Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The joint contributions of environmental filtering and spatial processes to macroinvertebrate metacommunity dynamics in the alpine stream environment of Baima Snow Mountain, Southwest China

As a rapidly growing field of community ecology, the study of meta-communities provides an effective framework to unravel community assembly mechanisms by focusing on the relative contributions of environmental screening and spatial processes. While macroinvertebrates have been extensively investigated in many river ecosystems, meta-community ecology perspectives in high mountain stream networks are very limited. In this study, we assessed the role of ecological determinants and temporal dynamics in the macroinvertebrate meta-community assembly of an alpine stream situated in a dry-hot valley of Baima Snow Mountain, Northwest Yunnan. Our results show significant differences in the macroinvertebrate community composition across time periods. Spatial structuring and environmental filtering jointly drive the configuration of macroinvertebrate meta-community, with relative contributions to the variance in community composition varying over time. Redundancy Analysis (RDA) and variation partitioning indicate that environmental variables are the most important predictors of community organization in most scenarios, whereas spatial determinants also play a significant role. Moreover, the explanatory power, identity, and the relative significance of ecological indicators change over time. Particularly, in the years 2018 and 2019, stronger environmental filtering was found shaping community assembly, suggesting that deterministic mechanisms predominated in driving community dynamics in such a specific environment of the stream. However, spatial factors had a stronger predictive power on meta-community structures in 2017, implying conspicuous dispersal mechanisms which may be owing to increased connectivity amongst locations. Thereby, we inferred that the stream macroinvertebrate metacommunity composition can be regulated by the interaction of both spatial processes and environmental filtering, with relative contributions varying over time. Based on these findings, we suggest that community ecology studies in aquatic systems should be designed beyond single snapshot investigations.
Distributed static VAr systems (SVS) for regulated voltage support of load centers

This paper shows that when load centers require static VAr systems (SVS) for regulated voltage control, the strategy of using many, small, distributed SVS located at distribution buses is more advantageous than a few large bulk SVS located at the transmission or subtransmission bus. The advantages are: (i) standby to meet N-1 reliability criterion is reduced; (ii) costly high voltage transformers are no longer needed because the SVS can be connected directly to the low voltage distribution buses; (iii) distribution-side voltage support is more effective so that the total MVAr requirement of the distributed SVS is less.
A Brown Dwarf Companion to the Nova-like Variable RW Tri

The orbital period of Nova-like variable RW Tri is expected to experience a long-term evolution due to a stable mass transfer from the red dwarf to the white dwarf. By adding 297 new eclipse timings obtained from our own observations and a cross-identification of many databases, we fully reinvestigated the variations in orbital period of RW Tri, based on a total of 658 data points spanning over 80 years. The new O-C diagram demonstrates a more complicate pattern than a pure sinusoidal modulation shown in the previous O-C analyses. The best fit of the O-C variations is a quadratic-plus-sinusoidal curve with a period of 22.66 (2) years and a typical decrease rate of P˙ = −2d.32(4) × 10−9 yr−1. To explain secular orbital period decrease, the magnetic braking effect is required to cause the orbital angular moment loss in RW Tri with a mass ratio less than unity, while a conserved mass transfer is also enough for RW Tri with a mass ratio larger than unity. No matter what the mass ratio is, a slightly enhanced mass transfer rate, 2.4–5.3 × 10−9 M⊙ yr−1, derived from our O-C diagram, providing an evidence supporting the disk instability model and the standard/revised models of cataclysmic variable evolution, is almost the same as that obtained from the light-curve modeling. This further confirms our observed orbital period decrease and the controversial system parameter, mass transfer rate. Our updated O-C analysis further verifies the claimed cyclical changes of orbital period with a period range of 21–24 years, which is approximately one half of the results in the literature. In accordance with the light-travel time effect, this periodical variation shown in our new O-C diagram indicates a brown dwarf hidden in RW Tri at a coplanar orbit. Note that the large scatter in the data range of 0–3 × 104 cycles requires the high-precision photometry in the longer base line in the future.
Document Flash Thermography

