Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
First test of Verlinde's theory of emergent gravity using weak gravitational lensing measurements

Verlinde (2016) proposed that the observed excess gravity in galaxies and clusters is the consequence of Emergent Gravity (EG). In this theory the standard gravitational laws are modified on galactic and larger scales due to the displacement of dark energy by baryonic matter. EG gives an estimate of the excess gravity (described as an apparent dark matter density) in terms of the baryonic mass distribution and the Hubble parameter. In this work we present the first test of EG using weak gravitational lensing, within the regime of validity of the current model. Although there is no direct description of lensing and cosmology in EG yet, we can make a reasonable estimate of the expected lensing signal of low redshift galaxies by assuming a background LambdaCDM cosmology. We measure the (apparent) average surface mass density profiles of 33,613 isolated central galaxies, and compare them to those predicted by EG based on the galaxies' baryonic masses. To this end we employ the ~180 square degrees overlap of the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS) with the spectroscopic Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. We find that the prediction from EG, despite requiring no free parameters, is in good agreement with the observed galaxy-galaxy lensing profiles in four different stellar mass bins. Although this performance is remarkable, this study is only a first step. Further advancements on both the theoretical framework and observational tests of EG are needed before it can be considered a fully developed and solidly tested theory.
Launching of conical winds and axial jets from the disc–magnetosphere boundary: axisymmetric and 3D simulations

We investigate the launching of outflows from the disc-magnetosphere boundary of slowly and rapidly rotating magnetized stars using axisymmetric and exploratory 3D magnetohydro-dynamic simulations. We find long-lasting outflows in the following cases. (1) In the case of slowly rotating stars, a new type of outflow, a conical wind, is found and studied in simulations. The conical winds appear in cases where the magnetic flux of the star is bunched up by the disc into an X-type configuration. The winds have the shape of a thin conical shell with a half-opening angle θ ∼ 30°-40°. About 10-30 per cent of the disc matter flows from the inner disc into the conical winds. The conical winds may be responsible for episodic as well as long-lasting outflows in different types of stars. There is also a low-density, higher velocity component (a jet) in the region inside the conical wind. (2) In the case of rapidly rotating stars (the 'propeller regime'), a two-component outflow is observed. One component is similar to the conical winds. A significant fraction of the disc matter may be ejected into the winds. The second component is a high-velocity, low-density magnetically dominated axiaL jet where matter flows along the opened polar field lines of the star. The jet has a mass flux of about 10 per cent of that of the conical wind, but its energy flux (dominantly magnetic) can be larger than the energy flux of the conical wind. The jet's angular momentum flux (also dominantly magnetic) causes the star to spin down rapidly. Propeller-driven outflows may be responsible for the jets in protostars and for their rapid spin-down. The jet is collimated by the magnetic force while the conical winds are only weakly collimated in the simulation region. Exploratory 3D simulations show that conical winds are axisymmetric about the rotational axis (of the star and the disc), even when the dipole field of the star is significantly misaligned.
Anti-inflammatory effect of MUC 1 during respiratory syncytial virus infection of lung epithelial cells in vitro

Li Y, Dinwiddie DL, Harrod KS, Jiang Y, Kim KC. Antiinflammatory effect of MUC1 during respiratory syncytial virus infection of lung epithelial cells in vitro. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 298: L558–L563, 2010. First published January 15, 2010; doi:10.1152/ajplung.00225. 2009. —MUC1 is a transmembrane glycoprotein expressed on the apical surface of airway epithelial cells and plays an anti-inflammatory role during airway bacterial infection. In this study, we determined whether the anti-inflammatory effect of MUC1 is also operative during the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. The lung epithelial cell line A549 was treated with RSV, and the production of TNF and the levels of MUC1 protein were monitored temporally during the course of infection by ELISA and Western blot analysis. Small inhibitory RNA (siRNA) transfection was utilized to assess the role of MUC1 in regulating RSV-mediated inflammatory responses by lung epithelial cells. Our results revealed that: 1) following RSV infection, an increase in MUC1 level was preceded by an increase in TNF production and completely inhibited by soluble TNF receptor (TNFR); and 2) knockdown of MUC1 using MUC1 siRNA resulted in a greater increase in TNF level following RSV infection compared with control siRNA treatment. We conclude that the RSV-induced increase in the TNF levels upregulates MUC1 through its interaction with TNFR, which in turn suppresses further increase in TNF by RSV, thus forming a negative feedback loop in the control of RSV-induced inflammation. This is the first demonstration showing that MUC1 can suppress the virus-induced inflammatory responses.
The Impact of Cash Transfers on Child Labor and School Attendance in Brazil

