Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evolution of avian in ̄ uenza viruses

Although in ̄uenza viruses can infect a wide variety of birds and mammals, the natural host of the virus is wild waterfowl, shorebirds, and gulls. When other species of animals, including chickens, turkeys, swine, horses, and humans, are infected with in ̄uenza viruses, they are considered aberrant hosts. The distinction between the normal and aberrant host is important when describing virus evolution in the different host groups. The evolutionary rate of in ̄uenza virus in the natural host reservoirs is believed to be slow, while in mammals the rate is much higher. The higher rate of evolution in mammals is thought to be a result of selective pressure on thevirus to adapt to an aberrant host species. Chickens and turkey in ̄uenza virus isolates have previously and incorrectly been lumped together with wild waterfowl, gull, and shorebird in ̄uenza viruses when determining rates of evolutionary change. To determine mutational and evolutionary rates of a virus in any host species, two primary assumptions must be met: ®rst, all isolates included in the analysis must have descended from a single introduction of the virus, and second, the outbreak must continue long enough to determine a trend. For poultry, three recent outbreaks of avian in ̄uenza meet these criteria, and the sequences of the hemagglutinin and nonstructural genes were compared. Sequences from all three outbreaks were compared to an avian in ̄uenza virus consensus sequence, which at the amino acid level is highly conserved for all the internal viral proteins. The consensus sequence also provides a common point of origin to compare all in ̄uenza viruses. The evolutionary rates determined for all three outbreaks were similar to what is observed in mammals, providing strong evidence of adaptation of in ̄uenza to the new host species, chickens and turkeys. # 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Education majors enrolled in music, art, and physical education methods classes: a predictor model for final course grades

This study investigated the predictability of final course grades for college education majors (N = 68) who were enrolled in a methods course in art (n = 16), music (n = 20), or physical education (n = 32) to fulfill a requirement for degree completion and teacher licensure and who could elect to fulfill the requirement with one course. A survey was developed to gather information on college students' experiences in art, music, and physical education courses in high school as well as in their college curriculum. The study was conducted to determine if an omnibus predictor variable comprised of high school grade-point average (GPA), college GPA, and a combination of high school experiences noted as an "experience score" enabled accurate prediction of final grades in college methods courses. Regression analysis demonstrated the predictor model was significant, but accounted for only a moderate amount of variability; no single factor, however, was predictive. The findings of this study generated ideas for further research related to prediction of course grade outcomes.
Polymorphisms in the Platelet‐Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule‐1 (PECAM‐1) Gene, Asn563Ser and Gly670Arg, Associated with Myocardial Infarction in the Japanese

Abstract: We examined three missense polymorphisms of platelet‐endothelial cell adhesion molecule‐1 (PECAM‐1), Val125Leu, Asn563Ser, and Gly670Arg, in 136 Japanese patients with myocardial infarction and 235 healthy Japanese controls. We found that these polymorphisms were in linkage disequilibrium with each other and that frequencies of 125Leu, 563Ser, and 670Arg alleles were significantly increased in patients compared with controls (0.522 vs 0.447, p= 0.048; 0.585 vs 0.502, p= 0.030; and 0.577 vs 0.492, p= 0.032, respectively). The frequencies of homozygotes for 563Ser and 670Arg alleles were also significantly increased in the patients (33.1% vs 23.4%, odds risk [OR] = 1.62, p= 0.040, 95% confidence interval [95%CI] = 1.01‐2.58; and 32.4% vs 23.0%, OR = 1.60, p= 0.048, 95%CI = 1.00‐2.57, respectively). These observations suggest that the 563Ser/Ser genotype and 670Arg/Arg genotype of PECAM‐1 are novel genetic risk factors of myocardial infarction in Japanese. Stratification analysis of the patients showed that the associations of these PECAM‐1 genotypes with myocardial infarction were preferentially found in male and younger patients (age of onset of myocardial infarction less than 60 years). In addition, the associations were stronger in patients with three‐vessel disease than in the others and appeared independent of conventional risk factors including smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, and obesity.
Fuzzy and Probabilistic Clustering with Shape and Size Constraints

