Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analyzing Fluctuating Asymmetry with Geometric Morphometrics: Concepts, Methods, and Applications

Approximately two decades after the first pioneering analyses, the study of shape asymmetry with the methods of geometric morphometrics has matured and is a burgeoning field. New technology for data collection and new methods and software for analysis are widely available and have led to numerous applications in plants and animals, including humans. This review summarizes the concepts and morphometric methods for studying asymmetry of shape and size. After a summary of mathematical and biological concepts of symmetry and asymmetry, a section follows that explains the methods of geometric morphometrics and how they can be used to analyze asymmetry of biological structures. Geometric morphometric analyses not only tell how much asymmetry there is, but also provide information about the patterns of covariation in the structure under study. Such patterns of covariation in fluctuating asymmetry can provide valuable insight about the developmental basis of morphological integration, and have become important tools for evolutionary developmental biology. The genetic basis of fluctuating asymmetry has been studied from empirical and theoretical viewpoints, but serious challenges remain in this area. There are many promising areas for further research that are only little explored at present.
Implicit Motives, Leadership, and Follower Outcomes

We examined implicit or subconscious antecedents of CEO behavior and the effects on their direct subordinates. Specifically, we explored the relationships between (a) power, achievement, and affiliation motives and (b) charismatic, instrumental, and participative leadership behaviors. We then examined the influence of leadership types on three outcomes: follower motivation, performance, and teamwork. Based on analyses of interviews and surveys of 28 CEOs and 56 of their immediate followers (2 per CEO; members of the senior management team), the results indicate that only charismatic leadership relates positively to all three outcomes. Subconscious power motive relates negatively to charismatic and instrumental leadership; subconscious need for affiliation relates negatively to charismatic leadership; and subconscious need for achievement relates positively to instrumental and participative leadership. We conclude with a discussion of the implications and limitations of the study.
Genome Analysis The Arabidopsis Genome . An Abundance of Soluble N-Ethylmaleimide-Sensitive Factor Adaptor Protein Receptors 1

Many factors have been characterized as essential for vesicle trafficking, including a number of proteins commonly referred to as soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor adaptor protein receptor (SNARE) components. The Arabidopsis genome contains a remarkable number of SNAREs. In general, the vesicle fusion machinery appears highly conserved. However, whereas some classes of yeast and mammalian genes appear to be lacking in Arabidopsis, this small plant genome has gene families not found in other eukaryotes. Very little is known about the precise function of plant SNAREs. By contrast, the intracellular localization of and interactions between a large number of plant SNAREs have been determined, and these data are discussed in light of the phylogenetic analysis.
Oviposition by Pierid Butterflies Triggers Defense Responses in Arabidopsis1[W][OA]

Insect eggs represent a threat for the plant as hatching larvae rapidly start with their feeding activity. Using a whole-genome microarray, we studied the expression profile of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) leaves after oviposition by two pierid butterflies. For Pieris brassicae, the deposition of egg batches changed the expression of hundreds of genes over a period of 3 d after oviposition. The transcript signature was similar to that observed during a hypersensitive response or in lesion-mimic mutants, including the induction of defense and stress-related genes and the repression of genes involved in growth and photosynthesis. Deposition of single eggs by Pieris rapae caused a similar although much weaker transcriptional response. Analysis of the jasmonic acid and salicylic acid mutants coi1-1 and sid2-1 indicated that the response to egg deposition is mostly independent of these signaling pathways. Histochemical analyses showed that egg deposition is causing a localized cell death, accompanied by the accumulation of callose, and the production of reactive oxygen species. In addition, activation of the pathogenesis-related1∷β-glucuronidase reporter gene correlated precisely with the site of egg deposition and was also triggered by crude egg extract. This study provides molecular evidence for the detection of egg deposition by Arabidopsis plants and suggests that oviposition causes a localized response with strong similarity to a hypersensitive response.
Participative Decision Making in Schools: A Mediating-Moderating Analytical Framework for Understanding School and Teacher Outcomes

