Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Water Vapor in the Lower Stratosphere

Water vapor injection into the stratosphere at mid-latitudes may sporadically enhance local stratospheric water vapor concentrations to high values. Water vapor in the stratosphere originates from the troposphere by transport of water vapor itself (1) and of methane and hydrogen, which degrade to make water (2). Water, methane, and hydrogen are transported to the stratosphere through upwelling in tropical regions (3). This upwelling followed by downwelling and horizontal transport in the extratropical stratosphere—the Brewer-Dobson circulation—is widely held to control the water vapor abundance in the stratosphere (see the figure). But could there be a more direct transport of tropospheric air containing water vapor into the stratosphere via convection outside the tropics (4–7)? On page 835 of this issue, Anderson et al. (8) argue that there is evidence for water vapor enhancements in the mid-latitude lower stratosphere. They further argue that increased water vapor levels could enhance ozone depletion caused by human-emitted ozone-depleting substances and thus raise ultraviolet radiation levels at Earth's surface.
Treatment-Resistant Depression: When Antidepressant Drug Intolerance May Indicate Food Intolerance

Objective: To describe a patient with food intolerance probably contributing to depressive symptoms, intolerance to psychotropic medication and treatment resistance. Method: The case vignette and investigatory procedures are detailed. Results: The patient's course improved considerably with an elimination diet. Conclusions: The prevalence of food intolerance as a contributing factor to depressive disorders requires clarification. Clinicians should be aware of the possible syndrome and that it may be worsened by psychotropic medication.
Activation of P 2 X Receptors Induces Apoptosis in Human Retinal Pigment Epithelium

PURPOSE. The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is considered a primary site of pathology in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is the most prevalent form of irreversible blindness worldwide in the elderly population. Extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) acts as a key signaling molecule in numerous cellular processes, including cell death. The purpose of this study was to determine whether extracellular ATP induces apoptosis in cultured human RPE.
Asthma, allergic rhinitis and atopic eczema in Finnish children and adolescents

The parents of 3649 Finnish children and adolescents were interviewed in 1980 to evaluate the prevalence of bronchial asthma, allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis. The same group was interviewed 6 years later to determine the incidence of new cases of bronchial asthma in the 1980s. Age‐ and sex‐matched samples were taken from three areas, southern, eastern and northern Finland to allow assessment of possible regional differences in prevalences and incidences. The prevalences of atopic eczema, allergic rhinitis and asthma were 1.7%, 6.0% and 4.3%, respectively. These figures are similar to those found in previous studies in Scandinavia and Finland over 10 years ago. The prevalence of atopy was highest (6.4%) in southern Finland, which is the most urbanized area of our country. The prevalence of asthma was highest (3.3%) in northern Finland. This is still low when compared with the incidences in other European countries. The prevalences of asthma and atopy were lowest in eastern Finland which is the most agrarian area. The incidence of asthma was 1.5 cases/1000 individuals/year, but no regional differences were shown.
Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 1621 Advances in Task-Based Parallel Programming for Distributed Memory Architectures

Zafari, A. 2018. Advances in Task-Based Parallel Programming for Distributed Memory Architectures. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 1621. 42 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-513-0209-6. It has become common knowledge that parallel programming is needed for scientific applications, particularly for running large scale simulations. Different programming models are introduced for simplifying parallel programming, while enabling an application to use the full computational capacity of the hardware. In task-based programming, all the variables in the program are abstractly viewed as data. Parallelism is provided by partitioning the data. A task is a collection of operations performed on input data to generate output data. In distributed memory environments, the data is distributed over the computational nodes (or processes), and is communicated when a task needs remote data. This thesis discusses advanced techniques in distributed task-based parallel programming, implemented in the DuctTeip software library. DuctTeip uses MPI (Message Passing Interface) for asynchronous inter-process communication and Pthreads for shared memory parallelization within the processes. The data dependencies that determine which subsets of tasks can be executed in parallel are extracted from information about the data accesses (input or output) of the tasks. A versioning system is used internally to represent the task-data dependencies efficiently. A hierarchical partitioning of tasks and data allows for independent optimization of the size of computational tasks and the size of communicated data. A data listener technique is used to manage communication efficiently. DuctTeip provides an algorithm independent dynamic load balancing functionality. Redistributing tasks from busy processes to idle processes dynamically can provide an overall shorter execution time. A random search method with high probability of success is employed for locating idle/busy nodes. The advantage of the abstract view of tasks and data is exploited in a unified programming interface, which provides a standard for task-based frameworks to decouple framework development from application development. The interface can be used for collaboration between different frameworks in running an application program efficiently on different hardware. To evaluate the DuctTeip programming model, applications such as Cholesky factorization, a time-dependent PDE solver for the shallow water equations, and the fast multipole method have been implemented using DuctTeip. Experiments show that DuctTeip provides both scalability and performance. Comparisons with similar frameworks such as StarPU, OmpSs, and PaRSEC show competitive results.
Brain cavitation and micrencephaly in lambs exposed to prenatal hyperthermia.

