Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Judgments of Dominance from the Face Track Physical Strength

It is commonly assumed that judgments of dominance from faces partly rely on implicit judgments of bodily strength. In two studies, we demonstrate such a relation for both computer-generated and natural photos of male faces. We find support when aggregating data across participants, when analyzing with hierarchical models, and also when strength and dominance are judged by different raters. Moreover, we identify common predictors that underlie perceptions of both strength and dominance: brow height, eye length, chin length, and the widths of the nose and mouth.
Fire‐related carbon emissions from land use transitions in southern Amazonia

Various land‐use transitions in the tropics contribute to atmospheric carbon emissions, including forest conversion for small‐scale farming, cattle ranching, and production of commodities such as soya and palm oil. These transitions involve fire as an effective and inexpensive means for clearing. We applied the DECAF (DEforestation CArbon Fluxes) model to Mato Grosso, Brazil to estimate fire emissions from various land‐use transitions during 2001–2005. Fires associated with deforestation contributed 67 Tg C/yr (17 and 50 Tg C/yr from conversion to cropland and pasture, respectively), while conversion of savannas and existing cattle pasture to cropland contributed 17 Tg C/yr and pasture maintenance fires 6 Tg C/yr. Large clearings (>100 ha/yr) contributed 67% of emissions but comprised only 10% of deforestation events. From a policy perspective, results imply that intensification of agricultural production on already‐cleared land and policies to discourage large clearings would reduce the major sources of emissions from fires in this region.
In Pursuit of Vitamin D in Plants

Vitamin D deficiency is a global concern. Much research has concentrated on the endogenous synthesis of vitamin D in human skin following exposure to ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B, 280–315 nm). In many regions of the world there is insufficient UV-B radiation during winter months for adequate vitamin D production, and even when there is sufficient UV-B radiation, lifestyles and concerns about the risks of sun exposure may lead to insufficient exposure and to vitamin D deficiency. In these situations, dietary intake of vitamin D from foods or supplements is important for maintaining optimal vitamin D status. Some foods, such as fatty fish and fish liver oils, certain meats, eggs, mushrooms, dairy, and fortified foods, can provide significant amounts of vitamin D when considered cumulatively across the diet. However, little research has focussed on assessing edible plant foods for potential vitamin D content. The biosynthesis of vitamin D in animals, fungi and yeasts is well established; it is less well known that vitamin D is also biosynthesised in plants. Research dates back to the early 1900s, beginning with in vivo experiments showing the anti-rachitic activity of plants consumed by animals with induced rickets, and in vitro experiments using analytical methods with limited sensitivity. The most sensitive, specific and reliable method for measuring vitamin D and its metabolites is by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). These assays have only recently been customised to allow measurement in foods, including plant materials. This commentary focuses on the current knowledge and research gaps around vitamin D in plants, and the potential of edible plants as an additional source of vitamin D for humans.
Dynamic Constraint Satisfaction

Constraint satisfaction (CSP) is a powerful and extensively used framework for describing search problems. A CSP is typically defined as the problem of finding consistent assignment of values to a fixed set of variables given some constraints over these variables. However, for many synthesis tasks such as configuration and model composition, the set of variables that are relevant to a solution and must be assigned values changes dynamically in response to decisions made during the course of problem solving. In this paper, we formalize this notion as a dynamic constraint satisfaction problem that uses two types of constraints. Compatibility constraints correspond to those traditionally found in CSPs, namely, constraints over the values of variables. Activity constraints describe conditions under which a variable may or may not be actively considered as a part of a final solution. We present a language for expressing four types of activity constraints in terms of variable values and variables being considered. We then describe an implemented algorithm that enables tight interaction between constraints about variable activity and constraints about variable values. The utility of this approach is demonstrated for configuration and model composition tasks.
Atomic Decomposition of EEG for Mapping Cortical Activation

