Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diverse Land Use and the Impact on (Irrigation) Water Quality and Need for Measures — A Case Study of a Norwegian River

Surface water is used for irrigation of food plants all over the World. Such water can be of variable hygienic quality, and can be contaminated from many different sources. The association of contaminated irrigation water with contamination of fresh produce is well established, and many outbreaks of foodborne disease associated with fresh produce consumption have been reported. The objective of the present study was to summarize the data on fecal indicators and selected bacterial pathogens to assess the level of fecal contamination of a Norwegian river used for irrigation in an area which has a high production level of various types of food commodities. Sources for fecal pollution of the river were identified. Measures implemented to reduce discharges from the wastewater sector and agriculture, and potential measures identified for future implementation are presented and discussed in relation to potential benefits and costs. It is important that the users of the water, independent of intended use, are aware of the hygienic quality and the potential interventions that may be applied. Our results suggest that contamination of surface water is a complex web of many factors and that several measures and interventions on different levels are needed to achieve a sound river and safe irrigation.
Analysis of Human and Mouse Reprogramming of Somatic Cells to Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. What Is in the Plate?

After the hope and controversy brought by embryonic stem cells two decades ago for regenerative medicine, a new turn has been taken in pluripotent cells research when, in 2006, Yamanaka's group reported the reprogramming of fibroblasts to pluripotent cells with the transfection of only four transcription factors. Since then many researchers have managed to reprogram somatic cells from diverse origins into pluripotent cells, though the cellular and genetic consequences of reprogramming remain largely unknown. Furthermore, it is still unclear whether induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are truly functionally equivalent to embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and if they demonstrate the same differentiation potential as ESCs. There are a large number of reprogramming experiments published so far encompassing genome-wide transcriptional profiling of the cells of origin, the iPSCs and ESCs, which are used as standards of pluripotent cells and allow us to provide here an in-depth analysis of transcriptional profiles of human and mouse cells before and after reprogramming. When compared to ESCs, iPSCs, as expected, share a common pluripotency/self-renewal network. Perhaps more importantly, they also show differences in the expression of some genes. We concentrated our efforts on the study of bivalent domain-containing genes (in ESCs) which are not expressed in ESCs, as they are supposedly important for differentiation and should possess a poised status in pluripotent cells, i.e. be ready to but not yet be expressed. We studied each iPSC line separately to estimate the quality of the reprogramming and saw a correlation of the lowest number of such genes expressed in each respective iPSC line with the stringency of the pluripotency test achieved by the line. We propose that the study of expression of bivalent domain-containing genes, which are normally silenced in ESCs, gives a valuable indication of the quality of the iPSC line, and could be used to select the best iPSC lines out of a large number of lines generated in each reprogramming experiment.
Pre-Aggregation for Irregular OLAP Hierarchies with the TreeScape System

We present the TreeScape system which, unlike any other system known to the authors, enables the reuse of pre-computed aggregate query results involving the kinds of irregular dimen-sion hierarchies that occur frequently in practice. The system establishes a foundation for obtaining high-performance query processing while pre-computing only few aggregates. It is demonstrated how this reuse of aggregates is enabled through di-mension transformations that occur transparently to the user.
MEMS tools for combinatorial materials processing and high-throughput characterization

Using the combinatorial material synthesis approach, materials libraries can be produced in one experiment that contain up to several thousand samples on a single substrate. In order to identify optimized materials in an efficient way using screening methods, adequate automated material characterization tools have to be designed and applied. Microsystems (micro-electro-mechanical systems: MEMS) offer powerful tools for the fabrication and processing of materials libraries as well as for accelerated material characterization on planar substrates such as Si wafers. MEMS can be used for parallel materials processing, either as passive devices such as shadow mask structures, or as active devices such as micro-hotplates. Microstructured wafers, which incorporate sensor or actuator structures such as electrode or cantilever arrays, can be used to identify materials properties in an efficient way.
A New Subtree-Transfer Approach to Syntax-Based Reordering for Statistical Machine Translation

