Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tectonic controls on tholeiitic and calc-alkaline magmatism in the Aleutian Arc

The tectonic position of Aleutian arc volcanic centers and their magmatic differentiation trends (calc-alkaline or tholeiitic) appear to correlate. From 160°W to 175°E, the volcanoes form four major arc segments that coincide with earthquake aftershock zones and major geographic features on both the upper and lower plates. The tholeiitic volcanoes are large, primarily basaltic centers that occur between or at the end of segments where magmas can more easily reach the surface and undergo shallow, closed system differentiation. The calc-alkaline volcanoes are smaller, more andesitic centers that occur in the middle of segments where transit through the upper plate is apparently more difficult. Differentiation is deeper and the intrusive to extrusive ratios are higher than in the tholeiitic centers. The chemistry of the least differentiated basalts at both types of centers is similar and suggests a common parent magma, probably derived from mantle peridotite. Conditions for the derivation of the two trends through crystal fractionation support the proposed model. The tholeiitic magmas show characteristics (i.e., no hydrous phenocrysts, Fe enrichment trend, parallel REE patterns, vitrophyric and esites and dacites) consistent with low-pressure, high-temperature crystallization in large shallow magma chambers. The calc-alkaline magmas show characteristics (i.e., some hydrous phenocrysts, no Fe enrichment trend, nonparallel rare earth patterns, porphyritic lavas) consistent with higher pressure and lower temperature of crystallization than the tholeiitic series. Tertiary plutons also show both calc-alkaline and tholeiitic trends and appear to be chemically similar to the Quaternary volcanoes. The larger plutons are calc-alkaline and probably represent the extensive (1002 km ) magma chambers of the small calc-alkaline volcanoes. The small, shallow tholeiitic plutons complement the large tholeiitic volcanoes and reflect the greater percent of extrusive rocks in the tholeiitic series.
Separating Substrate Recognition from Base Hydrolysis in Human Thymine DNA Glycosylase by Mutational Analysis*

Human thymine DNA glycosylase (TDG) was discovered as an enzyme that can initiate base excision repair at sites of 5-methylcytosine- or cytosine deamination in DNA by its ability to release thymine or uracil from G·T and G·U mismatches. Crystal structure analysis of an Escherichia coli homologue identified conserved amino acid residues that are critical for its substrate recognition/interaction and base hydrolysis functions. Guided by this revelation, we performed a mutational study of structure function relationships with the human TDG. Substitution of the postulated catalytic site asparagine with alanine (N140A) resulted in an enzyme that bound mismatched substrates but was unable to catalyze base removal. Mutation of Met-269 in a motif with a postulated role in protein-substrate interaction selectively inactivated stable binding of the enzyme to mismatched substrates but not so its glycosylase activity. These results establish that the structure function model postulated for the E. coli enzyme is largely applicable to the human TDG. We further provide evidence for G·U being the preferred substrate of TDG, not only at the mismatch recognition step of the reaction but also in base hydrolysis, and for the importance of stable complementary strand interactions by TDG to compensate for its comparably poor hydrolytic potential.
An Implemented Model of Punning Riddles

In this paper, we discuss a model of simple question-answer punning, implemented in a program, JAPE-1, which generates riddles from humour-independent lexical entries. The model uses two main types of structure: schemata, which determine the relationships between key words in a joke, and templates, which produce the surface form of the joke. JAPE-1 succeeds in generating pieces of text that are recognizably jokes, but some of them are not very good jokes. We mention some potential improvements and extensions, including post—production heuristics for ordering the jokes according to quality.
Improving the Efficiency of Timing Simulation of Digital Circuits

Meeting timing requirements is an important constraint imposed on highly integrated circuits, and the verification of timing of a circuit before manufacturing is one of the critical tasks to be solved by CAD tools. In this paper, a new approach and the implementation of several algorithms to speed up gate-level timing simulation are proposed where, instead of gate delays, path delays for tree-like subcircuits (macros) are used. Therefore timing waveforms are calculated not for all internal nodes of the gate-level circuit but only for outputs of macros. The macros are represented by structurally synthesized binary decision diagrams (SSBDD) which enable a fast computation of delays for macros. The new approach to speed up the timing simulation is supported by encouraging experimental results.
NDT-Suite: A Methodological Tool Solution in the Model-Driven Engineering Paradigm

