Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Climate, soil, and vegetation: 1. Introduction to water balance dynamics

A statistical dynamic formulation of the vertical water budget at a land-atmosphere interface is outlined. Physically based dynamic and conservation equations express the infiltration, exfiltration, transpiration, percolation to groundwater and capillary rise from the water table during rainstorms and interstorm periods in terms of independent variables representing the precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, soil and vegetal properties, and water table elevation. Uncertainty is introduced into these equations through the probability density functions of the independent climatic variables and yields derived probability distributions of the dependent water balance elements: surface runoff, evapotranspiration, and groundwater runoff. The mean values of these quantities give a long-term average water balance which, to the first order, defines the annual water yield and water loss in terms of the annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration and in terms of physical parameters of the soil, vegetation, climate, and water table. This analytical framework provides physical insight into the dynamic coupling of climate-soil-vegetation systems. Details are presented in a series of subsequent papers.
Groundwater and its susceptibility to degradation : a global assessment of the problem and options for management

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were adopted by member countries of the UN in 2000 as a global consensus on objectives for addressing poverty. Water has a key role in strategies for achieving all of the MDGs, which include a target to reduce by half the proportion of people without access to a safe water supply and a commitment to ensure environmental sustainability. The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg made an important advance when it placed poverty eradication at the heart of efforts to achieve sustainable development. The Summit brought the development and environment movements together and committed the international community to a systematic effort both to reduce poverty and pursue sustainable development. A new target on sanitation and a commitment to have water resource plans for all countries in place by 2005 were made at WSSD. The importance of water and its fundamental contribution to sustainable development is now recognised, but the contribution of water to poverty reduction will only be realised if it is set in the broader context of social and economic development and environmental improvement.
Rescue of Peripheral and CNS Axon Defects in Mice Lacking NMNAT2

NMNAT2 is an NAD+-synthesizing enzyme with an essential axon maintenance role in primary culture neurons. We have generated an Nmnat2 gene trap mouse to examine the role of NMNAT2 in vivo. Homozygotes die perinatally with a severe peripheral nerve/axon defect and truncated axons in the optic nerve and other CNS regions. The cause appears to be limited axon extension, rather than dying-back degeneration of existing axons, which was previously proposed for the NMNAT2-deficient Blad mutant mouse. Neurite outgrowth in both PNS and CNS neuronal cultures consistently stalls at 1–2 mm, similar to the length of truncated axons in the embryos. Crucially, this suggests an essential role for NMNAT2 during axon growth. In addition, we show that the Wallerian degeneration slow protein (WldS), a more stable, aberrant NMNAT that can substitute the axon maintenance function of NMNAT2 in primary cultures, can also correct developmental defects associated with NMNAT2 deficiency. This is dose-dependent, with extension of life span to at least 3 months by homozygous levels of WldS the most obvious manifestation. Finally, we propose that endogenous mechanisms also compensate for otherwise limiting levels of NMNAT2. This could explain our finding that conditional silencing of a single Nmnat2 allele triggers substantial degeneration of established neurites, whereas similar, or greater, reduction of NMNAT2 in constitutively depleted neurons is compatible with normal axon growth and survival. A requirement for NMNAT2 for both axon growth and maintenance suggests that reduced levels could impair axon regeneration as well as axon survival in aging and disease.
Very Low Reset Current for an RRAM Device Achieved in the Oxygen-Vacancy-Controlled Regime

We propose the bipolar-mode operation of resistive random access memory devices in a purely oxygen-vacancy (V0)-controlled regime, which is achieved by very low compliance capping for forming/set transitions. This regime enables us to achieve a very low reset current of 10-100 nA, in which the governing mechanism for switching only involves the reversible drift of oxygen ions to and from oxygen soluble gate electrodes. The physical analysis of a gate stack in this V0 regime confirms the absence of metallic nanofilaments. These findings pave the way for the realization of ultralow switching power RRAM devices.
Regulation of the G1/S Transition in Hepatocytes: Involvement of the Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Cdk1 in the DNA Replication

