Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A k-Nearest Neighbor Simulator of Pseudo-Bore Hole Logs for Subsurface Characterization

Subsurface characterization is important for investigations of groundwater contamination as well as petroleum extraction potential. Bore holes or drill logs are a common source of localized stratigraphic information. Sampling and interpolation uncertainties complicate the characterization of the subsurface from these data. Geostatistical methods (Kriging based) have been used to map subsurface attributes from such data, and to generate conditional simulations that honor observed strata. These methods often require an a priori discretization of the bore hole data along each vertical section into strata types as well as assumptions as to statistical homogeneity of the underlying random field that generated this discretized data. A method for generating likely realizations of subsurface soils by sampling pseudo-drill logs on to a horizontal grid by bootstrapping (resampling) drill logs is presented here. Entire drill logs are resampled on to the grid locations, thus obviating the need for a prior discretization of the sample space. The bootstrapping algorithm used can be interpreted in terms of a nonhomogeneous Random Field description of the data with the necessary probability distributions estimated implicitly using a nonparametric (k-nearest neighbor) probability density estimate for the sampling distribution of the drill logs (real or pseudo) that lie in a neighborhood of a grid point at which resampling is needed. Example applications to a synthetic and to a real data set are provided. Extensions to incorporate other sources of information, as well as potential applications of the method are discussed.
Cultural influences on cognitive representations of conflict: interpretations of conflict episodes in the United States and Japan.

This article integrates theory from the cognitive tradition in negotiation with theory on culture and examines cultural influences on cognitive representations of conflict. The authors predicted that although there may be universal (etic) dimensions of conflict construals, there also may be culture-specific (emic) representations of conflict in the United States and Japan. Results of multidimensional scaling analyses of U.S. and Japanese conflict episodes supported this view. Japanese and Americans construed conflicts through a compromise versus win frame (R. L. Pinkley, 1990), providing evidence of a universal dimension of conflict construal. As the authors predicted, Japanese perceived conflicts to be more compromise-focused, as compared with Americans. There were also unique dimensions of construal among Americans and Japanese (infringements to self and giri violations, respectively), suggesting that identical conflict episodes are perceived differently across cultures.
Recovery from Chronic Demyelination by Thyroid Hormone Therapy: Myelinogenesis Induction and Assessment by Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging

The failure of the remyelination processes in multiple sclerosis contributes to the formation of chronic demyelinated plaques that lead to severe neurological deficits. Long-term cuprizone treatment of C57BL/6 mice resulted in pronounced white matter pathology characterized by oligodendrocyte depletion, irreversible demyelination and persistent functional deficits after cuprizone withdrawal. The use of a combination of in vivo diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI) and histological analyses allowed for an accurate longitudinal assessment of demyelination. Injection of triiodothyronine (T3) hormone over a 3 week interval after cuprizone withdrawal progressively restored the normal DT-MRI phenotype accompanied by an improvement of clinical signs and remyelination. The effects of T3 were not restricted to the later stages of remyelination but increased the expression of sonic hedgehog and the numbers of Olig2+ and PSA-NCAM+ precursors and proliferative cells. Our findings establish a role for T3 as an inducer of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells in adult mouse brain following chronic demyelination.
Vibrio fischeri Genes hvnA andhvnB Encode Secreted NAD+-Glycohydrolases

