Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oceanic island biogeography through the lens of the general dynamic model: assessment and prospect

The general dynamic model of oceanic island biogeography (GDM) has added a new dimension to theoretical island biogeography in recognizing that geological processes are key drivers of the evolutionary processes of diversification and extinction within remote islands. It provides a dynamic and essentially non‐equilibrium framework generating novel predictions for emergent diversity properties of oceanic islands and archipelagos. Its publication in 2008 coincided with, and spurred on, renewed attention to the dynamics of remote islands. We review progress, both in testing the GDM's predictions and in developing and enhancing ecological–evolutionary understanding of oceanic island systems through the lens of the GDM. In particular, we focus on four main themes: (i) macroecological tests using a space‐for‐time rationale; (ii) extensions of theory to islands following different patterns of ontogeny; (iii) the implications of GDM dynamics for lineage diversification and trait evolution; and (iv) the potential for downscaling GDM dynamics to local‐scale ecological patterns and processes within islands. We also consider the implications of the GDM for understanding patterns of non‐native species diversity. We demonstrate the vitality of the field of island biogeography by identifying a range of potentially productive lines for future research.
Double Matching: Social Contacts in a Labour Market with On-the-Job Search

This paper develops a matching model of the labor market with heterogeneous firms, on-the-job search and family referrals. The overall effect of referrals on wages can be decomposed into three distinct components. First, if referrals are used to help unemployed partners find jobs, then recommended workers are disproportionately concentrated in the left tail of the earnings distribution. This is a negative concentration effect of referrals, which emerges because workers accept (forward to the partner) job offers from more (less) productive employers. Second, if referrals are also used by workers to pool their less successful employed partners to more productive jobs, then the process of on-the-job search is intensified. This is a positive pooling effect of referrals. Third, better connected workers bargain higher wages for a given level of productivity. This is a positive effect of referrals on reservation wages and earnings. In the equilibrium, the overall effect of referrals can be positive (wage premiums) or negative (wage penalties). The negative effect is dominating in labor markets with strong productivity heterogeneity of firms and large bargaining power of workers. Otherwise, the positive effect is dominating. Referrals can have a negative effect on social welfare if there is a sharp drop in the search intensity after workers accept low productivity jobs.
Extrahepatic toxicity of acetaminophen: critical evaluation of the evidence and proposed mechanisms

Research on acetaminophen (APAP) toxicity over the last several decades has focused on the pathophysiology of liver injury, but increasingly attention is paid to other known and possible adverse effects. It has been known for decades that APAP causes acute kidney injury, but confusion exists regarding prevalence, and the mechanisms have not been well investigated. More recently, evidence for pulmonary, endocrine, neurological, and neurodevelopmental toxicity has been reported in a number of published experimental, clinical, and epidemiological studies, but the quality of those studies has varied. It is important to view those data critically due to implications for regulation and clinical practice. Here, we review evidence and proposed mechanisms for extrahepatic adverse effects of APAP and weigh weaknesses and strengths in the available data. Relevance for patients: APAP is one of the most commonly used drugs in the West. Although it is generally considered safe when used according to manufacturer recommendations, it has been known for decades that overdose can cause liver injury. Recent studies have suggested that APAP can damage cells in other organs as well, leading to calls for more and stricter regulations, which would limit use of this otherwise effective drug. It is especially important to view claims of developmental effects of antenatal APAP exposure with a critical eye because APAP is currently the only over-the-counter medication recommended for pregnant women to self-treat pain and fever.
Synergistic union of Word2Vec and lexicon for domain specific semantic similarity

Semantic similarity measures are an important part in Natural Language Processing tasks. However Semantic similarity measures built for general use do not perform well within specific domains. Therefore in this study we introduce a domain specific semantic similarity measure that was created by the synergistic union of word2vec, a word embedding method that is used for semantic similarity calculation and lexicon based (lexical) semantic similarity methods. We prove that this proposed methodology outperforms both, word embedding methods trained on a generic corpus and word embedding methods trained on a domain specific corpus, which do not use lexical semantic similarity methods to augment the results. Further, we prove that text lemmatization can improve the performance of word embedding methods.
I STITUTO DI A NALISI DEI S ISTEMI

The Perspective Reformulation is a general approach for constructing tight approximations to MINLP problems with semicontinuous variables. Two different reformulations have been proposed for solving it, one resulting in a Second-Order Cone Program, the other based on representing the perspective function by (an infinite number of) cutting planes. We compare the two reformulations on two sets of MIQPs to determine which one is most effective in the context of exact or approximate Branch-and-Cut algorithms.
Cochlear Implantation in Infants Deafened by Congenital Cytomegalovirus

Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) is the most common intra-uterine viral infection in most developed countries. In Flanders (Belgium), Foulon and colleagues (2008) found a prevalence of approximately 0.53 per cent. Moreover, cCMV has been identified as the leading cause of non-genetic congenital sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in infants. The vast majority of infected newborns are asymptomatic at birth (90%), although 7–21 per cent of patients are at risk for developing SNHL, neurologic deficits, and behavioural problems later on in life (Dahle et al., 2000; Foulon et al., 2008). Research has shown that progression, fluctuation, improvement, and late onset SNHL are commonly seen within asymptomatic cCMV children (Fowler et al., 1997). Approximately 10 per cent of the infected infants (symptomatic cCMV children) are born with clinically apparent sequelae, including SNHL, mental retardation, microcephaly, and severe neurologic deficits. Cochlear implantation is of value in the setting of cCMV-associated severe SNHL, although the outcome is less predictive. Case series indicate benefit with good speech and language development (Ramirez-Inscoe et al., 2004; Lee et al., 2005).
Preferential use of unmutated immunoglobulin heavy variable region genes in Boxer dogs with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Human chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a clinically heterogeneous disease, and immunoglobulin heavy variable region (IGHV) gene mutational status is an important prognostic marker. IGHV mutational status has not been previously examined in canine CLL. We sequenced the IGHV-D-J rearrangements from 55 canine patients with CLL, including 36 non-Boxer and 19 Boxer dogs. The majority of non-Boxers (75%) had mutated IGHV genes, whereas the majority of Boxers (79%) had unmutated IGHV genes. IGHV3-41 and IGHV3-67 gene usage was significantly higher in Boxers with CLL compared to non-Boxers. Additionally, 11 Boxers with large B-cell lymphoma and the normal IGHV repertoire of six control dogs (three Boxers and three non-Boxers) were sequenced. IGHV3-41 was preferentially used in Boxers with other forms of lymphoma and without lymphoproliferative disease. However, preferential use of unmutated IGHV genes was unique to Boxers with CLL, suggesting Boxers may be a valuable model to investigate unmutated CLL.
3D-Printed Detector Band for Magnetic Off-Plane Flux Measurements in Laminated Machine Cores

Laminated soft magnetic cores of transformers, rotating machines etc. may exhibit complex 3D flux distributions with pronounced normal fluxes (off-plane fluxes), perpendicular to the plane of magnetization. As recent research activities have shown, detections of off-plane fluxes tend to be essential for the optimization of core performances aiming at a reduction of core losses and of audible noise. Conventional sensors for off-plane flux measurements tend to be either of high thickness, influencing the measured fluxes significantly, or require laborious preparations. In the current work, thin novel detector bands for effective and simple off-plane flux detections in laminated machine cores were manufactured. They are printed in an automatic way by an in-house developed 3D/2D assembler. The latter enables a unique combination of conductive and non-conductive materials. The detector bands were effectively tested in the interior of a two-package, three-phase model transformer core. They proved to be mechanically resilient, even for strong clamping of the core.
On the Use of Distance Maps in the Analysis of 1D DNA Gel Images

DNA gels analysis plays an important role in genetic of populations and genetic disorders diagnosis studies. The main purpose of this procedure is to determine the size(measured in base pairs) of every DNA fragment present in the gel. This paper describes a procedure, based on digital image processing techniques, that leads to lanes segmentation and bands detection on the digital image, with help of procedures such as autocorrelation and distance maps estimation. It is a completely new approach to DNA electrophoresis gels analysis; the algorithm is more robust and precise than previous works developed until now, and also offers the same (and sometimes better) performance offered by some commercial software evaluated.
Health-related quality of life in hearing-impaired adolescents and children

Abstract Objective: To evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in hearing-impaired adolescents and children and to compare it with that of hearing individuals. Study design and setting: Hearing-impaired adolescents and children were recruited to the study during their annual control visit to the Hearing Clinic of Helsinki University Hospital. They filled in a HRQoL questionnaire, either the 16-dimensional 16D (adolescents aged 12–17 years) or the 17-dimensional 17D (children aged 7–11 years). The total HRQoL scores were compared with previously collected data, matched for age and gender, from adolescents and children without any known handicaps or illnesses. Results: In total 50 adolescents and 50 children completed the questionnaire. Of the 16/17 dimensions of the HRQoL instrument, hearing and communication were affected the most. The total HRQoL scores were somewhat lower in adolescents and children with hearing impairment than in the general populations of age-matched peers (p < .001 for adolescents and .030 for children). Conclusions: HRQoL in hearing-impaired adolescents and children is only slightly worse than in hearing adolescents and children. Significance: This study evaluates the impact of hearing loss on HRQoL to enhance the care of these children.
Testing the ability of functional diversity indices to detect trait convergence and divergence using individual‐based simulation

