Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Geochemistry of peridotites from the Yap Trench, Western Pacific: implications for subduction zone mantle evolution

ABSTRACT This study examines the major and trace elements of peridotites from the Yap Trench in the western Pacific to investigate mantle evolution beneath a subduction zone. Major element results show that the peridotites are low in Al2O3 (0.31–0.65 wt.%) and CaO (0.04–0.07 wt.%) contents and high in Mg# (Mg/(Mg+Fe)) (0.91–0.92) and have spinels with Cr# (Cr/(Cr+Al)) higher than 0.6 (0.61–0.73). Trace element results show that the peridotites have extremely low heavy rare earth element (HREE) contents compared with abyssal peridotites but have U-shaped chondrite-normalized rare earth element (REE) patterns. The degree of mantle melting estimated based on the major elements, HREEs, and spinel Cr# range from 19% to 25%, indicating that the Yap Trench peridotites may be residues of melting associated with the presence of water in the mantle source. In addition to light rare earth element (LREE) enrichment, the peridotites are characterized by high contents of highly incompatible elements, positive U and Sr anomalies, negative Ti anomalies, and high Zr/Hf ratios. The correlations between these elements and both the degree of serpentinization and high field strength element (HFSE) contents suggest that fluid alteration alone cannot account for the enrichment of the peridotites and that at least the enrichment of LREEs was likely caused by melt–mantle interaction. Comparison between the peridotites and the depletion trend defined by the primitive mantle (PM) and the depleted mantle (DM) suggests that the Yap Trench mantle was modified by subduction-related melt characterized by high contents of incompatible elements, high Zr/Hf ratios, and low HFSE contents. Hydrous melting may have been enhanced by tectonic erosion of the subducting Caroline Plate with complex tectonic morphostructures at the earliest stages of subduction initiation.
Effective Communication among Globally Distributed Software Development Teams: Development of an "Effective Communication" Scale

Global software development, an emerging software development methodology within a technology-enabled environment has recently received increased attention from scholars and practitioners. Despite the fact that the lack of effective communication is a major challenge of globally distributed teams, communication research related to the scale development is still very limited in existing literature. Considering the communication challenges and increasing need to measure the effectiveness of communication, this research is focused to develop a scale for â€œEffective Communicationâ€ for globally distributed software development teams. Systematic literature review is performed to identify the best practices of effective communication for the development of â€œEffective Communicationâ€ scale. A questionnaire survey consisting of 29 items is administered in globally distributed software development teams. Confirmatory factor analysis and statistical results depicted that the four-factor model (e.g. stakeholders' involvement, acculturation, usage of appropriate tools and technology, and information availability) is more parsimonious and an optimal model fit.
The development of attachment in new relationships: Single subject analyses for 10 foster infants

This paper presents single-subject analyses of newly developing attachment relationships in 10 foster infant–caregiver dyads. Using a diary methodology, at least 2 months of daily data were provided by foster parents on infants' attachment behaviors. Foster infant attachment was also assessed using the Strange Situation. Foster mother state of mind regarding attachment was measured using the Adult Attachment Interview. For eight infants, diary data revealed predominant patterns of attachment behavior emerging within 2 months of placement. In most cases, diary data predicted Strange Situation classifications. Both Strange Situation and diary data indicated that the three children placed in foster care before 12 months of age with foster parents having primary or secondary autonomous states of mind were classified as having secure attachments. The five children placed after 12 months of age showed predominantly insecure attachment behavior in the diary and were classified as insecure in the Strange Situation. Contingency analyses of behavioral sequences reported in the diary revealed that foster parents tended to complement their foster childrens' attachment behaviors.
The Calculation of the Customer Potential Value Using Association Algorithm

The calculation of the Customer Potential Value has enormous impact to the enterprise efficiency. In this paper, based on the analysis of purchased products or services, we use Association Algorithm to predict the purchasing products or services that customer will buy in future and purchasing probability, then calculate the potential value of customer. Finally we accomplish the data mining process.
On the Time of Emergence of Tropical Width Change

