Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Galaxy Angular Correlation Functions and Power Spectrum from the Two Micron All Sky Survey

We calculate the angular correlation function of galaxies in the Two Micron All Sky Survey. We minimize the possible contamination by stars, dust, seeing, and sky brightness by studying their cross correlation with galaxy density and limiting the galaxy sample accordingly. We measure the correlation function at scales between 1′ < θ < 18° using a half-million galaxies. We find that a best-fit power law to the correlation function has a slope of -0.79 ± 0.02 and an amplitude at 1° of 0.10 ± 0.01 in the range 1'-2. °5. However, there are statistically significant oscillations around this power law. The largest oscillation occurs at about 0. °8, corresponding to 700 h-1 kpc at the median redshift of our survey, as expected in halo occupation distribution descriptions of galaxy clustering. In addition, there is a break in the power-law shape of the correlation function at θ > 2. °5. Our results are in good agreement with other measurements of the angular correlation function. We invert the angular correlation function using singular value decomposition to measure the three-dimensional power spectrum and find that it too is in good agreement with previous measurements. A dip seen in the power spectrum at small wavenumber k is statistically consistent with cold dark matter (CDM) type power spectra. A fit of CDM-type power spectra in the linear regime (k < 0.15 h Mpc-1) gives constraints of Ωmh = 0.13 ± 0.07 and σ8 = 1.0 ± 0.09 for a spectral index of 1.0. This suggests a Ks-band linear bias of 1.1 ± 0.2. These measurements are in good agreement with other measurements of the power spectrum on linear scales. On small scales the power-law shape of our power spectrum is shallower than that derived for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. This may imply a biasing for these different galaxies that could be either waveband- or luminosity-dependent. The power spectrum derived here in combination with the results from other surveys can be used to constrain models of galaxy formation.
The Extraction of 3D Shape from Texture and Shading in the Human Brain

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the human cortical areas involved in processing 3-dimensional (3D) shape from texture (SfT) and shading. The stimuli included monocular images of randomly shaped 3D surfaces and a wide variety of 2-dimensional (2D) controls. The results of both passive and active experiments reveal that the extraction of 3D SfT involves the bilateral caudal inferior temporal gyrus (caudal ITG), lateral occipital sulcus (LOS) and several bilateral sites along the intraparietal sulcus. These areas are largely consistent with those involved in the processing of 3D shape from motion and stereo. The experiments also demonstrate, however, that the analysis of 3D shape from shading is primarily restricted to the caudal ITG areas. Additional results from psychophysical experiments reveal that this difference in neuronal substrate cannot be explained by a difference in strength between the 2 cues. These results underscore the importance of the posterior part of the lateral occipital complex for the extraction of visual 3D shape information from all depth cues, and they suggest strongly that the importance of shading is diminished relative to other cues for the analysis of 3D shape in parietal regions.
Model-Based Determination of Effective Blood Concentrations of Cyclosporine for Neutrophil Response in the Treatment of Severe Aplastic Anemia in Children

Optimal immunosuppressive therapy in acquired severe aplastic anemia (SAA) remains to be refined, especially cyclosporine (CsA) use. Current recommendations state that CsA trough blood concentrations (TBC) should be maintained between 200 and 400 ng/mL despite the lack of supporting data. This study aimed at quantifying relationships between CsA exposure and neutrophil response and determining an effective range for CsA TBC. Twenty-three SAA patients treated with CsA were retrospectively analyzed. Nonlinear mixed effect modeling approaches were used to develop a pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic model. The pharmacokinetic model described the relationships between CsA doses and TBC. The pharmacodynamic model allowed to estimate boundaries for optimal CsA effects, neutrophils being used as biomarker of response. A time-to-event model linked effective concentration to time-to-therapeutic success. CsA TBC were adequately described by a two-compartment model with first-order absorption, a lag time, and a linear elimination. The efficient range of CsA TBC was estimated between 87 and 120 ng/mL. Model-based simulations and external validation in three additional patients confirmed these results. This original modeling approach was successful in describing the relationship between CsA TBC and neutrophil response in SAA patients. Although further evaluation of the model is necessary, this work suggests that an optimal CsA TBC target of 100 ng/mL would be associated with a better neutrophil response in children with SAA.
Evidence of a Delayed Feedback Effect on the Mid-Day Plasma Cortisol Peak in Man

Adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH) release is under the control of two temporally and dynamically distinct phases of corticosteroid feedback inhibition: a fast rate-sensitive feedback and a delayed or proportional feedback (Jones, Hilhouse and Burden 1977). Whereas many experiments have dealt with feedback control by exogenous corticosteroids (Dallman and Yates 1969; Abe and Critchlow 1977), evidence that physiological corticosteroids secreted in response to a stressor will modify subsequent stress responses is still scant. Recent studies, in which animals were subjected to two sequential stimuli, support the hypotheses that a facilitatory effect of stressors balances their feedback-inhibitory effect (Dallman and Jones 1973; Gann, Cryer and Pirkle 1977; Le Mevel, Abitbol, Beraud and Maniey 1979).
Induced breeding of endangered striped dwarf Catfish (Mystus vittatus) and its embryonic and larval development

The present study reports successful induced breeding of endangered striped dwarf catfish Mystus vittatus and its different embryonic and larval developmental stages. Three different doses of PG were tested, viz. 17, 15 and 13 mg PG/kg body weight for female and 14, 12 and 10 mg PG/kg body weight for male with maintaining (1:1) male and female ratio. The hormone doses 13 mg/kg for female and 10 mg/kg for male provided the best result i.e. 91.33±2.08% fertilization and 85.00±2% hatching rates. Mean survival percentage of the spawns up to 21 days was 8.00±1%. The fertilized eggs were found to be transparent, demersal, spherical, adhesive and brownish in colour and first cleavage took place within 35-40 min post-fertilization at 29.56± 0.25 o C. Hatching took place at 24 h. after fertilization. Newly hatched larvae were 3-4 mm in length and slender, transparent and the yolk sac oval in shape. Anus was situated at almost mid ventrally. Larvae started to feed at 48-72 h post-hatching. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3329/ralf.v1i1. 22376 Res. Agric. , Livest. Fish. 1 (1): 127-136, Dec 2014
Elastic properties of carbon nanotubes and their heterojunctions

Comprehensive studies on the modelling and numerical simulation of the mechanical behaviour under tension, bending and torsion of single-walled carbon nanotubes and their heterojunctions are performed. It is proposed to deduce the mechanical properties of the carbon nanotubes heterojunctions from the knowledge of the mechanical properties of the single-walled carbon nanotubes, which are their constituent key units
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE FIRST-ORDER FACTOR STRUCTURE OF THE PERSONALITY AND PREFERENCE INVENTORY- NORMATIVE (PAPI-N) ON A RELATIVELY LARGE SOUTH AFRICAN SAMPLE

