Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatial aggregation of time‐variant stream water ages in urbanizing catchments

We calibrated an integrated flow–tracer model to simulate spatially distributed isotope time series in stream water in a 7.9‐km2 catchment with an urban area of 13%. The model used flux tracking to estimate the time‐varying age of stream water at the outlet and both urbanized (1.7 km2) and non‐urban (4.5 km2) sub‐catchments over a 2.5‐year period. This included extended wet and dry spells where precipitation equated to >10‐year return periods. Modelling indicated that stream water draining the most urbanized tributary was youngest with a mean transit time (MTT) of 171 days compared with 456 days in the non‐urban tributary. For the larger catchment, the MTT was 280 days. Here, the response of urban contributing areas dominated smaller and more moderate runoff events, but rural contributions dominated during the wettest periods, giving a bi‐modal distribution of water ages. Whilst the approach needs refining for sub‐daily time steps, it provides a basis for projecting the effects of urbanization on stream water transit times and their spatial aggregation. This offers a novel approach for understanding the cumulative impacts of urbanization on stream water quantity and quality, which can contribute to more sustainable management. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Quality of life in patients with bipolar disorder--a comparison with schizophrenic patients and healthy controls.

BACKGROUND In the past, the first goal of bipolar disorder treatment was the reduction of symptoms of mania or depression, rather than the recovery of social functioning. Recently, as a result of an increased emphasis on patient needs, the concept of quality of life (QoL) has been brought into the treatment of physical illnesses. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The purpose of the present study was to examine QoL data in patients with bipolar disorder in clinical remission and to determine the extent of the effects of demographic and clinical data on QoL in these patients. The second aim was to compare the QoL data of these patients to that of patients with schizophrenia in clinical remission and to that of healthy controls. Data were obtained using a QoL questionnaire (Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire, or Q-LES-Q) for 41 bipolar patients in clinical remission. The data were then compared with the data of 40 schizophrenic patients in clinical remission and with 40 healthy controls. RESULTS There were higher mean scores in most Q-LES-Q summary scales in the bipolar patients than in the schizophrenic patients. There were higher mean scores in the bipolar patients in some summary scales than in the healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest the same or higher subjective QoL in bipolar patients in clinical remission in comparison with healthy controls and higher subjective QoL in bipolar patients in clinical remission than in schizophrenic patients in clinical remission.
Predicting Perceived Visual and Cognitive Distractions of Drivers With Multimodal Features

A driver's behaviors can be affected by visual, cognitive, auditory, and manual distractions. While it is important to identify the patterns associated with particular secondary tasks, it is more general and useful to define distraction modes that capture the general behaviors induced by various sources of distractions. By explicitly modeling the distinction between types of distractions, we can assess the detrimental effects induced by new in-vehicle technology. This study investigates drivers' behaviors associated with visual and cognitive distractions, both separately and jointly. External observers assessed the perceived cognitive and visual distractions from real-world driving recordings, showing high interevaluator agreement in both dimensions. The scores from the perceptual evaluation are used to define regression models with elastic net regularization and binary classifiers to separately estimate the cognitive and visual distraction levels. The analysis reveals multimodal features that are discriminative of cognitive and visual distractions. Furthermore, the study proposes a novel joint visual-cognitive distraction space to characterize driver behaviors. A data-driven clustering approach identifies four distraction modes that provide insights to better understand the deviation in driving behaviors induced by secondary tasks. Binary and multiclass recognition problems demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed multimodal features to infer these distraction modes defined in the visual-cognitive space.
Deep ocean heat uptake as a major source of spread in transient climate change simulations

Two main mechanisms can potentially explain the spread in the magnitude of global warming simulated by climate models: deep ocean heat uptake and climate feedbacks. Here, we show that deep oceanic heat uptake is a major source of spread in simulations of 21st century climate change. Models with deeper baseline polar mixed layers are associated with larger deep ocean warming and smaller global surface warming. Based on this result, we set forth an observational constraint on polar vertical oceanic mixing. This constraint suggests that many models may overestimate the efficiency of polar oceanic mixing and therefore may underestimate future surface warming. Thus to reduce climate change uncertainties at time‐scales relevant for policy‐making, improved understanding and modelling of oceanic mixing at high latitudes is crucial.
New chondrichthyans from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian) of Seymour and James Ross islands, Antarctica

Abstract We present new records of chondrichthyans recovered from strata of Maastrichtian age of the López de Bertodano Formation, Seymour (=Marambio) Island, and from levels of latest Campanian age of the Santa Marta Formation, James Ross Island, both located in the eastern Antarctic Peninsula. The material from Marambio Island comprises an associated assemblage with the first records of an indeterminate odontaspidid different from Odontaspis, as well as the genera Pristiophorus, Squatina, Paraorthacodus, and the species Chlamydoselachus tatere from the López de Bertodano Formation. Also, the studied section provides a well-constrained age for several taxa already recognized in the López de Bertodano Formation only by scattered samples of Maastrichtian age for the first time. The assemblage from Marambio Island is representative of one of the latest environmental conditions during the end of the Cretaceous in the coastal seas of the Larsen Basin before major changes that began after the K/P boundary. In addition, the finds from James Ross Island comprise the southernmost records of the neoselachians Cretalamna sp. , Centrophoroides sp. , as well as the holocephalans Callorhinchus sp. and an indeterminate rhinochimaerid, extending the occurrence of some of these taxa into the late Campanian, being their oldest record of the Weddellian Biogeographic Province.
Poverty Reduction in a Refugee-Hosting Economy. A Natural Experiment

The role of migration in reducing poverty in developing countries has been investigated mainly from the perspective of migrants and their relatives. This paper exploits the time and spatial variations in the way households in the region of Kagera (Tanzania) traced between 1991 and 2004 have been affected by massive refugee inflows to assess how migration may affect poverty in the hosting communities. Large population inflows from Burundi and Rwanda have improved the welfare of the hosting population, particularly for the poor. Despite the process of structural transformation observed in the refugee-hosting economy, such pro-poor development is mainly explained by improved agricultural labor productivity and income diversification among the poor.
Beyond Section 504: Satisfaction and Empowerment of Students with Disabilities in Higher Education

College and university students with disabilities were surveyed to determine their levels of satisfaction with accessibility, special services, and accommodations at their schools. In addition, students were requested to identify barriers to postsecondary education, improvements in services, and other concerns. Respondents generally expressed satisfaction with the services that they had received. However, the majority indicated that they had encountered barriers to their education, including a lack of understanding and cooperation from administrators, faculty, staff, and other students; lack of adaptive aids and other resources; and inaccessibility of buildings and grounds. Recommendations were made for improving the delivery of services and self-advocacy of students with disabilities.
The annual cycle of pressure on Mars measured by Viking landers 1 and 2

Daily mean atmospheric pressures at the two Viking landers are presented for slightly more than a martian year. The seasonal variation of pressure owing to exchange of CO2 with the polar caps is quite evident and contradicts, in part, earlier theoretical results. Day-to-day variations are the result of passage of synoptic-scale high and low pressure systems and are an important clue to the general circulation of the atmosphere. The effects of global dust storms on the general circulation and on the diurnal variation of pressure are detected and interpreted.
Variations of transesophageal echocardiography practices in India: A survey by Indian College of Cardiac Anaesthesia

Context: Use of perioperative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) has expanded in India. Despite attempts to standardize the practice of TEE in cardiac surgical procedures, variation in practice and application exists. This is the first online survey by Indian College of Cardiac Anaesthesia, research and academic wing of the Indian Association of Cardiovascular Thoracic Anaesthesiologists (IACTA). Aims: We hypothesized that variations in practice of intraoperative TEE exist among centers and this survey aimed at analyzing them. Settings and Design: This is an online survey conducted among members of the IACTA. Subjects and Methods: All members of IACTA were contacted using online questionnaire fielded using SurveyMonkey™ software. There were 21 questions over four pages evaluating infrastructure, documentation of TEE, experience and accreditation of anesthesiologist performing TEE, and finally impact of TEE on clinical practice. Questions were also asked about national TEE workshop conducted by the IACTA, and suggestions were invited by members on overseas training. Results: Response rate was 29.7% (382/1222). 53.9% were from high-volume centers (>500 cases annually). TEE machine/probe was available to 75.9% of the respondents and those in high-volume centers had easier (86.9%) access. There was poor documentation of preoperative consent (23.3%) as well as TEE findings (66%). Only 18.2% of responders were board qualified. Almost 90% of the responders felt surgeons respected their TEE diagnosis. Around half of the responders felt that new intraoperative findings by TEE were considered in decision-making in most of the cases and 70% of the responders reported that surgical plan was altered based on TEE finding more than 10 times in the last year. Despite this, only 5% of the responders in this survey were monetarily awarded for performing impactful skill of TEE. Majority (57%) felt that there is no need for overseas training for Indian cardiac anesthesiologists. Conclusions: In this survey of members of the IACTA, use of TEE has increased substantially, but still a lot of variations in practice patterns exist in India. There is urgent need for improving TEE certification and upgrade documentation standards, motivate use of TTE across all centers, promote awareness and usefulness of TEE use among surgical fraternity, monitor impact of TEE, and support separate remuneration policy in India.
Constructing Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals for linear time delay systems

We present an algorithmic methodology for constructing Lyapunov-Krasovskii (L-K) functionals for linear time-delay systems, using the sum of squares decomposition of multivariate polynomials to solve the related infinite dimensional linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The resulting functionals retain the structure of the complete L-K functional and yield conditions that approach the true delay-dependent stability bounds. The method can also he used to construct parameter-dependent L-K functionals for certifying stability under parametric uncertainty.
Speech Errors of Tone in Taiwanese

In this study, we analyze tone errors of Taiwanese spontaneous speech to tackle three issues. The first is to make a comparison between segmental errors and tone errors in Taiwanese to see if these two kinds of errors behave similarly. The second is to investigate the role of language-specific tone rules in the occurrence of tone errors. Taiwanese, with a unique and complex tone sandhi phenomenon, provides a good ground to examine this issue. The third issue is to investigate the mechanism of Taiwanese tone sandhi phenomenon. Consider the first issue. The results showed that tone errors and segmental errors have similarities as well as differences. Second, our study showed that language-specific tone rules play an important role in the occurrence of tone errors. Moreover, regarding the mechanism of the tone sandhi phenomenon, our results seemed to support the allomorphselection model better.
MoveMine: Mining moving object data for discovery of animal movement patterns

With the maturity and wide availability of GPS, wireless, telecommunication, and Web technologies, massive amounts of object movement data have been collected from various moving object targets, such as animals, mobile devices, vehicles, and climate radars. Analyzing such data has deep implications in many applications, such as, ecological study, traffic control, mobile communication management, and climatological forecast. In this article, we focus our study on animal movement data analysis and examine advanced data mining methods for discovery of various animal movement patterns. In particular, we introduce a moving object data mining system, MoveMine, which integrates multiple data mining functions, including sophisticated pattern mining and trajectory analysis. In this system, two interesting moving object pattern mining functions are newly developed: (1) periodic behavior mining and (2) swarm pattern mining. For mining periodic behaviors, a reference location-based method is developed, which first detects the reference locations, discovers the periods in complex movements, and then finds periodic patterns by hierarchical clustering. For mining swarm patterns, an efficient method is developed to uncover flexible moving object clusters by relaxing the popularly-enforced collective movement constraints. In the MoveMine system, a set of commonly used moving object mining functions are built and a user-friendly interface is provided to facilitate interactive exploration of moving object data mining and flexible tuning of the mining constraints and parameters. MoveMine has been tested on multiple kinds of real datasets, especially for MoveBank applications and other moving object data analysis. The system will benefit scientists and other users to carry out versatile analysis tasks to analyze object movement regularities and anomalies. Moreover, it will benefit researchers to realize the importance and limitations of current techniques and promote future studies on moving object data mining. As expected, a mastery of animal movement patterns and trends will improve our understanding of the interactions between and the changes of the animal world and the ecosystem and therefore help ensure the sustainability of our ecosystem.
Role of protein kinase C-mediated pathway in the pathogenesis of coronary artery spasm in a swine model.

BACKGROUND The intracellular mechanism of coronary artery spasm is still unknown. The pathway mediated by protein kinase C (PKC) is an important intracellular process of various cellular responses, including vascular smooth muscle contraction. Thus, we examined the role of the PKC-mediated pathway in the pathogenesis of coronary artery spasm in our in vivo swine model. METHODS AND RESULTS Seven Göttingen miniature pigs underwent coronary balloon injury and x-ray irradiation to induce atherosclerotic lesion. After 6 to 18 months, intracoronary serotonin (3 micrograms/kg) or histamine (3 micrograms/kg) repeatedly induced coronary artery spasm at the atherosclerotic site. At the spastic site, intracoronary administration of phorbol-12,13-dibutyrate (PDBu) (10(-9) mol/kg), a PKC-activating phorbol ester, also induced coronary artery spasm, which was completely blocked by pretreatment with intracoronary staurosporine (10 micrograms/kg), a PKC inhibitor. Intracoronary administration of an inactive phorbol ester, phorbol-12,13-didecanoate (10(-9) mol/kg), did not induce coronary vasoconstriction. Coronary artery spasm induced by the autacoids was significantly augmented by pretreatment with intracoronary PDBu and partially inhibited by staurosporine. Intracoronary administration of Bay K 8644 (10 micrograms/kg), a dihydropyridine-sensitive L-type calcium channel agonist, also induced coronary artery spasm at the spastic site, which was significantly inhibited by pretreatment with intracoronary staurosporine or nifedipine (0.1 mg/kg). CONCLUSIONS These results suggest (1) the PKC-mediated pathway is importantly involved in the pathogenesis of coronary artery spasm, (2) activation of the PKC-mediated pathway partially accounts for serotonin- and histamine-induced coronary artery spasm, and (3) at the spastic site, calcium influx through dihydropyridine-sensitive L-type calcium channel and/or calcium sensitivity of the contractile proteins may be augmented by the PKC-mediated pathway.
Aspects of the Kelvin wave response to episodic wind forcing

Episodes of westerly wind are an important aspect of surface stress variability in the western Pacific. During El Nino-Southern Oscillation periods, the presence of such wind episodes comprises much of the low-frequency relaxation of the trades over the central and western Pacific. In this paper we describe the oceanic Kelvin pulse response to a single idealized episode of westerly wind stress, using results from linear theory as well as from a 27-level general circulation model. Linear theory predicts that an episode of westerly wind will excite a train of equatorially trapped Kelvin pulses. The amplitude and longitudinal structure of the forced ocean Kelvin pulses varies as a function of baroclinic mode and the wind patch properties. Because of changing vertical thermal structure across the Pacific, the vertical structure of Kelvin pulses is altered as they propagate away from the forcing region. When stratification typical of the western and eastern Pacific is used, the conservation of energy flux predicts a reduction of surface currents associated with the first baroclinic mode and an enhancement of surface currents associated with the second baroclinic mode. The idealized wind anomaly is also used to drive an ocean general circulation model. When the wind anomaly is weak the model Kelvin response agrees with predictions of linear theory. For more realistic strong forcing there are three important deviations from linear theory: the amplitude of low baroclinic modes increases; the amplitude of higher baroclinic modes decreases; and the phase speed increases. In the presence of realistic oceanic background conditions, response in the equatorial waveguide is complicated by the equatorial undercurrent, a sloping thermocline and instability waves. Model sea surface temperature warming at the coast of South America is dominated by the second baroclinic mode, consistent with the results derived from linear theory.
Seasonal variations of heavy metal concentrations in Qua Iboe River Estuary, Nigeria

Concentrations of six heavy metals namely Pb, Ni, V, Fe, C and Cd were determined in water samples from Qua Iboe river estuary and its associated creeks for six months (January to June, 1999). Results obtained indicate the following mean concentrations for the metals: Pb, 0.167mg/1 + 0.148; Ni, 0.112mg/1 + 0.089; V, 0.019mg/1 + 0.042; Fe, 0.118mg/1 + 0.077; Cu, 0.020mg/1 + 0.026 and Cd, 0.036mg/1 + 0.036. These concentrations were higher in the wet season than the dry season. On comparing these results with the WHO standard, it was observed that the mean concentrations of Pb and Ni were higher than the acceptable limit while the coefficient of variations of the metals were correspondingly high with the high degree of fluctuations in their concentrations from station to station and from season to season. The location of the river estuary correlated positively with its observed high metal concentrations. The environmental implications of these metals are discussed with reference to existing water quality of the river. KEY WORDS: Heavy metals, water sample, pollution, Qua Iboe River. Global Jnl of Pure and Applied Sciences Vol.10(4) 2004: 611-617
A Complementary Alternative Medicine Questionnaire for Young Adults

Limited information exists on how adolescents decide to use complementary/alternative medicine (CAM). There are also no instruments specific to CAM, for the young adult population, which makes it difficult to explore knowledge in this area. The purpose of this study was to develop and examine the psychometric properties of the CAM Questionnaire for Young Adults which measures young adults’ attitudes about CAM. Participants for this cross-sectional survey were selected from enrolled undergraduate students at an urban university. Factor analysis identified three subscales: 1) positive beliefs about CAM; 2) environmental influence; and 3) psychological comfort. The scale has good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.79) and shows beginning demonstration of validity. Its use in this sample revealed that young adults who are female and have used CAM in the past for preventing or treating illness have the most positive attitude towards CAM and the greatest likelihood for continued use. The implication that prevention may play a role in young adults’ attitudes about CAM is a potential focus for future research.
THE STEP FROM DIAGENESIS TO METAMORPHISM IN PELITIC ROCKS DURING ALPINE OROGENESIS

Summary Pelitic rocks were followed from unmetamorphosed clays and marls of Upper Triassic and Lower Liassic to anchimetamorphosed phyllites of the Alpine border region in Switzerland. Phengite and Al-rich chlorite formed from mixed-layer illite/montmorillonite; pyrophyllite from kaolinite. For the formation of paragonite, the following sequence is proposed: irregular mixed-layer illite/montmorillonite regular mixed-layer mica/montmorillonite mixed-layer paragonite/phengite paragonite. Besides the formation of new minerals in the transition zone (anchizone) between diagenesis and greenschist facies, other changes with increasing metamorphic grade are: the crystallinity of illite (in the sense of Kubler, 1967) increases, the intensity ratio 002/001 of the illite basal reflexions increases, 1Md illite changes to 2M1 phengite; the slates change colour from red to pink; the mean density increases; and textural changes due to reactions between clastic quartz and clay cement occur.