Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Toward Estimating Wetland Water Level Changes Based on Hydrological Sensitivity Analysis of PALSAR Backscattering Coefficients over Different Vegetation Fields

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has been successfully used to map wetland’s inundation extents and types of vegetation based on the fact that the SAR backscatter signal from the wetland is mainly controlled by the wetland vegetation type and water level changes. This study describes the relation between L-band PALSAR and seasonal water level changes obtained from Envisat altimetry over the island of Ile Mbamou in the Congo Basin where two distinctly different vegetation types are found. We found positive correlations between and water level changes over the forested southern Ile Mbamou whereas both positive and negative correlations were observed over the non-forested northern Ile Mbamou depending on the amount of water level increase. Based on the analysis of sensitivity, we found that denser vegetation canopy leads to less sensitive variation with respect to the water level changes regardless of forested or non-forested canopy. Furthermore, we attempted to estimate water level changes which were then compared with the Envisat altimetry and InSAR results. Our results demonstrated a potential to generate two-dimensional maps of water level changes over the wetlands, and thus may have substantial synergy with the planned Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission.
THE ANISOTROPIC TWO-POINT CORRELATION FUNCTIONS OF THE NONLINEAR TRACELESS TIDAL FIELD IN THE PRINCIPAL-AXIS FRAME

Galaxies on the largest scales of the universe are observed to be embedded in the filamentary cosmic web, which is shaped by the nonlinear tidal field. As an efficient tool to quantitatively describe the statistics of this cosmic web, we present the anisotropic two-point correlation functions of the nonlinear traceless tidal field in the principal-axis frame, which are measured using numerical data from an N-body simulation. We show that both the nonlinear density and traceless tidal fields are more strongly correlated along the directions perpendicular to the eigenvectors associated with the largest eigenvalues of the local tidal field. The correlation length scale of the traceless tidal field is found to be ∼20 h−1Mpc, which is much larger than that of the density field ∼5 h−1Mpc. We also provide analytic fitting formulae for the anisotropic correlation functions of the traceless tidal field, which turn out to be in excellent agreement with the numerical results. We expect that our numerical results and analytical formula are useful to disentangle cosmological information from the filamentary network of the large-scale structures.
Chlamydia trachomatis and invasive cervical cancer: A pooled analysis of the IARC multicentric case‐control study

To determine whether Chlamydia trachomatis infection is consistently associated with an increased risk of invasive cervical carcinoma (ICC) after accounting for the strong effect of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, a case‐control study of 1,238 cases of ICC and 1,100 control women from 7 countries was carried out (hospital‐based studies in Thailand, the Philippines, Morocco, Peru, Brazil and population‐based studies in Colombia and Spain, all coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France). C. trachomatis serum antibody detection was made by means of a microfluorescence assay. Among HPV DNA‐positive cases and controls, the risk of squamous cell ICC was elevated in C. trachomatis seropositive women (OR = 1.8; 95% CI = 1.2–2.7) after adjustment for age, center, oral contraceptive use, history of Pap smears, number of full‐term pregnancies and herpes simplex virus 2 seropositivity. The effect of C. trachomatis seropositivity on squamous cell ICC risk increased with increasing C. trachomatis antibody titers and was higher in women under 55 years of age. C. trachomatis antibodies were not associated with adeno‐ or adenosquamous cell carcinoma (OR = 1.0; 95% CI = 0.53–1.9) in HPV DNA‐positive women. An association of C. trachomatis with squamous cell ICC was found among all cases and control women with or without adjustment for HPV. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Reducing cross-network traffic in P2P systems via localized neighbor selection

P2P software bring convenient and pleasure to P2P users, but become a problem of ISP, because they produce huge traffic on network, especially on cross-network links, which increases financial burden on ISP. The reason partially comes from the fact that when P2P software build their overlay network, they ignore the underlying network topology, and select neighbors randomly, so most of the traffic is between remote peers and crosses several networks. To overcome that traffic explosion problem, we propose a simple mechanism named SRF, in which most of the connections are kept locally between nearby peers, but a few shortcuts between remote peers can make P2P network robust and efficient to propagate files or media streams rapidly. With analysis we demonstrate that the overlay network constructed by SRF is “small world” network, while the overlay network constructed by regular BitTorrent is “random” network. Simulation results show that SRF can reduce cross-network traffic remarkably and can accelerate download explicitly at the same time. Thus SRF benefits both ISP and P2P users.
ÂDigital Computers Applied to GamesÂ Universal Turing Machine

