Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distribution and fall-out of 137Cs and other radionuclides over Antarctica

Abstract This article aims to give a comprehensive view of the distribution patterns for natural and artifical radionuclides over Antarctica. We focus this study on 137Cs, 210Pb and tritium. Applying various statistical methods, we show that the deposition of radionuclides reveals a structured distribution, although local drift redistribution and the snow-surface roughness disturb the representativeness of samples and produce a “noise” effect. The deposition of 137Cs over Antarctica (885 TBq) represents 0.09% of the total deposition of this radionuclide in the world and the correlation between 137Cs fluxes and accumulation shows two sub-populations. For the stations with a mean annual temperature above −21° C, a strong correlation is found, whereas the correlation is lower for locations with temperatures below −21° C. The flux of 210Pb varies from 0.9 to 8.2 Bq m −1 a−1 with values strongly correlated with the accumulation and a well-defined spatial structure. The same mechanism governs the deposition of artificial and natural tritium but it clearly differs from that of other radionuclides associated with particulate material. The “dry fall-out” accounts for between 60 and 80% of the total fall-out for the artificial radionuclides and around 40% for 210Pb. This difference is likely related to a tropospheric fraction for 210Pb. Despite its isolated location, the radioactive fall-out of artificial long-lived radionuclides over Antarctica has been ten times greater than for natural radionuclides.
Trace cache: a low latency approach to high bandwidth instruction fetching

As the issue width of superscalar processors is increased, instruction fetch bandwidth requirements will also increase. It will become necessary to fetch multiple basic blocks per cycle. Conventional instruction caches hinder this effort because long instruction sequences are not always in contiguous cache locations. We propose supplementing the conventional instruction cache with a trace cache. This structure caches traces of the dynamic instruction stream, so instructions that are otherwise noncontiguous appear contiguous. For the Instruction Benchmark Suite (IBS) and SPEC92 integer benchmarks, a 4 kilobyte trace cache improves performance on average by 28% over conventional sequential fetching. Further it is shown that the trace cache's efficient, low latency approach enables it to outperform more complex mechanisms that work solely out of the instruction cache.
The Accuracy of Prediction Equations for Estimating 1-RM Performance in the Bench Press, Squat, and Deadlift

ABSTRACTThis study was done to determine the accuracy of 7 equations for predicting a 1-RM from repetitions to fatigue for the bench press, squat, and deadlift. Subjects, 67 untrained college students (40 M, 27 F) who were enrolled in weight training classes, participated in four 45-min practice ses
Taste and Olfactory Processing in the Brain, and Its Relation to the Control of Eating

Taste processing in primates through the nucleus of the solitary tract and the primary taste cortex is shown to represent the identity and intensity of taste inputs. In contrast, in the secondary taste cortex in the orbitofrontal area, single neurons respond to the taste of a food only if hunger is present. The neurons here reflect the reward value of taste. They show sensory-specific satiety. In addition to neurons with best responses to sweet, salt, bitter, and sour, there are separate representations of the taste of protein ("umami") and of astringency (e.g., tannic acid). In the orbitofrontal cortex, olfactory inputs converge onto neurons with taste inputs, forming representations of flavor. Neurons in this region may also respond to the sight of food and to its texture. The olfactory representation for some neurons reflects the taste association of odors; and olfactory sensory-specific satiety is represented in this part of the brain. Rapid learning of visual-to-taste associations is also a feature of the neural processing that occurs in the orbitofrontal cortex.
Phosphoric acid-assisted constant relative humidity chambers utilized for controlled deterioration of rice seeds

