Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Remote Sensing of River Bathymetry: Evaluating a Range of Sensors, Platforms, and Algorithms on the Upper Sacramento River, California, USA

Remote sensing has become an increasingly viable tool for characterizing fluvial systems. In this study, we used field measurements with a 1.6‐km reach of the upper Sacramento River, CA, to evaluate the potential of mapping water depths with a range of platforms, sensors, and depth retrieval methods. Field measurements of water column optical properties also were compared to similar data sets from other rivers to provide context for our results. We considered field spectra, a multispectral satellite image, hyperspectral data collected from conventional and unmanned aircraft, and a bathymetric LiDAR and applied a generalized version of Optimal Band Ratio Analysis and the K nearest neighbors regression machine learning algorithm. Linear, quadratic, exponential, power, and lowess Optimal Band Ratio Analysis models enabled flexible curve‐fitting in calibrating spectrally based quantities to depth; an exponential formulation avoided artifacts associated with other model types. K nearest neighbors regression increased observed versus predicted (OP) R2 values, particularly for the satellite image; we also found that preprocessing of satellite images was unnecessary and that a basic data product could be used for depth retrieval. Bathymetric LiDAR was highly accurate and precise in shallow water, but a lack of bottom returns from areas greater than 2 m deep resulted in large gaps in coverage. The maximum detectable depth imposes an important constraint on fluvial remote sensing and a hybrid approach combined with field surveys of deep areas might be a more realistic operational strategy for bathymetric mapping. Future work will focus on scaling up from short reaches to long river segments.
Analyzing the effects of the 2015 Rough Fire in the San Joaquin Valley and in Sierra Nevada, California

Objective: Evaluate the effects of the Rough Fire on air quality specifically particles <2.5 µm in diameter (PM 2.5) concentrations in communities of San Joaquin Valley and Sierra Nevada. Background: Smoke from severe wildfires exposes populations to increased levels of air contaminants such as, particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 µm (PM 2.5 ). The Rough Fire was the third biggest fire in the California Sierra Nevada it burned in parts of the Sierra National Forest and Sequoia National Forest. Between July 31 and November 5 2015, the Rough Fire burned over 150,000 acres. Methods: We examined the air-quality impacts by conducting a statistical and spatial analysis of PM 2.5 concentration data collected by temporary and permanent air-monitoring sites in the San Joaquin Valley and nearby communities in the Sierra Nevada. The equipment used to measure air quality consisted of BAMs and EBAMs. Beta attenuation monitoring (BAM) is a widely used air monitoring technique employing the absorption of beta radiation by solid particles extracted from air flow. This technique allows for the detection of PM 10 and PM 2.5 which are monitored as standards by most air pollution regulatory agencies. Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) was used to produce forward trajectories and to confirm questionable days. Results: From the data collected PM 2.5 concentrations increased at Porterville and Visalia during the fire when compared with pre-fire concentrations for the Central Valley. The Sierra Nevada was most impacted the fire compared to pre-fire periods having an increased amount of Unhealthy and Very Unhealthy days at all locations. Conclusion: Our results indicated the Rough Fire impacted air quality in most of Sierra Nevada sites. The Central Valley was not as impacted as the Sierra Nevada sites and foothill communities.
Multiple lines of evidence for demographic and range expansion of a temperate species (Hyla sarda) during the last glaciation

Many temperate species experienced demographic and range contractions in response to climatic changes during Pleistocene glaciations. In this study, we investigate the evolutionary history of the Tyrrhenian tree frog Hyla sarda, a species inhabiting the Corsica–Sardinia island system (Western Mediterranean basin). We used sequence analysis of two mitochondrial (overall 1229 bp) and three nuclear (overall 1692 bp) gene fragments to assess the phylogeography and demographic history of this species, and species distribution modelling (SDM) to predict its range variation over time. Phylogeographic, historical demographic and SDM analyses consistently indicate that H. sarda does not conform to the scenario generally expected for temperate species but rather underwent demographic and range expansion mostly during the last glacial phase. Palaeogeographic data and SDM analyses suggest that such expansion was driven by the glaciation‐induced increase in lowland areas during marine regression. This unusual scenario suggests that at least some temperate species may not have suffered the adverse effects of glacial climate on their population size and range extent, owing to the mitigating effects of other glaciations‐induced palaeoenvironmental changes. We discuss previous clues for the occurrence of such a scenario in other species and some possible challenges with its identification. Early phylogeographic literature suggested that responses to the Pleistocene glacial–interglacial cycles were expected to vary among species and regions. Our results point out that such variation may have been greater than previously thought.
HDL-S1P: cardiovascular functions, disease-associated alterations, and therapeutic applications