In this paper we address the problem of translating between languages with word order disparity. The idea of augmenting statistical machine translation (SMT) by using a syntax-based reordering step prior to translation, proposed in recent years, has been quite successful in improving translation quality. We present a new technique for extracting syntax-based reordering rules, which are derived through a syntactically augmented alignment of source and target texts. The parallel corpus with reordered source side is then passed to an N -gram-based machine translation system and the obtained results are contrasted with a monotone system performance. In experiments, we show significant improvement for the Chinese-to-English translation task.
Enabling Human Interaction with Bio-Inspired Robot Teams : Topologies , Leaders , Predators , and Stakeholders BYU-HCMI Technical Report 2011-1

This report formalizes the problem of human-interaction with bio-inspired robot teams (HuBIRT) and then systematically explores properties of various biological collectives that allow human interaction. The goal is to identify models, topologies, and control strategies that allow a decentralized agent collective to be appropriately influenced by a human. Evidence is provided that nearest neighbor topologies are more likely to be more cohesive than metric-based topologies but are less expressive. Importantly, randomly dynamic topologies appear to be as expressive as metric-based topologies and open up the possibility of probabilistically connected topologies, but this is not explored further in this report. Evidence is also provided that when nominal agents use switching-based control to respond to predators and leaders, the resulting behavior can be effectively influenced by a human and that this influence is more effective when using leaders than predators; however, the influence is obtained at the cost of changing the dynamic structure of the collective. Using non-switching controllers allows a human to influence the collective while retaining the collective’s structure, but this requires more than one leader and risks fragmenting the collective. Finally, evidence is presented that groups of stakeholders, which seek both to influence and to be influenced by other agents, can sustain influence over certain types of collectives more effectively than cohorts of leaders.
Breast tissue differentiation using arterial spin tagging

An arterial spin tagging (AST) pulse sequence has been developed to measure T1 and relative blood perfusion. This full sequence is composed of three sequences: selective tagging, nonselective tagging, and nontagging. Perfusion quantification error resulting from imperfect inversion and acquisition slice profiles has been addressed in the literature. In this work, the error is reduced through the application of optimized Shinnar‐Le Roux (SLR) RF pulses and a semi‐log linear regression data‐processing technique. A threshold approach based on the breast tissue T1 and relative blood perfusion is introduced to show that these two parameters can be applied to breast tissue differentiation and potentially to cancer detection. Magn Reson Med 50:966–975, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A New 3D Map Reconstruction Based Mobile Robot Navigation

In order to build a precise 3D map of outdoor environment, a novel map reconstruction algorithm is proposed based on a mobile robot. The robot used a four-layer laser radar (LD_ML) to obtain space information and used a DGPS/INS (difference GPS/inertial navigation system) position system to obtain itself pose and position information. With the aim of building a complete 3D grid map, the range data of environment need be changed into a world coordinate system with the simultaneous position data of the robot. Since the outdoor environment is always complicated, the 3D grid map is built by updating z-coordinate value using obstacle detection results. And the obstacle detection is achieved by LD_ML according to the gradient and height information of detection regions. The results of 3D grip map reconstruction testified the 3D map reconstruction algorithm was reliable and stable
Why Many Users Want Custom Products

The high rates of user innovation documented in chapter 2 suggest that many users may want custom products. Why should this be so? I will argue that it is because many users have needs that differ in detail, and many also have both sufficient willingness to pay and sufficient resources to obtain a custom product that is just right for their individual needs. In this chapter, I first present the case for heterogeneity of user needs. I then review a study that explores users' heterogeneity of need and willingness to pay for product customization. If many individual users or user firms want something different in a product type, it is said that heterogeneity of user need for that product type is high. If users' needs are highly heterogeneous, only small numbers of users will tend to want exactly the same thing. In such a case it is unlikely that mass-produced products will precisely suit the needs of many users. Mass manufacturers tend to want to build products that will appeal to more users rather than fewer, so as to spread their fixed costs of development and production. If many users want something different, and if they have adequate interest and resources to get exactly the product they need, they will be driven either to develop it for themselves or to pay a custom manufacturer to develop it for them. Are users' needs for new products (and services) often highly hetero-geneous? A test of reason suggests that they are. An individual's or a firm's need for a many products depends on detailed considerations regarding the user's initial state and resources, on the pathway the user must traverse to get from the initial state to the preferred state, and on detailed considerations
Handling Topology Changes in InfiniBand

