Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stable Isotope Analysis Provides New Information on Winter Habitat Use of Declining Avian Migrants That Is Relevant to Their Conservation

Winter habitat use and the magnitude of migratory connectivity are important parameters when assessing drivers of the marked declines in avian migrants. Such information is unavailable for most species. We use a stable isotope approach to assess these factors for three declining African-Eurasian migrants whose winter ecology is poorly known: wood warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix, house martin Delichon urbicum and common swift Apus apus. Spatially segregated breeding wood warbler populations (sampled across a 800 km transect), house martins and common swifts (sampled across a 3,500 km transect) exhibited statistically identical intra-specific carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in winter grown feathers. Such patterns are compatible with a high degree of migratory connectivity, but could arise if species use isotopically similar resources at different locations. Wood warbler carbon isotope ratios are more depleted than typical for African-Eurasian migrants and are compatible with use of moist lowland forest. The very limited variance in these ratios indicates specialisation on isotopically restricted resources, which may drive the similarity in wood warbler populations' stable isotope ratios and increase susceptibility to environmental change within its wintering grounds. House martins were previously considered to primarily use moist montane forest during the winter, but this seems unlikely given the enriched nature of their carbon isotope ratios. House martins use a narrower isotopic range of resources than the common swift, indicative of increased specialisation or a relatively limited wintering range; both factors could increase house martins' vulnerability to environmental change. The marked variance in isotope ratios within each common swift population contributes to the lack of population specific signatures and indicates that the species is less vulnerable to environmental change in sub-Saharan Africa than our other focal species. Our findings demonstrate how stable isotope research can contribute to understanding avian migrants' winter ecology and conservation status.
Mind wandering and motor control: off-task thinking disrupts the online adjustment of behavior

Mind wandering episodes have been construed as periods of “stimulus-independent” thought, where our minds are decoupled from the external sensory environment. In two experiments, we used behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measures to determine whether mind wandering episodes can also be considered as periods of “response-independent” thought, with our minds disengaged from adjusting our behavioral outputs. In the first experiment, participants performed a motor tracking task and were occasionally prompted to report whether their attention was “on-task” or “mind wandering. ” We found greater tracking error in periods prior to mind wandering vs. on-task reports. To ascertain whether this finding was due to attenuation in visual perception per se vs. a disruptive effect of mind wandering on performance monitoring, we conducted a second experiment in which participants completed a time-estimation task. They were given feedback on the accuracy of their estimations while we recorded their EEG, and were also occasionally asked to report their attention state. We found that the sensitivity of behavior and the P3 ERP component to feedback signals were significantly reduced just prior to mind wandering vs. on-task attentional reports. Moreover, these effects co-occurred with decreases in the error-related negativity elicited by feedback signals (fERN), a direct measure of behavioral feedback assessment in cortex. Our findings suggest that the functional consequences of mind wandering are not limited to just the processing of incoming stimulation per se, but extend as well to the control and adjustment of behavior.
Validity of Antonovsky’s sense of coherence scale: a systematic review

Study objective: The aim of this paper is to systematically review and analyse the validity and reliability of Antonovsky’s life orientation questionnaire/sense of coherence scale (SOC). Design: The study is descriptive and analytical with a systematic integration of the contemporary knowledge base on the salutogenic research published 1992–2003. The review includes 458 scientific publications and 13 doctoral theses. Setting: Worldwide, based on postgraduate scientific publications in eight authorised databases, doctoral theses, and available books. Main results: The SOC questionnaire has been used in at least 33 languages in 32 countries with at least 15 different versions of the questionnaire. In 124 studies using SOC-29 the Cronbach’s α ranges from 0.70 to 0.95. The α values in 127 studies using SOC-13 range from 0.70 to 0.92, and in 60 studies using a modified SOC scale range from 0.35 to 0.91. Test-retest correlation show stability and range from 0.69 to 0.78 (1 year), 0.64 (3 years), 0.42 to 0.45 (4 years), 0.59 to 0.67 (5 years) to 0.54 (10 years). The means of SOC-29 range 100.50 (SD 28.50) to 164.50 (SD 17.10) points and SOC-13 from 35.39 (SD 0.10) to 77.60 (SD 13.80) points. After 10 years SOC seems to be comparatively stable, but not as stable as Antonovsky initially assumed. SOC tends to increase with age. The factorial structure of SOC seems rather to be multidimensional than unidimensional. SOC predicts a positive outcome in a long term perspective, although there are divergent findings reported. The SOC scale seems to be a reliable, valid, and cross culturally applicable instrument measuring how people manage stressful situations and stay well.
Effects of the recession on public mood in the UK

