Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TESTING MACROEVOLUTIONARY HYPOTHESES WITH CLADISTIC ANALYSIS: EVIDENCE AGAINST RECTANGULAR EVOLUTION

The properties of cladistic data sets from small monophyletic groups (6–12 species) are investigated using computer simulations of macroevolution. Two evolutionary models are simulated: gradualism and the punctuated‐equilibrium hypothesis. Under the conditions of our simulations these two models of evolution make consistently different predictions about the distribution of autapomorphies among species. When strict stasis is enforced, the punctuated‐equilibrium hypothesis predicts that the most expected number of autapomorphies per species will be zero, no matter how many characters are used in the analysis. As the number of characters used in the analysis increases, the distribution of the number of autapomorphies per species becomes bimodal. Under gradualism, the distribution of autapomorphies remains unimodal under all conditions, but the number of species without autapomorphies can fall to zero. A survey of real cladograms of extant monophyletic groups from a wide range of taxa indicates that the predictions of the punctuated‐equilibrium hypothesis about autapomorphies do not hold. This constitutes strong evidence against the punctuated‐equilibrium hypothesis.
The Effects of Unemployment Rate on Health Status of Chinese People

Abstract Background The aim of the study was to estimate the short-run and long-run effects of unemployment rate on health outcomes of Chinese population, which is under studied before. Methods The Chinese aggregate data was analyzed (provincial data from 1990-2011). The fixed effect model and infinite distributed lag model (IDL) were applied to analyze the data. It aimed to estimate the short-run and long-run association between unemployment rate and health status of population in China. The mortality was applied as an indicator for health outcomes of entire population. Results In the short run, when the unemployment rate was decreased by 1%, mortality will be reduced by approximately 4 % (P<0.01). In the long-run, mortality will be increased by 6.8% with increased unemployment rate of 1% (P <0.05). Conclusion The result in China demonstrated that the unemployment rate was positively associated with mortality. The result also showed that the increased unemployment rate has been harmful to health outcomes of population. It will be significant to reduce the unemployment rate for improving potential public health benefits in developing countries like China.
Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Angiography in Rats with Gadobenate Dimeglumine at 3T

This study aimed to investigate the magnetic resonance (MR) signal enhancement ratio (ER) of contrast-enhanced MR angiography (CE-MRA) in normal rats with gadobenate dimeglumine (Gd-BOPTA) using a clinical 3T scanner and an extremity coil. The relaxivities of Gd-BOPTA with saline only and with 4.5% human serum albumin (HSA) were also measured. Compared with Gadolinium diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA), Gd-BOPTA had higher relaxivities. The maximum ER of aorta (ERa), kidney, liver and muscle with Gd-BOPTA were higher than those with Gd-DTPA. The maximum ERa appeared at 1.2 min and decayed to half at 10 min after Gd-BOPTA injection. This information is helpful for the design of CE-MRA study of rats. Keywords—Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Angiography, Gd-BOPTA, Gd-DTPA, Rat.
Does remembering cause forgetting in chronically stressed people? A study of Ugandan civil war refugees with and without PTSD

People suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often have reduced episodic memory performance as well as intrusions and flashbacks of traumatic events. Hippocampal and prefrontal dysfunctions are assumed to be responsible. Using a modified retrieval-induced forgetting paradigm, we investigated episodic memory performance in a group of German participants and in civil war victims with and without PTSD in Northern Uganda. Retrieval-induced forgetting is an adaptive mechanism in memory and refers to the fact that retrieval of target elements impairs subsequent recall of related material. Retrieval-induced forgetting depends on medio-temporal and prefrontal functions and acute stress eliminates the effect. Here, using a pictorial retrieval-induced forgetting paradigm, retrieval-induced forgetting was found in a German group, but not in Ugandan refugees, neither in those with nor without PTSD. As both groups were exposed to multiple, often severely traumatic events, stress exposure in both Ugandan .
Enzymatically enhanced collisions on ultramicroelectrodes for specific and rapid detection of individual viruses

