Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Transport in the Lower Tropical Stratosphere in a Global Chemistry and Transport Model

A general circulation model (GCM) relies on various physical parameterizations and provides a solution to the atmospheric equations of motion. A data assimilation system (DAS) combines information from observations with a GCM forecast and produces analyzed meteorological fields that represent the observed atmospheric state. An off-line chemistry and transport model (CTM) can use winds and temperatures from a either a GCM or a DAS. The latter application is in common usage for interpretation of observations from various platforms under the assumption that the DAS transport represents the actual atmospheric transport. Here we compare the transport produced by a DAS with that produced by the particular GCM that is combined with observations to produce the analyzed fields. We focus on transport in the tropics and middle latitudes by comparing the age-of-air inferred from observations of SF6 and CO2 with the age-of-air calculated using GCM fields and DAS fields. We also compare observations of ozone, total reactive nitrogen, and methane with results from the two simulations. These comparisons show that DAS fields produce rapid upward tropical transport and excessive mixing between the tropics and middle latitudes. The unrealistic transport produced by the DAS fields may be due to implicit forcing that is required by the assimilation process when there is bias between the GCM forecast and observations that are combined to produce the analyzed fields. For example, the GCM does not produce a quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO). The QBO is present in the analyzed fields because it is present in the observations, and systematic implicit forcing is required by the DAS. Any systematic bias between observations and the GCM forecast used to produce the DAS analysis is likely to corrupt the transport produced by the analyzed fields. Evaluation of transport in the lower tropical stratosphere in a global chemistry and transport model.
Policies and Laws Affecting Mexican-Origin Immigrant Access and Utilization of Substance Abuse Treatment: Obstacles to Recovery and Immigrant Health

Abstract This article reports the results of a study carried out with 30 Mexican-origin immigrants in drug user treatment in the United States-Mexico Border city of El Paso, Texas during 2007. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were implemented to assess the dynamic social and economic factors that affect the delivery and utilization of treatment services, with emphasis on the impact of recent immigration-related laws and policies. The research provides initial data for evidence-based intervention and reinforces the need for culturally and gender appropriate treatment services for poor immigrants and their families. The study's limitations are noted.
IQN: An Incremental Quasi-Newton Method with Local Superlinear Convergence Rate

The problem of minimizing an objective that can be written as the sum of a set of $n$ smooth and strongly convex functions is considered. The Incremental Quasi-Newton (IQN) method proposed here belongs to the family of stochastic and incremental methods that have a cost per iteration independent of $n$. IQN iterations are a stochastic version of BFGS iterations that use memory to reduce the variance of stochastic approximations. The convergence properties of IQN bridge a gap between deterministic and stochastic quasi-Newton methods. Deterministic quasi-Newton methods exploit the possibility of approximating the Newton step using objective gradient differences. They are appealing because they have a smaller computational cost per iteration relative to Newton's method and achieve a superlinear convergence rate under customary regularity assumptions. Stochastic quasi-Newton methods utilize stochastic gradient differences in lieu of actual gradient differences. This makes their computational cost per iteration independent of the number of objective functions $n$. However, existing stochastic quasi-Newton methods have sublinear or linear convergence at best. IQN is the first stochastic quasi-Newton method proven to converge superlinearly in a local neighborhood of the optimal solution. IQN differs from state-of-the-art incremental quasi-Newton methods in three aspects: (i) The use of aggregated information of variables, gradients, and quasi-Newton Hessian approximation matrices to reduce the noise of gradient and Hessian approximations. (ii) The approximation of each individual function by its Taylor's expansion in which the linear and quadratic terms are evaluated with respect to the same iterate. (iii) The use of a cyclic scheme to update the functions in lieu of a random selection routine. We use these fundamental properties of IQN to establish its local superlinear convergence rate.
Host litter-associated gut dynamics affect Escherichia coli abundance and adhesion genotype in rats.