Large scale analysis of social media content allows for real time discovery of macro-scale patterns in public opinion and sentiment. In this paper we analyse a collection of 484 million tweets generated by more than 9.8 million users from the United Kingdom over the past 31 months, a period marked by economic downturn and some social tensions. Our findings, besides corroborating our choice of method for the detection of public mood, also present intriguing patterns that can be explained in terms of events and social changes. On the one hand, the time series we obtain show that periodic events such as Christmas and Halloween evoke similar mood patterns every year. On the other hand, we see that a significant increase in negative mood indicators coincide with the announcement of the cuts to public spending by the government, and that this effect is still lasting. We also detect events such as the riots of summer 2011, as well as a possible calming effect coinciding with the run up to the royal wedding.
Morfit

With significant data missing in a point scan, reconstructing a complete surface with sufficient geometric and topological fidelity is highly challenging. We present an interactive technique for surface reconstruction from incomplete and sparse scans of 3D objects possessing sharp features. A fundamental premise of our interaction paradigm is that directly editing data in 3D is not only counterintuitive but also ineffective, while working with 1D entities (i.e., curves) is a lot more manageable. To this end, we factor 3D editing into two "orthogonal" interactions acting on skeletal and profile curves of the underlying shape, controlling its topology and geometric features, respectively. For surface completion, we introduce a novel skeleton-driven morph-to-fit, or morfit, scheme which reconstructs the shape as an ensemble of generalized cylinders. Morfit is a hybrid operator which optimally interpolates between adjacent curve profiles (the "morph") and snaps the surface to input points (the "fit"). The interactive reconstruction iterates between user edits and morfit to converge to a desired final surface. We demonstrate various interactive reconstructions from point scans with sharp features and significant missing data.
Postprandial Metabolic Profiles Following Meals and Snacks Eaten during Simulated Night and Day Shift Work

Shift workers are known to have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared with day workers. An important factor contributing to this increased risk could be the increased incidence of postprandial metabolic risk factors for CVD among shift workers, as a consequence of the maladaptation of endogenous circadian rhythms to abrupt changes in shift times. We have previously shown that both simulated and real shift workers showed relatively impaired glucose and lipid tolerance if a single test meal was consumed between 00:00–02:00 h (night shift) compared with 12:00–14:00 h (day shift). The objective of the present study was to extend these observations to compare the cumulative metabolic effect of consecutive snacks/meals, as might normally be consumed throughout a period of night or day shift work. In a randomized crossover study, eight healthy nonobese men (20–33 yrs, BMI 20–25 kg/m2) consumed a combination of two meals and a snack on two occasions following a standardized prestudy meal, simulating night and day shift working (total energy 2500 kcal: 40% fat, 50% carbohydrate, 10% protein). Meals were consumed at 01:00/13:00 h and 07:00/19:00 h, and the snack at 04:00/16:00 h. Blood was taken after an overnight fast, and for 8 h following the first meal on each occasion, for the measurement of glucose, insulin, triacylglycerol (TAG), and nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA). RM-ANOVA (factors time and shift) showed a significant effect of shift for plasma TAG, with higher levels on simulated night compared to day shift (p < 0.05). There was a trend toward an effect of shift for plasma glucose, with higher plasma glucose at night (p = 0.08), and there was a time-shift interaction for plasma insulin levels (p < 0.01). NEFA levels were unaffected by shift. Inspection of the area under the plasma response curve (AUC) following each meal and snack revealed that the differences in lipid tolerance occurred throughout the study, with greatest differences occurring following the mid-shift snack. In contrast, glucose tolerance was relatively impaired following the first night-time meal, with no differences observed following the second meal. Plasma insulin levels were significantly lower following the first meal (p < 0.05), but significantly higher following the second meal (p < 0.01) on the simulated night shift. These findings confirm our previous observations of raised postprandial TAG and glucose at night, and show that sequential meal ingestion has a more pronounced effect on subsequent lipid than carbohydrate tolerance.
Alveolar Hypoxia Increases Lung Fluid Filtration in Unanesthetized Newborn Lambs

