Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integrating frugivory and animal movement: a review of the evidence and implications for scaling seed dispersal

General principles about the consequences of seed dispersal by animals for the structure and dynamics of plant populations and communities remain elusive. This is in part because seed deposition patterns emerge from interactions between frugivore behaviour and the distribution of food resources, both of which can vary over space and time. Here we advocate a frugivore‐centred, process‐based, synthetic approach to seed dispersal research that integrates seed dispersal ecology and animal movement across multiple spatio‐temporal scales. To guide this synthesis, we survey existing literature using paradigms from seed dispersal and animal movement. Specifically, studies are discussed with respect to five criteria: selection of focal organisms (animal or plant); measurement of animal movement; characterization of seed shadow; animal, plant and environmental factors included in the study; and scales of the study. Most studies focused on either frugivores or plants and characterized seed shadows directly by combining gut retention time with animal movement data or indirectly by conducting maternity analysis of seeds. Although organismal traits and environmental factors were often measured, they were seldom used to characterize seed shadows. Multi‐scale analyses were rare, with seed shadows mostly characterized at fine spatial scales, over single fruiting seasons, and for individual dispersers. Novel animal‐ and seed‐tracking technologies, remote environmental monitoring tools, and advances in analytical methods can enable effective implementation of a hierarchical mechanistic approach to the study of seed dispersal. This kind of mechanistic approach will provide novel insights regarding the complex interplay between the factors that modulate animal behaviour and subsequently influence seed dispersal patterns across spatial and temporal scales.
When Frontloading Backfires: Exploring the Impact of Outsourcing Correctional Interventions on Mechanisms of Social Control

This study demonstrates the effects of frontloading rehabilitative services to parolees through third-party residential and community-based programs. Although outsourcing treatment responsibilities to contracted reentry facilities is an increasingly common feature of postrelease supervision, the role these facilities play in reentry management and recidivism outcomes remains largely unexplored. Here, several common recidivism outcomes for parolees who attended private treatment facilities upon release are compared to those of parolees who did not. We conducted Correctional Programs Checklist assessments on each treatment site to investigate whether recidivism outcomes vary by level of programmatic quality. Our findings indicate that parolees who receive frontloaded services are significantly less likely to be rearrested or reconvicted for new crimes within eighteen months of release. These findings held across levels of programmatic quality, with larger reductions observed for programs of higher quality, and align with broader emphases in community corrections on risk assessment and organizational demands for efficiency.
A high-speed and lightweight on-chip crossbar switch scheduler for on-chip interconnection networks

In this paper, we propose and analyze a high-speed and area-efficient crossbar scheduling algorithm for o-chip interconnection networks. The algorithm is based on a distributed computing over crossbar fabric while conventional algorithms such as round robin are centralized apart from crossbar fabric. Its implementation shows that it can reduce scheduling delay and its area more than 20% and 50%, respectively a compared to a round robin based SLIP algorithm. We apply the algorithm to a HDTV SoC to analyze its feasibility. The proposed algorithm and its implementation are area-efficient and show higher performance for the on-chip interconnection networks.
The Cytoplasmic Location of Chicken Mx Is Not the Determining Factor for Its Lack of Antiviral Activity

