Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Future Generations, Discount Rates and the Optimal Harvest of Fisheries Resources

The role of discounting in determining the optimal harvest of natural resources has been extensively debated in the economic and natural resources literature. Differing approaches to discounting to address sustainability and intergenerational equity issues have the potential to significantly affect the allocation of resources between harvesting and conservation for this generation and the stock of resources available for future generations. This presents a very real problem in New Zealand where legislation requires fisheries managers to maintain the potential of the resources to meet the "reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations. " This paper investigates the appropriate use of discount rates in evaluating policy decisions that involve the intergenerational allocation of fisheries resources. Dynamic bioeconomic optimisation is used to model the effect of discount rates on the optimal harvest of a stock characterized by moderate longevity and growth. The economic and biological effects of alternative rebuilding strategies that are assumed to meet the needs of future generations are explored under alternative prices, variable costs, and rebuilding horizons. The preliminary empirical analysis revealed that higher discount rates produce lower net present values, slower rebuilding rates, and more pronounced harvest reductions as the rebuilding deadline approached. However, at discount rates that are common and justified in the literature, the effects may be insignificant. Whether these results are dependent on the assumed moderate growth characteristic of the stock, the failure to account for perceptions regarding biological and economic risk, or the use of a common discount rate are subjects of continuing research.
3D Range Image Simplification

This paper proposes an simplification algorithm of a range image. One of the merits of the proposed approach is that it is not necessary to convert the range image into a triangular mesh (initial triangular mesh), a process that requires a large amount of memory, because the proposed algorithm works directly on a range image. The key idea of the paper is to employ an additional data structure, called a ‘flag map’, for the support of the irregular topology changes that happen during the simplification procedure. As the flag map is able to maintain all the history of the topology changes, an easy extraction of the simplified triangular mesh from the flag map is possible.
Multi-wavelength modelling for VLC indoor channels using Montecarlo simulation

In this paper we present a compact and efficient method for the calculation of the channel response over indoor wireless optical channel for multi-wavelength signals. It is based on the Modified Montecarlo Algorithm but allows not only processing composed signals as used in VLC transmission with white or RGB LED emitters, but also modeling reflections where wavelength components of the incoming signals are modified, as could be the case of phosphor materials or wavelength-dependent reflecting surfaces. It also allows modeling not only lambertian reflections but also non-lambertian, quasi-specular surface, as could be plastic or metallic furniture. The algorithm uses a wavelength transformation matrix that can be defined for each reflecting material, and even for each incidence angle.
Chemical Analysis of Cellular and Extracellular Carbohydrates of a Biofilm-Forming Strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14

Background Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative bacterium and an opportunistic pathogen, which causes persisting life-threatening infections in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Biofilm mode of growth facilitates its survival in a variety of environments. Most P. aeruginosa isolates, including the non-mucoid laboratory strain PA14, are able to form a thick pellicle, which results in a surface-associated biofilm at the air-liquid (A–L) interface in standing liquid cultures. Exopolysaccharides (EPS) are considered as key components in the formation of this biofilm pellicle. In the non-mucoid P. aeruginosa strain PA14, the “scaffolding” polysaccharides of the biofilm matrix, and the molecules responsible for the structural integrity of rigid A–L biofilm have not been identified. Moreover, the role of LPS in this process is unclear, and the chemical structure of the LPS O-antigen of PA14 has not yet been elucidated. Principal Findings In the present work we carried out a systematic analysis of cellular and extracellular (EC) carbohydrates of P. aeruginosa PA14. We also elucidated the chemical structure of the LPS O-antigen by chemical methods and 2-D NMR spectroscopy. Our results showed that it is composed of linear trisaccharide repeating units, identical to those described for P. aeruginosa Lanýi type O:2a,c (Lanýi-Bergman O-serogroup 10a, 10c; IATS serotype 19) and having the following structure: -4)-α-L-GalNAcA-(1–3)-α-D-QuiNAc-(1–3)- α-L-Rha-(1-. Furthermore, an EC O-antigen polysaccharide (EC O-PS) and the glycerol-phosphorylated cyclic β-(1,3)-glucans were identified in the culture supernatant of PA14, grown statically in minimal medium. Finally, the extracellular matrix of the thick biofilm formed at the A-L interface contained, in addition to eDNA, important quantities (at least ∼20% of dry weight) of LPS-like material. Conclusions We characterized the chemical structure of the LPS O-antigen and showed that the O-antigen polysaccharide is an abundant extracellular carbohydrate of PA14. We present evidence that LPS-like material is found as a component of a biofilm matrix of P. aeruginosa.
Subjective Estimation of the Quality of Life in Relation to Neuroticism

