Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patterns of Song across Natural and Anthropogenic Soundscapes Suggest That White-Crowned Sparrows Minimize Acoustic Masking and Maximize Signal Content

Soundscapes pose both evolutionarily recent and long-standing sources of selection on acoustic communication. We currently know more about the impact of evolutionarily recent human-generated noise on communication than we do about how natural sounds such as pounding surf have shaped communication signals over evolutionary time. Based on signal detection theory, we hypothesized that acoustic phenotypes will vary with both anthropogenic and natural background noise levels and that similar mechanisms of cultural evolution and/or behavioral flexibility may underlie this variation. We studied song characteristics of white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys nuttalli) across a noise gradient that includes both anthropogenic and natural sources of noise in San Francisco and Marin counties, California, USA. Both anthropogenic and natural soundscapes contain high amplitude low frequency noise (traffic or surf, respectively), so we predicted that birds would produce songs with higher minimum frequencies in areas with higher amplitude background noise to avoid auditory masking. We also anticipated that song minimum frequencies would be higher than the projected lower frequency limit of hearing based on site-specific masking profiles. Background noise was a strong predictor of song minimum frequency, both within a local noise gradient of three urban sites with the same song dialect and cultural evolutionary history, and across the regional noise gradient, which encompasses 11 urban and rural sites, several dialects, and several anthropogenic and natural sources of noise. Among rural sites alone, background noise tended to predict song minimum frequency, indicating that urban sites were not solely responsible for driving the regional pattern. These findings support the hypothesis that songs vary with local and regional soundscapes regardless of the source of noise. Song minimum frequency from five core study sites was also higher than the lower frequency limit of hearing at each site, further supporting the hypothesis that songs vary to transmit through noise in local soundscapes. Minimum frequencies leveled off at noisier sites, suggesting that minimum frequencies are constrained to an upper limit, possibly to retain the information content of wider bandwidths. We found evidence that site noise was a better predictor of song minimum frequency than territory noise in both anthropogenic and natural soundscapes, suggesting that cultural evolution rather than immediate behavioral flexibility is responsible for local song variation. Taken together, these results indicate that soundscapes shape song phenotype across both evolutionarily recent and long-standing soundscapes.
Development, molecular composition and freeze tolerance of bovine embryos cultured in TCM-199 supplemented with hyaluronan

Summary Hyaluronan (HA) is glycosaminoglycan that is present from the start of embryonic development and its role and concentration increases with embryo development. The objective of this study was to evaluate if the presence of HA in TCM-199 culture medium had an effect on the development and quality of bovine embryos. There was no effect of HA on the total number of zygotes developing to blastocysts on day 7, however more expanded and hatched blastocyst stages were observed on days 8 and 9 in the group supplemented with HA (p < 0.05). Following freeze/thawing, significantly more (p < 0.05) embryos cultured in medium supplemented with HA hatched than those cultured in TCM-199 alone or those with BSA. Medium supplemented with HA and BSA significantly increased the level of expression of glucose metabolism Glut-1 gene and embryo compaction Cx43 gene (p < 0.05), and had no effect on Glut-5 and IGF-II expression. In addition, HA presence in culture decreased the level of expression of apoptosis Bax and oxidative stress SOX genes (p < 0.05). There was significant difference in total number of nuclei between TCM-199 medium only and the remaining media containing BSA or HA plus BSA, between which there was no difference. In summary, our results indicate that the addition of high molecular weight HA to TCM-199 medium that contains BSA on day 4 of culture improved embryo development to hatching and hatched blastocysts and the quality of produced embryos, which were superior to embryos cultured without HA addition.
Tobacco smoking and pulmonary tuberculosis

