Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Better predictions, better allocations: scientific advances and adaptation to climate change

Climate science initially aspired to improve understanding of what the future would bring, and thereby produce appropriate public policies and effective international climate agreements. If that hope is dashed, as now seems probable, effective policies for adapting to climate change become critical. Climate science assumes new responsibilities by helping to foster more appropriate adaptation measures, which might include shifting modes or locales of production. This theoretical article focuses on two broader tools: consumption smoothing in response to the risk of future losses, and physical adaptation measures to reduce potential damages. It shows that informative signals on the effects of climate change facilitate better decisions on the use of each tool, thereby increasing social welfare.
S MONETARY AND CAPITAL THEORIES : PUZZLES AND CONTROVERSIES

The following paper represents an intermediate stage towards a final draft of introductions to the two volumes of the Collected Works of F. A. Hayek devoted to the writings on business cycles. For purposes of presentation I have chosen some of the puzzles and controversial themes which I have come about in the course of my attempt at understanding Hayek’s monetary, business cycle and capital theories. Due to the preliminary stage the reader is warned that the sections of this paper deal with separate and rather isolated topics that do not yet constitute a coherent whole; quotations and references may to some extent be incomplete, and some references are to yet unwritten chapters.
Secure Block-Based Video Authentication with Localization and Self-Recovery

Because of the great advance in multimedia technology, digital multimedia is vulnerable to malicious manipulations. In this paper, a public key self-recovery block-based video authentication technique is proposed which can not only precisely localize the alteration detection but also recover the missing data with high reliability. In the proposed block-based technique, multiple description coding MDC is used to generate two codes (two descriptions) for each block. Although one block code (one description) is enough to rebuild the altered block, the altered block is rebuilt with better quality by the two block descriptions. So using MDC increases the ratability of recovering data. A block signature is computed using a cryptographic hash function and a doubly linked chain is utilized to embed the block signature copies and the block descriptions into the LSBs of distant blocks and the block itself. The doubly linked chain scheme gives the proposed technique the capability to thwart vector quantization attacks. In our proposed technique , anyone can check the authenticity of a given video using the public key. The experimental results show that the proposed technique is reliable for detecting, localizing and recovering the alterations. Keywords—Authentication, hash function, multiple description coding, public key encryption, watermarking.
Scheduling on sensor hybrid network

We investigate a unique scheduling problem in wireless sensor networks where all nodes in a cluster send exactly one packet to a designated sink node with goal of minimized transmission time. The difficulty lies in the fact that node transmissions must be sufficiently isolated either in time or in space to avoid collisions. The problem is formulated and solved via graph representation. We prove that with specific network topologies (either line or tree); an optimal transmission schedule can be obtained efficiently through a pipeline-like schedule. The minimum time required for a line (or tree) topology with n nodes is 3(n-2). We further prove that our scheduling problem is NP-hard for general graphs. We propose a heuristic algorithm for general graphs. Our heuristic tries to schedule as many independent segments as possible to increase the degree of parallel transmission. This algorithm is compared to an RTS/CTS based distributed algorithm. Preliminary simulated results indicate that our heuristic algorithm out-performs the RTS/CTS based distributed algorithm (up to 30%) and exhibits stable scheduling behavior.
Domain Transfer Learning for MCI Conversion Prediction

