Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mitochondrial Phylogeography Illuminates the Origin of the Extinct Caspian Tiger and Its Relationship to the Amur Tiger

The Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata) flourished in Central Asian riverine forest systems in a range disjunct from that of other tigers, but was driven to extinction in 1970 prior to a modern molecular evaluation. For over a century naturalists puzzled over the taxonomic validity, placement, and biogeographic origin of this enigmatic animal. Using ancient-DNA (aDNA) methodology, we generated composite mtDNA haplotypes from twenty wild Caspian tigers from throughout their historic range sampled from museum collections. We found that Caspian tigers carry a major mtDNA haplotype differing by only a single nucleotide from the monomorphic haplotype found across all contemporary Amur tigers (P. t. altaica). Phylogeographic analysis with extant tiger subspecies suggests that less than 10,000 years ago the Caspian/Amur tiger ancestor colonized Central Asia via the Gansu Corridor (Silk Road) from eastern China then subsequently traversed Siberia eastward to establish the Amur tiger in the Russian Far East. The conservation implications of these findings are far reaching, as the observed genetic depletion characteristic of modern Amur tigers likely reflects these founder migrations and therefore predates human influence. Also, due to their evolutionary propinquity, living Amur tigers offer an appropriate genetic source should reintroductions to the former range of the Caspian tiger be implemented.
Multi-instance finger vein recognition using local hybrid binary gradient contour

In a finger vein authentication system, the image of a finger acquired for recognition always suffers from noises due to imperfect acquisition device, signal distortion, and variability of individual physical appearance over time. To improve the system performance, we propose a multi-instances finger vein recognition using feature level fusion. Local Hybrid Binary Gradient Contour (LHBGC) is proposed as the finger texture descriptor and SVM is used for classification. Experiments are conducted using the Shandong finger vein database (SDUMLA-HMT) and also the University Sains Malaysia finger vein database (FV-USM). Experimental results show a significant increase in performance accuracy when more than one fingers are combined, with an EER as low as 0.0038%.
Robust D-stability via discrete controllers for continuous time uncertain systems using LMIs with a scalar parameter

This paper addresses an alternative for the synthesis of a discrete-time stabilizing controller, taking into account requirements of D-stability via Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs) with a certain scalar parameter. Considering continuous time systems with polytopic uncertainty, this paper contributes with an alternative to incorporate D-stability requirements in the ∋2 and ∋∞ discrete-time controller synthesis from continuous-time D-stable regions via Euler's approximation. From these design requirements, robust controllers were designed and implemented for a case study system of two cars connected through a spring.
Efficacy and safety of a specific inhibitor of the BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase in chronic myeloid leukemia.

BACKGROUND BCR-ABL is a constitutively activated tyrosine kinase that causes chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Since tyrosine kinase activity is essential to the transforming function of BCR-ABL, an inhibitor of the kinase could be an effective treatment for CML. METHODS We conducted a phase 1, dose-escalating trial of STI571 (formerly known as CGP 57148B), a specific inhibitor of the BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase. STI571 was administered orally to 83 patients with CML in the chronic phase in whom treatment with interferon alfa had failed. Patients were successively assigned to 1 of 14 doses ranging from 25 to 1000 mg per day. RESULTS Adverse effects of STI571 were minimal; the most common were nausea, myalgias, edema, and diarrhea. A maximal tolerated dose was not identified. Complete hematologic responses were observed in 53 of 54 patients treated with daily doses of 300 mg or more and typically occurred in the first four weeks of therapy. Of the 54 patients treated with doses of 300 mg or more, cytogenetic responses occurred in 29, including 17 (31 percent of the 54 patients who received this dose) with major responses (0 to 35 percent of cells in metaphase positive for the Philadelphia chromosome); 7 of these patients had complete cytogenetic remissions. CONCLUSIONS STI571 is well tolerated and has significant antileukemic activity in patients with CML in whom treatment with interferon alfa had failed. Our results provide evidence of the essential role of BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase activity in CML and demonstrate the potential for the development of anticancer drugs based on the specific molecular abnormality present in a human cancer.
Measuring facial expression of emotion