This paper presents an extension of flash thermography techniques to the analysis of documents. Motivation for this research is to develop the ability to reveal covered writings in archaeological artifacts such as the Codex Selden or Egyptian Cartonnage. An emphasis is placed on evaluating several common existing signal processing techniques for their effectiveness in enhancing subsurface writings found within a set of test documents. These processing techniques include: contrast stretching, histogram equalization, image filters, contrast images, differential absolute contrast (DAC), thermal signal reconstruction (TSR), principal component thermography (PCT), dynamic thermal tomography (DTT), pulse phase thermography (PPT), and fitting-correlation analysis (FCA). The ability of flash thermography and the combined techniques to reveal subsurface writings and document strikeouts will be evaluated. In addition, the differences in flash thermography parameters are evaluated for most effective imaging of the two document subsets.
Minimization of railhead edge stresses through shape optimization

The railhead is severely stressed under the localized wheel contact patch close to the gaps in insulated rail joints. A modified railhead profile in the vicinity of the gapped joint, through a shape optimization model based on a coupled genetic algorithm and finite element method, effectively alters the contact zone and reduces the railhead edge stress concentration significantly. Two optimization methods, a grid search method and a genetic algorithm, were employed for this optimization problem. The optimal results from these two methods are discussed and, in particular, their suitability for the rail end stress minimization problem is studied. Through several numerical examples, the optimal profile is shown to be unaffected by either the magnitude or the contact position of the loaded wheel. The numerical results are validated through a large-scale experimental study.
Dietary Sodium Intake Is Positively Associated with Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption in Chinese Children and Adolescents

Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption among children and adolescents is steadily increasing in China, while the main taste of Chinese food is salty. The present study aimed to determine the relationships between SSB and total fluid consumption and dietary sodium and salt intake among children and adolescents in China. The data were obtained from a cross-sectional investigation in 2015. A total of 3958 participants were included. A 24-h dietary record for three consecutive days was collected to determine the SSB intake and food consumption across school days and rest days. After adjusting for age, sex, yearly household income, maternal education, intentional physical exercise, and instances of eating out in the last week, the dietary sodium intake was positively associated with the SSB consumption (p < 0.05), but salt was not. After stratifying by sex, grades, and puberty status, the associations between dietary sodium intake and SSB consumption were significant in girls, in grades 1–5 and before puberty (p < 0.05). Dietary sodium intake was positively associated with SSB consumption in Chinese children and adolescents, particularly in young children. A reduction of the sodium intake might help reduce SSB consumption among children and adolescents.
Fast and optimal sequence-to-graph alignment guided by seeds

We present a novel A⋆ seed heuristic that enables fast and optimal sequence-to-graph alignment, guaranteed to minimize the edit distance of the alignment assuming non-negative edit costs. We phrase optimal alignment as a shortest path problem and solve it by instantiating the A⋆ algorithm with our seed heuristic. The seed heuristic first extracts non-overlapping substrings (seeds) from the read, finds exact seed matches in the reference, marks preceding reference positions by crumbs, and uses the crumbs to direct the A⋆ search. The key idea is to punish paths for the absence of foreseeable seed matches. We prove admissibility of the seed heuristic, thus guaranteeing alignment optimality. Our implementation extends the free and open source aligner and demonstrates that the seed heuristic outperforms all state-of-the-art optimal aligners including GraphAligner, Vargas, PaSGAL, and the prefix heuristic previously employed by AStarix. Specifically, we achieve a consistent speedup of >60× on both short Illumina reads and long HiFi reads (up to 25kbp), on both the E. coli linear reference genome (1Mbp) and the MHC variant graph (5Mbp). Our speedup is enabled by the seed heuristic consistently skipping >99.99% of the table cells that optimal aligners based on dynamic programming compute. AStarix aligner and evaluations: https://github.com/eth-sri/astarix Full paper: https://www.biorxiv. org/content/10.1101/2021.11. 05.467453
Development of Ni-based Ohmic contacts to InAs and InGaAs

