Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strong Faithfulness and Uniform Consistency in Causal Inference

A fundamental question in causal inference is whether it is possible to reliably infer manipulation effects from observational data. There are a variety of senses of asymptotic reliability in the statistical literature, among which the most commonly discussed frequentist notions are pointwise consistency and uniform consistency (see, e.g. Bickel, Doksum [2001]). Uniform consistency is in general preferred to pointwise consistency because the former allows us to control the worst case error bounds with a finite sample size. In the sense of pointwise consistency, several reliable causal inference algorithms have been constructed under the Markov and Faithfulness assumptions [Pearl 2000, Spirtes et al. 2001]. In the sense of uniform consistency, however, reliable causal inference is impossible under the two assumptions when time order is unknown and/or latent confounders are present [Robins et al. 20001. In this paper we present two natural generalizations of the Faithfulness assumption in the context of structural equation models, under which we show that the typical algorithms in the literature (in some cases with modifications) are uniformly consistent even when the time order is unknown. We also discuss the situation where latent confounders may be present and the sense in which the Faithfulness assumption is a limiting case of the stronger assumptions.
The influence of large‐scale atmospheric circulation on the surface energy balance of the King George Island ice cap

During the austral summer 1997–1998 three automatic weather stations were operated at different altitudes on the sub‐Antarctic ice cap of King George Island (South Shetland Islands). Snowmelt was derived from energy balance computations. Turbulent heat fluxes were calculated from meteorological measurements using the bulk aerodynamic approach, with net radiation being measured directly. Modelled ablation rates were compared with readings at ablation stakes and continuously measured snow height at a reference site. Snow depletion and daily snowmelt cycles could be well reproduced by the model. Generally, radiation balance provided the major energy input for snowmelt at all altitudes, whereas sensible heat flux was a second heat source only in lower elevations. The average latent heat flux was negligible over the entire measuring period. A strong altitudinal gradient of available energy for snowmelt was observed. Sensible heat flux as well as latent heat flux decreased with altitude. The measurements showed a strong dependence of surface energy fluxes and ablation rates on large‐scale atmospheric conditions. Synoptic weather situations were analysed based on AVH RR infrared quicklook composite images and surface pressure charts. Maximum melt rates of up to 20 mm per day were recorded during a northwesterly advection event with meridional air mass transport. During this northwesterly advection, the contribution of turbulent heat fluxes to the energy available for snowmelt exceeded that of the radiation balance. For easterly and southerly flows, continentally toned, cold dry air masses dominated surface energy balance terms and did not significantly contribute to ablation. The link between synoptic situations and ablation is especially valuable, as observed climatic changes along the Antarctic Peninsula are attributed to changes in the atmospheric circulation. Therefore, the combination of energy balance calculations and the analysis of synoptic‐scale weather patterns could improve the prediction of ablation rates for climate change scenarios. Copyright © 2001 Royal Meteorological Society
Adaptive traffic filtering for efficient and secure IP-mobility

The Mobile IP (MIP) protocol that supports node mobility in IP networks may be implemented through two routing schemes: triangular routing and reverse tunneling. While triangular routing guarantees better performance because of shorter routing paths, it is not compatible with egress filtering policies enforced by many firewalls. As a result, it is necessary to recur to the slower reverse tunneling routing scheme that causes lower mobile connection throughput and higher round trip times. In this paper, we propose an innovative adaptive traffic filtering technique in which egress filtering rules are dynamically and automatically modified to reflect the presence of mobile nodes inside the protected network. The proposed scheme, called secure triangular routing, guarantees the best trade-off between performance and security because it enables triangular routing without violating network security policies. Viability and performance improvements of the proposed solution have been demonstrated by experiments carried out through a prototype. The proposed solution does not require any modification in correspondent nodes or in their networks, and it fully complies with the MIP protocol specifications.
ORSCA: Optimal Route Selection and Communication Association for Drones in WSNs