The increasing emergence of participation in decision making (PDM) in schools reflects the widely shared belief that flatter management and decentralized authority structures carry the potential for promoting school effectiveness. However, the literature indicates a discrepancy between the intuitive appeal of PDM and empirical evidence in respect of its sweeping advantages. The purpose of this theoretical article is to develop a comprehensive model for understanding the distinct impacts of PDM on school and teachers’ outcomes. The proposed analytical framework is set within contingency theory and is aimed to predict the distinct impacts of PDM on school outcomes: innovation, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and productivity; and on teacher outcomes: job satisfaction and strain. It contains mediator-moderator components, where the mediator factors explain the relationship between PDM and school and teacher outcomes and the moderator factors influence the strength and/or the direction of these relationships. Specifically, the framework suggests that two mechanisms, one motivational and one cognitive, serve as mediators in the PDM-outcomes relationship. Then, by taking a multilevel perspective, the author posits moderators that may facilitate or inhibit the PDM effect: teacher personality (the Big Five personality characteristics) at the individual level, principal-teacher exchange (leader-member exchange; LMX) at the dyadic level, structure (bureaucratic/ organic) at the school level, and culture (individualism/collectivism) at the environmental level.
Trending and pattern recognition using the sphere-hardening phenomenon of signal multidimensional projection

In trending and pattern recognition, the signal comprises a series of samples having a characteristic sequence, the so-called signature, repeatable from one measurement to another. Most of the non-repeatable part of the measurement comes from the measured intrinsic random contribution of the physical phenomenon, ambient noise, measurement system noise, and the temporal evolution of the physical phenomenon between two measurements. Projection of the signal of N-samples in a multidimensional space R N for several measurements (Fig. 1) shows a distribution close to a hypersphere of radius r, where r corresponds to the measurement standard deviation. The estimated signature Si is located at the center of the hypersphere. The measurements are grouped close to the hypersphere shell and the corresponding standard deviation around the radius r defines the “thickness” of the hypersphere shell also called the “hardness” of the hypersphere. Known as the “sphere hardening phenomenon”, the hardness-to-radius ratio decreases with the increasing number N of dimensions. The measurement probability density appears as a function of the distance between the measurement and the hypersphere surface, with this distance related to the hardness. In the case of a large number of dimensions, the measurement distance to the hypersphere shell probability density function converges to a Laplace-Gauss model, thanks to the central limit theorem, and yields an analytical statistical formulation for the measurement likelihood. In contrast to some state-of-the-art monitoring algorithms, the proposed method gradually increases the sensitivity with the new measurements. The occurrence probability of a “false positive” (false alarm) appears constant from start-up through the steady state: the false-alarm rate at start-up is similar to that occurring in the steady state. This paper explains the method, presents the mathematical developments and gives a sample application for monitoring substation equipment. In this application, the signal corresponds to the temporal envelope of the vibroacoustic operating noise. Data collected over a period of more than three years demonstrates the sensitivity and robustness of the method.
Multivariate Methods for Genetic Variants Selection and Risk Prediction in Cardiovascular Diseases

Over the last decade, high-throughput genotyping and sequencing technologies have contributed to major advancements in genetics research, as these technologies now facilitate affordable mapping of the entire genome for large sets of individuals. Given this, genome-wide association studies are proving to be powerful tools in identifying genetic variants that have the capacity to modify the probability of developing a disease or trait of interest. However, when the study’s goal is to evaluate the effect of the presence of genetic variants mapping to specific chromosomes regions on a specific phenotype, the candidate loci approach is still preferred. Regardless of which approach is taken, such a large data set calls for the establishment and development of appropriate analytical methods in order to translate such knowledge into biological or clinical findings. Standard univariate tests often fail to identify informative genetic variants, especially when dealing with complex traits, which are more likely to result from a combination of rare and common variants and non-genetic determinants. These limitations can partially be overcome by multivariate methods, which allow for the identification of informative combinations of genetic variants and non-genetic features. Furthermore, such methods can help to generate additive genetic scores and risk stratification algorithms that, once extensively validated in independent cohorts, could serve as useful tools to assist clinicians in decision-making. This review aims to provide readers with an overview of the main multivariate methods for genetic data analysis that could be applied to the analysis of cardiovascular traits.
Dual role of the TRPV 4 channel as a sensor of flow and osmolality in renal epithelial cells

