Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Observations of carbon monoxide and aerosols from the Terra satellite: Northern Hemisphere variability

[1] Measurements from the Terra satellite launched in December of 1999 provide a global record of the recent interannual variability of tropospheric air quality: carbon monoxide (CO) from the Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument and aerosol optical depth (AOD) from the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). This paper compares and contrasts these data sets with a view to understanding the general features of the overall pollutant loading of the Northern Hemisphere (NH). We present a detailed examination of the seasonal and recent interannual variability of the fine mode AOD and CO column, first considering the variation of the global zonal average for both quantities, and then concentrating on several geographical regions with the aim of isolating different emissions. In a zonal sense, the principal NH sources are related to anthropogenic urban and industrial activity. We show that both the CO and the AOD zonal seasonal variations reflect the atmospheric oxidant concentration, which determines the primary sink of CO and the production of sulfate aerosol. As a consequence, the seasonal cycles are several months out of phase, with perturbations resulting from sporadic wildfire or biomass-burning emissions. In these cases, carbonaceous particles dominate the AOD, and this results in the best correlation with the CO column. Of the 4 years of data available from the Terra satellite, the winter and spring of 2002–2003 showed anomalously high NH pollution compared to the previous years. This was a result of fires in western Russia in the late summer and fall of 2002 and intense fires in the southeast of Russia in the spring and summer of 2003. We examine these events using fire counts from MODIS to indicate the burning regions and investigate how the timing of the fires in relation to atmospheric oxidant concentrations affects the resultant seasonal pollutant loadings. Finally, we trace the emissions from these fires to indicate how intense local pollution sources can impact continental- and global-scale air quality.
The Physical observer. II. Gauge and diff anomalies

In a companion paper we studied field theory in the presence of a physical observer with quantum dynamics. Here we describe the most striking consequence of this assumption: new gauge and diff anomalies arise. The relevant cocycles depend on the observer's spacetime trajectory and can hence not appear in QFT, where this quantity is never introduced. Diff anomalies necessarily arise in every locally nontrivial, non-holographic theory of quantum gravity. Cancellation of the divergent parts of the anomalies only works if spacetime has four dimensions.
Financial Markets, Institutions and Liquidity

One important reason for the global impact of the 2007–2009 financial crisis was massive illiquidity in combination with an extreme exposure of many financial institutions to liquidity needs and market conditions. As a consequence, many financial instruments could not be traded anymore; investors ran on a variety of financial institutions, particularly in wholesale markets; financial institutions and non-financial firms started to sell assets at fire sale prices to raise cash; and central banks all over the world injected huge amounts of liquidity into financial systems.
Studies on the reproductive potential of homoplastic and heteroplastic pituitary hormones in Heterobranchus bidorsalis (Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, 1809)

Artificial induce breeding of gravid Heterobranchus bidorsalis was carried out using two hormonal materials – homoplastic and heteroplastic hormones. The study which involved 10 trials was carried out with 60 gravid female and 20 mature male. The broodfish used for the study were 18 months hatchery produced H. bidorsalis. The hormonal treatments led to the following results in terms of percentage weight loss (3.16 and 306%); fertilization rate (9522.77 ± 34813 and 8,857.93± 25557); and hatchability (9,18013± 34337 and 8,476.83 ± 34595) for homoplastic and heteroplastic hormones respectively. The mean numbers of dead eggs were 396.10± 19.15 forhomoplastic hormone injected catfish and 425.53 ± 17.09 for those injected heteroplastic hormone. Recorded deormed of larva were low (35.80 ± 1.11 and 34.27 ± 1.43) respectively for catfish injected homoplastic and heteroplastic hormones. Survival of hatchlings was high (99.61 and 9959 %) for gravid catfish inected homoplastic and heteroplastic hormones respectively. There was no significant difference (P Keywords: Homoplastic and Heteroplastic hormones, Induced spawning, Hatchability, Heterobranchus bidorsalis
Structural similarity based disparity estimation for stereoscopic images

Depth estimation of a scene from stereo images is an active area of research in computer vision applications. In this paper, a simpler and faster technique for depth estimation, based on structural similarity index (SSIM) method, is proposed. The technique provides a simple block based similarity measure that considers the structural similarity between the corresponding blocks of the left and right views. It avoids explicit calculations in depth or disparity estimation. The method shows that the estimation performance is acceptable and it can be used in autonomous navigation and 3D media applications.
Hiring as Investment Behavior