Constant relative humidity (RH) chambers using phosphoric acid (PA) are useful for controlled desiccation of pollen and in vitro cultured materials for cool-dry storage or cryopreservation (Ishikawa et al., 2005, Ishikawa and Oda, 2008). Here we demonstrate that the chambers are also convenient for accelerated ageing of seeds. Rice seeds 3-11 years old (stored at 8-9°C) were artificially aged for 0-41 days in PA-assisted relative humidity (RH) chambers (RH 93%) placed in an incubator set at 37°C. At designated time periods during ageing, vigour and longevity of the seeds with different storage history were evaluated by monitoring germination timecourse and seedling shoot and root growth. Under these ageing conditions, seeds harvested in 2002 had half germinability (50% longevity) period of 33 days while older seeds (stored for longer periods) showed faster decline in germinability, longer lag time before germination, slower rates of germination and reduced shoot and root growth. Root growth was more sensitively affected by storage and accelerated ageing than shoot growth. PA-assisted system is simple, economical and safer than conventional RH chamber systems using saturated solutions or H2SO4 (Winston and Bates, 1960, Solomon, 1951). Various constant RH are available at desired temperatures using a single compound and convenient for realizing controlled deterioration of seeds at various RH and temperature regimes.
Collective Memory of Political Events : Social Psychological Perspectives

Contents: J.W. PennebakerIntroduction. Part I:The Life of Collective Memories. J.W. Pennebaker, B.L. Banasik, On the Creation and Maintenance of Collective Memories: History as Social Psychology. M.A. Conway, The Inventory of Experience: Memory and Identity. H. Schuman, R.F. Belli, K. Bischoping, The Generational Basis of Historical Knowledge. J. Igartua, D. Paez, Art and Remembering Traumatic Collective Events: The Case of the Spanish Civil War. N.H. Frijda, Commemorating. Part II:Social and Emotional Processes of Collective Memories. B. Rime, V. Christophe, How Individual Emotional Episodes Feed Collective Memory. D. Paez, N. Basabe, J.L. Gonzalez, Social Processes and Collective Memory: A Cross-Cultural Approach to Remembering Political Events. G.D. Gaskell, D.B. Wright, Group Differences in Memory for a Political Event. C. Finkenauer, L. Gisle, O. Luminet, When Individual Memories Are Socially Shaped: Flashbulb Memories of Sociopolitical Events. G. Bellelli, M.A.C. Amatulli, Nostalgia, Immigration, and Collective Memory. Part III:The Construction, Distortion, and Forgetting of Collective Experiences. E. Lira, Remembering: Passing Back Through the Heart. L. Iniguez, J. Valencia, F. Vazquez, The Construction of Remembering and Forgetfulness: Memories and Histories of the Spanish Civil War. J. Marques, D. Paez, A.F. Serra, Social Sharing, Emotional Climate, and the Transgenerational Transmission of Memories: The Portuguese Colonial War. R.F. Baumeister, S. Hastings, Distortions of Collective Memory: How Groups Flatter and Deceive Themselves.
Pollen chromosome doubling of Ginkgo biloba induced by colchicine.

Based on the successful polyploidy breeding experience of other plants, this paper tried to find some means and ways, by using the male flower buds of Ginkgo biloba growing in Beijing,to induce doubling pollen chromosome with various concentrations of colchicines in different treatments. With 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4%, 0.5% and 0.6% colchicines, doubling pollen chromosome on both flower branches cultured in water and trees growing naturally were tried respectively and the differences of inducing effects under two conditions were analyzed. The results indicated that the large size pollen was obtained from the buds treated by colchicine in the soaked cotton on trees, but the obtaining percentages were relatively low with the highest one 7%. It is estimated that there will be a corresponding increase of large size pollen by increasing the concentration of colchicine and prolonging treatment time. Whereas, the large size pollen was not found by treating flower branch cultured in water, the reasons and optimal ways were still being probed. The DNA relative content of large unreduced pollen grains induced by colchicine was determined quantitatively with laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) using the normal-sized pollen grains as control. The results suggest that the large unreduced pollen grains are diploid.
Identification of Curvularia clavata causing leaf spot on pineapple (Ananas comosus) in China