Research into emotions has increased in recent decades, especially on the subject of recognition of emotions. However, studies of the facial expressions of emotion were compromised by technical problems with visible video analysis and electromyography in experimental settings. These have only recently been overcome. There have been new developments in the field of automated computerized facial recognition; allowing real-time identification of facial expression in social environments. This review addresses three approaches to measuring facial expression of emotion and describes their specific contributions to understanding emotion in the healthy population and in persons with mental illness. Despite recent progress, studies on human emotions have been hindered by the lack of consensus on an emotion theory suited to examining the dynamic aspects of emotion and its expression. Studying expression of emotion in patients with mental health conditions for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes will profit from theoretical and methodological progress.
The role of sensation seeking in children's ability to learn alcohol expectancy associations

Sensation seeking is a personality characteristic associated with problematic alcohol use and positive alcohol expectancies, but little research has examined the relationship between sensation seeking and the acquisition of alcohol expectancy information. In a recent study (Steinberg, 2003), sensation seeking was associated with how quickly and accurately college-aged students were able to learn alcohol-expectancy word pairs in a paired associate learning task. In this age group, however, the individuals had fully developed alcohol expectancies that may have influenced their rates of learning. The current study sought to minimize the influence of previously held alcohol expectancies by exploring this relationship in children when the development of alcohol expectancies is just beginning. The participants in this study were fifth grade students. A series of regressions examined the relationship between sensation seeking, alcohol expectancies, current and predicted future drinking with the acquisition of alcohol and expectancy word pairs in a paired associate learning task. Although no statistically significant relationships were found, children with higher drinking frequency and males with higher Thrill and Adventure Seeking (TAS) demonstrated a minor advantage in their ability to match alcohol and expectancy words in cued-recall trials.
Live-attenuated virus vaccines for respiratory syncytial and parainfluenza viruses: applications of reverse genetics.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and the human parainfluenza viruses (PIVs) are enveloped nonsegmented negative-strand RNA viruses of the paramyxovirus family. RSV is the leading cause of severe viral respiratory disease in infants and children, and in the United States RSV is responsible for 73,000 to 126,000 annual hospitalizations of infants younger than 1 year of age (1). Two antigenic subgroups of RSV, designated A and B, have been distinguished on the basis of antigenic and sequence dimorphism that is most pronounced for the ectodomain of the G protein, one of the two major protective antigens. Although there is substantial cross-reactivity between the two subgroups, they are sufficiently distinct that an effective RSV vaccine likely will need to represent both. The human PIV serotypes 1, 2, and 3 also cause severe respiratory tract disease that leads to hospitalization of infants and young children (2). PIV1, PIV2, and PIV3 are distinct serotypes that do not induce significant cross-neutralization or cross-protection. In a long term study of infants and children over a 20-year period, PIV1, PIV2, and PIV3 were identified as etiologic agents responsible for 6.0%, 3.2%, and 11.5%, respectively, of hospitalizations for pediatric respiratory tract disease (1). In total, the three PIVs accounted for only slightly less than the 23% of hospitalizations for pediatric respiratory tract disease caused by RSV. Therefore, there is a need for a vaccine to protect against these three serotypes of PIV and the two antigenic subgroups of RSV. An additional pediatric vaccine will likely be needed for the newly described but related human respiratory tract pathogen human metapneumovirus (3).
Kernel Density Filtering for Noisy Point Clouds in One Step