Background Chicken Mx belongs to the Mx family of interferon-induced dynamin-like GTPases, which in some species possess potent antiviral properties. Conflicting data exist for the antiviral capability of chicken Mx. Reports of anti-influenza activity of alleles encoding an Asn631 polymorphism have not been supported by subsequent studies. The normal cytoplasmic localisation of chicken Mx may influence its antiviral capacity. Here we report further studies to determine the antiviral potential of chicken Mx against Newcastle disease virus (NDV), an economically important cytoplasmic RNA virus of chickens, and Thogoto virus, an orthomyxovirus known to be exquisitely sensitive to the cytoplasmic MxA protein from humans. We also report the consequences of re-locating chicken Mx to the nucleus. Methodology/Principal Findings Chicken Mx was tested in virus infection assays using NDV. Neither the Asn631 nor Ser631 Mx alleles (when transfected into 293T cells) showed inhibition of virus-directed gene expression when the cells were subsequently infected with NDV. Human MxA however did show significant inhibition of NDV-directed gene expression. Chicken Mx failed to inhibit a Thogoto virus (THOV) minireplicon system in which the cytoplasmic human MxA protein showed potent and specific inhibition. Relocalisation of chicken Mx to the nucleus was achieved by inserting the Simian Virus 40 large T antigen nuclear localisation sequence (SV40 NLS) at the N-terminus of chicken Mx. Nuclear re-localised chicken Mx did not inhibit influenza (A/PR/8/34) gene expression during virus infection in cell culture or influenza polymerase activity in A/PR/8/34 or A/Turkey/50-92/91 minireplicon systems. Conclusions/Significance The chicken Mx protein (Asn631) lacks inhibitory effects against THOV and NDV, and is unable to suppress influenza replication when artificially re-localised to the cell nucleus. Thus, the natural cytoplasmic localisation of the chicken Mx protein does not account for its lack of antiviral activity.
On the Markov Equivalence of Chain Graphs, Undirected Graphs, and Acyclic Digraphs

Graphical Markov models use undirected graphs (UDGs), acyclic directed graphs (ADGs), or (mixed) chain graphs to represent possible dependencies among random variables in a multivariate distribution. Whereas a UDG is uniquely determined by its associated Markov model, this is not true for ADGs or for general chain graphs (which include both UDGs and ADGs as special cases). This paper addresses three questions regarding the equivalence of graphical Markov models: when is a given chain graph Markov equivalent (1) to some UDG? (2) to some (at least one) ADG? (3) to some decomposable UDG? The answers are obtained by means of an extension of Frydenberg’s (1990) elegant graph‐theoretic characterization of the Markov equivalence of chain graphs.
Neutrino Masses and Mixings from Supersymmetry with Bilinear R-Parity Violation : A Theory for Solar and Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations

The simplest unified extension of the MSSM with bi-linear R--Parity violation naturally predicts a hierarchical neutrino mass spectrum, in which one neutrino acquires mass by mixing with neutralinos, while the other two get mass radiatively. We have performed a full one-loop calculation of the neutralino-neutrino mass matrix in the bi-linear \rp MSSM, taking special care to achieve a manifestly gauge invariant calculation. Moreover we have performed the renormalization of the heaviest neutrino, needed in order to get meaningful results. The atmospheric mass scale and maximal mixing angle arise from tree-level physics, while solar neutrino scale and oscillations follow from calculable one-loop corrections. If universal supergravity assumptions are made on the soft-supersymmetry breaking terms then the atmospheric scale is calculable as a function of a single \rp violating parameter by the renormalization group evolution due to the non-zero bottom quark Yukawa coupling. The solar neutrino problem must be accounted for by the small mixing angle (SMA) MSW solution. If these assumptions are relaxed then one can implement large mixing angle solutions, either MSW or just-so. The theory predicts the lightest supersymmetic particle (LSP) decay to be observable at high-energy colliders, despite the smallness of neutrino masses indicated by experiment. This provides an independent way to test this solution of the atmospheric and solar neutrino anomalies.
Negative Parental Disclosures as Mediators of Coparental Communication and Relational Outcomes in Parent-Child Relationships

ABSTRACT This study explored the associations among perceptions of coparental communication (i.e., supportive and antagonistic), parents’ negative disclosures, and relational outcomes in parent-child relationships (i.e., closeness and satisfaction). Participants included 241 young adult children who completed online surveys. Results indicate that parents’ negative disclosures to their children mediated the associations between both dimensions of coparental communication and both relational outcomes. Indirect effects of supportive and antagonistic coparental communication through mothers’ negative disclosures emerged for children’s closeness with mothers, but not satisfaction. Indirect effects of both forms of coparental communication through mothers’ negative disclosures also emerged for children’s closeness and satisfaction with fathers. Ultimately, the results underscore the importance of disclosure as an explanatory mechanism for the associations between coparental communication patterns and relational quality in parent-child relationships.
Stochastic resonance induced continuous activation functions in a neural network consisting of threshold elements

