Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Geographic Variation in the Acoustic Traits of Greater Horseshoe Bats: Testing the Importance of Drift and Ecological Selection in Evolutionary Processes

Patterns of intraspecific geographic variation of signaling systems provide insight into the microevolutionary processes driving phenotypic divergence. The acoustic calls of bats are sensitive to diverse evolutionary forces, but processes that shape call variation are largely unexplored. In China, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum displays a diverse call frequency and inhabits a heterogeneous landscape, presenting an excellent opportunity for this kind of research. We quantified geographic variation in resting frequency (RF) of echolocation calls, estimated genetic structure and phylogeny of R. ferrumequinum populations, and combined this with climatic factors to test three hypotheses to explain acoustic variation: genetic drift, cultural drift, and local adaptation. Our results demonstrated significant regional divergence in frequency and phylogeny among the bat populations in China's northeast (NE), central-east (CE) and southwest (SW) regions. The CE region had higher frequencies than the NE and SW regions. Drivers of RF divergence were estimated in the entire range and just the CE/NE region (since these two regions form a clade). In both cases, RF divergence was not correlated with mtDNA or nDNA genetic distance, but was significantly correlated with geographic distance and mean annual temperature, indicating cultural drift and ecological selection pressures are likely important in shaping RF divergence among different regions in China.
Calcium Mobilization by Ryanodine Promotes the Phosphorylation of Initiation Factor 2α Subunit and Inhibits Protein Synthesis in Cultured Neurons

Abstract: Protein synthesis plays an important role in the viability and function of the cell. There is evidence indicating that Ca2+ may be a physiological regulator of the translational process. In the present study, the effect of agents that increase intracellular calcium levels by different mechanisms, as well as repercussion on the rate of protein synthesis, including phosphorylation of initiation factor 2α subunit, and double‐stranded RNA‐dependent eIF‐2α kinase (PKR) activity were analyzed. Glutamate (100 µM) and K+ (60 mM), which increase intracellular calcium levels (the former mostly by the influx of extracellular calcium via voltage‐sensitive calcium channels, and the latter by receptor‐operated calcium channels), and carbachol (1 mM), as well as glutamate, which mobilizes intracellular calcium from the endoplasmic reticulum via activation of inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate receptor, did not modify any of the analyzed parameters. Nevertheless, 100 nM ryanodine, which increases intracellular calcium concentration by activating the ryanodine receptor, promoted a significant decrease in the rate of protein synthesis and increased both initiation factor 2α subunit phosphorylation and PKR activity. From our results, we can conclude that inhibition of protein synthesis is dependent on the mobilization of intracellular calcium from internal stores. Moreover, they strongly suggest that this inhibition is only promoted when calcium is increased via ryanodine receptor, and possibly by activation of PKR activity.
Silicon Nano-Pillar Test Structures for Quantitative Evaluation of Wafer Drying Induced Pattern Collapse

Silicon nano-pillars as test structures for quantitative evaluation of advanced wafer drying are presented. The method consists of the use of pillar structures with an aspect ratio up to 28 in combination with top-down SEM inspection and subsequent image analysis for quantification. The test vehicle allows characterizing cleaning techniques by a threshold aspect ratio below which value the features do not collapse. As such, a higher critical aspect ratio corresponds to a superior wetting/drying method. Furthermore, as the metrology is specific and includes cluster size distribution analysis, it can bring new insights in the mechanism of pattern collapse.
Methylation of the Constitutive Androstane Receptor Is Involved in the Suppression of CYP2C19 in Hepatitis B Virus–Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), one of the most dangerous malignancies with an increasing incidence and a high mortality rate, represents a major international health problem. HCC progression is known to involve genome-wide alteration of epigenetic modifications, leading to aberrant gene expression patterns. The activity of CYP2C19, an important member of the cytochrome P450 superfamily, was reported to be compromised in HCC, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. To understand whether epigenetic modification in HCC is associated with a change in CYP2C19 activity, we evaluated the expression levels of CYP2C19 and its transcription factors by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction using mRNA extracted from both primary hepatocytes and paired tumor versus nontumor liver tissues of patients infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV). DNA methylation was examined by bisulfite sequencing and methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction. Our results indicated that CYP2C19 could be regulated by e-box methylation of the constitutive androstane receptor (CAR). Decreased CYP2C19 expression in tumorous tissues of HBV-infected patients with HCC was highly correlated with suppressed expression and promoter hypermethylation of CAR. Our study demonstrates that aberrant CAR methylation is involved in CYP2C19 regulation in HBV-related HCC and may play a role in liver tumorigenesis.
Spatial neglect in stroke patients after discharge from rehabilitation to own home: a mixed method study

