Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
BP-tree: Overcoming the Point-Range Operation Tradeoff for In-Memory B-trees

B-trees are the go-to data structure for in-memory indexes in databases and storage systems. B-trees support both point operations (i.e., inserts and finds) and range operations (i.e., iterators and maps). However, there is an inherent tradeoff between point and range operations since the optimal node size for point operations is much smaller than the optimal node size for range operations. Existing implementations use a relatively small node size to achieve fast point operations at the cost of range operation throughput. We present the BP-tree , a variant of the B-tree, that overcomes the decades-old point-range operation tradeoff in traditional B-trees. In the BP-tree, the leaf nodes are much larger in size than the internal nodes to support faster range scans. To avoid any slowdown in point operations due to large leaf nodes, we introduce a new insert-optimized array called the buffered partitioned array (BPA) to efficiently organize data in leaf nodes. The BPA supports fast insertions by delaying ordering the keys in the array. This results in much faster range operations and faster point operations at the same time in the BP-tree. Our experiments show that on 48 hyperthreads, on workloads generated from the Yahoo! Cloud Serving Benchmark (YCSB), the BP-tree supports similar or faster point operation throughput (between .94×-1.2× faster) compared to Masstree and OpenBw-tree, two state-of-the-art in-memory key-value (KV) stores. On a YCSB workload with short scans, the BP-tree is about 7.4× faster than Masstree and 1.6× faster than OpenBw-tree. Furthermore, we extend the YCSB to add large range workloads, commonly found in database applications, and show that the BP-tree is 30× faster than Masstree and 2.5× faster than OpenBw-tree. We also provide a reference implementation for a concurrent B + -tree and find that the BP-tree supports faster (between 1.03×-1.2× faster) point operations when compared to the best-case configuration for B + -trees for point operations while supporting similar performance (about .95× as fast) on short range operations and faster (about 1.3× faster) long range operations.
Cultural Conceptions of Morality: Examining Laypeople’s Associations of the Moral Person

Moral psychology is controversial regarding the question whether it is universal or culturally relative. One option is to refrain from imposing theoretical constraints in the assessment of morality, and instead to ask laypeople from different cultures how they conceptualize morality. Our paper is the first to adopt this approach by examining laypeople’s associations of the moral person in individualistic-and collectivistic-oriented cultures. Using correspondence analysis we found that the concept of the moral person yields associations with justice and welfare concerns that are widely shared. Yet, as expected, there were also clear cultural differences with individualistic-oriented samples associating more frequently rights-based attributes and collectivistic-oriented samples duty-based attributes. When matching the free-listed trait categories with Schwartz´ (1992) ten value types, the moral values hierarchy was very similar across cultures. Imposing constraints through expert-designed category systems may mask cultural differences and narrow the scope of inquiry to universal aspects of morality.
HOW TRANSPORTATION ARTERIES IMPACT LAND VALUE

Major transportation arteries, particularly express ways and rapid transit lines, play crucial roles in the development of planned "new cities" throughout the world. One such role is helping to generate rising land values--the cornerstone on which the economic feasibility of new cities is built. This article explores some of the implications of that role regarding public policy towards major transportation arteries service new cities.
Menopause - The Journal of The North American Menopause

: Objective: Growing evidence indicate that fat excess may be beneficial for the bone health with a protective effect on postmenopausal osteoporosis onset; moreover, experimental data suggest that this link might be due to a direct effect of adipokines on the bone tissue. However, evidences confirming this association are still limited. Methods: We evaluated the levels of interleukin (IL) -6, IL-8, IL-1β, adipsin, lipocalin-2/NGAL, tumor necrosis factor alpha, monocyte chemotactic protein-1, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, hepatocyte growth factor, resistin, leptin and adiponectin in a sample (n = 127) including postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, osteopenia and normal bone mass density (BMD). Results: At univariate analysis, only leptin and adiponectin were significantly correlated with the BMD
PERFORMANCE OF CONVECTIVE SCHEMES IN DENSITY BASED SOLVER

In the applications where both compressible and near incompressible regimes are involved, there is need for algorithms which should work in both compressible and incompressible regimes. In this paper, we solved compressible Euler and Navier-Stokes equations by using three convective schemes (AUSM+, SLAU2, Rho with Preconditioning) which are known to do reasonably well in both the regimes and compared them with standard bench mark cases in subsonic, transonic and supersonic regions obtained from literature. Furthermore, the performance and computational performance of these schemes are compared for these cases using the explicit time stepping method with CFL 0.5 for steady state solutions. It is seen that AUSM+ and SLAU2 are twice as fast as Rho with preconditioning.
Climate Change and the Austrian Tourism Sector: Impacts, Adaptation and Macroeconomic Spillover Effects

