Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Survivorship of restored Acropora palmata fragments over six years at the M / V Fortuna Reefer ship grounding site , Mona Island , Puerto Rico

Patterns of survivorship of restored Acropora palmata fragments generated by the Fortuna Reefer ship grounding off Mona Island were examined over six years. Fragments (n=1857) were secured to the reef or dead standing colonies (skeletons) using wire within three months of the grounding. After six years, 20.3% (377) of the restored fragments were living, 56% died and 23.7% were detached and removed. Surviving fragments had live tissue covering an average of 60% of upper branch surfaces, although 30% had little partial mortality (<5%), 22% exhibited resheeting over previously exposed skeleton, and 30% had tissue that expanded onto the substrate or skeletons. Surviving fragments (58%) produced new branches (1-30 per fragment), with a mean length of 21 cm (maximum= 73 cm). The most important source of mortality was overgrowth by a boring sponge (Cliona spp., 20%). Partial tissue loss also resulted from wire abrasion (73%), predation by corallivorous gastropods, diseases, algal interactions, and damselfish algal lawns. Fragment size, depth and location of attachment were the most important factors affecting survival. Fragments that died were smaller (59 cm) than surviving fragments (79 cm). Fragments at 3-4 m depth, secured to the reef, and oriented upright had the highest survivorship, lowest amount of partial tissue loss and the greatest extent of new growth. Attaching fragments to skeletons may be beneficial in that it reduces time required to restore high relief habitat, but survivorship may be compromised in locations with bioeroding sponges, as these appear to preferentially colonize skeletons and consequently overgrow fragments.
Protein Kinases in Spinal Plasticity: A Role for Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors

Neural plasticity is characterized by the lasting modulation of synaptic strength which alters the central nervous system’s (CNS) capacity to encode and store information. Changes in synaptic plasticity have implications for brain-dependent learning and memory as well as a number of other forms of CNS information processing, including alterations in spinal cord function (reviewed in Patterson & Grau, 2001). As protein kinases have been shown to greatly affect neurotransmitter receptor dynamics, their role in synaptic plasticity is essential. A large body of work has highlighted the link between group I metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) activation, subsequent protein kinase activation, and synaptic plasticity (Gereau & Heinemann, 1998; Sheng et al., 2002; Gallagher et al., 2004). Upon glutamate binding to mGluRs, a G-protein coupled to the receptor sets off an intracellular cascade, activating phospholipase C (PLC), diacyl glycerol (DAG), and ultimately protein kinases. Once activated, protein kinases can then exert a modulatory effect on both excitatory and inhibitory receptors that ultimately affects synaptic strength. In this way, mGluRs and protein kinases both play critical roles in a number of forms of neural plasticity, including those that are thought to underlie learning and memory (Bortolotto & Collingridge, 1993; Wang, et al. 2004). What many in neuroscience have overlooked is the fact that, just like in the brain, the spinal cord also exhibits the capacity for an amazing amount of plasticity, including simple forms of learning and memory that are relevant to pain, motor learning, and recovery of function after spinal cord damage (Woolf & Salter, 2000; Grau et al., 2006; Raineteau & Schwab, 2001). And, just as in the brain, spinal plasticity has been shown across a number of preparations to be mediated by mGluR/protein kinase signaling (Giles et al., 2007; Ferguson et al., 2008a).
Spatial attention in written word perception

