Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Feeding behaviour of Caenorhabditis elegans is an indicator of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 virulence

Caenorhabditis elegans is commonly used as an infection model for pathogenesis studies in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The standard virulence assays rely on the slow and fast killing or paralysis of nematodes but here we developed a behaviour assay to monitor the preferred bacterial food sources of C. elegans. We monitored the food preferences of nematodes fed the wild type PAO1 and mutants in the type III secretion (T3S) system, which is a conserved mechanism to inject secreted effectors into the host cell cytosol. A ΔexsEΔpscD mutant defective for type III secretion served as a preferred food source, while an ΔexsE mutant that overexpresses the T3S effectors was avoided. Both food sources were ingested and observed in the gastrointestinal tract. Using the slow killing assay, we showed that the ΔexsEΔpscD had reduced virulence and thus confirmed that preferred food sources are less virulent than the wild type. Next we developed a high throughput feeding behaviour assay with 48 possible food colonies in order to screen a transposon mutant library and identify potential virulence genes. C. elegans identified and consumed preferred food colonies from a grid of 48 choices. The mutants identified as preferred food sources included known virulence genes, as well as novel genes not identified in previous C. elegans infection studies. Slow killing assays were performed and confirmed that several preferred food sources also showed reduced virulence. We propose that C. elegans feeding behaviour can be used as a sensitive indicator of virulence for P. aeruginosa PAO1.
Space-time diversity applied to single-user environments and MIMO transmission channels

This paper presents a closed solution to the problem of designing a single-user communication system considering the use of space-time diversity at both the transmitter and receiver sides, that is, a Multi-Input-Multi-Output (MIMO) structure. Three different design criteria and algorithms are considered: Matched-Desired Impulse Response, Minimum Mean Square Error and Zero Forcing. A technique for synthesizing and designing FIR filters based on frequency domain specifications and a minimum square error criterion is also presented. The time response design of the spatio-temporal filters exploits the phase of the frequency responses, which is a degree of freedom of the problem. Some simulations and results are also presented so as to evaluate the performance of the proposed techniques.
Cache Design Options for a Clustered Multithreaded Architecture

The design of the memory hierarchy in a multi-core architecture is a critical component since it must meet the capacity (in terms of bandwidth and low latency) and coordination requirements of multiple threads of control. Most previous designs have assumed either a shared L1 data cache (e.g., simultaneous multithreaded architectures) or L1 caches that are private to each individual processor (e.g., chip multiprocessors (CMPs)) with coherence maintained across the L1s at the L2 level. A shared L1 cache has the benefit of potentially increasing cache capacity for threads with non-uniform working sets but the disadvantage of higher access latency from remote clusters/cores and the potential for conflicts among threads. Private caches have the benefit of lower L1 access latency but the disadvantages of reduced effective cache size and of coherence overhead. In this paper, we focus on the design of the L1 cache as being a critical design component especially for multithreaded/parallel workloads. We identify the factors contributing to reduced performance, and examine ways in which each factor — locality of access, capacity, as well as migratory, multiple-reader, and read-write sharing patterns — can be addressed in a low-overhead fashion. We demonstrate that direct access to remote L1 cache banks provides the flexibility to address thread-specific capacity issues as well as to provide improved sharing support for active read-write sharing. We propose a novel selectively replicating (SR) adaptive protocol to handle locality and capacity issues in addition to recognizing and adapting to migratory, multiple-reader, and read-write sharing access patterns. The SR cache design is able to meet or beat the performance of the coherent cache, improving performance by up to 44% relative to a coherent cache (with an average of 5% across all applications) when using 8 threads.
Reliable Rock Detection and Classification for Autonomous Science

Current planetary rovers rely heavily on explicit instructions given by scientists on Earth, which requires extensive communication and frequent command cycles. Onboard science autonomy systems will enable rovers to reason about their science goals, so that they may make informed decisions, allocate bandwidth intelligently, and respond to discoveries. A reliable rock detector is the first step in interpreting local geology and enabling onboard science data understanding. The detection of objects in natural scenes is a problem that has been addressed by computer vision and machine learning researchers; it involves a difficult combination of image processing, the use of subtle visual cues, and domain knowledge. An architecture is presented that handles data from multiple sources and combines computer vision and machine learning techniques to achieve segmentation, detection, and classification of rocks. Results using data from the Atacama Desert and associated ground-truth validation confirm a successful approach.
Tiered Replication: A Cost-effective Alternative to Full Cluster Geo-replication

