Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Kinematic model of underwater vehicle

An autonomous underwater vehicle is a robotic device that circulates in water through a propulsion system, controlled by an on-board computer. This article presents a general view of the autonomous submarine vehicle, the usefulness of which is presented in different fields of application, and specifically the field of research. We also preserve the different types of underwater robots, and finally we developed a kinematic model of our robot, this model is a general model of a body governed in space.
Understanding students' use and value of technology for learning

Despite significant research in the field of educational technology, there is still much we do not fully understand about students' experiences with technology. This article proposes that research in the field of educational technology would benefit from a sociological framing that pays attention to the understandings and lives of learners. Within a broader study that aimed to investigate students' use and value of technologies guided by Bourdieu's sociological theory, this article reports on qualitative embedded case study data of 12 students in years 9 and 10 from two Australian secondary schools. The article provides detailed accounts of students' experiences with technologies in various contexts with consideration of the milieu in which technology use occurred, illustrating the heterogeneous and complex network of influencing factors on students' technology practices. The findings and discussion augment the application of Bourdieu's concepts of field, habitus and capital as a tool to view and understand students' varied and complex experiences and relationships with technology.
Towards a Reference Model for SOA Governance

Although the lack of elaborate governance mechanisms is often seen as the main reason for failures of SOA projects, SOA governance is still very low in maturity. In this paper, we follow a design science approach to address this drawback by presenting a framework that can guide organisations in implementing a governance approach for SOA more successfully. We have reviewed the highly advanced IT governance frameworks Cobit and ITIL and mapped them to the SOA domain. The resulting blueprint for an SOA governance framework was refined based on a detailed literature review, expert interviews and a practical application in a government organisation. The proposed framework stresses the need for business representatives to get involved in SOA decisions and to define benefits ownership for services.
Visual Analytics for Large-Scale Bioinformatic Data Sets

Rapid advances in sequencing technologies (Next Generation Sequencing or NGS) have led to a vast increase in the quantity of bioinformatics data available, with this increasing scale presenting enormous challenges to researchers seeking to identify complex interactions. This paper is concerned with the domain of transcriptional regulation, and the use of visualisation to identify relationships between specific regulatory proteins (the transcription factors or TFs) and their associated target genes (TGs). We present preliminary work from an ongoing study which aims to determine the effectiveness of different visual representations and large scale displays in supporting discovery. Following an iterative process of implementation and evaluation, representations were tested by potential users in the bioinformatics domain to determine their efficacy, and to understand better the range of ad hoc practices among bioinformatics literate users. Results from two rounds of small scale user studies are considered with initial findings suggesting that bioinformaticians require richly detailed views of TF data, features to compare TF layouts between organisms quickly, and ways to keep track of interesting data points.
DOES SURROUND HAVE NON-TARGET IMPACTS ON NEW ENGLAND ORCHARDS ?

The University of Vermont Apple Program received a USDA grant to study the long-term effects of “particle film technology” on Northeast apple orchards. This technology has been commercially available to growers since 2001 in the kaolin clay–based product Surround. Surround is viewed as a potential alternative for some organophosphate uses in orchards. It is considered a “Reduced Risk Pesticide” by the EPA, indicating that it has characteristics such as very low toxicity to humans and non-target organisms including fish and birds, and low risk of groundwater contamination or runoff. The material also meets all Federal and State standards for use in organic crop production, and may be an important component in that expanding field. Currently for apples Surround is labeled for control of leafhoppers and overwintering oblique banded leafroller, and suppression of codling moth, plum curculio, apple maggot, green fruitworm, and a number of other insects. When applied to the tree, Surround forms a white physical barrier on the surface of fruit and foliage. This particle film barrier acts as a pest deterrent by either directly repelling insects or making feeding, egglaying, or colonization sites unrecognizable or unsuitable. By its nature, this technology is extremely dependent on thorough coverage of the fruit and foliage. Dilute or near dilute applications are necessary and application rates can range from 25 to 50 pounds per acre on apples. The current material label states that “When applied at recommended rates and frequencies, benefits such as increased plant vigor and improved yields may occur in certain apple cultivars. Under high ambient temperatures, Surround reduces canopy temperature and, therefore, can help to reduce heat and water stress. Many cultivars have shown improved fruit color, smoothness, and size with less sunburn, and cracking when Surround is used. ” However, much of the previous research on these variables has been performed in warmer, semi-arid, and sub-humid environments. Application of Surround at full rates has been suggested to reduce canopy temperature due to reflectance of solar energy from the white film. The objectives of our research are to determine potential non-target effects of thorough coverage of kaolin film on apple tree vigor, productivity, and fruit quality, including an economic assessment of the gross monetary value of the crop, and to determine non-target effects of kaolin film on diseases and bird damage (we are referring to these effects as ‘non-target’ because kaolin films have been developed and subsequently labeled primarily to manage insect pests) under the relatively cool and moist climate of the Northeast.
An LZ approach to ECG compression

