Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms of global diversification in the brown booby (Sula leucogaster) revealed by uniting statistical phylogeographic and multilocus phylogenetic methods

Recent theoretical and empirical research suggests that statistical models based on coalescent theory can improve both phylogeographic and phylogenetic inference. An approach that involves elements of both statistical phylogeography (e.g. Isolation with Migration analyses) and multilocus phylogenetic inference (e.g. *beast) may be particularly useful when applied to populations with relatively old divergence times. Here, we use such an approach in the globally distributed brown booby (Sula leucogaster). We sampled 215 individuals from all major breeding areas and genotyped them at eight microsatellite and three nuclear intron loci. We found that brown booby populations were highly differentiated and that colonies can be grouped into four major genetic populations (Caribbean Sea, Central Atlantic Ocean, Indo‐Central Pacific and Eastern Pacific). These populations apparently diverged in the absence of gene flow and, with one exception, currently exchange few to no migrants. The Eastern Pacific population diverged from all other populations approximately one million years ago [90% highest posterior density: 330 000–2 000 000 years ago] and exhibits a distinct male plumage, relative to other populations. However, recent gene flow from the Indo‐Central Pacific into the Eastern Pacific appears to have occurred, suggesting that approximately one million years of genetic isolation and divergence in male plumage colour are not sufficient to prevent interbreeding. Gene flow following secondary contact of the Indo‐Central Pacific and Eastern Pacific populations was not detected in previous mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) studies, and the contrast between the mtDNA results and our current results highlights the advantage of a multilocus phylogeographic approach.
Longitudinal Associations Between Depression, Anxiety, Pain, and Pain-Related Disability in Chronic Pain Patients

Objective The current study sets out to examine the longitudinal relationship between pain, pain-related disability, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. The latter symptoms are highly prevalent in chronic pain and seriously impede functioning and quality of life. Nevertheless, the direction of the relationship involving these variables among individuals with chronic pain is still unclear. Methods Four-hundred twenty-eight individuals with chronic pain (238 women, mean age 54.84 years, mean pain duration 85.21 months) treated at two pain clinics completed questionnaires regarding their pain (Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire), depression (Center for Epidemiological Studies–Depression Scale), state anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), and pain-related disability (Pain Disability Index) at four time points, with an average of 5 months between measurements. Cross-lagged, structural equation modeling analyses were performed, enabling the examination of longitudinal associations between the variables. Results Significant symptoms of both depression and anxiety were reported by more than half of the sample on all waves. A latent depression/anxiety variable longitudinally predicted pain (&bgr; = .27, p < .001) and pain-related disability (&bgr; = .38, p < .001). However, neither pain (&bgr; = .10, p = .126) nor pain-related disability (&bgr; = −.01, p = .790) predicted depression/anxiety. Conclusions Among adult patients with chronic pain treated at specialty pain clinics, high levels of depression and anxiety may worsen pain and pain-related disability.
Artificial embolization of cerebral arteries. Report of use in a case of arteriovenous malformation.

It has been the theoretical and technical consideration of one of us (A. J. L.) that certain large arteriovenous malformations of the brain can be treated by artificial embolization. The major feeding arteries are greatly enlarged compared to the arteries to the surrounding brain. 1 Because of the reduced peripheral resistance there is a far greater flow of blood to the malformation than to the surrounding brain. 2 The main arterial feeders arborize into considerably smaller, "arteriole-like" vessels before entrance into the larger channels which constitute the bulk of the lesion. 3 Therefore, an embolus of predetermined size and configuration, introduced even far proximal to the malformation, will always find its way to it. By its size the embolus will be excluded from passage into the smaller branches to the brain and will ultimately come to rest at a site proximal to the malformation where normal and abnormal vessels are
Intelligent Negotiation Mechanism for Supporting the Interoperability within the Sensing Enterprise

Abstract The Sensing Enterprise is a novel concept that refers to an enterprise anticipating future decisions by using multi-dimensional information captured through physical and virtual objects. The Sensing Enterprise concept is shifting focus towards a borderless enterprise, having at its core the collaboration and continuous interactions among smart objects and systems. But in the actual competitive and global business context, the maintenance of the collaboration environment through the interoperation among heterogeneous smart virtual and physical objects in a collaborative organizational environment becomes difficult to achieve. Therefore, in a dynamic context a change in any component of the networked partners affects the others, creating difficulties to sustain operating networked environment. In this respect, this paper proposes an intelligent negotiation framework as a key mechanism to achieve and maintain the interoperability between the organisations' smart objects and applications, and its validation in an industrial scenario. To allow a sustainable, flexible and generic approach towards the infrastructure implementation in global scale, a cloud-based platform is proposed for setting of the Sensing Enterprise framework.
A Normal Form Analysis Approach to Siting Power System Stabilizers (PSSs) and Assessing Power System Nonlinear Behavior

