Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Achieved Gain and Subjective Outcomes for a Wide-Bandwidth Contact Hearing Aid Fitted Using CAM2

Objectives: The objective of this study was to test the ability to achieve, maintain, and subjectively benefit from extended high-frequency amplification in a real-world use scenario, with a device that restores audibility for frequencies up to 10 kHz. Design: A total of 78 participants (149 ears) with mild to moderately-severe sensorineural hearing loss completed one of two studies conducted across eight clinical sites. Participants were fitted with a light-driven contact hearing aid (the Earlens system) that directly drives the tympanic membrane, allowing extended high-frequency output and amplification with minimal acoustic feedback. Cambridge Method for Loudness Equalization 2 - High Frequency (CAM2)-prescribed gains for experienced users were used for initial fitting, and adjustments were made when required according to participant preferences for loudness and comfort or when measures of functional gain (FG) indicated that more or less gain was needed. Participants wore the devices for an extended period. Prescribed versus adjusted output and gain, frequency-specific FG, and self-perceived benefit assessed with the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit, and a custom questionnaire were documented. Self-perceived benefit results were compared with those for unaided listening and to ratings with participants’ own acoustic hearing aids. Results: The prescribed low-level insertion gain from 6 to 10 kHz averaged 53 dB across all ears, with a range from 26 to 86 dB. After adjustment, the gain from 6 to 10 kHz decreased to an average of 45 dB with a range from 16 to 86 dB. Measured FG averaged 39 dB from 6 to 10 kHz with a range from 11 to 62 dB. Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit results revealed a significant improvement in communication relative to unaided listening, averaging 28 to 32 percentage points for the background noise, reverberation, and ease of communication subscales. Relative to participants’ own hearing aids, the subscales ease of communication and aversiveness showed small but significant improvements for Earlens ranging from 6 to 7 percentage points. For the custom satisfaction questionnaire, most participants rated the Earlens system as better than their own hearing aids in most situations. Conclusions: Participants used and reported subjective benefit from the Earlens system. Most participants preferred slightly less gain at 6 to 10 kHz than prescribed for experienced users by CAM2, preferring similar gains to those prescribed for inexperienced users, but gains over the extended high frequencies were high relative to those that are currently available with acoustic hearing aids.
Ongoing, rational calibration of reward-driven perceptual biases

Decision-making is often interpreted in terms of normative computations that maximize a particular reward function for stable, average behaviors. Aberrations from the reward-maximizing solutions, either across subjects or across different sessions for the same subject, are often interpreted as reflecting poor learning or physical limitations. Here we show that such aberrations may instead reflect the involvement of additional satisficing and heuristic principles. For an asymmetric-reward perceptual decision-making task, three monkeys produced adaptive biases in response to changes in reward asymmetries and perceptual sensitivity. Their choices and response times were consistent with a normative accumulate-to-bound process. However, their context-dependent adjustments to this process deviated slightly but systematically from the reward-maximizing solutions. These adjustments were instead consistent with a rational process to find satisficing solutions based on the gradient of each monkey’s reward-rate function. These results suggest new dimensions for assessing the rational and idiosyncratic aspects of flexible decision-making.
Habitat Use of Ringed Seals ( Phoca hispida ) in the North Water Area (North Baffin Bay)