Abstract Purpose: To explore the usefulness of conventional tests for assessing spatial neglect and contrast these tests with daily challenges encountered by patients after discharge from rehabilitation to home. Methods: A mixed method prospective study of 15 patients with neglect after a right hemisphere stroke, <1 month after discharge to home. Data were obtained from: (1) Catherine Bergego Scale (CBS), (2) star cancellation and figure copying and (3) observations and interviews. Qualitative data were analysed with content analysis and quantitative data with non-parametric statistics. The data were presented in a ‘mixing matrix’ and integrated by ‘following threads’. Finally, a synthesis was written into a vignette. Results: The CBS significantly underestimated fluctuations and did not capture important items of neglect. The star cancellation and figure copying did not identify neglect in mildly affected participants. Left starting point in the star cancellation and a characteristic process of drawing in figure copying were observed in all participants. Conclusion: Traditional numerical interpretations of paper-pencil tests inadequately confirmed mild neglect. Starting points of the star cancellation and observation of drawing should be incorporated into screening procedures. Assessment strategies need improvement to identify patients with subtle forms of neglect. Implications for Rehabilitation Findings demonstrate that identification of spatial neglect and the way symptoms of neglect impact on daily life functioning of stroke patients must be carefully pursued by health-care professionals working in stroke rehabilitation. Areas that should receive professional attention in the rehabilitation process include: preparing patients and their family for fluctuations related to neglect in the patient’s own home, locating issues that might impact safety, and identifying unique factors that either enhance or diminish neglect within each patient’s daily life context. The results of this study could be used to develop more wide-ranging assessment strategies to assist health-care professionals in identifying neglect after hospital discharge, for instance by expanding existing ecological assessment tools and including qualitative evaluation of test performance in paper-pencil tests, such as the star cancellation and figure copying.
Centre De Referència En Economia Analítica Barcelona Economics Working Paper Series License Prices for Financially Constrained Firms License Prices for Financially Constrained Firms

It is often alleged that high auction prices inhibit service deployment. We investigate this claim under the extreme case of financially constrained bidders. If demand is just slightly elastic, auctions maximize consumer surplus if consumer surplus is a convex function of quantity (a common assumption), or if consumer surplus is concave and the proportion of expenditure spent on deployment is greater than one over the elasticity of demand. The latter condition appears to be true for most of the large telecom auctions in the US and Europe. Thus, even if high auction prices inhibit service deployment, auctions appear to be optimal from the consumers' point of view. "It is a victory for consumerism and common sense. " Etain Doyle, Director of Ireland's regulator ComReg (then Telecommunications Regulation), commenting the decision to award 3G Irish licenses through a "beauty contest".
ICTNET at TREC 2017 Common Core Track

Xu Chang1,2,3, Liying Jiao1,2,3, Jinlong Liu1,2,3, Weijian Zhu,1,2,3, Yuanhai Xue1,2 ,Li Zha1,2, Yue Liu1,2 , Xueqi Cheng4 1) Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190 2) Key Laboratory of Web Data Science and Technology, CAS 3) University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190 4) Institute of Network Technology,ICT(YANTAI),CAS {changxu, jiaoliying, liujinlong, zhuweijian}@software.ict.ac.cn; {xueyuanhai, char, liuyue, cxq}@ict.ac.cn
Post-Zygotic and Inter-Individual Structural Genetic Variation in a Presumptive Enhancer Element of the Locus between the IL10Rβ and IFNAR1 Genes