Organisations in a free market economy exist with the purpose to serve and provide the market with products and services that the market values while at the same time satisfying the triple bottom line of profit, people and planet. The extent to which an organisation will succeed in this aim, however, depends to a large extent on the calibre of its workforce. Human resource management represents a range of interventions with the purpose of contributing to an organisation’s success, through the acquisition and maintenance of a high quality and competent work force, as well as to ensure the effective and efficient use of human talent in a manner that will add value to an organisation. Personnel selection represents one of these human resource functions and thereby constitutes a critical human resource management intervention in as far as it attempts to regulate human capital movement into, through and out of the organisation with the expectation that this will result in increased employee job performance. Industrialorganisational psychologists and human resources practitioners frequently use psychometric/psychological tests in the selection process, which provide them with objective information on complex constructs such as intellectual ability or personality, that are hypothesised to be determinants of the level of job performance that selected applicants will achieve. Accurate predictions can however, only be derived from measures of such psychometric/psychological tests if the constructs they attempt to measure are in fact determinants of job performance, if the tests provide reliable, valid and unbiased measures of these constructs and the nature of the relationship between the predictor constructs and the criterion construct is validly understood. Personality represents an influential determinant of job performance. The Personality and Preference Inventory-Normative (PAPI-N) is a personality questionnaire that is widely used in industry. This provides the essential justification for the primary objective of this research, which was to evaluate the first-order factor structure of the PAPI-N through a factor analytic investigation on a relatively large sample of the South African working population. The data used in this study was obtained from the data archives of Cubiks (Pty) Ltd, with written permission from the intellectual property holder, to utilise the sample data for the purpose of this research. The South African PAPI-N database comprised all respondents who were assessed by Work Dynamics, the official distributor of Cubiks’s products and services in South Africa, in the period 2007 to 2012. Item and dimensionality analyses were performed on the 20 subscales of the PAPI-N as well as the Social Desirability scale. This was done to assess the success with Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za
Clinical Characteristics of Non-Melanoma Skin Cancers Recurring within 5 years after Mohs Micrographic Surgery: Single Institution Retrospective Chart Review

Background Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) is used to treat certain high-risk non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC) due to its high cure rate. However, clinical recurrences do occur in a small number of cases. Objective We examined specific clinical characteristics associated with NMSC recurrences following MMS. Methods We employed a retrospective chart review of the 1467 cases of NMSC that underwent MMS at UC San Diego from January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2009. A total of 356 cases were excluded due to lack of follow-up. Results Five (0.45%) of 1111 cases developed recurrences of NMSC at the site of MMS. There were 741 cases of basal cell carcinomas (BCC); 3 were recurrences (0.40%). There were 366 cases of squamous cell carcinomas (SCC); 2 were recurrences (0.55%). Review of MMS histopathology of these recurrent tumors showed that there were no errors or difficulty with the processing or interpretation of the slides. Conclusion Five-year recurrence rate of NMSC following MMS at our institution is below the reported average. Our retrospective chart review identified specific clinical characteristics associated with NMSC recurrence including a history of smoking, anatomical location on the cheeks, ears or nose, and a history of immunosuppression for SCCs.
Effects of Gestational and Lactational Fenvalerate Exposure on Immune and Reproductive Systems of Male Rats

The aim of this study was to determine the consequent reproductive developmental and immunotoxic effects due to exposure to fenvalerate during pregnancy and lactation in male offspring of maternal-treated rats. Pregnant rats were treated daily by oral gavage with 40 or 80 mg/kg of fenvalerate or corn oil (vehicle, control), from d 12 of pregnancy to d 21 of lactation. Immune and reproductive developmental effects were assessed in male offspring at postnatal days (PND) 40 (peripuberty), 60 (postpuberty), and 90 (sexual maturity). Treatment with the higher dose (80 mg/kg) resulted in convulsive behavior, hyperexcitability, and mortality in 45% of the dams. Fenvalerate was detected in the fetus due to placental transfer, as well as in pups due to breast-milk ingestion, persisting in male offspring until PND 40 even though pesticide treatment was terminated on PND 20. However, fenvalerate did not produce marked alterations in age of testicular descent to the scrotum and prepucial separation, parameters indicative of puberty initiation. In contrast, at puberty, there was a reduction in testicular weight and sperm production in male offspring of maternal-treated rats. At adulthood, the sperm counts and fertility did not differ between control and treated groups. Testosterone levels were not changed at any time during reproductive development. Similarly, no apparent exposure-related effects were detected in the histological structures of the lymphohematopoietic system. Data indicate that fenvalerate, in this experimental model, interfered with initial development of the male reproductive system, but that these effects on sperm production or fertility did not persist into adulthood. There was no apparent evidence that fenvalerate altered testosterone levels or produced a disruption in male endocrine functions.
Endoplasmic Reticulum Calcium Regulates the Retrotranslocation of Trypanosoma Cruzi Calreticulin to the Cytosol

