Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatial Patterns of Movement of Dung Beetle Species in a Tropical Forest Suggest a New Trap Spacing for Dung Beetle Biodiversity Studies

A primary goal of community ecologists is to understand the processes underlying the spatiotemporal patterns of species distribution. Understanding the dispersal process is of great interest in ecology because it is related to several mechanisms driving community structure. We investigated the mobility of dung beetles using mark-release-recapture technique, and tested the usefulness of the current recommendation for interaction distance between baited pitfall traps in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We found differences in mean movement rate between Scarabaeinae species, and between species with different sets of ecological traits. Large-diurnal-tunneler species showed greater mobility than did both large-nocturnal tunneler and roller species. Our results suggest that, based on the analyses of the whole community or the species with the highest number of recaptured individuals, the minimum distance of 50 m between pairs of baited pitfall traps proposed roughly 10 years ago is inadequate. Dung beetle species with different sets of ecological traits may differ in their dispersal ability, so we suggest a new minimum distance of 100 m between pairs of traps to minimize interference between baited pitfall traps for sampling copronecrophagous Scarabaeinae dung beetles.
Very high resolution Image Segmentation by combined spectral and structural information

Image Segmentation is a key and prerequisite step for object-based analysis using very high resolution (VHR) images. The segmentation method based on morphological profiles proposed in 111 only makes use of the structural information from panchromatic image. This paper proposed a segmentation method for VHR multispectral images by combined spectral and structural information. The proposed method was evaluated by comparing with existing morphological segmentation methods through visual inspection and quantitative measures, using a Quickbird image of Beijing area. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method achieve a better performance.
The Synergistic Apoptotic Interaction of Panaxadiol and Epigallocatechin Gallate in Human Colorectal Cancer Cells

Panaxadiol (PD) is a purified sapogenin of ginseng saponins, which exhibits anticancer activity. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a major catechin in green tea, is a strong botanical antioxidant. In this study, we investigated the possible synergistic anticancer effects of PD and EGCG on human colorectal cancer cells and explored the potential role of apoptosis in the synergistic activities. Effects of selected compounds on HCT‐116 and SW‐480 human colorectal cancer cells were evaluated by a modified trichrome stain cell proliferation analysis. Cell cycle distribution and apoptotic effects were analyzed by flow cytometry after staining with PI/RNase or annexin V/PI. Cell growth was suppressed after treatment with PD (10 and 20 µm) for 48 h. When PD (10 and 20 µm) was combined with EGCG (10, 20, and 30 µm), significantly enhanced antiproliferative effects were observed in both cell lines. Combining 20 µm of PD with 20 and 30 µm of EGCG significantly decreased S‐phase fractions of cells. In the apoptotic assay, the combination of PD and EGCG significantly increased the percentage of apoptotic cells compared with PD alone (p < 0.01). The synergistic apoptotic effects were also supported by docking analysis, which demonstrated that PD and EGCG bound in two different sites of the annexin V protein. Data from this study suggested that apoptosis might play an important role in the EGCG‐enhanced antiproliferative effects of PD on human colorectal cancer cells. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Selective association of misfolded ALS-linked mutant SOD1 with the cytoplasmic face of mitochondria

Mutations in copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1) are causative for dominantly inherited amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Despite high variability in biochemical properties among the disease-causing mutants, a proportion of both dismutase-active and -inactive mutants are stably bound to spinal cord mitochondria. This mitochondrial proportion floats with mitochondria rather than sedimenting to the much higher density of protein, thus eliminating coincidental cosedimentation of protein aggregates with mitochondria. Half of dismutase-active and ≈90% of dismutase-inactive mutant SOD1 is bound to mitochondrial membranes in an alkali- and salt-resistant manner. Sensitivity to proteolysis and immunoprecipitation with an antibody specific for misfolded SOD1 demonstrate that in all mutant SOD1 models, misfolded SOD1 is deposited onto the cytoplasmic face of the outer mitochondrial membrane, increasing antigenic accessibility of the normally structured electrostatic loop. Misfolded mutant SOD1 binding is both restricted to spinal cord and selective for mitochondrial membranes, implicating exposure to mitochondria of a misfolded mutant SOD1 conformer mediated by a unique, tissue-selective composition of cytoplasmic chaperones, components unique to the cytoplasmic face of spinal mitochondria to which misfolded SOD1 binds, or misfolded SOD1 conformers unique to spinal cord that have a selective affinity for mitochondrial membranes.
Experimental evaluation of wireless simulation assumptions

