Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
POSITIVE FEEDBACK BETWEEN ECOLOGICAL AND REPRODUCTIVE CHARACTER DISPLACEMENT IN A YOUNG AVIAN HYBRID ZONE

Character displacement can reduce costly interspecific interactions between young species. We investigated the mechanisms behind divergence in three key traits—breeding habitat choice, timing of breeding, and plumage coloration—in Ficedula flycatchers. We found that male pied flycatchers became expelled from the preferred deciduous habitat into mixed forest as the superior competitor, collared flycatchers, increased in numbers. The peak in food abundance differs between habitats, and the spatial segregation was paralleled by an increased divergence in timing of breeding between the two species. Male pied flycatchers vary from brown to black with brown coloration being more frequent in sympatry with collared flycatchers, a pattern often proposed to result from selection against hybridization, that is, reinforcement. In contrast to this view, we show that brown male pied flycatchers more often hybridize than black males. Male pied flycatcher plumage coloration influenced the territory obtained in areas of co‐occurrence with collared flycatchers, and brown male pied flycatchers experienced higher relative fitness than black males when faced with heterospecific competition. We suggest that allopatric divergence in resource defense ability causes a feedback loop at secondary contact where male pied flycatchers with the most divergent strategy compared to collared flycatchers are favored by selection.
Use of 5-Cyano-2,3-Ditolyl-Tetrazolium Chloride Staining as an Indicator of Biocidal Activity in a Rapid Assay for Anti-Acanthamoeba Agents

ABSTRACT The usefulness of 5-cyano-2,3-ditolyl-tetrazolium chloride (CTC) staining to determine the respiratory activity of Acanthamoeba was evaluated in this study. Acanthamoeba trophozoites and cysts have a red fluorescence after staining with CTC. To determine the effectiveness of CTC staining as a CTC biocidal assay for Acanthamoeba, the trophozoites and cysts of Acanthamoeba castellanii (ATCC 5037) were treated with serial concentrations of disinfectant solutions, namely, polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) and commercial soft contact lens (SCL) disinfectant solutions. The treated Acanthamoeba organisms were stained with CTC, and their respiratory activity was determined by the intensity of fluorescence in a fluorescence microplate reader. The survival rates of the same samples were determined by a culture-dependent biocidal assay using the Spearman-Karber method. Our results showed that the respiratory activities determined by the CTC biocidal assay and the survival rates determined by the culture-dependent biocidal assay for Acanthamoeba trophozoites and cysts decreased in a dose-dependent way after PHMB treatments, and the results were significantly correlated (r = 0.83 and P < 0.01 for trophozoites; r = 0.60 and P < 0.01 for cysts; Spearman rank correlation test). The respiratory activities in the trophozoites and cysts treated with SCL disinfectant solutions were significantly correlated with the survival rate (r = 0.70 and P < 0.01 for trophozoites; r = 0.64 and P < 0.01 for cysts; Spearman rank correlation test). The significant correlation of the results indicated that the CTC biocidal assay can be used as an alternative method to a culture-dependent biocidal assay. The CTC biocidal assay is a rapid and simple method to test the effectiveness of disinfectant solutions against Acanthamoeba trophozoites and cysts.
Autism Spectrum Disorder Screening and Management Practices Among General Pediatric Providers

