Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Review of the Applications of ASCAT Soil Moisture Products

Remote sensing of soil moisture has reached a level of good maturity and accuracy for which the retrieved products are ready to use in real-world applications. Due to the importance of soil moisture in the partitioning of the water and energy fluxes between the land surface and the atmosphere, a wide range of applications can benefit from the availability of satellite soil moisture products. Specifically, the Advanced SCATterometer (ASCAT) on board the series of Meteorological Operational (Metop) satellites is providing a near real time (and long-term, 9+ years starting from January 2007) soil moisture product, with a nearly daily (sub-daily after the launch of Metop-B) revisit time and a spatial sampling of 12.5 and 25 km. This study first performs a review of the climatic, meteorological, and hydrological studies that use satellite soil moisture products for a better understanding of the water and energy cycle. Specifically, applications that consider satellite soil moisture product for improving their predictions are analyzed and discussed. Moreover, four real examples are shown in which ASCAT soil moisture observations have been successfully applied toward: 1) numerical weather prediction, 2) rainfall estimation, 3) flood forecasting, and 4) drought monitoring and prediction. Finally, the strengths and limitations of ASCAT soil moisture products and the way forward for fully exploiting these data in real-world applications are discussed.
Improved Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm and Application in Path Planning of Crowd Animation

Crowd animation is a new and continuous challenge in computer animation. In tradition, crowd animation can be realized by key frame technology, and animators should set every character’s expression, action, motion, and behavior. Therefore animators’ workload by hand will increase tremendously with characters growing, which lead to difficult to realize crowd animation for low efficiency and poor global controllability, especially in path planning by appointing a target position for each individuals. In order to overcome these, an improved artificial bee colony (IM-ABC) algorithm is proposed to apply on the path planning of crowd animation. The IM-ABC is fit to simulate the crowd motion in animation based on the following two merits over the others in crowd animation. One is the rule of role transformation, which can make the rapid convergence of the result and avoid getting trapped in the local optima. The other is the realization of multi-object optimization in the process of iteration, which reaches the uniformly distributed result of swarm motion and especially fits to realize the path plan. In this paper, we simply reviews classical ABC algorithm proposed by Karaboga at the beginning. Then, in order to speed the convergence and make individuals generate paths more realistic and natural, some measures are taken to modify the classical ABC (called IM-ABC) algorithm, which include initializing colony based on chaos sequence, selfadaptively selecting the follower bees, and adaptively controlling parameters, etc. After the experiments of benchmark functions, the results confirm that the IM-ABC have better performance than the classical ABC algorithm and others. Finally, the IM-ABC algorithm is used for path planning to generate the route from the initial to the destination without collision. Through simulation experiments based on four motion models it is showed that this method can succeed generating the optimum paths with efficiency, intelligence, and natural features.
An enriched environment increases activity in stroke patients undergoing rehabilitation in a mixed rehabilitation unit: a pilot non-randomized controlled trial

Abstract Purpose: An enriched environment (EE) facilitates physical, cognitive and social activity in animal models of stroke. The aim of this pilot study was to determine whether enriching the environment of a mixed rehabilitation unit increased stroke patient activity. Methods: A non- randomized controlled trial was conducted. Direct observation was used to determine the difference in change in physical, cognitive, social or any activity over 2 weeks in patients exposed to an enriched versus non-enriched environment. Results: Stroke patients in the EE (n = 15) were 1.2 (95% CI 1.0–1.4) times more likely to be engaged in any activity compared with those in a non-enriched environment (n = 14). They were 1.7 (95% CI 1.1–2.5) times more likely to be engaged in cognitive activities, 1.2 (95% CI 1.0–1.5) times more likely to be engaged in social activities, 0.7 (95% CI 0.6–0.9) times as likely to be inactive and alone and 0.5 (95% CI 0.4–0.7) times as likely to be asleep than patients without enrichment. Conclusions: This preliminary trial suggests that the comprehensive model of enrichment developed for use in a rehabilitation unit was effective in increasing activity in stroke patients and reducing time spent inactive and alone. Implications for Rehabilitation Stroke patients within a mixed rehabilitation unit who are exposed to an enriched environment (EE) are more likely to be engaged in activity than those not exposed to the enriched environment. Patients in enriched conditions are less likely to be “inactive and alone” or asleep during waking hours. These results suggest a comprehensive model of enrichment is effective in increasing activity levels.
Establishment of a myeloid leukaemic cell line (SKNO‐1) from a patient with t(8;21) who acquired monosomy 17 during disease progression

