Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Thinning on Hydrology and Water Quality of a Drained Pine Forest in Coastal North Carolina

A study was conducted to examine the effects of commercial thinning on hydrology and water quality of a 28-year old (in 2002) drained loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation watershed (D3) using another adjacent watershed (D1) as a control. A paired watershed approach was used with data from two periods (1988-90 and 2000-02) for calibration and data from 2002-07 as the treatment period. Both of these 25 ha watersheds are located in Carteret County, North Carolina. Results showed a consistent rise in water table elevations on D3 compared to the control during the six months after 50% thinning. The water table rise of 12.6 cm on average decreased substantially by June 2007, indicating an increase in evapo-transpiration caused by increased canopy closure. Similarly, flow rates increased immediately after thinning and decreased soon thereafter. Monthly outflows on thinned watershed were generally higher in the summer-fall months compared to the control. However, the total annual outflow from the treatment was lower than the control, except for the very wet years of 2003 with extremely high rainfall (>2300 mm) and 2005, possibly indicating a hydrologic recovery due to canopy closure approximately three years after thinning. Thinning did not affect nutrient concentrations and loading rates, except for NO3-N and total P. The increases in both of these nutrients were minor compared to the values obtained from fertilization of these stands. Results of the study indicate thinning may have only a short term (up to three years) effect on hydrology and water quality of drained pine plantation.
Large-Eddy Simulation of air-fuel mixing in Dry Low NOx GTU Combustor

The in-house code FLAMENCO is developed to simulate the mixing process in a Dry Low NOx GTU Combustor. The physical approach is defined to model 3D-unsteady, compressible, multi-species flows where turbulence plays a major role. For this purpose, Large Eddy-Simulation is applied in conjunction with high-order schemes and stable formulation of volume fraction advection. Regarding the numerical structure, FLAMENCO is a Finite-Volume Godunov-type algorithm equipped with 5th and 2nd Order non-oscillatory reconstruction in space and 2nd Order, 4-Stages Explicit Runge-Kutta scheme for integration in time. From a mathematical point of view, the multi-species approach is governed by the 5-Equation Transport Model and is thermodynamically defined by iso-baric and perfect gas considerations, which prevent pressure oscillations. Finally, an HLLC approximate Riemann solver computes convective fluxes and 2nd Order centred differences accounts for dissipation terms. Previous research with an old version of FLAMENCO failed due to low dissipation in the jet injector tube. This issue stems from local energy being uncontrollably introduced in this small region, leading to unphysical pressure values. It was found that the combination of reflecting inflow, small cells and high gradients is responsible for acoustic wave reflection and amplification. To overcome this problem, a number of modifications including boundary conditions (Partially Non-reflecting, Non-reflecting and Nozzle-type subsonic inflows and outflows), an Adaptive Reconstruction Scheme, a more dissipative reconstruction scheme (5th Order WENO) and grid changes (only in jet injector) have been introduced. As a result, local energy generation and evacuation become balanced within physical boundaries, providing stable conditions in the whole domain. Initially, extensive validation of the new numerical approach is conducted through contrasted test cases such as Stationary and Moving Contact Wave, Shock Tube Problem, Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability and 2D-3D Explosion Problems. In the same way, strategies intended to overcome the low dissipation problem are analysed in a representative configuration. After the validation process, several simulations involving coarse and fine grids and different reconstruction schemes are run in the Dry Low NOx GTU Combustor. Finally, results are compared with experimental data, showing really good accuracy for 5th Order schemes, which is specially surprising in the coarse grid. In this way, highly turbulent, heterogeneous structures such as Vortex Breakdown, Central Recirculation Zone, Precessing Vortex Core and Secondary Vortices are very well captured, demonstrating the suitability of the mixing model to deal with highly turbulent flows where critical shear layers and high mixing ratios coexist in confined domains.
Rehabilitation Interventions for Unilateral Neglect after Stroke: A Systematic Review from 1997 through 2012

