Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reading and the orthography of isiZulu

This exploratory study aims to extend our understanding of reading in isiZulu, the most widely spoken indigenous language in Southern Africa, by exploring measurable aspects of eye movement patterns of a group of competent adult readers of isiZulu. In doing so, the study offers an exploration of the particular demands that Zulu orthography makes on readers, and offers a tentative profile of the reading processes currently exhibited by proficient adult readers of isiZulu. The study indicates that with an average reading speed of 815 lines per minute (lpm), isiZulu text takes more time to read than text in other alphabetic languages for which data is available. Relative to other languages, readers showed short saccades (4.05 letters) long durations of fixation (0.3 seconds) and more frequent regressions over spans of text (an average of 1 regression every 24 letters).
Anticipated discussion and cooperation in a social dilemma

We study how announced post-play, face-to-face discussions affect individual contributions to a public good in an experimental setting. To our surprise ex-post discussions reduced the average contribution to the public good. The negative impact of discussions was turned around when we labelled the choice of not contributing to the public good as ‘free-riding’. The same label had no impact in the no-discussion baseline version of our game. Our explanation of why we observe these patterns is that the announcement of ex-post discussions draws attention to empirical expectations (what will others do? ) and to norms of cooperation (what is the morally right choice? ).
Detoxification of Deoxynivalenol via Glycosylation Represents Novel Insights on Antagonistic Activities of Trichoderma when Confronted with Fusarium graminearum

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a mycotoxin mainly produced by the Fusarium graminearum complex, which are important phytopathogens that can infect crops and lead to a serious disease called Fusarium head blight (FHB). As the most common B type trichothecene mycotoxin, DON has toxic effects on animals and humans, which poses a risk to food security. Thus, efforts have been devoted to control DON contamination in different ways. Management of DON production by Trichoderma strains as a biological control-based strategy has drawn great attention recently. In our study, eight selected Trichoderma strains were evaluated for their antagonistic activities on F. graminearum by dual culture on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium. As potential antagonists, Trichoderma strains showed prominent inhibitory effects on mycelial growth and mycotoxin production of F. graminearum. In addition, the modified mycotoxin deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside (D3G), which was once regarded as a detoxification product of DON in plant defense, was detected when Trichoderma were confronted with F. graminearum. The occurrence of D3G in F. graminearum and Trichoderma interaction was reported for the first time, and these findings provide evidence that Trichoderma strains possess a self-protection mechanism as plants to detoxify DON into D3G when competing with F. graminearum.
The distribution, concentration, and toxicity of enhanced green fluorescent protein in retinal cells after genomic or somatic (virus-mediated) gene transfer.

PURPOSE The concentration of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) in individual photoreceptor cells of live mouse retina was quantified and correlated with physiological measurements of cell function. METHODS EGFP protein levels in the retinas of mice injected subretinally by either one of two serotypes of adeno-associated virus (AAV; AAV2/5.CMV.EGFP; AAV2/2.CMV.EGFP) were quantified with a photon-counting confocal laser scanning microscope and compared with those of transgenic mice whose retinas expressed EGFP under the beta-actin (pbetaAct) or human L/M-cone opsin (pLMCOps) promoter. Single-cell suction pipette recordings of single rods and whole-field electroretinograms (ERGs) were performed to assess retinal cell function. RESULTS The highest levels of EGFP (680 microM) were in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells of the AAV-transduced eyes. Living photoreceptors of pbetaAct.EGFP mice contained 270 microM EGFP, while their bipolars had 440 microM. The cones of pLMCOps.EGFP mice expressed 60 microM protein. The amplitudes of the major components of ERGs were within the normal range for all transgenic animals examined, and single cell recordings from living pbetaAct.EGFP rods were indistinguishable from those of controls. CONCLUSIONS EGFP levels in individual cells of live mouse retinas can be quantified, so that the efficacy of gene transfer methods can be quantified. Concentrations of several hundred microM are not deleterious to normal function of photoreceptors and bipolar cells. This approach can also be used to quantify levels of biologically active EGFP fusion proteins.
Conflict management: A panacea to development

Conflict or disagreement is as old as man and as such its management or resolution is a panacea to the development of a people. Secondly, conflict or war is an aspect of inter-group relationship. The implication of the above is that conflict is inevitable as long as ideas, options, custom and traditions differ from one group to another. This article explores the various aspects of conflict and the need to manage them. It also explores ways of managing or resolving conflict and emphasize on the need to manage and not to avoid conflict, stressing that development depend on the ability to manage conflict. The article concludes that to attempt to avoid conflict is like having a noble dream. It reiterates that over zealousness in managing conflict may end in fueling it. Key Words: Conflict, management, mediation, dialogue, Arbitration, communication
Genomics research in the UK—the social science agenda

