Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of Hfq on Global Gene Expression and Intracellular Survival in Brucella melitensis

Brucella melitensis is a facultative intracellular bacterium that replicates within macrophages. The ability of brucellae to survive and multiply in the hostile environment of host macrophages is essential to its virulence. The RNA-binding protein Hfq is a global regulator that is involved in stress resistance and pathogenicity. Here we demonstrate that Hfq is essential for stress adaptation and intracellular survival in B. melitensis. A B. melitensis hfq deletion mutant exhibits reduced survival under environmental stresses and is attenuated in cultured macrophages and mice. Microarray-based transcriptome analyses revealed that 359 genes involved in numerous cellular processes were dysregulated in the hfq mutant. From these same samples the proteins were also prepared for proteomic analysis to directly identify Hfq-regulated proteins. Fifty-five proteins with significantly affected expression were identified in the hfq mutant. Our results demonstrate that Hfq regulates many genes and/or proteins involved in metabolism, virulence, and stress responses, including those potentially involved in the adaptation of Brucella to the oxidative, acid, heat stress, and antibacterial peptides encountered within the host. The dysregulation of such genes and/or proteins could contribute to the attenuated hfq mutant phenotype. These findings highlight the involvement of Hfq as a key regulator of Brucella gene expression and facilitate our understanding of the role of Hfq in environmental stress adaptation and intracellular survival of B. melitensis.
Therapeutic options for lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM): where we are and where we are going

Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), a multisystem disease affecting predominantly premenopausal and middle-aged women, causes progressive respiratory failure due to cystic lung destruction and is associated with lymphatic and kidney tumors. In the past, the treatment of LAM comprised exclusively anti-estrogen and related hormonal therapies. These treatments, however, have not been proven effective. In this article, we discuss new findings regarding the molecular mechanisms involved in the regulation of LAM cell growth, which may offer opportunities to develop effective and targeted therapeutic agents.
A Step towards a Field Based Agility Test in Team Sports

Agility performance tests are limited by the requirement forforce plates, timing gates or expensive camera systemsmaking application into practice challenging. The primaryaim of this study was to assess the inter-rater reliability of afield based 1v1 agility test encompassing perceptual-actionperformance. A secondary aim was to assess the relationshipbetween the 1v1 agility tests with a range of physicalperformance tests including a commonly used Y step test.The third aim was to contrast the physical performance ofhigh performing players against lower performing playersin terms of agility action performance. Twenty-eight malerugby union players volunteered (age 19.3 ± 2.2 years, agerange 18-24, body mass 96.5 ± 13.3 kg). Participants wererandomly assigned to attack or defensive roles within a simulatedrugby evasion task (1v1 agility test). Previously utilizedperformance scoring (1) was modified to assess agilityperformance. Two independent investigators reviewedvideo recordings to score attacking and defensive performance.Cohens Kappa statistic showed inter-rater reliabilityof agility scoring to be almost perfect, 861 (CI 0.816 to0.917). Attacking agility had a large significant relationshipwith Y step performance (r = -0.577, p = 0.001), single legrepeat hop height (r = 0.570, p = 0.002) and body mass (r= -0.537, p = 0.003). Defensive agility outcome had a largesignificant relationship with CMJ flight time-contraction timeratio (r = 0.580, p = 0.001) and CMJ concentric duration (r =-0.656, p = 0.000). The Y step test shares 33% of commonvariance with 1v1 attacking and 5% with defensive agilityperformance likely due to significantly greater frontal andtransverse plane movement during agility compared to thechange of direction tests. We recommended the 1v1 agilitytest be included as part of physical profiling of team sportsplayers.
Artificial neural network based controller for active power line conditioner

Proliferation of non-linear loads resulted in the problems of harmonics, unbalancing, poor power factor. To overcome this active power line conditioner (APLC) is used. In this paper, an artificial neural network (ANN) based controller for active power line conditioner is presented, in which feedforward neural network, trained by levenberg marquardt (LM) algorithm is implemented for generating reference current and pulses to inverter. The simulation results by using MATLAB/SIMULINK of both the conventional and ANN based controller model are discussed. The neutral current has been reduced to maintain system balance.
Remote home-based ante and post natal care

Australia is geographically large and sparsely populated. Thus, its population is subject to inequalities in healthcare based on geographic location. This is particularly true for the management of pregnancies at risk, which require regular monitoring. We discuss a solution in the form of a framework based on inexpensive monitoring devices coupled with a mobile phone and PC systems to enable enhanced monitoring capabilities and remote connectivity. The system has the potential to reduce unnecessary travel for regular checkups. Importantly, this system allows monitoring and diagnosis, as well as support for the mother, to be available remotely at any time allowing problems to be detected earlier so that appropriate intervention can be given if needed.
Context-aware item-to-item recommendation within the factorization framework

