Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Levels of filaggrin degradation products are influenced by both filaggrin genotype and atopic dermatitis severity

To cite this article: Kezic S, O’Regan GM, Yau N, Sandilands A, Chen H, Campbell LE, Kroboth K, Watson R, Rowland M, Irwin McLean WH, Irvine AD. Levels of filaggrin degradation products are influenced by both filaggrin genotype and atopic dermatitis severity. Allergy 2011; 66: 934–940.
Compartment-Specific and Sequential Role of MyD88 and CARD9 in Chemokine Induction and Innate Defense during Respiratory Fungal Infection

Aspergillus fumigatus forms ubiquitous airborne conidia that humans inhale on a daily basis. Although respiratory fungal infection activates the adaptor proteins CARD9 and MyD88 via C-type lectin, Toll-like, and interleukin-1 family receptor signals, defining the temporal and spatial pattern of MyD88- and CARD9-coupled signals in immune activation and fungal clearance has been difficult to achieve. Herein, we demonstrate that MyD88 and CARD9 act in two discrete phases and in two cellular compartments to direct chemokine- and neutrophil-dependent host defense. The first phase depends on MyD88 signaling because genetic deletion of MyD88 leads to delayed induction of the neutrophil chemokines CXCL1 and CXCL5, delayed neutrophil lung trafficking, and fatal pulmonary damage at the onset of respiratory fungal infection. MyD88 expression in lung epithelial cells restores rapid chemokine induction and neutrophil recruitment via interleukin-1 receptor signaling. Exogenous CXCL1 administration reverses murine mortality in MyD88-deficient mice. The second phase depends predominately on CARD9 signaling because genetic deletion of CARD9 in radiosensitive hematopoietic cells interrupts CXCL1 and CXCL2 production and lung neutrophil recruitment beyond the initial MyD88-dependent phase. Using a CXCL2 reporter mouse, we show that lung-infiltrating neutrophils represent the major cellular source of CXCL2 during CARD9-dependent recruitment. Although neutrophil-intrinsic MyD88 and CARD9 function are dispensable for neutrophil conidial uptake and killing in the lung, global deletion of both adaptor proteins triggers rapidly progressive invasive disease when mice are challenged with an inoculum that is sub-lethal for single adapter protein knockout mice. Our findings demonstrate that distinct signal transduction pathways in the respiratory epithelium and hematopoietic compartment partially overlap to ensure optimal chemokine induction, neutrophil recruitment, and fungal clearance within the respiratory tract.
Genetic and molecular characterization of three novel S-haplotypes in sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.)

Tetraploid sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) exhibits gametophytic self-incompatibility (GSI) whereby the specificity of self-pollen rejection is controlled by alleles of the stylar and pollen specificity genes, S-RNase and SFB (S haplotype-specific F-box protein gene), respectively. As sour cherry selections can be either self-compatible (SC) or self-incompatible (SI), polyploidy per se does not result in SC. Instead the genotype-dependent loss of SI in sour cherry is due to the accumulation of non-functional S-haplotypes. The presence of two or more non-functional S-haplotypes within sour cherry 2x pollen renders that pollen SC. Two new S-haplotypes from sour cherry, S33 and S34, that are presumed to be contributed by the P. fruticosa species parent, the complete S-RNase and SFB sequences of a third S-haplotype, S35, plus the presence of two previously identified sweet cherry S-haplotypes, S14 and S16 are described here. Genetic segregation data demonstrated that the S16-, S33-, S34-, and S35-haplotypes present in sour cherry are fully functional. This result is consistent with our previous finding that ‘hetero-allelic’ pollen is incompatible in sour cherry. Phylogenetic analyses of the SFB and S-RNase sequences from available Prunus species reveal that the relationships among S-haplotypes show no correspondence to known organismal relationships at any taxonomic level within Prunus, indicating that polymorphisms at the S-locus have been maintained throughout the evolution of the genus. Furthermore, the phylogenetic relationships among SFB sequences are generally incongruent with those among S-RNase sequences for the same S-haplotypes. Hypotheses compatible with these results are discussed.
The Solar Coronal Magnetic Field Measurements With SOLARC

Direct solar coronal magnetic field measurements have become possible since recent development of high-sensitivity infrared detection technology. The SOLARC instrument installed on Mt. Haleakala is such a polarimetric coronagraph that was designed for routinely observing Stokes parameter profiles in near infrared (NIR) wavelengthes. The Fe$^{+12}$ 1075 nm forbidden coronal emission line (CEL) is potential for weak coronal magnetic field detection. As a first step the potential field model has been used to compare with the SOLARC observation in the Fe$^{+12}$ 1075 nm line (Liu and Lin 2008). It's found that the potential fields can be a zeroth-order proxy for approaching the observed coronal field above a simple stable sunspot. In this paper we further discuss several nodi that are hampering the progress for reconstructing the real coronal magnetic field structures. They include the well-known Van Vleck effect in linear polarization signals, ignorance of the information of the NIR emission sources (i.e., inversion problem of coronal magnetic fields), a fat lot of global non-linear force-free field tools available for better modeling coronal magnetic fields, and so on.
From Shading to Local Shape

