Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Response of a littoral macroinvertebrate assemblage to a persistent hydrological drought in a permanent mountain shallow lake from northwestern Spain

Current projections predict an intensification of hydrological drought as a consequence of climate change, but we know very little about the potential effects on aquatic communities. La Bana (SW Leon Province, Spain) is a mountain lake suffering from increased water seepage due to geological reasons. This has caused since 2005 a situation of hydrological drought, with pronounced reduction of lake area in late summer. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of this drought on the littoral macroinvertebrate assemblage. Macroinvertebrate samples were collected in 2005 (before the drought events became apparent), 2006 and 2014, as well as in a nearby temporary pond (only in 2014). The most evident change shown by the assemblage at La Bana was a drop in richness values. Rarefaction curves showed that richness in the lake in 2014 was, for an equivalent sampling effort, only slightly higher than that in the temporary pond, and much lower than that in the lake in 2005 or 2006. However, the assemblage composition did not shift toward a fauna typical of temporary waterbodies. The results might indicate that the resistance of the assemblage was high enough to prevent changes in the first moments (differences between 2005 and 2006 were small), but not after nine years of sustained summer drought.
L-Selectin Shedding Does Not Regulate Constitutive T Cell Trafficking but Controls the Migration Pathways of Antigen-activated T Lymphocytes

L-Selectin mediates rolling of lymphocytes in high endothelial venules (HEVs) of peripheral lymph nodes (PLNs). Cross-linking of L-selectin causes proteolytic shedding of its ectodomain, the physiological significance of which is unknown. To determine whether L-selectin shedding regulates lymphocyte migration, a mutant form that resists shedding (LΔP-selectin) was engineered. Transgenic mice expressing either LΔP or wild-type (WT) L-selectin on T cells were crossed with L-selectin knockout (KO) mice. The cellularity and subset composition of secondary lymphoid organs did not differ between LΔP and WT mice, however, they were different from C57BL/6. Plasma levels of soluble L-selectin in LΔP mice were reduced to <5% of WT and C57BL/6 mice. The rolling properties of T lymphocytes from LΔP and WT mice on immobilized L-selectin ligands were similar. Furthermore, similar numbers of LΔP and WT T lymphocytes were recruited from the bloodstream into PLNs in mice, although LΔP T cells transmigrated HEVs more slowly. WT, but not LΔP-selectin, underwent rapid, metalloproteinase-dependent shedding after TCR engagement, and LΔP T cells retained the capacity to enter PLNs from the bloodstream. These results suggest that the ability to shed L-selectin is not required for T cell recirculation and homing to PLNs. However, L-selectin shedding from antigen-activated T cells prevents reentry into PLNs.
Spines of the porcupine fi sh : Structure , composition , and mechanical properties

This paper explores the structure, composition, and mechanical properties of porcupine fish spines for the first time. The spine was found to be composed of nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite, protein (collagen), and water using X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. Microstructures have mineralized fibrillar sheets in the longitudinal direction and in a radial orientation in the transverse direction that were observed using light and electron microscopy. Based on the images, the hierarchical structure of the spine shows both concentric and radial reinforcement. Mechanical properties were obtained using cantilever beam and nanoindentation tests. A tapered cantilever beam model was developed and compared to that of a uniform cantilever beam. The tapered beam model showed that while the stresses experienced were similar to those of the uniform beam, the location of the maximum stress was near the distal region of the beam rather than at the base, which allows the porcupine fish to conserve energy and resources if the spine is fractured.
Using multi‐response models to investigate pathogen coinfections across scales: Insights from emerging diseases of amphibians

Associations among parasites affect many aspects of host–parasite dynamics, but a lack of analytical tools has limited investigations of parasite correlations in observational data that are often nested across spatial and biological scales. Here we illustrate how hierarchical, multiresponse modelling can characterize parasite associations by allowing for hierarchical structuring, offering estimates of uncertainty and incorporating correlational model structures. After introducing the general approach, we apply this framework to investigate coinfections among four amphibian parasites (the trematodes Ribeiroia ondatrae and Echinostoma spp., the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and ranaviruses) and among >2,000 individual hosts, 90 study sites and five amphibian host species. Ninety‐two percent of sites and 80% of hosts supported two or more pathogen species. Our results revealed strong correlations between parasite pairs that varied by scale (from among hosts to among sites) and classification (microparasite versus macroparasite), but were broadly consistent across taxonomically diverse host species. At the host‐scale, infection by the trematode R. ondatrae correlated positively with the microparasites, B. dendrobatidis and ranavirus, which were themselves positively associated. However, infection by a second trematode (Echinostoma spp.) correlated negatively with B. dendrobatidis and ranavirus, both at the host‐ and site‐level scales, highlighting the importance of differential relationships between micro‐ and macroparasites. Given the extensive number of coinfecting symbiont combinations inherent to natural systems, particularly across multiple host species, multiresponse modelling of cross‐sectional field data offers a valuable tool to identify a tractable number of hypothesized interactions for experimental testing while accounting for uncertainty and potential sources of co‐exposure. For amphibians specifically, the high frequency of co‐occurrence and coinfection among these pathogens—each of which is known to impair host fitness or survival—highlights the urgency of understanding parasite associations for conservation and disease management.
Consensus Over Random Graph Processes: Network Borel–Cantelli Lemmas for Almost Sure Convergence

