Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biology of the Introduced Biocontrol Agent Microctonus hyperodae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and its Host Listronotus bonariensis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Northern New Zealand

ABSTRACT The South American weevil Listronotus bonariensis (Kuschel) is an important pest of pastures in New Zealand. As a component of management strategies for this pest, the South American parasitoid Microctonus hyperodae Loan (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) was released in northern New Zealand during 1991 as a biological control agent. Over the subsequent 5–6 yr, the reproductive biology of M. hyperodae and its relationship to, and effects on, the reproductive phenology and fitness of L. bonariensis were studied at three sites. M. hyperodae was first recovered in the field in December 1991. Subsequently, the incidence of parasitism in L. bonariensis increased to seasonal maxima of 75–90%. There was variable synchrony between parasitoid generations and the two generations of its host, leading to marked seasonal variation in rates of parasitism and parasitoid abundance. Despite marked inter-year variation, abundance of host adult and egg populations declined in the presence of parasitoids. Parasitized host females had lower ovarian maturity scores, had lower egg loads, and exhibited less investment in wing muscle development than females that had escaped parasitism. There was almost complete elimination of egg maturation in parasitized females and these hosts contributed little to population recruitment. Rate of buildup and seasonal maxima in parasitism, frequency of superparasitism, adult abundances, and wing muscle development in adult L. bonariensis varied among the three sites in a manner that was only partially related to climate differences across the 1.83° gradient of latitude. Site effects were weak to absent in measures of reproductive condition in L. bonariensis females.
Study of Resistivity and Shear Wave Velocity as a Predictive Tool of Sediment Type in Levee Foundation Soils, Louisiana Gulf Coast Levee System

iv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION . 1 (1.1) THE RELATIONSHIP OF GEOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND SOIL TYPES . 2 (1.2) STUDY AREAS . 2 (1.3) QUATERNARY GEOLOGIC BACKGROUND OF GREATER NEW ORLEANS . 5 (1.4) GEOPHYSICAL SOIL TYPE ESTIMATION . 8 (1.5) SURFACE WAVE INVERSION . 9 CHAPTER 2: FIELD METHODS. 13 (2.1) TOOLS . 13 (2.2) FIELD TECHNIQUES . 16 CHAPTER 3: DATA . 19 (3.1) LONDON AVENUE CANAL SEISMIC DATA. 19 (3.2) ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY . 19 (3.3) RECONCILIATION OF PRIOR STUDIES WITH NEW STUDIES . 20 CHAPTER 4: ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES . 26 (4.1) SEISMIC PROCESSING FOR DISPERSION CURVE . 26 (4.2) INVERSION OF DISPERSION CURVE FOR VS . 33 (4.3) SHEAR-WAVE VELOCITY PROFILES (INTERPOLATION). 38 (4.4) SOIL TYPE ESTIMATION . 40 (4.5) CROSS-PLOT ANALYSIS . 40 (4.6) MODIFIED SOIL TYPE APPROXIMATION FROM GEOPHYSICAL METHODS . 42 (4.7) EFFECTS OF DEPTH ON RESISTIVITY . 43 (4.8) EFFECTS OF DEPTH ON SHEAR WAVE VELOCITY. 44 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION . 50 (5.1) THE CONTRIBUTION OF SATURATION TO RESISTIVITY . 50 (5.2) IDENTIFYING SOIL TYPES BY SHEAR-WAVE VELOCITY . 51 (5.3) SOIL TYPE INTERPRETATION BY CROSS PLOT ANALYSIS OF VS AND RESISTIVITY . 51 (5.4) ERROR AND UNCERTAINTY . 52 (5.5) FUTURE WORK . 53 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS . 55 REFERENCES . 56 APPENDIX A: SEISMIC PROCESSING PROGRAMS. 63 APPENDIX B: INVERSION CODE . 118 VITA. 126
Smart pipe: A miniaturized sensor platform for real-time monitoring of drinking water quality

