julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
First report of “ Mammut ” (Mammalia, Proboscidea) from the Upper Miocene of Turkey
2022-12-14

ABSTRACTMammutidae comprise a proboscidean family that originated in Africa during the late Oligocene, dispersed across the Holarctic during the Miocene, and survived in North America until the end of the Pleistocene. Despite their long evolutionary history and wide geographic distribution mammutids are particularly scarce in the Miocene of Eurasia. Here, we present a new mammutid specimen (an upper deciduous premolar) from the Upper Miocene locality of Sazak in southwestern Turkey. Morphological and metric traits of the tooth, in particular the well-expressed zygodonty, are distinct from the more basal Zygolophodon and permit its assignment to the more derived "Mammut." Due to the absence of more diagnostic specimens, a specific attribution is not possible; however, considering the Turolian age of the associated fauna an attribution to the Late Miocene representative of the genus, "Mammut" obliquelophus, is possible. Turolian mammutids are rare in the fossil record and therefore our knowledge remains only fragmentary. Despite the existence of a single specimen, the presence of this genus in Sazak corresponds to its first report in the Upper Miocene of Turkey, as well as the first one in western Asia. The presence of "Mammut" in the Upper Miocene of China was recently confirmed, and therefore the record of "Mammut" at Sazak, i.e., at the western margin of Asia, not only adds to the scanty record of the genus in the Upper Miocene of Eurasia but also provides another line of evidence of the paleozoogeographic link enabling Europe–East Asia proboscidean interchanges during the Late Miocene. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSSurface prospection in the Denizli province (2017–2021) took place under permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey (Project number: YA01200901 [2017–2021]). We thank all field team members for their valuable contribution, as well as Denizli Metropolitan Municipality for providing accommodation. This study was supported by Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Scientific Research Projects Commission (Project Number: 0601-Güdümlü-19) and Turkish Historical Association (Project Number: TP4-727). G.K. is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG HA 5258; "MEGALOPOLIS"); his visit to NHMUK was supported by the European Union-funded Integrated Activities grant SYNTHESYS (GB-TAF-864). A. A. was supported by the DFG Centre for Advanced Studies "Words, Bones, Genes, Tools" FOR 2237. G. K. and A. A. thank K. Harvati (University of Tübingen) for her support to this study. We thank the editor O. Lambert, and the reviewers G. Markov, S. Q. Wang, and D. Choudhary for their constructive comments and suggestions that improved the manuscript.LIST OF SUPPLEMENTARY FILESSupplementary Data_1: 3D model (.ply) of the DP2 (ALBU-SZK-1) of "Mammut" sp. ("M." obliquelophus?) from Sazak.Supplementary Data_2: 3D model (.obj) of the DP2 (ALBU-SZK-1) of "Mammut" sp. ("M." obliquelophus?) from Sazak.
Temperature-Dependent Structure–Function Properties of Bacterial Xylose Isomerase Enzyme for Food Applications: An In Silico Study
2022-12-14

Xylose Isomerase (XI) is an intramolecular oxidoreductase enzyme and catalyzes the reversible conversion of ketoses and aldoses in addition to the bioconversion of ethanol from xylose in the production of bioethanol from hemicellulose. It has a broad range of industrial applications in the food and pharmaceutical sectors, particularly in the production of the sweetener high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). It is one of the most widely used industrial enzymes after protease. Taking this into consideration, four bacterial XI sources were selected based on growth temperature, i.e., psychrophile, mesophile, thermophile, and hyperthermophile, for analyzing Xylose Isomerase’s structure-function characteristics. It was found that thermophilic XI was structurally less stable than mesophilic and hyperthermophilic XI, whereas structural plasticity ran opposite towards mesophiles. The interaction of xylose isomerase (XI) with two ligands, namely Amino-2-Hydroxymethyl-Propane-1,3-Diol and (4R)-2-Methylpentane-2,4- Diol, was also studied. Mesophilic XI demonstrated better binding affinity with structurally stabilizing amino acids (Ala, Asp, Gly, Leu, and Arg). In comparison, Thermophilic XI showed nearly similar binding affinity with both Amino-2-Hydroxymethyl-Propane-1,3-Diol and (4R)-2-Methylpentane-2,4-Diol. The results of this investigation suggest that thermophilic XI, followed by mesophilic XI, would be the most appropriate for establishing process stability and sustainability in the food industry.
Quantifying causal influence in quantum mechanics
2022-12-14