We studied the pulmonary vascular response to hypoxia and associated transvascular flux of fluid into the lungs of newborn lambs. After a 2-hour baseline period, 14 unanesthetized lambs, 1-3 weeks old, breathed 10-12% oxygen in nitrogen for 3-6 hours. We measured steady state lung lymph flow, pulmonary arterial and left atrial pressures, blood flow to the lungs, and the concentration of protein in lymph and plasma. As Pao 2 decreased from 81 ± 3 torr to 32 ± 1 torr, pressure in the pulmonary artery almost doubled, left atrial pressure was unchanged, and pulmonary blood flow increased by 14%. Calculated pulmonary vascular resistance increased by 69%. Contrary to results of previous experiments performed with mature sheep, lymph flow increased by 80%, and the concentration of protein in lymph decreased during hypoxia. These results suggest that hypoxia increased the pulmonary transvascular gradient of hydraulic pressure in the lambs, increasing filtration of fluid into the lungs. Possible explanations are that pulmonary vasconstriction during hypoxia (1) occurred distal to the sites of transvascular fluid flux or (2) redistributed the increased blood flow to fewer lung vessels, thereby increasing intravascular pressure at the sites of fluid exchange. Postmortem lung blood content was significantly less than that of control lambs, but there was no difference in extravascular lung water content or lung histology, suggesting that pulmonary lymph flow kept pace with transvascular filtration of fluid and prevented pulmonary edema. The concentration of protein in lymph relative to that in plasma decreased with hypoxia, and the ratio of [albumin] to [globulin] in lymph was unchanged, indicating that sustained alveolar hypoxia of this magnitude had no demonstrable effect on the sieving characteristics of the pulmonary endothelium of the lambs.
The hemispheric lateralization of speech processing depends on what “speech” is: a hierarchical perspective

A recurring question in neuroimaging studies of spoken language is whether speech is processed largely bilaterally, or whether the left hemisphere plays a more dominant role (cf., Hickok and Poeppel, 2007; Rauschecker and Scott, 2009). Although questions regarding underlying mechanisms are certainly of interest, the discussion unfortunately gets sidetracked due to the imprecise use of the word “speech”: by being more explicit about the type of cognitive and linguistic processing to which we are referring it may be possible to reconcile many of the disagreements present in the literature.
Effect of Medicaid Prior Authorization on Drug Utilization

State Medicaid programs have embraced prior authorization requirements (PA) and preferred drug lists (PDLs), which steer patients towards less expensive drugs, as an effective means of holding down costs. Despite their ability to lower Medicaid spending, however, other effects, including the potential impact on patient health, remain unclear. One potential side effect of PA is a decrease in total drug utilization, as patients fail to adhere to less-desirable drugs with side-effects or lower efficacy. This study aims to determine if state-level utilization of one class of drugs – nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) – is affected after the implementation of a PA. To study the effect of PA on drug utilization, Medicaid drug utilization data and other information about state Medicaid programs were used to compare drug utilization from 2000, when few states had restrictions on NSAID use, with utilization in 2004, by which time the majority of states had implemented PA with PDL restrictions. Descriptive statistics indicate that states with PA in both 2000 and 2004 had a smaller rate of increase in NSAID usage than states with PA only in 2004 or not at all. Adopting PA between 2000 and 2004 was not found to have a statistically significant effect on the change in drug utilization over the time period, however. This may iii indicate that PA is not negatively impacting health through lower or higher drug utilization. Additional investigation is warranted in the area of drug efficacy, potential medication error resulting, and health disparities arising from PA.
Initial experience with an extremely soft bare platinum coil, ED coil-10 Extra Soft, for endovascular treatment of cerebral aneurysms

