Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Heterogeneity within Tree Crowns on Airborne-Quantified SIF and the CWSI as Indicators of Water Stress in the Context of Precision Agriculture

This research focused on understanding the effects of structural heterogeneity within tree crowns on the airborne retrieval of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) and the Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI). We explored the SIF and CWSI variability observed within crowns of trees subjected to different water stress regimes and its effect on the relationships with leaf physiological measurements. High-resolution (20 cm) hyperspectral imagery was acquired to assess fluorescence retrieval from sunlit portions of the tree crowns using the Fraunhofer line depth method, and from entire crowns using automatic object-based tree crown detection methods. We also measured the canopy temperature distribution within tree crowns using segmentation algorithms based on temperature percentiles applied to high-resolution (25 cm) thermal imagery. The study was conducted in an almond orchard cultivated under three watering regimes in Cordoba, in southern Spain. Three airborne campaigns took place during the summer of 2015 using high-resolution hyperspectral and thermal cameras on board a manned aircraft. Relationships between SIF and the assimilation rate improved significantly when the sunlit tree crown pixels extracted through segmentation were used for all flight dates. By contrast, the SIF signal extracted from the entire tree crowns was highly degraded due to the canopy heterogeneity observed within tree crowns. The quartile crown segmentations applied to the thermal images showed that the CWSI values obtained were within the theoretically expected CWSI range only when the pixels were extracted from the 50th percentile class. However, the CWSI values were biased in the upper quartile (Q75) for all watering regimes due to the soil background effects on the calculated mean crown temperature. The relationship between the CWSI and Gs was heavily affected by the crown segmentation levels applied and improved remarkably when the CWSI values were calculated from the middle quartile crown segmentation (Q50), corresponding to the coldest and purest vegetation pixels (r2 = 0.78 in pure vegetation pixels vs. r2 = 0.52 with the warmer pixels included in the upper quartile). This study highlights the importance of using high-resolution hyperspectral and thermal imagery for pure-object segmentation extractions from tree crowns in the context of precision agriculture and water stress detection.
Understanding and managing the off-road vehicle experience: indicators of quality

Off-road vehicle (ORV) use is one of the most popular and fastest growing leisure activities in the United States. Most research on ORV use has focused on its potential environmental impacts and conflicts with other types of recreation, while relatively little research has examined the ORV experience itself. The concept of indicators and standards of quality has emerged in the literature as a conceptual framework for understanding and managing outdoor recreation. This study applies the concept of indicators of quality to ORV use at Cape Cod National Seashore (Cape Cod). (Standards of quality for indicator variables are addressed in a companion paper in a later issue of Managing Leisure.) Qualitative interviews were conducted during the 2004 use season with 61 ORV users at Cape Cod to gather information on indicators of quality for the ORV experience. A content analysis was performed on the transcripts, and results suggest that crowding, the portion of the ORV route open, ease of obtaining a permit, amount of litter, availability of support facilities, and the behavior and actions of ORV users are potential indicators of quality. The portion of the ORV route open may be a less useful indicator because it is not easily adaptable due to current legislative and regulatory guidance for the management of threatened shorebirds. The other variables are better potential indicators because they may be more readily measured and managed.
Sample Selected Extreme Learning Machine Based Intrusion Detection in Fog Computing and MEC

Fog computing, as a new paradigm, has many characteristics that are different from cloud computing. Due to the resources being limited, fog nodes/MEC hosts are vulnerable to cyberattacks. Lightweight intrusion detection system (IDS) is a key technique to solve the problem. Because extreme learning machine (ELM) has the characteristics of fast training speed and good generalization ability, we present a new lightweight IDS called sample selected extreme learning machine (SS-ELM). The reason why we propose “sample selected extreme learning machine” is that fog nodes/MEC hosts do not have the ability to store extremely large amounts of training data sets. Accordingly, they are stored, computed, and sampled by the cloud servers. Then, the selected sample is given to the fog nodes/MEC hosts for training. This design can bring down the training time and increase the detection accuracy. Experimental simulation verifies that SS-ELM performs well in intrusion detection in terms of accuracy, training time, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) value.
The pharmacology and mechanism of action of riluzole