Background: The prevalence of tuberculosis in adult men in India is 2–4 times higher than in women. Tobacco smoking is prevalent almost exclusively among men, so it is possible that tobacco smoking may be a risk factor for developing pulmonary tuberculosis. A nested case control study was carried out to study the association between tobacco smoking and pulmonary tuberculosis. Methods: A tuberculosis disease survey was carried out in two Panchayat unions in the Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu in India. Eighty five men aged 20–50 years with bacteriological tuberculosis (smear and/or culture positive) were selected as cases and 459 age matched men without tuberculosis were selected randomly as controls. Information on smoking status, type of tobacco smoked, quantity of tobacco smoked, and duration of tobacco smoking was collected from cases and controls using a questionnaire. Results: The estimated crude odds ratio (OR) of the association between tobacco smoking and bacillary tuberculosis was 2.48 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.42 to 4.37), p<0.001. The age adjusted OR (Mantel-Hanszel estimate) was 2.24. (95% CI 1.27 to 3.94), p<0.05. The ORs for mild (1–10 cigarettes/day), moderate (11–20/day), and heavy (>20/day) smokers were 1.75, 3.17, and 3.68, respectively (p<0.0001 test for linear trend). The ORs for smokers with <10 years, 11–20 years, and >20 years of smoking were 1.72, 2.45, and 3.23, respectively (p<0.0001 test for linear trend). Conclusion: There is a positive association between tobacco smoking and pulmonary (bacillary) tuberculosis (OR 2.5). The association also shows a strong dose-response relationship.
Efficient Assembly of Bridged β‐Ga2O3 Nanowires for Solar‐Blind Photodetection

An increasing number of applications using ultraviolet radiation have renewed interest in ultraviolet photodetector research. Particularly, solar‐blind photodetectors sensitive to only deep UV (<280 nm), have attracted growing attention because of their wide applicability. Among recent advances in UV detection, nanowire (NW)‐based photodetectors seem promising, however, none of the reported devices possesses the required attributes for practical solar‐blind photodetection, namely, an efficient fabrication process, a high solar light rejection ratio, a low photocurrent noise, and a fast response. Herein, the assembly of β‐Ga2O3 NWs into high‐performance solar‐blind photodetectors by use of an efficient bridging method is reported. The device is made in a single‐step chemical vapor deposition process and has a high 250‐to‐280‐nm rejection ratio (∼2 × 103), low photocurrent fluctuation (<3%), and a fast decay time (<<20 ms). Further, variations in the synthesis parameters of the NWs induce drastic changes in the photoresponse properties, which suggest a possibility for tuning the performance of the photodetectors. The efficient fabrication method and high performance of the bridged β‐Ga2O3 NW photodetectors make them highly suitable for solar‐blind photodetection.
Thermal Neutron Capture Cross Sections Of The Palladium Isotopes

We have measured precise thermal neutron capture γ‐ray cross sections cry for all stable Palladium isotopes with the guided thermal neutron beam from the Budapest Reactor. The data were compared with other data from the literature and have been evaluated into the Evaluated Gamma‐ray Activation File (EGAF). Total radiative neutron capture cross‐sections σγ can be deduced from the sum of transition cross sections feeding the ground state of each isotope if the decay scheme is complete. The Palladium isotope decay schemes are incomplete, although transitions deexciting low‐lying levels are known for each isotope. We have performed Monte Carlo simulations of the Palladium thermal neutron capture deexcitation schemes using the computer code DICEBOX. This program generates level schemes where levels below a critical energy Ecrit are taken from experiment, and those above Ecrit are calculated by a random discretization of an a priori known level density formula ρ(E,Jπ). Level de‐excitation branching intensities .
A multispan language modeling framework for large vocabulary speech recognition

