Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trait correlates of distribution trends in the Odonata of Britain and Ireland: Southern species benefit from climate warming

A major challenge in ecology is understanding what enables certain species to persist, while others decline, in response to environmental change. Trait-based comparative analyses are useful in this regard as they can help identify the key drivers of decline, and highlight traits that promote resistance to change. Despite their popularity trait-based comparative analyses tend to focus on explaining variation in range shift and extinction risk, seldom being applied to actual measures of species decline. Furthermore they have tended to be taxonomically restricted to birds, mammals, plants and butterflies. Here we utilise a novel approach to estimate trends for the Odonata in Britain and Ireland, and examine trait correlates of these trends using a recently available trait dataset. We found the dragonfly fauna in Britain and Ireland has undergone considerable change between 1980 and 1 2
Adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope imaging: technology update

Adaptive optics (AO) retinal imaging has become very popular in the past few years, especially within the ophthalmic research community. Several different retinal techniques, such as fundus imaging cameras or optical coherence tomography systems, have been coupled with AO in order to produce impressive images showing individual cell mosaics over different layers of the in vivo human retina. The combination of AO with scanning laser ophthalmoscopy has been extensively used to generate impressive images of the human retina with unprecedented resolution, showing individual photoreceptor cells, retinal pigment epithelium cells, as well as microscopic capillary vessels, or the nerve fiber layer. Over the past few years, the technique has evolved to develop several different applications not only in the clinic but also in different animal models, thanks to technological developments in the field. These developments have specific applications to different fields of investigation, which are not limited to the study of retinal diseases but also to the understanding of the retinal function and vision science. This review is an attempt to summarize these developments in an understandable and brief manner in order to guide the reader into the possibilities that AO scanning laser ophthalmoscopy offers, as well as its limitations, which should be taken into account when planning on using it.
HMR-Asynchronous Boundary Control

The Horseshoe Meadows Ranch has evolved to a hospitality unit that caters to horse owners who are looking for lodging and recreation at the same site as the stable that serves their horses. With access to more than 1618 hectares of open unimproved forestland, the guests of the ranch are having difficulties navigating through the wild scenic, majestic mountains and untamed rivers since many trails and single track features are omitted. Two students from the Delft University of Technology who are in the final phase of the bachelor Computer Science, are asked to develop a methodology with which the trails and features of the unimproved forestland can be mapped in a delivery system. The delivery system should enable the guests of the Horseshoe Meadows Ranch to navigate through the wilderness of Oregon on their own. This report describes the establishment of the launched prototype during 18 weeks of development. The details of the research and implementation process will be discussed throughout the report.
Structural and kinetic analysis of the COP9-Signalosome activation and the cullin-RING ubiquitin ligase deneddylation cycle

The COP9-Signalosome (CSN) regulates cullin–RING ubiquitin ligase (CRL) activity and assembly by cleaving Nedd8 from cullins. Free CSN is autoinhibited, and it remains unclear how it becomes activated. We combine structural and kinetic analyses to identify mechanisms that contribute to CSN activation and Nedd8 deconjugation. Both CSN and neddylated substrate undergo large conformational changes upon binding, with important roles played by the N-terminal domains of Csn2 and Csn4 and the RING domain of Rbx1 in enabling formation of a high affinity, fully active complex. The RING domain is crucial for deneddylation, and works in part through conformational changes involving insert-2 of Csn6. Nedd8 deconjugation and re-engagement of the active site zinc by the autoinhibitory Csn5 glutamate-104 diminish affinity for Cul1/Rbx1 by ~100-fold, resulting in its rapid ejection from the active site. Together, these mechanisms enable a dynamic deneddylation-disassembly cycle that promotes rapid remodeling of the cellular CRL network.
MR-based spatiotemporal anisotropic atrophy evaluation of hippocampus in AD 1 progression by multiscale skeletal representation 2

