Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development and evaluation of an ozone deposition scheme for coupling to a terrestrial biosphere model

Abstract. Ozone (O3) is a toxic air pollutant that can damage plant leaves and substantially affect the plant's gross primary production (GPP) and health. Realistic estimates of the effects of tropospheric anthropogenic O3 on GPP are thus potentially important to assess the strength of the terrestrial biosphere as a carbon sink. To better understand the impact of ozone damage on the terrestrial carbon cycle, we developed a module to estimate O3 uptake and damage of plants for a state-of-the-art global terrestrial biosphere model called OCN. Our approach accounts for ozone damage by calculating (a) O3 transport from 45 m height to leaf level, (b) O3 flux into the leaf, and (c) ozone damage of photosynthesis as a function of the accumulated O3 uptake over the lifetime of a leaf. A comparison of modelled canopy conductance, GPP, and latent heat to FLUXNET data across European forest and grassland sites shows a general good performance of OCN including ozone damage. This comparison provides a good baseline on top of which ozone damage can be evaluated. In comparison to literature values, we demonstrate that the new model version produces realistic O3 surface resistances, O3 deposition velocities, and stomatal to total O3 flux ratios. A sensitivity study reveals that key metrics of the air-to-leaf O3 transport and O3 deposition, in particular the stomatal O3 uptake, are reasonably robust against uncertainty in the underlying parameterisation of the deposition scheme. Nevertheless, correctly estimating canopy conductance plays a pivotal role in the estimate of cumulative O3 uptake. We further find that accounting for stomatal and non-stomatal uptake processes substantially affects simulated plant O3 uptake and accumulation, because aerodynamic resistance and non-stomatal O3 destruction reduce the predicted leaf-level O3 concentrations. Ozone impacts on GPP and transpiration in a Europe-wide simulation indicate that tropospheric O3 impacts the regional carbon and water cycling less than expected from previous studies. This study presents a first step towards the integration of atmospheric chemistry and ecosystem dynamics modelling, which would allow for assessing the wider feedbacks between vegetation ozone uptake and tropospheric ozone burden.
Academic choices and motivation: Diverse groups in Israel

Abstract Israel is a multi-cultural society with a Jewish majority and a large Arab minority. This study aims to examine whether Israeli Arab and Jewish students have different motivations and consider different factors when choosing a college for postgraduate studies. A case study, during the academic year 2010–11 administered questionnaires to 290 Jewish and Arab postgraduate students in a private academic college in order to investigate students’ motivations for postgraduate studies and choice of college. Findings indicated that the strongest motivation expressed by all the students is a desire for self-fulfilment. Motivation for social mobility and to help to empower their society is more important for Arab students. Convenience considerations (proximity to home, flexible entrance standards and employment prospects while studying) determined college choice for Jews and Arabs more than college reputation and teaching quality. Yet Arab students attach more importance than Jewish students to the college’s quality. It is concluded that postgraduate programmes should be more sensitive to diverse students’ needs.
Effect of support on power output of ethanol/O2 biofuel cell

Enzymatic biofuel cells have many great usages as a small power source for medical and environmental applications. In this paper, we employed carboxylated multiwall carbon nanotube- (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis (trifluoromethyl sulfonyl) imide) ionic liquid nanocomposite on two different electrodes (glassy carbon and carbon felt) for immobilizing alcohol dehydrogenase. The properties of the two types of electrodes were characterized by cyclic voltammetry analysis. Polarization analysis and field emission scanning electron microscopy were used to show differences in the nanobiocomposite immobilization on two electrodes. Compared to glassy carbon, carbon felt achieved much more gains in electrochemical activity and power by catalyst coating. Power density of 10. 027μWcm−2, has been achieved by carbon felt, but glassy carbon showed 1.7 μWcm−2 respectively.
Graded Decompression of Orbital Fat and Wall in Patients with Graves' Orbitopathy

