Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Working Paper No

The sustainability of the welfare state ultimately depends on citizens’ preferences for income redistribution. They are elicited through a Discrete Choice Experiment performed in 2008 in Switzerland. Attributes are redistribution as GDP share, its uses (the unemployed, old-age pensioners, people with ill health etc.), and nationality of beneficiary. Estimated marginal willingness to pay (WTP) is positive among those who deem benefits too low, and negative otherwise. However, even those who state that government should reduce income inequality exhibit a negative WTP on average. The major finding is that estimated average WTP is maximum at 21% of GDP, clearly below the current value of 25%. Thus, the present Swiss welfare state does not appear sustainable.
Unsteady flow in hydraulic networks with polymeric additional pipe

This paper presents results of an experimental and theoretical study on the use of a high density polyethylene (HDPE) additional pipe inserted downstream of a pump in a hydraulic network as a surge suppressor. The experiments consistently show a reduction of the oscillations with respect to the case without a HDPE device, while in the case of a single pumping pipeline the oscillations can be amplified for small volumes of the additional pipe. Previously calibrated mechanical parameters are considered in the mathematical models whose results are compared with experimental results. Both linear elastic and Kelvin-Voigt viscoelastic behavior of the pipe material and both one-dimensional (1D) and quasi-2D flow models are taken into account. The numerical results show that the viscoelastic model better describes the phenomenon, but the elastic model adequately estimates the maximum and minimum oscillations. Furthermore, the results of the quasi-2D model are in better agreement with the experimental maximum and minimum oscillations than those of the 1D model, but the differences are less important than in the case of networks without a HDPE device.
DAT1 5′-Un-Translated-Region Methylation Patterns as Bio-Markers of ADHD Psycho-Pathology: Contribution to Disease Prognosis and to Monitoring of a Successful Therapy

Epigenetic modifications, such as changes in DNA methylation, have been linked to several diseases in recent years. The purpose of our study was to search for biomarkers that (using non-invasive techniques) could assist the clinician in the prognosis of infant/adolescent psychopathology. We previously showed that changes in methylation of the 5’-UTR in the DAT1/SLC6A3 gene can be used as a biomarker for the prognosis of initial severe ADHD: treatment-resistant severe ADHD children were characterized by methylated CpG 1 in particular, while methylated CpGs 2 and 6 were then found in children who improved after the therapy. Further, we confirmed these outcomes and provided the hypothesis that symptomatology might be influenced by the children’s genotype and family environment. In particular, levels of CpG 3 methylation in the heterozygous ADHD children were associated with high paternal own risk or stress. Eventually, we found that the same biomarkers are more broadly useful in the field of internalizing or externalizing symptoms (when a certain vulnerability is already present in the child). In particular, it was seen how inheriting specific 9-repeat or 10-repeat VNTR alleles from the mother or from the father could modify the pattern of methylation at the 5′-UTR of the DAT1 gene. A specific pattern of methylations (with CpG 2 following either CpGs 1 + 3 or CpG 6 at the DAT1 5′-UTR) has been associated, therefore, with the likelihood of an internalizing or externalizing developmental trajectory entailing ADHD-like psycho-pathological characteristics. Since each individual responds differently to a specific treatment, we suggest that these methylation patterns may be used as biomarkers to monitor the outcome and/or predict the success of a given therapy (personalized medicine).
Asymmetric Price Transmission, Market Power, and Supply and Demand Curvature

This paper studies asymmetries in the magnitude of price transmission from farm to retail markets in a simple framework consisting of three stages of the market chain: farm, wholesale, and retail. The effects of farm supply curvature and buyer power in farm markets, in addition to those of consumer demand curvature and seller power in retail markets, on asymmetries in price transmission are examined. Strict convexity of farm supply and wholesalers/processors' buyer power in farm markets are shown to be a main reason for asymmetries in the magnitude of farm-retail price transmission. The effect of consumer demand curvature and seller power in retail markets on farm-retail price transmission is often indeterminate and tends to be relatively small.
Year‐round measurements of nitrogen oxides and ozone in the tropical North Atlantic marine boundary layer