Distributed consensus computation over random graph processes is considered. The random graph process is defined as a sequence of random variables which take values from the set of all possible digraphs over the node set. At each time step, every node updates its state based on a Bernoulli trial, independent in time and among different nodes: either averaging among the neighbor set generated by the random graph, or sticking with its current state. The connectivity-independence and arc-independence are introduced to capture the fundamental influence of the random graphs on the consensus convergence. Necessary and/or sufficient conditions are presented on the success probabilities of the Bernoulli trials for the network to reach a global almost sure consensus, with some sharp threshold established revealing a consensus zero-one law. Convergence rates are established by the lower and upper bounds of the ϵ-computation time. We also generalize the concepts of connectivity/arc independence to their analogues from the *-mixing point of view, so that our results apply to a very wide class of graphical models, including the majority of random graph models in the literature, e.g., Erdos-Rényi, gossiping, and Markovian random graphs. We show that under *-mixing, our convergence analysis continues to hold and the corresponding almost sure consensus conditions are established. Finally, we further investigate almost sure finite-time convergence of random gossiping algorithms, and prove that the Bernoulli trials play a key role in ensuring finite-time convergence. These results add to the understanding of the interplay between random graphs, random computations, and convergence probability for distributed information processing.
Frisch : Against underspecification in speech errors 97 Appendix 3 : Confusion matrix of interaction errors from Stemberger

This paper argues against the use of phonological underspecification in feature matrices on the basis of speech error data. Stemberger 1991 argues that phonological underspecification influences the similarity of phonemes. He claims underspecified features do not count toward similarity, based on an analysis of phoneme confusions in a naturally occurring speech error corpus. Using the same corpus, I show that a similarity metric that does not employ underspecification provides a better account of the data. This similarity metric, originally proposed in Frisch, Broe, & Pierrehumbert 1995, is sensitive to featural redundancy but does not omit redundant features. In this metric, redundant features contribute less toward similarity than contrastive features. These results show that redundant features play a role in predicting speech errors, and thus that phonological representations must encode redundancy and not exclude it.
CNNdel: Calling Structural Variations on Low Coverage Data Based on Convolutional Neural Networks

Many structural variations (SVs) detection methods have been proposed due to the popularization of next-generation sequencing (NGS). These SV calling methods use different SV-property-dependent features; however, they all suffer from poor accuracy when running on low coverage sequences. The union of results from these tools achieves fairly high sensitivity but still produces low accuracy on low coverage sequence data. That is, these methods contain many false positives. In this paper, we present CNNdel, an approach for calling deletions from paired-end reads. CNNdel gathers SV candidates reported by multiple tools and then extracts features from aligned BAM files at the positions of candidates. With labeled feature-expressed candidates as a training set, CNNdel trains convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to distinguish true unlabeled candidates from false ones. Results show that CNNdel works well with NGS reads from 26 low coverage genomes of the 1000 Genomes Project. The paper demonstrates that convolutional neural networks can automatically assign the priority of SV features and reduce the false positives efficaciously.
A diary study of understanding contextual information needs during leisure traveling

The lack of knowledge about users' information needs will likely impede the applicability of mobile applications to more effectively support users' contextual search behavior. In this paper, we present results from a well-conducted diary study that aimed to learn persons' mobile information needs during their leisure traveling. The analysis of above 200 diary entries of subjects' information needs interestingly suggests question types, intents and topics that these needs exhibited. Moreover, the study reveals respective roles of different context factors, such as location, time and activity, in influencing and prompting users' information needs. Design implications are concluded at the end to show the insights of this study to improve current mobile services.
Analytical Evaluation of FFR-aided Heterogeneous Cellular Networks with Optimal Double Threshold