A new framework is proposed to construct multispan language models for large vocabulary speech recognition, by exploiting both local and global constraints present in the language. While statistical n-gram modeling can readily take local constraints into account, global constraints have been more difficult to handle within a data-driven formalism. In this work, they are captured via a paradigm first formulated in the context of information retrieval, called latent semantic analysis (LSA). This paradigm seeks to automatically uncover the salient semantic relationships between words and documents in a given corpus. Such discovery relies on a parsimonious vector representation of each word and each document in a suitable, common vector space. Since in this space familiar clustering techniques can be applied, it becomes possible to derive several families of large-span language models, with various smoothing properties. Because of their semantic nature, the new language models are well suited to complement conventional, more syntactically oriented n-grams, and the combination of the two paradigms naturally yields the benefit of a multispan context. An integrative formulation is proposed for this purpose, in which the latent semantic information is used to adjust the standard n-gram probability. The performance of the resulting multispan language models, as measured by perplexity, compares favorably with the corresponding n-gram performance.
Dendritic cells modulate burn wound healing by enhancing early proliferation

Adequate wound healing is vital for burn patients to reduce the risk of infections and prolonged hospitalization. Dendritic cells (DCs) are antigen presenting cells that release cytokines and are central for the activation of innate and acquired immune responses. Studies have showed their presence in human burn wounds; however, their role in burn wound healing remains to be determined. This study investigated the role of DCs in modulating healing responses within the burn wound. A murine model of full‐thickness contact burns was used to study wound healing in the absence of DCs (CD11c promoter‐driven diphtheria toxin receptor transgenic mice) and in a DC‐rich environment (using fms‐like tyrosine kinase‐3 ligand, FL‐ a DC growth factor). Wound closure was significantly delayed in DC‐deficient mice and was associated with significant suppression of early cellular proliferation, granulation tissue formation, wound levels of TGFβ1 and formation of CD31+ vessels in healing wounds. In contrast, DC enhancement significantly accelerated early wound closure, associated with increased and accelerated cellular proliferation, granulation tissue formation, and increased TGFβ1 levels and CD31+ vessels in healing wounds. We conclude that DCs play an important role in the acceleration of early wound healing events, likely by secreting factors that trigger the proliferation of cells that mediate wound healing. Therefore, pharmacological enhancement of DCs may provide a therapeutic intervention to facilitate healing of burn wounds.
Association of Diet With Prostate Specific Antigen and Prostate Volume

Background: Prostate is an important male reproductive system gland and its disorders can affect men's quality of life and health. Prostatitis, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and prostate adenocarcinoma are major disorders that can be found in all men in different ages. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the association of diet with serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) level as well as prostate volume. Patients and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 950 men older than 40 years of age who had attended our clinic for a screening program for prostate cancer were enrolled. Data was extracted from the program database. The eligible cases included all noncancerous subjects with available data concerning serum PSA level and prostate volume; the patients had completed a 50-item self-administered food frequency questionnaire about their diet during the preceding two year. Results: No overall association was found between the consumption of foods and prostate volume as well as serum PSA level. There was a significant correlations between age and serum PSA level (r = 0.24) as well as with prostate volume (r = 0.22) (P < 0.001). In addition, there was a significant correlation between serum PSA level and prostate volume (r = 0.41 and P < 0.001). Conclusions: The results of this study confirmed the previous reports regarding the serum PSA level correlation with prostate volume. There was no evidence that dietary patterns might have any important effect on prostate volume and serum PSA in this Iranian population.
Heart Rate Detrended Fluctuation Indexes as Estimate of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Severity

AbstractIn the present study, we aimed at investigating a heart rate variability (HRV) biomarker that could be associated with the severity of the apnea–hypopnea index (AHI), which could be used for an early diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). This was a cross-sectional observational study on 47 patients (age 36 ± 9.2 standard deviation) diagnosed with mild (23.4%), moderate (34%), or severe (42.6%) OSA. HRV was studied by linear measures of fast Fourier transform, nonlinear Poincaré analysis, and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA)—DFA &agr;1 characterizes short-term fluctuations, DFA &agr;2 characterizes long-term fluctuations. Associations between polysomnography indexes (AHI, arousal index [AI], and oxygen desaturation index [ODI]) and HRV indexes were studied.Patients with different grades of AHI had similar sympathovagal balance levels as indicated by the frequency-domain and Poincaré HRV indexes. The DFA &agr;2 index was significantly positive correlated with AHI, AI, and ODI (Pearson r: 0.55, 0.59, and 0.59, respectively, with P < 0.0001). The ROC analysis revealed that DFA &agr;2 index predicted moderate and severe OSA with a sensitivity/specificity/area under the curve of 0.86/0.64/0.8 (P = 0.005) and 0.6/0.89/0.76 (P = 0.003), respectively.Our data indicate that the DFA &agr;2 index may be used as a reliable index for the detection of OSA severity.
Tissue Growth and Remodeling of the Embryonic and Adult Adrenal Gland

