Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
BVRIJHK photometry and proper motion analysis of NGC 6253 and the surrounding field

Context. We present a photometric and astrometric catalog of 187 963 stars located in the field around the old super-metal-rich Galactic open cluster NGC 6253. The total field-of-view covered by the catalog is 34 � × 33 � . In this field, we provide CCD BVRI photometry. For a smaller region close to the cluster’s center, we also provide near-infrared JHK photometry. Aims. We analyze the properties of NGC 6253 by using our new photometric data and astrometric membership. Methods. In June 2004, we targeted the cluster during a 10 day multi-site campaign, which involved the MPG/ESO 2.2 m telescope with its wide-field imager and the Anglo-Australian 3.9 m telescope, equipped with the IRIS2 near-infrared imager. Archival CCD images of NGC 6253 were used to derive relative proper motions and to calculate the cluster membership probabilities. Results. We have refined the cluster’s fundamental parameters, deriving (V0 − Mv) = 11.15, E(B − V) = 0.15, E(V − I) = 0.25, E(V − J) = 0.50, and E(V − H) = 0.55. The color excess ratios obtained using both the optical and near infrared colors indicate a normal reddening law in the direction of NGC 6253. The age of NGC 6253 at 3.5 Gyr, determined from our best-fitting isochrone appears to be slightly older than the previous estimates. Finally, we estimated the binary fraction among the cluster members to be ∼20%−30% and identified 11 blue straggler candidates.
Genetic Divergence Disclosing a Rapid Prehistorical Dispersion of Native Americans in Central and South America

An accurate estimate of the divergence time between Native Americans is important for understanding the initial entry and early dispersion of human beings in the New World. Current methods for estimating the genetic divergence time of populations could seriously depart from a linear relationship with the true divergence for multiple populations of a different population size and significant population expansion. Here, to address this problem, we propose a novel measure to estimate the genetic divergence time of populations. Computer simulation revealed that the new measure maintained an excellent linear correlation with the population divergence time in complicated multi-population scenarios with population expansion. Utilizing the new measure and microsatellite data of 21 Native American populations, we investigated the genetic divergences of the Native American populations. The results indicated that genetic divergences between North American populations are greater than that between Central and South American populations. None of the divergences, however, were large enough to constitute convincing evidence supporting the two-wave or multi-wave migration model for the initial entry of human beings into America. The genetic affinity of the Native American populations was further explored using Neighbor-Net and the genetic divergences suggested that these populations could be categorized into four genetic groups living in four different ecologic zones. The divergence of the population groups suggests that the early dispersion of human beings in America was a multi-step procedure. Further, the divergences suggest the rapid dispersion of Native Americans in Central and South Americas after a long standstill period in North America.
Richer but more unequal? nutrition and caste gaps

This paper explores children's cognitive outcomes using novel panel data from India for children 6 months through 8 years. For the first time in a developing country, this allow us to estimate a value-added model of cognitive development at a very young age. We look at the nutrition-cognition link and at the relationship between caste and test scores. We use an instrumental variable approach and find that a 1 standard deviation increase in height-for-age at the age of 5 leads to cognitive test scores that are about a 16 per cent of a SD higher at age 8. Our analysis suggests that the differences in income levels between castes found in adulthood arise early in childhood. After controlling for a wide range of controls; upper caste children show a substantial advantage in vocabulary tests, but most importantly, they show a more pronounced gender inequality than their lower caste counterparts. Compensating low caste children with the average nutritional status of their upper caste counterparts would close around one fifth of the caste cognitive differentials. We also show that UC families discriminate more against girls. Using a sub-sample of the data with the siblings' birth weight in a unique way, we find that family fixed effects explain 1SD of the overall nutrition-cognition effect.
An Exact Inference Scheme for MinSAT

