Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of an introduced pathogen on resistance to natural disturbance: beech bark disease and windthrow

In forests of eastern North America, introduced pathogens have caused widespread declines in a number of important tree species, including dominant species such as American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.). Most studies have focused on changes in forest composition and structure as a direct result of mortality caused by a pathogen. Our field studies of windthrow resistance in forests of northern New York and northern Michigan demonstrate that resis- tance of beech trees to windthrow is severely reduced by beech bark disease (BBD). This reduced resistance was pri- marily due to the increase in the probability of stem breaks of moderately and highly infected beech trees. The severity of BBD infection on individual trees has a significant negative effect on resistance to windthrow. We tested potential consequences of this for long-term composition and structure in these forests by using a simulation model, SORTIE. We found that species such as yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis Britt.) and eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr. ) increased in basal area primarily because of the effect BBD had on the creation of new seedbed substrates. Our results highlight the indirect effects that host-specific pathogens can have on community dynamics and species coexis- tence in forests.
How Does the Investment Horizon of Institutional Investors of a Firm Affect the Information Asymmetry of its Stock?

Our empirical evidence establishes a positive association between short-term institutional ownership and private information in stock trading but a negative correlation between long-term institutional ownership and private information. These relations suggest that short-term institutional investors tend to explore their information advantage and trade speculatively for short-term profits, while long-term institutional investors are more likely to monitor the firms they own, leading to the reduction of the information asymmetry about the firm’s fundamental values. Our results are robust to the inclusion of controls for firm characteristics, analyst coverage and insider trading, as well as the choice of different private information proxies and estimation methods. Overall, our findings highlight the important role of investment horizon of institutional investors in shaping a firm’s information environment.
Understanding intensive care unit clinical communication using knowledge representation

Medical errors are a major cause of death among Americans, and clinical miscommunication is considered the leading cause of medical errors. The aim of this study was to analyze clinical communication behaviors and interruptions by further understanding HumanHuman and Human-computer interactions. A systematic literature search was conducted to identify and extract reported medical error cases caused by clinical communication problem. An ICU observational study was combined with medical error reported cases to better understand communication. Researchers shadowed the ICU team, for 55 hours during patient rounds, to capture 6 main communication factors. Simultaneously, 242 reported communication errors were collected from literature, 279 patient visit was observed at the ICU, and 147 survey responses were gathered. As to the observation data, the most frequent communicator during ICU patient rounds was the Attending Physicians. The ratio of interruptions caused by clinicians to technology-aided devices was 3:1 per patient visit. To further understand clinical communication, primary and secondary data were collected and analyzed and as a result, human-human and human-computer interaction models were developed to build a communication framework that puts into perspective the various factors involved in the communication process among care givers.
Wired layer : BER ∝ 10-14 Wireless node Wired node Wireless channel : BER ∝ 10-7 Wired link dCT

Hybrid wired-wireless Network-on-Chip (WiNoC) has emerged as an alternative solution to the poor scalability and performance issues of conventional wireline NoC design for future System-on-Chip (SoC). Existing feasible wireless solution for WiNoCs in the form of millimeter wave (mm-Wave) relies on free space signal radiation which has high power dissipation with high degradation rate in the signal strength per transmission distance. Moreover, over the lossy wireless medium, combining wireless and wireline channels drastically reduces the total reliability of the communication fabric. Surface wave has been proposed as an alternative wireless technology for low power on-chip communication. With the right design considerations, the reliability and performance benefits of the surface wave channel could be extended. In this paper, we propose a surface wave communication fabric for emerging WiNoCs that is able to match the reliability of traditional wireline NoCs. First, we propose a realistic channel model which demonstrates that existing mm-Wave WiNoCs suffers from not only free-space spreading loss (FSSL) but also molecular absorption attenuation (MAA), especially at high frequency band, which reduces the reliability of the system. Consequently, we employ a carefully designed transducer and commercially available thin metal conductor coated with a low cost dielectric material to generate surface wave signals with improved transmission gain. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed communication fabric can achieve a 5dB operational bandwidth of about 60GHz around the center frequency (60GHz). By improving the transmission reliability of wireless layer, the proposed communication fabric can improve maximum sustainable load of NoCs by an average of 20.9% and 133.3% compared to existing WiNoCs and wireline NoCs, respectively.
Sustainability in Multinational Multi-Tier Supply Chains

