Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bringing back the fruit into fruit fly–bacteria interactions

Female Mediterranean fruit flies (Ceratitis capitata) oviposit in fruits, within which the larvae develop. This development is associated with rapid deterioration of the fruit, and frequently with invasion by secondary pests. Most research on the associations between medflies and microorganisms has focused on the bacteria inhabiting the digestive system of the adult fly, while the role of the fruit in mediating, amplifying or regulating the fruit fly microflora has been largely neglected. In this study, we examine the hypothesis that the host fruit plays a role in perpetuating the fly‐associated bacterial community. Using direct and cultured‐based approaches, we show that this community is composed in its very large majority of diazotrophic and pectinolytic Enterobacteriaceae. Our data suggest that this fly‐associated enterobacterial community is vertically transmitted from the female parent to its offspring. During oviposition, bacteria are transferred to the fruit, establish and proliferate within it, causing its decay. These results show that the host fruit is indeed a central partner in the fruit fly–bacterial interaction as these transmitted bacteria are amplified by the fruit, and subsequently maintained throughout the fly's life. This enterobacterial community may contribute to the fly's nitrogen and carbon metabolism, affecting its development and ultimately, fitness.
More Comprehensive and Inclusive Approaches to Demographic Data Collection

Todd is a PhD Student in Engineering Education at Purdue University who's research is focused on en-trepreneurship education and entrepreneurship education as a component of modern engineering education efforts. research focuses what factors influence diverse students to choose engineering and stay in engineering through their careers and how different experiences within the practice and culture of engineering foster or hinder belongingness and identity development. Dr. Godwin graduated from Clemson University with a B. Dina Verdín is an Engineering Education graduate student at Purdue University. She completed her undergraduate degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering at San José State University. Her research interest focuses on the first-generation college student population, which includes changing the perspective of this population from a deficit base approach to an asset base approach. His research focuses on First Generation engineering college students' engineering identity, belonging-ness, and how they perceive their college experience.He is also on a National Science Foundation project looking at non-normative engineering students and how they may have differing paths to success. His education includes a B.S. His research focuses on the interactions between engineering cultures, student motivation, and their learning experiences. His projects involve the study of student perceptions, beliefs and attitudes towards becoming engineers, their problem solving processes, and cultural fit. His education includes a B. a joint appointment in Bioengineering. Her research focuses on the interactions between student motivation and their learning experiences. Her projects involve the study of student perceptions, beliefs and attitudes towards becoming engineers and scientists, and their problem solving processes. Other projects in the Benson group include effects of student-centered active learning, self-regulated learning, and incorporating engineering into secondary science and mathematics classrooms. Her education includes a B.S.
Partial Matching of Deformable Shapes

Matching deformable 3D shapes under partiality transformations is a challenging problem that has received limited focus in the computer vision and graphics communities. With this benchmark, we explore and thoroughly investigate the robustness of existing matching methods in this challenging task. Participants are asked to provide a point-to-point correspondence (either sparse or dense) between deformable shapes undergoing different kinds of partiality transformations, resulting in a total of 400 matching problems to be solved for each method - making this benchmark the biggest and most challenging of its kind. Five matching algorithms were evaluated in the contest; this paper presents the details of the dataset, the adopted evaluation measures, and shows thorough comparisons among all competing methods.
CNS Progenitor Cells Promote a Permissive Environment for Neurite Outgrowth via a Matrix Metalloproteinase-2-Dependent Mechanism

Transplantation of progenitor cells to the CNS has shown promise in neuronal and glial replacement and as a means of rescuing host neurons from apoptosis. Here we examined the effect of progenitor grafts on neurite extension in the degenerating retina of rd1 (retinal degeneration 1) mice. Transplantation of retinal progenitor cells induced increased matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP2) secretion, partly from activated glial cells, which was then activated by neuronally expressed MMP14. Active MMP2 resulted in proteolysis of the neurite outgrowth inhibitors CD44 and neurocan in the degenerative retina, allowing significantly increased neurite outgrowth across the border between abutting nondystrophic and rd1 retinas. Progenitor-induced enhancement of outgrowth was abrogated by an MMP inhibitor or by coculture with retinal explants from MMP2−/− mice. This study provides the first identification of an MMP2-dependent mechanism by which exogenous progenitor cells alter the host environment to promote neural regeneration. This suggests a novel therapeutic role for progenitor cells in the treatment of CNS degenerative diseases.
Intramural Myocardial Shear During the Cardiac Cycle