Abstract A severe leaf spot disease was observed on pineapple (Ananas comosus) in Fujian Province of China in July 2014. A fungus was isolated from diseased leaves showing typical symptoms of leaf spot. The pathogenicity of the isolated fungus was tested and Koch’s postulates were confirmed by re-isolation of the fungus from artificially inoculated leaves. On the basis of morphological characteristics and sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD) regions, the pathogen was identified as Curvularia clavata Jain. This is the first report of leaf spot of pineapple caused by C. clavata in China.
Dopamine and beta-band oscillations differentially link to striatal value and motor control

The inverse relationship of dopamine and beta depends on their relative timing and site of origin, and on motivational parameters. Parkinson’s disease is characterized by decreased dopamine and increased beta-band oscillatory activity accompanying debilitating motor and mood impairments. Coordinate dopamine-beta opposition is considered a normative rule for basal ganglia function. We report a breakdown of this rule. We developed multimodal systems allowing the first simultaneous, chronic recordings of dopamine release and beta-band activity in the striatum of nonhuman primates during behavioral performance. Dopamine and beta signals were anticorrelated over seconds-long time frames, in agreement with the posited rule, but at finer time scales, we identified conditions in which these signals were modulated with the same polarity. These measurements demonstrated that task-elicited beta suppressions preceded dopamine peaks and that relative dopamine-beta timing and polarity depended on reward value, performance history, movement, and striatal domain. These findings establish a new view of coordinate dopamine and beta signaling operations, critical to guide novel strategies for diagnosing and treating Parkinson’s disease and related neurodegenerative disorders.
The Origins of Maya Stingless Beekeeping

Abstract. Beekeeping among the modern Maya of Yucatan, Mexico, reflects an intricate network of symbiotic relationships between bees, flowering plants, humans, and the managed landscape, which includes both settlements (kaaj, [kah]) and the cultivated and fallow farmlands surrounding them (k'ax). Native stingless bees are valued today both for the honey and wax they produce and the crops they pollinate. This study utilizes the ethnobiology of modern Maya stingless beekeeping to interpret the material correlates of ancient Maya beekeeping through archaeological exploration at Late Formative (200 BC–AD 200) Cerro Maya, Belize. Our contemporary data focus on the species of bees kept, the characteristics of wood species preferred for hive structures (hobon[ob]), the functional parameters of limestone disk hobon covers (mak tuun[ob]), and the plant species identified in symbiotic cultivation with them. The ecological and cultural factors that mediate stingless beekeeping in the present day provide important insights for the interpretation of ancient beekeeping practices at Cerro Maya, evidenced in the worked limestone disks hypothesized to be ancient mak tuunob. Beyond Cerro Maya, the documentation of beekeeping activity throughout ancient urban centers has important implications for the interpretation of urban green spaces in early Maya cities. Together with information on the ritual use of hive furniture and effigies, these data suggest ancient elites recognized the importance of pollinator species, and that deliberate management of stingless bees was standard practice during the period of agricultural intensification known as the Late Formative.
The Inconvenient Side of Software Bots on Pull Requests

Software bots are applications that integrate their work with humans' tasks, serving as conduits between users and other tools. Due to their ability to automate tasks, bots have been widely adopted by Open Source Software (OSS) projects hosted on GitHub. Commonly, OSS projects use bots to automate a variety of routine tasks to save time from maintainers and contributors. Although bots can be useful for supporting maintainers' work, sometimes their comments are seen as spams, and are quickly ignored by contributors. In fact, the way that these bots interact on pull requests can be disruptive and perceived as unwelcoming. In this paper, we propose the concept of a meta-bot to deal with current problems on the human-bot interaction on pull requests. Besides providing additional value to this interaction, meta-bot will reduce interruptions and help maintainers and contributors stay aware of important information.
Practicing theory and theorizing practice

