Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RPE specification in the chick is mediated by surface ectoderm-derived BMP and Wnt signalling

The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is indispensable for vertebrate eye development and vision. In the classical model of optic vesicle patterning, the surface ectoderm produces fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) that specify the neural retina (NR) distally, whereas TGFβ family members released from the proximal mesenchyme are involved in RPE specification. However, we previously proposed that bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) released from the surface ectoderm are essential for RPE specification in chick. We now show that the BMP- and Wnt-expressing surface ectoderm is required for RPE specification. We reveal that Wnt signalling from the overlying surface ectoderm is involved in restricting BMP-mediated RPE specification to the dorsal optic vesicle. Wnt2b is expressed in the dorsal surface ectoderm and subsequently in dorsal optic vesicle cells. Activation of Wnt signalling by implanting Wnt3a-soaked beads or inhibiting GSK3β at optic vesicle stages inhibits NR development and converts the entire optic vesicle into RPE. Surface ectoderm removal at early optic vesicle stages or inhibition of Wnt, but not Wnt/β-catenin, signalling prevents pigmentation and downregulates the RPE regulatory gene Mitf. Activation of BMP or Wnt signalling can replace the surface ectoderm to rescue MITF expression and optic cup formation. We provide evidence that BMPs and Wnts cooperate via a GSK3β-dependent but β-catenin-independent pathway at the level of pSmad to ensure RPE specification in dorsal optic vesicle cells. We propose a new dorsoventral model of optic vesicle patterning, whereby initially surface ectoderm-derived Wnt signalling directs dorsal optic vesicle cells to develop into RPE through a stabilising effect of BMP signalling.
Postnatal Depression Is a Public Health Nursing Issue: Perspectives from Norway and Ireland

The framework provided by the Millennium Development Goals includes maternal health as an area of priority. Postnatal depression (PND) is a serious public health issue because it occurs at a crucial time in a mothers' life, can persist for long periods, and can have adverse effects on partners and the emotional, behavioural, and cognitive development of infants and children. Internationally, public health nurses (PHNs) are key professionals in the delivery of health care to mothers in the postpartum period, and international research collaborations are encouraged. Two researchers from the European Academy of Nursing Science (EANS) identified a need to collaborate and strengthen research capacity and discussion on postnatal depression, a public health nursing issue in both countries. Within the context of public health and public health nursing in Ireland and Norway, the aim of this paper is to present a discussion on the concept of PND, prevalence, and outcomes; screening issues for PHNs; and the research evidence of the benefits of social support in facilitating recovery for new mothers.
Deep Aesthetic Quality Assessment With Semantic Information

Human beings often assess the aesthetic quality of an image coupled with the identification of the image’s semantic content. This paper addresses the correlation issue between automatic aesthetic quality assessment and semantic recognition. We cast the assessment problem as the main task among a multi-task deep model, and argue that semantic recognition task offers the key to address this problem. Based on convolutional neural networks, we employ a single and simple multi-task framework to efficiently utilize the supervision of aesthetic and semantic labels. A correlation item between these two tasks is further introduced to the framework by incorporating the inter-task relationship learning. This item not only provides some useful insight about the correlation but also improves assessment accuracy of the aesthetic task. In particular, an effective strategy is developed to keep a balance between the two tasks, which facilitates to optimize the parameters of the framework. Extensive experiments on the challenging Aesthetic Visual Analysis dataset and Photo.net dataset validate the importance of semantic recognition in aesthetic quality assessment, and demonstrate that multitask deep models can discover an effective aesthetic representation to achieve the state-of-the-art results.
Pharyngeal carriage of serogroup W135 Neisseria meningitidis in Hajjees and their family contacts in Morocco, Oman and Sudan

In 2000 the global outbreak that began in Saudi Arabia was caused by a W135:2a:P1.5,2 strain of Neisseria meningitidis belonging to the ET‐37 complex and to ST‐11. There was concern that introduction of this epidemic clone (EC) might lead to a wave of outbreaks in the African meningitis belt. The WHO therefore initiated studies of meningococcal carriage among pilgrims and their family contacts in Morocco, Oman and Sudan, 3 to 12 months after the Hajj 2000. In Morocco, 1186 persons were swabbed 3 times. Ninety‐five meningococcal strains were isolated from 2.7% of the specimens. Pulsed‐field gel electrophoresis showed that 32 (33.6%) were identical with the EC. In Sudan, 5 strains identical with the EC were obtained after sampling 285 persons. In Oman, among 18 meningococcal strains isolated from 399 subjects, 11 (61.1%) belonged to the EC. The important pharyngeal carriage of W135 (EC) and its role in the 2001–2002 outbreaks in Burkina Faso argues for the necessity of reinforcing surveillance, and adapting and planning responses in Africa and the Middle East using the most appropriate vaccine.
Criterion-related validity of the figure-of-eight method of measuring ankle edema.