Instantaneous and continuous shearing strains at various sites in the wall of the left ventricle were measured in 19 dogs with a specially designed transducer. Relatively large shearing strains occurred during the “isovolumic” and immediately prediastolic portions of systole. Shearing strain during diastole was small. Under control conditions the average shearing strain during the ejection period of systole was 0.0218 radians (1.25°) at a 6 mm depth into the myocardium. Intravenous infusion of norepinephrine (approximately 0.001 mg/kg per minute) increased myocardial shear from 0.0177 radians (1.01°) to 0.0274 radians (1.57°) during the ejection period. It is concluded that shearing strain in the myocardium during the ejection period is relatively small.
Back-Alley Banking: Private Entrepreneurs in China

areas he identifies and offer a more detailed set of reform recommendations. Another point that could have benefited from more explication is the relationship between the rule of law and economic prosperity. By limiting undue interference from the state and curtailing the arbitrary exercise of discretion by government officials, the rule of law provides individuals with the breathing space they need to pursue their livelihoods and better themselves in the manner they see fit. Certainly, economic prosperity ultimately is dependent, for instance, upon the extent to which individuals remain free to own, use, and exchange property absent excessive government intrusion. The positive relationship between economic prosperity and a rule of law regime is one that developing countries especially need to heed. It is not surprising, then, that F. A. Hayek placed such emphasis on the rule of law in The Road to Serfdom. There, to come back around to definitional first principles, Hayek explained that the concept “means that the government in all its actions is bound by rules fixed and announced beforehand—rules which make it possible to foresee with fair certainty how the authority will use its coercive powers in given circumstances and to plan one’s individual affairs on the basis of this knowledge. ” All in all, Dean Cass has done well to remind that if we assert too often, without a sound basis, that judges in the United States act unconstrained by the rule of law, we may actually create a self-fulfilling prophecy. With expectations for adherence to neutral principles of law lowered, more and more judges may be tempted “to try a hand at creating the legal solutions they deem best suited to solve whatever problems they see. ” If that were to happen, it would be a tragedy not only for us here at home, but for those abroad who look to the United States as an example of a constitutional republic in which the rule of law prevails.
Insular cortex is involved in consolidation of object recognition memory.

Federico Bermudez-Rattoni, Shoki Okuda, Benno Roozendaal, and James L. McGaugh Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory and Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, California 92697-3800, USA; Departamento de Neurociencias, Instituto de Fisiologia Celular, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico D.F. , 04510, Mexico; CNS Disorder Research, Tsukuba Research Institute, Banyu Pharmaceutical Co., Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 300-2611, Japan
Cryopreservation of Capparis spinosa Shoot Tips via Vitrification, Encapsulation Dehydration and Encapsulation Vitrification

In vitro shoot tips of Capparis spiunosa were cryopreserved using the vitrification, encapsulation/ dehydration and encapsulation vitrification techniques. In the vitrification procedure, a maximum of 70% regrwoth was obtained when shoot tips were treated with the Plant vitrification solution (PVS2) for 60 min at 0°C and plunged directly into liquid nitrogen. In encapsulation dehydration, shoot tips from 4 weeks cold hardend plants were encapsulated in calcium-alginate before preculture on MS medium supplemented with 0.75 M sucrose for 1 day, desiccated to 21% moisture content and immersed in liquid nitrogen. Maximum regrwoth using this technique was up to 83%. In encapsulation vitrivifaction, maximum regrwoth rate of 30% was obtained, when encapsulated shoot tips were exposed for 60 min in PVS2 at 0°C. Finally, no callus formation and fastest shoot elongation were obtained when cryopreserved shoot tips were post cultured on MS media free of hormone. The methods studied her are promising techniques for in vitro cryogenic storage of C. spinosa shoot tips.
Exploring the development of biological literacy in Tanzanian junior secondary school students

Internationally, scientific literacy is a major goal of science education in the twenty first century. In Tanzania, where there is a widespread lack of public understanding about major health issues, biological literacy is needed so that people can make decisions about the socio-scientific issues that confront them. To that end, the Tanzanian school curriculum aims to connect students’ understandings of Biology to their everyday lives but few studies have been conducted that show whether these aims have been achieved, especially in junior secondary school. This ethnographic case study investigates the ways in which the junior secondary school Biology curriculum in Tanzania supports or constrains the development of biological literacy and how institutional context, particularly as it relates to urban and rural schools, influences the delivery of the Biology curriculum. Teachers’ and Year Four students’ of secondary schools views about school Biology were sought in the course of this study and the issues that emerged were analysed using social constructivist and social constructionist theoretical frameworks. Data were collected through student questionnaires, student focus group interviews, teacher interviews, and classroom observations. The research sites included rural and urban schools, and government and private schools. The findings suggest that the Biology curriculum and the ways it is delivered do not adequately address the students’ needs and therefore is unlikely to enable them to become biologically literate. Rural schools are less well equipped than urban schools to deliver the curriculum and teachers and students face bigger challenges. A key finding was that Tanzanian young people have a strong desire to learn more about reproductive Biology and health issues but these are not prioritised in the current curriculum. In light of these findings, curriculum changes are recommended to provide learning opportunities for students to gain biological knowledge and skills that are relevant to their daily lives.
The Effect of Foreign Direct Investment on International Migration: Does Education Matter?

