Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recent Records of Fruit Chafers (Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae: Cetoniini) in the Southwestern Cape Region of South Africa Suggest That Range Expansions Were Facilitated by Human-Mediated Jump-Dispersal and Pre-Adaptation to Transformed Landscapes

There has been a recent increase in new records of insects from the subtropical parts of South Africa that have expanded their historical ranges to now include the biologically and climatically atypical southwestern Cape region at the tip of the African continent. Suggested mechanisms include climate change, provision of previously absent nutriments and direct transport of individuals via human activities. Here we summarise previous reports of fruit chafer beetles (Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae: Cetoniini) invading the southwestern Cape region, provide additional data on their distributions and provide data for additional taxa that have now also been newly recorded in the region. The newly reported species Pachnoda sinuata sinuata probably naturally occurs in the region but has gone unnoticed due to specialised habitat requirements and morphological similarity to a widespread generalist. Some taxa are very recent arrivals while others have been known from the region for a long time, but all are experiencing noticeable population increases in urban and agricultural areas. We propose that these species likely dispersed from their native ranges to the southwestern Cape via direct transport of colonised nursery stock and their recent increases in population size are consistent with what is expected when founder populations overcome barriers to reproduction. All of the new arrivals are well-adapted to transformed landscapes in the subtropics and do not occupy natural vegetation in the newly invaded ranges, strengthening the hypothesis that pre-adaptation to human settlements aid biological invasions of otherwise unsuitable bioregions in South Africa. As many additional species are pre-adapted to transformed biotopes in subtropical areas, one would expect that additional species will colonise the southwestern Cape in the future with unknown economic, ecological and evolutionary consequences.
The role of contextual information in expert anticipation

7 Chapter 1: Perceptual-cognitive expertise and an introduction to the role of contextual information in anticipation. 8 Chapter 2: Contextual information and perceptual-cognitive expertise in a dynamic, temporally-constrained task. 38 Chapter 3: The sources of contextual information contributing to skilled anticipation. 85 Chapter 4: Informational constraints, option generation and anticipation. 126 Chapter 5: Epilogue. 155 References. 179 Appendix. 208
Prenatal Antidepressant Exposure: Clinical and Preclinical Findings

Pharmacological treatment of any maternal illness during pregnancy warrants consideration of the consequences of the illness and/or medication for both the mother and unborn child. In the case of major depressive disorder, which affects up to 10–20% of pregnant women, the deleterious effects of untreated depression on the offspring can be profound and long lasting. Progress has been made in our understanding of the mechanism(s) of action of antidepressants, fetal exposure to these medications, and serotonin’s role in development. New technologies and careful study designs have enabled the accurate sampling of maternal serum, breast milk, umbilical cord serum, and infant serum psychotropic medication concentrations to characterize the magnitude of placental transfer and exposure through human breast milk. Despite this progress, the extant clinical literature is largely composed of case series, population-based patient registry data that are reliant on nonobjective means and retrospective recall to determine both medication and maternal depression exposure, and limited inclusion of suitable control groups for maternal depression. Conclusions drawn from such studies often fail to incorporate embryology/neurotransmitter ontogeny, appropriate gestational windows, or a critical discussion of statistically versus clinically significant. Similarly, preclinical studies have predominantly relied on dosing models, leading to exposures that may not be clinically relevant. The elucidation of a defined teratological effect or mechanism, if any, has yet to be conclusively demonstrated. The extant literature indicates that, in many cases, the benefits of antidepressant use during pregnancy for a depressed pregnant woman may outweigh potential risks.
The evolution of the common law: Legal development in Kenya and India

Abstract Recent cross-national studies of the institutional prerequisites of economic growth have identified common law systems as superior to those of civil law. The assumption is that all common law systems share a similarity of structure and law which creates an environment facilitating investment and contract enforcement. Yet, due to its evolutionary nature, common law is not everywhere the same, nor is the historical development of the common law similar in all countries. This paper makes this point by examining the political development of common law in India and Kenya, in order to compare their legal institutions and histories. Both of these countries adopted common law through its transplantation in the context of colonial domination rather than organically. The paper concludes that the two countries, though sharing the common law, had very different colonial experiences of legal development. Moreover, once Kenya and India achieved independence, political circumstances affected institutional devel.
Information culture of Ghanaian immigrants living in New Zealand

