Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hygrophorus roseodiscoideus Bon & Chevassut: Epitypification and Updated Biogeography of a Poorly Known But Widespread Thermophilous Species

ABSTRACT Hygrophorus roseodiscoideus Bon & Chevassut is a poorly known species so far reported from Mediterranean Quercus ecosystems of western Europe. The lack of reference sequences for this species hampers its reliable identification by mycologists and fungal ecologists in the DNA era. We here fix this issue by epitypifying H. roseodiscoideus with a sequenced collection from the Aix-en-Provence area, where the species has been described from. We also report several sequenced collections from central European countries and Lebanon, that considerably extend the species' biogeographical distribution. Based on our findings, H. roseodiscoideus can be characterized as a morphologically distinct thermophilous species, associated with oaks on calcareous soils, distributed along the northern coasts of the Mediterranean, from Spain to the Levant, but also colonizing the warmest Quercus woodlands of central Europe. RÉSUMÉ Hygrophorus roseodiscoideus Bon & Chevassut: épitypification et mise à jour biogéographique d'une espèce thermophile méconnue mais répandue. Hygrophorus roseodiscoideus Bon & Chevassut est une espèce méconnue jusqu'ici supposée restreinte aux chênaies méditerranéennes d'Europe occidentale. À l'heure où les sciences naturalistes sont entrées dans l'ère phylogénétique, l'absence de séquence de référence pour cette espèce prive les mycologues, ainsi que les experts en écologie fongique, d'un outil d'identification fiable de ce taxon. Nous solutionnons ici ce problème en épitypifiant H. roseodiscoideus avec une récolte séquencée issue des environs d'Aix-en-Provence, d'où l'espèce a été initialement décrite. Nous présentons aussi ici plusieurs récoltes séquencées d'Europe centrale et du Liban, qui étendent considérablement la distribution biogéographique de l'espèce. Sur la base de ce travail, H. roseodiscoideus se présente comme une espèce morphologiquement bien typée, thermophile, associée aux chênes sur sol calcaire, distribuée tout au long de la côte nord de la Méditerranée, depuis l'Espagne jusqu'au Levant, mais colonisant aussi les chênaies les plus chaudes d'Europe centrale.
Senescence and Differential Size-Based Survival in Puerto Rican Giant Groundlizards, Pholidoscelis exsul (Squamata: Teiidae), on Guana Island, British Virgin Islands

Abstract: Invasive species are a major threat and primary driver of vertebrate extinctions on islands, including native and endemic lizards such as West Indian Groundlizards (Genus Pholidoscelis). The genus comprises 19 extant species that range collectively from the Bahamas through the Greater Antilles south to Dominica in the Lesser Antilles. Few studies have addressed aspects of Groundlizard population ecology despite invasive mammals being implicated in Groundlizard declines and three extinctions. From 2007 to 2011, we conducted a capture–recapture study of Puerto Rican Giant Groundlizards (Pholidoscelis exsul) on Guana Island. Guana Island is privately owned and hosts a small number of feral cats, but is mongoose-free and has otherwise experienced only minor human modification since the mid-18th Century. Thus, the island provides a unique opportunity to study lizard demography under conditions minimally impacted by human activities. Our objective was to establish benchmark demographic parameter estimates of P. exsul that may be used in future studies to detect ecological changes. We hypothesized that lizards would be encountered more frequently in disturbed habitat than in less-disturbed habitat because of available anthropogenic food subsidies. We also predicted that large lizards would have higher annual survival rates than would small lizards, and lizards with higher indices of body condition would have correspondingly higher annual survival rates than lizards of the same size class with lower indices of body condition. Our results showed that male growth rates were comparable to similar studies, and individuals reached the presumed size of sexual maturity within 1 yr, with growth rates declining thereafter. Annual survival increased with size class (small = 0.155, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.069–0.312; large = 0.518, 95% CI = 0.374–0.660), but we found no evidence of a body condition effect on annual survival. The probability of mortality increased to 99.4% by age 6, but evidence of senescence via declining body condition was apparent sooner. Daily capture probabilities were higher in heavily modified habitat (0.081, 95% CI = 0.049–0.132) than in relatively natural habitat (0.025, 95% CI = 0.012–0.054). Mean maximum distance moved between recaptures was 24.4 m (2–350 m). Estimates of annual abundance ranged from 139 to 250 individuals. Density estimates among years based on the upper confidence limit ranged from 41.9–81.5 individuals/ha within the core sampling area (6.01 ha) and 20.1–39.2 individuals/ha when a 12.5-m buffer strip was incorporated into the effective sampling area.
Laser speckle contrast imaging enables perfusion monitoring of the anterior segment during strabismus surgery: a study on the horizontal rectus muscles

