Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Direct vs. Microclimate-Driven Effects of Tree Species Diversity on Litter Decomposition in Young Subtropical Forest Stands

Effects of tree species diversity on decomposition can operate via a multitude of mechanism, including alterations of microclimate by the forest canopy. Studying such effects in natural settings is complicated by the fact that topography also affects microclimate and thus decomposition, so that effects of diversity are more difficult to isolate. Here, we quantified decomposition rates of standard litter in young subtropical forest stands, separating effects of canopy tree species richness and topography, and quantifying their direct and micro-climate-mediated components. Our litterbag study was carried out at two experimental sites of a biodiversity-ecosystem functioning field experiment in south-east China (BEF-China). The field sites display strong topographical heterogeneity and were planted with tree communities ranging from monocultures to mixtures of 24 native subtropical tree species. Litter bags filled with senescent leaves of three native tree species were placed from Nov. 2011 to Oct. 2012 on 134 plots along the tree species diversity gradient. Topographic features were measured for all and microclimate in a subset of plots. Stand species richness, topography and microclimate explained important fractions of the variations in litter decomposition rates, with diversity and topographic effects in part mediated by microclimatic changes. Tree stands were 2–3 years old, but nevertheless tree species diversity explained more variation (54.3%) in decomposition than topography (7.7%). Tree species richness slowed litter decomposition, an effect that slightly depended on litter species identity. A large part of the variance in decomposition was explained by tree species composition, with the presence of three tree species playing a significant role. Microclimate explained 31.4% of the variance in decomposition, and was related to lower soil moisture. Within this microclimate effect, species diversity (without composition) explained 8.9% and topography 34.4% of variance. Topography mainly affected diurnal temperature amplitudes by varying incident solar radiation.
On the gene ranking of replicated microarray time course data

Consider the gene ranking problem of replicated microarray time course experiments where there are multiple biological conditions, and genes of interest are those whose temporal profiles are different across conditions. We derive the multi-sample multivariate empirical Bayes statistic for ranking genes in the order of differential expression, from both longitudinal and cross-sectional replicated developmental microarray time course data. Our longitudinal multi-sample model assumes that time course replicates are i.i. d. multivariate normal vectors. On the other hand, we construct our cross-sectional model using a normal regression framework with any appropriate basis for the design matrices. In both cases, we use natural conjugate priors in our empirical Bayes setting which guarantee closed form solutions 1 for the posterior odds. Our simulations and two case studies using published worm and mouse microarray time course datasets indicate that the proposed approaches work well. keywords: longitudinal; cross-sectional; microarray time course; gene ranking; empirical Bayes.
Theoretical Foundations of Inter-Organizational Information Systems: Towards a Framework Grounded on Seven Theories

Research on Inter-Organizational Information Systems (IOIS) provided many insights, which, however, are very fragmented in terms of applied theories. This results in a quite isolated understanding of single aspects of IOIS rather than a comprising approach to the research subject. To address these shortcomings, the chapter investigates seven theories in respect of their explanation of IOIS adoption and use, its drivers, IOIS-based collaboration between firms, and benefits and costs of IOIS. The applied theories are social exchange theory and embeddedness theory (organization theories), transaction cost theory and agency theory (economics-related theories), the resource-based view of the firm and network theory (strategic management approaches), and game theory. The findings and the resulting framework imply that all these theories lead to similar recommendations on the use of IOIS although they have very diverse assumptions and lines of argumentation. The chapter stresses that the investigated theories supplement rather than contradict each other.
Exploiting GPUs to Simulate Complex Systems

This paper describes GCS (GPU-aware ComplexSim), a simulation framework for complex systems which is capable of executing on GPUs exploiting the CUDA programming model. GCS is based on an architecture similar to a previous work, ComplexSim, which provides simulation functionalities on symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) systems. With the current architecture of GCS, the simulation of the complex system run on GPUs, while tasks related to graph analysis still run on the host, by exploiting the embedded multi-thread engine of ComplexSim. The user code can be provided as a behaviour function, without taking into account issues related to task parallelisation, which are managed by the engine of GCS. In GCS, network data -" as links and mailboxes -" are organised as SoA (Structure of Array) to deal with the constraints and optimisation issues related to GPU architecture and the CUDA programming model. Moreover nodes attributes are defined by the user as in the case of ComplexSim, but GCS automatically organises them into SoA. GCS exhibits a significant improvement, in terms of simulation times, if compared to ComplexSim running on a SMP system.
LIG at CLEF 2016 Cultural Microblog Contextualization: TimeLine illustration based on Microblogs