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a bioactive sphingolipid contained in High-density lipoproteins (HDL) and has drawn considerable attention in the lipoprotein field as numerous studies have demonstrated its contribution to several functions inherent to HDL. Some of them are partly and some entirely due to the S1P contained in HDL (HDL-S1P). Despite the presence of over 1000 different lipids in HDL, S1P stands out as it possesses its own cell surface receptors through which it exercises key physiological functions. Most of the S1P in human plasma is associated with HDL, and the amount of HDL-S1P influences the quality and quantity of HDL-dependent functions. The main binding partner of S1P in HDL is apolipoprotein M but others may also exist particularly under conditions of acute S1P elevations. HDL not only exercise functions through their S1P content but have also an impact on genuine S1P signaling by influencing S1P bioactivity and receptor presentation. HDL-S1P content is altered in human diseases such as atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, renal insufficiency and diabetes mellitus. Low HDL-S1P has also been linked to impaired HDL functions associated with these disorders. Although the pathophysiological and molecular reasons for such disease-associated shifts in HDL-S1P are little understood, there have been successful approaches to circumvent their adverse implications by pharmacologically increasing HDL-S1P as means to improve HDL function. This mini-review will cover the current understanding of the contribution of HDL-S1P to physiological HDL function, its alteration in disease and ways for its restoration to correct HDL dysfunction.
EFFECT OF THYMECTOMY ON DEVELOPMENT OF IMMUNOLOGICAL COMPETENCE IN MICE *

During the recent years, numerous reports have appeared in the literature indicating that the thymus plays an important role in the development of hmunological competence of animals of several species, particularly rodents. Although early experiments employing thymectomy in young' and mature2 rabbits failed to reveal evidence of participation of this organ in the immune response, more recent findings in thymectomized immature guinea pigs3 or neonatal rabbits4 presented evidence highly suggestive of participation of the thymus in development of immunological capacity. These findings were later extended by Miller5 and Martinez et who in independent studies demonstrated that mice thymectomized at birth were unable to reject allogeneic skin grafts. In our experiments we also found that thymectomy in mice even as late as 30 days of age interferred with the homograft reaction when the donor of the skin and the thymectomized host were syngeneic at the strong H-2 histocompatibility locus. The purpose of this communication is to present some of our observations in studies carried out to determine: 1) the effect of thymectomy in mice of different strains on the homotransplantation reaction for normal and neoplastic tissues; 2) the capacity of adult mice thymectomized at birth to respond to antigenic stimulation with bacteriophage T2 (Escherichia coli) ; 3) to describe experiments designed to provide understanding of the mechanism involved in development of immunological deficiency, by the analysis of the immunological capacity of peripheral lymphoid cells derived from thymectomized mice, using the assay of graft vs. host reactivity and, finally, 4) to describe experiments bearing on the mechanism by which replacement of the thymus in the form of a graft restores the immunological capacity of thymectornized recipients. Most of the data from these studies has been reported as short communications published in several scientific In this report we will bring together these observations in the sequence of their development in our laboratories.
A 41.3pJ/26.7pJ per neuron weight RBM processor for on-chip learning/inference applications

A restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM) processor (RBM-P) supporting on-chip learning and inference is proposed for machine learning applications in this paper. Featuring neural network (NN) model reduction for external memory bandwidth saving, low power neuron binarizer (LPNB) with dynamic clock gating and area-efficient NN-like activation function calculators, user-defined connection map (UDCM) for both computation time and bandwidth saving, and early stopping (ES) mechanism in learning process, the proposed system integrates 32 RBM cores with maximal 4k neurons per layer and 128 candidates per sample for machine learning applications. Implemented in 65nm CMOS technology, the proposed RBM-P chip costs 2.2M gates and 128kB SRAM with 8.8mm2 area. Operated at 1.2V and 210MHz, this chip respectively achieves 114.3x and 3.9x faster processing time than CPU and GPGPU. And the proposed RBM-P chip consumes 41.3pJ and 26.7pJ per neuron weight (NW) for learning and inference, respectively.
Efficient propagation of single cells accutase‐dissociated human embryonic stem cells

