Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predicting population survival under future climate change: density dependence, drought and extraction in an insular bighorn sheep.

1. Our understanding of the interplay between density dependence, climatic perturbations, and conservation practices on the dynamics of small populations is still limited. This can result in uninformed strategies that put endangered populations at risk. Moreover, the data available for a large number of populations in such circumstances are sparse and mined with missing data. Under the current climate change scenarios, it is essential to develop appropriate inferential methods that can make use of such data sets. 2. We studied a population of desert bighorn sheep introduced to Tiburon Island, Mexico in 1975 and subjected to irregular extractions for the last 10 years. The unique attributes of this population are absence of predation and disease, thereby permitting us to explore the combined effect of density dependence, environmental variability and extraction in a 'controlled setting. ' Using a combination of nonlinear discrete models with long-term field data, we constructed three basic Bayesian state space models with increasing density dependence (DD), and the same three models with the addition of summer drought effects. 3. We subsequently used Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate the combined effect of drought, DD, and increasing extractions on the probability of population survival under two climate change scenarios (based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predictions): (i) increase in drought variability; and (ii) increase in mean drought severity. 4. The population grew from 16 individuals introduced in 1975 to close to 700 by 1993. Our results show that the population's growth was dominated by DD, with drought having a secondary but still relevant effect on its dynamics. 5. Our predictions suggest that under climate change scenario (i), extraction dominates the fate of the population, while for scenario (ii), an increase in mean drought affects the population's probability of survival in an equivalent magnitude as extractions. Thus, for the long-term survival of the population, our results stress that a more variable environment is less threatening than one in which the mean conditions become harsher. Current climate change scenarios and their underlying uncertainty make studies such as this one crucial for understanding the dynamics of ungulate populations and their conservation.
Extended H I Spiral Structure and the Figure Rotation of Triaxial Dark Halos

The H I disk of the blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxy NGC 2915 extends to 22 optical scale lengths and shows spiral arms reaching far beyond the optical component. None of the previous theories for spiral structure provide likely explanations for these very extended spiral arms. Our numerical simulations first demonstrate that such large spiral arms can form in an extended gas disk embedded in a massive triaxial dark matter halo with slow figure rotation, through the strong gravitational torque of the rotating halo. We then show that the detailed morphological properties of the developed spirals and rings depend strongly on the pattern speed of the figure rotation, the shape of the triaxial halo, and the inclination of the disk with respect to the plane including the triaxial halo's long and middle axes. These results strongly suggest that the dark matter halo of NGC 2915 is triaxial and has figure rotation. Based on these results, we also suggest that dynamical effects of triaxial halos with figure rotation are important in various aspects of galaxy formation and evolution, such as formation of polar ring galaxies, excitation of nonaxisymmetric structures in low surface brightness galaxies, and gas fueling to the central starburst regions of BCDs.
A novel method for error correction using Redundant Residue Number System in digital communication systems

Communication channel is highly prone to noise and therefore error correcting codes are required to protect the transmitted data. Residue Number System (RNS) is defined as the representation of an integer in the residue field. Redundant Residue Number System (RRNS) is obtained by adding some redundant residues in the RNS. In RNS, the arithmetic operations are carry free, so errors do not propagate from one residue to other. This enables RRNS to give a promising way to provide a very fast arithmetic in the field of digital computers. The potentiality of the fast RRNS based arithmetic has not yet been explored in communication systems. This paper discusses a single error correction algorithm based on Redundant Residue Number System (RRNS) in communication systems. The practical feasibility of this algorithm is analyzed in terms of Bit Error Rate (BER). The Bit Error Rate (BER) performance of RRNS codes with error correction algorithm for M-ary modulation in an AWGN channel is analyzed and is compared with conventional single bit error correction code, Hamming code. The simulation results show that RRNS codes outperforms Hamming codes in terms of BER.
TO Hybrid Defensive Resource Allocations in the Face of Partially Strategic Attackers in a Sequential Defender-attacker Game

convex in c, since the linear combination of the continuous and strictly convex functions pi(ci)xi’s is continuous and strictly convex. Finally, the summation of the two continuous and strictly convex functions is continuous and strictly convex. Remarks: Note that we assume that the defender and the attacker have the same target valuations xi’s. If that does not hold, the objective function as defined in Equation (11) is not continuous. One can construct an example where the objective function for the defender is discontinuous. For example, targets 1 and 2 value 200 and 100 to the defender and value 199.99 and 200 to the attacker. When the defender increases the defense to target 2 by such a small amount that the attacker will attack target 1 instead. The expected payoff for the attacker changes continuously while the expected payoff for the defender changes discontinuously. By assuming the same target valuations, the game is zero-sum and both the defender’s and the attacker’s payoffs change continuously in c. If the target valuations differ for the defender and attacker, then the expected loss of the defender becomes pk(ck)xk where k ∈ argmax i pi(ci)yi with yi’s being the attacker’s values, which needs not be continuous.
Math 484/884 Data Networks