MR-based spatiotemporal anisotropic atrophy evaluation of hippocampus in AD 1 progression by multiscale skeletal representation 2 Na Gao, Zhiyuan Liu, Yuesheng Deng, Hantao Chen, Chenfei Ye, Qi Yang, 3 Ting Ma 4 5 The Department of Electronic & Information Engineering, Harbin Institute of 6 Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, China. 7 Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US 8 International Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Harbin Institute of 9 Technology at Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China 10 Peng Cheng Laboratory, Shenzhen, China 11 Department of Radiology, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, 12 Beijing 100020, China 13 Key Lab of Medical Engineering for Cardiovascular Disease, Ministry of Education 14 Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Big Data-Based Precision Medicine 15 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aerospace Communication and 16 Networking Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, 17 China 18
Analysis of Production Data from the Krafla Geothermal Field, Iceland

The Krafla geothermal field in northeastern Iceland consists of several zones, which contain fluids of different composition and thermodynamic state (Stefansson, 1981). In this paper they examine production data from wells which are completed in two-phase zones. Transient changes in flow rate and flowing enthalpy are analyzed to obtain insight into relative (liquid and gas phase) permeabilities, and other reservoir parameters. Numerous studies have shown that predictions of geothermal reservoir behavior are strongly dependent upon the choice of relative permeability functions. There is an extensive literature on gas-oil and oil-water relative permeabilities, but steam-water relative permeabilities which are needed for geothermal reservoir analysis are poorly known. Laboratory experiments by Chen et al. (1978) and Counsil and Ramey (1979) have provided some data which, however, seem to be at variance with relative permeability characteristics deduced from field data by Grant (1977) and Horne and Ramey (1978). The differences may reflect uncertainties in the analysis methods used, or they may reflect ''real'' differences in relative permeability behavior of fractured reservoirs from that of porous medium-type laboratory cores. Recent theoretical work by Menzies (1982) and Gudmundsson et al. (1983) has substantiated the relative permeability characteristics obtained by Horne and Ramey (1978) for Wairakeimore » wells. « less
Quantum Theory from First Principles - An Informational Approach

Carathéodory’s theorem, 173 category theory, 5 strictly symmetric monoidal, 5 causal chain, 142 causality, 20, 135 axiom, 141 causal theories, 141 in philosophy, 6 no signaling from the future, 142 philosophy, 139 CB norm, 123, 128 central extension, 100 channel, 119 correctable upon input, 66 correlation-erasing, 66 purification-preserving, 66 Choi–Jamiołkowski isomorphism, 41 operator, 41 circuit, 112 classical theory, 49 closed circuits, 115, 125 event, 119 test, 119 coarse-graining, 13, 22, 119 cocycle, 100 commuting POVM, 59 complementary channel, 67 complete OPT, 149 complete positivity, 36 completely bounded map, 128 completely bounded norm, 123 completely mixed state, 34, 54, 132 completely positive map, 36 composite system, 113 compression efficient, 134 ideal, 34, 134 lossless, 134 conditional preparation, 145 conditional state, 19, 38, 43 conditioned test, 142 conditioning-equivalent transformations, 149 conic combinations, 117 conservation of information, 170 contractive operator, 44 convex OPT, 149 refinement, 23 refinement set, 23 CP, 42 CP map, 36 iff condition, 84
Plant Communities of Oxbow Wetlands in Knob Noster State Park, Johnson County, Missouri