More sophisticated fuzzy clustering algorithms, like the Gustafson–Kessel algorithm [11] and the fuzzy maximum likelihood estimation (FMLE) algorithm [10] offer the possibility of inducing clusters of ellipsoidal shape and different sizes. The same holds for the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm for a mixture of Gaussians. However, these additional degrees of freedom can reduce the robustness of the algorithm, thus sometimes rendering their application problematic. In this paper we suggest methods to introduce shape and size contraints that handle this problem effectively.
Chinese MPEG-21 Rights Expression Language: Enhancing Digital Rights Management Adoption to Digital Libraries in Hong Kong

Rights Expression Language in digital library scenario is described as rights management metadata, which are becoming a significant impetus for the development of digital libraries. However, the research on it just starts and is still immature in China. This paper aims to fill up the gap by discussing the issues of localizing MPEG-21 REL into Chinese language. A well-established and notable model called HowNet is adopted for semantic mapping, and a case example is created to demonstrate the application of the Chinese REL.
Définition, mesure et déterminants du consentement à payer du consommateur: synthèse critique et voies de recherche

Tarification différenciée, bouquets de services et offre groupée de produits, enchères sur Internet: les pratiques de prix des entreprises évoluent. Lorsque le marché n'existe pas ou quand les prix sont individualisés, le concept de consentement à payer du consommateur retient l'attention. Cet article vise à présenter une synthèse critique des recherches en marketing sur le consentement à payer. Une définition en est donnée et comparée à celles de concepts proches, prix de référence et prix acceptables notamment. Les méthodes de mesure du concept sont ensuite présentées, comparées à celles de L'élasticité prix et critiquées, puis les travaux relatifs aux déterminants externes du consentement à payer sont commentés. Enfin, de nombreuses voies de recherche ouvertes par ces travaux sont proposées.
MEASURING TOLERANCE TO HERBIVORY: ACCURACY AND PRECISION OF ESTIMATES MADE USING NATURAL VERSUS IMPOSED DAMAGE

Abstract Tolerance to herbivory (the ability of a plant to incur herbivore damage without a corresponding reduction in fitness) can be measured using either naturally occurring or imposed herbivore damage. After briefly reviewing some of the advantages and disadvantages of these approaches, we present calculations describing the degree to which estimates of tolerance will be biased by environmental variables that affect both herbivory and fitness. With naturally occurring herbivory the presence of environmental variables that are correlated with herbivory and fitness will result in biased estimates of tolerance. In contrast, estimates obtained from experiments in which herbivory is artificially imposed will be unbiased; however, under a wide range of parameter values these estimates will be less precise than estimates obtained from experiments in which herbivory is not manipulated. Corresponding Editor: J. Conner
Phosphorylation of the Carboxyl Terminus of Inner Centromere Protein (INCENP) by the Aurora B Kinase Stimulates Aurora B Kinase Activity*

How the events of mitosis are coordinated is not well understood. Intriguing mitotic regulators include the chromosomal passenger proteins. Loss of either of the passengers inner centromere protein (INCENP) or the Aurora B kinase results in chromosome segregation defects and failures in cytokinesis. Furthermore, INCENP and Aurora B have identical localization patterns during mitosis and directly bind each other in vitro. These results led to the hypothesis that INCENP is a direct substrate of Aurora B. Here we show that theCaenorhabditis elegans Aurora B kinase AIR-2 specifically phosphorylated the C. elegans INCENP ICP-1 at two adjacent serines within the carboxyl terminus. Furthermore, the full length and a carboxyl-terminal fragment of ICP-1 stimulated AIR-2 kinase activity. This increase in AIR-2 activity required that AIR-2 phosphorylate ICP-1 because mutation of both serines in the AIR-2 phosphorylation site of ICP-1 abolished the potentiation of AIR-2 kinase activity by ICP-1. Thus, ICP-1 is directly phosphorylated by AIR-2 and functions in a positive feedback loop that regulates AIR-2 kinase activity. Since the Aurora B phosphorylation site within INCENP and the functions of INCENP and Aurora B have been conserved among eukaryotes, the feedback loop we have identified is also likely to be evolutionarily conserved.
On Differentially Dissipative Dynamical Systems

