Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evolutionary Distinctiveness, Threat Status, and Ecological Oddity in Primates

Abstract: The EDGE (evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered) conservation program (http://www.edgeofexistence.org) uses a composite measure of threat and phylogenetic isolation to rank species for conservation attention. Using primates as a test case, we examined how species that rank highly with this metric represent the collective from which they are drawn. We considered the ecological and morphological traits, including body mass, diet, terrestriality, and home range size, of all 233 species of primates. Overall, EDGE score and the level of deviance from the mean of 20 different ecological, reproductive, and morphological variables were correlated (mean correlation r =0.14, combined p =1.7 × 10−14). Although primates with a high EDGE score had characteristics that made them seem odd, they did not seem to express more ancestral characteristics than expected. Sets of primate species with high EDGE scores will, therefore, collectively capture a broader than expected range of the biology of the clade. If similar patterns hold in other groups, the EDGE metric may be useful for prioritizing biodiversity for conservation.
Oxidative Stress Biomarkers and Lifestyles in Japanese Healthy People

The urinary concentrations of 8-isoprostane and 8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), which are biomarkers of oxidative stress, were measured in 677 Japanese people without any diseases, and their correlations with lifestyle facotrs, lifestyle-related blood biochemical parameters, and dietary intake of antioxidative vitamins were investigated. The mean urinary concentration of 8-isoprostane and 8-OHdG was 0.58 ng/mg creatinine and 8.43 ng/mg creatinine, respectively. Mean urinary 8-isoprostane was significantly different in terms of age, gender, smoking and alcohol consumption but not different in terms of body mass index (BMI) and exercise. By multiple regression analysis, urinary 8-isoprostane was significantly influenced by smoking and age. On the other hand, mean urinary 8-OHdG showed differences only by age group. Multiple regression analysis revealed that urinary 8-OHdG was significantly influenced by age, smoking, body weight, levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (Hs-CRP) and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol in females, although it was significantly influenced by body weight in males. The present study shows that urinary 8-isoprostane is associated with lipid peroxidation related-lifestyles such as smoking, and urinary 8-OHdG is associated with arteriosclerosis related-factors such as Hs-CRP. Our findings suggest that 8-isoprostane and 8-OHdG appear to be prospective biomarkers for early prediction of lifestyle related-disease risk at the population level.
Re-thinking American intervention in the 1948 Italian election: beyond a success–failure dichotomy

American intervention in the 1948 Italian national election campaign has long been a source of contention. Most scholarship has assessed the Truman administration's activities in binary terms that revolve on simplistic notions of ‘success’; the idea that American efforts did or did not affect the outcome. The subsequent tendency has been to celebrate or critique US intervention. This article traces the difficulties experienced by the American government in post-war Italy, which laid the platform for an improvised effort in support of non-communist forces. The mobilisation was neither unified nor coherent and, moreover, was influenced by Italians. The final result nevertheless masked problems with the campaign. Rather than a normative critique of American efforts, this article argues that the outcome fostered a ‘perception of success’ that reframed US conceptualisation of the post-war Italian case and considers the wider ramifications of this mind-frame for future US–Italian relations and broader American approaches in the Cold War.
Koopman-Based Lifting Techniques for Nonlinear Systems Identification

We develop a novel lifting technique for nonlinear system identification based on the framework of the Koopman operator. The key idea is to identify the linear (infinite dimensional) Koopman operator in the lifted space of observables, instead of identifying the nonlinear system in the state space, a process which results in a linear method for nonlinear systems identification. The proposed lifting technique is an indirect method that does not require to compute time derivatives and is therefore well-suited to low-sampling rate data sets. Considering different finite-dimensional subspaces to approximate and identify the Koopman operator, we propose two numerical schemes: a main method and a dual method. The main method is a parametric identification technique that can accurately reconstruct the vector field of a broad class of systems. The dual method provides estimates of the vector field at the data points and is well-suited to identify high-dimensional systems with small datasets. This paper describes the two methods, provides theoretical convergence results, and illustrates the lifting techniques with several examples.
Post‐colonial Pakistani Mobilities: the Embodiment of the ‘Myth of Return’ in Tourism

This paper examines post‐migration mobilities of a Pakistani diaspora (Luton, UK) by identifying the embodiment of the ‘myth of return’ in tourism participation to the homeland, Pakistan. The interpretive ethnographic accounts re‐consider the ‘myth of return’ concerning the emigration and immigration nexus. The continuation of traditions such as duties and obligations transmitted through the myth in tourism are analysed. The paper argues that the ‘myth’ is imperative to understanding the meanings the Pakistani community attaches to tourism motivations. The conclusion argues that the ties between post‐colonial diasporas and the homelands can be explained through post‐migration tourism mobilities.
Assisted Gravity Compensation to cope with the complexity of kinesthetic teaching on redundant robots