STUDY DESIGN Single-session, prospective, repeated-measures design. OBJECTIVE To determine intratester reliability and criterion-related validity of the figure-of-eight method of measuring ankle edema. BACKGROUND The measurement of edema is often necessary when physical therapists assess patients with ankle injuries. The figure-of-eight method has been shown to be a reliable method in measuring the size of ankles in subjects without edema but not in subjects with ankle swelling. The validity of this method of measurement has not been established. METHODS AND MEASURES The subjects (mean age, 22.7 +/- 4.4 years) were 7 men and 8 women with observable ankle edema secondary to acute or chronic ankle sprains or injury to the lower extremity. Three figure-of-eight measurements were taken by one tester. These measurements were correlated to measurements taken by another tester using a foot volumeter. RESULTS The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC [2,1]) for the figure-of-eight measurements was 0.99. The Pearson Product Moment correlation coefficients between the figure-of-eight measurements and the first volumetric measurement were 0.89 (first figure-of-eight), 0.88 (second figure-of-eight), 0.91 (third figure-of-eight), and 0.90 (mean of all 3 figure-of-eight measurements). CONCLUSION The figure-of-eight method was demonstrated to be a reliable and valid indirect method of measuring ankle edema in individuals with edema secondary to sprains or other lower-extremity musculoskeletal disorders.
Toward a Database of Geometric Interrelationships of Protein Secondary Structure Elements for De Novo Protein Design, Prediction and Analysis

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Stability of Transmembrane Amyloid β-Peptide and Membrane Integrity Tested by Molecular Modeling of Site-Specific Aβ 42 Mutations

Interactions of the amyloid β-protein (Aβ) with neuronal cell membranes, leading to the disruption of membrane integrity, are considered to play a key role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Natural mutations in Aβ 42, such as the Arctic mutation (E22G) have been shown to increase Aβ 42 aggregation and neurotoxicity, leading to the early-onset of Alzheimer’s disease. A correlation between the propensity of Aβ 42 to form protofibrils and its effect on neuronal dysfunction and degeneration has been established. Using rational mutagenesis of the Aβ 42 peptide it was further revealed that the aggregation of different Aβ 42 mutants in lipid membranes results in a variety of polymorphic aggregates in a mutation dependent manner. The mutant peptides also have a variable ability to disrupt bilayer integrity. To further test the connection between Aβ 42 mutation and peptide–membrane interactions, we perform molecular dynamics simulations of membrane-inserted Aβ 42 variants (wild-type and E22G, D23G, E22G/D23G, K16M/K28M and K16M/E22G/D23G/K28M mutants) as β-sheet monomers and tetramers. The effects of charged residues on transmembrane Aβ 42 stability and membrane integrity are analyzed at atomistic level. We observe an increased stability for the E22G Aβ 42 peptide and a decreased stability for D23G compared to wild-type Aβ 42, while D23G has the largest membrane-disruptive effect. These results support the experimental observation that the altered toxicity arising from mutations in Aβ is not only a result of the altered aggregation propensity, but also originates from modified Aβ interactions with neuronal membranes.
TIDALLY DRIVEN ROCHE-LOBE OVERFLOW OF HOT JUPITERS WITH MESA

Many exoplanets have now been detected in orbits with ultra-short periods very close to the Roche limit. Building upon our previous work, we study the possibility that mass loss through Roche lobe overflow (RLO) may affect the evolution of these planets, and could possibly transform a hot Jupiter into a lower-mass planet (hot Neptune or super-Earth). We focus here on systems in which the mass loss occurs slowly (“stable mass transfer” in the language of binary star evolution) and we compute their evolution in detail with the binary evolution code Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics. We include the effects of tides, RLO, irradiation, and photo-evaporation (PE) of the planet, as well as the stellar wind and magnetic braking. Our calculations all start with a hot Jupiter close to its Roche limit, in orbit around a Sun-like star. The initial orbital decay and onset of RLO are driven by tidal dissipation in the star. We confirm that such a system can indeed evolve to produce lower-mass planets in orbits of a few days. The RLO phase eventually ends and, depending on the details of the mass transfer and on the planetary core mass, the orbital period can remain around a few days for several Gyr. The remnant planets have rocky cores and some amount of envelope material, which is slowly removed via PE at a nearly constant orbital period; these have properties resembling many of the observed super-Earths and sub-Neptunes. For these remnant planets, we also predict an anti-correlation between mass and orbital period; very low-mass planets (Mpl ≲ 5 M⊕) in ultra-short periods (Porb < 1 day) cannot be produced through this type of evolution.
External force observer for medium-sized humanoid robots