This paper explores the determinants of hiring at the macroeconomic level. It treats the hiring decision as an investment decision, similar to the one taken for physical capital or for financial assets. At its core is a present value relation which defines the worker’s ‘‘asset value’’ for the firm and determines optimal hiring. The paper validates this relation using volatility tests and infers the unobserved asset values by estimating it. Hiring and asset values are found to be weakly correlated with the business cycle and much more volatile. The paper also demonstrates the links between models employed and issues examined in finance and the labor market. 2000 Academic Press
Emotion Dysregulation in Comorbid Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Substance Use Disorders: A Narrative Review

Co-occurrence of substance use disorders (SUDs) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is extremely common and is associated with elevated dropout and relapse rates. Given that PTSD/SUD co-occurrence rates among veterans have been found to be as high as 55−75%, it is important to identify mechanisms that may affect the interplay of both disorders. Emotion dysregulation (ED) presents a candidate mechanism that may underlie poor treatment response in co-occurring PTSD/SUD. This article proposes a transdiagnostic emotion regulation framework that considers ED conceptualized as a combination of low ability to tolerate emotional distress (low distress tolerance) and difficulties in the goal-directed use of emotion regulation strategies as a key risk factor in co-occurring PTSD/SUD. The authors review empirical findings from self-report and laboratory-based studies of ED in PTSD. They describe psychological explanations of the emotion-substance relationship and review studies documenting ED in SUDs and in co-occurring PTSD/SUD. The literature on ED in PTSD/SUD suggests that (a) patients with PTSD may resort to substances to cope with trauma-related symptoms due to ED, and (b) ED may maintain SUD symptoms and interfere with psychological treatment. Longitudinal studies on bidirectional relationships between ED and substance use in PTSD are needed, particularly research examining the course of ED in PTSD patients who use substances versus those who do not.
Data privacy in mobile agent communication

Communicating with confidential data requires special attention in a mobile agents environment, especially when the other hosts must be prevented from eavesdropping the communication. We propose two methods for secured communication between the agent and a host (or other agent). The first approach for an untrusted environment uses on the fly encryption-decryption sequence to directly convert the message or plaintext into one that is encrypted directly with the public key of receiver thus reducing the overhead of retrieving the public key of sender. The technique uses AIGamal encryption/decryption. Theoretically it is proved that this scheme indeed gives the desired result. The second approach uses a trusted central authority for supply of public keys. It uses time stamps, identity of agents and RSA algorithm to provide a secured communication. Our minimal implementation of this technique suggests that it is possible to embed the entire functionality for communication security within an agent. Finally, we also state and explain how the second approach is useful in context of mobile agents with itinerary.
Relações entre narrativa, prosódia e movimento na depressão e seus subtipos melancólica e não-melancólica

This dissertation is organized around the following question: what characterizes the autobiographical narrative, vocal, and motor expression in depression and its melancholic and non-melancholic subtileza? In order to investigate this question, three studies were performed. Study I investigated the relationship between different dimensions of affect (positive and negative affective state, depression, and neuroticism) and some features of autobiographical narrative (specificity, and narrative coherence of events). In this study, 78 college students wrote three autobiographical events and answered to three instruments: 1) Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), 2) Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS); and 3) Factorial Scale of Neuroticism (EFN). Study II investigated: 1) the relationship between the depression score, and verbal variables (prosody and narrative coherence); and 2) differences in the prosodicnarrative pattern of individuals with non-melancholic and with melancholic depression. The sample consisted of 17 patients with major depressive disorder, who were assessed using the following instruments: 1) Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI-Plus), 2) Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), 3) Beck Depression Inventory BDI), 4) The CORE Assessment of Psychomotor Change, and 5) Verbal report of three life events. Study III aimed to evaluate differences in motor activity between individuals with melancholic and non-melacholic depression. The sample was composed by 15 patients with diagnostic of major depressive episode. The measurement of the severity of depressive symptoms was made using the HAM-D and BDI. The CORE instrument was used to assess melancholia, and motor activity was measured by actigraphy. Altogether, the three studies that compose this dissertation suggest a revision of the notion that long lasting affects would have major impact on narrative variables, once the affective state was the only predictor of narrative coherence. We conclude that the recollection of nonspecific events and ressignification impairment are core mechanisms in depression, explaining the persistence of painful memories and inflexible negative beliefs. The melancholia was characterized by a decrease in body movement and amplitude of vocal frequency, confirming that lentification of movement is a crucial criteria for melancholic subtype of depression.
Genome Sequence of Carbon Dioxide-Sequestering Serratia sp. Strain ISTD04 Isolated from Marble Mining Rocks

