Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Arctic Springtime Mixed-Phase Cloudy Boundary Layer Observed during SHEBA.

Abstract The microphysical characteristics, radiative impact, and life cycle of a long-lived, surface-based mixed-layer, mixed-phase cloud with an average temperature of approximately −20°C are presented and discussed. The cloud was observed during the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic experiment (SHEBA) from 1 to 10 May 1998. Vertically resolved properties of the liquid and ice phases are retrieved using surface-based remote sensors, utilize the adiabatic assumption for the liquid component, and are aided by and validated with aircraft measurements from 4 and 7 May. The cloud radar ice microphysical retrievals, originally developed for all-ice clouds, compare well with aircraft measurements despite the presence of much greater liquid water contents than ice water contents. The retrieved time-mean liquid cloud optical depth of 10.1 ± 7.8 far surpasses the mean ice cloud optical depth of 0.2, so that the liquid phase is primarily responsible for the cloud’s radiative (flux) impact. The ice phase, in turn, .
The Reliability and Skill of Air Force Weather’s Ensemble Prediction Suites

Deterministic weather models are limited by the fact that they depict one of many plausible forecasts of the atmosphere. Weather models will always be prone to error, especially since sparse observations make it impossible to represent the true initial state of the atmosphere. Ensemble weather models that represent multiple plausible forecasts are the next progression of numerical weather prediction and need further operational testing. Ensembles provide estimates of the probability of certain weather forecast outcomes, which are especially valuable to decision makers who apply risk management to operational decisions. The Ensemble Prediction Suite (EPS) used at the 557th Weather Wing (557 WW) provides probability based forecasts for thousands of worldwide locations. These Point Ensemble Probability (PEP) bulletins are tailored specifically to the United States military and its criteria for operationally significant weather thresholds. During April to October 2013, a validation study by Clements was performed on the PEP bulletins from 557 WW’s Global EPS, as well as the 20 km and 4 km resolution Mesoscale EPS across 10 geographically diverse locations. The study found that the PEP products over forecast lightning, while precipitation and wind forecasts improved with increased horizontal EPS resolution. Since then, significant changes have been made to how the EPSs generate products. This study assesses additional weather parameters and compares 557 WW global and mesoscale EPS at 17 Continental United States (CONUS) locations. The PEP bulletins will be compared to climatology, METARs, and Earth Networks Total Lightning Network (ENTLN) data to generate reliability diagrams and Brier Skill Scores (BSS). Results from April to October of 2015 show iv that each EPS is underforecasting ceilings and visibility for most forecast hours at several locations. The underforecasting of ceilings is most severe at Vandenberg AFB, an area prone to frequent marine layer fog and stratus. The MEPS 4 km also shows significantly better lightning forecast skill compared to the other EPS grid scales. However, each EPS is susceptible to overforecasting lighting at night. Finally, in areas with complex terrain, wind forecasts are degraded with decreasing model resolution.
Single user multitouch on the DiamondTouch: from 2 x 1D to 2D

The DiamondTouch is a widely used multi-touch surface that offers high quality touch detection and user identification. But its underlying detection mechanism relies on two 1D projections (x and y) of the 2D surface. This creates ambiguous responses when a single user exercises multiple contacts on the surface and limits the ability of the DiamondTouch to provide full support of common multi-touch interactions such as the unconstrained translation, rotation and scaling of objects with two fingers. This paper presents our solution to reduce this limitation. Our approach is based on a precise modeling, using mixtures of Gaussians, of the touch responses on each array of antennas. This greatly reduces the shadowing of the touch locations when two or more fingers align with each other. We use these accurate touch detections to implement two 1D touch trackers and a global 2D tracker. The evaluation of our system shows that, in many situations, it can provide the complete 2D locations of at least two contacts points from the same user.
Extraction of Object-oriented Schemas from Existing Relational Databases: a Form-driven Approach

In this paper, we present our Form-driven approach for reverse engineering of relationa databases. This methodology uses the information extracted from both form structure and instances as a database reverse engineering input using an interaction with a user. Through a combination of forms structures and data instances analysis, forms relational sub-schemas and their constraints are derived. These relational sub-schemas are mapped to object sub-schemas, which will be merging into global object-oriented schema that presents the whole underlying databases. The resulting global object-oriented schema must be validated as a rich and correct representation of the application domain.
A Low-Profile Wideband Circularly Polarized Crossed-Dipole Antenna With Wide Axial-Ratio and Gain Beamwidths