A singular feature of adult differentiated hepatocytes is their capacity to proliferate allowing liver regeneration. This review emphasizes the literature published over the last 20 years that established the most important pathways regulating the hepatocyte cell cycle. Our article also aimed at illustrating that many discoveries in this field benefited from the combined use of in vivo models of liver regeneration and in vitro models of primary cultures of human and rodent hepatocytes. Using these models, our laboratory has contributed to decipher the different steps of the progression into the G1 phase and the commitment to S phase of proliferating hepatocytes. We identified the mitogen dependent restriction point located at the two-thirds of the G1 phase and the concomitant expression and activation of both Cdk1 and Cdk2 at the G1/S transition. Furthermore, we demonstrated that these two Cdks contribute to the DNA replication. Finally, we provided strong evidences that Cdk1 expression and activation is correlated to extracellular matrix degradation upon stimulation by the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNFα leading to the identification of a new signaling pathway regulating Cdk1 expression at the G1/S transition. It also further confirms the well-orchestrated regulation of liver regeneration via multiple extracellular signals and pathways.
Density functional theory study of the thermodynamic and elastic properties of Ni-based superalloys

The thermophysical properties of Ni-based single-crystal superalloys were investigated using first-principles calculations combined with the quasiharmonic approximation. The effect of alloying elements X (X = Re, Ru, Ta, W, Mo, Cr, and Co) on the thermophysical properties of the γ-Ni and γ′-Ni3Al phases was investigated. The calculations showed that alloying can effectively adjust the lattice misfit between the two phases, and Cr can suppress lattice misfit and may improve the creep resistance of alloys. At 0 K, doping with refractory elements leads to tetragonal shear softening of the γ-Ni phase. For γ-Ni, Re, Ru, Cr, and Co slightly increase c44, while Mo, W, and Ta decrease c44. Importantly, high-temperature relative hardening was found to occur close to the service temperature of the superalloy, at which Ru and Cr increase c′ and Mo and W increase c44 of γ-Ni. For the γ′-Ni3Al phase, all of the alloying elements except Co considerably increase c′ and c44. Re and W at the Al site were found to most effectively harden the γ′-Ni3Al phase. The thermophysical and elastic properties were fully understood by analysis of the electronic structures and phonon spectra. It was found that the electronic density of states (DOS) can account for elastic hardening due to alloying. The phonon spectra along with electronic DOS analysis showed that alloying not only strengthens the first nearest neighbor Ni–X bond through additional d–d hybridization, but it is also important for stiffening the second nearest neighbor Al–X bonding through p-band filling.
The cell polarity scaffold Lethal Giant Larvae regulates synapse morphology and function

Summary Lethal Giant Larvae (LGL) is a cytosolic cell polarity scaffold whose loss dominantly enhances neuromuscular junction (NMJ) synaptic overgrowth caused by loss of the Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (FMRP). However, direct roles for LGL in NMJ morphological and functional development have not before been tested. Here, we use confocal imaging and two-electrode voltage-clamp electrophysiology at the Drosophila larval NMJ to define the synaptic requirements of LGL. We find that LGL is expressed both pre- and postsynaptically, where the scaffold localizes at the membrane on both sides of the synaptic interface. We show that LGL has a cell autonomous presynaptic role facilitating NMJ terminal branching and synaptic bouton formation. Moreover, loss of both pre- and postsynaptic LGL strongly decreases evoked neurotransmission strength, whereas the frequency and amplitude of spontaneous synaptic vesicle fusion events is increased. Cell-targeted RNAi and rescue reveals separable pre- and postsynaptic LGL roles mediating neurotransmission. We show that presynaptic LGL facilitates the assembly of active zone vesicle fusion sites, and that neuronally targeted rescue of LGL is sufficient to ameliorate increased synaptic vesicle cycling imaged with FM1-43 dye labeling. Postsynaptically, we show that loss of LGL results in a net increase in total glutamate receptor (GluR) expression, associated with the selective elevation of GluRIIB subunit-containing receptors. Taken together, these data indicate that the presynaptic LGL scaffold facilitates the assembly of active zone fusion sites to regulate synaptic vesicle cycling, and that the postsynaptic LGL scaffold modulates glutamate receptor composition and function.
Research on super-resolution based on random fields for low-level vision

