Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Osmotic and ionic effects of various electrolytes on the growth of wheat.

Pot experiments were conducted using a sandy loam soil and various electrolyte solutions such as NaCl, CaCl2, Na2SO4, and Hoagland nutrient solution containing all macro- and micro-nutrient elements in appropriate proportions, inducing different electrical conductivity (EC) levels of the soil solution during the growth of Krichauff wheat while the water content in the pot soils was maintained at field capacity. The resulting differences in dry matter production after 40 days of growth clearly indicated the continuous operation of osmotic effect as the EC of the soil solution increased from 0.7 to 41.0 dS/m. However, the osmotic effect became dominant and severely restricted plant growth when the soil solution EC increased above a ‘threshold value’, which was 25 dS/m, corresponding to an osmotic pressure of 900 kPa, in this experiment. Below this EC value, particularly at low EC values, ionic effects due to Na+, Ca2+, SO42–, and Cl– were also evident, but it could not be concluded whether these effects were due to toxicity or ion imbalance. The osmotic effect at EC values above the threshold resulted in greatly reduced water uptake from pot soils, the unused water being in the range 89–96% of the field capacity of the soil. Water use efficiency is a major factor in profitable and sustainable dryland agriculture. Both soil management and selection and breeding of salt-tolerant plants should concentrate on ensuring that the threshold EC value for severe osmotic effects is not reached under field conditions.
Rock glacier dynamics in marginal periglacial environments

Vertical electric sounding, bottom temperature of winter snowcover (BTS) and ground thermal measurement, debris surface analysis and a differential global positioning system (DGPS) survey were performed on the Posets rock glacier (Pyrenees) between 2001 and 2008. High precision records of horizontal and vertical movements of the rock glacier were measured using a DGPS on ten steel rods. Total and annual average displacements and thickness changes for each control point were derived from the field survey. Horizontal and vertical displacement rates in different sectors of the rock glacier were compared, and these compared with thermal, structural and morphological maps. The inferred surface deformation was characterized by extensional and compressive flows in which two dynamic types were found. The first type of movement is defined by the slide and flows related to the existence of an ice body over the frost body. The second dynamic type involved the displacement generated by deformation of the frozen body. The study attempts to understand the surface movement and dynamics of rock glaciers in marginal cold environments and their usefulness as environmental geoindicators. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effects of Seasonal Mineral Oil Applications on the Pest and Natural Enemy Complexes of Apple

Abstract This 3-yr study examined the use of two different apple, Malus domestica Borkhausen, pest management programs based on horticultural mineral oil. Whereas oil provided some additional control of codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.), when targeting eggs of both generations (Oil/Direct Pest program, typically six applications per season), the additional benefit was difficult to detect when densities were high. With moderate densities, oil reduced the number of fruit infestations, but not stings (unsuccessful entries). There also were some measurable benefits to leafroller, Pandemis pyrusana Kearfott control. Oil was most useful, however, in suppression of secondary pests. White apple leafhopper, Typhlocyba pomaria McAtee, was the primary target of oil applications in the Oil/Indirect Pest program (typically three applications per season). However, leafhopper suppression in the Oil/Direct Pest program was generally greater because of the higher number of applications. Phytophagous tetranychid and eriophyid mites also were suppressed by more oil applications. Predatory mite populations were lower in both oil programs than in the check, but it is difficult to determine whether direct toxicity or reduction of prey was responsible for lower predator populations. There also was some evidence that oil suppressed woolly apple aphid, Eriosoma lanigerum Hausman. The six-spray oil program largely prevented a woolly apple aphid outbreak that occurred in July and August 1998 in the check, although the three-spray program seemed to provide some suppression despite the nonspecific spray timing.
Identifying the Influence of Channel Morphology on Physical Habitat Availability for Native Fish: Application to the Two-spined Blackfish (Gadopsis bispinosus) in the Cotter River, Australia.

