Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coastal Validation of Ultra-high Resolution Wind Vector Retrieval From QuikSCAT in the Gulf of Maine

An experimental 2.5-km ultrahigh-resolution (UHR) wind product provided by NASA's QuikSCAT scatterometer offers the potential for new access to coastal surface wind dynamics at the mesoscale level and below. To give future users the best indication of the value of these data, the UHR wind retrievals must be fully validated in nearshore areas. Comparison with meteorological buoys and standard QuikSCAT products allows detailed investigation of UHR winds. Speed and direction residuals are calculated between all scatterometer products and collocated buoys. An ambiguity selection routine improves wind direction agreement between the UHR winds and the other products. Magnitude residuals follow the patterns of the standard QuikSCAT winds, with a 1-2 m/s positive bias in light winds (below 4 m/s) and high winds (above 16 m/s) and standard deviations consistently below 3 m/s. After application of a land contamination removal algorithm, the UHR product provides extended coverage near the coast. An example of a specific wind event illustrates the potential benefits of improved resolution measurements for examining ocean-atmosphere dynamics.
Air gap thickness and contact area in undershirts with various moisture contents: influence of garment fit, fabric structure and fiber composition

The heat and water vapor transport in clothing results from fabric properties, air layers enclosed in the garment and environmental conditions. Accumulation of moisture in clothing layers intensifies this transport because of the change in thermal properties of wet fabrics and the size of air gap thickness and the contact area. This paper presents distribution of air gaps and contact areas in relation to various moisture contents in typical undershirts confectioned from fabrics with contrasting affinity to moisture. The effect of the undershirt fit, body region, fabric structure and fiber type is also discussed. The air gap thickness and the contact area were determined using three-dimensional scanning and the post-processing technique. The results show that the influence of the moisture content on the sought parameters noticeably varied among body regions and was related to the regional fit of the clothing. This variation was larger in cotton than polyester undershirts or those containing spandex, but the direct relevance of the fabric structure was not clear. Although influence of the moisture content was found, the magnitude of the air gap thickness and the contact area resulted mainly from the garment fit.
The effects of muscimol and AMN082 injections into the medial prefrontal cortex on the expression and extinction of conditioned fear in mice

SUMMARY The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), in particular its infralimbic part, is a key region in mediating the extinction of conditioned fear. There is some evidence that the metabotropic glutamate receptor 7 (mGluR7) may be involved in the mediation or modulation of extinction. The aim of present study was to assess the potential role of mGluR7 in the mPFC in the extinction of conditioned fear in mice by local injections of AMN082, a positive allosteric modulator of mGluR7. Furthermore, for comparison we injected the GABA-A receptor agonist muscimol, which should lead to a temporary inactivation of mPFC. We found impaired between-session extinction of conditioned fear for the muscimol group as well as a decrease in fear expression. However, local injections of AMN082 into the mPFC had no effects. Overall, the results of the experiment add to a growing body of evidence that mPFC, especially the infralimbic region, is crucial in the extinction of fear memory.
Differential patterns of spatial divergence in microsatellite and allozyme alleles: further evidence for locus‐specific selection in the acorn barnacle, Semibalanus balanoides?

We compared patterns of genetic structure at potentially selected (two allozyme loci) and neutral molecular markers (six microsatellite loci) in the acorn barnacle, Semibalanus balanoides from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Our results confirmed the presence of a geographical shift in alleles MPI and GPI near the Miramichi River. In contrast, no significant patterns of population differentiation among samples located north and south of the river mouth were detected for four of six microsatellite loci. However, analysis of molecular variance (amova) at individual loci revealed that a significant proportion of the total variance in allele frequencies was partitioned among samples located north and south of the river for both the allozyme and the other two microsatellite loci. The two most common alleles at these microsatellites showed frequencies that were highly correlated (r = 0.65–0.74, P < 0.05) with those of the MPI*2 allele, perhaps because of either physical linkage or epistasis. The two allozyme loci were significantly correlated in barnacles located north of the Miramichi River (r = 0.86, P < 0.05). Overall, our results supported the hypothesis that the broad scale pattern of allozyme allelic shifts is maintained by selection. They also indicated that microsatellites may not always behave in a neutral way and must be used cautiously, especially when evidence for genetic structuring relies on only a few assayed loci.
Environmental Levels of the Antiviral Oseltamivir Induce Development of Resistance Mutation H274Y in Influenza A/H1N1 Virus in Mallards

Oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) is the most widely used drug against influenza infections and is extensively stockpiled worldwide as part of pandemic preparedness plans. However, resistance is a growing problem and in 2008–2009, seasonal human influenza A/H1N1 virus strains in most parts of the world carried the mutation H274Y in the neuraminidase gene which causes resistance to the drug. The active metabolite of oseltamivir, oseltamivir carboxylate (OC), is poorly degraded in sewage treatment plants and surface water and has been detected in aquatic environments where the natural influenza reservoir, dabbling ducks, can be exposed to the substance. To assess if resistance can develop under these circumstances, we infected mallards with influenza A/H1N1 virus and exposed the birds to 80 ng/L, 1 µg/L and 80 µg/L of OC through their sole water source. By sequencing the neuraminidase gene from fecal samples, we found that H274Y occurred at 1 µg/L of OC and rapidly dominated the viral population at 80 µg/L. IC50 for OC was increased from 2–4 nM in wild-type viruses to 400–700 nM in H274Y mutants as measured by a neuraminidase inhibition assay. This is consistent with the decrease in sensitivity to OC that has been noted among human clinical isolates carrying H274Y. Environmental OC levels have been measured to 58–293 ng/L during seasonal outbreaks and are expected to reach µg/L-levels during pandemics. Thus, resistance could be induced in influenza viruses circulating among wild ducks. As influenza viruses can cross species barriers, oseltamivir resistance could spread to human-adapted strains with pandemic potential disabling oseltamivir, a cornerstone in pandemic preparedness planning. We propose surveillance in wild birds as a measure to understand the resistance situation in nature and to monitor it over time. Strategies to lower environmental levels of OC include improved sewage treatment and, more importantly, a prudent use of antivirals.
The Impact of Cement Contents on the Properties of Asphalt Emulsion Stabilized Cold Recycling Mixtures

This paper studied how the content of Portland cement in emulsion stabilized cold recycling (CR-Emulsion) mixtures impacts the properties of asphalt. The properties (i.e., the rate of increase in initial strength, moisture susceptibility, rut resistance, and crack resistance) of asphalt CR-Emulsion mixtures with varying cement content and different curing histories were tested using indirect tensile strength (ITS) tests, bending beam tests at -10degC, and dynamic stability rutting tests at 60degC. The test results showed that ITS values linearly increased as the cement content and curing time increased. Increasing the cement content lead to better moisture resistant properties and the strength increased at a higher rate. Specimens with a cement content lower than 0.5% by weight exhibited relatively poor water resistance properties and a poor rate of increase in initial strength. The ITS values of the wet condition samples (ITSwet) were more significantly affected by cement content than the ITS values of the dry condition samples (ITSdry). Specimens with 1.5% cement by weight exhibited better rut resistance properties than specimens with 0%, 0.5%, and 2.5% cement content. As cement content increased, the maximum bending strength at -10degC increased, whereas the maximum bending strain at -10degC decreased. The cement in CR-Emulsion mixtures requires a certain amount of curing time to improve the mixture properties; thus, curing methods that use an accelerated process cannot reflect the real conditions of CR-Emulsion mixtures. It was concluded that Portland cement is necessary to enhance the rate of increase in initial strength and improve both the moisture resistance properties and high temperature properties of CR-Emulsion mixtures. However, too high of a cement content leads to brittleness at low temperatures. The optimal cement content for CR-Emulsion mixture was suggested to be around 1.5%.
Interactions of Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor 3 (eIF3) Subunit NIP1/c with eIF1 and eIF5 Promote Preinitiation Complex Assembly and Regulate Start Codon Selection