A nonlinear analysis framework based on normal form (NF) theory and center manifold reduction is proposed to determine the most effective selection of generating units to be equipped with power system stabilizers. The proposed method takes into account the nonlinear system structure and provides information on the effect of control action on nonlinear behavior and modal interaction. Based on a second-order NF representation of the system, the effect of control action on nonlinear behavior is approximated via suitable modification of the initial conditions in the nonlinear coordinate transformations which relate the physical system to the NF coordinates. On the basis of this model, nonlinear power system stabilizer (PSS) sensitivity indices are then proposed to determine the optimum sites to allocate PSS, and criteria to assess the effect of control action on linear modal interaction are developed. Examples of application of the developed approaches on a two-area four-machine test system are presented to estimate controllers' effects on system dynamic performance. The efficacy and accuracy of the method is demonstrated by comparisons to conventional analysis techniques
Shape Variation in the Skull and Lower Carnassial in a Wild Population of Raccoon Dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides)

Individual variations in skull and lower carnassial morphology within a wild population of raccoon dog were examined using geometric morphometric techniques. We compared individual morphological variations by using relative warp analysis, and then tested morphological integration between the skull and carnassial by using partial least square (PLS) analysis. The most marked variation in skull shape was the dorsoventral flexion; i.e., deformation from klinorhynchy to airorhynchy. Two remarkable variations were observed, including tilting between the trigonid (or carnassial blade) and the talonid in the lower carnassial, and the relative sizes of the trigonid and the talonid. This observed variation in skull shape was similar to previous reports of variations among dog breeds that correlate with a polymorphism of the Runx2 gene. This polymorphism has also been reported to correlate with snout length, which is strongly related to carnivorous or omnivorous dietary adaptations, across the entire order Carnivora. Our results in the lower carnassial were also similar to previously reported patterns observed for carnivorous or omnivorous dietary adaptations among Carnivora. However, in our PLS analysis between skull and carnassial shapes, we only found a significant correlation in a lower dimension, suggesting a lower degree of integration. These results indicate that shape variations, which could be sources of natural selection in the skull and carnassial, were present in a wild population, suggesting high evolvability of these variations in the raccoon dog and the order Carnivora in general.
Laparoscopic Pediatric Inguinal Hernia Repair: A Pilot Study in a Novel Guinea Pig Animal Model.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to compare different techniques for pediatric laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair. We hypothesize that the amount of dissection performed at the internal ring, with or without division of the peritoneum, will impact healing and thus long-term success of the repair. METHODS Following the Institution's Animal Care and Use Committee approval (708024-4), 20 Hartley guinea pigs underwent laparoscopic repair of their natural open internal rings. The guinea pigs were divided equally into four surgical groups: intracorporeal suture repair (IS), hernia dissection and division with intracorporeal suture (DDIS) repair, subcutaneous endoscopically assisted ligation (SEAL), and Yueng (HOOK) repair. After a 6-week survival period, a necropsy was performed. Repairs were evaluated and tested under pressures up to 30 mmHg. The suture was then removed to assess primary healing. Experimental data were analyzed using chi-square test. RESULTS There were no perioperative or postoperative complications. On initial evaluation, before suture removal, repair integrity was as follows: 5/10 IS, 10/10 DDIS, 7/10 SEAL, and 7/10 HOOK (P = .09). After suture removal, repair integrity was as follows: 3/10 IS, 10/10 DDIS, 5/10 SEAL, and 6/10 HOOK (P = .01). CONCLUSION Overall, dissecting and dividing the sac with intracorporeal suture (DDIS) closure had the best outcome. This method appears to best replicate standard open high ligation.
Scale for Quality of Sexual Function (QSF) as an outcome measure for both genders?

BACKGROUND For years, there has been interest in sexual dysfunction and its impact on quality of life but usually focused on one gender. Therapeutic options that became available raised the interest to evaluate effects on the other partner but there is no standardized instrument applicable for both genders. This paper reports first data regarding the development of a new general "Quality of Sexual Function" (QSF) scale. METHODS The raw scale was based on our own gender-specific scales and the pertinent literature. The scale was applied in over 700 persons of a cross-sectional survey in Germany. Factorial analyses were performed to describe the internal structure (domains) of the scale and for item reduction. Internal consistency reliability and some aspects of validity were analyzed with the same community sample preliminary reference values determined. RESULTS The scale consists of 32 specific items and eight general questions. Four dimensions were identified: "psycho-somatic quality of life,""sexual activity,""sexual (dys)function-self-reflection," and "sexual (dys)function-partner's view. " The internal consistency reliability coefficients of the total scale and the subscales were good as were the total-domain correlations. Content validity was promising. CONCLUSION This self-administrable 40-item QSF scale can measure and compare quality of sexual function for both genders. The scale was well accepted by the respondents. It is easy to answer and the evaluation is simple. Only a few results of reliability and validity have been established in this early stage of the development of the new instrument. Further research is needed to complete many missing aspects of reliability and the construct validity, particular its sensitivity to treatment effects.
Biophysical Scenario of Giant Gel Formation in the Northern Adriatic Sea