The tropical belt is expected to expand in response to global warming, although most of the observed tropical widening since 1980, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, is believed to have mainly originated from natural variability. The view is of a small global warming signal relative to natural variability. Here we focus on the question whether and, if so when, the anthropogenic signal of tropical widening will become detectable. Analysis of two large ensemble climate simulations reveals that the forced signal of tropical width is strongly constrained by the forced signal of global mean temperature. Under a representative concentration pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) emissions scenario, the aggregate of the two models indicates a regression of about 0.5° lat °C−1 during 1980–2080. The models also reveal that interannual variability in tropical width, a measure of noise used herein, is insensitive to global warming. Reanalysis data are therefore used to constrain the interannual variability, whose magnitude is estimated to be 1.1° latitude. Defining the time of emergence (ToE) for tropical width change as the first year (post-1980) when the forced signal exceeds the magnitude of interannual variability, the multimodel simulations of CMIP5 are used to estimate ToE and its confidence interval. The aforementioned strong constraint between the signal of tropical width change and global mean temperature change motivates using CMIP5-simulated global mean temperature changes to infer ToE. Our best estimate for the probable year for ToE, under an RCP8.5 emissions scenario, is 2058 with 10th–90th percentile confidence of 2047–68. Various sources of uncertainty in estimating the ToE are discussed.
A new, isolated population of Oplurus (Iguanidae) from Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park, western Madagascar

The iguanid lizard genus Oplurus contains six species of which five are endemic to Madagascar and the sixth occurs also on Grande Comoro (Glaw and Vences, 2007). It comprises two distinct lineages; the spiny-tailed, arboreal species (O. cyclurus and O. cuvieri) are distributed throughout the dry south and west of the country, while the four rock-dwelling (saxicolous) species (O. fierinensis, O. grandidieri, O. quadrimaculatus and O. saxicola) are restricted to the south and southern highlands (Cadle, 2003; Munchenberg et al., 2008). No saxicolous species are known from central western Madagascar, and O. cuvieri is the only member of the genus hitherto recorded from Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park (Raselimanana 2008; Bora et al., 2010). Here we present observations and photographs of an unidentified juvenile Oplurus (Fig. 1) from Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park in the central-west of Madagascar, and discuss the possibility that it represents an undescribed taxon. The Bemaraha Plateau on which the National Park stands is composed of limestone from the mid-Jurassic, heavily eroded into spectacular karst landscapes largely devoid of vegetation (Rasoloarison and Paquier, 2003). The specimen was observed on 25.09. 2010 at 08:13, at a site known as ‘Grande Tsingy’ (19.029° S, 44.781° E), the primary tourist attraction of the National Park. The animal was observed basking near the top of the limestone pinnacles, at least 10 m from the nearest vegetation. Although identification of juvenile Oplurus is complicated by the lack of published accounts of the juveniles of most species, the observed individual clearly belongs to the saxicolous clade by the absence of transversal rings of large spiny scales on the tail, and the depressed body shape. The numerous transversal black bands on the dorsum allow an easy distinction from adult O. fierinensis (uniformly greyish without dark dorsal bands), O. grandidieri (with light middorsal band), and O. saxicola (different colour pattern) whereas O. quadrimaculatus apparently has a less flattened body. The nearest known populations of saxicolous Oplurus to Tsingy de Bemaraha are those of O. quadrimaculatus from the central highlands and O. grandidieri from the southern highlands, a distance of approximately 240 km and 280 km respectively (calculated using Google Earth based on distribution maps from Glaw and Vences, 2007). Given the extremely high rates of local endemism on the Bemaraha Plateau (28% of recorded herpetofauna are endemic to the massif, Bora et al., 2010), this specimen may represent an undescribed and possibly locally-endemic taxon. Further, the presence of a saxicolous species of Oplurus on the Bemaraha Plateau is biogeographically surprising as the reptiles of the massif show strong biogeographical affinities with the north and northwest of Madagascar (Bora et al., 2010; Glaw et al., 2009), while the saxicolous Oplurus species are concentrated in the south.
Bayesian factor regression models in the''large p

