Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nonlinear response of summer temperature to Holocene insolation forcing in Alaska

Regional climate responses to large-scale forcings, such as precessional changes in solar irradiation and increases in anthropogenic greenhouse gases, may be nonlinear as a result of complex interactions among earth system components. Such nonlinear behaviors constitute a major source of climate “surprises” with important socioeconomic and ecological implications. Paleorecords are key for elucidating patterns and mechanisms of nonlinear responses to radiative forcing, but their utility has been greatly limited by the paucity of quantitative temperature reconstructions. Here we present Holocene July temperature reconstructions on the basis of midge analysis of sediment cores from three Alaskan lakes. Results show that summer temperatures during 10,000–5,500 calibrated years (cal) B.P. were generally lower than modern and that peak summer temperatures around 5,000 were followed by a decreasing trend toward the present. These patterns stand in stark contrast with the trend of precessional insolation, which decreased by ∼10% from 10,000 y ago to the present. Cool summers before 5,500 cal B.P. coincided with extensive summer ice cover in the western Arctic Ocean, persistence of a positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation, predominantly La Niña-like conditions, and variation in the position of the Alaskan treeline. These results illustrate nonlinear responses of summer temperatures to Holocene insolation radiative forcing in the Alaskan sub-Arctic, possibly because of state changes in the Arctic Oscillation and El Niño-Southern Oscillation and associated land–atmosphere–ocean feedbacks.
A Second CRM1-Dependent Nuclear Export Signal in the Influenza A Virus NS2 Protein Contributes to the Nuclear Export of Viral Ribonucleoproteins

ABSTRACT Influenza A virus NS2 protein, also called nuclear export protein (NEP), is crucial for the nuclear export of viral ribonucleoproteins. However, the molecular mechanisms of NEP mediation in this process remain incompletely understood. A leucine-rich nuclear export signal (NES2) in NEP, located at the predicted N2 helix of the N-terminal domain, was identified in the present study. NES2 was demonstrated to be a transferable NES, with its nuclear export activity depending on the nuclear export receptor chromosome region maintenance 1 (CRM1)-mediated pathway. The interaction between NEP and CRM1 is coordinately regulated by both the previously reported NES (NES1) and now the new NES2. Deletion of the NES1 enhances the interaction between NEP and CRM1, and deletion of the NES1 and NES2 motifs completely abolishes this interaction. Moreover, NES2 interacts with CRM1 in the mammalian two-hybrid system. Mutant viruses containing NES2 alterations generated by reversed genetics exhibit reduced viral growth and delay in the nuclear export of viral ribonucleoproteins (vRNPs). The NES2 motif is highly conserved in the influenza A and B viruses. The results demonstrate that leucine-rich NES2 is involved in the nuclear export of vRNPs and contributes to the understanding of nucleocytoplasmic transport of influenza virus vRNPs.
Changes in Rural Household Income Patterns in Mozambique, 1996-2002, and Implications for Agriculture’s Contribution to Poverty Reduction

The challenge that faces Mozambique’s government is to design poverty reduction and rural development strategies that deliver three-dimensional growth: rapid growth to reduce poverty incidence quickly, sustainable growth to ensure that people permanently escape poverty, and broad-based growth to ensure that as many families as possible benefit from it. The specific objectives of this paper are: 1. To compare the level, sources, and distribution of rural household incomes in 1995-96 and 2001-02. To achieve this objective, the paper answers questions such as how have rural incomes changed over the six year period; how much have the poorest of the poor benefited; and have rural incomes grown evenly over the whole country or have some areas grown faster than others? 2. To compare the level and composition of agricultural income in 1995-96 and 2001-02. The paper considers the importance of agriculture relative to non-farm activities as a source of rural income, and the mix of agricultural activities, for different income groups. 3. To identify priorities for enhancing agriculture’s contribution to rural economic growth and poverty reduction in the medium term.
The study of recursive-based sliding mode adaptive control of the permanent magnet synchronous motor

