Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Discriminative Word Alignment with a Function Word Reordering Model

We address the modeling, parameter estimation and search challenges that arise from the introduction of reordering models that capture non-local reordering in alignment modeling. In particular, we introduce several reordering models that utilize (pairs of) function words as contexts for alignment reordering. To address the parameter estimation challenge, we propose to estimate these reordering models from a relatively small amount of manually-aligned corpora. To address the search challenge, we devise an iterative local search algorithm that stochastically explores reordering possibilities. By capturing non-local reordering phenomena, our proposed alignment model bears a closer resemblance to state-of-the-art translation model. Empirical results show significant improvements in alignment quality as well as in translation performance over baselines in a large-scale Chinese-English translation task.
Discrimination with Spike Times and ISI Distributions

We study the discrimination capability of spike time sequences using the Chernoff distance as a metric. We assume that spike sequences are generated by renewal processes and study how the Chernoff distance depends on the shape of interspike interval (ISI) distribution. First, we consider a lower bound to the Chernoff distance because it has a simple closed form. Then we consider specific models of ISI distributions such as the gamma, inverse gaussian (IG), exponential with refractory period (ER), and that of the leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) neuron. We found that the discrimination capability of spike times strongly depends on high-order moments of ISI and that it is higher when the spike time sequence has a larger skewness and a smaller kurtosis. High variability in terms of coefficient of variation (CV) does not necessarily mean that the spike times have less discrimination capability. Spike sequences generated by the gamma distribution have the minimum discrimination capability for a given mean and variance of ISI. We used series expansions to calculate the mean and variance of ISIs for LIF neurons as a function of the mean input level and the input noise variance. Spike sequences from an LIF neuron are more capable of discrimination than those of IG and gamma distributions when the stationary voltage level is close to the neuron's threshold value of the neuron.
Biotic changes consistent with the increased seasonal amplitude of atmospheric CO2 concentrations

Monthly estimates of gross primary production (gross uptake of CO/sub 2/ by plants) and ecosystem respiration (gross release of CO/sub 2/ from the ecosystem) in an oak-pine forest in the northeastern United States were used in this study to examine the types of metabolic changes in terrestrial systems that might yield the increased seasonal amplitude of CO/sub 2/ concentrations observed at several monitoring stations in recent years. In this study, increases in either photosynthesis or respiration increased the amplitude of the season oscillation of CO/sub 2/ concentrations if the increases were predominantly in the northern hemispheric summer and winter, respectively. The quantitative changes in metabolism required to produce the observed increase in amplitude, however, were too large to be explained by CO/sub 2/ fertilization or by a temperature-induced increase in winter respiration. Investigations of the role of the biota in causing seasonal and year-to-year variations in atmospheric CO/sub 2/ concentrations are limited by the lack of stations monitoring CO/sub 2/ in continental air.
Regional and global distributions and lifetimes of sulfate aerosols from Mexico City and southeast China

To learn what possible influence a megacity and an industrial region, both of which have poor air quality, have on the global scale, sulfate aerosol derived from Mexico City and from southeast China is examined. It is found that the highest values of sulfate from Mexico City mostly travel westward and northward. Sulfate from southeast China travels eastward, and its distribution encircles the Earth in summer and autumn. Mexico City, which emits ∼1% of the global anthropogenic sulfur emissions, contributes ∼1% to the global sulfate burden. Southeast China, which emits 11.6% of the global anthropogenic sulfur emissions, contributes 9% to the global sulfate burden, a nonlinear response between emissions and burden. When the anthropogenic sulfur emissions are doubled in the two regions, the sulfate burden derived from Mexico City approximately doubles, but the sulfate burden from southeast China more than doubles. An examination of the sulfate budget indicates that for sulfate derived from southeast China more sulfate is produced via gas-phase reaction, thus allowing the sulfate to be less susceptible to wet deposition. We qualitatively analyze black carbon aerosol from Mexico City and southeast China and determine that hydrophilic black carbon has a lifetime similar to sulfate aerosol when the emitted black carbon is assumed to be of hydrophilic form. When the emitted black carbon is hydrophobic and its transfer rate to the hydrophilic form is 1.9 days, which is the same as the global sulfur dioxide lifetime, the lifetime of hydrophilic black carbon is 3.5 days longer than sulfate. The difference between the two types of aerosol is attributed to the aqueous production pathway of sulfate and consequently its availability to rain out. If the transfer rate is 5 days, then hydrophilic black carbon is found in regions with little cloud activity thus increasing its lifetime to 10 days or more.
On the Potential Vorticity Structure of Weakly Ventialted Isopycnals: A Theory of Subtropical Mode Water Maintenance