To improve the measurement and dierentiation of normal and abnormal brain function we are developing new methods to decom- pose multichannel (electroencephalogram) EEG into elemental compo- nents or \atoms. " We estimate EEG atoms using multiway analysis, specically parallel factor analysis or PARAFAC for modeling. Acti- vation sequences of EEG atoms can identify functional brain networks dynamically, with much ner time resolution than fMRI. For example, EEG atoms activate in specic combinations during the sequential op- erations of brain networks, such as Default Mode, Somatomotor, Dorsal Attention and others. Guided by the score values of the identied atoms we inferred the volumetric brain sources of the selected networks using the sLORETA pseudoinverse algorithm. To conrm network identities, we compared 2-D and 3-D functional network maps derived from EEG atoms to known functional neuroanatomy of the networks. We nd that multichannel EEGs in most individuals can be accounted for by a set of ve to six standard atoms, which parallel classical EEG bands, and have unique power spectra, scalp and cortical topographies. We discuss how we may use the activation sequences of these atoms to describe the dynamic interplay of functional brain networks.
Microstrip Parallel-Coupled Filters With Cascade Trisection and Quadruplet Responses

Microstrip parallel-coupled filters with generalized Chebyshev responses are presented. The basic structure of the proposed filter is a conventional parallel-coupled filter of which the physical dimensions can be easily obtained by the well-known analytical method. With the aid of the equivalent circuit corresponding to a conventional parallel-coupled filter, the relative insertion phase from source or load to each open end of resonators can be easily obtained by observing the two-port admittance matrix. Applying the cross coupling from source or load to a proper nonadjacent resonator, a trisection or a quadruplet coupling scheme can be realized with prescribed transmission zeros. More importantly, the proposed trisection can be designed to have a transmission zero on the lower or upper stopband by just adjusting the length of the cross-coupling strip. Using the proposed structure, the conventional time-consuming adjusting procedure to obtain initial physical dimensions of filters is no longer required. In this paper, a fourth-order parallel-coupled filter is used as the basic structure to demonstrate various combinations of transmission zeros. Simulated and measured results are well matched.
Thrombopoietin: a potential diagnostic indicator of immune thrombocytopenia in pregnancy

To evaluate whether the serum thrombopoietin levels in pregnancy-associated immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) differ from those in gestational thrombocytopenia, and reveal the possibility of thrombopoietin serving as a marker for differential diagnosis. Serum thrombopoietin concentration was determined in ITP in pregnancy (n = 35), gestational thrombocytopenia (n = 31), healthy pregnancy (n = 32), age-matched nonpregnant ITP (n = 32) and nonpregnant healthy controls (n = 35) by ELISA. The serum thrombopoietin level of ITP in pregnancy (1283 ± 646 pg/mL) was significantly higher than gestational thrombocytopenia (187 ± 64 pg/mL) (P < 0.01), although the platelet counts of these two disorders may overlap. Twenty-nine of 35 patients with ITP in pregnancy had thrombopoietin values >500 pg/mL, whereas none of the gestational thrombocytopenia patients' thrombopoietin levels exceeded 500 pg/mL. In addition, ITP in pregnancy presented a markedly higher thrombopoietin level than nonpregnant ITP (88 ± 41 pg/mL) (P < 0.01), indicating that the pathogenesis of pregnant and nonpregnant ITP was different. Our findings suggest that measurement of serum thrombopoietin concentration provides valuable diagnostic information for differentiating ITP in pregnancy from gestational thrombocytopenia. Thrombopoietin represents a reliable marker for ITP in pregnancy.
Polystoma nacialtuneli n. sp. (Monogenea: Polystomatidae) from the eastern spadefoot, Pelobates syriacus (Pelobatidae) in Turkey