Abstract: The macroscopic gel phase (mucilage) appears episodically in the northern Adriatic Sea covering tens of square kilometers of sea surface. Current views leave no doubt on phytoplankton production as a proximal source of polymers constituting the gel network, but the mechanism leading to its rapid production remains unknown. We introduced electrochemical sensing of marine microparticles and atomic force microscopy to image supramolecular organization of marine gel network. Our biophysical scenario of mucilage event features self‐organization of biopolymers into microparticles (“marine vesicles”) that under specific conditions transform to giant gel by a fast vesicle‐to‐gel transition.
Performance comparison of denoising filters for source camera identification

Source identification for digital content is one of the main branches of digital image forensics. It relies on the extraction of the photo-response non-uniformity (PRNU) noise as a unique intrinsic fingerprint that efficiently characterizes the digital device which generated the content. Such noise is estimated as the difference between the content and its de-noised version obtained via denoising filter processing. This paper proposes a performance comparison of different denoising filters for source identification purposes. In particular, results achieved with a sophisticated 3D filter are presented and discussed with respect to state-of-the-art denoising filters previously employed in such a context.
Chorioallantoic membrane capillary bed: A useful target for studying angiogenesis and anti‐angiogenesis in vivo

The chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) is an extraembryonic membrane that is commonly used in vivo to study both angiogenesis and anti‐angiogenesis. This review 1) summarizes the current knowledge about the structure of the CAM's capillary bed; 2) discusses the controversy about the existence of a single blood sinus or a capillary plexus underlying the chorionic epithelium; 3) describes a new model of the CAM vascular growth, namely the intussusceptive mode; 4) reports findings regarding the role played by endogenous fibroblast growth factor‐2 in CAM vascularization; and 5) addresses the use and limitations of the CAM as a model for studying angiogenesis and anti‐angiogenesis. Anat Rec 264:317–324, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A new collocation extraction method combining multiple association measures

As an important linguistic resource, collocation represents a significant relation between words. Automatic collocation extraction is very important for many natural language processing applications, such as word sense disambiguation, machine translation and information retrieval etc. While traditional collocation extraction approaches use only one single statistical measure, they may not be optimal in that they can not take advantage of multiple statistical measures. In this paper, we propose a logistic linear regression model (LLRM) that combines five classical lexical association measures: x2-test, t-test, co-occurrence frequency, log-likelihood ratio and mutual information. Experiments show that our approach leads to a significant performance improvement in comparison with individual basic methods in both precision and recall.
Extraterrestrial amino acids in Orgueil and Ivuna: Tracing the parent body of CI type carbonaceous chondrites

Amino acid analyses using HPLC of pristine interior pieces of the CI carbonaceous chondrites Orgueil and Ivuna have found that β-alanine, glycine, and γ-amino-n-butyric acid (ABA) are the most abundant amino acids in these two meteorites, with concentrations ranging from ≈600 to 2,000 parts per billion (ppb). Other α-amino acids such as alanine, α-ABA, α-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB), and isovaline are present only in trace amounts (<200 ppb). Carbon isotopic measurements of β-alanine and glycine and the presence of racemic (D/L ≈ 1) alanine and β-ABA in Orgueil suggest that these amino acids are extraterrestrial in origin. In comparison to the CM carbonaceous chondrites Murchison and Murray, the amino acid composition of the CIs is strikingly distinct, suggesting that these meteorites came from a different type of parent body, possibly an extinct comet, than did the CM carbonaceous chondrites.
Semantic architecture for the analysis of the academic and occupational profiles based on competencies

This research shows a semantic architecture for the extraction, comparison and feedback of professional and educational competencies. The main product is a scheme that facilitates the detection of competencies based on the skills and knowledge. The scheme carries out tasks of natural language processing and of similarity calculation, among others, in order to determine the differences among the professional and educational competencies.
A simple control method for PWM rectifiers and shunt active power filters

