Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nitrogen mineralization from broiler litter applied to southeastern Coastal Plain soils

A field study was conducted to determine nitrogen (N) mineralization from broiler litter (BL) in two Coastal Plain soils of differing texture, sandy (Tifton loamy sand) or clayey (Greenville sandy clay loam). These soils represented the broad range in surface textures commonly found in soils used for agricultural production in the southeastern Coastal Plain. Published protocols used for the study were designed by the ARS mineralization team. In addition to measuring ammonium (NH4-N) and nitrate (NO3-N) in the soil as a measure of N mineralization, both total C and total N were measured to determine the impact of a single BL amendment on C sequestration and N accumulation. Amounts of N in the soil from BL mineralization over 70 days were identical for both soils, 46.4 mg N kg-1 soil (0.046%), but differences occurred in timing of the mineralization processes. In the sandy Tifton soil, depletion of NH4-N and nitrification of the NH4-N to NO3-N occurred simultaneously. The NH4-N from the BL was depleted in 21 days while peak NO3-N concentrations in the soil were found at 28 days. In the clayey Greenville soil, NH4-N concentrations from BL mineralization increased for 21 days and then decreased until reaching background levels by 70 days. Nitrate concentrations never did increase in the BL amended Greenville soil, indicating both that the nitrification rate was much slower than the ammonification rate, and most likely, that what NO3-N was produced was lost from the soil by denitrification under wet conditions. The combination of soil textural and microclimate differences along with greater protection of the BL residues in the clayey soil than in the sandy soil are believed responsible for the observed N mineralization differences between the two soils. Previous research has shown that N mineralization rate is positively correlated with sand content and negatively correlated with clay content of soils, and the results of this study concurred with those findings. Measurements of total C and total N in both Coastal Plain soils showed that overall increases were small with a single BL amendment, and it was concluded that long-term studies are needed to investigate C sequestration and N accumulation. It was concluded from the study that there is a high probability that BL mineralization rates will be significantly slower on the more clayey Coastal Plain soils than on very sandy ones, and that farm managers should take these rates into consideration when planning timing and amounts of BL applications.
On stability tests for linear systems

Abstract This paper is yet another demonstration of the fact that enlarging the design space allows simpler tools to be used for analysis. It shows that several problems in linear systems theory can be solved by combining Lyapunov stability theory with Finsler's Lemma. Using these results the differential or difference equations that govern the behavior of the system can be seen as constraints. These dynamic constraints which naturally involve the state derivative are incorporated into the stability analysis conditions through the use of scalar or matrix Lagrange multipliers. No a priori use of the system equation is required to analyze stability. One practical consequence of these results is that they do not necessarily require a state space formulation. This has value in mechanical and electrical systems where the inversion of the mass matrix introduces complicating nonlinearities in the parameters. The introduction of multipliers also simplify the derivation of robust stability tests based on quadratic or parameter-dependent Lyapunov functions.
Hot-Wire Attenuation and Its Correction in Turbulence Measurements

A scheme is proposed for correcting the hot-wire attenuation in turbulence measurements in both frequency and time domains. The scheme is tested for simulated hot-wire signals under velocity impulse and sinusoidal perturbations of various frequencies. It is found that the frequency response of the hotwire system and the calculated central moments, after applying the correction, can be greatly improved
Pipelined BackPropagation for Context-Dependent Deep Neural Networks

