Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reflection of solar radiation by the Antarctic snow surface at ultraviolet, visible, and near‐infrared wavelengths

The variation of snow albedo with wavelength across the solar spectrum from 0.3 μm in the ultraviolet (UV) to 2.5 μm in the near infrared (IR) was measured at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station during the Antarctic summers of 1985–1986 and 1990–1991. Similar results were obtained at Vostok Station in summer 1990–1991. The albedo has a uniformly high value of 0.96–0.98 across the UV and visible spectrum, nearly independent of snow grain size and solar zenith angle, and this value probably applies throughout the interior of Antarctica. The albedo in the near IR is lower, dropping below 0.15 in the strong absorption bands at 1.5 and 2.0 μm; and it is quite sensitive to grain size and somewhat sensitive to zenith angle. Near-IR albedos were slightly lower at Vostok than at South Pole, but day-to-day variations in the measured grain size due to precipitation, drifting, and metamorphism were found to cause temporal variations in near-IR albedo larger than those due to any systematic geographical change from South Pole to Vostok. The spectrally averaged albedos ranged from 0.80 to 0.85 for both overcast and clear skies, in agreement with measurements by others at South Pole and elsewhere in Antarctica. Using a two-layer radiative transfer model, the albedo can be explained over the full wavelength range. Tests were made to correct for systematic errors in determining spectral albedo. Under clear skies at about 3000-m elevation the diffuse fraction of downward irradiance varied from 0.4 in the near UV to less than 0.01 in the near IR; knowledge of this fraction is required to correct the measured irradiance for the instrument's deviation from a perfect cosine-response. Furthermore, the deviation from cosine response is itself a function of wavelength. Under clear skies a significant error in apparent albedo can result if the instrument's cosine collector is not parallel to the surface; e.g., if the instrument is leveled parallel to the horizon, but the local snow surface is not horizontal. The soot content of the snow upwind of South Pole Station was only 0.3 ng/g. It was somewhat greater at Vostok Station but was still too small to affect the albedo at any wavelength. Bidirectional reflectance at 0.9-μm wavelength, measured from a 23-m tower at the end of summer after the sastrugi (snow dunes) had diminished, showed a pattern remarkably similar to the spectrally averaged pattern obtained from the Nimbus 7 satellite.
Ranking the answer trees of graph search by both structure and content

Keyword search on graphs aims to find minimum connected trees containing the keywords. Normally, the answer trees are ranked by their topological structures. However, this basic ranking scheme does not distinguish answer trees well when many answer trees have the same structures or contain redundant information. This paper proposes a novel ranking scheme, which combines both structure-based and content-based ranking factors. It can effectively prioritize the answer trees with more valuable content and punish the ones with redundant information. Meanwhile, it will not reduce the efficiency of top-k search algorithms by performing an edge re-weighting process offline.
Simultaneous EEG and fMRI recordings (EEG‐fMRI) in children with epilepsy

By combining electroencephalography (EEG) with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) it is possible to describe blood oxygenation level–dependent (BOLD) signal changes related to EEG patterns. This way, EEG‐pattern–associated networks of hemodynamic changes can be detected anywhere in the brain with good spatial resolution. This review summarizes EEG‐fMRI studies that have been performed in children with epilepsy. EEG‐fMRI studies in focal epilepsy (structural and nonlesional cases, benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes), generalized epilepsy (especially absence epilepsy), and epileptic encephalopathies (West syndrome, Lennox‐Gastaut syndrome, continuous spike and waves during slow sleep, and Dravet syndrome) are presented. Although EEG‐fMRI was applied mainly to localize the region presumably generating focal interictal discharges in focal epilepsies, EEG‐fMRI identified underlying networks in patients with generalized epilepsies and thereby contributed to a better understanding of these epilepsies. In epileptic encephalopathies a specific fingerprint of hemodynamic changes associated with the particular syndrome was detected. The value of the EEG‐fMRI technique for diagnosis and investigation of pathogenetic mechanisms of different forms of epilepsy is discussed.
Crystal structure of bovine mitochondrial factor B at 0.96-Å resolution

