Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic relatedness and phylogenetics of five Indian pufferfishes

The taxonomy and phylogeny of the pufferfishes belonging to the family Tetraodontidae found in India are poorly understood. We investigated five species of freshwater and marine pufferfishes using partial sequences of 16S rRNA and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) of mitochondrial genes. The sequence alignment of 16S rRNA yielded 573 bp, whereas COI gene sequence alignment yielded 614 bp. The sequence analysis of the genes revealed two distinct groups of freshwater and marine origin, which are genetically distinct from each other and exhibit identical phylogenetic resolution. The partial sequences of both the genes provided sufficient phylogenetic resolution to distinguish all the five species of pufferfishes. The COI sequences could be used as DNA barcodes for identification of the pufferfishes.
The social context of femicide in Victoria

Femicide, homicide involving female victims, accounts for approximately one third of all homicides in Australia. Despite its prevalence, femicide has received considerably less theoretical attention than the more commonmale-on-male homicide. The current study uses qualitative data from the Coroner’s brief of evidence to examine the social context of homicides which occurred between 1994 and 1998 in Victoria, Australia. All homicides for which data were available that included a female victim were included in the study, resulting in a total of 67 victims. Six social contexts of femicide were identified through the cases. Intimate femicide (22 cases, 33% of the sample) involved female victims who were killed by their intimate partner in a relationship characterised by jealousy, possessiveness and violence. These intimate femicides were usually not spontaneous acts of rage, but planned and purposive attacks, and often occurred around separation. Intimate homicide-suicides (9 cases, 13%) shared many of the characteristics of intimate femicide, but in addition to being possessive and violent, the offender was notably depressed, often due to financial problems. Femicides committed by mentally ill offenders (7 cases, 10%) involved offenders who were either actively psychotic or paranoid as a result of a diagnosed mental illness, the victims being the primary carer (parent or intimate partner) of the offender, with many, although not all, of the offenders being found not guilty by reason of insanity. Sexual homicides (10 cases, 15%) involved generally young offenders and victims who ranged in age from teenagers to the elderly, many of the victims being relative strangers to the offender, and most victims being killed by strangulation. Femicide in the context of criminality (11 cases, 16%) involved victims whowere killed for financial reward, as part of another crime, or as a means of conflict resolution amongst criminal associates, the victims generally being quite marginal individuals. Also included was a category for cases which were either unsolved, had no apparent motive, or did not fit into any of the other categories (8 cases, 12%). The importance of gender and social context in understanding femicide is discussed.
Cover song retrieval by cross recurrence quantification and unsupervised set detection

This extended abstract brieﬂy outlines our submission to the audio cover song identiﬁcation task run inside the 2009 music information retrieval evaluation exchange (MIREX). We very brieﬂy introduce cover song identiﬁcation, give an overview of the submitted system, and comment on the evaluation procedure (specially on the used music collections) and the achieved results. As the submission is completely based on our previous work, we refer to it for further detail.
Investigation of the effect of press and paper variables on linting during the offset printing of newsprint

The effects of printing take-off angle, ink tack, print coverage (printing tone), and paper two sidedness on linting in offset printing were investigated with printing trials conducted on a small commercial Heidelberg GTO-52 and a large commercial Man-Roland Uniset press. The take-off angle at which the web exits the printing nip was found to have the largest influence on lint, with the lint weight increasing fivefold when the take-off angle was increased from 27° to 153°. The increase in take-off angle also increased the size of particles that were removed as lint. Maximum linting was found to occur at a print coverage of 25%. The lint produced was approximately independent of ink tack when tack ranged from 4 to 9. However lint increased when the ink tack was increased to 13.5.
Molecular evolution Evolutionary rate variation in Old World monkeys

We analysed over 8 million base pairs of bacterial artificial chromosome-based sequence alignments of four Old World monkeys and the human genome. Our findings are as follows. (i) Genomic divergences among several Old World monkeys mirror those between wellstudied hominoids. (ii) The X-chromosome evolves slower than autosomes, in accord with ‘male-driven evolution’. However, the degree of male mutation bias is lower in Old World monkeys than in hominoids. (iii) Evolutionary rates vary significantly between lineages. The baboon branch shows a particularly slow molecular evolution. Thus, lineage-specific evolutionary rate variation is a common theme of primate genome evolution. (iv) In contrast to the overall pattern, mutations originating from DNA methylation exhibit little variation between lineages. Our study illustrates the potential of primates as a model system to investigate genome evolution, in particular to elucidate molecular mechanisms of substitution rate variation.
Other minds: How humans bridge the divide between self and others.

