Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Need for Savanna Restoration in the Cross Timbers

Along the prairie/forest transition zone oak savannas have been severely degraded by logging, clearing for agriculture, fire suppression, invasion of exotic plants, and excessive livestock grazing. Savanna shares equal billing with tallgrass prairie as the most threatened plant community in the Midwest. As such, there is increasing interest in restoring these communities. Conservation criteria have not been developed for the post oak (Querces stellata) and blackjack oak (Querces marilandica) savanna of the Cross Timbers. Oak savanna was arguably an important component of the historical Cross Timbers region. Following settlement, overgrazing in conjunction with a decrease in fire frequency and/or intensity has increased the density of oak stands to the point where they resemble closed-canopy forests rather than savanna. This is a threat to the biodiversity of the Cross Timbers. Proactive land management practices are recommended for restoring savanna communities. Such efforts may require thinning-out areas of degraded oak savanna to help re-establish the herbaceous understory. Fire is recommended to restore ecological processes that limit woody plant encroachment and promote biodiversity. Further research should investigate the ecological dynamics and functions of oak savannas, as well as provide further guidelines for its conservation.
The Gain Modulation by N-methyl-D-aspartate in the Projection Neurons of Robust Nucleus of the Arcopallium in Adult Zebra Finches

The song of zebra finch is stable in life after it was learned successfully. Vocal plasticity is thought to be a motor exploration that can support continuous learning and optimization of performance. The activity of RA, an important pre-motor nucleus in songbird's brain, influences the song directly. This variability in adult birdsong is associated with the activity of NMDA receptors in LMAN-RA synapses, but the detailed mechanism is unclear. The control of gain refers to modulation of a neuron's responsiveness to input and is critically important for normal sensory, cognitive, and motor functions. Here, we observed the change of gain in RA projection neurons after exogenous NMDA was applied to activate NMDA receptors using the whole-cell current clamp recording. We found that NMDA substantially increased the slope (gain) of the firing rate-current relationship in RA projection neurons. The AMPA receptor-dependent excitability played a crucial role in the modulation of gain by NMDA. These results suggested that NMDA receptors may regulate the dynamics of RA projection neurons by input-output gain.
Using external knowledge in neural network models

One of the most important properties of neural networks is generality, as the same network can be trained to solve rather different tasks, depending on the training data. This is also one of the most prominent problems when practical real world problems are solved by neural networks, as existing domain knowledge is difficult to incorporate into the models. In this contribution we present methods for adding prior knowledge to neural network modeling. The approach is based on training the knowledge on the network of hard-coding the knowledge in advance to the connections or weights. The knowledge is specified as target values or constraints for different order partial derivatives of the network. This approach can be viewed as a flexible regularization method that controls directly the characteristics of the resulting mapping. The proposed algorithms have been implemented in a neural network modeling tool that supports modular network design and domain knowledge representation with fuzzy-like terms. In this paper we present examples of the effect of incorporating different degrees of information from the modular structure and the functional behavior of the target processes in the model building and training.
Toyota's Principles of Set-Based Concurrent Engineering

Not well documented to date, the design and development system of Toyota Motor Corporation contributes greatly to the firm's remarkably consistent growth in market share and its enviable profit per vehicle. This article, which extends the authors' previous study of the Toyota product development system, reports on further data collection in Japan and at the Toyota Technical Center in Michigan. Findings substantiate the authors' previous claims about the product development system and lead them to conclude that Toyota is "set-based" in its approaches. Set-based concurrent engineering (SBCE) begins by broadly considering sets of possible solutions (in parallel and relatively independently) and gradually narrowing the set of possibilities to converge on a final solution. Gradually eliminating weaker solutions increases the likelihood of finding the best or better solutions. In this way, Toyota can move more quickly toward convergence and production than their traditional, "point-based" counterparts. The authors develop the SBCE idea by describing three principles that guide Toyota's decision making in design: (1) simultaneous mapping of the design space according to functional expertise, (2) "integration by intersection" of mutually acceptable functional refinements introduced by the design and manufacturing engineering groups, and (3) establishment of feasibility before commitment. The authors also present a conceptual framework tied to the Toyota development system and discuss why the SBCE principles lead to highly effective product development. Findings suggest that a change to a distributed, concurrent engineering environment should involve a corresponding change in design method to a set-based process. Product development organizations able to master and apply SBCE principles and Toyota's principles for integrating systems and cultivating organizational knowledge may be able to radically improve their design and development processes.
An Ultra-Wideband Dielectric Rod Antenna Fed by a Planar Circular Slot

