Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Western Corn Rootworm (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) Dispersal and Adaptation to Single-Toxin Transgenic Corn Deployed with Block or Blended Refuge

ABSTRACT A simulation model of the temporal and spatial dynamics and population genetics of western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, was created to evaluate the use of block refuges and seed blends in the management of resistance to transgenic insecticidal corn (Zea mays L.). This Bt corn expresses one transgenic corn event, DAS-59122-7, that produces a binary insecticidal protein toxin (Cry34Ab1/Cry35Ab1) and provides host-plant resistance. The model incorporates the latest information about larval and adult behavior. Results of this modeling effort indicate that the seed-blend scenarios in many cases produced equal or greater durability than block refuges that were relocated each year. Resistance evolved in the most likely scenarios in 10–16 yr. Our standard analysis presumed complete adoption of 59122 corn by all farmers in our hypothetical region, no crop rotation, and 100% compliance with Insect Resistant Management (IRM) regulations. As compliance levels declined, resistance evolved faster when block refuges were deployed. Seed treatments that killed the pest when applied to all seeds in a seed blend or just to seeds in Bt corn blocks delayed evolution of resistance. Greater control of the pest population by the seed treatment facilitated longer durability of the transgenic trait. Therefore, data support the concept that pyramiding a transgenic insecticidal trait with a highly efficacious insecticidal seed treatment can delay evolution of resistance.
Unbiased estimation in seamless phase II/III trials with unequal treatment effect variances and hypothesis‐driven selection rules

Seamless phase II/III clinical trials offer an efficient way to select an experimental treatment and perform confirmatory analysis within a single trial. However, combining the data from both stages in the final analysis can induce bias into the estimates of treatment effects. Methods for bias adjustment developed thus far have made restrictive assumptions about the design and selection rules followed. In order to address these shortcomings, we apply recent methodological advances to derive the uniformly minimum variance conditionally unbiased estimator for two‐stage seamless phase II/III trials. Our framework allows for the precision of the treatment arm estimates to take arbitrary values, can be utilised for all treatments that are taken forward to phase III and is applicable when the decision to select or drop treatment arms is driven by a multiplicity‐adjusted hypothesis testing procedure. © 2016 The Authors. Statistics in Medicine Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
EFFECT OF PRESSURE ON HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT OF A356 ALUMINUM ALLOY

The aim of this paper is to correlate interfacial heat transfer coefficient (IHTC) to applied external pressure, in which IHTC at the interface between A356 aluminum alloy and metallic mold during the solidification of casting under different pressures were obtained by using the inverse heat conduction problem (IHCP) method. The method covers the expedient of comparing theoretical and experimental thermal histories. Temperature profiles obtained from thermocouples were used in a finite difference heat flow program to estimate the transient heat transfer coefficients. The new simple formula was presented for correlation between external pressure and heat transfer coefficient. Acceptable agreement with data in literature shows the accuracy of proposed formula.
The Nature of Anterior Negativities Caused by Misapplications of Morphological Rules

This study investigates functional interpretations of left anterior negativities (LANs), a language-related electroencephalogram effect that has been found for syntactic and morphological violations. We focus on three possible interpretations of LANs caused by the replacement of irregular affixes with regular affixes: misapplication of morphological rules, mismatch of the presented form with analogy-based expectations, and mismatch of the presented form with stored representations. Event-related brain potentials were recorded during the visual presentation of existing and novel Dutch compounds. Existing compounds contained correct or replaced interfixes (dame s salons > damessalons vs. dame n salons > damensalons women's hairdresser salons), whereas novel Dutch compounds contained interfixes that were either supported or not supported by analogy to similar existing compounds (kruidenkelken vs. ? kruidskelken herb chalices); earlier studies had shown that interfixes are selected by analogy instead of rules. All compounds were presented with correct or incorrect regular plural suffixes (damessalons vs. damessalonnen). Replacing suffixes or interfixes in existing compounds both led to increased (L)ANs between 400 and 700 msec without any evidence for different scalp distributions for interfixes and suffixes. There was no evidence for a negativity when manipulating the analogical support for interfixes in novel compounds. Together with earlier studies, these results suggest that LANs had been caused by the mismatch of the presented forms with stored forms. We discuss these findings with respect to the single/dual-route debate of morphology and LANs found for the misapplication of syntactic rules.
Determination of total dissolved cobalt in UV‐irradiated seawater using flow injection with chemiluminescence detection