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) hold great promise for cell‐based therapies and drug screening applications. However, growing and processing large quantities of undifferentiated hESCs is a challenging task. Conventionally, hESCs are passaged as clusters, which can limit their growth efficiency and use in downstream applications. This study demonstrates that hESCs can be passaged as single cells using Accutase, a formulated mixture of digestive enzymes. In contrast to trypsin treatment, Accutase treatment does not significantly affect the viability and proliferation rate of hESC dissociation into single cells. Accutase‐dissociated single cells can be separated by FACS and proliferate as fully pluripotent hESCs. An Oct4–eGFP reporter construct engineered into hESCs was used to monitor the pluripotency of hESCs passaged with Accutase. Compared to collagenase‐passaged hESCs, Accutase‐treated cultures contained a larger proportion of undifferentiated (Oct4‐positive) cells. Additionally, Accutase‐passaged undifferentiated hESCs could be grown as monolayers without the need for monitoring and/or selection for quality hESC colonies. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 75: 818–827, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Coordinated and Adaptive Information Collecting in Target Tracking Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy conservation has been known as the most important issue for many applications in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). For data gathering in a clustered sensor network, most existing work focuses on fusing data at cluster heads (CHs). However, in target tracking applications, these approaches do not consider that one target is usually detected by sensor nodes in multiple clusters, which leads to redundant data transmissions from CHs to the sink so as to waste much energy. To solve it, this paper proposes a coordinated and adaptive information collecting strategy (CAICS) for target tracking in clustered WSNs. In CAICS, a coordinated node selection method considering the spatial correlation of sensing nodes is proposed to dynamically select the best set of nodes for tracking missions. Moreover, an adaptive aggregation node is selected for data collection to reduce the redundant data transmission and balance the energy cost. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach reduces the computational complexity of node selections without degrading tracking accuracy and achieves a significant energy consumption reduction and network lifetime extension compared with the state-of-the-art approaches.
Evaluating Multiple Aspects of Coherence in Student Essays

Criterion Online Essay Evaluation Service includes a capability that labels sentences in student writing with essay-based discourse elements (e.g., thesis statements). We describe a new system that enhances Criterion’s capability, by evaluating multiple aspects of coherence in essays. This system identifies features of sentences based on semantic similarity measures and discourse structure. A support vector machine uses these features to capture breakdowns in coherence due to relatedness to the essay question and relatedness between discourse elements. Intra-sentential quality is evaluated with rule-based heuristics. Results indicate that the system yields higher performance than a baseline on all three aspects.
Automatic Versus Human Navigation in Information Networks

People regularly face tasks that can be understood as navigation in information networks, where the goal is to find a path between two given nodes. In many such situations, the navigator only gets local access to the node currently under inspection and its immediate neighbors. This lack of global information about the network notwithstanding, humans tend to be good at finding short paths, despite the fact that real-world networks are typically very large. One potential reason for this could be that humans possess vast amounts of background knowledge about the world, which they leverage to make good guesses about possible solutions. In this paper we ask the question: Are human-like high-level reasoning skills really necessary for finding short paths? To answer this question, we design a number of navigation agents without such skills, which use only simple numerical features. We evaluate the agents on the task of navigating Wikipedia, a domain for which we also possess large-scale human navigation data. We observe that the agents find shorter paths than humans on average and therefore conclude that, perhaps surprisingly, no sophisticated background knowledge or high-level reasoning is required for navigating the complex Wikipedia network.
Phytochemical analysis of boreal forest flora of Northwestern Ontario, Canada

Introduction – There have been numerous phytochemical analyses of Sweet gale, Myrica gale L. deriving from different geographical locations. Previous research has demonstrated that plants from different geographical locations have a different compliment of phytochemical constituents. This study addresses the phytochemical composition of the leaves from M. gale L. from Northwestern Ontario, Canada. Objectives – To perform a phytochemical characterisation of M. gale L. (Sweet gale) leaves using Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry and determine if the flora material from Northwestern Ontario supports the same conclusion that plants from different locations contain different phytochemicals. Material and Methods – Leaf samples were ground and solvent extracted with water, acetonitrile and ethanol. Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GCMS) analysis was conducted on the derivitised extracts. The phytochemical compounds were identified using the NIST database and manual comparison to reference spectra and samples. Results – The results were consistent with other studies where a number of terpenes and terpenoids were identified including bergamotene, cadinene,caryophyllene, copaene, α-elemene, limonene, α-muurolene, myrcene, α-pinene, β-pinene, α-phellandrene, cis-ocimene, γ-terpinene, selin-11-en-4-ol, selinenol along with other compounds of glycerol and docosadiynedioic acid. Conclusion – The extractions using acetonitrile recovered a greater number of compounds. The phytochemistry of Northwestern Ontario Sweet gale has a different range of chemical compounds providing the characteristics for the possibility of geographical chemoidentification.
Changes in mechanical load and extensor muscle activity in the cervico-thoracic spine induced by sitting posture modification