Part 1. Questions About the Phenomenon. L.J. Moses, Executive Functioning and Children's Theories of Mind. B.F. Malle, Three Puzzles of Mindreading. M.H. Davis, A "Constituent" Approach to the Study of Perspective Taking: What Are its Fundamental Elements? D.D. Hutto, Starting Without Theory: Confronting the Paradox of Conceptual Development. Part 2. Reading Behavior, Reading Minds. D. Fernandez-Duque, J.A. Baird, Is There a "Social Brain"? Lessons From Eye-Gaze Following, Joint Attention, and Autism. S.R. Fussell, R.E. Kraut, D. Gergle, L.D. Setlock, Visual Cues as Evidence of Others' Minds in Collaborative Physical Tasks. G.D. Reeder, D. Trafimow, Attributing Motives to Other People. S.J. Read, L.C. Miller, Explanatory Coherence and Goal-based Knowledge Structures in Making Dispositional Inferences. Part 3. Reading One's Own Mind, Reading Other Minds. J. Decety, Perspective Taking as the Royal Avenue to Empathy. D.R. Ames, Everyday Solutions to the Problem of Other Minds: Which Tools Are Used When? J. Perner, A. Kuhberger, Mental Simulation: Royal Road to Other Minds? R.J. Bogdan, Why Self-ascriptions Are Difficult and Develop Late. Part 4. Language and Other Minds. J.W. Astington, E. Filippova, Language as the Route into Other Minds. M. Barker, T. Givon, Representation of the Interlocutor's Mind During Conversation. M.F. Schober, Conceptual Alignment in Conversation. J.S. Uleman, On the Inherent Ambiguity of Traits and Other Mental Concepts. Part 5. Limits of Mindreading. D.J. Barr, B. Keysar, Mindreading in an Exotic Case: The Normal Adult Human. L. Van Boven, G. Loewenstein, Empathy Gaps in Emotional Perspective Taking. S.D. Hodges, Is How Much You Understand Me in Your Head or Mine? W. Ickes, J.A. Simpson, M. Orina, Empathic Accuracy and Inaccuracy in Close Relationships. R. Langdon, Theory of Mind in Schizophrenia.
Monitoring the hospital management of acute asthma: the Italian Pediatric Network experience.

BACKGROUND The Study Group on Accreditation and Quality Improvement of the Italian Society of Pediatrics has developed an observational study about the hospital management of pediatric patients affected by severe asthma, in order to evaluate how the Guidelines for severe asthma in childhood are applied in the daily practice. METHODS This study included patients between 2 and 17 years, hospitalized or under short intensive observation for acute asthma. The data collection was carried out through the compilation of on-line forms. The statistical technique used was the Chi Square test. RESULTS 409 forms were filled in by 32 Italian Centers. 17% of the patients showed severe asthma, 59% moderate and 24% mild. On arrival at the Emergency Room the oximetry was measured in 95% of the patients, the respiratory rate in 64% while the heart rate in 88% of them. 48% of the children were exposed to chest X-ray. More than half of the children received oxygen therapy, 98.5% received short-acting beta-2 agonists and systemic steroid therapy was given to 82% of children, mainly orally. At discharge only half of the children were provided with written instructions for the management of any subsequent asthmatic episode. The analysis of the collected data highlights that not all the children had their oxygen saturation measured, although this parameter is one of the main indicators of disease severity, as well as the respiratory rate, which was detected in a minimal percentage of cases. The frequency of chest X-ray was extremely high, even though it does not have any indication in the majority of asthma cases. The evaluation of the therapeutic treatment denotes an adequate use of the oxygen therapy according to the oximetry values found on arrival, but an abuse of steroid therapy. Critical issues emerge at discharge: children are not always educated about the home management of the disease and the self-evaluation of the illness seriousness. CONCLUSION The pediatric network has become an excellent system of monitoring of the clinical management of asthmatic children, highlighting strengths and weaknesses on which to focus actions of improvement.
Investigating the Strength of Relationships among Software Metrics