Next Generation Beyond 4G/5G systems will rely on the deployment of small cells over conventional macrocells for achieving high spectral efficiency and improved coverage performance, especially for indoor and hotspot environments. In such heterogeneous networks, the expected performance gains can only be derived with the use of efficient interference coordination schemes, such as Fractional Frequency Reuse (FFR), which is very attractive for its simplicity and effectiveness. In this work, femtocells are deployed according to a spatial Poisson Point Process (PPP) over hexagonally shaped, 6-sector macro base stations (MeNBs) in an uncoordinated manner, operating in hybrid mode. A newly introduced intermediary region prevents cross-tier, cross-boundary interference and improves user equipment (UE) performance at the boundary of cell center and cell edge. With tools of stochastic geometry, an analytical framework for the signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio (SINR) distribution is developed to evaluate the performance of all UEs in different spatial locations, with consideration to both co-tier and cross-tier interference. Using the SINR distribution framework, average network throughput per tier is derived together with a newly proposed harmonic mean, which ensures fairness in resource allocation amongst all UEs. Finally, the FFR network parameters are optimized for maximizing average network throughput, and the harmonic mean using a fair resource assignment constraint. Numerical results verify the proposed analytical framework, and provide insights into design trade-offs between maximizing throughput and user fairness by appropriately adjusting the spatial partitioning thresholds
Using magnetic levitation to separate mixtures of crystal polymorphs.

MagLev offers four advantages:1) it separates multiple populations in a single step, 2) itquantifies the density of each population, 3) it is applicable tosmall crystals (100 mm size), and 4) it provides seed crystalsfor large-scale crystallization. We used MagLev to separatemixtures of polymorphs of four compounds: 5-methyl-2-[(2-nitrophenyl)amino]-3-thiophenecarbonitrile (ROY) 1, sulfa-thiazole 2, carbamazepine 3, and trans-cinnamic acid 4(Scheme 1). A survey of the Cambridge Structural Database indicatesthat 3.1–3.5% of the compounds submitted crystallize indifferent polymorphic forms.
Beginning of a New Standard: Internet of Media Things

Recently, Internet of Things (IoT) drives a large variety of research, development, and new type of markets. All type of devices and sensors will be part of the Internet of Things and will be able to communicate not only plain data, but also audio-visual, olfactory, and haptic media data. In addition, as the devices and sensors getting smarter, it is highly probable that they can process acquired media and metadata to extract higher level of information (e.g., semantics). To support such enhanced functionalities, ISO/IEC SC29 WG11 (MPEG) starts a new standard project, ISO/IEC 23093, called Internet of Media Things (IoMT) to provide standard data formats and APIs for media things. This paper presents the standardization activities of IoMT focusing on explaining terms, standard scopes, and major media things with their use cases. One of the use cases, an IoT system for a blind pedestrian navigation assistance, is evaluated to prove its effectiveness.
Conization in Early Stage Cervical Cancer: Pattern of Recurrence in a 10-Year Single-Institution Experience

Objective The main objective of this study was to analyze the pattern of recurrence after conization and pelvic lymphadenectomy in early-stage cervical cancer (CC). Methods We retrospectively identified 60 patients with early-stage CC who referred to the European Institute of Oncology (IEO; Milan, Italy) for fertility-sparing surgery. All of them underwent conization and pelvic lymphadenectomy (one received neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by simple trachelectomy because of the size of the tumor). Results In total, 54 patients were considered for final analysis; only 23 patients were entirely treated at IEO. Relapse occurred in 7 (13%) of 54 patients, and in 6 cases (86%) it was local. One patient experienced a pelvic lymph node recurrence (in a woman who conceived 4 months after conservative surgery). However, this was an atypical case for site and timing of recurrence with the consistent doubt that the nodal involvement was already present before conization. Thus, analyzing only IEO population, the recurrence rate was lower (9%), becoming 4% excluding the atypical case with nodal involvement. Conclusions In our series, the relapse was mainly local (on the cervix). However, the pattern of recurrence and recurrence rates after conization and pelvic lymphadenectomy for early-stage CC are still unclear. Further studies, comparing conization with radical trachelectomy, are necessary to confirm that the adoption of this procedure in clinical practice is safe. Our data highlight that the management of such as a particular condition in dedicated and highly specialized centers is mandatory.
Tobacco User Characteristics and Outcomes Related to Intensity of Quitline Program Use: Results From Minnesota and Pennsylvania.