Using migration data in 1990 and 2000, we find that inward foreign direct investment (FDI) in non‐OECD countries affects the out‐migration of individuals with tertiary and secondary education to OECD countries originating the investments, but has no significant effect on the out‐migration of individuals with primary education. Distinguishing between linkage and home effects, our results show a dominant home effect of FDI for individuals with tertiary education, but a stronger linkage effect for those with secondary education. The existing stock of former migrants in foreign countries influences the out‐migration of individuals with primary education.
Classifying driver's uncertainty about the distance gap at lane changing for developing trustworthy assistance systems

Driver's uncertainty in lane change situations could cause longer reaction times and even lead to wrong decisions, which is very dangerous for the critical driving task. We assume that reducing driver's uncertainty with assistance systems in lane change situations can not only increase traffic safety, but also increase driver's trust in assistance systems. In order to develop trustworthy assistance systems, this paper starts from classifying driver's uncertainty about distance gaps and studies the impact of distance gaps on driver's uncertainty at lane changing. In the driving simulator experiment, participants were asked to take steering or brake actions in different lane change situations. Their reaction times to an acoustic signal ordering to start changing lanes and subjective certainty scores were collected and analyzed. The results showed that with the constant closing speed of 10 km/h between the ego vehicle and rear vehicle, the brake action was more often preferred than the steering and participants were relatively certain with short reaction times at small distance gaps (<; 32m). At large distance gaps (> 44m), the steering was more often chosen than brake actions and participants were also certain with short reaction times. However, when the distance gap was in between (32m, 36m, 40m, 44m), participants were very uncertain and had relatively long reaction times.
Food for Work Program and its Implications on Food Security: A Critical Review with a Practical Example from the Amhara Region, Ethiopia

A systematic evaluation of food-for-work (FFW) programs in Ethiopia is seriously lacking. Most of the few available reports indicate that these programs have reached very few achievements in terms of food security and reduction of poverty at large. As expressed by Holden et al. (2005), FFW programs are commonly aimed to produce or maintain potentially valuable public goods necessary to stimulate productivity and thus income growth. Natural resources management, like rural road construction, erosion control and afforestation of degraded lands can be mentioned as valuable measures which could stimulate productivity and agricultural growth. The poverty reduction and food security impact of food or cash for work activities are larger if they offer not only seasonal job opportunities to the rural community but also long term employment possibilities. This is more likely if the projects are regionally dispersed and combined with basic education. In the Ethiopian context, it was always questionable if the continuous boom in food aid (regardless of cash or food for work purposes) was the solution for the long standing food insecurity and poverty crises in the country. The study discusses the efficiency of FFW programs that aimed to reduce rural poverty and ensure food security on the one hand, and the impact of the food aid on resource and time allocation of the participating households for own food production on the other. The study is based on a field research conducted at a FFW program project, in the Amhara region, Ethiopia run by the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) with the view of improving food security in the Amhara region, Ethiopia. A household theoretical model is used to analyze the sample data, whether FFW program may indeed reduce household food insecurity and/or has some crowding-out effects on labour allocation of participating households for own field production.
In situ developmental responses of tropical sea urchin larvae to ocean acidification conditions at naturally elevated pCO2 vent sites

Laboratory experiments suggest that calcifying developmental stages of marine invertebrates may be the most ocean acidification (OA)-sensitive life-history stage and represent a life-history bottleneck. To better extrapolate laboratory findings to future OA conditions, developmental responses in sea urchin embryos/larvae were compared under ecologically relevant in situ exposures on vent-elevated pCO2 and ambient pCO2 coral reefs in Papua New Guinea. Echinometra embryos/larvae were reared in meshed chambers moored in arrays on either venting reefs or adjacent non-vent reefs. After 24 and 48 h, larval development and morphology were quantified. Compared with controls (mean pH(T) = 7.89–7.92), larvae developing in elevated pCO2 vent conditions (pH(T) = 7.50–7.72) displayed a significant reduction in size and increased abnormality, with a significant correlation of seawater pH with both larval size and larval asymmetry across all experiments. Reciprocal transplants (embryos from vent adults transplanted to control conditions, and vice versa) were also undertaken to identify if adult acclimatization can translate resilience to offspring (i.e. transgenerational processes). Embryos originating from vent adults were, however, no more tolerant to reduced pH. Sea temperature and chlorophyll-a concentrations (i.e. larval nutrition) did not contribute to difference in larval size, but abnormality was correlated with chlorophyll levels. This study is the first to examine the response of marine larvae to OA scenarios in the natural environment where, importantly, we found that stunted and abnormal development observed in situ are consistent with laboratory observations reported in sea urchins, in both the direction and magnitude of the response.
The Role of Bacteroides Gingivalis in Periodontal Disease