Ewes were exposed to 44o C for 9 h daily during the last two-thirds or last third of gestation. The body weights of lambs were significantly reduced and cavitations of the cerebral white matter were found in 75% and micrencephaly in 44% of lambs.
Quantifying CO emissions from the 2004 Alaskan wildfires using MOPITT CO data

We present an inverse model analysis to quantify the emissions of wildfires in Alaska and Canada in the summer of 2004 using carbon monoxide (CO) data from the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) remote sensing instrument together with the chemistry transport model MOZART (Model for Ozone and Related Chemical Tracers). We use data assimilation outside the region of the fires to optimally constrain the CO background level and the transport into that region. Inverse modeling is applied locally to quantify the fire emissions. Our a posteriori estimate of the wildfire emissions gives a total of 30 ± 5 Tg CO emitted during June–August 2004 which is of comparable order to the anthropogenic emissions for the continental US. The simulated CO fields have been evaluated by comparison with MOPITT and independent aircraft data.
Association of N-terminal domain polymorphisms of the porcine glucocorticoid receptor with carcass composition and meat quality traits.

The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is a ubiquitously acting transcription factor that is responsible for mediating the physiological response to stress and adaptation to environmental conditions. Genetic variation of a GR gene (NR3C1) may therefore contribute to multiple phenotypic alterations and influence relevant traits of animal production. Here, we examined effects of two non-synonymous mutations of the porcine NR3C1, leading to amino acid exchanges p.Glu13Asp (c.39A>C) and p.Val19Leu (c.55G>C) in the N-terminal domain of the GR, on meat quality and carcass composition. In addition, we explored their influence on transcriptional activity of GR in vitro. A commercial crossbreed Pietrain × (German Large White × German Landrace) herd (n = 545) in which genotypes and relevant traits had been collected was used to perform the association analysis. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) c.55G>C was significantly associated with conductivity and meat color scores. These effects were highly consistent considering the physiological relationship between these traits. Association analysis of SNP c.39A>C also revealed significant effects on closely connected meat quality traits. In addition, SNP c.55G>C showed association with carcass traits, mainly those related to muscle deposition. The molecular mechanism of action of both amino acid substitutions remains obscure because neither showed significant influence on transcriptional activity of GR. Our study emphasizes NR3C1 as an important candidate gene for muscle-related traits in pigs, but further work is necessary to clarify the molecular background of the identified associations.
Design Procedure for High-Speed PM Motors Aided by Optimization Algorithms

This paper considers the electromagnetic and structural co-design of superficial permanent magnet synchronous machines for high-speed applications, with the aid of a Pareto optimization procedure. The aim of this work is to present a design procedure for the afore-mentioned machines that relies on the combined used of optimization algorithms and finite element analysis. The proposed approach allows easy analysis of the results and a lowering of the computational burden. The proposed design method is presented through a practical example starting from the specifications of an aeronautical actuator. The design procedure is based on static finite element simulations for electromagnetic analysis and on analytical formulas for structural design. The final results are validated through detailed transient finite element analysis to verify both electromagnetic and structural performance. The step-by-step presentation of the proposed design methodology allows the reader to easily adapt it to different specifications. Finally, a comparison between a distributed-winding (24 slots) and a concentrated-winding (6 slots) machine is presented demonstrating the advantages of the former winding arrangement for high-speed applications.
Nitric oxide inhibits HIV-1 replication in human astrocytoma cells.