Purpose To investigate the results of graded decompression of orbital fat and walls in Graves' orbitopathy (GO) considering the degree of proptosis reduction at surgery and preoperative computed tomography (CT) findings. Methods This is a retrospective interventional case series. Graded orbital fat and wall decompression was performed in 90 orbits of 55 patients. In patients with enlarged extraocular muscles and minimal orbital fat proliferation in preoperative CT scans, one- or two-wall decompression of posterior orbit was performed with minimal fat excision. In other cases, the maximal amount of fat tissue was removed from the post-septal area to the apex. If the proptosis was not satisfactorily symmetrically reduced at surgery, one- or two-wall decompression was performed successively. Symmetric reduction of proptosis was consistently confirmed intraoperatively to assure that a desired amount of exophthalmos reduction was achieved. Results Four types of decompression were performed: fat only (group 1), fat and one-wall (group 2), fat and two-wall (group 3), and two-wall and minimal fat decompression (group 4). The mean preoperative Hertel value (20.6 ± 2.8 mm) was reduced significantly at six months postoperatively (16.1 ± 2.3 mm). Proptosis significantly decreased with a mean of 4.3 ± 1.7 mm, and the reduction was greatest (5.1 ± 2.1 mm) in group 3. In group 1, a significant correlation between Hertel change and the volume of resected orbital fat was found (r = 0.479). Diplopia was newly developed or aggravated postoperatively in eight patients, and six of these patients were in group 3. With the exception of one patient, visual acuity improved to nearly normal postoperatively in all patients with optic neuropathy. Conclusions Graded orbital decompression of orbital fat and bony walls, as assessed by the degree of proptosis reduction during surgery, was effective and predictable with minimal complications in GO patients with vision-threatening or cosmetically disfiguring proptosis.
Reopening the Dialogue Between Literary Theory and Medicine: Toward Further Understanding and Management of Patients' Self-Experience

good decisions must be informed decisions. Configurations is a fairly unique journal, but its position in the always already shifting terrain of the academy is not unique; our peer-review process could serve as a model for other journals that handle submissions with multiple disciplinary investments. Reimagining peer review as another point of intervention depends on a certain openness, the dispelling of gatekeeping fears, and the shared intent to move knowledge(s) forward in interesting and sometimes unexpected ways. More than anything, though, an interdisciplinary peerreview process recognizes that scholarship depends, at least in part, on the authority of the disciplines from which it draws its examples, information, and critiques. Likewise, it would make sense that the peer-review processes of scientific publications could and should draw from the expertise of those in the humanities and sciences to question, validate, and enhance their peerreviewed publications. &
Streamlining Attacks on CAPTCHAs with a Computer Game

CAPTCHA has been widely deployed by commercial web sites as a security technology for purposes such as anti-spam. A common approach to evaluating the robustness of CAPTCHA is the use of machine learning techniques. Critical to this approach is the acquisition of an adequate set of labeled samples, on which the learning techniques are trained. However, such a sample labeling task is difficult for computers, since the strength of CAPTCHAs stems exactly from the difficulty computers have in recognizing either distorted texts or image contents. Therefore, until now, researchers have to manually label their samples, which is tedious and expensive. In this paper, we present Magic Bullet, a computer game that for the first time turns such sample labeling into a fun experience, and that achieves a labeling accuracy of as high as 98% for free. The game leverages human computation to address a task that cannot be easily automated, and it effectively streamlines the evaluation of CAPTCHAs. The game can also be used for other constructive purposes such as 1) developing better machine learning algorithms for handwriting recognition, and 2) training people's typing skills.
Near Infrared Spectroscopy for Estimating the Age of Malaria Transmitting Mosquitoes

NEAR INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY FOR ESTIMATING THE AGE OF MALARIA TRANSMITING MOSQUITOES Masabho Peter Milali, B.S. Marquette University, 2016 We explore the use of near infrared spectrometry to classifying the age of a wild malaria transmitting mosquito. In Chapter Two, using a different set of lab-reared mosquitoes, we replicate the Mayagaya et al. study of the accuracy of near-infrared spectrometry (NIRS) to estimate the age of lab-reared mosquitoes, reproducing the published accuracy. Our results strengthen the Mayagaya et. al study and increase confidence in using NIRS to estimate age classes of mosquitoes. In the field, we wish to classify the ages of wild, not lab-reared mosquitoes, but the necessary training data from wild mosquitoes is difficult to find. Applying a model trained on spectra from lab-reared mosquitoes to estimate the age of wild mosquitoes is appropriate only if spectra collected from lab-reared mosquitoes are equivalent to those collected from wild mosquitoes. In Chapter Three, we apply k means cluster analysis to a mixture of spectra collected from lab-reared and wild Anopheles arabiensis mosquitoes to determine if there is significant difference between these spectra. We find no significant difference (P = 0.245) in distributions between the wild and lab-reared mosquitoes in the two formed clusters. The two formed clusters have average silhouette coefficient values (cluster quality measure) of 0.51 and 0.77, respectively, which shows that the clusters were reasonable and strong, respectively. Basing on results from Chapter Three, we estimate the age class of wild Anopheles arabiensis mosquitoes using a classification model trained on lab-reared Anopheles arabiensis. We validate the accuracy of the model by comparing its estimates with ovary dissection estimates. While our model estimated 86% and 14% of wild Anopheles arabiensis to be < 7 and ≥ 7 days old, respectively, ovary dissection estimated 72% as young and 28% as old. Studies show that wild mosquito populations generally consist of more young than old mosquitoes. Therefore, our model estimates age of wild mosquitoes in consistency with ovary dissection and other studies conducted to determine age structure of wild mosquitoes.
A new method to make communication latency uniform: distributed routing balancing

