Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
From Planning to Wildlife Gardening: Evolving Approaches to Fostering Urban Biodiversity

The ways urban communities can foster native plants and animals as part of the biodiversity of their neighbourhoods, and the social implications, are being reconceived. Traditionally, nature conservation efforts have focused on protecting threatened species and habitat on public land and educating residents about the need for conservation, with minimal recognition of how households can play active roles on their own land. We see how community champions and personal relationships have influenced how nature is valued and conserved in Knox City (a municipality in Melbourne Australia). We place this story within a historical perspective of nature conservation in cities internationally, and trace the links between planning and conservation in Melbourne. Turning to the present we describe research on an innovative collaboration between a community group and council (Knox Gardens for Wildlife) that engages residents to garden to conserve native biodiversity (wildlife gardening), complementing Knox Council's biodiversity conservation activities. We find that the program provides biodiversity and social benefits to the community, including contributions to participants' wellbeing and connections with nature and community. Underpinning factors include a face-to-face garden assessment, physical hubs for advice and support, visible involvement of volunteers and Council, and the endorsement of each garden's potential conservation contribution. We propose how similar partnerships can reframe the role of urban citizens and households in fostering municipal biodiversity, and suggest future lines of enquiry.
Intraocular concentrations of growth factors and cytokines in retinal vein occlusion and the effect of therapy with bevacizumab.

PURPOSE To investigate concentrations of growth factors and inflammatory cytokines in eyes with central (CRVO) and branch (BRVO) retinal vein occlusion before and during therapy with bevacizumab and to identify associations with disease activity. METHODS In a prospective clinical trial, 13 eyes of patients with CRVO (n = 5) or BRVO (n = 8) were included. Bevacizumab was administered intravitreously at baseline and months 1 and 2. Retreatments were given at monthly visits if OCT showed edema or when vision loss occurred. Aqueous humor samples were taken each time injections were performed. Follow-up was 15 months. Samples from patients with cataract served as the control. Multiplex bead assays were used for measurement of 28 growth factors and cytokines. RESULTS During therapy with bevacizumab, VEGF levels were reduced to below detection in the first 2 months. Whenever criteria for retreatment were met, VEGF was measurable again. The decrease in VEGF was associated with a decrease in central retinal thickness (CRT) and improvement in visual acuity (VA). Significantly increased concentrations of VEGF, IL-6, IL-8, IP-10, MCP-1, and PDGF-AA were observed in aqueous humor samples of patients with CRVO compared with the control samples. CONCLUSIONS VEGF levels were significantly elevated in patients with CRVO compared with control subjects. Intravitreal injections of bevacizumab resulted in a substantial decrease of VEGF under physiologic levels and remained low under the loading dose of three consecutive monthly retreatments. Macular edema was related to VEGF levels in the aqueous humor.
Sampling-Based Phase Classification and Prediction for Multi-threaded Program Execution on Multi-core Architectures

Program executions are usually repetitive, hence, we can optimize program executions if we are able to identify the program's repetition pattern. If we can accurately classify program execution intervals into phases, and use such information to accurately predict the next phase at runtime, we will be able to apply suitable optimization on the subsequent intervals. Such runtime optimization opportunity not only exists in single-threaded programs but also in multithreaded programs In this paper, we propose a framework that collects code signature of each interval from individual threads of a multi-threaded parallel program, and classify them into phases at runtime. We then use the classification results to predict the next phase in an on-line fashion. In order to efficiently classify execution intervals on-line, we only keep a fixed number of representative data in a shared table for classification purpose. The classification is very efficient and uses less than 3K bytes of memory. We also propose a confidence table to improve the prediction rate. Our experiment results with the Spec OMP2001 and the PARSEC benchmark suites on an Intel Xeon multi-core show that our system can classify intervals into phases with high homogeneity, can predict the next phase with 65% accuracy without using confidence table and with 80% accuracy when confidence table is used.
Vibration-to-electric energy conversion

A system is proposed to convert ambient mechanical vibration into electrical energy for use in powering autonomous low-power electronic systems. The energy is transduced through the use of a variable capacitor, which has been designed with MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) technology. A low-power controller IC has been fabricated in a 0.6 /spl mu/m CMOS process and has been tested and measured for losses. Based on the tests, the system is expected to produce 8 /spl mu/W of usable power.
Uncoupling Protein 2 Impacts Endothelial Phenotype via p53-Mediated Control of Mitochondrial Dynamics

