Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Activity-dependent gene expression in honey bee mushroom bodies in response to orientation flight

SUMMARY The natural history of adult worker honey bees (Apis mellifera) provides an opportunity to study the molecular basis of learning in an ecological context. Foragers must learn to navigate between the hive and floral locations that may be up to miles away. Young pre-foragers prepare for this task by performing orientation flights near the hive, during which they begin to learn navigational cues such as the appearance of the hive, the position of landmarks, and the movement of the sun. Despite well-described spatial learning and navigation behavior, there is currently limited information on the neural basis of insect spatial learning. We found that Egr, an insect homolog of Egr-1, is rapidly and transiently upregulated in the mushroom bodies in response to orientation. This result is the first example of an Egr-1 homolog acting as a learning-related immediate-early gene in an insect and also demonstrates that honey bee orientation uses a molecular mechanism that is known to be involved in many other forms of learning. This transcriptional response occurred both in naïve bees and in foragers induced to re-orient. Further experiments suggest that visual environmental novelty, rather than exercise or memorization of specific visual cues, acts as the stimulus for Egr upregulation. Our results implicate the mushroom bodies in spatial learning and emphasize the deep conservation of Egr-related pathways in experience-dependent plasticity.
Biocompatibility of a new epoxy resin-based root canal sealer in subcutaneous tissue of rat

Objective: The objective was to evaluate the subcutaneous biocompatibility of two root canal sealers. Materials and Methods: Thirty female rats were distributed into two groups of 15 animals. Each received subcutaneous dorsal implants: Silicone tubes filled with AH Plus or Obtuseal. After the 11 th , 14 th , and 45 th days, tissues were collected for biopsy and fixed and processed for histologic evaluation. Observations of the cellular inflammatory components, such as lymphocytes and macrophages, were made. The data were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis and Connover tests (P < 0.05). Results: By the 7 th day, lymphocyte infiltration increased in both groups (P = 0.0104). However, macrophage infiltration increased only in the AH Plus group (P = 0.0011). By the 14 th and 45 th days, lymphocyte and macrophage infiltrations were reduced. At the end of the experimental period, no statistically significant differences were found between the AH Plus group and the Obtuseal group (P > 0.05). Conclusion: After 45 days, Obtuseal yielded a satisfactory tissue reaction; it was biocompatible when tested in subcutaneous rat tissue. On the basis of the obtained results, it was concluded that Obtuseal root canal sealer caused a satisfactory tissue reaction as AH plus, because it was biocompatible when tested in the subcutaneous tissue of rats.
Meditation and attention: A comparison of the effects of concentrative and mindfulness meditation on sustained attention

Abstract The performance of concentrative and mindfulness meditators on a test of sustained attention (Wilkins' counting test) was compared with controls. Both groups of meditators demonstrated superior performance on the test of sustained attention in comparison with controls, and long-term meditators were superior to short-term meditators. Mindfulness meditators showed superior performance in comparison with concentrative meditators when the stimulus was unexpected but there was no difference between the two types of meditators when the stimulus was expected. The results are discussed in relation to the attentional mechanisms involved in the two types of meditation and implications drawn for mental health.
A fast procedure for manipulator inverse kinematics computation and singularities prevention

In this article, a fast procedure for numerical manipulator inverse kinematics computation and singularities prevention is presented. The approach is based upon solving a linear system and automatically calculating some parameters. These parameters are properly used in either one of two original schemes that are also proposed to induce robustness to the pseudoinverse. Furthermore, here it is also shown how to properly implement one of these schemes in conjunction with a recently developed approach for the singularities prevention of redundant manipulators. The resultant algorithms are tested on the simulation of a planar redundant manipulator. From the results obtained, it is observed that the proposed approach compares favorably with the approaches using a Gaussian elimination procedure and with pseudoinverse robustness based on a manipulability measure.
Two-Dimensional Critical Potts and its Tricritical Shadow

These notes give examples of how suitably defined geometrical objects encode in their fractal structure thermal critical behavior. The emphasis is on the two-dimensional Potts model for which two types of spin clusters can be defined. Whereas the Fortuin-Kasteleyn clusters describe the standard critical behavior, the geometrical clusters describe the tricritical behavior that arises when including vacant sites in the pure Potts model. Other phase transitions that allow for a geometrical description discussed in these notes include the superfluid phase transition and Bose-Einstein condensation.
EFFECTS OF A LETTER-WRITING TASK ON EMPATHY TOWARD JAPANESE-BRAZILIANS AS OUT-GROUP MEMBERS: AN EDUCATIONAL METHOD FOR INTERCULTURAL UNDERSTANDING IN UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES

The present study explores the effectiveness of essay reading and a letter-writing task for enhancing empathy toward Japanese-Brazilians as out-group members— specifically Japanese-Brazilians living in Japan who have lost their jobs due to recession. The goal of the study was to obtain insights and implications that can be applied to intercultural education in universities and colleges. One hundred and sixty-eight Japanese university students participated in the study. The results reveal that university students who performed the letter-writing task showed greater empathy enhancement than those who performed a control task. It was further found that the empathy enhancement effect did not decrease very much after one week had passed. As a perspective-taking task for enhancing empathy toward Japanese- Brazilians as out-group members, the letter-writing task is expected to be effective if utilized in intercultural education.
The Pair Approach: What Causes Convergence of Environmental Policies?

AND CHRISTOPH KNILL 6. INTRODUCTION The central objective of this chapter is to assess the influence of three international mechanisms on the convergence of environmental policies in Europe, namely international harmonisation, trans-national communication and regulatory competition. In so doing, we apply a novel concept-the pair approach for measuring and explaining convergence. In this chapter, three central research questions underlying this study are addressed. First, on the basis of the pair approach, we provide further insights into the extent of cross-national policy convergence, which complement the aggregate analysis in chapter 5. Second, and this is the primary concern of this chapter, we investigate the specific impact of economic and institutional interlinkages between nation states on policy convergence. Third, and related to this point, we are interested in the explanatory relevance of possible alternative explanations (in particular domestic factors) that were introduced in the theoretical part of this book (chapter 3). In answering these questions, we merely concentrate on potential changes in the similarity of individual environmental policies and of policy repertoires of countries over time. The direction of convergence , i.e., movements to the top or to the bottom of regulation, is not the subject of the analysis in this chapter, but will be analysed in chapter 7. Our analysis is based on the following steps. We first introduce the concept of the pair approach (section 6.2). The reasons for using First publ. in: Environmental policy convergence in Europe. The impact of international institutions and trade / Katharina Holzinger, Christoph Knill and Bas Arts (eds.
How Remote Labs Impact on Course Outcomes: Various Practices Using VISIR

As technology is increasingly being seen as a facilitator to learning, open remote laboratories are increasingly available and in widespread use around the world. They provide some advantages over traditional hands-on labs or simulations. This paper presents the results of integrating the open remote laboratory VISIR into several courses, in various contexts and using various methodologies. These integrations, all related to higher education engineering, were designed by teachers with different perspectives to achieve a range of learning outcomes. The degree to which these VISIR-related outcomes were accomplished is discussed. The results reflect the levels of student engagement and learning and of teacher involvement. From the analysis, a connection between these two aspects was traced, although only related to the user profiles. VISIR is shown to be always of benefit for more motivated students, but this benefit can be maximized under particular conditions and characteristics.
Maximum a posteriori estimation approach to sparse recovery

We adopt a maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation based approach for recovering sparse signals from a small number of measurements formed by computing the inner products of the signal with rows of a matrix. We assume that each component of the sparse signal is independent and identically distributed (i.i.d) random variable drawn from a Gaussian mixture model. We then develop a suitable MAP formulation which results in an iterative algorithm. Simulations are performed to study the performance of the algorithm. We observe that our approach has a number of advantages over other sparse recovery techniques, including robustness to noise, increased performance with limited measurements and lower computation time.
Predicting methods of financial distress for retails stemming from high returns

Uncertainties surrounding reverse logistics create the possibility that the retailer may be strained in meeting financial distress. The current research offers a Markov chain approach to build a random fluctuation model for the early-warning index and analyzes the financial risks stemming from retail reverse logistics activities. The worsened probability for the early-warning index can be inferred. This enables the retailing firm policy-makers to discover and eliminate the operation and financial risk early and effectively prevents the risk to be worsened to the financial distress. Finally managerial recommendations for avoiding financial distress stemming from reverse logistics activities are provided.
Optimal convergence rates for generalized alternating projections