Although the Model-Driven paradigm is being accepted in the research environment as a very useful and powerful option for effective software development, its real application in the enterprise context is still a challenge for software engineering. Several causes can be stacked out, but one of them can be the lack of tool support for the efficient application of this paradigm. This paper presents a set of tools, grouped in a suite named NDT-Suite, which under the Model-Driven paradigm offer a suitable solution for software development. These tools explore different options that this paradigm can improve such as, development, quality assurance or requirement treatment. Besides, this paper analyses how they are being successfully applied in the industry.
Vaccination with Heat-killed Leishmania Antigen or Recombinant Leishmanial Protein and CpG Oligodeoxynucleotides Induces Long-Term Memory CD4+and CD8+T Cell Responses and Protection Against Leishmania major Infection

CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) have potent effects on innate and adaptive cellular immune responses. In this report, the ability of CpG ODN to confer long-term immunity and protection when used as a vaccine adjuvant with a clinical grade of leishmanial antigen, autoclaved Leishmania major (ALM), or a recombinant leishmanial protein was studied. In two different mouse models of L. major infection, vaccination with ALM plus CpG ODN was able to control infection and markedly reduce lesion development in susceptible BALB/c and resistant C57BL/6 (B6) mice, respectively, up to 12 wk after immunization. Moreover, B6 mice immunized with ALM plus CpG ODNs were still protected against infectious challenge even 6 mo after vaccination. In terms of immune correlates of protection, ALM plus CpG ODN-vaccinated mice displayed L. major–specific T helper cell 1 and CD8+ responses. In addition, complete protection was markedly abrogated in mice depleted of CD8+ T cells at the time of vaccination. Similarly, mice vaccinated with a recombinant leishmanial protein plus CpG ODN also had long-term protection that was dependent on CD8+ T cells in vivo. Together, these data demonstrate that CpG ODN, when used as a vaccine adjuvant with either a recombinant protein or heat-killed leishmanial antigen, can induce long-term protection against an intracellular infection in a CD8-dependent manner.
Magnetic properties and secular variation in cores from Yellowstone and Jackson Lakes, Wyoming

Routine measurements of remanent magnetization in 13 cores from Yellowstone and Jackson lakes in northwestern Wyoming have yielded a tentative curve of inclination for the past 3000 years. There is general agreement of magnetic inclination among several cores in both lakes, archeomagnetic data, and the directly observed modern sedimentation rate in Jackson Lake. However, declination plots are not correlatable. Remanent intensity systematically decreases with depth in most cores. Intensity and coercivity vary more from core to core than with depth. Water content is very high, up to 90% by volume even at the bottom of the cores. This circumstance may account for the high degree of scatter in the remanent directions. Substantial systematic changes of remanence were observed after allowing samples to dry.
Optimal cue selection strategy

Survival in the natural world demands the selection of relevant visual cues to rapidly and reliably guide attention towards prey and predators in cluttered environments. We investigate whether our visual system selects cues that guide search in an optimal manner. We formally obtain the optimal cue selection strategy by maximizing the signal to noise ratio (SNR) between a search target and surrounding distractors. This optimal strategy successfully accounts for several phenomena in visual search behavior, including the effect of target-distractor discriminability, uncertainty in target's features, distractor heterogeneity, and linear separability. Furthermore, the theory generates a new prediction, which we verify through psychophysical experiments with human subjects. Our results provide direct experimental evidence that humans select visual cues so as to maximize S N R between the targets and surrounding clutter.
The virtual source method: Theory and case study

We present a way to image through complex overburden. The method uses surface shots with downhole receivers placed below the most complex part of the troublesome overburden. No knowledge of the velocity model between shots and receivers is required. The method uses time-reversal logic to create a new downward-continued data set with virtual sources (VS's) at the geophone locations. Time reversal focuses energy that passes through the overburden into useful primary energy for the VS. In contrast to physical acoustics, our time reversal is done on a computer, utilizing conventional acquisition with surface shots and downhole geophones. With this approach, we can image below extremely complex (realistic) overburden — in fact, the more complex the better. We recast the data to those with sources where we actually know and can control the waveform that has a downward-radiation pattern that may also be controlled, and is reproducible for 4D even if the near-surface changes or the shooting geometry is altered sl.
Wax Microchannels in the Epidermis of White Clover

The application of conventional electron microscopy to the study of plant leaves and fruit readily displays the surface wax deposits, but not the wax pathways from the underlying cells. A modified freeze-etch technique shows both at the same time and indicates that wax is transported from the epidermal cells to the leaf surface in microchannels.
Developments in automated object-image registration

