Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An analysis of regulatory decisions on food-use pesticides under the Food Quality and Protection Act

Title of Document: AN ANALYSIS OF REGULATORY DECISIONS ON FOOD-USE PESTICIDES UNDER THE FOOD QUALITY AND PROTECTION ACT Elisabeth Jo Newcomb, Ph.D., 2012 Directed By: Professor Maureen Cropper, Department of Economics To ensure the safety of older pesticides used in the United States, the EPA required the reregistration of pesticide uses which were first introduced before 1984. Usi ng a dataset of reregistration outcomes for 2722 pesticide uses applied to food crops, I analyze the extent to which these decisions were determined by chronic healt h risks, pesticide expenditures, and other factors. I find that the dietary health risks associated with pesticides are had greater influence on actions to reduce di etary and occupational exposures than on pesticide cancellations. High population dietary risks are associated with higher rates of pestic id cancellations, though these results are insignificant. There is evidence that the EPA was more responsive to child and infant dietary risks: values above the EPA’s threshold of concern were more than 10% more likely to be cancelled than those that were not (significant at the 10% level). The effects of cancer risks on EPA ac tions are more ambiguous, though this may be due to data limitations. The less safe pesticides are for handlers, the more often they are cancell ed, but pesticide safety has a more significant correlation with reentry i tervals. A one percent decrease in the safety of a pesticide to handlers predicts a reduc tion in reentry interval of 1.6 days (significant at the 5% level). Expenditures on individual pesticides have a strong relationship with pesticide reregistration, with an additional half million dollars in expenditures predict ing a 2% increase in the probability of reregistration (significant at the 1% leve l). Expenditures are not so correlated with reentry intervals or changes in pesticide tole rances. After accounting for dietary risk and pesticide expenditures, Monsanto and Dow were most likely to have uses reregistered. Though there was some concern that small crops with low pesticide expenditures would suffer extra cancellations, small crop uses w er no more likely to be cancelled than large crop uses. Mentions of individual pesticide in the media had no apparent relationship with the outcome of reregistration decisions. AN ANALYSIS OF REGULATORY DECISIONS ON FOOD-USE PESTICID ES UNDER THE FOOD QUALITY AND PROTECTION ACT
Collaborative Problem Solving with Linked Representational Tools

This paper presents a design for collaborative problem solving with networked representational tools, and reports on two studies—one with undergraduates in a laboratory setting and one in a high school algebra classroom. By equipping multiple participants with an array of representational resources linked through a device network, we sought to explore instances of distributed cognition through this design. Initial findings show different representational tool usage between students from the two settings.
Games with a Purpose or Mechanised Labour?: A Comparative Study

Mechanised labour and games with a purpose are the two most popular human computation genres, frequently employed to support research activities in fields as diverse as natural language processing, semantic web or databases. Research projects typically rely on either one or the other of these genres, and therefore there is a general lack of understanding of how these two genres compare and whether and how they could be used together to offset their respective weaknesses. This paper addresses these open questions. It first identifies the differences between the two genres, primarily in terms of cost, speed and result quality, based on existing studies in the literature. Secondly, it reports on a comparative study which involves performing the same task through both genres and comparing the results. The study's findings demonstrate that the two genres are highly complementary, which not only makes them suitable for different types of projects, but also opens new opportunities for building cross-genre human computation solutions that exploit the strengths of both genres simultaneously.
Image segmentation using MRI vertebral cross-sections

Computer assisted spinal surgery requires the development of a 3-D image of a patient's spine. A method is being developed to construct such a 3-D spinal image from axial MRI cross-sections, using a deformable template. This paper outlines techniques used to register the model with the patient data. First an algorithm based on symmetry of the anatomy is developed to determine the position and orientation of the vertebrae in each cross-section. Second, an active contour is used for segmentation of the spinal cord. Last, a novel edge detection scheme is developed to identify the low contrast edges of the vertebral body in each cross-section.
HYBRID CARS ” : NOT SO ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY

Hybrid cars may be solving several problems dealing with the harmful emissions of gas-powered vehicles into the environment, but they are also creating some pollution issues of their own. They may emit a little less greenhouse gases into the environment while you are driving them, but they are also a more complex car and therefore require a substantially larger amount of energy to produce. This increased output of energy increases the amount of pollution emitted into the air, thereby nullifying the advantages gained through reduced emissions during the operation of a hybrid vehicle. Also, since hybrids have batteries, the materials used to produce them still have to be gathered and disposed of – doing these things can be harmful to the environment as well. Many proponents of hybrid vehicles will claim that battery-powered vehicles don’t give off bad emissions, but where is that energy to charge the battery coming from? If it is not from a clean energy source, it is still polluting the air. I feel that our environment deserves better, and that the auto industry should stop leading people to believe that they are having a positive impact on the environment by buying and driving hybrids. I have always been curious about how hybrids supposedly “help” us protect our planet, and researching them gave me enough insight regarding the topic to form a solid opinion on it. Also included in this paper will be a discussion on the ethics involved in creating hybrids as well as engineering in general, along with a weighing of the value of doing research on a topic such as this as a freshman college student.
The Dermatan Sulfate Proteoglycan Decorin Modulates α2β1 Integrin and the Vimentin Intermediate Filament System during Collagen Synthesis

Decorin, a small leucine-rich proteoglycan harboring a dermatan sulfate chain at its N-terminus, is involved in regulating matrix organization and cell signaling. Loss of the dermatan sulfate of decorin leads to an Ehlers-Danlos syndrome characterized by delayed wound healing. Decorin-null (Dcn−/−) mice display a phenotype similar to that of EDS patients. The fibrillar collagen phenotype of Dcn−/− mice could be rescued in vitro by decorin but not with decorin lacking the glycosaminoglycan chain. We utilized a 3D cell culture model to investigate the impact of the altered extracellular matrix on Dcn−/− fibroblasts. Using 2D gel electrophoresis followed by mass spectrometry, we identified vimentin as one of the proteins that was differentially upregulated by the presence of decorin. We discovered that a decorin-deficient matrix leads to abnormal nuclear morphology in the Dcn−/− fibroblasts. This phenotype could be rescued by the decorin proteoglycan but less efficiently by the decorin protein core. Decorin treatment led to a significant reduction of the α2β1 integrin at day 6 in Dcn−/− fibroblasts, whereas the protein core had no effect on β1. Interestingly, only the decorin core induced mRNA synthesis, phosphorylation and de novo synthesis of vimentin indicating that the proteoglycan decorin in the extracellular matrix stabilizes the vimentin intermediate filament system. We could support these results in vivo, because the dermis of wild-type mice have more vimentin and less β1 integrin compared to Dcn−/−. Furthermore, the α2β1 null fibroblasts also showed a reduced amount of vimentin compared to wild-type. These data show for the first time that decorin has an impact on the biology of α2β1 integrin and the vimentin intermediate filament system. Moreover, our findings provide a mechanistic explanation for the reported defects in wound healing associated with the Dcn−/− phenotype.
The Experience of Liberal Education

Some words have kept coming up in the conversations we’ve had over the last several days at this meeting. We have talked of outcomes, competencies, and partnerships, developed through undergraduate research, service learning, and global citizenship, bringing about community-based, student-centered, and high-impact learning, fostering the values of engagement, responsibility, leadership, and accountability. It’s certainly clear what we’ve been up to here: building the structures for constructive and forward-looking higher education.
QBF Solving by Counterexample-guided Expansion

We introduce a novel generalization of Counterexample-Guided Inductive Synthesis (CEGIS) and instantiate it to yield a novel, competitive algorithm for solving Quantified Boolean Formulas (QBF). Current QBF solvers based on counterexample-guided expansion use a recursive approach which scales poorly with the number of quantifier alternations. Our generalization of CEGIS removes the need for this recursive approach, and we instantiate it to yield a simple and efficient algorithm for QBF solving. Lastly, this research is supported by a competitive, though straightforward, implementation of the algorithm, making it possible to study the practical impact of our algorithm design decisions, along with various optimizations.
A multi-ROIs medical image compression algorithm with edge feature preserving