ABSTRACT HvnA and HvnB are proteins secreted by Vibrio fischeriES114, an extracellular light organ symbiont of the squidEuprymna scolopes, that catalyze the transfer of ADP-ribose from NAD+ to polyarginine. Based on this activity, HvnA and HvnB were presumptively designated mono-ADP-ribosyltransferases (ARTases), and it was hypothesized that they mediate bacterium-host signaling. We have clonedhvnA and hvnB from strain ES114.hvnA appears to be expressed as part of a four-gene operon, whereas hvnB is monocistronic. The predicted HvnA and HvnB amino acid sequences are 46% identical to one another and share 44% and 34% identity, respectively, with an open reading frame present in the Pseudomonas aeruginosa genome. Four lines of evidence indicate that HvnA and HvnB mediate polyarginine ADP-ribosylation not by ARTase activity, but indirectly through an NAD+-glycohydrolase (NADase) activity that releases free, reactive, ADP-ribose: (i) like other NADases, and in contrast to the ARTase cholera toxin, HvnA and HvnB catalyzed ribosylation of not only polyarginine but also polylysine and polyhistidine, and ribosylation was inhibited by hydroxylamine; (ii) HvnA and HvnB cleaved 1,N6-etheno-NAD+ and NAD+; (iii) incubation of HvnA and HvnB with [32P]NAD+ resulted in the production of ADP-ribose; and (iv) purified HvnA displayed an NADase Vmax of 400 mol min−1 mol−1, which is within the range reported for other NADases and 102- to 104-fold higher than the minor NADase activity reported in bacterial ARTase toxins. Construction and analysis of an hvnA hvnB mutant revealed no other NADase activity in culture supernatants of V. fischeri, and this mutant initiated the light organ symbiosis and triggered regression of the light organ ciliated epithelium in a manner similar to that for the wild type.
The tear fluid mucin 5AC change of primary angle-closure glaucoma patients after short-term medications and phacotrabeculectomy

Purpose This paper proposed to evaluate the tear fluid mucin 5AC (MUC5AC) change in Chinese primary angle-closure glaucoma and cataract patients after short-term medications and phacotrabeculectomy. Methods Twenty-five eyes of 25 consecutive Chinese patients with coexisting visually significant cataract and angle-closure glaucoma and 40 eyes of 40 volunteers enrolled in this study were investigated. Tear fluid from normal subjects and patients (1 day pre-operatively, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months post-operatively, respectively) were collected. The MUC5AC protein levels in the tear fluid were determined by Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA). The MUC5AC change after phacotrabeculectomy was evaluated. Results The MUC5AC quantity of the patients after short-term medications was 16.95±12.86 ng/ml, compared with 32.39±18.44 ng/ml MUC5AC quantity of the controls. There was a significant difference between the two groups (p<0.05). The MUC5AC of the patients decreased significantly to 6.91±7.11 ng/ml at 1 month after surgery (p<0.05). At 3 months after surgery, the MUC5AC recovered to 15.53±12.63 ng/ml, and had no significant difference with the pre-operative level (p=0.26). At 6 months after surgery, the MUC5AC was 18.94±14.64 ng/ml and had no significant difference with before-surgery levels (p=0.14). Conclusions Both phacotrabeculectomy and short-term anti-glaucoma medications can decrease the MUC5AC in the tear fluid of primary angle-closure glaucoma patients. At 3 months after phacotrabeculectomy, the MUC5AC could recover to the pre-operative level. More attention should be paid to the tear film stability and ocular surface physiology in these patients.
Scaling limits of recurrent excited random walks on integers

We describe scaling limits of recurrent excited random walks (ERWs) on $\mathbb{Z}$ in i.i. d. cookie environments with a bounded number of cookies per site. We allow both positive and negative excitations. It is known that ERW is recurrent if and only if the expected total drift per site, $\delta$, belongs to the interval $[-1,1]$. We show that if $|\delta|<1$ then the diffusively scaled ERW under the averaged measure converges to a $(\delta,-\delta)$-perturbed Brownian motion. In the boundary case, $|\delta|=1$, the space scaling has to be adjusted by an extra logarithmic term, and the weak limit of ERW happens to be a constant multiple of the running maximum of the standard Brownian motion, a transient process.
Evaluating balance on social networks from their simple cycles

