Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Vehicular Communication Performance at Street Intersections

Future collision avoidance systems for crossing- scenarios depend on a reliable vehicle-to-vehicle communication link. Consequently, a deeper insight into inter-vehicle communication performance at intersections is needed. This paper presents three intersection categories for non-line-of-sight communication scenarios, based on a large measurement data set. For each category, packet delivery rates with respect to a 2-dimensional distance-measure are provided, which can be used for network simulations or application evaluations. The results show performances that cannot be described with a (cumulative) 1-dimensional distance-measure. We present a new evaluation method that involves channel sounder data and transmission simulations, enabling a simultaneous analysis of both, the communication performance and the underlying propagation channel. The method can also be used for a realistic evaluation of advanced signal processing algorithms.
Northward Expansion and Intensification of Phytoplankton Growth During the Early Ice‐Free Season in Arctic

In the last decades, reduction of the ice cover has been documented to affect the structure and the functioning of Arctic marine ecosystems. One direct consequence is earlier phytoplankton spring blooms and larger annual primary production compared with previous decades. However, the impact of changes in the dynamics of sea ice specifically on phytoplankton spring blooms, a major contributor of the annual primary production in the Arctic Ocean, remains poorly known. Here we report on their temporal and spatial variabilities in open waters between 2003 and 2013 using satellite ocean color data. We observed a significant increase in primary productivity of phytoplankton spring blooms in different sectors of the Arctic Ocean, especially in the Barents and Kara Seas. Satellite observations also revealed a northward expansion of these blooms at a rate of 1° per decade driven by the Barents and the Kara regions.
Effects of Wind Straining on Estuarine Stratification: A Combined Observational and Modeling Study

A combined observational and numerical modeling study was conducted to clarify the effects of wind straining on estuarine stratiﬁcation. Long-term mooring observations in the middle of Chesapeake Bay showed an asymmetric stratiﬁcation response to along-channel winds. The stratiﬁcation decreased under up-estuary winds. Under down-estuary winds, however, the stratiﬁcation increased at moderate wind speeds but decreased at high wind speeds. In concert with numerical modeling, the mooring and ship-based survey data were analyzed to test the wind-straining mechanisms. In the middle and upper parts of the estuary, the straining of the density ﬁeld by the vertical shear of the along-channel current dominates the stratiﬁcation response, enhancing stratiﬁcation under the down-estuary winds but reducing it under the up-estuary winds. A regime diagram was constructed to place the wind-induced stratiﬁcation change in terms of the dimensionless Wedderburn number W : it is a linearly function of W for W > 0 (up-estuary winds) but a parabolic function of W for W < 0 (down-estuary winds). In the lower part of the estuary, however, the stratiﬁcation response to the wind direction was opposite to that in the middle and upper Bay. The wind-driven lateral circulation was much stronger there, and the cross-channel straining of the density ﬁeld by the vertical shear in the lateral currents drove the stratiﬁcation response in the lower Bay. Therefore, both the along-channel and cross-channel straining regulate the estuarine stratiﬁcation, and the net stratiﬁcation change over a wind event is determined by the relative strength of along-channel and cross-channel straining.
ASSESSMENT OF SEASONAL VARIATION OF HEAVY METALS IN THREE DIFFERENT FISH SPECIES FROM SOUTHEAST COAST REGION OF CUDDALORE

Fish has been consider as a one of the most important source of nutrients. These nutrients can be affected by manmade pollution and leads to some toxic effects. The main purpose of this study to assess the seasonal variation of proximate composition, level of heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic and lead in seawater and different fish species. The muscle tissues of three commonly demanded fish species [Lutjanus sanguineus, Loligo duvauceli and Leiognathus splendens] and sea water samples was collected from southeast coast region of Cuddalore at three different seasons [winter, summer and Monsoon]. The level of heavy metals in different fish species was determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The result of the current study revealed that all the metals were present below the permitted level in sea water and fish sample at all three seasons. They are present in the following order in all the seasons Hg<As<Pb in the sea water.
Knowledge, Dietary and Physical Activity Practices Regarding Obesity among Women Aged 25-40 Years in Vhembe District of Limpopo Province

