Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How Stable are Preferences for Neighborhood Characteristics & Accessibility? Analyzing Residential Relocation Decisions

This paper describes how there is much talk in land-use and transportation planning circles these days about relationships between neighborhood characteristics and travel behavior. Despite a flurry of recent studies, several questions remain unanswered. Prominent among these questions is what stems from the issue of self-selection: overall attitudes and preferences for certain neighborhood characteristics and accessibility may influence travel more so than the neighborhood characteristics themselves. This research uses data from Twin Cities (Minnesota, US) to analyze the consistency of preferences for neighborhood characteristics and accessibility among various groups in intra-county residential location decisions. Using household survey data combined with local land use data, the research measures a mix of demographics and neighborhood characteristics commonly espoused in planning initiatives. The paper will employ factor analysis to identify a small set of neighborhood dimensions and cluster analysis to define six distinct neighborhood types. After geocoding the address of each respondent, we assign each a neighborhood type, and predict determinants of moving to a neighborhood similar in nature. The findings suggest that nearly one-half of respondents moved within their neighborhood type; the binary logistic regression helps identify several variables affecting such relocation decisions. The conclusions discuss the implications of this research for land use and transportation policy. In particular, the research suggests the strong role of role of neighborhood preferences in affecting residential location decisions and the relatively limited role of neighborhood design, by itself, to temper the demand for travel.
A Novel Sketch-Based Framework Utilizing Contour Cues for Efficient Point Cloud Registration

Point cloud registration is a crucial part of 3-D computer vision. Existing point cloud registration methods primarily concentrate on utilizing features such as points, lines, and planes, disregarding the valuable contour cues inherent in the scene. In this article, we propose a novel sketch-based framework for point cloud registration that incorporates contour cues to enhance the point cloud registration task. To fully exploit the abundant information provided by contour cues in the scene, the point cloud is first abstracted into a sketch consisting of contour cues obtained through the utilization of planar features, which greatly preserves the inherent contour information. Subsequently, a local contour geometric descriptor is introduced to encode the contour cues in the sketch. Finally, a voting-based contour point pair feature (CPPF) framework is employed to fuse planar features, local contour geometric features, and point pair geometric features, enabling precise estimation of the pose transformation between pairwise point clouds. Extensive experiments conducted on two large-scale outdoor point cloud datasets and two indoor point cloud datasets validate the effectiveness of the proposed sketch-based method. Our proposed method successfully suppresses rotation and translation errors, ultimately achieving state-of-the-art performance.
Modulation of microRNAs through Lifestyle Changes in Alzheimer’s Disease

Lifestyle factors, including diet and physical activity (PA), are known beneficial strategies to prevent and delay Alzheimer’s disease (AD) development. Recently, microRNAs have emerged as potential biomarkers in multiple diseases, including AD. The aim of this review was to analyze the available information on the modulatory effect of lifestyle on microRNA expression in AD. Few studies have addressed this question, leaving important gaps and limitations: (1) in human studies, only circulating microRNAs were analyzed; (2) in mice studies, microRNA expression was only analyzed in brain tissue; (3) a limited number of microRNAs was analyzed; (4) no human nutritional intervention studies were conducted; and (5) PA interventions in humans and mice were poorly detailed and only included aerobic training. Despite this, some conclusions could be drawn. Circulating levels of let-7g-5p, miR-107, and miR-144-3p were associated with overall diet quality in mild cognitive impairment patients. In silico analysis showed that these microRNAs are implicated in synapse formation, microglia activation, amyloid beta accumulation, and pro-inflammatory pathways, the latter also being targeted by miR-129-5p and miR-192-5p, whose circulating levels are modified by PA in AD patients. PA also modifies miR-132, miR-15b-5p, miR-148b-3p, and miR-130a-5p expression in mice brains, which targets are related to the regulation of neuronal activity, ageing, and pro-inflammatory pathways. This supports the need to further explore lifestyle-related miRNA changes in AD, both as biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
Current Plastic Waste Status and Its Leakage at Tam Giang–Cau Hai Lagoon System in Central Vietnam

