Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on Earth

T tapestry of life on Earth is unraveling as humans increasingly dominate and transform natural ecosystems. Scarce resources and dwindling time force conservationists to target their actions to stem the loss of biodiversity— a pragmatic approach, given the highly uneven distribution of species and threats (Soulé and Kohm 1989, Olson and Dinerstein 1998, Mace et al. 2000, Myers et al. 2000). Unfortunately, the ability to focus strategically is hindered by the absence of a global biodiversity map with sufficient biogeographic resolution to accurately reflect the complex distribution of the Earth’s natural communities. Without such a map, many distinctive biotas remain unrecognized. In this article, we address the disparity in resolution between maps currently available for global conservation planning and the reality of the Earth’s intricate patterns of life. We have developed a detailed map of the terrestrial ecoregions of the world that is better suited to identify areas of outstanding biodiversity and representative communities (Noss 1992). We define ecoregions as relatively large units of land containing a distinct assemblage of natural communities and species, with boundaries that approximate the original extent of natural communities prior to major land-use change. Our ecoregion map offers features that enhance its utility for conservation planning at global and regional scales: comprehensive coverage, a classification framework that builds on existing biogeographic knowledge, and a detailed level of biogeographic resolution. Ecoregions reflect the distributions of a broad range of fauna and flora across the entire planet, from the vast Sahara Desert to the diminutive Clipperton Island (eastern Pacific Ocean). They are classified within a system familiar to all biologists—biogeographic realms and biomes. Ecoregions, representing distinct biotas (Dasmann 1973, 1974, Udvardy 1975), are nested within the biomes and realms and, together, these provide a framework for comparisons among units and the identification of representative habitats and species assemblages. Although our ecoregions are intended primarily as units for conservation action, they are built on the foundations of classical biogeography and reflect extensive collaboration with over 1000 biogeographers, taxonomists, conservation biologists, and ecologists from around the world. Consequently, ecoregions are likely to reflect the distribution of species and communities more accurately than do units based on global and regional models derived from gross biophysical features, such as rainfall and temperature (Holdridge 1967, Walter and Box 1976, Schulz 1995, Bailey 1998), vegetation structure (UNESCO 1969, deLaubenfels 1975, Schmidthüsen 1976), or
Dynamic Load Balancing in Very Large Shared-Nothing Hypercube Database Computers

Two relational join strategies, broadcast-based join and bucket-based join, have been recently proposed for the hypercube interconnection topology. The first strategy, however, incurs many unnecessary comparisons of pairs of tuples of the two relations. Although the second technique compares only tuples of the relevant buckets, it may suffer from potential load imbalance, which is most critical to the performance of a shared-nothing system. To address these issues, a join algorithm for hypercube computers which includes dynamic load balancing capabilities to minimize the effect of skewness in tuple distribution is proposed. Simulation results indicate that the scheme provides significant improvement over the bucket-based join strategy. In fact, the technique is consistently superior even when the skew condition is very mild. >
Typing of pneumococci by using 12 pooled antisera

A new simplified chessboard system for typing of Streptococcus pneumoniae is described. It is intended for typing or grouping of 90 to 95% of the pneumococcal strains most commonly isolated from blood or cerebrospinal fluid and is based on 12 pooled diagnostic antisera, each reacting with 7 to 11 single types, together covering the 23 different vaccine-related types as well as 25 other cross-reacting types. Worldwide surveillance of the type distribution is important in order to ensure an optimal formulation of pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines and, in the future, of polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccines. The simplified typing system described in this paper makes it easier to carry out surveillance in other than specialized reference laboratories. Finally, it takes advantage of the fact that some types cause disease more often in children--as opposed to adults--than do others.
Detecting Composite Functional Module in miRNA Regulation and mRNA Interaction Network

The detection of composite miRNA functional module (CMFM) is of tremendous significance and helps in understanding the organization, regulation and execution of cell processes in cancer, but how to identify functional CMFMs is still a computational challenge. In this paper we propose a novel module detection method called MBCFM (detecting Composite Function Modules based on Maximal Biclique enumeration), specifically designed to bicluster miRNAs and target messenger RNAs (mRNAs) on the basis of multiple biological interaction information and topical network features. In this method, we employ algorithm MICA to enumerate all maximal bicliques and further extract R-pairs from the miRNA-mRNA regulatory network. Compared with two existing methods, Mirsynergy and SNMNMF on ovarian cancer dataset, the proposed method of MBCFM is not only able to extract cohesiveness-preserved CMFMs but also has high efficiency in running time. More importantly, MBCFM can be applied to detect other cancer-associated miRNA functional modules.
Design and Analysis of Content Addressable Memory 1 Abarna

