Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of Birds through DNA Barcodes

Short DNA sequences from a standardized region of the genome provide a DNA barcode for identifying species. Compiling a public library of DNA barcodes linked to named specimens could provide a new master key for identifying species, one whose power will rise with increased taxon coverage and with faster, cheaper sequencing. Recent work suggests that sequence diversity in a 648-bp region of the mitochondrial gene, cytochrome c oxidase I (COI), might serve as a DNA barcode for the identification of animal species. This study tested the effectiveness of a COI barcode in discriminating bird species, one of the largest and best-studied vertebrate groups. We determined COI barcodes for 260 species of North American birds and found that distinguishing species was generally straightforward. All species had a different COI barcode(s), and the differences between closely related species were, on average, 18 times higher than the differences within species. Our results identified four probable new species of North American birds, suggesting that a global survey will lead to the recognition of many additional bird species. The finding of large COI sequence differences between, as compared to small differences within, species confirms the effectiveness of COI barcodes for the identification of bird species. This result plus those from other groups of animals imply that a standard screening threshold of sequence difference (10× average intraspecific difference) could speed the discovery of new animal species. The growing evidence for the effectiveness of DNA barcodes as a basis for species identification supports an international exercise that has recently begun to assemble a comprehensive library of COI sequences linked to named specimens.
Remittances and the Business Cycle: A Reliable Relationship?

The cyclical behaviour of remittances with respect to the receiving-country economy has important implications for economic and financial policies. Counter-cyclical remittance flows could form part of broader stabilisation policies in economic downturns and could also encourage receiving countries to adopt fixed (or less flexible) exchange-rate regimes. On the other hand, pro-cyclical flows may create an amplification effect of upturns or downturns in the receiving economy. There is an extant literature dedicated to exploring the cyclical nature of remittances. In general, the results tend to be country-specific and show that, for some migration and remittance corridors, remittances are counter-cyclical while, for others, they are pro-cyclical. This paper argues that the cyclical nature of remittances must be evaluated in a dynamic framework and that the relationship (between remittances and the receiving economy) is unlikely to be stable over time. Using data from Mexico, we show that remittances are counter-cyclical during some periods, but pro-cyclical at others. The changing cyclical nature of remittances questions the potential of remittances to smooth out cyclical fluctuations in output.
Wireless systems and interference avoidance

Motivated by the emergence of programmable radios, we seek to understand a new class of communication system where pairs of transmitters and receivers can adapt their modulation/demodulation method in the presence of interference to achieve better performance. Using signal to interference ratio as a metric and a general signal space approach, we present a class of iterative distributed algorithms for synchronous systems which results in an ensemble of optimal waveforms for multiple users connected to a common receiver (or colocated independent receivers). That is, the waveform ensemble meets the Welch (1974) bound with equality and, therefore, achieves minimum average interference over the ensemble of signature waveforms. We derive fixed points for a number of scenarios, provide examples, look at ensemble stability under user addition and deletion as well as provide a simplistic comparison to synchronous code-division multiple-access. We close with suggestions for future work.
Mothers’ Depressive Symptoms Predict Both Increased and Reduced Negative Reactivity

This study examined whether, as mothers’ depressive symptoms increase, their expressions of negative emotion to children increasingly reflect aversion sensitivity and motivation to minimize ongoing stress or discomfort. In multiple interactions over 2 years, negative affect expressed by 319 mothers and their children was observed across variations in mothers’ depressive symptoms, the aversiveness of children’s immediate behavior, and observed differences in children’s general negative reactivity. As expected, depressive symptoms predicted reduced maternal negative reactivity when child behavior was low in aversiveness, particularly with children who were high in negative reactivity. Depressive symptoms predicted high negative reactivity and steep increases in negative reactivity as the aversiveness of child behavior increased, particularly when high and continued aversiveness from the child was expected (i.e., children were high in negative reactivity). The findings are consistent with the proposal that deficits in parenting competence as depressive symptoms increase reflect aversion sensitivity and motivation to avoid conflict and suppress children’s aversive behavior.
Angular dependence of the upper critical field of YBa2Cu3O7- delta single crystals.

