Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Methylated DNA Binding Domain Protein 2 (MBD2) Coordinately Silences Gene Expression through Activation of the MicroRNA hsa-mir-496 Promoter in Breast Cancer Cell Line

Methylated DNA binding protein 2 (MBD2) binds methylated promoters and suppresses transcription in cis through recruitment of a chromatin modification repressor complex. We show here a new mechanism of action for MBD2: suppression of gene expression indirectly through activation of microRNA hsa-mir-496. Overexpression of MBD2 in breast epithelial cell line MCF-10A results in induced expression and demethylation of hsa-mir-496 while depletion of MBD2 in a human breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MDA-MB231 results in suppression of hsa-mir-496. Activation of hsa-mir-496 by MBD2 is associated with silencing of several of its target genes while depletion of MBD2 leads to induction of hsa-mir-496 target genes. Depletion of hsa-mir-496 by locked nucleic acid (LNA) antisense oligonucleotide leads to activation of these target genes in MBD2 overexpressing cells supporting that hsa-mir-496 is mediating in part the effects of MBD2 on gene expression. We demonstrate that MBD2 binds the promoter of hsa-mir-496 in MCF-10A, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells and that it activates an in vitro methylated hsa-mir-496 promoter driving a CG-less luciferase reporter in a transient transfection assay. The activation of hsa-mir-496 is associated with reduced methylation of the promoter. Taken together these results describe a novel cascade for gene regulation by DNA methylation whereby activation of a methylated microRNA by MBD2 that is associated with loss of methylation triggers repression of downstream targets.
Probabilistic clustering location data of moving objects in mobile computing environment

Data uncertainty is often involved in moving object tracking in mobile computing environment due to reasons such as imprecise measurement or sampling errors. Data mining of such positions of moving objects attracts more and more research interest recently. The definitions of probabilistic core object and probabilistic density-reachability are presented and a probabilistic clustering algorithm for location data of moving objects is proposed, based on DBSCAN algorithm and probabilistic index on moving objects. Experiment results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms other clustering algorithm we knew for moving objects in update rate needed and efficiency of clustering.
Nonprofits as Schools for Democracy: The Justifications for Organizational Democracy Within Nonprofit Organizations

Nonprofit organizations are often claimed to be schools of democracy: “that produce citizens able and ready to participate in society” (as stated by Dodge and Ospina in Nonprofits as “schools of democracy”: A comparative case study of two environmental organizations, 2016, page 479). This claim is predicated the external role nonprofits play in producing democracy, particularly by engendering civic action. In contrast, this article promotes nonprofits’ internal organizing processes to produce democracy within nonprofits themselves. Drawing on the workplace democracy literature, we explore three main justifications for workplace democracy: consequentialist, deontological, and virtue ethics. Rather than viewing workplace democracy as an extrinsic good—based solely on consequences external to the organization—we argue that it should be considered an intrinsic good, valuable in and of itself. We, therefore, argue for a broadened imaginary for how nonprofits are managed, that include the internal organizational processes and widening of the social mission of nonprofit organization for greater democracy and freedom, based on good work.
Master-Slave Synchronization of Lur'e Systems

In this paper we present a sufficient condition for master-slave synchronization of Lur'e systems. The scheme makes use of linear full static state feedback. The criterion is based on a Lur'e–Postnikov Lyapunov function for global asymptotic stability of the error system. The condition is basically the same as the one for global asymptotic stability of the Lur'e system, controlled with linear state feedback. The design of the feedback matrix is done by solving a constrained nonlinear optimization problem. The method is illustrated on the synchronization of Chua's circuit.
A Method for Specifying and Proving Distributed Cooperative Algorithms

This paper outlines a new approach for specifying, proving, and implementing distributed cooperative algorithms associated with an object-oriented design. There are many examples of distributed algorithms that can be implemented in this way (ordered multicast, routing, spanning tree construction, election, distributed garbage collection). These algorithms present several peculiar aspects due to their parallel and distributed environment. We propose to build a method that gathers three kinds of tools to specify and to prove distributed cooperative algorithms [2].
Disclosure from Statistical Databases: Quantitative Aspects of Trackers