DHCP and sensor networks, while key in theory , have not until recently been considered structured. Given the current status of decentralized models, statisticians clearly desire the simulation of active networks, which embodies the robust principles of networking. Our focus here is not on whether cache coherence the partition table can synchronize to fulfill this intent, but rather on motivating a novel methodology for the exploration of XML (OCA).
Assessing quality in midwest adult degree completion programs: an exploratory study

There has been a steady rise in the number of adult degree completion programs in the last twenty years, and predictions indicate the trend will continue. Simultaneously there is a growing concern for quality in higher education. One of the ways that any organization can assess quality is to gain consensus from a variety of stakeholders as to what institutional goals should be pursued and then measure the level to which those goals are met. The Institutional Goals Inventory consists of 90 goal statements that measure 20 outcome and process goal areas and asks a variety of stakeholders to assess perceptions of both real and ideal goals within an institution. This exploratory, descriptive study polled faculty, students and administrators (n=224) in three Kansas area adult degree completion programs. Questions guiding this study included finding out what goal areas the various stakeholders deemed most and least important, whether or not there was a significant difference in those perceptions between stakeholder groups and/or institutions, and how well each of the institutions is meeting the goals their stakeholders deem most important. Results indicate that all stakeholder groups agree that the Principles of Good Practice for Alternative and External Degree Programs both is and should be important in these programs. Other highly ranked real and ideal goal areas were Academic Development, Community, and Intellectual Orientation. The results also show that while there is a fair amount of consensus among and between stakeholders and institutions on real and ideal goal in these programs, in virtually all instances the stakeholders rated all ideal goal areas as significantly higher than the real goal areas. Several recommendations for adult degree completion programs are offered as well as a lengthy list of suggestions for future research. ASSESSING QUALITY IN MIDWEST ADULT DEGREE COMPLETION PROGRAMS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY
Integrity and Efficiency in the European Union Constitutional Treaty

In the context of the public debate prior to its possible ratification, supporters of the European Union Constitutional Treaty (EUCT), among whom all of EU and member states officials, point out the many important institutional improvements the text potentially entails. While only partly accurate, these arguments appear mostly to be of secondary order in view of the basic requirements of political liberalism. In this paper, we try to demonstrate that, at this more fundamental level, both what we refer to as the “principle of integrity” and the “principle of efficiency” of collective action are clearly violated in the current (and definitive) state of the EUCT. This violation occurs because the text mixes non revisable public policy decision rules with non revisable public policy decided contents on the one hand, and, on the other hand, because the very rules chosen do not sufficiently allow for the possibility of collective decision in a more than ever numerous and heterogeneous European Union. In order to clarify those two points, we use a “constitutional political economy” theoretical framework. We finally develop some considerations about the possible co-existence of “integrity” and “efficiency”, as we define them, in the pseudo-federal regime that characterises the EU.
Plantagora: Modeling Whole Genome Sequencing and Assembly of Plant Genomes

Background Genomics studies are being revolutionized by the next generation sequencing technologies, which have made whole genome sequencing much more accessible to the average researcher. Whole genome sequencing with the new technologies is a developing art that, despite the large volumes of data that can be produced, may still fail to provide a clear and thorough map of a genome. The Plantagora project was conceived to address specifically the gap between having the technical tools for genome sequencing and knowing precisely the best way to use them. Methodology/Principal Findings For Plantagora, a platform was created for generating simulated reads from several different plant genomes of different sizes. The resulting read files mimicked either 454 or Illumina reads, with varying paired end spacing. Thousands of datasets of reads were created, most derived from our primary model genome, rice chromosome one. All reads were assembled with different software assemblers, including Newbler, Abyss, and SOAPdenovo, and the resulting assemblies were evaluated by an extensive battery of metrics chosen for these studies. The metrics included both statistics of the assembly sequences and fidelity-related measures derived by alignment of the assemblies to the original genome source for the reads. The results were presented in a website, which includes a data graphing tool, all created to help the user compare rapidly the feasibility and effectiveness of different sequencing and assembly strategies prior to testing an approach in the lab. Some of our own conclusions regarding the different strategies were also recorded on the website. Conclusions/Significance Plantagora provides a substantial body of information for comparing different approaches to sequencing a plant genome, and some conclusions regarding some of the specific approaches. Plantagora also provides a platform of metrics and tools for studying the process of sequencing and assembly further.
Globally stable adaptive tracking control using RBF neural networks as feedforward compensator

In this paper, it is showed that if neural networks are used as feedforward compensators instead of feedback ones, then we can ensure the global stability of closed-loop systems and determine the neural network approximation domain via the bound of known reference signals. It should be pointed out that this domain is very important for designing the neural network structure, for example, it directly determines the choice of the centers of radial basis function neural networks.
A Navigational Aid for Blind Pedestrians Designed with User- and Activity-Centered Approaches