ABSTRACT The N-terminal domain (NTD) of NIP1/eIF3c interacts directly with eIF1 and eIF5 and indirectly through eIF5 with the eIF2-GTP-Met- \batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \(\mathit{tRNA}_{\mathit{i}}^{\mathit{Met}}\) \end{document} ternary complex (TC) to form the multifactor complex (MFC). We investigated the physiological importance of these interactions by mutating 16 segments spanning the NIP1-NTD. Mutations in multiple segments reduced the binding of eIF1 or eIF5 to the NIP1-NTD. Mutating a C-terminal segment of the NIP1-NTD increased utilization of UUG start codons (Sui− phenotype) and was lethal in cells expressing eIF5-G31R that is hyperactive in stimulating GTP hydrolysis by the TC at AUG codons. Both effects of this NIP1 mutation were suppressed by eIF1 overexpression, as was the Sui− phenotype conferred by eIF5-G31R. Mutations in two N-terminal segments of the NIP1-NTD suppressed the Sui− phenotypes produced by the eIF1-D83G and eIF5-G31R mutations. From these and other findings, we propose that the NIP1-NTD coordinates an interaction between eIF1 and eIF5 that inhibits GTP hydrolysis at non-AUG codons. Two NIP1-NTD mutations were found to derepress GCN4 translation in a manner suppressed by overexpressing the TC, indicating that MFC formation stimulates TC recruitment to 40S ribosomes. Thus, the NIP1-NTD is required for efficient assembly of preinitiation complexes and also regulates the selection of AUG start codons in vivo.
Compressing Fisher Vector for Robust Face Recognition

One major topic for robust face recognition could be the efficient encoding of facial descriptors. Among various encoders, Fisher vector (FV) is one of the probabilistic methods that yield promising results. However, its huge representation is fairly forbidding. In this paper, we present approaches to efficiently compress FV and retain its robustness. First, we put forward a new Compact FV (CFV) descriptor. The CFV is obtained by zeroing out small posteriors, calculating first-order statistics and reweighting its elements properly. Second, in light of Iterative Quantization (ITQ) scheme, we present a Generalized ITQ (GITQ) method to binarize our CFV. Finally, we apply our CFV and GITQ to encode convolutional activations of convolutional neural networks. We evaluate our methods on FERET, LFW, AR, and FRGC 2.0 datasets, and our experiments reveal the advantage of such a framework.
Depletion of Cultivatable Gut Microbiota by Broad-Spectrum Antibiotic Pretreatment Worsens Outcome After Murine Stroke

Background and Purpose— Antibiotics disturbing microbiota are often used in treatment of poststroke infections. A bidirectional brain–gut microbiota axis was recently suggested as a modulator of nervous system diseases. We hypothesized that gut microbiota may be an important player in the course of stroke. Methods— We investigated the outcome of focal cerebral ischemia in C57BL/6J mice after an 8-week decontamination with quintuple broad-spectrum antibiotic cocktail. These microbiota-depleted animals were subjected to 60 minutes middle cerebral artery occlusion or sham operation. Infarct volume was measured using magnetic resonance imaging, and mice were monitored clinically throughout the whole experiment. At the end point, tissues were preserved for further analysis, comprising histology and immunologic investigations using flow cytometry. Results— We found significantly decreased survival in the middle cerebral artery occlusion microbiota-depleted mice when the antibiotic cocktail was stopped 3 days before surgery (compared with middle cerebral artery occlusion specific pathogen-free and sham-operated microbiota-depleted mice). Moreover, all microbiota-depleted animals in which antibiotic treatment was terminated developed severe acute colitis. This phenotype was rescued by continuous antibiotic treatment or colonization with specific pathogen-free microbiota before surgery. Further, infarct volumes on day one did not differ between any of the experimental groups. Conclusions— Conventional microbiota ensures intestinal protection in the mouse model of experimental stroke and prevents development of acute and severe colitis in microbiota-depleted mice not given antibiotic protection after cerebral ischemia. Our experiments raise the clinically important question as to whether microbial colonization or specific microbiota are crucial for stroke outcome.
The assessment of data mining algorithms for modelling Savannah Woody cover using multi-frequency (X-, C- and L-band) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) datasets