The probability of detecting Escherichia coli varies between host species with different diets and body sizes. An experimental study that mimicked the effect of different carnivore body masses found that digesta transit times influence E. coli abundance. In this study, we investigated how the host's gastrointestinal dynamics affected E. coli abundance and genotype in a system that reflected an herbivorous host. Forty rats from nine litters were fed a diet high in fermentable fibre. We found a small effect of fibre concentration on the difference between the liquid and particle digesta retention times. However, the rats' litter membership explained the majority of the retention time differences (79%). In turn, we found that as the difference between liquid and particle retention times increased, E. coli faecal cell densities decreased, while the likelihood that an animal's dominant E. coli strain possessed a gene involved in adhesion (agn43) increased. Thus, this experiment revealed an unanticipated high degree of association between the hosts' litter, their gastrointestinal dynamics and the E. coli genotypes. Furthermore, by comparing our findings to previous work, we show that the presence of fermentable fibre in the diet appears to change the relationship between the host's phenotype and E. coli.
Tyrosine Binding Protein Sites Regulate the Intracellular Trafficking and Processing of Amyloid Precursor Protein through a Novel Lysosome-Directed Pathway

The amyloid hypothesis posits that the production of β-amyloid (Aβ) aggregates leads to neurodegeneration and cognitive decline associated with AD. Aβ is produced by sequential cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) by β- and γ-secretase. While nascent APP is well known to transit to the endosomal/ lysosomal system via the cell surface, we have recently shown that APP can also traffic to lysosomes intracellularly via its interaction with AP-3. Because AP-3 interacts with cargo protein via interaction with tyrosine motifs, we mutated the three tyrosines motif in the cytoplasmic tail of APP. Here, we show that the YTSI motif interacts with AP-3, and phosphorylation of the serine in this motif disrupts the interaction and decreases APP trafficking to lysosomes. Furthermore, we show that phosphorylation at this motif can decrease the production of neurotoxic Aβ 42. This demonstrates that reducing APP trafficking to lysosomes may be a strategy to reduce Aβ 42 in Alzheimer’s disease.
Cultural perceptions and preferences of Iranian women regarding cesarean delivery

Background: Data was reported in Iran in 2013 has shown that almost 42 percent of deliveries in public hospitals and 90 percent in private hospitals were carried out with cesarean section. This high rate of cesarean requires careful consideration. It seems that making decision for cesarean is done under the influence of cultural perceptions and beliefs. So, this study was conducted to explore pregnant women's preferences and perceptions regarding cesarean delivery. Materials and Methods: A focused ethnographic study was used. 12 pregnant women and 10 delivered women, seven midwives, seven gynecologist and nine non-pregnant women referred to the health clinics of Tonekabon, who selected purposively, were included in the study. To collect data semi-structured in-depth interviews and participant observation were used. Study rigor was confirmed through prolonged engagement, member check, expert debriefing, and thick description of the data. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and MAXQDA software. Results: Four themes emerged from the data including personal beliefs, fear of vaginal delivery, cultural norms and values and also social network. These concepts played main roles in how women develop meanings toward caesarean, which affected their perceptions and preferences in relation to caesarean delivery. Conclusion: Most of pregnant women believed that fear of vaginal delivery is a major factor to choose caesarean delivery. Hence, midwives and physicians could help them through improving the quality of prenatal care and giving them positive perception towards vaginal delivery through presenting useful information about the nature of different modes of delivery, and their advantages and disadvantages, as well as the alternative ways to control labor pain.
Nitrate Loading in the Saw Kill Watershed: small watershed nutrient dynamics, answering a community question, and assessing methodological approaches