ABSTRACT. It is unclear to what extent general developmental/behavioral assessments are performed, if screening for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is being conducted, and what the barriers to providing such assessments are in routine pediatric practice. Therefore, this study examines (1) the factors influencing the use of general developmental and autism-specific screening tools in primary care pediatric practice, (2) the barriers to providing these assessments, and (3) pediatricians' beliefs regarding ASD prevalence. A cross-sectional survey was mailed in June 2004 to a 60% (n = 1119) random sample of Maryland and Delaware licensed pediatricians. In August 2004, a second mailing was sent to nonrespondents. A total of 471 (42%) of the surveys were returned, and of those, 255 (54%) who practiced in general primary care were eligible. The sample was 47% male, 69% had more than 14 years' experience, 71% were in private practices, and 56% had fewer than 10 ASD patients. Most (82%) routinely screened for general developmental delays, but only 8% screened for ASD. The main reasons reported for not screening for ASD were lack of familiarity with tools (62%), referred to a specialist (47%), or not enough time (32%). Most specialist referrals (77%) were to a developmental pediatrician. Most pediatricians (71%) believed that ASD prevalence has increased, and nearly all attributed this to changes in diagnostic criteria and treatment. Service system limitations must be overcome to increase awareness and familiarity with screening tools, provide sufficient time and resources, improve screening, and enhance provider education.
Algorithmic graph minor theory: Decomposition, approximation, and coloring

At the core of the seminal graph minor theory of Robertson and Seymour is a powerful structural theorem capturing the structure of graphs excluding a fixed minor. This result is used throughout graph theory and graph algorithms, but is existential. We develop a polynomial-time algorithm using topological graph theory to decompose a graph into the structure guaranteed by the theorem: a clique-sum of pieces almost-embeddable into bounded-genus surfaces. This result has many applications. In particular we show applications to developing many approximation algorithms, including a 2-approximation to graph coloring, constant-factor approximations to treewidth and the largest grid minor, combinatorial polylogarithmic approximation to half-integral multicommodity flow, subexponential fixed-parameter algorithms, and PTASs for many minimization and maximization problems, on graphs excluding a fixed minor.
Activation of urokinase receptor by a novel interaction between the connecting peptide region of urokinase and αvβ5 integrin

The serine protease urokinase (uPA) binds to the urokinase receptor (uPAR) through its growth-factor domain (GFD, residues 1-49), affecting cell migration, adhesion and growth. Here, we show that uPA can promote cytoskeletal rearrangements and directional cell migration in a GFD-independent manner, through a new and specific interaction between an internal uPA domain coined `connecting peptide' (residues 132-158) and cell-surface integrin αvβ5. Remarkably, a peptide corresponding to this region (CPp, residues 135-158) retains the ability to bind to αvβ5, eliciting cytoskeletal rearrangements and directing cell migration at a concentration as low as 1-10 pM. These effects are lost in cells not expressing uPAR, indicating that the uPAR is required for CPp-dependent signaling. Furthermore, the CPp-αvβ5-integrin interaction enhances F-actin-enriched protrusions and cell migration induced by the well-established interaction between the uPAR-binding peptide (GFDp, residues 12-32) of uPA and uPAR. These results provide new insight into the function of uPA, which - through individual domains - can engage two different surface receptors (uPAR and αvβ5 integrin), thus initiating and potentiating intracellular signaling and migration.
Position Self-Sensing Evaluation of a FI-IPMSM Based on High-Frequency Signal Injection Methods

The flux-intensified interior permanent-magnet synchronous machine (IPMSM) (FI-IPMSM) lends itself to designing for good self-sensing properties. This paper begins by evaluating the self-sensing position estimation performance of a suitably designed FI-IPMSM machine using different high-frequency injection methods. This paper then uses an alternative square-wave injection method to estimate the FI-IPMSM rotor position. The experiment results show that the estimation accuracy and system robustness are improved. It is known that secondary saliencies and saliency offset caused by the saturation of the machine can degrade the estimation accuracy. This paper also includes modeling, measurement, and decoupling methods that mitigate these undesirable effects, which are also implemented using an experimental FI-IPMSM. Estimation accuracy and torque ripple caused by the injection current are examined for this FI-IPMSM. Comparisons of the methods are presented.
Long-term Planning by Short-term Prediction