The Context-Dependent Deep-Neural-Network HMM, or CDDNN-HMM, is a recently proposed acoustic-modeling technique for HMM-based speech recognition that can greatly outperform conventional Gaussian-mixture based HMMs. For example, a CD-DNN-HMM trained on the 2000h Fisher corpus achieves 14.4% word error rate on the Hub5’00-FSH speakerindependent phone-call transcription task, compared to 19.6% obtained by a state-of-the-art, conventional discriminatively trained GMM-based HMM. That CD-DNN-HMM, however, took 59 days to train on a modern GPGPU—the immense computational cost of the minibatch based back-propagation (BP) training is a major roadblock. Unlike the familiar Baum-Welch training for conventional HMMs, BP cannot be efficiently parallelized across data. In this paper we show that the pipelined approximation to BP, which parallelizes computation with respect to layers, is an efficient way of utilizing multiple GPGPU cards in a single server. Using 2 and 4 GPGPUs, we achieve a 1.9 and 3.3 times end-to-end speed-up, at parallelization efficiency of 0.95 and 0.82, respectively, at no loss of recognition accuracy.
From product to service categories and the transformation of audience research

Technological development is changing the logic how media firms operate their business and perceive their audiences. The business models and audience research are experiencing a transfer from provider-centricity to customer-centricity as firms enter into service business and adopt new value creation perspectives. The transfer is from a goods-dominant logic (GDL) that sees value as being the property of media products distributed by media firms, towards a service-dominant logic (SDL) that emphasizes the importance of customers in the process of value creation. It makes the traditional audience information systems that measure basic exposure obsolete because it shifts the focus from value that can be determined by the firm in financial terms, to value that is determined phenomenologically by the customer in the usecontext. However, changing the practices in advertising markets is a struggle due to the pathdependent nature of audience measurements and the strategic importance of advertising revenue for the future competitiveness of each media.
Chondrogenic induction of human mesenchymal stem cells using combined growth factors for cartilage tissue engineering

The objective of this study was to evaluate whether growth factors (FGF‐2, FGF‐4 and FGF‐6) used alone or in combination with TGFβ2 are able to increase the proliferation and induce the differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) to chondrocytes, with a view to using them in cartilage tissue engineering. Cells cultured in monolayer, used to test the activity of the growth factors on cell proliferation, showed that a combination of FGFs with TGFβ2 increases cell proliferation compared to cells cultured in control medium or in the presence of growth factors alone. The chondrogenic potential, evaluated in three‐dimensional (3D) cell aggregates, showed that FGF‐2 and FGF‐6, when used in combination with TGFβ2 increased the size and glycosaminoglycan content of the cell aggregates without increasing cell number. Extracellular matrix (ECM) also showed higher collagen type II immunoreactivity, which was particularly evident in an area similar to a germinative pole that was observed only in pellets cultured with FGF‐2 and FGF‐6 combined with TGFβ2, or in pellets cultured with FGF‐2 alone. Moreover, the RT‐PCR assay has highlighted an increased expression of collagen type II and Sox9, used as gene markers for chondrogenesis. We can conclude that combinations of FGF‐2 or FGF‐6 with TGFβ2 may provide a novel tool to induce the differentiation of adult human mesenchymal stem cells for applications in cartilage tissue engineering. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Dispersion engineering: How to design a miniature coaxial low-pass

In this paper we present a new filter topology for the design of a shortened low-pass filter. We develop a rapid prototyping scheme based on equivalent circuit theory to predict the dispersion of the TEM mode in a periodic structure. This allows us to tune the cutoff frequency of the filter and its stopband. Additionally, the lightweight model is used for the pre-design in terms of steepness and matching. After further optimizations, two cardinal setups are investigated with respect to their high-power capability.
Quantized feedback stabilization of nonlinear cascaded systems with dynamic uncertainties

This paper studies the quantized partial-state feedback stabilization of a class of nonlinear cascaded systems with dynamic uncertainties. Under the assumption that the dynamic uncertainties are input-to-state practically stable, we develop a novel recursive design method for quantized stabilization by taking into account the influence of quantization and using the small-gain theorem. When the dynamic uncertainty is input-to-state stable, asymptotic stabilization can be achieved with the proposed quantized control law.
An efficient successive authentication scheme for vehicular ad-hoc networks