Supplemental Course Notes Please note that there are likely many typos in the file. These will be corrected over time. The notes are mainly based on the instructor's lecture notes as well as some references that are particularly acknowledged. Further references will be included in the bibliography. Standard material on probability measures and Markov Chains are available in many texts, and no particular reference is given. The curious student can study for example Billingsley's books on Convergence of Probability Measures and Probability and Measure, among many others, as important references. In particular, Meyn and Tweedie's Markov Chains and Stochastic Stability is heavily referenced and an attempt to make certain concepts accessible to undergraduate students is made. Lecture notes from University of Illinois, and Bruce Hajek are particularly acknowledged.
Dominant behavior identification of load data

Web applications are meant to be viewed by human user. Quality of web application is our primary concern. An application is said to be a quality application when the users do not face any problem while using it. For this purpose performance testing is needed. For getting knowledge about the performance issues (such as response time), performance testing is performed. Performance testing basically shows the behavior of the application towards the load on it. Load testing is a kind of performance testing which is performed for knowing about the application response towards the load. It is very important to find out load testing problems to make sure that load testing results are correct. This paper presents a method which mines the log execution of the web application to show the dominant behavior of the load. Dominant behavior is the expected behavior of the load on the application. This method will show the dominant behavior on the basis of IP address. On the basis of IP address one can easily find out the location of the user which increases the security parameter of the application.
Familon model of dark matter

If the next fundamental level of matter occurs (preons), then dark matter must consist of familons containing a ‘hot’ component from massless particles and a ‘cold’ component from massive particles. During the evolution of the Universe this dark matter occurred up to late-time relativistic phase transitions the temperatures of which were different. Fluctuations created by these phase transitions had a fractal character. As a result the structuration of dark matter (and therefore the baryon subsystem) occurred, and in the Universe some characteristic scales which have caused this phenomenon arise naturally. Familons are collective excitations of non-perturbative preon condensates that could be produced during an earlier relativistic phase transition. For structuration of dark matter (and the baryon component), three generations of particles are necessary. The first generation of particles produced the observed baryon world. The second and third generations produced dark matter from particles that appeared .
A robust feature extraction method and semantic data association for 6D SLAM

Simultaneous Localization and Map (SLAM) building problem has vital importance for fully autonomous systems in partly or fully Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) denied environments. For LiDAR systems, there are two different ways to deal with SLAM problems. They are graph representation based SLAM methods depending on mostly scan matching algorithms and probabilistic SLAM methods based on feature extraction and landmark assignment. Since the scan matching methods solves the registration problem of two successive scans, they only provide the knowledge of relative movement of the mobile robot. However, feature based probabilistic SLAM methods update the whole map and robot pose when a new observation is made. However, the difficulty in feature based SLAM method is the problem of extracting reliable features. While in 2D mostly line, corner, and single points are used as features, in 3D the favorite feature is the plane. The plane extraction algorithms works well in indoor and structured environments, but they have problems in outdoor and especially in complex environments. To be able to merge two planes, two conditions must be satisfied, which are based on the plane orientation and translation in normal direction. However, this is not sufficient in outdoor case since there might be two planes segments that satisfy these conditions but actually far away from each other. To deal with this problem, in this paper, in addition to two conditions, we propose a new constraint while merging two planes. This constraint is based on pooled covariance matrix and Mahalanobis distance function. The second contribution is to use Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in the projection phase which is applied before finding the convex hull of the plane segment. Moreover, the data association problem, which is very problematic in point feature based SLAM, is solved easily by using the semantic data obtained from the plane detection method. The experimental results show that these features can be used in feature based SLAM successfully.
Realistic 3D Reconstruction from Two Uncalibrated Views

Summary An approach for 3D surface reconstruction from two uncalibrated views is proposed in this paper. The SUSAN corner detector is used for corners from points in edges, which are detected by Sobel edge operator. After corners matching between two images, the fundamental matrix is estimated to acquire 3D structure from matched corners by an improved weighted linear algorithm, which is based on the epipolar geometry and the absolute conic theory. The triangular textures are acquired by dividing 2D image. Then a realistic 3D surface model is built by mapping the triangular textures to the 3D structure surface. Experiments show that the reconstructed 3D surface models are satisfactory and photo-realistic.
An Incremental Unique Representation for Regular Trees

