Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Variations in chemical element compositions in different types of Holocene calcareous root tubes in the Tengger Desert, NW China, and their palaeoenvironmental significance

Calcareous root tubes (CRTs) contain abundant information about palaeoenvironmental conditions and have been used for palaeoenvironmental studies in the desert hinterlands of arid regions. However, as subclasses of CRTs, calcareous sheaths and rhizocretions are formed by different processes, and it remains unclear whether these differences produce variations in the chemical element composition. Furthermore, it remains uncertain whether variations in chemical element concentrations amongst different subclasses of the CRTs can affect palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. In this study, we collected 54 CRT samples from the Tengger Desert of northwestern China. All samples were dated by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dating, and the chemical element composition and concentration differences of the two CRT subclasses were determined using X‐ray fluorescence spectrometry. The CRT samples were dated to the Holocene. The calcareous sheath and rhizocretion samples contained varying concentrations of the same chemical elements. The rhizocretions had high concentrations of mobile elements (Ca, Mg and Sr) and P, whereas the calcareous sheaths had high concentrations of stable elements, including Al, Si, Ti, Zr, Rb and Ba. These differences were due to the different formation processes of the two subclasses of CRTs. Moreover, the Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios in the calcareous sheaths were higher than those in the rhizocretions from the same period, but these ratio differences had little effect on palaeo‐effective moisture reconstructions at the millennial scale during the Holocene. The reconstructions were not influenced by the various CRT subclasses. The Holocene millennial‐scale moisture changes in the Tengger Desert revealed by the Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios showed that there was an arid period during the Early Holocene, a humid period during the Middle Holocene and a humid to arid period during the Late Holocene.
Recognizing Off-Line Flowcharts by Reconstructing Strokes and Using On-Line Recognition Techniques

We experiment with off-line recognition of handwritten flowcharts based on strokes reconstruction and our state-of-the-art on-line diagram recognizer. A simple baseline algorithm for strokes reconstruction is presented and necessary modifications of the original recognizer are identified. We achieve very promising results on a flowcharts database created as an extension of our previously published on-line database.
ZIRCON AS A PROXY FOR "TAKING THE TEMPERATURE" OF GRANITES: AN EXAMPLE USING ZIRCON THERMOMETRY APPLIED TO GRENVILLIAN MID-CRUSTAL MAGMAS IN THE BLUE RIDGE PROVINCE, VIRGINIA

OF THESIS ZIRCON AS A PROXY FOR “TAKING THE TEMPERATURE” OF GRANITES: AN EXAMPLE USING ZIRCON THERMOMETRY APPLIED TO GRENVILLIAN MIDCRUSTAL MAGMAS IN THE BLUE RIDGE PROVINCE, VIRGINIA The Grenville orogeny was a protracted (~200 m.y.) series of “hot” magmaticmetamorphic events that contributed to the growth of the Laurentian margin in the late Mesoproterozoic. The granites contain remarkably high Zr content, lack xenocrysts, and become zircon saturated at high temperatures, which are all unusual for felsic magmas. The “hot Grenville granite” hypothesis is tested and use of high-Zr granitoids as potential zones of crustal magma generation through: U-Pb geochronology and cathodoluminescence imaging to assess inherited zircon components; quantitative modeling of zircon crystallization history using rhyolite-MELTS; and Ti-in-zircon thermometry. U-Pb zircon ages for two samples from the Virginia Blue Ridge are 1168 ± 25 Ma (2209 ppm Zr; Tzr = 1032°C) and 1050 ± 13 Ma (918 ppm Zr; Tzr = 898°C). A sample from the NJ – Hudson Highlands has been dated at 1018 ± 11 Ma (1238 ppm Zr; Tzr = 960°C). These samples produce crystallization histories that range over higher temperatures (983–1060°C) than colder, low-Zr counterparts and contain Ti concentrations of 2 to 86 ppm. This analytical approach will further the understanding of zircon’s utility and limitations as a proxy in granite petrogenesis, and constrain thermal models that produced uncommon lithospheric conditions that led to widespread hot granite production at a unique period in Earth history.
Leveraged Investments and Agency Conflicts When Prices Are Mean Reverting

We analyse the effect of differing uncertainty assumptions on the costs of shareholder-bondholder conflicts arising from partially debt-financed investments. A partial equilibrium model, valid for a large class of diffusion processes, is developed and then applied to the specific cases of a geometric Brownian motion (GBM) and a mean-reverting (MR) process. This allows for the comparison of the two scenarios and contributes to the ongoing discussion on the effects of mean reversion on investment and financing behaviour. We find that agency costs are much lower under MR dynamics and, through the application of a novel agency cost decomposition, we show that for a high expected growth in future profits (high growth GBM) agency costs are driven mainly by suboptimal financing decisions, as opposed to suboptimal (default and investment) timing decisions. The situation is reversed for lower growth assumptions and for an increase in the speed of mean reversion. Our results on the components and drivers of agency costs are valuable to both policy makers and regulators alike.
Efficient power control via pricing in wireless data networks

