Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Abundance, Composition and Activity of Ammonia Oxidizer and Denitrifier Communities in Metal Polluted Rice Paddies from South China

While microbial nitrogen transformations in soils had been known to be affected by heavy metal pollution, changes in abundance and community structure of the mediating microbial populations had been not yet well characterized in polluted rice soils. Here, by using the prevailing molecular fingerprinting and enzyme activity assays and comparisons to adjacent non-polluted soils, we examined changes in the abundance and activity of ammonia oxidizing and denitrifying communities of rice paddies in two sites with different metal accumulation situation under long-term pollution from metal mining and smelter activities. Potential nitrifying activity was significantly reduced in polluted paddies in both sites while potential denitrifying activity reduced only in the soils with high Cu accumulation up to 1300 mg kg−1. Copy numbers of amoA (AOA and AOB genes) were lower in both polluted paddies, following the trend with the enzyme assays, whereas that of nirK was not significantly affected. Analysis of the DGGE profiles revealed a shift in the community structure of AOA, and to a lesser extent, differences in the community structure of AOB and denitrifier between soils from the two sites with different pollution intensity and metal composition. All of the retrieved AOB sequences belonged to the genus Nitrosospira, among which species Cluster 4 appeared more sensitive to metal pollution. In contrast, nirK genes were widely distributed among different bacterial genera that were represented differentially between the polluted and unpolluted paddies. This could suggest either a possible non-specific target of the primers conventionally used in soil study or complex interactions between soil properties and metal contents on the observed community and activity changes, and thus on the N transformation in the polluted rice soils.
Quantifying Dissociations in Neuropsychological Research

Double dissociations play an important role in neuropsychology, but they are often identified through subjective estimates of “high” versus “low” performance, without considering the probability that such an outcome might have occurred by chance. To determine whether two measures “come apart” in an interesting way in brain-damaged patients, it is important to know the degree to which variance in one measure can be predicted by variance in the other. This study introduces a statistical procedure to determine the probability of a double dissociation when the correlation between measures is taken into account. Different quantitative definitions of dissociations were compared in two large samples of neurological patients, and applied to four pairs of measures (two for language, two for hemispatial neglect) with different degrees of intercorrelation (ranging from +.21 to +.84). If the correlation between measures is not taken into account, large numbers of dissociated cases may be missed, especially for measures that are highly correlated. There are also qualitative differences between methods in the identity of those individuals who meet each definition.
Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology Practical Development and Deployment of Covert Communication in Ipv4

Steganography is the science of hiding information or transmitting secret messages in a given host carrier for the purpose of enhancing value through undetectable covers. The paper focuses on the existent methods used with ipv4 and studies the various algorithms. Transfer of data over the internet crosses the different layers of the TCP and IP protocols. Each layer has its own characteristics, which indicate the scenarios in which it can best be used. Information can be hidden in the transport and network layers by usage of optional fields, semantic changes, and improper but acceptable construction of protocol data units (packets). Protocol steganography is the scheme to bypass the firewall. The TCP/IP has the following hidden channels namely the manipulation of HTML, XML, HTTP, UDP, TCP, IP, ICMP, Ethernet (CSMA/CD) in the four layers respectively.
Goal Sketching: Towards Agile Requirements Engineering

This paper describes a technique that can be used as part of a simple and practical agile method for requirements engineering. The technique can be used together with Agile Programming to develop software in internet time. We illustrate the technique and introduce lazy refinement, responsibility composition and context sketching. Goal sketching has been used in a number of real-world development projects, one of which is described here.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

T his paper makes an important contribution to the debate on the potential gains from further global trade liberalization under the proposed World Trade Organization's (WTO) round of negotiations, WTO2000. We know from the Uruguay Round (UR) that the results of applied general equilibrium (AGE) simulations can influence the stance of negotiators. Likewise, the potential for results (such as these) to have a similar impact on WTO2000 outcomes is enhanced by three major features. First, they are based on microconsistent projections of production, consumption trade, and trade-barriers data to 2005 (the date for completion of UR commitments). Second, these projections are based on the assumption that China will be a member of the WTO by that date. Third, the liberalization of trade in services is modeled explicitly (although, as acknowledged, imperfectly). The construction of the 2005 benchmark data from the starting point of the 1995 Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) database required the collection of data from a wide range of sources. These fall into two broad categories—growth parameters affecting production possibilities and policy variables that impact the regional and sectoral structures of production, consumption, and trade. 1 The former (endowment growth, total factor productivity growth, and natural resource depletion) result in projected gross domestic product growth rates that are broadly consistent with World Bank projections. The modeling of policy changes necessarily is more important and problematic. Of the UR outcomes directed at sectors, two—the completion of manufactures' tariff cuts and the reform of the Multifiber Arrangement (MFA)—are reasonably easy to incorporate. The others, concerning agriculture and services, are more problematic. In both cases it has been assumed that there will be no effective changes in protection between 1995 and 2005. 2 Several of the structural changes indicated by the 2005 projections are striking. In particular, the developing countries grow quickly, as a consequence of reductions in manufactures' tariffs and MFA reform, and they also become more outward-oriented in manufactures, with " South-South " trade substantially larger. The liberalization scenarios chosen are complete liberalization in isolation of each of the three main categories (manufactures, agriculture, and services) and the combination of these three. It is not surprising—and broadly consistent with liberalization simulations carried out using the 1995 GTAP database—that while there is greater pro-rata expansion in manufacturing trade than agriculture, the majority of the global welfare gains result from the removal of the highly distortionary agricultural policies. In both cases, …
Hybrid Co-scheduling Optimizations for Concurrent Applications in Virtualized Environments

