Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How Variations in Social Structure Affect Different Types of Intergroup Bias and Different Dimensions of Social Identity in a Multi-Intergroup Setting

An experimental paradigm was used to examine how manipulations of group status (higher, equal, or lower) and group size (smaller, equal, or larger) affect positive allocation bias, negative allocation bias, and evaluative bias expressed by minority-ingroup members toward majority- and minority-outgroup members. As predicted, in most cases, group status was positively related to bias against a higher status majority outgroup, but negatively related to bias against a lower status minority outgroup. Group size was inversely related to expressions of bias in two of the three studies. Four dimensions of social identity (ingroup attraction, self-ingroup interdependency, intergroup differentiation, and perceptions of the intergroup context) were measured and found to be differentially affected by the manipulations. Status was positively related to most of the dimensions of social identity, but the predicted inverse relationship between group size and social identity received mixed support. Of the four dimensions, self-ingroup interdependency and unfavorable perceptions of the intergroup context were most consistently related to intergroup bias. The implications of these findings for theories of intergroup relations and future research efforts are discussed.
Barrier-Coverage for City Block Monitoring in Bandwidth Sensitive Vehicular Adhoc Networks

Recently, vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is receiving lots of attentions as this new networking technology is expected to improve our daily driving experience greatly and will enable a number of emerging applications. It is envisioned that the vehicles in VANETs are armed with a number of advanced technologies such as wireless transceiver, video cameras, etc. This paper investigates the potential of the advanced VANET nodes to construct an impromptu surveillance system to surround an area of interest, which can be a city block, such that any suspect of interest leaving the city block can be monitored by a VANET node participating the surveillance system. Such a system can be useful to provide an emergency response system to keep the track of suspects who are leaving the area by walk or by car after committing a crime inside the block, e.g. Boston bombing suspects. We observe that as the network bandwidth is limited, not all vehicles can participate and transmit video to the control center in real time. Therefore, we propose new scheduling algorithms for the VANET nodes, which consider the mobility of each vehicle as well as the network bandwidth and continuously provides barrier-coverage circumventing the city block over a given mission period. Via simulation, we show the efficiency of our algorithms.
Psychology and Human Competence Development

Il importe de signaler, au debut de ce millenaire, que les connaissances accumulees en psychologie peuvent contribuer au bien-etre de l'humanite et plus particulierement ameliorer ses capacites. Or, il se trouve que l'apport de la psychologie au developpement humain n'est pas bien percu. Pour illustrer le role que la psychologie appliquee peut jouer dans la promotion des competences, on presente trois etudes de cas. La premiere est un bref projet non realise de plaidoyer reposant sur des donnees relevant de la recherche en psychologie; elle montre comment la recherche peut fournir des elements de decision a la politique sociale et comment les psychologues peuvent assumer un role de soutien en faveur de l'education. Les deux autres sont des exemples tires de programmes de recherche et de travaux d'intervention en Turquie, l'un en faveur du developpement de l'enfant grâce a une approche contextuelle/ ecologique contree sur l'environnement familial et l'autre en faveur de la promotion des femmes grâce a un programme d'alphabetisation fonctionnelle pour adultes. Elles montrent combien la psychologie peut contribuer au developpement des competences au cours de la vie.
Tactile sensibility in the human hand: relative and absolute densities of four types of mechanoreceptive units in glabrous skin.

1. Single unit impulses were recorded with percutaneously inserted tungsten needle electrodes from the median nerve in conscious human subjects. 2. A sample of 334 low threshold mechanoreceptive units innervating the glabrous skin area of the hand were studied. In accordance with earlier investigations, the units were separated into four groups on the basis of their adaptation and receptive field properties: RA, PC, SA I and SA II units. 3. The locations of the receptive fields of individual units were determined and the relative unit densities within various skin regions were calculated. The over‐all density was found to increase in the proximo‐distal direction. There was a slight increase from the palm to the main part of the finger and an abrupt increase from the main part of the finger to the finger tip. The relative densities in these three regions were 1, 1.6, 4.2. 4. The differences in over‐all density were essentially accounted for by the two types of units characterized by small and well defined receptive fields, the RA and SA I units, whereas the PC and SA II units were almost evenly distributed over the whole glabrous skin area. 5. The spatial distribution of densities supports the idea that the RA and SA I units account for spatial acuity in psychophysical tests. This capacity is known to increase in distal direction along the hand. 6. On the basis of histological data regarding the number of myelinated fibres in the median nerve, a model of the absolute unit density was proposed. It was estimated that the density of low threshold mechanoreceptive units at the finger tip is as high as 241 u. /cm2, whereas in the palm it is only 58 u. /cm2.
Declining Genital Warts in Young Women in England Associated With HPV 16/18 Vaccination: An Ecological Study

