Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Why Do Men Hunt?

The role of men in hunter‐gatherer societies has been subject to vigorous debate over the past 15 years. The proposal that men hunt wild game as a form of status signaling or “showing off” to provide reproductive benefits to the hunter challenges the traditional view that men hunt to provision their families. Two broad assumptions underlie the signaling view: (1) hunting is a poor means of obtaining food, and (2) hunted game is a public good shared widely with others and without expectation of future reciprocation. If hunters lack the ability to direct food shares and obtain subsequent benefits contingent on redistribution, then the ubiquitous observations of male hunting and universal pair‐bonding cannot be explained from a perspective that emphasizes kin provisioning and a division of labor. Here we show that there is little empirical support for the view that men hunt for signaling benefits alone. The ethnographic record depicts a more complex relationship between food sharing patterns, subsistence strategies, mating, and the sexual division of labor. We present a framework incorporating trade‐offs between mating and subsistence strategies in an economic bargaining context that contributes to understanding men’s and women’s roles in hunter‐gatherer societies.
ICAM-2 facilitates luminal interactions between neutrophils and endothelial cells in vivo

ABSTRACT Intercellular adhesion molecule 2 (ICAM-2) is expressed on endothelial cells (ECs) and supports neutrophil extravasation. However, the full details of its role remain unknown, and the present study investigates the functional mechanisms of ICAM-2 in neutrophil–endothelial-cell interactions. Our initial studies showed expression of ICAM-2 at both EC junctions and on the EC body. In line with the observed expression profile analysis of neutrophil–vessel-wall interactions using real-time in vivo confocal microscopy identified numerous functional roles for ICAM-2 within the vascular lumen and at the stage of neutrophil extravasation. Functional or genetic blockade of ICAM-2 significantly reduced neutrophil crawling velocity, increased frequency of crawling with a disrupted stop-start profile, and prolonged interaction of neutrophils with EC junctions prior to transendothelial cell migration (TEM), collectively resulting in significantly reduced extravasation. Pharmacological blockade of the leukocyte integrin MAC-1 indicated that some ICAM-2-dependent functions might be mediated through ligation of this integrin. These findings highlight novel roles for ICAM-2 in mediating luminal neutrophil crawling and the effect on subsequent levels of extravasation.
Osteopontin improves in vitro development of porcine embryos and decreases apoptosis

An optimal environment for fertilization and early embryonic development is provided by the mammalian oviduct and uterus. The secretory cells lining the lumen of the oviduct and uterus synthesize and secrete proteins that have been shown to interact with and influence the activities of gametes and embryos. Western blotting in this study demonstrated that a 50‐kDa secreted phosphoprotein 1 (SPP1) form was present in the uterus on Days 0, 3, and 5 in pregnant and nonbred gilts, and the concentration of SPP1 on Day 0 was higher than on Days 3 and 5 in pregnant gilts, but in nonbred gilts the concentration of SPP1 on Day 0 was higher than Day 3, but not Day 5. In addition, we show that addition of 0.1 µg/ml SPP1 to the culture medium after fertilization increased the percent cleaved (24 hr: 23.6 ± 1.29a vs. 18.7 ± 0.65b (2‐cell %)), and the percent blastocyst (37.2 ± 1.12a vs. 30.9 ± 0.56b) derived from IVF (P < 0.05). In parthenogenetic‐derived embryos the percent cleaved was increased due to SPP1 at 24 hr (24.0 ± 1.59a vs. 19.7 ± 1.59b (>2‐cell %)), and at 48 hr (72.9± 2.99a vs. 63.3 ± 2.99b), but not the percent blastocyst. By TUNEL assay, SPP1 decreased both apoptosis (7.9 ± 0.04a vs. 13.1 ± 0.02b) and the percent fragmentation (45.2 ± 0.07a vs. 58.8 ± 0.03b). We conclude that SPP1 can improve development in vitro possibly by reducing the rate of apoptosis. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 75: 291–298, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Using Accounting Metrics As Performance Measures To Assess The Impact Of Information Technology Outsourcing On Manufacturing And Service Firms

This study focuses on the information technology (IT) outsourcing decision and asks whether reported financial statement data can measure short-term financial effects of the IT outsourcing decision and thus add to the literature on the benefits of outsourcing. In this study we used accounting metrics derived from archival financial data to assess the impact of IT outsourcing on firms’ performance measures. In the sample of 79 firms from 1986 to 2009, there were 45 firms in the manufacturing sector and 34 firms in the service sector. The comparative study between manufacturing and service sectors will help identify where the higher potential of outsourcing impact lies. Firms’ performance is measured over a two-year period, one year before and one year after outsourcing decisions were made. For performance measures, we used cost efficiency, productivity, profitability, growth, cash management, and market ratio metrics. Using accounting metrics we show that IT outsourcing has a favorable short-term impact on manufacturing firms’ cost efficiency, productivity, and cash management. At the same time outsourcing the IT function has little favorable impact on service firms’ short-term performance measures.
A Psychological View of Advertising Effectiveness