The influence of whole body sitting posture on cervico-thoracic posture, mechanical load and extensor muscle activity was examined in 23 asymptomatic adults. Cervical and upper thoracic extensor muscle activity measured in guided slouched and lumbo-pelvic neutral postures was normalised to that measured in a self-selected habitual posture. Head and neck posture and gravitational load moment measurements were obtained in each posture. Sagittal head translation, upper cervical extension and load moment were significantly greater in the slouched posture (p < 0.001). Contrasting patterns of cervical and thoracic extensor activity were observed in the slouched and neutral postures, with cervical extensor activity 40% higher in the slouched posture (p < 0.0001). Thoracic extensor activity was significantly higher in the lumbo-pelvic neutral posture than the habitual posture (p = 0.002). The significant changes in extensor muscle activity with postural modification appear to be induced by the associated change in mechanical load moment of the head. Statement of Relevance: More neutral sitting postures reduce the demand on the cervical extensor muscles and modify the relative contribution of cervical and thoracic extensors to the control of head and neck posture. Postures that promote these patterns of muscular activity may reduce cervical spine loading and the development of posture-related neck pain.
Percutaneous coronary intervention with everolimus-eluting bioresorbable vascular scaffolds in routine clinical practice: early and midterm outcomes from the European multicentre GHOST-EU registry.

AIMS Clinical data on the early and midterm outcomes of bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (BVS) in routine clinical practice are limited. To fill this gap, we report on the early and midterm clinical outcomes of PCI with everolimus-eluting BVS from the large multicentre GHOST-EU registry. METHODS AND RESULTS Between November 2011 and January 2014, 1,189 patients underwent percutaneous coronary intervention with one or more BVS (Absorb BVS; Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara, CA, USA) at 10 European centres. The primary outcome of interest was target lesion failure (TLF), defined as the combination of cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction, or clinically driven target lesion revascularisation (TLR). A total of 1,731 Absorb BVS were implanted at a mean of 12.3±3.4 atm. Technical success was achieved in 99.7% of cases. TLF was recorded in 67 of 1,189 patients at a median of 109 (interquartile range 8-227) days after implantation. The cumulative incidence of TLF was 2.2% at 30 days and 4.4% at six months. The annualised rate of TLF was 10.1%. At six months, the rate of cardiac death was 1.0%, target vessel myocardial infarction was 2.0%, TLR was 2.5%, and target vessel revascularisation was 4.0%. Diabetes mellitus was the only independent predictor of TLF (hazard ratio 2.41, 95% confidence interval: 1.28-4.53; p=0.006). The cumulative incidence of definite/probable scaffold thrombosis was 1.5% at 30 days and 2.1% at six months, with 16 of 23 cases occurring within 30 days. CONCLUSIONS "Real-world" outcomes of BVS showed acceptable rates of TLF at six months, although the rates of early and midterm scaffold thrombosis, mostly clustered within 30 days, were not negligible.
Cost-effectiveness of surveillance programs for families at high and moderate risk of hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer

Objectives: Surveillance programs are recommended to both families at high risk (Amsterdam-positive families with known- and unknown mutation) and moderate risk (families not fulfilling all Amsterdam criteria) of colorectal cancer (CRC). Cost-effectiveness has so far only been estimated for the group at high risk. The aim of the present study is to determine cost-effectiveness of surveillance programs where families at both high and moderate risk of HNPCC participate. Methods: A decision analytic model (Markov model) is developed to assess surveillance programs where families at high and moderate risk of HNPCC are offered surveillance from age 25 and age 45, respectively. The model includes costs for all families referred to genetic counseling, including genetic risk assessment, mutation analysis, and surveillance in relevant families with or without known mutation, plus the costs related to any surgical treatment. The risk of metachronous CRC is also modeled. Results: Incremental costs per life year gained are estimated to be €980 when families at both high and moderate risk of HNPCC undergo surveillance (€508 for high risk and €1600 for moderate risk) and €1947 when the moderate risk group is evaluated genetically but not offered surveillance. Sensitivity analysis showed these findings to be robust, although cost-effectiveness can be improved in cases of more conservative referrals to genetic counseling. Conclusions: The result for high risk families confirms the findings in similar studies. Somewhat surprisingly, cost-effectiveness improves when surveillance of the moderate risk groups are included in the decision model.
A Structural Insight into the Reorientation of Transmembrane Domains 3 and 5 during Family A G Protein-Coupled Receptor Activation

Rearrangement of transmembrane domains (TMs) 3 and 5 after agonist binding is necessary for stabilization of the active state of class A G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Using site-directed mutagenesis and functional assays, we provide the first evidence that the TAS(I/V) sequence motif at positions 3.37 to 3.40, highly conserved in aminergic receptors, plays a key role in the activation of the histamine H1 receptor. By combining these data with structural information from X-ray crystallography and computational modeling, we suggest that Thr3.37 interacts with TM5, stabilizing the inactive state of the receptor, whereas the hydrophobic side chain at position 3.40, highly conserved in the whole class A GPCR family, facilitates the reorientation of TM5. We propose that the structural change of TM5 during the process of GPCR activation involves a local Pro5.50-induced unwinding of the helix, acting as a hinge, and the highly conserved hydrophobic Ile3.40 side chain, acting as a pivot.