Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Erratum Fluid and particle signatures of dayside reconnection

Using measurements of the AMPTE/IRM spacecraft, we study reconnection signatures at the dayside magnetopause. If the magnetopause is open, it should have the properties of a rotational discontinuity. Applying the fluid concept of a rotational discontinuity, we check for the existence of a de Hoffmann-Teller frame and the tangential stress balance (Walén relation). For 13 out of 40 magnetopause crossings in a statistical survey we find a reasonable agreement between observed plasma flows and those predicted by the Wal ́ n relation. In addition, we check if the measured distribution functions show single particle signatures which are expected on open field lines. We find the following types of signatures: field-aligned streaming of ring current particles, “D-shaped” distributions of solar wind particles, counterstreaming of solar wind and cold ionospheric ions, two-beam distributions of solar wind ions, and distributions of solar wind particles associated with field-aligned heat flux. While a particular type of particle signature is observed only for the minority of magnetopause crossings, 24 of the 40 crossings show at least one type of signature. Both the particle signatures and the fit to the Waĺ en relation can be used to infer the sign of the normal magnetic field,Bn. We find that the two ways of inferring the sign ofBn lead primarily to the same result. Thus, both the particle signatures and a reasonable agreement with the Walén relation can, in a statistical sense, be considered as a useful indicator of open field lines. On the other hand, many crossings do not show any reconnection signatures. We discuss the possible reasons for their absence.
Increases in nitrogen uptake rather than nitrogen-use efficiency support higher rates of temperate forest productivity under elevated CO2

Forest ecosystems are important sinks for rising concentrations of atmospheric CO2. In previous research, we showed that net primary production (NPP) increased by 23 ± 2% when four experimental forests were grown under atmospheric concentrations of CO2 predicted for the latter half of this century. Because nitrogen (N) availability commonly limits forest productivity, some combination of increased N uptake from the soil and more efficient use of the N already assimilated by trees is necessary to sustain the high rates of forest NPP under free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE). In this study, experimental evidence demonstrates that the uptake of N increased under elevated CO2 at the Rhinelander, Duke, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory FACE sites, yet fertilization studies at the Duke and Oak Ridge National Laboratory FACE sites showed that tree growth and forest NPP were strongly limited by N availability. By contrast, nitrogen-use efficiency increased under elevated CO2 at the POP-EUROFACE site, where fertilization studies showed that N was not limiting to tree growth. Some combination of increasing fine root production, increased rates of soil organic matter decomposition, and increased allocation of carbon (C) to mycorrhizal fungi is likely to account for greater N uptake under elevated CO2. Regardless of the specific mechanism, this analysis shows that the larger quantities of C entering the below-ground system under elevated CO2 result in greater N uptake, even in N-limited ecosystems. Biogeochemical models must be reformulated to allow C transfers below ground that result in additional N uptake under elevated CO2.
More reliable estimates of divergence times in Pan using complete mtDNA sequences and accounting for population structure

Here, we report the sequencing and analysis of eight complete mitochondrial genomes of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) from each of the three established subspecies (P. t. troglodytes, P. t. schweinfurthii and P. t. verus) and the proposed fourth subspecies (P. t. ellioti). Our population genetic analyses are consistent with neutral patterns of evolution that have been shaped by demography. The high levels of mtDNA diversity in western chimpanzees are unlike those seen at nuclear loci, which may reflect a demographic history of greater female to male effective population sizes possibly owing to the characteristics of the founding population. By using relaxed-clock methods, we have inferred a timetree of chimpanzee species and subspecies. The absolute divergence times vary based on the methods and calibration used, but relative divergence times show extensive uniformity. Overall, mtDNA produces consistently older times than those known from nuclear markers, a discrepancy that is reduced significantly by explicitly accounting for chimpanzee population structures in time estimation. Assuming the human–chimpanzee split to be between 7 and 5 Ma, chimpanzee time estimates are 2.1–1.5, 1.1–0.76 and 0.25–0.18 Ma for the chimpanzee/bonobo, western/(eastern + central) and eastern/central chimpanzee divergences, respectively.
Globular Clusters in Virgo Ellipticals: Unexpected Results for Giants and Dwarfs from Advanced Camera for Surveys Imaging

