Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Learning Theory Approach to the Construction of Predictor Models

This paper presents new results for the identification of predictive models for unknown dynamical systems. The three key elements of the proposed approach are: i) an unknown mechanism that generates the observed data; ii) a family of models, among which we select our predictor, on the basis of past observations; iii) an optimality criterion that we want to minimize. A major departure from standard identification theory is taken in that we consider interval models for prediction, that is models that return output intervals, as opposed to output values. Moreover, we introduce a consistency criterion (the model is required to be consistent with observations) which act as a constraint in the optimization procedure. In this framework, the model has not to be interpreted as a faithful description of reality, but rather as an instrument to perform prediction. To the optimal model, we attach a certificate of reliability, that is a statement of the probability that the computed model will actually be consistent with future unknown data.
Clinical Outcomes After Posterolateral Lumbar Fusion in Workers' Compensation Patients: A Case-Control Study

Study Design. Case-control propensity matched. Objective. To compare clinical outcomes after lumbar fusion in patients receiving workers' compensation with a case-matched control group who are not on workers' compensation. Summary of Background Data. Previous studies have demonstrated poor outcomes in patients receiving workers' compensation after lumbar fusion. However, a case-control study where patients are matched for covariates known to affect outcomes after lumbar fusion, including baseline clinical outcome measures, has not been done. Methods. From 783 patients who underwent posterolateral fusion with complete preoperative and 2-year postoperative outcome measures, 60 patients who were receiving workers' compensation were identified. Outcome measures included the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Short Form-36 (SF-36), and back and leg pain numerical rating scales. Propensity scoring technique was used to match these patients with a control group not receiving workers' compensation using sex, age, smoking status, body mass index, diagnosis, number of levels fused, preoperative ODI, SF-36 Physical Component Summary (PCS), SF-36 Mental Component Summary, and back and leg pain scores, producing 58 matched pairs. Results. There were no significant differences between the demographics, job classification, and preoperative outcome scores in the two groups. At 2 years after operation, patients not receiving workers' compensation had a significantly greater improvement in ODI (P = 0.009) and SF-36 PCS (P = 0.007) compared with those receiving workers' compensation. Although patients not receiving workers' compensation had greater improvements in back and leg pain compared with those receiving workers' compensation, this did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.079). The mean 2-year ODI, SF-36 PCS, and back pain raw scores of patients receiving workers' compensation were significantly lower than those not receiving workers' compensation. Only 19% of workers' compensation patients achieved minimum clinically important difference in terms of ODI compared with 36% of those not receiving workers' compensation (P = 0.061). Only 16% of workers' compensation patients achieved SF-36 PCS minimum clinically important difference compared with 40% of those not receiving workers' compensation (P = 0.006). Conclusion. After controlling for covariates known to affect outcomes after lumbar fusion, patients on workers' compensation have significantly less improvement of clinical outcomes in both mean change in ODI and SF-36 PCS, as well as the number of patients achieving substantial clinical benefit. The improvement in back pain was similar between the two groups, but patients on workers' compensation remained more disabled after lumbar fusion. Differences in outcomes may be related to unidentified covariates associated with workers' compensation status.
Post-Traumatic Syringomyelia: A Review Of the Cases Presenting in a Regional Spinal Injuries Unit in the North East of England Over a 5-Year Period