Two highly effective families of lossless compression methods were created by Ziv and Lempel (1977). However, these methods are normally ineffective when applied to digitized signals. We have successfully adapted the LZ77 method to take advantage of the repetitive nature of ECG waveforms. In our experiments, the resulting algorithm produces much better compression ratios than competing techniques while retaining the essential characteristics of the waveform. <<ETX>>
Exogenous Melatonin Elevates the Plasma Leptin and Thyroxine Concentrations of the Mink (Mustela vison)

Abstract Eight male and eight female minks were given exogenous melatonin as subcutaneous implants. The plasma leptin and thyroxine concentrations were measured. The leptin concentrations showed clear seasonal variations and differences between the experimental groups. In September most of the control females had undetectable plasma leptin concentrations, but the melatonin-treated females had detectable concentrations significantly higher than the leptin levels of the controls. Most of the males had undetectable leptin concentrations, too. In October the plasma leptin levels had increased significantly in all the groups except the control males. The melatonin-treated minks had significantly higher leptin levels than the controls. There was a significant rise in the thyroxine levels from September to October and the melatonin-treated groups had significantly higher thyroxine levels than the controls. The effects of exogenous melatonin are very pronounced in the mink. Melatonin elevates the plasma leptin and thyroxine levels possibly by direct and indirect mechanisms.
Solving Limited-Memory BFGS Systems with Generalized Diagonal Updates

In this paper, we investigate a formula to solve systems of the form (Bk + D)x = y, where Bk comes from a limited-memory BFGS quasi-Newton method and D is a diagonal matrix with diagonal entries di,i ≥ σ for some σ > 0. These types of systems arise naturally in large-scale optimization. We show that provided a simple condition holds on B0 and σ, the system (Bk + D)x = y can be solved via a recursion formula that requies only vector inner products. This formula has complexity Mn, where M is the number of L-BFGS updates and n M is the dimension of x. We do not assume anything about the distribution of the values of the diagonal elements in D, and our approach is particularly for robust non-clustered values, which proves problematic for the conjugate gradient method.
Perceived threat and control as moderators of peace activism: Implications for mobilizing the public in the pursuit of disarmament

The present study was designed to investigate what variables discriminate individuals who actively work to promote disarmament from individuals who share the same attitudes but remain inactive. It is argued that if a person appraises nuclear war as an unlikely event, then it is not necessary to contemplate what can be done to prevent it. In contrast, if a threat is perceived, several possible coping strategies might be available, one of which is activism. However, activism is viable only if an individual believes that collectively the public can make a difference. Results of two surveys, one conducted with 142 peace activists across Canada and another with a random sample of 33 adults from the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo, Ontario, who are not active in the peace movement, confirm that perceptions of threat and belief in collective control are powerful discriminating variables. The implications of these findings for educating and mobilizing the public in the pursuit of disarmament are discussed. Language: en
gendered pathways into and experiences within crack cultures outside of the inner city

This study examines the life histories of male and female crack addicts outside of the inner city context, focusing on gendered variation in experiences related to childhood background, pathways into crack cocaine use, income generation strategies, and violence. We offer insight into the nature of crack use and culture outside of the inner city and question the generalizability of previous studies to communities outside of the inner city. Furthermore, the question of women's emancipation and the subsequent impact this has had on their roles and experiences within crack cultures is addressed through comparison of male and female experiences within crack cultures. Lastly, the issue of how race, class, and gender interact to shape the experiences of crack addicts is tentatively explored.
CAN UNSTABLE PREFERENCES PROVIDE A STABLE STANDARD OF WELL-BEING?

How do we determine the well-being of a person when her preferences are not stable across worlds? Suppose, for instance, that you are considering getting married, and that you know that if you get married, you will prefer being unmarried, and that if you stay unmarried, you will prefer being married. The general problem is to find a stable standard of well-being when the standard is set by preferences that are not stable. In this paper, I shall show that the problem is even worse: inconsistency threatens if we accept both that your desires determine what is good for you and that you must prefer what is better for you. After I have introduced a useful toy model and stated the inconsistency argument, I will go on to discuss a couple of unsuccessful theories and see what we can learn from their mistakes. One important lesson is that how you would have felt about a life had you never led it is irrelevant to the question of how good that life is for you. What counts is how you feel about your life when you are actually leading it. Another lesson is that a life can be better for you even if you would not rank it higher, if you were to lead it.
A random walk amid the macromolecules

