Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spiral arms, bar shape and bulge microlensing in the Milky Way

A new model for the luminosity distribution in the inner Milky Way is found, using a non-parametric penalized maximum-likelihood algorithm to deproject a dereddened COBE/ DIRBE L-band map of the inner Galaxy. The model isalso constrained by the apparent magnitude (line-of-sight) distributions of clump giant stars in certain bulge fields. An important new feature is the inclusion of a spiral arm model in the disc. Spiral arms make the model appear broader on the sky; thus our bar is more elongated than in previous eight-fold symmetric models. They also lead to a smoother disc model interior to the Sun. The bar length is 3.5 kpc, and its axis ratios are 1: (0.3-0.4): 0.3, independent of whether the spiral arm model is four-armed or two-armed. The larger elongation in the plane makes it possible to reproduce the observed clump giant distributions as well. With only the surface brightness data, a small model degeneracy is found even for fixed orientation of the bar, amounting to about ′0.1 uncertainty in the in-plane axial ratio. Including the clump giant data removes most of this degeneracy and also places additional constraints on the orientation angle of the bar. We estimate 15° ≤ φ b a r ≤ 30°, with the best models obtained for 20° ≤ φ b a r ≤ 25°. We use our reference model to predict a microlensing optical depth map towards the bulge, normalizing its mass by the observed terminal velocity curve. For clump giant sources at (l,b) = (3°.9, -3°.8) we find τ - 6 ≡ τ/10 - 6 = 1.27, within 1. 8σ of the new MACHO measurement given by Popowski et al. The value for all sources at (l, b) = (2°.68, -3°.35) is τ-6 = 1.1, still >3σ away from the published MACHO DIA value. The dispersion of these τ - 6 values within our models is ≃ 10 per cent. Because the distribution of sources is well fitted by the near-infrared model, increasing the predicted optical depths by >20 per cent will be difficult. Thus the high value of the measured clump giant optical depth argues for a near-maximal disc in the Milky Way.
Computing pure strategy nash equilibria in compact symmetric games

We analyze the complexity of computing pure strategy Nash equilibria (PSNE) in symmetric games with a fixed number of actions. We restrict ourselves to "compact" representations, meaning that the number of players can be exponential in the representation size. We show that in the general case, where utility functions are represented as arbitrary circuits, the problem of deciding the existence of PSNE is NP-complete. For the special case of games with two actions, we show that there always exists a PSNE and give a polynomial-time algorithm for finding one. We then focus on a specific compact representation: piecewise-linear utility functions. We give polynomial-time algorithms for finding a sample PSNE, counting the number of PSNEs, and also provide an FPTAS for finding social-welfare-maximizing equilibria. We extend our piecewise-linear representation to achieve what we believe to be the first compact representation for parameterized families of (symmetric) games. We provide methods for answering questions about a parameterized family without needing to solve each game from the family separately.
Active and Passive Smoking and the Risk of Pancreatic Cancer in the Netherlands Cohort Study

Background: To date, cigarette smoking is the most consistent risk factor for pancreatic cancer. We prospectively examined the role of active cigarette smoking, smoking cessation, and passive smoking as determinants for pancreatic cancer. Methods: The Netherlands Cohort Study consisted of 120,852 men and women who completed a baseline questionnaire in 1986. After 16.3 years of follow-up, 520 incident pancreatic cancer cases were available for analysis. A case-cohort approach was employed using the person-years of follow-up of a random subcohort (n = 5,000), which was chosen immediately after baseline. Results: Compared with never cigarette smokers, both former and current cigarette smokers had an increased pancreatic cancer risk [multivariable-adjusted hazard rate ratio (HR), 1.34; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.02-1.75 and HR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.40-2.38, respectively]. We observed an increased pancreatic cancer risk per increment of 10 years of smoking (HR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.08-1.22) and an HR of 1.08 per increment of 10 cigarettes/d (95% CI, 0.98-1.19). Quitting smoking gradually reduced pancreatic cancer risk and approached unity after ≥20 years of quitting. No association was observed for passive smoking exposure and pancreatic cancer risk in women; in men, this association was not investigated because >90% of the men were ever smokers. Conclusions: Overall, our findings confirmed that cigarette smoking is an important risk factor for pancreatic cancer, whereas quitting smoking reduced risk. No association was observed between passive smoking exposure and pancreatic cancer risk in women. Impact: Quitting smoking would benefit the burden on pancreatic cancer incidence. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 19(6); 1612–22. ©2010 AACR.
Microfluidic electroporation for delivery of small molecules and genes into cells using a common DC power supply

