Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Leaf Litter Decomposition and Nutrient Dynamics in Four Southern Forested Floodplain Communities Terre 11

Decomposition of site-specific litter mixtures was monitored for 100 wk in four Roodplaht communities: (i) a mixed oak community along the Cache River in central Arkansas, (ii) s sweetgum (Liquidambar styracijlua L.)-cherrybark oak (Quercwfalcata vwpagodaefolia ELI.) community along Iatt Creek in central Louisiana, (iii) a sweetgum-swamp tupelo [Nyssu sylvaticu var. bifroru (Walt.) Sarg. ] community, and (iv) a laurel oak (Quercus luurifolia Michx.) commnnity along the Coosawhatchie River in southeastern South Carolina. Soil temperature, hydroperiod, and litter quality (C:N, C:P, N:P, fignin:N) were used to interpret differences in the rates of mass loss and nutrient dynamics. After 100 wk, litter mixtures retained 33, 18, 8, and 5% of original mass on the Cache, Coosawhatchie (laurel oak community), Coosawhatchie (sweetgum-swamp tupelo community), and Iatt floodplains, respectively, and these differences appeared related to hydroperiod. Decay rates were comparable to rates reported in similar floodplain environments. Net mineralization of both N and P was observed after 100 wk, but both elements accumulated in litter mixtures periodically. Differences in hydroperiod were observed among the four floodplain communities and decomposition of and nutrient mineralization from litter among them appeared to be inversely related to the number and duration of flood events. Litterbags containing leaf litter of a single-species (i.e., cherrybark oak) were also monitored on three of the four sites to compare decay rates and nutrient dynamics with the litter mixtures. On the Cache River floodplain, slower decay of poorer quality cherrybark oak litter suggested that titter quality drove decomposition under similar edaphic
Navigation coordination for multi-agent systems with limited sensor information

In this paper mobile multiagent systems with limited sensor information are studied. Some control algorithms are proposed that do not require global information, and are easy to implement. First, two basic controls for serial and parallel formations are derived. Then it is demonstrated how these basic controls can be combined in order to achieve more complex formations. Combined with an obstacle avoidance controller, the emerging system can perform quite complex navigation tasks.
Respiratory motion of the heart from free breathing coronary angiograms

Respiratory motion compensation for cardiac imaging requires knowledge of the heart's motion and deformation during breathing. This paper presents a method for measuring the natural tidal respiratory motion of the heart from free breathing coronary angiograms. A three-dimensional (3-D) deformation field describing the cardiac and respiratory motion of the coronary arteries is recovered from a biplane acquisition. A cardiac respiratory parametric model is formulated and used to decompose the deformation field into cardiac and respiratory components. Angiograms from ten patients were analyzed. A 3-D translation motion model was sufficient for describing the motion of the heart in only two patients. For all patients, the heart translated caudally (mean, 4.9 1.9 mm; range, 2.4 to 8.0 mm) and underwent a cranio-dorsal rotation (mean, 1.5 0.9; range, 0.2 to 3.5) during inspiration. In eight patients, the heart also translated anteriorly (mean, 1.3 1.8 mm; range, -0.4 to 5.1 mm) and rotated in a caudo-dextral direction (mean, 1.2 f 1.3; range, -1.9 to 3.2).
Software piracy: a view from Hong Kong

Software piracy is defined as the unauthorized use, duplication, distribution or sale of commercially available software. Although it has been argued that the existence of pirated software stimulates an interest in legal copies [4], estimated losses for the software industry over the past five years (1994–1998) are approaching $60 billion. Losses due to software piracy are estimated by assuming that for each new personal computer sold there will be a set of accompanying software sales. For instance, to make the PC work the user must buy an operating system, and to make the PC useful the user would have to buy a set of productivity software, such as a word processor, and so on. On this basis, the shortfall between expected and actual sales must be due to software piracy, and the cost of these missing sales represents the financial loss to the software industry. Using this method, the Software Publishers Association (SPA) and the Business Software Alliance (BSA) estimated that more than $12.3 billion was lost in worldwide sales in 1994, and $13.3 billion in 1995. Despite a drop to $11.2 billion in 1996—attributed by SPA/BSA to cheaper software prices rather than a decline in piracy rates—the figures for 1997 showed a rise to $11.4 billion. In January 1999, the SPA merged with the Information Industry Association to form the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA; www.siia.net). The latest SIIA report on software piracy, released in June 1999 [10], showed a continued decline in software piracy rates from its peak in 1995, but lost sales still amounted to $11 billion. Similar to the decline in 1996, however, the SIIA attributes this to the economic downturn in many of Software Piracy: AView from Hong Kong
Triplex molecular beacons as modular probes for DNA detection.