9 List of Figures and Tables.11 1.0 Introduction.13 1.1 N & P Dynamics.14 2.0 Effects of Land Use on Nutrient Load.16 2.1 Agriculture.16 2.2 Urban.20 3.0 Spatial & Temporal Dynamics.23 3.1 Distance to Land Use.24 3.2 Downstream Headwater Influences.27 3.3 Precipitation Regimes.29 4.0 Approaches for the Saw Kill.32 5.0 Materials & Methods.33 5.1 Study Watershed.35 5.2 Study Sites.36 5.3 Master Dataset Compilation.37 5.3.1 Land Cover Delineation & Inclusion within the Data.42 5.4 Field Sampling & Physical/Chemical Analysis.44 5.4. 1 Sampling and Processing Methods from 1975-1982.45 5.4. 2 Sampling and Processing Methods from 2014-2016.45 5.5 Statistical Analyses.46 6.0 Results.47 6.1 Buffer Analysis, Maximum Nitrate.48 6.2 Buffer Analysis, Log-normalized Nitrate.49 6.3 Rainfall.49 7.0 Discussion.50 7.1 Spatial & Temporal Variation.51 7.2 Saw Kill, High or Low NO3? 53 7.3 Maximum Nitrate Land Cover Analyses.54 7.4 Log-normalized Nitrate Land Cover Analyses.57 7.5 Rainfall.58 7.6 Limitations & Future Studies.59 8.0 Conclusion.62 9.0 Figures & Tables.64 Appendix.95 Bibliography.105
Frequency of Gynecologic Follow-Up and Cervical Cancer Screening in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study

Background:According to current recommendations, HIV-infected women should have at least 1 gynecologic examination per year. Objectives:To analyze factors associated with frequency of gynecologic follow-up and cervical cancer screening among HIV-infected women followed in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS). Methods:Half-yearly questionnaires between April 2001 and December 2004. At every follow-up visit, the women were asked if they had had a gynecologic examination and a cervical smear since their last visit. Longitudinal models were fitted with these variables as outcomes. Results:A total of 2186 women were included in the analysis. Of the 1146 women with complete follow-up in the SHCS, 35.3% had a gynecologic examination in each time period, whereas 7.4% had never gone to a gynecologist. Factors associated with a poor gynecologic follow-up were older age, nonwhite ethnicity, less education, underweight, obesity, being sexually inactive, intravenous drug use, smoking, having a private infectious disease specialist as a care provider, HIV viral load <400 copies/mL, and no previous cervical dysplasia. No association was seen for living alone, CD4 cell count, and positive serology for syphilis. Conclusions:Gynecologic care among well-followed HIV-positive women is poor and needs to be improved.
A 2.4 GHz Hybrid Polyphase Filter Based BFSK Receiver With High Frequency Offset Tolerance for Wireless Sensor Networks

A low power 2.4 GHz hybrid polyphase filter (PPF) based BFSK receiver with high frequency offset tolerance (FOT) at small modulation indexes (MIs) is presented for medium data rate wireless sensor network applications. A high FOT at low MI is achieved by a frequency-to-energy conversion architecture using PPFs without any frequency correction circuits. Channel selection and interference rejection are performed simultaneously by the PPFs without any extra hardware and power consumption. Furthermore, the proposed hybrid topology of the PPFs provides an improved adjacent channel rejection (ACR) at reduced power. The prototype receiver fabricated in a 0.13-µm CMOS process, including the RF and analog front-ends, consumes 1.97 mW from a 1 V supply. With a data rate of 1 Mb/s, a sensitivity of –84 dBm, a FOT of <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">${\pm} $</tex></formula>450 kHz (<formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">${\pm} $</tex></formula>180 ppm), and an ACR of 40 dB are achieved for a MI of 2.
Extrarenal resistance to atrial natriuretic peptide in rats with experimental nephrotic syndrome.

