Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of small-scale variability of soil pH on the vegetation composition in a mixed hardwood stand, East-Flanders Belgium

1 Soil pH of the forest stand varies widely for the different depths and is very important in determining the forest vegetation types. Main aim of the study was to examine the correspondence between forest vegetation composition and small-scale heterogeneity in pH by several statistical methods. 2 Ordination using DCA (Detrended Correspondence Analysis) found clear distinction in the vegetation structure and pointed pH differences as the main factor explaining the variability (Eigenvalue= 0.76 for the first three axis). 3 Clustering analysis by TWINSPAN resulted into four major vegetation groups. Most of these divisions were explained by differences in pH. 4 The spatial dependence of the pH at ectorganic and top mineral layers was examined by geostatistics analysis. All variograms showed a similar well-defined structure. The structure of variograms accounted for 95 - 100 % of the spatial dependence for the pH at all depths. All variograms represented the same range of 50 m for the pH at ectorganic horizons, but the distance of 65 and 72 m was calculated respectively for the pH at 0 - 5 and 5 -15 cm depth. All variograms increased to the maximum lag over which they were calculated. 5 The raster image of pH variability resulting from Kriging interpolation coincided significantly with the raster image of vegetation composition. It was concluded that it is possible to predict the pH value based on the vegetation composition or vice versa. Predicting the vegetation type from pH value is only possible for the range of the distance of the pH variogram.
Evaporation changes over the contiguous United States and the former USSR: A reassessment

Observed decreases in pan evaporation over most of the United States and the former USSR during the post‐WWII period, if interpreted as a decrease in actual evaporation, are at odds with increases in temperature and precipitation over many regions of these two countries. Using parallel observations of actual and pan evaporation at six Russian, one Latvian, and one U.S. experimental sites, we recalibrate trends in pan evaporation to make them more representative of actual evaporation changes. After applying this transformation, pan evaporation time series over southern Russia and most of the United States reveal an increasing trend in actual evaporation during the past forty years.
Computing polygonal surfaces from unions of balls

We present a new algorithm for computing a polygonal surface from a union of balls. The method computes and connects the singular points of a given union of balls in an efficient manner to approximate the boundary. The algorithm uses the dual shape of the balls to give the resulting surface the correct topology. Our method is simple and demonstrated to be robust
FELINE IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS AND FELINE LEUKEMIA VIRUS INFECTION IN FREE-RANGING GUIGNAS (LEOPARDUS GUIGNA) AND SYMPATRIC DOMESTIC CATS IN HUMAN PERTURBED LANDSCAPES ON CHILOÉ ISLAND, CHILE

Abstract Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and feline leukemia virus (FeLV) are two of the most common viruses affecting domestic cats (Felis catus). During the last two decades, reports show that both viruses also infect or affect other species of the family Felidae. Human landscape perturbation is one of the main causes of emerging diseases in wild animals, facilitating contact and transmission of pathogens between domestic and wild animals. We investigated FIV and FeLV infection in free-ranging guignas (Leopardus guigna) and sympatric domestic cats in human perturbed landscapes on Chiloé Island, Chile. Samples from 78 domestic cats and 15 guignas were collected from 2008 to 2010 and analyzed by PCR amplification and sequencing. Two guignas and two domestic cats were positive for FIV; three guignas and 26 domestic cats were positive for FeLV. The high percentage of nucleotide identity of FIV and FeLV sequences from both species suggests possible interspecies transmission of viruses, facilitated by increased contact probability through human invasion into natural habitats, fragmentation of guigna habitat, and poultry attacks by guignas. This study enhances our knowledge on the transmission of pathogens from domestic to wild animals in the global scenario of human landscape perturbation and emerging diseases.
A non-contact vision-based system for respiratory rate estimation

