Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
T-Cadherin Expression in the Epidermis and Adnexal Structures of Normal Skin

Background: T-cadherin is an atypical glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored member of the cadherin superfamily of adhesion molecules. The role of T-cadherin in biology of the skin is poorly understood. Expression of T-cadherin in basal keratinocytes and dermal blood vessels of the healthy epidermis has been demonstrated, but studies on expression in skin appendages are rare. Methods: We conducted an immunohistochemical analysis of T-cadherin expression in the epidermis and adnexal structures of normal skin. Results: T-cadherin expression is restricted to basal keratinocytes of the epidermis. The basal cell layer of sebaceous glands was T-cadherin positive, whereas sebocytes were negative. Within apocrine glands, only myoepithelial cells were T-cadherin positive. In contrast, both the secretory coils and excretory ducts of eccrine glands were T-cadherin positive. In terminal hair follicles, the outer root sheath layers strongly expressed T-cadherin throughout different regions of the follicle, with the strongest immunoreactivity at the bulge and suprabulbar regions. T-cadherin and CK15 stem cell marker similarly localized within the bulge and suprabulbar region. T-cadherin and CD34 stem cell marker similarly localized at the suprabulbar level. Conclusion: The specific patterns of T-cadherin expression in the epidermis and adnexal structures suggest an important guardian role in skin homeostasis.
Improved channel order determination and its influence on delay estimation

Channel order determination and delay estimation are important contents in parametric channel estimation. In this paper, an improved approach based on constant false alarm rate (CFAR) to detect the order of multipath channel is presented first. Then, delay estimation based on the estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance techniques (ESPRIT) after order determination is conducted. Finally, the performance of delay estimation is analyzed in detail.
Modeling bi-directional signals in complex branching structure: Application to the control of floral induction in apple trees

Flowering is a key process that determines yield in fruit trees, and a negative relationship between crop load and floral induction has been observed in many species. In apple tree, hormonal signals coming from seeds, which are assumed to be transported within the tree, are suspected to inhibit floral induction. To analyze the intertwined effects of tree architecture, crop load and inhibitory signal on floral induction we developed a generic model based on the L-system formalism. The model simulates both the basipetal and acropetal flux of the signal as well as its partitioning at each branching point and between successive metamers. First simulations on apple tree, using architectures generated by the MappleT model, showed that the model was able to reproduce well-known results of the literature, such as the variability in floral induction rate according to shoot length and type, and to reproduce experimental observations of the impact of crop load on floral induction. Moreover, the model also has the ability to simulate contrasted behavior in term of flowering patterns at the branch scale that could be related to genotypic characteristics. Although new experiments are needed to fully calibrate the model, it gives insights into interactions between plant development, architecture and floral induction that could be useful in the future for plant breeders and growers to adjust thinning intensity.
Research and Comparison of Time-frequency Techniques for Nonstationary Signals

Most of signals in engineering are nonstationary and time-varying. The Fourier transform as a traditional approach can only provide the feature information in frequency domain. The time-frequency techniques may give a comprehensive description of signals in time-frequency planes. Based on some typical nonstationary signals, five time-frequency analysis methods, i.e., the short-time Fourier transform (STFT), wavelet transform (WT), Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD), pseudo-WVD (PWVD) and the Hilbert- Huang transform (HHT), were performed and compared in this paper. The characteristics of each method were obtained and discussed. Compared with the other methods, the HHT with a high time-frequency resolution can clearly describe the rules of the frequency compositions changing with time, is a good approach for feature extraction in nonstationary signal processing.
Using GPUs to improve system performance in visual servo systems

This paper describes our novel work of using GPUs to improve the performance of a homography-based visual servo system. We present our novel implementations of a GPU based Efficient Second-order Minimization (GPU-ESM) algorithm. By utilizing the tremendous parallel processing capability of a GPU, we have obtained significant acceleration over its CPU counterpart. Currently our GPU-ESM algorithm can process a 360×360 pixels tracking area at 145 fps on a NVIDIA GTX295 board and Intel Core i7 920, approximately 30 times faster than a CPU implementation. This speedup substantially improves the realtime performance of our system. System reliability and stability are also greatly enhanced by a GPU based Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) algorithm, which is used to deal with such cases where ESM tracking failure happens, such as due to large image difference, occlusion and so on. In this paper, translation details of the ESM algorithm from CPU to GPU implementation and novel optimizations are presented. The co-processing model of multiple GPUs and multiple CPU threads is described in this paper. The performance of our GPU accelerated system is evaluated with experimental data.
Style E Tactical Pedagogical Model