A novel ultra-wideband (UWB) dielectric rod antenna fed by a planar structure is presented. The planar structure consists of a circular slot antenna supplied by a dipole. This planar antenna excites the HE11 mode of an attached circular dielectric rod. Due to this combination, a broadband and low-dispersive overall antenna performance is achieved. Furthermore, an additional reflector at the backside of the antenna increases the directivity. With this configuration, a return loss better than 10 dB from 3.5 to 11.8 GHz is achieved with a nearly constant gain and a mean gain of 8.7 dBi. Beside the standard characterization, the system performance of the antenna is evaluated by means of the fidelity factor calculated from time-domain measurements and applying a UWB impulse generator.
Linear and nonlinear spatial subunits in Y cat retinal ganglion cells.

1. The mechanism which makes Y cells different from X cells was investigated. 2. Spatial frequency contrast sensitivity functions for the fundamental and second harmonic responses of Y cells to alternating phase gratings were determined. 3. The fundamental spatial frequency response was predicted by the Fourier transform of the sensitivity profile of the Y cell. The high spatial frequency cut‐off of a Y cell's fundamental response was in this way related to the centre of the cell's receptive field. 4. The second harmonic response of a Y cell did not cut off at such a low spatial frequency as the fundamental response. This result indicated that the source of the second harmonic was a spatial subunit of the receptive field smaller in spatial extent than the centre. 5. Contrast sensitivity vs. spatial phase for a Y cell was measured under three conditions: a full grating, a grating seen through a centrally located window, a grating partially obscured by a visual shutter. The 2nd/1st harmonic sensitivity ratio went down with the window and up with the shutter. These results implied that the centre of Y cells was linear and also that the nonlinear subunits extended into the receptive field surround. 6. Spatial localization of the nonlinear subunits was determined by means of a spatial dipole stimulus. The nonlinear subunits overlapped the centre and surround of the receptive field and extended beyond both. 7. The nature of the Y cell nonlinearity was found to be rectification, as determined from measurements of the second harmonic response as a function of contrast. 8. Spatial models for the Y cell receptive field are proposed.
Clinical Ophthalmology Dovepress Dovepress Tear Lipid Layer Thickness with Eye Drops in Meibomian Gland Dysfunction

hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a lipid containing emollient eye drop, Soothe XP, which was reformulated in 2014 with a more stable preservative and buffer system, compared to a control, non-emollient, eye drop (Systane Ultra) in improving lipid layer thickness (LLT) in subjects with dry eye due to meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). Patients and methods: This prospective single-center, open-label, cross-over, examiner masked-study enrolled subjects aged 30–75 years with lipid-deficient dry eye and a clinical diagnosis of MGD as determined by a slit lamp examination, an evaluation of meibomian gland drop out with meibography, and a standard patient evaluation of eye dryness questionnaire of . 5. Eligibility was then determined by a LLT of ,75 nm at baseline and the inability to increase LLT $15 nm with three blinks, as determined by interferometric methods. Subjects were randomized to receive a single emollient or non-emollient eye drop at Visit 1 and were crossed over for the alternate treatment at Visit 2. At each visit, LLT was measured prior to and 15 minutes following the instillation of the assigned eye drop. The primary endpoint was the change in LLT from baseline. Results: Subjects (n=40) were enrolled and 35 completed the two study arms. Mean (±SD) patient age was 55.7 years (10.9) and 69% were female. Mean (±SD) LLT at baseline was 49.5 nm (9.2). Instillation of Soothe XP resulted in an increase in LLT to 77.5 nm (29.3) 15 minutes following drop instillation, which is an increase of 28.0 nm (27.4) (P,0.001). In contrast, LLT 15 minutes after the instillation of Systane Ultra was 50.8 nm (14.1), which was not statistically significant when compared to the baseline LLT. Conclusion: In this study of subjects with MGD, the emollient, or lipid containing eye drop, increased the LLT of tears when measured 15 minutes after instilling a single eye drop.
Comparison between BECN-capable TCP new-Reno and TCP Vegas

TCP is the most important transport protocol in the Internet. In this research, the backward explicit congestion notification (BECN) option is enabled for TCP New-Reno flows and then the performance of this combination is compared with that of TCP Vegas. In all the cases, the bottleneck router has random early detection (RED) capability. The comparisons are made for connections with equal and unequal round trip times (RTTs), in environments that can be homogeneous or heterogeneous. Also, two different types of traffic, FTP and Web are analyzed in the experiments
Curvature invariants of static spherically symmetric geometries

