Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ERRATUM: “CHANDRA SAMPLE OF NEARBY RELAXED GALAXY CLUSTERS: MASS, GAS FRACTION, AND MASS–TEMPERATURE RELATION” (2006, ApJ, 640, 691)

We present gas and total mass profiles for 13 low-redshift, relaxed clusters spanning a temperature range 0.7-9 keV, derived from all available Chandra data of sufficient quality. In all clusters, gas-temperature profiles are measured to large radii (Vikhlinin et al.) so that direct hydrostatic mass estimates are possible to nearly r500 or beyond. The gas density was accurately traced to larger radii; its profile is not described well by a beta model, showing continuous steepening with radius. The derived ρtot profiles and their scaling with mass generally follow the Navarro-Frenk-White model with concentration expected for dark matter halos in ΛCDM cosmology. However, in three cool clusters, we detect a central mass component in excess of the Navarro-Frenk-White profile, apparently associated with their cD galaxies. In the inner region (r < 0.1r500), the gas density and temperature profiles exhibit significant scatter and trends with mass, but they become nearly self-similar at larger radii. Correspondingly, we find that the slope of the mass-temperature relation for these relaxed clusters is in good agreement with the simple self-similar behavior, M500 Tα, where α = (1.5-1.6) ± 0.1, if the gas temperatures are measured excluding the central cool cores. The normalization of this M-T relation is significantly, by ≈30%, higher than most previous X-ray determinations. We derive accurate gas mass fraction profiles, which show an increase with both radius and cluster mass. The enclosed fgas profiles within r2500 0.4r500 have not yet reached any asymptotic value and are still far (by a factor of 1.5-2) from the universal baryon fraction according to the cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations. The fgas trends become weaker and its values closer to universal at larger radii, in particular, in spherical shells r2500 < r < r500.
The stochastic dynamics, forecasting ability and risk factors in implied volatility

A new benchmark of volatility implicit in Nikkei 225 stock option prices is constructed and its stochastic dynamics are examined in comparison with the S&P implied volatility index. There is a tendency for the levels of implied volatility to move in tandem during the late 1990s despite the idiosyncrasies of the booming U.S. economy and Japanese recession. The long-term convergence dynamics of implied volatility are found to be similar but the convergence of the transitory component towards zero is inherently different across markets. There is evidence from the estimation of asymmetric GARCH models that useful information on leverage effects is embedded in implied volatility. Albeit upward biased, implied volatility is found to constitute a good approximate of future levels of realized volatility in the Japanese market. Based on a two-factor model of risk components consistent with the intertemporal CAPM theory, there is also evidence that implied volatility is function of stochastic changes in the investment opportunity set proxied by measures of uncertainty about the domestic real economy and the international financial economy. JEL Classification: C51, G13
Individual and Combined Effects of Bacillus Thuringiensis and Azadirachtin on Plodia Interpunctella Hübner (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

The Indianmeal moth, Plodia interpunctella Hübner (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), is a major stored product pest that is found throughout the world. In this study, the effect of oral exposure to Bacillus thuringiensis (Berliner) subsp. kurstaki (Bacillales: Bacillaceae) and azadirachtin was evaluated in third instar P. interpunctella under laboratory conditions. The median lethal concentration (LC50) of Bt and azadirachtin on third instars was 490 and 241 μg a.i./ml, respectively. The median lethal time (LT50) of these insecticides was the same (4.5 d following exposure to 750 or 400 μg a.i./ml of Bt or azadirachtin, respectively). When the larvae fed on diet containing LC30 concentrations of both Bt and azadirachtin an additive interaction in terms of mortality was found. A synergistic interaction was found when the larvae fed on diet containing LC50 concentrations of both insecticides. Larvae that fed on insecticide-containing diet (either Bt or azadirachtin at an LC30 concentration, or both insecticides at LC30 or LC50 concentrations) showed lower glycogen and lipid levels, and generally lower protein content in comparison to control larvae. Larvae that fed on diet containing both Bt and azadirachtin showed reduced weight gain and nutritional indices in comparison to control larvae or larvae fed on the diet containing only one of the insecticides. Finally, exposure to both insecticides, either individually or in combination, reduced the level of digestive enzymes found in the midgut. Our findings indicate that both Bt and azadirachtin, either individually or in combination have significant potential for use in controlling of P. interpunctella.
Automatic Target Recognition of Synthetic Aperture Radar Images using Elliptical Fourier Descriptors

