Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Global plate motions relative to the hot spots 64 to 56 Ma

We examined the early Tertiary global plate velocities with respect to the hot spots and compared these velocities both to those at present and to early Tertiary velocities inferred by assuming that no net torque is exerted on the lithosphere as a whole. In our reconstruction, the velocities of the Pacific and African plates were inferred directly from their hot spot tracks, and the velocities of other plates with respect to the hot spots were calculated from the motion of the Pacific or African plate and by relative motions estimated from seafloor spreading data. The relative motion between assumed-separate North Pacific and South Pacific (Chatham Rise) plates was estimated by assuming the hot spots in the Atlantic Ocean basin have been fixed with respect to those in the Pacific Ocean basin, thereby avoiding the use of a poorly defined relative motion circuit. We found that the characteristics of early Tertiary plate motions with respect to the hot spots resemble those at present. The root-mean-square velocity of every major continental plate with respect to the hot spots during the early Tertiary exceeds its present velocity but (with the exception of the Indian plate) is less than the root-mean-square velocity of every early Tertiary oceanic plate. Equatorial lithosphere moved faster than polar lithosphere during the early Tertiary, but the difference is less than at present. Over the interval 64 to 56 Ma, the no net-torque absolute velocities differ from the assumed fixed-hot spot velocities by only 0.04°/Ma, which is insignificant. Thus two dissimilar approaches, fixed hot spots and no net torque of the lithosphere, when applied to identical early Tertiary relative plate velocities, yield similar absolute plate velocities. We attribute the differences between these two reference frames found in prior investigations to relative plate velocities different than we assume here.
Proteome Profile Changes Induced by Heterologous Overexpression of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-Derived Antigens PstS-1 (Rv0934) and Ag85B (Rv1886c) in Mycobacterium microti

The development of new tuberculosis vaccines remains a global priority, and recombinant vaccines are a frequently investigated option. These vaccines follow a molecular strategy that may enhance protective efficacy. However, their functional differences, particularly with respect to glycosylation, remain unknown. Recent studies have shown that glycosylation plays a key role in the host-pathogen interactions during immune recognition. The aim of this study was to determine the differences in the glycosylation profiles of two recombinant strains of Mycobacterium microti, overexpressing Ag85B (Rv1886c) and PstS-1 (Rv0934) antigens of M. tuberculosis. For each strain, the glycosylation profile was determined by Western blotting with lectins. The results showed the presence of mannosylated proteins and evidence of linked sialic acid proteins. Interestingly, different proteome and glycoproteome profiles were observed between the two recombinant strains and the wild-type strain. We have shown here that the construction of the recombinant strains of M. microti has altered the proteome and glycosylation profiles of these strains, leading us to ask what impact these changes might have on the immune response.
Chemistry and Pharmacology of Bergenin or Its Derivatives: A Promising Molecule

Bergenin is a glycosidic derivative of trihydroxybenzoic acid that was discovered in 1880 by Garreau and Machelart from the rhizomes of the medicinal plant Bergenia crassifolia (currently: Saxifraga crassifolia—Saxifragaceae), though was later isolated from several other plant sources. Since its first report, it has aroused interest because it has several pharmacological activities, mainly antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. In addition to this, bergenin has shown potential antimalarial, antileishmanial, trypanocidal, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, antinociceptive, antiarthritic, antiulcerogenic, antidiabetic/antiobesity, antiarrhythmic, anticancer, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective and cardioprotective activities. Thus, this review aimed to describe the sources of isolation of bergenin and its in vitro and in vivo biological and pharmacological activities. Bergenin is distributed in many plant species (at least 112 species belonging to 34 families). Both its derivatives (natural and semisynthetic) and extracts with phytochemical proof of its highest concentration are well studied, and none of the studies showed cytotoxicity for healthy cells.
A Longitudinal Study of Group A Streptococcal Colonization and Pharyngitis in US Children