The paper estimates the impact on school attendance and child labor of conditional cash payments to poor families in Brazil. It describes Brazil's transfer programs and presents statistics on school attendance and child labor. In the second half of the 1990s, many municipalities had adopted the "Bolsa Escola" (a cash transfer conditional on school attendance) and/or the federal minimum income program (in place during 1999 and 2000 and replaced by the "Bolsa Escola Federal" in 2001). Although conditional cash transfer programs in Brazil have been in place since 1996, studies on their ex-post impact are very few. Micro household level data from the 2000 Census allows the use of propensity score methods to estimate the impact of income transfers on child labor and school attendance. The paper finds that income transfer programs had no significant effect on child labor but a positive and significant impact on school attendance. These preliminary results suggest that these programs have not been effective in fighting child labor in Brazil. They increase the chance of a poor child going to school but do not reduce her labor activity perhaps because she prefers to combine school and labor, considering that the transfers are too small to provide an incentive to forgo the labor income.
The ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde fungus’: noble rot versus gray mold symptoms of Botrytis cinerea on grapes

Many cryptic species have recently been discovered in fungi, especially in fungal plant pathogens. Cryptic fungal species co‐occurring in sympatry may occupy slightly different ecological niches, for example infecting the same crop plant but specialized on different organs or having different phenologies. Identifying cryptic species in fungal pathogens of crops and determining their ecological specialization are therefore crucial for disease management. Here, we addressed this question in the ascomycete Botrytis cinerea, the agent of gray mold on a wide range of plants. On grape, B. cinerea causes severe damage but is also responsible for noble rot used for processing sweet wines. We used microsatellite genotyping and clustering methods to elucidate whether isolates sampled on gray mold versus noble rot symptoms in three French regions belong to genetically differentiated populations. The inferred population structure matched geography rather than the type of symptom. Noble rot symptoms therefore do not seem to be caused by a specific B. cinerea population but instead seem to depend essentially on microclimatic conditions, which has applied consequences for the production of sweet wines.
Continuous speech recognition using hidden Markov models

The use of hidden Markov models (HMMs) in continuous speech recognition is reviewed. Markov models are presented as a generalization of their predecessor technology, dynamic programming. A unified view is offered in which both linguistic decoding and acoustic matching are integrated into a single, optimal network search framework. Advances in recognition architectures are discussed. The fundamentals of Viterbi beam search, the dominant search algorithm used today in speed recognition, are presented. Approaches to estimating the probabilities associated with an HMM model are examined. The HMM-supervised training paradigm is examined. Several examples of successful HMM-based speech recognition systems are reviewed. <<ETX>>
An Analysis of Volatility Spread via the Risk-Free Rate Proxy

The paper studies estimation of implied volatility and the impact of the choice of the corresponding risk-free rate proxy. We suggest to analyze the implied volatility and the risk-free rate proxy inferred in conjunction from the observed option prices. We formulate and solve an overdefined system of nonlinear equations for the Black-Scholes model using options data. More precisely, we seek an optimal approximate solution via differential evolution, a stochastic optimization technique. Some experiments with historical prices reveals higher inferred risk-free rate than commonly used proxies. This leads to narrower volatility spread, or the difference between implied and realized volatilities.
TRANSIT ITS SIMULATOR DESIGN DOCUMENT ( TRAN-ITS ) August 25 , 1997

This report describes a simulation model developed to evaluate the impact of using Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS) for bus tracking, on controlling buses in wide-area transit networks. Control strategies with ITS will be compared against those without ITS (i.e., they do not rely on communication or tracking). The model is developed using a general-purpose simulation language, AweSim (Pritsker, 1997). The simulation model is generic and independent of any dedicated transit network. The model has high flexibility and can be used to simulate different kinds of transit networks with varying numbers of bus lines and different travel patterns. The user has the flexibility to input the appropriate control strategy at each bus stop. With this approach an identical replica of an actual system can be simulated. A set of experiments is being developed to analyze the use of ITS on several performance metrics, including average bus arrival and departure lateness, average passenger trip time, and average total passenger waiting time.
A spectrotemporal analysis of DCN single unit responses to wideband in guinea pig

Spectrotemporal receptive fields (STRFs) were estimated for chopper and pauser units recorded in guinea pig dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN). Sixteen wideband, periodic noise stimuli. represented as time-frequency surfaces of energy density. were crosscorrelated in time with the unit’s corresponding period histograms to determine if specific energy patterns tended to precede spike occurrence. The STRFs obtained were unique to the DCN, as compared to the ventral cochlear nucleus (VCN) [Clopton and Backoff, 1991, Hear. Res. 52. 32993441 in their degree of temporal and spectral complexity. Certain unit response types, classified from their peristimulus-time histograms (PSTHs) to tonebursts, were associated wtth distinctive patterns in the STRFs. All STRFs had at least one region of elevated energy density (peak region) closely preceding spike occurrence. which may reflect a short-pathway, primary excitatory input (or inputs) to the neuron. In addition, some units displayed low-energy regions (troughs) with greater temporal precedences on their STRFs. particularly when higher stimulus intensities were used. This analysis approach appears to have potential for investigating functional neural connectivity and predicting responses to novel complex stimuli. although specific implementations of the technique impose limitations on the interpretation of results.
Change and Continuity in the 2008 Elections