We describe an exact inference-based algorithm for the MinSAT problem. Given a multiset of clauses φ, the algorithm derives as many empty clauses as the maximum number of clauses that can be falsified in φ by applying finitely many times an inference rule, and returns an optimal assignment. We prove the correctness of the algorithm, describe how it can be extended to deal with weighted MinSAT and weighted partial MinSAT instances, analyze the differences between the MaxSAT and MinSAT inference schemes, and define and empirically evaluate the MinSAT Pure Literal Rule.
January Reversal in the US Weekend Effect

Average returns for small firm size portfolios tend to decrease during the week in January, with Monday returns highest and Friday lowest. More striking are the results after controlling for Mondays and Fridays in the first and the last 3 weeks of January. Monday returns in this first week are significantly positive and inversely related to size. Monday returns are also significantly positive for the small firm size portfolio in the last 3 weeks of January. But returns on Friday are insignificantly different from zero after controlling for Fridays in the first week and the last three weeks of January. The first Monday in January is particularly critical to the reversal of the end-of-the-week effect at the turn-of-the-year, with abnormal demand for stocks following the first weekend of a new calendar year possibly responsible for this anomaly within an anomaly.
Social Consequences of Economic Segregation

The empirical literature has not been successful in generating robust results for a positive relationship between income inequality and social unrest outcomes such as crime and suicide. This paper questions the use of standard income inequality measures (e.g., Gini coefficient) in such studies and shows that income-mobility-based measures are effective in explaining outcomes of social unrest. Analyses of Korean and the United States region-byyear data suggest that crime and suicide rates are better explained by income immobility (i.e., the degree of economic segregation) rather than the inequality aspects of income distribution. The explanatory power improves as a heavier weight is placed on the poor group's degree of immobility. Findings in the current study will be helpful for guiding future efforts to develop more effective measures of social unrest.
A System Dynamics Energy Model for a Sustainable Transportation System

The transportation sector is one of the most resilient to the shift away from oil. Policies have been put in place in different regions to introduce alternative fuels and reduce the road transportation heavy dependency on oil products and the related environmental impacts; results, however, are in most cases disappointing. The system is resilient and goes back to the historical dichotomy gasoline-diesel. If from a policy maker perspective, a system dynamics model of the automotive sector can lead to the development of effective policies to achieve sustainable mobility, from an energy company perspective, such a model could be used to analyze possible threats and design optimal adaptation strategies for a highly volatile and market that is always on the edge of starting a new major transition. The model here presented can serve both purposes, and the results obtained show how a similar instrument can really make the difference in highly dynamic sectors with ongoing major transitions.
The Behaviour of Consumer Prices Across Provinces

Measures of core inflation enable a central bank to distinguish price movements that are transitory and generated by non-monetary events from those that are more permanent and related to prior monetary policy decisions. The author uses standard statistical measures to assess the behaviour of consumer prices across provinces and identify price components with more divergent price patterns. The results indicate that energy, shelter and tobacco prices are the most volatile across provinces. Very large price movements restricted to one or a few provinces suggest that the forces or events triggering those movements may be province specific and unrelated to national demand pressures. Such results suggest that constructing a type of core inflation measure called the “trimmed mean” that excludes components with exceptionally large price changes at the provincial level may offer an alternative means of assessing underlying inflationary pressures.
Evaluating sleep in bipolar disorder: comparison between actigraphy, polysomnography, and sleep diary

Kaplan KA, Talbot LS, Gruber J, Harvey AG. Evaluating sleep in bipolar disorder: comparison between actigraphy, polysomnography, and sleep diary. Bipolar Disord 2012: 14: 870–879. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Soy Milk Consumption, Inflammation, Coagulation, and Oxidative Stress Among Type 2 Diabetic Patients With Nephropathy

