Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Temperature Rising on the Stygobitic Crustacean Species Diacyclops belgicus: Does Global Warming Affect Groundwater Populations?

The average global temperature is predicted to increase by 3 ◦C by the end of this century due to human-induced climate change. The overall metabolism of the aquatic biota will be directly affected by rising temperatures and associated changes. Since thermal stability is a characteristic of groundwater ecosystems, global warming is expected to have a profound effect on the groundwater fauna. The prediction that stygobitic (obligate groundwater dweller) species are vulnerable to climate change includes assumptions about metabolic effects that can only be tested by comparisons across a thermal gradient. To this end, we investigated the effects of two different thermal regimes on the metabolism of the stygobitic copepod species Diacyclops belgicus (Kiefer, 1936). We measured the individual-based oxygen consumption of this species as a proxy of possible metabolic reactions to temperature rising from 14 to 17 ◦C. We used a sealed glass microplate equipped with planar oxygen sensor spots with optical isolation glued onto the bottom of 80-μL wells integrated with a 24-channel fluorescence-based respirometry system. The tests have provided controversial results according to which the D. belgicus populations should be prudently considered at risk under a global warming scenario.
A Multi Criteria Decision based rural electrification system

Selection of suitable energy solutions for a rural location seems complicated while addressing multiple and simultaneous technical, social, economic and environmental traits. Even with achievements of theoretical progress towards binding their synergies, only a handful of approaches exists for well-designed multiple objective frameworks considering rural electrification. For a successful implementation of rural electrification project for any demography of world, the social criteria play a very crucial role. Decision analysis involving technical, financial, social and environmental aspects becomes more diverged and challenging. However, Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Tool (MCDA) has arisen as a solution to diverse criterion and differing views. A MCDA method facilitates decision processes that are logically difficult, participative and translucent, for energy planning. In this paper, a methodology framework incorporating decision analysis techniques has been presented to evaluate and determine a suitable energy system for rural electrification with a perspective to sustainable development. Technically mature, commercially available and government regulated energy sources were considered to generate the possible alternatives. A total of twelve alternatives were proposed; the first six in a Compact Centralized Off Grid Generation and another six as Compact Centralized Grid connected systems. Solar, wind, diesel generator was considered as energy sources along with battery as storage.
Single portal pressure measurement predicts survival in cirrhotic patients with recent bleeding

Background Height of portal pressure correlates with severity of alcoholic cirrhosis. Portal pressure indices are not however used routinely as predictors of survival. Aims To examine the clinical value of a single portal pressure measurement in predicting outcome in cirrhotic patients who have bled. Methods A series of 105 cirrhotic patients who consecutively underwent hepatic venous pressure measurement were investigated. The main cause of cirrhosis was alcoholic (64.8%) and prior to admission all patients had bled from varices. Results During the follow up period (median 566 days, range 10–2555), 33 patients died, and 54 developed variceal haemorrhage. Applying Cox regression analysis, hepatic venous pressure gradient, bilirubin, prothrombin time, ascites, and previous long term endoscopic treatment were the only statistically independent predictors of survival, irrespective of cirrhotic aetiology. The predictive value of the pressure gradient was much higher if the measurement was taken within the first or the second week from the bleeding and there was no association after 15 days. A hepatic venous pressure gradient of at least 16 mm Hg appeared to identify patients with a greatly increased risk of dying. Conclusions Indirectly measured portal pressure is an independent predictor of survival in patients with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic cirrhosis. In patients with a previous variceal bleeding episode this predictive value seems to be better if the measurement is taken within the first two weeks from the bleeding episode. A greater use of this technique is recommended for the prognostic assessment and management of patients with chronic liver disease.
Assessment of right ventricular functions during cancer chemotherapy.

