Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Toward more flood resilience: is a diversification of flood risk management strategies the way forward?

European countries face increasing flood risks due to urbanization, increase of exposure and damage potential, and the effects of climate change. In literature and in practice, it is argued that a diversification of strategies for flood risk management (FRM) - including flood risk prevention (through pro-active spatial planning), flood defense, flood risk mitigation, flood preparation and flood recovery - makes countries more flood resilient. While this thesis is plausible, it should still be empirically scrutinized. This paper aims to do this. Drawing on existing literature we operationalize the notion of "flood resilience" into three capacities: capacity to resist; capacity to absorb and recover; and capacity to transform and adapt. Based on findings from the EU FP7 project STAR-FLOOD, we explore the degree of diversification of FRM strategies and related flood risk governance arrangements at the national level in Belgium, England, France, The Netherlands, Poland and Sweden, as well as these countries' achievement in terms of the three capacities. We found that The Netherlands and to a lesser extent Belgium have a strong "capacity to resist", France a strong "capacity to absorb and recover" and especially England a high capacity to transform and adapt. Having a diverse portfolio of FRM strategies in place may be conducive to high achievements related to the capacities to absorb/recover and to transform and adapt. Hence, we conclude that diversification of FRM strategies contributes to resilience. However, the diversification thesis should be nuanced in the sense that there are different ways to be resilient. First, the three capacities imply different rationales and normative starting points for flood risk governance, the choice between which is inherently political. Second, we found trade-offs between the three capacities, e.g. being resistant seems to lower the possibility to be absorbent. Third, to explain countries' achievements in terms of resilience, the strategies' feasibility in specific physical circumstances and their fit in existing institutional contexts (appropriateness) as well as the establishment of links between strategies, through bridging mechanisms, have also been shown to be crucial factors. The paper provides much needed reflection on the implications of this diagnosis for governments, private parties and citizens who want to increase flood resilience.
Iridium oxide deposited by pulsed dc-sputtering for stimulation electrodes

A pulsed-dc reactive sputtering technique was used for iridium oxide thin-film deposition. Pulsing frequency and oxygen flow were varied over several deposition cycles, regarding stimulation electrode applications. Surface and electrochemical analysis were performed for deposition evaluation. The results show the influence of the oxygen flow to the morphology and the electrochemical properties of the reactively sputtered films. Optimal surface structure and electrochemical properties for films deposited at 0.016 mbar working pressure, 100 kHz pulse frequency and 1 µs pulsewidth can be achieved at oxygen flows around 8 to 10 sccm.
Decrypting the Mitochondrial Gene Pool of Modern Panamanians

The Isthmus of Panama–the narrow neck of land connecting the northern and southern American landmasses–was an obligatory corridor for the Paleo-Indians as they moved into South America. Archaeological evidence suggests an unbroken link between modern natives and their Paleo-Indian ancestors in some areas of Panama, even if the surviving indigenous groups account for only 12.3% of the total population. To evaluate if modern Panamanians have retained a larger fraction of the native pre-Columbian gene pool in their maternally-inherited mitochondrial genome, DNA samples and historical records were collected from more than 1500 volunteer participants living in the nine provinces and four indigenous territories of the Republic. Due to recent gene-flow, we detected ∼14% African mitochondrial lineages, confirming the demographic impact of the Atlantic slave trade and subsequent African immigration into Panama from Caribbean islands, and a small European (∼2%) component, indicating only a minor influence of colonialism on the maternal side. The majority (∼83%) of Panamanian mtDNAs clustered into native pan-American lineages, mostly represented by haplogroup A2 (51%). These findings reveal an overwhelming native maternal legacy in today's Panama, which is in contrast with the overall concept of personal identity shared by many Panamanians. Moreover, the A2 sub-clades A2ad and A2af (with the previously named 6 bp Huetar deletion), when analyzed at the maximum level of resolution (26 entire mitochondrial genomes), confirm the major role of the Pacific coastal path in the peopling of North, Central and South America, and testify to the antiquity of native mitochondrial genomes in Panama.
A New SLNR-Based Linear Precoding for Downlink Multi-User Multi-Stream MIMO Systems

