Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measurements of Snow Crystal Growth Dynamics in a Free-fall Convection Chamber

We present a series of experiments investigating the growth of ice crystals from water vapor in the presence of a background gas. We measured growth dynamics at temperatures ranging from -2 C to -25 C, at supersaturations between 0.5 and 30 percent, and with background gases of nitrogen, argon, and air at a pressure of one bar. We compared our data with numerical models of diffusion-limited growth based on cellular automata to extract surface growth parameters at different temperatures and supersaturations. These data represent a first step toward obtaining precision ice growth measurements as a function of temperature, supersaturation, background gas pressure and gas constituents. From these investigations we hope to better understand the surface molecular dynamics that determine crystal growth rates and growth morphologies. The formation of complex structures during solidification often results from a subtle interplay of nonequilibrium, nonlinear processes, for which seemingly small changes in molecular dynamics at the nanoscale can produce large morphological changes at all scales. One popular example of this phenomenon is the formation of snow crystals, which are ice crystals that grow from water vapor in an inert background gas. Although this is a relatively simple physical system, snow crystals display a remarkable variety of columnar and plate-like forms, and much of the phenomenology of their growth remains poorly understood (1). Recent experimental and theoretical work suggests that surface impurities play an essential role in determining snow crystal growth rates and morphologies under normal atmospheric conditions (2). To investigate this further we need precision measurements of snow crystal growth dynamics over a range of conditions, especially as a function of impurity type and concentration within a background gas. We have constructed a free-fall convection chamber for making such measurements (3), and we describe here our first data using this apparatus. The data were mainly taken in ordinary laboratory air at a pressure of one bar and over a range of temperatures and supersaturations. We began our experiments with these conditions in order to establish a baseline of growth measurements which can be used to determine optimal experimental strategies for investigating ice growth in the presence of different impurities. There have been a number of previous measurements of ice crystal growth under similar conditions (4, 5, 6, 7, 8), but the measurements presented here are a substantial improvement in terms of scope and overall precision. To date there have been essentially no systematic investigations of the effects of surface impurities on ice growth dynamics.
Cryptic species of fig-pollinating wasps: Implications for the evolution of the fig–wasp mutualism, sex allocation, and precision of adaptation

Fig-pollinating wasps have provided model systems for developing and testing theories of the evolution of mutualism, sex allocation, and precision of adaptation. With few exceptions, previous studies have assumed one species of pollinator wasp per host fig species. Here we report genetic data demonstrating the coexistence of previously undetected cryptic fig wasp species in at least half of the host fig species surveyed. The substantial mitochondrial sequence differences (4.2–6.1%) imply old divergences (≈1.5–5.1 million years ago) among these species. Furthermore, some cryptic species pairs seem to be sister taxa, whereas others clearly are not, indicating both long-term coexistence on shared hosts and the colonization of novel fig species. These findings undermine the prevalent notion of strict one-to-one specificity between cospeciating figs and their pollinators, thereby challenging existing theory concerning the evolution and stability of mutualisms. Moreover, the incorporation of the genetic information significantly improves the fit of the observed sex ratios to predictions of local mate-competition theory, further strengthening support for sex allocation theory and the precision of adaptation.
Organophosphate Nerve Agent Sensor Based on Polystyrene Core and Zirconium Shell Colloidal Crystal Array

Abstract A simple method has been developed for the preparation of colloidal crystal arrays (CCA) based on a polystyrene (PS) core and a zirconia (ZrO2) shell sensing microgel that detects the organophosphorus compound paraoxon at parts per million (ppm) concentrations in aqueous solution. The molecular recognition agent for the sensor is zirconia (ZrO2), which has a chemical affinity for paraoxon. Colloidal crystal arrays based on these core-shell particles were prepared by a simple gasket method at room temperature. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive analysis of X-rays (EDX) was used to characterize the PS-coated ZrO2 particles. TEM analysis confirmed two distinct morphologies of the core-shell particles, while the EDX analysis confirmed the presence of zirconium around the polystyrene core. TEM confirmed the presence of ZrO2 clusters on polystyrene spheres. Reflectance measurements were carried out for varying concentrations of paraoxon from 0.024 to 0.096 ppm, showing a characteristic shift in the reflectance peak from 468 to 488 nm. The shift in the peak wavelength from right to left suggested that the distance between the crystals or lattice spacing increased due to addition of paraoxon. Thus, it acts as a chemical sensor for paraoxon since zirconia has an affinity for the phosphate group of paraoxon. It was demonstrated that by increasing paraoxon concentration, the reflectance peak increased linearly, making CCA a potential candidate for future chemical sensor applications.
Selecting granularity of parallelism for tasks executing on dynamically reconfigurable architectures

