Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ambiguity resolution for permanent scatterer interferometry

In the permanent scatterer technique of synthetic aperture radar interferometry, there is a need for an efficient and reliable nonlinear parameter inversion algorithm that includes estimation of the phase cycle ambiguities. Present techniques make use of a direct search of the solution space, treating the observations as deterministic and equally weighted, and which do not yield an exact solution. Moreover, they do not describe the quality of the estimated parameters. Here, we use the integer least squares estimator, which has the highest probability of correct integer estimation for problems with a multivariate normal distribution. With this estimator, the propagated variance-covariance matrix of the estimated parameters can be obtained. We have adapted the LAMBDA method, part of an integer least squares estimator developed for the ambiguity resolution of carrier phase observations in global positioning systems, to the problem of permanent scatterers. Key elements of the proposed method are the introduction of pseudo-observations to regularize the system of equations, decorrelation of the ambiguities for an efficient estimation, and the combination of a bootstrap estimator with an integer least squares search to obtain the final integer estimates. The performance of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated using simulated and real data.
The ‘Trio Presidency’ of the Council of the European Union: Towards More Continuity?

Abstract This article addresses the Council presidency trio mechanism codified in the Lisbon Treaty with a particular focus on the continuity question in the Council's decision-making framework. The aim of the article is to explore the effect of the formalised trio programme on continuity in the Council's decision-making process. To this end, the article looks at how the trio mechanism has evolved over time and how it functions in practice. While some analysts have been sceptical about the usefulness of the trio programme, these findings demonstrate that the launch of this institutional tool has improved the continuity in the Council's decision-making process. The positive effect on continuity results from three main factors-the trio programme as a formal tool in the Council's institutional tool-kit; the existence of political will among the presidencies to cooperate; and, lastly, the guiding role of the Council Secretariat. The article presents evidence gathered by tracing the preparations of joint trio programmes from 2007 to 2012.
Molecular Pathogenesis of Prion Diseases

In humans, prion diseases occur with unique aetiology as sporadic, genetic or infectious disorders. Sporadic cases of prion diseases, which account for the majority of casualties (up to 85% of all cases), are of unknown origin; the genetic forms are less frequent (up to 15%), while the infectious cases are extremely rare with an incidence of less than 1% (Prusiner, 2001). Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker (GSS) syndrome, Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI) are examples of human prion diseases. In animals the disease is mostly infectious and the mode of transmission is horizontal. Prion diseases include scrapie in sheep and goats, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, and chronic wasting disease of deer, elk, and moose (Williams, 2005).
Postflood damage evaluation using Landsat TM and ETM+ data integrated with DEM

In recent decades, radar and optical satellite imagery have been used for evaluating flooding extent. In this paper, a straightforward technique based on the sequential use of the spectral-temporal principal component analysis, logical filtering, and image segmentation integrated with the digital elevation model was developed as a decisional support tool for the allocations of the resource destined for the flooded areas. The mapping technique was first applied to the catastrophic event that occurred in the Piemonte Region (Italy) in November 1994, which was the worst event of the past century for that region, with 44 casualities and over 2000 homeless. Next, it was applied to the Obion/Forked Deer inundation that occurred in Tennessee (U.S.) between November and December 2001, in which heavy damage to the infrastructure was reported. Two Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (path 194, row 28/29) and two Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (path 23, row 35) images were processed, two of them collected before and two after the events. The method proposed proved to be an effective approach for evaluating flood extent and for assessing the damage produced by the flooding. An overall accuracy of 85.6%, a user accuracy of 87.5%, and a producer accuracy of 97.5% were achieved, and an agreement of 83% between ground measures and remotely sensed data in the estimation of flood water volumes was also achieved on a regional scale.
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE PROPOSED NORTH DAKOTA WHEAT POOL; SUMMARY

The ND Durum Wheat Pool may provide additional revenue to durum wheat producers by raising the domestic prices in the North American market with full cooperation from the Canadian Wheat Board. The pool also could provide additional revenue to its members by improving marketing efficiency. On the other hand, the ND Spring Wheat Pool is less likely to provide additional revenue to spring wheat producers by raising domestic prices, mainly because hard red spring and winter wheat are highly substitutable. Efficiency gains also could be smaller than for durum wheat.
Gender Differences in Academic Promotion and Mobility at a Major Australian University

This paper analyses gender differences in faculty promotion and mobility at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) using personnel records for 1999-2010. It finds female lecturers less likely than men to be promoted or to leave UNSW and female associate professors more likely to be promoted. These results are consistent with a flipping statistical discrimination model. Leave‐taking did not account for gender differences. Instead, taking maternity leave indicates higher likelihood of staying at UNSW and being promoted. The paper finds that gender differences narrowed over time but not always as predicted by gender‐related policy changes.
Exclamatives and Negation 1