Signal-to-leakage-and-noise ratio (SLNR) is a promising criterion for linear precoder design in multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. It decouples the precoder design problem and makes closed-form solution available. In this letter, we present a new linear precoding scheme by slightly relaxing the SLNR maximization for MU-MIMO systems with multiple data streams per user. The precoding matrices are obtained by a general form of simultaneous diagonalization of two Hermitian matrices. The new scheme reduces the gap between the per-stream effective channel gains, an inherent limitation in the original SLNR precoding scheme. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed precoding achieves considerable gains in error performance over the original one for multi-stream transmission while maintaining almost the same achievable sum-rate.
Investigation and application of an ultrahydrophobic hybrid-structured surface with anti-sticking character

Hybrid-structured surfaces consisting of microgrooves and nanocrystals have been modified with a self-assembled monolayer (CF3(CF)7CH2CH2SiCl3) via low-cost, mass-production and highly integrated nano/microfabrication. The microgrooves decorated with nanocrystals were patterned and fabricated on a silicon substrate to yield an ultrahydrophobic surface with an anti-sticking property. The nanocrystals were etched by means of oxidation of the silicon surface. Contours of nanostructured surfaces were inspected with a SEM and an AFM; the surface roughness and level of hydrophobicity depended on the duration of etching. Comparison of contact angles for microliter droplets on those designed surfaces showed that the hydrophobicity of the solid surfaces became amplified with nanocrystals and accurately modulated with a pattern density (f1), ranging from 112° to 173.1°, to generate a much increased gradient of Gibbs surface energy that served to transport the droplet. To characterize the anti-sticking capability of those hybrid-structured surfaces in quantity, we measured the heights and frequencies of rebounding droplets on those test surfaces with varied roughnesses. Similar to the interfacial characteristics of a lotus leaf, our designed surfaces feature superior aqueous repellence, little hysteresis and slight adhesion, such that droplets hence roll off effortlessly and bounce off repeatedly.
Worker/wrapper/makes it/faster

Much research in program optimization has focused on formal approaches to correctness: proving that the meaning of programs is preserved by the optimisation. Paradoxically, there has been comparatively little work on formal approaches to efficiency: proving that the performance of optimized programs is actually improved. This paper addresses this problem for a general-purpose optimization technique, the worker/wrapper transformation. In particular, we use the call-by-need variant of improvement theory to establish conditions under which the worker/wrapper transformation is formally guaranteed to preserve or improve the time performance of programs in lazy languages such as Haskell.
European Conference on Information Systems ( ECIS ) Summer 10-6-2011 SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION OF PPM – AN ANALYSIS OF THE GERMAN-SPEAKING BANKING INDUSTRY

Process Performance Management (PPM), whose importance has increased as a result of the recent financial and economic crisis, is one of the major management concepts regarding business processes. Especially its ability to continuously supervise process efficiency and to discover potential for process optimization strengthens its importance. Although PPM application in the banking industry is widespread, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Only a few PPM applications are based on a consistent methodology and many different individual concepts are being used. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors for PPM success. Therefore, we distinguish between factors that are implemented by banks whose PPM application can be identified as successful vs. those banks whose PPM application is less successful. The analysis is conducted using different research methods – exploratory and confirmatory ones. Confirmatory analysis is used to prove that three indicator variables (‘net benefits’, ‘user satisfaction’, and ‘acceptance’) define ‘successful application of PPM’. Exploratory analysis is applied to identify linear correlations between given variables (e.g. ’integration of PPM in corporate strategy’, or ‘complete and reasonable selection of key performance indicators’) and ‘successful application of PPM’.
Improved k–t BLAST and k–t SENSE using FOCUSS

