Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aboveground carbon in Quebec forests: stock quantification at the provincial scale and assessment of temperature, precipitation and edaphic properties effects on the potential stand-level stocking

Biological carbon sequestration by forest ecosystems plays an important role in the net balance of greenhouse gases, acting as a carbon sink for anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about the abiotic environmental factors (including climate) that control carbon storage in temperate and boreal forests and consequently, about their potential response to climate changes. From a set of more than 94,000 forest inventory plots and a large set of spatial data on forest attributes interpreted from aerial photographs, we constructed a fine-resolution map (∼375 m) of the current carbon stock in aboveground live biomass in the 435,000 km2 of managed forests in Quebec, Canada. Our analysis resulted in an area-weighted average aboveground carbon stock for productive forestland of 37.6 Mg ha−1, which is lower than commonly reported values for similar environment. Models capable of predicting the influence of mean annual temperature, annual precipitation, and soil physical environment on maximum stand-level aboveground carbon stock (MSAC) were developed. These models were then used to project the future MSAC in response to climate change. Our results indicate that the MSAC was significantly related to both mean annual temperature and precipitation, or to the interaction of these variables, and suggest that Quebec’s managed forests MSAC may increase by 20% by 2041–2070 in response to climate change. Along with changes in climate, the natural disturbance regime and forest management practices will nevertheless largely drive future carbon stock at the landscape scale. Overall, our results allow accurate accounting of carbon stock in aboveground live tree biomass of Quebec’s forests, and provide a better understanding of possible feedbacks between climate change and carbon storage in temperate and boreal forests.
Open IoT Ecosystem for Enhanced Interoperability in Smart Cities—Example of Métropole De Lyon

The Internet of Things (IoT) has promised a future where everything gets connected. Unfortunately, building a single global ecosystem of Things that communicate with each other seamlessly is virtually impossible today. The reason is that the IoT is essentially a collection of isolated “Intranets of Things”, also referred to as “vertical silos”, which cannot easily and efficiently interact with each other. Smart cities are perhaps the most striking examples of this problem since they comprise a wide range of stakeholders and service providers who must work together, including urban planners, financial organisations, public and private service providers, telecommunication providers, industries, citizens, and so forth. Within this context, the contribution of this paper is threefold: (i) discuss business and technological implications as well as challenges of creating successful open innovation ecosystems, (ii) present the technological building blocks underlying an IoT ecosystem developed in the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 programme, (iii) present a smart city pilot (Heat Wave Mitigation in Métropole de Lyon) for which the proposed ecosystem significantly contributes to improving interoperability between a number of system components, and reducing regulatory barriers for joint service co-creation practices.
An Injection Frequency-Locked Loop—Autonomous Injection Frequency Tracking Loop With Phase Noise Self-Calibration for Power-Efficient mm-Wave Signal Sources

This paper presents a fast and autonomous injection frequency tracking and locking technique. In the present injection-locking system, a quadrature injection-locked oscillator (QILO) is third harmonically locked to a quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (QVCO). In the frequency tracking loop, the frequency difference between QVCO and QILO is extracted using the QILO’s amplitude modulated (AM) envelope waveform. The AM frequency of the envelope signal bears frequency difference between the two oscillators. The envelope signal is further converted to pulse signal which subsequently drives digital feedback control circuitry to update the QILO’s output frequency so that it can track the third harmonic of the injection QVCO. The frequency calibration process is purely autonomous, self-initiating whenever the AM modulated envelope waveform is generated. The feedback signal is primarily processed in the digital domain, resulting in a compact, fast, and power-efficient injection frequency-locked loop (IFLL). By incorporating a phase noise (PN) calibration routine after completing the frequency calibration, the presented IFLL resolves the intractable issue of PN degradation at the edge of the slave oscillator’s injection locking range. This results in a large injection frequency tracking range of 26.5–29.7 GHz which is only limited by the QILO’s <italic>LC</italic> tank tuning range. The IFLL realized in 0.13-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> CMOS consumes 2.4 mW with a negligible area penalty. Overall chip size including QVCO, QILO, and IFLL is <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1 \times 1$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm<sup>2</sup>.
The spatio‐temporal characteristics of action potential initiation in layer 5 pyramidal neurons: a voltage imaging study

Non‐technical summary Axons are long process of nerve cells that mediate communication and control within the organism. Mammalian neurons have developed a complex ion channel clustering mechanism in axons to optimize rapid signalling. It has been discovered recently that intricate details of the spatial pattern of channel clustering play a critical role in signal processing in the axon. The electrical properties of axons, however, have been difficult to study using electrodes because axons are very small in diameter. We took advantage of a critical methodological improvement in the high sensitivity membrane potential imaging (Vm imaging) technique to study electrical correlates of channel clustering in the axon of cortical neurons. Voltage imaging revealed the location and length of the axonal site for nerve impulse initiation as well as the pattern of saltatory conduction in myelinated axons in the form of dynamic spatial maps of transmembrane potential.
Reactive ion etching of diamond in O2 and CF4 plasma, and fabrication of porous diamond for field emitter cathodes