The quest for ‘assembly rules’, that is the processes shaping the species composition of communities, is a central issue in community ecology. Nevertheless, so far there is no general agreement on a framework to detect assembly rules in real‐life data: several key elements are still missing or heavily disputed, including the choice of the appropriate test statistic (e.g. functional diversity index) and randomization strategy for each major assembly process. Simulation studies based on artificial communities can help to explore the usefulness of different approaches in detecting assembly rules. Nevertheless, the currently dominant approach to simulate artificial communities (i.e. selecting species from a pool based solely on trait values) oversimplifies the complex processes involved in community assembly and thus fails to produce realistic patterns. Consequently, its value for testing methodologies is seriously limited. In this study, we implemented a flexible, individual‐based algorithm simulating real‐life community processes (individuals are born, survive, compete for resources, reproduce and die), to generate artificial species composition data. With the help of this algorithm, we estimated the type I error rates and the statistical power of five different diversity indices (FRic, Rao's quadratic entropy, FEve, the variance of functional distances, and the variance of nearest‐neighbour distances) in combination with three randomization strategies (randomization of trait values in the whole data set, within‐plots and within the range of trait values occurring in each plot) for detecting two underlying assembly processes (habitat filtering and limiting similarity). We also tested the influence of all adjustable simulation parameters on the simulation results in a sensitivity analysis framework. The results of the sensitivity analysis show that the individual‐based simulation framework proposed here can be used for creating artificial community data with realistic pattern of trait values. Based on the results, Rao's quadratic entropy performed best for detecting both habitat filtering (trait convergence) and limiting similarity (trait divergence). Functional richness may also be suitable for detect traiting convergence. Functional evenness and variance of nearest‐neighbour distances, however, should not be used for finding assembly rules.
Identifying Additional Risk Factors for Thrombosis and Pregnancy Morbidities Among Antiphospholipid Antibodies Carriers

The evaluation of thrombotic and pregnancy risks associated with antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL)in individual patients without antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) clinical manifestation is challenging. Our aim is to identify additional risk factors or potential candidate “second hits” for APS clinical events in a large cohort of ethnically diverse aPL-positive patients. We included 219 consecutive aPL-positive patients who attended clinic at our institution. All patients had at least 1 persistent high titer (≥99 percentiles) aPL. Independent risk factors for thrombosis and pregnancy morbidities among patients with positive aPL were evaluated. When assessing risk factors associated with pregnancy morbidities, only female controls of reproductive age (age ≤45) were used. Pearson χ2 analysis and multivariable logistic regression were used to evaluate correlation between different risk factors and clinical manifestations. Of the 219 aPL-positive patients, 120 (54.8%) patients had criteria APS clinical manifestations and 99 patients did not. A total of 46.1% were Caucasian, 26.4% of African descent, 16.9% Hispanic, 1.8% Asian, and 8.7% were unspecified. Among traditional risk factors and signs of endothelial injury, only hypertension demonstrated an independent association with arterial thrombosis (odds ratio [OR] = 3.826, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.597-9.167, P = .0026), and lupus anticoagulant (LA) demonstrated an independent association with venous thrombosis (OR = 3.308, 95% CI: 1.544-7.085, P = .0021). None of the evaluated risk factors demonstrated a significant association with pregnancy morbidity. Hypertension is a potential predictor of arterial thrombosis and the presence of LA is a potential predictor of venous thrombosis in aPL-positive patients.
Scoring of Decomposition: A Proposed Amendment to the Method When Using a Pig Model for Human Studies

Decomposition studies often use pigs as proxies for human cadavers. However, differences in decomposition sequences/rates relative to humans have not been scientifically examined. Descriptions of five main decomposition stages (humans) were developed and refined by Galloway and later by Megyesi. However, whether these changes/processes are alike in pigs is unclear. Any differences can have significant effects when pig models are used for human PMI estimation. This study compared human decomposition models to the changes observed in pigs. Twenty pigs (50–90 kg) were decomposed over five months and decompositional features recorded. Total body scores (TBS) were calculated. Significant differences were observed during early decomposition between pigs and humans. An amended scoring system to be used in future studies was developed. Standards for PMI estimation derived from porcine models may not directly apply to humans and may need adjustment. Porcine models, however, remain valuable to study variables influencing decomposition.
Adipocytes secreted leptin is a pro-tumor factor for survival of multiple myeloma under chemotherapy