Abstract Polystoma nacialtuneli n. sp. is described from the urinary bladder of the eastern spadefoot, Pelobates syriacus from Turkey. This is the fifth polystome species known from Turkey and the third species in Pelobates. We show that this new parasite species can be distinguished from other polystome species in the area by a combination of characteristics, including parasite size and the shape and size of the hamuli. Polystoma pelobatis from Pelobates cultripes has a pair of well-developed hamuli, while P. fuscus from Pe. fuscus characteristically has a pair of underdeveloped hamuli barely larger than the marginal hooklets. Polystoma nacialtuneli n. sp. has well-developed hamuli that vary significantly in shape. Phylogenetic relationships of P. nacialtuneli n. sp. within Polystoma, supplemented with molecular divergences estimated from internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) sequences, indicate that they are well separated from their closest relatives, i.e. P. fuscus and P. pelobatis from Pe. fuscus and Pe. cultripes, respectively.
Stereo Light Probe

In this paper we present a practical, simple and robust method to acquire the spatially‐varying illumination of a real‐world scene. The basic idea of the proposed method is to acquire the radiance distribution of the scene using high‐dynamic range images of two reflective balls. The use of two light probes instead of a single one allows to estimate, not only the direction and intensity of the light sources, but also the actual position in space of the light sources. To robustly achieve this goal we first rectify the two input spherical images, then, using a region‐based stereo matching algorithm, we establish correspondences and compute the position of each light. The radiance distribution so obtained can be used for augmented reality applications, photo‐realistic rendering and accurate reflectance properties estimation. The accuracy and the effectiveness of the method have been tested by measuring the computed light position and rendering synthetic version of a real object in the same scene. The comparison with standard method that uses a simple spherical lighting environment is also shown.
Mobicom 2010 Poster : DataSpotting : Offloading Cellular Traffic via Managed Device-to-Device Data Transfer at Data Spots

Mobile broadband demand keeps growing at an overwhelming pace. Though emerging wireless technologies will provide more bandwidth, the increase in demand may easily consume the extra bandwidth. To alleviate this problem, we propose using the content available on individual devices as caches. Particularly, when a user reaches areas with dense clusters of mobile devices, “data spots”, the operator can instruct the user to connect with other users sharing similar interests and serve the requests locally. This paper presents feasibility study as well as prototype implementation of this idea.
Reporting statistical methods and statistical results in EJN

EJN publishes research that represents the entire spectrum of the neurosciences. The content and style of the description of the statistical methods and the statistical results in the manuscripts submitted to EJN reflect the diverse customs of the many fields of neuroscientific research. Although EJN embraces these heterogeneous reporting and writing styles, we need to ensure a consistent description of statistical methods and results in our published papers. By definition, a scientific article should permit researchers to reproduce the study described in this article; to this end, an informative and complete description of statistical methods and results is an essential component of an effective scientific report. The aim of this editorial is to provide guidance for the reporting of statistical methods and results. We consulted numerous specialized sources (referenced below) as well as comprehensive guidelines such as Lang & Secic (2006). Finally, the Associate Editors of EJN were consulted. As a result, the present recommendations constitute a component of the EJN Author Guidelines. Statistical methods continue to be debated and to evolve as indicated, for example, by the ongoing discussion about mixed-effect regression models or planned comparisons as alternative approaches to traditional repeated measures ANOVAs and omnibus tests (Lavori, 1990; Gueorguieva & Krystal, 2004; Gonzalez, 2008). The present recommendations should not be viewed as a partisan stance with respect to this or other, sometimes more fundamental, discussions about the use of statistical methods and traditional null hypothesis testing (e.g. Shrout, 1997). The selection of the statistical approaches and the explanation and justification of methods remain the sole responsibilities of the authors. We expect that future ‘Technical Spotlight’ articles will bring some of the new developments in statistics to the readers of EJN.
Comparative Analysis of Protocols to Induce Human CD4+Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cells by Combinations of IL-2, TGF-beta, Retinoic Acid, Rapamycin and Butyrate

