Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Indoor Air Pollution

Although air pollution indoors has been a problem for a long time, because of indoor heating in poorly ventilated interiors, signiﬁcant scientiﬁc study is really a product of the late 20 th C. Increased time spent indoors and the regulatory problems of these seemingly private and familiar spaces have confronted legislators with considerable problems in how to respond. Although it is evident that pollutants leak from outdoor air to the indoor environment, there are a far wider range of air pollutants indoors that arise though building materials, consumer products and the range of indoor activities. Indoor-outdoor ratios prove a useful tool for establishing the likely sources of air pollutants within buildings. Although the prime concern with indoor pollution was health there is also worry about airborne contaminants in manufacturing industries, museums and archives. In recent years there have been a number of studies that show that indoor air pollution has a subtle chemistry that produces a range of novel products. Because the indoor environment has less photochemical activity, photosensitive species such as the NO 3 radical can potentially play a role. The presence of high surface areas indoors also means that reactions with surfaces are also important.
Boreal forest fire impacts on lower troposphere carbon monoxide and ozone levels at the regional to hemispheric scales

Tropospheric ozone (O3) and carbon monoxide (CO) pollution in the Northern Hemisphere is commonly thought to be of anthropogenic origin. While this is true in most cases, copious quantities of pollutants are emitted by fires in boreal regions, and the impact of these fires on CO has been shown to significantly exceed the impact of urban and industrial sources during large fire years. The impact of boreal fires on ozone is still poorly quantified, and large uncertainties exist in the estimates of the fire-released nitrogen oxides (NOx), a critical factor in ozone production. As boreal fire activity is predicted to increase in the future due to its strong dependence on weather conditions, it is necessary to understand how these fires affect atmospheric composition. To determine the scale of boreal fire impacts on ozone and its precursors, this work combined statistical analysis of ground-based measurements downwind of fires, satellite data analysis, transport modeling and the results of chemical model simulations. The first part of this work focused on determining boreal fire impact on ozone levels downwind of fires, using analysis of observations in several-daysold fire plumes intercepted at the Pico Mountain station (Azores). The results of this study revealed that fires significantly increase midlatitude summertime ozone background during high fire years, implying that predicted future increases in boreal wildfires may affect ozone levels over large regions in the
Integrated Recombinant Protein Expression and Purification Platform Based on Ralstonia eutropha

ABSTRACT Protein purification of recombinant proteins constitutes a significant cost of biomanufacturing and various efforts have been directed at developing more efficient purification methods. We describe a protein purification scheme wherein Ralstonia eutropha is used to produce its own “affinity matrix,” thereby eliminating the need for external chromatographic purification steps. This approach is based on the specific interaction of phasin proteins with granules of the intracellular polymer polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). By creating in-frame fusions of phasins and green fluorescent protein (GFP) as a model protein, we demonstrated that GFP can be efficiently sequestered to the surface of PHB granules. In a second step, we generated a phasin-intein-GFP fusion, wherein the self-cleaving intein can be activated by the addition of thiols. This construct allowed for the controlled binding and release of essentially pure GFP in a single separation step. Finally, pure, active β-galactosidase was obtained in a single step using the above described method.
Stepwise segmentation and interpretation of section representations in vectorized drawings

This paper describes a procedure for data extraction and interpretation of section representations in vectorized line drawings. Vectorized drawings are considered as a graph representation. The hatch areas are analysed and extracted in regard to their geometric and topologic characteristics with the help of context analysis. With the semantic interpretation, the referred view representations of half- and local sections, sections in the same view direction are completed in the viewpoint of orthogonal projection and are then available for 3D geometric reconstruction with known algorithms.
Estimation of Dispersion Coefficients in Porous Media

A procedure has been developed by which dispersion coefficients may be estimated in general porous media. The formulation utilizes the Taylor hypothesis which states that the dispersion coefficient tensor equals the covariance of the pore velocity fluctuations times the Lagrangian time scale tensor. Velocity fluctuations in the porous formation are simulated using a three-dimensional groundwater flow model with random variations in hydraulic conductivity. Simulated pore velocity fluctuations in simplified formations agree well with theory. The form of the Lagrangian time scale tensor in formations where the mean pore velocity is much greater than the velocity fluctuations has been developed. Dispersion coefficients estimated by the proposed method have been shown to agree well with experimental results in isotropic formations. Comparison of predictions with experimental results in an anisotropic formation indicate order of magnitude agreement. The proposed methodology is expected to be applicable in cases where molecular diffusion effects are negligible. The formulation is expected to be extremely useful in those cases where dispersion measurements are unavailable or where hydrodynamic dispersion is to be separated from chemical attenuation.
Fast scene voxelization and applications

This paper presents a novel approach that uses graphics hardware to dynamically calculate a voxel-based representation of a scene. The voxelization is obtained on run-time in the order of milliseconds, even for complex and dynamic scenes containing more than 1,000,000 polygons. The voxelization is created and stored on the GPU avoiding unnecessary data transfer. The approach can handle both regular grids and locally optimized grids that better fit the scene geometry. The paper demonstrates applications to shadow calculation, refraction simultation and shadow volume culling/clamping.
Heterosis or neutrality?

