Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multifractal modeling of magnetic storms via symbolic dynamics analysis

[1] Large-scale fluctuations of the H component magnetic field at Earth's equator during the period from 1981 to 2002 were examined using multifractal tools. We computed, analyzed, and modeled a measure representation of the Dst data. This representation can be viewed as a probability measure that characterizes the Dst series. The measure representation in fact gives the probabilities of specific strings of events in the complete Dst time series. The raw time series clearly shows intermittency and non-Gaussianity, which are reflective of large magnetic storms. The relevance of the multifractal analysis is that it suggests physical processes that may lead to this kind of data. The evidence we have found suggests that the ring current is always out of equilibrium and may undergo state changes via multiplicative cascades. We attempted to model the process using recurrent iterated function systems (RIFS). The RIFS model, in particular, provided an excellent fit to the Dst measure representation. Because of these results it can be concluded that multifractal RIFS models for the description of space weather will certainly play a greater role in the future.
Deep structures and seismic stratigraphy of the Egyptian continental margin from multichannel seismic data

Abstract Regional multichannel seismic reflection (MCS) profiles across the Egyptian continental slope, offshore the Nile delta, were recorded during the MEDISIS survey (conducted in 2002 on board the R/V Nadir). The results of this survey allow an interpretation of the overall structure and evolution of this passive continental margin. The MCS data were processed using an amplitude preserving pre-stack depth migration technique, which has the advantage of providing a quantitative, and geometrically correct, image of seismic horizons. Well-defined reflecting events allow the identification of three main seismic units. The upper unit (a 7 km thick) is interpreted as the post-rift sedimentary cover of the margin; it includes an undisturbed Middle Cretaceous to Upper Miocene sedimentary pile, covered by thick Messinian (latest Miocene) salt-rich layers and by Pliocene to Quaternary sediments, locally intensively deformed by gravity tectonics. The underlying intermediate acoustic unit (6 km thick on average) is interpreted as the Mesozoic syn-rift sedimentary cover of the margin; the end of the last rifting event is marked by a strong angular unconformity, tentatively of Aptian age. The lower unit may correspond to the thinned continental crust of Africa (12 km thick on average in the study area) and its pre-rift cover. Its base is identified by strong, discontinuous reflector packages about 23–25 km below sea floor, interpreted as indicative of the Moho.
Perfil coproparasitológico de mamíferos silvestres en cautiverio en el estado de Pernambuco, Brasil

A traves de los metodos directo, de sedimentacion y de flotacion fueron analizadas muestras fecales de 62 mamiferos de las ordenes Artiodactyla (n=08), Carnivora (n=20), Perissodactyla (n=03), Primates (n=29) y Rodentia (n=02) mantenidos en cautiverio en el Parque Dois Irmaos, Recife, Pernambuco, Brasil. De los 62 animales analizados, 46 (74,2%) estaban parasitados de los cuales 22 (75,9%) pertenecian al orden Primates, 19 (95,0%) al orden Carnivora, 3 (37,5%) al orden Artiodactyla, y 2 (100%) al orden Rodentia. Los animales del orden Perissodactyla presentaron resultados negativos en todas las muestras analizadas. El poliparasitismo tuvo prevalecia de 90,7% y los parasitos gastrointestinales diagnosticados fueron Strongyloides fulleborni, Strongyloides sp, Baylisascaris sp, Toxascaris leonina, Trichuris vulpis, Trichuris sp, Ascaridoidea, Strongyloidea, Spiruroidea, Ancilostomideos, Trematoda, Balantidium coli, Entamoeba coli, E. histolytica, Giardia sp y Coccidios. El metodo de sedimentacion espontanea demostro ser el mas eficiente en la deteccion de los parasitos gastrointestinales
Neural Substrates of Reward Magnitude, Probability, and Risk during a Wheel of Fortune Decision-making Task Nih Public Access Cingulate Cortex in Decision-making

