Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Above‐ground herbivory by red milkweed beetles facilitates above‐ and below‐ground conspecific insects and reduces fruit production in common milkweed

Initial herbivory and induced plant responses can influence subsequent above‐ and below‐ground herbivore attack. When two life stages of the same herbivore damage different plant parts sequentially, there is strong potential for plants to respond with induced plant defence against the later attacker. Alternatively, the earlier attacker could manipulate the host plant to facilitate the later‐feeding life stage. We studied herbivory by foliage‐feeding adults and root‐feeding larvae of the red milkweed beetle (Tetraopes tetraophthalmus) on native common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) in laboratory and field experiments. We applied factorial above‐ and below‐ground herbivory treatments to test for induced responses, effects on later‐feeding conspecific larvae, and damage by naturally colonizing herbivores, including adult T. tetraophthalmus. We found that the inducibility of toxic cardenolides was systemic across the root–shoot barrier, with the highest concentrations in plants damaged both above‐ and below‐ground. Initial above‐ground herbivory increased root damage and larval survival, suggesting an increase in root quality following leaf herbivory. Initial below‐ground herbivory did not affect the performance of later‐feeding larvae, indicating limited importance of induced root cardenolides and competition between clutches of T. tetraophthalmus. In a natural milkweed population, initial above‐ground herbivory attracted conspecific adults and milkweed leaf beetles (Labidomera clivicollis) and ultimately reduced fruit production by 33%. Nonetheless, the probability of damage by monarch caterpillars (Danaus plexippus) was reduced on plants initially damaged by T. tetraophthalmus above‐ground, likely due to reduced oviposition following induced plant responses. Synthesis. Induced plant responses of common milkweed to above‐ground damage by adult T. tetraophthalmus both facilitate further damage by adults and enhance the performance of their root‐feeding larvae, most likely as a result of host plant manipulation. Although the same induction reduced monarch herbivory, the net effect of these interactions was negative for the plant as fruit production was substantially reduced. These results imply that host plant manipulation may be especially common by specialist herbivores that have sequential above‐ and below‐ground life stages.
ARDC: An improved remote file synchronization algorithm

Data transmission or synchronization is quite common especially in the enterprise application integration environment. Multiple information in databases or file systems needs to be shared and synchronized when heterogeneous systems access each other. This paper presents an improved file synchronization algorithm(ARDC) based on the famous RDC algorithm. Firstly, an adaptive block-divided strategy is present. Secondly, a new way is proposed by optimizing the fingerprints matching in linear time and space complexity. Lastly, a heart-beat detection is introduced for reliability. In addition, the whole program is achieved based on a Service-Oriented Architecture called ESB (Enterprise Service Bus), which provides an abstraction layer on top of an enterprise messaging system. And finally the experiments carried out a better result and the performance is doubled using the proposed algorithms.
Bayesian reconstruction of photon interaction sequences for high-resolution PET detectors

Realizing the full potential of high-resolution positron emission tomography (PET) systems involves accurately positioning events in which the annihilation photon deposits all its energy across multiple detector elements. Reconstructing the complete sequence of interactions of each photon provides a reliable way to select the earliest interaction because it ensures that all the interactions are consistent with one another. Bayesian estimation forms a natural framework to maximize the consistency of the sequence with the measurements while taking into account the physics of γ-ray transport. An inherently statistical method, it accounts for the uncertainty in the measured energy and position of each interaction. An algorithm based on maximum a posteriori (MAP) was evaluated for computer simulations. For a high-resolution PET system based on cadmium zinc telluride detectors, 93.8% of the recorded coincidences involved at least one photon multiple-interactions event (PMIE). The MAP estimate of the first interaction was accurate for 85.2% of the single photons. This represents a two-fold reduction in the number of mispositioned events compared to minimum pair distance, a simpler yet efficient positioning method. The point-spread function of the system presented lower tails and higher peak value when MAP was used. This translated into improved image quality, which we quantified by studying contrast and spatial resolution gains.
Robust static output feedback control for networked control system with random time delay

