Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Frog or Fruit? The Importance of Color and Shape to Bird Predators in Clay Model Experiments

Clay model experiments are commonly used to measure natural rates of predation and have become an important method in studying predator avoidance of aposematic frogs. Previous clay model experiments have demonstrated that conspicuous coloration in dendrobatid frogs is an effective deterrent to avian predators. It is generally assumed that predators recognize clay models as frogs, but few studies have examined this hypothesis. Certain aposematic frogs are similar in color to fruits on the forest floor, and it is possible that frugivorous or omnivorous birds perceive clay models as fruit. In the present study, we further investigate aposematism in Oophaga pumilio and specifically examine the importance of model shape and color. We assessed natural avian predation rates using clay models, which were either red or brown in color, and frog or ball (fruit) shaped. Overall, avian predation was significantly higher on red ball-shaped models when compared to red frog-shaped models. Brown frogs were also more likely to be preyed upon than red frogs. The omnivorous Great Tinamou (Tinamus major), however, exhibited no preference for frog color. Feeding naturally on fruits and seeds, tinamous in our study preferred and attacked red ball models more frequently, suggesting that they recognized these models as fruits. Collectively, our results provide evidence that birds distinguish between shapes and colors when making decisions about predation and that these attacks are dependent on the dietary preference of the predator. Clay model studies should take into account both color and shape of models, and consider that predation rates are likely dependent on the species assemblages present at a location and their specific dietary preferences.
Variable selection for case-cohort studies with failure time outcome

Abstract Case-cohort designs are widely used in large cohort studies to reduce the cost associated with covariate measurement. In many such studies the number of covariates is very large, so an efficient variable selection method is necessary. In this paper, we study the properties of a variable selection procedure using the smoothly clipped absolute deviation penalty in a case-cohort design with a diverging number of parameters. We establish the consistency and asymptotic normality of the maximum penalized pseudo-partial-likelihood estimator, and show that the proposed variable selection method is consistent and has an asymptotic oracle property. Simulation studies compare the finite-sample performance of the procedure with tuning parameter selection methods based on the Akaike information criterion and the Bayesian information criterion. We make recommendations for use of the proposed procedures in case-cohort studies, and apply them to the Busselton Health Study.
Combined rTMS/fMRI Studies: An Overlooked Resource in Animal Models

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique, which has brain network-level effects in healthy individuals and is also used to treat many neurological and psychiatric conditions in which brain connectivity is believed to be abnormal. Despite the fact that rTMS is being used in a clinical setting and animal studies are increasingly identifying potential cellular and molecular mechanisms, little is known about how these mechanisms relate to clinical changes. This knowledge gap is amplified by non-overlapping approaches used in preclinical and clinical rTMS studies: preclinical studies are mostly invasive, using cellular and molecular approaches, while clinical studies are non-invasive, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), TMS electroencephalography (EEG), positron emission tomography (PET), and behavioral measures. A non-invasive method is therefore needed in rodents to link our understanding of cellular and molecular changes to functional connectivity changes that are clinically relevant. fMRI is the technique of choice for examining both short and long term functional connectivity changes in large-scale networks and is becoming increasingly popular in animal research because of its high translatability, but, to date, there have been no reports of animal rTMS studies using this technique. This review summarizes the main studies combining different rTMS protocols with fMRI in humans, in both healthy and patient populations, providing a foundation for the design of equivalent studies in animals. We discuss the challenges of combining these two methods in animals and highlight considerations important for acquiring clinically-relevant information from combined rTMS/fMRI studies in animals. We believe that combining rTMS and fMRI in animal models will generate new knowledge in the following ways: functional connectivity changes can be explored in greater detail through complementary invasive procedures, clarifying mechanism and improving the therapeutic application of rTMS, as well as improving interpretation of fMRI data. And, in a more general context, a robust comparative approach will refine the use of animal models of specific neuropsychiatric conditions.
Rapid Structural and Compositional Change in an Old-Growth Subtropical Forest: Using Plant Traits to Identify Probable Drivers