In this paper, a multi-ROIs medical image compression algorithm with edge feature preserving is proposed. By taking advantage of characteristics of medical image and human eye, the algorithm extracts image edge information by using canny operator first, and then divides image into regions-of-interest (ROIs) and non-ROIs. To ROIs, lossless compression algorithm JPEG2000 is used. To non-ROIs, high compression ratio algorithm SPIHT is used. The experimental results show that our algorithm has following advantages: (1) The algorithm has high compression ratio as well as keeping the quality of ROIs; (2) The algorithm can deal with edge Gibbs effect and improve the quality of image reconstruction; (3) The algorithm is adaptive and practical, which can be used for remote medical image compression, storage and transfer.
AutoPSI: a database for automatic structural classification of protein sequences and structures

In protein research, structural classifications of protein domains provided by databases such as SCOP play an important role. However, as such databases have to be curated and prepared carefully, they update only up to a few times per year, and in between newly entered PDB structures cannot be used in cases where a structural classification is required. The Automated Protein Structure Identification (AutoPSI) database delivers predicted SCOP classifications for several thousand yet unclassified PDB entries as well as millions of UniProt sequences in an automated fashion. In order to obtain predictions, we make use of two recently published methods, namely AutoSCOP (sequence-based) and Vorolign (structure-based) and the consensus of both. With our predictions, we bridge the gap between SCOP versions for proteins with known structures in the PDB and additionally make structure predictions for a very large number of UniProt proteins. AutoPSI is freely accessible at http://www.bio. ifi.lmu. de/AutoPSIDB.
Channel Estimation Using Gaussian Approximation in a Factor Graph for QAM Modulation

Joint channel estimation and decoding using belief propagation on factor graphs requires the quantization of probability densities since continuous parameters are involved. We propose to replace these densities by standard messages where the channel estimate is accurately modeled as a Gaussian mixture. Upward messages include symbol extrinsic information and downward messages carry a mean and a variance for the Gaussian modeled channel estimate. Such unquantized message propagation leads to a complexity reduction and a performance improvement. For QAM modulated symbols, the proposed belief propagation almost achieves the performance of expectation-maximization under good initialization and surpasses it under bad initialization.
Contribution of DNA polymerase η to immunoglobulin gene hypermutation in the mouse

The mutation pattern of immunoglobulin genes was studied in mice deficient for DNA polymerase η, a translesional polymerase whose inactivation is responsible for the xeroderma pigmentosum variant (XP-V) syndrome in humans. Mutations show an 85% G/C biased pattern, similar to that reported for XP-V patients. Breeding these mice with animals harboring the stop codon mutation of the 129/Olain background in their DNA polymerase ι gene did not alter this pattern further. Although this G/C biased mutation profile resembles that of mice deficient in the MSH2 or MSH6 components of the mismatch repair complex, the residual A/T mutagenesis of polη-deficient mice differs markedly. This suggests that, in the absence of polη, the MSH2–MSH6 complex is able to recruit another DNA polymerase that is more accurate at copying A/T bases, possibly polκ, to assume its function in hypermutation.
4-Aminopyridine Does Not Enhance Flocculus Function in Tottering, a Mouse Model of Vestibulocerebellar Dysfunction and Ataxia