A systematic review of the effectiveness of rehabilitation for persons with unilateral neglect (UN) after stroke was conducted by searching the computerized databases from 1997 through 2012. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of neglect treatment strategies for stroke patients which used the Behavioral Inattention Test (BIT) as the primary outcome measure were eligible for inclusion. Out of 201 studies initially identified, 12 RCTs covering 277 participants were selected for analysis. All had the same weakness of low power with smaller samples and limitation in the blinding of the design. Prism Adaptation (PA) was the most commonly used intervention while continuous Theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) appeared to be a new approach. Meta-analysis showed that for immediate effects, the BIT conventional subscore had a significant and large mean effect size (ES = 0.76; 95% CI 0.28–1.23; p = 0.002) whereas the BIT total score showed a modestly significant mean ES (ES = 0.55; 95% CI 0.16–0.94; p = 0.006). No significant mean ES in sensitivity analysis was found for long-lasting effects across all BIT outcomes. PA appeared to be the most effective intervention based on the results of pooled analysis. More rigorous studies should be done on repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) before it can be concluded that it is a promising treatment for UN.
An Evaluation of Volumetric Interest Points

This paper presents the first performance evaluation of interest points on scalar volumetric data. Such data encodes 3D shape, a fundamental property of objects. The use of another such property, texture (\ie 2D surface colouration), or appearance, for object detection, recognition and registration has been well studied, 3D shape less so. However, the increasing prevalence of depth sensors and the diminishing returns to be had from appearance alone have seen a surge in shape-based methods. In this work we investigate the performance of several detectors of interest points in volumetric data, in terms of repeatability, number and nature of interest points. Such methods form the first step in many shape-based applications. Our detailed comparison, with both quantitative and qualitative measures on synthetic and real 3D data, both point-based and volumetric, aids readers in selecting a method suitable for their application.
THE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE NEUROMUSCULAR JUNCTION.

The neuromuscular junction has been the subject of several review articles and lectures in the last few years (Fatt, 1954; del Castillo and Katz, 1956; Katz, 1958, 1962; Miledi, 1961), and reference to these and to the literature shows that transmission across this junction is not the result of one function but of many. It appears that neuromuscular transmission is a multistage operation and that failure at any one stage can mean complete failure of the whole system. It is equally clear that there are many modifying influences operating on the various stages of the transmission process, sometimes with complementary effects on the end result, sometimes with opposing effects. It follows, therefore, that when investigating a failure of neuromuscular transmission, whether occurring as a result of disease or the application of drugs or even under the more normal circumstances of excessive use, due regard must be paid to possible changes at all of these stages of transmission. A point of some importance in this respect is that an apparent failure at one stage may in fact be due to a real failure in the preceding stage; this factor will be referred to again when the mechanism of release of acetylcholine has been described.
Potential of Using a Reconfigurable System on a Superscalar Core for ILP Improvements

As technology scaling reduces pace and energy efficiency becomes a new important design constraint, superscalar processor designs seem to be reaching their performance limits under the area and power constraints. As a result, new architectural paradigms have to be developed. This work proposes a new architecture for x86 processors, based on a traditional superscalar design coupled to a reconfigurable array. The architecture explores the fact that few basic blocks are responsible for most of the instructions that execute on the processor, and performs a mapping of these basic blocks into a configuration for the reconfigurable array. The configuration encodes the dependencies between the instructions, so that when a loop is executed multiple times, fetch, decode and dependency checks on the instructions are bypassed, thus improving instruction throughput. Our study of the potential of the architecture shows that performance gains of up to 2.5 times with respect to a traditional superscalar can be presented.
Correction of Errors in Polarization Based Dynamic Phase Shifting Interferometers

