Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Selection of Chemicals for the Development and Evaluation of In Vitro Methods for Skin Sensitisation Testing

Advances in the understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying skin sensitisation, and the need to comply with recent regulatory requirements, have favoured the development of alternative approaches, some of which may provide promising screening or partial replacement methods. However, efforts are still required to identify more-robust predictive endpoints, and to further optimise existing methods to be integrated into a testing strategy, with a view to achieving the full replacement of the current animal tests. The European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) and the European Cosmetics Association (Colipa) have been collaborating with the aim of identifying a core set of reference chemicals for test method development and/or optimisation. The use of a common set of reference chemicals in the method development phase, would facilitate an early assessment of the performance of a method with respect to existing tests, and of its possible contribution to a testing strategy. By applying pre-defined criteria, existing databases were mined, and a list of 16 chemicals, including 12 positive controls, of which four require metabolic activation to act as sensitisers, and four negative controls, was collated. The chemicals and the criteria used for their selection are presented.
A New Surface Electromyography Amplitude Estimation Method

Surface electromyography (sEMG) has been widely used to estimate muscle activity. To date, the estimators have been used such as MAV (mean absolute value) and RMS (root mean squre), and they are designed based on the statistical characteristics (probabilistic distribution) of raw sEMG amplitudes in a time window interval. However, their processing methods have no relevance to muscle physiology. We propose a new surface sEMG amplitude estimator, inspired by mechanical behavior of the muscle and characteristics of sEMG recordings, and they have more relevance to muscle physiology. This estimator might provide a better analysis tool for quantitative measurement of muscle activities in a large of research areas such as functional electrical stimulation, physiology, neuroscience, ergonomics, and biomedical engineering.
Accelerating Self-Similarity-Based Image Super- Resolution Using OpenCL

This paper proposes the parallel implementation of a self-similarity based image SR (super-resolution) algorithm using OpenCL. The SR algorithm requires tremendous computations to search for a similar patch. This becomes a bottleneck for the real-time conversion from a FHD image to UHD. Therefore, it is imperative to accelerate the processing speed of SR algorithms. For parallelization, the SR process is divided into several kernels, and memory optimization is performed. In addition, two GPUs are used for further acceleration. The experimental results shows that a GPGPU implementation can speed up over 140 times compared to a single-core CPU. Furthermore, it was confirmed experimentally that utilizing two GPUs can speed up the execution time proportionally, up to 277 times.
Farinha de camarão em dietas para tilápia do Nilo ("Oreochromis niloticus")

Replacement of conventional ingredients used in fish diets by non-conventional products has been an economic alternative to reduce the cost of feeding. Therefore, 90-day trial was performed to study the effect of shrimp meal (SM) inclusion on diets of Nile tilapia fries. Weight gain (WG), feed conversion (FC), apparent feed intake (AFI), fillet yield (FY), fillet income (FI) values and protein effiency ratio (PER) were evaluated. Each experimental unit was an aquaria with five tilapias (Oreochromis niloticus), mean body weight of 7,9g, total of 120 animals. Treatments were four diets with 0, 25, 50 and 100% of SM replacing the soybean meal, which protein (28.0%) and energy (3100 kcal/DE/kg) content in diet were similar. Animals were fed three times daily. The offered food was adjusted according to fish live weight. The substitution of soybean by SM reduced WG, FC, AFI, FY and PER. SM inclusion did not affect the FI. Shrimp meal inclusion in diets for Nile tilapia affects negatively the growth performance.
Escherichia coli O157:H7 Outbreak Associated with the Consumption of Beef and Veal Tartares in the Province of Quebec, Canada, in 2013.