ABSTRACT History offers the chance to act as an author and actor at the same time. It works as a great stage on which the theatre of the world plays out. The historian has the privilege of being apart from and a part of history. The historian thus functions as both author and actor, and the historical operation should always combine theory and practice. Theoretical reflection allows us to delve into the reality of historical authorship, connecting us to the present from which we try to access the past. Historical practice brings us closer to the protagonists of the past, trying to improve the world we live in. When historians practice both theory and practice, they are immunized from an archaeological history that is not relevant for its society as well as from a critical history conditioned by ideological, reductionist, or manipulative presentism. In this sense, being open to practicing history and theorizing the practice of history makes historians more realistic in their approaches to the past and in their theories of how to approach that past.
Oxidopolyborate chemistry: The self-assembled, templated, synthesis, and an XRD study of a 1-D coordination polymer, [Cu(en){B6O7(OH)6}].3H2O (en = 1,2-diaminoethane)

Abstract [Cu(en){B6O7(OH)6}]. 3H2O (1) (en = 1,2-diaminoethane), obtained as a crystalline solid in low yield (31%) after prolonged standing of an aqueous solution initially containing [Cu(en)2](OH)2 and B(OH)3 (1:7 ratio), was characterized by thermal analysis (TGA/DSC), 11B NMR and IR spectroscopy, powder XRD, and single-crystal XRD studies, and magnetic susceptibility measurements. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction revealed that the oxidoborate complex is a 1D coordination polymer with the hexaborate(2-) ligand bridging two hexacoordinate Cu(II) centers, in an alternating a fac-tridentate (κ3-O) and monodentate (κ1-O) arrangement. Cu-O coordination bonds and extensive H-bonding networks promote and stabilize the self-assembly of [Cu(en){B6O7(OH)6}]. 3H2O from the Dynamic Combinatorial Libraries of available reactants. [Cu(en){B6O7(OH)6}]. 3H2O is thermally decomposed to CuB6O10 in air at 700 °C. Graphical Abstract
3D Travel Comparison Study between Multi-Touch and GamePad

ABSTRACT This study explored interactions between users and a 3D virtual world using a multi-touch display and sought to identify the advantages of this form of interaction. An experiment was conducted with 28 subjects, who were classified into two groups: experienced gamers and casual gamers. The experiment involved a pseudo-universe, where users were required to find five objects using the multi-touch display, and five objects using a game controller (GamePad). Overall, multi-touch was slightly faster than the GamePad in the search for objects. Experienced users performed significantly better when using the GamePad, compared to casual gamers. When casual gamers were analyzed separately, their performance was better (at a statistically significant level) with the multi-touch display, compared to the GamePad. Finally, users had a significantly higher error rate when switching from the GamePad to the keyboard, than when switching from the multi-touch to the keyboard.
Freehand-Steering Locomotion Techniques for Immersive Virtual Environments: A Comparative Evaluation

ABSTRACT Virtual reality has achieved significant popularity in recent years, and allowing users to move freely within an immersive virtual world has become an important factor critical to realize. The user’s interactions are generally designed to increase the perceived realism, but the locomotion techniques and how these affect the user’s task performance still represent an open issue, much discussed in the literature. In this article, we evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of, and user preferences relating to, freehand locomotion techniques designed for an immersive virtual environment performed through hand gestures tracked by a sensor placed in the egocentric position and experienced through a head-mounted display. Three freehand locomotion techniques have been implemented and compared with each other, and with a baseline technique based on a controller, through qualitative and quantitative measures. An extensive user study conducted with 60 subjects shows that the proposed methods have a performance comparable to the use of the controller, further revealing the users’ preference for decoupling the locomotion in sub-tasks, even if this means renouncing precision and adapting the interaction to the possibilities of the tracker sensor.
Vortex triplet in a nematic liquid crystal layer

We investigate a vortex triplet induced by the combination of an electric and magnetic field onto a homeotropic nematic liquid crystal cell. The electric and magnetic fields are generated by two parallel electrodes and a magnetic ring, respectively. The vortex triplet remains stable and trapped at the center of the magnetic ring. Based on forcing the Ginzburg-Landau equation, valid close to the re-orientational transition, allow us to establish the origin of the vortex triplet. Numerical simulations show a quite fair agreement with theoretical findings and experimental observations.
Explicit but Not Implicit Memory Predicts Ultimate Attainment in the Native Language

