Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The relationship between social rank and spatial learning in pheasants, Phasianus colchicus: cause or consequence?

Individual differences in performances on cognitive tasks have been found to differ according to social rank across multiple species. However, it is not clear whether an individual’s cognitive performance is flexible and the result of their current social rank, modulated by social interactions (social state dependent hypothesis), or if it is determined prior to the formation of the social hierarchy and indeed influences an individual’s rank (prior attributes hypothesis). We separated these two hypotheses by measuring learning performance of male pheasants, Phasianus colchicus, on a spatial discrimination task as chicks and again as adults. We inferred adult male social rank from observing agonistic interactions while housed in captive multi-male multi-female groups. Learning performance of adult males was assayed after social rank had been standardised; by housing single males with two or four females. We predicted that if cognitive abilities determine social rank formation we would observe: consistency between chick and adult performances on the cognitive task and chick performance would predict adult social rank. We found that learning performances were consistent from chicks to adults for task accuracy, but not for speed of learning and chick learning performances were not related to adult social rank. Therefore, we could not support the prior attributes hypothesis of cognitive abilities aiding social rank formation. Instead, we found that individual differences in learning performances of adults were predicted by the number of females a male was housed with; males housed with four females had higher levels of learning performance than males housed with two females; and their most recent recording of captive social rank, even though learning performance was assayed while males were in a standardized, non-competitive environment. This does not support the hypothesis that direct social pressures are causing the inter-individual variation in learning performances that we observe. Instead, our results suggest that there may be carry-over effects of aggressive social interactions on learning performance. Consequently, whether early life spatial learning performances influence social rank is unclear but these performances are modulated by the current social environment and a male’s most recent social rank.
Why Do Durations in Musical Rhythms Conform to Small Integer Ratios?

One curious aspect of human timing is the organization of rhythmic patterns in small integer ratios. Behavioral and neural research has shown that adjacent time intervals in rhythms tend to be perceived and reproduced as approximate fractions of small numbers (e.g., 3/2). Recent work on iterated learning and reproduction further supports this: given a randomly timed drum pattern to reproduce, participants subconsciously transform it toward small integer ratios. The mechanisms accounting for this “attractor” phenomenon are little understood, but might be explained by combining two theoretical frameworks from psychophysics. The scalar expectancy theory describes time interval perception and reproduction in terms of Weber's law: just detectable durational differences equal a constant fraction of the reference duration. The notion of categorical perception emphasizes the tendency to perceive time intervals in categories, i.e., “short” vs. “long. ” In this piece, we put forward the hypothesis that the integer-ratio bias in rhythm perception and production might arise from the interaction of the scalar property of timing with the categorical perception of time intervals, and that neurally it can plausibly be related to oscillatory activity. We support our integrative approach with mathematical derivations to formalize assumptions and provide testable predictions. We present equations to calculate durational ratios by: (i) parameterizing the relationship between durational categories, (ii) assuming a scalar timing constant, and (iii) specifying one (of K) category of ratios. Our derivations provide the basis for future computational, behavioral, and neurophysiological work to test our model.
Treatment choice among veterans with PTSD symptoms and substance-related problems: Examining the role of preparatory treatments in trauma-focused therapy.

Although common practice in Veterans Affairs (VA) PTSD clinics, it is unclear whether preparatory treatment improves trauma-focused treatment (TFT) completion and outcomes. Furthermore, little is known about whether treatment-seeking veterans in naturalistic settings would chose to prioritize preparatory treatment if given the option of a phase-based approach or direct access to TFT, and how substance-related problems (SRPs) influence this treatment choice. The first aim of this study was to explore how co-occurring SRPs (ranging from none to moderate/severe) influence PTSD treatment choices in a naturalistic setting where veterans were offered a choice between a phase-based approach (i.e., preparatory treatment) or direct access to TFT. The study also examined whether initial treatment choice and severity of co-occurring SRPs influenced TFT completion and outcomes. The second aim was to investigate whether preparatory treatment led to superior TFT completion or outcomes, irrespective of co-occurring SRPs. Analyses were conducted using archival data from 737 United States veterans referred for outpatient VA PTSD treatment. SRPs did not predict initial treatment choice or the length of preparatory group participation. Neither SRPs nor preparatory group participation predicted TFT completion or outcomes (measured as change in PTSD and depression symptoms from pre- to post-TFT). Preparatory group participation did not predict improved TFT completion or outcomes, irrespective of co-occurring SRPs. These findings suggest that veterans with PTSD symptoms and co-occurring SRPs may make similar treatment choices and benefit from either a phase-based approach or direct TFT initiation, and preparatory treatments may not increase patient readiness for veterans seeking TFT. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
A Sensitive and Wide Coverage Ambient Mass Spectrometry Imaging Method for Functional Metabolites Based Molecular Histology

