Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A global off-line model of size-resolved aerosol microphysics: II. Identification of key uncertainties

Abstract. We use the new GLOMAP model of global aerosol microphysics to investigate the sensitivity of modelled sulfate and sea salt aerosol properties to uncertainties in the driving microphysical processes and compare these uncertainties with those associated with aerosol and precursor gas emissions. Overall, we conclude that uncertainties in microphysical processes have a larger effect on global sulfate and sea salt derived condensation nuclei (CN) and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations than uncertainties in present-day sulfur emissions. Our simulations suggest that uncertainties in predicted sulfate and sea salt CCN abundances due to poorly constrained microphysical processes are likely to be of a similar magnitude to long-term changes in sulfate and sea salt CCN due to changes in anthropogenic emissions. A microphysical treatment of the global sulfate aerosol allows the uncertainty in climate-relevant aerosol properties to be attributed to specific processes in a way that has not been possible with simpler aerosol schemes. In particular we conclude that: (1) changes in the binary H2SO4-H2O nucleation rate and condensation rate of gaseous H2SO4 cause a shift in the vertical location of the upper tropospheric CN layer by as much as 3 km, while the shape of the CN profile is essentially pre-served (2) uncertainties in the binary H2SO4-H2O nucleation rate have a relatively insignificant effect on marine boundary layer (MBL) aerosol properties; (3) emitting a fraction of anthropogenic SO2 as particulates (to represent production of sulfate particles in power plant plumes below the scale of the model grid (which is of the order of 300 km)) has the potential to change the global mean MBL sulfate-derived CN concentrations by up to 72%, and changes of up to a factor 20 can occur in polluted continental regions; (4) predicted global mean MBL sulfate and sea salt CCN concentrations change by 10 to 60% when several microphysical processes are changed within reasonable uncertainty ranges; (5) sulfate and sea salt derived CCN concentrations are particularly sensitive to primary particle emissions, with global mean MBL sulfate and sea salt CCN changing by up to 27% and local concentrations over continental regions changing by more than 100% when the percentage of anthropogenic SO2 emitted as particulates is changed from 0 to 5%; (6) large changes in sea spray flux have insignificant effects on global sulfate aerosol except when the mass accommodation coefficient of sulfuric acid on the salt particles is set unrealistically low.
Evaluation of benefits to the EU-15 countries resulting from the implementation of the Cohesion Policy in the Visegrad Group countries

This study aims to estimate how EU15 economies are affected by the EUR 140 billion (in fixed prices of 2005) spent on the implementation of the Cohesion Policy in the Visegrad Group countries (i.e. Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland). Our analysis shows that the impulse for development resul ting from the Cohesion Policy in the V4 countries translates into a significant increase in their output and hence their consumer, investment and intermediate demand that to a large extent concerns goods and services from EU15 countries.
Heart failure in patients presenting with dyspnoea to the emergency department in the Asia Pacific region: an observational study

Objectives To describe demographic features, assessment, management and outcomes of patients who were diagnosed with heart failure after presenting to an emergency department (ED) with a principal symptom of dyspnoea. Design Planned substudy of the prospective, descriptive cohort study: Asia, Australia and New Zealand Dyspnoea in Emergency Departments (AANZDEM). Setting 46 EDs in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia collected data over 3 72-hour periods in May, August and October 2014. Participants Patients with an ED diagnosis of heart failure. Outcome measures Outcomes included patient epidemiology, investigations ordered, treatment modalities used and patient outcomes (hospital length of stay (LOS) and mortality). Results 455 (14.9%) of the 3044 patients had an ED diagnosis of heart failure. Median age was 79 years, half were male and 62% arrived via ambulance. 392 (86%) patients were admitted to hospital. ED diagnosis was concordant with hospital discharge diagnosis in 81% of cases. Median hospital LOS was 6 days (IQR 4–9) and in-hospital mortality was 5.1%. Natriuretic peptide levels were ordered in 19%, with lung ultrasound (<1%) and echocardiography (2%) uncommonly performed. Treatment modalities included non-invasive ventilation (12%), diuretics (73%), nitrates (25%), antibiotics (16%), inhaled β-agonists (13%) and corticosteroids (6%). Conclusions In the Asia Pacific region, heart failure is a common diagnosis among patients presenting to the ED with a principal symptom of dyspnoea. Admission rates were high and ED diagnostic accuracy was good. Despite the seemingly suboptimal adherence to investigation and treatment guidelines, patient outcomes were favourable compared with other registries.
SARM Regulates CCL5 Production in Macrophages by Promoting the Recruitment of Transcription Factors and RNA Polymerase II to the Ccl5 Promoter