I discuss Bayesian factor regression models with many explanatory variables. These models are of particular interest and applicability in problems of prediction, but also for elucidating underlying structure in predictor variables. One key motivating application here is in studies of gene expression in functional genomics. I first discuss empirical factor (principal components) regression, and the use of general classes of shrinkage priors, with an example. These models raise foundational questions for Bayesians, and related practical issues, due to the use of design-dependent priors and the need to recover inferences on the effects of the original, high-dimensional predictors. I then discuss latent factor models for high-dimensional variables, and regression approaches in which low-dimensional latent factors are the predictor variables. These models generalise empirical factor regression, provide for more incisive evaluation of factor structure underlying high-dimensional predictors, and resolve the modelling and practical issues in empirical factor models by casting the latter as limiting special cases. Finally, I turn to questions of prior specification in these models, and introduce sparse latent factor models to induce sparsity in factor loadings matrices. Embedding such sparse latent factor models in factor regressions provides a novel approach to variable selection with very many predictors. The paper concludes with an example of sparse factor analysis of gene expression data and comments about further research.
Wild ducks are the reservoir for only a limited number of influenza A subtypes

SUMMARY Analysis of cloacal samples collected from 12321 wild ducks in Alberta, Canada, from 1976 to 1990 showed influenza A infections to be seasonal, with prevalences increasing as the population became increasingly more dense. Viruses with 3 haemagglutinin (H3, H4, and H6) and 3 neuraminidase subtypes (N2, N6, and N8) were found consistently to infect both adult and juvenile ducks each year, indicating that wild ducks may be a reservoir for these viruses. In contrast, viruses with 7 haemagglutinin (H2, H5, H7, H8, H9, H11, and H12) and 3 neuraminidase subtypes (N1, N3, and N4) were not found for prolonged periods during the study; when they were found, they primarily infected juveniles at moderate levels. Whilst wild ducks appear to perpetuate some influenza A viruses, they apparently do not act as a reservoir for all such viruses.
Inhibition of Nerve Growth Factor-Induced Neurite Outgrowth from PC12 Cells by Dexamethasone: Signaling Pathways through the Glucocorticoid Receptor and Phosphorylated Akt and ERK1/2

Glucocorticoids are important mediators of the stress response and are commonly employed as drugs for the suppression of immune rejection after organ transplantation. Previous investigations uncovered the possibility of mood depression in patients undergoing long-term treatment with synthetic glucocorticoids, including dexamethasone (DEX). Exogenous glucocorticoids and their synthetic derivatives can also adversely affect the development of the central nervous system. Although neurite extension from rat pheochromocytoma-derived PC12 cells and a variety of primary neurons is stimulated by nerve growth factor (NGF), and signaling pathways triggered by the binding of NGF to tyrosine kinase receptor type 1 (TrkA) function in both neurite outgrowth and neuronal survival, the effect of DEX on the activation of regulatory proteins and pathways downstream of TrkA has not been well characterized. To analyze the influence of DEX on NGF-induced neurite outgrowth and signaling, PC12 cells, a widely utilized model of neuronal differentiation, were pretreated with the glucocorticoid prior to NGF induction. NGF-induced neurite outgrowth was attenuated by pretreatment with DEX, even in the absence of DEX after the addition of NGF. Moreover, DEX suppressed the phosphorylation of Akt and extracellular-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) in the neurite outgrowth signaling cascade initiated by NGF. Finally, the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) antagonist, RU38486, counteracted the inhibitory effect of DEX pretreatment, not only on the phosphorylation of Akt and ERK1/2, but also on neurite extension from PC12 cells. These results suggest that DEX binding to the GR impairs NGF-promoted neurite outgrowth by interfering with the activation/phosphorylation of Akt and ERK1/2. These novel findings are likely to be useful for elucidating the central nervous system depressive mechanism(s) of action of DEX and other glucocorticoids.
Digital microfluidic operations on micro-electrode array architecture