Histological examination with a deep link between functional metabolites and tissue structure and biofunctions will provide important in situ biochemical information, and then essentially reveal what has happened in tissue at the molecular level. However, due to the complexity and heterogeneity of tissue samples and the large number of metabolites, it is still a challenge to globally map the diverse metabolites, especially for those low‐abundance functional ones. Here, a sensitive air flow‐assisted desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging method for the mapping of a broad range of metabolites is presented. It exhibits properties characteristic of wide coverage, high sensitivity, wide dynamic range, rapid analysis procedure, and high specificity for tissue metabolites imaging. More than 1500 metabolites, including cholines, polyamines, amino acids, carnitines, nucleosides, nucleotides, nitrogen bases, organic acids, carbohydrates, cholesterol sulfate, cholic acid, lipids, etc., can be visualized in an untargeted analysis. The distribution of metabolites shows good spatial match with tissue histological structure and biofunctions in heterogeneous rat kidney, rat brain, and human esophageal cancer tissue. This method possesses the ability to globally showcase the molecular processes in tissue, and provide an insightful way for structural and functional molecular recognition in histological examination, even for intraoperative decision‐making.
Reversing Two-Stream Networks with Decoding Discrepancy Penalty for Robust Action Recognition

We discuss the robustness and generalization ability in the realm of action recognition, showing that the mainstream neural networks are not robust to disordered frames and diverse video environments. There are two possible reasons: First, existing models lack an appropriate method to overcome the inevitable decision discrepancy between multiple streams with different input modalities. Second, by doing cross-dataset experiments, we find that the optical flow features are hard to be transferred, which affects the generalization ability of the two-stream neural networks. For robust action recognition, we present the Reversed Two-Stream Networks (Rev2Net) which has three properties: (1) It could learn more transferable, robust video features by reversing the multi-modality inputs as training supervisions. It outperforms all other compared models in challenging frames shuffle experiments and cross-dataset experiments. (2) It is highlighted by an adaptive, collaborative multi-task learning approach that is applied between decoders to penalize their disagreement in the deep feature space. We name it the decoding discrepancy penalty (DDP). (3) As the decoder streams will be removed at test time, Rev2Net makes recognition decisions purely based on raw video frames. Rev2Net achieves the best results in the cross-dataset settings and competitive results on classic action recognition tasks: 94.6% for UCF-101, 71.1% for HMDB-51 and 73.3% for Kinetics. It performs even better than most methods who take extra inputs beyond raw RGB frames.
An Evaluation of Photo-consistency for Intra-operative Registration in an Image Enhanced Surgical Navigation (IESN) System

In this paper, we propose a method to intra-operatively register real an d virtual models in an ImageEnhanced Surgical Navigation (IESN) system based on an intensity metric known as photo-consistency. The application is aimed at Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) procedures using a pa ir of cameras connected to a stereoscopic surgical microscope. Three optimisation techniques for searching glob al optima were compared and an evaluation of different photo-consistency metrics available in the literature was perf ormed. The experiments provide an insight of the method based on a human skull used as a phantom patient. The prelim inary results obtained demonstrate an improvement in the optimisation algorithms implementation and a final 3D registr ation error between 0.5 and 1 mm.
Evaluation Essentials: From A to Z (2nd ed.)

Everything you need to know about the planning and conducting of an evaluation is included in the second edition of Evaluations Essentials: From A to Z (2018) by renowned scholar Marvin C. Alkin and his co-author Anne T. Vo. The text is a novice’s guide to the somewhat complex and intimidating world of evaluation methods, practices, and procedures. While astute students have become familiar with the common verbiage, constructs, purposes, and publications of formal scholarly research in their chosen field, this exploration of the discipline of evaluation is part review and part new information.
Phenotypic and proteomic analysis of positively regulated gellan biosynthesis pathway in Sphingomonas elodea

ABSTRACT Sphingomonas elodea is a Gram-negative bacterium capable of producing ‘gellan gum’ exopolysaccharide that is the most extensively studied expolysaccharides of microbial origin. In this study, we investigated the phenotypic and proteomic alterations in S. elodea by homogeneously expressing both gelA and gelN involved in positive regulation and extracellular secretion of metabolites in gellan biosynthesis, respectively. Expression of six histidine-tagged GelA and GelN was determined by Western blot analysis. Successful expression of GelA and GelN resulted in both morphological changes of colonies and enhanced secretion of gellan into the growth medium (GelA, 21.2% more and GelN, 48.3% more) overexpressed compared to the wile-type. Comparative two-dimensional gel electrophoresis analysis revealed a differential proteome expression in S. elodea overexpressing GelA and GelN. Proteins up- or down-regulated by GelA and GelN overexpression were found to be mainly sugar transportation proteins, two-component regulatory proteins, and proteins involved in secretion pathways. The results suggest that the effect of GelA and GelN overexpression on gellan biosynthesis might be mainly caused by increased transportation of sugar units or enhanced exportation of gellan.
Prevalence and Factors associated with Overweight and Obesity among Malaysian Post Graduate Students in a Public University

