Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Moist Entropy and Water Isotopologues in a Zonal Overturning Circulation Framework of the Madden‐Julian Oscillation

The Madden‐Julian oscillation (MJO) is the principal source of tropical intraseasonal variability, yet challenges remain to accurately simulate its observed convective behavior and eastward propagation. There is specific need for evaluating the role of water within the MJO, including evaporation, vertical transport, precipitation, and latent heating of the coupled atmosphere‐ocean system. Hydrogen isotope ratios are particularly useful for investigating these aspects of the water cycle. This study complements previous characterization of MJO joint distributions for water vapor and isotopologue concentrations (δD) with consideration of moist entropy in the tropical zonal overturning circulation framework of the MJO. The goals are to distinguish the roles of convective and large‐scale dynamic processes through the life cycle of the MJO and identify shortcomings for modeling MJO humidity, clouds, and convection. From MJO composite analyses, wet equivalent potential temperature (θq) anomalies are largest at 500 hPa and tilt westward with altitude. A positive θq anomaly co‐occurs with the precipitation maxima, and negative θq anomalies co‐occur with subsidence both trailing and leading the convective center. Out of phase with θq, δD anomalies are positive east and negative west of the convective center, coherent with the regional zonal overturning stream function. These results point to a decoupling in the MJO between midtroposphere water vapor, which is tied to convective processes, and the isotopologue ratios, which are tied to the large‐scale circulation. A conceptual model is presented to describe the physical processes that explain the MJO life‐cycle for joint distributions of humidity (q) and water vapor δD.
Hesperidin Alleviates Methotrexate-Induced Memory Deficits via Hippocampal Neurogenesis in Adult Rats

Methotrexate (MTX), a folic acid antagonist, is widely used in cancer treatment. However, treatment with MTX reduces hippocampal neurogenesis, leading to memory deficits. Hesperidin (Hsd) is a flavonoid glycoside that promotes anti-inflammation, acts as an antioxidant, and has neuroprotective properties. Consumption of Hsd enhances learning and memory. In the present study, we investigated the protective effects of Hsd against MTX-induced impairments of memory and neurogenesis; male Sprague Dawley rats were administered with a single dose of MTX (75 mg/kg) by intravenous (i.v.) injection on days 8 and 15 or Hsd (100 mg/kg) by oral gavage for 21 days. Memory was tested using novel object location (NOL) and novel object recognition (NOR) tasks. Immunofluorescence staining of Ki-67, bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU), and doublecortin (DCX) was performed to assess cell proliferation, survival, and immature neurons. The data showed that Hsd and MTX did not disable locomotor ability. The MTX animals exhibited memory deficits in both memory tests. There were significant decreases in the numbers of cell proliferation, survival, and immature neurons in the MTX animals. However, co-administration with MTX and Hsd alleviated memory loss and neurogenesis decline. These results revealed that Hsd could protect against MTX side effects in the animals in this study.
Relationship Satisfaction among South Asian Canadians : The Role of ‘ Complementary-Equality ’ and Listening to Understand

This study explored the ways in which adherence to traditional marital expectations in ones marriage was related to styles of interpersonal listening and marital satisfaction among IndoPakistanis living in a Western country. Participants (n = 114) were recruited from a large metropolitan city in Canada, were married, and their ages ranged from 19 to 67 years. They completed measures of marital satisfaction, listening styles, and traditional orientation to marriage. Results indicated that greater adherence to traditional marital beliefs were correlated with lower levels of interpersonal listening and marital satisfaction. However, closer examination of the traditional orientation subscales revealed that expectation of traditional husband and wife roles did not result in lower empathic listening in one’s marriage or lower marital satisfaction, but the lower degree to which one believed in upholding equality in undertaking such traditional roles did. Furthermore, empathic listening mediated the relationship between belief in equality in one’s relationship and marital satisfaction. The implications of these results for enhancing relationship satisfaction for Indo-Pakistanis are discussed.
Low-pressure, low-temperature hydrogen annealing for nanoscale silicon fin rounding