The microbial flora in adult advanced periodontitis lesions is comprised of Gram-negative rods, with Bacteroides gingivalis as one of the major representatives. This review deals with biological properties of surface antigens, hemagglutinin (attachment factor), and capsular structure of B. gingivalis. Sera containing high IgG antibody levels to B. gingivalis enhanced the complement-mediated bactericidal activity in vitro, although the susceptibility to complement-mediated lysis differed among B. gingivalis strains. The protective effect of immunization against B. gingival is infection was examined in hamsters in which cotton threads had been tied to the gingival margins of the mandibular first molar. Repeated oral topical application of hyper-immune sera against B. gingivalis resulted in effective elimination of the organisms from the periodontal lesions in the experimental animals.
Performance Analysis of 3-D Turbo Codes

In this work, we consider the minimum distance properties and convergence thresholds of 3-D turbo codes (3D-TCs), recently introduced by Berrou Here, we consider binary 3D-TCs while the original work of Berrou considered double-binary codes. In the first part of the paper, the minimum distance properties are analyzed from an ensemble perspective, both in the finite-length regime and in the asymptotic case of large block lengths. In particular, we analyze the asymptotic weight distribution of 3D-TCs and show numerically that their typical minimum distance dmin may, depending on the specific parameters, asymptotically grow linearly with the block length, i.e., the 3D-TC ensemble is asymptotically good for some parameters. In the second part of the paper, we derive some useful upper bounds on the dmin when using quadratic permutation polynomial (QPP) interleavers with a quadratic inverse. Furthermore, we give examples of interleaver lengths where an upper bound appears to be tight. The best codes (in terms of estimated dmin ) obtained by randomly searching for good pairs of QPPs for use in the 3D-TC are compared to a probabilistic lower bound on the dmin when selecting codes from the 3D-TC ensemble uniformly at random. This comparison shows that the use of designed QPP interleavers can improve the dmin significantly. For instance, we have found a (6144,2040) 3D-TC with an estimated dmin of 147, while the probabilistic lower bound is 69. Higher rates are obtained by puncturing nonsystematic bits, and optimized periodic puncturing patterns for rates 1/2, 2/3, and 4/5 are found by computer search. Finally, we give iterative decoding thresholds, computed from an extrinsic information transfer chart analysis, and present simulation results on the additive white Gaussian noise channel to compare the error rate performance to that of conventional turbo codes.
Long-Term Incidence and Predicting Factors of Cranioplasty Infection after Decompressive Craniectomy

Objective The predictors of cranioplasty infection after decompressive craniectomy have not yet been fully characterized. The objective of the current study was to compare the long-term incidences of surgical site infection according to the graft material and cranioplasty timing after craniectomy, and to determine the associated factors of cranioplasty infection. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted to assess graft infection in patients who underwent cranioplasty after decompressive craniectomy between 2001 and 2011 at a single-center. From a total of 197 eligible patients, 131 patients undergoing 134 cranioplasties were assessed for event-free survival according to graft material and cranioplasty timing after craniectomy. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression methods were employed, with cranioplasty infection identified as the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes were also evaluated, including autogenous bone resorption, epidural hematoma, subdural hematoma and brain contusion. Results The median follow-up duration was 454 days (range 10 to 3900 days), during which 14 (10.7%) patients suffered cranioplasty infection. There was no significant difference between the two groups for event-free survival rate for cranioplasty infection with either a cryopreserved or artificial bone graft (p=0.074). Intergroup differences according to cranioplasty time after craniectomy were also not observed (p=0.083). Poor neurologic outcome at cranioplasty significantly affected the development of cranioplasty infection (hazard ratio 5.203, 95% CI 1.075 to 25.193, p=0.04). Conclusion Neurologic status may influence cranioplasty infection after decompressive craniectomy. A further prospective study about predictors of cranioplasty infection including graft material and cranioplasty timing is necessary.