This professional development workshop took up the discussions at PDWs on this topic at the AOM Annual Meetings 2013/14 to advance research on sustainable supply chain management to a new level, moving beyond the current focus on static internal supply chains and direct international supplier involvement to dynamic multinational, multi-tier end-to-end supply chains. Five main themes were discussed in roundtables: (1) Power Asymmetries and Trust in Multinational Multi-Tier Supply Chains (2) Co-Creating and Sharing Value in Multinational Multi-Tier Supply Chains (3) Sub-Supplier Efforts on Sustainability in Multinational Multi-Tier Supply Chains (4) Time-based Sustainability Tradeoffs in Multinational Multi-Tier Supply Chains (5) Institutions and Stakeholders in Multinational Multi-Tier Supply Chains
Dispatching Transport Vehicles in Maritime Container Terminals

This paper addresses transport vehicle dispatching problems in container terminals. The vehicle dispatching decision should be carefully made since it significantly affects the ship turnaround time, a key performance measure. We present vehicle dispatching heuristics which are based on a network flow optimization and look-ahead concept. Through the experiments, the performance of several dispatching heuristics is evaluated. Performance of work-initiated and vehicle-initiated dispatching is also discussed.
Extraction of Schottky Barrier Parameters for Metal–Semiconductor Junctions on High Resistivity Inhomogeneous, Semiconductors

We present a novel method for the extraction of the relevant electrical and physical parameters of Schottky diodes realized on polycrystalline thin films. The proposed approach relies on a limited set of current-voltage characteristics measured at different temperatures and does not require the previous knowledge of any semiconductor parameter. The procedure provides satisfactory results in terms of relative errors even in the case of nonideal characteristics, including a very large series resistance and strong temperature and bias dependence of both barrier and ideality factor. We tested the approach on both simulated devices and real Cr-poly-Si Schottky diodes.
Role of Nucleoid-Associated Proteins Hha and H-NS in Expression of Salmonella enterica Activators HilD, HilC, and RtsA Required for Cell Invasion

ABSTRACT The coordinate expression of Salmonella enterica invasion genes on Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 is under the control of the complex circuits of regulation that involve the AraC/XylS family transcriptional activators HilD, HilC, and RtsA and nucleoid-associated proteins. Single-copy transcription fusions were used to assess the effects of nucleoid-associated proteins Hha and H-NS on hilD, hilC, and rtsA expression. The data show that all three genes, hilD, hilC, and rtsA, were repressed by H-NS and/or Hha. The repression of rtsA was the highest among tested genes. The level of rtsA-lac was equally elevated in hns and hha mutants and was further enhanced in the hns hha double mutant under low-osmolarity conditions. Electrophoretic mobility shift experiments showed that H-NS and Hha directly bind to the rtsA promoter. In addition to the negative control that was exerted by H-NS/Hha under low-osmolarity conditions, the homologous virulence activators HilD, HilC, and RtsA (Hil activators) induced rtsA-lac expression in a high-salt medium. A DNase footprinting assay of the rtsA promoter revealed one common DNA-binding site for all three Hil activators centered at position −54 relative to the transcriptional start site. In the absence of Hha and H-NS, however, osmoregulation of the rtsA promoter was lost, and Hil activators were not required for rtsA transcription. These results taken together suggest that the HilD, HilC, and RtsA proteins induce the transcription of the rtsA promoter by counteracting H-NS/Hha-mediated repression.
Kinematic control of redundant robots and the motion optimizability measure

This paper treats the kinematic control of manipulators with redundant degrees of freedom. We derive an analytical solution for the inverse kinematics that provides a means for accommodating joint velocity constraints in real time. We define the motion optimizability measure and use it to develop an efficient method for the optimization of joint trajectories subject to multiple criteria. An implementation of the method for a 7-dof experimental redundant robot is present.
System structure and description for tool manipulation

Introduces the concept of a tool manipulation strategy (TMS) for a robot controller to guarantee both easy task description and reliable task execution. The authors believe that a method for tool manipulation is essential for manufacturing tasks. TMS provides easy implementation and description of a skilful worker's knowledge about tool manipulation. It is a two-level concept: the first level is the fundamental motion strategy for executing a task generated offline and the second level is the strategy for modifying the first-level TMS according to the task conditions in real time. The authors implemented a tool manipulation module for robotic deburring based on the TMS concept into an experimental task execution system (called NOAC) and performed a deburring experiment to determine the effectiveness of TMS.
Reach reliable decision by using secret agreement method