This chapter reveals the early development of eclectic game-based pedagogical model labeled as the Style ‘E’ Tactical (SET). The SET underpins Style E from Spectrum of Mosston teaching styles, variations of Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) models and constraints-led theory. The efficacy of SETwas first tested as an experimental research comparing with two other teaching approaches developed from Mosston teaching styles and TGfU known as Style B Tactical and Style H Tactical among secondary school boys. The findings revealed that the SET achieved learning outcomes that were better than, or equal to, the results obtained from the two other teaching approach, as for speed, knowledge, skill execution, and tactical decision-making in field hockey. In another research tested among Malaysian aborigines’ primary school students in 5 versus 5 mini soccer games, findings indicated no significant difference in skill execution between SET and TGfU pedagogical models. Whereas in handball study, findings indicated significant improvement via TGfU, SET for skill execution, and decision-making in 4 versus 4 game play, increased in knowledge and interest compared to the technical model. To conclude, this SET could bridge the disparity between varying student-teacher centered in game learning; however, more research is needed to fulfill the claim.
THE FUTURE OF COPY DETECTION TECHNIQUES

Internet is one of the richest encyclopaedias in the world. Students can easily download various free documents and then plagiarize their content. This paper describes the current state of copy detection methods and proposes some new trends. New approaches, closer to nature language processing, can essentially improve identification of hardlydetectable cases of plagiarism, i.e. single-word changes and sentence structure changes. Synonyms and Latent Semantic Analysis are discussed in detail for better understanding of the semantics within documents.
Beyond Inhibition: A Dual-Process Perspective to Renew the Exploration of Binge Drinking

Binge drinking is a widespread alcohol-consumption pattern in youth and is linked to cognitive consequences, mostly for executive functions. However, other crucial factors remain less explored in binge drinking and notably the emotional-automatic processes. Dual-process model postulates that addictive disorders are not only due to impaired reflective system (involved in deliberate behaviors), but rather to an imbalance between under-activated reflective system and over-activated affective-automatic one (involved in impulsive behaviors). This proposal has been confirmed in alcohol-dependence, but has not been tested in binge drinking. The observation of comparable impairments in binge drinking and alcohol-dependence led to the “continuum hypothesis,” suggesting similar deficits across different alcohol-related disorders. In this perspective, applying the dual-process model to binge drinking might renew the understanding of this continuum hypothesis. A three-axes research agenda will be proposed, exploring: (1) the affective-automatic system in binge drinking; (2) the systems’ interactions and imbalance in binge drinking; (3) the evolution of this imbalance in the transition between binge drinking and alcohol-dependence.
A method for isolating morphological effects on evolved behaviour

As the field of embodied cognitive science begins to mature, it is imperative to develop methods for identifying and quantifying the constraints and opportunities an agent's body places on its possible behaviours. In this paper we present results from a set of experiments conducted on 10 different legged agents, in which we evolve neural controllers for locomotion. The genetic algorithm and neural network architecture were kept constant across the agent set, but the agents had different sizes, masses and body plans. It was found that increased mass has a negative effect on the evolution of locomotion, but that this does not hold for all of the agents tested. Also, the number of legs has an effect on evolved behaviours, with hexapedal agents being the easiest for which to evolve locomotion, and wormlike agents being the most difficult. Moreover, it was found that repeating the experiments with a larger neural network increased the evolutionary potential of some of the agents, but not for all of them. The results suggest that by employing this methodology we can test hypotheses about the behavioural effect of specific morphological features, which has to date eluded precise quantitative analysis.
Constraint based implementation of a PDDL-like language with static causal laws and time ﬂuents

Planning Domain Deﬁnition Language (PDDL) is the most used language to encode and solve planning problems. In this paper we propose two PDDL-like languages that extend PDDL with new constructs such as static causal laws and time ﬂuents with the aim of improving the expressivity of PDDL language. We study the complexity of the main computational problems related to the planning problem in the new languages. Finally, we implement a planning solver using constraint programming in GECODE that outperforms the existing solvers for similar languages.
The predator defence system of an African king cricket (Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae): does it help to stink?