A non-contact vision-based system is presented for continuous respiratory rate monitoring. The system identifies feature points in a video feed and tracks them over time. Two methods are presented for comparison - a method which uses principal component analysis (PCA) and a simple averaging approach. These methods condense the feature point trajectories into a compact set of representative signals. The signal which most closely resembles an expected respiratory trace is selected based on spectral analysis. System performance is assessed by comparing the estimated respiratory rate to the rate determined via inductance plethysmogram. The system was evaluated on 5 participants in 4 simulated sleep scenarios. Accuracies of within 1 breath/minute were achieved for more than 97% of the recorded time in all scenarios. The proposed system is accurate, cost-effective, and simple, making it a suitable candidate for at-home installation.
Efficient Memory Management for Lock-Free Data Structures with Optimistic Access

Lock-free data structures achieve high responsiveness, aid scalability, and avoid deadlocks and livelocks. But providing memory management support for such data structures without foiling their progress guarantees is difficult. Often, designers employ the hazard pointers technique, which may impose a high performance overhead. In this work we propose a novel memory management scheme for lock-free data structures called optimistic access. This scheme provides efficient support for lock-free data structures that can be presented in a normalized form. Our novel memory manager breaks the traditional memory management invariant which never lets a program touch reclaimed memory. In other words, it allows the memory manager to reclaim objects that may still be accessed later by concurrently running threads. This broken invariant provides an opportunity to obtain high parallelism with excellent performance, but it also requires a careful design. The optimistic access memory management scheme is easy to employ and we implemented it for a linked list, a hash table, and a skip list. Measurements show that it dramatically outperforms known memory reclamation methods.
Updated meta-analysis of the TP53 Arg72Pro polymorphism and gastric cancer risk.

OBJECTIVE The p53 tumor suppressor pathway plays an important role in gastric cancer (GC) development. Auto-regulatory feedback control of p53 expression is critical to maintaining proper tumor suppressor function. So far, several studies between p53 Arg72Pro polymorphism and GC have generated controversial and inconclusive results. METHODS To better assess the purported relationship, we performed a meta-analysis of 19 publications. Eligible studies were identified by searching the Pubmed database. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated to assess any link. RESULTS Overall, a significant association was detected between the p53 Arg72Pro polymorphism and GC risk (Pro-allele vs. Arg-allele: OR=1.05, 95%CI=1.01-1.08; Pro/Pro vs. Arg/Arg: OR=1.13, 95%CI=1.04-1.22). Moreover, on stratified analysis by race, significantly increased risk was found for Asian populations (Pro-allele vs. Arg-allele: OR=1.06, 95%CI=1.02-1.10; Pro/Pro vs. Arg/Arg: OR=1.16, 95%CI=1.07-1.26; Pro/Pro+Pro/Arg vs. Arg/Arg: OR=1.58, 95%CI=1.09-2.27). CONCLUSIONS Our study provided evidence that the p53 72Pro allele may increase GC risk in Asians. Future studies with larger sample size are warranted to further confirm this association in more detail.
Non-destructive estimation of wheat leaf chlorophyll content from hyperspectral measurements through analytical model inversion

Optimizing nitrogen (N) fertilization in crop production by in-season measurements of crop N status may improve fertilizer N use efficiency. Hyperspectral measurements may be used to assess crop N status indirectly by estimating leaf and canopy chlorophyll content. This study evaluated the ability of the PROSAIL canopy-level reflectance model to predict leaf chlorophyll content of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) during the growth stages between pre-tillering (Zadoks Growth Stage (ZGS 15)) to booting (ZGS50). Spring wheat was grown under different N fertility rates (0–200 kg N ha−1) in 2002. Canopy reflectance, leaf chlorophyll content, N content and leaf area index (LAI) values were measured. There was a weakly significant trend for the PROSAIL model to over-estimate LAI and under-estimate leaf chlorophyll content. To compensate for this interdependency by the model, a canopy chlorophyll content parameter (the product of leaf chlorophyll content and LAI) was calculated. The estimation accuracy for canopy chlorophyll content was generally low earlier in the growing season. This failure of the PROSAIL model to estimate leaf and canopy variables could be attributed to model sensitivity to canopy architecture. Earlier in the growing season, full canopy closure was not yet achieved, resulting in a non-homogenous canopy and strong soil background interference. The canopy chlorophyll content parameter was predicted more accurately than leaf chlorophyll content alone at booting (ZGS 45). A strong relationship between canopy chlorophyll content and canopy N content at ZGS 45 indicates that the PROSAIL model may be used as a tool to predict wheat N status from canopy reflectance measurements at booting or later.
Socioeconomic and Racial Disparities in Cancer Risk from Air Toxics in Maryland

