Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatial and Temporal Variations of Atmospheric Aerosol in Osaka

It is well known that the aerosol distribution in Asia is complex due to both the increasing emissions of the anthropogenic aerosols associated with economic growth and the behavior of natural dusts. Therefore, detailed observations of atmospheric particles in Asian urban cities are important. In this work, we focus on the spatial and temporal variations of atmospheric particles around Higashi-Osaka in Japan. Higashi-Osaka is located in the eastern part of Osaka, the second-largest city in Japan, and is famous for small- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises. For this study, we placed various ground measurement devices around the Higashi-Osaka campus of Kinki University including a Cimel sunphotometer supported by NASA/AERONET (Aerosol robotics network), suspended particulate matter (SPM) sampler and LIDAR (light detection and ranging). Individual particle analyses with a SEM (scanning electron microscope)/EDX (energy-dispersive X-ray analyzer) show the temporal variations of particle properties, such as size, shape and components, during a dust event on 21 March 2010. The simultaneous measurement using a portable sun photometer with AERONET was conducted from April to November 2011. A comparison of the data at each site and the combination of the observed LIDAR data and model simulations indicate the difference in the transportation processes between dust and anthropogenic particles. We suppose this difference is attributed to the differences in the vertical aerosol profiles, where one aerosol is transported over Mount Ikoma and the other is blocked by it.
Matrix Intensification Alters Avian Functional Group Composition in Adjacent Rainforest Fragments

Conversion of farmland land-use matrices to surface mining is an increasing threat to the habitat quality of forest remnants and their constituent biota, with consequences for ecosystem functionality. We evaluated the effects of matrix type on bird community composition and the abundance and evenness within avian functional groups in south-west Ghana. We hypothesized that surface mining near remnants may result in a shift in functional composition of avifaunal communities, potentially disrupting ecological processes within tropical forest ecosystems. Matrix intensification and proximity to the remnant edge strongly influenced the abundance of members of several functional guilds. Obligate frugivores, strict terrestrial insectivores, lower and upper strata birds, and insect gleaners were most negatively affected by adjacent mining matrices, suggesting certain ecosystem processes such as seed dispersal may be disrupted by landscape change in this region. Evenness of these functional guilds was also lower in remnants adjacent to surface mining, regardless of the distance from remnant edge, with the exception of strict terrestrial insectivores. These shifts suggest matrix intensification can influence avian functional group composition and related ecosystem-level processes in adjacent forest remnants. The management of matrix habitat quality near and within mine concessions is important for improving efforts to preserveavian biodiversity in landscapes undergoing intensification such as through increased surface mining.
Paying for the Environment in China : The Growing Role of the Market By

Healthy natural ecosystems such as forests, rivers, coral reefs, and wetlands can be viewed as “natural capital,” because they in effect provide “goods and services” that are fundamental to human wellbeing. However, the benefits of these ecosystems largely fall outside of formal markets and are therefore undervalued. Thus, mobilizing financial capital to conserve and sustain such natural capital is difficult and is a growing global challenge. Worldwide, the conservation challenge is increasingly being met by innovations in financial mechanisms and products. One particularly effective innovation has been the application of the beneficiaryor polluter-must-pay principle (hereafter, polluter-pays principle) that has allowed for an expanded role of market-based mechanisms in the provision of environmental goods and services (Daily et al. 2000; Scherr and Martin 2000). Openness to such market-based mechanisms has spurred the development of a new generation of financial instruments specifically suited for conservation projects. Some notable examples include debt-for-nature swaps, environmental venture capital funds, royalties for genetic resources extraction, user and resources extraction fees, conservation trust funds, commercial markets for ecosystem services, green bonds, as well as credits for carbon, wetland, sulfur dioxide and biodiversity preservation. Many developed and developing countries have gone beyond experimenting with these tools and have created green funds, eco-tourism businesses, and other public-private partnership arrangements to promote environmental financing and investment (Cohen 2000; Rubino 2000; Best and Jenkins 1999; Environmental Financial Advisory Board 1999). As China has moved from a centrally planned to a more market-based economy, Chinese policymakers have begun to acknowledge the utility of such market-based mechanisms to finance environmental protection projects and activities. The growing awareness of the increasing cost of environmental protection also is pushing Chinese policymakers to look for alternative funding sources. This article will introduce the expanding Chinese market for environmental goods and services, as well as describe some new instruments for environmental financing in China. In addition, this article will outline some of the challenges that face Chinese policymakers and investors as they move to create new finance mechanisms. The article closes with a number of policy recommendations and a proposal for a green investment fund to attract green businesses and to promote conservation activities in China.
Effect of Rat Medicated Serum Containing You Gui Wan on Mouse Oocyte In Vitro Maturation and Subsequent Fertilization Competence

