Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A new framework for monitoring flood inundation using readily available satellite data

Floods are deadly natural disasters that have large social and economic impact. Their impact can be reduced through near real‐time warning systems utilizing information from satellite remote sensing for flood tracking and forecasting. In this study we formulate that differences in day and night land surface temperature (ΔLST) are a skillful predictor for inundation and can serve parallel to soil moisture in warning systems. Satellite measurements of ΔLST and soil moisture revealed distinct spatial patterns for the extreme hydrological conditions that Australia has encountered since 2002. A significant flood revealed large negative ΔLST anomalies whereas droughts corresponded to positive anomalies. ΔLST and soil moisture showed distinct behavior prior to flooding as anomalies displayed gradual build up, suggesting signals could be valuable in flood warning systems. Strong agreement was found between ΔLST, antecedent precipitation index, and soil moisture anomalies over Australia and the Murray Darling Basin. This indicates their skills to represent wetness state, an important input additional to precipitation in flood warning systems.
Direct Assessment of Cumulative Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Agonist Activity in Sera from Experimentally Exposed Mice and Environmentally Exposed Humans Direct Assessment of Cumulative Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Agonist Activity in Sera from Experimentally Exposed Mice and Environmentally Exposed Human

The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. Direct assessment of cumulative aryl hydrocarbon receptor agonist activity in sera from experimentally exposed mice and environmentally exposed humans. Research on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and related halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (HAHs) historically has focused on the ability of these common environmental contaminants to induce cell transformation. These contaminants also have been studied for their induction of a number of biological responses, including immuno-toxicity. PAHs and HAHs reduce bone marrow and thymus cellularity, impair Band T-lymphocyte proliferation, and alter Band T-lymphocyte differentiation and function. The consequences of these alterations in immune system function include a decrease in pathogen and tumor immunity (Head and Lawrence 2009; Kerkvliet 2009) and potentially a skewing of immune responses toward pathologic autoimmunity (Funatake et al. 2005; Quintana et al. 2008; Veldhoen et al. 2008). Many PAHs and HAHs bind to and activate the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), and their toxic effects require this activation (Fernandez-Salguero et al. 1996). The AhR activates transcription of multiple genes, such as those responsible for metabolism of PAHs and HAHs [e.g., cytochrome P450 (CYP) genes], and suppresses the transcription of others (e.g., immunoglobulin) (Denison et al. 2002; Sulentic et al. 1998). Hazard and risk assessment typically is determined for individual chemicals; however, human and wildlife exposures to environmental contaminants usually occur as mixtures. Human exposure to toxic AhR agonists frequently is determined by measuring, in serum extracts, individual common polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) or polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin/furan (PCDD/PCDF) congeners by high-resolution gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and then calculating a total " toxic equivalence " (TEQ) based on the ability of each compound to induce toxic effects (the sum of the products of each compound's concentration multiplied by its TEQ value) (Van den Berg et al. 2006). Two critical assumptions of this approach may influence the risk assessment of exposure to AhR agonist mixtures. This method does not account for a) the antagonistic behavior of ortho-substituted PCBs (Harper et al. 1995; Howard et al. 2007) or b) the agonis-tic or antagonistic behavior and toxicity of nonchlorinated AhR ligands (Denison and Nagy 2003) (e.g., PAHs, indoles, and fla-vonoids), all of which occur at much higher concentrations in the environment than do dioxin-like compounds (Safe 1998) and would be excluded by serum extraction. One advance in the assessment of AhR ligand mixture exposure has been the use …
Zonal-Eddy Dynamics of the North Atlantic Oscillation

Abstract This research is an attempt to understand the dynamical mechanisms that drive the wintertime North Atlantic oscillation (NAO) on monthly and longer timescales. In an earlier work by DeWeaver and Nigam, the authors showed that momentum fluxes from stationary waves play a large role in maintaining the zonal-mean zonal wind (u) perturbations associated with the NAO. In this paper, a linear stationary wave model is used to show that zonal-mean flow anomalies in turn play a large role in maintaining the NAO stationary waves. A strong two-way coupling thus exists between u and the stationary waves, in which each is both a source of and a response to the other. When forced by zonal-eddy coupling terms—terms that represent the interaction between NAO-covariant zonal-mean zonal wind anomalies and the climatological eddy flow—together with heating and transient fluxes, the model produces a realistic simulation of the observed stationary wave pattern. Zonal-eddy coupling terms make the largest contribution .
at SemEval-2018 Task 1

The present study describes our submission to SemEval 2018 Task 1: Affect in Tweets. Our Spanish-only approach aimed to demonstrate that it is beneﬁcial to automatically generate additional training data by (i) translating training data from other languages and (ii) applying a semi-supervised learning method. We ﬁnd strong support for both approaches, with those models outperforming our regular models in all subtasks. However, creating a stepwise ensemble of different models as opposed to simply averaging did not result in an increase in performance. We placed second (EI-Reg), second (EI-Oc), fourth (V-Reg) and ﬁfth (V-Oc) in the four Spanish subtasks we participated in.
Association of homocysteine with plasma amyloid beta protein in aging and neurodegenerative disease.

