Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Simulating the effects of climate change on the distribution of an invasive plant, using a high resolution, local scale, mechanistic approach: challenges and insights

The growing economic and ecological damage associated with biological invasions, which will likely be exacerbated by climate change, necessitates improved projections of invasive spread. Generally, potential changes in species distribution are investigated using climate envelope models; however, the reliability of such models has been questioned and they are not suitable for use at local scales. At this scale, mechanistic models are more appropriate. This paper discusses some key requirements for mechanistic models and utilises a newly developed model (PSS[gt]) that incorporates the influence of habitat type and related features (e.g., roads and rivers), as well as demographic processes and propagule dispersal dynamics, to model climate induced changes in the distribution of an invasive plant (Gunnera tinctoria) at a local scale. A new methodology is introduced, dynamic baseline benchmarking, which distinguishes climate‐induced alterations in species distributions from other potential drivers of change. Using this approach, it was concluded that climate change, based on IPCC and C4i projections, has the potential to increase the spread‐rate and intensity of G. tinctoria invasions. Increases in the number of individuals were primarily due to intensification of invasion in areas already invaded or in areas projected to be invaded in the dynamic baseline scenario. Temperature had the largest influence on changes in plant distributions. Water availability also had a large influence and introduced the most uncertainty in the projections. Additionally, due to the difficulties of parameterising models such as this, the process has been streamlined by utilising methods for estimating unknown variables and selecting only essential parameters.
Temperature sensing by plants: the primary characteristics of signal perception and calcium response.

Cold elicits an immediate rise in the cytosolic free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]c) of plant cells. We have studied the concerted action of the three underlying mechanisms, namely sensing, sensitisation and desensitisation, which become important when plants in the field are subjected to changes in temperature. We applied different regimes of temperature changes with well-defined cooling rates to intact roots of Arabidopsis thaliana expressing the calcium-indicator, aequorin. Our results indicate that temperature sensing is mainly dependent on the cooling rate, dT/dt, whereas the absolute temperature T is of less importance. Arabidopsis roots were found to be sensitive to cooling rates of less than dT/dt = 0.01 degrees C/s. However, at cooling rates below 0.003 degrees C/s (i.e. cooling 10 degrees C in 1 h) there is no detectable [Ca2+]c response at all. At low temperature, the sensitivity of the plant cold-detection system is increased. This in turn produces greater cooling-induced [Ca2+]c elevations. Prolonged or repeated cold treatment attenuates the [Ca2+]c responses to subsequent episodes of cooling.
Nursing students’ attitude toward suicide prevention

Background: Preventing suicide depends upon different health professionals’ knowledge regarding suicide, attitude toward suicide attempters, skills to assess and manage suicidal risk. Objectives: This study was aimed to assess the attitude of nursing students toward suicide prevention. Materials and Methods: 308 nursing students were recruited from the two institutions through total enumeration method. Attitude toward suicide prevention scale was administered. Study design was cross-sectional. Results: Majority were single females, from urban locality, who were pursuing BSc Nursing with the mean age of 20 years. Only minority had previous exposure to suicide prevention programs or workshops. Nearly half of the subjects had positive attitude toward working with suicidal patients. Again half of the subjects considered unemployment and poverty as main causes of suicide and were quite hopeless about it and they also perceived that most of the suicidal people would not reveal their suicidal plans to others. Conclusions: Merely half of the students had positive attitude toward working with suicidal patients. Hence, there is strong need to organize more educational and training programs on suicide prevention so that these budding health professionals could be more equipped and trained to manage these suicidal patients.
Extracellular Enzyme Activity Profile in a Chemically Enhanced Water Accommodated Fraction of Surrogate Oil: Toward Understanding Microbial Activities After the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Extracellular enzymes and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) play a key role in overall microbial activity, growth and survival in the ocean. EPS, being amphiphilic in nature, can act as biological surfactant in an oil spill situation. Extracellular enzymes help microbes to digest and utilize fractions of organic matter, including EPS, which can stimulate growth and enhance microbial activity. These natural processes might have been altered during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill due to the presence of hydrocarbon and dispersant. This study aims to investigate the role of bacterial extracellular enzymes during exposure to hydrocarbons and dispersant. Mesocosm studies were conducted using a water accommodated fraction of oil mixed with the chemical dispersant, Corexit (CEWAF) in seawater collected from two different locations in the Gulf of Mexico and corresponding controls (no additions). Activities of five extracellular enzymes typically found in the EPS secreted by the microbial community – α- and β-glucosidase, lipase, alkaline phosphatase, leucine amino-peptidase – were measured using fluorogenic substrates in three different layers of the mesocosm tanks (surface, water column and bottom). Enhanced EPS production and extracellular enzyme activities were observed in the CEWAF treatment compared to the Control. Higher bacterial and micro-aggregate counts were also observed in the CEWAF treatment compared to Controls. Bacterial genera in the order Alteromonadaceae were the most abundant bacterial 16S rRNA amplicons recovered. Genomes of Alteromonadaceae commonly have alkaline phosphatase and leucine aminopeptidase, therefore they may contribute significantly to the measured enzyme activities. Only Alteromonadaceae and Pseudomonadaceae among bacteria detected here have higher percentage of genes for lipase. Piscirickettsiaceae was abundant; genomes from this order commonly have genes for leucine aminopeptidase. Overall, this study provides insights into the alteration to the microbial processes such as EPS and extracellular enzyme production, and to the microbial community, when exposed to the mixture of oil and dispersant.
Effects of alloying on the interface energy of the δ- and η-phase in nickelbase superalloys

