Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Novel Sulfated 4-Hydroxycinnamic Acid Oligomers as Potent Anticoagulants

NOVEL SULFATED 4-HYDROXYCINNAMIC ACID OLIGOMERS AS POTENT ANTICOAGULANTS By Brian Lawrence Henry, Ph.D. A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2007 Major Director: Umesh R. Desai Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry The occurrence of thrombosis in several pathophysiological conditions creates a huge need for anticoagulation therapy. Thrombin and factor Xa have been prime targets for regulation of clotting through the direct and indirect mechanism of inhibition. This work investigates chemo-enzymatically prepared oligomers of 4hydroxycinnamic acids (DHPs) as potential anticoagulants. Oligomers were prepared through peroxidase-catalyzed oxidative coupling of 4-hydroxycinnamic acids. The products resulting from this reaction are called CDs, FDs and SDs. Structurally, these
Theoretical "t-z" Curves for Piles in Radially Inhomogeneous Soil

Accurate estimates of pile settlement are key for efficient design of axially loaded piles. Calculations of pile settlement can be simplified using one-dimensional “t-z” curves describing pile settlement at a certain depth as a function of side friction. In the realm of this simplified framework, theoretical “t-z” curves can be derived by substituting an attenuation function describing the variation of shear stress with distance from the pile, into a soil constitutive model relating shear strain to shear stress, then integrating with respect to distance to get the settlement at the pile circumference due to an applied shear stress. A handful of analytical “t-z” curves are available in the literature using the concentric cylinder model to define an attenuation function; these include solutions for linear-elastic, power-law and hyperbolic constitutive models. However, radially homogeneous soil has often been assumed, ignoring the effect of the pile installation resulting in unconservative calculations of pile settlement. This paper considers the installation of the pile, resulting in a radially variable shear modulus distribution in the surrounding soil. A radial inhomogeneity correction factor has been developed for selected constitutive models based on two simplified functions for the soil inhomogeneity, which can be applied to the previously derived “t-z” curves produced assuming radially homogeneous soil. The performance of this simplified method is investigated.
Entry, Variable Markups, and Business Cycles

The creation of new businesses declines in recessions. In this paper, I study the effects of pro-cyclical business formation on aggregate employment in a general equilibrium model of firm dynamics. The key features of the model are that the elasticity of demand faced by firms falls with their market share and that adjustment costs slow the reallocation of employment between firms. In response to a decline in entry, incumbent firms' market shares increase, their elasticity of demand falls, and they increase their markups and reduce employment. To quantify the model, I study the relationship between variable input use and revenue in panel data on large firms. Viewed through the lens of my model, my estimates imply that for large firms, the within-firm elasticity of the markup to relative sales is 25 percent. I use the calibrated model to study shocks to entry, finding that a fall in entry can lead to a significant contraction in employment. A shock to entry that replicates the decline in the number of businesses during the Great Recession generates a prolonged 2.5 percent fall in employment in the model. Finally, I show that the declining correlation between revenue and variable input use over the past 30 years implies that the effect of entry on the business cycle has become stronger over time.
Persistent State Machines for Recoverable In-memory Storage Systems with NVRam

Distributed in-memory storage systems are crucial for meeting the low latency requirements of modern datacenter services. However, they lose all state on failure, so recovery is expensive and data loss is always a risk. Persistent memory (PM) offers the possibility of building fast, persistent in-memory storage; however, existing PM systems are built from scratch or require heavy modiﬁcation of existing systems. To rectify these problems, this paper presents Persimmon, a PM-based system that converts existing distributed in-memory storage systems into persistent, crash-consistent versions with low overhead and minimal code changes.
Optimal Dynamic Contract in the Presence of Switching Cost

This paper studies continuous-time optimal dynamic contracts that motivate an agent to increase the arrival rate of a Poisson process, while allowing the agent not to exert effort whenever it is desirable. We formulate the problem as an optimal control model with switching, and fully characterize the optimal control policies under different parameter settings. The optimal contract demonstrates a generalized control-band structure, and may involve randomized switching to pause motivating effort. Overall, the optimal contract is easy to describe, compute, and implement.
Delft University of Technology Potential impact of a large-scale cascade reservoir on the spawning conditions of critical species in the Yangtze River, China