Background: Group A streptococci (GAS) are a major cause of pharyngitis in children. Recently, there were severe GAS outbreaks. The aims of this study were to assess pharyngeal colonization prevalence in healthy children, to assess different diagnostic definitions for GAS pharyngitis and to estimate incidence rates for these infections. Methods: A 2-year longitudinal study was conducted in healthy children in the United States. Pharyngeal swabs were cultured every 3 months for GAS colonization. Serum antistreptolysin O, antideoxyribonuclease B (DNaseB) and antistreptococcal C5a peptidase (SCP) antibody titers were assessed at baseline. When participants developed a sore throat, pharyngeal swabs were collected for rapid antigen detection test (RADT) and culture, and antibody titers were determined in serum samples. A range of case definitions were used for GAS pharyngitis. Results: A total of 422 children 3–12 years old were enrolled (140, 141 and 141 were 3–5, 6–9 and 10–12 years of age, respectively). The overall prevalence of GAS colonization during the study was 48%. Baseline antistreptolysin O, anti-DNaseB and anti-SCP antibody titers were higher for children older than 5 years. The incidence of GAS pharyngitis per 100 person-years was 15.9 for RADT/culture-proven and 4.6 for serologically confirmed pharyngitis. Conclusions: GAS throat colonization and pharyngitis were frequent in children 3–12 years old. The case definition employed impacted the measured incidence of GAS pharyngitis, with higher rates detected using RADT/culture-based definitions. These data suggest that case definition is important and that young children are exposed to GAS, which may inform plans for vaccine development and implementation.
Stratigraphy of the Mesaverde Group in the central and eastern greater Green River Basin, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah

This paper identifies and correlates lithostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic units and maps the paleogeography of the Upper Cretaceous Mesaverde Group in the central and eastern greater Green River basin of Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. The purpose is to develop a stratigraphic framework for a group of formations in a large area where previous investigations were incomplete and partly inaccurate. The stratigraphic information presented contributes to the understanding of the sedimentary and tectonic evolution of the greater Green River basin and to the origin and distribution of mineral resources. The paper is entirely stratigraphic in approach. Correlations are based on the physical continuity of lithologic units and are supported by ammonite zonation. Maps and cross sections are constructed to scale. The consistent use of stylized columnar sections, hypothetical depositional models, and cartoons for illustrations has been avoided. No new stratigraphic names are introduced, and no nomenclature problems are discussed.
Crustal extension in the northern Apennines: The transition from compression to extension in the Alpi Apuane Core Complex

An interpretation of Northern Apennine geology is presented which relates the temporal and spatial occurrence of both compressional and extensional deformation features in terms of the changing dynamic evolution within an accretionary wedge, after a model proposed by Platt [1986], followed by the initiation and development of continental rifting. During Cretaceous to Eocene time an accretionary wedge formed as remnant Tethyan oceanic crust subducted beneath the rotating Corsica-Sardinia microplate. Microplate collision during the Oligocene was characterized by the rapid imbrication of buoyant continental crust of the Italian continental margin, the record of which is preserved within the duplex structure geometry of the Alpi Apuane region. The overthickened wedge geometry returned to a more stable configuration by developing extensional features during the Miocene: both listric normal faults at upper-crustal levels and shear zones indicating evidence of distributed ductile extensional strain at mid-crustal levels are recorded. It is proposed that large-scale regional extension with associated volcanism beginning in the Messinian was represented by the intrusion of asthenospheric material from the subducted plate into the already attenuated accretionary complex. Further rifting, perhaps aided by subduction and back arc processes in the Southern Apennines, led to the formation of the Tyrrhenian Sea as an oceanic basin. Both the Apennines and North American core complexes record evidence of crustal thickening followed by crustal thinning, and finally of continental rifting. This suggests that the similar histories of these regions with vastly different plate tectonic settings may both be explained by processes linked to the changing internal dynamics of accretionary wedges.
Multichannel analysis of shear wave splitting