This work presents the first prototype of the Smart Pipe, a compact and intelligent wireless node hosting miniaturized sensors, embedded in a flange, for distributed and real-time monitoring of water contamination and for optimization of water treatment plants. Beyond pH and temperature, it features a low-cost and high-resolution (13 ppm, 11 ms response time) custom-designed 4-channel conductivity measurement circuit. Long-term operation and optimized on-demand maintenance are achieved by the innovative combination of an impedance sensor measuring the thickness of sludge and biofilm depositing on microelectrodes with self-cleaning capabilities offered by UV photo-regeneration of nanometric TiO2 electrodes coatings. Finally, here we also demonstrate self-powering of the unit by means of an energy harvesting control valve, regulating the flow in the water distribution network where an efficient installation of these sensors is today foreseeable.
Binaural blood flow control by astrocytes: listening to synapses and the vasculature

Astrocytes are the most common glial cells in the brain with fine processes and endfeet that intimately contact both neuronal synapses and the cerebral vasculature. They play an important role in mediating neurovascular coupling (NVC) via several astrocytic Ca2+‐dependent signalling pathways such as K+ release through BK channels, and the production and release of arachidonic acid metabolites. They are also involved in maintaining the resting tone of the cerebral vessels by releasing ATP and COX‐1 derivatives. Evidence also supports a role for astrocytes in maintaining blood pressure‐dependent change in cerebrovascular tone, and perhaps also in blood vessel‐to‐neuron signalling as posited by the ‘hemo‐neural hypothesis’. Thus, astrocytes are emerging as new stars in preserving the intricate balance between the high energy demand of active neurons and the supply of oxygen and nutrients from the blood by maintaining both resting blood flow and activity‐evoked changes therein. Following neuropathology, astrocytes become reactive and many of their key signalling mechanisms are altered, including those involved in NVC. Furthermore, as they can respond to changes in vascular pressure, cardiovascular diseases might exert previously unknown effects on the central nervous system by altering astrocyte function. This review discusses the role of astrocytes in neurovascular signalling in both physiology and pathology, and the impact of these findings on understanding BOLD‐fMRI signals.
A framework for bandwidth management in ATM networks—aggregate equivalent bandwidth estimation approach

A unified framework for traffic control and bandwidth management in ATM networks is proposed. It bridges algorithms for real-time and data services. The central concept of this framework is adaptive connection admission. It employs an estimation of the aggregate equivalent bandwidth required by connections carried in each output port of the ATM switches. The estimation process takes into account both the traffic source declarations and the connection superposition process measurements in the switch output ports. This is done in an optimization framework based on a linear Kalman filter. To provide a required quality of service guarantee, bandwidth is reserved for possible estimation error. The algorithm is robust and copes very well with unpredicted changes in source parameters, thereby resulting in high bandwidth utilization while providing the required quality of service. The proposed approach can also take into account the influence of the source policing mechanism. The tradeoff between strict and relaxed source policing is discussed.
Particle swarm optimization based on an improved diversity mechanism

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm has shown fast and good0020search abilities in many unimoal and simple multimodal problems. However, PSO as well as other evolutionary algorithms (EAs) also suffers from the problem of premature convergence in solving some complex multimodal problems. The main reason is that the diversity of swarm decreases very quickly. In this paper, we propose a new PSO variant (DPSO) based on an improved diversity mechanism. Experimental verifications on 13 famous benchmark functions show that the proposed approach achieves better results than standard PSO on the majority of test problems.
Hometown associations, urban-to-rural collective remittances and rural development in Turkey

Aiming to understand the role of rural-to-urban collective remittances on rural development in Turkey, this study presents the findings of a fieldwork in a hometown association (HTA) in Istanbul. Deep-interviews and semi-structural interviews are conducted with the members of the HTA and then analyzed mainly to clarify the remitting behaviour of immigrants and figure out the ways their remittances are used in the rural area they feel somehow attached to, the village of Boyali in the province of Sivas. As a result, it is found that collective remittances are spent not to improve agricultural productivity and rural employment but mainly to build non-productive infrastructure in the village and also contribute to the socio-economic integration of immigrants in Istanbul. Age, marital status, economic well-being, degree of attachment to the village, future plans of eventual return to the village are found to be significantly associated with the remitting behaviour. In this specific case, it appears that remittances are not used to provide long-run economic development in rural areas but rather to fill in governments’ shoes in a neoliberal economic setting.
Hospital Clostridium difficile Infection Testing Rates: Is “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” at Play?