We extend Pearl's definition of causal influence to the quantum domain, where\\ntwo quantum systems , with finite-dimensional Hilbert space are embedded\\nin a common environment and propagated with a joint unitary . For finite\\ndimensional Hilbert space of , we find the necessary and sufficient\\ncondition on for a causal influence of on and vice versa. We\\nintroduce an easily computable measure of the causal influence and use it to\\nstudy the causal influence of different quantum gates, its mutuality, and\\nquantum superpositions of different causal orders. For two two-level atoms\\ndipole-interacting with a thermal bath of electromagnetic waves, the space-time\\ndependence of causal influence almost perfectly reproduces the one of\\nreservoir-induced entanglement.\\n
Gender Stratification and Feminist Sociology: Why East-Central Europe Needs More Quantitative Gender Stratification Research
2022-12-14

Unlike in Anglophone sociology, the sociological analysis of gender inequalities in East-Central Europe has not yet reached the status of a prominent subfield in stratification research. To address the key societal challenges of this century in East-Central Europe, we argue that the region is in need of a strong development in gender stratification research and a greater use of quantitative methodologies. Such advancement would strengthen not only stratification research but also feminist sociology in East-Central Europe. It would also facilitate the transfer of professional knowledge in stratification and feminist studies to the public. Drawing on the classical concept of Weber’s ideal types, we further argue that gender stratification research, with its participation in academic and public debates, has the potential to not only reveal the differences in opportunities between males and females but also reduce such inequalities.
Direct discovery of the inner exoplanet in the HD 206893 system
2022-12-15

Aims. HD 206893 is a nearby debris disk star that hosts a previously identified brown dwarf companion with an orbital separation of ∼10 au. Long-term precise radial velocity (RV) monitoring, as well as anomalies in the system proper motion, has suggested the presence of an additional, inner companion in the system. Methods. Using information from ongoing precision RV measurements with the HARPS spectrograph, as well as Gaia host star astrometry, we have undertaken a multi-epoch search for the purported additional planet using the VLTI/GRAVITY instrument. Results. We report a high-significance detection over three epochs of the companion HD 206893c, which shows clear evidence for Keplerian orbital motion. Our astrometry with ∼50−100 μarcsec precision afforded by GRAVITY allows us to derive a dynamical mass of 12.7 M Jup and an orbital separation of 3.53 au for HD 206893c. Our fits to the orbits of both companions in the system use both Gaia astrometry and RVs to also provide a precise dynamical estimate of the previously uncertain mass of the B component, and therefore allow us to derive an age of 155 ± 15 Myr for the system. We find that theoretical atmospheric and evolutionary models that incorporate deuterium burning for HD 206893c, parameterized by cloudy atmosphere models as well as a “hybrid sequence” (encompassing a transition from cloudy to cloud-free), provide a good simultaneous fit to the luminosity of both HD 206893B and c. Thus, accounting for both deuterium burning and clouds is crucial to understanding the luminosity evolution of HD 206893c. Conclusions. In addition to using long-term RV information, this effort is an early example of a direct imaging discovery of a bona fide exoplanet that was guided in part by Gaia astrometry. Utilizing Gaia astrometry is expected to be one of the primary techniques going forward for identifying and characterizing additional directly imaged planets. In addition, HD 206893c is an example of an object narrowly straddling the deuterium-burning limit but unambiguously undergoing deuterium burning. Additional discoveries like this may therefore help clarify the discrimination between a brown dwarf and an extrasolar planet. Lastly, this discovery is another example of the power of optical interferometry to directly detect and characterize extrasolar planets where they form, at ice-line orbital separations of 2−4 au.
Spatial Venomics─Cobra Venom System Reveals Spatial Differentiation of Snake Toxins by Mass Spectrometry Imaging
2022-12-15

