Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF GREEN CANE HARVESTING VERSUS BURNING ON THE SIZE AND DIVERSITY OF THE SOIL MICROBIAL COMMUNITY

The long-term effects of green cane harvesting with trash retention, compared with burning, on soil microbiological properties were evaluated using data from the long-term trash management trial at Mount Edgecombe (BT1). Total organic C content was greater under green cane harvesting than burning in the surface 0-10 cm layer of soil. Microbial biomass C was greater under green cane harvesting than burning to a depth of 30 cm. Both K 2 SO 4 -extractable C and light fraction C were also increased markedly by trash retention to a depth of 30 cm reflecting the downward leaching of soluble C and/or deposition of particulate C at depth below the trash blanket. This demonstrates the value of these labile C fractions as indicators of changes in soil C. Soil community structure was examined based on extraction and identification of phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA). Data from PLFA composition of soils were subjected to principal component analysis which accounted for over 78% of the total variance. Trash retention markedly changed the composition of the microbial community compared with burning. Fertiliser applications had very little effect on the community composition in the burnt treatments but changed the community greatly where trash was returned. The total quantity of PLFAs extracted was greater under trashed than burnt treatments reflecting the larger microbial biomass under trash retention. Principal component analysis was also used to separate PLFA profiles from soils under long-term burnt sugarcane, maize , annual ryegrass, kikuyu grass and undisturbed veld. Results clearly showed that the community composition under conventional sugarcane production where burning is practiced prior to harvest was very different from that under the other land management practices.
Coding for arbitrarily varying remote sources

We study a lossy source coding problem for a memoryless remote source. The source data is broadcast over an arbitrarily varying channel (AVC) controlled by an adversary. One output of the AVC is received as input at the encoder, and another output is received as side information at the decoder. The adversary is assumed to know the source data non-causally, and can employ randomized jamming strategies arbitrarily correlated to the source data. The decoder reconstructs the source data from the encoded message and the side information. We prove upper and lower bounds on the adversarial rate distortion function for the source under randomized coding. Furthermore, we present some interesting special cases of our general setup where the above bounds coincide, and thus, provide their complete rate distortion function characterization.
Comparison of Social Support and Self-Injurious Behaviors in Students with and without Learning Disabilities

Background: Students with learning disabilities, in comparison to normal students, have relatively more problems. Objectives: The aim of the present study is to compare the social support, aggression and self-injurious behaviors in students with and without learning disabilities. Patients and Methods: All students with and without learning disabilities from secondary schools of Ardabil, Iran constitute the research population. Sixty students were randomly selected by cluster sampling. Raven’s IQ Test, social support scale, aggression questionnaire and deliberate self-harm inventory were utilized for data collection. The MANOVA test also was applied for data analyzing. Results: The results of the present study indicated that students with learning disabilities, in comparison with normal students, have a inferior perceived social support and a higher rate of aggression as well as a higher self-injurious behavior. Analyses of regression also delineated that social support, physical aggression and verbal aggression can predict self-injurious behaviors in students with learning disabilities. Conclusions: Low social support and high aggression are two important factors which affect self-injurious behaviors in students with learning disabilities.
Stromal Cell-Derived Factor 1 Regulates the Actin Organization of Chondrocytes and Chondrocyte Hypertrophy

Stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF-1/CXCL12/PBSF) plays important roles in the biological and physiological functions of haematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells. This chemokine regulates the formation of multiple organ systems during embryogenesis. However, its roles in skeletal development remain unclear. Here we investigated the roles of SDF-1 in chondrocyte differentiation. We demonstrated that SDF-1 protein was expressed at pre-hypertrophic and hypertrophic chondrocytes in the newly formed endochondral callus of rib fracture as well as in the growth plate of normal mouse tibia by immunohistochemical analysis. Using SDF-1−/− mouse embryo, we histologically showed that the total length of the whole humeri of SDF-1−/− mice was significantly shorter than that of wild-type mice, which was contributed mainly by shorter hypertrophic and calcified zones in SDF-1−/− mice. Actin cytoskeleton of hypertrophic chondrocytes in SDF-1−/− mouse humeri showed less F-actin and rounder shape than that of wild-type mice. Primary chondrocytes from SDF-1−/− mice showed the enhanced formation of philopodia and loss of F-actin. The administration of SDF-1 to primary chondrocytes of wild-type mice and SDF-1−/− mice promoted the formation of actin stress fibers. Organ culture of embryonic metatarsals from SDF-1−/− mice showed the growth delay, which was recovered by an exogenous administration of SDF-1. mRNA expression of type X collagen in metatarsals and in primary chondrocytes of SDF-1−/− mouse embryo was down-regulated while the administration of SDF-1 to metatarsals recovered. These data suggests that SDF-1 regulates the actin organization and stimulates bone growth by mediating chondrocyte hypertrophy.
Supporting Self-Adaptation via Quantitative Verification and Sensitivity Analysis at Run Time

Modern software-intensive systems often interact with an environment whose behavior changes over time, often unpredictably. The occurrence of changes may jeopardize their ability to meet the desired requirements. It is therefore desirable to design software in a way that it can self-adapt to the occurrence of changes with limited, or even without, human intervention. Self-adaptation can be achieved by bringing software models and model checking to run time, to support perpetual automatic reasoning about changes. Once a change is detected, the system itself can predict if requirements violations may occur and enable appropriate counter-actions. However, existing mainstream model checking techniques and tools were not conceived for run-time usage; hence they hardly meet the constraints imposed by on-the-fly analysis in terms of execution time and memory usage. This paper addresses this issue and focuses on perpetual satisfaction of non-functional requirements, such as reliability or energy consumption. Its main contribution is the description of a mathematical framework for run-time efficient probabilistic model checking. Our approach statically generates a set of verification conditions that can be efficiently evaluated at run time as soon as changes occur. The proposed approach also supports sensitivity analysis, which enables reasoning about the effects of changes and can drive effective adaptation strategies.
Performance and sensitivity analysis of INDICA: INteraction-Free DIsplay CAlibration for Optical See-Through Head-Mounted Displays

An issue in AR applications with Optical See-Through Head-Mounted Display (OST-HMD) is to correctly project 3D information to the current viewpoint of the user. Manual calibration methods give the projection as a black box which explains observed 2D-3D relationships well (Fig. 1). Recently, we have proposed an INteraction-free DIsplay CAlibration method (INDICA) for OST-HMD, utilizing camera-based eye tracking [7]. It reformulates the projection in two ways: a black box with an actual eye model (Recycle Setup), and a combination of an explicit display model and an eye model (Full Setup). Although we have shown the former performs more stably than a repeated SPAAM calibration, we could not yet prove whether the same holds for the Full Setup. More importantly, it is still unclear how the error in the calibration parameters affects the final results. Thus, the users can not know how accurately they need to estimate each parameter in practice. We provide: (1) the fact that the Full Setup performs as accurately as the Recycle Setup under a marker-based display calibration, (2) an error sensitivity analysis for both SPAAM and INDICA over the on-/offline parameters, and (3) an investigation of the theoretical sensitivity on an OST-HMD justified by the real measurements.
Modulation of foregut synaptic activity controls resorption of molting fluid during larval molts of the moth Manduca sexta

SUMMARY We examined the role of the foregut in the resorption of molting fluid (MF) from the exuvial space during the last larval–larval molt of the moth Manduca sexta. In intermolt larvae, the activity of the foregut is characterized by robust peristaltic contractions. With the onset of the molt, MF is secreted into the exuvial space where it digests and weakens the old cuticle. The appearance of MF in the exuvial space is accompanied by a dramatic reduction in the amplitude of the foregut contractions. Foregut peristalsis returned about halfway through the molt, followed shortly by the appearance of MF in the gut. These observations suggested that larvae use their foreguts to remove MF from the exuvial space. Animals whose foreguts were surgically inactivated did not resorb their MF and most failed to successfully shed their old cuticles. The reduction in foregut motility at the onset of the molt was correlated with a sharp decline in the amplitude of the excitatory junctional potentials. With the onset of the molt there was also a decline in the number of presynaptic terminals on the foregut that loaded with the activity-dependent dye FM1-43. In the second half of the molt, the appearance of MF in the foregut and the return of foregut motility was correlated with an increase in FM1-43 loading. These data reveal that during a larval–larval molt, vesicle release and/or recycling of the presynaptic endings on the foregut muscles is modulated to assure the proper timing of MF resorption.
Treatment-resistant self-mutilation, tics, and obsessive-compulsive disorder in neuroacanthocytosis: a mouth guard as a therapeutic approach.

