Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A RNA ' er RNASer RNAMeti

The bgaH gene isolated from Haloferax lucentensis codes for P-galactosidase. To study the function of initiator tRNAs in translation initiation in Haloferax volcanii, the initiator AUG codon of the bgaH gene was mutated to UAG, UAA, UGA, and GUC. Four different H. volcanii initiator tRNA derived mutants with complementary anticodons were also made. When plasmids carrying the bgaH reporter and mutant initiator tRNAs were coexpressed in H. volcanii, the UGA and GUC decoding tRNAs were aminoacylated, but functional 0-galactosidase was produced only in the presence of the latter tRNA. This result confirms that translation can initiate with some alternative codons, but suggests that the amino acid attached to the tRNA also plays a role. It is unknown if leaderless transcripts will have similar requirements, therefore mutant bgaH reporters lacking 5' untranslated regions were also generated. I also describe modifications of the bgaH reporter for studying suppression of termination codons in H. volcanii. The serine codon at position 184 of the bgaH gene was mutated to the termination codons UAA and UAG. H. volcanii serine tRNA derived suppressor tRNAs with complementary anticodons were also generated. These suppressor tRNAs should allow a study of the requirements for suppression of UAG and UAA codons in H. volcanii, in particular the question of whether suppressors of the UAA codon can also suppress the UAG codon in archaea. H. volcanii WFD 11 used as the host does not have any endogenous 3-galactosidase. I have shown that extracts made from H. volcanii transformants can be used to assay for 3galactosidase using either O-Nitrophenyl-p-galactoside or Beta-Glo reagent as a substrate. This latter assay couples the D-Luciferin product of cleavage of 6-O-P-galactopyranosyl-luciferin by P-galactosidase to the more precise and sensitive luciferase assay. Since little is known about translation in archaea, future work will involve modifying identity elements in the initiator tRNA to study their requirements in both initiation and elongation in archaea. Thesis Supervisor: Uttam L. RajBhandary Title: Lester Wolfe Professor of Molecular Biology Acknowledgements: I am grateful to my thesis supervisor Uttam RajBhandary, who has supported me throughout this work, even when it wasn't working. I would also like to thank Caroline K6hrer for the immense amount of discussions we've had in science, sci-fi, and other less important fields. Thanks are also given to the other members of the RajBhandary lab for their input and helpful discussions over the years, especially the members of 68-683 who've made my tenure thoroughly enjoyable. I am also indebted to Vaidyanathan Ramesh for his pioneering work on this project and Neal Copeland for recombineering strain SW102, which helped me overcome a major cloning hurdle. Finally, I want to extend special appreciation to my mom, dad, and brother, who have all helped keep a roof over my head these last few years. Without their support I'm not sure where I'd be, and I'm thankful to have them in my life. Table of
Convergence properties of general network selection games

We study the convergence properties of distributed network selection in HetNets with priority-based service. Clients in such networks have different priority weights (e.g., QoS requirements, scheduling policies, etc.) for different access networks and act selfishly to maximize their own throughput. We formulate the problem as a non-cooperative game, and study its convergence for two models: (i) A purely client-centric model where each client uses its own preference to select a network, and (ii) a hybrid client-network model that uses a combination of client and network preferences to arrive at pairings. Our results reveal that: (a) Pure client-centric network selection with generic weights can result in infinite oscillations for any improvement path (i.e., shows strongly cyclic behavior). However, we show that under several classes of practical priority weights (e.g., weights that achieve different notions of fairness) or under additional client-side policies, convergence can be guaranteed; (b) We study convergence time under client-centric model and provide tight polynomial and linear bounds; (c) We show that applying a minimal amount of network control in the hybrid model, guarantees convergence for clients with generic weights. We also introduce a controllable knob that network controller can employ to balance between convergence time and its network-wide objective with predictable tradeoff.
Tastes Great, Less Filling: Low-Impact OLAP MapReduce Queries on High-Performance OLTP Systems