This paper presents the approach used by the LIG-MRIM research group to the participation of the task 3 (TimeLine illustration based on Microblogs) for the CLEF of Cultural Microblog Contextualization track. This task deals with the retrieval of tweets related to cultural events (music festivals). For the content-based elements, we use the classical BM25 model [4]. Then, we diversify the results based on duplicate removal, using tf-based representations of tweets. In a third step, we apply optional re-ranking related to time-line, activity and popularity of authors of tweets.
Extending Cloud Resources to the Edge: Possible Scenarios, Challenges, and Experiments

Cloud Computing and IoT have been around for quite some time. The use of Cloud Computing to compute or to store IoT data is useful as Cloud can offer such an effective and cheap solution to access resources from the edge. However, extensively use such resources may face degradation since the data and applications are processed in the cloud where every bit of data is transferred over the network from the edge. In this paper, we describe our work on extending our Cloud Computing infrastructure to the edge environment by exploiting the use of Docker containers as a mean of virtualization that run at the edge. Possible scenarios of cyber infrastructure to support IoT services that may take advantage of edge computing concept are described. Next, we describe the edge requirement and discuss the challenges that are arisen for those scenarios. Experiment sets to see the potentiality of Docker container as a mean ofvirtualization for the edge environment are also described and discussed. Finally, we summarize our work and discuss the future work.
New insights into the pathogenesis of asthma.

Asthma is a disease whose ability to cause episodicsymptomatology has been appreciated since antiqui-ty. Although the fine points of the definition can bedebated, it is reasonable to think of asthma as a pul-monary disorder characterized by the generalizedreversible obstruction of airflow and to definereversibility as a greater than 12% increase in thepatient’s forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV
Haemogenic endothelium in infantile haemangioma

Background Proliferating infantile haemangioma (IH) is a tumour of the microvasculature composed predominantly of immature endothelial cells. The origin of IH is unclear, but it has been shown to express markers of both endothelial and haematopoietic lineages, and a role for endothelial progenitor cells in the aetiology of IH has been suggested. Haemangioblasts are precursors of both endothelial and haematopoietic cells, and their characterisation has identified the expression of cell surface and intracellular proteins that collectively can be used for assigning a haemangioblast phenotype. Methods The authors used immunohistochemical staining to characterise the expression of primitive haematopoietic-associated proteins in proliferating IHs. Results and discussion The authors show that the cells forming the capillary endothelium express markers associated with primitive haematopoietic cells. Additionally, many of these cells express the transcription factors brachyury and GATA-2, indicating a primitive mesodermal origin. They hypothesise that the immature capillaries in IH are derived from primitive mesodermal cells with haemangioblastic differentiation capabilities. The expression of primitive mesodermal, endothelial and haematopoietic markers by the cells forming the endothelium suggests that the immature capillaries that predominate in proliferating IH are a haemogenic endothelium phenotype, derived from haemangioblasts.
All Change at Work?: British employment relations 1980–1998, as portrayed by the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey series

1. Introduction, The essential features of the WIRS design, Elements of the survey employed in this volume, The changing landscape, 1980-98, The nature of our analysis and contents of the book 2. The dynamic context of workplace employment relations. Industry and Ownership, Size of Workforce, Location within larger organizations, Internationalization, Age and relocation, Changes in technology, Changes in the composition of the workforce, Summary and conclusions 3. The Management of employee relations. Who manages employee relations, The emergence of a profession, The gender issue: women managing employee relations, A changing role for employee relations managers, The status and influence of employee relations managers, Conclusions 4. Have employess lost their voice? Union presence, Union membership density, Trade Union recognition, Other channels for collective employee voice, Direct Communication methods, An overall view of employee voice, Conclusions 5. Union recognition: a 'hollow shell'? Workplace union density, The nature of union
Risk Allocation Under Liquidity Constraints

Risk allocation games are cooperative games that are used to attribute the risk of a financial entity to its divisions. In this paper, we extend the literature on risk allocation games by incorporating liquidity considerations. A liquidity policy specifies state-dependent liquidity requirements that a portfolio should obey. To comply with the liquidity policy, a financial entity may have to liquidate part of its assets, which is costly. The definition of a risk allocation game under liquidity constraints is not straight- forward, since the presence of a liquidity policy leads to externalities. We argue that the standard worst case approach should not be used here and present an alternative definition. We show that the resulting class of transferable utility games coincides with the class of totally balanced games. It follows from our results that also when taking liquidity considerations into account there is always a stable way to allocate risk.
Differentiation of Dental Pulp Stem Cells into Neuron-Like Cells in Serum-Free Medium