Low specific contact resistivity (ρc) of alloyed Ni/Pd/Au and nonalloyed Ti/Pd/Au Ohmic contacts to unintentionally doped n-InAs and n+-In0.63Ga0. 37As, which is a potential candidate for highly scaled HBTs and MOSFETs, is reported. Contacts were formed by UV-ozone oxidation and oxide removal with 1:1 HCl:DI water, and then deposited by either thermal evaporation or sputtering, followed by annealing. Finally, specific contact resistivities of Ohmic contacts were extracted using the transmission line model (TLM). The lowest contact resistivity of Ni contacts was 3.02 • 10-8 Ωcm2 to unintentionally doped n-InAs after a 150 ℃ annealing for duration of 1 min, while the lowest contact resistivity of Ti contacts was found to be 3.29 • 10-8 Ωcm2 to n-InAs, annealed at 300 ℃ . This indicates that the alloyed Ni contact exhibited somewhat lower contact resistivity than the nonalloyed Ti contact, but they are comparable. Furthermore, the lowest contact resistivity of all was obtained from the alloyed Ni contact to n-InAs. They have a narrow band gap where the Fermi level pins close to the conduction band, which in turn gives rise to better Ohmic contacts.
E-Resources for Indian Universities: New Initiatives

Academic Libraries in India are facing the problem of shrinking/static budgets and simultaneous exponential rise in journal prices. The need of the hour is to find a pragmatic solution to this problem. Something substantial has to be done in order to facilitate access to scholarly resources to research scholars and faculties. UGC-INFONET and INDEST- Consortium are two major initiatives that have come to the rescue of academic libraries so that they can cater to the needs of academia depending upon them. These revolutionary steps are providing scholarly resources including peer reviewed journals, databases, abstracts, proceedings, etc. These efforts will definitely boost the higher education system in our country.
Two-dimensional angles of arrival estimation for antenna array

A new type of array configuration composed of three identical subarrays with two rotation invariances is presented for estimating the two-dimensional (2-D) angles-of-arrival (AOA) of spatially correlated sources which have the same arrival angle in either of two directions. By fully using the signal subspace rotation invariance properties, the authors extend the direction-of-arrival (DOA) matrix method proposed by Q. Y. Yin et al. (1989) to 2-D cases with the array structure. Computer simulations show that the method is superior to Q. Y. Yin et al.'s method in that it can tackle the spatial coherency problem and does not need any search function on spatial spectrum. <<ETX>>
Dynamic behavior of a combined cycle power plant in the presence of a frequency drop

A combined cycle power plant which combines a gas turbine and a steam turbine can achieve high energy efficiency. Many combined cycle plants have been installed worldwide. However, a large‐scale blackout due to combined cycle chain trip‐out occurred in Malaysia in 1996. The cause of this chain trip was considered to be a large drop of system frequency. Thus, there is a need to investigate the stability of the combined cycle power plant for the frequency drop. Several dynamic models of a combined cycle plant have been proposed. In our analysis, we use some of them and build a model for a single‐shaft combined cycle plant. We execute numerical simulations to see how the combined cycle plant behaves when the system frequency drops. The cause and the countermeasure of the combined cycle plant trip‐out are explained. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 143(3): 9–19, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.10117
International Journal of Technology Diffusion

This research aims to quantify the current market size for wearable technology, and determine why this market has struggled over the past decade. These are products which are worn on the body and enhanced using electronics. Forecasts have been made as to how this wearable technology is likely to develop in terms of market size and product design or function. It is predicted that in five years the wearable technology market will be several times larger than it is currently, and entertainment devices will overtake fitness to become the largest product category. Medical devices will be used to reduce healthcare costs by monitoring patients within their own home and wearable technology will allow businesses to improve customer relations and productivity.
Screening for the Key Proteins Associated with Rete Testis Invasion in Clinical Stage I Seminoma via Label-Free Quantitative Mass Spectrometry

