Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coping with functional interrelatedness and fragmentation at the infrastructure/land use interface

pp. 409–435 Abstract: Road infrastructure projects are increasingly placed in their wider land-use context because of the functional relationships they have with surrounding areas. These more inclusive area-oriented planning processes typically involve a complex of interdependent but institutionally fragmented actors. Effective operationalization of collaborative strategies therefore remains difficult. Various policies intro-duce spatial design efforts to the infrastructure planning processes as a strategy to deal with these issues. This paper explores experiences in the Netherlands that have placed spatial design in vital positions in the process. An exploration of literature from the fields of spatial design, planning, and geography teaches us that design approaches, in such cases, may be applied to serve as a communicative modus that fosters dialogue, creativity, and eventually an inclusive and shared story about an area’s future. We interviewed designers experienced in serving that role and asked them whether and how such objectives are achieved. Consecutively, in order to come to practical lessons for exploitation of the merits indicated by the interviewees, we studied two projects that the interviewees considered best practices. We conclude that a combination of technical and relational design can effectively help a fragmented group of actors to find a shared and meaningful story and make integral choices on infrastructure projects, framed within a wider area’s development. Ensuring effective iterations between technical and relational design requires institutionalization of the coordinative capacities of design, as well as the right mindset among participants. This way, the employment of such design approaches facilitates effective operationalization of collaborative governance at the infrastructure/
Sleep Differentially Affects Early and Late Neuronal Responses to Sounds in Auditory and Perirhinal Cortices

A fundamental feature of sleep is reduced behavioral responsiveness to external events, but the extent of processing along sensory pathways remains poorly understood. While responses are comparable across wakefulness and sleep in auditory cortex (AC), neuronal activity in downstream regions remains unknown. Here we recorded spiking activity in 435 neuronal clusters evoked by acoustic stimuli in the perirhinal cortex (PRC) and in AC of freely behaving male rats across wakefulness and sleep. A fundamental feature of sleep is reduced behavioral responsiveness to external events, but the extent of processing along sensory pathways remains poorly understood. While responses are comparable across wakefulness and sleep in auditory cortex (AC), neuronal activity in downstream regions remains unknown. Here we recorded spiking activity in 435 neuronal clusters evoked by acoustic stimuli in the perirhinal cortex (PRC) and in AC of freely behaving male rats across wakefulness and sleep. Neuronal responses in AC showed modest (∼10%) differences in response gain across vigilance states, replicating previous studies. By contrast, PRC neuronal responses were robustly attenuated by 47% and 36% during NREM sleep and REM sleep, respectively. Beyond the separation according to cortical region, response latency in each neuronal cluster was correlated with the degree of NREM sleep attenuation, such that late (>40 ms) responses in all monitored regions diminished during NREM sleep. The robust attenuation of late responses prevalent in PRC represents a novel neural correlate of sensory disconnection during sleep, opening new avenues for investigating the mediating mechanisms. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Reduced behavioral responsiveness to sensory stimulation is at the core of sleep's definition, but it is still unclear how the sleeping brain responds differently to sensory stimuli. In the current study, we recorded neuronal spiking responses to sounds along the cortical processing hierarchy of rats during wakefulness and natural sleep. Responses in auditory cortex only showed modest changes during sleep, whereas sleep robustly attenuated the responses of neurons in high-level perirhinal cortex. We also found that, during NREM sleep, the response latency predicts the degree of sleep attenuation in individual neurons above and beyond their anatomical location. These results provide anatomical and temporal signatures of sensory disconnection during sleep and pave the way to understanding the underlying mechanisms.
A ginseng saponin metabolite suppresses tumor necrosis factor-α-promoted metastasis by suppressing nuclear factor-κB signaling in murine colon cancer cells

SC-514, an inhibitor of IkappaB kinase beta (IKKbeta), blocked the TNF-alpha-induced activation of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) as well as the TNF-alpha-promoted metastasis of murine colon adenocarcinoma cells. We investigated the effect of 20-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-20(S)-protopanaxadiol (M1), a main intestinal bacterial metabolite of ginseng, on the NF-kappaB-dependent metastasis. M1 was effective in suppressing the TNF-alpha-induced activation of NF-kappaB, expression of matrix metalloprotease-9 (MMP-9), migration and invasion. The TNF-alpha-evoked increase in lung and liver metastasis of colon carcinoma was also abrogated by treatment with M1 in vitro. These results suggest that ginseng has potential to suppress inflammation-related metastasis by downregulating the NF-kappaB signaling pathway.
Analysis and Simulation of Asymmetrical Current Source Multilevel Inverter