Detecting nucleic acid sequences is of central importance in modern life sciences. Given the rapid growth of the available sequence data, the diagnosis of DNA and RNA is likely to increase in significance over the next decade. The most useful methods employ probes that allow quantitative measurements in homogeneous solution, thereby omitting the need to separate bound from unbound probes. Molecular beacons (MBs) have become a class of widely used probes for nucleic acid analysis. These probes carry a fluorophore and a quencher at their termini. In the absence of a complementary target sequence, MBs form a stem–loop structure (Figure 1A), which results in quenching of the fluorescence.
On Bochner's and Polya's Characterizations of Positive-Definite Kernels and the Respective Random Feature Maps

Positive-definite kernel functions are fundamental elements of kernel methods and Gaussian processes. A well-known construction of such functions comes from Bochner's characterization, which connects a positive-definite function with a probability distribution. Another construction, which appears to have attracted less attention, is Polya's criterion that characterizes a subset of these functions. In this paper, we study the latter characterization and derive a number of novel kernels little known previously. In the context of large-scale kernel machines, Rahimi and Recht (2007) proposed a random feature map (random Fourier) that approximates a kernel function, through independent sampling of the probability distribution in Bochner's characterization. The authors also suggested another feature map (random binning), which, although not explicitly stated, comes from Polya's characterization. We show that with the same number of random samples, the random binning map results in an Euclidean inner product closer to the kernel than does the random Fourier map. The superiority of the random binning map is confirmed empirically through regressions and classifications in the reproducing kernel Hilbert space.
Exploring Ad-Elicited Emotional Arousal and Memory for the Ad Using fMRI

Using fMRI and self-reports, we explore the relationship between ad-elicited emotional arousal and memory for the ad, as well as the mechanisms involved in this relationship. A broad conceptual framework proposes three routes for emotional memory: attention, elaboration, and social cognition. Our exploratory study examines the association between ad-elicited emotional arousal and predetermined ad memorability, as a proxy for memory for the ad. Results reveal greater amygdala activation in memorable (versus unmemorable) ads, reinforcing the association between ad-elicited emotional arousal and memory for the ad. Amygdala activation was accompanied by activation in the brain region termed the superior temporal sulcus (STS), which is involved in social cognition. These results are indicative of a sociocognitive emotional memory process, which has been neglected in past research. Future research directions are discussed.
Forecasting competition between disruptive and sustaining technologies in business ecosystems

Contemporary business environment is increasingly built around business ecosystems that combine multiple stakeholders utilizing multiple technologies. Measures assessing technological changes in these systemic contexts are vital as organizations are required to manage their innovation processes in increasingly networked and complex environments. This paper utilizes the market share of technology utilization as a measure of technology-based competition and explores possibilities to forecast technological competition in business ecosystems with analogies. The study analyzes systemic changes in the personal computer game ecosystem, explicitly focusing on technological competition in sub-technologies that are central to the delivery of gaming value to the end-user. The paper subsequently discusses organizational considerations and theoretical implications of the proposed measures and their forecasting performance.
Towards Everyday Privacy for Ubiquitous Computing

The goal of everyday privacy is to make it easy for endusers to share information with the right people at the right level of detail in ubiquitous computing environments. In this paper, we describe a conceptual model we have developed for everyday privacy, consisting of control over and feedback about disclosure. We also describe a prototype we have created for helping end-users manage their personal privacy, an evaluation of that prototype, and a revised prototype based on feedback from the evaluation.
Prevalence and characteristics of Epstein–Barr virus-associated gastric carcinomas in Tunisia

Objective Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) has been linked to gastric carcinoma (GC) with worldwide geographical variations of prevalence ranging from 1 to 18% of cases. Investigations carried out in north Africa have shown that some EBV-associated types of cancers are common in this area. This study was taken to determine the prevalence of EBV-associated GC in Tunisia. Methods Ninety-six nonselected GC cases (male/female ratio 1.7/1, mean age 60.9 years, range: 20–88 years) were evaluated for the presence of EBV by polymerase chain reaction as well as by in-situ hybridization for EBV-encoded small RNAs (EBERs) and immunohistochemistry for LMP-1 and EBNA-2 expression. Results EBV was detected by polymerase chain reaction in 36% of cases, whereas EBERs were detected in the tumor cells in only four cases (4.1%). Immunohistochemistry for LMP-1 and EBNA-2 was negative in all cases. The mean age for patients harboring EBERs-positive GC was 55.7 years (range: 52–59 years). All EBERs-positive GC cases were males of advanced clinical stage (pT3–pT4). According to Lauren's classification, two cases were of diffuse histological type and two cases were of intestinal type. In three cases, the tumors have a proximal location and in the remaining case the tumor arises in the antrum. All EBV strains detected from EBV-associated GC were exclusively of type A and D, prototype F, and XhoI-maintained variant. Conclusion We conclude that the prevalence of EBV-associated GC in Tunisia is low (4.1%), suggesting that this virus is not an important etiological factor in GC arising in north African populations. The clinicopathological profile of EBV-associated GC in Tunisia did not differ markedly from that found elsewhere.
Prediction of meteorological parameters: an a-posteriori probabilistic semantic kriging approach