MOST of the difficulties which have been encountered in attempting to appraise the effectiveness of advertising lie in a too literal interpretation of the problem. A purchasing action is seldom a direct and immediate result of an advertisement. A number of intermediary processes take place in the mind of the potential buyer. Before the sales effectiveness of an advertisement can be measured, its psychological impact must be known. When an individual reads an ad vertisement or listens to a radio commercial a number of mental processes are stimulated. An appeal, a term so common to the vernacular of advertising, is really one of the most complex psychological devices. Since most of our actions are governed by our needs and desires, an effective appeal is a convincing promise of satisfaction of these needs. The effectiveness of an advertisement depends, therefore, on the psychological results it produces in the mind of the reader. Even though an advertisement may be widely read, it is without value if it only serves to increase the reader's prejudice and dislike of the advertised product, or if it has no favorable effect.
Fertility Regulation Behavior: Sequential Decisions in Tunisia

Fertility analysis in Tunisia is revisited by focusing on regulation instruments instead of the number of births or the number of children alive. In Muslim societies, in which marriage is the exclusive acknowledged childbearing context, a woman may be seen as starting her fertility regulation period by postponing her age at marriage. Once married, she can adjust the delay before her first birth control. Then, she can decide whether or not to use a contraceptive, and finally she can select a specific contraception method. These four decisions, approximately arranged sequentially, may somewhat interact with the sequential stages of the woman’s lifecycle and involve distinct motivations: (1) enrolment in higher education; (2) participation in the labor market; (3) a given fertility objective; and (4) dealing with middle age and old age health problems. Using data from the 2001 Tunisian PAP-FAM survey data, we estimate econometric models that provide an approximate description of fertility regulation as an outcome of the above sequential decisions. Accordingly, the significant effects of our explanatory variables gradually arise and vanish across the models as the women proceeds in her fertility regulation process. Our findings suggest that family network and sociocultural environment greatly shape the household preference for children. Although strict causality inference is beyond the possibilities of a single cross-section, the elicited correlations point to suggestive explanations that call for additional collection efforts to better capture lifecycle decisions of family members and the interactions of the extended family across this lifecycle.
A HIGHLY RESISTANT THERMOPHILIC ORGANISM

An examination of spoilage samples of "Standard Maine Style" corn which had been packed in the usual manner and processed at 118°C. for 75 minutes showed the presence of a thermophile. The same organism was later found in spoiled cans of string beans and corn on the cob. It appears to be an unknown species and the name Bacillus stearothermophilus is proposed for it. Its cultural characteristics are as follows:
Income Allocation Model between the Third-Party Trading Platform and Digital Content Providers

The third-party Trading Platform connect providers can connect digital Contents Providers with the Demanders, providing them with information and transaction services and get the corresponding benefits, but how to determine the pattern of income distribution between the Trading Platform and digital content providers is the key for the survival and development of the Trading Platform. This article discusses the income allocation models between the Trading Platform and the digital Contents Providers under the conditions of symmetric information or asymmetric information, and concludes four principles for the development of Trading Platform, which are reasonable risk-sharing principle, balanced distribution of profits principle, group interests optimization principle, and mutual negotiation principle. KEYWORD: The Trading Platform; Digital Content Products Providers; Allocation Model; Principle
Comparative studies in methods of feature recognition with machine learning for affective computing : A survey

A survey study about the various methods of feature recognition with machine learning for affective computing is examined. In order to explore the methods of feature recognition with machine learning methods, Sequential Floating Forward Selection (SFFS), Minimum Redundancy – Maximum Relevance (mRMR), Information Gain(IG), and Fisher projection (FP) are discussed. As the machine learning methods, k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) are described. Then, the various feature recognition methods with machine learning methods are compared by the statistical analyses using the classification accuracy performance with applying the discrete emotion data.
Dual channel SAR-based GMTI using weighted l1 optimization

Ground moving targets indication (GMTI) system based on dual-channel Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) increases data transmission and storage load. To alleviate such payloads, we propose a GMTI method using weighted l1 optimization with reduced amount of echo samples. In this method, compressive sensing (CS) is utilized to process jointly the dual channel SAR data sampled sparsely in the azimuth direction. A transform matrix is firstly constructed to separate the energy support areas of moving targets from the energy support areas of all scattering centers. Then, clutter suppression and moving target imaging are achieved by solving a weighted l1 norm optimization. The proposed method works well even if clutter scattering centers have a low sparse level. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the method.
Project of Employee Benefit System Improvement in Shared Service Centre