You Gui Wan (YGW) is a classic herbal formula in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) used for the clinical treatment of infertility. This study was to explore whether YGW has an impact on mouse oocyte maturation in vitro and subsequent fertilization competence. Rat medicated serum containing YGW was prepared by orally administrating YGW. Mouse immature oocytes were cultured with YGW medicated serum and compared to those cultured with or without normal rat serum or follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). YGW medicated serum significantly increased the percentages of matured oocytes when compared to the groups with or without normal rat serum (P < 0.01). Furthermore, YGW medicated serum increased the rate of in vitro fertilization (IVF) when compared to the groups treated with FSH and with or without normal rat serum (P < 0.001). YGW medicated serum also had significant effects on the mRNA expressions of PKA, CREB, MAPK, PKC, PKG, and MPF and the concentrations of cAMP, cGMP, and NO in matured oocytes. These results indicate that YGW can promote mouse oocyte maturation and IVF in vitro. Signaling pathways, such as the cAMP/PKA/MAPK, the PKC-MAPK, and the NO-cGMP-PKG pathway, which are similar to those induced by FSH, may be responsible for this action.
Memory Architecture Exploration for Power-Efficient 2D-Discrete Wavelet Transform

The discrete wavelet transform (DWT) forms the core of the JPEG2000 image compression algorithm. Since the JPEG2000 compression application is heavily data-intensive, the overall power dissipation is dominated by read and write operations in the memory subsystem. The proposed architecture and computation sequence, called low-power block-scan, takes into account the EBCOT (embedded block coding with optimized truncation) code block size, which reduces the intermediate buffer requirement between the DWT and EBCOT modules. The impact of different memory subsystem optimization techniques on the overall memory power for 2D-DWT computation was modeled. The proposed model explores the different data access patterns, memory bank partitioning, and custom memory architectures to arrive at a power-efficient DWT architecture
Derivative Pricing under Multivariate Stochastic Volatility Models with Application to Equity Options

We examine the joint time series of option prices and returns on the S&P 500 index and a set of stocks drawn from the index with a new arbitrage-free multivariate stochastic volatility model that captures a market effect. The preliminary results show that the new model fits well for all the marginal time series for different periods of time. The price of volatility risk is estimated from option prices simultaneously for stocks and the index. We find that the volatility risk premia is not constant over time and that it differs across stocks. However, our model yields very small option pricing errors both in-sample and out-of-sample. Our future work will focus on (1) improving the estimation from the joint data of returns and option prices, and test the statistical significance of model parameters, (2) compare our modeling approach with existing univariate models from a trading perspective, and (3) extend our model with a latent process to describe the price of volatility risk.
Multimodal Emotion Recognition Using a Spontaneous Filipino Emotion Database

Human-computer interaction is moving towards giving computers the ability to adapt and give feedback in accordance to a user's emotion. Studies on emotion recognition show that combining face and voice signals produce higher recognition rates compared to using either one individually. In addition, majority of the emotion corpus used on these systems were modeled based on acted data with actors who tend to exaggerate emotions. This study focus on the development of a multimodal emotion recognition system that is trained using a spontaneous Filipino emotion database. The system extracts voice features and facial features that are then classified into the correct emotion label using support vector machines. Based on test results, recognizing emotions using voice only yielded 40% accuracy; using face only, 86%; and using a combination of voice and face yielded 80%.
Residents' benefits evaluation of urban development plans - a willingnes-to-accept model for a multi-functional land use project in Amsterdam

Urban re-development projects may generate various positive as well as negative spatial externalities to the existing population in a given area. This study aims to assess the order of magnitude of the expected net benefits for incumbent residents from a large scale project in the Southern part of Amsterdam (the Netherlands), which is planned to transform the area into a large multi-functional urban centre. We employ a specific stated preference method (viz. a willingness-to-accept method) to assess the net socio-economic benefits for the population in the area concerned. Our approach explicitly considers perceived costs and benefits in the foreseen „end-states‟ as well as those incurred during the transitional (construction) phase towards such end-states. It is concluded that the multi-functional urban re-development project under consideration is not supported by the residents in the area, as the long-run benefits are perceived to be overshadowed by the short-run environmental nuisances.
Co-operation between follicular ornithine decarboxylase and v-Ha-ras induces spontaneous papillomas and malignant conversion in transgenic skin.

Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) is aberrantly regulated in tumor cells and results in high basal levels of ODC and polyamines in many epithelial tumors. To determine if elevated ODC/polyamine levels can co-operate with a mutant Ha-ras gene in mouse skin tumorigenesis, double transgenic mice were generated by breeding K6/ODC transgenic mice with TG.AC v-Ha-ras transgenic mice. A K6 keratin promoter drives the ODC transgene in K6/ ODC transgenic mice, which results in elevated ODC/ polyamine levels directed to the outer root sheath cells of hair follicles. TG.AC transgenic mice carry a v-Ha-ras transgene while still retaining two normal c-Ha-ras alleles. Transgenic mice that possess only the K6/ODC or the v-Ha-ras transgene did not develop tumors unless treated with either a carcinogen or a tumor promoter, respectively. However, a high percentage of double transgenic mice possessing both the K6/ODC and v-Ha-ras transgenes developed spontaneous tumors. All tumors were well-differentiated keratoacanthomas, some of which progressed to carcinomas within 2 months. The development and the maintenance of these ODC/ras tumors was ODC-dependent since alpha-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), a specific ODC inhibitor, prevented the formation and caused the regression of these tumors. These findings indicate that ODC overexpression and an activated Ha-ras are sufficient to produce a high rate of malignant transformation in an animal model. The ODC/ras double transgenic mouse provides a simple in vivo model without the use of chemical carcinogens or tumor promoters in which to test downstream effectors that play a key role in mediating the development of epithelial tumors resulting from the cooperation between ODC and v-Ha-ras.
The Impact of Screen-Use on Cognitive Function: A Pilot Study

Screen-use and its impact on cognitive function has not been studied thoroughly. The main intention of the present study was to see if screen-use has an impact on cognitive function. Furthermore, the aim was to look at possible moderating effects of factors such as depression, sleep and psychosomatic symptoms that have been shown to decrease cognitive function in earlier studies. A total of 45 undergraduate students at the Reykjavik University, Iceland were recruited. The participants answered a questionnaire that included items about depression, sleep, psychosomatic symptoms and screen-use. The subjects were then asked to complete a computerized Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) and a Stroop Color-Word task. The results revealed a significant main effect of type of stroop task and a significant threeway interaction between type of stroop task, screen-use, and depression. Furthermore, a significant two-way interaction between SART time (beginning, middle, end) and screen-use was revealed. No other main effects or interactions were significant. Results indicate an effect of screen use on cognitive function. The moderators in general did not impact the relationship between screen use and cognitive function except for depression and stroop task.
Technical verification of applying wearable physiological sensors in ubiquitous health monitoring

The aim of the research is to design, implement and verify health monitoring system to monitor and analyze human physiological signals. System incorporates central processing unit with Bluetooth module, dedicated ECG sensor, temperature sensor and movement sensors placed on the human body or integrated with clothes and network gateway to forward acquired data to remote medical server. The main advantage of the system is the ability to acquire, process and wirelessly transmit physiological data during daily activities. Moreover, system includes dedicated transmission protocol and remote web-based graphical user interface for real time data analysis. Experimental results for a group of human who performed various activities (ex. working, running etc.) show maximum 5% absolute error compared to certified medical devices. The results are promising and indicate that developed wireless wearable monitoring system faces challenges of multi-sensor human health monitoring during performing daily activities and open new opportunities in treating and evaluating the treatment of number of patients who suffer from chronic diseases including cardiac disorders, asthma or diabetes.
A Robust and Low-Complexity Differential MIMO SC-FDE Systems over Frequency Selective Fading Channels

In this paper, we propose a new differential multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) single-carrier system with frequency-domain equalization (SC-FDE) aided by the insertion of cyclic prefix. This block transmission system not only inherits all the merits of the single-input single-output (SISO) SC-FDE system, but is also equipped with a differential space-time block coding (DSTBC) such as to combat the fast-changing frequency selective fading channels without the needs to estimate and then compensate the carrier frequency offset and channel effects. Hence, for practical applications, it has the additional merits of decoding simplicity and robustness against difficult transmission environments. Computer simulation shows that with two transmit antennas, the proposed system can provide diversity benefit as the non-differential system does, while greatly reducing the receiver complexity.
Suppression of Cell-Mediated Immunity following Recognition of Phagosome-Confined Bacteria

