Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of forests on the retrieval of snow parameters from backscatter measurements

Abstract In preparation for the CoReH2O satellite mission, one of the three missions selected for scientific and technical feasibility studies within the Earth Explorer Programme of the ESA, experimental and theoretical studies have been under way in order to improve methods for the retrieval of snow physical properties from SAR data. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of vegetation in the retrieval of snow parameters from microwave backscattering measurements. ARTT model capable of simulating scattering from a snow- covered vegetated terrain was developed and implemented to study the sensitivity to snow and vegetation parameters. A procedure for correcting the vegetation effect in the SWE retrieval algorithm has been suggested.
Nonradioactive Iodoantipyrine Enhanced Cranial Computed Tomography: Preliminary Observations

Nonradioactive 4-iodoantipyrine, an iodinated indicator that freely diffuses across the blood-brain barrier, was serially imaged in vivo using computed tomography (CT). Prominent enhancement was immediately detected in the brain substance of the dog following the intracarotid injection of this contrast medium. An estimate was made of the brain: blood partition coefficient for 4-iodoantipyrine from the CT derived arterial and brain concentration of this iodinated marker. Practical applicability of this technique is limited unless an improved method for getting the 4-iodoantipyrine into solution can be developed. However, this study reinforces the concept that local cerebral blood flow and metabolism can be analyzed by diffusible tracers using CT.
Interstitial mononuclear cell populations in renal graft rejection. Identification by monoclonal antibodies in tissue sections

The interstitial mononuclear cell populations of 22 renal grafts with interstitial rejection (IR), 6 grafts with interstitial nephritis without rejection (IN), and 5 kidneys without infiltration (3 donor kidneys, 2 grafts) were identified and quantitated by monoclonal antibodies recognizing T cells (TA-1, OKT3), helper inducer cells (OKT4), cytotoxic/suppressor cells (OKT8), B cells (BA-1), and monocytes and null cells (OKM1). Double-layer fluorochrome enhancement using F(ab’)(2) reagents and nuclear counter staining with ethidium bromide enabled quantitation of the number of positive mononuclear cells, interstitial cells, and total cells on each of 30-55 microscopic fields per tissue section. T cells were the most abundant infiltrating cell in tissues with IR (35 +/- 9.8 percent), significantly higher than that seen in IN (21 +/- 16 percent) or in kidneys without infiltration (5.0 +/- 3.9 percent). The percentage of T cells identified by TA-1 or OKT3 was approximately equivalent to the summation of OKT4 plus OKT8. Although no differences were observed in the percentage of OKT4 cells, the percentage of OKT8 was significantly higher in IR (26 +/- 7.7 percent, P {less than} 10(-4)) than in IN (9.3 +/- 6.2 percent) or in kidneys with normal interstitium (3.0 +/- 2.4 percent). The ratio of OKT8/OKT4-positive T cells in 22 graft tissues with IR (3.2 +/- 1.4) was greater (P {less than} 0.0007) than 6 graft tissues with IN without rejection (0.82 +/- 0.39) and the 5 kidney tissues without interstitial infiltration (0.75 +/- 0.25). There was no significant difference between the groups in the relatively low percentage of interstitial cells identified as B cells reacting with BA-1 or containing S(IgD,M). The percentage of interstitial cells recognized by OKM1 was similar in rejection and interstitial nephritis, with both being greater than controls (P {less than} 0.02). The relative numbers of blood mononuclear cells identified by the monoclonal antibodies was generally not predictive of the proportions present in kidney tissue, although OKT4-positive blood cells were less numerous and OKMI+ blood cells were more numerous than in controls (P {less than} 0.002). Quantitative analysis of identifiable interstitial cells in graft rejection reveals that most infiltrating cells are T cells, the greater proportion of which are recognized by OKT8. OKT8-positive cells may play an important role in mediating renal graft rejection.
Exploring Trust-Aware Neighbourhood in Trust-based Recommendation

Traditional Recommender Systems (RS) do not consider any personal user information beyond rating history. Such information, on the other hand, is widely available on social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter). As a result, social networks have recently been used in recommendation systems. In this paper, we propose an efficient method for incorporating social signals into the recommendation process by building a trust network which supplements the users' rating profiles. We first show the effect of different cold-start users types on the Collaborative Filtering (CF) technique in several real-world datasets. Later, we propose a"Trust-Aware Neighbourhood"algorithm which addresses a performance issue of the former by limiting the trusted neighbourhood. We show the doubling of the rating coverage compared to the traditional CF technique, and a significant improvement in the accuracy for some datasets. Focusing specifically on cold-start users, we propose a"Hybrid Trust-Aware Neighbourhood"algorithm which expands the neighbourhood by considering both trust and rating history of the users. We show a near complete coverage with a rich trust network dataset-- Flixster. We conclude by discussing the potential implementation of this algorithm in a budget-constrained cloud environment.
A Multipitch Analyzer Based on Harmonic Temporal Structured Clustering