With the tremendous development of drone systems, several studies have demonstrated the trend and need of leveraging drones to collect data in traditional wireless sensor networks. Unfortunately, it is intrinsically difficult to incorporate drones or drones to wireless sensor network efficiently due to high-density sensor deployment in an extremely large area. Previous solutions mainly focus on scheduling the data collection route among nodes, but overlooking the data transmission time for each node. In this paper, we suppose the data transmission time for data collection over Shannon channel model and consider how to optimize the data collection time for multiple drones, when data transmission time should be respected. We propose a pre-defined route scheme and formulate it into route selection and communication association, a.k. a. RSCA (Route Selection and Communication Association) problem. Then we devise an efficient and accessible greedy algorithm with log(m) approximation ratio, where m is the number of cluster-heads in WSNs. Extensive simulations have been carried out to evaluate our proposed algorithm and our simulation results show our greedy algorithm is 154% at most and 145% on average of optimal solution, thus validate the advantages of our heuristic solution.
WHAT ARE THE FACTS OF SEMANTIC CATEGORY-SPECIFIC DEFICITS? A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE CLINICAL EVIDENCE

In this study we provide a critical review of the clinical evidence available to date in the field of semantic category-specific deficits. The motivation for undertaking this review is that not all the data reported in the literature are useful for adjudicating among extant theories. This project is an attempt to answer two basic questions: (1) what are the categories of category-specific deficits, and (2) is there an interaction between impairment for a type of knowledge (e.g., visual, functional, etc.) and impairment for a given category of objects (e.g., biological, artefacts, etc.). Of the 79 case studies in which the reported data are sufficiently informative with respect to the aims of our study, 61 presented a disproportionate impairment for biological categories and 18 presented a disproportionate impairment for artefacts. Less than half of the reported cases provide statistically and theoretically interpretable data. Each case is commented upon individually. The facts that emerge from our critical review are that (1) the categories of category-specific semantic deficits are animate objects, inanimate biological objects, and artefacts (the domain of biological objects fractionates into two independent semantic categories: animals, and fruit/vegetables); (2) the types of category-specific deficits are not associated with specific types of conceptual knowledge deficits. Other conclusions that emerge from our review are that the evidence in favour of the existence of cases of reliable category-specific agnosia or anomia is not very strong, and that the visual structural description system functions relatively autonomously from conceptual knowledge about object form.
Valley Fills of Incised Coastal Plain Rivers, Southeastern Texas

ABSTRACT Reconstruction of the late Pleistocene geologic history of southeastern Texas illustrates how climate and eustasy influenced facies architecture of incised valley fills at sites that are currently near sea level but were in far upstream positions when sea level was much lower. Walls and floors of fluvial terraces entrenched at three levels form a composite unconformable bounding surface that delineates each incised valley. The youngest terrace controls gradients, channel patterns, and positions of the modern rivers and surficial drainage. Late Pleistocene fluvial sediments are laterally accreted sand and gravel point-bar deposits 10-15 m thick that lack muddy overbank facies. In contrast, late Holocene-modern fluvial sediments are organic-rich suspended-load deposits that formed through asymmetrical channel fill and floodplain aggradation. Sandy channel facies are noticeably absent in these floodbasin muds that progressively onlap and bury older terraces downstream. Geometries, ages, and facies of allostratigraphic units filling the incised valleys are different upstream and downstream of the position where modern floodplains onlap the oldest late Pleistocene fluvial terraces. These stratigraphic differences reflect the predominant fluvial-marine and climatic-eustatic regimes.
"Creep currents" in single frog atrial cells may be generated by electrogenic Na/Ca exchange