Sir: The term neuroacanthocytosis describes a group of phenotypically and genetically heterogeneous disorders associated with choreatic movements, psychiatric abnormalities, and cognitive decline. 1,2 Patients with neuroacanthocytosis may develop dementia, 3 schizophrenia, 4,5 obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), 5,6 tourettism, 7 and self-mutilation. 8 We present the case of a patient with neuroacanthocytosis who developed treatment-resistant oral self-mutilation behaviors, phonic tics, OCD, and a severe lack of initiative (i.e., abulia). This syndrome responded to the regular use of a mouth guard, an unusual therapeutic approach for this complex psychiatric phenotype. Case report. Mr. A, a 32-year-old white physical therapist, sought diagnostic evaluation at our center in a state of severe undernourishment. He had a 3-year history of progressive self-neglect, lack of initiative, and morbid adherence to rules and schedules. He persistently worried about missing the " correct time " for taking his meals and medication. The presence of complex vocal tics (including slurs, grunting, squeaking, and sucking sounds) and severe lip-biting behaviors was a major complaint, which was also disclosed during his mental status assessment. In a desperate attempt to avoid self-mutilation, Mr. A kept a scarf in his mouth several times a day. Blood examinations disclosed acanthocytes and increased muscle creatine phosphokinase. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed atrophy of both caudate nuclei. Electromyography and nerve conduction studies evidenced a mononeuropathy multi-plex of axonal type. Unfortunately, no chorein Western Blot testing 2 was available at the time of his evaluation. Given the severity of Mr. A's oral self-injurious behaviors, this condition took relative precedence over other psychiatric symptoms and was considered a primary treatment target. Mr. A was initially treated with fluoxetine, up to 60 mg/day, for more than a year, along with quetiapine, 300 mg/day (for 8 weeks), clozapine, 200 mg/day (for 8 weeks), topiramate, 75 mg/day (for 6 weeks), and clonazepam, up to 6 mg/day (for 12 months), all employed as augmentation strategies for fluoxetine in a sequential fashion and after adequate periods of treatment. Unfortunately , though, Mr. A reported no significant improvement of his symptoms. In an attempt to treat Mr. A's drug-resistant self-mutilation, a soft mouth guard was employed to prevent the destruction of perioral soft tissues. Surprisingly, not only did this strategy result in the remission of self-injurious behaviors but it also improved other psychiatric symptoms, including phonic tics, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and lack of initiative. After using his mouth guard, Mr. A resumed several of his daily activities …
Maximum Satisfiability Using Cores and Correction Sets

Core-guided MAXSAT algorithms dominate other methods in solving industrial MAXSAT problems. In this work, we propose a new efficient algorithm that is guided by correction sets and cores. At every iteration, the algorithm obtains a correction set or a core, which is then used to rewrite the formula using incremental and succinct transformations. We theoretically show that correction sets and cores have complementary strengths and empirically demonstrate that their combination leads to an efficient MAXSAT solver that outperforms state-of-the-art WPMS solvers on the 2014 Evaluation on industrial instances.
The Paradoxes of MTBE

A widely used gasoline additive, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), has been controversial, in part because of concerns about potential inhalation health effects and more recently because of added concerns about water contamination. Although many of the issues related to MTBE have not been fully resolved, several apparent paradoxes can be discerned, including the fact that something intended to improve air quality is now seen as a threat to water quality. Among the lessons that can be derived from the MTBE experience is the value of a comprehensive understanding of the potential risk-benefit tradeoffs of different fuels and fuel additives.
On the non-Gaussian fluctuations of the giant cluster for percolation on random recursive trees

