Significant Level Of Similarity Research Articles

Performance measurement of the relationship between students' learning with lecturers' characteristics as supervisors based on fuzzy-based assessment

In addition to the focus of research selected as a Final Project material, the selection of lecturers as student's supervisor becomes very important. The lecturer's competence related to the focus of student research and the supervising style of lecturers is also very influential on the final results. Measurement of style appropriateness between students' learning styles and supervising lecturers' styles can benchmark the quality of the final project's implementation, especially higher education institutions. This study has applied fuzzy-based assessment to build objective perceptions of students' learning characteristics and lecturers' characteristics (Visual (V), Auditory (A), Kinesthetic (K)) as supervisors through questionnaire processing that has designed in such away. Hence, it is suitable for this study. The measuring technique of the percentage of overlapping areas under the curves and the correlation test between a pair of curves have been used as performance measurement metrics. In general, the study results indicate a significant level of coverage adequacy for all research variables regarding existing conditions. It means that the process of Final Project activities in terms of students' and lecturers' learning characteristics as supervisors and their distribution is at a reasonable level (88.38%). It has also been shown by the results of the correlation test of the appropriateness of choice, both supervisors selected by students (0.8657) and students chosen by lecturers (0.9897) who are at a very significant level of similarity. Correlation tests conducted for similarities between students' and lecturers' learning characteristics as supervisors show almost no significant correlation between them (0.4064).

Stability in unstable places: property crime in a campus environment

In recent years, campus crime has become the focus of a growing body of literature; however, spatial analyses only represent a small facet of campus crime research. To date, the majority fails to consider longitudinal aspects of campus crime. To address this gap, this study analyzed geographic similarity between property crime distributions across 3 years of police incident data for a metropolitan university in the southern USA and its surrounding community. Using ArcMap and a spatial test developed by Andresen (Appl Geogr 29(3):333–345, 2009), the degree of similarity between annual, seasonal, and semesterly spatial distributions of property crime were analyzed. The results indicated 41.2% of all property crimes occurred within 5% of locations. Significant levels of similarity for the seasonal and semesterly distributions of on-campus property crime were found, which largely became nonsignificant once zero-crime locations were removed. None of the annual analyses, nor the analyses of the campus and its surrounding community reached a significant level of similarity. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Timely assessment of disaster and emergency response networks in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, 2012

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to elaborate pros and cons of two coding methods: the rapid network assessment (RNA) and the manual content analysis (MCA). In particular, it focuses on the applicability of a new rapid data extraction and utilization method, which can contribute to the timely coordination of disaster and emergency response operations.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing the data set of textual information on the Superstorm Sandy response in 2012, retrieved from the LexisNexis Academic news archive, the two coding methods, MCA and RNA, are subjected to social network analysis.FindingsThe analysis results indicate a significant level of similarity between the data collected using these two methods. The findings indicate that the RNA method could be effectively used to extract megabytes of electronic data, characterize the emerging disaster response network and suggest timely policy implications for managers and practitioners during actual emergency response operations and coordination processes.Originality/valueConsidering the growing needs for the timely assessment of real-time disaster response systems and the emerging doubts regarding the effectiveness of the RNA method, this study contributes to uncovering the potential of the RNA method to extract relevant data from the megabytes of digitally available information. Also this research illustrates the applicability of MCA for assessing real-time disaster response networks by comparing network analysis results from data sets built by both the RNA and the MCA.

Visual saliency models for summarization of diagnostic hysteroscopy videos in healthcare systems.

In clinical practice, diagnostic hysteroscopy (DH) videos are recorded in full which are stored in long-term video libraries for later inspection of previous diagnosis, research and training, and as an evidence for patients’ complaints. However, a limited number of frames are required for actual diagnosis, which can be extracted using video summarization (VS). Unfortunately, the general-purpose VS methods are not much effective for DH videos due to their significant level of similarity in terms of color and texture, unedited contents, and lack of shot boundaries. Therefore, in this paper, we investigate visual saliency models for effective abstraction of DH videos by extracting the diagnostically important frames. The objective of this study is to analyze the performance of various visual saliency models with consideration of domain knowledge and nominate the best saliency model for DH video summarization in healthcare systems. Our experimental results indicate that a hybrid saliency model, comprising of motion, contrast, texture, and curvature saliency, is the more suitable saliency model for summarization of DH videos in terms of extracted keyframes and accuracy.

