Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Network topology measures

Networks have emerged as a unifying modeling tool across a diverse set of problem domains. Evolving methods for the analysis and design of networks must be able to address network performance in the face of increasing demands, contain and control local network disturbances, and efficiently determine network topologies that accurately represent the underlying process. Central to this effort is the identification of network‐invariant functions that measure relevant topological features such as connectivity and sparsity. Results concerning network topology measures and their relationship to global and local network structures are surveyed. WIREs Comp Stat 2011 3 557–565 DOI: 10.1002/wics.180
Human motion analysis: a review

Human motion analysis is receiving increasing attention from computer vision researchers. This interest is motivated by a wide spectrum of applications, such as athletic performance analysis, surveillance, man-machine interfaces, content-based image storage and retrieval, and video conferencing. The paper gives an overview of the various tasks involved in motion analysis of the human body. The authors focus on three major areas related to interpreting human motion: 1) motion analysis involving human body parts, 2) tracking of human motion using single or multiple cameras, and 3) recognizing human activities from image sequences. Motion analysis of human body parts involves the low-level segmentation of the human body into segments connected by joints, and recovers the 3D structure of the human body using its 2D projections over a sequence of images. Tracking human motion using a single or multiple camera focuses on higher-level processing, in which moving humans are tracked without identifying specific parts of the body structure. After successfully matching the moving human image from one frame to another in image sequences, understanding the human movements or activities comes naturally, which leads to a discussion of recognizing human activities. The review is illustrated by examples.
Age-related Changes in the Sirtuin1-NFE2-related Factor 2 Signaling System in the Kidney

목적: 노화에 따른 변화는 산화스트레스가 주요 역할을 하며 SIRT1과 Nrf2가 관여하여 조절하는 것으로 알려져 있다. 이에 본 연구에서는 항산화 효소와 SIRT1-Nrf2의 관계에 의한 신장의 변화를 관찰하였다. 방법: 본 실험에서는 2, 12, 24개월의 C57BL/6 수컷 마우스를 이용하여 신장 기능, 조직학적 변화, 산화스트레스 및 SIRT1-Nrf2 신호전달 변화를 관찰하였다. 결과: 24개월군에서 알부민뇨가 증가되었으며, 크레아티닌 청소율은 12개월군에 비해 24개월군에서 감소되었다. 조직학적 변화에서 사구체 혈관 간세포질과 세뇨관 간질 섬유화가 24개월군에서 증가되었다. 또한, 24개월군에서 산화스트레스 지표인 3-Nitrotyrosine 면역조직화학 발현과 세포사멸이 증가되었다. 24시간 소변내 8-isoprostane과 8-hy-droxy-deoxyguanosine 농도는 노화에 따라 증가하였다. 반면에 SIRT1과 핵내 Nrf2 단백질 발현은 24개월군에서 감소되었다. 항산화 효소 heme oxygenase-1과 NADPH quinone oxi-doreductase1의 발현이 24개월군에서 감소되었으며 또 다른 항산화 효소로 알려진 superoxide dismutase 2도 감소되었다. 결론: SIRT1의 발현이 노화에 따라 감소됨을 증명하였으며 이 결과는 Nrf2를 포함한 SIRT1의 하위분자들의 발현에 관여하여 산화스트레스를 유도하였다. 이러한 신호 전달체계의 약물학적 조절은 신장 노화와 관련된 변화를 감소시킬 수 있을 것이다.
Distributed Fusion Architectures and Algorithms for Target Tracking

Modern surveillance systems often utilize multiple physically distributed sensors of different types to provide complementary and overlapping coverage on targets. In order to generate target tracks and estimates, the sensor data need to be fused. While a centralized processing approach is theoretically optimal, there are significant advantages in distributing the fusion operations over multiple processing nodes. This paper discusses architectures for distributed fusion, whereby each node processes the data from its own set of sensors and communicates with other nodes to improve on the estimates, The information graph is introduced as a way of modeling information flow in distributed fusion systems and for developing algorithms. Fusion for target tracking involves two main operations: estimation and association. Distributed estimation algorithms based on the information graph are presented for arbitrary fusion architectures and related to linear and nonlinear distributed estimation results. The distributed data association problem is discussed in terms of track-to-track association likelihoods. Distributed versions of two popular tracking approaches (joint probabilistic data association and multiple hypothesis tracking) are then presented, and examples of applications are given.
Knowledge Sharing and Educational Technology Acceptance in Online Academic Communities of Practice