Background and purpose The ED coil-10 Extra Soft (EDC-10 ES) is an extremely soft coil with excellent operability for embolization of cerebral aneurysms and is frequently used as a ‘finishing coil’. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of this coil. Methods Clinical data were analyzed retrospectively for 92 consecutive aneurysms for which at least one EDC-10 ES was used. Follow-up angiography at 6 months was available for 69 aneurysms. Initial and follow-up outcomes were evaluated using three-category occlusion grading. Factors that affect the packing density were also investigated. Results Of the 92 aneurysms, 63 (68.5%) were classified as complete occlusion, 11 (12.0%) as having a neck remnant and 18 (19.6%) with dome filling immediately after the embolization procedure. The mean±SD packing density was 29.5±10.6%. Periprocedural complications were observed in three cases (3.3%). At 6 months the rate of completely occluded cases increased to 78.3% (54/69) and those for neck remnant and dome filling decreased to 11.8% (8/69) and 10.1% (7/69), respectively. Recanalization occurred in six aneurysms and one aneurysm was retreated during the follow-up period, giving an overall recurrence rate of 10.0% (7/70). Linear regression analysis showed a significant association of packing density with the percentage EDC-10 ES volume (p<0.001) and with the maximum aneurysm size (p<0.001). Conclusions Use of the EDC-10 ES permits safe and effective embolization of a cerebral aneurysm and contributes to a reduction in the rate of recanalization.
Patient-specific modelling of pulmonary airflow using GPU cluster for the application in medical practice

In this paper, we propose a novel patient-specific method of modelling pulmonary airflow using graphics processing unit (GPU) computation that can be applied in medical practice. To overcome the barriers imposed by computation speed, installation price and footprint to the application of computational fluid dynamics, we focused on GPU computation and the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The GPU computation and LBM are compatible due to the characteristics of the GPU. As the optimisation of data access is essential for the performance of the GPU computation, we developed an adaptive meshing method, in which an airway model is covered by isotropic subdomains consisting of a uniform Cartesian mesh. We found that 43 size subdomains gave the best performance. The code was also tested on a small GPU cluster to confirm its performance and applicability, as the price and footprint are reasonable for medical applications.
Systolic Phases of the Cardiac Cycle in Children

The duration of the systolic phases of the cardiac cycle in 390 normal children was determined from high-speed simultaneous recordings of the electrocardiogram, phonocardiogram, apexcardiogram, and carotid pulse. Data were obtained on children 1 mo to 13 years of age and analyzed to define the independent effects of aging and heart rate on the systolic intervals. Electromechanical systole (Q-II) was found to prolong with increasing age in children with the same heart rate. Pre-ejection period was also prolonged in older children and occupied an increased percentage of total systole. The interval from onset of contraction to first sound varied inversely with heart rate and was independent of age. Electromechanical delay and isometric contraction time were directly related to age and independent of rate. Ejection time varied directly with age and inversely with heart rate but occupied a smaller percentage of systole in older children. Alterations in systolic phase duration occurring with maturation reflect the normal functional adaptation of the developing heart. Measurement of these phases can provide useful information relative to cardiac function in children.
An active binocular integrated system for intelligent robot vision