Machine learning methods have successfully been used to predict the conversion of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer's disease (AD), by classifying MCI converters (MCI-C) from MCI nonconverters (MCI-NC). However, most existing methods construct classifiers using data from one particular target domain (e.g., MCI), and ignore data in other related domains (e.g., AD and normal control (NC)) that may provide valuable information to improve MCI conversion prediction performance. To address is limitation, we develop a novel domain transfer learning method for MCI conversion prediction, which can use data from both the target domain (i.e., MCI) and auxiliary domains (i.e., AD and NC). Specifically, the proposed method consists of three key components: 1) a domain transfer feature selection component that selects the most informative feature-subset from both target domain and auxiliary domains from different imaging modalities; 2) a domain transfer sample selection component that selects the most informative sample-subset from the same target and auxiliary domains from different data modalities; and 3) a domain transfer support vector machine classification component that fuses the selected features and samples to separate MCI-C and MCI-NC patients. We evaluate our method on 202 subjects from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) that have MRI, FDG-PET, and CSF data. The experimental results show the proposed method can classify MCI-C patients from MCI-NC patients with an accuracy of 79.4%, with the aid of additional domain knowledge learned from AD and NC.
Multi-Dimensional Adaptive SINR Based Vertical Handoff for Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

Vertical handoff in next generation heterogeneous wireless networks is a multi-dimensional issue. In this article we propose a multi-dimensional adaptive SINR based vertical handoff algorithm (MASVH) which uses the combined effects of SINR, user required bandwidth, user traffic cost and utilization from participating access networks to make handoff decisions for multi-attribute QoS consideration. Simulation results confirm that the new MASVH algorithm improves the system performance in terms of higher throughput and lower dropping probability, as well as reduces the user traffic cost for accessing the integrated wireless networks.
EVEX: A PubMed-Scale Resource for Homology-Based Generalization of Text Mining Predictions

In comparative genomics, functional annotations are transferred from one organism to another relying on sequence similarity. With more than 20 million citations in PubMed, text mining provides the ideal tool for generating additional large-scale homology-based predictions. To this end, we have refined a recent dataset of biomolecular events extracted from text, and integrated these predictions with records from public gene databases. Accounting for lexical variation of gene symbols, we have implemented a disambiguation algorithm that uniquely links the arguments of 11.2 million biomolecular events to well-defined gene families, providing interesting opportunities for query expansion and hypothesis generation. The resulting MySQL database, including all 19.2 million original events as well as their homology-based variants, is publicly available at http://bionlp.utu. fi/.
A comprehensive study of the rainfall on the Susquehanna Valley

In the very short time that can be devoted by the Section of Hydrology to a subject of rather local interest, it is not fitting to attempt to cover more than the general phases of this study, which started out to be worthy of its title. It was not long before it was found that “comprehensive’ should be changed to “somewhat comprehensive,” and, like many endeavors of this kind, the more we know, the more we know that the proportion of what we know to what is to be known is much less than we thought at the outset. As a result, it would have been appropriate to alter the title still further by inserting “rainfall-records” in contradistinction to “rainfall. ”
Improving I/O Performance Using Virtual Disk Introspection

Storage consolidation due to server virtualization puts stringent new requirements on Storage Array (SA) performance. Virtualized workloads require new performance optimizations that cannot be totally addressed by merely using expensive hardware such as SSDs. This position paper presents Virtual Machine Disk Image (VMDI) introspection--a key technique for implementing a variety of virtualization-oriented I/O optimizations. VMDI introspection gives SAs an understanding of guest file system semantics, such as determining object types and classifying read and write operations. We explore possible approaches for VMDI introspection and then describe a set of VMDI-introspection-based optimizations. Our prototype implementation with enhanced meta-data caching and placement shows 11% to 20× performance improvement.
Recent developments in fluvial sedimentology : contributions from the Third International Fluvial Sedimentology Conference

