Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Replication of Waugh and Norman (1965) Primary Memory study

Waugh & Norman’s experiment (1965) is among the most influential studies in the field of cognitive psychology. Using a probe digit memory test, they proposed that the proportion of correctly remembered items, digits in this case, depends on the number of interfering items shown between the recall item and the signal, or probe, identifying the recall target. This indicates that interference alone accounts for forgetting in short-term memory. The following study aimed to replicate these results with greater statistical power as the original study used a small sample of 4 participants. In a second study, we used shorter lists to examine potential effects of the relative difficulty of the task. Both studies’ results partially support Waugh & Norman’s claim, as participants were more likely to recall a digit that was followed by fewer interfering items. Additionally, we observed an interaction involving presentation rate and interference, as participants performed best with a low amount of interfering items presented at 1 item per second. However, lists with a higher number of interfering items (7 and above) had similar correct recall proportion regardless of the presentation rate. These findings further support the prevalence of interference theory over the decay theory but also call for a closer look at the possible interaction between the two. Future studies should examine the latter as well as the possible effect of cognitive fatigue due to the difficulty of the task, underlining the importance of replication studies.
Survival of Columbian white-tailed deer in western Oregon

Columbian white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus leucurus; CWTD) are an endangered subspecies on which little demographic information exists. We determined survival rates and causes of mortality for 64 radiocollared adults from 1996 to 1998, and for 63 radiocollared neonatal fawns during the summer and fall months of 1996-2001 in Douglas County, Oregon, USA. Annual adult survival rates averaged 0.74 over 3 years, and most mortality (73%) occurred between fall and winter. Seasonal survival was lowest (0.75) for the fall-winter 1997-1998, and was ≥0.90 during all spring-summer periods. Annual and seasonal survival rates did not differ by gender. Average annual survival was 0.77 for deer in wildland areas compared with 0.66 for deer in suburban areas, but these differences were not consistent between years and seasons. Survival over the entire 3-year study was low (0.38). Eight deer died from a combination of emaciation and disease, and almost all (92%) necropsied deer were in poor body condition. Fawn survival to 7 months was low (0.14, 95% CI = 0.02-0.26) and declined most rapidly during the first 1.5 months of life. Predation (n = 21) and abandonment (n = 6) were the most frequent known causes of death for fawns. Our results suggest that CWTD may have responded to density-dependent factors during this short-term study, although the effects of other environmental or intrinsic factors cannot be ignored. Fawn survival may be insufficient to produce enough recruits for population growth and eventual range expansion.
Electro-actuated valves and self-vented channels enable programmable flow control and monitoring in capillary-driven microfluidics

Capillary networks controlled by simple low-voltage gates open up new possibilities for fluid delivery in point-of-care assays. Microfluidics are essential for many lab-on-a-chip applications, but it is still challenging to implement a portable and programmable device that can perform an assay protocol autonomously when used by a person with minimal training. Here, we present a versatile concept toward this goal by realizing programmable liquid circuits where liquids in capillary-driven microfluidic channels can be controlled and monitored from a smartphone to perform various advanced tasks of liquid manipulation. We achieve this by combining electro-actuated valves (e-gates) with passive capillary valves and self-vented channels. We demonstrate the concept by implementing a 5-mm-diameter microfluidic clock, a chip to control four liquids using 100 e-gates with electronic feedback, and designs to deliver and merge multiple liquids sequentially or in parallel in any order and combination. This concept is scalable, compatible with high-throughput manufacturing, and can be adopted in many microfluidics-based assays that would benefit from precise and easy handling of liquids.
On the Nature of the Calcium Carbonate in the Exoskeleton of the Woodlouse Oniscus Asellus L. (Isopoda, Oniscoidea)