The two-fold aim of this chapter is to present the design process of an interface for a mobile navigational aid for blind pedestrians and a set of rules for producing route descriptions for these users, as well as the methodology used to develop them, rooted in a userand activity-centered approach. We first present the state of the art of wearable verbal navigational aids and what might still be lacking in their conception, and propose a reusable userand activity-centered approach designed to complement already existing and future systems. Case studies fitting into this approach are next presented: route descriptions produced by blind pedestrians were analyzed; the production rules were extracted and tested in urban areas. Results reveal these rules, the specific database features, the required user profiles, and the precision of localization necessary for assisting blind pedestrians’ wayfinding in urban areas. Finally, future trends in mobile guiding tools for the visually impaired are examined.
Designing Voltage-Frequency Island Aware Power-Efficient NoC through Slack Optimization

In network-on-chips (NoCs), power consumption has become the main design constraint. In this paper, we propose a power-efficient network calculus-based (PNC) method to minimize the power consumption of NoC. Based on the slack that a packet can be further delayed in the network without violating its deadline, Our PNC method uses power-gating technique to reduce the active buffer size and uses voltage-frequency scaling technique to reduce the voltage-frequency of each voltage-frequency island. With less active buffer units and lower voltage- frequency, the power consumption of NoC is reduced. Experimental results show that our PNC method can save at most 50% of the total power consumption.
Training Data Selection for Short Term Load Forecasting

Short term load forecasting (STLF), which aims to predict system load over an internal of one day or one week, plays a crucial role in the control and scheduling operations of a power system. Most existing techniques on short term load forecasting try to improve the performance by selecting ferent prediction models. However, the performance also rely heavily on the quality of training data. This paper focuses on training data selection which is rarely considered in the previous studies. A novel approach is proposed to filter out abnormal data by analyzing historical load curves. Experiments conducted on the real load data show significant improvement over the baseline method using the same data for training. Furthermore, the approach is feasible and thus can be applied in different situations. On one hand, the approach achieves promising results by using only historical load data which is shown in this study. On the other hand, more information can be easily integrated in the approach to select more appropriate training data for further performance improvement.
CD6 binds to pathogen-associated molecular patterns and protects from LPS-induced septic shock

CD6 is a lymphocyte receptor that belongs to the scavenger receptor cysteine-rich superfamily. Because some members of the scavenger receptor cysteine-rich superfamily act as pattern recognition receptors for microbial components, we studied whether CD6 shares this function. We produced a recombinant form of the ectodomain of CD6 (rsCD6), which was indistinguishable (in apparent molecular mass, antibody reactivity, and cell binding properties) from a circulating form of CD6 affinity-purified from human serum. rsCD6 bound to and aggregated several Gram-positive and -negative bacterial strains through the recognition of lipoteichoic acid and LPS, respectively. The Kd of the LPS–rsCD6 interaction was 2.69 ± 0.32 × 10−8 M, which is similar to that reported for the LPS–CD14 interaction. Further experiments showed that membrane CD6 also retains the LPS-binding ability, and it results in activation of the MAPK signaling cascade. In vivo experiments demonstrated that i.p. administration of rsCD6 before lethal LPS challenge significantly improved mice survival, and this was concomitant with reduced serum levels of the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL6, and IL-1β. In conclusion, our results illustrate the unprecedented bacterial binding properties of rsCD6 and support its therapeutic potential for the intervention of septic shock syndrome or other inflammatory diseases of infectious origin.
Phase-Regenerative Wavelength Conversion for BPSK and DPSK Signals

Phase-regenerative wavelength conversion is demonstrated experimentally. The simultaneous combination of two nonlinear optical processes, phase conjugation and frequency conversion (Bragg scattering), produces phase-sensitive gain at two new idler wavelengths in addition to the original signal wavelength. This single-stage approach does not require phase-locking of the tunable pump. At maximum pump depletion, amplitude and phase regeneration occur simultaneously.
Thermodynamic interpretation of time for rolling tachyons

We show that the open string worldsheet description of brane decay (discussing a specific example of a rolling tachyon background) can be related to a sequence of points of thermodynamic equilibrium of a grand canonical ensemble of point charges on a circle, the Dyson gas. Subsequent instants of time are related to neighboring values of the chemical potential or the average particle number N. The free energy of the system decreases in the direction of larger N or later times, thus defining a thermodynamic arrow of time. Time evolution equations are mapped to differential equations relating thermal expectation values of certain observables at different points of thermal equilibrium. This suggests some lessons concerning emergence of time from an underlying microscopic structure in which the concept of time is absent.
An efficient RFID solution to expedite services