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the information culture of Ghanaian immigrants living in New Zealand. The values, beliefs and behaviours that influence the ways information is identified, accessed, used, shared and preserved, defines people’s information culture. Some Ghanaians have migrated to New Zealand for different reasons, including studies, work and resettlement. To live successfully and peacefully in a foreign country, they need specific information and to understand where to find, use and share it. This paper investigated the factors that influence the beliefs and perspectives Ghanaians hold around information the information they use in New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach was adopted. Both questionnaire and interviews were used to collect data from 27 Ghanaians living in different regions of New Zealand. Basic questionnaire analysis was done in survey monkey. Interview transcripts were analysed manually by reading through severally using colour patterns to identify key concepts and themes and using tables to organise them. Findings The main areas Ghanaians are interested in using information about in New Zealand include education, health, information on environmental issues, New Zealand politics and sports. Few Ghanaians are interested in information about entertainment and religion and agriculture as these areas do not have much impact on the purposes for their lives in New Zealand. Although most Ghanaians consider themselves poor record-keepers, they accord high value to the information they seek and use in New Zealand. Their preferred information source is the World Wide Web, although other sources such as libraries and academic databases are also considered useful. The most preferred and trusted approach of sharing information is face-to-face is considered. Social media, WhatsApp, mobile phones, etc. are also considered reliable ways of communicating information. Research limitations/implication Only 27 Ghanaians participated in the study, their circumstances surrounding the life in New Zealand may be completely different from other Ghanaians. So their views may not fully reflect the situations of all Ghanaians in New Zealand. Also, the fact that most participants were familiar with the researcher could impact their responses. Practical implication This paper provides a useful understanding of the information cultural patterns of Ghanaians and can provide a useful basis for further investigations of Ghanaians and other immigrants’ life patterns in New Zealand. Originality/value Although other studies have looked at the Ghanaian immigrants in other countries, this is the first study that looks at the information culture of Ghanaians in New Zealand.
The Capabilities and Perfor Mance Advantages of Market‐Driven Firms: An Empirical Investigation

Although progress has been made in understanding the development of businesses competencies from a theoretical perspective, relatively few empirical studies have addressed the capabilities needed to become market‐driven and the perfor Mance advantages accruing to firms possessing these capabilities. One of the barriers faced has been in defining what is meant by the term ‘market‐driven’. This study develops a multi‐dimensional measure useful for assessing the degree to which a firm is market‐driven. Evidence is presented in this study that strategically focused market‐driven business units developed higher levels of capabilities than their less market‐driven rivals and significantly outperfor Med these rival business units on four measures of organisational perfor Mance.
Social Learning Theory and the Health Belief Model

The Health Belief Model, social learning theory (recently relabelled social cognitive theory), self-efficacy, and locus of control have all been applied with varying success to problems of explaining, predicting, and influencing behavior. Yet, there is con ceptual confusion among researchers and practitioners about the interrelationships of these theories and variables. This article attempts to show how these explanatory fac tors may be related, and in so doing, posits a revised explanatory model which incor porates self-efficacy into the Health Belief Model. Specifically, self-efficacy is pro posed as a separate independent variable along with the traditional health belief var iables of perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, and barriers. Incentive to behave (health motivation) is also a component of the model. Locus of control is not included explicitly because it is believed to be incorporated within other elements of the model. It is predicted that the new formulation will more fully account for health-related behavior than did earlier formulations, and will suggest more effective behavioral interventions than have hitherto been available to health educators.
Evolution of envelope-specific antibody responses in monkeys experimentally infected or immunized with simian immunodeficiency virus and its association with the development of protective immunity

Previous studies of attenuated simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) vaccines in rhesus macaques have demonstrated the development of broad protection against experimental challenge, indicating the potential for the production of highly effective immune responses to SIV antigens. However, the development of this protective immune status was found to be critically dependent on the length of time postvaccination with the attenuated virus strain, suggesting a necessary maturation of immune responses. In this study, the evolution of SIV envelope-specific antibodies in monkeys experimentally infected with various attenuated strains of SIV was characterized by using a comprehensive panel of serological assays to assess the progression of antibodies in longitudinal serum samples that indicate the development of protective immunity. In parallel studies, we also used the same panel of antibody assays to characterize the properties of SIV envelope-specific antibodies elicited by inactivated whole-virus and envelope subunit vaccines previously reported to be ineffective in producing protective immunity. The results of these studies demonstrate that the evolution of protective immunity in monkeys inoculated with attenuated strains of SIV is associated with a complex and lengthy maturation of antibody responses over the first 6 to 8 months postinoculation, as reflected in progressive changes in antibody conformational dependence and avidity properties. The establishment of long-term protective immunity at this time in general parallels the absence of further detectable changes in antibody responses and a maintenance of relatively constant antibody titer, avidity, conformational dependence, and the presence of neutralizing antibody for at least 2 years postinoculation. In contrast to the mature antibody responses elicited by the attenuated SIV vaccines, the whole-virus and envelope subunit vaccines in general elicited only immature antibody responses characterized by poor reactivity with native envelope proteins, low avidity, low conformational dependence, and the absence of neutralization activity against the challenge strain. Thus, these studies establish for the first time an association between the effectiveness of experimental vaccines and the capacity of the vaccine to produce a mature antibody response to SIV envelope proteins and further indicate that a combination of several antibody parameters (including titer, avidity, conformational dependence, and virus neutralization) are superior to any single antibody parameter as prognostic indicators to evaluate candidate AIDS vaccines.
Frame Rate and Viseme Analysis for Multimedia Applications to Assist Speechreading