Dissipativity is an essential concept of systems theory. The paper provides an extension of dissipativity, named differential dissipativity, by lifting storage functions and supply rates to the tangent bundle. Differential dissipativity is connected to incremental stability in the same way as dissipativity is connected to stability. It leads to a natural formulation of differential passivity when restricting to quadratic supply rates. The paper also shows that the interconnection of differentially passive systems is differentially passive, and provides preliminary examples of differentially passive electrical systems.
Estudo multicasos sobre atividades inovativas

Em estudos sobre competitividade argumenta-se que as empresas necessitam de estrategias baseadas em inovacoes e de capacidades internas em constantes e intensas transformacoes, nao somente nos padroes tecnologicos, mas tambem no encadeamento do processo de gestao das atividades inovativas, como processos dinâmicos, nao lineares e diversificados, em funcao de multiplos fatores dos ambientes interno e externo. Para contribuir com essas discussoes, neste artigo apresenta-se um estudo multicasos em quatro industrias de medio e grande portes, de segmentos, densidades tecnologicas e historicos com inovacoes diferentes entre si. Como principais resultados, salientam-se o encadeamento das atividades inovativas como parte de uma estrategia organizacional para obter resultados com inovacao e a afluencia de todas as pessoas, e nao somente as alocadas em pesquisa e desenvolvimento, para o cumprimento dessa estrategia.
Bicycles, motorcycles, and models

The development of bicycles and motorcycles since the first patented running machine, or draisine, in 1817 is described. Bicycle modeling and control were also discussed. These models include: derivatives or simplifications of Whipple's bicycle dynamics model in which the lateral motion constraints at the road contact are nonholonomic, requiring special techniques to form correct equations of motion; and the Timoshenko-Young model in which the steer angle and speed completely determine the lateral motion of the base point of an inverted pendulum that represents the vehicle's roll dynamics
Essential Factors for Incompatible DNA End Joining at Chromosomal DNA Double Strand Breaks In Vivo

Non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) is a major pathway for the repair of DNA double strand break (DSBs) with incompatible DNA ends, which are often generated by ionizing irradiation. In vitro reconstitution studies have indicated that NHEJ of incompatible DNA ends requires not only the core steps of synapsis and ligation, employing KU80/DNA-PKcs and LIG4, but also additional DNA end processing steps, such as DNA end resection by Artemis and gap-filling by POLλ and POLμ. It seems that DNA end processing steps are important for joining of incompatible DNA ends rather than compatible ends. Despite the fact that DNA end processing is important for incompatible DNA end joining in vitro, the role of DNA processing in NHEJ of incompatible DSBs in vivo has not yet been demonstrated. Here we investigated the in vivo roles of proteins implicated in each step of NHEJ using an assay in which NHEJ of incompatible DNA ends on chromosomal DNA can be assessed in living human cells. siRNA- or inhibitor-mediated impairment of factors in each NHEJ step resulted in a reduction in joining efficiency. Strikingly, stronger effects were observed when DNA end resection and ligation protein functions were impaired. Disruption of synapsis by KU80 and DNA-PKcs impairment, or the disruption of gap filling by POLλ and POLμ depletion, resulted in higher levels of microhomology-mediated joining. The present study indicates that DNA end resection and ligation factors are critical for the efficient joining of incompatible ends in vivo, further emphasizing the importance of synapsis and gap-filling factors in preventing illegitimate joining.
Multiple extracellular domains of CCR-5 contribute to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 entry and fusion