Polarization based interferometers for single snap-shot measurements allow single frame, quantitative phase acquisition for vibration insensitive measurements of optical surfaces. Application of these polarization based phase sensors requires the test and reference beams of the interferometer to be orthogonally polarized. As with all polarization based interferometers, these systems can suffer from phase dependent errors resulting from systematic polarization aberrations. This type of measurement error presents a particular challenge because it varies in magnitude both spatially and temporally between each measurement. In this article, a general discussion of phase calculation error is presented. We then present an algorithm that is capable of mitigating phase-dependent measurement errors on-the-fly. The algorithm implementation is non-iterative providing sensor frame rate limited phase calculations. Finally, results are presented for both a high numerical aperture system, where the residual error is reduced to the shot noise limit, and a system with significant birefringence in the test arm.
Equilibrium Forward Curves for Commodities

We develop an equilibrium model of the term structure of forward prices for storable commodities. As a consequence of a nonnegativity constraint on inventory, the spot commodity has an embedded timing option that is absent in forward contracts. This option's value changes over time due to both endogenous inventory and exogenous transitory shocks to supply and demand. Our model makes predictions about volatilities of forward prices at different horizons and shows how conditional violations of the 'Samuelson effect' occur. We extend the model to incorporate a permanent second factor and calibrate the model to crude oil futures data. Copyright The American Finance Association 2000.
Application-Specific Cache and Prefetching for HEVC CABAC Decoding

Context-based Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding (CABAC) is the entropy coding module in the HEVC/H.265 video coding standard. As in its predecessor, H.264/AVC, CABAC is a well-known throughput bottleneck due to its strong data dependencies. Besides other optimizations, the replacement of the context model memory by a smaller cache has been proposed for hardware decoders, resulting in an improved clock frequency. However, the effect of potential cache misses has not been properly evaluated. This work fills the gap by performing an extensive evaluation of different cache configurations. Furthermore, it demonstrates that application-specific context model prefetching can effectively reduce the miss rate and increase the overall performance. The best results are achieved with two cache lines consisting of four or eight context models. The 2 × 8 cache allows a performance improvement of 13.2 percent to 16.7 percent compared to a non-cached decoder due to a 17 percent higher clock frequency and highly effective prefetching. The proposed HEVC/H.265 CABAC decoder allows the decoding of high-quality Full HD videos in real-time using few hardware resources on a low-power FPGA.
Noise measurement from magnitude MRI using local estimates of variance and skewness

In this note, we address the estimation of the noise level in magnitude magnetic resonance (MR) images in the absence of background data. Most of the methods proposed earlier exploit the Rayleigh distributed background region in MR images to estimate the noise level. These methods, however, cannot be used for images where no background information is available. In this note, we propose two different approaches for noise level estimation in the absence of the image background. The first method is based on the local estimation of the noise variance using maximum likelihood estimation and the second method is based on the local estimation of the skewness of the magnitude data distribution. Experimental results on synthetic and real MR image datasets show that the proposed estimators accurately estimate the noise level in a magnitude MR image, even without background data.
A Study of Source Controlled Channel Decoding for GSM AMR Vocoder

Error resilience is an important consideration in wireless communication systems, where effects like multipath fading and shadowing make channels error-prone. In this regard, Source Controlled Channel Decoding (SCCD), introduced by J. Hagenauer [2], is a useful method to reduce the errors induced by the channel. In the literature, this technique has been successfully applied to the GSM full rate (FR) and enhanced full rate (EFR) codecs. Adaptive Multirate (AMR) coder is a state of the art vocoder introduced into GSM standard in 1999. In this paper, we study the effect of using the wellknown SCCD algorithm for three representative modes of the GSM AMR vocoder 12.2 kbps, 7.4 kbps and 4.75 kbps modes. Significant inter-frame and intra-frame correlations are observed between bits of these three modes. We exploit these correlations using an APRI-SOVA[2] algorithm and show that for the highly correlated bits, SNR gains of 1 dB can be obtained as compared to the conventional approach.
Proteasome Activators, PA28α and PA28β, Govern Development of Microvascular Injury in Diabetic Nephropathy and Retinopathy

