Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Halo Properties, Energy Feedback, and Projection Effects on the Mass-SZ Flux Relation

We present a detailed analysis of the intrinsic scatter in the integrated Sunyaev-Zel′dovich (SZ) effect-cluster mass (Y − M) relation, using semianalytic and simulated cluster samples. Specifically, we investigate the impact on the Y − M relation of energy feedback, variations in the host halo concentration and substructure populations, and projection effects due to unresolved clusters along the line of sight (the SZ background). Furthermore, we investigate at what radius (or overdensity) one should measure the integrated Sunyaev-Zel′dovich effect (SZE) and define cluster mass so as to achieve the tightest possible scaling. We find that the measure of Y with the least scatter is always obtained within a smaller radius than that at which the mass is defined; e.g., for M200 (M500), the scatter is least for Y500 (Y1100). The inclusion of energy feedback in the gas model significantly increases the intrinsic scatter in the Y − M relation due to larger variations in the gas mass fraction than in models without feedback. We also find that variations in halo concentration for clusters of a given mass explain why the integrated SZE provides a better mass proxy than the central decrement. Substructure is found to account for approximately 20% of the observed scatter in the Y − M relation. Above M200 = 2 × 1014 h−1 M☉, the SZ background does not significantly affect cluster mass measurements; below this mass, variations in the background signal reduce the optimal angular radius within which one should measure Y to achieve the tightest scaling with M200.
Knowledge Management and Strategic Orientation: Leveraging Innovativeness and Performance

Purpose – The aim of this study is to investigate whether knowledge management (KM) contributes to the development of strategic orientation and to enhance innovativeness, and whether these three factors contribute to improve business performance. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 241 Brazilian companies was surveyed, using Web-based questionnaires with 54 questions, using ten-point scales to measure the degree of agreement on each item of each construct. Structural equation modeling techniques were applied for model assessment and analysis of the relationships among constructs. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and path analysis using the technique of structural equation modeling were applied to the data. Findings – Effective KM contributes positively to strategic orientation. Although there is no significant direct effect of KM on innovativeness, the relationship is significant when mediated by strategic orientation. Similarly, effective KM has no direct effect on business performance, but this relationship becomes statistically significant when mediated by strategic orientation and innovativeness. Research limitations/implications – The findings indicate that KM permeates all relationships among the constructs, corroborating the argument that knowledge is an essential organizational resource that leverages all value-creating activities. The results indicate that both KM and innovativeness produce significant impacts on performance when they are aligned with a strategic orientation that enables the organization to anticipate and respond to changing market conditions. Originality/value – There is a substantial body of research on several types of relationships involving KM, strategic orientation, innovativeness and performance. This study offers an original contribution by analyzing all of those constructs simultaneously, using established scales so that comparative studies are possible.
Eradication of Helicobacter pylori may be beneficial in the management of chronic open-angle glaucoma.

BACKGROUND We have documented a high prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in patients with glaucoma. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of H pylori eradication on the 2 most commonly used glaucoma parameters: intraocular pressure and visual field. METHODS A total of 41 patients with glaucoma and 30 age-matched anemic controls underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopies and gastric mucosal biopsies to detect the presence of H. pylori infection by histologic analysis and rapid urease test (CLOtest; Delta West, Draper, Utah). Saliva samples were also tested by CLOtest. Serum anti-H pylori-specific IgG was analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Helicobacter pylori-positive patients received a triple eradication regimen (omeprazole, clarithromycin, and amoxicillin treatment), and all patients were observed for 2 years while remaining under the same antiglaucoma therapy. RESULTS Helicobacter pylori was detected in 88% of glaucoma cases and in 47% of controls (P<.001). Helicobacter pylori eradication was successful in 83% of treated patients. At the 2-year clinical end point, glaucoma parameters (mean intraocular pressure and mean visual field parameters) were improved in the subgroup of patients where H. pylori eradication was successful (P<.001 for intraocular pressure; P< or =.01 for visual field parameters), but not in the other patients. CONCLUSION Helicobacter pylori eradication may positively influence glaucoma parameters, suggesting a possible causal link between H pylori and glaucoma.
Does ethnic diversity increase violent crime? A global analysis of homicide rates, 1995–2013

