Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spring net community production and its coupling with the CO2 dynamics in the surface water of the northern Gulf of Mexico

Abstract. Net community production (NCP) in the surface water of the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGOM) and its coupling with the CO2 system were examined during the productive spring season. NCP was estimated using multiple approaches: (1) underway O2 and Ar ratio, (2) oxygen changes during light/dark bottle oxygen incubations, and (3) non-conservative changes in dissolved inorganic carbon or nutrients. These methods all showed high spatial variability of NCP and displayed similar patterns along the river–ocean mixing gradient, showing high production rates in plume regions. NCPO2Ar estimated from high-resolution O2 and Ar underway measurement indicated heterotrophic conditions at the high-nutrient and high-turbidity Mississippi River end (-51.3±11.9 mmol C m−2 d−1 when salinity < 2) resulting from the influence of terrestrial carbon input and light limitation on photosynthesis. High NCPO2Ar rates (105.0±59.2 mmol C m−2 d−1, up to 235.4 mmol C m−2 d−1) were observed in the Mississippi and Atchafalaya plumes at intermediate salinities between 15 and 30 where light and nutrients were both favorable for phytoplankton production. NCPO2Ar rates observed in the high-salinity, oligotrophic offshore waters (salinity > 35.5) were close to zero due to nutrient limitation. Air–sea CO2 fluxes generally showed corresponding changes, from being a strong CO2 source in the river channel (55.5±7.6 mmol C m−2 d−1), to a CO2 sink in the plume (-13.4±5.5 mmol C m−2 d−1), and to being nearly in equilibrium with the atmosphere in offshore waters. Overall, the surface water of the nGOM was net autotrophic during spring 2017, with an area-weighted mean NCPO2Ar of 21.2 mmol C m−2 d−1, and was a CO2 sink of −6.7 mmol C m−2 d−1. A temporal mismatch between in situ biological production and gas exchange of O2 and CO2 was shown through a box model to result in decoupling between NCPO2Ar and CO2 flux (e.g., autotrophic water as a CO2 source outside the Mississippi River mouth and heterotopic water as a CO2 sink in the Atchafalaya coastal water). This decoupling was a result of in situ biological production superimposed on the lingering background pCO2 from the source water because of the slow air–sea CO2 exchange rate and the buffering effect of the carbonate system.
Measurement of Creativity: The tripartite approach for creative thinking

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new measurement method of creativity. Based on the tripartite thinking model (TTM), this paper developed the tripartite creativity test (TCT). The TCT was generated by considering creative process in problem solving. The TCT defines creativity as the interaction of three modes of thinking: logical thinking, critical thinking, and lateral thinking. This model is apart from traditional definition of creativity that prescribes it as the skill for producing new and useful things. The TCT consists of three subtests in accordance with the tripartite model: logical thinking test, critical thinking test, and lateral thinking test. The psychometric characteristics were examined for this new measure. The reliability was examined by inter-rater agreements. The construct validity was examined by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the criterion-related validity was examined by covariance structure analysis. The result showed that the TCT had sufficiently high reliability and fit the data reasonably well.
Microglia Actively Regulate the Number of Functional Synapses

Microglia are the immunocompetent cells of the central nervous system. In the physiological setting, their highly motile processes continually survey the local brain parenchyma and transiently contact synaptic elements. Although recent work has shown that the interaction of microglia with synapses contributes to synaptic remodeling during development, the role of microglia in synaptic physiology is just starting to get explored. To assess this question, we employed an electrophysiological approach using two methods to manipulate microglia in culture: organotypic hippocampal brain slices in which microglia were depleted using clodronate liposomes, and cultured hippocampal neurons to which microglia were added. We show here that the frequency of excitatory postsynaptic current increases in microglia-depleted brain slices, consistent with a higher synaptic density, and that this enhancement ensures from the loss of microglia since it is reversed when the microglia are replenished. Conversely, the addition of microglia to neuronal cultures decreases synaptic activity and reduces the density of synapses, spine numbers, surface expression of AMPA receptor (GluA1), and levels of synaptic adhesion molecules. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that non-activated microglia acutely modulate synaptic activity by regulating the number of functional synapses in the central nervous system.
Disruption of Brca2 increases the spontaneous mutation rate in vivo: synergism with ionizing radiation