Background A dreaded complication of strabismus surgery is anterior segment ischaemia (ASI), caused by damage to the anterior ciliary arteries. To avoid ASI, a maximum of two rectus muscles are operated on at a time. However, these surgical protocols are based on empirical observations of clinical outcome, rather than objective perfusion measurements. There is no method available for perioperative, real-time perfusion measurements during ocular muscle surgery. The aims of this study were to investigate whether laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) could be used for such measurements, and to monitor perfusion during strabismus surgery on one or two horizontal rectus muscles. Methods Forty-four eyes in 44 patients with horizontal strabismus underwent corrective surgery involving medial and/or lateral rectus muscle detachment. Perfusion in the adjacent paralimbal and iris tissue was monitored with LSCI. Results When the first horizontal rectus muscle was detached perfusion in the adjacent paralimbal tissue decreased by 23% (p<0.0001), and by 12% (p<0.0001) when the second muscle was detached. The iris perfusion decreased by 5% (p<0.05) when the first muscle was detached but showed no significant decrease as the second muscle was cut. Conclusion This is the first study showing that perfusion of the anterior segment can be monitored non-invasively with LSCI during strabismus surgery. In this cohort, two horizontal rectus muscles were detached with only a small decrease in the anterior segment circulation. Future studies are required for complete mapping of the effect of surgery on multiple ocular muscles on the anterior segment circulation.
Photoemission Spectroscopy at Liquid Microbeams with a High Harmonics Table top Radiation Source

The use of ultrafast light pulses to visualize chemical dynamics has advanced ourfundamental understanding of chemical and biochemical processes, by providing a meansof monitoring the motion of atoms within a molecule in real time (Assmann et al. (2003)). However, closer to the chemist’s heart is the evolution of the electron density in a molecule -as molecules transform - as a function of time. In fact, the chemist’s dream is to trace orbitalsin time during a chemical transformation (Kling et al. (2006)). The most attractive mediumin this context is the liquid phase where chemistry happens (Siefermann et al. (2010)). Recentprogress in electronic spectroscopy in the condensed phase (e.g., Link, Lugovoy, Siefermann,Liu, Faubel & Abel (2009) and Link, Voehringer-Martinez, Lugovoj, Liu, Siefermann, Faubel,Grubmueller, Gerber, Miller & Abel (2009)) has been driven by the development of newultrashort pulsed light sources, as well as the development of new experimental techniques.Recent successful experiments have made use of sources of ultrafast extreme-UV as probesof ultrafast molecular and materials dynamics (Paul et al. (2001)). These new probes can inprinciple directly provide site-speciﬁc molecular dynamics or local order via photoelectronspectroscopy, providing the potential to directly observe chemical reactions in atomic-leveldetail as they occur without the need for speciﬁc chromophors. The new tools appear toprovide a powerful new window into the microscopic world, particularly as the temporalresolution and energy range of these sources continues to improve. One recent area ofresearch motivated by these goals and the quest for fundamental light matter interactionsis the generation of ultrashort EUV (extreme ultraviolet) light pulses through the processof high-order harmonic generation (HHG). HHG pushes traditional nonlinear optics to anextreme, by coherently combining many laser photons together to generate coherent beamsthat span from the UV to the keV-region of the spectrum (Krausz & Ivanov (2009)). Thepulses from HHG may be femtosecond to attosecond in duration. Thus, in the wavelengthregion, where these beams are bright and where they contain enough photons (<100 eV), theyhave been used to monitor a variety of processes in chemical and materials science and forapplications such as holographic imaging and photoelectron emission spectroscopy (Krausz& Ivanov (2009), Kapteyn et al. (2007)). As a liquid phase medium water has many unusual properties when compared with simpleorganic liquids (Head-Gordon & Johnson (2005)), and bulk water as well as single watermolecules play a decisive role in many chemical and biological systems. The dynamicalnetwork of hydrogen bondend water in chemical and biological systems has been studied
A Comparison of Electromyographic Inter-Limb Asymmetry During a Standard Versus a Sling Shot Assisted Bench Press Exercise