We have analyzed archival Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys images in g and z of the globular cluster (GC) systems of 53 ellipticals in the Virgo Cluster, spanning massive galaxies to dwarf ellipticals (dEs). Several new results emerged. (1) In the giant ellipticals (gEs) M87 and NGC 4649, there is a correlation between luminosity and color for individual blue (metal-poor) GCs, such that more massive GCs are more red (metal-rich). A plausible interpretation of this result is self-enrichment, and a speculative suggestion is that these GCs once possessed dark matter halos. (2) The dispersion in color is nearly twice as large for the metal-rich GCs as for the metal-poor GCs. However, there is evidence for a nonlinear relation between g - z and metallicity, and the dispersion in metallicity may be the same for both subpopulations. (3) Very luminous, intermediate-color GCs are common in gEs. These objects may be remnants of many stripped dwarfs, analogs of ω Cen in the Galaxy. (4) There is a continuity of GC system colors from gEs to some dEs; in particular, many dEs have metal-rich GC subpopulations. We also confirm the GC color-galaxy luminosity relations found previously for both metal-poor and metal-rich GC subpopulations. (5) There are large differences in GC specific frequency among dEs, independent of the presence of a nucleus and the fraction of metal-rich GCs. Over -15 < MB < -18 we find little correlation between specific frequency and MB. But we do find evidence for two separate SN classes of dEs: those with B-band SN ∼ 2 and those with populous GC systems that have SN ranging from ∼5 to 20 with median SN ∼ 10. Together, these points suggest multiple formation channels for dEs in the Virgo Cluster. (6) The peak of the GC luminosity function (GCLF) is the same for both gEs and dEs. This is contrary to expectations of dynamical friction on massive GCs, unless the primordial GCLF varies between gEs and dEs. Among gEs the GCLF turnover varies by a surprisingly small 0.05 mag, an encouraging result for its use as an accurate standard candle.
A scalable method for continuous-time distributed control synthesis

In this paper a synthesis method for distributed controllers for continuous time distributed systems, is discussed. The systems considered consists of subsystems interconnected in a graph structure. This graph represents a communication structure of the system and hence governs the structure of the admissible controller, meaning that distributed controllers are considered. The objective of the synthesis is to obtain such admissible controllers that optimize a given performance. The method is scalable with respect to the size of the system and is therefore suitable for large-scale systems. Distributed controllers are suboptimal with respect to centralized ones and it is desirable to measure the amount of performance degradation. Using the variables of the synthesis scheme, it is shown how to determine such a measure of suboptimality.
Rituximab in Childhood Pemphigus Vulgaris: A Long-Term Follow-Up Case and Review of the Literature

Pemphigus vulgaris is an infrequent but life-threatening autoimmune blistering disease that is rare in the pediatric age. Although the mainstay of therapy for childhood pemphigus vulgaris (CPV) is steroids, adjuvant immunosuppressive drugs are often needed to control the disease. Thus, an important part of CPV morbidity can be related to treatment. We report the youngest CPV patient described in the English literature, an 18-month-old boy, who has been followed up for 16 years. During this period, the patient has received several immunosuppressive therapies with variable response. He has finally achieved a long-lasting and complete remission with rituximab. Successful treatment with rituximab has previously been reported in 6 cases of CPV, in whom rituximab presented a good side effect profile. Our patient has experienced a chronic and severe clinical course with multiple flares eventually developing vegetative lesions. Since he presented refractoriness to multiple therapies, we administered rituximab. The introduction of this drug led to a dramatic clinical response and a long-term clinical remission. Based on the experience of this case and the data reported in the literature, we believe that rituximab may be a safe and efficacious agent for the treatment of severe CPV.
Entity Linking for Queries by Searching Wikipedia Sentences

We present a simple yet effective approach for linking entities in queries. The key idea is to search sentences similar to a query from Wikipedia articles and directly use the human-annotated entities in the similar sentences as candidate entities for the query. Then, we employ a rich set of features, such as link-probability, context-matching, word embeddings, and relatedness among candidate entities as well as their related entities, to rank the candidates under a regression based framework. The advantages of our approach lie in two aspects, which contribute to the ranking process and final linking result. First, it can greatly reduce the number of candidate entities by filtering out irrelevant entities with the words in the query. Second, we can obtain the query sensitive prior probability in addition to the static link-probability derived from all Wikipedia articles. We conduct experiments on two benchmark datasets on entity linking for queries, namely the ERD14 dataset and the GERDAQ dataset. Experimental results show that our method outperforms state-of-the-art systems and yields 75.0% in F1 on the ERD14 dataset and 56.9% on the GERDAQ dataset.
Region‐specific response of the hippocampus to chronic unpredictable stress