AIMS Although systolic and diastolic left ventricular functions after cancer chemotherapy are well studied, there are a few investigations about the right ventricular functions. We aimed to investigate the early effects of chemotherapy on right heart, if any, in addition to the association between N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and right heart echocardiographic indices. METHODS AND RESULTS Thirty-seven consecutive patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer who were planned to receive either AC protocol [cyclophosphamide (600 mg/m(2)) + adriamycin (60 mg/m(2))] or CAF protocol [cyclophosphamide (600 mg/m(2)) + adriamycin (60 mg/m(2)) + 5-fluorouracil (600 mg/m(2))] for six cures were enrolled between February 2009 and June 2010. Echocardiography was performed before the onset of the chemotheurapeutic regimen (T1), on the day after the completion of the first cure (T2), and after the completion of two cures of the regimen (T3). Serum NT-proBNP levels were also measured at T1, T2, and T3. The mean right ventricular fractional area change (RVFAC) was 63.7 ± 3.63, 63.3 ± 3.67, and 61.2 ± 4.41% at T1, T2, and T3, respectively (pT1-T3 and pT2-T3 <0.05). Tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) has decreased in time (1.82 ± 0.2, 1.78 ± 0.19, and 1.62 ± 0.24 cm; pT1-T2, pT1-T3, and pT2-T3 were 0.002, <0.001, and <0.001, respectively). Tricuspid annular mean E'/A' ratios were 1.42 ± 0.16, 1.36 ± 0.18, and 1.11 ± 0.32 (pT1-T2 = 0.013, pT1-T3 < 0.001, and pT2-T3 < 0.001). Mean tricuspid annular systolic velocities were 11.35 ± 1.85, 11.0 ± 1.82, and 10.45 ± 1.75 cm/s for T1, T2, and T3; and the differences between T1 and T2, T1 and T3, and T2 and T3 were all significant (P = 0.005, <0.001, and 0.001). Median serum NT-proBNP levels were 82 (60-247), 116 (60-426), and 170 (60-600) pg/mL at T1, T2, and T3. The amount of change in RVFAC and TAPSE between T1 and T3 were found to be correlated with the amount of change in NT-proBNP measurements between T1 and T3 (R: -0.7, P < 0.001; R: -0.62, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION There is a subclinical decrease in right ventricular systolic and diastolic echocardiographic indices, although mostly, in the normal range, in a relatively short time interval after onset of chemotherapy.
Combining strategies for white balance

In this work we consider six methods for automatic white balance available in the literature. The idea investigated does not rely on a single method, but instead considers a consensus decision that takes into account the compendium of the responses of all the considered algorithms. Combining strategies are then proposed and tested both on synthetic and multispectral images, extracted from well known databases. The multispectral images are processed using a digital camera simulator developed by Stanford University. All the results are evaluated using the Wilcoxon Sign Test.
Content-aware Internet application traffic measurement and analysis

As the Internet is quickly evolving from best-effort networks to business quality networks, billing based on the precise traffic measurement becomes an important issue for Internet service providers (ISP). Billing settlement is necessary not only between ISP and customers but also between ISP. Currently, most ISP use a flat rate charging policy. Besides the degree of difficulty in deriving appropriate charging policies agreeable by a concerned party, there are substantial technical challenges to come up with a good usage-based accounting system. Usage-based accounting depending on IP packet header information only is not sufficient any more due to the highly dynamic nature of the development and the use of the Internet applications such as peer-to-peer and network games. They use port numbers dynamically and even several applications can use the same port number. Thus, more precise means of classifying them and accounting for their traffic usage are required. In this paper, we propose a high performance, adaptable, configurable, and scalable content-aware application traffic measurement and analysis system which can achieve very accurate usage-based accounting.
Opportunities for Cost-Sharing in Conservation: Variation in Volunteering Effort across Protected Areas

Efforts to expand protected area networks are limited by the costs of managing protected sites. Volunteers who donate labor to help manage protected areas can help defray these costs. However, volunteers may be willing to donate more labor to some protected areas than others. Understanding variation in volunteering effort would enable conservation organizations to account for volunteer labor in their strategic planning. We examined variation in volunteering effort across 59 small protected areas managed by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, a regional conservation nonprofit in the United Kingdom. Three surveys of volunteering effort reveal consistent patterns of variation across protected areas. Using the most detailed of these sources, a survey of site managers, we estimate that volunteers provided 3200 days of labor per year across the 59 sites with a total value exceeding that of paid staff time spent managing the sites. The median percentage by which volunteer labor supplements management costs on the sites was 36%. Volunteering effort and paid management costs are positively correlated, after controlling for the effect of site area. We examined how well a range of characteristics of the protected areas and surrounding communities explain variation in volunteering effort. Protected areas that are larger have been protected for longer and that are located near to denser conurbations experience greater volunteering effort. Together these factors explain 38% of the observed variation in volunteering effort across protected areas.
Real-time rendering of human hair using programmable graphics hardware

We present a hair model together with rendering algorithms suitable for real-time rendering. In our approach, we take into account the major lighting factors contributing to a realistic appearance of human hair: anisotropic reflection and self-shadowing. To deal with the geometric complexity of human hair, we combine single hair fibers into hair wisps, which are represented by textured triangle strips. Our rendering algorithms use OpenGL extensions to achieve real-time performance on recent commodity graphics boards. We demonstrate the applicability of our hair model for a variety of different hairstyles
Partitioning k‐space for cylindrical three‐dimensional rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement imaging in the mouse brain

