Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extreme positive allometry of animal adhesive pads and the size limits of adhesion-based climbing

Significance How adhesive forces can be scaled up from microscopic to macroscopic levels is a central problem for biological and bio-inspired adhesives. Here, we elucidate how animals with sticky footpads cope with large body sizes. We find an extreme positive allometry of footpad area across all 225 species studied, implying a 200-fold increase of relative pad area from mites to geckos. Within groups, however, pads were almost isometric, but their adhesive strength increased with size, inconsistent with existing models. Extrapolating the observed scaling, we show that to support a human’s body weight, an unrealistic 40% of the body surface would have to be covered with adhesive pads, suggesting that anatomical constraints may prohibit the evolution of adhesion-based climbers larger than geckos. Organismal functions are size-dependent whenever body surfaces supply body volumes. Larger organisms can develop strongly folded internal surfaces for enhanced diffusion, but in many cases areas cannot be folded so that their enlargement is constrained by anatomy, presenting a problem for larger animals. Here, we study the allometry of adhesive pad area in 225 climbing animal species, covering more than seven orders of magnitude in weight. Across all taxa, adhesive pad area showed extreme positive allometry and scaled with weight, implying a 200-fold increase of relative pad area from mites to geckos. However, allometric scaling coefficients for pad area systematically decreased with taxonomic level and were close to isometry when evolutionary history was accounted for, indicating that the substantial anatomical changes required to achieve this increase in relative pad area are limited by phylogenetic constraints. Using a comparative phylogenetic approach, we found that the departure from isometry is almost exclusively caused by large differences in size-corrected pad area between arthropods and vertebrates. To mitigate the expected decrease of weight-specific adhesion within closely related taxa where pad area scaled close to isometry, data for several taxa suggest that the pads’ adhesive strength increased for larger animals. The combination of adjustments in relative pad area for distantly related taxa and changes in adhesive strength for closely related groups helps explain how climbing with adhesive pads has evolved in animals varying over seven orders of magnitude in body weight. Our results illustrate the size limits of adhesion-based climbing, with profound implications for large-scale bio-inspired adhesives.
Conflict Resolution and Moral Development in Early Childhood: An Observational Study

The purpose of this project was to characterize and explore many different properties of conflict resolution and moral development as possible using qualitative empirical approaches which explored childrens’ concepts of problem solving and reasoning. The objective of the study was to address how children cheat in games, and the efficacy of Rock-Paper-Scissors in conflict resolution. This study built upon Jean Piaget’s theory of moral development in children, extending his concepts into the sphere of rules and transgressions. The study was designed to analyze the stages in Piaget’s theory pertaining to the levels of moral development and how children interact in successful conflict resolutions with regard to the stages of development. The study also incorporates an analysis of the game Rochambeau, or Rock-paper-Scissors, which is often used to solve small disputes between people. The research technique, naturalistic observation, was based on observing subjects in their natural environment. This type of research is well suited for situations where conducting lab research is unrealistic, cost prohibitive, or would unduly affect the subject's behavior. The experiment was carried out during a daytime program provided by Child and Family Services of the Upper Peninsula, Inc., in the summer of 2014. RUNNING HEAD: Conflict Resolution and Moral Development in Early Childhood Biang 3
Control method to guarantee throughput based on media access control method SP-MAC over WLAN

Wireless local area networks (WLAN) based on IEEE 802.11 usually employ carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) for media access control. In the CSMA/CA mechanism, data frame collisions often occur if the number of wireless terminals increases. This problem decreases the total throughput of terminals connected to the same access point. To address this problem, a media access control method based on the synchronization phenomena of coupled oscillators (SP-MAC) has been proposed. Previous studies have confirmed that SP-MAC can significantly decrease the number of data frame collisions and improve total throughput compared to CSMA/CA. However, the previous studies did not consider a QoS control based on SP-MAC. This study focuses on throughput as a QoS metric. This study proposes a control method to guarantee throughput based on SP-MAC. Furthermore, this study evaluates the effectiveness of the proposed method through simulation experiments. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method can control the throughput of each terminal without decreasing total throughput. Furthermore, this study shows that the proposed method can guarantee throughput for a specified terminal.
Leishmania amazonensis-Dendritic Cell Interactions In Vitro and the Priming of Parasite-Specific CD4+ T Cells In Vivo1