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) entry is governed by the interaction of the viral envelope glycoprotein (Env) with its receptor. The HIV-1 receptor is composed of two molecules, the CD4 binding receptor and a coreceptor. The seven-membrane-spanning chemokine receptor CCR-5 is one of the coreceptors used by primary isolates of HIV-1. We demonstrate that the mouse homolog of CCR-5 (mCCR-5) does not function as an HIV-1 coreceptor. A set of chimeras of human CCR-5 and mCCR-5 was studied for Env-induced cell fusion and HIV-1 infection. Using the HIV-1ADA envelope glycoprotein in a syncytium formation assay, we show that replacement of any fragment containing extracellular domains of mCCR-5 by its human counterparts is sufficient to allow Env-induced fusion. Conversely, replacement of any fragment containing human extracellular domains by its murine counterpart did not lead to coreceptor function loss. These results show that several domains of CCR-5 participate in coreceptor function. In addition, using a panel of primary nonsyncytium-inducing and syncytium-inducing isolates that use CCR-5 or both CXCR-4 and CCR-5 as coreceptors, we show that the latter dual-tropic isolates are less tolerant to changes in CCR-5 than strains with a more restricted coreceptor use. Thus, different strains are likely to have different ways of interacting with the CCR-5 coreceptor.
Genomics and the search for novel biomarkers in toxicology

The advent of 'genomics' technology, in particular transcript profiling, has already had a measurable impact on the drug discovery process in the areas of target identification and validation. This review is concerned with the potential application of this technology to toxicology and drug safety assessment, with particular emphasis on biomarker discovery and characterization. An advantage (or possibly a drawback! ) of transcript profiling is that candidate biomarkers of toxicity can be speedily identified, with the caveat that a significant amount of subsequent experimental and bioinformatic effort needs to be expended in order to evaluate and validate them. Attention is also drawn to the critical need for robust experimental design with studies of this type and to issues associated with the analysis of large data sets. In summary, while genomics technology undoubtedly offers much that can assist drug safety assessment, its potential has yet to be realized fully in this area. However, a large amount of resource continues to be applied to 'toxicogenomics'. Tangible benefits, in terms of new biomarkers of toxicity and reduced numbers of adverse drug effects, remain realistic objectives.
Visual perception as invariance.

The railroad tracks stretch straight and far away from me over the desert and on to the horizon. I stand squarely between them, looking along them to the horizon, and I observe both that they converge as distance gets greater and also that they are at every distance equidistant. This is the perceptual paradox of converging parallels. Every one has the experience, and Blumenfeld (1, pp. 323-346) found it under the controlled conditions of his alley'experiment. The convergence, when you have regard to it, is irresistible, and it is much less than the convergence of the retinal image that underlies the perception. That image might converge as much as the legs of an isosceles triangle that is almost equilateral. The base of the triangle, the tracks at your right and left, would be at the top of your inverted retinal image, and the lines of the image for the tracts would come together quickly, meeting at the fovea, on which would be the image of the vanishing point at the horizon. It is thus plain that the perceptual pattern is not the pattern of the retinal image nor any form topographically equivalent to it.
A smoothing Rao-Blackwellized particle filter for tracking a highly-maneuverable target

In this paper we apply a new smoothing Rao-Blackwellized particle filter to track a highly maneuverable target in a multiple-sensors network. The scenario of a highly-maneuverable target moving through a field of multiple sensors is addressed. The target is tracked through the sensors filed using both Rao-Blackwellized particle filter and the proposed smoothing filter. In a simulation comparison, the smoothing Rao-Blackwellized particle filter yields performance improvements when tracking a highly-maneuverable target.
The Information Filtering of Gene Network for Chronic Diseases: Social Network Perspective