We consider planning problems, that often arise in autonomous driving applications, in which an agent should decide on immediate actions so as to optimize a long term objective. For example, when a car tries to merge in a roundabout it should decide on an immediate acceleration/braking command, while the long term effect of the command is the success/failure of the merge. Such problems are characterized by continuous state and action spaces, and by interaction with multiple agents, whose behavior can be adversarial. We argue that dual versions of the MDP framework (that depend on the value function and the $Q$ function) are problematic for autonomous driving applications due to the non Markovian of the natural state space representation, and due to the continuous state and action spaces. We propose to tackle the planning task by decomposing the problem into two phases: First, we apply supervised learning for predicting the near future based on the present. We require that the predictor will be differentiable with respect to the representation of the present. Second, we model a full trajectory of the agent using a recurrent neural network, where unexplained factors are modeled as (additive) input nodes. This allows us to solve the long-term planning problem using supervised learning techniques and direct optimization over the recurrent neural network. Our approach enables us to learn robust policies by incorporating adversarial elements to the environment.
A reactive approach for detection of collusion attacks in P2P trust and reputation systems

Internet today is also a medium of sharing immeasurable amount of information for widespread Peer to Peer (P2P) environments. Various application domains such as file sharing, distributed computing and e community based applications adopted the P2P technology as underlying network structure. A fairly open structure of P2P network applications, also make peers exposed. Interaction with unfamiliar peer in the absence of a trusted third party makes them vulnerable to potential attacks. To enable a reliable communication among peers, trust and reputation mechanisms came into existence. Malicious behavior of peer itself within the network, make reputation system themselves as vulnerable to attacks. Malicious peers often collude to procure a collective objective. The paper reviews existing collusion attacks. It also proposes a reactive defense mechanism against such collusion attacks. The proposed mechanism, detects collusion based on underlying trust and reputation knowledge. It also provides a reduction mechanism to chastise colluded peers.
Dynamic Characteristics of Tiny Ultrasonic Linear Actuators

Tiny ultrasonic linear actuators TULAs are used in many industrial applications and a full characterization of their dynamic behavior is needed. This paper presents a detailed theoretical-experimental study of TULAs. The general structure and operation principle of TULAs are introduced. The actuator dynamics is then described using a simple piezoelectric model. In practice, TULAs are most often used as actuators for positioning mechanisms. The proposed model includes electromechanical relations which offer designers a broad range of possibilities for precise positioning and reliable model-based control. TULAs are experimentally investigated to determine the conditions that allow an optimal performance.
N-Acetyl-Cysteine Attenuates Endotoxin-Induced Adhesion Molecule Expression in Human Whole Blood

Leukocyte adhesion to endothelial cells plays a pivotal role in the early stage of endotoxin shock. The attenuation of the leukocyte response to endotoxin may contribute to the prevention of further organ dysfunction. Recent evidence implies that N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) attenuates endotoxin-induced pathophysiological changes. We investigated the effect of NAC on the expression of CD11b and CD62L in endotoxin-stimulated human whole blood. NAC (>10 mM) significantly inhibited the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced upregulation of CD11b in a concentration-dependent manner. However, NAC did not affect the LPS-induced downregulation of CD62L. We also analyzed the effect of NAC on interleukin-8 (IL-8)-induced expression of CD11b in human whole blood. IL-8 (10 ng/mL) significantly upregulated the expression of CD11b, and the IL-8-induced upregulation was significantly attenuated by NAC (>10 mM) in a dose-dependent manner. We conclude that NAC attenuates the increased expression of CD11b in either LPS or IL-8-stimulated human whole blood.
Antiviral Therapy for Enteroviruses and Rhinoviruses

The picornaviruses are a diverse group of viral pathogens that together comprise the most common causes of infection of humans in the developed world. Within the picornavirus family are three well-known groups of human pathogens — the rhinoviruses, the enteroviruses (including polioviruses, coxsackieviruses and echoviruses) and the hepatoviruses (including hepatitis A virus). This article will focus on the rhinoviruses and enteroviruses, agents for which substantial effort has been expended, and recent successes reported, toward the development of safe and effective antiviral therapy.
An agile radio framework for unmanaged wireless environments

