Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Episodic Memory and Episodic Future Thinking Impairments in High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Underlying Difficulty With Scene Construction or Self-Projection?

Objective: There appears to be a common network of brain regions that underlie the ability to recall past personal experiences (episodic memory) and the ability to imagine possible future personal experiences (episodic future thinking). At the cognitive level, these abilities are thought to rely on “scene construction” (the ability to bind together multimodal elements of a scene in mind—dependent on hippocampal functioning) and temporal “self-projection” (the ability to mentally project oneself through time—dependent on prefrontal cortex functioning). Although autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by diminished episodic memory, it is unclear whether episodic future thinking is correspondingly impaired. Moreover, the underlying basis of such impairments (difficulties with scene construction, self-projection, or both) is yet to be established. The current study therefore aimed to elucidate these issues. Method: Twenty-seven intellectually high-functioning adults with ASD and 29 age- and IQ-matched neurotypical comparison adults were asked to describe (a) imagined atemporal, non-self-relevant fictitious scenes (assessing scene construction), (b) imagined plausible self-relevant future episodes (assessing episodic future thinking), and (c) recalled personally experienced past episodes (assessing episodic memory). Tests of narrative ability and theory of mind were also completed. Results: Performances of participants with ASD were significantly and equally diminished in each condition and, crucially, this diminution was independent of general narrative ability. Conclusions: Given that participants with ASD were impaired in the fictitious scene condition, which does not involve self-projection, we suggest the underlying difficulty with episodic memory/future thinking is one of scene construction.
Modeling the high‐frequency barotropic response of the ocean to atmospheric disturbances: Sensitivity to forcing, topography, and friction

This study examines high-frequency sea level variations forced by changes in surface atmospheric pressure and wind and their sensitivity to different forcing mechanisms, bottom topography resolution, and amount of friction in a barotropic ocean model. Optimal model performance, defined in terms of the explained variance in satellite altimeter and bottom pressure data, is found when using relatively strong friction, equivalent to a damping timescale of only a few days over the deep ocean, and topography with minimal smoothing. Spatial variations of the optimal friction parameter seem to reflect the roughness of bottom topography. The model demonstrates skill in simulating the wind-driven response as well as the nonequilibrium response to atmospheric pressure variations.
On the Net Cyclonic Circulation in Large Stratified Lakes

Abstract This paper proposes a possible explanation for the mean cyclonic circulation in large stratified lakes The condition of no heat flux through the bottom boundary causes the isotherms to dip near the shores to intersect the sloping bottom orthogonally. This “doming” of the thermocline causes an internal pressure gradient in the surface layer with higher pressure nearshore and results in a geostrophic cyclonic circulation.
A Security Based Unobservable Routing Protocol using USOR in MANETs

To provide effective privacy protection in ad hoc networks, there are a number of anonymous routing schemes have been proposed. But these schemes provide significant computation overhead. The existing system introduces USOR, an efficient privacy preserving routing protocol that achieves content unobservability by using anonymous key establishment based on group signature. Here each node having a group signature signing key and an ID-based private key from an offline key server or by a key management scheme. The unobservable routing protocol is then executed in three phases such as anonymous key establishment process, privacy preserving route discovery and unobservable data packet transmission process in order to construct secret session keys as well as finding route to the destination. The USOR scheme protect packet’s content independent of traffic pattern unobservability which can be used with appropriate traffic padding schemes to achieve truly communication unobservability. The proposed system have the intention of developing unobservable routing scheme resistant against sybil attacks, collusion attack and an external attack. It discovers malicious nodes during route discovery process when they mitigate fabricated routing information to attract the source node to send data through malformed packet.
Integration of distributed Ge islands onto Si wafers by adhesive wafer bonding and low-temperature Ge exfoliation

We present a novel and highly efficient wafer-level batch transfer process for populating silicon (Si) wafers with distributed islands of thin single-crystalline germanium (Ge) layers. This is achieved by transferring Ge from a Si wafer containing thick Ge dies to a Si target wafer by adhesive wafer-bonding and subsequent low-temperature Ge exfoliation.
Approximate Multiple Sequence Alignment with Astar

The multiple sequence alignment problem is one of the most important in computational biology. We present algorithms and data structures to improve multiple sequence alignment with A-star. The first improvement is to accelerate the search for the best open node by 15%, using an array of stacks. The second improvement is to detect duplicate nodes efficiently using a transposition table. The third improvement consists in overestimating the admissible heuristic. It works better for aligning long sequences. A typical speedup for sequences of length two hundred fifty is 47 associated to a memory gain of 13 with an error rate of 0.09%. Overestimation can align sequences that are not possible to align with the exact algorithm.
Incorporating Climate Change Projections into Building design: A Qualitative Study

