Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Seasonal variability of the Labrador Current and shelf circulation off Newfoundland

[1] Three-dimensional finite element models were established for the Newfoundland and Labrador Shelf to investigate climatological monthly mean wind- and density-driven circulation. The model was forced using wind stresses from the National Center for Environmental Prediction-National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis data prescribed at the sea surface, large-scale remote forcing determined from a North Atlantic model, monthly mean temperature and salinity climatology, and M2 tide on the open boundary. The model results were examined against various in situ observations (moored current meter, tide gauge, and vessel-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler data) and satellite drift measurements and discussed together with literature information. The seasonal mean circulation solutions were investigated in terms of relative importance of wind to density forcing for the Labrador Current. The model results indicate significant seasonal and spatial variations, consistent generally with previous study results and in approximate agreement with observations for the major currents. The region is dominated by the equatorward flowing Labrador Current along the shelf edge and along the Labrador and Newfoundland coasts. The Labrador Current is strong in the fall/winter and weak in the spring/summer. The mean transport of the shelf edge Labrador Current is 7.5 Sv at the Seal Island transect and 5.5 Sv through the Flemish Pass. The seasonal ranges are 4.5 and 5.2 Sv at the two sections, respectively. Density- and wind-driven components are both important in the inshore Labrador Current. The density-driven component dominates the mean component of the shelf edge Labrador Current while the large-scale wind-forcing contributes significantly to its seasonal variability.
Analysis and Prediction of Question Topic Popularity in Community Q&A Sites: A Case Study of Quora

In the past few years, Quora a community-driven social platform for question and answering, has grown exponentially from a small community of users into one of the largest and reliable source of Q&A on the Internet. Quora has a built-in social structure integrated to its backbone; users can follow each other, follow question, topics etc. Apart from the social connections that Quora provides, it has developed a knowledge base nicely organized via hierarchy and relatedness of topics. In this paper, we consider a massive dataset of more than four years and analyze the dynamics of topical growth over time; how various factors affect the popularity of a topic or its acceptance in Q&A community. We also propose a regression model to predict the popularity of the topics and discuss the important discriminating features. We achieve a high prediction accuracy (correlation coefficient ~0.773) with low root mean square error (~1.065). We further categorize thetopics into a few broad classes by implementing a simple Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model on the question texts associated with the topics. In comparison to the data sample with no categorization, this stratification of the topics enhances the prediction accuracies for several categories. However, for certain categories there seems to a slight decrease in the accuracy values and we present an in-depth discussion analyzing the cause for the same pointing out potential ways for improvement. We believe that this thorough measurement study will have a direct application to a service like recommending trending topics in Quora.
High-resolution characterization of cytokine-producing alloreactivity in naive and allograft-primed mice.

BACKGROUND Whether alloreactive T cells in a naive host derive from naive or memory T cells remains unclear. It is also unclear whether graft rejection alters the phenotype of these T cells. Proliferation assays and cytokine enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays performed on culture supernatants do not differentiate primary T-cell alloreactivity from recall responses in allograft-primed mice, suggesting that these methods are inadequate measures of the alloreactive immune repertoire. METHODS To better characterize alloreactivity in naive and skin allograft-primed mice, we used a modified, high-resolution cytokine enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot assay capable of detecting cytokine production over short time periods. RESULTS Twenty-four-hour analysis of alloreactivity in mice that rejected fully MHC-disparate skin allografts revealed a high frequency of interferon (IFN)-gamma- and interleukin (IL)-4-producing, L-selectin-negative T cells, consistent with a memory phenotype. In contrast, 24-hr allostimulation of T cells from naive mice resulted in IL-2 production with minimal secretion of IFN-gamma or IL-4. The frequency of IL-2 producers was low and their phenotype was L-selectin positive, suggesting that they were naive and not memory T cells. When maintained in culture for 48 hr, however, the T cells from the primary mixed lymphocyte reaction began producing IFN-gamma, consistent with in vitro priming. CONCLUSIONS The primary alloresponse does not seem to involve clones that have been preprimed by environmental antigens, but instead behaves similarly to self-MHC-restricted immunity directed toward prototypic protein antigens: T cells with a naive phenotype are specifically induced to differentiate into high-frequency memory populations. These findings may have important implications for therapeutic induction of allograft tolerance.
On the Accuracy and Resolution of Powersum-Based Sampling Methods

Recently, several sampling methods suitable for signals that are sums of Diracs have been proposed. Though they are implemented through different acquisition architectures, these methods all rely on estimating the parameters of a powersum series. We derive Cramer-Rao lower bounds (CRBs) for estimation of the powersum poles, which translate to the Dirac positions. We then demonstrate the efficacy of simple algorithms due to Prony and Cornell for low-order powersums and low oversampling relative to the rate of innovation. The simulated performance illustrates the possibility of superresolution reconstruction and robustness to correlation in the powersum sample noise.
Fire shelter performance in simulated wildfires: an exploratory study