Abstract: The adrenal gland provides a model system for the study of tissue remodeling in endocrine physiology. For example, proper adrenal development requires proliferation of the adrenogonadal primordia, separation of adrenal and gonadal precursors, and cell migration that unites the adrenal cortex and adrenal medulla. In the adult, normal adrenal function is assured by the adrenal gland's unique capacity for growth in response to both tissue injury and physiological demand. Identification of the molecular and genetic programs underlying tissue remodeling in the adrenal is important for understanding basic aspects of development and regeneration, as well as adrenal disease. Here, we will highlight the roles that nuclear receptors and pituitary hormones play in regulating fetal adrenal development and adult adrenal growth. In addition, we will review the most current data on how extracellular signaling pathways are coupled to the function of these important regulators of adrenal development and function.
Cytolethal Distending Toxin Genes inCampylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coliIsolates: Detection and Analysis by PCR

ABSTRACT Campylobacter jejuni produces a toxin called cytolethal distending toxin (CDT). Knowledge of the prevalence and homogeneity ofCampylobacter sp. cdt genes is incomplete. In this work, we identified four PCR primer pairs that collectively amplified cdt genes in all of the C. jejuni andCampylobacter coli strains tested. Restriction analyses of the cdt PCR products showed clear differences between thecdt genes of these two species, yet there were few heterogeneities noted between members of the same species. Consequently, it may be possible to speciate C. jejuni andC. coli isolates on the basis of restriction patterns within their cdt genes.
A FPGA-Based Dual-Pixel Processing Pipelined Hardware Accelerator for Feature Point Detection Part in SIFT

SIFT is regarded as one of the most robust feature point detection algorithms in CV field. The feature point detection part, allocating final positions of all feature points, majorly defines the accuracy and stability of the whole system. In this paper, we propose an FPGA-implementable hardware accelerator for this part. By introducing dual-pixel processing and the 3-stage-interpolation pipelined architecture with use of dual-port DDR2 memory access, we achieve to further improve process speed, meanwhile keeping high accuracy. By experiment, our system proves to reach Max Clock Frequency of 145.0 MHz, processing up to 40 VGA images including memory operations. Compared with conventional work, hardware cost is slightly increased as trade-off for accelerated speed. High efficiency as 98.72% and high cover rate as 92.85% are kept by our proposal. Our proposal is suitable as a real-time SIFT system structure.
Structural characterization of a rat acinar cell tumor

A transplantable acinar cell tumor of the rat pancreas has been examined by light and electron microscopy. The tumor cells, though highly cytodifferentiated and characterized by the presence of abundant rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum, elements of the Golgi complex, and zymogen granules, undergo mitosis in a manner similar to that seen in the developing pancreas. Cells in the parenchyma of the tumor grow as disarrayed cords and sheets, are randomly oriented with respect to each other, and do not form acinar structures. However, when in contact with the adventitial surface of blood vessels, the tumor cells palisade and form a polarized layer of cells with their zymogen granule-rich poles oriented away from the vessel lumen. Only in this area of the tumor is a basal lamina present that underlies the basal plasmalemma of the reoriented epithelial cells. Freeze-fracture electron microscopy of tumor cells in the parenchyma shows extensive disruption of tight junctions whose sealing strands are randomly distributed over the entire plasmalemma. Gap junctions are infrequent and when present are often enclosed by tight-junctional strands. Intramembrane particles are randomly distributed over the cell surface. Both the absence of basal lamina and derangement of the junctional complexes may account in part for the altered morphogenesis of this tumor.
Interactions of Polymer/Coke Blends with Molten Steel at 1823 K: Interfacial Phenomena