The progressive disease following Leishmania amazonensis infection in mice requires functional CD4+ T cells, which are primed to a disease-promoting phenotype during the infection. To understand how these pathogenic T cells are generated and the role of dendritic cells (DCs) in this process, we use DCs of susceptible BALB/c and resistant C3H/HeJ mice to examine parasite-DC interactions in vitro as well as the effector phenotype of T cells primed by parasite-exposed DCs in vivo. Our results demonstrate that amastigotes and metacyclics efficiently enter and activate DCs of both genetic backgrounds. Infection with amastigotes fails to induce CD40-depedent IL-12 production, but rather potentiates IL-4 production in BALB/c DCs. Upon transfer into syngeneic recipients, amastigote-exposed BALB/c DCs prime parasite-specific Th cells to produce significantly higher levels of IL-4 and IL-10 than their C3H/HeJ counterparts. Transfer studies with IL-4−/− DCs indicate that this enhanced Th2 priming seen in BALB/c mice is partially due to the IL-4 production by amastigote-carrying DCs. These results suggest that L. amazonensis amastigotes may condition DCs of a susceptible host to a state that favors activation of pathogenic CD4+ T cells, and thereby provide a new perspective on the pathogenesis of cutaneous leishmaniasis and protozoan parasite-host interactions in general.
Significance of PELP1 in ER-Negative Breast Cancer Metastasis

Breast cancer metastasis is a major clinical problem. The molecular basis of breast cancer progression to metastasis remains poorly understood. PELP1 is an estrogen receptor (ER) coregulator that has been implicated as a proto-oncogene whose expression is deregulated in metastatic breast tumors and whose expression is retained in ER-negative tumors. We examined the mechanism and significance of PELP1-mediated signaling in ER-negative breast cancer progression using two ER-negative model cells (MDA-MB-231 and 4T1 cells) that stably express PELP1-shRNA. These model cells had reduced PELP1 expression (75% of endogenous levels) and exhibited less propensity to proliferate in growth assays in vitro. PELP1 downregulation substantially affected migration of ER-negative cells in Boyden chamber and invasion assays. Using mechanistic studies, we found that PELP1 modulated expression of several genes involved in the epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT), including MMPs, SNAIL, TWIST, and ZEB. In addition, PELP1 knockdown reduced the in vivo metastatic potential of ER-negative breast cancer cells and significantly reduced lung metastatic nodules in a xenograft assay. These results implicate PELP1 as having a role in ER-negative breast cancer metastasis, reveal novel mechanism of coregulator regulation of metastasis via promoting cell motility/EMT by modulating expression of genes, and suggest PELP1 may be a potential therapeutic target for metastatic ER-negative breast cancer. Mol Cancer Res; 10(1); 25–33. ©2011 AACR.
A Review on the Association between Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists and Thyroid Cancer

There is a concern on the risk of thyroid cancer associated with glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogs including liraglutide and exenatide. In this article, we review related experimental studies, clinical trials and observational human studies currently available. In rodents, liraglutide activated the GLP-1 receptors on C-cells, causing an increased incidence of C-cell neoplasia. Animal experiments with monkeys demonstrated no increase in calcitonin release and no C-cell proliferation after long-term liraglutide administration. Longitudinal 2-year data from clinical trials do not support any significant risk for the activation or growth of C-cell cancer in humans in response to liraglutide. However, an analysis of the FDA adverse event reporting system database suggested an increased risk for thyroid cancer associated with exenatide after its marketing. Noticeably, a recent study discovered that GLP-1 receptor could also be expressed in human papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTC), but the impact of GLP-1 analogs on PTC is not known. Therefore, GLP-1 analogs might increase the risk of thyroid C-cell pathology in rodents, but its risk in humans awaits confirmation. Since GLP-1 receptor is also expressed in PTC besides C-cells, it is important to investigate the actions of GLP-1 on different subtypes of thyroid cancer in the future.
The genera Isorineloricaria and Aphanotorulus (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) with description of a new species.

We review the complex history of those species included in the Hypostomus emarginatus species complex and recognize them in Isorineloricaria and Aphanotorulus. Isorineloricaria consists of four valid species: I. acuarius n. sp. , I. spinosissima, I. tenuicauda, and I. villarsi. Aphanotorulus consists of six valid species: A. ammophilus, A, emarginatus, A. gomesi, A. horridus, A. phrixosoma, and A. unicolor. Plecostomus annae and Hypostoma squalinum are placed in the synonymy of A. emarginatus; Plecostomus biseriatus, P. scopularius, and P. virescens are placed in the synonymy of A. horridus; Plecostomus winzi is placed in the synonymy of I. tenuicauda, and one new species, I. acuarius is described from the Apure River basin of Venezuela. Aphanotoroulus can be distinguished from Isorineloricaria by having caudal peduncles that do not become greatly lengthed with size and that are oval in cross section (vs. caudal peduncle proportions that get proportionately longer with size and that become round in cross-section), and by having small dark spots (less than half plate diameter) on a light tan background (vs. spots almost as large as lateral plates on a nearly white background.
Landmark routing for large ad hoc wireless networks