BACKGROUND Elevated plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and is reported to be an independent risk factor for Alzheimer disease (AD) and cognitive decline. tHcy may potentiate neurotoxic and vasculopathic processes, including amyloid beta protein (Abeta) metabolism, implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship of plasma total tHcy levels with clinical, demographic, biochemical, and genetic factors in aging, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), AD, cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), and Parkinson disease (PD). METHODS Plasma tHcy, folate, vitamin B(12), creatinine, and Abeta levels were assessed in individuals evaluated in the Memory, Stroke, and Movement Disorders Units of Massachusetts General Hospital with diagnoses of AD (n = 145), MCI (n = 47), PD (n = 93), CAA (67), hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (hICH) (n = 25), and no dementia (n = 88). RESULTS The tHcy levels did not differ across AD, MCI, CAA, hICH, and nondemented control subjects but were increased in the PD group (p < 0.01). The elevated levels within the PD group were due to high tHcy in individuals taking levodopa (p < 0.0001). Increasing tHcy was associated with worse cognition in the PD cases, but not the other diagnostic groups. tHcy levels positively correlated with plasma Abeta levels even after adjustments for age and creatinine (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS Mean tHcy levels increased with age but did not discriminate diagnostic groups aside from significant elevation in patients with PD taking levodopa. The positive association between tHcy and plasma Abeta levels raises the possibility that these circulating factors could interact to affect AD risk and cognition in PD.
Limited Energy Supply, Sunspots, and Monetary Policy

A common assumption in macroeconomics is that energy prices are determined in a world-wide, rather frictionless market. This no longer seems an adequate description for the situation that much of Europe currently faces. Rather, one reading is that shortages exist in the quantity of energy available. Such limits to the supply of energy mean that the local price of energy is affected by domestic economic activity. In a simple open-economy New Keynesian setting, the paper shows conditions under which energy shortages can raise the risk of self-fulfilling fluctuations. A firmer focus of the central bank on input prices (or on headline consumer prices) removes such risks.
Formal control and social control in domestic and international buyer – supplier relationships

Focusing on long-term buyer–supplier relationships, this article addresses two questions: (1) What are the antecedents that lead to the adoption of formal control, social control, or both? (2) What is the nature of the relationship between formal control and social control—are they substitutes or complements? We develop a model to investigate the impact of the length of cooperation and institutionalization on the use of control mechanisms. Further, we argue that in China, formal control and social control may be substitutes in domestic buyer–supplier relationships, but they may be complements in international relationships. Survey data collected nationwide with executives in 380 domestic and 200 international buyer–supplier relationships in China are used to test our hypotheses. 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. * Corresponding author. Tel. : +86 29 82667829; fax: +86 29 82667833. E-mail addresses: liyuan@mail.xjtu. edu.cn (Y. Li), xieen@mail.xjtu. edu.cn (E. Xie), teohh@comp.nus. edu.sg (H.-H. Teo), mikepeng@utdallas.edu (M.W. Peng). 1 Tel: +86 29 82665093; fax: +86 2982665093. 2 Tel: +65 6516 2979; fax: +65 6779 4580. 3 Tel: +1 972 883 2714; fax: +1 972 883 6029. G Model
Ground water quality assessment of Dhankawadi ward of Pune by using GIS

This paper aims to assess and map the spatial distribution of ground water quality of the Dhankawadi ward of Pune by using the Geographical Information System (GIS). Dhankawadi is experiencing rapid urbanization, this made people to depend on groundwater resources. APHA's standard laboratory procedure has been adopted to assess the quality of ground water at each sampling location. Garmin GPS has been used to collect the sampling point location. Inverse Distance Weighed (IDW) spatial interpolation technique has been used to estimate the spatial distribution of the ground water parameters and WQI. A potable index map has been prepared with help of WQI map. Google earth has been used for preparation of Land use and Land class (LULC) image. Results of WQI are interpreted with respect to the LULC. The potable Index map shows that, the groundwater in the study area is good enough for drinking and domestic purposes except in the places of Upper Katraj nagar and north part of Bharati Vidyapeeth University campus.
: A Scheme for Error-Tolerant k Nearest Neighbors Classifiers for Machine Learning