Facilitating efficient programming-by-demonstration methods for advanced robot systems is an ongoing research challenge. This paper addresses one important challenge in this area, which is the programming of kinematically redundant robots. We argue that standard programming-by-demonstration methods for teaching task-space trajectories on a redundant robot using physical human-robot interaction are too complex for non-expert human tutors. We therefore introduce a new interaction and control concept for redundant robot systems, Assisted Gravity Compensation, based on a hierarchical control scheme, separating task-space programming from the redundancy resolution. The user is actively assisted by a given redundancy resolution while kinesthetically teaching task-space trajectories. This control scheme is implemented on our experimental robot system called FlexIRob and we briefly present results of a kinesthetic teaching experiment obtained in a larger field study on physical Human-Robot Interaction with 48 industrial workers. These results show, that the Assisted Gravity Compensation reduces the complexity of a kinesthetic teaching task, which is revealed by an improved task performance, making kinesthetic teaching an efficient programming-by-demonstration method for redundant robots.
Leaf traits, shoot growth and seed production in mature Fagus sylvatica trees after 8 years of CO2 enrichment.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Masting, i.e. synchronous but highly variable interannual seed production, is a strong sink for carbon and nutrients. It may, therefore, compete with vegetative growth. It is currently unknown whether increased atmospheric CO(2) concentrations will affect the carbon balance (or that of other nutrients) between reproduction and vegetative growth of forest species. In this study, reproduction and vegetative growth of shoots of mature beech (Fagus sylvatica) trees grown at ambient and elevated atmospheric CO(2) concentrations were quantified. It was hypothesized that within a shoot, fruiting has a negative effect on vegetative growth, and that this effect is ameliorated at increased CO(2) concentrations. METHODS Reproduction and its competition with leaf and shoot production were examined during two masting events (in 2007 and 2009) in F. sylvatica trees that had been exposed to either ambient or elevated CO(2) concentrations (530 µmol mol(-1)) for eight consecutive years, between 2000 and 2008. KEY RESULTS The number of leaves per shoot and the length of terminal shoots was smaller or shorter in the two masting years compared with the one non-masting year (2008) investigated, but they were unaffected by elevated CO(2) concentrations. The dry mass of terminal shoots was approx. 2-fold lower in the masting year (2007) than in the non-masting year in trees growing at ambient CO(2) concentrations, but this decline was not observed in trees exposed to elevated CO(2) concentrations. In both the CO(2) treatments, fruiting significantly decreased nitrogen concentration by 25 % in leaves and xylem tissue of 1- to 3-year-old branches in 2009. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that there is competition for resources between reproduction and shoot growth. Elevated CO(2) concentrations reduced this competition, indicating effects on the balance of resource allocation between reproduction and vegetative growth in shoots with rising atmospheric CO(2) concentrations.
Context-based access control management in ubiquitous environments

Wireless connectivity and the widespread diffusion of portable devices raise new challenges for ubiquitous service provisioning. Mobility of users causes frequent and unpredictable changes in user location and in consequently available resources. Access control to resources is crucial to leverage the provision of ubiquitous services and calls for novel solutions based on various context information, e.g., user location, device properties, user needs, local resource visibility. This work presents a novel access control model that proposes the adoption of context as a first-class design principle to rule access to resources. The paper proposes a context-centric access control middleware, called UbiCOSM, that dynamically determines the contexts of mobile users and effectively rules the access to them, by taking into account different types of metadata: user profiles and system/user-level authorization policies. The paper also presents a context-dependent movie-info service to evaluate the functioning of UbiCOSM.
Therapeutic Hypothermia: Critical Review of the Molecular Mechanisms of Action

Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) is nowadays one of the most important methods of neuroprotection. The events that occur after an episode of ischemia are multiple and hypothermia can affect the various steps of this cascade. The mechanisms of action of TH are varied and the possible explanation for the benefits of this therapy is probably the multiple mechanisms of action blocking the cascade of ischemia on many levels. TH can affect many metabolic pathways, reactions of inflammation, apoptosis processes, and promote neuronal integrity. To know the mechanisms of action of TH will allow a better understanding about the indications for this therapy and the possibility of searching for other therapies when used in conjunction with hypothermia will provide a therapeutic synergistic effect.
Health insurance coverage and mortality revisited.