Background. Diagnoses of genital warts (GW) in genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics have been increasing in England for many years. In 2008, an HPV immunization program began with a bivalent vaccine (Cervarix). This was expected to markedly reduce infections and disease due to human papillomavirus (HPV) 16/18 but not HPV 6/11 infections or disease. However, from 2009 to 2011 there were decreases in reported diagnoses of GW in young females at GUM clinics. Methods. Using data from GUM clinics and a sample of general practices (GPs) throughout England, we analyzed rates of GW diagnoses by age, year of diagnosis, and estimated immunization coverage. Results. The overall reduction in GW diagnoses at GUM clinics between 2008 and 2011 was 13.3% among 16- to 19-year-old females, with the greatest decline of 20.8% in 17-year-olds. Declines were positively associated with estimated immunization coverage. A similar pattern was seen in GP diagnoses, but not among older women, and for other GUM consultations. Conclusions. Several factors might contribute to declines in GW. However, the size and pattern of the declines strongly suggest that we are observing an unexpected, moderately protective effect of HPV 16/18 vaccination against GW.
Community structure in networks: Girvan-Newman algorithm improvement

Real world networks often have community structure. It is characteristic that the groups of nodes are connected denser within themselves and rarely with each other. The Girvan-Newman method for the detection and analysis of community structure is based on the iterative elimination of edges with the highest number of the shortest paths that go through them. By eliminating edges the network breaks down into smaller networks, i.e. communities. This paper introduces improved Girvan-Newman method where multi-edge removal is allowed, and presents the results of the application of both methods to the existing real social network (Zachary karate club), the computergenerated network and the tumor genes and their mutations network. The improved algorithm in practice reduces the number of operations, but retains the same computational complexity, so it cannot be applied to networks with a very large number of nodes. The most important feature of our improvement is that the result is graph-theoretical invariant, while original algorithm depends on the vertex labeling.
Mice lacking AMP-activated protein kinase α1 catalytic subunit have increased bone remodelling and modified skeletal responses to hormonal challenges induced by ovariectomy and intermittent PTH treatment

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a key regulator of cellular and body energy homeostasis. We previously demonstrated that AMPK activation in osteoblasts increases in vitro bone formation while deletion of the Ampkα1 (Prkaa1) subunit, the dominant catalytic subunit expressed in bone, leads to decreased bone mass in vivo. To investigate the cause of low bone mass in the Ampkα1−/− mice, we analysed bone formation and resorption in the tibia of these mice by dynamic histomorphometry and determined whether bone turnover can be stimulated in the absence of the Ampkα1 subunit. We subjected 12-week-old Ampkα1+/+ and Ampkα1−/− mice to ovariectomy (OVX), intermittent PTH (iPTH) administration (80 μg/kg per day, 5 days/week) or both OVX and iPTH hormonal challenges. Tibiae were harvested from these mice and bone micro-architecture was determined by micro-computed tomography. We show for the first time that Ampkα1−/− mice have a high bone turnover at the basal level in favour of bone resorption. While both Ampkα1+/+ and Ampkα1−/− mice lost bone mass after OVX, the bone loss in Ampkα1−/− mice was lower compared with controls. iPTH increased trabecular and cortical bone indexes in both ovariectomised Ampkα1+/+ and Ampkα1−/− mice. However, ovariectomised Ampkα1−/− mice showed a smaller increase in bone parameters in response to iPTH compared with Ampkα1+/+ mice. By contrast, non-ovariectomised Ampkα1−/− mice responded better to iPTH treatment than non-ovariectomised Ampkα1+/+ mice. Overall, these data demonstrate that Ampkα1−/− mice are less affected by changes in bone turnover induced by OVX but respond better to the anabolic challenge induced by iPTH. These results suggest that AMPKα1 activation may play a role in the hormonal regulation of bone remodelling.
Vaccine Efficacy against Malaria by the Combination of Porcine Parvovirus-Like Particles and Vaccinia Virus Vectors Expressing CS of Plasmodium