Rescue robots possessing human-like active binocular systems would allow high quality remote control by 3D viewing and stable robot vision. However, this type of system has not been researched thoroughly because it is difficult to control, and there are few accurate integrated eye motion control models. In this paper, we propose an integrated eye motion control system for a rescue robot, which integrates smooth pursuit, saccade, Vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) and Optokinetic response (OKR) into a binocular model. To simplify this system, we also include aspects of the human visual system, in which only the saccade command is externally applied, whereas the smooth pursuit, VOR and OKR commands are internally auto-implemented.
Protection of specific maternal messenger RNAs by the P body protein CGH-1 (Dhh1/RCK) during Caenorhabditis elegans oogenesis

During oogenesis, numerous messenger RNAs (mRNAs) are maintained in a translationally silenced state. In eukaryotic cells, various translation inhibition and mRNA degradation mechanisms congregate in cytoplasmic processing bodies (P bodies). The P body protein Dhh1 inhibits translation and promotes decapping-mediated mRNA decay together with Pat1 in yeast, and has been implicated in mRNA storage in metazoan oocytes. Here, we have investigated in Caenorhabditis elegans whether Dhh1 and Pat1 generally function together, and how they influence mRNA sequestration during oogenesis. We show that in somatic tissues, the Dhh1 orthologue (CGH-1) forms Pat1 (patr-1)-dependent P bodies that are involved in mRNA decapping. In contrast, during oogenesis, CGH-1 forms patr-1–independent mRNA storage bodies. CGH-1 then associates with translational regulators and a specific set of maternal mRNAs, and prevents those mRNAs from being degraded. Our results identify somatic and germ cell CGH-1 functions that are distinguished by the involvement of PATR-1, and reveal that during oogenesis, numerous translationally regulated mRNAs are specifically protected by a CGH-1–dependent mechanism.
Intergroup Inequality as a Product of Diffusion of Practices with Network Externalities under Conditions of Social Homophily : Applications to the Digital Divide in the U . S . and Rural / Urban Migration in Thailand

Research in social stratification has tended to view intergroup inequality in one of two ways. Work in the status-attainment tradition focuses on individual outcomes and, by implication, views the reproduction of intergroup inequality as a consequence of agents with differing endowments attaining outcomes that vary depending on the level of those endowments. More recent work has deviated from this aggregationist strategy in two ways. First, researchers have introduced social structure, in the sense of ego-centered social networks, as an additional kind of resource upon which actors draw in their efforts to retain privilege or achieve social mobility. Second, other researchers have studied how collective action may alter the terms of competition by changing state policies or the practices of private actors in response to claims by mobilized groups. In this paper, we introduce a third mechanism, which we contend chronically reproduces and, under some conditions, may generate or even efface intergroup inequality. That mechanism is (a) the diffusion of goods, services, and practices that (b) are characterized by strong network externalities under conditions of (c) social homophily. When the value of a good or practice to an agent is a function of the number of persons in that agent‟s network who also possess the good or engage in the practice, and when networks are homophilic with respect to certain social characteristics, this mechanism will exacerbate initial individuallevel differences in access to the good or practice and, under some conditions, induce persistent intergroup inequality. We illustrate this claim in two empirical contexts. For the first, the diffusion of access to and use of the Internet, we start with observed data on the relationship between cost and adoption and between adoption levels and price, and produce a computational model that permits us to predict variation in intergroup inequality over time as a function of variation in the strength of network externalities and the extent of social homophily. For the second, the practice of rural-to-urban migration by young people in rural Thailand, we use village-level data on family resources and migration patterns to explore the relationship between information sharing, homophily, and over-time change in differences among villages in migration rates, demonstrating that, as in the Internet case, homophily interacts with network externalities to exacerbate inequality. We conclude with a discussion of the scope conditions of our argument and the range of phenomena to which this mechanism may apply.
Thai automatic speech recognition

We describe the development of a robust and flexible Thai speech recognizer as integrated into our English-Thai speech-to-speech translation system. We focus on the discussion of the rapid deployment of ASR for Thai under limited time and data resources, including rapid data collection issues, acoustic model bootstrap, and automatic generation of pronunciations. Issues relating to the translation and overall system will be reported elsewhere.