Purpose – Online programs rely on the use of educational technology for knowledge sharing in academic virtual communities of practice (vCoPs). This poses the question as to which factors influence technology acceptance. Previous research has investigated the inter‐relationship between educational technology acceptance (ETA) and the vCoP context insufficiently. Therefore, the paper at hand aims to propose a conceptual model of ETA in the vCoP frame.Design/methodology/approach – To validate the proposed model, a correlation study was conducted in an academic vCoP at a German university. A sample of n=72 faculty members was surveyed regarding attitudes and perceptions towards knowledge sharing in vCoPs.Findings – A regression analysis confirms the expected correlation between technology use intention and corresponding behavior. Further, participation in a vCoP influences technology use intention, and, in turn, is influenced by participants' experience with technology.Research limitations/implications – Again.
Public Participation In Planning The Coal-firedPower Plant Projects In Thailand

Many coal-fired power plants in Thailand are often faced with opposition and conflict resulting from their severe environmental impacts, in particular air pollution, affecting the public living near the projects. The public has lost confidence in the environmental monitoring and mitigation plans of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) system since many ongoing projects cause severe problems to their environmental and social impacts. To handle the issue, public participation becomes a key element of the development of the power plant project since the participation process can create mutual understanding among stakeholders including engaging the public in the decisionmaking process. This research aims to evaluate the present status of public participation in development of power plant projects. The case study, the Hin Krut Coal-fired Power Plant Project was studied and analyzed. The Thai EIA legislation and EIA system were identified in the analysis with an emphasis on the opportunities of public participation, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the public participation process. The study found that the development of power plant project could be more successful where the appropriate public participation is undertaken. It also can help avert confrontation and conflicts among stakeholders. Some lessons learnt from the study are revealed for improving and promoting the public participation process in Thailand.
In situ measurements of trace gases, PM, and aerosol optical properties during the 2017 NW US wildfire smoke event

Abstract. In mid-August through mid-September of 2017 a major wildfire smoke and haze episode strongly impacted most of the NW US and SW Canada. During this period our ground-based site in Missoula, Montana, experienced heavy smoke impacts for ∼ 500 h (up to 471 µg m−3 hourly average PM2.5). We measured wildfire trace gases, PM2.5 (particulate matter ≤2.5 µm in diameter), and black carbon and submicron aerosol scattering and absorption at 870 and 401 nm. This may be the most extensive real-time data for these wildfire smoke properties to date. Our range of trace gas ratios for ΔNH3∕ΔCO and ΔC2H4∕ΔCO confirmed that the smoke from mixed, multiple sources varied in age from ∼ 2–3 h to ∼ 1–2 days. Our study-average ΔCH4∕ΔCO ratio (0.166±0.088) indicated a large contribution to the regional burden from inefficient smoldering combustion. Our ΔBC∕ΔCO ratio (0.0012±0.0005) for our ground site was moderately lower than observed in aircraft studies (∼ 0.0015) to date, also consistent with a relatively larger contribution from smoldering combustion. Our ΔBC∕ΔPM2.5 ratio (0.0095±0.0003) was consistent with the overwhelmingly non-BC (black carbon), mostly organic nature of the smoke observed in airborne studies of wildfire smoke to date. Smoldering combustion is usually associated with enhanced PM emissions, but our ΔPM2.5∕ΔCO ratio (0.126±0.002) was about half the ΔPM1. 0∕ΔCO measured in fresh wildfire smoke from aircraft (∼ 0.266). Assuming PM2.5 is dominated by PM1, this suggests that aerosol evaporation, at least near the surface, can often reduce PM loading and its atmospheric/air-quality impacts on the timescale of several days. Much of the smoke was emitted late in the day, suggesting that nighttime processing would be important in the early evolution of smoke. The diurnal trends show brown carbon (BrC), PM2.5, and CO peaking in the early morning and BC peaking in the early evening. Over the course of 1 month, the average single scattering albedo for individual smoke peaks at 870 nm increased from ∼ 0.9 to ∼ 0.96. Bscat401∕Bscat870 was used as a proxy for the size and “photochemical age” of the smoke particles, with this interpretation being supported by the simultaneously observed ratios of reactive trace gases to CO. The size and age proxy implied that the Ångström absorption exponent decreased significantly after about 10 h of daytime smoke aging, consistent with the only airborne measurement of the BrC lifetime in an isolated plume. However, our results clearly show that non-BC absorption can be important in “typical” regional haze and moderately aged smoke, with BrC ostensibly accounting for about half the absorption at 401 nm on average for our entire data set.
Hysteresis and thermodynamic properties of water sorption in ‘Malagueta’ pepper seeds