Although historically considered as junk-DNA, tandemly repeated sequence motifs can affect human phenotype. For example, variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) with embedded enhancers have been shown to regulate gene transcription. The post-zygotic variation is the presence of genetically distinct populations of cells in an individual derived from a single zygote, and this is an understudied aspect of genome biology. We report somatically variable VNTR with sequence properties of an enhancer, located upstream of IFNAR1. Initially, SNP genotyping of 63 monozygotic twin pairs and multiple tissues from 21 breast cancer patients suggested a frequent post-zygotic mosaicism. The VNTR displayed a repeated 32 bp core motif in the center of the repeat, which was flanked by similar variable motifs. A total of 14 alleles were characterized based on combinations of segments, which showed post-zygotic and inter-individual variation, with up to 6 alleles in a single subject. Somatic variation occurred in ∼24% of cases. In this hypervariable region, we found a clustering of transcription factor binding sites with strongest sequence similarity to mouse Foxg1 transcription factor binding motif. This study describes a VNTR with sequence properties of an enhancer that displays post-zygotic and inter-individual genetic variation. This element is within a locus containing four related cytokine receptors: IFNAR2, IL10Rβ, IFNAR1 and IFNGR2, and we hypothesize that it might function in transcriptional regulation of several genes in this cluster. Our findings add another level of complexity to the variation among VNTR-based enhancers. Further work may unveil the normal function of this VNTR in transcriptional control and its possible involvement in diseases connected with these receptors, such as autoimmune conditions and cancer.
Prediction of virtual sound source elevation improved by including input source spectral shape in the prediction equation

Presented with familiar broadband sound sources, human listeners are expected to base reports of source elevation primarily upon spectral variation due to directional dependence of the head-related transfer function (HRTF). Using four recorded speech sounds as sources, this study tested whether reported elevation of virtual sound sources might be systematically influenced by the spectral shape variation that naturally occurs in human speech. A set of 36 virtual sound stimuli were created by processing those four sound sources with nine binaural HRTFs collected at angles spaced at 10-degree intervals on the frontal plane, ranging from 40 degrees below the horizontal plane to 40 degrees above. Perceived source elevation was reported via a graphical user interface by each of five listeners who showed substantial individual differences in response distribution. Overall the collected reports were not highly correlated with the angles at which HRTFs had been measured; however, after the perceptual data were adjusted by subtracting from each source elevation report the overall mean elevation reported by each listener, these centred elevation angles were well predicted by a regression equation that included two terms. The first term was the elevation angle at which the binaural HRTFs were measured, while the second term captured source spectral bandwidth variations between the four sound sources processed using the nine HRTFs.
Evaluation of Translation Technology

This collection of scholarly articles asks the question "How useful is translation technology? " Pointing to the need for a widely used and reliable way to test the efficiency of language translation programs, the presenters show that commercial tools such as translation memories and translation workbenches are popular, and their developers find them useful in terms of productivity, consistency, or quality. However, these claims are rarely proven using objective comparative studies, and this group describes several new statistical approaches to more rigorous evaluation methods.
Density of Upper Respiratory Colonization With Streptococcus pneumoniae and Its Role in the Diagnosis of Pneumococcal Pneumonia Among Children Aged <5 Years in the PERCH Study

Upper airway pneumococcal colonization density among children hospitalized with World Health Organization–defined pneumonia was associated with microbiologically confirmed pneumococcal pneumonia (MCPP). The optimal colonization density threshold for discriminating MCPP from non-MCPP was ≥7 log10 copies/mL (sensitivity, 64.3%, specificity, 92.2%).
Histories Electromagnetism

