Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of TRMM 3B42 precipitation estimates and WRF retrospective precipitation simulation over the Pacific-Andean region of Ecuador and Peru

The Pacific–Andean region in western South America suffers from rainfall data scarcity, as is the case for many regions in the South. An important research question is whether the latest satellite-based and numerical weather prediction (NWP) model outputs capture well the temporal and spatial patterns of rainfall over the region, and hence have the potential to compensate for the data scarcity. Based on an interpolated gauge-based rainfall data set, the performance of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B42 V7 and its predecessor V6, and the North Western South America Retrospective Simulation (OA-NOSA30) are evaluated over 21 sub-catchments in the Pacific–Andean region of Ecuador and Peru (PAEP). In general, precipitation estimates from TRMM and OA-NOSA30 capture the seasonal features of precipitation in the study area. Quantitatively, only the southern sub-catchments of Ecuador and northern Peru (3.6–6° S) are relatively well estimated by both products. The accuracy is considerably less in the northern and central basins of Ecuador (0–3.6° S). It is shown that the probability of detection (POD) is better for light precipitation (POD decreases from 0.6 for rates less than 5 mm day −1 to 0.2 for rates higher than 20 mm day −1 . Compared to its predecessor, 3B42 V7 shows modest region-wide improvements in reducing biases. The improvement is specific to the coastal and open ocean sub-catchments. In view of hydrological applications, the correlation of TRMM and OA-NOSA30 estimates with observations increases with time aggregation. The correlation is higher for the monthly time aggregation in comparison with the daily, weekly, and 15-day time scales. Furthermore, it is found that TRMM performs better than OA-NOSA30 in generating the spatial distribution of mean annual precipitation.
System Support for Concurrent Software Reliability

Parallel and concurrent software is more complex than sequential code because interactions between concurrent computations and the ordering of program events can vary across executions. This nondeterministic variation is hard to understand and control, introducing the potential for concurrency bugs. This dissertation addresses two challenges related to concurrency bugs, focusing on shared-memory multi-threaded programs. First, concurrency bugs are hard to find, understand, and fix, but debugging is essential to software correctness. Second, concurrency bugs cause schedule-dependent failures that degrade system reliability. Targeting debugging, we develop two new concurrency debugging techniques based on statistical analysis and novel abstractions of inter-thread communication. These techniques isolate communications related to bugs and reconstruct failing executions. We show several hardware and software system designs that efficiently implement these techniques. Targeting the avoidance of schedule-dependent failures, we then develop two techniques for automatically avoiding schedule-dependent failures due to atomicity violations, a common concurrent program failure. We use specialized serializability analyses to identify code that should be atomic and system support to enforce atomicity. We implement these techniques with architecture and system support. Finally, we develop a mechanism for general schedule-dependent failure avoidance. We use a statistical analysis and leverage large communities of deployed systems to learn how to constrain executions to avoid previously seen failures. We show a software-only distributed system implementation that avoids real software failures with overheads low enough for production use.
Motivation in action: A process model of L2 motivation

As part of a long-term project aimed at designing classroom interventions to motivate language learners, we have searched for a motivation model that could serve as a theoretical basis for the methodological applications. We have found that none of the existing models we considered were entirely adequate for our purpose for three reasons: (1) they did not provide a sufficiently comprehensive and detailed summary of all the relevant motivational influences on classroom behaviour; (2) they tended to focus on how and why people choose certain courses of action, while ignoring or playing down the importance of motivational sources of executing goal-directed behaviour; and (3) they did not do justice to the fact that motivation is not static but dynamically evolving and changing in time, making it necessary for motivation constructs to contain a featured temporal axis. Consequently, partly inspired by Heckhausen and Kuhl's 'Action Control Theory', we have developed a new 'Process Model of L2 Motivation', which is intended both to account for the dynamics of motivational change in time and to synthesise many of the most important motivational conceptualisations to date. In this paper we describe the main components of this model, also listing a number of its limitations which need to be resolved in future research.
Socio-economic Characteristics of Subsistent Small Ruminant Farmers in Three Regions of Northern Ghana

The study seeks to characterise socio-economic and farm characteristics of small ruminant farmers in three regions of northern Ghana. Two hundred and forty-nine (249) respondents were selected using multistage sampling procedure. Analytical tools included descriptive statistics and ANOVA. Majority of respondents were males (71.5%), household-heads (65.9%), married (73.5%), Muslims (62.1%) and uneducated (63.9%). Access to extension (29.8%) and credit (14.9%) services was low. Farmers’ average age (47.29±16.00 years) and sheep holdings (12.14±9.60) were similar across the regions, but family size (11.56±7.83), goat holdings (11.89±9.32), and purpose of rearing small ruminants differ significantly. Adult children and female spouses contribute meaningfully to small ruminant management practices. Thus, socio-economic and farm characteristics offer significant input in designing effective livestock programs.
Accumulation patterns around Dome C, East Antarctica, in the last 73 kyr

