Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Service-Oriented Middleware for Cloud and Fog Enabled Smart City Services

Smart cities are becoming a reality. Various aspects of modern cities are being automated and integrated with information and communication technologies to achieve higher functionality, optimized resources utilization, and management, and improved quality of life for the residents. Smart cities rely heavily on utilizing various software, hardware, and communication technologies to improve the operations in areas, such as healthcare, transportation, energy, education, logistics, and many others, while reducing costs and resources consumption. One of the promising technologies to support such efforts is the Cloud of Things (CoT). CoT provides a platform for linking the cyber parts of a smart city that are executed on the cloud with the physical parts of the smart city, including residents, vehicles, power grids, buildings, water networks, hospitals, and other resources. Another useful technology is Fog Computing, which extends the traditional Cloud Computing paradigm to the edge of the network to enable localized and real-time support for operating-enhanced smart city services. However, proper integration and efﬁcient utilization of CoT and Fog Computing is not an easy task. This paper discusses how the service-oriented middleware (SOM) approach can help resolve some of the challenges of developing and operating smart city services using CoT and Fog Computing. We propose an SOM called SmartCityWare for effective integration and utilization of CoT and Fog Computing. SmartCityWare abstracts services and components involved in smart city applications as services accessible through the service-oriented model. This enhances integration and allows for ﬂexible inclusion and utilization of the various services needed in a smart city application. In addition, we discuss the implementation and experimental issues of SmartCityWare and demonstrate its use through examples of smart city applications.
UMTS-WLAN Interworking Strategies for Reducing Handover Delays

During handover between heterogeneous networks such as the 3G mobile telecommunication systems and the Wireless LAN systems, a subscriber authentication, the Mobile IP operations for IP mobility and an accessing to a data gateway are heavy burdens due to its time-taken operations and overheads. So they are main factors of handover delays. This paper proposes the handover strategies for reducing handover delays in the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) and the Wireless LAN overlay networks. For decreasing the delays, mandatory use of a fast re-authentication is applied and newly added features of one for the UMTS are introduced. And simplified MIPv6 operations and an optimized gateway approach to minimize the network access time are proposed. These proposed approaches are analyzed and evaluated with the results of an authentication test bed and a network simulation.
Comparative analysis of the genomes of intestinal spirochetes of human and animal origin

The aim of the present work was to compare the genomes of 21 strains of intestinal spirochetes, which were isolated from patients suffering intestinal disorders, with those of Treponema hyodysenteriae (strain P18), the known etiological agent of swine dysentery (bloody scours), and of a nonpathogenic strain (M1) of Treponema innocens. The percent guanine-plus-cytosine value of the 23 DNAs was found to be 25.5 to 30.1, as determined by a double-labeling procedure based on nick-translation by DNA polymerase I. The genome size of two spirochetal strains, of human and porcine origin, was found to be similar (4 x 10(6) base pairs) and close to that of the reference bacterium Escherichia coli (4.2 x 10(6) base pairs). Restriction analysis showed the presence of two modified bases in spirochetal DNA. Methyladenine was present in the GATC sequence of DNA from 15 spirochetes of human origin, and methylcytosine was present in several sequences occurring in all strains. The DNA of T. hyodysenteriae displayed a 30 to 100% homology with respect to that of 21 spirochetes from humans, thus suggesting the occurrence of a genetic heterogeneity in the latter group. These data indicate that the intestinal spirochetes analyzed in the present work are related; hence there is a possibility of domestic animals being reservoirs of microorganisms pathogenic for humans. A classification of intestinal treponemes into subgroups has been proposed on the basis of restriction analysis and hybridization experiments.
A survey on the fitness of commercial software metric tools for service in heterogeneous environments: common pitfalls

Tool support in practice is an important success factor for a sustained metrics program. A number of commercial metric tools claim to support the collection and analysis of software metrics. However, these tools vary widely in their ability to seamlessly integrate with the many additional software components and tools required in a typical software development process. While the metric tools often provide powerful data analysis features, data input and output is usually restricted to a few formats and often requires manual user interaction. We point out key aspects of tool automation for a metric program-like standard interfaces and automation support-and evaluates several prominent commercial software metric tools with regard to these criteria. Main results are: tight integration of metric tools in heterogeneous development environments is still not a standard practice/feature and can thus be a substantial cost burden in a metric program due to restricted interfacing and automation capabilities.
Attentional Processes in Correspondence-Based Object Recognition