The woody component in African Savannahs provides essential ecosystem services such as fuel wood and construction timber to large populations of rural communities. Woody canopy cover (i.e. the percentage area occupied by woody canopy or CC) is a key parameter of the woody component. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is effective at assessing the woody component, because of its capacity to image within-canopy properties of the vegetation while offering an all-weather capacity to map relatively large extents of the woody component. This study compared the modelling accuracies of woody canopy cover (CC), in South African Savannahs, through the assessment of a set of modelling approaches (Linear Regression, Support Vector Machines, REPTree decision tree, Artificial Neural Network and Random Forest) with the use of X-band (TerraSAR-X), C-band (RADARSAT-2) and L-band (ALOS PALSAR) datasets. This study illustrated that the ANN, REPTree and RF non-parametric modelling algorithms were the most ideal with high CC prediction accuracies throughout the different scenarios. Results also illustrated that the acquisition of L-band data be prioritized due to the high accuracies achieved by the L-band dataset alone in comparison to the individual shorter wavelengths. The study provides promising results for developing regional savannah woody cover maps using limited LiDAR training data and SAR images.
Disparities in Female Breast Cancer Stage at Diagnosis in New Jersey: A Spatial-Temporal Analysis

Background: Despite improvements in early detection of breast cancer, disparities persist in stage at diagnosis, which is an important prognostic factor. Methods: We used the space-time scan statistic in SaTScan to identify geographic areas and time periods with significantly elevated proportions of female breast cancer diagnosed at the in situ or distant stage in New Jersey. The analyses were conducted with census tracts as the geographic unit of analysis, elliptical spatial windows, 3-year temporal windows, and Poisson models. Statistical significance was determined by 999 Monte Carlo simulations (P < .05); significant clusters were mapped in ArcMap. Breast cancer cases within the clusters were compared with breast cancer cases outside the clusters on demographic, socioeconomic, and clinical factors using the Pearson chi-square test (P < .05). In addition, populations within the clusters were compared with the population outside the clusters on demographic and socioeconomic factors. Results: After exclusions, 126 756 cases of primary female breast cancer diagnosed in 1997 to 2011 from the New Jersey State Cancer Registry were included in the analysis. One distant stage breast cancer cluster was identified in northeastern New Jersey from 1997 through 2011 (n = 26 244, relative risk [RR] = 1.42, P < .001). Two in situ breast cancer clusters were found in northeastern New Jersey from 2004 through 2011 (n = 12 496, RR = 1.35, P < .001) and in central New Jersey from 2006 through 2011 (n = 29 319, RR = 1.24, P < .001). The distant stage cluster contained relatively high percentages of minority and lower socioeconomic status (SES) breast cancer cases and populations, whereas the in situ clusters had relatively low percentages of minority and lower SES breast cancer cases and populations. Conclusion: Although there have been improvements since an earlier study of distant stage breast cancer diagnosed in 1995 to 1997, disparities in stage at diagnosis continue. These findings can be used by our local cancer control partners to target specific populations for interventions such as breast cancer education and mammography screening, as well as by state legislative and public health authorities for resource allocation.
Measuring the Outcomes of a National Rehabilitation Program: Normative Data for the Client Oriented Scale of Improvement (COSI) and the Hearing Aid User’s Questionnaire (HAUQ)

Self-report outcome measures were routinely collected from 4421 adult clients around Australia. The measures used were the Hearing Aid User's Questionnaire (HAUQ), which assessed hearing aid use, benefit, problems, and satisfaction, and the Client Oriented Scale of Improvement (COSI), which identified client needs, change in listening ability, and final listening ability in situations important to each client. Listening to television or radio and conversing with one or two others in a quiet place were the most frequently nominated needs . The benefit reported for noisy places was less than for quiet places, but very positive nonetheless . The normative data collected show a marked concentration of responses near the upper end of the scale for each of the outcome items except daily use . Consequently, correlations between the measures, although highly significant, were mostly less than 0.4. When the data were collapsed across subjects seen at each hearing center, benefit, satisfaction, usage, and problems with the hearing aids became much more strongly correlated with each other, with correlation coefficients up to 0 . 8. Benefit, satisfaction, usage, and the types of problems clients encountered with their hearing aids varied significantly from hearing center to hearing center. The most frequently reported problem was dissatisfaction with the quality of the subjects' own voices (i.e., occlusion effect), followed by feedback . The problems most closely related to usage, benefit, and satisfaction, however, were the presence of feedback, comfort of the earmold or earshell, and the quality of the users' own voices . These outcome measures appear to be most suitable for identifying needs, identifying individuals receiving markedly less than average benefit, and for finding small differences between outcomes for subgroups of the population .
Behind-the-scenes data mining: a report on the KDD-98 panel