Coupling factor B (FB) is a mitochondrial inner membrane polypeptide that facilitates the energy-driven catalysis of ATP synthesis in animal mitochondria by blocking a proton leak across the membrane. Here, we report the crystal structure of the bovine mitochondrial FB mutant with Gly-3–Glu substitution determined at a resolution of 0.96 Å and that of the WT polypeptide at a resolution of 2.9 Å. The structure reveals an oblong, oval-shaped molecule with a unique globular N-terminal domain that is proposed to be the membrane anchor domain and the capping region to the C-terminal leucine-rich repeats domain. A short N-terminal α-helix, which extends away from the molecule's body, is suggestive of functioning as an anchor for FB to the matrix side of the mitochondrial inner membrane. Identification of a bound Mg2+ ion reveals that FB is a metalloprotein. We also report the cocrystal structures of FB bound with phenylarsine oxide and Cd2+, two known inhibitors of the FB coupling activity.
Transfer learning in a heterogeneous environment

We present a method for transfer learning, in which tasks encountered in the past are used to choose a representation which is expected to work well on future tasks. Each task is assumed to be binary classification or regression in a Hilbert space. We propose to arrange the observed tasks into groups and to assign a low-dimensional projection to each group. The groups and the corresponding projections are chosen to minimize an empirical error criterion. To learn a future task, one selects the projection, and the corresponding linear function, for which the empirical error is minimal. The expected error of this method when applied to a future task is shown to be uniformly bounded by the empirical error criterion. The bound is independent of the dimension of the Hilbert space. The advantages of transfer learning over single task learning and the advantages of task grouping over no grouping are discussed.
Remotely Sensed Mapping of Ammophila spp. Distribution and Density at Cape Cod National Seashore

ABSTRACT Timm, B.C.; Smith, S.M. , and Greenspan, S.E. , 2014. Remotely sensed mapping of Ammophila spp. distribution and density at Cape Cod National Seashore. Ammophila breviligulata and Ammophila arenaria are pioneer grass species that have been planted within and outside their natural ranges in efforts to stabilize mobile dune fields. While the presence of Ammophila spp. may be considered beneficial in some situations (e.g., for dune stabilization and storm surge protection), there are other cases where Ammophila spp. introductions have had negative ecological consequences (e.g., reduction in native plant and animal diversity, altered dune dynamics). Thus, it is important to be able to effectively map and monitor the distribution and density of these species. In this study, we constructed and assessed the accuracy of a fine-resolution (i.e. 1.0-m-pixel resolution) remote-sensing-based distribution and density map of Ammophila spp. throughout an extensive coastal dune ecosystem at Cape Cod National Seashore, United States. We achieved high classification accuracies for both the presence/absence and percent cover throughout our study area, indicating that this approach is an effective method to map and monitor Ammophila spp. in dune ecosystems.
Application of GIS in Facility Space Management: A Case Study of ILRI

Space management is an important part of facilities management. It is a process of determining space requirements, identifying deficiencies, and allocating available space to users in an equitable way, monitoring use, assisting users with space usage problems, and resolving space problems. Managing facilities space involves storing, querying, and updating spatial and non-spatial data related to these facilities. This makes Geographic Information System (GIS) an important tool in management of space. International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) lacks a system that has data repository of all its facilities integrated in one platform to help in effective and efficient management of space. The facilities department faces many problems, including time spent searching for information on space allocated to facilities, organizing data, difficulties finding accurate location of facilities, duplication of work, and difficulties in adding and updating data. This project demonstrates how GIS can be used in managing space. This was achieved through building of a GIS database which integrated spatial and non-spatial data of facilities in ILRI. Data which was obtained from AutoCAD ArchiCAD and PDF files was geo-referenced, harmonized and used to create spatial entities. Non-spatial data was obtained from Excel and PDF files. GIS analyses were then carried out on the data stored in the geodatabase. These analyses included determination of the main types of facilities that occupy the organizations’ space and their areas, paddocks sub-division in the grazing area as well as assessment of spaces allocated to rooms of the buildings that are used as offices in order to determine whether they are utilized well, under-utilized or over-utilized. Potential locations for fire assembly points were also determined. Finally a web map of the underground and surface facilities was built using features stored in the geodatabase.
Neuron-level Selective Context Aggregation for Scene Segmentation

