Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Allergy controls the population density of Necator americanus in the small intestine.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Nearly 700 million people remain infected with hookworms. Although allergy is intuitively linked to immunity against helminths, few positive examples have been characterized. Larval migration through the lungs has been considered the likely interface at which hookworm attrition occurs. As part of a study evaluating a potential role for hookworms in the modulation of human autoimmunity, we examined parasite migration and intestinal colonization. METHODS Capsule and conventional endoscopies supplemented the evaluation of healthy volunteers and Crohn's disease patients recently inoculated with larvae of the human hookworm Necator americanus. Two healthy volunteers with a previously established and stable hookworm infection were inoculated with 50 larvae and had serial capsule endoscopies performed. RESULTS Eosinophilic enteritis developed in all subjects after the initial inoculation. Newly inoculated larvae in the 2 subjects with an established infection reliably reached the intestine within 4 weeks. Thereafter, the colony diminished to the host's constitutive status quo because mostly immature worms failed to attach. The intensity of the eosinophilic response correlated negatively with the time available for hookworms to feed and positively with hookworm attrition. CONCLUSIONS Necator larval migration to the intestine is uncontested. We propose that allergic inflammation purposefully degrades the hookworm's bite, causing premature detachment, restricted feeding, and expulsion. This novel biological dynamic suggests a new paradigm of hookworm resistance.
Arabidopsis CHROMOSOME TRANSMISSION FIDELITY 7 (AtCTF7/ECO1) is required for DNA repair, mitosis and meiosis

The proper transmission of DNA in dividing cells is crucial for the survival of eukaryotic organisms. During cell division, faithful segregation of replicated chromosomes requires their tight attachment, known as sister chromatid cohesion, until anaphase. Sister chromatid cohesion is established during S-phase in a process requiring an acetyltransferase that in yeast is known as Establishment of cohesion 1 (Eco1). Inactivation of Eco1 typically disrupts chromosome segregation and homologous recombination-dependent DNA repair in dividing cells, ultimately resulting in lethality. We report here the isolation and detailed characterization of two homozygous T-DNA insertion mutants for the Arabidopsis thaliana Eco1 homolog, CHROMOSOME TRANSMISSION FIDELITY 7/ESTABLISHMENT OF COHESION 1 (CTF7/ECO1), called ctf7-1 and ctf7-2. Mutants exhibited dwarfism, poor anther development and sterility. Analysis of somatic tissues by flow cytometry, scanning electron microscopy and quantitative real-time PCR identified defects in DNA repair and cell division, including an increase in the area of leaf epidermal cells, an increase in DNA content and the upregulation of genes involved in DNA repair including BRCA1 and PARP2. No significant change was observed in the expression of genes that influence entry into the endocycle. Analysis of meiocytes identified changes in chromosome morphology and defective segregation; the abundance of chromosomal-bound cohesion subunits was also reduced. Transcript levels for several meiotic genes, including the recombinase genes DMC1 and RAD51C and the S-phase licensing factor CDC45 were elevated in mutant anthers. Taken together our results demonstrate that Arabidopsis CTF7/ECO1 plays important roles in the preservation of genome integrity and meiosis.
Thermal convection in ice sheets

In recent correspondence to the Journal, Hughes (2012) asked whether ice-stream tributaries are the surface expression of thermal convection rolls in the Antarctic ice sheet. The short answer to this is ‘no’. Ice sheets exhibit a slow viscous shallow flow which is driven by the shear stresses induced by the surface slope of the flow. Convection is a motion whose stresses are generated by horizontal thermal gradients through the action of buoyancy. On the face of it, they have nothing to do with each other. This is the instinctive reaction of the dynamicist, and Hughes’s proposal, preceded by his earlier enquiries (Hughes, 1976, 2009), has not attracted much attention. The texts of Cuffey and Paterson (2010) and Hooke (2005) provide no index reference to convection. The web of science lists fourteen citations of the article by Hughes (1976), of which four are by Hughes himself, eight deal with ice on the satellite moons of the outer planets,* one by John Shaw concerns drumlins and megaflutes, and one is a review by Bob Thomas. It seems fair to say that Hughes’s hypothesis concerning the Antarctic ice sheet has not received much interest from theoreticians. Hughes suggests two field experiments to test his hypothesis that thermal convection occurs in the Antarctic. The purpose of my correspondence is to propose a third test: nature can only do what the laws of physics allow it to do, and so Hughes’s hypothesis should first be judged on whether it is theoretically possible. I will provide a theoretical framework within which one may examine his proposal, though I stop short of providing a full numerical investigation of the resulting mathematical model. The first port of call is an estimate of the Rayleigh number, defined by Ra 1⁄4 T gd 3 , ð1Þ
Direct radiocarbon dates for Vindija G(1) and Velika Pecína late Pleistocene hominid remains.

New accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dates taken directly on human remains from the Late Pleistocene sites of Vindija and Velika Pecina in the Hrvatsko Zagorje of Croatia are presented. Hominid specimens from both sites have played critical roles in the development of current perspectives on modern human evolutionary emergence in Europe. Dates of approximately 28 thousand years (ka) before the present (B.P.) and approximately 29 ka B.P. for two specimens from Vindija G(1) establish them as the most recent dated Neandertals in the Eurasian range of these archaic humans. The human frontal bone from Velika Pecina, generally considered one of the earliest representatives of modern humans in Europe, dated to approximately 5 ka B.P., rendering it no longer pertinent to discussions of modern human origins. Apart from invalidating the only radiometrically based example of temporal overlap between late Neandertal and early modern human fossil remains from within any region of Europe, these dates raise the question of when early modern humans first dispersed into Europe and have implications for the nature and geographic patterning of biological and cultural interactions between these populations and the Neandertals.
3D Reconstruction of Plant/Tree Canopy Using Monocular and Binocular Vision

Three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of a tree canopy is an important step in order to measure canopy geometry, such as height, width, volume, and leaf cover area. In this research, binocular stereo vision was used to recover the 3D information of the canopy. Multiple images were taken from different views around the target. The Structure-from-motion (SfM) method was employed to recover the camera calibration matrix for each image, and the corresponding 3D coordinates of the feature points were calculated and used to recover the camera calibration matrix. Through this method, a sparse projective reconstruction of the target was realized. Subsequently, a ball pivoting algorithm was used to do surface modeling to realize dense reconstruction. Finally, this dense reconstruction was transformed to metric reconstruction through ground truth points which were obtained from camera calibration of binocular stereo cameras. Four experiments were completed, one for a known geometric box, and the other three were: a croton plant with big leaves and salient features, a jalapeno pepper plant with median leaves, and a lemon tree with small leaves. A whole-view reconstruction of each target was realized. The comparison of the reconstructed box’s size with the real box’s size shows that the 3D reconstruction is in metric reconstruction.
The Internal Structure of New Attitudes towards Statistics Inventory among Postgraduate Students in Medical and Health Sciences

Universiti Sains Malaysia Attitudes toward Statistics (USM-AS) is a newly developed, selfadministered inventory for measuring attitudes toward statistics among postgraduate students. The USM-AS consists of three factors (affect, cognition, and behaviour) and 58 items. This study was aimed to validate the USM-AS and provide evidence of its construct validity by investigating its internal structure. This study consists of four validation studies, which were conducted consecutively among postgraduate students (Master’s degree and PhD students) in the medical and health sciences. The revised USM-AS, consisting of three factors and 12 items, was found to have good construct validity, which was demonstrated by good model fit, high factor loadings (0.62 to 0.92), high construct reliability (0.84 to 0.89), good discrimination between factors and good test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients = 0.63 to 0.82). However, validity was limited to postgraduate students in the medical and health sciences in Malaysia. Further validation studies among postgraduate students in other scientific fields are recommended to provide additional construct validity evidence of the USMAS.
CSLDS: Chinese sign language dialog system

We present a Chinese sign language dialog system (CSLDS) based on the technique of large vocabulary continuous Chinese sign language recognition (CSLR) and Chinese sign language synthesis (CSLS). This system can show the advance technology on gesture recognition and synthesis well and can apply to more powerful system combined with speech recognition and synthesis technology, which then can allow the convenient communication between deaf and hearing society.
Large Random Access Systems with Retransmission Diversity

We consider that infinitely many users randomly access a basestation through a common channel of infinitely wide bandwidth with the number of users per dimension kept a constant. Retransmission diversity gain for demodulation of a transmitted packet is acquired via jointly using signals collected from multiple retransmissions of the packet. All users' channel profiles are considered in packet success probability. Through analyzing a large dominant random access system, sufficient conditions for stability of the original large random access system are obtained. Lower bounds on the steady throughput and spectral efficiency are also obtained. Through changing transmission probability as a means for medium access control, the maximum throughput as well as the maximum spectral efficiency can be achieved. The results are applied to large CDMA random access systems in flat fading channels. It is shown that the effect of medium random access as well as channel uncertainty is captured by the notion of effective interference. Numerical examples demonstrate that exploitation of retransmission diversity substantially improves the throughput and spectral efficiency. If retransmission diversity is exploited, performance gap between the MF and MMSE detectors in the high offered load regime is small. I. INTRODUCTION
An Initial Exploration of Stereotypes as a Moderator of Decreased Performance in Heterogeneous Groups

