Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coseismic and postseismic slip associated with the 2010 Maule Earthquake, Chile: Characterizing the Arauco Peninsula barrier effect

Observations of coseismic and postseismic deformation associated with the 2010 Mw = 8.8 Maule earthquake in south‐central Chile provide constraints on the spatial heterogeneities of frictional properties on a major subduction megathrust and how they have influenced the seismic rupture and postseismic effects. We find that the bulk of coseismic slip occurs within a single elongated patch approximately 460 km long and 100 km wide between the depths of 15 and 40 km. We infer three major patches of afterslip: one extends northward along strike and downdip of the major coseismic patch between 40 and 60 km depth; the other two bound the northern and southern ends of the coseismic patch. The southern patch offshore of the Arauco Peninsula is the only place showing resolvable afterslip shallower than 20 km depth. Estimated slip potency associated with postseismic slip in the 1.3 years following the earthquake amounts to 20–30% of that generated coseismically. Our estimates of the megathrust frictional properties show that the Arauco Peninsula area has positive but relatively low (a−b)σn values (0.01 ~ 0.22 MPa), that would have allowed dynamic rupture propagation into this rate‐strengthening area and afterslip. Given the only modestly rate‐strengthening megathrust friction in this region, the barrier effect may be attributed to its relatively large size of the rate‐strengthening patch. Coseismic and postseismic uplift of the Arauco Peninsula exceeds interseismic subsidence since the time of the last major earthquake in 1835, suggesting that coseismic and postseismic deformation has resulted in some permanent strain in the forearc.
Functional Regeneration of Chronically Injured Sensory Afferents into Adult Spinal Cord after Neurotrophin Gene Therapy

Lesioned axons within the dorsal roots fail to regenerate through the peripheral nerve transition zone and into the spinal cord. This regenerative failure leads to a persistent loss of sensory function. To induce axonal growth across this barrier, we used recombinant adenovirus to express fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF2), nerve growth factor (NGF), L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1), or β-galactosidase (LacZ) within the endogenous glia of the dorsal spinal cord 16 d after injury. Expression of either FGF2 or NGF, but not L1 or LacZ, induced robust axonal regeneration into normal as well as ectopic locations within the dorsal spinal cord. This regeneration led to near-normal recovery of thermal sensory function. Functional recovery and the majority of regenerating axons within the dorsal horn disappeared with recutting of the sensory roots. Injections of adenovirus encoding NGF, but not FGF2, also resulted in extensive sprouting of noninjured sensory axons, which we previously demonstrated could cause hyperalgesia and chronic pain. Thus, neurotrophic factor gene therapy administered as late as 16 d after injury may serve as a useful treatment to elicit recovery after dorsal root avulsion; however, the choice of neurotrophin is important to induce selective regeneration of damaged axons.
On the self-healing properties of an extremely low power indoor metering network

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) consisting of a large number of tiny inexpensive sensor nodes are a viable solution for many problems in the field of building automation. In order to meet the energy constraints, the nodes have to operate according to an extremely low duty cycle schedule. Based on an earlier proposal for efficiently bootstrapping and configuring such a network, we show how this algorithm can be extended in order to also resolve error conditions, e.g. synchronization loss, during normal network operation and to automatically maintain an optimized network topology. Simulation studies using different error scenarios and network models show that the extended algorithm automatically adapts the network topology to the given conditions and in fact maintains an optimized network topology at reasonable energy cost.
Lamassu: Storage-Efficient Host-Side Encryption

Many storage customers are adopting encryption solutions to protect critical data. Most existing encryption solutions sit in, or near, the application that is the source of critical data, upstream of the primary storage system. Placing encryption near the source ensures that data remains encrypted throughout the storage stack, making it easier to use untrusted storage, such as public clouds. Unfortunately, such a strategy also prevents downstream storage systems from applying content-based features, such as deduplication, to the data. In this paper, we present Lamassu, an encryption solution that uses block-oriented, host-based, convergent encryption to secure data, while preserving storage-based data deduplication. Unlike past convergent encryption systems, which typically store encryption metadata in a dedicated store, our system transparently inserts its metadata into each file's data stream. This allows us to add Lamassu to an application stack without modifying either the client application or the storage controller. In this paper, we lay out the architecture and security model used in our system, and present a new model for maintaining metadata consistency and data integrity in a convergent encryption environment. We also evaluate its storage efficiency and I/O performance by using a variety of microbenchmarks, showing that Lamassu provides excellent storage efficiency, while achieving I/O throughput on par with similar conventional encryption systems.
Compararative evaluation of rK9, rK26 and rK39 antigens in the serodiagnosis of Indian visceral leishmaniasis.