Contextual information provides important cues for disambiguating visually similar pixels in scene segmentation. In this paper, we introduce a neuron-level Selective Context Aggregation (SCA) module for scene segmentation, comprised of a contextual dependency predictor and a context aggregation operator. The dependency predictor is implicitly trained to infer contextual dependencies between different image regions. The context aggregation operator augments local representations with global context, which is aggregated selectively at each neuron according to its on-the-fly predicted dependencies. The proposed mechanism enables data-driven inference of contextual dependencies, and facilitates context-aware feature learning. The proposed method improves strong baselines built upon VGG16 on challenging scene segmentation datasets, which demonstrates its effectiveness in modeling context information.
Genetic Structure of Austrian and Italian Populations of Limnocythere inopinata (Crustacea, Ostracoda): A Potential Case of Post-Glacial Parthenogenetic Invader?

Several hypotheses were proposed to account for geographic parthenogenesis that is the disjointed distribution of a species' sexual and asexual forms. In the areas affected by glaciations the parthenogenetic forms would have had ecological success and hybridization and polyploidy would have been the driving forces in their success. Limnocythere inopinata is well-represented in Quaternary non-marine sequences and is useful for studying the evolution of geographic parthenogenesis. We analysed the genetic variability of twelve populations from sub alpine Italian lakes, Austrian lakes and a pond, in an area that was covered by ice during the Pleistocene. In all samples we found only parthenogenetic females. Using allozymes, we described at least 33 different clonal lineages in the total of 812 females. We found no evidence for polyploidy. Clonal diversity is relatively high and may reflect the genetic diversity of ancestral sexual metapopulations. In L. inopinata, geographical parthenogenesis seems the result of historical and ecological factors and is not linked to polyploidy and hybrid advantage.
Actions of the Pro‐Inflammatory Cytokine Il‐1[beta] on Central Synaptic Transmission

Within the last decade huge advances have been made in the understanding of the interactions between the central nervous system (CNS) and the immune system. Foremost amongst these is the realization that cytokines, classically regarded as mediators and co‐ordinators of the inflammatory and immune responses, can exert a number of neuromodulatory effects within the CNS under both physiological and pathological conditions (for recent reviews see Rothwell & Hopkins, 1995; Rothwell et al. 1997; Rothwell, 1999). Consistent with this, it has been shown that many cytokines and their receptors are present in the brain (Hopkins & Rothwell, 1995). Much attention has focused on the pro‐inflammatory cytokine interleukin‐1 (IL‐1) especially the [beta] variant. IL‐1[beta] has been shown to be produced in the CNS in response to a number of stimuli including peripheral administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS); traumatic brain injury; acute stress; anorexia and [beta]‐adrenoceptor agonist administration (e.g. Maruta et al. 1997). IL‐1 receptors have also been shown to be present in many brain regions, with high levels in the hippocampus and hypothalamus (Ban et al. 1991). Expression of IL‐1 receptors has also been shown to be upregulated in response to insult, e.g. kainic acid administration (Nishiyori et al. 1997) and expression is higher in aged animals (Murray & Lynch, 1998). However this review will concentrate on the effects of IL‐1[beta] on hippocampal synaptic transmission and long‐term potentiation (LTP), a process long thought to be an important underlying mechanism of learning and memory formation (for review see Bliss & Collingridge, 1993).
Towards Detection and Tracking of On-Road Objects