[1] A highly sensitive chemiluminescence instrument has been deployed to measure nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) at the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory in the remote tropical North Atlantic marine boundary layer (MBL). Using two different methods, the instrument was assessed to have a detection limit of around 1.8 parts per trillion by volume (pptv) for NO and 5.5 pptv for NO 2 for hour-long integration periods. The overall accuracy was estimated at ∼18% for NO and 30% for NO 2 . Measurements of NO, NO 2 , and ozone (0 3 ) over a period of 12 months in 2007 show very low levels of NO x (typically <30 pptv) and net daytime ozone destruction on most days of the measurement period. Air originating over Africa exhibited the highest levels of NO x (∼35 pptv) and reduced daily 0 3 destruction, with 0 3 production observed on a few days. Air that had not originated over Africa showed lower NO x levels (∼25 pptv), with greater observed 0 3 destruction. A dependence of the observed 0 3 destruction on NO mixing ratios, averaged over all air masses, was observed and reproduced using a simple box model. The model results imply that the presence of between 17 and 34 pptv of NO (depending on the month) would be required to turn the tropical North Atlantic from an 0 3 destroying to an 0 3 producing regime.
UAS‐based remote sensing of fluvial change following an extreme flood event

The effects of large floods on river morphology are variable and poorly understood. In this study, we apply multi‐temporal datasets collected with small unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) to analyze three‐dimensional morphodynamic changes associated with an extreme flood event that occurred from 19 to 23 June 2013 on the Elbow River, Alberta. We documented reach‐scale spatial patterns of erosion and deposition using high‐resolution (4–5 cm/pixel) orthoimagery and digital elevation models (DEMs) produced from photogrammetry. Significant bank erosion and channel widening occurred, with an average elevation change of −0.24 m. The channel pattern was reorganized and overall elevation variation increased as the channel adjusted to full mobilization of most of the bed surface sediments. To test the extent to which geomorphic changes can be predicted from initial conditions, we compared shear stresses from a two‐dimensional hydrodynamic model of peak discharge to critical shear stresses for bed surface sediment sizes. We found no relation between modeled normalized shear stresses and patterns of scour and fill, confirming the complex nature of sediment mobilization and flux in high‐magnitude events. However, comparing modeled peak flows through the pre‐ and post‐flood topography showed that the flood resulted in an adjustment that contributes to overall stability, with lower percentages of bed area below thresholds for full mobility in the post‐flood geomorphic configuration. Overall, this work highlights the potential of UAS‐based remote sensing for measuring three‐dimensional changes in fluvial settings and provides a detailed analysis of potential relationships between flood forces and geomorphic change. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Ice sheet survey over Antarctica using satellite altimetry: ERS-2, Envisat, SARAL/AltiKa, the key importance of continuous observations along the same repeat orbit

From September 2002 to October 2010, the Envisat radar altimeter surveyed Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets on a 35 day repeat orbit, providing a unique data set for ice sheet mass balance studies. Up to 85 repeat cycles are available and the whole Envisat data set may be along-track processed in order to provide height variability and trend with a good spatial resolution for the objectives of ice sheet survey. Soon, a joint Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales/Indian Space Research Organisation mission, SARAL (Satellite with Argos and AltiKa), with the AltiKa payload on board, will be launched on exactly the same orbit (less than 1 km of the nomimal orbit in the across-track direction). This will allow an extension of previous European Remote Sensing (ERS) satellite, ERS-1 and ERS-2, and Envisat missions of the European Space Agency (ESA), in particular from the point of view of ice altimetry. However, AltiKa operates in the Ka band (36.8 GHz), a higher frequency than the classical Ku band (13.6 GHz), leading to important modifications and potential improvements in the interactions between radar wave and snow-pack. In this paper, a synthesis is presented of all available information relevant to ice altimetry scientific purposes as derived from the Envisat mission: mean and temporal derivatives of the height − but also of the backscatter and of the two waveform parameters − snow-pack change corrections, across-track surface slope at 1 km scale, etc. The spatial and temporal variability of ice sheet surface elevation is investigated with the help of the high-resolution Envisat along-track observations. We show that at least 50 repeat cycles are needed to reach the required accuracy for the elevation trend. It is thus advocated as potentially highly beneficial for SARAL/AltiKa as a follow-on mission. Moreover, the novel characteristics of SARAL/AltiKa are promising in improving our understanding of snow penetration impact.
A multiscale study of the permeability of a thick clayey till