Recent studies have shown directional changes in old-growth tropical forests, but changes are complex and diverse, and their drivers unclear. Here, we report rapid net structural and compositional changes in an old-growth subtropical forest and we assess the functional nature of these changes to test hypothetical drivers including recovery from past disturbances, reduction in ungulate browsing, CO2 fertilization, and increases in rainfall and temperature. The study relies on 15 years of demographic monitoring within 8 ha of subtropical montane forest in Argentina. Between 1992 and 2007, stem density markedly increased by 50% (12 stems ha−1 y−1) and basal area by 6% (0.13 m2 ha−1 y−1). Increased stem density resulted from enhanced recruitment of understory treelets (Piper tucumanum, Eugenia uniflora, Allophylus edulis) into small size classes. Among 27 common tree species, net population growth was negatively correlated with maximum tree size and longevity, and positively correlated with leaf size and leaf nutrient content, especially so when initial population size was controlled for. Changes were inconsistent with predictions derived from past disturbances (no increase in shade-tolerant or long-lived late-succesional species), rainfall or temperature increase (no increase in evergreen or deciduous species, respectively). However, the increase in nutrient-rich soft-leaved species was consistent with exclusion of large herbivores two decades before monitoring started; and CO2 fertilization could help explain the disproportionate increase in small stems. Reductions in populations of large vertebrates have been observed in many otherwise undisturbed tropical forests, and our results suggest they can have important structural and functional repercussions in these forests.
Web-Based Assessment of Visual and Visuospatial Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease

Visual and visuospatial dysfunction is prevalent in Parkinson's disease (PD). To promote assessment of these often overlooked symptoms, we adapted the PD Vision Questionnaire for Internet administration. The questionnaire evaluates visual and visuospatial symptoms, impairments in activities of daily living (ADLs), and motor symptoms. PD participants of mild to moderate motor severity (n = 24) and healthy control participants (HC, n = 23) completed the questionnaire in paper and web-based formats. Reliability was assessed by comparing responses across formats. Construct validity was evaluated by reference to performance on measures of vision, visuospatial cognition, ADLs, and motor symptoms. The web-based format showed excellent reliability with respect to the paper format for both groups (all P′s < 0.001; HC completing the visual and visuospatial section only). Demonstrating the construct validity of the web-based questionnaire, self-rated ADL and visual and visuospatial functioning were significantly associated with performance on objective measures of these abilities (all P′s < 0.01). The findings indicate that web-based administration may be a reliable and valid method of assessing visual and visuospatial and ADL functioning in PD.
Flavonoid profile and antioxidant activity of pink guava

This article determines ascorbic acid, total phenolic content and the antioxidant capacity of whole fruit, flesh, and skin fractions of two varieties of pink guava widely produced in Malaysia (semenyih and sungkai). They were analysed and specific flavonoid compounds (apigenin, isorhamentin, kaempferol, luteolin, myricetin, and quercetin) were determined. Ascorbic acid, total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity was found to be higher in semenyih than in sungkai, mainly in the skin fraction. The predominant flavonoid in all pink guava fractions was kaempferol, with sungkai flesh having the highest kaempferol content. The pink guava represents an important source of antioxidant flavonoid compounds that may have health benefits.
THE HUMAN BRAIN

Despite the fact that comparisons between the electronic computer and the human brain have become cliches, the constant new advances in computer technology produce new and intriguing analogies. Understanding is far from complete, but more than enough is known to reveal the brain as a device of breathless ingenuity. A device, furthermore, which would appear to be under-utilized by the majority of its should-be proud owners. Understanding is yielding results not only of the behaviour of individuals, but also leading to an understanding of that wholly complementary subject—the behaviour of human groups. Computer specialists can use familiarity with the technology of their trade as a short-cut to comprehending more about the brain and indeed about group behaviour. This is desirable. A few may remember Kipling's words:
Effect of joint design on the failure behaviour of three-stack-up austenitic stainless steel resistance spot welds

Tensile shear tests were carried out on three-stack-up austenitic stainless steel resistance spot welds having four types of joint design. Mechanics-based criteria were applied to reveal the difference in the stress state at the microstructural level. Optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy showed evidence of the different stress states for different joint designs. Nugget rotation generated combined tensile/shear stress at the microstructural level. The peak load and the energy absorption of the joints reduced with the growth of the normal component of the global loads. Joints for which both interfaces bear the load were more prone to failure in pull-out mode.
Personalized dynamic prediction of death according to tumour progression and high-dimensional genetic factors: Meta-analysis with a joint model

Developing a personalized risk prediction model of death is fundamental for improving patient care and touches on the realm of personalized medicine. The increasing availability of genomic information and large-scale meta-analytic data sets for clinicians has motivated the extension of traditional survival prediction based on the Cox proportional hazards model. The aim of our paper is to develop a personalized risk prediction formula for death according to genetic factors and dynamic tumour progression status based on meta-analytic data. To this end, we extend the existing joint frailty-copula model to a model allowing for high-dimensional genetic factors. In addition, we propose a dynamic prediction formula to predict death given tumour progression events possibly occurring after treatment or surgery. For clinical use, we implement the computation software of the prediction formula in the joint.Cox R package. We also develop a tool to validate the performance of the prediction formula by assessing the prediction error. We illustrate the method with the meta-analysis of individual patient data on ovarian cancer patients.
Three-Dimensional Vertebral Wedging in Mild and Moderate Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

