Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationships between phytoplankton growth and cell size in surface oceans: Interactive effects of temperature, nutrients, and grazing

We compile two data sets from 14C uptake and dilution experiments conducted in surface waters of the global ocean to investigate the relationship between phytoplankton mass‐specific growth rate and cell size. After temperature correction, both data sets suggest that this relationship might be described by a unimodal quadratic curve with the modal size (the size corresponding to the maximal growth rate) being 2.8 and 5.4 µm in the 14C and dilution data sets, respectively. Nutrient enrichment does not change the qualitative nature of the relationships, and we conclude that inherently low maximal growth rates of picophytoplankton, not ambient nutrient effects, play the major role in determining the positive relationships over the size range where phytoplankton size is below the modal size. Temperature‐corrected phytoplankton grazing mortality rate is positively correlated with phytoplankton average size, but the proportion of daily primary production consumed by microzooplankton is negatively correlated with cell size, suggesting a reduced grazing effect as size increases. The unimodal relationship between phytoplankton growth rate and cell size is consistent with theoretical considerations and might reflect an adaptive response of phytoplankton to varying extents of nutrient limitation and grazing effect in marine systems.
The Real Option Approach to Adoption and Discontinuation of Management Accounting Innovation : The Case of Activity-Based Costing Current Version : October 2005

This paper employs real option approach (ROA) to study the decision of ABC adoption and discontinuation under uncertainty. The general idea behind is that investing in ABC system is an option-rights as in financial American call option. The proposed model takes the total annual number of production of a firm as the primary decision variables. The added annual net profits after establishing ABC are considered in deciding the optimal threshold for adoption or discontinuation. Moreover, the difference between the ROA and the net present value (NPV) method is compared. We found that the optimal entry threshold for adoption obtained by the ROA is higher than that obtained by the NPV method. Conversely, the optimal exit threshold for discontinuation obtained by the ROA is less than that obtained by the NPV method. Thus, ROA is more conservative than the NPV method. The difference between these two methods is primarily driven by the option value of waiting before implementing the entry/exit project in the ROA.
Innovative Micro-Walking Robot Using Flexible Microactuator

In the area of Robotics, the micro-walking robots play a very important role as it is required to perform inspection and maintenance inside pipelines or narrow spaces where people cannot enter. Extensive research work is under way in the design and control of the micro-walking robot. An exhaustive survey of all such robots conveys the idea of higher and higher sophistication with innumerable components and elaborate controls with programmable ability. Microwalking robots proposed by earlier researchers use flexible micro actuators that have two or more internal chambers whose internal pressures are controlled independently. The proposed micro-walking robot uses flexible micro actuators (FMA) that are having single internal chamber with an innovative Electro-pneumatic control algorithm (EPCA), simple feedback mechanism and which are compact and easy to manufacture. The present work has paved the way for extensive research on this innovative technique as it holds out the true potential for very interesting applications in various areas such as robot grippers, pipeline inspection robots and underwater robots.
Meso-Structure in Three Strong-lensing Systems

We map substructure in three strong-lensing systems having particularly good image data: the galaxy lens MG J0414+053 and the clusters SDSS J1004+411 and ACO 1689. Our method is to first reconstruct the lens as a pixelated mass map and then subtract off the symmetric part (in the galaxy case) or a projected Navarro-Frenk-White profile (for the cluster lenses). In all three systems we find extended irregular structures, or meso-structures, having of order 10% of the total mass. In J0414+053, the meso-structure suggests a tidal tail connecting the main lens with a nearby galaxy; however, this interpretation is tentative. In the clusters, the identification of meso-structure is more secure, especially in ACO 1689, where two independent sets of lensed images imply very similar meso-structure. In all three cases, the meso-structures are correlated with galaxies but much more extended and massive than the stellar components of single galaxies. Such extended structures cannot plausibly persist in such high-density regions without being mixed; the crossing times are too short. The meso-structures therefore appear to be merging or otherwise dynamically evolving systems.
Modular Verification for Component-Based Software