The role of attention in visual word recognition and reading aloud is a long debated issue. Studies of both developmental and acquired reading disorders provide growing evidence that spatial attention is critically involved in word reading, in particular for the phonological decoding of unfamiliar letter strings. However, studies on healthy participants have produced contrasting results. The aim of this study was to investigate how the allocation of spatial attention may influence the perception of letter strings in skilled readers. High frequency words (HFWs), low frequency words and pseudowords were briefly and parafoveally presented either in the left or the right visual field. Attentional allocation was modulated by the presentation of a spatial cue before the target string. Accuracy in reporting the target string was modulated by the spatial cue but this effect varied with the type of string. For unfamiliar strings, processing was facilitated when attention was focused on the string location and hindered when it was diverted from the target. This finding is consistent the assumptions of the CDP+ model of reading aloud, as well as with familiarity sensitivity models that argue for a flexible use of attention according with the specific requirements of the string. Moreover, we found that processing of HFWs was facilitated by an extra-large focus of attention. The latter result is consistent with the hypothesis that a broad distribution of attention is the default mode during reading of familiar words because it might optimally engage the broad receptive fields of the highest detectors in the hierarchical system for visual word recognition.
Bayesian non local means-based speckle filtering

In ultrasound (US) imaging, denoising is intended to improve quantitative image analysis techniques. In this paper, a new version of the non local (nl) means filter adapted for US images is proposed. Originally developed for Gaussian noise removal, a Bayesian framework is used to adapt the NL means filter for speckle noise. Experiments were carried out on synthetic data sets with different speckle simulations. Results show that our NL means-based speckle filter outperforms the classical implementation of the NL means filter, as well as two other speckle adapted denoising methods (SRAD and SBF filters).
A Large-Scale Evaluation of High-Impact Password Strength Meters

Passwords are ubiquitous in our daily digital lives. They protect various types of assets ranging from a simple account on an online newspaper website to our health information on government websites. However, due to the inherent value they protect, attackers have developed insights into cracking/guessing passwords both offline and online. In many cases, users are forced to choose stronger passwords to comply with password policies; such policies are known to alienate users and do not significantly improve password quality. Another solution is to put in place proactive password-strength meters/checkers to give feedback to users while they create new passwords. Millions of users are now exposed to these meters on highly popular web services that use user-chosen passwords for authentication. More recently, these meters are also being built into popular password managers, which protect several user secrets including passwords. Recent studies have found evidence that some meters actually guide users to choose better passwords—which is a rare bit of good news in password research. However, these meters are mostly based on ad hoc design. At least, as we found, most vendors do not provide any explanation for their design choices, sometimes making them appear as a black box. We analyze password meters deployed in selected popular websites and password managers. We document obfuscated source-available meters, infer the algorithm behind the closed-source ones, and measure the strength labels assigned to common passwords from several password dictionaries. From this empirical analysis with millions of passwords, we shed light on how the server end of some web service meters functions and provide examples of highly inconsistent strength outcomes for the same password in different meters, along with examples of many weak passwords being labeled as strong or even excellent. These weaknesses and inconsistencies may confuse users in choosing a stronger password, and thus may weaken the purpose of these meters. On the other hand, we believe these findings may help improve existing meters and possibly make them an effective tool in the long run.
Large Volume , High-Performance Applications of Fibers in Civil Engineering

This article presents an overview of fiber applications in cementitious composites. The socio-economic considerations surrounding materials development in civil engineering in general, and fiber reinforced cementitious materials in particular, are described. Current FRC appliations are summarized, and the where, how, and why fibers are used in these applications, are documented. An attempt is made to extract common denominators among the widely varied applications. The R&D and industrial trends of applying fibers in enhancing structural performance are depicted. An actual case study involving a tunnel lining constructed in Japan is given to illustrate how a newly proposed structural design guideline takes into account the load carrying contribution of fibers. Composite properties related to structural performance are described for a number of FRCs targeted for use in load carrying structural members. Structural applications of FRCs are currently under rapid development. In coming years, it is envisioned that the ultra-high performance FRC, with ductility matching that of metals, will be commercially exploited in various applications. Highlights of such a material are presented in this article. Finally, conclusions on market trends are drawn, and favorable fiber characteristics for structural applications are provided. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 83: 660–686, 2002
Maternal intimate partner violence victimization and under-five children mortality in Western Ethiopia: a case-control study.

