Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing the Pathogenic Cause of Sea Star Wasting Disease in Asterias Forbesi Along the East Coast of the United States

As keystone predators, sea stars serve to maintain biodiversity and distribution through trophic level interactions in intertidal ecosystems. Sea Star Wasting Disease (SSWD) has caused widespread mass mortality of Asterias forbesi in locations along the Northeast Coast of the US in recent years. A similar disease has been described in several sea star species from the West Coast of the US. Recently, a densovirus has been associated with wasting disease in West Coast sea stars and a few limited samples of A. forbesi. The goal of this research is to describe the pathogenesis of SSWD in A. forbesi and other echinoderms in the Northeast Coast of the US and to determine if the densovirus isolated from West Coast sea stars (SSaDV) is associated with the SSWD of A. forbesi on the eastern US coast. Histological examination of A. forbesi tissues affected with SSWD showed cuticle loss, edema, and vacuolation of cells in the epidermis but little to no evidence of pathology caused by bacterial or parasitic agents. Inclusion bodies were noted in two of the stars sampled. Challenge experiments by cohabitation and immersion in infected water suggest that the cause of SSWD is viral in nature, since filtration (0.22 μm) of water from tanks with SSWD does not diminish the transmission and progression of the disease. Death of challenged sea stars occurred 7-10 days after exposure to infected water or sea stars. Of the 48 stars tested by qPCR, 29 (60 %) have tested positive for the SSaDV VP1 gene. These stars represent wild-collected sea stars from all geographical regions (South Carolina to Maine), as well as stars exposed to infected stars or water from affected tanks. However, a clear association SSaDV with SSWD in A. forbesi from the East Coast of the US was not found in this study. Understanding the potential cause of this disease is a first step towards management and prevention of wide spread outbreaks.
Adaptive Step-size and Block-size FBLMS Algorithm

In this paper, we present a novel adaptive step-size and block-size frequency-domain block least mean square (ASB-FBLMS) algorithm. The convergence speed and the steady stage error are two conflicting factors in the traditional frequency-domain block least mean square (FBLMS) algorithm. While our algorithm optimally increase the convergence speed while maintaining or reducing the steady stage error by using an adaptive variable step-size and an adaptive variable block-size, it can also reduce the computational complexity effectively in a high transmission rate by utilizing an adaptive variable block-size. Through the simulation on the Matlab platform, the results demonstrated that our algorithm outperformed FBLMS algorithms currently reported in the literature in terms of faster convergence, smaller steady stage error and lower computational complexity.
Screening and Characterization of Lactic Acid Bacteria Strains with Anti-inflammatory Activities through in vitro and Caenorhabditis elegans Model Testing

The present study was conducted to screen candidate probiotic strains for anti-inflammatory activity. Initially, a nitric oxide (NO) assay was used to test selected candidate probiotic strains for anti-inflammatory activity in cultures of the murine macrophage cell line, RAW 264.7. Then, the in vitro probiotic properties of the strains, including bile tolerance, acid resistance, and growth in skim milk media, were investigated. We also performed an in vitro hydrophobicity test and an intestinal adhesion assay using Caenorhabditis elegans as a surrogate in vivo model. From our screening, we obtained 4 probiotic candidate lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains based on their anti-inflammatory activity in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cell cultures and the results of the in vitro and in vivo probiotic property assessments. Molecular characterization using 16S rDNA sequencing analysis identified the 4 LAB strains as Lactobacillus plantarum. The selected L. plantarum strains (CAU1054, CAU1055, CAU1064, and CAU1106) were found to possess desirable in vitro and in vivo probiotic properties, and these strains are good candidates for further investigations in animal models and human clinical studies to elucidate the mechanisms underlying their anti-inflammatory activities.
Research Paper Series Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series Distribution, Inequality and Concentration of Income among Older Immigrants in Canada, 1990

The Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series provides for the circulation, on a pre-publication basis, of research conducted by Branch staff, visiting Fellows and academic associates. The Research Paper Series is intended to stimulate discussion on a variety of topics including labour, business firm dynamics, pensions, agriculture, mortality, language, immigration, statistical computing and simulation. Readers of the series are encouraged to contact the authors with comments, criticisms and suggestions. A list of titles appears inside the back cover of this paper. Papers in the series are distributed to Statistics Canada Regional Offices, provincial statistical focal points, research institutes, and specialty libraries. These papers can be downloaded from the internet at www.statcan. ca. To obtain a collection of abstracts of the papers in the series and/or copies of individual papers Acknowledgements: Sincere thanks are due to Professors John Myles and Monica Boyd and Dr. Leroy Stone for many helpful comments on an earlier draft. This paper represents the views of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Statistics Canada.
Weight Assignment in Dissimilarity Function for Chinese Cursive Script Character Image Retrieval Usi

