Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Application of the Crystallinity Ratio of Free Iron Oxides for Dating Soils Developed on the Raised Coral Reef Terraces of Kikai and Minami-Daito Islands, Southwest Japan

Absolute ages of soils developed on the raised coral reef terraces in Kikai Island in the Ryukyus, Southwest Japan were estimated by using the mean rate of tectonic uplift and glacio-eustatic curve during late Quaternary in the previous paper. In order to estimate the soil age of other areas where the similar soils as those existed in Kikai Island were formed by using the index of soil age, which was highly correlated with some physico-chemical properties of soil itself, total iron (Fet), iron and aluminum extractable by dithionite-citrate (Fed, Ald) and by acid ammonium oxalate (Feo, Alo) were determined for all horizons of the six profiles in Kikai Island. The results obtained are as follows: The crystallinity ratio of free iron oxides [(Fed-Feo)/Fet] gradually increased with the stage of soil development, while the activity ratio (Feo/Fed) decreased. There was a highly positive correlation between the soil age and (Fed-Feo)/Fet. By using this relationship, the ages of Minami-Daito Island soils, Lateritic Red soil and Lateritic Yellow soil whose age had not been determined, were estimated from the mean values
Proterozoic and Cambrian successions in Upper Silesia: an Avalonian terrane in southern Poland

All Cambrian series and several Cambrian biozones have been recognized using acritarch biochronology within the siliciclastic successions underlying Upper Silesia in southern Poland. The entire Cambrian succession is around 580 m thick and contains rare Lower Cambrian trilobites of the Acado-Baltic faunal province. Acritarch associations are taxonomically comparable to those recorded in Baltica, Laurentia and Gondwana, but their closest taxonomic affinity is with Iberia. The Cambrian succession accumulated in a shallow shelf environment and is almost flat-lying, unmetamorphosed, uncleaved and in normal stratigraphic order. It underlies paraconformably Lower Devonian deposits and overlies unconformably steeply dipping metasediments of undetermined Precambrian age. Tectonic deformation and metamorphism to greenschist grade in these Precambrian strata must have occurred in the Proterozoic, and are attributed to the Cadomian orogeny because similar Cadomian basement complexes occur in the adjoining Brno Massif and in the East Avalonian and Armorican terranes. Upper Silesia appears to be a stable crustal block bordered by deep faults whose sedimentary cover has not been affected by tectonic deformation other than faulting. Based on the recognition of Cadomian age basement, the distribution of trilobites and acritarchs and the tectonostratigraphic relationships to adjacent areas, the Upper Silesia terrane is interpreted to be a distal segment of East Avalonia that in Cambrian times faced Iberia. An extension of the Tornquist Suture from the Intra-Sudetic Fault is seen in the Kraków-Myszków Fault Zone at the margin of Upper Silesia. The Intra-Sudetic Fault zone and the Kraków-Myszków Fault Zone contain Early Palaeozoic rocks deformed during the Caledonian orogeny, and mark the boundary between the Caledonian accretionary belt and areas unaffected by this orogeny.
Massive perturbation in terrestrial ecosystems of the Eastern Mediterranean region associated with the 8.2 kyr B.P. climatic event

The climatic perturbation at ca. 8.2 kyr B.P. is the strongest short-term climate anomaly within the Holocene. It is generally attributed to a meltwater-induced slowdown of the thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic. Model simulations and available proxy data suggest that it was strongest in the high to middle latitudes around the North Atlantic. Based on new pollen data from Tenaghi Philippon, northeastern Greece, we provide evidence for a massive climate-induced turnover in terrestrial ecosystems of the Aegean region associated with the 8.2 kyr B.P. event. The reconstructed winter temperature decline of >4 °C is much stronger than suggested by model simulations and proxy data from more northern latitudes of Europe, although the latter provide a direct downstream response to a North Atlantic thermohaline circulation slowdown. We attribute this discrepancy to mesoclimatic effects; a stronger influence of the Siberian High during the 8.2 kyr B.P. event may have enhanced the katabatic air flow from the mountains bordering the study site via a larger, longer persisting snow cover. Our data demonstrate that high-amplitude temperature anomalies and increased seasonality connected to the 8.2 kyr B.P. event may also have occurred in the lower mid-latitudes, much farther south than previously thought. The magnitudes of these anomalies appear to have been strong enough to have seriously affected Neolithic settlers in the northeastern Mediterranean region.
Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) of the Anterior Eye Segment