We develop a framework for extracting a concise representation of the shape information available from diffuse shading in a small image patch. This produces a mid-level scene descriptor, comprised of local shape distributions that are inferred separately at every image patch across multiple scales. The framework is based on a quadratic representation of local shape that, in the absence of noise, has guarantees on recovering accurate local shape and lighting. And when noise is present, the inferred local shape distributions provide useful shape information without over-committing to any particular image explanation. These local shape distributions naturally encode the fact that some smooth diffuse regions are more informative than others, and they enable efficient and robust reconstruction of object-scale shape. Experimental results show that this approach to surface reconstruction compares well against the state-of-art on both synthetic images and captured photographs.
A Hash-Based Path Identification Scheme for DDoS Attacks Defense

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks pose a major threat to today’s cyber security. Defense against these attacks is complicated by source IP address spoofing, which is exploited by attackers to conceal source IP addresses and localities of malicious traffic. In this paper, we propose HPi (Hash-based Path Identification), a novel packet marking scheme to defeat DDoS attacks regardless of forged IP addresses. Our scheme makes full use of a packet’s 16-bit IP Identification field to generate a unique identifier corresponding to a path the packet traverses. Each router along the path hashes the last 16 bits of its IP address into the IP Identification field. Thus the victim can identify every single received packet as legitimate or malicious on a per packet basis with high accuracy. And we develop different filtering strategies for victim servers with different capabilities. We also propose a new packet filtering mechanism, the HPi2HC filter, for the victim to distinguish between legitimate and malicious packets more accurately based on tuple of each packet. Simulation results show that the performance of our scheme is still quite promising even when only half of the routers in the network participate in packet marking. The HPi scheme is also lightweight, supporting incremental deployment, and is robust against randomly initial values in IP Identification field forged by sophisticated attackers.
New conservation laws for electromagnetic fields in gravity

AbstractA recently found [5] 2-index, symmetric, trace-free, divergence-free tensor isintroduced for arbitrary source-free electromagnetic ﬁelds. The tensor can be con-structed for any test Maxwell ﬁeld in Einstein spaces (including proper vacuum),and more importantly for any Einstein-Maxwell spacetime. The tensor is explicitlygiven and analyzed in some special situations, such as general null electromagneticﬁelds, Reissner-Nordstr¨om solution, or classical electrodynamics. We present anexplicit example where the conserved currents derived from the energy-momentumtensor using symmetries are trivial, but those derived from the new tensor are not. 1 Introduction: electromagnetic ﬁelds Let (V,g) be a 4-dimensional spacetime with metric g (signature -,+,+,+). An electro-magnetic ﬁeld is any 2-form F satisfying the Maxwell equations (e.g. [17, 23])dF = 0, δF = −j ⇐⇒ ∇ [µ F νρ] = 0, ∇ σ F σν = j ν (1)where ~j is the electromagnetic current 4-vector. As usual, one can deﬁne the dual of Fand the associated complex self-dual 2-form F by means of
Variable Length Methods for Detecting Anomaly Patterns in Time Series

There has been much interest in mining anomaly patterns in time series. However, different datasets may have different lengths of anomaly patterns, and usually, the length of anomaly patterns is unknown. This paper uses k-distance of a pattern and median to define anomaly factor, the degree of anomaly, presents- definition- of- anomaly pattern based on it and two algorithms, algorithm 1 and algorithm 2. Algorithm 1 uses quadratic regression to segment time series, and obtains the range of length patterns. Algorithm 2 uses DTW (dynamic time warping) and variable methods to calculate similarity of patterns dynamically, detects anomaly patterns in a given time series automatically. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our detection algorithm for anomaly patterns with both synthetic and ECGs data sets, and the experimental results confirm that our methods can detect anomaly patterns with different lengths.
Validation of a bilingual version of the vocabulary size test: comparison with the monolingual version