Even if all greenhouse gas emissions stopped at once, temperatures are predicted to continue rising due to the inertia of the climate system. As skiing tourism in the Austrian Alps is highly climate sensitive, higher temperature and changed precipitation patterns require increased artificial snow making. However, spa and urban tourism rely less on climatic conditions and may benefit from a shift in demand. In this paper, we assess the different climate change impacts and adaptation options for the Austrian tourism sector up to 2050 by taking account of macroeconomic feedback effects. We find in each of the climate scenarios negative effects on demand in all tourism region types. For the summer season, the extent of potential climate change impacts are found to be smaller and the impact direction to be less clear. Due to macroeconomic feedback effects, also non-tourism sectors are affected, but while until 2020 negative spillover effects emerge due to reduced demand from tourism sectors, the effect becomes positive until 2040. Appropriate adaptation measures may counteract a substantial fraction of climate change impacts, but this increases production costs, especially for artificial snow making. In particular, adaptation leads to price increases in the “focus on winter tourism” region for all climatic scenarios in 2020. In contrast, adaptation in the other tourism region types may lead to price decreases due to higher cost savings from reduced heating and reduced relative prices from other inputs. See above See above
First cases of Leishmania ( Viannia ) naiffi infection in Ecuador and identification of its suspected vector species

Title First human cases of Leishmania (Viannia) naiffi infection in Ecuador and identification of its suspected vector species Author(s) Kato, Hirotomo; Calvopina, Manuel; Criollo, Hipatia; Hashiguchi, Yoshihisa Citation Acta Tropica, 128(3), 710-713 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actatropica. 2013.09. 001 Issue Date 2013-12 Doc URL http://hdl.handle. net/2115/54523 Type article (author version) File Information ActaTropica128_3_710. pdf
Molecular identification of isolates of Trichoderma spp as biocontroller of Fusarium falciforme , causal agent of root rot of

Root rot caused by pathogens limits the production of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz), a crop of high interest for the Northeast region of Brazil. The difficulty in management has led to the search for alternatives, among which, the biocontrol with Trichoderma spp , has been showing significant results. Due to the importance of the cassava crop and the existing phytosanitary problems, this work aimed to identify, through molecular tools, the isolates of Trichoderma spp . that obtained the best performance in inhibiting the development of F. falciforme . Trichoderma isolates were selected by the method of confrontation and production of metabolites. Subsequently, the DNA was extracted and the sequencing of the ITS region was performed for phylogenetic analysis. Twelve Trichoderma isolates were obtained, among which, five (T5; T6; T10; T13; T15) produced bioactive substances that significantly inhibited the development of F. falciforme . The T5; T6 and T15 were submitted to a phylogenetic study based on the ITS region of the DNA because they presented better results. The results of the phylogenetic analysis based on the gene sequences of the ITS region of the DNA, revealed with 100% reliability that the isolates are of the genus Trichoderma , being T5 of the species T. citrinoviride with 99% of similarity in the sequence; T6 is T. harzianum with 95% and T15 is T. orientale with 95%. The isolates T. citrinoviride and T. orientale are the first reports of these species acting as biocontrollers of phytopathogens in cassava plantation areas in the state of Alagoas.
Synchronization and information flow in EEGs of epileptic patients.

An information-theoretic approach suitable for studying synchronization phenomena in experimental time series has been applied in analysis of EEG recordings of epileptic patients. Transient phenomena leading to seizures have been characterized by increased synchronization (local and between areas) and asymmetry in information flow (the area of the epileptogenic focus drives and synchronizes adjacent areas). Although the results should be regarded as preliminary, they suggest that the method has a promising potential for localization of epileptic foci and anticipation of approaching seizures.
Evaluating Climate Change Effects in Two Contrasting Reservoirs Using Two-Dimensional Water Quality and Hydrodynamic Models