The breast cancer predisposition gene BRCA2 encodes a protein involved in the repair of DNA double‐strand breaks, which arise spontaneously and following exposure to ionizing radiation (IR). To develop a mouse model that examines the effect of BRCA2 mutation and IR exposure on in vivo somatic mutation acquisition, we crossed mice with targeted disruption of Brca2 with a LacZ transgenic mutation reporter strain. Loss of both wild‐type Brca2 alleles caused a 2.3‐fold increase, equivalent to an extra 100 mutations per cell, in the in vivo acquisition of spontaneous somatic mutation by 2 weeks gestation. IR (4 Gy) had a disproportionate effect on animals homozygous for Brca2 disruption, inducing 3.4‐fold more mutations compared with wild‐type animals. These data provide the first evidence that loss of Brca2 increases in vivo somatic mutation acquisition and synergizes with IR exposure, with potential attendant implications for mammographic screening and therapeutic IR in mutation carriers.
Race, Social Identity, and Perceptions of Police Bias

Research consistently finds that people from ethnic or racial minority backgrounds tend to view police more negatively than those from nonminority backgrounds. Some studies, however, have questioned such findings by showing that race-based effects disappear once other factors are considered. For example, Weitzer showed that racial minorities from middle-class neighborhoods tend to view police just as favorably as nonminorities. Using survey data collected from 1,204 Australian citizens, the present study examines how social identity processes impact people’s views of police. We find that social identity is a more important predictor of attitudes toward police than race/ethnicity. These findings have implications for policing research and for police practice.
CREDIT SCORING MODELS IN ESTIMATING THE CREDITWORTHINESS OF SMALL AND MEDIUM AND BIG ENTERPRISES

This paper is focused on estimating the credit scoring models for companies operating in the Republic of Croatia. According to level of economic and legal development, especially in the area of bankruptcy regulation as well as business ethics in the Republic of Croatia, the models derived can be applied in wider region particularly in South-eastern European countries that twenty years ago transferred from state directed to free market economy. The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the relevance and possibilities of particular financial ratios in estimating the creditworthiness of business entities what was realized by performing the research among 110 companies. Along most commonly used research methods of description, analysis and synthesis, induction, deduction and surveys, the mathematical and statistical logistic regression method took the central part in this research. The designed sample of 110 business entities represented the structure of firms operating in Republic of Croatia according to their activities as well as to their size. The sample was divided in two sub samples where the first one consist of small and medium enterprises (SME) and the second one consist of big business entities. In the next phase the logistic regression method was applied on the 50 independent variables – financial ratios calculated for each sample unit in order to find ones that best discriminate financially stable from unstable companies. As the result of logistic regression analysis, two credit scoring models were derived. First model include the liquidity, solvency and profitability ratios and is applicable for SME’s. With its classification accuracy of 97% the model has high predictive ability and can be used as an effective decision support tool. Second model is applicable for big companies and include only two independent variables – liquidity and solvency ratios. The classification accuracy of this model is 92,5% and, according to criteria of predictive ability, it can be estimated as high. Credit scoring models represent scientifically based derived decision support tool. Their application on micro level can prevent the establishment of business relation with financially instable companies what can potentially result in losses while on macro level they can signal the forthcoming problems in economy as a whole and give the impulse for acting in appropriate direction.
MIMO performance comparison of the colocated tri-polarized loops with different mutual couplings

Two tri-polarized loop antennas (TPL) are designed, one is with high mutual coupling (HCTPL) and the other is with comparatively low mutual coupling (LCTPL). The spatial distribution pattern (SDP) and cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the channel capacity gain (CG) of the proposed antennas are investigated and compared to that of the ideal TPL in the free space (FS) and the two-mirror (TM) channel. In FS, the mean CG of the HCTPL is about 1%-3% larger than which of LCTPL but 8% smaller than that of the ideal TPL. However, the mean CG of the LCTPL is about 2%-7% larger than that of HCTPL but 6% smaller than that of ideal TPL in the TM channel. The conclusion is that, the performance of TPL is decided by the complex interaction between the radiation pattern of the antenna and the scattering characteristic of channel, which has no obvious relationship with the coupling.
HyperMirror: toward pleasant-to-use video mediated communication system

We designed Hyper&or to provide a new tidm image that presen~ an attractive, hi@y understandable eomrtnmication emirorunen$ rather than imitating face-tin tim mrumunieatiom ~e Hyper&or em~onment embles W participants to feel they are sharing the same Tti spa=. Participants conmmnicate using images m~ting the condition “W I See k W You See” ~S~S). Both lo~ and remote participants appear together on a shared video mm and W things on the W- - even those out of reach-beeome appear to come within reach Partieipmts sharing the screen tend to aet as if they are in the same room Ke
SPATIAL INTENTION RECOGNITION USING OPTIMAL MARGIN CLASSIFIERS