Abstract A two-layer model of the general circulation including wind and thermal forcing is discussed. The flow in each layer is geostrophic, hydrostatic and obeys linear potential vorticity constraints. The equations are developed in spherical coordinates and reduce to a surprisingly simple, coupled, nonlinear set. Analytic solutions of this system are obtained in the quasi-geostrophic limit. The novel feature in this model is a weakly ventilated and weakly dissipative lower layer. The quasi-geostrophic model predicts homogenized potential vorticity is regions of the lower layer which are not directly ventilated. These are also regions of locally minimum value in potential vorticity. The net balance determining the potential vorticity structure is between the diabatic forcing of the lower layer and eddy-drive mixing. As such, the structure of the solution depends on the sign of the eddy diffusion of potential vorticity (positive) and the sign of the diabatic potential vorticity source (negative). It is t.
Jettison: efficient idle desktop consolidation with partial VM migration

Idle desktop systems are frequently left powered, often because of applications that maintain network presence or to enable potential remote access. Unfortunately, an idle PC consumes up to 60% of its peak power. Solutions have been proposed that perform consolidation of idle desktop virtual machines. However, desktop VMs are often large requiring gigabytes of memory. Consolidating such VMs, creates bulk network transfers lasting in the order of minutes, and utilizes server memory inefficiently. When multiple VMs migrate simultaneously, each VM's experienced migration latency grows, and this limits the use of VM consolidation to environments in which only a few daily migrations are expected for each VM. This paper introduces Partial VM Migration, a technique that transparently migrates only the working set of an idle VM. Jettison, our partial VM migration prototype, can deliver 85% to 104% of the energy savings of full VM migration, while using less than 10% as much network re- sources, and providing migration latencies that are two to three orders of magnitude smaller.
Highly Effective Inhibition of Biofilm Formation by the First Metagenome-Derived AI-2 Quenching Enzyme

Bacterial cell–cell communication (quorum sensing, QS) represents a fundamental process crucial for biofilm formation, pathogenicity, and virulence allowing coordinated, concerted actions of bacteria depending on their cell density. With the widespread appearance of antibiotic-resistance of biofilms, there is an increasing need for novel strategies to control harmful biofilms. One attractive and most likely effective approach is to target bacterial communication systems for novel drug design in biotechnological and medical applications. In this study, metagenomic large-insert libraries were constructed and screened for QS interfering activities (quorum quenching, QQ) using recently established reporter strains. Overall, 142 out of 46,400 metagenomic clones were identified to interfere with acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs), 13 with autoinducer-2 (AI-2). Five cosmid clones with highest simultaneous interfering activities were further analyzed and the respective open reading frames conferring QQ activities identified. Those showed homologies to bacterial oxidoreductases, proteases, amidases and aminotransferases. Evaluating the ability of the respective purified QQ-proteins to prevent biofilm formation of several model systems demonstrated highest inhibitory effects of QQ-2 using the crystal violet biofilm assay. This was confirmed by heterologous expression of the respective QQ proteins in Klebsiella oxytoca M5a1 and monitoring biofilm formation in a continuous flow cell system. Moreover, QQ-2 chemically immobilized to the glass surface of the flow cell effectively inhibited biofilm formation of K. oxytoca as well as clinical K. pneumoniae isolates derived from patients with urinary tract infections. Indications were obtained by molecular and biochemical characterizations that QQ-2 represents an oxidoreductase most likely reducing the signaling molecules AHL and AI-2 to QS-inactive hydroxy-derivatives. Overall, we propose that the identified novel QQ-2 protein efficiently inhibits AI-2 modulated biofilm formation by modifying the signal molecule; and thus appears particularly attractive for medical and biotechnological applications.
Possibility of the pipelining technique application in a space/spatial-frequency filter implementation based on the local frequency estimation

Possibility of the pipelining technique application in a local frequency estimation-based system for nonstationary two-dimensional (2D) FM signals estimation, initially observed in [1], [2], but completely developed, implemented (in FPGA), and adapted (extended to the highly nonstationary signals case) in [3], is considered here. The applied technique allows the implemented filter to overlape in execution unconditional steps performing in neighboring space/spatial-frequency (S/SF) instants and, therefore, to significantly improve execution time. In this way, the improvement in execution time coresponding to the one clock cycle (CLK) by an S/SF point is achieved, which means that the improvement by an S/SF point can reach 50% in a great part of S/SF space. The achieved improvement in execution time by an S\SF point is presented on the example of the multicomponent nonstationary noisy signal filering.
Survivin and Granzyme B–induced apoptosis, a novel anticancer therapy

