Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Which genetic marker for which conservation genetics issue?

Conservation genetics focuses on the effects of contemporary genetic structuring on long‐term survival of a species. It helps wildlife managers protect biodiversity by identifying a series of conservation units, which include species, evolutionarily significant units (ESUs), management units (MUs), action units (AUs), and family nets (FNs). Although mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) evolves 5–10 times faster than single‐copy nuclear DNA (scnDNA), it records few traces of contemporary events. Thus, mtDNA can be used to resolve taxonomic uncertainties and ESUs. Variable number of tandem repeats (VNTRs) evolve 100–1000 times faster than scnDNA and provide a powerful tool for analyzing recent and contemporary events. VNTR analysis techniques include polymerase chain reaction (PCR)‐based microsatellite assays and oligonucleotide probing. Size homoplasy problems in PCR‐based microsatellite assays can strongly affect the inference of recent population history. The high homozygosity in endangered species is reflected in a relatively low number and level of variability in microsatellite loci. This combined with “allelic dropout” and “misprinting” errors contributes to the generation of highly biased genetic data following analyses of natural populations. Thus, in conservation genetics, microsatellites are of limited use for identifying ESUs, MUs, and AUs. In contrast to PCR‐based microsatellite analysis, oligonucleotide probing avoids errors resulting from PCR amplification. It is particularly suitable for inferring recent population history and contemporary gene flow between fragmented subpopulations. Oligonucleotide fingerprinting generates individual‐specific DNA banding patterns and thus provides a highly precise tool for monitoring demography of natural populations. Hence, DNA fingerprinting is powerful for distinguishing ESUs, MUs, AUs, and FNs. The use of oligonucleotide fingerprinting and fecal DNA is opening new areas for conservation genetics.
The Slipperiness of Literary Maps: Critical Cartography and Literary Cartography

ABSTRACT How we read and interpret a map when it is presented alongside the text in a work of fiction is the central issue with which this paper is concerned. Although “literary maps” can be found across a range of genres in literary studies, they are often treated as illustrative rather than being understood as integral to the meaning of the literary work. This article seeks to challenge such assumptions. The first half of the article is interdisciplinary, engaging with the work of J.B. Harley, Mark Monmonier, Franco Moretti, Christina Ljungberg, and Andrew Thacker in order to open up responses to literary maps in more complex ways. It draws on critical cartography to define core concerns for an emerging literary cartography, such as the nature of the analogy between map and text; the complexity of correspondence when a map and text occur alongside each other and the author is also the map-maker; and the difficulties created by naive users of the literary map. The second half of the article grounds the p.
On determining upper bounds of maximal eigenvalue of Hermitian positive-definite matrix

We first present a new method of determining the upper bounds of maximal eigenvalue of Hermitian positive-definite matrix, which includes the Dembo's (1988) upper bound as a special case. Then we derive the kth-order upper bound /spl Lambda//sub k/ and its first-round iteration /spl Lambda//sub k//sup (1)/ which is much tighter than the Dembo's upper bound /spl Lambda//sub 0/.
Low cost SIW Chebyshev bandpass filter with new input/output connection

This paper presents a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) Chebyshev bandpass filter using the low cost, commercially available printed circuit board (PCB) technology. The detailed design procedure beginning from the normalized Chebyshev lowpass filter, to the final optimized SIW bandpass filter is presented. The test filter having a 4% fractional bandwidth centered at 1.684 GHz was fabricated on a 1.27 mm thick, Rogers RT/Duroid 6010LM substrate with a 10.8 dielectric constant. The design has also been experimentally validated and results presented. The simulation and measurement responses of the filter show good agreement with a low insertion loss of 1.3 dB. The simulated and the measured return losses of about 15 dB and 16 dB respectively, were achieved across the filter passband.
Learning to extract information from large domain-specific websites using sequential models

In this article we describe a novel information extraction task on the web and show how it can be solved effectively using the emerging conditional exponential models. The task involves learning to find specific goal pages on large domain-specific websites. An example of such a task is to find computer science publications starting from university root pages. We encode this as a sequential labeling problem solved using Conditional Random Fields (CRFs). These models enable us to exploit a wide variety of features including keywords and patterns extracted from and around hyperlinks and HTML pages, dependency among labels of adjacent pages, and existing databases of named entities in a unified probabilistic framework. This is an important advantage over previous rule-based or generative models for tackling the challenges of diversity on web data.
Hormone replacement therapy in menopausal women: Past problems and future possibilities