Signed networks have long been used to represent social relations of amity (+) and enmity (-) between individuals. Group of individuals who are cyclically connected are said to be balanced if the number of negative edges in the cycle is even and unbalanced otherwise. In its earliest and most natural formulation, the balance of a social network was thus defined from its simple cycles, cycles which do not visit any vertex more than once. Because of the inherent difficulty associated with finding such cycles on very large networks, social balance has since then been studied via other means. In this article we present the balance as measured from the simple cycles and primitive orbits of social networks. We specifically provide two measures of balance: the proportion $R_\ell$ of negative simple cycles of length $\ell$ for each $\ell\leq 20$ which generalises the triangle index, and a ratio $K_\ell$ which extends the relative signed clustering coefficient introduced by Kunegis. To do so, we use a Monte Carlo implementation of a novel exact formula for counting the simple cycles on any weighted directed graph. Our method is free from the double-counting problem affecting previous cycle-based approaches, does not require edge-reciprocity of the underlying network, provides a gray-scale measure of balance for each cycle length separately and is sufficiently tractable that it can be implemented on a standard desktop computer. We observe that social networks exhibit strong inter-edge correlations favouring balanced situations and we determine the corresponding correlation length $\xi$. For longer simple cycles, $R_\ell$ undergoes a sharp transition to values expected from an uncorrelated model. This transition is absent from synthetic random networks, strongly suggesting that it carries a sociological meaning warranting further research.
Psychological vulnerability and stress: the effects of self-affirmation on sympathetic nervous system responses to naturalistic stressors.

OBJECTIVE Everyday stressors can threaten valued aspects of the self. Self-affirmation theory posits that this threat could be attenuated if individuals affirm alternative self-resources. The present study examined whether self-affirmation would buffer cumulative stress responses to an ongoing academic stressor. DESIGN Undergraduate participants provided 15-hr urine samples on the morning of their most stressful examination and baseline samples 14 days prior to the examination. Participants were randomly assigned to the self-affirmation condition where they wrote two essays on important values over the 2-week period prior to exam, or a control condition. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Samples were analyzed for urinary catecholamine excretion (epinephrine, norepinephrine), an indicator of sympathetic nervous system activation. Participants also indicated their appraisals of the examination experience. RESULTS Participants in the control condition increased in cumulative epinephrine levels from baseline to examination, whereas participants in the self-affirmation condition did not differ from baseline to examination. The buffering effect of self-affirmation was strongest among individuals most concerned about negative college evaluation, those most psychologically vulnerable. CONCLUSION The findings demonstrate that sympathetic nervous system responses to naturalistic stressors can be attenuated by self-affirmation. Discussion centers on psychological pathways by which affirmation can reduce stress and the implications of the findings for health outcomes among chronically stressed participants.
S100A8/A9 mRNA Induction in an Ex Vivo Model of Endotoxin Tolerance: Roles of IL-10 and IFNγ

Objectives Septic syndromes are the leading cause of death in intensive care units. They are characterized by the development of immune dysfunctions such as endotoxin tolerance (ET), whose intensity and duration are associated with increased risk of nosocomial infections and mortality. Alarmins S100A8 and S100A9 have been shown to be increased after septic shock. Importantly, a delayed S100A9 mRNA increase predicts hospital-acquired infection in patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the regulation of S100A8 and S100A9 mRNA expression in an ex vivo model of ET. Subjects and Measurements ET was reproduced ex vivo by priming healthy peripheral blood mononuclear cells (number of donors = 9 to 10) with low-dose endotoxin (2 ng/ml) before stimulation with high dose endotoxin (100 ng/ml). S100A8 and S100A9 mRNA levels were measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reactions. Main Results ET was established by observing decreased TNFα and increased IL-10 transcriptomic responses to two subsequent endotoxin challenges. Interestingly, ET was associated with increased S100A8 and S100A9 mRNA expression ex vivo. We showed that IL-10 played a role in this process, since S100A8 and S100A9 mRNA increases were significantly abrogated by IL-10 blockade in the model. Conversely, treatment with rIFN-γ, a pro-inflammatory and immunostimulating molecule known to block ET induction, was able to restore normal S100A8 and S100A9 mRNA in this model. Conclusions In this ex vivo model, we observed that S100A8 and S100A9 mRNA expression was significantly increased during ET. This reproduced ex vivo the observations we had previously made in septic shock patients. Interestingly, IL-10 blockade and rIFN-γ treatment partially abrogated S100A8/A9 mRNA increases in this model. Pending confirmation in larger, independent clinical studies, these preliminary results suggest that S100A8 and S100A9 mRNA levels might be used as surrogate markers of ET and as stratification tools for personalized immunotherapy in septic shock patients.
Monetary policy and uncertainty in an empirical small open-economy model