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) suppress other immune cells and are critical mediators of peripheral tolerance. Therapeutic manipulation of Tregs is subject to numerous clinical investigations including trials for adoptive Treg transfer. Since the number of naturally occurring Tregs (nTregs) is minute, it is highly desirable to develop a complementary approach of inducing Tregs (iTregs) from naïve T cells. Mouse studies exemplify the importance of peripherally induced Tregs as well as the applicability of iTreg transfer in different disease models. Yet, procedures to generate iTregs are currently controversial, particularly for human cells. Here we therefore comprehensively compare different established and define novel protocols of human iTreg generation using TGF-β in combination with other compounds. We found that human iTregs expressed several Treg signature molecules, such as Foxp3, CTLA-4 and EOS, while exhibiting low expression of the cytokines Interferon-γ, IL-10 and IL-17. Importantly, we identified a novel combination of TGF-β, retinoic acid and rapamycin as a robust protocol to induce human iTregs with superior suppressive activity in vitro compared to currently established induction protocols. However, iTregs generated by these protocols did not stably retain Foxp3 expression and did not suppress in vivo in a humanized graft-versus-host-disease mouse model, highlighting the need for further research to attain stable, suppressive iTregs. These results advance our understanding of the conditions enabling human iTreg generation and may have important implications for the development of adoptive transfer strategies targeting autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
SILANE SAFETY IN AMORPHOUS SILICON AND SILICON NITRIDE OPERATIONS

The PV industry is one of the fastest growing industries in Europe, the United States, and Japan. As PV manufacturing is scaled-up to meet a growing demand, preserving the safe, environmentally friendly nature of the industry becomes even more important. Silane is one of the inherently dangerous materials used in the deposition of silicon nitride (SiN3) and amorphous silicon (a-Si). In this paper, we review established methods for using this gas safely; they include risk-prevention strategies, passive and active protection systems, outdoor storage, and adequate buffer zones for bulk-silane installations.
Multicriteria collaborative filtering by Bayesian model-based user profiling

This paper proposes a Bayesian model for multicriteria (MC) recommender systems, which are useful tools for delivering information to those who require it. Such systems usually handle a single overall rating score to capture user's preferences. Recently proposed MC recommender systems use multiple scores evaluated from various aspects to obtain a more elaborate user profile. Our proposed model maps users and items to their groups via corresponding latent topics. We empirically evaluated the proposed model and showed that: (1) the Bayesian model is effective in estimating many parameters required for MC recommendation models; and (2) the multinomial distribution, which is usually used in latent models, is insufficient for predicting absolute rating scores.
Cutting without pain: Mitigating 3G radio tail effect on smartphones

3G technology has stimulated a wide variety of high-bandwidth applications on smartphones, such as video streaming and content-rich web browsing. Although having those applications mobile is quite appealing, high data rate transmission also poses huge demand for power. It has been revealed that the tail effect in 3G radio operation results in significant energy drain on smartphones. Recent fast dormancy technique can be utilized to remove tails but, without care, can degrades user experience. In this paper, we propose a novel scheme SmartCut, which effectively mitigates the tail effect of radio usage in 3G networks with little side-effect on user experience. The core idea of SmartCut is to utilize the temporal correlation of packet arrivals to predict upcoming data, based on which unnecessary high-power-state tails of radio are cut out leveraging the Fast Dormancy mechanism. Extensive trace-driven simulation results demonstrate the efficacy of SmartCut design. On average, SmartCut can save up to 56.57% energy on average while having little side-effect to user experience.
Coordination Mechanism in Wireless Sensor and Actor Networks

