Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ontology-based Question Answering Systems over Knowledge Bases: A Survey

Searching relevant, specific information in big data volumes is quite a challenging task. Despite the numerous strategies in the literature to tackle this problem, this task is usually carried out by resorting to a Question Answering (QA) systems. There are many ways to build a QA system, such as heuristic approaches, machine learning, and ontologies. Recent research focused their efforts on ontology-based methods since the resulting QA systems can benefit from knowledge modeling. In this paper, we present a systematic literature survey on ontology-based QA systems regarding any questions. We also detail the evaluation process carried out in these systems and discuss how each approach differs from the others in terms of the challenges faced and strategies employed. Finally, we present the most prominent research issues still open in the field.
Interferon‐γ, tumor necrosis factor‐α, and transforming growth factor‐β inhibit cyclic AMP‐induced Schwann cell differentiation

Schwann cells differentiate in vivo in response to contact with axons, and cAMP simulates some of these aspects of differentiation in vitro, particularly morphologic changes and expression of certain phenotypic molecules. Unfractionated inflammatory cytokines inhibit cAMP‐induced Schwann cell expression of galactolipids (Gal). We sought to identify which cytokines were responsible for this inhibition and to determine whether other phenotypic indicators of Schwann cell differentiation were also affected. Neonatal rat Schwann cells were incubated in vitro with 1 mM 8 Bromo cAMP (8 Br cAMP) with or without the addition of interleukin‐1α (IL‐1α), IL‐1β, IL‐2, IL‐6, tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ), or transforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β). Cells were then examined for morphologic changes and for expression of surface Gal and low‐affinity nerve growth factor receptor (NGFRp75), employing indirect immunofluorescence. 8 Br cAMP induced Schwann cell upregulation of Gal, downregulation of NGFRp75, and the cells became enlarged and somewhat amorphous and irregular in appearance. Cells treated with IFN‐γ or TNF‐α alone were more bipolar and more evenly distributed on coverslips than were control cells, whereas TGF‐β alone induced elongated cells often in a swirling pattern. None of the cytokines alone induced upregulation of Gal or downregulation of NGFRp75. TNF‐α, IFN‐γ, and TGF‐β inhibited the 8 Br cAMP‐induced morphologic changes, as well as the upregulation of Gal and downregulation of NGFRp75. The other cytokines had no effects on Gal or NGFRp75 expression. Thus, these three cytokines, which are present in inflammatory lesions in the peripheral nervous system, are capable of inhibiting Schwann cell differentiation. GLIA 36:354–363, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Apis nulensis Tingek, Koeniger and Koeniger, 1996 and its genetic relationship with sympatric species inferred from DNA sequences

Les relations phylogenetiques entre l'espece d'abeille mellifere nouvellement decrite, Apis nuluensis Tingek, Koeniger et Koeniger, 1996 et les autres especes sympatriques a Sabah, Borneo, ont ete etudiees. A nuluensis est une abeille qui nidifie dans des cavites. Du point de vue morphologique et comportemental, elle est distincte des especes sympatriques A cerana et A koschevnikovi (Fuchs et al, 1996 ; Koeniger et al, 1996). Les donnees des sequences moleculaires ont ete obtenues a partir des regions de l'intron nucleaire EF-1α et du gene mitochondrial ND2. Les acides nucleiques totaux ont ete extraits selon les procedures decrites par Arias et Sheppard (1996) a partir de 8 echantillons d'abeilles comprenant quatre especes differentes: A cerana, A koschevnikovi, A mellifera et A nuluensis (tableau 1). Les regions presentant un interet ont ete amplifiees par PCR, clonees et sequencees. Les analyses phylogenetiques ont ete faites a l'aide des methodes de «neighbor-joining» et de parcimonie. Les tableaux Il et III comparent la divergence des sequences chez les differents echantillons d'abeilles pour les regions EF- lα et ND2, respectivement. Les figures 1 et 2 montrent la position des sites variables respectivement pour ces memes regions. Les figures 3, 4 et 5 presentent les arbres phylogenetiques obtenus. Les topologies des arbres sont les memes pour les deux regions etudiees et les diverses methodes d'analyse phylogenetique. Neanmoins, les arbres bases sur les sequences des donnees de la region EF-1α reposent sur peu de caracteres informatifs. Dans toutes nos analyses, A nuluensis s'agglomere au groupe d'especes cerana, ce qui confirme grandement leur statut de taxons soeurs. Le fait qu'A nuluensis soit morphologiquement differente d'A cerana mais qu'elle presente peu de changements moleculaires dans les deux regions analysees indique qu'un petit nombre de mutations s'est accumule depuis la divergence des deux especes. Nous suggerons donc qu'A nuluensis est le resultat d'un processus recent de speciation au sein du groupe d'especes cerana, la separation de cerana et nuluensis etant plus recente que celle de cerana et koschevnikovi.
Intelligent Luminaire based Real-time Indoor Positioning for Assisted Living