The impact of channel morphology and flow on physical habitat availability for the two-spined blackfish (Gadopsis bispinosus) was assessed in the Cotter River, ACT, Australia. Physical habitat requirements for three life stages were identified based on previous field sampling in the Cotter River. Two sites were selected with contrasting channel morphology: Spur Hole, with a moderate gradient and runs and glides, and Vanity’s Crossing, with a steeper gradient, rapids, and fast-flowing pools. Physical Habitat Simulation System (PHABSIM) was used to simulate the flow v. physical habitat availability relationship for each life stage at both sites. Clear differences were apparent between sites, with Spur Hole characterised by increasing habitat with increasing flow and Vanity’s Crossing showing the opposite relationship. The nature of the channel morphology determined this difference, with Spur Hole characterised by marginal zones becoming inundated at higher flows and providing additional suitable physical habitat as discharge increases. Vanity’s Crossing does not contain similar marginal zones. Further analysis demonstrated that high water velocity was the most important factor limiting physical habitat availability at both sites. This approach demonstrates the importance of channel morphology in determining physical habitat availability and an alternative use of PHABSIM to highlight limiting factors for target species.
Seismic denoising in curvelet domain: an adaptive thresholding based on local variance analysis

Summary Curvelet transform is gaining its popularity in seismic denoising. However, since most routine thresholding employ only one single threshold value to process all the curvelet coefficients and neglect the differences between different scales and directions, thereby certain amount of details would inevitably be lost during the denoising. On the basis of BayesShrink threshold, this paper presents an adaptive thresholding which enables the separation between signal and noise for each curvelet-domain subband. Moreover, the local variance information is utilized to protect signal components in curvelet domain, resulting in fewer damages to signals (especially for weak signals). Applications on a synthetic model and a land seismic data both verify that the adaptive thresholding not only achieves more authentic and effective denoising results, but also strikes a sound balance between the need of denoising and the protection of useful details when compared with the iterative thresholding.
A shape analysis method to detect dendritic spine in 3D optical microscopy image

Dendritic spines play an important role in synaptic transmission. Spines are small protrusions formed on the shafts of dendrites and they are manifest of many neurological conditions. Three dimensional images of dendrites and spines are obtained by confocal and two-photon laser scanning microscopy. We present an image processing method based on shape analysis to detect spines and separate spines from the dendrites for quantitative study. The method applies two grassfire procedures to first find the tips of spines and then reversely locate the boundary between spines and dendrites. The boundary is determined as the propagation front that undergoes the maximum change in plane area of the grassfire procedure. We use real data to demonstrate the performance of the method
The effect of exercise on non‐exercise physical activity and sedentary behavior in adults

It is widely assumed that structured exercise causes an additive increase in physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE) and total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). However, the common observation that exercise often leads to a less than expected decrease in body weight, without changes in energy intake, suggests that some compensatory behavioral adaptations occur. A small number of human studies have shown that adoption of structured exercise can lead to decreases in PAEE, which is often interpreted as a decrease in physical activity (PA) behavior. An even smaller number of studies have objectively measured PA, and with inconsistent results. In animals, high levels of imposed PA induce compensatory changes in some components of TDEE. Recent human cohort studies also provide evidence that in those at the highest levels of PA, TDEE is similar when compared to less physically active groups. The objective of this review is to summarize the effects of structured exercise training on PA, sedentary behavior, PAEE and TDEE. Using models from ecological studies in animals and observational data in humans, an alternative model of TDEE in humans is proposed. This model may serve as a framework to investigate the complex and dynamic regulation of human energy budgets.
Gold Nanorods Conjugated with Doxorubicin and cRGD for Combined Anticancer Drug Delivery and PET Imaging