The goal of single-frame Super-Resolution is to improve the spatial resolution of a given low-resolution image. However, it is ill-posed. Regularization which can be interpreted as the way of finding the prior distribution of images plays a crucial role in solving this problem. Example-based approach is one of the well-established regularization techniques for image process based on the prior information stored in the database, which is also used for image Super-Resolution reconstruction. This paper previews the Exampled-based Super-Resolution approach which is based on Freeman's work. We show how the example images to be used to generate training set, describing the Super-Resolution synthesis processing based on the training set, with the plausible experiment results on the single-frame image scale-up. Finally, the related problems and future challenges in this field are also mentioned.
Buffer Management in the Sliding-Window (SW) Packet Switch for Priority Switching

Switch and router architectures employing a shared buffer are known to provide high throughput, low delay, and high memory utilization. Superior performance of a shared-memory switch compared to switches employing other buffer strategies can be achieved by carefully implementing a buffer-management scheme. A buffer-sharing policy should allow all of the output interfaces to have fair and robust access to buffer resources. The sliding-window (SW) packet switch is a novel architecture that uses an array of parallel memory modules that are logically shared by all input and output lines to store and process data packets. The innovative aspects of the SW architecture are the approach to accomplishing parallel operation and the simplicity of the control functions. The implementation of a buffer-management scheme in a SW packet switch is dependent on how the buffer space is organized into output queues. This paper presents an efficient SW buffer-management scheme that regulates the sharing of the buffer space. We compare the proposed scheme with previous work under bursty traffic conditions. Also, we explain how the proposed buffer-management scheme can provide quality-of-service (QoS) to different traffic classes.
The Distribution and Function of Alternatively Spliced Insertions in hDlg*

hDlg is the human homolog of theDrosophila Discs-large tumor suppressor. As a member of the MAGUK (membrane-associatedguanylate kinase) family of scaffolding proteins, hDlg is composed of three PDZ (PSD-95, Dlg, and ZO-1) repeats, an SH3 (Src homology 3) motif, and a GUK (guanylate kinase-like) domain. Additionally, hDlg contains two regions of alternative splicing. Here we identify a novel insertion, I1B, located N-terminal to the PDZ repeats. We further analyze the tissue-specific combinations of insertions and correlate those results with the distribution of protein isoforms. We also identify the functions of the two alternatively spliced regions. The N-terminal alternatively spliced region is capable of binding several SH3 domains and also moderates the level of protein oligomerization. Insertions in the second region are responsible for determining the localization of hDlg, with insertion I3 targeting the protein to the membrane regions of cell-cell contact and insertion I2 targeting the protein to the nucleus.
Access Control for the Cloud Based on Multi-device Authentication

Cloud-based storage services such as Box or Dropbox are proliferating. They are being commonly adopted to store private information, which is beneficial for resource-constrained devices such as smartphones. However, stealing such device must not enable the attacker to have access to cloud data. In this paper, an access control mechanism for such scenario is proposed. It leverages the fact that each person usually carries several connected devices, thus forming a personal network previously referred to as Internet - of - You (IoY). Results show that this mechanism is resilient against several attacks, it is feasible in a real world scenario, and it is specially appropriate for files larger than 20kb as bigger files reduce the capacity of attack.
Design of Multifunctional H3 Receptor Inverse Agonists with Ache Inhibitor Activity for Treatment of Alzeihmer's Disease

