Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mercury Sourcing and Sequestration in Weathering Profiles at Six Critical Zone Observatories

Mercury sequestration in regolith (soils + weathered bedrock) is an important ecosystem service of the critical zone. This has largely remained unexplored, due to the difficulty of sample collection and the assumption that Hg is predominantly sequestered within surface soils (here we define as 0–0.3 m). We measured Hg concentrations and inventories in weathering profiles at six Critical Zone Observatories (CZOs): Boulder Creek in the Front Range of Colorado, Calhoun in the South Carolina Piedmont, Eel River in coastal northern California, Luquillo in the tropical montane forest of Puerto Rico, Shale Hills of the valley and ridges of central Pennsylvania, and Southern Sierra in the Sierra Nevada range of California. Surface soils had higher Hg concentrations than the deepest regolith samples, except for Eel River, which had lower Hg concentrations in surface soils compared to regolith. Using Ti normalization, CZOs with <12% rock‐derived Hg (Boulder Creek, Calhoun, and Southern Sierra) had Hg peaks between 1.5 and 8.0 m in depth. At CZOs with >50% rock‐derived Hg, Eel River Hg concentrations and pools were greatest at >4.0 m in the weathering profile, while Luquillo and Shale Hills had peaks at the surface that diminished within 1.0 m of the surface. Hg and total organic C were only significantly correlated in regolith at Luquillo and Shale Hills CZOs, suggesting that Hg sorption to organic matter may be less dominant than clays or Fe(II) sulfides in deeper regolith. Our results demonstrate the importance of Hg sequestration in deep regolith, below typical soil sampling depths.
User Acceptance of Multimedia Mobile Internet in Thailand

As Mobile Internet service has been launched in Thailand, there are only a few papers studying the factors affecting the acceptance of this service. In this research, it aims to examine the individual-level factors affecting the adoption of Multimedia Mobile Internet by integrating technology acceptance model (TAM) and diffusion of innovation model (DOI) to explain. This research also provides an extensive review of the adoption behavior of individuals by incorporating technology acceptance model and diffusion of innovation theory. The findings enable future research to account for TAM and DOI in further investigating user adoption.
Pumpless extracorporeal lung assist for protective mechanical ventilation in experimental lung injury*

Objective:To test the hypothesis that ventilation with 3 mL/kg tidal volume combined with extracorporeal CO2 removal by arteriovenous interventional lung assist reduces ventilator-associated organ injury in experimental acute lung injury when compared with ventilation with 6 mL/kg tidal volume without interventional lung assist. Design:Prospective, randomized, controlled trial. Setting:A university research laboratory. Subjects:A total of 14 pigs weighing 46 ± 4 kg (mean ± sd). Interventions:Acute lung injury was induced by repeated lung lavages until Pao2 was <100 mm Hg, with Fio2 of 1.0 and positive end-expiratory pressure of 5 cm H2O, for 1 hr without additional lavages. Animals were randomized to an interventional group with a tidal volume of 3 mL/kg with interventional lung assist (n = 7) or to a control group with a tidal volume of 6 mL/kg without interventional lung assist (n = 7) for 24 hrs. Organ function in vivo was determined by laboratory analyses, including calculations of pulmonary ventilation/perfusion distribution. Histologic assessment of organ injury was performed post mortem after 24 hrs. Measurements and Main Results:In both groups, gas exchange improved in the course of the study (p < .05). However, in contrast to control animals, animals with lower tidal volumes and interventional lung assist had severe ventilation/perfusion mismatch, as indicated by increased perfusion to lung areas with a low ventilation/perfusion ratio (p < .05). Other variables of organ function in vivo and results of histologic examination post mortem did not reveal any statistical difference between groups. Conclusions:Combined ventilation with lower tidal volumes and extracorporeal CO2 removal as compared with traditional low tidal volumes without extracorporeal CO2 removal is not associated with differences in organ injury. Obviously, ventilation with tidal volumes of <6 mL/kg may cause pulmonary de-recruitment when positive end-expiratory pressure is not adequately increased.
Automatic lung tidal volumes estimation from tracheal sounds