Plastic waste poses a significant threat to the environment, impacting both aquatic ecosystems and human health. This study aimed to quantify the leakage of plastic waste from urban and rural areas into the Tam Giang–Cau Hai lagoon system area in Vietnam. The research involved conducting surveys and sampling plastic waste in wards and communes surrounding the Tam Giang–Cau Hai lagoon system, as well as utilizing a waste flow diagram to calculate the amount of plastic waste leakage into the environment. The findings of the study reveal that the annual plastic leakage in this study area is approximately 479 tons. The majority of this waste enters the water body system, accounting for 74.1% of the total leakage, followed by land areas at 23.4% and land burning at 2.5%. Among the sources contributing to the wastewater flow in the area, households and markets were found to be the two primary contributors. Household waste accounted for 70.4% (2806 tons year−1) of the total, while the market sources accounted for 16.9% (675 tons year−1). This study marks the inaugural effort to assess the extent of plastic waste released from Hue City into the Tam Giang–Cau Hai lagoon system. It plays a pivotal role in examining the makeup, source of plastic waste and path of plastic waste leakage.
The use of different ecosystem components as indicators of ecosystem development during platinum mine tailings rehabilitation

Platinum mining activities contribute substantially to South Africa's economy since it exceeded gold as economical contributor in 2001. Mining activities contribute to large amounts of waste production in the form of tailings and rock waste, deposited in the surrounding environment of the mine premises. Mining companies are held responsible for damages caused to the surrounding environment. These companies are required to introduce the cost of ecological rehabilitation in their operation costs as well as compile an environmental management plan. Numerous attempts to rehabilitate mine waste have proven unsuccessful. New and improved rehabilitation techniques are required to facilitate in the rehabilitation of these mine spoils. Woodchip-vermicompost produced from platinum mining wastes (woodchips and sewage sludge) was used as an alternative amendment to inorganic fertilisers during the rehabilitation of platinum mine tailings. The effectiveness of the woodchip-vermicompost as an alternative amendment during the platinum mine tailings rehabilitation were monitored using different ecosystem components. A natural veldt in the vicinity of the mine area was randomly selected to serve as a reference site. These ecosystem components selected have previously been shown to be effective as indicators of ecosystem quality. The components selected for this study includes the use of microbial enzymatic activity, microbial community structure, nematode trophic structures, and other mesofaunal groups such as micro-arthropods. The physical and chemical properties of the platinum mine tailings and reference area as well as the vegetation cover of the platinum mine tailings were determined. Statistical and multivariate analyses were use to determine the correlation between the dependent microbial components and dominate independent chemical properties. Nematode trophic structure, Maturity Index, and Plant-Parasitic nematode Index were used to compare the two rehabilitation techniques in terms of nematodes as indicators. Microarthropods family structures were used to compare the two amendments in terms of diversity and abundance. Enzymatic activity was positively affected by the addition of woodchip-vermicompost, than in the sites treated with inorganic fertilisers. The microbial community structure showed no statistically significant (p < 0.05) differences between the two amendments. A higher abundance of nematodes especially plant-parasitic nematodes and bacterivorous nematodes were observed in the woodchip-vermicompost sites than in the inorganic fertilised sites. According to the Maturity Index, both amendments became more enriched during the study period, while the Plant-Parasitic nematode Index showed that the carrying capacity for plantparasitic nematodes on the woodchip-vermicompost sites increased while it decreased in the inorganic fertilised sites, which can be related to the decrease in vegetation cover on the inorganic fertilised sites. Both coloniser (Prostigmata) and persister …
Nanostructured Carbon-Doped BN for CO2 Capture Applications