ABSTRACT The Serratia sp. strain ISTD04 has been identified as a carbon dioxide (CO2)-sequestering bacterium isolated from marble mining rocks in the Umra area, Rajasthan, India. This strain grows chemolithotrophically on media that contain sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) as the sole carbon source. Here, we report the genome sequence of 5.07 Mb Serratia sp. ISTD04.
The Effect of Foreign Bank Entry on the Cost of Credit in Transition Economies. Which Borrowers Benefit the Most

We employ a unique dataset to study the impact of foreign bank ownership and mode of entry on banks’ lending rates to transparent and opaque borrowers. We find that greenfield banks charge lower lending rates on average and we test for two hypotheses that can explain the lower cost of credit of these institutions: (1) superior performance or (2) different portfolio composition with a focus on more transparent borrowers. Our analysis shows that bank ownership and mode of entry have a large impact on banks’ portfolio composition in terms of borrowers, maturity, and currency. After controlling for these differences, we do not find any impact of foreign bank ownership and mode of entry on lending rates, which is in line with the "portfolio composition hypothesis".
The Structure of Protostellar Envelopes Derived from Submillimeter Continuum Images

High dynamic range imaging of submillimeter dust emission from the envelopes of eight young protostars in the Taurus and Perseus star-forming regions has been carried out using the Submillimeter Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. Good correspondence between the spectral classifications of the protostars and the spatial distributions of their dust emission is observed, in the sense that those with cooler spectral energy distributions also have a larger fraction of the submillimeter flux originating in an extended envelope than in a disk. This results from the cool sources having more massive envelopes rather than warm sources having larger disks. Azimuthally averaged radial profiles of the dust emission are used to derive the power-law index of the envelope density distributions, p (defined by ρ ∝ r-p), and most of the sources are found to have values of p consistent with those predicted by models of cloud collapse. However, the youngest protostars in our sample, L1527 and HH 211-mm, deviate significantly from the theoretical predictions, exhibiting values of p somewhat lower than can be accounted for by existing models. For L1527 heating of the envelope by shocks where the outflow impinges on the surrounding medium may explain our result. For HH 211-mm another explanation is needed, and one possibility is that a shallow density profile is being maintained in the outer envelope by magnetic fields and/or turbulence. If this is the case, star formation must be determined by the rate at which the support is lost from the cloud, rather than the hydrodynamical properties of the envelope, such as the sound speed.
Generic segment-wise DC for 3D-HEVC depth intra coding

In 3D extension of HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding), namely, 3D-HEVC, segment-wise DC coding (SDC) was adopted to more efficiently represent the depth residual for Intra coded depth blocks. Instead of coding pixel-wise residual as in HEVC, SDC codes one DC residual value for each segment of a Prediction Unit (PU) and skips transform and quantization. SDC was originally proposed for only a couple of modes, including the DC mode, Planar mode and depth modeling mode (DMM), which has an arbitrary straight line separation of a PU. This paper proposes a generic SDC method that applies to the conventional angular Intra modes. For each depth prediction unit coded with Intra prediction mode, encoder can adaptively choose to code pixel-wise residual or segment-wise residual to achieve better compression efficiency. Experimental results show that proposed method can reduce the total bit rate by about 1% even though the depth views altogether consumes relatively low percentage of the total bit rate.
Mitochondrial protein import pathways are functionally conserved among eukaryotes despite compositional diversity of the import machineries

Abstract Mitochondrial protein import (MPI) is essential for the biogenesis of mitochondria in all eukaryotes. Current models of MPI are predominantly based on experiments with one group of eukaryotes, the opisthokonts. Although fascinating genome database-driven hypotheses on the evolution of the MPI machineries have been published, previous experimental research on non-opisthokonts usually focused on the analysis of single pathways or components in, for example, plants and parasites. In this study, we have established the kinetoplastid parasite Leishmania tarentolae as a model organism for the comprehensive analysis of non-opisthokont MPI into all four mitochondrial compartments. We found that opisthokont marker proteins are efficiently imported into isolated L. tarentolae mitochondria. Vice versa, L. tarentolae marker proteins of all compartments are also imported into mitochondria from yeast. The results are remarkable because only a few of the more than 25 classical components of the opisthokont MPI machineries are found in parasite genome databases. Our results demonstrate that different MPI pathways are functionally conserved among eukaryotes despite significant compositional differences of the MPI machineries. Moreover, our model system could lead to the identification of significantly altered or even novel MPI components in non-opisthokonts. Such differences might serve as starting points for drug development against parasitic protists.
PicoTales: collaborative authoring of animated stories using handheld projectors