Acetyl cholinesterase (AchE) and N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonists are at present the only commercially available treatment for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Histamine H3 receptor antagonists are used for the treatment of several neurodegenerative disorders such as Epilepsy, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Both H3 and AchE inhibitors alleviate the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease by enhancing the acetylcholine levels in the brain but the mechanism of action involved in both the cases is different. Here, it is proposed that histamine H3 antagonist with AchE inhibitor activity can be used as a novel class of drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease with lesser adverse peripheral effects than excessive AchE inhibitor alone. Thus the main objective of this work is to design multifunctional inhibitors for reduction of the side effects of the already available drugs. This study is divided into two parts. In the first part, homology modeled structure of histamine H3 active site and available crystal structure of AchE was used to collect the information for identification of pharmacophore. The important descriptors were identified based on comparative 2D-QSAR and 3D-QSAR study of 28 drug-like compounds for histamine H3 receptors collected from the literature. In the second part, five hybrid molecules were generated based on the pharmacophore of histamine H3 receptor and known pharmacophore of AchE inhibitors. All five hybrid molecules were screened through ADME/Tox filters. The hybrid molecule was validated through GOLD docking score in both AchE and histamine H3 receptors. The best hybrid compound was then evaluated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation in water solvent model using 3D model of human histamine H3 receptor (build based on bovine rhodopsin structure).
A note on the origins of syphilis

Certain early writers suggested that syphilis infected ancient Chinese dynasties, whilst others claim priority for the afflicted populus of the early Romans, alleging that Augustus Caesar was afflicted by hereditary syphilis. But these suppositions are unconfirmed. The sailors with Columbus in 1493 were said to have brought the disease to Spain. It is certain that the Spanish fleet, when they fought for their ruler Alfonso II against the French forces of Charles VIII of France in 1494–5, heavily infected the peoples of Naples. The illness spread rapidly around Europe and mercenaries who in 1496 joined Perkin Warbeck in Scotland and with the support of James IV of Scotland invaded England, bore both arms and the grandgore (Old French. grand gorre: grand great + gorre syphilis) as it was called.1 In 1497 the Minutes of the Town Council of Edinborough ( Phil. Trans. XLII. 421) recognised: “This contagious sickness callit the Grandgor. ” The infective and contagious nature of the disease were recognised. The Burgh of Aberdeen issued a ruling that “all licht (loose) women decist fra thar vicis and syne of venerie. ” A grandgore act was passed in September 1497. There was a …
Analysis of Software Developer Activity on a Distributed Version Control System

With the widespread use of distributed version control systems for software development, many software development projects are being shared and managed in a Web environment. This allows many developers, including project leaders and supporters, those who write important functions, those who resolve bugs and errors, and those who provide fundamental source code to relieve bottlenecks, to collaboratively progress their projects. In this paper, for the analysis of various characteristics of software developers, such as their skills and project roles, we present a method of feature extraction based on those developers' history of collaborative development using a distributed version control system. Real Git projects on GitHub were experimentally analyzed, and the experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of our proposed method.
On the properties of TCP flow arrival process

We study the TCP flow arrival process, starting from the aggregated measurement at the TCP flow level taken from our campus network. In particular, we analyze the statistical properties of the TCP flow arrival process. We define the different traffic aggregates by splitting the original trace, such that i) each of them is constituted by all the TCP flows belonging to the same traffic relation, i.e., with the same source/destination IP addresses and ii) each traffic aggregate has, bytewise, the same amount of traffic. To induce a divisions of TCP-elephants and TCP-mice into different traffic aggregates, the used algorithm packs the largest traffic relations in the first traffic aggregates, so that subsequently generated aggregates are constituted by an increasing number of smaller traffic relations. The long range dependency (LRD) characteristics are presented, showing the possible causes of the LRD of TCP flow arrival process in i) the heavy tailed distribution of the number of flows in a traffic aggregate, and ii) the presence of TCP-elephants within them.
Le marché domestique du sciage artisanal au Cameroun : état des lieux, opportunités et défis