We describe and evaluate two previously undocumented methods of bulk permeability (K) determination and compare results obtained with results of conventional smaller-scale tests on the same thick clayey till deposit. Analysis of the downward propagation of seasonal water table fluctuations yielded bulk K of approximately 10−10 m s−1, in close agreement with results of laboratory consolidation and permeameter tests, slug tests, and distribution of vertical hydraulic gradient with depth in the deposit. This agreement suggests that for such materials, high-gradient tests conducted at small scales of distance and time can provide reasonable estimates of bulk K. The results also imply groundwater residence times in the till of thousands of years. The flow pattern observed near a large excavation in the till was consistent with the initial recoveries of piezometers installed in much smaller boreholes, assuming perturbation of hydraulic head in the formation due to borehole excavation. Time scales of these perturbations, which prevent interpretation of measured hydraulic head using conventional well hydraulic methods, varied from months to tens of years.
A new carnosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Lower Cretaceous of Japan

An associated skeleton from the Kitadani quarry of the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) strata in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, represents a new genus and species of carnosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda). The immature specimen, which is about 4.2 m long, is well preserved and includes elements of the skull, vertebral column, front limbs, and hind limbs. The hands are relatively large and armed with strongly curved, sharp claws, suggesting that it was an active predator. Phylogenetic analysis indicates it is a basal allosauroid. An isolated astragalus from Australia may represent a closely related species.
Modeling of time‐evolving magnetic fields during substorms

An attempt has been made to model the dynamics of the magnetospheric magnetic field during substorms by modifying the 1996 version of the data-based model by Tsyganenko [1996]. The modified model incorporates an adjustment to the intensity and thickness of the near-tail current sheet and a contribution from the substorm current wedge. These improvements make it possible to use the model to represent the evolution of the magnetic field during the entire substorm sequence of growth, expansion, and recovery. The modeled magnetic fields have been compared to satellite observations during three isolated substorms. According to the model results, during the substorm growth phase the thickness of the tail current sheet was gradually decreased while the intensity of the tail current was gradually increased; by the end of the growth phase a thin current sheet of 190–1340 km in half thickness was formed in a narrow region around X ∼ −7.5 RE, with a maximum westward current density of 9–23 nA/m2. During the substorm expansion phase an eastward current associated with the substorm current wedge started to develop around X ∼ −12 RE, resulting in a collapse of the previously stretched field configuration. At the peak of an intense substorm the net tail current flow became eastward between X = −11 and X = −13 RE, accompanied by a negative (southward) Bz tailward of −13 RE.
Mental health experiences of public psychiatric healthcare workers during COVID-19 across southern Gauteng, South Africa: a call for strengthening public mental health care

