Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental Analysis of Hybridization in Leopard Frogs (Anura: Ranidae): Larval Performance in Desiccating Environments

Abstract Relative fitness of parental and hybrid Leopard Frogs was examined by measuring larval performance in artificial ponds and laboratory containers. Effect of a variable hydroperiod on growth, development, and survival was used to assess larval responses to a desiccating aquatic environment. Larvae for the artificial pond experiment were obtained from field-collected egg masses of Rana blairi and R. sphenocephala. Artificial crosses with adult animals produced larvae of one parental and three hybrid genotypes for laboratory performance assays. Experimental pond drying significantly reduced survival for both parental species. Rana blairi had higher survival than R. sphenocephala across all treatments. Both species reduced larval period lengths when exposed to a drying environment relative to constant water levels. The laboratory experiment revealed Backcross2 hybrid larvae exhibited longer larval period lengths than parental R. sphenocephala and certain F1 hybrid genotypes in the drying environment. Proportion of survivors metamorphosing was greatest for the F1 hybrid genotype SB and lowest for the Backcross2 hybrid genotype. Consequently, advanced-generation hybrid genotypes (i.e., Backcross2) did not perform well in desiccating environments. Direct measurements of important fitness components of parental and hybrid genotypes are critical for determining the evolutionary potential of natural hybridization.
Enhancing the Reliability of IoT Data Marketplaces through Security Validation of IoT Devices

IoT data marketplaces are being developed to help cities and communities create large scale IoT applications. Such data marketplaces let the IoT device owners sell their data to the application developers. Following this application development model, the application developers need not deploy their own IoT devices when developing IoT applications; instead, they can buy data from a data marketplace. In a marketplace-based IoT application, the application developers are making critical business and operation decisions using the data produced by seller’s IoT devices. Under these circumstances, it is crucial to verify and validate the security of IoT devices.In this paper, we assess the security of IoT data marketplaces. In particular, we discuss what kind of vulnerabilities exist in IoT data marketplaces using the well-known STRIDE model, and present a security assessment and certification framework for IoT data marketplaces to help the device owners to examine the security vulnerabilities of their devices. Most importantly, our solution certifies the IoT devices when they connect to the data marketplace, which helps the application developers to make an informed decision when buying and consuming data from a data marketplace. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, we have developed a proof-of-concept using I3 (Intelligent IoT Integrator), which is an open-source IoT data marketplace developed at the University of Southern California, and IoTcube, which is a vulnerability detection toolkit developed by researchers at Korea University. Through this work, we show that it is possible to increase the reliability of a IoT data marketplace while not damaging the convenience of the users.
A COVID-19 Risk Assessment Decision Support System for General Practitioners: Design and Development Study