Statistical evaluation of databases which contain personal records may entail risks for the confidentiality of the individual records. The risk has increased with the availability of flexible interactive evaluation programs which permit the use of trackers, the most dangerous class of snooping tools known. A class of trackers, called union trackers, is described. They permit reconstruction of the entire database without supplementary knowledge and include the general tracker recently described as a special case. For many real statistical databases the overwhelming majority of definable sets of records will form trackers. For such databases a random search for a tracker is likely to succeed rapidly. Individual trackers are redefined and counted and their cardinalities are investigated. If there are n records in the database, then most individual trackers employ innocent cardinalities near n/3, making them difficult to detect. Disclosure with trackers usually requires little effort per retrieved data element.
Research and application of cluster analysis algorithm

With the popularity of database technology matures and data applications, the amount of data accumulated by the human increases rapidly. Facing the extremely large amount of data, we gradually step into a “rich data, poor knowledge” embarrassing situation. The data mining (Data Mining) rise to solve this problem. In this paper, we study the means and methods of clustering analysis that processing data partition or grouping, which is an important field in data mining. Based on the understanding of theoretical basis of clustering analysis, firstly, analyze in detail main algorithms of partitioning methods, hierarchical methods, density-based methods, grid-based methods and model-based methods. Secondly, compare performance of different clustering algorithms from scalability, the shape of cluster, sensitivity to the “noise”, and sensitivity to the data input sequence, high dimension and algorithm efficiency. Finally, use MATLAB for simulating and verifying applications of the algorithms based on K-means clustering analysis and hierarchical clustering.
Learning to Reene Case Libraries: Initial Results

Conversational case-based reasoning (CBR) systems, which incrementally extract a query description through a user-directed conversation , are advertised for their ease of use. However, designing large case libraries that have good performance (i.e., precision and querying ee-ciency) is diicult. CBR vendors provide guidelines for designing these libraries manually, but the guidelines are diicult to apply. We describe an automated inductive approach that revises conversational case libraries to increase their conformance with design guidelines. Revision increased performance on three conversational case libraries.
Wavelet-filtering of symbolic music representations for folk tune segmentation and classification

The aim of this study is to evaluate a machine-learning method in which symbolic representations of folk songs are segmented and classified into tune families with Haar-wavelet filtering. The method is compared with previously proposed Gestaltbased method. Melodies are represented as discrete symbolic pitch-time signals. We apply the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) with the Haar wavelet at specific scales, obtaining filtered versions of melodies emphasizing their information at particular time-scales. We use the filtered signal for representation and segmentation, using the wavelet coefficients’ local maxima to indicate local boundaries and classify segments by means of k-nearest neighbours based on standard vector-metrics (Euclidean, cityblock), and compare the results to a Gestalt-based segmentation method and metrics applied directly to the pitch signal. We found that the wavelet based segmentation and waveletfiltering of the pitch signal lead to better classification accuracy in cross-validated evaluation when the time-scale and other parameters are optimized.
A Framework for Instability Analysis

As software evolves, maintenance practices require a process of accommodating changing requirements while minimizing the cost of implementing those changes. Over time, incompatabilities between design assumptions and the operational environment become more pronounced, requiring some regions of the implementation to require frequent or repeated modification. These regions are considered to be “unstable”, and would benefit from targeted restructuring efforts as a means of realigning these assumptions and the environment. An analysis of these regions that results in the identification and classification of these instabilities can be used to prioritize and direct structural maintenance efforts. In this paper, we present a framework for performing such an analysis that does not require sophisticated change management data, can be performed at the single-line level of granularity, and can be performed on any historical set of artifacts for which a static dependence graph can be constructed. We also describe our work-to-date in validating the underlying assumptions and performing instability analyses.
Epidemiology of Helicobacter pylori infection among 4742 randomly selected subjects from Northern Ireland.