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to determine hysteresis, enthalpy, entropy, enthalpy-entropy compensation theory and Gibbs free energy for water adsorption and desorption in ‘Malagueta’ pepper seeds. Hygroscopic equilibrium moisture contents were determined by the static gravimetric method, with water activity in the range from 0.29 to 0.90 and temperatures of 30, 40 and 50 °C. The hysteresis of the ‘Malagueta’ pepper seeds reduces with the increase of temperature. Enthalpy, entropy and Gibbs free energy of adsorption and desorption increase with the reduction of the moisture content of the seeds. The enthalpy-entropy compensation theory is valid for the sorption processes. The sorption of water between seeds and the surrounding air is a non-spontaneous process.
Qualitative modelling of continuous-variable systems by means of non deterministic automata

Considers the problem of qualitative modelling of discrete-time continuous-variable dynamical systems, for which only a quantised measurement (x(k)) of the state x(k) is available. The qualitative model has to describe the qualitative trajectory x(1), x(2),. for given qualitative initial state x(0) and qualitative input sequence. First, it is shown that the qualitative trajectory of the system is ambiguous. Hence, the qualitative model has to be nondeterministic. Secondly, it is shown that nondeterministic automata provide reasonable qualitative models of the continuous-variable system. The relation between the automaton and the given system shows what knowledge about the system has to be available if the qualitative model is to be set up. Thirdly, the authors propose to use stochastic automata, which provide a means for weighting each state concerning its appearance on the qualitative trajectory of the continuous-variable system. On this basis, the set of spurious solutions, which exist for any qualitative model, can be reduced. The suitability of the model becomes obvious by designing a qualitative controller. The results are illustrated by the problem of stabilising an 'inverted pendulum'. >
Effects of the PNPLA3–SNP rs738409 on Serum Transaminase levels are modified by body mass index and alcohol consumption

For the common rs738409 C>G SNP, which is located in the patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3 (PNPLA3), a strong association between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been detected [1], approved [2-8] and expanded to an association with liver-fat content in general [8-13] and serum transaminase levels [14]. Also an association to a higher risk of progression to cirrhosis in NAFLD patients has been shown [15]. Transaminase levels, particularly of alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST), are strong indicators of hepatic steatosis [16] as well as of cardio-metabolic risks [17] and are associated with mortality even within their reference ranges [18]. Yet, a small number of studies reported gene-environment interactions for rs738409. Recently it has been shown that the G allele of rs738409 is associated with lower serum triglyceride and cholesterol levels and higher ALT levels in overweight individuals only [19]. Children with the minor G allele had more liver fat per unit omega-fat intake than major homozygous children [20]. In another study, sugar and carbohydrate intake in Hispanic children was positively related to hepatic fat fraction in GG carriers but not in CG and CC carriers [21].
Impact of anthropogenic and biogenic sources on the seasonal variation in the molecular composition of urban organic aerosols: a field and laboratory study using ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometry

Abstract. This study presents the molecular composition of organic aerosol (OA) using ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometry (Orbitrap) at an urban site in Central Europe (Zurich, Switzerland). Specific source spectra were also analysed, including samples representative of wood-burning emissions from Alpine valleys during wood-burning pollution episodes and smog chamber investigations of woodsmoke, as well as samples from Hyytiälä, which were strongly influenced by biogenic secondary organic aerosol. While samples collected during winter in Alpine valleys have a molecular composition remarkably similar to fresh laboratory wood-burning emissions, winter samples from Zurich are influenced by more aged wood-burning emissions. In addition, other organic aerosol emissions or formation pathways seem to be important at the latter location in winter. Samples from Zurich during summer are similar to those collected in Hyytiälä and are predominantly impacted by oxygenated compounds with an H∕C ratio of 1.5, indicating the importance of biogenic precursors for secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation at this location (summertime Zurich – carbon number 7.6, O:C 0.7; Hyytiälä – carbon number 10.5, O:C 0.57). We could explain the strong seasonality of the molecular composition at a typical European site by primary and aged wood-burning emissions and biogenic secondary organic aerosol formation during winter and summer, respectively. Results presented here likely explain the rather constant seasonal predominance of non-fossil organic carbon at European locations.
Digital Visibility and Its Impact upon Online Usage: Case Study of a Health Web Site