As digital microfluidics-based biochips find more applications, their complexity is expected to increase significantly due to the trend of multiple and concurrent assays on the chip. There is a pressing need to deliver a top-down design methodology that the biochip designer can leverage the same level of computer aided design support as the semiconductor industry now does. Moreover, as microelectronics fabrication technology scaling and integrated device performance improving, it is expected that these microfluidic biochips will be integrated with microelectronic components in next-generation system-on-chip designs. This paper presents a novel electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) based “micro-electrode array architecture” that fosters a development path for hierarchical top-down design approach for digital microfluidics, and also allows easy integration of microfluidics and microelectronics on a single chip. In addition, this novel architecture provides a number of advantages and flexibilities over the conventional digital microfluidics such as dynamic activations of variable-sized electrodes and dynamic manipulations of multiple droplets.
Measuring synaptic interactions.

A. P. Georgopoulos e t al. present novel evidence which suggests that synaptic interactions between pairs of cortical neurons are directly related to the degree to which they fire together during directed limb movements (1). The cover for the issue of 2 April depicts synaptic interactions ranging from strongly excitatory (for cells with similar direction preference) to strongly inhibitory (for cells with opposite direction preference). The calculation used by Georgopoulos et al. to document synaptic interactions differs from the cross correlation traditionally used to measure the effects of synaptic connections on firing probability (2, 3, 4). Instead, they "estimated the strength of presumed interaction (synaptic weight) from the ith to the jth neuron in a pair using an analysis based on waiting time probability density function . " (1, p. 50). This waiting time method calculates the first recurrence times of spikes in a target cell relative to spikes of the reference cell (2, 5, 6). As applied in their study (I) , the algorithm is subject to strong effects from response similarity, and the resultant measure reflects the degree to which the cells fire together, as well as possible synaptic interactions mediated by excitatory or inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (EPSP or IPSP, respectively). The effect of covariation on the waiting time measure (Fig. 1) can be illustrated by representative spike trains for two units, U1 and U2, whose firing rates covary, but which need not be connected (Fig. 1A). The first recurrence times of suikes in U2 after spikes in U1 (upper arrows in Fig. 1A) are used to generate a probability density of "actual waiting times" (Fig. 1B). To determine whether the actual waiting times are affected by synaptic connections, control distributions are calculated in the same manner after U1 spikes are randomly shuffled (lower arrows in Fig. 1A). The normalized difference between the actual and the shuffled distributions (Fig. 1C) is integrated from 2 to 20 ms in a cumulative sum (CUSUM) (Fig. ID); its value at 20 ms was taken to represent "synaptic strength" (1). When the firing rates of the two units covary, the actual waiting times contain more short intervals and fewer lone intervals than are obtained " after shuffling, which generates a positive CUSUM value. Converselv. if U l and U2 ,, fire reciprocally, more U1 spikes would occur during long intervals in U2, and the difference in the distributions would generate a negative CUSUM value. If the units fire indeuendentlv. the CUSUM val,, ue is less likely to become significant, as found for uairs of cortical cells without directional preference (1). To auantifv the relative contributions of connections and covariation, we simulated this mechanism with a neural network model, using integrate-and-fire spiking units that integrated triangular EPSPs and IPSPs to a threshold for firing spikes, and
The BAH domain of Rsc2 is a histone H3 binding domain

