Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vertical Distribution of Soil Organic Carbon Density in Relation to Land Use/Cover, Altitude and Slope Aspect in the Eastern Himalayas

In-depth understanding about the vertical distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) density is crucial for carbon (C) accounting, C budgeting and designing appropriate C sequestration strategies. We examined the vertical distribution of SOC density under different land use/land cover (LULC) types, altitudinal zones and aspect directions in a montane ecosystem of Bhutan. Sampling sites were located using conditioned Latin hypercube sampling (cLHS) scheme. Soils were sampled based on genetic horizons. An equal-area spline function was fitted to interpolate the target values to predetermined depths. Linear mixed model was fitted followed by mean separation tests. The results show some significant effects of LULC, altitudinal zone and slope aspect on the vertical distribution of SOC density in the profiles. Based on the proportion of mean SOC density in the first 20 cm relative to the cumulative mean SOC density in the top meter, the SOC density under agricultural lands (34%) was more homogeneously distributed down the profiles than forests (39%), grasslands (59%) and shrublands (43%). Similarly, the SOC density under 3500–4000 m zone (35%) was more uniformly distributed compared to 3000–3500 m zone (43%) and 1769–2500 m and 2500–3000 m zones (41% each). Under different aspect directions, the north and east-facing slopes (38% each) had more uniform distribution of SOC density than south (40%) and west-facing slopes (49%).
An Unworkable Idea or a Promising Alternative? Sen's Capability Approach Re-examined

This paper presents an analysis and an assessment of Amartya Sen’s capability approach. In the first part, it gives a detailed explanation of the capability approach. It analyses the core concepts and tries to clarify confusions in the literature by looking at different interpretations and usages. In the second part of the paper the major critiques on the capability approach are scrutinised. It is argued that some of those critiques are based on mistaken interpretations, while others follow from a too narrow reading. At the same time it is recognised that theoretical and empirical applications of the capability approach nevertheless remain to address a number of difficulties. The paper also includes an annotated survey of the existing empirical applications. Ultimately, both the assessment of the critiques as well as the survey of applications provide support for Sen’s claim to see the capability approach as a framework of thought, which can address diverse problems and can be applied in quite different ways.
Packing density of rigid aggregates is independent of scale

Significance Particle aggregates are one of the most ubiquitous structural arrangements in the universe, making up large interstellar planetary seedlings and comets, microscale powdered pharmaceuticals, and nanoscale atmospheric particles. The packing of aggregates determines structure and, in many cases, chemical, physical, and mechanical properties. Here we show that packing in weakly compacted aggregated materials is scale invariant over many orders of magnitude. We demonstrate that the effective density of compacted soot aggregates and comets are equivalent, and conclude that the packing of aggregated materials appear to be remarkably independent of the aggregating forces, mechanisms, or initial conditions. Large planetary seedlings, comets, microscale pharmaceuticals, and nanoscale soot particles are made from rigid, aggregated subunits that are compacted under low compression into larger structures spanning over 10 orders of magnitude in dimensional space. Here, we demonstrate that the packing density (θf) of compacted rigid aggregates is independent of spatial scale for systems under weak compaction. The θf of rigid aggregated structures across six orders of magnitude were measured using nanoscale spherical soot aerosol composed of aggregates with ∼17-nm monomeric subunits and aggregates made from uniform monomeric 6-mm spherical subunits at the macroscale. We find θf = 0.36 ± 0.02 at both dimensions. These values are remarkably similar to θf observed for comet nuclei and measured values of other rigid aggregated systems across a wide variety of spatial and formative conditions. We present a packing model that incorporates the aggregate morphology and show that θf is independent of both monomer and aggregate size. These observations suggest that the θf of rigid aggregates subject to weak compaction forces is independent of spatial dimension across varied formative conditions.
Adhesive Proteins of Stalked and Acorn Barnacles Display Homology with Low Sequence Similarities

