Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
All at Sea. Rethinking fishers' identities in Australia

In fisheries a new ecological order is being created based upon conservation sciences. Bio-economic models of conservation sciences are being pursued globally in response to the crises generated by over-fishing. Drawing upon Haraway's concept of ‘cyborg politics’ we provide a material analysis of the gendered identities belonging to both the ‘old’ and ‘new’ orders. In this case study, empirical evidence is derived from observation and qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews conducted with trawlers, deckhands and managers of the Australian South East Trawl Fishery. We show how conservation sciences, framed within the New Right's economic policies, have prioritised performances of masculinity centred on managerialism over those of manual labour. En pesquerías un nuevo orden ecológico se crea sobre ciencias de conservación. Modelos bíoeconómicos de las ciencias de conservación se persiguen global en reacción a la crisis generado de sobrepescar. Empleándose el concepto de Haraway del ‘político del ciborg’ proveemos un análisis material de las identidades de género que corresponden a los ordenes ‘viejos’ y ‘nuevos’. En este estudio de caso, la evidencia empírica se derivan de observaciones y análisis cualitativa de entrevistas profundas llevado a cabo con jabegueros, marineros de cubierta, y gerentes de la Pesquería Red Barredera de Sudeste Australia. Ilustramos como las ciencias de conservación, enmarcado dentro de las políticas económicas de la nueva derecha, han priorizado los representaciones del papel de masculinidad que se concentran en gerencialisma además de los masculinidades de labor manual.
Finding plans and defining plan constraints simultaneously

When people create plans, the constraints and criteria on the plans often become explicit only while potential plans are being examined. Therefore a tool that acquires plan constraints might benefit from including a tool to allow users to navigate the space of candidate plans. Preliminary work indicates that both this and the converse are true: being able to modify plan constraints will also help users to find good plans. I integrate a plan viewing tool based on Design Galleries with Constable, a system for acquiring procedural plan constraints. Constable includes several different knowledge acquisition tools as components, and the way that these tools share information with each other about the overall acquisition task provides considerable help to the user. At the same time, the plan viewing tool is more useful when users can modify constraints as they explore the plans.
Comparison of the observed and calculated clear sky greenhouse effect: Implications for climate studies

The clear sky greenhouse effect is defined in terms of the outgoing longwave clear sky flux at the top of the atmosphere. Recently, interest in the magnitude of the clear sky greenhouse effect has increased due to the archiving of the clear sky flux quantity through the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE). The present study investigates to what degree of accuracy this flux can be analyzed by using independent atmospheric and surface data in conjunction with a detailed longwave radiation model. The conclusion from this comparison is that for most regions over oceans the analyzed fluxes agree to within the accuracy of the ERBE-retrieved fluxes (+/- 5 W/sq m). However, in regions where deep convective activity occurs, the ERBE fluxes are significantly higher (10-15 W/sq m) than the calculated fluxes. This bias can arise from either cloud contamination problems or variability in water vapor amount. It is argued that the use of analyzed fluxes may provide a more consistent clear sky flux data set for general circulation modeling validation. Climate implications from the analyzed fluxes are explored. Finally, results for obtaining longwave surface fluxes over the oceans are presented.
Solving Over-constrained Disjunctive Temporal Problems with Preferences

We present an algorithm and pruning techniques for efficiently finding optimal solutions to over-constrained instances of the Disjunctive Temporal Problem with Preferences (DTPP). Our goal is to remove the burden from the knowledge engineer who normally must reason about an inherent trade-off: including more events and tighter constraints in a DTP leads to higher-quality solutions, but decreases the chances that a solution will exist. Our method solves a potentially over-constrained DTPP by searching through the space of induced DTPPs, which are DTPPs that include a subset of the events in the original problem. The method incrementally builds an induced DTPP and uses a known DTPP algorithm to find the value of its optimal solution. Optimality is defined using an objective function that combines the value of a set of included events with the value of a DTPP induced by those events. The key element in our approach is the use of powerful pruning techniques that dramatically lower the time required to find an optimal solution. We present empirical results that show their effectiveness.
Promoting Modular Nonmonotonic Logic Programs