The aim of the paper was to create and carry out project of employee benefit system improvement in the EMEA Shared Service Centre (SSC) of PPG Industries. The theoretical part described benefits as a component of the complete reward system in an organisation, presented their classification and new trends, and evaluated them from employee attractiveness and tax point of views. Practical part firstly introduced PPG Company, their Shared Service Centre in Brno, and offered results of survey that measured employee satisfaction with the current benefit scheme as well as employee expectations for future improvement. The outcomes of external surveys were also presented to compare PPG benefits to the market, including the SSC market in the Czech Republic. Derived from these findings the project was built to properly plan and implement proposed changes taking into consideration time, costs, and risks. The financial requirements of the project were CZK 85 800. The total costs included the cost of the project team and overhead costs. Based on the objectives of the project, four possible solutions were presented. Finally a company Edenred was selected as a provider and their solution was implemented. New benefit system offers advanced solution in the form of electronic benefit cards. In the end, evaluation of the project after the authentic implementation was presented.
24 Hour Ambulatory Research System Supporting Multiple Physiologic Sensors

The design and development of a 24-hour ambulatory physiological data collection system is reported. The system was designed specifically to support the needs of investigators studying mind-body interventions but could be used for a variety of research needs. The system is novel in that it supports a wide variety of physiologic sensors with a relatively high sample rate, full data storage, and standalone run-time of greater than 24 hours. Experience with data acquisition and methods for post-acquisition data analysis are also discussed
Burying and molting of pink shrimp, Penaeus duorarum (Crustacea: Penaeidae), under selected photoperiods of white light and UV-Light.

1. Shrimp activity was inversely related to the amount of light exposure.2. Shrimp responded to a 12-hour photophase of white light and UV-light in a similar manner. The light-dark transition is apparently the Zeitgeber, and the burying rhythm can be readily changed with a change in the light-dark transition.3. A circadian burying rhythm was found for shrimp kept in continuous white light; no rhythm was found for shrimp kept in continuous darkness or UV-light.4. Evidence was obtained to support a lunar influence, with shrimp of Group V being more active during the new and first-quarter moon.5. Burying activity between the first and last four weeks of the experiment was similar.6. No significant differences among the groups' overall growth rates or molt rates were found for the four two-week periods.7. The photoperiod influenced the time rather than the rate of molting. Groups II and III molted highly significantly more during the scotophase. Group I with no light molted highly significantly more during th.
A Lower Baseline CD4/CD8 T-Cell Ratio Is Independently Associated with Immunodiscordant Response to Antiretroviral Therapy in HIV-Infected Subjects

ABSTRACT We explored if baseline CD4/CD8 T-cell ratio is associated with immunodiscordant response to antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected subjects. Comparing immunodiscordant and immunoconcordant subjects matched by pretreatment CD4 counts, we observed a lower pretreatment CD4/CD8 T-cell ratio in immunodiscordant subjects. Furthermore, pretreatment CD4/CD8 T-cell ratio, but not CD4 counts, correlated with the main immunological alterations observed in immunodiscordants, including increased regulatory T-cell (Treg) frequency and T-cell turnover-related markers. Then, in a larger cohort, only baseline CD4/CD8 T-cell ratio was independently associated with immunodiscordance, after adjusting by the viral CXCR4-tropic HIV variants. Our results suggest that the CD4/CD8 T-cell ratio could be an accurate biomarker of the subjacent immunological damage triggering immunodiscordance.
KINASES OF STREPTOCOCCUS FAECALIS I

Moore, L. Daneo (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia) and D. J. O'Kane. Kinases of Streptococcus faecalis. I. Enzyme localization. J. Bacteriol. 86:766–772. 1963. —Cell-free extracts of Streptococcus faecalis 10C1 were found to contain a membrane-associated, particulate hexokinase with activity toward glucose, fructose, mannose, and, to a lesser extent, galactose, gluconate, and mannitol. In addition, the cell cytoplasm contained kinases specific for fructose, mannose, and galactose. No specific kinases were found for gluconate or mannitol, although in the presence of mannitol adenosine triphosphate was utilized by a cytoplasmic fraction. The possibility is discussed that the main pathways of gluconate and mannitol metabolism are oxidation followed by phosphorylation.
Technical and regulatory challenges for the integration of electric vehicles into the energy system

In this contribution the technical and regulatory challenges for the integration of electric vehicles into the energy system are identified. An investigation on the impact of electric vehicles for the medium voltage and subsequently for the low voltage distribution grid is realized. Therefore a benchmark distribution grid is designed based on existing benchmarks for medium voltage grids. As a result of the following simulation it is necessary to establish a charging management for electric vehicles for a secure integration. After the technical conditions the regulatory framework is considered to analyze whether a charging management operated by the grid operator can be established and how electric vehicles should be integrated into the current role model. Finally an optimization for a charging management operated by an energy retailer under consideration of grid parameters is analyzed.
A Model for Ku Heterodimer Assembly and Interaction with DNA