Concurrent applications in virtualized environments (VE) encounter synchronization problems such as Lock Holder Preemption (LHP). Hybrid co-scheduling is an effective approach to address such problems. However, the contention and exclusiveness between multiple concurrent domains in hybrid co-scheduling cause a serious performance degradation and unfairness. To keep the benefits brought by hybrid co-scheduling for multiple concurrent domains in VE, we propose two optimization schemes named Partial Co-Scheduling (PCS) and Boost Co-Scheduling (BCS) using finer space granularity. Instead of raising co-scheduling signals for all online CPUs, PCS scheme raises the co-scheduling signals only for the indispensable CPUs, while the rest CPUs are untouched. BCS scheme boosts the priorities for co-scheduled virtual CPUs (VCPUs) to induce the scheduler to pick the appropriate VCPUs. We implement both PCS and BCS into Credit Scheduler in Xen 4.0. 1 and evaluate their performance compared with original hybrid co-scheduling and co-descheduling under different scenarios. The experimental results show that our proposals effectively alleviate the CPU run-time contention and achieve better performance and fairness compared to traditional hybrid co-scheduling.
Twisted Gastrulation, a BMP Antagonist, Exacerbates Podocyte Injury

Podocyte injury is the first step in the progression of glomerulosclerosis. Previous studies have demonstrated the beneficial effect of bone morphogenetic protein 7 (Bmp7) in podocyte injury and the existence of native Bmp signaling in podocytes. Local activity of Bmp7 is controlled by cell-type specific Bmp antagonists, which inhibit the binding of Bmp7 to its receptors. Here we show that the product of Twisted gastrulation (Twsg1), a Bmp antagonist, is the central negative regulator of Bmp function in podocytes and that Twsg1 null mice are resistant to podocyte injury. Twsg1 was the most abundant Bmp antagonist in murine cultured podocytes. The administration of Bmp induced podocyte differentiation through Smad signaling, whereas the simultaneous administration of Twsg1 antagonized the effect. The administration of Bmp also inhibited podocyte proliferation, whereas simultaneous administration of Twsg1 antagonized the effect. Twsg1 was expressed in the glomerular parietal cells (PECs) and distal nephron of the healthy kidney, and additionally in damaged glomerular cells in a murine model of podocyte injury. Twsg1 null mice exhibited milder hypoalbuminemia and hyperlipidemia, and milder histological changes while maintaining the expression of podocyte markers during podocyte injury model. Taken together, our results show that Twsg1 plays a critical role in the modulation of protective action of Bmp7 on podocytes, and that inhibition of Twsg1 is a promising means of development of novel treatment for podocyte injury.
A prototype scanning system for optimal edging and trimming of rough hardwood lumber

This paper is concerned with scanning and assessment of hardwood lumber early in the manufacturing process. Scanning operations that take place immediately after the headrig have significantly greater potential to reduce loss and improve economic value, as compared to scanning that is performed during subsequent manufacturing steps. In spite of this, the scanning of green, unplaned lumber has received relatively little attention in the research community. Part of the reason for this is that image capture and analysis are more difficult when fibrous structures and debris are present near the surface of the wood. This paper describes a prototype system that addresses this problem. The system, which automatically provides an optimal edging and trimming solution along with resulting lumber grades, has been has been developed and tested for use with unplaned hardwood lumber that is still in the green state. The system obtains thickness (profile) and reflectance information at 1/16-inch (1.6-mm) resolution, using commercially available laser sources and a video camera. It analyzes the resulting images to detect wane and important lumber-degrading defects. Wane boundaries are detected with 3/16-inch (5-mm) error on average, and a modular artificial neural network is used to locate clear wood, knots, and decay. Using this surface information for each board, the system then automatically finds optimal solutions for placement of cuts to yield maximum commercial value based on current market prices.
Building Social Digital Libraries Microsoft's Virtual Worlds Platform