A multichannel analysis is introduced to constrain seismic anisotropy from the shear wave splitting of SKS and SKKS. This technique utilizes simultaneously a set of records coming from different azimuths. The splitting intensity of SKS waves, measured by the amplitude of the transverse component, depends on the angle between the back azimuth of the earthquake and the direction of the symmetry axis and on the delay time δt between the two quasi-shear waves. It is shown that the splitting parameters can be determined from the azimuthal dependence of the splitting intensity, which is given by the first right eigenvector of the matrix containing the transverse components of all the records. Alternatively, the splitting intensity can be measured by projecting the transverse components on the radial components derivatives. Experiments on synthetic seismograms demonstrate that both approaches provide robust estimates of the splitting parameters. However, the projection approach gives measurements that are closer to the inputs and with smaller error bars, which suggests that it should be preferred when the signal-to-noise ratio is low. The new technique is applied to analyze shear wave splitting under stations BCAO (Bangui, Central African Republic) and BDFB (Brasilia, Brazil). The analysis of 75 seismograms recorded by station BCAO gives a fast polarization direction in very close agreement with the present-day motion direction of the African plate. Comparisons with the results of previous studies, obtained with other techniques and smaller data sets, suggest that some of the published measurements may be strongly biased. The main limitation of the multichannel analysis is a good azimuthal distribution of the seismicity. Maps of the azimuthal coverage were determined, and it is found that the most favorable regions to study anisotropy with SKS waves are a latitudinal band that goes from South America to Africa, the eastern part of North America, and India.
Stochastic weather type simulation for regional climate change impact assessment

A stochastic model is developed for the synthesis of daily precipitation by weather type analysis. Daily rainfall at two sites in southern England is related to the Lamb weather types by using conditional probabilities. Time series of circulation patterns and hence rainfall are then generated using a Markov representation of matrices of transition probabilities between weather types. The model reproduces key aspects of the historic rainfall regime at daily, monthly, and annual temporal resolutions. The general validity of the methodology as a means of disaggregating general circulation model predictions into finer spatial scales for water resource studies is discussed. Several limitations are identified of which the subjectivity introduced by the weather type classification system and the nonstationarity of the precipitation characteristics are the most serious.
Variations of marine plankton δ13C with latitude, temperature, and dissolved CO2 in the world ocean

Variations of the 13C content of marine participate organic carbon (δ13CPOC) in the modern ocean were studied using literature data to test the assumptions underlying the calculation of atmospheric pCO2 through geological time from the δ13C of sedimentary organic matter. These assumptions are that (1) concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere and the surface ocean are at equilibrium at all times and latitudes and that (2) carbon isotopic fractionation of phytoplankton (ϵp) covaries primarily with concentrations of dissolved molecular CO2 ([CO2]aq). Previous studies and compilations have shown that the first assumption does not strictly hold, although [CO2]aq may be predicted with a reasonable degree of accuracy from sea surface temperature for specific regions of the world ocean. The second assumption is shown to be questionable due to the weak covariation of ϵp and [CO2]aq in the modern ocean. The large residual variance for regressions of ϵp against [CO2]aq suggests that factors other than [CO2]aq strongly affect carbon isotopic fractionation in phytoplankton. It is concluded that the relationship between ϵp and [CO2]aq cannot be easily calibrated using δ13CPOC data from the modern ocean.
A volatility basis set model for summertime secondary organic aerosols over the eastern United States in 2006

[1] A new secondary organic aerosol (SOA) parameterization based on the volatility basis set is implemented in a regional air quality model WRF-CHEM. Full meteorological and chemistry simulations are carried out for the United States for August–September 2006. Predicted organic aerosol (OA) concentrations are compared against surface measurements made by several networks and aircraft data from the TexAQS-2006 field campaign. Elemental carbon simulations are also evaluated in order to evaluate the model's ability to capture their emissions, transport, and removal. Certain measurement limitations, such as daily averaged OA concentrations, impose some difficulties on the model evaluation, and hourly averaged OA measurements provide more informative constraints compared to daily concentrations. The updated model demonstrates a significant improvement in simulating the OA concentrations compared to the standard WRF-CHEM, which predicts very little SOA. The improvement in organic carbon (OC) predictions is noticeable in correlations and model bias. The correlations of OC exceed that of the persistence forecasts for hourly concentrations in the southeast United States during daytime. The updated traditional SOA yields still lead to an underestimation of observed OA, while addition of the multigenerational volatile organic compound (VOC) oxidation drastically improves model performance. However, several key uncertainties remain in SOA formation and loss mechanisms, which are characterized through several perturbation simulations. Dry deposition of VOC oxidation products is an important factor in the atmospheric SOA budget. The combination of the biogenic VOC emissions, updated SOA yields, and aging mechanism result in biogenic SOA being the dominant OA component for much of the nonurban United States.
Soil conservation beneath grass cover in hillside vineyards under Mediterranean Climatic conditions (Madrid, Spain)