Carbon-doped boron nitride (denoted by BN/C) was prepared through the pyrolysis at 1100 °C of a nanostructured mixture of an alkyl amine borane adduct and ammonia borane. The alkyl amine borane adduct acts as a soft template to obtain nanospheres. This bottom-up approach for the synthesis of nanostructured BN/C is relatively simple and compelling. It allows the structure obtained during the emulsion process to be kept. The final BN/C materials are microporous, with interconnected pores in the nanometer range (0.8 nm), a large specific surface area of up to 767 m2·g−1 and a pore volume of 0.32 cm3·g−1. The gas sorption studied with CO2 demonstrated an appealing uptake of 3.43 mmol·g−1 at 0 °C, a high CO2/N2 selectivity (21) and 99% recyclability after up to five adsorption–desorption cycles.
Quelle hypothèse de rationalité pour le développement soutenable ?

Notre propos est de montrer que bon nombre de clivages au sein des analyses du développement soutenable se font autour de deux questions méthodologiques. L’une concerne la prise en compte, effective ou non, de la dimension écologique. L’autre renvoie à l’hypothèse de rationalité retenue. Dans cette perspective, nous étudierons les portées et limites respectives des approches qui font appel à une hypothèse de rationalité, qu’elle soit substantielle ou élargie. Ensuite nous examinerons les modalités de coordination des dimensions économiques et écologiques de la soutenabilité au sein d’une analyse reposant sur une conception procédurale de la rationalité.
News on the Internet: Information and Citizenship in the 21st Century

Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Shifting Audiences Chapter 3 Offline and Online News Content Chapter 4 News Specialization and Segmentation Chapter 5 Selecting News Online Chapter 6 Learning from Online News Chapter 7 Fragmentation and Polarization of the Audience Chapter 8 Information Democratization Chapter 9 Online News and Public Affairs Notes References Index
Probability forecasting of earthquake disaster risk in Guanzhong-Tianshui economic zone

Practice has shown that integrating the long-term prediction results of high risk areas and the study of hifh seismic peak acceleration is of great significance for improving the scientificity of seismic fortification standards and reducing natural disaster losses. Based on multidisciplinary observation data such as geology, geodesy, and seismology, this paper calculates the forecasting results of seismic risk probability in Guanzhong-Tianshui Economic Zone (GTEZ) by referring to the research ideas of earthquake risk probability prediction in California, USA. The results show that the potential earthquake disaster risk in GTEZ mainly comes from the Liupanshan fault in the southwestern margin of Ordos, northern margin of the West Qinling fault, the northern margin of the Qinling fault in the Guanzhong Basin, and the Shangdan fault at the junction of Shaanxi, Hubei and Henan province. The 0.1g exceeding probability is mainly about 0.5-0.9; and the exceeding probability of 0.15g is about 0.5-0.6. The greatest potential earthquake disaster risk around GTEZ in the next 30 years may come from the strong earthquake of the Liupanshan Fault, and the probability of exceeding 0.1g is about 0.9g, Baoji, Luonan, and Danfeng may cause certain ripple effects. The largest earthquake disaster risk in GTEZ in the next 30 years may come from the Tianshui section of the northern margin fault of the West Qinling and the fault zone at the northern margin of the Qinling Mountains, and the maximum probability of exceeding 0.1g is about 0.5-0.6.
Resource Patchiness as a Resolution to the Food Paradox in the Sea

Average concentrations of biota in the ocean are low, presenting a critical problem for ocean consumers. High-resolution sampling, however, demonstrates that the ocean is peppered with narrow hot spots of organism activity. To determine whether these resource aggregations could provide a significant solution to the ocean’s food paradox, a conceptual graphical model was developed that facilitates comparisons of the role of patchiness in predator-prey interactions across taxa, size scales, and ecosystems. The model predicts that predators are more reliant on aggregated resources for foraging success when the average concentrations of resources is low, the size discrepancy between predator and prey is great, the predator has a high metabolic rate, and/or the predator’s foraging time is limited. Size structure differences between marine and terrestrial food webs and a vast disparity in the overall mean density of their resources lead to the conclusion that high-density aggregations of prey are much more important to the survival of oceanic predators than their terrestrial counterparts, shaping the foraging decisions that are available to an individual and setting the stage on which evolutionary pressures can act. Patches of plenty may be rare, but they play an outsized role in behavioral, ecological, and evolutionary processes, particularly in the sea.
Análise do Desempenho da Virtualização Leve para Ambientes com Edge Computing baseada em NFV

