Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What the Baldwin Effect affects

The Baldwin Effect is a proposed mechanism by which plasticity facilitates adaptive phenotypic and genetic evolution. In particular it has been proposed to be involved in the evolution of language. Here we investigate three factors affecting the extent to which plastic traits are fixed by selection: (i) the difficulty with which traits can be acquired through plasticity, (ii) the importance of traits to fitness, and (iii) the nature of dependencies between different traits. We find that selection preferentially fixes traits that are difficult to acquire through plasticity, traits that have larger fitness benefits, and traits that affect the acquisition of, or benefits from, other traits. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for the evolution of language as well as non-human behaviors and reconsider the evolutionary significance of the Baldwin Effect.
An Energy-Efficient MIMO Algorithm with Receive Power Constraint

We consider the energy-efficiency of Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems with constrained received power rather than constrained transmit power. A Energy-Efficient Water-Filling (EEWF) algorithm that maximizes the ratio of the transmission rate to the total transmit power has been derived. The EEWF power allocation policy establishes a trade-off between the transmission rate and the total transmit power under the total receive power constraint. The static and the uncorrelated fast fading Rayleigh channels have been considered, where the maximization is performed on the instantaneous realization of the channel assuming perfect information at both the transmitter and the receiver with equal number of antennas. We show, based on Monte Carlo simulations that the energy-efficiency provided by the EEWF algorithm can be more than an order of magnitude greater than the energy-efficiency corresponding to capacity achieving Water-Filling (WF) algorithm. We also show that the energy-efficiency increases with both the number of antennas and the signal-to-noise ratio. The corresponding transmission rate also increases but at a slower rate than the Shannon capacity, while the corresponding total transmit power decreases with the number of antennas.
Rapid Expansion of Phenylthiocarbamide Non-Tasters among Japanese Macaques

Bitter taste receptors (TAS2R proteins) allow mammals to detect and avoid ingestion of toxins in food. Thus, TAS2Rs play an important role in food choice and are subject to complex natural selection pressures. In our previous study, we examined nucleotide variation in TAS2R38, a gene expressing bitter taste receptor for phenylthiocarbamide (PTC), in 333 Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) from 9 local populations in Japan. We identified a PTC “non-taster” TAS2R38 allele in Japanese macaques that was caused by a loss of the start codon. This PTC non-taster allele was only found in a limited local population (the Kii area), at a frequency of 29%. In this study, we confirmed that this allele was present in only the Kii population by analyzing an additional 264 individuals from eight new populations. Using cellular and behavioral experiments, we found that this allele lost its receptor function for perceiving PTC. The nucleotide sequences of the allele including flanking regions (of about 10 kb) from 23 chromosomes were identical, suggesting that a non-taster allele arose and expanded in the Kii population during the last 13,000 years. Genetic analyses of non-coding regions in Kii individuals and neighboring populations indicated that the high allele frequency in the Kii population could not be explained by demographic history, suggesting that positive selection resulted in a rapid increase in PTC non-tasters in the Kii population. The loss-of-function that occurred at the TAS2R38 locus presumably provided a fitness advantage to Japanese macaques in the Kii population. Because TAS2R38 ligands are often found in plants, this functional change in fitness is perhaps related to feeding habit specificity. These findings should provide valuable insights for elucidating adaptive evolutionary changes with respect to various environments in wild mammals.
Is Firm Interdependence Within Industries Important for Portfolio Credit Risk?

A drawback of available portfolio credit risk models is that they fail to allow for default risk dependency across loans other than through common risk factors. Thereby, thesemodels ignore that close ties can exist between companies due to legal, financial and business relations. In this paper, we integrate the insights from theoretical models of default correlation into a commonly used model of default and portfolio credit risk by allowing for dependency between firm default risk through both common factors and industry specific errors in a duration model. An application using pooled data from two Swedish banks’ business loan portfolios over the period 1996-2000 shows that estimates of individual default risk are little affected by including industry specific errors. However, accounting for these industry effects increases VaR estimates by 50-200 percent. A traditional model with only systematic factors, although able to fit the broad trends in credit losses, cannot match these fluctuations because it fails to capture credit losses in bad times, when banks are typically hit by large unexpected credit losses. The model we propose manages to follow both the trend in credit losses and produce industry driven, time-varying, fluctuations in losses around that trend. Consequently, this model will better aid banks and regulators in determining the appropriate size of economic capital requirements. Capital buffers derived from our model will be larger for periods with large ”aggregate” disturbances and smaller in better times, and avoid both overcapitalization in good times and undercapitalization in bad times.
In vitro embryo culture in defined, sub‐microliter volumes

