Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does Unusual Entrainment of the Circadian System Under T36h Photocycles Reduce the Critical Daylength for Photoperiodic Induction in Japanese Quail?

In photoperiodic species, short daylength resonance cycles of modulo t + ½t (t = 24 h) behave like long days because they entrain the circadian system so that alternate light pulses coincide with the photoinducible phase (ø1) in castrated quail. However, while a long-day response after exposure to a single long daylength is readily detected by a rise in plasma LH (photoinduction), long-term exposure to LD 6:30 is ineffective in this respect. To discover whether this occurs because of unusual entrainment, circadian rhythms in quail and starlings were investigated. Whereas starlings entrained in the expected way with alternate pulses falling at different circadian phases, activity bouts in quail appeared to follow 24 h after successive light pulses. Because of this, activity was examined in free-running conditions to confirm that the pacemaker in quail was indeed being reset to a constant phase (reset to circadian time [CT] 0) by successive pulses. Examination of the circadian rhythms of plasma melatonin secretion under LD 6:30 also showed a resetting to CT 0. The positioning of all light pulses at the same circadian phase in the early subjective day explains the lack of photoinduction in quail since ø1 in the early subjective night phase remains unilluminated. A second feature in quail is that when the length of the photophase is gradually increased within T36h cycles, there is a progressive increase in the degree of photoinduction although the photophase length remains well below the critical daylength for induction in normal T24h cycles. We therefore tested whether ø1 is reset to a constant phase by successive pulses in LD 6:30, and that this phase is also advanced relative to light onset so that photophases shorter than the critical daylength can interact with ø1 to cause induction. Such a reduction in critical daylength relative to successive LD 6:30 pulses was confirmed by transferring quail to various types of long day and measuring the change in LH secretion. When the long-day test was replaced with continuous light, stimulation of LH secretion occurred 5-7 h earlier in quail pretreated with LD 6:30 and LD 6:54 compared to quail pretreated with LD 6:18 or LD 6:42, implying that ø 1 had been markedly phase advanced under resonance cycles.
The positive relationship between alcohol and heart disease in eastern Europe: potential physiological mechanisms

Research into the effect of alcohol on cardiovascular disease has indicated protective effects from moderate consumption. These observations, made in industrialized countries, have influenced policies on alcohol in countries where the situation may be quite different—specifically, where consumption is substantially higher or patterns of drinking are different. In central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, a growing body of epidemiological research indicates a positive rather than negative association between alcohol consumption and cardiovascular deaths, especially sudden cardiac deaths. By means of a systematic review of published work, we examine whether there is a physiological basis for the observed association between alcohol and heart disease seen in eastern Europe, focusing on the effects of high levels of consumption and of irregular or binge drinking. In binge drinkers, cardioprotective changes in high-density lipoproteins are not seen, and adverse changes in low-density lipoproteins are acquired. Irregular drinking is associated with an increased risk of thrombosis, occurring after cessation of drinking. It predisposes both to histological changes in the myocardium and conducting system and to a reduction in the threshold for ventricular fibrillation. Measures of frequency as well as quantity of consumption should be included in epidemiological studies. Taken with the epidemiological evidence emerging from eastern Europe, these observations have important implications for estimates of the burden of disease attributable to alcohol.
Hyperbolic mixed-type inhibition of acetylcholinesterase by tetracyclic thienopyrimidines

A series of tetracyclic thienopyrimidines (7–14) was prepared and investigated as inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase from Electrophorus electricus acetylcholinesterase (EeAChE), as well as human acetylcholinesterase (hAChE) and human butyrylcholinesterase (hBChE). A new synthetic procedure was employed for the synthesis of the angularly fused heterocycles 7–10. Among them, the presence of a tetrahydropyrido ring with a benzyl rest at the basic nitrogen was required for EeAChE inhibition. A detailed kinetic analysis of the hyperbolic mixed-type inhibition of EeAChE by 9–14 was performed. These heterocyclic compounds inhibited EeAChE with Ki values of less than 3 µM. Most α values were relatively close to 1, indicating a similar affinity of the inhibitor to the free enzyme and the enzyme-substrate complex. Inhibitor 10 displayed a rather uncompetitive pattern of inhibition (α = 0.47) and a relatively high residual activity of a postulated ternary enzyme-substrate-inhibitor complex (β = 0.24).
Adaptive measurement for energy efficient mobility management in ultra-dense small cell networks