Astroglial cells represent a target for HIV infection in the central nervous system. In astrocytes, HIV infection is poorly productive, being characterized by a persistent state of viral latency. However, activation of the nuclear factor NF-kappaB and its binding to HIV long terminal repeat (LTR) can induce HIV replication. Moreover, nitric oxide (NO) can affect NF-kappaB activation in glial cells. Therefore, we hypothesize that NO may reduce HIV replication in human astroglial cells by inhibiting HIV-1 LTR transcriptional activity. In this respect, we show that NO donors reduce viral replication in HIV-1-infected human astrocytoma T67 cells, taken as an astroglial model. Furthermore, using transfected T67 cells, we demonstrate that NO donors inhibit HIV-1 LTR transcriptional activity. These results suggest that the use of NO-releasing drugs may represent a potential, novel approach in inhibiting HIV replication in the central nervous system.
Comparison of Lactulose and Glucose Breath Test for Diagnosis of Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Background and Aims: Validity of the lactulose breath test (LBT) to diagnose small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) has been questioned. Therefore, a study was planned to compare LBT with glucose breath test (GBT) to diagnose SIBO in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients and controls. Methods: 175 diarrhea-predominant IBS patients and 150 apparently healthy controls were enrolled. IBS was diagnosed according to Rome II criteria. Breath samples were collected every 10 min up to 180 min. Breath H2 and CH4 were measured using an SC MicroLyzer. SIBO was positive with a sustained increase in breath H2 or CH4 or both ≥10 ppm over a baseline value within <90 min in case of LBT and within <120 min in GBT. Results: SIBO was positive in 60/175 (34.3%) patients by lactulose and in 11/175 (6.2%) patients by GBT. In controls, LBT was positive for SIBO in 45/150 (30%) patients and in 1/150 (0.66%) patients by GBT. Positive LBT for SIBO was not significantly different in patients and controls; while using GBT, SIBO was significantly higher (p < 0.01) in patients as compared to controls. By using GBT as gold standard for SIBO, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of LBT in IBS patients was 63.6, 67.7, 11.7 and 96.6% respectively. Conclusion: LBT is not a good test to discriminate SIBO in IBS patients from controls.
Inpainting Highlights Using Color Line Projection

In this paper we propose a novel method to inpaint highlights and to remove the specularity in the image with specular objects by the color line projection. Color line projection is the method that a color with a surface reflection component is projected near the diffuse color line by following the direction of the specular color line. We use two captured images using different exposure time so that the clue of the original color in a highlight area is searched from two images since the color at the highlight region is distorted and saturated to the illumination color. In the first step of the proposed procedure, the region corresponding to the highlight is generated and the clue of the original highlight color is acquired. In the next step, the color line is generated by the restricted region growing method around the highlight region, and the color line is divided into the diffuse color line and the specular color line. In the final step, pixels near the specular color line are projected onto near the diffuse color line by the color line projection, in which the modified random function is applied to realistically inpaint the highlight. One of advantages in our method is to find the highlight region and the clue of the original color of the highlight with ease. It also efficiently estimates the surface reflection component which is utilized to remove specularity and to inpaint the highlight. The proposed method performs the highlight inpainting and the specular removal simultaneously once the color line is generated. In addition, color line projection with the modified random function can make the result more realistic. We show experimental results from the real images and make a synthesis of the real image and the image modified by the proposed method.
INTERMITTENT EFFLUENT RECIRCULATION FOR THE EFFICIENT TREATMENT OF LOW STRENGTH WASTEWATER BY AN EGSB REACTOR

In order to establish the appropriate methane fermentation technology for low strength wastewater, a 2.0 L EGSB reactor was operated at 20°C with 0.3 - 0.4 g COD/L of sucrose-based synthetic wastewater for 500 days. At the start up period, the reactor was operated in EGSB mode with a 5 m/h up flow velocity by continuous effluent recirculation. However, the EGSB reactor exhibited insufficient COD removal (50-60%) at COD loading of 7.2 - 9.6 kg COD/m 3 ⋅day due to the low COD concentration in the sludge bed. Therefore, we proposed the new operation mode by switching to UASB mode (without recirculation, 0.7 m/h up flow velocity) for 30 minutes and EGSB mode for 10 minutes in 40 minutes cycle. Moreover we added sodium sulfide to make the low ORP condition. In this operation, COD removal increased dramatically, from 65% to 91%. Additionally, physical properties of the retained sludge were well maintained in this operation mode. Furthermore, the retained sludge possessed appropriate levels of methanogenic activity (0.2-0.4 g COD/g VSS/ day) at 20°C.
Wirkung von Markenkrisen und der Soothing-Strategie als Markenkrisenreaktion

of Marketing an der EBS Business School in OestrichWinkel, Academic Director des Automotive Institute for Management (AIM), Inhaber der Professur für Markenmanagement und Automobilmarketing und Direktor des Instituts für Markenund Kommunikationsforschung an der EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht, EBS Business School, Rheingaustr. 1, D-65375 OestrichWinkel, Tel. +49 6 11 71 02-2069, E-Mail: franz-rudolf.esch@ebs.edu Dr. Stephan Weyler ist ehemaliger externer Doktorand an der Professur für Markenmanagement und Automobilmarketing der EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht, EBS Business School, Rheingaustr. 1, D-65375 Oestrich-Winkel, Tel. +49 6 11 71 02-2069, E-Mail: stephan.weyler@gmx.net Wirkung von Markenkrisen und der Soothing-Strategie als Markenkrisenreaktion
Conic stable switching law design for second-order switched linear systems

The problems of asymptotic stability for two classes of second-order switched linear systems are considered. Sufficient and necessary conditions of having a stable convex combination for diagonal state matrices and the relation between coefficients of conic switching control law and elements of diagonal state matrices are put forward respectively. Finally, under the assumption that state matrices of a class of second-order systems do not have a stable convex combination, conic switching control laws are designed to guarantee the systems be asymptotical stable. The simulation results illustrate the validity of the designed methods in this paper.
Predictability of Vibrio cholerae in Chesapeake Bay

