Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bioirrigation in permeable sediments: Advective pore‐water transport induced by burrow ventilation

The physical mechanism that drives bioirrigation is strongly dependent on the permeability of the sediment. We advance two mechanisms, each described by a corresponding microenvironment model. In muds, burrow water cannot penetrate the sediment, so bioirrigation is intrinsically driven by diffusional transfer across the burrow wall. This “diffusive” mode of bioirrigation is accurately described by the classical tube irrigation model. In sands, ventilation flows can penetrate the surrounding sediment via dead end burrows. To quantify this “advective” mode of bioirrigation, we propose a novel two‐dimensional pocket injection model. This model’ principal features are that (1) organisms indent the sediment‐water interface with burrow structures, (2) the specific structure of the burrow can be neglected except for the location of a feeding pocket, and (3) burrow water is injected from this feeding pocket into the surrounding sediment. We tested the adequacy of the pocket injection model in a detailed case study of the lugworm Arenicola marina, comparing model simulations and experimental data from core incubations. Simulation of two different sets of inert tracer experiments shows good agreement between model and data, indicating that our model captures the relevant aspects of lugworm bioirrigation in permeable sediments.
Measuring Mindfulness: A Rasch Analysis of the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory

The objective of the study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI-14) using a Rasch model approach in a cross-sectional design. The scale was administered to N = 130 British patients with different psychosomatic conditions. The scale failed to show clear one-factoriality and item 13 did not fit the Rasch model. A two-factorial solution without item 13, however, appeared to fit well. The scale seemed to work equally well in different subgroups such as patients with or without mindfulness practice. However, some limitations of the validity of both the one-factorial and the two-factorial version of the scale were observed. Sizeable floor and ceiling effects limit the diagnostical use of the instrument. In summary, the study demonstrates that the two-factorial version of the FMI-13 shows acceptable approximation to Rasch requirements, but is in need of further improvement. The one-factorial solution did not fit well, and cannot be recommended for further use.
A Stateful Web Service Firewall for BPEL

Today, the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) is the most emerging specification for Web Service Composition, which is an important part of the SOA paradigm. Defining a stateful communication protocol, BPEL enables potential for new security vulnerabilities. In this paper, we present a severe Denial-of-Service attack on a leading BPEL engine, illustrating new threats on availability in the context of BPEL. Derived from our observations, we developed a protection concept and implemented an application level firewall fending these types of attacks.
SUMSS: A Wide-Field Radio Imaging Survey of the Southern Sky. I. Science Goals, Survey Design, and Instrumentation

The Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope, operating at 843 MHz with a 5 deg2 field of view, is carrying out a radio imaging survey of the sky south of declination -30°. This survey (the Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey, or SUMSS) produces images with a resolution of 43″ × 43″ csc |δ| and an rms noise level of ∼1 mJy beam-1. The SUMSS is therefore similar in sensitivity and resolution to the northern NRAO VLA Sky Survey. The survey is progressing at a rate of about 1000 deg2 per year, yielding individual and statistical data for many thousands of weak radio sources. This paper describes the main characteristics of the survey and presents sample images from the first year of observations.
Glare disability, photostress recovery, and chromatic contrast: relation to macular pigment and serum lutein and zeaxanthin.

PURPOSE A large body of research has linked macular lutein and zeaxanthin to reduced risk of degenerative eye disease. The earliest published hypothesis for the role of the pigments was not based on chronic protection but immediate function. Recent data on macular pigment (MP) have shown that screening the foveal cones from short-wave light does, in fact, result in improvements in photostress recovery (PR), glare disability (GD), and chromatic contrast (CC). This study examined those relations on a larger sample. METHODS A total of 150 young healthy subjects were assessed. Plasma samples were obtained from 100 subjects for HPLC quantification of serum xanthophylls. MP density was measured using customized heterochromatic flicker photometery. GD, PR, and CC were measured in Maxwellian view using a broadband xenon light source. GD was measured by increasing the intensity of an annulus until it veiled a central target. PR was measured as the time necessary to regain sight of a central target after a 5-second exposure to an intense bleaching light. CC was measured as the amount of light necessary in a 460-nm background to lose sight of a central target. RESULTS MP density was significantly related to serum lutein and zeaxanthin combined (r = 0.31, P = 0.002), GD (r = 0.24, P = 0.0015), PR (r = -0.18, P = 0.01), and CC (r = 0.46, P = 0.00005). CONCLUSIONS These results confirm earlier reports of a significant relation between variation in macular pigment optical density and immediate effects on visual function. As with many species, intraocular yellow filters in humans appear to improve many aspects of the visual stimulus. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00909090.).
Robust Segmentation of Primitives from Range Data in the Presence of Geometric Degeneracy

