Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low Rate of Between-Population Seed Dispersal Restricts Genetic Connectivity and Metapopulation Dynamics in a Clonal Shrub

Clonal species normally have low seed production, low recruitment rates and long lifespans, and it is expected that the rates of long-distance dispersal (LDD) of seeds will be low as well. Banksia candolleana is a clonal shrub in Mediterranean-type, fire-prone sclerophyll shrublands of southwestern Australia, whose reproductive biology and population dynamics contrast with those of co-occurring nonclonal congeneric species, all of which are restricted to a mosaic of sand dunes set within a matrix of inhospitable swales. Using microsatellite markers, we genotyped 499 plants in all 15 populations of B. candolleana within a 12-km2 area, assessed population genetic differentiation, and quantified the effective rate of interpopulation seed dispersal through genetic assignment of individuals to populations. We measured life history, reproductive and demographic attributes, and compared these with two co-occurring Banksia species, a non-clonal resprouter and a nonsprouter. B. candolleana has much higher levels of population genetic differentiation, and one-third the rate of interpopulation seed migration, as the other two species (2.2% vs 5.5−6.8% of genotyped plants inferred to be immigrants), though distances reached by LDD are comparable (0.3−2.3 km). The low rate of interpopulation dispersal was supported by an analysis of the age structure of three populations that suggests a mean interdune migration rate of <800 m in 200 years, and 60% of suitable dunes remain uninhabited. Thus, B. candolleana has poor properties for promoting long-distance dispersal. It is unclear if these are idiosyncratic to this species or whether such properties are to be expected of clonal species in general where LDD is less critical for species survival.
Measuring Dissociative Experiences in a College Population

Abstract Because the phenomenon of dissociation has been difficult to define and disentangle from other constructs, further study of the nature of dissociative experiences and the validity of instruments measuring dissociation was conducted. In this study, multiple measures of dissociative experiences were compared with instruments measuring a variety of theoretically related constructs in a sample of 225 college students. The results supported the convergent validity of the measures of dissociative experiences, but they demonstrated relatively poor discriminant validity. However, poor discriminant validity was not specific to dissociation measures and was found for almost all of the constructs studied. This suggests that dissociation can be seen as a distinct, valid, and reliable phenomenon, and that available instruments measure the phenomenon with similar precision as instruments measuring depression, anxiety, borderline, antisocial, and posttraumatic symptoms.
Austarch1: A database of 14C and luminescence ages from archaeological sites in the Australian arid zone

AustArch1 is a Microsoft Excel database and acts as a resource for archeologists working in the arid zone. It provides a ready checklist of dated sites as well as a comprehensive listing of radiocarbon, luminescence and uranium series age determinations, and in conjunction with calibration programs such as OxCal or Calib, can be used to generate radiocarbon density plots for analysis of trends in occupation.
Adaptive Feature Abstraction for Translating Video to Text

Previous models for video captioning often use the output from a specific layer of a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) as video features. However, the variable context-dependent semantics in the video may make it more appropriate to adaptively select features from the multiple CNN layers. We propose a new approach for generating adaptive spatiotemporal representations of videos for the captioning task. A novel attention mechanism is developed, that adaptively and sequentially focuses on different layers of CNN features (levels of feature "abstraction"), as well as local spatiotemporal regions of the feature maps at each layer. The proposed approach is evaluated on three benchmark datasets: YouTube2Text, M-VAD and MSR-VTT. Along with visualizing the results and how the model works, these experiments quantitatively demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive spatiotemporal feature abstraction for translating videos to sentences with rich semantics.
Adaptive information density for augmented reality displays

Augmented Reality (AR) browsers show geo-referenced data in the current view of a user. When the amount of data grows too large, the display quickly becomes cluttered. Clustering items by spatial and semantic attributes can temporarily alleviate the issue, but is not effective against an increasing amount of data. We present an adaptive information density display for AR that balances the amount of presented information against the potential clutter created by placing items on the screen. We use hierarchical clustering to create a level-of-detail structure, in which nodes closer to the root encompass groups of items, while the leaf nodes contain single items. Our method selects items and groups from different levels of this hierarchy based on user-defined preferences and on the amount of visual clutter caused by placing these items. The number of presented items is adapted during user interaction to avoid clutter. We compare our interface to a conventional AR browser interface in a qualitative user study. Users clearly preferred our interface, because it provided a better overview of the data and allowed for easier comparison. In a second study, we evaluated the effect of different degrees of clustering on search and recall tasks. Users generally made fewer errors, when using our interface for a search task, which indicates that the reduced clutter allowed them to stay focused on finding the relevant items.
Rapid quantitation of globotriaosylceramide in human plasma and urine: a potential application for monitoring enzyme replacement therapy in Anderson-Fabry disease.

