Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Multiple Species Invasion on Soil and Plant Communities Increases With Invasive Species Co-occurrence

Despite increasing evidence indicating that invasive species are harming biodiversity, ecological systems and processes, impacts of multiple species invasion and their links with changes in plant and soil communities are inadequately documented and remain poorly understood. Addressing multiple invaders would help to ward against community-wide, synergistic effects, aiding in designing more effective control strategies. In this work, correlative relationships are examined for potential impacts of three co-occurring invasive plant species, Amorpha fruticosa, Fraxinus pennsylvanica, and Acer negundo, on soil conditions and native plant diversity. The research was conducted in riparian ecosystems and included the following treatments: (1) co-occurrence of the three invasive plant species, (2) occurrence of a single invasive species, and (3) control, i.e., absence of invasive species. Co-occurrence of three invasive plant species caused higher direct impact on soil properties, soil functioning, and native plant diversity. Soil in mixed plots (those populated with all three invaders) contained higher levels of nitrifying bacteria, organic matter, nitrogen, and carbon as well as lower carbon to nitrogen ratio as compared to single species invaded plots and control plots. Furthermore, native plant diversity decreased with invasive plants co-occurrence. Differences in soil conditions and lower native plant diversity revealed the interactive potential of multiple invasive species in depleting biodiversity and eroding soil functionality, ultimately affecting ecological and biogeochemical processes both below and above ground. Our results highlight the need to prevent the impact of multispecies invasion, suggesting that riparian ecosystems affected by co-occurring invaders should be prioritized for invasion monitoring and ecological restoration.
A Compact High Gain Antenna for Small Satellite Applications

The development of a circularly-polarized compact high-gain antenna to be used for the European Student Earth Orbiter small satellite mission is described. The antenna is realized stacking two coaxial shorted annular patches and placing the top one at half a wavelength from the lower one. At variance of other similar configurations proposed in the past, the one presented in this paper has several important features which can be extremely useful for application in the space environment. In particular, it can be easily fabricated employing suspended technology and its radiation characteristics are to some extent controllable by opportunely varying the geometry. In the following, a straightforward design procedure will be presented detailing the criteria to optimize top and bottom radiating elements. Both numerical and measured results will show that the proposed design satisfies the specifications and presents characteristics comparable to other larger and heavier solutions usually more difficult to design. Specifically, it will be shown that with this configuration it is possible to obtain gain values higher than 12 dB using ground plane of moderate size and that a further improvement up to 15dB can be obtained employing larger ground planes
E-procurement current and future readiness level in Malaysia

E-procurement has been recognized as an element of Business-to-Business (B2B) E-commerce. In B2B organizations have inter firm acquisition of goods and services over the internet. This paper focuses the current and future readiness level of E-procurement among organizations in Malaysia. A survey questionnaire was administered to collect data from 46 organizations. The general finding shows that Malaysian medium and large organizations have positive influence towards online procuring in terms of readiness. This paper also provides information about future intentions of E-procurement implementation.
A molecular dynamics simulation of the flavin mononucleotide-RNA aptamer complex.