This paper addresses a common problem in the segmentation of range images. We present methods for the least-squares fitting of spheres, cylinders, cones, and tori to 3D point data, and their application within a segmentation framework. Least-squares fitting of surfaces other than planes, even of simple geometric type, has rarely been studied. Our main application areas of this research are reverse engineering of solid models from depth-maps and automated 3D inspection where reliable extraction of these surfaces is essential. Our fitting method has the particular advantage of being robust in the presence of geometric degeneracy, i.e., as the principal curvatures of the surfaces being fitted decrease, the results returned naturally become closer and closer to those surfaces of "simpler type", i.e., planes, cylinders, cones, or spheres, which best describe the data. Many other methods diverge because, in such cases, various parameters or their combination become infinite.
Running title : Regional perfusion and brain volumes in diabetes

OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to evaluate the regional effects of type 2 diabetes and associated conditions on cerebral tissue volumes and cerebral blood flow (CBF) regulation. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: CBF was examined in 26 diabetic (age 61.6 ± 6.6 years) and 25 control subjects (age 60.4 ± 8.6 years) using continuous arterial spin labeling (CASL) imaging during baseline, hyperventilation, and CO2 rebreathing. Regional gray (GM) and white matter (WM), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) volumes were measured on T1-weighted inversion recovery fast gradient echo and fluid-attenuation inversion recovery MRI at 3 Tesla. RESULTS: The diabetic group had smaller global WM (p=0.006) and GM (p=0.001) and larger CSF (36.3%, p<0.0001) volumes than the control group. Regional differences were observed for WM (-13.1%, p=0.0008) and CSF (36.3%, p<0.0001) in the frontal region, for CSF (20.9%, p=0.0002) in the temporal region, and for GM (-3.0%, p=0.04) and CSF (17.6%, p=0.01) in the parieto-occipital region. Baseline regional CBF (p=0.006) and CO2 reactivity (p=0.005) were reduced in diabetic group. Hypoperfusion in the frontal region was associated with GM atrophy (p<0.0001). Higher hemoglobin A1C was associated with lower CBF (p<0.0001) and greater CSF (p=0.002) within temporal region. CONCLUSIONS: Type 2 diabetes is associated with cortical and subcortical atrophy involving several brain regions and with diminished regional cerebral perfusion and vasoreactivity. Uncontrolled diabetes may further contribute to hypoperfusion and atrophy. Diabetic metabolic disturbance and blood flow dysregulation that affects preferentially frontal and temporal regions may have implications for cognition and balance in elderly with diabetes. Abbreviations: CBF, cerebral blood flow● WM, white matter ● GM, gray matter ● CSF, cerebrospinal fluid, ● CASL, continuous arterial spin labeling ● WMHs, white matter hyperintensities
The role of perceived stress in the relationship between purpose in life and mental health.

Although purpose in life (PIL) has been consistently related to better mental health, there is little understanding of whether that may be explained by reducing appraisal of or reactivity to stress. The sample consisted of 546 undergraduate students who completed measures of PIL, perceived stress, and measures of both positive mental health (positive affect, life satisfaction) and negative mental health (negative affect, anxiety, depression). The hypotheses were that PIL would (1) be related to more positive and less negative mental health and (2) be related to less perceived stress, and (3) reduce the effects of perceived stress in increasing negative mental health and decreasing positive mental health. Regression analyses were conducted to test each of the hypotheses in the overall sample and subsamples of male, female, and each ethnicity. The results supported hypotheses 1 and 2. In addition, for hypothesis 1, there were significant interaction effects for negative affect and life satisfaction for the subsample of American Indian/ Alaska Native participants versus the rest of the sample. However, the results were not significant for the hypothesis 3 except for depression in the subsample of male participants. Finally, significant mediation was found with perceived stress acting as mediator between PIL and each mental health outcome.
Co-occurrence Models for Image Annotation and Retrieval

We present two models for content-based automatic image annotation and retrieval in web image repositories, based on the co-occurrence of tags and visual features in the images. In particular, we show how additional measures can be taken to address the noisy and limited tagging problems, in datasets such as Flickr, to improve performance. As in many state-of-the-art works, an image is represented as a bag of visual terms computed using edge and color information. The cooccurrence information of visual terms and tags is used to create models for image annotation and retrieval. The first model begins with a naive Bayes approach and then improves upon it by using image pairs as single documents to significantly reduce the noise and increase annotation performance. The second method models the visual terms and tags as a graph, and uses query expansion techniques to improve the retrieval performance. We evaluate our methods on the commonly used 150 concept Corel dataset, and a much harder 2000 concept Flickr dataset.
Group Undeniable Signatures