Ultra-dense network is considered a promising solution for high network capacity. It is favored for its scalability and cost effectiveness. However, when a user equipment (UE) is in a long discontinuous reception cycle and at high speeds, it may suffer from poor mobility performance and high power consumption. While handover algorithms have been widely studied, the impact of mobility measurements on mobility performance is largely ignored. In this paper, we investigate how to perform mobility measurements intelligently. We analyze the radio link failure rate and the timing of handover. We then propose a mechanism to adjust measurement frequency based on the analysis to minimize the power consumption. Our simulation results demonstrate the mechanism can save considerable amount of energy in ultra-dense networks.
Efficient Data Placement for Improving Data Access Performance on Domain-Wall Memory

A domain-wall memory (DWM) is becoming an attractive candidate to replace the traditional memories for its high density, low-power leakage, and low access latency. Accessing data on DWM is accomplished by shift operations that move data located on nanowires to read/write ports. Due to this kind of construction, data accesses on DWM exhibit varying access latencies. Therefore, data placement (DP) strategy has a significant impact on the performance of data accesses on DWM. In this paper, we prove the nondeterministic polynomial time (NP)-completeness of the DP problem on DWM. For the DWMs organized in single DWM block cluster (DBC), we present integer linear programming formulations to solve the problem optimally. We also propose an efficient single DBC placement (S-DBC-P) algorithm to exploit the benefits of multiple read/write ports and data locality. Compared with the sequential DP strategy, S-DBC-P reduces 76.9% shift operations on average for eight-port DWMs. Furthermore, for DP problem on the DWMs organized in multiple DBCs, we develop an efficient multiple DBC placement (M-DBC-P) algorithm to utilize the parallelism of DBCs. The experimental results show that the M-DBC-P achieves 90% performance improvement over the sequential DP strategy.
Tissue-specific roles of Axin2 in the inhibition and activation of Wnt signaling in the mouse embryo

Axin proteins are key negative regulators of the canonical Wnt signal transduction pathway. Although Axin2 null mice are viable, we identified an unusual ENU-induced recessive allele of Axin2, canp, that causes midgestation lethality in homozygotes. We show that the Axin2canp mutation is a V26D substitution in an invariant N-terminal sequence motif and that the Axin2canp protein is more stable than wild type. As predicted for an increased level of a negative regulator, the Axin2canp mutation leads to decreased Wnt signaling in most tissues, and this can account for most of the morphological phenotypes of Axin2canp mutants. In contrast, there is a paradoxical increase in canonical Wnt activity in the late primitive streak of all Axin2canp mutant embryos that is associated with the formation of an ectopic tail in some mutants. Treatment of wild-type embryos with an inhibitor of Tankyrase that stabilizes Axin proteins also causes inhibition of Wnt signaling in anterior regions of the embryo and a gain of Wnt signaling in the primitive streak. The results indicate that although increased stability of Axin2 leads to a loss of canonical Wnt signaling in most tissues, stabilized Axin2 enhances Wnt pathway activity in a specific progenitor population in the late primitive streak.
Impacts of climate change on the world's most exceptional ecoregions