In conjunction with the International North Water Polynya Study in Smith Sound (northern Baffin Bay) in 1997-99, we examined the area use and diving activity of 23 ringed seals ( Phoca hispida ) that had been equipped with satellite transmitters on the Greenland side of the North Water (NOW) area. The study covered the period 12 August 1996-30 June 1999. Contact with the seals was maintained for an average of 108 days (range: 8-332 days). Four seals emigrated from the NOW area. During all seasons, the seals that remained in the area spent about 90% of the time in coastal (< 100 m deep) waters in the eastern parts of the NOW area. The total area visited by the seals during the open-water season ranged between 10 300 km² (1996) and 18 500 km² (1998), corresponding to about 15% to 25% of the entire NOW area. In winter, the total area visited by the seals varied between 2500 km² (1996-97) and 7000 km² (1998-99), and in spring, between 800 km² (1999) and 2100 km² (1997). Individual movement was significantly greater during the open-water season than during winter and spring. Maximum dive depths recorded were over 500 m (maximum for the instrument) outside and 376 m inside the NOW, for a 96 kg male seal. Non-adult seals spent about 99% of the time in waters less than 100 m deep, and more than 92% of the time in the upper 50 m. In contrast, adults tended to spend more time at greater depths. The study indicated that (1) the ringed seals took advantage of the generally lighter ice conditions in the eastern NOW, and (2) that non-adults likely exploited ice-associated amphipods and young polar cod ( Boreogadus saida ), and adults, mainly older polar cod and cephalopods taken at greater depths.
Human Health Implications of Omega-3 and Omega-6 Fatty Acids in Blubber of the Bowhead Whale ( Balaena mysticetus )

Concerns exist regarding the health and nutrition of subsistence-based communities in Alaska. An apparent increase in diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and other disease conditions among Alaska Natives has accompanied their change from a traditional diet to a more “Western” diet. In northern Alaska, the meat, maktak (epidermis and blubber), and other products of bowhead whales provide important components of Native diets. This study assessed the fatty acid constituents of bowhead whale blubber to evaluate their possible health benefits. Working with hunters in Barrow, Alaska, we acquired samples for chemical analysis from five blubber depths at each of six body locations. We used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of fatty-acid picolinyl esters to confirm the fatty-acid composition of samples. Analyses indicated that bowhead blubber contains relatively high levels of omega-3 fatty acids and that, on average, blubber samples from sites at the umbilical girth contain more omega-3 fatty acids than do samples from a girth 1 m caudal to the blowhole (roughly at the axillary girth). Omega-6 fatty acids were rare or undetectable in all samples. Omega-3 fatty acids have been suggested or shown to be important in the treatment or prevention of many diseases, including elevated blood pressure and cholesterol, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, depression, and some cancers. Beyond the cultural benefits associated with subsistence hunting of bowhead whales, consumption of bowhead whale blubber provides some important health and nutritional benefits.
Donating time to charity: working for nothing?

This paper explores the causal effect of volunteer work providing daily assistance to the elderly on elderly mortality. To identify the causal effect, I exploit the earthquake that occurred in midwestern Japan in 1995 as a natural experiment inducing exogenous variation in the level of volunteering. The municipalities hit by the earthquake experienced a sharp increase in the level of volunteering. Based on a comparison of mortality between the municipalities with no or little loss of life due to the earthquake, that experienced the sharp increase in the level of volunteering, and the nearby municipalities that were not hit by the earthquake, I find that volunteering significantly reduced elderly mortality. Close attention is paid to ensure that the results are not driven by the direct effects of the earthquake.
Changes in the Seasonal Cycle in the Circumpolar Arctic, 1976-95: Temperature and Precipitation

The Arctic is one region where the effects of global climate change are expected to be easy to observe. This study identifies regions in the circumpolar Arctic that have experienced similar changes in the seasonal cycle of temperature and precipitation over recent decades. Data from Arctic and northern nations have been compiled to form a new data set of over 1200 circumpolar Arctic climate stations. Changes in the seasonal cycle between two decades (1976-85 and 1986-95) are examined for the 247 temperature and 555 precipitation stations that meet specific completeness criteria. Inter-decadal shifts are analyzed using 11-day averages of daily mean temperature and 5-day averages of total daily precipitation. Examined at time-steps finer than annual or monthly means, climatic variations in the region are not consistent either through the seasons or across space. Some areas have demonstrated recent increases in temperature or precipitation, while others have displayed decreases in these elements. Many areas reveal climatic shifts in specific periods of the year that contrast markedly with the trends observed in other periods and other places.
Introduction to AI Robotics