Abstract We sketch the development of UK genetics and genomics research, and emphasize the UK's key role in the international genetics and genomics research community. We highlight in particular the part played by the UK's Research Councils and other funders. With the move from genomics to post-genomics research, the field is diversifying, and interdisciplinarity becomes increasingly important, as traditional disciplinary boundaries become blurred, or break down, in the face of newly emerging sciences. We consider the changing nature of health and ill health in the developed and developing world, and questions about the complex nature of the relationships between genes and the environment, and their future implications for human health and human populations. We describe the ESRC's activities, stressing the importance of both the social, ethical and legal issues raised by these emerging disciplines, and of public engagement. Finally, we link the data handling and analysis issues raised by these emerging sciences, with other new research areas, in particular the UK's e-Science programme.
Autonomous Demand Side Management Based on Energy Consumption Scheduling and Instantaneous Load Billing: An Aggregative Game Approach

In this paper, we investigate a practical demand side management scenario where the selfish consumers compete to minimize their individual energy cost through scheduling their future energy consumption profiles. We adopt an instantaneous load billing scheme to effectively convince the consumers to shift their peak-time consumption and to fairly charge the consumers for their energy consumption. For the considered DSM scenario, an aggregative game is first formulated to model the strategic behaviors of the selfish consumers. By resorting to the variational inequality theory, we analyze the conditions for the existence and uniqueness of the Nash equilibrium (NE) of the formulated game. Subsequently, for the scenario where there is a central unit calculating and sending the real-time aggregated load to all consumers, we develop a one timescale distributed iterative proximal-point algorithm with provable convergence to achieve the NE of the formulated game. Finally, considering the alternative situation where the central unit does not exist, but the consumers are connected and they would like to share their estimated information with others, we present a distributed synchronous agreement-based algorithm and a distributed asynchronous gossip-based algorithm, by which the consumers can achieve the NE of the formulated game through exchanging information with their immediate neighbors.
Environmental evaporation: the invisibility of environmental concern in food system change

Overcoming the barriers to ecological sustainability requires extensive civic engagement. In many respects, citizens have met this challenge yet, despite widespread environmental concern and activism, the structures that threaten the biosphere persist. Using data from a qualitative, comparative case study of local food movements in three Canadian cities, I introduce the concept ‘environmental evaporation’ to explain how activism may inadvertently reproduce dominant – particularly individualistic and market-oriented – social structures. Environmental evaporation refers to the process by which individual concern for the environment disappears in public life. Private environmental concerns ‘evaporate’ because themes relating to the environment are viewed as too polarizing to catalyze broad support and necessary allegiances with elite actors. Understanding the process of environmental evaporation has the potential to catalyze future research into the complex relationship between collective action and structural change.
Experimental and Computational Investigation of Biofilm Formation by Rhodopseudomonas palustris Growth under Two Metabolic Modes

We examined biofilms formed by the metabolically versatile bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris grown via different metabolic modes. R. palustris was grown in flow cell chambers with identical medium conditions either in the presence or absence of light and oxygen. In the absence of oxygen and the presence of light, R. palustris grew and formed biofilms photoheterotrophically, and in the presence of oxygen and the absence of light, R. palustris grew and formed biofilms heterotrophically. We used confocal laser scanning microscopy and image analysis software to quantitatively analyze and compare R. palustris biofilm formation over time in these two metabolic modes. We describe quantifiable differences in structure between the biofilms formed by the bacterium grown heterotrophically and those grown photoheterotrophically. We developed a computational model to explore ways in which biotic and abiotic parameters could drive the observed biofilm architectures, as well as a random-forest machine-learning algorithm based on structural differences that was able to identify growth conditions from the confocal imaging of the biofilms with 87% accuracy. Insight into the structure of phototrophic biofilms and conditions that influence biofilm formation is relevant for understanding the generation of biofilm structures with different properties, and for optimizing applications with phototrophic bacteria growing in the biofilm state.
Can Replicating Primary Reflex Movements Improve Reading Ability

Background: Poorly integrated and inhibited primitive reflexes can impact an individual’s visual development, balance system and academic performance, most notably in the area of reading. Children diagnosed with reading learning disabilities were assessed in the areas of oculomotilities, tonic reflexes, balance and fine motor. They were also given a headache questionnaire. Students participated in a movement program designed to decrease the amount of primitive reflex present, improve the balance and visual systems and reading ability. Method: The study evaluated 22 students, ages 7 to 11, who were previously diagnosed with reading learning disabilities. All students were given a treatment program of repetition of primary reflex movements during one academic year. Results: Students showed a marked decrease in the presence of primitive reflexes, improved balance and oculomotilities, a decrease in headaches and improved reading fluency. Conclusion: The study showed that students diagnosed with a reading disability may have persistent primitive reflexes, balance and oculomotor dysfunctions. A movement program can improve these dysfunctions and increase reading fluency.
Evaluation of waste isoflurane gas exposure during rodent surgery in an Australian university