The dynamic MR imaging of time-varying objects, such as beating hearts or brain hemodynamics, requires a significant reduction of the data acquisition time without sacrificing spatial resolution. The classical approaches for this goal include parallel imaging, temporal filtering and their combinations. Recently, model-based reconstruction methods called k–t BLAST and k–t SENSE have been proposed which largely overcome the drawbacks of the conventional dynamic imaging methods without a priori knowledge of the spectral support. Another recent approach called k–t SPARSE also does not require exact knowledge of the spectral support. However, unlike k–t BLAST/SENSE, k–t SPARSE employs the so-called compressed sensing (CS) theory rather than using training. The main contribution of this paper is a new theory and algorithm that unifies the abovementioned approaches while overcoming their drawbacks. Specifically, we show that the celebrated k–t BLAST/SENSE are the special cases of our algorithm, which is asymptotically optimal from the CS theory perspective. Experimental results show that the new algorithm can successfully reconstruct a high resolution cardiac sequence and functional MRI data even from severely limited k–t samples, without incurring aliasing artifacts often observed in conventional methods.
Heat Treatment Could Affect the Biochemical Properties of Caldesmon*

Smooth muscle caldesmon (CaD) exhibits apparent heat stability. A widely used purification procedure of CaD involves extensive heat treatment (Bretscher, A. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 12873-12880). CaD thus purified co-sediments with actin, inhibits actomyosin ATPase activity, and interacts with Ca2+/calmodulin, similarly to the unheated protein. On the other hand, heat-treated CaD binds to actin filaments in a tether-like fashion, whereas lengthwise binding dominates in vivo (Mabuchi, K., Lin, J. J.-C., and Wang, C.-L. A. (1993) J. Muscle Res. Cell Motil. 14, 54-64), suggesting that differences do exist between heat-purified CaD and the native protein. We have isolated, without heat treatment, full-length recombinant chicken gizzard CaD overexpressed in insect cells (High-Five™) using a baculovirus expression system. We found that such unheated CaD interacts with calmodulin 10 times stronger than does the heated CaD; its inhibitory action on actomyosin ATPase is reversed by a much lesser amount of calmodulin. Moreover, electron microscopic examination indicated that actin binding at the N-terminal region is more frequent in the unheated CaD, resulting in more lengthwise binding. These findings point to the fact that CaD is not entirely heat-stable; the C-terminal CaM-binding regions and the N-terminal actin-binding region are possibly affected by heat treatment.
Controlled study on the combined effect of alcohol and tobacco smoking on testosterone in alcohol-dependent men.

AIMS The present study examined the association between pre-treatment drinking and smoking parameters and plasma testosterone levels before and after alcohol withdrawal. METHODS A total of 51 alcohol-dependent men and 43 age-matched healthy men were investigated. In alcoholics, free testosterone in plasma was measured on the day of admission, after detoxification and after 6 weeks of sobriety. RESULTS While the testosterone level of alcoholic men did not differ from healthy controls at the onset of withdrawal, it was significantly higher for the alcoholics after 6 weeks of sobriety than for the healthy controls. Higher alcohol consumption and higher tobacco use before detoxification led to higher levels of testosterone concentration before and after withdrawal. CONCLUSIONS The effect of alcohol and tobacco is cumulative, with higher levels of alcohol and tobacco consumption being associated with higher levels of testosterone before and after alcohol withdrawal.
EFFECTS OF BARIUM CHLORIDE ON ELECTROLYTE TRANSPORT ACROSS ISOLATED COLONS FROM NORMAL AND ALDOSTERONE-TREATED LIZARDS (GALLOTIA GALLOTI)