Many scholars argue that diverse preferences and coordination failure stemming from high ethnic diversity results in high social frictions, leading to socio-political failure. Criminological theories suggest that crime is driven by very similar processes. The specialized literature on civil war, however, reports a diversity dividend, arguing that when two large groups (polarization) make up a society, the risk of armed violence is increased. Using data on global homicide rates from the period 1995–2013 for over 140 countries, we find that ethnic heterogeneity is associated with homicide rates in an inverted U-shape relationship. Measures of ethnic polarization confirm these results directly. The results suggests that ethnic polarization and ethnic dominance rather than diversity are what matter for personal security measured as homicide rates. The conditional effect of high diversity and income inequality is associated with lower homicide rates, results that reject the view that societal heterogeneity and income inequality drive social dislocation. Several possible intervening variables, such as unemployment among males and youth, ethnic exclusion and discrimination, good governance and institutional quality, as well as several demographic and political variables, do not affect the basic results. It seems that the heavy emphasis placed on ethnic diversity for explaining social dislocation and violence, in so far as it relates to a country’s homicide rate, seems to be misplaced.
Structuralized box-trainer laparoscopic training significantly improves performance in complex virtual reality laparoscopic tasks

Introduction In the era of flowering minimally invasive surgical techniques there is a need for new methods of teaching surgery and supervision of progress in skills and expertise. Virtual and physical box-trainers seem especially fit for this purpose, and allow for improvement of proficiency required in laparoscopic surgery. Material and methods The study included 34 students who completed the authors‘ laparoscopic training on physical train-boxes. Progress was monitored by accomplishment of 3 exercises: moving pellets from one place to another, excising and clipping. Analysed parameters included time needed to complete the exercise and right and left hand movement tracks. Students were asked to do assigned tasks prior to, in the middle and after the training. Results The duration of the course was 28 h in total. Significant shortening of the time to perform each exercise and reduction of the left hand track were achieved. The right hand track was shortened only in exercise number 1. Conclusions Exercises in the laboratory setting should be regarded as an important element of the process of skills acquisition by a young surgeon. Virtual reality laparoscopic training seems to be a new, interesting educational tool, and at the same time allows for reliable control and assessment of progress.
Analysis of Inertial and Buoyant E ects in Turbulent Fluid Mixing Layers

The rate of expansion of a planar, incompressible two-uid mixing layer subject to a time-dependent acceleration g(t) has been accurately measured by Dimonte and Schneider for several diierent g(t) and a wide range of density ratio. Their measurements can be replicated by solving a phenomenological force law for the interpenetrating bubbles and spikes that comprise these mixing layers. The coeecients in this model are calibrated with respect to the asymptotic growth rates for impulsive and constant accelerations, and are so far successful in predicting bubble and spike growth for other acceleration histories. We use this information to analyze the inertial and buoyant eeects that are implied by the experimental data and the known physics of the coherent structures comprising the mixing layer.
The fibrinogen cleavage product Aα-Val360, a specific marker of neutrophil elastase activity in vivo

Background Alpha-1-antitrypsin (A1AT) deficiency is the only recognised genetic risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Since A1AT is the major inhibitor of neutrophil elastase (NE), this enzyme has become widely implicated in the pathogenesis of COPD in general; however, there is currently no specific biomarker for its pre-inhibition activity. Such a biomarker should be a measure of elastase-specific COPD disease activity with the potential to assess early targeted therapeutic intervention, in contrast to traditional and non-specific disease severity markers such as forced expiratory volume in 1 s. Methods In pilot studies, plasma Aα-Val360 and markers of neutrophil activation were measured in 95 subjects with a range of A1AT concentrations. Aα-Val360 and sputum elastase activity were also measured in a further seven PiZ A1AT-deficient subjects over the course of an acute exacerbation. Finally, Aα-Val360 was measured in plasma from subjects randomised to receive A1AT replacement or placebo in the EXACTLE trial. Results The plasma concentrations of Aα-Val360 and A1AT related exponentially, consistent with previous theoretical and in vitro experimental data. L-233 (an intracellular NE inhibitor) blocked generation of Aα-Val360 and subsequent A1AT/NE complex formation. Aα-Val360 was related to the spirometric severity of lung disease in A1AT deficiency, to sputum elastase activity in acute exacerbations and was decreased in subjects receiving A1AT replacement therapy (while remaining constant in those receiving placebo). Conclusions Aα-Val360 represents the first specific footprint of pre-inhibition NE activity and is a potential biomarker of disease activity and progression in subjects with elastase-dependent COPD. Trial registration The EXACTLE study was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov as ‘Antitrypsin (AAT) to Treat Emphysema in AAT-Deficient Patients’; ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00263887.
Influence of receptor lateral mobility on adhesion strengthening between membranes containing LFA-3 and CD2