Partial dynamic reconfiguration, often called RTR (run-tim e reconfiguration) is a key feature in modern reconfigurable platforms. While partial RTR enables additional application performance, it imposes physical constraints necessitating simultaneo us scheduling and placement while mapping application task graphs onto such architectures. In th is report we present PARLGRAN, an approach that maximizes performance of application task chai ns by selecting a suitable granularity of data-parallelism for individual data parallel tasks. Ou r approach focusses on reconfiguration delay overhead and placement-related issues (such as fragm entation) while selecting individual data-parallelism granularity as an integral part of simult aneous scheduling and placement. As a key step to validating our proposed heuristic, we have addit ionally formulated (and implemented) an exact strategy (ILP). We demonstrate that our heuristic g enerates high-quality schedules by: (a) comparing our heuristic with the exact strategy on small tes tca es (b) a very large set of synthetic experiments with over a thousand data-points where we compa re our results with a simpler strategy that tries to statically maximize data-parallelism, i.e., does not consider the overheads and constraints associated with partial RTR (c) a detailed applica tion case study of JPEG encoding. The detailed case-study confirms that blindly maximizing dataparallelism can result in schedules even worse than that generated by a simple (but RTR-aware) approa ch blivious to data-parallelism. Last, but very important, we demonstrate that our approach i s well-suited for true on-demand computing – detailed execution time estimates of our heuris tic indicate that the heuristic execution time is comparable to hardware task execution time making it feasible to integrate our heuristic in
Additive effect of polymorphisms in the β2‐adrenoceptor and NADPH oxidase p22 phox genes contributes to the loss of estimated glomerular filtration rate in Chinese

Because increased oxidative stress may mediate the detrimental actions of enhanced sympathetic nervous activity on renal function and vice versa, we investigated the effect of the polymorphic Arg16Gly in the β2‐adrenoceptor (ADRB2) gene, Trp64Arg in the β3‐adrenoceptor (ADRB3) gene and C242T in the NADPH oxidase p22phox (CYBA) gene on estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in a Chinese population. Initially recruited from different outpatient services of HeBei General Hospital in northern China, 668 individuals were finally included in the study, with complete demographic information. Laboratory tests were performed and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was derived from the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation for the Chinese population. Plasma noradrenaline levels and genotype were determined by HPLC and the TaqMan method, respectively. Only across the Arg16Gly polymorphism did eGFR show significant difference: it was lower in individuals with the Gly16Gly variation, who also had the highest plasma noradrenaline levels. This polymorphism remained a significant determinant of eGFR after multivariate analysis. Of importance, the multifactor dimensionality reduction method further detected a significant synergism between the Arg16Gly and C242T polymorphisms in reducing eGFR. These observations clarify the effects of the studied polymorphisms on eGFR and exemplify gene–gene interactions influencing renal function.
Prelexically-driven perceptual retuning of phoneme boundaries

Listeners heard an ambiguous /f-s/ in nonword contexts where only one of /f/ or /s/ was legal (e.g., frul/*srul or *fnud/snud). In later categorisation of a phonetic continuum from /f/ to /s/, their category boundaries had shifted; hearing -rul led to expanded /f/ categories, -nud expanded /s/. Thus phonotactic sequence information alone induces perceptual retuning of phoneme category boundaries; lexical access is not required.
The Fed's Conduct of Monetary Policy: Has it Changed and Does it Matter?

This paper investigates changes in the conduct of U.S. monetary policy. Monetary policy is modeled in the context of the Bernanke-Mihov (1998) structural VAR (SVAR) extended to allow explicitly for the Fed's forward looking behavior. This is achieved by including its real-time forecasts on inflation and unemployment (the "Greenbook" forecasts). Stability tests that exploit the SVAR identifying restriction indicate significant time variation. Since a central goal is to characterize the economic relevance of the identified changes, the paper shows how the estimation of a flexible time varying parameter model can be implemented in a SVAR using the median-unbiased estimation procedure developed by Stock and Watson (1998). The results suggest an important shift towards a greater response to inflation relative to unemployment, which might have been accompanied by an increase in its targeted level. While the bulk of these changes were brought about under Volcker, they fail to explain the high interest rates and the recession of the early 80's. Together with the results obtained for the period around the 1990 recession, changes in monetary policy, defined in the strict context of the identified policy rule, do not appear to be important in the explanation of business cycle fluctuations.
Ecophysiological roles of abaxial anthocyanins in a perennial understorey herb from temperate deciduous forests

Red pigmentation in the lower surface of leaves is a common phenomenon in herb species growing in temperate and tropical forests. Nevertheless, its function is still not completely understood. We studied this process of reddening in the leaves of Saxifraga hirsuta living in a beech forest, to establish its relation with environmental factors and its potential function. We observed that the reddening occurs during autumn and that it strongly reduces the amount of light that can pass through the leaf. The dark environment generated underneath might play a role in the biotic interactions by inhibiting vital processes of competitors.
Workarounds to Computer Access in Healthcare Organizations: You Want My Password or a Dead Patient?