CONTEXT Tobacco users in all 50 states have access to quitline telephone counseling and cessation medications. While studies show multiple calls relate to quit success, most participants do not complete a full call series. To date, quitline program use studies have analyzed single factors-such as number of calls or counseling minutes. OBJECTIVE This study combines multiple factors of quitline program use across 2 states to describe how participants use a 5-call program; assess whether intensity of program use is associated with participant subgroups; and assess whether key outcomes (quitting, satisfaction) are associated with intensity. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This observational study examines data for quitline participants in Minnesota (n = 2844) and Pennsylvania (n = 14 359) in 2011 and 2012. A subset of participants was surveyed 7 months after registration to assess key outcomes (response rates: Minnesota 65%; Pennsylvania 60%). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Quitline utilization data were used to identify program use variables: nicotine replacement therapy provision, number of counseling calls, number of counseling minutes, days from first to last counseling call, and days from registration to first counseling call. Ten program use groups were created using all 5 program use variables, from lowest (1) to highest (10) intensity. RESULTS Results were similar for both states. Only 11% of Minnesota and 8% of Pennsylvania participants completed all 5 calls. Intensity of quitline program use was associated with several participant characteristics including health conditions and age. Both quit status and program satisfaction were associated with program use intensity. Quit rates peaked in group 9, participants who received the full 5-call program. CONCLUSIONS Quitlines should focus on engaging participants in multiple calls to improve quit outcomes. In addition, it is important to leverage multiple program use factors for a fuller understanding of how quitline participants use a program.
VDoc+: a virtual document based approach for matching large ontologies using MapReduce

Many ontologies have been published on the Semantic Web, to be shared to describe resources. Among them, large ontologies of real-world areas have the scalability problem in presenting semantic technologies such as ontology matching (OM). This either suffers from too long run time or has strong hypotheses on the running environment. To deal with this issue, we propose a three-stage MapReduce-based approach V-Doc+ for matching large ontologies, based on the MapReduce framework and virtual document technique. Specifically, two MapReduce processes are performed in the first stage to extract the textual descriptions of named entities (classes, properties, and instances) and blank nodes, respectively. In the second stage, the extracted descriptions are exchanged with neighbors in Resource Description Framework (RDF) graphs to construct virtual documents. This extraction process also benefits from the MapReduce-based implementation. A word-weight-based partitioning method is proposed in the third stage to conduct parallel similarity calculation using the term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) model. Experimental results on two large-scale real datasets and the benchmark testbed from Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative (OAEI) are reported, showing that the proposed approach significantly reduces the run time with minor loss in precision and recall.
The Effect of Adult Day Program Attendance on Emergency Room Registrations, Hospital Admissions, and Days in Hospital: A Propensity-Matching Study

Purpose of the Study This study is an investigation of the effect of adult day program attendance by home care clients 65 years of age and older on numbers and rates of emergency room registrations, hospital admissions, and days in hospital. Design and Methods Each adult day program attendee was matched to a single unique nonattendee (n = 812) on the basis of similar propensity scores which had been estimated from 19 demographic, psychosocial, clinical, and functional covariates. Evaluation of the propensity-matching procedure indicated that balance had been achieved on the covariates. Results Subsequent analyses revealed significantly lower mean 100-day rates of emergency room registrations, hospital admissions, and days in hospitals for attendees, compared to matched nonattendees. Although lower rates were largely attributable to longer stays in the home care program for attendees, attendees' mean number of days in hospital was still significantly lower compared to nonattendees. Implications Findings replicate and extend results from previous research that reported a decreased reliance on costly health care services by seniors who attend adult day programs.
RheoDSC Analysis of Hardening of Semi-Crystalline Polymers during Quiescent Isothermal Crystallization

Abstract The crystallization of semi-crystalline polymers is often analyzed by rheometry and calorimetry. By rheometry the viscosity evolution during crystallization can be followed, whereas from a calorimetric measurement, the evolution of the degree of crystallinity can be calculated. The time evolution of these material properties is valuable input for polymer processing simulation software and in order to combine the data in a reliable manner, hardening curves are used as a characterization tool. Such a hardening curve correlates the relative increase of the viscosity resulting from crystallization, to the advancing degree of crystallinity. In this study, these are extracted from simultaneous measurements on one sample using a RheoDSC device. The RheoDSC technique allows for the direct combination of the rheological and calorimetric signal without the need of combining separate stand-alone measurement results. In this study, isothermal crystallization experiments are used to discuss the benefits of this approach. This will lead to the recommendation that measuring the hardening effect in steady shear measurements at very low shear rates in a direct combined RheoDSC setup is the most reliable method to compile unambiguously a material specific hardening curve for semi-crystalline polymers.