When solving the problem of content basedimage retrieval, using a single image attribute may not have enough discriminative information for retrieval. On the other hand, when multiple features are used, it is hard to determine the suitable weighting factors to various shape features. Therefore, we proposed to use a Genetic Algorithm (GA) to determine the weighting factors in the dissimilarity function for trademark image retrieval in [3]. In this paper, we use the same technique to nd the weights in the dissimilarity function for image retrieval in a Chinese cursive script character image database. Several shape features are chosen to represent a Chinese calligraphy character. They are edge direction histogram of the original image, eccentricity of the original, thinned, and normalized image, and the rst three invariant moments of the original, thinned, and normalized image. A database of 1400 monochromatic images was tested. From the results, the learned dissimilarity function increased the accuracy of retrievals. Besides, our system was robust to retrieve deformed images. We also compared our approach with other integration methods. Experimental results are presented to show the feasibility and practicability of the proposed system.
A data set for color research

We present an extensive data set for color research that has been made available online (www.cs. sfu.ca/∼colour/data). The data are especially germane to research into computational color constancy, but we have also aimed to make the data as general as possible, and we anticipate a wide range of benefits to research into computational color science and computer vision. Because data are useful only in context, we provide the details of the collection process, including the camera characterization, and the data used to determine that characterization. The most significant part of the data is 743 images of scenes taken under a carefully chosen set of 11 illuminants. The data set also has several standardized sets of spectra for synthetic data experiments, including some data for fluorescent surfaces. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 27, 147–151, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/col.10049
The institutionalization of labor migration in Israel

In this paper we shed light into the process of institutionalization of labor migration in Israel. Specifically, we show the ways by which state regulations created a fertile ground for the creation of a precarious and captive labor force of non-citizens in the Israeli labor market. We focus on the following four main dimensions: (1) the policy of quotas, work permits, and subsidies; (2) the binding system which regulates employment relations; (3) the creation of an infrastructure for manpower agencies that over time became the main stakeholder in the institutionalization of labor migration; and (4) the creation of a complementary mechanism for the “discipline” and control of workers in the form of the deportation policy.
IOTA: a full text information retrieval system

IOTA is a prototype of an Information Retrieval System which can manage a corpus made of highly structured, full text documents. The first version presented here has intelligent capabilities related to heuristic pattern matching procedures for processing natural language queries, which involve an automatically built thesaurus. The paper emphazises the overall principles of query processing and gives hints about the underlying techniques used while constructing the thesaurus and automatically indexing highly structured documents.
NCCU-MIG at NTCIR-10: Using Lexical, Syntactic, and Semantic Features for the RITE Tasks

We computed linguistic information at the lexical, syntactic, and semantic levels for the RITE (Recognizing Inference in TExt) tasks for both traditional and simplified Chinese in NTCIR-10. Techniques for syntactic parsing, named-entity recognition, and near synonym recognition were employed, and features like counts of common words, sentence lengths, negation words, and antonyms were considered to judge the logical relationships of two sentences, while we explored both heuristics-based functions and machine-learning approaches. We focused on the BC (binary classification) task at the preparatory stage, but participated in both BC and MC (multiple classes) evaluations. Three settings were submitted for the formal runs for each task. The best performing settings achieved the second best performance in BC tasks, and were listed in the top five performers in MC tasks for both traditional and simplified Chinese.
Progress and challenges in the computational prediction of gene function using networks

In this opinion piece, we attempt to unify recent arguments we have made that serious confounds affect the use of network data to predict and characterize gene function. The development of computational approaches to determine gene function is a major strand of computational genomics research. However, progress beyond using BLAST to transfer annotations has been surprisingly slow. We have previously argued that a large part of the reported success in using "guilt by association" in network data is due to the tendency of methods to simply assign new functions to already well-annotated genes. While such predictions will tend to be correct, they are generic; it is true, but not very helpful, that a gene with many functions is more likely to have any function. We have also presented evidence that much of the remaining performance in cross-validation cannot be usefully generalized to new predictions, making progressive improvement in analysis difficult to engineer. Here we summarize our findings about how these problems will affect network analysis, discuss some ongoing responses within the field to these issues, and consolidate some recommendations and speculation, which we hope will modestly increase the reliability and specificity of gene function prediction.
Virtual Robot: A new teleoperation paradigm for minimally invasive robotic surgery