Web and mobile platforms have provided an environment of technical cooperation through technical development and the diffusion of related devices. Large-scale data sets have been available to analyze web interaction and data analysis. Particularly, large-scale data make us learn new patterns and insight into several research fields. For healthcare field, most chronic diseases are caused by environmental and genetic factors (Van der Laan et al., 2003). The relationship between environmental exposure and gene factors is crucial regarding disease etiology (Swift et al., 2004). For example, Tobacco is considered one of the biggest environmental factors responsible for many diseases each year. Schwartz and Collins (2007) discussed the importance of gene and environment factor correlation in human diseases. Thomas (2010) published a review of different approaches on gene-environment association studies attempting to explain some of the most complex diseases. Although previous studies have studied chronicle diseases with their causes one by one, those studies do not show integrated relationships between various diseases and their related human genes. Therefore, this study investigates the gene-disease relationships which are affected by tobacco and is able to find new association links with social network analysis and other mining techniques.
Recovery of acquired aphasia in children

Abstract We report a longitudinal study of 32 children (younger than 15 years) with acquired aphasia secondary to unilateral focal brain lesions, and study the factors responsible for the prognosis of aphasia. Poor outcome was associated with infectious aetiology, lesion onset after age 7 years, fluent speech, poor auditory comprehension and damage to Wernicke's area. Conversely, vascular and traumatic aetiology and the presence of mutism or hemiparesis were associated with a better recovery. However, as some of these factors tended to cluster, we performed a multivariable regression analysis. This analysis showed that only three of the variables could predict the prognosis: infectious aetiology, poor verbal comprehension, and involvement of Wernicke's area were all associated with a poor outcome. Age at lesion onset, in contrast, did not account for aphasia recovery. These data suggest therefore that recovery from aphasia depends much more upon the integrity of certain brain areas (left posterior languag.
Mobile learning in museums: A case study of the Golden jubilee Museum of Agriculture Office

This paper demonstrates the design, development and implementation of mobile learning in a museum setting. Learning can be more effective when it is contextualized and situated; base on this assumption we develop a database system to collect information of artifacts (trees) in a museum (an open area agriculture museum) and present to users or learners through mobile application. Information on the mobile application can be fetched by scanning QR code. Users can walk within the area and scan a QR code on a tree to get a specific information; therefore, user can get details of the particular tree including name, species and its application. User satisfaction survey was collected and they are satisfied with the functions and information of the application.
Patterns of Recurrence from Head and Neck Cancer An Immunologic Perspective

The influence of pretreatment natural killer (NK) cell activity on patterns of disease recurrence in patients with head and neck cancer was studied. One hundred eighty-three patients were followed prospectively for disease recurrence following definitive therapy (median disease-free follow-up = 15 months). Pretreatment peripheral blood NK cell activity against K562 target cells was measured for each patient and expressed in lytic units (LU). The risk of death caused by recurrent disease was greatest in those patients with peripheral blood NK cell activity less than 60 LU (P < 0.05). The site of recurrence could also be distinguished by LU value. As a percentage of total recurrences, locally recurrent disease was predominant in the patients with NK function >60 LU whereas distant metastases predominated in the group of patients with peripheral blood NK cell activity less than 60 LU. These patterns were maintained when patients were stratified by clinical N stage (N = 0 versus N+), T stage (T-l or T-2 versus T-3 or T-4), and treatment regimen (surgery alone versus surgery and postoperative radiation therapy). Natural killer cell activity appears to have prognostic significance, both for disease-free survival and for site of recurrence independent of clinical stage. The indications for multimodality therapy for patients with head and neck cancer when stratified by NK cell function need to be clarified.
Reflections on the Reform of Higher Education in Central and Eastern Europe

Attempting to generalize about the reform of higher education in Central and Eastern Europe since the end of communism is made complicated by the difficulty in identifying clear terms of reference and points of comparison. The area and the higher education systems concerned are far from being homogeneous, for the homogeneity imposed by communism and Soviet domination did not last. When comparing Central and Eastern European higher education systems with those of the West, one is confronted with Western higher education systems that are quite heterogeneous and themselves also going through change. The routes to transition in higher education in Central and Eastern Europe are as diverse as the given systems and countries. The two standard categorizations of Central and Eastern European higher education, exceptionalism and underdevelopment, are inaccurate. Rather, Central and Eastern European higher education should be viewed as fitting into a wider effort to reorient the whole of European higher education t.