ABSTRACT Biomedical researchers use of inhalational anesthetics has increased in recent years. Use of isoflurane as an inhalational anesthetic may result in human exposure to waste anesthetic gas. Potential health effects from exposure include genotoxic and hepatotoxic effects with some evidence of teratogenic and reproductive effects. Research suggests that exposure to waste anesthetic gas within human hospital settings has improved substantially but exposures to biomedical researchers and veterinarians still requires improvement. A number of biomedical research facilities are located at The University of Queensland, Australia, where researchers and animal handlers are potentially exposed to waste isoflurane gas. There is limited published data on the exposures received by biomedical researchers performing routine procedures. This project aimed to assess isoflurane exposure received during routine rodent anesthetic protocols performed at the university. Atmospheric concentrations of isoflurane were assessed via two methods—personal active gas sampling using sorbent tubes and direct readings using infrared spectroscopy. Total procedure and isoflurane exposure times ranged from 135–268 min. Personal sorbent tube sampling detected isoflurane levels from below detectable limits (<0.01 ppm) to a Time Weighted Average for the task (TWA-Task) of 6.20 ppm (0.73 ± 9.13). Participants were not exposed to isoflurane outside of the sampling period during the remainder of the workday. TWA-8 hr adjusted levels ranged from below the limit of detection to 1.76 ppm isoflurane (0.69 ppm ± 0.61 ppm). The infrared spectroscopy readings taken in the breathing zone of participants ranged from 0.1–68 ppm. Results indicate that if adequately controlled through good room ventilation, effective active gas scavenging and well constructed anesthetic equipment, waste anesthetic exposures are minimal. However, where industry standards are not met exposures may occur, including some high peak exposures.
Automatically identifying wild animals in camera trap images with deep learning

Having accurate, detailed, and up-to-date information about wildlife location and behavior across broad geographic areas would revolutionize our ability to study, conserve, and manage species and ecosystems. Currently such data are mostly gathered manually at great expense, and thus are sparsely and infrequently collected. Here we investigate the ability to automatically, accurately, and inexpensively collect such data from motion sensor cameras. These camera traps enable pictures of wildlife to be collected inexpensively, unobtrusively, and at high-volume. However, identifying the animals, animal attributes, and behaviors in these pictures remains an expensive, time-consuming, manual task often performed by researchers, hired technicians, or crowdsourced teams of human volunteers. In this paper, we demonstrate that such data can be automatically extracted by deep neural networks (aka deep learning), which is a cutting-edge type of artificial intelligence. In particular, we use the existing human-labeled images from the Snapshot Serengeti dataset to train deep convolutional neural networks for identifying 48 species in 3.2 million images taken from Tanzania's Serengeti National Park. We train neural networks that automatically identify animals with over 92% accuracy. More importantly, we can choose to have our system classify only the images it is highly confident about, allowing valuable human time to be focused only on challenging images. In this case, our automatic animal identification system saves approximately ~8.2 years (at 40 hours per week) of human labeling effort (i.e. over 17,000 hours) while operating on a 3.2-million-image dataset at the same 96.6% accuracy level of crowdsourced teams of human volunteers. Those efficiency gains immediately highlight the importance of using deep neural networks to automate data extraction from camera trap images.
The Influence of Palatable Diets in Reward System Activation: A Mini Review

The changes in eating patterns that have occurred in recent decades are an important cause of obesity. Food intake and energy expenditure are controlled by a complex neural system involving the hypothalamic centers and peripheral satiety system (gastrointestinal and pancreatic hormones). Highly palatable and caloric food disrupts appetite regulation; however, palatable foods induce pleasure and reward. The cafeteria diet is such a palatable diet and has been shown consistently to increase body weight and induce hyperplasia in animal obesity models. Moreover, palatable high-fat foods (such as those of the cafeteria diet) can induce addiction-like deficits in brain reward function and are considered to be an important source of motivation that might drive overeating and contribute to the development of obesity. The mechanism of neural adaptation triggered by palatable foods is similar to those that have been reported for nondrug addictions and long-term drug use. Thus, this review attempts to describe the potential mechanisms that might lead to highly palatable diets, such as the cafeteria diet, triggering addiction, or compulsion through the reward system.
Mucosal Intraepithelial T-lymphocytes in Refractory Celiac Disease: A Neoplastic Population With a Variable CD8 Phenotype