Subjective Estimation of the Quality of Life in Relation to Neuroticism It is generally agreed that personality variables have a relatively consistent influence on the subjective estimation of different situations in everyday life and the way people react to them. The aim of this review was to summarise our previously published findings on the relationship between subjective estimation of one's quality of life and the personality trait neuroticism-emotional stability. We used the WHO Quality of Life - BREF or SF-36 questionnaires for the assessment of the quality of life, Cornell Index for the assessment of neuroticism, and The Social Readjustment Rating Scale for the evaluation of common stressors. Our results have shown that more emotionally stable participants (lower neuroticism) perceive their life better in quality and are more satisfied with their work environment. In addition, our results support the findings from other studies that women have higher neuroticism and lower quality of life scores than men. Subjektivna procjena kvalitete života (WHOQOL-BREF) u odnosu na neuroticizam (Cornell indeks) Općenito se smatra kako varijable ličnosti imaju važnu ulogu u relativno dosljednom utjecaju na subjektivnu procjenu različitih situacija u svakodnevnom životu, kao i na reakcije na te situacije. Cilj ovoga preglednog članka bio je objediniti naše objavljene rezultate o odnosu između subjektivne procjene kvalitete života i crte ličnosti neuroticizam - emocionalna stabilnost. Upotrijebljeni su WHOQOL-BREF ili SF-36 upitnici za procjenu kvalitete života, Cornell indeks za procjenu neuroticizma i The Social Readjustment Rating Scale za evaluaciju uobičajenih stresora. Dobiveni rezultati pokazali su kako osobe s izraženijom emocionalnom stabilnošću (manjim neuroticizmom) percipiraju svoj život kvalitetnijim te su zadovoljnije svojom radnom okolinom. Također je u skladu s drugim objavljenim studijama nađeno kako žene postižu više rezultate na skalama neuroticizma od muškaraca te niže rezultate na upitnicima kvalitete života.
Binding of perfluorinated fatty acids to serum proteins

Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) accumulates in the liver and blood of exposed organisms. The potential for these surfactant molecules to interfere with hormone/protein interactions in blood is of concern given the importance of these interactions. The PFOS binding to serum proteins was investigated by assessing its ability to displace a variety of steroid hormones from specific binding proteins in the serum of birds and fishes. Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid had only a weak ability to displace estrogen or testosterone from carp serum steroid binding proteins. Displacement of cortisone in avian sera occurred at relatively low PFOS concentrations. Corticosterone displacement potency increased with chain length, and sulfonic acids were more potent than carboxylic acids. The PFOS concentrations estimated to cause these effects were 320 μM or greater, equivalent to serum concentrations greater than 160 mg/L. Using mass spectrometry and direct in vitro binding assays, PFOS was demonstrated to bind strongly to bovine serum albumin (BSA) in a 1:1 stoichiometric ratio. It appears that PFOS in serum is in general bound to albumins. Concentrations of PFOS required to saturate albumin would be in excess of 50 to 100 mg/L. Based on current environmental concentrations, it is unlikely that PFOS would cause displacement of hormones from serum proteins in wildlife.
An Efficient Scheme to Prevent DDoS Flooding Attacks in Mobile Ad-Hoc Network (MANET)