The current rate of warming due to increases in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is very likely unprecedented over the last 10,000 y. Although the majority of countries have adopted the view that global warming must be limited to <2 °C, current GHG emission rates and nonagreement at Copenhagen in December 2009 increase the likelihood of this limit being exceeded by 2100. Extensive evidence has linked major changes in biological systems to 20th century warming. The “Global 200” comprises 238 ecoregions of exceptional biodiversity [Olson DM, Dinerstein E (2002) Ann Mo Bot Gard 89:199–224]. We assess the likelihood that, by 2070, these iconic ecoregions will regularly experience monthly climatic conditions that were extreme in 1961–1990. Using >600 realizations from climate model ensembles, we show that up to 86% of terrestrial and 83% of freshwater ecoregions will be exposed to average monthly temperature patterns >2 SDs (2σ) of the 1961–1990 baseline, including 82% of critically endangered ecoregions. The entire range of 89 ecoregions will experience extreme monthly temperatures with a local warming of <2 °C. Tropical and subtropical ecoregions, and mangroves, face extreme conditions earliest, some with <1 °C warming. In contrast, few ecoregions within Boreal Forests and Tundra biomes will experience such extremes this century. On average, precipitation regimes do not exceed 2σ of the baseline period, although considerable variability exists across the climate realizations. Further, the strength of the correlation between seasonal temperature and precipitation changes over numerous ecoregions. These results suggest many Global 200 ecoregions may be under substantial climatic stress by 2100.
A fuzzy citation-kNN algorithm for multiple instance learning

In multiple instance learning (MIL) setting, instances are grouped together in different labeled bags and the classifier tries to learn the label of unknown bags or instances. This is significantly different from traditional supervised learning techniques where the instances are labeled itself. In this work, a fuzzy based citation-kNN technique, which uses modified Hausdorff distance between bags, is introduced. Introduction of a fuzzy distance measure helps to solve the problem of overlapping bags. Effect of false positive instances in a positive bag are also reduced by calculating a fuzzy class membership for the training bags. Experiments on drug discovery and image datasets show that the performance of the proposed algorithm (MI-FCKNN) is better than the traditional citation-kNN and competitive with most state-of-the-art algorithms.
Habitat Fragmentation and the Demographic Structure of an Amazonian Understory Herb (Heliconia acuminata)

Abstract: Little is known about the demographic consequences of fragmentation for plant populations. By assessing the population structure of a common herb ( Heliconia acuminata) in an experimentally fragmented landscape in the central Amazon, we tested the predictions that fragmentation could reduce population density, alter population structure, and reduce reproductive effort. Population density in continuous forest varied six‐fold, some areas having high density and others low density. Population density in small fragments and on the edges of large fragments was often low, but it was within the range of densities found in continuous forest, and the difference between locations was not significant. Heliconia populations in forest fragments were skewed toward smaller demographic size classes, however. Because reproduction in H. acuminata is positively correlated with plant size, these shifts were predicted to result in fewer flowering plants in forest fragments. The proportion of the population flowering in forest fragments and continuous forest was not significantly different, although there was a trend toward proportionately greater flowering in continuous forest. For plants that did flower, per‐individual reproductive success (measured as developing fruit set) was the same in forest fragments and continuous forests. Our results suggest that per‐individual and population‐level reproduction by understory herbs in tropical forest fragments may be resistant to the detrimental consequences of fragment isolation. Our study also highlights the need to consider how fragmentation influences aspects of population structure and demography beyond abundance and fruit production, because these alternative measures of population structure can be modified in forest fragments in subtle, unexpected ways.
Effects of High-Fat Diets Containing Different Fats on Cholesterol Metabolism in Starvation-Refeeding Rats

The present study was performed to investegate the effects of high-fat diets containing different fats on cholesterol metabolism in starvation-refeeding rats. Forty female Donryu rats were divided into two groups and then fed high-fat diets containing beef tallow or corn oil without cholesterol for 14 days. Then, 10 rats from each group were divided into high-cholesterol and cholesterol-free groups (Experiment 1). Another 10 rats from beef tallow and corn oil groups were divided into high-cholesterol and high-cholesterol-cholestyramine groups (Experiment 2). All rats were fasted for 2 days followed by 3 days of feeding. In Experiment 1, the high-cholesterol diet caused significant increases in plasma total cholesterol and cholesteryl ester concentrations in the beef tallow diet group. In Experiment 2, dietary cholestyramine markedly decreased plasma and liver cholesterol levels; however, these cholesterol levels were higher in the beef tallow diet group even if cholestyramine was added to the diet. These results suggested that the cholesterol- lowering effect of dietary corn oil may not be due solely to reabsorption of bile acids. This study suggested that high-fat diets containing different fats affected cholesterol metabolism under conditions of starvation-refeeding.
Epidermal differentiation in embryos of the tuatara Sphenodon punctatus (Reptilia, Sphenodontidae) in comparison with the epidermis of other reptiles