In the CMOS technology, silicon rounding technique is often an essential part of fabrication. There have been some studies about hydrogen annealing process in a silicon fin. But the previous studies have been done in relatively large silicon fins (200 nm ~ 1 mum). In this study, effect of hydrogen annealing in a nanoscale fin (30 nm ~ 100 nm) is investigated. There is significant difference between large width fin and small width fin. Especially, in the smaller fin, not only silicon self-diffusion but also silicon etch phenomenon become important.
Remote estimation of crop canopy parameters by statistical regression algorithms for winter rapeseed using Sentinel-2 multispectral images

Еstimation of crop canopy parameters is important task for remote sensing monitoring of agriculture and constructing strategies for within-field management. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the retrieval from Sentinel-2 images by parametric and non-parametric statistical models several crop canopy parameters for monitoring before winter and after winter rapeseed crop in real farming conditions of North East Bulgaria. For the calibration of the models in-situ data from three field campaigns is used. For most of the studied parameters models with good accuracy were identified, except for aboveground fresh biomass. The best identified model for vegetation fraction (RMSEcv = 0.14 %) and plant density (RMSEcv = 9 nb/m) were parametric models with three band vegetation index (3BSI-Tian) and linear fitting function for the first, three band vegetation index (3BSIVerreslt) and polynomial for the second parameter. For aboveground dry biomass (RMSEcv = 52 g/m2), mean plant height (RMSEcv = 4 cm) and nitrogen content in fresh biomass (RMSEcv = 2 g/kg) the best models were non-parametric, Gaussian Processes Regression for the first parameter and Variational Heteroscedastic variant of the Gaussian Processes Regression for the other two.
Albuminuria Is Associated with Traditional Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Viral Load in HIV-Infected Patients in Rural South Africa

Context As life expectancy improves among Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) patients, renal and cardiovascular diseases are increasingly prevalent in this population. Renal and cardiovascular disease are mutual risk factors and are characterized by albuminuria. Understanding the interactions between HIV, cardiovascular risk factors and renal disease is the first step in tackling this new therapeutic frontier in HIV. Methods In a rural primary health care centre, 903 HIV-infected adult patients were randomly selected and data on HIV-infection and cardiovascular risk factors were collected. Glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was estimated. Albuminuria was defined as an Albumin-Creatinine-Ratio above 30 mg/g. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyse albuminuria and demographic, clinical and HIV-associated variables. Results The study population consisted of 903 HIV-infected patients, with a median age of 40 years (Inter-Quartile Range (IQR) 34–48 years), and included 625 (69%) women. The median duration since HIV diagnosis was 26 months (IQR 12–58 months) and 787 (87%) received antiretroviral therapy. Thirty-six (4%) of the subjects were shown to have diabetes and 205 (23%) hypertension. In the cohort, 21% had albuminuria and 2% an eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73m2. Albuminuria was associated with hypertension (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.59; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05–2.41; p<0.05), total cholesterol (aOR 1.31; 95% CI 1.11–1.54; p<0.05), eGFR (aOR 0.98; 95% CI 0.97–0.99; p<0.001) and detectable viral load (aOR 2.74; 95% CI 1.56–4.79; p<0.001). Hypertension was undertreated: 78% were not receiving treatment, while another 11% were inadequately treated. No patients were receiving lipid-lowering medication. Conclusion Glomerular filtration rate was well conserved, while albuminuria was common amongst HIV-infected patients in rural South Africa. Both cardiovascular and HIV-specific variables were associated with albuminuria. Improved cardiovascular risk prevention as well as adequate virus suppression might be the key to escape the vicious circle of renal failure and cardiovascular disease and improve the long-term prognosis of HIV-infected patients.
Organic petrography and scanning electron microscopy imaging of a thermal maturity series from the Montney tight-gas and hydrocarbon liquids fairway