The urgent needs in many occasions have stimulated the study of the permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM). The model of the PMSM system has multi-variable, highly nonlinear, strong coupling character and the control performance of the PMSM drive system is also influenced by the uncertainties of the plant composed of unpredictable plant parameter variations, external load disturbances, and unmodelled nonlinear dynamics. In order to design a controller to meet with the desired requirement, based on Lyapunov stability theorem, the combined multiple recursive based sliding mode adaptive controller has been proposed and the physical parameters learn algorithm has been derived. This combined controller integrates the virtues of these three kinds of controllers, and it provides a solution to the servo position control of permanent magnet synchronous motor with the parameters of uncertainty and external load disturbance and also a reference criterion for the controller parameters selection. Theory derivation and experiment simulation results verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the controller. This method provides the foundation of the settlement of the servo position control of the permanent magnet synchronous motor.
ISOLATION OF GRANULES FROM EOSINOPHIL LEUCOCYTES AND STUDY OF THEIR ENZYME CONTENT

Eosinophils were separated from other types of cells in horse blood or rat peritoneal fluid by centrifugation in concentrated albumin solutions. Eosinophils did not appear to be damaged by this separation procedure. A technique was also devised for isolation of cytoplasmic granules from eosinophils, thus allowing studies on enzyme content of the granules. Granules from both horse and rat eosinophils contained a number of hydrolytic enzymes, similar in variety and in concentration to those previously found in granules of rabbit polymorphonuclear leucocytes. Eosinophil granules differed from those of the rabbit granulocyte in their high content of peroxidase and the absence of lysozyme and phagocytin. On disruption of eosinophil granules by repeated freezing and thawing in saline, cathepsin, ribonuclease, arylsulfatase and beta glucuronidase were released into solution, but phosphatases were partially and peroxidase completely bound to the insoluble granule residue. Peroxidase could be extracted from the granule residue with weak acid. Eosinophil granules thus are lysosome-like structures.
The psychometric utility of the Drug Abuse Screening Test among treatment-seeking, homeless men

Homelessness in the United States is recognized as a grave societal problem with longstanding and pervasive implications. A substantial body of research has shown that substance use disorders occur at higher rates among homeless adults than among housed persons. Mental disorders, particularly depressive disorders, are also known to occur at substantially higher rates among the homeless. Given the prevalence of these conditions, it is important that clinicians working with homeless adults have access to reliable and valid assessment tools. The purpose of this study was to examine the usefulness of the Drug Abuse Screening Test-20 (DAST-20) in a sample of treatment-seeking, homeless men engaged in a residential substance abuse recovery program. Other goals included analysis of the relationship of the DAST-20 to the Beck Depression Inventory, Second Edition (BDI-II). The participants were 86 males with a mean age of 43.08 years. The sample was ethnically diverse, tended to be single, and most participants had at least a high school education. This was an archival study. All participants had voluntarily sought psychological services in a university-affiliated clinic at the inner city mission that provided the substance abuse recovery program. In addition to the DAST-20 and BDI-II, the instruments included an intake application form for psychological services and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Mean scores on the DAST-20 and BDI-II were 10.07 and 21.94, respectively. Internal consistency reliability was . 862 for the DAST-20 and . 91 for the BDI-II. There were no statistically significant differences across ethnic groups in mean DAST-20, BDI-II, or AUDIT scores. As predicted, DAST-20 scores were positively correlated with intake formbased measures of drug abuse, supporting the validity of the DAST-20 as a measure of substancerelated concerns. The DAST-20 also correlated significantly with the BDI-II, consistent with other research findings. There was a trend (p = .083) for the DAST-20 to be correlated with the
TCRζ is transported to and retained in the Golgi apparatus independently of other TCR chains: implications for TCR assembly