All analytical and simulation research on ad~hoc wireless networks must necessarily model radio propagation using simplifying assumptions. We provide a comprehensive review of six assumptions that are still part of many ad hoc network simulation studies, despite increasing awareness of the need to represent more realistic features, including hills, obstacles, link asymmetries, and unpredictable fading. We use an extensive set of measurements from a large outdoor routing experiment to demonstrate the weakness of these assumptions, and show how these assumptions cause simulation results to differ significantly from experimental results. We close with a series of recommendations for researchers, whether they develop protocols, analytic models, or simulators for ad~hoc wireless networks.
Blood eosinophil guided prednisolone therapy for exacerbations of COPD: a further analysis

To the Editor: Exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are associated with significant morbidity and mortality [1]. Current guidelines advocate the use of systemic corticosteroids in addition to antibiotics to treat an exacerbation [2, 3], but these treatments are not universally effective and are not without harm [4]. Individualised treatment may, therefore, be an advance. Recently we showed that patients with a peripheral blood eosinophil count of ≥2% at the onset of an outpatient managed exacerbation respond promptly and completely to prednisolone, whereas those with a count of <2% had a higher rate of treatment failure compared with placebo [5]. Whether these findings can be replicated in a larger population, including patients hospitalised with exacerbations of COPD remains unclear. We set out to address these questions in a further analysis of randomised controlled studies comparing outcomes in patients with exacerbations of COPD treated with prednisolone or non-prednisolone (placebo or equivalent). We investigated the rates of treatment failures in patients stratified by the peripheral blood eosinophil count measured at the time of exacerbation. A literature search of the Medline, EMBASE and PubMed databases was performed using the MeSH terms: 1) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; 2) exacerbations; 3) oral corticosteroid/prednisolone; and 4) randomised clinical trials. Six trials fulfilled these criteria and the authors were contacted about data sharing. Of these studies, the peripheral blood eosinophil count at the onset …
Self-biased CMOS current reference based on the ZTC operation condition

A self-biased current reference based on the MOSFET Zero Temperature Coefficient (ZTC) condition is presented. It can be implemented in any CMOS process and it provides a simple alternative to design a reference current suitable for low TC biasing. This topology was designed in a 0.18 μm process to generate 5 μA under a supply voltage from 1.4V to 1.8 V, spending a silicon area around 0.010mm2. From circuit simulations, the current reference is estimated to have a temperature coefficient (TCeff ) of 15 ppm/°C from -40 to +85 °C and a fabrication sensitivity of σ/μ = 4.5%, including average process and local mismatch variability. The power supply sensitivity resulted around 1%V for this new reference.
Diversity Combining for Cooperative Communications

The benefits of cooperative communications in terms of link reliability and coverage extension are becoming more and more known to the telecommunication community, and have attracted the interest of both academia and industry in the last few years. Through the utilization of spatially distributed single-antenna terminals, cooperative communications are designed to achieve the beneficial effects of diversity in future networks without the need for employing multiple antennas at either the transmitter or the receiver end. As has been demonstrated in many research works in this area, cooperating terminals AbstrAct
Bandwidth Efficient Diversity Scheme Using STTC Concatenated With STBC: MIMO Systems

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems are widely in use to improve quality, reliability of wireless transmission and increase the spectral efficiency. However in MIMO systems, multiple copies of data are received after experiencing various channel effects. The limitations on account of complexity due to number of antennas in case of conventional decoding techniques have been looked into. Accordingly we propose a modified sphere decoder (MSD-1) algorithm with lower complexity and give rise to system with high spectral efficiency. With the aim to increase signal diversity we apply rotated quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) constellation in multi dimensional space. Finally, we propose a new architecture involving space time trellis code (STTC) concatenated with space time block code (STBC) using MSD-1 at the receiver for improving system performance. The system gains have been verified with channel state information (CSI) errors.
Global stability of switched genetic regulatory networks with noises and mixed time-delays

In this paper, switched genetic regulatory networks (GRNs) are modeled, based on switched systems, noise and mixed time-delays. Global asymptotical stability of this switched GRNs are studied by the Lyapunov method and the matrix inequality techniques. Some new sufficient conditions are obtained to ensure the global asymptotical stability of the proposed switched GRNs. Furthermore, the proposed LMI results are computationally efficient as it can be solved numerically with standard commercial software. Finally, an example is provided to illustrate the usefulness of the results.
Monolithic nanoporous copper by dealloying Mn–Cu

Monolithic nanoporous copper was synthesized by dealloying Mn_0. 7Cu_0. 3 by two distinct methods: potentiostatically driven dealloying and free corrosion. Both the ligament size and morphology were found to be highly dependent on the dealloying methods and conditions. For example, ligaments from 16 nm–125 nm were obtained by dealloying either electrochemically or by free corrosion, respectively. Optimization of the starting Mn–Cu alloy microstructure allowed us to synthesize uniform porous structures; but we found cracking to be unavoidable. Despite the presence of unavoidable defects, the nanoporous material still exhibits higher than expected yield strength.
Image understanding architecture: exploiting potential parallelism in machine vision