Software metrics provide desirable means to measure design traits of an application under development as well as quality of end product. These are beneficial at various stages to enhance developer productivity and to make the software more manageable post-deployment. Investigating the strength of relationships among these metrics can offer more meaningful insights than analyzing them in isolation. This paper carries out a case study on an open source java based web server to identify correlations between several metrics from well known OO metrics suites. Quantitative distributions of classes over different metric values have also been observed. Results have been compared with similar past studies to verify the findings.
SIBM at CLEF eHealth Evaluation Lab 2017: Multilingual Information Extraction with CIM-IND

This paper presents SIBM’s participation in the Task 1: Multilingual Information Extraction ICD10 coding of the CLEF eHealth 2017 evaluation initiative which focuses on named entity recognition in French and English death certificates. We addressed the identification of relevant clinical entities within the International Classification of Diseases version 10 (ICD10) in the CépiDC and CDC datasets with our CIM-IND system. CIM-IND is a multilingual system designed to recognize named entities in French and English texts using a dictionary-based approach and natural language processing and fuzzy matching methods. The evaluation was performed for two cases: (i) for all ICD10 codes, the main evaluation for the task and (ii) for ICD10 codes addressing a particular type of deaths, called external causes or violent deaths. On the English test set, our system obtained F-scores of 0.81 for all ICD10 codes and 0.4066 for external causes. On the French aligned test set, our system obtained F-scores of 0.8038 for all ICD10 codes and 0.5011 for external causes. On the French raw test set, our system obtained Fscores of 0.7636 for all ICD10 codes and 0.4897 for external causes. These scores were substantially higher than the average score of the systems that participated in the challenge.
Students Interactions and Course Performance: Impacts of Online and Offline Networks

This paper takes a social network approach to understand students’ interactions and their course performance. Drawing from media richness theory and media synchronicity theory, we distinguish students’ online and offline communication networks to theorize the relationship between network structure and students’ course performance. Particularly, we examine a specific property of the network structure, i.e., closeness centrality, defined as the extent to which a student is close to other students in the network and thus relates to the ease of access an individual has to others. We explain the interdependence of online and offline networks and theorize about how it is associated with students’ course performance. A study of 52 students in the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.) supported our theory.
Amylin Uncovered: A Review on the Polypeptide Responsible for Type II Diabetes

Amylin is primarily responsible for classifying type II diabetes as an amyloid (protein misfolding) disease as it has great potential to aggregate into toxic nanoparticles, thereby resulting in loss of pancreatic β-cells. Although type II diabetes is on the increase each year, possibly due to bad eating habits of modern society, research on the culprit for this disease is still in its early days. In addition, unlike the culprit for Alzheimer's disease, amyloid β-peptide, amylin has failed to receive attention worthy of being featured in an abundance of review articles. Thus, the aim of this paper is to shine the spotlight on amylin in an attempt to put it onto the top of researchers' to-do list since the secondary complications of type II diabetes have far-reaching and severe consequences on public health both in developing and fully developed countries alike. This paper will cover characteristics of the amylin aggregates, mechanisms of toxicity, and a particular focus on inhibitors of toxicity and techniques used to assess these inhibitors.
Orthogonal Design of Cyclic Block Filtered Multitone Modulation