We construct all independent local scalar monomials in the Riemann tensor at an arbitrary dimension, for the special regime of static spherically symmetric geometries. Compared to general spaces, their number is significantly reduced: the extreme example is the collapse of all invariants ∼Weylk, to a single term at each k. The latter is equivalent to the Lovelock invariant . Depopulation is less extreme for invariants involving rising numbers of Ricci tensors, and also depends on the dimension. The corresponding local gravitational actions and their solution spaces are discussed.
Tour-Guide: Providing Location-Based Tourist Information on Mobile Phones

Mobile phone has become a powerful platform for people-centric computing. It is now a necessary part of everyday life for many people. A growing number of mobile computing applications are on the rise, centered around the user’s daily life. In those emerging applications, location dependent systems have been identified as an important component. This paper presents the architecture and implementation of such a location-based application, called Tour-Guide. Implemented on iPhone, the system is designed to provide tour information services; therefore people can get tour guidance information that they need anytime and anywhere.
Corresponding States Method for Estimation of Upper Flammability Limit Temperature of Chemical Compounds

The accuracy and predictability of predictive methods to determine the flammability characteristics of chemical compounds are of drastic significance in the chemical industry. This work aims at continuing application of the gene expression programming (GEP) mathematical strategy to modify the existing thermophysical properties correlations available in the literature to pursue the following objectives: optimization of the number of independent parameters, amplification of the generality, and improvement of the accuracy and predictability. This work deals with presenting a simple corresponding states model to predict the upper flammability limit temperature of 1462 organic compounds from 76 chemical families. The parameters of the correlation include the critical temperature and the acentric factor of the compounds. The obtained statistical parameters including average absolute relative deviation of the results from DIPPR 801 database values (1.7, 1.8, 1.7% for training, optimization, and prediction sets, .
Simplified Point to Point Correspondence of the Euclidean Distance for Online Handwriting Recognition

This paper describes an online handwriting recognition system. Our system presents a modified and less complex version of the point to point correspondence method that originally relies on a dynamic time warping algorithm. The system first passes through a training phase in which it is taught the handwriting of a certain person. The training consists of the person writing several times all the letters of the alphabet, data acquisition is done using a digitizer tablet. Training data for each character is then stored as pixels coordinates in the same order as their creation. In the recognition phase, the system recognizes a character written by the same person based on the previously done training. The obtained results were very encouraging; a recognition rate of 93.35 % for isolated lower case characters could be achieved relying only on the training done before the recognition phase without the need for a recognition database.
The Rebuilding of Greater Russia: Putin's Foreign Policy Towards the CIS Countries

The Russian regional security complex and Russian foreign policy -- Towards the CIS countries -- Russia and the European security sub-complex : relations with Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova -- Russia and the Caucasus security sub-complex : relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and the regional conflicts -- Russia and the Asian regional sub-complex : relations with Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan -- Russia as a regional great power : analysis of the past and future of Putin's attempt to re-build greater Russia : objectives, strategies, policies -- Instruments, and prospects for success?
Geometrical, profile and HOG feature based recognition of Meetei Mayek characters

Recognizaton of Handwritten characters is a challenging task in the computer vision field. However, if can be done with good accuracy will be very much useful for digitizing various documents. Researchers have made various investigations for developing optical character recognition system. The accuracy of the system highly depends upon the features and classifier used. A lot of work is carried out at International level, in India also lot of work is reported in major regional scripts; Devanagri, Bangla, Gurumukhi are few of them. However, it has been observed that only few researchers have considered working on North East Indian regional scripts. As the scripts vary from one another a lot, the feature working well for one script may not be suitable for another one. Our main focus is to develop an OCR system which can work well for Meetei Mayek script. For recognition of handwritten Meetei Mayek isolated characters, we have considered Geometrical and Histogram oriented gradient feature and profile features, which are used as input to the classifier. Recognition accuracy is calculated for SVM and a comparative study is carried out.
MicroRNA-96 regulates RGC-5 cell growth through caspase-dependent apoptosis.

