Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the use of 10-minute point counts and 10-species lists for surveying birds in lowland Atlantic Forests in southeastern Brazil

Devido ao rapido e continuo desmatamento, inventarios avifaunisticos realizados na Mata Atlântica tem seguido protocolos de levantamentos rapidos para acumular uma grande quantidade de informacao em periodos de tempo relativamente curtos. Para averiguar qual metodologia deve mais rapidamente acumular o maior numero de especies (cerca de 90% das especies estimadas a partir de dados empiricos), foram realizados pontos de escuta de 10 minutos e listas de 10 especies em florestas de baixada da Mata Atlântica de Sao Paulo durante as estacoes reprodutivas entre 2008 e 2010. De maneira geral, pontos detectaram tantas especies quanto as listas (79 versus 83, respectivamente), sendo que 88 pontos (14,7 h) detectaram 90% da riqueza estimada. Quarenta e uma listas foram insuficientes para o registro de 90% da riqueza estimada, porem acumularam mais rapidamente o numero de especies e num periodo mais curto de tempo, provavelmente devido a natureza da metodologia de pontos de escuta, na qual especies registradas durante a locomocao entre pontos nao sao consideradas. Levantamentos rapidos nessas florestas irao rapidamente detectar mais especies com a utilizacao das listas de 10 especies. As metodologias compartilharam 63% das especies registradas, mas este resultado pode refletir diferencas nas amostragens definidas em localidades e intervalo de tempo distintos durante a realizacao das amostragens.
Cranial Computed Tomography Angiography With Automated Bone Subtraction: A Feasibility Study

Objectives:Computed tomography angiography (CTA) is becoming an increasingly accepted noninvasive alternative to catheter angiography. To display continuous vessel contours without superimposed bone in a similar manner, postprocessing of the CTA data is necessary. Threshold-based techniques often fail in regions of close vessel-bone contact, which frequently requires user interaction to optimize the results. This may be laborious and time consuming. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of a fully automated algorithm for bone subtraction in cranial CT angiography. Materials and Methods:Forty-nine patients underwent cranial CT angiography on 64 slice CT systems. Two scans were performed, one before (mask) and one after (CTA) contrast agent administration. Images were processed with commercially available subtraction software. Two examiners rated the success of overall bone removal and image quality of different vessel segments (n = 34) with a 4-point scale (1 = poor; 4 = excellent); original CTA data served as the reference. Results:Subtraction was performed successfully in all cases, overall subtraction quality was high (82% of cases were rated good or excellent). Only 50 of 1666 arterial segments (3%) were rated nondiagnostic. No relevant artificial stenoses of the internal carotid artery (ICA) or vertebral artery along their way through the skull base were detected when comparing CTA source images to bone subtraction computed tomography angiography (BSCTA) images. Conclusions:Automatic subtraction provides diagnostic image quality for 3D visualization of intracranial vessels, free from over projecting bone in a fully automatic way. Aneurysms can be evaluated from all angles, and ICA stenoses at the skull base were easily visualized.
Segregation analysis of the specific response to allergens: A recessive major gene controls the specific IgE response to Timothy grass pollen

Segregation analysis of the specific response to allergens (SRA) was performed in a sample of 234 randomly selected Australian families using the regressive models. Various SRA phenotypes were considered using broad and narrow definitions of these phenotypes, according to the type of test used, skin test or RAST test, and the specificity of the response to allergen. Strong evidence for familial dependencies among blood relatives was shown for most SRA phenotypes, especially when using a broad definition. There was no evidence for a Mendelian factor accounting for the familial transmission of these broadest phenotypes, which may involve multiple factors preventing the clear detection of a major effect with Mendelian transmission. However, segregation of a Mendelian recessive major gene was detected for one SRA sub‐phenotype, the IgE response to a single allergen, Timothy grass pollen, measured by the RAST test. Identification of a specific SRA phenotype controlled by a major gene may have important implications for futher linkage studies. Genet. Epidemiol. 16:305–315, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Application of the Academic Motivation Scale to Graduate School Students

In education, as in other realms of life, motivation plays a crucial role in the performance of students. Deci and Ryan’s (1985) Self Determination Theory identified various types of motivation along a continuum from weakest to strongest. Yet, until recently, no reliable method existed to accurately measure the strength of motivation along this continuum. Vallerand et al. (1992) developed the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) as an instrument to measure Self Determination Theory. This theory identifies three levels of academic motivation–intrinsic, extrinsic, and amotivation. The AMS instrument has been used reliably to study and measure motivation levels in elementary, high school, and undergraduate university students. The results of these studies returned the finding of decreased intrinsic motivation with age. However, this instrument has yet to be applied to graduate students enrolled in a master degree program to examine whether or not the decrease in intrinsic motivation continues through to the graduate student level. This study was designed to test the validity of the AMS instrument in the application of SelfDetermination Theory to graduate students. The sample for this study consisted of 240 graduate students majoring in either education or business in a private, urban, university in the northeast United States. Results of this study demonstrate the consistency of the AMS measurement instrument and provide teaching recommendations in educating this population.
Validity and reliability of trends in suicide statistics.