The four Toll/IL-1R domain–containing adaptor proteins MyD88, MAL, TRIF, and TRAM are well established as essential mediators of TLR signaling and gene induction following microbial detection. In contrast, the function of the fifth, most evolutionarily conserved Toll/IL-1R adaptor, sterile α and HEAT/Armadillo motif-containing protein (SARM), has remained more elusive. Recent studies of Sarm−/− mice have highlighted a role for SARM in stress-induced neuronal cell death and immune responses in the CNS. However, whether SARM has a role in immune responses in peripheral myeloid immune cells is less clear. Thus, we characterized TLR-induced cytokine responses in SARM-deficient murine macrophages and discovered a requirement for SARM in CCL5 production, whereas gene induction of TNF, IL-1β, CCL2, and CXCL10 were SARM-independent. SARM was not required for TLR-induced activation of MAPKs or of transcription factors implicated in CCL5 induction, namely NF-κB and IFN regulatory factors, nor for Ccl5 mRNA stability or splicing. However, SARM was critical for the recruitment of transcription factors and of RNA polymerase II to the Ccl5 promoter. Strikingly, the requirement of SARM for CCL5 induction was not restricted to TLR pathways, as it was also apparent in cytosolic RNA and DNA responses. Thus, this study identifies a new role for SARM in CCL5 expression in macrophages.
A sequence-based approach for prediction of CsrA/RsmA targets in bacteria with experimental validation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

CsrA/RsmA homologs are an extensive family of ribonucleic acid (RNA)-binding proteins that function as global post-transcriptional regulators controlling important cellular processes such as secondary metabolism, motility, biofilm formation and the production and secretion of virulence factors in diverse bacterial species. While direct messenger RNA binding by CsrA/RsmA has been studied in detail for some genes, it is anticipated that there are numerous additional, as yet undiscovered, direct targets that mediate its global regulation. To assist in the discovery of these targets, we propose a sequence-based approach to predict genes directly regulated by these regulators. In this work, we develop a computer code (CSRA_TARGET) implementing this approach, which leads to predictions for several novel targets in Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The predicted targets in other bacteria, specifically Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, Pectobacterium carotovorum and Legionella pneumophila, also include global regulators that control virulence in these pathogens, unraveling intricate indirect regulatory roles for CsrA/RsmA. We have experimentally validated four predicted RsmA targets in P. aeruginosa. The sequence-based approach developed in this work can thus lead to several testable predictions for direct targets of CsrA homologs, thereby complementing and accelerating efforts to unravel global regulation by this important family of proteins.
Selenite Reduction by Anaerobic Microbial Aggregates: Microbial Community Structure, and Proteins Associated to the Produced Selenium Spheres

Certain types of anaerobic granular sludge, which consists of microbial aggregates, can reduce selenium oxyanions. To envisage strategies for removing those oxyanions from wastewater and recovering the produced elemental selenium (Se0), insights into the microbial community structure and synthesis of Se0 within these microbial aggregates are required. High-throughput sequencing showed that Veillonellaceae (c.a. 20%) and Pseudomonadaceae (c.a.10%) were the most abundant microbial phylotypes in selenite reducing microbial aggregates. The majority of the Pseudomonadaceae sequences were affiliated to the genus Pseudomonas. A distinct outer layer (∼200 μm) of selenium deposits indicated that bioreduction occurred in the outer zone of the microbial aggregates. In that outer layer, SEM analysis showed abundant intracellular and extracellular Se0 (nano)spheres, with some cells having high numbers of intracellular Se0 spheres. Electron tomography showed that microbial cells can harbor a single large intracellular sphere that stretches the cell body. The Se0 spheres produced by the microorganisms were capped with organic material. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis of extracted Se0 spheres, combined with a mathematical approach to analyzing XPS spectra from biological origin, indicated that proteins and lipids were components of the capping material associated to the Se0 spheres. The most abundant proteins associated to the spheres were identified by proteomic analysis. Most of the proteins or peptide sequences capping the Se0 spheres were identified as periplasmic outer membrane porins and as the cytoplasmic elongation factor Tu protein, suggesting an intracellular formation of the Se0 spheres. In view of these and previous findings, a schematic model for the synthesis of Se0 spheres by the microorganisms inhabiting the granular sludge is proposed.
Solving a system of Volterra-Fredholm integral equation of the second kind via series solution method

In this paper we considered the system of Volterra-Fredholm integral equations (S.VF.I. Eqs.) of the second kind with symmetric kernels, used series solution mtuhd (S.S.M.) and Taylor series (T.S.) to solve (S.VF.I. Eqs.) and suggested an algorithm for (S.S.M.), the computer programming is given for the algorithm. Some theorems have proved for convergence of the method, tested some numerical examples to illustrate the usefulness of the results obtained and compared with the exact solution that we have showed the results of tables (1) and (2) that give us very good result. Used general Matlab programs for presented examples [Matlab programs version 12.0].
Generative Poisoning Attack Method Against Neural Networks