Abstract The objective of this study was to compare peak surface electromyography (sEMG) activity of selected muscles along with inter-limb asymmetries between a control (CONT) and a Sling shot assisted (SS) bench press exercise. Ten resistance-trained males with at least three-year experience in resistance training (22.2 ± 1.9 years, 88.7 ± 11.2 kg, 179.5 ± 4.1 cm, bench press one-repetition maximum (1RM) = 127.3 ± 25.9 kg) performed the flat bench press exercise under two conditions at selected loads (85% and 100% of 1RM assessed without the SS). Peak sEMG amplitude of triceps brachii, pectoralis major, and anterior deltoid was recorded for the dominant and the non-dominant side of the body during each attempt. The comparison between the dominant and the non-dominant side was carried out using the limb symmetry index (LSI(%) = (2*(XR - XL)/(XR + XL))*100%) where XR = values of the right side and XL = values of the left side. There was a main effect of condition (p = 0.004; η2 = 0.64) and the load (p = 0.004; η2 = 0.63) for the triceps brachii LSI in parallel with a main effect of condition (p = 0.003; η2 = 0.42) for the anterior deltoid LSI. Post hoc analysis for the main effect of condition showed significant differences in the LSI between the CONT and SS conditions for the triceps brachii (p = 0.003; 1.10% vs. -8.78%) as well as for the anterior deltoid muscles (p = 0.03; 12.91% vs. 9.23%). The results indicate that the assistance of the Sling shot significantly affects the sEMG activity pattern on both the dominant and non-dominant sides of the body while influencing inter-limb asymmetries.
A Dangerous Infodemic: An Examination of the Impact Social Media Misinformation has on COVID-19 Vaccination Status

The concept of misinformation is not new, but the digital age has created a new environment for the rapid spreading of misinformation. The overabundance of information that is available online has made it challenging for individuals to identify trustworthy and reliable sources. Social media in particular provides a global network connecting users, and the information there is created by the users themselves; therefore, it can be inaccurate and subjective. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, social media sites have acted as facilitators and multipliers of COVID-19-related misinformation. This misinformation can have a significant impact on global health by impacting individuals’ behaviors and has the potential to cause significant harm. In this paper, we explore how COVID-19 misinformation found via social media impacts individuals’ decisions to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The results from our study suggest that as one’s beliefs in misinformation and conspiracies related to COVID-19 increase, so does their decision to not obtain a vaccine.
Behavioral Consequences of Reminder Emails on Students’ Academic Performance: a Real-world Deployment

