Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integrating linguistic and domain knowledge for spoken dialogue systems in multiple domains

One challenge for developing spoken dialogue systems in multiple domains is facilitating system component communication using a shared domain ontology. Since each domain comes with its own set of concepts and actions relevant to the application, adapting a system to a new domain requires customizing components to use the ontological representations required for that domain. Our research in multiple domain development has highlighted differences in the ontological needs of a generalpurpose language interface and a task-specific reasoning application. Although different domain applications have their own ontologies, many aspects of spoken dialogue interaction are common across domains. In this paper, we present a new method of customizing a broad-coverage parser to different domains by maintaining two ontologies, one that is generalized for language representation, and another that is customized to the domain, and defining mappings between them. In this way we preserve the broad-coverage language components across domains as well as produce semantic representations that are optimally suited to the domain reasoners.
Incompatibility Protein IncC and Global Regulator KorB Interact in Active Partition of Promiscuous Plasmid RK2

ABSTRACT Replication of the broad-host-range, IncPα plasmid RK2 requires two plasmid loci: trfA, the replication initiator gene, andoriV, the origin of replication. While these determinants are sufficient for replication in a wide variety of bacteria, they do not confer the stable maintenance of parental RK2 observed in its hosts. The product of the incC gene has been proposed to function in the stable maintenance of RK2 because of its relatedness to the ParA family of ATPases, some of which are known to be involved in the active partition of plasmid and chromosomal DNA. Here we show that IncC has the properties expected of a component of an active partition system. The smaller polypeptide product of incC (IncC2) exhibits a strong, replicon-independent incompatibility phenotype with RK2. This incompatibility phenotype requires the global transcriptional repressor, KorB, and the target for incC-mediated incompatibility is a KorB-binding site (OB). We found that KorB and IncC interact in vivo by using the yeast two-hybrid system and in vitro by using partially purified proteins. Elevated expression of the incC and korB genes individually has no obvious effect on Escherichia coli cell growth, but their simultaneous overexpression is toxic, indicating a possible interaction of IncC-KorB complexes with a vital host target. A region of RK2 bearing incC, korB, and multiple KorB-binding sites is able to stabilize an unstable, heterologous plasmid in anincC-dependent manner. Finally, elevated levels of IncC2 cause RK2 to aggregate, indicating a possible role for IncC in plasmid pairing. These findings demonstrate that IncC, KorB, and at least one KorB-binding site are components of an active partition system for the promiscuous plasmid RK2.
Targeted Disruption of Heat Shock Transcription Factor 1 Abolishes Thermotolerance and Protection against Heat-inducible Apoptosis*

Heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1) is a member of the vertebrate HSF family that regulates stress-inducible synthesis of heat shock proteins (HSPs). Although the synthesis of the constitutively expressed and inducible members of the heat shock family of stress proteins correlates with increased cellular protection, their relative contributions in acquired cellular resistance or “thermotolerance” in mammalian cells is presently unknown. We report here that constitutive expression of multiple HSPs in cultured embryonic cells was unaffected by disruption of the murine HSF1 gene. In contrast, thermotolerance was not attainable inhsf1 (−/−) cells, and this response was required for protection against heat-induced apoptosis. We conclude that 1) constitutive and inducibly expressed HSPs exhibit distinct physiological functions for cellular maintenance and adaptation, respectively, and 2) other mammalian HSFs or distinct evolutionarily conserved stress response pathways do not compensate for HSF1 in the physiological response to heat shock.
Genome size analyses of Pucciniales reveal the largest fungal genomes