We report on an unrestrained molecular dynamics simulation of the flavin mononucleotide (FMN)-RNA aptamer. The simulated average structure maintains both cross-strand and intermolecular FMN-RNA nuclear Overhauser effects from the nmr experiments and has all qualitative features of the nmr structure including the G10-U12-A25 base triple and the A13-G24, A8-G28, and G9-G27 mismatches. However, the relative orientation of the hairpin loop to the remaining part of the molecule differs from the nmr structure. The simulation predicts that the flexible phosphoglycerol part of FMN moves toward G27 and forms hydrogen bonds. There are structurally long-lived water molecules in the FMN binding pocket forming hydrogen bonds within FMN and between FMN and RNA. In addition, long-lived water is found bridging primarily RNA backbone atoms. A general feature of the environment of long-lived "structural" water is at least two and in most cases three or four potential acceptor atoms. The 2'-OH group of RNA usually acts as an acceptor in interactions with the solvent. There are almost no intrastrand O2'H(n) vertical . O4'(n + 1) hydrogen bonds within the RNA backbone. In the standard case the preferred orientation of the 2'-OH hydrogen atoms is approximately toward O3' of the same nucleotide. However, a relatively large number of conformations with the backbone torsional angle gamma in the trans orientation is found. A survey of all experimental RNA x-ray structures shows that this backbone conformation occurs but is less frequent than found in the simulation. Experimental nmr RNA aptamer structures have a higher fraction of this conformation as compared to the x-ray structures. The backbone conformation of nucleotide n + 1 with the torsional angle gamma in the trans orientation leads to a relatively short distance between 2'-OH(n) and O5'(n + 1), enabling hydrogen-bond formation. In this case the preferred orientation of the 2'-OH hydrogen atom is approximately toward O5'(n + 1). We find two relatively short and dynamically stable types of backbone-backbone next-neighbor contacts, namely C2'(H)(n) vertical . O4'(n + 1) and C5'(H)(n + 1) vertical . O2'(n). These interactions may affect both backbone rigidity and thermodynamic stability of RNA helical structures.
Observations of Nonlinear Behavior in a Low-Pressure Discharge Column

Sudden and abrupt jumps in the plasma density and discharge current of low-pressure magnetized argon and helium plasmas are observed. These jumps are found to depend on the discharge bias voltage, the neutral gas pressure, and the magnetic field strength and occur with a substantial hysteresis in those parameters. These jumps are accompanied by the onset of intense and coherent low-frequency plasma oscillations. In addition, under certain conditions, the radial density profile of the plasma is found to be significantly different following a jump. Some possibly related plasma instabilities are discussed.
SKI knockdown inhibits human melanoma tumor growth in vivo

The SKI protein represses the TGF‐β tumor suppressor pathway by associating with the Smad transcription factors. SKI is upregulated in human malignant melanoma tumors in a disease‐progression manner and its overexpression promotes proliferation and migration of melanoma cells in vitro. The mechanisms by which SKI antagonizes TGF‐β signaling in vivo have not been fully elucidated. Here we show that human melanoma cells in which endogenous SKI expression was knocked down by RNAi produced minimal orthotopic tumor xenograft nodules that displayed low mitotic rate and prominent apoptosis. These minute tumors exhibited critical signatures of active TGF‐β signaling including high levels of nuclear Smad3 and p21Waf1, which are not found in the parental melanomas. To understand how SKI promotes tumor growth we used gain‐ and loss‐of‐function approaches and found that simultaneously to blocking the TGF‐β‐growth inhibitory pathway, SKI promotes the switch of Smad3 from tumor suppression to oncogenesis by favoring phosphorylations of the Smad3 linker region in melanoma cells but not in normal human melanocytes. In this context, SKI is required for preventing TGF‐β‐mediated downregulation of the oncogenic protein c‐MYC, and for inducing the plasminogen activator inhibitor‐1, a mediator of tumor growth and angiogenesis. Together, the results indicate that SKI exploits multiple regulatory levels of the TGF‐β pathway and its deficiency restores TGF‐β tumor suppressor and apoptotic activities in spite of the likely presence of oncogenic mutations in melanoma tumors.
Stimulation of the sodium‐potassium pump by trypsin in low potassium type erythrocytes of goats.