“Two randomized field experiments tested a social-psychological intervention designed to improve minority student performance and increase our understanding of how psychological threat mediates performance in chronically evaluative real-world environments. We expected that the risk of confirming a negative stereotype aimed at one’s group could undermine academic performance in minority students by elevating their level of psychological threat. We tested whether such psychological threat could be lessened by having students reaffirm their sense of personal adequacy or ‘‘self-integrity. ’’ The intervention, a brief in-class writing assignment, significantly improved the grades of African American students and reduced the racial achievement gap by 40%. These results suggest that the racial achievement gap, a major social concern in the United States, could be ameliorated by the use of timely and targeted social-psychological interventions (Cohen, Garcia, Apfel, & Master, 2006:1307) . ”
The Influence Of Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) Approach On Students’ Mathematical Communication Ability

Mathematical communication ability are one of the learning goals, but in reality, student’s communication ability are still weak. This research aims compare mathematical communication ability between the students who taught using RME approach and who were taught using conventional approach according to their self-efficacy. Quasi experimental research was conducted at SMP Negeri 5 Kerinci, involving eighth grade students. Data were collected through questionnaires and tests. The results showed that students' mathematical communication ability was higher when they are taught using RME approach than taught using conventional approach both to students who have high self-efficacy and vice
Direct mesh: a multiresolution approach to terrain visualization

Terrain can be approximated by a triangular mesh consisting millions of 3D points. Multiresolution triangular mesh (MTM) structures are designed to support applications that use terrain data at variable levels of detail (LOD). Typically, an MTM adopts a tree structure where a parent node represents a lower-resolution approximation of its descendants. Given a region of interest (ROI) and a LOD, the process of retrieving the required terrain data from the database is to traverse the MTM tree from the root to reach all the nodes satisfying the ROI and LOD conditions. This process, while being commonly used for multiresolution terrain visualization, is inefficient as either a large number of sequential I/O operations or fetching a large amount of extraneous data is incurred. Various spatial indexes have been proposed in the past to address this problem, however level-by-level tree traversal remains a common practice in order to obtain topological information among the retrieved terrain data. A new MTM data structure called direct mesh is proposed. We demonstrate that with direct mesh the amount of data retrieval can be substantially reduced. Comparing with existing MTM indexing methods, a significant performance improvement has been observed for real-life terrain data.
The lncRNA HOTAIR impacts on mesenchymal stem cells via triple helix formation

There is a growing perception that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) modulate cellular function. In this study, we analyzed the role of the lncRNA HOTAIR in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with particular focus on senescence-associated changes in gene expression and DNA-methylation (DNAm). HOTAIR binding sites were enriched at genomic regions that become hypermethylated with increasing cell culture passage. Overexpression and knockdown of HOTAIR inhibited or stimulated adipogenic differentiation of MSCs, respectively. Modification of HOTAIR expression evoked only very moderate effects on gene expression, particularly of polycomb group target genes. Furthermore, overexpression and knockdown of HOTAIR resulted in DNAm changes at HOTAIR binding sites. Five potential triple helix forming domains were predicted within the HOTAIR sequence based on reverse Hoogsteen hydrogen bonds. Notably, the predicted triple helix target sites for these HOTAIR domains were also enriched in differentially expressed genes and close to DNAm changes upon modulation of HOTAIR. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays provided further evidence that HOTAIR domains form RNA–DNA–DNA triplexes with predicted target sites. Our results demonstrate that HOTAIR impacts on differentiation of MSCs and that it is associated with senescence-associated DNAm. Targeting of epigenetic modifiers to relevant loci in the genome may involve triple helix formation with HOTAIR.
New Cost Function for Multi-Robot Exploration

This paper discusses the problem of multi-robot exploration. The objective of this problem is to explore an unknown environment using a team of mobile robots in a minimum amount of time. We believe that in an unknown environment, it is very difficult to estimate the amount of new information expected from a frontier location. We propose a new objective for the assignment algorithm and introduce a new cost function to be used in the assignment algorithm that leads to better motion planning. For the sake of simplicity, we suggest to use greedy algorithm for the assignment algorithm. In this paper, we also proposed a method for exploration problem with robots' limited communication capability, by estimating the missing robots' position, so that the outcome will not degrade significantly
Bureaucratic and Cultural Images in the Management of More and Less Effective Schools.

AUTHOR Wimpelberg, knbert K. TITLE Bureaucratic and Cultural Images in the Management of More and Less Effective Schools. SPONS AGENCY Southeastern Regional Council for Educational Improvement, Research Triangle Park, N.C. PUB DATE Apr 86 NOTE 23p. ; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (70th, San Francisco, CA, April 16-20, 1986). PUB TYPE keports Research/Technical (143) -Speeches /Conference Papers (150)
Risk parity portfolios with risk factors