La dependance angulaire du champ critique superieur d'un monocristal de YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ , a ete mesuree avec une aimantation dc. Les resultats sont descriptibles avec une theorie de Ginzburg-Landau anisotrope tri-dimensionnelle avec une anisotropie de cinq dans le champ critique superieur
Rotation of Mental Images in Baboons When the Visual Input Is Directed to the Left Cerebral Hemisphere

The mental rotation phenomenon was examined in baboons and humans using a video-formatted mutching-to-sample task. Sample stimuli were presented either centrally or in the right or left visual half-field. Immediately afterward, subjects had to distinguish the previously presented sample stimulus from its mirror image after both had been rotated to the same angular deviation. A mental rotation phenomenon was found in baboons and humans, but in baboons this effect was limited to conditions in which visual input was directed to the right visual half-field. These data represent the first evidence of mental rotation in a nonhuman species.
A graphical password against spyware and shoulder-surfing attacks

Users may have various login ids that will be hard to remember their passwords and alphanumeric passwords are difficult to remember. One solution is to use graphical passwords that are more secure. Some threats of Internet security are spyware and shoulder-surfing attacks. This paper presents a new scheme for graphical password that uses images that are unexplainable and have larger password space. The proposed scheme is also resistant to spyware and shoulder-surfing attacks.
Two RecA Protein Types That Mediate Different Modes of Hyperrecombination

ABSTRACT RecAX53 is a chimeric variant of the Escherichia coli RecA protein (RecAEc) that contains a part of the central domain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa RecA (RecAPa), encompassing a region that differs from RecAEc at 12 amino acid positions. Like RecAPa, this chimera exhibits hyperrecombination activity in E. coli cells, increasing the frequency of recombination exchanges per DNA unit length (FRE). RecAX53 confers the largest increase in FRE observed to date. The contrasting properties of RecAX53 and RecAPa are manifested by in vivo differences in the dependence of the FRE value on the integrity of the mutS gene and thus in the ratio of conversion and crossover events observed among their hyperrecombination products. In strains expressing the RecAPa or RecAEc protein, crossovers are the main mode of hyperrecombination. In contrast, conversions are the primary result of reactions promoted by RecAX53. The biochemical activities of RecAX53 and its ancestors, RecAEc and RecAPa, have been compared. Whereas RecAPa generates a RecA presynaptic complex (PC) that is more stable than that of RecAEc, RecAX53 produces a more dynamic PC (relative to both RecAEc and RecAPa). The properties of RecAX53 result in a more rapid initiation of the three-strand exchange reaction but an inability to complete the four-strand transfer. This indicates that RecAX53 can form heteroduplexes rapidly but is unable to convert them into crossover configurations. A more dynamic RecA activity thus translates into an increase in conversion events relative to crossovers.
Multigrid methods with constraint level decomposition for variational inequalities

In this paper we introduce four multigrid algorithms for the constrained minimization of non-quadratic functionals. These algorithms are combinations of additive or multiplicative iterations on levels with additive or multiplicative ones over the levels. The convex set is decomposed as a sum of convex level subsets, and consequently, the algorithms have an optimal computing complexity. The methods are described as multigrid V -cycles, but the results hold for other iteration types, the W -cycle iterations, for instance. We estimate the global convergence rates of the proposed algorithms as functions of the number of levels, and compare them with the convergence rates of other existing multigrid methods. Even if the general convergence theory holds for convex sets which can be decomposed as a sum of convex level subsets, our algorithms are applied to the one-obstacle problems because, for these problems, we are able to construct optimal decompositions. But, in this case, the convergence rates of the methods introduced in this paper are better than those of the methods we know in the literature.
Design concept and experiment of ocean nutrient enhancer "TAKUMI"

To increase a primary production in the sea, upwelling and discharging a Deep Ocean Water (DOW) which has very rich nutrient salts into the euphotic surface layer has been proposed by many oceanologists as a "fishing ground of artificial DOW upwelling". But, so far, there are no successful means to make it, because of the problems of the large amount of upwelling DOW, the dilution of nutrient salts in the sea, enduring the rough sea condition, the strength of very long riser pipe for upwelling, etc. The design concept of ocean nutrient enhancer TAKUMI, featuring the density current for avoiding the dilution of nutrient salts, the spar type submersible floating structure for withstanding the rough sea condition, and the design and analysis of riser pipe for not only in case of rough sea but also in case of the upending which is world first challenge of election of steel riser pipe with gravity fall in the subsea, is introduced. Also, about one year continuous running operation of TAKUMI and the investigation results of the water mass discharged from TAKUMI are reported.
Gabor-Based Improved Locality Preserving Projections for Face Recognition