Rust fungi (Basidiomycota, Pucciniales) are biotrophic plant pathogens which exhibit diverse complexities in their life cycles and host ranges. The completion of genome sequencing of a few rust fungi has revealed the occurrence of large genomes. Sequencing efforts for other rust fungi have been hampered by uncertainty concerning their genome sizes. Flow cytometry was recently applied to estimate the genome size of a few rust fungi, and confirmed the occurrence of large genomes in this order (averaging 225.3 Mbp, while the average for Basidiomycota was 49.9 Mbp and was 37.7 Mbp for all fungi). In this work, we have used an innovative and simple approach to simultaneously isolate nuclei from the rust and its host plant in order to estimate the genome size of 30 rust species by flow cytometry. Genome sizes varied over 10-fold, from 70 to 893 Mbp, with an average genome size value of 380.2 Mbp. Compared to the genome sizes of over 1800 fungi, Gymnosporangium confusum possesses the largest fungal genome ever reported (893.2 Mbp). Moreover, even the smallest rust genome determined in this study is larger than the vast majority of fungal genomes (94%). The average genome size of the Pucciniales is now of 305.5 Mbp, while the average Basidiomycota genome size has shifted to 70.4 Mbp and the average for all fungi reached 44.2 Mbp. Despite the fact that no correlation could be drawn between the genome sizes, the phylogenomics or the life cycle of rust fungi, it is interesting to note that rusts with Fabaceae hosts present genomes clearly larger than those with Poaceae hosts. Although this study comprises only a small fraction of the more than 7000 rust species described, it seems already evident that the Pucciniales represent a group where genome size expansion could be a common characteristic. This is in sharp contrast to sister taxa, placing this order in a relevant position in fungal genomics research.
A mechanism for Na/Ca transport

A model is developed which requires the binding of 4 Na+ to a carrier before a Ca binding site is induced on the opposite side of the membrane. Upon binding Ca, this carrier translocates Na and Ca. The existence of partially Na-loaded but nonmobile forms for the carrier (NaX, Na2X, Na3X) suffices to explain both the activating and the inhibitory effects of Na on the Ca transport reaction. Analytical expressions for Ca efflux and influx in terms of [Na]o, [Na]i, [Ca]o, [Ca]i, and Em are developed for the Na/Ca exchange system at equilibrium; these provide for a quantitative description of Ca fluxes. Under nonequilibrium conditions, appropriate modifications of the flux equations can be developed. These show a dependence of Ca efflux on [Ca]o and of Ca influx on [Ca]i. The large effect of internal ATP on Ca efflux and influx in squid axons, with no change in net Ca flux, can be understood on the single assumption that ATP changes the affinity of the carrier for Na at both faces of the membrane without providing an energy input to the transport reaction.
A concentration inequality for the overlap of a vector on a large set, with application to the communication complexity of the Gap-Hamming-Distance problem

Given two sets A; B R n , a measure of their correlation is given by the expected squared inner product between random x2 A and y2 B. We prove an inequality showing that no two sets of large enough Gaussian measure (at least e d n for some constant d > 0) can have correlation substantially lower than would two random sets of the same size. Our proof is based on a concentration inequality for the overlap of a random Gaussian vector on a large set. As an application, we show how our result can be combined with the partition bound of Jain and Klauck to give a simpler proof of a recent linear lower bound on the randomized communication complexity of the Gap-Hamming-Distance problem due to Chakrabarti and Regev.
Evaluating the impact of an academic teacher development program: practical realities of an evidence-based study

This study aimed to assess the impact of an entire academic teacher development programme at a Midwestern masters comprehensive university in the United States over a period of five years by examining changes in teaching and student outcomes of nine randomly selected programme participants. Researchers analysed syllabi, course evaluations, grade distributions, programme activity reports, interviews and vita, and concluded that the centre’s impact was greatest on tenure-track faculty who struggled with their teaching. Far more useful to future improvement, however, were the insights gained from reflection on study methods, the researchers’ emotional responses to their findings, their struggle to make sense of the data and grappling with the definition of ‘impact’. In this paper, the researchers share useful lessons learned and illustrate the difficulties inherent in evaluating academic development programmes, with a view to qualifying recommendations currently prevailing in the literature.
Randomly connected sigma–pi neurons can form associator networks

