Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Western Amazonian Boundary for Avifauna Determined by Species Distribution Patterns and Geographical and Ecological Features

In northern South America, an extensive tropical lowland runs 5,000 km from the Atlantic coast to the foot of the Andes. The slope is gentle until about 500 m where the eastern Andes rise abruptly. The lowland supports Amazonia, which is the most extensive tract of tropical rainforest on the planet. Most of its boundaries are well defined, but the boundary between Amazonia and the forest of the eastern slopes of the Andes has not been clearly defined. To determine for avifauna whether Amazonia is restricted to the lowland of northern South America or whether it also extends up into the eastern slopes of the Andes, different types of data were used. The results indicate that Amazonia may be restricted to the lowland that extends from the Atlantic coast to the foot of the Andes, up to about 500 m. Consequently, the number of bird species strictly endemic to Amazonia would be 290. Comparison with the distribution of vegetation on the eastern slopes of the Andes also suggests that Amazonia as a biome may be restricted to the lowland that extends from the Atlantic coast to the foot of the Andes, up to about 500 m.
Electrophysiological correlates of social information processing for detecting agents in social interaction scenes: P200 and N250 components

According to interaction theories, the detection of situated agents and the understanding of their intentions and mental states are mediated by smart perceptual and embodied mechanisms. While the network supporting agency-attribution, actionunderstanding, and grasping of others’ mental state is quite known, the actual mental chronometry of such social perception processes is still not clear. We then designed an exploratory study to investigate electrophysiological correlates (ERPs and source localization) of information-processing for the detection of potential agents in realistic interaction scenes. Morphological and statistical analyses of electrophysiological data highlighted that the manipulation the nature of a potential agent, the gesture it executed and the relative position of an interagent was differently associated to the modulation of specific relevant middle-latency ERP components, labelled as P200 and N250, and of their relative intra-cortical current density distribution within the first 300 ms from the appearance of the stimulus.
Einsatz einer druckempfindlichen Beschichtung (PSP) zur Bestimmung des momentanen Druckfeldes von Modellen im Windkanal

Ein flachenhaftes, beruhrungslos arbeitendes optisches Druckmessystem (Pressure Sensitive Paint) wird beschrieben. Es wird unter realen Bedingungen im Transsonischen Windkanal des Deutschen Zentrums fur Luft- und Raumfahrt in Gottingen eingesetzt.Hierzu wird der von dem optischen Druckmessystem ausgenutzte Sauerstoff-Quenchprozes spektroskopisch detailliert untersucht. Die Ergebnisse dienen der Entwicklung eines geeigneten Datenerfassungs- und Bildverarbeitungssystems fur die Messungen im Windkanal. Erfast werden momentane Druckverteilungen in nahezu Echtzeit auf einem dreidimensionalen Doppeldeltamodell, so das eine Erkennung und Beurteilung der sich uber dem Modell einstellenden Wirbeldynamik moglich ist. Die Druckbilder lassen Ruckschlusse auf Wirbelvereinigung und Wirbelaufplatzen zu.
AWARD NUMBER: W81XWH-13-1-0055 TITLE: Crosstalk between mTORC1 and cAMP Signaling PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Kun-Liang Guan CONTRACTING ORGANIZATION: University of California, San Diego

| Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a conserved Ser/Thr kinase that is part of mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1), a master regulator that couples amino acid availability to cell growth and autophagy. Multiple cues modulate mTORC1 activity, such as growth factors, stress, energy status and amino acids. Although amino acids are key environmental stimuli, exactly how they are sensed and how they activate mTORC1 is not fully understood. Recently, a model has emerged whereby mTORC1 activation occurs at the lysosome and is mediated through an amino acid sensing cascade involving RAG GTPases, Ragulator and vacuolar H-ATPase (v-ATPase). PROGRESS NATURE REVIEWS | MOLECULAR CELL BIOLOGY VOLUME 14 | MARCH 2013 | 133 © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved Nature Reviews | Molecular Cell Biology mTORC1 AMPK ULK1 Amino acids Glucose
A general ocean waves model for ship design

In this paper, we propose a general model to simulate one or several waves in open sea and near the shore. The model is based on the linear form of the Navier- Stokes equations. Each water particle revolves around a circle in open sea and around an ellipsis near the coast with the great axis that becomes parallel to the sea bed slope on the shore. We obtain an extreme sea response when we study a unique wave characteristic of the swell. But, the frame rates decreases when the waves number increases. Thereby, we decide to compute the waves sum by an inverse Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Instead of the well- known statistical model of Jerry Tessendorf, the pioneer of water synthesis images in the film Titanic, we apply our general waves model. By this way, the sea depth and the tidal current change the waves heigths and water particles revolve on a circle or an ellipsis. The main constraint with a FFT approach is that a wave propagation can not be studied. For the study of the ship seakeeping, strip methods are experimented.
MWCNT-Chitosan-ZrO2 Nanocomposite Modified Sensor for Sensitive and Selective Electrochemical Determination of Serotonin

