Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trends in entropy production during ecosystem development in the Amazon Basin

Understanding successional trends in energy and matter exchange across the ecosystem–atmosphere boundary layer is an essential focus in ecological research; however, a general theory describing the observed pattern remains elusive. This paper examines whether the principle of maximum entropy production could provide the solution. A general framework is developed for calculating entropy production using data from terrestrial eddy covariance and micrometeorological studies. We apply this framework to data from eight tropical forest and pasture flux sites in the Amazon Basin and show that forest sites had consistently higher entropy production rates than pasture sites (0.461 versus 0.422 W m−2 K−1, respectively). It is suggested that during development, changes in canopy structure minimize surface albedo, and development of deeper root systems optimizes access to soil water and thus potential transpiration, resulting in lower surface temperatures and increased entropy production. We discuss our results in the context of a theoretical model of entropy production versus ecosystem developmental stage. We conclude that, although further work is required, entropy production could potentially provide a much-needed theoretical basis for understanding the effects of deforestation and land-use change on the land-surface energy balance.
Service oriented architecture evaluation based on maintainability index

Software architecture is meant to define system structure which is a core for product development. Defying system structure is first and most important step in software development. It involves a series of decisions based on a wide range of factors, and each of these decisions can have considerable impact on the quality, performance, maintainability, and overall success of the application. Most efficient way to be able to control system characteristics is to use certain architectural models like SOA or any other. In this paper focus object will be how maintainability is effected for SOA based applications. Keywords—SOA; metrics; maintainability
Low-Power Leading-Zero Counting and Anticipation Logic for High-Speed Floating Point Units

In this paper, a new leading-zero counter (or detector) is presented. New boolean relations for the bits of the leading-zero count are derived that allow their computation to be performed using standard carry-lookahead techniques. Using the proposed approach various design choices can be explored and different circuit topologies can be derived for the design of the leading-zero counting unit. The new circuits can be efficiently implemented either in static or in dynamic logic and require significantly less energy per operation compared to the already known architectures. The integration of the proposed leading-zero counter with the leading-zero anticipation logic is analyzed and the most efficient combination is identified. Finally, a simple yet efficient technique for handling the error of the leading-zero anticipation logic is also presented. The energy-delay behavior of the proposed circuits has been investigated using static and dynamic CMOS implementations in a 130-nm CMOS technology.
NhaA crystal structure: functional–structural insights

SUMMARY Na+/H+ antiporters are integral membrane proteins that exchange Na+ for H+ across the cytoplasmic membrane and many intracellular membranes. They are essential for Na+, pH and volume homeostasis, which are crucial processes for cell viability. Accordingly, antiporters are important drug targets in humans and underlie salt-resistance in plants. Many Na+/H+ antiporters are tightly regulated by pH. Escherichia coli NhaA Na+/H+ antiporter, a prototype pH-regulated antiporter, exchanges 2 H+ for 1 Na+ (or Li+). The NhaA crystal structure has provided insights into the pH-regulated mechanism of antiporter action and opened up new in silico and in situ avenues of research. The monomer is the functional unit of NhaA yet the dimer is essential for the stability of the antiporter under extreme stress conditions. Ionizable residues of NhaA that strongly interact electrostatically are organized in a transmembrane fashion in accordance with the functional organization of the cation-binding site, `pH sensor', the pH transduction pathway and the pH-induced conformational changes. Remarkably, NhaA contains an inverted topology motive of transmembrane segments, which are interrupted by extended mid-membrane chains that have since been found to vary in other ion-transport proteins. This novel structural fold creates a delicately balanced electrostatic environment in the middle of the membrane, which might be essential for ion binding and translocation. Based on the crystal structure of NhaA, a model structure of the human Na+/H+ exchanger (NHE1) was constructed, paving the way to a rational drug design.
Structural integration of a thin conformal annular slot antenna for UAV applications

An antenna integration concept for carbon fibre reinforced plastics is presented, using the example of a thin conformal S-band annular slot antenna on a UAV. Instead of cutting large holes into the aircraft shell or a panel as usually done for conformal antennas, the antenna is moulded into the laminate. Smooth load transitions for maximum mechanical stability are created in this way. Simulation and measurement results of the antenna performance are shown. Additional advantages of the annular slot antenna over normal blade antennas are presented with regard to typical UAV applications.
A Genetic Algorithm with Tabu Search for Multimodal and Multiobjective Function Optimization