This paper presents a novel teleoperation paradigm, the Virtual Robot (VR), focused on facilitating the surgeon tasks in minimally invasive robotic surgery. The VR has been conceived to increase the range of applicability of traditional master slave teleoperation architectures by means of an automatic cooperative behavior that assigns the execution of the ongoing task to the most suitable robot. From the user's point of view, the VR internal operation must be automatic and transparent. A set of evaluation indexes have been developed to obtain the suitability of each robot as well as an algorithm to determine the optimal instant of time to execute a task transfer. Several experiments demonstrate the usefulness of the VR, as well as indicates the next steps of the research.
Relationship between Precipitation in the Great Plains of the United States and Global SSTs: Insights from the IPCC AR4 Models

Abstract Multicentury preindustrial control simulations from six of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC AR4) models are used to examine the relationship between low-frequency precipitation variations in the Great Plains (GP) region of the United States and global sea surface temperatures (SSTs). This study builds on previous work performed with atmospheric models forced by observed SSTs during the twentieth century and extends it to a coupled model context and longer time series. The climate models used in this study reproduce the precipitation climatology over the United States reasonably well, with maximum precipitation occurring in early summer, as observed. The modeled precipitation time series exhibit negative “decadal” anomalies, identified using a 5-yr running mean, of amplitude comparable to that of the twentieth-century droughts. It is found that low-frequency anomalies over the GP are part of a large-scale pattern of precipitation variations, characterize.
Current progress toward vaccines against Toxoplasma gondii

Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular protozoan parasite that can infect many warm-blooded animal species and humans. Despite substantial knowledge of the biology, epidemiol- ogy, and host-pathogen interactions of T. gondii, there are still very few effective control strategies to prevent oocyst shedding in cats, tissue cysts in livestock for consumption, and infection and disease in humans. This article reviews current progress and targets for vaccination against T. gondii.
Série Scientifique Scientific Series the Aftermarket Performance of Initial Public Offerings in Canada the Aftermarket Performance of Initial Public Offerings in Canada

Ce document est publié dans l'intention de rendre accessibles les résultats préliminaires de la recherche effectuée au CIRANO, afin de susciter des échanges et des suggestions. Les idées et les opinions émises sont sous l'unique responsabilité des auteurs, et ne représentent pas nécessairement les positions du CIRANO ou de ses partenaires. This paper presents preliminary research carried out at CIRANO and aims at encouraging discussion and comment. The observations and viewpoints expressed are the sole responsibility of the authors. They do not necessarily represent positions of CIRANO or its partners. In this paper, we empirically investigate Canadian initial public offerings (IPOs) to provide one case on the international evidence on the long-run performance of IPOs. Specifically, we examine whether the choice of a performance measurement methodology directly determines both the size and power of statistical test, as documented in previous studies cumulative abnormal returns as an abnormal performance measure, we find that the Canadian IPOs underperform significantly the sample of seasoned firms with the same market capitalization. More specifically, the 3 year and the 5 year underperformances estimated on value weighted (VW) basis are statistically significant. Moreover, using the buy-and hold returns as an alternative measurement for long-run performance, we find that investors who buy immediately after listing and hold shares for five years will make a loss of 24,66%, on equally weighted (EW) basis (15,16% on VW basis) relative to an investment in the control firms. Using the calendar-time returns method, we find that the 5 years underperformance is –25,6% on EW basis (–19,22% on VW basis). We have entertained a number of possible explanations for the poor subsequent performance of issuing firms. While, the fads or investor's overreactions and divergence of opinions hypotheses do not apply in explaining the aftermarket performance of Canadian IPOs, our evidence is consistent with the hot issue market story.
Querying and repairing inconsistent numerical databases

The problem of extracting consistent information from relational databases violating integrity constraints on numerical data is addressed. In particular, aggregate constraints defined as linear inequalities on aggregate-sum queries on input data are considered. The notion of repair as consistent set of updates at attribute-value level is exploited, and the characterization of several data-complexity issues related to repairing data and computing consistent query answers is provided. Moreover, a method for computing “reasonable” repairs of inconsistent numerical databases is provided, for a restricted but expressive class of aggregate constraints. Several experiments are presented which assess the effectiveness of the proposed approach in real-life application scenarios.
Issues in robot ethics seen through the lens of a moral Turing test