Wrought 718-type nickel-base superalloys are forged at temperatures where the strengthening phases ( γ ′ or γ ″ ) are dissolved, but additional phases (δ-phase of Ni3Nb type or the η-phase of Ni3Ti-type) are present to ensure a fine-grained microstructure. The precipitation of these phases is influenced by the interfacial energy. We use density functional theory calculations at 0 K to study the interfacial energy of the δ- and η-phase with a coherent interface orientation. By transferring alloying elements from the center of a phase to the boundary, we calculate the influence of these elements on the interface energy. A simple model that uses the change in volume caused by the alloying element and its chemical binding energy in the different phases is presented and shown to be able to reasonably predict the interface transfer energy of the elements in most cases.
NLITrans at SemEval-2018 Task 12: Transfer of Semantic Knowledge for Argument Comprehension

The Argument Reasoning Comprehension Task is a difficult challenge requiring significant language understanding and complex reasoning over world knowledge. We focus on transfer of a sentence encoder to bootstrap more complicated architectures given the small size of the dataset. Our best model uses a pre-trained BiLSTM to encode input sentences, learns task-specific features for the argument and warrants, then performs independent argument-warrant matching. This model achieves mean test set accuracy of 61.31%. Encoder transfer yields a significant gain to our best model over random initialization. Sharing parameters for independent warrant evaluation provides regularization and effectively doubles the size of the dataset. We demonstrate that regularization comes from ignoring statistical correlations between warrant positions. We also report an experiment with our best model that only matches warrants to reasons, ignoring claims. Performance is still competitive, suggesting that our model is not necessarily learning the intended task.
Eye movements and parafoveal preview of compound words: Does morpheme order matter?

Recently, there has been considerable debate about whether readers can identify multiple words in parallel or whether they are limited to a serial mode of word identification, processing one word at a time (see, e.g., Reichle, Liversedge, Pollatsek, & Rayner, 2009). Similar questions can be applied to bimorphemic compound words: Do readers identify all the constituents of a compound word in parallel, and does it matter which of the morphemes is identified first? We asked subjects to read compound words embedded in sentences while monitoring their eye movements. Using the boundary paradigm (Rayner, 1975), we manipulated the preview that subjects received of the compound word before they fixated it. In particular, the morpheme order of the preview was either normal (cowboy) or reversed (boycow). Additionally, we manipulated the preview availability for each of the morphemes separately. Preview was thus available for the first morpheme only (cowtxg), for the second morpheme only (enzboy), or for neither of the morphemes (enztxg). We report three major findings: First, there was an effect of morpheme order on gaze durations measured on the compound word, indicating that, as expected, readers obtained a greater preview benefit when the preview presented the morphemes in the correct order than when their order was reversed. Second, gaze durations on the compound word were influenced not only by preview availability for the first, but also by that for the second morpheme. Finally, and most importantly, the results show that readers are able to extract some morpheme information even from a reverse order preview. In summary, readers obtain preview benefit from both constituents of a short compound word, even when the preview does not reflect the correct morpheme order.
Tracking of Blood Pressure Among Adolescents and Young Adults in an Urban Slum of Puducherry

