Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
No evidence of critical slowing down in two endangered Hawaiian honeycreepers

There is debate about the current population trends and predicted short-term fates of the endangered forest birds, Hawai`i Creeper (Loxops mana) and Hawai`i `Ākepa (L. coccineus). Using long-term population size estimates, some studies report forest bird populations as stable or increasing, while other studies report signs of population decline or impending extinction associated with introduced Japanese White-eye (Zosterops japonicus) increase. Reliable predictors of impending population collapse, well before the collapse begins, have been reported in simulations and microcosm experiments. In these studies, statistical indicators of critical slowing down, a phenomenon characterized by longer recovery rates after population size perturbation, are reported to be early warning signals of an impending regime shift observable prior to the tipping point. While the conservation applications of these metrics are commonly discussed, early warning signal detection methods are rarely applied to population size data from natural populations, so their efficacy and utility in species management remain unclear. We evaluated two time series of state-space abundance estimates (1987–2012) from Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge, Hawai`i to test for evidence of early warning signals of impending population collapse for the Hawai`i Creeper and Hawai`i `Ākepa. We looked for signals throughout the time series, and prior to 2000, when white-eye abundance began increasing. We found no evidence for either species of increasing variance, autocorrelation, or skewness, which are commonly reported early warning signals. We calculated linear rather than ordinary skewness because the latter is biased, particularly for small sample sizes. Furthermore, we identified break-points in trends over time for both endangered species, indicating shifts in slopes away from strongly increasing trends, but they were only weakly supported by Bayesian change-point analyses (i.e., no step-wise changes in abundance). The break-point and change-point test results, in addition to the early warning signal analyses, support that the two populations do not appear to show signs of critical slowing down or decline.
Définition et évaluation de modèles d'agrégation pour l'estimation de la pertinence multidimensionnelle en recherche d'information. (Definition and evaluation of aggregation models for multidimensional relevance estimation in information retrieval)

La problematique generale de notre travail s'inscrit dans le domaine scientifique de la recherche d'information (RI). Les modeles de RI classiques sont generalement bases sur une definition de la notion de pertinence qui est liee essentiellement a l'adequation thematique entre le sujet de la requete et le sujet du document. Le concept de pertinence a ete revisite selon differents niveaux integrant ainsi differents facteurs lies a l'utilisateur et a son environnement dans une situation de RI. Dans ce travail, nous abordons specifiquement le probleme lie a la modelisation de la pertinence multidimensionnelle a travers la definition de nouveaux modeles d'agregation des criteres et leur evaluation dans des tâches de recherche de RI. Pour repondre a cette problematique, les travaux de l'etat de l'art se basent principalement sur des combinaisons lineaires simples. Cependant, ces methodes se reposent sur l'hypothese non realiste d'additivite ou d'independance des dimensions, ce qui rend le modele non approprie dans plusieurs situations de recherche reelles dans lesquelles les criteres etant correles ou presentant des interactions entre eux. D'autres techniques issues du domaine de l'apprentissage automatique ont ete aussi proposees, permettant ainsi d'apprendre un modele par l'exemple et de le generaliser dans l'ordonnancement et l'agregation des criteres. Toutefois, ces methodes ont tendance a offrir un apercu limite sur la facon de considerer l'importance et l'interaction entre les criteres. En plus de la sensibilite des parametres utilises dans ces algorithmes, est tres difficile de comprendre pourquoi un critere est prefere par rapport a un autre. Pour repondre a cette premiere direction de recherche, nous avons propose un modele de combinaison de pertinence multicriteres base sur un operateur d'agregation qui permet de surmonter le probleme d'additivite des fonctions de combinaison classiques. Notre modele se base sur une mesure qui permet de donner une idee plus claire sur les correlations et interactions entre les criteres. Nous avons ainsi adapte ce modele pour deux scenarios de combinaison de pertinence multicriteres : (i) un cadre de recherche d'information multicriteres dans un contexte de recherche de tweets et (ii) deux cadres de recherche d'information personnalisee. Le deuxieme axe de recherche s'interesse a l'integration du facteur temporel dans le processus d'agregation afin de tenir compte des changements occurrents sur les collection de documents au cours du temps. Pour ce faire, nous avons propose donc un modele d'agregation sensible au temps pour combinant le facteur temporel avec le facteur de pertinence thematique. Dans cet objectif, nous avons effectue une analyse temporelle pour eliciter l'aspect temporel des requetes, et nous avons propose une evaluation de ce modele dans une tâche de recherche sensible au temps.
Computer Analysis of Heart Motion from Two-Dimensional Echocardiograms