Traditionally, it is very important to deliver data secretly and at low cost in a distributed environment. Using a reliable method to assist in communicating with each other needs to be discussed. Thus, we propose the two-phase agreement (TPA) protocol to solve those problems by verifying the received messages and achieve the agreement. The TPA protocol will assist the organization in achieving agreement and generate a common key to verify it. Similarly, there are many faults and attacks in the network, such as interruption, interception, modification and fabrication. The messages from a source might be changed. However we can use the TPA protocol to remove these faulty influences. The proposed TPA protocol doesn't only decrease the complexity of messages but also increases the capability of fault tolerance. Similarly, it is more reliable via the secret key in a real distributed system. This protocol can solve the agreement problem in net-meeting between arbitrary processors, like sub-company communication with the main-company or makes a decision in the company conference.
Design-for-Manufacture for Multi Gate Oxide CMOS Process

Most of DFM emphasis has been placed on those so called "lithography critical layers" like diffusion, poly, contact and metal layers. However, "non-lithography-critical layers" impact on the manufacture and the yield has not been investigated well. This paper addresses the DFM issue for one of "non-lithography-critical layers", i.e. thick gate oxide layout in dual oxide product, which in this case impacts the product yield significantly. In this paper, a yield loss in a dual oxide FPGA product is analyzed, and the root cause is demonstrated and finally the DFM approaches for gate oxide design and layout are proposed
Capture region for PPN guidance law with observer lag

In this paper, the capture region of a 3-dimensional PPN guidance law for intercepting a non-maneuvering high speed target was conducted. Furthermore, an inherent observer lag in homing guidance loop was also considered. The analysis is performed in a line-of-sight fixed coordinate system, so that the obtained capture region can be sketched on a two dimensional plane numerically.
The Tree of Life: Universal and Cultural Features of Folkbiological Taxonomies and Inductions

Abstract Two parallel studies were performed with members of very different cultures—industrialized American and traditional Itzaj-Mayan—to investigate potential universal and cultural features of folkbiological taxonomies and inductions. Specifically, we examined how individuals organize natural categories into taxonomies, and whether they readily use these taxonomies to make inductions about those categories. The results of the first study indicate that there is a cultural consensus both among Americans and the Itzaj in their taxonomies of local mammal species, and that these taxonomies resemble and depart from a corresponding scientific taxonomy in similar ways. However, cultural differences are also shown, such as a greater differentiation and more ecological considerations in Itzaj taxonomies. In a second study, Americans and the Itzaj used their taxonomies to guide similarity- and typicality-based inductions. These inductions converge and diverge crossculturally and regarding scientific inductions where their respective taxonomies do. These findings reveal some universal features of folkbiological inductions, but they also reveal some cultural features such as diversity-based inductions among Americans, and ecologically based inductions among the Itzaj. Overall, these studies suggest that while building folkbiological taxonomies and using them for folkbiological inductions is a universal competence of human cognition there are also important cultural constraints on that competence.
The relationship of bone and blood lead to hypertension. The Normative Aging Study.

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that long-term lead accumulation, as reflected by levels of lead in bone (as opposed to blood which reflects recent lead exposure), is associated with an increased odds of developing hypertension. DESIGN Case-control study of participants in the Veterans Administration (now Department of Veterans Affairs) Normative Aging Study, a 30-year longitudinal study of men. PARTICIPANTS Of 1171 active subjects who were seen between August 1991 and December 1994, 590 (50%) participated in this investigation and had data on all variables of interest. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Hypertension was defined as taking daily medication for the treatment of hypertension or systolic blood pressure higher than 160 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure of 96 mm Hg or higher during the time of examination. Levels of lead in the tibia (representing cortical bone) and the patella (representing trabecular bone) were measured in vivo with a K x-ray fluorescence (KXRF) instrument. Levels of lead in blood were measured by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy. RESULTS Blood lead levels were low, ranging from less than 0.05 to 1.35 micromol/L (<1 to 28 microgram/dL), with a mean (SD) of 0.30 (0.20) micromol/L (6.3[4.1] microgram/dL). Bone lead levels were similar to those described in other general populations. In comparison to nonhypertensives, mean levels of lead in blood and both tibia and patella bone lead levels were significantly higher in hypertensive subjects. In a logistic regression model of hypertensive status that began with age, race, body mass index, family history of hypertension, history of ethanol ingestion, pack-years of smoking, dietary sodium intake, dietary calcium intake, blood lead, tibia lead, and patella lead, the variables that remained after backward elimination were body mass index, family history of hypertension, and level of lead in the tibia. An increase from the midpoint of the lowest quintile to the midpoint of the highest quintile of tibia lead from 3 to 37 micrograms per gram of bone mineral was associated with an increased odds ratio of hypertension of 1.5. CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that long-term lead accumulation, as reflected by levels of lead in bone, may be an independent risk factor for developing hypertension in men in the general population.
Public Housing Relocation and Utilization of the Food Safety Net: The Role of Social Capital and Cultural Capital