We show here that a model for invariant object recognition described earlier [1] naturally displays effects of space based and object based attention. The network consists of three functional layers: an input layer for image representation, an intermediate assembly layer for recurrent information integration, and a gallery layer for memory storage (see figure). Each layer consists of cortical columns as functional building blocks that are modeled in accordance with recent experimental findings. Connections between input and assembly layer are modulated by control units on a fast time scale to allow detection of objects in the input image and position invariant mapping to the normalized assembly layer. Recurrent information exchange between assembly and gallery layer leads to recognition. Tests on standard benchmark databases show competitive performance for face recognition.
Late Paleozoic tectonic history of the Ertix Fault in the Chinese Altai and its implications for the development of the Central Asian Orogenic System

The Central Asian Orogenic System (CAOS) is one of the largest Phanerozoic accretionary orogens in the world and may represent a signifi cant site of continental growth. Its origin has been explained by two competing models: syn-subduction strikeslip duplication of a single (>1000 km) long-lived arc (ca. 630‐360 Ma) or collision of multiple arcs and micro-continents. Central to the debate are the relative roles of syn-subduction strike-slip faulting versus thrusting. In both models, the Ertix fault fi gures prominently, either as a roof fault of a large strike-slip duplex system developed during oceanic subduction or as a suture of arc-continent or continent-continent collision. In order to differentiate between the above models, we conducted fi eld mapping, detailed kinematic analysis, and geochronological dating of the Ertix fault zone in the Chinese Altai. Our work indicates that the fault is a crustal-scale thrust that was active in the Permian. Its hanging wall records two pulses of magmatism ca. 450 Ma and ca. 280 Ma and experienced peak pressure and temperature of 6.2‐7.7 kbar and 560‐ 670 °C. Our geologic observations, together with the existing geologic information, favor a tectonic model that involves two episodes of subduction below the Altai arc: fi rst, in the Ordovician, along a south-dipping subduction zone; and second, in the late Carboniferous and early Permian along northdipping subduction of the Junggar ocean. It was during the latter event that a melange complex was underplated below the older Ordovician arc, metamorphosed at lower crustal depths, and then exhumed to the upper crust along the south-directed Ertix thrust zone.
Purpose-based Versus Flow-based Access Control for Privacy

Problem statement: Data protection legislation requires handling of Personal Identifiable Information (PII) in special ways to guarantee privacy. Specifically, the notion of handling purpose plays an important role in current access control mechanisms that allow only actions corresponding to intended purposes. A problem that arises in this context is how to ensure that PII is used solely for the intended purpose. Approach: This study shows that problems in the context of purpose access control can be avoided by using flow-based specifications that map users to a sequence of stages of flows of PII. The methodology is used as a tracking apparatus as it specifies the types of operations a user can perform on such information. The flow system of PII is constructed from six generic operations. Results: The resultant maps of flows of PII are used to assign flow systems to users that represent access control instruments to specify permissible operations and PII streams, preventing use of PII for purposes not corresponding to intended purposes. Conclusion: The resultant flow-based access map demonstrates a viable description method that can be adopted for controlling access to PII. It also presents a uniform methodology that can be applied at various levels such as privacy policies.
Actinomyces cardiffensis sp. nov. from Human Clinical Sources

ABSTRACT Eight strains of a previously undescribed catalase-negative Actinomyces-like bacterium were recovered from human clinical specimens. The morphological and biochemical characteristics of the isolates were consistent with their assignment to the genus Actinomyces, but they did not appear to correspond to any recognized species. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed the organisms represent a hitherto unknown species within the genus Actinomyces related to, albeit distinct from, a group of species which includes Actinomyces turicensis and close relatives. Based on biochemical and molecular genetic evidence, it is proposed that the unknown isolates from human clinical sources be classified as a new species, Actinomyces cardiffensis sp. nov. The type strain of Actinomyces cardiffensis is CCUG 44997T.
Convergence analysis of the proximal point algorithm for pseudo-monotone equilibrium problems

In this paper, we study the weak and strong convergence of the proximal point algorithm for equilibrium problems of pseudo-monotone type in Hilbert spaces. We prove the weak convergence of the generated sequence to a common solution of two equilibrium problems and some strong convergence results with additional assumptions on pseudo-monotone bifunctions. Then we study a regularization of Halpern-type and prove the strong convergence of the generated sequence to an equilibrium point of two pseudo-monotone bifunctions without any additional assumption on bifunctions. Finally, some examples of pseudo-monotone bifunctions from pseudo-monotone operators and Nash-Cournot oligopolistic equilibrium models are also presented. Our results extend some similar results in the literature for monotone and pseudo-monotone equilibrium problems and also the related results for variational inequalities associated with monotone and pseudo-monotone operators.
A control system of lower limb exoskeleton robots based on motor imagery

