Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Combinations of Food Insects for Continuous Rearing of the Wing Polymorphic Water Strider Limnogonus Fossarum fossarum (Hemiptera: Gerridae)

The water strider Limnogonus fossarum fossarum (F.) (Hemiptera: Gerridae) shows a macropterous, micropterous, and apterous polymorphism. Although a long photoperiod condition induces winged morphs, preliminary studies have revealed that crossing between winged morphs increased the proportion of macropterous individuals, suggesting that the genetic factors also affect wing-morph determination in this species. Assessing the genetic backgrounds of wing polymorphism requires constant and repeatable methods for rearing. This study attempts to establish a continuous rearing method for L. f. fossarum under constant diet conditions. Initially, we maintain the water striders with two Drosophila species as a food, but viability until adulthood is less than 20%. We then add the storage pest Plodia interpunctella (Hübner), which are readily reared in the laboratory, to the diets. As a result, nymphs fed on P. interpunctella (even only until the second instar) show significantly higher viability and shorter developmental period than nymphs fed on Drosophila alone. Moreover, feeding on D. melanogaster (Meigen) reared on cholesterol-enriched medium instead of a normal medium significantly increases viability in the next generation. This means that only the two food-insect species are enough for establishing a substantial number of individuals in segregating generations (F2 and backcross), limiting DNA and RNA contaminations from food insects with genome information. Thus, the present rearing method opens the way to elucidating the genetic backgrounds of the wing polymorphism in L. f. fossarum.
Energy--Performance Trade-Offs via the EP Queue

We introduce the EP queue -- a significant generalization of the MB/G/1 queue that has state-dependent service time probability distributions and incorporates power-up for first arrivals and power-down for idle periods. We derive exact results for the busy-time and response-time distributions. From these, we derive power consumption metrics during nonidle periods and overall response time metrics, which together provide a single measure of the trade-off between energy and performance. We illustrate these trade-offs for some policies and show how numerical results can provide insights into system behavior. The EP queue has application to storage systems, especially hard disks, and other data-center components such as compute servers, networking, and even hyperconverged infrastructure.
The distribution and severity of beech bark disease in the Catskill Mountains, N.Y.

The distribution and severity of beech bark disease (BBD) in the Catskill Mountains of southeastern New York state, U.S.A. , were measured between 1997 and 2000. Forest composition was measured using wedge prism sur- veys and fixed-area plot counts of canopy species. BBD severity on individual trees was ranked from 1 (no disease) to 5 (dead) based on bark health and canopy loss. These data were analyzed at multiple spatial scales to determine possi- ble controls of disease distribution and severity. BBD was present on almost all Fagus grandifolia Ehrh. (American beech) individuals encountered >10 cm diameter at breast height, but was most severe in larger diameter classes. Mor- tality due to BBD also increased with diameter class. A strong positive relationship was found between BBD severity and relative beech basal area at the tract (hundreds of hectares) and 100-m elevation band spatial scales, but not found at smaller scales. Successful long-range dispersal of the disease may therefore be dependent upon host density, while local conditions may control BBD severity within individual stands. The current status of BBD in the Catskills sug- gests these forests are entering the aftermath phase of the disease's progression and that BBD has become an endemic component of these forests.
Does a Central Clearing Counterparty Reduce Counterparty Risk?

We show whether central clearing of a particular class of derivatives lowers counterparty risk. For plausible cases, adding a central clearing counterparty (CCP) for a class of derivatives such as credit default swaps reduces netting efficiency, leading to an increase in average exposure to counterparty default. Further, clearing different classes of derivatives in separate CCPs always increases counterparty exposures relative to clearing the combined set of derivatives in a single CCP. We provide theory as well as illustrative numerical examples of these results that are calibrated to notional derivatives position data for major banks.
Measuring glycaemic responses: duplicate fasting samples or duplicate measures of one fasting sample?