Barnacle adhesion underwater is an important phenomenon to understand for the prevention of biofouling and potential biotechnological innovations, yet so far, identifying what makes barnacle glue proteins ‘sticky’ has proved elusive. Examination of a broad range of species within the barnacles may be instructive to identify conserved adhesive domains. We add to extensive information from the acorn barnacles (order Sessilia) by providing the first protein analysis of a stalked barnacle adhesive, Lepas anatifera (order Lepadiformes). It was possible to separate the L. anatifera adhesive into at least 10 protein bands using SDS-PAGE. Intense bands were present at approximately 30, 70, 90 and 110 kilodaltons (kDa). Mass spectrometry for protein identification was followed by de novo sequencing which detected 52 peptides of 7–16 amino acids in length. None of the peptides matched published or unpublished transcriptome sequences, but some amino acid sequence similarity was apparent between L. anatifera and closely-related Dosima fascicularis. Antibodies against two acorn barnacle proteins (ab-cp-52k and ab-cp-68k) showed cross-reactivity in the adhesive glands of L. anatifera. We also analysed the similarity of adhesive proteins across several barnacle taxa, including Pollicipes pollicipes (a stalked barnacle in the order Scalpelliformes). Sequence alignment of published expressed sequence tags clearly indicated that P. pollicipes possesses homologues for the 19 kDa and 100 kDa proteins in acorn barnacles. Homology aside, sequence similarity in amino acid and gene sequences tended to decline as taxonomic distance increased, with minimum similarities of 18–26%, depending on the gene. The results indicate that some adhesive proteins (e.g. 100 kDa) are more conserved within barnacles than others (20 kDa).
Optimizing CMOS LNA circuits through multi-objective meta heuristics

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) has shown to be an efficient, robust and simple optimization algorithm. Recently, the mono-objective version of the PSO algorithm was adapted and used to optimize only one performance of RF circuits, mainly the voltage gain of low noise amplifiers. In this work, we propose to optimize more than one performance function of LNAs while satisfying imposed and inherent constraints. We deal with generating the Pareto front linking two conflicting performances of a LNA, namely the voltage gain and the noise figure. The adopted idea consists of using the symbolic expressions of the scattering parameters ((S21) for the voltage gain, and (S11, S22) for input and output matching). For this purpose we use a Multi-Objective Optimization algorithm PSO incorporating the mechanism of the crowding distance technique (MOPSO-CD). Comparisons with results obtained using NSGA II are presented and ADS simulations, using 0. 35µm CMOS technology, are given to show good reached results.
Supply Function Equilibrium in a Constrained Transmission System

This article characterizes a supply function equilibrium in an auction market constrained by limited capacities of links in a transportation network and limited input/output capacities of participants. The formulation is adapted to a wholesale spot market for electricity managed by the operator of the transmission system. The results are derived using the calculus of variations to obtain the Euler conditions and the transversality conditions that characterize a Nash equilibrium in an auction in which bids are as supply functions, and quantities and payments are based either on nodal prices or pay-as-bid.
Asymptotics and Non-Asymptotics for Universal Fixed-to-Variable Source Coding

Universal fixed-to-variable lossless source coding for memoryless sources is studied in the finite blocklength and higher order asymptotic regimes. Optimal three-term fixed-error asymptotic expressions are derived for general fixed-to-variable codes and for prefix codes. It is shown that the non-prefix Type Size code, in which codeword lengths are chosen in ascending order of type class size, achieves the optimal third-order term, and outperforms classical two-stage codes. Converse results are proved making use of a result on the distribution of the empirical entropy and Laplace’s approximation. Finally, the fixed-to-variable coding problem without a prefix constraint is shown to be essentially the same as the universal guessing problem.
Structure of Ann-Categories