Abstract Objectives: An Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak occurred in 2013 that was associated with the consumption of beef and veal tartares in the province of Quebec. This report describes the results of the ensuing investigation. Materials and Methods: As the outbreak was identified, all individuals in the province of Quebec affected with the same strain of E. coli O157:H7 as defined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis were interviewed using a standardized questionnaire. Cases reported from other provinces in Canada were interviewed by their public health authorities and the results were reported to the Quebec public health authorities. Microbiological and environmental investigations were conducted by the Sous-ministeriat a la sante animale et a l'inspection des aliments du Ministere de l'Agriculture, des Pecheries et de l'Alimentation du Quebec, by the Ville de Montreal's Food Inspection Branch, and by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency at the restaurants, suppliers, and slaughterhouses identified.
EREBUS: a debugger for asynchronous distributed computing systems

This paper addresses the problem of debugging distributed programs executed on distributed memory parallel computers with message-passing interprocess communication. The main issues of debugging such programs are exposed. Principles for designing and implementing a debugger for programs specified in the Estelle language are presented. All the described solutions have been implemented in a distributed debugger called EREBUS. <<ETX>>
Parallel H.263 video encoder in normal coding mode

A parallel H.263 video encoder, which utilises spatial parallelism, has been modelled using a multi-threaded program. Spatial parallelism is a technique where an image is subdivided into equal parts (as far as physically possible) and each part is processed by a separate processor by computing motion and texture coding with all processors each acting on a different part of the image. This method leads to a performance increase, which is roughly in proportion to the number of parallel processors used.
A new SIMD computer vision architecture with image algebra programming environment

New programmable hardware architectures and much more efficient algorithm development environment tools are needed to meet the explosive growth and diverse application scenarios anticipated for computer vision technology over the next 5 years in both the military and commercial application arenas. Needed are programmable computer architectures that provide much higher cost effectiveness through scalability of all hardware resources (i.e., I/O bandwidth, throughput, memory) and through exploitation of the unique requirements and characteristics of image processing algorithms and applications. In addition, a new class of software development tools is needed that can streamline and improve the efficiency of the algorithm development process, as well as provide a concise, platform-independent, very-high-level notation for computer vision algorithms that encourages iterative and collaborative developments. Progress in developing new tools and technology for military and commercial computer vision applications by the Parallel Algebraic Logic (PAL) consortium is described.
Comparison of Mycoplasmas Associated with Human Tumors, Leukemia, and Tissue Cultures

Leach, R. H. (Wellcome Research Laboratories, Beckenham, Kent, England), and M. Butler. Comparison of mycoplasmas associated with human tumors, leukemia, and tissue cultures. J. Bacteriol. 91:934–941. 1966. —Mycoplasmas originally isolated by various workers from tissue cultures prepared from or inoculated with tumor or leukemic cells fell into four groups; each related to existing species or serotypes. These were Mycoplasma pulmonis, M. fermentans, M. hominis, and the GDL serotype, the last two being well known as contaminants of uninoculated cell lines. All the test strains were able to grow well in certain tissue cultures, and some caused cytopathic effects and acidity. These observations are discussed in terms of the relationship of these strains to the malignant tissues with which they were originally associated. The variable results obtained in certain biological tests on these strains emphasized the need for standardization of the conditions under which such tests may be employed to assist in identification of Mycoplasma species.
Effect of feedback mechanisms on students' learning in the use of simulation-based training in a computer engineering program

Feedback is a vital element for improving student learning in a simulation-based training as it guides and refines learning through scaffolding. A number of studies in literature have shown that students' learning is enhanced when feedback is provided with personalized tutoring that offers specific guidance and adapts feedback to the learner in a one-to-one environment. Thus, emulating these adaptive aspects of human tutoring in simulation provides an effective methodology to train individuals. This paper presents the results of a study that investigated the effectiveness of automating different types of feedback techniques such as Knowledge-of-Correct-Response (KCR) and Answer-Until-Correct (AUC) in software simulation for learning basic information technology concepts. For the purpose of comparison, techniques like simulation with zero or no-feedback (NFB) and traditional hands-on (HON) learning environments are also examined. The paper presents the summary of findings based on quantitative analyses, wh.
Isolation and Some Properties of a β-d-Xylosidase from Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824