Dam building and reservoir operations alter the downstream hydrological regime, and as a result, affect the health of the river aquatic ecosystem, particularly for large-scale cascade reservoirs. This study investigated the impact of the Gezhouba Reservoir (GR) and the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) on the spawning conditions of two critical taxa, i.e., the endemic four major carps and the endangered Chinese sturgeon in the Yangtze River. We analyzed the flow, sediment, and thermal regime in these two taxa spawning seasons and compared their features between the predam and postdam periods. Our results revealed that the GR and the TGR had altered the frequency distributions of flow, sediment, and water temperature to different degrees, with the impact by the GR on the carps and Chinese sturgeon ranked as water temperature > flow, sediment > water temperature > flow, and the effect of the TGR on these two taxa were ordered as flow > water temperature, sediment > flow > water temperature. For the GR, the satisfying degree of the suitable flow and water temperature of the carps increased, whilst the suitable flow, sediment, and water temperature for the Chinese sturgeon decreased. These changes in TGR showed a significant ascending (descending) trend in the suitable flow (water temperature) for the carps, and a clear decreasing trend in the flow, sediment, and temperature for Chinese sturgeon. Both the TGR and the GR had negative impacts on the spawning of these two taxa in terms of the rising/falling flow characteristics.
Application of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles and Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria Reduces Genetic Impairment under Salt Stress in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. ‘Linda’)

Salinity is an edaphic stress that dramatically restricts worldwide crop production. Nanomaterials and plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) are currently used to alleviate the negative effects of various stresses on plant growth and development. This study investigates the protective effects of different levels of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) (0, 20, and 40 mg L −1 ) and PGPBs (no bacteria, Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus casei , Bacillus pumilus ) on DNA damage and cytosine methylation changes in the tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L. ‘Linda’) seedlings under salinity stress (250 mM NaCl). Coupled Restriction Enzyme Digestion-Random Amplification (CRED-RA) and Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) approaches were used to analyze changes in cytosine methylation and to determine how genotoxic effects influence genomic stability. Salinity stress increased the polymorphism rate assessed by RAPD, while PGPB and ZnO-NPs reduced the adverse effects of salinity stress. Genomic template stability was increased by the PGPBs and ZnO-NPs application; this increase was significant when Lactobacillus casei and 40 mg L −1 of ZnO-NPs were used.A decreased level of DNA methylation was observed in all treatments. Taken together, the use of PGPB and ZnO-NPs had a general positive effect under salinity stress reducing genetic impairment in tomato seedlings.
Evaluation of Model Parameters of HAND Model for Real- Time Flood Inundation Mapping: Iowa Case Study

Getting accurate flood extents in a timely manner is of great importance. In this paper, the performance of a real-time-flood-inundation-mapping framework based on a simplified model— Height Above the Nearest Drainage (HAND) was evaluated in a case study for Iowa. The impacts of three key model parameters (drainage threshold, water depth, and the resolution of data) on the prediction accuracy of the HAND model were studied. Furthermore, the effectiveness of several approaches—variable water depths, community-level analysis, and inner zone creation was explored, with which the performance of inundation predictions could be improved without involving additional data. The performance of the HAND model was evaluated by comparing simulated flood extents against statewide flood hazard maps for 100and 500-year flooding events. The results showed that compared to water depths and drainage threshold, the HAND model’s accuracy was affected by the resolution of DEM the most. Also, the results proved HAND a useful tool to generate flood inundation maps. Compared to the reference floodplain maps, the Hit Rate reaches 0.80 (0.79 for the 500-year event), Proportion Correct reaches 0.93, and Kappa Value reaches 0.69 (0.70 for the 500-year event) for the basic case where water depths at the outlet point were used and no improvements were involved. The performance of the model was further improved when variable water depths, community-level approach, and inner zone selection were adopted. In the case study, the community-level approach and the inner zone creation helped the Hit Rate improve to 0.88 and the Mixed Index increase by 5.83 % (100-year flooding event) and 5.77 % (500-year flooding event). This study presented how the performance of inundation mapping based on HAND model could be further improved in a simple and practicable way.
Thermoreversible Networks: Viscoelastic Properties and Structure of Gels

Poly(vinyl chloride). - Poly(vinyl alcohol). - Poly(vinyl methacrylate). - Atactic polystyrene. - Polyacrylonitrile. - Polyethylene. - Block copolymers. - Liquid crystalline polymers. - Gelatin. - Agarose. - Carrageenans. - Gellan gum.
Results from the Swedish National Screening Programme 2010 : Subreport 2. Fluorescent Whitening Agents