BACKGROUND Despite the widespread prevalence and serious clinical sequelae of infection with Helicobacter pylori, there have been few large population-based studies, using randomly selected subjects, examining the epidemiology of this infection. AIM To examine the distribution and determinants of H. pylori infection in a developed country. SUBJECTS AND SETTING Overall 4742 subjects, aged 12-64, from Northern Ireland were randomly selected. METHODS Helicobacter pylori specific IgG antibodies were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, using an acid-glycine extract antigen, in stored serum from subjects who had participated in three linked population-based surveys of cardiovascular risk factors performed in 1986 and 1987. RESULTS The overall prevalence of H. pylori infection was 50.5%. Prevalence increased with age from 23.4% in 12-14 year olds to 72.7% in 60-64 year olds: chi 2 for trend 518, P < 10(-4). In subjects aged > or = 25, infection was more common in males (60.9%) than females (55.2%): chi 2 = 9.53, P < 0.01. This relation remained significant after adjusting for age, and measures of socioeconomic class: odds ratio (OR) for infection, male versus female was 1.19 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02-1.40). Infection was associated with social class: the adjusted OR of infection in subjects from manual social classes relative to those from non-manual classes was 1.7 (95% CI: 1.47-1.98). Infection was significantly more common in current smokers and ex-smokers than in subjects who had never smoked: adjusted OR for infection, ex-smokers versus never smoked was 1.22 (95% CI: 1.01-1.49); for smokers of > or = 20/day versus never smoked OR = 1.33 (95% CI: 1.05-1.67). Infection was not associated with height in adult males but mean height in infected women was lower than in uninfected women after adjusting for age and socioeconomic status: difference in mean height (SE), -0.85 cm (0.32), P < 0.01. There was no demonstrable relationship between H. pylori infection and current alcohol intake. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrated a high prevalence of infection in a population from a developed country. Previously reported associations between H. pylori infection, age, sex, social class, and reduced height in females were confirmed and smoking was identified as a possible risk factor for H. pylori infection.
High quality participant recruitment in vehicle-based crowdsourcing using predictable mobility

The potential of crowdsourcing for complex problem solving has been revealed by smartphones. Nowadays, vehicles have also been increasingly adopted as participants in crowd-sourcing applications. Different from smartphones, vehicles have the distinct advantage of predictable mobility, which brings new insight into improving the crowdsourcing quality. Unfortunately, utilizing the predictable mobility in participant recruitment poses a new challenge of considering not only current location but also the future trajectories of participants. Therefore, existing participant recruitment algorithms that only use the current location may not perform well. In this paper, based on the predicted trajectory, we present a new participant recruitment strategy for vehicle-based crowdsourcing. This strategy guarantees that the system can perform well using the currently recruited participants for a period of time in the future. The participant recruitment problem is proven to be NP-complete, and we propose two algorithms, a greedy approximation and a genetic algorithm, to find the solution for different application scenarios. The performance of our algorithms is demonstrated with traffic trace dataset. The results show that our algorithms outperform some existing approaches in terms of the crowdsourcing quality.
Capital Inflows Problem in Selected Asian Economics in the 1990s Revisited: The Role of Monetary Sterilisation

This paper develops a simple model to examine the reasons behind the capital inflow surges into selected Asian economies in the 1990s prior to the financial crisis of 1997-98. The simple analytical model reveals that persistent uncovered interest differentials and consequent capital inflows may be a consequence of complete sterilization, perfect capital mobility, sluggish response of interest rates to domestic monetary disequilibrium, or some combination of all three. Using the model as an organizing framework, the paper undertakes a series of related simple empirical tests of the dynamic links between international capital flows and the extent to which they are sterilized and uncovered interest rate differentials (UIDs) in the five crisis-hit economies (Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand) over the period 1990 :1 to 1997 :5.
Planning for landscape multifunctionality

Abstract The term “multifunctional landscapes” has been greeted with suspicion in some quarters as unnecessary jargon for which there are simpler and better-known alternatives, such as multiple use. This community essay explores the meanings associated with landscape multifunctionality and concludes that it is, in fact, a useful term that reflects important new ideas. In particular, it can help to promote landscapes that cross urban-rural divides, are more sustainable, and are planned and implemented in an integrated way.
Quality Issues in the Formal Reenement of Kbs

This paper deenes a formal framework for the development of Knowledge Based Systems and shows how it can be used to enhance the quality of KBS products. A rule language is deened and given a semantics using non-deterministic state transition systems. The language is used to deene the following components of KBS development: speciication; implementation ; reenement; completeness; consistency; decomposition; and recom-position. The formal framework is used to deene and establish properties of three example applications. The paper concludes with a proposal for a KBS development process that uses the framework to facilitate Quality Control. 1 Overview One of the major aims of Quality Control during software development is to produce a system that meets its speciication. The work described in this paper contributes to this area of Quality Control by identifying a simple and widely applicable model for KBS and its development process, by deening properties of KBS speciications, implementations and development steps all of which contribute to the Quality Control process, and by giving examples of Quality Control being applied to various steps in the development of three simple applications.
The difference between Clocks and Turing Machines1

Content: 1. Clocks and Logic. 2. Turing Machines and the distinction between Hardware and Software 3. Simulating Turing Machines by Clocks. 4. Finite representations in Physics and in Metamathematics. 5. Mathematics as an open system. 6. Interactive, asynchronous and distributed computing. 7. Plasticity and the wet brain. 8. Implicit Mathematics APPENDIX: More on the proofs of unprovable propositions.
Implementation of Long Microstrip Line-Fed Antenna for WLAN Applications