Software is becoming more and more complex because of higher expectation of users on software services. Some of those services are even unanticipated at the beginning of software implementation as software continues to evolve. As a matter of fact, software technology is struggling to keep up with the pace of changes. This situation creates a great challenge to the software industry, namely developing complex software with high quality and low cost in the ever-changing environment. The software engineering community is trying to find an approach to keep the software cost and maintenance within budget. The most effective practice in the modern software industry relies on the component-based approach. Its basic principle is “divide and conquer”. A system can be partitioned into separate modules each of which can be independently implemented. The target system can then be constructed by composing those modules together in a well-defined order. The total development cost can then be significantly reduced as it approximates linearly the sum of individual module costs, instead of an exponential curve. Better still, one of the most prominent features of component-based software (CBS) is openness to changes, even unanticipated. The cost factor of software development can be in general solved by the component-based approach. However, the quality aspect of final products is very much of concern. Making an error-free software, especially for complex systems, is very challenging. CBS idealizes the plug-and-play concept. Unfortunately, components do not often play after being plugged. A main cause of this phenomenon is the violation of a component’s runtime execution to that of another. To better resolve the composition problem, this research focuses on the semantic constraints among components. Components must be verified for their conformance before composition. The verification techniques are based on the “assume-guarantee” principle. A component guarantees to behave accordingly if it receives at its interface the assumed input sequences. This research considers the issue within the context of CBS only. More specifically, the main goal is to verify that a software and its member components are sufficiently specified; and their inherent properties during runtime are maintained when components are composed together. The quality attributes of the software such as memory performance, survivability etc. are not in the scope.
Thin Bandwidth Knowledge of Results (KR) Improves Performance Consistency on Motor Skill Acquisition

The bandwidth knowledge of results in one way of supplying feedback during practice, which provides control over the amount and type of information given to the subject. The present study investigated the best distribution of this information throughout the practice. A task requiring to perform a sequence of movements on the keypad, in order to achieve a specific the target time. The experiment consisted of three stages: a) acquisition (50 attempts); b) transfer, ten minutes after the end of the acquisition (10 attempts); c) retention, twenty-four hours after the end of the acquisition (10 attempts). Participants were distributed into four groups: wide bandwidth, with a range of 20%; narrow bandwidth, with a range of 5%; increasing bandwidth, with a range of 5% on the first half of the acquisition and 20% on the second half; and decreasing bandwidth, with a range of 20% on the first half and 5% on the second one. The results show thin bandwidth improves performance consistency.
Accelerated Microstructure Imaging via Convex Optimization (AMICO) in crossing fibers

Mapping the local microstructure properties of the tissue in the brain is crucial to understand any pathological condition from a biological perspective. In recent years, microstructure-imaging techniques aimed at extracting such precious information by using explicit biophysical modeling of the decay patterns in different tissue compartments, e.g. axons, glial cells and extra-axonal space. In particular, the ActiveAx technique allows the estimation of the density and the average diameter of the axons with diffusion MRI, but the non-linear routines usually employed to fit the model to the data are computationally very intensive and cause practical problems for their application in clinical studies. Moreover, the model assumes a single axon orientation while numerous regions of the brain actually present more complex configurations, e.g. fiber crossing. ActiveAx was later extended to allow axon diameter mapping also in regions with crossing fibers, but the fitting time is still prohibitive for practical applications. Thus, there is an evident need for developing advanced techniques enabling fast and accurate reconstructions of the tissue microstructure properties not limited to regions known to contain only parallel fibers as for instance the corpus callosum. Recently, Daducci et al presented a flexible framework for Accelerated Microstructure Imaging via Convex Optimization (AMICO) to reformulate these microstructure imaging techniques as linear systems that can be solved using fast convex optimization methods. The purpose of the present study is to extend the AMICO framework, which in its current formulation assumes only one fiber population per voxel, to recover microstructure parameters also in regions with multiple fiber populations.
Kingfisher: A System for Elastic Cost-aware Provisioning in the Cloud

Cloud computing platforms allow application providers to rent server capacity to run hosted applications and to dynamically vary the rented capacity to match demand. Today’s cloud platforms offer a plethora of different server configurations for rent and price them differently on a cost-per-core basis. Furthermore, cloud platforms support different replication and migration mechanisms to support elastic provisioning of servers. In this paper, we present Kingfisher a cost-aware provisioning system for cloud applications that can optimize either the rental cost for provisioning a certain capacity or the transition cost of reconfiguring an application’s current capacity. Our system exploits both replication and migration to dynamically provision capacity and uses an integer linear program formulation to optimize cost. We have implemented a prototype of our Kingfisher cloud provisioning system and have evaluated its efficacy on a laboratorybased private Xen cloud as well on the public Amazon EC2 cloud. Our experiments demonstrate the efficacy of Kingfisher in elastically provisioning servers within private and public clouds that see varying application workloads. Our results demonstrate the ability of Kingfisher in reducing server rental costs and reconfiguration overheads over prior costoblivious approaches.
Theory and design of fractional-slot multilayer windings