This paper presents the structure conversion by which from an Ann-category $\A,$ we can obtain its reduced Ann-category of the type $(R,M)$ whose structure is a family of five functions $k=(\xi,\eta,\alpha,\lambda,\rho)$. Then we will show that each Ann-category is determined by three invariants: 1. The ring $\Pi_0(\A)$ of the isomorphic classes of objects of $\A$, 2. $\Pi_0(\A)$-bimodule $\Pi_1(\A) = \Aut_{\A}(0),$ 3. The element $ \bar{k}\in H^{3}_{M}(\Pi_0(\A), \Pi_1(\A))$ (the ring cohomology due to MacLane).
Extracting semantic annotations from twitter

Tweets contain mentions of numerous entities, persons and events, and often additional information, like an opinion, that can be viewed as an annotation of that entity. However, this information is currently being accumulated only by specific applications without being made available in a generic format. We discuss a natural language processing approach to extract information about entities and their annotations from tweets and transform them into a semantic, reusable knowledge base. We believe this will greatly facilitate access to user-generated Twitter data for many applications.
Cortical High-Density Counterstream Architectures

Background The cerebral cortex is divisible into many individual areas, each exhibiting distinct connectivity profiles, architecture, and physiological characteristics. Interactions among cortical areas underlie higher sensory, motor, and cognitive functions. Graph theory provides an important framework for understanding network properties of the interareal weighted and directed connectivity matrix reported in recent studies. Density and topology of the cortical graph. (Left) The 66% density of the cortical matrix (black triangle) is considerably greater than in previous reports (colored points) and is inconsistent with a small-world network. (Right) A bow-tie representation of the high-density cortical matrix. The high-efficiency cortical core has defined relations with the cortical periphery in the two fans. Advances We derive an exponential distance rule that predicts many binary and weighted features of the cortical network, including efficiency of information transfer, the high specificity of long-distance compared to short-distance connections, wire length minimization, and the existence of a highly interconnected cortical core. We propose a bow-tie representation of the cortex, which combines these features with hierarchical processing. Outlook The exponential distance rule has important implications for understanding scaling properties of the cortex and developing future large-scale dynamic models of the cortex. Small-world networks provide an appealing description of cortical architecture owing to their capacity for integration and segregation combined with an economy of connectivity. Previous reports of low-density interareal graphs and apparent small-world properties are challenged by data that reveal high-density cortical graphs in which economy of connections is achieved by weight heterogeneity and distance-weight correlations. These properties define a model that predicts many binary and weighted features of the cortical network including a core-periphery, a typical feature of self-organizing information processing systems. Feedback and feedforward pathways between areas exhibit a dual counterstream organization, and their integration into local circuits constrains cortical computation. Here, we propose a bow-tie representation of interareal architecture derived from the hierarchical laminar weights of pathways between the high-efficiency dense core and periphery.
Low-frequency Magnetic Field Fluctuations: Dependence of the Correlation Length on Upstream Parameters

The paper presents a statistical study of magnetic field fluctuations observed by the Cluster spacecraft near the dusk/dawn meridian at the magnetosheath in the vicinity of the magnetopause. We have found that the correlation length of such fluctuations depends on the solar wind speed, distance to the magnetopause and amplitude of magnetic field magnitude fluctuations. The fluctuations with anticorrelation between density and magnetic field fluctuations (for separations up to 1 RE) have shorter correlation lengths. The slopes of FFT spectra of magnetic field magnitude fluctuations decrease with larger solar wind speed and larger distance to the magnetopause.
Large-scale vulnerability analysis

The security level of networks and systems is determined by the software vulnerabilities of its elements. Defending against large scale attacks requires a quantitative understanding of the vulnerability lifecycle. Specifically, one has to understand how exploitation and remediation of vulnerabilities, as well as the distribution of information thereof is handled by industry.In this paper, we examine how vulnerabilities are handled in large-scale, analyzing more than 80,000 security advisories published since 1995. Based on this information, we quantify the performance of the security industry as a whole. We discover trends and discuss their implications. We quantify the gap between exploit and patch availability and provide an analytical representation of our data which lays the foundation for further analysis and risk management.
Effect of chronic stress on the behavior and estradiol level in different age rats