Stochastic resonance (SR) is a phenomenon occurring in some nonlinear systems by which a signal provided as input that is too small in magnitude to normally influence the system's output can actually influence the system's output once a non-zero level of noise is provided. SR has been extensively studied both theoretically and experimentally, and noise has been exploited for improving the performance in both biological and artificial systems. In addition to its scientific importance, the use of noise has attracted interest because of its potential to overcome the present limitations in engineering applications. In this study, we investigate the use of a universal approximator exploiting SR as a new realization of well-established feed-forward neural networks. The proposed universal approximator consists of groups of threshold elements. Although the approximation universality of a network consisting of threshold elements has been proven in terms of extreme learning machine implementations, once SR is taken into account, the system can be modeled in a form identical to that of a classic generic three-layered neural network, for which the universal approximation capability has been proven. The capability of the proposed approximator for serving as a universal approximator is first proven theoretically in the limit of an infinite number of hidden units. Subsequently, the performance achieved by the backpropagation type and the extreme learning machine type learning algorithms is experimentally evaluated for cases involving limited numbers of hidden units, highlighting the SR effect occurring in the proposed system.
Phagocytic responses of peritoneal macrophages and neutrophils are different in rats following prolonged exercise

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the effects of exhausting long‐duration physical exercise (swimming) sessions of different durations and intensities on the number and phagocytic capacity of macrophages and neutrophils in sedentary rats. INTRODUCTION: Exercise intensity, duration and frequency are important factors in determining immune response to physical effort. Thus, the effects of exhausting long‐duration exercise are unclear. METHODS: Wistar rats were divided into two groups: an untreated group (macrophage study) and oyster glycogen‐treated rats (neutrophil study). In each group, the animals were subdivided into five groups (10 rats per group): unexercised controls, an unadapted low‐intensity exercise group, an unadapted moderate‐intensity exercise group, a preadapted low‐intensity exercise group and a preadapted moderate‐intensity exercise group. All exercises were performed to exhaustion, and preadaptation consisted of 5, 15, 30 and 45 min sessions. RESULTS: Macrophage study: the number of peritoneal macrophages significantly decreased (9.22 ± 1.78 × 106) after unadapted exercise but increased (21.50 ± 0.63 × 106) after preadapted low‐intensity exercise, with no changes in the moderate‐intensity exercise group. Phagocytic capacity, however, increased by more than 80% in all exercise groups (low/moderate, unadapted/preadapted). Neutrophil study: the number of peritoneal neutrophils significantly decreased after unadapted (29.20 ± 3.34 × 106) and preadapted (50.00 ± 3.53 × 106) low‐intensity exercise but increased after unadapted (127.60 ± 5.14 × 106) and preadapted (221.80 ± 14.85 × 106) moderate exercise. Neutrophil phagocytic capacity decreased by 63% after unadapted moderate exercise but increased by 90% after corresponding preadapted sessions, with no changes in the low‐intensity exercise groups. CONCLUSION: Neutrophils and macrophages of sedentary rats respond differently to exercise‐induced stress. Adaptation sessions reduce exercise‐induced stress on the immune system.
Estimators for Long Range Dependence: An Empirical Study

jennifer.brown@cantebury.ac. nzAbstract:We present the results of a simulation study into the properties of 12diﬀerent estimators of the Hurst parameter, H, or the fractional integra-tion parameter, d, in long memory time series. We compare and contrasttheir performance on simulated Fractional Gaussian Noises and fractionallyintegrated series with lengths between 100 and 10,000 data points and Hvalues between 0.55 and 0.90 or d values between 0.05 and 0.40. We applyall 12 estimators to the Campito Mountain data and estimate the accuracyof their estimates using the Beran goodness of ﬁt test for long memory timeseries.MCS code: 37M10Keywords and phrases: Strong dependence, Global dependence, Longrange dependence, Hurst parameter estimators.
Antideuterons from dark matter decay

