Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Towards a new fundamental climate data record for microwave humidity sounders based on metrological best practice

The goal is to produce a fundamental climate data record for microwave humidity sounders (SSMT2, AMSU-B, MHS) based on metrological best practice. This new data record overcomes three main problems that are present in the available operational data. First, the new data record is based on consolidated data, second, detailed uncertainty information is provided on pixel level and third, the inter-satellite biases are investigated and physical reasons for the inconsistencies are found (harmonisation). The thesis describes the instruments and the respective satellite missions, introducing the main instrumental characteristics necessary for the recalibration process. The most important inter-satellite biases are presented that prevent the construction of consistent long time series so far. In a dedicated study, the noise performance in analysed. This noise analysis is used in the later production of the fundamental climate data record: the analysis method uses the Allan deviation instead of the standard deviation for in flight-noise estimate. In detail, the instrumental calibration is presented, along with each physical effect that influences the measurement. Also, the strict metrological application of a measurement equation is followed. Further following metrological best practice, the uncertainties associated with each physical effect are estimated and propagated to the final measurand of brightness temperature. Executing the calibration and uncertainty propagation with newly coded processing tools, a new fundamental climate data record is obtained. This data record is based on consolidated data and it provides detailed uncertainty information. Moreover, it provides concise quality information for the users. The next step of understanding and reducing inter-satellite biases is carried out with a sophisticated optimisation approach devised in the Horizon 2020 project FIDUCEO (Fidelity and uncertainty in climate data records from Earth Observations). First test results were produced in the framework of this thesis. Further refinement of the method is required, though. Independently, an analysis of the biases in the light of the lifetime evolution of the instruments is carried out. Here, the origin of certain inter-satellite biases can be assigned with high probability to the effect of radio frequency interference (RFI) affecting not only the AMSU-B instrument on NOAA-15, for which the effect is known, but also the AMSU-B on NOAA-16 and even the MHS on NOAA-19. Moreover, shortcomings in the operational calibration are revealed and corrected in the new fundamental climate data record.
Association between asthma and serum adiponectin concentration in women

Background: The association of murine asthma with adiposity may be mediated by adiponectin, an anti-inflammatory adipokine with reduced serum concentrations in obese subjects. A study was undertaken to examine whether the serum adiponectin concentration is associated with human asthma and whether it explains the association between adiposity and asthma, particularly in women and in premenopausal women. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was performed of 2890 eligible subjects at year 15 of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) cohort and its YALTA ancillary study who had either current asthma or never asthma at that evaluation. Obesity was defined as body mass index (BMI) ⩾30 kg/m2. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed with current asthma status as the dependent variable. Results: Women, but not men, with current asthma had a lower mean unadjusted serum adiponectin concentration than those with never asthma (p<0.001; p for sex interaction <0.001). Similarly, current asthma was related to obesity only in women (OR 3.31, 95% CI 2.00 to 5.46, p for sex interaction = 0.004); this association was little affected by adjusting for serum adiponectin. The prevalence of current asthma in premenopausal women was reduced in the highest compared with the lowest tertile of serum adiponectin concentration (OR 0.46, 95% CI 0.26 to 0.84, p = 0.03), after adjusting for BMI. However, the interaction between serum adiponectin concentration and BMI category on current asthma status was not significant in premenopausal women or women overall. Conclusions: A high serum adiponectin concentration may protect against current asthma in premenopausal women but does not explain the association between asthma and adiposity.
Relation of Serum Serotonin Levels to Bone Density and Structural Parameters in Women

Recent studies have demonstrated an important role for circulating serotonin in regulating bone mass in rodents. In addition, patients treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have reduced areal bone mineral density (aBMD). However, the potential physiologic role of serotonin in regulating bone mass in humans remains unclear. Thus we measured serum serotonin levels in a population‐based sample of 275 women and related these to total‐body and spine aBMD assessed by dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry, femur neck total and trabecular volumetric BMD (vBMD) and vertebral trabecular vBMD assessed by quantitative computed tomography (QCT), and bone microstructural parameters at the distal radius assessed by high‐resolution peripheral QCT (HRpQCT). Serotonin levels were inversely associated with body and spine aBMD (age‐adjusted R = −0.17 and −0.16, P < .01, respectively) and with femur neck total and trabecular vBMD (age‐adjusted R = −0.17 and −0.25, P < .01 and < .001, respectively) but not lumbar spine vBMD. Bone volume/tissue volume, trabecular number, and trabecular thickness at the radius were inversely associated with serotonin levels (age‐adjusted R = −0.16, −0.16, and −0.14, P < .05, respectively). Serotonin levels also were inversely associated with body mass index (BMI; age‐adjusted R = −0.23, P < .001). Multivariable models showed that serotonin levels remained significant negative predictors of femur neck total and trabecular vBMD, as well as trabecular thickness at the radius, after adjusting for age and BMI. Collectively, our data provide support for a physiologic role for circulating serotonin in regulating bone mass in humans. © 2010 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research
Numerical Simulations of Transverse Compression and Densification in Wood

Numerical modeling, such as finite element analysis (FEA), of complex structures and complex materials is a useful tool for stress analysis and for failure modeling. Although FEA of wood as an anisotropic continuum is used, numerical modeling of realistic wood structures, including details of wood anatomy and variations in structure within specimens, has been beyond the capabilities of FEA and other methods. In contrast, the recently derived material point method (MPM) has features that make it amenable to analysis of realistic wood structures. To demonstrate the capabilities of MPM, simulations were done for wood in transverse compression. Some advantages of MPM are that it is easy to discretize micrographs of wood specimens into a numerical model, it can handle large deformations, it can model elastic-plastic cell-wall properties, and it automatically accounts for contact between cell walls. MPM simulations were run for softwood and hardwood loaded in either radial or tangential compression. The simulations reproduced many features of wood compression, gave insight into effects of wood anatomy on compression, and may be the first numerical calculations of realistic wood structures extended through to full densification without numerical difficulties.
The Pht/Pht/# Queueing System: Part I—The Single Node

W develop a numerically exact method for evaluating the time-dependent mean, variance, and higherorder moments of the number of entities in a Pht/Pht/ queueing system. We also develop a numerically exact method for evaluating the distribution function and moments of the virtual sojourn time for any time t; in our setting, the virtual sojourn time is equivalent to the service time for virtual entities arriving to the system at that time t. We include several examples using software that we have developed and have put in downloadable form in the Online Supplement to this paper on the journal’s website.
Characterization of the major formamidopyrimidine–DNA glycosylase homolog in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its linkage to variable tandem repeats

The ability to repair DNA damage is likely to play an important role in the survival of facultative intracellular parasites because they are exposed to high levels of reactive oxygen species and nitrogen intermediates inside phagocytes. Correcting oxidative damage in purines and pyrimidines is the primary function of the enzymes formamidopyrimidine (faPy)–DNA glycosylase (Fpg) and endonuclease VIII (Nei) of the base excision repair pathway, respectively. Four gene homologs, belonging to the fpg/nei family, have been identified in Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv. The recombinant protein encoded by M. tuberculosis Rv2924c, termed Mtb-Fpg1, was overexpressed, purified and biochemically characterized. The enzyme removed faPy and 5-hydroxycytosine lesions, as well as 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine (8oxoG) opposite to C, T and G. Mtb-Fpg1 thus exhibited substrate specificities typical for Fpg enzymes. Although Mtb-fpg1 showed nearly complete nucleotide sequence conservation in 32 M. tuberculosis isolates, the region upstream of Mtb-fpg1 in these strains contained tandem repeat motifs of variable length. A relationship between repeat length and Mtb-fpg1 expression level was demonstrated in M. tuberculosis strains, indicating that an increased length of the tandem repeats positively influenced the expression levels of Mtb-fpg1. This is the first example of such a tandem repeat region of variable length being linked to the expression level of a bacterial gene.
Ciberacoso y uso problemático de Internet en Colombia, Uruguay y España: Un estudio transcultural

El objetivo de este estudio transcultural ha sido analizar y comparar las puntuaciones de cibervictimizacion y ciberagresion, y el uso problematico de Internet en adolescentes de Espana, Colombia y Uruguay, ya que pese a las semejanzas culturales existentes entre el contexto latinoamericano y espanol son escasos los estudios empiricos que los han comparado previamente. La muestra estuvo formada por 2.653 participantes de 10 a 18 anos. Se recogieron datos a traves del cuestionario de ciberacoso y de la version en castellano del «Revised generalized and problematic Internet use scale». Los resultados ponen de manifiesto una mayor prevalencia de conductas de ciberacoso leve en Espana entre los 10-14 anos. En los tres paises, destacan dos roles de ciberobservador: defensor de la victima y no comprometido ante la agresion, aunque con mas perfiles de apoyo al agresor en Colombia. No se observan diferencias en un uso problematico de Internet entre los tres paises. Se proporcionan evidencias sobre la relacion de la cibervictimizacion y ciberagresion con el uso problematico de Internet. Las dimensiones de uso compulsivo y regulacion del estado animico son las que mejor predicen el ciberacoso. Los resultados son discutidos con relacion a la posible normalizacion de la violencia y su falta de reconocimiento como tal.
Group Obedience and Its Impact on Academic Counseling Among Students

This study sought to establish the impact of group obedience on academic counseling by comparing boys and girls in public secondary schools in Tharaka- Nithi County, Kenya. Causal- comparative research design was employed in this study. The accessible population was 9,419 form three students from public secondary schools in the county. A total of 12 schools were sampled using stratified sampling technique while random sampling was used to select 29 student respondents from each of the sampled schools. A sample of 348 respondents was involved in this study. Data was collected through a students’ questionnaire. Validity of the instrument was ensured through judgments of research experts and scholars in the related area of study. Reliability of the instrument was estimated through a pilot study and the minimum threshold for reliability of the instrument was set at alpha 0.7. A reliability coefficient of 0.81 was got from the students’ questionnaire. Descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentages were used to analyze data, while inferential statistics of a t- test was used to test the hypothesis. Hypothesis was tested at a significant level of alpha 0.05. Data analysis was aided by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 for windows. A summary was used to organize qualitative data. It is recommended that teacher counselors intensify academic counseling programs by organizing sessions for various groups among students regardless of gender on how group obedience impacts on academic counseling.
An Exploration of the Cyber Bullying Phenomenon among Teenagers in Southern Ghana

This paper explores the nature of cyber bullying among teenagers and adolescents in southern Ghana. The objectives are to identify the forms of cyberbullying among young people in southern Ghana; to find the effects of cyberbullying on young people; to determine the causes of cyberbullying on young people; and to identify ways of controlling cyberbullying. The focus of this research was the adolescent group between the ages of 10 and 18 years in the Primary, Junior and Senior High Schools in the Western, Central, Eastern and Greater Accra regions of Ghana. A total of 233 respondents were conveniently selected from schools in the four southern regions of Ghana. Descriptive statistics were used to organize, summarize, and describe measures of the population. The results from the study indicated that majority of the adolescents access the internet at home using mobile phones therefore schools cannot do a lot in terms of monitoring cyber bullying. Again, fraping and harassment were the major forms of cyber bullying that adolescents had experienced. About a sixth of respondents had experienced cyber bullying and some of these adolescents had stopped using computers and the internet. Even though this number does not represent a majority, it is significant enough to affect the use of cyberspace for education. The paper therefore recommends that parents could be the key and should monitor the online activities of their children and set clear limits and boundaries for them. The effective way schools can curb cyber bullying is by constantly creating the awareness of the rules and regulation guiding the use of the internet through awareness creation programs, providing emotional support through counselling and internet safety training sessions.
EBI metagenomics—a new resource for the analysis and archiving of metagenomic data

Metagenomics is a relatively recently established but rapidly expanding field that uses high-throughput next-generation sequencing technologies to characterize the microbial communities inhabiting different ecosystems (including oceans, lakes, soil, tundra, plants and body sites). Metagenomics brings with it a number of challenges, including the management, analysis, storage and sharing of data. In response to these challenges, we have developed a new metagenomics resource (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/metagenomics/) that allows users to easily submit raw nucleotide reads for functional and taxonomic analysis by a state-of-the-art pipeline, and have them automatically stored (together with descriptive, standards-compliant metadata) in the European Nucleotide Archive.
Time Processing in Huntington's Disease: A Group-Control Study

Background “Timing” processes are mediated via a disturbed neuronal network including the basal ganglia. Brain structures important for “timing” are also discussed to be critical for the deterioration of movements in Huntington's disease (HD). Changes in “timing processes” are found in HD, but no study has varied the degree of motor demands in timing functions in parallel in HD. It may be hypothesized that timing functions may be deteriorated to a different extent in motor and non-motor timing, because in motor timing the underlying brain structures may be more demanding than in non-motor timing. Methodology/Principle Findings We assessed timing in two different experiments: a time-estimation (TE) and a time-discrimination (TD) task. The demand on motor functions is high in the TE-task and low in the TD-task. Furthermore, general motor ability was assessed at different complexity levels. A presymptomatic (pHD), a symptomatic (HD) and a control group were investigated. We found a decline in timing functions when demands on the motor system were high (TE-task), in HD and even in pHD, compared to controls. In non-motor timing (TD task) and in the assessment of general motor ability, performance in the pHD-group was comparable to the controls and better than in the symptomatic group. Performance in both timing tasks was related to the duration until the estimated age of onset in pHDs. Conclusions/Significance The study shows a selective deterioration of time-estimation processes in symptomatic and even presymptomatic Huntington's disease. Time-discrimination processes were not affected in both patient groups. The relation of timing performance to the duration until the estimated age of onset in pHD is of clinical importance.
Patterns of Remixes or Where Do Innovations Come from: Evidence from 3D Printing

The conjecture that all innovations are radical new ideas is flawed. In fact, for the most part innovations are recombinations of existing concepts, that is, so-called ‘remixes’. However, creators, inventors, artists, and companies are usually reluctant to disclose their sources of inspiration for fear of possible copyright infringements. As a consequence, it has traditionally been almost impossible to pin down in retrospect where innovations actually come from. In the present paper, we consider Thingiverse, the world’s largest 3D printing community, to shed light on the question of how existing ideas are remixed into new ones. Thingiverse allows creators to upload, publish, and share 3D designs. In doing so, the users are encouraged to use open licenses that allow others to build upon their designs. Furthermore, they are asked to explicitly expose the original sources of their designs. We employ methods from network analysis to select, process, and visualize these remix relationships in order to create a family tree of designs. Moreover, the study analyzes patterns of remixes that explain how creators build upon existing designs. In total, we identify ten distinctive remix patterns, which contribute to our theoretical understanding of innovation phenomena and support practitioners in the establishment of structured innovation processes.
Interval Routing and Minor-Monotone Graph Parameters

We survey a number of minor-monotone graph parameters and their relationship to the complexity of routing on graphs. In particular we compare the interval routing parameters κslir(G) and κsir(G) with Colin de Verdi`ere’s graph invariant μ(G) and its variants λ(G) and κ(G). We show that for all the known characterizations of θ(G) with θ(G) being μ(G), λ(G) or κ(G), that θ(G) ≤ 2κslir(G) - 1 and θ(G) ≤ 2κsir(G) and conjecture that these inequalities always hold. We show that θ(G) ≤ 4κslir(G) - 1 and θ(G) ≤ κsir(G) + 1.
The signs of aphasia

Much debate in 19th century neurology centered around the question of whether there is functional specialization within the neocortex. Today, this is no longer a contentious issue: functional specialization in the adult neocortex is well established. Nonetheless, a form of this old debate rages on in research on neocortical development. At issue is whether neocortical regionalization arises from properties intrinsic to the neocortex itself (Rakic, 1988), or whether it develops in response to extrinsic factors, such as pat-terns of thalamocortical input (O’Leary, 1989). Over the last decade, evidence has accumulated on both sides of the fence. Many studies, for example, have demonstrated a fair degree of neocortical reorganization in response to a variety of sensory-input manipulations (Katz and Shatz, 1996; Pons, Garraghty, Ommaya et al., 1991; Sadato, Pascual-Leone, Grafman et al., 1996; Schlaggar and OLeary, 1991; Sur, Garraghty and Roe, 1988), suggesting that extrinsic factors exert an influence on neocortical organization. Other studies, however, have shown that some regional specific features of neocortex (e.g. gene expression) emerge independent of extra-neocortical influence (Afimatsu, Miyamoto, Nihonmatsu et al., 1992; Miyashita-Lin, Hevner, Wassarman et al., 1999). Taken together, this collection of work seems
Propagation Effects in Magnetized Transrelativistic Plasmas

The transfer of polarized radiation in magnetized and nonmagnetized relativistic plasmas is an area of research with numerous flaws and gaps. The present paper is aimed at filling some gaps and eliminating the flaws. Starting from a Trubnikov’s linear response tensor for a vacuum wave with |k| = ω/c in thermal plasma, the analytic expression for the dielectric tensor is found in the limit of high frequencies. The Faraday rotation and Faraday conversion measures are computed in their first orders in the ratio of the cyclotron frequency Ω0 to the observed frequency ω. The computed temperature dependencies of propagation effects bridge the known nonrelativistic and ultrarelativistic limiting formulae. The fitting expressions are found for high temperatures, where the higher orders in Ω0/ω cannot be neglected. The plasma eigenmodes are found to become linearly polarized at much larger temperatures than thought before. The results are applied to the diagnostics of the hot interstellar medium, hot accretion flows, and jets.
The Impact of Social Capital on Volunteering and Giving: Evidence From Urban China

The impact of social capital on philanthropy has been studied extensively, but existing research fails to measure social capital consistently and completely. Using a representative data set from the 2013 Survey on Philanthropic Behaviors of Urban Citizens in China, this study first expanded existing social capital measurements to be more comprehensive, consisting of civic networks, norms of reciprocity, institutional trust, acquaintance trust, and stranger trust. Tobit regression and Heckman selection model were then used to explore the impact of social capital on philanthropy in China. Regression analyses indicate that civic network, norms of reciprocity, institutional trust, and stranger trust are positively associated with both volunteering and giving in the Chinese context. In addition, acquaintance trust is negatively correlated with giving, but has no significant association with volunteering. These findings provide insights to better understanding the complex relationship between social capital and philanthropy, especially in non-Western contexts.