We linked risk estimates from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) to racial and socioeconomic characteristics of census tracts in Maryland (2000 Census) to evaluate disparities in estimated cancer risk from exposure to air toxics by emission source category. In Maryland, the average estimated cancer risk across census tracts was highest from on-road sources (50% of total risk from nonbackground sources), followed by nonroad (25%), area (23%), and major sources (< 1%). Census tracts in the highest quartile defined by the fraction of African-American residents were three times more likely to be high risk (> 90th percentile of risk) than those in the lowest quartile (95% confidence interval, 2.0–5.0). Conversely, risk decreased as the proportion of whites increased (p < 0.001). Census tracts in the lowest quartile of socioeconomic position, as measured by various indicators, were 10–100 times more likely to be high risk than those in the highest quartile. We observed substantial risk disparities for on-road, area, and nonroad sources by socioeconomic measure and on-road and area sources by race. There was considerably less evidence of risk disparities from major source emissions. We found a statistically significant interaction between race and income, suggesting a stronger relationship between race and risk at lower incomes. This research demonstrates the utility of NATA for assessing regional environmental justice, identifies an environmental justice concern in Maryland, and suggests that on-road sources may be appropriate targets for policies intended to reduce the disproportionate environmental health burden among economically disadvantaged and minority populations.
Lightweight KV-based Distributed Store for Datacenters

A great deal of digital data is generated every day by content providers, end-users, and even IoT sensors. This data is stored in and managed by thousands of distributed storage nodes, each comprised of a power-hungry x86 Xeon server with a huge amount of DRAM and an array of HDDs or SSDs grouped by RAID [2]. Such clusters take up a large amount of space in datacenters and require a lot of electricity and cooling facilities. Therefore, packing as much data as possible into a smaller datacenter space and managing it in an energyand performanceefficient manner can result in enormous savings. Existing storage nodes have to run complex software to manage distributed and local file systems, and support various host-to-storage protocols, such as NFS, SMB/CIFS, and RADOS. Data reduction techniques like deduplication and compression are often implemented in storage nodes. We argue that the conventional distributed storage architecture with such nodes is overdesigned with excessive hardware resources and unnecessarily complex software. We believe that the hardware and software of existing storage systems can be refactored to run on a lightweight storage node comprised of low-power ARM cores, FPGAs, and raw NAND flash chips. Such a node can be a drive-sized embedded system, which can directly interact with application servers over a datacenter network such as Ethernet. A single server with N drives in the conventional system can be replaced with N new drive-sized nodes. For example, a flash storage solution composed of a Xeon server and 25 SSDs requires 6 U of rack space and 800 W of power, while the same capacity is achieved with 25 proposed nodes that require only 2 U and 250 W, resulting in tremendous savings in power, space, and a total cost of ownership. Both the proposed and conventional architectures are shown below. The cost-effective
Arabic Word Semantic Similarity

— This paper is concerned with the production of an Arabic word semantic similarity benchmark dataset. It is the first of its kind for Arabic which was particularly developed to assess the accuracy of word semantic similarity measurements. Semantic similarity is an essential component to numerous applications in fields such as natural language processing, artificial intelligence, linguistics, and psychology. Most of the reported work has been done for English. To the best of our knowledge, there is no word similarity measure developed specifically for Arabic. In this paper, an Arabic benchmark dataset of 70 word pairs is presented. New methods and best possible available techniques have been used in this study to produce the Arabic dataset. This includes selecting and creating materials, collecting human ratings from a representative sample of participants, and calculating the overall ratings. This dataset will make a substantial contribution to future work in the field of Arabic WSS and hopefully it will be considered as a reference basis from which to evaluate and compare different methodologies in the field.
Building Strong Semi-Autonomous Systems