ABSTRACT Vibrio cholerae is autochthonous to natural waters and can pose a health risk when it is consumed via untreated water or contaminated shellfish. The correlation between the occurrence of V. cholerae in Chesapeake Bay and environmental factors was investigated over a 3-year period. Water and plankton samples were collected monthly from five shore sampling sites in northern Chesapeake Bay (January 1998 to February 2000) and from research cruise stations on a north-south transect (summers of 1999 and 2000). Enrichment was used to detect culturable V. cholerae, and 21.1% (n = 427) of the samples were positive. As determined by serology tests, the isolates, did not belong to serogroup O1 or O139 associated with cholera epidemics. A direct fluorescent-antibody assay was used to detect V. cholerae O1, and 23.8% (n = 412) of the samples were positive. V. cholerae was more frequently detected during the warmer months and in northern Chesapeake Bay, where the salinity is lower. Statistical models successfully predicted the presence of V. cholerae as a function of water temperature and salinity. Temperatures above 19°C and salinities between 2 and 14 ppt yielded at least a fourfold increase in the number of detectable V. cholerae. The results suggest that salinity variation in Chesapeake Bay or other parameters associated with Susquehanna River inflow contribute to the variability in the occurrence of V. cholerae and that salinity is a useful indicator. Under scenarios of global climate change, increased climate variability, accompanied by higher stream flow rates and warmer temperatures, could favor conditions that increase the occurrence of V. cholerae in Chesapeake Bay.
The Promise of Research on Open Source Software

Breaking with many established assumptions about how innovation ought to work, open source software projects offer eye-opening examples of novel innovation practices for students and practitioners in many fields. In this article we briefly review existing research on the open source phenomenon and discuss the utility of open source software research findings for many other fields. We categorize the research into three areas: motivations of open source software contributors; governance, organization, and the process of innovation in open source software projects; and competitive dynamics enforced by open source software. We introduce the articles in this special issue of Management Science on open source software, and show how each contributes insights to one or more of these areas.
Resuscitation of Newborn Infants with 21% or 100% Oxygen: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: The issue of whether 21% O2 is more effective than 100% O2 for resuscitation of newborn infants remains controversial. Objectives: We have updated the systematic review and meta-analysis including all studies reporting resuscitation of newborn infants with 21 or 100% O2. Methods: Randomized or quasi-randomized studies of depressed newborn infants resuscitated with 21 or 100% O2 with or without masking of treatment were considered for inclusion. The outcomes of interest included neonatal mortality and hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. Results: Ten studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Of these, 6 studies were identified as being strictly randomized. In total, 1,082 infants were allocated to resuscitation with 21% O2 and 1,051 infants with 100% O2. The risk of neonatal mortality was reduced in the 21% O2 group compared to the 100% O2 group both in the analysis of all studies (typical RR 0.69, 95% CI 0.54, 0.88) and in the analysis of strictly randomized studies (typical RR 0.32, 95% CI 0.12, 0.84). A trend toward a decrease in the risk of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy stage 2 and 3 was noted with resuscitation in 21% O2 in the analysis of all studies (typical RR 0.88, 95% CI 0.72, 1.08). Conclusions: There is a significant reduction in the risk of neonatal mortality and a trend towards a reduction in the risk of severe hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy in newborns resuscitated with 21% O2.
Towards Formal Evaluation of a High-Assurance Guard

A transfer guard built on a high-assurance multilevel secure (MLS) trusted computing base (TCB) must be a trusted subject with the capability to perform downgrades not otherwise permitted by the MLS security policy. Formal evaluations of MLS systems containing trusted subjects are complicated when the trusted subjects are evaluated as part of a monolithic TCB. While welldeveloped techniques of “TCB subsets” and “TCB partitions” for composing MLS systems exist, approaches for applying these techniques for reasoning about a guard downgrade policy are not as well-developed. If the trusted downgrade process must be evaluated as part of the TCB, an inability to adequately reason about the downgrade policy would make it difficult to reason about the policy implemented by the system as a whole. And if trusted subjects cannot be evaluated separately and composed with the underlying TCB, that could lead to to expensive and repetitive certification and recertification of the system when downgrade policies change. A necessary pre-requisite for feasible evaluation of high-assurance transfer guard systems is to be able to separately evaluate the assurance of the underlying system and the implementation of the downgrade policy. This paper suggests an approach to extending the well-developed technique of “balanced assurance” to the formal evaluation of high-assurance transfer guards that could permit the downgrade function to be evaluated separately from the underlying TCB and then composed with it into an overall system.