Fire shelters are required equipment for most wildland firefighters in the United States. In this study we report flame emissive power and temperatures inside and outside fire shelters placed in one prescribed fire, five experimental field fires, and one laboratory fire. Energy levels radiated by flames varied from 70 to 150 kW m–2 and lasted less than 10 min. Maximum fire shelter internal air temperatures reached 250˚C and occurred during the test with the maximum external air temperatures (1000˚C). Air temperatures inside the fire shelters did not show a strong dependence on flame radiant power, rather they correlated most strongly with external air temperature. We compare measurements from these tests with results reported by others. The data clearly indicate (1) the capability of the fire shelter to protect the occupant from radiant heating; (2) the susceptibility of the current design to convective heating; and (3) the significant decrease in burn injury when fire shelters are used.
Simultaneous Determination of Zirconium and Molybdenum by First-Derivative Spectrophotometry

A first-derivative spectrophotometric method for the simultaneous determination of Zr and Mo with Alizarin Red S is described. Measurements were made at the zero-crossing wavelengths at 490.5 nm for Zr and 446.0 nm for Mo. The calibration graphs were linear at 0.5–20 and 0.5–13.0 µg ml^−1 for Zr and Mo, respectively. The possible interfering effects of various ions were studied. Only iron was interfered in this system. The validity of the method was examined by using some mixtures of Mo and Zr. The method was applied in different matrix in both presence and absence of some foreign metal ions.
Viscoelastic effective rheologies for modelling wave propagation in porous media

Biot's poroelastic differential equations are modified for including matrix–fluid interaction mechanisms. The description is phenomenological and assumes a solid–fluid relaxation function coupling coefficient. The model satisfies basic physical properties such as, for instance, that P‐wave velocities at low frequencies are lower than those predicted by Biot's theory. In many cases, the results obtained with the Biot (two‐phase) modelling are equal to those obtained with single‐phase elastic modelling, mainly at seismic frequencies. However, a correct equivalence is obtained with a viscoelastic rheology, which requires one relaxation peak for each Biot (P and S) mechanism. The standard viscoelastic model, which generalizes compressibility and shear modulus to relaxation functions, is not appropriate for modelling the Biot complex moduli, since Biot's attenuation is of a kinetic nature (i.e. it is not related to bulk deformations). The problem is solved by associating relaxation functions with each wave modulus. The equivalence between the two modelling approaches is investigated for a homogeneous water‐filled sandstone and a periodically layered poroelastic medium, alternately filled with gas and water. The simulations indicate that, in the homogeneous case, particle velocities in the solid skeleton, caused by a source applied to the matrix, are equivalent to viscoelastic particle velocities. In a finely layered medium, viscoelastic modelling is not, in principle, equivalent to porous modelling, due to substantial mode conversion from fast wave to slow static mode. However, this effect, caused by local fluid‐flow motion, can be simulated by including an additional relaxation mechanism similar to the squirt‐flow.
Calculated Volume and Pressure Changes During the Thermal Cracking of Oil to Gas in Reservoirs (1)

The rising temperature that accompanies increasing burial depth converts oil in a reservoir into thermal gas. A consideration of hydrogen balance during this cracking shows that approximately 3000 cubic ft (85 cubic meters) of gas (at standard temperature and pressure) is generated from each barrel of oil. In addition, a graphitic residue is precipitated. If the volume relationships among oil, thermal gas, and the graphitic residue are combined with data for gas solubility in pore water and gas nonideality (Z factor), then pressure can be calculated for any degree of thermal cracking. These calculations show that in an effectively isolated system, pressures would become very high and could considerably exceed the rock load, so that fracturing must occur causing pressure b eed off and loss of gas. The lithostatic gradient (1.0 psi/ft or 22.6 kPa/m) is reached after only about 1.0% of the oil is cracked. If the reservoir system remains open (i.e., at hydrostatic pressure) and is initially filled with oil that is subsequently cracked to gas, then roughly 75% of the gas will be lost or the reservoir volume must effectively increase in size, for example, by moving the gas-water contact downward.
Temporal Trends in Outcomes after Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrests Witnessed by Emergency Medical Services in Japan: A Population-Based Study