OBJECTIVE To improve understanding of the relationship between lack of insurance and risk of subsequent mortality. DATA SOURCES Adults who reported being uninsured or privately insured in the National Health Interview Survey from 1986 to 2000 were followed prospectively for mortality from initial interview through 2002. Baseline information was obtained on 672,526 respondents, age 18-64 at the time of the interview. Follow-up information on vital status was obtained for 643,001 (96 percent) of these respondents, with approximately 5.4 million person-years of follow-up. STUDY DESIGN Relationships between insurance status and subsequent mortality are examined using Cox proportional hazard survival analysis. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Adjusted for demographic, health status, and health behavior characteristics, the risk of subsequent mortality is no different for uninsured respondents than for those covered by employer-sponsored group insurance at baseline (hazard ratio 1.03, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.95-1.12). Omitting health status as a control variable increases the estimated hazard ratio to 1.10 (95 percent CI, 1.03-1.19). Also omitting smoking status and body mass index increases the hazard ratio to 1.20 (95 percent CI, 1.15-1.24). The estimated association between lack of insurance and mortality is not larger among disadvantaged subgroups; when the analysis is restricted to amenable causes of death; when the follow-up period is shortened (to increase the likelihood of comparing the continuously insured and continuously uninsured); and does not change after people turn 65 and gain Medicare coverage. CONCLUSIONS The Institute of Medicine's estimate that lack of insurance leads to 18,000 excess deaths each year is almost certainly incorrect. It is not possible to draw firm causal inferences from the results of observational analyses, but there is little evidence to suggest that extending insurance coverage to all adults would have a large effect on the number of deaths in the United States.
Internet Addiction

New research identifies online users who became hooked on chat rooms, interactive games, and even eBay only to see their lives become increasingly unmanageable because of the Internet. Prior research explores the addictive qualities sustaining drug and alcohol abuse, pathological gambling, and even video game addiction; however, given the relative newness of Internet addiction, little is understood about the habit-forming nature of the Internet and its potential for abuse. As the Internet permeates our lives at home, school, and work, this article takes a closer look at how the Internet can create marital-, academic-, and job-related problems. This article outlines a workable definition of Internet addiction and as a clinical new phenomenon, explores the major consequences created by Internet addiction, including online affairs, student Internet abuse, and employee Internet abuse. Future areas for research and practice are also discussed.
Fast Power Control for Cross-Layer Optimal Resource Allocation in DS-CDMA Wireless Networks

This paper presents a novel cross-layer design for joint power and end-to-end rate control optimization in DS-CDMA wireless networks, along with a detailed implementation and evaluation in the network simulator ns-2. Starting with a network utility maximization formulation of the problem, we derive distributed power control, transport rate and queue management schemes that jointly achieve the optimal network operation. Our solution has several attractive features compared to alternatives: it adheres to the natural time-scale separation between rapid power control updates and slower end-to-end rate adjustments, and uses simplified power control mechanisms with reduced signalling requirements. We argue that these features are critical for a successful real-world implementation. To validate these claims, we present a detailed implementation of a cross-layer adapted networking stack for DS-CSMA ad-hoc networks in ns-2. We describe several critical issues that arise in the implementation, but are typically neglected in the theoretical protocol design, and evaluate the alternatives in extensive simulations.
Gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to coronary artery disease

As pediatric cancer survivors age, long‐term cardiovascular complications related to chemotherapeutic toxicities, as well as development of premature coronary artery disease (CAD) from radiation and increased prevalence of CAD risk factors such as obesity, are likely to become more prevalent. Despite advances in our understanding of CAD in the general population, a large amount of the variance in development of disease is unexplained. Given the strong heritability of CAD, some of this may be attributable to genetics. Premature CAD in particular segregates in families, and twin studies have shown that the genetic contribution is greater in premature CAD. In this article, we present a brief review of the literature on the genetics of CAD. Over 30 monogenic disorders feature CAD phenotypes. Recently, however, interest has shifted to understanding the genetic variation contributing to common, complex disease, where disease risk is polygenic and characterized by environmental factors, and gene–environment interactions. CAD epitomizes such a disease, and highlights the inherent difficulties in understanding the underlying genetic architecture of such diseases. Long‐term cardiovascular complications in patients who survive pediatric cancers result in significant morbidity and mortality in this population. Clinicians need to be aware of screening and treatment strategies for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular complications in this group. Further research is necessary to define the epidemiology and risk factors of premature CAD in survivors of pediatric cancers, and to determine whether candidate genes for cardiovascular disease in the general population are also susceptibility genes in this vulnerable population. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2007;48:738–741. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Brown Adipose Tissue, Hibernation and Obesity

