Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Navigation-Related Brain Regions in Migratory versus Non-Migratory Noctuid Moths

Brain structure and function are tightly correlated across all animals. While these relations are ultimately manifestations of differently wired neurons, many changes in neural circuit architecture lead to larger-scale alterations visible already at the level of brain regions. Locating such differences has served as a beacon for identifying brain areas that are strongly associated with the ecological needs of a species—thus guiding the way towards more detailed investigations of how brains underlie species-specific behaviors. Particularly in relation to sensory requirements, volume-differences in neural tissue between closely related species reflect evolutionary investments that correspond to sensory abilities. Likewise, memory-demands imposed by lifestyle have revealed similar adaptations in regions associated with learning. Whether this is also the case for species that differ in their navigational strategy is currently unknown. While the brain regions associated with navigational control in insects have been identified (central complex (CX), lateral complex (LX) and anterior optic tubercles (AOTU)), it remains unknown in what way evolutionary investments have been made to accommodate particularly demanding navigational strategies. We have thus generated average-shape atlases of navigation-related brain regions of a migratory and a non-migratory noctuid moth and used volumetric analysis to identify differences. We further compared the results to identical data from Monarch butterflies. Whereas we found differences in the size of the nodular unit of the AOTU, the LX and the protocerebral bridge (PB) between the two moths, these did not unambiguously reflect migratory behavior across all three species. We conclude that navigational strategy, at least in the case of long-distance migration in lepidopteran insects, is not easily deductible from overall neuropil anatomy. This suggests that the adaptations needed to ensure successful migratory behavior are found in the detailed wiring characteristics of the neural circuits underlying navigation—differences that are only accessible through detailed physiological and ultrastructural investigations. The presented results aid this task in two ways. First, the identified differences in neuropil volumes serve as promising initial targets for electrophysiology. Second, the new standard atlases provide an anatomical reference frame for embedding all functional data obtained from the brains of the Bogong and the Turnip moth.
Privacy Awareness in Mobile Business: How Mobile OS and Apps Support Transparency in the Use of Personal Data

Personal data of consumers has become a highly valuable resource in e-business. Technologies like smartphones, social networks or search engines help to access, collect and monitor an almost infinite amount of data about consumers. In this environment the traditional notice and consent principle seems insufficient for effective privacy protection. Awareness and control are constituting parts of an effective privacy management. This paper investigates how privacy awareness is supported in mobile business. Due to the critical privacy situation in this field, several third-party privacy enhancing mobile apps emerged beside the OS functionalities. The paper explores what information objects these awareness enhancing apps provide. Based on a detailed analysis of 19 apps, a set of 11 information objects is identified that contributes to 4 dimensions of privacy awareness. The findings show that the OS mainly focus on transparency regarding permission systems, that users can obtain more information about the use of their data by using specialized apps and that some dimensions of privacy awareness are almost not supported and open for research as well as the development of new solutions.
Photocopier forensics based on arbitrary text characters

A photocopied document can expose the photocopier characteristics to identify the source photocopier, so how to extract the optimal intrinsic features is critical for photocopier forensics. In this paper, a photocopier forensics method based on the texture features analysis for arbitrary characters is proposed and the features are considered as the intrinsic features. Firstly, an image preprocessing process is practiced to get individual character images. Secondly, three sets of features are extracted from each individual character image, including the gray level features, the gradient differential matrix (GDM) features and the gray level gradient co-occurrence matrix (GLGCM) features. Last, each individual character in a document is classified using a Fisher classifier and a majority vote is performed on the character classification results to identify the source photocopier. Experimental results on seven photocopiers prove the effectiveness of our proposed method and an average character classification accuracy of 88.47% can be achieved.
Comparative Complete Genome Analysis of Chicken and Turkey Megriviruses (Family Picornaviridae): Long 3′ Untranslated Regions with a Potential Second Open Reading Frame and Evidence for Possible Recombination