Affiliations: 1. Department of Pharmacy, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio; 2. Department of Infectious Diseases, Kaiser Permanente, Northern California, Roseville, California; 3. Division of Infectious Diseases, College of Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. Address correspondence to Erica E. Reed, PharmD, BCPS, 368 Doan Hall, 410 West 10th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 (erica.reed@osumc.edu). Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2014;35(7):910-912 2014 by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. All rights reserved. 0899-823X/2014/3507-0027$15.00. DOI: 10.1086/676878
The Effect of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Postural Stability After Acute Stroke: A Clinical Trial

Introduction: Balance impairment is a common problem and a major cause of motor disability after stroke. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether low-frequency repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) improves the postural balance problems in stroke patients. Methods: This randomized double blind clinical trial with 12 weeks follow-up was conducted on stroke patients. Treatment was carried with 1 Hz rTMS in contralateral brain hemisphere over the primary motor area for 20 minutes (1200 pulses) for 5 consecutive days. Static postural stability, Medical Research Council (MRC), Berg Balance Scale (BBS), and Fugl-Meyer assessments were evaluated immediately, 3 weeks and 12 weeks after intervention. Results: A total of 26 patients were enrolled (age range=53 to 79 years; 61.5% were male) in this study. Administering rTMS produced a significant recovery based on BBS (df=86, 7; F=7.4; P=0.01), Fugl-Meyer Scale (df=86, 7; F=8.7; P<0.001), MRC score (df=87, 7; F=2.9; P=0.01), and static postural stability (df=87, 7; F=9.8; P<0.001) during the 12 weeks follow-up. Conclusion: According to the findings, rTMS as an adjuvant therapy may improve the static postural stability, falling risk, coordination, motor recovery, and muscle strength in patients with stroke.
ATM and ATR: Components of an Integrated Circuit

The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-like kinases (PIKKs) ATM and ATR activate a complex signaling network in response to diverse forms of DNA damage. Initial characterization of these signaling molecules focused on the individual role that each plays in response to specific types of DNA lesions. Recently, a more integrated view of the DNA-damage signaling network has emerged. ATM- and ATR-activated signaling pathways once appeared parallel, but new findings suggest that this cellular circuitry is highly interconnected. Communication between ATM and ATR enables the cell to respond to DNA strand breaks and inhibition of DNA synthesis with coordinated, highly modulated outputs. In this article, we focus on several new developments that give insight into the integrated processing of diverse signals that arise during the damage and replication of DNA.
PDGF-C Induces Maturation of Blood Vessels in a Model of Glioblastoma and Attenuates the Response to Anti-VEGF Treatment

Background Recent clinical trials of VEGF inhibitors have shown promise in the treatment of recurrent glioblastomas (GBM). However, the survival benefit is usually short-lived as tumors escape anti-VEGF therapies. Here we tested the hypothesis that Platelet Derived Growth Factor-C (PDGF-C), an isoform of the PDGF family, affects GBM progression independent of VEGF pathway and hinders anti-VEGF therapy. Principal Findings We first showed that PDGF-C is present in human GBMs. Then, we overexpressed or downregulated PDGF-C in a human GBM cell line, U87MG, and grew them in cranial windows in nude mice to assess vessel structure and function using intravital microscopy. PDGF-C overexpressing tumors had smaller vessel diameters and lower vascular permeability compared to the parental or siRNA-transfected tumors. Furthermore, vessels in PDGF-C overexpressing tumors had more extensive coverage with NG2 positive perivascular cells and a thicker collagen IV basement membrane than the controls. Treatment with DC101, an anti-VEGFR-2 antibody, induced decreases in vessel density in the parental tumors, but had no effect on the PDGF-C overexpressing tumors. Conclusion These results suggest that PDGF-C plays an important role in glioma vessel maturation and stabilization, and that it can attenuate the response to anti-VEGF therapy, potentially contributing to escape from vascular normalization.
Adaptive Probabilities in Stochastic Optimization Algorithms Master Thesis