Background The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become an urgent and serious global public health crisis. Community engagement is the first line of defense in the fight against infectious diseases, and general practitioners (GPs) play an important role in it. GPs are facing unique challenges from disasters and pandemics in delivering health care. However, there is still no suitable mobile management system that can help GPs collect data, dynamically assess risks, and effectively triage or follow-up with patients with COVID-19. Objective The aim of this study is to design, develop, and deploy a mobile-based decision support system for COVID-19 (DDC19) to assist GPs in collecting data, assessing risk, triaging, managing, and following up with patients during the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods Based on the actual scenarios and the process of patients using health care, we analyzed the key issues that need to be solved and designed the main business flowchart of DDC19. We then constructed a COVID-19 dynamic risk stratification model with high recall and clinical interpretability, which was based on a multiclass logistic regression algorithm. Finally, through a 10-fold cross-validation to quantitatively evaluate the risk stratification ability of the model, a total of 2243 clinical data consisting of 36 dimension clinical features from fever clinics were used for training and evaluation of the model. Results DDC19 is composed of three parts: mobile terminal apps for the patient-end and GP-end, and the database system. All mobile terminal devices were wirelessly connected to the back end data center to implement request sending and data transmission. We used low risk, moderate risk, and high risk as labels, and adopted a 10-fold cross-validation method to evaluate and test the COVID-19 dynamic risk stratification model in different scenarios (different dimensions of personal clinical data accessible at an earlier stage). The data set dimensions were (2243, 15) when only using the data of patients’ demographic information, clinical symptoms, and contact history; (2243, 35) when the results of blood tests were added; and (2243, 36) after obtaining the computed tomography imaging results of the patient. The average value of the three classification results of the macro–area under the curve were all above 0.71 in each scenario. Conclusions DCC19 is a mobile decision support system designed and developed to assist GPs in providing dynamic risk assessments for patients with suspected COVID-19 during the outbreak, and the model had a good ability to predict risk levels in any scenario it covered.
Potential Functional Variants in DNA Repair Genes Are Associated with Efficacy and Toxicity of Radiotherapy in Patients with Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Background Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths. Radiotherapy, either alone or with chemotherapy, is still the primary treatment for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). There are variations in how patients with NSCLC respond to radiotherapy and how toxic the therapy is. DNA repair gene polymorphisms are related to cancer development; however, their association with radiotherapy outcomes remains unknown. We hypothesized that gDNA repair gene variation could affect the efficacy and toxicity of radiotherapy in patients with NSCLC. Methods A total of 486 histologically confirmed patients with NSCLC were recruited from the Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University from July 2015 to September 2019. Eleven potentially functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in four DNA repair genes (XRCC1, XRCC2, XPD, and MSH2) were genotyped in these patients. A multiple factor logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between these SNPs and the efficacy and toxicity of radiotherapy. Results Three SNPs, rs25487 (XRCC1), rs3218556 (XRCC2), and rs13181 (XPD), were all significantly associated with the efficacy of radiotherapy. The allele frequencies of the rs25487 CC genotype (OR = 0.457, 95% CI = 0.259–0.804, p=0.006) and the rs3218556 AG or AA genotypes (AG genotype: OR = 0.664, 95% CI = 0.442–0.999, p=0.049; AA genotype: OR = 0.380, 95% CI = 0.181–0.795, p=0.008) were both significantly higher in the response group than in the nonresponse group. For rs13181, the radiotherapy efficacy was associated with the heterozygous genotype GT (OR = 1.663, 95% CI = 1.057–2.614,p=0.027). Statistically significant associations between radiation-induced toxic reactions and rs25487 (XRCC1), rs3218556 (XRCC2), and rs13181 (XPD) were also observed. The rs13181GT genotype was associated with lower toxic reactions than the TT genotype (OR = 1.680, 95% CI = 1.035–2.728,p=0.035). Conclusions The variants rs25487 (XRCC1), rs3218556 (XRCC2), and rs13181 (XPD) all contribute to the efficacy and toxicity of radiotherapy in patients with NSCLC. Our findings may clarify the predictive value of DNA repair genes for prognosis in patients with NSCLC after radiotherapy. Further investigation of more genes and samples should be performed to confirm our findings.
Emotional Labor Profiles 1 Running Head: Emotional Labor Profiles Emotional Labor Profiles: Associations with Key Predictors and Outcomes

The present study examines how three emotional labor strategies (hiding feelings, faking emotions, and deep acting) combine within different profiles of workers among two samples characterized by different types and intensity of customer contact. In addition, this research investigates the role of perceived workload as well as perceived organizational support, supervisor support, and colleagues support in the prediction of profile membership. Finally, this research also documents the relation between emotional labor profiles and adaptive and maladaptive work outcomes (job satisfaction, work performance, emotional exhaustion, sleeping problems, psychological detachment, and counterproductive work behaviors). Latent profile analysis revealed three similar emotional labor profiles in both samples. Results also showed the most desirable levels on all outcomes to be associated with Profile 3 (Low Emotional Labor/Low Surface Acting and Moderate Deep Acting), followed by Profile 2 (Moderate Emotional Labor/Moderate Surface Acting and High Deep Acting) and Profile 1 (High Emotional Labor), with most comparisons being statistically significant in both samples. In contrast, a more diversified pattern of findings was observed in the prediction of profile membership. For instance, perceived colleagues support did not predict membership into any of the profiles, while supervisor support predicted an increased likelihood of membership into Profile 3 relative to Profiles 1 and 2.
Design and Wall Fluid Parameters Evaluation of the Dual-Bell Nozzle

The dual-bell nozzle is an innovating-technology of Rocket Nozzles; it is one of the most promising concepts for the altitude-compensating nozzles. Indeed, the flow in this type of nozzle has the ability to auto-adapting for both operating modes (Sea-Level Mode and High-Altitude Mode) without mechanical activation. The principle is theoretically simple but structural forces involved can be significant. In this study, the numerical method proposed for the design of the dual bell profile is based on: the inverse method of characteristics for the first bell and the direct method of characteristics applied for a free jet for the second bell. We were also interested in the thermodynamic-parameters evolution (pressure, Mach number, temperature, density.) and aerodynamic performances (thrust, specific impulse.) along the nozzle in order to validate our step thereafter. For more consistency, a numerical simulation of flows in the obtained dual bell nozzles is achieved using a computer code ANSYS. The computed results are compared to the experimental works of: the National Office of Studies and Aerospace Research (ONERA-France) and the National Space Research Center (CNRS-Orleans). The comparison of the different studied configurations (Ideal, TIC and Dual-Bell) is limited to the performances and the diverging dimensions (length and radius). The obtained results show a good concordance.
Real Time Face Detection

: Computer vision is a field of informatics, which teaches computers to see. It is a way computers gather and interpret visual information from the surrounding environment . The feature invariant approaches are used for feature detection of eyes, mouth, ears, nose, etc. In recent years, face recognition has attracted much attention and its research has rapidly expanded by not only engineers but also neuroscientists, since it has many potential applications in computer vision communication and automatic access control system.
Beyond the Curriculum: Extended Discourse Practice through Self-Access Pragmatics Simulations.