This paper presents a method to automatically estimate lung tidal volumes from the acoustic signals generated in the respiratory track. The signal is measured with an acoustic based sensor placed in the suprasternal notch. The method does not require any previous knowledge or modelling of the individual respiratory track, and relies on just one calibration parameter. The proposed algorithm is tested on 316 respiratory phases obtained from 4 volunteers. The subjects were simultaneously wearing a Wright respirometer which was used as a gold standard for comparison. Agreement between the two methods was assessed with Bland-Altman techniques. The results show the potential the technique has, integrated with a small acoustic sensor, for less-intrusive and even remote and/or continuous monitoring of lung tidal volumes.
Insightful Imagery is Related to Working Memory Updating

Available body of evidence concerning the relationship between insight problem solving and working memory (WM) is ambiguous. Several authors propose that restructuring of the problem representation requires controlled search processes, which needs planning and involvement of WM. Other researchers suggest that the restructuring is achieved through the automatic spread of activation in long-term memory, assigning a limited role to WM capacity. In the present study we examined the correlations between insight problem solving performance and measures of WM updating function (n-back task), including general intelligence (as measured by Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices). The results revealed that updating function shared up to 30% of variance with the insight problem task performance, even when the influence of general mental ability was controlled for. These results suggest that insight problem solving is constrained by individual ability to update the content of WM.
FOR A NEW GUIDE TO KEYNES ( I ) : WAGES , AGGREGATE DEMAND , AND EMPLOYMENT

I revisit the General Theory’s discussion of the role of wages in employment determination through the lens of the New Keynesian model. The analysis points to the key role played by the monetary policy rule in shaping the link between wages and employment, and in determining the welfare impact of enhanced wage flexibility. I show that the latter is not always welfare improving. (JEL: E24, E32, E58)
Climate change and sea ice: Shipping in Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, and Foxe Basin (1980–2016)

The seasonally ice-covered waters of Hudson Bay, James Bay, Foxe Basin, and Hudson Strait (“the study area”) are bordered by 39 communities with a total population of roughly 50,000 people, most of whom are Inuit or Cree. Sea ice is a cornerstone of the environment and culture of the study area but is also the main barrier to shipping traffic, which has been growing in the area. This paper presents a review of sea ice and shipping in the study area and an analysis of shipping accessibility as represented by the timing of breakup, freeze-up, and the open water season in its offshore and local waters. Offshore ice timing was analyzed using passive microwave-based data for 1980–2014; local ice timing near Rankin Inlet, Churchill, Kuujjuarapik/Whapmagoostui, and Salluit was examined using Canadian Ice Service ice charts for 1996–2016. Open water was defined using sea ice concentration thresholds of ≤15% (offshore) or
Association of Actual and Preferred Decision Roles With Patient-Reported Quality of Care: Shared Decision Making in Cancer Care.

IMPORTANCE Shared decision making is associated with improved patient-reported outcomes of cancer treatment, but not all patients prefer to participate in medical decisions. Results from studies of the effect of matching between actual and preferred medical decision roles on patients' perceptions of care quality have been conflicting. OBJECTIVES To determine whether shared decision making was associated with patient ratings of care quality and physician communication and whether patients' preferred decision roles modified those associations. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS We performed a population- and health system-based survey of participants in the Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance Consortium (CanCORS) study diagnosed with lung and/or colorectal cancer between 2003 and 2005 (56% with colorectal cancer, 40% with non-small-cell lung cancer, and 5% with small-cell lung cancer). The CanCORS study included 9737 patients (cooperation rate among patients contacted, 59.9%) treated in integrated care delivery systems, academic institutions, private offices, and Veterans Affairs hospitals. The medical records were abstracted between October 11, 2005, and April 30, 2009; all analyses were conducted between 2013 and 2014. INTERVENTIONS We surveyed patients specifically about their preferred roles in cancer treatment decisions and their actual roles in decisions about surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. We analyzed the responses of 5315 patients who completed baseline surveys and reported decision roles for a total of 10 817 treatment decisions and assessed associations of patients' decision roles with patient-reported quality of care and physician communication. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The outcomes (identified before data collection) included patient-reported excellent quality of care and top ratings (highest score) on a physician communication scale. RESULTS After adjustment, patients describing physician-controlled (vs shared) decisions were less likely to report excellent quality of care (odds ratio [OR], 0.64; 95% CI, 0.54-0.75; P < .001). Patients' preferred decision roles did not modify this effect (P = .29 for the interaction). Patients describing either actual or preferred physician-controlled (vs shared) roles were less likely to provide a top rating of physician communication (OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.45-0.66; P < .001, and OR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.51-0.87; P = .002, respectively). The preferred role did not modify the effect of the actual role (P = .76 for interaction). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Physician-controlled decisions regarding lung or colorectal cancer treatment were associated with lower ratings of care quality and physician communication. These effects were independent of patients' preferred decision roles, underscoring the importance of seeking to involve all patients in decision making about their treatment.
Global environmental and socio-economic impacts of selected alien grasses as a basis for ranking threats to South Africa