A major challenge in the operation of wireless communications systems is the efficient use of radio resources. One important component of radio resource management is power control, which has been studied extensively in the context of voice communications. With the increasing demand for wireless data services, it is necessary to establish power control algorithms for information sources other than voice. We present a power control solution for wireless data in the analytical setting of a game theoretic framework. In this context, the quality of service (QoS) a wireless terminal receives is referred to as the utility and distributed power control is a noncooperative power control game where users maximize their utility. The outcome of the game results in a Nash (1951) equilibrium that is inefficient. We introduce pricing of transmit powers in order to obtain Pareto improvement of the noncooperative power control game, i.e., to obtain improvements in user utilities relative to the case with no pricing. Specifically, we consider a pricing function that is a linear function of the transmit power. The simplicity of the pricing function allows a distributed implementation where the price can be broadcast by the base station to all the terminals. We see that pricing is especially helpful in a heavily loaded system.
Collaborative work with volumetric data using augmented reality

The augmented reality videoconferencing system is a novel remote collaboration tool combining a desktop-based AR system and a videoconferencing module. The novelty of our system is the combination of these tools i.e. superimposing AR applications on live video background displaying the conference parties' real environment, thus merging the advantages of videoconferencing (natural face-to-face communication) and AR (interaction with distributed virtual objects using tangible physical artifacts). We demonstrate the system's collaborative features with a volume rendering application that allows users to display and examine volumetric data simultaneously and to highlight or explore slices of the volume by manipulating an optical marker as a cutting plane interaction device.
pktd : A Packet Capture and Injection Daemon

Administrators can be highly reluctant to run foreign measurement tools on their hosts because (a) such tools frequently require privileged execution in order to transmit customized measurement packets and/or to passively capture network traffic, and (b) the administrators lack mechanisms to control the rate, duration, type, destination, and contents of traffic generated by the measurements. We present preliminary work on pktd, a packet capture and injection multiplexer daemon that provides controlled, finegrained access to the network device. On systems running pktd, client measurement tools are not given direct access to the network device. Instead, they are obliged to request access via pktd. By providing administrators control over the pktd mechanism, they can easily and securely enforce their desired policies concerning which clients should be granted which sorts of network access capabilities. Thus, pktd can serve as the sole trusted, privileged entity for conducting measurements, eliminating the need for administrators to vet the individual measurement tools.
Cardiovascular risk assessment in the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis: a secondary analysis of the MOZART trial

Background: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is associated with increased cardiovascular risk and mortality. No US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved therapies for NASH are available; clinical trials to date have not yet systematically assessed for changes in cardiovascular risk. This study examines the prospective utility of cardiovascular risk assessments, the Framingham risk score (FRS) and coronary artery calcium (CAC) score, as endpoints in a NASH randomized clinical trial, and assesses whether histologic improvements lead to lower cardiovascular risk. Methods: Secondary analysis of a 24-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (MOZART) in which 50 biopsy-proven NASH patients received oral ezetimibe 10 mg daily (n = 25) versus placebo (n = 25). Biochemical profiling, FRS, CAC scores, liver biopsies were obtained at baseline and endpoint. Results: Ezetimibe improved FRS whereas placebo did not (4.4 ± 6.2 to 2.9 ± 4.8, p = 0.038; 3.0 ± 4.4 to 2.9 ± 4.2, p = 0.794). CAC scores did not change with ezetimibe or placebo (180.4 ± 577.2 to 194.1 ± 623.9, p = 0.293; 151.4 ± 448.9 to 183.3 ± 555.7, p = 0.256). Ezetimibe improved FRS and CAC scores in more patients than placebo (48% versus 23%, p = 0.079, and 21% versus 0%, p = 0.090, respectively), though not significantly. No differences were noted in cardiovascular risk scores among histologic responders versus nonresponders. Conclusions: Ezetimibe improved FRS whereas placebo did not. FRS and CAC scores improved in a greater proportion of patients with ezetimibe; this trend did not reach significance. These findings indicate the utility and feasibility of monitoring cardiovascular risk in a NASH trial. The utility of CAC scores may be higher in trials of longer duration (⩾52 weeks) and with older patients (age ⩾45). ClinicalTrials.gov registration: NCT01766713.
Reverse top-k queries