Abstract Objective: Survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) witnessed by emergency medical service (EMS) personnel has been insufficiently understood. The aim of this study was to evaluate temporal trends in survival after EMS-witnessed OHCAs in Japan. Methods: A nationwide, population-based, observational cohort study of consecutive adult OHCA patients with emergency responder resuscitation attempts from January 2005 to December 2012 in Japan. We assessed the trends in annual incidence, characteristics, and outcomes of OHCA patients witnessed by EMS personnel. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to assess factors that were potentially associated with neurologically favorable outcome defined as cerebral performance category scale 1or 2. Results: During the study period, a total of 66,760 EMS-witnessed OHCAs were documented. The annual incidence rates per 100,000 persons of EMS-witnessed OHCA patients increased from 4.6 (n = 7219) in 2005 to 4.9 (n = 9256) in 2012 (p for trend = 0.035). The proportion of one-month survival with neurologically favorable outcome improved from 5.9% in 2005 to 8.6% in 2012 (p for trend < 0.001), and the proportion increased from 22.1% in 2005 to 30.2% in 2012 in cases with shockable rhythm (p for trend < 0.001). In a multivariate analysis, adults, male gender, shockable rhythm, presumed cardiac origin, and year were associated with a better neurological outcome. Conclusions: In this population, the proportion of one-month survival with neurologically favorable outcome among OHCA patients witnessed by EMS personnel significantly improved during the study period.
Modeling spatial and temporal dependencies between earthquakes

Two new different stochastic models for earthquake occurrence are discussed. Both models are focusing on the spatia-temporal interactions between earthquakes. The parameters of the models are estimated from a Bayesian updating of priors, using empirical data to derive posterior distributions. The first model is a marked point process model in which each earthquake is represented by its magnitude and coordinates in space and time. This model incorporates the occurrence of aftershocks as well as the build-up and subsequent release of strain. The second model is a hierarchical Bayesian space-time model in which the earthquakes are represented by potentials on a grid. The final ambition of the models is to make predictions on the occurrence of earthquakes.
Corporate Monitoring by Blockholders in Europe: Empirical Evidence of Managerial Disciplining in Belgium, France, Germany and the UK

This study examines managerial disciplining in poorly performing firms using large panels for Belgian, French, German and UK firms. We consider the monitoring role of large blockholders, the market for share blocks, creditors, and non-executive directors. Board restructuring is correlated to poor performance, but not for France. Neither existing blockholders nor creditors play an active role in disciplining. Block purchases have a monitoring role in Belgium and Germany, but not in France and the UK. Large boards facilitate disciplining, but the role of non-executives is ambiguous.
Multilevel Nonlinear Mixed-Effect Crown Ratio Models for Individual Trees of Mongolian Oak (Quercus mongolica) in Northeast China

In this study, an individual tree crown ratio (CR) model was developed with a data set from a total of 3134 Mongolian oak (Quercus mongolica) trees within 112 sample plots allocated in Wangqing Forest Bureau of northeast China. Because of high correlation among the observations taken from the same sampling plots, the random effects at levels of both blocks defined as stands that have different site conditions and plots were taken into account to develop a nested two-level nonlinear mixed-effect model. Various stand and tree characteristics were assessed to explore their contributions to improvement of model prediction. Diameter at breast height, plot dominant tree height and plot dominant tree diameter were found to be significant predictors. Exponential model with plot dominant tree height as a predictor had a stronger ability to account for the heteroskedasticity. When random effects were modeled at block level alone, the correlations among the residuals remained significant. These correlations were successfully reduced when random effects were modeled at both block and plot levels. The random effects from the interaction of blocks and sample plots on tree CR were substantially large. The model that took into account both the block effect and the interaction of blocks and sample plots had higher prediction accuracy than the one with the block effect and population average considered alone. Introducing stand density into the model through dummy variables could further improve its prediction. This implied that the developed method for developing tree CR models of Mongolian oak is promising and can be applied to similar studies for other tree species.
Secure forensic marking in DWT-DFRNT dual domain

In this paper, we proposed a secure audio forensic marking algorithm through the process of embedding information into the discrete wavelet transformation-discrete fractional random transformation (DWT-DFRNT) domain using the quantization method. We hid information in the QR code, encoded it with the block code that we developed. The block code and QR code improve the detection performance by bit error correction which is generated at the detection process. The DWT used for making a robust domain against to several attacks and the DFRNT was applied to increase the algorithm security by randomly scrambling the information so that they could be embedded in unpredictable locations in a certain frequency space. The experimental result showed that the information contained in the QR code was accurately extracted from the forensic mark within the error correction range. The experiment results also showed that the security of the algorithm was ensured, as a tiny change in the DFRNT or the scrambling-converted parameters led to extraction failure.
Effect of Heat Storage Flux on Energy Balance in a Larch Forest