This paper deals with the problem of robust stabilization for a class of uncertain networked control systems (NCSs) with random time delay via the static output feedback control. A novel switching control approach is proposed by modeling the random delay as a Markov process. The resulting closed-loop system is a Markovian jump linear system (MJLS) with random delay. Based on Lyapunov stability theorem combined with linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) techniques, some new delay-dependent stability criteria for the system are derived. A static output feedback controller that makes the closed-loop systems robustly exponentially mean-square stable is designed, which is obtained by solving some linear matrix inequalities.
Perceptions of Uncivil and Sexual Harassment Perceptions by Gender, Employment Status, and Likelihood to Sexually Harass

v Literature Review 1 Method 13 Results 17 Discussion 23 References 33 Appendices 37 Appendix A 37 Appendix B 45 Appendix C 53 Appendix D 61 Appendix E 69 Appendix F 70 Appendix G 71 Appendix H 72 Appendix I 73 Appendix J 74 Appendix K 75
Behavioral/systems/cognitive Nmda Receptor-dependent Regulation of Axonal and Dendritic Branching

In the rodent trigeminal principal nucleus (PrV), trigeminal afferent terminals and postsynaptic cells form discrete modules (" bar-relettes ") that replicate the patterned array of whiskers and sinus hairs on the snout. Barrelette neurons of the PrV relay whisker-specific patterns to the contralateral thalamus and, subsequently, to the primary somatosensory barrel cortex. Genetic impairment of NMDA receptor (NMDAR) function blocks development of barrelettes in the PrV. Underlying cellular and functional defects are not known. Here, we examined morphological differentiation of whisker afferents, dendritic differentiation of barrelette cells, and their electrophys-iological properties in mice with genetic perturbations of the essential subunit NR1 of NMDARs. We show that in NR1 gene knock-down (KD) and knockout mice, whisker afferents begin their embryonic development normally but, over time, fail to segregate into patches, and instead they develop exuberant terminal arbors spanning most of the PrV. Postnatal NR1KD barrelette cells, with significantly reduced NMDA currents, retain their membrane and synaptic properties but develop longer dendrites with no orientation preference. These results indicate that NMDARs regulate growth of presynaptic terminal arbors and postsynaptic dendritic branching, thereby leading to consolidation of synapses and patterning of presynaptic and postsynaptic elements.
Research on evaluation of MNCs' technological innovation performance

The evaluation of MNCs' technological innovation is a hotly debated topic around the world. This paper aims to provide some insight into the evaluation of MNCs' Technological Innovation performance. We analyze MNCs' technological innovation process in detail. Then the definition of technological innovation performance is presented. We divide innovation performance into output performance and process performance, each of which is given a detailed description in this paper. We conclude that MNCs' technological innovation performance is composed of output performance and process performance, and insist that both output performance and process performance be considered when evaluating MNCs' technological innovation performance.
EFFECTIVENESS OF THE DISTRIBUTION FACTOR APPROXIMATIONS USED IN CONGESTION MODELING

Congestion has widespread impacts on the availability and utilization of the existing transmission systems and consequently on the operation of competitive markets in electricity. The distribution factors play a key role in the modeling of congestion in various market appli- cations. These factors are linear approximations of sensi- tivities of variables with respect to various inputs and are computed for a specified network topology and parameter values. In practice, the factors are used over a wide range of system conditions. This paper investigates the analytical characteristics, the robustness and the quality of the ap- proximations provided by key distribution factors such as injection shift factors (ISFs) and power transfer distribu- tion factors (PTDFs). We examine the range of conditions over which these factors can provide a reliable approxima- tion for large power system networks. The numerical simu- lation results indicate that the errors of the approximations stay in an acceptable range under a broad spectrum of conditions including contingencies used to establish n-1 security.
Neuroscience and the therapist's love for the patient: Intersubjective space, the embodied imagination, and transformation