Abstract Objective is to determine knowledge, dietary and physical activity practices as well as anthropometrics status of women aged 25-40 years of age. A descriptive study was conducted among 60 women aged 25-40 years and snowball sampling was used to select participants with the objective to determine knowledge, dietary and physical activity practices as well as anthropometrics status of women aged 25-40 years of age. It has been observed that 46.7 percent of the participants in this study had very good knowledge on obesity. Participants were more physically active at home level because all the participants were reported to be spending more hours in household activities such as preparing food and washing up, cleaning the house, doing laundry and ironing and taking care of children. The prevalence of obesity was discovered to be very high in this study as compared to overweight. This concludes that participants in this study had good knowledge relating to obesity however they lacked knowledge on other aspects that are linked to obesity.
Using Google Translation in Cross-Lingual Information Retrieval

HIT2 Lab participated in NTCIR 7 IR4QA task. In this task many topics consist of name entities, so Google translation was used to translate query terms because of its high performance on name entity translation. We use KL-divergence model to perform retrieval and Chinese character bigram as our indexing unit. Pseudo feedback was used trying to improve average precision. We achieved competitive results in the task.
Content Discovery and Caching in Mobile Networks with Infrastructure

We address content discovery in wireless networks with infrastructure, where mobile nodes store, advertise, and consume content while Broker entities running on infrastructure devices let demand and offer meet. We refer to this paradigm as match-making, highlighting its features within the confines of the standard publish-and-subscribe paradigm. We study its performance in terms of success probability of a content query, a parameter that we strive to increase by acting as follows: 1) We design a credit-based scheme that makes it convenient for rational users to provide their content (thus discouraging free-riding behavior), and it guarantees them a fair treatment. 2) We increase the availability of either popular or rare content, through an efficient caching scheme. 3) We counter malicious nodes whose objective is to disrupt the system performance by not providing the content they advertise. To counter the latter as well as free riders, we introduce a feedback mechanism that enables a Broker to tell apart well- and misbehaving nodes in a very reliable manner, and to ban the latter. The properties of our match-making scheme are analyzed through game theory. Furthermore, via ns-3 simulations, we show its resilience to different attacks by malicious users and its good performance with respect to other existing solutions.
A Fitted Second Order Finite Difference Method for Singular Perturbation Problems Exhibiting Dual Layers

In this paper a fitted second-order finite difference method is presented for solving singularly perturbed two-point boundary value problems with the boundary layer at both end (left and right) points. We have introduced a fitting factor in second-order tri-diagonal finite difference scheme and it is obtained from the theory of singular perturbations. The efficient Thomas algorithm is used to solve the tri-diagonal system. Maximum absolute errors are presented in tables to show the efficiency of the method.
Elderly Mobility and Mobility Outcomes

Recent research has demonstrated that elderly residential mobility is conditioned more often by economic factors than is mobility in general. This article explores these issues, specifically those related to the effects of mobility, aging in place, and migration on elderly economic well-being. Using the American Housing Survey national file for 1985, different types of mobility and migration for households in the later stages of the life course are examined. The evidence reiterates central city/suburban locational differences for the elderly, emphasizes the role of house costs and house cost/income ratios in creating stress for the elderly, and strongly suggests that the elderly population is not simply grouped into young-old, old, and old-old, but is better treated in a continuum of life course changes.
Cache-conscious coallocation of hot data streams