Various statistics have been proposed on an ad hoc basis to test whether alleles at a locus are selectively neutral. By considering population models in which selection operates, this paper shows that the population homozygosity is a powerful test statistic for testing departures from neutrality, in the direction of heterozygote advantage or disadvantage. The sample homozygosity plays a similar role when only sample data are available. Some numerical examples are included, showing the application of the test. --An analysis is made of the effect of heterosis on such quantities as the expected number of alleles in the population or sample, the effective number of alleles, the expected homozygosity, and on the population and sample allele frequency distributions generally.
Rainfall Measurement: Gauges

It is difficult to measure precipitation without introducing systematic errors or biases. The quality of any measurement will depend on the type of gauge used and the details of the installation, as well as the characteristics of the gauge site including exposure and the prevailing weather. All precipitation measurements using can-type gauges are subject to systematic errors, mostly due to deformation of the wind field above the precipitation gauge orifice, wetting and evaporation losses, splash-out and splash-in, blowing snow, and so on. Because these measurement errors are systematic, precipitation gauges frequently show different precipitation figures. This is the case when the gauges are of different construction, or the same construction, but from different manufacturers, or are installed at different heights at the same site near each other, or under different gauge site exposure. With the exception of measurements of blowing and drifting snow, they show less precipitation than the “true” precipitation falling on the ground. Correction procedures are different for rain and snow. They were developed for different types of precipitation gauges and various time intervals according to the availability of necessary input data. Corrections are based either on empirical field methods using the World Meteorological Organization reference standard, laboratory experiments, or numerical simulation. Keywords: precipitation measurement; raingauge; systematic error; correction; wind-induced error; exposure of gauges; wetting loss; evaporation loss; simulation
A General Frame-by-Frame Wavelet Transform Algorithm for a Three-Dimensional Analysis with Reduced Memory Usage

The 3D-DWT is a mathematical tool of increasing importance. However, the huge memory requirement of the algorithms that compute it is one of the main drawbacks in practical implementations. In this paper, we introduce a frame-by-frame algorithm to calculate the 3D-DWT with low memory usage. This algorithm is general, in the sense that it can be employed with any wavelet transform and, contrary to other proposals, it gets the same results as the regular wavelet transform. In addition, there is no need to divide the input video sequence into group of frames, and it can be applied in a continuous manner, so that coding efficiency is increased and no blocking artifacts appear.
Bioaugmentation as a tool to accelerate the start-up of anoxic-oxic process in a full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant at low temperature.

Start up of anoxic-oxic process in a full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant at low temperature was studied in this paper. Bioaugmentation technology was used to accelerate the start up. Aeration rate and feed style of influent were also controlled as associated measure to reduce the negative effect of low temperature on start up. The results showed that the process was successfully started up in 15 days. The removal efficiencies of COD, TN and TP were 69%, 47% and 46%, respectively. Microscopic analysis showed that Suctorias, which were excellent indicators of good sludge, occurred in the biosolid in the last days of start up. As a conclusion, bioaugmentation seems to be a promising method to accelerate the start up of bioprocess in a full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant at low temperature.
Concurrency Conundrums - An Ontological Solution?

The arrival of a new era of programming, where developers must consider the subtitles of concurrency inherent in modern many-core architectures, calls for a revamping ranging from fundamental pedagogical processes to software development tools. The problem here is twofold: (1) corresponding real-world scenarios, commonly leveraged in pedagogical practices, contain implicit relationships that are significantly harder to explicitly anticipate in complex code-bases, and (2) the growing plethora of parallel programming language mechanisms collectively blur and distort the common core entities and relationships involved. As a possible solution, this paper proposes a general ontology for reasoning through concurrency conundrums at both high and low levels. The entities and relationships are originally established based on real-world scenarios presented to a group of grade seven students. The ontology is further developed, and implicit relationships revealed, based on an analysis student observations. The ontology is further developed and implicit relationships revealed. The goal of this work is form a basis for cognitive support that will map equally well to both generalized real-world scenarios and detailed code in different programming languages.
Does Medical Training Promote or Deter Self-Directed Learning? A Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Study