Usage-based linguistics posits that communicative functions, including pragmatics, are at the core of language (Tomasello, 1992). It is surprising, then, that pragmatics is rarely systematically included in second language curricula (e.g., Bardovi-Harlig, 2017), especially since pragmatics instruction has been shown to significantly contribute to pragmatic development (e.g., Taguchi & Roever, 2017). Addressing this issue, the present study investigates learning outcomes and processes in self-access technology-enhanced instructional simulations for pragmatics that do not require classroom or teacher time. Importantly, these simulations include 1. ) oral practice of extended discourse and 2. ) feedback—two underexplored aspects of pragmatics instruction (e.g., Holden & Sykes, 2013; Sydorenko, Daurio, & Thorne, 2018). Two versions of the self-access simulations were examined: implicit-only instruction (15 participants) and implicit combined with explicit instruction (11 participants). The quantitative analysis of learners’ production data and self-reported noticing revealed that both groups were similarly able to extract relevant (but varying) pragmatics features from instruction. The qualitative analysis, however, revealed that individual learner differences may be a critical factor in the effectiveness of implicit versus explicit instruction. The present study also illustrates how time spans and competition between cognitive resources affect pragmatics learning. In sum, this research informs further development of self-access pragmatics materials.
P2RX7B is a new theranostic marker for lung adenocarcinoma patients

Rationale: The characterization of new theranostic biomarkers is crucial to improving the clinical outcome of patients with advanced lung cancer. Here, we aimed at characterizing the P2RX7 receptor, a positive modulator of the anti-tumor immune response, in patients with lung adenocarcinoma. Methods: The expression of P2RX7 and its splice variants was analyzed by RT-qPCR using areas of tumor and non-tumor lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) tissues on both immune and non-immune cells. The biological activity of P2RX7 was studied by flow cytometry using fluorescent dyes. Bi-molecular fluorescence complementation and confocal microscopy were used to assess the oligomerization of P2RX7. Tumor immune infiltrates were characterized by immunohistochemistry. Results: Fifty-three patients with LUAD were evaluated. P2RX7A, and 3 alternative splice variants were expressed in LUAD tissues and expression was down regulated in tumor versus adjacent non-tumor tissues. The protein retained biological activity only in immune cells. The P2RX7B splice variant was differentially upregulated in immune cells (P < 0.001) of the tumor and strong evidence of oligomerization of P2RX7A and B was observed in the HEK expression model, which correlated with a default in the activity of P2RX7. Finally, LUAD patients with a high level of P2RX7B had non-inflamed tumors (P = 0.001). Conclusion: Our findings identified P2RX7B as a new theranostic tool to restore functional P2RX7 activity and open alternative therapeutic opportunities to improve LUAD patient outcome.
ASSESSING REAL DAILY DISTANCE TRAVELED BY UNGULATES USING DIFFERENTIAL GPS LOCATIONS

Abstract Differential Global Positioning System technology can provide series of accurate locations of free-ranging animals with a short, fixed interval. The sum of straight-line distances between valid locations (y) plotted against number of attempted fixes per day (x) should fit a hyperbolic function (i.e., y = x/[ax − b]) after removing inaccurate fixes and inactive periods. Its asymptotic value (1/a) can provide an estimate of real travel distance. The ratio of 1/a and y is a correction factor to apply to perceived straight-line distance to estimate real distance traveled. We achieved a good model fit on free-ranging adult red deer (Cervus elaphus) from data obtained every 15 min for a male and a female in winter 1997–1998, with a narrow range of correction factors. To validate this model, we used independent datasets from 3 other adult red deer roaming in the same area in winter 2000. We applied the procedure to distances perceived with fixed intervals ranging from 30 to 240 min and found consistent results in estimated real distances. Application of various steps of this analytical method could further development of a general approach to assess real distance traveled by individuals, thus offering new ways of studying habitat use or energetic requirements.
Perceived job insecurity and task performance among bank employees in Nigeria banking industry