ABSTRACT Current neuroscience, particularly the work of Schore and Porges, is profoundly concerned with the vicissitudes of love. To the extent the therapist is able to love his patient and to receive the patient's love for him, the potential healing power of psychotherapy is deepened and enhanced. Furthermore, when love is able to arise in the intersubjective space created by patient and therapist, the embodied imagination is especially accessible. The existence of a core self, of an intelligence that some call soul, or essence, or true self (versus personality or structure or ego) is explored. “The barriers to love,” (thoughts, emotions, and sensations arising in the psyche/soma) from which both patient and therapist turn away via hypo or hyper-arousal are addressed in terms of current neuroscience theory and clinical examples.
Optimized strings for the Java HotSpot#8482; virtual machine

In several Java VMs, strings consist of two separate objects: metadata like the string length are stored in the actual string object, while the string characters are stored in a character array. This separation causes an unnecessary overhead. Each string method must access both objects, which leads to a bad cache behavior and reduces the execution speed. We propose to merge the character array with the string's metadata object at run time. This results in a new layout of strings with better cache performance, fewer field accesses, and less memory overhead. We implemented this optimization for Sun Microsystems' Java HotSpot#8482; VM, so that the optimization is performed automatically at run time and requires no actions on the part of the programmer. The original class String is transformed into the optimized version and the bytecodes of all methods that allocate string objects are rewritten. All these transformations are performed by the Java HotSpot#8482; VM when a class is loaded. Therefore, the time overhead of the transformations is negligible. Benchmarks show a reduction of the average used memory after a full garbage collection and an improved performance. The performance of the SPECjbb2005 benchmark increases by 8%, and the average used memory after a full garbage collection is reduced by 19%. The peak performance of SPECjvm98 is improved by 8% on average, with a maximum speedup of 62%.
Le rôle des restrictions temporelles de vente sur l'évaluation de l'offre et l'intention d'achat : analyse par méthode des scénarios

Le role des restrictions de vente sur l’evaluation de l’offre et l’intention d’achat reste controverse. La litterature marketing est divisee a ce sujet et met en avant differents cadres conceptuels et theories susceptibles d’expliquer les effets de ces restrictions. Face a ce manque d’unanimite dans la litterature et dans un contexte ou la rentabilite des promotions de vente n’est pas etablie, cette these vise une meilleure comprehension de l’impact des limites temporelles sur l’evaluation d’une offre promotionnelle de vente et l’intention d’achat du consommateur. Cette etude a ete realisee a l’aide d’une methodologie mixte, basee sur une etude exploratoire, et une etude quantitative conduite selon la methode des vignettes. Les resultats soulignent un comportement ambivalent des consommateurs face aux restrictions temporelles et mettent en evidence un role moderateur de la marque pouvant attenuer la perception des inconvenients dans le cadre d’une restriction temporelle de vente.
Comparison of pallidal and subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation for advanced Parkinson's disease: results of a randomized, blinded pilot study.

OBJECTIVE Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the globus pallidus internus (GPi) and subthalamic nucleus (STN) has been reported to be effective in alleviating the symptoms of advanced Parkinson's disease (PD). Although recent studies suggest that STN stimulation may be superior to GPi stimulation, a randomized, blinded comparison has not been reported. The present study was designed to provide a preliminary comparison of the safety and efficacy of DBS at either site. METHODS Ten patients with idiopathic PD, L-dopa-induced dyskinesia, and response fluctuations were randomized to implantation of bilateral GPi or STN stimulators. Neurological condition was assessed preoperatively with patients on and off L-dopa and on DBS at 10 days and 3, 6, and 12 months after implantation. Patients and evaluating clinicians were blinded to stimulation site throughout the study period. Complete follow-up data were analyzed for four GPi patients and five STN patients. RESULTS When off-L-dopa, both GPi and STN groups demonstrated a similar response, with approximately 40% improvement in Unified PD Rating Scale motor scores after 12 months of DBS. Rigidity, tremor, and bradykinesia improved in both groups. In combination with L-dopa, Unified PD Rating Scale motor scores were more improved by GPi stimulation than by STN stimulation. On-L-dopa axial symptoms were clinically improved in the GPi but not the STN group. L-Dopa-induced dyskinesia was reduced by DBS at either site, although medication requirement was reduced only in the STN group. There were no serious intraoperative complications among patients in either group. CONCLUSION Pallidal and STN stimulation appears to be safe and efficacious for the management of advanced PD. A larger study is needed to investigate further the differences in symptom response and the interaction of L-dopa with stimulation at either site.
Sums of Squares and Semideﬁnite Programming Relaxations for Polynomial Optimization Problems with Structured Sparsity