The previous decade saw the rise of separate, dedicated database management systems (DBMS) for online transaction processing (OLTP) and online analytical processing (OLAP) workloads [3]. The former are focused on executing short-lived, small-footprint transactions with high throughput and strong consistency guarantees. OLAP DBMSs typically target longer running and more complex queries that examine the database after it is offloaded from the front-end OLTP DBMS. For many, the latency overhead of transferring data between these two systems, as well as their administrative costs, is too onerous. A burgeoning alternative is to use a hybrid approach where an OLTP system is able execute OLAP-style queries alongside the transactional workload [1]. This provides users the ability to execute business intelligence and other analytical queries in “real-time” (i.e., without waiting for data to be copied to the OLAP system). Such an approach has its own drawbacks, however, especially in a clustered environment. If the data is spread across multiple machines, then the OLAP queries must be executed as heavy-weight distributed transactions, which are well-known to significantly reduce the overall throughput of an OLTP system [2]. To overcome this problem, we propose a novel method of executing OLAP workloads on a parallel OLTP DBMS using the MapReduce programming model. OLAP queries are decomposed into map and reduce operations that are executed as separate transactions with either strong or weak consistency guarantees across the cluster. We implemented this model in the H-Store OLTP system [2] and evaluated it with a mixed OLTP/OLAP workload [1]. BODY OLAP queries executed as MapReduce jobs in an OLTP DBMS achieve same latency as distributed transactions but improve throughput by 20%–50%
Refinement for Probabilistic Systems with Nondeterminism

Before we combine actions and probabilities two very obvious questions should be asked. Firstly, what does “the probability of an action” mean? Secondly, how does probability interact with nondeterminism? Neither question has a single universally agreed upon answer but by considering these questions at the outset we build a novel and hopefully intuitive probabilistic event-based formalism. In previous work we have characterised refinement via the not ion of testing. Basically, if one system passes all the tests that another system passes (and maybe more) we say the first system is a refinement of the second. This is, in our view, an important wa y of characterising refinement, via the question “what sort of refinement should I be using? ” We use testing in this paper as the basis for our refinement. We develop tests for probabilistic systems by analogy with the tests developed for non-probabilistic systems. We make sure that our probabilistic tests, when performed on non-probabilistic automata, give us refinement relations which agree with for those non-probabilistic automata. We formalise this property as a vertical refinement.
Frequency and Link Analysis of Online Novels Toward Social Contents Ranking

User generated contents service is a social service because users not only enjoy contents but also provide feedback on content by commenting, tagging and book marking. The authors are interested in social service ranking and categorization methods for online novels. Many readers comment and bookmark there favorite novels in online novel services. Comments and book marking are facilitated by readers, and it is possible to use the data as a resource for social ranking and recommendation. In this paper, we focused on an online novel service, and analyzed the frequency of keywords, number of authors, and links from readers to novels. Although the bipartite graph between readers and novels fulfills growth and preferential attachment conditions of scale-free network, distribution of links does not follow power law. The basic idea of social ranking using extracted book marked novels and favorite authors is also explored.
Author's Personal Copy Computers and Mathematics with Applications Large Scale Simulation for Human Evacuation and Rescue Cyber-physical Systems Emergency Management Search and Rescue Systems Distributed Decision Making Modeling and Simulation

In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: a b s t r a c t This paper surveys recent research on the use of sensor networks, communications and computer systems to enhance the human outcome of emergency situations. Areas covered include sensing, communication with evacuees and emergency personnel, path finding algorithms for safe evacuation, simulation and prediction, and decision tools. The systems being considered are a special instance of real-time cyber-physical-human systems that have become a crucial component of all large scale physical infrastructures such as buildings, campuses, sports and entertainment venues, and transportation hubs.
Irregular pixel imaging

Pixels form the basic building unit of a digital image. The shape of a pixel has a significant role in deciding the accuracy and precision of a digital image. In conventional square pixel representation, the decrease in resolution results a loss of visual image quality. The paper put forwards methods to improve the quality of the image by using variable shaped pixels. Low resolution images can be brought to better viewing accuracy by using irregular shaped pixels instead of traditional square pixels. Filtering techniques are applied along with the irregular shaped pixels approach so that noise is reduced and the overall visual quality of the image is enhanced.
A Transmembrane Segment Determines the Steady-State Localization of an Ion-Transporting Adenosine Triphosphatase

The H,K-adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) of gastric parietal cells is targeted to a regulated membrane compartment that fuses with the apical plasma membrane in response to secretagogue stimulation. Previous work has demonstrated that the α subunit of the H,K-ATPase encodes localization information responsible for this pump's apical distribution, whereas the β subunit carries the signal responsible for the cessation of acid secretion through the retrieval of the pump from the surface to the regulated intracellular compartment. By analyzing the sorting behaviors of a number of chimeric pumps composed of complementary portions of the H,K-ATPase α subunit and the highly homologous Na,K-ATPase α subunit, we have identified a portion of the gastric H,K-ATPase, which is sufficient to redirect the normally basolateral Na,K-ATPase to the apical surface in transfected epithelial cells. This motif resides within the fourth of the H,K-ATPase α subunit's ten predicted transmembrane domains. Although interactions with glycosphingolipid-rich membrane domains have been proposed to play an important role in the targeting of several apical membrane proteins, the apically located chimeras are not found in detergent-insoluble complexes, which are typically enriched in glycosphingolipids. Furthermore, a chimera incorporating the Na,K-ATPase α subunit fourth transmembrane domain is apically targeted when both of its flanking sequences derive from H,K-ATPase sequence. These results provide the identification of a defined apical localization signal in a polytopic membrane transport protein, and suggest that this signal functions through conformational interactions between the fourth transmembrane spanning segment and its surrounding sequence domains.
Reproductive isolation among deep‐water cichlid fishes of Lake Malawi differing in monochromatic male breeding dress