One of the first texts to make use of the 2008 National Election Study results, this new edition of "Change and Continuity" will put the momentous recent elections into historical context for your students. Questions considered include: What were the impact of race and gender in this election cycle? How did fundraising during the "invisible primary" shape the nomination contest? To what extent did youth participation determine the outcome of the election? What effect did new media have on the campaign and voter turnout? What role did the economic crisis play in voters' choices? Was 2008 a year for partisan realignment of the electorate? This well-respected author team delves deeply into each area, armed with an array of thorough, yet student-friendly data, graphics, and figures. As with all books in the "Change and Continuity" series, the authors present election data from a variety of sources in a straightforward, accessible manner and make sure to incorporate and discuss the most recent research.
On the mechanism of action of the alkylating agents. I. Interaction of alkylating agents with nucleic acids.

Summary The incorporation of isotopic ethylene-C 14 -imino- s -triazine (TEM), Myleran, chlorambucil, and sulfur mustard into the DNA fraction of regenerating liver and of various mouse ascites lymphomas was measured. The in vivo incorporation of these alkylating agents was estimated to be of the order of 1 mole of drug per mole of DNA polymer. Results obtained by several different methods of isolation of DNA from in vivo -treated tissues failed to show marked differences in the amounts of isotope coupled to DNA. No correlation was apparent between the susceptibility of the various tumors and the relative amounts of isotope incorporated into tumor DNA fractions. Pretreatment of tumor with nonlabeled triethylene melamine (TEM) failed to alter incorporation patterns for labeled TEM. It was concluded that attack on the DNA itself does not necessarily represent the mechanism of action by which the alkylating agents exert their cytostatic or cytotoxic effects.
Callosal thickness reductions relate to facial dysmorphology in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

BACKGROUND Structural abnormalities of the corpus callosum (CC), such as reduced size and increased shape variability, have been documented in individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). However, the regional specificity of altered CC structure, which may point to the timing of neurodevelopmental disturbances and/or relate to specific functional impairments, remains unclear. Furthermore, associations between facial dysmorphology and callosal structure remain undetermined. METHODS One hundred and fifty-three participants (age range 8 to 16) including 82 subjects with FASD and 71 nonexposed controls were included in this study. The structural magnetic resonance imaging data of these subjects was collected at 3 sites (Los Angeles and San Diego, California, and Cape Town, South Africa) and analyzed using classical parcellation schemes, as well as more refined surface-based geometrical modeling methods, to identify callosal morphological alterations in FASD at high spatial resolution. RESULTS Reductions in callosal thickness and area, specifically in the anterior third and the splenium, were observed in FASD compared with nonexposed controls. In addition, reduced CC thickness and area significantly correlated with reduced palpebral fissure length. CONCLUSIONS Consistent with previous reports, findings suggest an adverse effect of prenatal alcohol exposure on callosal growth and further indicate that fiber pathways connecting frontal and parieto-occipital regions in each hemisphere may be particularly affected. Significant associations between callosal and facial dysmorphology provide evidence for a concurrent insult to midline facial and brain structural development in FASD.
“ A Model and Empirical Test of Marketing ’ s Cross-Functional Relationship with Sales . ” by

Having an effective cross-functional working relationship between marketing and sales is critically important to firms in almost every industry sector. However, few studies have focused explicitly on this topic, and consequently, little is known about why this relationship may be effective in one firm but not in another. Using a sample of 200 firms from the United Kingdom and Australia, the authors begin to address this gap in the literature, and adopt an individual-level perspective to examine perceived relationship effectiveness between marketing managers and sales managers. Drawing on a range of socio-psychological constructs, the authors find good support for their conceptual model and show that cognition-based trust and affect-based trust have strong direct and indirect effects on perceived relationship effectiveness. Other major findings indicate that bidirectional communication has powerful positive effects, while the use of threats as an influence strategy increases a marketing manager’s amount of manifest influence but reduces perceived relationship effectiveness. The authors conclude with implications for theory building and for management.
The Interaction of Age and Type 2 Diabetes on Executive Function and Memory in Persons Aged 35 Years or Older