This paper deals with fractional-slot multilayer windings. They are becoming attractive since they allow to reduce the harmonic content of the windings magneto motive force. Some examples of such a type of windings are reported in literature, but they are limited to a few slot/pole combinations. On the contrary, in this paper the general theory is presented. General rules for the design of multilayer windings are illustrated. It is also investigated when the adoption of a multilayer winding makes possible to limit the torque ripple and the rotor losses of the machine. Several examples and experimental tests are reported to investigate the advantages and convenience of adopting multilayer windings.
Consensus on Control of Risky Nonvariceal Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding in Taiwan with National Health Insurance

Background and Aims. To compose upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) consensus from a nationwide scale to improve the control of UGIB, especially for the high-risk comorbidity group. Methods. The steering committee defined the consensus scope to cover preendoscopy, endoscopy, postendoscopy, and overview from Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) assessments for UGIB. The expert group comprised thirty-two Taiwan experts of UGIB to conduct the consensus conference by a modified Delphi process through two separate iterations to modify the draft statements and to vote anonymously to reach consensus with an agreement ≥80% for each statement and to set the recommendation grade. Results. The consensus included 17 statements to highlight that patients with comorbidities, including liver cirrhosis, end-stage renal disease, probable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes, are at high risk of peptic ulcer bleeding and rebleeding. Special considerations are recommended for such risky patients, including raising hematocrit to 30% in uremia or acute myocardial infarction, aggressive acid secretory control in high Rockall scores, monitoring delayed rebleeding in uremia or cirrhosis, considering cycloxygenase-2 inhibitors plus PPI for pain control, and early resumption of antiplatelets plus PPI in coronary artery disease or stroke. Conclusions. The consensus comprises recommendations to improve care of UGIB, especially for high-risk comorbidities.
Contrast Gain Control in the Visual Cortex: Monocular Versus Binocular Mechanisms

In this study, we compare binocular and monocular mechanisms underlying contrast encoding by binocular simple cells in primary visual cortex. At mid to high levels of stimulus contrast, contrast gain of cortical neurons typically decreases as stimulus contrast is increased (Albrecht and Hamilton, 1982). We have devised a technique by which it is possible to determine the relative contributions of monocular and binocular processes to such reductions in contrast gain. First, we model the simple cell as an adjustable linear mechanism with a static output nonlinearity. For binocular cells, the linear mechanism is sensitive to inputs from both eyes. To constrain the parameters of the model, we record from binocular simple cells in striate cortex. To activate each cell, drifting sinusoidal gratings are presented dichoptically at various relative interocular phases. Stimulus contrast for one eye is varied over a large range whereas that for the other eye is fixed. We then determine the best-fitting parameters of the model for each cell for all of the interocular contrast ratios. This allows us to determine the effect of contrast on the contrast gain of the system. Finally, we decompose the contrast gain into monocular and binocular components. Using the data to constrain the model for a fixed contrast in one eye and increased contrasts in the other eye, we find steep reductions in monocular gain, whereas binocular gain exhibits modest and variable changes. These findings demonstrate that contrast gain reductions occur primarily at a monocular site, before convergence of information from the two eyes.
Medical image authentication based on revertible watermarking

Recently most healthcare organizations have an electronic medical information system. Whereas the electronic medical data such as medical images are exchanged through a computer network or through the internet; therefore, protecting medical data from unauthorized use is an essential requirement. In this paper a medical image authentication technique based on revertible watermarking method is proposed. At receiver side; the original image can be extracted without any corruption due to using a revertible watermarking that is provided by R-S-Vector. The image is divided into groups, each group includes 3 pixels, R-S-Vector is determined based on the status of each group, then it is compressed. The hash value of the image is determined based on SHA256. The hash value, the patient ID and the compressed R-S-Vector are concatenated and are encrypted using RSA public encryption technique, this encrypted code is the watermark that is embedded inside the image. The experimental results show that BER equal 0; SNR equals about 50dB; PSNR equals about 57dB; and MSE equals about 0.11, and the embedded capacity is up to 0. 525bpp.
A Frequency Domain GSC Algorithm Based on Wavelet Filter