There is considerable activity at present in feature extraction using a knowledge based approach. Much of this work is concerned with identifying the features. In the work described in this paper the main interest is in extracting features which can be matched on an image and a map. The emphasis is on polygons which have a distinctive shape and can be extracted from vector as well as raster data. An algorithm has been developed and tested which automatically matches forest areas on a map with forest areas on and image in two dimensions. This algorithm is being developed for more general use so that the problem of image to map registration can be automated in a general way. Results are given on the use of the algorithm to identify changes in forestry from Landsat Thematic Mapper data and developments which can match buildings on high resolution satellite imagery are reported. An overall strategy for full automation is presented and discussed and future developments considered.
Functional Olfactory Sensory Neurons Housed in Olfactory Sensilla on the Ovipositor of the Hawkmoth Manduca sexta

Olfactory systems evolved to detect and identify volatile chemical cues, in many cases across great distances. However, the precision of copulatory and oviposition behaviors suggest that they may be guided by olfactory cues detected by sensory systems located on or near the ovipositor. Here we present evidence of a small number of functional olfactory sensilla on the ovipositor of the hawkmoth Manduca sexta. Gene expression analysis of isolated ovipositor tissue indicated active transcription of gustatory and both classes of olfactory receptor genes. Expression of the olfactory co-receptor ORCo and the antennal ionotropic co-receptors IR8a and IR25a suggests that functional olfactory proteins may be present in the sensory structures located on the ovipositor. Scanning electron microscopy identified five to nine porous sensilla on each of the anal papillae of the ovipositor. Furthermore, HRP immunostaining indicated that these sensilla are innervated by the dendrite-like structures from multiple neurons. Finally, we functionally characterized neural responses in these sensilla using single sensillum recordings. Stimulation with a panel of 142 monomolecular odorants revealed that these sensilla indeed house functional olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs). While it remains to be determined what role these chemosensory sensilla play in odor and gustatory guided behaviors, our data clearly demonstrate an olfactory function for neurons present in M. sexta ovipositor sensilla.
Dependability in Aggregation by Averaging

Aggregation is an important building block of modern distributed applications, allowing the determination of meaningful properties (e.g. network size, total storage capacity, average load, majorities, etc.) that are used to direct the execution of the system. In the recent years, several approaches have been proposed to compute aggregation functions on distributed settings, exhibiting different characteristics, in terms of accuracy, time and communication complexity. However, the majority of the existing aggregation algorithms exhibit relevant dependability issues, when prospecting their use in real application environments. In this paper, we reveal some dependability issues of aggregation algorithms based on iterative averaging techniques, giving some directions to solve them. This class of algorithms is considered robust (when compared to common tree-based approaches), being independent from the used routing topology and providing an aggregation result at all nodes. However, their robustness is strongly challenged and their correctness often compromised, when changing the assumptions of their working environment to more realistic ones. The correctness of this class of algorithms relies on the maintenance of a fundamental invariant, commonly designated as mass conservation. We will argue that this main invariant is often broken in practical settings, and that additional mechanisms and modifications are required to maintain it, incurring in some degradation of the algorithms performance. In particular, we discuss the behavior of three representative algorithms (Push-Sum Protocol [1], PushPull Gossip protocol [2] and Distributed Random Grouping [3]) under asynchronous and faulty (with message loss and node crashes) environments. More specifically, we propose and evaluate two new versions of the Push-Pull Gossip protocol, which solve its message interleaving problem (evidenced even in a synchronous operation mode).
Digital Arithmetic

Digital arithmetic plays an important role in the design of general-purpose digital processors and of embedded systems for signal processing, graphics, and communications. In spite of a mature body of knowledge in digital arithmetic, each new generation of processors or digital systems creates new arithmetic design problems. Designers, researchers, and graduate students will find solid solutions to these problems in this comprehensive, state-of-the-art exposition of digital arithmetic. Ercegovac and Lang, two of the field's leading experts, deliver a unified treatment of digital arithmetic, tying underlying theory to design practice in a technology-independent manner. They consistently use an algorithmic approach in defining arithmetic operations, illustrate concepts with examples of designs at the logic level, and discuss cost/performance characteristics throughout. Students and practicing designers alike will find Digital Arithmetic a definitive reference and a consistent teaching tool for developing a deep understanding of the "arithmetic style" of algorithms and designs. Guides readers to develop sound solutions, avoid known mistakes, and repeat successful design decisions. Presents comprehensive coveragefrom fundamental theories to current research trends. Written in a clear and engaging style by two masters of the field. Concludes each chapter with in-depth discussions of the key literature. Includes a full set of over 250 exercises, an on-line appendix with solutions to one-third of the exercises and 600 lecture slides
Expectation maximization applied to GMTI convoy tracking