This paper presents asymmetrical current source multilevel inverter approach for high power output applications. The topology used here is derived fr om the multilevel voltage-source inverter (MVSI) by dual conversion, this allows the wealth of existing know ledge relating to the operations, modulations and control strategies of multilevel VSI to be immediately applied to such multilevel CSI. It is based on the parallel connec tion of the Hbridge inverter cells using different control techn iques. Simulation of asymmetrical current source multi level inverter is shown using 2 and 3 H-bridge inverter cells wit h parallel connection using optimization angle cont rol technique. Now ever by the supplies which are in GP with diffe rent ratios like 2,3, etc. The proposed configurati on is shown for 7,9, 15 and 27 level inverters having inherent adv antages of the H-bridge multi level inverters. Stru ctural and operational characteristics are discussed and their inherent advantages are shown. Simulation using Matlab Simulink is done to verify the performance. Simulation and res ults for this proposed scheme are presented in this paper.
Driven Soft Matter : Entropy Production and the Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem(Frontiers in Nonequilibrium Physics-Fundamental Theory, Glassy & Granular Materials, and Computational Physics-)

Entropy and the fluctuation-dissipation theorem are at the heart of statistical mechanics near equilibrium. Driving a system beyond the linear response regime leads to (i) the breakdown of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem and (ii) a nonzero entropy production rate. We show how both phenomena are related using the general framework of stochastic thermodynamics suitable for soft matter systems governed by stochastic dynamics and driven through nonconservative forces or external flows. In particular, the excess of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem in a nonequilibrium steady state compared to equilibrium is related to total entropy production. Alternative recent derivations of generalized fluctuationdissipation theorems are sketched and related to each other. The theory is illustrated for two systems: a driven single colloidal particle and systems driven through simple shear flow.
Explorer Inducing Compact but Accurate Tree-Substitution Grammars

Tree substitution grammars (TSGs) are a compelling alternative to context-free grammars for modelling syntax. However, many popular techniques for estimating weighted TSGs (under the moniker of Data Oriented Parsing) suffer from the problems of inconsistency and over-fitting. We present a theoretically principled model which solves these problems using a Bayesian non-parametric formulation. Our model learns compact and simple grammars, uncovering latent linguistic structures (e.g., verb subcategorisation), and in doing so far out-performs a standard PCFG.
Evaluating Bulk Stiffness of MCF-7 Cells using Micro-scale Composite Compliant Mechanisms

Biomechanical assays offer a good alternative to biochemical assays in diagnosing disease states and assessing the efficacy of drugs. In view of this, we have designed, fabricated and tested a miniature compliant tool to estimate the bulk stiffness of cells, particularly MCF-7 (Michigan Cancer Foundation) cells. The compliant tool comprises a gripper and a Displacement-amplifying Compliant Mechanism (DaCM), where the former helps in grasping the cell and the latter enables vision-based sensing of force. A DaCM is necessary because the field of view of a microscope at the required magnification is not large enough to simultaneously observe the cell and a point on the gripper that move sufficiently to estimate the force. Therefore, a DaCM is strategically embedded within an existing gripper design leading to a composite compliant mechanism. The DaCM is designed using the inetoelastostatic map technique to achieve a resolution 42 nN. The gripper, microfabricated with SU-8 polymer using photolithography, is within the footprint of about 10 mm by 10 mm with the smallest feature size of about 5 microns. The gripper was tested in air and was found to be satisfactory in grasping and squeezing objects as small as 15 microns in size. However, testing in aqueous medium encountered an unanticipated problem due to buoyancy, which curled the jaws of the gripper up by as much as 40 microns and thus losing contact with the cell that is to be grasped. A design modification is suggested to fix this problem.
Novel concept for pulse compression via structured spatial energy distribution

We present a novel concept for pulse compression scheme applicable at RF, microwave and possibly to optical frequencies based on structured energy distribution in cavities supporting degenerate band-edge (DBE) modes. For such modes a significant fraction of energy resides in a small fraction of the cavity length. Such energy concentration provides a basis for superior performance for applications in microwave pulse compression devices (MPC) when compared to conventional cavities. The novel design features: larger loaded quality factor of the cavity and stored energy compared to conventional designs, robustness to variations of cavity loading, energy feeding and extraction at the cavity center, substantial reduction of the cavity size by use of equivalent lumped circuits for low energy sections of the cavity, controlled pulse shaping via engineered extraction techniques. The presented concepts are general, in terms of equivalent transmission lines, and can be applied to a variety of realistic guiding structures.
Female ornaments in the Pied Flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca : associations with age, health and reproductive success