Modularity in Logic Programming has gained much attention over the past years. To date, many formalisms have been proposed that feature various aspects of modularity. In this paper, we present our current work on Modular Nonmonotonic Logic Programs (MLPs), which are logic programs under answer set semantics with modules that have contextualized input provided by other modules. Moreover, they allow for (mutually) recursive module calls. We pinpoint issues that are present in such cyclic module systems and highlight how MLPs addresses them.
Motion to support rapid interactive queries on node--link diagrams

Many different problems can be represented as graphs displayed in the form of node--link diagrams. However, when a graph is large it becomes visually uninterpretable because of the tangle of links. We describe a set of techniques that use motion in an interactive interface to provide effective access to larger graphs. Touching a node with the mouse cursor causes that node and the subgraph of closely connected nodes to oscillate. We argue from perceptual principles that this should be a more effective way of interactively highlighting a subgraph than more conventional static methods. The MEGraph system was developed to gain experience with different forms of motion highlighting. Based on positive feedback, three experiments were carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of motion highlighting for specific tasks. All three showed motion to be more effective than static highlighting, both in increasing the speed of response for a variety of visual queries, and in reducing errors. We argue that motion highlighting can be a valuable technique in applications that require users to understand large graphs.
SAR sea ice discrimination using texture statistics : a multivariate approach

Discrimination of sea ice classes using texture statistics derived from the conditional joint probability density functions of the grey level co-occurence matrix (GLCM) is reported on. Univariate and multivariate analyses are used to describe the separability of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sea ice feature space. Impact of the conditional parameters δ (interpixel sampling distance) and α (orientation), and the effect of adaptive filtering, are measured for distributions arising from five GLCM texture statistics
The outliers among the singular values of large rectangular random matrices with additive fixed rank deformation

Consider the matrix $\Sigma_n = n^{-1/2} X_n D_n^{1/2} + P_n$ where the matrix $X_n \in \C^{N\times n}$ has Gaussian standard independent elements, $D_n$ is a deterministic diagonal nonnegative matrix, and $P_n$ is a deterministic matrix with fixed rank. Under some known conditions, the spectral measures of $\Sigma_n \Sigma_n^*$ and $n^{-1} X_n D_n X_n^*$ both converge towards a compactly supported probability measure $\mu$ as $N,n\to\infty$ with $N/n\to c>0$. In this paper, it is proved that finitely many eigenvalues of $\Sigma_n\Sigma_n^*$ may stay away from the support of $\mu$ in the large dimensional regime. The existence and locations of these outliers in any connected component of $\R - \support(\mu)$ are studied. The fluctuations of the largest outliers of $\Sigma_n\Sigma_n^*$ are also analyzed. The results find applications in the fields of signal processing and radio communications.
¿Cómo se ajusta el mercado de trabajo ante cambios en el salario mínimo en el Perú?: una evaluación de la experiencia de la última década

Luego de alcanzar un pico historico en 1986, el salario minimo sufrio una caida estrepitosa, junto con el nivel medio de las remuneraciones, hasta inicios de los noventas. Sin embargo, desde mediados de los noventas se ha incrementado considerablemente, acercandose al nivel promedio de las remuneraciones tanto de trabajadores no calificados como de informales. Este estudio describe el marco institucional del salario minimo en el mercado laboral peruano y analiza su relacion con la distribucion de los ingresos laborales para diferentes grupos del mercado laboral (trabajadores no calificados, informales, mujeres y jovenes). Asi mismo, aprovecha las variaciones recientes para identificar los efectos de un alza sobre las remuneraciones y el empleo a lo largo de la distribucion de los ingresos laborales. A diferencia de lo que ocurre en otros paises de America Latina, en el Peru el efecto del salario minimo sobre las remuneraciones es muy limitado, afectando solo a los trabajadores del sector formal cuyo nivel de salarios esta alrededor del salario minimo. Por otro lado, se encuentran efectos mas amplios y negativos sobre el empleo tanto en el sector formal como en el informal.
Ruscogenin Attenuates Cerebral Ischemia-Induced Blood-Brain Barrier Dysfunction by Suppressing TXNIP/NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation and the MAPK Pathway