Title: This paper primarily investigates the use of shape-based features by an Automatic Target Recognition(ATR) system to classify various types of targets in Synthetic Aperture Radar(SAR) images. In specific, shapes of target outlines are represented via Elliptical Fourier Descriptors(EFD's), which, in turn, are utilized as recognition features. According to the proposed ATR approach, a segmentation stage first isolates the target region from shadow and ground clutter via a sequence of thresholding and morphological operations. Next, a number of EFD's are computed that can sufficiently describe the salient characteristics of the target outline. Finally, a classification stage based on an ensemble of Support Vector Machines identifies the target with the appropriate class label. In order to experimentally illustrate the merit of the proposed approach, SAR intensity images from the well-known Moving and Stationary Target iv Acquisition and Recognition(MSTAR) dataset were used in a 10-class and a 3-class recognition problem. Furthermore, comparisons were drawn in terms of classification performance and computation time to other successful methods discussed in the literature, such as template matching methods. The obtained results portray that only a very limited amount of EFD's are required to achieve recognition rates that are competitive to well-established approaches. It is illustrated that unlike other prior approaches, target recognition via EFD's eliminates the need to estimate target pose, which is a severe functional limitation and computational burden to other approaches. Moreover, it is shown that the outline of the target which is a natural high level heuristic feature used frequently in optical image recognition can be used successfully in recognition of images generated from Synthetic Aperature Radar. Although previous studies have used other high level image features (such as magnitude peak location, length and width of target region, location of edges, outline length to target area ratio, etc.) to the best of our knowledge, no other study has investigated the use of the shape of the target outline in an ATR system for the MSTAR dataset.
Bayesian Compressed Sensing with Heterogeneous Side Information

The classical compressed sensing (CS) paradigm can be modified so as to leverage a signal correlated to the signal of interest, called side information, which is assumed to be provided a priori at the decoder in order to aid reconstruction. In this work, we propose a novel CS reconstruction method based on belief propagation principles, which manages to exploit side information generated from a diverse (or heterogeneous) data source by using the statistical model of copula functions. Through simulations, we demonstrate that the proposed method yields significant reduction in the mean-squared error of the reconstructed signal as compared to state-of-the-art methods in classical compressed sensing and compressed sensing with side information.
Iodine, milk, and the elimination of endemic goitre in Britain: the story of an accidental public health triumph.

OBJECTIVE: To determine how iodine deficiency and endemic goitre disappeared in Britain. DESIGN: Review of surveys of endemic goitre and iodine nutrition. MAIN RESULTS: Endemic goitre was widespread in Britain but has declined, most notably since the 1960's. Its disappearance was probably due to changes in farming practice, especially iodine supplementation in dairy herds which has resulted in iodine contamination of milk and dairy produce. CONCLUSIONS: Although iodization of dairy herds offers an indirect method of counteracting iodine deficiency, it is haphazard and there should be careful and continuous monitoring of iodine intakes in the population.
Route of reconstruction after total oesophagectomy.