A novel Gabor-based improved locality preserving projections for face recognition is presented in this paper. This new algorithm is based on a combination of Gabor wavelets representation of face images and improved locality preserving projections for face recognition and it is robust to changes in illumination and facial expressions and poses. In this paper, Gabor filter is first designed to extract the features from the whole face images, and then a locality preserving projections, which is improved by two-directional 2DPCA to eliminate redundancy among Gabor features, is used to subject these feature vectors onto locality subspace projection. Experiments based on the ORL face database demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the new method. Results show that our new algorithm outperforms the other popular approaches reported in the literature and achieves a much higher accurate recognition rate.
Classical and semiclassical studies of the hydrogen molecule

The hydrogen molecule contains the basic ingredients to understand the chemical bond, i.e, a pair of electrons. We show a step to understand The Correspondence Principle for chaotic system in the Chemical World. The hydrogen molecule is studied classically as an extension of the helium atom. Several types of orbits were found for two-fixed-centers system (hydrogen molecule) starting from some known orbits for one-fixed center one (helium atom), e.g., one dimension orbits as pendulum and axial and also Bohr and Langmuir's orbits. The classical stability and the single quantization of some one-dimensional periodic orbits are shown. These orbits are used to make a global quantization of that molecular chaotic system. We discuss the importance of those periodic orbits in the comprehension of the nature of chemical bond.
Children's Behavior During Teacher-Directed and Child-Directed Activities in Head Start

The sociallbehavioral characteristics of 63 preschool children with low and high language abilities were observed for 60 min during teacher-directed structured activities and 60 min during child-directed unstructured activities in Head Start classrooms. Children with low language were observed to have significantly higher rates of disruptive behavior and negative responses, fewer initiations to peer interactions, and shorter durations of engagement than children with high language. Boys with low language abilities were more likely to be disruptive than girls with either low or high language abilities. Teachers praised children with low language significantly less often than children with high language. These findings suggest that children with lower language abilities are at greater risk for problem behaviors and poor social skills than children with higher language abilities.
Image denoising using multiple compressive reconstructed images

A novel image denoising technique is proposed using compressive reconstruction framework. Multiple subsets of pixels with partial overlap are selected from noisy image. The subsets of pixels are selected in such a way that every subset will have at least 20% different pixels compared to any other subset. Each subset of pixels is considered as vector of compressive samples from noisy image and a complete image is reconstructed in wavelet domain using compressive sensing reconstruction algorithm. The multiple images obtained from these subsets are merged using statistical techniques to obtain clean image. The proposed technique is tested on several images with different noise level and it was observed that proposed technique produced better denoising results compared to other denoising techniques using wavelets representation of noisy image.
The experiences of people with learning disabilities on social networking sites

Accessible summary Lots of people use the Internet to make friends and talk to friends. We behave in certain ways because of how people talk to us and treat us. Some people use Facebook on the Internet to stay in touch with their friends and make new friends. This can be a very good experience. Some other people have had problems when using social networking sites like Facebook. Some people have been bullied online and some have had money taken off them. We spoke to three people who have had good and bad things happen on Facebook. We have suggested some ideas on how to help people with these problems. Summary Social identity has traditionally been established through face-to-face interactions. However, in recent times, social networking sites have provided an additional medium through which social identities can be developed and explored. Social networking has become increasingly popular over the past decade, attracting millions of active users worldwide. These sites offer an opportunity to maintain friendships, create new friendships and even date. The following article highlights the positive and negative experiences of three people with learning disabilities using social networking sites. The negative experiences reported by our service users highlighted areas of concern with regard to their safety. As a result, a therapeutic group was formed to address these online experiences and provide practical and emotional support. At the end of the group, service users reported that they were more confident about discussing and problem solving issues around online use.
Block motion estimation using adaptive partial distortion search

