Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental studies of Coral Snake mimicry: generalized avoidance of ringed snake patterns by free-ranging avian predators

Summary 1. Plasticine snake replicas were used to demonstrate that free-ranging avian predators generalize avoidance of Coral Snake ringed patterns to similar patterns, supporting the argument that the convergence on ringed and banded patterns among neotropical snakes is a result of the mimetic advantage of resembling venomous Coral Snakes. 2. The study was conducted at a tropical dry forest site in Costa Rica, where only one species of Coral Snake occurs. The Coral Snake has a tricolour (red-yellow-blackyellow-red) ringed pattern and no snakes at the site have bicolour (red-black) ringed patterns. Neither tricolour nor bicolour ringed replicas were attacked by birds, whereas an unmarked brown replica was. 3. The avoidance of the bicolour ringed pattern is attributable to generalized avoidance of Coral Snake-like patterns. No red-and-black ringed prey have been observed at the site, so birds could not have learned specific avoidance of the bicolour pattern. Historical biogeographical evidence suggests that the avifauna at the site did not evolve in the presence of red-and-black ringed snakes, so it is unlikely that birds evolved a specific innate avoidance of the bicolour ringed pattern.
Polychlorinated biphenyls in air and water of the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean

Air and seawater samples were collected on board the R/V Polarstern during a scientific expedition from Germany to the Arctic Ocean during June–August 2004. The air data show a strong decline with latitude with the highest polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations in Europe and the lowest in the Arctic. ΣICES PCBs in air range from 100 pg m−3 near Norway to 0.8 pg m−3 in the Arctic. A comparison with other data from previous and ongoing land-based air measurements in the Arctic region suggests no clear temporal decline of PCBs in the European Arctic since the mid-1990s. Dissolved concentrations of Σ6PCBs (28/31, 52, 101, 118, 138, 153) in surface seawater were <1 pg L−1. Dominant PCBs in seawater were 28/31 and 52 (0.1–0.44 pg L−1), with PCBs 101, 118, and 138 < 0.1 pg L−1. In seawater, PCB 52 displayed the highest concentrations in the northernmost samples, while PCBs 101, 118, and 138 showed slightly decreasing trends with increasing latitude. Fractionation was observed for PCBs in seawater with the relative abundance of PCBs 28 and 52 increasing and that of the heavier congeners decreasing with latitude. However, in air only 15–20% of the variability of atmospheric PCBs can be explained by temperature. Owing to large uncertainties in the Henry's Law constant (HLC) values, fugacity quotients for PCBs were estimated using different HLCs reported in the literature. These indicate that on average, deposition dominates over volatilization for PCBs in the Arctic region with a strong increase in the middle of the transect near the marginal ice zone (78–79°N). The increase in fugacity ratio is mainly caused by an increase in air concentration in this region (possibly indirectly caused by ice melting being a source of PCBs to the atmosphere).
Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy for Diagnostics of Brunsting-Perry Type Cicatrical Pemphigoid Cases, along with Review of Literature

Background: In the literature there are a few reported cases of cicatrical pemphigoid Brunsting-Perry type (CPBP). CPBP is well clinically characterized by clinical research, however is heterogeneous in a term of immunological findings. Laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) is a helpful tool for diagnostics of cicatricial pemphigoid in general, especially when circulating antibodies are not detectable. Objectives: Application of LSCM for the first time in a case with clinical features of CPBP and review the literature. Methods: Skin biopsy was taken for LSCM studies. LSCM technique relies on comparison between the location of IgG/IgA deposits and basement membrane zone (BMZ) markers: antibodies directed to laminin 332 served as a marker of lower part of lamina lucida, whereas antibodies to type IV collagen served as a marker of lamina densa. Immunoglobulins are labeled with anti-human IgG-FITC (green staining), whereas BMZ markers are labeled with anti-mouse IgG-Cy 5 (red). Both fluorescence are simultaneously excited and overlayed by appropriate laser lines and asseses by computer program. Results: LSCM studies disclosed both IgG and IgA located below laminin-332 and above type IV collagen, characteristic of cicatricial pemphigoid.
Spectral analysis of bone low frequency vibration signals

The purpose of this study was to use frequency spectrum analysis to determine the effects of skin and muscle on the bone's low frequency vibration signals recorded from vibration sensors placed on the skin. A setup was developed that allowed low frequency vibration signals to be recorded. Tests were performed on a sample of 8 turkey legs in vitro, using four vibration sensors placed on the skin, muscle (i.e. leg with the skin removed) and bone (i.e. leg with skin and muscle removed). It was found that bone's vibration signals could be recorded from sensors placed on the skin, but there were changes in their magnitudes and vibration frequencies. There was also a direct relationship between the main frequency of bone's vibration and its mass/volume ratio. This is a preliminary study. The ultimate aim of this study (to be achieved in further work) is to predict fracture risk and target therapy appropriately.
Evaluation of Leaves as a Litter Material 1