Introduction The high costs of human spaceflight operations favor large investments to optimize astronauts' time usage during extravehicular activity. These have included extensive expenditures in training, tool development, and spacecraft design for serviceability. However, astronauts' space suits themselves still encumber more than aid, a focus of several current research programs. Potential improvements face tight integration between suits and astronaut activities, resulting in many mechanical and computational challenges. One major area of work aims to alleviate the difficulties of conducting precise or prolonged movements within a pressurized garment. Powered prosthetic assistance may provide a solution to this problem, but creates key operational challenges. Standard digital or verbal user command interfaces may prove incompatible with such devices, limited by low bandwidth and nonintuitive control structures. Tactile control using, for example, hand or finger gestures seems far more suitable for controlling mechanical effectors, providing high speed and intuitive spatial relationships between command signals and desired actions. Flexibility and robustness in controllers like these will likely require personalized command recognition tailored to individual astronauts. The need for speed and natural facility will make this capability even more indispensable than in, say, speech recognition. Command recognition systems should dynamically adjust their interpretation rules as training data is accumulated, improving their precision and following long-term trends as astronauts develop their working behaviors throughout a career's worth of extravehicular activity. In this project, we propose a relatively simple gesture-based spatial command recognition system as an analog to more advanced systems suitable for augmenting extravehicular activities with robotic assistance. We aim initially to achieve discrete pattern recognition, with a possible extension to continuous parameter spaces, which may ultimately find favor in many spatial applications. Problem Statement We propose a software agent capable of identifying spatially motivated commands among a finite set indicated by short two-dimensional gestures within the continuous movement stream of a pointing device such as a computer mouse. The agent will construct optimized interpretation rules based on training data sets corresponding to single human users over a period of time, with identifying rules adjusted dynamically during further use. The system may be extended to allow command spaces parameterized by continuous variables. It may also allow users to refine agent interpretations post facto by providing optional explicit clarification after initial training is completed.
Citric acid as a solid‐state plasticizer for Eudragit RS PO

The use of solid‐state plasticizers for the hot‐melt extrusion of pharmaceutical dosage forms has been shown to be beneficial compared with liquid plasticizers. The purpose of this study was to determine the suitability of citric acid (CA) as a solid plasticizer for the preparation of Eudragit RS PO extended‐release matrix systems by a melt extrusion technique. The influence of increasing levels of CA monohydrate (CA MH) or anhydrous CA in the powder blend on the extrusion process parameters (screw speed and motor load) was determined as a function of temperature. The solubility of CA MH in extruded tablets was studied by means of modulated differential scanning calorimetry (MDSC) and powder X‐ray diffraction (PXRD). Films were cast from organic solutions to demonstrate the plasticizing effect of CA MH as a change in physico‐mechanical properties (tensile strength, elastic modulus and elongation). The CA release from extruded tablets was studied over 12 h. The monohydrate form was found to distinctly facilitate the extrusion of Eudragit RS PO, whereas the addition of anhydrous CA to the polymer powder was less effective. This divergent behaviour in plasticization of Eudragit RS PO was attributed to the higher solubility of the monohy‐drate in the acrylic polymer. The plasticizing effect of the CA MH reached a plateau at 25% during hot‐melt extrusion, which coincided with the solubility limit of the organic acid in the polymer as shown by MDSC and PXRD results. The CA MH increased the flexibility of Eudragit RS PO films, as demonstrated by a decrease in tensile strength and elastic modulus and an increase in elongation as a function of CA MH concentration. The dissolution of CA from the matrix tablets followed an extended‐release profile, with CA MH exhibiting a faster dissolution rate than the anhydrous form. In conclusion, CA MH was found to be an effective plasticizer for Eudragit RS PO that facilitates the production of controlled‐release matrix systems by hot‐melt extrusion.
An Evaluation System of Training Programs for Career Development: Content, Applicability and Perceived Importance

In this paper, we present a case study of a leadership training program conducted at a Midwestern corporate university. After meeting with organizational leaders, conducting interviews with participants and taking extensive field notes for the first two cohort groups, the three major aspects that emerged from the analysis of the qualitative data (content, applicability, and perceived importance of attending the session) were used to developed a 12-item evaluation instrument and administered to the subsequent five cohorts over the next 2 ½ years. Our purpose was to develop a system to improve the training program based on the organization’s objectives and participants needs. After validity and reliability analyses, a main finding in this study using both regression and structural equation modeling shows that content was about four times stronger than applicability. Although applicability was not significant, the results are as the evaluation was tailored to the organizations specific needs. We propose that such a method be used by organizations intending to evaluate their training programs on a case-by-case basis. As this system aligns with Kolb’s (1984) Experiential Learning and includes participant feedback, such a method would be
Integrated end-to-end dependability in the Loris storage stack