The precision with which glycaemic responses, expressed as incremental area under the curve (AUC), can be measured may be improved by using the average of several measures of fasting blood glucose (FBG). To see if taking two fasting blood samples would increase the precision of AUC, the glycaemic responses elicited by four test meals (50 g glucose; 50 g glucose plus 10 g fat and 10 g protein; 100 g white bread; 100 g white bread plus 10 g fat and 10 g protein) were determined in thirteen overnight-fasted healthy subjects. Two fasting blood samples were taken 5 min apart (−5 min and 0 min before starting to eat) with glucose measured three times in each sample. AUC was calculated using different estimates of FBG derived from the three measures of glucose in the two fasting blood samples and each set of AUC values subjected to ANOVA. Unexpectedly, the results were more precise when AUC was calculated from mean glucose in the 0 min blood sample (FBG0) than from mean glucose in the two different fasting blood samples. The 95 % CI of the AUC calculated using FBG0 in thirteen subjects was ±29·8; to obtain the same CI using the mean of the two fasting blood samples would require fourteen subjects. These results suggest that taking two fasting blood samples does not necessarily improve, and may even reduce, the precision of AUC as a measure of glycaemic response. Further studies are needed before requiring that two fasting blood samples be taken for determining glycaemic index.
Distributed Learning in Multi-Armed Bandit With Multiple Players

We formulate and study a decentralized multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem. There are M distributed players competing for N independent arms. Each arm, when played, offers i.i. d. reward according to a distribution with an unknown parameter. At each time, each player chooses one arm to play without exchanging observations or any information with other players. Players choosing the same arm collide, and, depending on the collision model, either no one receives reward or the colliding players share the reward in an arbitrary way. We show that the minimum system regret of the decentralized MAB grows with time at the same logarithmic order as in the centralized counterpart where players act collectively as a single entity by exchanging observations and making decisions jointly. A decentralized policy is constructed to achieve this optimal order while ensuring fairness among players and without assuming any pre-agreement or information exchange among players. Based on a time-division fair sharing (TDFS) of the M best arms, the proposed policy is constructed and its order optimality is proven under a general reward model. Furthermore, the basic structure of the TDFS policy can be used with any order-optimal single-player policy to achieve order optimality in the decentralized setting. We also establish a lower bound on the system regret for a general class of decentralized polices, to which the proposed policy belongs. This problem finds potential applications in cognitive radio networks, multi-channel communication systems, multi-agent systems, web search and advertising, and social networks.
Nucleoid-Associated Proteins Affect Mutation Dynamics in E. coli in a Growth Phase-Specific Manner

The binding of proteins can shield DNA from mutagenic processes but also interfere with efficient repair. How the presence of DNA-binding proteins shapes intra-genomic differences in mutability and, ultimately, sequence variation in natural populations, however, remains poorly understood. In this study, we examine sequence evolution in Escherichia coli in relation to the binding of four abundant nucleoid-associated proteins: Fis, H-NS, IhfA, and IhfB. We find that, for a subset of mutations, protein occupancy is associated with both increased and decreased mutability in the underlying sequence depending on when the protein is bound during the bacterial growth cycle. On average, protein-bound DNA exhibits reduced mutability compared to protein-free DNA. However, this net protective effect is weak and can be abolished or even reversed during stages of colony growth where binding coincides – and hence likely interferes with – DNA repair activity. We suggest that the four nucleoid-associated proteins analyzed here have played a minor but significant role in patterning extant sequence variation in E. coli.
Calibration and Performance of the AKARI Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) — Slow-Scan Observation Mode for Point-Sources

