Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A trait-based ecology to assess the acclimation of a sperm-dependent clonal fish compared to its sexual host

Background Survival in temporally or spatially changing environments is a prerequisite for the perpetuation of a given species. In addition to genetic variation, the role of epigenetic processes is crucial in the persistence of organisms. For instance, mechanisms such as developmental flexibility enable the adjustment of the phenotype of a given individual to changing conditions throughout its development. However, the extent of factors other than genetic variability, like epigenetic processes, in the production of alternative phenotype and the consequences in realized ecological niches is still unclear. Methods In this study, we compared the extent of realized niches between asexual and sexual individuals from different environments. We used a trait-based ecology approach exploiting trophic and locomotive structures to infer the environment that each biotype actually used. More specifically, we compared the morphology of the all-female clonal and sperm-dependent fish Chrosomus eos-neogaeus to that of their sexual host species C. eos in common garden and natural conditions. Results Transfer from natural to controlled conditions resulted in a similar shift in measured morphology for clonal and sexual individuals suggesting comparable level of flexibility in both kinds of organisms. However, clonal, but not sexual, individuals displayed a consistent phenotype when reared in uniform conditions indicating that in absence of genetic variation, one phenotype corresponds to one niche. This contrasted with results from natural conditions where clones were morphologically as variable as sexual individuals within a sampled site. In addition, similar phenotypic changes for both clonal and sexual individuals were observed among the majority of sampled sites, indicating that they responded similarly to the same environments. Discussion Our results indicated that clones can efficiently use different niches and may evolve in a range of environmental conditions comparable to that of a sexual species, thus underlying the importance of factors other than genetic variability, like epigenetic processes, for coping with environmental heterogeneity.
Towards Complex Nonnegative Matrix Factorization with the Beta-Divergence

Complex nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) is a powerful tool for decomposing audio spectrograms while accounting for some phase information in the time-frequency domain. While its estimation was originally based on the Euclidean distance, in this paper we propose to extend it to any beta-divergence, a family of functions widely used in audio to estimate NMF. To this end, we introduce the beta-divergence in a heuristic fashion within a phase-aware probabilistic model. Estimating this model results in performing an NMF with Itakura-Saito (IS) divergence on a quantity called the phase-corrected posterior power of the sources, which is both phase-dependent and nonnegative-valued. Therefore, we replace IS with the beta-divergence, so that the factorization uses an optimal distortion metric and remains phase-aware. Even though by doing so we loose theoretical convergence guarantees, the resulting algorithm demonstrates its potential for an audio source separation task, where it outperforms previous complex NMFs approaches.
Physical Fitness Characteristics That Relate to Work Sample Test Battery Performance in Law Enforcement Recruits

This study determined relationships between an agency-specific fitness test battery (PT500), and a work sample test battery (WSTB) in law enforcement recruits. Retrospective analysis on 219 males and 34 females from one agency was conducted. The PT500 comprised: push-ups, sit-ups, and mountain climbers in 120 s; pull-ups; and 201 m and 2.4 km runs. The WSTB comprised: 99 yard (90.53 m) obstacle course (99OC); body drag (BD) with a 165 pound (75 kg) dummy; 6 foot (1.83 m) chain link fence (CLF) and solid wall (SW) climb; and 500 yard (457.2 m) run (500R). Partial correlations, controlling for sex, calculated PT500 and WSTB relationships (p < 0.05). Stepwise regression determined whether fitness predicted WSTB performance. The 500R related to all PT500 assessments (r range = −0.127–0.574), 99OC related to all bar push-ups and mountain climbers, and BD related to none. The CLF related to sit-ups, pull-ups, and 2.4 km run; SW related to mountain climbers, pull-ups, and 2.4 km run (r range = −0.127–−0.315). Push-ups, pull-ups, and 2.4 km run were involved in predictive relationships for 99OC, CLF, SW, and 500R (r2 range = 0.217–0.500). To perform better in the WSTB and job-specific tasks, developing upper-body strength and aerobic fitness may be beneficial.
Example based style classification

We address the problem of analysis of families of shapes which can be classiﬁed according to two categories: the main one cor-responding usually to the coarse shape which we call the function and the more subtle one which we call the style. The style and the function both contribute to the overall shape which makes the general analysis and retrieval of such shapes more challenging. Also there is no single way of deﬁning the style as this depends much on the context of the family of shapes used for the analysis. That is why the deﬁnition needs to be given through the examples. The straight forward way of ﬁnding the shape descriptors ’responsible’ for a given category would be to use well known statistical methods and ﬁnd through them such descriptors with which we are able to classify shapes according to a given category. When a function is dominating this approach might not suﬃce - we might be unable to ﬁnd a set descriptors which are independent of a given function. We show how to decouple the eﬀect of the style from that of the function by considering the shapes of the same function but diﬀerent styles. We also propose a metric coanalysis approach: if two styles are similar this similarity should be reﬂected across diﬀerent functions. We show the usability of our methods ﬁrst on the example of a number of chess sets which our method helps sort. Next, we investigate the problem of ﬁnding a replacement for a missing tooth given a database of teeth.
Grass Species Flammability, Not Biomass, Drives Changes in Fire Behavior at Tropical Forest-Savanna Transitions