ABSTRACT We examined the putative defence system of a king cricket, Onosandrus sp. , in particular the efficacy of the noxious faeces against two types of predator: a lizard, the skink Mabuya striata (an active, diurnal forager), and the toad Bufo gutturalis (a nocturnal, ambush predator). Contrary to our predictions, the faeces did not act as a deterrent to either predator. Tongue-flick trials with cotton scent applicators indicated that the skinks showed a heightened predatory response to king cricket faeces over king cricket integument, field cricket integument and an odourless control. We suggest that ‘primary’ defence mechanisms, such as nocturnal behaviour, cryptic colouration and immobility, are more effective than ‘secondary’ defence mechanisms, such as stridulation, kicking and defecation. Given that the noxious faeces already have a demonstrated role in inter- and intrasexual communication, we suggest that the assumed defensive role of the faeces is minor or an epiphenomenon.
Improving Speaker Recognition Performance Using Phonetically Structured Gaussian Mixture Models

Throughout the past few years it has been shown that Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM) are highly suitable for speaker identi-ﬁcation and veriﬁcation. Nevertheless these models try to represent primarily the distribution of the available training data - neglecting any possible phonetic information which might be of worth. In our paper we present a recognition system using multiple speaker GMMs based on phonetic classes. By introducing ’phonetic’ mixture coefﬁcients a weighting of phoneme classes with respect to speaker recognizability can be achieved. The implicit integration in the probability computation avoids the need for a phonetic labeling during recognition. The mixture weights can be learned in a training phase. Model training was examined applying MAP enrolment as well as the recently reported Eigenvoice approach. Especially for the latter the phonetic separation has shown to be advantageous. Recognition error reductions up to 15 % relatively were achieved. Furthermore, the multiple GMM approach is particularly effective for speaker enrolment with sparse training data.
Recuperación espontánea y renovación en una tarea de búsqueda espacial en humanos

En dos experimentos se investigó si la recuperación espontánea y la renovación ocurrían en una tarea de búsqueda espacial. Participantes humanos fueron entrenados en dos fases para localizar una meta oculta cuya ubicación fue distinta entre éstas, posteriormente se condujo una prueba en extinción. Interponer un intervalo de retención antes de la prueba o realizar ésta en un contexto diferente respecto al presente en la segunda fase del entrenamiento ocasionó respectivamente la recuperación espontánea o la renovación en la búsqueda de la meta en el primer sitio reforzado. Esto no sucedió cuando el entrenamiento y la prueba se realizaron en el mismo contexto y de forma contigua. Tales resultados demuestran efectos de recuperación en el aprendizaje espacial en humanos que son consistentes con los principios asociativos del aprendizaje y son discutidos en términos de la teoría de la interferencia (Bouton, 1993).
Understanding government e-procurement effectiveness from users' perspectives: A case of social media discussion in Indonesia local government

E-procurement is an effective tool to reduce collusion and corruption, reduce procurement cost, and improve transparency. However, those claims were based on government perspectives, while from users' perspectives (e.g. businesses) little is known. This study used government e-procurement users' social media discussion, postings, exchange, and material distribution case in a local government in Indonesia to investigate how e-procurement users perceive government e-procurement implementation and use effectiveness. We found that users perceive the e-procurement as lack effectiveness due to lack transparency in procedures, lack government employees' professional in managing the system, lack facilities to submit a complaint, and the system may still provide opportunity for collusion and corruption.
Nutrient addition effects on tropical dry forests: a mini-review from microbial to ecosystem scales

Humans have more than doubled inputs of reactive nitrogen globally and greatly accelerated the biogeochemical cycles of phosphorus and metals. However, the impacts of increased element mobility on tropical ecosystems remain poorly quantified, particularly for the vast tropical dry forest biome. Tropical dry forests are characterized by marked seasonality, relatively little precipitation, and high heterogeneity in plant functional diversity and soil chemistry. For these reasons, increased nutrient deposition may affect tropical dry forests differently than wet tropical or temperate forests. Here we review studies that investigated how nutrient availability affects ecosystem and community processes from the microsite to ecosystem scales in tropical dry forests. The effects of N and P addition on ecosystem carbon cycling and plant and microbial dynamics depend on forest successional stage, soil parent material and rainfall regime. Responses may depend on whether overall productivity is N- versus P-limited, although data to test this hypothesis are limited. These results highlight the many important gaps in our understanding of tropical dry forest responses to global change. Large-scale experiments are required to resolve these uncertainties.
CRB for joint estimation of moving target in distributed phased array radars on moving platforms

In this paper, we investigate the location and velocity joint estimattion performance for distributed radars on moving platforms, each platform is equipped with phased array radar. The distributed radars system can be inplemented as non-coherent MIMO radar. Firstly, this paper presents maximum likelihood estimation of location and velocity, and then the Cramer-Rao bound for location and velocity joint estimation are derived. We analyze the influnce of the signal bandwith and observation time on estimation performance. Simulation results are provided to verify the correctness of Cramer-Rao bound derivation.
Large tandem chromosome expansions facilitate niche adaptation during persistent infection with drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