Simple Summary For clinical stage I (CS I) seminoma patients, management through the risk-adapted strategy with adjuvant carboplatin-based chemotherapy in the presence of risk factors and surveillance in the absence of these factors is the preferred option. In such management, rete testis invasion (RTI) represents a prognostic factor, as its absence, together with a tumour diameter ≤4 cm is associated with a very low relapse risk. To be able to routinely manage CS I seminoma patients through a risk-adapted strategy, reliable biomarkers stratifying the risk of relapse for CS I seminoma patients are urgently required. However, no such biomarker has yet entered routine use in clinical decision-making or clinical guidelines. The lack of consistent prognostic biomarkers for CS I seminoma patients prompted us to compare the proteomic profiles of RTI-positive and -negative CS I seminomas to reveal the molecular mechanism(s) and, in particular, the corresponding biomarkers of RTI invasion. Abstract Rete testis invasion (RTI) is an unfavourable prognostic factor for the risk of relapse in clinical stage I (CS I) seminoma patients. Notably, no evidence of difference in the proteome of RTI-positive vs. -negative CS I seminomas has been reported yet. Here, a quantitative proteomic approach was used to investigate RTI-associated proteins. 64 proteins were differentially expressed in RTI-positive compared to -negative CS I seminomas. Of them, 14-3-3γ, ezrin, filamin A, Parkinsonism-associated deglycase 7 (PARK7), vimentin and vinculin, were validated in CS I seminoma patient cohort. As shown by multivariate analysis controlling for clinical confounders, PARK7 and filamin A expression lowered the risk of RTI, while 14-3-3γ expression increased it. Therefore, we suggest that in real clinical biopsy specimens, the expression level of these proteins may reflect prognosis in CS I seminoma patients.
One‐class tensor machine with randomized projection for large‐scale anomaly detection in high‐dimensional and noisy data

The modern industrial sector generates enormous amounts of high‐dimensional heterogeneous data daily. However, mostly the vectored data (rank‐one tensor) have been considered for anomaly detection, whereas the data in real‐life is high dimensional. The expressive power of methods based on vector data is restrictive as they may destroy the structural information embedded in data and lead to the curse‐of‐dimensionality and overfitting. In this paper, we present a novel anomaly detection approach for large‐scale tensor data. We first present novel one‐class support tensor machines (OCSTM) with bounded loss function. We further extend it by leveraging the randomness to design a scalable approach that can also be used for large‐scale anomaly detection. To solve the corresponding optimization of the objective function, we utilize half‐quadratic optimization followed by solving it like a traditional OCSTM optimization at each iteration. We demonstrate the proposed randomized OCSTM with bounded hinge loss through experiments on 14 benchmark data sets. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach against anomalies and a significant reduction in the computational complexity.
Long Term Forecasting of Transformational Leadership and Its Effects Among Naval Officers: Some Preliminary Findings

Abstract : The purpose of this study was to propose, provide measures of, and test a general model of transformational leadership and its relationship to various precursors and consequences in a sample of United States Navy (USN) officers. The 186 officers were on active duty assigned to the surface warfare fleet and graduates of the United States Naval Academy (USNA). Data about the officers were collected from USNA records (pre- and post- admissions assessments), 793 senior subordinates of the officers, and USN records that contained superiors' performance evaluations of the officers. The preliminary results of this study indicate that (1) high school rank and verbal and math aptitude were predictors of academic and military success at the USNA; (2) military performance at the USNA was a predictor of charismatic and inspirational leadership and effectiveness as rated by subordinates as well as superiors' performance evaluations; and (3) transformational as compared to transactional leadership as rated by subordinates was more strongly related to subordinates' evaluations of effectiveness and satisfaction with the focal officers and superiors' ratings of the focal officers' performance. Given these preliminary findings, several directions for future research are discussed.
In Vitro 3D Staphylococcus aureus Abscess Communities Induce Bone Marrow Cells to Expand into Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells

Staphylococcus aureus is the main causative pathogen of subcutaneous, bone, and implant-related infections, forming structures known as staphylococcal abscess communities (SACs) within tissues that also contain immunosuppressive myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). Although both SACs and MDSCs are present in chronic S. aureus infections, it remains unknown whether SACs directly trigger MDSC expansion. To investigate this, a previously developed 3D in vitro SAC model was co-cultured with murine and human bone marrow cells. Subsequently, it was shown that SAC-exposed human CD11blow/− myeloid cells or SAC-exposed murine CD11b+ Gr-1+ cells were immunosuppressive mainly by reducing absolute CD4+ and CD8α+ T cell numbers, as shown in T cell proliferation assays and with flow cytometry. Monocytic MDSCs from mice with an S. aureus bone infection also strongly reduced CD4+ and CD8α+ T cell numbers. Using protein biomarker analysis and an immunoassay, we detected in SAC–bone marrow co-cultures high levels of GM-CSF, IL-6, VEGF, IL-1β, TNFα, IL-10, and TGF-β. Furthermore, SAC-exposed neutrophils expressed Arg-1 and SAC-exposed monocytes expressed Arg-1 and iNOS, as shown via immunofluorescent stains. Overall, this study showed that SACs cause MDSC expansion from bone marrow cells and identified possible mediators to target as an additional strategy for treating chronic S. aureus infections.
BER Performance of a Lumped Single-pump Fiber Optical Parametric Amplifier in a 10 Gbit/s 4-channel S-band DWDM System

Results on computer simulations of a lumped single-pump FOPA (fiber optical parametric amplifier) are presented. We demonstrate optical amplification of a 10 Gbit/s 4-channel S-band DWDM system utilizing a lumped FOPA on a 400 km long link with 80 km long inter-amplifier spans. In most of the recent papers in the field of fiber optical parametric amplifiers research the amount of amplification and the gain bandwidth are considered as the FOPA parameters. We evaluate the effectiveness of FOPA through BER parameter, which depends on both the attenuation of optical signal and the quality degradation due to dispersion, crosstalk and amplifier noise, and therefore is more suitable for evaluation of optical amplifiers in lightwave systems. Ill. 4, bibl. 9 (in English; abstracts in English, Russian and Lithuanian).
Resuspending Organisms from a Rangeland Stream Bottom

ABSTRACT BACTERIA from livestock wastes enter streams with run-off and are deposited directly when animals have access to the stream. While the exact fate of all of the organisms is not known, some of the bacteria settle out into the sediment on the stream bottom. This study examined resuspending organisms from the stream bottom. Bear Creek flows through a semi-arid rangeland in Central Oregon. The stream bottom was disrupted (raked) at three locations along Bear Creek. The stream was monitored to determine the change in the concentration of fecal coliform (FC) and fecal streptococcus (FS). Cattle locations were also recorded throughout the study period. The rakings resuspended 1.8 million to 760 million FC per m^ and from 0.8 million to 5,610 million FS per m^. Cattle access to the stream increased organism concentration in the underlying sediments.
FERTILIZER ADDITION INDUCES A CASCADE OF PLANT COMMUNITY RESPONSES IN A MEADOW

Fertilizer addition can improve soil nutrients in degraded grasslands, change plant community composition, and promote community productivity. An experiment was established in 2014 near Hulunbuir Grassland Ecosystem National Field Observation Station at Hulunbuir in Inner Mongolia, China, using L14 (3) orthogonal test with 14 treatments totally, to compare the change of plant community productivity and plant diversity during three years of fertilization. We monitored the dynamic responses of aboveground biomass, plant species composition, species richness, Shannon diversity, Pielou’s evenness after nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) addition once a year from 2014 to 2016. Compared to the control treatment of no additional fertilizer, we found that, (1) The fertilization combination of N (274 kg ha), P (350 kg ha), and K (57 kg ha) had a greater effect on biomass after the third year of fertilizer addition; (2) Gramineae accounted for a major portion of biomass in 2016, whereas the proportion of other species declined or disappeared; and (3) the longer the fertilization treatments went on, the lower Shannon diversity and Pielou’s evenness turned out to be. All these responses are strongly interrelated in a cascade of changes. The interrelationships between fertilizers and different plant communities attribute the change not only to climate shift but also to time.