Accumulating evidences have shown that adipokines secreted from adipocytes contributes to tumor development, especially leptin. However, underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study aims to explore the effect of leptin on development and chemoresistance in multiple myeloma cells and the potential mechanism. Analysis of levels of adipokines including leptin and adiponectin in 28 multiple myeloma patients identified significantly higher leptin compared with 28 normal controls(P < 0.05), and leptin level was positively correlated with clinical stage, IgG, ER, and ß2MG. Next, by using co-culture system of myeloma and adipocytes, and pharmacologic enhancement of leptin, we found that increased growth of myeloma cells and reduced toxicity of bortezomib were best observed at 50 ng/ml of leptin, along with increased expression of cyclinD1, Bcl-2 and decreased caspase-3 expression. We also found that phosphorylated AKT and STAT3 but not the proteins expression reached peak after 1h and 6h treatment of leptin, respectively. By using AG490, an agent blocking the phosphorylation of AKT and ERK, the proliferation of myeloma cells was inhibited, as well as the phosphorylation of AKT and STAT3, even adding leptin. Taken together, our study demonstrated that up-regulated leptin could stimulate proliferation of myeloma and reduce the anti-tumor effect of chemotherapy possibly via activating AKT and STAT3 pathways, and leptin might be one of the potential therapeutic targets for treating myeloma.
Classifying previously undefined days from eleven years of aerosol-particle-size distribution data from the SMEAR II station, Hyytiälä, Finland

Studies of secondary aerosol-particle formation depend on identifying days in which new particle formation occurs and, by comparing them to days with no signs of particle formation, identifying the conditions favourable for formation. Continuous aerosol size distribution data has been collected at the SMEAR II station in a boreal forest in Hyytiala, Finland, since 1996, making it the longest time series of aerosol size distributions available worldwide. In previous studies, the data have been classified as particle-formation event, nonevent, and undefined days, with almost 40% of the dataset classified as undefined. In the present study, eleven years (1996–2006) of undefined days (1630 days) were reanalyzed and subdivided into three new classes: failed events (37% of all previously undefined days), ultrafine-mode concentration peaks (34%), and pollution-related concentration peaks (19%). Unclassified days (10%) comprised the rest of the previously undefined days. The failed events were further subdivided into tail events (21%), where a tail of a formation event presumed to be advected to Hyytiala from elsewhere, and quasi events (16%) where new particles appeared at sizes 3–10 nm, but showed unclear growth, the mode persisted for less than an hour, or both. The ultrafine concentration peaks days were further subdivided into nucleation-mode peaks (24%) and Aitken-mode peaks (10%), depending on the size range where the particles occurred. The mean annual distribution of the failed events has a maximum during summer, whereas the two peak classes have maxima during winter. The summer minimum previously found in the seasonal distribution of event days partially offsets a summer maximum in failed-event days. Daily-mean relative humidity and condensation sink values are useful in discriminating the new classes from each other. Specifically, event days had low values of relative humidity and condensation sink relative to nonevent days. Failed-event days possessed intermediate condensation sink and relative humidity values, whereas both ultrafine-mode peaks and, to a greater extent, pollution-related peaks had high values of both, similar to nonevent days. Using 96-h back trajectories, particle-size concentrations were plotted as a function of time the trajectory spent over land. Increases in particle size and number concentration during failed-event days were similar to that during the later stages of event days, whereas the particle size and number concentration for both nonevent and peaks classes did not increase as fast as for event and failed events days.
On context awareness and social distance in human mobility traces

Opportunistic networks consist of mobile devices, carried by people in their everyday lives. They organize autonomously to exchange data with direct neighbors without the use of any infrastructural services. Since the devices are carried by humans, one of the main challenges to consider in opportunistic networks is the human mobility behavior. However, little work exists on how the social behavior of people drives their mobility behavior and how this context information can be systematically leveraged for opportunistic networking applications. This paper tackles this problem by providing both experimental and theoretical analysis of human mobility context information. We present a novel real world experiment with sensor nodes carried by people to demonstrate and study the effect of context on people mobility. Furthermore, we define a novel metric of social distance to put this new evidence on solid mathematical foundation. Thus, our work puts a basis to systematically leveraging context information for opportunistic networking applications and services. Additionally, our experimental data traces enable testing and evaluation of such novel services in a real world scenario.