The suitability of leaves for use as broiler litter was evaluated in four 49-d floor pen trials of 150 Avian × Avian female chickens each. In each trial, 25 broiler chicks were weighed and randomly assigned to one of six pens at a density of 1.2 m2 per bird. There were two replicates of each of the following three treatments: 1) pine wood shaving (control), 2) a mix of 50% pine wood shaving and 50% leaves, and 3) leaves. Litter materials had no significant (P ≥ 0.05) influence on live weight, feed conversion, breast blisters, dressed carcass weight, carcass yield percentage, or mortality. Mortality of birds reared on leaves tended to be higher than the other treatments, but it was found to be nonsignificant at the P < 0.05 level. No significant differences were observed for percentage litter moisture among treatments. Body weight gain was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher for the broilers reared on the leaf litter. Leaves alone or mixed with wood shavings have potential as an alternate litter material without compromising production or processing parameters at a low placement density. (
Transformation of temporal sequences in the zebra finch auditory system

This study examines how temporally patterned stimuli are transformed as they propagate from primary to secondary zones in the thalamorecipient auditory pallium in zebra finches. Using a new class of synthetic click stimuli, we find a robust mapping from temporal sequences in the primary zone to distinct population vectors in secondary auditory areas. We tested whether songbirds could discriminate synthetic click sequences in an operant setup and found that a robust behavioral discrimination is present for click sequences composed of intervals ranging from 11 ms to 40 ms, but breaks down for stimuli composed of longer inter-click intervals. This work suggests that the analog of the songbird auditory cortex transforms temporal patterns to sequence-selective population responses or ‘spatial codes', and that these distinct population responses contribute to behavioral discrimination of temporally complex sounds. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.18205. 001
Factors Affecting Improved Prenatal Screening: A Narrative Review

Background: Prenatal screening deals with the detection of structural and functional abnormalities in the fetus. Health care providers can minimize unintended pregnancy outcomes by providing proper counseling and performing prenatal screening. The purpose of the present review study is to investigate factors affecting improved prenatal screening. Methods: The present study is a narrative review searching public databases such as Google Scholar and specialized databases such as Pubmed, Magiran, Scientific Information Database, Elsevier, Ovid and Science Direct as well. Using the keywords “prenatal screening”, “fetus health” and “prenatal counseling”, 70 relevant articles published from 1994 to 2014 were selected. After reviewing the abstracts, the full data from 26 articles were ultimately used for writing the present review study. Results: Three general themes emerged from reviewing the studies: health care providers’ skills, clients’ characteristics and ethical considerations, which were the main factors affecting improved prenatal screening. Conclusion: Prenatal screening can be successful if performed by a trained and experienced expert through techniques suitable for the mother’s age. Also simultaneously providing proper counseling and giving a full description of the risks and benefits of the procedures for clients is recommended.
Time Inconsistency and Alcohol Sales Restrictions

Restrictions on alcohol sales hours or days are commonly used tools in order to reduce alcohol consumption. However, a forward-looking consumer can buy in advance, and thereby mostly undo the impact of the restriction. I study whether time inconsistent consumer preferences can provide a justification for restrictions on alcohol sales time. I estimate a demand model, which allows a fraction of consumers to be time inconsistent, using scanner data of beer purchases and other shopping behavior. According to the estimation results, 16% of regular beer buyers, or only 3% of all consumers, behave as if they are time inconsistent. I find that in terms of consumer welfare, the sales restriction may be welfare improving, but is worse than increasing taxes.
Nondestructive Evaluation of Historic Hakka Rammed Earth Structures

The in-service Hakka rammed earth buildings, in the Fujian Province of China, are unique in design and performance. Their UNESCO’s inscription as World Heritage sites recognizes their artistic, cultural, social and historic significance. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation of the United States, the authors have examined the engineering values of these buildings in terms of comfortable living at low energy consumption, sustainability and durability. The objective of this study was to better understand the thermo-mechanical and aging responses of Hakka earth buildings under thermal and earthquake loads through nondestructive field evaluation, including full-scale roof truss and floor testing, laboratory testing of field samples and finite element modeling. This paper presents our observations and findings from the field nondestructive evaluations with emphasis on the integrity of the rammed earth outer walls and inner wood structures, as well as the thermal comfort of living in these buildings, while a second paper presents the results from the material characterization of field samples and the structural responses of a representative building under earthquake induced loads through finite element analysis.
Superpixel-based depth map inpainting for RGB-D view synthesis