A multifunctional gold nanorod (GNR)-based nanoplatform for targeted anticancer drug delivery and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of tumors was developed and characterized. An anti-cancer drug (i.e., doxorubicin (DOX)) was covalently conjugated onto PEGylated (PEG: polyethylene glycol) GNR nanocarriers via a hydrazone bond to achieve pH-sensitive controlled drug release. Tumor-targeting ligands (i.e., the cyclo(Arg-Gly-Asp-D-Phe-Cys) peptides, cRGD) and 64Cu-chelators (i.e., 1,4,7-triazacyclononane-N, N', N''-triacetic acid (NOTA)) were conjugated onto the distal ends of the PEG arms to achieve active tumor-targeting and PET imaging, respectively. Based on flow cytometry analysis, cRGD-conjugated nanocarriers (i.e., GNR-DOX-cRGD) exhibited a higher cellular uptake and cytotoxicity than non-targeted ones (i.e., GNR-DOX) in vitro. However, GNR-DOX-cRGD and GNR-DOX nanocarriers had similar in vivo biodistribution according to in vivo PET imaging and biodistribution studies. Due to the unique optical properties of GNRs, this multifunctional GNR-based nanoplatform can potentially be optimized for combined cancer therapies (chemotherapy and photothermal therapy) and multimodality imaging (PET, optical, X-ray computed tomography (CT), etc.).
Cracking More Password Hashes With Patterns

It is a common mistake of application developers to store user passwords within databases as plaintext or only as their unsalted hash values. Many real-life successful hacking attempts that enabled attackers to get unauthorized access to sensitive database entries including user passwords have been experienced in the past. Seizing password hashes, attackers perform brute-force, dictionary, or rainbow-table attacks to reveal plaintext passwords from their hashes. Dictionary attacks are very fast for cracking hashes but their success rate is not sufficient. In this paper, we propose a novel method for improving dictionary attacks. Our method exploits several password patterns that are commonly preferred by users when trying to choose a complex and strong password. In order to analyze and show success rates of our developed method, we performed cracking tests on real-life leaked password hashes using both a traditional dictionary and our pattern-based dictionary. We observed that our pattern-based method is superior for cracking password hashes.
Droughts and Persistent Wet Spells over the United States and Mexico

Abstract Droughts and persistent wet spells over the United States and northwest Mexico have preferred regions of occurrence and persistence. Wet or dry conditions that persist more than 1 yr tend to occur over the interior United States west of 90°–95°W and northwest Mexico. In contrast, events over the eastern United States are less likely to occur and often last less than 6 months. The long persistent drought and wet spells are often modulated by low-frequency sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs). The persistent dry or wet conditions over northwest Mexico and the Southwest are associated with decadal variability of SSTAs over the North Pacific. Persistent events over the northwestern mountains are associated with two decadal SSTA modes. One mode has loadings over three southern oceans and another one is an El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) like decadal mode. Wet and dry conditions over the Pacific Northwest and the Great Plains are often associated with ENSO. The seasonal cycle of precipitation .
A Novel Signaling Pathway Controlling Induced Systemic Resistance in Arabidopsis

Plants have the ability to acquire an enhanced level of resistance to pathogen attack after being exposed to specific biotic stimuli. In Arabidopsis, nonpathogenic, root-colonizing Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria trigger an induced systemic resistance (ISR) response against infection by the bacterial leaf pathogen P. syringae pv tomato. In contrast to classic, pathogen-induced systemic acquired resistance (SAR), this rhizobacteria-mediated ISR response is independent of salicylic acid accumulation and pathogenesis-related gene activation. Using the jasmonate response mutant jar1, the ethylene response mutant etr1, and the SAR regulatory mutant npr1, we demonstrate that signal transduction leading to P. fluorescens WCS417r–mediated ISR requires responsiveness to jasmonate and ethylene and is dependent on NPR1. Similar to P. fluorescens WCS417r, methyl jasmonate and the ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate were effective in inducing resistance against P. s. tomato in salicylic acid–nonaccumulating NahG plants. Moreover, methyl jasmonate–induced protection was blocked in jar1, etr1, and npr1 plants, whereas 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate–induced protection was affected in etr1 and npr1 plants but not in jar1 plants. Hence, we postulate that rhizobacteria-mediated ISR follows a novel signaling pathway in which components from the jasmonate and ethylene response are engaged successively to trigger a defense reaction that, like SAR, is regulated by NPR1. We provide evidence that the processes downstream of NPR1 in the ISR pathway are divergent from those in the SAR pathway, indicating that NPR1 differentially regulates defense responses, depending on the signals that are elicited during induction of resistance.
Geoarchaeology of the Kostenki–Borshchevo sites, Don River Valley, Russia