The orthogonal design of a cyclic block filtered multititone modulation (CB-FMT) system is addressed. CB-FMT is a filter bank modulation scheme that uses frequency confined prototype pulses, similarly to FMT. Differently from FMT, where the linear convolution is used, the cyclic convolution is exploited in CB-FMT. This allows to efficiently implement the system via a concatenation of discrete Fourier transforms. The necessary and sufficient orthogonality conditions are derived in time domain and frequency domain. Then, these conditions are expressed in matrix form, and the prototype pulse coefficients are parameterized with hyper-spherical coordinates. The effect of a linear time-variant transmission medium is discussed. In such a scenario, the optimal filter bank orthogonal design is considered with the objective of maximizing either the in-band-to-out-band sub-channel energy ratio or the achievable rate. Numerical results and comparisons show the performance improvements attainable with several designed optimal pulses also with respect to the use of the baseline root-raised-cosine pulse.
Socioeconomic and sociolinguistic predictors of children’s L2 and L1 writing quality

Spanish-English bilingual fourth grade children were reliably poorer in English receptive vocabulary and English grammar awareness compared to their English-speaking monolingual peers, but were as skillful in English language assessments of phonological awareness, reading comprehension, and five measures of writing (writing quality, word, clause, and transcribing fluency, and vocabulary diversity). A model with phonological awareness, grammar awareness, receptive vocabulary, reading comprehension, transcribing fluency, home literacy and SES predicted 67% of the variation in children’s writing quality. Bilingual status was not a reliable predictor of writing quality suggesting that studies of L1 and L2 skill should include both sociolinguistic variables as well as socioeconomic ones. (Less)
Effect of Temperature on Isolated Stretch-Receptor Organ of the Crayfish

Abdominal stretch-receptor organs of Astacus leptodactylus are investigated by means of extra- and intracellular leads. The effects of changing temperature on steady-state rate of activity are surprisingly low. The sensory nerve cell compensates for changes in temperature by means of opposite reactions of generator potential and threshold.
Treasury Yield Implied Volatility and Real Activity

We show that at-the-money implied volatility of options on futures of 5-year Treasury notes (Treasury ‘yield implied volatility’) predicts both the growth rate and volatility of gross domestic product, as well as of other macroeconomic variables, like industrial production, consumption, and employment. This predictability is robust to controlling for the term spread, credit spread, stock returns, stock market implied volatility, and several other variables that prior literature showed to predict macroeconomic activity. Our results indicate that Treasury yield implied volatility is a useful forward-looking state variable to characterize risks and opportunities in the macro economy.
Multilevel modelling and malaria: a new method for an old disease.

BACKGROUND Malaria is influenced by a web of individual and ecological factors, i.e. factors relating to people and relating to environment. For a long time analysing these factors concurrently has raised statistical problems. Multilevel modelling provides a new attractive solution, which is still uncommon in tropical medicine. METHODS Using an actual data set of 3864 individuals from 38 villages of the Highland Madagascar, a two-level modelling process is presented. Individual malaria parasitaemia is modelled step by step according to age (individual factor), altitude, and DDT indoor house-spraying status (village factors). RESULTS The hierarchical organization of a data set in levels, fixed and random effects, and cross-level interactions are considered. Accurate estimations of standard errors, impact of unknown or unmeasured variables quantified and accounted for through random effects, are the highlighted advantages of multilevel modelling. CONCLUSION While not denying the importance of understanding an aetiological chain, the authors recommend an increased use of multilevel modelling, mainly to identify accurately ecological targets for public health policy.
Reactivity to β2 Glycoprotein I Clearly Differentiates Anticardiolipin Antibodies from Antiphospholipid Syndrome and Syphilis

Summary Anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) detected by standard ELISA are found in association with autoimmune and infectious diseases. It is now recognized that P2 glycoprotein I (β2GPI) is a cofactor for aCL binding to cardiolipin (CL). To examine differences in cofactor requirements, aCL positive sera from patients with the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) and syphilis were studied. Using an ELISA with human purified P2GPI adsorbed onto irradiated plates, we detected high binding activity in 29 out of 35 samples from APS patients and low in only 1 out of 37 aCL positive syphilis sera. Moreover, a good correlation (r = 0.79) was also observed in the former group between aCL and anti β2GPI. Whole IgG and affinity purified IgG aCL from APS patients did not bind to CL in the absence of β2GPI, but recognized β2GPI on irradiated plates in the absence of phospholipids. In contrast, IgG purified from syphilis patients only bound to CL alone. Taken together, these data indicate that performing both ELISA (aCL and anti β2GPI) it could be possible to distinguish aCL from autoimmune or infectious diseases.
Age-related changes in the pediatric brain: quantitative MR evidence of maturational changes during adolescence.