Item-to-item recommendation -- when the most similar items sought to the actual item -- is an important recommendation scenario in practical recommender systems. One way to solve this task is to use the similarity between item feature vectors of factorization models. By doing so, one may transfer the well-known accuracy of factorization models observed at the personalized recommendations to the item-to-item case. This paper introduces context-awareness to item similarities in the factorization framework. Two levels of context-aware similarities are defined and applied to two context-aware implicit feedback based factorization methods (iTALS and iTALSx). We investigate the advantages and drawbacks of the approaches on four real life implicit feedback data sets and we characterize the conditions for their application. The results suggest that it is worth using contextual information for item-to-item recommendations in the factorization framework, however, one should carefully select the appropriate method to achieve similar accuracy gain than in the case of the more general item-to-user recommendation scenario.
Longitudinal Effects of Student-Perceived Classroom Support on Motivation – A Latent Change Model

This two-wave longitudinal study examined how developmental changes in students’ mastery goal orientation, academic effort, and intrinsic motivation were predicted by student-perceived support of motivational support (support for autonomy, competence, and relatedness) in secondary classrooms. The study extends previous knowledge that showed that support for motivational support in class is related to students’ intrinsic motivation as it focused on the developmental changes of a set of different motivational variables and the relations of these changes to student-perceived motivational support in class. Thus, differential classroom effects on students’ motivational development were investigated. A sample of 1088 German students was assessed in the beginning of the school year when students were in grade 8 (Mean age = 13.70, SD = 0.53, 54% girls) and again at the end of the next school year when students were in grade 9. Results of latent change models showed a tendency toward decline in mastery goal orientation and a significant decrease in academic effort from grade 8 to 9. Intrinsic motivation did not decrease significantly across time. Student-perceived support of competence in class predicted the level and change in students’ academic effort. The findings emphasized that it is beneficial to create classroom learning environments that enhance students’ perceptions of competence in class when aiming to enhance students’ academic effort in secondary school classrooms.
INFORMATION NEEDS AND INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OF MEDIA PROFESSIONALS IN KENYA: A CASE OF NATION MEDIA GROUP

This study, investigated how journalists at Nation Media Group went about identifying their information needs and how they proceeded to seek it. The specific objectives of the research were: to find out the information needs of the journalists at Nation Media Group; their sources of information; the level of information searching and retrieval skills of the journalists; establish the challenges journalists encounter in pursuit of information and suggestions to mitigate the challenges. The study was based on Niedzwiedzka’s model of information behaviour. The research used qualitative research method. It used purposive sampling to get the sample size. Data was collected through face to face semi-structured interviews and document review. It was analyzed using descriptive content analysis supported by use of tables and charts. The study found that stories done by most journalists, especially the younger ones, lacked in-depth content and did not provide a full proof fallback position in times of litigation. The study also found that quite a sizeable number of journalists at the Nation Media Group was not adequately skilled in electronic information searching and retrieval. Journalists encounter many challenges in the course of their duties. Whilst they stand as the middle ground among protagonists, each warring faction views them as supportive of the other side of the divide. The study concluded that a number of the journalists needed to relook at their modus operandi in terms of how they assess their information needs and how they go about gathering information to back up their stories and satisfy those needs. The study recommended that journalists should undergo periodical refresher courses on information searching and retrieval as well as on house style, editorial policy, defamation, slander and the right of privacy for information sources. Journalists and librarians should create a rapport for ease of information dissemination. Newly employed journalists should go through an in-depth induction in the use of the in-house library to maximize use of its resources. Keywords: Information Needs, Information Source, Journalist Skills, Journalist Challenges
Cost optimization of an M/M/r queueing system with queue-dependent servers: genetic algorithm

We consider an M/M/r queueing system with infinite capacity, in which the number of working servers changes depending on the queue length. The steady-state probability distributions and the expected number of customers in the system are derived, which are used to construct a cost function. In order to minimize the expected cost of the system, we use the genetic algorithm to find the best thresholds of queue length in activating servers and their corresponding service rate. Some illustrative examples are provided to demonstrate how the process of this algorithm works for the optimal management policy of the multi-server queueing system.
Mature T cell reactivity altered by peptide agonist that induces positive selection