In two-dimensional echocardiography the study of the motion of the heart, especially of the left ventricle, is of central interest. Although the clinician can see this motion on real-time two-dimensional echocardiograms, its quantification can still be greatly improved. This paper presents and tests a computer method to quantify the motion of the heart from digitized image sequences. This method computes on every point of an image the two-dimensional velocity vector which characterizes its motion from this image to the next. This approach has the following advantages: 1) border recognition algorithms are no longer needed, 2) motion is not restricted to its radial component, and 3) motion information is available on every point of the image.
[Comparative evaluation of healthy preschool children blink].

PURPOSE To evaluate spontaneous blink activity in the primary eye position in normal preschool children. METHODS Two hundred normal children aged 4 to 6 years were prospectively evaluated. They were digitally videotaped in a standard setting, taking the images on frontal and lateral plans, during the vigil state, in the primary eye position. The object of observation was located at the same level of the pupil. A Sony Lithium camera was used. The images were recorded on 8 mm tapes and transferred to a personal computer (MacIntosh G4) and processed with the iMovie software. Opening, closure and total blink times were measured using frame scale. The eyelid movement rhythm per minute was also evaluated, during three minutes. The data were submitted to statistical analysis. RESULTS The complete eye blink was more frequently observed than the incomplete eye blink. The blink rate increased with age. The incomplete blink rate was the same for all the evaluated ages. The eyelid opening and closing times and the complete blink time were similar for both sexes, during all evaluation moments. There were no differences between genders regarding eye blink. The closing eyelid time was slower than the opening eyelid time. CONCLUSIONS The complete blink rate increases with age. The closing and the opening eyelid times and the complete blink were similar for both sexes in all evaluated ages and the opening time is faster than the closing time.
Hormonal counterregulation during severe hypoglycaemia under everyday conditions in patients with type 1 and insulin-treated type 2 diabetes mellitus.

AIM To determine the counterregulatory hormonal responses to severe hypoglycaemia (SH) in type 1 versus insulin-treated type 2 diabetic patients under everyday conditions. METHODS Counterregulatory hormones were determined in 28 consecutive type 1 and thirteen insulin-treated type 2 diabetic patients (age 54 +/- 18 vs. 75 +/- 13 yrs; diabetes duration 27 +/- 16 vs. 21 +/- 6 yrs) with SH requiring emergency treatment. Blood samples were taken prior to and after effective treatment of SH. SH was defined as an event with neuroglycopenic presentation requiring external intervention by administration of intravenous glucose or oral carbohydrates. 68 % (19/28) of type 1 diabetic patients but none of those with type 2 diabetes had reduced awareness of hypoglycaemia. RESULTS Plasma glucose levels were 30 +/- 14 prior to and 179 +/- 82 mg/dl after treatment of SH; the time between the two measurements was 54 +/- 26 minutes. With the exception of higher levels of human growth hormone in type 1 patients - which were attributed to younger age - the other counterregulatory responses to SH showed no significant differences in type 1 vs. type 2 diabetic patients. In both groups glucagon responses were virtually absent while moderate catecholamine responses could be demonstrated. Treatment with beta-blockers did not affect hormonal counterregulation in type 1 diabetic patients. CONCLUSIONS In patients approaching the insulin-deficient end of the spectrum of type 2 diabetes the hormonal responses to SH are comparable to those in patients with longstanding type 1 diabetes. Thus, in advanced type 2 diabetes the risk of developing SH may be similar to that in individuals with type 1 diabetes.
Expression of a luxS Gene Is Not Required for Borrelia burgdorferi Infection of Mice via Needle Inoculation