Wu L, Gao X, Brown RC, Heller S, O’Neil RG. Dual role of the TRPV4 channel as a sensor of flow and osmolality in renal epithelial cells. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 293: F1699–F1713, 2007. First published August 15, 2007; doi:10.1152/ajprenal.00462. 2006. —Gain/ loss of function studies were utilized to assess the potential role of the endogenous vanilloid receptor TRPV4 as a sensor of flow and osmolality in M-1 collecting duct cells (CCD). TRPV4 mRNA and protein were detectable in M-1 cells and stably transfected HEK-293 cells, where the protein occurred as a glycosylated doublet on Western blots. Immunofluorescence imaging demonstrated expression of TRPV4 at the cell membranes of TRPV4-transfected HEK and M-1 cells and at the luminal membrane of mouse kidney CCD. By using intracellular calcium imaging techniques, calcium influx was monitored in cells grown on coverslips. Application of known activators of TRPV4, including 4 -PDD and hypotonic medium, induced strong calcium influx in M-1 cells and TRPV4-transfected HEK-293 cells but not in nontransfected cells. Applying increased flow/shear stress in a parallel plate chamber induced calcium influx in both M-1 and TRPV4-transfected HEK cells but not in nontransfected HEK cells. Furthermore, in loss-of-function studies employing small interference (si)RNA knockdown techniques, transfection of both M-1 and TRPV4-transfected HEK cells with siRNA specific for TRPV4, but not an inappropriate siRNA, led to a time-dependent decrease in TRPV4 expression that was accompanied by a loss of stimuli-induced calcium influx to flow and hypotonicity. It is concluded that TRPV4 displays a mechanosensitive nature with activation properties consistent with a molecular sensor of both fluid flow (or shear stress) and osmolality, or a component of a sensor complex, in flow-sensitive renal CCD.
Violence and Sociality in Human Evolution [and Comments and Replies]

A high gain digital phase comparator which in digital phase lock loop systems can give a thousand-fold reduction in ripple and close-in noise sideband amplitudes. The comparator is of the sample-and-hold type but the normal ramp reference waveform is replaced by a trapezoidal waveform with a very steep rising or falling slope generated by a trapezoidal waveform generator. This slope is sampled by a sampling circuit coupled to said generator and its steepness gives the increased gain of the phase comparator leading to the reduced noise and ripple. Additional logic and switching circuits are added to make the comparator operate only during a rising edge of the trapezoidal waveform.
Link-Centric Probabilistic Coverage Model for Transceiver-Free Object Detection in Wireless Networks

Sensing coverage is essential for most applications in wireless networks. In traditional coverage problem study, the disk coverage model has been widely applied because of its simplicity. Though notable recent works point out that the disk model has many critical limitations when applied in practice, few successful works have been conducted to comprehensively study the issue. Motivated by this, in this paper we propose a new coverage model called T-R model. T-R model is derived from a real application of transceiver-free object detection. Compared with the traditional disk model, T-R model is able to describe many new coverage features such as the probabilistic coverage, the link-centric coverage units and the correlations between multiple coverage units. These new capabilities make T-R model a better abstraction of individual sensors. To evaluate the performance of T-R model, we conduct comprehensive empirical studies based on a test-bed of 30 telosB nodes. Experimental results show that the TR model can adequately describe the sensing behavior in the transceiver-free object detection applications. The average error between the model and the reality is only 8%. Moreover, T-R model presents attractive flexibility, making it more appropriate for general coverage problem studies than the transceiver-free object detection.
Energy Efficiency in IP over WDM netwoks