A set of sigma–pi units randomly connected to two input vectors forms a type of hetero-associator related to convolution- and matrix-based associative memories. Associations are represented as patterns of activity rather than connection strengths. Decoding the associations requires another network of sigma–pi units, with connectivity dependent on the encoding network. Learning the connectivity of the decoding network involves setting n3 parameters (where n is the size of the vectors), and can be accomplished in approximately 3e n log n presentations of random patterns. This type of network encodes information in activation values rather than in weight values, which makes the information about relationships accessible to further processing. This accessibility is essential for higher-level cognitive tasks such as analogy processing. The fact that random networks can perform useful operations makes it more plausible that these types of associative network could have arisen in the nervous systems of natural organisms during the course of evolution.
Embryonic steroids and the establishment of pregnancy in pigs.

In the pig, establishment of pregnancy begins about 11-12 days after the start of oestrus. The ability of pig conceptuses to synthesize and release oestrogens during this period, as well as the ability of exogenous oestrogens to induce pseudo-pregnancy when administered from Day 11-15 of the oestrous cycle, provide evidence for an involvement of oestrogen in the maternal recognition of pregnancy in the sow. Oestrogen derived from the conceptus or from administration to cyclic gilts stimulates uterine secretion of calcium and specific polypeptides on Day 11-12. The specific roles for the uterine secretory response to oestrogen in the maintenance of pregnancy are unknown. However, it has been proposed that oestrogen prevents luteolysis in the sow through reorientation of endometrial prostaglandin release, i.e. into the uterine lumen rather than into the uterine vasculature. Oestrogen may interact with prolactin and/or conceptus secretory proteins to shift the direction of prostaglandin movement. Although conceptus oestrogen synthesis triggers a number of uterine secretory events on Day 11, a second sustained phase of oestrogen stimulation from Day 14 to 18 appears to be necessary for luteal maintenance beyond Day 25. Pig conceptuses synthesize and release large amounts of oestrogens between Days 14 and 18 of pregnancy. Conceptus oestrogens are clearly involved with the establishment of pregnancy. However, the conceptus also secretes a number of biologically active substances such as catechol oestrogens, prostaglandins and polypeptides which could interact with oestrogen to prevent luteolysis. The roles of these factors in control of vascular permeability, blood flow, placental attachment and immunological protection certainly indicate that, in addition to oestrogens, other factors are involved in the establishment of pregnancy in pigs.
THE CURVELET TRANSFORM FOR IMAGE FUSION

The fusion of high-spectral/low-spatial resolution multispectral and low-spectral/high-spatial resolution panchromatic satellite images is a very useful technique in various applications of remote sensing. Recently, some studies showed that a wavelet-based image fusion method provides high quality spectral content in fused images. However, most wavelet-based methods yield fused results with spatial resolution that is less than that obtained via the Brovey, IHS, and PCA fusion methods. In this paper, we introduce a new method based on a curvelet transform, which represents edges better than wavelets. Since edges play a fundamental role in image representation, one effective means to enhance spatial resolution is to enhance the edges. The curvelet-based image fusion method provides richer information in the spatial and spectral domains simultaneously. We performed Landsat ETM+ image fusion and found that the proposed method provides optimum fusion results.
Helix-Destabilizing, β-Branched, and Polar Residues in the Baboon Reovirus p15 Transmembrane Domain Influence the Modularity of FAST Proteins

ABSTRACT The fusogenic reoviruses induce syncytium formation using the fusion-associated small transmembrane (FAST) proteins. A recent study indicated the p14 FAST protein transmembrane domain (TMD) can be functionally replaced by the TMDs of the other FAST proteins but not by heterologous TMDs, suggesting that the FAST protein TMDs are modular fusion units. We now show that the p15 FAST protein is also a modular fusogen, as indicated by the functional replacement of the p15 ectodomain with the corresponding domain from the p14 FAST protein. Paradoxically, the p15 TMD is not interchangeable with the TMDs of the other FAST proteins, implying that unique attributes of the p15 TMD are required when this fusion module is functioning in the context of the p15 ecto- and/or endodomain. A series of point substitutions, truncations, and reextensions were created in the p15 TMD to define features that are specific to the functioning of the p15 TMD. Removal of only one or two residues from the N terminus or four residues from the C terminus of the p15 TMD eliminated membrane fusion activity, and there was a direct correlation between the fusion-promoting function of the p15 TMD and the presence of N-terminal, hydrophobic β-branched residues. Substitution of the glycine residues and triserine motif present in the p15 TMD also impaired or eliminated the fusion-promoting activity of the p15 TMD. The ability of the p15 TMD to function in an ecto- and endodomain-specific context is therefore influenced by stringent sequence requirements that reflect the importance of TMD polar residues and helix-destabilizing residues.
Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load Used in Combination to Characterize Metabolic Responses of Mixed Meals in Healthy Lean Young Adults