We present the characterization and calibration of the Slow-Scan observation mode of the Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) onboard the AKARI satellite. The FIS, one of the two focal-plane instruments on AKARI, has four photometric bands between 50– 180 µm with two types of Ge:Ga array detectors. In addition to the All-Sky Survey, FIS has also taken detailed far-infrared images of selected targets by using the SlowScan mode. The sensitivity of the Slow-Scan mode is one to two orders of magnitude better than that of the All-Sky Survey, because the exposure time on a targeted source is much longer. The point spread functions (PSFs) were obtained by observing several bright point-like objects such as asteroids, stars, and galaxies. The derived full widths at the half maximum (FWHMs) are �30 ′′ for the two shorter wavelength bands and �40 ′′ for the two longer wavelength bands, being consistent with those
Parents’ Reading-related Knowledge, Literacy Feedback, and Children’s Reading and Writing Performances Across Three Contexts

The role played by children’s social relationships in their development is unequivocal (e.g., Bandura, 1993; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Vygotsky, 1978). Often, parents take on the role of children’s first literacy teachers (Hiebert & Adams, 1987) and literacy competence is critical for academic success and beyond. Research supports the significant association between parents’ underlying knowledge of English language (reading-related knowledge [RRK]; e.g., Ladd, Martin-Chang, Levesque, 2011) and children’s reading. However, the means through which this knowledge is conveyed (i.e., parental practices), has yet to be examined. Moreover, whether the same association holds between parental RRK and children’s writing is unknown. Thus, the primary goal of the present research was to fill these important gaps in the literature. To this end, the three manuscripts that comprise the dissertation focus on the relations between (1) parental RRK, parental feedback, and children’s reading; (2) parental RRK and parental feedback on a writing sample; and (3) parental RRK, parental feedback, and children’s writing. The sample consisted of 75 parents. All parents completed Study 2 tasks and their feedback was coded based on pre-established criteria. Seventy of their children participated in the parent-child studies. Therefore, Studies 1 and 3 consisted of 70 parent-child dyads. Dyadic exchanges were videotaped; all verbal and nonverbal exchanges were transcribed and coded for the presence of pre-established criteria specific to each study. Parental RRK was measured by parents’ performances on a series of activities and children’s literacy skills were assessed using reading and spelling subtests of the Wide Range Achievement Test-Fourth Edition (Wilkinson & Robertson, 2006). Results are presented within the framework of the extant teacher and parent RRK literature, with a focus on the novel findings of each investigation. Overall, this corpus of research allows for an understanding of the relations between parental RRK and practice across three different contexts; the data indicate similarities in evaluative feedback and differences in miscue feedback across the three studies. Specifically, in Study 1, RRK was positively associated with praise and letter-sound (graphophonemic) feedback parents provided when listening to their children read. In Study 2, parental RRK was positively associated with the amounts of praise and modeling they provided on a writing sample. In Study 3, parental RRK was positively associated with the amount of praise parents provided their children in the course of writing a thank you note together; RRK was additionally negatively associated with dictation. The implications of these findings are discussed more elaborately in each study section in terms of future research employing different methodologies to gain further insight into parental RRK and literacy practices that can enhance children’s learning.
Influence of orally and rectally administered propionate on cholesterol and glucose metabolism in obese rats

It has increasingly been suggested that the short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) acetic, propionic and butyric acids, derived from colonic fermentation of dietary fibre and other indigestible carbohydrates, exert different physiological effects. Formation of propionic acid is discussed in terms of beneficial effects on glucose and cholesterol metabolism. The aim of the present study was to evaluate possible metabolic effects of propionic acid and to differentiate between effects mediated in the upper gastrointestinal tract and those mediated in the hind-gut. For this purpose, obese hyperinsulinaemic (fa/fa) rats were studied during a 19 d test period. Sodium propionate was either fed orally through the diet (1 g/d), or infused rectally (0·15 g/d) to animals given diets high in cholesterol (20 g/kg) and saturated fat (130g/kg). At the end of the test period total liver cholesterol pools were 20% lower (P < 0·01) in rats given dietary or rectally infused propionate (481 and 484 mg respectively) compared with the control group (614 mg). This was due to lower liver weights (P < 0·05) in propionate-treated animals, 15·5 and 15·3 g, v. 18·2 g in the control group, and no differences were noted in hepatic cholesterol concentrations. The urinary glucose excretion was measured during days 15–19 and was found to be lower (P < 0·05) in rats fed with propionate (23 mg) compared with the control group or the group infused rectally (39 and 38 mg respectively). In addition, fasting plasma glucose concentrations decreased significantly (P < 0·05) over the test period. It is concluded that orally supplied propionate affects both glucose and cholesterol metabolism as judged from lowered urinary glucose excretion, fasting blood glucose and liver cholesterol pools. On the other hand, propionate administered to the hind-gut at a physiologically relevant level reduces the hepatic cholesterol pool.
Greater Relative Impairment of Object Recognition Than of Visuospatial Abilities in Alzheimer's Disease