The objective of these experiments was to test the hypothesis that the "creep currents" induced by Na loading of single frog atrial cells (Hume, J. R., and A. Uehara. 1986. Journal of General Physiology. 87:833) may be generated by an electrogenic Na/Ca exchanger. Creep currents induced by Na loading were examined over a wide range of membrane potentials. During depolarizing voltage-clamp pulses, outward creep currents were observed, followed by inward creep currents upon the return to the holding potential. During hyperpolarizing voltage- clamp pulses, creep currents of the opposite polarity were observed: inward creep currents were observed during the pulses, followed by outward creep currents upon the return to the holding potential. The current-voltage relations for inward and outward creep currents in response to depolarizing or hyperpolarizing voltage displacements away from the holding potential all intersect the voltage axis at a common potential, which indicates that inward and outward creep currents may have a common reversal potential under equilibrium conditions and may therefore be generated by a common mechanism. Measurements of inward creep currents confirm that voltage displacements away from the holding potential rapidly alter equilibrium conditions. Current-voltage relationships of inward creep currents after depolarizing voltage-clamp pulses are extremely labile and depend critically upon the amplitude and duration of outward creep currents elicited during preceding voltage-clamp pulses. An optical monitor of mechanical activity in single cells revealed (a) a similar voltage dependence for the outward creep currents induced by Na loading and tonic contraction, and (b) a close correlation between the time course of the decay of the inward creep current and the time course of mechanical relaxation. A mathematical model of electrogenic Na/Ca exchange (Mullins, L.J. 1979. Federation Proceedings. 35:2583; Noble, D. 1986. Cardiac Muscle. 171- 200) can adequately account for many of the properties of creep currents. It is concluded that creep currents in single frog atrial cells may be attributed to the operation of an electrogenic Na/Ca exchange mechanism.
Wild rice (Zizania latifolia (Griseb) Turcz) improves the serum lipid profile and antioxidant status of rats fed with a high fat/cholesterol diet

The diet consumed by urban residents in modern China has become rich in saturated fats and cholesterol. In addition, the diet is high in carbohydrates from white rice and processed wheat starch. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of replacing white rice and processed wheat starch with wild rice (WR) as the chief source of dietary carbohydrates. Rats fed with the diet patterned after the diet consumed by city residents of modern China showed elevated serum lipid levels comparable with rats consuming a high fat/cholesterol diet known to induce hyperlipidaemia in this species. Meanwhile, rats consuming the city diet with WR as the carbohydrate source suppressed the increase in serum TAG and total cholesterol, and the decrease in HDL cholesterol level. In addition, the rats fed the WR diet suppressed the build-up of oxidative stress by improving antioxidant capacity, increasing superoxide dismutase activity and reducing malondialdehyde concentration, both in the serum and liver. These findings illustrate that WR is effective in suppressing hyperlipidaemia and oxidative stress in rats even when the diet consumed is high in fat and cholesterol.
Assessment of Airway Resistance in Normal Trained and Fat Untrained Adolescent Boys Influenced by Exercise Experiences

Background Overweight and obese children are at increased risk of a wide range of health conditions including respiratory diseases. In addition, inactivity can decrease pulmonary function. This study assessed the effect of obesity and inactivity on pulmonary function impairment in adolescents. Materials and Methods This study was conducted on 80 adolescents. Subjects were divided into two groups. Group I included 40 untrained (VO2max= 29.30±4.20) fat adolescents (UO). Group II included 40 healthy trained (VO2max= 58.11±2.23) normal weight adolescents (TN). Body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage and waist to hip ratio (WHR) were calculated and pulmonary function tests were carried out according to the standard protocols. Data were analyzed using student's “t” test and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results UO had significantly lower pulmonary function values than the TN group. They also showed lower FEV1/FVC ratio when compared to TN group (P < 0.05). In UO group, BMI, body fat percentage and WHR had a significant negative correlation with pulmonary function whereas in TN group only BMI had significant negative correlation with pulmonary function. A significant decrease in FEV1 was observed in the two groups, which led to a decrease in FEV1/FVC% after the exercise compared to before. Thus, exercise test induced airway resistance in both groups. Conclusion untrained obese adolescents have more respiratory symptoms than their normal weight trained peers, and these factors are recommended to be used as a predictor of pulmonary function in assessment of obese children in epidemiological studies. In addition, obesity and inactivity can surcharge pulmonary function abnormalities in adolescents.
MHC class I and class II molecules are expressed in both human and mouse prostate tumor microenvironment