ABSTRACT Members of the family Picornaviridae consist of small positive-sense single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA) viruses capable of infecting various vertebrate species, including birds. One of the recently identified avian picornaviruses, with a remarkably long (>9,040-nucleotide) but still incompletely sequenced genome, is turkey hepatitis virus 1 (THV-1; species Melegrivirus A, genus Megrivirus), a virus associated with liver necrosis and enteritis in commercial turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo). This report presents the results of the genetic analysis of three complete genomes of megriviruses from fecal samples of chickens (chicken/B21-CHV/2012/HUN, GenBank accession no. KF961186, and chicken/CHK-IV-CHV/2013/HUN, GenBank accession no. KF961187) (Gallus gallus domesticus) and turkey (turkey/B407-THV/2011/HUN, GenBank accession no. KF961188) (Meleagris gallopavo) with the largest picornavirus genome (up to 9,739 nucleotides) so far described. The close phylogenetic relationship to THV-1 in the nonstructural protein-coding genome region and possession of the same internal ribosomal entry site type (IVB-like) suggest that the study strains belong to the genus Megrivirus. However, the genome comparisons revealed numerous unique variations (e.g., different numbers of potential 2A peptides, unusually long 3′ genome parts with various lengths of a potential second open reading frame, and multiple repeating sequence motifs in the 3′ untranslated region) and heterogeneous sequence relationships between the structural and nonstructural genome regions. These differences suggest the classification of chicken megrivirus-like viruses into a candidate novel species in the genus Megrivirus. Based on the different phylogenetic positions of chicken megrivirus-like viruses at the structural and nonstructural genome regions, the recombinant nature of these viruses is plausible. IMPORTANCE The comparative genome analysis of turkey and novel chicken megriviruses revealed numerous unique genome features, e.g., up to four potential 2A peptides, unusually long 3′ genome parts with various lengths containing a potential second open reading frame, multiple repeating sequence motifs, and heterogeneous sequence relationships (possibly due to a recombination event) between the structural and nonstructural genome regions. Our results could help us to better understand the evolution and diversity (in terms of sequence and genome layout) of picornaviruses.
Prevalence of Psychiatric Disorders among the Rural Geriatric Population: A Pilot Study in Karnataka, India

Background: Increasing life expectancy around the world, an outstanding achievement of our century, has brought with it new public health challenges. India is the second most populous country in the world, with over 72 million inhabitants above 60 years of age as of 2001. The life expectancy in India increased from 32 years in 1947 to over 66 years in 2010, with 8.0% of the population now reaching over 60 years of age. Few studies in India target the health, especially mental health, of this geriatric population. This study aims to estimate the current prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the geriatric population of the rural area of Singanodi,Karnataka, India. Methods: This cross sectional, epidemiological, community-based study was conducted in a rural health training area of Singanodi, Raichur District, Karnataka, India.The General Health Questionnaire-12, Mini Mental State Examination, and Geriatric Depression Scale were administered to 366 participants. Chi square tests with Yates correction were utilized for statistical analysis using SPSS 19.0 software. Results: We found that 33.9% of the geriatric population in the selected province were above the threshold for mental illness based on the GHQ-12 questionnaire. Females had a higher prevalence of mental disorder at 77.6% (152 out of 196) as compared to males who had a prevalence of 42.4% (72 out of 170). The most common psychiatric disorder was depression (21.9%), and generalized anxiety was present in 10.7% of the study population. Prevalence of cognitive impairment was 16.3%, with a significantly higher percentage of affected individuals in 80+ age group. Conclusion: Mental disorders are common among elderly people, but they are not well documented in rural India. The assessment of psychiatric disorder prevalence will help strengthen psycho-geriatric services and thus improve the quality of life of the elderly. A system that ensures comprehensive health care will have to be developed for this purpose as part of our future efforts.
A randomized double‐blind comparative study of mycophenolate mofetil and azathioprine in combination with cyclosporine and corticosteroids in primary liver transplant recipients

Acute hepatic allograft rejection occurs in approximately 50% to 60% of the patients undergoing liver transplantation. In this study, we compared the rate of acute rejection in liver transplant recipients randomized in a double‐blind comparative study to treatment with mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) or azathioprine (AZA), both in combination with cyclosporine and corticosteroids. Five hundred sixty‐five primary liver transplant recipients were randomly assigned to treatment with MMF, 1 g twice daily intravenously followed by 1.5 g twice daily orally (n = 278), or AZA, 1.0 to 2.0 mg/kg/d intravenously followed by oral administration (n = 287), in combination with cyclosporine and corticosteroids. Patients were followed up for at least 1 year, and efficacy analysis was based on intent‐to‐treat methods. Acute rejection was defined according to the Banff histological criteria. The two study groups were balanced for demographic and clinical baseline characteristics. The incidence of acute rejection or graft loss was 47.7% in the AZA patients and 38.5% in the MMF patients (P < .03). The incidence of biopsy‐proven and treated rejection censoring for graft loss was 40.0% in the AZA group versus 31.0% in the MMF group (P < .06). Steroid‐resistant rejection requiring treatment with either OKT3 or antithymocyte globulin occurred in 8.2% of AZA patients versus 3.8% in MMF patients (P < .02). Patient and graft survival rates at 1 year posttransplantation were 85.4% in the AZA group and 85.3% in the MMF group (P = not significant). MMF was superior to AZA in preventing acute rejection in the first 6 months posttransplantation. MMF and AZA were equivalent in preventing graft loss at 1 year, and the safety profiles between the two immunosuppressive agents were similar.
The reversal of the gender gap in education and its impact on union formation: the end of hypergamy 1