Sum of sensible and latent heat fluxes measured by the eddy covariance technique is systematically smaller than available energy in many terrestrial ecosystems, which includes forests. This energy imbalance is an essential issue for the flux measurement. In this study, we evaluated heat storage flux and investigated its effect on energy balance in a larch plantation developing on a flat terrain. Above-ground biomass was the largest component producing the heat storage flux of the forest ecosystem; about 70-80% of the heat storage flux was generated in above-ground biomass for summer and fall. Moreover, the heat storage flux of topsoil over heat plates had a considerable bearing on the evaluation of soil heat flux. Adding these heat storage fluxes improved energy balance by 6-10%; it increased the slope of the ordinary least square between eddy energy fluxes and available energy, which was used as an index of energy balance closure, from 0.83 to 0.88 in summer and from 0.93 to 1.03 in fall. This suggests that we have to measure and consider heat storage flux when we investigate the energy balance of forest ecosystems.
Albatross: Lightweight Elasticity in Shared Storage Databases for the Cloud using Live Data Migration

Database systems serving cloud platforms must serve large numbers of applications (or tenants). In addition to managing tenants with small data footprints, different schemas, and variable load patterns, such multitenant data platforms must minimize their operating costs by efficient resource sharing. When deployed over a pay-per-use infrastructure, elastic scaling and load balancing, enabled by low cost live migration of tenant databases, is critical to tolerate load variations while minimizing operating cost. However, existing databases---relational databases and Key-Value stores alike---lack low cost live migration techniques, thus resulting in heavy performance impact during elastic scaling. We present Albatross, a technique for live migration in a multitenant database serving OLTP style workloads where the persistent database image is stored in a network attached storage. Albatross migrates the database cache and the state of active transactions to ensure minimal impact on transaction execution while allowing transactions active during migration to continue execution. It also guarantees serializability while ensuring correctness during failures. Our evaluation using two OLTP benchmarks shows that Albatross can migrate a live tenant database with no aborted transactions, negligible impact on transaction latency and throughput both during and after migration, and an unavailability window as low as 300 ms.
Retrospective analysis of perioperative factors on outcome of patients undergoing surgery for Moyamoya disease

Background: The short term outcome of patients undergoing surgery for Moyamoya disease can be affected by various perioperative factors. However, due to lesser prevalence of this disease in our country, data relating the effect of perioperative factors on the overall neurological outcomes of these patients is lacking. Aims: To analyze the effect of perioperative factors on the duration of postoperative hospital stay in patients undergoing surgery for Moyamoya disease. Settings and Design: It is a retrospective study analyzing various perioperative factors influencing the overall outcome of patients undergoing surgery for Moyamoya disease at a tertiary care centre in North India. Methods and Material: The medical records of all patients who underwent revascularization surgeries for Moyamoya disease from 2007 to till January 2014 were included for retrospective analysis. Various preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative data were recorded. The data was statistically compared for short and prolonged hospital stay for various perioperative factors. The duration of post operative hospital stay was categorized as short (<5 days) and prolonged (>5 days). Statistical Analysis: Kolmogrov Smirnov test was applied to see the normality of continuous data. The association of various categorically classified data with 2 groups was found using Fisher Exact test. The trends in intraoperative hemodynamics were analysed using 2 way repeated measure Anova test. T-test was used for comparing two group means for various parameters. Results: A total of 15 patients were included in the study. One patient underwent surgery twice on two different occasions. Thirteen patients belonged to paediatric age group (<18 years). The type of anaesthetics used for induction and maintenance had no effect on patient outcome. Mean duration of anaesthesia was 2.45 (1.3-4.0) hours. The mean duration of hospital stay was 5.13 (3-10) days. Most of the parameters did not have significant effect on postoperative hospital stay. Patients with mean value of intraoperative end tidal carbon dioxide (EtCO2) either less than 31 mmHg or more than 35 mmHg had statistically significant prolongation of hospital stay. Conclusion: Maintaining the intraoperative EtCO2 between 31-35 mmHg may be associated with short hospital stay when compared to those who have intraoperative EtCO2 either less than 31 mmHg or more than 35 mmHg.
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—We present a compound image compression algorithm for real-time applications of computer screen image transmission. It is called Shape Primitive Extraction and Coding (SPEC). Real-time image transmission requires that the compression algorithm should not only achieve high compression ratio, but also have low complexity and provide excellent visual quality. SPEC first segments a compound image into text/graphics pixels and pictorial pixels, and then compresses the text/graphics pixels with a new lossless coding algorithm and the pictorial pixels with the standard lossy JPEG, respectively. The segmentation first classifies image blocks into picture and text/graphics blocks by thresholding the number of colors of each block, then extracts shape primitives of text/graphics from picture blocks. Dynamic color palette that tracks recent text/graphics colors is used to separate small shape primitives of text/graphics from pictorial pixels. Shape primitives are also extracted from text/graphics blocks. All shape primitives from both block types are losslessly compressed by using a combined shape-based and palette-based coding algorithm. Then the losslessly coded bitstream is fed into a LZW coder. Experimental results show that the SPEC has very low complexity and provides visually lossless quality while keeping competitive compression ratios.