In this paper it is argued that the highly restricted distribution of standard negation within exclamative sentences receives a principled explanation from the interaction of the basic semantic properties of the exclamative sentence-type –factivity and extreme degree quantification– with those of the negative operator. Particularly, the negative operator is shown to contradict in most cases the existential presupposition associated with the inherent factivity of exclamatives and/or the requirement that the exclamative degree operator quantify over a well-defined set of individuals. Moreover, it is argued that the only apparent counterexamples to this strong generalization receive a proper explanation once the crucial role of discourse salience is taken into account. Finally, it is shown that this approach can be extended with much profit to a large and unattested pattern of interactions and restrictions concerning quantification within exclamative sentences, with intesting theoretical consequences for the interval-based approach to the semantics of degree quantification.
Personality Effects on Romantic Relationship Quality through Friendship Quality: A Ten-Year Longitudinal Study in Youths

This study examined whether individuals with different personality types (i.e., overcontrollers, undercontrollers, resilients) had different friendship quality development throughout adolescence. It also investigated whether personality types were indirectly related to romantic relationship quality in young adulthood, via friendship quality development in adolescence. The study employed six waves of longitudinal questionnaire data from Dutch youths who had a romantic relationship when they were young adults. Two age cohorts were followed, from 12 to 21 years and from 16 to 25 years, respectively. Findings showed that resilients reported higher mean levels of friendship quality during adolescence (i.e., more support from, less negative interaction with and less dominance from their best friend) than both overcontrollers and undercontrollers. Through the mean levels of friendship quality throughout adolescence, resilients indirectly experienced higher romantic relationship quality during young adulthood than both overcontrollers and undercontrollers. Thus, results provide support for a developmental model in which adolescent friendship quality is a mechanism linking personality types with young adulthood romantic relationship quality.
A New Sketch Method for Measuring Host Connection Degree Distribution

The host connection degree distribution (HCDD) is an important metric for network security monitoring. However, it is difficult to accurately obtain the HCDD in real time for high-speed links with a massive amount of traffic data. In this paper, we propose a new sketch method to build a probabilistic traffic summary of a host's flows using a uniform Flajolet-Martin sketch combined with a small bitmap. To study its performance in comparison with previous sampling and sketch methods, we present a general model that encompasses all these methods. With this model, we compute the Cramér-Rao lower bounds and the variances of HCDD estimations. The theoretic analysis and numerical experimental results show that our sketch method is six times more accurate than state-of-the-art methods with the same memory usage.
Energy-efficient Tracking of Mobile Objects with Early Distance-based Reporting

Many location-based systems rely on fine-grained tracking of mobile objects that determine their own locations with sensing devices like GPS receivers. For these objects, energy is a very valuable and limited resource. A distance-based reporting protocol can be employed to reduce the energy they consume by sending position updates. However, the energy required for position sensing has not been considered in the past. In this paper, we study how the resulting energy consumption from both sensing and update operations can be reduced for distance-based reporting. We show that significant savings are achieved by sending position updates earlier than actually required. For uniform movement, we derive the minimal power consumption analytically. Subsequently, two novel online heuristics are proposed that control the sending of position updates at runtime. Their effectiveness is validated by extensive simulations.
Arginine methylation of the B cell antigen receptor promotes differentiation

Signals processed through the B cell antigen receptor (BCR) control both the proliferation and differentiation of B lymphocytes. How these different signaling modes are established at the BCR is poorly understood. We show that a conserved arginine in the tail sequence of the Igα subunit of the BCR is methylated by the protein arginine methyltransferase 1. This modification negatively regulates the calcium and PI-3 kinase pathways of the BCR while promoting signals leading to B cell differentiation. Thus, Igα arginine methylation can play an important role in specifying the outcome of BCR signaling.
Tangible augmented reality

This paper advocates a new metaphor for designing threedimensional Augmented Reality (AR) applications, Tangible Augmented Reality (Tangible AR). Tangible AR interfaces combine the enhanced display possibilities of AR with the intuitive manipulation and interaction of physical objects or Tangible User Interfaces. We define what Tangible AR interfaces are, present some design guidelines and prototype interfaces based on these guidelines. Experiences with these interfaces show that the Tangible AR metaphor supports seamless interaction between the real and virtual worlds, and provides a range of natural interactions that are difficult to find in other AR interfaces. CR Categories: H.5. 2 [User Interfaces] Input devices and strategies; H.5. 1 [Multimedia Information Systems] Artificial, augmented , and virtual realities.
Nonadherence to Primary Prophylaxis against Pneumocystis jirovecii Pneumonia