The integration of genetic algorithms (GAs) and tabu search is one of traditional problems in function optimization in the GA literature. However, most proposed methods have utilized genetic algorithms to explore global candidates and tabu search to exploit local optimal points. Unlike such methods so far, this paper proposes a new algorithm to directly store individuals into multiple tabu lists during GA-iterations. The tabu lists inhibit similar solution candidates from being selected so often. The proposed algorithm is so simple but strong that we can solve both multimodal and multiobjective problems in the same manner. The paper describes the basic idea, algorithms, and experimental results.
Tracing the origins of success: implications for successful aging.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY This paper addresses the debate about the use of the term "successful aging" from a humanistic, rather than behavioral, perspective. It attempts to uncover what success, a term frequently associated with aging, is: how can it be defined and when did it first come into use? In this paper, we draw from a number of humanistic perspectives, including the historical and linguistic, in order to explore the evolution of the term "success. " We believe that words and concepts have deep implications for how concepts (such as aging) are culturally and historically perceived. DESIGN AND METHODS We take a comparative approach, turning to the etymological roots of this term in British, French, and German literature. According to the earliest entries of the term in the Oxford English Dictionary, events can have good or bad success. Another definition marks success as outcome oriented. RESULTS Often used in the context of war, religion, and medicine, the neutral, but often negative, use of "success" in literature of the Renaissance demonstrates the tensions that surround the word, and suggests that success is something to be approached carefully. IMPLICATIONS Ignoring the ambiguous origins of success erases the fact that aging in earlier centuries echoes much of the same ambivalence with which many people discuss it today. Attending to the origins of success can help gerontologists understand the humanistic tradition behind their inquiry into what successful aging means today.
Abnormal Psychology: Patterns, Issues, Interventions

Basic characteristics of abnormality mental disorders: diagnosis classification and assessment social learning, cultural and humanistic viewpoints dissociative and somatoform disorders gender identity disorders and paraphilias schizophrenic and delusional (paranoid) disorders psychoactive substance use disorders: drugs other than alcohol mental retardation psychodynamic, humanistic and existentialist therapy behavior and cognitve therapy, group methods and effectiveness of psychotherapy legal intervention and problems of community mental health.
Environmental and Pollution Data Mapping with Support Vector Regression

The present work deals with the first application of Support Vector Regression (SVR) for the spatial data mapping. SVR is a recent development of the Statistical Learning Theory (VapnikChervonenkis theory). It is based on Structural Risk Minimisation and seems to be promising approach for the spatial data analysis and processing. There are several attractive properties of the SVR: robustness of the solution which is important in many applications, sparseness of the regression, automatic control of the solutions complexity, good generalisation. In the present work results using SVR for the real data of soil contamination by Chernobyl radionuclides are presented. By tuning SVR hyper-parameters it was possible to cover the range of spatial function regression from overfitting to oversmoothing. Geostatistical tools structural analysis (variography) were used both for the exploratory raw data analysis and for understanding and interpretation of the SVR results. Variography was used to control performance of the SVR and to tune hyper-parameters as well. Report is based on a scientific collaboration between INSA Rouen, IDIAP, UNI Lausanne and IBRAE (Moscow) within the framework of INTAS grant on Environmental Data Mining.
Integration of Static and Dynamic Code Analysis for Understanding Legacy Source Code

In software development we are faced with the problem to comprehend and take over source code from other developers. The key challenge is to understand the underlying specification implemented by the software system. Regaining this understanding is more difficult when the source code is the only reliable source of information, documentation is outdated or only present in fragments, and original developers are not available anymore. Unfortunately, we encounter such situations frequently for scientific and engineering software systems, developed in industry. For instance, process models in the steelmaking domain are developed and maintained over decades by single engineers. If such an engineer leaves the company, he/she literally leaves behind a legacy system for another person (or team). We propose tool support combining static and dynamic program analysis to tackle this challenge. Using static program analysis we extract the input/output behavior from program source code and present the extracted information besides the analyzed source code, providing seamless navigation between both views. Dynamic program analysis allows developers to examine input/output behavior for single program executions and thereby gain insight into standard behavior and exceptional cases. In this paper we present requirements on tool support integrating static and dynamic code analysis, briefly describe the implementation of the tool and report on its application to a C++ program source in the industry. Furthermore, we discuss challenges in the present implementation as well as the potential and limitations of using the tool in general.
Photovoltaic (PV) Pricing Trends: Historical, Recent, and Near-Term Projections