A β-d-xylosidase from C. acetobutylicum ATCC 824 was purified by column chromatography on CM-Sepharose, hydroxylapatite, Phenyl Sepharose, and Sephadex G-200. The enzyme had an apparent molecular weight of 224,000 as estimated by gel filtration. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that the enzyme consisted of two subunits of 85,000 and one subunit of 63,000 daltons. It exhibited optimal activity at pH 6.0 to 6.5 and 45°C. the enzyme had an isoelectric point of 5.85. It hydrolyzed p-nitrophenylxyloside readily with a Km of 3.7 mM. The enzyme hydrolyzed xylo-oligosaccharides with chain lengths of 2 to 6 units by cleaving a single xylose from the chain end. It showed little or no activity against xylan, carboxymethyl cellulose, and other p-nitrophenylglycosides.
Enterobacteriaceae Family Bacteria In A Mesotrophic Lake (Lake Długie Wigierskie) in the Presence of Black Cormorants ( Phalocrocorax Carbo )

Counts of Enterobacteriaceae family bacteria were assayed in the water of Dlugie Wigierskie Lake, which are situated in Wigry National Park and is settled by a colony of about 1000 black cormorants. The studied were conducted at monthly intervals in spring, summer and autumn of 2000-2001. Water samples were collected at 14 sites. Counts of Enterobacteriaceae family bacteria in the water of Dlugie Wigierskie Lake were very small in studied capacity water samples. The highest numbers of these bacteria not exceed 910 in 1 cm 3 ; simetimes, no presence of these bacteria was determined. Enterobacteriaceae family bacteria was determined in higher numbers from July to September, especially in the water sampled at the sites located in the areas inhabited by cormorants. Among the bacteria which belong to the Enterobacteriaceae family bacteria Enterobacter gergoviae (15.5%), Klebsiella oxytoca (9.8%), Serratia odorifera (9.8%), Citrobacter freundii (9.2%) and Enterobacter cloacae (7.6%) were most numerous, whereas pathogenic Salmonella and Shigella genus were not detected in water samples.
Ca2+ and calmodulin differentially modulate myo-inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3)-binding to the recombinant ligand-binding domains of the various IP3 receptor isoforms

We have expressed the N-terminal 581 amino acids of type 1 myo-inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP(3)R1), IP(3)R2 and IP(3)R3 as recombinant proteins [ligand-binding site 1 (lbs-1), lbs-2, lbs-3] in the soluble fraction of Escherichia coli. These recombinant proteins contain the complete IP(3)-binding domain and bound IP(3) and adenophostin A with high affinity. Ca(2+) and calmodulin were previously found to maximally inhibit IP(3) binding to lbs-1 by 42+/-6 and 43+/-6% respectively, and with an IC(50) of approx. 200 nM and 3 microM respectively [Sipma, De Smet, Sienaert, Vanlingen, Missiaen, Parys and De Smedt (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 12157-12562]. We now report that Ca(2+) inhibited IP(3) binding to lbs-3 with an IC(50) of approx. 700 nM (37+/-4% inhibition at 5 microM Ca(2+)), while IP(3) binding to lbs-2 was not affected by increasing [Ca(2+)] from 100 nM to 25 microM. Calmodulin (10 microM) inhibited IP(3) binding to lbs-3 by 37+/-4%, while IP(3) binding to lbs-2 was inhibited by only 11+/-2%. The inhibition of IP(3) binding to lbs-3 by calmodulin was dose-dependent (IC(50) approximately 2 microM). We conclude that the IP(3)-binding domains of the various IP(3)R isoforms differ in binding characteristics for IP(3) and adenophostin A, and are differentially modulated by Ca(2+) and calmodulin, suggesting that the various IP(3)R isoforms can have different intracellular functions.
ACTIVE LOW-POWER MODES FOR MAIN MEMORY