Background Despite the effectiveness of prophylaxis, Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) continues to be the most common serious opportunistic infection among HIV-infected persons. We describe factors associated with nonadherence to primary PCP prophylaxis. Methodology/Principal Findings We used 2000–2004 data from the Supplement to HIV/AIDS Surveillance (SHAS) project, a cross-sectional interview project of HIV-infected persons ≥18 years conducted in 18 states. We limited the analysis to persons who denied having prior PCP, reported having a current prescription to prevent PCP, and answered the question “In the past 30 days, how often were you able to take the PCP medication(s) exactly the way your doctor told you to take them? ” We used multivariable logistic regression to describe factors associated with nonadherence. Of 1,666 subjects prescribed PCP prophylaxis, 305 (18.3%) were nonadherent. Persons were more likely to be nonadherent if they reported using marijuana (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.1–2.4), non-injection drugs other than marijuana (aOR = 1.5, 95% CI = 1.0–2.1), or injection drugs (aOR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.3–4.1) in the past year; their mental health was “not good” for ≥1 day during the past month (aOR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.2–2.2); their most recent CD4 count was <200 cells/μL (aOR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.1–2.2); or taking ART usually (aOR = 9.6, 95% CI = 6.7–13.7) or sometimes/rarely/never (aOR = 18.4, 95% CI = 11.1–30.4), compared with always, as prescribed. Conclusion/Significance Providers should inquire about and promote strategies to improve adherence to PCP prophylaxis, particularly among persons who use illicit drugs, have mental health issues, and who are not compliant with ART to reduce the occurrence of PCP.
The Impact of Environmental Regulations on the Industry Structure of Landfills

Over the past twenty years, the environmental regulation of landfills has become increasingly restrictive both at the federal and state levels. Using a panel dataset of Ohio landfills, we developed a theoretical framework to explain the landfill operators' responses to regulatory actions, and then estimate an empirical model of changes in industry structure. Because not all Ohio counties have landfill operations, we hypothesize that there is self-selection in the location of landfills, which is accounted for with an appropriate econometric model. The study finds that environmental regulations had significant impact both on the location of landfill operations and concentration of the industry during the time period studied. Copyright 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
An exam of the role of the geographical proximity for the university-industry linkages

It is widely recognized in the literature that the clustering of firms can generate benefits for the local firms, especially in terms of the creation and diffusion of knowledge among producers. One of the main sources of this new knowledge is the academic research, which can contribute to the innovative efforts of the firms, mainly when researchers in university and industry can cooperate by build joint research projects. Many authors (Audrescht and Feldman, 1996; Acs and Varga, 2005; Breschi and Lissoni, 2009) have shown that academic research is positively correlated with firms' innovation at the geographical level. There are two reasons that are pointed out for this correlation. First, there are many ways in which knowledge generated by academic research can spill over to the firms, such as papers, patents and informal contacts. Second, geographical proximity can encourage cooperation between academic researchers and the R&D staff in the firms. Based on these statements, it was done an empirical research by using data from the Brazilian Research Council (CNPq), collected at the CNPq Directory of Research Groups of Brazilian universities. This database allows the identification of 2,151 interactive research groups, among 19,470, that declared that they have interactions with 3,068 firms. By the localization of both firms and university research groups, it was possible to gather information about the geographical pattern of university-industry linkages.
Interpreting Real Exchange Rate Movements in Transition Countries

В течение последнего десятилетия в некоторых странах с переходной экономикой наблюдалось значительное укрепление реального курса национальной валюты. В данной статье проверяется следующая гипотеза - укрепление курса является следствием роста производительности в секторе торгуемых благ. Используя панельные данные за период 1993-1998 гг. , авторы показали, что в странах Центральной и Восточной Европы, а также странах Балтии укрепление действительно можно объяснить ростом производительности. Авторы полагают, что по мере развития переходные экономики будут испытают еще большее укрепление курса. Однако это укрепление не должно негативно отражаться на международной конкурентоспособности, поскольку является всего лишь сдвигом равновесия в результате роста производительности.
Visual response properties of MSTd emerge from a sparse population code

