Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
REINFORCEMENT IN CHORUS FROGS: LIFETIME FITNESS ESTIMATES INCLUDING INTRINSIC NATURAL SELECTION AND SEXUAL SELECTION AGAINST HYBRIDS

Maladaptive hybridization is hypothesized to be an important force driving the evolution of reproductive isolation between closely related species. Because the magnitude and direction of selection can vary across a life cycle, an accurate understanding of the ubiquity of reinforcement requires fitness to be estimated across the life cycle, but the literature is surprisingly depauperate of such studies. We present fitness estimates of laboratory‐raised hybrids between the chorus frogs Pseudacris feriarum and Pseudacris nigrita—two species that have undergone reproductive character displacement where they come into secondary contact. By studying viability, mating success, and fertility across the life cycle, we find strong support for reinforcement as the force driving displacement in this system. Specifically, we find hybrid fitness is reduced by 44%. This reduction results from both sexual selection against hybrid males and natural selection on male fertility, but not viability selection. Sexual selection against hybrid males is four times stronger than natural selection. Hybrid female fitness is not reduced, however, suggesting that Haldane's rule may be operating in this system if males are heterogametic. We also found higher variation in hybrid male fertilization success relative to P. feriarum males, suggesting that the hybrid incompatibility genes are polymorphic within one or both of the parent species.
The genetics of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: dissecting psychosis

Much work has been done to identify susceptibility genes in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Several well established linkages have emerged in schizophrenia. Strongly supported regions are 6p24–22, 1q21–22, and 13q32–34, while other promising regions include 8p21–22, 6q16–25, 22q11–12, 5q21–q33, 10p15–p11, and 1q42. Genomic regions of interest in bipolar disorder include 6q16–q22, 12q23–q24, and regions of 9p22–p21, 10q21–q22, 14q24–q32, 13q32–q34, 22q11–q22, and chromosome 18. Recently, specific genes or loci have been implicated in both disorders and, crucially, replicated. Current evidence supports NRG1, DTNBP1, DISC1, DAOA(G72), DAO, and RGS4 as schizophrenia susceptibility loci. For bipolar disorder the strongest evidence supports DAOA(G72) and BDNF. Increasing evidence suggests an overlap in genetic susceptibility across the traditional classification systems that dichotomised psychotic disorders into schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, most notably with association findings at DAOA(G72), DISC1, and NRG1. Future identification of psychosis susceptibility genes will have a major impact on our understanding of disease pathophysiology and will lead to changes in classification and the clinical practice of psychiatry.
Management of Spontaneous Cerebellar Hematomas: A Prospective Treatment Protocol

OBJECTIVE To identify easily applicable guidelines for the surgical and conservative management of spontaneous cerebellar hematomas. METHODS A treatment protocol was developed and prospectively applied for the management of 50 consecutive cases of cerebellar hematomas. The appearance of the fourth ventricle, adjacent to the hematoma, on computed tomographic scans was divided into three grades (normal, compressed, or completely effaced). The degree of fourth ventricular compression was correlated with the size and volume of the hematoma and the presenting Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score. The hematoma was surgically evacuated for all patients with Grade III compression and for patients with Grade II compression when the GCS score deteriorated in the absence of untreated hydrocephalus. Patients with Grade I or II compression were initially treated with only ventricular drainage in the presence of hydrocephalus and clinical deterioration. RESULTS The degree of fourth ventricular compression was classified as Grade I in 6 cases, Grade II in 26, and Grade III in 18. The degree of fourth ventricular compression was significantly correlated with the volume of the hematoma (rs = 0.67, P < 0.0001), hydrocephalus (rs = 0.44, P = 0.001), the preoperative GCS score (rs = 0.43, P = 0.001), the maximal diameter of the hematoma (rs = 0.43, P = 0.001), and a midline location of the hematoma (&khgr;2 = 6.84, P < 0.009). Acute deterioration in GCS scores occurred for 6 (43%) of 14 patients with Grade III ventricular compression who were conscious at presentation. Thirteen patients with Grade I or II ventricular compression and stable GCS scores of more than 13 were treated conservatively. Nine patients were treated with ventricular drainage only, and 28 underwent posterior fossa craniectomy and evacuation of the hematoma with ventricular drainage. The mortality rate at 3 months was 40%. None of the patients with Grade III fourth ventricular compression and GCS scores of less than 8 at the time of treatment experienced good outcomes. Overall, 15 (60%) of 25 patients with hematomas with maximal diameters of more than 3 cm and Grade I or II compression did not require clot evacuation. CONCLUSION Conscious patients with Grade III fourth ventricular compression should undergo urgent clot evacuation before deterioration. Surgical evacuation of the clot may not be required for large hematomas (>3 cm) if the fourth ventricle is not totally obliterated at the level of the clot.
Uncovered interest parity tests and exchange rate expectations