The purpose of this study is to understand the flaws of existing solutions to combat the DDoS attack and a novel scheme is being provided with its validation to reduce the effect of DDoS attack in MANET Environment. As Internet users are increasing day by day, it is becoming more prone to attacks and new hacking techniques. People are accessing information and communicating with each other on the move. Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) is responsible for this rapid change in the lives of people. With the emergence of technology, where people communicate or share important documentations on the go with the help of laptops, PDAs, notebooks, smart phones etc., the loopholes in the Internet security have also increased and they are becoming more difficult to handle due to the characteristics of MANET such as dynamic topologies, low battery life, multicast routing, frequency of updates or network overhead, scalability, mobile agent based routing and power aware routing, etc. The network is becoming more prone to attacks like DDoS, byzantine, resource consumption, blackhole, grayhole, etc. Therefore, there is an urgent need to look into the security issues to allow authorized users to access the information available on Internet without any risk. In this study, a novel scheme is proposed which deals with suppressing the influence of the attack. The effectiveness of the approach is validated with simulation in GloMoSim, integrated with parsec compiler, on a windows platform.
An FPGA implementation of ATA Host Controller toward scalable iATA NAS

Each business and organization owns an excessive amount of corporate data. Therefore, Storage Area Network (SAN) is built to support the need of data storage over the network. However, it is not worthy for Small Office, Home Office (SOHO) and small businesses to invest on the high-cost SAN system. Therefore, the implementation of Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) Device Host Controller to support internet Advanced Technology Attachment (iATA) Protocol for ATA Network Attached Storage (NAS) is introduced to enable the capability to read data from and write data to ATA Device over the existing network. In this paper, we have implemented ATA Device Host Controller which supports a iATA application layer protocol on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) to enable the data transfer over the internet. On the FPGA, we have implemented a module for each of the internet layer protocol, which are 1) 10/100 Ethernet MAC Module for the Physical and the Data Link Layer 2) IP header de/encapsulation Module for the Network Layer 3) TCP header de/encapsulation Module for the Transport Layer 4) iATA Controller Module for the Application Layer, and a Disk Controller Module for the read/write operations to a hard disk. These modules operate sequentially. As a result of the implementation, the experiment shows that our prototype systems can operate the read operation with the average speed of 1250 KB/sec and the write operation with the average speed of 1170 KB/sec. The experiment also shows that there is a clock frequency limitation in the implementation.
The Golden Rice Controversy: Useless Science or Unfounded Criticism?

few other countries have managed to develop science-based biosafety regulatory systems. These have allowed the technology to flourish—as more than 80 million ha planted with transgenic crops worldwide in 2004 attest—for the benefit of farmers, consumers, and companies. Meanwhile, strong opposition in Europe managed to push through an extended de facto moratorium that has only recently begun to thaw. This process is progressing only under laws seemingly designed to deter the use of transgenic crops rather than to encourage adoption of the technology. For example, under the present Gene Technology Act in Germany, farmers growing GM crops in a region are jointly and severally liable for economic damage that neighboring farms incur if their crops are contaminated by GM material, even if the source of the material cannot be identified with certainty and the GM crop farmers have adhered to all regulatory requirements. The legal threshold level of admixture is arbitrarily set at 0.9 percent, but if a farmer has signed a contract to
Novel Strategies for Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor T reatment of Severe