OBJECTIVE To determine the effects of soy milk consumption compared with cow’s milk on inflammation, coagulation, and oxidative stress among patients with diabetic nephropathy. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This randomized, crossover clinical trial was conducted on 25 type 2 diabetic patients with nephropathy. This study had two trial phases, each for 4 weeks and one washout period for 2 weeks. Patients were randomly assigned to consume a diet containing soy milk or a diet containing cow’s milk. RESULTS Soy milk consumption resulted in a significant reduction in d-dimer level (percent change: −3.77 vs. 16.13%; P < 0.05). This significant effect remained even after adjusting for confounding factor (carbohydrate intake). However, soy milk consumption had no significant effects on tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and malondialdehyde levels. The result was near to significance regarding the effect of soy milk consumption on hs-CRP (percent change: −35.45 vs. 36.76%; P = 0.05). However, this effect was not significant after adjusting for the confounding variable (carbohydrate intake). CONCLUSIONS Soy milk consumption could decrease serum d-dimer level among type 2 diabetic patients with nephropathy. However, markers of inflammation and oxidative stress did not change following soy milk intake among these patients.
COMMON. STATIST.-STOCHASTIC MODELS. 13(3).457-490 (1997) ANALYTIC PERTURBATION ANALYSIS FOR DEDS WITH DISCONTINUOUS SAMPLE-PATH FUNCTIONSl

This paper considers a new Analytic Perturbation Analysis (APA) approach for Discrete Event Dynamic Systems (DEDS) with discontinuous sample-path functions with respect to control parameters. The performance functions for DEDS usually are formulated as mathematical expectations, which can be calculated only numerically. APA is based on . I new analytic formulas for the gradients of expectations of indicator funcI , tions; therefore, it is called analytic perturbation analysis. The gradient ,! of performance function may not coincide with the expectation of a gradient of sample-path function (i.e., the interchange formula for the gradient and expectation sign may not be valid). Estimates of gradients can be obtained with one simulation run of the models. The approach is demonstrated with three examples: a simple "shut down" problem, a multiclass queuing network, and a failure probability of inspected mechanical components. Numerical simulations are performed for the second example.
Polarization of High-Energy Emission from the Crab Pulsar

We investigate the polarization of the high-energy emission from the Crab pulsar within the framework of the outer gap accelerator, following previous studies by Cheng and coworkers. A recent version of the outer gap, in which the gap extends from inside the null charge surface to the light cylinder, is used to examine the synchrotron radiation from the secondary and tertiary pairs that are produced outside the gap. We are able to simultaneously reproduce the light curve, the spectrum, and the polarization characteristics by taking into account the gyration of the particles. The polarization position angle curve and the degree of polarization are calculated and compared with the Crab optical data. We demonstrate that the radiation from inside the null charge surface produces the outer wing and off-pulse portions of the light curve and that the tertiary pairs contribute to the bridge emission. The emission from the secondary pairs explains the main features of the observed light curve and spectrum. On the other hand, the emissions both from inside the null charge surface and from the tertiary pairs are required in order to explain the optical polarization behavior of the Crab pulsar. The energy dependence of the polarization features is predicted by the model. The polarization position angle curve indicates that our viewing angle as measured from the pulsar's rotational axis is greater than 90°.
A Dueling Segmented LRU Replacement Algorithm with Adaptive Bypassing

In this paper we present a high performance cache replacement algorithm called Dueling Segmented LRU replacement algorithm with adaptive Bypassing (DSB). The base algorithm is Segmented LRU (SLRU) replacement algorithm originally proposed for disk cache management. We introduce three enhancements to the base SLRU algorithm. First, a newly allocated line could be randomly promoted for better protection. Second, an aging algorithm is used to remove stale cache lines. Most importantly, we propose a novel scheme to track whether cache bypassing is effective. Based on the tracking results, we can adaptively adjust bypassing to fit workload behavior. DSB algorithm is implemented with a policy selector to dynamically select two variants of SLRU algorithms with different
Translational Research in Acute Lung Injury and Pulmonary Fibrosis Kinetic profiling of in vivo lung cellular inflammatory responses to mechanical ventilation