Unconstrained and inequality constrained sparse polynomial optimization problems (POPs) are considered. A correlative sparsity pattern graph is deﬁned to ﬁnd a certain sparse structure in the objective and constraint polynomials of a POP. Based on this graph, sets of supports for sums of squares (SOS) polynomials that lead to eﬃcient SOS and semideﬁnite programming (SDP) relaxations are obtained. Numerical results from various test problems are included to show the improved performance of the SOS and SDP relaxations.
The human genome project is complete. How do we develop a handle for the pump?

A half century since the publication of the structure of the DNA molecule (2), the sequence of the human genome is complete. Some expect this achievement to be translated into advances in medicine and public health relatively rapidly (3– 6). Proponents of this approach tend to focus on the potential to tailor primary prevention, secondary prevention, or therapy on the basis of genetic information. It is also possible that a better understanding of genetic effects and gene­ environment interactions in disease processes will allow us to develop better interventions, such as avoidance of defined exposures and chemoprevention, to apply to the general population (7). Others are more skeptical (8–13). A key element in translation will be the application of epidemio­ logic studies to evaluate the role of genetic variants in the etiology of human disease (1). There has been a tremendous increase in the number and scope of peer-reviewed articles on human genome epidemiology, which has generated in turn the challenge of integrating these data, and this has led to many reviews of gene-disease associations and to gene­ gene and gene-environment interaction in response. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the expe­ rience gained in integrating evidence in the Human Genome Epidemiology (HuGE) reviews and to suggest changes that may encourage more investigators to contribute reviews and to respond to changes in the character of the evidence. HuGE reviews were established as a means of integrating evidence from human genome epidemiologic studies, that is, population-based studies of the impact of human genetic variation on health and disease (14). HuGE reviews are systematic, peer-reviewed synopses of epidemiologic aspects of human genes, including prevalence of allelic vari­ ants in different populations, population-based information on disease risk, evidence for gene-environment interaction, and quantitative data on genetic tests and services. They are carried out according to specified guidelines (15). As of February 2003, 20 such reviews have been published (table
Building Blocks for User Modeling with data from the Social Web

In this paper we present the so-called Grapple User Modeling Framework (GUMF) which provides user modeling functionality via the Web to applications that would like to offer personalization and adaptation features to their customers. GUMF introduces the notion dataspaces which create a logical view on (possibly distributed) user data and provide advanced contextualization and reasoning mechanisms. We showcase the Mypes service that exploits GUMF dataspaces to connect, aggregate, align and enrich user profile information form the Social Web.
Silanización de grafeno: mejora de la dispersión y su eficacia como agente de refuerzo