Dental pulp tissue contains dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs). Dental pulp cells (also known as dental pulp-derived mesenchymal stem cells) are capable of differentiating into multilineage cells including neuron-like cells. The aim of this study was to examine the capability of DPSCs to differentiate into neuron-like cells without using any reagents or growth factors. DPSCs were isolated from teeth extracted from 6- to 8-week-old mice and maintained in complete medium. The cells from the fourth passage were induced to differentiate by culturing in medium without serum or growth factors. RT-PCR molecular analysis showed characteristics of Cd146+, Cd166+, and Cd31− in DPSCs, indicating that these cells are mesenchymal stem cells rather than hematopoietic stem cells. After 5 days of neuronal differentiation, the cells showed neuron-like morphological changes and expressed MAP2 protein. The activation of Nestin was observed at low level prior to differentiation and increased after 5 days of culture in differentiation medium, whereas Tub3 was activated only after 5 days of neuronal differentiation. The proliferation of the differentiated cells decreased in comparison to that of the control cells. Dental pulp stem cells are induced to differentiate into neuron-like cells when cultured in serum- and growth factor-free medium.
Relationship between Self-Administered Cues and Rehabilitation Outcomes in Individuals with Aphasia: Understanding Individual Responsiveness to a Technology-Based Rehabilitation Program

An advantage of rehabilitation administered on computers or tablets is that the tasks can be self-administered and the cueing required to complete the tasks can be monitored. Though there are many types of cueing, few studies have examined how participants’ response to rehabilitation is influenced by self-administered cueing, which is cueing that is always available but the individual decides when and which cue to administer. In this study, participants received a tablet-based rehabilitation where the tasks were selfpaced and remotely monitored by a clinician. The results of the effectiveness of this study were published previously (Des Roches et al., 2015). The current study looks at the effect of cues on accuracy and rehabilitation outcomes. Fifty-one individuals with aphasia completed a 10-week program using Constant Therapy on an iPad targeted at improving language and cognitive deficits. Three questions were examined. The first examined the effect of cues on accuracy collapsed across time. Results showed a trend where the greater the cue use, the lower the accuracy, although some participants showed the opposite effect. This analysis divided participants into profiles based on cue use and accuracy. The second question examined how each profile differed in percent cue use and on standardized measures at baseline. Results showed that the four profiles were significantly different in frequency of cues and scores on WAB-R, CLQT, BNT, and ASHA-FACS, indicating that participants with lower scores on the standardized tests used a higher percentage of cues, which were not beneficial, while participants with higher scores on the standardized tests used a lower frequency of cues, which were beneficial. The third question examined how the relationship between cues and accuracy was affected by the course of treatment. Results showed that both more and less severe participants showed a decrease in cue use and an increase in accuracy over time, though more severe participants continued to used a greater number of cues. It is possible that self-administered cues help some individuals to access information that is otherwise inaccessible, even if there is not an immediate effect. Ultimately, the results demonstrate the need for individually modifying the levels of assistance during rehabilitation. time, though more severe participants continued to used a greater number of cues. It is possible that self-administered cues help some individuals to access information that is otherwise inaccessible, even if there is not an immediate effect. Ultimately, the results demonstrate the need for individually modifying the levels of assistance during rehabilitation.
When does rent-seeking augment the benefits of price and trade reform on rationed commodities? : estimates for automobiles and color televisions in Poland

To assess the impact of price and trade reform on the Polish market for autos and color televisions, the author has developed a differentiated product model in which consumers maximize utility and firms maximize profits subject to rationing constraints and price controls. This paper focuses on that model. First it discusses the institutional details of the auto and color TV markets in Poland. It then lays out the stylized facts that are incorporated in the model, and discusses the methods of allocating autos and color TVs in the context of the rent-seeking and rent dissipation literature. The final section summarizes the results which find that, all things being equal, the elimination of price controls for both autos and televisions had the effect of decreasing imports, as more domestic autos were produced and sold. The implication is that -- contrary to the Polish government's intention -- price controls were a trade distortion that increased imports: that is, they implicitly subsidized imports. The author also shows that import liberalization produces greater benefits when there are domestic price controls with rent dissipation, because import liberalization reduces the rent. The appendices include a description of the model, a discussion of the data sources, and a review of the literature on rent-seeking activities as it relates to rent dissipation under price controls.
Performance comparison of indoor positioning techniques based on location fingerprinting in wireless networks