We have developed a new method to uniformly balance communication traffic over the interconnection network called Distributed Routing Balancing (DRB) that is based on limited and load-controlled path expansion in order to maintain a low message latency. DRB defines how to create alternative paths to expand single paths (expanded path definition) and when to use them depending on traffic load (expanded path selection carried out by DRB Routing). The alternative path definition offers a broad range of alternatives to choose from and the DRB Routing is designed with the goal of minimising monitoring and decision overhead. Evaluation in terms of latency and bandwidth is presented. Some conclusions from the experimentation and comparisons with existing methods are given. It is demonstrated that DRB is a method to effectively balance network traffic.
When E-commerce Meets Social Media: Identifying Business on WeChat Moment Using Bilateral-Attention LSTM

WeChat Business, developed on WeChat, the most extensively used instant messaging platform in China, is a new business model that bursts into people's lives in the e-commerce era. As one of the most typical WeChat Business behaviors, WeChat users can advertise products, advocate companies and share customer feedback to their WeChat friends by posting a WeChat Moment--a public status that contains images and a text. Given its popularity and significance, in this paper, we propose a novel Bilateral-Attention LSTM network (BiATT-LSTM) to identify WeChat Business Moments based on their texts and images. In particular, different from previous schemes that equally consider visual and textual modalities for a joint visual-textual classification task, we start our work with a text classification task based on an LSTM network, then we incorporate a bilateral-attention mechanism that can automatically learn two kinds of explicit attention weights for each word, namely 1) a global weight that is insensitive to the images in the same Moment with the word, and 2) a local weight that is sensitive to the images in the same Moment. In this process, we utilize visual information as a guidance to figure out the local weight of a word in a specific Moment. Two-level experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework. It outperforms other schemes that jointly model visual and textual modalities. We also visualize the bilateral-attention mechanism to illustrate how this mechanism helps joint visual-textual classification.
BONE PROFILER: A TOOL TO QUANTIFY, MODEL, AND STATISTICALLY COMPARE BONE-SECTION COMPACTNESS PROFILES

Bone cross sections show many characteristics that have been used to infer various properties of the individual or taxon from which they were prepared. Life history traits (Castanet et al., 1993), locomotor patterns (Casinos, 1996), habitat (Laurin et al., 2000), metabolism (Ricqlès, 1983), and growth rate (Rimblot-Baly et al., 1995) are some examples. However, bone microstructure is very complex, and few objective, quantitative methods (other than very simple ones, such as the cortico-diaphyseal index, or the global compactness) are available to describe bone sections in a way that enables statistical inference or comparison. Several cross-sectional properties, such as the cross-sectional area, centroid coordinates relative to reference axes, second moments of area about x and y axes, principal second moments of area and their orientation, section modulus, and polar moment of area have been obtained using SLICE (Nagurka and Hayes, 1980) by Ruff and Hayes (1983) and others, while Cubo and Casinos (1998) produced their own software for similar purposes. These parameters are especially useful for studying the stiffness, strength, or resistance of bones for animals of known weight and living in similar habitats. They do not describe how the bone tissue is organized. To model bone tissue distribution in sections, we need to reduce its complexity to a limited number of variables that can be further compared using statistical tests. Among the various characteristics of bone sections that could be analyzed, we decided to work mainly on compactness (amount of bone present on a given surface) because this characteristic has previously been suspected to provide much information about the life style of taxa (Laurin et al., 2000). Furthermore, compactness can be measured relatively easily from a bone section (because it only requires knowledge about the presence or absence of bone on a given area). In contrast, bone mineral density requires the use of quantitative micro-radiography that is technically more demanding. An additional advantage of working with compactness is that it can be measured both on extant animals and on fossils. Bone mineral density can usually not be evaluated on fossil bones because of the variable amount of permineralization and other diagenetic phenomena that affect fossil tissues.
ROP: A Resource Oriented Protocol for Heterogeneous Sensor Networks