A sensitive flow‐injection method with chemiluminescence detection (FI‐CL) for the determination of dissolved cobalt in open ocean samples, suitable for shipboard use has been developed. To date, FI methods for dissolved cobalt have been used only in coastal and estuarine waters. Therefore, significant modifications to existing methods were required, including (1) the use of a commercially available iminodiacetate (IDA) resin (Toyopearl AF‐chelate 650M) in place of resin immobilized 8‐hydroxyquinoline for online preconcentration and matrix removal, (2) the introduction of acidified ammonium acetate (pH 4) as a column‐conditioning step before sample loading and rinse steps, and most importantly, (3) UV irradiation of acidified seawater samples to determine total dissolved cobalt, rather than an operationally defined fraction. This method had a detection limit of 4.5 pM (3σ of the blank). The accuracy of the method was evaluated by determining total dissolved cobalt in acidified North Pacific deep seawater (1000 m) samples from the Sampling and Analysis of Iron (SAFe) program and NASS‐5. The method yields a mean (± SD) value of 40.9 ± 2.6 pM (n = 9), which is in excellent agreement with the SAFe consensus value of 43 ± 4 pM, and 208 ± 30 pM for NASS‐5 (certified value 187 ± 51 pM). This study demonstrates that UV irradiation is an essential step for the determination of total dissolved cobalt in seawater by FI‐CL. The method was applied to vertical profiles from the Sargasso Sea, indicating that total dissolved cobalt is influenced by both biological and physical processes.
Apical targeting of syntaxin 3 is essential for epithelial cell polarity

In polarized epithelial cells, syntaxin 3 localizes to the apical plasma membrane and is involved in membrane fusion of apical trafficking pathways. We show that syntaxin 3 contains a necessary and sufficient apical targeting signal centered around a conserved FMDE motif. Mutation of any of three critical residues within this motif leads to loss of specific apical targeting. Modeling based on the known structure of syntaxin 1 revealed that these residues are exposed on the surface of a three-helix bundle. Syntaxin 3 targeting does not require binding to Munc18b. Instead, syntaxin 3 recruits Munc18b to the plasma membrane. Expression of mislocalized mutant syntaxin 3 in Madin-Darby canine kidney cells leads to basolateral mistargeting of apical membrane proteins, disturbance of tight junction formation, and loss of ability to form an organized polarized epithelium. These results indicate that SNARE proteins contribute to the overall specificity of membrane trafficking in vivo, and that the polarity of syntaxin 3 is essential for epithelial cell polarization.
Macrophage Transitions in Heart Valve Development and Myxomatous Valve Disease

