Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gamma-Ray Bursts and the Earth: Exploration of Atmospheric, Biological, Climatic, and Biogeochemical Effects

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are likely to have made a number of significant impacts on the Earth during the last billion years. The gamma radiation from a burst within a few kiloparsecs would quickly deplete much of the Earth's protective ozone layer, allowing an increase in solar UVB radiation reaching the surface. This radiation is harmful to life, damaging DNA and causing sunburn. In addition, NO2 produced in the atmosphere would cause a decrease in visible sunlight reaching the surface and could cause global cooling. Nitric acid rain could stress portions of the biosphere, but the increased nitrate deposition could be helpful to land plants. We have used a two-dimensional atmospheric model to investigate the effects on the Earth's atmosphere of GRBs delivering a range of fluences, at various latitudes, at the equinoxes and solstices, and at different times of day. We have estimated DNA damage levels caused by increased solar UVB radiation, reduction in solar visible light due to NO2 opacity, and deposition of nitrates through rainout of HNO3. For the "typical" nearest burst in the last billion years, we find globally averaged ozone depletion up to 38%. Localized depletion reaches as much as 74%. Significant global depletion (at least 10%) persists up to about 7 yr after the burst. Our results depend strongly on time of year and latitude over which the burst occurs. The impact scales with the total fluence of the GRB at the Earth but is insensitive to the time of day of the burst and its duration (1-1000 s). We find DNA damage of up to 16 times the normal annual global average, well above lethal levels for simple life forms such as phytoplankton. The greatest damage occurs at mid- to low latitudes. We find reductions in visible sunlight of a few percent, primarily in the polar regions. Nitrate deposition similar to or slightly greater than that currently caused by lightning is also observed, lasting several years. We discuss how these results support the hypothesis that the Late Ordovician mass extinction may have been initiated by a GRB.
Classification and definition of disorders causing hypertonia in childhood.

OBJECTIVE This report describes the consensus outcome of an interdisciplinary workshop that was held at the National Institutes of Health in April 2001. The purpose of the workshop and this article are to define the terms "spasticity," "dystonia," and "rigidity" as they are used to describe clinical features of hypertonia in children. The definitions presented here are designed to allow differentiation of clinical features even when more than 1 is present simultaneously. METHODS A consensus agreement was obtained on the best current definitions and their application in clinical situations. RESULTS "Spasticity" is defined as hypertonia in which 1 or both of the following signs are present: 1) resistance to externally imposed movement increases with increasing speed of stretch and varies with the direction of joint movement, and/or 2) resistance to externally imposed movement rises rapidly above a threshold speed or joint angle. "Dystonia" is defined as a movement disorder in which involuntary sustained or intermittent muscle contractions cause twisting and repetitive movements, abnormal postures, or both. "Rigidity" is defined as hypertonia in which all of the following are true: 1) the resistance to externally imposed joint movement is present at very low speeds of movement, does not depend on imposed speed, and does not exhibit a speed or angle threshold; 2) simultaneous co-contraction of agonists and antagonists may occur, and this is reflected in an immediate resistance to a reversal of the direction of movement about a joint; 3) the limb does not tend to return toward a particular fixed posture or extreme joint angle; and 4) voluntary activity in distant muscle groups does not lead to involuntary movements about the rigid joints, although rigidity may worsen. CONCLUSION We have provided a set of definitions for the purpose of identifying different components of childhood hypertonia. We encourage the development of clinical rating scales that are based on these definitions, and we encourage research to relate the degree of hypertonia to the degree of functional ability, change over time, and societal participation in children with motor disorders.
Effect of spontaneous arousals on cardio-respiratory interaction in healthy children

The aim of this paper was to study the effect of spontaneous arousals during night-time sleep on the interactions between R-R intervals and respiratory phases in healthy children. We collected overnight polysomnography data of 40 healthy children and investigated cardio-respiratory interaction before and after spontaneous arousals during stage 2 sleep using joint symbolic dynamics. The R-R time series were extracted from electrocardiograms (ECG) and respiratory phases were obtained from abdominal sensors using the Hilbert transform. Both the series were transformed into ternary symbol vectors based on the changes between two successive R-R intervals or respiratory phases, respectively. Subsequently, words of length `2' were formed and the correspondence between words of the two series was determined to quantify cardio-respiratory interaction for pre- and post-spontaneous arousal episodes. We observed a brief but significant shortening in R-R and respiratory intervals after arousal. There was also a significant short-term increase in cardio-respiratory interaction during the first 30-second post-arousal episode as compared to 30-second pre-arousal episode (7.5±3.4 vs. 5.2±3.7%, p<;0.0001, respectively). In conclusion, spontaneous arousals in healthy children during night-time sleep are associated with a temporal but significant increase in cardio-respiratory interaction.
Seven Dimensions of Portability for Language Documentation and Description