Recent observations of a large excess of cosmic-ray positrons at high energies have raised a lot of interest in leptonic decay modes of dark matter particles. Nevertheless, dark matter particles in the Milky Way halo could also decay hadronically, producing not only a flux of antiprotons but also a flux of antideuterons. We show that for certain choices of parameters the antideuteron flux from dark matter decay can be much larger than the purely secondary flux from spallation of cosmic rays on the interstellar medium, while the total antiproton flux remains consistent with present observations. We show that if the dark matter particle is sufficiently light, the antideuteron flux from dark matter decay could even be within the reach of planned experiments such as AMS-02 or GAPS. Furthermore, we discuss the prospects to observe the antideuteron flux in the near future if the steep rise in the positron fraction reported by the PAMELA collaboration is interpreted in terms of the decay of dark matter particles.
Ultra-Fast Similarity Search Using Ternary Content Addressable Memory

Similarity search, and specifically the nearest-neighbor search (NN) problem is widely used in many fields of computer science such as machine learning, computer vision and databases. However, in many settings such searches are known to suffer from the notorious curse of dimensionality, where running time grows exponentially with d. This causes severe performance degradation when working in high-dimensional spaces. Approximate techniques such as locality-sensitive hashing [2] improve the performance of the search, but are still computationally intensive. In this paper we propose a new way to solve this problem using a special hardware device called ternary content addressable memory (TCAM). TCAM is an associative memory, which is a special type of computer memory that is widely used in switches and routers for very high speed search applications. We show that the TCAM computational model can be leveraged and adjusted to solve NN search problems in a single TCAM lookup cycle, and with linear space. This concept does not suffer from the curse of dimensionality and is shown to improve the best known approaches for NN by more than four orders of magnitude. Simulation results demonstrate dramatic improvement over the best known approaches for NN, and suggest that TCAM devices may play a critical role in future large-scale databases and cloud applications.
Impact of personality traits and personal values on curriculum choice of young adults

Abstract In the present study, an attempt was made to investigate the role of personality and personal values in the curriculum choice. Four hundred students (200 males and 200 females) ranging in age between 18- and 25-years-old participated in the study. Eysenck Personality Questionnaire – Revised (EPQ-R) and The Aspiration Index (AI) were used to measure the personality traits and personal values respectively. Regression analyses indicate that individuals scoring high on extraversion and having high intrinsic value orientation (Importance) are more likely to choose arts/humanities (A/H) academic discipline. While individuals with high scores on psychoticism, neuroticism and having extrinsic value orientation (Importance) tend to opt for business/technical (B/T) academic stream. Findings are explained in terms of the Self-determination theory and the changing choices leading to the possible shift in the value system. Gender differences in personality and values; and their impact on academic choice have also been studied. Extraversion plays the strongest role in the choice of A/H academic choice irrespective of gender. Females are guided by intrinsic values while choosing A/H streams while males are influenced by extrinsic values while opting for B/T streams.
Stroke and Major Bleeding Risk in Elderly Patients Aged ≥75 Years With Atrial Fibrillation: The Loire Valley Atrial Fibrillation Project

