Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Implementation arrangements for climate adaptation in the Netherlands: characteristics and underlying mechanisms of adaptive governance.

Adaptation to climate change is a rapidly emerging policy domain. Over the last decade we have witnessed many attempts to enhance the climate robustness of agriculture, urban development, water systems, and nature to an increase in flood and drought risks due to a higher variability in rainfall patterns and sea level rise. In the vulnerable Dutch delta, regional authorities have developed adaptation measures that deal with flood risk, the availability of fresh water, subsidence, and salt water intrusion. In view of all the uncertainties that surround climate change, scientists emphasize that it should be possible to make changes when conditions change or insights evolve. The concept of adaptive governance has been introduced to facilitate the process of climate adaptation. Adaptive governance requires the availability of governance arrangements that facilitate adaptiveness by being flexible to enable adjustment. Although flexible arrangements for adaptation to climate change make sense from an adaptive governance perspective, from a more bureaucratic, political, and legal perspective, there might be good reasons to make arrangements as solid and robust as possible. In this article we answer the question to what extent the arrangements used to implement various adaptation measures are really adaptive and what mechanisms play a role in obstructing the accomplishment of adaptive arrangements. By analyzing and comparing nine adaptation cases, dealing with different climate issues, and the arrangements used to implement them from both a governance and a legal perspective, we are able to get more detailed insight into the main characteristics of the selected arrangements, their degree of adaptiveness, and the main hampering mechanisms for the creation or functioning of adaptive arrangements.
Flow visualisation study in porous media using X-rays

An X-ray technique has been developed to visualise the fluid flow behaviour in three-phase packed column. It can be used in both static and transient conditions. This technique is capable of differentiating between various liquids or solids or both. It can be used to visualise the flow in one, two or three dimensions. The technique has been used to study the complex flow behaviour of fluid (rivulets/droplets/film formation, dispersion, etc.) in a porous medium in both static and dynamic conditions. It is shown that X-ray is a powerful and simple tool for visualisation and is very useful in research.
Patient‐centered and experience‐aware mining for effective adverse drug reaction discovery in online health forums

Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) have become a serious health problem and even a leading cause of death in the United States. Pre‐marketing clinical trials and traditional post‐marketing surveillance using voluntary and spontaneous report systems are insufficient for ADR detection. On the other hand, online health forums provide valuable evidences in a large scale and in a timely fashion through the active participation of patients, caregivers, and doctors. In this article, we present patient‐centered and experience‐aware mining framework for effective ADR discovery using online health forum data. Our experimental evaluation with both an official ADR knowledge base and human‐annotated ground truth verifies the effectiveness of the proposed method for ADR discovery.
Parenting stress and a sense of competence in mothers of children with and without developmental disabilities

BACKGROUND: Mothers of children with a range of developmental disabilities report higher levels of stress than mothers of typically developing children. Higher levels of stress can also be related to parenting sense of competence. Further, parental stress and a sense of competence are also significantly associated with parenting support and marital satisfaction. AIM: This study had three aims: to determine the difference in stress levels and sense of competence observed as self-perceived parental efficacy and satisfaction with parenthood in mothers of children with and without disabilities; to determine the relationship between stress levels and sense of competence observed as self-perceived parental efficacy and satisfaction with parenthood in all mothers; and to determine the difference in importance of factors associated with motherhood stress and a sense of competence. METHODS: Mothers of 71 children aged 1-13 years from the city of Varaždin, 38 without disabilities and 33 with disabilities, participated in this study. The mothers filled in four assessment tools: the Parental Stress Scale; the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale, which included the two subscales of self-perceived parental efficacy and satisfaction with parenthood; the Family Support Scale; and the Quality of Marriage Index. RESULTS: Statistical t tests showed significant differences between mothers of children with and without disabilities in stress, and self-perceived sence of maternal efficacy, which was part of the sense of competence variable. Further, all explored variables were significantly correlated, and finally, all three models of four-stage hierarchical multiple regression revealed that final models containing sociodemographic factors, child characteristics, a disability factor, social support and marital quality explained 50.9% of the variation in parental stress level, 36.4% of variation in self-perceived parental efficacy, and 35.1% of variation in satisfaction with parenthood. Changes in R2 were significant in all models. When all predictor variables were included in stage four of the regression model, marital quality explained the most variance in all models. CONCLUSION: These results show the importance of marital quality in both parental stress and a sense of competence equally in mothers of children with and without disabilities.
Glucose homeostasis in two degrees of sepsis lethality induced by caecum ligation and puncture in mice