forehead patch characteristic of males. We thus addressed the associations of these two ornaments with female age and with some health and breeding parameters in a Spanish population of Pied Flycatchers. Female ornament expression was not associated with haemoparasite prevalences, clutch size or parental provisioning effort. However, females expressing the white forehead patch raised more fledglings, and females with larger wing patches bred earlier, had higher number of hatchlings and showed increased levels of total serum immunoglobulins. Thus, these two unrelated epigamic ornaments may indicate some aspects of female quality. Further experimental studies could test the possibility that these plumage traits might function as signals to the males or might be used during female‐female aggressive encounters in competition for nest-sites and mates. Darwin (1871) defined sexual selection as the process driving the evolution of traits that enhance mating success through competition between individuals of the chosen sex, usually males, and through mate choice by individuals of the choosy sex. In most examples he found, females were the less-ornamented of the two sexes. Except for the cases of sex-role reversed species, Darwin (1871) considered it less plausible to attribute female ornamentation to sexual selection than to a by-product of the trait selected for in males, an explanation which is nowadays known as the genetic correlation hypothesis. The
Evaluation of In vivo Antitrypanosomal Activity of Aqueous and Methanol Leaf Extracts of Clutia abyssinica (Euphorbiaceae) against Trypanosoma congolense Field Isolate

Aqueous and methanol leaf extracts of C. abyssinica were investigated for their in vivo activity against Trypanosoma congolence, the main causative agent of African animal trypanosomosis in Sub-Saharan Africa and Ethiopia. The in vivo antitrypanosomal efficacy of the aqueous and methanol extracts was evaluated in Swiss albino mice infected with T. congolense field isolate. The leaf extracts were administered 12 days post-infection at peak parasitaemia level of ~108 trypanosomes/ml at doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg by intraperitoneal injection once daily for 7 days. Parasitaemia, packed cell volume (PCV), mean survival time and change in body weight were used as indices for monitoring the efficacy of the extracts by comparing with the positive control: 28 mg/kg dose of diminazene aceturate and negative control: 2% tween 80 treated groups. The extracts had a lethal dose greater than 2000 mg/kg and there were no evidences of acute toxicity at the doses tested. Highly significant (p<0.001) reduction in pre-treatment parasitaemia by 3.91% (7.38 ± 0.18), increase in PCV by 1.12% (48.66 ± 0.20), body weight improvement by 1.36% (22.34 ± 0.27) and mean survival time of 39.20 ± 0.37 days was observed in the group treated by 400 mg/kg methanol leaf extract of C. abyssinica. In general, the results obtained suggest ethno-pharmacological usefulness of the plant and necessitate further studies to be carried on isolated active substances from the plant.
A disembodied developmental robotic agent called Samu

The agent program, called Samu, is an experiment to build a disembodied DevRob (Developmental Robotics) chatter bot that can talk in a natural language like humans do. One of the main design feature is that Samu can be interacted with using only a character terminal. This is important not only for practical aspects of Turing test or Loebner prize, but also for the study of basic principles of Developmental Robotics. Our purpose is to create a rapid prototype of Q-learning with neural network approximators for Samu. We sketch out the early stages of the development process of this prototype, where Samu’s task is to predict the next sentence of tales or conversations. The basic objective of this paper is to reach the same results using reinforcement learning with general function approximators that can be achieved by using the classical Q lookup table on small input samples. The paper is closed by an experiment that shows a significant improvement in Samu’s learning when using LZW tree to narrow the number of possible Q-actions.
Oxidation of Benzylic and Allylic Alcohols to Corresponding Aldehydes

Department of Applied Chemistry, National Chia-Yi University, Chia-Yi 60004, Taiwan e Ph.D. Program for Biotech Pharmaceutical Industry, China Medical University, No. 91, Hsueh-Shih Rd., Taichung 40402, Taiwan School of Pharmacy, China Medical University, No. 91, Hsueh-Shih Rd., Taichung 40402, Taiwan Department of Chinese Pharmaceutical Sciences and Chinese Medicine Resources, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan Department of Biotechnology, Asia University, Taichung 41354, Taiwan Chinese Medicine Research Center, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan
Fruit quality and nutrient composition of grapevines: a review

Abstract Grape quality and its nutrient composition vary depending on agronomical management practices (fertilization, irrigation, weed, and pest control), and agrochemicals treatments (such as kaolin, hormones, and sucrose), viticultural (grape cultivars and varieties, training, pruning, cluster thinning, and trunk girdling), and biotechnological techniques, as well as growth stage and environmental changes (soil, climate, and season). Understanding the mentioned agro-biotechnological techniques assists grape growers and geneticists in breeding grapevines to improve yield, tolerance, quality, and nutraceutical values based on their usage purposes. Thus, this review article focuses on the up-to-date approaches and incentivizes further studies on the unknown mechanisms related to engineering grape flavonoid/phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathways to improve its health-promoting effects in both grape and human. The engineering/breeding strategies and viticultural practices have been proposed based on the grape usage purposes and environmental conditions.
FARE AND LOCATION COMPETITIVENESS ANALYSIS OF MAJOR HUB AIRPORTS IN EAST ASIA

