Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Statistical Properties and Performance of Ecological Indices Based On Relative Abundances

The Improved Generalized Diversity Index (IGDI) has been proposed as a tool that can be used to identify areas that have high conservation value and measure the ecological condition of an area. IGDI is based on the species relative abundances. This paper is concerned with particular attention is given to comparisons involving the MacArthur model of species abundances. The properties and performance of various species indices were assessed. Both IGDI and species richness increased with sampling area according to a power function. IGDI were also found to be acceptable ecological indicators of conditions and consistently outperformed coefficient of conservatism indices. Keywords—Statistical ecology, MacArthur model, Functional Diversity.
Robust Stability Analysis of the Tryptophan Regulatory Network of E.Coli

A tool for scrubbing and washing a dish has a scrubber portion and a washer portion. The scrubber portion has a laterally extending base with a top and a bottom, an upright handle attached to the top of the scrubber base, and a scrubbing element attached to the bottom of the scrubber base. The washer portion also has a laterally extending base with a top and a bottom, an upright handle attached to the top of the washer base, and a washing element attached to the bottom of the washer base. The scrubber handle and the washer are positioned adjacent one another. An elastomeric grip encircles the scrubber and washer handles and retard grease migration up the handles.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Superinfection Occurs despite Relatively Robust Neutralizing Antibody Responses

ABSTRACT Superinfection by a second human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) strain indicates that gaps in protective immunity occur during natural infection. To define the role of HIV-1-specific neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) in this setting, we examined NAb responses in 6 women who became superinfected between ∼1 to 5 years following initial infection compared to 18 women with similar risk factors who did not. Although superinfected individuals had less NAb breadth than matched controls at ∼1 year postinfection, no significant differences in the breadth or potency of NAb responses were observed just prior to the second infection. In fact, four of the six subjects had relatively broad and potent NAb responses prior to infection by the second strain. To more specifically examine the specificity of the NAbs against the superinfecting virus, these variants were cloned from five of the six individuals. The superinfecting variants did not appear to be inherently neutralization resistant, as measured against a pool of plasma from unrelated HIV-infected individuals. Moreover, the superinfected individuals were able to mount autologous NAb responses to these variants following reinfection. In addition, most superinfected individuals had NAbs that could neutralize their second viral strains prior to their reinfection, suggesting that the level of NAbs elicited during natural infection was not sufficient to block infection. These data indicate that preventing infection by vaccination will likely require broader and more potent NAb responses than those found in HIV-1-infected individuals.
Optimierung der Bildgebung mit nichtreinen und hochenergetischen Positronenstrahlern in der Kleintier-Positronen-Emissions-Tomographie

Die Positronenemissionstomograhie (PET) reprasentiert ein funktionelles diagnostisches Untersuchungsverfahren, welches es ermoglicht Stoffwechselvorgange in vivo zu visualisieren und absolut zu quantifizieren. Die praklinische Bildgebung stellt hierbei besondere Anforderungen an dieses Verfahren. Aufgrund der deutlich geringeren anatomischen Strukturen im Vergleich zur Humananwendung, erfordert die Kleintierbildgebung eine hohere Ortsauflosung. Diese wird masgeblich durch die eingesetzten PET-Detektoren sowie durch die verwendeten Isotope beeinflusst. Hochenergetische und nichtreine Positronenstrahler verschlechtern, bedingt durch eine lange Positronenreichweite, deutlich die Ortsauflosung und erschweren zudem durch die Emission von Kaskadengammalinien die Quantifizierung. Das Isotop I-124 stellt einen Reprasentanten dieser Gruppe dar. Ziel dieser Arbeit war die Implementierung einer Verarbeitungskette, um diese durch I-124 hervorgerufenen Effekte zu korrigieren. Erstmalig wurde hier eine komplette, robuste und routinetaugliche Losung etabliert, die von der Abschatzung der Kaskadengammakoinzidenzen bis hin zu dem rekonstruierten korrigierten Bild reicht. Die Schwerpunkte wurden hierbei zum einen auf die Vollstandigkeit der Korrekturen und zum anderen auf eine einfache und automatisierte praklinische Handhabung gelegt. Die integrierten Korrekturen ermoglichen nunmehr eine auf knapp 3% genaue absolute Quantifizierung, die zuvor bei ca. 16% lag. Eine artefaktfreie Ortsauflosungsverbesserung ist fur reale Mausstudien in der Grosenordnung von 20% moglich. Fur einzelne Linienquellen kann mittels dieses Verfahrens die untere Auflosungsgrenze des verwendeten Kleintierscanners Concorde microPET Focus 120 von 1,4 mm erreicht werden. Dies entspricht einer Auflosungsverbesserung von ca. 46%. Die Ergebnisse basieren auf mehreren Einzelschritten. Zunachst wurden mit Hilfe von Monte-Carlo-Simulationen mit GATE [1] die einzelnen zu korrigierenden Anteile fur definierte Phantomgeometrien und Mausvoxelphantome bestimmt. Darauf aufbauend wurden sinogrammbasierte Korrekturen erarbeitet, die nun eine genaue Quantifizierung ermoglichen. Diese korrigierten Datensatze dienen als Eingangsdaten fur einen in dieser Arbeit implementierten PR-MLEM Algorithmus (Positron Range corrected Maximum Likelihood Expectation Maximization). Mit diesem iterativen Rekonstruktionsverfahren ist es nun moglich, inhomogene Aktivitatsanreicherungen zu visualisieren, die vorher kaum darstellbar waren.
Recognising Activities in Real Time Using Body Worn Passive Sensors With Sparse Data Streams: To Interpolate or Not To Interpolate?