There has been a determined search for therapies specifically aimed at eradicating tumor cells while leaving normal host cells unaffected. This goal can potentially be accomplished by engaging tumor antigen‐specific T‐cell repertoire to attack the tumor. A pre‐requisite for a successful T‐cell‐mediated attack against tumors or pathogens is that the target tissues express major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules. Using newer anti‐MHC class I and MHC class II antibody reagents, we re‐examined the expression of MHC in both human and mouse prostate tumors and their microenvironments.
The recurrent basal cell epithelioma. A study of 100 cases of recurrent, re-treated basal cell epitheliomas.

One hundred recurrent, re-treated basal cell epitheliomas were studied. The original lesions had been treated with curettage and electrodesiccation, excision, or x-radiation. The 100 recurrences were treated by these same modalities, except that five were treated with Mohs' chemosurgery. Following re-treatment, almost half (47) recurred a second time. This inordinately high failure rate after treatment of recurrent basal cell epitheliomas would indicate that such lesions are more difficult to eradicate than primary basal cell epitheliomas, and that their treatment should be aggressive.
The Dopamine D2 Receptor Gene in Lamprey, Its Expression in the Striatum and Cellular Effects of D2 Receptor Activation

All basal ganglia subnuclei have recently been identified in lampreys, the phylogenetically oldest group of vertebrates. Furthermore, the interconnectivity of these nuclei is similar to mammals and tyrosine hydroxylase-positive (dopaminergic) fibers have been detected within the input layer, the striatum. Striatal processing is critically dependent on the interplay with the dopamine system, and we explore here whether D2 receptors are expressed in the lamprey striatum and their potential role. We have identified a cDNA encoding the dopamine D2 receptor from the lamprey brain and the deduced protein sequence showed close phylogenetic relationship with other vertebrate D2 receptors, and an almost 100% identity within the transmembrane domains containing the amino acids essential for dopamine binding. There was a strong and distinct expression of D2 receptor mRNA in a subpopulation of striatal neurons, and in the same region tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive synaptic terminals were identified at the ultrastructural level. The synaptic incidence of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive boutons was highest in a region ventrolateral to the compact layer of striatal neurons, a region where most striatal dendrites arborise. Application of a D2 receptor agonist modulates striatal neurons by causing a reduced spike discharge and a diminished post-inhibitory rebound. We conclude that the D2 receptor gene had already evolved in the earliest group of vertebrates, cyclostomes, when they diverged from the main vertebrate line of evolution (560 mya), and that it is expressed in striatum where it exerts similar cellular effects to that in other vertebrates. These results together with our previous published data (Stephenson-Jones et al. 2011, 2012) further emphasize the high degree of conservation of the basal ganglia, also with regard to the indirect loop, and its role as a basic mechanism for action selection in all vertebrates.
Overturn and evolution of a crystallized magma ocean: A numerical parameter study for Mars