A group undeniable signature scheme is proposed in which each group member can sign on behalf of the group without revealing his or her identity and the verification of a signature can only be done with the cooperation of the group manager. For business applications, group undeniable signatures can be used to validate price lists, press release or digital contracts when the signatures are commercially sensitive or valuable to a competitor. If a group is falsely accused of having signed a particular signature, the manager should have the ability to prove his innocence. In case of a later dispute, the manager can track down which member signed the signature. Our scheme can be proven to be unforgeable, signature-simulatable and coalition-resistant. The confirmation and denial protocols are also zero-knowledge. Furthermore, the time, space and communication complexity are independent of the group size. Key-Words: Group signature, Undeniable signature, Signature of knowledge, Unforgeability, Coalition resistance.
Moral Judgments and Social Stereotypes

We investigated how moral judgments were influenced by (a) the age and gender of the moral perpetrator and victim, (b) the moral judge’s benevolent ageism and benevolent sexism, and (c) the moral judge’s gender. By systematically manipulating the age and gender of the perpetrators and victims in moral scenarios, participants in two studies made judgments about the moral transgressions. We found that (a) people made more negative judgments when the victims were old or female rather than young or male, (b) benevolent ageism influenced people’s judgments about young versus old perpetrators, and (c) people had differential moral expectations of perpetrators who belonged to their same-gender group versus opposite-gender group. The findings suggest that age and gender stereotypes are so salient to bias people’s moral judgments even when the transgression is undoubtedly intentional and hostile.
Brassica napus Genome Possesses Extraordinary High Number of CAMTA Genes and CAMTA3 Contributes to PAMP Triggered Immunity and Resistance to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum

Calmodulin-binding transcription activators (CAMTAs) play important roles in various plant biological processes including disease resistance and abiotic stress tolerance. Oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) is one of the most important oil-producing crops worldwide. To date, compositon of CAMTAs in genomes of Brassica species and role of CAMTAs in resistance to the devastating necrotrophic fungal pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum are still unknown. In this study, 18 CAMTA genes were identified in oilseed rape genome through bioinformatics analyses, which were inherited from the nine copies each in its progenitors Brassica rapa and Brassica oleracea and represented the highest number of CAMTAs in a given plant species identified so far. Gene structure, protein domain organization and phylogentic analyses showed that the oilseed rape CAMTAs were structurally similar and clustered into three major groups as other plant CAMTAs, but had expanded subgroups CAMTA3 and CAMTA4 genes uniquely in rosids species occurring before formation of oilseed rape. A large number of stress response-related cis-elements existed in the 1.5 kb promoter regions of the BnCAMTA genes. BnCAMTA genes were expressed differentially in various organs and in response to treatments with plant hormones and the toxin oxalic acid (OA) secreted by S. sclerotiorum as well as the pathogen inoculation. Remarkably, the expression of BnCAMTA3A1 and BnCAMTA3C1 was drastically induced in early phase of S. sclerotiorum infection, indicating their potential role in the interactions between oilseed rape and S. sclerotiorum. Furthermore, inoculation analyses using Arabidopsis camta mutants demonstrated that Atcamta3 mutant plants exhibited significantly smaller disease lesions than wild-type and other Atcamta mutant plants. In addition, compared with wild-type plants, Atcamta3 plants accumulated obviously more hydrogen peroxide in response to the PAMP chitin and exhibited much higher expression of the CGCG-box-containing genes BAK1 and JIN1, which are essential to the PAMP triggered immunity (PTI) and/or plant resistance to pathogens including S. sclerotiorum. Our results revealed that CAMTA3 negatively regulated PTI probably by directly targeting BAK1 and it also negatively regulated plant defense through suppressing JA signaling pathway probably via directly targeting JIN1.
Theme of the paper : Systems engineering and design Towards Autonomous Application Interfaces

A global change resulting from a convergence between communication technologies – namely Internet, and other devices technologies – namely robotics, mobile communication, and domotics – is presently affecting Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This situation, denoted by the so-called Int lligent Networks and Ubiquitous Computing fields, is characterized by a high diversity and promiscuity of equipments and applications, together with a great variability of using contexts. In order to address this variability, we propose a new kind of interaction schema, separating the application interface from the application itself. The paper describes this schema and its central concept of Virtual Instrument, allowing the users to initiate observation processes with the running applications, and to construct their own points of view upon their activities.
Neuromyelitis optica: Pathogenicity of patient immunoglobulin in vivo

Severe inflammation and astrocyte loss with profound demyelination in spinal cord and optic nerves are typical pathological features of neuromyelitis optica (NMO). A diagnostic hallmark of this disease is the presence of serum autoantibodies against the water channel aquaporin‐4 (AQP‐4) on astrocytes.
Establishment of Sf9 Transformants Constitutively Expressing PBAN Receptor Variants: Application to Functional Evaluation