Celiac disease (CD) is characterized by villous atrophy and an increase in intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL). The IEL usually exhibit a suppressor/cytotoxic phenotype (CD3+ and CD8+) and display a polyclonal profile for T-cell receptor (TCR) rearrangement as opposed to the monoclonality of refractory CD (RCD) with CD8− IEL. A complication of CD is the loss of response to a gluten-free diet called RCD that may progress to an enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma. We reviewed 20 uncomplicated CD and 23 complicated CD (19 RCD and 4 diagnosed at the same time as enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma). In complicated CD, the IEL phenotype was CD8− in 9 cases and CD8+ in 14 cases. In 100% of cases, IEL showed a monoclonal TCR rearrangement. All the 9 CD8− complicated CD exhibited a monoclonal TCR rearrangement and 3 of them were associated with a T-cell lymphoma (2 at the same time as CD and 1 after 43-mo follow-up) and bore the same monoclonal rearrangement in IEL and in lymphoma. Interestingly, the 13 cases (100%) of CD with a CD8+ phenotype were also found monoclonal and 2 of them were associated with a T-cell lymphoma diagnosed at the same time as CD and exhibiting the same rearrangement in IEL and in lymphoma. An aberrant CD3+ CD8− IEL phenotype is a good criterion for RCD diagnosis. However, cases with a normal CD3+ CD8+ IEL phenotype may correspond to RCD. In such cases, we suggest that molecular analysis of TCR-γ genes is a useful method for identifying cases with RCD.
The Role of Cea and Liver Function Tests in the Detection of Hepatic Metastases From Colo-Rectal Cancer

Carcinoembryonic antigen and some liver function tests (alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase, lactic dehydrogenase and cholinesterase) were evaluated in patients with primary colorectal cancer in order to define their role in the pre-operative detection of liver metastases. The records of 278 consecutive patients admitted to the Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan between January 1982 and December 1983 who were suffering from primary invasive colo-rectal cancer and who underwent laparotomy were retrospectively analyzed. At laparotomy, liver metastases were found in 38 pts (13.7%). Considering single tests, CEA was the most sensitive (71%); no single test was found to be reliably predictive, when the result was abnormal. On the contrary, the normal value of each test was associated with a good prediction. When we considered all the five tests together in the single patient their predictive value, when abnormal, proved to be quite good only if four or five results were abnormal. On the other hand, liver metastases in the presence of all normal tests were found only in two patients, so giving a negative predictive value of about 97%. So we conclude that, in the lack of an infallable imaging technique for liver evaluation, in the presence of all normal tests any other investigation on the liver could be avoided. However, when liver tests are pathologic, some other imaging technique should be performed in order to supply the surgeon with information about the extent and the spread of the metastases.
Multilevel Selection 2: Estimating the Genetic Parameters Determining Inheritance and Response to Selection

Interactions among individuals are universal, both in animals and in plants and in natural as well as domestic populations. Understanding the consequences of these interactions for the evolution of populations by either natural or artificial selection requires knowledge of the heritable components underlying them. Here we present statistical methodology to estimate the genetic parameters determining response to multilevel selection of traits affected by interactions among individuals in general populations. We apply these methods to obtain estimates of genetic parameters for survival days in a population of layer chickens with high mortality due to pecking behavior. We find that heritable variation is threefold greater than that obtained from classical analyses, meaning that two-thirds of the full heritable variation is hidden to classical analysis due to social interactions. As a consequence, predicted responses to multilevel selection applied to this population are threefold greater than classical predictions. This work, combined with the quantitative genetic theory for response to multilevel selection presented in an accompanying article in this issue, enables the design of selection programs to effectively reduce competitive interactions in livestock and plants and the prediction of the effects of social interactions on evolution in natural populations undergoing multilevel selection.
L2STAR: A Star Type level-2 2D Mesh architecture for NoC

Network topology and related routing policy play an important role to the improvement of overall performance of an on chip Network (NoC). A structural scalable interconnection architecture may significantly increase the performance of a NoC in terms of scalability, modularity, transport latency, parallelism and all other important metrics. Again, well-constructed network architecture may also balance load of the network and try to reduce the chance of causing a hot spot on the network. In this work, our primary objective was to design an efficient scalable NoC architecture to improve performance of a NoC in all these aspects. In this paper, we present a new architecture, called Star Type level-2 Mesh architecture (L2STAR), which is, very much similar to a Multilevel Mesh and Star Type 2D Mesh NoC architecture. Our proposed architecture reduces the network latency considerably and also tries to balance the load of the network and ensures that the packet will always reach the destination through the possible shortest, deadlock free path.