Survivin is an antiapoptotic protein highly expressed in malignant cells that confers resistance to cytotoxic therapy. Granzyme B is a potent cytotoxic protein that is released from mammalian natural killer cells and CTLs following noxious stimuli, including foreign invaders. Here, we took advantage of the properties of these two functionally divergent molecules to create a molecular agent that specifically activates Granzyme B within tumor cells. We designed Survivin and Granzyme B–induced apoptosis (SAGA), which consists of a fusion of the Survivin gene promoter to the coding sequence of active Granzyme B. In cultured human tumor cells transfected with SAGA DNA, Granzyme B is rapidly expressed and results in significant tumor cell death. In vivo, mice harboring human ovarian tumors had statistically significant clinical responses to SAGA treatment that were magnified following combination therapy with SAGA and paclitaxel. At the completion of a 3-week therapeutic trial, 3 of 15 animals were free of disease in the SAGA-treated group, and an additional eight animals had tumors that were nonpalpable and only detected on surgical resection. In contrast, 15 of 15 animals in the control and paclitaxel-only–treated groups had tumors at end of therapy. Treatment with SAGA with or without paclitaxel also prevented disease dissemination in 19 of 20 animals. These results strongly suggest that SAGA has the potential to be a potent agent for the treatment of primary and recurrent human ovarian carcinoma. Moreover, we predict that SAGA will be useful therapeutically in any human cancer that expresses Survivin. [Mol Cancer Ther 2006;5(3):693–703]
Heralded phase-contrast imaging using an orbital angular momentum phase-filter

We utilise the position and orbital angular momentum (OAM) correlations between the signal and idler photons generated in the down-conversion process to obtain ghost images of a phase object. By using an OAM phase filter, which is non-local with respect to the object, the images exhibit isotropic edge-enhancement. This imaging technique is the first demonstration of a full-field, phase-contrast imaging system with non-local edge enhancement, and enables imaging of phase objects using significantly fewer photons than standard phase-contrast imaging techniques.
Double modulation of 5-fluorouracil by leucovorin and low-dose methotrexate in advanced colorectal cancer.

A phase II study was carried out to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of a double biochemical modulation of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) by methotrexate (MTX) and leucovorin (LV) in patients with advanced unresectable colorectal cancer. Forty-two patients with measurable metastases of colorectal cancer were treated with 5-FU in daily doses of 600 mg/m2 given in a 6-hour intravenous (i.v.) infusion on days 1-5, LV 50 mg/m2 i.v. on days 2,3 and 5, and MTX 40 mg/m2 i.v. on days 1 and 4, every 4 weeks. Twenty-eight patients had a single metastatic site, eleven double, whereas three had more than two metastatic sites. Objective response (one complete response) was observed in 12 of 40 patients (30%) (95% confidence interval 16-48), stable disease in 19 patients (47%) and progression in 9 patients (23%). Overall median survival was 12 months. Median time to progression was 6 months. Treatment was generally well tolerated. The most frequent adverse reactions were stomatitis (38%), nausea and vomiting (35%), diarrhea (31%), leukopenia (18%), and plantar-palmar erythroderma (15%). The combination of 5-FU, LV and MTX seems to be an active regimen in advanced colorectal cancer.
Relationship between Responses to Contra- and Ipsilateral Stimuli in the Human Second Somatosensory Cortex SII

We studied the interaction between responses to contra- and ipsilateral stimuli in the human second somatosensory cortex SII by recording somatosensory evoked magnetic fields (SEFs) from 8 healthy subjects with a 122-channel whole-scalp SQUID magnetometer. Right (R) and left (L) median nerves were electrically stimulated at the wrists at intensities exceeding the motor threshold. In each stimulus sequence, the four equiprobable pairs (L-L, R-R, L-R, R-L) were presented in a random order once every 2 s, with a 300-ms interstimulus interval within the pair. The responses were modelled with a four-dipole model, with current dipoles located in the SI and SII cortices of both hemispheres. The SII responses peaked around 85-120 ms and responses to the 1st (2nd) stimulus on the pair were on average 2 (12) ms earlier and about 3 (2.5) times stronger for contralateral than ipsilateral stimuli. Independently of the condition, the 2nd response always peaked later than the 1st; the mean delay was 16 ms. The responses to the 2nd stimulus depended only slightly on the type of the 1st: the latency increased more and the amplitude decreased less after different than identical 1st stimuli. These results suggest that neuronal activations due to contra- and ipsilateral stimuli overlap strongly in the human SII cortex.
Analysis of NDVI time series using cross-correlation and forecasting methods for monitoring sugarcane fields in Brazil