Early in the history of terrestrial planets, the fractional crystallization of a magma ocean can lead to a mantle stratification characterized by a progressive enrichment in heavy elements from the core‐mantle boundary to the surface. Such a configuration is gravitationally unstable; it causes mantle overturn and the formation of a stable chemical layering. Using simulations of thermochemical convection, we analyzed the consequences of overturn and subsequent layering on mantle dynamics assuming Mars' scaling parameters. We found that the time needed to achieve chemical homogenization via convective mixing scales exponentially with the buoyancy ratio B , which measures the relative importance of chemical to thermal buoyancy. In addition, when using a strongly temperature‐dependent viscosity, the formation of a stagnant lid prevents the uppermost crystallized layers from sinking into the mantle. In order to obtain their subduction, a yielding mechanism must be invoked. In the context of Mars' evolution, our results suggest that complete chemical mixing is unlikely to take place within time scales comparable with the planet's age. Magma ocean freezing could thus be responsible for the long‐term preservation of compositional heterogeneities as required by meteoritic evidence. The inferred lack of a high density lid is difficult to reconcile with a stagnant‐lid regime operating throughout Mars' history. An episode of surface mobilization induced by compositional overturn can resolve this difficulty provided that B is large enough. Too large buoyancy ratios, however, tend to suppress convective heat transport, rendering it problematic to explain the late volcanic history of Mars.
“Getting tested is almost like going to the Salem witch trials”: discordant discourses between Western public health messages and sociocultural expectations surrounding HIV testing among East African immigrant women

Washington, DC, has the highest AIDS diagnosis rate in the USA, and Black women are disproportionately affected. Although HIV testing is the first entryway into vital treatment services, evidence reveals that foreign-born blacks have a lower rate of recent HIV testing than US-born blacks. To date, however, there are no studies that examine the culture-specific perceptions of HIV testing among East African immigrant women (who comprise a large share of Black Africans in DC) to better understand their potential barriers to testing. Adopting the PEN-3 cultural model as our theoretical framework, the main objective of this study was to examine East African women's HIV testing perceptions and partner communication norms. Between October 2012 and March 2013, trained interviewers conducted a total of 25 interviews with East African women in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. For triangulation purposes, data collection consisted of both in-depth, semi-structured interviews and cognitive interviews, in which participants were administered a quantitative survey and assessed on how they interpreted items. Qualitative thematic analysis revealed a systematic pattern of discordant responses across participants. While they were aware of messages related to Western public health discourse surrounding HIV testing (e.g., Everyone should get tested for HIV; One should talk to one's spouse about HIV testing), divergent sociocultural expectations rooted in cultural and religious beliefs prevailed (e.g., Getting an HIV test brings shame to the person who got tested and to one's family; it implies one is engaging in immoral behavior; One should not talk with one's spouse about HIV testing; doing so breaks cultural norms). Implications of using a culture-centered model to examine the role of sociocultural expectations in HIV prevention research and to develop culturally responsive prevention strategies are discussed.
Serum vaspin levels in normal pregnancy in comparison with non-pregnant women.

OBJECTIVE Pregnancy represents a state of insulin resistance (IR). Vaspin (SERPINA12) is a novel insulin-sensitizing adipokine that might be implicated in endogenous glucose regulation. However, its role in pregnancy and its circulating levels have not been adequately studied. We aimed to evaluate serum vaspin levels in pregnancy and their correlation with known markers of IR. DESIGN A group of 106 women (age 27.9±0.4 years) at the 24-30th week of gestation (pregnancy group) and another 106 age-matched healthy non-pregnant controls (control group) were included in the study. METHODS Serum glucose, insulin, vaspin, adiponectin, and lipid parameters were measured. The quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI) was used as an insulin sensitivity index. RESULTS Pregnant women had significantly higher body mass index (BMI), lipids, and serum insulin and lower serum glucose and vaspin levels than controls. Vaspin was positively correlated to adiponectin in both groups (P<0.001 and P<0.004 respectively) but was not correlated to BMI, serum insulin levels, or the QUICKI index in either group. Furthermore, vaspin was negatively correlated to lipid parameters (total cholesterol, triglycerides, and low-density lipoproteins) in the pregnant but not in the non-pregnant women. CONCLUSIONS Vaspin cannot serve as a marker of IR in either pregnant or non-pregnant women, although it is significantly correlated with adiponectin. On the other hand, vaspin might be useful as a surrogate marker of lipid metabolism in pregnancy if confirmed by subsequent studies.