motions for all the input control signals except for few gaits. Besides, these 1-period cyclic motions have a good local and global stability. Finally, we expanded our neural model by adding connections that work only when the robot walks on uneven terrains, which improved the robot’s performance against this kind of perturbation.
Detecting event-related tweets by example using few-shot models

Social media sources can be helpful in crisis situations, but discovering relevant messages is not trivial. Methods have so far focused on universal detection models for all kinds of crises or for certain crisis types (e.g. ﬂoods). Event-speciﬁc models could implement a more focused search area, but collecting data and training new models for a crisis that is already in progress is costly and may take too much time for a prompt response. As a compromise, manually collecting a small amount of example messages is feasible. Few-shot models can generalize to unseen classes with such a small handful of examples, and do not need be trained anew for each event. We show how these models can be used to detect crisis-relevant tweets during new events with just 10 to 100 examples and counterexamples. We also propose a new type of few-shot model that does not require counterexamples.
Simulation Platform for Unmanned Aerial Systems in Emergency Ad Hoc Networks

Natural disasters regularly impede communication infrastructure, leaving civilians without reliable means of communication. In such cases, ad hoc networks enable basic communication inside the aﬀected areas. However, low human mobility and group formation limit their performance, as messages are conﬁned to distinct communication islands. Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles can help in spreading messages across multiple such islands, as proposed in the literature. Evaluating the resulting Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) under real-world conditions requires signiﬁcant resources, e
Evaluation of Digital Volunteers using a Design Approach: Motivations and Contributions in Disaster Response

With the growth of social media and crowdsourcing in disaster response, further research is needed on the motivations and contributions of digital volunteers. This study applies a user-centered design approach to understanding how we might make better tools to support digital volunteers. This user-centered design approach involves stated preference elicitation methods through an online survey to understand what digital volunteers want in such tools. Through choice-based conjoint analysis, we contribute to mixed-methods research to gain additional insight into motivations and user preferences for a set of design features that might be incorporated into an online tool speciﬁcally for digital volunteers. Initial results show preferences for measures of success that were not monetary, which aligned with directly stated motivations for volunteering. Our ﬁndings corroborate with previous research in that feedback to volunteers is very important, as well as being able to measure the impact of their work.
Predicting the Performance of Rural Banks in Ghana Using Machine Learning Approach

The idea of rural banks was introduced as a result of limited commercial bank branches in rural areas to mobilize their resources for rural development. It is also believed that financial institutions such as rural banks are powerful tools for mitigating poverty. Nevertheless, some of these banks are rather increasing the burden of people through illegal activities and mismanagement of resources. Assessing banks’ performance using a set of financial ratios has been an interesting and challenging problem for many researchers and practitioners. Identification of factors that can accurately predict a firm’s performance is of great interest to any decision-maker. The study used ARB’s financial ratios as its independent variables to assess the performance of rural banks and later used random forest algorithm to identify the variables with the most relevance to the model. A dataset was obtained from the various banks. This study used three decision tree algorithms, namely, C5.0, C4.5, and CART, to build the various decision tree predictive models. The result of the study suggested that the C5.0 algorithm gave an accuracy of 100%, followed by the CART algorithm with an accuracy of 84.6% and, finally, the C4.5 algorithm with an accuracy of 83.34 on average. The study, therefore, recommended the usage of the C5.0 predictive model in predicting the financial performance of rural banks in Ghana.