A hardware architecture that addresses at least part of the potential parallelism in each of the three levels of vision abstraction, low (sensory), intermediate (symbolic), and high (knowledge-based), is described. The machine, called the image understanding architecture (IUA), consists of three different, tightly coupled parallel processors; the content addressable array parallel processor (CAAPP) at the low level, the intermediate communication associative processor (ICAP) at the intermediate level, and the symbolic processing array (SPA) at the high level. The CAAPP and ICAP levels are controlled by an array control unit (ACU) that takes its directions from the SPA level. The SPA is a multiple-instruction multiple-data (MIMD) parallel processor, while the intermediate and low levels operat in multiple modes. The CAAPP operates in single-instruction multiple-data (SIMD) associative or multiassociative mode, and the ICAP operates in single-program multiple-data (SPMD) or MIMD mode. <<ETX>>
Occupational exposure to particulate air pollution and mortality due to ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease

Objectives: A growing number of epidemiological studies are showing that ambient exposure to particulate matter air pollution is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease; however, whether occupational exposure increases this risk is not clear. The aim of the present study was to examine whether occupational exposure to particulate air pollution increases the risk for ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. Methods: The study population was a cohort of 176 309 occupationally exposed Swedish male construction workers and 71 778 unexposed male construction workers. The definition of exposure to inorganic dust (asbestos, man-made mineral fibres, dust from cement, concrete and quartz), wood dust, fumes (metal fumes, asphalt fumes and diesel exhaust) and gases and irritants (organic solvents and reactive chemicals) was based on a job-exposure matrix with focus on exposure in the mid-1970s. The cohort was followed from 1971 to 2002 with regard to mortality to ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. Relative risks (RR) were obtained by the person-years method and from Poisson regression models adjusting for baseline values of blood pressure, body mass index, age and smoking habits. Results: Any occupational particulate air pollution was associated with an increased risk for ischemic heart disease (RR 1.13, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.19), but there was no increased risk for cerebrovascular disease (RR 0.97, 95% CI 0.88 to 1.07). There was an increased risk for ischaemic heart disease and exposure to inorganic dust (RR 1.07, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.12) and exposure to fumes (RR 1.05, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.10), especially diesel exhaust (RR 1.18, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.24). There was no significantly increased risk for cerebrovascular disease and exposure to inorganic dust, fumes or wood dust. Conclusions: Occupational exposure to particulate air pollution, especially diesel exhaust, among construction workers increases the risk for ischaemic heart disease.
Belief propagation for nonlinear block codes

Special cases of the belief propagation algorithm are commonly used to decode various linear error correcting codes. We show that the belief propagation algorithm can also be applied to the decoding problem for nonlinear error correcting codes by considering a modified set of update rules. We demonstrate the modified belief propagation algorithm by applying it to the well-known Nordstrom-Robinson (15, 256, 5) nonlinear code. The Nordstrom-Robinson code contains many cycles, which means that belief propagation is suboptimal. Nevertheless, we observe a coding gain of about 1.2 dB with this method.
k·p theory for two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide semiconductors

We present k · p ? > Hamiltonians parametrized by ab initio density functional theory calculations to describe the dispersion of the valence and conduction bands at their extrema (the K, Q, Γ, and M points of the hexagonal Brillouin zone) in atomic crystals of semiconducting monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs). We discuss the parametrization of the essential parts of the k · p ? > Hamiltonians for MoS2, MoSe2, MoTe2, WS2, WSe2, and WTe2, including the spin-splitting and spin-polarization of the bands, and we briefly review the vibrational properties of these materials. We then use k · p ? > theory to analyse optical transitions in two-dimensional TMDCs over a broad spectral range that covers the Van Hove singularities in the band structure (the M points). We also discuss the visualization of scanning tunnelling microscopy maps.
Efficacy and safety of alirocumab in high cardiovascular risk patients with inadequately controlled hypercholesterolaemia on maximally tolerated doses of statins: the ODYSSEY COMBO II randomized controlled trial