Study Design. Retrospective study of the management of patients with a confirmed diagnosis of post-traumatic syringomyelia (PTS) in a regional spinal injuries unit. Objectives. To investigate the incidence of PTS in a regional spinal injuries unit, and to assess mode of presentation, management, and subsequent outcome. Summary of Background Data. Majority of patients male, mean age 44 years (range 33–60 years), with thoracic spinal cord injury (SCI). Most PTS developed within 5 years after injury (range 6 months to 25 years) and presented with reduced sensation. Fifty percent had surgical intervention at the time of SCI, and 50% managed conservatively. Four patients had additional spinal injury pathology not corrected at time of surgery. Methods. Retrospective analysis of the case notes of all patients with a confirmed diagnosis of PTS (n = 16). Demographic details obtained and details of the original injury and subsequent clinical course and management noted. Results. Incidence of PTS = 0.02%. Magnetic resonance imaging scanning performed in 56% with PTS. The majority of PTS developed around the site of the original lesion. The most common method of management was insertion of a syringoperitoneal shunt (44%). Thirty-one percent improved after surgery, 31% remain stable. One patient died. The symptoms of 3 patients continue to deteriorate slowly despite surgical intervention. Conclusions. Incidence of PTS are lower in our study than that quoted in the literature. Benefits of initial surgical management of SCI in reducing development of PTS are unclear. Benefits of surgical management of PTS are unclear. Additional studies are required as this may influence future management of spinal cord injured patients.
Enhancing Bitcoin Security and Performance with Strong Consistency via Collective Signing

While showing great promise, Bitcoin requires users to wait tens of minutes for transactions to commit, and even then, offering only probabilistic guarantees. This paper introduces ByzCoin, a novel Byzantine consensus protocol that leverages scalable collective signing to commit Bitcoin transactions irreversibly within seconds. ByzCoin achieves Byzantine consensus while preserving Bitcoin's open membership by dynamically forming hash power-proportionate consensus groups that represent recently-successful block miners. ByzCoin employs communication trees to optimize transaction commitment and verification under normal operation while guaranteeing safety and liveness under Byzantine faults, up to a near-optimal tolerance of f faulty group members among 3f + 2 total. ByzCoin mitigates double spending and selfish mining attacks by producing collectively signed transaction blocks within one minute of transaction submission. Tree-structured communication further reduces this latency to less than 30 seconds. Due to these optimizations, ByzCoin achieves a throughput higher than PayPal currently handles, with a confirmation latency of 15-20 seconds.
Discordant paleomagnetic data for middle‐Cretaceous intrusive rocks from northern Baja California: Latitude displacement, tilt, or vertical axis rotation?

Paleomagnetic results and U/Pb zircon dating from the San Marcos dike swarm and the El Testerazo pluton in the Cretaceous Peninsular Ranges batholith of northern Baja California are used to evaluate alternative pre‐Neogene paleogeographic reconstructions of the Baja California peninsula. The San Marcos dike swarm is a dense, northwest striking, regional dike swarm that is exposed over an ∼100 km long segment of the batholith and has yielded a U/Pb zircon crystallization age of 120 ± 1 Ma. Dike attitudes from the swarm suggest a regionally consistent average ∼320°E strike and ∼79°NE dip. The El Testerazo pluton is a younger tonalite intrusion that truncates the northern end of the dike swarm. All but one of 36 sites sampled in this study show remanence of normal polarity. Paleopoles for the San Marcos dike swarm and El Testerazo pluton are indistinguishable and were combined into a paleopole at 248.1°E, 86.6°N, A95 = 4.8°, which is displaced with respect to the 122 Ma reference pole for stable North America at 198.2°E, 72.3°N, A95 = 3.3°. The displacement may be described by an apparent clockwise rotation of 18° ± 6° and an apparent northward shift of 8° ± 5°. Restoring a northward shift of about 3°, related to the separation of Baja California from North America since 10 Ma, only a marginal northward displacement of 5° ± 5° is left. The clockwise rotation may be the result of crustal block rotations within the right‐lateral shear systems in northern Baja California, although there is no geological evidence that supports this possibility. Alternatively, the difference between paleopole and reference pole may be due to tilting of the study area. Restoring a northeastward tilt of 11°, based on the mean dip measured for the San Marcos dike swarm in the study area, yields a paleopole at 187.6°E, 70.8°N, A95 = 5.6°, which is indistinguishable from the 122 Ma North American reference pole. The tilting hypothesis suggested previously as a potential explanation for low inclination of paleomagnetic data from Baja California therefore seems to be viable for the discordant paleopoles from this segment of the batholith. Data obtained previously about 150 km further south and along the western edge of the batholith defined a concordant paleopole without any tilt correction, indicating that regional tilting may not be valid for all of Baja California.
Unique Motif for Nucleolar Retention and Nuclear Export Regulated by Phosphorylation