1. Treatment of low K goat red cells with trypsin stimulated the Na‐K pump more than twofold. Dose dependence and time course experiments indicated a half‐maximal stimulation at 1.6 mg trypsin/ml. (37 degrees C, 3 hr), and a maximum effect after 5 hr (10 mg/ml). 2. Trypsin had only a small and variable effect on the ouabain‐insensitive component of K influx. 3. The Na‐K pump activity of high K goat red cells was not affected by trypsinization. 4. When intracellular K was varied by the PCMBS technique, it was found that the trypsin stimulation was greatest (2‐5‐fold) in cells with the highest K (40 m‐mole/1. cells) and lowest (1.1‐fold) in cells with low K (<1 m‐mole/1. cells). 5. The trypsin effect was reversed by nystatin treatment or hypotonic lysis. 6. Trypsin did not increase the number of ouabain‐binding sites. 7. It is concluded that trypsinization modifies the L antigen in low K goat red cells to decrease the apparent internal affinity for K of the Na‐K pump in these cells.
Changes in Income Distributions and the Role of Tax-Benefit Policy During the Great Recession: An International Perspective

This paper examines the impact on inequality and poverty of the economic crisis in four European countries, namely France, Germany, the UK and Ireland, and the contribution of tax and benefit policy changes. The period examined, 2008 to 2010, was one of great economic turmoil, yet it is unclear whether changes in inequality and poverty rates over this time period were mainly driven by changes in market income distributions or by tax-benefit policy reforms. We disentangle these effects by producing counterfactual ("no reform") scenarios using tax-benefit microsimulation and representative household surveys of each country. For the period under study, we find that the policy reaction has contributed to stabilizing or even decreasing inequality and relative poverty in the UK, France and especially in Ireland, a country where rising unemployment would have otherwise increased poverty. Market income inequality has nonetheless pushed up inequality and relative poverty in France. Relative poverty and, notably, child poverty, have increased in Germany due to policy responses combined with the increasing inequality of market income.
Multi‐state analysis of cognitive ability data: A piecewise‐constant model and a Weibull model

Longitudinal data can be used to estimate transition intensities between healthy and unhealthy states prior to death. When health is defined with respect to cognitive ability during old age, the trajectory of performance is either static or downward. An illness–death model is presented where the intensity of a transition is allowed to change over time by using a piecewise‐constant model or by using a Weibull model. Observed improvement of cognitive ability is modelled as misclassification. The methodology is extended to estimate life expectancy with and without cognitive impairment. The measurement of cognitive ability is important as it is an important predictor of future need for care. The models can help to understand how cognitive decline develops over time and which factors play a role. The methods are illustrated using data from the Medical Research Council Cognitive Function and Ageing Study in the U.K. (1991–2005). Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The differential effects of recombinant brain natriuretic peptide, nitroglycerine and dihydralazine on systemic oxygen delivery and gastric mucosal microvascular oxygenation in dogs *

Brain natriuretic peptide has vasodilatory properties and may thus increase splanchnic perfusion and oxygenation. We compared the effects of recombinant brain natriuretic peptide on gastric mucosal microvascular haemoglobin oxygenation (reflectance spectrophotometry) and systemic variables with those of equi‐hypotensive doses of two other vasodilators (nitroglycerine and dihydralazine). Chronically instrumented, healthy dogs were randomly allocated to receive on different days, one of the three drugs (nitroglycerine and dihydralazine doses titrated to reduce mean arterial pressure by ∼20%). Brain natriuretic peptide significantly increased gastric mucosal microvascular haemoglobin oxygenation selectively, i.e. without concomitant haemodynamic effects. In contrast, the other vasodilators either did not increase gastric mucosal microvascular haemoglobin oxygenation at all (nitroglycerine), or did so only with marked increases in other systemic haemodynamic variables (dihydralazine). Our data suggest a potential role of recombinant brain natriuretic peptide selectively for increasing microvascular mucosal oxygenation. Studies are required to extend these findings to the clinical setting.
Sensate abstraction: hybrid strategies for multi-dimensional data in expressive virtual reality contexts