Economic decision-making involves the weighting of magnitude and probability of potential gains/ losses. While previous work has examined the neural systems involved in decision-making, there is a need to understand how the parameters associated with decision-making (e.g., magnitude of expected reward, probability of expected reward and risk) modulate activation within these neural systems. In the current fMRI study, we modified the monetary wheel of fortune (WOF) task (Ernst et al., 2004) to examine in 25 healthy young adults the neural responses to selections of different reward magnitudes, probabilities, or risks. Selection of high, relative to low, reward magnitude increased activity in insula, amygdala, middle and posterior cingulate cortex, and basal ganglia. Selection of low-probability, as opposed to high-probability reward, increased activity in anterior cingulate cortex, as did selection of risky, relative to safe reward. In summary, decision-making that did not involve conflict, as in the magnitude contrast, recruited structures known to support the coding of reward values, and those that integrate motivational and perceptual information for behavioral responses. In contrast, decision-making under conflict, as in the probability and risk contrasts, engaged the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex whose role in conflict monitoring is well established. However, decision-making under conflict failed to activate the structures that track reward values per se. Thus, the presence of conflict in decision-making seemed to significantly alter the pattern of neural responses to simple rewards. In addition, this paradigm further clarifies the functional specialization of the cingulate cortex in processes of decision-making. The ability to choose between competing actions based on the expected value of possible outcomes is pivotal to goal-directed behavior (Balleine, Doya, O'Doherty, & Sakagami, 2007). In turn, effective, advantageous, decision-making depends on accurate attribution of value to potential outcomes. Three important factors influence the appraisal of values: the magnitude of the possible outcomes; the probability of achieving the outcomes; and the risk that is associated with each choice (see Ernst & Paulus, 2005). Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Cognitive neuroscience …
Wireless substitution : early release of estimates From the National Health Interview Survey, July-December 2020

Since 2007, the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Early Release Program has regularly released preliminary estimates of the percentages of adults and children living in homes with only wireless telephones (also known as cellular telephones, cell phones, or mobile phones). These estimates are the most upto-date estimates available from the federal government concerning the size and characteristics of this population. Estimates in this report are based on the second six months of 2020. During this time period, 65.8% of adults and 75.5% of children lived in wireless-only households. NHIS data can also be used to estimate the percentage of adults who live in wireless-only households and have their own wireless telephone (wireless-only adults). For July-December 2020, 65.3% of adults were wireless-only adults. Demographic subgroups with the highest percentages of wireless-only adults include adults aged 25–29 (82.3%) and 30-34 (85.0%) (Figure), as well as adults renting their homes (80.8%).
Direct Evidence of an Increasing Mutational Load in Humans.

The extent to which selection has shaped present-day human populations has attracted intense scrutiny, and examples of local adaptations abound. However, the evolutionary trajectory of alleles that, today, are deleterious has received much less attention. To address this question, the genomes of 2,062 individuals, including 1,179 ancient humans, were reanalyzed to assess how frequencies of risk alleles and their homozygosity changed through space and time in Europe over the past 45,000 years. While the overall deleterious homozygosity has consistently decreased, risk alleles have steadily increased in frequency over that period of time. Those that increased most are associated with diseases such as asthma, Crohn disease, diabetes and obesity, which are highly prevalent in present-day populations. These findings may not run against the existence of local adaptations, but highlight the limitations imposed by drift and population dynamics on the strength of selection in purging deleterious mutations from human populations.
Mucosal protection by hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibition.

BACKGROUND & AIMS A number of recent studies have implicated tissue hypoxia in both acute and chronic inflammatory diseases, particularly as they relate to mucosal surfaces lined by epithelial cells. In this context, a protective role for the transcriptional regulator hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) was shown through conditional deletion of epithelial HIF-1alpha in a murine model of colitis. Here, we hypothesized that pharmacologic activation of HIF would similarly provide a protective adaptation to murine colitic disease. METHODS For these purposes, we used a novel prolyl hydroxylase (PHD) inhibitor (FG-4497) that readily stabilizes HIF-1alpha and subsequently drives the expression downstream of HIF target genes (eg, erythropoietin). RESULTS Our results show that the FG-4497-mediated induction of HIF-1alpha provides an overall beneficial influence on clinical symptoms [weight loss, colon length, tissue tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha)] in murine trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) colitis, most likely because of their barrier protective function and wound healing during severe tissue hypoxia at the site of inflammation. CONCLUSIONS Taken together these findings emphasize the role of epithelial HIF-1alpha during inflammatory diseases in the colon and may provide the basis for a therapeutic use of PHD inhibitors in inflammatory mucosal disease.
A simulation model of alluvial stratigraphy

The quantitative model presented simulates the development of a two-dimensional alluvial sedimentary succession beneath a floodplain traversed by a single major river. Several inter-related effects which influence the distribution of channel-belt sand and gravel bodies within overbank fines are accounted for. These are (a) laterally variable aggradation, (b) compaction of fine sediment, (c) tectonic movement at floodplain margins, and (d) channel avulsion. Selected experiments with the model show how the interconnectedness and areal density of channel-belt deposits decrease with increasing floodplain width/channel-belt size, mean avulsion period, and channel-belt aggradation rate. Separation of stream patterns based on interconnectedness and channel deposit density is difficult. Tectonic movements do not have a significant influence upon the successions unless a preferred direction of tilting is maintained (half-graben). Then channel-belt deposits showing offlap tendencies tend to cluster adjacent to the active floodplain margin, leaving dominantly fine-grained alluvium to accumulate on the inactive side. Individual channel-belt deposits thicken during aggradation, although a self-regulating limit to such thickening is likely to operate. ‘Multistorey’features resulting from aggradation may be difficult to tell apart from those arising through superposition of distinct channel-belt deposits of avulsive origin.
Radiation dosimetry assessment of routine CT scanning protocols used in Western Australia