Meteorological parameters are often considered as crucial factors for climatological pattern analysis. Predictions of these parameters have been studied extensively in the field of remote sensing and GIS. It is one of the most critical steps involved in most of the meteorological data mining process. Spatial interpolation is an efficient technique to yield minimal error in prediction. From existing literatures, it is evident that the land-use/land-cover (LULC) distribution of the terrain influences these parameters in a varying manner and it is important to model their behaviour for climatological analyses. However, this semantic LULC knowledge of the terrain is generally ignored in the prediction process of the meteorological parameters. Recently, we have proposed a new spatial interpolation technique, namely semantic kriging (SemK) [3,5,7], which considers the semantic LULC knowledge for land-atmospheric interaction modeling and incorporates it into the existing interpolation process for better accuracy. However, the a-priori correlation analysis of SemK ignores the effect of other nearby LULC classes on each other. This article presents a new variant of SemK, namely a-posterior probabilistic Bayesian SemK (BSemK), which extends the a-priori correlation analysis of SemK with a-posterior probabilistic analysis. The proposed approach provides more accurate estimation of the parameters. Experimentation with LST data advocates the efficacy of the proposed approach compared to the a-priori SemK and other existing interpolation techniques.
Recall of Event Information Following Memory Training in Alzheimer's Disease

People with Alzheimer's disease have difficulty remembering information from recently occurring events in contrast to their typically more preserved semantic memory. Despite this relative dissociation, there is a growing body of research that has demonstrated the interconnectedness of episodic and semantic memories. The present study reports the results of a secondary analysis of data collected as part of a memory training study conducted by the author in 2012. The objective was to identify the types of core event details that seven participants with Alzheimer's disease recalled from video-recorded recent events they participated in. Using thematic analysis, 32 core details from these events were classified into four major categories representing different types of event information: Actions, Feelings, Objects, and People. The findings indicate that participants' spontaneous recall of core event details was greatest for Objects, then Actions, after that People, and least for Feelings. The results support previous research showing greater preservation of noetic than autonoetic episodic recall in Alzheimer's disease.
The Regulation by Phenolic Compounds of Soil Organic Matter Dynamics under a Changing Environment

Phenolics are the most abundant plant metabolites and are believed to decompose slowly in soils compared to other soil organic matter (SOM). Thus, they have often been considered as a slow carbon (C) pool in soil dynamics models. Here, however, we review changes in our concept about the turnover rate of phenolics and quantification of different types of phenolics in soils. Also, we synthesize current research on the degradation of phenolics and their regulatory effects on decomposition. Environmental changes, such as elevated CO2, warming, nitrogen (N) deposition, and drought, could influence the production and form of phenolics, leading to a change in SOM dynamics, and thus we also review the fate of phenolics under environmental disturbances. Finally, we propose the use of phenolics as a tool to control rates of SOM decomposition to stabilize organic carbon in ecosystems. Further studies to clarify the role of phenolics in SOM dynamics should include improving quantification methods, elucidating the relationship between phenolics and soil microorganisms, and determining the interactive effects of combinations of environmental changes on the phenolics production and degradation and subsequent impact on SOM processing.
Information science and scientists: JASIS, 1972–1990

This research reports the results of a bibliometric study of nine volumes of the Journal of the American Society for Information Science (JASIS): 1972–1974, 1982–1984, and 1988–1990. For each full‐length article, values of six variables were recorded: the year the article was published, the number of citations to the article, the funding status of the work (funded or not funded), the funding agency (if funded), the subject of the paper, and the institutional affiliation of the first author, and several hypotheses were tested. No relationship was found between whether an article was funded and the quality or utility of the article, as measured by the number of subsequent citations to the work. Funding for information science research has declined, especially at the federal levels. JASIS authors who are affiliated with schools of library and information science have the most difficulty in having their work funded, although the work produced by this group of authors is the most highly cited. While the emphasis on theoretical work has remained essentially constant over the past 20 years, the number of articles related to professional issues and related fields has increased, and the number of articles classified as applied has decreased. More JASIS authors are coming from academic departments in universities; fewer are information practitioners. Information science is developing as a discipline and moving away from its practice‐oriented roots. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Resource Allocation and Fairness in Wireless Powered Cooperative Cognitive Radio Networks