Neurons in the dorsal subregion of the medial superior temporal (MSTd) area respond to large, complex patterns of retinal flow, implying a role in the analysis of self-motion. Some neurons are selective for the expanding radial motion that occurs as an observer moves through the environment ("heading"), and computational models can account for this finding. However, ample evidence suggests that MSTd neurons may exhibit a continuum of visual response selectivity to large-field motion stimuli, but the underlying computational principles by which these response properties are derived remain poorly understood. Here we describe a computational model of MSTd based on the hypothesis that neurons in MSTd efficiently encode the continuum of large-field retinal flow patterns on the basis of inputs received from neurons in MT, with receptive fields that resemble basis vectors recovered with nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF). These assumptions are sufficient to quantitatively simulate neurophysiological response properties of MSTd cells such as radial, circular, and spiral motion tuning, suggesting that these properties might simply be a by-product of MSTd neurons performing dimensionality reduction on their inputs. At the population level, model MSTd accurately predicts heading using a sparse distributed code, consistent with the idea that biological MSTd might operate in a sparseness regime well-suited to efficiently encode a number of self-motion variables. The present work provides an alternative to the template-model view of MSTd, and offers a biologically plausible account of the receptive field structure across a wide range of visual response properties in MSTd.
The Electrogenic Sodium Bicarbonate Cotransporter NBCe1 Is a High-Affinity Bicarbonate Carrier in Cortical Astrocytes

The electrogenic sodium bicarbonate cotransporter NBCe1 (SLC4A4) is a robust regulator of intracellular H+ and a significant base carrier in many cell types. Using wild-type (WT) and NBCe1-deficient (NBC-KO) mice, we have studied the role of NBCe1 in cortical astrocytes in culture and in situ by monitoring intracellular H+ using the H+-sensitive dye BCECF [2′,7′-bis-(carboxyethyl)-5-(and-6)-carboxyfluorescein] in wide-field and confocal microscopy. Adding 0.1–3 mm HCO3− to an O2-gassed, HEPES-buffered saline solution lowered the intracellular H+ concentration with a Km of 0.65 mm HCO3− in WT astrocytes, but slowly raised [H+]i in NBCe1-KO astrocytes. Human NBCe1 heterologously expressed in Xenopus oocytes could be activated by adding 1–3 mm HCO3−, and even by residual HCO3− in a nominally CO2/HCO3−-free saline solution. Our results demonstrate a surprisingly high apparent bicarbonate sensitivity mediated by NBCe1 in cortical astrocytes, suggesting that NBCe1 may operate over a wide bicarbonate concentration in these cells.
Labor Search, Inequality, and Public Policy.

x CHAPTER 1: Posted and negotiated wages in markets with on-the-job search. 1 1.
Understanding Idiomatic Variation

This study investigates the processing of idiomatic variants through an eye-tracking experiment. Four types of idiom variants were included, in addition to the canonical form and the literal meaning. Results suggest that modifications to idioms, modulo obvious effects of length differences, are not more difficult to process than the canonical forms themselves. This fits with recent corpus findings.
A Bacterial-Type ABC Transporter Is Involved in Aluminum Tolerance in Rice[W]

Aluminum (Al) toxicity is a major factor limiting crop production in acidic soil, but the molecular mechanisms of Al tolerance are poorly understood. Here, we report that two genes, STAR1 (for sensitive to Al rhizotoxicity1) and STAR2, are responsible for Al tolerance in rice. STAR1 encodes a nucleotide binding domain, while STAR2 encodes a transmembrane domain, of a bacterial-type ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter. Disruption of either gene resulted in hypersensitivity to aluminum toxicity. Both STAR1 and STAR2 are expressed mainly in the roots and are specifically induced by Al exposure. Expression in onion epidermal cells, rice protoplasts, and yeast showed that STAR1 interacts with STAR2 to form a complex that localizes to the vesicle membranes of all root cells, except for those in the epidermal layer of the mature zone. When expressed together in Xenopus laevis oocytes, STAR1/2 shows efflux transport activity specific for UDP-glucose. Furthermore, addition of exogenous UDP-glucose rescued root growth in the star1 mutant exposed to Al. These results indicate that STAR1 and STAR2 form a complex that functions as an ABC transporter, which is required for detoxification of Al in rice. The ABC transporter transports UDP-glucose, which may be used to modify the cell wall.
Rearranging Deck Chairs in Dallas: Contextual Constraints and Within-District Resource Allocation in Urban Texas School Districts

The goal of this study is to simultaneously explore resource allocation across schools within large urban school districts and across all schools within major metropolitan areas that include those urban districts in the state of Texas. This study uses a three-year panel, from 2005 to 2007, for Texas elementary schools in the Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio Core Based Statistical Areas. Large city districts evaluated include Houston, Dallas, Ft. Worth, San Antonio, and Austin. We find that within the state of Texas, the relative competitive position of urban core districts varies widely. We find that on average current spending in the metropolitan areas surrounding these large urban districts is progressively distributed with respect to poverty rates. In Dallas, spending fell well below that of surrounding districts and was less progressively distributed. In San Antonio, spending fell below surroundings, but was progressively distributed. Austin and Fort Worth also progressively distributed spending. Houston, while spending more on elementary schools than surrounding districts, provided a relatively flat distribution of that spending, advantaging lower poverty schools to the disadvantage of higher poverty ones.