Objective: To study the effect of chronic stress on the behavior and the estradiol level in different age rats.Methods: Thirty-six two-month-old and fifteen-month-old female Wistar rats were used in the experiments.They were randomly divided into four groups: young normal control(n=8),young stress(n=10),aged normal control(n=8) and aged stress(n=10),respectively. The stress groups were exposed to a chronic unpredictable stress for 21 days,and then they were raised normally for one week.Their behavior was determined with the method of Open field before and right after stress and one week after stress respectively.A blood sample was obtained from the vena caudalis and the serum level of estradiol was detected by radio-immunoassay.Results: Compared with the control groups,the behavioral score and the serum level of estradiol were significantly lower in the stress groups after stress(P0.05),and they decreased more remarkably in the aged group than in the young group(P0.01),which remained at one week after stress(P0.05). Conclusion: Damage induced by chronic stress is different in young and aged rats,and the damages to the behavior and reproductive endocrine system are more serious in the aged rats than in the young,indicating that aging is one important influencial factor in physical stress reactivity.
Speech analysis and depression

In this paper, the correlation between the speech features of the vowel /a/ and depression severity was investigated, so as to derive a depression severity meter mobile application that can accurately detect depression quantitatively. Results showed a correlation between depression severity and speech features, and an application prototype was created and tested to assess for predictive accuracy of BDI score.
Marginal relevance of disorder for pinning models

The effect of disorder on pinning and wetting models has attracted much attention in theoretical physics. In particular, it has been predicted on the basis of the Harris criterion that disorder is relevant (annealed and quenched models have different critical points and critical exponents) if the return probability exponent α, a positive number that characterizes the model, is larger than ½. Weak disorder has been predicted to be irrelevant (i.e., coinciding critical points and exponents) if α < ½. Recent mathematical work has put these predictions on firm ground. In renormalization group terms, the case α = ½ is a marginal case, and there is no agreement in the literature as to whether one should expect disorder relevance or irrelevance at marginality. The question is also particularly intriguing because the case α = ½ includes the classical models of two‐dimensional wetting of a rough substrate, of pinning of directed polymers on a defect line in dimension (3 + 1) or (1 + 1), and of pinning of an heteropolymer by a point potential in three‐dimensional space. Here we prove disorder relevance both for the general α = ½ pinning model and for the hierarchical pinning model proposed by Derrida, Hakim, and Vannimenus, in the sense that we prove a shift of the quenched critical point with respect to the annealed one. In both cases we work with Gaussian disorder and we show that the shift is at least of order exp(−1/β4) for β small, if β2 is the disorder variance. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The effects of GH and hormone replacement therapy on serum concentrations of mannan-binding lectin, surfactant protein D and vitamin D binding protein in Turner syndrome.

OBJECTIVE Studies in animals and humans indicate that growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) modulate immune function. Recently, it was reported that GH therapy increased the level of mannan-binding lectin (MBL) in normal patients, and that treatment of acromegalics with pegvisomant decreased the levels of MBL. The effect on MBL was thought to be due to a specific action of GH, since IGF-I treatment did not affect MBL. Whether it is advantageous or not to have high or low levels of MBL is not known. Likewise, it is not clear how the modifications induced by GH affect immune function. In the present study we examined whether GH or hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in Turner syndrome (TS) influence the serum concentrations of MBL and two other proteins partaking in the innate immune defence, surfactant protein D (SP-D) and vitamin D binding protein (DBP). DESIGN Study 1: a double-blind crossover study of 12 healthy TS adolescents examined during treatment with either placebo or GH for 2 months, and compared with a control group. Study 2: triple-blind crossover study of 9 healthy TS adolescents randomized to treatment with placebo, GH or GH+17beta-estradiol. Study 3: 60 adult TS patients (55 received HRT) compared with 59 age-matched controls. Study 4: 27 patients with TS were examined before and during sex hormone replacement with 17beta-estradiol and norethisterone and compared with age-matched controls (n=24). METHODS Measurement of MBL, SP-D, DBP, and other inflammation markers. RESULTS Study 1: the levels of MBL (P=0.002) and SP-D (P=0.012) increased during GH treatment, whereas no changes were observed in comparison with controls. DBP was unchanged by GH, but was significantly higher in TS compared with controls (P=0.017). Study 2: treatment with GH increased MBL (P=0.045) and SP-D (P=0.05) concentrations in TS, while treatment with GH+17beta-estradiol did not increase levels further. DBP was unchanged by treatment. Study 3: levels of MBL, SP-D, and DBP were similar in adult TS and control subjects. Study 4: DBP levels decreased in response to HRT, while MBL and SPD levels were unchanged. Levels of all three plasma proteins were similar to controls. CONCLUSION We show that treatment with GH significantly increases MBL and SP-D concentrations in TS, while HRT marginally decreases DBP. Whether the present findings, suggesting a link between the endocrine and the immune system, have clinical consequences needs to be studied further.
Adaptive motion-compensated filtering of noisy image sequences

