Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DNA Motif Discovery Based on Ant Colony Optimization and Expectation Maximization

The identification of transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) is important for understanding the genetic regulatory system, but weak conservation of TFBSs poses a challenge in computational biology. In this study, we propose a method based on the Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm to discover DNA motifs (collections of TFBSs) in a set of bio-sequences. In our method, ACO builds candidate motifs to search for putative binding sites amid the given sequences. The EM algorithm is then applied to maximize the likelihood of a motif model being constructed from the corresponding binding sites. In ACO, each artificial ant mimics the foraging behavior of social insects to construct a possible motif by sensing the pheromones laid on each nucleotide. Due to stability issues with metaheuristic approaches, we incorporate the EM algorithm in our method to improve the reliability of binding site predictions. In the final step, a statistically-based procedure is applied to refine the predictions for compliance with real biological conditions. Experiments conducted on real test datasets indicate that the proposed method identifies binding sites with higher accuracy and reliability than two other motif discovery tools, namely GAME and GALF.
Intuition, Deliberation, and Cooperation: Further Meta-Analytic Evidence from 91 Experiments on Pure Cooperation

What is the role of intuitive versus deliberative cognitive processing in human cooperation? The Social Heuristics Hypothesis (SHH) stipulates that (i) intuition favors behaviors that are typically advantageous (i.e. long-run payoff-maximizing), and that for most people cooperation is typically advantageous due to mechanisms such as repetition, reputation, and institutions; whereas (ii) deliberation favors the behavior that is payoff-maximizing in the given decision setting. As a result, the SHH predicts that in the context of pure cooperation – where non-cooperation is strictly payoff – maximizing – promoting intuition will lead to more cooperation than promoting deliberation. In this paper, I present the largest empirical investigation of this prediction to date by meta-analyzing 91 experiments in which participants made non-hypothetical pure cooperation decisions, and reliance on intuition versus deliberation was experimentally manipulated. A random effects meta-analysis of the overall intent-to-treat effect found the predicted result, with cooperation being 3.1 percentage points higher (p < .001) in the more intuition conditions compared to the more deliberation conditions. Meta-regression revealed that the effect was significantly larger when using emotion-inductions compared to other manipulation types, but that there was no significant difference in effect sizes across the other manipulations (time pressure, cognitive load, recall-inductions, and depletion). Critically, the meta-analytic effect remained significantly positive when excluding emotion-induction experiments, with cooperation being 1.6 percentage points higher (p = .009) in the more intuition conditions compared to the more deliberation conditions. Thus, the current body of evidence supports this key prediction of the SHH. I conclude by recommending that future work in this area should focus on developing new paradigms that avoid the issues with non-compliance and non-comprehension that plague existing studies.
Supercritical CO
 2
 Extraction of Waste Citrus Seeds: Chemical Composition, Nutritional and Biological Properties of Edible Fixed Oils

Seeds of Citrus plants (Rutaceae), an major agro‐industrial waste, are a potential source of valuable by‐products. The chemical composition, the antioxidant profile, and the biological/nutritional properties of fixed oils (SFE oils) obtained by supercritical CO₂ extraction (at 300 bar and 40 °C) from seeds of mandarin (Citrus reticulata), lemon (Citrus limon), and grapefruit (Citrus paradisi), discarded by a local agro‐alimentary industry are studied. The yields and compositions of SFE oils are compared to oils obtained by n‐hexane extraction of Citrus seeds in a Soxhlet apparatus (SoxE oils). Linoleic (35–42%), oleic (22–28%), palmitic (21–25%), α‐linolenic (4–10%), and stearic (4–7%) are the main oil fatty acids, while monolinolein and dilinolein derivatives represent the main triacylglycerols in SFE oils, determined by GC‐FID and HPLC‐DAD/ELSD techniques. Citrus SFE oils show lower yields than SoxE oils but similar chemical profiles. Principal components analysis applied to fatty acid and triacylglycerol data indicates that the oils from different seeds are tightly clustered. Moreover, SFE oils show radical scavenging activities (ABTS assays), an inhibitory effect on the growth of murine B16F10 melanoma cells and on the mushroom tyrosinase activity. Citrus SFE oils and de‐coated seeds are also evaluated for their attractant effect on the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata by behavioral assays. The results qualify Citrus SFE oils as a potential natural, environmentally‐friendly, resource for food/pharmaceutical applications. Practical Applications: The environmentally‐friendly supercritical CO₂ extraction of waste lemon, mandarin, and grapefruit seeds gives edible fixed oils a richness in essential fatty acids, suitable for human nutrition and the preparation of nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals. Edible fixed oils obtained from lemon, mandarin, and grapefruit seeds by SFE‐CO₂ extraction show high levels of essential fatty acids, antioxidant, anticancer, and antityrosinase activity.
Cutting-edge Innovations in Cardiac Health: Galvanic Insights from a Clinician-Scientist, Dr. Benjamin Hibbert