Aims To compare the efficacy [low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) lowering] and safety of alirocumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody to proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin 9, compared with ezetimibe, as add-on therapy to maximally tolerated statin therapy in high cardiovascular risk patients with inadequately controlled hypercholesterolaemia. Methods and results COMBO II is a double-blind, double-dummy, active-controlled, parallel-group, 104-week study of alirocumab vs. ezetimibe. Patients (n = 720) with high cardiovascular risk and elevated LDL-C despite maximal doses of statins were enrolled (August 2012–May 2013). This pre-specified analysis was conducted after the last patient completed 52 weeks. Patients were randomized to subcutaneous alirocumab 75 mg every 2 weeks (plus oral placebo) or oral ezetimibe 10 mg daily (plus subcutaneous placebo) on a background of statin therapy. At Week 24, mean ± SE reductions in LDL-C from baseline were 50.6 ± 1.4% for alirocumab vs. 20.7 ± 1.9% for ezetimibe (difference 29.8 ± 2.3%; P < 0.0001); 77.0% of alirocumab and 45.6% of ezetimibe patients achieved LDL-C <1.8 mmol/L (P < 0.0001). Mean achieved LDL-C at Week 24 was 1.3 ± 0.04 mmol/L with alirocumab and 2.1 ± 0.05 mmol/L with ezetimibe, and were maintained to Week 52. Alirocumab was generally well tolerated, with no evidence of an excess of treatment-emergent adverse events. Conclusion In patients at high cardiovascular risk with inadequately controlled LDL-C, alirocumab achieved significantly greater reductions in LDL-C compared with ezetimibe, with a similar safety profile. Trial registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01644188.
The Effect of Technical Parameters on Lycopene Extraction in Supercritical Fluid Extraction From Freeze-Dried Tomato Pomace (Peels and Seeds)

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of lycopene from freeze-dried tomato pomace(peels and seeds) with CO2 was explored. The effect of different technical parameters, such as temperature (40°C, 50°C, 60°C), pressure (35MPa, 40MPa, 45MPa) and particle size (three degree index), on the extraction yield and the content of lycopene in extracts was determined with statistical analysis.The product obtained by supercritical CO2 extraction at over 35MPa contained the highest concentration of lycopene, while the product rich in β-carotene and lutein was obtained at below 30MPa.The product obtained by supercritical CO2 extraction at 40MPa and 60°C contains the highest concentration lycopene of 32.52±1.02g/100g dry material.
Intraspecific competition drives increased resource use diversity within a natural population

Resource competition is thought to play a major role in driving evolutionary diversification. For instance, in ecological character displacement, coexisting species evolve to use different resources, reducing the effects of interspecific competition. It is thought that a similar diversifying effect might occur in response to competition among members of a single species. Individuals may mitigate the effects of intraspecific competition by switching to use alternative resources not used by conspecific competitors. This diversification is the driving force in some models of sympatric speciation, but has not been demonstrated in natural populations. Here, we present experimental evidence confirming that competition drives ecological diversification within natural populations. We manipulated population density of three-spine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) in enclosures in a natural lake. Increased population density led to reduced prey availability, causing individuals to add alternative prey types to their diet. Since phenotypically different individuals added different alternative prey, diet variation among individuals increased relative to low-density control enclosures. Competition also increased the diet–morphology correlations, so that the frequency-dependent interactions were stronger in high competition. These results not only confirm that resource competition promotes niche variation within populations, but also show that this increased diversity can arise via behavioural plasticity alone, without the evolutionary changes commonly assumed by theory.
Decay of charged fields in de Sitter spacetime

We study the decay of charged scalar and spinor fields around Reissner–Nordström black holes in de Sitter spacetime through calculations of quasi-normal frequencies of the fields. The influence of the parameters of the black hole (charge, mass), of the decaying fields (charge, spin) and of the spacetime (cosmological constant) on the decay is analysed. The analytic formula for the calculation of quasi-normal frequencies for a large multipole number (eikonal approximation) is derived both for the spinor and scalar fields.
GX 17+2 : X-RAY SPECTRAL AND TIMING BEHAVIOUR OF A BURSTING Z SOURCE

We investigated the properties of the Z pattern of the low-mass X-ray binary GX 17+2 in the X-ray colour-colour diagrams (CDs) and hardness-intensity diagrams (HIDs), and of the power spectra as a function of position in the Z, using all EXOSAT ME data. The Z pattern in the CD does not move to within 2 per cent between observations separated by 1 day to 1.5 years. The power spectra and the characteristics of the Z pattern both support the division of the Z sources into two sub-groups, GX 17+2 being in the group together with Sco X-1 and GX 349+2. It has been noted previously that the maximum frequency of the horizontal branch quasi-periodic oscillations in GX 17+2 is lower than for Cyg X-2, GX 5-1 and GX 340+0. We suggest that an asymmetry in the magnetic field giving rise to polar caps with different emission characteristics may be the origin of this. This may also explain the occurrence of bursts in GX 17+2. We also report the detection of two new bursts in the EXOSAT data of GX 17+2, which we interpret as type I bursts. No regular pulsations are observed during these two bursts nor during the bursts previously detected in GX 17+2 with EXOSAT, with upper limits to the pulsed amplitude of 1.5 per cent for pulsations with a frequency below 512 Hz. Three of the four bursts occurred in the normal branch, while one occurred in the lower part of the flaring branch.