Several hundred papers on fluvial sedimentology have appeared since the first fluvial conference 9 years ago (Calgary, 1977). Many variants of existing models have been published, including several sub-models of high-sinuosity rivers based on sediment load grain size, and the anastomosed model has become well documented and widely known. The main advance in the study of lowsinuosity rivers is the recognition of mid-channel macroform bar complexes comparable in their mediumto long-term geomorphic significance to point bars. Increasing attention is gradually being paid to the overbank environment, with the development of floodplain facies models, and an improved understanding of the conditions necessary for coal formation. Few new syntheses of facies models have been attempted. The current research trend is toward documentation of three-dimensional architecture, both on the local scale (channels and complex bars) and on the regional scale, using twoand three-dimensional lateral outcrop profiles and employing chronostratigraphic markers to tie sections together. INTRODUCTION ment transport and textural studies, bedforms and paleocurrents, fluvial facies models, and paleohydraulics (Miall, 1978b). In this article I focus on within-basin (autocyclic) Since the first International Symposium on Fluvial SedimentologY was in October 1977, there have been at least six Other major symposia that have been defluvial sedimentary controls and facies models in an attempt (made at the editors’ suggestion) to bring this part of voted partly or entirely to fluvial deposits. These events are listed below with references to the resulting publications: the subject up to date. Has all this activity gotten us anywhere? Are we any fur-
In vitro experimental infection of primary duck hepatocyte cultures with duck hepatitis B virus

Duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) obtained from the serum of congenitally infected ducks was used to infect primary duck hepatocyte cultures 1 to 4 days after plating. Virus replication was demonstrated by the appearance, beginning at 2 days after infection, of intracellular covalently closed-circular and single-stranded DHBV DNA replicative intermediates which were not present in the inoculating virus preparation. With increasing time after infection there was further amplification of intracellular relaxed circular, covalently closed-circular, and single-stranded DHBV DNA. Cultures of primary duck hepatocytes are competent for infection with DHBV only during the first 4 days of culture. Synthesis of DHBV core antigen and DHBV surface antigen was detected by immunofluorescence in 10% of the hepatocytes in culture. De novo synthesis and release of infectious virus was also demonstrated. Therefore, all stages of viral replication were carried out by these experimentally infected primary hepatocyte cultures. This system makes it possible to study DHBV replication in vitro.
Ergodic Capacity Analysis of Amplify-and-Forward MIMO Dual-Hop Systems

This paper presents an analytical characterization of the ergodic capacity of amplify-and-forward (AF) MIMO dual-hop relay channels, assuming that the channel state information is available at the destination terminal only. In contrast to prior results, our expressions apply for arbitrary numbers of antennas and arbitrary relay configurations. We derive an expression for the exact ergodic capacity, simplified closed-form expressions for the high SNR regime, and tight closed-form upper and lower bounds. These results are made possible by employing recent tools from finite-dimensional random matrix theory, which are used to derive new closed-form expressions for various statistical properties of the equivalent AF MIMO dual-hop relay channel, such as the distribution of an unordered eigenvalue and certain random determinant properties. Based on the analytical capacity expressions, we investigate the impact of the system and channel characteristics, such as the antenna configuration and the relay power gain. We also demonstrate a number of interesting relationships between the dual-hop AF MIMO relay channel and conventional point-to-point MIMO channels in various asymptotic regimes.
Top-k computations in MapReduce: A case study on recommendations

Top-k is a well-studied problem in the literature, due to its wide spectrum of applications, like information retrieval, database querying, Web search and data mining. In the big data era, the volume of the data and their velocity, call for efficient parallel solutions that overcome the restricted resources of a single machine. Our motivating application is recommenders, which typically deal with big numbers of users and items, but other applications might benefit as well, like keyword search. In this paper, we propose a parallel top-k MapReduce algorithm that, unlike existing MapReduce solutions, manages to handle cases in which the k results do not fit in memory.
Clave pictórica de las especies de Diaphania Hübner, 1818 (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) de Venezuela