Dr. Benjamin Hibbert, MD, PhD, FRCPC is an interventional cardiologist, an assistant professor, as well as the director of the Vascular Biology and Experimental Medicine Laboratory at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI). With a focus on performing revolutionary bench-to-bedside research, Dr. Hibbert’s clinical and basic science research interests include the development of novel cardiac biomarkers, elucidating the mechanisms that underlie pathological arterial remodelling in transplant vasculopathy, and the pharmacodynamics of adjuvant antiplatelet and antithrombotic agents in cardiac disease. We had the privilege of speaking with Dr. Hibbert about his career path, research experiences, and perspectives on the importance of the clinician-investigator program in training the oncoming generation of clinician-scientists.
Management of the Design and Construction of the WPI Bamboo Bicycle

The goal of this project is to manage the design, assembly, testing, and marketing processes of a bamboo bicycle. This was achieved through the use of the axiomatic design method where each functional requirement is independent and the information content of the design is minimized. Additionally, the management team utilized tactical business techniques and analytics to coordinate the efforts of the overall MQP group.
Switchable Dual-Wavelength Mode-Locked Fiber Laser Source for In-PCF Parametric Frequency Conversion Applied to CARS Microscopy

A self-started, switchable dual-wavelength all-polarization-maintaining mode-locked (ML) fiber laser for optical parametric generation (OPG) in photonic crystal fiber (PCF) applied to coherent anti-stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy is reported in this paper. The complete laser setup is built in an all-fiber structure composed of commercial elements. It is based on a linear cavity with an active medium—namely, Ytterbium-doped fiber (YDF), a pair of fiber Bragg gratings as switchable partial mirrors between 1031.5 and 1049.7 nm, and a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror functioning also as the mode-locking device. The seed laser is amplified to 650 mW average power by two YDF amplifiers. The source delivers a pulse-train output of 30.9 ps at 1031.5 ps and 31.6 ps at 1049.7, a 3.1-MHz repetition rate, and over 200 nJ pulse energy and 6 kW of peak power at fundamental ML operation. The properties of this switchable dual-wavelength source ensures the correct OPG by degenerated four-wave mixing in PCF fulfilling the phase matching condition which corresponds to CARS resonance of 2850 $ {\mathbf{c}}{ {\mathbf{m}}^{ - 1}}$ (CH3-O molecular bonds) at 1031.5 nm and 1475 $ {\mathbf{c}}{ {\mathbf{m}}^{ - 1}}$ (CH2 δ molecular bonds) at 1049.7 nm.
Electric Vehicle Battery Swapping-Charging System in Power Generation Scheduling for Managing Ambient Air Quality and Human Health Conditions