Background Vertebral wedging is associated with spinal deformity progression in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Reporting frontal and sagittal wedging separately could be misleading since these are projected values of a single three-dimensional deformation of the vertebral body. The objectives of this study were to determine if three-dimensional vertebral body wedging is present in mild scoliosis and if there are a preferential vertebral level, position and plane of deformation with increasing scoliotic severity. Methodology Twenty-seven adolescent idiopathic scoliotic girls with mild to moderate Cobb angles (10° to 50°) participated in this study. All subjects had at least one set of bi-planar radiographs taken with the EOS® X-ray imaging system prior to any treatment. Subjects were divided into two groups, separating the mild (under 20°) from the moderate (20° and over) spinal scoliotic deformities. Wedging was calculated in three different geometric planes with respect to the smallest edge of the vertebral body. Results Factorial analyses of variance revealed a main effect for the scoliosis severity but no main effect of vertebral Levels (apex and each of the three vertebrae above and below it) (F = 1.78, p = 0.101). Main effects of vertebral Positions (apex and above or below it) (F = 4.20, p = 0.015) and wedging Planes (F = 34.36, p<0.001) were also noted. Post-hoc analysis demonstrated a greater wedging in the inferior group of vertebrae (3.6°) than the superior group (2.9°, p = 0.019) and a significantly greater wedging (p≤0.03) along the sagittal plane (4.3°). Conclusions Vertebral wedging was present in mild scoliosis and increased as the scoliosis progressed. The greater wedging of the inferior group of vertebrae could be important in estimating the most distal vertebral segment to be restrained by bracing or to be fused in surgery. Largest vertebral body wedging values obtained in the sagittal plane support the claim that scoliosis could be initiated through a hypokyphosis.
NV-Tree: Reducing Consistency Cost for NVM-based Single Level Systems

The non-volatile memory (NVM) has DRAM-like performance and disk-like persistency which make it possible to replace both disk and DRAM to build single level systems. To keep data consistency in such systems is non-trivial because memory writes may be reordered by CPU and memory controller. In this paper, we study the consistency cost for an important and common data structure, B+Tree. Although the memory fence and CPU cacheline flush instructions can order memory writes to achieve data consistency, they introduce a significant overhead (more than 10X slower in performance). Based on our quantitative analysis of consistency cost, we propose NV-Tree, a consistent and cache-optimized B+Tree variant with reduced CPU cacheline flush. We implement and evaluate NV-Tree and NV-Store, a key-value store based on NV-Tree, on an NVDIMM server. NV-Tree outperforms the state-of-art consistent tree structures by up to 12X under write-intensive workloads. NV-Store increases the throughput by up to 4.8X under YCSB workloads compared to Redis.
Some Physical Properties of Chick Pea Split (Cicer arietinum L.)

Chickpea split of variety PBG-1 was evaluated for their basic physical properties that are often required in order to design production processes, equipment and evaluation of the effect of processing on nutrients, at a moisture content of 12.97 ± 0.30% (dry basis). The average split length, width and thickness dimensions were 6.25, 5.31 and 2.91 mm, respectively. The geometric mean diameter, unit mass, sphericity and true density were 4.58 mm, 0.067 g, 73.46% and 1.202 g/ml respectively. However, static coefficient of friction varied on three different surfaces from 0.30 on galvanized steel sheet, 0.43 on Plywood to 0.45 on glass with splits perpendicular to direction of motion, while the angle of repose was 31.86°.
Impact of Organizational Silence on Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Moderating Role of Procedural Justice

The present research aims at two aspects: firstly to examine the effect of organizational silence (OS) on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and secondly to examine procedural justice as a moderator on the relationship between organizational silence and OCB. Results are generated with the help of purposive sample of 250 employees of various services companies of Pakistan using structural equation modeling (AMOS). The findings reveal that organizational silence had negative effect on the organization citizenship behavior while procedural justice moderates this association.
Crumb Rubber Modified Asphalt as a Surface with Extended Temperature Range.