Purpose The School of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan curriculum promotes self-direction as one of its learning philosophies. The authors sought to identify changes in self-directed learning (SDL) readiness during training. Method Guglielmino’s SDL Readiness Scale (SDLRS) was administered to five student cohorts (N = 375) at admission and the end of every year of training, 2006 to 2010. Scores were analyzed using repeated-measurement analysis. A focus group and interviews captured students’ and instructors’ perceptions of self-direction. Results Overall, the mean SDLRS score was 230.6; men (n = 168) 229.5; women (n = 197) 232.3, higher than in the average adult population. However, the authors were able to follow only 275 students through later years of medical education. There were no significant effects of gender, years of premedical training, and Medical College Admission Test scores on SDLRS scores. Older students were more self-directed. There was a significant drop in scores at the end of year one for each of the cohorts (P < .001), and no significant change to these SDLRS scores as students progressed through medical school. Students and faculty defined SDL narrowly and had similar perceptions of curricular factors affecting SDL. Conclusions The initial scores indicate high self-direction. The drop in scores one year after admission, and the lack of change with increased training, show that the current educational interventions may require reexamination and alteration to ones that promote SDL. Comparison with schools using a different curricular approach may bring to light the impact of curriculum on SDL.
The Impact of Endoscopic Brow Lift on Eyebrow Morphology, Aesthetics, and Longevity: Objective and Subjective Measurements over a 5-Year Period

Background: The longevity of a brow lift, its morphology, and its contribution to overall facial aesthetics have not been addressed in previous studies using both objective measurements and validated subjective aesthetic scoring systems. Methods: Thirty-one patients with a 5.4-year follow-up after subperiosteal endoscopic brow lift were assessed by (1) objective measurements using computer software, (2) validated regional aesthetic scoring systems, and (3) global aesthetic scoring systems. Results: In part 1, objective measurements confirm a subtle elevation of the brows at less than 5 mm (p < 0.001) that persisted at 5.4 years after surgery in all areas except the tail of the eyebrow. In part 2, subjective regional aesthetic scoring indicated that the dimensional change is small but apparent to observers, and is maintained at 5.4 years; that depressor muscle resection with a brow lift provides a statistically significant reduction in glabellar lines, which is maintained at 5.4 years; and that a brow lift provides temporary improvement in forehead lines but that this improvement relapses to baseline at 5.4 years. In part 3, global aesthetic scores suggest that 64 percent patients are still judged as appearing better 5.4 years after a brow lift than before surgery. Conclusions: This is the first study to provide evidence from both objective measurements and validated subjective aesthetic scoring systems regarding the morphology, benefits, and longevity of endoscopic brow-lift surgery. This demonstrates that a brow lift produces a subtle elevation, with a natural eyebrow morphology close to the original, and with minimal long-term relapse except at the tail of the eyebrow. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, IV.
The Development of 70-Year-Old Wieslander Vegetation Type Maps and an Assessment of Landscape Change in the Central Sierra Nevada

Assessing dominant land cover change is critical to understanding the terrestrial consequences of climate change. This study created digital maps from a portion of a heritage vegetation survey of California, the Wieslander Vegetation Type Map survey of the 1930s. Digital maps were produced for a 30,236 km2 area of the Sierra Nevada. These historical data were compared with CalVeg, a 1996 vegetation map produced by the US Forest Service. In addition, the extent of Pinus ponderosa forests on the Placerville quadrangle was compared to a historical map from 1850 as well as the 1934 map.At low elevations, blue oak (Quercus douglasii) and foothill pine (Pinus sabiniana) areas have largely converted to grasslands. At about 1000 meters elevation, the lower edge of the “Yellow Pine Belt” (dominated by Pinus ponderosa) has retreated upslope about 180 meters between 1934 and 1996, and by 526 meters since 1850. Grazing, competition by nonnative grasses, and fire occurred on only 42% of the total area of change.The authors hypothesize failure of conifer seedling establishment due to earlier Sierra snowmelts caused by warmer temperatures. The lower edge of the Sierran conifer belt appears to be sensitive to climate change, a conclusion with implications for the water‐holding capacity of the mountains.
The Decision-Theoretic Video Advisor*