With the aim to develop an efficient and cost-effective approach to control malaria, we have generated porcine parvovirus-like particles (PPV-VLPs) carrying the CD8+ T cell epitope (SYVPSAEQI) of the circumsporozoite (CS) protein from Plasmodium yoelii fused to the PPV VP2 capsid protein (PPV-PYCS), and tested in prime/boost protocols with poxvirus vectors for efficacy in a rodent malaria model. As a proof-of concept, we have characterized the anti-CS CD8+ T cell response elicited by these hybrid PPV-VLPs in BALB/c mice after immunizations with the protein PPV-PYCS administered alone or in combination with recombinant vaccinia virus (VACV) vectors from the Western Reserve (WR) and modified virus Ankara (MVA) strains expressing the entire P. yoelii CS protein. The results of different immunization protocols showed that the combination of PPV-PYCS prime/poxvirus boost was highly immunogenic, inducing specific CD8+ T cell responses to CS resulting in 95% reduction in liver stage parasites two days following sporozoite challenge. In contrast, neither the administration of PPV-PYCS alone nor the immunization with the vectors given in the order poxvirus/VLPs was as effective. The immune profile induced by VLPs/MVA boost was associated with polyfunctional and effector memory CD8+ T cell responses. These findings highlight the use of recombinant parvovirus PPV-PYCS particles as priming agents and poxvirus vectors, like MVA, as booster to enhance specific CD8+ T cell responses to Plasmodium antigens and to control infection. These observations are relevant in the design of T cell-inducing vaccines against malaria.
Returning to China: The Experience of Adopted Chinese Children and Their Parents

This study examines the motivations and experiences of adopted Chinese children and their American parents who have made return trips to mainland China to learn more about children's pre-adoption histories. Using in-depth interviews and ethnographic data from five families that visited children's home provinces, orphanages, and abandonment locations between 2005 and 2007, this research explores the following themes: why parents and children felt it was important to return to China; individuals’ lived experiences while in China; and, after the trip, which questions regarding children's early lives were resolved and which new ones emerged. Findings suggest that parents and children have varied expectations, experiences, and opinions about returning to China. Therefore, delineating parental desires and needs from those of children is critical.
An Overview of Live Attenuated Recombinant Pseudorabies Viruses for Use as Novel Vaccines

Pseudorabies virus (PRV) is a double-stranded, DNA-based swine virus with a genome approximating 150 kb in size. PRV has many nonessential genes which can be replaced with genes encoding heterologous antigens but without deleterious effects on virus propagation. Recombinant PRVs expressing both native and foreign antigens are able to stimulate immune responses. In this paper, we review the current status of live attenuated recombinant PRVs and live PRV-based vector vaccines with potential for controlling viral infections in animals.
Skyline Computation on Commercial Data

Many different skyline algorithms for preference-based search have been proposed and compared in the literature, but most of these evaluations were based on synthetic data. In this paper, we present a case study of skyline computation on commercial data that we consider representative for many e-commerce platforms. The results of our measurements differ significantly from the results reported on synthetic data.
3D Point Cloud Optimization Based on a Random Walk Model Using SBA

In this paper, we propose a new algorithm for optimizing coarse 3D point cloud obtained from multiview images. We start firstly with the 3D geometry acquired from images taken from multiviews by structure from motion (SFM) approach. Then, the 3D point data is regarded as the input of the sparse bundle adjustment (SBA) technique in a RANSAC framework. A random walk model is proposed to relocate the back projections of 3D points which are also one of the inputs of the optimization algorithm, so as to improve the optimization results further. Experimental results in the end of the paper prove the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
An Investigation of the Suitability of the Primary Measures of Music Audiation for Use in England