Es wird gezeigt, das das Calciumcarbonat in der Korperdecke der Assel Oniscus asellus uberwiegend amorph ist. Anders als bei anderen Organismen wird diese Zustandsform nicht durch Phosphate oder Silikate, sondern durch die Verbindung mit Proteinen aufrechterhalten. Der Ubergang zur kristallinen Form erfolgt, wenn die Verbindung Protein-Calciumcarbonat im Verlauf der Hautung zerstort wird.
Characterizing Internet worm spatial-temporal infection structures

OF THE DISSERTATION CHARACTERIZING INTERNET WORM SPATIAL-TEMPORAL INFECTION STRUCTURES by Qian Wang Florida International University, 2010 Miami, Florida Professor Niki Pissinou, Major Professor Since the Morris worm was released in 1988, Internet worms continue to be one of top security threats. For example, the Conficker worm infected 9 to 15 million machines in early 2009 and shut down the service of some critical government and medical networks. Moreover, it constructed a massive peer-to-peer (P2P) botnet. Botnets are zombie networks controlled by attackers setting out coordinated attacks. In recent years, botnets have become the number one threat to the Internet. The objective of this research is to characterize spatial-temporal infection structures of Internet worms, and apply the observations to study P2P-based botnets formed by worm infection. First, we infer temporal characteristics of the Internet worm infection structure, i.e., the host infection time and the worm infection sequence, and thus pinpoint patient zero or initially infected hosts. Specifically, we apply statistical estimation techniques on Darknet observations. We show analytically and empirically that our proposed estimators can significantly improve the inference accuracy. Second, we reveal two key spatial characteristics of the Internet worm infection structure, i.e., the number of children and the generation of the underlying tree topology formed by worm infection. Specifically, we apply probabilistic modeling methods and a sequential growth model. We show analytically and empirically that the number of children has asymptotically a geometric distribution with parameter 0.5,
Threonine Responses in Commercial Broilers at 30 to 42 Days

Abstract Threonine is typically the third limiting amino acid in corn and soybean meal diets for broilers. However, reported threonine requirement values for broiler vary greatly, and the threonine requirement for growing broilers has been studied little. It is important to accurately meet threonine requirements for maintenance and tissue accretion as the bird ages. Commercial broilers were fed threonine-deficient experimental diets composed of grain sorghum, peanut meal, corn, and poultry meal from 30 to 42 days of age. Performance of commercial broilers fed experimental diets containing surfeit threonine was equal to that of birds fed the corn and soybean meal control diet. Results indicate that the 21 to 42 day NRC threonine requirement of 0.74% of diet is too high, based on the 30 to 42 day weight gain and feed:gain response. However, the 30 to 42 threonine requirement for breast traits may be higher than that of performance criteria. Future research should address threonine requirements in mature broilers for carcass traits.
Secondary metabolites of Fusarium venenatum strains with deletions in the Tri5 gene encoding trichodiene synthetase

Abstract We studied the secondary metabolites of a number of strains of F. venenatum, some of which had the gene for trichodiene synthetase deleted. Under optimum fermentation conditions, wild type isolates produced the trichothecenes diacetoxyscirpenol and related metabolites, isotrichodermin and isotricodermol, the modified trichothecenes sambucinol and apotrichothecene, the sesquiterpenes culmorin and culmorone and derivatives and trace amounts of the cyclic peptide enniatin B. These results are compared to metabolite production by other members of the section Discolor. Strains without trichodiene synthetase produced no trichothecenes or modified trichothecenes. In these strains, production of culmorin family compounds was greatly attenuated despite the elimination of an acetate-derived biosynthetic pathway. This was contrary to expectations. No other metabolites were produced by these strains evidenced by chemical or cytotoxicity analyses of fractionated extracts.
Ecology and Breeding Phenology of Larval Hyla Andersonii: The Disadvantages of Breeding Late