A method for measuring globotriaosylceramide (Gb3, or GL3) levels in plasma and urine of humans affected by Anderson-Fabry disease has been developed. The analyses are performed using flow injection analysis-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (FIA-ESI-MS/MS). The method is rapid, sensitive and hence suitable for high-throughput analyses, requiring only a simple 50-fold dilution for the preparation of plasma and urine samples. The detection of the analytes of interest was achieved using a triple quadrupole instrument operating in the multiple reaction monitoring mode. The linearity of the calibration standard responses, the intra- and inter-assay precision, the accuracy and the detection limit of the method were evaluated. The proposed method allows a rapid and accurate assessment of globotriaosylceramide in biological samples. Data obtained from healthy volunteers and Anderson-Fabry affected subjects suggest a potential role for this technique in monitoring the effectiveness of Anderson-Fabry disease therapy. The results obtained in two actual cases treated with enzyme replacement therapy are reported and discussed.
Discrete adaptive transmission for fading channels

In this work, we address optimal adaptive transmission policies in slow varying wireless environments. Continuous rate and power assignments that achieve the ergodic capacity for these channels have been derived previously. Nevertheless, from a practical point of view, use of a finite number of power and rate levels is imperative. Here, we address the mapping from channel states of an arbitrary distribution to a discrete set of power level and code rate pairs. Unlike earlier work, our design does not require that the transmitter knows the exact value of the current channel state. We show that our design yields results close to the well-known water-filling result.
Cooperative background modelling using multiple cameras towards human detection in smart-rooms

In multi-camera systems for human detection and analysis, Shape-from-Silhouette (SfS) is a common approach taken to reconstruct the Visual Hull, i.e. the 3D-Shape, of the bodies. The reconstructed 3D-Shape is later used in 3D-trackers and body fitting techniques. The Visual Hull is formally defined as the intersection of the visual cones formed by the back-projection of several 2D binary silhouettes into the 3D space. Silhouettes are usually extracted using a foreground classification process, which is performed independently in each camera view. In this paper we present a novel approach in which 2D-foreground classification is achieved in 3D accordance in a Bayesian framework. In our approach, instead of classifying images and reconstructing the volume later, we simultaneously reconstruct and classify in the 3D space. Furthermore, the classification of the 3D space is used to obtain a more accurate model of the 2D-background.
Neurofurans, Novel Indices of Oxidant Stress Derived from Docosahexaenoic Acid*

Isoeicosanoids are free radical-catalyzed isomers of the enzymatic products of arachidonic acid. They are formed in situ in cell membranes, are cleaved, circulate, and are excreted in urine. Isomers of prostaglandin F2α, the F2-isoprostanes, have emerged as sensitive indices of lipid peroxidation in vivo. Analogous compounds formed from docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are termed neuroprostanes and are more abundant than isoprostanes (iPs) in brain. Isofurans are another class of isoeicosanoids characterized by a substituted tetrahydrofuran ring. They are preferentially formed, relative to iPs, under conditions of elevated oxygen tension. Here, we report the discovery of neurofurans (nFs), the analogous family of compounds formed from DHA. Formation of nFs is characterized by mass spectrometry and confirmed by oxidation of DHA in vitro and following CCl4 administration in liver in vivo. It is demonstrated that the levels of nFs are elevated in the brain cortex of a mouse model of Alzheimer disease and are depressed in mouse brain cortex by deletion of p47phox, an essential component of the phagocyte NADPH oxidase. Measurement of the nFs may ultimately prove useful in diagnosis, timing, and selection of dose in the treatment and chemoprevention of neurodegenerative disease.
Spontaneously Reactivated Patterns in Frontal and Temporal Lobe Predict Semantic Clustering during Memory Search

Although it is well established that remembering an item will bring to mind memories of other semantically related items (Bousfield, 1953), the neural basis of this phenomenon is poorly understood. We studied how the similarity relations among items influence their retrieval by analyzing electrocorticographic recordings taken as 46 human neurosurgical patients studied and freely recalled lists of words. We first identified semantic components of neural activity that varied systematically with the meanings of each studied word, as defined by latent semantic analysis (Landauer and Dumais, 1997). We then examined the dynamics of these semantic components as participants attempted to recall the previously studied words. Our analyses revealed that the semantic components of neural activity were spontaneously reactivated during memory search, just before recall of the studied words. Further, the degree to which neural activity correlated with semantic similarity during recall predicted participants' tendencies to organize the sequences of their responses on the basis of semantic similarity. Thus, our work shows that differences in the neural correlates of semantic information, and how they are reactivated before recall, reveal how individuals organize and retrieve memories of words.
Social Contributors and Consequences of Habitual and Compulsive Game Play