Post-secondary institutions have experienced a continuous trend of student procrastination on course work, thus leading to lower academic performance and potentially worse knowledge retention and other longer-term impacts. Sending reminders about deliverables is a simple approach, but it has the potential to be a valuable tool to mitigate such issues and assist students with time management. This paper will introduce specific processes of conducting such experiments, especially email designs and randomization, to help instructors and researchers conduct similar experiments or field-deploying reminders. To evaluate homework reminder messages, we designed and deployed a real-world randomized A/B experiment at a North American university in a CS1 course where students were randomly assigned to either receive these reminder messages or not. Our findings suggest that students who received the reminder messages have a higher homework completion rate (p < .05) and performed significantly better (p < .01) on the following midterm test than students who did not receive the reminder message. Finally, we discuss how a homework reminder can improve student behaviours, as well as how this type of reminder can be enhanced for future interventions.
LoEar

Acoustic sensing has been explored in numerous applications leveraging the wide deployment of acoustic-enabled devices. However, most of the existing acoustic sensing systems work in a very short range only due to fast attenuation of ultrasonic signals, hindering their real-world deployment. In this paper, we present a novel acoustic sensing system using only a single microphone and speaker, named LoEar, to detect vital signs (respiration and heartbeat) with a significantly increased sensing range. We first develop a model, namely Carrierforming, to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) via coherent superposition across multiple subcarriers on the target path. We then propose a novel technique called Continuous-MUSIC (Continuous-MUltiple SIgnal Classification) to detect a dynamic reflections, containing subtle motion, and further identify the target user based on the frequency distribution to enable Carrierforming. Finally, we adopt an adaptive Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) comb notch filter to recover the heartbeat pattern from the Channel Frequency Response (CFR) measurements which are dominated by respiration and further develop a peak-based scheme to estimate respiration rate and heart rate. We conduct extensive experiments to evaluate our system, and results show that our system outperforms the state-of-the-art using commercial devices, i.e., the range of respiration sensing is increased from 2 m to 7 m, and the range of heartbeat sensing is increased from 1.2 m to 6.5 m.
Examining and Promoting Explainable Recommendations for Personal Sensing Technology Acceptance

Personal sensing is a promising approach for enabling the delivery of timely and personalised recommendations to improve mental health and well-being. However, existing research has revealed numerous barriers to personal sensing acceptance. This paper explores the influence of explanations on the acceptability of recommendations based on personal sensing. We conducted a qualitative study using five plausible personal sensing scenarios to elicit prospective users' attitudes towards personal sensing, followed by a reflective interview. Our analysis formed six nuanced design considerations for personal sensing recommendation acceptance: user personalisation, appropriate phrasing, adaptive capability, users' confidence, peer endorsement, and sense of agency. Simultaneously, we found that the availability of an explanation at each personal sensing layer positively influenced the willingness of the participants to accept personal sensing technology. Together, this paper contributes a better understanding of how we can design personal sensing technology to be more acceptable.
D-branes in AdS_3xS^3xS^3xS^1

We analyse the possible D-brane configurations in an AdS_3xS^3xS^3xS^1 background with a NS-NS B field, by using the boundary state formalism. We study their geometry and we determine the fraction of spacetime supersymmetry preserved by these solutions.
LODeNNS: A Linearly-approximated and Optimized Dendrocentric Nearest Neighbor STDP

Realizing Hebbian plasticity in large-scale neuromorphic systems is essential for reconfiguring them for recognition tasks. Spike-timing-dependent plasticity, as a tool to this effect, has received a lot of attention in recent times. This phenomenon encodes weight update information as correlations between the presynaptic and postsynaptic event times, as such, it is imperative for each synapse in a silicon neural network to somehow keep its own time. We present a biologically plausible and optimized Register Transfer Level (RTL) and algorithmic approach to the Nearest-Neighbor STDP with time management handled by the postsynaptic dendrite. We adopt a time-constant based ramp approximation for ease of RTL implementation and incorporation in large-scale digital neuromorphic systems.
Distributed appointed‐time prescribed performance attitude coordinated tracking for multiple rigid spacecraft under directed communication topology