Reactive ion etching (RIE) of synthetic Ib diamond and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond films in O2 and CF4 has been investigated. The large etch rate of up to 2.8 µ m/h and etch rate ratios of 15–20 for diamond (100)/Al were obtained at CF4/O2=10–20%. Numerous columnar structures of approximately 300 nm length and 10 nm width have been made by etching CVD polycrystalline diamond films in O2 plasma. The structures made the diamond film "porous". A comparative study of field emission characteristics has been made for as-grown diamond films and porous diamond films. The average turn-on field was in the range of 2–3 V/µ m for porous diamond films and 6–8 V/µ m for as-grown diamond films.
SQLiteKV: An efficient LSM-tree-based SQLite-like database engine for mobile devices

SQLite has been deployed in millions of mobile devices from web to smartphone applications on various mobile operating systems. However, SQLite is not efficient with low transactions per second. In this paper, we for the first time propose a new SQLite-like database engine, called SQLiteKV, which adopts the LSM-tree-based data structure but retains the SQLite operation interfaces. With its SQLite interface, SQLiteKV can be utilized by existing applications without any modification, while providing high performance with its LSM-tree-based data structure. In SQLiteKV, we develop a light-weight SQLite to key-value compiler to solve the semantic mismatch, so SQL statements can be efficiently translated into KV operations. We also design a novel coordination caching mechanism so query results can be effectively cached inside SQLiteKV by alleviating the discrepancy of data management between front-end SQLite statements and back-end key-value data organization. We have implemented and deployed SQLiteKV on a Google Nexus 6P smartphone. Experiments results show that SQLiteKV outperforms SQLite up to 6 times.
Potential impacts of poor communication on early diagnosis of HIV‐associated neurocognitive disorder

AIM To ascertain whether community-based healthcare providers were collecting appropriate information to identify patients at risk of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder and whether related documentation was complete. BACKGROUND HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder is a treatable neurological condition that can affect more than 20% of those infected with the HIV. Signs and symptoms of cognitive impairment may be subtle; therefore, documentation of medical and social information could be beneficial in identifying those at risk. DESIGN Cross-sectional descriptive study. METHODS An audit of patient records was completed by two community-based interdisciplinary teams with particular attention to the documentation of clinical and social indicators for those at risk of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder. Data were collected over weeks during 2015. RESULTS Data were retrieved from both electronic medical record systems and hard copy patient records. Documentation was incomplete in every patient record (N = 262), including the absence of important clinical data relating to nadir CD4 + T-cell count (91%), HIV viral load (36%), current caregiver (19%), and living circumstances (14%). Up to 40% of recorded medications and results were unconfirmed by the person's medical practitioner. CONCLUSION Poor documentation can lead to incomplete information, which can delay early intervention for those at risk of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder. Collection and recording of patient data needs to be consistent, as complete documentation is essential for integrating care, provision of clinical support and, importantly, for identifying those at risk of developing HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder.
Global and regional cardiac function in lifelong endurance athletes with and without myocardial fibrosis

Abstract The aim of the present study was to compare cardiac structure as well as global and regional cardiac function in athletes with and without myocardial fibrosis (MF). Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging with late gadolinium enhancement was used to detect MF and global cardiac structure in nine lifelong veteran endurance athletes (58 ± 5 years, 43 ± 5 years of training). Transthoracic echocardiography using tissue-Doppler and myocardial strain imaging assessed global and regional (18 segments) longitudinal left ventricular function. MF was present in four athletes (range 1–8 g) and not present in five athletes. MF was located near the insertion points of the right ventricular free wall on the left ventricle in three athletes and in the epicardial lateral wall in one athlete. Athletes with MF demonstrated a larger end diastolic volume (205 ± 24 vs 173 ± 18 ml) and posterior wall thickness (11 ± 1 vs 9 ± 1 mm) compared to those without MF. The presence of MF did not mediate global tissue velocities or global longitudinal strain and strain rate; however, regional analysis of longitudinal strain demonstrated reduced function in some fibrotic regions. Furthermore, base to apex gradient was affected in three out of four athletes with MF. Lifelong veteran endurance athletes with MF demonstrate larger cardiac dimensions and normal global cardiac function. Fibrotic areas may demonstrate some co-localised regional cardiac dysfunction, evidenced by an affected cardiac strain and base to apex gradient. These data emphasize the heterogeneous phenotype of MF in athletes.
Scoping Review of Common Secondary Conditions After Stroke and Their Associations with Age and Time Post Stroke