Background and Purpose— Atrial fibrillation (AF) is increasingly prevalent in the elderly, but such patients tend to be under-represented in clinical trials. Increasing age confers a higher risk of stroke and bleeding when antithrombotic therapy is used. We examined risk factors for stroke and bleeding among elderly (age, >75 years) patients within a real world hospitalized cohort from the Loire Valley AF project. Methods— We identified elderly (age, >75 years) patients with AF, assessed their risk factors, and followed up for stroke, thromboembolism, death, or major bleeding. The effect of vitamin K antagonist (VKA) use on these end points was assessed. Results— We studied 8962 patients with AF, and we identified 4130 elderly (age, ≥75 years) patients. Using Kaplan–Meier analyses, event rates of death, stroke/thromboembolism, the composite of stroke/thromboembolism/death, and major bleeding increased with increasing age. For mortality, VKA-treated patients did better than non-VKA–treated patients. The risk of death and stroke/thromboembolism/death increased with increasing age. The risk of major bleeding did not increase with increasing age strata. VKA treatment was associated with lower mortality in those aged <75 years (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 0.57; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.45–0.72), and the effect size was maintained with increasing age strata (Pint=0.67). For stroke/thromboembolism/death, VKA also has a significant benefit in those aged <75 years (adjusted HR, 0.69; [0.57–0.83]), and the effect size was maintained with increasing age strata (Pint=0.58). For major bleeding, there was no statistically significant difference between age strata (Pint=0.67). In elderly patients, age and previous stroke emerged as the main predictors of stroke and thromboembolism. Renal impairment and VKA use were predictors of major bleeding. Conclusions— Elderly patients with AF have a higher risk of stroke and bleeding, but the benefits of VKA therapy for stroke/thromboembolism or mortality were present regardless of increasing age.
Modeling and control of thermostatically controlled loads

As the penetration of intermittent energy sources grows substantially, loads will be required to play an increasingly important role in compensating the fast time-scale fluctuations in generated power. Recent numerical modeling of thermostatically controlled loads (TCLs) has demonstrated that such load following is feasible, but analytical models that satisfactorily quantify the aggregate power consumption of a group of TCLs are desired to enable controller design. We develop such a model for the aggregate power response of a homogeneous population of TCLs to uniform variation of all TCL setpoints. A linearized model of the response is derived, and a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) has been designed. Using the TCL setpoint as the control input, the LQR enables aggregate power to track reference signals that exhibit step, ramp and sinusoidal variations. Although much of the work assumes a homogeneous population of TCLs with deterministic dynamics, we also propose a method for probing the dynamics of systems where load characteristics are not well known.
Stressful life events and social rhythm disruption in the onset of manic and depressive bipolar episodes: a preliminary investigation.

BACKGROUND The association between stressful life events and onset of bipolar episodes is unclear. The association between bipolar episode onset and types of life events that disrupt social routines, and potentially sleep, has not yet been investigated. METHODS Thirty-nine bipolar patients with primarily manic (n = 20) or depressed (n = 19) index episodes were interviewed with the Bedford College Life Event and Difficulty Schedule to determine the presence of severe events during 8-week pre-onset and control periods. All life events were also rated for degree of social rhythm disruption (SRD). RESULTS More bipolar subjects experienced at least 1 SRD event and severe event in the pre-onset vs control periods. When subjects were divided into those with manic or depressive onsets, the only significant pre-onset vs control difference was for manic patients with SRD events. Additionally, the proportion of subjects with a pre-onset SRD event was greater for manic than for depressed patients. CONCLUSIONS We found evidence that life events characterized by SRDs routines are associated with the onset of manic, but not depressive, episodes. Severe events seem to be related to onset of bipolar episodes, although it remains unclear whether severe events relate differentially to depressive and manic onsets.
Unpacking the ageing–migration nexus and challenging the vulnerability trope

ABSTRACT The nexus between ageing and migration throws up a variety of situations. In this paper, we map out the various circumstances in which ageing and migration fuse together as entwined trajectories to produce situations of vulnerability, coping, active ageing and variable well-being. The ageing process is seen to be socially constructed and culturally embedded; hence, place – at ‘home’ or ‘abroad’, or some transnational mix – becomes a paramount structuring variable. Different models of successful ageing compete as migrants move and age in different countries and different cultures; the Western model of individual self-reliance should not necessarily be imposed on ageing migrant populations. In the final part of the article we challenge the prevailing trope of vulnerability applied to the perceived double disadvantage of being both an older person and a migrant, and present four case-studies in which older migrants enact agency and independence to achieve a greater level of material and subjective well-being.