The high attrition rate of in vitro human embryo culture presents a major obstacle in the treatment of clinical infertility by in vitro fertilization (IVF). Physical and genetic requirements are not well understood for human or mouse preimplantation embryo development. Group culture is an established requirement for optimal embryo development in the mouse model. However, conventional microdrop culture limitations hinder investigations of the effects of physical parameters on in vitro embryo development. We report a microfluidics platform that enables embryo culture in precisely defined, sub‐microliter volumes (5–500 nl) which cannot be investigated using conventional methods. Groups of two embryos per microfluidic well successfully developed to the blastocyst stage, at a rate of over 80%, which is comparable to those cultured in 20‐μl microdrops. This system can be used to dissect physical requirements of in vitro single or group embryo culture, and be made highly parallel to increase experimental throughput. Developmental Dynamics 238:950–955, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Bimodal speech: early suppressive visual effects in human auditory cortex

While everyone has experienced that seeing lip movements may improve speech perception, little is known about the neural mechanisms by which audiovisual speech information is combined. Event‐related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while subjects performed an auditory recognition task among four different natural syllables randomly presented in the auditory (A), visual (V) or congruent bimodal (AV) condition. We found that: (i) bimodal syllables were identified more rapidly than auditory alone stimuli; (ii) this behavioural facilitation was associated with cross‐modal [AV − (A + V)] ERP effects around 120–190 ms latency, expressed mainly as a decrease of unimodal N1 generator activities in the auditory cortex. This finding provides evidence for suppressive, speech‐specific audiovisual integration mechanisms, which are likely to be related to the dominance of the auditory modality for speech perception. Furthermore, the latency of the effect indicates that integration operates at pre‐representational stages of stimulus analysis, probably via feedback projections from visual and/or polymodal areas.
Adaptive Control for Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite Actuator Based on Continuous-Time Approach

Abstract This paper discusses the model reference adaptive control problem for ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) actuators. Firstly, a mathematical model of the IPMC actuator is constructed as a stable second order dynamical system preceded by a hysteresis representation. Then, an adaptive controller is synthesized for the IPMC actuator. The proposed control law ensures the global stability of the controlled IPMC system, and the position error of IPMC actuator can be controlled by choosing the design parameters. Experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method.
“Happy-performing managers” thesis

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to extend the “Happy-Performing Managers” thesis to show that managers’ job-related affective well-being and affective job satisfaction mediate the impact of their role stressors (ambiguity, conflict and overload) on their contextual job performance. Design/methodology/approach Results from an online survey of 305 managers from the private, public and third sectors in Western Australian support most of the hypotheses. The psychometric properties of all the scales were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and the conceptual model was tested using structural equation modelling. Findings Role stressors have a direct negative effect on the managers’ affective well-being and affective job satisfaction, which, in turn, mediate the negative effects of the three role stressors on the managers’ contextual performance. Research limitations/implications Conceptual and managerial contributions along with methodological limitations and future research directions are discussed. Originality/value Contemporary managers face a wide range of intrinsic and extrinsic role and environmental stressors. This research suggests that organisations may need to redesign manager roles to reduce their role stressors (ambiguity, conflict and overload) in order to optimise their contextual performance.
Cultural Values and Coparenting Quality in Families of Mexican Origin

This study examined associations between Mexican-origin parents’ cultural values in relation to supportive and undermining coparenting behavior. Data were collected from 80 sets of parents, 160 parents total, with a preschool-age child (M = 63.60 months old; 39 boys, 41 girls) who were of Mexican origin (22% of mothers and 28% of fathers born in Mexico). Mothers and fathers independently completed questionnaires assessing their cultural values of (a) familismo (i.e., loyalty to family), (b) machismo (i.e., adherence to masculine/feminine gender roles), (c) respeto (i.e., respect for self and others), and (d) simpatía (i.e., maintenance of interpersonal harmony). Mother–father–child triads were observed during a structured play session from which supportive and undermining coparenting behavior was coded. Mothers and fathers who held stronger familism beliefs were characterized by more supportive coparenting behavior. Mothers and fathers who held stronger simpatía beliefs were characterized by less undermining coparenting behavior. Fathers who held stronger respeto beliefs showed more supportive coparenting behavior, whereas mothers who held stronger machismo beliefs were characterized by more undermining coparenting behavior. Mother–father dyads with higher agreement on familism displayed more supportive coparenting behavior, and mothers and fathers who had higher agreement on simpatía beliefs engaged in less undermining coparenting. Results suggest that the cultural values held by both mothers and fathers of Mexican origin are significantly associated with the quality of their coparenting relationship.
Comparative Performance of ARIMA and ARCH/GARCH Models on Time Series of Daily Equity Prices for Large Companies