PURPOSE To determine whether a quantitative MR imaging method to map spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) can be used to characterize maturational changes in the normal human brain. METHODS An inversion-recovery technique was used to map T1 transversely at the level of the basal ganglia in a study population of 19 healthy children (4 to 10 years old) and 31 healthy adolescents (10 to 20 years old), and in a normative population of 20 healthy adults (20 to 30 years old). RESULTS Nonparametric analysis of variance showed that T1 decreases with age in the genu, frontal white matter, caudate, putamen, anterior thalamus, pulvinar nucleus, optic radiation, cortical gray matter (all P < .0001), and occipital white matter. There was a significant reduction in T1 between childhood (mean age, 7.1 +/- 1.4) and adolescence (mean age, 13.5 +/- 2.6) in all brain structures, but there was also a significant reduction in T1 between adolescence (mean age, 13.5 +/- 2.6) and adulthood (mean age, 26.5 +/- 3.4) in all brain structures except occipital white matter. Regression shows that T1 declines to within the range (mean +/- 2 SD) of young adult T1 values by about 2 years in the occipital white matter, by about 4 years in the genu, by 11 years in the cortical gray matter, by 11 years in the frontal white matter, and by 13 years in the thalamus. CONCLUSION Brain structures mature at strikingly different rates, yet the ratio of gray matter T1 to white matter T1 does not change significantly with age. Thus, conventional MR imaging methods based on inherent contrast are insensitive to these changes. Age-related changes tend to reach completion sooner in white matter than in gray matter tracts. Such normative data are essential for studies of specific pediatric disorders and may be useful for assessing brain maturation in cases of developmental delay.
Fractalkine promotes platelet activation and vascular dysfunction in congestive heart failure

Summary Endothelial dysfunction and enhanced platelet reactivity in congestive heart failure (CHF) contribute to poor prognosis. CHF patients display an impaired responsiveness to clopidogrel. Fractalkine activates platelets and elevated plasma levels of this chemokine are a feature of CHF. We here addressed the interrelation of fractalkine, platelet reactivity and clopidogrel efficacy in humans and rats with CHF. Fractalkine serum levels determined by ELISA were increased in CHF patients (CHF: 1548 ± 650 pg/ml; Control: 968 ± 575 pg/ml, p<0.01) and following CHF induction in rats (CHF: 1509 ± 753 pg/ ml; Sham: 1181 ± 275 pg/ml, p<0.05). Expression of fractalkine and its receptor CX3CR1 was enhanced in aortas of CHF rats as determined by immunofluorescence microscopy and molecular analysis. Fractalkine significantly aggravated endothelial dysfunction and augmented P-selectin expression on platelets from CHF rats. Platelet surface expression of CX3CR1 was increased in CHF rats, who displayed an impaired response to clopidogrel (platelet reactivity to ADP: CHF 30 ± 22%; Sham: 8 ± 5%, p<0.05). Similarly in humans with CHF, elevated fractalkine levels were accompanied by reduced clopidogrel responsiveness. Patients with high on-clopidogrel treatment platelet P2Y12 reactivity displayed higher fractalkine levels (1525 ± 487 pg/ml) than those with sufficient clopidogrel response (684 ± 315 pg/ml, p<0.01). In conclusion, in CHF fractalkine was increased on the endothelium and in blood serum, and platelet surface- expression of CX3CR1 was enhanced. Fractalkine diminished endothelial function beyond the impairment already observed in CHF and was associated with a reduced responsiveness to the platelet inhibitor clopidogrel. These findings may indicate a novel pathophysiological mechanism contributing to impaired clopidogrel responsiveness in CHF.