In this paper, we have developed an asynchronous brain-computer interface (BCI)-based lower limb exoskeleton control system based on motor imagery (MI). By decoding electroencephalography (EEG) signals in real-time, users were able to walk forward, sit down, and stand up while wearing the exoskeleton. EEG feature vectors associated with the motor imagery were extracted from the filtered EEG signals with common spatial patterns (CSP) method. And support vector machine (SVM) was employed to address an EEG-based three — class motor imagery classification task. Overall, four healthy subjects participated in the experiment to evaluate performance. To achieve a better classification result, parameters of CSP and SVM were trained in the offline experiment. In the subsequent online experiment, the results exhibited accuracies of 85.33%, 84%, 72.67% and 81.33%. It indicates that subjects can complete the task fluently and the control system can decode EEG signals with a high recognition rate. Further, the combination in decision table obviously reduces the probability of wrong actions.
Design of a semi-autonomous parking assist system

This paper presents some key components of a semi-autonomous parking assist system designed for a passenger car without any automatic gear. Four subsystems are detailed: the state estimation, the map construction, the path planning and the tracking controller modules. The tasks of these systems are addressed in this work, and the main steps of their algorithms are described. This parking assist system was implemented and tested on a Ford Focus type vehicle.
Food safety implication: Certain antibiotics may rapidly contaminate egg albumen during the process of its formation

1. Egg white formation occurs in 3 phases: synthesis and storage of albumen proteins prior to ovulation, secretion of proteins during passage of the ovum down the reproductive tract (preplumping) and addition of water (plumping phase). 2. This study was to determine if oxytetracycline would transfer into egg albumen during the latter 2 phases of albumen formation. 3. In 2 experiments 48 hens were injected with either 400 mg/kg oxytetracycline or physiological saline. Hens were dosed at 0.5 h (preplumping phase) or 5.5 h (plumping phase) after oviposition. 4. Five hours following injections, hens were euthanised and albumen was collected from the reproductive tract. 5. Oxytetracycline transferred into albumen during both phases of albumen formation. Concentrations (ppm) were greater in the preplump vs plump phase (3.2 vs 1.8 in experiment 1; or 2.8 vs 1.6 in experiment 2. However, when differences in albumen weights were accounted for, total μg transfer did not differ between the 2 phases. 6. Drugs may transfer into egg whites during the latter phases of formation prior to oviposition. Therefore, poultry producers or veterinary practitioners dosing laying hens must consider that egg whites contained in the 1st egg laid after dosing may contain drug residues.
Exploring the Professional Status of Software Work in India

As project management is more often executed in India and controlled by Indian firms, entry to software work has become more dependent on market demand, and less on qualification in a software-related discipline. The attributes approach fails to answer why professionals possess a high amount of power and social status in society and why they are largely free from the evaluation of the public. The power approach views a profession as a set of role relationships between experts and clients. We conclude that software work in India is properly categorized as an occupation.
US3 protein kinase of HSV-1 cycles between the cytoplasm and nucleus and interacts with programmed cell death protein 4 (PDCD4) to block apoptosis

The US3 protein kinase of herpes simplex virus 1 plays a key role in blocking apoptosis induced by viral gene products or exogenous agents. The US3 protein kinase is similar to protein kinase A with respect to substrate range and specificity. We report that in the yeast two-hybrid system a domain of US3 essential for antiapoptotic activity reacted with programmed cell death protein 4 (PDCD4). We report that US3 interacts with PDCD4, that PDCD4 is posttranslationally modified in infected cells both in a US3-dependent and -independent fashion, and that depletion of PDCD4 by siRNA blocked apoptosis induced by a Δα4 mutant virus. In infected cells, PDCD4 accumulates in the nucleus, whereas US3 accumulates in the cytoplasm. Studies designed to elucidate the convergence of these proteins led to the discovery that US3 protein kinase cycles between the nucleus and cytoplasm and that US3 retains PDCD4 in infected cell nuclei.
An improvement of soft-decision maximum-likelihood decoding algorithm using hard-decision bounded-distance decoding

A new soft-decision maximum-likelihood decoding algorithm is proposed, which generates a set of candidate codewords using hard-decision bounded-distance decoding. By improving the generating method of input vectors for the bounded-distance decoding due to Kaneko et al. (see ibid., vol.40, no.3, p.320-27, 1994), the decoding time complexity is reduced without degradation of the performance. The space complexity is dependent on the bounded-distance decoding.
Obesity and cardiovascular disease in developing countries: a growing problem and an economic threat