Background: Early diagnosis of hypertension (HT) is an important strategy in its control. Tracking of blood pressure (BP) has been found useful in identifying persons with potential HT, particularly in youngsters. A cohort of 756 subjects (with baseline information as a cross-sectional study in 2002) was followed up in 2006 to comment on the distribution of BP and its attributes. Objectives: To track BP distribution in a cohort of adolescents and young adults, and assess the persistence of high/low normotensives; to measure the incidence of HT and study the relationship of BP with age, sex, socioeconomic status, BMI, physical exercise, salt intake, smoking and alcohol consumption. Materials and Methods: The baseline study cohort (2002) of 756 subjects (19-24 years) in urban field area of Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, JIPMER, was followed up between May and November 2006 by house visits for measurement of sociodemographic variables, anthropometry, salt intake, physical activity and BP. Results: A total of 555 subjects from the 2002 cohort were contacted (73.4%), in that 54.5% subjects who were below 5th percentile, 93.6% subjects between 5th and 95th percentiles and 72% of those above 95th percentile previously persisted in the same cut-offs for systolic blood pressure (SBP). The corresponding figures for diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were 46.2, 92.2 and 74.1%, respectively. Shift from one cut-off to another was not significant for both SBP and DBP, proving the tracking phenomenon. Annual incidence of HT was 9.8/1000. Baseline BP was the significant predictor of current BP for the entire cohort; BMI and salt intake were significant predictors only in certain sections of the study cohort. Conclusions: Early diagnosis of hypertension even among adolescents/young adults is an important preventive measure, as tracking exists in the population.
Search for the neutral current top quark decay t→Zc using the ratio of Z-boson+4 jets to W-boson+4 jets production

We have used the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF II) to search for the flavor-changing neutral-current (FCNC) top quark decay t {yields} Zc using a technique employing ratios of W and Z production, measured in p{bar p} data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.52 fb{sup -1}. The analysis uses a comparison of two decay chains, p{bar p} {yields} t{bar t} {yields} WbWb {yields} {ell}{nu}bjjb and p{bar p} {yields} t{bar t} {yields} ZcWb {yields} {ell}{ell}cjjb, to cancel systematic uncertainties in acceptance, efficiency, and luminosity. We validate the modeling of acceptance and efficiency for lepton identification over the multi-year dataset using another ratio of W and Z production, in this case the observed ratio of inclusive production of W to Z bosons. To improve the discrimination against standard model backgrounds to top quark decays, we calculate the top quark mass for each event with two leptons and four jets assuming it is a t{bar t} event with one of the top quarks decaying to Zc. For additional background discrimination we require at least one jet to be identified as originating from a b-quark. No significant signal is found and we set an upper limit on the FCNC branching ratio Br(t {yields} Zc) using a likelihood constructed from the {ell}{ell}cjjb top quark mass distribution and the number of {ell}{nu}bjjb events. Limits are set as a function of the helicity of the Z boson produced in the FCNC decay. For 100% longitudinally polarized Z bosons we find limits of 8.3% and 9.3% (95% C.L.) depending on the assumptions regarding the theoretical top quark pair production cross-section.
Persistent and Aggressive Treatment for Thymic Carcinoma

Objectives: The aim of this study is to retrospectively evaluate the role of several therapies, mainly chemotherapy, for thymic carcinoma (TC). Methods: From July 1973 to July 2005, 25 patients (15 males and 10 females) with histologically proven TC were treated at our department. The median age of the patients was 59 years, with a range of from 30 to 78 years. According to Masaoka’s staging system, there was 1 stage I patient, 3 stage II, 7 stage III, 6 stage IVa, and 8 stage IVb patients. The histological subtype was in all cases squamous cell carcinoma, nonkeratinizing type. Results: There were 6 complete surgical resections, 1 incomplete resection followed by chemoradiotherapy, 6 with radiotherapy alone, 3 with radiotherapy plus chemotherapy, and 9 with chemotherapy alone as the initial treatment. Eighteen patients were administered second-line therapy. The regimen obtaining the best response rate was doublet chemotherapy consisting of carboplatin (CBDCA) and paclitaxel. The median survival time and survival rate at 5 years for the patients excluding surgical cases with stage I/II disease were 32 months and 31%, respectively. Conclusion: The doublet of CBDCA and paclitaxel thus appears to be a promising regimen for TC and further investigation in a multi-institutional phase II trial is, therefore, strongly called for.
A review on the machining of fiber-reinforced polymeric laminates

Machining is an inevitable task after processing a material. Among the different materials, fiber-reinforced plastics are used as structural materials in different industries. Compared to conventional materials, fiber-reinforced plastics are less hard by its nature. Due to this reason, the cutting force required during machining a plastic material is lesser than that of other materials. Although the cutting force is less, the influence of other machining parameters on the ease of machining is to be investigated in order to reduce the machining time and cost. Hence, a review on the machining associated successes and failures will be helpful for the manufacturing sectors and researchers in line with the machinability. This review provides a detailed picture of various issues dealt during machining a plastic material. The influences of manufacturing methods on the machinability and machinability measurement methods are comprehensively addressed. In addition, this review also discusses about the influences of machining parameters and optimum conditions for machining. The review also addresses various statistical methods used, machinability enhancement methods adopted, and unconventional methods used in the various researches.
Hierarchical structures.