Objective— Hematopoietic-derived cells have been reported in heart valves but remain poorly characterized. Interestingly, recent studies reveal infiltration of leukocytes and increased macrophages in human myxomatous mitral valves. Nevertheless, timing and contribution of macrophages in normal valves and myxomatous valve disease are still unknown. The objective is to characterize leukocytes during postnatal heart valve maturation and identify macrophage subsets in myxomatous valve disease. Approach and Results— Leukocytes are detected in heart valves after birth, and their numbers increase during postnatal valve development. Flow cytometry and immunostaining analysis indicate that almost all valve leukocytes are myeloid cells, consisting of at least 2 differentially localized macrophage subsets and dendritic cells. Beginning a week after birth, increased numbers of CCR2+ (C-C chemokine receptor type 2) macrophages are present, consistent with infiltrating populations of monocytes, and macrophages are localized in regions of biomechanical stress in the valve leaflets. Valve leukocytes maintain expression of CD (cluster of differentiation) 45 and do not contribute to significant numbers of endothelial or interstitial cells. Macrophage lineages were examined in aortic and mitral valves of Axin2 KO (knockout) mice that exhibit myxomatous features. Infiltrating CCR2+ monocytes and expansion of CD206-expressing macrophages are localized in regions where modified heavy chain hyaluronan is observed in myxomatous valve leaflets. Similar colocalization of modified hyaluronan and increased numbers of macrophages were observed in human myxomatous valve disease. Conclusions— Our study demonstrates the heterogeneity of myeloid cells in heart valves and highlights an alteration of macrophage subpopulations, notably an increased presence of infiltrating CCR2+ monocytes and CD206+ macrophages, in myxomatous valve disease.
A representer theorem for deep neural networks

We propose to optimize the activation functions of a deep neural network by adding a corresponding functional regularization to the cost function. We justify the use of a second-order total-variation criterion. This allows us to derive a general representer theorem for deep neural networks that makes a direct connection with splines and sparsity. Specifically, we show that the optimal network configuration can be achieved with activation functions that are nonuniform linear splines with adaptive knots. The bottom line is that the action of each neuron is encoded by a spline whose parameters (including the number of knots) are optimized during the training procedure. The scheme results in a computational structure that is compatible with the existing deep-ReLU and MaxOut architectures. It also suggests novel optimization challenges, while making the link with $\ell_1$ minimization and sparsity-promoting techniques explicit.
The Direct and Ecological Costs of an Ant-Plant Symbiosis

How strong is selection for cheating in mutualisms? The answer depends on the type and magnitude of the costs of the mutualism. Here we investigated the direct and ecological costs of plant defense by ants in the association between Cordia nodosa, a myrmecophytic plant, and Allomerus octoarticulatus, a phytoecious ant. Cordia nodosa trees produce food and housing to reward ants that protect them against herbivores. For nearly 1 year, we manipulated the presence of A. octoarticulatus ants and most insect herbivores on C. nodosa in a full-factorial experiment. Ants increased plant growth when herbivores were present but decreased plant growth when herbivores were absent, indicating that hosting ants can be costly to plants. However, we did not detect a cost to ant colonies of defending host plants against herbivores. Although this asymmetry in costs suggests that the plants may be under stronger selection than the ants to cheat by withholding investment in their partner, the costs to C. nodosa are probably at least partly ecological, arising because ants tend scale insects on their host plants. We argue that ecological costs should favor resistance or traits other than cheating and thus that neither partner may face much temptation to cheat.
[Nutritional status of Terena indian children from Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil: follow up of weight and height and current prevalence of anemia].

OBJECTIVE This study of Terena Indian children less than 10 years old was undertaken in order to compare weight and height in 1995 and 2002 and to evaluate anemia prevalence in 2002. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study of the Limão Verde and Córrego Seco tribes, located in Aquidauana, Mato Gosso do Sul, Brazil. The study enrolled all 253 children who were less than 10 years old in 1995 and 244 who were under 10 in 2002. Their nutritional status was evaluated comparing weight and height with the NCHS (National Center for Health Statistics) reference values (Epi-Info version 6.2). Hemoglobin was assayed using a portable photometer. RESULTS The percentages of children with weight for age deficit (z score < -2 standard deviations) were 4 and 2.9% in 1995 and 2002 respectively. Percentages of weight for height deficits were 3.6 and 0.8% respectively. Percentages of height for age deficits were 15 and 11.1% respectively. The median z scores for weight, age and weight, and height showed a statistically significant increase during the period between 1995 and 2002 in infants. Between 24 and 60 months, there were increments in median z scores for weight for age and height for age. There was no statistically significant decrease in any of the anthropometric indicators, with reference to z scores. The prevalence rates of anemia were 86.1% for infants 6 to 24 months old (n = 43), 50.8% for those 24 to 60 months (n = 65) and 40.7% for children aged 60 to 120 months (n = 59). CONCLUSION Weight and height both increased during period from 1995 to 2002. Anemia was highly prevalent, calling for immediate corrective measures.
Addressing intra-tumoral heterogeneity and therapy resistance