Le Cameroun a adopte une nouvelle loi des foret en 1994 qui mettait l'accent sur le secteur forestier industriel, a grande echelle, et oriente vers l'exportation, tout en negligeant le bois produit avec des operations d'echelle plus petite, pour le marche interieur. Ce bois n'est pas enregistree dans les statistiques officielles et il est principalement produit sans titre valide d'exploitation. Pendant que le Cameroun se prepare a mettre en oeuvre l'Accord de Partenariat Volontaire (APV) recemment signe avec la Commission Europeenne, en promettant la legalite de toute la production nationale de bois, ce document presente une evaluation quantitative et qualitative de son marche interieur du bois. Nous avons constate que si le volume de bois commercialise a l'interieur du pays est ajoute aux statistiques nationales, la production nationale totale est d'environ 4,3 millions de metres cubes paran, cest-a-dire presque le double de l'estimation officielle de production de bois au Cameroun. Nous avons egalement constate que le commerce du bois domestique est une activite rentable pour des milliers de Camerounais. Son caractere informel, cependant, contribue au maintien d'un vaste reseau de paiements exiges par les agents de l'administration pour blanchir le bois vendu sur les marches locaux, et estime a environ 6 milliards de FCFA par an. Nous concluons en suggerant des options techniques qui pourraient ameliorer le fonctionnement du marche. Celles-ci risquent pourtant d'etre d'une faible efficacite si elles ne sont pas accompagnees d'actions claires de lutte contre la corruption pratiquee a large echelle au sein de cette filiere
Sex differences in child and adolescent mortality in the Nordic countries, 1981—2000

Aims: Unlike the situation for infant and adult mortality, there are only a few studies on child and adolescent mortality. The purpose of this study was to examine sex differences in child and adolescent mortality by age and cohort in four Nordic countries over a 20-year period. Methods: Data on all live-born children were received from national population-covering birth registries from 1981 to 2000 (Denmark, n = 1,184,926; Finland, n = 841,470 (from 1987 to 2000); Norway, n = 1,090,127; and Sweden, n = 1,961,911). Data on mortality and causes of death until the age of 20 years were received from the national cause-of-death registers. Results: The overall mortality rates were higher in Denmark and Norway than in Finland and Sweden, among both boys and girls, and the difference between countries increased over time. In all countries, boys had higher mortality rates than girls. Overall, the sex difference was larger in Denmark and Norway (36% and 33% higher, respectively) than in Finland and Sweden (both 24%). The sex differences were more pronounced for deaths of those aged 5—19 years than for those aged 0—4 years. Twelve per cent of all deaths among boys and 10% of those among girls were due to external causes, mainly unintentional injury deaths or intentional deaths. For children and adolescents aged 5—19 years, the corresponding figures were 43% for boys and 35% for girls. Conclusions: Boys have excess mortality, but the sex difference is lower in countries with lower mortality. Boys' excess mortality was only partly accounted for by deaths from external causes. Avoidable deaths and causes of death need further investigation.
Strategies to Prevent Anthracycline-Related Congestive Heart Failure in Survivors of Childhood Cancer

Cardiovascular complications are a leading cause of therapy-related morbidity and mortality in long-term survivors of childhood malignancy. In fact, childhood cancer survivors are at a 15-fold risk of developing CHF compared to age-matched controls. There is a strong dose-dependent association between anthracycline exposure and risk of CHF, and the incidence increases with longer followup. Outcome following diagnosis of CHF is generally poor, with overall survival less than 50% at 5 years. The growing number of childhood cancer survivors makes it imperative that strategies be developed to prevent symptomatic heart disease in this vulnerable population. We present here an overview of the current state of knowledge regarding primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention strategies for childhood cancer survivors at high risk for CHF, drawing on lessons learned from prevention studies in nononcology populations as well as from the more limited experience in cancer survivors.