Sepsis is associated with high mortality. Both critically ill humans and animal models of sepsis exhibit changes in their glucose homeostasis, that is, hypoglycaemia, with the progression of infection. However, the relationship between basal glycaemia, glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity is not well understood. Thus, we aimed to evaluate this glucose homeostasis triad at the late stage of sepsis (24 h after surgery) in male Swiss mice subjected to lethal and sublethal sepsis by the caecal ligation and puncture (CLP) model. The percentage of survival 24 h after CLP procedure in the Lethal and Sublethal groups was around 66% and 100% respectively. Both Lethal and Sublethal groups became hypoglycaemic in fasting and fed states 24 h after surgery. The pronounced fed hypoglycaemia in the Lethal group was not due to worsening anorexic behaviour or hepatic inability to deliver glucose in relation to the Sublethal group. Reduction in insulin sensitivity in CLP mice occurred in a lethality‐dependent manner and was not associated with glucose intolerance. Analysis of oral and intraperitoneal glucose tolerance tests, as well as the gastrointestinal motility data, indicated that CLP mice had reduced intestinal glucose absorption. Altogether, we suggest cessation of appetite and intestinal glucose malabsorption are key contributors to the hypoglycaemic state observed during experimental severe sepsis.
Mutations in the U11/U12-65K protein associated with isolated growth hormone deficiency lead to structural destabilization and impaired binding of U12 snRNA

Mutations in the components of the minor spliceosome underlie several human diseases. A subset of patients with isolated growth hormone deficiency (IGHD) harbors mutations in the RNPC3 gene, which encodes the minor spliceosome-specific U11/U12-65K protein. Although a previous study showed that IGHD patient cells have defects in U12-type intron recognition, the biochemical effects of these mutations on the 65K protein have not been characterized. Here, we show that a proline-to-threonine missense mutation (P474T) and a nonsense mutation (R502X) in the C-terminal RNA recognition motif (C-RRM) of the 65K protein impair the binding of 65K to U12 and U6atac snRNAs. We further show that the nonsense allele is targeted to the nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) pathway, but in an isoform-specific manner, with the nuclear-retained 65K long-3′UTR isoform escaping the NMD pathway. In contrast, the missense P474T mutation leads, in addition to the RNA-binding defect, to a partial defect in the folding of the C-RRM and reduced stability of the full-length protein, thus reducing the formation of U11/U12 di-snRNP complexes. We propose that both the C-RRM folding defect and NMD-mediated decrease in the levels of the U11/U12-65K protein reduce formation of the U12-type intron recognition complex and missplicing of a subset of minor introns leading to pituitary hypoplasia and a subsequent defect in growth hormone secretion.
Still Flowing: Approaches to Traffic Flow and Traffic Jam Modeling

Certain aspects of traffic flow measurements imply the existence of a phase transition. Models known from chaos and fractals, such as nonlinear analysis of coupled differential equations, cellular automata, or coupled maps, can generate behavior which indeed resembles a phase transition in the flow behavior. Other measurements point out that the same behavior could be generated by geometrical constraints of the scenario. This paper looks at some of the empirical evidence, but mostly focuses on different modeling approaches. The theory of traffic jam dynamics is reviewed in some detail, starting from the well-established theory of kinematic waves and then veering into the area of phase transitions. One aspect of the theory of phase transitions is that, by changing one single parameter, a system can be moved from displaying a phase transition to not displaying a phase transition. This implies that models for traffic can be tuned so that they display a phase transition or not.This paper focuses on microscopic modeling, i.e., coupled differential equations, cellular automata, and coupled maps. The phase transition behavior of these models, as far as it is known, is discussed. Similarly, fluid-dynamical models for the same questions are considered. A large portion of this paper is given to the discussion of extensions and open questions, which makes clear that the question of traffic jam dynamics is, albeit important, only a small part of an interesting and vibrant field. As our outlook shows, the whole field is moving away from a rather static view of traffic toward a dynamic view, which uses simulation as an important tool.
Validation of the Sepsis Severity Score Compared with Updated Severity Scores in Predicting Hospital Mortality in Sepsis Patients

Introduction: Recently, the Sepsis Severity Score (SSS) was constructed to predict mortality in sepsis patients. The aim of this study was to compare performance of the SSS with the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II-IV, Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) II, and SAPS 3 scores in predicting hospital outcome in sepsis patients. Methods: A retroprospective analysis was conducted in the medical intensive care unit of a tertiary university hospital. Results: A total of 913 patients were enrolled; 476 of these patients (52.1%) had septic shock. The median SSS was 80 (range 20–137). The SSS presented good discrimination with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.892. However, the AUC of the SSS did not differ significantly from that of APACHE II (P = 0.07), SAPS II (P = 0.06), and SAPS 3 (P = 0.11). The APACHE IV score showed the best discrimination with an AUC of 0.948 and the overall performance by a Brier score of 0.096. The AUC of the APACHE IV score was statistically greater than the SSS, APACHE II, SAPS II, and SAPS 3 (P <0.0001 for all) and APACHE III (P = 0.0002). The calibration of all scores was poor with the Hosmer–Lemeshow goodness-of-fit H test <0.05. Conclusions: The SSS provided as good discrimination as the APACHE II, SAPS II, and SAPS 3 scores. However, the APACHE IV score had the best discrimination and overall performance in our sepsis patients. The SSS needs to be adapted and modified with new parameters to improve its performance.
A MULTILOCUS VIEW OF SPECIATION IN THE DROSOPHILA VIRILIS SPECIES GROUP REVEALS COMPLEX HISTORIES AND TAXONOMIC CONFLICTS