In this paper, we present a system capable of detecting and tracking on-road objects in the scene, in particular vehicles. Such a system is a useful part of a driver assistance system. This system employs two different techniques in the detection phase to increase the robustness. A large part of this paper is devoted to reducing the computational amount required of the overall algorithm by quickly excluding pixels above the horizon and on the road surface. The number of pixels that require further, computationally expensive processing is reduced by up to 65% in the sequences used in the experimental evaluation. Objects are detected in the remaining image areas by an improved boosting approach of weak classifiers based on the well-known AdaBoost and RealBoost approaches. The tracking is then done by a combination of periodically running the detection algorithm, while using adaptable templates at other times which allow for changes in shape and appearance as the car and the other vehicles travel along the road.
Dynamosaics: video mosaics with non-chronological time

With the limited field of view of human vision, our perception of most scenes is built over time while our eyes are scanning the scene. In the case of static scenes, this process can be modeled by panoramic mosaicing: stitching together images into a panoramic view. Can a dynamic scene, scanned by a video camera, be represented with a dynamic panoramic video even though different regions were visible at different times? In this paper, we explore time flow manipulation in video, such as the creation of new videos in which events that occurred at different times are displayed simultaneously. More general changes in the time flow are also possible, which enable re-scheduling the order of dynamic events in the video, for example. We generate dynamic mosaics by sweeping the aligned space-time volume of the input video by a time front surface and generating a sequence of time slices in the process. Various sweeping strategies and different time front evolutions manipulate the time flow in the video, enabling many unexplored and powerful effects, such as panoramic movies.
Antiproliferative Activity of Flavonoids from Croton sphaerogynus Baill. (Euphorbiaceae)

Croton sphaerogynus is a shrub from the Atlantic Rain Forest in southeastern Brazil. A lyophilized crude EtOH extract from leaves of C. sphaerogynus, obtained by maceration at room temperature (seven days), was suspended in methanol and partitioned with hexane. The purified MeOH phase was fractionated over Sephadex LH-20 yielding five fractions (F1–F5) containing flavonoids, as characterized by HPLC-DAD and HPLC-MS analyses. The antiproliferative activity of the crude EtOH extract, MeOH and hexane phases, and fractions F1–F5 was evaluated on in vitro cell lines NCI-H460 (nonsmall cell lung), MCF-7 (breast cancer), and U251 (glioma). The MeOH phase showed activity (mean log GI50 0.54) higher than the hexane phase and EtOH extract (mean log GI50 1.13 and 1.19, resp.). F1 exhibited activity against NCI-H460 (nonsmall cell lung) (GI50 1.2 μg/mL), which could be accounted for the presence of flavonoids and/or diterpenes. F4 showed moderate activity (mean log GI50 1.05), while F5 showed weak activity (mean log GI50 1.36). It is suggested that the antiproliferative activity of the crude EtOH extract and MeOH phase is accounted for a synergistic combination of flavonoids and diterpenes.
Flow Cytometry Analysis of Changes in the DNA Content of the Polychlorinated Biphenyl Degrader Comamonas testosteroni TK102: Effect of Metabolites on Cell-Cell Separation

ABSTRACT Flow cytometry was used to monitor changes in the DNA content of the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-degrading bacterium Comamonas testosteroni TK102 during growth in the presence or absence of PCBs. In culture medium without PCBs, the majority of stationary-phase cells contained a single chromosome. In the presence of PCBs, the percentage of cells containing two chromosomes increased from 12% to approximately 50%. In contrast, addition of PCBs did not change the DNA contents of three species that are unable to degrade PCBs. In addition, highly chlorinated PCBs that are not degraded by TK102 did not result in a change in the DNA content. These results suggest that PCBs did not affect the DNA content of the cells directly; rather, the intermediate metabolites resulting from the degradation of PCBs caused the increase in DNA content. To study the effect of intermediate metabolites on the DNA content of the cells, four bph genes, bphA1, bphB, bphC, and bphD, were disrupted by gene replacement. The resulting mutant strains accumulated intermediate metabolites when they were grown in the presence of PCBs or biphenyl (BP). When the bphB gene was disrupted, the percentage of cells containing two chromosomes increased in cultures grown with PCBs or BP. When grown with BP, cultures of this mutant accumulated two intermediate metabolites, 2-hydroxybiphenyl (2-OHBP) and 3-OHBP. Addition of 2- or 3-OHBP to a wild-type TK102 and non-PCB-degrading species culture also resulted in an increase in the percentage of cells containing two chromosomes. Electron microscopy revealed that cell-cell separation was inhibited in this culture. This is the first report that hydroxy-BPs can inhibit bacterial cell separation while allowing continued DNA replication.
Enhanced Crawler with Multiple Search Techniques using Adaptive Link-Ranking and Pre-Query Processing