The storage stack in an operating system faces a number of dependability threats. The importance of keeping users' data safe makes this area particularly worth investigating. We briefly describe the main threats (disk device failures, whole-system failures, software bugs, and memory corruption), and outline the Loris storage stack that we developed previously. We then present an integrated approach that combines several techniques to protect the Loris storage stack against these dependability threats, all the way from the disk driver layer to the virtual file system (VFS) layer.
ICT Use in the Developing World: An Analysis of Differences in Computer and Internet Penetration

Computer and Internet use, especially in developing countries, has expanded rapidly in recent years. Even in light of this expansion in technology adoption rates, penetration rates differ markedly between developed and developing countries and across developing countries. To identify the determinants of cross-country disparities in personal computer and Internet penetration, both currently and over time, we examine panel data for 161 countries over the 1999-2004 period. We explore the role of a comprehensive set of economic, demographic, infrastructure, institutional and financial factors in contributing to the global digital divide. We find evidence indicating that income, human capital, the youth dependency ratio, telephone density, legal quality and banking sector development are associated with technology penetration rates. Overall, the factors associated with computer and Internet penetration do not differ substantially between developed and developing countries. Estimates from Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions reveal that the main factors responsible for low rates of technology penetration rates in developing countries are disparities in income, telephone density, legal quality and human capital. In terms of dynamics, our results indicate fairly rapid reversion to long run equilibrium for Internet use, and somewhat slower reversion for computer use, particularly in developed economies. Financial development, either measured as bank lending or the value of stocks traded, is also important to the growth rate of Internet use.
Finger image quality assessment features - definitions and evaluation

Finger image quality assessment is a crucial part of any system where a high biometric performance and user satisfaction is desired. Several algorithms measuring selected aspects of finger image quality have been proposed in the literature, yet only few of them have found their way into quality assessment algorithms used in practice. The authors provide comprehensive algorithm descriptions and make available implementations of adaptations of ten quality assessment algorithms from the literature which operates at the local or the global image level. They evaluate the performance on four datasets in terms of the capability in determining samples causing false non-matches and by their Spearman correlation with sample utility. The authors' evaluation shows that both the capability in rejecting samples causing false non-matches and the correlation between features varies depending on the dataset.
Protocols for secure multi-party private function evaluation

Secure multi-party computation (SMC) allows multiple parties to jointly and securely compute a function while preserving the privacy of the involved parties. In this regard, homomorphic cryptosystems allow users to perform addition or multiplication operations on encrypted values without having to decrypt the input values. In this paper, we propose both a cryptographic and a non-cryptographic privacy-preserving protocols that allow one party to collaboratively compute a private polynomial function with at least two other parties using semantically secure cryptosystems. In this respect, the function to be evaluated is kept private to the party in question. In addition, we assume that there is no fully trusted party and that all parties are semi-honest. Moreover, we assume that there is no collusion between the different parties. We present the two protocols in question and report on the underlying performance through the presentation of our implementation results. The proposed protocols are relevant in many applications such as evidence sharing in multi-party forensic investigations, situation awareness through the secure sharing in distributed monitoring of plan execution, etc.
Constraint satisfaction problems and global cardinality constraints

In a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) the goal is to find an assignment of a given set of variables subject to specified constraints. A global cardinality constraint is an additional requirement that prescribes how many variables must be assigned a certain value. We study the complexity of the problem CCSP(Γ), the CSP with global cardinality constraints that allows only relations from the set Γ. The main result of this paper characterizes sets Γ that give rise to problems solvable in polynomial time, and states that the remaining such problems are NP-complete.
e-Learning course design based on the virtual simulation objects concept

Modern society has experienced many advances in science and technology. Educational communities have to respond to these changes quickly to provide students with courses and activities based on the latest achievements in science and technology. In this paper, the authors consider the Virtual Simulation Object Concept (VSO-concept) as it pertains to an e-learning course design using the requirements of reusable learning objects (RLO). This course's design is based on a VSO-project built with the use of computer-aided application packages integrated into the cloud platform for high performance computing called CLAVIRE. This platform enables users to build scientific workflows (SWF) by writing easy instructions regarding package execution in distributed heterogeneous computational environments. VSO is formed from one or more experimentally tested SWFs for solving complex interdisciplinary problems and may be shared with a scientific community for collaborative work and discussions. The proposed approach allows us to create a course quickly: structure, text-based resources, list and stack of virtual learning labs, sets of tools for learning outcomes assessment, etc. The development/changing VSO-project and performing practical works require web-browsers only (the installation of client applications is not required). The example of applying the approach for the course "Public Ground Transport Scheduling" is shown.