Nephrotic syndrome is associated with resistance to the renal actions of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP). We performed experiments in anesthetized, acutely nephrectomized rats 21-28 days after injection of adriamycin (7-8 mg/kg i.v.) or 9-14 days after injection of anti-Fx1A antiserum (5 ml/kg i.p.) (passive Heymann nephritis; PHN) to test whether extrarenal resistance also occurred. Proteinuria was significantly elevated in both models compared with controls before study. ANP infusion (1 microgram.kg-1.min-1) caused arterial pressure to decrease similarly in control rats, adriamycin-treated rats, and rats with PHN (by 8.2 +/- 1.0, 9.4 +/- 2.3, and 9.0 +/- 2.0%, respectively; all P < 0.05 vs. both baseline and vehicle-infused control rats). In control rats, hematocrit increased progressively to a maximal value 9.5 +/- 0.9% over baseline as a result of the infusion, an increase corresponding to a reduction in plasma volume of 16.1 +/- 0.9%. The ANP-induced increase in hematocrit was preserved in adriamycin-treated rats (9.2 +/- 1.3%) but was markedly blunted in rats with PHN (2.4 +/- 1.3%; P < 0.0001 vs. ANP infusion in control rats). ANP infusion increased plasma ANP levels to the same extent in the three groups, whereas plasma guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate was significantly lower in rats with PHN compared with both control and adriamycin-treated rats. Infusion of a subpressor dose of angiotensin II (ANG II, 2.5 ng.kg-1.min-1) fully restored the ANP-induced increase in hematocrit in rats with PHN. This study demonstrates that 1) the hemoconcentrating and hypotensive actions of ANP are preserved in adriamycin-treated rats, 2) the effect of ANP on hematocrit and fluid distribution is blunted in rats with PHN while its hypotensive action is preserved, and 3) low-level ANG II infusion normalizes the hemoconcentrating effect of exogenously infused ANP in rats with PHN. Thus deficient ANG II generation in rats with PHN, but not adriamycin nephrosis, may contribute to extrarenal ANP resistance.
CALL FOR PAPERS Integrative and Translational Physiology: Inflammation and Immunity in Organ System Physiology Subclinical exposure to low-dose endotoxin impairs EEG maturation in preterm fetal sheep

exposure to low-dose endotoxin impairs EEG maturation in preterm fetal sheep. to chorioamnioni-tis is strongly associated with neurodevelopmental disability after premature birth; however, it remains unclear whether subclinical infection affects functional EEG maturation. Chronically instru-mented 103–104-day-old (0.7 gestational age: term 147 days) fetal sheep in utero were randomized to receive either gram-negative LPS by continuous low-dose infusion (100 ng iv over 24 h, followed by 250 ng/24 h for 4 days; n ϭ 6) or the same volume of normal saline (n ϭ 9). Arterial plasma cortisol, ACTH, and IL-6 were measured. (13–22 Hz) components of the EEG were determined by power spectral analysis. Brains were taken after 10 days for histopathology. There were no changes in blood gases, cardiovascular variables, or EEG power during LPS infusion, but a transient rise in plasma cortisol and IL-6 (P Ͻ 0.05). LPS infusion was associated with loss of the maturational increase to higher frequency activity, with reduced alpha and beta power, and greater delta power than saline controls from 6 to 10 days (P Ͻ 0.05). Histologically, LPS was associated with increased numbers of microglia and TNF-␣-positive cells in the periventricular white matter and frontoparietal cortex, increased caspase-3-positive cells in white matter, but no loss of CNPase-positive oligodendro-cytes, Nurr-1 subplate cells, or gyral complexity. These data suggest that low-dose endotoxin exposure can impair EEG maturation in preterm fetal sheep in association with neural inflammation but without hemodynamic disturbances or cortical injury. microglia; cytokines; cortisol; subplate neurons; periventricular white matter NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY is very common after premature birth (5). Although the etiology is complex, there is increasing evidence that exposure to in utero infection at critical stages of brain developmental can significantly increase the risk of neurodevelopment abnormalities, as recently reviewed by Hagberg et al. (24). Strongly supporting a causal linkage, in fetal sheep, high-dose exposure to LPS, a purified polysaccharide from the outer wall of gram-negative bacteria, is associated with significant cardiovascular instability, including hypotension, and mortality, followed by significant neural injury (10, 11, 15, 18 –20, 37). For example, Dean et al. (15) recently showed that a single bolus of LPS in preterm fetal sheep was associated with acute brain injury after 3 days (13), followed by impaired brain growth and loss of the normal maturational increase in cortical EEG amplitude 10 days later. In contrast, there are relatively few data on how, or indeed whether, subclinical insults that do not …
Lifespan extension in Caenorhabditis elegans by complete removal of food