A novel sensitive electrochemical sensor has been developed by modification of glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT), chitosan (CHIT) and zirconium oxide (ZrO2) nanoparticles. The morphological characteristics of nanocomposite (MWCNT-CHIT-ZrO2 or MCZ) were studied by scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscopy. The electrochemical behavior of serotonin at nanocomposite modified GCE (MCZ/GCE) was investigated in pH 6.5 Briton Robinson buffer solution using cyclic voltammetry and square wave voltammetry. MCZ/GCE showed an enhancement in the current response as compared to bare GCE and showed a linear response to serotonin in the range 800 to 5000 nM. The limit of detection was found to be 0.6 nM, which is lower than many other sensors reported for serotonin in literature. The modified sensor showed high sensitivity (9 nA/nM) and selectivity for serotonin. The proposed method was successfully employed for quantification of serotonin in human blood serum samples.
Oil Shale Pyrolysis Reaction Model by Solving Ordinary Differential Equation

A mathematical model was developed to represent kerogen and bitumen decomposition reactions occurring during oil shale pyrolysis. To predict the weight loss over temperature for the given shale sample, the Runge Kutta method is used to solve the ordinary differential equations (ODE). The ODE method applied in this paper is compared with the ODE linearisation method used in a previous paper and with experimental data obtained on an oil shale sample from the Moroccan Timahdit oil shale at different heating rates. This paper also introduces the concept of separating the oil, gas and water into individual components by differentiation between the substances composing in the vapour phase. Cracking and coking reactions of the oil produced from kerogen and bitumen decomposition are also taken into account in this concept.
Performance of autoregressive order selection criteria: a simulation study

Proper selection of autoregressive order plays a crucial role in econometrics modeling cycles and testing procedures. This paper compares the performance of various autoregressive order selection criteria in selecting the true order. This simulation study shows that Schwarz information criterion (SIC), final prediction error (FPE), Hannan-Qiunn criterion (HQC) and Bayesian information criterion (BIC) have considerable high performance in selecting the true autoregressive order, even if the sample size is small, whereas Akaike's information criterion (AIC) over-estimated the true order with a probability of more than two-thirds. Further, this simulation study also shows that the probability of these criteria (except AIC) in correctly estimating the true order approaches one as sample size grows. Generally, these findings show that the most commonly used AIC might yield misleading policy conclusions due to its unsatisfactory performance. We note here that out of a class of commonly used criteria, BIC performs the best for a small sample size of 25 observations.
Procedure for the Experimental Determination of a Forming Limit Curve for Usibor 1500 P

USIBOR 1500 P® is a coated C-Mn steel, micro-alloyed with boron, with excellent processing properties in hot stamping, both in terms of formability, quenchability and surface protection, and leading to superior mechanical properties on the formed part. Arcelor Research is developing a numerical tool to support the feasibility analysis and to optimize the design of hot stamped parts made of USIBOR 1500P®. Among the numerous bricks of such a simulation methodology, formability data of the material are of primary importance as the forming analysis relies on them to make a decision in terms of feasibility. Up to now, there was no experimental procedure available in literature to determine the forming limits of hot stamping material, taking into account the specificities of this process. This paper reports about the research performed in this field. First, an efficient experimental set-up which allows varying all the desired process conditions has been developed. Several hundred Nakazima hot stamping tests have been carried out for various process parameters (stroke, velocity, friction and heat exchange) and blank para-meters (temperature, thickness and shape). The third step consisted in developing and vali-dating an accurate analysis scheme to determine the critical strain values based on the Bragard method. Finally, the critical strain values have been confirmed and comparisons with industrial parts for various process conditions have been performed. In this paper these two last steps are mainly presented.
In Vitro Clonal Propagation of Avocado Rootstocks

Current commercial propagation methods of avocado rootstocks are slow and laborious, and improved methods need to be developed. Rapid in vitro clonal propagation as an alternative method could benefit the nursery industry considerably. Benefits would include clonal propagation of commercial rootstocks at low cost; rapid introduction of new selected or imported rootstocks; and, above all, the production of pathogen-free rootstocks.
Active Contour Driven by Local Region Statistics and Maximum A Posteriori Probability for Medical Image Segmentation