Forest-savanna mosaics are maintained by fire-mediated positive feedbacks; whereby forest is fire suppressive and savanna is fire promoting. Forest-savanna transitions therefore represent the interface of opposing fire regimes. Within the transition there is a threshold point at which tree canopy cover becomes sufficiently dense to shade out grasses and thus suppress fire. Prior to reaching this threshold, changes in fire behaviour may already be occurring within the savanna. Such changes are neither empirically described nor their drivers understood. Fire behaviour is largely driven by fuel flammability. Flammability can vary significantly between grass species and grass species composition can change near forest-savanna transitions. This study measured fire behaviour changes at eighteen forest-savanna transition sites in a vegetation mosaic in Lope National Park in Gabon, central Africa. The extent to which these changes could be attributed to changes in grass flammability was determined using species-specific flammability traits. Results showed simultaneous suppression of fire and grass biomass when tree canopy leaf area index (LAI) reached a value of 3, indicating that a fire suppression threshold existed within the forest-savanna transition. Fires became less intense and less hot prior to reaching this fire suppression threshold. These changes were associated with higher LAI values, which induced a change in the grass community, from one dominated by the highly flammable Anadelphia afzeliana to one dominated by the less flammable Hyparrhenia diplandra. Changes in fire behaviour were not associated with changes in total grass biomass. This study demonstrated not only the presence of a fire suppression threshold but the mechanism of its action. Grass composition mediated fire-behaviour within the savanna prior to reaching the suppression threshold, and grass species composition was mediated by tree canopy cover which was in turn mediated by fire-behaviour. These findings highlight how biotic and abiotic controls interact and amplify each other in this mosaicked landscape to facilitate forest and savanna co-existence.
MicroRNA 141 represses nasopharyngeal carcinoma growth through inhibiting BMI1

Distant metastasis is the primary cause of mortality in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Unveiling the mechanism of metastasis will aid in shedding light on the clinical therapeutic strategies in NPC treatment. The present study revealed that the expression of microRNA 141 (miR-141) was downregulated in NPC tumor cells, particularly in metastatic ones. Ectopic expression of miR-141 blocked the proliferative and invasive ability of the tumor cells in vitro, and inhibited NPC tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistic studies identified that BMI1 served as the direct target of miR-141, and overexpression of BMI1 reversed the tumor repressor effect of miR-141. Prognostic analysis revealed that this miR-141/BMI1 signaling axis correlated with the clinical stage of patients with NPC. The study of miR-141 provided novel insight into the mechanism of NPC progression, which was correlated with the stage and metastatic state of patients. This miR-141/BMI1 axis may serve as a novel pharmacological target in NPC treatment.
A survey on technological, business and societal aspects of Internet of Things by Q3, 2017

The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the most trending technologies of the current era and is expected to cover a significant share of the global market in future. It connects physical objects to make them control and work for our daily chores; making it get its application in different fields of automation, thus reducing human effort. The objective of this paper is to emphasize on the different influencing aspects of IoT, namely Technology, Business and Society. After going through different journals, survey papers, blogs, newsletters, books and other information sources in this field, we pointed out the major Technological challenges of IoT; reviewed some relevant Business matters; and brought forward some affecting Social issues. We start this paper by presenting a brief overview of the IoT, and finally draw a relation among the different aspects of it.
Looking at Flavonoid Biodiversity in Horticultural Crops: A Colored Mine with Nutritional Benefits

Flavonoids represent a wide group of plant secondary metabolites implicated in many physiological roles, from the attraction of pollinators to the protection against biotic or abiotic stresses. Flavonoids are synthetized in a number of horticultural crops that are important components of our daily diet. In the last decades, the consumption of vegetables rich in antioxidants has been strongly promoted from the perspective of prevention/protection against chronic diseases. Therefore, due to their nutritional importance, several attempts have been made to enhance flavonoid levels in species of agronomic interest. In this review, we focus on the flavonoid biodiversity among the major horticultural species, which is responsible of differences among closely related species and influences the qualitative/quantitative composition. We also review the role of flavonoids in the nutritional quality of plant products, contributing to their organoleptic and nutritional properties, and the main strategies of biofortification to increase their content.
Strategies for the Preservation, Restoration and Modulation of the Human Milk Microbiota. Implications for Human Milk Banks and Neonatal Intensive Care Units