The use of plant cover for soil protection in Mediterranean hillside vineyards may jeopardize the viability of crops due to the scarcity of water under semiarid conditions. Erosion control, soil characteristics and vineyard production were evaluated using three different treatments: (i) traditional tillage as the control group, (ii) soil covered by Brachypodium distachyon and (iii) soil covered by Secale cereale. Such plant cover for soil protection among woody crops is not frequent under semiarid conditions.
Migration of iron and sulfur within anaerobic sediments during early diagenesis

Three diagenetic models based on layered situations are presented to illustrate factors affecting migration of iron and sulfur in recent anaerobic sediments. Two important factors are sharp variation with depth of organic matter content, which is assumed to be the same in each model, and the original concentration of reactive (toward H 2 S) ferruginous material, which is varied between models. Juxtaposed artificial sediments of greatly differing organic matter content undergo quantitative changes in the laboratory predicted by the three models. The experiments also demonstrate quantitatively the general validity of the low iron-content model. The same reasoning applied to layer models can be recast in a three-dimensional context to describe changes in organic-poor sediment surrounding an organic-rich body.
A speech-to-symbol app for supporting communication partner to model and improve vocabulary

In order to meet the communication needs of individuals who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices, communication partners are often responsible for the programming of the AAC devices. However, the prolonged learning time and operational demands of AAC devices are often barriers to an efficient use of time during a therapy session. We developed a prototype app for iPad, called Speech-to-Symbol that decreases the programming time by finding pictures stored in the app using speech-to-text technology. We compared our solution to the TalkTablet app during AAC sessions with children with different communication disabilities. The aims of this study were 1) to compare the time to program both apps, 2) to identify the type of vocabulary used, and 3) to assess the usability of the two apps. Results showed that the reduced operational demands of our Speech-to-Symbols app allow communication partners to expose children to a larger and more diverse vocabulary. In addition, the communication partners gave our Speech-to-Symbols app a higher usability rating. Implications for clinical and educational settings and directions for future research are also discussed.
Ground-Motion Scaling in the Region of the 1997 Umbria-Marche Earthquake (Italy)