The global COVID-19 pandemic and South Africa’s national lockdown introduced serious threats to public mental health in a society where one in three individuals develop a psychiatric disorder during their life. Studies worldwide have illustrated the acute psychosocial strain and chronic psychiatric sequelae experienced by healthcare employees during the pandemic. Over and above existing systemic constraints, national leaders in public mental healthcare have reported serious challenges in delivering psychiatric services during COVID-19. Despite these early reports on the psychological and healthcare-related consequences of COVID-19, no study has evaluated the impacts of the pandemic on mental healthcare workers and psychiatric facilities in South Africa, nor have the implications for public mental health policy been elucidated. Here we examine the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in five specialised and tertiary psychiatric facilities in southern Gauteng. In-depth qualitative interviews (n=55) were administered to examine the perceptions of psychiatric hospital workers. Survey-based data (n=54) and regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between COVID-19 healthcare experiences and psychiatric morbidity. Our study found elevated psychiatric morbidity among hospital staff. Healthcare-related stress during lockdown Levels 3 to 1 was strongly associated with worse symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. We also found salient experiences of fear and COVID-19 infection risk, acute resource shortages, and long-term healthcare infrastructural constraints. These circumstances undergirded and exacerbated harmful conditions that posed major threats to patient care, worsened occupational health, and compromised each hospital’s capacity to overcome the pandemic. Without major and expeditious policy action towards improving public mental health, South Africa is at risk for yet another mental healthcare catastrophe in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. We offer these findings to highlight the need for mental health promotion among hospital staff, identify constraints in the public mental health system, and provide future direction for mental health policy planning.
Land-use and land-cover change detection in a semi-arid area of Niger using multi-temporal analysis of Landsat images

Recent studies using low-resolution satellite time series show that the Sahelian belt of West Africa is witnessing an increase in vegetation cover/biomass, called re-greening. However, detailed information on local processing and changes is rare or lacking. A multi-temporal set of Landsat images was used to produce land-cover maps for the years 2000 and 2007 in a semi-arid region of Niger, where an anomalous vegetation trend was previously detected. Several supervised classification approaches were tested: spectral classification of single Landsat data, temporal classification of normalized difference vegetation index time series from Landsat images, and two-step classification integrating both these approaches. The accuracy of the land-cover maps obtained ranges between 80% and 90% overall for the two-step classification approach. Comparison of the maps between the two years indicates a stable semi-arid region, where some change in hot spots exists despite a generally constant level of rainfall in the area during this period. In particular, the Dallol Bosso fossil valley highlights an increase in cultivated land, while a decrease in herbaceous vegetation was observed outside the valley where rangeland is the predominant natural landscape.
The Systematics of a New Upper Ordovician Edrioasteroid Pavement from Northern Kentucky

Abstract A large, edrioasteroid-bearing hardground surface from the base of the Bellevue Member of the Grant Lake Formation near Maysville, Mason County, Kentucky is described. Four species are represented including Streptaster vorticellatus (Hall), Carneyella ulrichi Bassler and Shideler, Carneyella pilea (Hall), and Curvitriordo stecki n. sp. Specimens of S. vorticellatus and C. pilea add little to the known morphologies of these species. However, prior to this study C. ulrichi was known from the unique holotype, and Curvitriordo stecki n. sp. adds greatly to out understanding of Curvitriordo which was previously known from two species comprising three poorly preserved specimens. Curvitriordo stecki shows a bimodal size frequency distribution suggesting seasonal breeding whereas Carneyella ulrichi shows a left skewed size frequency suggesting low juvenile mortality. Streptaster vorticellatus shows a tight unimodal size frequency distribution suggestive of a single spat fall accumulation.
Radiometric Age Determination of Silurian Glauconite: DISCUSSION

A calculated 426-m.y. K-Ar date on glauconite has been reported for the basal section of Niagaran (Silurian) rocks from Hamilton, Ontario. This date was derived by assuming a 10-percent radiogenic 40Ar loss for the measured date of 384 ± 11 m.y. The 426-m.y. calculated date is given without error limits and, further, the assumed "10-percent" loss is open to question. Regardless of the uncertainties about the true radiometric date no one should attempt rigorous geochronologic, time-scale-applicable interpretation based on one sample.
Dynamics of tidewater glaciers: comparison of three models