The excitotoxic hypothesis of neurodegeneration has stimulated much interest in the possibility of using compounds that will block excitotoxic processes to treat neurologic disorders.Riluzole is a neuroprotective drug that blocks glutamatergic neurotransmission in the CNS. Riluzole inhibits the release of glutamic acid from cultured neurons, from brain slices, and from corticostriatal neurons in vivo. It is thought these effects may be partly due to inactivation of voltage-dependent sodium channels on glutamatergic nerve terminals, as well as activation of a G-protein-dependent signal transduction process. Riluzole also blocks some of the postsynaptic effects of glutamic acid by noncompetitive blockade of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. In vivo, riluzole has neuroprotective, anticonvulsant, and sedative properties. In a rodent model of transient global cerebral ischemia, a complete suppression of the ischemia-evoked surge in glutamic acid release has been observed. In vitro, riluzole protects cultured neurons from anoxic damage, from the toxic effects of glutamic-acid-uptake inhibitors, and from the toxic factor in the CSF of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. NEUROLOGY 1996;47(Suppl 4): S233-S241
NOD/LtSz-Rag1nullPfpnull mice: a new model system with increased levels of human peripheral leukocyte and hematopoietic stem-cell engraftment

Background. A critical need exists for effective small-animal models that accept engraftment of human hematopoietic progenitor cells and mature lymphocytes. The purpose of this study was to determine the phenotypic effects of perforin (Pfp) deficiency on nonobese diabetic (NOD)-Rag1null mice and to evaluate the ability of NOD/LtSz-Rag1nullPfpnull recipients to support engraftment with human hematolymphoid cells. Methods. A new genetic stock of NOD mice doubly homozygous for targeted mutations at the recombination activating gene (Rag)-1 and Pfp genes was developed. NOD/LtSz-Rag1nullPfpnull mice were studied for immunopathologic and hematologic abnormalities. The ability of these mice to support engraftment with human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and umbilical-cord blood hematopoietic progenitor cells was assessed. Results. NOD/LtSz-Rag1nullPfpnull mice lacked mature B cells, T cells, natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxic activity and were devoid of serum immunoglobulin (Ig) throughout a 37-week lifespan. These mice supported heightened engraftment with human PBMC as compared with NOD/LtSz-Rag1null controls as evidenced by a 4- to 5-fold increase in percentages of human lymphocytes and a 7- to 13-fold increase in percentages of CD4+ T cells in the peripheral blood and spleen. Total numbers of human CD4+ T cells were increased approximately 20-fold in the spleens of NOD/LtSz-Rag1nullPfpnull mice. These mice also showed approximately 12-fold higher levels of engraftment with human umbilical-cord blood cells compared with NOD/LtSz-Rag1null mice. Conclusions. NOD/LtSz-Rag1nullPfpnull mice are devoid of mature B cell, T cell, and NK cell cytotoxic activity, engraft at high levels with human PBMC, and hematopoietic progenitor cells and provide a new NK cell-deficient model for human hematolymphoid cell engraftment.
Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumour of penis

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumour (MPNST) is a rare variety of soft tissue sarcoma that originates from Schwann cells or pluripotent cells of neural crest origin. They have historically been difficult tumours to diagnose and treat. Surgery is the mainstay of treatment with a goal to achieve negative margins. Despite aggressive surgery and adjuvant therapy, the prognosis of patients with MPNST remains poor. MPNST arising from penis is a very rare entity; thus, it presents a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. We present a case of penile MPNST in a 38‐year‐old man in the absence of neurofibromatosis treated with surgery followed by post‐operative radiotherapy to a dose of 60 Gray in 30 fractions and adjuvant chemotherapy with ifosfamide and adriamycin.
The Brain-Sex Theory of Occupational Choice: A Counterexample

The brain-sex theory of occupational choice suggests that males and females in male-typical careers show a male pattern of cognitive ability in terms of better spatial than verbal performance on cognitive tests with the reverse pattern for females and males in female-typical careers. These differences are thought to result from patterns of cerebral functional lateralisation. This study sought such occupationally related effects using synonym generation (verbal ability) and mental rotation (spatial ability) tasks used previously. It also used entrants to these careers as participants to examine whether patterns of cognitive abilities might predate explicit training and practice. Using a population of entrants to sex-differentiated university courses, a moderate occupational effect on the synonym generation task was found, along with a weak (p<.10) sex effect on the mental rotation task. Highest performance on the mental rotation task was by female students in fashion design, a female-dominated occupation which makes substantial visuospatial demands and attracts many students with literacy problems such as dyslexia. This group then appears to be a counterexample to the brain-sex theory. However, methodological issues surrounding previous studies are highlighted: the simple synonym task appears to show limited discrimination of the sexes, leading to questions concerning the legitimacy of inferences about lateralisation based on scores from that test. Moreover, the human figure-based mental rotation task appears to tap the wrong aspect of visuospatial skill, likely to be needed for male-typical courses such as engineering. Since the fashion-design career is also one that attracts disproportionately many male students whose sexual orientation is homosexual, data were examined for evidence of female-typical patterns of cognitive performance among that subgroup. This was not found. This study therefore provides no evidence for the claim that female-pattern cerebral functional lateralisation is likely in gay males.
Thermal and digestive constraints to foraging behaviour in marine mammals