Abstract Although shale gas systems constitute a new target for commercial hydrocarbon production, only a little attention has been paid to the evolution of these unconventional systems with increasing thermal maturation. This study reports the characterization of samples of the Lower Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) Posidonia Shale from northern Germany at varying levels of thermal maturity (0.5–1.45%Ro [vitrinite reflectance]). Observations were made using an original combination of focused ion beam–scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). We document the formation of microfracture-filling bitumen in close association with kerogen residues with increasing maturity. Porosity evolves from mostly submicrometric interparticle pores in immature samples to intramineral and intraorganic pores (irregular-shape pores of about 1 to 200 nm occurring within the macromolecular structure of pyrobitumen masses) in overmature (gas mature) samples. This intraorganic nanoporosity has most likely come about by the exsolution of gaseous hydrocarbon and been hydrocarbon wet during the thermal maturation processes. The mineralogical assemblage of the investigated samples strongly evolves with increasing thermal maturity. The formation of most of the mineral phases within the oil and gas mature samples is interpreted as resulting from the percolation of sulfate-rich evaporite-derived brines at temperatures of about 140 to 180°C. Although FIB-SEM and TEM images are small compared to field size, the present study emphasizes the need for nanoscale imaging to better constrain hydrocarbon generation processes in gas shale systems.
First Report: Trace Fossil Assemblage Ptychoplasma (P. excelsum, P. vagans), Dendroidichnites (D. irregulare), Ctenopholeus (?C. kutcheri) and Bergaueria (B. hemispherica) in the Cretaceous Rocks of Bagh Formation, Mainland Gujarat, India

Abstract This report documents the discovery of repichnia trace fossils Ptychoplasma (P. excelsum and P. vagans) and Dendroidichnites (D. irregulare); the fodichnia traces ? Ctenopholeus (? C. kutcheri) and cubichnia traces Bergaueria (B. hemishperica) from silty limestones of the Cretaceous Bagh Formation. These trace fossils have significant implications for the depositional facies and the paleo-environmental interpretations of the Bagh Formation, which have long been debated. Previously identified traces of Protovirgularia were also found in association with the newly discovered trace fossils, indicating the coexistence of both wedge and cleft-foot bivalves. The western area of the mainland Gujarat is known for its abundance and diversity of trace fossils. The trace fossil bearing Cretaceous rocks in the region occur as thin irregular detached patches and linear outcrops. Previous studies documenting trace fossil assemblages from the Bagh Formation characterised them as a combination of dwelling, feeding and locomotion forms, with the stratigraphic unit becoming less fossiliferous westward. Trace fossils in this formation have been studied and described by many workers in the surrounding areas; however, ichnofossils described in this study are new to the Bagh Formation in this area. These trace fossils were observed on recently exposed outcrops along road cuts associated with new road construction from Khasra to Mogra village around Kadipani in Mainland Gujarat.
xBook: Redesigning Privacy Control in Social Networking Platforms

Social networking websites have recently evolved from being service providers to platforms for running third party applications. Users have typically trusted the social networking sites with personal data, and assume that their privacy preferences are correctly enforced. However, they are now being asked to trust each third-party application they use in a similar manner. This has left the users' private information vulnerable to accidental or malicious leaks by these applications. In this work, we present a novel framework for building privacy-preserving social networking applications that retains the functionality offered by the current social networks. We use information flow models to control what untrusted applications can do with the information they receive. We show the viability of our design by means of a platform prototype. The usability of the platform is further evaluated by developing sample applications using the platform APIs. We also discuss both security and nonsecurity challenges in designing and implementing such a framework.
Combined effects of irrigation management and nitrogen fertilization on soft wheat productive responses under Mediterranean conditions