Working within the HPO (History Projection Operator) Consistent Histories formalism, we follow the work of Savvidou on (scalar) ﬁeld theory [1] and that of Savvidou and Anastopolous on (ﬁrst-class) constrained systems [3] to write a histories theory (both classical and quantum) of Electromagnetism. We focus particularly on the foliation-dependence of the histories phase space/Hilbert space and the action thereon of the two Poincar´e groups that arise in histories ﬁeld theory. We quantise in the spirit of the Dirac scheme for constrained systems.
A Radiologic Score to Distinguish Autoimmune Hypophysitis from Nonsecreting Pituitary Adenoma Preoperatively

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Autoimmune hypophysitis (AH) mimics the more common nonsecreting pituitary adenomas and can be diagnosed with certainty only histologically. Approximately 40% of patients with AH are still misdiagnosed as having pituitary macroadenoma and undergo unnecessary surgery. MR imaging is currently the best noninvasive diagnostic tool to differentiate AH from nonsecreting adenomas, though no single radiologic sign is diagnostically accurate. The purpose of this study was to develop a scoring system that summarizes numerous MR imaging signs to increase the probability of diagnosing AH before surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a case-control study of 402 patients, which compared the presurgical pituitary MR imaging features of patients with nonsecreting pituitary adenoma and controls with AH. MR images were compared on the basis of 16 morphologic features besides sex, age, and relation to pregnancy. RESULTS: Only 2 of the 19 proposed features tested lacked prognostic value. When the other 17 predictors were analyzed jointly in a multiple logistic regression model, 8 (relation to pregnancy, pituitary mass volume and symmetry, signal intensity and signal intensity homogeneity after gadolinium administration, posterior pituitary bright spot presence, stalk size, and mucosal swelling) remained significant predictors of a correct classification. The diagnostic score had a global performance of 0.9917 and correctly classified 97% of the patients, with a sensitivity of 92%, a specificity of 99%, a positive predictive value of 97%, and a negative predictive value of 97% for the diagnosis of AH. CONCLUSIONS: This new radiologic score could be integrated into the management of patients with AH, who derive greater benefit from medical as opposed to surgical treatment.
Broadband Mid-Infrared Stand-Off Reflection–Absorption Spectroscopy Using a Pulsed External Cavity Quantum Cascade Laser

Broadband mid-infrared molecular spectroscopy is essential for detection and identification of many chemicals and materials. In this report, we present stand-off mid-infrared spectra of 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine or cyclotrimethylene trinitramine (RDX) residues on a stainless-steel surface measured by a broadband external cavity quantum cascade laser (QCL) system. The pulsed QCL is continuously scanned over 800 cm−1 in the molecular fingerprint region and the amplitude of the reflection signal is measured by either a boxcar-averager-based scheme or a lock-in-amplifier-based scheme with 1 MHz and 100 kHz quartz crystal oscillators. The main background noise is due to the laser source instability and is around 0.1% of normalized intensity. The direct absorption spectra have linewidth resolution around 0.1 cm−1 and peak height sensitivity around 10−2 due to baseline interference fringes. Stand-off detection of 5–50 µg/cm2 of RDX trace adsorbed on a stainless steel surface at the distance of 5 m is presented.
THE EVOLUTION OF CARIBBEAN JUNIPERUS (CUPRESSACEAE): TERPENOIDS, RAPDS AND DNA SNPs DATA

SNPs from nrDNA and trnC-trnD cp DNA for the Caribbean junipers have provided additional insight into the evolution of this group of smooth leaf margined junipers. Comparing leaf terpenoids, RAPDS and SNPs from nrDNA and trnC-trnD cp DNA show that each data set reveals different facets of the relationships. In general, the data sets support four major groups: Juniperus barbadensis - lucayana; J. bermudiana; J. gracilior - ekmanii - urbaniana; J. saxicola; J. virginiana - silicicola. Based on the concordance of these data and morphology, the Caribbean junipers are treated as four species, three of these having varieties: J. barbadensis, J. barbadensis var. lucayana, J. bermudiana, J. gracilior, J. gracilior var. ekmanii, J. gracilior var. urbaniana, J. saxicola, J. virginiana and J. virginiana var. silicicola. The evolutionary colonization pathways of the Caribbean junipers are discussed.
SimpleTree —An Efficient Open Source Tool to Build Tree Models from TLS Clouds