The Primary Measures of Music Audiation (P.M.M.A.) have been developed as an aptitude test for children aged five through eight (Gordon, 1979). The P.M. M.A. comprises two tests: Tonal and Rhythm. Each test consists of 40 pairs of music phrases. After hearing a pair of phrases, the child is asked to state if the two phrases sounded exactly the same, or sounded different. A tonal score, a rhythm score and a composite score are derived for each testee. The child does not need to know numbers or written language to take the test. Research indicates that the aptitudes measured by the P.M. M.A. are a product of both nature and nurture. Further, these aptitudes are called developmental, because the relative standing of pupils can be changed through environmental influences and instruction in music.
Inference of Biological Pathway from Gene Expression Profiles by Time Delay Boolean Networks

One great challenge of genomic research is to efficiently and accurately identify complex gene regulatory networks. The development of high-throughput technologies provides numerous experimental data such as DNA sequences, protein sequence, and RNA expression profiles makes it possible to study interactions and regulations among genes or other substance in an organism. However, it is crucial to make inference of genetic regulatory networks from gene expression profiles and protein interaction data for systems biology. This study will develop a new approach to reconstruct time delay Boolean networks as a tool for exploring biological pathways. In the inference strategy, we will compare all pairs of input genes in those basic relationships by their corresponding -scores for every output gene. Then, we will combine those consistent relationships to reveal the most probable relationship and reconstruct the genetic network. Specifically, we will prove that state transition pairs are sufficient and necessary to reconstruct the time delay Boolean network of nodes with high accuracy if the number of input genes to each gene is bounded. We also have implemented this method on simulated and empirical yeast gene expression data sets. The test results show that this proposed method is extensible for realistic networks.
Bumble Bees (Bombus spp) along a Gradient of Increasing Urbanization

Background Bumble bees and other wild bees are important pollinators of wild flowers and several cultivated crop plants, and have declined in diversity and abundance during the last decades. The main cause of the decline is believed to be habitat destruction and fragmentation associated with urbanization and agricultural intensification. Urbanization is a process that involves dramatic and persistent changes of the landscape, increasing the amount of built-up areas while decreasing the amount of green areas. However, urban green areas can also provide suitable alternative habitats for wild bees. Methodology/Principal Findings We studied bumble bees in allotment gardens, i.e. intensively managed flower rich green areas, along a gradient of urbanization from the inner city of Stockholm towards more rural (periurban) areas. Keeping habitat quality similar along the urbanization gradient allowed us to separate the effect of landscape change (e.g. proportion impervious surface) from variation in habitat quality. Bumble bee diversity (after rarefaction to 25 individuals) decreased with increasing urbanization, from around eight species on sites in more rural areas to between five and six species in urban allotment gardens. Bumble bee abundance and species composition were most affected by qualities related to the management of the allotment areas, such as local flower abundance. The variability in bumble bee visits between allotment gardens was higher in an urban than in a periurban context, particularly among small and long-tongued bumble bee species. Conclusions/Significance Our results suggest that allotment gardens and other urban green areas can serve as important alternatives to natural habitats for many bumble bee species, but that the surrounding urban landscape influences how many species that will be present. The higher variability in abundance of certain species in the most urban areas may indicate a weaker reliability of the ecosystem service pollination in areas strongly influenced by human activity.
Chl12 (Ctf18) Forms a Novel Replication Factor C-Related Complex and Functions Redundantly with Rad24 in the DNA Replication Checkpoint Pathway