Wireless sensor and actor networks (WSANs) are composed of sensors and actors to perform distributed sensing and acting tasks. To accomplish effective sensing and acting tasks, efficient coordination mechanisms of sensor-sensor, sensor-actor and actor-actor are required. In this paper, a novel three-level coordination model for WSANs is proposed, based on a hierarchical geographical clustering paradigm in which cluster formation is formed by dividing the action area into fixed zones to form a virtual grid, so that the working area and workload can be optimally split up into different actors. In this model, sensors are stationary and location-aware, whereas actors may change their locations dynamically. In different levels, sensor-sensor, sensor-actor, actor-actor coordination mechanisms are addressed respectively. The functions of each level are loose coupling with each other so that many different routing and communication protocols can be adopted. Case study shows our model is effective
Toll-Like Receptor 2-Independent Host Innate Immune Response against an Epidemic Strain of Streptococcus suis That Causes a Toxic Shock-Like Syndrome in Humans

Streptococcus suis is an emerging zoonotic agent causing meningitis and septicemia. Outbreaks in humans in China with atypical cases of streptococcal toxic shock-like syndrome have been described to be caused by a clonal epidemic S. suis strain characterized as sequence type (ST) 7 by multilocus sequence typing, different from the classical ST1 usually isolated in Europe. Previous in vitro studies showed that Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 plays a major role in S. suis ST1 interactions with host cells. In the present study, the in vivo role of TLR2 in systemic infections caused by S. suis ST1 or ST7 strains using TLR2 deficient (TLR2−/−) mice was evaluated. TLR2-mediated recognition significantly contributes to the acute disease caused by the highly virulent S. suis ST1 strain, since the TLR2−/− mice remained unaffected when compared to wild type (WT) mice. The lack of mortality could not be associated with a lower bacterial burden; however, a significant decrease in the induction of pro-inflammatory mediators, as evaluated by microarray, real-time PCR and protein assays, was observed. On the other hand, TLR2−/− mice infected with the epidemic ST7 strain presented no significant differences regarding survival and expression of pro-inflammatory mediators when compared to the WT mice. Together, these results show a TLR2-independent host innate immune response to S. suis that depends on the strain.
Accuracy of general practitioners' assessment of chest pain patients for coronary heart disease in primary care: cross-sectional study with follow-up.

AIM To estimate how accurately general practitioners' (GP) assessed the probability of coronary heart disease in patients presenting with chest pain and analyze the patient management decisions taken as a result. METHODS During 2005 and 2006, the cross-sectional diagnostic study with a delayed-type reference standard included 74 GPs in the German state of Hesse, who enrolled 1249 consecutive patients presenting with chest pain. GPs recorded symptoms and findings for each patient on a report form. Patients and GPs were contacted 6 weeks and 6 months after the patients' visit to the GP. Data on chest complaints, investigations, hospitalization, and medication were reviewed by an independent panel, with coronary heart disease being the reference condition. Diagnostic properties (sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values) of the GPs' diagnoses were calculated. RESULTS GPs diagnosed coronary heart disease with the sensitivity of 69% (95% confidence interval [CI], 62-75) and specificity of 89% (95% CI, 87-91), and acute coronary syndrome with the sensitivity of 50% (95% CI, 36-64) and specificity of 98% (95% CI, 97-99). They assumed coronary heart disease in 245 patients, 41 (17%) of whom were referred to the hospital, 77 (31%) to a cardiologist, and 162 (66%) to electrocardiogram testing. CONCLUSIONS GPs' evaluation of chest pain patients, based on symptoms and signs alone, was not sufficiently accurate for diagnosing or excluding coronary heart disease or acute coronary syndrome.
Design of integrated passive component for a 1 MHz 1 kW half-bridge LLC resonant converter

The LLC resonant converter has some special characteristics to make it an excellent candidate for front-end DC/DC conversion in a distributed power system. Even with advanced topology, to achieve high power density, the passive component design is still the key issue. Passive integration is used to integrate all the passive components within the resonant tank of the LLC resonant converter into one single component - an integrated L-L-C-T. The design approach and loss estimation of the integrated L-L-C-T component for a 1 MHz 1 kW LLC resonant converter is given in this paper. A prototype is constructed and tested under small signal and in-circuit working conditions.