Recent emergence of small, lightweight, batteryless (passive), and therefore maintenance free, wearable computing platforms such as sensor enabled RFID (Radio Frequency Identication) tags provide new opportunities for low cost and unobtrusive activity monitoring. Unfortunately, data streams from passive sensors are uniquely characterised by sparsity and noise. Consequently, readily extracting features that require a data stream with a regular sampling rate, such as those based on frequency domain transformations and auto regressive coecients are challenging. In this study, we propose an approach that reduces online interpolation errors to facilitate interpolating sparse acceleration data streams from a passive RFID tag with an on-board accelerometer sensor. We demonstrate using two datasets from older people that incorporating features extracted from interpolated acceleration data depicts a signicant performance improvement compared with incorporating features possible from only raw acceleration data. However, this is achieved at the expense of a real-time prediction delay (>400%) due to preprocessing involved. Furthermore, we demonstrate that for these types of sensors, features readily available from a typical RFID platform can be successfully used instead of features extracted from an interpolated data stream to achieve similar or better activity recognition performance without preprocessing and, whilst, using signicantly less number of features.
The subzygomatic fossa: a practical landmark in identifying the zygomaticus major muscle.

OBJECTIVE To test the validity of the subzygomatic fossa as a possible landmark in identifying the origin of the zygomaticus major muscle (ZMM). METHODS Twenty-three fresh cadaver facial halves were dissected. Four references points were identified in each cadaver head: the zygomatic arch, the malar eminence, the modiolus, and the ZMM insertion notch. The ZMM insertion notch is a palpable landmark that is typically identified midway between the zygomatic arch and the malar eminience. A straight line was drawn from the ZMM insertion notch to the modiolus. An additional line was drawn from the malar eminence to the modiolus. An incision was made along the each line to the depth of the facial muscles. The presence or absence of the ZMM was recorded, and the location of the ZMM insertion notch was characterized in each cadaver. RESULTS The ZMM insertion notch was palpated and identified in 23 of 23 facial halves. It was accurate in identifying the course of the ZMM in all 23 facial halves. The line created by the malar eminence to the modiolus was inaccurate in all 23 facial halves. CONCLUSION The ZMM insertion notch is a reliable landmark for identification of the ZMM.
The Turing Test is not a trick: Turing indistinguishability is a scientific criterion

It is important to understand that the Turing Test (TT) is not, nor was it intended to be, a trick; how well one can fool someone is not a measure of scientific progress. The TT is an empirical criterion: It sets AI's empirical goal to be to generate human scale performance capacity. This goal will be met when the candidate's performance is totally indistinguishable from a human's. Until then, the TT simply represents what it is that AI must endeavor eventually to accomplish scientifically.
The biology of nitric oxide.