The process of documenting and describing the world's languages is undergoing radical transformation with the rapid uptake of new digital technologies for capture, storage, annotation, and dissemination. While these technologies greatly enhance our ability to create digital data, their uncritical adoption has compromised our ability to preserve this data. Consequently, new digital language resources of all kinds-lexicons, interlinear texts, grammars, language maps, field notes, recordings-are proving difficult to reuse and less portable than the conventional printed resources they replace. This article is concerned with the portability of digital language resources, specifically with their ability to transcend computer environments, scholarly communities, domains of application, and the passage of time. We review existing software tools and digital technologies for language documentation and description, and analyze portability problems in the seven areas of CONTENT, FORMAT, DISCOVERY, ACCESS, CITATION, PRESERVATION, and RIGHTS. We articulate the values that underlie our intuitions about good and bad practices, and lay out an extensive set of recommendations to serve as a starting point for the community-wide discussion that we envisage. *
Taste Sensitivity of Common Carp Cyprinus Carpio to Free Amino Acids and Classical Taste Substances

Taste response of the yearlings of carp Cyprinus carpio of 9-12 cm in length to 21 free amino acids (L = stereoisomeres) and classic taste substances is ascertained by in testing behavioral methods. It is found that these compounds can be divided by their taste properties into groups of substances that are highly attractive (cysteine, proline, glutamic and aspartic acids, alanine, glutamine, citric acid, calcium chloride), neutral (histi- dine, lysin, leucine, tyrosine, glycine, asparagine, isoleucine, norvaline, sodium chloride, saccharose) and deterrent (tryptophane, arginine, threonine, methionine, phenylalanine, serine, valine). Threshold concentra- tions are determined for the most attractive substances. It is estimated that the absolute quantity of the substance in pellet which is sufficient for stimulating a significant taste response is 4.27 and 3.39 µ g or 3.53 × 10 -10 and 1.77 × 10 -10 mole for cysteine and citric acid. Positive correlation between palatability of pellets and the dura- tion that are retained by fish in the oral cavity is shown. The anosmiating of fish did not cause any changes in the features and intensity of fish gustatory response, nor in range of effective concentrations. The relationship between the palatability of amino acids and some of their structural features, and the physiological requirements of carp for them, is considered. A hypothesis of the zonality of the intraoral gustatory buds sensitive to different types of substances is made.
Do Entrepreneurs Make Predictable Mistakes? Evidence from Corporate Divestitures

: We assess the argument that corporate acquisitions are driven mainly by agency considerations. This argument holds that certain kinds of mergers—mergers between firms in unrelated industries, mergers between firms with large differences in price-earnings ratios, and mergers financed with stock swaps, for example—will consistently fail, eventually being reversed in a divestiture. Appealing to Mises’s theory of entrepreneurship, we argue instead that divestitures of previously acquired assets usually result from experimentation and learning, healthy attributes of a market economy. We then describe empirical evidence that the long-term success or failure of corporate acquisitions cannot, in general, be predicted by measures of agency conflicts. We also show that mistaken acquisitions are more likely under certain circum-stances, namely during periods of intense, industry-specific regulatory activity. This is consistent with the view, expressed repeatedly in the Austrian literature, that entrepreneurial error is associated with government intervention—in particular, with government ownership of property and interference with the price system.
Developing an Ecotoxicological Testing Standard for Predatory Mites in Australia: Acute and Sublethal Effects of Fungicides on Euseius victoriensis and Galendromus occidentalis (Acarina: Phytoseiidae)

Abstract Laboratory bioassays for testing the effect of agrochemicals on Euseius victoriensis (Womersley) and Galendromus occidentalis (Nesbitt) on detached leaves of Glycine max (L.) (soybean) and Phaseolus vulgaris L. (French bean) were developed. The tests allowed standardized comparisons between mite species and leaf substrates, under “worst-case scenario” exposure, comparable with commercial pesticide application. Young juveniles, along with their initial food and the entire water supply, were sprayed to the point of runoff by using a Potter spray tower. The highest registered field rate concentration used on French bean was adjusted to deliver the same pesticide dose per higher runoff point spray volume on soybean. Cumulative mortality was assessed at 48 h, 4 d, and 7 d after spray application. Fecundity was assessed for 7 d from the onset of egg lay. Boscalid (Filan 500 WG), dithianon (Delan 700 WG), and kresoxim-methyl (Stroby 500 WG) caused no significant 7-d mortality or fecundity reduction to G. occidentalis or E. victoriensis compared with controls, and are classified as harmless to both species. Mancozeb (Mancozeb 750 WG) was highly toxic to both species, resulting in severe mortality and fecundity reduction and is considered incompatible with integrated pest management programs that use these species. Metiram (Polyram 700 WG) was highly toxic to E. victoriensis but only moderately toxic to G. occidentalis. Analyses of mortality proportions, including, and excluding unaccounted escapees, produced the same results. Test standardization on leaf substrates provides an alternative approach to standardization via residue on glass used by International Organisation for Biological and Integrated Control or Noxious Animals and Plants/West Palaearctic Regional Section regulatory testing in the European Union.
Role of CD8+ and CD4+ T Lymphocytes in Jejunal Mucosal Injury during Murine Giardiasis