This paper presents an experimental evaluation on the accuracy of indoor localisation. The research was carried out as part of a European Union project targeting the creation of ICT solutions for older adult care. Current expectation is that advances in technology will supplement the human workforce required for older adult care, improve their quality of life and decrease healthcare expenditure. The proposed approach is implemented in the form of a configurable cyber-physical system that enables indoor localization and monitoring of older adults living at home or in residential buildings. Hardware consists of custom developed luminaires with sensing, communication and processing capabilities. They replace the existing lighting infrastructure, do not look out of place and are cost effective. The luminaires record the strength of a Bluetooth signal emitted by a wearable device equipped by the monitored user. The system's software server uses trilateration to calculate the person's location based on known luminaire placement and recorded signal strengths. However, multipath fading caused by the presence of walls, furniture and other objects introduces localisation errors. Our previous experiments showed that room-level accuracy can be achieved using software-based filtering for a stationary subject. Our current objective is to assess system accuracy in the context of a moving subject, and ascertain whether room-level localization is feasible in real time.
Comparison of Search Servers for Use with Digital Repositories

Search is a fundamental operation of storage systems, such as digital repositories, and their performance and quality directly impact the user’s opinion of a system. This paper evaluates two different search engines, Apache Solr and Elasticsearch, for the same repository and reports the pros and cons of each for that specific use case. In particular, we identify that although Elasticsearch consumes less resources and responds to most queries more quickly, it may also take longer to respond in some scenarios.
Knowledge as a Complex Phenomenon

The paper presents the construction of the discursive space, which is a representation of knowledge. It is a multidimensional dynamic space crossed by discourses running along their specific trajectories. These discourses remain in the relationship of supervenience with reality, which is interpreted as a world of facts (state of affairs). Discourses inherit the complexity of the world, and because they are the articulation/retention of knowledge, this knowledge also inherits this property. Discursive space is, therefore, a model of knowledge of a complex nature.
Cytokinins and fruit development in the kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa). II. Effects of reduced pollination and CPPU application

The significance of changes in cytokinin content during early fruit growth was examined in the kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa var. deliciosa cv. Hayward). Fruit growth was modified by the reduction of seed number or by the application of the synthetic phenylurea cytokinin N-(2-chloro-4-pyridyl)-N'-phenylurea (CPPU). The influence of these treatments on cell division was monitored by flow cytometry and changes in the endogenous cytokinins were measured at days 10 and 20 after anthesis, using high-performance liquid chromatography and radioimmunoassay. Total cytokinin levels appeared not to be limiting growth since the highest total cytokinin concentration was detected in unpollinated fruit, which abscised by day 25 after anthesis. However, compared with control fruit which had the highest concentration of zeatin (Z) 10 days post anthesis, Z levels were low in unpollinated fruit. It is hypothesised that an increase in Z is the critical change in cytokinin metabolism required for the initiation of cell division and fruit growth. The synthetic cytokinin CPPU promoted fruit development, but there was a decrease in the endogenous cytokinin concentration. Zeatin was not detected in CPPU-treated fruit. Cell division was reduced in unpollinated fruitlets but there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) between the other treatments. Differences in final fruit size appeared to be due to cell expansion.
EvaTalk: A Chatbot System for the Brazilian Government Virtual School

: EvaTalk is a complete chatbot system developed to attend users from Escola Virtual de Governo (EV.G), which is a Brazilian virtual school maintained by the federal government. The proposed architecture was based on a framework to build chatbots, but it was necessary to replace and adapt services to attend EV.G needs. The architecture is composed of the following modules: Interface for direct interaction; Artiﬁcial Intelligence to comprehend and process messages; Development to deal with the knowledge base; and Business Intelligence to analyze messages. The ﬁrst version responded to questions related to Institutional Membership and chitchat. Still, it was noted that Eva needed more training data considering that the developers could not predict well user behavior. Therefore, it was necessary to change the conversational data examples and ﬂows to match user behavior observed after release, which showed an increase in the chatbot’s response conﬁdence. The system relies mostly on the data collected through the data analysis tools to evolve.
Performance Assessment Technologies for the Support of Musical Instrument Learning