Decisions to allocate management resources should be underpinned by estimates of the impacts of biological invasions that are comparable across species and locations. For the same reason, it is important to assess what type of impacts are likely to occur where, and if such patterns can be generalised. In this paper, we aim to understand factors shaping patterns in the type and magnitude of impacts of a subset of alien grasses. We used the Generic Impact Scoring System (GISS) to review and quantify published impact records of 58 grass species that are alien to South Africa and to at least one other biogeographical realm. Based on the GISS scores, we investigated how impact magnitudes varied across habitats, regions and impact mechanisms using multiple regression. We found impact records for 48 species. Cortaderiaselloana had the highest overall impact score, although in contrast to five other species (Glyceriamaxima, Nassellatrichotoma, Phalarisaquatica, Polypogonmonspeliensis, and Sorghumhalepense) it did not score the highest possible impact score for any specific impact mechanism. Consistent with other studies, we found that the most frequent environmental impact was through competition with native plant species (with 75% of cases). Socio-economic impacts were recorded more often and tended to be greater in magnitude than environmental impacts, with impacts recorded particularly often on agricultural and animal production (57% and 51% of cases respectively). There was variation across different regions and habitats in impact magnitude, but the differences were not statistically significant. In conclusion, alien grasses present in South Africa have caused a wide range of negative impacts across most habitats and regions of the world. Reviewing impacts from around the world has provided important information for the management of alien grasses in South Africa, and, we believe, is an important component of management prioritisation processes in general.
Substructure of inner dynein arms, radial spokes, and the central pair/projection complex of cilia and flagella

The substructure of the components of the axoneme interior--the inner dynein arms, the radial spokes, and the central pair/projection complex- -was analyzed for Chlamydomonas. Tetrahymena, Strongelocentrotus, and Mnemiopsis using the quick-freeze, deep-etch technique. The inner arms are shown to resemble the outer arms in overall molecular organization, but they are disposed differently on the microtubule and have two distinct morphologies--dyads with two heads and triads with three. The dyads associate with spokes S3 and S2; the triads associate with S1. The spokes form a three-start right-handed helix with a 288-nm rise; the central pair makes a shallow left-handed twist. The spoke heads are shown to be made up of four major subunits; two bind to the spoke shaft and two bind to a pair of central-sheath projections.
Proliferative and Nonproliferative Lesions of the Rat and Mouse Respiratory Tract

The INHAND Project (International Harmonization of Nomenclature and Diagnostic Criteria for Lesions in Rats and Mice) is a joint initiative of the Societies of Toxicologic Pathology from Europe (ESTP), Great Britain (BSTP), Japan (JSTP) and North America (STP) to develop an internationally-accepted nomenclature for proliferative and non-proliferative lesions in laboratory animals. The purpose of this publication is to provide a standardized nomenclature for classifying microscopic lesions observed in the respiratory tract of laboratory rats and mice, with color photomicrographs illustrating examples of some lesions. The standardized nomenclature presented in this document is also available electronically on the inter-net (http://www.goreni.org/). Sources of material included histopathology databases from government, academia, and industrial laboratories throughout the world. Content includes spontaneous developmental and aging lesions as well as lesions induced by exposure to test materials. A widely accepted and utilized international harmonization of nomenclature for respiratory tract lesions in laboratory animals will decrease confusion among regulatory and scientific research organizations in different countries and provide a common language to increase and enrich international exchanges of information among toxicologists and pathologists.
The Schützenberger product for syntactic spaces