Rank-aware query processing has become essential for many applications that return to the user only the top-k objects based on the individual user's preferences. Top-k queries have been mainly studied from the perspective of the user, focusing primarily on efficient query processing. In this work, for the first time, we study top-k queries from the perspective of the product manufacturer. Given a potential product, which are the user preferences for which this product is in the top-k query result set? We identify a novel query type, namely reverse top-k query, that is essential for manufacturers to assess the potential market and impact of their products based on the competition. We formally define reverse top-k queries and introduce two versions of the query, namely monochromatic and bichromatic. We first provide a geometric interpretation of the monochromatic reverse top-k query in the solution space that helps to understand the reverse top-k query conceptually. Then, we study in more details the case of bichromatic reverse top-k query, which is more interesting for practical applications. Such a query, if computed in a straightforward manner, requires evaluating a top-k query for each user preference in the database, which is prohibitively expensive even for moderate datasets. In this paper, we present an efficient threshold-based algorithm that eliminates candidate user preferences, without processing the respective top-k queries. Furthermore, we introduce an indexing structure based on materialized reverse top-k views in order to speed up the computation of reverse top-k queries. Materialized reverse top-k views trade preprocessing cost for query speed up in a controllable manner. Our experimental evaluation demonstrates the efficiency of our techniques, which reduce the required number of top-k computations by 1 to 3 orders of magnitude.
Full rate full diversity cooperative Extended Balanced Space-Time Block Coding for wireless multicasting

Multicasting is a spectrally efficient method for supporting multimedia communication by allowing transmission of packets to multiple destinations using fewer resources. To incorporate cooperative (distributed MIMO) diversity, Cooperative Extended Balanced Space-Time Block Codes (CEBSTBCs) have been proposed providing full diversity when one or more feedback bits are sent back via feedback channel. However, the CEBSTBCs are designed for unicast delivery in the literature. This paper presents a novel wireless multicasting scheme which selects the optimum CEBSTBC for all mobile users to support wireless multimedia multicasting. Extensive, detailed simulations are performed to show the feasibility of full rate and full diversity multicast service provisioning in Rayleigh fading channels.
Wegener's Granulomatosis: Anti–proteinase 3 Antibodies Are Potent Inductors of Human Endothelial Cell Signaling and Leakage Response

Anti–neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCAs) targeting proteinase 3 (PR3) have a high specifity for Wegener's granulomatosis (WG), and their role in activating leukocytes is well appreciated. In this study, we investigated the influence of PR3-ANCA and murine monoclonal antibodies on human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs). Priming of HUVECs with tumor necrosis factor α induced endothelial upregulation of PR3 message and surface expression of this antigen, as measured by Cyto-ELISA, with a maximum occurrence after 2 h. Primed cells responded to low concentrations of both antibodies (25 ng–2.5 μg/ml), but not to control immunoglobulins, with pronounced, dose-dependent phosphoinositide hydrolysis, as assessed by accumulation of inositol phosphates. The signaling response peaked after 20 min, in parallel with the appearance of marked prostacyclin and platelet-activating factor synthesis. The F(ab)2 fragment of ANCA was equally potent as ANCA itself. Disrupture of the endothelial F-actin content by botulinum C2 toxin to avoid antigen–antibody internalization did not affect the response. In addition to the metabolic events, anti-PR3 challenge, in the absence of plasma components, provoked delayed, dose-dependent increase in transendothelial protein leakage. We conclude that anti-PR3 antibodies are potent inductors of the preformed phosphoinositide hydrolysis–related signal tranduction pathway in human endothelial cells. Associated metabolic events and the loss of endothelial barrier properties suggest that anti-PR3–induced activation of endothelial cells may contribute to the pathogenetic sequelae of autoimmune vasculitis characterizing WG.
Using laboratory experiments to develop and test new Marchenko and imaging methods

The Marchenko redatuming method estimates surface-to-subsurface Green’s functions. It has been employed to diminishthe effects of multiples in seismic data. Several such methods rely on an absolute scaling of the data; this is usually considered to be known in synthetic experiments, or is estimated using heuristic methods in real data. Here, we show using real ultrasonic laboratory data that the most common of these methods may be ill suited to the task, and that reliable ways to estimate scaling remains unavailable. Marchenko methods which rely on adaptive subtraction may therefore be more appropriate. We present two adaptive Marchenko methods: one is an extension of a current adaptive method, and the other is an adaptive implementation of a non-adaptive method. Our results show that Marchenko methods improve imaging compared to reverse-time migration, but less so than expected. This reveals that some Marchenko assumptions were violated in our experiment and likely are also in seismic data, showing that laboratory experiments contribute critical information to the development and testing of Marchenko-based methods.
Enzymatic extraction and characterisation of a thermostable collagen from swim bladder of rohu (Labeo rohita).

BACKGROUND The fish swim bladder is considered as a potential source of realistic collagen. Currently, processing of the Indian major carp rohu (Labeo rohita) generates an enormous quantity of non-edible by-products, including swim bladders, which are discarded as waste with no commercial value. In the present study, collagen was prepared from rohu swim bladder and its physicochemical and fibril-forming capacities were assessed. RESULTS The collagen isolated from rohu swim bladder was characterised as type I, containing α1 and α2 chains with triple helical structure by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and amino acid analysis. The extracted collagen denaturation temperature was found to be 42.16 °C by differential scanning calorimetry analysis and also exhibited a high solubility in the presence of low NaCl concentrations (0-0.6 mol L-1 ). The extracted collagen exhibited a high fibril-formation capacity at a NaCl concentration of 1.5 mol L-1 . Examination of the microstructure of collagen by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed a porous, sheet-like film and a multilayered structure. The fibril formation capacity of collagen was also confirmed using SEM analysis. CONCLUSION The rohu swim bladder type I collagen was successfully extracted using an enzymatic method with a yield of 465.2 g kg-1 (dry weight basis) and was characterised as a well maintained triple helical structure. The extracted collagen exhibited a high fibril-forming ability. The results of the present study confirm that utilisation of rohu swim bladder will open up a new avenue for the better disposal of by-products and also help to minimise environmental pollution issues. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.
Post-Genomic Technologies

Genomic DNA copy number aberrations are frequent in solid tumors and genomic profiling of a number of different tumor types by array CGH has revealed variety in the numbers and types of copy number alterations in the tumor genomes. Copy number profiles distinguish tumor subtypes, and specific genomic alterations can be associated with other factors such as hormonal status or TP53 mutation status. Recurrent copy number aberrations, particularly amplifications, which are regions of focal high level copy number change, also focus attention on genes and the pathways in which they participate as candidates with roles in tumor development. Nevertheless, change in DNA copy number is only one way to alter expression of a gene. Other mechanisms for deregulation may be post-transcriptional, post-translational or involve alteration in expression of up stream genes, suggesting that the spectrum of alterations that one sees in fully developed tumors is a composite of selection acting on the variation that is permitted to arise by the particular failures in genome surveillance mechanism(s) present in the tumor. Here we review recent array CGH studies profiling breast and oral squamous cell carcinomas (SCC). We will focus on what we are learning about the underlying genomic instability that gives rise to particular copy number aberrations and discuss how we are taking advantage of the characteristics of oral pre-cancer and cancer genomes to take the next steps to identify genes important for tumor development. Introduction. Recent studies reporting on genome wide scans for copy number variations (CNVs) based on a whole range of methods lead to the recognition of the importance of CNVs as genetic variation. CNVs detected with these methods, need to be analysed in large sets of individuals for validation and to determine their frequency. For this large scale analysis, new technologies are needed that are simple to use, high-throughput and cheap. Here we present such a method. Methods and Materials. Multiplex Amplicon Quantification (MAQ) consists of the simultaneous PCR amplification of fluorescently labeled target and control amplicons in a one step PCR protocol. The comparison of normalized peak areas between a test individual and reference individuals results in a dosage quotient indicating the copy number of the target amplicon. The PCR primers of the MAQ assays are designed by proprietary software that allows the design of assays with a very high multiplexing degree (> 40). In this way, several genomic regions, genes or even exons of interest …
Structural Mean-Variance Microeconometric Analysis of Household Portfolios

This paper investigates households' portfolio choice behavior using a structural microe- conometric approach obtained by extending the analysis in Fougµ GouriTiomo and Trognon (1997). I assume that households have mean - variance expected utility and are forbidden to take short positions in the risky assets. If there are only two such assets, it is possible to derive a closed form solution of the model, which directly translates into a structural probit and a structural tobit speciflcations characterized by a two - dimensional vector of observables and a three - dimensional vector of latent variables, although one of the latter may be interpreted as a heterogeneity component. The parameters of both speci- flcations are estimated by maximum likelihood on a cross section of Italian households, and the tobit speciflcation is simulated in order to evaluate the partial efiects of the regressors on the probabilities of the portfolio regimes and on the expected asset demands. I also ex- tensively test the correctness of the building blocks of the structural speciflcations using the conditional moments / generalized residuals approach.