The proposed demonstration is based on commodity 802.11 wireless cards and a low cost 2.4GHz sniffing device and shows how current WLAN based networks can benefit from spectrum awareness and dynamic access to the assigned band. The demonstrator presents a solution to problems in current wireless networks, like inefficient radio spectrum usage and limited ability to withstand interferences. The presented spectrum-aware radio management framework flexibly negotiates transmission parameters based on spectrum usage and application requirements and opportunistically utilizes available bandwidth. A key feature of this demonstrator is the fact that it breaks the traditional fixed channel bandwidth limitation and enables dynamic bandwidth allocation according to the needs of applications. It continuously monitors the assigned spectrum, tracks application behaviour, and dynamically adapts to the radio environment, such as interference and competition. Furthermore, a cross-media roaming mechanism is provided in the framework to support seamless handovers within and between radio technologies. Our enhancements are transparent to upper layer applications and will automatically benefit any software using network resources. The presented demonstrator uses wireless video streaming in a typical household scenario to illustrate the benefits without changes to the multimedia applications.
Crystal Structure of a Bifunctional Deaminase and Reductase from Bacillus subtilis Involved in Riboflavin Biosynthesis*

Bacterial RibG is an attractive candidate for development of antimicrobial drugs because of its involvement in the riboflavin biosynthesis. The crystal structure of Bacillus subtilis RibG at 2.41-Å resolution displayed a tetrameric ring-like structure with an extensive interface of ∼2400 Å2/monomer. The N-terminal deaminase domain belongs to the cytidine deaminase superfamily. A structure-based sequence alignment of a variety of nucleotide deaminases reveals not only the unique signatures in each family member for gene annotation but also putative substrate-interacting residues for RNA-editing deaminases. The strong structural conservation between the C-terminal reductase domain and the pharmaceutically important dihydrofolate reductase suggests that the two reductases involved in the riboflavin and folate biosyntheses evolved from a single ancestral gene. Together with the binding of the essential cofactors, zinc ion and NADPH, the structural comparison assists substrate modeling into the active-site cavities allowing identification of specific substrate recognition. Finally, the present structure reveals that the deaminase and the reductase are separate functional domains and that domain fusion is crucial for the enzyme activities through formation of a stable tetrameric structure.
Neuroanatomical Correlates of Morphine Dependence

Naloxone hydrochloride, an opioid antagonist, was applied to several discrete brain regions of morphine-dependent rats to precipitate abstinence. Severe withdrawal signs were elicited after administration in the thalamus but not in neocortical, hippocampal, hypothalamic, or tegmental areas of the brain.
Reference-Free Speech Quality Assessment for Mobile Phones Based on Audio Perception

Speech quality evaluation is a very complex task with important applications. With the deployment of 3G and 4G networks, the end-user is requiring more quality of service. Currently, the assessment of speech quality over mobile phones is done in a controlled environment with a reference clean signal and its distorted version. However, this does not evaluate the quality of speech in a real-time situation as it demands a reference signal. In this paper, it is introduced a new method to classify a speech signal over a mobile device as distorted or not. The degraded signal is evaluated and its quality is scored similarly as what is done by PESQ (Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality). The experiments proved that the method is quite efficient with an average difference of 12% comparing to PESQ scores which is based on a reference clean signal.
The Dynamic Relationships between Parenting and Adolescent Delinquency: A Group-Based Model Approach