ABSTRACT The luxS gene product is an integral component of LuxS/autoinducer-2 (AI-2) quorum-sensing systems in bacteria. A putative luxS gene was expressed at comparable levels by Borrelia burgdorferi strain 297 cultivated either in vitro or in dialysis membrane chambers implanted in rat peritoneal cavities. Although the borrelial luxS gene functionally complemented a LuxS deficiency in Escherichia coli DH5α, AI-2-like activity could not be detected within B. burgdorferi culture supernatants or concentrated cell lysates. Finally, a luxS-deficient mutant of B. burgdorferi was infectious at wild-type levels when it was intradermally needle inoculated into mice, indicating that expression of luxS probably is not required for infectivity but, at the very least, is not essential for mammalian host adaptation. Our findings also challenge the notion that a LuxS/AI-2 quorum-sensing system is operative in B. burgdorferi.
Metallic Nano‐Composite Toxicity Evaluation by Zebrafish Embryo Toxicity Test with Identification of Specific Exposure Biomarkers

Nanomaterials (NM) have different shapes and can be composed of different materials such as carbon, silicon, and some metals like gold, silver, and titanium. They are used as fillers, catalysts, semiconductors, cosmetics, drug carriers in medicine, energy storage systems, and antifriction coatings. NM are the parent compounds of nanoparticles (NPs), which may be divided into two groups: fullerenes and engineered nanoparticles (ENPs). After crossing the cell membrane, NPs may be stored in vesicles, mitochondria, and additional organelles within epithelial cells. They may generate reactive oxygen species, oxidative stress, and cytotoxicity, as well as denaturation of proteins, apoptosis, and necrosis. Nowadays, new toxicological data are required to assess the potential exposure of the environment and human beings to pollutants. The aim of the present investigation is to evaluate the toxicity of the metallic nano‐composite by the zebrafish embryo toxicity test (ZFET). The methods described here can be easily adapted to other nanocomposites or nanomaterials with some variations. © 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Performance Evaluation of Opportunistic Routing Protocols for Multi-hop Wireless Networks

Nowadays, Opportunistic Routing (OR) is widely considered to be the most important paradigm for Multi-hop wireless networks (MWNs). It exploits the broadcast nature of wireless medium to propagate information from one point to another within the network. In OR scheme, when a node has new information to share, it first needs to set its forwarding list which include the IDs and/or any relevant information to its best suited neighboring nodes. This operation is supported by the use of appropriate metrics. Then, it executes a coordination algorithm allowing transmission reliability and high throughput among the next-hop forwarders. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive guide to understand the characteristics and challenges faced in the area of opportunistic routing protocols in MWNs. Moreover, since the planet we live on is largely covered by water, OR protocols have gained much attention during the last decade in real-time aquatic applications, such as oil/chemical spill monitoring, ocean resource management, anti-submarine missions and so on. One of the major problems in Underwater Wireless Sensor Network (UWSNs) is determining an efficient and reliable routing methodology between the source node and the destination node. Therefore, designing efficient and robust routing protocols for UWSNs became an attractive topic for researchers. This paper seeks to address in detail the key factors of underwater sensor network. Furthermore, it calls into question 5 state-of-the-art routing protocols proposed for UWSN: The Depth-Based Routing protocol (DBR), the Energy-Efficient Depth-Based Routing protocol (EEDBR), the Hydraulic-pressure-based anycast routing protocol (Hydrocast), the Geographic and opportunistic routing protocol with Depth Adjustment for mobile underwater sensor networks (GEDAR), and the VoidAware Pressure Routing for underwater sensor networks (VAPR). Finally, it covers the performance of those protocol through the use of the R programming language.
Development of wind permanent-magnet generator experimental platform