—Machine learning (ML) techniques such as classifiers are used in many applications, some of which are related to safety or critical systems. In this case, correct processing is a strict requirement and thus ML algorithms (such as for classification) must be error tolerant. A naive approach to implement error tolerant classifiers is to resort to general protection techniques such as modular redundancy. However, modular redundancy incurs in large overheads in many metrics such as hardware utilization and power consumption that may not be acceptable in applications that run on embedded or battery powered systems. Another option is to exploit the algorithmic properties of the classifier to provide protection and error tolerance at a lower cost. This paper explores this approach for a widely used classifier, the k Nearest Neighbors ( k NNs), and proposes an efficient scheme to protect it against errors. The proposed technique is based on a time-based modular redundancy (TBMR) scheme. The proposed scheme exploits the intrinsic redundancy of k NNs to drastically reduce the number of re-computations needed to detect errors. This is achieved by noting that when voting among the k nearest neighbors has a large majority, an error in one of the voters cannot change the result, hence voting margin (VM). This observation has been refined and extended in the proposed VM scheme to also avoid re-computations in some cases in which the majority vote is tight. The VM scheme has been implemented and evaluated with publicly available data sets that cover a wide range of applications and settings. The results show that by exploiting the intrinsic redundancy of the classifier, the proposed scheme is able to reduce the cost compared to modular redundancy by more than 60% in all configurations evaluated.
Problematic uses of ICT among young people in their personal and school life

Studies on ICT use in education usually focus on ICT’s contribution to training processes. However, scarce research has concentrated on the problematic use of ICT among young people in the school context, and most of it approaches the problem from a psychopathological perspective. The purpose of this paper, in contrast, is to analyse problematic ICT use among young people in their personal and school setting. The methodology involved applying a questionnaire to a sample of 1,052 youths aged between 12 and 18 years old. The study starts with a univariate and bivariate descriptive analysis. Subsequently, three Poisson regression models were developed to evaluate the contribution of several predictor variables to the three types of problematic uses identified in their sphere, learning processes and classroom relationships. Results show a relationship between problematic ICT use in personal and school settings, with older youths who use smartphones (the) most likely to engage in this type of behaviour. The use of mobile technology largely explains the problematic behaviour in the use of ICT among young people in personal and school contexts, which justifies the need to promote actions contributing to more responsible use of this type of technology in all areas of their personal, school and social life. RESUMEN Los estudios sobre el uso de las TIC en educación suelen analizar su contribución a los procesos formativos. Son escasas las investigaciones centradas en los usos problemáticos de las TIC que realizan los jóvenes en el contexto escolar y, la mayoría, lo abordan desde una perspectiva psicopatológica. El propósito del presente artículo es analizar los usos problemáticos de las TIC entre jóvenes en su ámbito personal y escolar. La metodología consistió en la aplicación de un cuestionario a 1.052 jóvenes de entre 12 y 18 años. El estudio se inicia con un análisis univariante y bivariante. Posteriormente, se desarrollan tres modelos de regresión de Poisson para valorar la contribución de diversas variables predictoras sobre tres tipos de usos problemáticos identificados en: el ámbito personal, los procesos de aprendizaje y las relaciones de aula. Los resultados muestran una relación entre los usos problemáticos en el ámbito personal y escolar, siendo los chicos de mayor edad y que utilizan intensivamente los «smart phones» los que más probabilidades tienen de incurrir en este tipo de comportamientos. El uso de la tecnología móvil explica en gran medida las conductas inadecuadas en el uso de las TIC en los ámbitos personal y escolar entre los jóvenes, lo que justifica la necesidad de promover actuaciones que contribuyan a un uso más responsable de este tipo de tecnología en todos los ámbitos de su vida personal, escolar y social.
International Evidence on Sticky Consumption Growth

Abstract This paper estimates the degree of stickiness in aggregate consumption growth (sometimes interpreted as reflecting consumption habits) for thirteen advanced economies. We find that after controlling for measurement error, consumption growth has a high degree of autocorrelation, with a stickiness parameter of about 0.7 on average across countries. The sticky consumption growth model outperforms the random walk model of Hall (1978) and typically fits the data better than the popular Mankiw (1989) model, though in a few countries, the sticky consumption growth and Campbell-Mankiw models work about equally well.
Clinical proﬁle, antibiotic susceptibility pattern of bacterial isolates and factors associated with complications in culture-proven typhoid patients admitted to an urban hospital in Bangladesh