This paper explores optimal policy design in an estimated model of three small open economies: Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Within a class of generalized Taylor rules, we show that to stabilize a weighted objective of output, consumer price inflation and nominal interest variation optimal policy does not respond to the nominal exchange. This is despite the presence of local currency pricing and due, in large part, to observed exchange rate disconnect in these economies. Optimal policies that account for the uncertainty of model estimates, as captured by the parameters' posterior distrbution, similarly exhibit a lack of exchange rate response. In contrast to Brainard (1967), the presence of parameter uncertainty can lead to more or less aggressive policy responses, depending on the model at hand.
A Deadlock-Free and Connectivity-Guaranteed Methodology for Achieving Fault-Tolerance in On-Chip Networks

To improve the reliability of on-chip network based systems, we design a deadlock-free routing technique that is more resilient to component failures and guarantees a higher degree of node connectivity. The routing methodology consists of three key steps. First, we determine the maximal connected subgraph of the faulty network by checking whether the defective components happen to be the cut vertices and bridges of the network topology. A precise fault diagnosis mechanism is used to identify partial defective routers. Second, we construct an acyclic channel dependency graph that breaks all cycles and preserves connectivity of the maximal connected subgraph. This is done through the cycle-breaking and connectivity guaranteed (CBCG) algorithm. Finally, we introduce a fault-tolerant adaptive routing scheme that can be used with or without virtual channels for network congestion avoidance and high-throughput routing. The simulation results show both the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed approach. For an 8 × 8 2D-Mesh with 40 percent of link damage, full connectivity and deadlock freedom are still archived without disabling any faultless router in 98.18 percent of the simulations. In a 2D-Torus, the simulation percentage is even higher (99.93 percent). The hardware overhead for supporting the introduced features is minimal. An on-line implementation of CBCG using TSMC 65nm library has only 0.966 and 1.139 percent area overhead for the 8 × 8 and 16 × 16 2D-Meshes.
Glycemic exposure is associated with reduced pulmonary function in type 2 diabetes: the Fremantle Diabetes Study.

OBJECTIVE To examine prospectively the relationship between diabetes, glycemic control, and spirometric measures. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS From a community-based cohort, 495 Europid (i.e., of European descent) patients with type 2 diabetes who had no history of pulmonary disease underwent baseline spirometry between 1993 and 1994. A subset of 125 patients was restudied a mean of 7.0 years later. The main outcome measures included forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), vital capacity (VC), and peak expiratory flow (PEF) corrected for body temperature, air pressure, and water saturation and were expressed either in absolute terms or as percentage-predicted value for age, sex, and height. RESULTS Mean percentage-predicted values of each spirometric measure were decreased >10% in the whole cohort at baseline and absolute measures continued to decline at an annual rate of 68, 71, and 84 ml/year and 17 l/min for FVC, FEV1, VC, and PEF, respectively, in the 125 prospectively studied patients. Declining lung function measures were consistently predicted by poor glycemic control in the form of a higher updated mean HbA1c, follow-up HbA1c, or follow-up fasting plasma glucose. In a Cox proportional hazards model, decreased FEV1 percentage-predicted value was an independent predictor of all-cause mortality. CONCLUSIONS Reduced lung volumes and airflow limitation are likely to be chronic complications of type 2 diabetes, the severity of which relates to glycemic exposure. Airflow limitation is a predictor of death in type 2 diabetes after adjusting for other recognized risk factors.
Employment protection legislation and job stability: a European cross-country analysis