Workarounds to computer access in healthcare are sufficiently common that they often go unnoticed. Clinicians focus on patient care, not cybersecurity. We argue and demonstrate that understanding workarounds to healthcare workers' computer access requires not only analyses of computer rules, but also interviews and observations with clinicians. In addition, we illustrate the value of shadowing clinicians and conducing focus groups to understand their motivations and tradeoffs for circumvention. Ethnographic investigation of the medical workplace emerges as a critical method of research because in the inevitable conflict between even well-intended people versus the machines, it's the people who are the more creative, flexible, and motivated. We conducted interviews and observations with hundreds of medical workers and with 19 cybersecurity experts, CIOs, CMIOs, CTO, and IT workers to obtain their perceptions of computer security. We also shadowed clinicians as they worked. We present dozens of ways workers ingeniously circumvent security rules. The clinicians we studied were not "black hat" hackers, but just professionals seeking to accomplish their work despite the security technologies and regulations.
The Optimal Innovation Decision for an Innovative Supplier in a Supply Chain

We study a supply chain consisting of an upstream supplier who invests in innovation, which increases the value of products to end users, and downstream manufacturers who sell to end users. We analyze the supplier’s optimal innovation decision and show that the supplier’s optimal innovation level is higher with the wholesale price contract than with bilateral bargaining. Moreover, with the wholesale price contract, the downstream competition does not affect the supplier’s optimal innovation decision. However, if the manufacturers and the supplier bargain, the supplier’s optimal innovation level under the downstream competition can be either higher or lower than that under the downstream monopoly, depending on the cost structure. Furthermore, these results are robust under the presence of complementary components suppliers. We also demonstrate that the supplier is better off using the wholesale price contract than using bilateral bargaining. Interestingly, the manufacturers’ profits can also be higher with the wholesale price contract in some cases. In the bargaining case, surprisingly, we find that under certain conditions, the downstream competition hurts the supplier. Lastly, we show that a horizontal merger between two manufacturers may not always benefit them.
E-Cadherin as a diagnostic biomarker in breast cancer

Background: E-cadherin is expressed in most normal epithelial tissues. Selective loss of E-cadherin can cause dedifferentiation and invasiveness in human carcinomas, leading E-cadherin to be classified as a tumor suppressor. Loss of E-cadherin has been demonstrated in invasive lobular carcinoma of the breast, but the relationship between E-cadherin expression and breast cancer histopathology and prognosis is less clear. Aim: Our objective was to assess loss of E-cadherin as a diagnostic breast cancer biomarker and as an aid to the sub-classification of invasive breast cancer. We also correlated the loss of expression of E-cadherin with various clinical and pathologic prognostic factors. Material and Methods: Breast cancer specimens after modified radical mastectomy were obtained from women who underwent surgery at Grant Medical College and Sir J.J Group of Hospitals, Mumbai, India between May 2007 and October 2010. We stained 276 breast cancers specimens with monoclonal antibodies to E-cadherin. The breast cancers were classified by histopathological type. Results: A statistical correlation of E-cadherin loss with a positive diagnosis of invasive lobular carcinoma was found, but there was no correlation with any prognostic tumor variables. A negative E-cadherin stain was a sensitive and specific biomarker to confirm the diagnosis of invasive lobular carcinoma (specificity 97.7%; negative predictive value 96.8%; sensitivity 88.1%; and positive predictive value 91.2%). Positive E-cadherin expression was also associated with tubulolobular carcinomas. Conclusions: E-cadherin immunohistochemistry is helpful in classifying breast cancer cases with indeterminate histopathologic features. E-cadherin loss is uncommon in non-lobular carcinomas but shows no correlation to currently established prognostic variables.
2 Volatility Regimes in Central and Eastern European Countries ’ Exchange Rates 1

The choice of an exchange rate arrangement affects exchange rate volatility: higher flexibility goes ahead with increasing volatility and vice versa (Flood and Rose 1995, 1999). We investigate five Central and Eastern European countries between 1994 and 2004. The analysis merges two approaches, the GARCH-model (Bollerslev 1986) and the Markov SwitchingModel (Hamilton 1989). We discover switches between high and low volatility regimes consistent with policy settings for Hungary, Poland and, less pronounced, the Czech Republic, whereas Romania and Slovakia do not show a clear picture. For helpful suggestions I would like to thank Olaf Hübler, Lukas Menkhoff and two anonymous referees. Department of Financial Economics, Ghent University, W. Wilsonplein 5D, 9000 Ghent, Belgium, Tel. : +32-(0)9 264 89 79, Fax: +32-(0)9 264 89 95, Michael.Froemmel@UGent.be.
Detection of Escherichia coli O104 in the Feces of Feedlot Cattle by a Multiplex PCR Assay Designed To Target Major Genetic Traits of the Virulent Hybrid Strain Responsible for the 2011 German Outbreak