Cloud storage systems typically use three-way random replication to guard against data loss within the cluster, and utilize cluster geo-replication to protect against correlated failures. This paper presents a much lower cost alternative to full cluster geo-replication. We demonstrate that in practical settings, using two replicas is sufficient for protecting against independent node failures, while using three random replicas is inadequate for protecting against correlated node failures. We present Tiered Replication, a replication scheme that splits the cluster into a primary and backup tier. The first two replicas are stored on the primary tier and are used to recover data in the case of independent node failures, while the third replica is stored on the backup tier and is used to protect against correlated failures. The key insight of our paper is that, since the third replicas are rarely read, we can place the backup tier on separate physical infrastructure or a remote location without affecting performance. This separation significantly increases the resilience of the storage system to correlated failures and presents a low cost alternative to georeplication of an entire cluster. In addition, the Tiered Replication algorithm optimally minimizes the probability of data loss under correlated failures. Tiered Replication can be executed incrementally for each cluster change, which allows it to supports dynamic environments in which nodes join and leave the cluster, and it facilitates additional data placement constraints required by the storage designer, such as network and rack awareness. We have implemented Tiered Replication on HyperDex, an open-source cloud storage system, and demonstrate that it incurs a small performance overhead. Tiered Replication improves the cluster-wide MTTF by a factor of 20,000 compared to random replication and by a factor of 20 compared to previous non-random replication schemes, without increasing the amount of storage.
3D photo browsing for future mobile devices

By introducing the interactive 3D photo/video browsing and exploration system, we propose novel approaches for handling the limitations of the current 2D mobile technology from two aspects: interaction design and visualization. Our contributions feature an effective interaction that happens in the 3D space behind the mobile device's camera. 3D motion analysis of the user's gesture captured by the device's camera is performed to facilitate the interaction between users and multimedia collections in various applications. This approach will solve a wide range of problems with the current input facilities such as miniature keyboards, tiny joysticks and 2D touch screens. The suggested interactive technology enables users to control, manipulate, organize, and re-arrange their photo/video collections in 3D space using bare-hand, marker-less gesture. Moreover, with the proposed techniques we aim to visualize the 2D photo collection, in 3D, on normal 2D displays. This process is automatically done by retrieving the 3D structure from single images, finding the stereo/multiple views of a scene or using the geo-tagged meta-data from huge photo collections. By using the design and implementation of the contributions of this work, we aim to achieve the following goals: Solving the limitations of the current 2D interaction facilities by 3D gestural interaction; Increasing the usability of the multimedia applications on mobile devices; Enhancing the quality of user experience with the digital collections.
Optimality of myopic policy for a class of monotone affine restless multi-armed bandits

We formulate a general class of restless multi-armed bandits with n independent and stochastically identical arms. Each arm is in a real-valued state s ∈ [s0, smax]. Selecting an arm with state s yields an immediate reward with expectation R(s). The state of the arm that is selected stochastically jumps from its current value s to either smax or s0 with probability p(s) or 1 - p(s) respectively. The state of the arms that are not selected evolve according to a function τ (s). We assume that τ (s), p(s), and R(s) are all monotonically increasing affine functions, and τ (s) is a contraction mapping. We then derive a condition on τ (s) under which the simple myopic policy, which selects at each time the arm with the highest immediate reward, is optimal. This extends and generalizes recent results in the literature pertaining to arms evolving as two-state Markov chains.
Down and out: College students experiencing depressive symptoms

Survey research that asks respondents to report on depression often ask respondents whether they have been diagnosed with depression by a medical professional. But such questions underestimate depression by leaving out respondents who are unable or unwilling to seek professional help. Thus, other studies seek to ask respondents to report symptoms of various dimensions of depression. This is especially important because, according to the CDC, “persons with mild depressive symptoms, as well as those with moderate or severe depressive symptoms, reported difficulties with work, home, and social activities related to their symptoms”. But some groups are more prone to depression. Given the increased stressors that college students face in their transition to adulthood, coupled with increased exposure to —and participation in—potential health risks including drinking, smoking, and drug usage they face increased risk for experiencing depressive symptoms. This inflated risk for experiencing depressive symptoms often results in one’s academic success and satisfaction with school being negatively affected. This study aims to examine, first, the factors that influence reported depressive symptoms and, second, how the interrelationships among these factors and depressive symptoms are associated with academic success and satisfaction among college students.
Ethnic Differences in the Labour Market: the role of education and social class origins