Recent studies have investigated how defined peptides influence T cell development. Using a T cell receptor-transgenic beta2-microglobulin- deficient model, we have examined T cell maturation in fetal thymic organ cultures in the presence of various peptides containing single- alanine substitutions of the strong peptide agonist, p33. Cocultivation with the peptide A4Y, which contains an altered T cell contact residue, resulted in efficient positive selection. Several in vitro assays demonstrated that A4Y was a moderate agonist relative to p33. Although A4Y promoted positive selection over a wide concentration range, high doses of this peptide could not induce clonal deletion. Thymocytes maturing in the presence of A4Y were no longer able to respond to A4Y, but could proliferate against p33. These studies demonstrate that (a) peptides that induce efficient positive selection at high concentrations are not exclusively antagonists; (b) some agonists do not promote clonal deletion; (c) positive selection requires a unique T cell receptor-peptide-major histocompatibility complex interaction; and (d) interactions with selecting peptides during T cell ontogeny may define the functional reactivity of mature T cells.
Oxidant/Antioxidant Balance in Animal Nutrition and Health: The Role of Protein Oxidation

This review examines the role that oxidative stress (OS), and protein oxidation in particular, plays in nutrition, metabolism, and health of farm animals. The route by which redox homeostasis is involved in some important physiological functions and the implications of the impairment of oxidative status on animal health and diseases is also examined. Proteins have various and, at the same time, unique biological functions and their oxidation can result in structural changes and various functional modifications. Protein oxidation seems to be involved in pathological conditions, such as respiratory diseases and parasitic infection; however, some studies also suggest that protein oxidation plays a crucial role in the regulation of important physiological functions, such as reproduction, nutrition, metabolism, lactation, gut health, and neonatal physiology. As the characterization of the mechanisms by which OS may influence metabolism and health is attracting considerable scientific interest, the aim of this review is to present veterinary scientists and clinicians with various aspects of oxidative damage to proteins.
Parallel Pointer Analysis with CFL-Reachability

This paper presents the first parallel implementation of pointer analysis with Context-Free Language (CFL) reachability, an important foundation for supporting demand queries in compiler optimisation and software engineering. Formulated as a graph traversal problem (often with context- and field-sensitivity for desired precision) and driven by queries (issued often in batch mode), this analysis is non-trivial to parallelise. We introduce a parallel solution to the CFL-reachability-based pointer analysis, with context- and field-sensitivity. We exploit its inherent parallelism by avoiding redundant graph traversals with two novel techniques, data sharing and query scheduling. With data sharing, paths discovered in answering a query are recorded as shortcuts so that subsequent queries will take the shortcuts instead of re-traversing its associated paths. With query scheduling, queries are prioritised according to their statically estimated dependences so that more redundant traversals can be further avoided. Evaluated using a set of 20 Java programs, our parallel implementation of CFL-reachability-based pointer analysis achieves an average speedup of 16.2X over a state-of-the-art sequential implementation on 16 CPU cores.
On the impact of quality of experience (QoE) in a vehicular cloud with various providers

With the acceleration of mobile applications, mobile cloud computing is envisioned to be the best fit solution to make a compromise between users' and service providers' benefits. An extension of mobile cloud computing, vehicular cloud computing, provides another viable solution, by consolidating the benefits of mobile cloud computing and vehicular communications. Among several challenges in this environment, privacy, service price and provision delay are the most important. In this paper, we propose a framework to address these challenges in a vehicular cloud based on a quality-of-experience (QoE) approach, discuss the drawbacks of existing architectures, and propose and validate a new architecture. This architecture is an extension of a system [1] we proposed in previous work. QoE is obtained via other mobile nodes in the vehicular cloud, and re-formulated according to a weighted combination of the three key factors: privacy, price and delay. Privacy is defined as a function of the information revealed to the service provider. We evaluate our proposal via simulations, and based on the numerical results, we show that QoE-based service provisioning in a vehicular cloud improves upon a naïve service provision approach, as well as other approaches that address only one of the factors.
The Good Gain method for simple experimental tuning of PI controllers

A novel experimental method { here denoted the Good Gain method { for tuning PI controllers is proposed. The method can be regarded as an alternative to the famous Ziegler-Nichols’ Ultimate Gain method. The approach taken resembles the Ziegler-Nichols’ method as it is based on experiments with the closed loop system with proportional control. However, the method does not require severe process upset during the tuning like sustained oscillations. Only well-damped responses are assumed. Furthermore, in the present study it is demonstrated that the approach typically gives better stability robustness comparing with the Ziegler-Nichols’ method. The method is relatively simple to use which is benecial for the user. A theoretical rationale based on second order dynamics is given.
A Particle Swarm Optimization based approach for the maximum coverage problem in cellular base stations positioning

