Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Astakine 2—the Dark Knight Linking Melatonin to Circadian Regulation in Crustaceans

Daily, circadian rhythms influence essentially all living organisms and affect many physiological processes from sleep and nutrition to immunity. This ability to respond to environmental daily rhythms has been conserved along evolution, and it is found among species from bacteria to mammals. The hematopoietic process of the crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus is under circadian control and is tightly regulated by astakines, a new family of cytokines sharing a prokineticin (PROK) domain. The expression of AST1 and AST2 are light-dependent, and this suggests an evolutionarily conserved function for PROK domain proteins in mediating circadian rhythms. Vertebrate PROKs are transmitters of circadian rhythms of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the brain of mammals, but the mechanism by which they function is unknown. Here we demonstrate that high AST2 expression is induced by melatonin in the brain. We identify RACK1 as a binding protein of AST2 and further provide evidence that a complex between AST2 and RACK1 functions as a negative-feedback regulator of the circadian clock. By DNA mobility shift assay, we showed that the AST2-RACK1 complex will interfere with the binding between BMAL1 and CLK and inhibit the E-box binding activity of the complex BMAL1-CLK. Finally, we demonstrate by gene knockdown that AST2 is necessary for melatonin-induced inhibition of the complex formation between BMAL1 and CLK during the dark period. In summary, we provide evidence that melatonin regulates AST2 expression and thereby affects the core clock of the crustacean brain. This process may be very important in all animals that have AST2 molecules, i.e. spiders, ticks, crustaceans, scorpions, several insect groups such as Hymenoptera, Hemiptera, and Blattodea, but not Diptera and Coleoptera. Our findings further reveal an ancient evolutionary role for the prokineticin superfamily protein that links melatonin to direct regulation of the core clock gene feedback loops.
Annotating web images using NOVA: NOn-conVex group spArsity

As image feature vector is large, selecting the right features plays a fundamental role in Web image annotation. Most existing approaches are either based on individual feature selection, which leads to local optima, or using a convex penalty, which leads to inconsistency. To address these difficulties, in this paper we propose a new sparsity-based approach NOVA (NOn-conVex group spArsity). To the best of our knowledge, NOVA is the first to introduce non-convex penalty for group selection in high-dimensional heterogeneous features space. Because it is a group-sparsity approach, it approximately reaches global optima. Because it uses non-convex penalty, it achieves the consistency. We demonstrate the superior performance of NOVA via three means. First, we present theoretical proof that NOVA is consistent, satisfying un-biasness, sparsity and continuity. Second, we show NOVA converges to the true underlying model by using a ground-truth-available generative-model simulation. Third, we report extensive experimental results on three diverse and widely-used data sets Kodak, MSRA-MM 2.0, and NUS-WIDE. We also compare NOVA against the state-of-the-art approaches, and report superior experimental results.
A Platform for Gaze-Contingent Virtual Environments

This paper describes hardware and software requirements for the development of a gaze-contingent virtual reality system which incorporates several cues to presence. The user’s gaze direction, as well as head position and orientation, are tracked to allow dynamic level-of-detail changes for rendering. Users can see themselves, rather than representations thereof, within blue-screened virtual environments, and limited vestibular feedback is provided through a motion simulator. The aesthetic appearance of environments is driven by advanced graphical techniques (i.e., radiosity) motivated by the goal of photorealistic representation of natural scenes. Taken together, the components identified in this paper describe a platform suitable for development of a variety of “smart” virtual environments.
Factor analysis of the wechsler memory scale-revised and the halstead-reitan neuropsychological battery

Abstract A principal components factor analysis of the 12 subtests of the WMS-R, WAIS Verbal and Performance IQ scores, and measures of a modified Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery was performed on a sample of 135 patients. The Visual Reproduction subtests I and II factored with other spatial measures and Performance IQ while Logical Memory I and II and Verbal Paired Associates I and II emerged as separate verbal memory factors. Additionally, two attention/concentration factors were found, one primarily verbal and one primarily visual. Further study in the interpretation of the Verbal and Visual Memory Indexes was advised.
Still Image Compression by Combining EZW Encoding with Huffman Encoder

Image compression can improve the performance of the digital systems by reducing time and cost in image storage and transmission without significant reduction of the image quality. For image compression it is desirable that the selection of transform should reduce the size of resultant data set as compared to source data set. EZW is computationally very fast and among the best image compression algorithm known today. This paper proposes a technique for image compression which uses the Wavelet-based Image Coding in combination with Huffman encoder for further compression. A large number of experimental results are shown that this method saves a lot of bits in transmission, further enhances the compression performance. This paper aims to determine the best threshold to compress the still image at a particular decomposition level by combining the EZW encoder with Huffman Encoder. Compression Ratio (CR) and Peak-Signalto-Noise (PSNR) is determined for different threshold values ranging from 6 to 60 for decomposition level 8.
Plagiarism and ideology: Identity in intercultural discourse