Digital visibility, a term coined by the Ciber research team at UCL, argues that use/consumption in the digital environment is not simply a function of need; it is also a function of visibility or prominence. It is a concept that describes and explains the impact of menu and topic prominence on transaction log (usage) statistics. This study repeats Ciber's digital visibility study, which was concerned with a Digital Interactive Television (DiTV) health information service, but this time the subject is a UK consumer health Web site, MedicDirect, a site attracting around a thousand users and 10,000 page views a day. Specifically the paper examines the change in use that results from increasing the prominence of two health pages – the cancer menu and cardiopulmonary resuscitation page on the Web site. The study was conducted over a three-month period when the links to the two health topics were placed on the home page and then moved and changed three times. Transactional log analysis was used to monitor the changes that occurred, the key metrics employed being number of users, number of page views, number of pages viewed in a session and number of visits made. It was found that, as predicted on the basis of our earlier results, use did indeed increase as a result of improving topic visibility. The results add further support to the findings of the initial digital visibility study.
Pragmatic issues in calculating and comparing the quantity and quality of research through rating and ranking of researchers based on peer reviews and bibliometric indicators from Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the findings of two recently published papers (Norris and Oppenheim, 2003; and Li et al., 2010). Design/methodology/approach – The findings were analysed from the practitioner's perspective about the procedures involved in calculating the indicator values and the ranks and ratings. This was done with the purpose of playing the devil's advocate, contemplating the reservations and arguments of those who do not want to use metrics based on database searches.Findings – One advantage of this project is that its results can be compared at least partially with the findings of the three earlier RAEs (although its grade classes have changed), as well as with some of the other ranking lists in library and information management areas.Originality/value – Very importantly, the authors concluded that “it would be premature in the extreme to suggest that citation‐based indicators could be used as a cost‐effective alternative to expert judgments”. This is a strong, very r.
Image-based rendering for photo-realistic visualization

Digital models of objects have long stood synonymous for 3D models with fixed textures. More recently, image-based rendering has made its way to offer an effective alternative. Rather than producing a 3D model, views are created by interpolating between images taken from many different viewpoints. The advantages are that the resulting visualizations look very realistic and that a wider range of objects can be dealt with. One can go a step further and follow a similar strategy for the illumination direction: for every reference viewpoint, now take multiple images, each with a different illumination. Again, images for novel illumination directions follow from interpolation. But there is an obvious catch in that many, many images are needed, unless at least a crude 3D shape model and preferably also a model for the surface reflectance are used to support the interpolation from more sparsely taken images. Even then, the number of images needed remains appreciable. Hence, we present a dome to efficiently capture such images. Fortunately, it is possible to generate this crude 3D model, as well as the surface reflectance characteristics’ directly from the images. We describe methods to achieve this. Also, in order to make real-time visualization possible, all critical steps of the visualization pipeline are programmed on off-the-shelf graphics hardware. The dome provides an easy to use and structured acquisition procedure. Yet, the applicability of the algorithms is not limited to structured input. The images could, for example be taken with a hand-held camera.
UV spectroscopic determination of the chlorine monoxide (ClO) / chlorine peroxide (ClOOCl) thermal equilibrium constant.

The thermal equilibrium constant between the chlorine monoxide radical (ClO) and its dimer, chlorine peroxide (ClOOCl), was determined as a function of temperature between 228 and 301K in a discharge flow apparatus using broadband UV absorption spectroscopy. A third-law fit of the equilibrium values determined from the experimental data provides the expression K eq = 2.16 × 10-27 e (8527±35 K/T) cm3 molecule-1 (1σ uncertainty). A second-law analysis of the data is in good agreement. From the slope of the van't Hoff plot in the third-law analysis, the enthalpy of formation for ClOOCl is calculated, Δ H f ° (298 K) = 130.0 ± 0.6 kJ mol-1. The equilibrium constant results from this study suggest that the uncertainties in K eq recommended in the most recent (year 2015) NASA JPL Data Evaluation can be significantly reduced.
Losses identification in water distribution networks through EnKF and ES

This study proposes a method for the identification of the spatial distribution of water losses in water distribution networks through the use of pressure head measurements. The proper identification of areas most prone to water losses reduces the costs associated with acoustic surveys both in terms of number of pipes to be examined and working time. To get the best estimate of the water losses spatial distribution, data assimilation techniques based on the Kalman Filter approach (Ensemble Kalman Filter and Ensemble Smoother) are coupled with the hydraulic network model (EPANET). The coupled model performances are investigated on the Anytown benchmark system with both a known and an unknown consumption pattern. A method to identify the most effective network monitoring locations is also proposed. Despite the fact that the method is tested on a single synthetic network, the results suggest that the tool is promising for water losses identification.