We exploited natural variation in the breeding phenology of Hyla andersonii, the Pine Barrens Treefrog, to test whether offspring hatching at different times during the breeding season differed in growth and survival. We studied the growth and survival of two successive cohorts of Hyla tadpoles in 12 artificial ponds, where we also manipulated abundances of two kinds of organisms that might interact seasonally with Hyla: aquatic insects and Bufo tadpoles. We also measured whether the abundance of periphyton changed seasonally in response to manipulations of aquatic insects and tadpoles, to describe temporal patterns of resource availability that might affect tadpole growth and survival. Additions of hatchlings occurred 34 d apart, and the first cohort completed development before the addition of the second cohort. Additions of aquatic insects and Bufo woodhousii tadpoles, separately or together, did not significantly affect survival in either cohort. Although the initial larval density of the first cohort was 1.5 times that of the second, the first cohort survived better, grew and developed more rapidly, and metamorphosed at larger size than the second cohort. Com- petition from Bufo tadpoles and insects, as inferred from reduced growth rates relative to controls without these interspecific competitors, was more pronounced in the first cohort than in the second, and coincided with reduced standing crops of periphyton, an important food for tadpoles. Although breeding late in the season reduced the growth and survival of offspring, potential reductions in the fitness of late-breeding adults are problematic because of un- certainties about the number of breeding efforts made by each female each year. Breeding late would be disadvantageous if different subpopulations breed only early or only late in the season, and if the patterns seen in our study hold for natural ponds. However, if late breeding efforts represent additional clutches deposited by adults that have already repro- duced earlier that year, production of additional offspring later in the season could increase fitness.
Machine Learning Techniques for Speech Recognition using the Magnitude

Machine learning consists of supervised and unsupervised learning among which supervised learning is used for the speech recognition objectives. Supervised learning is the Data mining task of inferring a function from labeled training data. Speech recognition is the current trend that has gained focus over the decades. Most automation technologies use speech and speech recognition for various perspectives. This paper demonstrates an overview of major technological standpoint and gratitude of the elementary development of speech recognition and provides impression method has been developed in every stage of speech recognition using supervised learning. The project will use DNN to recognize speeches using magnitudes with large datasets.
PHF20L1 as a H3K27me2 reader coordinates with transcriptional repressors to promote breast tumorigenesis

PHF20L1, a H3K27me2 reader, promotes breast tumorigenesis by cooperating with the PRC2/NuRD complex. TUDOR domain–containing proteins (TDRDs) are chiefly responsible for recognizing methyl-lysine/arginine residue. However, how TDRD dysregulation contributes to breast tumorigenesis is poorly understood. Here, we report that TUDOR domain–containing PHF20L1 as a H3K27me2 reader exerts transcriptional repression by recruiting polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) and Mi-2/nucleosome remodeling and deacetylase (NuRD) complex, linking PRC2-mediated methylation and NuRD-mediated deacetylation of H3K27. Furthermore, PHF20L1 was found to serve as a potential MYC and hypoxia-driven oncogene, promoting glycolysis, proliferation, and metastasis of breast cancer cells by directly inhibiting tumor suppressors such as HIC1, KISS1, and BRCA1. PHF20L1 expression was also strongly correlated with higher histologic grades of breast cancer and markedly up-regulated in several cancers. Meanwhile, Phf20l1 deletion not only induces growth retardation and mammary ductal outgrowth delay but also inhibits tumorigenesis in vivo. Our data indicate that PHF20L1 promotes tumorigenesis, supporting the pursuit of PHF20L1 as a target for cancer therapy.
A Comparison of Deep Reinforcement Learning and Deep learning for Complex Image Analysis