Abstract. We reconstruct the pattern of surface accumulation in the region around Dome C, East Antarctica, since the last glacial. We use a set of 18 isochrones spanning all observable depths of the ice column, interpreted from various ice-penetrating radar surveys and a 1-D ice flow model to invert for accumulation rates in the region. The shallowest four isochrones are then used to calculate paleoaccumulation rates between isochrone pairs using a 1-D assumption where horizontal advection is negligible in the time interval of each layer. We observe that the large-scale (100s km) surface accumulation gradient is spatially stable through the last 73 kyr, which reflects current modeled and observed precipitation gradients in the region. We also observe small-scale (10 s km) accumulation variations linked to snow redistribution at the surface, due to changes in its slope and curvature in the prevailing wind direction that remain spatially stationary since the last glacial.
GHK, the Human Skin Remodeling Peptide, Induces Anti-Cancer Expression of Numerous Caspase, Growth Regulatory, and DNA Repair Genes

GHK (glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine) is a human plasma copper-binding peptide that declines during aging. Numerous studies have established many biological actions of GHK: it improves tissue regeneration, possesses anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, increases cellular stemness; increases decorin, angiogenesis, and nerve outgrowth. In recent studies, GHK was found to switch gene expression from a diseased state to a healthier state for certain cancers and for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In studies of aggressive, metastatic human colon cancer, the Broad Institute's Connectivity Map indicated that GHK, out of 1,309 bioactive molecules studied, reversed the expression of 70% of 54 genes over-expressed genes. GHK also reactivates programmed cell death in several cultured human cancer lines. To determine GHK's potential as a cancer treatment, we analyzed the molecule's effect on the human gene expression using the Connectivity Map. GHK induces a 50% or greater change of expression in 31.2% of human genes. GHK increased gene expression in 6 of the 12 human caspase genes that activate programmed cell death. In 28 other genes, GHK altered the pattern of gene expression in a manner that would be expected to inhibit cancer growth. For DNA repair genes, there was a one-sided increase in the expression of such genes (47 UP, 5 DOWN). A previous study found that a copper peptide plus ascorbic acid inhibited Ehrlich ascites cancer in mice. Using this method with GHK-copper gave a strong suppression of Sarcoma 180 in mice. These results support the idea that GHK may help to impede or suppress cancer growth.
Reverse Engineering Design Decisions of Query Execution Engines CSE 544 / 550 : Project Report

The landscape of data analytic engines is very diverse with hundreds of open source and commercial options available. These systems vary in complexity and their performance often varies greatly for different kinds of workloads. Some engines are more efficient at executing certain types of queries or perform better at scale. Understanding the execution behavior of these engines, their various underlying design decisions and their implications of performance, requires detailed experimentation and deep expertise in each system. In this paper, we explore whether low-level system metrics, such as CPU load, disk I/O or network utilization, can provide insights into how certain design decisions appear during query execution. Example design decisions that we want to capture are degrees of parallelism; synchronization barriers; whether intermediate results are materialized or data is shuffled. We hypothesize that system-level manifestations of these design decisions is consistent across various query execution engines. Since system level monitoring can be done without special instrumentation, we believe that there is an opportunity for providing rich information about system behavior that is useful for reasoning about performance and efficiency in a variety of scenarios. In this work, we focus on the query execution layer of Myria, a parallel shared nothing Big Data management system from the University of Washington. We collect measurements while running a synthetic workload consisting of simple building block queries. We analyze the traces to examine disparity in system behavior for different query classes. Using standard machine learning techniques, we build black-box models of these queries and evaluate whether we can automatically classify or cluster types of queries, given only measurement traces.
Study of Named Entity Recognition for Indian Languages

Named Entity Recognition is a prior task in Natural Language Processing. Named Entity Recognition is a sub task of information extraction and it identifies and classifies proper nouns in to its predefined categories such as person, location, organization, time, date etc. In this document the major focus is given on NER approaches and the work done till now for various languages to identify Named Entities is been discussed. Author have done comparative study to recognize named entity and identified that CRF approach proven best for Indian languages to identify named entity.
Mathematical Modeling of Large Multi-Agent Systems