If you really want to be smarter, reading can be one of the lots ways to evoke and realize. Many people who like reading will have more knowledge and experiences. Reading can be a way to gain information from economics, politics, science, fiction, literature, religion, and many others. As one of the part of book categories, biology of nitric oxide always becomes the most wanted book. Many people are absolutely searching for this book. It means that many love to read this kind of book.
Structural Basis for Accommodation of Nonsteroidal Ligands in the Androgen Receptor*

The mechanism by which the androgen receptor (AR) distinguishes between agonist and antagonist ligands is poorly understood. AR antagonists are currently used to treat prostate cancer. However, mutations commonly develop in patients that convert these compounds to agonists. Recently, our laboratory discovered selective androgen receptor modulators, which structurally resemble the nonsteroidal AR antagonists bicalutamide and hydroxyflutamide but act as agonists for the androgen receptor in a tissue-selective manner. To investigate why subtle structural changes to both the ligand and the receptor (i.e. mutations) result in drastic changes in activity, we studied structure-activity relationships for nonsteroidal AR ligands through crystallography and site-directed mutagenesis, comparing bound conformations of R-bicalutamide, hydroxyflutamide, and two previously reported nonsteroidal androgens, S-1 and R-3. These studies provide the first crystallographic evidence of the mechanism by which nonsteroidal ligands interact with the wild type AR. We have shown that changes induced to the positions of Trp-741, Thr-877, and Met-895 allow for ligand accommodation within the AR binding pocket and that a water-mediated hydrogen bond to the backbone oxygen of Leu-873 and the ketone of hydroxyflutamide is present when bound to the T877A AR variant. Additionally, we demonstrated that R-bicalutamide stimulates transcriptional activation in AR harboring the M895T point mutation. As a whole, these studies provide critical new insight for receptor-based drug design of nonsteroidal AR agonists and antagonists.
Complement Inhibitor, Complement Receptor 1-Related Gene/Protein y-Ig Attenuates Intestinal Damage After the Onset of Mesenteric Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Mice1

Complement receptor 1-related gene/protein y (Crry) is a murine membrane protein that regulates the activity of both classical and alternative complement pathways. We used a recombinant soluble form of Crry fused to the hinge, CH2, and CH3 domains of mouse IgG1 (Crry-Ig) to determine whether inhibition of complement activation prevents and/or reverses mesenteric ischemia/reperfusion-induced injury in mice. Mice were subjected to 30 min of ischemia, followed by 2 h of reperfusion. Crry-Ig was administered either 5 min before or 30 min after initiation of the reperfusion phase. Pretreatment with Crry-Ig reduced local intestinal mucosal injury and decreased generation of leukotriene B4 (LTB4). When given 30 min after the beginning of the reperfusion phase, Crry-Ig resulted in a decrease in ischemia/reperfusion-induced intestinal mucosal injury comparable to that occurring when it was given 5 min before initiation of the reperfusion phase. The beneficial effect of Crry-Ig administered 30 min after the initiation of reperfusion coincided with a decrease in PGE2 generation despite the fact that it did not prevent local infiltration of neutrophils and did not have a significant effect on LTB4 production. These data suggest that complement inhibition protects animals from reperfusion-induced intestinal damage even if administered as late as 30 min into reperfusion and that the mechanism of protection is independent of neutrophil infiltration or LTB4 inhibition.
Primary socialization theory: comments on racism, sexism, generational neglect, abuse, and abandonment.

This article asks whether primary socialization theory adequately deals with the most distressed and disadvantaged members of society, whether for most of them the family, school, and peers are the primary sources of socialization. Children who are subjected to the effects of racism, sexism, physical and mental abuse, inferior dangerous schools, and abandonment to foster care from birth may find other sources of primary socialization which can be either negative and positive. "Nihilism" and "anomie" are used to describe such children's position in their societies, and the article asks if those without benefit of the three primary sources of socialization can find ways to create new and positive norms, or whether they are doomed to lives of hopelessness and deviance. [Translations are provided in the International Abstracts Section of this issue. ]
Steganograpic image transformation