Technical data on local CT practice in Western Australia were collected for five major CT providers using a self-completed questionnaire. The CTDIvol DLP and effective dose for each protocol were obtained and providers were ranked according to radiation burden for each clinical scenario. The mean, median, 75th percentile and standard deviation were calculated for both effective dose and DLP for each scenario and these values were compared with published data. CT utilisation data were used to estimate the attributable radiation dose to the WA population and the potential change in population annual effective dose according to the protocol used was estimated. We found that wide variations in technique and radiation dose exist across providers for similar examinations, producing a higher radiation burden than reported internationally. As expected, the CT protocol used dramatically affects the radiation dose received, and this has a significant effect on annual population dose. This study highlights the need for recognition and understanding of both the degree of variation in radiation dose across providers and the relatively high radiation burden afforded by protocols in use in Western Australia so that necessary dialogue can be launched for practitioner consensus on appropriate diagnostic reference levels in CT scanning.
Flow‐dependence of matrix diffusion in highly heterogeneous rock fractures

Diffusive mass transfer in rock fractures is strongly affected by fluid flow in addition to material properties. The flow‐dependence of matrix diffusion is quantified by a random variable (“transport resistance”) denoted as β [T/L] and computed from the flow field by following advection trajectories. The numerical methodology for simulating fluid flow is mesh‐free, using Fup basis functions. A generic statistical model is used for the transmissivity field, featuring three correlation structures: (i) highly connected non‐multi‐Gaussian; (ii) poorly connected (or disconnected) non‐multi‐Gaussian; and (iii) multi‐Gaussian. The moments of β are shown to be linear with distance, irrespective of the structure, after approximately 10 integral scales of ln T. Percentiles of β are found to be linear with the mean β when considering all three structures. Taking advantage of this property, a potentially useful relationship is presented between β percentiles and the fracture mean water residence time that integrates all structures with high variability; it can be used in discrete fracture network simulations where T statistical data on individual fractures are not available.
Structure of an active human histone pre-mRNA 3′-end processing machinery

Architecture of an mRNA processor The 3′-end processing of the three major classes of RNA polymerase II transcripts in metazoan cells—polyadenylated messenger RNAs (mRNAs), histone mRNAs, and small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs)—requires three distinct machineries that share common features. Sun et al. reconstituted the active human histone pre-mRNA 3′-end processing machinery and solved its structure at near-atomic resolution by cryo–electron microscopy. This structure provides a basis for understanding the mechanism of the shared catalytic reactions between histone pre-mRNA and canonical pre-mRNA and snRNA 3′-end processing machineries. Science, this issue p. 700 An active human histone pre-mRNA 3′-end processing machinery was reconstituted and its structure solved at near-atomic resolution. The 3′-end processing machinery for metazoan replication-dependent histone precursor messenger RNAs (pre-mRNAs) contains the U7 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein and shares the key cleavage module with the canonical cleavage and polyadenylation machinery. We reconstituted an active human histone pre-mRNA processing machinery using 13 recombinant proteins and two RNAs and determined its structure by cryo–electron microscopy. The overall structure is highly asymmetrical and resembles an amphora with one long handle. We captured the pre-mRNA in the active site of the endonuclease, the 73-kilodalton subunit of the cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor, poised for cleavage. The endonuclease and the entire cleavage module undergo extensive rearrangements for activation, triggered through the recognition of the duplex between the authentic pre-mRNA and U7 small nuclear RNA (snRNA). Our study also has notable implications for understanding canonical and snRNA 3′-end processing.
CORRELATING CYCLIC STRENGTH WITH FINES CONTENTS THROUGH STATE PARAMETERS

ABSTRACT Attempts have been made in the past few decades to establish an equivalent void ratio indicative of the effective density state of sands that contain fines. The concept of an equivalent void ratio is most useful when the grain size distribution of the sand/silt mixture is similar to that of binary packing. Due to its grain characteristics and the wide range of compressibility when the fines content changes, correlating the cyclic strength to fines content via the equivalent void ratio for Mai Liao Sand (MLS) is not a straightforward procedure. Earlier studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of relating cyclic strength to state parameters for sands. Using a series of cyclic triaxial test results as a database, the authors demonstrated the effectiveness of relating cyclic strength to fines contents (fc) through a state parameter for MLS with an fc ranging from 0 to 30% that takes advantage of the equivalent void ratio. In addition to the density and stress states, the state parameter based correlations indirectly reflect the effects of soil grain characteristics. The drawback of requiring a separate critical state line when fc changes can be circumvented by using a unified critical state line based on the equivalent void ratio.
Intellectual impairment in children with blood lead concentrations below 10 microg per deciliter.