Rationale: Mitochondria, although required for cellular ATP production, are also known to have other important functions that may include modulating cellular responses to environmental stimuli. However, the mechanisms whereby mitochondria impact cellular phenotype are not yet clear. Objective: To determine how mitochondria impact endothelial cell function. Methods and Results: We report here that stimuli for endothelial cell proliferation evoke strong upregulation of mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2). Analysis in silico indicated increased UCP2 expression is common in highly proliferative cell types, including cancer cells. Upregulation of UCP2 was critical for controlling mitochondrial membrane potential (&Dgr;&psgr;) and superoxide production. In the absence of UCP2, endothelial growth stimulation provoked mitochondrial network fragmentation and premature senescence via a mechanism involving superoxide-mediated p53 activation. Mitochondrial network fragmentation was both necessary and sufficient for the impact of UCP2 on endothelial cell phenotype. Conclusions: These data identify a novel mechanism whereby mitochondria preserve normal network integrity and impact cell phenotype via dynamic regulation of UCP2.
Detection and Prevention of SQL Injection attack

SQL injection is a technique where the attacker injects an input in the query in order to change the structure of the query intended by the programmer and gaining the access of the database which results modification or deletion of the user’s data. In the injection it exploits a security vulnerability occurring in database layer of an application. SQL injection attack is the most common attack in websites in these days. Some malicious codes get injected to the database by unauthorized users and get the access of the database due to lack of input validation. Input validation is the most critical part of software security that is not properly covered in the design phase of software development life-cycle resulting in many security vulnerabilities. This paper presents the techniques for detection and prevention of SQL injection attack. There are no any known full proof defences available against such type of attacks. In this paper some predefined method of detection and the some modern techniques of preventions are discussed. This paper also describes countermeasures of SQL injection. Keywords— web application, SQLIA, detection, prevention, vulnerabilities, web architecture,
Linear Feature Detection on GPUs

The acceleration of an existing linear feature detection algorithm for 2D images using GPUs is discussed. The two most time consuming components of this process are implemented on the GPU, namely, linear feature detection using dual-peak directional non-maximum suppression, and a gap filling process that joins disconnected feature masks to rectify false negatives. Multiple steps or image filters in each component are combined into a single GPU kernel to minimise data transfers to off-chip GPU RAM, and issues relating to on-chip memory utilisation, caching, and memory coalescing are considered. The presented algorithm is useful for applications needing to analyse complex linear structures, and examples are given for dense neurite images from the biotech domain.
Procedural authoring of solid models

This thesis investigates the creation, representation, and manipulation of volumetric geometry suitable for computer graphics applications. In order to capture and reproduce the appearance and behavior of many objects, it is necessary to model the internal structures and materials, and how they change over time. However, producing real-world effects with standard surface modeling techniques can be extremely challenging. My key contribution is a concise procedural approach for authoring layered, solid models. Using a simple scripting language, a complete volumetric representation of an object, including its internal structure, can be created from one or more input surfaces, such as scanned polygonal meshes, CAD models or implicit surfaces. Furthermore, the resulting model can be easily modified using sculpting and simulation tools, such as the Finite Element Method or particle systems, which are embedded as operators in the language. Simulation is treated as a modeling tool rather than merely a device for animation, which provides I present an implementation of the language using a flexible tetrahedral representation, which I chose because of its advantages for simulation tasks. The language and implementation are demonstrated on a variety of complex examples that were inspired by real-world objects. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Resonating to Musical Rhythm : Theory and Experiment

Music is an interactive activity in which dancing, singing, toe tapping, playing an instrument, or even simply listening is temporally coordinated with complex, rhythmically structured acoustic stimulation. Analyses of scores and recordings reveal musical sounds to be intricate dynamic patterns, in which elegant serial structures unfold in elaborate temporal organizations. Thus, when humans ‘‘synchronize’’ musical interactions, we enter into a form of temporal coordination that is among the most elaborate observed in nature. For example, temporal interaction in music contrasts with observations of simple synchronous chorusing in other species. In insects and amphibians, coordination of rhythmic visual or auditory communication signals appears to be limited to synchronization or antisynchronization of periodic events (Buck, 1988; Greenfield, 1994; Klump & Gerhardt, 1992). Moreover, synchronous chorusing has rarely been reported among nonhuman primates (Merker, 2000). It has been argued that the ability to temporally coordinate dynamic patterns with complex auditory stimuli was an important adaptation in the development of human communication (Merker, 2000). This chapter considers the complexity of human musical rhythm and discusses its implications for the coordination of perception, attention, and behavior. Following
Analysis of link reversal routing algorithms for mobile ad hoc networks