ABSTRACT T-cell-mediated pathogenesis has been documented in various idiopathic and microbially induced intestinal disorders. Diffuse microvillous shortening seen in giardiasis is responsible for disaccharidase insufficiencies and malabsorption of electrolytes, nutrients, and water. Other mucosal changes include crypt hyperplasia and increased numbers of intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL). A recent report using an athymic mouse model of infection showed that these epithelial injuries were dependent on T cells. The aim of the present study was to identify which subset of superior mesenteric lymph node (SMLN) T cells were responsible for mucosal alterations in giardiasis. CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, as well as whole lymphocyte populations, were isolated from SMLN of Giardia muris-infected mice for adoptive transfer. Jejunal segments of recipient mice were assessed for brush border ultrastructure, sucrase activity, crypt/villus ratio, and IEL numbers. Mice that received enriched CD8+ and whole SMLN lymphocytes, but not CD4+ T cells, from infected donors showed diffuse shortening of microvilli, loss of brush border surface area, impaired sucrase activity, and increased crypt/villus ratios compared to respective controls. Transfer of whole SMLN lymphocytes, as well as enriched CD4+ or CD8+ T cells, from infected donors led to increased IEL numbers in the recipient jejunum. The findings indicate that loss of intestinal brush border surface area, reduced disaccharidase activities, and increased crypt/villus ratios in giardiasis are mediated by CD8+ T cells, whereas both CD8+ and CD4+ SMLN T cells regulate the influx of IEL.
Effects of a single-task versus a dual-task paradigm on cognition and balance in healthy subjects.

CONTEXT Recent evidence has revealed deficiencies in the ability to divide attention after concussion. OBJECTIVE To examine the effects of a single vs a dual task on cognition and balance in healthy subjects and to examine reliability of 2 dual-task paradigms while examining the overall feasibility of the tasks. DESIGN Pretest-posttest experimental design. SETTING Sports medicine research laboratory. PATIENTS 30 healthy, recreationally active college students. INTERVENTION Subjects performed balance and cognitive tasks under the single- and dual-task conditions during 2 test sessions 14 d apart. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The procedural reaction-time (PRT) test of the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (eyes-closed tasks) and an adapted Procedural Auditory Task (PAT; eyes-open tasks) were used to assess cognition. The NeuroCom Sensory Organization Test (SOT) and the Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) were used to assess balance performance. Five 2-way, within-subject ANOVAs and a paired-samples t test were used to analyze the data. ICCs were used to assess reliability across 2 test sessions. RESULTS On the SOT, performance significantly improved between test sessions (F1,29 = 35.695, P < .001) and from the single to the dual task (F1,29 = 9.604, P = .004). On the PRT, performance significantly improved between test sessions (F1,29 = 57.252, P < .001) and from the single to the dual task (F1,29 = 7.673, P = .010). No differences were seen on the BESS and the PAT. Reliability across test sessions ranged from moderate to poor for outcome measure. CONCLUSIONS The BESS appears to be a more reliable and functional tool in dual-task conditions as a result of its increased reliability and clinical applicability. In addition, the BESS is more readily available to clinicians than the SOT.
Fast and slow gating are inherent properties of the pore module of the K+ channel Kcv

Kcv from the chlorella virus PBCV-1 is a viral protein that forms a tetrameric, functional K+ channel in heterologous systems. Kcv can serve as a model system to study and manipulate basic properties of the K+ channel pore because its minimalistic structure (94 amino acids) produces basic features of ion channels, such as selectivity, gating, and sensitivity to blockers. We present a characterization of Kcv properties at the single-channel level. In symmetric 100 mM K+, single-channel conductance is 114 ± 11 pS. Two different voltage-dependent mechanisms are responsible for the gating of Kcv. “Fast” gating, analyzed by β distributions, is responsible for the negative slope conductance in the single-channel current–voltage curve at extreme potentials, like in MaxiK potassium channels, and can be explained by depletion-aggravated instability of the filter region. The presence of a “slow” gating is revealed by the very low (in the order of 1–4%) mean open probability that is voltage dependent and underlies the time-dependent component of the macroscopic current.
[Validation of the "International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire -- Short Form" (ICIQ-SF) for Portuguese].