A novel cell line SKNO‐1 was established from the bone marrow cells of a 22‐year‐old male suffering from acute myeloblastic leukaemia (AML) M2 with t(8;21) whose disease became resistant to chemotherapy after acquisition of 17 monosomy. SKNO‐1 has been maintained for more than 36 months as a granulocyte‐macrophage colony‐stimulating factor (GM‐CSF) dependent line.
A Probabilistic Search Method for Optimal Resource Deployment in a Microgrid

The benefits of distributed energy resources (DERs) can be exploited by developing cost efficient deployment strategies. System planning based on stipulated reliability criteria leads to robust architectures which can meet the consumers' requirements. This paper presents a method for determining siting, sizing and optimal mix of resources from the available types of DER in a microgrid. The method recognizes the impact of combined heat and power (CHP) to meet the thermal load. The paper presents a dynamic programming formulation and demonstrates its application on a six bus test system
Ethical Considerations in Psychiatric Genetics

&NA; Ethical considerations in psychiatric genetics are highly complex and fluid. This review introduces the reader to the wide range of ethical considerations in this field by examining four characteristics of genetic information. First, genetic information may, to a greater or lesser extent, predict a person's future health. Second, learning about one's genotype may have profound psychosocial consequences. Third, genetic information pertains to a person's biological relatives and thus can affect family members, communities, and population groups. Finally, psychiatric genetics is a rapidly evolving field. None of these characteristics is necessarily “exceptional” or unique to genetics, but they provide a useful framework for teasing apart a complex set of ethical considerations. This article reviews conceptual and empirical data that speak to these four characteristics and then presents a set of conceptual frameworks that can be used to systematically analyze the ethics of psychiatric genetic research and clinical genotyping. Finally, directions for future study are described—including the urgent need to gather data on actual risks and benefits of psychiatric genetic research and clinical applications, so that their utility can be assessed and appropriate ethical safeguards identified.
INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON ACOUSTICS MADRID , 2-7 SEPTEMBER 2007 A THEORETICAL STUDY OF SOUND FIELD RECONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES PACS : 43 . 60

Three different methods for the physical analysis and synthesis of sound fields are presented and compared: the least squares method, a method based on the Kirchhoff-Helmholtz integral equation and the generalised Fourier transform method (based on spherical harmonics). These three methods constitute the basis for many active control technologies and for some modern multi-channel audio technologies, such as High Order Ambisonics and Wave Field Synthesis. It is analytically demonstrated that the three methods have an equivalent formal background. It is shown that the three techniques give identical reconstruction performance in the target frequency range when using the same number of transducers, regularly arranged over a sphere. The analytical results are confirmed by using numerical simulations. INTRODUCTION The reconstruction of a sound field is a problem studied within different branches of acoustics. Particular attention to that problem has been given to the design of multi-channel systems for audio applications. In the first three sections, different methods are presented: the least squares method [1] that is largely used in active control applications, then a method based on the Kirchhoff-Helmholtz integral [2], from which the theory of Wave Field Synthesis is derived, and finally a method based on the generalised Fourier transform [3], which constitutes the basis for the theory of High Order Ambisonics. The theoretical equivalence of these three methods, is demonstrated in the ideal case of a spherical array of an infinite number of transducers used to reconstruct the sound field in the interior region. Under these circumstances, the KirchhoffHelmoholtz integral reduces to the simple source formulation that has already been shown [4] to give the same results of the method based on the spherical harmonic decomposition. The simple source formulation and the method based on spherical harmonics are then shown to be a particular case of the least squares method. The proof was inspired by the work of Nelson and Kahana [5] and is based on the singular value decomposition of the propagation matrix. Finally, numerical simulations show that the performance of the three methods is very similar in the interior domain (but not in the exterior domain) even if the number of transducers is finite. THE LEAST SQUARES METHOD The acoustic pressure of a generic sound field in a non dispersive medium, defined over a limited region of space Ω where no acoustic sources are located, can be described by a scalar field ( , ) p ω r that satisfies the homogeneous Helmholtz equation 2 2 ( , ) ( , ) 0 p k p ω ω ∇ + = r r . (1) The vector r identifies a point in the region Ω , and ω is the frequency and k the wave number. The harmonic time dependence j t e ω is implicit, where 1 j = − . The target of the sound field reconstruction is to create a sound field ˆ ( , ) p ω r that is as similar as possible to the
Modelling reliability of flip chip on board assemblies implementing a correction function approach comparing analytical and finite element techniques