The objective of the present study was to determine whether chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) would induce hippocampal neuroplasticity in a region‐specific manner. Recent evidence suggests that the hippocampus has two functionally distinct subsections. The dorsal (septal) portion appears to be primarily associated with spatial navigation, while the ventral (temporal) region has been linked to affect‐related functions, such as anxiety. Chronic stress has previously been shown to negatively affect the hippocampus by decreasing survival of progenitor cells, although it has also been shown to increase adaptive responses, such as increased expression of neuropeptide Y (NPY) and ΔFosB. Whether such events occur in a region‐specific manner has not been investigated. We hypothesized that CUS would selectively impact cell survival, NPY, and ΔFosB expression in the more affect‐related ventral subregion. Individually housed Long‐Evans rats (n = 31) were divided into two groups: stressed and control. Stressed animals were exposed daily to an unpredictable schedule of ethologically relevant stressors, such as predator odors, forced swim, and open field exposure. All rats were injected with bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) daily during the first 5 days of CUS in order to label dividing progenitor cells. Unbiased stereology was used to quantify BrdU+, NPY+, and ΔFosB+ cells in dorsal and ventral hippocampal subregions. In support of our hypothesis, we found that CUS selectively decreased cell survival in the ventral subregion. However, both NPY and ΔFosB were significantly increased only in the dorsal hippocampus. These results suggest that stress‐induced adaptive neuroplasticity occurs primarily in the dorsal subregion, which may coincide with behavioral aspects of the stress response, such as avoidance or amelioration of the stressor. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Common and specific amino acid residues in the prokaryotic polypeptide release factors RF1 and RF2: possible functional implications

Termination of protein synthesis is promoted in ribosomes by proper stop codon discrimination by class 1 polypeptide release factors (RFs). A large set of prokaryotic RFs differing in stop codon specificity, RF1 for UAG and UAA, and RF2 for UGA and UAA, was analyzed by means of a recently developed computational method allowing identification of the specificity-determining positions (SDPs) in families composed of proteins with similar but not identical function. Fifteen SDPs were identified within the RF1/2 superdomain II/IV known to be implicated in stop codon decoding. Three of these SDPs had particularly high scores. Five residues invariant for RF1 and RF2 [invariant amino acid residues (IRs)] were spatially clustered with the highest-scoring SDPs that in turn were located in two zones within the SDP/IR area. Zone 1 (domain II) included PxT and SPF motifs identified earlier by others as ‘discriminator tripeptides’. We suggest that IRs in this zone take part in the recognition of U, the first base of all stop codons. Zone 2 (domain IV) possessed two SDPs with the highest scores not identified earlier. Presumably, they also take part in stop codon binding and discrimination. Elucidation of potential functional role(s) of the newly identified SDP/IR zones requires further experiments.
WHITE MUSCLE INTRACELLULAR ACID-BASE AND LACTATE STATUS FOLLOWING EXHAUSTIVE EXERCISE: A COMPARISON BETWEEN FRESHWATER- AND SEA WATER- ADAPTED RAINBOW TROUT

The intracellular acid-base status of white muscle of freshwater (FW) and seawater (SW) -adapted rainbow trout was examined before and after exhaustive exercise. Exhaustive exercise resulted in a pronounced intracellular acidosis with a greater pH drop in SW (0.82 pH units) than in FW (0.66 pH units) trout; this was accompanied by a marked rise in intracellular lactate levels, with more pronounced increases occurring in SW (54.4 mmoll −1 ) than in FW (45.7 mmoll −1 ) trout. Despite the more severe acidosis, recovery was faster in the SW animals, as indicated by a more rapid clearance of metabolic H + and lactate loads. Compartmental analysis of the distribution of metabolic H + and lactate loads showed that the more rapid recovery of pH in SW trout could be due to (1) their greater facility for excreting H + equivalents to the environmental water [e.g. 15.5 % (SW) vs 5.0 % (FW) of the initial H + load was stored in external water at 250 min post-exercise] and, to a greater extent, (2) the more rapid removal of H + , facilitated via lactate metabolism in situ (white muscle) and/or the Cori cycle (e.g. heart, liver). The slower pH recovery in FW trout may also be due in part to greater production of an ‘unmeasured acid’ [maximum approx. 8.5 mmol kg −1 fish (FW) vs approx. 6 mmol kg −1 fish (SW) at 70–130 min post-exercise] during the recovery period. Furthermore, the analysis revealed that H + -consuming metabolism is quantitatively the most important mechanism for the correction of an endogenously originating acidosis, and that extracellular pH normalization gains priority over intracellular pH regulation during recovery of acid-base status following exhaustive exercise.
Splash: Fast Data Dissemination with Constructive Interference in Wireless Sensor Networks

It is well-known that the time taken for disseminating a large data object over a wireless sensor network is dominated by the overhead of resolving the contention for the underlying wireless channel. In this paper, we propose a new dissemination protocol called Splash, that eliminates the need for contention resolution by exploiting constructive interference and channel diversity to effectively create fast and parallel pipelines over multiple paths that cover all the nodes in a network. We call this tree pipelining. In order to ensure high reliability, Splash also incorporates several techniques, including exploiting transmission density diversity, opportunistic overhearing, channel-cycling and XOR coding. Our evaluation results on two large-scale testbeds show that Splash is more than an order of magnitude faster than state-of-the-art dissemination protocols and achieves a reduction in data dissemination time by a factor of more than 20 compared to DelugeT2.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Breakfast Clubs According to Parents, Children, and School Staff in the North East of England, UK