In the last several years, our appreciation of intra-tumoral heterogeneity has greatly increased due to accumulating evidence for the co-existence of genetically and epigenetically divergent cancer cells residing in different microenvironments within a tumor. Herein, we review recent literature discussing intra-tumoral heterogeneity in the context of therapy resistance mechanisms at the genetic, epigenetic and microenvironmental levels. We illustrate the influence of tumor microenvironment on therapy resistance and epigenetic states of cancer cells by highlighting the role of cancer stem cells in therapy resistance. We also summarize different strategies that have been employed to address various resistance mechanisms at genetic, epigenetic, and microenvironmental levels in preclinical and clinical studies. We propose that future personalized cancer therapy design needs to incorporate dynamic and comprehensive analyses of tumor heterogeneity landscape and multi-dimensional mechanisms of therapy resistance.
Failure Modes of Angle Ply Laminates

Experimental investigation of failure of balanced angle-ply laminates under symmetric uniaxial tension revealed three distinct failure modes. The three different modes were observed for reinforcement angles smaller than ±45°, for the ±45° angle ply and for angles larger than ±45°. Comparison of experimental failure loads with theoretical failure loads based on first laminate failure criteria showed good agreement for certain ranges of reinforcement angle and disagreement for others.
Predicting response after infliximab salvage in acute severe ulcerative colitis

Acute severe ulcerative colitis (ASUC) is a medical emergency requiring prompt therapeutic intervention. Although infliximab has been used as salvage therapy for over 15 years, clinical predictors of treatment success are lacking. We performed a retrospective analysis to identify factors that predict colectomy and may guide dose intensification.
Influence of cement content on corrosion resistance

The minimum cement content requirement given in codes of practice over the years to ensure durability of concrete is being increasingly questioned. Of all the durability problems related to concrete structures, corrosion of reinforcing steel is the single most prevalent deteriorating process. This paper describes a study undertaken to determine the influence of variation in cement (binder) content at fixed water/cement ratio on carbonation- and chloride-induced reinforcement corrosion. Cement (binder) content was varied above and below the limits given in current European standards in the tests. The fines content (particles < 75 μm) of some cement-reduced mixes was maintained with the inclusion of a limestone filler as part of the sand content. The results indicate that cement reduction below the given minimum cement contents in current standards has insignificant influence on the overall carbonation-induced reinforcement corrosion process. Moreover, cement content has very little influence on the overall.
Learning Analytics in Massive Open Online Courses

Educational technology has obtained great importance over the last fifteen years. At present, the umbrella of educational technology incorporates multitudes of engaging online environments and fields. Learning analytics and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are two of the most relevant emerging topics in this domain. Since they are open to everyone at no cost, MOOCs excel in attracting numerous participants that can reach hundreds and hundreds of thousands. Experts from different disciplines have shown significant interest in MOOCs as the phenomenon has rapidly grown. In fact, MOOCs have been proven to scale education in disparate areas. Their benefits are crystallized in the improvement of educational outcomes, reduction of costs and accessibility expansion. Due to their unusual massiveness, the large datasets of MOOC platforms require advanced tools and methodologies for further examination. The key importance of learning analytics is reflected here. MOOCs offer diverse challenges and practices for learning analytics to tackle. In view of that, this thesis combines both fields in order to investigate further steps in the learning analytics capabilities in MOOCs. The primary research of this dissertation focuses on the integration of learning analytics in MOOCs, and thereafter looks into examining students' behavior on one side and bridging MOOC issues on the other side. The research was done on the Austrian iMooX xMOOC platform. We followed the prototyping and case studies research methodology to carry out the research questions of this dissertation. The main contributions incorporate designing a general learning analytics framework, learning analytics prototype, records of students' behavior in nearly every MOOC's variables (discussion forums, interactions in videos, self-assessment quizzes, login frequency), a cluster of student engagement.
Incremental Adversarial Domain Adaptation for Continually Changing Environments