The Content addressable Memory (CAM) is high speed memories that are used in high speed networks, lookup tables and so on. The data to be searched will be compared with the data stored in the CAM cell and the address of the cell will be returned for the matched data. The parallel search operation in the memory is the important feature which improves the speed of search operation in CAM cells. However this parallel search operation will have its impact on the power dissipation, delay and various other parameters. This paper discusses the various low power CAM cells and analysis of its important parameters. KeywordXOR cell, XNOR cell __________________________________________________________________________________________________
Transmit Power Allocation for Cognitive Radios Under Rate Protection Constraints: A Signal Coverage Approach

Enhancing the transmission rate for a better spectral utilization is always the ultimate goal of any wireless network. In this paper, we consider the problem of optimal power and rate allocation to maximize the transmission rate of a cognitive radio (CR) operating in the spectrum sharing (SS) CR network (CRN). Unlike previous literature that takes into account the amount of interference to the primary system (PS) as the protection criterion, we reconsider the protection to the PS and CRs through different levels of protection in signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). We propose the concept of effective signal coverage called the permissible space for optimal power and rate adaption. The permissible space for a cognitive transmitter spans over a 3-D space, and it varies according to the channel statistics. Through detecting to which permissible space the cognitive receiver belongs, a novel algorithm suited for distributed CR operation is proposed. Numerical results confirm that our algorithm implemented in the SS CRN achieves a significant enhancement in sum rate, as compared with that of an opportunistic spectrum access (OSA) CRN.
Preventive Oncology in the Postmenopausal Woman

Breast cancer and endometrial cancer are the most common gynecologic malignancies of the postmenopausal period. As preventive medicine becomes the focus of interest, preventive oncology with special regard to these diseases will undoubtedly become a substantial part of the practicing oncologist's field of duties. The aim of this review is to summarize recommendations dealing with the risk assessment and prevention of breast and endometrial cancer. Obesity, the level of exercise and dietary factors are associated with breast cancer. The selective estrogen receptor modulators tamoxifen and raloxifen have both been shown to decrease the risk to the same extent. Patients at particularly high risk are being detected through the use of the Gail model, a well-known statistical model of risk. Other factors, such as breast density, the serum level of endogenous estrogen and the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms, have to be taken into consideration.
The Railway Accident: Trains, Trauma and Technological Crisis in Nineteenth Century Britain

The railway accident as an agent of traumatic experience occupies an important place in the history of mid- and late-nineteenth-century medical and medico-legal discourses over trauma and traumatic disorder. In fact it can be argued that systematic medical theorization about psychological trauma in the modern west commenced with the responses of mid-Victorian medical practitioners to the so-called 'Railway Spine' a condition, which was characterized by the manifestation of a variety of physical disorders in otherwise healthy and apparently uninjured railway accident victims. The railway accident as an event was significant not only as an agent of individual traumatic experience but as the cause of a collective trauma over railway safety and railway slaughter in Victorian society as a whole. The traumas of rapid industrialization, of human independence surrendered to the vast powers of the machine, of uncontrollable speed, of sudden, shattering, catastrophe, found expression through the neuroses of the railway age. Conceptualizations of 'Railway Spine' had begun with shaken spines; they had ended with splintered minds
Ess: A New Storage Architecture for Mid/Large Raid

Referring to the concept of "distributed virtual disks" in cluster file system, this paper proposes a new storage architecture for mid/large-scale RAID - ESS, which consists of several different-structure SubRAIDs. Client's data can migrate into optimal SubRAID dynamically according to their access characteristics; the number of SubRAIDs and the structure of each SubRAID can also be adjusted to the evolution of system load, thus the whole ESS system can always provide a virtual disk for each client to satisfy its I/O need. Simulation results demonstrate significant I/O performance advantage in ESS, compared with the traditional mid/large-scale RAIDS or RAID1 of the same storage space
Heat Transfer To Objects In Pool Fires

In accident scenarios involving fire and the transport of explosive material, the time available for escape is dependent on the heat transfer rate from the fire to the energetic material. A review is presented of historical modeling approaches that draw on empiricism for estimating both heat flux from fires and fire hazard. While such methods can be used for conservative estimates of heat flux in determining safe separation distances, they cannot be used in situations where overestimating the heat flux may underestimate the hazard, such as the heating of high-energy explosives. Next, a large eddy simulation (LES) technique for addressing fire phenomena with embedded, heat sensitive objects is described. With the advent of high performance computing, LES is emerging as a powerful tool for resolving a large set of spatial and temporal scales in fires and for capturing observed pool fire phenomena such as visible flame structures. The development of the LES approach described here is based on verification and validation (V&V) principles, utilizing a V&V hierarchy that is focused on the intended use of the simulation. This LES approach couples surrogate fuel representations of complex hydrocarbon fuels, reaction models for incorporation of the detailed chemical kinetics associated with the surrogate fuel, soot formation models, models for unresolved turbulence/ chemistry interactions, radiative heat transfer models, and modifications to the LES algorithm for computing heat transfer to objects. The chapter concludes with an analysis of simulation and experimental data of heat transfer to embedded objects in large JP-8 pool fires and of time to ignition of an energetic device in such a fire. The analysis considers the role of validation, sensitivity analysis and uncertainty quantification in moving toward predictivity.
Intensified chemotherapy without SCT in infant ALL: Results from COG P9407 (Cohort 3)