It is generally assumed that TCR assembly occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and ER retention/degradation signals have been identified in several of the TCR chains. These signals are probably responsible for retention of incompletely assembled TCR complexes and free TCR chains in the ER. This study focused on the intracellular localization and transport of partially assembled TCR complexes as determined by confocal microscopy analyses. We found that none of the TCR chains except for TCRζ were allowed to exit the ER in T cell variants in which the hexameric CD3γ ϵTiα βCD3δ ϵ complex was not formed. Interestingly, TCRζ was exported from the ER independently of other TCR chains and was predominantly located in a compartment identified as the Golgi apparatus. Furthermore, in the TCRζ‐negative cell line MA5.8, the hexameric CD3γ ϵTiα βCD3δ ϵ complex was allowed to exit the ER and was also predominantly located in the Golgi apparatus. However, neither hexameric TCR complexes nor TCRζ chains were efficiently expressed at the cell surface without the other. The observations that TCRζ and hexameric TCR complexes are transported from the ER to the Golgi apparatus independently of each other and that these partial TCR complexes are unable to be efficiently expressed at the cell surface suggest that final TCR assembly occurs in the Golgi apparatus.
Retinoids as endogenous components of the regenerating limb and tail

The role of retinoids (vitamin A derivatives) in limb and tail regeneration is the focus of this review. The dramatic effects of excess retinoids on regeneration are considered, which consist of the respecification of each of the cardinal axes of the limb and the transformation of tail regenerates into limbs. The evidence that retinoids are endogenous components of the regeneration blastema and are required for normal regeneration is then addressed. This evidence consists of the fact that various techniques can detect endogenous retinoic acid in the blastema and that retinoic acid receptors are present, and an individual function in regeneration has been established for each of three receptors. Finally, experiments are described in which retinoic synthesis has been inhibited, and this results in the inhibition of both limb development and limb and tail regeneration.
Shadow-based Building Detection and Segmentation in High-resolution Remote Sensing Image

This paper proposes an effective method to extract buildings in high-resolution remote sensing images based on shadow detection. Firstly, a superpixel segmentation algorithm called SLIC is introduced to split the input image into homogeneous patches. LDA-based color features of the patches are extracted for detecting shadow regions. According to the positions of the shadows, an adaptive strategy for seed location and regional growth is developed to accomplish the coarse detection of buildings. Finally, buildings are extracted accurately using Level Set segmentation algorithm. The experimental results prove that the proposed method is applicable in various complicated situations and is more robust and precise as compared with other competing algorithms.
Induction of Enhanced Immunity to Intestinal Nematodes Using IL-9-Producing Dendritic Cells1

Dendritic cells can be considered natural adjuvants and are able to act as cellular vaccines to protect against disease. Adoptive transfer of Ag-pulsed bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) enhanced expulsion of the intestinal nematode, Trichinella spiralis, from the small intestine. IL 9 is a critical cytokine in protective immunity to intestinal nematode infection and is believed to enhance Th2 immune responses. Deriving dendritic cells from an IL-9 transgenic (IL-9t) mouse has enabled a detailed investigation of the importance of IL-9 during Ag presentation. Indeed, IL-9t dendritic cells significantly enhanced T cell proliferation and Th2 responses and, after adoptive transfer, enhanced parasite-specific IgG1 and intestinal mastocytosis in vivo, leading to accelerated expulsion of adult worms from the intestine. Overall, this paper demonstrates that dendritic cell vaccination can be used to successfully protect the host against intestinal nematode infection and suggests that IL-9 can act as a potent type 2 adjuvant during Ag presentation and the early stages of Th2 activation.
Digital Game-Based Learning: It's Not Just the Digital Natives Who Are Restless.