Overweight and obesity is a major public health problem globally because they increase the burden of non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, and cancers. Many studies on overweight and obesity in the universities focused on the undergraduate students and there is little information on post-graduate students. Thus, this study aimed at determining the prevalence and factors associated with overweight and obesity among Malaysian post graduate students in a public university. A cross sectional study was conducted among 945 post-graduate students from six faculties using cluster sampling technique. Information on socio-demographic, level of physical activity, smoking and alcohol intakes, and drug history were obtained using self-administered questionnaire. Body weight and height were measured twice and their means were used in the calculation of body mass index. Overweight and obesity were classified based on World Health Organization cut-off points. The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity were 23.1% (95% CI: 20.4%, 25.8%), and 8.9% (95% CI: 7.1%, 10.7%) respectively. The independent factors of overweight and obesity were male (AOR= 1.49; 95% CI: 1.07,2.08), aged group of 30 to 34 years (AOR= 2.53; 95% CI: 1.59, 4.04); and 35 to 39 years (AOR=2.05; 95% CI: 1.15, 3.64); other ethnic group (AOR=5.03; 95% CI: 1.75, 14.48); low and moderate physical activity (AOR=11.16; 95% CI 4.67, 26.70) and (AOR=3.16; 95% CI: 1.31, 7.62). In conclusion, almost one third of students were overweight and obese. The only modifiable factor of overweight and obesity in this study was moderate and low level of physical activity. Keywords: Overweight, Obesity, post-graduates students, supplement use, Malaysia
Molecular mechanics-based finite element analysis of graphene sheet and carbon nanotubes using the rebo potential

Molecular mechanics-based finite element (FE) models of graphene sheet and single-walled zigzag and armchair carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are developed on the basis of the assumption that the carbon nanostructures, when loaded, behave like frame structures. The behavior of carbon–carbon bonds, which are represented by beam elements, is simulated using the many-body second generation reactive empirical bond order (REBO) potential. By means of the FE models, the tensile behavior of carbon nanostructures is simulated. The FE models are verified against molecular dynamics simulations. The computed results in terms of tensile stress–strain curves and fracture patterns are compared with results obtained using the pairwise modified-Morse potential. Different tensile properties and fracture patterns are predicted using the two potentials. This is mainly attributed to the deviations in the force–bond length curves and to the contribution of bond angle variation which is present in REBO. The present work is the first attempt to implement the REBO potential into a continuum model of carbon nanostructures and paves the way for a more systematic incorporation of atomistic simulation methods into continuum models.
3 The Ecology of Seed Dispersal