Studying the epidermis in primitive reptiles can provide clues regarding evolution of the epidermis during land adaptation in vertebrates. With this aim, the development of the skin of the relatively primitive reptile Sphenodon punctatus in representative embryonic stages was studied by light and electron microscopy and compared with that of other reptiles previously studied. The dermis organizes into a superficial and deep portion when the epidermis starts to form the first layers. At embryonic stages comparable with those of lizards, only one layer of the inner periderm is formed beneath the outer periderm. This also occurs in lizards and snakes so far studied. The outer and inner periderm form the embryonic epidermis and accumulate thick, coarse filaments (25–30 nm thick) and sparse alpha‐keratin filaments as in other reptiles. Beneath the embryonic epidermis an oberhautchen and beta‐cells form small horny tips that represent overlapping borders along the margin of beta‐cells that overlap other beta‐cells (in a tile‐like arrangement). The tips resemble those of agamine lizards but at a small scale, forming a lamellate‐spinulated pattern as previously described in adult epidermis. The embryonic epidermis matures by the dispersion of coarse filaments among keratin at the end of embryonic development and is shed around hatching. The presence of these matrix organelles in the embryonic epidermis of this primitive reptile further indicates that amniote epidermis acquired interkeratin matrix proteins early for land adaptation. Unlike the condition in lizards and snakes, a shedding complex is not formed in the epidermis of embryonic S. punctatus that is like that of the adult. Therefore, as in chelonians and crocodilians, the epidermis of S. punctatus also represents an initial stage that preceded the evolution of the shedding complex for moulting.
Drastic Anomaly Detection in Video Using Motion Direction Statistics

A novel approach for detecting anomaly in visual surveillance system is proposed in this paper. It is composed of three parts: (a) a dense motion field and motion statistics method, (b) motion directional PCA for feature dimensionality reduction, (c) an improved one-class SVM for one-class classification. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in detecting abnormal events in surveillance video, while keeping a low false alarm rate. Our scheme works well in complicated situations that common tracking or detection modules cannot handle.
Strategic Transfer Pricing and Social Welfare under Product Differentiation

In this paper, we investigate the social impacts of strategic transfer pricing by oligopoly firms, aiming to derive regulatory implications for transfer prices. A notable finding from our model is that the negative effects on social welfare of transfer prices being set above marginal cost are pronounced when either (1) the number of competing firms is large and the product is relatively highly differentiated or (2) the number of firms is small and the product is not very differentiated. This result indicates that even when the number of firms in the industry is significant and the market is thus apparently competitive, the authorities should not overlook the possibility that setting transfer prices above marginal cost might seriously damage social welfare if the product is highly differentiated.
Fertility, Mortality and Environmental Policy

This article examines pollution and environmental mortality in an economy where fertility is endogenous and output is produced from labor and capital by two sectors, dirty and clean. An emission tax curbs dirty production, which decreases pollution-induced mortality but also shifts resources to the clean sector. If the dirty sector is more capital intensive, then this shift increases labor demand and wages. This, in turn, raises the opportunity cost of rearing a child, thereby decreasing fertility and the population size. Correspondingly, if the clean sector is more capital intensive, then the emission tax decreases the wage and increases fertility. Although the proportion of the dirty sector in production falls, the expansion of population boosts total pollution, aggravating mortality.
Are Capital Markets Efficient? Evidence from the Term Structure of Interest Rates in Europe

This paper investigates the uncovered interest parity hypothesis in an unusual way. We provide empirical evidence on the efficiency of capital markets using a time domain approach. However, a common prediction from theoretical models is that inefficient capital markets cause greater volatility of the observed time series. By using cross spectral analysis we are able to test this proposition directly. We show, in particular, how this can be done for time-varying models and time-varying spectra. We use our techniques to examine the changing stability of the relationship between British and German interest rates during and following the ERM crisis of 1992/3.
ANTECEDENTES DO DESEMPENHO DO ESCRITÓRIO DE GERENCIAMENTO DE PROJETOS (EGP): UM ESTUDO QUANTITATIVO DOS FATORES INFLUENCIADORES ATRAVÉS DE MODELO HIPOTÉTICO