ABSTRACT RAD24 has been identified as a gene essential for the DNA damage checkpoint in budding yeast. Rad24 is structurally related to subunits of the replication factor C (RFC) complex, and forms an RFC-related complex with Rfc2, Rfc3, Rfc4, and Rfc5. Therad24Δ mutation enhances the defect ofrfc5-1 in the DNA replication block checkpoint, implicating RAD24 in this checkpoint.CHL12 (also called CTF18) encodes a protein that is structurally related to the Rad24 and RFC proteins. We show here that although neither chl12Δ norrad24Δ single mutants are defective, chl12Δ rad24Δ double mutants become defective in the replication block checkpoint. We also show that Chl12 interacts physically with Rfc2, Rfc3, Rfc4, and Rfc5 and forms an RFC-related complex which is distinct from the RFC and RAD24 complexes. Our results suggest that Chl12 forms a novel RFC-related complex and functions redundantly with Rad24 in the DNA replication block checkpoint.
Cold Shock Proteins of Lactococcus lactis MG1363 Are Involved in Cryoprotection and in the Production of Cold-Induced Proteins

ABSTRACT Members of the group of 7-kDa cold-shock proteins (CSPs) are the proteins with the highest level of induction upon cold shock in the lactic acid bacterium Lactococcus lactis MG1363. By using double-crossover recombination, two L. lactis strains were generated in which genes encoding CSPs are disrupted: L. lactis NZ9000ΔAB lacks the tandemly orientatedcspA and cspB genes, and NZ9000ΔABE lackscspA, cspB, and cspE. Both strains showed no differences in growth at normal and at low temperatures compared to that of the wild-type strain, L. lactis NZ9000. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis showed that upon disruption of thecspAB genes, the production of remaining CspE at low temperature increased, and upon disruption of cspA, cspB, and cspE, the production of CspD at normal growth temperatures increased. Northern blot analysis showed that control is most likely at the transcriptional level. Furthermore, it was established by a proteomics approach that some (non-7-kDa) cold-induced proteins (CIPs) are not cold induced in the csp-lacking strains, among others the histon-like protein HslA and the signal transduction protein LlrC. This supports earlier observations (J. A. Wouters, M. Mailhes, F. M. Rombouts, W. M. De Vos, O. P. Kuipers, and T. Abee, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 66:3756–3763, 2000). that the CSPs of L. lactis might be directly involved in the production of some CIPs upon low-temperature exposure. Remarkably, the adaptive response to freezing by prior exposure to 10°C was significantly reduced in strain NZ9000ΔABE but not in strain NZ9000ΔAB compared to results with wild-type strain NZ9000, indicating a notable involvement of CspE in cryoprotection.
ELA SIGN PATTERNS THAT ALLOW EVENTUAL POSITIVITY

Several necessary or sufficient conditions for a sign pattern to allow eventual positivity are established. It is also shown that certain families of sign patterns do not allow eventual positivity. These results are applied to show that for n ≥ 2, the minimum number of positive entries in an n×n sign pattern that allows eventual positivity is n+1, and to classify all 2×2 and 3×3 sign patterns as to whether or not the pattern allows eventual positivity. A 3× 3 matrix is presented to demonstrate that the positive part of an eventually positive matrix need not be primitive, answering negatively a question of Johnson and Tarazaga.
A Fast Algorithm to Find All High-Degree Vertices in Graphs with a Power-Law Degree Sequence

Abstract We develop a fast method for finding all high-degree vertices of a connected graph with a power-law degree sequence. The method uses a biased random walk, where the bias is a function of the power law c of the degree sequence. Let G(t) be a t-vertex graph, with degree sequence power law c ≥ 3 generated by a generalized preferential attachment process that adds m edges at each step. Let Sa be the set of all vertices of degree at least ta in G(t). We analyze a biased random walk that makes transitions along undirected edges {x, y} with probabilities proportional to (d(x)d(y))b, where d(x) is the degree of vertex x and b > 0 is a constant parameter. With parameter b = (c − 1)(c − 2)/(2c − 3), the random walk discovers the set Sa completely in steps with high probability. The error parameter ε depends on c, a, and m. The cover time of the entire graph G(t) by the biased walk is . Thus the expected time to discover all vertices by the biased walk is not much higher than the Θ(tlog t) cover time of a simple random walk. The standard preferential attachment process generates graphs with power law c = 3. The search parameter b = 2/3 is appropriate for such graphs. We conduct experimental tests on a preferential attachment graph and on a sample of the underlying graph of the World Wide Web with power law c ≈ 3 that support the claimed property.