The educational expansion that most countries in the world have witnessed in recent decades has been accompanied by a reduction of the gender gap in educational attainment. The consequences of this unprecedented phenomenon have yet to be explored in many of the dimensions of social life. In this paper we examine the impact that the advances in women's education has had on gender symmetry in union formation and, more specifically, on female educational hypergamy (women's tendency to marry men with a higher educational attainment than themselves). We use newly integrated IPUMS census micro-data from 103 samples and taken in 38 countries. Results from multilevel linear regression models show that female educational hypergamy is lower in societies with a lower gender gap in education and that where the gender gap reverses female hypogamy becomes the norm. Thus, if current trends in education are to continue, the pervasiveness of hypergamy will tend to disappear.
Time-Dependent Alterations of MMPs, TIMPs and Tendon Structure in Human Achilles Tendons after Acute Rupture

A balance between matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their inhibitors (TIMPs) is required to maintain tendon homeostasis. Variation in this balance over time might impact on the success of tendon healing. This study aimed to analyze structural changes and the expression profile of MMPs and TIMPs in human Achilles tendons at different time-points after rupture. Biopsies from 37 patients with acute Achilles tendon rupture were taken at surgery and grouped according to time after rupture: early (2–4 days), middle (5–6 days), and late (≥7 days), and intact Achilles tendons served as control. The histological score increased from the early to the late time-point after rupture, indicating the progression towards a more degenerative status. In comparison to intact tendons, qRT-PCR analysis revealed a significantly increased expression of MMP-1, -2, -13, TIMP-1, COL1A1, and COL3A1 in ruptured tendons, whereas TIMP-3 decreased. Comparing the changes over time post rupture, the expression of MMP-9, -13, and COL1A1 significantly increased, whereas MMP-3 and -10 expression decreased. TIMP expression was not significantly altered over time. MMP staining by immunohistochemistry was positive in the ruptured tendons exemplarily analyzed from early and late time-points. The study demonstrates a pivotal contribution of all investigated MMPs and TIMP-1, but a minor role of TIMP-2, -3, and -4, in the early human tendon healing process.
Does corporate governance still affect firm performance after controlling the distress factor?

ABSTRACT We explore the impact of corporate governance on firm performance. We first identify whether corporate governance can still be an influential factor or has been largely captured by the traditional Fama-French three-factor model. More importantly, our study adds a financial distress factor to the Fama-French three-factor model to form a four-factor pricing model (labelled as the ‘financial distress four-factor model’). We find that for the US Russell 1000 firms, the financial distress four-factor model is the better model of the two models considered. We further find that the financial distress four-factor model has a higher explanatory power in capturing the return variation. We find that the differences between the return of firms with good (weak) corporate governance and the expected return are insignificantly different from zero for most portfolios in all the two models. The financial distress four-factor model, however, has the fewer portfolios with return difference being significantly different from zero, implying that corporate governance has been better priced in the financial distress factor.
Integrated Circuitry to Detect Slippage Inspired by Human Skin and Artificial Retinas

This paper presents a bioinspired integrated tactile coprocessor that is able to generate a warning in the case of slippage via the data provided by a tactile sensor. Some implementations use different layers of piezoresistive and piezoelectric materials to build upon the raw sensor and obtain the static (pressure) as well as the dynamic (slippage) information. In this paper, a simple raw sensor is used, and a circuitry is implemented, which is able to extract the dynamic information from a single piezoresistive layer. The circuitry was inspired by structures found in human skin and retina, as they are biological systems made up of a dense network of receptors. It is largely based on an artificial retina , which is able to detect motion by using relatively simple spatial temporal dynamics. The circuitry was adapted to respond in the bandwidth of microvibrations produced by early slippage, resembling human skin. Experimental measurements from a chip implemented in a 0.35-mum four-metal two-poly standard CMOS process are presented to show both the performance of the building blocks included in each processing node and the operation of the whole system as a detector of early slippage.
Extraction of overt verbal response from the acoustic noise in a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan by use of segmented active noise cancellation

A method to extract the subject's overt verbal response from the obscuring acoustic noise in an fMRI scan is developed by applying active noise cancellation with a conventional MRI microphone. Since the EPI scanning and its accompanying acoustic noise in fMRI are repetitive, the acoustic noise in one time segment was used as a reference noise in suppressing the acoustic noise in subsequent segments. However, the acoustic noise from the scanner was affected by the subject's movements, so the reference noise was adaptively adjusted as the scanner's acoustic properties varied in time. This method was successfully applied to a cognitive fMRI experiment with overt verbal responses. Magn Reson Med 53:739–744, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Periodic leaky-wave antenna with transverse slots based on substrate integrated waveguide