A simple algorithm to control the PWM rectifier has been presented. Harmonics and unbalance in the AC-side line currents are compensated and the DC-bus voltage is regulated. The power factor of the compensated line currents is high. The control method is effective even when the AC-side voltages are distorted and unbalanced. The algorithm may be used unmodified to control an active power filter. Simulation and experimental results have been presented to validate the control technique.
Optimal Hidden Node Area for Enhancing Routing Protocol Performance in IEEE 802.11 Multihop MANETs

The prevalence of hidden node areas in IEEE 802.11 multihop MANETs continues to hinder the performance of routing protocols. This letter presents an analytical model that relates the hidden node area to the hop distance between two communicating nodes. Unlike descriptions from the literature, we describe the hidden node area in terms of multiple layers and the different levels of interference contributed by each layer. We then develop mathematical expressions to determine the probability of successful delivery and end-to-end delay of a packet transmitted over multiple hops to a receiver node exposed to hidden nodes, as a function of hop distance. The numerical results show that decreasing the hop distance increases the probability of successful packet reception at a receiver, at the cost of increased end-to-end delay. However, using a specified delay objective, routing protocols can institute a hop distance threshold metric to limit the number of transmissions that produce collisions in the hidden node area and, thus, maximize their performance.
Dosimetric characteristics of fabricated silica fibre for postal radiotherapy dose audits

Present investigation aims to establish the dosimetric characteristics of a novel fabricated flat fibre TLD system for postal radiotherapy dose audits. Various thermoluminescence (TL) properties have been investigated for five sizes of 6 mol% Ge-doped optical fibres. Key dosimetric characteristics including reproducibility, linearity, fading and energy dependence have been established. Irradiations were carried out using a linear accelerator (linac) and a Cobalt-60 machine. For doses from 0.5 Gy up to 10 Gy, Ge-doped flat fibres exhibit linearity between TL yield and dose, reproducible to better than 8% standard deviation (SD) following repeat measurements (n = 3). For photons generated at potentials from 1.25 MeV to 10 MV an energy-dependent response is noted, with a coefficient of variation (CV) of less than 40% over the range of energies investigated. For 6.0 mm length flat fibres 100 μm thick × 350 pm wide, the TL fading loss following 30 days of storage at room temperature was < 8%. The Ge-doped flat fibre system represents a viable basis for use in postal radiotherapy dose audits, corrections being made for the various factors influencing the TL yield.
Physical activity levels in patients on hemodialysis and healthy sedentary controls.

BACKGROUND Patients on dialysis have reduced exercise tolerance compared with age-matched sedentary controls. The reasons for this debility have not been fully elucidated, but physical inactivity could be a contributing factor. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether patients on hemodialysis are less active than healthy sedentary controls and to explore clinical correlates of physical activity level in a group of hemodialysis patients. METHODS Thirty-four hemodialysis patients and 80 healthy sedentary individuals participated in the study. Physical activity was measured for seven days with a three-dimensional accelerometer and with an activity questionnaire. RESULTS Vector magnitude values from the accelerometer for the dialysis and control subjects were 104,718 +/- 9631 and 161,255 +/- 6792 arbitrary units per day, respectively (P < 0.0001, mean +/- SEM). The estimated energy expenditure values derived from the questionnaire were 33.6 +/- 0.5 kcal/kg/day and 36.2 +/- 0.5 kcal/kg/day (P = 0.002). The difference between patients on dialysis and controls increased with advancing age. Among the dialysis subjects, some measures of nutritional status correlated with physical activity level, including serum albumin concentration (r = 0.58, P = 0.003), serum creatinine concentration (r = 0.37, P = 0. 03), and phase angle derived from bioelectrical impedance analysis (r = 0.40, P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS Patients on hemodialysis are less active than healthy sedentary controls, and this difference is more pronounced among older individuals. There is an association between the level of physical activity and nutritional status among patients on dialysis. These findings are of great concern, given the trend toward increasing age in incident dialysis patients and the well-known association between inactivity and increased mortality in the general population.
The Modeling and Study of Depletion Interaction at Mixture of C 12 E 5 Microemulsion with Polyethylene Glycol Polymer

he photon correlation spectroscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering is used for study the mixture of C12E5 microemulsion with PEG in order to determine structure and dynamic of the system. Photon correlation spectroscopy experiment showed an exponential relaxation for pure C12E5 microemulsion that come from Brownian motion of oil nano-droplets in water. The shape of the relaxation changed with increasing of PEG concentration in the C12E5 microemulsion, (relaxation becomes non-exponential with the increase of PEG), which demonstrates an increase of cooperatively in the C12E5 microemulsion. The SAXS experiment was used to study the structure of the system, and a model consists of a mixture of core-shell spheres with an Asakura-Oosawa interaction was applied to analyze data.