Woods SJ, Waite AC, O’Dea KP, Halford P, Takata M, Wilson MR. Kinetic profiling of in vivo lung cellular inflammatory responses to mechanical ventilation. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 308: L912–L921, 2015. First published March 13, 2015; doi:10.1152/ajplung.00048. 2015. —Mechanical ventilation, through overdistension of the lung, induces substantial inflammation that is thought to increase mortality among critically ill patients. The mechanotransduction processes involved in converting lung distension into inflammation during this ventilatorinduced lung injury (VILI) remain unclear, although many cell types have been shown to be involved in its pathogenesis. This study aimed to identify the profile of in vivo lung cellular activation that occurs during the initiation of VILI. This was achieved using a flow cytometry-based method to quantify the phosphorylation of several markers (p38, ERK1/2, MAPK-activated protein kinase 2, and NFB) of inflammatory pathway activation within individual cell types. Anesthetized C57BL/6 mice were ventilated with low (7 ml/kg), intermediate (30 ml/kg), or high (40 ml/kg) tidal volumes for 1, 5, or 15 min followed by immediate fixing and processing of the lungs. Surprisingly, the pulmonary endothelium was the cell type most responsive to in vivo high-tidal-volume ventilation, demonstrating activation within just 1 min, followed by the alveolar epithelium. Alveolar macrophages were the slowest to respond, although they still demonstrated activation within 5 min. This order of activation was specific to VILI, since intratracheal lipopolysaccharide induced a very different pattern. These results suggest that alveolar macrophages may become activated via a secondary mechanism that occurs subsequent to activation of the parenchyma and that the lung cellular activation mechanism may be different between VILI and lipopolysaccharide. Our data also demonstrate that even very short periods of high stretch can promote inflammatory activation, and, importantly, this injury may be immediately manifested within the pulmonary vasculature.
MULTIWAVELENGTH PHOTOMETRY IN THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER M2

We present a multiwavelength photometric analysis of the globular cluster M2. The data set has been obtained by combining high-resolution (Hubble Space Telescope/WFPC2 and ACS) and wide-field (Galaxy Evolution Explorer) space observations and ground-based (MEGACAM-CFHT, EMMI-NTT) images. The photometric sample covers the entire cluster extension from the very central regions up to the tidal radius and beyond. It allows an accurate determination of the cluster center of gravity and other structural parameters derived from the star count density profile. Moreover, we study the Blue Straggler Star (BSS) population and its radial distribution. A total of 123 BSSs have been selected, and their radial distribution has been found to be bimodal (highly peaked in the center, decreasing at intermediate radii, and rising outward), as already found in a number of other clusters. The radial position of the minimum of the BSS distribution is consistent with the radius of avoidance caused by the dynamical friction of massive (1.2 M☉) objects over the cluster age. We also searched for gradients in the red giant branch (RGB) and the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) populations. At the 2σ level, we found an overabundance of AGB stars within the core radius and confirmed the result of Sohn et al. that the central region of M2 is bluer than the outer part. We show that the latter is due to a deficit of very luminous RGB stars in the central region.
“Salesman, dreamer and son‐of‐a‐bitch”

Management research on strategic issues has focussed on economic and market forces surrounding a firm. Although this has re‐emphasized the need to become more attentive to the needs of customers and the activities of competitors, many companies are still finding it difficult to gain competitive advantage. Suggests that strategy should be given an “inside‐out” perspective as something that managers do rather than copy from outside the organization. Reports on research concerning the issues and concerns which underpin the agendas of MD/CEOs of a number of organizations in South Yorkshire. Develops a tool, quality executive development (QED), aimed at assisting the MD/CEOs in auditing their agendas.
Anchors Away: How Fiscal Policy Can Undermine the Taylor Principle