In this paper, we introduce a method to estimate the magnitude of an external force applied on a humanoid robot. The approach does not require using force/torque sensors but instead uses measurements from commonly available force-sensing resistors (FSR) inserted under the feet of the humanoid robot. This approach is particularly interesting for affordable medium-sized humanoid robots such as Nao and Darwin-OP. The main idea is to use a simplified dynamic model of a linear inverted pendulum model (LIPM) subjected to an external force, and the information from the robot inertial measurement unit (IMU) and FSR sensors. The proposed method was validated on a Nao humanoid robot to estimate the external force applied in the sagittal plane through two experimental scenarios, and the results pointed out the efficiency of the proposed observer.
Concealogram: an image within an image

Several methods of concealing an image in a different hardcopy image are presented. The hidden image is secured since only a spatial digital, or optical, correlator equipped with an undecipherable key function can reveal the concealed image from the visible picture. The techniques and their robustness to noise and distortions are demonstrated.
The Development of a New Measure of Global Work Autonomy

This article reports the results of three studies in which reliability and validity data were examined for scores obtained on a new measure of global work autonomy. The respondents in these studies were 80 employees of a medium-size manufacturing firm, 6,810 employees of a large defense contractor, and 88 MBA students. To examine the convergence of reports of autonomy, data were also gathered from supervisors and coworkers of these students. Coefficient alphas for the autonomy scale for the three samples ranged from . 79 to . 90. Scores on the global work autonomy scale correlated with scores on theoretically related measures (e.g., in Studies 1 and 3, global autonomy scores correlated .54 and .69, respectively, with scores on the Job Diagnostic Survey Autonomy Scale). Although small in magnitude, in Study 2, predicted work autonomy score differences were found between union and nonunion employees and between supervisors and nonsupervisors.
Integration of a Multi-Camera Vision System and Strapdown Inertial Navigation System (SDINS) with a Modified Kalman Filter

This paper describes the development of a modified Kalman filter to integrate a multi-camera vision system and strapdown inertial navigation system (SDINS) for tracking a hand-held moving device for slow or nearly static applications over extended periods of time. In this algorithm, the magnitude of the changes in position and velocity are estimated and then added to the previous estimation of the position and velocity, respectively. The experimental results of the hybrid vision/SDINS design show that the position error of the tool tip in all directions is about one millimeter RMS. The proposed Kalman filter removes the effect of the gravitational force in the state-space model. As a result, the resulting error is eliminated and the resulting position is smoother and ripple-free.
Experimental Studies of Human Behavior in Social Computing Systems

Social computing systems, fueled by the ability of the Internet to engage millions of individuals, have redefined computation to include not only the application of algorithms but also the participation of people. Yet, the true impact of social computing in the future depends on a systematic understanding of how to design interventions that produce desirable systemwide behavior. Behavioral experiments, with their fundamental ability to study causality, are an important methodology in reaching this goal. This dissertation presents several examples of how novel experimental approaches to studying social computing systems can not only improve the design of such systems, but improve our understanding of human behavior. We investigate the differences in motivation and effects of incentives in a crowdsourcing task across paid and volunteer crowdsourcing systems, finding that varying financial incentives even at the same wage can be used to implicitly invoke different biases. We discover the effects of assembling teams of different size in a social, collaborative crisis mapping task, finding that larger groups exert less effort per individual, but make up for this loss in their ability to coordinate. We investigate the accuracy of voting in a human computation setting and how statistical models can be used to discover patterns of decision making across a population of individuals. Finally, we present the design and implementation of TurkServer, an software system that enabled these experimental studies. The work in this dissertation suggests that experiments in social computing present an opportunity both for understanding design factors of social computing systems and for developing generalizable models of human behavior—and ultimately better theories of how people communicate and interact in our interconnected world.
Can repeated exposure to "forgotten" vocabulary help alleviate word-finding difficulties in semantic dementia? An illustrative case study

The predominant, and most socially isolating, symptom typically seen in semantic dementia is anomia−word-finding difficulties−in conjunction with a deteriorating central semantic system. In this paper, we demonstrate that repeated rehearsal of the names of concepts paired with pictures of them and/or real items resulted in a dramatic improvement in the ability of a patient (DM) with semantic dementia to produce previously “difficult-to-retrieve” words on tests of word production. Although the substantial improvement shown by DM suggests that home rehearsal with pictorial and verbal stimuli could be a useful rehabilitative strategy for word-finding difficulties in semantic dementia, the experiment also revealed that constant exposure to items was necessary in order to prevent the observed decline in performance once DM's daily drill was stopped. The results are discussed with respect to the underlying neuroanatomical structures thought to be important for the acquisition and storage of long-term memory, and to techniques for facilitating word-finding in patients with aphasia.
An Outcome Evaluation of the YouthBuild USA Offender Project