Three‐dimensional rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement (RARE) scans require the assignment of each phase encode step in two dimensions to an echo in the echo train. Although this assignment is frequently made across the entire Cartesian grid, collection of only the central cylinder of k‐space by eliminating the corners in each phase encode dimension reduces the scan time by ~22% with negligible impact on image quality. The recipe for the assignment of echoes to grid points for such an acquisition is less straightforward than for the simple full Cartesian acquisition case, and has important implications for image quality. We explored several methods of partitioning k‐space—exploiting angular symmetry in one extreme or emulating a cropped Cartesian acquisition in the other—and acquired three‐dimensional RARE magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the ex vivo mouse brain. We evaluated each partitioning method for sensitivity to artifacts and then further considered strategies to minimize these through averaging or interleaving of echoes and by empirical phase correction. All scans were collected 16 at a time with multiple‐mouse MRI. Although all schemes considered could be used to generate images, the results indicate that the emulation of a standard Cartesian echo assignment, by partitioning preferentially along one dimension within the cylinder, is more robust to artifacts. Samples at the periphery of the bore showed larger phase deviations and higher sensitivity to artifacts, but images of good quality could still be obtained with an optimized acquisition protocol. A protocol for high‐resolution (40 μm) ex vivo images using this approach is presented, and has been used routinely with a success rate of 99% in over 1000 images.
Molecular Phylogeny of Burkholderia pseudomallei from a Remote Region of Papua New Guinea

Background The island of New Guinea is located midway between the world's two major melioidosis endemic regions of Australia and Southeast Asia. Previous studies in Papua New Guinea have demonstrated autochthonous melioidosis in Balimo, Western province. In contrast to other regions of endemicity, isolates recovered from both environmental and clinical sources demonstrate narrow genetic diversity over large spatial and temporal scales. Methodology/Principal Findings We employed molecular typing techniques to determine the phylogenetic relationships of these isolates to each other and to others worldwide to aid in understanding the origins of the Papua New Guinean isolates. Multi-locus sequence typing of the 39 isolates resolved three unique sequence types. Phylogenetic reconstruction and Structure analysis determined that all isolates were genetically closer to those from Australia than those from Southeast Asia. Gene cluster analysis however, identified a Yersinia-like fimbrial gene cluster predominantly found among Burkholderia pseudomallei derived from Southeast Asia. Higher resolution VNTR typing and phylogenetic reconstruction of the Balimo isolates resolved 24 genotypes with long branch lengths. These findings are congruent with long term persistence in the region and a high level of environmental stability. Conclusions/Significance Given that anthropogenic influence has been hypothesized as a mechanism for the dispersal of B. pseudomallei, these findings correlate with limited movement of the indigenous people in the region. The palaeogeographical and anthropogenic history of Australasia and the results from this study indicate that New Guinea is an important region for the further study of B. pseudomallei origins and dissemination.
The dream of health information for all

In 2004, an influential report in The Lancet suggested that open health information for all could be achieved by 2015. Unfortunately, this goal has not yet been accomplished. Despite progress in obtaining quality scientific articles in Latin America, it remains difficult to reliably access new and cutting-edge research. As graduating Peruvian medical students, we have confronted many obstacles in obtaining access to quality and up-to-date information and a constant tension between accessing "what is available" rather than "what we need". As we have learned, these limitations affect not only our own education but also the choices we make in the management of our patients. In the following article, we state our point of view regarding limitations in access to scientific articles in Peru and Latin America.
SET : Clone Detection in Sensor Networks

Sensors may be deployed in hostile environments. If an adversary captures a node, they may be able to access the private information within the node. The adversary then can clone these sensors and deploy them in the network to launch a variety of attacks. In this paper, we propose a new scheme, called SET, to detect such cloning attacks. Exclusive subsets are reliably constructed, and the intersection and union of these subsets are calculated to detect the existence of node duplication. We show the reliability and resilience of SET by analyzing the probability that an adversary can effectively hinder the set operations. Through analysis and simulations, we also demonstrate that the proposed scheme is more efficient than existing schemes from a communication and memory cost standpoint, which is crucial in resource-constrained sensor networks.
On the stiffness and stability of Gough-Stewart platforms

This paper deals with a class of parallel mechanisms, called Gough-Stewart platforms. For these mechanisms, pre-loaded by driving forces, the stiffness matrix is derived and its basic properties are established. It is shown when the stiffness matrix becomes asymmetric, how the parametric imbalance may influence the system stability, and how the center of stiffness depends on the force pre-loading. Next, some necessary and some sufficient conditions for the stability are established in an analytical form by transforming the stiffness matrix to the center of stiffness.
Learning Image Re-Rank: Query-DependentImage Re-Ranking Using Semantic Signature

