Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Handling Inconsistency in Software Requirements

Software Requirements expressed in the form of natural language are often informal and possibly vague. The need for formal representation of the requirements has been explored and addressed in various forms earlier. Of several recommended approaches, logical representation of requirements has been widely acknowledged to formalize the requirements languages. In this paper, we present courteous logic based representations for software requirements. We report the benefits of courteous logic based representations for handling inconsistencies in software requirements and take into account views of multiple stakeholders and the presuppositions. We show how courteous logic based representations can be used to ensure consistency as well as to uncover presuppositions in the requirements.
Comparative Transcriptomics Indicates a Role for SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (SVP) Genes in Mimulus guttatus Vernalization Response

The timing of reproduction in response to variable environmental conditions is critical to plant fitness, and is a major driver of taxon differentiation. In the yellow monkey flower, Mimulus guttatus, geographically distinct North American populations vary in their photoperiod and chilling (vernalization) requirements for flowering, suggesting strong local adaptation to their surroundings. Previous analyses revealed quantitative trait loci (QTL) underlying short-day mediated vernalization responsiveness using two annual M. guttatus populations that differed in their vernalization response. To narrow down candidate genes responsible for this variation, and to reveal potential downstream genes, we conducted comparative transcriptomics and quantitative PCR (qPCR) in shoot apices of parental vernalization responsive IM62, and unresponsive LMC24 inbred lines grown under different photoperiods and temperatures. Our study identified several metabolic, hormone signaling, photosynthetic, stress response, and flowering time genes that are differentially expressed between treatments, suggesting a role for their protein products in short-day-mediated vernalization responsiveness. Only a small subset of these genes intersected with candidate genes from the previous QTL study, and, of the main candidates tested with qPCR under nonpermissive conditions, only SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (SVP) gene expression met predictions for a population-specific short-day-repressor of flowering that is repressed by cold.
Information in Securities Markets: Kyle Meets Glosten and Milgrom

This paper analyzes models of securities markets with a single strategic informed trader and competitive market makers. In one version, uninformed trades arrive as a Brownian motion and market makers see only the order imbalance, as in Kyle (1985). In the other version, uninformed trades arrive as a Poisson process and market makers see individual trades. This is similar to the Glosten-Milgrom (1985) model, except that we allow the informed trader to optimize his times of trading. We show there is an equilibrium in the Glosten-Milgrom-type model in which the informed trader plays a mixed strategy (a point process with stochastic intensity). In this equilibrium, informed and uninformed trades arrive probabilistically, as Glosten and Milgrom assume. We study a sequence of such markets in which uninformed trades become smaller and arrive more frequently, approximating a Brownian motion. We show that the equilibria of the Glosten-Milgrom model converge to the equilibrium of the Kyle model. Copyright The Econometric Society 2004.
A Role for Basic Transcription Element-binding Protein 1 (BTEB1) in the Autoinduction of Thyroid Hormone Receptor β*

Thyroid hormone (T3) induces gene regulation programs necessary for tadpole metamorphosis. Among the earliest responses to T3 are the up-regulation of T3 receptor β (TRβ; autoinduction) and BTEB1 (basic transcription element-binding protein 1). BTEB1 is a member of the Krüppel family of transcription factors that bind to GC-rich regions in gene promoters. The proximal promoter of the Xenopus laevis TrβA gene has seven GC-rich sequences, which led us to hypothesize that BTEB1 binds to and regulates TrβA. In tadpoles and the frog fibroblast-derived cell line XTC-2, T3 up-regulated Bteb1 mRNA with faster kinetics than TrβA, and Bteb1 mRNA correlated with increased BTEB1 protein expression. BTEB1 bound to GC-rich sequences in the proximal TrβA promoter in vitro. By using chromatin immunoprecipitation assay, we show that BTEB1 associates with the TrβA promoter in vivo in a T3 and developmental stage-dependent manner. Induced expression of BTEB1 in XTC-2 cells caused accelerated and enhanced autoinduction of the TrβA gene. This enhancement was lost in N-terminal truncated mutants of BTEB1. However, point mutations in the zinc fingers of BTEB1 that destroyed DNA binding did not alter the activity of the protein on TrβA autoinduction, suggesting that BTEB1 can function in this regard through protein-protein interactions. Our findings support the hypothesis that BTEB1 associates with the TrβA promoter in vivo and enhances autoinduction, but this action does not depend on its DNA binding activity. Cooperation among the protein products of immediate early genes may be a common mechanism for driving developmental signaling pathways.
Comparison of Methods for Estimating the Number of True Null Hypotheses in Multiplicity Testing