Electroporation is an efficient method of introducing foreign impermeant molecules such as drugs and genes into cells. Conventional electroporation has been based on the application of short electrical pulses (electropulsation). Electropulsation requires specialized equipment and cannot be integrated easily with techniques such as electrophoresis which is based on constant voltage. Here we demonstrate the delivery of small molecules and genes into cells, using a microfluidic electroporation technique based on constant direct current (DC) voltage that we developed earlier. We demonstrate the delivery of two molecules into Chinese hamster ovary (CHO‐K1) cells: a membrane impermeable nucleic acid dye (SYTOX® Green) and a plasmid vector carrying the gene for green fluorescent protein (pEGFP‐C1). Our devices can exert field variations to flowing cells that are analogous to the application of single or multiple pulses by having different geometries. We investigate the effects of the electrical parameters and different geometries of the device on the transfection efficiency and cell viability. Our technique provides a simple solution to electroporation‐based drug and gene delivery by eliminating the need for a pulse generator. We envision that these simple microscale electroporation devices will have the potential to work in parallel on a microchip platform and such technology will allow high‐throughput functional screening of drugs and genes. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2008;100: 579–586. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Radio and X-Ray Luminous SN 2003bg and the Circumstellar Density Variations around Radio Supernovae

We report extensive radio and X-ray observations of SN 2003bg, whose spectroscopic evolution shows a transition from a broad-lined Type Ic to a hydrogen-rich Type II, and later to a typical hydrogen-poor Type Ibc. We show that the extraordinarily luminous radio emission is well described by a self-absorption-dominated synchrotron spectrum, while the observed X-ray emission at t ≈ 30 days is adequately fit by inverse Compton scattering of the optical photons off of the synchrotron-emitting electrons. Our radio model implies a subrelativistic ejecta velocity, ≈ 0.24c, at t0 ≈ 10 days after the explosion, which emphasizes that broad optical absorption lines do not imply relativistic ejecta. We find that the total energy of the radio-emitting region evolves as E ≈ 7.3 × 1048(t/t0)0.4 ergs, assuming equipartition of energy between relativistic electrons and magnetic fields (ϵe = ϵB = 0.1). The circumstellar density is well described by a stellar wind profile, with modest (factor of ~2) episodic density enhancements that produce abrupt achromatic flux variations. We estimate an average mass-loss rate of ≈ 3 × 10-4 M☉ yr-1 (assuming a wind velocity of vw = 103 km s-1) for the progenitor, consistent with the observed values for Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars. Comparison with other events reveals that ~50% of radio supernovae show similar short-timescale flux variations, attributable to circumstellar density irregularities. Specifically, the radio light curves of SN 2003bg are strikingly similar to those of the Type IIb SN 2001ig, suggestive of a common progenitor evolution for these two events. Based on the relative intensity of the inferred density enhancements, we conclude that the progenitors of SNe 2003bg and 2001ig experienced quasi-periodic mass-loss episodes just prior to the SN explosion. Finally, this study emphasizes that abrupt radio light-curve variations cannot be used as a reliable proxy for an engine-driven explosion, including off-axis gamma-ray bursts.
Impact of thermal stress on the growth, size-distribution and biomass of estuarine populations of a benthic gastropod Pachymelania aurita Müller