This paper presents a novel active contour model in a variational level set formulation for simultaneous segmentation and bias field estimation of medical images. An energy function is formulated based on improved Kullback-Leibler distance (KLD) with likelihood ratio. According to the additive model of images with intensity inhomogeneity, we characterize the statistics of image intensities belonging to each different object in local regions as Gaussian distributions with different means and variances. Then, we use the Gaussian distribution with bias field as a local region descriptor in level set formulation for segmentation and bias field correction of the images with inhomogeneous intensities. Therefore, image segmentation and bias field estimation are simultaneously achieved by minimizing the level set formulation. Experimental results demonstrate desirable performance of the proposed method for different medical images with weak boundaries and noise.
Definition of the semantic metrics on the basis of thesaurus of subject area

Abst ract . The paper proposes an approach to construction of semantic metrics based on thesaurus of the domain of linguistics. The process of constructing a thesaurus is described. A way is proposed to use the built knowledge base to find potential partners who are engaged in similar research issues in the subject area for which thesaurus was constructed. Ke y words : thesaurus, knowledge base, semantic metrics, relation, weight ratio.
Personal Authentication Using Finger Images

— As the need for personal authentication increases, biometrics systems have become the ideal answer to the security needs. This paper presents a novel personal authentication system which uses simultaneously acquired finger-vein and finger texture images of the same person. A virtual fingerprint is generated combining these two images. The result of the combination i
Investigating the behaviour of neutral hydrogen Lyα spectral line width in polar coronal holes at solar minimum

We investigate the behaviour of the H I Lyα spectral line widths measured by UVCS/SOHO in polar coronal holes at minimum of solar magnetic activity. The line widths are reported to significantly increase up to 3 R , while above 3 R there is observational evidence of either nearly constant or slightly decreasing values. We adopt empirical models of polar coronal holes at solar activity minimum reported in the literature and calculate the characteristic timescales relevant to different processes coupling neutral hydrogen atoms and protons, which are heated and accelerated in the outflowing plasma. This analysis leads us to believe that the progressive decoupling of the two sets of particles below 10 R , caused by the decrease of the plasma density due to the rapid expansion of the wind, cannot explain the behaviour of the Lyα line profile observed in polar coronal holes. We also synthesise the intensity and profile of the Lyα line as a function of heliocentric distance from the coronal hole models, adopting H I densities computed in non-equilibrium ionisation with the aim of satisfactorily reproducing the UVCS Lyα observations reported in the literature. Our analysis shows that the coronal Lyα emission decreases with heliocentric distance, down to values below the interplanetary Lyα emission, owing to the decrease of the plasma density and to non-equilibrium ionisation effects in the expanding plasma. This can lead to the predominance of the interplanetary emission, which is characterised by H I velocity distributions corresponding to temperatures about one order of magnitude lower than the coronal temperatures, and to the narrowing of the resulting coronal profile at higher heliocentric distances. This scenario can be a plausible explanation for the behaviour of the Lyα line profile with height observed in polar coronal holes at solar activity minimum.
The Effect of Information Technology on the Quality of Accounting Information system and Its impact on the Quality of Accounting Information

This study aims to explain, not to test empirically, the influence of information technology (functionality, ease of use, and compatibility of technology that adhere to accounting information system) on the quality of accounting information system (reliability, timeliness, flexibility, usefulness and sophistication) and its impact on the quality of accounting information (relevance, accuracy, and completeness) in order to develop a theoretical framework as a basis for the hypothesis, as an answer to the research questions, namely: (1) how is the effect of information technology on accounting information system (AIS) and (2) how is the effect of the quality of accounting information system on the quality of accounting information. This study will use ? = 0.05 to test each hypothesis. This study is scheduled to be conducted in university, institute and polytechnic in Bandung. The research methodology used in this study is also described in this paper. Keywords : Information Technology, Quality of Accounting Information system, Quality of Accounting Information
A new method to simulate the Bingham and related distributions in directional data analysis with applications

A new acceptance-rejection method is proposed and investigated for the Bingham distribution on the sphere using the angular central Gaussian distribution as an envelope. It is shown to have high efficiency and to be straightfoward to use. The method can also be extended to Fisher and Fisher-Bingham distributions on spheres and related manifolds.
Possible large near-trench slip during the 2011 Mw 9.0 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake

The 11 March 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku (Mw 9.0) Earthquake ruptured a 200 km wide megathrust fault, with average displacements of ~15–20 m. Early estimates of the co-seismic slip distribution using seismic, geodetic and tsunami observations vary significantly in the placement of slip, particularly in the vicinity of the trench. All methods have difficulty resolving the up-dip extent of rupture; onshore geodetic inversions have limited sensitivity to slip far offshore, seismic inversions have instabilities in seismic moment estimation as subfault segments get very shallow, and tsunami inversions average over the total region of ocean bottom uplift. Seismic wave estimates depend strongly on the velocity structure used in the model, which affects both seismic moment estimation and inferred mapping to slip. We explore these ideas using a least-squares inversion of teleseismic P-waves that yields surprisingly large fault displacements (up to ~60 m) at shallow depth under a protrusion of the upper plate into the trench. This model provides good prediction of GPS static displacements on Honshu. We emphasize the importance of poorly-constrained rigidity variations with depth for estimating fault displacement near the trench. The possibility of large slip at very shallow depth holds implications for up-dip strain accumulation and tsunamigenic earthquake potential of megathrusts elsewhere.
Development of High-Throughput Platforms for Single-Cell Analysis

Many important areas of research regarding human health, such as immunology and cancer biology, deal with highly heterogeneous populations of cells where the contributions of individual players cannot be ignored. Single-cell technologies aim to resolve this heterogeneity by analyzing many individual cells in a high-throughput manner. Here we developed two examples of such tools that rely on microfabricated arrays of microwells. The first platform merges fluorescence cytometry with label-free profiling of the small molecule composition of tens of thousands of cells based on matrixassisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry. We evaluated several materials and approaches to chip fabrication suitable for interfacing with a MALDI instrument. We also developed an analytical pipeline for efficient processing of cells on the chip and demonstrated its application to the analysis of brain tumor samples. The second platform provides a new format of microwell arrays for fluorescence cytometry that improves their compatibility with a range of automated equipment and enables more efficient processing of a greater number of samples, while preserving viability and identity of cells for subsequent analyses. We demonstrated its utility for on-chip enrichment and recovery of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and high-content immunophenotyping of small clinical samples. Thesis Supervisor: J. Christopher Love Title: Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering Thesis Co-Advisor: Darrell J. Irvine Title: Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Biological Engineering
GIS/Remote sensing techniques for resource management and biodiversity protection in mountainous regions

Biodiversity protection in mountainous regions requires effective fact-driven resource management techniques. Geoinformatic tools including GIS and remote sensing can be integrated to provide regional-scale data products across time for use in strategic and management level policymaking. Several principles are discussed to ensure that geoinformatics data and analysis can effectively contribute to resource management by clarifying issues and minimizing misinterpretation. A case study in the Chilean Andes elucidates these principles. Biological impacts of recent climate changes have not been equal across different ecosystems and stable forest ecosystems provide the best response to climate change. Geoinformatics is used to differentiate functional ecological groups and evaluate long-term resilience to climate change. Key-words : Chilean Andes; climate change; mountain ecosystems; geoinformatics; vegetation. DOI: 10.3126/botor.v6i0. 2916 Botanica Orientalis - Journal of Plant Science (2009) 6: 93-99
Farmland prices in a developing economy : some stylized facts and determinants

The study constructs a district and state level series of farmland prices using the village level data from MIMAP-India survey and identifies the major determinants of farmland prices. The estimates at micro level showed that density of population in the rural areas, food grain yield and distance from the nearest town were the major determinants of farmland prices. When macro variables were added at the All India level, it was found that density of rural population, road density and share of non-agriculture in GDP as well as in work force affected farmland prices positively while rural poverty affected them adversely. The results appear to have implications for urban planning, industrial location and various government programs for rural development and poverty alleviation.
Exploiting parallax in panoramic capture to construct light fields

We show that the parallax motion resulting from non-nodal rotation in panorama capture can be exploited for light field construction from commodity hardware. Automated panoramic image capture typically seeks to rotate a camera exactly about its nodal point, for which no parallax motion is observed. This can be difficult or impossible to achieve due to limitations of the mounting or optical systems, and consequently a wide range of captured panoramas suffer from parallax between images. We show that by capturing such imagery over a regular grid of camera poses, then appropriately transforming the captured imagery to a common parameterisation, a light field can be constructed. The resulting four-dimensional image encodes scene geometry as well as texture, allowing an increasingly rich range of light field processing techniques to be applied. Employing an Ocular Robotics REV25 camera pointing system, we demonstrate light field capture, refocusing and low-light image enhancement.
MONITORING CHILD WELL-BEING IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: MEASURING CUMULATIVE DEPRIVATION

This paper describes and empirically tests a number of candidate measures of cumulative deprivation to monitor child well-being in the EU.The authors posit that the ideal measure should be sensitive to changes in the depth of cumulative deprivation and, given its broad use in the policy community, has an intuitive interpretation. Using the 2007 wave of the EU-SILC data, the authors constructed several measures of cumulative deprivation from a set of 13 deprivation indicators for Germany, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.