Abstract When a large number of statistical tests is performed, the chance of false positive findings could increase considerably. The traditional approach is to control the probability of rejecting at least one true null hypothesis, the familywise error rate (FWE). To improve the power of detecting treatment differences, an alternative approach is to control the expected proportion of errors among the rejected hypotheses, the false discovery rate (FDR). When some of the hypotheses are not true, the error rate from either the FWE- or the FDR-controlling procedure is usually lower than the designed level. This paper compares five methods used to estimate the number of true null hypotheses over a large number of hypotheses. The estimated number of true null hypotheses is then used to improve the power of FWE- or FDR-controlling methods. Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to evaluate the performance of these methods. The lowest slope method, developed by Benjamini and Hochberg (2000) on the adaptive control of the FDR in multiple testing with independent statistics, and the mean of differences method appear to perform the best. These two methods control the FWE properly when the number of nontrue null hypotheses is small. A data set from a toxicogenomic microarray experiment is used for illustration.
Question Answering based on Semantic Roles

This paper discusses how lexical resources based on semantic roles (i.e. FrameNet, PropBank, VerbNet) can be used for Question Answering, especially Web Question Answering. Two algorithms have been implemented to this end, with quite different characteristics. We discuss both approaches when applied to each of the resources and a combination of these and give an evaluation. We argue that employing semantic roles can indeed be highly beneficial for a QA system.
Stress distribution in lungs: a model of pulmonary elasticity.

MEAD, JERE, TAMOTSU TAKISHIMA, AND DAVID LEITH. Stress distribution in lungs: a model of pulmonary elasticity. J. Appl. Physiol. 28(5) : 596-608. 1970.Although lungs are exposed to transpulmonary pressure, the air spaces within are distended solely by forces applied from surrounding tissues. By relating these forces to the areas on which they operate, we derive the effective pressure distending air spaces. In uniformly expanded lungs this pressure probably approximates transpulmonary pressure. In nonuniformly expanded lungs the effective distending pressure differs from transpulmonary pressure, and in the appropriate sign to reduce the nonuniformity. This interdependence of air-space distention bears on a number of aspects of pulmonary function, including the size of air spaces which may be expanded from the gas-free state, the static and dynamic stability of air spaces, the dryness of air spaces, the forces distending airways and blood vessels within lungs, and the distribution of pulmonary edema. The principal function of the mechanical interdependence would appear to be to support uniform expansion of air spaces. The principal functional risk that it entails is increase in capillary transmural pressure in regions which become subjected to abnormally high outward-acting stress.
Loss and Recovery

Relationships whose loss triggers grief are termed “relationships of attachment. ” These relationships are pair-bond relationships, parental attachments to children, transference relationships to helpers, and persisting childlike attachments to parents. Because these relationships share significant characteristics, it is proposed that they are developments of a single socio-emotional system—the attachment system of children. This point of view permits a unified treatment of a number of topics, including the threats that elicit attachment emotions and behaviors, the impact of loss, the nature and course of recovery from loss, impediments to recovery, and the forms taken by failures to recover.
The influence of an intensive in-service workshop on pedagogical content knowledge growth among novice chemical demonstrators†

This study examined the influence of an intensive chemical demonstration workshop on fostering pedagogical content knowledge growth among science teachers identified as novice chemical demonstrators. The two-week summer workshop was designed around four training elements considered important to effective teacher in-servicing: theory, modeling, practice, and feedback. Clinical interviews served to probe various aspects of novice demonstrators' pedagogical content knowledge prior to and after the workshop. The interview protocols were analyzed using the methods of taxonomic, componential, and theme analysis. Differences in pre- and postworkshop clinical interview responses suggested growth in novices' representational and adaptational repertoires for demonstrating fundamental topics in chemistry. This growth was reflected in the increased number of chemical demonstrations and demonstration variations on each of the target chemical concepts that the novice demonstrators discussed after the in-service intervention. Their interview responses also suggested an increased awareness of the complexity of several chemical demonstrations, how these complexities could interfere with learning, and how simplified variations of the chemical demonstrations could promote science concept understanding. The research findings suggest that science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge in chemistry can be enhanced through intensive, short-term in-service programs.
Relative movement evaluation between developed distributed-type tactile sensor and the contacting object

This paper describes an output algorithm that measures forces and moment acting on a developed distributed-type tactile sensor and evaluates relative movement with the contacting object. To realize advanced manipulation, it is necessary to acquire forces and moments acting on the fingertips of the robot hand; it is also necessary to evaluate the relative movement between the contacting object and the sensor. An output algorithm for evaluating the relative movement for developed tactile sensor was created whose effectiveness was shown by experiments.
Principal Component Analysis with Missing Data and Its Application to Polyhedral Object Modeling