An open source tool named SimpleTree, capable of modelling highly accurate cylindrical tree models from terrestrial laser scan point clouds, is presented and evaluated. All important functionalities, accessible in the software via buttons and dialogues, are described including the explanation of all necessary input parameters. The method is validated utilizing 101 point clouds of six different tree species, in the main evergreen and coniferous trees. All scanned trees have been destructively harvested to get accurate estimates of above ground biomass with which we assess the accuracy of the SimpleTree-reconstructed cylinder models. The trees were grouped into four data sets and for each one a Concordance Correlation Coefficient of at least 0.92 (0.92, 0.97, 0.92, 0.94) and an total relative error at most ~8 % (2.42%, 3.59%, –4.59%, 8.27%) was achieved in the comparison of the model results to the ground truth data. A global statistical improvement of derived cylinder radii is presented as well as an efficient optimization approach to automatically improve user given input parameters. An additional check of the SimpleTree results is presented via comparison to the results of trees reconstructed using an alternative, published method.
1950°C Annealing of Al+ Implanted 4H-SiC: Sheet Resistance Dependence on the Annealing Time

This study shows that, after annealing at 1950°C, a 1×1020 cm-3 Al+ implanted 4H-SiC material shows a decreasing resistivity with increasing annealing time in the range 5-25 min. After this, the resistivity remains constant up to an annealing time of 40 min. The estimated minimum time to gain the thermal equilibrium in this implanted material at 1950°C is 12 min. Electrical characterization has been performed in the 20-680 K temperature range.
Aspergillus fumigatus Infection-Induced Neutrophil Recruitment and Location in the Conducting Airway of Immunocompetent, Neutropenic, and Immunosuppressed Mice

Susceptibility to fungal infection is commonly associated with impaired neutrophil responses. To study the mechanisms underlying this association, we investigated neutrophil recruitment to the conducting airway wall after Aspergillus fumigatus conidium inhalation in mouse models of drug-induced immunosuppression and antibody-mediated neutrophil depletion (neutropenia) by performing three-dimensional confocal laser-scanning microscopy of whole-mount primary bronchus specimens. Actin staining enabled visualization of the epithelial and smooth muscle layers that mark the airway wall. Gr-1+ or Ly6G+ neutrophils located between the epithelium and smooth muscles were considered airway wall neutrophils. The number of airway wall neutrophils for immunocompetent, immunosuppressed, and neutropenic mice before and 6 h after A. fumigatus infection were analyzed and compared. Our results show that the number of conducting airway wall neutrophils in immunocompetent mice significantly increased upon inflammation, while a dramatic reduction in this number was observed following immunosuppression and neutropenia. Interestingly, a slight increase in the infiltration of neutrophils into the airway wall was detected as a result of infection, even in immunosuppressed and neutropenic mice. Taken together, these data indicate that neutrophils are present in intact conducting airway walls and the number elevates upon A. fumigatus infection. Conducting airway wall neutrophils are affected by both neutropenia and immunosuppression.
Novel approaches to the valorisation of ashes using aggregation by carbonation

Accelerated carbonation technology (ACT) is a treatment for calcium and magnesium rich wastes using a reaction with carbon dioxide gas. The process can facilitate the reuse of previously unusable hazardous wastes as new construction materials, such as engineering fills and aggregates. During 2010, two large-scale trials were conducted using ACT. The first project explored the capture of carbon from flue gasses using municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) air pollution control (APC) residues. It was found that carbon could be effectively stripped from a flue gas as it is passed through a bed of APC material. In the second trial, which built on the previous approach, an industrial-scale plant was constructed to produce aggregates for use in concrete blocks. As a result, over two hundred tonnes of aggregate from APC residues were produced.