We present a method for filtering noisy point clouds, specifically those constructed from merged depth maps as obtained from a range scanner or multiple view stereo (MVS), applying techniques that have previously been used in finding outliers in clustered data, but not in MVS or range scanning. We estimate the probability density function (PDF) over the space of observed points via a technique called kernel density estimation. We utilize Mahalanobis distance and a variable bandwidth for weighting kernels accordingly, based on the nature of neighbouring points. Further, we incorporate a distance metric called the Reachability Distance that, as we show in our results, gives better discrimination than a classical Mahalanobis distancebased metric. With the addition of this nearest neighbour metric, we can produce results that are ready for meshing without any post-processing of the cloud. We mesh our filtered point clouds using a traditional surface fitting technique that is unequipped to deal with noise to demonstrate the efficacy of our method.
Quality of Life in the Late Follow-Up of Ulcerative Colitis Patients Submitted to Restorative Proctocolectomy with Sphincter Preservation Over Ten Years Ago

OBJECTIVE To evaluate, by means of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ), the quality of life of ulcerative colitis patients submitted to proctocolectomy with sphincter preservation using J-pouch reconstruction over ten years ago. METHODS The study consisted of 36 patients interviewed using the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire. The score scale, resulting from the addition of each answer, ranged from 32 to 224, where the highest score indicates the best quality of life. The chi square test was used to verify the existence of meaningful differences between the results of the questionnaire and age, and gender proportion. For each section, as well as for all of them combined, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to verify if there were differences in the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire scores among the groups in relation to the proportions. RESULTS After applying the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire, it was determined that quality of life was considered excellent for 9 (25%), good for 11 (30.6%), regular for 13 (36.1%), and bad for 3 (8.3%) patients. In our study, we determined that 85% of the patients were pleased with and thankful for the surgery that they underwent. CONCLUSION We can conclude that the possibility of sphincter preservation should always be taken into account, since patients remain clinically stable and have a high quality of life even after long periods.
IBM, Elsevier Science, and Academic Freedom

Abstract Elsevier Science refused to publish a study of IBMworkers that IBM sought to keep from public view. Occupational and environmental health (OEH) suffers from the absence of a level plaYing field on which science can thrive. Industry pays for a substantial portion of OEH research. Studies done by private consulting firms or academic institutions may be published if the results suit the sponsoring companies, or they may be censored. OEH journals often reflect the dominance of industry influence on research in the papers they publish, sometimes withdrawing or modifying papers in line with industry and advertising agendas. Although such practices are widely recognized, no fundamental change is supported by government and industry or by professional organizations.
A preliminary study of the variation of phytoplankton absorption coe-cients in the northern South China Sea

The temporal and spatial variabilities of phytoplankton absorption coe‐cients (aph(‚)) and their relationships with physical processes in the northern South China Sea were examined, based on in situ data collected from two cruise surveys during May 14 to 25, 2001 and November 2 to 21, 2002. Signiflcant changes in the surface water in aph values and B=R ratios (aph(440)/aph(675)) were observed in May, which were caused by a phytoplankton bloom on the inner shelf stimulated by a large river plume due to heavy precipitation. This is consistent with the observed one order of magnitude elevation of chlorophyll a and a shift from a pico/nano dominated phytoplankton community to one dominated by micro-algae. Enhanced vertical mixing due to strengthened northeast monsoon in November has been observed to result in higher surface aph(675) (0.002{0.006 m i1 higher) and less pronounced subsurface maximum on the outer shelf/slope in November as compared with that in May. Measurements of aph and B=R ratios from three transects in November revealed a highest surface aph(675) immediately outside the mouth of the Zhujiang (Pearl) River Estuary, whereas lower aph(675) and higher B=R ratios were featured in the outer shelf/slope waters, demonstrating the respective in∞uence of the Zhujiang River plume and the oligotrophic water of the South China Sea. The difierence in spectral shapes of phytoplankton absorption (measured by B=R ratios and bathochromic shifts) on these three transects infers that picoprocaryotes are the major component of the phytoplankton community on the outer shelf/slope rather than on the inner shelf. A regional tuning of the phytoplankton absorption spectral model (Carder et al., 1999) was attempted, demonstrating a greater spatial variation than temporal variation in the lead parameter a0(‚). It was thus implicated that region-based parameterization of ocean color remote sensing algorithms in the northern South China Sea was mandatory.
Novel Design and Analysis of Aggregated ARQ Protocols for IEEE 802.11n Networks

