Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Meta-analysis reveals profound responses of plant traits to glacial CO2 levels

A general understanding of the links between atmospheric CO2 concentration and the functioning of the terrestrial biosphere requires not only an understanding of plant trait responses to the ongoing transition to higher CO2 but also the legacy effects of past low CO2. An interesting question is whether the transition from current to higher CO2 can be thought of as a continuation of the past trajectory of low to current CO2 levels. Determining this trajectory requires quantifying the effect sizes of plant response to low CO2. We performed a meta-analysis of low CO2 growth experiments on 34 studies with 54 species. We quantified how plant traits vary at reduced CO2 levels and whether C3 versus C4 and woody versus herbaceous plant species respond differently. At low CO2, plant functioning changed drastically: on average across all species, a 50% reduction in current atmospheric CO2 reduced net photosynthesis by 38%; increased stomatal conductance by 60% and decreased intrinsic water use efficiency by 48%. Total plant dry biomass decreased by 47%, while specific leaf area increased by 17%. Plant types responded similarly: the only significant differences being no increase in SLA for C4 species and a 16% smaller decrease in biomass for woody C3 species at glacial CO2. Quantitative comparison of low CO2 effect sizes to those from high CO2 studies showed that the magnitude of response of stomatal conductance, water use efficiency and SLA to increased CO2 can be thought of as continued shifts along the same line. However, net photosynthesis and dry weight responses to low CO2 were greater in magnitude than to high CO2. Understanding the causes for this discrepancy can lead to a general understanding of the links between atmospheric CO2 and plant responses with relevance for both the past and the future.
Does interword spacing influence lexical processing in Chinese reading?

ABSTRACT This study investigated how inserting spaces between Chinese words affected word recognition in Chinese reading. Eye movements of Chinese readers were recorded in a sentence reading task where high- and low-frequency target words were presented in both the spaced and normally unspaced texts. We found that fixation durations on target words were shorter in the high- than low-frequency conditions, and shorter in the spaced than unspaced conditions. The survival analysis revealed that interword spacing advanced the temporal onset of word frequency effects relative to the normally unspaced condition. However, inconsistent with the findings in English reading, there was no interaction between word frequency and interword spacing on all fixation duration measures, and the Bayes factor analyses also favoured the hypothesis of null interaction. These data suggest that interword spacing facilitates visual rather than lexical processing in Chinese reading, and thus improves our understanding on the roles of interword spacing across different writing systems.
Does Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder Belong Within the Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum?

ABSTRACT It has been proposed that certain Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition Axis I disorders share overlapping clinical features, genetic contributions, and treatment response and fall within an “obsessive-compulsive” spectrum. Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) resembles obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and other spectrum disorders in terms of phenomenology, comorbidity, neurocognition, and treatment response.This article critically examines the nosological profile of OCPD with special reference to OCD and related disorders. By viewing OCPD as a candidate member of the obsessive-compulsive spectrum, we gain a fresh approach to understanding its neurobiology, etiology, and potential treatments.
Adaptive Lifting Schemes Combining Seminorms for Lossless and Lossy Compression

This paper presents a new class of adaptive wavelet decompositions that can capture the directional nature of the picture information. Our method exploits the properties of semi norms to build lifting structures able to choose between different update filters, the choice being triggered by a local gradient of the input. In order to discriminate between different geometrical information, the system makes use of multiple criteria, giving rise multiple choice of update filters. It establishes the conditions under which these decisions can be recovered at synthesis, without the need for transmitting overhead information.
The Cognitive Mechanisms of Value-Based Choice

The Cognitive Mechanisms of Value-Based Choice by Jonathan Winkle Department of Psychology & Neuroscience Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Scott Huettel, Supervisor ___________________________ Stephen Mitroff ___________________________ Gavan Fitzsimons ___________________________ Jennifer Groh ___________________________ Tobias Egner An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience in the Graduate School of Duke University 2017 Copyright by Jonathan Andrew Winkle 2017
Blow-up for a Nonlocal Nonlinear Diffusion Equation with Source

We study the initial-value problem prescribing Neumann bound- ary conditions for a nonlocal nonlinear diusion operator with source, in a bounded domain in R N with a smooth boundary. We prove existence, unique- ness of solutions and we give a comparison principle for its solutions. The blow-up phenomenon is analyzed. Finally, the blow up rate is given for some particular sources.
A Machine Learning Prototype for the Identification of Patients who are Not Likely to Respond to Medical Treatment of BPH with alpha-Blockers