Addition of BaCl2 to the solution bathing colons of normal lizards did not alter the absorptive Na+ flux, but did reverse the net absorption of Cl- to become net secretion. Cl- secretion resulted from an increase in its serosal-to-mucosal movement and was positively correlated to an increase in short-circuit current. Ba2+-induced short-circuit current was dependent on the presence of both Na+ and Cl- in the serosal medium. Ba2+-induced Cl- secretion could be reversed by serosal amiloride (10(­4) mmol l-1). Colons from acutely or chronically aldosterone-treated lizards exhibited a considerably higher short-circuit current, potential difference and net Na+ absorption than did untreated colons. Net Cl- transport was unaltered by acute treatment, but was totally abolished after chronic treatment. BaCl2 rapidly decreased the potential difference, short-circuit current and tissue conductance across colons from aldosterone-treated lizards. Net Na+ transport was markedly inhibited by Ba2+ in both acutely and chronically treated tissues, but barium did not change unidirectional or net Cl- fluxes in these. The present results support the following hypotheses: (1) that BaCl2 inhibits electrogenic Na+ absorption induced by acute or chronic aldosterone treatment and (2) that Ba2+ induces an electrogenic Cl- secretion by stimulating a basolateral Na+-dependent Cl- intake in normal but not in aldosterone-treated colons. This also suggests that aldosterone could exert an antisecretory influence in colonic epithelia.
Granger causal influence predicts BOLD activity levels in the default mode network

Although the brain areas in the default‐mode network (DMN) act in a coordinated way during rest, the activity levels in the individual areas of the DMN are highly heterogeneous. The relation between the activity levels and the pattern of causal interaction among the DMN areas remains unknown. In the present fMRI study, seven nodes of the DMN were identified and their activity levels were rank‐ordered based on a power spectral analysis of the resting blood oxygenation level‐dependent (BOLD) signals. Furthermore, the direction of information flow among these DMN nodes was determined using Granger causality analysis and graph‐theoretic methods. We found that the activity levels in these seven DMN nodes had a highly consistent hierarchical distribution, with the highest activity level in the posterior cingulate/precuneus cortices, followed by ventral medial prefrontal cortex and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, and with the lowest level in the left inferior temporal gyrus. Importantly, a significant correlation was found between the activity levels and the In‐Out degrees of information flow across the DMN nodes, suggesting that Granger causal influences can be used to predict BOLD activity levels. These findings shed light on the dynamical organization of cortical neuronal networks and may provide the basis for characterizing network disruption by brain disorders. Hum Brain Mapp, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Two alternate strategies for innate immunity to Epstein-Barr virus: One using NK cells and the other NK cells and γδ T cells

Most humans become infected with Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), which then persists for life. Infrequently, EBV infection causes infectious mononucleosis (IM) or Burkitt lymphoma (BL). Type I EBV infection, particularly type I BL, stimulates strong responses of innate immune cells. Humans respond to EBV in two alternative ways. Of 24 individuals studied, 13 made strong NK and &ggr;&dgr; T cell responses, whereas 11 made feeble &ggr;&dgr; T cell responses but stronger NK cell responses. The difference does not correlate with sex, HLA type, or previous exposure to EBV or cytomegalovirus. Cohorts of EBV+ children and pediatric IM patients include both group 1 individuals, with high numbers of &ggr;&dgr; T cells, and group 2 individuals, with low numbers. The even balance of groups 1 and 2 in the human population points to both forms of innate immune response to EBV having benefit for human survival. Correlating these distinctive responses with the progress of EBV infection might facilitate the management of EBV-mediated disease.
Bradykinesia: Why do Parkinson's patients have it and what trouble does it cause?

Patients with Parkinson’s disease have a number of motor disorders often summarized as bradykinesia, rigidity, and tremor at rest. Bradykinesia is the most important. It has never been clear that rigidity impairs movement, and tremor at rest may even go away with movement. Bradykinesia is actually a complex phenomenon with many different components, many dopamine responsive, but some not. Dissecting bradykinesia into its parts, there is bradykinesia itself, which refers to slowness, akinesia, which refers to the absence of expected movement, and hypokinesia, which refers to small movements. The concept of akinesia can include the feature of slow reaction time because the movement does not occur when expected.
An Emerging Dimension in Psychosomatic Research: The Nocebo Phenomenon in the Management of Chronic Pain