PLEASE NOTE: Contracts exclude from coverage, among other things, services or procedures that are considered investigational or cosmetic. Providers may bill members for services or procedures that are considered investigational or cosmetic. Providers are encouraged to inform members before rendering such services that the members are likely to be financially responsible for the cost of these services.
Skeletal morphology, phylogenetic relationships and stratigraphic range of Eosimops newtoni Broom, 1921, a pylaecephalid dicynodont (Therapsida, Anomodontia) from the Middle Permian of South Africa

Robert Broom described Eosimops newtoni in 1921 based on a skull collected in Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone strata in South Africa, and the species has been largely overlooked since that time. Here we present several new specimens of E. newtoni, including a nearly complete skeleton, that allow a much more thorough description of its morphology. Eosimops newtoni is diagnosed by two autapomorphies, a postorbital bar that is anteroposteriorly expanded in lateral view and a posterior median palatal ridge that forms a flattened, Y-shaped platform surrounding the anterior median palatal ridges. Other characters include a single median nasal boss; parietals widely exposed on the skull roof; presence of lateral anterior palatal ridges; anterior edge of caniniform process set off from the palatal rim forming a notch; a small number of ‘postcanine' teeth on the maxilla; a large, ventrally directed transverse flange on the anterior pterygoid ramus; a robust, tall, blocky crista oesophagea; a shovel-shaped jaw symphysis; dentary tables absent; posterior dentary sulcus present and bounded medially by a dorsally convex blade; at least one ‘postcanine' tooth present on the dentary blade; three sacral vertebrae; cleithrum present; dorsal margin of the coracoid foramen formed by the scapula; proximal and distal ends of the humerus offset by approximately 90°; ectepicondylar foramen present; and trochlea and capitellum distinct. Comparison with Brachyprosopus broomi and Koupia koupensis shows that neither species is likely to be a junior synonym of E. newtoni. Phylogenetic analysis reconstructs E. newtoni as the most basal member of Pylaecephalidae. We also reassess the homologies and distribution of the dentary table and posterior dentary sulcus in dicynodonts in light of the jaw morphology of E. newtoni. The stratigraphic range of Eosimops newtoni begins in the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone, 1565 metres above the Ecca–Beaufort contact, and extends into the Pristerognathus Assemblage Zone.
(2018). Early antiretroviral therapy and daily preexposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention among female sex workers in a prospective observational demonstration study. (11),