ABSTRACT The concept of plagiarism, as used both in considerations of academic writing and in international negotiations over intellectual copyright, assumes a model of communication based on autonomous, rational, individuals who behave as originators of their own discourses. But studies of communication, beginning with Goffman's concepts of production format and footing – and also including the concepts of enactment, social role, face, politeness pragmatics, metaphors of self and communication, and innatist/social concepts of knowledge – indicate that such a unified, autonomous, and original communicative identity presupposes an oversimplified model of communication, centrally based in the ideology of the rational, autonomous individual which has been dominant in Europe since the Enlightenment. The concept of plagiarism masks the assertion of this ideological position. (Plagiarism, ideology, identity, intercultural discourse)
Support Vector Machines on a Budget

The standard Support Vector Machine formulation does not provide its user with the ability to explicitly control the number of support vectors used to define the generated classifier. We present a modified version of SVM that allows the user to set a budget parameter B and focuses on minimizing the loss attained by the B worst-classified examples while ignoring the remaining examples. This idea can be used to derive sparse versions of both L1-SVM and L2-SVM. Technically, we obtain these new SVM variants by replacing the 1-norm in the standard SVM formulation with various interpolation-norms. We also adapt the SMO optimization algorithm to our setting and report on some preliminary experimental results.
Applications of MATLAB's Toolbox to Recognize Handwritten Characters Part 2: Experimental Results

Handwritten character recognition is a challenging task in the field of research on image processing, artificial intelligence as well as machine vision since the handwriting varies from person to person. Moreover, the handwriting styles, sizes and its orientation make it even more complex to interpret the text. The numerous applications of handwritten text in reading bank cheques, Zip Code recognition and in removing the problem of handling documents manually has made it necessary to acquire digitally formatted data. This paper presents the recognition of handwritten characters using either a scanned document, or direct acquisition of image using Matlab, followed by the implementation of various other Matlab toolboxes like Image Processing and Neural Network Toolbox to process the scanned or acquired image. Experimental Results are given to present the proposed model in order to recognize handwritten characters accurately.
Token Finding Strategies

Monitoring distributed computations provides a practical way of learning about and coming to understand a class of applications that are becoming increasingly common. The beneets of distribution arise from processes cooperating together to achieve a common goal. Coordination among the processes is a fundamental ingredient for the cooperation to occur both correctly and eeciently. One common form of coordination is token passing, where a token enables the process holding it to perform some action(s). In order to better understand this form of coordination it is useful to be able to monitor the process that holds the token, as the token moves from one process to another. Unless the token is being continuously monitored though the initial step is to nd the location of the token to enable subsequent monitoring of it. We describe a classiication scheme for token nding strategies. Token-nding algorithms make use of information about the environment and application to make the search more eecient. The information examine in detail is the interconnection of the logical processes. We describe the Pathhnder system which uses agents to implement token nding strategies. The exibility aaorded by agents allows them to make use of environmental information at run time.
Towards a socially responsible management control system

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the measurement and monitoring of social responsibility within the management control system (MCS) of an organisation that subscribes to a stakeholder and social responsibility approach and to propose a framework that provides for the integration of the MCS with social accounting and social responsibility aspects. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on a case study of a small privately owned New Zealand manufacturing business that subscribes to social responsibility and stakeholder principles. Findings - Overall, the paper finds that the MCS of the case organisation did not measure or monitor social responsibility. Building on the case findings and the literature examined, a framework is proposed that provides for the integration of the MCS with social responsibility. A significant finding is that both formal measurement and informal control are key aspects in developing a MCS that incorporates social responsibility considerations. Research limitations/implications - The findings relate to a single manufacturing organisation based in New Zealand. Future research could examine different settings (i.e. country, organisation type, etc.) and investigate application of the proposed framework in relation to particular performance measures and controls that organisations may possibly adopt. Practical implications - Organisations following a stakeholder and social responsibility approach should also consider the design of their MCS. Originality/value - This paper helps to fill a gap in the literature concerning knowledge about the design and operation of MCSs in relation to stakeholder and social responsibility issues. Few studies in this area have been based on a case study approach. The paper further contributes to the literature by proposing a framework that provides for the integration of the MCS with social responsibility aspects.
Energy Consumption in Random Cluster Head selection Phase of WSN