Significance Specific detection of individual nanometer-scale entities has been largely unavailable in the field of electrochemical collisions, where a change in amperometric current due to nonspecific adsorption at an ultramicroelectrode surface signals a collision. We have extended the field of collisions by achieving specific detection of individual virions with an antibody–epitope interaction and enzymatic amplification. This degree of selectivity and sensitivity (limit of detection ∼30 fM, signal-to-noise ratio ∼10–20) allows for a type of digital ELISA, where a discrete increase in current corresponds to the collision of a single virion on an ultramicroelectrode. We advanced the methodology to show that individual viruses can be observed in the urine of infected mice to demonstrate the technique’s potential efficacy as a digital electrochemical immunosensor. We report the specific collision of a single murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) on a platinum ultramicroelectrode (UME, radius of 1 μm). Antibody directed against the viral surface protein glycoprotein B functionalized with glucose oxidase (GOx) allowed for specific detection of the virus in solution and a biological sample (urine). The oxidation of ferrocene methanol to ferrocenium methanol was carried out at the electrode surface, and the ferrocenium methanol acted as the cosubstrate to GOx to catalyze the oxidation of glucose to gluconolactone. In the presence of glucose, the incident collision of a GOx-covered virus onto the UME while ferrocene methanol was being oxidized produced stepwise increases in current as observed by amperometry. These current increases were observed due to the feedback loop of ferrocene methanol to the surface of the electrode after GOx reduces ferrocenium methanol back to ferrocene. Negative controls (i) without glucose, (ii) with an irrelevant virus (murine gammaherpesvirus 68), and (iii) without either virus do not display these current increases. Stepwise current decreases were observed for the prior two negative controls and no discrete events were observed for the latter. We further apply this method to the detection of MCMV in urine of infected mice. The method provides for a selective, rapid, and sensitive detection technique based on electrochemical collisions.
Maintaining cross-domain objects and features in working memory : implications for storage in models of working memory

A great deal of evidence, both from behavioral studies of cross-domain interference and from neuroimaging, suggests the need for a domain-general store in models of working memory. Baddeley included such a store in an updated version of the influential multiplecomponent model (2000), but it is still unknown how this new component interacts with better-known working memory components. Using cross-domain objects (letters in spatial locations) for memoranda, the following experiments aimed to learn whether domain-specific and domain-general stores can be used concurrently, and in doing so to better understand how components of a working memory system interact. A critical finding shows that concurrent articulatory suppression impairs memory for integrated cross-domain objects that include spatial location features, but does not affect spatial locations when they are represented as isolated features. This evidence is interpreted as support for a domain-general store capable of accommodating different representations for spatial materials and capable of interfacing with verbal rehearsal mechanisms, depending on memory demands.
X-PERT: Accurate identification of cross-browser issues in web applications

Due to the increasing popularity of web applications, and the number of browsers and platforms on which such applications can be executed, cross-browser incompatibilities (XBIs) are becoming a serious concern for organizations that develop web-based software. Most of the techniques for XBI detection developed to date are either manual, and thus costly and error-prone, or partial and imprecise, and thus prone to generating both false positives and false negatives. To address these limitations of existing techniques, we developed X-PERT, a new automated, precise, and comprehensive approach for XBI detection. X-PERT combines several new and existing differencing techniques and is based on our findings from an extensive study of XBIs in real-world web applications. The key strength of our approach is that it handles each aspects of a web application using the differencing technique that is best suited to accurately detect XBIs related to that aspect. Our empirical evaluation shows that X-PERT is effective in detecting real-world XBIs, improves on the state of the art, and can provide useful support to developers for the diagnosis and (eventually) elimination of XBIs.
Chase Termination for Guarded Existential Rules

The chase procedure is considered as one of the most fundamental algorithmic tools in database theory. It has been successfully applied to different database problems such as data exchange, and query answering and containment under constraints, to name a few. One of the central problems regarding the chase procedure is all-instance termination, that is, given a set of tuple-generating dependencies (TGDs) (a.k.a. existential rules), decide whether the chase under that set terminates, for every input database. It is well-known that this problem is undecidable, no matter which version of the chase we consider. The crucial question that comes up is whether existing restricted classes of TGDs, proposed in different contexts such as ontological query answering, make the above problem decidable. In this work, we focus our attention on the oblivious and the semi-oblivious versions of the chase procedure, and we give a positive answer for classes of TGDs that are based on the notion of guardedness. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that establishes positive results about the (semi-)oblivious chase termination problem. In particular, we first concentrate on the class of linear TGDs, and we syntactically characterize, via rich- and weak-acyclicity, its fragments that guarantee the termination of the oblivious and the semi-oblivious chase, respectively. Those syntactic characterizations, apart from being interesting in their own right, allow us to pinpoint the complexity of the problem, which is PSPACE-complete in general, and NL-complete if we focus on predicates of bounded arity, for both the oblivious and the semi-oblivious chase. We then proceed with the more general classes of guarded and weakly-guarded TGDs. Although we do not provide syntactic characterizations for its relevant fragments, as for linear TGDs, we show that the problem under consideration remains decidable. In fact, we show that it is 2EXPTIME-complete in general, and EXPTIME-complete if we focus on predicates of bounded arity, for both the oblivious and the semi-oblivious chase. Finally, we investigate the expressive power of the query languages obtained from our analysis, and we show that they are equally expressive with standard database query languages. Nevertheless, we have strong indications that they are more succinct.
Test Generation for MOS Circuits Using D-Algorithm