In life we seldom get what we expect. That this can sometimes be for the good is shown by the fact that at an early age I had decided to become an organic chemist. Exactly where I got this wholly inappropriate ambition is unclear; i t was certainly not in school, for the elementary school I attended provided little in the way of career guidance. It was, in fact, one of those oneroom country schools where eight grades sat side by side in eight rows. Although we lacked career counselors and the like, I d o not believe that the one-room schools provided a poor education. In fact, I am convinced that in many respects this was one of the finest educational systems ever devised. Because each grade went to the front of the room and recited in turn, you learned to concentrate in disregard of background noise. On the other hand, by listening one heard not only a yearly repetition of all one had heard, but also gained fascinating glimpses of what was yet to come. In such a system, we did not learn many things, but we learned a few things very well. High school, in a nearby industrial town, was mainly unpleasant. The only really good memories I have are connected with the discovery of mathematics. Realizing that a whole system of geometry could be built from a few simple axioms was one of the great experiences of my life. After four excruciating years of high school, I finally escaped to the University of Wisconsin. This brought intellectual excitement, but also shocksfor the first time 1 found that there were
Attitudes and Practices of Hookah Smokers in the San Francisco Bay Area

Abstract As many as 10 million people will die annually by the year 2030 due to tobacco-related causes. While much research has focused on cigarettes, the increasing popularity of smoking hookah (water pipe) has received much less attention. Epidemiological studies have been carried out in India, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait, and Lebanon, but there are few in the United States. Hookah smoking is typically a social activity and there are many myths and rumors about the relative safety of smoking hookah compared to cigarettes. The aim of this study was to identify the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of hookah smokers in the San Francisco Bay Area. We sampled 50 participants (25 male and 25 female) who were mostly college students at the University of California, Berkeley. Hookah smoking was occasional among those sampled, with only six participants (12%) reporting weekly hookah smoking. The majority of respondents considered hookah smoking to be harmful to their health (88%), yet 52% had no intention of quitting. More definitive studies conveying the possible harm of hookah smoking are necessary to serve as a basis for health education programs and policy changes towards this potentially harmful activity.
BIODEGRADATION OF DIESEL FUEL BY AN AZOLLA-DERIVED BACTERIAL CONSORTIUM

ABSTRACT The widely distributed water fern Azolla was investigated for use as an amendment in the bioremediation of fuel-contaminated environments. In a field experiment Azolla pinnata as well as Pistia stratiotes and Salvinia molesta were applied to plots containing soil that had been surface-contaminated with diesel fuel (2.4 L m−2) and flooded with water. The plants quickly died and bacterial flocs developed around the dead A. pinnata fronds. After 16 weeks, diesel concentrations (as determined by levels of gas chromatography-detectable hydrocarbons) in the plant-added plots were less than half that of the control plot, and concentrations of xylenes and ethylbenzene were 50–100 times lower. In laboratory experiments, a consortium composed of A. pinnata-derived bacteria displayed dense growth in a 4% diesel-containing mineral salts medium and was found to lower the fluorescence from aromatic compounds by approximately 50% after 19 d. It is concluded that the observed enhancement of diesel degradation in the plant-added plots was due to the release of bacteria (bioaugmentation) and physiochemical improvement of the plot conditions (biostimulation).
Evolution of Biomarker Guided Therapy for Heart Failure: Current Concepts and Trial Evidence

Optimizing management of patients with heart failure remains quite challenging despite many significant advances in drug and device therapy for this syndrome. Although a large body of evidence from robust clinical trials supports multiple thera-pies, utilization of these well-established treatments remains inconsistent and outcomes suboptimal in “real-world” patients with heart failure. Disease management programs may be effective, but are difficult to implement due to cost and logistical issues. Another approach to optimizing therapy is to utilize biomarkers to guide therapeutic choices. Natriuretic peptides pro-vide additional information of significant clinical value in the diagnosis and estimation of risk inpatients with heart failure. Ongoing research suggests a potential important added role for natriuretic peptides in heart failure. Guiding therapy based on serial changes in these biomarkers may be an effective strategy to optimize treatment and achieve better outcomes in this syn-drome. Initial, innovative, proof-of-concept studies have provided encouraging results and important insights into key as-pects of this strategy, but well designed, large-scale, multicenter, randomized, outcome trials are needed to definitively estab-lish this novel approach to management. Given the immense and growing public health burden of heart failure, identification of cost-effective ways to decrease the morbidity and mortality due to this syndrome is critical.
INCREASED MORTALITY AND ALTERED IMMUNITY IN NEONATAL SEPSIS PRODUCED BY GENERALIZED PERITONITIS