The wind permanent-magnet generator experimental platform will be developed which drives directly through three phase asynchronous motor. The system hardware is mainly composed of the three phase power supply unit, the inverter, three phase asynchronous motor, External rotor permanent generator, three phase resistive load, the torque and rotational speed sensor, data collector with the USB interface, three phase electric parameter tester, etc. The software of the System includes the PC monitoring software, torque and rotational speed data processing software, three-phase electric parameters data processing software, inverter driving software. The height of three-phase asynchronous motor may be adjusted freely by lifting mechanism screw. Through experimental platform, we tested performance of external rotor permanent magnet generator on 100W, the generators was tested respectively under the load in 3, 6, 9, 12 lights. According to the test data, we get the response curve of the corresponding results.The developed platform is applied successfully to testing an external rotor permanent magnet generator.
Critical Care Aspects of Malaria

Malaria remains a major health problem in much of Asia and Africa. A steady number of cases of imported malaria are also seen in many countries of the developed world. Plasmodium falciparum malaria and to some extent malaria caused by other species of Plasmodium can lead to many complications such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), cerebral malaria, acute renal failure, severe anemia, thrombocytopenia, and bleeding complications. About 10% of patients with severe malaria die, usually as a result of multiorgan dysfunction. Critical care physicians should be aware of the complications and management of severe malaria. There has been significant progress in the understanding of pathogenesis of severe malaria over the last decade. Effective management of severe malaria includes early suspicion, prompt diagnosis, early institution of appropriate antimalarial chemotherapy, and supportive care, preferably in an intensive care unit. In this article, we review the different manifestations of severe malaria as relevant to critical care physicians and discuss the principles of laboratory diagnosis and management.
A Critical Role for the Inducible Proteasomal Subunits LMP7 and MECL1 in Cytokine Production by Activated Murine Splenocytes

Background and Purpose: The proteasome is a multi-subunit complex that proteolytically cleaves proteins. The replacement of the constitutive proteasome subunits β1, β2, and/or β5 with the IFNγ-inducible subunits LMP2, MECL1, and/or LMP7 results in the ‘immunoproteasome’. The inducible subunits change the cleavage specificities of the proteasome, but it is unclear whether they have functions in addition to this. The purpose of the present study was to determine the role of the proteasome in general, as well as LMP7 and MECL1 specifically, with regard to cytokine production by activated primary splenocytes. Methods: A LMP7/MECL1-null mouse was engineered to determine the roles of these subunits in cytokine production. Isolated splenocytes from wild-type and LMP7/MECL1–/– mice were treated with lactacystin and activated with PMA and ionomycin and subsequently cytokine mRNA levels were quantified. Results: The present study demonstrates that LMP7/MECL1 regulates the expression of IFNγ, IL4, IL10, IL2Rβ, GATA3, and t-bet. In contrast, the regulation of IL2, IL13, TNFα, and IL2Rα by the proteasome appears to occur independently of LMP7/MECL1. Conclusions: Collectively, the present study demonstrates that LMP7 and MECL1 regulate cytokine expression, suggesting this system represents a novel mechanism for the regulation of cytokines and cytokine signaling.
Long term results of use of azathioprine in patients with ulcerative colitis in India.