This machine learning study aims to identify prior to treatment the patients who are not likely to respond to drug therapy with α-blockers of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH). Medical records of 310 BPH patients are used. The data set is divided into two classes, namely positive and negative-response groups, with respect to the change in the patient’s International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) after drug therapy. Age, IPSS, Prostate Volume, Post Void Residual Urine (PVR), Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA), free-PSA, and Creatinine are examined as baseline clinical factors, along with our novel synthetic features in order to propose a decision tree to classify a new patient. Our learning scheme, which uses synthetic variable generation and selection routines along with the C4.5 Decision Tree Algorithm correctly classifies 71.5% of patients, with sensitivity 71.3%, and specificity 71.6%. Synthetic variables do enhance its performance. Our prototypical classifier’s success rate reveals that failure is predictable prior to medical treatment of BPH.
Managing Imprecise Worst Case Execution Times on DVFS Platforms

Although energy-efficient real-time task scheduling has attracted a lot of attention in the past decade, most existing results assumed deterministic execution lengths for tasks, or probabilistic lengths with a stable distribution. Such an assumption results in significant difficulty in their application to real problems. In this work, we relax this hypothesis by assuming that the worst case execution number of cycles (WCEC) might be imprecisely known. We present several methods to react to such a situation. We provide simulation results attesting that with a small effort, we can provide very good results, allowing to keep a low deadline miss rate as well as an energy consumption similar to clairvoyant algorithms. The main contribution of this work is to improve the robustness of low-power scheduling algorithms on DVFS (Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling) frame-based platforms.
General theory for quantative evaluation of three-dimentional vibrations from time-average holographic interferograms

A procedure for calculating the amplitudes of the normal and tangential components of the displacement vector of three-dimensional vibrations of any point on the surface of mechanical wave system is proposed on the basis of experimental holographic interfrometry data and the theory of vibrations of mechanical systems The problem of determination the amplitude – frequency response characteristics of a vibrating surface, which vibrates in three dimensions in the majority of cases, is encountered in the analysis of vibrations of mechanical system. The development of methods for calculating the characteristics of three – dimensional (3D) vibrations contributes to the solution of vital problems in the investigation, design, testing, and diagnostics of systems. There are publications devoted to evaluation of deformation vector and quantitive analysis of holographic particle data in [1-11]. The papers give an instrument for interpretation and calculation component of vector deformation surface of solid bodies of the simple shapes and the use for complex forms of the links is not directly available and need to modified it. The problem is that procedure and algorithms must include into calculation relations between vibrations type and the geometry of the shapes of links. The 3-D vibrations for wave mechanical system shapes of links take part in the analysis process and its enable to find algorithms and common methods of investigation [12-15]. In the present paper a method is described for calculation of the amplitudes of the normal and tangential components of the displacement vector of 3D vibrations of the surface of deformable elements on the basis of experimental holographic-interferometry data and the theory of vibrations of mechanical systems. In contrast with previous publication on this topic, the proposed method permits a severalfold reduction in the quantity of input data for analysis of vibrations from holographic interferograms.
Ionized donor reordering in typical heterostructures

The mobility of the 2-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures is limited by the presence of ionized donors in the doped region, which determines random potential fluctuations in the 2DEG. However, especially at very low temperatures, only a fraction F of all dopants is ionized. When this fraction is significantly less than unity, redistribution of the ionized sites through hopping can lead to reordering of the donor layer charge and thus to larger than otherwise expected 2DEG mobility. Here we evaluate the relevance of this effect in some typical heterostructures, and look for criteria for the achievement of the largest possible mobility.
A dopaminergic deficit hypothesis of schizophrenia: the path to discovery

In contrast to the conventional view of dopamine involvement in schizophrenia, which posits hyperactive dopaminergic transmission, we propose that for unknown developmental andfor biochemical reasons, a primary defect occurs in efficient, tight dopaminergic synaptic transmission, triggering feedback activation and receptor upregulation, and resulting in the well-characterized increase in dopaminergic tone. This hypothesis is driven by suggestive evidence for subpopulations of dopamine D2 receptors delivering contrasting forms of dopaminergic transmission: synaptic receptors, responsible for basic dopaminergic function and subject to effective feedback control, and poorly controlled extrasynaptic receptors partly responsible for the positive symptoms of psychosis. Since the primary defect is dopamine deficiency, we term this theory the dopaminergic deficit hypothesis of schizophrenia, it is currently informing clinical studies with novel partial dopamine antagonists (dopamine stabilizers) such as ACR16, which preferentially target extrasynaptic receptors while leaving synaptic transmission and basic dopamine function intact.
Rapid calculation of the Green's function in a rectangular enclosure with application to conductor loaded cavity resonators