Portfolio construction and risk budgeting are the focus of many studies by academics and practitioners. In particular, diversification has spawned much interest and has been defined very differently. In this paper, we analyse a method to achieve portfolio diversification based on the decomposition of the portfolio’s risk into risk factor contributions. First, we expose the relationship between risk factor and asset contributions. Secondly, we formulate the diversification problem in terms of risk factors as an optimization program. Finally, we illustrate our methodology with a real example of building a strategic asset allocation based on economic factors for a pension fund facing liability constraints.
STUDIES ON HYBRID VIGOUR IN F1 AND ITS RETENTION IN F2 FOR FRUIT FIRMNESS AND RELATED TRAITS IN TOMATO

Tomato varieties having less number of locules, thicker pericarp and good firmness are preferred by the consumers. A set of 28 half diallel crosses were generated by crossing 8 inbred lines of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) namely Gujarat Tomato 1 (GT 1), Pusa Ruby, H 24, Ec 490190, Arka Vikas, Ec 163599, Ec 177371 and Ec 398704. Parents, F1 hybrids and F2 populations using randomized complete block design with three replications were evaluated for fruit weight, equatorial and polar diameter, number of locules, pericarp thickness and firmness at Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh (Gujarat, India). Significant genetic differences were observed among the parents, their F1 hybrids and F2 populations for fruit firmness related characters except locules fruit -1 under study. The cross Arka Vikas x Ec 398704 followed by GT 1 X Ec 490190 and Pusa Ruby X Ec 163599 exhibited higher heterobeltiosis as well as standard heterosis along with considerable inbreeding depression for fresh fruit firmness hence, is desired for firm fruited tomato plants and would score over yield when tomato are cultivated for distant markets. This cross also involved at least one parent having grater firmness as well pericarp thickness and few locules, hence, can be recommended for breeding improved fruit firmness lines in future.
Interactions between Real Estate and Equity markets : an Investigation of Linkages in Developed and Emerging Countries

This study analyzes the long-run cointegration relationship between equity and real estate prices in 30 developed and emerging economies divided into four subpanels related to the income level and the financial market structure. We test for cointegration between equity and real estate prices using the pooled mean group estimator of the dynamic heterogeneous panel on the entire panel sample and on subpanels in order to isolate the variation of codependencies among country groups. The results suggest equity prices and real estate prices are closely correlated, synchronized and codependent, with the degree of codependencies depending on the income levels and the structure of the financial markets of the given countries. In economies with a market-based financial system and in developed economies, the reaction of both asset prices to economic news is more synchronized when compared to the remaining two groups. The stock market crash and the global financial crisis significantly increased the level of segmentation between the stock markets and the real estate markets, with the segmentation being more pronounced in developed economies.
Linear precoding for multi antenna CDMA onver multipath ISI channels

We consider the performance of linear transmitter precoding techniques for the downlink of multiinput single output (MISO) DS-CDMA systems over multipath channels with and without intersymbol interference (ISI). Our receivers are constrained to simple match filters while the transmitter is assumed to have complete or partial channel state information (CSI). Our contribution in this paper is the design of linear interference cancelling precoders which simultaneously exploit the available multipath diversity to improve the signal to interference noise ratio (SINR) performance. Precoders are designed such that the resulting decision statistics at the receivers closely mimic those due to maximum ratio weighting which maximizes the effective SINR. Simulation results indicate that linear precoders designed for channels without ISI achieve full diversity gain while completely suppressing multiuser interference at the cost of a SINR loss in the performance. Those designed for ISI channels achieve full diversity gain when there are a small number of distinct paths from any transmit antenna to the single receive antenna of each decentralized receiver.
Componentwise ultimate bound computation for switched linear systems

We present a novel ultimate bound computation method for switched linear systems with disturbances and arbitrary switching. We consider both discrete-time and continuous-time systems. The proposed method relies on the existence of a transformation that takes all matrices of the switched linear system into a convenient form satisfying certain properties. The method provides ultimate bounds in the form of polyhedral sets and/or mixed ellipsoidal/polyhedral sets, and it is completely systematic once the aforementioned transformation is obtained. We show that the transformation can be found in the well-known case where the matrices of the switched linear system generate a solvable Lie algebra. In the latter case, our results also constitute a new sufficient condition for practical stability. An example comparing the bounds obtained by the proposed ultimate bound computation method with those obtained from a common quadratic Lyapunov function computed via linear matrix inequalities shows a clear advantage of the proposed method in some cases.
Distributional implications of the crisis in Greece in 2009 - 2012

The severe economic crisis affecting Greece since 2009 is having an unprecedented impact in terms of job and income losses, and is widely perceived to have a comparably significant effect in terms of greater inequality and increased poverty. We provide an assessment of whether (and to what extent) the latter is the case. More specifically, we use the European tax-benefit microsimulation model EUROMOD in order to quantify the impact of the austerity (i.e. fiscal consolidation policies) and the recession (i.e. negative developments in the wider economy) on the distribution of incomes in 2009-2012, and estimate how the burden of the crisis has been shared across income groups. We conclude by discussing the policy implications of our research.