Bromo-adjacent homology (BAH) domains are commonly found in chromatin-associated proteins and fall into two classes; Remodels the Structure of Chromatin (RSC)-like or Sir3-like. Although Sir3-like BAH domains bind nucleosomes, the binding partners of RSC-like BAH domains are currently unknown. The Rsc2 subunit of the RSC chromatin remodeling complex contains an RSC-like BAH domain and, like the Sir3-like BAH domains, we find Rsc2 BAH also interacts with nucleosomes. However, unlike Sir3-like BAH domains, we find that Rsc2 BAH can bind to recombinant purified H3 in vitro, suggesting that the mechanism of nucleosome binding is not conserved. To gain insight into the Rsc2 BAH domain, we determined its crystal structure at 2.4 Å resolution. We find that it differs substantially from Sir3-like BAH domains and lacks the motifs in these domains known to be critical for making contacts with histones. We then go on to identify a novel motif in Rsc2 BAH that is critical for efficient H3 binding in vitro and show that mutation of this motif results in defective Rsc2 function in vivo. Moreover, we find this interaction is conserved across Rsc2-related proteins. These data uncover a binding target of the Rsc2 family of BAH domains and identify a novel motif that mediates this interaction.
Belowground neighbor perception in Arabidopsis thaliana studied by transcriptome analysis: roots of Hieracium pilosella cause biotic stress

Root-root interactions are much more sophisticated than previously thought, yet the mechanisms of belowground neighbor perception remain largely obscure. Genome-wide transcriptome analyses allow detailed insight into plant reactions to environmental cues. A root interaction trial was set up to explore both morphological and whole genome transcriptional responses in roots of Arabidopsis thaliana in the presence or absence of an inferior competitor, Hieracium pilosella. Neighbor perception was indicated by Arabidopsis roots predominantly growing away from the neighbor (segregation), while solitary plants placed more roots toward the middle of the pot. Total biomass remained unaffected. Database comparisons in transcriptome analysis revealed considerable similarity between Arabidopsis root reactions to neighbors and reactions to pathogens. Detailed analyses of the functional category “biotic stress” using MapMan tools found the sub-category “pathogenesis-related proteins” highly significantly induced. A comparison to a study on intraspecific competition brought forward a core of genes consistently involved in reactions to neighbor roots. We conclude that beyond resource depletion roots perceive neighboring roots or their associated microorganisms by a relatively uniform mechanism that involves the strong induction of pathogenesis-related proteins. In an ecological context the findings reveal that belowground neighbor detection may occur independently of resource depletion, allowing for a time advantage for the root to prepare for potential interactions.
Most frequent gait patterns in diplegic spastic cerebral palsy

OBJECTIVE: To identify gait patterns in a large group of children with diplegic cerebral palsy and to characterize each group according to age, Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) level, Gait Deviation Index (GDI) and previous surgical procedures. METHODS: One thousand eight hundred and five patients were divided in seven groups regarding observed gait patterns: jump knee, crouch knee, recurvatum knee, stiff knee, asymmetric, mixed and non-classified. RESULTS: The asymmetric group was the most prevalent (48.8%). The jump knee (9.6 years old) and recurvatum (9.4 years old) groups had mean age lower than the other groups. The lowest GDI (43.58) was found in the crouch group. There were more children classified within GMFCS level III in the crouch and mixed groups. Previous surgical procedures on the triceps surae were more frequent in stiff knee and mixed groups. The jump knee group received less and the stiff-knee group more surgical procedures at hamstrings than others. CONCLUSIONS: The asymmetrical cases were the most frequent within a group of diplegic patients. Individuals with crouch gait pattern were characterized by the lowest GDI and the highest prevalence of GMFCS III, while patients with stiff knee exhibited a higher percentage of previous hamstring lengthening in comparison to the other groups. Level of Evidence III, Retrospective Comparative Study.
The 2010 CMU GALE speech-to-text system

This paper describes the latest Speech-to-Text system developed for the Global Autonomous Language Exploitation (“GALE”) domain by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). This systems uses discriminative training, bottle-neck features and other techniques that were not used in previous versions of our system, and is trained on 1150 hours of data from a variety of Arabic speech sources. In this paper, we show how different lexica, pre-processing, and system combination techniques can be used to improve the final output, and provide analysis of the improvements achieved by the individual techniques. Index Terms: speech recognition, discriminative training, bottle-neck features