We describe ongoing work toward development of a decision-theoretic agent to help users choose videos based on their preferences. The DIVA (DecisionTheoretic Interactive Video Advisor) system elicits user preferences using a case-based technique. Hard constraints are used to permit the user to communicate temporary deviations from his basic preferences. If the user is not happy with the system’s recommendations, he can provide feedback, which is used to modify the represented preferences and generate a new set of recommendations. We describe the fundamental algorithms, the implementation, and some results from some initial experimentation.
Comparison of correlation analysis and JointICA for simultaneous EEG-fMRI recordings on contour integration task

Multimodal approaches to brain imaging are getting increasingly popular among the neuroscience comunity. One such multimodal approach is the combination of electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In this paper we demonstrate two EEG-fMRI integration methods for contour integration task. First, we derive the contour-selectivity measures from event related potential (ERP) and fMRI data, and explore the correlation between the two. In this way, we connect the spatial information from fMRI with the temporal information from ERPs. Thereafter, the results from this approach are compare to JointICA integration approach [5], [6], which aims at extracting spatio-temporal independent components, which are the combination of ERP and fMRI activations.
Translating Government Agencies’ Tweet Feeds: Specificities, Problems and (a few) Solutions

While the automatic translation of tweets has already been investigated in different scenarios, we are not aware of any attempt to translate tweets created by government agencies. In this study, we report the experimental results we obtained when translating 12 Twitter feeds published by agencies and organizations of the government of Canada, using a state-ofthe art Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) engine as a black box translation device. We mine parallel web pages linked from the URLs contained in English-French pairs of tweets in order to create tuning and training material. For a Twitter feed that would have been otherwise difficult to translate, we report significant gains in translation quality using this strategy. Furthermore, we give a detailed account of the problems we still face, such as hashtag translation as well as the generation of tweets of legal length.
Dhofar 225 and Dhofar 735: Relationship to CM2 chondrites and metamorphosed carbonaceous chondrites, Belgica‐7904 and Yamato‐86720

Abstract– Dhofar (Dho) 225 and Dho 735 are carbonaceous chondrites found in a hot desert and having affinities to Belgica‐like Antarctic chondrites (Belgica [B‐] 7904 and Yamato [Y‐] 86720). Texturally they resemble CM2 chondrites, but differ in mineralogy, bulk chemistry and oxygen isotopic compositions. The texture and main mineralogy of Dho 225 and Dho 735 are similar to the CM2 chondrites, but unlike CM2 chondrites they do not contain any (P, Cr)‐sulfides, nor tochilinite 6Fe0.9S*5(Fe,Mg)(OH)2. H2O‐contents of Dho 225 and Dho 735 (1.76 and 1.06 wt%) are lower than those of CM2 chondrites (2–18 wt%), but similar to those in the metamorphosed carbonaceous chondrites of the Belgica‐like group. Bulk compositions of Dho 225 and Dho 735, as well as their matrices, have low Fe and S and low Fe/Si ratios relative to CM2 chondrites. X‐ray powder diffraction patterns of the Dho 225 and Dho 735 matrices showed similarities to laboratory‐heated Murchison CM2 chondrite and the transformation of serpentine to olivine. Dho 225 and 735’s oxygen isotopic compositions are in the high 18O range on the oxygen diagram, close to the Belgica‐like meteorites. This differs from the oxygen isotopic compositions of typical CM2 chondrites. Experimental results showed that the oxygen isotopic compositions of Dho 225 and Dhofar 725, could not be derived from those of typical CM2 chondrites via dehydration caused by thermal metamorphism. Dho 225 and Dho 735 may represent a group of chondrites whose primary material was different from typical CM2 chondrites and the Belgica‐like meteorites, but they formed in an oxygen reservoir similar to that of the Belgica‐like meteorites.
Single-step, chromogenic Limulus amebocyte lysate assay for endotoxin

A new reagent for the chromogenic Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) assay is described. LAL was formulated for optimal performance in either an endpoint procedure or a kinetic procedure with the chromogenic substrate, buffer, and LAL components colyophilized as a single reagent. The kinetic chromogenic method required an incubating microplate reader coupled to a computer for collection and analysis of data. The kinetic method had a longer incubation time than the endpoint method and spanned a range of over 3 orders of magnitude compared with the 1-order-of-magnitude range of the endpoint assay. The kinetic method was less subject to operator error, since readings were continuous and automatic. The endpoint test was more operator intensive, requiring both addition of acetic acid to stop the reaction and transfer of the sample to the reading device. A single-step chromogenic reagent was also prepared without lyophilization by mixing reconstituted gel clot LAL with a buffer and a chromogenic substrate. The reagent prepared in this manner performed as well as the colyophilized agent.