This paper reports an in-vivo account of the impact of thermal stress on the biomass and sizedistribution of estuarine populations of Pachymelania aurita in Epe Lagoon, Nigeria. Off all physicochemical variables investigated only water temperature was statistically different among study stations. A total of 7626 individuals of the organism comprising 2,371juveniles, 3586 immature adults and 2,034of spawning adults were collected from the study area. Highest populations of juveniles and immature adults occurred in station 3 where the highest water temperature occurred while, station 1 recorded lowest populations of the two size classes. Spawning adults occurred in highest number in station 2 while their lowest population was observed in station 3.Of the total biomass of 2491 g recorded, juvenile population recorded a total biomass of 143.401 g, immature adults contributed 874.424 g while spawning adults recorded 1473.19 g. Highest juvenile biomass (34.7 g) occurred in station 5 while, the least (17.7 g), was recorded in station 1. Station 3 accommodated the highest biomass (233.60 g) of immature adults and the least biomass for this group was observed in station 1.Biomass of the spawning adults was highest (475.08 g) in station 2 and the lowest biomass (162.03 g) for this class was observed in station 3. The elevated water temperature observed in station 3 affected the growth of the organism such that only few individuals developed to spawning adult. It is therefore important that, the regulatory agencies should carry out regular monitoring of cooling water discharge from Egbin Power Station to ensure compliance with stipulated laws. Keywords: Thermal stress, gastropods, growth, biomass, size distribution
Measuring variability in phytotoxicity testing using crop and wild plant species

A series of experiments was conducted to assess the level of variability in phytotoxicity testing and to investigate factors that may explain some of the observed uncertainties and inconsistencies. The work was conducted in greenhouse or growth chamber environments with plants growing individually in pots and harvested 28 d after spraying with two herbicides, glyphosate and atrazine, as formulated products. Between six and 10 doses were used on five or six replicates, necessitating over 4,500 individually growing plants. In the first set of experiments, several ecotypes (originating from different areas of the world) of eight wild plant species were tested. Significant differences in sensitivity to atrazine and glyphosate were found among ecotypes of most species tested. In the second suite of experiments, the reproducibility of results during different seasons (when growing conditions vary) was investigated using three crops and four wild plant species. Results showed that seasonal variability elicited a pronounced discrepancy in response between plants tested at different times of the year. It was found that no consistent effects could be attributed to the biotic or abiotic factors investigated. Several ecotypes of the same species differed in their seed size, percentage germination, or germination requirements, as well as in growth patterns, but these differences could not explain differences in herbicide sensitivity. Likewise, differences in phytotoxicity could not be attributed to factors such as temperature, light intensity, and sunlight duration. The present study supports the inclusion of an uncertainty factor in risk assessments to account for the intrinsic variability in plant sensitivity to herbicides. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2010;29:327–337. © 2009 SETAC
Performance and Analysis of a Reverberating Enclosure with Variable Geometry

Mode stirred chambers are discussed. It is shown that, under the basic assumption of isotropy (largely experimentally proven), the coupling equation does not depend on the antenna gain. Chamber losses are examined, both from a general point of view, and in order to determine sensitivity of the measuring technique. An alternative thermodynamic approach is also given.
Content-based retrieval of music and audio

Though many systems exist for content-based retrieval of images, little work has been done on the audio portion of the multimedia stream. This paper presents a system to retrieve audio documents y acoustic similarity. The similarity measure is based on statistics derived from a supervised vector quantizer, rather than matching simple pitch or spectral characteristics. The system is thus able to learn distinguishing audio features while ignoring unimportant variation. Both theoretical and experimental results are presented, including quantitative measures of retrieval performance. Retrieval was tested on a corpus of simple sounds as well as a corpus of musical excerpts. The system is purely data-driven and does not depend on particular audio characteristics. Given a suitable parameterization, this method may thus be applicable to image retrieval as well.
PROTEST: A Tool for Probabilistic Testability Analysis