To facilitate further evaluation of pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide receptor (PBANR) functionality and regulation, we generated cultured insect cell lines constitutively expressing green fluorescent protein chimeras of the recently identified Bombyx mori PBANR (BommoPBANR) and Pseudaletia separata PBANR (PsesePBANR) variants. Fluorescent chimeras included the BommoPBANR-A, -B, and -C variants and the PsesePBANR-B and -C variants. Cell lines expressing non-chimeric BommoPBANR-B and -C variants were also generated. Functional evaluation of these transformed cell lines using confocal laser microscopy revealed that a Rhodamine Red-labeled PBAN derivative (RR-C10PBANR2K) specifically co-localized with all of the respective PBANR variants at the plasma membrane. Near complete internalization of the fluorescent RR-C10PBANR2K ligand 30 min after binding was observed in all cell lines except those expressing the BommoPBANR-A variant, in which the ligand/receptor complex remained at the plasma membrane. Fluorescent Ca2+ imaging further showed that the BommoPBANR-A cell line exhibited drastically different Ca2+ mobilization kinetics at a number of RR-C10PBANR2K concentrations including 10 μM. These observations demonstrate a clear functional difference between the BommoPBANR-A variant and the BommoPBANR-B and -C variants in terms of receptor regulation and activation of downstream effector molecules. We also found that, contrary to previous reports, ligand-induced internalization of BommoPBANR-B and BommoPBANR-C in cell lines stably expressing these variants occurred in the absence of extracellular Ca2+.
ry Data Interchange for Event-based Monitoring

Dramatic increases in available wide-area bandwidth have driven event-basedmonitoring to new heights. Monitoring services are widely used in today's distributed laboratories, where scientists interact with scienti c instruments and collaborate with each other regardless of their, or the instrument's, location. This paper addresses binary data transfer support in a distributed laboratory. Binary data transfer, a core service of most event-based monitoring approaches, is provided by PBIO (Portable Binary Input/Output). PBIO o ers applications signi cantly more exibility in message exchange than other approaches in current use. Further, comparison between PBIO and both MPI and XML show PBIO to be a favorable transport mechanism for today's high performance distributed laboratory applications. The paper demonstrates the need for fast heterogeneous binary data interchange in large-scale eventbased monitoring applications ( e.g. distributed laboratory) and argues its relevance even in the face of increasing scientist interest in science-centric approaches to data representation.
policeforcesandthatQualityofLife(QoL)isseriouslycompromisedinindividualssufferingfromPTSD.However,QoLstudieswiththeseprofessionalsarescarce.Thisstudyresultsfromascreeningpro-gramheldbythePortugueseRedCross(PRC)aimingtoanalyzepredictorsofQoL.Participantswere95ﬁreﬁghtersandmunicipalpoliceofﬁcers.Theya

Research has shown that PTSD is prevalent among firefighters and police forces and that Quality of Life (QoL) is seriously compromised in individuals suffering from PTSD. However, QoL studies with these professionals are scarce. This study results from a screening program held by the Portuguese Red Cross (PRC) aiming to analyze predictors of QoL. Participants were 95 firefighters and municipal police officers. They answered the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL-5) in order to evaluate the prevalence of PTSD symptoms, as well as measures of social support (3-Item Oslo Social Support Scale) and QoL (EUROHIS-QOL-8). From the results, there were no group differences regarding total PTSD, social support or QoL and 10% of participants reported enough symptoms to PTSD diagnostic. Social Support and PTSD explained 25% of QoL variance, PTSD symptoms explaining 10% (negative beta) and, in the second step, social support explained 15%. The results suggest that it would be important to include QoL as an outcome measure in clinical and research work in these populations, with special attention to PTSD and social support. Disclosure of interest The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
Time to first significant job for vocational graduates in Spain

ABSTRACT In this paper we analyze the transition from vocational education to a first significant job for Spanish young people. The data comes from the Survey on Education and Labor Market Transitions, targeting various collectives who finished their non-university studies. Discrete duration models are estimated to identify the determinants of the time-to-first significant job. The main results show that, contrary to what is expected, there are no significant differences for students graduating in intermediate or in advanced vocational training. Nonetheless, vocational education is characterized by a high specialization by gender, which is translated into differences in the transition to employment. Furthermore, previous professional experience in precarious jobs does not improve access to quality employment, whereas internships performed within studies, when evaluated by the young as satisfactory, have a positive impact. Other subjective aspects, such as a high value assigned to work or family or a priority focused on achieving a stable job lead to a smoother school-to-work transition.