After years of research and proselytizing, the proponents of digital game-based learning (DGBL) have been caught unaware. Like the person who is still yelling after the sudden cessation of loud music at a party, DGBL proponents have been shouting to be heard above the prejudice against games. But now, unexpectedly, we have everyone's attention. The combined weight of three factors has resulted in widespread public interest in games as learning tools. The first factor is the ongoing research conducted by DGBL proponents. In each decade since the advent of digital games, researchers have published dozens of essays, articles, and mainstream books on the power of DGBL—including, most recently, Marc Prensky's Digital Game-Based Learning (2001), James Paul Gee's What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy (2003), Clark Aldrich's Simulations and the Future of Learning: An Innovative (and Perhaps Revolutionary) Approach to e-Learning (2004), Steven Johnson's Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter (2005), Prensky's new book “Don’t Bother Me, Mom, I'm Learning! ”: How Computer and Video Games Are Preparing Your Kids for 21st Century Success and How You Can Help! (2006), and the soon-to-be-published Games and Simulations in Online Learning: Research and Development Frameworks, edited by David Gibson, Clark Aldrich, and Marc Prensky. The second factor involves today’s “Net Generation,” or “digital natives,” who have become disengaged with traditional instruction. They require multiple streams of information, prefer inductive reasoning, want frequent and quick interactions with
A culture-independent sequence-based metagenomics approach to the investigation of an outbreak of Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli O104:H4.

IMPORTANCE Identification of the bacterium responsible for an outbreak can aid in disease management. However, traditional culture-based diagnosis can be difficult, particularly if no specific diagnostic test is available for an outbreak strain. OBJECTIVE To explore the potential of metagenomics, which is the direct sequencing of DNA extracted from microbiologically complex samples, as an open-ended clinical discovery platform capable of identifying and characterizing bacterial strains from an outbreak without laboratory culture. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS In a retrospective investigation, 45 samples were selected from fecal specimens obtained from patients with diarrhea during the 2011 outbreak of Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC) O104:H4 in Germany. Samples were subjected to high-throughput sequencing (August-September 2012), followed by a 3-phase analysis (November 2012-February 2013). In phase 1, a de novo assembly approach was developed to obtain a draft genome of the outbreak strain. In phase 2, the depth of coverage of the outbreak strain genome was determined in each sample. In phase 3, sequences from each sample were compared with sequences from known bacteria to identify pathogens other than the outbreak strain. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The recovery of genome sequence data for the purposes of identification and characterization of the outbreak strain and other pathogens from fecal samples. RESULTS During phase 1, a draft genome of the STEC outbreak strain was obtained. During phase 2, the outbreak strain genome was recovered from 10 samples at greater than 10-fold coverage and from 26 samples at greater than 1-fold coverage. Sequences from the Shiga-toxin genes were detected in 27 of 40 STEC-positive samples (67%). In phase 3, sequences from Clostridium difficile, Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter concisus, and Salmonella enterica were recovered. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE These results suggest the potential of metagenomics as a culture-independent approach for the identification of bacterial pathogens during an outbreak of diarrheal disease. Challenges include improving diagnostic sensitivity, speeding up and simplifying workflows, and reducing costs.
The measurement of an adult's cognitive curiosity and exploratory behavior

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of cognitive curiosity through the development and validation of items that identify specific‐epistemic, diversive‐epistemic, specific‐ perceptual, and diversive perceptual factors of curiosity. The instrument was based on existing research that identifies each of the four hypothesized factors as a function of cognitive curiosity, which is the desire to seek out and integrate knowledge about one’s environment in order to improve or stimulate intellectual functioning. The Cognitive Curiosity Index (CCI) was constructed for this study, which included assessments of face validity, instrument readability, construct validity, content validity, and test reliability. Content validity was appraised through principal components analysis and item correlation to the sum of each proposed sub‐scale. Assessment of Cronbach’s alpha was used to determine test internal reliability, and bivariate correlations were assessed to gauge test‐retest reliability. The results of this study indicate that a valid and reliable test can be constructed using the items for the CCI. Further use of this study and subsequent instrument development includes the administration of the CCI to a large, stratified sample of the U.S. adult population. The development of normative statistics for the CCI will enable the instrument to become a more robust tool in the evaluation of adult cognitive curiosity. It is only through a complete understanding of cognitive curiosity that adult learning professionals can nurture and tap into this elusive personality trait to design relevant and engaging learning interventions.
Discriminative Training of the Hidden Vector State Model for Semantic Parsing