For a number of reasons, suicide is under-reported and the reliability of official rates is subject to error through variations in defining and reporting cases, the kind of inaccuracy encountered when ascertaining cases in studies of mortality from any cause. Nevertheless, the evidence from studies designed to see whether these sources of error invalidate the differences reported between cultural and social groups indicates that they are of a random nature, at least to an extent that allows epidemiologists to compare rates between countries and districts within them, between demographic groups, and over periods of time. The accuracy and hence the value of official suicide statistics has been questioned in recent years to an extent that has led some authorities to dismiss their usefulness in epidemiological research. In England and Wales, a decision as to whether an unexpected or violent death is a suicide or not is normally made at a coroner's inquest; similar, but by no means identical procedures are followed in other developed countries. Cases defined and ascertained in this way are the usual source of national suicide statistics. Indeed, it may be claimed that the medical and post-mortem inquiry together with the evidence of witnesses on the psychological and social circumstances relating to the act, entail a more thorough investigation into this cause of death than is usual in compiling the statistics of deaths from other causes. Consider by contrast the General Registrar Office enquiry into the accuracy of reporting other causes of death (1). When, for example, deaths from cancer of the lung are registered before holding a post-mortem and the cause of death is later checked by a pathologist, the net error is about 16%. The conclusions drawn from official cancer statistics, however, are not seriously questioned. It is thus reasonable to expect suicide statistics, despite inaccuracies, also to be of heuristic value particularly as over-reporting is negligible, and it is only under-reporting, not a matter in dispute, that need be considered. Studies of under-reporting of suicide include those done in England and Wales (2), Scotland (3), and in Ireland where McCarthy & Walsh (4) examined coroners' case records in Dublin using clinical criteria to assess the probability of suicide. Though their revised rate was considerably higher than the official one, the Irish rate is still exceptionally low when compared with other countries. Barraclough (5) confirmed by other means that the adjusted rate was still half that of England. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
RELACIONES JESUITAS DEL TERREMOTO DE 1730: SANTIAGO, VALPARAÍSO Y CONCEPCIÓN

Se transcriben dos informes sobre el terremoto que devasto Chile central y otras regiones cercanas en 1730. Se trata de documentos originales, relativos a las ciudades de Santiago y Concepcion, y el puerto de Valparaiso. Fueron redactados por testigos presenciales del evento, jesuitas locales que escriben a su superior en Roma para dar cuenta del suceso y de sus consecuencias catastroficas. El acento de la informacion esta puesto sobre los antecedentes divinos que rodearon el evento, las caracteristicas que tuvieron el sismo y el maremoto que, en el caso de Concepcion, remecieron cuerpos, casas y conciencias, asi como las condiciones materiales en que quedaron estas ciudades.
TRACHEAL DEAD SPACE IN THE RESPIRATION OF BIRDS

Some of the most compelling evidence for organic evolution has been provided in cases of evolutionary convergence. The examples of convergence most commonly cited are qualitative morphological descriptions. However, quantitative allometric analysis can direct our attention to the possibility that a given problem may have a very limited number of solutions. If several factors conspire to preclude all but one solution, convergent evolution will result (Gould, 1966). The increasing availability of data on commonly measured physiological and anatomical features permits allometric consideration of convergence, giving rather far-reaching implications and suggestions from such a simple technique. This approach has been particularly valuable in assessing respiratory physiology (e.g., Tenney and Remmers, 1963; Tenney and Bartlett, 1967; Stahl, 1967). Differences between birds and mammals would have interesting bearings upon the relative merits of the two respiratory anatomical designs, while similarities might suggest functional constraints upon the course of respiratory evolution. The spatial separation of cephalic air intake and thoracic lungs confers certain advantages (Ingelstedt, 1956; Jackson and Schmidt-Nielsen, 1964; Schmidt-Nielsen et al., 1970; Getz, 1967). Before reaching the extensive and delicate exchange surfaces of the lungs, inhaled air is partly or completely humidified and equilibrated to body temperature. However, this arrangement also has the inherent disadvantage of tracheal "dead air space. " At the end of expiration a significant column of
Nonsense-Mediated Decay of Alternative Precursor mRNA Splicing Variants Is a Major Determinant of the Arabidopsis Steady State Transcriptome[C][W]