It is generally assumed that type 2 diabetes increases the risk of cognitive dysfunction in old age. As type 2 diabetes is frequently diagnosed before the age of 50, diabetes-related cognitive dysfunction may also occur before the age of 50. Therefore, we investigated the association of type 2 diabetes with cognitive function in people aged 35–82 years. In a cross-sectional study comprising 4,135 participants of the Prevention of Renal and Vascular ENd-stage Disease study (52% men; mean age (SD), 55 (12) years) diabetes was defined according to the criteria of the American Diabetes Association. Executive function was measured with the Ruff Figural Fluency Test (RFFT; worst score, 0 points; best score, 175 points), and memory was measured with the Visual Association Test (VAT; worst score, 0 points; best score, 12 points). The association of diabetes with cognitive function was investigated with multiple linear or, if appropriate, logistic regression analysis adjusting for other cardiovascular risk factors and APOE ε4 carriership. Type 2 diabetes was ascertained in 264 individuals (6%). Persons with diabetes had lower RFFT scores than persons without diabetes: mean (SD), 51 (19) vs. 70 (26) points (p<0.001). The difference in RFFT score was largest at age 35–44 years (mean difference 32 points; 95% CI, 15 to 49; p<0.001) and gradually decreased with increasing age. The association of diabetes with RFFT score was not modified by APOE ε4 carriership. Similar results were found for VAT score as outcome measure although these results were only borderline statistically significant (p≤0.10). In conclusion, type 2 diabetes was associated with cognitive dysfunction, especially in young adults. This was independent of other cardiovascular risk factors and APOE ε4 carriership.
Critical temperature of nuclear matter and fragment distributions in multifragmentation of finite nuclei

The fragment production in multifragmentation of finite nuclei is affected by the critical temperature of nuclear matter. We show that this temperature can be determined on the basis of the statistical multifragmentation model (SMM) by analyzing the evolution of fragment distributions with the excitation energy. This method can reveal a decrease of the critical temperature that, e.g., is expected for neutron-rich matter. The influence of isospin on fragment distributions is also discussed.
Improvement of semantic similarity algorithm based on WordNet

Traditional methods to modeling semantic similarity only compute the common characteristics and uncommon characteristics, without considering the structural relationship between concepts. In this paper, a new semantic similarity method based on information content is proposed. It evolves from feature model, the function λ in the algorithm which defines the relative importance of the uncommon characteristics, depends on the hierarchy in WordNet. In addition, the information content measure also relies on WordNet. Experiments show that, comparing the conventional two similarity measures Resnik and Lin, the proposed method gets more reasonable results with human judgments.
Comparative Genomics of CytR, an Unusual Member of the LacI Family of Transcription Factors

CytR is a transcription regulator from the LacI family, present in some gamma-proteobacteria including Escherichia coli and known not only for its cellular role, control of transport and utilization of nucleosides, but for a number of unusual structural properties. The present study addressed three related problems: structure of CytR-binding sites and motifs, their evolutionary conservation, and identification of new members of the CytR regulon. While the majority of CytR-binding sites are imperfect inverted repeats situated between binding sites for another transcription factor, CRP, other architectures were observed, in particular, direct repeats. While the similarity between sites for different genes in one genome is rather low, and hence the consensus motif is weak, there is high conservation of orthologous sites in different genomes (mainly in the Enterobacteriales) arguing for the presence of specific CytR-DNA contacts. On larger evolutionary distances candidate CytR sites may migrate but the approximate distance between flanking CRP sites tends to be conserved, which demonstrates that the overall structure of the CRP-CytR-DNA complex is gene-specific. The analysis yielded candidate CytR-binding sites for orthologs of known regulon members in less studied genomes of the Enterobacteriales and Vibrionales and identified a new candidate member of the CytR regulon, encoding a transporter named NupT (YcdZ).
The evolution and development of cranial form in Homo sapiens

Despite much data, there is no unanimity over how to define Homo sapiens in the fossil record. Here, we examine cranial variation among Pleistocene and recent human fossils by using a model of cranial growth to identify unique derived features (autapomorphies) that reliably distinguish fossils attributed to “anatomically modern” H. sapiens (AMHS) from those attributed to various taxa of “archaic” Homo spp. (AH) and to test hypotheses about the changes in cranial development that underlie the origin of modern human cranial form. In terms of pattern, AMHS crania are uniquely characterized by two general structural autapomorphies: facial retraction and neurocranial globularity. Morphometric analysis of the ontogeny of these autapomorphies indicates that the developmental changes that led to modern human cranial form derive from a combination of shifts in cranial base angle, cranial fossae length and width, and facial length. These morphological changes, some of which may have occurred because of relative size increases in the temporal and possibly the frontal lobes, occur early in ontogeny, and their effects on facial retraction and neurocranial globularity discriminate AMHS from AH crania. The existence of these autapomorphies supports the hypothesis that AMHS is a distinct species from taxa of “archaic” Homo (e.g., Homo neanderthalensis).