We present an enhanced version of the routing protocol, Landmark Ad Hoc Routing (LANMAR). LANMAR combines the features of Fisheye State Routing (FSR) and Landmark routing. The enhanced version features landmark election to cope with the dynamic and mobile environment. Other advantages of LANMAR include the use of landmarks for each logical group (e.g., a team of co-workers at a convention or a tank battalion in the battlefield) in order to reduce routing update overhead in large networks, and the exchanging of neighborhood link state only with neighbors. When the network size grows, remote groups of nodes are "summarized" by the corresponding landmarks. As a result, each node will maintain accurate routing information about immediate neighborhood; at the same time it will keep track of the routing directions to the landmark nodes and thus, to remote groups. Simulation experiments show that the enhanced version suffers some performance degradation at steady state because of election overhead. However, it still provides an efficient and scalable routing solution in a mobile, ad hoc environment. Moreover, the election provides a much needed recovery from landmark failures.
The TFC Model: Tensor Factorization and Tag Clustering for Item Recommendation in Social Tagging Systems

In this paper, a novel Tensor Factorization and tag Clustering (TFC) model is presented for item recommendation in social tagging systems. The TFC model consists of three distinctive steps, in each of which important innovative elements are proposed. More specifically, through its first step, the content information is exploited to propagate tags between conceptual similar items based on a relevance feedback mechanism, in order to solve sparsity and “cold start” problems. Through its second step, sparsity is further handled, by generating tag clusters and revealing topics, following an innovative tf ·idf weighting scheme. Furthermore, we experimentally prove that a few number of expert tags can improve the performance of quality recommendations, since they contribute to more coherent tag clusters. Through its third step, the latent associations among users, topics, and items are revealed by exploiting the TF technique of high order singular value decomposition. This way the proposed TFC model tackles problems of real-world applications, which produce noise and decrease the quality of recommendations. In our experiments with real-world social data, we show that the proposed TFC model outperforms other state-of-the-art methods, which also exploit the TF technique of HOSVD.
Evaluating the health of urban forests using airborne LiDAR

With increased interest in the environmental, psychological and social benefits provided by urban forests, the need for accurate and cost-effective methods for monitoring tree condition within an urban landscape is becoming critical. Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) has been used as an efficient tool for measuring tree and forest stand structure in commercial forestry applications for more than a decade, however its application in urban forestry remains nascent. In this paper, we present an approach to detect and delineate individual trees from high density discrete return LiDAR data in an urban context. To do so, the approach exploits tree inventories maintained by city managers to overcome the unique challenges presented by an urban forest, such as a broad range of tree species both native and exotic and age classes. Using tree inventory data to “seed” automated detection and delineation processes, we are able to detect 88.3% of a set of reference trees, and achieve an average similarity ratio of 0.66 between the automatically-delineated and reference crown outlines, with a ratio of 1 indicating a perfect match. By accurately delineating tree crowns, various tree metrics can be extracted from the LiDAR point cloud, which can be used to create maps of tree condition across the city for use in management and monitoring activities.
Expression of the rat brain creatine kinase gene in C6 glioma cells

We have recently shown that while brain creatine kinase (CKB) mRNA was detectable in RNA from cultured primary rat brain neurons, CKB mRNA was about 15‐fold higher in primary astrocytes and 17‐fold higher in oligodendrocytes (Molloy et al., J Neurochem 59:1925–1932, 1992). To begin to understand the molecular mechanisms responsible for brain glial cells containing the highest levels of CKB mRNA in the body, we have examined the expression of rat CKB mRNA in established C6 glioma cells. RNase‐protection analysis showed the endogenous CKB mRNA levels in exponentially growing C6 were high and measured 50% of that in total RNA from rat brain lysate and 60% of that in cultured primary astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. The 5′ and 3′ ends of CKB mRNA in C6 were mapped to the same nucleotides as CKB mRNA from rat brain, indicating that the sites of in vivo transcription initiation and termination/polyadenylation of CKB mRNA in C6 are the same as in total rat brain RNA. The level of CKB enzyme activity in C6 whole cell lysates was among the highest of the glial cell lines which we measured. All creatine kinase enzyme activity present in C6 was found in the dimeric CKB isoform (BB), which is characteristic of CKB expression in the brain. A 2.9 kb gene fragment containing the basal CKB promoter and far‐upstream 5′ sequences was cloned upstream of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene and transfected into C6 cells. CAT activity was readily detectable in C6 and mapping of the 5′ end of the CAT mRNA showed that transcription was directed from the correct initiation site. Since we found C6 cells were difficult to transfect, conditions were established which both maximized transfection efficiency and maintained normal C6 cell morphology. These results should permit the future identification of the nuclear trans‐acting factors and the cognate cis‐acting regulatory elements responsible for high CKB mRNA expression in brain glial cells. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
EFFECTS OF PARENTAL LEAVE AND WORK HOURS ON FATHERS’ INVOLVEMENT WITH THEIR BABIES