To evaluate water-nitrogen interactions on irrigated wheat production, it is important to know: the dose, the fractioning, and the most recommended period of fertilizers application; the best irrigation volumes and schedules for meeting the crop requirements, ensuring the minimum leaching risks, to obtain the highest yields and quality of the grain, while achieving high water and nitrogen use efficiencies. This study evaluated the interactive effect of irrigation and nitrogen fertilization, with conventional and enhanced efficiency fertilizers, on yield, irrigation water use efficiency and grain quality of soft wheat. For this purpose, two trials were carried out during the 2016/2017 in Beja, Alentejo, under two irrigation strategies: D1 (100% of crop evapotranspiration – ETc - throughout the cycle) and D2 (100% of ETc only at four stages: beginning of stem extension; booting; heading; grain filling). In one trial, enhanced efficiency N fertilizers were applied through 6 splitting treatments. In the other, conventional N fertilizer was applied through 5 splitting treatments. The results suggest that, on one hand, early applications of advanced efficiency fertilizers do not compromise the crop yield and, on the other hand, the availability of nitrogen in the booting stage is important to obtain higher grain protein content.
Institutions, Extreme Weather, and Urbanization in the Greater Mekong Region

Climate change threatens many developing countries with more frequent and intense extreme weather events. Researchers, however, have not comprehensively examined how extreme weather influences urbanization and sustainable development. Based on the spatial estimates of precipitation, tropical cyclones, and temperature for the period of 2000 to 2010, we establish an eleven-year climatological record and calculate anomalies at the county and district level in the Greater Mekong Region (GMR). Combining this with urbanization data from the World Bank, we relate weather patterns to growth rates in urban population and urban land use and find that the above-average rainfall in the wet season along with more frequent cold waves and tropical cyclones tend to retard urban development. In contrast, crop failures caused by increasingly severe droughts during the dry season and heat waves accelerate rural–urban migration and the agglomeration of urban poverty. By identifying institutionally varying effects, we further find that nonsocialist countries have additional sensitivity to most weather extremes than more centralized socialist countries, which have stronger ability to mobilize resources for disaster management and relief. Our study contributes to the understanding of effects of weather shocks on socioeconomic outcomes in societies rapidly integrating with the global economy.
Algorithms and Data Structures for Efficient Free Space Reclamation in WAFL

NetApp® WAFL® is a transactional file system that uses the copy-on-write mechanism to support fast write performance and efficient snapshot creation. However, copy-on-write increases the demand on the file system to find free blocks quickly; failure to do so may impede allocations for incoming writes. Efficiency is also important, because the task may consume CPU and other resources. In this paper, we describe the evolution (over more than a decade) of WAFL's algorithms and data structures for reclaiming space with minimal impact on the overall storage appliance performance.
Application of Multiple-Locus Variable Number Tandem Repeat Analysis to Identify Outbreak-Associated Neisseria meningitides Serogroup C Sequence Type 4821 in China

Neisseria meningitidis (N. meningitidis) serogroup C sequence type (ST)-4821 caused an outbreak in 2010 in Shandong province of China. Twenty-one non-outbreak-associated strains were isolated, along with twenty-eight N. meningitides serogroup C ST-4821 isolates. Therefore, it’s essential to identify and clarify characterization of the real outbreak-associated strains with a rapid method during an outbreak investigation. In this study, multiple-locus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) was applied to analyze 84 N. meningitidis strains, among which 58 were recovered from two outbreaks and 26 were sporadic isolates. Three MLVA schemes with different combination of VNTR loci were tested, and two of them were suitable for isolates from China: scheme 2 with six loci was found to separate ST into finer resolution, and scheme 3 with five loci can be used to identify outbreak-associated isolates from the same outbreak that caused by N. meningitidis serogroup C ST-4821.
A Distributed Approach for Solving Systems of Nonlinear Equations

Solving a system of nonlinear equations is a common operation in many practical applications such as analyzing physics experiments or running simulations of analog electronic circuits. Applications become more and more complex, both in terms of variables and number of involved equations, severely limiting the applicability of the sequential algorithms. As both the processing power and the available bandwidth in modern network increase, the distributing solution becomes more and more appealing. This paper presents a parallel algorithm for solving systems nonlinear of equations based on the Newton-Raphson method. The core of this algorithm is the Gaussian reduction. Our implementation attempts to minimize the overall amount of data to be transferred during both the Gauss pivoting operation and each Newton-Raphson iteration.
SoundFLEX: Designing Audio to Guide Interactions with Shape-Retaining Deformable Interfaces