In parallel, economic, organizational, and societal pressures, as well as the desire to reach shared goals more efficiently and effectively, are driving an increase in collaborative research. Research collaborations frequently occur among participants separated by temporal, geographical, organizational, disciplinary, and cultural boundaries. Increasingly complex collaborative projects focus attention on the question of how to enable researchers to more easily share expertise [2].
Simultaneous Human detection and action recognition employing 2DPCA-HOG

In this paper a novel algorithm for Human detection and action recognition in videos is presented. The algorithm is based on Two-Dimensional Principal Components Analysis (2DPCA) applied to Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG). Due to simultaneous Human detection and action recognition employing the same algorithm, the computational complexity is reduced to a great deal. Experimental results applied to public datasets confirm these excellent properties compared to most recent methods.
Discovery and application of check constraints in DB2

The traditional role of integrity constraints is to protect the integrity of data, but integrity constraints can and do play other roles in databases; for example, they can be used for query optimization. In this role, they do not need to model the domain; it is sufficient that they describe regularities that are true about the data currently stored in a database. In this paper, we describe two algorithms for finding such regularities (in the syntactic form of check constraints) and discuss some of their applications in DB2. In particular, we show their use in query optimization.
Anal cancer incidence and mortality in Puerto Rico.

OBJECTIVE Anal cancer is a rare tumor that is associated with oncogenic HPV genotypes. This study aims to compare the age-standardized rates (ASRs) of anal cancer incidence and mortality in men and women living in Puerto Rico (PR) with those of non-Hispanic whites (NHW), non-Hispanic blacks (NHB), and Hispanics (USH) living in the continental United States (US). METHODS ASRs were calculated based on cancer data that came from the PR Cancer Central Registry and from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program. The age-specific relative risks (RR) and 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI) were estimated using Poisson regression models. RESULTS Comparing the period of 2001 to 2004 to that of 1992 to 1996, the incidence of anal cancer increased among NHW, NHB, and PR men. In females, an increase in the incidence was observed for all racial groups except for Puerto Rican women. When evaluating findings by age groups, Puerto Rican men younger than 60 years old had a 20% higher incidence of anal cancer than did USH men of the same age strata (RR: 2.20; 95% CI = 1.48-3.29). However, Puerto Rican females had a lower incidence of anal cancer than NHW and NHB women. An increased percent change in mortality was observed only in NHW and NHB men. A decreasing trend was observed in all racial/ethnic groups except for NHW women. CONCLUSION Our results support the notion that there are racial/ethnic differences in anal cancer incidence and mortality, with potential disparities among men and women in PR compared with USH men and women. Given the increasing incidence trends in anal cancer, particularly among PR, NHW, and NHB men, further investigation is needed to better elucidate screening practices that can aid in the prevention of anal cancer.
Verifying Massively Data Parallel Multi-Stage Computations

Data parallel, multi-stage computations occurring on a massive scale are difficult to verify. With the recent advent of various parallel computing platforms [2, 4], and the resultant increased availability and accessibility of significant computational resources at a relatively economical price, more and more users are going to take advantage of the computational resources offered by the cloud [1]. It is also natural to assume that users are going to want some level of assurance about the correctness of the results of their computation. We attempt to form a generalized data flow model which captures the semantics of such massively parallel systems. We introduce a verification mechanism which is based on collecting commitments to the input and output data at each stage of the computation and then redundantly computing the results of a small subset computations in that stage. This verification mechanism is compatible with our generalized model and could be adapted to a variety of platforms, including Dryad and Map/Reduce.
Pavement image enhancement based on scale evaluation using nonsubsampled contourlet coefficients

This paper describes a scale evaluation method using nonsubsampled contourlet transform and its application in pavement image enhancement for crack detection. Crack in some scales is much more visible than in others, so a method for scale evaluation is given, and different gains are delivered to each scale for enhancement after scale evaluation. In the first step, noise threshold is computed by noise estimation. And then, sub-groups with 64×64 pixels are divided from the full image at each scale, and group direction variances of these sub-groups are computed for scale evaluation. At last, enhancing process at different scales are taken with gains obtained from scale evaluation. Experiment results show a promising use of the presented method for pavement image enhancement.
Community Perspectives on Access to and Availability of Healthy Food in Rural, Low-Resource, Latino Communities