objectives Typhoid fever is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in typhoid endemic countries like Bangladesh. However, data on the clinical and microbiological proﬁle as well as factors associated with complications of typhoid in Bangladesh are scarce. We intended to characterise the clinical and microbiological proﬁle of culture-proven typhoid fever and to identify factors associated with complications. methodology Retrospective analysis of clinical data from 431 patients with culture-conﬁrmed typhoid fever admitted to Dhaka hospital of International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, between January 2010 and December 2014. Clinical and microbiological proﬁles of the patients including age, sex, and duration of illness prior to hospital admission, haematological parameters and the antimicrobial resistance proﬁle of the infecting isolate, duration of hospital stay and defervescence time were examined by logistic regression to identify the factors associated with complications. result About one of three patients were children under 5 years, and 21.5% of them were severely malnourished. During hospitalisation, 17.4% patients developed complications; mainly encephalopathy (6.7%), ileus (6.5%) and pneumonia (3.5%). Among culture-positive cases, 28.3% isolates showed multidrug resistant (MDR) and more than 90% of isolates were resistant to nalidixic acid and had intermediate sensitivity to ciproﬂoxacin. Five isolates were resistant to azithromycin; all isolates were sensitive to ceﬁxime and ceftriaxone. Complication was independently associated with duration of fever before admission (adjusted odds ratio: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.074 – 0.97; P < 0.05), thrombocytopenia on admission (AOR: 2.84; 95% CI: 01.06 – 7.57; P < 0.05), duration of hospital stay (AOR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.15 – 1.57; P < 0.01) and defervescence time (AOR: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.70 – 0.99; P < 0.05). conclusion The high prevalence of typhoid fever among under-ﬁve children and complications among hospitalised patients are matters of concern. Sensitivity of Salmonella Typhi to ceftriaxone and ceﬁxime was better than to other conventional antibiotics. Shorter duration of fever and thrombocytopenia on admission can be considered as early signs of complications
Remotely Controlled Laboratory

— Most users who can only connect to their university through distance learning enabled programs have no other choice than to sit out the experimental side of education. Remote Labs have the greatest potential to overcome the bottleneck in distance education. The goal of Remote Laboratory implementation is to grant these students access to laboratory equipment. Although there is not currently a way to perfectly emulate these encounters completely, there are many practices and tools that will help match a traditional kinesthetic environment in a Remote Lab. An experiment was created during thesis research to obtain experimental data and analyze the ability of Remote Labs to be integrated with current coursework. Surveys were distributed to appraise the perception of the lab. The collected data indicated that the perceptions a student carries about the effectiveness of Remote Laboratories improves after they perform the experiment.
Alluvial and fluvial fans on Saturn's moon Titan reveal processes, materials and regional geology

Abstract Fans, landforms that record the storage and transport of sediment from uplands to depositional basins, are found on Saturn's moon Titan, a body of significantly different process rates and material compositions from Earth. Images obtained by the Cassini spacecraft's synthetic aperture radar reveal morphologies, roughness, textural patterns and other properties consistent with fan analogues on Earth also viewed by synthetic aperture radar. The observed fan characteristics on Titan reveal some regions of high relative relief and others with gentle slopes over hundreds of kilometres, exposing topographic variations and influences on fan formation. There is evidence for a range of particle sizes across proximal to distal fan regions, from c. 2 cm or more to fine-grained, which can provide details on sedimentary processes. Some features are best described as alluvial fans, which implies their proximity to high-relief source areas, while others are more likely to be fluvial fans, drawing from larger catchment areas and frequently characterized by more prolonged runoff events. The presence of fans corroborates the vast liquid storage capacity of the atmosphere and the resultant episodic behaviour. Fans join the growing list of landforms on Titan derived from atmospheric and fluvial processes similar to those on Earth, strengthening comparisons between these two planetary bodies.
The Patient’s Perspective on the Effects of Intranasal Esketamine in Treatment-Resistant Depression

The effectiveness of the esketamine nasal spray (ESK-NS) for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) has been confirmed by real-world studies. Available evidence derived from clinician-rated assessments might differ from patients’ perceptions about the helpfulness of treatments. We aimed to verify the effect of ESK-NS from patients’ view in 25 TRD patients (56% males, 55.1 ± 10.9 years) treated with ESK-NS (mean dose: 78.4 ± 11.43 mg) for three months and evaluated at different time-points through clinician-rated and self-administered scales, assessing changes in depression, anhedonia, sleep, cognition, suicidality, and anxiety. We observed an overall early improvement that lasted over time (endpoint total score reduction in Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, p < 0.001, Beck Depression Inventory, p = 0.003). Patients reported a significant self-rated decrease in anhedonia at two months (Snaith–Hamilton Pleasure Scale, p = 0.04) and in suicide ideation at endpoint (BDI subitem 9, p = 0.039) vs. earlier improvements detected by clinicians (one-month reduction in MADRS subitem 8, p = 0.005, and subitem 10, p = 0.007). These findings confirm the effectiveness of a three-month treatment with ESK-NS in TRD patients, highlighting an overall overlapping response from patients’ and clinicians’ perspectives, although with some differential effects on specific symptoms at given time-points. Including patients’ viewpoints in routine assessments could inform clinical practice, ensuring a better characterization of clinical phenotypes to deliver personalized interventions.