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) are major complications of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. DN and DR are mainly caused by injury to the perivascular supporting cells, the mesangial cells within the glomerulus, and the pericytes in the retina. The genes and molecular mechanisms predisposing retinal and glomerular pericytes to diabetic injury are poorly characterized. In this study, the genetic deletion of proteasome activator genes, PA28α and PA28β genes, protected the diabetic mice in the experimental STZ-induced diabetes model against renal injury and retinal microvascular injury and prolonged their survival compared with wild type STZ diabetic mice. The improved wellbeing and reduced renal damage was associated with diminished expression of Osteopontin (OPN) and Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 (MCP-1) in the glomeruli of STZ-injected PA28α/PA28β double knockout (Pa28αβDKO) mice and also in cultured mesangial cells and retinal pericytes isolated from Pa28αβDKO mice that were grown in high glucose. The mesangial PA28-mediated expression of OPN under high glucose conditions was suppressed by peptides capable of inhibiting the binding of PA28 to the 20S proteasome. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that diabetic hyperglycemia promotes PA28-mediated alteration of proteasome activity in vulnerable perivascular cells resulting in microvascular injury and development of DN and DR.
Antibodies to α‐synuclein detect Lewy bodies in many Down's syndrome brains with Alzheimer's disease

Immunohistochemical examination of 20 Down's syndrome brains, using antibodies to α‐, β‐, and γ‐synuclein, demonstrated many α‐synuclein–positive Lewy bodies and dystrophic neurites in 50% of amygdala samples from Down's syndrome brains with Alzheimer's disease. Similar lesions were less common in other regions of these brains, none of which contained β‐synuclein or γ‐synuclein abnormalities. Thus, α‐synuclein–positive Lewy bodies and neuritic processes frequently occur with Alzheimer's disease in Down's syndrome brains. Ann Neurol 1999;45:353–357
Evaluation of gossip to build scalable and reliable multicast protocols

This paper provides an extensive experimental evaluation of the gossip technique that has been proposed to construct scalable and reliable multicast protocols. This evaluation has been done by simulating several gossip and non gossip-based multicast protocols in a network simulator NS2. The evaluation comprises of three parts: (1) a comparison of the gossip technique with other traditional message loss detection and recovery, techniques, (2) an extensive performance evaluation of the gossip technique under several different computing environments, and (3) an evaluation of how the performance of a gossip-based multicast protocol is affected by varying various gossip parameters. The main conclusion of the paper is that the gossip technique is certainly a useful technique for constructing scalable and reliable multicast protocols. However it performs poorly under some specific operating conditions, and its performance is affected by, the selection criteria used to select a gossip subgroup and gossip period.
Texture Advection Based Simulation of Dynamic Cloud Scene

Fast display of realistic dynamic cloud scene is a challenging task for researchers in computer graphics. This paper describes a novel method of simulating animations of cloud. We first model the motion of cloud based on the physical theory of cloud formation. Then, the physical model of cloud is solved in discrete sparse grids. Thus, we can get approximate motion of cloud. Next, we advect texture image using the calculated velocity field to add the local detail of dynamic cloud scene. Here the texture image we used is Perlin noise map. The color of arbitrary point in the simulation space is got by calculating the product of the density texture and the regenerated Perlin noise texture. Finally, by changing different noise maps, realistic dynamic cloud scenes in different light environment are generated at high rendering rates.
Diabetes prevalence and socioeconomic status: a population based study showing increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in deprived areas