Se presenta una clave pictorica para las 38 especies de Diaphania HA¼bner que hasta ahora se conocen para Venezuela, las cuales representan el 43,2% del total de especies de este genero. Las especies estudiadas fueron: D. albianalis (Hampson, 1918), D. albicincta (Hampson, 1899), D. argealis (Walker, 1859), D. arguta (Lederer, 1863), D. aroalis (Schaus, 1920), D. beckeri Clavijo y Munroe 1996, D. clavata (Hampson, 1912), D. contactalis (Dognin, 1903), D. culminalis (Schaus, 1924), D. elegans (MA¶schler, 1890), D. eumeusalis (Walker, 1859), D. euryzonalis (Hampson, 1912), D. exclusalis (Walker, [1866]), D. fuligalis (Schaus, 1912), D. fumosalis (Guenee, 1854), D. fuscicaudalis (MA¶schler, 1881), D. guenealis (Snellen, 1875), D. hemicitralis (Hampson, 1912), D. hyalinata (Linnaeus, 1767), D. indica (Saunder, 1851), D. infimalis (Guenee, 1854), D. latilimbalis (Guenee, 1854), D. lucidalis (HA¼bner, 1823), D. magdalenae (Hampson, 1899), D. mirabilis (Druce, 1902), D. monothyralis (Hampson, 1918), D. nigricilialis (Schaus, 1912), D. nitidalis (Cramer, 1781), D. oeditornalis (Hampson, 1912), D. oleosalis (Snellen, 1875), D. orthozonalis (Hampson, 1912), D. plumbidorsalis (Guenee, 1854), D. praxialis (Druce, 1895), D. purpurea (Hampson, 1912), D. superalis (Guenee, 1854), D. subtilalis Amsel, 1954, D. taenialis (Dognin, 1905) y D. translucidalis (Guenee, 1854). La clave funciona indistintamente para ambos sexos.
Adaptive Fusion of Speech and Lip Information for Robust Speaker Identification

Abstract Wark, T. , and Sridharan, S. , Adaptive Fusion of Speech and Lip Information for Robust Speaker Identification, Digital Signal Processing 11 (2001) 169–186 This paper compares techniques for asynchronous fusion of speech and lip information for robust speaker identification. In any fusion system, the ultimate challenge is to determine the optimal way to combine all information sources under varying conditions. We propose a new method for estimating confidence levels to allow intelligent fusion of the audio and visual data. We describe a secondary classification system, where secondary classifiers are used to give approximations for the estimation errors of outputs likelihoods from primary classifiers. The error estimates are combined with a dispersion measure technique allowing an adaptive fusion strategy based on the level of data degradation at the time of testing. We compare the performance of this fusion system with two other approaches to linear fusion and show that the use of secondary classifiers is an effective technique for improving classification performance. Identification experiments are performed on the M2VTS multimodal database , with encouraging results.
Seismotectonics of the 2008 and 2009 Qaidam Earthquakes and its Implication for Regional Tectonics

Three magnitude >6 earthquakes struck Qaidam, Qinghai province, China, in November 10th 2008, August 28th and 31st 2009 respectively. The Zongwulongshan fault has often been designated as the active seismogenic structure, although it is at odd with the data. Our continuous GPS station (CGPS), the Xiao Qaidam station, located in the north of the Qaidam basin, is less than 30 km to the southwest of the 2008 earthquake. This CGPS station recorded the near field co‐seismic deformation. Here we analyzed the co‐seismic dislocation based on the GPS time series and the rupture processes from focal mechanism for the three earthquakes. The aftershocks were relocated to constrain the spatial characteristics of the 2008 and 2009 Qaidam earthquakes. Field geological and geomorphological investigation and interpretation of satellite images show that the Xitieshan fault and Zongwulongshan fault were activated as left lateral thrust during the late Quaternary. Evidence of folding can also be identified. Integrated analyses based on our data and the regional tectonic environment show that the Xitieshan fault is the fault responsible for the 2008 Qaidam earthquake, which is a low dip angle thrust with left lateral strike slip. The Zongwulongshan fault is the seismogenic fault of the 2009 earthquakes, which is a south dipping back thrust of the northern marginal thrust system of the Qaidam basin. Folding takes a significant part of the deformation in the northern marginal thrust system of the Qaidam basin, dominating the contemporary structure style of the northern margin of the Qaidam basin and Qilianshan tectonic system. In this region, this fault and fold system dominates the earthquake activities with frequent small magnitude earthquakes.
Application of 2-Trichloromethylbenzimidazole in Analytical Chemistry: A Highly Selective Chromogenic Reagent for Thin-Layer Chromatography and Some Other Analytical Uses