O paradigma de Virtualizacao de Funcoes de Rede (NFV) esta mudando a forma pela qual os servicos de rede sao providos, permitindo o mesmo grau de versatilidade e agilidade ja visto na computacao na nuvem. Porem, e possivel implementar as funcoes virtuais atraves da virtualizacao tradicional baseada em hipervisores ou da virtualizacao leve, constituindo um compromisso entre flexibilidade e desempenho. Assim, este trabalho compara o desempenho em ambientes que utilizam tecnologia de virtualizacao com hipervisor aos que utilizam conteineres, a fim de verificar a mais adequada para ambientes operacionais aliados ao conceito de Edge Computing baseada em NFV. Com isso, pretende-se aferir a capacidade dessas tecnologias serem transparentes ao usuario em relacao ao desempenho. Para tanto, foram feitos benchmarkings de CPU, memoria, Entrada/Saida (I/O) de disco, rede e aplicacao, evidenciando a baixa sobrecarga da virtualizacao leve, que chega a se aproximar do cenario nativo em certos casos.
Minimized reflectionless bandpass filter with four notches and low insertion loss

ABSTRACT A size-minimized low-insertion-loss reflectionless bandpass filter with four notches is presented in this paper. The insertion loss of two quasi-elliptic-type filters is studied and optimized by a new approach based on cascade resonators branches. Parameters extraction procedure for the desired position of notches is illustrated. The inband performance, bandwidth and notch width are studied. This novel approach brings lower insertion loss. It can be extended to reflectionless bandpass filters with arbitrary number of notches. The size of filter is also minimized. This filter is designed, simulated, fabricated and measured. It is centered at 3.481 GHz with a 3-dB bandwidth of 276 MHz. The minimum measured in-band insertion loss, including the loss of SMA interface, is 1.239 dB. Four notches are located at 2.827, 3.238, 3.825 and 4.306 GHz, respectively. S11 of this filter is less than −10 dB during 2–5 GHz.
Chemical pollutants in sediments and diseases of bottom-dwelling fish in Puget Sound, Washington

A 4-year multidisciplinary study was conducted on relationships between pollutants and diseases of fish in Puget Sound, WA. In this study, high concentrations of a large number of anthropogenic chemicals such as petroleum hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other chlorinated compounds, pesticides, and metals were found in certain Puget Sound sediments. For example, over 900 individual organic compounds were detected in sediment from one urban bay (Commencement Bay), and evidence was obtained for the presence of numerous additional compounds. Many of the chemicals accumulated in bottom-dwelling fish, and high levels of certain toxic chemicals in the urban bays were linked to serious diseases (e.g., liver carcinomas) of English sole (Parophrys vetulus) and other demersal fish species. It was concluded that application of the approach used would reveal comparable serious pollution-related health problems in marine biota in other urban coastal areas of the world.
Géologie des Marquises : des volcans boucliers intra-océaniques effondrés issus d’un point chaud atypique