The present paper examines the relationship between explicit and implicit memory and ultimate attainment in the native language. Two groups of native speakers of English with different levels of academic attainment (i.e., high vs. low) took part in three language tasks which assessed grammar, vocabulary and collocational knowledge, as well as phonological short-term memory (assessed using a forward digit-span task), explicit associative memory (assessed using a paired-associates task) and implicit memory (assessed using a deterministic serial reaction time task). Results revealed strong relationships between phonological short-term memory and explicit associative memory on the one hand and the three language tasks on the other hand, and no relation between linguistic performance and implicit memory. Taken together, these results cast doubts on the common assumption that L1 grammar learning depends almost entirely on implicit memory and align with the claims of usage-based models of language acquisition that grammatical and lexical knowledge depend on the same cognitive mechanisms.
Maintenance of Neural Progenitor Cells in the Spinal Cord by Promyelocytic Leukemia Zinc Finger and Repressor Protein 58: Forerunners of a New Family of Neural Developmental Regulators

One of the key challenges of neural development is achieving the precise balance between progenitor self-renewal and differentiation. The production of early born neurons must be controlled such that the necessary numbers are generated without depleting the pool of progenitors for subsequent glial differentiation. This work reports the identification of two transcription factors, PLZF and RP58, as pivotal factors in the preservation of neural progenitor cells in the developing spinal cord through the period of neurogenesis. PLZF has been previously shown to promote the maintenance of both hematopoietic and male germline stem cells. This work will demonstrate that PLZF is expressed within a central domain of the developing spinal cord of chick and mouse embryos, that it is sufficient to oppose neuronal differentiation, and that its loss results in compromised progenitor maintenance and excessive neuron formation. Furthermore, it will be shown that PLZF functions in part by promoting the expression of FGF receptor 3 and thereby enhancing neural progenitor receptivity for the pro-progenitor FGF signaling pathway. Unlike PLZF, previous research has indicated that RP58 acts to promote cellular differentiation in the context of neocortical, hippocampal, and cerebellar development. However, in the context of the developing spinal cord, RP58 acts as a potent anti-differentiation factor. RP58 misexpression results in a greatly expanded neural progenitor pool whereas its reduction through RNAi knockdown results in rapid neuronal differentiation. This work will propose that this divergent activity of RP58 in the two fundamental regions of the CNS can be explained as different manifestations of the same gene regulatory module achieving different effects depending on the relative order in which its component parts are activated. Both PLZF and RP58 are members of the BTB-ZnF family of transcription factors, a family previously with only a limited known role in the development of the CNS. This work will close with a consideration of the prospects of PLZF and RP58 not only being important factors in maintaining neural progenitor cells, but as potential forerunners of a previously unappreciated family of spinal developmental regulators.
Theta-Defensins Inhibit High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Infection Through Charge-Driven Capsid Clustering

Persistent infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) genotypes results in a large number of anogenital and head and neck cancers worldwide. Although prophylactic vaccination coverage has improved, there remains a need to develop methods that inhibit viral transmission toward preventing the spread of HPV-driven disease. Defensins are a class of innate immune effector peptides that function to protect hosts from infection by pathogens such as viruses and bacteria. Previous work utilizing α and β defensins from humans has demonstrated that the α-defensin HD5 is effective at inhibiting the most common high-risk genotype, HPV16. A third class of defensin that has yet to be explored are θ-defensins: small, 18-amino acid cyclic peptides found in old-world monkeys whose unique structure makes them both highly cationic and resistant to degradation. Here we show that the prototype θ-defensin, rhesus theta defensin 1, inhibits hrHPV infection through a mechanism involving capsid clustering that inhibits virions from binding to cell surface receptor complexes.