ATLAS in silico is an interactive installation/virtual environment that provides an aesthetic encounter with metagenomics data (and contextual metadata) from the Global Ocean Survey (GOS). The installation creates a visceral experience of the abstraction of nature in to vast data collections - a practice that connects expeditionary science of the 19th Century with 21st Century expeditions like the GOS. Participants encounter a dream-like, highly abstract, and datadriven virtual world that combines the aesthetics of fine-lined copper engraving and grid-like layouts of 19th Century scientific representation with 21st Century digital aesthetics including wireframes and particle systems. It is resident at the Calit2 Immersive visualization Laboratory on the campus of UC San Diego, where it continues in active development. The installation utilizes a combination of infrared motion tracking, custom computer vision, multi-channel (10.1) spatialized interactive audio, 3D graphics, data sonification, audio design, networking, and the VarrierTM 60 tile, 100-million pixel barrier strip auto-stereoscopic display. Here we describe the physical and audio display systems for the installation and a hybrid strategy for multi-channel spatialized interactive audio rendering in immersive virtual reality that combines amplitude, delay and physical modeling-based, real-time spatialization approaches for enhanced expressivity in the virtual sound environment that was developed in the context of this artwork. The desire to represent a combination of qualitative and quantitative multidimensional, multi-scale data informs the artistic process and overall system design. We discuss the resulting aesthetic experience in relation to the overall system.
Smart surveillance using PDA

The aim of this research is to develop a fast and reliable surveillance system based on a personal digital assistant (PDA) device. This is to extend the capability of the device to detect moving objects which is already available in personal computers. Secondly, to compare the performance between Background subtraction (BS) and Temporal Frame Differencing (TFD) techniques for PDA platform as to which is more suitable. This project is designed for Pocket PC devices (windows Mobile 2003 SE or windows CE 4.2) meant for indoor use only. The system is capable to operate at 5 frames per second. The entire surveillance program has been developed and programmed using Embedded Visual C++ taking the advantage of the built-in camera. In order to reduce noise and to prepare frames for the moving object detection part, each frame is first converted to a gray-scale representation and then smoothed using a Gaussian low pass filter. Two moving object detection schemes i.e., BS and TFD have been analyzed. TFD is done by taking the difference between the current frame and the previous frame. On the other hand BS is accomplished by taking the difference between subsequence frame and the background frame. The background frame is updated by using Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) filter so that the background frame is adapted to the varying illuminate conditions and geometry settings. In order to reduce the effect of noise pixels resulting from frame differencing morphological filters erosion and dilation are applied. In this work, it has been found that TFD technique is more suitable for motion detection purpose than the BS in term of speed. On average TFD is approximately 170 ms faster than the BS technique
A quantitative model of work-related fatigue: background and definition

Fatigue has been identified as a major risk factor for shiftworkers. However, few organizations or governments currently manage work-related fatigue in any systematic or quantitative manner. This paper outlines an approach to managing fatigue that could improve shiftwork management. Using shift start and finish times as an input, the outlined model quantifies work-related fatigue on the basis of its known determinants; that is shift timing and duration, work history and the biological limits on sleep length at specific times of day. Evaluations suggest that work-related fatigue scores correlate very highly with sleep-onset latency, neurobehavioural impairment and subjective sleepiness. The model is useful in that it allows comparisons to be made between rosters independent of shift length and timing or the total number of work hours. Furthermore, unlike many models of sleepiness and fatigue, individual's sleep times are not required as hours of work are used as the input. It is believed the model provides the potential quantitatively to link the effects of shiftwork to specific organizational health and safety outcomes. This simple approach may be especially critical at a time when many organizations view longer and more flexible hours from their employees as an immediate productivity gain.
A New Group Signature Scheme Based on RSA Assumption

In this paper, we present a new group signature scheme based on RSA assumption. It not only achieves the same objective as the Lee-Chang scheme but also reduces the amount of computing time as compared to the Lee-Chang scheme and the Lee-Chang-Hwang scheme. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.5755/j01.itc. 42.1. 1185
A 2 V 5th-order fully-differential CMOS G/sub m/-C filter for wideband communication

A 2 V 5th-order fully-differential continuous time elliptic filter is presented. It uses linear CMOS ultra low voltage transconductors. In a 1.2 /spl mu/m n-well CMOS process, this filter can achieve a tuning frequency of 1.2 MHz-2.9 MHz with maximal 1.6 mW power dissipation at 2 V supply voltage. THD with 500 kHz 0.5 V/sub pp/ input signal is 0.66%. The IP3 of the filter is 18 dBm. This filter is proposed for wideband telecommunication systems, such as in GPS and IS-95 standards.
Recruiting physicians for office-based research.