Successful technology becomes invisible. Few people think much about internal combustion engines while they drive to work in three-thousand-pound hunks of metal powered by them, or electricity while it enables countless parts of their modern lives. Data mining has a long way to go before it succeeds in this way -- or does it? At KDD-98, the Behind-the-Scenes Data Mining panel presented five views on this aspect of the success of data mining. George H. John, Data Mining Guru at E.piphany, moderated the panel which included Usama Fayyad, Senior Researcher at Microsoft; Elliot Fishman, Director of Product Management at DoubleClick; Gerald Fahner, Project Analyst at Fair Isaac & Co.; and Paul DuBose, CTO of Analytika. The story below is a fictional amalgam of their presentations, seen from the viewpoint of an average citizen -- a day in the life of John Q. Record.
FUNDUS AUTOFLUORESCENCE IN RUBELLA RETINOPATHY: Correlation With Photoreceptor Structure and Function

Purpose: To illustrate altered fundus autofluorescence in rubella retinopathy and to investigate their relationships with photoreceptor structure and function using multimodal imaging. Methods: The authors report four cases of rubella retinopathy aged 8, 33, 42, and 50 years. All patients had dilated clinical fundus examination; wide-field color photography; blue, green, and near-infrared autofluorescence imaging and spectral domain optical coherence tomography. Two patients also underwent microperimetry and adaptive optics imaging. En face optical coherence tomography, cone mosaic, and microperimetry were coregistered with autofluorescence images. The authors explored the structure–function correlation. Results: All four patients had a “salt-and-pepper” appearance on dilated fundus examination and wide-field color photography. There were variable-sized patches of hypoautofluorescence on both blue and near-infrared excitation in all four patients. Wave-guiding cones were visible and retinal sensitivity was intact over these regions. There was no correlation between hypoautofluorescence and regions of attenuated ellipsoid and interdigitation zones. Hyperautofluorescent lesions were also noted and some of these were pseudo-vitelliform lesions. Conclusion: Patchy hypoautofluorescence on near-infrared excitation can be a feature of rubella retinopathy. This may be due to abnormal melanin production or loss of melanin within retinal pigment epithelium cells harboring persistent rubella virus infection. Preservation of the ellipsoid zone, wave-guiding cones, and retinal sensitivity within hypoautofluorescent lesions suggest that these retinal pigment epithelium changes have only mild impact on photoreceptor cell function.
PRODUCTION OF CELLULOLYTIC ENZYMES ON AGRICULTURAL WASTE BY DIFFERENT ZYGOMYCETES

Filamentous fungi are good producers of different extracellular enzymes. Due to this feature, some of them assumed to play an important role in the decomposition of plant and other organic materials. Several members of the class Zygomycetes are involved in different biotechnological applications, in consequence of their efficient extracellular enzyme production. Because of the increasing interest in the microbial biodegradation, isolates of Mucor corticolus (syn.: M. circinelloides f. corticolus) and Gilbertella persicaria were screened for their secreted cellobiohydrolase (1,4-β-D-glucan cellobiohydrolase) and beta-glucosidase activities. These enzymes are key-players in the microbiological degradation of cellulose biomass. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the production of these cellulolytic enzymes on a cheap, exploitable agricultural waste. To investigate the production of cellobiohydrolase and beta-glucosidase, solid-state fermentations were performed on chopped corn-stalks and corn leaves as carbon source. Cultures incubated at 25°C for 12 days were repeatedly sampled to monitor changes in the enzyme activities. Results show that isolates of both species showed intensive growth on these substrates, and high activities of the investigated enzymes were observed during the fermentation period. The potential application of these fungi for biodegradation and enzyme production is discussed.