Purpose of reviewThis review examines the rise of risk factors for cardiovascular disease, especially obesity, in developing countries and the implications for both health and economics. Recent findingsIn the majority of developing countries fertility and infant and child mortality have fallen markedly, and life expectancies have increased. Rapid urbanization, falling food prices, and globalization of economies have contributed to an increase in risk factors for chronic disease. Recent work indicates that the prevalence of these risk factors, including obesity, is rising faster than the historical experience of the West. The transition is affecting women in particular, and increases in risk factors are more marked among lower incomes in growing economies than among the wealthy. Rather than the stereotypical problem of the rich, chronic disease is now a problem for the poor. SummarySignificant research in this area of global health has only been undertaken in the last decade. Additional field research is needed in every dimension of the transition, both to document the problem itself and to determine its economic and societal impact and cost effective responses. Two critical factors are virtually absent from existing work and should be emphasized. First, the impact of rising risk factors for, and mortality from, cardiovascular disease in the work force may imply a growing threat to continued economic progress. Second, because risk factor reduction requires society-wide strategies, broad public–private coalitions will be needed to mobilize sectors beyond healthcare.
Weak Dynamical Nonemptiability and Persistence of Chemical Kinetics Systems

A frequently desirable characteristic of chemical kinetics systems is that of persistence, the property that if all the species are initially present, then none of them may tend toward extinction. It is known that solutions of deterministically modeled mass-action systems may approach only portions of the boundary of the positive orthant which correspond to semilocking sets (alternatively called siphons). Consequently, most recent work on persistence of these systems has been focused on these sets. In this paper, we focus on a result which states that, for a conservative mass-action system, persistence holds if every critical semilocking set is dynamically nonemptiable and the system contains no nested locking sets. We will generalize this result by introducing the notion of a weakly dynamically nonemptiable semilocking set and making novel use of the well-known Farkas' lemma. We will also connect this result to known results regarding complex balanced systems and systems with facets.
A Distinct Class of Dominant Negative Ras Mutants

Cytosolic GTP-bound Ras has been shown to act as a dominant negative (DN) inhibitor of Ras by sequestering Raf in non-productive cytosolic complexes. Nevertheless, this distinct class of DN mutants has been neither well characterized nor extensively used to analyze Ras signaling. In contrast, DN Ras17N, which functions by blocking Ras guanine nucleotide exchange factors, has been well characterized and is widely used. Cytosolic GTP-bound Ras mutants could be used to inhibit particular Ras effectors by introducing additional mutations (T35S, E37G or Y40C) that permit them to associate selectively with and inhibit Raf, RalGDS, or phosphoinositide 3-kinase, respectively. When the wild-type Ras effector binding region is used, cytosolic Ras should associate with all Ras effectors, even those that are not yet identified, making these DN Ras mutants effective inhibitors of multiple Ras functions. We generated cytosolic GTP-bound H-, N-, and K-Ras, and we assessed their ability to inhibit Ras-induced phenotypes. In fibroblasts, cytosolic H-, N-, and K-Ras inhibited Ras-induced Elk-1 activation and focus formation, induced a flattened cell morphology, and increased adhesion to fibronectin through modulation of a β1-subunit-containing integrin, thereby demonstrating that DN activity is not limited to a subset of Ras isoforms. We also generated cytosolic GTP-bound Ras effector domain mutants (EDMs), each of which reduced the ability of cytosolic GTP-bound Ras proteins to inhibit Elk-1 activation and to induce cell flattening, implicating multiple pathways in these phenotypes. In contrast, Ras-induced focus formation, platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-, or Ras-induced phospho-Akt levels and cell adhesion to fibronectin were affected by T35S and Y40C EDMs, whereas PDGF- or Ras-induced phospho-Erk levels were affected only by the T35S EDM, implying that a more limited set of Ras-mediated pathways participate in these phenotypes. These data constitute the first extensive characterization of this functionally distinct class of DN Ras inhibitor proteins.
A Method for Correcting Preposition Errors in Learner English with Feedback Messages

SUMMARY This paper presents a novel framework called error case frames for correcting preposition errors. They are case frames specially designed for describing and correcting preposition errors. Their most distinct advantage is that they can correct errors with feedback messages explaining why the preposition is erroneous. This paper proposes a method for automatically generating them by comparing learner and native corpora. Experiments show (i) automatically generated error case frames achieve a performance comparable to previous methods; (ii) error case frames are intuitively interpretable and manually modiﬁable to improve them; (iii) feedback messages provided by error case frames are e ﬀ ective in language learning assistance. Considering these advantages and the fact that it has been di ﬃ cult to provide feedback messages using automatically generated rules, error case frames will likely be one of the major approaches for preposition error correction.