The demand for cellular systems has grown in recent years and sometimes it is not an easy task to design such systems. We propose in this paper a new approach to tackle the maximum coverage problem in cellular systems using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). We adapted the PSO since we have associated the position of the base stations to the particles. We also developed two mechanisms to avoid overllaping among the cells and to maximize the coverage of the entire system. We tested our approach in two scenarios in different configurations. We believe that the results are interesting and with future works we can create a commercial tool to solve the real problem.
Brillouin scattering studies in Fe3 O4 across the Verwey transition

Brillouin scattering studies have been carried out on high quality single crystals of Fe$_3$O$_4$ with [100] and [110] faces in the temperature range of 300 to 30 K. The room temperature spectrum shows a surface Rayleigh wave (SRW) mode at 8 GHz and a longitudinal acoustic (LA) mode at 60 GHz. The SRW mode frequency shows a minimum at the Verwey transition temperature $T_V$ of 123 K. The softening of the SRW mode frequency from about 250 K to $T_V$ can be quantitatively understood as a result of a decrease in the shear elastic constant C$_{44}$, arising from the coupling of shear strain to charge fluctuations. On the other hand, the LA mode frequency does not show any significant change around $T_V$, but shows a large change in its intensity. The latter shows a maximum at around 120 K in the cooling run and at 165 K in the heating run, exhibiting a large hysteresis of 45 K. This significant change in intensity may be related to the presence of stress-induced ordering of Fe$^{3+}$ and Fe$^{2+}$ at the octahedral sites, as well as to stress-induced domain wall motion.
Concentration Bounds for High Sensitivity Functions Through Differential Privacy

A new line of work demonstrates how differential privacy can be used as a mathematical tool for guaranteeing generalization in adaptive data analysis. Specifically, if a differentially private analysis is applied on a sample S of i.i. d. examples to select a low-sensitivity function f, then w.h. p. f(S) is close to its expectation, even though f is being chosen adaptively, i.e., based on the data. Very recently, Steinke and Ullman observed that these generalization guarantees can be used for proving concentration bounds in the non-adaptive setting, where the low-sensitivity function is fixed beforehand. In particular, they obtain alternative proofs for classical concentration bounds for low-sensitivity functions, such as the Chernoff bound and McDiarmid's Inequality. In this work, we extend this connection between differential privacy and concentration bounds, and show that differential privacy can be used to prove concentration of high-sensitivity functions.
Next Generation Molecular Ecology

Calling a special issue of Molecular Ecology that deals with next-generation sequencing ‘Next generation Molecular Ecology’ seems to be all too obvious. However, as the contributions to this issue came in, it became increasingly clear that next-generation sequencing (NGS) is more than just a technical leap – it will result in a transformation of how we think about molecular ecology as a discipline. Progress in molecular ecology has always been driven by advances in DNA technologies, but the current revolution could not really be foreseen. ‘Ecological genomics’ has suddenly become a valid emerging discipline. Contemporary biology covers already an enormous scale. On the one hand, structural biologists are discovering how basic cellular processes occur at the atomic level. On the other, ecologists are trying to predict how climate change will affect broad patterns of biodiversity across the entire planet. But these fields have heretofore not been continuous, and there has been a glaring gap in connecting genetic processes in individual organisms with ecological processes that result from the interaction of many individuals in an ecosystem. One reason for this has been that model species for evolutionary and ecological research have typically suffered from a lack of genetic tools, while conversely very little, if anything, has been known about the ecology of well-established genetic models. The power of genetics in dissecting basic cellular and developmental processes is undisputed, particularly since the addition in the past decade of a broad range of genomic tools. Its power has also been increasingly exploited to understand the interaction between different organisms, such as pathogens and their hosts. Because of the technological investments required, genetic and genomic approaches have, however, traditionally been applied only to a small set of carefully chosen model species. These species, such as nematode worms, fruit flies or the small cabbage relative Arabidopsis, are typically adapted to the laboratory environment and are usually genetically inbred. They necessarily represent abstractions of biological systems, and it is difficult, if not impossible, to infer from
Panchromatic and multi-spectral image fusion using IHS and variational models

A new pan-sharpening model is presented for merging the panchromatic (PAN) and the multi-spectral (MS) image by combining IHS and variational method. IHS model can sharpen the MS band quickly; however, the color distortion occurs in the fusion results. To deal with this problem, the substitute image of IHS model is obtained by injecting it with the geometry structure of the PAN band while preserving its spectral signature in the variational framework. In comparison with the models including extended fast IHS (eFIHS), stationary wavelet transform (SWT) and nonsubsampled contourlet transform (NSCT), it is shown that our model can achieve a good trade-off between the spatial and spectral fusion quality by adjusting the weighted parameters.