A screening study has been performed concerning Fluorescent whitening agents (FWA). The term refers to a large group of chemicals used to increase the apparent whiteness of textiles and paper. The screening included five substances abbreviated DSPB, DAS1, FB28, FB85 and DAS2. The instrumental analytical method used (LC-MS-MS) is not based on the fluorescent properties of the compounds, thus FWAs other than the specific compounds analysed for was not detected.The sampling programme was focused on diffuse emissions from urban areas reflected in samples from waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) and their receiving waters. Samples from potential industrial sources (effluent from paper and pulp industries) were also included. Emission from products was illustrated by analysing toilet paper.The concentration range of summed FWAs was 20 - 24 μg/l in three WWTP influents, 0.43 - 5.1 μg/l in nine WWTP effluents and 56 000 – 160 000 ng/g DW in nine WWTP sludges. DAS2, FB28 and, in some effluents, DAS1 was the dominating individual compounds. DAS2 is associated to paper applications rather than textile/detergent applications.The highest measured concentrations in surface water for DSPB, DAS1 and DAS2 were more than 600 times lower than the calculated "predicted no-effect concentration" (PNEC). Even without dilution the highest measured concentration in WWTP effluent was more than 50 times lower than the calculated PNECs. Thus there should be no risk for aquatic organisms due to those substances. For the remaining substances PNECs were not available.Highest concentration in sediment, 7 200 ng/g DW, dominated by DAS1, was found near the discharge point of a WWTP. Further away, 1 km and 20 km from the effluent point, in the main direction of flow, concentrations were considerably lower, 69 and 150 ng/g DW. Sediments from Lake Malaren showed summed concentrations of 92 – 900 ng/g DW. Relevant PNECs for evaluation of risks for sediment dwelling organisms were not available.There is a general increase in the relative concentration of DAS1 from WWTP effluent via surface water to sediment.In one out of seven effluents from paper and pulp industries the concentration was considerably higher (ten times) than in the highest WWTP effluent.Analysis of FWAs extracted from toilet paper manufactured from recycled fibres (two different brands) showed that this may be a major source for FWAs in WWTP influents. The contribution
A Taxonomy of Team-Assembly Systems

The emergence of team-assembly technologies has brought with it new challenges in designing and implementing socio-technical systems. Our understanding of how systems shape the team-assembly processes is still limited. How do systems enable users to find teammates? How do users make decisions when using these systems? And what factors explain the characteristics of the teams assembled? Building on existing literature from CSCW, computer science, and management science, we propose a taxonomy to characterize how systems influence team assembly. This taxonomy argues that two dimensions determine how systems shape team assembly: (i) users? agency, to what extent the system enables its users to exercise their agency, and (ii) users? participation, how many users the system allows to participate in the team-formation process. The intersection of these two dimensions manifest four types of teams enabled by systems: self-assembled teams, staffed teams, optimized teams, and augmented teams. We characterize each one of these types of teams, considering their qualities, advantages, and challenges. To contextualize these types of teams, we map the current literature of team-assembly systems using a scoping literature review. Lastly, we discuss ways through which these two dimensions alter users' behavior, team diversity, and team composition. This paper provides theoretical implications and research questions for future systems that reconfigure the organization of people into teams.
The Affordable Care Act and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Regression Discontinuity Analysis

Did Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act affect the course of the COVID-19 pandemic? We answer this question using a regression discontinuity design for counties near the borders of states that expanded Medicaid with states that did not. Relevant covariates change continuously across the Medicaid expansion frontier. We find that 1) health insurance changes discontinuously at the frontier, 2) COVID-19 cases do not change discontinuously at the frontier but the precision of this estimate is low, 3) COVID-19 deaths do not change discontinuously at the frontier and the confidence intervals exclude large declines in deaths in Medicaid expansion areas, 4) smart thermometer readings of fever rates from Kinsa, Inc. do not change discontinuously at the frontier, and 5) COVID-19-related doctor visits discontinuously increase in Medicaid expansion areas.
Interactive comment on “Application of ensemble transform data assimilation methods for parameter estimation in nonlinear problems" by Sangeetika Ruchi et al

Identification of unknown parameters on the basis of partial and noisy data is a challenging task in particular in high dimensional :::::::::::::: high-dimensional : and nonlinear settings. Gaussian approximations to the problem, such as ensemble Kalman inversion ::::::: filtering, tend to be robust, computationally cheap and often produce astonishingly accurate estimations despite the inherently wrong :::::::::: simplifying underlying assumptions. Yet there is a lot of room for improvement specifically regarding the description of the associated statistics : a :::::: correct ::::::::::::: approximation :: of : a :::::::::::: non-Gaussian ::::::: posterior :::::::::: distribution. The tempered ensem5 ble transform particle filter is an adaptive sequential Monte Carlo method, where resampling is based on optimal transport mapping. Unlike ensemble Kalman inversion :::::: filtering : it does not require any assumptions regarding the posterior distribution and hence has shown to provide promising results for non-linear :::::::: nonlinear non-Gaussian inverse problems. However, the improved accuracy comes with the price of much higher computational complexity and the method is not as robust as the ensemble Kalman inversion in high dimensional :::::: filtering :: in ::::::::::::::: high-dimensional problems. In this work, we add an entropy 10 inspired ::::::::::::: entropy-inspired : regularisation factor to the underlying optimal transport problem that allows to considerably reduce the high computational cost via Sinkhorn iterations. Further, the robustness of the method is increased via an ensemble Kalman inversion :::::: filtering : proposal step before each update of the samples, which is also referred to as hybrid approach. The promising performance of the introduced method is numerically verified by testing it on a steady-state single-phase Darcy flow model with two different permeability configurations. The results are compared to the output of ensemble Kalman inversion :::::: filtering, 15 and Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods results are computed as a benchmark.
Performance of a small and a medium sized professional chippers and the impact of storage time on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) stem wood chips characteristics