To determine the reliability performance of electronic components, environmental tests, or accelerated life tests, are used to apply stresses to electronic packages that exceed the stress levels experienced in the filed. In theory, these elevated stress levels are used to generate the same failure mechanisms that are found in the field, only at an accelerated rate. Therefore, an acceleration factor is typically used to correlate (extrapolate) the accelerated life testing data to a field failure rate for a specified use condition. Often times this data is time consuming and expensive to obtain , hence a need exists for reducing the time to data for electronic components in reliability testing. A methodology is presented whereby existing reliability data can be leveraged to obtain" correction functions' which can be used to modify a mean time to failure, MTTF, estimated analytically or numerically. A suggested analytical model is presented in addition to the statistics based methodology that can be used obtain correction functions. The correction function approach is similar to approaches used for modifying fatigues strengths in engineering alloys. Fatigue strengths or endurance limits are modified to account for physical differences between the actual parts in that were used to obtain the fatigue data. The methodology presented allows for the use of numerous correction functions to adjust estimated life times of component level assemblies based on key correction factors that account for effects difficult or impractical to incorporate in the base prediction models. The methodology is effective in that it can leverage the utility of the life prediction enabled by finite element modelling. The potential correction factors are presented in a fishbone diagram accounting for effects such as substrate metallization, underfill delamination, solder joint voids, underfill voids, intermetallic thickness, etc. Using existing reliability data, the correction functions are determined via multiple linear regression analysis. To illustrate the utility of the life prediction methodology, a case study is presented for flip chip on board assemblies. The uncorrected fatigue life of the solder interconnects is estimated using a trilayer stack analytical model predicting plastic strain and incorporating correction functions for the glass transition temperature of the underfill, an area ratio for the solder joint interconnect pads, and the substrate bond pad metallization.
English noun-phrase accent prediction for text-to-speech

Abstract This paper describes np, a component of the AT&T Bell Laboratories English text-to-speech system that computes accentuation for constructions such as applecake, applepie and sumppump factor. Np uses both rule-based and statistical 'corpus-based' methods. These methods are discussed, and their benefits and shortcomings enumerated. The various components of np are evaluated, and it is shown that the overall performance of np significantly reduces the error rate in accent assignment over some simple-minded 'baseline' approaches. The paper concludes by outlining some future areas of research.
Test Results of a Large Size, Forced Flow Nb$_{3}$Sn Conductor, Based on a Design Alternative to the Cable-in-Conduit

An R&D program at CRPP investigates the design of large size Nb3Sn conductors, with the aim to improve the effectiveness and hence the cost of large size, force flow conductors. A design based on a solder filled flat cable, by react wind method, is selected for a demonstration prototype, built at CRPP and tested in the SULTAN facility. In the new conductor, the longitudinal strain is similar to the strand intrinsic strain because the cable is heat treated without steel jacket. The transverse load degradation is suppressed thank to effective mechanical support of the strands by the solder matrix. The test in SULTAN includes dc test, ac loss in superimposed dc and ac field and transient field stability. At 48 kA (430 A/mm2) and 11.15 T the current sharing temperature is 6.3 K, i.e. the new conductor provides a higher temperature margin and saves about 50% of the Nb3Sn cross section, in comparison to ITER. The transient stability largely fulfils the ITER requirement.
Cyt1Ab1 and Cyt2Ba1 from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. medellin and B. thuringiensis subsp. israelensis Synergize Bacillus sphaericus against Aedes aegypti and Resistant Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae)