An application of the D-algorithm in generating tests for MOS circuit faults is described. The MOS circuits considered are combinational and acyclic but may contain transmission gates and buses. Tests are generated for both, the stuck type faults and the transistor faults (open and short). A logic model is derived for the MOS circuits. In addition to the conventional logic gates, a new type of modeling block is used to represent the "memory" state caused by the "open" transistors. Every fault, whether a stuck type fault or a transistor fault, is represented in the model as a stuck fault at a certain gate input. For generating tests, however, the D-algorithm needs modification. The singular cover and the D-cubes for the new gate include some memory states. To handle the memory state, an initialization procedure has been added to the consistency part of the D-algorithm. The procedure of modeling and test generation is finally extended to transmission gates and buses.
Inhibition of neurogenesis by SRp38, a neuroD-regulated RNA-binding protein

Although serine-arginine rich (SR) proteins have often been implicated in the positive regulation of splicing, recent studies have shown that one unusual SR protein, SRp38, serves, contrastingly, as a splicing repressor during mitosis and stress response. We have identified a novel developmental role for SRp38 in the regulation of neural differentiation. SRp38 is expressed in the neural plate during embryogenesis and is transcriptionally induced by the neurogenic bHLH protein neuroD. Overexpression of SRp38 inhibits primary neuronal differentiation at a step between neurogenin and neuroD activity. This repression of neuronal differentiation requires activation of the Notch pathway. Conversely, depletion of SRp38 activity results in a dysregulation of neurogenesis. Finally, SRp38 can interact with the peptidyltransferase center of 28S rRNA, suggesting that SRp38 activity may act, in part, via regulation of ribosome biogenesis or function. Strikingly, recent studies of several cell cycle regulators during primary neurogenesis have also revealed a crucial control step between neurogenin and neuroD. SRp38 may mediate one component of this control by maintaining splicing and translational silencing in undifferentiated neural cells.
Clinical and Laboratory Studies of the Fate of Intranasal Allergen

Background The precise way in which allergen is handled by the nose is unknown. The objective of this study was to determine recovery of Der p 1 allergen following nasal administration and to determine whether Der p 1 can be detected in nasal biopsies after natural exposure and nasal challenge to allergen. Methods (1) 20 nonatopic non-rhinitics were challenged with Der p 1 and recovery was measured by ELISA in the nasal wash, nasal mucus and induced sputum up to 30 minutes. Particulate charcoal (<40 μm) served as control. (2) In 8 subjects (5 atopics), 30 to 60 minutes after challenge histological localisation of Der p 1 in the nasal mucosal epithelium, subepithelial mucous glands and lamina propria was performed. Co-localisation of Der p 1 with macrophages and IgE-positive cells was undertaken. Results (1) Less than 25% of total allergen was retrievable after aqueous or particulate challenge, most from the nasal mucus during 1-5 min after the challenge. The median of carbon particles recovered was 9%. (2) Prechallenge Der p 1 staining was associated with the epithelium and subepithelial mucous glands. After challenge there was a trend for greater Der p 1 deposition in atopics, but both atopics and nonatopics showed increases in the number of Der p 1 stained cells and stained tissue compartments. In atopics, increased eosinophils, macrophages and IgE positive cells co-localized with Der p 1 staining. Conclusions Der p 1 allergen is detected in nasal tissue independent of atopic status after natural exposure. After challenge the nose effectively retains allergen, which remains mucosally associated; in atopics there is greater Der p 1 deposition and inflammatory response than in nonatopics. These results support the hypothesis that nasal mucus and tissue act as a reservoir for the inhaled Der p 1 allergen leading to a persistent allergic inflammatory response in susceptible individuals.
Detection of Diabetic Retinopathy in Fundus Photographs

Diabetic retinopathy is one of the leading disabling chronic diseases, and one of the leading causes of preventable blindness in the world. Early diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy enables timely treatment and in order to achieve it a major effort will have to be invested into screening programs and especially into automated screening programs. For automated screening programs to work robustly efficient image processing and analysis algorithms have to be developed. This work examines recent literature on digital image processing in the field of early detection of diabetic retinopathy using fundus photographs. Algorithms were categorized into 5 groups (image preprocessing, localization and segmentation of the optic disk, segmentation of the retinal vasculature, localization of the macula and fovea, localization and segmentation of diabetic retinopathy pathologies). Diabetic retinopathy pathologies were further categorized into several groups. In this paper several different databases are presented and their characteristics discussed. Keywords—diabetic retinopathy, image processing, image analysis, optic disk localization, blood vessel segmentation, microaneurysms, exudates, hemorrhages, neovascularization
A covert data transport protocol