The potassium channel antagonist 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) improves a variety of motor abnormalities associated with disorders of the cerebellum. The most rigorous quantitative data relate to 4-AP's ability to improve eye movement deficits in humans referable to dysfunction of the cerebellar flocculus. Largely based on work in the ataxic mouse mutant tottering (which carries a mutation of the Cacna1a gene of the P/Q voltage-activated calcium channel), 4-AP is hypothesized to function by enhancing excitability or rhythmicity of floccular Purkinje cells. We tested this hypothesis by determining whether systemic or intrafloccular administration of 4-AP would ameliorate the eye movement deficits in tottering that are attributable to flocculus dysfunction, including the reductions in amplitude of the yaw-axis vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) and vision-enhanced vestibulo-ocular reflex (VVOR), and the optokinetic reflex (OKR) about yaw and roll axes. Because tottering's deficits increase with age, both young and elderly mutants were tested to detect any age-dependent 4-AP effects. 4-AP failed to improve VOR, VVOR, and OKR gains during sinusoidal stimuli, although it may have reduced the tendency of the mutants' responses to VOR and VVOR to decline over the course of a one-hour recording session. For constant-velocity optokinetic stimuli, 4-AP generated some enhancement of yaw OKR and upward-directed roll OKR, but the effects were also seen in normal C57BL/6 controls, and thus do not represent a specific reversal of the electrophysiological consequences of the tottering mutation. Data support a possible extra-floccular locus for the effects of 4-AP on habituation and roll OKR. Unilateral intrafloccular 4-AP injections did not affect ocular motility, except to generate mild eye elevations, consistent with reduced floccular output. Because 4-AP did not produce the effects expected if it normalized outputs of floccular Purkinje cells, there is a need for further studies to elucidate the drug's mechanism of action on cerebellar motor dysfunction.
Cloning of endothelin-1 ( ET-1 ) from European sea bass ( Dicentrarchus labrax ) and its gene expression analysis in larvae with retinoic acid-induced malformations

It is known in vertebrates that endothelin-1 (ET-1) plays a key role in morphogenesis whose expression level greatly influences the development of craniofacial malformations. In the present study, the complete cDNA fragment encoding a precursor of endothelin-1, the preproendothelin-1 (PPET1), was cloned by RACE-PCR from European sea bass. The cDNA encoded a 199 amino acid polypeptide that was composed of the “mature” and “big” ET-1. Relative ET-1 expression levels were investigated in European sea bass larvae fed microparticulate diets containing the standard amount (0.08 g retinol/kg diet: group N) or an excess of retinoic acid which induces skeletal malformations (0.5 g retinol/kg diet: group RA). Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that PPET1 mRNA levels were sensitively reduced in the RA group during early development (days 10 and 15 post hatching). Regulation of ET-1 gene expression in larvae fed the teratogenic level of vitamin A confirmed the involvement of ET-1 in the molecular mechanism involved in craniofacial deformities. These results suggest that the expression level of ET-1 may be used as a precocious molecular marker to predict malformations during European sea bass development.
Rapid modeling of animated faces from video

AbstractGenerating realistic 3D human face models and facial animations has been a persistent chal-lenge in computer graphics. We have developed a system that constructs textured 3D face modelsfrom videos with minimal user interaction. Our system takes images and video sequences of a facewith an ordinary video camera. After ﬁve manual clicks on two images to tell the system where theeye corners, nose top and mouth corners are, the system automatically generates a realistic looking3D human head model and the constructed model can be animated immediately. A user, with aPC and an ordinary camera, can use our system to generate his/her face model in a few minutes.Keywords: Face modeling, facial animation, geometric modeling, computer vision 1 Introduction One of the most interesting and difﬁcult problems in computer graphics is the effortless generationof realistic looking, animated human face models. Animated face models are essential to computergames, ﬁlm making, online chat, virtual presence, video conferencing, etc. So far, the most popularcommercially available tools have utilized laser scanners. Not only are these scanners expensive,the data are usually quite noisy, requiring hand touchup and manual registration prior to animatingthe model. Because inexpensive computers and cameras are widely available, there is great interestin producing face models directly from images. In spite of progress toward this goal, the availabletechniques are either manually intensive or computationally expensive.The goal of our system is to allow an untrained user with a PC and an ordinary camera to createand instantly animate his/her face model in no more than a few minutes. The user interface for theprocess comprises three simple steps. First, the user is instructed to pose for two still images. The useris then instructed to turn his/her head horizontally, ﬁrst in one direction and then in the other. Third,the user is instructed to identify a few key points in the images. Then the system computes the 3Dface geometry from the two images, and tracks the video sequences to create a complete facial texturemap by blending frames of the sequence. The key observation is that even though it is difﬁcult toextract dense 3D facial geometry from two images, it is possible to match a sparse set of corners anduse them to compute head motion and the 3D locations of these corner points. We can then ﬁt a linearclass of human face geometries to this sparse set of reconstructed corners to generate the completeface geometry. Linear classes of face geometry and image prototypes have been demonstrated forconstructing 3D face models from images in a morphable model framework [3]. In this paper, weshow that linear classes of face geometries can be used to effectively ﬁt/interpolate a sparse set of3D reconstructed points. This novel technique is the key to quickly generating photorealistic 3D facemodels with minimal user intervention.1
Evidence for an Extended Scattered Disk