Seed dispersal is one of the key phases in the regeneration process of plant populations. It determines the potential area of recruitment and, simultaneously, acts as a template for the subsequent stages of plant growth. Seed dispersal is the most common means for plants to colonize new areas and to avoid sibling competition and natural enemies such as herbivores or pathogens. Seeds can be dispersed by wind, water, gravity and by a wide assemblage of animals (including those that consume fruits and/or seeds as well as those that move seeds via their fur, plumage or feet). By directly dispersing seeds to favourable recruitment sites (Wenny and Levey, 1998) or by virtue of the treatment offered to ingested seeds (Verdú and Traveset, 2004; Traveset et al., 2007), animals actually play an important role as seed dispersers for most (60–80%) plant species (Levey et al., 2002; Dennis et al., 2007). Moreover, seed dispersers are crucial in plantcommunity dynamics in many ecosystems around the globe and contribute to numerous ecosystem services offered by forests, including fruit, wood and non-timber products, carbon sequestration and forest cover – at no cost to humans (Forget et al., 2011). Seed dispersal is currently a very active research area that includes both ecological and evolutionary aspects. Studies have diversified in the last few decades mainly towards the study of landscape ecology (movement patterns), plant genetic diversity and structure (gene flow through pollen and/or seeds), community ecology (e.g. mutualistic interaction networks), dispersal adaptations of both plants and seed dispersers, conservation biology (effects of different types of disturbances such as habitat fragmentation, defaunation and biological invasions) and ecological restoration. Research on seed dispersal has actually shifted from being organism oriented towards being currently more mechanism oriented in order to unravel the mechanistic processes behind seed dispersal (Jordano et al., 2011). Thus, for instance, by means of increasingly precise tools, such as radio or satellite tracking, researchers can now study the movement of animal seed dispersers across habitats (Blake et al., 2012), or even across continents (Kays et al., 2011), and evaluate plant seed dispersal kernels (i.e. the probability density function of the dispersal distance for an individual or population). Physiological, chemical and morphological mechanisms,
Enrichment and Genomic Characterization of a N2O-Reducing Chemolithoautotroph From a Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a greenhouse gas and also leads to stratospheric ozone depletion. In natural environments, only a single N2O sink process is the microbial reduction of N2O to N2, which is mediated by nitrous oxide reductase (NosZ) encoded by nosZ gene. The nosZ phylogeny has two distinct clades, clade I and formerly overlooked clade II. In deep-sea hydrothermal environments, several members of the class Campylobacteria are shown to harbor clade II nosZ gene and perform the complete denitrification of nitrate to N2; however, little is known about their ability to grow on exogenous N2O as the sole electron acceptor. Here, we obtained an enrichment culture from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent in the Southern Mariana Trough, which showed a respiratory N2O reduction with H2 as an electron donor. The single amplicon sequence variant (ASV) presenting 90% similarity to Hydrogenimonas species within the class Campylobacteria was predominant throughout the cultivation period. Metagenomic analyses using a combination of short-read and long-read sequence data succeeded in reconstructing a complete genome of the dominant ASV, which encoded clade II nosZ gene. This study represents the first cultivation analysis that shows the occurrence of N2O-respiring microorganisms in a deep-sea hydrothermal vent and provides the opportunity to assess their capability to reduce N2O emission from the environments.
Cupping therapy and chronic back pain: systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT Objectives: to evaluate the evidence from the literature regarding the effects of cupping therapy on chronic back pain in adults, the most used outcomes to evaluate this condition, the protocol used to apply the intervention and to investigate the effectiveness of cupping therapy on the intensity of chronic back pain. Method: systematic review and meta-analysis carried out by two independent researchers in national and international databases. Reference lists of systematic reviews were also explored. The quality of evidence was assessed according to the Jadad scale. Results: 611 studies were identified, of which 16 were included in the qualitative analysis and 10 in the quantitative analysis. Cupping therapy has shown positive results on chronic back pain. There is no standardization in the treatment protocol. The main assessed outcomes were pain intensity, physical incapacity, quality of life and nociceptive threshold before the mechanical stimulus. There was a significant reduction in the pain intensity score through the use of cupping therapy (p = 0.001). Conclusion: cupping therapy is a promising method for the treatment of chronic back pain in adults. There is the need to establish standardized application protocols for this intervention.
SUCCESSFUL IT PEDAGOGICAL INTEGRATION: HAVING A LOOK AT THE WHOLE PICTURE

The ARC (Association pour la recherche au collegial) carried out a meta-analysis that helped identify factors that must be considered for the successful integration of IT into teaching that is, factors that would have positive impacts on student success. The following learning devices proved effective: 1) devices that rely on specialized adaptive drill and practice tools; 2) devices that promote meta­ cognition; or 3) devices that support collaborative learning. The meta-analysis also indicated that all three categories remain sensitive to the influence of conditions linked to the organizational environment, such as the users proficiency level in using IT (teacher and student training), equipment (material, software), appropriateness/availability of support, and changes in practices for professionals and administrators (pedagogical management and institutional policy). In order to improve this first heuristic model of successful IT integration into teaching, another question had to be considered: how do the professionals’ patterns of action compare to those in the ARC meta­ analysis model? To answer this question, the second part of the ARC study was conducted. Four college network experts (in pedagogical counselling and research) were interviewed on what they considered as the determining factors for successful IT integration in the classroom. Using a specific, pre-identified series of verbs, conceptual maps were created to reproduce and analyse the data gathered from the interviews with the four experts. All four conceptual maps were validated with their authors. The maps were compared to each other as well as to the meta-synthesis model. The result was an enriched heuristic model designed to explain successful IT integration at the collegial level. Within the framework of this presentation, our objectives are: 1) to present the methodology that led to our heuristic model; 2) to discuss our model in the light of the factors that were found to be important for successful IT integration into teaching/learning; and 3) to report on the progress of the work in the third part of the study.
Real-time matching algorithm of navigation image based on corner detection

In order to meet requirement of real-time and high accuracy in image matching aided navigation, a fast and effective algorithm of remote sensing image matching based on corner detection is put forward. With the combination of rough and fine match, wavelet transform is used to acquire low frequency component to realize image compression to decrease calculation work and increase matching speed. Harris corner detection algorithm is used to detect corner of remote sensing image and template image and energy of every corner is calculated; SSDA algorithm is used to match remote sensing image and template image coarsely, when the matching result is bigger than one to count absolute value sum of energy difference of characteristic point energy to realize fine match of remote sensing image and template image to locate the position of template image in remote sensing image accurately. Simulation experiment proves that the matching of a remote sensing image resolution of 1018*1530 and a template image resolution of 150*90 can be fulfilled within 2.392 second, the algorithm is robust and effective, real time image navigation can be achieved.