OBJECTIVES Research conducted in community outpatient offices can provide insight into the common experiences of patients and physicians. However, recruiting physicians to participate in office-based research is challenging and few descriptions of methods that have been used to successfully recruit random samples of physicians are available. This article describes recruitment strategies utilized in a project that achieved high rates of participation from community-based primary care physicians and surgeons. METHODS Recruitment methods included the use of advisory boards to identify potential barriers to participation, use of respected members of the medical community as recruiters, and obtaining endorsements from physician organizations and prominent members of the medical community. RESULTS Overall, 81% of physicians contacted from a sample frame agreed to participate in the project. Participating physicians most frequently reported that they participated because the project could provide them with feedback about their interviewing style. CONCLUSIONS The recruitment methods described here can be generalized to other types of investigations.
ADP an Agent Decomposition Planner CoDMAP 2015

ADP (an Agent Decomposition-based Planner) is designed to deduce agent decompositions from standard PDDL-encoded planning problems and then to exploit such found decompositions to generate a heuristic used for efﬁcient planning. The decomposition process partitions the problem into an environment and a number of agents which act on and inﬂuence the environment, but can not (directly) effect each other. The heuristic calculation is an adaptation of the FF relaxation heuristic to incorporate multiagent information. Relaxed planning graphs are only ever generated for single-agent sub-problems. However, when cooperation is necessary, an agent’s starting state may include facts added by others.
Image Segmentation for Fruit Based on Convexity of Illumination Distribution Features of Light Sources

CID known as Convexity of Illumination Distribution features of light sources can be utilized to recognize objects from the background, especially when it comes to the situation that the illumination is not uniform and the surface of the background is not very even or the edge of the object is not clear enough. In this paper, models of illumination distribution have been created to prove the convexity of illumination distribution on the background of fruit. Thus we are able to distinguish rotten places from the background by selecting control points from background points on the convex hull of the plot of a scan line of the image. Therefore, finally, we can utilize this control points to reconstruct the background by cubic spline and subtract this background from the original picture to get object. In order to test the efficiency, quantitative experiments are performed and they yield promising results.
Multiresolution wavelet decomposition of the seismocardiogram

The seismocardiogram (SCG) is a complex, nonstationary signal used for pathological analysis of cardiac vibratory activity. This article reports the results of multiresolution wavelet decomposition of SCGs for a normal male subject, pertaining to three different physiological conditions. Marked differences in certain sub-bands are discernible, which are undetectable in the time-domain alone.
Reduced-Pipelined Duty Cycle MAC Protocol (RP-MAC) for Wireless Sensor Network

Recently, the pipeline-forwarding has been proposed as a new technique to resolve the end-to-end latency problem of the duty-cycle MAC protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Some protocols based on this technique such as PMAC and PRI-MAC have shown an improvement not only in terms of reducing end-to-end latency but also in terms of reducing power consumption. In these protocols, however, the sensor nodes still waste a significant amount of energy for unnecessary idle listening during contention period of upstream nodes to check the channel activity. This paper proposes a new pipeline-forwarding duty-cycle MAC protocol, named RP-MAC (Reduced Pipelined duty-cycle MAC), which tries to reduce the waste of energy. By taking advantage of ACK mechanism and shortening the handshaking procedure, RP-MAC minimizes the time for checking the channel and therefore reduces the energy consumption due to unnecessary idle listening. When comparing RP-MAC with the existing solution PRI-MAC and RMAC, our QualNet-based simulation results show a significant improvement in term of energy consumption.