Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of benthic and hyporheic reactive transport on breakthrough curves

In streams and rivers, the benthic and hyporheic regions harbor the microbes that process many stream-borne constituents, including O2, nutrients, C, and contaminants. The full distribution of transport time scales in these highly reactive regions must be understood because solute delivery and extended storage in these metabolically active zones control the opportunity for biogeochemical processing. The most commonly used transport models cannot capture these effects. We present a stochastic model for conservative and reactive solute transport in rivers based on continuous-time random-walk theory, which is capable of distinguishing and capturing processes not described by classical approaches. The model includes surface and subsurface storage zones with arbitrary residence-time distributions. We used this model to evaluate the effects of sorption and biological uptake on downstream solute transport. Linear or mildly nonlinear sorption in storage delays downstream transport without changing the fundamental shape of the breakthrough curves (BTCs). Highly nonlinear sorption isotherms can induce power-law tailing in stream BTCs. Model simulations show that sorption of commonly used solute tracers is not sufficient to explain the power-law tailing that has been observed in field tracer-injection studies, and instead, such tailing most probably reflects broad distributions of hyporheic exchange time scales. First-order biological uptake causes an exponential decline in in-stream tracer concentrations at the time scale of the uptake kinetics, thereby tempering power-law BTCs. The model can be used to calculate reach-scale reaction-rate coefficients in surface and subsurface storage from observed BTCs of co-injected conservative and reactive solutes, providing new capability to determine reaction-rate coefficients in storage zones with broad residence-time distributions.
Effects of index selection on the carcass composition of sheep given eitherad libitumor controlled amounts of food

Sheep of a line (S) selected on an index to increase lean weight and decrease fatness at an age, and a control line (C), were given a high quality food at different levels including ad libitum . Live performance was measured from about 21 to 114 kg live weight. The carcasses of each line were analysed for lean, fat and bone at three widely varying weights in both males and females. Level of feeding did not affect the extent to which S was superior to C in either the level of fatness in the carcass (0·86 as much) or the ratio of lean to fat (1·28 as much). The lean to bone ratio was slightly greater in S (1·028 of the value of C; P < 0·05) and was higher on the lowest level of feeding compared with the two higher levels used ( P < 0·05 in one experiment on females and P < 0·001 in another on males). On ad libitum feeding the S line grew 1·19 times as fast and was 1·17 times as efficient compared with C. These advantages to S decreased as level of feeding decreased to become virtually zero at the lowest level of feeding used, which allowed C to grow at only 0·53 of the rate seen on ad libitum feeding. On ad libitum feeding growth was well described by a Gompertz growth function of the form W = (Z/B) exp(-exp (G 0 ‐B t)). The maximum growth rate is (Z/e). Line S had a value of Z that was 1·10 that of C averaged across the two sexes. A Spillman function W = W 0 + (A-W 0 ) (1-exp (-k F)) was used to describe weight, W, in terms of cumulative intake, F. It worked well for ad libitum feeding and for the two restricted regimes used. The value of the combined parameter (A k) varied across treatments in the same way as efficiency did.
Fast soliton-like charge pulses in insulating polymers

A previously unknown mode of conduction is identified in insulating polymers at moderate fields (40–50 MV/m). This takes the form of coherent charged pulses with a mobility (∼10−10 m2V−1s−1) several orders of magnitude larger than that traditionally associated with independent charge carriers (∼10−14 m2V−1s−1). It is shown that this phenomenon is consistent with a mechanism in which a charged compression boundary is formed electro-mechanically during injection and thereafter travels as a coherent solitary wave (soliton) through the polymer.
Assessing the fidelity of AOGCM‐simulated relationships between large‐scale modes of climate variability and wind speeds