ABSTRACT This study was set to cross-validate a bilingual Persian-English version of the Vocabulary Size Test (VST) against the monolingual English version and compare Iranian EFL learners’ performance on the two versions. Various bilingual versions of the VST have been developed based on the assumption that bilingual versions are not affected by the grammar and reading demands of the long options in the monolingual version. To serve the purposes of the study, the Persian-English version and monolingual version of the VST were administered to 116 Iranian EFL learners. Results indicated that a single dimension was underlying both versions. Combined factor analysis indicated that both versions assessed the same construct. Further, both versions were capable of distinguishing learners of varying English proficiency levels and there was also a rough order of difficulty across frequency levels in both of them. Separate paired-samples t-tests revealed that the low- and mid-proficiency groups had differential performance on the two versions of the VST. Their L2 vocabulary knowledge was significantly underestimated by the monolingual version as shown by the mean-differences between the two versions of the VST for these two groups. In contrast, the results also revealed that the high-proficiency group in the study did not show such differential performance on the two version of the VST as the mean-difference between the two versions of the VST did not reach statistical significance for this last group. Hence, it is argued that advanced learners are competent enough so that their performance is not affected by grammar and reading demands of the long options in the monolingual version.
Benchmarking recovery theorems for the DC-SBM

There have been many recent theoretical advances in the recovery of communities from random graphs, under the assumptions of the so called “block models”. For the DC-SBM, we have witnessed a series of recent results consisting of sufficient conditions for recovery, often by spectral algorithms. Since the conditions are not necessary, one expects that cases exist where recovery is possible, but which are not covered by the theory. This paper explores experimentally the limits of the current theory. We generate benchmark cases, for which recovery is possible, and with well defined parameters controlling their difficulty. Then we verify which of the existing results in the literature predict recovery. If it is hard to find examples not predicted by theory, then we may conclude that the theory is strong. This is not what our experiments show. On the contrary, they suggest that there is much more ground to cover towards deriving sharp thresholds for community recovery in the DC-SBM model. The software tool we created is made publicly available as a tool for researchers. It allows them to create test cases of controlled difficulty, and can easily be extended to test and compare new recovery theorems as they are published.
Longitudinal study of a cooperation-driven, socio-scientific issue intervention on promoting students’ critical thinking and self-regulation in learning science

ABSTRACT This longitudinal study explored the effects of a Cooperation-driven Socioscientific Issue (CDSSI) intervention on junior high school students' perceptions of critical thinking (CT) and self-regulation (SR) in Taiwan. Forty-nine grade 7 students were randomly selected as an experimental group (EG) to attend a 3-semester 72-hour intervention; while another 49 grade 7 students from the same school were randomly selected as the comparison group (CG). All participants completed a 4-wave student questionnaire to assess their perceptions of CT and SR. In addition, 8 target students from the EG with the lowest scores on either CT or SR were purposefully recruited for weekly observation. These target students and their teachers were interviewed one month after the intervention in each semester. Analyses of covariance and paired-wise t-tests revealed that the EG students' perceptions of CT and SR in learning science were improved during the study and were significantly better than their counterparts' at the end of the study. Systematic interview and classroom observation results were consistent with the quantitative findings. This study adds empirical evidence and provides insights into how CDSSI can be integrated into planning and implementing effective pedagogical strategies aimed at increasing students' perceptions of CT and SR in learning science.
Turnover at the Top: Executive Team Departures and Firm Performance

In a departure from the historical focus on individual-level turnover, scholars have recently examined turnover at the collective level. Building on this work, we invoke human and social capital arguments and analyze the implications of varying rates of top management team (TMT) turnover for firm performance. Our principal finding is that TMT departures have deleterious effects on subsequent firm performance, though we find evidence to suggest that this effect is nonlinear. Results also suggest that higher levels of average organizational tenure of the TMT will modestly attenuate this negative effect. Contrary to arguments grounded in the managerial discretion literature, environmental munificence weakened the negative effects of TMT turnover rates on subsequent firm performance, whereas the hypothesized moderating effects for both industry complexity and instability were not supported.
Fractal analysis of resting state fMRI signals in adults with ADHD

The fractal concept developed by Mandelbrot (1983) provides a useful tool for examining a variety of naturally occurring phenomena. Fractals are signals that display scale-invariant or self-similar behaviour. They can be found everywhere in nature including fractional Gaussian noise (fGn). Resting state fMRI signals can be modelled as fGn which makes them appropriate for fractal analysis (Maxim, 2005). The Hurst exponent, H, is a measure of fractal processes and has values ranging between 0 and 1. Fractional Gaussian noise with 0<H<0.5 demonstrates negatively autocorrelated or antipersistent behaviour; fGn with 0.5<H<1 demonstrates a positively correlated, relatively persistent, predictable, long memory behaviour; and fGn with H = 0.5 corresponds to classical Gaussian white noise. Here, memory implies the predictability of a stochastic process where information is gained from the conditional probability of the similar patterns (present and future) that exists in the random process. Figure 1 depicts a schematic representation of fGn with H ranging between 0 and 1. Results
Melanoma Thickness and Survival Trends in the United States, 1989 to 2009.