Poisoning attack is identified as a severe security threat to machine learning algorithms. In many applications, for example, deep neural network (DNN) models collect public data as the inputs to perform re-training, where the input data can be poisoned. Although poisoning attack against support vector machines (SVM) has been extensively studied before, there is still very limited knowledge about how such attack can be implemented on neural networks (NN), especially DNNs. In this work, we first examine the possibility of applying traditional gradient-based method (named as the direct gradient method) to generate poisoned data against NNs by leveraging the gradient of the target model w.r. t. the normal data. We then propose a generative method to accelerate the generation rate of the poisoned data: an auto-encoder (generator) used to generate poisoned data is updated by a reward function of the loss, and the target NN model (discriminator) receives the poisoned data to calculate the loss w.r. t. the normal data. Our experiment results show that the generative method can speed up the poisoned data generation rate by up to 239.38x compared with the direct gradient method, with slightly lower model accuracy degradation. A countermeasure is also designed to detect such poisoning attack methods by checking the loss of the target model.
Hardy spaces on two-sheeted covering semigroups.

In this paper we study the minimal complex Lie semigroups associated with three classical series of groups by using a holomorphic continuation of a certain Cayley transform for the group. In particular we show, that for the symplectic group the odd part of the Hardy space on the double cover is isomorphic to the classical Hardy space on the Siegel upper half space corresponding to the symplectic group of twice the rank of the given group.
Technology Skills in Demand: A Survey of Job Advertisements in New England.

In order to identify the IS (Information Systems) skills in greatest demand in Connecticut and the New England region, classified ads for business-oriented IS positions appearing in the region's major newspapers during the summer of 1998 were analyzed. This paper highlights these findings and compares them to the skills employers from other regions have deemed important. Data are presented related to the number of ads for each city's newspaper by month, general job skills, information systems skills, education/training and years of experience, hardware platforms, operating systems, programming languages, software applications and specialized tools, and database systems. The paper also suggests curriculum implications for MIS (Management Information Systems) educators and directions for future research based on longitudinal assessment and comparison with other regions of North
Incentive Compatible Transfers

We characterize the boundaries of the set of transfers which implement a given allocation rule (extremal transfers) in a quasi-linear environment. On the one hand doing so allows us to generalize and unify several existing results of the mechanism design literature and on the other it allows us to obtain novel results. More specically, our approach delivers a characterization result for the set of implementable allocation rules. Second, we obtain an exact characterization of the allocation rules which satisfy Revenue Equivalence. Third, we show that in problems of optimal mechanism design it is often without loss of generality for the designer to restrict his attention to the extremal transfer rules. That is, we show how mechanism design problems can be handled even when the Revenue Equivalence principle does not apply. After proving our main results for general environments in the rst part of the paper, we consider two specic and very commonly studied settings in the second part. Namely, a single unit auction framework and a bilateral trade setup. We use the rst environment to show that our characterization of the extremal transfers takes a particularly convenient form when types are unidimensional. In the bilateral trade setting our tools allow us to give a simple characterization of the conditions under which agents will voluntarily engage in ecient budget-balanced trade which applies whether or not Revenue Equivalence holds.
Use of bioresorbable vascular scaffold: a meta-analysis of patients with coronary artery disease

Background Differences in outcomes between bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS) systems and drug-eluting metal stents (DES) have not been fully evaluated. We aimed to compare clinical and angiographic outcomes in randomised studies of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), with a secondary analysis performed among registry studies. Methods A meta-analysis comparing outcomes between BVS and DES in patients with CAD. Overall estimates of treatment effect were calculated with random-effects model and fixed-effects model. Results In 6 randomised trials (3818 patients), BVS increased the risk of subacute stent thrombosis (ST) over and above DES (OR 2.14; CI 1.01 to 4.53; p=0.05), with a trend towards an increase in the risk of myocardial infarction (MI) (125 events in those assigned to BVS and 50 to DES; OR 1.36; CI 0.97 to 1.91; p=0.07). The risk of in-device late lumen loss (LLL) was higher with BVS than DES (mean difference 0.08 mm; CI 0.03 to 0.13; p=0.004). There was no difference in the risk of death or target vessel revascularisation (TVR) between the two devices. In 6 registry studies (1845 patients), there was no difference in the risk of death, MI, TVR or subacute ST between the two stents. Final BVS dilation pressures were higher in registry than in randomised studies (18.7±4.6 vs 15.2±3.3 atm; p<0.001). Conclusions Patients treated with BVS had an increased risk of subacute ST and slightly higher LLL compared with those with DES, but this might be related to inadequate implantation techniques, in particular device underexpansion.
Early Formation and Late Merging of the Giant Galaxies