Histological investigation in Alzheimer's disease (AD) has indicated that the concentration of neurofibrillary tangles in inferotemporal cortex (IT) is greater than that found in posterior parietal cortex (PPC). Researchers hypothesized that the relative degree of impairment of visual function subserved by each of these cortical areas should reflect the disproportionate distribution of neuropathological changes. Eleven AD patients and 16 elderly controls received 8 tests of visual function, 4 of which have been shown previously to be selectively affected by IT lesions and 4 that are selective for PPC lesions. AD patients were significantly impaired on all 8 tests, but multivariate analysis indicated a relatively greater impairment on tests of IT function. The greater impairment of visual function mediated by IT relative to function mediated by PPC is consistent with differential degradation of the respective cortical areas.
Deaf children with cochlear implants do not appear to use sentence context to help recognize spoken words.

PURPOSE The authors investigated the ability of deaf children with cochlear implants (CIs) to use sentence context to facilitate the perception of spoken words. METHOD Deaf children with CIs (n = 24) and an age-matched group of children with normal hearing (n = 31) were presented with lexically controlled sentences and were asked to repeat each sentence in its entirety. Performance was analyzed at each of 3 word positions of each sentence (first, second, and third key word). RESULTS Whereas the children with normal hearing showed robust effects of contextual facilitation-improved speech perception for the final words in a sentence-the deaf children with CIs on average showed no such facilitation. Regression analyses indicated that for the deaf children with CIs, Forward Digit Span scores significantly predicted accuracy scores for all 3 positions, whereas performance on the Stroop Color and Word Test, Children's Version (Golden, Freshwater, & Golden, 2003) predicted how much contextual facilitation was observed at the final word. CONCLUSIONS The pattern of results suggests that some deaf children with CIs do not use sentence context to improve spoken word recognition. The inability to use sentence context may be due to possible interactions between language experience and cognitive factors that affect the ability to successfully integrate temporal-sequential information in spoken language.
Pricing of Swing Options in a Mean Reverting Model with Jumps

We investigate the pricing of swing options in a model where the logarithm of the spot price is the sum of a deterministic seasonal trend and an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process driven by a jump diffusion. First we calibrate the model to Nord Pool electricity market data. Second, the existence of an optimal exercise strategy is proved, and we present a numerical algorithm for computation of the swing option prices. It involves dynamic programming and the solution of multiple parabolic partial integro‐differential equations by finite differences. Numerical results show that adding jumps to a diffusion may result in 2–35% higher swing option prices, depending on the moneyness and timing flexibility of the option.
Learning Domain-Specific, L1-Specific Measures of Word Readability

Improved readability ratings for second-language readers could have a huge impact in areas such as education, advertising, and information retrieval. We propose ways to adapt readability measures for users who (a) are proficient in a particular domain, and (b) have a particular native language (L1). Specifically, we predict the readability of individual words. Our learned models use a range of creative features based on diverse statistical, etymological, lexical, and morphological information. We evaluate on a corpus of computational linguistics articles divided according to seven L1s; we show that we can accurately predict the target readability scores in this domain. Our technique improves over several reasonable baselines. We provide an in-depth analysis showing which kinds of information are most predictive of word difficulty in different L1s, and show how this differs for style and content words.
Young Muslims, Stigma and the Work of Normality