Oral administration of conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) with and without the synthetic progestin medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) in postmenopausal women is associated with side-effects that include increased risk of stroke and breast cancer. The current evidence that transdermal administration of estradiol may provide a safer alternative to orally administered CEE is reviewed. Transdermally administered estradiol has been shown to be an efficacious treatment for hot flushes possibly without the increase in blood clotting that is associated with administration of oral CEE. Further, natural progesterone may have a more beneficial spectrum of physiological effects than synthetic progestins. The substantial differences between CEE compared with estradiol and estriol, as well as the differences between synthetic MPA and natural progesterone, are detailed. Estriol is an increasingly popular alternative hormone therapy used for menopausal symptoms. There is evidence that estriol, by binding preferentially to estrogen receptor-β, may inhibit some of the unwanted effects of estradiol. New clinical trials are needed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of topically or transdermally administered combinations of estradiol, estriol and progesterone. Future studies should focus on relatively young women who begin estrogen supplement use near the start of menopause.
Men's Perceptions of their Experiences as K-2 Teachers

Men are greatly underrepresented as elementary teachers in the United States. They comprise just 17% of elementary teachers and about 2% of K-2 teachers (Allan, 1993; Sanders, Koch, & Urso, 1997; Wood & Hoag, 1993). Moreover, the proportion of male elementary teachers (and male teachers, in general) has been declining in countries around the globe—such as Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States—for the past two decades (Boyle, 1997; Gong, 1997; Hill, 1996; Ministry of Education, 1996; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 2001). Education researchers have paid little attention to issues surrounding the low and declining proportion of male elementary teachers. This seems perplexing in an era sensitive to issues of gender equity and diversity, one that promotes, for example, gender and racial balance within occupations. The popular press has devoted some attention to the issue, particularly in recent years. Journals, newspaper articles, and press releases, in electronic form and hard copy, report the issue and call for men to consider the teaching profession, particularly at the lower grade levels (Calling prospective teachers, 1999; Gong, 1997; Push for more, 1999; Turner, 1996; Walling, 1998). By conducting a Web search using the term “male primary teacher’’ or a similar word grouping, a researcher can locate a growing number of articles and discussions on the topic in recent years. It certainly seems worth understanding this phenomenon in light of the need for quality elementary teachers. Perhaps half the population is being inadvertently and systematically discouraged from entering this important profession. Moreover, the low number of men in elementary (in particular, primary) teaching denies students and staff gender diversity in their school’s teach-
Pragmatics in teacher education for nonnative‐speaking teachers: A consciousness‐raising approach

Despite a heavy emphasis on pragmatics since the advent of communicative language teaching some 20 years ago, trainers of nonnative‐speaking (NNS) language teachers who wish to incorporate pragmatics in their teacher training programmes still find little practical help from existing research. While research in pragmatics offers a number of potential candidates for the construction of theoretical frameworks for language use and the definition of core concepts such as pragmatic competence, we still lack a coherent theory of language use and a comprehensive and reliable account of what constitutes pragmatic competence. The result of this is that the prevailing approach to developing pragmatic competence in the classroom is based largely on native‐speaker (NS) intuitions concerning their own language use. Given this state of affairs, of particular interest in the teaching of language use is the education of NNS teachers. This paper reviews some of the problems relevant to the teaching of language use and disc.
Racial Variations in Ischemic Stroke‐Related Physical and Functional Impairments

Background and Purpose We sought to determine whether there are racial differences in physical and functional impairments resulting from an initial ischemic stroke. Methods We conducted a prospective, county-wide, multisite cohort study including a university hospital, a community hospital, and a Veterans Affairs hospital. The study population was an inception cohort of 145 patients hospitalized for ischemic stroke. Physical and functional impairments were measured using a modified form of the Fugl-Meyer test and the Barthel Index, respectively. Nurses trained to use these tests made assessments at admission and 5, 30, 90, and 180 days after admission. Patient and disease-specific data along with treatment data and vital status were collected. Results Forty-one patients (28%) were black. Compared with whites, black stroke patients were more likely to be widowed (51% versus 26%) and hypertensive (83% versus 63%) but less likely to be male (42% versus 69%) and alert on admission (66% versus 76%). There were no racial differences in mortality. Physical impairment was significantly more severe in black than in white patients at admission, and although physical impairment improved, it remained significantly worse in blacks. Functional impairment was also greater in black patients initially but was similar to that in white patients 90 days after the event. Multivariable analyses confirmed these findings. Conclusions These results indicate that blacks may have greater residual physical deficits from stroke than whites.
Classic Articles in Special Education