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is becoming attractive technology as an alternative to barcode systems. RFID systems provide an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using RFID tags or transponders. An RFID tag is an object that can be attached to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification using radio waves. Chip-based RFID tags contain silicon chips and antennae. In this paper, we develop a smart shopping system that allows customers to manage their shopping list while shopping and only pay the bill at the checkout counter. The shopping cart has the ability to automatically calculate and display the total prices of all the products inside it. This makes it easy for the customer to know how much he or she has to pay while shopping and not at the checkout counter. This way the customer can also control his or her budget and receive faster service at the checkout. An advantage for the shop owners is that they would need a fewer cashiers, which would result in a large cut in their costs. In this paper, we also provide a mathematical model to calculate the estimated delay for each cart to access the system through the ad hoc or WLAN networks.
Cenralisation of Assessment: Meeting the Challenges of Multi-Year Team Projects in Information Systems Education

This paper focuses on the difficulties of assessing multi-year team projects, in which a team of students drawn from all three years of a full-time degree course works on a problem with and for a real-life organization. Although potential solutions to the problem of assessing team projects may be context-dependent, we believe that discussing these in our paper will allow readers to relate to their teaching cases and increase the general appreciation of team project related work. Findings discussed in this paper are based on the first cycle of action research in relation to an existing multi-year team project scheme. Based on the interpretivist perspective, this work draws on data from staff and student focus groups, semi structured interviews and surveys. Team project clients were also asked to comment on their experiences and the way they would like team projects to be improved in the future. Since issues affecting the success of team projects are quite closely inter-related, a systemic view is adopted rather than analysis of a single issue in isolation. Overall there is a feeling that multi-year team projects are a good idea in theory but can be challenging to implement in practice. It is argued that the main areas of concern are the assessment process, the dilemmas and tensions that it can introduce, and the related inconsistencies in stakeholder involvement, which can compromise the learning experience if not handled well. We believe that the assessment process holds the key to a successful learning experience in team project work.
Concurrent Visual Feedback, Practice Organization, and Spatial Aiming Accuracy in Rapid Movement Sequences

While the availability of visual feedback is a well-known factor influencing the accuracy of rapid aiming movements, little is known about how vision might interact with a contextual variable like practice organization. In the current study, the interaction of concurrent visual feedback (CVF) and practice organization on aiming movement accuracy was investigated in the dominant limb of 40 college-aged participants. Participants performed “triplets” of rapid aiming movements with a lightweight lever in the sagittal plane involving short (20°), medium (40°), long (60°) distances and were randomly assigned to one of four groups (n=10) in a 2 (Group: Blocked Practice, Random Practice) × 2 (Vision: CVF, no CVF) factorial design. Participants performed 24 triplets in acquisition and 10 triplets of a novel pattern (15°-45°-15°) on transfer. Movement time was controlled by a metronome set at 1.43 cycles per second resulting in a cycle time of approximately 700 ms per movement. The constant error and overall error in distance were calculated for each distance and analyzed with separate 2 (Group) × 2 (Vision) × 3 (Movement) ANOVAs with repeated measures on the last factor. When CVF was available, contextual interference effects were shown by better accuracy for the blocked practice groups during acquisition compared to the random practice group. Without CVF, participants tended to overshoot the targets and contextual interference effects were minimized during acquisition and on the first transfer trial. Random practice resulted in better transfer performance compared to blocked practice for both vision conditions when all transfer trials were included in the analysis. The findings contributed to the current literature by demonstrating the importance of practice context and visual feedback to aiming accuracy.
Aggregate US Merger levels : An explained markov switching analysis

This paper adds to the current literature on the wave nature of the Mergers and Acquisitions time series in the United States. We aim to bridge the link between the macroeconomic theory of “merger waves” and the econometric literature on modeling levels of merger activity. From economic theory we compile a list of macroeconomic variables widely believed to influence levels of merger activity. Building on previous econometric work we model the time series as a first order autoregressive two regime Markov switching process which incorporates a set of macroeconomic variables. Incorporating these variables causes a time variance in the regime switching probabilities, governed by the variables’ behaviour. We find support for a Markov Switching (MS) model with regime dependent means and variances. Our model supports the idea that improving economic conditions facilitate merger waves. We also find evidence that liquidity plays a role in merger activity. Finally, we find that equity price volatility and valuation discrepancies lead to persistence in merger waves.