As deep web enlarges; there has been increased interest in methods which help efficiently trace deep-web interfaces. However, because of huge volume and varying nature of deep-web, achieving wide coverage and high efficiency is difficult issue. We proposed a three stage framework, an Enhanced Crawler, for efficiently gathering deep web interfaces. In first stage, enhanced crawler performs site based searching of center pages using automated search engines, avoiding visiting an oversized variety of pages and consuming time. In second stage, enhanced crawler achieves quick in site browsing by fetching most relevant links with associate degree of reconciling link ranking. For further enhancement, our system ranks and priorities websites and also uses a link tree data structure to achieve deep coverage. In third stage, our system provides pre-query processing mechanism so as to help users to write their search query easily by providing char by char keyword search with ranked indexing.
Scratch Traces of Large Ediacara Bilaterian Animals

Abstract Ediacara fan-shaped sets of paired scratches Kimberichnus teruzzii from the Ediacara Member of the Rawnsley Quartzite, South Australia, and the White Sea region of Russia, represent the earliest known evidence in the fossil record of feeding traces associated with the responsible bilaterian organism. These feeding patterns exclude arthropod makers and point to the systematic feeding excavation of seafloor microbial mats by large bilaterians of molluscan grade. Since the scratch traces were made into microbial mats, animals could crawl over previous traces without disturbing them. The trace maker is identified as Kimberella quadrata, whose death masks co-occur with the mat excavation traces in both Russia and South Australia. The co-occurrence of animals and their systematic feeding traces in the record of the Ediacara biota supports previous trace fossil evidence that bilaterians existed globally before the Cambrian explosion of life in the ocean.
Interactions and connectivity between runoff generation processes of different spatial scales

Monitoring runoff generation processes in the field is a prerequisite for developing conceptual hydrological models and theories. At the same time, our perception of hydrological processes strongly depends on the spatial and temporal scale of observation. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate interactions between runoff generation processes of different spatial scales (plot scale, hillslope scale, and headwater scale). Different runoff generation processes of three hillslopes with similar topography, geology and soil properties, but differences in vegetation cover (grassland, coniferous forest, and mixed forest) within a small v‐shaped headwater were measured: water table dynamics in wells with high spatial and temporal resolution, subsurface flow (SSF) of three 10 m wide trenches at the bottom of the hillslopes subdivided into two trench sections each, overland flow at the plot scale, and catchment runoff. Bachmair et al. ( ) found a high spatial variability of water table dynamics at the plot scale. In this study, we investigate the representativity of SSF observations at the plot scale versus the hillslope scale and vice versa, and the linkage between hillslope dynamics (SSF and overland flow) and streamflow. Distinct differences in total SSF within each 10 m wide trench confirm the high spatial variability of the water table dynamics. The representativity of plot scale observations for hillslope scale SSF strongly depends on whether or not wells capture spatially variable flowpaths. At the grassland hillslope, subsurface flowpaths are not captured by our relatively densely spaced wells (3 m), despite a similar trench flow response to the coniferous forest hillslope. Regarding the linkage between hillslope dynamics and catchment runoff, we found an intermediate to high correlation between streamflow and hillslope hydrological dynamics (trench flow and overland flow), which highlights the importance of hillslope processes in this small watershed. Although the total contribution of SSF to total event catchment runoff is rather small, the contribution during peak flow is moderate to substantial. Additionally, there is process synchronicity between spatially discontiguous measurement points across scales, potentially indicating subsurface flowpath connectivity. Our findings stress the need for (i) a combination of observations at different spatial scales, and (ii) a consideration of the high spatial variability of SSF at the plot and hillslope scale when designing monitoring networks and assessing hydrological connectivity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.