Background: Glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) have been independently assessed with regard to their metabolic effects and their associations with disease risk. Because a low-GI high-carbohydrate and a high-GI low-carbohydrate food/meal can produce the same GL, we propose that these 2 concepts should be used in conjunction to characterize the carbohydrate quality of mixed meals. Objective: The aim of this study was to measure postprandial glucose, insulin, and cortisol responses of meals differing in both GI and GL over a period of 3 hours (every 15 minutes for the first hour, and every 30 minutes subsequently), and to investigate the validity of methods of calculating GI and GL by measuring the cumulative incremental area under the curve (iAUC) for glucose and insulin (0–2 hours and 2–3 hours postprandially). Methods: A total of 10 healthy lean young adults (5 males, 5 females) participated. Breakfast meals were designed to differ in terms of GI and GL based on a 2 × 2 grid with a single elaboration: low-GI high-GL (M1); high-GI high-GL (M2a) of similar GL to M1; high-GI high-GL (M2b) of similar macronutrient composition to M1 (the elaboration); low-GI low-GL (M3); and high-GI low-GL (M4). The 5 breakfast meals were administered in a double-blind randomized crossover design. Repeated measures analysis of variance was performed to investigate differences in metabolic response between low- versus high-GI and between low- versus high-GL breakfast meals (and GI × GL interactions), with GI and GL used as within-subject factors. Results: High-GL meals increased glucose iAUC and insulin iAUC in both immediate (0–2 hours) (p < 0.01, p < 0.001, respectively) and middle postabsorptive periods (2–3 hours) (p = 0.04, p = 0.02, respectively) compared with low-GL meals. GI meals were not associated with glucose iAUC 0 to 2 hours (p = 0.37) and 2 to 3 hours (p = 0.81) postprandially. GI meals were not associated with insulin iAUC 0 to 2 hours postprandially (p = 0.81); in contrast, high-GI meals increased insulin iAUC 2 to 3 hours postprandially (p = 0.03) compared with low-GI meals. No significant differences were noted in cortisol responses, GI × GL interactions, or effect modification by gender. Conclusions: These findings highlight the need for further investigation of meals/diets differing in both GI and GL to characterize metabolic responses and potential health effects.
Real time distributed analysis of MPLS network logs for anomaly detection

Large scale IP networks contain thousands of network devices such as routers and switches. Massive amounts of logging data is generated by these devices. Analysing this data is both a challenge and an opportunity for finding network problems. Moreover, large IP networks contain devices from different vendors, so it is important to build a system which can work with network devices of different brands. In this study we describe a distributed architecture which can retrieve, store, and process massive amounts of network logging data in real time. Using this architecture we also build a basic anomaly detection system. The system statistically models cumulative counts of logs for different event types for all the devices in the network. The statistical approach lets the system to detect deviations from the normal behaviour without consulting expert knowledge. Our evaluations show that the system effectively handles massive amounts of data and detects anomalies.
Quantifying Wasted Write Energy in the Memory Hierarchy