This paper proposes a multipitch analyzer called the harmonic temporal structured clustering (HTC) method, that jointly estimates pitch, intensity, onset, duration, etc., of each underlying source in a multipitch audio signal. HTC decomposes the energy patterns diffused in time-frequency space, i.e., the power spectrum time series, into distinct clusters such that each has originated from a single source. The problem is equivalent to approximating the observed power spectrum time series by superimposed HTC source models, whose parameters are associated with the acoustic features that we wish to extract. The update equations of the HTC are explicitly derived by formulating the HTC source model with a Gaussian kernel representation. We verified through experiments the potential of the HTC method
Artificial Ambient Environments for Proximity Critical Applications

In the field of smartphones a number of proposals suggest that sensing the ambient environment can act as an effective anti-relay mechanism. However, existing literature is not compliant with industry standards (e.g. EMV and ITSO) that require transactions to complete within a certain time-frame (e.g. 500ms in the case of EMV contactless payments). In previous work the generation of an artificial ambient environment (AAE), and especially the use of infrared light as an AAE actuator was shown to have high success rate in relay attacks detection. In this paper we investigate the application of infrared as a relay attack detection technique in various scenarios, namely, contactless transactions (mobile payments, transportation ticketing, and physical access control), and continuous Two-Factor Authentication. Operating requirements and architectures are proposed for each scenario, while taking into account industry imposed performance requirements, where applicable. Protocols for integrating the solution into the aforementioned scenarios are being proposed, and formally verified. The impact on the performance is assessed through practical implementation. Proposed protocols are verified using Scyther, a formal mechanical verification tool. Finally, additional scenarios, in which this technique can be applied to prevent relay or other types of attacks, are discussed.
Diverse roles of androgen receptor (AR) domains in AR-mediated signaling

Androgens control male sexual development and maintenance of the adult male phenotype. They have very divergent effects on their target organs like the reproductive organs, muscle, bone, brain and skin. This is explained in part by the fact that different cell types respond differently to androgen stimulus, even when all these responses are mediated by the same intracellular androgen receptor. To understand these tissue- and cell-specific readouts of androgens, we have to learn the many different steps in the transcription activation mechanisms of the androgen receptor (NR3C4). Like all nuclear receptors, the steroid receptors have a central DNA-binding domain connected to a ligand-binding domain by a hinge region. In addition, all steroid receptors have a relatively large amino-terminal domain. Despite the overall structural homology with other nuclear receptors, the androgen receptor has several specific characteristics which will be discussed here. This receptor can bind two types of androgen response elements (AREs): one type being similar to the classical GRE/PRE-type elements, the other type being the more divergent and more selective AREs. The hormone-binding domain has low intrinsic transactivation properties, a feature that correlates with the low affinity of this domain for the canonical LxxLL-bearing coactivators. For the androgen receptor, transcriptional activation involves the alternative recruitment of coactivators to different regions in the amino-terminal domain, as well as the hinge region. Finally, a very strong ligand-induced interaction between the amino-terminal domain and the ligand-binding domain of the androgen receptor seems to be involved in many aspects of its function as a transcription factor. This review describes the current knowledge on the structure-function relationships within the domains of the androgen receptor and tries to integrate the involvement of different domains, subdomains and motifs in the functioning of this receptor as a transcription factor with tissue- and cell-specific readouts.
Identity: How to name it, How to find it

The main objective of this work is to exploit the relationship between the information findability problem and a subject-based organization of information. Identification of a subject is involved when one wants to say something about that subject or when he or she tries to comprehend what was said by others about it. An example of this type of duality can be seen in the information world where content creators and content consumers need to communicate. In this paper we discuss the concept of subject identity in learning content authoring, where we view a topic map as supporting the communication between a content author and learners. In this context we address both sides of the dual system and propose some solutions intended to assist both content creators and consumers in dealing with problems typical for elearning repositories. Concerning the learners who need to identify the subject they are looking information about, we suggest that a set of subjects related to it can be interpreted as a weak form of its identity. This can be used for finding a starting point for content exploration and we propose an algorithm for this task. As to the content authors, they need to use agreed-upon names and possibly subject identifiers to identify the subjects they are talking about. In this relation we suggest using Wikipedia articles as a source for both consensual naming and subject identifiers. We claim that Wikipedia can play a role of a shared context between topic map authors and users and propose an approach for extracting consensual information from Wikipedia. The proposed ideas are implemented in the Topic Maps for e-Learning tool (TM4L).
Camalaú-PB and their water and decadal variability | Camalaú-PB e suas variações decadal de água