We have used an in vitro model system of glass-supported planar membranes to study the effects of lateral mobility of membrane-bound receptors on cell adhesion. Egg phosphatidylcholine (PC) bilayers were reconstituted with two anchorage isoforms of the adhesion molecule lymphocyte function-associated antigen 3 (LFA-3). The diffusion coefficient of glycosyl phosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored LFA-3 approached that of phospholipids in the bilayers, whereas the transmembrane (TM)-anchored isoform of LFA-3 was immobile. Both static and laminar flow assays were used to quantify the strength of adherence to the lipid bilayers of the T lymphoma cell line Jurkat that expresses the counter-receptor CD2. Cell adhesion was dependent on LFA-3 density and was more efficient on membranes containing the GPI isoform than the TM isoform. Kinetic measurements demonstrated an influence of contact time on the strength of adhesion to the GPI isoform at lower site densities (25-50 sites/microns2), showing that the mobility of LFA-3 is important in adhesion strengthening. At higher site densities (1,500 sites/microns2) and longer contact times (20 min), Jurkat cell binding to the TM and GPI isoforms of LFA-3 showed equivalent adhesion strengths, although adhesion strength of the GPI isoform developed twofold more rapidly than the TM isoform. Reduction of CD2 mobility on Jurkat cells at 5 degrees C greatly decreased the rate of adhesion strengthening with the TM isoform of LFA-3, resulting in a 30-fold difference between the two LFA-3 isoforms. Our results demonstrate that the ability of a membrane receptor and its membrane-bound counter- receptor to diffuse laterally enhances cell adhesion both by allowing accumulation of ligands in the cell contact area and by increasing the rate of receptor-ligand bond formation.
Network Topology Optimization for Accelerating Consensus Algorithms under Power Constraints

The average consensus algorithm is a well known distributed process in which the nodes iteratively communicate with the nodes within their communication range in order to obtain an estimation of the global average. These repeated communications, when performed in a uniformly randomly deployed network, such as a Wireless Sensor Network, lead to several nodes consuming much more power than others, thus reducing the lifetime of the whole network. This paper proposes a fully distributed method that allows the network nodes to suitably decide which subset of communications provides the best performance during the consensus process in terms of convergence time and power efficiency. Our method simultaneously improves both the convergence of the consensus algorithm and the lifetime of the whole network. Moreover, as a benchmark, we propose a convex optimization problem whose results can be compared with those obtained by our distributed approach. Simulation results are presented to show the efficiency of our proposal, comparing our two methods with existing approaches in the related literature.
Seeing Future Success: Does Imagery Perspective Influence Achievement Motivation?

Imagining future success can sometimes enhance people's motivation to achieve it. This article examines a phenomenological aspect of positive mental imagery— the visual perspective adopted—that may moderate its motivational impact. The authors hypothesize that people feel more motivated to succeed on a future task when they visualize its successful completion from a third-person rather than a first-person perspective. Actions viewed from the third-person perspective are generally construed at a relatively high level of abstraction—in a manner that highlights their larger meaning and significance—which should heighten their motivational impact. Three studies in the domain of academic motivation support this reasoning. Students experience a greater increase in achievement motivation when they imagine their successful task completion from a third-rather than a first-person perspective. Moreover, mediational analyses reveal that third-person imagery boosts motivation by prompting students to construe their success abstractly and to perceive it as important.
The mediational roles of harsh and responsive parenting in the longitudinal relations between socioeconomic status and Turkish children’s emotional development

This study examined the associations among the socioeconomic status (SES) of Turkish families when children (N = 340, Mean age = 83 months, SD = 3.59, 50.3% boys) were approximately 7 years of age (Time 1) and their emotional lability and emotion regulation tendencies 3 years later (Time 3). We also examined the mediating roles of mothers’ harsh and responsive parenting behaviors when children were 9 years of age (Time 2). Results revealed that family SES was positively linked to parental responsiveness and negatively linked to harsh parenting; harsh parenting was positively linked to children’s emotion lability and negatively linked to children’s emotion regulation (after controlling for prior levels of emotion regulation and emotional lability at Time 2). Further, harsh parenting significantly mediated the associations between family SES and children’s emotional lability and emotion regulation tendencies. The pattern of associations did not vary by child gender or community (e.g., Istanbul, Ankara, Bolu) in Turkey. The findings highlight the interplay among family SES, maternal parenting behaviors, and children’s self-regulation outcomes in a non-Western, collectivist society.
Building Reconstruction Using DSM and Orthorectified Images