This study provides a comparison of the performance of out-of-sample forecasts from ARMA vs. ARCH/GARCH models, especially relative to the utility of the non-constant estimate of the volatility provided by ARCH/GARCH methods. 31 large company stocks were selected and their daily log returns computed for a 10-year time period. ARIMA and a variety of ARCH/GARCH models were run against these log daily returns. The forecasts were analyzed using magnitude measures and a rough distributional measure. Analysis of the results showed that for one-step ahead forecasts ARCH/GARCH models outperform ARIMA models in modeling financial time series in terms of the most applied measure—the MAPD (mean absolute percentage deviation). Relative to the measures which accounted for the non-constant volatility estimate provided by ARCH/GARCH models, we saw that the mediocre performance of ARIMA on the MASE (mean absolute standardized error) measure came at a great expense in terms of the normality of the residuals. Therefore in the confines of this experiment ARIMA did not provide point estimates that were as accurate and that did not produce a relatively normal distribution of residuals.
Acidification effects on biofouling communities: winners and losers

How ocean acidification affects marine life is a major concern for science and society. However, its impacts on encrusting biofouling communities, that are both the initial colonizers of hard substrata and of great economic importance, are almost unknown. We showed that community composition changed significantly, from 92% spirorbids, 3% ascidians and 4% sponges initially to 47% spirorbids, 23% ascidians and 29% sponges after 100 days in acidified conditions (pH 7.7). In low pH, numbers of the spirorbid Neodexiospira pseudocorrugata were reduced ×5 compared to controls. The two ascidians present behaved differently with Aplidium sp. decreasing ×10 in pH 7.7, whereas Molgula sp. numbers were ×4 higher in low pH than controls. Calcareous sponge (Leucosolenia sp.) numbers increased ×2.5 in pH 7.7 over controls. The diatom and filamentous algal community was also more poorly developed in the low pH treatments compared to controls. Colonization of new surfaces likewise showed large decreases in spirorbid numbers, but numbers of sponges and Molgula sp. increased. Spirorbid losses appeared due to both recruitment failure and loss of existing tubes. Spirorbid tubes are comprised of a loose prismatic fabric of calcite crystals. Loss of tube materials appeared due to changes in the binding matrix and not crystal dissolution, as SEM analyses showed crystal surfaces were not pitted or dissolved in low pH conditions. Biofouling communities face dramatic future changes with reductions in groups with hard exposed exoskeletons and domination by soft‐bodied ascidians and sponges.
The Scientist in the Classroom Partnership program: an innovative teacher professional development model

ABSTRACT This article presents an in-depth study supporting the Scientist in the Classroom Partnership (SCP) program as a model of effective professional development (PD) for K-12 teachers. The goal of this study was to determine the core and structural features of the SCP program necessary for effective teacher PD. The SCP partners a classroom teacher with an STEM graduate student or postdoctoral fellow to co-teach 1 day per week during the academic year. During the summer, the teacher and fellow work together in a 10-day workshop to build the partnership, learn inquiry-based pedagogical strategies, and develop curriculum. Teacher participants from 9 years of the program were surveyed to determine the impact on the participants. In addition, teachers attended a 1-day retreat that allowed for data collection during storytelling and focus-group sessions. Likert surveys were analyzed, and the storytelling and focus-group data were coded for analysis. Five core and three structural features emerged from this analysis. The core features included gains in discipline and pedagogical content knowledge, inquiry strategies, and renewal of teaching. The structural features included the duration of PD (over 200 h), PD focused on specific grade levels, and the use of multiple types of PD approaches. Abbreviations: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)
Faculty perception of articulation between public two- and four-year collegiate nursing programs in Massachusetts.

Faculty Perceptions of Articulation Between Public Twoand Four-Year Collegiate Nursing Programs in Massachusetts (February 1985) Phyllis Y. Lord, B.S., M.S., Russell Sage College; Ed.D. , University of Massachusetts at Amherst Directed by: Dr. Sheryl Hruska This study examined the perceptions of nursing faculty in Massachusetts public higher education concerning articula¬ tion between the associate (ADN) and baccalaureate (BSN) levels of nursing education. Objectives were to determine faculty perceptions of: 1. compatibility/incompatibility of the two levels; 2. pressures against and for articulation; 3. strategies to encourage or discourage articulation; 4. participant's willingness to promote articulation in Massachusetts. The study had two parts. The first involved inter¬ views with a selected sample of nursing faculty (N-10). Data were used to develop the questionnaire distributed to ADN and BSN faculty in Part Two (N=179). Completed returns numbered 149 (83%). Major findings, implications, and conclusions follow. 1. Eighty percent or more of each faculty group found the
Contrast Pattern Based Methods for Visualizing and Predicting Spatiotemporal Events