Abstract Background: Health care providers need to be alert to secondary conditions that might develop after stroke so that these conditions can be prevented or treated early to reduce further deterioration of health and quality of life. Objectives: To review and describe the prevalence of secondary conditions after stroke and to summarize associations between secondary conditions and age and time post stroke. Methods: A scoping review of studies pertaining to secondary conditions after stroke published between 1986 and 2011 was conducted. Results: Seventy-six articles provided information regarding 6 secondary conditions: depression, pain, falls, fatigue, bowel/bladder problems, and sleep difficulties. Prevalence varied widely across studies for each condition. The limited repeated-measures evidence suggests that secondary conditions tend to occur in the first weeks or months post stroke and may remain relatively stable over time. Other evidence from regression analyses suggests either no significant associations between time post stroke or age or mixed results. Secondary conditions appear to be most commonly associated with severity of impairments. Conclusions: Health care providers need to be alert to the development of secondary conditions after stroke in individuals as they age as well as in the poststroke time span. Obtaining a clear understanding of the prevalence of secondary conditions and associations with age and time post stroke is difficult because of variations in research methodologies. Future research is needed to define secondary condition prevalence and risk factors more clearly and to identify interventions that could reduce the prevalence and impact of these conditions on quality of life.
A facile one-step strategy for development of a double network fibrous scaffold for nerve tissue engineering

The aim of this study was to develop a novel double network scaffold composed of polycaprolactone fumarate (PCLF) and eggshell membrane (ESM) (ESM:PCLF) by using the vacuum infiltration method. Compared to ESM, the mechanical properties of double network scaffold were significantly improved, depending on the solvents applied for double network scaffold formation; acetic acid and dichloromethane. Noticeably, the toughness and strength of double network scaffold prepared using acetic acid were significantly improved compared to ESM (26.6 and 25 times, respectively) attributed to the existence of hydrophilic functional groups in acetic acid which made ESM flexible to absorb further PCLF solution. To assess the effect of double network formation on the biological behavior of ESM, the attachment, proliferation and spreading of PC12 cells cultured on the ESM:PCLF scaffolds were evaluated. Results revealed that the number of cells attached on double network ESM:PCLF scaffold were nearly similar to ESM and significantly higher than that of on the tissue culture plate (2.6 times) and PCLF film (1.7 times). It is envisioned that the offered ESM:PCLF double network scaffold might have great potential to develop the constructs for nerve regeneration.
Wnt/β‐catenin signaling during early vertebrate neural development

The vertebrate central nervous system (CNS) is comprised of vast number of distinct cell types arranged in a highly organized manner. This high degree of complexity is achieved by cellular communication, including direct cell‐cell contact, cell‐matrix interactions, and cell‐growth factor signaling. Among the several developmental signals controlling the development of the CNS, Wnt proteins have emerged as particularly critical and, hence, have captivated the attention of many researchers. With Wnts' evolutionarily conserved function as primordial symmetry breaking signals, these proteins and their downstream effects are responsible for simultaneously establishing cellular diversity and tissue organization. With their expansive repertoire of secreted agonists and antagonists, cell surface receptors, signaling cascades and downstream biological effects, Wnts are ideally suited to control the complex processes underlying vertebrate neural development. In this review, we will describe the mechanisms by which Wnts exert their potent effects on cells and tissues and highlight the many roles of Wnt signaling during neural development, starting from the initial induction of the neural plate, the subsequent patterning along the embryonic axes, to the intricately organized structure of the CNS. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 77: 1239–1259, 2017
On the Hamilton Cycle of the Hypercube

Hypercube is one of the basic types of interconnection networks. In this paper, we use the concept of the Cartesian product graph to define the hypercube Qn, we study the relationship between the isomorphic graphs and the Cartesian product graphs, and we get the result that there exists a Hamilton cycle in the hypercube Qn. Meanwhile, the other properties of the hypercube Qn, such as Euler characteristic and bipartite characteristic are also introduced.
Structural basis for PDZ domain interactions in the post‐synaptic density scaffolding protein Shank3