Continuous appearance shifts such as changes in weather and lighting conditions can impact the performance of deployed machine learning models. While unsupervised domain adaptation aims to address this challenge, current approaches do not utilise the continuity of the occurring shifts. In particular, many robotics applications exhibit these conditions and thus facilitate the potential to incrementally adapt a learnt model over minor shifts which integrate to massive differences over time. Our work presents an adversarial approach for lifelong, incremental domain adaptation which benefits from unsupervised alignment to a series of intermediate domains which successively diverge from the labelled source domain. We empirically demonstrate that our incremental approach improves handling of large appearance changes, e.g. day to night, on a traversable-path segmentation task compared with a direct, single alignment step approach. Furthermore, by approximating the feature distribution for the source domain with a generative adversarial network, the deployment module can be rendered fully independent of retaining potentially large amounts of the related source training data for only a minor reduction in performance.
IPA: Invariant-preserving Applications for Weakly consistent Replicated Databases

It is common to use weakly consistent replication to achieve high availability and low latency at a global scale. In this setting, concurrent updates may lead to states where application invariants do not hold. Some systems coordinate the execution of (conflicting) operations to avoid invariant violations, leading to high latency and reduced availability for those operations. This problem is worsened by the difficulty in identifying precisely which operations conflict. In this paper we propose a novel approach to preserve application invariants without coordinating the execution of operations. The approach consists of modifying operations in a way that application invariants are maintained in the presence of concurrent updates. When no conflicting updates occur, the modified operations present their original semantics. Otherwise, we use sensible and deterministic conflict resolution policies that preserve the invariants of the application. To implement this approach, we developed a static analysis, IPA, that identifies conflicting operations and proposes the necessary modifications to operations. Our analysis shows that IPA can avoid invariant violations in many applications, including typical database applications. Our evaluation reveals that the offline static analysis runs fast enough for being used with large applications. The overhead introduced in the modified operations is low and it leads to lower latency and higher throughput when compared with other approaches that enforce invariants.
Visually Determined Soil Disturbance Classes Used as Indices of Forest Harvesting Disturbance

Visual estimates of soil and site disturbances are used by foresters, soil scientists, logging supervisors. and machinery operators to minimize harvest disturbances to forest sites, to evaIuate compliance with forestry Best Management Practices (BMPs), and to determine the need for ameliorative practices such as tnechanical site preparation. Although visual estimates are commonly used by field personnel, the actual relationships of visually determined soil disturbance classes to various soil physical properties and site characteristics have not been determined The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate if visually derermined soil disturbance classes ore related to quantitative soil end site properties that are known to influence soil productivity and hydro! ogic function. Several types of quantitative da;a were evaluated within the soil disturbance classes: static data (bulk density, saturated hydraulic conductivity, total, capillary, noncapillary pore space, and soil roughness) and dynamic data (mechanical resistance, volumetric soil moisture, subsurface water table depth). All data were collected from a long-term forest productivity study located in the Coastal Plain of South Carolina The study is a randomized complete block design with two harvest disturbance levels (wet-weather harvest vs. dry-weather harvest) and a maximum offive site soil disturbance (SD) classes. Disturbance classes included undisturbed (SDO), compressed but not rutted (SDI), rutted (SD2), deeply rutted (SD3). and churned (SD4). Analyses revealed that three static variables(soi1 bulkdensity, saturated hydraulicconductivity, mucropore pore space) and two dynamic variables (depth of the subsurface water tabk and mechanical resistance) were significantly related to disturbance. Although undisturbed and compressed areas generally were affected less