Ruscogenin, an important steroid sapogenin derived from Ophiopogon japonicus, has been shown to inhibit cerebral ischemic injury. However, its potential molecular action on blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction after stroke remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effects of ruscogenin on BBB dysfunction and the underlying mechanisms in middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R)-injured mice and oxygen–glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R)-injured mouse brain microvascular endothelial cells (bEnd.3). The results demonstrated that administration of ruscogenin (10 mg/kg) decreased the brain infarction and edema, improved neurological deficits, increased cerebral brain flow (CBF), ameliorated histopathological damage, reduced evans blue (EB) leakage and upregulated the expression of tight junctions (TJs) in MCAO/R-injured mice. Meanwhile, ruscogenin (0.1–10 µM) treatment increased cell viability and trans-endothelial electrical resistance (TEER) value, decreased sodium fluorescein leakage, and modulated the TJs expression in OGD/R-induced bEnd.3 cells. Moreover, ruscogenin also inhibited the expression of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and caspase-1, and markedly suppressed the expression of Nucleotide-binding domain (NOD)-like receptor family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) and thiredoxin-interactive protein (TXNIP) in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, ruscogenin decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and inhibited the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway in OGD/R-induced bEnd.3 cells. Our findings provide some new insights into its potential application for the prevention and treatment of ischemic stroke.
Draft Genome Sequences of Two Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Strains of Sequence Type ST92 and ST96

ABSTRACT The global epidemiology of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii is dominated by a limited number of clones. Here, we announce the draft genome sequences of two multidrug-resistant A. baumannii strains, 1H8 and 4A3, representing the major epidemic clones, sequence type 92 (ST92) and ST96, respectively.
Exact Tracking Analysis of the ∈-NLMS algorithm for circular complex correlated Gaussian input

This work presents exact tracking analysis of the ∈-normalized least mean square (∈-NLMS) algorithm for circular complex correlated Gaussian input. The analysis is based on the derivation of a closed form expression for the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of random variables of the form equations. The CDF is then used to derive the first and second moments of these variables. These moments in turn completely characterize the tracking performance of the ∈-NLMS algorithm in explicit closed form expressions. Consequently, new explicit closed-form expressions for the steady state tracking excess mean square error and optimum step size are derived. The simulation results of the tracking behavior of the filter match the expressions obtained theoretically for various degrees of input correlation and for various values of ∈.
Gross morphology and microstructure of type locality ossicles of Psephophorus polygonus Meyer, 1847 (Testudines, Dermochelyidae)

Abstract Psephophorus polygonus Meyer, 1847, the first fossil leatherback turtle to be named, was described on the basis of shell ossicles from the middle Miocene (MN6–7/8? ) of Slovakia. The whereabouts of this material is uncertain but a slab on display at the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien is considered the neotype. We rediscovered further type locality ossicles in four European institutions, re-evaluated their gross morphology and described for the first time their microstructure by comparing them with Dermochelys coriacea, the only living dermochelyid turtle. The gross morphology is congruent with that already described for P. polygonus, but with two significant exceptions: the ridged ossicles of P. polygonus may have a distinctly concave ventral surface as well as a tectiform shape in cross-section. They do not develop the external keel typical of many ossicles of D. coriacea. Both ridged and non-ridged ossicles of P. polygonus are characterized by compact diploe structures with an internal cortex consisting of a coarse fibrous meshwork, whereas the proportionately thinner ossicles of D. coriacea tend to lose the internal cortex, and thus their diploe, during ontogeny. The ossicles of both P. polygonus and D. coriacea differ from those of other lineages of amniotes whose carapace is composed of polygonal ossicles or platelets, in having growth centres situated at the plate centres just interior to the external bone surface and not within the cancellous core or closer to the internal compact layer. The new diagnosis of P. polygonus allows us to preliminarily re-evaluate the taxonomy of some of the Psephophorus-like species. Despite some macro- and micromorphological differences, it seems likely that Psephophorus was as cosmopolitan as extant Dermochelys and had a broadly similar ecology, with a possible difference concerning the dive depth.
Spatio-temporal distribution of net primary productivity along the northeast china transect and its response to climatic change from 1982 to 2000