by Shannon C. Thompson Oxbows are portions of former river or stream channels that have become separated from the main channel over time. Despite a common origin they can be very different from each other because of unique hydrological conditions and distinctive soil conditions potentially resulting in the development of distinctive plant communities. Few ecological studies of oxbows have been conducted within Missouri. The primary purpose of this study was to survey and characterize oxbow wetland plant communities along Clearfork Creek floodplain, Knob Noster State Park, Johnson County, Missouri. A stratified random sampling was used to sample the herbaceous, shrub and sapling, and tree strata. Species cover estimates were determined for all vascular plant taxa. Communities were evaluated through relative important values, cluster analysis, and indicator species analysis. A total of 77 vascular plant species was identified during the course of the study comprising 60 dicot and 17 monocot species representing 37 plant families and 60 genera. The number of non-native species across the sites was 9. The average Coefficient of Conservatism (CC) value for all plants identified was 3.54. Noteworthy taxa with CC values of 7 or higher were Muskingum sedge (Carex muskingmensis Schwein.)(CC = 9), palegreen orchid (Platanthera flava (L.) Lindl. ) (CC = 10), and swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor Willd)(CC = 7). There were differences in plant species composition among oxbow wetlands (P < 0.01). Analyses of 246 quadrats revealed five canopy and five herbaceous plant communities. PLANT COMMUNITIES OF OXBOW WETLANDS IN KNOB NOSTER STATE PARK, JOHNSON COUNTY, MISSOURI
Supplementary Material for A Computational Approach to Understand In Vitro Alveolar Morphogenesis

To achieve both short and long term goals, we needed models and components that met the following five basic requirements. 1) Model components must be modular. Components, analogous to referent counterparts, are designed to interact. It must be easy to join, disconnect, or replace components without altering the functions and interrelations of other components. 2) The composed system must be flexible. It must be relatively simple to change usage and assumptions, or increase or decrease analogue detail in order to meet the particular needs of a new experiment, without requiring significant system reengineering. 3) System components must be reusable and adaptable for simulating epithelial cell behaviors in different experimental conditions in the presence and absence of treatments and interventions. 4) Analogues need to be articulated, multi-component systems that can be expanded easily to represent additional details or mimic additional referent attributes. 5) Components and methods need to be designed so that they can be replaced easily with alternate or more detailed counterparts, when needed.
Organ Preservation in Rectal Adenocarcinoma : a phase II randomized controlled trial evaluating 3-year disease-free survival in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer treated with chemoradiation plus induction or consolidation chemotherapy , and total mesorectal excision or nonoperative manage

Background: Treatment of patients with non-metastatic, locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) includes pre-operative chemoradiation, total mesorectal excision (TME) and post-operative adjuvant chemotherapy. This trimodality treatment provides local tumor control in most patients; but almost one-third ultimately die from distant metastasis. Most survivors experience significant impairment in quality of life (QoL), due primarily to removal of the rectum. A current challenge lies in identifying patients who could safely undergo rectal preservation without sacrificing survival benefit and QoL. Methods/Design: This multi-institutional, phase II study investigates the efficacy of total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT) and selective non-operative management (NOM) in LARC. Patients with MRI-staged Stage II or III rectal cancer amenable to TME will be randomized to receive FOLFOX/CAPEOX: a) before induction neoadjuvant chemotherapy (INCT); or b) after consolidation neoadjuvant chemotherapy (CNCT), with 5-FU or capecitabine-based chemoradiation. Patients in both arms will be re-staged after completing all neoadjuvant therapy. Those with residual tumor at the primary site will undergo TME. Patients with clinical complete response (cCR) will receive non-operative management (NOM). NOM patients will be followed every 3 months for 2 years, and every 6 months thereafter. TME patients will be followed according to NCCN guidelines. All will be followed for at least 5 years from the date of surgery or—in patients treated with NOM—the last day of treatment. (Continued on next page) * Correspondence: garciaaj@mskcc.org Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, SR-201, New York, NY 10065, USA Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2015 Smith et al. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Smith et al. BMC Cancer (2015) 15:767 DOI 10.1186/s12885-015-1632-z
Comparison of the Efficacy of Vaginal Hyaluronic Acid to Estrogen for the Treatment of Vaginal Atrophy in Postmenopausal Women: A Systematic Review