A b stract P urp ose: T o imp rov e the ef f ectiv enes s of g ranu locy te colony -s timu lating f actor ( G -C SF ) treatment in hig h-ris k neu trop enic p atients . E x p erimental D esign: W e s tu dy G -C SF ef f ects on chemotherap y -indu ced neu trop enia b y ex p anding a s imp le mathematical model of neu trop hil dy namics in the b lood. T he f inal model is f itted and v alidated u s ing p u b lis hed clinical data of neu trop hil res p ons e to chemotherap y and s tandard s . c. G -C SF p rotocol ( SG ; f ilg ras tim 5 A g / k g / d) , s ing le p eg y lated ( p eg G ; p eg f ilg ras tim 1 0 0 A g / k g ) , and continu ou s inf u s ion ( C G ; f ilg ras tim 1 0 A g / k g / d) . T he interp atient v ariab ility is s tu died b y M onte-C arlo s imu lation of p eg G comp ared w ith SG and p laceb o. R esults: T he ef f ect G -C SF s u p p ort on neu trop enia dep ends on the neu trop hil cou nt at the nadir. T hree dis tinct neu trop enia g rades are identif ied: G 1 ( 30 0 1 0 -5 0 0 1 0 3 cells / mL ) , G 2 ( 5 0 1 0 -30 0 1 0 3 cells / mL ) , and G 3 ( V5 0 1 0 3 cells / mL ) . F or many G 2 p atients , the G -C SF lev els req u ired f or recov ery are not attainab le b y the s tandard reg imen, w hereas the s u s tained p eg G and C G s eem to b e s ig nif icantly more ef f ectiv e. F or G 3 p atients , G -C SF s u p p ort alone is not s u f f icient and additional clinical ap p roaches s hou ld b e cons idered. T he res u lts p res ented here are rob u s t and are only s lig htly af f ected b y p op u lation v ariab ility . Conclusions: T he model cap tu res the G -C SF -neu trop hil dy namics of s ev ere chemotherap y indu ced neu trop enia. O u r res u lts clarif y and comp lement the cu rrent A merican Society of C linical O ncolog y recommendations f or G -C SF adminis tration in neu trop enia: H ig h s u s tained G -C SF lev els are needed to treat s ev ere neu trop enia and may b e achiev ed b y either C G or p eg G . T he p otential ef f ect of s u s tained G -C SF on s ev ere neu trop enia s hou ld b e s tu died w ithin a f ramew ork of a p ros p ectiv e randomized clinical trial.
Evidence That Self-Relevant Motives and Metaphoric Framing Interact to Influence Political and Social Attitudes

We propose that metaphor is a mechanism by which motivational states in one conceptual domain can influence attitudes in a superficially unrelated domain. Two studies tested whether activating motives related to the self-concept influences attitudes toward social topics when the topics' metaphoric association to the motives is made salient through linguistic framing. In Study 1, heightened motivation to protect one's own body from contamination led to harsher attitudes toward immigrants entering the United States when the country was framed in body-metaphoric, rather than literal, terms. In Study 2, a self-esteem threat led to more positive attitudes toward binge drinking of alcohol when drinking was metaphorically framed as physical self-destruction, compared with when it was framed literally or metaphorically as competitive other-destruction.
Testing our conceptual understanding of V1 function

Here we test our conceptual understanding of V1 function by asking two experimental questions: 1) How do neurons respond to the spatiotemporal structure contained in dynamic, natural scenes? and 2) What is the true range of visual responsiveness and predictability of neural responses obtained in an unbiased sample of neurons across all layers of cortex? We address these questions by recording responses to natural movie stimuli with 32 channel silicon probes. By simultaneously recording from cells in all layers, and taking all recorded cells, we reduce recording bias that results from "hunting" for neural responses evoked from drifting bars and gratings. A nonparametric model reveals that many cells that are visually responsive do not appear to be captured by standard receptive field models. Using nonlinear Radial Basis Function kernels in a support vector machine, we can explain the responses of some of these cells better than standard linear and phase-invariant complex cell models. This suggests that V1 neurons exhibit more complex and diverse responses than standard models can capture, ranging from simple and complex cells strongly driven by their classical receptive fields, to cells with more nonlinear receptive fields inferred from the nonparametric and RFB model, and cells that are not visually responsive despite robust firing.
International Conference on Information Fusion ( FUSION ) Energy Efficient Target Tracking in a Sensor Network Using Non-myopic Sensor Scheduling

We propose to use non-myopic sensor scheduling to minimize the energy usage in a sensor network while maintaining a desired squared-error tracking accuracy of a target's position estimate. The network comprises of Type A sensors that collect measurements, and Type B sensors that collect, process, and schedule measurements. The target is tracked using a particle filter; only Type B sensors hold the target belief and update it with measurements. Network energy consumption is primarily due to sensing and communicating belief and measurements between sensors. To schedule a sequence ofM sensing actions, the Type B sensor holding the target beliefcomputes the minimum energy sequence that satisfies the tracking accuracy constraint M steps in the future. Scheduling is implemented efficiently by precomputing an energy tree and using a uniform-cost search. The tracking accuracy for sensor scheduling is approximated by the posterior Cramer-Rao lower bound. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we demonstrate that non-myopic scheduling results in significantly lower energy usage than myopic scheduling while meeting the accuracy constraint.
Electrophysiological Correlates of Refreshing: Event-related Potentials Associated with Directing Reflective Attention to Face, Scene, or Word Representations