Parenting has been found as a key factor for influencing adolescent delinquency. Past studies have shown that adolescents who expose to higher level of warmth, induction, and monitoring parenting would less likely be delinquents. However, most of these studies present the relationship between parenting and adolescent delinquency statically. That is, researchers show parenting measured at one time predicts adolescent delinquency at the same time or the other time. Researchers seldom demonstrate whether the change of parenting over time influences the change of adolescent delinquency. Theories of types of delinquents propose two types of delinquents in offender population (Patterson et al., 1992; Moffitt, 1993, 1997). Early starters show their delinquency in late childhood and persist into adulthood, while late starters show the behavior during mid-adolescence and desist after this period. Although researchers propose several predictions for distinguish types of delinquents and for explaining their developmental trajectories, parenting is the key factor among them. In predictor analysis, ineffective parenting in late childhood interacts with child's early temperament problems producing early starters. Several studies have demonstrated this argument (Fergusson et al., 2000; Nagin and Land, 1993; Wiesner and Silbereisen, 2003). In within delinquent group analysis, parenting has long been demonstrated its impact on adolescent delinquency (Lin, 2002). However, there is no research that systematically explores the relationship between parenting and delinquency over time under types of delinquents framework. In this study, we ask: How the change of parenting influences delinquent trajectories over time? Is there difference between different types of delinquents? Using 5-year panel data of adolescents in Taiwan, current study started from types of delinquents argument and provided a group-based model to distinguish groups of delinquents. Based on the delinquent groups, we presented a time-varying model for exploring the dynamic relationship between parenting and delinquent trajectories. The results showed two offender groups in the sample and correspond to theories of types of delinquents. We also found the dynamic effect of parenting over time when predicting delinquent trajectories. The parenting showed its prominent effect for late starters in the later waves, while for early starters parenting had intervention effect at every time point.
Beyond Timbral Statistics: Improving Music Classification Using Percussive Patterns and Bass Lines

This paper discusses a new approach for clustering sequences of bar-long percussive and bass-line patterns in audio music collections and its application to genre classification. Many musical genres and styles are characterized by two kinds of distinct representative patterns, i.e., percussive patterns and bass-line patterns. So far, in most automatic genre classification systems, rhythmic and bass melody information has not been effectively used. In order to extract bar-long unit rhythmic patterns for a music collection, we propose a clustering method based on one-pass dynamic programming and k-means clustering. For clustering bass-line patterns, a method based on k -means clustering capable of handling pitch-shifting is proposed. After extracting these two fundamental kinds of patterns for each style/genre, feature vectors which are suitable for representing information about the patterns are proposed for supervised learning. Experimental results show that the automatically calculated rhythmic pattern information and bass pattern information can be used to effectively classify musical genre/style and improve upon current approaches based on timbral features.
Metric based Software Project Performance Monitoring Model

Successful implementation of software projects development are entirely depending upon successful monitoring and controlling mechanism on software project management. Development of metrics for each element in a software project development will lead the software projects to achieve its objectives. The aim of this study is to formulate a Metric based Software Project Performance Monitoring Model which consists of performance criteria and metrics that involves in a software projects development. This model formulation is consists of five processes: metrics integration, metrics validation, metrics description, metrics categorization and metrics threshold. Generally, this model will be a guideline for project managers to monitor and manage software projects particularly in the perspectives of the public sectors. This proposes model also will help the project manager to evaluate the performance of each criteria and metrics by quantitatively. This model may assist the organization to monitor the software projects development more closely which may reduce the software projects failures. In order to demonstrate the applicability of this model, currently we are validating this model by conducting multiple case studies at various departments at Malaysian Public Sector. This model has significant bearing on the similar kind of software projects development undertaken in other developing countries like Malaysia.
The Cybersecurity Landscape in Industrial Control Systems

Industrial control systems (ICSs) are transitioning from legacy-electromechanical-based systems to modern information and communication technology (ICT)-based systems creating a close coupling between cyber and physical components. In this paper, we explore the ICS cybersecurity landscape including: 1) the key principles and unique aspects of ICS operation; 2) a brief history of cyberattacks on ICS; 3) an overview of ICS security assessment; 4) a survey of “uniquely-ICS” testbeds that capture the interactions between the various layers of an ICS; and 5) current trends in ICS attacks and defenses.