Starting from Boolean algebras of languages closed under quotients and using duality theoretic insights, we derive the notion of Boolean spaces with internal monoids as recognisers for arbitrary formal languages of finite words over finite alphabets. This leads to a setting that is well-suited for applying existing tools from Stone duality as applied in semantics. The main focus of the paper is the development of topo-algebraic constructions pertinent to the treatment of languages given by logic formulas. In particular, using the standard semantic view of quantification as projection, we derive a notion of Sch\"utzenberger product for Boolean spaces with internal monoids. This makes heavy use of the Vietoris construction, and its dual functor, which is central to the coalgebraic treatment of classical modal logic. We show that the unary Sch\"utzenberger product for spaces, when applied to a recogniser for the language associated to a formula with a free first-order variable, yields a recogniser for the language of all models of the corresponding existentially quantified formula. Further, we generalise global and local versions of the theorems of Sch\"utzenberger and Reutenauer characterising the languages recognised by the binary Sch\"utzenberger product. Finally, we provide an equational characterisation of Boolean algebras obtained by local Sch\"utzenberger product with the one element space based on an Egli-Milner type condition on generalised factorisations of ultrafilters on words.
Validation and Application of Altimetry-Derived Upper Ocean Thermal Structure in the Western North Pacific Ocean for Typhoon-Intensity Forecast

This paper uses more than 5000 colocated and near-coincident in-situ profiles from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Global Temperature and Salinity Profile Program database spanning over the period from 2002 to 2005 to systematically validate the satellite-altimetry-derived upper ocean thermal structure in the western North Pacific ocean as such ocean thermal structure information is critical in typhoon-intensity change. It is found that this satellite-derived information is applicable in the central and the southwestern North Pacific (covering 122-170degE, 9-25degN) but not in the northern part (130-170degE, 25-40degN). However, since > 80% of the typhoons are found to intensify in the central and southern part, this regional dependence should not pose a serious constraint in studying typhoon intensification. Further comparison with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's North Pacific Ocean Nowcast/Forecast System (NPACNFS) hydrodynamic ocean model shows similar regional applicability, but NPACNFS is found to have a general underestimation in the upper ocean thermal structure and causes a large underestimation of the tropical cyclone heat potential (TCHP) by up to 60 kJ/cm2. After validation, the derived upper ocean thermal profiles are used to study the intensity change of supertyphoon Dianmu (2004). It is found that two upper ocean parameters, i.e., a typhoon's self-induced cooling and the during-typhoon TCHP, are the most sensitive parameters (with R 2~0.7) to the 6-h intensity change of Dianmu during the study period covering Dianmu's rapid intensification to category 5 and its subsequent decay to category 4. This paper suggests the usefulness of satellite-based upper ocean thermal information in future research and operation that is related to typhoon-intensity change in the western North Pacific
Rapid sensitive analysis of cysteine rich peptide venom components