Brazil is the largest sugarcane producer in the world and has a privileged position to attend to national and international marketplaces. To maintain the high production of sugarcane, it is fundamental to improve the forecasting models of crop seasons through the use of alternative technologies, such as remote sensing. Thus, the main purpose of this article is to assess the results of two different statistical forecasting methods applied to an agroclimatic index (the water requirement satisfaction index; WRSI) and the sugarcane spectral response (normalized difference vegetation index; NDVI) registered on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (NOAA-AVHRR) satellite images. We also evaluated the cross-correlation between these two indexes. According to the results obtained, there are meaningful correlations between NDVI and WRSI with time lags. Additionally, the adjusted model for NDVI presented more accurate results than the forecasting models for WRSI. Finally, the analyses indicate that NDVI is more predictable due to its seasonality and the WRSI values are more variable making it difficult to forecast.
Copy Number Aberrations of Genes Regulating Normal Thymus Development in Thymic Epithelial Tumors

Purposes: To determine whether the deregulation of genes relevant for normal thymus development can contribute to the biology of thymic epithelial tumors (TET). Experimental Design: Using array comparative genomic hybridization, we evaluated the copy number aberrations of genes regulating thymus development. The expression of genes most commonly involved in copy number aberrations was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and correlated with patients' outcome. Correlation between FOXC1 copy number loss and gene expression was determined in a confirmation cohort. Cell lines were used to test the role of FOXC1 in tumors. Results: Among 31 thymus development-related genes, PBX1 copy number gain and FOXC1 copy number loss were presented in 43.0% and 39.5% of the tumors, respectively. Immunohistochemistry on a series of 132 TETs, including those evaluated by comparative genomic hybridization, revealed a correlation between protein expression and copy number status only for FOXC1 but not for PBX1. Patients with FOXC1-negative tumors had a shorter time to progression and a trend for a shorter disease-related survival. The correlation between FOXC1 copy number loss and mRNA expression was confirmed in a separate cohort of 27 TETs. Ectopic FOXC1 expression attenuated anchorage-independent cell growth and cell migration in vitro. Conclusion: Our data support a tumor suppressor role of FOXC1 in TETs. Clin Cancer Res; 19(8); 1960–71. ©2013 AACR.
Advances on Exploiting Polarization in Wireless Communications: Channels, Technologies, and Applications

Polarization is an important property of electromagnetic waves. It has shown the great application potential in optical fiber, radar, and satellite communications, where polarization has been exploited to be a promising means of enhancing channel capacity. The existing research has shown that, in theory, it has great potential to sixfold the channel capacity by using six co-located orthogonally polarized electric and magnetic dipoles. Wireless communications exploits the electromagnetic medium, which is also intrinsically polarization-sensitive. In the past decades, wireless communications have mainly exploited the dimensions of time, frequency, and space, and most wireless channels, technologies, and applications have been devised without explicit consideration of polarization. To keep up with the recent exponentially growing network capacity, as such, leveraging polarization for wireless communications is a logical next step. However, exploiting polarization in wireless communications involves many challenges that differentiate it from conventional polarization applications in terms of optical fiber, radar, and satellite communications due to complex depolarization effects, restriction on additional gain offered, and limited degrees of freedom in the polarization domain. These challenges have inspired recent advances, particularly related to polarization channels, polarization technologies (such as polarization-based modulation, polarization-based signal sensing, polarization-based orthogonal transmission, and polarization-based filtering), and their applications to emerging communication scenarios including energy-efficient communications, cognitive radio networks, and in-band full-duplex transmission. This paper thoroughly surveys these recent advances and presents the state-of-the-art research progress on each aspect. Furthermore, open research issues and challenges are discussed in order to provide perspectives for future research directions.
Anti-Cancer Activities of Crude Extracts from Kenyan Moringa Oleifera Lam and Rauwolfia Caffra against Selected Cancer Cell Lines

The current study was undertaken to validate the traditional use and determine the safety profiles of Moringa oleifera and Rauwolfia caffra used in Kenya to manage tumors and related ailments. This was achieved by determining the anti-proliferative activities of the active antioxidant extracts (50% methanol in dichloromethane) of Moringa oleifera leaves (MeOH) and Rauwolfia caffra stem bark using crystal violet assay. Human liver (hepatocellular carcinoma, Hep-G2) and muscular (rhabdomyosarcoma, RD) were used as model cell lines and cytotoxicity was assessed using Vero cell lines. The results of this work showed that the methanolic extract of the leaves of Moringa oleifera displayed significant anti-proliferative activity (p < 0.05) against Hep-G2 and RD cell lines with limited activity on normal Vero cells. Comparatively, RD cell lines were more sensitive than Hep-G2. The extract of the stem bark of Rauwolfia caffra did not show significant activity against proliferation of RD and Hep-G2 cells, however, it exhibited high activity against the proliferation of Vero cells. From this studies Moringa oleifera was found to be less toxic and to possess anticancer activities, while R. caffra displayed modest anticancer activities and high toxicity levels against normal Vero cells. The efficacy and safety profiles as observed in this study provides a validated evidence of anticancer activity of the two plants that should be investigated further for rational therapeutic designs.