The CAD-tool PROTEST (Probabilistic Testability Analysis) is presented. PROTEST estimates for each fault of a combinational circuit its detection probability which can be used as a testability measure. Moreover it calculates the number of random test patterns which must be generated in order to achieve the required fault coverage. It is also demonstrated that the fault coverage will increase and the necessary number of random patterns will drastically decrease, if each primary input is stimulated by test patterns having specific probabilities of being logical "1". PROTEST uses this fact and determines for each input the optimal signal probability for a randomly generated pattern.
A Compact Difference Scheme for the Biharmonic Equation in Planar Irregular Domains

We present a finite difference scheme, applicable to general irregular planar domains, to approximate the biharmonic equation. The irregular domain is embedded in a Cartesian grid. In order to approximate $\Delta^{2}\Phi$ at a grid point we interpolate the data on the (irregular) stencil by a polynomial of degree six. The finite difference scheme is $\Delta^{2}Q_{\Phi}(0,0)$, where $Q_{\Phi}$ is the interpolation polynomial. The interpolation polynomial is not uniquely determined. We present a method to construct such an interpolation polynomial and prove that our construction is second order accurate. For a regular stencil, [M. Ben-Artzi, J.-P. Croisille, and D. Fishelov, SIAM J. Sci. Comput. , 31 (2008), pp. 303-333] shows that the proposed interpolation polynomial is fourth order accurate. We present some suitable numerical examples.
Cognitive and behavioral effects of the coadministration of dextroamphetamine and haloperidol in schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE The authors sought to determine if an acute dose of dextroamphetamine might have positive effects on affect and cognition in schizophrenic patients maintained on a regimen of haloperidol and, if so, what variables might predict such improvements. METHOD Twenty-one patients with chronic schizophrenia who were hospitalized on a research ward received a single oral dose of dextroamphetamine (0.25 mg/kg) in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study. All patients were receiving 0.4 mg/kg per day of haloperidol. Cognitive tests, motor tests, global ratings, mood ratings, and videotape ratings were used to determine the effect of the coadministration of these drugs. Ventricle-brain ratios derived from CT scans were used to predict response to the coadministration of these drugs. RESULTS Amphetamine improved performance on a measure of concept formation on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test but did not result in changes in performance on tests of memory or attention. As a group, the patients were more active and performed psychomotor tests more quickly while receiving amphetamine. Six patients were judged by clinical raters to have improved in terms of affect, cooperation, and engagement with the environment. Improvement was associated with enlarged cerebral ventricles and increases in blink rate from the placebo to the active drug condition. No patient unequivocally worsened. CONCLUSIONS These results may be consistent with the theory that coadministration of amphetamine and haloperidol produces relatively selective enhancement of cortical dopaminergic activity. However, because of the acute nature of the trial and the specialized research environment in which it was conducted, the authors do not advocate amphetamine as a routine clinical treatment of schizophrenia.
Stability in Flowering, Flushing, and Fruiting Characters of 21 Potential Cacao Clones in ICCRI Collection

Flowering character and flowering intensity can be used to estimate productivity and it is important for supporting breeding activity especially for pollination program. This research was aimed to study the stability of character of flushing, flowering and fruiting on different cocoa clones (genetic). The research was done at Kaliwining Research Station, Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute, Jember. There were 21 clones; KW 422, KW 426, KW 427, KW 425, KW 523, KW 062, KW 084, KW 094, KW 162, KW 163, KW 165, KW 219, KW 235, KW 236, KW 265, KW 005, KW 292, KW 570, KW 514, KW 516, and KW 617. Flowering intencity, fruiting, and flushing were observed. The result of the study showed that KW 084 was the most stable clone for fruiting. KW 235 had high pod number in April. KW 426, KW 427, KW 523, and Sulawesi 2 had high pod number in March and June. KW 219 and KW 516 had the lowest pod number. Low pod number did not occur in March until June. Flowering and flushing on all genotypes showed the stability value with IPCA value nearly zero. KW 094 showed high flowering intensity in October. High flushing intensity occurred in January and July, the lower one in April and August. Key words: Stability analysis, flushing, flowering, fruiting, cocoa clones
Performance of Back-Trajectory Statistical Methods and Inverse Modeling Method in Locating Emission Sources