Abstract : The biologically-inspired swarm paradigm is being used to design self-organizing systems of locally interacting agents. A major difficulty in designing swarms with desired characteristics is understanding the causal relation between individual agent and collective behaviors. Mathematical analysis of swarm dynamics can address this difficulty to gain insight into system design. This project developed a formal framework for mathematical modeling and analysis of multi-agent swarms. Though the behavior of an individual agent can be considered to be stochastic and unpredictable, collective behavior of a swarm can have a simple probabilistic description. We showed that a class of mathematical models that describe the dynamics of collective behavior of multi-agent systems can be written down from the details of the individual agent controller. We have successfully applied this formalism to study collective behavior of distributed robot systems for which a body of experimental and simulations data exists.
DISTURBANCE OF THE MARINE BENTHIC HABITAT BY COMMERCIAL FISHING: IMPACTS AT THE SCALE OF THE FISHERY

Commercial fishing is one of the most important human impacts on the marine benthic environment. One such impact is through disturbance to benthic habitats as fishing gear (trawls and dredges) are dragged across the seafloor. While the direct effects of such an impact on benthic communities appear obvious, the magnitude of the effects has been very difficult to evaluate. Experimental fishing-disturbance studies have dem- onstrated changes in small areas; however, the broader scale implications attributing these changes to fishing impacts are based on long-term data and have been considered equivocal. By testing a series of a priori predictions derived from the literature (mainly results of small-scale experiments), we attempted to identify changes in benthic communities at the regional scale that could be attributed to commercial fishing. Samples along a putative gradient of fishing pressure were collected from 18 sites in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand. These sites varied in water depth from -17 to 35 m and in sediment characteristics from -1 to 48% mud and from 3 to 8.5 (Lg chlorophyll a/cm3. Video transects were used for counting large epifauna and grab/suction dredge and core sampling were used for collecting macrofauna. After accounting for the effects of location and sediment characteristics, 15-20% of the variability in the macrofauna community com- position sampled in the cores and grab/suction dredge samples was attributed to fishing. With decreasing fishing pressure we observed increases in the density of echinoderms, long- lived surface dwellers, total number of species and individuals, and the Shannon-Weiner diversity index. In addition, there were decreases in the density of deposit feeders, small opportunists, and the ratio of small to large individuals of the infaunal heart urchin, Echino- cardium australe. The effects of fishing on the larger macrofauna collected from the grab/ suction dredge samples were not as clear. However, changes in the predicted direction in epifaunal density and the total number of individuals were demonstrated. As predicted, decreased fishing pressure significantly increased the density of large epifauna observed in video transects. Our data provide evidence of broad-scale changes in benthic communities that can be directly related to fishing. As these changes were identifiable over broad spatial scales they are likely to have important ramifications for ecosystem management and the development of sustainable fisheries.
Use Questionnaire and AHP Techniques to Develop Subcontractor Selection System

The construction scale is growing rapidly; therefore, to subcontract is a common style in Taiwan’s construction industry. Selecting appropriate subcontractors is a key to assure the success of a construction project. With different environment, construction project usually invoke complex attributes. We need a good tool to help engineers to pick the best selections during various and complicate market. In this research, we use questionnaire to survey about 400 construction companies, which help us to obtain subcontractor selection factors and their weights. Subcontractors can fill available price for specific items from Quotation System, meanwhile, Appraisal System will integrate and calculate related data to determine total grades for all factories. Subcontractor Selection System can be used to compile all information about special area. Through the help of this system, Construction Company can use Internet to announce procurement, collect factory quotation and perform subcontractor selection. This can make the procurement process be fair, pick better partners, increase competition and create profit for company.
Eigenvalues of Frobenius and Hodge Numbers

We study the connection between Hodge purity of the cohomology of algebraic varieties over fields of different characteristics. Specifically, we study varieties over number fields, whose cohomology in some fixed degree 2i consists entirely of Hodge classes, that is, whose Hodge cohomology in degree 2i is entirely of type (i, i). Among other things, we give sufficient conditions for varieties over number fields to satisfy this property in terms of their rational points over finite fields.
Synthesis of Carbon Nanofibers by a Glow-Arc Discharge

The carbon nanofibers (CNF) consist of graphite platelets arranged in diverse orientations with respect to the fiber axis and present distinctive and special functional properties; these structures have a large number of edges and remarked chemical interaction that favor the absorption capacity [1], they also have a high-catalytic activity which can be used as solid carbon supports for other catalytic reactions [2], [3]. Because all these remarkable features, CNF are quite appropriate for health [4,5] and atmospheric pollutants treatment [6-8], on-chip interconnect integration [9,10] and they can also be used like chemical or biochemical sensing on molecular scale [11] . To appreciate, a little bit more, the vast world of carbon nanostructures, M.Monthioux and V. Kuznetsov describe, from a carefully point of view [12], some amazing data about the history of carbon nanostructures; in particular they mention a patent of
Collagen in food and beverage industries