AIM To evaluate the role of azathioprine (AZA) in Indian patients with ulcerative colitis over longer duration of time. METHODS One hundred fifty six patients with ulcerative colitis who were treated with AZA from January 1995 to December 2003 were reviewed. The indications for its use were as follows: (1) steroid dependent and steroid refractory disease; (2) Azathioprine monotherapy for naive patients with severe disease; and (3) combination therapy (AZA + sulfasalazine or 5-aminosalicylates) for naive patients with severe disease. The data included patient and disease demographics, efficacy and toxicity profile of AZA. Patients with a minimum duration of 6 mo use of AZA were included in this report. RESULTS Of a total of 156 patients treated with AZA, 45 were excluded from analysis for the following reasons- (follow up less than 6 mo, n = 9; poor follow up, n = 18; adverse affects, n = 18). In steroid refractory/dependent group the mean number of relapses prior to and post initiation of AZA therapy were 3.28 (+/- 0.81) and 0.94 (+/- 0.29) respectively. Discontinuation of steroids could be accomplished in 12 of the 15 steroid dependent patients. The proportion of patients with sustained remission of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years duration were calculated. Eighteen patients experienced adverse effects necessitating withdrawal of AZA (pancreatitis, n = 7; hepatitis, n = 3; gastrointestinal intolerance, n = 2; alopecia, n = 2; and hematological, n = 4) while 13 patients needed dose reduction or temporary withdrawal of the drug. CONCLUSION Azathioprine is well tolerated and has therapeutic benefits lasting as long as 4 years. Adverse effects such as pancreatitis, hepatitis, cytopenias and gastrointestinal symptoms do occur but are controlled by drug withdrawal only.
SPICE/K2 Synthetic Marijuana-Induced Toxic Hepatitis Treated with N-Acetylcysteine

Patient: Male, 45 Final Diagnosis: Spice/K2 induced liver injury Symptoms: Lethargy • somnolence • fatigue Medication: N-acetylcysteine Clinical Procedure: — Specialty: Gastroenterology Objective: Rare disease Background: Spice/K2 is one of several street names for synthetic marijuana. These hallucinogens are increasingly sold over the internet and in “head” shops. They are usually household herbs that are sprayed with chemicals that become centrally active compounds when burned together and inhaled by smoking. Case Report: We present a case of a 45-year-old male substance abuser who was admitted with evidence of hepatocellular necrosis and worsening liver failure. Tests for acetaminophen were negative, as were tests for alcohol. The patient was empirically treated with N-acetylcysteine. Hepatocellular damage was abated and the patient made a full recovery. Upon regaining consciousness, the patient admitted to smoking Spice/K2. Other toxicities have been reported with synthetic marijuana use, but not liver toxicity. Conclusions: Physicians need to have a high index of suspicion for unknown hepatotoxins in substance abusers. N-acetylcysteine can be given if there is no contraindication.
Underlay Interference Analysis of Power Control and Receiver Association Schemes

In this paper, we present a precise comprehensive analysis of the aggregate interference I generated from an underlay network of cognitive radio (CR) nodes employing several transmit power control and receiver association schemes. Importantly, we consider spatial randomness by modeling CR transmitter nodes and receiver nodes as two independent Poisson point processes (PPPs). For the cognitive nodes, we investigate receiver association based on the distance or the instantaneous received power and power control based on the maximum possible transmitter-receiver distance, fixed or location-dependent cutoff power levels, feedback from the primary system, or the maximum number of available receivers. For each of these schemes, the exact moment generating function (mgf) and mean of aggregate I power are derived for links with Rayleigh fading and exponential path loss. The resulting primary outage and the probability of secondary transmitter cutoff are also derived. Numerical results show that the secondary power thresholds and node densities significantly affect the aggregate I, the primary receiver (PR) outage, and the secondary transmitter cutoff arising from the different schemes.
Understanding Bank-Run Contagion

We study experimental coordination games to examine through which transmission channels, and under which information conditions, a panic-based depositor-run at one bank may trigger a panic-based depositor-run at another bank. We find that withdrawals at one bank trigger withdrawals at another bank by increasing players JEL Classification: D81, G21, G28
The role of teacher belief systems in technology integration

The belief systems of teachers are strongly conelated to their planning , instructional decisions, and classroom practices concerning technology integration. This literature review examines common teacher beliefs, teacher goals and knowledge , and teacher support and baniers regarding technology integration into 21 st century classrooms. The characteristics of teacher beliefs analyzed in this review include existential presumption, alternative situations, affective and evaluative loading, and episodic structure. This paper reviews peer-reviewed journal articles, published since 1992, that discuss the role of teacher belief systems in technology integration. Research indicates teachers face barriers and need additional knowledge and skills that build on, and intersect with, their beliefs , technological content knowledge, technology integration content knowledge, and relevant knowledge of information and communication technology to produce effective 21 st century learning environments .