HOPE VI, instituted in 1993 and subsequent related policies, resulted in the demolition of traditional public housing and the relocation of former residents. For former residents living on low incomes, combining housing subsidy and other social services is important to survival. One crucial type of social services support provides food supplements. Research indicates that among low-income families, many do not receive necessary food social services. For example, among eligibles, food stamp utilization is at 50 to 60%, and for Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC) rates vary from 38 to 73%. Research indicates that 35% of food insecure older adults are ineligible for the Elder Nutrition Program, and approximately 60% of eligibles are wait-listed upon application. Social services utilization patterns among eligibles are affected by neighborhood contexts. Relocation due to public housing transformation policies has been shown to change neighborhood context. This in turn has affected former public housing resident’s cultural capital and social capital. But how this affects food social services utilization has not been studied. I use Klinenberg’s (2002) activist client thesis as a framework to investigate the effect of cultural capital and social capital for housing subsidy recipients (relocated public housing residents) in Atlanta on their utilization of food social services using secondary longitudinal data from the Georgia State University Urban Health Initiative analyzed using ordered logistic regression. Most specifically, my research investigated how varying neighborhood contexts affect food social services utilization for former public housing residents in Atlanta. This research informs public policy on the provision of housing subsidy and the provision of food social services.
Validation of respirometry as a short-term method to assess the efficacy of biocides

This study shows that a short-term respirometric measurement based on the rate of oxygen uptake needed to oxidize glucose is a reliable and fast method to assess biocide efficacy against P. fluorescens cells. Respiratory activity using oxygen consumption rate, the determination of viable and nonviable cells using Live/Dead® BacLight™ kit and colony formation units (CFU), were compared as indicators of the biocidal efficacy of ortho-phthalaldehyde (OPA). The results showed that determining the effect of OPA against P. fluorescens using the different methods leads to different conclusions. The minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) was 80 mg l−1, 100 mg l−1 and 65 mg l−1 respectively, using respiratory activity, viability using BacLight counts and culturability. The plate count method was shown to underestimate the biocidal action of OPA, whilst data from respirometry and viability using Live/Dead BacLight kit correlated strongly and were not statistically different when yellow cells were considered nonviable. Respirometry therefore represents an expeditious, non-destructive and accurate method to determine the antimicrobial action of biocides against aerobic heterotrophic bacteria.
Iterative receivers for digital communications via variational inference and estimation

In this thesis, iterative detection and estimation algorithms for digital communications systems in the presence of parametric uncertainty are explored and further developed. In particular, variational methods, which have been extensively applied in other research fields such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, are introduced and systematically used in deriving approximations to the optimal receivers in various channel conditions. The key idea behind the variational methods is to transform the problem of interest into an optimization problem via an introduction of extra degrees of freedom known as variational parameters. This is done so that, for fixed values of the free parameters, the transformed problem has a simple solution, solving approximately the original problem. The thesis contributes to the state of the art of advanced receiver design in a number of ways. These include the development of new theoretical and conceptual viewpoints of iterative turboprocessing receivers as well as a new set of practical joint estimation and detection algorithms. Central to the theoretical studies is to show that many of the known low-complexity turbo receivers, such as linear minimum mean square error (MMSE) soft-input soft-output (SISO) equalizers and demodulators that are based on the Bayesian expectation-maximization (BEM) algorithm, can be formulated as solutions to the variational optimization problem. This new approach not only provides new insights into the current designs and structural properties of the relevant receivers, but also suggests some improvements on them. In addition, SISO detection in multipath fading channels is considered with the aim of obtaining a new class of low-complexity adaptive SISOs. As a result, a novel, unified method is proposed and applied in order to derive recursive versions of the classical Baum-Welch algorithm and its Bayesian counterpart, referred to as the BEM algorithm. These formulations are shown to yield computationally attractive soft decision-directed (SDD) channel estimators for both deterministic and Rayleigh fading intersymbol interference (ISI) channels. Next, by modeling the multipath fading channel as a complex bandpass autoregressive (AR) process, it is shown that the statistical parameters of radio channels, such as frequency offset, Doppler spread, and power-delay profile, can be conveniently extracted from the estimated AR parameters which, in turn, may be conveniently derived via an EM algorithm. Such a joint estimator for all relevant radio channel parameters has a number of virtues, particularly its capability to perform equally well in a variety of channel conditions. Lastly, adaptive iterative detection in the presence of phase uncertainty is investigated. As a result, novel iterative joint Bayesian estimation and symbol a posteriori probability (APP) computation algorithms, based on the variational Bayesian method, are proposed for both constant-phase channel models and dynamic phase models, and their performance is evaluated via computer simulations.