Empirical studies reject uncovered interest parity. Experimental and survey data studies reject rational expectations and find evidence of adaptive, regressive, bandwagon and distributed lag expectations. In this paper we investigate how these two findings are related. We show that uncovered interest parity test coefficients can be expressed as functions of the parameters of the expectations mechanisms. Negative values for uncovered interest parity test coefficients are explained by adaptive expectations with a high speed of learning and distributed lag expectations, while positive values are caused by adaptive expectations with a low speed of learning, regressive expectations and bandwagon expectations.
Study on the Ripple Effects of Requirement Evolution Based on Feedforward Neural Network

Requirement changing control and its sphere of influence analysis are requirements engineering force to be resolved. Based on CBD, this paper proposed the relevant theory about requirement evolution process based on the Evolutionary Component of Software Requirement(SR-EC), analyzed the ripple effect and its dissemination during the requirement evolution by using feedforward neural network, this can provide technical supports for controling the evolution of the requirement and developing a reasonable evolution program.
On the uniform asymptotic convergence of a distributed particle filter

Distributed signal processing algorithms suitable for their implementation over wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and ad hoc networks with communications and computing capabilities have become a hot topic during the past years. One class of algorithms that have received special attention are particles filters. However, most distributed versions of this type of methods involve various heuristic or simplifying approximations and, as a consequence, classical convergence theorems for standard particle filters do not hold for their distributed counterparts. In this paper, we look into a distributed particle filter scheme that has been proposed for implementation in both parallel computing systems and WSNs, and prove that, under certain stability assumptions regarding the physical system of interest, its asymptotic convergence is guaranteed. Moreover, we show that convergence is attained uniformly over time. This means that approximation errors can be kept bounded for an arbitrarily long period of time without having to progressively increase the computational effort.
Managing Community Knowledge to Build a Better World

Our planet faces many impending crises as a consequence of growing populations and rising affluence. Governmental bodies at any level seem unable to provide the leadership to mitigate these. It seems to be up to those in the community who are most directly affected to take the leadership. Yet, without access to knowledge and understanding, individuals and communities are powerless against administrative juggernauts that are all too often beholden to a few powerful individuals rather than the communities they are supposed to represent and support. However, the Internet and newly invented social and cloud computing technologies provide individuals with fingertip access to humanity’s knowledge base; tools for extracting, evaluating, and sharing knowledge that is relevant to local needs; as well as tools for socially coordinating that action to promote and guide action. This paper reviews some of these tools and discusses how they can be applied for good or ill.
High performance operation for a four-leg NPC inverter with two-sample-ahead predictive control strategy