Ku autoantigen, a heterodimer of 70- and 80-kDa subunits, is a DNA end-binding factor critical for DNA repair. Two domains of p70 mediate DNA binding, one on the C-terminal and one on the N-terminal portion. The latter must dimerize with p80 in order to bind DNA, whereas the former is p80-independent. Both must be intact for end binding activity in gel shift assays. To evaluate the role of p80 in DNA binding, deletion mutants were co-expressed with full-length p70 using recombinant baculoviruses. We show by several criteria that amino acids 371–510 of p80 interact with p70. Both of the p70 dimerization domains bind to the same region of p80, but apparently to separate sites within that region. In DNA immunoprecipitation assays, amino acids 179–510 of p80 were required for p80-dependent DNA binding of p70, whereas in gel shift assays, amino acids 179–732 were necessary. Interestingly, both the p80-dependent and the p80-independent DNA binding sites preferentially bound to DNA ends, suggesting a model in which a single Ku heterodimer may juxtapose two broken DNA ends physically, facilitating their rejoining by DNA ligases.
A Support Vector Machine Based Multi-kernel Method for Change Point Estimation on Control Chart

Despite the abnormal patterns recognition and mean shift size estimation of control chart signals could provide some evidence for statistical process diagnostics, it do not reveal the real time of the process changes, which is essential for identifying assignable causes and ultimately ensure stability of process. In this paper, a support vector machine based multi-kernel (MK-SVM) method for change point estimation on control chart is proposed. For this purpose, the moving window analysis is introduced to decompose the whole process sequence features into multiple time sub-sequences, and different types of kernel functions are combined together by using kernel method, which is mapped into a new feature space to form the multi-kernel function of SVM. Then each characteristic of the sub-sequences is regarded as a determined pattern to be recognized through the proposed model. We use the cross-validation method to search the optimized parameters of MK-SVM. Multiple sets of experiments are used to verify this method. Finally, a case study about the coating process of production lines is conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach, results reveal that the proposed scheme is able to effectively estimating the time of change-point and outperform the commonly used approaches.
Coping with Erroneous Information while Sorting

The authors study the problem of sorting n distinct elements in ascending sequence according to a total order, using comparison queries which receive 'yes' or 'no' answers, but of which as many as e may be erroneous. In a half-lie version, all 'yes' answers are guaranteed to be correct and the errors are confined to 'no' answers. It is shown that the comparison query complexity of the sorting problem for this case is Omega (n log n+e), and an asymptotically optimal algorithm is demonstrated. In a full-lie version, both 'yes' and 'no' answers can be false. It is shown that the comparison query complexity of the sorting problem for this case is Omega (n log n+en). >
Exopolysaccharide II Production Is Regulated by Salt in the Halotolerant Strain Rhizobium melilotiEFB1

ABSTRACT The halotolerant strain Rhizobium meliloti EFB1 modifies the production of extracellular polysaccharides in response to salt. EFB1 colonies grown in the presence of 0.3 M NaCl show a decrease in mucoidy, and in salt-supplemented liquid medium this organism produces 40% less exopolysaccharides. We isolated transposon-induced mutant that, when grown in the absence of salt, had a colony morphology (nonmucoid) similar to the colony morphology of the wild type grown in the presence of salt. Calcofluor fluorescence, proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and genetic analysis of the mutant indicated that galactoglucan, which is not produced under normal conditions by other R. meliloti strains, is produced by strain EFB1 and that production of this compound decreases when the organism is grown in the presence of salt. The mutant was found to be affected in a genetic region highly homologous to genes for galactoglucan production in R. meliloti Rm2011 (expE genes). However, sequence divergence occurs in a putative expE promoter region. A transcriptional fusion of the promoter with lacZ demonstrated that, unlike R. meliloti Rm2011, galactoglucan is produced constitutively by EFB1 and that its expression is reduced 10-fold during exponential growth in the presence of salt.
Financial contagion: Spillovers through banking centers

This paper presents evidence that spillovers through shifts in bank lending can help explain the pattern of contagion. To test the role of bank lending in transmitting currency crises we examine a panel of data on capital flows to 30 emerging markets disaggregated by 11 banking centers. In addition we study a cross-section of emerging markets for which we construct a number of measures of competition for bank funds. For the Mexican and Asian crises, we find that the degree to which countries compete for funds from common bank lenders is a fairly robust predictor of both disaggregated bank flows and the incidence of a currency crisis. In the Russian crisis, the common bank lender helps to predict the incidence of contagion but there is also evidence of a generalized outflow from all emerging markets. We test extensively for robustness to sample, specification and definition of the common bank lender effect. Overall our findings suggest that spillovers through banking centers may be more important in explaining contagion than similarities in macro-economic fundamentals and even than trade linkages.