We read with interest the small but elegant cadaveric anatomy study by Hu et al. [1] comparing the lengths of the anterior with the posterior mediastinal routes for oesophageal reconstruction. The ideal route of reconstruction has been a longstanding controversy in oesophageal surgery, with several randomized trials and even a meta-analysis [2] on the subject. The meta-analysis did not show statistically significant differences in complication rates and outcomes between the anterior and posterior mediastinal routes but admitted that there was a need for more data. Hu et al. conclude that, contrary to the popular belief, the anterior mediastinal route is significantly shorter than the posterior route. This cadaveric study supports the results of the same group’s intraoperative study [3] published earlier but contradicts other cadaveric studies [4, 5]. The authors base their measurements on different distal points than those used routinely in previous studies. We agree with the authors that the distal reference points they used are certainly more clinically relevant than the coeliac axis. The choice of reconstruction route for most of the surgeons would depend on various factors, namely the anticipated risk of local recurrence, potential need for postoperative radiotherapy for a R+ resection, whether the surgery was done after oesophagectomy or just as a bypass procedure with the oesophagus in situ, past history of sternotomy, personal choice and importantly, the length to be traversed by the gastric substitute. Our standard preference so far has been to use the posterior mediastinal route in all cases unless we anticipated a high risk of local recurrence or planned postoperative radiotherapy ( 10% of patients). Major postoperative complication rates in 820 patients who underwent posterior mediastinal reconstruction were similar to 97 patients who underwent an anterior reconstruction (25.5 versus 27.1%, P > 0.05) over the past eight years. One of the potential advantages of using the anterior mediastinal route could be a lower incidence of septic mediastinitis in the case of anastomotic leaks. This has been an unconfirmed observation in our series and we are interested to know the experiences of the authors and other oesophageal surgeons in this area. If that were so, the authors’ results could then provide a powerful argument for routinely using the anterior mediastinal route for oesophageal reconstruction. We intend to measure the required length through both routes intraoperatively in our patients and urge other oesophageal surgeons to generate unequivocal data on this issue.
Quantitative characterisation of visual response properties in the mouse dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus

We present a quantitative analysis of the visual response properties of single neurons in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) of wild-type C57Bl/6J mice. Extracellular recordings were made from single dLGN cells in mice under halothane and nitrous oxide anaesthesia. After mapping the receptive fields (RFs) of these cells using reverse correlation of responses to flashed square stimuli, we used sinusoidal gratings to describe their linearity of spatial summation, spatial frequency tuning, temporal frequency tuning, and contrast response characteristics. All cells in our sample had RFs dominated by a single, roughly circular ‘centre’ mechanism that responded to either increases (On-centre) or decreases (Off-centre) in stimulus luminance, and almost all cells passed a modified null test for linearity of spatial summation. A difference of Gaussians model was used to relate spatial frequency tuning to the spatial properties of cells’ RFs, revealing that mouse dLGN cells have large RFs (centre diameter ~11°) and correspondingly poor spatial resolution (~0.2c/°). Temporally, most cells in the mouse dLGN respond best to stimuli of ~4Hz. We looked for evidence of parallel processing in the mouse dLGN and found it only in a functional difference between Onand Off-centre cells: On-centre cells were more sensitive to stimulus contrast than their Off-centre
A Study on the Effect of Time in Plants : Within-Group Variation in Morphological Integration in Clover ( Trifolium Repens L . ) in Different Aged Pastures

We are engaged in a continuing study concerning the effect of time on plants. The approach is to apply a common statistic, within-group variation in morphological integration, to plants of different age or subjected to different treatments in a search for common underlying patterns. Within-group variation in morphological integration is an estimate of the relationship among variables. Previous studies have shown that it increases with time, both in ontogeny and phylogeny, and also it is higher in grape leaves that develop in a higher energy environment. The clovers studied here add a period of time longer than ontogeny and shorter than phylogeny and thus expand the comparison of different aged plants. As with the effect of ontogeny or phylogeny, clovers collected from the oldest pasture (45 years old) had the highest within-group variation in morphological integration. This time-related change in within-group variation in integration is similar to that seen in grape leaves that grew in higher energy environments over a single growing season. Thus, it is tempting to consider these similar responses to time and energy as an argument for thermodynamics being the underlying cause of time-related changes in plants.
Phylogenetic Relationships of the Marine Haplosclerida (Phylum Porifera) Employing Ribosomal (28S rRNA) and Mitochondrial (cox1, nad1) Gene Sequence Data