This paper examines the relationship between perceived job insecurity and the task performance that is being exhibited by employees in the workplace. It drew insight from the Conservation of Resource Theory to argue that this relationship is mediated by self-efficacy and moderated by emotional intelligence with a view to providing an explanation for the inconsistent findings that have characterised previous studies. To achieve this aim, data will be collected between June and November 2020 from a total of three hundred and forty-one (341) bank employees who are randomly selected from three Money Deposit Banks in the Nigerian banking industry, from a total population of three thousand four hundred and six (3406). The three steps moderated mediated regression analysis would be utilised as an instrument of data analysis. The practical implication of the study is that the management of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria and other nations, human resource professionals, government agencies such as the ministry of labour and productivity stands a chance to benefit from its outcome by having a better understanding of the importance of emotional and personality factors and how these factors may be employed to achieve a desirable level of employee performance in situations where employees are being faced up with threat from job insecurity.
Eliminating Self-injurious Behavior Through the Use of a Functional Analysis, Antecedent Interventions, Reinforcement Procedures and Data-Based Decision Making

Steve, a 14-year old male student with a visual impairment and autism, exhibited self-injurious behavior (eye gouging) for over five years. This behavior was simcantly reduced after conducting a functional analysis and employing antecedent changes and positive consequences. Precision Teaching techniques were used to monitor the internention and make data based decisions regarding intervention phases. A micro-reversal was implemented to determine experimental control. After the dccurrence of self-injurious behavior was reduced to a low frequency, a change was made from a fixed interval schedule to a variable interval schedule of reinforcement. The use of the variable reinforcement schedule reduced the behavior even further. Since only two sessions remained before school adjourned data were collected during the summer, the extended school year program. Even with a new staff, the occurrence of the eye gouging remained low and manageable throughout the follow-up
Protective effect of renal ischemic postconditioning in renal ischemic-reperfusion injury

Background Renal ischemic postconditioning (RIPo) can protect the kidney from renal ischemia/reperfusion injury (RIRI). However, the underlying molecular mechanisms for RIPo in renal protection remained elusive. This study aimed to investigate the renoprotective effects of RIPo in an RIR rat model. Method The Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into three groups respectively: sham group, the RIRI group and the RIPo group. The levels of proteinuria, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (Cr), malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), reactive oxidative species (ROS), interleukins (IL)-6, IL-1β, and IL-18 were measured by ELISA. Apoptotic cells and caspase-3 positive cells were detected by TUNEL assay and immunohistochemistry, respectively. The protein expressive levels of caspase-3, caspase-9, ATG8, Beclin1, p62, LC3-II, P-P13K, P-AKT and P-mTOR were detected by western blot. Results Our results showed that pretreatment with RIPo significantly reduced ischemic pathological and morphological changes. The levels of proteinuria, BUN, and Cr were also significantly reduced by RIPo pretreatment. Besides, ATG8, LC3-II and Beclin-1 were upregulated in the RIPo group, but p62 was downregulated. Moreover, RIPo pretreatment resulted in higher levels of phosphorylated PI3K, Akt, and mTOR. These results showed that RIPo protects the kidneys of rats from IRI with suppressed apoptosis and activated autophagy. Mechanically, the activated PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway were activated. Conclusions Collectively, our data demonstrated that RIPo could suppress Inflammatory response, oxidative stress, apoptosis and induce autophagy as well as activate the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, which may play an important role in renal protection against RIRI.
cef.up working paper 2017-02 FORECASTING STOCK MARKET RETURNS

We generalize the Ferreira and Santa-Clara (2011) sum-of-the-parts method for forecasting stock market returns. Rather than summing the parts of stock returns, we suggest summing some of the frequency-decomposed parts. The proposed method signi cantly improves upon the original sum-of-the-parts and delivers statistically and economically gains over historical mean forecasts, with monthly out-of-sample R2 of 2.60% and annual utility gains of 558 basis points. The strong performance of this method comes from its ability to isolate the frequencies of the parts with the highest predictive power, and from the fact that the selected frequency-decomposed parts carry complementary information that captures di erent frequencies of stock market returns.
Wetland-Scale Habitat Determinants Influencing Least Bittern Use of Created Wetlands

Abstract. Southern Illinois mined lands were investigated to identify wetland-scale habitat parameters influencing the presence of a habitat limited species, the Least Bittern (Ixobrychus exilis). Total area (ha), open water area (ha), robust emergent (REM) area (ha), percent REM coverage, REM-open water edge length (m), edge:REM cover index and water depth parameters were measured at 35 wetlands (mean = 5.51 ha; range = 0.13–39.7 ha) to develop one- and two-regressor logistic regression models best explaining Least Bittern wetland use. Logistic regression models using open-water area or open-water area + edge index regressors ranked highest among candidate models, which distinguished our results from those obtained in previous studies. These data suggest that human-created basins supporting at least semi-permanently flooded robust emergent cover, ample expanses (>8 ha) of open water and high emergent edge lengths relative to flooded REM area may consistently meet breeding season requisites of Least Bitterns. Further work to validate or refine this profile of Least Bittern habitat may benefit efforts to enhance pre-existing wetland resources or create new ones.