In this paper is proposed a finite control-set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) strategy which uses a two-sample-ahead prediction horizon to achieve high-performance operation for a three-phase four-leg neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverter with an output LC filter. The control strategy is proposed in order to minimize the error between the output voltages and their references, maintain equal voltage among the dc-link capacitors, and reduce the overall switching frequency of the inverter. One-sample-ahead and two-sample-ahead prediction horizon are evaluated and compared in terms of reference tracking error and THD, under steady-state and transient operating conditions with linear and non-linear loads. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed two-sample-ahead prediction horizon is more suitable for high power applications where lower switching frequency operation is mandatory. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Poster Abstract: Dynamic Switching-based Reliable Flooding in Low-Duty-Cycle Wireless Sensor Networks ∗

Reliable flooding in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is desirable for a broad range of applications and network operations. However, it is a challenging problem to ensure 100% flooding coverage efficiently considering the combined effects of low-duty-cycle operation and unreliable wireless transmission. In this work, we propose a novel dynamic switching-based reliable flooding (DSRF) framework, which is designed as an enhancement layer to provide efficient and reliableflooding over a variety of existingflooding tree structures in low-duty-cycle WSNs. Through comprehensive simulations, we demonstrate that DSRF can effectively improve both flooding energy efficiency and latency.
Utility, safety, and accuracy of intraoperative angiography in the surgical treatment of aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The role of intraoperative angiography in the treatment of neurovascular lesions has remained extremely controversial. We retrospectively reviewed the utility, safety, and accuracy of intraoperative angiography to ascertain its effect on the treatment of patients with neurovascular lesions. METHODS We reviewed the results of intraoperative angiography in 91 patients treated surgically for intracranial aneurysms and in 98 patients treated surgically for arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). All treatments were completed at two major teaching hospitals between October 1987 and March 1995. RESULTS The initial angiographic findings caused the surgical procedure to be modified in 24 (26%) of the patients with aneurysms and in 28 (29%) of the patients with AVMs. Analysis of the final angiographic sequence showed residual lesions in nine (10%) of the aneurysm cases and in eight (8%) of the AVM cases. The imperfect angiographic results were deemed acceptable because there was either evidence of collateral flow when the parent vessel was occluded or the risk of further surgical modification was considered more dangerous than the abnormality itself. Seven patients suffered complications, of which only one had permanent neurologic sequelae: a CNS complication rate of 0.5%. Comparison of the intraoperative angiographic findings with those of postoperative studies revealed four false-negative results (5.2%). CONCLUSION Intraoperative angiography is an important component in the treatment of patients with intracranial vascular lesions. It is effective and can be carried out with low risk in this patient population.
Beyond competitive analysis [on-line algorithms]

The competitive analysis of on-line algorithms has been criticized as being too crude and unrealistic. We propose two refinements of competitive analysis an two directions: The first restricts the power of the adversary by allowing only certain input distributions, while the other allows for comparisons between information regimes for on-line decision-making. We illustrate the first with an application to the paging problem; as a by product we characterize completely the work functions of this important special case of the k-server problem. We use the second refinement to explore the power of lookahead in server systems, and the power of visual sensors in robot navigation. <<ETX>>
Aerial-ground robotic system for autonomous delivery tasks

In this paper we present a study of a robotic system that consists of an unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a pair of manipulator arms (MMUAV), and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). The envisioned application scenario includes autonomous packet transportation, where MMUAV is used for picking/placing packets, while both MMUAV and UGV can be used for packet transportation, with different energy consumption profiles. We propose a reactive method for decentralized task planning and coordination of robots using hierarchical task decomposition based on TÆMS framework. Our approach takes into account low-level motion-planning aspects of the system as well as high-level mission specification, making this a multi-layered system. For low-level planning we use sampling-based planner combined with obstacle-free trajectory generation. Methods are verified in simulations and on an experimental testbed, using 3D Robotics quadcopter and Pioneer 3DX mobile robots with the results showing stability and robustness of the presented methods.
Invasion of the great vessels or atrium predicts worse prognosis in thymic carcinoma