2-Trichloromethylbenzimidazole (TCMB) was used as a chromogenic reagent in organic or inorganic analysis, mainly in thin-layer chromatography (TLC). In reactions of TCMB with some heteroaromatic nitrogen containing compounds, such as azines, azoles and benzazoles, a formation of high colored products occurred. For azines, the chromogenic reaction was highly regioselective, since the both adjacent α-positions versus the nitrogen atom(s) must not be substituted. A TLC method of detection was developed. Thirty azines, azoles, and benzazoles were detected at the detection limit 10 ng to 1 μg. This method was also applied for detection of heteroaromatic pesticides, and the attempts to construct active and passive dosimeters for nicotine were made. In a prechromatographic reaction of aromatic o-diamines with methyl trichloroacetimidate, TCMB or its derivatives were formed in situ. Followed by TLC and visualization in pyridine vapors, this procedure was applied for detection of o-phenylenediamine derivatives. The reaction product of TCMB and pyridine (LI Complex) was identified and fully characterized. Two different reaction mechanisms: with electron deficient basic heteroaromatic compounds, like pyridine, and with more acidic compounds, for example, pyrrole, were discussed. In aqueous solutions, the LI Complex may be also used as a new indicator for complexometric, adsorption and acid-base titration of inorganic compounds.
cBathy: A robust algorithm for estimating nearshore bathymetry

[1] A three-part algorithm is described and tested to provide robust bathymetry maps based solely on long time series observations of surface wave motions. The first phase consists of frequency-dependent characterization of the wave field in which dominant frequencies are estimated by Fourier transform while corresponding wave numbers are derived from spatial gradients in cross-spectral phase over analysis tiles that can be small, allowing high-spatial resolution. Coherent spatial structures at each frequency are extracted by frequency-dependent empirical orthogonal function (EOF). In phase two, depths are found that best fit weighted sets of frequency-wave number pairs. These are subsequently smoothed in time in phase 3 using a Kalman filter that fills gaps in coverage and objectively averages new estimates of variable quality with prior estimates. Objective confidence intervals are returned. Tests at Duck, NC, using 16 surveys collected over 2 years showed a bias and root-mean-square (RMS) error of 0.19 and 0.51 m, respectively but were largest near the offshore limits of analysis (roughly 500 m from the camera) and near the steep shoreline where analysis tiles mix information from waves, swash and static dry sand. Performance was excellent for small waves but degraded somewhat with increasing wave height. Sand bars and their small-scale alongshore variability were well resolved. A single ground truth survey from a dissipative, low-sloping beach (Agate Beach, OR) showed similar errors over a region that extended several kilometers from the camera and reached depths of 14 m. Vector wave number estimates can also be incorporated into data assimilation models of nearshore dynamics.
Transport modeling in the environment using the discrete-parcel-random-walk approach

When formulating a mathematical model for simulating transport processes in the environment, the system of interest can be viewed as a continuum of matter and energy or as a large set of small discrete parcels of mass and energy. The latter approach is used in the formulation of the Discrete-Parcel-Random-Walk (DPRW) Transport Model. Each parcel has associated with it a set of spatial coordinates as well as a set of discrete quantities of mass and energy. A parcel's movement is assumed to be independent of any other parcel in the system. A Lagrangian scheme is used for computing the parcel advection and a Markov random walk concept is used for simulating the parcel diffusion and dispersion. The DPRW technique is not subject to numerical dispersion and it can be applied to three-dimensional cases with only a linear increase in computation time. A wide variety of complex source/sink terms can be included in the model with relative ease. Examples of the model's application in the areas of oil spill drift forecasting, coastal power plant effluent analysis, and solute transport in groundwater systems are presented.