The ability of atmosphere‐ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) to reproduce associations between surface/near‐surface variables over the United States (US) and large‐scale modes of climate variability has implications for evaluating possible biases in future climate projections and is an important model diagnostic. Indices of three such modes (El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Arctic Oscillation (AO), and the Pacific‐North American (PNA) pattern) and their relationships to wind speeds over the contiguous US are derived using historical reanalysis products and then used to evaluate the fidelity of AOGCM simulations of both the climate modes and the teleconnections. In the reanalysis data, the response of middle and upper troposphere wind speeds to ENSO phase is found to be essentially symmetric with anomalies of opposite sign occurring during the warm and cold phases. The AO and PNA phases are both associated with higher wind speeds relative to “neutral” conditions. AOGCMs from Phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) produce AO‐ and PNA‐like spatial patterns which exhibit good accord with those from NCEP‐NCAR Reanalysis. The AOGCM‐derived climate indices also exhibit general agreement with reanalysis‐derived indices in terms of the frequencies associated with highest variance, although the agreement is better for AO and PNA than it is for ENSO. The AOGCMs are in good agreement with the NNR in terms of representation of the influence of the AO and PNA on winds over the contiguous US. However, for ENSO, AOGCMs fail to consistently capture the observed relationship between La Niña and near‐surface to middle troposphere winds.
Activation of NF-κB by FADD, Casper, and Caspase-8*

Fas-associated death domain protein (FADD), caspase-8-related protein (Casper), and caspase-8 are components of the tumor necrosis factor receptor type 1 (TNF-R1) and Fas signaling complexes that are involved in TNF-R1- and Fas-induced apoptosis. Here we show that overexpression of FADD and Casper potently activates NF-κB. In the presence of caspase inhibitors, overexpression of caspase-8 also activates NF-κB. A caspase-inactive point mutant, caspase-8(C360S), activates NF-κB as potently as wild-type caspase-8, suggesting that caspase-8-induced apoptosis and NF-κB activation are uncoupled. NF-κB activation by FADD and Casper is inhibited by the caspase-specific inhibitors crmA and BD-fmk, suggesting that FADD- and Casper-induced NF-κB activation is mediated by caspase-8. FADD, Casper, and caspase-8-induced NF-κB activation are inhibited by dominant negative mutants of TRAF2, NIK, IκB kinase α, and IκB kinase β. A dominant negative mutant of RIP inhibits FADD- and caspase-8-induced but not Casper-induced NF-κB activation. A mutant of Casper and the caspase-specific inhibitors crmA and BD-fmk partially inhibit TNF-R1-, TRADD, and TNF-induced NF-κB activation, suggesting that FADD, Casper, and caspase-8 function downstream of TRADD and contribute to TNF-R1-induced NF-κB activation. Moreover, activation of caspase-8 results in proteolytic processing of NIK, which is inhibited by crmA. When overexpressed, the processed fragments of NIK do not activate NF-κB, and the processed C-terminal fragment inhibits TNF-R1-induced NF-κB activation. These data indicate that FADD, Casper, and pro-caspase-8 are parts of the TNF-R1-induced NF-κB activation pathways, whereas activated caspase-8 can negatively regulate TNF-R1-induced NF-κB activation by proteolytically inactivating NIK.
Living beyond the limits of survival: wood ants trapped in a gigantic pitfall

A unique accumulation of workers (‘colony’) of the wood ant Formica polyctena Först. , trapped within an old bunker for storing nuclear weapons, is described. The source of the ‘colony’ is a large colony nesting outdoors, on top of the bunker. Individuals that have fallen down through a ventilation pipe are not able to find their way back to the mother nest. In total darkness, they have constructed an earthen mound, which they have maintained all-year-round by moulding it and keeping the nest entrances open. Judging from the huge deposits of wood-ant corpses in the bunker, the ‘colony’ has survived for years. Through these years, the mortality has been more than compensated by new workers that fall down during the active season of the free-living colony outside, and at present the number of the bunker workers is counted in hundreds of thousands. The ‘colony’ has evidently produced no offspring, which is due to low (though relatively stable) temperatures and scanty food in the bunker.
Dental caries and associated factors among Brazilian adolescents: a longitudinal study