Observation-based object modeling often requires integration of shape descriptions from different views. To overcome the problems of errors and their accumulation, we have developed a weighted least-squares (WLS) approach which simultaneously recovers object shape and transformation among different views without recovering interframe motion. We show that object modeling from a range image sequence is a problem of principal component analysis with missing data (PCAMD), which can be generalized as a WLS minimization problem. An efficient algorithm is devised. After we have segmented planar surface regions in each view and tracked them over the image sequence, we construct a normal measurement matrix of surface normals, and a distance measurement matrix of normal distances to the origin for all visible regions over the whole sequence of views, respectively. These two matrices, which have many missing elements due to noise, occlusion, and mismatching, enable us to formulate multiple view merging as a combination of two WLS problems. A two-step algorithm is presented. After surface equations are extracted, spatial connectivity among the surfaces is established to enable the polyhedral object model to be constructed. Experiments using synthetic data and real range images show that our approach is robust against noise and mismatching and generates accurate polyhedral object models. >
Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Community Structure in Field and Cultured Microbialites from the Alkaline Lake Alchichica (Mexico)

The geomicrobiology of crater lake microbialites remains largely unknown despite their evolutionary interest due to their resemblance to some Archaean analogs in the dominance of in situ carbonate precipitation over accretion. Here, we studied the diversity of archaea, bacteria and protists in microbialites of the alkaline Lake Alchichica from both field samples collected along a depth gradient (0–14 m depth) and long-term-maintained laboratory aquaria. Using small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene libraries and fingerprinting methods, we detected a wide diversity of bacteria and protists contrasting with a minor fraction of archaea. Oxygenic photosynthesizers were dominated by cyanobacteria, green algae and diatoms. Cyanobacterial diversity varied with depth, Oscillatoriales dominating shallow and intermediate microbialites and Pleurocapsales the deepest samples. The early-branching Gloeobacterales represented significant proportions in aquaria microbialites. Anoxygenic photosynthesizers were also diverse, comprising members of Alphaproteobacteria and Chloroflexi. Although photosynthetic microorganisms dominated in biomass, heterotrophic lineages were more diverse. We detected members of up to 21 bacterial phyla or candidate divisions, including lineages possibly involved in microbialite formation, such as sulfate-reducing Deltaproteobacteria but also Firmicutes and very diverse taxa likely able to degrade complex polymeric substances, such as Planctomycetales, Bacteroidetes and Verrucomicrobia. Heterotrophic eukaryotes were dominated by Fungi (including members of the basal Rozellida or Cryptomycota), Choanoflagellida, Nucleariida, Amoebozoa, Alveolata and Stramenopiles. The diversity and relative abundance of many eukaryotic lineages suggest an unforeseen role for protists in microbialite ecology. Many lineages from lake microbialites were successfully maintained in aquaria. Interestingly, the diversity detected in aquarium microbialites was higher than in field samples, possibly due to more stable and favorable laboratory conditions. The maintenance of highly diverse natural microbialites in laboratory aquaria holds promise to study the role of different metabolisms in the formation of these structures under controlled conditions.
Temperature- and Angle-Dependent Magnetic Properties of Ni Nanotube Arrays Fabricated by Electrodeposition in Polycarbonate Templates

Parallel arrays of Ni nanotubes with an external diameter of 150 nm, a wall thickness of 15 nm, and a length of 1.2 ± 0.3 µm were successfully fabricated in ion-track etched polycarbonate (PC) templates by electrochemical deposition. The morphology and crystal structure of the nanotubes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Structural analyses indicate that Ni nanotubes have a polycrystalline structure with no preferred orientation. Angle dependent hysteresis studies at room temperature carried out by using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) demonstrate a transition of magnetization between the two different magnetization reversal modes: curling rotation for small angles and coherent rotation for large angles. Furthermore, temperature dependent magnetic analyses performed with a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer indicate that magnetization of the nanotubes follows modified Bloch’s law in the range 60–300 K, while the deviation of the experimental curve from this law below 60 K can be attributed to the finite size effects in the nanotubes. Finally, it was found that coercivity measured at different temperatures follows Kneller’s law within the premises of Stoner–Wohlfarth model for ferromagnetic nanostructures.
A New Flow-Diverter (the FloWise): In-Vivo Evaluation in an Elastase-Induced Rabbit Aneurysm Model

Objective We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a newly developed, partially retrievable flow-diverter (the FloWise) in an elastase-induced rabbit aneurysm model. Materials and Methods We developed a partially retrievable flow diverter composed of 48 strands of Nitinol and platinum wire. The FloWise is compatible with any microcatheter of 0.027-inch inner diameter, and is retrievable up to 70% deployment. The efficacy and safety of the FloWise were evaluated in the elastase-induced rabbit aneurysm model. The rate of technical success (full coverage of aneurysm neck) and assessment of aneurysm occlusion and stent patency was conducted by angiograms and histologic examinations at the 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month follow-up. The patency of small arterial branches (intercostal or lumbar arteries) covered by the FloWise were also assessed in the 5 subjects. Results We attempted FloWise insertion in a total of 32 aneurysm models. FloWise placement was successful in 31 subjects (96.9%). Two stents (6.2%) were occluded at the 3-month follow-up, but there was no evidence of in-stent stenosis in other subjects. All stented aneurysms showed progressive occlusion: grade I (complete aneurysm occlusion) in 44.4% and grade II (aneurysm occlusion > 90%) in 55.6% at 1 month; grade I in 90% and II in 10% at 3 months; and grade I in 90% and II in 10% at 6 months. All small arterial branches covered by the FloWise remained patent. Conclusion A newly developed, partially retrievable flow-diverter seems to be a safe and effective tool of aneurysm occlusion, as evaluated in the rabbit aneurysm model.
Preschool Children's Multimodal Word Learning