LBNL-XXXX E RNEST O RLANDO L AWRENCE B ERKELEY N ATIONAL L ABORATORY Photovoltaic (PV) Pricing Trends: Historical, Recent, and Near-Term Projections David Feldman 1 , Galen Barbose 2 , Robert Margolis 1 , Ryan Wiser 2 , Naim Darghouth 2 , and Alan Goodrich 1 National Renewable Energy Laboratory 2 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory November 2012 NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC. Contract No. DE-AC36- 08GO28308 LBNL’s work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot program under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231 Technical Report DOE/GO-102012-3839 • November 2012 National Renewable Energy Laboratory 15013 Denver West Parkway Golden, CO 80401 303-275-3000 • www.nrel. gov Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 1 Cyclotron Road Berkeley, CA 94720 510-486-4000 • www.lbl. gov
An instruction for direct interpretation of LZ77‐compressed programs

A new instruction adapts LZ77 compression for use inside running programs. The instruction economically references and reuses code fragments that are too small to package as conventional subroutines. The compressed code is interpreted directly, with neither prior nor on‐the‐fly decompression. Hardware implementations seem plausible and could benefit both memory‐constrained and more conventional systems. The method is extremely simple. It has been added to a pre‐existing, bytecoded instruction set, and it added only 10 lines of C to the bytecode interpreter. It typically cuts code size by a third; that is, typical compression ratios are roughly 0.67×. More ambitious compressors are available, but they are more complex, which retards adoption. The current method offers a useful trade‐off to these more complex systems. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
EndoVascular Aneurysm Repair (EVAR): Does it Fulfil all its Promises ?

Abstract In the trend of the endovascular revolution for occlusive arterial disease, management of aneurysmal disease has known an analogous change in the nineties. Elective endo-aneurysmal stentgrafting (EVAR or endovascular aneurysm repair) is nowadays of widespread application in contemporary practice all over the world, sometimes by overenthusiast proponents. There is a burden of recent publications on that topic. Critical analysis of relevant data reveal compelling evidence that elective EVAR is a safe procedure with a threefold reduced 30-day morbidity-mortality, when compared to conventional open aneurysm repair. EVAR also deemed efficace in terms of AAA rupture prevention. At the other hand, midterm follow-up revealed that EVAR does not endure at the long term in any late survival benefit, compared to open AAA repair. The major concern and drawback of EVAR is its higher cost and the need for indefinite, life-long surveillance, with a 20% reintervention rate (almost catheter-based endovascularly) at 5-year follow-up. In this review-paper, short-term gains of EVAR are balanced against the inherent disadvantages and long-term losses. According best available evidence, EVAR should not longer be the first choice for high-risk patients, judged unfit for open aneurysm repair. There also exist doubt on the use of EVAR in young fit patients with an anticipated long life expectancy. In approximately half of the AAA patients, EVAR can be considered as the appropriate treatment option.
The Impact of Chinese Investment and Trade on Nigeria Economic Growth

This paper examines the impact of Chinese foreign direct investment and bilateral trade with Nigeria economic growth. The study use an augmented aggregate production function (APF) growth model, three methods are performed to test the hypothesis that there is no causal relationship between foreign direct investment, exports, imports and economic growth. The statistical methods used are: the Ordinary Least Squares Method (OLS) and the Granger causality test. Using time-series and panel data from 1990 to 2007, The estimated both short and long-run analysis for Nigeria-China relationship shows that in short term the bilateral trade doesn’t contribute to Nigeria economic growth but the long term relationship can enhance Nigeria economic growth; it should then be the policy priority for Nigeria to make sure that FDI inflows from China and its trade relationship with China exert the reinforcing and beneficial effects on GDP and exports through active acquisition of advanced technology and open trade regime.
A precoding scheme for DFT-based OFDM to suppress sidelobes

In spectrum pooling scenario, the spectral leakage of DFT-based OFDM signal can be divided into in-band-out-of-subband (IBOSB) radiation and out-of-band (OOB) radiation. A precoding scheme is proposed to suppress the IBOSB sidelobes. The precoding design is based on the generalized eigenvalue problem. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can suppress the sidelobes significantly in contrast to the uncoded schemes. At the same time, the bit-error-rate (BER) performance of the precoded system over multipath fading channel is improved due to the frequency diversity.
Variation in Psychosis Gene ZNF804A Is Associated With a Refined Schizotypy Phenotype but Not Neurocognitive Performance in a Large Young Male Population