Current video conference and phone systems do not provide the necessary temporal resolution and motion for speechreading. In this paper the perceptual boundaries which effect speechreading performance are investigated. Analysis of the relationships between viseme groupings, accuracy of viseme recognition and presentation frame rate is presented based on the results of subject testing. Results reveal a minimum frame rate of 10 frames per second (fps) for distinguishing viseme groupings. Confusion analysis results demonstrate the importance of the tongue and teeth oral features for speechreading. These results are critical to the design of speech-assisted video systems to enhance speechreading for individuals with impaired hearing.
High-speed low-complexity Folded Degree-Computationless Modified Euclidean algorithm architecture for RS decoders

This paper presents a novel high-speed low-complexity Folded Degree-Computationless Modified Euclidean (fDCME) algorithm and its architecture for Reed-Solomon (RS) decoders. The proposed scheme uses the fully folded systolic architecture in which two array of processing element computes both the error locator and the error value polynomials. The pipelined folded structure enables the novel low-complexity pipelined fDCME architecture to reduce the number of processing elements. A high-speed low-complexity RS decoder based on the fDCME algorithm has been designed and implemented with 90nm CMOS standard cell technology in a supply voltage of 1.2 V. The proposed RS decoder operates at a clock frequency of 660 MHz and has a throughput of 5.3 Gb/s. The proposed architecture requires approximately 70% fewer gate counts and a simpler control logic than previous architectures based on the popular modified Euclidean algorithm.
1-Antitrypsin Serpin α Estrogen-Dependent Malignancies and Targets Matrix Metalloproteinase-26 Is Associated with Updated

Proteases exert control over cell behavior and affect many biological processes by making proteolytic modification of regulatory proteins. The purpose of this paper is to describe novel, important functions of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-26. 1-Antitrypsin (AAT) is a serpin, the primary function of which is to regulate the activity of neutrophil/leukocyte elastase. Insufficient antiprotease activity because of AAT deficiency in the lungs is a contributing factor to early-onset emphysema. We recently discovered that AAT is efficiently cleaved by a novel metalloproteinase, MMP-26, which exhibits an unconventional PH81CGVPD Cys switch motif and is autocatalytically activated in cells and tissues. An elevated expression of MMP-26 in macrophages and polymorphonuclear leukocytes supports the functional role of MMP-26 in the AAT cleavage and inflammation. We have demonstrated a direct functional link of MMP-26 expression with an estrogen dependency and confirmed the presence of the estrogen-response element in the MMP-26 promoter. Immunostaining of tumor cell lines and biopsy specimen microarrays confirmed the existence of the inverse correlations of MMP-26 and AAT in cells/tissues. An expression of MMP-26 in the estrogen-dependent neoplasms is likely to contribute to the inactivation of AAT, to the follow-up liberation of the Ser protease activity, and because of these biochemical events, to promote matrix destruction and malignant progression. In summary, we hypothesize that MMP-26, by cleaving and inactivating the AAT serpin, operates as a unique functional link that regulates a coordinated interplay between Ser and metalloproteinases in estrogen-dependent neoplasms.
Fatty Acids, Obesity, and Insulin Resistance: Time for a Reevaluation