This exploratory investigation sought to identify classic articles from the general special education literature that were published between 1960 and 1989. Initially, widely cited articles that were published during this time in Exceptional Children, Remedial and Special Education, and The Journal of Special Education were identified. Faculty from doctoral degree—granting institutions of higher education were then surveyed regarding which of these widely cited articles should be considered classics. Twelve articles, addressing such topics as mainstreaming or inclusion, student identification, curriculum-based measurement, efficacy of mainstreaming/inclusion programs, secondary curriculum and transition from school to work, and curricula for students with severe disabilities, were identified as classics. Directions for future research are discussed, including the need to clarify reliable methods for identifying classic articles and to identify classic articles in areas of specialization within special education. Finally, implications for practice are addressed.
Social functioning and quality of life in the schizophrenic patient: advantages of amisulpride

Schizophrenia is associated with significant social, psychological and occupational dysfunction. Not only is this distressing for the patients and their family and friends, but it also results in high indirect costs. Reintegration back into society, one of the most important aspects of quality life for schizophrenic patients and their physicians, must therefore take into account a patient's social functioning and employability, as well as improvement in symptoms. Although the typical antipsychotics are effective in managing the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, they may not alleviate other aspects of the disorder. They are also associated with extrapyramidal symptoms and other severe adverse events that have significant consequences for quality of life and compliance. The atypical antipsychotic, amisulpride, has an improved safety and tolerability profile and has been shown to be significantly more effective than placebo and haloperidol on a number of quality of life and social functioning scales, including the Global Assessment of Functioning, the Quality of Life Scale, the Functional Status Questionnaire and the Psychosocial Aptitude Rating Scale. In conclusion, amisulpride, in addition to its proven clinical efficacy, may help reintegration of the schizophrenic patient back into society.
High Throughput Sequencing Reveals Alterations in the Recombination Signatures with Diminishing Spo11 Activity

Spo11 is the topoisomerase-like enzyme responsible for the induction of the meiosis-specific double strand breaks (DSBs), which initiates the recombination events responsible for proper chromosome segregation. Nineteen PCR-induced alleles of SPO11 were identified and characterized genetically and cytologically. Recombination, spore viability and synaptonemal complex (SC) formation were decreased to varying extents in these mutants. Arrest by ndt80 restored these events in two severe hypomorphic mutants, suggesting that ndt80-arrested nuclei are capable of extended DSB activity. While crossing-over, spore viability and synaptonemal complex (SC) formation defects correlated, the extent of such defects was not predictive of the level of heteroallelic gene conversions (prototrophs) exhibited by each mutant. High throughput sequencing of tetrads from spo11 hypomorphs revealed that gene conversion tracts associated with COs are significantly longer and gene conversion tracts unassociated with COs are significantly shorter than in wild type. By modeling the extent of these tract changes, we could account for the discrepancy in genetic measurements of prototrophy and crossover association. These findings provide an explanation for the unexpectedly low prototroph levels exhibited by spo11 hypomorphs and have important implications for genetic studies that assume an unbiased recovery of prototrophs, such as measurements of CO homeostasis. Our genetic and physical data support previous observations of DSB-limited meioses, in which COs are disproportionally maintained over NCOs (CO homeostasis).
A multi-level investigation of psychological contract breach and organizational identification through the lens of perceived organizational membership: testing a moderated-mediated model

Drawing on the perceived organizational membership theoretical framework and the social identity view of dissonance theory, I examined in this study the dynamics of the relationship between psychological contract breach and organizational identification. I included group-level transformational and transactional leadership as well as procedural justice in the hypothesized model as key antecedents for organizational membership processes. I further explored the mediating role of psychological contract breach in the relationship between leadership, procedural justice climate, and organizational identification and proposed separateness–connectedness self-schema as an important moderator of the above mediated relationship. Hierarchical linear modeling results from a sample of 864 employees from 162 work units in 10 Greek organizations indicated that employees' perception of psychological contract breach negatively affected their organizational identification. I also found psychological contract breach to mediate the impact of transformational and transactional leadership on organizational identification. Results further provided support for moderated mediation and showed that the indirect effects of transformational and transactional leadership on identification through psychological contract breach were stronger for employees with a low connectedness self-schema.
The R*-tree: an efficient and robust access method for points and rectangles

The R-tree, one of the most popular access methods for rectangles, is based on the heuristic optimization of the area of the enclosing rectangle in each inner node. By running numerous experiments in a standardized testbed under highly varying data, queries and operations, we were able to design the R*-tree which incorporates a combined optimization of area, margin and overlap of each enclosing rectangle in the directory. Using our standardized testbed in an exhaustive performance comparison, it turned out that the R*-tree clearly outperforms the existing R-tree variants. Guttman's linear and quadratic R-tree and Greene's variant of the R-tree. This superiority of the R*-tree holds for different types of queries and operations, such as map overlay, for both rectangles and multidimensional points in all experiments. From a practical point of view the R*-tree is very attractive because of the following two reasons 1 it efficiently supports point and spatial data at the same time and 2 its implementation cost is only slightly higher than that of other R-trees.
AGING, DISENGAGEMENT, AND OPINIONATION