The most luminous galaxies in the present universe are found at the centers of the most massive dark matter halos: rich galaxy clusters. In the ΛCDM cosmology, such massive halo cores are present at redshift z = 6 with a comoving number density (as a function of mass interior to ~10 kpc) that is comparable to today's value. The identity of the matter in these central regions is, however, predicted to change as major mergers bring together stars and dark matter from initially well-separated subunits. We use N-body simulations to investigate how these mergers push preexisting matter outward in the dominant galaxy while preserving the inner density profile of collisionless matter. It appears that the central regions of large galaxies end up dominated by stars formed in a number of dense cores, well before the last major mergers. The density profile of collisionless matter (stars and dark matter combined) in these central regions appears to be stable and to have attractor-like behavior under merging. This suggests that the baryon loading associated with dissipative contraction and star formation may be erased as subsequent mergers drive the mass distribution back to a universal profile. Such suppression of the effects of baryon loading, along with the early assembly of mass concentrations, may help resolve some apparent challenges to the CDM model for structure formation.
Decision Making Within and Between Organizations

This study extends research on strategic decision making into the realm of strategic alliances by examining the interactive effect of decision process characteristics at the firm and alliance levels on alliance performance. Located both within and at the boundary between partners, alliance-related decision processes have to balance each partner’s self-interest on one hand and collective actions on the other hand, with both partners being dependent on each other’s collaboration. Using primary, cross-sectional data obtained from 103 high-technology alliances, the authors study the effects of procedural rationality and politics in decision making. The results corroborate the importance of procedural rationality that facilitates collective actions between alliance partners but also uncover the pitfall of an unconditional reliance on procedural rationality at the firm level. The results further show that politically charged decision processes impair decision makers’ ability to reconcile individual interests both within and between alliance partners and therefore jeopardize alliance performance.
Mesleğe Yeni Başlayan Öğretmenlerin Karşılaştıkları Güçlükler: Nitel Bir Çözümleme

Bu calismanin amaci, meslege yeni baslayan (aday) ogretmenlerin meslegin ilk yilinda karsilastiklari guclukleri belirlemektir. Arastirma; Istanbul, Konya, Gaziantep ve Van illerinde meslege yeni baslayan 33 aday ogretmenle yurutulmustur. Arastirma verileri, arastirmacilar tarafindan gelistirilen yari-yapilandirilmis gorusme formu kullanilarak elde edilmistir. Verilerin analizinde, betimsel analiz ve icerik analizi teknikleri kullanilmistir. Arastirmanin sonucunda, aday ogretmenlerin meslegin ilk yilinda ogretimi planlama ve uygulamada, sinif yonetiminde, toplum ile iliskiler ve fiziksel cevreye uyumda, meslektas, yonetici, veli ve rehber (danisman) ogretmenle iliskilerde ve okulun fiziki altyapi eksikliklerinden kaynakli cesitli guclukler yasadiklari ortaya cikmistir. Aday ogretmenlerin meslegin ilk yilinda en cok karsilastiklari gucluk durumlari dikkate alinarak mevcut hizmet oncesi ogretmen egitimi ve adaylik egitimi programlarinin gozden gecirilmesi onerilebilir.
Automating grammar comparison

We consider from a practical perspective the problem of checking equivalence of context-free grammars. We present techniques for proving equivalence, as well as techniques for finding counter-examples that establish non-equivalence. Among the key building blocks of our approach is a novel algorithm for efficiently enumerating and sampling words and parse trees from arbitrary context-free grammars; the algorithm supports polynomial time random access to words belonging to the grammar. Furthermore, we propose an algorithm for proving equivalence of context-free grammars that is complete for LL grammars, yet can be invoked on any context-free grammar, including ambiguous grammars. Our techniques successfully find discrepancies between different syntax specifications of several real-world languages, and are capable of detecting fine-grained incremental modifications performed on grammars. Our evaluation shows that our tool improves significantly on the existing available state of the art tools. In addition, we used these algorithms to develop an online tutoring system for grammars that we then used in an undergraduate course on computer language processing. On questions involving grammar constructions, our system was able to automatically evaluate the correctness of 95% of the solutions submitted by students: it disproved 74% of cases and proved 21% of them.
1 Determinants of Pay for Chinese Executives

We investigate the determinants of pay for Chinese executives. We extend the optimal contracting model by incorporating the managerial power hypothesis and the behavioural approach. Our findings show that CEO duality and CEO shareholding tend to entrench insider managers more to collude with government officials to extract firm’s assets. The escalated global executive compensation standards provide attractive benchmarks for Chinese firms in setting their executive pay. The behaviour of Chinese compensation committees in deciding executive pay is highly influenced by the global pay benchmarks of peers, rather than by the Chinese authorities’ expectation of controlling excessive managerial compensation.