This paper tries to shed some light on the actual changes that occurred in the labour markets dynamics of the European Union 253 (EU-25) over the last decade using job tenure4 data. It then investigates the potential role of employment protection legislation (EPL)5 changes in explaining differences in the dynamics of job stability across countries but also across age groups in light of the dual-track reform strategy introduced in Europe during the same period: in most European countries, reforms were made typically at the margin (for new hires), while EPL for the incumbent workers remained unchanged. Thus, if the legislation does not apply uniformly to all workers, the effects of EPL reforms are expected to be disproportionately felt by new entrants, such as the young, women, and possibly immigrants. The paper opens with a descriptive analysis of job stability measured through job tenure in the EU-25, and its evolution over the last years. The level and structure by age of this indicator is our main empirical material. Data used comes from Labour Force Surveys (EUROSTAT) up to 2006. The analysis shows no generalized decrease in job tenure but a trend towards shorter tenure of young workers (15-24) in most European countries. In a second step, the paper examines the possible explanations behind this trend, focusing on employment protection legislation. An econometric analysis is conducted to test the existence of a link between employment protection and job stability. In particular, we look at the impact of employment protection on average tenure and on the incidence of temporary employment. Finally, some policy recommendations are provided.
Why Economic Analysis Supports Strong Action on Climate Change: A Response to the Stern Review's Critics

Economic research that opposes the strategy of strong and urgent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions often makes the observation, misleadingly, that while scientists, environmentalists, politicians, and others would favor strong action, economists would not. Drawing on the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, this paper argues that strong and urgent action is in fact good economics. Much of the previous economic literature on climate change has failed to grasp the necessary scale and timing of action because it has failed to simultaneously assign the necessary importance to issues of risk and ethics. The case for strong and urgent action set out in the Review is based, first, on the severe risks that the science now identifies and, second, on the ethics of the responsibility of current generations for future generations. It is these two issues—risk and ethics—that are crucial.
Glomerular expression of the ATP-sensitive P2X receptor in diabetic and hypertensive rat models.

BACKGROUND The molecular identification and characterization of the adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-sensitive family of P2 receptors is comparatively new. There are two main subgroups, each with several subtypes and widespread tissue distribution, including the kidney. A unique member of the P2X subgroup of P2 receptors is the ATP-gated ion channel P2X(7), which on activation can cause cell blebbing, cytokine release, and cell death by necrosis or apoptosis. We report expression of this receptor in normal rat kidney and in two chronic models of glomerular injury: streptozotocin-induced (STZ) diabetes and ren-2 transgenic (TGR) hypertension. METHODS At different time points in these models, we used a polyclonal antibody to the P2X(7) receptor and immunohistochemistry to determine its expression and distribution. We also used Western blotting and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect changes in P2X(7) receptor protein and mRNA expression, respectively. RESULTS We found only low-level glomerular immuno-staining for the P2X(7) receptor in normal rat kidney, but intense P2X(7) receptor immunostaining of glomeruli in kidneys from diabetic animals at 6 and 9 weeks, and in hypertensive animals at 12 weeks. In diabetic animals, real-time PCR demonstrated a approximately tenfold increase in glomerular P2X(7) receptor mRNA relative to control, and Western blotting confirmed an increase in protein. Immunohistochemistry and immunoelectron microscopy showed staining of glomerular podocytes, which was both intracellular and at the plasma membrane. CONCLUSION We conclude that the P2X(7) receptor is not expressed appreciably under normal conditions, but that following glomerular injury it is significantly up-regulated, mainly in podocytes, though also in endothelial and mesangial cells, of animals with STZ-induced diabetes mellitus or TGR hypertension. Although the exact function and regulation of this receptor remain unclear, its association with inflammatory cytokine release and cell death suggests that increased expression might be involved in the pathogenesis of glomerular cell injury or repair.