Summary The historical population genetic processes associated with the divergence of members of the Drosophila airilis species group were examined using DNA sequence variation from two loci. New data on DNA sequence variation from the oskar locus, taken from within and among all five closely related taxa in the airilis phylad of the D. airilis species group, were examined and compared with similar data previously collected from the period locus. Overall, the oskar and period data sets reveal similar patterns of variation. Both loci support the conclusion that the two subspecies of D. americana have had a large historical population size and are exchanging genes in nature. From these data there is little reason to consider them as distinct taxa. In the case of D. noaamexicana, from which six lines were sequenced at each locus, there is an intriguing dierence in the pattern seen at the two loci. Both loci reveal two distinct groups that are considerably divergent from each other, with very little evidence of gene flow between them. However, the grouping of lines into distinct subgroups based on oskar is dierent from the grouping based on period. The simplest explanation seems to be that D. noaamexicana includes two distinct species, and that the sample of six lines happens to include cases of recent gene exchange. Alternatively, both oskar and period could be linked to sites of strong balancing selection and limited
A Monte Carlo model for estimating the productivity of a generalist brood parasite across multiple host species.

Questions: How can the productivity of a generalist brood parasite be estimated? Does an invasive brood parasite have greater productivity (defined as fledglings/egg and fledglings/area) in a recently invaded habitat than in a habitat similar to its original range? Features of model: We developed a simulation model that uses Bayesian and Monte Carlo methods to integrate brood parasite productivity across multiple host species over the entire breeding season. Organisms: We use the model to estimate the productivity of the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) in two host communities, one breeding in deciduous forests (a recently invaded habitat) and one in old fields (a grassland habitat more similar to the cowbird’s original range). We parameterize the model with data from 616 nests of 14 cowbird host species, containing 428 cowbird eggs and young. Results and conclusions: We developed methods for estimating the productivity of a brood parasite with an entire community of host species. We found that cowbirds have higher productivity in the recently invaded habitat, deciduous forest. Our findings are consistent with the rapid spread of the cowbird once it invaded the forested eastern United States
Diet and immunological memory of lines of White Leghorn chickens divergently selected for antibody response to sheep red blood cells.

Antibody responses to a first, second, and third injection with SRBC, and growth were studied in lines of White Leghorn chickens selected for high (HA) or low (LA) 5-d antibody titers to an i.v. inoculation with 0.1 mL of a 0.25% suspension of SRBC. The experiment involved parallel studies on two groups of chicks hatched from the same matings of parental lines HA and LA at a 14-d interval. Chicks of each age-line subclass were fed either a high or low nutrient density diet from hatch onwards. When chicks of Hatches 1 and 2 were 28 and 14 d of age (doa) respectively, they were injected with 0.1 mL of 0.25% suspension of SRBC, and antibody titers measured 3 and 6 d later. A second and a third injection of the same concentration of SRBC was given to chicks of each age-line-diet subclass at 10-d intervals and antibody titers measured 3 and 6 d after each injection in different chicks randomly sampled from each age-line-diet subclass. After the first injection, antibody (primary) responses of HA chicks were higher than those of LA chicks regardless of age and diet. This difference (HA > LA) observed for the primary response was seldom evident in the responses to the second (secondary) and third (tertiary) injections. Antibody responses of LA chicks after the second and third injections were anamnestic. For HA chicks given the first injection at 28 doa, neither the secondary nor tertiary responses suggested anamnestic capacities, whereas there was apparent memory exhibited by the secondary and tertiary responses of HA chicks initially injected at 14 doa. The LA chicks were significantly heavier than HA chicks at all ages. Even though the higher nutrient density diet increased BW of chicks of both lines, its effect on memory responses was sporadic. The results of this experiment show that, even though divergent selection has been successful in the primary responses, correlated responses in immunological memory were not always observed, suggesting that the two types of responses might be under different genetic control.
Explorer Egg deposition of maternal testosterone is primarily controlled by the preovulatory peak of luteinizing hormone in quail