Knowing the local climate is a necessary factor for evaluation of water resources, for various weather elements are indispensable throughout the hydrologic cycle. In this context, the objectives of this article are to estimate the climatic water balance and the balance sheet at decadal Thorntwaite and Mather method (1948.1955) to the city of Camalau - PB and evaluate the main weir behavior in this area. Evapotranspiration is almost four times the amount of precipitation and evaporation is equal to precipitate volume. In climatological analysis of rainfall in the city under study, the months from January to May had the highest rainfall in the decade studied. In the year 2014 the months from March to May there were high rainfall rates. The climatic water balance demonstrates a water deficit of 740.3 mm/year for the year 2014 in the month of April 2014 was water surplus of 24.5 mm. In decadal water balance there is a water deficit of 710.1 mm/year and water surpluses do not occur in any month of the year studied. The variability of the large-scale El Nino (a) active in the study period influenced the rainfall and its location effects.
Exploring generic Haskell

This thesis is an exploration -- an exploration of a language extension of the functional programming language Haskell. The extension is called Generic Haskell, albeit the name has been used to refer to different objects over the last several years: Many papers have described different proposals, features, variations, and generations of the language. One purpose of this thesis is to do away with at least part of this fuzziness: everything is described in a common notation and from a single starting point. The other purpose is to simply give a complete overview of the language: we will systematically explain the core features of Generic Haskell, and several extensions, all with motivating examples and details on how the features can be implemented. Generic programming gives the user of the programming language the ability to define functions by analysis of the structure of datatypes. Such generic functions are statically checked for type correctness. They are reusable in many contexts, and can adapt easily to changed environments, because they work for all datatypes. The thesis starts with the presentation of a simple functional core language which is gradually extended with features that allow generic programming. We show how generic programming can benefit from the concept of dependencies, which are a result of the combination and generalization of two approaches to generic functions by Ralf Hinze. Whenever the language is extended, we first motivate the additions using examples, and subsequently discuss implications for the underlying theory. In the second half of the thesis, several concepts are described that make generic programming more powerful and easier to use: generic abstraction is a simple mechanism to form new generic functions out of existing ones; type inference can help to reduce the notational burden for the programmer quite significantly, default cases allow to define several variations of one generic behaviour quickly. We discuss type-indexed datatypes, which lift the concept of generic programming to the level of types and provide the possibility to define datatypes that have an implementation based on the structure of a type argument. Multiple views on datatypes allow the definition of generic functions which would otherwise be difficult to define. Finally, we discuss practical issues arising from the embedding into Haskell, such as dealing with type synonyms, or the module system and separate compilation. All in all, we present a complete and rich language for generic programming, which can, has been, and hopefully will be used for several interesting applications
Consolidating the Precision of Interferometric GNSS-R Ocean Altimetry Using Airborne Experimental Data

This paper revises the precision of altimetric measurements made with signals of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) reflected (GNSS-R) off the sea surface. In particular, we investigate the performance of two different GNSS-R techniques, referred to here as the clean-replica and interferometric approaches. The former has been used in GNSS-R campaigns since the late 1990s, while the latter has only been tested once, in 2010, from an 18-m-high bridge in static conditions and estuary waters. In 2011, we conducted an airborne experiment over the Baltic Sea at 3-km altitude to test the interferometric concept in dynamic and rougher conditions. The campaign also flew a clean-replica GNSS-R instrument with the purpose of comparing both approaches. We have analyzed with detail the data sets to extract and validate models of the noise present in both techniques. After predicting the noise models and verifying these with aircraft data, we used them to obtain the precision of altimetric measurements and to extrapolate the performance analysis to spaceborne scenarios. The main conclusions are that the suggested noise model agrees with measured data and that the GNSS-R interferometric technique is at least two times better in precision than a technique based on using a clean replica of the publicly available GPS code. This represents a factor of at least four times finer along-track resolution. A precision of 22 cm in 65-km along-track averaging should be achievable using near-nadir interferometric GNSS-R observations from a low earth orbiter.
Automatic Extraction of Function Knowledge From Text