A decrease in caries experience among children has been observed in all countries. However, this subject has yet to be further investigated in adolescents. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence and incidence of caries disease and determine possible factors associated to this condition among adolescents. A 2-phase longitudinal study was performed. The first phase comprised a prevalence study of caries carried out with children aged 11 to 13 years (n=247). The second phase was performed with the same participants at the ages of 15 to 17 years. DMF-T and Significant Caries Index (SiC) were used to assess dental caries experience. A logistic regression model analysis of data was performed. On the first phase, 69.23% of the subjects presented caries. The DMFT was 2.52 ± 2.54 and the SiC was 4.23 ±2.72. In the second phase, 88.26% of the subjects presented caries. The DMFT and the SiC were 5.27 ±4.10 and 10.58 ±3.13, respectively. Caries incidence was 2.94 ±3.05. The multivariate analysis identified that the individuals belonging to the most deprived social classes presented a 2.51-fold (1.22-5.19; p=0.012) higher chance of having experience caries (1st phase). The chance was 2.51-fold (1.21-2.55; p=0.013) higher in the 2nd phase. In conclusion, high caries prevalence and incidence were observed in the studied population and social factors were associated with these findings. Socioeconomic factors showed a direct association with caries experience.
Content Based Lesson Plans inside the English Rural Classrooms.

This piece of work gives account of a classroom research project done in a rural state institution in Colombia whose main purpose was to contextualize the foreign languages teaching and learning in line with the current curriculum regulations stated by the National Ministry of Education. Content-based instruction inside a rural English classroom was examined and informed. The results revealed that the content-based instruction approach was useful to integrate environmental issues with the grammar and the communicative uses of the language. Rural high school students get more motivated when they feel a stronger and real connection between the language they learn and their touching and closest reality they perceive. It was also found that applying these environmental issues in a rural scholar context caused awareness in students according to the use and importance the English as a foreign language can be imply in their social development highlighting the real relevance in their current lives. Conclusions highlight some perspectives and implications derived from the application of several lesson plans incorporating the crisis of the planet and its possible solutions as the core content.
EXPERIENCING STRESS AND STRESS SYMPTOMS AMONG SLOVENE MANAGERS

The aim of this study is to identify experiencing stress level at work, the stress symptoms frequency among Slovene managers, and to establish gender differences in terms of the intensity of experiencing stress symptoms. 85 middle level managers from Slovene companies of random choice participated in this study. The obtained data have been processed with SPSS 16.0 and the descriptive statistics, using frequency distribution and t-test data processing statistic methods to analyze them. The results of the study have shown that there are gender differences in terms of all the above mentioned factors, namely a statistically higher level of stress in women. In terms of stress symptoms occurrence, there are gender differences in some stress symptoms as well as in the intensity of experiencing stress symptoms.
Age and growth of European bitterling [Rhodeus sericeus] in the Wieprz-Krzna Canal, Poland

The age and growth of bitterling, a small Eurasian cyprinid, were studied in the Wieprz-Krzna Canal, a poorly structured irrigation canal located in eastern Poland. Its population was represented by five age groups (0+ to 4+). Scale annuli were clearly visible and often displayed as irregularities in circuli in the centrolateral part of the scales. The number of annuli detected on scales corresponded to the number of bands seen in the opercular bone; however, the first annulus was difficult to observe in reflected light. The Bhattacharya method followed by modal class progression analysis was useful to validate age. Several normal components were clearly necessary to explain the length-frequency distribution and the most likely solution consisted of 5 age groups with separation index values greater than 2. A comparison of observed and back-calculated lengths showed good agreement. There were no significant differences between mean back-calculated lengths of different sexes. The von Bertalanffy growth function was fitted to length-at-age data and displayed variation in growth rates between sexes. The asymptotic length estimates were suitable for females, for which maximum observed length was 74 mm (weight = 5.46 g) but clearly underestimated for males (for which maximum size was 75 mm and 5.73 g). There were no significant differences between sexes in the slope of the length-weight relationship and the common slope for both sexes (bc = 3.64) was significantly greater than 3 indicating an allometric growth pattern of bitterling. A spline regression estimated a shift in the weight-length relationship at average maturity size.
I. STAR FORMATION IN T AND OB ASSOCIATIONS