Listeria monocytogenes is a facultative intracellular pathogen capable of inducing a robust cell-mediated immune response to sub-lethal infection. The capacity of L. monocytogenes to escape from the phagosome and enter the host cell cytosol is paramount for the induction of long-lived CD8 T cell–mediated protective immunity. Here, we show that the impaired T cell response to L. monocytogenes confined within a phagosome is not merely a consequence of inefficient antigen presentation, but is the result of direct suppression of the adaptive response. This suppression limited not only the adaptive response to vacuole-confined L. monocytogenes, but negated the response to bacteria within the cytosol. Co-infection with phagosome-confined and cytosolic L. monocytogenes prevented the generation of acquired immunity and limited expansion of antigen-specific T cells relative to the cytosolic L. monocytogenes strain alone. Bacteria confined to a phagosome suppressed the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and led to the rapid MyD88-dependent production of IL-10. Blockade of the IL-10 receptor or the absence of MyD88 during primary infection restored protective immunity. Our studies demonstrate that the presence of microbes within a phagosome can directly impact the innate and adaptive immune response by antagonizing the signaling pathways necessary for inflammation and the generation of protective CD8 T cells.
The Factor Structure in Equity Option Prices

Principal component analysis of equity options on Dow-Jones …rms reveals a strong factor structure. The …rst principal component explains 77% of the variation in the equity volatility level, 49% of the variation in the equity option skew and 57% of the implied volatility term structure across equities. Furthermore, the …rst principal component has a 91% correlation with S&P500 index option volatility, a 42% correlation with the index option skew, and a 74% correlation with the index option term structure. Based on these …ndings we develop an equity option valuation model that captures the cross-sectional market factor structure as well as stochastic volatility through time. The model assumes a Heston (1993) style stochastic volatility model for the market return but additionally allows for stochastic idiosyncratic volatility for each …rm. The model delivers theoretical predictions consistent with the empirical …ndings in Duan and Wei (2009). We provide a tractable approach for estimating the model on index and equity option data. The model provides a good …t to a large panel of options on stocks in the Dow-Jones index.
The limitation of logic

Feigenbaum C4], commenting on the Fifth Gerieration Project, has said that logic is not important, but knowledge is. I agree that knowledge is more important than logic. But logic is important too. Knowledge-based systems need both knowledge and formalism. Although knowledge is more important than formalism, formalism is important because the use of a poor formalism can interfere with the representation of knowledge and can restrict the uses to which that knowledge can be put. I believe that logic is the least restrictive and most appropriate formalism for knowledge-based systems. Knowledge-based systems combine both complex knowledge and sophisticated formalisms. I believe that this combination of knowledge and formalism accounts for some of the difficulty practicioners have had in explaining what knowledge-based systems are. Problems arise because we confuse knowledge with formalism. Many characterizations of expert systems for example concentrate simply on formalism, on rule-based languages for example and say very little about what makes such formalisms particularly appropriate for expressing and reasoning with knowledge. Logic is strong on formalism but weak on concepts. It contains no knowledge, and is all form and no content. Indeed the significance of the model theoretic semantics of logic is precisely that: Model theory defines as valid precisely those sentences which are true in any interpretation. As a consequence, logic tells us nothing about the actual world itself. To use logic to represent knowledge we have to identify a useful vocabulary of symbols to represent concepts. We have to formulate appropriate sentences, with the aid of that vocabulary, to represent the knowledge itself. Logic can help us to test an initial choice of vocabulary and sentences, by helping us to derive logical consequences and identify the assumptions which participate in the derivation of those consequences. It provides us with no help, however, in identifying the right concepts and knowledge in the first place. A typical AI knowledge representation scheme, such as semantic networks or frames, combines concepts and formalism at the same time. It provides a built-in framework of ready-made concepts to help with the initial representation of knowledge. But it also provides a formalism to go along with the concepts. In the same way that a computer salesman might try to convince us that to run a particular piece of software we need to buy the appropriate hardware, a LISP machine for example, the developer of an AI system typically tries to convince us …
An Evaluation of Service Development in e-Commerce Migrating To SOA

 Abstract— A service-oriented architecture (SOA) is a collection of services, which communicate with each other. The communication can involve either simple data passing or it could involve two or more services coordinating some activity. It has been observed that SOA has been proved helpful to large business enterprises while small business are reluctant towards migrating small e-commerce business to SOA. The components in a business enterprise, like order management, the store, content management system, inventory and warehouse management, payment verification systems etc. depend on the hierarchy system, data warehouse, financial system etc. Every component in this structure is so tightly coupled that it's quite complicated to change one system out another without disturbing other systems. Also, it is very expensive, as well as time- consuming, for small e-commerce business, to implement cross system replacement and re-architecture where they have are limited operational resources. Here comes into picture, the role of SOA or Service Oriented Architecture, which provides a consistent set of tools to channel management - store administration, content management, payments and proper delivery efficient. This way, SOA makes migration strategy easy for e-commerce.