Shape-retaining freely-deformable interfaces can take innumerable distinct shapes, and creating specific target configurations can be a challenge. In this paper, we investigate how audio can guide a user in this process, through the use of either musical or metaphoric sounds. In a formative user study, we found that sound encouraged action possibilities and made the affordances of the interface perceivable. We also found that adding audio as a modality along with vision and touch, made a positive contribution to guiding users' interactions with the interface.
Towards Hybridization of Knowledge Representation and Machine Learning

Machine learning and knowledge representation are two fields of artificial intelligence that lead with intelligent reasoning, each one differently. When Knowledge Representation (KR) focuses more on the epistemological face of knowledge to carry out a power-expression model with detriment of the computation efficiency. Machine learning pays more attention to the computation efficiency, often with loss of expressing power. In this paper we show that features of one may overwhelm drawbacks of the other. Taking the uncertainty artefact from machine learning and symbolic representation from KR, we propose in this paper a new memory modelling for knowledge based systems which is at the same time machine-learning structure and a knowledge representation model. In terms of machine learning, our structure allows an unlimited flexibility where no restraining architecture is imposed at the beginning (think about decision trees [18, 6, 5, 2]). Classification can be performed with incomplete vectors where the most likely corresponding class is assigned to the vector with missing attributes. Viewed as a knowledge model, a basic knowledge is easily specified graphically. Inference is defined by rules expressed in the same manner, where the existing sub-instances are used to generate new connections and entities. Inference on existing knowledge is described in two algorithms. Our approach is mainly based on the representation of the context concept. Our model brings together advantages of the symbolic knowledge representation, namely human to computer knowledge coding, and those of machine learning structures, namely ease of efficient coding of inference to perform the socalled intelligent tasks like pattern recognition, prediction and others. Its graphical representation allows visualization of both dynamic and static sides of the model (i.e. inference and knowledge).
The Soybean Genome Database (SoyGD): a browser for display of duplicated, polyploid, regions and sequence tagged sites on the integrated physical and genetic maps of Glycine max

Genomes that have been highly conserved following increases in ploidy (by duplication or hybridization) like Glycine max (soybean) present challenges during genome analysis. At the Soybean Genome Database (SoyGD) genome browser has, since 2002, integrated and served the publicly available soybean physical map, bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) fingerprint database and genetic map associated genomic data. The browser shows both build 3 and build 4 contiguous sets of clones (contigs) of the soybean physical map. Build 4 consisted of 2854 contigs that encompassed 1.05 Gb and 404 high-quality DNA markers that anchored 742 contigs. Many DNA markers anchored sets of 2–8 different contigs. Each contig in the set represented a homologous region of related sequences. GBrowse was adapted to show sets of homologous contigs at all potential anchor points, spread laterally and prevented from overlapping. About 8064 minimum tiling path (MTP2) clones provided 13 473 BAC end sequences (BES) to decorate the physical map. Analyses of BES placed 2111 gene models, 40 marker anchors and 1053 new microsatellite markers on the map. Estimated sequence tag probes from 201 low-copy gene families located 613 paralogs. The genome browser portal showed each data type as a separate track. Tetraploid, octoploid, diploid and homologous regions are shown clearly in relation to an integrated genetic and physical map.
Mutation and Polymorphism Report

Title : A c.383C>G dimorphism in the human skeletal muscle triadin gene which localises to chromosome 6q22-6q23. Authors: Nichole L. TASKE1, Peter J. MILBURN1, Juleen A. CAVANAUGH2, Michael A. DENBOROUGH1 and Paul S. FOSTER1 Affiliations: 1Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra, AUSTRALIA, 0200. 2Medical Genetics Research Group, Gastroenterology Unit, The Canberra Hospital, PO Box 11, Garran, ACT, Australia, 2606. Species: Homo Sapiens