OBJECTIVE To establish the relation between socioeconomic status and the age-sex specific prevalence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The hypothesis was that prevalence of type 2 diabetes would be inversely related to socioeconomic status but there would be no association with the prevalence of type 1 diabetes and socioeconomic status. SETTING Middlesbrough and East Cleveland, United Kingdom, district population 287 157. PATIENTS 4313 persons with diabetes identified from primary care and hospital records. RESULTS The overall age adjusted prevalence was 15.60 per 1000 population. There was a significant trend between the prevalence of type 2 diabetes and quintile of deprivation score in men and women (χ2 for linear trend, p<0.001). In men the prevalence in the least deprived quintile was 13.4 per 1000 (95% confidence intervals (95% CI) 11.44, 15.36) compared with 17.22 per 1000 (95% CI 15.51, 18.92) in the most deprived. For women the prevalence was 10.84 per 1000 (95% CI 9.00, 12.69) compared with 15.48 per 1000 (95% CI 13.84, 17.11) in the most deprived. The increased prevalence of diabetes in the most deprived areas was accounted for by increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the age band 40–69 years. There was no association between the prevalence of type 1 diabetes and socioeconomic status. CONCLUSION These data confirm an inverse association between socioeconomic status and the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the middle years of life. This finding suggests that exposure to factors that are implicated in the causation of diabetes is more common in deprived areas.
miRNA-34b Inhibits Prostate Cancer through Demethylation, Active Chromatin Modifications, and AKT Pathways

Purpose: miRNAs can act as oncomirs or tumor-suppressor miRs in cancer. This study was undertaken to investigate the status and role of miR-34b in prostate cancer. Experimental Design: Profiling of miR-34b was carried out in human prostate cancer cell lines and clinical samples by quantitative real-time PCR and in situ hybridization. Statistical analyses were done to assess diagnostic/prognostic potential. Biological significance was elucidated by carrying out a series of experiments in vitro and in vivo. Results: We report that miR-34b is silenced in human prostate cancer and the mechanism is through CpG hypermethylation. miR-34b directly targeted methyltransferases and deacetylases resulting in a positive feedback loop inducing partial demethylation and active chromatin modifications. miR-34b expression could predict overall and recurrence-free survival such that patients with high miR-34b levels had longer survival. Functionally, miR-34b inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, migration/invasion, and triggered G0/G1 cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis by directly targeting the Akt and its downstream proliferative genes. miR-34b caused a decline in the mesenchymal markers vimentin, ZO1, N-cadherin, and Snail with an increase in E-cadherin expression, thus inhibiting epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Finally we showed the antitumor effect of miR-34b in vivo. MiR-34b caused a dramatic decrease in tumor growth in nude mice compared with cont-miR. Conclusion: These findings offer new insight into the role of miR-34b in the inhibition of prostate cancer through demethylation, active chromatin modification, and Akt pathways and may provide a rationale for the development of new strategies targeting epigenetic regulation of miRNAs for the treatment of prostate cancer. Clin Cancer Res; 19(1); 73–84. ©2012 AACR.
Quality of Diabetes Care in the Middle- and High-Income Group Populace

OBJECTIVE—We sought to evaluate the quality of care in known diabetic patients from the middle- and high-income group populace of Delhi. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a probability proportionate to size (systematic), two-stage cluster design. Thirty areas were selected for a house-to-house survey to recruit a minimum of 25 subjects (known diabetes ≥1 year; aged 35–65 years) per area. Data were collected by interview, by blood sampling, and from medical records. RESULTS—A total of 819 subjects (of 1,153 eligible) were enrolled from 20,666 houses. In total, 13.0% (95% CI 9.6–17.3) of the patients had an HbA1c (A1C) estimation and 16.2% (13.5–19.4) had a dilated eye examination in the last year, 32.1% (27.5–36.6) had serum cholesterol estimation in the last year, and 17.5% (14.2–21.5) were taking aspirin. An estimated 42.0% (37.7–46.2) had an A1C value >8%, 40.6% (36.5–44.7) had an LDL cholesterol level >130 mg/dl, and 63.2% (59.6–66.6) had blood pressure levels >140/90 mmHg. CONCLUSIONS—A wide gap exists between practice recommendations and delivery of diabetes care in Delhi.