Characterization of a novel Obg-like ATPase in the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi

We characterized a gene encoding an YchF-related protein, TcYchF, potentially associated with the protein translation machinery of Trypanosoma cruzi. YchF belongs to the translation factor-related (TRAFAC) class of P-loop NTPases. The coding region of the gene is 1185 bp long and encodes a 44.3 kDa protein. BlastX searches showed TcYchF to be very similar (45–86%) to putative GTP-binding proteins from eukaryotes, including some species of trypanosomatids ( Leishmania major and Trypanosoma brucei). A lower but significant level of similarity (38–43%) was also found between the predicted sequences of TcYchF and bacterial YyaF/YchF GTPases of the Spo0B-associated GTP-binding protein (Obg) family. Some of the most important features of the G domain of this family of GTPases are conserved in TcYchF. However, we found that TcYchF preferentially hydrolyzed ATP rather than GTP. The function of YyaF/YchF is unknown, but other members of the Obg family are known to be associated with ribosomal subunits. Immunoblots of the polysome fraction from sucrose gradients showed that TcYchF was associated with ribosomal subunits and polysomes. Immunoprecipitation assays showed that TcYchF was also associated with the proteasome of T. cruzi. Furthermore, inactivation of the T. brucei homolog of TcYchF by RNA interference inhibited the growth of procyclic forms of the parasite. These data suggest that this protein plays an important role in the translation machinery of trypanosomes.

Preferential Occurrence of Chromosome Breakpoints within Early Replicating Regions in Neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma (NB) is a frequent paediatric extra cranial solid tumour characterized by the occurrence of unbalanced chromosome translocations, frequently, but not exclusively, involving chromosomes 1 and 17. We have used a 1 Mb resolution BAC array to further refine the mapping of breakpoints in NB cell lines. Replication timing profiles were evaluated in 7 NB cell lines, using DNAs from G1 and S phases flow sorted nuclei hybridised on the same array. Strikingly, these replication timing profiles were highly similar between the different NB cell lines. Furthermore, a significant level of similarity was also observed between NB cell lines and lymphoblastoid cells. A segmentation analysis using the Adaptative Weights Smoothing procedure was performed to determine regions of coordinate replication. More than 50% of the breakpoints mapped to early replicating regions, which account for 23.7% of the total genome. The breakpoints frequency per 108 bases was therefore 10.84 for early replicating regions, whereas it was only 2.94 for late replicating regions, these difference being highly significant (p

Characterization of IS Lpl4, a functional insertion sequence in Lactobacillus plantarum

A Lactobacillus plantarum strain, CECT 4645, was found to have insertions of a sequence (985 bp in length) at least in eight loci in its genome. The prototype copy (Lp1) of this insertion sequence (named IS Lpl4) has one open reading frame encoding a putative protein that is 292 amino acids in length with significant levels of similarity with IS 982 family transposases. Perfect 16-bp inverted repeats were found at its termini. Upon transposition, generates 8-bp direct repeats of the target sequence, but no consensus sequences could be identified at either insertion site. The IS Lpl4 pattern changed over many generations on the CECT 4645 strain. This finding strongly supports our hypothesis that IS Lpl4 is a functional element in L. plantarum. Some of these elements may be cryptic, since point mutation or 1-nucleotide deletions were found in their transposase encoding genes. IS Lpl4 copies have been detected in Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Oenococcus oeni, and Lactobacillus sakei. An IS Lpl4 copy of O. oeni contained a + 1 nucleotide insertion on its transposase encoding gene and, by using an experimental system, we were able to demonstrate that this specific sequence originates a + 1 programmed translational frameshifting. Although the frameshifting process reported here operates at a low rate, this description might represent the first case of a functional + 1 frameshifting among IS.

Cloning and characterization of a beta-galactoside-binding protein (galectin) from the gut of the gastrointestinal nematode parasite Haemonchus contortus.

A cDNA encoding a beta-galactoside-binding lectin (galectin) was identified by immunoscreening a Haemonchus contortus cDNA library with antisera from lambs vaccinated with a membrane protein complex (H-gal-GP) derived from the parasites' gut. The cDNA sequence, exhibiting a tandem repeat structure and designated Hco-gal-2, showed significant levels of similarity with galectins from several species of nematode as well as mammalian galectin type 4. Native galectin was preferentially extracted from the H-gal-GP complex and also from an insoluble membrane fraction prepared from adult worms using lactose-agarose affinity chromatography. The affinity-purified material had apparent molecular mass of around 35 kDa with 3 distinct bands visible on SDS-PAGE. All 3 bands were identified as galectins by reaction with antiserum raised to recombinant Hco-GAL-2 on Western blot. To determine whether H. contortus galectins have any protective capacity against infection lambs were vaccinated with affinity-purified galectin and subsequently given a single challenge infection. Vaccination did not confer any protection against infection with H. contortus as judged by faecal egg output or worm counts.