VANET (Vehicular Ad-hoc NETwork) is a network architecture designed to provide road safety, improve transport efficiency, and reduce traffic congestion by combining vehicles with high mobility and fixed road-side units with or without Vehicular Cloud. Connected vehicles aided with sensors need to be authenticated before transmitting message. Two major problems in existing state-of-the-art schemes which are redundant authentication of vehicles with each RSUs it passes through and authenticating each message by trusted authority with large cryptographic overheads. In this paper we proposed an authentication scheme which exploits a very new technique of successive message passing among different RSUs (Road-side Units) to verify vehicles which are already authenticated. In our scheme, RSUs share authentication related information of vehicles with the help of newly proposed RSUs detection algorithm. In addition to that, messages from vehicles are verified with assistance from RSUs using symmetric key based Hashed Message Authentication Code (HMAC) signatures. This results in remarkably reduced cryptographic overheads and communication delay occurred during authentication of vehicles and messages in VANETs. Extensive performance evaluations and comparison with state-of-the-art schemes will show how our scheme provides exceptionally improved performance for VANETs.
A zero-voltage and zero-current switching full bridge DC-DC converter with transformer isolation

A new primary-side-assisted zero-voltage and zero-current switching full bridge DC-DC converter with transformer isolation is proposed. The proposed DC-DC converter uses only one auxiliary transformer and two diodes to obtain ZCS for the leading leg. It has a simple and robust structure, and load current control capability even in short circuit conditions, The possibility of magnetic saturation due to asymmetricity of circuits or transient phenomena is greatly reduced, which is a very attractive feature in DC-DC converters with transformer isolation. The power rating of the auxiliary transformer is about 10% of that of the main transformer. Operation of a 12 kW prototype designed for welding application was verified by experiments.
GOMOS bright limb ozone data set

Abstract. We have created a daytime ozone profile data set from the measurements of the Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars (GOMOS) instrument on board the Envisat satellite. This so-called GOMOS bright limb (GBL) data set contains ∼ 358 000 stratospheric daytime ozone profiles measured by GOMOS in 2002–2012. The GBL data set complements the widely used GOMOS nighttime data based on stellar occultation measurements. The GBL data set is based on the GOMOS daytime occultations but instead of the transmitted star light we use limb-scattered solar light. The ozone profiles retrieved from these radiance spectra cover the 18–60 km altitude range and have approximately 2–3 km vertical resolution. We show that these profiles are generally in better than 10 % agreement with the NDACC (Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change) ozonesonde profiles and with the GOMOS nighttime, MLS (Microwave Limb Sounder), and OSIRIS (Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imager System) satellite measurements. However, there is a 10–13 % negative bias at 40 km altitude and a 10–50 % positive bias at 50 km for solar zenith angles > 75°. These biases are most likely caused by stray light which is difficult to characterize and to remove entirely from the measured spectra. Nevertheless, the GBL data set approximately doubles the amount of useful GOMOS ozone profiles and improves coverage of the summer pole.
Development of PCR Assays Targeting the Genes Involved in Synthesis and Assembly of the New Escherichia coli O174 and O177 O Antigens

ABSTRACT Escherichia coli O174 and O177 are newly described O serogroups which were reported as human pathogens. Identification of these strains by serotyping has been restricted, as the required sera are not commercially available. In this study, a collection of 13 E. coli O174 strains and 12 E. coli O177 strains was studied on the O:H serotypes and virulence markers. The O-antigen gene clusters of E. coli O174 and O177 were sequenced, and associated genes were assigned functions on the basis of homology. Two genes, each specific for E. coli O174 and O177, were identified. PCR assays based on the O-antigen-specific genes were developed and tested on 25 clinical and environmental isolates of those two serogroups as well as 26 isolates of other O serogroups. As little as 1 pg per μl of chromosomal DNA and as few as 0.1 CFU per g of pork and water samples were detected for either strain. The PCR assays established in this study were shown to be highly sensitive and reliable and could be the method of choice for detection of these two human pathogens from clinical, food, and other environmental samples.
Frame transfer area array sensor with vertical antiblooming and novel readout for enhanced performance