We used broadband waveforms collected at short hypocentral distances ( r ≤ 40 km) during the Umbria-Marche (Italy) seismic sequence of September–November, 1997, in order to calculate the scaling relationships for the ground motion within the meizoseismal area, in the 0.5–16.0 Hz frequency band. Data were collected by a 10-station portable seismic network deployed by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica (Rome, Italy) shortly after the occurrence of the first mainshock of the sequence, on 26 September 1997. Among the thousands of events recorded, we selected 142 earthquakes characterized by good signal-to-noise ratios at all frequencies, and by the absence of multiple shocks within the time window spanned by each recording. The data set of the selected waveforms was made of 2030 horizontal-component seismograms. The logarithm of the peak values of narrow bandpass-filtered versions of the velocity time histories are modeled at each frequency as \[AMP(f,r)=EXC(f,r_{\mathrm{ref}})+SITE(f)+D(r,r_{\mathrm{ref}},f). \] EXC ( f,r ref ) is the excitation term at an arbitrary reference hypocentral distance, r ref ; SITE ( f ) is a site term. The empirical attenuation functional, D ( r,r ref , f ), represents an estimate of the average crustal response for the region, at the hypocentral distance r , at the frequency f . It is modeled by using the following functional form: \[D(r,r_{\mathrm{ref}},f)=\mathrm{log}{\ }g(r)-\mathrm{log}{\ }g(r_{\mathrm{ref}})-\frac{{\pi}f(r-r_{\mathrm{ref}})}{{\beta}Q_{0}(f{/}f_{\mathrm{ref}})^{{\eta}}};{\ }(f_{\mathrm{ref}}=1.0{\ }\mathrm{Hz},{\ }r_{\mathrm{ref}}=10{\ }\mathrm{km}). \] g ( r ) = r -1 is the body-wave geometrical spreading function; β = 3.5 km/sec is the shear-wave velocity in the crust. Due to the constraints applied to the system prior to the regressions, the excitation term represents the expected peak ground motion at the reference distance, as it would be observed at a site representative of the average site response of the network. The random vibration theory (RVT) is used to obtain a theoretical prediction of the attenuation functional. For reproducing D ( r,r ref , f ) we use the crustal attenuation parameter \[Q(f)=130(f{/}f_{\mathrm{ref}})^{0.10}\] obtained by Malagnini et al. (2000) from the analysis of a regional data set representative of the entire Apennines, in the (0.24–5.0 Hz) band. Two parameters are used to predict shapes and levels of the seismic spectra, the stress drop Δσ, and a high-frequency attenuation parameter κ 0 . The values used to reproduce the observed velocity spectra are \[{\Delta}{\sigma}=200{\ }\mathrm{bars};{\ }{\kappa}_{0}=0.04{\ }\mathrm{sec}. \] The indicated stress drop was estimated in this region by Castro et al. (2000), on recordings of the largest shock of the Umbria-Marche sequence.
Luminescence dating of Middle Pleistocene proglacial deposits from northern Switzerland: methodological aspects and stratigraphical conclusions

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating was applied to proglacial deposits from the Klettgau Valley in northern Switzerland, which is understood to record several phases of glaciation prior to the Last Interglacial. The aim was to provide an independent chronology for the different sedimentary units to understand better the complex depositional history of the region. This time range requires care when assessing the reliability of the luminescence protocols applied. Equivalent doses for fine‐ and coarse‐grain quartz remained below 300 Gy, while dose response curves for both fractions continued to display growth above 500 Gy. Dose recovery tests confirmed the ability of the single aliquot regenerative (SAR) protocol to recover laboratory doses of a similar size to burial doses, and isothermal decay measurements confirmed the stability of the quartz signal. Having passed rigorous testing criteria, quartz OSL ages of up to ∼200 ka were considered reliable but significantly underestimated expected ages and prompt a reconsideration of earlier interpretations of the stratigraphy for this site. Rather than representing three separate glaciations, quartz luminescence ages instead suggest that these deposits record up to four independent ice advances during Marine Isotope Stage 6. For both single grain and single aliquot feldspar dating, it was not possible to separate the conflicting influences of anomalous fading and partial bleaching. However, uncorrected feldspar central age model ages were found to be in reasonable agreement with quartz age estimates, and suggest that feldspar ages may still offer useful additional information in this region.
Pollen as atmospheric cloud condensation nuclei

Anemophilous (wind‐dispersed) pollen grains are emitted in large quantities by vegetation in the midlatitudes for reproduction. Pollen grains are coarse particles (5–150 µm) that can rupture when wet to form submicron subpollen particles (SPP) that may have a climatic role. Laboratory CCN experiments of six fresh pollen samples show that SPP activate as CCN at a range of sizes, requiring supersaturations from 0.81 (± 0.07)% for 50 nm particles, 0.26 (± 0.03)% for 100 nm particles, and 0.12 (± 0.00)% for 200 nm particles. Compositional analyses indicate that SPP contain carbohydrates and proteins. The SPP contribution to global CCN is uncertain but could be important depending on pollen concentrations outside the surface layer and the number of SPP generated from a single pollen grain. The production of hygroscopic SPP from pollen represents a novel, biologically driven cloud formation pathway that may influence cloud optical properties and lifetimes, thereby influencing climate.