Slow moving demographics are aging populations around the world and pushing many countries into an extended period of heightened fiscal stress. In some countries, taxes alone cannot or likely will not fully fund projected pension and health care expenditures. If economic agents place sufficient probability on the economy hitting its "fiscal limit" at some point in the future--after which further tax revenues are not forthcoming--it may no longer be possible for monetary policy behavior that obeys the Taylor principle to control inflation or anchor inflation expectations. In the period leading up to the fiscal limit, the more aggressively that monetary policy leans against inflationary winds, the more expected inflation becomes unhinged from the inflation target. Problems confronting monetary policy are exacerbated when policy institutions leave fiscal objectives and targets unspecified and, therefore, fiscal expectations unanchored. In light of this theory, the paper contrasts monetary-fiscal policy frameworks in the United States and Chile.
The frequency of U-shaped dose responses in the toxicological literature.

Hormesis has been defined as a dose-response relationship in which there is a stimulatory response at low doses, but an inhibitory response at high doses, resulting in a U- or inverted U-shaped dose response. To assess the proportion of studies satisfying criteria for evidence of hormesis, a database was created from published toxicological literature using rigorous a priori entry and evaluative criteria. One percent (195 out of 20,285) of the published articles contained 668 dose-response relationships that met the entry criteria. Subsequent application of evaluative criteria revealed that 245 (37% of 668) dose-response relationships from 86 articles (0.4% of 20,285) satisfied requirements for evidence of hormesis. Quantitative evaluation of false-positive and false-negative responses indicated that the data were not very susceptible to such influences. A complementary analysis of all dose responses assessed by hypothesis testing or distributional analyses, where the units of comparison were treatment doses below the NOAEL, revealed that of 1089 doses below the NOAEL, 213 (19.5%) satisfied statistical significance or distributional data evaluative criteria for hormesis, 869 (80%) did not differ from the control, and 7 (0.6%) displayed evidence of false-positive values. The 32.5-fold (19.5% vs 0.6%) greater occurrence of hormetic responses than a response of similar magnitude in the opposite (negative) direction strongly supports the nonrandom nature of hormetic responses. This study, which provides the first documentation of a data-derived frequency of hormetic responses in the toxicologically oriented literature, indicates that when the study design satisfies a priori criteria (i.e., a well-defined NOAEL, > or = 2 doses below the NOAEL, and the end point measured has the capacity to display either stimulatory or inhibitory responses), hormesis is frequently encountered and is broadly represented according to agent, model, and end point. These findings have broad-based implications for study design, risk assessment methods, and the establishment of optimal drug doses and suggest important evolutionarily adaptive strategies for dose-response relationships.
Restructuring Australia: Regionalism, Republicanism and Reform of the Nation-state

Restructuring Australia AJ Brown and Wayne Hudson Part I Regionalism Regionalism: an introduction AJ Brown What is regionalism? Ian Gray Why every major region should be its own State Geoffrey Blainey Do we need a federal system? The case for abolishing State governments Jim Soorley A republican federation of regions: re-forming a wastefully governed Australia Chris Hurford The constitutional framework for a regional Australia Cheryl Saunders Part II Republicanism Republicanism: an introduction Wayne Hudson Australian republicanism, sovereignty and the States David Flint The republic, democracy and reconciliation Mark McKenna A maximalist republic: achieving constitutional change by a strategic, participative process Klaas Woldring A model for electing the Australian president George Winterton Political parties and constitutional change Brian Galligan Part III Reform of the Nation-State Reform of the nation-state: an introduction AJ Brown Globalisation, identities and the Australian nation-state Wayne Hudson Restructuring Australia: from economic to social to political change Linda Hancock Responsible federalism Tony Abbott From One Nation to new nation: Australian federalism in a globalising world Allan Patience Go global, think local: rethinking national constitutions in the age of globalisation Charles Sampford and AJ Brown Regionalism, republicanism and the role of the nation-state: a young person's perspective Reuben Humphries Index