ABSTRACT The interaction of two cytolytic toxins, Cyt1Ab fromBacillus thuringiensis subsp. medellinand Cyt2Ba from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp.israelensis, with Bacillus sphaericus was evaluated against susceptible and resistant Culex quinquefasciatus and the nonsensitive species Aedes aegypti. Mixtures of B. sphaericus with either cytolytic toxin were synergistic, and B. sphaericusresistance in C. quinquefasciatus was suppressed from >17,000- to 2-fold with a 3:1 mixture of B. sphaericusand Cyt1Ab. This trait may prove useful for combating insecticide resistance and for improving the activity of microbial insecticides.
Regulation of FGF‐2 by an endogenous antisense RNA: Effects on cell adhesion and cell‐cycle progression

Fibroblast growth factor (FGF‐2) and its endogenous antisense RNA FGF antisense (FGF‐AS) have been implicated in cancer progression and correlated with clinical outcomes of cancer patients. We previously reported that elevated FGF‐AS expression is associated with reduced tumor recurrence and improved survival rates in patients with FGF‐2‐dependent esophageal adenocarcinoma. In the present study we examined the effect of siRNA knockdown of each transcript on the expression of its complementary partner RNA, and consequent changes in cellular phenotype and behavior. FGF‐AS and FGF‐2 were inversely expressed in a cell‐cycle‐dependent manner and siRNA‐mediated knockdown of either FGF‐AS or FGF‐2 resulted in upregulation of the complementary transcript and protein. siRNA‐mediated knockdown of FGF‐AS was associated with a dramatic increase in cell–substratum adhesion and marked changes in the expression of a number of genes encoding adhesion molecules. Microarray analysis and RT‐PCR analysis also revealed antithetical effects of FGF‐2 and FGF‐AS siRNA knockdown on the expression of a number of cell‐cycle‐related genes, including SKP2, SESTRIN‐3, EIF4BP2, CDC27, and P190RhoGAP (P190). Cell‐cycle analysis following siRNA‐mediated knockdown of FGF‐AS or FGF‐2 indicate that both factors are involved in control of transition through the G1 and G2 boundaries, affecting cell‐cycle progression, proliferation, and apoptosis. Finally, siRNA knockdown of FGF‐AS resulted in a significant increase in invasion activity. These data indicate that regulatory interactions between FGF‐AS and FGF‐2 are involved in control of cell adhesion, cell‐cycle progression, and invasion, providing a possible explanation for the protective effects of FGF‐AS expression observed in FGF‐2‐dependent cancers. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Identification of polymorphisms within the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene: correlation with variation in VEGF protein production.

Dysregulated vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression has been implicated as a major contributor to the development of a number of common disease pathologies. The aim of this study was to establish the extent of genetic variability within the VEGF gene and to determine whether this genetic variation influenced levels of VEGF protein expression. The promoter region and exon 1 of the VEGF gene were screened for polymorphisms using single-stranded conformation (SSCP) polymorphism analysis and direct PCR-sequencing. We identified 15 novel sequence polymorphisms most of which were rare. Eleven of these polymorphisms were single base substitutions, three were single base insertions and one was a two base deletion. Thirteen of the polymorphisms were located within the promoter and two in the 5' untranslated region (5'UTR) of the gene. We established PCR-RFLP typing systems for ten of the polymorphisms. For the two common polymorphisms at -460 and +405, we developed a combined sequence specific priming (SSP) PCR typing system to determine the cis/trans orientation of each allele and hence, ascertain haplotypes. A significant correlation was observed between lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) VEGF protein production and genotype for the +405 polymorphism.
Spirituality and health.