BACKGROUND Despite dramatic declines in children's blood lead concentrations and a lowering of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's level of concern to 10 microg per deciliter (0.483 micromol per liter), little is known about children's neurobehavioral functioning at lead concentrations below this level. METHODS We measured blood lead concentrations in 172 children at 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, and 60 months of age and administered the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale at the ages of 3 and 5 years. The relation between IQ and blood lead concentration was estimated with the use of linear and nonlinear mixed models, with adjustment for maternal IQ, quality of the home environment, and other potential confounders. RESULTS The blood lead concentration was inversely and significantly associated with IQ. In the linear model, each increase of 10 microg per deciliter in the lifetime average blood lead concentration was associated with a 4.6-point decrease in IQ (P=0.004), whereas for the subsample of 101 children whose maximal lead concentrations remained below 10 microg per deciliter, the change in IQ associated with a given change in lead concentration was greater. When estimated in a nonlinear model with the full sample, IQ declined by 7.4 points as lifetime average blood lead concentrations increased from 1 to 10 microg per deciliter. CONCLUSIONS Blood lead concentrations, even those below 10 microg per deciliter, are inversely associated with children's IQ scores at three and five years of age, and associated declines in IQ are greater at these concentrations than at higher concentrations. These findings suggest that more U.S. children may be adversely affected by environmental lead than previously estimated.
Evidence for even parity unconventional superconductivity in Sr$_2$RuO$_4$

Unambiguous identification of the superconducting order parameter symmetry of Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ has remained elusive for more than a quarter century. While a chiral $p$-wave ground state analogue to superfluid $^3$He-$A$ was ruled out only very recently, other proposed $p$-wave scenarios are still viable. Here, field-dependent $^{17}$O Knight shift measurements are compared to corresponding specific heat measurements, previously reported. We conclude that the shift results can be accounted for by the expected field-induced quasiparticle response only. An upper bound for the condensate magnetic response of $<10\%$ of the normal state susceptibility is sufficient to exclude odd-parity candidates.
Activation of the Innate Immune System Induced by Intermittent β Ethanol Administration in Female Adolescent Rats

Colivicchi, Stefanini C, Corte, Laura Della, Ward, Roberta J., de Witte, Philippe, Lallemand, Frederic, Hemmings, Karl, Pittard, A. , Page, Michael I. , Nayak, K. and Dexter, D. T. (2014) Ethane­ ­Sultam Modifies the Activation of the Innate Immune System Induced by Intermittent β Ethanol Administration in Female Adolescent Rats. Journal of Alcoholism & Drug Dependence, 2 (2). p. 150. ISSN 2329­6488
A correlation between dynamic cone penetrometer values and pavement layer moduli

The Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) is one of the least expensive testing devices able to characterize base and subgrade properties. To fully use the DCP in pavement evaluation, an empirical relationship between DCP penetration rate and layer modulus is required. However, the literature on this correlation is limited. This study incorporates a total of 198 DCP and Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) tests done over 8 years on various types of highways (Interstate Highway, US, and Farm-to-Market). The computer program MODULUS was employed to backcalculate the layer moduli from the FWD results to build a correlation with DCP results. A comparison was made with the widely-used model by Powell et al. (1984). It is found that the difference between the two models decreases as the Penetration Rate (PR) increases. For a PR of less than 10 mm/blow, the difference between these two models was over 10%. The difference is only about 1.7 % when the PR is 80 mm/blow. Without knowing the true moduli, it is impossible to tell which equation is better. The correlation developed here provides another option and allows researchers to recognize the range of variability.
Recent unprecedented warming and oligotrophy of the eastern Mediterranean Sea within the last millennium

The Mediterranean region is a climatic transitional zone between the subtropical/monsoon regime and the temperate westerlies and is subject to forces acting upon the global climate system. Much knowledge about its climate over the last millennium is derived from terrestrial records, whereas changes in sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and in the dissolved inorganic carbon pool (DIC) are poorly known. We present continuous high‐resolution reconstructions of SST and δ13CDIC in the eastern Mediterranean (EM) Sea, as inferred from oxygen and carbon isotope records from the skeletons of the reef builder gastropod Dendropoma sp. Spanning the past millennium, the SST reconstruction reveals a 250 year persistent warming trend during which the twentieth century was the warmest on record. Coupled with a distinct trend of 13CDIC depletion and superimposed upon decreased primary production, this climate reconstruction reflects a new state of the EM over the Anthropocene era that exceeds the natural variability of the last millennium.