Generalized alternating projections is an algorithm that alternates relaxed projections onto a finite number of sets to find a point in their intersection. We consider the special case of two linear subspaces, for which the algorithm reduces to matrix multiplications. For convergent powers of the matrix, the asymptotic rate is linear and decided by the magnitude of the subdominant eigenvalue. In this paper, we show how to select the three algorithm parameters to optimize this magnitude, and hence the asymptotic convergence rate. The obtained rate depends on the Friedrichs angle between the subspaces and is considerably better than known rates for other methods such as alternating projections and DouglasRachford splitting. We also present an adaptive scheme that, online, estimates the Friedrichs angle and updates the algorithm parameters based on this estimate. A numerical example is provided that supports our theoretical claims and shows very good performance for the adaptive method.
A survey on future railway radio communications services: challenges and opportunities

Radio communications is one of the most disruptive technologies in railways, enabling a huge set of value-added services that greatly improve many aspects of railways, making them more efficient, safer, and profitable. Lately, some major technologies like ERTMS for high-speed railways and CBTC for subways have made possible a reduction of headway and increased safety never before seen in this field. The railway industry is now looking at wireless communications with great interest, and this can be seen in many projects around the world. Thus, railway radio communications is again a flourishing field, with a lot of research and many things to be done. This survey article explains both opportunities and challenges to be addressed by the railway sector in order to obtain all the possible benefits of the latest radio technologies.
Volunteer tourism: building effective relationships of understanding

This paper looks at a key problem in some areas of volunteer tourism, a now fast-growing model of alternative tourism and alternative development. Combining volunteering with international travel, cultural exchange and learning objectives, volunteer tourism can educate volunteers and build relationships of understanding between diverse people and places. However, the ways volunteers make sense of their experience may actually reinforce cultural stereotypes that perpetuate colonialistic divisions of “us” and “them”. Some have argued that projects need a more structured educational approach if volunteers are to learn anything of personal or social value. However, little research has studied the role of volunteer-sending organizations (VSO) in facilitating volunteer understanding of the complex and relational processes of poverty, globalization and inequality. This paper explores ways to improve the educational potential of programs through pre-departure and debrief sessions. In-depth face-to-face and email interviews reveal participants’ experiences of volunteering in Vanuatu with an Australian-based VSO. Conclusions suggest that if short-term placements are to foster meaningful participatory action based on solidarity, mutual learning and relationship-building, the educative methodology adopted needs to occur throughout the volunteer process, pre-, during- and post-project while also bringing a pedagogical and developmental perspective to its practice.
Age-related differences in episodic odour recognition: the role of access to specific odour names.

This study addressed the relationship between semantic memory variables and episodic odour recognition across the adult lifespan. Young (19–34 years), young-old (60–69 years), and old women (70–79 years) were tested in a number of measures of semantic memory: letter fluency, category fluency, vocabulary, odour familiarity, and odour naming. Odour recognition memory was assessed on two occasions: immediately after and 48 hours after inspection. Young women outperformed both groups of older women in odour recognition and odour naming, although the two older age groups did not differ. For all age groups, performance declined from immediate to delayed testing. Individual differences in fluency and vocabulary did not predict performance in odour recognition. Rather, odour recognition was related to the subjects' specific semantic knowledge of the odour, as indexed by familiarity and accuracy in odour naming. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that age and odour naming were the most potent variables in .
Outer dense fibres: functional or structural elements? *

Summary. By electron microscopic studies it could be demonstrated that malformed outer dense fibres are a major cause of structural, flagellar disorder in human spermatozoa. Biochemical investigations of isolated outer dense fibres revealed that these flagellar substructures consist of three major polypeptides and do not contain phosphoproteins. They seem to have passive‐elastic properties with respect to sperm motility. Further studies are required to elucidate the cause of the disturbed development of outer dense fibres, which may be due to inflammatory, toxic, or genetic influences.
Recent Advances in Toxoplasma gondii Immunotherapeutics

Toxoplasmosis is an opportunistic infection caused by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. T. gondii is widespread globally and causes severe diseases in individuals with impaired immune defences as well as congenitally infected infants. The high prevalence rate in some parts of the world such as South America and Africa, coupled with the current drug treatments that trigger hypersensitivity reactions, makes the development of immunotherapeutics intervention a highly important research priority. Immunotherapeutics strategies could either be a vaccine which would confer a pre-emptive immunity to infection, or passive immunization in cases of disease recrudescence or recurrent clinical diseases. As the severity of clinical manifestations is often greater in developing nations, the development of well-tolerated and safe immunotherapeutics becomes not only a scientific pursuit, but a humanitarian enterprise. In the last few years, much progress has been made in vaccine research with new antigens, novel adjuvants, and innovative vaccine delivery such as nanoparticles and antigen encapsulations. A literature search over the past 5 years showed that most experimental studies were focused on DNA vaccination at 52%, followed by protein vaccination which formed 36% of the studies, live attenuated vaccinations at 9%, and heterologous vaccination at 3%; while there were few on passive immunization. Recent progress in studies on vaccination, passive immunization, as well as insights gained from these immunotherapeutics is highlighted in this review.
Birth weight and blood pressure: ‘J’ shape or linear shape? Findings from a cross-sectional study in Hong Kong Chinese women