Studies carried in the last years have revealed that human milk contains a site-specific microbiota and constitutes a source of potentially beneficial bacteria to the infant gut. Once in the infant gut, these bacteria contribute to the assembly of a physiological gut microbiota and may play several functions, contributing to infant metabolism, protection against infections, immunomodulation or neuromodulation. Many preterm neonates are fed with pasteurized donor’s human milk (DHM) or formula and, therefore, are devoid of contact with human milk microbes. As a consequence, new strategies are required to allow the exposition of a higher number of preterm infants to the human milk microbiota early in life. The first strategy would be to promote and to increase the use of own mother’s milk (OMM) in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). Even small quantities of OMM can be very valuable since they would be added to DHM in order to microbiologically “customize” it. When OMM is not available, a better screening of donor women, including routine cytomegalovirus (CMV) screening of milk, may help to avoid the pasteurization of the milk provided by, at least, a relevant proportion of donors. Finally, when pasteurized DHM or formula are the only feeding option, their supplementation with probiotic bacteria isolated from human milk, such as lactic acid bacteria or bifidobacteria, may be an alternative to try to restore a human milk-like microbiota before feeding the babies. In the future, the design of human milk bacterial consortia (minimal human milk microbiotas), including well characterized strains representative of a healthy human milk microbiota, may be an attractive strategy to provide a complex mix of strains specifically tailored to this target population.
Modeling the Interior Response of Real Loudspeakers with Finite Measurements

Loudspeaker array design for spatial soundfield reproduction is a popular research topic with a plethora of past work and potential applications. In soundfiled theory, reproduction algorithms are often developed assuming arrays of ideal point sources. However in practice, the directional characteristics of commercial loudspeakers are far from that of ideal point sources. Therefore, in order to successfully realize existing theoretical solutions for soundfield reproduction, it is crucial to understand and model the incident response of commercial loudspeakers used in the reproduction system as observed over the target region of reproduction. In this paper, we present initial work on formulating such a theoretical model, using a set of limited measurements in the reproduction region. A successful model shall enable the prediction of the loudspeaker's incident field away from the measurement points. This feature of the model is validated using extra measurements away from the initial ones.
Rotational Diversity in Multi-Cycle Assignment Problems

In multi-cycle assignment problems with rotational diversity, a set of tasks has to be repeatedly assigned to a set of agents. Over multiple cycles, the goal is to achieve a high diversity of assignments from tasks to agents. At the same time, the assignments’ profit has to be maximized in each cycle. Due to changing availability of tasks and agents, planning ahead is infeasible and each cycle is an independent assignment problem but influenced by previous choices. We approach the multi-cycle assignment problem as a two-part problem: Profit maximization and rotation are combined into one objective value, and then solved as a General Assignment Problem. Rotational diversity is maintained with a single execution of the costly assignment model. Our simple, yet effective method is applicable to different domains and applications. Experiments show the applicability on a multi-cycle variant of the multiple knapsack problem and a real-world case study on the test case selection and assignment problem, an example from the software engineering domain, where test cases have to be distributed over compatible test machines.
MiR‐520b promotes the progression of non‐small cell lung cancer through activating Hedgehog pathway

Although the non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the most malignant tumours worldwide, the mechanisms controlling NSCLC tumourigenesis remain unclear. Here, we find that the expression of miR‐520b is up‐regulated in NSCLC samples. Further studies have revealed that miR‐520b promotes the proliferation and metastasis of NSCLC cells. In addition, miR‐520b activates Hedgehog (Hh) pathway. Inhibitor of Hh pathway could relieve the oncogenic effect of miR‐520b upon NSCLC cells. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that miR‐520b directly targets SPOP 3′‐UTR and decreases SPOP expression, culminating in GLI2/3 stabilization and Hh pathway hyperactivation. Collectively, our findings unveil that miR‐520b promotes NSCLC tumourigenesis through SPOP‐GLI2/3 axis and provide miR‐520b as a potential diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for NSCLC.
Effect of temperature change on synaptic transmission at crayfish neuromuscular junctions