: Recent technological developments are having a signiﬁcant impact on musical instruments and singing voice learning. A proof is the number of successful software applications that are being used by aspiring musicians in their regular practice. These practicing apps offer many useful functionalities to support learning, including performance assessment technologies that analyze the sound produced by the student while playing, identifying performance errors and giving useful feedback. However, despite the advancements in these sound analysis technologies, they are still not reliable and effective enough to support the strict requirements of a professional music education context. In this article we ﬁrst introduce the topic and context, reviewing some of the work done in the practice of music assessment, then going over the current state of the art in performance assessment technologies, and presenting, as a proof of concept, a complete assessment system that we have developed for supporting guitar exercises. We conclude by identifying the challenges that should be addressed in order to further advance these assessment technologies and their useful integration into professional learning contexts.
Artificial Intelligence in Software Test Automation: A Systematic Literature Review

: Artificial intelligence (AI) has made a considerable impact on the software engineering field, and the area of software testing is not an exception. In theory, AI techniques could help to achieve the highest possible level of software test automation. The goal of this Systematic Literature Review (SLR) paper is to highlight the role of artificial intelligence in the software test automation area through cataloguing AI techniques and related software testing activities to which the techniques can be applied. Specifically, the potential influence of AI on those activities was explored. To this end, the SLR was performed with the focus on research studies reporting the implementation of AI techniques in software test automation. Out of 34 primary studies that were included in the final set, 9 distinct software testing activities were identified. These activities had been reportedly improved by applying the AI techniques mostly from the machine learning and computer vision fields. According to the reviewed primary studies, the improvement was achieved in terms of reusability of test cases, manual effort reduction, improved coverage, improved fault and vulnerability detection. Several publicly accessible AI-enhanced tools for software test automation were discovered during the review as well. Their short summary is presented.
Geolocators reveal an unsuspected moulting area for Isle of May Common Guillemots Uria aalge

Capsule Data from geolocators deployed on adult Common Guillemots from a colony in southeast Scotland indicated that they normally winter in the North Sea up to 1000 km southeast of the colony. However, one bird unexpectedly moved 3000 km northeast to moult in the Barents Sea.
Wing-spreading, wing-drying and food-warming in great cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo

Wing-spreading of cormorants (Phalacrocoracidae) is a characteristic and enigmatic aspect of their behavioural repertoire. It has been suggested to have a range of functions including wing-drying, food-warming, and social signalling of foraging success. We investigated two of these putative roles by comparing the wing-spreading behaviour of fed and unfed animals after they had been swimming and diving. The duration of wing-spreading was correlated only with time spent on the water. The ingestion of food did not influence the duration of wing-spreading, a finding that supports a wing-drying, rather than a food-warming, function.
Growth and reproduction in the Icelandic common seal (Phoca vitulina L., 1758)

Abstract Length, weight and maturity were studied in relation to age in the common seal (Phoca vitulina vitulina L., 1758), collected during the periods 1979–1983 and 1990–2000 in Icelandic waters. The maximum age of common seal observed was 36 years for females and 30 years for males. For common seal females and males, asymptotic length and weight were 161 cm and 93 kg and 174 cm and 97 kg, respectively, showing slight sexual dimorphism in size. The condition of adult females, measured as fat thickness at the lower end of the sternum, was lower in the period 1979–1983 than in 1990–2000 during June–September, the breeding and mating time of the Icelandic common seal. Males reached sexual maturity between 5 and 7 years, whereas 50% of females did so at age 4 years. Including the length and age interaction term in the logistic regression model for the maturity of females significantly improved it. Thus, body size matters in the onset of maturity. The mean birthing date for the Icelandic common seal was found to be in early June. A comparison of animals collected in the two periods 1979–1983 and 1990–2000 did not show significant differences in growth and the average age of sexual maturity for either males or females. The observed decline of the Icelandic common seal population is most probably caused by increased mortality, due to exploitation and accidental by-catch in gill-nets, rather than a decrease in fecundity.
Arthropod and Plant Communities as Indicators of Land Rehabilitation Effectiveness in a Semiarid Shrubsteppe

ABSTRACT. We describe a case study evaluating the ecological impact of Bromus tectorum L. (cheatgrass) invasion following fire disturbance and the effectiveness of revegetation as a means of rehabilitation in a degraded semiarid shrubsteppe system. The effectiveness of rehabilitation efforts was assessed relative to arthropod richness, vegetation and arthropod community composition, and ground-cover characteristics in 3 habitats: undisturbed, burned and weed infested (B. tectorum), and burned then rehabilitated with native and nonnative vegetation. Arthropods were collected in each habitat using pitfall traps. Differences in arthropod richness were compared using rarefaction curves. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling and nonparametric multivariate statistical procedures, including analysis of similarity and similarity percentage routines, were used to compare arthropod and vegetation community composition and ground-cover characteristics between habitats. Arthropod communities in the rehabilitated habitat were distinct from those observed in the undisturbed and weed-infested habitats. Rehabilitation in this study resulted in a shift toward conditions observed in an undisturbed habitat and perhaps is an intermediate step to complete restoration. Arthropod richness, arthropod and vegetation community composition, and ground-cover characteristics were all useful indicators but returned slightly different results. Assessing multiple variables yielded the most complete understanding of the habitats studied.
Plasma-Activated Medium Selectively Kills Glioblastoma Brain Tumor Cells by Down-Regulating a Survival Signaling Molecule, AKT Kinase