In this paper a new periodic leaky-wave antenna based on substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) is proposed and investigated. The proposed antenna uses multiple transverse slots in the upper plane of the SIW for radiation into the free space. This antenna operates in the first negative Floquet mode. Therefore, it scans the backward quadrant by a single beam over the frequency band of 14.6 to 20.2 GHz. The proposed antenna is simulated and the results are investigated.
Observations on the behaviour of Dermacentor andersoni larvae infesting normal and tick resistant guinea-pigs

SUMMARY In three separate experiments the behaviour of Dermacentor andersoni larvae on normal and tick-resistant guinea-pigs was studied at intervals throughout 5-day infestation periods. Fewer larvae survived on resistant hosts and their mean sizes were less than those of larvae on normal hosts, the differences becoming more obvious as time progressed. When measured at 32°C, the peristaltic rates of midgut diverticula of the larvae surviving on resistant hosts were consistently lower than those of larvae from normal hosts. Mean surface temperatures of infested ears were higher on resistant than on normal hosts. This was assumed to be a result of cutaneous hypersensitivity reactions in the resistant animals. Larvae detached, or changed attachment sites, more often on resistant than on normal hosts. This was consistently evident after 26 h post-infestation and correlated with the known timing of basophil cell infiltration and degranulation in the skin of infested, resistant guinea pigs. It appeared that most larvae, after detaching from the resistant host, died off the host. However, some died in situ while still attached. Such deaths occurred on resistant but not on normal animals between 8 and 26 h post-infestation.
Passive reach and grasp with functional electrical stimulation and robotic arm support

Rehabilitation of arm and hand function is crucial to increase functional independence of stroke subjects. Here, we investigate the technical feasibility of an integrated training system combining robotics and functional electrical stimulation (FES) to support reach and grasp during functional manipulation of objects. To support grasp and release, FES controlled the thumb and fingers using Model Predictive Control (MPC), while a novel 3D robotic manipulator provided reach support. The system's performance was assessed in both stroke and blindfolded healthy subjects, where the subject's passive arm and hand made functional reach, grasp, move and release movements while manipulating objects. The success rate of complete grasp, move and release tasks with different objects ranged from 33% to 87% in healthy subjects. In severe chronic stroke subjects especially the hand opening had a low success rate (<;25%) and no complete movements could be made. We demonstrated that our developed integrated training system can move the passive arm and hand for functional pick and place movements. In the current setup, the positioning accuracy of the robot with respect to the object position was critical for the overall performance. The use of a higher virtual stiffness and including feedback of object position in the robot control would likely improve the relative position accuracy. The system has potential for post-stroke rehabilitation, where support could be reduced based on patient performance which is needed to aid motor relearning of reach, grasp and release.
Phytochemical Screening and Antimicrobial Activity of Some Medicinal Plants Against Multi-drug Resistant Bacteria from Clinical Isolates

The in vitro antibacterial activity of various solvents and water extracts of aloe vera, neem, bryophyllum, lemongrass, tulsi, oregano, rosemary and thyme was assessed on 10 multi-drug resistant clinical isolates from both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and two standard strains including Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922. The zone of inhibition as determined by agar well diffusion method varied with the plant extract, the solvent used for extraction, and the organism tested. Klebsiella pneumoniae 2, Escherichia coli 3 and Staphylococcus aureus 3 were resistant to the plant extracts tested. Moreover, water extracts did not restrain the growth of any tested bacteria. Ethanol and methanol extracts were found to be more potent being capable of exerting significant inhibitory activities against majority of the bacteria investigated. Staphylococcus aureus 1 was the most inhibited bacterial isolate with 24 extracts (60%) inhibiting its growth whereas Escherichia coli 2 exhibited strong resistance being inhibited by only 11 extracts (28%). The results obtained in the agar diffusion plates were in fair correlation with that obtained in the minimum inhibitory concentration tests. The minimum inhibitory concentration of tulsi, oregano, rosemary and aloe vera extracts was found in the range of 1.56-6.25 mg/ml for the multi-drug resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates tested whereas higher values (6.25-25 mg/ml) were obtained against the multi-drug resistant isolates Klebsiella pneumoniae 1 and Escherichia coli 1 and 2. Qualitative phytochemical analysis demonstrated the presence of tannins and saponins in all plants tested. Thin layer chromatography and bioautography agar overlay assay of ethanol extracts of neem, tulsi and aloe vera indicated flavonoids and tannins as major active compounds against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.