We integrate a wireless powered communication network with a cooperative cognitive radio network, where multiple secondary users (SUs) powered wirelessly by a hybrid access point (HAP) help a primary user relay the data. As a reward for the cooperation, the secondary network gains the spectrum access where SUs transmit to HAP using time division multiple access. To maximize the sum throughput of SUs, we present a secondary sum-throughput optimal resource allocation (STORA) scheme. Under the constraint of meeting target primary rate, the STORA scheme chooses the optimal set of relaying SUs and jointly performs the time and energy allocation for SUs. In particular, by exploiting the structure of the optimal solution, we find the order in which SUs are prioritized to relay primary data. Since the STORA scheme focuses on the sum throughput, it becomes inconsiderate toward individual SU throughput, resulting in low fairness. To enhance fairness, we investigate three resource allocation schemes, which are: 1) equal time allocation; 2) minimum throughput maximization; and 3) proportional time allocation. Simulation results reveal the tradeoff between sum throughput and fairness. The minimum throughput maximization scheme is the fairest one as each SU gets the same throughput, but yields the least SU sum throughput.
A fast universal search by equivalent program pruning

Universal search is the asymptotically fastest method to solve a wide class of inversion problems. Recently this method has been used to develop several efficient optimal general problem solvers. However the huge constant slowdown factor associated with this algorithm prevents it from widespread practical application. Our endeavor is to reduce this constant slowdown factor in the non incremental version of the algorithm which can be easily extended in the incremental version. While searching the exponential program space, universal search method generates and tests several equivalent programs. Pruning equivalent programs will evidently reduce the search space and consequently the search time. Experimental analysis reveals a huge speed up of the search method. Even though pruning is applied it has also been shown theoretically that if universal search can find a solution then the proposed search method can always find a solution for a given problem.
Center for Research on Economic Development and Policy Reform the Effect of the Interest Rate on the Investment Expenditures of Mexican Manufacturing Firms the Effect of the Interest Rate on the Investment Expenditures of Mexican Manufacturing Firms

The behavior of investment by Mexican manufacturing firms is analyzed for the period 1994-1999. Investment equations are estimated focusing on the relevance of financial constraints. The main findings are that internal funds play a relevant role in explaining investment expenditures by firms. As is customary in tests of the effects of capital market imperfections on investment, the sample is split depending on the importance of financial constraints for firms. We find that internal funds are less important for the subset of firms less likely to be financially constrained. Moreover, a statistically significant interest rate effect on investment is found for the whole sample when a measure of the foreign interest rate is used as a proxy for the cost of capital. Finally, there is some evidence that the interest rate effect is especially important for firms that are deemed a priori to be less financially constrained.
Classical and Quantum Correspondence in Anisotropic Kepler Problem

If the classical behavior of a given quantum system is chaotic, how is it reflected in the quantum properties of the system? To elucidate this correspondence is the main theme of the quantum chaos study. With the advent of nanophysics techniques, this has become also of experimental importance. With the advent of new technology, various quantum systems are now challenging us. These include nano-scale devices, laser trapping of atoms, the Bose-Einstein condensate, Rydberg atoms, and even web of chaos is observed in superlattices.
Placental Malaria: Decreased Transfer of Maternal Antibodies Directed to Plasmodium falciparum and Impact on the Incidence of Febrile Infections in Infants

The efficacy of mother-to-child placental transfer of antibodies specific to malaria blood stage antigens was investigated in the context of placental malaria infection, taking into account IgG specificity and maternal hypergammaglobulinemia. The impact of the resulting maternal antibody transfer on infections in infants up to the age of 6 months was also explored. This study showed that i) placental malaria was associated with a reduced placental transfer of total and specific IgG, ii) antibody placental transfer varied according to IgG specificity and iii) cord blood malaria IgG levels were similar in infants born to mothers with or without placental malaria. The number of malaria infections was negatively associated with maternal age, whereas it was not associated with the transfer of any malaria-specific IgG from the mother to the fetus. These results suggest that i) malaria-specific IgG may serve as a marker of maternal exposure but not as a useful marker of infant protection from malaria and ii) increasing maternal age contributes to diminishing febrile infections diagnosed in infants, perhaps by means of the transmission of an effective antibody response.
Remote Service Satisfaction: An Initial Examination

As more providers establish remote services for remote repair, remote diagnosis and maintenance purposes to provide greater value to their customers, understanding what creates a satisfying customer experience becomes crucial. Even though this understanding appears crucial, no studies have examined the factors that make customers satisfied with remote services. To partly fill this void, the authors examine the role that customer perceptions of (1) remote service technology, (2) remote service workflow, (3) economic value, (4) information exchange, (5) interaction, (6) remote service individualization, and (7) auxiliary services play in customer remote service satisfaction assessments. They find that remote service technology, remote service workflow, and interaction are the dominant factors in customer assessments of satisfaction. The authors discuss the implications of these findings and offer directions for future research.