This paper deals with the research of high- and low-temperature properties of bitumen-rubber binder and rubberized asphalt concrete based on the first. A technique has been proposed for determining lowtemperature deformability of the binder. There has been made an assessment of the sustainability of binder and surface based on it to the technological and operational aging, as well as environmental and economic aspects of the use of crumb rubber as a modifier. The applicability of crumb rubber as a modifier of the organic binder for the production of asphalt concrete based on it has been proved.
Effect of Vitamin D in the Prevention of Myocardial Injury Following Elective Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial

Myocardial injury following elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) occurs in about one‐third of patients and is associated with mortality. Platelet aggregation, thrombosis formation, and inflammation are the main causes of cardiac injury during PCI. Vitamin D plays a key role in the cardiovascular system by exerting antiplatelet, anticoagulant, and anti‐inflammatory properties. There is no published study that investigated the effect of vitamin D in the prevention of cardiac injury following elective PCI. In a randomized clinical trial, 99 patients admitted for elective PCI were randomized into vitamin D (n = 52) and control (n = 47) groups. The intervention group received 300 000 IU vitamin D orally 12 hours before PCI. The cardiac biomarkers were checked at baseline, 8 and 24 hours after PCI. hs‐CRP was also measured at baseline and after 24 hours. The increase in CK‐MB was documented in 20 patients (42%) in the control group and 18 patients (34.6%) in the intervention group (P = .417). Furthermore, the increase in cTnI occurred in 4 patients (8%) and 2 patients (3.3%) in the control and intervention groups, respectively (P = .419). No significant changes were noted in the level of cardiac biomarkers. In the vitamin D group, the mean difference in CK‐MB between 8 and 24 hours was significantly lower (P = .048). The mean difference in hs‐CRP was significantly lower in the vitamin D group (P = .045). This study could not show a clear effect of vitamin D in the prevention of cardiac injury during elective PCI. Further outcome‐based studies are needed to describe the role of vitamin D in the prevention of periprocedural myocardial injury.
Quantifying Parameter Uncertainty in EQ-5D-3L Value Sets and Its Impact on Studies That Use the EQ-5D-3L to Measure Health Utility

Background. Parameter uncertainty in EQ-5D value sets is routinely ignored. Sources of parameter uncertainty include uncertainty in the estimated regression coefficients of the scoring algorithm and uncertainty that arises from the need to use a nonsaturated functional form when creating the scoring algorithm. We hypothesize that this latter source is the major contributor to parameter uncertainty in the value sets. Methods. We used data from the United States EQ-5D-3L valuation study to assess the extent of parameter uncertainty in the value set. We refitted the US scoring algorithm to quantify contributors to the mean square prediction errors and used a Bayesian approach to estimate the predictive distribution of the mean utilities. The impact of parameter uncertainty in the value set was assessed using survey data. Results. Parameter uncertainty in the estimated regression coefficients explained 16% of the mean squared prediction error; uncertainty in the functional form explained the remaining 84%. The median width of the 95% credible intervals for the mean utilities was 0.15. In estimating mean utility in our survey population, parameter uncertainty in the value set was responsible for 93% of the total variance, with sampling variation in the survey population being responsible for the remaining 7%. Conclusion. EQ-5D-3L value sets are estimated subject to considerable parameter uncertainty; the median credible interval width is large compared with reported values of the minimum important difference for the EQ-5D-3L, which have been reported to be as small as 0.03. Other countries’ scoring algorithms are based on smaller studies and are hence subject to greater uncertainty. This uncertainty should be accounted for when using EQ-5D health utilities in economic evaluations.
Crystallite growth in graphitizing and non-graphitizing carbons

An investigation of the structure of carbons of different origin treated at temperatures between 1000 and 3000°C has shown that the graphitizing and non-graphitizing carbons form two distinct and well-defined classes. The differences in structure are apparent from the earliest stages of carbonization, and may be attributed mainly to the formation at low temperatures, in the non-graphitizing carbons, of a strong system of cross-linking uniting the crystallites. This leads to a random orientation of thè crystallites in a rigid, finely porous mass. In the graphitizing carbons the cross-linking is much weaker, the structure is more compact, and neighbouring crystallites have a strong tendency to lie in nearly parallel orientation. It is shown that crystallite growth occurs by the gradual displacement of whole layer-planes or even of groups of layer-planes. The pre-orientation existing in the graphitizing carbons facilitates this process, enabling the rearrangement of the layer-planes to take place by small stages. It is the principal factor favouring crystallite growth in the graphitizing carbons. In the non-graphitizing carbons crystallite growth is impeded both by the strong cross-linking between neighbouring crystallites and by their random orientation.