High resolution Digital Surface Models (DSMs) produced from airborne laser-scanning or stereo satellite images provide a very useful source of information for automated 3D building reconstruction. In this paper an investigation is reported about extraction of 3D building models from high resolution DSMs and orthorectified images produced from Worldview-2 stereo satellite imagery. The focus is on the generation of 3D models of parametric building roofs, which is the basis for creating Level Of Detail 2 (LOD2) according to the CityGML standard. In particular the building blocks containing several connected buildings with tilted roofs are investigated and the potentials and limitations of the modeling approach are discussed. The edge information extracted from orthorectified image has been employed as additional source of information in 3D reconstruction algorithm. A model driven approach based on the analysis of the 3D points of DSMs in a 2D projection plane is proposed. Accordingly, a building block is divided into smaller parts according to the direction and number of existing ridge lines for parametric building reconstruction. The 3D model is derived for each building part, and finally, a complete parametric model is formed by merging the 3D models of the individual building parts and adjusting the nodes after the merging step. For the remaining building parts that do not contain ridge lines, a prismatic model using polygon approximation of the corresponding boundary pixels is derived and merged to the parametric models to shape the final model of the building. A qualitative and quantitative assessment of the proposed method for the automatic reconstruction of buildings with parametric roofs is then provided by comparing the final model with the existing surface model as well as some field measurements.
T Cell Chemo-Vaccination Effects after Repeated Mucosal SHIV Exposures and Oral Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with anti-viral drugs is currently in clinical trials for the prevention of HIV infection. Induction of adaptive immune responses to virus exposures during anti-viral drug administration, i.e., a “chemo-vaccination” effect, could contribute to PrEP efficacy. To study possible chemo-vaccination, we monitored humoral and cellular immune responses in nine rhesus macaques undergoing up to 14 weekly, low-dose SHIVSF162P3 rectal exposures. Six macaques concurrently received PrEP with intermittent, oral Truvada; three were no-PrEP controls. PrEP protected 4 macaques from infection. Two of the four showed evidence of chemo-vaccination, because they developed anti-SHIV CD4+ and CD8+ T cells; SHIV-specific antibodies were not detected. Control macaques showed no anti-SHIV immune responses before infection. Chemo-vaccination-induced T cell responses were robust (up to 3,940 SFU/106 PBMCs), predominantly central memory cells, short-lived (≤22 weeks), and appeared intermittently and with changing specificities. The two chemo-vaccinated macaques were virus-challenged again after 28 weeks of rest, after T cell responses had waned. One macaque was not protected from infection. The other macaque concurrently received additional PrEP. It remained uninfected and T cell responses were boosted during the additional virus exposures. In summary, we document and characterize PrEP-induced T cell chemo-vaccination. Although not protective after subsiding in one macaque, chemo-vaccination-induced T cells warrant more comprehensive analysis during peak responses for their ability to prevent or to control infections after additional exposures. Our findings highlight the importance of monitoring these responses in clinical PrEP trials and suggest that a combination of vaccines and PrEP potentially might enhance efficacy.
A compact pulsar wind nebula model of the γ-ray-loud binary LS I +61○303

We study a model of LS I +61°303 in which its radio to TeV emission is due to interaction of a relativistic wind from a young pulsar with the wind from its companion Be star. The detailed structure of the stellar wind plays a critical role in explaining the properties of the system. We assume the fast polar wind is clumpy, which is typical for radiatively driven winds. The clumpiness and some plasma instabilities cause the two winds to mix. The relativistic electrons from the pulsar wind are retained in the moving clumps by inhomogeneities of the magnetic field, which explains the X-ray variability observed on time-scales much shorter than the orbital period. We calculate detailed inhomogeneous spectral models reproducing the average broad-band spectrum from radio to TeV Given the uncertainties on the magnetic field within the wind and the form of the distribution of relativistic electrons, the X-ray spectrum could be dominated by either Compton or synchrotron emission. The recent Fermi observations constrain the high-energy cut-off in the electron distribution to be at the Lorentz factor of 2 x 10 4 or ∼ 10 8 in the former and latter model, respectively. We provide formulae comparing the losses of the relativistic electrons due to Compton, synchrotron and Coulomb processes versus the distance from the Be star. We calculate the optical depth of the wind to free-free absorption, showing that it will suppress most of the radio emission within the orbit, including the pulsed signal of the rotating neutron star. We point out the importance of Compton and Coulomb heating of the stellar wind within and around the y -ray emitting region. Then, we find the most likely mechanism explaining the orbital modulation at TeV energies is anisotropy of emission, with relativistic electrons accelerated along the surface of equal ram pressure of the two winds. Pair absorption of the TeV emission suppresses one of the two maxima expected in an orbit.