o The OB ass ciati ns, which are f ssil star f rmati n regi ns, retain the endpr ducts f the star f rmati n pr cess in an pen, un bscured envir nment. Observati ns f the l w-mass stars in OB ass ciati ns pr vide a far clearer picture f the results f the star f rmati n pr cess than d bservati ns f embedded regi ns f ng ing star f rmati n. We review the X-ray and ptical surveys f the f ssil star f rmati n regi ns in the Ori n OB1 ass ciati n. L w-mass pre-mainsequence stars n t nly ab und in the kn wn regi ns f recent star f rmati n but are als distributed ver a much larger v lume. The pre-main-sequence stars have a narr w age spread, and the mass functi n extends d wn t substellar masses. The clustering f pre-main-sequence stars ar und Ori may represent an ev lved versi n f the Ori n Nebula Cluster. We speculate ab ut the effect f the OB envir nment n the initial mass functi n and the f rmati n f planetary systems like the s lar system.
Transient Hot-Wire Experimental System for Measuring the Effective Thermal Conductivity of a Ceramic Breeder Pebble Bed

Abstract Characterizing the thermo-physical properties of the ceramic breeder pebble bed is an integral step of developing breeder blankets for fusion energy applications. To that end, thermal conductivity is an important parameter to identify. In granular pebble bed materials, the thermal conductivity depends on the solid pebble material as well as any gas filling the interstitial void spaces, thus an effective thermal conductivity () of the bulk is used. A transient hot-wire apparatus is developed through a collaborative study between the Fusion Science and Technology Center at UCLA and the National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI) to measure the effective thermal conductivity of Korean-made Li2TiO3 pebble beds. In this study, current is pushed through a single strand of high purity platinum wire. The heat generated is conducted away by the surrounding pebble bed; the logarithmic change in temperature being used to calculate the rate of heat conductance. The apparatus is filled with roughly an atmosphere of helium and placed in a furnace to test the pebble bed under reactor relevant temperatures. Results and future improvements are presented.
Split energy–helicity cascades in three-dimensional homogeneous and isotropic turbulence

Abstract We investigate the transfer properties of energy and helicity fluctuations in fully developed homogeneous and isotropic turbulence by changing the nature of the nonlinear Navier–Stokes terms. We perform a surgery of all possible interactions, by keeping only those triads that have sign-definite helicity content. In order to do this, we apply an exact decomposition of the velocity field in a helical Fourier basis, as first proposed by Constantin & Majda (Commun. Math. Phys, vol. 115, 1988, p. 435) and exploited in great detail by Waleffe (Phys. Fluids A, vol. 4, 1992, p. 350), and we evolve the Navier–Stokes dynamics keeping only those velocity components carrying a well-defined (positive or negative) helicity. The resulting dynamics preserves translational and rotational symmetries but not mirror invariance. We give clear evidence that this three-dimensional homogeneous and isotropic chiral turbulence is characterized by a stationary inverse energy cascade with a spectrum ${E}_{back} (k)\sim {k}^{- 5/ 3} $ and by a direct helicity cascade with a spectrum ${E}_{forw} (k)\sim {k}^{- 7/ 3} $ . Our results are important to highlight the dynamics and statistics of those subsets of all possible Navier–Stokes interactions responsible for reversal events in the energy-flux properties, and demonstrate that the presence of an inverse energy cascade is not necessarily connected to a two-dimensionalization of the flow. We further comment on the possible relevance of such findings to flows of geophysical interest under rotations and in thin layers. Finally we propose other innovative numerical experiments that can be achieved by using a similar decimation of degrees of freedom.
Valproic acid promotes neuronal differentiation and GABAergic interneuron formation in primary hippocampal stem cells