In order to deal with infinite regular trees (or other pointed graph structures) efficiently, we give new algorithms to store such structures. The trees are stored in such a way that their representation is unique and shares substructures as much as possible. This maximal sharing allows substantial memory gain and speed up over previous techniques. For example, equality testing becomes constant time (instead of O(nlog(n))). The algorithms are incremental, and as such allow good reactive behavior. These new algorithms are then applied in a representation of sets of trees. The expressive power of this new representation is exactly what is needed by the original set-based analyses of Heintze and Jaffar [1990], or Heintze [1994].
Major clinical research advances in gynecologic cancer in 2012

Ten topics were chosen among major clinical research achievements in gynecologic oncology in 2012. For ovarian cancer, comprehensive review of the history of bevacizumab studies was followed by poly adenosine diphosphate [ADP]-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors and other molecular targeted agents such as epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor and AMG 386. For the development of genomic study in gynecologic cancers, BRCA and DICER1 mutations were covered in epithelial and nonepithelial ovarian cancer, respectively. For endometrial cancer, targeted agents including mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors and bevacizumab were discussed. Radiation therapy "sandwiched" between combination chemotherapy schedules for the treatment of uterine papillary serous carcinoma was also reviewed. Preoperative prediction of lymph node metastasis, definition of low-risk group, and recurrence and survival outcomes of laparoscopic approaches were addressed. For cervical cancer, we reviewed long-term benefit of human papillomavirus test and efficacy of paclitaxel/carboplatin versus paclitaxel/cisplatin in stage IVB, persistent or recurrent disease. In addition, the effect of three dimensional image-based high-dose rate brachytherapy was also reviewed. For vulvar cancer, the diagnostic value of sentinel lymph node biopsy was discussed. For breast cancer, positive results of three outstanding phase III randomized clinical trials, CLEOPATRA, EMILIA, and BOLERO-2 were introduced. Lastly, updates of major practice guidelines were summarized.
Performance of Reed Solomon error-correcting codes on fading channels

Our aim is to evaluate the performance of Reed Solomon (RS) codes when used to protect asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cells (424 bits) over fading channels. The well-known Gilbert-Elliott model (GE) represents the memory-fading channel. Its parameters like transition probabilities are related to physical quantities associated with fading statistics (Doppler normalized frequency, fading margin, etc.). Analytical expressions for codeword error probability (P/sub cw/), residual error rate (R/sub er/) and cell loss ratio (C/sub LR/) are derived. The GE channel model is used to compare the performance of a large set of codes including those lengths that are 7,15,31,63 and 127. Contrary to situations where a binary symmetric channel is applied, the performance obtained is improved using short codes and imperfect interleaving. The Doppler normalized frequency and the variation of signal-to-noise ratio affect noticeably performance parameters. Also, theoretical and simulation results are compared to verify and to validate the accuracy of the GE model. In fact, simulation results obtained for a certain class of parameters seem to be in excellent agreement with analytical formulas.
Redundancy of the Two Dicer Genes in Transgene-Induced Posttranscriptional Gene Silencing in Neurospora crassa

ABSTRACT RNA interference (RNAi) in animals, cosuppression in plants, and quelling in fungi are homology-dependent gene silencing mechanisms in which the introduction of either double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) or transgenes induces sequence-specific mRNA degradation. These phenomena share a common genetic and mechanistic basis. The accumulation of short interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules that guide sequence-specific mRNA degradation is a common feature in both silencing mechanisms, as is the component of the RNase complex involved in mRNA cleavage. During RNAi in animal cells, dsRNA is processed into siRNA by an RNase III enzyme called Dicer. Here we show that elimination of the activity of two Dicer-like genes by mutation in the fungus Neurospora crassa eliminates transgene-induced gene silencing (quelling) and the processing of dsRNA to an siRNA form. The two Dicer-like genes appear redundant because single mutants are quelling proficient. This first demonstration of the involvement of Dicer in gene silencing induced by transgenes supports a model by which a dsRNA produced by the activity of cellular RNA-dependent RNA polymerases on transgenic transcripts is an essential intermediate of silencing.
Smoking behaviour of patients before and after renal transplantation.