The vision of populating the world with autonomous systems that reduce human labor and improve safety is gradually becoming a reality. Autonomous systems have changed the way space exploration is conducted and are beginning to transform everyday life with a range of household products. In many areas, however, there are considerable barriers to the deployment of fully autonomous systems. We refer to systems that require some degree of human intervention in order to complete a task as semi-autonomous systems. We examine the broad rationale for semi-autonomy and define basic properties of such systems. Accounting for the human in the loop presents a considerable challenge for current planning techniques. We examine various design choices in the development of semi-autonomous systems and their implications on planning and execution. Finally, we discuss fruitful research directions for advancing the science of semi-autonomy.
Potential impact of DSM-5 criteria on autism spectrum disorder prevalence estimates.

IMPORTANCE The DSM-5 contains revised diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from the DSM-IV-TR. Potential impacts of the new criteria on ASD prevalence are unclear. OBJECTIVE To assess potential effects of the DSM-5 ASD criteria on ASD prevalence estimation by retrospectively applying the new criteria to population-based surveillance data collected for previous ASD prevalence estimation. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Cross-sectional, population-based ASD surveillance based on clinician review of coded behaviors documented in children's medical and educational evaluations from 14 geographically defined areas in the United States participating in the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network in 2006 and 2008. This study included 8-year-old children living in ADDM Network study areas in 2006 or 2008, including 644 883 children under surveillance, of whom 6577 met surveillance ASD case status based on the DSM-IV-TR. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Proportion of children meeting ADDM Network ASD criteria based on the DSM-IV-TR who also met DSM-5 criteria; overall prevalence of ASD using DSM-5 criteria. RESULTS Among the 6577 children classified by the ADDM Network as having ASD based on the DSM-IV-TR, 5339 (81.2%) met DSM-5 ASD criteria. This percentage was similar for boys and girls but higher for those with than without intellectual disability (86.6% and 72.5%, respectively; P < .001). A total of 304 children met DSM-5 ASD criteria but not current ADDM Network ASD case status. Based on these findings, ASD prevalence per 1000 for 2008 would have been 10.0 (95% CI, 9.6-10.3) using DSM-5 criteria compared with the reported prevalence based on DSM-IV-TR criteria of 11.3 (95% CI, 11.0-11.7). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Autism spectrum disorder prevalence estimates will likely be lower under DSM-5 than under DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria, although this effect could be tempered by future adaptation of diagnostic practices and documentation of behaviors to fit the new criteria.
The Structure of a Putative Scaffolding Protein of Immature Poxvirus Particles as Determined by Electron Microscopy Suggests Similarity with Capsid Proteins of Large Icosahedral DNA Viruses

ABSTRACT Orf virus, the prototype parapoxvirus, is responsible for contagious ecthyma in sheep and goats. The central region of the viral genome codes for proteins highly conserved among vertebrate poxviruses and which are frequently essential for viral proliferation. Analysis of the recently published genome sequence of orf virus revealed that among such essential proteins, the protein orfv075 is an orthologue of D13, the rifampin resistance gene product critical for vaccinia virus morphogenesis. Previous studies showed that D13, arranged as “spicules,” is necessary for the formation of vaccinia virus immature virions, a mandatory intermediate in viral maturation. We have determined the three-dimensional structure of recombinant orfv075 at ∼25-Å resolution by electron microscopy of two-dimensional crystals. orfv075 organizes as trimers with a tripod-like main body and a propeller-like smaller domain. The molecular envelope of orfv075 shows unexpectedly good agreement to that of a distant homologue, VP54, the major capsid protein of Paramecium bursaria Chlorella virus type 1. Our structural analysis suggests that orfv075 belongs in the double-barreled capsid protein family found in many double-stranded DNA icosahedral viruses and supports the hypothesis that the nonicosahedral poxviruses and the large icosahedral DNA viruses are evolutionarily related.
A signal denoising technique based on wavelets modulus maxima lines and a self-scalable grid classifier