Em tempos de competicao crescente as organizacoes tem sido levadas a se estruturarem para dar respostas rapidas, flexiveis e inovadoras, pois o ambiente no qual operam e cada vez mais complexo e competitivo, portanto, ao instrumentalizar maneiras de promover a mudanca o sucesso dos projetos se torna critico para o sucesso do negocio. Projetos sao importantes instrumentos para promover mudancas e desenvolvimento, o que leva as empresas a perspectiva do Gerenciamento de Projetos (GP), um assunto de relevância no ambiente corporativo, que vem ganhando destaque nos ultimos 50 anos tambem na literatura especializada, esta, ao longo do tempo tem analisado e identificado os aspectos que direcionam e orientam as atividades administrativas e comportamentais em projetos. A partir da decada de 1990 intensificou-se nas empresas a criacao dos Escritorios de Gerenciamento de Projetos (EGP) que surgem como uma entidade organizacional reconhecida pelo executivo como o orgao responsavel pelos projetos e que recebe a atribuicao de todos os aspectos relacionados ao gerenciamento de projetos na organizacao. Sua idealizacao envolve direcionamento estrategico de negocio que e permanente ao se acompanhar o beneficio esperado no desenvolvimento de um projeto, e deve ser precedido de uma analise de viabilidade financeira consistente, de fato, projetos somente sao executados por pessoas, entao recorrer a literatura e propiciar treinamento e fundamental para que no cenario de operacoes, onde se materializa o produto do projeto, o gerente de projetos e os membros do time de projeto tenham perfeito entendimento de como contribuir efetivamente para alcancar os resultados de negocio esperados. Nesse contexto, este projeto de dissertacao tem como objetivo avaliar o desempenho do escritorio de gerenciamento de projetos, a partir dos constructos: estrategias de implantacao, capacitacao e treinamento de pessoal e controle do ambiente de operacoes em projetos, reunidos em um modelo estrutural hipotetico para se tentar explicar qual a influencia da institucionalizacao de metodos combinados com controle do ambiente e esforcos de capacitacao e treinamento no desempenho do escritorio de gerenciamento de projetos. Para alcancar os objetivos especificos, sera realizada uma pesquisa quantitativa e descritiva, atraves de survey para populacao gerentes de projetos em uma amostra nao-probabilistica com posterior tratamento de dados por meio de analise estatistica multivariada. Palavras chave: Escritorio de Gerenciamento de Projetos, Desempenho, Estrategia, Pessoas, Operacoes.
The New Politics of British Local Governance

Foreword R.A. W.Rhodes - Introduction Gerry Stoker - Governance Failure B.Jessop - Local Governance after Fordism: A Regulationist Perspective J.Painter & M.Goodwin - Regime Formation in Manchester and Edinburgh A.Harding - Policy Networks and Local Political Leadership in Britain and France P.John & A.Cole - Understanding Urban Governance: The Contribution of Rational Choice K.Dowding, P.Dunleavy, D.King, H.Margetts & Y.Rydin - Local Governance in the Shadow of Juridification D.Cooper - Local Governance: The Assessments of Councillors, Quango Members and the Public B.Miller & M.Dickson - The Changing Nature of Local Labour Politics D.Hall & S.Leach - The Conservative Party in Local Government, 1979-97 I.Holliday - Participation Strategies and Local Environmental Politics: Local Agenda 21 S.C. Young - Technical Expertise and Public Participation in Planning for Housing 'Playing the numbers game' J.Murdoch, S.Abram & T.Marsden - User Participation in Community Housing 'Is Small Really Beautiful' D.Clapham, K.Kintrea & H.Kay - Patterns of Inclusion and Exclusion: Ethnic Minorities and Urban Development Corporations S.Brownill, K.Razzaque, T.Stirling & H.Thomas - Feminist Intervention and Local Domestic Violence Policy S.Abrar