Among venomous animals, toxic secretions have evolved as biochemical weapons associated with various highly specialized delivery systems on many occasions. Despite extensive research, there is still limited knowledge of the functional biology of most animal toxins, including their venom production and storage, as well as the morphological structures within sophisticated venom producing tissues that might underpin venom modulation. Here, we report on the spatial exploration of a snake venom gland system by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI), in combination with standard proteotranscriptomic approaches, to enable in situ toxin mapping in spatial intensity maps across a venom gland sourced from the Egyptian cobra (<i>Naja haje</i>). MALDI-MSI toxin visualization on the elapid venom gland reveals a high spatial heterogeneity of different toxin classes at the proteoform level, which may be the result of physiological constraints on venom production and/or storage that reflects the potential for venom modulation under diverse stimuli.
Resilience as a Factor Influencing Psychological Distress Experience in Patients with Neuro-Oncological Disease
2022-12-15

Cancer causes psychological distress. Approximately one-third of all patients with cancer suffer from distress requiring psycho-oncological treatment. Examining factors contributing to their distress can inform approaches to counteracting them. Among such factors, resilience is considered to be a psychological adaptive capacity resulting from complex genetic, epigenetic, psychological, and environmental influences. For that reason, we investigated resilience as a factor of psychological distress experience among patients with neuro-oncological disease. To assess distress among patients with neuro-oncological diseases, we performed electronic psycho-oncological screening in the Department of Neurosurgery at Tübingen University Hospital (n = 100) following tumor surgery (T0) using the Resilience Scale 13, the Hornheider Screening Instrument, the Patient Health Questionnaire-2, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-2, and the Distress Thermometer, all administered on tablets. Follow-up was done 6 months after (T1). The distress of patients with neuro-oncological disease decreased significantly after 6 months (p &lt; 0.01). Most patients (87%) showed moderate to high resilience. Although significant correlations with distress are measurable at the T0 time point (ρ = −0.318 **, p &lt; 0.01), no significant correlations were observed at T1. Thus, resilience seems to significantly impact distress in the acute phase of the neuro-oncological disease. For clinical practice, our findings suggest that resilience-focused screening can provide useful information about patients at risk of experiencing distress.
Predicting transfer fees in professional European football before and during COVID-19 using machine learning
2022-12-15

Research question Our study aims to extend findings from previous efforts exploring the factors associated with transfer fees to and from all big five league clubs in European football (men) by building upon advances in machine learning, which allow to depart from linear functional forms. Furthermore, we provide a simple test of whether the transfer market has changed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.Research methods A fully flexible random forest estimator as well as generalized and quantile additive models are used to analyze smooth (non-linear) effects across different quantiles of scraped data (including remaining contract duration) from transfermarkt.de (n = 3,512). While we train our models with a randomly drawn subsample of before-COVID-19 transfers, we compare the prediction accuracy for two subsets of test data, that is, before and during COVID-19.Results and findings Since our findings suggest several non-linear predictors of transfer fees, moving beyond linearity is insightful and relevant. Moreover, our models trained with before-COVID-19 data significantly underestimate the actual transfer fees paid during COVID-19 particularly for high- and medium-priced players, thus questioning any cooling-off effect of the transfer market.Implications In the discussion of our findings, we showcase how moving beyond linearity and modeling quantiles can be revealing for both research and practice. We discuss limitations such as sample selection issues and provide directions for future research.
Semantic similarity and mutual information predicting sentence comprehension: the case of dangling topic construction in Chinese
2022-12-15

This study uses semantic similarity and pointwise mutual information (PMI) to estimate and compute the relationship between topic and comment in dangling topic construction in Mandarin. It proposes three methods to calculate the semantic similarity between topic and comment. We also carry out experiments on human ratings of the acceptance degree for dangling topic constructions. The results show that PMI and three measures of semantic similarity can make good predictions for human-rated data. This is the first time that PMI and sentence-based semantic similarity are employed to predict how humans comprehend sentences as a whole. PMI and semantic similarity measures may further elucidate the concept of topic construction and to help in seeing how Chinese native speakers understand and process sentences. More importantly, this study creates a novel, effective and practical computational approach for predicting entire sentence comprehension/processing and syntactic analysis.
pyndl: Naïve Discriminative Learning in Python
2022-12-15