Wasted writes occur when modified cache lines are evicted and written back to main memory even though the data contained in those lines is no longer needed by the program or does not change the existing memory contents. Wasted writes include values in retreating stacks and values in heap objects that have been deallocated. They also occur as a result of unmodified data values being written back as part of a modified cache line. Wasted writes consume energy, consume execution time as memory bandwidth and consume component lifetime of limited write-cycle technologies such as flash memory or phase-change memory (PCM). This paper characterizes the number and type of wasted writes through the memory hierarchy and quantifies the amount of potential energy savings that can be obtained from eliminating wasted writes. If all of the wasted writes could be eliminated from our benchmarks, 15.5% of the total memory subsystem energy could be saved.
Horizontal Gene Transfers from Bacteria to Entamoeba Complex: A Strategy for Dating Events along Species Divergence

Horizontal gene transfer has proved to be relevant in eukaryotic evolution, as it has been found more often than expected and related to adaptation to certain niches. A relatively large list of laterally transferred genes has been proposed and evaluated for the parasite Entamoeba histolytica. The goals of this work were to elucidate the importance of lateral gene transfer along the evolutionary history of some members of the genus Entamoeba, through identifying donor groups and estimating the divergence time of some of these events. In order to estimate the divergence time of some of the horizontal gene transfer events, the dating of some Entamoeba species was necessary, following an indirect dating strategy based on the fossil record of plausible hosts. The divergence between E. histolytica and E. nuttallii probably occurred 5.93 million years ago (Mya); this lineage diverged from E. dispar 9.97 Mya, while the ancestor of the latter separated from E. invadens 68.18 Mya. We estimated times for 22 transferences; the most recent occurred 31.45 Mya and the oldest 253.59 Mya. Indeed, the acquisition of genes through lateral transfer may have triggered a period of adaptive radiation, thus playing a major role in the evolution of the Entamoeba genus.
Impact of PMU Measurement Buffer Length on State Estimation and its Optimization

State estimation is applied to process a set of measurements which are assumed to be taken at the same snapshot in time to obtain a best estimate of the states of electric power systems. The beneficial impacts of incorporating phasor measurement unit (PMU) measurements into the state estimator have been studied by many researchers. However, the availability of PMU measurements and many practical implementation issues still need to be resolved. This paper addresses one specific and important issue when integrating PMU measurements into the state estimator, namely, determining the optimal buffer length for PMU data. Due to different reporting rates of the conventional measurements and PMU measurements, a memory buffer of PMU measurements is recommended to be processed ahead of the state estimation. The impact of PMU measurement buffer length on state estimation is discussed. A procedure to determine the optimal buffer length of PMU measurements is presented. Processing a buffer of PMU measurements is also helpful for determining the corresponding weights in state estimation.
A Modal Approach to Dative Subjects in Laz*

This study develops an analysis of the morphosyntactic contrast between sentences with a Dative external argument as in (1a) and sentences with an Ergative external argument as in (1b) in Laz.1 Sentences with DAT external arguments in Laz (henceforth DSC for Dative Subject2 Construction) are modalized. In particular, I propose that DSC incorporates a circumstantial modal in its composition, and hence communicates possibilities and necessities that arise from circumstances pertaining to an event (Kratzer 1981, 1991).
Perspectives for the Historical Information Retrieval with Digitized Japanese Classical Manuscripts

This paper outlines a system to retrieve and convert text matter to digital form from old manuscripts written in Classical Kana Characters.The system consists of five stages 1.Preparation of sample kana handwriting 2.Primary classification into sub categories 3.The Segmentation of Target Classical Manuscript 4.Feature Extraction 5.Recognition. The detailed aspect of preliminary stages like sample collection and primary classification will entail greater accuracy in recognition of a wide range of Kana manuscripts.
A Survey on Approaches to Adaptation on the Web

Approaches to adaptation have been proposed by many different research communities, Hypermedia System and Intelligent Tutoring in particular. The task of adaptation breaks down to a mediation of resource provision and resource demand. In doing so, it is necessary to obtain some representation of them, either directly or through intermediate models that can be further processed to arrive at this information. Correspondingly, major differences in adaptation approaches manifest themselves in the employed sources, the way they are represented and the techniques used to derive the user demand from them. Therefore, we like to structure this survey according to these model-related aspects.