Alternative precursor mRNA splicing represents a major mechanism to increase transcriptome diversity in higher eukaryotes. This work demonstrates that a substantial fraction of the alternative splicing variants from Arabidopsis thaliana is subject to turn over via the RNA quality-control mechanism nonsense-mediated decay, having important implications for the regulation of gene expression. The nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) surveillance pathway can recognize erroneous transcripts and physiological mRNAs, such as precursor mRNA alternative splicing (AS) variants. Currently, information on the global extent of coupled AS and NMD remains scarce and even absent for any plant species. To address this, we conducted transcriptome-wide splicing studies using Arabidopsis thaliana mutants in the NMD factor homologs UP FRAMESHIFT1 (UPF1) and UPF3 as well as wild-type samples treated with the translation inhibitor cycloheximide. Our analyses revealed that at least 17.4% of all multi-exon, protein-coding genes produce splicing variants that are targeted by NMD. Moreover, we provide evidence that UPF1 and UPF3 act in a translation-independent mRNA decay pathway. Importantly, 92.3% of the NMD-responsive mRNAs exhibit classical NMD-eliciting features, supporting their authenticity as direct targets. Genes generating NMD-sensitive AS variants function in diverse biological processes, including signaling and protein modification, for which NaCl stress–modulated AS-NMD was found. Besides mRNAs, numerous noncoding RNAs and transcripts derived from intergenic regions were shown to be NMD responsive. In summary, we provide evidence for a major function of AS-coupled NMD in shaping the Arabidopsis transcriptome, having fundamental implications in gene regulation and quality control of transcript processing.
Approximation Schemes for Infinite Linear Programs

This paper presents approximation schemes for an infinite linear program. In particular, it is shown that, under suitable assumptions, the program's optimum value can be approximated by the values of finite-dimensional linear programs, and that, in addition, every accumulation point of a sequence of optimal solutions for the approximating programs is an optimal solution for the original problem.
Chronotype correlates with developmental index, intelligence and academic achievement: A study based on nationwide indicators

ABSTRACT Chronotype or morningness–eveningness (M/E) is an individual trait with a biological basis. In this study, I analysed the relationship between M/E and nationwide available data, such as economic variables, school achievement, intelligence and conscientiousness, which is a personality trait. These variables have been chosen because, first, they are linked on the individual level with circadian preference, and, second these associations have been found based on meta-analyses, which gives these findings a high plausibility. In addition, economic status has also been proposed to be related to M/E. Higher developed countries showed a lower morningness, based on both, the ranking of countries as well as on the HDI value. Similarly, GNI was related to morningness, while higher intelligence and performance in PISA were related to eveningness. Conscientiousness was related to morningness, although the results failed the significance level marginally. When using IQ as a control variable in partial correlations, the relationship between GNI and morningness disappeared, as did the correlation between eveningness and PISA results.
Analysis of an Arctic Sea Ice Loss Model in the Limit of a Discontinuous Albedo

As Arctic sea ice extent decreases with increasing greenhouse gases, there is a growing interest in whether there could be a bifurcation associated with its loss, and whether there is significant hysteresis associated with that bifurcation. A challenge in answering this question is that the bifurcation behavior of certain Arctic energy balance models have been shown to be sensitive to how ice-albedo feedback is parameterized. We analyze an Arctic energy balance model in the limit as a smoothing parameter associated with ice-albedo feedback tends to zero, which introduces a discontinuity boundary to the dynamical systems model. Our analysis provides a case study where we use the system in this limit to guide the investigation of bifurcation behavior of the original albedo-smoothed system. In this case study, we demonstrate that certain qualitative bifurcation behaviors of the albedo-smoothed system can have counterparts in the limit with no albedo smoothing. We use this perspective to systematically explore the parameter space of the model. For example, we uncover parameter sets for which the largest transition, with increasing greenhouse gases, is from a perennially ice-covered Arctic to a seasonally ice-free state, an unusual bifurcation scenario that persists even when albedo-smoothing is reintroduced. This analysis provides an alternative perspective on how parameters of the model affect bifurcation behavior. We expect our approach, which exploits the width of repelling sliding intervals for understanding the hysteresis loops, would carry over to other positive feedback systems with a similar natural piecewise-smooth limit, and when the feedback strength is likewise modulated with seasons or other periodic forcing.
Squeezing Deep Learning into Mobile and Embedded Devices