OF THE DISSERTATION Active Low-Power Modes for Main Memory by Qingyuan Deng Dissertation Director: Professor Ricardo Bianchini Main memory is responsible for a significant fraction of the energy consumed by servers. Prior work has focused on exploiting memory low-power states to conserve energy. However, these states require entire ranks of DRAM to be idle, which is difficult to achieve even in lightly loaded servers. In this work, we propose three techniques for exploiting active low-power modes to conserve full-system energy, while remaining within userprescribed performance bounds. The first technique, called MemScale, creates active memory system low-power modes by applying dynamic voltage and frequency scaling to the memory controller and dynamic frequency scaling to the memory channels and DRAM devices. The second technique, called CoScale, coordinates the CPU and main memory active low-power modes to avoid instability and increase energy savings. The third technique, called MultiScale, tackles servers with multiple memory controllers, by coordinating the active low-power modes across the controllers. Our extensive results demonstrate that the three techniques reduce full-system energy consumption significantly, compared to prior approaches, while consistently remaining within the user-prescribed performance bounds. We conclude that the potential benefits of those three mechanisms and policies more than compensate for their small hardware cost.
Web feeds recommending system based on social data

Staying up to date with an individual's interests is a daunting task. An unstoppable number of growing online resources such as websites, blogs and news portals are providing information on various subjects and topics and it is provoking certain difficulties on individuals to identify the best resources or providers in order to trust and follow them continuously. Even though, some trustworthy useful sources have been identified, individuals are still losing them due to lack of management, not bookmarking the sites, carelessness, and so on. The proposed system in this paper will help internet users to figure out an approach to identify and recommend web feeders based on the social data collected from social channels like Facebook. It aims to provide a common place for internet users to read updates of their interest without having to perform search queries. It will also explain about the techniques used to filter data to generate recommended web feeds for users.
What are comparable corpora

Although progress has, no doubt, been made in the construction of comparable corpora since 1996, there is very little literature in which the characteristics of comparable corpora are explained and analyzed. It would seem that they are ideals rather than realities. In this paper we shall try to look at the reasons for constructing comparable corpora, the theoretical and practical problems they pose and the uses to which they can be put.
The design of low-power digital datapath circuits

This thesis outlines the design of the digital section of a transmit DAC, as well as the methods used for limiting the power consumption of the design. The methods emphasized are ones that provide noticeable reduction of the power, and can be used again without adding to the development time of later designs. This thesis describes the use of dynamic flip-flops and different architectures of FIR filters as two methods that yielded the best savings in power consumption. Thesis Supervisor: Anantha Chandrakasan Title: Associate Professor
In vitro propagation of Lesser Galangal (Alpinia calcarata Rosc.) - a commercially important medicinal plant through rhizome bud culture

An efficient protocol has been established for clonal propagation of Alpinia calcarata , a commercially important medicinal plant on Murashige and Skooge medium usingrhizome bud explants. Of the different concentrations of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) andBAP in combination with different levels of kinetin, the best response of axillary shootproliferation was achieved in a combination of 1.5 mg/l of kinetin in combination with 0.5mg/l of BAP producing 13.6 shoots per explant in 6-8 weeks of culture followed by 2 mg/lkinetin and 0.5 mg/l BAP with an average of 6.2 shoot buds from each of the explants.Rooting of the shoots also occurred in the same medium in 3 weeks of subculture. Shootstransferred to half strength MS medium with 0.5 mg/l IBA was optimum for healthyrooting. The healthy in vitro rooted plants were hardened on plastic cups in sterile sand andwere transferred to pots containing potting mixture under green house conditions for 3-4weeks for acclimatization. The survival rate was 87-90% and the plants established well inthe field and developed rhizomes after 4-6 weeks of growth under shade house. Thisprotocol proves its utility for rapid propagation of A. calcarata , which can be exploited forpharmaceutical and commercial purpose.
A Two-Stage State Recognition Method for Asynchronous SSVEP-Based Brain-Computer Interface System