In the last decade, energy efficiency in backbone networks has become an important problem due to the significant growth in the Internet traffic. A very promising solution to solve this problem in Internet Protocol (IP) over Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) networks is the Virtual Topology Adaptation approach, which permits adapting network resources by following a dynamic daily traffic profile. In this approach, virtual topology in the WDM layer adapts to the changes in the IP traffic, however, IP layer routing is following the conventional shortest path routing strategy being unaware of the lower layer adaptation. This thesis study aims to analyze the possibilities of power savings in WDM and IP layers in coordination and proposes multi-layer approaches for energy-efficient IP over WDM networks. Energy-efficient algorithms on a realistic scenario are considered where commercially available routers and their power consumption parameters are taken into account. Among these IP router systems, power consumption of single and multi-shelf systems are analyzed. Multi shelf system can accommodate multiple chassis in a rack while in the single shelf system only one chassis is employed. For networks with single-shelf routers, we propose an energy-aware IP traffic routing strategy in coordination with a virtual topology adaptation approach to save energy by following a dynamic daily traffic profile. Energy-efficient IP routing strategy offloads the traffic from the network resources running in extreme load levels resulting in stabilization in the virtual topology and improvement in energy-efficiency. It is shown that using this approach a considerable amount of energy is saved compared to the case of virtual topology adaptation without the IP layer involvement. Power consumption in networks composed of multi-shelf routers is studied and three different strategies for energy efficiency are proposed: one in the WDM layer, an Energy and Chassis-Aware Virtual Topology Adaptation (ECA-VTA), another in the IP layer, the Energy and Chassis-Aware IP Routing (ECA-IP), and a multi-layer strategy that combines ECA-VTA and ECA-IP (ECA-IP-VTA). Joint optimization of IP&WDM layers significantly reduces power consumption and number of changes in the virtual-topology compared with single-layer approach.
OPTIMAL CONTROL FOR PARTIALLY OBSERVABLE MARKOV DECISION PROCESSES OVER AN INFINITE HORIZON

In this paper we consider an optimal control problem for partially observable Markov decision processes with finite states, signals and actions OVE,r an infinite horizon. It is shown that there are €­ optimal piecewise·linear value functions and piecl~wise-constant policies which are simple. Simple means that there are only finitely many pieces, each of which is defined on a convex polyhedral set. An algorithm based on the method of successive approximation is developed to compute €-optimal policy and €·optimal cost. Furthermore, a special class of stationary policies, called finitely transient, will be considered. It will be shown that such policies have attractive properties which enable us to convert a partially observable Markov decision chain into a usual finite state Markov one.
Serum Insulin-Like Growth Factor Axis and the Risk of Pancreatic Cancer: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective: To investigate the association between serum concentration of insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and the risk of pancreatic cancer (PaC). Methods: We identified eligible studies in Medline and EMBASE databases (no reference trials from 2014 to 2016) in addition to the reference lists of original studies and review articles on this topic. A summary of relative risks with 95% confidence intervals (CI) was calculated using a random-effects model. The heterogeneity between studies was assessed using Cochran Q and I2 statistics. Results: Ten studies (seven nested case-control studies and three retrospective case-control studies) were selected as they met our inclusion criteria in this meta-analysis. All these studies were published between 1997 and 2013. The current data suggested that serum concentrations of IGF-I, IGF-II and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3)in addition to the IGF-I/IGFBP-3 ratio were not associated with an increased risk of PaC (Summary relative risks (SRRs) = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.67–1.16 for IGF-I; SRRs = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.54–1.15 for IGF-II; SRRs = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.69–1.17 for IGFBP-3; SRRs = 0.97, 95% CI: 0.71–1.23 for IGF-I/IGFBP-3 ratio). There was no publication bias in the present meta-analysis. Conclusion: Serum concentrations of IGF-I, IGF-II, IGFBP-1 and IGFBP-3 as well as the IGF-I/IGFBP-3 ratio were not associated with increased risk of PaC.
Improving the Quality of Mixed Research Reports in the Field of Human Resource Development and Beyond: A Call for Rigor as an Ethical Practice