This paper presents the description of a signal processing technique using the Wavelets Transform and a self-scalable grid classifier. The procedure is based on the cycle-spinning approach applied to the Translation-invariant Wavelet Transform. It exploits the characteristics of the Wavelets modulus maxima propagation along decomposition levels (scales) as the criterion to select the relevant coefficients. Selection was performed by a data classifier inspired on a Self-organizing Map but with enhancements to incorporate self-scalability and multiple instance learning capabilities. The procedure was employed for the processing of Partial Discharge signals, which is a technique for the diagnostics of high-voltage equipment. We performed comparisons with standard form classifiers based on the Multilayer Perceptron and Support Vector Machines. The results show that the technique allows the same orders of accuracy and generalization of those classifiers, but with the advantages of self-scalability, dimensional independence, low processing cost and high degree of parallelization.
Towards a Breakthrough Speaker Identification Approach for Law Enforcement Agencies: SIIP

This paper describes SIIP (Speaker Identification Integrated Project) a high performance innovative and sustainable Speaker Identification (SID) solution, running over large voice samples database. The solution is based on development, integration and fusion of a series of speech analytic algorithms which includes speaker model recognition, gender identification, age identification, language and accent identification, keyword and taxonomy spotting. A full integrated system is proposed ensuring multisource data management, advanced voice analysis, information sharing and efficient and consistent man-machine interactions.
Rapid three‐dimensional T1‐weighted MR imaging with the MP‐RAGE sequence

The authors investigated the application of three‐dimensional (3D) magnetization‐prepared rapid gradient‐echo (MP‐RAGE) imaging to the acquisition of small (32 × 128 × 256) T1‐weighted 3D data sets with imaging times of approximately 1 minute. A theoretical model was used to study the contrast behavior of brain tissue. On the basis of these theoretical results, 3D MP‐RAGE sequences were implemented on a 1.5‐T whole‐body imager. Thirty‐two‐section 3D data sets demonstrating good signal‐to‐noise ratios and resolution and strong T1‐weighted contrast were obtained in 1 minute. Compared with standard short TR/TE spin‐echo sequences with the same imaging times and comparable sequence parameters, the 3D MP‐RAGE sequence delivered increases of more than 50% in the white matter/gray matter signal difference‐to‐noise and white matter signal‐to‐noise ratios, and provided almost twice as many sections. These sequences may find a clinical role in 3D scout imaging and screening and in patients with claustrophobia or trauma.
EDF-schedulability of synchronous periodic task systems is coNP-hard

In the <i>synchronous periodic task model</i>, a set τ<sub>1</sub>, . , τ<sub><i>n</i></sub> of tasks is given, each releasing jobs of running time <i>c</i><sub><i>i</i></sub> with relative deadline <i>d</i><sub><i>i</i></sub>, at each integer multiple of the period <i>p</i><sub><i>i</i></sub>. It is a classical result that <i>Earliest Deadline First (EDF)</i> is an optimal preemptive uniprocessor scheduling policy. For constrained deadlines, i.e. <i>d</i><sub><i>i</i></sub> ≤ <i>p</i><sub><i>i</i></sub>, the EDF-schedule is feasible if and only if [EQUATION] Though an enormous amount of literature deals with this topic, the complexity status of this test has remained unknown. We prove that testing EDF-schedulability of such a task system is (weakly) <b>coNP</b>-hard. This solves Problem 2 from the survey "Open Problems in Real-time Scheduling" by Baruah & Pruhs. The hardness result is achieved by applying recent results on inapproximability of Diophantine approximation.
Exploiting context for automatic check-in suggestion and validation

Mobile social applications that allow users to share presence, opinions and recommendations about places are spreading rapidly. Among these, check-in applications are becoming increasingly popular, but present some issues. In this paper we illustrate a system to exploit user's context to perform automatic check-in validation and suggestion. A description of the system architecture and its technical components is given, focusing on how raw and inferred context data (position, motion status, contacts proximity, etc.) are used to validate and suggest check-ins automatically.