The Kostenki–Borshchevo localities include 26 Upper Paleolithic sites on the first and second terraces along the west bank of the Don River, near Voronezh on the central East European Plain. Geoarchaeological research from 2001 through 2004 focused on sites Kostenki 1, 12, and 14, with additional work at Kostenki 11 and 16, and Borshchevo 5. The strata are grouped into three units (bottom up): Unit 1, > 50 ka, consists of coarse alluvium (representing upper terrace 2 deposits) and colluvium, overlain by fine‐grained sediments. Unit 2 includes archaeological horizons sealed within two sets of thin lenses of silt, carbonate, chalk fragments, and organic‐rich soils (termed the Lower Humic Bed and Upper Humic Bed) dating 50–30 ka. Separating the humic beds is a volcanic ash lens identified as the Campanian Ignimbrite Y5 tephra, dated elsewhere by Ar/Ar to ca. 40 ka. The humic beds appear to result from the complex interplay of soil formation, spring deposition, slope action, and other processes. Several horizons buried in the lower part of Unit 2 contain Upper Paleolithic assemblages. The springs and seeps, which are still present in the area today, emanated from the bedrock valley wall. Their presence may account for the unusually high concentration of Upper Paleolithic sites in this part of the central East European Plain. Unit 3, < 30 ka, contains redeposited loess with a buried soil (Gmelin Soil) overlain by a primary full‐glacial loess with an associated Chernozem (Mollisol), forming the surface of the second terrace. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
First breaks—automatic phase pickings of P‐ and S‐onsets in seismic records

We have developed, validated and extensively tested a fast and versatile processing scheme for picking with confidence P‐ and S‐ arrival times in local seismic records. Out of 300 local events analyzed accurate P‐ and S‐ arrival times were automatically picked for 90% of these recordings. Essential ingredients in the processing scheme were i) prewhitening, ii) wavelet transform, iii) polarization filtering, iv) envelope transform and v) finally function fitting by a simulated annealing method for picking first breaks in approximately noise free envelope records.
STABLE DESIGN OF H ∞ OUTPUT FEEDBACK CONTROL SYSTEMS WITH TIME DELAY

In this paper, a H∞ direct output feedback control algorithm through minimizing the entropy, a performance index measuring the tradeoff between H∞ optimality and 2 H optimality, is developed to reduce the earthquake response of structures. The control forces are obtained from the multiplication of direct output measurements by a pre-calculated time-invariant feedback gain matrix. To achieve optimal control performance and assure control system stability, the strategy to select both control parameters γ and α is extensively investigated considering the control force execution time delay. It is found that the selection of smaller γ or larger α will result in better control performance, but larger control forces requirement. However, a lower bound of γ and an upper bound of α exist. The selection beyond these values will cause the control system instability. For a SDOF damped structure, analytical expressions of direct output feedback gains are derived. It can be proved that the conventional LQR control is a special case of the developed ∞ H control. Direct velocity feedback control is effective in reducing structural responses with much fewer sensors and controllers than the degrees of freedom of the structure. In real active control, control force execution time delay cannot be avoided. Small delay time not only can render the control ineffective, but also may cause the system instability. In this paper, explicit formulas of the maximum allowable delay time and critical control parameters are derived for the design of a stable control system. Some solutions are also proposed to lengthen the maximum allowable delay time.
Fabrication of a Wideband Antenna on a Low-Resistivity Silicon Substrate Using a Novel Micromachining Technique