The role of religion and spirituality in the promotion of health has been discussed in numerous medically oriented publications in the last few years. The authors of “Spirituality and Health for Women of Color” in the April 2002 issue of the Journal attempt to define spirituality as “an inner quality that facilitates connectedness with the self, other people, and nature. ”1(p557) The authors quote literature that describes another form of spirituality as “a basic or inherent quality in all humans that involves a belief in something greater than the self and a faith that positively affirms life. ”2(p257) I realize that the theme of the April 2002 issue was “women of color,” but, in my view, matters of spirituality apply to women of any color, and to men as well. Unfortunately, after initially separating secular and religious spirituality, the authors proceed to discuss only the health benefits of religion. During more than 50 years of public health and family medical practice, I’ve become acutely aware that my patients practice many different belief systems. Long ago, I realized that I cannot be all things to all people. What I can do is be myself. I practice secular humanism and ethical culture, but I respect my patients’ belief systems and don’t try to convert them to mine. I never “play God,” but I tell my patients “I hope that [your] God guides my hand. ” I became a doctor because it was a calling. Prior to that I worked in public health, which was also a calling. I’m sure it was a calling for many members of the American Public Health Association. I tell my medical students that they must not only care for patients, they must also care about them. There are no good double-blind studies on the subject, but I believe that this attitude helps the healing process. Therefore, the patient/caregiver relationship can also qualify as a form of spirituality.
On the mechanism of alcohol-induced pseudo-Cushing's syndrome.

I. Introduction Cushing's syndrome is clinically characterized by truncal obesity, moon face, supraclavicular fat pads, buffalo hump, hirsutism, blue-red striae, easy bruisability, osteoporosis, hypertension, and proximal myopathy. Biochemically, impaired glucose tolerance and hypokalemic alkalosis can be present. Leukocytosis with lymphocytopenia and decreased numbers of eosinophils are often found. Hormonal testing shows an increased secretion of cortisol, which is not suppressed by the overnight dexamethasone test (1 mg). Depending on the etiology of the syndrome, decreased or increased secretion of ACTH is found. In patients with chronic alcohol abuse, clinical or biochemical features or both of Cushing's syndrome can be found. Because both the physical and the hormonal abnormalities disappear after discontinuation of alcohol this phenomenon was called alcohol-induced pseudo-Cushing's syndrome (1, 2). Alcohol-induced pseudo-Cushing's syndrome is indistinguishable from true Cushing's syndrome, although.
Perturbation of cytosolic calcium by 2‐aminoethoxydiphenyl borate and caffeine affects zebrafish myofibril alignment

The objective of the current study was to investigate the effects of Ca2+ levels on myofibril alignment during zebrafish embryogenesis. To investigate how altered cytoplasmic Ca2+ levels affect myofibril alignment, we exposed zebrafish embryos to 2‐aminothoxyldiphenyl borate (2‐APB; an inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate receptor inhibitor that reduces cytosolic Ca2+ levels) and caffeine (a ryanodine receptor activator that enhances cytosolic Ca2+ levels). The results demonstrated that the most evident changes in zebrafish embryos treated with 2‐APB were shorter body length, curved trunk and malformed somite boundary. In contrast, such malformed phenotypes were evident neither in untreated controls nor in caffeine‐treated embryos. Subtle morphological changes, including changes in muscle fibers, F‐actin and ultrastructures were easily observed by staining with specific monoclonal antibodies (F59 and α‐laminin), fluorescent probes (phalloidin) and by transmission electron microscopy. Our data suggested that: (1) the exposure to 2‐APB and/or caffeine led to myofibril misalignment; (2) 2‐APB‐treated embryos displayed split and short myofibril phenotypes, whereas muscle fibers from caffeine‐treated embryos were twisted and wavy; and (3) zebrafish embryos co‐exposed to 2‐APB and caffeine resulted in normal myofibril alignment. In conclusion, we proposed that cytosolic Ca2+ is important for myogenesis, particularly for myofibril alignment. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.