The emerging spatiotemporal data (e.g. social event data like crimes, or meteorology science data) bring in both challenges and opportunities for understanding the complex temporal and/or geographic processes and phenomena from different fields. Learning from spatiotemporal data has been a challenging task, because the variations among spatial, temporal and multivariate spaces have created a huge amount of features and complex regularities within the data. In this study we presented three methods targeting at two analytical purposes of spatiotemporal events: visualization and prediction. In detail, we developed (1) Hotspot Optimization Tool (HOT) for spatial incident hotspot visualization with reasoning, (2)Spatial Cluster Optimization Tool (SCOT)for summarizing the spatial regularity of variable's temporal patterns and an instance-based algorithm, Spatial Cluster Pattern based Classifier (SPC) for predicting spatiotemporal events through classification. All the three algorithms were built based on the mining of contrast frequent pattern. We applied and evaluated our algorithms using two real-world spatiotemporal data set: residential burglary data collected from a northeast city in the United States for crime hotspot visualization and meteorological data for forecasting extreme rainfall events in the eastern Central Andes area.
PENGARUH KESADARAN PERPAJAKAN, SOSIALISASI PERPAJAKAN, PELAYANAN FISKUS, DAN SANKSI PERPAJAKAN TERHADAP KEPATUHAN WAJIB PAJAK ORANG PRIBADI

This research is intended to increase tax awareness, tax socialization, fiscal service, and tax penalties. The data used in this study were primary data. Primary data from questionnaires distributed to Individual Taxpayer in Bengkulu City. The number of questionnaires distributed was 109 questionnaires, but only 104 questionnaires could be processed. Data were analyzed by using multiple linear regression analysis using SPSS program. The results of the research indicate the existence of taxation awareness and tax penalties on positive individual Taxpayer, while the socialization of taxation and fiscal service does not apply to individual taxpayer compliance. This research can contribute for KPP Pratama Kota Bengkulu to improve taxpayer compliance by raising tax awareness and tax penalties. The limitations of this study, researchers only use individual taxpayer respondents who have business activities in the city of Bengkulu. For further research may add an individual Taxpayer who has a free employment or corporate taxpayerKey Words: tax awareness,tax socialization, fiscal service, tax penalties, and personal taxpayer compliance.
The role of event related potentials in evaluation of subclinical cognitive dysfunction in epileptic patients.

BACKGROUND/AIM Cognitive dysfunction in epileptic patients may develop due to the neurophysiological changes related to seizures or antiepileptic drugs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cognitive dysfunction in epileptic patients under antiepileptic drug therapy by the aid of event related potentials. METHOD P300 latencies were obtained from Fz, Cz and Pz electrod positions from both epileptic patients (n=40) and age and sex matched control group (n=40). Epileptic patients were classified either idiopathic primary generalized (IPGE) (n=9) or secondary generalized epilepsy (SGE) (n=31) based on the ILAE classification. The effect of epilepsy type, treatment types (monotherapy/polytherapy), daily dosages and serum levels of antiepileptic drugs, age at onset and EEG abnormalities on P300 latencies were studied. RESULTS P300 latencies were longer in the epileptics when compared to controls (P < 0.05). Besides, our results pointed out that P300 latencies were longer in IPGE when compared to SGE (P < 0.05). No statistically significant difference was determined between ERP parameters neither in monotherapy nor in polytherapy groups (p > 0.05). Antiepileptic drug subgroups revealed variable effects on ERP latencies. CONCLUSION We believe P300 latencies may have an important role in the evaluation of subclinical cognitive dysfunction in epileptic patients treated with antiepileptic drugs.
An empirical analysis and comparison of random testing techniques

Testing with randomly generated test inputs, namely Random Testing, is a strategy that has been applied succefully in a lot of cases. Recently, some new adaptive approaches to the random generation of test cases have been proposed. Whereas there are many comparisons of Random Testing with Partition Testing, a systematic comparison of random testing techniques is still missing. This paper presents an empirical analysis and comparison of all random testing techniques from the field of Adaptive Random Testing (ART). The ART algorithms are compared for effectiveness using the mean F-measure, obtained through simulation and mutation analysis, and the P-measure. An interesting connection between the testing effectiveness measures F-measure and P-measure is described. The spatial distribution of test cases is determined to explain the behavior of the methods and identify possible shortcomings. Besides this, both the theoretical asymptotic runtime and the empirical runtime for each method are given.
Fractal Geometries of Complementary Split-Ring Resonators

Complementary split-ring resonators (CSRRs) are typically used as negative-permittivity particles in microstrip left-handed structures. In this paper, novel CSRRs that use a square Sierpinski fractal curve are proposed and studied in detail. It is shown that the application of fractal geometries results in significant miniaturization of the metamaterial unit cell in comparison with conventional and equivalent meander structures. Multiple fractal CSRRs are also analyzed. The influence of different geometrical parameters and the order of the fractal curve on the performances are investigated, as well as the efficiency of excitation of the particles. When used in the design of left-handed transmission lines, fractal complementary split rings improve frequency selectivity in the upper transition band when compared to other nonfractal topologies.