The systematics of the poriferan Order Haplosclerida (Class Demospongiae) has been under scrutiny for a number of years without resolution. Molecular data suggests that the order needs revision at all taxonomic levels. Here, we provide a comprehensive view of the phylogenetic relationships of the marine Haplosclerida using many species from across the order, and three gene regions. Gene trees generated using 28S rRNA, nad1 and cox1 gene data, under maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches, are highly congruent and suggest the presence of four clades. Clade A is comprised primarily of species of Haliclona and Callyspongia, and clade B is comprised of H. simulans and H. vansoesti (Family Chalinidae), Amphimedon queenslandica (Family Niphatidae) and Tabulocalyx (Family Phloeodictyidae), Clade C is comprised primarily of members of the Families Petrosiidae and Niphatidae, while Clade D is comprised of Aka species. The polyphletic nature of the suborders, families and genera described in other studies is also found here.
Enhancement of the Immunogenicity and Protective Efficacy of a Mucosal Influenza Subunit Vaccine by the Saponin Adjuvant GPI-0100

Identification of safe and effective adjuvants remains an urgent need for the development of inactivated influenza vaccines for mucosal administration. Here, we used a murine challenge model to evaluate the adjuvant activity of GPI-0100, a saponin-derived adjuvant, on influenza subunit vaccine administered via the intranasal or the intrapulmonary route. Balb/c mice were immunized with 1 µg A/PR/8 (H1N1) subunit antigen alone or in combination with varying doses of GPI-0100. The addition of GPI-0100 was required for induction of mucosal and systemic antibody responses to intranasally administered influenza vaccine and significantly enhanced the immunogenicity of vaccine administered via the intrapulmonary route. Remarkably, GPI-0100-adjuvanted influenza vaccine given at a low dose of 2×1 µg either in the nares or directly into the lungs provided complete protection against homologous influenza virus infection.
Information and Bargaining in Markets for Environmental Quality

This paper explores the role of information on residential real estate prices. Housing transactions from 1990 formed the sample frame for surveying home buyers on their knowledge of local environmental disamenities, both at the time their homes were purchased, and when the survey was conducted. Of particular interest was home buyers' knowledge of nearby landfill sites. Because of clustering of survey responses, a sample selection model that combines transaction data with 1990 census micro data was used. The results suggest that home buyers are poorly informed about disamenities, and that those who are informed bid down the price of a home.
Chemically Roughened Solid Silver: A Simple, Robust and Broadband SERS Substrate

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates manufactured using complex nano-patterning techniques have become the norm. However, their cost of manufacture makes them unaffordable to incorporate into most biosensors. The technique shown in this paper is low-cost, reliable and highly sensitive. Chemical etching of solid Ag metal was used to produce simple, yet robust SERS substrates with broadband characteristics. Etching with ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH) and nitric acid (HNO3) helped obtain roughened Ag SERS substrates. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and interferometry were used to visualize and quantify surface roughness. Flattened Ag wires had inherent, but non-uniform roughness having peaks and valleys in the microscale. NH4OH treatment removed dirt and smoothened the surface, while HNO3 treatment produced a flake-like morphology with visibly more surface roughness features on Ag metal. SERS efficacy was tested using 4-methylbenzenethiol (MBT). The best SERS enhancement for 1 mM MBT was observed for Ag metal etched for 30 s in NH4OH followed by 10 s in HNO3. Further, MBT could be quantified with detection limits of 1 pM and 100 µM, respectively, using 514 nm and 1064 nm Raman spectrometers. Thus, a rapid and less energy intensive method for producing solid Ag SERS substrate and its efficacy in analyte sensing was demonstrated.
Pherotype polymorphism in Streptococcus pneumoniae and its effects on population structure and recombination