The provision of school breakfast has become increasingly popular in the UK in recent years. However, UK-based studies highlighting the views of parents, children, and school staff on school breakfast clubs are lacking. The current study set out to address this dearth in the literature by investigating the views of these key user and stakeholder groups on breakfast clubs within the North East of England. Fourteen parents, 21 children, and 17 school staff were recruited from four primary schools where breakfast clubs were available on site. Parents and school staff took part in semistructured interviews and children participated in focus groups, through which the advantages and disadvantages of breakfast clubs were discussed. Thematic analysis revealed that breakfast clubs provided children with a settled and enjoyable start to the school day. As well as providing children with a healthy and varied breakfast meal and unique opportunities for social interaction, breakfast clubs were recognized as an integral part of the school system that offered support to parents, particularly those who worked and relied on breakfast clubs as a means of affordable and reliable childcare. The few disadvantages identified related to practical issues such as a lack of adherence to school food standards, breakfast club staff missing class preparation time and concerns that some children were being excluded from participating in breakfast clubs particularly due to costs associated with attendance. The findings are discussed in relation to the School Food Plan, and areas for further investigation are proposed.
Political alignment in the time of weak parties : electoral advantages and subnational transfers in Colombia

Este documento explora el efecto de alineacion entre politicos locales y nacionales en un contexto de partidos debiles. Utilizando metodos de regresion discontinua en elecciones renidas, encontramos que en ausencia de partidos fuertes, las coaliciones presidenciales se convierten en los ejes de la alineacion politica en Colombia. De hecho, mientras que los partidos politicos proveen muy pocas ventajas electorales a sus miembros, los candidatos de la coalicion a posiciones nacionales obtienen muchos mas votos en municipios gobernados por alcaldes alineados. A su vez, los alcaldes alineados reciben mas transferencias discrecionales para financiar carreteras por parte del gobierno nacional. Estas transferencias, sin embargo, no se traducen en mayor crecimiento economico en los municipios. ******ABSTRACT: This paper explores the effect of alignment between local and national politics in a context of weak parties. Based on a regression discontinuity design in close elections, we find that, in absence of strong parties, presidential coalitions become the focal point of political alignment in Colombia. In fact, while parties provide almost no electoral advantages to their members, candidates aspiring to national positions get significantly more votes in municipalities governed by mayors aligned with the incoming presidential coalitions. In turn, aligned mayors receive additional discretionary transfers from the National Government to finance road investments. These discretionary transfers, however, do not translate into local economic growth.
Tests of the Attachment and Developmental Dynamic Systems Theory of Crime (ADDSTOC): Toward a Differential RDoC Diagnostic and Treatment Approach

The Attachment and Developmental Dynamic Systems Theory of Crime was tested on 206 male inmates. They completed measures tapping attachments, clinical issues, adverse childhood events, peer crime, and crime addictions. A significant path model was found, going from insecure parental attachments to adverse childhood events, and then on to the behavioral crime addiction and criminal peers scales. Peer crime was also predicted by insecure parent attachments and the crime addiction scale. Finally, the crime addiction, peer crime, and insecure parental attachment scales predicted frequencies of criminal behavior. The model also fit a sample of 239 female inmates. The notions of crime addiction, in this context of adverse events and insecure parental attachments, offered newer and more powerful explanations than previously offered by social learning theories on why some individuals are more likely to associate with peers engaging in criminal behavior, and also how these combine to predict degrees of criminal behavior. By moving beyond main effects models, it was found that a focus on systems of interactions was robust in theory and application. However, profile data from the Attachment and Clinical Issues Questionnaire showed that individual differences in Research Domain Criteria diagnoses are fundamental to treatment settings. Such approaches to reducing rates of recidivism and substance abuse should also enhance outcomes in many domains, including HIV prevention, costs to health care, and at the same time increase overall public safety.
Nontangency-Based Lyapunov Tests for Convergence and Stability in Systems Having a Continuum of Equilibria

This paper focuses on the stability analysis of systems having a continuum of equilibria. Two notions that are of particular relevance to such systems are convergence and semistability. Convergence is the property whereby every solution converges to a limit point that may depend on the initial condition. Semistability is the additional requirement that all solutions converge to limit points that are Lyapunov stable. We give new Lyapunov-function-based results for convergence and semistability of nonlinear systems. These results do not make assumptions of sign definiteness on the Lyapunov function. Instead, our results use a novel condition based on nontangency between the vector field and invariant or negatively invariant subsets of the level or sublevel sets of the Lyapunov function or its derivative and represent extensions of previously known stability results involving semidefinite Lyapunov functions. To illustrate our results we deduce convergence and semistability of the kinetics of the Michaelis--Menten chemical reaction and the closed-loop dynamics of a scalar system under a universal adaptive stabilizing feedback controller.