A low-profile wideband circularly polarized (CP) crossed-dipole antenna that has both wide axial-ratio beamwidth (ARBW) and half-power beamwidth (HPBW) is presented in this paper. The crossed dipoles are composed of four trapezoidal patch arms, and they are fed by a pair of vacant-quarter printed rings to generate CP radiation. Four identical parasitic elements that consist of a horizontal triangle patch and a vertical metallic plate are symmetrically intervened between the crossed dipoles and the ground plane. It has been found that the parasitic elements can effectively decrease the antenna profile, increase the operating bandwidth, and simultaneously enhance the ARBW as well as the HPBW. A prototype was fabricated and measured to verify the design. The measured results show that the prototype has a low profile of $0.1\lambda _{0}$ , a −10 dB impedance bandwidth of 78.3% and a 3 dB AR bandwidth of 63.4%. Moreover, a 3 dB ARBW of more than 120° and an HPBW of more than 110° are achieved simultaneously within a wide passband of 50.7%.
Blockade of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors suppresses hippocampal long‐term potentiation in wild‐type but not ApoE4 targeted replacement mice

Both impaired nicotinic neurotransmission and the inheritance of apoE4 are associated with increased risk for Alzheimer disease (AD) as well as other deficiencies in memory‐related behavior. Long‐term potentiation (LTP), a cellular model of memory, is known to be altered by nicotinic agents. Recent studies also support an emergent role for apoE in LTP. We compared the effects of mecamylamine, a nonspecific antagonist of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), on basal synaptic transmission and LTP in hippocampal slices from wild‐type (wt) mice and targeted replacement mice expressing human apoE4 (apoE4‐TR). Field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) were recorded in the dentate gyrus (DG) in response to medial perforant path activation, and theta burst stimulation was used to induce LTP. Bath application of mecamylamine (3 μM) did not alter input–output relationships or paired pulse depression in either mouse strain. Under control conditions, apoE4‐TR mice showed significantly less LTP than wt mice (17.5% ± 3.2%, n = 9, vs. 30.1% ± 3.9%, n = 11, P < 0.02). Mecamylamine reduced LTP in wt mice to a level that was similar to control levels for apoE4‐TR mice (15.7% ± 3.4%, n = 9), whereas apoE4‐TR showed no further reduction of LTP (16.6% ± 3.7%, n = 8) by mecamylamine. Thus mice expressing human apoE4 differ from wt mice both in their capacity for LTP and in the effect on LTP of nicotinic cholinergic blockade. It is possible that nicotinic neurotransmission is already compromised in apoE4‐TR mice and, hence, that interference with the integrity of this cholinergic system represents a mechanism by which inheritance of the apoE4 allele contributes to cognitive risk. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Seesaw mechanisms for Dirac and Majorana neutrino masses

We investigate the seesaw mechanism for generally non-fine-tuned $n\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}n$ mass matrices involving both Dirac and Majorana neutrinos. We specifically show that the number of naturally light neutrinos cannot exceed half of the dimension of the considered mass matrix. Furthermore, we determine a criterion for mass matrix textures leading to light Dirac neutrinos with the seesaw mechanism. In particular, we study $4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}4$ and $6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}6$ mass matrix textures and give some examples in order to highlight these types of texture. Next, we present a model scheme based on non-Abelian and discrete symmetries satisfying the above mentioned criterion for light Dirac neutrinos. Finally, we investigate the connection between symmetries and the invariants of a mass matrix on a formal level.
Eps15 and Dap160 control synaptic vesicle membrane retrieval and synapse development

Epidermal growth factor receptor pathway substrate clone 15 (Eps15) is a protein implicated in endocytosis, endosomal protein sorting, and cytoskeletal organization. Its role is, however, still unclear, because of reasons including limitations of dominant-negative experiments and apparent redundancy with other endocytic proteins. We generated Drosophila eps15-null mutants and show that Eps15 is required for proper synaptic bouton development and normal levels of synaptic vesicle (SV) endocytosis. Consistent with a role in SV endocytosis, Eps15 moves from the center of synaptic boutons to the periphery in response to synaptic activity. The endocytic protein, Dap160/intersectin, is a major binding partner of Eps15, and eps15 mutants phenotypically resemble dap160 mutants. Analyses of eps15 dap160 double mutants suggest that Eps15 functions in concert with Dap160 during SV endocytosis. Based on these data, we hypothesize that Eps15 and Dap160 promote the efficiency of endocytosis from the plasma membrane by maintaining high concentrations of multiple endocytic proteins, including dynamin, at synapses.
Uniform confluence in concurrent computation