A minimal model of a tidewater glacier based solely on mass conservation is compared with two one-dimensional numerical flowline models, one with the calving rate proportional to water depth, and the other with the flotation criterion as a boundary condition at the glacier terminus. The models were run with two simplified bed geometries and two mass-balance formulations. The models simulate the full cycle of length variations and the equilibrium states for a tidewater glacier. This study shows that the branching of the equilibrium states depends significantly on the bed geometry. The similarity between the results of the three models indicates that if there is a submarine undulation at the terminus of a tidewater glacier, any model in which the frontal ice loss is related to the water depth yields qualitatively the same non-linear behaviour. For large glaciers extending into deep water, the flotation model causes unrealistic behaviour.
Regulation of epithelial transitional states in murine and human pulmonary fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive scarring disease arising from impaired regeneration of the alveolar epithelium after injury. During regeneration, type 2 alveolar epithelial cells (AEC2s) assume a transitional state that upregulates multiple keratins and ultimately differentiate into AEC1s. In IPF, transitional AECs accumulate with ineffectual AEC1 differentiation. However, whether and how transitional cells cause fibrosis, whether keratins regulate transitional cell accumulation and fibrosis, and why transitional AECs and fibrosis resolve in mouse models but accumulate in IPF are unclear. Here, we show that human keratin 8 (KRT8) genetic variants were associated with IPF. Krt8–/– mice were protected from fibrosis and accumulation of the transitional state. Keratin 8 (K8) regulated the expression of macrophage chemokines and macrophage recruitment. Profibrotic macrophages and myofibroblasts promoted the accumulation of transitional AECs, establishing a K8-dependent positive feedback loop driving fibrogenesis. Finally, rare murine transitional AECs were highly senescent and basaloid and may not differentiate into AEC1s, recapitulating the aberrant basaloid state in human IPF. We conclude that transitional AECs induced and were maintained by fibrosis in a K8-dependent manner; in mice, most transitional cells and fibrosis resolved, whereas in human IPF, transitional AECs evolved into an aberrant basaloid state that persisted with progressive fibrosis.
Horizontal crustal motion in the central and eastern Mediterranean inferred from satellite laser ranging measurements

Four campaigns to acquire Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) measurements at sites in the Mediterranean region have been completed. These measurements to the LAGEOS satellite, made largely by mobile systems, cover a time span beginning in November 1985 and ending in June 1993. The range data from 18 sites in the central and eastern Mediterranean have been simultaneously analyzed with data acquired by the remainder of the global laser tracking network. Estimates of horizontal motion were placed into a regional, northern Europe-fixed, kinematic reference frame. Uncertainties are on the order of 5 mm/yr for sites having at least four occupations by mobile systems and approach 1 mm/yr for permanently located sites with long histories of tracking. The resulting relative motion between sites in the Aegean exhibit characteristics of broadly distributed pattern of radial extension, but at rates that are about 50% larger than those implied from studies of seismic strain rates based on seismicity of magnitude 6 or greater or across the region. The motion estimated for sites in Turkey exhibit velocity components associated with the westward motion of the Anatolian Block relative to Eurasia. These results provide a present-day `snapshot` of ongoing deformational processes as experienced by the locations occupiedmore » by SLR systems. « less
Astronomical frequencies for pre‐Quaternary palaeoclimate studies

The sensitivity of the Earth's orbital frequencies, involved in the astronomical theory of palaeoclimates, to the Earth-Moon distance and consequently to the length of the day and to the dynamical ellipticity of the Earth has been investigated for the last billion years. The shortening of the Earth-Moon distance and of the length of the day back in time induces a shortening of the fundamental astronomical periods for the obliquity and the precession, a shortening which is larger for the longer periods. These periods of precession and obliquity influenced by the changing Earth-Moon distance, length of the day and dynamical ellipticity of the Earth, have been recomputed for the last 440 million years.