OBJECTIVE To translate into and validate for Portuguese the "International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire -- Short Form" (ICIQ-SF), a condition-specific quality-of-life questionnaire for patients with urinary incontinence. METHODS Two Brazilians independently translated the original ICIQ-SF into Portuguese. These two translations were harmonized, and then checked by independent back-translation by two native English speakers. The harmonized translation was pre-tested in a pilot study on 20 patients. The final version of the ICIQ-SF in Portuguese was applied to 123 consecutive patients aged 16 or over (29 males and 94 females) with a complaint of urinary incontinence, who had sought the Department of Urogynecology and Uroneurology of the School of Medical Sciences of Unicamp. The Portuguese version of the King's Health Questionnaire (KHQ) was also applied to the same group. The psychometric properties of the questionnaire, such as reliability and construct validity were assessed. RESULTS The median age was 53 years (range: 16 to 86). The mean retest interval for the ICIQ-SF was 14.37 days (range: 6 to 41). No changes from the original format of the ICIQ-SF were observed at the end of the process of translation and cultural adaptation. The internal consistency was high (0.88), as measured by the Cronbach alpha coefficient. The test-retest value was considered moderate to strong, as measured by the weighted Kappa index (range: 0.72 to 0.75) and Pearson correlation coefficient (0.89). The correlation between the ICIQ-SF and KHQ was considered to be moderate to good for most items (range: 0.44 to 0.77). The evaluation of the construct and concurrent validity was also satisfactory and statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS The "International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire" (ICIQ-SF) was successfully translated into Portuguese and validated for application to Brazilian female and male patients complaining of urinary incontinence, with satisfactory reliability and construct validity.
Towards Affective Algorithmic Composition

Automated systems for the selective adjustment of emotional responses by means of musical features are driving an emerging field: affective algorithmic composition. Strategies for algorithmic composition, and the large variety of systems for computer-automation of such strategies, are well documented in literature. Reviews of computer systems for expressive performance (CSEMPs) also provide a thorough overview of the extensive work carried out in the area of expressive computer music performance, with some crossover between composition and performance systems. Although there has been a significant amount of work (largely carried out within the last decade) implementing systems for algorithmic composition with the intention of targeting specific emotional responses in the listener, a full review of this work is not currently available, creating a shared obstacle to those entering the field which, if left unchecked, can only continue to grow. This paper gives an overview of the progress in this emerging field, including systems that combine composition and expressive performance metrics. Re-composition, and transformative algorithmic composition systems are included and differentiated where appropriate, highlighting the challenges these systems now face and suggesting a direction for further work. A framework for the categorisation and evaluation of these systems is proposed including methods for the parameterisation of musical features from semiotic research targeting specific emotional correlates. The framework provides an overarching epistemological platform and practical vernacular for the development of future work using algorithmic composition and expressive performance systems to monitor and induce affective states in the listener.
Three-Party Authenticated Quantum Key Distribution Protocol with Time Constraint

The quantum cryptographic key assignment problem is getting important in an optic network, when it is to assign cryptographic keys to each of communication parties via insecure optic channel. In this paper, we propose Three-Party Authenticated Quantum Key Distribution Protocol with Time-Bound (3PAQKD-TB). Each session key corresponding to the measurement bases dynamically changed for each time-period, which is belonging to the intersection set from both two parties' negotiated time bounds. In the constraint time-periods, the session key will be changed at each time-period. Both parties will generate the different polarization quantum states at each time-period. Therefore, the eavesdropper cannot guess easily the bases.
Online optimization of surface plasmon resonance‐based biosensor experiments for improved throughput and confidence

The emergence of surface plasmon resonance‐based optical biosensors has facilitated the identification of kinetic parameters for various macromolecular interactions. Normally, these parameters are determined from experiments with arbitrarily chosen periods of macromolecule and buffer injections, and varying macromolecule concentrations. Since the choice of these variables is arbitrary, such experiments may not provide the required confidence in identified kinetic parameters expressed in terms of standard errors. In this work, an iterative optimization approach is used to determine the above‐mentioned variables so as to reduce the experimentation time, while treating the required standard errors as constraints. It is shown using multiple experimental and simulated data that the desired confidence can be reached with much shorter experiments than those generally performed by biosensor users. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.