The proliferation of electric vehicles (EVs) offers additional opportunities for improving the ambient air quality and reducing the associated health impacts. However, such opportunities could become unattainable if the electricity for charging EVs is mainly supplied by coal-fired units. This paper aims to enhance the environmental benefits of EVs by differentiating the marginal impacts of coal-fired unit emissions at various times and locations on ambient air pollutant concentration (AAPC) and human health conditions. The proposed cost-effective approach will assign EV battery charging loads and other electricity demands to generation units with low health impacts. The proposed air pollution dispersion model maps the emission into spatial AAPC increments ( ${\Delta }$ AAPCs), and concentration-response function maps ${\Delta }$ AAPCs into health impacts. As such, we estimate differentiating health impacts of emissions at various times and locations without executing large-scale atmospheric models. We also integrate differentiating emission regulations with the joint optimization of security-constrained unit commitment (SCUC) and EV battery swapping-charging system (BSCS). BSCS refers to the optimal scheduling of an aggregated number of EV batteries which are centrally charged and then dispatched via delivery trucks to battery swapping stations (BSSs) to supply local EVs. BSCS determines optimal schedules for battery charging, swapping, and truck routing. A Lagrangian decomposition method decouples the formulated large-scale mixed-integer linear programming model into SCUC and BSCS subproblems. The case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach for managing ambient air quality and human health conditions.
New production patterns and the future of manufacturing relocation trend in the 4.0 era: The perspective of consumers

The significance of Industry 4.0 for the future of the global economy is beyond any question, therefore the discussion of business practitioners, politicians and academics about the conditions and potential consequences of implementing this concept is becoming more and more turbulent. The actual value of technologies 4.0 does not result only from the opportunities that they offer, but rather from the integration of huge amounts of data, automation, robotics and production systems in a way that provides companies with a competitive advantage. Innovative business models and the digitization of the value chain aim, among others, to improve customer experience, increase the speed of response to market needs and reduce costs. While some studies provide evidence for the existence of benefits resulting from the implementation of the concept 4.0 from the perspective of enterprises, the attitude from a demand-side perspective both to the technological transformation itself and its potential effects is analyzed to a very limited extent. The article explains the complexity of the 4.0 concept and indicates the selected levels of its use in the economy. In addition, based on the results of questionnaire survey, the general attitude of consumers to the trend of automation and robotization of production as well as their relation to the reshoring of production was presented. The results of the survey showed that while consumers are aware of the need to implement technology 4.0 and some of the benefits associated with it, they also have a relatively low level of confidence in the new trend. Consumers also expect a gradual relocation of production to Poland, but at the same time a relatively low degree of acceptance of potential negative consequences of this phenomenon is noticeable.
Patterns and correlates of ecomorphological diversification in birds

A fundamental theme in macroevolution is understanding the origin and drivers behind the accumulation of phenotypic diversity in deep-time. Specifically, we want to describe and explain the mode (how) and tempo (at what speed) of morphological differentiation between species. Here, I investigate the patterns and correlates of ecomorphological diversification across the most diverse radiation among the tetrapods - birds. First, I investigated how variation in evolutionary rates impacts inferences from models of trait evolution. I show that rate-static models can produce spurious interpretations regarding the process of trait evolution in the presence of rate-heterogeneity, whereas robust conclusions can be drawn by co-utilizing rate-variable approaches and tests for absolute model adequacy. Second, I use a multipredictor approach to investigate correlates for the tempo of beak shape evolution across more than a half of bird species. I find high rates of evolution in morphologically-distinct clades as well as in species-rich groups, showing that ecological opportunity and species-packing impact the tempo of ecomorphological diversification in deep-time. Thirdly, I apply trait evolutionary models with competition alongside ecologically-neutral models to investigate the mode of beak shape, beak size and body mass evolution across birds. I show that models with species-interactions are not uncommonly the best fit for the data in clades, and thus ecological selection pressures can impact the accumulation of morphological diversity at deep-time scales. Lastly, I investigated how competition affects the process of ecomorphological evolution in sympatric avian granivorous assemblages. I find that species-interactions contribute to increased morphological diversity across the globe, however, the strength of competition signal is mediated by the negative association with the tempo of trait evolution. Taken together, these results explore how key ecological processes (the presence and absence of ecological opportunity, niche packing, the strength and resolution of competition) can explain variation in how biodiversity accumulates in deep time.
Non-linear motion deblurring in single images using genetic algorithms