Refreshing is the component cognitive process of directing reflective attention to one of several active mental representations. Previous studies using fMRI suggested that refresh tasks involve a component process of initiating refreshing as well as the top–down modulation of representational regions central to refreshing. However, those studies were limited by fMRI's low temporal resolution. In this study, we used EEG to examine the time course of refreshing on the scale of milliseconds rather than seconds. ERP analyses showed that a typical refresh task does have a distinct electrophysiological response as compared to a control condition and includes at least two main temporal components: an earlier (∼400 msec) positive peak reminiscent of a P3 response and a later (∼800–1400 msec) sustained positivity over several sites reminiscent of the late directing attention positivity. Overall, the evoked potentials for refreshing representations from three different visual categories (faces, scenes, words) were similar, but multivariate pattern analysis showed that some category information was nonetheless present in the EEG signal. When related to previous fMRI studies, these results are consistent with a two-phase model, with the first phase dominated by frontal control signals involved in initiating refreshing and the second by the top–down modulation of posterior perceptual cortical areas that constitutes refreshing a representation. This study also lays the foundation for future studies of the neural correlates of reflective attention at a finer temporal resolution than is possible using fMRI.
Parasite Removal, but Not Herbivory, Deters Future Parasite Attachment on Tomato

Plants face many antagonistic interactions that occur sequentially. Often, plants employ defense strategies in response to the initial damage that are highly specific and can affect interactions with subsequent antagonists. In addition to herbivores and pathogens, plants face attacks by parasitic plants, but we know little about how prior herbivory compared to prior parasite attachment affects subsequent host interactions. If host plants can respond adaptively to these different damage types, we predict that prior parasitism would have a greater deterrent effect on subsequent parasites than would prior herbivory. To test the effects of prior parasitism and prior herbivory on subsequent parasitic dodder (Cuscuta spp.) preference, we conducted two separate greenhouse studies with tomato hosts (Solanum lycopersicum). In the first experiment, we tested the effects of previous dodder attachment on subsequent dodder preference on tomato hosts using three treatments: control plants that had no previous dodder attachment; dodder-removed plants that had an initial dodder seedling attached, removed and left in the same pot to simulate parasite death; and dodder-continuous plants with an initial dodder seedling that remained attached. In the second experiment, we tested the effects of previous caterpillar damage (Spodoptera exigua) and mechanical damage on future dodder attachment on tomato hosts. Dodder attached most slowly to tomato hosts that had dodder plants previously attached and then removed, compared to control plants or plants with continuous dodder attachment. In contrast, herbivory did not affect subsequent dodder attachment rate. These results indicate that dodder preference depended on the identity and the outcome of the initial attack, suggesting that early-season interactions have the potential for profound impacts on subsequent community dynamics.
Automatic mixed-signal behavioral model generation environment

Building the behavioral model for each circuit is an efficient approach for mixed-signal system verification. If an automatic model generator is available to generate the required behavioral model from the given circuit specifications or netlist, it is useful for designers to reduce the extra efforts. In this paper, two automation methodologies are proposed to build the behavioral models for speeding up mixed-signal system verification. For some popular circuit blocks, dedicated behavioral model generators are developed to obtain the corresponding models directly from the given specifications. For generic circuit blocks, a divide and conquer approach is proposed to extract the required behavioral models from the given circuit netlist. Instead of modeling the relationship between circuit inputs and outputs directly, dividing the circuit into several small building blocks can greatly reduce the model construction efforts without losing the generality for different circuits. As shown in the experimental results, the proposed model generation environment does generate the corresponding behavioral models automatically with good accuracy.