InfiniBand is a high-performance switched network. Its topology may change due to devices being turned on/off, hot expansion, link remapping, and component failures. The InfiniBand specification defines a management infrastructure which is responsible for detecting and assimilating any change in the network. When a change occurs, management entities must update switch forwarding tables, in order to maintain the connectivity among end nodes. This implies the acquisition of the current topology and the computation of a new set of routes accordingly. It is desirable that the execution of this process does not affect the performance of the upper-level applications that are using the network. In previous works, we have proposed enhanced implementations for the main tasks involved in the assimilation of a change. Now, we present a detailed performance evaluation of a management mechanism which incorporates all our proposals
Efficient optical communication in parallel computers

We study the problem of interprocessor communication in a parallel computer model suggested by recent advances in optical technology. The units of the computer (processors with local memory) communicate with each other by transmitting messages. A processor can transmit a message to any other processor, and transmission takes constant time. If two or more processors try to send a message to the same processor no transmission is successful and retransmission must occur. We show how to implement an extremely simple and efficient form of randomized routing in this model. We study, in particular, the problem of realizing arbitrary h-relations. In an h-relation, each processor is the source as well as the destination of at most h messages. We propose a simple and practical distributed randomized algorithm for realizing arbitrary h-relations on an n-processor such network within O(h + log n log log n) parallel communication steps. Our algorithm is pure in the sense that no information aside from actual messages is transmitted between processors. Anderson and Miller [1] and Valiant [19] have derived a @(h + log n) algorithm for the same problem, which achieves optimality for a slightly larger range of h. Their algorithm is complicated as opposed to ours that we believe to be practical. Optimal interprocessor communication algorithms in realistic models of parallel computers are not only interesting in their own sake, they are one of the main components in optimally simulating PRAMs as well aa implementing Valiant's bulk-synchronous parallel model [13, 19, 18]. 1 Introduction Optics has been used in the design of special purpose computing devices for quite some time now, especially in the field of signal processing. Recent technological advances make it also an appealing alternative to electronics in the design of general purpose computers. The use of optics has been suggested in such diverse areas as storage, processing, and for providing communica-t put of this ~e~e=ch wss done ~hile the second author WVM Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advantage, the ACM copyright notice and the title of the publication and its date appear, and notice k given that copying is by permission of the Association for Computing Machinery. To copy otherwise , or to republish, requires a fee andlor specific permission. tion between different modules within computer systems. The use of optical interconnects …
Hypertext - New Paradigms in Legal Education

Hypertext and Hypermedia require no assumptions as to the nature of law, nor any rule formalism; they are a "quick and dirty" method of presenting material - legal or otherwise. Until now hypertext has lacked a theoretical foundation. Some might argue that this is one of its greatest virtues, in that building Hypertext requires no grand theory. However, Critical Theory, in particular Derridian/Foucaultian Post-modernism, has clear theoretical applications to Hypertext/Hypermedia. Hypertext has the potential to deconstruct much of the accepted thinking on the nature of academic instruction and learning, not merely in a legal context.
Jasmonate ZIM-Domain (JAZ) Protein Regulates Host and Nonhost Pathogen-Induced Cell Death in Tomato and Nicotiana benthamiana

The nonhost-specific phytotoxin coronatine (COR) produced by several pathovars of Pseudomonas syringae functions as a jasmonic acid-isoleucine (JA-Ile) mimic and contributes to disease development by suppressing plant defense responses and inducing reactive oxygen species in chloroplast. It has been shown that the F-box protein CORONATINE INSENSITIVE 1 (COI1) is the receptor for COR and JA-Ile. JASMONATE ZIM DOMAIN (JAZ) proteins act as negative regulators for JA signaling in Arabidopsis. However, the physiological significance of JAZ proteins in P. syringae disease development and nonhost pathogen-induced hypersensitive response (HR) cell death is not completely understood. In this study, we identified JAZ genes from tomato, a host plant for P. syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (Pst DC3000), and examined their expression profiles in response to COR and pathogens. Most JAZ genes were induced by COR treatment or inoculation with COR-producing Pst DC3000, but not by the COR-defective mutant DB29. Tomato SlJAZ2, SlJAZ6 and SlJAZ7 interacted with SlCOI1 in a COR-dependent manner. Using virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS), we demonstrated that SlJAZ2, SlJAZ6 and SlJAZ7 have no effect on COR-induced chlorosis in tomato and Nicotiana benthamiana. However, SlJAZ2-, SlJAZ6- and SlJAZ7-silenced tomato plants showed enhanced disease-associated cell death to Pst DC3000. Furthermore, we found delayed HR cell death in response to the nonhost pathogen Pst T1 or a pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP), INF1, in SlJAZ2- and SlJAZ6-silenced N. benthamiana. These results suggest that tomato JAZ proteins regulate the progression of cell death during host and nonhost interactions.
A Fuzzy Logic Based QoS Evaluation Model for Wireless Sensor Network