The UK climate of the future cannot be predicted with certainty and this is reflected in the current UK Climate Projections (UKCP09), which are probabilistic in nature. It is anticipated that the conventional approaches to building design will not adequately represent the effects of future warming and therefore guidance is required to overcome future overheating of a building by making it thermally more comfortable. The study presented here relates to a qualitative investigation and aims to draw out the needs and preferences of building design professionals to develop an easy to use formulation for adequately sizing Heating, Ventilation and AirConditioning (HVAC) plants. It will serve as an interface between professional building services engineers and the research team working on probabilistic weather data and a building simulation package. This investigation deploys a qualitative research approach of Methodological triangulation, which refers to the use of more than one method for gathering data. Herein, the three strands of research that will be used are the questionnaire, semi structured interviews and focus groups. This work is ongoing and the analysis is due for completion in 2012. This paper focuses mainly on some of the initial findings of the qualitative approaches mentioned above for domestic buildings only.
Interplay between HIV-1 infection and host microRNAs

Using microRNA array analyses of in vitro HIV-1-infected CD4+ cells, we find that several host microRNAs are significantly up- or downregulated around the time HIV-1 infection peaks in vitro. While microRNA-223 levels were significantly enriched in HIV-1-infected CD4+CD8− PBMCs, microRNA-29a/b, microRNA-155 and microRNA-21 levels were significantly reduced. Based on the potential for microRNA binding sites in a conserved sequence of the Nef-3′-LTR, several host microRNAs potentially could affect HIV-1 gene expression. Among those microRNAs, the microRNA-29 family has seed complementarity in the HIV-1 3′-UTR, but the potential suppressive effect of microRNA-29 on HIV-1 is severely blocked by the secondary structure of the target region. Our data support a possible regulatory circuit at the peak of HIV-1 replication which involves downregulation of microRNA-29, expression of Nef, the apoptosis of host CD4 cells and upregulation of microRNA-223.
Fruits and leaves with cuticle of Laurelia otagoensis sp. nov. (Atherospermataceae) from the early Miocene of Otago (New Zealand)

Conran, J.G. , Bannister, J.M. & Lee, D.E. , 2013. Fruits and leaves with cuticle of Laurelia otagoensis sp. nov. (Atherospermataceae) from the early Miocene of Otago (New Zealand). Alcheringa 37, 496–509. ISSN 0311-5518. Laurelia otagoensis sp. nov. Conran, Bannister & D.E. Lee (Laurales: Atherospermataceae) is described from the earliest Miocene Foulden Maar diatomite deposit, Otago, New Zealand. The new species is represented by mummified fossil leaves with well-preserved cuticle and associated clusters of achenes bearing persistent, long plumose styles. This basal angiosperm family is of significance because of its classic southern disjunctions and ecological importance in extant Gondwana-type rainforests, but has a very sparse fossil record. The present study describes one of very few convincing leaf fossils for Atherospermataceae and the only definitive fossil fruits. The presence of fossil Laurelia in Oligo–Miocene New Zealand combined with fossil leaf impressions from the late Eocene, Miocene dispersed cuticle and pollen from the Oligocene to Holocene shows that the family has had a long history in Cenozoic New Zealand. These new fossils also support palaeoclimatic data suggesting warmer conditions in the earliest Miocene of New Zealand. John G. Conran [john.conran@adelaide.edu. au], Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity and Sprigg Geobiology Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Benham Bldg DX 650 312, The University of Adelaide, SA 5005 Australia; Jennifer M. Bannister [jennifer.bannister@xtra.co.nz], Department of Botany, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand; Daphne E. Lee [daphne.lee@otago.ac. nz], Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand. Received 17.12. 2012; revised 9.4. 2013; accepted 15.4. 2013.
The Burkinian orogenic cycle, precursor of the Eburnian orogeny in West Africa