Back-trajectory statistical methods, for example, potential source contribution functions (PSCF) and concentration-weighted trajectory (CWT) methods, have been widely used in previous studies to locate emission source regions of air pollutants or greenhouse gases. Inverse modeling methods have been developed and used in an increasing number of applications. To this date, there are no comparisons of performance between back-trajectory statistical and inverse modeling methods. This study evaluates the performance of PSCF, CWT, and inverse modeling methods by taking advantage of precisely known locations of trifluoromethane (CHF3; HFC-23) sources. Results show poor performance of the PSCF and CWT methods and good performance of the inverse modeling method. This study suggests that in studies with the purpose of locating emission source regions the PSCF and CWT methods should be applied with caution in future studies and that the inverse modeling method is encouraged to be used much more widely.
Sex differences in hospital readmission among colorectal cancer patients

Background: While several studies have analysed sex and socioeconomic differences in cancer incidence and mortality, sex differences in oncological health care have been seldom considered. Objective: To investigate sex based inequalities in hospital readmission among patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Hospital Universitary in L’Hospitalet (Barcelona, Spain). Participants: Four hundred and three patients diagnosed with colorectal between January 1996 and December 1998 were actively followed up until 2002. Main outcome measurements and methods: Hospital readmission times related to colorectal cancer after surgical procedure. Cox proportional model with random effect (frailty) was used to estimate hazard rate ratios and 95% confidence intervals of readmission time for covariates analysed. Results: Crude hazard rate ratio of hospital readmission in men was 1.61 (95% CI 1.21 to 2.15). When other significant determinants of readmission were controlled for (including Dukes’s stage, mortality, and Charlson’s index) a significant risk of readmission was still present for men (hazard rate ratio: 1.52, 95% CI 1.17 to 1.96). Conclusions: In the case of colorectal cancer, women are less likely than men to be readmitted to the hospital, even after controlling for tumour characteristics, mortality, and comorbidity. New studies should investigate the role of other non-clinical variable such as differences in help seeking behaviours or structural or personal sex bias in the attention given to patients.
Sources of the oxygen isotopic anomaly in atmospheric N2O

One-dimensional and two-dimensional models are used to investigate the isotopic composition of atmospheric N_2O. The sources of N_2O in the atmosphere are based on recent laboratory measurements of the N_2O quantum yield in the mixture of O_3/O_2/N_2 (Estupinan et al., 2002). Two recently proposed pathways (Estupinan et al., 2002; Prasad, 2005) are evaluated in the model. We find that the new atmospheric sources constitute a few percent of the total N_2O source, but can account for ∼50–100% of the Δ^(17)O anomaly observed in N_2O. The essence of the mechanism is to transfer a heavy oxygen atom originally in O_3 to N_2O. The magnitude of Δ^(17)O in N_2O is a linear function of the strength of these new N_2O sources. Laboratory and atmospheric measurements are proposed to confirm the chemical pathways. The potential of Δ^(17)O in N_2O for providing a new tool to probe ozone levels in paleoatmospheres is discussed.
Climate Variability and the Influence of the Sun

Recent studies show that small variations in the Sun's radiative output have an influence on Earth's climate. However, as [Haigh][1] points out in her Perspective, evidence for such an influence is difficult to obtain and mechanisms by which the solar signal might be amplified remain uncertain. She highlights the reports by [ Bond et al . ][2], who show that millennial-scale climate fluctuations in the Atlantic bear a solar signal, and by [ Shindell et al . ][3], who show that the climatic response to the Maunder Minimum, a period with low solar activity, in their model matches observations. The two studies also provide some clues to the mechanism of amplification. [1]: http://www.sciencemag. org/cgi/content/full/294/5549/2109 [2]: http://www.sciencemag. org/cgi/content/short/294/5549/2130 [3]: http://www.sciencemag. org/cgi/content/short/294/5549/2149