PURPOSE This study is to investigate functional role of microRNA 96 (miR-96) in regulating cell survival and caspase-dependent apoptosis in rat retinal ganglion cell line RGC-5 cells. METHOD RGC-5 cells were cultured in vitro. Lentiviral vectors of miR-96 inhibitor, miR-96 mimics and non-specific miRNA were applied. The effects of up-regulating or down-regulating miR-96 on cell survival, apoptosis and activation of apoptosis-related caspase proteins were assessed by MTT assay, TUNEL staining and western blotting analysis, respectively. Direct binding of miR-96 and its suspected target caspase protein, caspase 2 (Casp-2), was examined by luciferase reporter assay. Endogenous CASP2 gene was then silenced by siRNA in RGC-5 cells. The effect of down-regulating CASP2 on miR-96 mediated apoptosis in RGC-5 was assessed by western blotting and TUNEL staining. RESULTS Lentivirus mediated- miR-96 up-regulation significantly reduced RGC-5 cell viability 12 hours after transfection, whereas miR-96 down-regulation had no effect on RGC-5 cell survival up to 72 hours. Up-regulating miR-96 induced significant apoptosis in RGC-5 cells, whereas down-regulating miR-96 had little effect on RGC-5 apoptosis. Western blotting analysis demonstrated that RGC-5 apoptosis induced by overexpressing miR-96 is associated with activation of caspase proteins, including caspase-2, 3, 9. Luciferase reporter assay confirmed that Casp-2 was directly bound by miR-96 in RGC-5 cells, and siRNA-regulated silencing of CASP2 gene rescued the apoptosis in RGC-5 induced by over-expressing miR-96. CONCLUSION miR-96 is an important regulator on RGC-5 cell survival and apoptosis, possibly through Casp-2.
Economic Growth and European Funds Absorption in Central and Eastern European Countries

Integration of Central and Eastern countries in European Union assumes obtaining certain benefits. Upon joining the European Union internal market and free movement of labour, absorption of European funds could help the convergence go on and reduce disparities between countries. This study aims to provide insights in regionalization, absorption of European funds and economic growth. There are various ways of defining the regional growth. The most common refer to the increase of the total output of a region, output increase per employed person, output increase per capita. In turn, the output can be assessed by the gross production of a region, the region’s gross domestic product or net domestic product of that region. The paper proposes an integrated analysis of European situation by means of data and statistics provided by European and national statistics institutions. A better absorption of European funds can lead to growth and economic development and thus reduce regional economic disparities. One of the main objectives should be the absorption as much financial support as possible by continuous efforts from the Central and Eastern European Countries and also regional and local government involved in every stage of the process.
Unaffordable housing and local employment growth

High housing prices have caused concerns among policy makers as well as the public in many U.S. regions. There is a general belief that unaffordable housing could drive businesses away and thus impede job growth. However, there has been little empirical evidence that supports this view. In this paper, we clarify how housing affordability is linked to employment growth and why unaffordable housing could negatively affect employment growth. We empirically measure this effect using data on California municipalities and U.S. metropolitan areas and counties. It is argued that for various reasons a simple correlation between unaffordable housing and employment growth should not be interpreted as causal. We therefore develop some empirical strategies and employ statistical techniques to estimate the causal effect of unaffordable housing on employment growth. Our results provide consistent evidence that indeed unaffordable housing slows growth in local employment. We discuss policy implications of these findings.
BAY u3405, a thromboxane A2 antagonist, reduces bronchial hyperresponsiveness in asthmatics.

OBJECTIVE Thromboxane A2 (TXA2) is reported to induce bronchial hyperresponsiveness along with the well-documented bronchoconstrictor action on smooth muscles. We examined the effect of the TXA2 antagonist, BAY u3405, on bronchial hyperresponsiveness to methacholine (MCh) in asthmatics. PATIENTS Twelve adult asthmatics were studied in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover fashion. DESIGN Following a 2-week run-in period, the subjects were administered 75 mg of BAY u3405 or placebo orally, twice a day for 2 weeks each in a crossover design, interposing a 2-week washout period. Bronchial hyperresponsiveness was measured by the astograph method. Briefly, the respiratory resistance (Rrs) was measured by the forced oscillation method during continuous inhalation of MCh in stepwise incremental concentrations, until Rrs reached twice the baseline value. Bronchial hyperresponsiveness was evaluated as the minimum cumulative dose (Dmin) of MCh that induced an increase in Rrs. Dmin was calculated so that 1 U of Dmin equals to 1 min of inhalation of aerosol solution at 1.0 mg/mL during quiet breathing. RESULTS Three subjects were withdrawn from the evaluation because they had asthmatic attacks or wheezing during the study. The Dmin value of 0.533 U (GSEM 1.675) after the BAY u3405 treatment was significantly greater than that of 0.135 U (GSEM 1.969) after the placebo treatment (p = 0.0139). There were no safety concerns in either treatment group. CONCLUSION We conclude that BAY u3405 may be a useful drug for attenuating bronchial hyperresponsiveness in bronchial asthma.