Evaluating Climate Change Effects in Two Contrasting Reservoirs Using Two-Dimensional Water Quality and Hydrodynamic Models Oliver Obregon Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, BYU Doctor of Philosophy I analyzed and compared impacts from global climate change (GCC) and land use change to Deer Creek (United States) a temperate reservoir and Aguamilpa (Mexico), a tropical reservoir by using calibrated CE-QUAL-W2 (W2) water quality and hydrodynamic models based on field data over an extended time period. I evaluated and compared the sensitivity to predicted GCC and land use changes. I individually evaluated changes to air temperature (TAIR), inflow rates (Q), and nutrient loads (PO4-P and NO3-NO2-N) followed by analysis of worst case scenarios. I developed analysis methods using indexes to represent the total reservoir change calculated using the total parameter mass (i.e., algae, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids) normalized by the reservoir volume to eliminate apparent mass changes due to volume changes. These indexes have units of average concentrations, but are better thought of as a global reservoir index or normalized concentration. These indexes allow analysis of the total reservoir and not just specific zones. Total normalized algal concentrations were impacted more by changes in nutrient inflows (land use) in both reservoirs than to changes in TAIR and Q. For Deer Creek, PO4-P changes significantly increased normalized algal concentrations in the reservoir and in dam releases when PO4-P inflow was increased by 50%. Aguamilpa was more sensitive to NO3-NO2-N changes, exhibiting significant increases in normalized algal concentration for the +50% NO3-NO2-N simulation. Both reservoirs showed small changes to normalized algal concentration for the +3oC TAIR simulation with the largest changes occurring during warm seasons. However, Deer Creek exhibited decreased total algal levels when TAIR was increased by 3oC while Aguamilpa showed increased total algal levels with the 3oC increase in TAIR. These contrasting trends, a decrease in Deer Creek and an increase in Aguamilpa, were produced by algae succession processes. Changes in Q affected normalized algal concentration in both reservoirs in different ways. In Aguamilpa, total algal levels increased under dry conditions while Deer Creek showed little general change associated with flow changes. Worst case scenario simulations, which included changing more than one parameter, showed that GCC changes can cause large impacts if they occur simultaneously with high nutrient loadings. These results begin to show how GCC could impact reservoirs and how these impacts compare to potential impacts from land use change. The results show that both temperate and tropical reservoirs are impacted by GCC but are more sensitive to nutrients. The methods, plots, and tools developed in this study can assist water managers in evaluating and studying GCC and land use changes effects in reservoirs worldwide.
Data Dependence for Object-Oriented Programs

The System Dependence Graph (SDG) is a program representation used in several static analyses. In particular, it is the basis of program slicing, a technique that extracts the part of the program that may directly or indirectly affect the values computed at a given program point (known as the slicing criterion). Several approaches have enhanced the SDG representation to deal with object-oriented situations like inheritance, polymorphism, or dynamic bindings. Currently, the most advanced approach is the Java System Dependence Graph (JSysDG), which subsumes previous approaches and that is able to represent all those situations. In this paper, we show that even the JSysDG does not produce complete slices in all cases when some object variables are selected as the slicing criterion. To solve this limitation, we first identify the source of the problem: the representation of dependences between partial definitions of objects is insufficient in the JSysDG, leading to a loss of completeness in many cases. Then, we extend the JSysDG with the addition of a specific flow dependence for object type variables called object-flow dependence . This extension provides a more accurate flow representation between object variables and its data members and allows us to obtain complete slices when an object variable is considered as slicing criterion.
Tomographie par projections orthogonales et ouverture codee

En medecine nucleaire, les images planaires et tomographiques sont principalement limitees en resolution (inferieure au centimetre) et en sensibilite par la necessite d'utiliser des collimateurs. La tomographie par ouverture codee est une methode permettant d'ameliorer ces caracteristiques en remplacant le collimateur a canaux paralleles par un masque muni de trous stenopeiques dont les avantages sont lies au systeme multi - pinhole : augmentation de la sensibilite, amelioration de la resolution spatiale, possibilite d'acquisitions tomographiques dynamiques et multi spectrales en energie. Le masque a ouverture codee de notre systeme a ete realise a partir d'un algorithme mathematique de singer. Selon cette sequence pseudo - aleatoire, cent quatre-vingt-seize trous coniques de 3,1 mm de diametre ont ete perces dans une plaque de plomb de 3,0 mm d'epaisseur. Cette plaque est fixee a une distance focale de 336,0 mm du cristal de la gamma - camera. La reconstruction d'un objet a partir d'une image (projection planaire de l'objet a travers le masque) permet d'obtenir des coupes jointives paralleles au detecteur. Cette reconstruction utilise une technique iterative selon un algorithme faisant appel au maximum de vraisemblance maximum likelihood - expectation maximization : ml - em qui permet de prendre en compte cette geometrie particuliere d'acquisition. La sensibilite d'acquisition du systeme a ete mesuree dix fois superieure a celle obtenue grace a un collimateur a canaux paralleles de basse energie - ultra haute resolution (low energy ultra high resolution : leuhr). Ce systeme a permis de reconstruire un volume de 133,30 176,70 130,33 mm 3, i l h, echantillonne en 29 coupes de 29 39 pixels correspondant a des voxels isotropes de 4,5 mm de cote. Des reconstructions de simulations numeriques et physiques d'objets ont ete realisees. L'acquisition d'une seconde image de projection orthogonale codee a permis d'ameliorer la resolution en profondeur (effet tomographique) et d'obtenir une resolution homogene dans les trois directions de l'espace mesuree a 5,4 mm. Des corrections de la diffusion compton et de l'attenuation des photons peuvent etre integrees dans l'algorithme iteratif de reconstruction afin d'obtenir des valeurs quantitatives.
A Self-Calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index

The Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) has been used for more than 30 years to quantify the long-term drought conditions for a given location and time. However, a common critique of the PDSI is that the behavior of the index at various locations is inconsistent, making spatial comparisons of PDSI values difficult, if not meaningless. A self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (SC-PDSI) is presented and evaluated. The SC-PDSI automatically calibrates the behavior of the index at any location by replacing empirical constants in the index computation with dynamically calculated values. An evaluation of the SC-PDSI at 761 sites within Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota, as well as at all 344 climate divisions shows that it is more spatially comparable than the PDSI, and reports extreme wet and dry conditions with frequencies that would be expected for rare conditions.
Inclusion of new arrived migrants in Science and Math: the Augmented Assessment approach

This paper focuses on the inclusion of newly arrived migrants in Europe, reporting on the project “Augmented Assessment” (ERASMUS+/KA3). The project aims to narrow the assessment gap that results from barriers between those students and their teachers. The project’s theoretical orientations and the pedagogical approach guided the creation of an Augmented Assessment Training Course and Library. This paper explores primary and secondary teachers’ initial reflections and perceptions on piloting the proposed Augmented Assessment approach with newly arrived migrant students and how this approach could help them to perform a more inclusive assessment in Science and Mathematics. Results from the analysis of reflective diaries are presented and discussed in relation to existing international literature, and some initial conclusions are drawn.
A global climatology of stratosphere–troposphere exchange using the ERA-Interim data set from 1979 to 2011

Abstract. In this study we use the ERA-Interim reanalysis data set from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and a refined version of a previously developed Lagrangian methodology to compile a global 33 yr climatology of stratosphere–troposphere exchange (STE) from 1979 to 2011. Fluxes of mass and ozone are calculated across the tropopause, pressure surfaces in the troposphere, and the top of the planetary boundary layer (PBL). This climatology provides a state-of-the-art quantification of the geographical distribution of STE and the preferred transport pathways, as well as insight into the temporal evolution of STE during the last 33 yr. We confirm the distinct zonal and seasonal asymmetry found in previous studies using comparable methods. The subset of "deep STE", where stratospheric air reaches the PBL within 4 days or vice versa, shows especially strong geographical and seasonal variations. The global hotspots for deep STE are found along the west coast of North America and over the Tibetan Plateau, especially in boreal winter and spring. An analysis of the time series reveals significant positive trends of the net downward mass flux and of deep STE in both directions, which are particularly large over North America. The downward ozone flux across the tropopause is dominated by the seasonal cycle of ozone concentrations at the tropopause and peaks in summer, when the mass flux is nearly at its minimum. For the subset of deep STE events, the situation is reversed and the downward ozone flux into the PBL is dominated by the mass flux and peaks in early spring. Thus surface ozone concentration along the west coast of North America and around the Tibetan Plateau are likely to be influenced by deep stratospheric intrusions. We discuss the sensitivity of our results on the choice of the control surface representing the tropopause, the horizontal and vertical resolution of the trajectory starting grid, and the minimum residence time τ used to filter out transient STE trajectories.
UAV Images for Agriculture Land Parcel Delineation through Edge Detection Algorithm: A Case Study of Hilly and Terai Regions

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for remote sensing applications has gained significant attention in recent years. One important aspect of UAV-based remote sensing is the accurate delineation of parcels, which is essential for a wide range of applications, including land use planning, agricultural monitoring, and cadastral map preparation among several others. The on-screen manual digitization method can delineate parcels with great precision. However, the method is labor-intensive, time-consuming, and expensive. Alternatively, it can be achieved by utilizing automated algorithms. In this study, an edge detection algorithm is employed to delineate agriculture parcels using UAV images in the ENVI platform. The algorithm uses a pre-programmed algorithm to automatically detect and delineate field boundaries. The delineated boundaries were cleaned and refined by smoothing the polygon and the line vectors. The obtained parcel boundaries and their geometric parameters were assessed against manually digitized parcel boundaries using the same UAV ortho-mosaic. The method was tested on two scenarios: i) Terai farms having flat topography and small dikes and ii) Hill farms having undulated terrain in a terraced farming structure and crowded parcels. The mean of the percentage change in area for the land parcel was found to be 2.43% and 4.69% respectively for Terai and Hilly regions. Similarly, the mean of the percentage change in the perimeter of the land parcels were 8.82% and 2.43% respectively for Terai and Hilly regions. The study demonstrated the feasibility of using UAV images for agriculture land parcel delineation and highlighted the potential of an in-built edge detection algorithm as a time-efficient and reliable alternative to manual digitization if refinement and proper selection of algorithm and parameters are done. Thus, automated algorithms can be utilized to reasonably delineate agriculture parcels from UAV images.