Topical estrogen is effective for treating postmenopausal vaginal atrophy. However, there is a potential risk of estrogen-related adverse effects. There is a need for finding effective non-hormonal treatment for vaginal atrophy. The topical application of moisturising agents, such as hyaluronic acid (HA), represents a promising non-hormonal treatment for the relief of vaginal atrophy. This study aimed to summarize the evidence regarding the efficacy of topical HA compared to topical estrogen in postmenopausal women with vaginal atrophy. The literature search covered English-published studies from database inception till February 2023. The search included the electronic databases of MEDLINE/PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, ProQuest, and Scopus, using the terms "Hyaluronic Acid" AND "Postmenopause" AND "Vagina” AND "Atrophy". Due to the diversity in reporting outcomes, meta-analysis was not feasible. A narrative synthesis with a systematic approach was conducted by vote counting of studies that included a direct comparison between topical HA and topical estrogen. Six studies were included. Intra-group comparisons showed that both interventions were significantly effective in alleviating the symptoms of vaginal atrophy and dyspareunia as well as improving vaginal pH and cell maturation index. However, inter-group comparisons in most studies showed that estrogen was superior to HA in relieving vaginal symptoms and improving vaginal pH, dyspareunia, and the cell maturation index. There is no evidence to show the superiority of HA to estrogen in the treatment of postmenopausal vaginal atrophy. However, the therapeutic efficacy of HA seems to be comparable to estrogen and considering its safety, HA can be used as an alternative to estrogen in patients who do not want to use estrogen. The available studies have several limitations, and the reporting of outcomes was considerably heterogeneous.
Econometric impact assessment of the Common Agricultural Policy in East German agriculture

In the present dissertation, an ex-post impact assessment of the CAP is conducted in the three East German Federal States of Brandenburg, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt. The analysis is based on regional data for 69 counties observed between 1997 and 2007. The main objective of the study is twofold: First, it is aimed to assess the impact of the whole portfolio of CAP measures on labor demand in East German agriculture with an additional focus on the decoupling of pillar I payments. Second, the impact of the CAP's first pillar on heterogeneous farm structures is due to be analyzed. Given the fact that empirically based insights on these issues are limited, this research aims at filling this gap.
It’s about inspiring the greater community to continue supporting this sector: Elite sport success as a main policy objective for disability sport promotion in ASEAN member states

ABSTRACT Promoting sport participation among people with disabilities is often counted as one of the policy priorities of the national government as well as a main activity of sport for development initiatives to aid the Global South. However, little is known about specific systems, policy, history, and plans for disability sport promotion understood by disability sport administrators in the Global South. The current study focused on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and aimed to explore how ASEAN government officials perceive the status of sport for people with disabilities. Representatives from nine ASEAN member countries participated in individual semi-structured interviews. The results of thematic analysis generated three themes: (1) Perceived lack of disability awareness and disability sport recognition; (2) Elite sport successes address problems at hand; and (3) Elite sport success to motivate funders. These themes suggest that successes in elite sports are of central importance for sport promotion among people with disabilities in ASEAN countries because they perceive that elite sport success can raise disability awareness, popularise disability sport, and motivate funders. Also, Paralympic success is viewed as an opportunity for them to demonstrate success otherwise unattainable in the Olympics. Some of the participants’ accounts appear to go against the current knowledge generated in the Global North; however, as funding is important to develop disability sport administration, it might be inevitable for them to continue promoting elite sport success for now.
Composite‐rotating consensus of multi‐agent systems with a leader and nonuniform delays

This paper focuses on the composite‐rotating consensus problem of second‐order multi‐agent systems with a leader and nonuniform time‐delays. First, a distributed control law is proposed to solve this problem. Second, by using the complex frequency domain analysis method, the maximal upper bound of time‐delays is deduced and it is proven that all agents eventually rotate around a common point while this point rotates around the origin, provided all communication time‐delays are less than the the maximal upper bound of time‐delays. Finally, simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.
An Evaluation of a Nutraceutical with Berberine, Curcumin, Inositol, Banaba and Chromium Picolinate in Patients with Fasting Dysglycemia Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy

Aim: To evaluate if a nutraceutical containing Berberine, Curcumin, Inositol, Banaba, and Chromium Picolinate (Reglicem ® ), can ameliorate glycemic status in patients with dysglycemia. Methods: We enrolled 148 patients with impaired fasting plasma glucose or impaired glucose tolerance, not taking any hypoglycemic compounds. Patients were randomized to take nutraceutical or placebo for 3 months, in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design. Both nutraceutical and placebo were self-administered once a day, 1 tablet during the breakfast. Results: A reduction of fasting and post-prandial plasma glucose was observed with the nutraceutical combination (p < 0.05 vs baseline and p < 0.05 vs placebo, respectively). Furthermore, a decrease of glycated hemoglobin, and fasting plasma insulin was observed with the nutraceutical combination (p < 0.05 vs baseline and p < 0.05 vs placebo, respec-tively). Then, there was a reduction of homeostasis model assessment index with the nutraceutical combination (p < 0.05 vs baseline and p < 0.05 vs placebo). M value was higher (p < 0.05 vs baseline and p < 0.05 vs placebo) in the nutraceutical combination group at the end of the treatment. We observed a reduction of total cholesterol (TC) (p < 0.05 vs baseline) and triglycerides (Tg) (p < 0.05 vs baseline and p < 0.05 vs placebo) with the nutraceutical combination, respectively. Finally, high sensitivity C-reactive protein was reduced after 3 months with nutraceutical combination therapy (p < 0.05 vs baseline and p < 0.05 vs placebo, respectively). Conclusion: A nutraceutical containing Berberine, Curcumin, Inositol, Banaba, and Chromium Picolinate can be helpful in improving glyco-metabolic compensation, TC and Tg value, and in reducing in ﬂ ammatory status in patients with dysglycemia.
Proposing an Academic Space of “Autism and Profound Learning Disability”

This article makes a practical suggestion to addressing the acute marginalisation of people with complex needs within academia. To do this, it first explores how the academic use of the terms “autism” and “severe/profound learning disabilities” leads to exclusionary practices where people with complex needs cannot represent themselves in research about their lives. These practices, this article contends, are epistemically and ethically unjustified. It demonstrates the former by exploring the shared ways in which people with complex needs are known in academic and social contexts. Regarding the latter, it argues that the research fields of autism and learning disabilities have favoured practices that exclude people with complex needs. To improve their academic representation, an academic space of “autism and profound learning disability” is proposed by drawing from Kraus’s (2015) theory of lifeworlds and life-conditions. The aim of the space is to be open and inclusive to any person with complex needs related to the terms “autism” and “severe/profound learning disabilities”, and to develop ethical research and practices that include their perspectives, views, and values. The paper concludes by presenting a preliminary agenda for the space.
Micromechanics-based understanding of the stability of film-like austenite in steels

Based on the carbon content and processing technique, the austenite morphology in steels can be either film-like or blocky. Experiments have shown that a film-like morphology of austenite shows a higher resistance to strain-induced martensitic transformation than its blocky counterpart. In the present work, using aspect ratio to distinguish austenite morphology, a micromechanical model is developed to show that the presence of an unfavourable stress field discourages the austenite to martensite transformation in film-like morphology, thereby lending its stable nature compared to the blocky version.
Caribbean survival and the global challenge

The global system has become increasingly complex, and notwithstanding the end of the Cold War and the liberalising of the world economy, there are new threats and new problems that require carefully thought-out responses, rather than ad hoc solutions and approaches. Caribbean Survival and the Global Challenge is such a collection of carefully thought-out responses by some of the region's leading voices on the broad range of implications created by globalisation for Caribbean states, and the development options emerging from the changes in the regional and international environment.