The image analysis is an important and predominant task for classifying the different parts of the image. The analysis of complex image analysis like histopathological define a crucial factor in oncology due to its ability to help pathologists for interpretation of images and therefore various feature extraction techniques have been evolved from time to time for such analysis. Although deep reinforcement learning is a new and emerging technique but very less effort has been made to compare the deep learning and deep reinforcement learning for image analysis. The paper highlights how both techniques differ in feature extraction from complex images and discusses the potential pros and cons. The use of Convolution Neural Network (CNN) in image segmentation, detection and diagnosis of tumour, feature extraction is important but there are several challenges that need to be overcome before Deep Learning can be applied to digital pathology. The one being is the availability of sufficient training examples for medical image datasets, feature extraction from whole area of the image, ground truth localized annotations, adversarial effects of input representations and extremely large size of the digital pathological slides (in gigabytes). Even though formulating Histopathological Image Analysis (HIA) as Multi Instance Learning (MIL) problem is a remarkable step where histopathological image is divided into high resolution patches to make predictions for the patch and then combining them for overall slide predictions but it suffers from loss of contextual and spatial information. In such cases the deep reinforcement learning techniques can be used to learn feature from the limited data without losing contextual and spatial information.
Composição e digestibilidade aparente da silagem de bagaço de laranja

The orange peel silage additives, with or without the additives microbial enzymatic additive, formic acid and acetic acid, was evaluated to determine the apparent digestibility of the dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), ether extract (EE) and nonstructural carbohydrates (NSC). The orange peel was ensiled for 70 days, in concrete tubes with capacity for 700 kg, in a trial with male sheep, housed in metabolic cages. The diet constituted on oat hay (70%) and orange peel silage (30%) on a DM basis. There was no difference among the treatments for the digestibility coefficients for the orange peel silage. The additives did not alter the nutritional value of the feed. The orange peel silage showed a high apparent digestibility.
Compression of dynamic tactile information in the human hand

The mechanics of wave transmission in the human hand effect the preneuronal compression of tactile information. A key problem in the study of the senses is to describe how sense organs extract perceptual information from the physics of the environment. We previously observed that dynamic touch elicits mechanical waves that propagate throughout the hand. Here, we show that these waves produce an efficient encoding of tactile information. The computation of an optimal encoding of thousands of naturally occurring tactile stimuli yielded a compact lexicon of primitive wave patterns that sparsely represented the entire dataset, enabling touch interactions to be classified with an accuracy exceeding 95%. The primitive tactile patterns reflected the interplay of hand anatomy with wave physics. Notably, similar patterns emerged when we applied efficient encoding criteria to spiking data from populations of simulated tactile afferents. This finding suggests that the biomechanics of the hand enables efficient perceptual processing by effecting a preneuronal compression of tactile information.
Cross-species amplification in silver carp and bighead carp with microsatellite primers of common carp

About a third of microsatellite primers designed for common carp (Cyprinus carpio) was successfully amplified in silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) and bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis). These markers, inherited in Mendelian mode, are of potential applications in cypinid genetics.
Maternal exercise via exerkine apelin enhances brown adipogenesis and prevents metabolic dysfunction in offspring mice

Maternal exercise epigenetically programs brown/beige adipose tissue development and thermogenesis in offspring mice. The obesity rate is rapidly increasing, which has been attributed to lack of exercise and excessive energy intake. Here, we found a previously unidentified explanation, due to lack of maternal exercise. In this study, healthy maternal mice were assigned either to a sedentary lifestyle or to exercise daily, and fetal brown adipose tissue (BAT) development and offspring metabolic health were analyzed. Compared to the sedentary group, maternal exercise enhanced DNA demethylation of Prdm16 promoter and BAT development and prevented obesity of offspring when challenged with a high-energy diet. Apelin, an exerkine, was elevated in both maternal and fetal circulations due to exercise, and maternal administration of apelin mimicked the beneficial effects of exercise on fetal BAT development and offspring metabolic health. Together, maternal exercise enhances thermogenesis and the metabolic health of offspring mice, suggesting that the sedentary lifestyle during pregnancy contributes to the obesity epidemic in modern societies.
Genetic diversity of Gambierdiscus spp. (Gonyaulacales, Dinophyceae) in Japanese coastal areas