Natural transformation in the Gram-positive pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae occurs when cells become “competent”, a state that is induced in response to high extracellular concentrations of a secreted peptide signal called CSP (Competence Stimulating Peptide) encoded by the comC locus. Two main CSP signal types (pherotypes) are known to dominate the pherotype diversity across strains. Using thousands of fully sequenced pneumococcal genomes, we confirm that pneumococcal populations are highly genetically structured and that there is significant variation among diverged populations in pherotype frequencies; most carry only a single pherotype. Moreover, we find that the relative frequencies of the two dominant pherotypes significantly vary within a small range across geographical sites. It has been variously proposed that pherotypes either promote genetic exchange among cells expressing the same pherotype, or conversely that they promote recombination between strains bearing different pherotypes. We distinguish these hypotheses using a bioinformatics approach by estimating recombination frequencies within and between pherotypes across 4,089 full genomes. Despite underlying population structure, we observe extensive recombination between populations; additionally, we found significantly higher rates of genetic exchange between strains expressing different pherotypes than among isolates carrying the same pherotype. Our results indicate that pherotypes do not restrict, and marginally facilitate, recombination between strains. Furthermore, our results suggest that the CSP balanced polymorphism does not causally underlie population differentiation. Therefore, when strains carrying different pherotypes encounter one another during co-colonization, genetic exchange can freely occur.
“It can't be very important because it comes and goes”—patients' accounts of intermittent symptoms preceding a pancreatic cancer diagnosis: a qualitative study

Objective This article explores how people with pancreatic cancer interpreted prediagnostic signs and symptoms, and what triggered them to seek medical help for symptoms that occurred intermittently. Design Thematic analysis of prediagnostic symptom descriptions drawn from a qualitative interview study of people with experiences of pancreatic cancer. Participants 40 people affected by pancreatic cancer (32 patients and 8 relatives of people who had died). Age at interview ranged from 35 to 84 years; 55% were men; and 57.5% of patients had been offered potentially curative surgery. Setting Respondents interviewed at home were recruited from different parts of the UK during 2009/2010. Results Analysis of the interviews suggested that intermittent symptoms were not uncommon in the months, or even years, before diagnosis but that the fact that the symptom did not persist was often taken by the patient as a reassuring indicator that it could not be ‘very important’. Such symptoms were rarely acted upon until a pattern became apparent, the frequency of symptom episodes increased, there was a change in the nature of the intermittent symptoms or additional symptom(s) appeared. These findings build on social science theories of consultation behaviour. Conclusions Our study—the largest reported collection of qualitative interviews with people with pancreatic cancer—reports for the first time that symptoms of an intermittent nature may precede a pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Patients (and potentially their doctors as well) may be falsely reassured by symptoms that come and go. Pancreatic cancer might be identified at a stage where curative treatment is more likely if there were greater awareness that intermittent gastrointestinal symptoms can have a serious cause, and if patients with intermittent pancreatitis-like symptoms were investigated more readily.
The Post-crisis Exchange Rate Management in Selected East Asian Countries

This article examines the post-crisis exchange rate management in the selected East Asian countries: Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand. The main findings are as follows: First, the trends of the coefficient of variation in the monthly nominal exchange rates and foreign exchange reserves revealed that the exchange rate flexibility of all the sample countries had increased under the "soft peg" regime from the pre-crisis period towards the post-crisis period. Second, the result of the Frankel-Wei type of regression analysis with the Chow's test showed that the Philippines and Korea might reduce the US dollar dominance while Korea and Indonesia might raise the weights assigned to the Japanese yen and the euro respectively, in their post-crisis exchange rate management, and that all the sample countries could raise sensitivity to their domestic inflation rates in their post-crisis exchange rate management. The policy implication in the findings above lies in the significance of inflation rate as one of the factors for determining a reference rate in the exchange rate management.