For most secretory pathway proteins, crossing the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane is an irreversible process. However, in some cases this flow can be reversed. For instance, misfolded proteins retained in the ER are retrotranslocated to the cytosol to be degraded by the proteasome. This mechanism, known as ER associated degradation (ERAD), is exploited by several bacterial toxins to gain access to the cytosol. Interestingly, some ER resident proteins can also be detected in the cytosol or nucleus, calreticulin (CRT) being the most studied. Here we show that in Trypanosoma cruzi a minor fraction of CRT localized to the cytosol. ER calcium depletion, but not increasing cytosolic calcium, triggered the retrotranslocation of CRT in a relatively short period of time. Cytosolic CRT was subsequently degraded by the proteasome. Interestingly, the single disulfide bridge of CRT is reduced when the protein is located in the cytosol. The effect exerted by ER calcium was strictly dependent on the C-terminal domain (CRT-C), since a CRT lacking it was totally retained in the ER, whereas the localization of an unrelated protein fused to CRT-C mirrored that of endogenous CRT. This finding expands the regulatory mechanisms of protein sorting and may represent a new crossroad between diverse physiological processes.
Replication slippage and the dynamics of the immune response in malaria: a formal model for immunity

A simple mathematical model of the dynamics of malaria invasion is proposed. The model is based on the hypothesis that replication slippage (slipped strand mispairing occurring in replicating DNAs), likely to take place within regular, low-complexity, regions of the plasmodium genome, is a significant mechanism of the ability for the parasite to escape the host immune defence. The model reconciles the conclusions of other formal approaches like periodic bursts of parasitaemia and, in particular, it predicts that antibody cross-reactivity affects the level and the time profile of malaria recrudescence. It also suggests that an efficient strategy for the parasite to escape host humoral immune defences is to express a single antigen. Linking local complexity to antigenic variability tentatively allows prediction of new potentially immunogenic sequences in the plasmodium genome.
Exploring the Motivations, Expectations, and Experiences of Students Who Study in Global Settings

An increasing trend of universities is to provide students with opportunities to engage in global learning experiences (GLE) as part of their program of study. While there are numerous papers on the benefits of international and study abroad programs, there is little research on factors that impact GLE. This study evaluated the student perspective through qualitative and quantitative responses to surveys and questions posed during a period of three years. The results suggested that students’ motivation and expectations of the experiences were varied. Moreover, planning is critical for GLE experiences to have a positive impact on students.
A Social Capital Framework for the Study of Institutional Agents and Their Role in the Empowerment of Low-Status Students and Youth

This article builds on a sociological account of working-class minority youth development and differential access to social capital—defined in terms of key resources and support provided by institutional agents (Stanton-Salazar, 1997, 2001, 2004). The article elaborates on the concept of institutional agents—specifically, high-status, non-kin, agents who occupy relatively high positions in the multiple dimensional stratification system, and who are well positioned to provide key forms of social and institutional support. The article focuses on the kinds of institutional support such agents are able to provide, and on the multiple and simultaneous [help-giving] roles assumed by those who provide this support. Drawing from empowerment theory in critical social work, the article provides a discussion about manifesting one’s capacity as an institutional agent in ways that not only entails providing key resources, but also that enables the authentic empowerment of the student or young person. Influenced by Freirean philosophy, the article makes a critical distinction between “widening the pipeline” and “changing the world. ” Also new to this body of work is how access to resources and institutional support—among low-status students and youth—is significantly dependent upon the network characteristics, network-related capacities and skills, and networking orientations of those institutional agents devoted to supporting and empowering low-status youth.
Self-Objectification Predicts Adolescent Girls' Motor Performance