The design of wireless local area networks (WLANs) with enhanced throughput performance have attracted significant amounts of attention in recent years. Based on the IEEE 802.11n standard, frame aggregation is considered one of the major factors to improve the system performance of WLANs from the medium access control (MAC) perspective. In order to fulfill the requirements of high throughput performance, feasible design of automatic repeat request (ARQ) mechanisms becomes important for providing reliable data transmission. In this paper, two MAC-defined ARQ protocols are proposed to consider the effect from frame aggregation for the enhancement of network throughput. An aggregated selective repeat ARQ (ASR-ARQ) scheme is proposed which incorporates the selective repeat ARQ scheme with the consideration of frame aggregation. On the other hand, for worse channel quality, the aggregated hybrid ARQ (AH-ARQ) mechanism is proposed to further enhance the throughput performance by adopting the Reed-Solomon (RS) block code as forward error correction (FEC) scheme. Novel analytical models for both the ASR-ARQ and AH-ARQ protocols are established with the consideration of interfering wireless stations. Simulations are conducted to validate and compare the proposed ARQ mechanisms based on the service time distribution and system throughput. Numerical evaluations show that the proposed AH-ARQ protocol can outperform the other schemes under worse channel condition; while the ASR-ARQ scheme is superior to the other mechanisms under better channel condition.
An Unusual Presentation of Lupus in a Pediatric Patient

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease causing inflammatory tissue damage. Multiple organ damage can ensue with renal and neurological involvement carrying the worse prognosis. In this case report we present a 10-year-old African American girl who presented with abnormal choreiform movements, headache, weight loss, and fatigue. Detailed clinical examination with laboratory and imaging studies clinched the diagnosis of SLE. Echocardiogram revealed the presence of Libman-sacks endocarditis. Patient showed rapid resolution of symptoms with steroid therapy. A brief discussion on childhood onset lupus along with the varied clinical presentation is discussed.
Spectral correlation measurements at the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference dip

We present an efficient tool capable of measuring the spectral correlations between photons emerging from a Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer. We show that for our spectrally factorizable spontaneous downconversion source the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference visibility decreases as the photons frequency spread is increased to a maximum of 165 nm. Unfiltered, we obtained a visibility of $92.0 \pm 0.2 \%$. The maximum visibility was $97 \pm 0.2 \%$ after applying filtering. We show that the tool can be useful for the study of spectral correlations that impair high-visibility and high-fidelity multi-source interference applications.
Prevalence and Predictive Value of Dyspnea Ratings in Hospitalized Patients: Pilot Studies

Background Dyspnea (breathing discomfort) can be as powerfully aversive as pain, yet is not routinely assessed and documented in the clinical environment. Routine identification and documentation of dyspnea is the first step to improved symptom management and it may also identify patients at risk of negative clinical outcomes. Objective To estimate the prevalence of dyspnea and of dyspnea-associated risk among hospitalized patients. Design Two pilot prospective cohort studies. Setting Single academic medical center. Patients Consecutive patients admitted to four inpatient units: cardiology, hematology/oncology, medicine, and bariatric surgery. Measurements In Study 1, nurses documented current and recent patient-reported dyspnea at the time of the Initial Patient Assessment in 581 inpatients. In Study 2, nurses documented current dyspnea at least once every nursing shift in 367 patients. We describe the prevalence of burdensome dyspnea, and compare it to pain. We also compared dyspnea ratings with a composite of adverse outcomes: 1) receipt of care from the hospital’s rapid response system, 2) transfer to the intensive care unit, or 3) death in hospital. We defined burdensome dyspnea as a rating of 4 or more on a 10-point scale. Results Prevalence of burdensome current dyspnea upon admission (Study 1) was 13% (77 of 581, 95% CI 11%-16%). Prevalence of burdensome dyspnea at some time during the hospitalization (Study 2) was 16% (57 of 367, 95% CI 12%-20%). Dyspnea was associated with higher odds of a negative outcome. Conclusions In two pilot studies, we identified a significant symptom burden of dyspnea in hospitalized patients. Patients reporting dyspnea may benefit from a more careful focus on symptom management and may represent a population at greater risk for negative outcomes.
Sparse Modeling of Shape from Structured Light