A new technique for rapid calculation of the Green's functions in a rectangular cavity is presented. The method is based on a best polynomial approximation in three dimensions, which is implemented through a fast cosine transform. Generating the required samples for polynomial modeling is greatly accelerated through Ewald summation technique. To validate the efficiency of the resulting Chebyshev series for the potential Green's functions, a surface integral-equation (SIE) formulation is used to compute the resonant frequency of conductor loaded cavity resonators. The new scheme is proved to be considerably faster than Ewald transform in filling the method of moments (MoM) matrix. A SIE with the MoM can now be efficiently used for electromagnetic analysis and optimization of conductor or dielectric loaded resonators and filters with rectangular enclosures.
Imaging metabolic syndrome

Metabolic syndrome is a fast growing public health burden for almost all the developed countries and many developing nations. Despite intense efforts from both biomedical and clinical scientists, many fundamental questions regarding its aetiology and development remain unclear, partly due to the lack of suitable imaging technologies to visualize lipid composition and distribution, insulin secretion, β‐cell mass and functions in vivo. Such technologies would not only impact on our understanding of the complexity of metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes, but also aid in their diagnosis, drug development and assessment of treatment efficacy. In this article we discuss and propose several strategies for visualization of physiological and pathological changes that affect pancreas and adipose tissue as a result of the development of metabolic diseases.
Errata-Corrige : “Improved theory for a nonlinear degenerate parabolic equation”

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Erste Erfahrungen zur Implementierbarkeit einer internet-basierten Selbsthilfe zur Überbrückung der Wartezeit auf eine ambulante Psychotherapie

Zusammenfassung Einleitung Zahlreiche Studien belegen die Wirksamkeit von internet-basierten Selbsthilfeprogrammen. Allerdings bemühen sich nur wenige Untersuchungen um die Integration in die Versorgungssituation. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersuchte die Implementierbarkeit einer internet-basierten Intervention in die ambulante Versorgung von Personen mit depressiven Symptomen während der Wartezeit auf einen Psychotherapieplatz in einer psychotherapeutischen Hochschulambulanz. Material und Methoden Die Teilnehmer auf der Warteliste für einen ambulanten Psychotherapieplatz wurden zufällig entweder einer Kontrollgruppe oder einer Interventionsgruppe, die einen Zugang zu dem internet-basierten Programm Deprexis während der Wartezeit bekam, zugeteilt. Die depressive Symptomatik wurde vor und nach der Wartezeit erfasst. Außerdem wurden Erwartungen der Teilnehmer erfragt und die Nutzungsdauer des Programms explorativ untersucht. Ergebnisse Nur etwa die Hälfte der Personen, die über die Studie informiert wurden, bekundeten Interesse. Teilnehmer, die mit dem Programm Deprexis arbeiten konnten, nutzen im Schnitt nur die Hälfte der dargebotenen Themeneinheiten. In beiden Gruppen sank die depressive Symptomatik während der Wartezeit, die Verbesserung war jedoch nicht signifikant. Diskussion Bei der Integration internet-basierter Interventionen in die Regelversorgung sollte zukünftig eine Anleitung und Begleitung durch einen Psychotherapeuten angedacht sowie Präferenzen der Teilnehmer berücksichtigt werden, um die Adhärenz und damit auch potentiell die Effektivität des Programms zu steigern. Schlussfolgerungen Internet-basierte Selbsthilfeprogramme zur Überbrückung der Wartezeit auf einen Therapieplatz depressiver Patienten bedürfen der Betreuung („guidance“).
A Deterministic Algorithm for the Vertex Connectivity Survivable Network Design Problem

In the vertex connectivity survivable network design problem we are given an undirected graph G = (V,E) and connectivity requirement r(u,v) for each pair of vertices u,v. We are also given a cost function on the set of edges. Our goal is to find the minimum cost subset of edges such that for every pair (u,v) of vertices we have r(u,v) vertex disjoint paths in the graph induced by the chosen edges. Recently, Chuzhoy and Khanna presented a randomized algorithm that achieves a factor of O(k^3 log n) for this problem where k is the maximum connectivity requirement. In this paper we derandomize their algorithm to get a deterministic O(k^3 log n) factor algorithm. Another problem of interest is the single source version of the problem, where there is a special vertex s and all non-zero connectivity requirements must involve s. We also give a deterministic O(k^2 log n) algorithm for this problem.
ALTERNATIVE APPROACH FOR ANALYZING DISCRETE-TIME FINITE-BUFFER QUEUES WITH SERVER VACATIONS