A novel architectural design for use in multiple output Charge Coupled Device (CCD) Imagers has been developed to eliminate 'first pixel' video signal nonuniformities and enhance charge conversion efficiency. This technique makes use of a flared architecture at the parallel to serial transfer region in the image sensor to provide additional space for extra isolation readout pixels and an optimized charge conversion node. A four (4) output frame transfer array has been fabricated with this architecture. Test results show excellent performance.
Full-wave 3D analysis of boxed microwave planar structures based on high-Tc superconducting films on ferrite substrate

Analysis of the planar superconducting structures on ferrite substrate is accomplished using developed EM simulator, which allows to take into account physical properties of HTS film and both electric and magnetic anisotropy of substrate. The EM simulator is based on full-wave spatial-domain analysis of the boxed planar structure embedded in a layered anisotropic media by Method of Moment (MoM). The results obtained are compared with measured data.
A new statistical detector for CT-based multiplicative image watermarking using the t location-scale distribution

In this study, a new statistical multiplicative watermark detector in contourlet domain is presented. The contourlet coefficients of images are highly non-Gaussian and a proper distribution to model the statistics of the contourlet coefficients is a heavy-tail Probability Distribution Function (PDF). In this study, a multiplicative watermarking scheme is proposed in the contourlet domain using t location-scale distribution (tLS). Afterward, we used the likelihood ratio decision rule and tLS distribution to design an optimal multiplicative watermark detector. The detector showed higher efficiency than other watermarking schemes in the literature, based on the experimental results, and its robustness against different attacks was verified.
Double standards, single goal: private communities and design innovation

Some 47 million Americans—one in six—live in communities run by collective private ownership of residential property. The spread of home‐owner associations, condominium associations and cooperatives is transforming planning practices and development design. A nation‐wide survey of municipalities and developers demonstrates the existence of two sets of standards and design parameters: those that pertain to the public domain and those applied to private communities. Public officials often regard the latter, with their privately owned streets and open spaces, as a tool for promoting flexible planning, frequently resulting in innovative and efficient land use and original layouts, characteristics absent from conventional subdivisions. Developers see private communities as a medium for a simplified approval process and the introduction of design innovation. They are using private development to push the density and efficiency envelopes while protecting environmental resources and increasing marketability and financial returns. Public officials agree that because local government has no legal or maintenance responsibilities for private development, and is thereby cleared from liability concerns, such communities often use land more efficiently, through clustering and narrow‐street systems. We must recognize that the current practice of allowing different sets of standards for private developments acknowledges the inadequacy of standards applied to public ones, and validates the impression that typical regulations are not determined by actual performance, marketability or good design.
Results Development of a detailed model of viral life cycle and action of anti-retroviral drugs

Predictive markers linking drug efficacy to clinical outcome are a key component in the drug discovery and development process. In HIV infection, two different measures, viral load decay and phenotypic assays, are used to assess drug efficacy in vivo and in vitro. For the newly introduced class of integrase inhibitors, a huge discrepancy between these two measures of efficacy was observed. Hence, a thorough understanding of the relation between these two measures of drug efficacy is imperative for guiding future drug discovery and development activities in HIV. In this article, we developed a novel viral dynamics model, which allows for a mechanistic integration of the mode of action of all approved drugs and drugs in late clinical trials. Subsequently, we established a link between in vivo and in vitro measures of drug efficacy, and extract important determinants of drug efficacy in vivo. The analysis is based on a new quantity—the reproductive capacity—that represents in mathematical terms the in vivo analog of the read-out of a phenotypic assay. Our results suggest a drug-class specific impact of antivirals on the total amount of viral replication. Moreover, we showed that the (drug-)target half life, dominated by immunesystem related clearance processes, is a key characteristic that affects both the emergence of resistance as well as the in vitro–in vivo correlation of efficacy measures in HIV treatment. We found that proteaseand maturation inhibitors, due to their target half-life, decrease the total amount of viral replication and the emergence of resistance most efficiently.
Circle-Covering Algorithm for Multiple-POI Searching