We used genomics to study the evolution of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) during a complex, protracted clinical infection. Preparing closed MRSA genomes from days 0 and 115 allowed us to precisely reconstruct all genetic changes that occurred. Twenty-three MRSA blood cultures were also obtained during treatment, yielding 44 colony morphotypes that varied in size, haemolysis and antibiotic susceptibility. A subset of 15 isolates was sequenced and shown to harbour a total of 37 sequence polymorphisms. Eighty per cent of all mutations occurred from day 45 onwards, which coincided with the appearance of discrete chromosome expansions, and concluded in the day 115 isolate with a 98 kb tandem DNA duplication. In all heterogeneous vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus isolates, the chromosomal amplification spanned at least a 20 kb region that notably included mprF, a gene involved in resistance to antimicrobial peptides, and parC, an essential DNA replication gene with an unusual V463 codon insertion. Restoration of the chromosome after serial passage under non-selective growth was accompanied by increased susceptibility to antimicrobial peptide killing and reduced vancomycin resistance, two signature phenotypes that help explain the clinical persistence of this strain. Elevated expression of the V463 parC was deleterious to the cell and reduced colony size, but did not alter ciprofloxacin susceptibility. In this study, we identified large DNA expansions as a clinically relevant mechanism of S. aureus resistance and persistence, demonstrating the extent to which bacterial chromosomes remodel in the face of antibiotic and host immune pressures.
A High Authority Piezoelectric Stack Actuator for Structurally Flexible Mechanisms

In this paper, the application of high control authority piezoelectric stack actuators, in short piezostack actuators, for active vibration control of long-reach robotic manipulators is studied. The idea is to include piezostack actuators in the base structure in order to strengthen its stiffness characteristics. A mechanism is designed for converting the force produced by a piezostack actuator to a bending moment. A flexible link actuated with a piezostack actuator is built and mathematically modeled. The solution of the governing partial differential equation with non-homogenous boundary conditions is obtained. A comparison between experimental frequency response of the system and its model is given. A control law using the Popov criterion is obtained and experimental results for closed-loop system are given.
Parsing Agglutinative Word Structures and Its Application to Spelling Checking for Turkish

Most of the research on parsing natural languages has been concerned with English, or with other languages morphologically similar to English. Parsing agglutinative word structures has attracted relatively little attention most probably because agglutinative languages contain word structures of considerable complexity, and parsing words in such languages requires morphological analysis techniques. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a morphological root-driven parser for Turkish word structures which has been incorporated into a spelling checking kernel for on-line Turkish text. The agglutinative nature of the language and the resulting complex word formations. various phonetic harmony rules and subtle exceptions present certain difficulties not usually encountered in the spelling checking of languages like English and make this a very challenging problem.
Policy Language for Access Control in Social Network Cloud

Over the past several decades, the number of peopleusing online social networks for public relations or sharingdocuments have increased significantly. This worldwide use ofsocial networks has made them to be an excellent candidate forusing cloud. As a result, numerous access control methods havebeen proposed to maximize available resources. In addition, toprotect these resources, access control policies have been devised. This research provides a model to protect shared data fromunauthorized access. This model enforces finer-grained accesscontrol in a social network, and enables users to define policies togovern belonging resources and to input inquiries in order toaccess a resource in the most effective way. Policies and inquiriesare converted to an easy-to-use format, which enhances the timeand efficiency of evaluation of inputs. In this paper, we propose awell-formed notation for specifying a cloud-based social networkand the associated access control policies. We show that ournotation enables users to define policies in a simpler and moreefficient way and that it helps users to protect their assets undera tight security. The main contribution of this work is thatresource owners are able to protect their resources fromunauthorized access in an easy and efficient way, and requestorsare able to feed their access requests in a simple, clear, andeffortless way as well.
Scalable computation for spatially scalable video coding using NVIDIA CUDA and multi-core CPU

The scalable video coding (SVC), an extension of H.264/MPEG4-AVC (H.264), was standardized in 2007 by Joint Video Team (JVT). SVC provides spatial, temporal and SNR scalabilities. To achieve these scalabilities, SVC uses additional coding tools and coding modes based on H.264. The coding tools used by SVC and the variety coding modes decision make the corresponding coding complexity become extremely high, so real-time realization of SVC is nearly impossible by using software and single-core CPU only. One possible solution to generate SVC streams in real-time is to parallelize the whole encoding process. Currently, multi-core CPU and GPU are two popular kinds of parallel processing architectures. Not much research has been devoted to realize the parallel SVC encoders based on the co-work of these two architectures. In this paper, a scalable computation model for spatial SVC using multi-core CPU and GPGPU through NVIDIA CUDA is proposed. On the basis of the proposed computational model, a solution to solve the challenging data transition problem (will be detailed later) of this CPU-GPU co-work architecture is then provided. Simulation results show that, through our work, significant speed up gain in spatial SVC encoding can be achieved.