The genetic diversity of the ciguatera fish poisoning‐related dinoflagellate distributed in Japanese coastal areas was investigated. The entire sequence of the 5.8S rRNA gene and two internal transcribed (ITS) regions were determined, which included putative pseudogenes, from 19 strains of dinoflagellates assigned to the genus Gambierdiscus Adachi et Fukuyo collected from Japanese subtropical and temperate coastal areas. The sequences obtained from the 19 strains were divided into two types based on sequence similarity. Here we designate the two types as type 1 and type 2. For the relationship between the genotypes and origins of the strains used, the strains collected from subtropical areas possessed the type 1 sequence; whereas those from temperate areas possessed the type 2. This observation led us to question former reputations that Gambierdiscus cells observed in Japanese temperate areas are immigrants from Japanese subtropical areas. Subsequently, we sequenced a part of the 18S rRNA gene from two strains from subtropical areas and two from temperate areas. Unfortunately, phylogenetic analysis including the sequences obtained from various gonyaulacales dinoflagellates failed to determine the species phylogenetically closely related to and possible origin(s) of the Gambierdiscus sp. from the Japanese coastal areas.
A redescription of Pomatoschistm norvegicus (Collett, 1903) (Teleostei: Gobioidei) based on syntype material

A deeper water species of the Mediterranean-Atlantic gobiid genus Pomatoschistus, P. norvegicus (Collett, 1903), is redescribed from syntype material, including details of the lateral-line system and a summary of geographical distribution. The systematic status of P. norvegicus is briefly discussed with reference to the other nominal species, P. minutus (Pallas) and P. lozanoi (De Buen), of the ‘P. minutus’ complex.
Housing Affordability and the Organized Private Sector Housing in Nigeria

Growing housing deficit in Nigeria, particularly in urban areas, has resulted to various housing problems such as overcrowding, homelessness, slum and squatter developments. Despite the myriad of housing policies and programmes to solve the housing deficit, the desire goals have not been achieved, hence the adoption of organized Private Sector housing delivery in 2002. This research is an assessment of the Affordability of Organized Private Sector Housing Delivery in Nigeria. We adopted cross-sectional survey and multi-stage sampling technique. Two states with the prevalence of organized private sector housing developers (OPSHD) in each of the six (6) geo-political zones of Nigeria were selected. Ten Percent (1950) households were randomly selected from the occupied houses (19,500) in all the estates. The structured questionnaires administered on 1950 household heads focused on demographic characteristics (age, sex, and household size) and housing affordability variables (income, housing expenditure and access to mortgage). Questionnaire administered on OPSHD focused on types of houses produced, selling prices and terms. Affordability rating scale (normal ≤ 30%; tolerable 30.1% - 50% and stressed > 50%) was used to measure housing affordability. The study revealed that 42.4%; 36.9% and 20.6% of households have normal, tolerable and stressed housing affordability respectively. The implication of these findings is that organized private sector housing is not affordable to most Nigerians, particularly the low and medium income households; and therefore need to be assisted. A more efficient mortgage with better penetration among the low and medium income household is desirable. Also, “rent-and-own” option should be considered to enhance affordability of low and medium income households.
The Proto-Munda Predicate and the Austroasiatic Language Family

Introduction The fact that most languages in the Munda branch of Austroasiatic have extensive verbal morphology has lead to the widespread assumption that proto-Munda itself had a morphologically complex verb. Pinnow (1966) as well as Norman Zide and Gregory Anderson (Zide & Anderson 2001, Anderson & Zide 2001, Anderson 2004, Anderson 2007) tried to reconcile the diversity of affixes and clitics and the abundance of morphological structures in modern Munda languages by reconstructing complex verbal morphology in the common ancestor. Reconstructions along these lines set proto-Munda apart from other Austroasiatic languages and from what we know of the history of the Austroasiatic family. Furthermore, a morphologically complex proto-Munda locates many crucial morphological developments in a pre-protoMunda stage and has proto-Munda emerge as an exceptional Austroasiatic language apart from all other branches and with no explanation how and when it changed so dramatically.