The use of the microstrip antenna has grown rapidly for the last two decades, because of the increasing demand for a low profile antenna with small size, low cost, and high performance over a large spectrum of frequencies. However, despite the advantages microstrip antennas provide, a number of technical challenges remain to be solved for microstrip antennas to reach their full potential, particularly if they are to be interfaced with monolithic circuits. In this paper, we proposed examine novel methods for integrating and constructing broadband microstrip antennas, particularly at high microwave and millimeter wave frequencies where dimensions get very small and fabrication tolerances are critical. This paper is to address these issues and invent novel fabrication processes that enable efficient, broadband MMIC compatible antennas to be realized at very high frequencies.
General Game Playing: An Overview and Open Problems

General Game Playing has emerged, in recent years, as a challenging testbed for Artificial Intelligence research. The premise is to build game players that are able to play any game without prior knowledge about the game. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the open problems in the current form of General Game Playing, along with a short survey of work already done. We also provide a discussion on possible enhancements to the current format to make learning based players more viable in the competition. The aim of this paper is to highlight some of the key issues in the area of General Game Playing and generate interest amongst the academic community.
Wavelength tuning and bound states of dissipative solitons in fiber lasers

We report an experimental observation of wavelength tuning and bound states of solitons in the same fiber laser. Through adopting the Mach-Zehnder interferometer as an intra-cavity tunable filter, continuously wavelength-tunable operation from 1553.0 nm to 1565.0 nm is achieved. Additionally with modest polarization manipulation, bound states of solitons with switchable wavelengths and different pulse separations are also observed.
Comparative Analysis of KnockOut™ Serum with Fetal Bovine Serum for the In Vitro Long-Term Culture of Human Limbal Epithelial Cells

The limbal epithelial cells can be maintained on 3T3 feeder layer with fetal bovine serum supplemented culture medium, and these cells have been used to successfully treat limbal stem cell deficiency. However, fetal bovine serum contains unknown components and displays quantitative and qualitative lot-to-lot variations. To improve the culture condition, the defined KnockOut serum replacement was investigated to replace fetal bovine serum for culturing human limbal epithelial cell. Human primary limbal epithelial cells were cultured in KnockOut serum and fetal bovine serum supplemented medium, respectively. The cell growth rate, gene expression, and maintenance of limbal epithelial stem cells were studied and compared between these two groups. Human primary limbal epithelial cells were isolated and successfully serially cultivated in this novel KnockOut serum supplemented medium; the cell proliferation and stem cell maintenance were similar to those of cells grown in fetal bovine serum supplemented medium. These data suggests that this KnockOut serum supplemented medium is an efficient replacement to traditional fetal bovine serum supplemented medium for limbal epithelial cell culture, and this medium has great potential for long term maintenance of limbal epithelial cells, limbal epithelial stem cells transplantation, and tissue regeneration.
A Loop Region in the N-Terminal Domain of Ebola Virus VP40 Is Important in Viral Assembly, Budding, and Egress

Ebola virus (EBOV) causes viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and can have clinical fatality rates of ~60%. The EBOV genome consists of negative sense RNA that encodes seven proteins including viral protein 40 (VP40). VP40 is the major Ebola virus matrix protein and regulates assembly and egress of infectious Ebola virus particles. It is well established that VP40 assembles on the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane of human cells to regulate viral budding where VP40 can produce virus like particles (VLPs) without other Ebola virus proteins present. The mechanistic details, however, of VP40 lipid-interactions and protein-protein interactions that are important for viral release remain to be elucidated. Here, we mutated a loop region in the N-terminal domain of VP40 (Lys127, Thr129, and Asn130) and find that mutations (K127A, T129A, and N130A) in this loop region reduce plasma membrane localization of VP40. Additionally, using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy and number and brightness analysis we demonstrate these mutations greatly reduce VP40 oligomerization. Lastly, VLP assays demonstrate these mutations significantly reduce VLP release from cells. Taken together, these studies identify an important loop region in VP40 that may be essential to viral egress.
Application of Principal Component Analysis to Multikey Searching

In this paper, we shall introduce a concept widely used by statisticians, the principal component analysis technique. We shall show that this principal component analysis technique can be used to create new keys from a set of old keys. These new keys are very useful in narrowing down the search domain. We shall also show that the projections on the first principal component direction can be viewed as hashing addresses for the best-match searching problem.