The primary aim of this study was to clarify the chipping productivity and fuel consumption of tractor-powered and truck-mounted drum chippers when chipping pine pulpwood at a terminal. The secondary aim was to evaluate the impact of wood storage time on the chemical and physical technical specifications of wood chips by chipping pulpwood from eight different storage time groups, using Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) pulpwood stems logged between 2 and 21 months previously at the terminal with the above-mentioned chippers. Thirdly, the impact of sieve mesh size on the particle size distribution of wood chips from different age groups was compared by using an 80 mm × 80 mm sieve for a tractor-powered chipper and a 100 mm × 100 mm sieve for a truck-mounted chipper. With both chippers, the chipping productivity grew as a function of grapple load weight. The average chipping productivity of the tractor-powered chipper unit was 19 508 kg (dry mass) per effective hour (E0h), and for the truck-mounted chipper the average productivity was 31 184 kg E0h–1. The tractor-powered drum chipper’s fuel consumption was 3.1 litres and for the truck-mounted chipper 3.3 litres per chipped 1000 kg (dry mass). The amount of extractives or volatiles did not demonstrate any statistically significant differences between storage time groups. The particle size distributions with both chippers were quite uniform, and the storage time of pulpwood did not have a significant effect on the particle size distribution in any chip size classes. One reason for this might be that the basic density of chipped wood was homogenous and there was no statistical difference between different storage times. The use of new sharp knives is likely to have affected chip quality, as witnessed by the absence of oversized particles and the moderate presence of fines. The use of narrower 80 mm × 80 mm sieves on Scots pine material does not seem to offer any benefit compared to 100 mm × 100 mm from the chip quality point of view.
Probabilistic soil moisture dynamics of water- and energy-limited ecosystems

We present an extension of the stochastic ecohydrological model for soil moisture dynamics at a point of Rodríguez-Iturbe et al. (1999) and Laio et al. (2001). In the original model, evapotranspiration is a function of soil moisture and vegetation parameters, which makes the model suitable for water–limited environments. Based on the Leuning’s stomatal conductance approach, the C 3 photosynthesis model of Farquhar et al. and the Penman–Monteith equation, we model daily transpiration as a negative exponential function of available photosynthetically active radiation. This function allowed us to broaden the 5 Rodríguez-Iturbe et al. (1999) and Laio et al. (2001) model to encompass both water– and energy–limited ecosystems by introducing the dependence of maximum evapotranspiration on available photosynthetically active radiation. We illustrate the extended model with two study cases from the FLUXNET database, DE–Hai in Germany and GF–Guy in French Guiana, and analyze the sensibility of soil moisture dynamics and the long-term water balance to available radiation. Our results show that the analytical solution presented by Rodríguez-Iturbe et al. (1999) continues to be valid as the maximum evapotranspiration 10 rate is calculated in terms of available energy and assuming stationary in the radiation regime. (1999) proposed a daily stochastic zero-dimensional model for soil moisture dynamics at a point in terms of climate–soil–vegetation interactions, under seasonally ﬁxed conditions. The stochastic behavior of rainfall propagates through interception, evapotranspiration, runoff, leakage and soil moisture. Rainfall is modeled as a marked Poisson process that generates inﬁltration into the soil as a function on the existing soil water content until it reaches saturation ( s = 1 ). Soil
Algorithmic Management of Work on Online Labor Platforms: When Matching Meets Control

Online labor platforms (OLPs) can use algorithms along two dimensions: matching and control. While previous research has paid considerable attention to how OLPs optimize matching and accommodate market needs, OLPs can also employ algorithms to monitor and tightly control platform work. In this paper, we examine the nature of platform work on OLPs, and the role of algorithmic management in organizing how such work is conducted. Using a qualitative study of Uber drivers’ perceptions, supplemented by interviews with Uber executives and engineers, we present a grounded theory that captures the algorithmic management of work on OLPs. In the context of both algorithmic matching and algorithmic control, platform workers experience tensions relating to work execution, compensation, and belonging. We show that these tensions trigger market-like and organization-like response behaviors by platform workers. Our research contributes to the emerging literature on OLPs.