Male nuptial colour hues are important for the maintenance of reproductive isolation among cichlid fish species, and environmental changes that lead to narrower light spectra can lead to hybridization. However, cichlid species can naturally co‐occur in narrow light spectrum habitats, such as turbid shallow lakes and the deep benthic zones of African rift lakes. Closely related species from narrow light spectrum habitats tend to differ little in the palette of male nuptial colours, thus for these taxa differences in colour patterns may be more important than differences in colour hue for species recognition. To investigate this hypothesis we examined morphometric and genetic differentiation among males of four sympatric putative species within the deep‐water genus Diplotaxodon. These taxa live in a narrow‐light spectrum environment where only blue light is present, and males differ primarily in ‘monochromatic’ black, white and silver patterning of the body and fins. Significant genetic differentiation was present among taxa in both microsatellite DNA and mitochondrial DNA, including one pair with no significant morphometric differentiation. Thus, these taxa represent reproductively isolated biological species, a result consistent with male nuptial patterning being important for species recognition and assortative mating. As such, we suggest that narrow‐light spectra need not always represent barriers to effective visually mediated mate recognition.
Delivering Effective Social / Long Term Care to Older People

LSE has developed LSE Research Online so that users may access research output of the School. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL This chapter is primarily about achieving efficiency in pursuing ends from means, given equity. It discusses only some themes: – The number, variety and complexity of evaluation criteria in the context of growing resource scarcity and efforts to clarify priorities and achieve greater efficiency. – Emphasis on flexibly matching service inputs to outcomes and user circumstances through time. Boundaries between care modes have become less distinct, though some factors have excessively slowed the process of boundary erosion. (By a care mode is meant a set of services and resources, any combination of which can be used during one stage of a journey as a periodic or continuous recipient of care; for example , care in a care home providing its own hotel and care inputs.) There has been greater awareness that the effects on outcomes depend on service mixes and levels in ways which are mediated by user risks, needs and other circumstances. The concept 'targeting' has become more important but also more sophisticated, particularly in countries in which their governments are held responsible for achieving an efficient 'sys-tem' covering a high proportion of citizens. In some countries there is evidence of quick improvements in performance in important respects, though it may be difficult to maintain the rate as more difficult problems are engaged. – To create greater flexibility, better performance of 'care management tasks', particularly assessment, monitoring and review, is needed. There is evidence that the emphasis on care management can contribute greatly. There has been more attention to better management of transitions between and through need states and service modes. Though insufficiently, fitting care management arrangements to the circumstances of users, groups and system circumstances has occurred, with more application of concepts like 'chronic disease management' and boundary redefinition and crossing, and creation of jobs with skills better matched to needs. – With greater explicitness and complexity of outcomes , attention …
Herbaceous Legume Encroachment Reduces Grass Productivity and Density in Arid Rangelands

Worldwide savannas and arid grasslands are mainly used for livestock grazing, providing livelihood to over a billion people. While normally dominated by perennial C4 grasses, these rangelands are increasingly affected by the massive spread of native, mainly woody legumes. The consequences are often a repression of grass cover and productivity, leading to a reduced carrying capacity. While such encroachment by woody plants has been extensively researched, studies on similar processes involving herbaceous species are rare. We studied the impact of a sustained and massive spread of the native herbaceous legume Crotalaria podocarpa in Namibia’s escarpment region on the locally dominant fodder grasses Stipagrostis ciliata and Stipagrostis uniplumis. We measured tussock densities, biomass production of individual tussocks and tussock dormancy state of Stipagrostis on ten 10 m x 10 m plots affected and ten similarly-sized plots unaffected by C. podocarpa over eight consecutive years and under different seasonal rainfalls and estimated the potential relative productivity of the land. We found the percentage of active Stipagrostis tussocks and the biomass production of individual tussocks to increase asymptotically with higher seasonal rainfall reaching a maximum around 300 mm while the land’s relative productivity under average local rainfall conditions reached only 40% of its potential. Crotalaria podocarpa encroachment had no effect on the proportion of productive grass tussocks, but reduced he productivity of individual Stipagrostis tussocks by a third. This effect of C. podocarpa on grass productivity was immediate and direct and was not compensated for by above-average rainfall. Besides this immediate effect, over time, the density of grass tussocks declined by more than 50% in areas encroached by C. podocarpa further and lastingly reducing the lands carrying capacity. The effects of C. podocarpa on grass productivity hereby resemble those of woody encroachers. Therefore, against the background of global change, the spread of herbaceous legumes and the underlying patterns needs to be further investigated to develop adequate counter measures for a sustainable land use.
Bridging the gap between traditional and online shopping methods for Indian customers through digital interactive experience