A number of intervention and prevention programs exist with respect to juvenile delinquency but most are never evaluated, and of those that do, few are successful in their ability to reduce criminal activity. This article reports on an initial, preliminary outcome evaluation of a targeted intervention program aimed at low-income, 16 to 24-year-old offenders, the YouthBuild (YB) Offender Program. Results indicate reduced recidivism and improved educational outcomes for the YB participants. Theoretical, empirical, and policy-related issues and future directions are outlined.
Exact structured singular value of robotic manipulators and quantitative analysis of passivity based control

This paper gives an exact and explicit expression of the structured singular value for robotic manipulators with a passivity based control in port-controlled Hamiltonian form, even though it is not possible to give the exact or explicit structured singular value for general systems. First, we focus on dynamics with endlink mass perturbation after the settling time. Second, we derive the exact and explicit structured singular value for manipulators by using structural properties of the dynamics. The derived structured singular value is nothing but the structured singular value of manipulators without control because the passivity based control preserves the Hamiltonian structure. Furthermore, based on the derived structured singular value, we quantitatively analyze the robust stability of robotic manipulators with the passivity based control
Localized Eigenvectors from Widely Spaced Matrix Modifications

We start with a large matrix A whose structure is simple, say, with unit entries on the first subdiagonal and superdiagonal. Its eigenvalues and eigenvectors are known. We modify A in M widely spaced rows and columns. Then the "new eigenvectors" are nearly a sum of spikes xj = t|j-r| centered at the positions r of the modified rows. The new eigenvalues are given almost exactly by $\pm \sqrt{4+\mu^2}$, where $\mu$ is an eigenvalue of the M by M modification. We extend this analysis to a larger class of structured matrices. For a banded Toeplitz matrix, our experiments show similar spikes centered around modified rows, and we have a conjecture on the structure of the new eigenvectors. For a single diagonal modification of the adjacency matrix of an infinite two-dimensional grid, we find the new eigenvalue from an elliptic integral (and we don't yet recognize the eigenvector).
A review of uterine involution and ovarian activity during the postparturient period in the cow.

Abstract Extract In order to utilize spring growth efficiently under a system of grassland farming, a New Zealand dairy farmer endeavours to calve as many cows as possible within a four to six weeks' period. To maintain this calving pattern, herd members must conceive by 70 to 80 days after calving. Consequently normal postparturient uterine involution, together with a minimum of delay in the onset of ovarian activity and oestral cyclicity, is of vital importance. A study of these phenomena may be very rewarding in helping to achieve optimal reproductive efficiency.
The influence of compassionate love on strategies used to end a relationship

Past research has identified several communication strategies that are used to end relationships (e.g., Baxter, 1982). The present study extends this research by considering how young adults’ propensity to experience compassionate love for a romantic partner is associated with their reported use of breakup strategies. A sample of US university students (n = 343) who had initiated the breakup of a past relationship completed a survey about the disengagement strategies they used. Participants’ compassionate love for their partner (recalled when the relationship existed) was associated with the use of more compassionate strategies to end the relationship. Compassionate love for humanity also was associated with the use of compassionate strategies, albeit to a lesser extent. The present findings suggest that compassionate love not only is beneficial for a relationship while it is intact, but may also play an important role in the process of relationship dissolution.
An Asymptotically Optimal Scheme for P2P File Sharing

The asymptotic analysis of certain public good models for p2p systems suggests that when the aim is to maximize social welfare a fixed contribution scheme in terms of the number of files shared can be asymptotically optimal as the number of participants n grows to infinity. Such a simple scheme eliminates free riding, is incentive compatible and obtains a value of social welfare that is within o(n) of that obtained by the second-best policy of the corresponding mechanism design formulation of the problem. We extend our model to account for file popularity, and discuss properties of the resulting equilibria. The fact that a simple optimization problem can be used to closely approximate the solution of the exact model (which is in most cases practically intractable both analytically and computationally), is of great importance for studying several interesting aspects of the system. We consider the evolution of the system to equilibrium in its early life, when both peers and the system planner are still learning about system parameters. We also analyse the case of group formation when peers belong to different classes (such as DSL and dial-up users), and it may be to their advantage to form distinct groups instead of a larger single group, or form such a larger group but avoid disclosing their class. We finally discuss the game that occurs when peers know that a fixed fee will be used, but the distribution of their valuations is unknown to the system designer. 1 Asymptotically optimal mecha-
Tight failure detection bounds on atomic object implementations

This article determines the weakest failure detectors to implement shared atomic objects in a distributed system with crash-prone processes. We first determine the weakest failure detector for the basic register object. We then use that to determine the weakest failure detector for all popular atomic objects including test-and-set, fetch-and-add, queue, consensus and compare-and-swap, which we show is the same.