BACKGROUND With melanoma incidence rising and mortality stable, some question whether the melanoma epidemic is real. Melanoma thickness and survival trends may provide insights, but previous studies have been limited because of missing data on thickness. METHODS With a validated imputation method for missing thickness data, we characterized melanoma thickness and survival trends among men and women in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-9 registries between 1989 and 2009. A total of 98,498 cases of invasive melanoma were identified. All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS Incidence per 100 000 person-years increased (13.94, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 13.65 to 14.23, to 21.87, 95% CI = 21.56 to 22.19, P < .001) between 1989 to 1991 and 2007 to 2009, fatal incidence remained stable (2.32, 95% CI = 2.2 to 2.4, to 2.08, 95% CI = 2.0 to 2.2, P = .20) between 1989 to 1991 and 1998 to 2000, and five-year survival increased (88.29%, 95% CI = 87.60% to 88.95%, to 91.68%, 95% CI = 91.22% to 92.12%, P < .001) between 1989 to 1991 and 2001 to 2003. Increase in incidence occurred across all thickness groups. Median thickness decreased (0.73 to 0.58mm). Geometric mean thickness decreased (0.77 to 0.65mm) 4.6% (95% CI = 4.2% to 5.0%) every three years in multivariable analysis. Thickness decreased among T1/T2 tumors (0.01-1.00 and 1.01-2.00mm) and among all age and sex groups, whites, non-Hispanics, and all body sites. However, thickness increased among T3/T4 tumors (2.01-4.00 and > 4.00mm) and nodular melanomas; acral lentiginous melanomas approached statistical significance. Thickness remained unchanged among some racial minorities. Melanoma-specific survival improved (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.88 to 0.91) every three years in multivariable analysis. Improvements in survival occurred across all subgroups except nonblack minorities, and nodular and acral lentiginous subtypes. CONCLUSIONS Increasing incidence across all thickness groups coupled with T3/T4 lesions becoming thicker suggests that the melanoma epidemic is real and not simply an artifact of increased detection pressure of earlier-stage T1/T2 lesions. Survival is generally improving independent of thickness, but improvements in survival have not been experienced by certain minorities, and nodular and acral lentiginous subtypes.
Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams

This paper explores the challenges of creating and maintaining trust in a global virtual team whose members transcend time, space, and culture. The challenges are highlighted by integrating recent literature on work teams, computer-mediated communication groups, cross-cultural communication, and interpersonal and organizational trust. To explore these challenges empirically, we report on a series of descriptive case studies on global virtual teams whose members were separated by location and culture, were challenged by a common collaborative project, and for whom the only economically and practically viable communication medium was asynchronous and synchronous computer-mediated communication. The results suggest that global virtual teams may experience a form of ‘swift’ trust but such trust appears to be very fragile and temporal. The study raises a number of issues to be explored and debated by future research. Pragmatically, the study describes communication behaviors that might facilitate trust in global virtual teams.
The Relevance of Irrelevance

This research describes the formalization of statements of the form fact f is irrelevant to fact g given theory M. We motivate the need for representing and reasoning with such statements in problem-solving systems, and outline the semantics and properties of statements about irrelevance. We then describe a logic irrelevance that serves as a language for specifying irrelevance claims in the world, and present an associated calculus that allows us to draw new irrelevance conclusions from given ones. The utility of the formalization and the types of inferences it sanctions are demonstrated with examples from data interpretation, representation reformulation and experiment design.
Analysis Scheme in the Ensemble Kalman Filter

This paper discusses an important issue related to the implementation and interpretation of the analysis scheme in the ensemble Kalman filter. It is shown that the observations must be treated as random variables at the analysis steps. That is, one should add random perturbations with the correct statistics to the observations and generate an ensemble of observations that then is used in updating the ensemble of model states. Traditionally, this has not been done in previous applications of the ensemble Kalman filter and, as will be shown, this has resulted in an updated ensemble with a variance that is too low. This simple modification of the analysis scheme results in a completely consistent approach if the covariance of the ensemble of model states is interpreted as the prediction error covariance, and there are no further requirements on the ensemble Kalman filter method, except for the use of an ensemble of sufficient size. Thus, there is a unique correspondence between the error statistics from the ensemble Kalman filter and the standard Kalman filter approach.
Do Dishonesty, Ambiguity and Ethical Behaviour Affect? Risk Aversion?

The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of risk aversion, which are dishonesty, ambiguity and ethical behaviour. The first and third phase of this studies involve of completing a questionnaire to identify participant level of dishonesty and ethical behaviour. The second phase involves an experiment adapted from Ellsberg’s which we identify participant tendency of risk taking on ambiguity condition. In this study we found that dishonesty has a negative effect on risk aversion meanwhile ambiguity and ethical behaviour have positive effect on risk aversion. Even though the result of ambiguity has positive effect on risk aversion, but this result has shown an insignificant effect. In the future, researchers are suggested to emphasize the risk for indicating the ambiguity on risk aversion.