While foraging models of terrestrial mammals are concerned primarily with optimizing time/energy budgets, models of foraging behaviour in marine mammals have been primarily concerned with physiological constraints. This has historically centred on calculations of aerobic dive limits. However, other physiological limits are key to forming foraging behaviour, including digestive limitations to food intake and thermoregulation. The ability of an animal to consume sufficient prey to meet its energy requirements is partly determined by its ability to acquire prey (limited by available foraging time, diving capabilities and thermoregulatory costs) and process that prey (limited by maximum digestion capacity and the time devoted to digestion). Failure to consume sufficient prey will have feedback effects on foraging, thermoregulation and digestive capacity through several interacting avenues. Energy deficits will be met through catabolism of tissues, principally the hypodermal lipid layer. Depletion of this blubber layer can affect both buoyancy and gait, increasing the costs and decreasing the efficiency of subsequent foraging attempts. Depletion of the insulative blubber layer may also increase thermoregulatory costs, which will decrease the foraging abilities through higher metabolic overheads. Thus, an energy deficit may lead to a downward spiral of increased tissue catabolism to pay for increased energy costs. Conversely, the heat generated through digestion and foraging activity may help to offset thermoregulatory costs. Finally, the circulatory demands of diving, thermoregulation and digestion may be mutually incompatible. This may force animals to alter time budgets to balance these exclusive demands. Analysis of these interacting processes will lead to a greater understanding of the physiological constraints within which the foraging behaviour must operate.
Supervisory boards in high growth SMEs and mandated board members: two dilemmas

Two dilemmas for boards of growing small and medium-sized enterprises in a two-tier context as a result of their need for external resources (i.e., capital) and the concomitant introduction of external directors (expertise) are discussed in this paper. Firstly, split loyalties can occur when an externally mandated non-executive director may be pressured to act primarily in the interests of his/her mandating firm (e.g., a major investor), which may diminish the incentive to act in the best interest of the focal firm. Secondly, a culture clash is likely when external directors in the much prevalent family-based SME prefer formal control above informal governance which may harm the board's effectiveness. We propose that a one-tier board structure in combination with an effective chairperson is a solution to mitigate both dilemmas.
Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate triggers activation of focal adhesion kinase by inducing clustering and conformational changes

Significance Nonreceptor tyrosine kinases are major players in cell signaling. Among them, focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is the key integrator of signals from growth factors and cell adhesion. In cancer, FAK is frequently overexpressed, and by promoting adhesion to the tumor stroma and ECM, FAK provides important signals for tumor invasion and metastasis. Although autoinhibitory mechanisms have previously been described and the players involved in FAK regulation are largely known, on a mechanistic level, FAK activation is currently not understood. Here, we present a multidisciplinary approach demonstrating a multistep mechanism resulting in FAK activation. This mechanistic insight enables the design of alternative strategies for the discovery of potential anticancer drugs that inhibit both catalytic and scaffolding functions of FAK with high specificity. Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a nonreceptor tyrosine kinase (NRTK) with key roles in integrating growth and cell matrix adhesion signals, and FAK is a major driver of invasion and metastasis in cancer. Cell adhesion via integrin receptors is well known to trigger FAK signaling, and many of the players involved are known; however, mechanistically, FAK activation is not understood. Here, using a multidisciplinary approach, including biochemical, biophysical, structural, computational, and cell biology approaches, we provide a detailed view of a multistep activation mechanism of FAK initiated by phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P2]. Interestingly, the mechanism differs from canonical NRTK activation and is tailored to the dual catalytic and scaffolding function of FAK. We find PI(4,5)P2 induces clustering of FAK on the lipid bilayer by binding a basic region in the regulatory 4.1, ezrin, radixin, moesin homology (FERM) domain. In these clusters, PI(4,5)P2 induces a partially open FAK conformation where the autophosphorylation site is exposed, facilitating efficient autophosphorylation and subsequent Src recruitment. However, PI(4,5)P2 does not release autoinhibitory interactions; rather, Src phosphorylation of the activation loop in FAK results in release of the FERM/kinase tether and full catalytic activation. We propose that PI(4,5)P2 and its generation in focal adhesions by the enzyme phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate 5-kinase type Iγ are important in linking integrin signaling to FAK activation.
Loosening associated with G.S.B. hinge total elbow replacement in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Total elbow replacement utilizing the G.S. B. hinge prosthesis will improve function in patients with ankylosed or painful, unstable elbows in the early postoperative period. However, painful loosening has been the primary long-term problem and has led to the abandonment of this concept even for salvage of the destroyed rheumatoid elbow joint.
RLB: Randomized load balanced packet forwarding strategy in name based data networking