Main airlines naturally dominate the Incheon International Airport. The government executes various trade policies in order to protect main airlines. This paper analyzes the distances between hub airports in Asia and the distances of spokes, as well as relationships with other variables, travel fare, and monopoly power. The purpose is to recognize the position of the Incheon International Airport through analyzing fare and location differences between Incheon International Airport and other hub airports by market. The result appears that Incheon Airport was ranked 4th in fare competitiveness and location among East Asia airports, where the most competitive cities were Singapore in terms of fare competitiveness and Tokyo in terms of location competitiveness. Strategic and political schemes from the government are needed by Incheon Airport.
CEO Compensation and Fair Value Accounting: Evidence from Purchase Price Allocation

This study investigates the impact of CEO compensation structure on post-acquisition purchase price allocation, an accounting procedure that involves fair value estimation of various assets and liabilities. We find that CEOs whose compensation packages rely more on earnings-based bonuses are more likely to overallocate the purchase price to goodwill, the largest asset recorded post-acquisition. Because goodwill is not amortized, the overallocation likely increases post-acquisition earnings and bonuses. We also find that, when the acquirer's CEO bonus plan includes performance measures that are not affected, or are less affected, by the overstatement of goodwill, such as cash flows, sales, or earnings growth, the overallocation to goodwill motivated by bonus plans diminishes.
Mixed models, array methods and multidimensional density estimation

We consider multidimensional density estimation. Eilers et al. (2006) used multidimensional P-splines together with a new fast and compact algorithm to smooth multidimensional histograms. Currie et al. (2006) emphasized the array nature of the method and demonstrated that a mixed model could also be fltted into this array structure. In this paper we combine these ideas and show how array methods and mixed models give rise to an e-cient method of estimating multidimensional densities.
Modeling of the solar radiative impact of biomass burning aerosols during the Dust and Biomass‐burning Experiment (DABEX)

Received 25 January 2008; revised 28 August 2008; accepted 9 September 2008; published 27 November 2008. [1] The radiative forcing associated with biomass burning aerosols has been calculated over West Africa using a chemical transport model. The model simulations focus on the period of JanuaryFebruary 2006 during the Dust and Biomass-burning Experiment (DABEX). All of the main aerosol components for this region are modeled including mineral dust, biomass burning (BB) aerosols, secondary organic carbon associated with BB emissions, and carbonaceous particles from the use of fossil fuel and biofuel. The optical properties of the BB aerosol are specified using aircraft data from DABEX. The modeled aerosol optical depth (AOD) is within 15–20% of data from the few available Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) measurement stations. However, the model predicts very high AOD over central Africa, which disagrees somewhat with satellite retrieved AOD from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR). This indicates that BB emissions may be too high in central Africa or that very high AOD may be incorrectly screened out of the satellite data. The aerosol single scattering albedo increases with wavelength in our model and in AERONET retrievals, which contrasts with results from a previous biomass burning aerosol campaign. The model gives a strong negative radiative forcing of the BB aerosols at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) in clear-sky conditions over most of the domain, except over the Saharan desert where surface albedos are high. The all-sky TOA radiative forcing is quite inhomogeneous with values varying from 10 to 10 W m 2 . The regional mean TOA radiative forcing is close to zero for the all-sky calculation and around 1.5 W m 2 for the clear-sky calculation. Sensitivity simulations indicate a positive regional mean TOA radiative forcing of up to 3 W m 2 .
Influence of temperature on the refractive index sensitivities of fiber Bragg gratings refractometers

In this work, the cross-sensitivity between temperature and refractive index (RI) in etched fiber Bragg grating inscribed in multi-mode fiber (MMF) is studied. The refractive index sensitivities of different modes are used to obtain a linear response and the temperature dependence. It was verified that the absolute average RI sensibility reduces from 0. 97Â Â±Â 0. 05Â nm/RIU to 0.76 Â± 0.07 nm/RIU when the temperature increases from 15 o C up to 35 o C, respectively. Due the fact of this MMF fiber Bragg grating has low RI sensitivity; the effect of temperature increasing on the RI sensitivity is not marginal and thus, must be considered in the calibration curves in order to improve the precision during the RI measures. This temperature effect on the refractive index sensitivity is related with the increasing difference between the fiber and surrounding RI, which results in a decrease of the evanescent field and consequently reduced surrounding RI sensitivity.