Both enterprise and national firewalls filter network connections. For data forensics and botnet removal applications, it is important to establish the information source. In this paper, we describe a data transport layer which allows a client to transfer encrypted data that provides no discernible information regarding the data source. We use a domain generation algorithm (DGA) to encode AES encrypted data into domain names that current tools are unable to reliably differentiate from valid domain names. The domain names are registered using (free) dynamic DNS services. The data transmission format is not vulnerable to Deep Packet Inspection (DPI).
Physiological Effects of Crl in Salmonella Are Modulated by σS Level and Promoter Specificity

ABSTRACT The small regulatory protein Crl activates σS (RpoS), the stationary-phase and general stress response sigma factor. Crl has been reported to bind σS in vitro and to facilitate the formation of RNA polymerase holoenzyme. In Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, Crl is required for the development of the rdar morphotype and transcription initiation of the σS-dependent genes csgD and adrA, involved in curli and cellulose production. Here, we examined the expression of other σS-dependent phenotypes and genes in a Δcrl mutant of Salmonella. Gene fusion analyses and in vitro transcription assays indicate that the magnitude of Crl activation differs between promoters and is highly dependent on σS levels. We replaced the wild-type rpoS allele in S. enterica serovar Typhimurium strain ATCC 14028 with the rpoS LT2 allele that shows reduced expression of σS; the result was an increased Crl activation ratio and larger physiological effects of Crl on oxidative, thermal, and acid stress resistance levels during stationary phase. We also found that crl, rpoS, and crl rpoS strains grew better on succinate than did the wild type and expressed the succinate dehydrogenase sdhCDBA operon more strongly. The crl and rpoS LT2 mutations also increased the competitive fitness of Salmonella in stationary phase. These results show that Crl contributes to negative regulation by σS, a finding consistent with a role for Crl in sigma factor competition via the facilitation of σS binding to core RNA polymerase.
First language lexical activation during second language sentence comprehension in highly proficient bilinguals

One of the most intriguing aspects of cognition is the way the bilingual brain deals with two languages. In this sense, a central question is whether knowledge of one language interferes in the processing of the other in everyday language use. The present thesis studied cross-language lexical interaction in highly proficient Spanish-English bilinguals who learnt English as a second language after age 10. A semantic incongruity task was used in which bilinguals read English sentences whose final words were either congruent or incongruent with the rest of the sentence context. While participants performed the task, their neural activity was recorded using electroencephalography (EEG). Event-related potentials (ERPs) were extracted and the semantic incongruity marker, N400, was used to assess electrical brain activity. Critical stimuli were English words whose Spanish translation equivalents shared an initial segment of their phonological representations with those of the most expected words for each sentence. For example, in the sentence “My brother swept the floor with a. ”, 'broom' is an expected and congruent final word, while 'foam' is an incongruent ending. However, the Spanish translation equivalents of these words, 'escoba' and 'espuma', respectively, start with the same syllable. Participants showed no differences in N400 amplitudes for incongruent words with this sound repetition compared with incongruent endings without it (e.g. broom-foam; escoba-espuma vs. broom-dessert; escoba-postre). However, significant differences were found in N400 peak latencies, in which incongruent words that had this initial sound repetition peaked significantly later than incongruent words without phonological overlap. These results suggest a co-activation of English and Spanish words during second language word comprehension in sentence reading, supporting and extending the view that bilingual word processing is non-selective. To Lady, who pushes me to go beyond my limits.
An improved object tracking based on spatial context

This paper proposes an improved object tracking method based on spatial context of image to improve the accuracy and real-time of object tracking. First, the image is randomly sampled around target at current frame. We compare each sample with template image using the kernel method in Fourier domain so that we will obtain the location of the maximum response. Then, in this position, the pixel similarity is summed by the weighted Gauss function within 10*10 sub-window, and the location of the maximum similarity in all sampling regards as the best tracking position. The experimental results demonstrate that the tracking speed is obviously improved because Fast Fourier Transform(FFT) is adopted in algorithm. Tracking algorithm runs at about 100 frames per second on i5 machine. Tracker precision reaches about 90% at a threshold of 50. Extensive experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms favorably against state-of-art tracking methods based on kernel method in many complex conditions.