Objectives To investigate the association between birth weight and blood pressure (BP) and to determine the effect of body size change from birth to adulthood on BP. Design A cross-sectional design to collect retrospective data. Participants 1253 female nurses aged 35–65 years in Hong Kong. Main outcome measures Birth weight, height, weight, BP, waist circumference, demographics and lifestyle factors were collected by a self-administered questionnaire through mail survey. These self-reported variables have been validated in a pilot study. The conditional relative weight (CRW), which was calculated as a residual of current weight regressed on birth weight, was used to express higher or lower relative weight gain from birth to adulthood. Results No significant linear association between overall range of birth weight and BP was found. The curve estimation showed a significant quadratic curvilinear association (‘J’ shape). In the piecewise-linear analysis, a significant inverse association between birth weight z-scores and BP was observed in the birth weight ≤3.1 kg group (systolic BP (SBP): coefficient B=−1.73, 95% CI −3.17 to −0.30; diastolic BP (DBP): B=−1.12, 95% CI −2.19 to −0.06). A positive but non-significant association occurred in the birth weight >3.1 kg group. Participants who belonged to the lowest 10% birth weight category but at the current top 10% BMI group had higher BP than participants in other BMI groups. The CRW z-score was positively associated with BP (coefficient B: 4.18 for SBP and 2.87 for DBP). Conclusions Unlike most previous studies, we found a ‘J’ shape association rather than a linear association between birth weight and BP. Women with large percentile crossing of body size from birth to adulthood were more likely to have elevated BP. A higher weight gain from birth to adulthood than expected led to higher BP.
Characterization of mammalian RAD51 double strand break repair using non‐lethal dominant‐negative forms

In contrast to yeast RAD51, mammalian mRAD51 is an essential gene. Its role in double strand break (DSB) repair and its consequences on cell viability remain to be characterized precisely. Here, we used a hamster cell line carrying tandem repeat sequences with an I‐SceI cleavage site. We characterized conservative recombination after I‐SceI cleavage as gene conversion or intrachromatid crossing over associated with random reintegration of the excised reciprocal product. We identified two dominant‐negative RAD51 forms that specifically inhibit conservative recombination: the yeast ScRAD51 or the yeast–mouse chimera SMRAD51. In contrast, the mouse MmRAD51 stimulates conservative recombination. None of these RAD51 forms affects non‐conservative recombination or global DSB healing. Consistently, although resistance to γ‐rays remains unaffected, MmRAD51 stimulates whereas ScRAD51 or SMRAD51 prevents radiation‐induced recombination. This suggests that mRAD51 does not significantly affect the global DSB repair efficiency but controls the classes of recombination events. Finally, both ScRAD51 and SMRAD51 drastically inhibit spontaneous recombination but not cell proliferation, showing that RAD51‐dependent spontaneous and DSB‐induced conservative recombination can be impaired significantly without affecting cell viability.
Does courtship behavior contribute to species-level reproductive isolation in field crickets?

Reproductive behavior influences gene flow within and among species; thus, sexual selection may be a major contributor to the maintenance of species, and possibly their formation. Here I experimentally manipulate the courtship interactions of the field crickets Gryllus rubens and G. texensis to examine the potential of close-range courtship interactions to limit interspecific gene flow. Responses of males to females and of females to male courtship song and males per se were examined for four paired sympatric and allopatric populations. Male G. rubens were more likely to court conspecific females, but male G. texensis courted females of both species equally. If paired with conspecific males, female G. rubens and G. texensis both preferred conspecific courtship song. In none of these comparisons were the responses of males or females from allopatry different from those in sympatry. There was an asymmetry of courtship response across both sex and species: male G. rubens were more discriminating than male G. texensis, whereas female G. texensis were more discriminating than female G. rubens. Despite significant preferences for conspecifics, the net effect of courtship interactions would appear to limit interspecific gene flow only weakly. These results are consistent with courtship behavior evolving under the influence of sexual selection and only indirectly promoting species integrity. Copyright 2005.