Infants with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) present with aggressive disease and a poor prognosis. Early relapse within 6–9 months of diagnosis is common. Approximately 75% of infants have MLL‐rearranged (MLL‐R) ALL with event free survival (EFS) ranging from 20% to 30%. Children's Oncology Group (COG) P9407 used shortened (46 weeks), intensified therapy to address early relapse and poor EFS.
Moving and Handling of Patients with Dementia

Moving and handling is an important aspect of caring for patients with dementia. This can be a serious risk to health care staff, and requires careful risk assessment and planning before execution to minimise any injury. This article explores some of the challenges nurses may face when moving and handling people with dementia. It offers guidance on how to deal with these challenges to promote safe practice and improve patient outcomes.
Variation in Demography and Life-History Strategies Across the Range of a Declining Mountain Bird Species

Species- and population-specific responses to their environment may depend to a large extent on the spatial variation in life-history traits and in demographic processes of local population dynamics. Yet, those parameters and their variability remain largely unknown for many cold-adapted species, which are exposed to particularly rapid rates of environmental change. Here, we compared the demographic traits and dynamics for an emblematic bird species of European mountain ecosystems, the ring ouzel (Turdus torquatus). Using integrated population models fitted in a Bayesian framework, we estimated the survival probability, productivity and immigration of two populations from the Western European Alps, in France (over 11 years) and Switzerland (over 6 years). Juvenile apparent survival was lower and immigration rate higher in the Swiss compared to the French population, with the temporal variation in population growth rate driven by different demographic processes. Yet, when compared to populations in the northwestern part of the range, in Scotland, these two Alpine populations both showed a much lower productivity and higher adult survival, indicating a slower life-history strategy. Our results suggest that demographic characteristics can substantially vary across the discontinuous range of this passerine species, essentially due to contrasted, possibly locally evolved life-history strategies. This study therefore raises the question of whether flexibility in life-history traits is widespread among boreo-alpine species and if it might provide adaptive potential for coping with current environmental change.
Robust stabilization of an induction motor via sliding mode control

The aim of this paper is to explain the nonlinear control design for a three-phase motor which guarantee robust stabilization and energy saving. The energy analysis is in average power consumption terms. To reduce the energy consumption an Asymptotic, Dynamic Sliding Mode and Proportional Integral control based on field flux concept are analyzed. Moreover, a comparative study of each controller in terms of power consumption is presented in numerical simulation.
Associative classification using patterns from nested granules

To facilitate interpretation and consider the internal association relationships between values of a pattern used in associative classification, a new form of multiple value pattern known as nested high-order pattern (NHOP) is presented. Taking an associative pair as information granule, the pattern is formed as multiple levels of association events. The general form of high-order pattern (HOP), that NHOP is a subtype, is identified as variable outcomes extracted from a random N-tuple. The pattern is detected by statistical testing if the occurrence is significantly deviated from the expected according to a prior model or null hypothesis. In this paper, we propose a classification method (called C-NHOP) based on nested high-order patterns. The rationale is that complex association patterns reinforce the underlying meaningfulness in interpreting regularity, thus, can provide a better understanding of the data domain. In evaluating our method using 26 UCI machine learning benchmark datasets, the experiments show a highly competitive and interpretable result.
Future strategies for improving outcomes in patients with diabetes and acute coronary syndromes.