This study examines the relationship between social motivations, pro-social relationship outcomes, and two types of game play—habitual and compulsive—in the context of simulation games on Facebook. Social motivations were significantly associated with compulsive game play, but not habitual game play. Compulsive play was a positive predictor of pro-social outcomes whereas habitual use was not. By differentiating two different types of media use that are both associated with problematic use, the authors see that social factors contribute to people's inability to control their gaming behavior, but that the so-called “addictive” behavior can also yield positive relationship outcomes.
Selecting Semantically‐Resonant Colors for Data Visualization

We introduce an algorithm for automatic selection of semantically‐resonant colors to represent data (e.g., using blue for data about “oceans”, or pink for “love”). Given a set of categorical values and a target color palette, our algorithm matches each data value with a unique color. Values are mapped to colors by collecting representative images, analyzing image color distributions to determine value‐color affinity scores, and choosing an optimal assignment. Our affinity score balances the probability of a color with how well it discriminates among data values. A controlled study shows that expert‐chosen semantically‐resonant colors improve speed on chart reading tasks compared to a standard palette, and that our algorithm selects colors that lead to similar gains. A second study verifies that our algorithm effectively selects colors across a variety of data categories.
Cardiac remodelling hinders activation of cyclooxygenase-2, diminishing protection by delayed pharmacological preconditioning: role of HIF1 alpha and CREB.

AIMS We tested whether delayed pharmacologic preconditioning elicited by isoflurane is protective in infarct-remodelled hearts. METHODS AND RESULTS Male Wistar rats were treated with the preconditioning drug isoflurane 6 weeks after permanent ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Twenty-four and 48 h later, hearts were perfused on the Langendorff system and treated with cyclooxygenase-2 or 12-lipoxygenase inhibitors before exposure to 40 min of ischaemia followed by 90 min of reperfusion. Infarct size was determined by triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining and lactate dehydrogenase release. Cyclooxygenase-2 expression and activity were measured by Western blotting and colorimetric assay. Nuclear translocation of cyclooxygenase-2-inducing transcription factors HIF1alpha, CREB, STAT3, and NFkappaB was determined. Post-infarct, remodelled hearts exhibit alterations in cellular signalling, time course and extent of isoflurane-induced late protection. While remodelled, preconditioned hearts exhibited protection exclusively at 24 h, healthy hearts showed sustained protection for up to 48 h, which correlated with cyclooxygenase-2 protein expression and enzymatic activity. The cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors celecoxib and NS-398, but not the 12-lipoxygenase inhibitor cinnamyl-3,4-dihydroxycyanocinnamate, abolished delayed protection in both healthy and remodelled hearts, identifying cyclooxygenase-2 as a key mediator of late protection in both models. Isoflurane induced nuclear translocation of HIF1alpha in all hearts, but CREB was exclusively activated in healthy but not remodelled myocardium, which expressed higher levels of the CREB antagonist ICER. Delayed protection by isoflurane in remodelled hearts was more vulnerable to inhibition by celecoxib. CONCLUSION Isoflurane failed to mobilize cyclooxygenase-2-inducing CREB in ICER-overexpressing, remodelled hearts, which was associated with a shortening of the second window of protection.
Robust Secure Transmission in MISO Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer System

The secure transmission in the multiple-input-single-output simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) system is an important issue. Considering channel uncertainties, we investigate the robust secure transmission scheme, which maximizes the worst-case secrecy rate under transmit power constraint and energy-harvesting (EH) constraint. The optimization problem is a nonconvex problem. Omitting the rank-one constraint on transmit covariance, it is transformed into a solvable semidefinite program (SDP) where the rank relaxation performance upper bound is obtained. Since the obtained rank relaxation transmit covariance may not be rank one, we propose a lower bound-based rank-one suboptimal (LB-Sub) solution by employing Charnes-Cooper transformation. We also propose the suboptimal Gaussian randomized (GR) solutions based on the rank relaxation upper bound and the lower bound, respectively. Simulation results have shown that our proposed LB-Sub solution and suboptimal GR solution based on the rank relaxation upper bound outperform the nonrobust scheme.
Expression and Functional Analyses of the Dxpa Gene, the Drosophila Homolog of the Human Excision Repair Gene XPA(*)

Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) is a human hereditary disease characterized by a defect in DNA repair after exposure to ultraviolet light. Among the seven groups of XP, group A (XP-A) patients show the most severe deficiency in excision repair and a wide variety of cutaneous and neurological disorders. We have cloned homologs of the human XPA gene from chicken, Xenopus, and Drosophila, and sequence analysis revealed that these genes are highly conserved throughout evolution. Here, we report characterization of the Drosophila homolog of the human XPA gene (Dxpa). The Dxpa gene product shows DNA repair activities in an in vitro repair system, and Dxpa cDNA has been shown to complement a mutant allele of human XP-A cells by transfection. Polytene chromosome in situ hybridization mapped Dxpa to 3F6-8 on the X chromosome, where no mutant defective in excision repair was reported. Northern blot analysis showed that the gene is continuously expressed in all stages of fly development. Interestingly, the Dxpa protein is strongly expressed in the central nervous system and muscles as revealed by immunohistochemical analysis using anti-Dxpa antibodies, consistent with the results obtained in transgenic flies expressing a Dxpa-β-galactosidase fusion gene driven by the Dxpa promoter.
Signal Multiplexing and Single-Neuron Computations in Lateral Intraparietal Area During Decision-Making