Purpose We evaluated treatment outcomes of thymic carcinomas to determine prognostic factors for survival. Materials and Methods Between May 1988 and May 2009, 41 patients had pathologic diagnosis of thymic carcinoma in Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea. Of these, 40 patients were followed up to 188 months after treatment. The mean age of all patients was 58.3 years and male to female ratio was 23 to 17. Results Among 30 patients who underwent surgical resection, 26 achieved R0 resection and postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) was performed in 22 patients (73%). Various chemotherapeutic regimens were given with local treatment modalities, surgery and/or radiotherapy, in 12 patients. The 5-year locoregional control (LRC), distant metastasis-free survival, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival were 79.4%, 53.0%, 42.6%, and 63.6%, respectively. Patients with Masaoka stage I or II showed excellent prognosis of 5-year PFS around 90%. In advanced stages, invasion of the great vessels or atrium by thymic carcinomas was negative prognostic factor for PFS in univariate analysis. Lymph node involvement was statistically significant factor for LRC and PFS. Local or regional recurrence was infrequent after surgical resection followed by PORT, while distant metastasis was the major component of treatment failure. Conclusion Complete resection followed by PORT provided remarkable local control without severe acute toxicities in patients with stage II and favorable stage III thymic carcinoma. Invasion of the great vessels or atrium was statistically significant prognostic factor for PFS.
Revenue Implications of Multi-Item Multi-Unit Auction Designs: Empirical Evidence from the U.S. Treasury Buyback Auctions

We study an important recent series of multi-item multi-unit auctions conducted by the U.S. Treasury in retiring $67.5 billion of its debt. Consistent with auction theory, we find that bidders earn a small volatility-related expected profit as compensation for bearing the risk of the â€œwinnerâ€™s curse. â€ We find that the Treasury is penalized for being â€œspread too thinâ€ when including multiple bonds in a buyback auction. Thus, the multi-item design of the auction may not have been optimal from the Treasuryâ€™s perspective. In contrast, there is no evidence that the multi-unit aspect of the buyback affected the Treasuryâ€™s costs. These results have a number of implications for current models of multi-item and multi-unit auctions.
Effects of the New Prokinetic Agent DA-9701 Formulated With Corydalis Tuber and Pharbitis Seed in Patients With Minimal Change Esophagitis: A Bicenter, Randomized, Double Blind, Placebo-controlled Study

Background/Aims DA-9701 (Motilitone) is a new prokinetic agent formulated with Corydalis Tuber and Pharbitis Seed. We assessed the efficacy of DA-9701 in symptomatic patients with minimal change esophagitis. Methods Patients with minimal change esophagitis presenting with reflux or dyspeptic symptoms were randomly assigned to receive either DA-9701 30 mg or placebo t.i. d. (means 3 times a day). After 4 weeks of treatment, the primary efficacy end point determined by changes of the Nepean dyspepsia index questionnaire-Korean version (NDI-K) symptom scores, was analyzed. Results Forty-two and 39 patients were assigned to the treatment and control groups, respectively. After 4 weeks, NDI-K symptom scores were reduced from 35.4 to 13.5 (P < 0.001) and from 43.0 to 27.7 (P < 0.001) in the treatment and the control groups, respectively. However, changes in the symptom scores did not differ between the 2 groups (P = 0.741). Although the quality of life scores were significantly improved after 4 weeks in both groups, changes in the quality of life score between the baseline value and that at 4 weeks did not differ between the 2 groups. The reflux symptom score was significantly improved in the treatment group compared to the placebo group in patients aged 65 years or older (P = 0.035). Conclusions Although NDI-K symptom scores and quality of life scores were improved after 4 weeks of treatment compared with baseline values in patients with minimal change esophagitis, DA-9701 did not improve the symptom scores or quality of life scores compared with the placebo.
Hybrid Routing: A Mutual Anonymous Approach with Improved Reliability