The pyndl package implements Naïve Discriminative Learning (NDL) in Python. NDL is an incremental learning algorithm grounded in the principles of discrimination learning (Rescorla &amp; Wagner, 1972; Widrow &amp; Hoff, 1960) and motivated by animal and human learning research (e.g. Baayen et al., 2011; Rescorla, 1988). Lately, NDL has become a popular tool in language research to examine large corpora and vocabularies, with 750,000 spoken word tokens (Shafaei-Bajestan et al., 2022) and a vocabulary size of 52,402 word types (Sering et al., 2018). In contrast to previous implementations, pyndl allows for a broader range of analysis, including non-English languages, adds further learning rules and provides better maintainability while having the same fast processing speed. As of today, it supports multiple research groups in their work and led to several scientific publications.
Introduction: Teaching and Learning ‘Europe’ in ‘the Periphery’: Disciplinary, Educational and Cognitive Boundaries of European Studies
2022-12-15

This introductory article argues that there is a need to introduce a renewed approach to the field of European Studies which takes into account various perspectives from the ‘periphery’ to unfold complexities and challenges of teaching and learning ‘Europe’ away from the immediate geographical and conceptual focus of the European studies. By elaborating on the notion of ‘periphery’ and exploring how European Studies resonate beyond ‘the centre’, we aim to explore the complexities and challenges of the European studies in its relationality of the broader processes such as EU accession and global university education. This endeavour will contribute to the ongoing disciplinary debate on the future of European studies as well as the introduction of new methods of teaching and knowledge production by presenting alternative narratives on the challenges of the European integration and Europeanisation in the ‘periphery’.
Turtle body size evolution is determined by lineage-specific specializations rather than global trends
2022-12-15

ABSTRACT Organisms display considerable variety of body sizes and shapes, and macroevolutionary investigations help to understand the evolutionary dynamics behind to such variations. Turtles (Testudinata) show great body size disparity, especially when their rich fossil record is accounted for. We explored body size evolution in turtles, testing which factors might influence the observed patterns and evaluating the existence of long-term directional trends. We constructed the most comprehensive body size dataset for the group to date, tested for correlation with paleotemperature, estimated ancestral body sizes, and performed macroevolutionary model-fitting analyses. We found no evidence for directional body size evolution, even when using very flexible models, thereby rejecting the occurrence of Cope’s rule. We also found no significant effect of paleotemperature on overall through-time body size patterns. In contrast, we found a significant influence of habitat preference on turtle body size. Freshwater turtles display a rather homogenous body size distribution through time. In contrast, terrestrial and marine turtles show more pronounced variation, with terrestrial forms being restricted to larger body sizes, up to the origin of testudinids in the Cenozoic, and marine turtles undergoing a reduction in body size disparity after the extinctions of many groups in the mid-Cenozoic. Our results therefore suggest that long-term, generalized patterns are probably explained by factors specific to certain groups and related at least partly to habitat use.
Corset trunkoplasty is able to preserve postoperative abdominal skin sensation in massive weight loss patients
2022-12-15