Brown adipose tissue is the site where nonshivering thermogenesis occurs in neonatal mammals. However, until the late 1970s it was the general view that brown adipose tissue had no biological role in adult life except in hibernating species. Then Foster & Frydman (1978a,b, 1979) concluded, on the basis of blood flow measurements using radioactive microspheres, that brown adipose tissue was the dominant site where nonshivering thermogenesis occurs in rats acclimated to the cold. Furthermore, they suggested that even in warm-acclimated rats, brown adipose tissue could be the site of up to 40% of the extra heat produced following acute cold exposure (Foster & Frydman 1979). 'It has frequently been said that obesity is the result of a positive energy balance, that food intake must have exceeded energy expenditure, and from this it has been deduced that the condition results from an indulgence in either or both of the two deadly sins, gluttony and sloth' (Miller 1979). However, as Himms-Hagen (1979) has noted, 'some people may indulge in gluttony and sloth with impunity, others only with unwelcome consequences; still others may not indulge at all but nevertheless become obese'. How can these individual variations be explained? The variation must be sought within one of the four components of energy expenditure: the basal metabolic rate, physical activity, the thermic effect of food, and facultative thermogenesis (cold-induced plus diet-induced thermogenesis). James & Trayhurn (1976) suggested on the basis of studies on genetically-obese (ob/ob) mice that there could be a connection between obesity and non-shivering thermogenesis. These mice had long been known to be unusually sensitive to cold and incapable of thermogenesis. By studying energy balance at various environmental temperatures, James and Trayhurn deduced that these mice become obese as a result of expending less . energy on thermogenesis through maintaining a subnormal body temperature. These authors then developed the argument that some obese subjects might be 'hibernators'. With the realization from the studies of Foster & Frydman (1978a) that brown adipose tissue was a main site of thermogenesis in cold-exposed rodents, it became obvious to determine whether there was a metabolic defect within this tissue in these genetically-obese mutants. The mitochondria of brown adipose tissue are peculiarly adapted to producing heat through the possession of a unique proton-conductance pathway that allows
Metabolic effect and receptor signalling profile of a non-metabolisable insulin glargine analogue

Abstract Context: Insulin glargine (GLA) is rapidly metabolized in vivo to metabolite M1, which has in vitro metabolic and mitogenic profiles comparable with human insulin (HI). Objective: To investigate the pharmacologic and signalling profiles of a non-metabolizable analogue (A21Gly,DiD-Arg) insulin (D-GLA). Methods: Rats were injected s.c. with 1, 12.5 or 200 U/kg of GLA or D-GLA; blood glucose and phosphorylation status of the insulin receptor (IR), Akt and IGF-1 receptor (IGF1R) in tissue samples were investigated after 1 h. Plasma samples were analysed for insulin by LC-MS/MS. Results: Blood glucose lowering was prolonged with D-GLA. D-GLA comprised ≥98% of insulin after D-GLA injection; M1 comprised 76–92% after GLA injection. IR and Akt phosphorylation were comparable with GLA and D-GLA. Neither analogue stimulated IGF1R phosphorylation. Conclusions: Suprapharmacological doses of D-GLA did not activate IGF1R in vivo. Mitogenic effects of insulin and insulin analogues might be solely based on IR growth-promoting activity.
Enhancing VNF performance by exploiting SR-IOV and DPDK packet processing acceleration

The primary goal of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is the migration of physical network functions to software versions running on virtual machines (VM) in cloud computing environments. Rapid developments in virtualization technologies have made high-speed network connections and line rate packet processing viable in virtualized infrastructure environments. Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) of network traffic in the form of a computational intensive virtualized network function (VNF) was selected as a representative use-case. The DPI use case was used, to demonstrate the benefits of using SR-IOV enabled devices with DPDK to support performant Virtual Network Function (VNF) deployments. Performance evaluation of VNF versions using LibPCAP, SR-IOV and DPDK have been carried out. The results demonstrate that significantly higher packet throughput performance can be achieved when using SR-IOV and DPDK in unison in comparison to packet processing with the native Linux kernel network stack.
The use of a school value-added model for educational improvement: a case study from the Portuguese primary education system

This article focuses on the use of a value-added approach for promoting school improvement. It presents yearly value-added estimates, analyses their stability over time, and discusses the contribution of this methodological approach for promoting school improvement programmes in the Portuguese system of evaluation. The value-added model is applied to longitudinal data gathered from a representative sample of students enrolled in primary school, using mathematics scores as outcome variable. The estimates are used to determine a systematic positive or negative school value-added effect. Results indicate that at least 41% of schools remain at the same level over 3 years, 15% present an instable pattern, and approximately 40% show a positive or negative trend. It is argued that these results, especially those that reveal systematically underperforming schools, could have relevant implications for educational policy geared towards school improvement.