In the best known areas of the West African craton structural, petrographic, and geochronological data provide a distinction between two separate units of the Lower Proterozoic in West Africa. A lower unit was metamorphosed from low to medium grade around 2170 Ma by horizontal shearing. This unit is mainly composed of dominantly basic bimodal magmatic rocks, and some trondhjemitic to tonalitic anatectic gneisses, and locally mesozonal mica schists known in Ivory Coast as the ‘Kounoukou formation’ which has been dated as 2183 Ma old. An upper unit, which frequently begins with polygenic conglomerates, also shows important bimodal vulcanism, but in contrast to the lower unit is dominantly silicic. This unit is affected by lower grade conditions of metamorphism and is weakly deformed. These two units correspond to the classic Eburnian I/Eburnian II succession. However, a clearer distinction is possible, with the recognition of two successive orogenic cycles. In the basal part of each of the two units a major episode of tholeiitic magmatism is evidence for separate periods of lithospheric thinning and fracturing. This was followed by the deposition of various lithological sequences, then by one or more tectonometamorphic events. Later uplift led to the emplacement of anorogenic subvolcanic granitic massifs which are displayed occasionally as ring complexes. This suggests that ‘Eburnian I’ is actually an independent orogenic cycle appearing in the West African formations between 2400 and 2150 Ma, for which we propose the name ‘Burkinian cycle’. This cycle has affected the lower magmatic and sedimentary formations, which we designate Dabakalian. This implies a restricted time span for the Eburnian cycle from 2100–2150 to 1800 Ma. The stratigraphic term ‘Birimian’ is applied to the sedimentary and magmatic formations of the upper unit. This scheme proposed for the Lower Proterozoic in West Africa is probably applicable to other Lower Proterozoic terranes in Africa.
Peak load minimization in load coupled interference networks

We propose a novel power control algorithm for the minimization of the peak load in the widely used load coupled network model, which is an abstract model able to capture the behavior of current and possibly future wireless networks. We first prove that the solution to the optimization problem we pose here requires all base stations with the same load. This necessary condition for optimality gives rise to a solver based on a bisection algorithm that requires an oracle able to answer whether a probed load is greater than the optimal value. By exploiting known properties of concave mappings, we devise an iterative oracle that, with a very mild assumption, provably gives the correct answer with a finite number of iterations. Simulations in an ultra-dense network show that the proposed algorithm can decrease the peak load by around 40% when compared to the peak load induced by the common approach of fixing the power of every base station to the maximum value.
MORPHOLOGICAL AND STRUCTURAL MODEL OF MEXICAN VOLCANIC BELT

On the basis of geological, geomorphological and structural data, the main structural units forming the Mexican Volcanic Belt (MVB) were recognized. They have been generated during several tensional phases since Oligocene. Many of the structures connected with these units are still active. Three main sectors were recognized inside the MVB. The western sector, activated during Pliocene times, shows a NW-SE trending graben system, associated to the opening of the Gulf of California. The central sector is represented by a block-faulted and tilted WSW-ENE trending graben system, surrounding a central depression. In the oriental sector the disjunctive structures are represented by N-S fault systems affecting the rigid basement of Sierra Madre Oriental, and controlling the development of the largest strato-volcanoes of the MVB. The MVB intersects older N-S and NNE-SSW block-faulted structures, belonging to the Basin and Range province. Reactivated tensional lineaments belonging to the same province were recognized inside the western and the central sector, and probably in the eastern one too. Along the southern margin of the same volcanic belt all the described distensive structures are interrupted, and huge E-W collapsed structures coincident with the Rio Balsas valley develop.
Randomization in the presence of historical controls

Background: Prospective trial design often occurs in the presence of “acceptable” [1] historical control data. Typically this data is only utilized for treatment comparison in a posteriori retrospective analysis to estimate population-averaged effects in a random-effects meta-analysis. Purpose: We propose and investigate an adaptive trial design in the context of an actual randomized controlled colorectal cancer trial. This trial, originally reported by Goldberg et al. [2], succeeded a similar trial reported by Saltz et al. [3], and used a control therapy identical to that tested (and found beneficial) in the Saltz trial. Methods: The proposed trial implements an adaptive randomization procedure for allocating patients aimed at balancing total information (concurrent and historical) among the study arms. This is accomplished by assigning more patients to receive the novel therapy in the absence of evidence for heterogeneity among the concurrent and historical controls. Allocation probabilities adapt as a function of the effective number of historical controls (EHC) characterizing relative informativeness defined in the context of a semiparametric piecewise exponential model for evaluating time-to-disease progression. Commensurate priors [4] are utilized to assess historical and concurrent heterogeneity at two interim analyses and to borrow strength from the historical data in the final analysis. The adaptive trial’s frequentist properties are simulated using the actual patient-level historical data from the Saltz trial and the actual enrollment dates for patients enrolled into the Goldberg trial. Results: Assessing concurrent and historical heterogeneity at interim analyses and balancing total information with the adaptive randomization procedure leads to trials that on average assign more new patients to the novel treatment when the historical controls are unbiased or slightly biased compared to the concurrent controls. Biased historical controls lead to trials that on average allocate patients equally among the treatment arms. Using the proposed commensurate prior model to borrow strength from the historical data, after balancing total information with the adaptive randomization procedure, produces an estimator of the treatment effect that dominates the no-borrowing estimator in terms of preposterior risk under squared error loss.
Optical 3D shape measurement for dynamic object using color fringe pattern projection and empirical mode decomposition