A two-stage state recognition method is proposed for asynchronous SSVEP(steady-state visual evoked potential) based brain-computer interface(SBCI) system.The two-stage method is composed of the idle state(IS) detection and control state(CS) discrimination modules.Based on blind source separation and continuous wavelet transform techniques,the proposed method integrates functions of multi-electrode spatial filtering and feature extraction.In IS detection module,a method using the ensemble IS feature is proposed.In CS discrimination module,the ensemble CS feature is designed as feature vector for control intent classification.Further,performance comparisons are investigated among our IS detection module and other existing ones.Also the experimental results validate the satisfactory performance of our CS discrimination module.
4‐Hydroxybenzoyl‐Coenzyme A Reductase

The dehydroxylating 4-hydroxybenzoyl-CoA reductase (HBCR) plays an important role in the degradation of para-hydroxylated aromatic compounds in anaerobic bacteria. The enzyme catalyzes the removal of the phenolic hydroxyl group from 4-hydroxybenzoyl-CoA, yielding benzoyl-CoA and water; a reduced ferredoxin serves as an electron donor. The enzyme belongs to the xanthine oxidase (XO) family of molybdenum cofactor containing enzymes and contains a molybdopterin-cytosine dinucleotide cofactor, two [2Fe–2S] clusters, FAD and a [4Fe–4S] cluster per functional unit. HBCR is unique among XO family members in catalyzing the irreversible reduction of the substrate. A mechanism that differs from all other XO members via highly reactive radical intermediates has been suggested. The structural, electrochemical, spectroscopic, and kinetic properties of HBCR from Thauera aromatica are highlighted and compared with other members of the xanthine oxidase family. 3D Structure Keywords: 4-hydroxybenzoyl-CoA reductase; molybdenum cofactor; xanthine oxidase family; anaerobic aromatic degradation; iron–sulfur proteins; flavoenzymes; birch reduction
Códigos corretores de erros em hardware para sistemas de telecomando e telemetria em aplicações espaciais

Esse trabalho apresenta uma pesquisa academica no escopo de codigos corretores de erros empregados em sistemas espaciais. O principal objetivo desse trabalho contempla o projeto, implementacao e validacao de circuitos corretores de erros para dados de telemetria e telecomando, seguindo o padrao CCSDS (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems). Ambos os modulos de telemetria e telecomando sao descritos em linguagem VHDL e implementam, respectivamente, os algoritmos de correcao de erros Reed-Solomon e BCH (Bose, Chaudhuri and Hocquenghem), os quais possuem alta capacidade de correcao de erros ocorridos durante o processo de transferencia de dados entre o veiculo espacial e a base terrestre
Optimizing Information Credibility in Social Swarming Applications

With the advent of smartphone technology, it has become possible to conceive of entirely new classes of applications. Social swarming, in which users armed with smartphones are directed by a central director to report on events in the physical world, has several real-world applications: search and rescue, coordinated fire-fighting, and the DARPA balloon hunt challenge. In this paper, we focus on the following problem: how does the director optimize the selection of reporters to deliver credible corroborating information about an event. We first propose a model, based on common notions of believability, about the credibility of information. We then cast the problem posed above as a discrete optimization problem, prove hardness results, introduce optimal centralized solutions, and design an approximate solution amenable to decentralized implementation whose performance is about 20 percent off, on average, from the optimal (on real-world data sets derived from Google News) while being three orders of magnitude more computationally efficient. More interesting, a time-averaged version of the problem is amenable to a novel stochastic utility optimization formulation, and can be solved optimally, while in some cases yielding decentralized solutions. To our knowledge, we are the first to propose and explore the problem of extracting credible information from a network of smartphones.