Abstract. In a hierarchal and random cluster head selection protocol of Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) the energy consumed in the cluster head setup phase has been taken ostensibly in the previous research works. In this paper this area of the protocol has been addressed and overhead energy, that is the energy consumed in the random cluster head setup phase, has been calculated. The basic model based on LEACH protocol is redeveloped to calculate the energy consumptions in the three phases of data transmissions from sensor nodes to the sink. It is shown through the extensive simulations of this model that the overhead energy is at least 20% of the network’s total energy consumed in data transmissions. The optimum value of cluster heads, based on network lifetime has been calculated taking into consideration the energy consumed in the setup phase as well. Keywords: cluster head setup phase, overhead energy, efficient energy, network lifetime. 1. Introduction WSN is a kind of an ad-hoc wireless network consisting of spatially distributed sensors nodes and a sink. The job of the sensor nodes is to cooperatively monitor/collect data from physical or environmental phenomenon. The collected data is then forwarded to the sink, which could be wired or wirelessly connected to the main information collection centre. The development of low-cost, low-power, small size and multifunctional sensor nodes have put some of the very significant resource constraints in WSN. Some examples of limitations are buffer size, transmission capacity and energy/power consumption of the sensor nodes. A WSN lifetime is dependent on the energy of individual sensor nodes therefore efficient utilization of each node’s energy is a vital issue. A sensor node consumes significantly less energy for information processing than for communication [1]. This characteristic of a sensor node makes it important to concentrate more on reducing transmission of redundant data during the transfers of sensed information from each node to the sink. The researchers have compared and calculated many energy affecting parameters of the random cluster head (CH) selection protocols of WSN, for example LEACH[2], HEED[3] and EAP[4] etc which are called energy efficient protocols. The data transmission periods in these protocols are divided into rounds and in each round a random CH selection mechanism is performed. In this paper the over head energy consumed in the random CH selection phase has been calculated. It is shown through extensive simulations that these phases, due to the transmission of control packets, consume 21% to 32% of the total network energy, the optimum value of the CH has been calculated according to the minimum overhead energy consumption in cluster head selection phases. The remaining paper is divided as follows . In section II a short overview of the routing techniques and developments made to reduce the energy consumption in WSN is given. In section III the approach used for
The Relationship between Gene Isoform Multiplicity, Number of Exons and Protein Divergence

At present we know that phenotypic differences between organisms arise from a variety of sources, like protein sequence divergence, regulatory sequence divergence, alternative splicing, etc. However, we do not have yet a complete view of how these sources are related. Here we address this problem, studying the relationship between protein divergence and the ability of genes to express multiple isoforms. We used three genome-wide datasets of human-mouse orthologs to study the relationship between isoform multiplicity co-occurrence between orthologs (the fact that two orthologs have more than one isoform) and protein divergence. In all cases our results showed that there was a monotonic dependence between these two properties. We could explain this relationship in terms of a more fundamental one, between exon number of the largest isoform and protein divergence. We found that this last relationship was present, although with variations, in other species (chimpanzee, cow, rat, chicken, zebrafish and fruit fly). In summary, we have identified a relationship between protein divergence and isoform multiplicity co-occurrence and explained its origin in terms of a simple gene-level property. Finally, we discuss the biological implications of these findings for our understanding of inter-species phenotypic differences.
3D Laser scanning system and 3D segmentation of urban scenes

This paper dwells upon the promising 3D technology for mobile robots and automation industry. The first part of the paper describes the design details of our own 3D Time of Flight (TOF) scanning system based on 2D laser range finder. The second part presents a specific segmentation technique for 3D outdoor urban environments by the common detection of plane models. In a few words, the technique separates the raw data into sparse and dense points, followed by the segmentation of the dense points into urban background and foreground objects. In the end we present some experimental results of real-world data-sets taken from the repository1,2 of the Leibniz University in Hannover, Germany.
Douglas Biber & Edward Finegan (eds.), Sociolinguistic perspectives on register . Oxford & New York: Oxford University press, 1994. Pp. xi, 385. Hb $65.00.

commentaries on the development and use of transcription and coding systems for child language and cross-linguistic analysis. Part III provides a useful and reasonably comprehensive annotated listing of information sources, electronic bulletin boards, phonetic data bases, corpora, and collections of texts relevant to researchers in language. Strikingly, in the context of the theme of this book, there is little material here on spontaneous, naturally occurring, conversational speech. One odd lacuna in this otherwise extremely valuable section is reference to the outstandingly good Macintosh HyperCard stacks of the "sounds of the world's languages," produced by Peter Ladefoged's team at the University of California, Los Angeles. Although little is new in this book for anyone with a reasonable amount of experience of working with conversational interaction, the material is clearly presented. It should find a ready audience in undergraduates or beginning postgraduates who are acquiring skills in representing talk-in-interaction.
A geometrical representation of McCulloch-Pitts neural model and its applications