Conventional abdominoplasty techniques commonly cause postoperative peri- and infraumbilical skin hypesthesia due to abdominal skin flap undermining. The aim of this study was to evaluate abdominal skin sensation after corset trunkoplasty in massive weight loss patients. Forty-nine massive weight loss patients suffering from excess skin underwent corset trunkoplasty between April 2017 and July 2021. Patient demographics and perioperative complications were recorded. Sensibility of the abdominal skin was measured in three qualities postoperatively using a Semmes-Weinstein monofilament, Tip-Therm<sup>®</sup> device for thermal sensation and a cotton wooden stick for sharp/blunt discrimination. Results were compared with a control group of healthy individuals to create a baseline. Revision surgery for major complications was necessary in five cases (10%) including hematoma and major wound healing disturbances. Minor complications that did not require surgical intervention were observed in eight cases (16%). Postoperative abdominal sensibility did not show any significant difference between the patient and the control group in all 16 measured areas. Sharp/blunt and thermal discrimination was positive in all patients for the whole abdominal surface area. The corset trunkoplasty technique is able to address both horizontal and vertical soft tissue excess in massive weight loss patients and at the same time limits loss of sensibility of the abdominal skin. Compared to conventional abdominoplasty techniques the abdominal sensation can mainly be preserved due to absence of undermining abdominal skin flaps.
Tumoricidal, Temozolomide- and Radiation-Sensitizing Effects of KCa3.1 K+ Channel Targeting In Vitro Are Dependent on Glioma Cell Line and Stem Cell Fraction
2022-12-15

Reportedly, the intermediate-conductance Ca2+-activated potassium channel KCa3.1 contributes to the invasion of glioma cells into healthy brain tissue and resistance to temozolomide and ionizing radiation. Therefore, KCa3.1 has been proposed as a potential target in glioma therapy. The aim of the present study was to assess the variability of the temozolomide- and radiation-sensitizing effects conferred by the KCa3.1 blocking agent TRAM-34 between five different glioma cell lines grown as differentiated bulk tumor cells or under glioma stem cell-enriching conditions. As a result, cultures grown under stem cell-enriching conditions exhibited indeed higher abundances of mRNAs encoding for stem cell markers compared to differentiated bulk tumor cultures. In addition, stem cell enrichment was paralleled by an increased resistance to ionizing radiation in three out of the five glioma cell lines tested. Finally, TRAM-34 led to inconsistent results regarding its tumoricidal but also temozolomide- and radiation-sensitizing effects, which were dependent on both cell line and culture condition. In conclusion, these findings underscore the importance of testing new drug interventions in multiple cell lines and different culture conditions to partially mimic the in vivo inter- and intra-tumor heterogeneity.
The physical constitution of Lauchheim “Mittelhofen”’s subadults in the Merovingian period
2022-12-15

In the focus the pathological changes (stomatitis, sinusitis maxillaris among others) and indications of deficiency (cribra orbitalia, cribra cranii, cribra humeri, cribra fibularis, e.g.) among the 20 subadult individuals from the settlement burials of Lauchheim "Mittelhofen" were analysed and compared to the grownups (adultus-senilis) of the same population. The pathological indications of deficiency appear in similar frequencies as in the grownup individuals. Therefore, exogenous factors leading to the morphological changes must also be considered and the criterion of age at death is not be significant. Only cribra femoris (synonymously often called Allen's fossa or Fossa alleni) tend to occur more frequently in subadults. 85.7% of subadults exhibit cribra femoris compared to 55% of grownup individuals.
First presentation with neuropsychiatric symptoms in autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease: the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer’s Network Study
2022-12-15

Behavioural changes and neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) commonly occur in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) but may not be recognised as AD-related when they are the presenting feature. NPS are important as they are associated with greater functional impairment, poorer quality of life, accelerated cognitive decline and worsened caregiver burden.1 Autosomal dominant AD (ADAD), although &lt; 1% of total AD cases, provides a valuable opportunity to study the clinical heterogeneity of AD. The young age at onset reduces the prevalence of age-related comorbid pathologies and the near 100% penetrance of pathogenic mutations reduces the likelihood of misdiagnosis.2 Anxiety and depression commonly occur in ADAD family members, with increased levels of depression having been found among predementia female mutation carriers.3 Subsequent studies, however, have shown that anxiety and/or depression are common regardless of mutation status, occurring in almost one in three at-risk individuals, with one study reporting a higher rate of depression in non-carriers (17%) than asymptomatic carriers (5%).4 5 Despite the high frequency of NPS in ADAD families, relatively little is known about the proportion of ADAD cases who present with predominantly behavioural symptoms. Our aims were to assess the first reported clinical change in symptomatic ADAD, to compare presentations across genotypes, and to compare cognitive performance between behavioural and cognitive-led presentations.