One of the key problems of restoring a degraded image from motion blur is the estimation of the unknown non-linear blur filter from a single input blurred image. Many blind deconvolution methods typically assume frequency-domain constraints on images, simplified parametric forms for the motion path during camera shake or use multiple input images with specific characteristics. This paper proposes an algorithm for removing non-linear motion blur from a single input blurred image using Genetic Algorithms (GAs), by finding the proper parameters and goal function. Also recent research in natural image statistics is exploited, which shows that photographs of natural scenes typically obey heavy-tailed distribution. The Point Spread Function entries are used as the parameters of the GA. Experiments on a wide data set of standard images degraded with different kernels of different sizes demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed approach especially in small blur lengths compared to other algorithms with reasonable running times for a GA.
Chronic illness and hospital readmission rate by adult age groups

Objective: The study provides a comprehensive assessment of readmission risks of patients by nonelderly adult and elderly age groups admitted with different chronic condition types and multiple chronic condition (MCC) burdens.Methods: The study examines the all-cause readmission risks of hospitalized adult patients in 18-64 and 65 and above age groups admitted for any cause having three mutually exclusive chronic condition types: Ambulatory Care Sensitive Condition (ACSC); non-ACSC, and non-chronic. Using 2009 hospital discharge data from HCUP-SID of AHRQ, linked to the contextual and provider data from HRSA, a multilevel logistic regression model is applied on data pooled over 5 states adjusting for patient, hospital, and community characteristics.Results: The hospitalized elderly with chronic ACSC has higher risks of readmissions than those without, or relative to the nonelderly with chronic ACSC. However, nonelderly adults faced steeper increases in risks of readmissions than the elderly in response to increased MCC burden, irrespective of types of chronic conditions.Conclusions: A lower number of ACSCs is associated with higher reduction in the risks of readmission in the elderly than in the nonelderly adults. Management of chronic conditions in general is associated with reduced readmission risks across all age groups, more so for nonelderly adults.
Augmented Reality Map Navigation with Freehand Gestures

Freehand gesture interaction has long been proposed as a ‘natural’ input method for Augmented Reality (AR) applications, yet has been little explored for intensive applications like multiscale navigation. In multiscale navigation, such as digital map navigation, pan and zoom are the predominant interactions. A position-based input mapping (e.g. grabbing metaphor) is intuitive for such interactions, but is prone to arm fatigue. This work focuses on improving digital map navigation in AR with mid-air hand gestures, using a horizontal intangible map display. First, we conducted a user study to explore the effects of handedness (unimanual and bimanual) and input mapping (position-based and rate-based). From these findings we designed DiveZoom and TerraceZoom, two novel hybrid techniques that smoothly transition between position- and rate-based mappings. A second user study evaluated these designs. Our results indicate that the introduced input-mapping transitions can reduce perceived arm fatigue with limited impact on performance.
Micrometeorology and physiology of sugarcane crop during water stress

Water stress is the single most important factor limiting yield in plants. The effects of water stress on the micrometeorology and physiology of sugarcane were investigated using the rainshel ter facilities provided at the South African Sugar Association Experiment Station, Mount Edgecombe. Sugarcane variety NCo37 6 was stressed at the age of seven months during the first ratoon crop. Plant extension rate (PER) together with microclimatie measurements including radiation interception, and leaf and canopy temperature were measured continuously. Photosynthesis and leaf water potential were also measured on a daily basis together with the volumetric soil water content. Among the yield-determining processes, plant extension rate was the first to be significantly affected 10 days after onset of water stress. The leaf water potential ('I'Llmeasured at this stage was -0.7 MPa. Leaf area index and radiation interception were the next processes to be affected. A significant decrease in photosynthetic rate occurred 19 days after onset of water stress when the 'I'Lwas at -1.0 MPa. More than 50% reduction in radiation use efficiency occurred 24 days after imposing water stress and the 'I'Lmeasured at this stage was -1.5 MPa. Recovery from the first stress as far as plant extension rate and photosynthesis were concerned, occurred within 3 to 4 days after irrigation was resumed. When the same sugarcane plants were stressed for a second time, it took fewer days for plant extension rate and photosynthesis to be severely affected as compared to the stress imposed during the first time.
Old Age, Depression and Social Support