Indeterminism is typical for concurrent computation. If several concurrent actors compete for the same resource then at most one of them may succeed, whereby the choice of the successful actor is indeterministic. As a consequence, the execution of a concurrent program may be nonconfluent. Even worse, most observables (termination, computational result, and time complexity) typically depend on the scheduling of actors created during program execution. This property contrast concurrent programs from purely functional programs. A functional program is uniformly confluent in the sense that all its possible executions coincide modulo reordering of execution steps. In this paper, we investigate concurrent programs that are uniformly confluent and their relation to eager and lazy functional programs. We study uniform confluence in concurrent computation within the applicative core of the π-calculus which is widely used in different models of concurrent programming (with interleaving semantics). In particular, the applicative core of the π-calculus serves as a kernel in foundations of concurrent constraint programming with first-class procedures (as provided by the programming language Oz). We model eager functional programming in the λ-calculus with weak call-by-value reduction and lazy functional programming in the call-by-need λ-calculus with standard reduction. As a measure of time complexity, we count application steps. We encode the λ-calculus with both above reduction strategies into the applicative core of the π-calculus and show that time complexity is preserved. Our correctness proofs employs a new technique based on uniform confluence and simulations. The strength of our technique is illustrated by proving a folk theorem, namely that the call-by-need complexity of a functional program is smaller than its call-by-value complexity.
Design of an on-chip test pattern generator without prohibited pattern set (PPS)

This paper reports the design of a Test Pattern Generator (TPG) for VLSI circuits. The on-chip TPG is so designed that it generates test patterns while avoiding generation of a given Prohibited Pattern Set (PPS). The design ensures the desired pseudo-random quality of the test patterns generated. The experimental results confirm the high quality of randomness while ensuring fault coverage close to the figures achieved with a typical Pseudo Random Pattern Generator (PRPG) designed around maximal length LFSR/CA. Compared to the conventional PRPG, our method incurs no additional cost.
Twentieth‐Century Hydrometeorological Reconstructions to Study the Multidecadal Variations of the Water Cycle Over France

Characterizing and understanding the multidecadal variations of the continental hydrological cycle is a challenging issue given the limitation of observed data sets. In this paper, a new approach to derive twentieth century hydrological reconstructions over France with an hydrological model is presented. The method combines the results of long‐term atmospheric reanalyses downscaled with a stochastic statistical method and homogenized station observations to derive the meteorological forcing needed for hydrological modeling. Different methodological choices are tested and evaluated. We show that using homogenized observations to constrain the results of statistical downscaling help to improve the reproduction of precipitation, temperature, and river flows variability. In particular, it corrects some unrealistic long‐term trends associated with the atmospheric reanalyses. Observationally constrained reconstructions therefore constitute a valuable data set to study the multidecadal hydrological variations over France. Thanks to these reconstructions, we confirm that the multidecadal variations previously noted in French river flows have mainly a climatic origin. Moreover, we show that multidecadal variations exist in other hydrological variables (evapotranspiration, snow cover, and soil moisture). Depending on the region, the persistence from spring to summer of soil moisture or snow anomalies generated during spring by temperature and precipitation variations may explain river flows variations in summer, when no concomitant climate variations exist.
Use of incrementally regulated discriminative margins in MCE training for speech recognition

In this paper, w e report our recent development of a novel discriminative learning techni q ue w hich embeds the concept of discriminative margin into the w ell established minimum classification error ( MCE ) method . The idea is to impose an incrementally ad j usted “ margin ” in the loss function of MCE algorithm so that not only error rates are minimi z ed but also discrimination “ robustness ” bet w een training and test sets is maintained . Experimental evaluation sho w s that the use of the margin improves a state - of - the - art MCE method by reducing 17% digit errors and 19% string errors in the TIDigits recognition tas k. The string error rate of 0.55% and digit error rate of 0.19% w e have obtained are the best - ever results reported on this tas k in the literature .
Semantic Technologies in IBM Watson

This paper describes a seminar course designed by IBM and Columbia University on the topic of Semantic Technologies, in particular as used in IBM Watson TM — a large scale Question Answering system which famously won at Jeopardy! R against two human grand champions. It was first offered at Columbia University during the 2013 spring semester, and will be offered at other institutions starting in the fall semester. We describe the course’s first successful run and its unique features: a class centered around a specific industrial technology; a large-scale class project which student teams can choose to participate in and which serves as the basis for an open source project that will continue to grow each time the course is offered; publishable papers, demos and start-up ideas; evidence that the course can be self-evaluating, which makes it potentially appropriate for an online setting; and a unique model where a large company trains instructors and contributes to creating educational material at no charge to qualifying institutions.
Estimating cost efficiency and sources of inefficiency in paddy farming: A study in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta

The misuse of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides in rice cultivation is leading to low-quality outputs, high production costs, health issues and environmental problems (e.g., degraded soil quality, water pollution and increasing greenhouse gases). The efficient use of production inputs would be a feasible way to mitigate these issues. This paper employed a true random-effects model to measure cost efficiency and investigate the factors affecting cost inefficiency among Vietnamese rice producers. This study used the surveyed data of 350 rice households collected in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The findings of this research show that the mean cost efficiency score is 0.92 with a wide variation (0.26 – 0.99). This study indicates that there is still potential for inefficient rice producers to save production costs by improving their cost inefficiency. The study also reveals a positive relationship between cost inefficiency and farm size, natural disasters and rice diseases. This suggests that as farms grow, natural disasters and rice diseases become more prevalent and rice producers become increasingly incapable of managing input costs. This study suggests that supportive policies should focus on improving rice farmers’ skills to manage production inputs and deal with rice diseases and natural disasters to minimize rice production costs.
Multipath Delay Profile Acquisition for Ultra-Wideband PPM Systems

The acquisition of a multipath channel profile (including the leading delay) for ultra-wideband pulse position modulation (PPM) communication systems is considered in the limit of large bandwidth. Optimal acquisition is defined by the maximum likelihood detector whose performance can be assessed via order statistics. Four channel scenarios are examined: deterministic or Gaussian channel taps, uniform or exponential power delay profiles. For these four channels, the rate of growth of the multipath as a function of bandwidth which leads to acquisition failure is determined. Acquisition is not even partially possible on multipath channels with deterministic path amplitudes, if the number of paths diverges too fast. Furthermore, if the number of independent Gaussian paths increases without bound, but slower than the bandwidth, then the system cannot even partially acquire in the limit. These negative results are shown for somewhat idealized environments, implying that multipath delay profile acquisition will fail under more realistic conditions.
Constrained MPC designs for structured uncertain systems with random input delays

In this paper, constrained model predictive control (MPC) designs for a class of structured uncertain time-delay systems have been developed, where state delays as well as a random input delay have been taken into account. By replacing the control strategy with a freer one, an improved MPC design with larger initial feasible region has been developed. Furthermore, by analyzing the obtained algorithm, some useful properties of the solutions to the MPC optimization problem have been established. With these properties, a variant of the obtained algorithm with dramatically reduced number of online optimizing variables and hence the online computational burden has also been developed. However, the control performance degrades slightly. The two algorithms haven been proved to stabilize the closed loop system in the mean square sense and to guarantee the satisfaction of constraints. Finally a numeric example is given to illustrate the proposed results.
Developing product innovation using Web 2.0: A field study

Firms rely on effective innovation processes to develop innovative products essential to their competitive strategy. Systems that support the innovation processes have strategic relevance and are critical to the firm’s success and growth. More research is needed to explain how we can effectively coordinate the KM activities required for effective innovation processes. This paper will answer the question: How does Web 2.0 support effective innovation processes in product innovation? We need to better understand how a Web 2.0 platform can facilitate coordination, cooperation, and organizational learning and lead to improved innovation through more effective innovation processes. This paper develops an understanding of how Web 2.0 applications integrate and support the needs of the innovation processes for product innovation. We provide a detailed case study where Web 2.0 is used in the innovation process to show how it can be used to support KM for effective innovation processes.
Fat versus Thin Threading Approach on GPUs: Application to Stochastic Simulation of Chemical Reactions

We explore two different threading approaches on a graphics processing unit (GPU) exploiting two different characteristics of the current GPU architecture. The fat thread approach tries to minimize data access time by relying on shared memory and registers potentially sacrificing parallelism. The thin thread approach maximizes parallelism and tries to hide access latencies. We apply these two approaches to the parallel stochastic simulation of chemical reaction systems using the stochastic simulation algorithm (SSA) by Gillespie [14]. In these cases, the proposed thin thread approach shows comparable performance while eliminating the limitation of the reaction system's size.
Systems approaches for synthetic biology: a pathway toward mammalian design

We review methods of understanding cellular interactions through computation in order to guide the synthetic design of mammalian cells for translational applications, such as regenerative medicine and cancer therapies. In doing so, we argue that the challenges of engineering mammalian cells provide a prime opportunity to leverage advances in computational systems biology. We support this claim systematically, by addressing each of the principal challenges to existing synthetic bioengineering approaches—stochasticity, complexity, and scale—with specific methods and paradigms in systems biology. Moreover, we characterize a key set of diverse computational techniques, including agent-based modeling, Bayesian network analysis, graph theory, and Gillespie simulations, with specific utility toward synthetic biology. Lastly, we examine the mammalian applications of synthetic biology for medicine and health, and how computational systems biology can aid in the continued development of these applications.