Due to the drastic development of Internet, it has recently been a critical problem to secure multimedia contents against illegal use. In order to solve this problem, data hiding has drawn great attention as a promising method that plays a complementary role to conventional cryptographic techniques. The idea of this approach is found in ancient Greek literature as 'Steganography,' which means a 'covered writing' for special secret communication. This paper presents a new method for steganographic image transformation, which is different from conventional data hiding techniques. The transformation is achieved in frequency domain and the concept of Fourier filtering method is used. An input image is transformed into a fractal image, which can be used in Computer Graphic (CG) applications. Unauthorized users will not notice the 'secret' original image behind the fractal image, but even if they know that there is a hidden image it will be difficult for them to estimate the original image from the transformed image. Only authorized users who know the proper keys can regenerate the original image. The proposed method is applicable not only as a security tool for multimedia contents on web pages but also as a steganographic secret communication method through fractal images.
Moving Beyond Tradition

The rise in obesity among youths because of a sedentary lifestyle is of special concern for physical education and health teachers (National Association for Sport and Physical Education [NASPE], 2006). With its national standards, NASPE (2004) has provided guidelines and recommendations to help reverse this trend, including providing appropriate instruction, encouraging children to engage in 30 minutes or more of physical activity per day, and ensuring that 50 percent of this activity is at a moderate-to-vigorous intensity. Physical education teachers, health teachers, and even elementary school teachers should be leading the fight against obesity and guiding “youngsters in the process of becoming physically active for a lifetime” (Graham, HoltHale, & Parker, 2010, p. 4) The question all educators need to ask is whether this is happening. The physical education “hall of shame” (Williams, 1992) presented a long list of traditional games often played during recess and in physical education class. Fortunately, many games that were identified, such as Duck-DuckGoose and Red Rover, have been phased out of current physical education programs. Yet, many schools still play these or similar games with low activity levels. Dodgeball is probably the leading example. Despite its low level of activity, ethical questionability, and liability potential (Conn & Docheff, 2005; Vail, 2001), it has managed to still thrive in schools. It is time to take another hard look at the games and activities played in schools. The purpose of this article is to provide seven guidelines for adapting physical activities, developing lead-up games, and teaching skills to maximize activity levels during physical education classes.
Amplification of Insulin Secretion by Lipid Messengers

D-glucose induces a rise in pancreatic islet β-cell cytosolic [Ca2+] by processes requiring both glucose metabolism and Ca2+ entry from the extracellular space, and this Ca2+ signal is thought to be critical to the induction of insulin secretion. Insulin secretagogues also induce phospholipid hydrolysis and accumulation of phospholipid-derived mediators in islets, including the lipid messengers DAG, nonesterified arachidonic acid, and arachidonate 12-LO products. This study offers the following viewpoints on potential roles of these lipid messengers in insulin secretion as working hypotheses: 1) the Ca2+ signal provided to the β-cell by D-glucose induces insulin secretion only in the context of amplifying background signals provided by the β-cell content of messengers including DAG; 2) muscarinic receptor agonists amplify glucose-induced insulin secretion in part by altering the β-cell content of DAG; 3) the Ca2+ signal provided by metabolism of D-glucose is amplified by the level of nonesterified arachidonic acid in β-cell membranes, which acts to facilitate Ca2+ entry; 4) metabolism of glucose induces accumulation of nonesterified arachidonate in beta-cells via activation of a recently identified ASCI-PLA2 enzyme, which may be a component of the β-cell fuel sensor apparatus; and 5) arachidonate 12-LO metabolites are potential candidates as adjunctive modulators of β-cell K+-channel activity.
A Randomized Power Management Protocol with Dynamic Listen Interval for Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

In IEEE 802.11 wireless ad hoc networks, the listen interval of a power-saving (PS) station should be fixed at one even if there is no data traffic or its remaining battery power is low. However, if the listen interval is allowed more than two beacon intervals, 802.11 power management may completely fail. Hence we propose a new novel randomized power management (RPM), which not only equips the PS stations with dynamic listen interval adjustment ability, but also eliminates the following problems: (i) the possibly forever loss of ATIM frames, (ii) the needless waste of ATIM frames, and (iii) neighbor maintenance problem. Above all, RPM can offer the network designers full flexibility in trading energy, latency, and neighbor discovery probability versus each other by appropriately tuning system parameters. The primary numerical results show that, as compared with 802.11, RPM earns a significant reduction in power consumption at the expense of only a little additional delay
Total antioxidant activity of yacon tubers cultivated in Brazil

Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) e uma raiz tuberosa da regiao andina na America do Sul, rica em agua, frutooligossacarideos e compostos fenolicos, alguns dos quais sao antioxidantes naturais e podem auxiliar a prevenir a acao deleteria dos radicais livres no organismo. O yacon tem atraido muita atencao devido a seus potenciais beneficios de saude para os seres humanos. Neste estudo, os niveis de fenolicos totais, taninos, acidos fenolicos e atividade antioxidante total foram mensurados na casca e polpa de tuberas de yacon ambas nas formas fresca e de farinha. As farinhas de yacon apresentaram altas concentracoes de fenolicos totais e taninos, especialmente a farinha da casca. A farinha da polpa de yacon destacou-se como a principal fonte de acidos fenolicos, principalmente cafeico e acido clorogenico. A atividade antioxidante total avaliada pelos metodos DPPH (2,2-Difenil-1-picril-hidrazil) and ABTS (2,2′-Azino-bis (3-etilbenzotiazolina-6-acido sulfonico)) foi maior na farinha de casca de yacon. A atividade antioxidante total foi correlacionada com o conteudo de fenolicos totais e taninos pelos metodos DPPH e ABTS. Estes resultados sugerem que yacon pode ser usado como uma fonte alimentar alternativa de compostos fenolicos que auxiliam a prevenir processos degenerativos causados pelo estresse oxidativo, especialmente na forma de farinhas.
Matching with Incomplete Information

A large literature uses matching models to analyze markets with two-sided heterogeneity, studying problems such as the matching of students to schools, residents to hospitals, husbands to wives, and workers to firms. The analysis typically assumes that the agents have complete information, and examines core outcomes. We formulate a notion of stable outcomes in matching problems with one-sided asymmetric information. The key conceptual problem is to formulate a notion of a blocking pair that takes account of the inferences that the uninformed agent might make from the hypothesis that the current allocation is stable. We show that the set of stable outcomes is nonempty in incomplete information environments, and is a superset of the set of complete-information stable outcomes. We provide sufficient conditions for incomplete-information stable matchings to be efficient.
Identification of novel bioactive hexapeptides against phytopathogenic bacteria through rapid screening of a synthetic combinatorial library.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are considered to be a promising alternative to conventional antibiotics for future generations. We identified four novel hexapeptides with antimicrobial activity: KCM11 (TWWRWW-NH(2)), KCM12 (KWRWIW-NH(2)), KCM21 (KWWWRW-NH(2)), and KRS22 (WRWFIH-NH(2)), through positional scanning of a synthetic peptide combinatorial library (PS-SCL). The ability of these peptides to inhibit the growth of a variety of bacteria and unicellular fungi was evaluated. KCM11 and KRS22 preferentially inhibited the normal growth of fungal strains, whereas KCM12 and KCM21 were more active against bacterial strains. Bactericidal activity was addressed in a clear zone assay against phytopathogenic bacteria, including Pectobacterium spp. , Xanthomonas spp. , Pseudomonas spp. , etc. KCM21 showed the highest activity and was effective against a wide range of target organisms. Application of KCM21 with inoculation of Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum on detached cabbage leaves resulted in an immune phenotype or a significant reduction in symptom development, depending on the peptide concentration. Cytotoxicity of the four hexapeptides was evaluated in mouse and human epithelial cell lines using an MTT test. The results revealed a lack of cytotoxic effects.
Robust H∞ control for varying sampling networked control systems

For the robustness of varying sampling networked control system, a designed method of varying sampling H∞ controller is proposed. Based on the character of the system, the system is modeled as switching system. The study utilizes Lyapunov function to demonstrate the system stability and H∞ performance, then presents sufficient conditions in which the H∞ performance should be satisfied via LMI (linear matrix inequality). Furthermore, the designed method of H∞ state feedback controller is deduced. According to the method, the H∞ performance and H∞ controller are solved by using the LMI toolbox in examples easily. The results of simulation show the feasibility and validity of the method.