An improved Carnegie Ames Stanford Approach model (CASA) model was used to estimate the net primary productivity (NPP) of the Northeast China Transect (NECT) from 1982 to 2000. The spatial-temporal distribution of NPP along NECT and its response to climatic change were also analyzed. Results showed that: (1) The spatial distribution of NPP in NECT is quite similar with that of precipitation and their spatial correlation coefficient is up to 0.93 (P<0.01). (2) The interannual variation of NPP in NECT is mainly affected by the change of the aestival NPP of each year. It accounts for 67.6% of the inter-annual increase in NPP and their spatial correlation coefficient is 0.95 (P<0.01). (3) The NPP in NECT is mainly cumulated between May and September, which accounts for 89.8% of the annual NPP. Summer (June to September) accounts for 65.9% of the annual NPP and winter has the lowest NPP. (4) The mean NPP in NECT was 392.4 gC/m/yr in these 19 years, ranging from 333.8 to 448.4 gC/m/year. NPP increased 14.3% from 1980s to 1990s. The inter-annual linear trend of NPP is 4.6 gC/m/yr/yr, and the relative trend 1.17%/yr owning mainly to the increasing temperature. Keywords-Northeast China Transect; remote sensing; NPP; climatic change; spatio-temporal distribution
Quantitative Time-Lapse Imaging-Based Analysis of Drug-Drug Interaction Mediated by Hepatobiliary Transporter, Multidrug Resistance-Associated Protein 2, in Sandwich-Cultured Rat Hepatocytes

There is increasing interest in developing efficient screening platforms to predict drug-induced liver injury. Therefore, we explored a microscope-based analysis to quantitatively evaluate interaction of drugs with multidrug resistance-associated protein 2 (MRP2), essential for hepatic excretion of drugs in sandwich-cultured rat hepatocytes (SCRHs), using 5 (and 6)-carboxy-2′,7′-dichlorofluorescein (CDF) diacetate, which is intracellularly hydrolyzed to the fluorescent substrate CDF. Drug-MRP2 interactions were evaluated by measuring the fluorescence change in bile canaliculi in SCRHs in the presence or absence of MRP2 inhibitors using quantitative time-lapse imaging (QTLI) analysis. Fluorescence was negligible in SCHs from rat (r) Mrp2-deficient Eisai hyperbilirubinemic rat, suggesting that Mrp2 is primarily responsible for CDF accumulation. According to QTLI, rifampicin, cyclosporine, and 3-[[3-[2-(7-chloroquinolin-2-yl)vinyl]phenyl]-(2-dimethylcarbamoylethylsulfanyl)methylsulfanyl] propionic acid (MK-571) attenuated CDF accumulation in a concentration-dependent manner, with IC50 values (IC50, QTLI) of 3.02, 1.63, and 2.87 μM, respectively. The ratios of IC50 values obtained from the biliary excretion index over the IC50, QTLI were 1.34, 1.94, and 1.94, but ratios over IC50 values in CDF uptake by Mrp2-expressing membrane vesicles varied more: 6.69, 3.07, and 2.43 for rifampicin, cyclosporine, and MK-571, respectively. When the IC50, QTLI of rifampicin was corrected for the hepatocyte/medium distribution ratio, the relative ratio of IC50, VES/IC50, QTLI was reduced to 2.25 from 6.69 (20.2/3.02) and was close to the ratio for MK-571 (2.43, 6.96/2.87), which is thought to cross the plasma membrane by passive diffusion. Our results indicate that QTLI is a suitable method to evaluate drug-MRP2 interaction at the bile canalicular membrane, when the hepatocyte/medium distribution ratio in SCRHs is taken into account.
Laser Tweezers