Neonates have a higher prevalence of bacterial sepsis and have greater morbidity and mortality from sepsis than other infants and children. Our understanding of the inflammatory and immunological responses to sepsis is hampered by the lack of appropriate neonatal murine models. In the present report, we have developed a cecal slurry model of generalized peritonitis in neonatal mice (age range, 5-7 days) and compared the outcome and the innate and adaptive cellular responses of these animals with those of the young adult animals (age range, 7-10 weeks) with sepsis induced either by cecal slurry administration or by cecal ligation and puncture. Neonatal mice were more susceptible to sepsis and mounted a markedly attenuated systemic inflammatory response compared with young adult animals (specifically, decreased plasma interferon γ; interleukins 1α and 1β; regulated on activation, normal T expressed and secreted (RANTES); and tumor necrosis factor α concentrations). Compared with young adult animals, septic neonatal mice did not lose significant percentage or absolute number of splenic CD4+ T cells. These findings suggest that the cecal slurry model of generalized peritonitis can produce sepsis in neonatal mice with dose-dependent lethality. Inherent differences in the host response to polymicrobial sepsis between neonatal and young adult animals may explain the increased sensitivity of the neonatal mouse to generalized peritonitis.
Nipah Virus Sequesters Inactive STAT1 in the Nucleus via a P Gene-Encoded Mechanism

ABSTRACT The Nipah virus (NiV) phosphoprotein (P) gene encodes the C, P, V, and W proteins. P, V, and W, have in common an amino-terminal domain sufficient to bind STAT1, inhibiting its interferon (IFN)-induced tyrosine phosphorylation. P is also essential for RNA-dependent RNA polymerase function. C is encoded by an alternate open reading frame (ORF) within the common amino-terminal domain. Mutations within residues 81 to 113 of P impaired its polymerase cofactor function, as assessed by a minireplicon assay, but these mutants retained STAT1 inhibitory function. Mutations within the residue 114 to 140 region were identified that abrogated interaction with and inhibition of STAT1 by P, V, and W without disrupting P polymerase cofactor function. Recombinant NiVs were then generated. A G121E mutation, which abrogated inhibition of STAT1, was introduced into a C protein knockout background (Cko) because the mutation would otherwise also alter the overlapping C ORF. In cell culture, relative to the wild-type virus, the Cko mutation proved attenuating but the G121E mutant virus replicated identically to the Cko virus. In cells infected with the wild-type and Cko viruses, STAT1 was nuclear despite the absence of tyrosine phosphorylation. This latter observation mirrors what has been seen in cells expressing NiV W. In the G121E mutant virus-infected cells, STAT1 was not phosphorylated and was cytoplasmic in the absence of IFN stimulation but became tyrosine phosphorylated and nuclear following IFN addition. These data demonstrate that the gene for NiV P encodes functions that sequester inactive STAT1 in the nucleus, preventing its activation and suggest that the W protein is the dominant inhibitor of STAT1 in NiV-infected cells.
An Experimental Study of Individualized Learning/Instruction in Copying, Tracking, and Handwriting Based on Feedback Principles

During the last 10 to 15 yr. the stressing of individualized instructions has caused a reorganization of some schools, curricula, and instructional methods. Different theoretical approaches have been used for developing individualized instruction programmes in reading, spelling, and writing. The present experimental study of individualized instruction in copying, tracing, tracking, and handwriting was based on theoretical feedback principles. Close relationships between visuo-motor ability, copying, tracing, tracking, and writing performances were hypothesized and so were the main effects of the experimental programme with concern to the educational, psychomotor skills in question. In general, the predictions were confirmed by data in the present study in which 36 third-graders participated. Some additional information was presented, e.g., significant interaction between the experimental programme and subjects' writing skills was found for tracing only.
Diversity of laccase-coding genes in Fusarium oxysporum genomes

Multiple studies confirm laccase role in fungal pathogenicity and lignocellulose degradation. In spite of broad genomic research, laccases from plant wilt pathogen Fusarium oxysporum are still not characterized. The study aimed to identify F. oxysporum genes that may encode laccases sensu stricto and to characterize the proteins in silico in order to facilitate further research on their impact on the mentioned processes. Twelve sequenced F. oxysporum genomes available on Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT (2015) website were analyzed and three genes that may encode laccases sensu stricto were found. Their amino acid sequences possess all features essential for their catalytic activity, moreover, the homology models proved the characteristic 3D laccase structures. The study shades light on F. oxysporum as a new source of multicopper oxidases, enzymes with possible high redox potential and broad perspective in biotechnological applications.