ABSTRACT A multiplex PCR was designed to detect Escherichia coli O104:H4, a hybrid pathotype of Shiga toxigenic and enteroaggregative E. coli, in cattle feces. A total of 248 fecal samples were tested, and 20.6% were positive for serogroup O104. The O104 isolates did not carry genes characteristic of the virulent hybrid strain.
Improved evaluation of cover crop species by growth and root factors

Cover crops are plants that are integrated in the crop rotation between two cash crops. The main objectives of cover cropping are organic matter input, mitigation of nitrate leaching and reduction of soil erosion. These benefits will only be achieved efficiently if the selected cover crop species are adapted to local environmental conditions and appropriate for the defined agro-ecological target. Therefore, a main limitation in cover cropping is the lack of a comprehensive species description. An improved cover crop characterization could be achieved with quantitative parameters derived from growth functions. Here, we show the use of this approach to assess plant traits relevant for erosion control by cover cropping. An experiment with four cover crop species (phacelia, vetch, rye and mustard) was performed over two years at a semi-arid site in Eastern Austria. Canopy cover was measured four times over the vegetation period. Root length density measurements were made to 40 cm soil depth before winter. Canopy dynamics were characterized by parameters from the asymptotic Gompertz function and from an extended logistic model that includes a parameter for decay after maximum coverage. Our results show that vetch had the lowest early vigor after dry conditions at sowing, with +45% longer time to attain maximum growth rate (parameter tmax) than the other species. Drought during the later autumn growing period led to the highest reduction in maximum canopy cover (parameter ymax) for phacelia (−41%). The rooting pattern was assessed by parameters from the exponential distribution function of Gerwitz and Page. The most intense rooting near the soil surface (parameter L0) was found for phacelia (9.7 cm cm−3). Vetch had the lowest L0 (4.6 cm cm−3) but highest root allocation to deeper soil layers. Mustard combined high average values in ymax (76%) and L0 (6.3 cm cm−3) with a stable growth over both years. The potential strengths of phacelia and vetch were more dependent on the particular year. Rye showed a stably high L0 (8.6 cm cm−3), but had only a low average value of ymax (55.1%). The quantitative parameter sets we derived for plant traits required for erosion control improved cover crop comparison and analysis of their local adaptation. Based on this extended species description our approach allows a better evaluation of cover crops and can be used for the optimization of management and decision support.
Efficient Learning with a Family of Nonconvex Regularizers by Redistributing Nonconvexity

The use of convex regularizers allows for easy optimization, though they often produce biased estimation and inferior prediction performance. Recently, nonconvex regularizers have attracted a lot of attention and outperformed convex ones. However, the resultant optimization problem is much harder. In this paper, for a large class of nonconvex regularizers, we propose to move the nonconvexity from the regularizer to the loss. The nonconvex regularizer is then transformed to a familiar convex regularizer, while the resultant loss function can still be guaranteed to be smooth. Learning with the convexified regularizer can be performed by existing efficient algorithms originally designed for convex regularizers (such as the proximal algorithm, Frank-Wolfe algorithm, alternating direction method of multipliers and stochastic gradient descent). Extensions are made when the convexified regularizer does not have closed-form proximal step, and when the loss function is nonconvex, nonsmooth. Extensive experiments on a variety of machine learning application scenarios show that optimizing the transformed problem is much faster than running the state-of-the-art on the original problem.
Immunity Promotes Virulence Evolution in a Malaria Model

Evolutionary models predict that host immunity will shape the evolution of parasite virulence. While some assumptions of these models have been tested, the actual evolutionary outcome of immune selection on virulence has not. Using the mouse malaria model, Plasmodium chabaudi, we experimentally tested whether immune pressure promotes the evolution of more virulent pathogens by evolving parasite lines in immunized and nonimmunized (“naïve”) mice using serial passage. We found that parasite lines evolved in immunized mice became more virulent to both naïve and immune mice than lines evolved in naïve mice. When these evolved lines were transmitted through mosquitoes, there was a general reduction in virulence across all lines. However, the immune-selected lines remained more virulent to naïve mice than the naïve-selected lines, though not to immunized mice. Thus, immune selection accelerated the rate of virulence evolution, rendering parasites more dangerous to naïve hosts. These results argue for further consideration of the evolutionary consequences for pathogen virulence of vaccination.