Collectively moving ground targets are typical of a military ground situation and have to be treated as separate aggregated entities. For a long-range ground surveillance application with airborne GMTI radar we inparticular address the task of track maintenance for ground moving convoys consisting of a small number of individual vehicles. In the proposed approach the identity of the individual vehicles within the convoy is no longer stressed. Their kinematical state vectors are rather treated as internal degrees of freedom characterizing the convoy, which is considered as a collective unit. In this context, the Expectation Maximization technique (EM), originally developed for incomplete data problems in statistical inference and first applied to tracking applications by STREIT et al. seems to be a promising approach. We suggest to embed the EM algorithm into a more traditional Bayesian tracking framework for dealing with false or unwanted sensor returns. The proposed distinction between external and internal data association conflicts (i.e. those among the convoy vehicles) should also enable the application of sequential track extraction techniques introduced by Van Keuk for aircraft formations, providing estimates of the number of the individual convoy vehicles involved. Even with sophisticated signal processing methods (STAP: Space-Time Adaptive Processing), ground moving vehicles can well be masked by the sensor specific clutter notch (Doppler blinding). This physical phenomenon results in interfering fading effects, which can well last over a longer series of sensor updates and therefore will seriously affect the track quality unless properly handled. Moreover, for ground moving convoys the phenomenon of Doppler blindness often superposes the effects induced by the finite resolution capability of the sensor. In many practical cases a separate modeling of resolution phenomena for convoy targets can therefore be omitted, provided the GMTI detection model is used. As an illustration we consider the contribution of the proposed GMTI sensor model to the problem of early recognition of a stopping convoy.
Reduced Renal α-Klotho Expression in CKD Patients and Its Effect on Renal Phosphate Handling and Vitamin D Metabolism

Renal α-Klotho (α-KL) plays a fundamental role as a co-receptor for fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), a phosphaturic hormone and regulator of 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D3 (1,25VitD3). Disruption of FGF23-α-KL signaling is thought to be an early hallmark of chronic kidney disease (CKD) involving reduced renal α-KL expression and a reciprocal rise in serum FGF23. It remains unclear, however, whether the rise in FGF23 is related to the loss of renal α-KL. We evaluated α-KL expression in renal biopsy samples and measured levels of several parameters of mineral metabolism, as well as soluble α-KL (sKL), in serum and urinary samples from CKD patients (n = 236). We found that although renal α-KL levels were significantly reduced and serum FGF23 levels were significantly elevated in early and intermediate CKD, serum phosphate levels remained within the normal range. Multiple regression analysis showed that the increases in FGF23 were significantly associated with reduced renal function and elevated serum phosphate, but were not associated with loss of renal α-KL. Moreover, despite falling renal α-KL levels, the increase in FGF23 enhanced urinary fractional excretion of phosphate and reduced serum 1,25VitD3 levels in early and intermediate CKD, though not in advanced CKD. Serum sKL levels also fell significantly over the course of CKD, and renal α-KL was a significant independent determinant of sKL. These results demonstrate that FGF23 levels rise to compensate for renal failure-related phosphate retention in early and intermediate CKD. This enables FGF23-α-KL signaling and a neutral phosphate balance to be maintained despite the reduction in α-KL. In advanced CKD, however, renal α-KL declines further. This disrupts FGF23 signaling, and serum phosphate levels significantly increase, stimulating greater FGF23 secretion. Our results also suggest the serum sKL concentration may be a useful marker of renal α-KL expression levels.
Peak-to-Average Power Ratio Reduction of OFDM Signals Using PTS Scheme With Low Computational Complexity

Partial transmit sequences (PTS) is one of the most attractive schemes to reduce the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. However, the conventional PTS scheme requires an exhaustive searching over all combinations of allowed phase factors. Consequently, the computational complexity increases exponentially with the number of the subblocks. By utilizing the correlation among the candidate signals generated in PTS, a novel scheme is proposed to decrease the computational complexity. The performance analysis shows that the proposed scheme can reduce the computational complexity dramatically while achieving the same PAPR reduction compared to the conventional PTS scheme.
Imaging in genitourinary cancer from the urologists’ perspective

Abstract It is well established that advances in imaging may lead to early cancer detection, more accurate tumour staging and consequently adequate treatment, better monitoring of the disease and enhanced surveillance for recurrences after treatment. This manuscript reviews the current use of imaging in genitourinary cancer and explores the impact of imaging findings in clinical management. Additionally, an effort has been made to present the emerging imaging modalities and also their possible role in diagnosis and treatment of these cancers.