The memory system performance of many programs can be improved by coallocating contemporaneously accessed heap objects in the same cache block. We present a novel profile-based analysis for producing such a layout. The analysis achieves cacheconscious coallocation of a hot data stream H (i.e., a regular data access pattern that frequently repeats) by isolating and combining allocation sites of object instances that appear in H such that intervening allocations coming from other sites are separated. The coallocation solution produced by the analysis is enforced by an automatic tool, cminstr, that redirects a program's heap allocations to a run-time coallocation library comalloc. We also extend the analysis to coallocation at object field granularity. The resulting field coallocation solution generalizes common data restructuring techniques, such as field reordering, object splitting, and object merging, and allows their combination. Furthermore, it provides insight into object restructuring by breaking down the coallocation benefit on a per-technique basis, which provides the opportunity to pick the "sweet spot" for each program. Experimental results using a set of memory-performance-limited benchmarks, including a few SPECInt2000 programs, and Microsoft VisualFoxPro, indicate that programs possess significant coallocation opportunities. Automatic object coallocation improves execution time by 13% on average in the presence of hardware prefetching. Hand-implemented field coallocation solutions for two of the benchmarks produced additional improvements (12% and 22%) but the effort involved suggests implementing an automated version for type-safe languages, such as Java and C#.
Preterm Birth Has Sex-Specific Effects on Autonomic Modulation of Heart Rate Variability in Adult Sheep

Introduction Globally, 11% of infants are born preterm. In adulthood, individuals born preterm are at increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, but the mechanistic basis of this remains unknown. Clinically overt cardiovascular disease may be preceded by altered cardiac autonomic activity characterised by increased sympathetic activity and/or reduced parasympathetic activity. Thus, altered cardiac autonomic activity in survivors of preterm birth may underlie later cardiovascular risk. Objective To investigate the impact of gestational age on cardiac autonomic activity in juvenile and adult sheep. Methods and Results Singleton-bearing ewes were randomised antenatally to spontaneous term birth (TC; n=73) or corticosteroid induced preterm birth (PT; n=60). Cardiac autonomic modulation was assessed using heart rate variability analysis in juvenile and adult offspring. Preterm birth in adult males was associated with altered sympatho-vagal modulation (LFnu: PT 64±4 vs. TC 49±4, p<0.05; LogLF/HF: PT 1.8±0.1 vs. TC 1.5±0.1, p<0.05) and reduced parasympathetic modulation (LogRMSSD: PT 2.9±0.2 vs. TC 3.4±0.1, p<0.05; LogNN50: PT 0.3±0.4 vs. TC 1.6±0.4, p<0.05). Within the range of term birth, each one-day increment in gestational age was associated with a decrement in LFnu in juvenile females and with a decrement in LFnu and LF/HF ratio, but an increment in RMSSD and NN50 in adult females. Conclusions Cardiac autonomic function in adult sheep is affected in a sex-specific manner by gestational age at birth, even within the term range. Altered cardiac autonomic function may contribute to increased later cardiovascular morbidity in those born preterm.
A computer model of auditory efferent suppression: implications for the recognition of speech in noise.

The neural mechanisms underlying the ability of human listeners to recognize speech in the presence of background noise are still imperfectly understood. However, there is mounting evidence that the medial olivocochlear system plays an important role, via efferents that exert a suppressive effect on the response of the basilar membrane. The current paper presents a computer modeling study that investigates the possible role of this activity on speech intelligibility in noise. A model of auditory efferent processing [Ferry, R. T. , and Meddis, R. (2007). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 122, 3519-3526] is used to provide acoustic features for a statistical automatic speech recognition system, thus allowing the effects of efferent activity on speech intelligibility to be quantified. Performance of the "basic" model (without efferent activity) on a connected digit recognition task is good when the speech is uncorrupted by noise but falls when noise is present. However, recognition performance is much improved when efferent activity is applied. Furthermore, optimal performance is obtained when the amount of efferent activity is proportional to the noise level. The results obtained are consistent with the suggestion that efferent suppression causes a "release from adaptation" in the auditory-nerve response to noisy speech, which enhances its intelligibility.
Region Genes -Acetylglucosamine/Anti-Myosin Antibody V N Carditis: Human Anti-Monoclonal Antibodies from Rheumatic Molecular Analysis of Polyreactive