ABSTRACT Ectothermic animals in areas characterised by seasonal changes are susceptible to extreme fluctuations in temperature. To survive through varied temperatures, ectotherms have developed unique strategies. This study focuses on synaptic transmission function at cold temperatures, as it is a vital component of ectothermic animals' survival. For determining how synaptic transmission is influenced by an acute change in temperature (20°C to 10°C within a minute) and chronic cold (10°C), the crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) neuromuscular junction (NMJ) was used as a model. To simulate chronic cold conditions, crayfish were acclimated to 15°C for 1 week and then to 10°C for 1 week. They were then used to examine the synaptic properties associated with the low output nerve terminals on the opener muscle in the walking legs and high output innervation on the abdominal deep extensor muscle. The excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) of the opener NMJs increased in amplitude with acute warming (20°C) after being acclimated to cold; however, the deep extensor muscles showed varied changes in EPSP amplitude. Synaptic transmission at both NMJs was enhanced with exposure to the modulators serotonin or octopamine. The membrane resistance of the muscles decreased 33% and the resting membrane potential hyperpolarised upon warm exposure. Analysis of haemolymph indicated that octopamine increases during cold exposure. These results suggest bioamine modulation as a possible mechanism for ensuring that synaptic transmission remains functional at low temperatures. Summary: Studies were conducted in the model invertebrate, the crayfish, to determine the effects of the acute change from 20°C to 10°C and vice versa on synaptic transmission.
Pre-Clovis projectile points at the Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas—Implications for the Late Pleistocene peopling of the Americas

Stemmed projectile points are ~13,500 to ~15,500 years old and lie stratigraphically below ~13,000-year-old Clovis artifacts. Lanceolate projectile points of the Clovis complex and stemmed projectile points of the Western Stemmed Tradition first appeared in North America by ~13 thousand years (ka) ago. The origin, age, and chronological superposition of these stemmed and lanceolate traditions are unclear. At the Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas, below Folsom and Clovis horizons, we find stemmed projectile points dating from ~13.5 to ~15.5 ka ago, with a triangular lanceolate point form appearing ~14 ka ago. The sequential relationship of stemmed projectile points followed by lanceolate forms suggests that lanceolate points are derived from stemmed forms or that they originated from two separate migrations into the Americas.
Time-Frequency Masking Strategies for Single-Channel Low-Latency Speech Enhancement Using Neural Networks

This paper presents a low-latency neural network based speech enhancement system. Low-latency operation is critical for speech communication applications. The system uses the time-frequency (TF) masking approach to retain speech and remove the non-speech content from the observed signal. The ideal TF mask are obtained by supervised training of neural networks. As the main contribution different neural network models are experimentally compared to investigate computational complexity and speech enhancement performance. The proposed system is trained and tested on noisy speech data where signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) ranges from −5 dB to +5 dB and the results show significant reduction of non-speech content in the resulting signal while still meeting a low-latency operation criterion, which is here considered to be less than 20 ms.
Reference-Based Integral MR-EPT: Simulation and Experiment Studies at 9.4 T MRI

Current integral-equation (IE)-based magnetic resonance (MR) electrical properties tomography (EPT) methods utilize simulated incident radio-frequency (RF) fields, which are inaccurate and lead to reconstruction errors. To improve the accuracy and practicability of IE-based MR-EPT methods, a new approach is presented that obtains the incident fields using reference subjects and RF field mapping techniques. The incident field approximation (IFA) is first demonstrated in this paper. This approximation assumes that two imaged subjects with similar coil/subject interactions will have similar incident RF fields, thus one can feed the estimation of the incident fields within the imaged subject into the calculation of those within a homogeneous subject (reference subject). This is done by measuring the total RF fields (${{\boldsymbol B}}_1^ + $ field) of the reference using field mapping techniques, using the known EPs of the reference subject and by rearranging Ampere's law and the integral equations. The calculated incident RF fields are then used to reconstruct the EPs’ distribution with a three-dimensional (3-D) integral-based MR-EPT method. Numerical simulation results indicated that the incident RF fields obtained from the reference subject provide accurate 3-D reconstruction of EPs with less than 16% root mean square error (RMSE) in noise-free scenario, while the conventional IE method had more than 28% RMSE. The phantom-based experiments at 9.4 T MRI system have also been conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed method and the results indicated that the proposed method achieved desirable robustness against the noise in practical scenario with less than 21% RMSE, while the conventional differential equation-based method showed worse than 37% RMSE.
Phase Linearity Measurement: A Novel Index for Brain Functional Connectivity

The problem of describing how different brain areas interact between each other has been granted a great deal of attention in the last years. The idea that neuronal ensembles behave as oscillators and that they communicate through synchronization is now widely accepted. To this regard, EEG and MEG provide the signals that allow the estimation of such communication in vivo. Hence, phase-based metrics are essential. However, the application of phased-based metrics for measuring brain connectivity has proved problematic so far, since they appear to be less resilient to noise as compared to amplitude-based ones. In this paper, we address the problem of designing a purely phase-based brain connectivity metric, insensitive to volume conduction and resilient to noise. The proposed metric, named phase linearity measurement (PLM), is based on the analysis of similar behaviors in the phases of the recorded signals. The PLM is tested in two simulated datasets as well as in real MEG data acquired at the Naples MEG center. Due to its intrinsic characteristics, the PLM shows considerable noise rejection properties as compared to other widely adopted connectivity metrics. We conclude that the PLM might be valuable in order to allow better estimation of phase-based brain connectivity.