Previous work has revealed a remarkably direct neural correlate of decisions in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP). Specifically, firing rate has been observed to ramp up or down in a manner resembling the accumulation of evidence for a perceptual decision reported by making a saccade into (or away from) the neuron's response field (RF). However, this link between LIP response and decision formation emerged from studies where a saccadic target was always stimulating the RF during decisions, and where the neural correlate was the averaged activity of a restricted sample of neurons. Because LIP cells are (1) highly responsive to the presence of a visual stimulus in the RF, (2) heterogeneous, and (3) not clearly anatomically segregated from large numbers of neurons that fail selection criteria, the underlying neuronal computations are potentially obscured. To address this, we recorded single neuron spiking activity in LIP during a well-studied moving-dot direction–discrimination task and manipulated whether a saccade target was present in the RF during decision-making. We also recorded from a broad sample of LIP neurons, including ones conventionally excluded in prior studies. Our results show that cells multiplex decision signals with decision-irrelevant visual signals. We also observed disparate, repeating response “motifs” across neurons that, when averaged together, resemble traditional ramping decision signals. In sum, neural responses in LIP simultaneously carry decision signals and decision-irrelevant sensory signals while exhibiting diverse dynamics that reveal a broader range of neural computations than previously entertained.
The Specialized Mappings Architecture

A probabilistic, nonlinear supervised learning model is proposed: the Specialized Mappings Architecture (SMA). The SMA employs a set of several forward mapping functions that are estimated automatically from training data. Each specialized function maps certain domains of the input space (e.g., image features) onto the output space (e.g., articulated body parameters). The SMA can model ambiguous, one-to-many mappings that may yield multiple valid output hypotheses. Once learned, the mapping functions generate a set of output hypotheses for a given input via a statistical inference procedure. The SMA inference procedure incorporates an inverse mapping or feedback function in evaluating the likelihood of each of the hypothesis. Possible feedback functions include computer graphics rendering routines that can generate images for given hypotheses. The SMA employs a variant of the ExpectationMaximization algorithm for simultaneous learning of the specialized domains along with the mapping functions, and approximate strategies for inference. The framework is demonstrated in a computer vision system that can estimate the articulated pose parameters of a human’s body or hands, given silhouettes from a single image. The accuracy and stability of the SMA are also tested using synthetic images of human bodies and hands, where ground truth is known.
A robust multiscale B-spline function decomposition for estimating motion transparency

Motion transparency phenomena in image sequences are frequent, but classical methods of motion estimation are unable to deal with them. This paper describes a method for estimating optical flow by a generalization of the brightness constancy assumption to additive transparencies. The brightness constancy assumption is obtained by setting constant velocity fields during three images of a sequence. Thus, by a Taylor development to its second order, we reach an extension of the optical flow constraint equation. Since the equation is nonlinear, the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm is used. In order to suppress the unavoidable aperture problem, a global model based on B-spline basis functions is applied with the aim of constraining optical flows. This description of motion allows us to work on a coarse to fine estimation of artificial image sequences that shows good convergence properties. It is also applied to natural image sequences.
Investigation of the random dopant fluctuations in 20-nm bulk mosfets and silicon-on-Insulator FinFETs by Ion implantation Monte Carlo simulation

In this paper, we proposed a simulation approach for studying the random dopant fluctuation (RDF) effects in the nanoscale MOSFETs using only the TCAD tools. We use this approach to simulate the RDF effects in the 20-nm gate-length bulk MOSFETs, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) single-gate (SG) and triple-gate (TG) FinFETs for demonstration. This approach utilizes the stochastic nature of the Monte Carlo (MC) simulation of ion implantation to capture the RDF phenomena in the devices. The simulation results show that the standard deviation of the threshold voltage (σVT) is approximately proportional to the cube root of the channel doping concentration for the conventional bulk MOSFETs. For the SOI SG and TG FinFETs, the σVT increases much less than that of the conventional bulk MOSFETs as the channel doping concentration increases. Besides, the σVT of the SOI TG FinFETs show about 30% to 40% reductions comparing to those of the SOI SG FinFETs. The average of the MC simulation results agrees with the implant table simulation results. The reasonable simulation results verify the validity of this TCAD simulation scheme for the RDF study.