The acetate regulatory gene facB of Aspergillus nidulans encodes a Zn(II)2Cys6 transcriptional activator.

Genetic studies have indicated that the facB gene of Aspergillus nidulans is a major regulatory gene involved in acetamide and acetate utilisation. Sequencing of the facB gene revealed that it encodes a protein that contains an N-terminal GAL4-like Zn(II)2Cys6 (or C6 zinc) binuclear cluster for DNA binding, leucine zipper-like heptad repeat motifs and central and C-terminal acidic alpha-helical regions, consistent with a function as a DNA-binding transcriptional activator. The Zn(II)2Cys6 cluster shows strong similarity with those of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae carbon metabolism regulatory proteins CAT8 and SIP4. A significant level of similarity with CAT8 is found throughout the length of the protein, suggesting at least partial functional homology. The facB genes of Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus niger were also sequenced and found to be highly conserved. Deletion of the facB gene confirmed that it is required for growth on acetate as a sole carbon source. Functional dissection using deletion and fusion constructs and in vitro mutagenesis indicated that the Zn(II)2Cys6 cluster and the C-terminal end of the protein are required for function.

Identification of Clostridium botulinum, Clostridium argentinense, and related organisms by cellular fatty acid analysis

On the basis of 686 analyses of 285 strains of Clostridium botulinum, Clostridium argentinense (formerly C. botulinum type G), and phenotypically related organisms, 14 cellular fatty acid (CFA) groups of toxic organisms and 6 CFA groups of nontoxic organisms were delineated. The CFA groups of toxic strains included two of type A, three of proteolytic strains of type B, two of proteolytic strains of type F, one each of nonproteolytic strains of types B, E, and F, and one each of types C alpha, C beta, and D and C. argentinense. The groups of phenotypically similar nontoxic strains included Clostridium sporogenes, Clostridium putrificum, nontoxic strains with phenotypic characteristics similar to those of nonproteolytic strains of C. botulinum types B, E, and F (BEF-like), two groups of nontoxigenic organisms with phenotypic characteristics similar to those of C. botulinum types C and D and Clostridium novyi (CDN-like), and Clostridium subterminale, which has phenotypic characteristics similar to those of C. argentinense. Within the toxin types, 89 to 100% of the strains were correctly identified by CFA analysis, and 74 to 100% of the analyses were correct. Of 36 strains of C. sporogenes, 30 (83%) were correctly identified; 17% of the strains of C. sporogenes were incorrectly identified as C. botulinum type A or B. All analyses of C. putrificum and C. subterminale were correctly identified. There was no significant level of similarity between strains of C. botulinum and phenotypically similar organisms and 85 other species of clostridia or 407 other taxa of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Additionally, the one strain each of Clostridium baratii and Clostridium butyricum previously reported to produce C. botulinum toxin could be differentiated from C.botulinum types as well as from strains of C. baratii and C. butyricum that did not produce neurotoxin.

Promiscuous behaviour in the steroid hormone receptor superfamily

he biological activities of the various steroid hormones are remarkably diverse, ranging from subtle effects on brain develop- ment to therapeutic effects on dry skin. Although their spectrum of effects defies summarization, the past several years have seen the refinement of a long-standing, widely accepted general model for their mechanism of action. In this scheme, a particular steroid hor- mone crosses the cell membrane and binds specifically to an intra- cellular receptor protein. This binding results in the 'activation' of the hormone/receptor complexes, which then recognize and bind to a specific DNA sequence found near genes that are regulated by the particular hormone. This DNA- bound receptor complex causes changes in the rate of transcrip- tion of such hormone-responsive genes. All of the direct effects of the hormone are assumed to be the consequences of such changes .a gene expression, though the overall response to a given hor- mone certainly includes secondary effects which follow the primary response. This article briefly de- scribes some recent, unexpected results which appear to pose prob- lems for this simple model, and discusses some ways in which the problems might be resolved. Major support for the model has come from comparisons of the deduced amino acid sequences of a group of receptor proteins which is now called the steroid receptor superfamily (recently reviewed in Refs 1, 2). The members of this family include not only the steroid receptors but also receptors for thyroid hormone, vitamin D, retin- oic acid and, presumably, other ligands. These proteins share a limited amount of direct amino acid sequence similarity and a strongly conserved common structure. As shown in Fig. 1, such receptors have three domains. The general role of the non-conserved amino- terminal domain is uncertain. The highly conserved central domain binds to the specific sites in DNA. The carboxy-terminal domain, which binds the hormone or other ligand, shows low but significant levels of similarity over all the members of the family, with much higher levels between various