Stochastic optimization methods have been extensively studied in recent years. In some classification scenarios such as text document categorization, unbiased methods such as uniform sampling have negative effects on the convergence rate, because of the effects of the potential outlier data points on the estimator. Consequently, it would take more iterations to converge to the optimal value for uniform sampling than non-uniform sampling, which normally allocates larger probability to samples with larger norm. Based on the intuition of non-uniform sampling, we investigate adaptive sampling in which we change the probability per iteration or per epoch during the execution of the algorithm. In this thesis, we start by introducing non-uniform sampling with Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD), and then study the impact of different choices of stepsize on convergence rate as well as derive theorems for the convergence rate. We analyze Stochastic Dual Coordinate Ascent (SDCA) and obtain the upper bound on the number of iterations to reach a specific level of optimality. This is followed by investigation of adaptive strategies which change the probabilities according to some historical information. We provide theoretical analysis to prove that they further reduce the number of iterations needed to reach the same level of optimality. The adaptive variants of SGD and SDCA are discussed and compared to the existing counterparts. The results show that both AdaSGD and AdaSDCA outperform the existing models. We also provide two online variants which update the probabilities immediately to perform adaptive sampling without the need of additional passes through the data.
SCUBA observations of the Horsehead Nebula - what did the horse swallow?

We present observations taken with the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) of the Horsehead nebula in Orion (B33), at wavelengths of 450 and 850 μm. We see bright emission from that part of the cloud associated with the photon-dominated region (PDR) at the ‘top’ of the horse's head, which we label B33-SMM1. We characterize the physical parameters of the extended dust responsible for this emission, and find that B33-SMM1 contains a more dense core than was previously suspected, with a mass of ∼2-M⊙ in a region of 0.31 × 0.13-pc, and a peak volume density of ∼6 × 105-cm−3. We compare the SCUBA data with data from the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) and find that the emission at 6.75-μm is offset towards the west, indicating that the mid-infrared emission is tracing the PDR while the submillimetre emission comes from the molecular cloud core behind the PDR. We calculate the virial balance of this core and find that it is not gravitationally bound but is being confined by the external pressure from the H-ii region IC434, and that it will either be destroyed by the ionizing radiation, or else may undergo triggered star formation. Furthermore, we find evidence for a lozenge-shaped clump in the ‘throat’ of the horse, which is not seen in emission at shorter wavelengths. We label this source B33-SMM2 and find that it is brighter at submillimetre wavelengths than B33-SMM1. We calculate the physical parameters of SMM2 and find it has a mass of ∼4-M⊙ in a region 0.15 × 0.07-pc, with a peak volume density of ∼2 × 106-cm−3 and peak column density of ∼9 × 1022-cm−2. SMM2 is seen in absorption in the 6.75-μm ISO data, from which we obtain an independent estimate of the column density in excellent agreement with that calculated from the submillimetre emission. We calculate the stability of this core against collapse and find that it is in approximate gravitational virial equilibrium. This is consistent with it being a pre-existing core in B33, possibly pre-stellar in nature, but that it may also eventually undergo collapse under the effects of the H-ii region.
IEEE 802.22: the first worldwide wireless standard based on cognitive radios

In November/2004, we witnessed the formation of the first worldwide effort to define a novel wireless air interface standard based on cognitive radios (CRs): the IEEE 802.22 working group (WG). The IEEE 802.22 WG is chartered with the development of a CR-based wireless regional area network (WRAN) physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layers for use by license-exempt devices in the spectrum that is currently allocated to the television (TV) service. Since 802.22 is required to reuse the fallow TV spectrum without causing any harmful interference to incumbents (i.e., the TV receivers), cognitive radio techniques are of primary importance in order to sense and measure the spectrum and detect the presence/absence of incumbent signals. On top of that, other advanced techniques that facilitate coexistence such as dynamic spectrum management and radio environment characterization could be designed. In this paper, we provide a detailed overview of the 802.22 architecture, its requirements, applications, and coexistence considerations that not only form the basis for the definition of this groundbreaking wireless air interface standard, but that will also serve as foundation for future research in the promising area of CRs
Using architecture models for runtime adaptability