From the Publisher: This text covers all the material needed to understand the principles behind the AI approach to robotics and to program an artificially intelligent robot for applications involving sensing, navigation, planning, and uncertainty. Robin Murphy is extremely effective at combining theoretical and practical rigor with a light narrative touch. In the overview, for example, she touches upon anthropomorphic robots from classic films and science fiction stories before delving into the nuts and bolts of organizing intelligence in robots. Following the overview, Murphy contrasts AI and engineering approaches and discusses what she calls the three paradigms of AI robotics: hierarchical, reactive, and hybrid deliberative/reactive. Later chapters explore multiagent scenarios, navigation and path-planning for mobile robots, and the basics of computer vision and range sensing. Each chapter includes objectives, review questions, and exercises. Many chapters contain one or more case studies showing how the concepts were implemented on real robots. Murphy, who is well known for her classroom teaching, conveys the intellectual adventure of mastering complex theoretical and technical material.
Revealing glacier flow and surge dynamics from animated satellite image sequences: examples from the Karakoram

Abstract. Although animated images are very popular on the internet, they have so far found only limited use for glaciological applications. With long time series of satellite images becoming increasingly available and glaciers being well recognized for their rapid changes and variable flow dynamics, animated sequences of multiple satellite images reveal glacier dynamics in a time-lapse mode, making the otherwise slow changes of glacier movement visible and understandable to the wider public. For this study, animated image sequences were created for four regions in the central Karakoram mountain range over a 25-year time period (1990–2015) from freely available image quick-looks of orthorectified Landsat scenes. The animations play automatically in a web browser and reveal highly complex patterns of glacier flow and surge dynamics that are difficult to obtain by other methods. In contrast to other regions, surging glaciers in the Karakoram are often small (10 km2 or less), steep, debris-free, and advance for several years to decades at relatively low annual rates (about 100 m a−1). These characteristics overlap with those of non-surge-type glaciers, making a clear identification difficult. However, as in other regions, the surging glaciers in the central Karakoram also show sudden increases of flow velocity and mass waves travelling down glacier. The surges of individual glaciers are generally out of phase, indicating a limited climatic control on their dynamics. On the other hand, nearly all other glaciers in the region are either stable or slightly advancing, indicating balanced or even positive mass budgets over the past few decades.
Hydrometeorology, Suspended Sediment and Conductivity in a Large Glacierized Basin, Slims River, Yukon Territory, Canada (1993-94)

The Slims River was monitored for global solar radiation, air temperature, discharge, suspended sediment, and dissolved load in 1993 and 1994. Peak seasonal discharge occurred late in the summer and reflects a typical glacierized basin hydrograph, with increased bare ice surfaces contributing strongly to discharge in July and August. Air temperature, rather than global solar radiation, was most strongly correlated with discharge in both years, but during sustained ablation, air temperature becomes a poor index of meltwater production. Precipitation was infrequent and of low magnitude. The variance in suspended sediment concentration could be explained only in part by discharge; frequent clockwise hysteresis and seasonal sediment concentration peaks unrelated to discharge variations also contributed to this variance. High concentrations of Ca2+ and Mg2+ in meltwaters reflect the lithological influence of carboniferous sedimentary rocks in the basin. Conductivity and individual cation concentrations decreased during both seasons and were inversely related to discharge. Diurnal conductivity amplitude was greatest during glacier melt, and frequent clockwise hysteresis was observed in both years.
Fabricable eulerian wires for 3D shape abstraction

We present a fully automatic method that finds a small number of machine fabricable wires with minimal overlap to reproduce a wire sculpture design as a 3D shape abstraction. Importantly, we consider non-planar wires, which can be fabricated by a wire bending machine, to enable efficient construction of complex 3D sculptures that cannot be achieved by previous works. We call our wires Eulerian wires, since they are as Eulerian as possible with small overlap to form the target design together. Finding such Eulerian wires is highly challenging, due to an enormous search space. After exploring a variety of optimization strategies, we formulate a population-based hybrid metaheuristic model, and design the join, bridge and split operators to refine the solution wire sets in the population. We start the exploration of each solution wire set in a bottom-up manner, and adopt an adaptive simulated annealing model to regulate the exploration. By further formulating a meta model on top to optimize the cooling schedule, and precomputing fabricable subwires, our method can efficiently find promising solutions with low wire count and overlap in one to two minutes. We demonstrate the efficiency of our method on a rich variety of wire sculptures, and physically fabricate several of them. Our results show clear improvements over other optimization alternatives in terms of solution quality, versatility, and scalability.
Fungi and insects associated with Euphorbia ingens die-off in South Africa