The conventional search algorithms for block motion estimation reduce the set of possible displacements for locating the motion vector. All of these algorithms produce some quality degradation of the predicted image. To reduce the computational complexity of the full search algorithm without introducing any loss in the predicted image, we propose an adaptive partial distortion search algorithm (APDS) by selecting the most representative pixels with high activities, such as edges and texture which contribute most to the matching criterion. The APDS algorithm groups the representative pixels based on the pixel activities in the Hilbert scan. By using the grouped information and computing the accumulated partial distortion of the representative pixels before that of the other pixels, impossible candidates can be rejected sooner and the remaining computation involved in the matching criterion can be reduced remarkably. Simulation results show that the proposed APDS algorithm has a significant computational speed-up and is the fastest when compared to the conventional partial distortion search algorithms.
The role of impaired neuronal communication in neurological disorders

Purpose of reviewBasic and translational neuroscience findings indicate that normal brain function depends on activity synchronization within distributed brain networks. This conclusion suggests a view of how brain injury causes behavioral deficits that differs from traditional localizationist views. Recent findingsNovel functional neuroimaging methods demonstrate coherent activity in large-scale networks not only during task performance but also, surprisingly, at rest (i.e. in the absence of stimuli, tasks, or overt responses). Furthermore, breakdown of activity coherence at rest, even in regions of the brain that are structurally intact, correlates with behavioral deficits and their recovery after injury. Breakdown of functional connectivity appears to occur not just after local injury but also in other conditions that affect large-scale neural communication. SummaryA network perspective is fundamental to appreciating the pathophysiology of brain injury at the systems level and the underlying mechanisms of recovery, and for developing novel strategies of rehabilitation.
Ethnicity and low achievement in English schools

Tens of thousands of young people leave school with no or very few qualifications in England. This paper asks: what is the ethnic dimension of the low achievement problem? We focus on six aspects, using the National Pupil Database: whether the relation between ethnicity and incidence of low achievement is symmetrical with the relation between ethnicity and achievement; whether economic disadvantage is an equally large risk factor for low achievement among pupils of all ethnicities; whether the relationship of ethnicity with low achievement varies by peer group; whether the relationship between gender and chances of low achievement differs by ethnic group; whether the relation between ethnicity and low achievement changes with age; and lastly, whether there is sorting by ethnicity into schools of better or worse quality. We find that: (1) the relationship between low achievement and achievement is not symmetrical and, therefore, that it is valuable to measure low achievement directly rather than as the negative of achievement; (2) economic disadvantage has a stronger effect on White students than those of ethnic minorities; (3) the relationship between ethnicity and low achievement does vary with age; (4) ethnic peer-group effects are not significant; (5) the gender gap in the probability of low achievement is significantly larger for most ethnic groups compared with the White group, at least by one measure of low achievement; and (6) attending poorer-quality schools is part of the explanation of differential ethnic minority performance. We offer explanations for our findings and for the presence and/or persistence of inter-ethnic differences in the chances of low achievement.
Understanding responses to predictive genetic testing: A grounded theory approach

In view of the absence of data concerning the understanding and experience of families in which one or more members have undergone predictive genetic testing, a pilot study using a qualitative methodology was conducted with members of families at risk for the late-onset genetic disease, familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). Semistructured interviews were conducted to elicit illness representations, with responses tape-recorded and analysed using a grounded theory approach. Several themes emerged. The most striking was that when genetic testing indicated an extremely low risk of developing the disease, there was a desire to continue regular bowel screening, even though it was experienced as extremely aversive. Possible explanations draw upon both other themes of the interviews, and psychological models. The role of “functional pessimism” and “uncertain wellness” in maintaining a high threat from the disease, and the role of reinforcement and the nature of tests in providing bowel screening with a high value are discussed.
Brain synaptosomes harbor more than one cytoplasmic system of protein synthesis

Synaptosomal protein synthesis from rat brain is selectively increased by learning and is massively enhanced during the recovery period from brain ischemia. To lay the groundwork for identification of the involved synaptic elements, we examined the effects induced by varying the concentrations of extracellular cations and endogenous calcium. Most of the recorded rate response curves exhibited biphasic profiles that suggested the presence of more than one translation system. Because comparable profiles were obtained by fully inhibiting mitochondrial translation, the data indicated the involvement of cytoplasmic translation systems present in different synaptosomal classes. Their properties may be individually investigated by exploiting the partially inhibited conditions we have described. The identification of the synaptic elements from which they originated and their newly synthesized proteins will significantly expand our understanding of the synaptic contribution to brain plastic events. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.