Named Data Networking or NDN provides a new generation networking system where routing does not depend on traditional IP address. Rather network nodes route packets based on the given name or the nature of the content. It is very challenging to find the load balanced routing in Named Data Networking system where multiple producers generate different name packets for multiple consumers. We propose randomized load balanced routing algorithm (RLB) for selecting a server or producer to satisfy the clients interest by producing packets to the corresponding client in the client cluster. We do simulation study using NS3-ndnSIM designed for performance analysis and find that our method is justified.
A power-efficient 4∶1 dynamic frequency divider with periodical injection technique

A dynamic 4:1 divider suitable for mm-wave frequency synthesizers is presented. Periodical injection technique is utilized to improve high frequency performance of the divider. The center frequency of the divider can be tuned through biasing to cover wide locking range. Simulation results show that the division frequency is improved 3 GHz with the proposed periodical injection technique. The maximum operating frequency extends to 29 GHz while the minimum is 7 GHz for 0.13 um CMOS technology. The 4:1 divider is power efficient which consumes 12mW excluding output buffers.
Marketing Scholars’ Roles in the Policy Arena: An Opportunity for Discourse on Direct-to-Consumer Advertising

Paul W. Farris is Landmark Communications Professor of Business, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia (e-mail: farrisp@darden.virginia.edu). William L. Wilkie is Nathe Professor of Marketing, University of Notre Dame (e-mail: wwilkie@nd.edu). A Brief Background Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs is clearly among the most significant marketing phenomena of the past decade in the United States. It is important partly because of the large amounts of money involved and its prominence in the popular media and surely because it potentially affects the length and quality of the lives of millions of people. Moreover, DTC advertising is a phenomenon that owes its existence to public policy choices in the United States and in New Zealand, and not anywhere else in the world (and in this sense, it represents an important natural experiment). In the United States, a series of regulatory actions during the 1980s and 1990s increasingly loosened restraints on the provision of information to consumers regarding ethical drugs, and advertising in this area occurred at lower levels of spending (for an informative regulatory history, see Pines 1999). In 1997, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a draft guide for firms that, in effect, allowed television advertising, and after addressing many enforcement actions to clarify the nature of such commercials, it issued final guides in 1999. At this point, the rate of spending on DTC advertising began to soar, to the extent that it is now the third largest advertising spending category, behind only automobiles and fast foods. Furthermore, as of early 2005, the attention on this topic has heightened, as unforeseen and previously undisclosed health risks have begun to surface with popular drugs such as Vioxx, Bextra, and, possibly, the entire class of Cox-2 inhibitors.
Crafting organizational innovation processes

Abstract Innovation is a crucial component of business strategy, but the process of innovation may seem dif ficult to manage. To plan organizational initiatives around innovation or to bolster innovation requires a firm grasp of the innovation process. Few organizations have transparently defined such a process. Based on the findings of an exploratory study of over 30 US and European companies that have robust innovation processes, this paper breaks down the innovation process into discrete stages: idea generation and mobilization, screening and advocacy, experimentation, commercialization, and diffusion and implementation. For each stage, context, outputs and critical ingredients are discussed. There are several common tensions and concerns at each stage, which are enumerated; industry examples are also given. Finally, strategies for and indicators of organizational success around innovation are discussed for each stage. Successful organizations will use an outlined innovation process to create a common framework for discussion and initiatives around the innovation process, and to establish metrics and goals for each stage of the innovation process.
Externalities in Urban Property Markets: An Empirical Test of the Zoning Ordinance of Pittsburgh

ONE of the most controversial issues in both the popular press and the economic, legal, political science, and sociology journals is the role of the government in our nation's primarily free-enterprise economy. Substantial interaction occurs between the political process and the economic system at all levels of government: federal, state, and local. Yet, paradoxically, the majority of the scholarly inquiry directed toward the resolution of this controversy has been focused upon governmental participation at the federal level; while the most direct interaction between the political process and the economic freedom of the general public probably occurs at the local level. Perhaps this observation is exemplified best by the application of municipal zoning procedures to the market for urban property. In many ways this market is described satisfactorily by the assumptions of the perfectly competitive market. There is a large number of independent buyers and sellers, none of whom has any substantial control of the market. Reasonably accurate information about the availability and prices of properties is readily available from real estate agents and classified advertisements. Finally, entry into and exit from the market is reasonably free, although transaction costs may be significant. However, even when urban property is undeveloped, it constitutes a farfrom-homogeneous product; and after development its heterogeneity becomes even more pronounced. Moreover, and most importantly for the purposes of this study, it is contended widely that this market is subject to a high degree of interdependence. ' Allegedly, there exist between various types of land