With an aim to recycle waste polymers as a carbon resource in steelmaking, in‐depth investigations have been carried out on polymer/coke blends and molten steel at 1823 K. Three polymers, namely high density polyethylene (HDPE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and bakelite were blended with metallurgical coke and devolatilized at 1473 K using a drop tube furnace. High temperature interactions of various chars with molten steel were investigated at 1823 K using the sessile drop technique in argon atmosphere; the influence of polymers on the interfacial phenomena and carbon dissolution was determined. While the residual volatiles from HDPE did not affect the chemical composition of interfacial products, the coverage of the interfacial region was somewhat slower than metallurgical coke. Oxygen present in PET was found to oxidize liquid steel leading to the formation of FeO at the interface modifying both the chemical composition and the morphology of the interfacial region. CaCO3, present as a filler impurity in bakelite was found to act as a fluxing agent and lowered the melting point of the ash layer at the metal/carbon interface. The addition of polymers improved the overall carbon dissolution into molten steel by a small extent as compared to metallurgical coke. This study has shown that a variety of waste polymers can be utilized to partially replace metallurgical coke in steelmaking.
Complex Mate Searching in the Satin Bowerbird Ptilonorhynchus violaceus

Mate‐choice studies typically focus on male traits affecting female mating decisions, but few studies seek to identify the behavioral rules females use when searching for mates. Current models suggest that females may either directly compare a set of males (“pooled comparison”) or compare each male to an internal standard (“sequential‐search rule”) when judging the suitability of potential mates. Models also differ in other specific aspects, such as the predicted number of sampling bouts initiated and the tendency of females to return to males after previous visits. We monitored 63 female satin bowerbirds, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus, during mate sampling to reconstruct their search patterns. We found that females typically sampled several males and returned to the most attractive male for mating: a behavior consistent with the pooled‐comparison tactic. Females, however, varied in the number of males sampled; some visited only one male before mating. We found that this variation can be explained by differences among females in the number of mates, the date mate searching is initiated, and long‐term experience with males. Further, females were observed to initiate two distinct sampling bouts, with the rejection of most of their potential mates occurring before the start of the second sampling bout. This suggests that the choices of potential mates are narrowed prior to the second sampling bout and that the later visits may function to reconsider preliminary decisions made during the first sampling bout or to resolve decisions concerning the remaining potential mates. Our results indicate that mate searching is a complex process in which females use multiple sampling bouts to find suitable mates and in which several different factors influence their search behavior.
Simulating the Cortical 3D Visuomotor Transformation of Reach Depth

We effortlessly perform reach movements to objects in different directions and depths. However, how networks of cortical neurons compute reach depth from binocular visual inputs remains largely unknown. To bridge the gap between behavior and neurophysiology, we trained a feed-forward artificial neural network to uncover potential mechanisms that might underlie the 3D transformation of reach depth. Our physiologically-inspired 4-layer network receives distributed 3D visual inputs (1st layer) along with eye, head and vergence signals. The desired motor plan was coded in a population (3rd layer) that we read out (4th layer) using an optimal linear estimator. After training, our network was able to reproduce all known single-unit recording evidence on depth coding in the parietal cortex. Network analyses predict the presence of eye/head and vergence changes of depth tuning, pointing towards a gain-modulation mechanism of depth transformation. In addition, reach depth was computed directly from eye-centered (relative) visual distances, without explicit absolute depth coding. We suggest that these effects should be observable in parietal and pre-motor areas.