Since 2000, only 13% of the total number of empirical research articles (n = 230) published in Human Resource Development Quarterly (HRDQ) have represented mixed research studies. Plausible explanations for why the HRDQ prevalence rate is not more than 13% include the possibility that a high proportion of mixed research studies that are being submitted to HDRQ are not of sufficient quality to be accepted. Thus, in this editorial, we provide evidence-based guidelines for conducting and reporting mixed research that are framed around Collins, Onwuegbuzie, and Sutton's (2006) 13-step model of the mixed research process. Further, we divide our reporting standards into four general areas—research formulation, research planning, research implementation, and research dissemination—that we itemize via a taxonomy that contains more than 60 elements.
Avian Influenza A Virus in Wild Birds in Highly Urbanized Areas

Avian influenza virus (AIV) surveillance studies in wild birds are usually conducted in rural areas and nature reserves. Less is known of avian influenza virus prevalence in wild birds located in densely populated urban areas, while these birds are more likely to be in close contact with humans. Influenza virus prevalence was investigated in 6059 wild birds sampled in cities in the Netherlands between 2006 and 2009, and compared with parallel AIV surveillance data from low urbanized areas in the Netherlands. Viral prevalence varied with the level of urbanization, with highest prevalence in low urbanized areas. Within cities virus was detected in 0.5% of birds, while seroprevalence exceeded 50%. Ring recoveries of urban wild birds sampled for virus detection demonstrated that most birds were sighted within the same city, while few were sighted in other cities or migrated up to 2659 km away from the sample location in the Netherlands. Here we show that urban birds were infected with AIVs and that urban birds were not separated completely from populations of long-distance migrants. The latter suggests that wild birds in cities may play a role in the introduction of AIVs into cities. Thus, urban bird populations should not be excluded as a human-animal interface for influenza viruses.
Towards broadcast redundancy minimization in duty‐cycled wireless sensor networks

Broadcast is an essential operation in wireless sensor networks. Because of the necessity of energy conservation, minimizing the number of transmissions is always a challenging issue in broadcasting scheme design. This paper studies the minimum‐transmission broadcast problem in duty‐cycled wireless sensor networks where each sensor operates under active/dormant cycles. To address the problem, our proposed scheme, Broadcast Redundancy Minimization Scheduling (BRMS), finds a set of forwarding nodes, which minimizes the number of broadcast transmissions. Then, it constructs a forest of sub‐trees based on the relationship between each forwarding node and its corresponding receivers. A broadcast tree is constructed ultimately by connecting all sub‐trees with a minimum number of connectors. Theoretical analysis shows that BRMS obtains a lower approximation ratio as well as time complexity compared with existing schemes. A set of extensive simulations is conducted to evaluate the performance of BRMS. The results reveal that BRMS outperforms others and its solution is close to the lower bound of the problem in terms of the total number of transmissions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cross-Domain Forensic Shoeprint Matching

Abstract We investigate the problem of automatically determining what type of shoe left an impression found at a crime scene. This recognition problem is made difficult by the variability in types of crime scene evidence (ranging from traces of dust or oil on hard surfaces to impressions made in soil) and the lack of comprehensive databases of shoe outsole tread patterns. We find that mid-level features extracted by pre-trained convolutional neural nets are surprisingly effective descriptors for these specialized domains. However, the choice of similarity measure for matching exemplars to a query image is essential to good performance. For matching multi-channel deep features, we propose the use of multi-channel normalized cross-correlation and analyze its effectiveness. Finally, we introduce a discriminatively trained variant and fine-tune our system end-to-end, obtaining state-of-the-art performance.