Hierarchical Structures So far, we have studied sequential structures which assigns each of their elements an index in the structure. This imposes an ordering relationship between elements based on this index. Now we will examine more complex relationships that we can impose between elements in a structure. The first of these is the hierarchy which establishes child-parent relationships between values.
On the Concept of Concept in the Context of Autonomous Agents

This paper deals with some fundamental questions regarding the concept of concept in the context of autonomous agents. The most basic of these is defining what it actually means for someone to have a concept. Rather than trying to state a number of conditions that should be satisfied in order to have the concept, it is concluded that having a concept is a matter of degree, which can be defined in terms of the functions the concept can serve. The more functions it can serve and the better it can serve these functions, the higher is the degree to which one has the concept. Moreover, the distinction between entity and dispositional theories of concepts is discussed, and it is concluded that they are complementary in that both perspectives are necessary to get a full picture of the concept of concepts. A conceptualistic entity theory and a dispositional theory based on which functions the concept should be able to serve are then put forward and discussed in a representational framework that supports these functions. Furthermore, we discuss the meaning of concepts, i.e., the problem of interpreting the symbols used to designate concepts, and give some arguments of why an autonomous agent should have the ability to interpret (some of) its own descriptions. We examine the work carried out within the field of logical semantics, and conclude that since traditional truth conditional semantics requires a human who grounds the meaning of elementary symbols, i.e., one who assigns objects and sets of objects to constants and predicates, this approach is not appropriate. Instead, a subjective intensionalistic approach based on the grounding of symbols is suggested, which is more in line with the verificationist and procedural approaches to semantics. Finally, we show that theories of meaning are closely linked with views on universals. (Less)
Retropharyngeal Abscess in Children: The Rising Incidence of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Background: Because of a recent upsurge in retropharyngeal abscess (RPA) cases due to community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), we reevaluated the microbiology, clinical manifestations and treatment outcome of RPA over the past 6 years (2004 to 2010). Findings were compared with those of a previous 11-year study (1993 to 2003) period. Methods: A retrospective review of medical records of children with RPA. Results: One hundred fourteen children (61 males) with RPA were identified representing a 2.8-fold increase in incidence (per 10,000 admissions) over the previous 11-year period. Abscess drainage was performed in 74 (65%). A total of 116 isolates (93 aerobes, 23 anaerobes) were recovered from 66 specimens. S. aureus was recovered from 25 (38%) of the 66 specimens compared with 2 (4.9%) of 41 in the previous 11 years; 16 (64%) of 25 were MRSA compared with none in the previous 11 years. Children whose abscess grew MRSA were younger (mean 11 months) than the others (mean 62 months) (P < 0.001) and required longer duration of hospitalization (mean 8.8 days) than the rest (mean 4.5 days) (P = 0.002). Five children had mediastinitis; all caused by MRSA. All MRSA isolates were susceptible to clindamycin. Ceftriaxone plus clindamycin was the most common treatment regimen. All patients had resolution of their abscesses. Conclusions: RPA has increased in frequency in our pediatric population with an associated increase of Staphylococcus aureus, mainly community-associated MRSA. This is likely due to the overall increase in community-associated MRSA infections in our pediatric patients. Treatment with ceftriaxone and clindamycin in addition to surgical drainage was effective.
Scene Classification Based on the Sparse Homogeneous–Heterogeneous Topic Feature Model

High spatial resolution (HSR) imagery scene classification has been the subject of increased interest in recent years, and has great potential for many applications, such as urban functional analysis. Rooted in natural information processing, the use of the probabilistic topic model (PTM) to capture latent topics to represent HSR images has been an effective way to bridge the semantic gap. However, how to effectively discover discriminative information to recognize the HSR scenes is a challenging task. In this paper, the sparse homogeneous–heterogeneous topic feature model (SHHTFM) is proposed for HSR image scene classification. Differing from the conventional PTM-based scene classification methods, which utilize only heterogeneous features, SHHTFM explores the effect of the homogeneous information. Based on the union of uniform grid sampling and simple linear iterative clustering superpixel sampling, SHHTFM exploits both the heterogeneous and homogeneous information. After separately mining different types of low-level features and latent topics, the sparse topic inference procedure of SHHTFM further improves the fusion of the sparse heterogeneous and homogeneous topics. In addition, multisource geographical data are effectively integrated, where the water and vegetation boundaries define a more accurate way to restrict the boundaries of different scenes, and are then combined with the road network data to further improve the scene annotation performance. This provides more reliable and applicable results for us to better understand the complex scenes. The experimental results obtained with two HSR image classification data sets and an HSR image annotation data set demonstrate that the proposed SHHTFM framework can solve the scene classification problem, with a high classification accuracy as well as a high time efficiency.