The main aims of the paper are to explore how far class origins and qualifications can account for ethnic minority disadvantage in Britain and to explore whether they operate in the same way for the ethnic minorities as they do for the white majority. Thus the paper examines both the processes that promote inclusion into advantaged positions (in the professional and managerial classes of the salariat) and also the rather different processes that lead to exclusion to unemployment and the disadvantaged and poorly paid jobs of the semi-skilled and unskilled working class. Interest also focuses on entry into the petty bourgeoisie, which has often been used by members of ethnic minorities as a way of escaping from unemployment or low status manual work. The data cover first-generation men, that is men who were born overseas and migrated to Britain. With respect to social inclusion, the results show that class origins and educational qualifications can largely account for the overall disadvantages suffered by Irish men who have migrated to Britain. They also account for about half of the overall Caribbean and Pakistani disadvantage although still leaving substantial disadvantage unaccounted for. With respect to social exclusion, social origins and qualifications account for a much smaller proportion of the overall ethnic disadvantage. Many of these inclusion and exclusion processes work in much the same way for members of ethnic minorities as they do for whites. In particular, contrary to theoretical expectations, advantaged class origins bring the members of ethnic minorities much the same occupational benefits as they bring whites. However, entry to the petty bourgeoisie is a major exception: ethnic minorities are not nearly as successful as the British-born whites in passing on to their sons resources that are helpful for self-employment.
Son suficientes las competencias y el conocimiento de los objetivos en los estudiantes que acceden a la universidad

Sujetos y métodos. Se pidió a los alumnos del segundo curso de medicina del Centro Universitario de la Defensa que realizaran preguntas de respuesta múltiple sobre los temas de Fisiología Humana II. Simultáneamente, se promocionó la reflexión sobre los objetivos y competencias que debían alcanzarse con dicha asignatura. Para evaluar el conocimiento que los estudiantes tenían de dichos objetivos y competencias, los alumnos cumplimentaron un cuestionario nominal en el que se preguntaba su opinión en relación a la estrategia seguida y al modo en que ellos entendían la asignatura, objetivos, métodos de estudio, etc. Tras la publicación de las calificaciones, y en función de ellas, los alumnos fueron distribuidos en un grupo de mayor rendimiento y otro de menor rendimiento. Las diferencias entre ambos grupos se analizaron a través de los cuestionarios.
State-Trait Inventory for Cognitive and Somatic Anxiety: psychometric properties and experimental manipulation to evaluate sensitivity to change and predictive validity

The State-Trait Inventory for Cognitive and Somatic Anxiety (STICSA; Ree, French, MacLeod, & Locke, 2008) is a relatively new measure of state and trait anxiety that contains somatic and cognitive anxiety subscales. The current research investigated the reliability and validity of the STICSA. In the first study, a large sample of undergraduate students completed a battery of self-report questionnaires online, including measures of anxiety, depression, personality features, and quality of life. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis provided support for a four-factor model of the STICSA (i.e., statesomatic, state-cognitive, trait-somatic, and trait-cognitive factors) as well as for a hierarchical model of the STICSA including a global anxiety factor plus four specific factors corresponding to the STICSA subscales. Pearson product-moment correlations provided evidence of the convergent and divergent validity of the STICSA. Comparisons between the validity of the STICSA and the validity of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (ST AI; Spielberger, Gorsuch, Lushene, Vagg, & Jacobs, 1983) revealed advantages of the STICSA over the STAI. In the second study, a sample of undergraduate students filled out the same battery of self-report measures in small groups. Participants were then randomly assigned to either prepare a speech or watch a preview of a television documentary. Subsequently, all participants completed the state versions of the STICSA and ST AI for a second time. Results from the second study indicated that the somatic subscale of the STICSA is able to detect changes in somatic anxiety over time and provided evidence that scores on the trait version of the STICSA and its subscales are 11
Big-Data-Enabled Software-Defined Cellular Network Management

With the development of big data collection and analysis technologies, the abundant mobile network information and traffic data provide opportunities for researchers to analyze and understand mobile networks better. However, the existing cellular network architecture do not facilitate the deployment of big mobile data analysis in practical networks. In order to use these data for network management, in this paper, we propose a new software-defined cellular network (SDCN) architecture, namely Big-Data-Enabled Architecture (BDEA), which can support big mobile data analysis and storage for efficient cellular network resource allocation. Based on BDEA, we also propose a virtuous network management cycle of data collection, data analysis and network deployment, which can increase the efficiency of network improvement and feedback. Several application cases of network resource allocation in BDEA are discussed to illustrate how big mobile data analysis can benefit network optimization.
The Electrocardiogram Classification Research on Electrocardiogram RR Interval Variation