In this paper, we discuss how discriminative training can be applied to the hidden vector state (HVS) model in different task domains. The HVS model is a discrete hidden Markov model (HMM) in which each HMM state represents the state of a push-down automaton with a finite stack size. In previous applications, maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE) is used to derive the parameters of the HVS model. However, MLE makes a number of assumptions and unfortunately some of these assumptions do not hold. Discriminative training, without making such assumptions, can improve the performance of the HVS model by discriminating the correct hypothesis from the competing hypotheses. Experiments have been conducted in two domains: the travel domain for the semantic parsing task using the DARPA Communicator data and the Air Travel Information Services (ATIS) data and the bioinformatics domain for the information extraction task using the GENIA corpus. The results demonstrate modest improvements of the performance of the HVS model using discriminative training. In the travel domain, discriminative training of the HVS model gives a relative error reduction rate of 31 percent in F-measure when compared with MLE on the DARPA Communicator data and 9 percent on the ATIS data. In the bioinformatics domain, a relative error reduction rate of 4 percent in F-measure is achieved on the GENIA corpus.
On Their Own and Presumed Expert: New Teachers’ Experience with Their Colleagues

Background/Context In order to develop effective strategies for retaining able and committed teachers, it is important to understand how new teachers experience their work with their colleagues. A previous qualitative study conducted by the authors and others presented a conceptual framework for understanding new teachers’ experiences of the professional culture of their schools. The prior work suggested that new teachers might be more likely to stay in teaching and remain at their schools when they work in what the authors called integrated professional cultures, which promote frequent and reciprocal interaction among faculty members across experience levels; recognize new teachers’ needs as beginners; and develop shared responsibility among teachers for the school. Focus of Study This study uses the concept of integrated professional culture to frame an inquiry about new teachers’ experiences at their schools and with their colleagues. Research Design The study examines the experiences of a representative random sample of 486 first- and second-year teachers surveyed in four states (California, Florida, Massachusetts, and Michigan). Participants were chosen using two-stage stratified cluster sampling. The mail survey achieved a response rate of 65 percent. The authors conducted descriptive analyses of the questionnaire data and summarized new teachers’ experiences in a series of comparative tables. Conclusions/Recommendations The data revealed that many novice teachers report that their work is solitary, that they are expected to be prematurely expert and independent, and that their fellow teachers do not share a sense of collective responsibility for their school. In integrated professional cultures, new teachers interact with experienced colleagues in an ongoing way. However, the authors found that approximately one-half (in CA and MI) to two-thirds (in FL and MA) of new teachers generally plan and teach alone. In integrated professional cultures, new teachers are recognized as novices and offered extra assistance; however, the authors found that less than one-third (MI) to less than one-half (CA) reported that extra assistance was available to them. Finally, in integrated professional cultures, teachers share a sense of collective responsibility for the school. However, less than half of the new teachers in the four states reported that teachers share responsibility for the students in their school. Taken together, these findings reveal that many new teachers work without the support of integrated professional cultures. Given these findings, the authors discuss in detail what policymakers and school leaders can do to address the critical challenge of supporting new teachers.
Periodic Memory State-Feedback Controller: New Formulation, Analysis, and Design Results

This paper proposes a unified setup for robust stability and performance analysis and synthesis for periodic polytopic discrete-time systems. Relying on a general formulation for state-feedback periodic memory controllers and a new time-lifting, new sufficient LMI conditions for the existence of robust stability certificates and H2 guaranteed cost control laws are derived. Comparisons of the efficiency of different controller structures illustrate these developments on a numerical example.