In this paper, a geometrical representation of McCulloch-Pitts neural model is presented. From the representation, a clear visual picture and interpretation of the model can be seen. Two interesting applications based on the interpretation are discussed. They are 1) a new design principle of feedforward neural networks and 2) a new proof of mapping abilities of three-layer feedforward neural networks.
Verification, Validation, and Solution Quality in Computational Physics: Cfd Methods Applied to Ice Sheet Physics

ABSTRACT There are procedures and methods for verification of coding algebra and for validationsof models and calculations that are in use in the aerospace computational fluid dynamics(CFD) community. These methods would be efficacious if used by the glacier dynamicsmodeling community. This paper is a presentation of some of those methods, and howthey might be applied to uncertainty management supporting code verification and modelvalidation for glacier dynamics. The similarities and differences between their use inCFD analysis and the proposed application of these methods to glacier modeling arediscussed. After establishing sources of uncertainty and methods for code verification,the paper looks at a representative sampling of verification and validation efforts that areunderway in the glacier modeling community, and establishes a context for these withinan overall solution quality assessment. Finally, a vision of a new informationarchitecture and interactive scientific interface is introduced and advocated. By example,this Integrated Science Exploration Environment is proposed for exploring and managingsources of uncertainty in glacier modeling codes and methods, and for supportingscientific numerical exploration and verification. The details, use, and envisionedfunctionality of this Environment are described. Such an architecture, that managesscientific numerical experiments and data analysis, would promote the exploration andpublishing of error definition and evolution as an integral part of the computational flowphysics results. Then, those results could ideally be presented concurrently in thescientific literature, facilitating confidence modeling results.
Mutational analysis of the HGO gene in Finnish alkaptonuria patients

Alkaptonuria (AKU), the prototypic inborn error of metabolism, has recently been shown to be caused by loss of function mutations in the homogentisate-1,2-dioxygenase gene (HGO). So far 17 mutations have been characterised in AKU patients of different ethnic origin. We describe three novel mutations (R58fs, R330S, and H371R) and one common AKU mutation (M368V), detected by mutational and polymorphism analysis of the HGO gene in five Finnish AKU pedigrees. The three novel AKU mutations are most likely specific for the Finnish population and have originated recently.
Access Without Equity

The competitive dynamics that sustain stratification among postsecondary institutions have reinforced racial inequality in selective college enrollment between 1972 and 2004. Using a data set constructed from four nationally representative surveys (National Longitudinal Survey 1972, High School & Beyond 1980, National Educational Longitudinal Survey 1988, and Educational Longitudinal Survey 2002), the authors model how escalating admissions standards—including academic preparation and the growing importance of SAT scores and extracurricular leadership—effectively maintain racial inequality in selective college enrollment over time. Black and Latino students have made strides in their pre-collegiate academic preparation. Nevertheless, although access to postsecondary education has expanded since 1972 for all ethnic groups, Black and Latino students’ odds of selective college enrollment have declined relative to White and Asian American students.
Polymerization and Functionalization of Membrane Pores for Water Related Applications

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) was modified by chemical treatments in order to create active double bonds to obtain covalent grafting of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) on membrane. The attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectrum confirms the formation of conjugated C=C double bonds with surface dehydrofluorination. The membrane morphology was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The surface composition was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The thermal stability of the dehydrofluorinated membrane (Def-PVDF) and functionalized membranes were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. The influence of covalently attached PAA on Def-PVDF membrane has been investigated to determine its effect on the transport of water and charged solute. Variations in the solution pH show an effect on both permeability and solute retention in a reversible fashion. Metal nanoparticles were also immobilized in the membrane for the degradation of toxic chlorinated organics from water. In addition, PVDF membranes with an asymmetric and sponge-like morphology were developed by immersion-precipitation phase-inversion methods in both lab-scale and large-scale. The new type of spongy PVDF membrane shows high surface area with higher yield of PAA functionalization. The ion-capacity with Ca2+ ions was also investigated.
Technology for More Effective Healthcare

In the coming years we will see a strong advent of new digital health services. The patient will be very much connected to the physicians and caretakers and be able to communicate and interact within this relationship. Multimedia, networked communication, and interaction will be facilitating new healthcare services that keep the patients informed, engaged, and connected. The Intel Health Guide is one example of new such systematic healthcare delivery.