L’archipel des Marquises comporte huit ilesprincipales (Eiao, Nuku Hiva, Ua Huka, Ua Pou, Hiva Oa,Tahuata, Motane, Fatu Hiva), dont nous presentons lespremieres cartes geologiques detaillees. L’âge de cesiles diminue du Nord-Ouest (5,5 Ma a Eiao) au Sud-Est(1,1 Ma a Fatu Hiva). Les volcans boucliers marquisiensdifferent considerablement de leurs equivalentshawaiiens. Ils ont frequemment subi des effondrementssectoriels, responsables de la disparition en mer de lamoitie, voire davantage des boucliers initiaux, dans lacaldeira desquels est apparu un volcan interne plusrecent et plus petit. Le volume total des edificesvolcaniques (42 500 km3 au-dessus de l’isobathe -3 000 m) correspond a une production magmatiquefaible (7 700 km3/Ma, soit moins de 4 % de celle deHawaii). Les magmas issus du point chaud marquisienn’arrivent en surface qu’episodiquement, d’ou lesincertitudes quant a sa position precise au voisinage dela zone de fracture des Marquises. Ils derivent de taux defusion faibles a moderes d’un panache de manteau tresheterogene, comportant deux filaments accoles decompositions isotopiques differentes, qui ont produit aucours du temps deux alignements d’iles (groupe de UaHuka au Nord-Est, groupe de Fatu Hiva au Sud-Ouest).
Hierarchical Fusion Network with Enhanced Knowledge and Contrastive Learning for Multimodal Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis on Social Media

Aspect-based sentiment analysis (ABSA) is a task of fine-grained sentiment analysis that aims to determine the sentiment of a given target. With the increased prevalence of smart devices and social media, diverse data modalities have become more abundant. This fuels interest in multimodal ABSA (MABSA). However, most existing methods for MABSA prioritize analyzing the relationship between aspect–text and aspect–image, overlooking the semantic gap between text and image representations. Moreover, they neglect the rich information in external knowledge, e.g., image captions. To address these limitations, in this paper, we propose a novel hierarchical framework for MABSA, known as HF-EKCL, which also offers perspectives on sensor development within the context of sentiment analysis. Specifically, we generate captions for images to supplement the textual and visual features. The multi-head cross-attention mechanism and graph attention neural network are utilized to capture the interactions between modalities. This enables the construction of multi-level aspect fusion features that incorporate element-level and structure-level information. Furthermore, for this paper, we integrated modality-based and label-based contrastive learning methods into our framework, making the model learn shared features that are relevant to the sentiment of corresponding words in multimodal data. The results, based on two Twitter datasets, demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed model.
Scaling limits of population and evolution processes in random environment

We propose a general method for investigating scaling limits of ﬁnite dimensional Markov chains to diffusions with jumps. The results of tightness, identiﬁcation and convergence in law are based on the convergence of suitable characteristics of the chain transition. We apply these results to population processes recursively deﬁned as sums of independent random variables. Two main applications are developed. First, we extend the Wright-Fisher model to independent and identically distributed random environments and show its convergence, under a large population assumption, to a Wright-Fisher diffusion in random environment. Second, we obtain the convergence in law of generalized Galton-Watson processes with interaction in random environment to solutions of stochastic differential equations with jumps.
A Substrate-Integrated Cavity-Backed Slot Antenna Array in Y-Band

A 16 × 16 substrate-integrated cavity (SIC)-backed slot antenna array in the Y-band (170–260 GHz) with high gain, wide bandwidth, simple feeding network, and easy fabrication is presented in this letter. The antenna array consists of 64 2 × 2 SIC-backed slot antenna subarrays and a 64-way metal feeding network. The SIC-backed slot antenna subarray is designed based on high-order modes TM140, TM330, and TM340 to realize high gain and wide bandwidth. The metal feeding network is composed of 16 X-shaped cavities and a 16-way full-corporate-feed waveguide network. The X-shaped cavity is introduced to reduce the complexity of the feeding network. The SIC-backed slot antenna is fabricated by high-precision printed circuit board (PCB) for simple radiating unit structure and easy production. The metal feeding network is manufactured by high-precision computer numerical control (CNC) milling process for low loss. Measured results indicate that |S11| of the proposed antenna array performs well within 210–230 GHz. The antenna array achieves the measured gains larger than 25.0 dBi within the working bandwidth and the peak gain is 28.7 dBi at 221 GHz.