In this paper we propose an approach to inpaint holes in depth maps that appear when synthesizing virtual views from a RGB-D scenes. Based on a superpixel oversegmentation of both the original and synthesized views, the proposed approach efficiently deals with many occlusion situations where most of previous approaches fail. The use of superpixels makes the algorithm more robust to inaccurate depth maps, while giving an efficient way to model the image. Extensive comparisons to relevant state-of-the-art methods show that our approach outperforms qualitatively and quantitavely these existing approaches.
Sensitive Continuum Surveys with the SKA: Goals and Challenges

The system equivalent flux density of the SKA specified by Aeff/Tsys = 12000 m 2 K is S ≈ 0.23 Jy. Given a 25% bandwidth at 1.4 GHz (B ≈ 350 MHz), the noise floor in a total-intensity continuum image should be only σn ≈ 9 nJy beam −1 after τ ≈ 1 megasecond (≈ 280 hours) of integration. However, the sensitivity of SKA images might be limited by systematic errors caused by (1) natural confusion from overlapping faint sources or (2) insufficient dynamic range. The counts of sub-μJy extragalactic radio sources are quite uncertain, but they may converge so rapidly that the rms natural confusion does not exceed σc ≈ 3 nJy. The SKA resolution must be . 1 (implying baselines up to 50 km at 1.4 GHz) to keep instrumental confusion below natural confusion. At ν = 1.4 GHz the strongest source in the Ωb ≈ 1 deg 2 SKA primary beam will typically be about 0.16 Jy, so even “quiet field” SKA continuum images must have dynamic ranges D ∼ 73 db to reach the low noise and confusion floor. The required dynamic range scales approximately as ν, so even higher dynamic ranges are needed at lower frequencies. To date, dynamic ranges approaching 60 db have been achieved only in images dominated by a single bright source at the pointing center. The dynamic-range problem is exacerbated when many sources are spread over the primary beam because variations in the reconstructed primary-beam size and position cause larger amplitude calibration errors for off-axis sources. Consequently the individual SKA antennas will have to be extremely precise to yield images with the required dynamic range at 1.4 GHz— so precise that they will probably work well at frequencies much higher than the 10 GHz upper frequency limit specified for SKA Phase 1 and Phase 2. Natural confusion and dynamic-range limitations are significant technical risks for the SKA. Both risks can and should be addressed by existing or planned arrays before the SKA design is frozen. Today’s large uncertainty in the counts of sources as faint as S ∼ 1 μJy could be greatly reduced by making a single confusion-limited EVLA image with θ ≈ 5 resolution. The antenna precision needed to achieve a dynamic range high enough to allow useful integration for 10 seconds with 350 MHz bandwidth does not depend explicitly on the number N or diameter d of antennas in the array, or on Aeff ∝ Nd , so small arrays having antennas of different d such as ASKAP, ATA, EVLA, MeerKAT, and WSRT should be very helpful for refining the calibration requirements and techniques that will ultimately be needed at the SKA. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
Solution structure and domain architecture of the divisome protein FtsN

Prokaryotic cell division occurs through the formation of a septum, which in Escherichia coli requires coordination of the invagination of the inner membrane, biosynthesis of peptidoglycan and constriction of the outer membrane. FtsN is an essential cell division protein and forms part of the divisome, a putative complex of proteins located in the cytoplasmic membrane. Structural analyses of FtsN by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) reveals an RNP‐like fold at the C‐terminus (comprising residues 243–319), which has significant sequence homology to a peptidoglycan‐binding domain. Sequential deletion mutagenesis in combination with NMR shows that the remaining of the periplasmic region of FtsN is unfolded, with the exception of three short, only partially formed helices following the trans‐membrane helix. Based on these findings we propose a model in which FtsN, anchored in the inner membrane, bridges over to the peptidoglycan layer, thereby enabling the coordination of the divisome and the murein‐shaping machinery in the periplasm.
Confirmatory Factor Analysis on the Sub-Construct of Teaching Presence’s in the Community of Inquiry

This study aims to re-examine the reliability and validity of three sub-constructs in measuring the level of teaching presence from one of the essential elements in the Community of Inquiry model. The measurement consists of 13 items which are online instructor capability; design and organization, facilitation, and direct instruction. A total of 1938 respondents from a faculty in a public university in Malaysia were selected in the data collection. A cross-sectional survey was applied via online survey and partial least technique was used in analyzing the data. All items were found loaded (0.746 or higher) and all constructs measuring teaching presence had high composite reliability (0.876 or higher) and average variance extracted (0.640 or higher). Thus, a multivariate statistical analysis confirmed the validity and reliability of all items.
The tetrad frame constraint algebra