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to compare the association between maternal intimate partner violence and under-five mortality. METHODS Matched case-control study was conducted from May to June 2011. A sample of 286 cases and 572 controls were randomly selected from East Wollega Zone, West Ethiopia. RESULTS Among cases, 72.7% ever experienced controlling behaviors when compared to 62.4% for controls. All forms of maternal intimate partner violence were experienced by 61.9% of cases and 50.9% of controls. Controlling behavior in marriage and experiences of all forms of intimate partner violence during lifetime were more than four [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 4.27, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.97-18.89), and two (AOR = 2.55, 95% CI 1.66-3.92) times as likely to be associated with under-five mortality. CONCLUSION Maternal intimate partner violence victimization is strongly associated with under-five mortality. Involving men in maternal and child health programs could be one strategy to address the issue of intimate partner violence against women.
RAINFALL AND CONFLICT

Starting with Miguel, Satyanath, and Sergenti (2004), a large literature has used rainfall variation as an instrument to study the impacts of income shocks on civil war and con‡ict. These studies argue that in agriculturally-dependent regions, negative rain shocks lower income levels, which in turn incites violence. This identi…cation strategy
Poly-logarithmic Deterministic Fully-dynamic Graph Algorithms Ii: 2-edge and Biconnectivity Poly-logarithmic Deterministic Fully-dynamic Graph Algorithms Ii: 2-edge and Biconnectivity

Deterministic fully dynamic algorithms are presented for 2-edge con-nectivity and biconnectivity. For 2-edge connectivity the amortized cost per operation is O(log 4 n) improving over the previous best deterministic bound of O(p n) and the previous best randomized bound of O(log 5 n). For biconnectivity the amortized cost per operation is also O(log 4 n) improving over the previous best deterministic bound of O(p n log n logdm=ne) and the alternative randomized bound of O((log 4 n) where is the maximal degree. Thus our O(log 4 n) bound is the rst polylogarithmic bound for biconnectivity.
Human P2X7 pore function predicts allele linkage disequilibrium.

BACKGROUND Innate immune response amplification is achieved by leukocyte expression of the purinergic nucleotide receptor P2X7, an extracellular nucleotide-gated pore. Previously, low P2X7 pore activity in whole blood was associated with loss-of-function genotypes in correlation with a decreased ratio of lipopolysaccharide-stimulated tumor necrosis factor-alpha to interleukin-10, of relevance to a variety of infectious and inflammatory disorders. We hypothesized that evaluation of participants with discordance between the P2X7 genotype and pore status would disclose additional alleles, linkage disequilibrium, and novel functional correlates of genotype to phenotype. METHODS Comparison of whole-blood pore results with restriction fragment length polymorphism data for known loss-of-function genotypes from 200 healthy participants optimized the diagnostic threshold for low pore activity by ROC curve analysis. We identified novel alleles and inferred haplotypes by sequencing outlier genomic templates and by linkage analysis. RESULTS With a refined threshold of low activity, a normal pore result had only a 2% probability of association with known loss-of-function variants. By contrast, the positive predictive value of low pore activity was 59% for identifying known alleles. DNA samples from this discordant group contained 28 P2X7 sequence variations. Linkage analysis demonstrated that A1513C, T1729A, and G946A are inherited independently from one another, although these loss-of-function variants are in disequilibrium with other alleles. When we segregated pore activity data according to genotypes, nonsynonymous sequence variations (G474A and A1405G) appeared to exhibit modulatory effects on P2X7 pore activity. CONCLUSIONS Direct analysis of pore activity demonstrates functional interactions between P2X7 alleles. The performance characteristics of the whole-blood pore assay enables correlation of genomic variation with concomitant investigation of functional performance in clinical studies.
ASSOCIATI ON FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE

Scienlce serves its readers as a forum for the presentation and discussion of important issues related to the advancement of science, including the presentation of minority or conflicting points of view, rather than by puLblishing only material on which a consensus has been reached. Accordingly, all articles puiblished in Scienzce inclIuding editorials, news and comment, and book reviews-are signed and reflect the individuLal views of the authors and not official points of view adopted by the AAAS or the instituitions with which the atithors are aflil iated.
Sensitivity to oscillation with a sterile fourth generation neutrino from ultralow threshold neutrino-nucleus coherent scattering

We discuss prospects for probing short-range sterile neutrino oscillation using neutrino-nucleus coherent scattering with ultra-low energy ($\sim 10$ eV - 100 eV) recoil threshold cryogenic Ge detectors. The analysis is performed in the context of a specific and contemporary reactor-based experimental proposal, developed in cooperation with the Nuclear Science Center at Texas A\&M University, and references developing technology based upon economical and scalable detector arrays. The baseline of the experiment is substantially shorter than existing measurements, as near as about 2 meters from the reactor core, and is moreover variable, extending continuously up to a range of about 10 meters. This proximity and variety combine to provide extraordinary sensitivity to a wide spectrum of oscillation scales, while facilitating the tidy cancellation of leading systematic uncertainties in the reactor source and environment. With 100~eV sensitivity, for exposures on the order of 200 kg$\cdot$y, we project an estimated sensitivity to first/fourth neutrino oscillation with a mass gap $\Delta m^2 \sim 1 \, {\rm eV}^2$ at an amplitude $\sin^2 2\theta \sim 10^{-1}$, or $\Delta m^2 \sim 0.2 \, {\rm eV}^2$ at unit amplitude. Larger exposures, around 5,000 kg$\cdot$y, together with 10 eV sensitivity are capable of probing more than an additional order of magnitude in amplitude.
DNA-Level Characterization of Helicobacter pylori Strains from Patients with Overt Disease and with Benign Infections in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT The complex relation between the genotype of Helicobacter pylori and its association with clinical outcome is not well understood. Studies in the West have showed that strains expressing certain virulence factors (vacAs1, vacAm1, and cagA) are associated with duodenal ulcer disease. However, the H. pylori genotype is known to vary with geographic region. In the present study, we compared several virulence markers (cagA, vacA, and iceA) and neutral markers (IS605, IS606, and IS608) in H. pylori strains isolated from 65 adult patients with peptic ulcer (PU) and 50 patients with nonulcer dyspepsia (NUD). PCR tests indicated that cagA is present in 75% of the strains from patients with PU compared to 55% in patients with NUD, and 80% of the isolates from patients with PU carried potentially toxigenic vacAs1 alleles of the vacuolating cytotoxin gene (vacA) compared to 60% in isolates from patients with NUD. However, no significant difference in any other virulence marker was observed in isolates from both groups. Phylogenetic analysis of the vacA middle region and the 5′ end of the cagA gene indicates that Bangladeshi isolates are more closely related to H. pylori isolates from India and are different from isolates from East Asia.
On Node Stability and Organization in Peer-to-Peer Video Streaming Systems

Recently, peer-to-peer video streaming technology has been widely suggested to support broadcasting videos over the Internet. Given that the application-layer nodes (peers) are autonomous and may join or leave at will. Dealing with node dynamics (known as churn) under the bandwidth and timing constraints for video streaming thus becomes a necessary yet challenging task. One conventional argument is that the stable nodes are too small a group to be effectively utilized. While we agree this argument from a whole session's point-of-view, in this paper, we argue that the significantly longer lifespans of the stable nodes allow each of them to appear in much more snapshots of the overlay than transient nodes and, as a result, they constitute a significant portion in every snapshot of the overlay, substantially affecting the performance of the overall system. Such observation has been verified by our trace analysis on PPLive, a large-scale peer-to-peer live streaming system, as well as analytical modeling based on node behaviors. Motivated by this, we further propose a tiered overlay design, with stable nodes being organized into a tier-1 backbone for serving tier-2 nodes. It offers a highly cost-effective and deployable alternative to proxy assisted designs. We develop a comprehensive set of algorithms for stable node identification and organization. Specifically, we present a novel structure, labeled tree (or LBTree in short), for the tier-1 overlay, which, leveraging stable peers, simultaneously achieves low overhead and high transmission reliability. Our tiered framework flexibly accommodates diverse existing overlay structures in the second tier. Through extensive simulations, we demonstrate that the customized optimization using selected stable nodes can greatly boost the streaming quality and also effectively reduce the control overhead.
Computaion integrity mechanism for MapReduce in cloud computing system