The Shank proteins are crucial scaffolding elements of the post‐synaptic density (PSD). One of the best‐characterized domains in Shank is the PDZ domain, which binds to C‐terminal segments of several other PSD proteins. We carried out a detailed structural analysis of Shank3 PDZ domain‐peptide complexes, to understand determinants of binding affinity towards different ligand proteins. Ligand peptides from four different proteins were cocrystallized with the Shank3 PDZ domain, and binding affinities were determined calorimetrically. In addition to conserved class I interactions between the first and third C‐terminal peptide residue and Shank3, side chain interactions of other residues in the peptide with the PDZ domain are important factors in defining affinity. Structural conservation suggests that the binding specificities of the PDZ domains from different Shanks are similar. Two conserved buried water molecules in PDZ domains may affect correct local folding of ligand recognition determinants. The solution structure of a tandem Shank3 construct containing the SH3 and PDZ domains showed that the two domains are close to each other, which could be of relevance, when recognizing and binding full target proteins. The SH3 domain did not affect the affinity of the PDZ domain towards short target peptides, and the schizophrenia‐linked Shank3 mutation R536W in the linker between the domains had no effect on the structure or peptide interactions of the Shank3 SH3‐PDZ unit. Our data show the spatial arrangement of two adjacent Shank domains and pinpoint affinity determinants for short PDZ domain ligands with limited sequence homology.
A comparison of classical scheduling approaches in power-constrained block-test scheduling

Classical scheduling approaches are applied here to overcome the problem of unequal-length block-test scheduling under power dissipation constraints. List scheduling-like approaches are proposed first as greedy algorithms to tackle the fore mentioned problem. Then, distribution-graph based approaches are described in order to achieve balanced test concurrency and test power dissipation. An extended tree growing technique is also used in combination with these classical approaches in order to improve the test concurrency having assigned power dissipation limits. A comparison between the results of the test scheduling experiments highlights the advantages and disadvantages of applying different classical scheduling algorithms to the power-constrained test scheduling problem.
Combine multi-features with deep learning for answer selection

Answer selection is an important subtask in open-domain question answering (QA) system, which mainly models for question and answer pairs. In this paper, we first develop a basic framework based on bidirectional long short term memory (Bi-LSTM), and then we extract lexical and topic features in question and answer respectively, finally, we append these features to Bi-LSTM models. Our models experiment on WikiQA dataset, Experimental results show that our models get a slight improvement compared to other published state of the art results.
Perception of fashion sustainability in online community

The issue of sustainability is crucial in fashion business and has received considerable attentions from the consumers. In this paper, we investigate the change in people’s concerns on sustainable fashion by using secondary data collected from two major online fashion forums from 2004 to 2012. Our analysis is taken by a cross-time approach and the results reflect that forum discussions over sustainable fashion have changed over time. While topics on sustainable production and remanufacturing, green information sharing, and green attitude and education once received heated discussions in the mid-2000s, green marketing has become the main focus lately. Our results imply that provision of green information by fashion retailers is a way to educate consumers and improve their awareness in the importance of sustainability. It is also beneficial to stimulate consumers’ purchase decision of sustainable fashion. The findings provide industry insights for practitioners to better develop and promote sustainable fashion.
Optimal Foot Location for Placing Wearable IMU Sensors and Automatic Feature Extraction for Gait Analysis

Our aim is to maximize the interpretable information for gait analysis. To achieve this, it is important to find the optimal sensor placement and the parameters that influence the extraction of automatic gait features. We investigated the effect of different anatomical foot locations on inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor output. We designed and developed an android app to collect real-time synchronous sensor output. We selected a set of five anatomical foot locations covering most of the foot regions to place wearable IMU sensors for data collection. Each participant performed a trial in a straight corridor comprising 25 strides of normal walking, a turn-around, and another 25 strides. We proposed an automatic gait features extraction method to analyze the data for stride number, distance, speed, length and period of stride, stance, and swing phases during walking. The highest accuracy for detecting stride number was in location 1 (first cuneiform) followed by location 5 (Achilles Tendon) and 4 (Talus). Location 1 was the closest to correlate estimate to the measured distance travelled. The accuracy of detecting number of strides on average is 95.47% from accelerometer data and 93.60% from gyroscope data and closest to the 60:40% split for average stance and swing for 15 subjects. To validate our results, we conducted trials using the Qualisys motion capture instrument and from our sensors concurrently. The average accuracy of the result is 97.77% with 95% confidence interval 0.767 for estimated and 99.01% with 95% confidence interval 0.266 for period.
LogCLEF: enabling research on multilingual log files

Interactions between users and information access systems can be analyzed and studied to gather user preferences and to learn what a user likes the most, and to use this information to adapt the search to users and personalize the presentation of results. The LogCLEF lab - "A benchmarking activity on Multilingual Log File Analysis: Language identification, query classification, success of a query" deals with information contained in query logs of search engines and digital libraries from which knowledge can be mined to understand search behavior in multilingual context. LogCLEF has created the first long-term standard collection for evaluation purposes in the area of log analysis. The LogCLEF 2011 lab is the continuation of the past two editions: as a pilot task in CLEF 2009, and a workshop in CLEF 2010. The Cross-Language Evaluation Forum (CLEF) promotes research and development in multilingual information access and is an activity of the PROMISE Network of Excellence.