BACKGROUND This study was designed for comparative evaluation of two relatively newer recombinant hydrophilic antigens, rK9 and rK26 of Leishmania chagasi along with rK39 (a 39-aminoacid-repetitive immunodominant B-cell epitope of kinesin-related antigen from L. chagasi) and crude soluble antigen (CSA) for the serodiagnosis of Indian visceral leishmaniasis (VL) patients by quantitative ELISA. METHODOLOGY In the present study a total of 80 subjects comprising of 55 confirmed VL cases and 25 endemic controls (EC) were subjected to ELISA using four different antigens, namely rK9, rK26, rK39 and CSA (derived from Leishmania donovani promastigotes). RESULTS Sensitivity was as follows: 78% (95%CI 63-100%) for rK9, 38% (95%CI 28-59%) for rK26, 100% for rK39, and 80% (95% CI 65-100%) for CSA. The specificity of rK9, rK26, rK39 and CSA was found to be 84% (95%CI 61-100%), 80% (95%CI 56-100%), 96% (95%CI 75-100%) and 72% (95%CI 49-100%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS rK39 was observed to be the most suitable antigen as compared to rK26 and rK9 whereas rK9 performed better than rK26. Hence rK9 antigen may either be used as an adjunct to rK39 for accurate diagnosis of VL or may be used in the absence or non-availability of rK39 antigen for the serodiagnosis.
Acetate retention and metabolism in the hyporheic zone of a mountain stream

An in situ acetate injection was used to determine the influence of labile dissolved organic carbon (DOC) availability on microbial respiration in the hyporheic zone of a headwater stream. We added bromide as a conservative tracer and acetate as an organic substrate to the hyporheic zone of Rio Calaveras, New Mexico, via an injection well. Tracer was observed in four of eight capture wells. Three of the four wells showed increases in bromide without concurrent increases in acetate concentration, suggesting 100% acetate retention. One well had 38% acetate retention. Pore velocity and acetate retention were negatively correlated, suggesting hydrologic control of acetate retention. Acetate did not significantly sorb to the sandy hyporheic sediments at this site, indicating biological consumption of acetate. Acetate addition stimulated total CO2 production along monitored flowpaths and led to changes in solutes associated with microbial terminal electron‐accepting processes (TEAPs). Dissolved oxygen (DO), nitrate, and sulfate significantly decreased, and ferrous iron and methane significantly increased compared to background concentrations in most wells. These results support the hypothesis that microbial respiration in the hyporheic zone is limited by labile DOC availability. Furthermore, we have shown that a suite of metabolic processes, from aerobic respiration to methanogenesis, cooccur and that anaerobic processes dominate heterotrophic metabolism in the hyporheic zone of Rio Calaveras.
Somatic mutation patterns and compound response in cancers

The use of various cancer cell lines can recapitulate known tumor-associated mutations and genetically define cancer subsets. This approach also enables comparative surveys of associations between cancer mutations and drug responses. Here, we analyzed the effects of ∼40,000 compounds on cancer cell lines that showed diverse mutation-dependent sensitivity profiles. Over 1,000 compounds exhibited unique sensitivity on cell lines with specific mutational genotypes, and these compounds were clustered into six different classes of mutation-oriented sensitivity. The present analysis provides new insights into the relationship between somatic mutations and selectivity response of chemicals, and these results should have applications related to predicting and optimizing therapeutic windows for anti-cancer agents. [BMB Reports 2013; 46(2): 97-102]
A Novel Strategy for Quality of Experience Monitoring and Management

In this paper, we illustrate a Software Defined Network (SDN)-based architecture for Quality of Experience (QoE) management that solves two of the major problems of current networking technologies which are related to the limitations in scalability and flexibility. Its advantage is the exploitation of the virtualization features of the network nodes and devices to flexibly deploy monitoring and control functions in the different points of the network according to the SDN control functions. As a result the QoE monitoring and management is deployed at the application layer on top of the controller. In order to evaluate the proposed framework and architecture, a platform has been developed, which is called QoE-MoMa (QoE-Monitoring and Management) platform, making use of the Opendaylight solution and Mininet emulation environment. To evaluate QoE-MoMa, we focused on the video streaming service, whose final quality has been evaluated using the estimated MOS (eMOS) model that mostly considers rebuffering events, duration of the rebuffering, switch quality rates, video resolution, and quantization parameter. The results show the efficiency of the proposed approach observing that higher QoE level is achieved if we consider application and network parameters. In conclusion, we consider that QoE-MoMa is useful as a QoE monitoring and management tool for a variety of services and can be deployed on a real network conveniently.
Regional Variation Is Present in Elbow Capsules after Injury