This paper proposes D4 FLMS-GSC algorithm interpreted as Daubechies D4 wavelet filter instead of subtractor filter which processes array antenna output. The structure of the proposed D4 FLMS-GSC algorithm has characteristic of reducing the computational requirement one-half compared to the FLMS-GSC algorithm. In addition, we obtain the MSE characteristics and adaptive beampattern of the D4 FLMS-GSC structure, and compared with the performance of FLMS-GSC algorithm. The D4 FLMS-GSC algorithm proposed in this paper shows less computational requirement and gives the better performance, compared to the FLMS-GSC structure suggested by Chen-Fang.
Enhanced Power Saving Mechanism to Maximize Unavailability Interval in the IEEE 802 . 16 Mobile WiMAX

In this paper, an energy conservation mechanism to maximize the unavailability interval and to improve the energy efficiency for the Power Saving Class in WiMAX are proposed. The proposed method can be implemented in commercial fields and is fully compatible with the 802.16 standard. It provides a systematic way to adjust the start frame number of the first sleep window, one of the relevant parameters defined in power saving performance. The sleep cycle concept from IEEE 802.16m is applied to increase the unavailability interval. In summation to the computational complexity, simulations are studied to the procedure of the proposed algorithms. Our proposed model proves the unavailability interval ratio may increase up to 49.8% in some instance. Key-Words: Power saving, Start frame number, Unavailability interval, WiMAX
Horizons in Nutritional Science Metabolomics: an emerging post-genomic tool for nutrition

The post-genomic era has been driven by the development of technologies that allow the function of cells and whole organisms to be explored at the molecular level. Metabolomics is concerned with the measurement of global sets of low-molecular-weight metabolites. Metabolite proﬁles of body ﬂuids or tissues can be regarded as important indicators of physiological or pathological states. Such proﬁles may provide a more comprehensive view of cellular control mechanisms in man and animals, and raise the possibility of identifying surrogate markers of disease. Metabolomic approaches use analytical techniques such as NMR spectroscopy and MS to measure populations of low-molecular-weight metabolites in biological samples. Advanced statistical and bioinformatic tools are then employed to maximise the recovery of information and interpret the large datasets that are generated. Metabolomics has already been used to study toxicological mechanisms and disease processes and offers enormous potential as a means of investigating the complex relationship between nutrition and metabolism. Examples include the metabolism of dietary substrates, drug-induced disturbances of lipid metabolites in type 2 diabetes mellitus and the therapeutic effects of vitamin supplementation in the treatment of chronic metabolic disorders.
Journal of Health Global

Diarrhea as a risk factor for acute lower respiratory tract infections among young children in low income settings Background Diarrhea and acute lower respiratory tract infections (ALRI) are leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children under 5 years of age. We sought to quantify the correlation of diarrhea and respiratory infections within an individual child and to determine if infection with one illness increases the risk of infection with the other during the same time period.
Towards a General Model of First Person Shooter Game Traffic

Although the past few years have seen significant, empirically-based activity in modelling First Person Shooter (FPS) game traffic, there has been only limited work published that explores the underlying reasons for observed FPS traffic characteristics. As a result the generality and scalability of these empirical models is open to question. In this paper we demonstrate how a useful predictive model for FPS traffic patterns can be derived from a number of generic multiplayer game-play requirements. We begin by describing a possible theoretical basis for modelling the message rates and message sizes between server and clients in FPS games. Based on this model we make predictions as to the characteristics of FPS game traffic and then compare the predictions with traffic statistics collected from Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament game trials. Agreement between the predictions from our theoretical model and the statistics from the game trials is very good.
USENIX iSeeYou : Disabling the MacBook Webcam Indicator LED

The ubiquitous webcam indicator LED is an important privacy feature which provides a visual cue that the camera is turned on. We describe how to disable the LED on a class of Apple internal iSight webcams used in some versions of MacBook laptops and iMac desktops. This enables video to be captured without any visual indication to the user and can be accomplished entirely in user space by an unprivileged (non-root) application. The same technique that allows us to disable the LED, namely reprogramming the firmware that runs on the iSight, enables a virtual machine escape whereby malware running inside a virtual machine reprograms the camera to act as a USB Human Interface Device (HID) keyboard which executes code in the host operating system. We build two proofs-of-concept: (1) an OS X application, iSeeYou, which demonstrates capturing video with the LED disabled; and (2) a virtual machine escape that launches Terminal.app and runs shell commands. To defend against these and related threats, we build an OS X kernel extension, iSightDefender, which prohibits the modification of the iSight’s firmware from user space.