We consider a Bernoulli bond percolation on a random recursive tree of size $n\gg 1$, with supercritical parameter $p_n=1-c/\ln n$ for some $c>0$ fixed. It is known that with high probability, there exists then a unique giant cluster of size $G_n\sim e^{-c}n$, and it follows from a recent result of Schweinsberg that $G_n$ has non-Gaussian fluctuations. We provide an explanation of this by analyzing the effect of percolation on different phases of the growth of recursive trees. This alternative approach may be useful for studying percolation on other classes of trees, such as for instance regular trees.
Increased morbidity odds ratio of primary liver cancer and cirrhosis of the liver among vinyl chloride monomer workers.

OBJECTIVES: To determine if there is an increased risk of admission to hospital for various diseases among vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) workers. METHODS: 2224 workers with occupational exposure to VCM were identified for occurrence of disease based on a search of hospital computer files on labour insurance. These data were compared with those of workers manufacturing optical equipment and motorcycles from 1 January 1985 to 31 March 1994. Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases were used as reference diseases, and the age adjusted morbidity odds ratio (MOR) was calculated. RESULTS: A significantly increased risk of admission to hospital among VCM workers due to primary liver cancer (MOR 4.5-6.5), cirrhosis of the liver (MOR 1.7-2.1), and other chronic diseases (MOR 1.5-2.0) was found. There were eight cases of primary liver cancer, all with heavy previous exposure to VCM. Another four cases of hepatoma in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) workers were found in the death registry. Ten out of 11 cases of hepatoma, with detailed medical information, were carriers of hepatitis B virus. The average latent period (20 years) was not different from other studies. Alternative agents of primary liver cancer were largely ruled out, suggesting that the combination of hepatitis B and VCM may lead to primary liver cancer. CONCLUSION: There is an increased risk of primary liver cancer in workers exposed to VCM, although the incomplete coverage of the Labor Insurance Bureau data warrants cautious interpretation of the results. Further study exploring the synergistic effects of VCM and hepatitis B is also indicated.
Atherogenic Dyslipidemia in Patients With Transient Ischemic Attack

Background and Purpose— There is mounting evidence that atherogenic dyslipidemia (ie, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol combined with high triglyceride concentrations) is an independent predictor of high cardiovascular risk and possibly of stroke. Methods— All patients included in the SOS-TIA cohort underwent an initial standardized evaluation, including medical history, physical examination, routine blood biochemistry, and diagnostic testing, and were followed for 1 year. Lipid profile was evaluated under fasting conditions. Atherogenic dyslipidemia was defined as high-density lipoprotein cholesterol blood concentration ⩽40 mg/dL and triglycerides ≥150 mg/dL. Results— Among 1471 consecutive patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) or minor stroke, overall prevalence of atherogenic dyslipidemia was 5.8%, but varied from 4.6% to 11.1%, depending on final diagnosis (possible TIA or TIA with a cerebral ischemic lesion, respectively). Prevalence of atherogenic dyslipidemia was independently associated with male sex, diabetes, and body mass index, but not with ABCD2 score. Atherogenic dyslipidemia also strongly associated with symptomatic intracranial stenosis ≥50% (adjusted odds ratio, 2.77; 95% CI, 1.38–5.55), but not with symptomatic extracranial stenosis ≥50% (adjusted odds ratio, 1.20; 95% CI, 0.64–2.26). Despite appropriate secondary prevention treatment, 90-day stroke risk was greater in patients with versus without atherogenic dyslipidemia (4.8% versus 1.7%; P=0.04). Conclusions— The atherogenic dyslipidemia phenotype in patients with TIA may be associated with intracranial artery stenosis and higher risk of early recurrent stroke. Additional data are needed to confirm these findings and to assess the best way to reduce important residual risk in such patients.
Design Implications of Casual Health Visualization on Tangible Displays