Euphorbia ingens, landmark succulent trees in savannas of South Africa, have been dying in large numbers over the last 10–15 years. Initial studies conducted in the Limpopo province of South Africa revealed a diverse group of biotic agents including fungi, beetles and moths associated with dying trees, but due to the limited geographic extent of these studies, it was not known if the same agents were associated with dying trees regionally. In this study, diseased and insect-infested trees were sampled for fungal pathogens and insects at six sites in four provinces located across South Africa. Fungi were identified based on morphology and DNA sequencing of the ITS, LSU, β-tubulin and TEF 1-α gene regions, and insects were identified based on morphology. Fungal isolates were identified as Aureovirgo volantis, Fusarium solani, Lasiodiplodia × egyptiacae, Ophiostoma thermarum and a Readeriella species. Five insects were identified, all in the family Curculionidae, including two ambrosia beetles, Cyrtogenius africus and a Stenoscelis species. All fungi and insects collected are known to be opportunistic and occur on stressed trees as secondary agents of mortality or disease. These results suggest that the die-off is not related to attack of the trees by aggressive insects or pathogens, but rather that E. ingens in this region is under stress from environmental factors that supports the ability of opportunistic insects and pathogens to establish.
Ovine Theileriosis Enhances Cardiovascular Disease Biomarkers in Naturally Infected Sheep (Ghezel breed) in West Azerbaijan, Iran

This study was aimed to evaluate the plasma levels of cardiovascular disease biomarkers in naturally infected theileriosis in sheep (Ghezel breed). Theileria species are known to be ruminant blood parasites and involves deleterious effects in the livestock. Blood samples were collected from 30 selected sheep (Ghezel breed), naturally infected with theileriosis (infected group) and same number non-infected ones. Hematological parameters and the plasma concentrations of cardiac troponin I (cTnI), creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) and homocysteine (Hcy) were determined in all samples. The results revealed that significant increase (P>0.01) in the level of cTnI, CK-MB, and Hcy concentrations in infected sheep compared with non-infected ones. In addition, cardiovascular biomarkers levels increased with aging and parasitemia rate (P<0.01). In conclusion, theileriosis provides evidence of the progression of cardiovascular biomarkers by aging and following elevation of parasitemia rate in Ghezel breed sheep and seems that further attention should be paid on this issue.
High Enthalpy Studies of Capsule Heating in an Expansion Tunnel Facility

Measurements were made on an Orion heat shield model to demonstrate the capability of the new LENS-XX expansion tunnel facility to make high quality measurements of heat transfer distributions at flow velocities from 3 km/s (h(sub 0) = 5 MJ/kg) to 8.4 km/s (h(sub 0) = 36 MJ/kg). Thirty-nine heat transfer gauges, including both thin-film and thermocouple instruments, as well as four pressure gauges, and high-speed Schlieren were used to assess the aerothermal environment on the capsule heat shield. Only results from laminar boundary layer runs are reported. A major finding of this test series is that the high enthalpy, low-density flows displayed surface heating behavior that is observed to be consistent with some finite-rate recombination process occurring on the surface of the model. It is too early to speculate on the nature of the mechanism, but the response of the gages on the surface seems generally repeatable and consistent for a range of conditions. This result is an important milestone in developing and proving a capability to make measurements in a ground test environment and extrapolate them to flight for conditions with extreme non-equilibrium effects. Additionally, no significant, isolated stagnation point augmentation ("bump") was observed in the tests in this facility. Cases at higher Reynolds number seemed to show the greatest amount of overall increase in heating on the windward side of the model, which may in part be due to small-scale particulate.
Amphibians and reptiles of the Ankaratra Massif: Reproductive diversity, biogeography and conservation of a montane fauna in Madagascar