Structured light depth reconstruction is among the most commonly used methods for 3D data acquisition. Yet, in most structured light methods, modeling of the acquired scene is crude, and is executed separately from the decoding phase. Here, we bridge this gap by viewing the reconstruction process via a probabilistic model combining illumination and shape. Specifically, an alternating minimization algorithm for structured light reconstruction is presented, incorporating a sparsity-based prior for the local surface model. Integrating this 3D surface prior into a probabilistic view of the reconstruction phase results in a robust estimation of the scene depth. We formulate and minimize reconstruction error and demonstrate performance of the algorithm on data from a structured light scanner. The results demonstrate the robustness of our algorithm to scanning artifacts under low SNR conditions and object motion.
Fusion of Multi-directional Rotation Invariant Uniform LBP Features for Face Recognition

The LBP (Local Binary Pattern) feature is one of the dominant methods in face recognition. The growth of sampling density of general Uniform LBP operator will improve the precision with the cost of very high-dimensional feature in face recognition. The normally adopted Riu-LBP(Rotation Invariant Uniform LBP) feature is of very low dimension but deteriorate precision due to the lose of direction information. In this paper, we propose feature-level fusion of multi-directional Riu-LBP features. With such simple scheme, the feature dimension is drastically decreased while the precision is comparable or even better than the general Uniform LBP features.
3D collision avoidance for digital actors locomotion

This paper presents some evolutions over the locomotion planning problem for digital actors. The solution is based both on probabilistic motion planning and on motion capture blending and warping. The paper particularly focuses on a new collision avoidance technique: while the legs and the pelvis of the digital actor follow a planned path, the animation of the upper part of the body is updated for 3D collision avoidance purposes.
Convergence versus divergence of performance measurement systems: Lessons from spatial variations

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to report on two institutional change scenarios of performance measurement (PM) systems, namely, subversion and integration. Subversion represents insiders' use of existing institutional logic whereas integration represents insiders' use of imported institutional logic. Design/methodology/approach - The scenarios are drawn from two case studies: BAE Systems (a large UK manufacturing company) and Alpha (a medium-sized Sri Lankan manufacturing company). The data were collected through in-depth interviews and documentary sources. Findings - An internal “culture change programme” led to a business value scorecard (BVS) in BAE Systems, and an external knowledge diffusion programme gave rise to a balanced scorecard (BSC) in Alpha. The culture change programme was facilitated by a particular institutional logic resulting in a successful BVS practice. In contrast, at Alpha, the BSC project was externally imposed, although it was designed with the blessing of the owner-manager. This triggered internal controversies and the workforce became unreceptive. Consequently, attention was diverted to other management fads such as total quality management, Six Sigma, and enterprise resource planning but these were also short lived. Research limitations/implications - While this paper provides evidence on practice variation and adds to neoinstitutional-based management accounting research, the empirical materials, however, did not allow the authors to trace all four scenarios in the typology. Practical implications - PM systems, such as the BSC, seem to be malleable and adaptable to local requirements subject to organisational and managerial flexibility and democratic possibilities. Originality/value - This research highlights how the institutional environment is fragmented and contested, in different organisational and political conditions and spaces, resulting in variation in practices.