Every software system has architecture. The architecture strongly influences the software system's properties, including maintainability and runtime properties such as performance and reliability. By describing the architecture in models, we can make the architecture explicit. Developers typically use software architecture models at design time to capture the significant decisions about a software system's organization and to describe and establish a common understanding about the system's abstract properties. In the MADAM (mobility- and adaptation-enabling middleware) project, we aim to facilitate adaptive application development for mobile computing. We follow an architecture-centric approach where we represent architecture models at runtime to allow generic middleware components to reason about and control adaptation.
Myofibroblast Differentiation by Transforming Growth Factor-β1 Is Dependent on Cell Adhesion and Integrin Signaling via Focal Adhesion Kinase*

Myofibroblast differentiation and activation by transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) is a critical event in the pathogenesis of human fibrotic diseases, but regulatory mechanisms for this effect are unclear. In this report, we demonstrate that stable expression of the myofibroblast phenotype requires both TGF-β1and adhesion-dependent signals. TGF-β1-induced myofibroblast differentiation of lung fibroblasts is blocked in non-adherent cells despite the preservation of TGF-β receptor(s)-mediated signaling of Smad2 phosphorylation. TGF-β1 induces tyrosine phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) including that of its autophosphorylation site, Tyr-397, an effect that is dependent on cell adhesion and is delayed relative to early Smad signaling. Pharmacologic inhibition of FAK or expression of kinase-deficient FAK, mutated by substituting Tyr-397 with Phe, inhibit TGF-β1-induced α-smooth muscle actin expression, stress fiber formation, and cellular hypertrophy. Basal expression of α-smooth muscle actin is elevated in cells grown on fibronectin-coated dishes but is decreased on laminin and poly-d-lysine, a non-integrin binding polypeptide. TGF-β1 up-regulates expression of integrins and fibronectin, an effect that is associated with autophosphorylation/activation of FAK. Thus, a safer and more effective therapeutic strategy for fibrotic diseases characterized by persistent myofibroblast activation may be to target this integrin/FAK pathway while not interfering with tumor-suppressive functions of TGF-β1/Smad signaling.
HTML5 Zero Configuration Covert Channels: Security Risks and Challenges

In recent months there has been an increase in the popularity and public awareness of secure, cloudless file transfer systems. The aim of these services is to facilitate the secure transfer of files in a peer-to- peer (P2P) fashion over the Internet without the need for centralised authentication or storage. These services can take the form of client installed applications or entirely web browser based interfaces. Due to their P2P nature, there is generally no limit to the file sizes involved or to the volume of data transmitted - and where these limitations do exist they will be purely reliant on the capacities of the systems at either end of the transfer. By default, many of these services provide seamless, end-to-end encryption to their users. The cybersecurity and cyberforensic consequences of the potential criminal use of such services are significant. The ability to easily transfer encrypted data over the Internet opens up a range of opportunities for illegal use to cybercriminals requiring minimal technical know-how. This paper explores a number of these services and provides an analysis of the risks they pose to corporate and governmental security. A number of methods for the forensic investigation of such transfers are discussed.
Optimizing general design objectives in processor-array design

We present an improved search procedure for the General Parameter Method (GPM). Our procedure maps uniform dependence algorithms to application-specific processor arrays (PAs). It can optimize general design objectives with certain nonmonotonicity properties, i.e., those that do not increase monotonically with the parameters. An example of such an objective is the minimization of the total completion time, including load and drain times. In contrast, earlier design methods can only deal with monotonic objectives. We present results for the matrix-product problem using this search technique. We also show that the parameters in GPM can be expressed in terms of the schedule vector /spl Pispl I.oarr/ and allocation matrix S in the popular dependence-based method (DM), thereby allowing GPM to be used in DM for finding optimal designs for uniform dependence algorithms. <<ETX>>