ABSTRACT By microinjecting purified glutathione S-transferase linked to all or parts of herpes simplex virus type 1 US11 protein into either the nucleus or the cytoplasm, we have demonstrated that this nucleolar protein exhibits a new type of localization signal controlling both retention in nucleoli and export to the cytoplasm. Saturated mutagenesis combined with computer modeling allowed us to draw the fine-structure map of this domain, revealing a new proline-rich motif harboring both activities, which are temperature dependent and regulated by phosphorylation. Finally, crossing the nuclear pore complex from the cytoplasm to the nucleus is an energy-dependent process for US11 protein, while getting to nucleoli through the nucleoplasm is energy independent.
Bilateral and unilateral vertical ground reaction forces and leg asymmetries in soccer players

The purposes of this study were to assess unilateral and bilateral vertical jump performance characteristics, and to compare the vertical ground reaction force characteristics of the impulse and landing phase of a vertical jump between the dominant and non-dominant leg in soccer players. The sample consisted of 20 male soccer players (22.80 ± 2.71 years, 1.88 ± 0.06 m, 76.47 ± 8.80 kg) who competed in the third division of the Spanish football league. Vertical jump performance was determined by testing the impulse and landing phase of a bilateral vertical jump, dominant leg vertical jump and non-dominant leg vertical jump. Significant differences (p < 0.05) between dominant and non-dominant legs were found in counter movement jump (CMJ) flight time (LA = -2.38%, d = 0.33), CMJ flight height (LA = -4.55%, d = 0.33) and CMJ speed take-off (LA = -2.91%, d = 0.42). No significant differences were found between the dominant and non-dominant leg in the F1 and F2 magnitudes during the landing phase, the time from the first contact of the foot with the ground to the production of F1, the time from the second contact of the foot with the ground to the production of F2, and the time to stabilization of the landing phase. Although differences were found between the dominant and non-dominant leg in the impulse phase of the jump, no significant differences were found between dominant and non-dominant legs in the landing phase of vertical jump variables.
On the Influence of Emotion on Conflict Processing

The ability to show coherent goal-directed behavior, even in the presence of distraction, requires the detection and resolution of conflict, for example between opposing action tendencies. This defining feature of cognitive control has been extensively studied with experimental tasks like the Stroop, Simon, or Flanker paradigm (Stroop, 1935; Simon and Rudell, 1967; Eriksen and Eriksen, 1974), which also yielded the description of an underlying neural network for conflict detection and resolution (Fan et al., 2003; Ridderinkhof et al., 2004). Understanding the influence of emotion on this system is particularly important because they are intrinsically tied to one another in real life (Pessoa, 2008). Recent evidence seems to be contradictory with reports of facilitation and impairment effects of emotion on the processing of conflict. On a conceptual basis both accounts can be supported. It may be argued that keeping up goal-directed behavior is especially difficult in emotional situations because of their greater distracting potential. On the other hand, emotional stimuli are also signals of relevance for a situation that might require particularly efficient cognitive control (Scherer, 1994). In line with this latter view, Norman and Shallice (1986) suggested that emotion, along with other instances like novelty or error commitment, might trigger cognitive control processes. The present opinion article aims at elucidating these diverging views by specifying two critical factors – task relevance and individual differences – that result in an enhancing or hindering influence of emotion on the processing of conflict.
Evolution of corridor following behavior in a noisy world

Robust behavioral control programs for a simulated 2d vehicle can be constructed by artificial evolution. Corridor following serves here as an example of a behavior to be obtained through evolution. A controller’s fitness is judged by its ability to steer its vehicle along a collision free path through a simple corridor environment. The controller’s inputs are noisy range sensors and its output is a noisy steering mechanism. Evolution determines the quantity and placement of sensors. Noise in fitness tests discourages brittle strategies and leads to the evolution of robust, noise-tolerant controllers. Genetic Programming is used to model evolution, the controllers are represented as deterministic computer programs.
Scattering of terahertz radiation on a graphene-based nano-antenna