The authors propose a novel adaptive spatiotemporal filter, called the adaptive weighted averaging (AWA) filter, for effective noise suppression in image sequences without introducing visually disturbing blurring artifacts. Filtering is performed by computing the weighted average of image values within a spatiotemporal support along the estimated motion trajectory at each pixel. The weights are determined by optimizing a well defined mathematical criterion, which provides an implicit mechanism for deemphasizing the contribution of the outlier pixels within the spatiotemporal filter support to avoid blurring. The AWA filter is therefore particularly well suited for filtering sequences that contain segments with abruptly changing scene content due to, for example, rapid zooming and changes in the view of the camera. The performance of the proposed AWA filter is compared with that of the spatiotemporal, local linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) filtering. The results demonstrate that the proposed AWA filter-outperforms the LMMSE filter, especially in the cases of low signal-to-noise ratios and abruptly varying scene content. >
Active visfatin is elevated in serum of maintenance haemodialysis patients and correlates inversely with circulating HDL cholesterol.

BACKGROUND Increased circulating visfatin may be associated both with endothelial damage and with increased mortality in end-stage renal disease (ESRD). HDL cholesterol is an independent, strong inverse predictor of cardiovascular events. However, associations between visfatin and parameters of lipid metabolism are unclear. Moreover, serum concentrations of visfatin measured by an enzyme immuno assay (EIA) are conflicting and do not correlate with ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) data, which predominantly detect enzymatically active visfatin. METHODS A total of 74 haemodialysis (HD) patients and 35 control individuals (C) were studied. All subjects (mean age 62.9 years) provided fasted blood samples (HD patients after 66-69 h without dialysis). Circulating visfatin was measured by the ELISA. Body composition was evaluated using waist circumference, skinfold thickness and body impedance analysis. Results obtained by the ELISA were compared with EIA data. RESULTS Active serum visfatin was increased in HD (5.58 +/- 6.50 ng/ml) versus C [0.97 +/- 1.79 ng/ml, mean +/- SD; P < 0.0001 by multiple regression analysis (MRA)] independently of plasma glucose, serum insulin, diabetes, HDL cholesterol and body composition. Within the HD group, only plasma HDL cholesterol (4% lower per additional mg/dl HDL; P = 0.001) and insulin-treated diabetes mellitus [subgroup of n = 18; 119% higher compared with patients without diabetes (n = 40); P = 0.011] were independently (by MRA) associated with active serum visfatin. Visfatin measured by an EIA showed no correlation with ELISA data. CONCLUSIONS Our study provides reliable data on active visfatin in HD patients using a well-characterized ELISA. Loss of renal function is accompanied by increased circulating active visfatin concentrations in our patients. Furthermore, decreased HDL cholesterol may hint at an increased probability of cardiovascular events in HD patients with elevated serum visfatin.