Using data from the first wave of the Millennium Cohort Study, covering a large birth cohort of children in the UK at age 8 to 12 months, this paper examines the effects of leave-taking and work hours on fathers’ involvement in four specific types of activities: being the main caregiver; changing diapers; feeding the baby; and getting up during the night. We also investigate the effects of policies on fathers’ leave-taking and work hours. We find that taking leave and working shorter hours are related to fathers being more involved with the baby, and that policies affect both these aspects of fathers’ employment behaviour. Thus, we conclude that policies that provide parental leave or shorter work hours could increase fathers’ involvement with their young children.
BALTO-FENNIC-SÁMI CONSONANT GRADATION AS FORTITION* MATTHEW GORDON, UCLA A metrical account of consonant gradation in Balto-Fennic-Sámi which relies primarily on fortition

A metrical account of consonant gradation in Balto-Fennic-Sámi which relies primarily on fortition as the driving mechanism is proposed as an alternative to the majority of accounts which treat gradation as primarily a lenition process. Gradation is argued to be a phonetically natural footbalancing process triggered by lengthened foot-final vowels. In support of this analysis, foot-final vowel lengthening and foot-balancing are shown to be recurring diachronic and synchronic processes throughout the Balto-Fennic-Sámi family. Under the proposed account, Sámi, rather than Finnish, becomes the most conservative language with respect to synchronic manifestations of the original gradation process.
HIV transmission risk through anal intercourse: systematic review, meta-analysis and implications for HIV prevention

Background The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infectiousness of anal intercourse (AI) has not been systematically reviewed, despite its role driving HIV epidemics among men who have sex with men (MSM) and its potential contribution to heterosexual spread. We assessed the per-act and per-partner HIV transmission risk from AI exposure for heterosexuals and MSM and its implications for HIV prevention. Methods Systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature on HIV-1 infectiousness through AI was conducted. PubMed was searched to September 2008. A binomial model explored the individual risk of HIV infection with and without highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Results A total of 62 643 titles were searched; four publications reporting per-act and 12 reporting per-partner transmission estimates were included. Overall, random effects model summary estimates were 1.4% [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.2–2.5)] and 40.4% (95% CI 6.0–74.9) for per-act and per-partner unprotected receptive AI (URAI), respectively. There was no significant difference between per-act risks of URAI for heterosexuals and MSM. Per-partner unprotected insertive AI (UIAI) and combined URAI–UIAI risk were 21.7% (95% CI 0.2–43.3) and 39.9% (95% CI 22.5–57.4), respectively, with no available per-act estimates. Per-partner combined URAI–UIAI summary estimates, which adjusted for additional exposures other than AI with a ‘main’ partner [7.9% (95% CI 1.2–14.5)], were lower than crude (unadjusted) estimates [48.1% (95% CI 35.3–60.8)]. Our modelling demonstrated that it would require unreasonably low numbers of AI HIV exposures per partnership to reconcile the summary per-act and per-partner estimates, suggesting considerable variability in AI infectiousness between and within partnerships over time. AI may substantially increase HIV transmission risk even if the infected partner is receiving HAART; however, predictions are highly sensitive to infectiousness assumptions based on viral load. Conclusions Unprotected AI is a high-risk practice for HIV transmission, probably with substantial variation in infectiousness. The significant heterogeneity between infectiousness estimates means that pooled AI HIV transmission probabilities should be used with caution. Recent reported rises in AI among heterosexuals suggest a greater understanding of the role AI plays in heterosexual sex lives may be increasingly important for HIV prevention.
Kinetochore-generated pushing forces separate centrosomes during bipolar spindle assembly

In animal somatic cells, bipolar spindle formation requires separation of the centrosome-based spindle poles. Centrosome separation relies on multiple pathways, including cortical forces and antiparallel microtubule (MT) sliding, which are two activities controlled by the protein kinase aurora A. We previously found that depletion of the human kinetochore protein Mcm21RCENP-O results in monopolar spindles, raising the question as to whether kinetochores contribute to centrosome separation. In this study, we demonstrate that kinetochores promote centrosome separation after nuclear envelope breakdown by exerting a pushing force on the kinetochore fibers (k-fibers), which are bundles of MTs that connect kinetochores to centrosomes. This force is based on poleward MT flux, which incorporates new tubulin subunits at the plus ends of k-fibers and requires stable k-fibers to drive centrosomes apart. This kinetochore-dependent force becomes essential for centrosome separation if aurora A is inhibited. We conclude that two mechanisms control centrosome separation during prometaphase: an aurora A–dependent pathway and a kinetochore-dependent pathway that relies on k-fiber–generated pushing forces.