Genetic variability within the ZNF804A gene has been recently found to be associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, although the pathways by which this gene may confer risk remain largely unknown. We set out to investigate whether common ZNF804A variants affect psychosis-related intermediate phenotypes such as cognitive performance dependent on prefrontal and frontotemporal brain function, schizotypal traits, and attenuated psychotic experiences in a large young male population. Association analyses were performed using all 4 available self-rated schizotypy questionnaires and cognitive data retrospectively drawn from the Athens Study of Psychosis Proneness and Incidence of Schizophrenia (ASPIS). DNA samples from 1507 healthy young men undergoing induction to military training were genotyped for 4 previously studied polymorphic markers in the ZNF804A gene locus. Single-marker analysis revealed significant associations between 2 recently identified candidate schizophrenia susceptibility variants (rs1344706 and rs7597593) and a refined positive schizotypy phenotype characterized primarily by self-rated paranoia/ideas of reference. Nominal associations were noted with all positive, but not negative, schizotypy related factors. ZNF804A genotype effect on paranoia was confirmed at the haplotype level. No significant associations were noted with central indexes of sustained attention or working memory performance. In this study, ZNF804A variation was associated with a population-based self-rated schizotypy phenotype previously suggested to preferentially reflect genetic liability to psychosis and defined by a tendency to misinterpret otherwise neutral social cues and perceptual experiences in one’s immediate environment, as personally relevant and significant information. This suggests a novel route by which schizophrenia-implicated ZNF804A genetic variation may confer risk to clinical psychosis at the general population level.
Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty: Report of Complications from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute PTCA Registry

The complications reported in the first 1500 patients enrolled in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA) Registry are analyzed. Data were contributed from 73 centers between September 1977 and April 1981. PTCA was successful in 63% of attempts. Five hundred forty-three in-hospital complications occurred in 314 patients (21%). The most frequent complications were prolonged angina in 121, myocardial infarction (MI) in 72, and coronary occlusion in 70. One hundred thirty-eight patients (9.2%) had major complications (MI, emergency surgery or in-hospital death). One hundred two patients (6.8%) required emergency surgery, usually for coronary dissection or coronary occlusion. Sixteen patients (1.1%) died in-hospital; the mortality rate was 0.85% in patients with one-vessel disease and 1.9% in those with multivessel disease. The mortality rate was significantly higher in patients who had had bypass surgery (p < 0.001). Nonfatal complications were significantly influenced by the presence of unstable angina (p < 0.001) and initial lesion severity > 90% diameter stenosis (p < 0.001). This report delineates and assesses the complications encountered with PTCA during its initial 3'/2-year clinical experience. These results support the relative safety of PTCA as a method of nonsurgical myocardial revascularization in carefully selected patients.
Transcriptional Regulation of Brassinosteroid Accumulation during Carrot Development and the Potential Role of Brassinosteroids in Petiole Elongation

It is widely known that brassinosteroids (BRs) are involved in various physiological processes during plant growth and development. Roles of BRs have been reported in many plants. However, relevant report is yet not found in carrot. Carrot is a nutrient-rich vegetable from the Apiaceae family. Here, we measured the bioactive contents of BRs at five successive stages and analyzed the expression profiles of genes involved in BR biosynthesis, signaling pathway and catabolism. We found that most biosynthesis regulated genes had higher expression level at the first development stage of carrot and the catabolism gene BAS1/CYP734A1 had significantly high expression level at the first stage in carrot roots and petioles. In addition, we treated carrot plants with exogenous 24-epibrassinolide (24-EBL) and examined the morphological changes after treating. Compared with control plants, carrot plants treated with 24-EBL had higher plant height, more number of petioles and heavier aboveground weight. The expression levels of DcBRI1, DcBZR1, and DcBSU1 in the petioles were significantly up-regulated by treating with exogenous 24-EBL. The expression profiles of DcCYP734A1 were all significantly up-regulated in the three organs when treated with 0.5 mg/L 24-EBL. The elongation of carrot petioles can be promoted by treating with exogenous 24-EBL. These results indicate that BRs playing potential roles during the growth and development of carrot.
Peer Victimization and Psychological Maladjustment: The Mediating Role of Coping Self-Efficacy.

Not all children exposed to peer victimization experience the same type or the same degree of negative outcomes; there is heterogeneity in outcomes. This study examined coping self-efficacy as a mediator of the relationship between peer victimization and psychological maladjustment in order to gain an understanding of this heterogeneity in children's responses to victimization. In this study, 2,161 children (1,071 females and 1,090 males), ranging in age from 10 to 15 years, 63% White, 17% Middle-Eastern, 10% Asian, and 10% from other ethnic groups, participated. Results from the mediational analysis revealed that four coping self-efficacy domains differentially mediated the relationship between peer victimization and social anxiety, cognitive depression, and externalizing symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of increasing children's coping self-efficacy for proactive behavior, avoiding self-blame, victim-role disengagement, and avoiding aggressive behavior in order to attenuate the negative psychological outcomes of peer harassment.