b) Atoms have some probability of absorbing photons from the laser beam, thereby being kicked along the direction of the beam. This processes can be modeled classically by supposing that the polarizability of the atom has an imaginary part: α = α′ + iα′′. Deduce the (time-averaged) force on an atom along the direction of propagation of a linearly polarized plane electromagnetic wave in terms of α′′, the imaginary (absorptive) part of the polarizability.
Narcissistic Vulnerability and the Development of PTSD: A Prospective Study

This study empirically examined the role of narcissistic traits and narcissistic vulnerability in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). One hundred forty-four survivors of a traumatic event were assessed 1 week, 1 month, and 4 months following the event. In the first-week assessment, patients were administered the Narcissistic Vulnerability Scale and self-reported rating scale to assess event severity and symptoms ensuing from the impact of the traumatic event: depression, intrusions, avoidance, and arousal. In the follow-up assessments, subjects were interviewed on the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale and were readministered the self-rating symptoms scale. Survivors who developed acute (1 month) and chronic (4 months) PTSD had significantly higher levels of narcissistic vulnerability in the first-week assessment. Narcissistic Vulnerability Scale scores predicted PTSD status with sensitivity of 81.6% and 85.1% and specificity of 40.4% and 38.6% at the 1-month and 4-month assessments, respectively. Narcissistic vulnerabilities contribute to the occurrence of PTSD.
Specific fluorescent labeling of chicken myofibril Z-line proteins catalyzed by guinea pig liver transglutaminase

Guinea pig liver transglutaminase has been found to catalyze the covalent incorporation of dansylcadaverine into chicken skeletal muscle myofibril proteins. Epifluorescence microscopy reveals that the incorporated dansylcadaverine is specifically localized at or near the myofibril Z line. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) indicates that actin constitutes a major fraction of the labeled material; the Z-line proteins alpha-actinin and desmin also show significant labeling, as well as tropomyosin, several additional unidentified proteins, and material with an extremely high molecular weight. The Z-line-specific fluorescence can be removed by brief trypsinization, which releases fluorescent alpha-actinin into the supernate. The majority of the fluorescent protein species are resistant to extraction by either 0.6 M KCl or KI. These results, in conjunction with the microscopic localization, suggest that the dansyl- labeled proteins are constituents of the myofibril Z line. A significant amount of fluorescently labeled transglutaminase is also present in labeled myofibrils, which is resistant to extraction with either 0.6 M KCl or KI. This result indicates a strong, noncovalent interaction between the transglutaminase molecule and the myofibril Z line.
Effects of co-activation on cortical organization and discrimination performance

We used fMRI to investigate the effects of tactile co-activation on the topographic organization of the human primary somatosensory cortex (SI). Behavioral consequences of co-activation were studied in a psychophysical task assessing the mislocalization of tactile stimuli. Co-activation was applied to the index, middle and ring fingers of the right hand either synchronously or asynchronously. Cortical representations for synchronously co-activated fingers moved closer together, whereas cortical representations for asynchronously co-activated fingers became segregated. Behaviorally, this pattern coincided with an increased and reduced number of mislocalizations between synchronously and asynchronously co-activated fingers, respectively. Thus, both synchronous and asynchronous coupling of passive tactile stimulation is able to induce short-term cortical reorganization associated with functionally relevant changes.
Synchronization and rolling shutter compensation for consumer video camera arrays

Two major obstacles to the use of consumer camcorders in computer vision applications are the lack of synchronization hardware, and the use of a "rolling" shutter, which introduces a temporal shear in the video volume. We present two simple approaches for solving both the rolling shutter shear and the synchronization problem at the same time. The first approach is based on strobe illumination, while the second employs a subframe warp along optical flow vectors. In our experiments we have used the proposed methods to effectively remove temporal shear, and synchronize up to 16 consumer-grade camcorders in multiple geometric configurations.