Resumen). El uso de grafeno (G) como material de refuerzo ha sido una de aplicaciones más prometedoras que han surgido del estudio de este extraordinario material en los últimos años. Se ha demostrado que su utilización en la fabricación de materiales compuestos de todo tipo puede aumentar considerablemente tanto la tenacidad a la fractura cómo la vida a fatiga de numerosos tipos de matrices, especialmente poliméricas [1,2]. En el caso de los adhesivos, la adición de pequeñas cantidades de grafeno (<3%) también ha demostrado mejorar considerablemente no solo las propiedades mecánicas del adhesivo (tenacidad a la fractura, resistencia, etc.), sino también la resistencia de la unión adhesiva [3]. Sin embargo, aún existen importantes limitaciones en la fabricación de este tipo de materiales compuestos, siendo la principal conseguir una buena dispersión del G dentro de la matriz del material a reforzar [4]. Esta mala dispersión reside en la tendencia que tiene el grafeno a formar aglomeraciones debido a las fuerzas electroestáticas que existen entre sus láminas, y también, en la mayoría de los casos a una pobre interacción física y química grafeno-matriz que ayude a mantener estable la dispersión. En la actualidad, la funcionalización química del grafeno, es la práctica más aceptada para mantener las láminas de grafeno separadas tras su dispersión y para crear enlaces compatibles matriz-refuerzo [5]. En este trabajo, se ha desarrollado y evaluado un proceso de silanización del grafeno, mediante un agente silano: 3metacriloxipropil trimetixisilano (MPS) con el objetivo de mejorar la dispersión del grafeno en adhesivos de matriz acrílica. Los resultados muestran una silanización existosa del grafeno que da lugar a una mejora sustancial de la dispersión del mismo dentro de la matriz acrílica. BIBLIOGRAFÍA 1. D. R. Bortz, E. G. Heras, I. Martin-Gullon, Impressive Fatigue Life and Fracture Toughness Improvements in Graphene Oxide/Epoxy Composites. Macromolecules, 2012, 45(1):238–245. 2. E. Paz. , E. Forriol, J.C. del Real, N. Dunne, Graphene oxide versus graphene for optimisation of PMMA bone cement for orthopaedic application. Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl, 2017, 77:1003-1011. 3. U. Khan, P. May, H. Porwal, K. Nawaz, J.N. Coleman, Improved adhesive strength and toughness of polyvinyl acetate glue on addition of Small quantities of graphene. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2013, 5(4):1423–1428. 4. L. -C. Tang et al., The effect of graphene dispersion on the mechanical properties of graphene/epoxy composites, Carbon, 2013, 60:16–27. 5. G. Bottari, M. Á. Herranz, L. Wibmer, M. Volland, L. Rodríguez-Pérez, D. M. Guldi, A. Hirsch, N. Martín, F. D'Souza, T. Torres. Chemical functionalization and characterization of graphene-based materials. Chem. Soc. Rev, 2017, 46:4464-4500.
A General Relativistic Model of Light Propagation in the Gravitational Field of the Solar System: The Static Case

We develop here a new approach for the relativistic modeling of the photons moving into a quasi-Minkowskian spacetime, where the metric is generated by an arbitrary N-body distribution within an isolated solar system. Our model is built on the prescriptions of the theory of general relativity and leaves the choices of the metric, as well as that of the motion of the observer, arbitrary. Adopting a quasi-Minkowskian expression of the metric accurate to order (v/c)2, we conduct a thorough numerical test campaign to verify correctness and reliability of the model equations. The test results show that the model behaves according to predictions. Specifically, comparisons to true (simulated) data demonstrate that stellar distances are reconstructed up to the specified level of accuracy. Although the (v/c)2 approximation is not always sufficient for its application to future astrometric experiments, which require modeling to (v/c)3, this work serves also as a natural test ground for the higher order model, whose formulation is now close to completion and will be presented in a forthcoming paper.
Competitive accretion in embedded stellar clusters

We investigate the physics of gas accretion in young stellar clusters. Accretion in clusters is a dynamic phenomenon as both the stars and the gas respond to the same gravitational potential. Accretion rates are highly non-uniform with stars nearer the centre of the cluster, where gas densities are higher, accreting more than others. This competitive accretion naturally results in both initial mass segregation and a spectrum of stellar masses. Accretion in gas-dominated clusters is well modelled using a tidal-lobe radius instead of the commonly used Bondi–Hoyle accretion radius. This works as both the stellar and gas velocities are under the influence of the same gravitational potential and are thus comparable. The low relative velocity which results means that Rtidal<RBH in these systems. In contrast, when the stars dominate the potential and are virialized, RBH<Rtidal and Bondi–Hoyle accretion is a better fit to the accretion rates.