Appropriate and correct indoor positioning in wireless networks could provide interesting services and applications in many domains. There are time of arrival (TOA), time difference of arrival (TDOA), angle of arrival (AOA), and location fingerprinting schemes that can he used for positioning. We focus on location fingerprinting in this paper since it is more applicable to complex indoor environments than other schemes. Location fingerprinting uses received signal strength to estimate locations of mobile nodes or users. Probabilistic method, k-nearest-neighbor, and neural networks are previously proposed positioning techniques based on location fingerprinting. However, most of these previous works only concentrate on accuracy, which means the average distance error. Actually, it is not enough to measure the performance of a positioning technique by the accuracy only. A comprehensive performance comparison is also critical and helpful in order to choose the most fitting algorithm in real environments. In this paper, we compare comprehensively various performance metrics including accuracy, precision, complexity, robustness, and scalability. Through our analysis and experiment results, k-nearest-neighbor reports the best overall performance for the indoor positioning purpose.
Augmented Reality for Construction Control

The development of a physical building control center has got the purpose of supporting the management and control of a project to optimize the flow of the complex processes at a construction site. The concept consists of equipping vehicles with sensors, using virtual reality and augmented reality-techniques to visualize these realtime information and allow an optical adaption to current circumstances. A more efficient utilization and enhanced cost effectiveness will be the result. Based on a previous performed requirement analysis a software architecture (AR4CC, "Augmented Reality for Construction Control") has been developed, which allows the use of virtual reality (vr) and augmented reality (ar) at a construction site. The basic idea of information transparency and the generated software is introduced. Two test-phases were performed and will be presented, one of them in a computer on a virtual construction site and the other one on a construction site mock-up, which was built especially for this purpose.
BDNF Injected into the Superior Colliculus Reduces Developmental Retinal Ganglion Cell Death

The role of neurotrophins as survival factors for developing CNS neurons, including retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), is uncertain. Null mutations for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) or neurotrophin 4 (NT4), individually or together, are without apparent effect on the number of RGCs that survive beyond the period of normal, developmental RGC death. This contrasts with the BDNF dependence of RGCs in vitro and the effectiveness of BDNF in reducing RGC loss after axotomy. To investigate the effect of target-derived neurotrophins on the survival of developing RGCs, we injected BDNF into the superior colliculus (SC) of neonatal hamsters. At the age when the rate of developmental RGC death is greatest, BDNF produces, 20 hr after injection, a 13–15-fold reduction in the rate of RGC pyknosis compared with the rates in vehicle-injected and untreated hamsters. There is no effect 8 hr after injection. Electrochemiluminescence immunoassay measurements of BDNF protein in the retinae and SC of normal and BDNF-treated hamsters demonstrate that the time course of BDNF transport to RGCs supports a role for target-derived BDNF in promoting RGC survival. The effectiveness of pharmacological doses of BDNF in reducing developmental RGC death may be useful in further studies of the mechanisms of stabilization and elimination of immature central neurons.
THE DYNAMICS OF AUXIN TRANSPORT IN TOBACCO CELLS

The polar transport of auxins plays a key role in the regulation of growth and development in plants. The experimental evidence indicates that the polarity of auxin transport through cells and tissues probably results from the asymmetrical distribution of auxin efflux carriers in the plasma membrane. A substantial amount of molecular and cytological data about the polar auxin transport machinery comes from studies at the tissue level on Arabidopsis thaliana and its mutants. However, there is a need for some alternative experimental system that would enable us to study auxin transport from biochemical and cytological points of view in more detailed way. Cell suspension cultures provide good model systems in which to study biochemical and cytological aspects of auxin transport and to investigate the responses of transport to various inhibitors at the level of a single cell and its compartments. This mini-review summarises the present state-of-the-art in the investigation of the auxin transport machinery in tobacco cell cultures. The specificity of auxin efflux carriers is described, together with the effects on auxin transport and on the arrangement of the cytoskeleton and of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), of the polar auxin transport inhibitor 1-N-naphthylphthalamic acid (NPA) and the vesicle-trafficking inhibitor brefeldin A (BFA). The data emphasise the importance of actin filaments and possibly also of the ER in vesicle-mediated trafficking of proteins and in the cycling of the auxin efflux catalyst. The data also imply that different cellular mechanisms are involved in the actions of NPA and BFA. Contrary to the recent suggestion that auxin transport inhibitors influence auxin efflux by generally interfering with membrane trafficking processes, in tobacco cells NPA seems to act specifically