Objectification theory posits that Western culture socializes girls and women to self-objectify by adopting a third-person perspective on their bodies . F eminist philosopher Iris Young (1990) argued that such self-objectification accounts for “throwing like a girl” and other constrained and ineffective motor performances. The authors’ hypothesis was that higher selfobjectification among adolescent girls would predict poorer throwing performance. The authors tested 202 girls, ages 10 to 17 (32% Anglo-American, 47% African American, and 20% other ethnic minorities). Each was asked to complete written measures of self-objectification and to throw a softball, three times, as hard as she could. Throwing performance was coded from video records. Results show that self-objectification predicted throwing performance above and beyond differences due to age and prior throwing experience. There were no differences by race. Discussion centers on how selfobjectification limits girls’ and women’s physical activity, with implications for emotional well-being, physical health and safety, as well as cognitive functioning.
The 40‐Hz auditory steady‐state response: a selective biomarker for cortical NMDA function

When subjected to a phasic input, sensory cortical neurons display a remarkable ability to entrain faithfully to the driving stimuli. The entrainment to rhythmic sound stimuli is often referred to as the auditory steady‐state response (ASSR) and can be captured using noninvasive techniques, such as scalp‐recorded electroencephalography (EEG). An ASSR to a driving frequency of approximately 40 Hz is particularly interesting in that it shows, in relative terms, maximal power, synchrony, and synaptic activity. Moreover, the 40‐Hz ASSR has been consistently found to be abnormal in schizophrenia patients across multiple studies. The nature of the reported abnormality has been less consistent; while most studies report a deficit in entrainment, several studies have reported increased signal power, particularly when there are concurrent positive symptoms, such as auditory hallucinations. However, the neuropharmacological basis for the 40‐Hz ASSR, as well as its dysfunction in schizophrenia, has been unclear until recently. On the basis of several recent reports, it is argued that the 40‐Hz ASSR represents a specific marker for cortical NMDA transmission. If confirmed, the 40‐Hz ASSR may be a simple and easy‐to‐access pharmacodynamic biomarker for testing the integrity of cortical NMDA neurotransmission that is robustly translational across species.
Local Shape Transfer for Image Co-segmentation

Image co-segmentation is a challenging computer vision task that aims to segment all pixels of the common objects in an image set. In real-world cases, however, the common objects often vary greatly in poses, locations and scales, making their global shapes highly inconsistent across images and difficult to be segmented. To address this problem, this paper proposes a novel co-segmentation approach that transfers patch-level local object shapes, which appear more consistently across different images. In our approach, we first employ dense correspondences to construct a patch neighbourhood system, which is refined using Locally Linear Embedding. Based on the patch relationships, an efficient algorithm is developed to jointly segment the objects in each image while transferring their local shapes across different images. Experiments show that our approach performs comparably with or better than the state-of-the-arts on iCoseg dataset [2], while achieving more than 31% relative improvements on a challenging benchmark Fashionista [31].
Distribution of BK polyomavirus genotypes in Tunisian renal transplant recipients

BK polyomavirus (BKV) is a ubiquitous virus in humans that remains latent in the urogenital tract after a primary infection during childhood. The virus, which is reactivated frequently and excreted in urine, can cause nephropathy in renal transplant recipients. BKV sequences are classified into four subtypes (I–IV). Subtype I and IV are divided further into four and six subgroups, respectively. To characterize the subtypes of BKV prevalent in Tunisia, the presence of the virus was investigated by real‐time PCR in urine samples from 77 renal transplant recipients. For subtype identification, a DNA fragment in the VP1 coding region, amplified by nested PCR from positive samples, was sequenced and a phylogenetic analysis was performed. In the studied population, subtype I (75.5%), II (14.5%), and IV (2.5%) were identified with a clear predominance of subtype Ib‐2 (73%) as observed in European population. This study suggests that in North Africa, the BKV genotype distribution is similar to that of Europe and different from that of sub‐Saharan Africa. J. Med. Virol. 83:725–730, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.