MapReduce has been widely used as a powerful parallel data processing model and is adopted by most cloud providers to build cloud computing framework. However, in open cloud systems, security of computation becomes a great challenge. Moreover, MapReduce data-processing services are long-running, which increases the possibility that an adversary launches an attack on the workers and make them behave maliciously and then tamper with the computation integrity of user tasks where their executions are generally performed in different administration domains out of the user control. Thus, the results of the computation might be erroneous and dishonest. In this paper, we propose a new mechanism based on weighted t-first voting method for ensuring the integrity of MapReduce in open cloud computing environment. Our mechanism can defeat both collusive and non-collusive malicious entities and therefore guarantee high computation accuracy.
Calmodulins and related potential calcium sensors of Arabidopsis.

• Calcium (Ca2+ ) signaling is thought to orchestrate responses to cellular stimuli. The efficacy of Ca2+ signaling requires mediation by Ca2+ -binding proteins. • The determination of the Arabidopsis genome sequence enables the identification of genes encoding potential Ca2+ sensors. • Six Arabidopsis loci are defined as calmodulin (CAM) genes. Fifty additional genes are CAM-like (CML) genes, encoding proteins composed mostly of EF-hand Ca2+ -binding motifs, have no other identifiable functional domains, and at least 16% identical with CaM. Number and structural diversity of the EF hands are evaluated. Intron/exon boundaries, phylogenetic tree and chromosomal distribution data for the CAMs and CMLs are presented. • Arabidopsis has 6 CAM genes, encoding only 3 isoforms. Maintenance of these genes suggests that they are unlikely to be fully redundant in function. Furthermore, the repeated EF hand motif is incorporated into at least 50 additional loci. The CaM relatives have altered EF hand number, organization, and predicted functional capacity. Additional structural differences and expression behaviors also indicate that the CML family has likely evolved distinct roles from the CAMs.
Towards a Definition of Virtual Objects Using Partial Differential Equations

We propose an efficient alternative to commonly used parametric surfaces such as NURBS surfaces for definition of complex geometry in shared virtual spaces. Our mathematical model allows to define objects by only providing coordinates of the section curves in 3-space. The resulting parametric functions allow fast calculation of the coordinates of the points on the surface of the objects. We devise an algorithm which evaluates the coefficients of these functions in real time. Given the small size of the resulting formulas and interactive rates for their calculation, we are able to efficiently use such PDE-based models for making virtual objects in shared virtual spaces. We describe the modeling framework and illustrate the proposed theoretical concepts with our function-based extension of VRML and X3D.
Feature Based Registration for Panoramic Image Generation

The construction of large, high-resolution view is an active area of research in many fields like computer vision and computer graphics. This research is concerned with combining multiple images with overlapping region to produce a panoramic view by the detection of feature points for images with different camera motion in an efficient and fast way. Feature extraction is an important and critical step in panoramic view construction. This study presents techniques of corner detection, geometric moments and random sampling to accurately locate the important feature points in the images under noise, transformation, lighting, little viewpoint changes, blurring and compression circumstances. For each extracted feature in the image, a descriptor is calculated and the matching is done based on the homograph transformation. The results of experiments conducted on images taken by handheld camera and images taken from the internet. The results show that the proposed algorithm is fast and efficient compared with the panorama generation using the most