Link reversal algorithms provide a simple mechanism for routing in mobile ad hoc networks. These algorithms maintain routes to any particular destination in the network, even when the network topology changes frequently. In link reversal, a node reverses its incident links whenever it loses routes to the destination. Link reversal algorithms have been studied experimentally and have been used in practical routing algorithms, including [8]. This paper presents the first formal performance analysis of link reversal algorithms. We study these algorithms in terms of work (number of node reversals) and the time needed until the network stabilizes to a state in which all the routes are reestablished. We focus on the full reversal algorithm and the partial reversal algorithm, both due to Gafni and Berstekas [5]; the first algorithm is simpler, while the latter has been found to be more efficient for typical cases. Our results are as follows:(1) The full reversal algorithm requires O(n2) work and time, where n is the number of nodes which have lost the routes to the destination. (2) The partial reversal algorithm requires O(n • a* + n2) work and time, where a* is a non-negative integer which depends on the state of the network. This bound is tight in the worst case, for any a*. (3) There are networks such that for every deterministic link reversal algorithm, there are initial states which require requires ω(n2) work and time to stabilize. Therefore, surprisingly, the full reversal algorithm is asymptotically optimal in the worst case, while the partial reversal algorithm is not, since a* can grow arbitrarily large.
How Scalable Are CMM Key Practices ?

M any software professionals believe that the key practices of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) CMM are inappropriate and not scalable for small software projects (three to four months with five or fewer staff members). These practitioners are convinced that the costs outweigh the benefits unless the complexity that typically comes with project size justifies the investment. Some professionals also believe that customer satisfaction is their most important measure of performance, meaning that to accept one more requirement is almost always " the right thing to do, " no matter how close the production or release date might be. They are convinced that in the " real world, " requirements cannot be frozen or " base-lined " because there are too many legitimate reasons for requirements to change, and new ones must be added to the current version of the software. Many developers frequently do not see the benefits of managing requirements , nor do they feel the need to take time for project planning, tracking, and oversight, as advocated by the CMM. They do not understand the payback from a software quality assurance function or configuration management. I recently worked with several managers and practitioners who held these views. The project was to develop a software system that provides a consistent estimation approach and addresses software size, effort, and assumptions for planning. The system's goal was to improve the client organization's software estimation process. The organization's overall strategy was to use the SEI CMM Repeatable level (Level 2) key practices to move toward a more disciplined software development environment. When I started, no requirements had been defined for this estimation system but an end date had been set—the system had to be operational in two months. The client was an information systems business unit in a large company. A formal CMM-based software process assessment conducted a month prior to my arrival found that this organization's estimation process for software change requests was ad hoc and inconsistent. This estimation process frequently produced understated effort estimates, perhaps due to institutional pressure to get things done faster or a desire to minimize what is involved. In turn, these understated estimates often led to budget overruns, crisis management, eleventh-hour firefighting, low employee morale, and high rates of post-release defects. My immediate clients, all information systems professionals, had been working on improving their software management practices for over 18 months. Their corporate direction was …
Emergent service provisioning and demand estimation through self-organizing agent communities

A major challenge within open markets is the ability to satisfy service demand with an adequate supply of service providers, especially when such demand may be volatile due to changing requirements, or fluctuations in the availability of services. Ideally, this supply and demand should be balanced; however, when consumer demand changes over time, and providers independently choose which services they provide, a coordination problem known as 'herding' can arise bringing instability to the market. This behavior can emerge when consumers share similar preferences for the same providers, and thus compete for the same resources. Likewise, providers which share estimates of fluctuating demand may respond in unison, withdrawing some services to introduce others, and thus oscillate the available supply around some ideal equilibrium. One approach to avoid this unstable behavior is to limit the flow of information between agents, such that they possess an incomplete and subjective view of the local service availability. We propose a model of an adaptive service-offering mechanism, in which providers adapt their choice of services offered to consumers, based on perceived demand. By varying the volume of information shared by agents, we demonstrate that a co-adaptive equilibrium can be achieved, thus avoiding the herding problem. As the knowledge that agents possess is limited, they self-organise into community structures that support locally shared information. We demonstrate that such a model is capable of reducing instability in service demand and thus increase utility (based on successful service provision) by up to 59%, when compared to the use of globally available information.
Accuracy of 3D dual echo steady state (DESS) MR arthrography to quantify acetabular cartilage thickness