Background: Neural stem cells (NSCs) are currently under investigation as a candidate treatment for neuronal damage and disrupted neuronal connections. Valproic acid (VPA), which is a widely prescribed drug for epilepsy in the clinic, has differential effects on growth, proliferation and differentiation in many types of cells. Whether VPA can induce the differentiation of NSCs into neurons and its possible molecular mechanism, however, remain largely unknown. Methods: The effects of VPA on the neuronal differentiation of NSCs were detected in vitro. The neuronal differentiation of NSCs from the embryonic hippocampus was examined after treatment with 0.75 mM VPA for three and seven days by immunochemical analysis. Western blot was employed to examine the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and neurotrophin-3 (NT3). Results: The results indicated that there were more Dcx+ and GABA+ cells and fewer GFAP+ and O4+ cells in the VPA-treated group than in the control group. The expression of BDNF, GDNF and NT-3 in the VPA-treated group was significantly greater than that of the control group, suggesting that VPA enhances the fate determination of NSCs to produce more neurons and fewer gliocytes. Conclusion: Collectively, our findings indicated that VPA was able to induce the neuronal differentiation of NSCs and enhance the maturation of NSCs into GABAergic interneurons.
Precursors to family formation and socioeconomic development

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (N = 1938), a birth cohort study, this work examined how income and changes in income are associated with life course transitions regarding relationship status, such as marriage or breaking up, and transitioning to parenthood in first cohabiting unions. Results were consistent with the Financial Expectation and Family Formation theory given that income and changes in income were associated with greater odds of marriage, but not related to parenthood. Introduction There is considerable interest among family demographers and other social science researchers on examining precursors and consequences of different pathways towards family formation. This is a complex task given that the family life course transition towards marriage and parenthood has become less homogenous as a variety of pathways to family formation have unfolded over the past few decades (Cherlin, 2010). Marriage is no longer a universal norm as a setting for childbearing as the timing and transition of parenthood has become more common outside the context of marriage (Cherlin, 2010; Bumpass & Lu, 2000). For example, 40.1 % of all births in 2010 occurred outside of marriage (Hamilton, Martin, Ventura, 2011), compared with just 4% during the 1950s (Cherlin, 2010). These increases have been driven largely by the expansion of cohabitation in the United States and
NiO Nanoparticles: Synthesis and Characterization

In the current paper,Nanostructured Nickel oxide (NiO) were synthesized by co-precipitation method using Nickel(II) Chloride Hexahydrate (NiCl2.6H2O) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as starting material. Structural, optical and magnetic properties of nanostructures were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Atomic force microscope (AFM), UV–Vis absorption; Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) technique. The X-ray diffraction pattern studies revealed the NiO have a face-centered cubic (FCC) structure and confirmed the presence of high degree of crystallinity nature NiO nanoparticles that their average size is found to be 26 nm. The composition of nanostructures confirmed by analysis of FTIR spectra. The average size of the NiO nanoparticle observed from scanning electron microscopy images is found to be dimensions about 24 nm. Magnetic measurement confirmed the Nickel Oxide nanostructures superparamagnetic behavior at room temperature (RT) after calcinations.
Distinguishing between Cold Dark Matter and Modified Newtonian Dynamics: Predictions for the Microwave Background

Two hypothesized solutions for the mass discrepancy problem are cold dark matter and modified Newtonian dynamics. The virtues and vices of these very different hypotheses are largely disjointed, making the process of distinguishing between them very dependent on how we weigh disparate lines of evidence. One clear difference is the nature of the principal mass constituent of the universe (cold dark matter or baryons). This difference in the baryon fraction (fb ≈ 0.1 vs. 1) should leave a distinctive signature in the spectrum of fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background. Here I discuss some of the signatures that should be detectable in the near future. The most promising appears to be the ratio of the amplitudes of the first two peaks relative to the intervening trough.