Scattering of the terahertz radiation on a graphene‐based nano‐antenna is considered. Different electromagnetic models of graphene are discussed and applied to calculate extinction, scattering and absorption cross sections of the nano‐antenna. Scattering resonances in the terahertz band are identified as longitudinal Fabry‐Perot resonances of surface plasmon polaritons supported by the graphene layer. A simple while powerful model, based on the effective mode index of plasmon polaritons, is proposed to predict the antenna resonant properties. A systematic numerical study of the graphene‐based nano‐antenna is presented for different antenna dimensions. Finally, the potential of graphene‐based nano‐antennas for terahertz applications is discussed.
Non-linear optimization of biochemical pathways: applications to metabolic engineering and parameter estimation

MOTIVATION The simulation of biochemical kinetic systems is a powerful approach that can be used for: (i) checking the consistency of a postulated model with a set of experimental measurements, (ii) answering 'what if? ' questions and (iii) exploring possible behaviours of a model. Here we describe a generic approach to combine numerical optimization methods with biochemical kinetic simulations, which is suitable for use in the rational design of improved metabolic pathways with industrial significance (metabolic engineering) and for solving the inverse problem of metabolic pathways, i.e. the estimation of parameters from measured variables. RESULTS We discuss the suitability of various optimization methods, focusing especially on their ability or otherwise to find global optima. We recommend that a suite of diverse optimization methods should be available in simulation software as no single one performs best for all problems. We describe how we have implemented such a simulation-optimization strategy in the biochemical kinetics simulator Gepasi and present examples of its application. AVAILABILITY The new version of Gepasi (3.20), incorporating the methodology described here, is available on the Internet at http://gepasi.dbs. aber.ac. uk/softw/Gepasi. html. CONTACT prm@aber.ac. uk
Immunogenicity of a Monovalent Pandemic Influenza A H1N1 Virus Vaccine with or without Prior Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Administration

ABSTRACT The immunogenicity of pandemic influenza A H1N1 virus (A/H1pdm) vaccine might be modified by prior seasonal trivalent influenza vaccine (sTIV) administration. We conducted a retrospective analysis of immunogenicity of 243 health care workers (number of sTIV-positive [sTIV+] subjects, 216; number of sTIV− subjects, 27) by hemagglutination inhibition. There was no significant difference in the ratios of antibody titers of ≥40 (41.2% versus 48.1%; P = 0.49) and fold increases in geometric mean titer (3.8 versus 4.5; P = 0.37). sTIV injected 7 to 10 days prior to A/H1pdm vaccine administration did not interfere with the immunogenicity of the latter.
Differential expression of Zymomonas mobilis sucrase genes (sacB and sacC) in Escherichia coli and sucrase mutants of Zymomonas mobilis

The sacB and sacC genes encoding levansucrase and extracellular sucrase respectively were independently subcloned in pBluescript (high copy number) and in Z. mobilis-E. coli shuttle vector, pZA22 (low copy number). The expression of these genes were compared under identical background of E. coli and Z. mobilis host. The level of sacB gene expression in E. coli was almost ten fold less than the expression of sacC gene, irrespective of the growth medium or the host strain. In Z. mobilis the expression of sacB and sacC genes was shown to be subject to carbon source dependent regulation. The transcript of sacB and sacC was three fold higher in cells grown on sucrose than in cells grown on glucose/fructose. Northern blot analysis revealed that the transcript levels of sacC was approximately 2-3 times higher than that of sacB. These results suggested that the expression of sacC gene was more pronounced than sacB.
Methodological Intercomparisons of Station-Based Gridded Meteorological Products: Utility, Limitations, and Paths Forward