Introduction Attention has focused on the food environment as a result of the growing concern with obesity rates among Latinos in rural areas. Researchers have observed associations between a lack of physical access to affordable produce in areas where supermarkets and grocery stores are limited and poor dietary intake and obesity; these associations are high in rural, low-resource neighborhoods with a high population of Latino residents. We aimed to engage residents of low-resource, Latino-majority neighborhoods in discussions of food access in a rural yet agricultural community setting, which is typically described as a “food desert. ” Methods We used a mixed-methods approach and conducted 3 focus groups (n = 20) and in-depth interviews (n = 59) and surveys (n = 79) with residents of a rural yet agricultural community. We used thematic analysis to explore residents’ perceptions of access to healthy foods. Results Residents (n = 79; mean age, 41.6 y; 72% female; 79% Latino; 53% Spanish-speaking) reported that dollar and discount stores in this agricultural area provided access to produce; however, produce at retail stores was less affordable than produce at nonretail outlets such as fruit and vegetable stands. Gifts and trades of fruits and vegetables from neighbors and community organizations supplied no-cost or low-cost healthy foods. Residents’ suggestions to improve food access centered on lowering the cost of produce in existing retail outlets and seeking out nonretail outlets. Conclusion Our findings contribute to understanding of the food environment in low-resource, rural yet agricultural areas. Although such areas are characterized as “food deserts,” residents identified nonretail outlets as a viable source of affordable produce, while indicating that the cost of retail produce was a concern. Innovative policy solutions to increase healthy food consumption must focus on affordability as well as accessibility, and consider alternate, nonretail food outlets in agricultural areas.
A High-Performance CMOS Voltage-Controlled Oscillator for Ultra-Low-Voltage Operations

In this paper, a novel circuit topology of voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) suitable for ultra-low-voltage operations is presented. By utilizing the capacitive feedback and the forward-body-bias (FBB) technique, the proposed VCO can operate at reduced supply voltage and power consumption while maintaining remarkable circuit performance in terms of phase noise, tuning range, and output swing. Using a standard 0.18-mum CMOS process, a 5.6-GHz VCO is designed and fabricated for demonstration. Consuming a dc power of 3 mW from a 0.6-V supply voltage, the VCO exhibits a frequency tuning range of 8.1% and a phase noise of -118 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset frequency. With an FBB for the cross-coupled transistors, the fabricated circuit can operate at a supply voltage as low as 0.4 V. The measured tuning range and phase noise are 6.4% and -114 dBc/Hz, respectively
BRIDGE HEIGHT ESTIMATION FROM COMBINED HIGH-RESOLUTION OPTICAL AND SAR IMAGERY

Today’s airborne (Memphis, AeS-1, Ramses) and space borne (TerraSAR-X, CosmoSkyMed, Radarsat) SAR sensors provide very high resolution imagery independent of daylight and cloud coverage. Space borne systems achieve geometrical resolutions of down to one meter while airborne sensors are capable of acquiring images with sub metric resolution. In this kind of data, urban objects like buildings and bridges become visible in much detail. However, due to the side-looking SAR sensor principle, layover and occlusion hamper the interpretation particularly in urban scenes. One possibility to overcome this drawback is the use of additional information from high resolution optical imagery. In this paper, first findings of a long term project using both optical and SAR imagery for the modelling and extraction of bridges are presented. The focus is on bridges because they play a key role as connecting parts of man-made infrastructure and are of high importance in case of rapid natural hazard response. Differences between bridges over water and bridges over land are explained. Furthermore, concepts for estimating bridge heights from of a single SAR image and by means of combined optical and SAR imagery are derived. * Corresponding author
How does Interest in a Work Task Impact Search Behavior and Engagement?

One goal of using simulated work tasks in interactive information retrieval (IIR) experiments is to create a more relevant and interesting search experience for study participants. However, there is not much guidance about how to identify interesting tasks or how interest in a task impacts search behaviors and experiences, which is the purpose of this study. In this study, we created eight work tasks and asked forty participants to rank these tasks from most interesting to least interesting before they came into the lab for an IIR experiment. During the experiment, we asked participants to conduct searches for the two tasks they ranked as most interesting and the two they ranked as least interesting. Participants completed pre- and post-search questionnaires to characterize their interests in the tasks and their search experiences, including engagement. Participants rated their interest, prior knowledge and search experience, and the relevancy of interesting tasks significantly higher than uninteresting tasks. They also predicted these tasks would be significantly less difficult to complete. Participants reported significantly greater engagement with interesting tasks and they spent longer completing these tasks. However, there were no significant differences in participants' search behaviors including number of queries issued, number of SERPs, or number of documents bookmarked. These results provide evidence that our method of assigning tasks to participants that would interest and engage them, at least cognitively, if not behaviorally, was somewhat successful. This method can be used by others conducting laboratory IIR studies.