Quality of Service (QoS) in Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) presents a great challenge to researchers, and work in this area has been isolated and focused on some specific protocol layers or application scenarios. In this paper, we propose a holistic QoS model to evaluate the performance of WSN. QoS requirements within a WSN reference architecture is presented, and then a two-way mapping between application layer parameters and network layer parameters is carefully analyzed using fuzzy logic. Finally, we propose a fuzzy logic based comprehensive evaluation model for systematic QoS in WSN, and use a case study to illustrate its effectiveness.
Error Correction in Audio Steganography

This paper presents an improved technique for hiding data in audio. The proposed method modifies the LSB of samples of the cover audio file to embed the secret message. To increase the security of the proposed scheme, using a key to adjust the hiding technique. To increase the robustness of this scheme, using hamming code as error correction code . The suggested scheme does not need the original signal for extracting the hidden bits. Under the context of using audio as the host message, this could mean that stego-audio file sounds looks almost like the original audio file. The secret message might be a text, an image, or any data that can be represented in the form of a stream of bits. Hiding data in audio use the weakness of the HAS to embed the hidden data in the regions of the audio signals at which human ears are unable to perceive the distortion caused by the data embedding process. The HAS is much more sensitive than the HVS, so the space of frequency domain or time domain in audio signals where data can be embedded imperceptibly is limited. Using a key as a seed to generate a binary string and the amplitude of the cover audio are adjusted based on this binary string. In data transmission lots of noises will be there, transmitting station must add extra data (called error correction bits ) to the transmission. Parity bits are adding in the data . If an odd number of bits is changed in transmission, the message will change parity and the error can be detected. In received message, using hamming matrix finds the error location and removing the errors. Keywords— Steganography, hamming code, random numbe, phase coding, perceptiveness;
A Conceptualization of IT Platform for the Needs of Enterprise IT Landscape Modeling

An Information Technology (IT) platform is commonly perceived not only as an important part of the IT infrastructure of an organization, but also as an artifact enabling innovation and value creation by supporting the provision of various IT services. The concept of an IT platform is however quite broad and there seems to be a lack of common agreement what actually an IT platform is and how it should be described. This lack of consensus is detrimental to the development of IT Infrastructure modeling languages, which currently hardly ever support detailed modeling of an IT platform in all its variety. As a response, the aims of this paper are to: (1) analyze the way an IT platform is perceived in the literature as well as by currently existing IT infrastructure modeling languages, (2) conceptualize an IT platform by identifying its distinguishing features, and finally (3) to introduce an extended domain-specific modeling language for IT infrastructure (ITML) accounting for a more detailed conceptualization of an IT platform. We contribute a conceptualization in which (1) the platform's functionality and constraints are first class citizens, and (2) the idea of a platform stack, whereby the functionality and constraints on one type of IT platform (e.g., a hardware platform), serve as a foundation for another type of platform (e.g., an operating system in the case of a hardware platform).
Fast retrieval and autonomous regulation of single spontaneously recycling synaptic vesicles

Presynaptic terminals release neurotransmitters spontaneously in a manner that can be regulated by Ca2+. However, the mechanisms underlying this regulation are poorly understood because the inherent stochasticity and low probability of spontaneous fusion events has curtailed their visualization at individual release sites. Here, using pH-sensitive optical probes targeted to synaptic vesicles, we visualized single spontaneous fusion events and found that they are retrieved extremely rapidly with faster re-acidification kinetics than their action potential-evoked counterparts. These fusion events were coupled to postsynaptic NMDA receptor-driven Ca2+ signals, and at elevated Ca2+ concentrations there was an increase in the number of vesicles that would undergo fusion. Furthermore, spontaneous vesicle fusion propensity in a synapse was Ca2+-dependent but regulated autonomously: independent of evoked fusion probability at the same synapse. Taken together, these results expand classical quantal analysis to incorporate endocytic and exocytic phases of single fusion events and uncover autonomous regulation of spontaneous fusion. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.03658. 001