Sensor networks have been an active area of research during the past several years. Much previous work deals with issues related to networks having homogenous sensor nodes. In reality, sensors with different radio coverage, power capacity, and processing capabilities are deployed. In addition, not all of the sensors are mobile or have the same mobility freedom or mobility attributes (e.g. speed). The architecture and routing protocol for this type of heterogeneous sensor network must be based on the resources and characteristics of their member nodes. In this paper, we propose a network model that is adaptively formed according to the resources of its members. A protocol named Resource Oriented Protocol (ROP) was developed to build the network model. This protocol principally entails two phases. In the topology formation phase, nodes report their available resource characteristics , based on which network architecture is optimally built . We stress that due to the existence of nodes with limitless resources, a top-down appointment process can build the architecture with minimum consumption of resources. In the topology update phase, mobile sensors and isolated sensors are accepted into the network with an optimal balance of resources. To avoid overhead of periodic route updates, we use a reactive strategy to maintain route cache. This paper provides encouraging simulation results of ROP in GlomoSim.
In Vivo Consequences of Disrupting SH3-Mediated Interactions of the Inducible T-Cell Kinase

ITK-SH3-mediated interactions, both with exogenous ligands and via intermolecular self-association with ITK-SH2, have been shown to be important for regulation of ITK activity. The biological significance of these competing SH3 interactions is not completely understood. A mutant of ITK where substitution of the SH3 domain with that of the related kinase BTK (ITK-BTK(SH3)) was used to disrupt intermolecular self-association of ITK while maintaining canonical binding to exogenous ligands such as SLP-76. ITK-BTK(SH3) displays reduced association with SLP-76 leading to inefficient transphosphorylation, reduced phosphorylation of PLCγ1, and diminished Th2 cytokine production. In contrast, ITK-BTK(SH3) displays no defect in its localization to the T-cell-APC contact site. Another mutation, Y511F, in the activation loop of ITK, impairs ITK activation. T cells expressing ITK-Y511F display defective phosphorylation of ITK and its downstream target PLCγ1, as well as significant inhibition of Th2 cytokines. In contrast, the inducible localization of ITK-Y511F to the T cell-APC contact site and its association with SLP-76 are not affected. The presented data lend further support to the hypothesis that precise interactions between ITK and its signaling partners are required to support ITK signaling downstream of the TCR.
Breathy and whispery voicing in White Hmong

The White dialect of Hmong uses breathy voice as a tonal feature, and also a distinctive whispery voice as a stop consonant feature. In this paper, acoustic measurements are shown to validate the apparent differences between these two similar phonation types. In particular, relative harmonic intensity and harmonicity were found to be, in general, three ways distinct among Hmong modal, breathy, and whispery phonation. The discovery of distinctly pronounced breathy and whispery phonation in a single language has implications for the representational theory which is used to specify the phonetic grammar.
INVESTIGATING THE INTRASPECIFIC EFFECT OF CELL CONCENTRATION IN MEDIATING OXYRRHIS MARINA SWIMMING BEHAVIORS

Heterotrophic protists are known to respond to a multitude of abiotic and biotic stimuli which confers a strong selective advantage in marine environments that are frequently dilute and heterogeneously distributed. In this laboratory study, we investigated the role of intraspecific signals in mediating Oxyrrhis marina swimming behavior that could be utilized to enhance dispersive behaviors and reduce competition between intraspecific predators. Using video and image analysis, three-dimensional movement behaviors of O. marina (on scales of micrometers and seconds) were simultaneously quantified with population-scale vertical distributions (on scales of centimeters and hours) and used in dispersal and encounter rate estimates. Three different concentrations of O. marina were filmed in both the absence and presence of the prey alga species, Isochrysis galbana, in at least triplicate films every 30 minutes for three hours at five horizons in 1-L experimental tanks. We found that the cell-cell interactions in the absence of prey cells resulted in modified swim behaviors that increased model estimates of encounter rates by 9%; however, individual swim behaviors between treatments were not significantly different in the presence of prey cells. Also, the relative proportion of the population near the top of the tank significantly decreased by 22% and 16% in both the absence and presence of prey cells, respectively, from low to high O. marina concentrations. These results suggest that O. marina can respond to the intraspecific cell concentration in the absence of competing signals which can ultimately result in significant changes to distributions, growth and grazing rates.
IMPROVED CHANNEL ESTIMATION FOR OFDM BASED WLAN SYSTEMS

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) has recently been proposed to used in Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) standards like IEEE 802.11 and ETSI HIPER-LAN/2. For these systems the receiver requires channel state information for decoding. In this paper, we propose a novel improved channel estimation algorithm for OFDM based WLAN systems. The performance of the proposed channel estimation is demonstrated by computer simulations.