It is shown via the principle of path independence that the (time gauge) constraint algebra derived by Charap et al for vielbein general relativity is a generic feature of any covariant theory formulated in a vielbein frame. In the process of doing so, the relationship between the coordinate and orthonormal frame algebera is made explicit.
Damage to the Medial Prefrontal Cortex Impairs Music-Evoked Autobiographical Memories

Familiar music contains salient cues that often evoke vivid and emotionally powerful autobiographical memories. Prior work suggests that memories evoked by music may be different from memories evoked by other cues (e.g., words and visual images). For example, music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs) have been shown to contain a greater proportion of episodic details than memories evoked by images. Neuroimaging work has suggested an important role for the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in connecting music with vivid and specific autobiographical memories. Here, we sought to investigate whether the mPFC is a necessary structure for episodically rich MEAMs, by studying individuals with damage to this region. We predicted that individuals with damage to the mPFC would have less episodically rich MEAMs than demographically matched healthy adults, but that there would not be any difference in memories evoked by images. Participants listened to popular music clips and viewed images of famous persons. After each stimulus, participants reported whether the stimulus evoked a memory; if it did, participants then verbally described the memories. Memories were recorded, transcribed, and scored to assess episodic richness. In support of our main prediction, the results indicated that the mPFC group performed significantly lower than the comparison group for music-evoked, but not face-evoked, memories. These results can be taken to suggest that the mPFC is a critical structure for connecting musical cues with particularly specific and episodically detailed autobiographical memories.
Saltmarshes as a source of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) to Southern California coastal waters

To determine chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) sources in Southern California coastal waters, optical properties of a river outlet and adjacent tidally flushed salt marshes were monitored (dry season; June‐July 2001). Average absorption coefficients doubled at ebb vs. flood tides (4.8 ± 1.5 vs. 2.1 ± 0.9 m‐1; 300 nm), suggesting significant salt marsh CDOM inputs into coastal waters. Average spectral slopes were not statistically different for any sites or tides (0.010 ± 0.002 nm−1), consistent with salt marsh CDOM dominating coastal waters. Three‐dimensional fluorescence excitation‐emission matrices (EEMs) at ebb tide showed contributions from terrestrial, protein, and marine humic‐like peaks, suggesting production and output of these materials from the marsh. A marine humic signal at the river outlet during an offshore upwelling event indicated an additional sporadic nonmarsh marine humic‐like source. EEMs of six common salt marsh plant leachates showed protein, terrestrial, and marine humic‐like peaks. To estimate CDOM photodegradation in the marsh, fluorescence intensity decays from photobleaching experiments were fit to first‐order kinetics. Most humic peaks degraded with a half‐life of t1/2 = 10‐20 h, which overlaps the estimated residence time of water in the marshes (∼12 h). Most protein peaks were resistant to photodegradation, suggesting that the low levels of protein vs. humic‐like material measured in natural waters was due to rapid bioutilization of proteinaceous material. The rapid photodegradation of plant leachate humic material and the low spectral slopes for the field sites suggest that marsh sediments would be an important source of CDOM.
The Kung Fu Family: A metaphor of belonging across time and place

Kung Fu associations are often understood as ‘families’ forming broader ‘family trees’ or lineages operating across centuries of history as well as transcultural associations. In an effort contributing to interdisciplinary martial arts studies, this paper presents data from two qualitative studies of Western practitioners of traditionalist Chinese martial arts (TCMA) in both the West and Asia by a phenomenological psychologist and an anthropological sociologist. We assess the use of the term ‘Kung Fu family’, what it means to the practitioners and how it impacts on their practice and their relationships with other martial artists. We argue that the conceptual metaphor of family offers a sense of belonging and solidarity within a diverse community in terms of age, ethnicity, gender, religion and social class. Meanwhile, we explore the metaphor in terms of the micro-political power dynamics that accompany martial arts collectives. Overall, the ideal of family can illuminate how identity can transcend across time (‘generations’ of practitioners) and place (from and to cultures and contingents). It is thus a way of understanding the organisation, spread and transcendence of Chinese martial arts.
Summarizing technical support documents for search: Expert and user studies

One factor that may affect whether users of technical support Web sites can rapidly find information relevant to their needs is the quality of the summary of documents returned as the result of search queries. This paper reports on two studies that were part of an effort to create high-quality machine-generated summaries for the presentation of search results for technical support documents. The initial study asked experts to compose document summaries. The results of the first study were used to guide the development of heuristics for generating programmatic summaries that were tested in the second study, which was a user evaluation that compared the effectiveness of four types of document summaries for search purposes: programmatic summaries based on selective sentence extraction using knowledge of the semantic structure of documents, a term-hits-in-context (THIC) summary, the current summaries on the company's live site, and document titles alone. This comparison sought to determine the techniques most likely to help users find information, hence increasing customer goal attainment and satisfaction. The implications of our results for summarizing technical support documents for search are discussed.