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore artificial moral agency by reflecting upon the possibility of a Moral Turing Test (MTT) and whether its lack of focus on interiority, i.e. its behaviouristic foundation, counts as an obstacle to establishing such a test to judge the performance of an Artificial Moral Agent (AMA). Subsequently, to investigate whether an MTT could serve as a useful framework for the understanding, designing and engineering of AMAs, we set out to address fundamental challenges within the field of robot ethics regarding the formal representation of moral theories and standards. Here, typically three design approaches to AMAs are available: top-down theory-driven models and bottom-up approaches which set out to model moral behaviour by means of models for adaptive learning, such as neural networks, and finally, hybrid models, which involve components from both top-down and bottom-up approaches to the modelling of moral agency. With inspiration from Allen and Wallace (2009, 2000.
Media Discourse About Entrepreneurial Journalism

Drawing on insights from field theory, this article examines journalists’ textual and discursive construction of entrepreneurial journalism from 2000 to 2014. The goal is to understand how such discursive practices contribute to the articulation and legitimation of entrepreneurial journalism as a form of cultural capital as the field's economic imperatives change. The findings suggest that “entrepreneurial journalism” is a condensational term: it is defined broadly and loosely but generally in a positive way. Despite the potential for disruption to long-standing journalistic doxa, particularly normative stances related to the separation of editorial and commercial interests, much of the examined discourse seems to reflect a belief that entrepreneurialism is not only acceptable but even vital for survival in a digital age.
Ijca Special Issue on " Recent Trends in Image Processing and Pattern Recognition " Rtippr, 2010. a Survey on Deformable Model and Its Applications to Medical Imaging General Terms

Deformable models provide a promising and vigorously researched model-based approach to computer-assisted medical image analysis. The widely recognized potency of deformable models stems from their ability to segment, match, and track images of anatomic structures by exploiting (bottom-up) constraints derived from the image data together with (top-down) a priori knowledge about the location, size, and shape of these structures. In this paper, a survey of deformable models and their latest extensions are presented. Image processing, medical image analysis.
Configurable Proof Obligations in the Frog Toolkit

In model based formal methods, incompatible tools for different techniques is the norm. However, greater applicability to industrial scale systems increasingly requires combining the strengths of different techniques, in line with the verification grand challenge. The Frog tool embodies a construct-based specification syntax, and its meta-language Frog-CCL allows the generic configuration of both a constructs syntax and its proof obligations. For a specific system, Frog generates the system's verification conditions mechanically from the generic ones. Relationships between systems such as refinement and retrenchment can be configured. An example retrenchment between two simple systems illustrates the technique.
Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Agonists Protect Pancreatic β-Cells From Lipotoxic Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Through Upregulation of BiP and JunB

OBJECTIVE Chronic exposure of pancreatic β-cells to saturated free fatty acids (FFAs) causes endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and apoptosis and may contribute to β-cell loss in type 2 diabetes. Here, we evaluated the molecular mechanisms involved in the protection of β-cells from lipotoxic ER stress by glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 agonists utilized in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS INS-1E or fluorescence-activated cell sorter–purified primary rat β-cells were exposed to oleate or palmitate with or without the GLP-1 agonist exendin-4 or forskolin. Cyclopiazonic acid was used as a synthetic ER stressor, while the activating transcription factor 4–C/EBP homologous protein branch was selectively activated with salubrinal. The ER stress signaling pathways modulated by GLP-1 agonists were studied by real-time PCR and Western blot. Knockdown by RNA interference was used to identify mediators of the antiapoptotic GLP-1 effects in the ER stress response and downstream mitochondrial cell death mechanisms. RESULTS Exendin-4 and forskolin protected β-cells against FFAs via the induction of the ER chaperone BiP and the antiapoptotic protein JunB that mediate β-cell survival under lipotoxic conditions. On the other hand, exendin-4 and forskolin protected against synthetic ER stressors by inactivating caspase 12 and upregulating Bcl-2 and X-chromosome–linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein that inhibit mitochondrial apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS These observations suggest that GLP-1 agonists increase in a context-dependent way the β-cell defense mechanisms against different pathways involved in ER stress–induced apoptosis. The identification of the pathways modulated by GLP-1 agonists allows for targeted approaches to alleviate β-cell ER stress in diabetes.