Disulfide-rich peptide venoms from animals such as snakes, spiders, scorpions, and certain marine snails represent one of nature's great diversity libraries of bioactive molecules. The various species of marine cone shells have alone been estimated to produce >50,000 distinct peptide venoms. These peptides have stimulated considerable interest because of their ability to potently alter the function of specific ion channels. To date, only a small fraction of this immense resource has been characterized because of the difficulty in elucidating their primary structures, which range in size between 10 and 80 aa, include up to 5 disulfide bonds, and can contain extensive posttranslational modifications. The extraordinary complexity of crude venoms and the lack of DNA databases for many of the organisms of interest present major analytical challenges. Here, we describe a strategy that uses mass spectrometry for the elucidation of the mature peptide toxin components of crude venom samples. Key to this strategy is our use of electron transfer dissociation (ETD), a mass spectrometric fragmentation technique that can produce sequence information across the entire peptide backbone. However, because ETD only yields comprehensive sequence coverage when the charge state of the precursor peptide ion is sufficiently high and the m/z ratio is low, we combined ETD with a targeted chemical derivatization strategy to increase the charge state of cysteine-containing peptide toxins. Using this strategy, we obtained full sequences for 31 peptide toxins, using just 7% of the crude venom from the venom gland of a single cone snail (Conus textile).
Strange history of an operator o

In this paper, it is shown that a description of mildly nonlinear circuits with an operator o introduced in a paper entitled “Distortion in variable-capacitance diodes” by R. G. Meyer and M. L. Stephens is not correct. The error occurring in this article was then replicated in publications of Palumbo and Pennisi on harmonic distortion calculation in integrated CMOS amplifiers, and recently in a paper about “Distortion analysis of a three-terminal MOS-based discrete-time parametric amplifier” by H. Shrimali and S. Chatterjee. In this paper, we derive a correct form of the discussed description.
Inhibition of Mouse Breast Tumor-Initiating Cells by Calcitriol and Dietary Vitamin D

The anticancer actions of vitamin D and its hormonally active form, calcitriol, have been extensively documented in clinical and preclinical studies. However, the mechanisms underlying these actions have not been completely elucidated. Here, we examined the effect of dietary vitamin D and calcitriol on mouse breast tumor–initiating cells (TICs, also known as cancer stem cells). We focused on MMTV-Wnt1 mammary tumors, for which markers for isolating TICs have previously been validated. We confirmed that these tumors expressed functional vitamin D receptors and estrogen receptors (ER) and exhibited calcitriol-induced molecular responses including ER downregulation. Following orthotopic implantation of MMTV-Wnt1 mammary tumor cells into mice, calcitriol injections or a vitamin D–supplemented diet caused a striking delay in tumor appearance and growth, whereas a vitamin D–deficient diet accelerated tumor appearance and growth. Calcitriol inhibited TIC tumor spheroid formation in a dose-dependent manner in primary cultures and inhibited TIC self-renewal in secondary passages. A combination of calcitriol and ionizing radiation inhibited spheroid formation more than either treatment alone. Further, calcitriol significantly decreased TIC frequency as evaluated by in vivo limiting dilution analyses. Calcitriol inhibition of TIC spheroid formation could be overcome by the overexpression of β-catenin, suggesting that the inhibition of Wnt/β-catenin pathway is an important mechanism mediating the TIC inhibitory activity of calcitriol in this tumor model. Our findings indicate that vitamin D compounds target breast TICs reducing tumor-initiating activity. Our data also suggest that combining vitamin D compounds with standard therapies may enhance anticancer activity and improve therapeutic outcomes. Mol Cancer Ther; 14(8); 1951–61. ©2015 AACR.
Seasonal influenza vaccination knowledge, risk perception, health beliefs and vaccination behaviours of nurses

SUMMARY The relationship between knowledge, risk perceptions, health belief towards seasonal influenza and vaccination and the vaccination behaviours of nurses was explored. Qualified nurses attending continuing professional education courses at a large London university between 18 April and 18 October 2010 were surveyed (522/672; response rate 77·7%). Of these, 82·6% worked in hospitals; 37·0% reported receiving seasonal influenza vaccination in the previous season and 44·9% reported never being vaccinated during the last 5 years. All respondents were categorized using two-step cluster analyses into never, occasionally, and continuously vaccinated groups. Nurses vaccinated the season before had higher scores of knowledge and risk perception compared to the unvaccinated (P<0·001). Nurses never vaccinated had the lowest scores of knowledge and risk perception compared to other groups (P<0·001). Nurses' seasonal influenza vaccination behaviours are complex. Knowledge and risk perception predict uptake of vaccination in nurses.