Introduction. The nocebo effect consists in delivering verbal suggestions of negative outcomes so that the subject expects clinical worsening. Several studies indicate that negative verbal suggestions may result in the amplification of pain. Amplification style is one of the most important dimensions in psychosomatic research. Methods. One group of pain therapy unit patients was evaluated at baseline and again after 6 months from the beginning of the pain treatment. Results. Only 43% of 86 chronic pain patients respond positively to the expectation of sham pain. This group shows at baseline higher pain intensity (t value: 2.72, P = 0.007) and lower cold pain threshold (t value: 2.18, P = 0.03) than the group of subjects with any response to sham pain stimulus. Somatoform dimensions influence positively the strength of nocebo response in those predisposed to it. Conclusion. Our study shows that the power of the nocebo phenomenon seems to be a dimension belonging to the investigation in psychosomatic. In contrast to what one might expect, the presence of the nocebo phenomenon affects positively pain relief and the outcome of pain treatment. In a clinical setting, and the meaning of nocebo response does not seem to be different from placebo response.
Formation of (111) Twins in BaTiO3 Ceramics

(111) twins are found frequently in the microstructure of BaTiO3 ceramics prepared by the mixed-oxide technique. The processing steps by which the (111) twins are formed are in question. A BaCO3-TiO2 powder mixture is milled and then Calcined at 1100°C for 2 h, where BaTiO3 is formed by the release of CO2. After the powder is calcined, it is analyzed by TEM. Image and diffraction pattern data are combined to prove the presence of (111) twins in powder particles; the formation of (111) twins occurred frequently during calcination. The formation mechanism of such twins and their role during anomalous grain growth are discussed.
RHYTHMIC cFOS EXPRESSION IN THE VENTRAL SUBPARAVENTRICULAR ZONE INFLUENCES GENERAL ACTIVITY RHYTHMS IN THE NILE GRASS RAT, ARVICANTHIS NILOTICUS

Circadian rhythms in behavior and physiology are very different in diurnal and nocturnal rodents. A pacemaker located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus is responsible for generating and maintaining circadian rhythms in mammals, and cellular and molecular rhythms within the SCN of diurnal and nocturnal rodents are very similar. The neural substrates determining whether an animal has a diurnal or nocturnal phase preference are thus likely to reside downstream of the SCN. The ventral subparaventricular zone (vSPVZ), a major target of the SCN that is important for the expression of circadian rhythmicity in nocturnal lab rats (Rattus norvegicus), exhibits different rhythms in cFos expression in diurnal Nile grass rats compared to lab rats. We examined the effects of chemotoxic lesions of the cFos-expressing cells of the vSPVZ on activity rhythms of grass rats to evaluate the hypothesis that these cells support diurnality in this species. Male grass rats housed in a 12:12 light:dark (LD) cycle were given bilateral injections of the neurotoxin n-methyl-D-L-aspartic acid (NMA) or vehicle aimed at the vSPVZ; cells in the SCN are resistant to NMA, which kills neurons in other brain regions, but leaves fibers of passage intact. vSPVZ-damaged grass rats exhibited highly unstable patterns of activity in constant darkness (DD) and in the LD cycle that followed. However, crepuscular bouts of activity could be seen in all animals with vSPVZ lesions. Damage to the vSPVZ reduced cFos expression in this area but not in the SCN. Using correlational analyses, we found that the number of cFos-ir cells in the vSPVZ was unrelated to several parameters of the activity rhythms during the initial post-surgical period, when animals were in LD. However, the number of cells expressing cFos in the vSPVZ was positively correlated with general activity during the subjective day relative to the subjective night when the animals were switched to DD, and this pattern persisted when a LD cycle was reinstated. Also, the number of cFos-ir cells in the vSPVZ was negatively correlated with the strength of rhythmicity in DD and the number of days required to re-entrain to a LD cycle following several weeks in DD. These data suggest that the vSPVZ emits signals important for the expression of stable diurnal activity patterns in grass rats, and that species differences in these signals may contribute to differences in behavioral and physiological rhythms of diurnal and nocturnal mammals. (Author correspondence: mschw009@umaryland.edu)