On Line shopping has many advantages over traditional physical shopping such as low cost, real time, interaction, personalized, cross-domain etc. Indians prefer to shop in real environment where there is a direct contact between customer and retailer. Unlike in Online shopping, the factors of Touch, See, and Feel results in an ever lasting experience on the minds of the shopper. This paper presents the results of a survey performed among Indian customers, relating to the behavior of Online shoppers, their understanding and the reasons for their inclination towards traditional offline shopping. The survey indicates a dire need of replicating the conventional shopping experience onto the online shopping. The paper also reports a conceptual design of a virtual shopping experience that attempts to replicate conventional offline shopping experience into Online shopping.
The willed blindness of humans: animal welfare and beyond

This paper describes how we seem to live in a willed blindness towards the effects that our meat production and consumption have on animals, the environment and the climate. It is a willed blindness that cannot be explained by either lack of knowledge or scientific uncertainty. The blindness enables us to see ourselves as moral beings although our lack of reaction to the effects of our actions tells another story. The consequences, especially to animal welfare are outlined and it is briefly discussed whether a solution lies in a new moral vision of our obligations or a new vision of what a good life is. The second option is identified to be the more promising.
Compensation method for a nonlinear amplifier using the gain expansion phenomenon in a Doherty amplifier

This paper proposes a new predistortion method using the gain expansion phenomenon in a Doherty amplifier. In the proposed structure, the drive stage Doherty amplifier, which has a gain expansion characteristic, precedes the final stage Doherty amplifier. The gain expansion characteristic compensates for the gain compression of the final stage amplifier and the overall linearity is improved based on an increase in the total output P/sub 1 dB/ compression point. Using a behavioral model, we simulated the effect of increasing the P/sub 1 dB/ point to the adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) of the CDMA2000 signal. The experimental results show that the overall output P/sub 1 dB/ compression point is improved by 1.5 dB and the ACPR for the one-carrier CDMA2000 signal is improved by 8.5 dB. In addition, we tested a power amplifier with a four-carrier WCDMA signal to verify the validity of this configuration for wide-band applications.
Modeling and Implementation of a Multicore Architecture for Real-Time Videoconference in Embedded Systems

Emergent videoconference applications can be found in a large set of products like videophones terminals, 3G cell phones and multimedia live chat sofwares. This paper presents the modeling of an architecture for realtime videoconference applications which can be adopted in Personal Computers and also in embedded systems. Some practical experiments have been performed over a real DSP hardware platform in order to validate the proposed architecture. 1. General Information Modern real time multimedia systems supporting inte ractive transmission of audio and video can be used to reduce real distances through the use of virtual meeting environments (Synnes, 2001). Particularly videoconf erence systems must respect some important constraints, like guarantee of a constant d ta flow in the transmission channel (fidelity), automatic audio and video synchronizati on (fidelity) and small end-to-end delay (Schall, 2006). All these dependences can be considered as temporal constraints. Eventually, due to limitations in computing power o r network bandwidth, some parts of the audio and video information can be discarded to guarantee small end-to-end delay in detriment of the video quality (Steinmetz, 1996). C onsidering that most of videoconference applications can be listed as soft real-time, generally the video quality is reduced in order to keep the real-time compromis e. During the last years, some important works have be en proposed to provide real-time support for multimedia applications. Some examples ar (Tanguay, 2004), (Rizvanovic, 2006) and (Kao, 2005) Continuous evolution in high performance processors aims to add complexity in the same chip area and also increase the maximum chip s peed, resulting in development of multiprocessing chips (MPCs) (Goren, 2003). An effi cient algorithm for the multicore technology must consider this parallelism condition during application modeling. Embedded chips developed for multimedia market foll ow the same direction of using dual or quad core architecture (O ́Driscoll, 2000). Based on that, we propose a parallel architecture aiming real-time videoconference appli cations. To validate the proposed architecture, we performed some practical experiments to identify the execution time information in differen t routines of a videoconference application which was implemented over a real DSP h ardware platform. 10th Brazilian Workshop on Real-Time and Embedded Systems 133