A partial reduction in food intake has been found to increase lifespan in many different organisms. We report here a new dietary restriction regimen in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, based on the standard agar plate lifespan assay, in which adult worms are maintained in the absence of a bacterial food source. These findings represent the first report in any organism of lifespan extension in response to prolonged starvation. Removal of bacterial food increases lifespan to a greater extent than partial reduction of food through a mechanism that is distinct from insulin/IGF‐like signaling and the Sir2‐family deacetylase, SIR‐2.1. Removal of bacterial food also increases lifespan when initiated in postreproductive adults, suggesting that dietary restriction started during middle age can result in a substantial longevity benefit that is independent of reproduction.
Greenhouse gas mitigation economics for irrigated cropping systems in northeastern Colorado.

Recent soil and crop management technologies have potential for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions; however, these management strategies must be profitable if they are to be adopted by producers. The economic feasibility of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions in irrigated cropping systems was evaluated for 5 yr on a Fort Collins clay loam soil (a fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic Aridic Haplustalf). Cropping systems included conventional tillage continuous corn (Zea mays L.) (CT-CC), no-till continuous corn (NT-CC), and no-till corn-bean (NT-CB) including 1 yr soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr. ] and 1 yr dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). The study included six N fertilization rates ranging from 0 to 246 kg ha -1 . Results showed highest average net returns for NT-CB, exceeding net returns for NT-CC and CT-CC by US$182 and US$228 ha -1 , respectively, at economically optimum N fertilizer rates. Net global warming potential (GWP) generally increased with increasing N fertilizer rate with the exception of NT-CC, where net GWP initially declined and then increased at higher N rates. Combining economic and net GWP measurements showed that producers have an economic incentive to switch from CT-CC to NT-CB, increasing annual average net returns by US$228 ha -1 while reducing annual net GWP by 929 kg CO 2 equivalents ha -1 . The greatest GWP reductions (1463 kg CO 2 equivalents ha -1 ) could be achieved by switching from CT-CC to NT-CC while also increasing net returns, but the presence of a more profitable NT-CB alternative means NT-CC is unlikely to be chosen without additional economic incentives.
The differential geography of housing affordability in Sydney: a disaggregated approach

ABSTRACT Despite extensive studies being devoted to housing affordability in Australia, few have investigated housing affordability at a disaggregated level. This is in spite of the fact that there are existing socio-economic and demographic disparities across different regions of a city. This study aims to fill this gap by examining housing affordability in Sydney, a city that is characterised by diverse demographic and socio-economic mix, from a sub-city perspective. Two dimensions of affordability are assessed from 1991 to 2016: entry-level and ongoing housing affordability. The study finds that entry-level housing remains extremely unaffordable in all regions of Greater Sydney, although the level of unaffordability varies across regions. Specifically, the deterioration in housing affordability is more obvious in low-income regions such as Western Sydney. In addition, the ongoing housing affordability of those who have entered the market improves considerably within 5–10 years, although there are significant variations between different regions. Importantly, residents in low-income regions such as Western Sydney take a longer period to improve their ongoing affordability. The findings of differential geography of housing affordability have some profound policy implications. Policymakers should consider the disparities across different regions by formulating a more targeted and regionally balanced housing policy.
Deciphering the Silent Participant: On the Use of Audio-Visual Cues for the Classification of Listener Categories in Group Discussions

Estimating a silent participant's degree of engagement and his role within a group discussion can be challenging, as there are no speech related cues available at the given time. Having this information available, however, can provide important insights into the dynamics of the group as a whole. In this paper, we study the classification of listeners into several categories (attentive listener, side participant and bystander). We devised a thin-sliced perception test where subjects were asked to assess listener roles and engagement levels in 15-second video-clips taken from a corpus of group interviews. Results show that humans are usually able to assess silent participant roles. Using the annotation to identify from a set of multimodal low-level features, such as past speaking activity, backchannels (both visual and verbal), as well as gaze patterns, we could identify the features which are able to distinguish between different listener categories. Moreover, the results show that many of the audio-visual effects observed on listeners in dyadic interactions, also hold for multi-party interactions. A preliminary classifier achieves an accuracy of 64 %.