A fast and efficient technique for full-field dynamic 3-D measurement with color three-frequency fringe pattern projection is proposed. The technique is based on RGB color fringe pattern projection and empirical mode decomposition algorithm Using temporal unwrapping method the true phase distribution with high precision is acquired to recover the height distribution of the object. The technique permits the three-dimensional shape measurement of objects that have large height-discontinuity or spatially isolated surfaces. Owing to requiring only a single snapshot; it makes possible the instantaneous three-dimensional shape measurement of discontinuous objects in fast motion.
Initiation of intracontinental subduction in the Himalaya

Independent arguments based on topographic stress and crustal strength give upper limits of 200 bars and 300 bars, respectively, for the average shear stress on the intracontinental thrust fault that formed the Himalaya. According to either a one-dimensional or a two-dimensional fault model, such stresses could not have produced the Himalayan granites by friction, unless overthrusting velocity exceeded 30 cm/yr. More probably, Himalayan metamorphism was caused by exposure of continental crust to hot asthenosphere prior to the formation of the intracontinental thrust. Crust was exposed by peeling away of Indian subcrustal lithosphere in response to the force and moment exerted by the Tethyan slab. This detachment of buoyant crust from dense lithosphere better explains the metamorphic pattern and also explains why the distributed crustal shortening at the beginning of the collision orogeny was replaced by localized thrusting or intracontinental subduction.
Surface-based passive microwave studies of multiyear sea ice

Multifrequency passive microwave observations are reported from surface based field experiments carried out over multiyear sea ice in the eastern Arctic Basin, the Beaufort Sea, the Canadian archipelago and the northern Greenland Sea. Dual polarized brightness temperatures at 6.7, 10, 18.7, 37, and 90 GHz were obtained at selected multiyear ice sites covering a wide range of surface properties. Considerable variation was found in the observed spectra over short distances on individual floes under winter conditions where values of [ev(37 GHz) − ev(18 GHz)]/[ev(37 GHz) + ev(18 GHz)] ranged from nearly zero to approximately −0.08. Concurrent surface characterization observations consisting of temperature, density, salinity, and grain size profiles in the snow and the upper meter of the ice were carried out frequently in conjunction with Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory personnel. The present analysis shows that the magnitude of the spectral gradient of emissivity is directly related to the existence and thickness of a decomposed surface ice layer with very high porosity. Spectra for melt ponds with a frozen surface layer closely resembled those of lake ice and show a positive spectral gradient. As soon as the ponds were completely frozen, their spectra became nearly the same as those for first-year ice. Fine-grained winter snow produced a mild decrease in the emissivities at 90 GHz with increasing snow thickness from 0 to 0.2 m at which point the snow appears to be optically thick. During the melt season the ice emissivities eν depend most strongly on whether the surface layers are experiencing temporary freezing or not. Under melting conditions, eν depends on the liquid water content only over a very small range (e.g., 0–5% by mass at 90 GHz). If the liquid water in the surface layers is freezing, which can occur at intervals throughout the melt season, the spectral gradient is negative with a slope which depends on the thickness of the refrozen layer. The variance among emissivity spectra for multiyear ice appears to be influenced primarily by the distribution of melt ponds and by the presence of significant amounts of scattering inhomogeneities greater than 1 mm in diameter in the snow and in the upper 20–30 cm of the ice. We expect the signatures of multiyear ice to be regionally dependent, perhaps yielding environmental information about the Arctic ice pack.
Phenotypic differentiation of "smart" versus "naive" bacteriophages of Bacillus subtilis

The temperate bacteriophages of Bacillus subtilis differ dramatically in their response to the induction of the SOS system during the development of competence and following DNA damage. While all temperate bacteriophages are induced following DNA damage, the "naive" bacteriophages (i.e., phi105 and SPO2) are also induced during the development of competence. On the other hand, "smart" bacteriophages (i.e., phi3T and SPbeta) are not induced during the development of competence, and furthermore, once competence has developed, these prophages can no longer be induced by DNA damage.