Two studies used a new paradigm to examine preschool children's (i.e., 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds) word learning across multiple sense modalities. In Study 1 (n = 60), children heard a word for an object that they touched but did not see, while word learning was examined using objects that were seen but not touched. In Study 2 (n = 60), children heard a word for an object that they saw but did not touch, while word learning was examined using objects that were touched but not seen. Findings from both studies revealed that children were able to learn words by coordinating information across multiple sense modalities and that word learning improved with age. These findings are discussed in terms of E. J. Gibson's differentiation theory (1969, 1988).
Gender Disparity in English Language Textbooks in Nigeria: Bridging the Gap for Literacy Development

The study investigates gender disparity in English Language textbooks. Four major English Language texts are selected and each of them runs into six series giving a total of twenty four books used for the study. Content analysis is used as it helps to determine the gender that is under-represented or overrepresented in the books. The content in this study is divided into the activities assigned to males and females: Characterization, leisure activities, professional/occupational stereotypes, domestic activities and undesirable qualities ascribed to males and females. The general findings indicate disparity against both males and females although females are largely discriminated against in the areas of domination in characterization, undesirable qualities, representation, invisibility, occupational/professional and domestic stereotypes. This discrimination would affect the reading psychology of the students and subsequently not permit meaningful literacy development especially among the females. Based on the findings, it is recommended, above all that there should be orientation/sensitization training and workshops frequently organized for students, teachers/teacher trainers, authors and publishers on gender issues and, gender education courses should be introduced in our institutions of higher learning. There should be policies/guidelines made by the government to guarantee gender balance in authorship/publication of textbooks and the implementation monitored. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2014. v4n7p19
Mutationism and the dual causation of evolutionary change

SUMMARY The rediscovery of Mendel's laws a century ago launched the science that William Bateson called “genetics,” and led to a new view of evolution combining selection, particulate inheritance, and the newly characterized phenomenon of “mutation. ” This “mutationist” view clashed with the earlier view of Darwin, and the later “Modern Synthesis,” by allowing discontinuity, and by recognizing mutation (or more properly, mutation‐and‐altered‐development) as a source of creativity, direction, and initiative. By the mid‐20th century, the opposing Modern Synthesis view was a prevailing orthodoxy: under its influence, “evolution” was redefined as “shifting gene frequencies,” that is, the sorting out of pre‐existing variation without new mutations; and the notion that mutation‐and‐altered‐development can exert a predictable influence on the course of evolutionary change was seen as heretical. Nevertheless, mutationist ideas re‐surfaced: the notion of mutational determinants of directionality emerged in molecular evolution by 1962, followed in the 1980s by an interest among evolutionary developmental biologists in a shaping or creative role of developmental propensities of variation, and more recently, a recognition by theoretical evolutionary geneticists of the importance of discontinuity and of new mutations in adaptive dynamics. The synthetic challenge presented by these innovations is to integrate mutation‐and‐altered‐development into a new understanding of the dual causation of evolutionary change—a broader and more predictive understanding that already can lay claim to important empirical and theoretical results—and to develop a research program appropriately emphasizing the emergence of variation as a cause of propensities of evolutionary change.
Measuring and Predicting Visual Importance of Similar Objects

Similar objects are ubiquitous and abundant in both natural and artificial scenes. Determining the visual importance of several similar objects in a complex photograph is a challenge for image understanding algorithms. This study aims to define the importance of similar objects in an image and to develop a method that can select the most important instances for an input image from multiple similar objects. This task is challenging because multiple objects must be compared without adequate semantic information. This challenge is addressed by building an image database and designing an interactive system to measure object importance from human observers. This ground truth is used to define a range of features related to the visual importance of similar objects. Then, these features are used in learning-to-rank and random forest to rank similar objects in an image. Importance predictions were validated on 5,922 objects. The most important objects can be identified automatically. The factors related to composition (e.g., size, location, and overlap) are particularly informative, although clarity and color contrast are also important. We demonstrate the usefulness of similar object importance on various applications, including image retargeting, image compression, image re-attentionizing, image admixture, and manipulation of blindness images.