BACKGROUND Smoking is the most important remediable cardiovascular risk factor, and an independent risk factor for the progression of renal diseases. To date, only limited information about changes in cigarette-smoking habits before and after renal transplantation is available. METHODS In a comprehensive cross-sectional single centre study, we analysed smoking habits of patients registered on the waiting list for renal transplantation and patients that had received an allograft. RESULTS Of 230 patients (76.1%), 175 on the waiting list and of 264 allograft recipients (87.5%), 231 were non-smokers at the time of investigation (P <0.01). Among the non-smoking waiting list patients, only 71 (30.9%) had never smoked, whereas 108 (40.9%) patients of the allograft recipients were never-smokers. Of former smoking patients, 27.6% (n = 34) had stopped smoking after transplantation. Patients <55 years of age and females were more likely to stop smoking than patients >55 years of age or males. A data analysis revealed that smokers had a significantly lower probability to attain renal transplantation. CONCLUSION We conclude that renal transplantation is a strong incentive for patients to stop smoking. Reasons for changes in smoking behaviour after renal transplantation may be an intense contact of the patients with their physicians, the fear of a premature loss of the transplanted organ with continued smoking and the psychological support during post-transplantation patient care.
Flame-Retardancy Properties of Intumescent Ammonium Poly(Phosphate) and Mineral Filler Magnesium Hydroxide in Combination with Graphene

Thermally reduced graphite oxide (TRGO), containing only four single carbon layers on average, was combined with ammonium polyphosphate (APP) and magnesium hydroxide (MH), respectively, in polypropylene (PP). The nanoparticle's influence on different flame-retarding systems and possible synergisms in pyrolysis, reaction to small flame, fire behavior and mechanical properties were determined. TRGO has a positive effect on the yield stress, which is decreased by both flame-retardants and acts as a synergist with regard to Young's modulus. The applicability and effects of TRGO as an adjuvant in combination with conventional flame-retardants depends strongly on the particular flame-retardancy mechanism. In the intumescent system, even small concentrations of TRGO change the viscosity of the pyrolysing melt crucially. In case of oxygen index (OI) and UL 94 test, the addition of increasing amounts of TRGO to PP/APP had a negative impact on the oxygen index and the UL 94 classification. Nevertheless, systems with only low amounts (≤1 wt%) of TRGO achieved V-0 classification in the UL 94 test and high oxygen indices (>31 vol%). TRGO strengthens the residue structure of MH and therefore functions as a strong synergist in terms of OI and UL 94 classification (from HB to V-0).
F**king with Psychology: Psychological tests as boardgame design inspiration

INTRODUCTION Since the early 20 th century, a wide variety of psychological tests and experiments have been conducted, many of which have passed into common usage. The Stanford Marshmallow test, for example (Mischel, Ebbesen, & Raskoff Zeiss, 1972), which assesses a child’s capacity for delayed gratification, is now so widely-known that it has even been used in a recent political protest cartoon (Noth, 2017). In this paper, we will show how several of these tests have been directly adopted as the core mechanics for a wide variety of boardgames. Furthermore, we demonstrate that similar mechanics can be found in a variety of other games, even where there is no evidence of direct adoption. Given the presence of psychological tests in existing games, we argue that the body of psychological tests and experiments, provides rich fodder for game designers, and demonstrate this through a range of examples of boardgames which implement these tests. Finally, we identify and discuss additional tests for which adoption as core game mechanics could potentially be problematic.
Regenerated synapses in lamprey spinal cord are sparse and small even after functional recovery from injury

Despite the potential importance that synapse regeneration plays in restoring neuronal function after spinal cord injury (SCI), even the most basic questions about the morphology of regenerated synapses remain unanswered. Therefore, we set out to gain a better understanding of central synapse regeneration by examining the number, distribution, molecular composition, and ultrastructure of regenerated synapses under conditions in which behavioral recovery from SCI was robust. To do so, we used the giant reticulospinal (RS) neurons of lamprey spinal cord because they readily regenerate, are easily identifiable, and contain large synapses that serve as a classic model for vertebrate excitatory neurotransmission. Using a combination of light and electron microscopy, we found that regenerated giant RS synapses regained the basic structures and presynaptic organization observed at control giant RS synapses at a time when behavioral recovery was nearly complete. However, several obvious differences remained. Most strikingly, regenerated giant RS axons produced very few synapses. In addition, presynaptic sites within regenerated axons were less complex, had fewer vesicles, and had smaller active zones than normal. In contrast, the densities of presynapses and docked vesicles were nearly restored to control values. Thus, robust functional recovery from SCI can occur even when the structures of regenerated synapses are sparse and small, suggesting that functional recovery is due to a more complex set of compensatory changes throughout the spinal network. J. Comp. Neurol. 518:2854–2872, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Coverage Learned Targeted Validation for incremental HW changes

This paper addresses the challenges of minimizing the time and resources required to validate the changes between two Hardware (HW) model iterations of the same design. It introduces CLTV (Coverage Learned Targeted Validation), an automatic framework which learns during the verification process of the HW and uses the learned information to target the areas of the design that are affected by the incremental HW model iterations. Our paper defines new concepts, presents our implementation of the supporting algorithms, and shows actual results on an IBM POWER8 processor with outstanding results.