In this paper, we present a discrete-time single-server finite-buffer queue in which the server takes single/multiple vacations whenever the system becomes empty. The interarrival times are geometrically distributed and service, vacation times are independently identically distributed random variables and their durations are integral multiples of a slot duration. We obtain the state probabilities at service completion, vacation termination and arbitrary epochs using supplementary variable and imbedded Markov chain techniques. The analysis of actual waiting time under the first-come-first-served (FCFS) queueing discipline is also carried out.
Relational Partially Observable MDPs

Relational Markov Decision Processes (MDP) are a useful abstraction for stochastic planning problems since one can develop abstract solutions for them that are independent of domain size or instantiation. While there has been an increased interest in developing relational fully observable MDPs, there has been very little work on relational partially observable MDPs (POMDP), which deal with uncertainty in problem states in addition to stochastic action effects. This paper provides a concrete formalization of relational POMDPs making several technical contributions toward their solution. First, we show that to maintain correctness one must distinguish between quantification over states and quantification over belief states; this implies that solutions based on value iteration are inherently limited to the finite horizon case. Second, we provide a symbolic dynamic programing algorithm for finite horizon relational POMDPs, solving them at an abstract level, by lifting the propositional incremental pruning algorithm. Third, we show that this algorithm can be implemented using first order decision diagrams, a compact representation for functions over relational structures, that has been recently used to solve relational MDPs.
The claustrum: Considerations regarding its anatomy, functions and a programme for research

The claustrum is a highly conserved but enigmatic structure, with connections to the entire cortical mantle, as well as to an extended and extensive range of heterogeneous subcortical structures. Indeed, the human claustrum is thought to have the highest number of connections per millimetre cubed of any other brain region. While there have been relatively few functional investigations of the claustrum, many theoretical suggestions have been put forward, including speculation that it plays a key role in the generation of consciousness in the mammalian brain. Other claims have been more circumspect, suggesting that the claustrum has a particular role in, for example, orchestrating cortical activity, spatial information processing or decision making. Here, we selectively review certain key recent anatomical, electrophysiological and behavioural experimental advances in claustral research and present evidence that calls for a reassessment of its anatomical boundaries in the rodent. We conclude with some open questions for future research.
A New Research Architecture For The Simulation Era

This chapter proposes a novel research architecture for social scientists who want to employ simulation methods. The new framework gives an integrated view of a research process that involves simulation modelling. It highlights the importance of the theoretical foundation of a simulation model and shows how new theory-driven hypotheses can be derived that are empirically testable. The paper describes the different aspects of the framework in detail and shows how it can help structure the research efforts of scholars interested in using simulations.
FLaCoSt: A Novel Peer to Peer Architecture for Video Streaming in a Next Generation Network

This paper proposes a peer-to-peer video streaming delivery system within the framework of Next Generation Networks using Application Level Multicast. Increased efficiency and reliability is achieved in two ways. First, the system uses path diversity by splitting the video traffic in several stripes and distributing each stripe via different multicast trees. Second, the proposed architecture lies within a Next Generation Network framework that enables network resource reservations with different classes of service. Therefore, the video stripes can receive different priorities making possible the usage of Layered Coding techniques such as Multi-Description Coding and Scalable Video Coding. The peer-to-peer protocol takes advantage of the multipath delivery and resources reservation by optimising the searches for a parent in the multicast tree, thus minimising the service access time and service interruptions. These ideas can be improved using always-on central devices like Residential Gateways as peer nodes.
Taxonomy of Evolution and Dependability

Evolution is one of the major issues affecting system dependability as well as engineering activities and environments. The most common understanding considers evolution as a phenomenon that needs to be avoided. By contrast this paper takes into account evolution as a necessary feature of computerbased systems. This paper reviews a taxonomy of evolution identifying a conceptual framework to analyse evolutionary phenomena of computer-based systems as well as models of evolutions and their limits. The taxonomy of evolution points out different dependability aspects of computer-based systems. In conclusion, this paper provides a conceptual framework to analyse evolution and its influence on the dependability of computer-based systems.