This paper addresses appointed‐time attitude coordinated control problem of multiple spacecraft under the directed communication topology in presence of input saturation. With only a subset of spacecrafts being able to access the information of the reference trajectory, a distributed observer is developed for each spacecraft to estimate the virtual leader's state in fixed time. Subsequently, to ensure the tracking error can achieve the preassigned transient and steady state performance, an adaptive backstepping controller is synthesized by incorporating an appointed‐time performance function with the asymmetric tan‐type barrier Lyapunov function (BLF). Furthermore, to tackle the input saturation constraint, a Nussbaum‐type function is incorporated to compensate for the time‐varying nonlinear gain arising from the derivative of the nonlinear approximation function. Different from most existing finite‐time coordination protocols, the convergence time can be appointed by the user without resorting to judicious control parameters selection. Finally, numerical simulation is conducted to assess the efficacy of the theoretical results.
Structural characterization of Au/Cr bilayer thin films using combined X‐ray reflectivity and grazing incidence X‐ray fluorescence measurements

Gold thin‐film mirrors are widely used as X‐ray reflective optics to manipulate X‐rays especially in synchrotron beamlines. Application of a thin underlying buffer layer of chromium enhances the adhesion of gold film to the substrate material and provides long term structural stability. In the present work, Au/Cr bilayers deposited using the DC magnetron sputtering technique with different thickness values on a Si substrate are studied to better understand the correlation between micro‐structure properties and residual stress. In order to obtain precise structural properties of Cr binding layer and gold layer, as well as in‐between nanoscaled interfacial structure, nondestructive probing is carried out by simultaneously utilizing synchrotron‐based combined X‐ray reflectivity (XRR)–grazing incidence X‐ray fluorescence (GIXRF) techniques. It has been clearly observed that when thickness of Cr layer is relatively small, a composite interlayer structure is formed at the Au/Cr boundary and at the Cr/Si interface boundary due to the interdiffusion of two layer mediums. However, when the thickness of the Cr layer is relatively larger (~90 Å), emergence of such an interlayer medium does not take place. The grazing incidence X‐ray diffraction (GIXRD) measurements have also been performed to investigate crystalline structure and residual stress of the gold layer medium. Our results show that relatively large residual stress exists in the Au layer if thickness of Cr layer is small. The surface roughness morphology of the top gold layer obtained from the atomic force microscopy measurements showed the partial agreement with the results obtained from the XRR‐GIXRF technique.
Evolutionary Algorithms, Fitness Landscapes and Search

A new model of fitness landscapes suitable for the consideration of evolutionary and other search algorithms is developed and its consequences are investigated. Answers to the questions "What is a landscape? " "Are landscapes useful? " and "What makes a landscape difficult to search? " are provided. The model makes it possible to construct landscapes for algorithms that employ multiple operators, including operators that act on or produce multiple individuals. It also incorporates operator transition probabilities. The consequences of adopting the model include a "one operator, one landscape" view of algorithms that search with multiple operators. An investigation into crossover landscapes and hillclimbing algorithms on them illustrates the dual role played by crossover in genetic algorithms. This leads to the "headless chicken" test for the usefulness of crossover to a given genetic algorithm and to serious questions about the usefulness of maintaining a population. A "reverse hillclimbing" algorithms is presented that allows the determination of details of the basin of attraction points on a landscape. These details can be used to directly compare members of a class of hillclimbing algorithms and to accurately predict how long a particular hillclimber will take to discover a given point. A connection between evolutionary algorithms and the heuristic search algorithms of Artificial Intelligence and Operations Research is established. One aspect of this correspondence is investigated in detail: the relationship between fitness functions and heuristic functions. By considering how closely fitness functions approximate the ideal heuristic functions, a measure of search difficult is obtained. The measure, fitness distance correlation, is a remarkably reliableble indicator of problem difficulty for a genetic algorithm on many problems taken from the genetic algorithms literature, even though the measure incorporates no knowledge of the operation of a genetic algorithm. This leads to one answer to the question "What makes a problem hard (or easy) for a genetic algorithm? " The answer is perfectly in keeping with what has been well known in Artificial Intelligence for over thirty years.