This paper reports on a case study that investigated the potential of tangible displays as a means to communicate data-driven facts to lay people. We developed an interactive application that communicated health-related correlations on a set of Sifteo displays, and compared it to a traditional screen-based graphical interface conveying identical information. Our user experience and insight analysis study showed that the tangible interface allowed for more personal, reflective insights, whereas the graphical user interface was considered more efficient in time. These findings were confirmed during an in-the-wild observation study in a hospital waiting room. We therefore formulated a set of design implications for the future interaction design of casual, tangible visualizations on small screens.
Using the large scale quasar clustering to constrain flat quintessential universes

Aims. We search for the most suitable set of cosmological parameters that describes the observable universe. The search includes the possibility of quintessential flat universes, i.e., the analysis is restricted to the determination of the dimensionless matter density and the quintessential parameters, $\Omega_{\rm M}$ and w Q , respectively. Methods. Our study is focused on comparing the position of features at large scales in the density fluctuation field at different redshifts by analysing the evolution of the quasar two-point correlation function. We trace the density field fluctuations at large scales using a large and homogeneous sample of quasars (~38 000 objects with 0.3 ≲ z ≤ 2.4 and a median z = 1.45) drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release Six. The analysis relies on the assumption that, in the linear regime, the length scale of a particular feature should remain fixed at different times of the universe for the proper cosmological model. Our study does not assume any particular comoving length scale at which a feature should be found, but intends to perform a comparison for a wide range of scales instead. This is done by quantifying the amount of overlap among the quasar correlation functions at different times using a cross-correlation technique. Results. The most likely cosmological model is $\Omega_{\rm M}$ = 0.21 ± 0.02 and w Q = -0.93 ± 0.04, in agreement with previous studies. These constraints are the result of a good overall agreement of the correlation function at different redshifts over scales ~100–300 h -1 Mpc. Conclusions. Under the assumption of a flat cosmological model, our results indicate that we are living in a low density universe with a quintessential parameter greater than the one corresponding to a cosmological constant. This work also demonstrates that a large homogeneous quasar sample can be used to tighten the constraints upon cosmological parameters.
Animal models of spontaneous activity in the healthy and impaired auditory system

Spontaneous neural activity in the auditory nerve fibers and in auditory cortex in healthy animals is discussed with respect to the question: Is spontaneous activity noise or information carrier? The studies reviewed suggest strongly that spontaneous activity is a carrier of information. Subsequently, I review the numerous findings in the impaired auditory system, particularly with reference to noise trauma and tinnitus. Here the common assumption is that tinnitus reflects increased noise in the auditory system that among others affects temporal processing and interferes with the gap-startle reflex, which is frequently used as a behavioral assay for tinnitus. It is, however, more likely that the increased spontaneous activity in tinnitus, firing rate as well as neural synchrony, carries information that shapes the activity of downstream structures, including non-auditory ones, and leading to the tinnitus percept. The main drivers of that process are bursting and synchronous firing, which facilitates transfer of activity across synapses, and allows formation of auditory objects, such as tinnitus.
Logic + control: An example

We present a Prolog program ‐ the SAT solver of Howe and King ‐ as a (pure) logic program with added control. The control consists of a selection rule (delays of Prolog) and pruning the search space. We construct the logic program together with proofs of its correctness and completeness, with respect to a formal specification. Correctness and termination of the logic program are inherited by the Prolog program; the change of selection rule preserves completeness. We prove that completeness is also preserved by one case of pruning; for the other an informal justification is presented. For proving correctness we use a method, which should be well known but is often neglected. For proving program completeness we employ a new, simpler variant of a method published previously. We point out usefulness of approximate specifications. We argue that the proof methods correspond to natural declarative thinking about programs, and that they can be used, formally or informally, in every-day programming. 1998 ACM Subject Classification D.1. 6 Logic Programming, F.3. 1 Specifying and Verifying and Reasoning about Programs, D.2. 4 Software/Program Verification, D.2. 5 Testing and Debugging