Contemporary Islamophobia in many western contexts manifests as heightened suspicion and processes of surveillance that can construct Muslim bodies and identities as ‘abnormal’ and errant. Here we draw on Goffman’s work on normality and stigma to explore strategies employed by young Muslim Australians to negotiate their constitution as abnormal. We identify four key strategies: performing ordinary Australianness; social distancing; being a ‘supernormal’ hero of adjustment; and defiance. We consider how centring these everyday, embodied techniques of the social production of normality makes evident the constrained agency of young Muslims in times of amplified fear and regulation.
Chemical Evolution of the Circumstellar Envelopes of Carbon-rich Post-Asymptotic Giant Branch Objects

We have observed, with the 30 m IRAM telescope, the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory telescope, and the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) satellite, the rotational lines of CO at millimeter, submillimeter, and far-IR wavelengths in the direction of carbon-rich stellar objects at different stages of evolution: CRL 2688 (a very young proto-planetary nebula), CRL 618 (a proto-planetary nebula), and NGC 7027 (a young planetary nebula). Several changes in the longwave emission of CO and other molecules are discussed here in relation with the degree of evolution of the objects. In the early stages, represented by CRL 2688, the longwave emission is dominated by CO lines. In the intermediate stage, e.g., CRL 618, very fast outflows are present which, together with the strong UV field from the central star, dissociate CO. The released atomic oxygen is seen via its atomic lines and allows the formation of new O-bearing species, such as H2O and OH. The abundance of HNC is enhanced with respect to HCN as a result of the chemical processes occurring in the photodissociation region. At this stage, CO lines and [O I] lines are the dominant coolants, while the cooling effect of [C II] is rising. At the planetary nebula stage, e.g., NGC 7027, large parts of the old CO AGB material have been reprocessed. The spectrum is then dominated by atomic and ionic lines. New species, such as CH+, appear. Water has probably been reprocessed in OH.
Infant-directed Speech Is Not Always Slower: Cross-linguistic Evidence from Dutch and Mandarin Chinese

It has been widely accepted that infant-directed speech (IDS) has a slower speaking rate than adult-directed speech (ADS) (e.g., Cristia, 2013), which is assumed to facilitate language development. This study aims at finding out whether this finding holds for Dutch and Mandarin Chinese and whether mothers slow down speaking rate to highlight unfamiliar words to children. Dutch and Mandarin Chinese mothers of 18-month-old children participated in a semi-spontaneous production task. They read a picture book to their child (IDS condition) and to an adult (ADS condition). The book contained target words that were unfamiliar or familiar to the child. We measured the speaking rate of the whole speech samples and the articulation rate of the utterances containing target words. Our results showed that language-specific properties exist: Dutch mothers generally slowed down in IDS in comparison with ADS, while Chinese mothers did not slow down in IDS. Also, Dutch mothers slowed down utterances containing unfamiliar words in IDS, but did not slow down utterances containing familiar words. This targeted speech rate pattern may function to facilitate word learning. However, unlike Dutch mothers, Chinese mothers did not slow down even when talking about unfamiliar words. Taken together, our results suggest that IDS is not always slower in IDS cross-linguistically, and provide evidence for the potential linguistic function of IDS.
A New Synchronization Principle and Application to Chua's Circuits

In the paper we propose a new synchronization principle. To guarantee synchronization between coupled chaotic oscillators, proper coupling constants are selected by the Liapunov stability theory and Hurwitz Theorem. As an example and application, we prove the conjecture [Wu & Chua, 1994] that synchronization between two chaotic Chua's circuits can be achieved by using the second state as feedback variable for sufficiently large coupling constant.