Glioblastoma brain tumor cells and normal astrocytes were treated with plasma-activated medium (PAM). Cell proliferation assays showed that glioblastoma cells were selectively killed by PAM. PAM induced morphological changes consistent with apoptosis in glioblastoma cells and the cells decreased in size. We confirmed that those cells induced apoptosis using an apoptotic molecular marker, cleaved Caspase3/7. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms of PAM-mediated apoptosis in glioblastoma cells, we investigated the effects of survival signal transduction pathways. We found that PAM downregulated the expression of AKT kinase, a marker molecule in a survival signal transduction pathway. These results suggest that PAM may be a promising tool for therapy of glioblastoma brain tumors by downregulating the survival signals in cancers.
Size-dependent predation in piscivores : interactions between predator foraging and prey avoidance abilities

Body size is known to play a crucial role in predator-prey interactions. For a given predator size, it has been suggested that prey mortality should be a dome-shaped function dependent on prey body size. In this study, we experimentally tested (i) the suggested mechanisms responsible for the dome-shaped prey vulnerability function and (ii) whether a prey refuge affected the form of this function. As prey, we used young-of-the-year Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis), and as predator, larger Eurasian perch. The prey mortality as a function of prey size was dome shaped for large and medium predators but decreased monotonically with prey size for small predators. Capture success of predators decreased monotonically with increasing prey size and was lower for small predators. In refuge trials, the mortality of prey declined monotonically with prey size for all predator sizes. Refuge use of prey increased with the sizes of both prey and predator. Our results suggest that the hypothesized dome-shaped relationshi.
Isoflavone content of soybean cultivars grown in eastern Canada

Soybean (Glycine max (L) Merr) seeds contain isoflavones that have positive impacts on human health. The objective of this study was to determine isoflavone concentrations of early maturing soybean cultivars grown in different environments and to determine their relation to other important seed characteristics. Twenty soybean cultivars were grown in replicated trials at two sites in Montreal, Canada in 2002/2003 and their total and individual isoflavone concentrations were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. Seed yield, 100-seed weight and oil, crude protein and crude fiber concentrations were concurrently determined. Total and individual isoflavone concentrations were significantly affected by cultivar, site and year. Total isoflavone concentration ranged from 360 to 2241 µg g−1 and averaged 851 µg g−1 across environments and cultivars. Variation across environments ranged from 20 to 100% for specific cultivars. Total isoflavone concentration was, on average, 40% greater in 2003 than 2002, which was characterized by above average temperatures and severe drought. Despite significant cultivar × year × site interactions, cultivars with consistently high and low isoflavone concentrations across environments were identified. Weak but significant positive correlations were observed between total isoflavone concentration and seed yield, 100-seed weight and crude fiber, indicating that isoflavone concentration is positively associated with other desirable seed characteristics. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry
Subjective assessment of body fat in live sheep

SUMMARY Subjectively assessed body condition scores, determined on the live animal, were related to the percentages of chemical fat in the fleece-free empty bodies of 30 adult Scottish Blackface ewes. The results show that body condition scores can provide an acceptable and useful estimate of the proportion of fat in the live animal, and that the level of prediction is superior to that afforded by live weight.
Effect of Drying Temperature on the Stability of Polyphenols and Antioxidant Activity of Red Grape Pomace Peels

The effect of drying temperature (60, 100, and 140 °C) on the polyphenols' content and antioxidant activity of red grape pomace peels was studied. Freeze-dried samples were used as reference. Differences on the CIE-LAB color, total extractable polyphenols, condensed tannins, UV−vis spectra, and antioxidant activity were evaluated. When drying temperature was 100 and 140 °C, a significant reduction in both total extractable polyphenols (18.6 and 32.6%) and condensed tannins (11.1 and 16.6%) was observed, as well as a decrease of 28 and 50% in the antioxidant activity of the samples, respectively. Hue angle and total color difference in the sample dried at 140 °C were significantly higher than in the freeze-dried reference material. A red color loss at 140 °C was also confirmed by lower absorbance values in the spectra at 525 nm. Drying at 60 °C did not significantly affect the sample characteristics evaluated. Keywords: Wine byproducts; grape pomace peels; antioxidant activity; drying temperature