Differential transfer of maternal testosterone (T) into egg yolk provides a means of adjusting an offspring’s phenotype to ambient environmental conditions. While the environmental and genetic driven variability in yolk T levels is widely described, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we investigated whether neuroendocrine mechanisms controlling ovulatory processes are associated with the regulation of yolk T deposition. Circulatory profiles of luteinizing hormone (LH), T and estradiol levels were analysed during the last 7 h before ovulation in Japanese quail selected for contrasting yolk T concentrations. Moreover, the pituitary responsiveness to a single challenge with gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) was evaluated. High egg T (HET) birds displayed higher concentrations of LH at 3.5 h before ovulation than low egg T (LET) birds while no differences were found around the time of expected ovulation. The pre-ovulatory profile of T and estradiol levels did not differ between LET and HET females but pre-ovulatory plasma T positively correlated with LH concentrations at 6.5 h and 3.5 h before ovulation. The LH response to GnRH did not differ between LET and HET females. Our results demonstrate that the pre-ovulatory LH surge can determine the amount of T transferred into the egg yolk. This link between yolk T deposition and the ovulatory cycle driven variation of reproductive hormones may explain balance between the effects of circulating T on female’s reproductive physiology and yolk T on offspring phenotype. 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an openaccess article under the CCBY license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Multilevel DC link inverter

This paper presents a new class of multilevel inverters based on a multilevel DC link (MLDCL) and a bridge inverter to reduce the number of switches, clamping diodes or capacitors. An MLDCL can be a diode-clamped phase leg, a flying capacitor phase leg, or cascaded half-bridge cells with each cell having its own DC source. Connecting one of the MLDCLs with a single-phase bridge inverter can form a multilevel voltage source inverter. The MLDCL provides a DC voltage with the shape of a staircase approximating the rectified shape of a commanded sinusoidal wave, with or without pulse width modulation, to the bridge inverter, which in turn alternates the polarity to produce an ac voltage. Compared with the cascaded H-bridge, diode-clamped and flying-capacitor multilevel inverters, the MLDCL inverters can significantly reduce the switch count as the number of voltage levels increases. For a given number of voltage levels, m, the required number of active switches is 2/spl times/(m-1) for the existing multilevel inverters but is m+3 for the MLDCL inverters. Simulation and experimental results are included to verify the operating principles of the MLDCL inverters.
SNF5 is Involved in Suppression of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Progression via TGF‐Beta 1 Signaling

SNF5 (SMARCB1/INI1/BAF47), a core subunit of SWI/SNF complex, has been reported to modulate cell proliferation and apoptosis. Genetic evidence has suggested that SNF5 participates in tumor suppression. However, the detailed biological function and underlying mechanisms of SNF5 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression remain unclear. Here, SNF5 expression reduction in HCC tissues compared with the adjacent non‐cancerous tissues has been demonstrated. Importantly, the results showed that reduced SNF5 expression has a strong correlation with worse overall survival of HCC patients. The data demonstrated that knockdown of SNF5 significantly promoted cell growth and migration in Hep3B and HCCLM3 cell lines. Interestingly, it was found that SNF5 suppressed transforming growth factor‐β1 (TGF‐β1) expression, and SNF5 mRNA expression was negatively correlated with TGF‐β1 in HCC tissues. Furthermore, depletion of SNF5 attenuated the sensitivity of HCC cells to sorafenib. Thus, the data suggested that SNF5 may participate in HCC suppression, and reduced expression of SNF5 correlates with the poor differentiation and prognosis of HCC, indicating that SNF5 might be an important prognostic biomarker and promising therapeutic target for HCC. Anat Rec, 299:869–877, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Space Time MUSIC: Consistent Signal Subspace Estimation for Wideband Sensor Arrays

Wideband direction of arrival (DOA) estimation with sensor arrays is an essential task in sonar, radar, acoustics, biomedical, and multimedia applications. Many state-of-the-art wideband DOA estimators coherently process frequency binned array outputs by approximate maximum likelihood (ML), weighted subspace fitting, or focusing techniques. This paper shows that bin signals obtained by filter-bank approaches do not obey the finite rank narrow-band array model, because spectral leakage and changes of the array response with frequency within the bin create ghost sources dependent on the particular realization of the source process. Therefore, existing DOA estimators based on binning are not consistent even when the array response is perfectly known. In this paper, under a more realistic array model, which still has finite rank under a space-time formulation, signal subspaces at arbitrary frequencies can be consistently recovered under mild conditions by applying space time, MUSIC-type (ST-MUSIC) estimators to the dominant eigenvectors of the wideband, space-time sensor cross-correlation matrix. A novel, consistent ML-based ST-MUSIC subspace estimate is developed to estimate the number of sources active at each frequency by information theoretic criteria. Empirical ST-MUSIC subspaces are fed to any subspace fitting DOA estimator at single or multiple frequencies. Simulations confirm that this approach allows better performance over binning approaches at sufficiently high signal to noise ratio, when model mismatches exceed the noise floor.