Fabrication of a wideband antenna on a low-resistivity silicon substrate using a novel micromachining technique is described. The wideband antenna is based on a differential-fed dipole based design that is fabricated on a modified silicon substrate and this eliminates problems associated with antenna efficiency and strength. Results from our fabricated antenna reveal that it resonates at around 5.8 GHz and has a bandwidth of more than 43% making it potentially suitable for IEEE 802.11a and ultrawideband (UWB) applications. The size of the antenna is 12 mm times 2.8 mm times 0.4 mm. Furthermore, the fabricated antenna exhibits an efficiency of more than 20% and has a gain of - 1.35 dBi, which is good for a compact antenna fabricated on a low resistivity silicon substrate.
Tareador: a tool to unveil parallelization strategies at undergraduate level

This paper presents a methodology and framework designed to assist students in the process of finding appropriate task decomposition strategies for their sequential program, as well as identifying bottlenecks in the later execution of the parallel program. One of the main components of this framework is Tareador, which provides a simple API to specify potential task decomposition strategies for a sequential program. Once the student proposes how to break the sequential code into tasks, Tareador 1) provides information about the dependences between tasks that should be honored when implementing that task decomposition using a parallel programming model; and 2) estimates the potential parallelism that could be achieved in an ideal parallel architecture with infinite processors; and 3) simulates the parallel execution on an ideal architecture estimating the potential speed--up that could be achieved on a number of processors. The pedagogical style of the methodology is currently applied to teach parallelism in a third-year compulsory subject in the Bachelor Degree in Informatics Engineering at the Barcelona School of Informatics of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) - BarcelonaTech.
SUPER ORTHOGONAL AND SUPER QUASI-ORTHOGONAL SPACE-FREQUENCY TRELLIS CODING USING OFDM FOR BROADBAND WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

Super-orthogonal and super-quasi-orthogonal space-time trellis coding is seamlessly combined with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) to improve the performance of broadband wireless mobile communication systems. Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is used on all OFDM subchannels. The transmitter is equipped with two antennas when using super-orthogonal space-time trellis codes (SOSTTCs). When the transmitter is equipped with four antennas, super-quasi- orthogonal space-time trellis codes (SQOSTTCs) are used. The receiver first acquires the channel state information (CSI) and then decodes each OFDM frame using the Viterbi algorithm. We perform system simulations using a multiple-input multiple- output (MIMO) Rayleigh fading channel model.
Pragmatic Information Rates, Generalizations of the Kelly Criterion, and Financial Market Efficiency

This paper is part of an ongoing investigation of "pragmatic information", defined in Weinberger (2002) as "the amount of information actually used in making a decision". Because a study of information rates led to the Noiseless and Noisy Coding Theorems, two of the most important results of Shannon's theory, we begin the paper by defining a pragmatic information rate, showing that all of the relevant limits make sense, and interpreting them as the improvement in compression obtained from using the correct distribution of transmitted symbols. The first of two applications of the theory extends the information theoretic analysis of the Kelly Criterion, and its generalization, the horse race, to a series of races where the stochastic process of winning horses, payoffs, and strategies depend on some stationary process, including, but not limited to the history of previous races. If the bettor is receiving messages (side information) about the probability distribution of winners, the doubling rate of the bettor's winnings is bounded by the pragmatic information of the messages. A second application is to the question of market efficiency. An efficient market is, by definition, a market in which the pragmatic information of the "tradable past" with respect to current prices is zero. Under this definition, markets whose returns are characterized by a GARCH(1,1) process cannot be efficient. Finally, a pragmatic informational analogue to Shannon's Noisy Coding Theorem suggests that a cause of market inefficiency is that the underlying fundamentals are changing so fast that the price discovery mechanism simply cannot keep up. This may happen most readily in the run-up to a financial bubble, where investors' willful ignorance degrade the information processing capabilities of the market.