The aim of the present research was to investigate the social support in depression among old age people. The total sample comprised of one hundred and eighty-three elderly (N=183), including ninety three men (n=93) and ninety (n=90) women. The age range varies from 60-85 years. Convenient sampling techniques was used for data collection. The participants were approached from different area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) were administered. All questionnaires were filled by interviewers, by using good interview skills. Data was analyzed by using SPSS. Results indicated depression is more prevalent in young-old category, and according to hypothesis result also demonstrated that depression is significantly high in females compare to males. Result further revealed unhealthy life style, problem in physical health and disabilities and poor social support are indicative of depression. Hence it is concluded that aging itself is not a factor directly related to depression, rather transition in life style with reference to working status, financial and social circumstances, and perceived social support are the significant contributing factors that may be considered as contributing factors of depression in old age.
Hybrid algorithm with perturbations for total asymptotically non-expansive mappings in CAT(0) space

ABSTRACT In this paper, we establish strong and Δ-convergence theorems of the modified hybrid-CR three steps iteration with perturbations for total asymptotically non-expansive mapping in spaces. Our results improve and extend the corresponding results from the current literature. We also provide three examples to illustrate the convergence behaviour of the proposed algorithm and numerically compare the convergence of the proposed iteration scheme with the existing schemes.
Target fabrication for laser-ion acceleration research at the Technological Laboratory of the LMU Munich

The Technological Laboratory of LMU Munich supplies various types of solid-state target for laser plasma experiments at the Centre for Advanced Laser Applications in Garching. Our main focus here is on the production of free-standing, thin foil targets, such as diamond-like-carbon foils, carbon nanotube foams (CNFs), plastic, and gold foils. The presented methods comprise cathodic arc deposition for DLC targets, chemical vapor deposition for CNFs, a droplet and spin-coating process for plastic foil production, as well as physical vapor deposition that has been optimized to provide ultrathin gold foils and tailored sacrifice layers. This paper reviews our current capabilities, which are a result of a close collaboration between target production processes and experiment, using high-power chirped pulse amplification laser systems over the past eight years.
As neurociências da leitura e a educação infantil

Apresentamos os resultados de uma pesquisa na área do ensino da alfabetização infantil realizada em uma turma de escola pública localizada em Natal, capital do estado do Rio Grande do Norte (RN). A pesquisa comparou a eficácia da aplicação de metodologia de alfabetização desenvolvida segundo o método global, com uma metodologia de alfabetização inovadora que integra os fundamentos teóricos das neurociências da leitura (Dehaene, 2007) com a utilização de materiais de alfabetização criados especialmente para a pesquisa (Naschold, 2014 b). O objetivo principal do trabalho foi verificar o avanço ocorrido nas aprendizagens das crianças após a aplicação das duas metodologias de alfabetização, tendo como referência o ponto de partida das crianças e o resultado obtido após a intervenção metodológica realizada nos grupos experimental e controle. Para tal, antes e depois do trabalho, foram aplicados o Teste das Letras e Palavras, o Teste de Leitura das Palavras e Frases e o Teste Raven Infantil/Escala Especial de Aplicação. A comparação dos resultados dos testes linguísticos evidenciou, com alto percentual, que a metodologia inovadora traz vantagens para a alfabetização.