To deploy and quantify the accuracy of 3D dual echo steady state (DESS) MR arthrography with hip traction to image acetabular cartilage. Clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences used to image hip cartilage often have reduced out‐of‐plane resolution and may lack adequate signal‐to‐noise to image cartilage.
Automated Scenario Adaptation in Support of Intelligent Tutoring Systems

Learners may develop expertise by experiencing numerous different but relevant situations. Computer games and virtual simulations can facilitate these training opportunities, however, because of the relative difficulty in authoring new scenarios, the increasing need for new and different scenarios becomes a bottleneck in the learning process. Furthermore, a one-size-fits-all scenario may not address all of the abilities, needs, or goals of a particular learner. To address these issues we present a novel technique, Automated Scenario Adaptation, to automatically “rewrite” narrative scenario content to suit individual learners’ needs and abilities and to incorporate recent changes from real world learning needs. Scenario adaptation acts as problem generation for intelligent tutoring systems, producing greater learning opportunities that facilitate engagement and continued learner involvement.
Prospects and Challenges of Graphene in Biomedical Applications

Graphene materials have entered a phase of maturity in their development that is characterized by their explorative utilization in various types of applications and fields from electronics to biomedicine. Herein, we describe the recent advances made with graphene‐related materials in the biomedical field and the challenges facing these exciting new tools both in terms of biological activity and toxicological profiling in vitro and in vivo. Graphene materials today have mainly been explored as components of biosensors and for construction of matrices in tissue engineering. Their antimicrobial activity and their capacity to act as drug delivery platforms have also been reported, however, not as coherently. This report will attempt to offer some perspective as to which areas of biomedical applications can expect graphene‐related materials to constitute a tool offering improved functionality and previously unavailable options.
Breeding system, flower visitors and seedling survival of two endangered species of Helianthemum (Cistaceae).

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Helianthemum marifolium and H. caput-felis are two endangered plant species of the western Mediterranean. Several aspects of the reproduction of both species were examined to determine whether their rarity could be related to factors causing reproductive limitation. METHODS The flowering and fruiting phenology of both species in two non-sympatric island populations (Mallorca, Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean) were compared. Hand-pollination experiments were conducted to determine their fruit and seed production under different pollen sources. The composition of the pollinator assemblage and the effect of temporal variation and sun exposure on reproductive output and seedling survival were also investigated. KEY RESULTS Flowering periods were longer for H. marifolium than for H. caput-felis in the populations studied. Helianthemum marifolium is mostly an outbreeder, i.e. fruit and seed set was three-fold higher when pollen came from other plants. In H. caput-felis, neither fruit nor seed set was affected by pollination treatments. Flower visitors were more diverse for H. caput-felis than for H. marifolium. In both species, most floral visits were made by hymenopterans. The total number of pollinator visits varied significantly between years, decreasing more than two-fold from 2001 to 2002, in both species. In agreement with its outbreeder character, variation in reproductive output between years was also observed in H. marifolium. It showed a 50 % decrease in fruit set in 2002, a pollinator-poor year. Finally, seedling survival increased three- to six-fold from 2001 to 2002. A correlation between seedling size and survival had also been detected. CONCLUSIONS Reproductive limitations were detected for neither species (i.e. fruit and seed set, pollination service and seedling survival on natural populations). Hence, the increasing rarity of these two species is probably a direct result of the destruction of their habitat.
Avoiding Technological Quicksand: Finding a Viable Technical Foundation for Digital Preservation. A Report to the Council on Library and Information Resources.

There is as yet no viable long-term strategy to ensure that digital information will be readable in the future. Digital documents are vulnerable to loss via the decay and obsolescence of the media on which they are stored, and they become inaccessible and unreadable when the software needed to interpret them, or the hardware on which that software runs, becomes obsolete and is lost. This report explores the technical depth of the problem of long-term digital document preservation, analyzes the inadequacies of a number of ideas that have been proposed as solutions, and elaborates the emulation strategy. The central idea of the emulation strategy is to emulate obsolete systems on future, unknown systems, so that a digital document's original software can be run in the future despite being obsolete.