There is a widespread acceptance in the literature that plasma nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), also called free fatty acids (FFA), can mediate many adverse metabolic effects, most notably insulin resistance. Elevated NEFA concentrations in obesity are thought to arise from an increased adipose tissue mass. It is also argued that the process of fatty acid mobilization from adipose tissue, normally suppressed by insulin, itself becomes insulin resistant—thus, lipolysis is further increased, potentially leading to a vicious cycle. Although we have also accepted this model for many years (1,2), recently there has been a steady accumulation of data, both in the literature and from our own research, that has forced us to realize that this simple story is not always true. Here we review the background to the idea of “fatty acids as metabolic villains,” together with data from the literature and from our own studies, which tend to show another side to the fatty acids/insulin resistance story. We will first examine the relationship between systemic concentrations of NEFA and obesity/insulin resistance and then study adipose tissue in the obese state with regard to its adaptation for NEFA release. NEFA circulate in the plasma bound to plasma albumin. Their function was largely elucidated in the 1950s through the work of Vincent Dole (3) at the Rockefeller Institute in New York and Robert Gordon (4,5) at the National Institutes of Health. Gordon demonstrated the origin of plasma NEFA from adipose tissue and their use by tissues such as the liver and myocardium, but not the brain. We now recognize that NEFA are the vehicle by which triacylglycerol (TG) stored in adipose tissue is transported to its sites of utilization. NEFA turnover is rapid, with a plasma half-life around 2–4 min (6). The only significant site of NEFA liberation …
DIETARY AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY BEHAVIORS, KNOWLEDGE, AND BELIEFS ASSOCIATED WITH POLYCYSTIC OVARY SYNDROME

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a prevalent endocrine disorder affecting women of reproductive age worldwide. In addition to imparting deleterious effects on fertility, women with PCOS are at increased risk for obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression and certain cancers. Hormonal and metabolic aberrations in PCOS have the potential to influence dietary intake and physical activity levels. There are emerging global data that women with PCOS have different dietary energy intake compared to women without PCOS. These alterations in diet may exacerbate clinical symptoms and compound risk for chronic disease for PCOS patients. Few studies have compared physical activity levels among women with and without PCOS. Although comparisons among studies are confounded by several factors, the data point to no differences in activity levels among PCOS and non-PCOS groups. This review provides an assessment of the current literature on dietary intake and physical activity levels in women with PCOS. Future recommendations to strengthen research in this area are provided, given their implications to aid in the development of effective nutrition-focused for PCOS.
Increased Risk of Fracture and Postfracture Adverse Events in Patients With Diabetes: Two Nationwide Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Studies

OBJECTIVE The relationship between diabetes and fracture is not completely understood. This study evaluated fracture risk and postfracture mortality in patients with diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We identified 32,471 adults newly diagnosed with diabetes in 2000–2003 using Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database. A comparison cohort of 64,942 adults without diabetes was randomly selected from the same dataset, with frequency matched by age and sex. Fracture events in 2000–2008 were ascertained from medical claims. Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs of fracture associated with diabetes were calculated. A nested cohort study of 17,002 patients with fracture receiving repair surgeries between 2004 and 2010 calculated adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs of adverse events after fracture in patients with and without diabetes. RESULTS During 652,530 person-years of follow-up, there were 12,772 newly diagnosed fracture cases. The incidences of fracture for people with diabetes and without were 24.2 and 17.1 per 1,000 person-years, respectively (P < 0.0001). Compared with people without diabetes, the adjusted HR of fracture was 1.66 (95% CI 1.60–1.72) for people with diabetes. The ORs of postfracture deep wound infection, septicemia, and mortality associated with diabetes were 1.34 (95% CI 1.06–1.71), 1.42 (95% CI 1.23–1.64), and 1.27 (95% CI 1.02–1.60), respectively. CONCLUSIONS Diabetes was associated with fracture. Patients with diabetes had more adverse events and subsequent mortality after fracture. Prevention of fracture and postfracture adverse events is needed in this susceptible population.
Do “Dark” Personality Features Buffer Against Adversity? The Associations Between Cumulative Life Stress, the Dark Triad, and Mental Distress

Stressful life events have a major impact on adverse mental health outcomes, although not all individuals are equally affected. According to the buffering hypothesis, there may be personality traits that protect individuals against mental distress in the face of adversity, playing thus a moderating role between life stressors and mental distress. In the present online study (N = 574), Dark Triad of personality (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) were investigated as moderators between cumulative stressful life events and mental distress (i.e., psychosis, anxiety, and depression). Those who experienced more stressful events during lifetime, and scored higher in Machiavellianism, had higher scores on a psychosis instrument. Narcissism buffered the impact of stressful events on psychosis and depression. The results are discussed in terms of unique profiles associated with each of the traits.