This study presents a gridded meteorology intercomparison using the State of Hawaii as a testbed. This is motivated by the goal to provide the broad user community with knowledge of interproduct differences and the reasons differences exist. More generally, the challenge of generating station-based gridded meteorological surfaces and the difficulties in attributing interproduct differences to specific methodological decisions are demonstrated. Hawaii is a useful testbed because it is traditionally underserved, yet meteorologically interesting and complex. In addition, several climatological and daily gridded meteorology datasets are now available, which are used extensively by the applications modeling community, thus an intercomparison enhances Hawaiian specific capabilities. We compare PRISM climatology and three daily datasets: new datasets from the University of Hawai‘i and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and Daymet version 3 for precipitation and temperature variables only. General conclusions that have emerged are 1) differences in input station data significantly influence the product differences, 2) explicit prediction of precipitation occurrence is crucial across multiple metrics, and 3) attribution of differences to specific methodological choices is difficult and limits the usefulness of intercomparisons. Because generating gridded meteorological fields is an elaborate process with many methodological choices interacting in complex ways, future work should 1) develop modular frameworks that allows users to easily examine the breadth of methodological choices, 2) collate available nontraditional high-quality observational datasets for true out-of-sample validation and make them publicly available, and 3) define benchmarks of acceptable performance for methodological components and products.
Late Holocene ice-wedge polygon dynamics in northeastern Siberian coastal lowlands

ABSTRACT Ice-wedge polygons are common features of northeastern Siberian lowland periglacial tundra landscapes. To deduce the formation and alternation of ice-wedge polygons in the Kolyma Delta and in the Indigirka Lowland, we studied shallow cores, up to 1.3 m deep, from polygon center and rim locations. The formation of well-developed low-center polygons with elevated rims and wet centers is shown by the beginning of peat accumulation, increased organic matter contents, and changes in vegetation cover from Poaceae-, Alnus-, and Betula-dominated pollen spectra to dominating Cyperaceae and Botryoccocus presence, and Carex and Drepanocladus revolvens macro-fossils. Tecamoebae data support such a change from wetland to open-water conditions in polygon centers by changes from dominating eurybiontic and sphagnobiontic to hydrobiontic species assemblages. The peat accumulation indicates low-center polygon formation and started between 2380 ± 30 and 1676 ± 32 years before present (BP) in the Kolyma Delta. We recorded an opposite change from open-water to wetland conditions because of rim degradation and consecutive high-center polygon formation in the Indigirka Lowland between 2144 ± 33 and 1632 ± 32 years BP. The late Holocene records of polygon landscape development reveal changes in local hydrology and soil moisture.
Polychaete Richness and Abundance Enhanced in Anthropogenically Modified Estuaries Despite High Concentrations of Toxic Contaminants

Ecological communities are increasingly exposed to multiple chemical and physical stressors, but distinguishing anthropogenic impacts from other environmental drivers remains challenging. Rarely are multiple stressors investigated in replicated studies over large spatial scales (>1000 kms) or supported with manipulations that are necessary to interpret ecological patterns. We measured the composition of sediment infaunal communities in relation to anthropogenic and natural stressors at multiple sites within seven estuaries. We observed increases in the richness and abundance of polychaete worms in heavily modified estuaries with severe metal contamination, but no changes in the diversity or abundance of other taxa. Estuaries in which toxic contaminants were elevated also showed evidence of organic enrichment. We hypothesised that the observed response of polychaetes was not a ‘positive’ response to toxic contamination or a reduction in biotic competition, but due to high levels of nutrients in heavily modified estuaries driving productivity in the water column and enriching the sediment over large spatial scales. We deployed defaunated field-collected sediments from the surveyed estuaries in a small scale experiment, but observed no effects of sediment characteristics (toxic or enriching). Furthermore, invertebrate recruitment instead reflected the low diversity and abundance observed during field surveys of this relatively ‘pristine’ estuary. This suggests that differences observed in the survey are not a direct consequence of sediment characteristics (even severe metal contamination) but are related to parameters that covary with estuary modification such as enhanced productivity from nutrient inputs and the diversity of the local species pool. This has implications for the interpretation of diversity measures in large-scale monitoring studies in which the observed patterns may be strongly influenced by many factors that covary with anthropogenic modification.