Nowadays, there is a tendency that the Location-based service (LBS) is becoming more and more popular. That is because LBS can provide customized services according to user's current location information. What is more, it can easily recommend the information of a point of interest (POI) to the user. When a user queries a series of POIs, LBS can return a cluster of these POIs. This paper aims to find a given-sized circle that can cover the maximum total weights of POIs for which people require. The weight of a POI reflects its quality, hence, our aim is to help people find the best POIs nearby. In this paper, every cluster is considered as a point. We stipulate an order to traverse these points and update the maximum weight. The challenge of our proposed algorithm lies in the "cast effect", which means the most of the returned POI clusters may be discarded when some hot POIs are blocked. To overcome this challenge, our proposed algorithm will reduce the impact of the cast effect when calculating the weight of a circle. The simulation and the conclusion are presented at the end of this paper.
A structural role for tryptophan 188 of inducible nitric oxide synthase.

All nitric oxide synthase (NOS) isotypes bear a conserved tryptophan that stacks against the proximal face of the heme cofactor. Recently two hyperactive variants of neuronal NOS were reported in which this residue (W409) was replaced by phenylalanine or tyrosine. We find that mutation of the same residue in the oxygenase domain of inducible NOS (W188) to phenylalanine causes severe destabilization of heme binding. W188F is isolated in a predominantly heme-free state, and axial thiolate ligation to the residual bound heme is unstable. However, W188F is soluble and is expressed at levels comparable to wild type. While circular dichroism spectroscopy demonstrates the loss of some secondary structure, the protein chain is not completely denatured and it retains much of its fold between pH 7.5 and 4. This proximal tryptophan of NOS represents a case where a residue is conserved within an enzyme family but for distinct purposes that are isotype-dependent.
Nutrient-Gene Interactions Red Wine Polyphenolics Increase LDL Receptor Expression and Activity and Suppress the Secretion of ApoB 100 from Human HepG 2 Cells 1

Epidemiologic studies suggest that the consumption of red wine may lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. The cardioprotective effect of red wine has been attributed to the polyphenols present in red wine, particularly resveratrol (a stilbene, with estrogen-like activity), and the flavonoids, catechin, epicatechin, quercetin and phenolic acids such as gallic acid. At present, very little is known about the mechanisms by which red wine phenolic compounds benefit the cardiovascular system. Therefore, the aim of this study was to elucidate whether red wine polyphenolics reduce lipoprotein production and clearance by the liver. Cultured HepG2 cells were incubated in the presence of dealcoholized red wine, alcohol-containing red wine and atorvastatin for 24 h. The apolipoprotien B100 (apoB100) protein (marker of hepatic lipoproteins) was quantified on Western blots with an anti-apoB100 antibody and the enhanced chemiluminescence detection system. Apolipoprotein B100 levels in the cells and that secreted into the media were significantly reduced by 50% in liver cells incubated with alcoholstripped red wine compared with control cells. This effect of dealcoholized red wine on apoB100 production in HepG2 cells was similar to the effect of atorvastatin. Apo B100 production was significantly attenuated by 30% in cells incubated with alcoholized red wine, suggesting that the alcohol was masking the effect of red wine polyphenolics. Apo B100 production was significantly attenuated by 45% with the polyphenolic compounds resveratrol and quercertin. In addition, dealcoholized and alcoholized red wine and atorvastatin significantly increased 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase mRNA and LDL receptor binding activity relative to controls. Dealcoholized red wine also increased LDL receptor gene expression. Collectively, this study suggests that red wine polyphenolics regulate major pathways involved in lipoprotein metabolism. J. Nutr. 133: