Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dating loess up to 800 ka by thermoluminescence

Thermoluminescence (TL) ages agreeing with expected ages have been obtained for 13 loess samples spanning the age range from 20 to 800 ka. Our samples are from Alaska and North Island, New Zealand, and are unusual in TL dating studies of loess older than 80-100 ka by having independent age assignments that are generally well constrained, from ages of associated tephra beds. With the polymineral fine-silt-sized (4-11 μm) grains, the partial-bleach TL technique yielded expected ages up to about 350 ka, whereas the total-bleach method gave accurate ages in the range 100 to 800 ka. Thus, the much disputed upper age limit of 100-150 ka for the TL dating of loess now appears to be sample and worker dependent, rather than a global property of the TL signals in the TL-dominant feldspars.
Stromal Cell-Derived Factor-1-Induced LFA-1 Activation During In Vivo Migration of T Cell Hybridoma Cells Requires Gq/11, RhoA, and Myosin, as well as Gi and Cdc421

Dissemination of T cell hybridomas in mice, a model for in vivo migration of memory T cells and for T lymphoma metastasis, depends on the chemokine stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) and the integrin LFA-1 and correlates well with invasion into fibroblast cultures. In addition to the known role of the pertussis toxin-sensitive heterotrimeric GTPase Gi, we show that also the pertussis toxin-insensitive GTPase Gq/11 is required for dissemination and invasion. Furthermore, we show that the small GTPases, Cdc42 and RhoA, are involved, and that invasion is blocked by inhibitors of actinomyosin contraction. Gq/11, RhoA, and contraction are specifically required for LFA-1 activation, since 1) they are essential for LFA-1-dependent migration toward low SDF-1 concentrations through ICAM-1-coated filters, but not for migration toward high SDF-1 levels, which is LFA-1 independent; 2) G protein (AlF4−)-induced adhesion to ICAM-1 requires RhoA and contraction; 3) constitutively active Gq induces aggregation, mediated by LFA-1. We previously reported that binding of this activated LFA-1 to ICAM-1 triggers a signal, transduced by the ζ-associated protein 70 tyrosine kinase, that activates additional LFA-1 molecules. This amplification of LFA-1 activation is essential for invasion. We show here that ζ-associated protein 70-induced LFA-1 activation requires neither Cdc42 and RhoA nor contraction and is thus quite different from that induced by SDF-1. We conclude that two modes of LFA-1 activation, with distinct underlying mechanisms, are required for the in vivo migration of T cell hybridomas.
Group Sparsity in Nonnegative Matrix Factorization

A recent challenge in data analysis for science and engineering is that data are often represented in a structured way. In particular, many data mining tasks have to deal with group-structured prior information, where features or data items are organized into groups. In this paper, we develop group sparsity regularization methods for nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF). NMF is an effective data mining tool that has been widely adopted in text mining, bioinformatics, and clustering, but a principled approach to incorporating group information into NMF has been lacking in the literature. Motivated by an observation that features or data items within a group are expected to share the same sparsity pattern in their latent factor representation, we propose mixednorm regularization to promote group sparsity in the factor matrices of NMF. Group sparsity improves the interpretation of latent factors. Efficient convex optimization methods for dealing with the mixed-norm term are presented along with computational comparisons between them. Application examples of the proposed method in factor recovery, semi-supervised clustering, and multilingual text analysis are demonstrated.
ViewpointS: When Social Ranking Meets the Semantic Web

Reconciling the ecosystem of semantic Web data with the ecosystem of social Web participation has been a major issue for the Web Science community. To answer this need, we propose an innovative approach called ViewpointS where the knowledge is topologically, rather than logically, explored and assessed. Both social contributions and linked data are represented by triples agent-resource-resource called " viewpoints ". A " viewpoint " is the subjective declaration by an agent (human or artificial) of some semantic proximity between two resources. Knowledge resources and viewpoints form a bipartite graph called " knowledge graph ". Information retrieval is processed on demand by choosing a user's " perspective " i.e., rules for quantifying and aggregating " viewpoints " which yield a " knowledge map ". This map is equipped with a topology: the more viewpoints between two given resources, the shorter the distance ; moreover, the distances between resources evolve along time according to new viewpoints, in the metaphor of synapses' strengths. Our hypothesis is that these dynamics actualize an adaptive, actionable collective knowledge. We test our hypothesis with the MovieLens dataset by showing the ability of our formalism to unify the semantics issued from linked data e.g., movies' genres and the social Web e.g., users' ratings. Moreover, our results prove the relevance of the topological approach for assessing and comparing along the time the respective powers of 'genres' and 'ratings' for recommendation.
Long-Term Health Effects of Neutering Dogs: Comparison of Labrador Retrievers with Golden Retrievers

Our recent study on the effects of neutering (including spaying) in Golden Retrievers in markedly increasing the incidence of two joint disorders and three cancers prompted this study and a comparison of Golden and Labrador Retrievers. Veterinary hospital records were examined over a 13-year period for the effects of neutering during specified age ranges: before 6 mo. , and during 6–11 mo. , year 1 or years 2 through 8. The joint disorders examined were hip dysplasia, cranial cruciate ligament tear and elbow dysplasia. The cancers examined were lymphosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, mast cell tumor, and mammary cancer. The results for the Golden Retriever were similar to the previous study, but there were notable differences between breeds. In Labrador Retrievers, where about 5 percent of gonadally intact males and females had one or more joint disorders, neutering at <6 mo. doubled the incidence of one or more joint disorders in both sexes. In male and female Golden Retrievers, with the same 5 percent rate of joint disorders in intact dogs, neutering at <6 mo. increased the incidence of a joint disorder to 4–5 times that of intact dogs. The incidence of one or more cancers in female Labrador Retrievers increased slightly above the 3 percent level of intact females with neutering. In contrast, in female Golden Retrievers, with the same 3 percent rate of one or more cancers in intact females, neutering at all periods through 8 years of age increased the rate of at least one of the cancers by 3–4 times. In male Golden and Labrador Retrievers neutering had relatively minor effects in increasing the occurrence of cancers. Comparisons of cancers in the two breeds suggest that the occurrence of cancers in female Golden Retrievers is a reflection of particular vulnerability to gonadal hormone removal.
CHEMOMETRIC STUDIES FOR QUALITY CONTROL OF PROCESSED BRAZILIAN COFFEES USING DRIFTS

In this work, the potential of mid-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy with Fourier transform for discrimination of 29 commercial Brazilian coffee samples with different industrial processing, i.e., caffeine extraction and roasting degree, was evaluated. The statistical treatments applied to pretreated spectral data were principal component analysis and partial least squares – discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). The ordered predictors selection method was used for variable selection. The chemometric analyses of the mid-infra-red spectra allowed inferring on the lower carbohydrate, caffeine and chlorogenic acid concentration as well as on the higher water content in the decaffeinated coffee. The technique also allowed speculation on the higher lipid and lower water content in the dark roasted coffee compared with traditional roasted coffee. A clear discrimination of decaffeinated from medium and dark roasted coffees was observed in PC1. PLS-DA was used for the discrimination between medium and dark roasted coffees. A model with one latent variable correctly classified 100% of the external validation and prediction samples according to their roasting degree.
Approximating Attack Surfaces with Stack Traces

Security testing and reviewing efforts are a necessity for software projects, but are time-consuming and expensive to apply. Identifying vulnerable code supports decision-making during all phases of software development. An approach for identifying vulnerable code is to identify its attack surface, the sum of all paths for untrusted data into and out of a system. Identifying the code that lies on the attack surface requires expertise and significant manual effort. This paper proposes an automated technique to empirically approximate attack surfaces through the analysis of stack traces. We hypothesize that stack traces from user-initiated crashes have several desirable attributes for measuring attack surfaces. The goal of this research is to aid software engineers in prioritizing security efforts by approximating the attack surface of a system via stack trace analysis. In a trial on Windows 8, the attack surface approximation selected 48.4% of the binaries and contained 94.6% of known vulnerabilities. Compared with vulnerability prediction models (VPMs) run on the entire codebase, VPMs run on the attack surface approximation improved recall from . 07 to . 1 for binaries and from . 02 to . 05 for source files. Precision remained at . 5 for binaries, while improving from . 5 to . 69 for source files.
Children of migrants

Migration is a growing global phenomenon that impacts individuals, families, and communities. Although migration is often thought of as an adult activity, migration by children and youth is quite common throughout the world and is on the rise. The United Nations estimates that approximately 16 percent of all international migrants are under the age of 20, although this ranges considerably from a low of 11 percent in North America to just over 40 percent in Africa (UN 2009). One study comparing Argentina, Chile, and South Africa estimated that over one-quarter of all migrants are children under the age of 18 (Yaqub 2009). Children migrate for many of the same reasons that adults migrate; they move toward jobs or better education and away from poverty and conflict. In some cases, children are taken along as families migrate. Other children are in the lead of this migration, while still others follow subsequent to family members' migration. This essay considers the impact of all types of migration on young children and provides contemporary examples of children's participation in migration. The essay concludes with a review of some findings on the consequences of migration for children's health and education. Keywords: rights; cultural diversity; child labor; assimilation and exclusion; family; globalization; women
CDX2 regulation by the RNA-binding protein MEX3A: impact on intestinal differentiation and stemness

The homeobox transcription factor CDX2 plays a crucial role in intestinal cell fate specification, both during normal development and in tumorigenic processes involving intestinal reprogramming. The CDX2 regulatory network is intricate, but it has not yet been fully uncovered. Through genome-wide screening of a 3D culture system, the RNA-binding protein MEX3A was identified as putatively involved in CDX2 regulation; therefore, its biological relevance was addressed by setting up cell-based assays together with expression studies in murine intestine. We demonstrate here that MEX3A has a repressive function by controlling CDX2 levels in gastric and colorectal cellular models. This is dependent on the interaction with a specific binding determinant present in CDX2 mRNA 3′untranslated region. We have further determined that MEX3A impairs intestinal differentiation and cellular polarization, affects cell cycle progression and promotes increased expression of intestinal stem cell markers, namely LGR5, BMI1 and MSI1. Finally, we show that MEX3A is expressed in mouse intestine, supporting an in vivo context for interaction with CDX2 and modulation of stem cell properties. Therefore, we describe a novel CDX2 post-transcriptional regulatory mechanism, through the RNA-binding protein MEX3A, with a major impact in intestinal differentiation, polarity and stemness, likely contributing to intestinal homeostasis and carcinogenesis.
Steady state, exposure age, and growth of agglutinates in lunar soils

Mineralogical evolution of lunar soils as a function of agglutinate content can be described with the help of a two-component model. Steady-state condition of exposed lunar soils can be achieved only by the balance of comminution, agglutination, and replenishment processes. Rate of replenishment depends on the meteoroid flux and the nature of the substrate which varies both in space and time. Rates of agglutination and comminution depend not only on the micrometeoritic flux but also on the chemical and modal composition of an exposed soil. It is concluded from modeling the above that steady-state condition of lunar soils is independent of its maturity or exposure age. Agglutinate content of a lunar soil can be used to estimate the relative exposure age of the soil only if the soil is in a non-steady-state condition.
Inferred basal friction and surface mass balance of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream using data assimilation of ICESat (Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite) surface altimetry and ISSM (Ice Sheet System Model)

Abstract. We present a new data assimilation method within the Ice Sheet System Model (ISSM) framework that is capable of assimilating surface altimetry data from missions such as ICESat (Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite) into reconstructions of transient ice flow. The new method relies on algorithmic differentiation to compute gradients of objective functions with respect to model forcings. It is applied to the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream, where surface mass balance and basal friction forcings are temporally inverted, resulting in adjusted modeled surface heights that best fit existing altimetry. This new approach allows for a better quantification of basal and surface processes and a better understanding of the physical processes currently missing in transient ice-flow models to better capture the important intra- and interannual variability in surface altimetry. It also demonstrates that large spatial and temporal variability is required in model forcings such as surface mass balance and basal friction, variability that can only be explained by including more complex processes such as snowpack compaction at the surface and basal hydrology at the bottom of the ice sheet. This approach is indeed a first step towards assimilating the wealth of high spatial resolution altimetry data available from EnviSat, ICESat, Operation IceBridge and CryoSat-2, and that which will be available in the near future with the launch of ICESat-2.
Influence of running distance on plantar pressure

Running is a popular sport performed at different places and involving different distances and modalities. Long distance running promotes cumulative loading on joints and soft tissues that could determine important biomechanical alterations. A tool for assessing such loads is the measurement of plantar pressure. Here we compared static plantar pressure before and after 10 km and 21 km running competitions. Twenty trained runners participated in this study. They were assigned to 10 km (n=10) or 21 km (n=10) group according to their competition distance. Static plantar pressure was assessed in the day before competition and quickly after competition finished. Mean plantar pressure was compared between pre and post competition, between groups, legs and foot regions. Static plantar pressure did not differ between feet in either groups. In 10 km runners, higher plantar pressure post competition was observed in the forefoot, while any changes were observed in the 21 km group. Differences in plantar pressure between foot regions were similar between groups. In summary, static assessment of plantar pressure seemed more sensitive to changes in plantar pressure after a 10 km running, but not after 21 km. After 10 km running, forefoot experiences higher plantar pressure.
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Auditory Verbal Hallucinations as Atypical Inner Speech Monitoring, and the Potential of Neurostimulation as a Treatment Option

Keywords: Auditory verbal hallucinations Inner speech Self-monitoring Reality monitoring Neurostimulation TMS tDCS a b s t r a c t Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are the experience of hearing voices in the absence of any speaker, often associated with a schizophrenia diagnosis. Prominent cognitive models of AVHs suggest they may be the result of inner speech being misattributed to an external or non-self source, due to atypical self-or reality monitoring. These arguments are supported by studies showing that people experiencing AVHs often show an externalising bias during monitoring tasks, and neuroimaging evidence which implicates superior temporal brain regions, both during AVHs and during tasks that measure verbal self-monitoring performance. Recently, efficacy of noninvasive neurostimulation techniques as a treatment option for AVHs has been tested. Meta-analyses show a moderate effect size in reduction of AVH frequency, but there has been little attempt to explain the therapeutic effect of neurostimulation in relation to existing cognitive models. This article reviews inner speech models of AVHs, and argues that a possible explanation for reduction in frequency following treatment may be modulation of activity in the brain regions involving the monitoring of inner speech.
Soil and fertilizer‐N efficiencies using wheat grain response equations to N and tillage

Polynomial quadratic equations were established to express effects of zero, one, and two plowings on the efficiencies and contributions of soil nitrogen (Ns) and 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 units of fertilizer nitrogen (NF) to wheat grain yield. Ns was evaluated by: (a) K2SO4 extraction and found 1.7, 1.9, and 2.0 units of M (I unit = 100 kg N ha‐1) at TO, T1, and T2, respectively; (b) B0/exs‐the intercept divided by the efficiency of soil nutrient‐and found 1.31, 1.48, 1.70, 1.99, and 2.4 units at each NF rate of application from zero to four, respectively, and increased with tillage treatment; and (c) solving the polynomial equation for X when Y = 0 and found 1.10, 1.32, and 1.42 units of NF at To, T1, and T2, respectively. The efficiency of applied NF, (ex.) along the range of its application was found as ex = B1 + B2Xi and decreased with an NF rate from 2.44 at NF1 to 1.51 Mg unit‐1 ha‐1 at NFi at To and from 2.55 and 2.62 at T1 and T2 to 1.50 and 1.51 Mg unit‐1ha‐1 respectively. The efficiencies of soil N w.
The mineralogy of efflorescence on As calciner buildings in SW England

Abstract Arsenic is a very common by-product of the processing of Cu, Au and polymetallic ores worldwide, where the ore is roasted (calcined) to remove volatile elements. In southwest England, a diverse range of As-mineral species occur as efflorescent secondary mineral growths on historic calciner buildings. Gypsum occurs as abundant dendritic growths comprising either interlocking blades or tabular crystals. Ca-arsenate minerals are locally very abundant as white colloform masses. Positively identified Ca arsenates include pharmacolite, weilite and haidingerite. Other secondary minerals include arsenolite, scorodite, bukovskyite and an As-bearing potassium alum, together with a wide variety of unidentified minerals, including an Al-As-S phase and As-rich F-bearing phases. Gypsum contains As concentrations up to ~7 wt. %. Efflorescent growth at sites exposed to the prevailing weather systems is less abundant than at sheltered sites. This is interpreted as being due to ‘pressure washing’ of exposed sites by driving rain. Successive concentric growths of gypsum and Ca arsenate on masonry are interpreted as being the result of seasonal crystallization. Understanding both current and historical mining and mineral processing methods is critical in the evaluation of the potential impact on the modern environment. In particular, due to the abundance of As-bearing minerals in a wide range of ore types, many buildings worldwide are potentially significantly contaminated with As even though few are directly related to As production or handling. Characterizing the secondary As mineral species present at mine and mineral processing sites is critical in understanding the potential health risk these sites might pose.
Recent progress in adaptive nonlinear active noise control

In this paper recent progress on adaptive nonlinear active noise control is presented. Particular attention is paid to a new learning algorithm for recurrent neural networks based on Adjoint Extended Kalman Filter that is developed for nonlinear active noise control. The overall control structure for active noise control is constructed using two recurrent neural networks: the first neural network is used to model secondary path of active noise control while the second one is employed to generate control signal. Recent work by authors on combined FIR and neural networks is presented for nolinear active noise control to exploit the benefit of high-order tapped delay line in FIR filter and of the nonlinearity of function expansion. Real-time experiment of the proposed algorithm using Digital Signal Processor is carried-out to show the effectiveness of the method
Advanced Autumn Migration of Sparrowhawk Has Increased the Predation Risk of Long-Distance Migrants in Finland

Predation affects life history traits of nearly all organisms and the population consequences of predator avoidance are often larger than predation itself. Climate change has been shown to cause phenological changes. These changes are not necessarily similar between species and may cause mismatches between prey and predator. Eurasian sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus, the main predator of passerines, has advanced its autumn phenology by about ten days in 30 years due to climate change. However, we do not know if sparrowhawk migrate earlier in response to earlier migration by its prey or if earlier sparrowhawk migration results in changes to predation risk on its prey. By using the median departure date of 41 passerine species I was able to show that early migrating passerines tend to advance, and late migrating species delay their departure, but none of the species have advanced their departure times as much as the sparrowhawk. This has lead to a situation of increased predation risk on early migrating long-distance migrants (LDM) and decreased the overlap of migration season with later departing short-distance migrants (SDM). Findings highlight the growing list of problems of declining LDM populations caused by climate change. On the other hand it seems that the autumn migration may become safer for SDM whose populations are growing. Results demonstrate that passerines show very conservative response in autumn phenology to climate change, and thus phenological mismatches caused by global warming are not necessarily increasing towards the higher trophic levels.