This paper reviews the structure, function and applications of collagens in food industry. Collagen is the most abundant protein in animal origin. It helps maintaining the structure of various tissues and organs. It is a modern foodstuff and widely used in food and beverage industries to improve the elasticity, consistency and stability of products. Furthermore, it also enhances the quality, nutritional and health value of the products. Collagen has been applied as protein dietary supplements, carriers, food additive, edible film and coatings. Therefore, this paper will review the functions and applications of collagen in the food and beverage industries. The structure and composition of collagen are also included.
TRAJECTORY PLANNING AND CONTROL FOR A HUMAN-LIKE ROBOT LEG WITH COUPLED NEURAL-OSCILLATORS

The control of legged robots ean be inspired from how biological systems (living creatures) control movements. In this paper, an oscillator-based gait rhythm generator is designed, and a computed torque controller implements the movement of a four-link robot leg. The coupled oscillator network generates trajectories of the hip, knee, and ankle joint angles resulting in a gait similar to that of human. Oscillator parameters and coefficients are tuned to achieve human-like @ajeetories. The desired torque applied to each joint is generated by the computed torque controller according to reference signals tlom the gait rhythm generator and fwdback signals tlom the joints. Oscillator based contxol strategies are implemented and tested in simulation on a PC system. The equation of motion (EOM) of a multi-degree of fi-eedom, four-link robot leg has been derived by Newton-Euler method to validate and evaluate the performance of gait rhythm generator and torque controllers.
An Integrative View of Cisplatin Uptake by Kidney and Renal Toxicity

Cisplatin (cis-diamminedichloroplatinum II) (CDDP) is an inorganic platinum-based chemotherapeutic agent that is widely used in the treatment of a variety of solid organ cancers. The main dose limiting side effect of CDDP is nephrotoxicity; after a single dose of CDDP (50-100 mg/m2), approximately one-third of the patients develop nephrotoxicity. Yet, in spite of intense efforts over the ensuing decades to find less toxic but equally effective alternatives, CDDP continues to be widely prescribed as a standard component of treatment regimens for head and neck cancers, small-cell and nonsmall cell lung cancer, testicular cancer, ovarian, cervical cancer, bladder cancer, melanoma and others. The CDDP chief dose-limiting nephrotoxic side effect requires a reduction of the dose or discontinuation of treatment [1,2].
On Bucked Shins

Bucked shins seem to be associated with young horses exercised at speed. The condition may be seen in Thoroughbred, Standardbred, and Quarter Horses. It has been reported that 70% of young Thoroughbred racehorses in training develop a repetitive loading injury in their third metacarpal bone (MCIII) known as bucked shins. This is a fatigue injury of bone and usually occurs in 2-yr-old horses during the first 6 mo of their training and may be seen bilaterally. If the condition does occur bilaterally, the left limb is usually involved before the right. This has been associated with horses that train and race in a counterclockwise direction and are on the left lead of their gait when in the turns. Clinically, the condition is diagnosed by physical examination using palpation of MCIII to reveal heat, pain, and tenderness, with or without swelling over the dorsal or dorsomedial surface of the MCIII. The affected animals tend to be short strided, uncomfortable at exercise, or lame. Radiographic diagnosis may be delayed from the clinical onset of signs but is evidenced by periosteal new bone formation over the dorsal or dorsomedial aspect of this bone. The proliferation of periosteal new bone may be extreme in some cases (Fig. 1). Nuclear scintigraphy is a sensitive diagnostic tool but is rarely indicated with a positive history and physical examination. With few exceptions, once the condition occurs and resolves, the animals do not experience this problem again. This “vaccination” or adaptation phenomenon may be used in distinguishing animals at risk from those that are not. This observation has been used in the past to intentionally buck horses’ shins to get past the problem. One downside to this method, besides the lost training and racing days, is the risk that the horse will go on to develop a stress or saucer fracture of MCIII that could lead to a catastrophic fracture (Fig. 2). Horses that buck their shins and stop training may re-buck when reintroduced to training. It is interesting to note that the condition of bucked shins occurs in young horses entering training. These animals are typically 2-yr-old horses and are equivalent to human adolescents. They are still growing and will have open physes. If by chance older adult horses are entered into training as 3or 4-yr-olds, they may develop bucked shins as well. Racehorses that have trained and raced successfully in Europe may develop bucked shins when they race in North America on dirt tracks. It is interesting to note that horses are running on harder surfaces in North
GLOBAL VERSUS LOCAL BILLIARD LEVEL DYNAMICS : THE LIMITS OF UNIVERSALITY

Level dynamics measurements have been performed in a Sinai microwave billiard as a function of a single length, as well as in rectangular billiards with randomly distributed disks as a function of the position of one disk. In the first case the field distribution is changed globally, and velocity distributions and autocorrelation functions are well described by universal functions derived by Simons and Altshuler. In the second case the field distribution is changed locally. Here another type of universal correlations is observed. It can be derived under the assumption that chaotic wave functions may be described by a random superposition of plane waves.