Abstract The Ankaratra Massif in central Madagascar includes rainforest between ca. 1500 and 2000 m elevation and montane savannah and heathland between ca. 2000 and 2642 m elevation. It is populated by 15 species of amphibians and 12 species of reptiles, all of which were observed in our surveys between 1992–2001. Additionally, the Ankaratra material housed in several herpetological collections was revised. Examination of type material showed that Scaphiophryne madagascariensis is the name to be applied to the scaphiophrynine microhylid frog occurring at Ankaratra; the previously used name S. pustulosa is a junior synonym, while populations from the Andringitra Massif so far considered as S. madagascariensis do not belong to this species. Reproductive behaviour and advertisement calls are described for S. madagascariensis. Two other frog species (Boophis williamsi, Mantidactylus pauliani) were observed for the first time for almost 30 years; their live coloration and morphology are described. The skink Amphiglossus macrocercus is shown to be live‐bearing. Breeding in the austral summer could be demonstrated for most species, including the geckos Lygodactylus mirabilis and Phelsuma barbouri which are known to lay eggs also in the cold winter months (July‐September). The higher‐level taxonomic composition of the Ankaratra herpetofauna recalls that of the rainforests of eastern Madagascar, and also the species show mainly eastern affinities. A number of groups (especially snakes) are under‐represented and some (e.g., nocturnal geckos and dwarf chameleons) are totally lacking. Three high‐elevation specialists (B. williamsi, M. pau‐liani, L. mirabilis) appear to be Ankaratra endemics (11% of the overall community). Pending further surveys and taxonomic revisions, more that one fifth of the herpetofauna (six species or more) may be endemic or semi‐endemic to the region, which is not included in the network of Madagascar's protected areas. A monitoring program is therefore proposed to assess the conservation status of these poorly known taxa.
A 51A 76 March 2001 RESPONSES OF ELK AND MULE DEER TO CATTLE IN SUMMER

Cattle graze seasonally on national forests in the Western United States, and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and/or elk (Cervus elaphus) are sympatric with cattle in most of these areas. But the effects of interspecific interactions in terms of both the resources selected and animal distributions across landscapes are poorly understood. At the USDA Forest Service Starkey Experimental Forest and Range (Starkey), located in northeast Oregon, USA, elk and mule deer were free ranging within a 78 km study area enclosed by a 2.4 m high fence while cattle were moved among pastures in summer on a deferred-rotation schedule. Elk, mule deer, and cattle were located with an automated telemetry system from 1993 1996 and locations were linked to a geographic information system (GIS) of Starkey. Our objective was to examine responses of elk and mule deer to cattle at several spatial and temporal levels. We compared elk and mule deer distributions, use of plant communities, and resource selection functions in one cattle pasture (24 km) during early summer (cattle present in odd-numbered years) and late summer (cattle present in even-numbered years). Elk and deer differed in their spatial and temporal responses to presence of cattle. When cattle were present, the proportion of elk locations within the pasture decreased and use of the ponderosa pine/Douglas fir (Pinus ponderosa/Pseudotsuga menziesii) plant community within the pasture decreased in early summer and increased in late summer. The cattle resource selection function variable for early summer was not a predictor of elk distributions when cattle were present, but it was a predictor on years when cattle were absent. In late summer, the cattle resource selection function variable was a predictor of elk distributions regardless of presence of cattle. For mule deer distributions the cattle resource selection function variable was not a significant predictor in early summer (cattle present or absent), or in late summer when cattle were present, but it was a negative predictor of mule deer distributions when cattle were absent in late summer. Mule deer use increased or decreased in opposite direction from elk use in 3 of 4 season/year combinations for both pasture and ponderosa pine/Douglas fir. Our results suggest that competition for forage could occur between elk and cattle in late summer and that species interactions may be stronger between elk and cattle than mule deer and cattle.