Myofibroblast numbers and α-smooth muscle actin expression are increased in anterior joint capsules of patients with posttraumatic elbow contractures. The purpose of our study was to determine whether these changes occur regionally or throughout the entire joint capsule. We hypothesized that the α-smooth muscle actin mRNA expression and the myofibro- blast numbers in posterior joint capsules would be elevated in elbows obtained from patients with posttraumatic joint contractures compared with joint capsules obtained from organ donor elbows without contractures. Semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to evaluate relative mRNA levels of α-smooth muscle actin. Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase was used to normalize the levels. Immunohistochemical analysis was used to determine the myofibroblast cell numbers. Higher α-smooth muscle actin mRNA levels were observed in elbows of patients with contractures compared with organ donor elbows without contractures. Immunohistochemical studies determined that myofibroblast numbers and the percentage of total cells that were myofibroblasts were elevated (2-2.5- fold) in the joint capsules from patients with posttraumatic joint contractures compared with similar tissue obtained from organ donor elbows without contractures. These results suggest elevated myofibroblast numbers occur throughout the whole joint capsule in posttraumatic elbow contractures, although there is some regional variation.
Hierarchical discriminant manifold learning for dimensionality reduction and image classification

Abstract. In the field of image classification, it has been a trend that in order to deliver a reliable classification performance, the feature extraction model becomes increasingly more complicated, leading to a high dimensionality of image representations. This, in turn, demands greater computation resources for image classification. Thus, it is desirable to apply dimensionality reduction (DR) methods for image classification. It is necessary to apply DR methods to relieve the computational burden as well as to improve the classification accuracy. However, traditional DR methods are not compatible with modern feature extraction methods. A framework that combines manifold learning based DR and feature extraction in a deeper way for image classification is proposed. A multiscale cell representation is extracted from the spatial pyramid to satisfy the locality constraints for a manifold learning method. A spectral weighted mean filtering is proposed to eliminate noise in the feature space. A hierarchical discriminant manifold learning is proposed which incorporates both category label and image scale information to guide the DR process. Finally, the image representation is generated by concatenating dimensionality reduced cell representations from the same image. Extensive experiments are conducted to test the proposed algorithm on both scene and object recognition datasets in comparison with several well-established and state-of-the-art methods with respect to classification precision and computational time. The results verify the effectiveness of incorporating manifold learning in the feature extraction procedure and imply that the multiscale cell representations may be distributed on a manifold.
Labour of love: emotions and identities in doctoral supervision

This thesis explores how emotional dimensions of supervising doctoral students are accommodated in supervisory identities. It aims to answer two key questions: What is the nature of the emotional labour involved in doctoral supervision? To what extent does an acknowledgement of emotional labour in the supervisory process have implications for the academic development of doctoral supervisors? The conceptual framework for the study is developed from Woods’ (2010) definition of emotions as physical responses to situations involving an element of risk to self, Butler’s (2005) notion of accounting for oneself, and Archer’s (1995; 2000; 2003; 2012) model of identity formation based on the ability of human beings to reflect on their social situation through internal conversations. Archer states that identities are formed through the way we monitor, prioritise and accommodate our concerns about our social reality. It is on the basis of this priority of concerns that we embark on our life-projects and it is these concerns that shape our behaviour and actions. It is believed that all humans strive towards a modus vivendi which Archer defines as a set of practices which at the same time respects what is unavoidable and privileges what matters most to the person concerned (Archer 2003: 149). In this study I apply Archer’s theory to doctoral supervision by viewing the supervisory process as a project and exploring the nature of the emotional labour involved in this project. Based on interviews with doctoral supervisors, I identify three supervisory identities from Archer’s typology of reflexivity – the autonomous reflexive supervisor, the metareflexive supervisor and the communicative reflexive supervisor. These identities are constructed around the ways in which individual supervisors accommodate emotional labour in their practice. The thesis goes on to consider appropriate ways of supporting academics in dealing with emotional dimensions of doctoral supervision.
Identifying multiple alignment regions satisfying simple formulas and patterns