As an important component of online privacy, anonymity is a concern of all users of P2P systems. Many methods are proposed to provide mutual anonymity and most of them are path-based: an anonymous path should be constructed by source peer before transmission. Although those proposals perform well in providing mutual anonymity, the pre-constructed paths suffer from node churn and make anonymous transmission unreliable. Different from traditional solutions, this paper presents Hybrid Routing (HR), a novel approach to provide reliability as well as mutual anonymity. Besides using redundancy, HR also provides reliability by shortening the pre-constructed path and employs Rumor Riding scheme to guarantee source anonymity. Compared with previous approaches that focus on reliability of anonymous communication, HR takes advantage of higher reliability and anonymity. We demonstrate the effectiveness of HR through theoretical analysis and simulations. The analytical and experimental results show HR is more efficient than other proposals.
Octopus-inspired eight-arm robotic swimming by sculling movements

Inspired by the octopus arm morphology and exploiting recordings of swimming octopus, we investigate the propulsive capabilities of an 8-arm robotic system under various swimming gaits, including arm sculling and arm undulations, for the generation of forward propulsion. A dynamical model of the robotic system, that considers fluid drag contributions accurately evaluated by CFD methods, was used to study the effects of various kinematic parameters on propulsion. Experiments inside a water tank with an 8-arm robotic prototype successfully demonstrated the sculling-only gaits, attaining a maximum speed of approximately 0.2 body lengths per second. Similar trends were observed, as in the simulation studies, with respect to the effect of the kinematic parameters on propulsion.
Consciousness , Action and Designed Virtual Space : linking information technology , the mind and human creativity

The interplay between consciousness, reasoning, creativity and action is reconsidered in the light of what is now possible with Virtual Reality (VR) technology. I suggest that there are three domains for the design of VR interaction: VR as pure bodily experience, VR as one or more embodiments of abstract knowledge, and VR as a link between the bodily and the abstract in the human participant. Including the third domain allows VRs to be designed with the express purpose of supporting cognition and creativity through virtual spatial action and experience. Creative VR environments can open up areas of the unconscious previously available only spasmodically; in dreams, in myths, and in other moments of insight. Such environments thus make conscious that which was formerly mostly unconscious. On the other hand, VR environments also make unconscious that which was conscious the abstract reasoning activities that are replaced by concrete action in virtual spaces. VR thus shifts and broadens the focus of consciousness, and makes conscious capacity available for more creative insights into whatever interests us.
Enflasyon Belirsizligi ve Beklentilerdeki Uyusmazlik

[TR] Bu notta TCMB Beklenti Anketi verileri kullanilarak Turkiye icin bir enflasyon belirsizligi olcutu olusturulmaya calisilmis ve anket katilimcilari arasindaki uyusmazligin olusturulan bu olcut icin bir gosterge olarak kullanilip kullanilamayacagi arastirilmistir. Bulgular, 2006 oncesi donem icin uyusmazligin enflasyon belirsizligi gostergesi olarak kullanilabilecegine isaret ederken, enflasyon hedeflemesi rejimiyle beraber bu iliskinin kayboldugunu ortaya koymaktadir. [EN] This note introduces a measure for inflation uncertainty in Turkey by using the CBRT Survey of Expectations and investigates whether the disagreement among the survey participants can be used as a proxy for inflation uncertainty. Results reveal the importance of time period analyzed. In particular, disagreement seems to be a good proxy for inflation uncertainty 2001-2006 period while this relationship vanishes with the inflation targeting regime after 2006.
Brain-computer interface based on explicit and implicit mental process

The BCI (brain-computer interface) extracts information from user's brain activity which is elicited by specific tasks. The EEG-based BCI using evoked potential or P300 have been successfully used by paralyzed patients to realize virtual keyboard for character input or menu selection system. In such systems, however, the target brain activities are elicited by the presented sensory stimuli or their sudden changes. On the other hand, the BCI based on motor imagery has been highlighted because it can be controlled by user's mental process, and no external sensory stimulus is required. In this article, my studies related to EEG-based BCI which achieves the direct control by user's explicit and implicit mental process are introduced and discussed.