QRS complex wave segment of electrocardiogram (ECG) beat reflects the electrical activity of the heart. The RR interval is always be used in the arrhythmia classification. In this paper, we use statistical histogram method to analysis RR interval features in depth. From all of RR interval statistical result, RR interval is a very important and basic ECG beat classification feature. However merely considering RR interval, there is no obvious classification boundary between premature ventricular contract (PVC) and normal beat, other features should be introduced.
Flat Projective Structures on Surfaces and Cubic Holomorphic Differentials

The purpose of this article is to give an interpretation of real projective structures and associated cohomology classes in terms of connections, sections, etc. satisfying elliptic partial differential equations in the spirit of Hodge theory. We shall also give an application of these results as the uniqueness of a minimal surface in a symmetric space.
Automatic addition of physics components to procedural content

While the field of procedural content generation is growing, there has been somewhat less work on developing procedural methods to animate these models. We present a technique for generating procedural models of trees and buildings via formal grammars (L-Systems and wall grammars) that are ready to be animated using physical simulation. The grammars and their interpretations are augmented to provide direct control over the physical animation, by, for example, specifying object mass and the joint stiffness. Example animations produced by our system include trees swaying in a gentle wind or being rocked by a gale, and buildings collapsing, imploding or exploding. In user testing, we had test subjects (n = 20) compare our animations with video of trees and buildings undergoing similar effects, as well as with animations in games that they have played. Results show that our animations appear physically accurate with a few minor instances of unrealistic behaviour. Users considered the animations to be more realistic than those used in current video games.
Antibodies to the RNA Binding Protein Heterogeneous Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein A1 Colocalize to Stress Granules Resulting in Altered RNA and Protein Levels in a Model of Neurodegeneration in Multiple Sclerosis

Objective Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system (CNS). Data suggest that antibodies to CNS targets contribute to the pathogenesis of MS. MS patients produce autoantibodies to heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 (hnRNP A1). hnRNP A1 is an RNA binding protein (RBP) overexpressed in neurons that functions in pre-mRNA splicing, mRNA trafficking, and translation. Previously, we showed that anti-hnRNP A1 antibodies entered neuronal cells (in vitro) via clathrin-mediated endocytosis, caused mislocalization of endogenous hnRNP A1 protein and increased markers of neurodegeneration including decreased ATP concentration and apoptosis. In this study, we hypothesized that anti-hnRNP A1 antibodies might cause stress granule formation and altered levels of RNAs and proteins that bind hnRNP A1. Methods Neuronal cell lines were exposed to anti-hnRNP A1 and isotype-matched control antibodies in vitro and examined for neuronal granule formation, including stress granules, P bodies and transport granules. In addition, RNAs that bound hnRNP A1 were determined. Levels of RNA and their translated proteins were measured upon exposure to the anti-hnRNP A1 antibodies. Results Anti-hnRNP A1 antibodies induced and localized to stress granules, a marker of neurodegeneration, within a neuronal cell line. The anti-hnRNP A1 antibodies did not induce P bodies or neuronal granules. Clinically relevant RNAs were found to bind hnRNP A1. In addition, the anti-hnRNP A1 antibodies caused reduced levels of RNA and protein of the spinal paraplegia genes (SPGs) 4 and 7, which when mutated mimic progressive MS. Conclusions Taken together, these data suggest potential mechanisms by which autoantibodies may contribute to neurodegeneration in MS.
The Effect of Transparency on Framing Effects in Within-Subject Designs

A long-lasting assumption about the framing effect is that if the participants discover the purpose of the experiment in a within-subject design, then this test transparency would trigger them to override their initial answer and make coherent choices. For this reason, researchers try to mask the connection between the two parts of the test by inserting filling questions or a time delay between the two parts of the test. In this research, we explored the extent to which these customarily used masking solutions are effective in increasing test sensitivity for the framing effect. In three experiments, we assessed the effect of masking on the tests of the attribute framing and the risky-choice framing effects. Contradicting the general belief, our results indicate that these effects are already measurable without any masking or delay and we found no convincing evidence that the attempts to decrease task transparency provide worthwhile benefits for general tests of the effect. Beyond their practical relevance, the results question whether the test is a good measure of coherence rationality and better suit those accounts that suggest that the two parts of the framing tasks cannot be regarded as identical. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.