MOTIVATION When studying multiple alignments of genomic sequences one frequently aims to locate and count regions which satisfy a set of constraints. These regions may be putatively functional, but researchers may also be interested in quantifying the frequency of occurrences of certain patterns. RESULTS We have developed a program that applies simple formulas and pattern specifications to multiple alignments, reporting the positions and counts of conforming regions. As an example, we have navigated a 15-species alignment of the CAV2-CAV1 region and outlined some findings regarding PPARgamma binding sites. AVAILABILITY Our software and the accompanying documentation can be obtained at no charge by contacting the authors. It can also be accessed at http://ranger.uta. edu/~nick/compgen
Patient's Self-recognition of Reduced Visual Acuity Due to Recurrence of Macular Edema and Prompt Visitation to the Hospital in Retinal Vein Occlusion

Purpose To evaluate patients' self-recognition of reduced visual acuity due to recurring macular edema in retinal vein occlusion. Methods A retrospective review of medical records of patients who were diagnosed with recurring macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusion was performed. The proportion of patients who recognized reduced visual acuity due to the recurrence of macular edema and who visited the hospital before the scheduled follow-up date was determined. Parameters including age, sex, diagnosis, visual acuity before recurrence of macular edema, and extent of visual acuity reduction due to recurrence of macular edema were compared in patients who recognized a reduction in visual acuity and those who did not. The proportion of patients who visited the hospital promptly was also determined. Results Forty eyes of 40 patients were included in the analysis. Sixteen and 24 patients were diagnosed with central retinal vein occlusion and branch retinal vein occlusion, respectively. Twenty-one patients (52.5%) recognized reduced visual acuity due to recurring macular edema. These patients were younger (59.2 ± 7.6 vs. 64.8 ± 9.4 years, p = 0.046), had better visual acuity before recurrence of macular edema (0.52 ± 0.48 vs. 1.02 ± 0.46, p = 0.002), and exhibited a greater reduction in visual acuity after recurrence of macular edema (0.34 ± 0.24 vs. 0.14 ± 0.13, p = 0.003). Only four patients visited the hospital before the scheduled follow-up date, and all of these patients lived relatively close to the hospital. Conclusions For prompt treatment of recurring macular edema, more intensive education about the self-estimation of visual acuity is necessary, particularly for elderly patients who have relatively poor visual acuity. In addition, a simple and easy way to identify the recurrence of macular edema at the local clinic should be established for patients who live relatively far from the hospital.
Software online bug detection: applying a new kernel method

This study presents a new online bug detection approach for safety critical software systems. The novelty of the proposed approach is the use of support vector machine (SVM) with a customised kernel function to accelerate the detection of bugs early before they could cause the program to fail. The new kernel function is built based on a novel sequence-matching technique to measure the similarities between passing and failing executions, represented as sequences of the program predicates. The SVM method constructs a hyperplane that optimally divides the program execution space into two regions of failing and passing executions. The hyperplane could be further applied to detect the symptoms of failure during the program execution. Here the experiments with the Rhythmbox and SPEC2000 test programs, demonstrate the ability of the proposed method in early bug detection with small overhead on the program execution time. Moreover, the proposed approach in this study has revealed 83 out of 132 bugs (i.e. 63%) in Siemens while only 10% of code is required to be manually examined to locate the origins of failure. This is the most promising result compared with the latest approaches to early bug detection.
Ventral and dorsal system contributions to visual anticipation in fast ball sports.

Many authors have alluded to the idea that Milner and Goodale’s (1995) distinction between a ventral system for perception and a dorsal system for action is directly relevant for the study of visual anticipation in fast ball sports. Yet, an encompassing evaluation is lacking. The purpose of this paper is to provide an appraisal of the significance of Milner and Goodale’s two-visual system model for the study of visual anticipation. We introduce a new framework for visual anticipation that emphasizes the interacting contributions of the ventral system in perceiving what action the situation affords and the dorsal system in the visual guidance of that action. In the ensuing review, we argue that the adoption of this new framework implies that much of previous laboratory and field research on visual anticipation, and in particular the work that employed the occlusion technique, only examined the role of the ventral system. Because researchers have overlooked movement control, and hence the dorsal system’s contribution, our knowledge of visual anticipation is limited and somewhat biased. The implications for the design of future experiments are discussed.
[Poster] An augmented and virtual reality system for training autistic children

Autism or Autism Spectrum disorder (ASD) is a pervasive development disorder causing impairment in thinking, feeling, hearing, speaking and social interaction. For this reason, children suffering from autism need to follow special training in order to increase their ability to learn new skills and knowledge. These children have propensity to be attracted by the technology devices especially virtual animations. The interest of this research work is to explore and study the use of Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) system for training the children with ASD based on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) techniques. This system assists in teaching children about new pictures or objects along with the associated keyword or matching sentence in an immersive way with fast interaction. The preliminary prototype demonstrates satisfactory performance of the proposed AR/VR system working in laboratory conditions.