This paper presents a method to automatically extract function knowledge from natural language text. Our method uses syntactic rules to extract subject-verb-object triplets from parsed text. We then leverage the Functional Basis taxonomy, WordNet, and word2vec to classify the triplets as artifact-function-energy flow knowledge. For evaluation, we compare the function definitions associated with 30 most frequent artifacts compiled in a human-constructed knowledge base, Oregon State University’s Design Repository (DR), to those extracted using our method from 4953 Wikipedia pages classified under the category “Machines”. Our method found function definitions for 66% of the test artifacts. For those artifacts found, our method identified 50% of the function definitions compiled in DR. In addition, 75% of the most frequent function definitions found by our method were also defined in DR. The results demonstrate the promising potential of our method in automatic extraction of function knowledge.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
ASKALON: a tool set for cluster and Grid computing

Performance engineering of parallel and distributed applications is a complex task that iterates through various phases, ranging from modeling and prediction, to performance measurement, experiment management, data collection, and bottleneck analysis. There is no evidence so far that all of these phases should/can be integrated into a single monolithic tool. Moreover, the emergence of computational Grids as a common single wide‐area platform for high‐performance computing raises the idea to provide tools as interacting Grid services that share resources, support interoperability among different users and tools, and, most importantly, provide omnipresent services over the Grid. We have developed the ASKALON tool set to support performance‐oriented development of parallel and distributed (Grid) applications. ASKALON comprises four tools, coherently integrated into a service‐oriented architecture. SCALEA is a performance instrumentation, measurement, and analysis tool of parallel and distributed applications. ZENTURIO is a general purpose experiment management tool with advanced support for multi‐experiment performance analysis and parameter studies. AKSUM provides semi‐automatic high‐level performance bottleneck detection through a special‐purpose performance property specification language. The PerformanceProphet enables the user to model and predict the performance of parallel applications at the early stages of development. In this paper we describe the overall architecture of the ASKALON tool set and outline the basic functionality of the four constituent tools. The structure of each tool is based on the composition and sharing of remote Grid services, thus enabling tool interoperability. In addition, a data repository allows the tools to share the common application performance and output data that have been derived by the individual tools. A service repository is used to store common portable Grid service implementations. A general‐purpose Factory service is employed to create service instances on arbitrary remote Grid sites. Discovering and dynamically binding to existing remote services is achieved through registry services. The ASKALON visualization diagrams support both online and post‐mortem visualization of performance and output data. We demonstrate the usefulness and effectiveness of ASKALON by applying the tools to real‐world applications. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Passivity, feedback equivalence, and the global stabilization of minimum phase nonlinear systems

Conditions under which a nonlinear system can be rendered passive via smooth state feedback are derived. It is shown that, as in the case of linear systems, this is possible if and only if the system in question has relative degree one and is weakly minimum phase. It is proven that weakly minimum phase nonlinear systems with relative degree one can be globally asymptotically stabilized by smooth state feedback, provided that suitable controllability-like rank conditions are satisfied. This result incorporates and extends a number of stabilization schemes recently proposed for global asymptotic stabilization of certain classes of nonlinear systems. >
Effect of garlic powder tablet on carotid intima-media thickness in patients with coronary artery disease

Background/objectives: This study was designed to investigate whether garlic powder tablets in adjunct to conventional medical treatment could have an effect on carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and plasma lipoproteins and lipids in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Subjects/methods: A randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical trial was conducted on 56 patients with CAD between the ages of 25 and 75 years. The patients were randomly divided into two groups: garlic group (n = 27), receiving garlic powder tablet (1200 µg allicin/tab) twice daily and the placebo group (n = 29), receiving placebo for 3 months. The rate of atherosclerosis progression was measured by B-mode ultrasonography as the increase in CIMT. Results: After 3 months of taking garlic tablets, CIMT values had minor variations (0.009 ± 0.007 mm reduction from baseline), while in the placebo group, an increase in CIMT values was observed (0.04 ± 0.01 mm increase from baseline). After 3 months of treatment, mean CIMT difference from baseline was significantly differ between the two groups (p < 0.001). Plasma lipids and lipoproteins (total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, Apolipoprotein A1 and Apolipoprotein B) did not differ between the two groups. Conclusions: The results suggest that dry garlic powder tablet is superior to placebo in prevention of CIMT progression in patients with CAD and may be considered as an adjunct treatment for atherosclerosis.