Image re-ranking, is an effective way to improve the results of web-based image search and has been adopted by current commercial search engines such as Bing and Google. When a query keyword is given, a list of images are first retrieved based on textual information given by the user. By asking the user to select a query image from the pool of images, the remaining images are re-ranked based on their index with the query image. A major challenge is that sometimes semantic meanings may interpret user’s search intention. Many people recently proposed to match images in a semantic space which used attributes or reference classes closely related to the semantic meanings of images as basis. In this paper, we propose a novel image re-ranking framework, in which automatically offline learns different semantic spaces for different query keywords and displays with the image details in the form of augmented images. The images are projected into their related semantic spaces to get semantic signatures with the help of one click feedback from the user. At the online stage, images are re-ranked by comparing their semantic signatures obtained from the semantic space specified by the query keyword given by the user. The proposed query-specific semantic signatures significantly improve both the accuracy and efficiency of image re-ranking. Experimental results show that 25-40 percent relative improvement has been achieved on re-ranking precisions compared with the state-of-the-art methods.
Conjunctive Query Answering in the Description Logic EL Using a Relational Database System

Conjunctive queries (CQ) are fundamental for accessing description logic (DL) knowledge bases. We study CQ answering in (extensions of) the DL EL, which is popular for large-scale ontologies and underlies the designated OWL2-EL profile of OWL2. Our main contribution is a novel approach to CQ answering that enables the use of standard relational database systems as the basis for query execution. We evaluate our approach using the IBM DB2 system, with encouraging results.
Real time vehicular traffic estimation using cellular infrastructure

Availability of city wide accurate traffic information enables optimal flow of vehicles in a road network. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) play major role in generating fine grained traffic information. However, in developing countries like India, limited ITS infrastructure is available and city wide manual traffic surveys are the basic source of traffic information. Manual traffic surveys are carried out by government agencies once every year or even less frequently and this instantaneous traffic information is extrapolated to presume traffic condition in a region for the whole year. The generated traffic information has limited application and government generally use it for planning transportation infrastructure development. Cellular infrastructure is widely deployed in India. As per TRAI Press Release No. 38/2013, there are more than 867 million cellular connections in India and cellular density is reported to be more than 70% [1]. Aim of our work is to study feasibility of using cellular infrastructure to generate useful traffic information. Our preliminary experiment with a vehicle carrying GSM modem shows that it is possible to track regions through which vehicle traverses just by using raw data about cell ID updates. The experiment also establishes need for a sophisticated map matching algorithm for determining exact route of a vehicle. We develop a map matching algorithm which can work with large location errors and show using simulations that it is possible to generate useful traffic information such as origin-destination of a trip, route and duration of a trip with in reasonable error bounds even with location error of 250-500 meters. However, for generating accurate travel time estimates for individual road segments, lower location error bounds are needed.
Engineering three-dimensional extended arrays of densely packed nano particles for optical metamaterials using microfluidIque evaporation

1-Microevaporation - Microfluidics is the branch of fluid mechanics dedicated to the study of flows in the channel withdimensions between 1 micron and 100 micron. The object of this chapter is to illustrate the basicprinciples and possible applications of microfluidic chip, called microevaporator. In the first part ofthe chapter, we present a detailed description of the physics of microevaporators using analyticalarguments, and describe some applications. In the second part of the chapter, we present theexperimental protocol of engineering of micro evaporator and different type of microfluidics device.2- On-chip microspectroscopy - The object of this chapter is to illustrate a method to measure absorption spectra during theprocess of growth of our materials in our microfluidic tools. The aim is to make an opticalcharacterization of our micro materials and to carry-out a spatio-temporal study of kineticproperties of our dispersion under study. This instrumental chapter presents the theoretical basis ! of the method we used.3-Role of colloidal stability in the growth of micromaterials - We used combined microspectroscopy and videomicroscopy to follow the nucleation and growth ofmaterials made of core-shell Ag@SiO2 NPs in micro evaporators. We evidence that the growth is actually not always possible, and instead precipitation may occurduring the concentration process. This event is governed by the concentration of dispersion in thereservoir and we assume that its origin come from ionic species that are concentrated all togetherwith the NPs and may alter the colloidal stability en route towards high concentration. 4-Microfluidic-induced growth and shape-up of three-dimensional extended arrays of denselypacked nano particles - In this chapter I present in details microfluidic evaporation experiments to engineer various denselypacked 3D arrays of NPs.5-Bulk metamaterials assembled by microfluidic evaporation - In this chapter I introduced the technique we used (microspot ellipsometry) in close collaborationswith V.Kravets and A.Grigorenko(University of Manchester) and with A.Aradian, P.Barois, A.Baron,K.Ehrhardt(CRPP, Pessac) to characterized the solids made of densely packed NPs. I describe theconstraints that emerge from the coupling between the small size of our materials and the opticalrequirements, the analysis and interpretation of the ellipsometry experiments show that for thematerial with high volume fraction of metal exists the strong electrical coupling between the NPsand the materials display an extremely high refraction index in the near infra-red regime.