This department provides an overview the progress the authors have made to the emerging area of embedded and mobile forms of on-device deep learning. Their work addresses two core technical questions. First, how should deep learning principles and algorithms be applied to sensor inference problems that are central to this class of computing? Second, what is required for current and future deep learning innovations to be efficiently integrated into a variety of mobile resource-constrained systems? Toward answering such questions, the authors describe phone, watch, and embedded prototypes that can locally run large-scale deep networks processing audio, images, and inertial sensor data. These prototypes are enabled with a variety of algorithmic and system-level innovations that vastly reduce conventional inference-time overhead of deep models.
Bacterial flora of Tasmanian SIDS infants with special reference to pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli

SUMMARY The general bacterial flora of 38 Tasmanian SIDS infants was examined together with faecal flora of 134 comparison infants ranging in age from birth to 6 months. The microflora of all specimens received was investigated with special emphasis on the toxigenic Escherichia coli (TEC). Samples were examined for verocytotoxigenic E. coli, free faecal verocytotoxin (FVT), heat labile toxin (LT) and heat stable toxin (ST) producers with the use of a Vero cell assay and commercial kits. The findings of this study revealed a high isolation rate (39%) of TEC from SIDS infants as compared to 1.5% from the healthy comparison infants. Atypical E. coli strains were also identified during the study, including E. coli A–D. An analysis of the same specimens for rotaviral and adenoviral antigens indicated that 30% of the SIDS cases were positive as compared to 20% in the comparison group.
Exploring metameric variation in human molars: a morphological study using morphometric mapping

Human molars exhibit a type of metameric variation, which is the difference in serially repeated morphology within an organism. Various theories have been proposed to explain how this variation is brought about in the molars. Actualistic data that support the theories, however, are still relatively scarce because of methodological limitations. Here we propose new methods to analyse detailed tooth crown morphologies. We applied morphometric mapping to the enamel–dentine junction of human maxillary molars and examined whether odontogenetic models were adaptable to human maxillary molars. Our results showed that the upper first molar is phenotypically distinct among the maxillary molars. The average shape of the upper first molar is characterized by four well‐defined cusps and precipitous surface relief of the occlusal table. On the other hand, upper third molar is characterized by smooth surface relief of the occlusal table and shows greater shape variation and distinct distribution patterns in morphospace. The upper second molar represents an intermediate state between first and third molar. Size‐related shape variation was investigated by the allometric vector analysis, and it appeared that human maxillary molars tend to converge toward the shape of the upper first molar as the size increases. Differences between the upper first molar and the upper second and third molar can thus be largely explained as an effect of allometry. Collectively, these results indicate that the observed pattern of metameric variation in human molars is consistent with odontogenetic models of molar row structure (inhibitory cascade model) and molar crown morphology (patterning cascade model). This study shows that morphometric mapping is a useful tool to visualize and quantify the morphological features of teeth, which can provide the basis for a better understanding of tooth evolution linking morphology and development.
Rare artifacts mimicking sinus tachycardia in a case of vaginal hysterectomy with situs inversus totalis

Sir, The introduction of modern monitoring gadgets based on ever improving technology has made the life of the anesthesiologist and intensivist fairly easy and comfortable. But the rare pitfalls and shortcomings due to the inherent electronic limitations of these monitors can sometimes prove hazardous in the interpretation of the various vital parameters. [1] The most commonly observed artifacts are of electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation which can exhibit any type of arrhythmia or ST-T wave changes and the source of these artifacts can be internal (physiological) or external (nonphysiological). [2-4] The interpretation can be so difficult sometimes that even an experienced anesthesiologist has to apply all his clinical knowledge and acumen to correctly identify the type of artifact as happened in the present case. [5]
Statins for Primary Prevention in Adults Aged 75 Years or Older

TO THE EDITOR: Odden and colleagues (1) did not include stroke in their estimate of the cost-effectiveness of statins for primary prevention in adults aged 75 years or older. This results in an underestimate of the benefits of statins in this age group and an overestimate of their costs. Stroke increases dramatically with advancing age and accounts for a large proportion of cardiovascular events in this population (2). The amount by which statins reduce the risk for ischemic stroke is similar to that for coronary heart disease (CHD) (3). The costs of nonfatal strokes are high, including those for prolonged hospitalization and long-term care that are not present for CHD. In addition, the authors misrepresent the inclusiveness of their analysis by referring repeatedly to cardiovascular disease reduction and failing to mention the lack of the inclusion of stroke as a serious limitation. The term "cardiovascular disease" includes stroke as well as CHD (4). Although it is encouraging that statins for the primary prevention of CHD after age 75 years are cost-effective at $25200 per disability-adjusted life-year, the full potential for cost-effectivenessor, potentially, cost savingscannot be evaluated without considering the full benefits of statins for preventing stroke and CHD.