Abstract By telescopic tracking, we have established that the transneptunian object (TNO) 2000 CR 105 has a semimajor axis of 220±1 AU and perihelion distance of 44.14±0.02 AU, beyond the domain which has heretofore been associated with the “scattered disk” of Kuiper Belt objects interacting via gravitational encounters with Neptune. We have also firmly established that the TNO 1995 TL 8 has a high perihelion (of 40.08±0.02 AU). These objects, and two other recent discoveries which appear to have perihelia outside 40 AU, have probably been placed on these orbits by a gravitational interaction which is not strong gravitational scattering off of any of the giant planets on their current orbits. Their existence may thus have profound cosmogonic implications for our understanding of the formation of the outer Solar System. We discuss some viable scenarios which could have produced these objects, including long-term diffusive chaos and scattering off of other massive bodies in the outer Solar System. This discovery implies that there must be a large population of TNOs in an “extended scattered disk” with perihelia above the previously suggested 38 AU boundary. The total population is difficult to estimate due to the ease with which such objects would have been lost. This illustrates the great value of frequent and well time-sampled recovery observations of trans-neptunian objects within their discovery opposition.
Tax Compliance and Administration

The quaternary compound silicon aluminum oxynitride having a hexagonal phenacite crystal structure is described. The quaternary compound is formed by reacting silicon oxynitride with an appreciable percentage of aluminum. The percent of the product which is converted to the hexagonal quaternary compound is believed to be about 6 times the percentage of aluminum in the product, up to about 15 parts Al/100 parts Si2ON2 when the silicon oxynitride in the product is largely converted to cthe hexagonal quaternary compound Si2-xAlxON2. As more aluminum is added, the relative proportions of aluminum and silicon in the compound seem to change until the formula SiAlON2 is reached at which point no additional aluminum can be accommodated in the crystal lattice. When the mixture is hot processed, the product has high strength and less than about 1 percent porosity. The process of making this novel product is also described.
Single System Image ( openSSI ) Linux Cluster Project

The openSSI Cluster project is an ongoing open source project which was started two years ago to bring together some of the best Linux and Unix clustering technologies into a single integrated and yet modular project. Linux is rich in cluster technology but is segmented into 6 different cluster areas high performance, load-leveling, web-service, storage, database and high availability. The openSSI project address all cluster environments by simultaneously addressing the three key cluster goals availability, scalability and manageability. To accomplish this ambitious goal, the project was started with a Linux adaptation of the NonStop Clusters for Unixware code, contributed by Compaq/HP. That code included membership, internode communication, clusterwide process management, clusterwide devices, a cluster filesystem, clusterwide IPC (pipes, fifos, msgqueues, semaphores, etc.) and clusterwide tcp/ip networking. Other open source clustering code has been integrated into the modular architecture, including openGFS, openDLM, LVS, Lustre and a small component of Mosix. The architecture of the project allows for subsetting and substitution of components. A full function initial release is available in both source and RPM form. Many enhancement opportunities still exist both in integrating with other technologies and by improving scalability and availability.