Anti-myosin Abs are associated with inﬂammatory heart diseases such as rheumatic carditis and myocarditis. In this study, human cross-reactive anti-streptococcal/anti-myosin mAbs 1.C8, 1.H9, 5.G3, and 3.B6, produced from peripheral blood lymphocytes of patients with rheumatic carditis, and mAb 10.2. 5, produced from a tonsil, were characterized, and the nucleotide sequences of their V H and V L genes were analyzed. Human mAbs 1.C8, 1.H9, 10.2. 5, and 3.B6 reacted with human cardiac myosin while mAb 5.G3 did not. The mAbs were strongly reactive with N -acetyl- b - D -glucosamine, the dominant epitope of the group A streptococcal carbohydrate. mAb 1.H9 was moderately cytotoxic to rat heart cells in vitro in the presence of complement. The anti-myosin mAbs from rheumatic carditis were found to react with speciﬁc peptides from the light meromyosin region of the human cardiac myosin molecule. Anti-streptococcal/anti-myosin mAbs from normal individuals reacted with distinctly different light meromyosin peptides. The mAbs were encoded by VH3 gene segments V3-8, V3-23, and V3-30 and by the VH4 gene segment V4-59. The variable region genes encoding the anti-streptococcal/anti-myosin repertoire were heterogeneous and exhibited little evidence of Ag-driven somatic mutation. The Journal of Immunology, 1998, 161: 2020–2031. produced as described by Shikhman and Cunningham (2, 3, 8). Human PBL were isolated using Histopaque-1077 Hybri-Max (Sigma, St. Louis, MO) and were stimulated for 1 week at 37°C with streptococcal peptidoglycan-polysaccharide complexes (10 m g/ml) (mAbs 1.C8, 1.H9, 5.G3, and 3.B6) as previously de- scribed (8) or with streptococcal M5 membranes (mAb 10.2.5) (3). After 1 week, Iscove’s modiﬁed Dulbecco’s medium (IMDM) containing the pep- tidoglycan-polysaccharide complexes and 10% human AB serum was re-placed with IMDM containing 10% serum and pokeweed mitogen (1 m g/ ml). The cells were for week. Cells were then collected by centrifugation, three and fused by standard methods as either HMMA2.11TG/O, a rat-human heterohybridoma purchased Brown University, Providence, RI, or with WI-L2-729HF2, a human lymphoblas-toid cell line purchased from R. Lundak, Techniclone International, Santa Ana, CA Hybridomas were selected on the basis of reactivity with group A streptococci, myosin, and N -acetylglucosamine-BSA with no reactivity with BSA as previously described (7, 8). hybridomas limiting in tissue culture plates. synthesized longer to facilitate puriﬁcation of the peptide by HPLC or to prevent cyclization. All peptides were chemi-cally synthesized on a Dupont RAMPS manual synthesizer using the f-moc strategy (24) and puriﬁed by HPLC. The synthetic LMM peptides have been reported previously (21), and their amino acid sequences are shown in Results . The synthetic peptides were tested for reactivity with the human mAbs in immunodot blots as previously described (3).
Defensins reduce the barrier integrity of a cultured epithelial monolayer without cytotoxicity.

Polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) contribute to epithelial injury at sites of inflammation, but their mechanisms of action are incompletely understood. PMN can injure target tissues by oxidative and nonoxidative mechanisms. Included in the nonoxidative mechanisms are defensins (DEF), small (3.5 to 4.0 kD), arginine- and cysteine-rich polypeptides. DEF are bactericidal, fungicidal, viricidal, and tumoricidal, but their ability to contribute to inflammatory injury has not been extensively evaluated. One marker of inflammatory injury is disrupted epithelial barrier integrity. Using Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) epithelial monolayers, we measured the effect of both human and rabbit DEF on barrier integrity using mannitol permeability (Pmann) and transepithelial electrical resistance (Rt). Human DEF (HNP1-3, 2:2:1 molar ratio) increased Pmann in a time- and concentration-dependent manner and Rt fell progressively over a 48-h period after exposure of monolayers to HNP1-3. Rabbit DEF peptide 1 (NP-1) also increased Pmann, but rabbit peptide 5 (NP-5) had no effect on Pmann. To investigate the role of charge, HNP1-3 was added to the monolayers with the polyanions heparin or sulfated dextran. Heparin and sulfated dextran only partially inhibited the increase in Pmann. Fetal bovine serum (FBS), however, completely inhibited the effect of HNP1-3, but this protection was only partially explained by the anionic protein, albumin. The FBS protection was time dependent and was present when FBS was added up to 16 h after exposure to HNP1-3. While both HNP1-3 and NP-1 increased epithelial permeability, neither were cytolytic to MDCK cells as measured by lactate dehydrogenase release. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Scaling ozone responses of forest trees to the ecosystem level in a changing climate

Many uncertainties remain regarding how climate change will alter the structure and function of forest ecosystems. At the Aspen FACE experiment in northern Wisconsin, we are attempting to understand how an aspen/birch/maple forest ecosystem responds to long-term exposure to ele- vated carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and ozone (O 3 ), alone and in combination, from establishment onward. We examine how O 3 affects the flow of carbon through the ecosystem from the leaf level through to the roots and into the soil micro- organisms in present and future atmospheric CO 2 condi- tions. We provide evidence of adverse effects of O 3 , with or without co-occurring elevated CO 2 , that cascade through the entire ecosystem impacting complex trophic interac- tions and food webs on all three species in the study: trem- bling aspen ( Populus tremuloides Michx . ), paper birch ( Betula papyrifera Marsh), and sugar maple ( Acer saccha- rum Marsh). Interestingly, the negative effect of O 3 on the growth of sugar maple did not become evident until 3 years into the study. The negative effect of O 3 effect was most noticeable on paper birch trees growing under elevated CO 2 . Our results demonstrate the importance of long-term studies to detect subtle effects of atmospheric change and of the need for studies of interacting stresses whose responses could not be predicted by studies of single fac- tors. In biologically complex forest ecosystems, effects at one scale can be very different from those at another scale. For scaling purposes, then, linking process with canopy level models is essential if O 3 impacts are to be accurately predicted. Finally, we describe how outputs from our long- term multispecies Aspen FACE experiment are being used to develop simple, coupled models to estimate productivity gain/loss from changing O 3 .
Thermal and Spectroscopic Characterization of a Proton Pumping Rhodopsin from an Extreme Thermophile*

Background: Rhodopsin is distributed among various organisms. Results: A proton pumping rhodopsin named TR was characterized. Conclusion: TR showed high stability. Significance: TR should be a useful protein for research on retinylidene proteins. So far retinylidene proteins (∼rhodopsin) have not been discovered in thermophilic organisms. In this study we investigated and characterized a microbial rhodopsin derived from the extreme thermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus, which lives in a hot spring at around 75 °C. The gene for the retinylidene protein, named thermophilic rhodopsin (TR), was chemically synthesized with codon optimization. The codon optimized TR protein was functionally expressed in the cell membranes of Escherichia coli cells and showed active proton transport upon photoillumination. Spectroscopic measurements revealed that the purified TR bound only all-trans-retinal as a chromophore and showed an absorption maximum at 530 nm. In addition, TR exhibited both photocycle kinetics and pH-dependent absorption changes, which are characteristic of rhodopsins. Of note, time-dependent thermal denaturation experiments revealed that TR maintained its absorption even at 75 °C, and the denaturation rate constant of TR was much lower than those of other proton pumping rhodopsins such as archaerhodopsin-3 (200 ×), Haloquadratum walsbyi bacteriorhodopsin (by 10-times), and Gloeobacter rhodopsin (100 ×). Thus, these results suggest that microbial rhodopsins are also distributed among thermophilic organisms and have high stability. TR should allow the investigation of the molecular mechanisms of ion transport and protein folding.