IN A RECENT article, Kenneth Gergen and Kurt Back set forth the hypothesis that aging individuals become more likely to give "no opinion," "uncertain," or similar neutral responses to questions asked by opinion polls and other attitudinal surveys. ' They derived this hypothesis from a more general one formulated by Elaine Cumming and William Henry, which states that transition from middle age to senescence is characterized by progressive disengagement from other members of society.2 Gergen and Back seem to believe that the disengagement hypothesis implies both that aging people become less likely to have opinions on the topics with which poll questions deal and that they become less likely to express to the interviewer any opinions they may have.3 To test their hypothesis, Gergen and Back selected several public opinion polls and analyzed the responses to all the questions which allowed a "no opinion" or similar noncommittal response. When the respondents were divided into three broad age levels, it was found that the oldest persons were most prone to noncommittal responses and the youngest ones were most likely to express opinions. Gergen and Back concede, however, that the lower average level of formal
Scalable Fine-grained Path Control in Software Defined Networks

The OpenFlow-based SDN is widely studied to better network performance through planning fine-grained paths. However, being designed to configure path hop-by-hop, it faces the scalability issue that both the flow table overhead and path setup delay are unacceptable for large-scale networks. In this paper, we propose PACO, a framework based on Source Routing to address that problem through quickly pushing paths into the packet header at network edges and pre-installing few rules at the network core. The straightforward implementation of SR is inefficient as it would incur too many path labels; other efficient approaches would sacrifice path flexibility (e.g., DEFO). To implement SR efficiently and flexibly, PACO presents each path as a concatenation of pathlets and introduces algorithms to compute pathlets and concatenate paths with minimum path labels. Our extensive simulations confirm the scalability of PACO as it saves the flow table overhead up to 94% compared with OpenFlow-SDN solutions and show that PACO outperforms SR-SDN solutions by supporting more than 40% paths with few label overhead.
Establishing genetic transformation for comparative developmental studies in the crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis

The amphipod crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis has been put forward as an attractive organism for evolutionary developmental comparisons, and considerable effort is being invested in isolating developmental genes and studying their expression patterns in this species. The scope of these studies could be significantly expanded by establishing means for genetic manipulation that would enable direct studies of gene functions to be carried out in this species. Here, we report the use of the Minos transposable element for the genetic transformation of P. hawaiensis. Transformed amphipods can be obtained from ≈30% of surviving individuals injected with both a Minos element carrying the 3xP3-DsRed fluorescent marker and with mRNA encoding the Minos transposase. Integral copies of the transposon are inserted into the host genome and are stably inherited through successive generations. We have used reporter constructs to identify a muscle-specific regulatory element from Parhyale, demonstrating that this transformation vector can be used to test the activity of cis-regulatory elements in this species. The relatively high efficiency of this transgenic methodology opens new opportunities for the direct study of cis-regulatory elements and gene functions in Parhyale, allowing functional studies to be carried out beyond previously established model systems in insects.
Closed-form power allocation scheme for space-time coded multiple-antenna systems with imperfect CSI

This paper presents a closed-form power allocation scheme for space-time coded multiple-antenna systems with imperfect channel state information at the transmitter. The proposed scheme is based on a so-called compressed signal-to-noise ratio (CSNR) criterion, where a single compression factor is used to minimize the bit-error-rate (BER). The obtained closed-form solution is computational efficient and achieves almost the same performance as the existing optimal approach which requires numerical search, and outperforms the existing suboptimal closed-form algorithm.
3D assisted face recognition via progressive pose estimation

Most existing pose-independent Face Recognition (FR) techniques take advantage of 3D model to guarantee the naturalness while normalizing or simulating pose variations. Two nontrivial problems to be tackled are accurate measurement of pose parameters and computational efficiency. In this paper, we introduce an effective and efficient approach to estimate human head pose, which fundamentally ameliorates the performance of 3D aided FR systems. The proposed method works in a progressive way: firstly, a random forest (RF) is constructed utilizing synthesized images derived from 3D models; secondly, the classification result obtained by applying well-trained RF on a probe image is considered as the preliminary pose estimation; finally, this initial pose is transferred to shape-based 3D morphable model (3DMM) aiming at definitive pose normalization. Using such a method, similarity scores between frontal view gallery set and pose-normalized probe set can be computed to predict the identity. Experimental results achieved on the UHDB dataset outperform the ones so far reported. Additionally, it is much less time-consuming than prevailing 3DMM based approaches.