In this article we describe a novel approach to collaborative video authoring using handheld projectors. PicoTales are created by sketching story elements on a projector+phone prototype, and then animated by moving the projected image. Movements are captured using motion sensor data, rather than visual or other tracking methods, allowing interaction and story creation anywhere. We describe in detail the design and development of our prototype device, and also address issues in position estimation and element tracking. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the prototype, demonstrating its accuracy and usability for ad-hoc creation of story videos. The potential of the system for story authoring is shown via a further experiment looking at the quality of the animated story videos produced. We conclude by considering possible future developments of the concept, and highlighting the benefits of our design for collaborative story capture.
Interpersonal Process Recall – a method for reflecting on co-design experiences

Our method uses video recording as a stimulus for recall and reflection, based on Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) which is borrowed from humanistic psychotherapy research. This Methods Story accompanies other media (videos, audio and transcript) which presents and demonstrates the method. We video recorded part of a workshop design session run at Oak Field School, Nottingham (UK), by the interdisciplinary 'An Internet Of Soft Things' project (http://aninternetofsoftthings.com), filming two co-designers: a member of the research team and a participant with a cognitive impairment. Using the IPR method, we played back the video and invited the co - designers to pause it and recall any thoughts and feelings which did not show up in the original co-design interaction. This made it possible to capture data that represents subjective experience more fully, giving a voice to participants, particularly those who may find it hard to express themselves in the moment, owing to a cognitive impairment. In a subsequent reflection, our participant describes the importance to him of researchers speaking slowly and with short words, listening, using Makaton if a ppropriate, and above all, being 'nice and friendly'.
FXR induces SOCS3 and suppresses hepatocellular carcinoma

Suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) is regarded as a vital repressor in the liver carcinogenesis mainly by inhibiting signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) activity. Farnesoid X Receptor (FXR), highly expressed in liver, has an important role in protecting against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, it is unclear whether the tumor suppressive activity of FXR involves the regulation of SOCS3. In the present study, we found that activation of FXR by its specific agonist GW4064 in HCC cells inhibited cell growth, induced cell cycle arrest at G1 phase, elevated p21 expression and repressed STAT3 activity. The above anti-tumor effects of FXR were dramatically alleviated by knockdown of SOCS3 with siRNA. Reporter assay revealed that FXR activation enhanced the transcriptional activity of SOCS3 promoter. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay displayed that FXR directly bound to IR9 DNA motif within SOCS3 promoter region. The in vivo study in nude mice showed that treatment with FXR ligand GW4064 could decelerate the growth of HCC xenografts, up-regulate SOCS3 and p21 expression and inhibit STAT3 phosphorylation in the xenografts. These results suggest that induction of SOCS3 may be a novel mechanism by which FXR exerts its anti-HCC effects, and the FXR-SOCS3 signaling may serve as a new potential target for the prevention/treatment of HCC.
Packing the most onto your cloud

Parallel dataflow programming frameworks such as Map-Reduce are increasingly being used for large scale data analysis on computing clouds. It is therefore becoming important to automatically optimize the performance of these frameworks. In this paper, we deal with one particular optimization problem, namely scheduling sets of Map-Reduce jobs on a cluster of machines. We present a scheduler that takes job characteristics into account and finds a schedule that minimizes the total completion time of the set of jobs. Our scheduler decides on the number of machines to assign to each job, and it tries to pack as many jobs on the machines as the machine resources can support. To enable flexible assignment of jobs onto machines, we run the Map-Reduce jobs in virtual machines. Our scheduling problem is formulated as a constrained optimization problem, and we experimentally demonstrate using the Hadoop open source Map-Reduce implementation that the solution to this problem results in benefits up to 30%.
TopoText: Interactive Digital Mapping of Literary Text

We demonstrate TopoText, an interactive tool for digital mapping of literary text. TopoText takes as input a literary piece of text such as a novel or a biography article and automatically extracts all place names in the text. The identified places are then geoparsed and displayed on an interactive map. TopoText calculates the number of times a place was mentioned in the text, which is then reflected on the map allowing the end-user to grasp the importance of the different places within the text. It also displays the most frequent words mentioned within a specified proximity of a place name in context or across the entire text. This can also be faceted according to part of speech tags. Finally, TopoText keeps the human in the loop by allowing the end-user to disambiguate places and to provide specific place annotations. All extracted information such as geolocations, place frequencies, as well as all user-provided annotations can be automatically exported as a CSV file that can be imported later by the same user or other users.