Approximately a third of admissions for acute myocardial infarction (MI) occur in individuals with diabetes mellitus (DM). Admission rates for MI are over sevenfold higher among people with DM than in those without DM, and threefold higher after accounting for differences in age and gender. Diabetes shifts the risk of acute coronary syndrome forward by 15–20 years and abolishes female premenopausal protection. Patients with diabetes and acute coronary syndrome have poorer outcomes than comparable nondiabetic individuals. Diabetes is a predictor of prehospital cardiac arrest, shortand long-term mortality, recurrent MI and the development of heart failure and cardiogenic shock in patients with acute coronary syndromes. Despite advances in acute cardiac care, diabetes confers almost a doubling of shortand long-term mortality [1–6]. Predictors of 1-year mortality in a patient with diabetes and MI include age, female gender [7–9], blood pressure, history of prior MI, blood glucose at the time of hospital admission, duration of diabetes, insulin therapy and urine albumin content [10,11]. Diabetes remains a major risk factor for mortality after adjustment for multiple clinical variables, extent of coronary artery disease and therapy [12]. Multiple factors contribute to poorer outcomes in the diabetic patient and are summarized in Box 1. Despite early reperfusion after MI and similar procedural outcomes from percutaneous coronary intervention, patients with diabetes have an increased mortality from heart failure [13–15] and cardiogenic shock [16]. Yet, prior coronary artery bypass surgery appears to have a protective role in patients with diabetes who sustain an acute MI [17].
Evolutions of Planar Polygons

Evolutions of closed planar polygons are studied in this work. In the first part of the paper, the general theory of linear polygon evolutions is presented, and two specific problems are analyzed. The first one is a polygonal analog of a novel affine-invariant differential curve evolution, for which the convergence of planar curves to ellipses was proved. In the polygon case, convergence to polygonal approximation of ellipses, polygo nal ellipses, is proven. The second one is related to cyclic pursuit problems, and convergence, either to polygonal ellipses or to polygonal circles, is proven. In the second part, two possible polygonal analogues of the well-known Euclidean curve shortening flow are presented. The models follow from geometric considerations. Experimental results show that an arbitrary initial polygon converges to either regular or irregular polygonal approximations of circles when evolving according to the proposed Euclidean flows.
Self‐Contained Handheld Magnetic Platform for Point of Care Cytometry in Biological Samples

Magnetic levitation is a powerful tool capable of distinguishing micrometer‐scale particles based on their densities. When a particle is suspended in a paramagnetic medium and placed in a magnetic field formed by two permanent magnets with like poles facing each other, the particle will experience two forces—a magnetic force and a buoyant force. These forces cause a particle, such as a cell, which does not necessarily have magnetic properties, to levitate at a height inversely proportional to its density. Magnetic levitation has been shown to be useful for a range of applications, including disease diagnostics, material characterization, and quality control. Here, a portable, self‐contained device fully independent from a dedicated microscope or smartphone is developed to levitate particles of interest, image them using an embedded low‐cost optical system and a camera module, and process the captured images in order to estimate the densities of the particles. The device is user‐friendly and inexpensive, offering a great potential for rapid, on‐site sample analysis such as white blood cell cytometry.
NeuRow: An Immersive VR Environment for Motor-Imagery Training with the Use of Brain-Computer Interfaces and Vibrotactile Feedback

Motor-Imagery offers a solid foundation for the development of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), capable of direct brain-to-computer communication but also effective in alleviating neurological impairments. The fusion of BCIs with Virtual Reality (VR) allowed the enhancement of the field of virtual rehabilitation by including patients with low-level of motor control with limited access to treatment. BCI-VR technology has pushed research towards finding new solutions for better and reliable BCI control. Based on our previous work, we have developed NeuRow, a novel multiplatform prototype that makes use of multimodal feedback in an immersive VR environment delivered through a state-of-the-art Head Mounted Display (HMD). In this article we present the system design and development, including important features for creating a closed neurofeedback loop in an implicit manner, and preliminary data on user performance and user acceptance of
The Persian Language Version of the Obsession With the COVID-19 Scale for Adolescents

Objective: The worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused significant public health burdens and psychological dysfunctions. In this challenging time, adolescents require special care. The Persian version of the Obsession with COVID-19 Scale (OCS) for adolescents was developed to screen for dysfunctional obsession associated with the coronavirus during the global pandemic. The structure and internal consistency of the OCS were established. Design and Measures: Although there are different language versions of the OCS, this is the first study to validate the psychometric properties of the OCS in Iranian adolescents. Seven hundred and nine students (369 girls) participated in the study. Demographic questions and the OCS were administered. Results: The findings provided support for the existence of a unidimensional structure that met the criteria for configural, metric, and full scalar invariance across gender (girls and boys), inhabitancy (urban and rural), and infection experience (infected and non-infected). The OCS is short and highly reliable measurement. However, further research is necessary to establish the validity of the scale in Iranian population. Conclusions: The development of such valid scales is an essential part of both research and practice during times of crisis, like a global pandemic. Diagnosis of pandemic related to obsessive thoughts in adolescents is needed as the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing and as experts point out, it can be expected that the effects of the pandemic will be observed in the coming years. The Persian version makes it possible to conduct international comparative research on the anxiety related to the COVID-19 pandemic.