Introduction: In sub-Saharan Africa, HIV prevalence remains high, especially among key populations. In such situations, combination prevention including clinical, behavioural, structural and biological components, as well as adequate treatment are important. We conducted a demonstration project at the Dispensaire IST, a clinic dedicated to female sex workers (FSWs) in Cotonou, on early antiretroviral therapy (E-ART, immediate “ test-and-treat and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). We pre-sent key indicators such as uptake, retention and adherence. Methods: In this prospective observational study, we recruited FSWs from October 4th 2014 to December 31st 2015 and followed them until December 31st 2016. FSWs were provided with daily tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine (Tru-vada (cid:1) ) for PrEP or received a first-line antiretroviral regimen as per Benin guidelines. We used generalized estimating equations to assess trends in adherence and sexual behaviour. Results: Among FSWs in the catchment area, HIV testing coverage within the study framework was 95.5% (422/442). At baseline, HIV prevalence was 26.3% (111/422). Among eligible FSWs, 95.5% (105/110) were recruited for E-ART and 88.3% (256/290) for PrEP. Overall retention at the end of the study was 59.0% (62/105) for E-ART and 47.3% (121/256) for PrEP. Mean ( (cid:1) SD) duration of follow-up was 13.4 ( (cid:1) 7.9) months for E-ART and 11.8 ( (cid:1) 7.9) months for PrEP. Self-reported adherence was over 90% among most E-ART participants. For PrEP, adherence was lower and the proportion with 100% adherence decreased over time from 78.4% to 56.7% ( p -trend < 0.0001). During the 250.1 person-years of follow-up among PrEP initiators, two seroconversions occurred (inci-dence 0.8/100 person-years (95% confidence interval: 0.3 to 1.9/100 person-years)). The two seroconverters had stopped using PrEP for at least six months before being found HIV-infected. In both groups, there was no evidence of reduced condom use. offered to FSWs in Benin. PrEP may be more useful as an individual intervention for adherent FSWs rather than a specific public health intervention. E-ART was a more successful intervention in terms of retention and adherence and is now offered to all key populations in Benin. Additional Supporting Information may be found online in the Supporting information tab for this article.
Med-Tuning: Parameter-Efficient Transfer Learning with Fine-Grained Feature Enhancement for Medical Volumetric Segmentation

Deep learning-based medical volumetric segmentation methods either train the model from scratch or follow the standard ``pre-training then fine-tuning"paradigm. Although fine-tuning a pre-trained model on downstream tasks can harness its representation power, the standard full fine-tuning is costly in terms of computation and memory footprint. In this paper, we present the study on parameter-efficient transfer learning for medical volumetric segmentation and propose a new framework named Med-Tuning based on intra-stage feature enhancement and inter-stage feature interaction. Additionally, aiming at exploiting the intrinsic global properties of Fourier Transform for parameter-efficient transfer learning, a new adapter block namely Med-Adapter with a well-designed Fourier Transform branch is proposed for effectively and efficiently modeling the crucial global context for medical volumetric segmentation. Given a large-scale pre-trained model on 2D natural images, our method can exploit both the crucial spatial multi-scale feature and volumetric correlations along slices for accurate segmentation. Extensive experiments on three benchmark datasets (including CT and MRI) show that our method can achieve better results than previous parameter-efficient transfer learning methods on segmentation tasks, with much less tuned parameter costs. Compared to full fine-tuning, our method reduces the fine-tuned model parameters by up to 4x, with even better segmentation performance. The code will be made publicly available at https://github.com/jessie-chen99/Med-Tuning.
Global atmospheric energetics from NCEP–Reanalysis 2 and ECMWF–ERA40 Reanalysis

The global atmospheric energy cycle is estimated on an annual basis using Reanalysis 2 data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR), and ERA 40 Reanalyses from the European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) for the period 1979–2001. A formalism to avoid belowground data on pressure levels intercepted by topography is adopted. No appreciable differences were found between the two datasets from the energetics point of view. The so‐called ωα and v·grad z formulations were both used for the conversions from zonal available potential energy into zonal kinetic energy (CZ) and from eddy available potential energy into eddy kinetic energy (CE). Results with both formulations are comparable only when using the formalism preventing belowground data to enter into the computations.
Rehabilitation of a Shallow Lake (Big Muskego Lake, Wisconsin) Via Drawdown: Sediment Response

Abstract : This technical note examines changes in sediment physical and chemical characteristics as a result of drawdown and refill of shallow Big Muskego Lake (Wisconsin) to promote macrophyte growth. Information obtained from this study may be used to assess positive (i.e., sediment consolidation) and negative (i.e., sediment nutrient release) impacts of drawdown on sediment dynamics and the potential for macrophyte growth in shallow lake rehabilitation programs.
Surface wetness and mire development during the late Holocene in central Sweden

Andersson, S. & Schoning, K. 2010: Surface wetness and mire development during the late Holocene in central Sweden. Boreas, Vol. 39, pp. 749–760. 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010. 00157.x. ISSN 0300‐9483.
The role of matrin 3 in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

The cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a cruel neurodegenerative disease, remains unclear. Trans-activating response region (TAR) DNA-binding protein of 43 kDa (TDP-43) has been suggested to have an important role in ALS pathogenesis. In this thesis, we show that a disease linked mutation in matrin 3 (MATR3), a DNA/RNA-binding protein, corresponds to an increased tendency for TDP-43 to aggregate into large and more numerous cytoplasmic inclusions that are the hallmark of ALS. Immunocytochemistry experiments show that MATR3 colocalizes with TDP-43 in vitro . These experiments also show TDP-43 is a component of both MATR3 granules and stress granules, and that MATR3 inclusions are directly adjacent to stress granules or eIF3 α inclusions. We hypothesize that, while not being a part of stress granule complex, MATR3 granules are involved in RNA processing via the stress granule pathway by relaying crucial components such as TDP-43. We have also found that compound 8J is able to disaggregate and relocate TDP-43 and MATR3 positive inclusions in vitro . While the mechanism of action of compound 8J remains unclear, fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) experiment showed that there was a significant increase in viability in double wild type (matrin 3 and TDP-43) cells when treated with C8J (p-value <.001), which suggests that the TDP-43 and MATR3 cytoplasmic inclusions that were previously observed have a net cytotoxic effect. Together with the in vitro result on C8J, this result
RECENT PLANT INVASIONS IN THE ARID AND SEMI‐ARID SOUTHWEST OF THE UNITED STATES1

ABSTRACT Several plant communities in the Southwest have been drastically altered within a century by the rapid spread of a small number of woody species. The habitats principally affected have been the plateaus and plains at intermediate elevations, which formerly supported grassland and have now been invaded on a massive scale by mesquite and other native shrubs, and the stream courses, which have been extensively occupied by tamarisk, an alien species from Eurasia. Historical evidence and field observations suggest that these invasions have resulted primarily from occupation of the Southwest by American settlers. The development of commercial livestock ranching led to increased seed dispersal, overgrazing, and the suppression of grass fires, the combined effects of which favored the invasion of grassland by woody plants. Short-term climatic fluctuations towards greater aridity have tended to accentuate rather than to initiate the processes of invasion. The spread of tamarisk is owing mainly to changes .
A geometric probabilistic approach to random packing of disks in a plane

In this paper the random packing fraction of hard disks in a plane is analyzed, following a geometric probabilistic approach. First, the random close packing (RCP) of equally sized disks is modelled. Subsequently, following the same methodology, a simple, statistical geometric model is proposed for the random loose packing (RLP) of monodisperse disks. This very basic derivation of RLP leads to a packing value (≈ 0.66) that is in very good agreement with values that have been obtained previously for 2D disk packings. The present geometrical model also enables closed-form expression for the contact (coordination) number as function of the packing density at different states of compaction. These predictions are thoroughly compared with empirical and simulation results, among others the Rényi parking model, yielding good agreement.
Case study of precision-of GPS differential correction strategies : Influence on aDcp velocity and discharge estimates

The precision of four differential global positioning systems (DGPS) was evaluated in the context of fluvial water velocity and discharge measurement. DGPS is used to resolve water velocities measured with an acoustic Doppler current profiler (aDcp) into earth coordinates if bottom tracking is unavailable. The DGPS systems assessed were: (1) the dual frequency real time kinematic (RTKL1L2); (2) the single frequency real time kinematic (RTKL1); (3) the code-phase Canadian Coast Guard (CG); and (4) the code-phase Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). Repeat discharge surveys (n=22) were conducted at a transect of the Gatineau River, Canada, simultaneously collecting bottom track boat velocity ( vBT ) and boat velocity from all four DGPS ( vDGPS ) . The mean absolute single ping differences between vBT and vDGPS were 3.1 (RTKL1L2), 3.2 (RTKL1), 8.9 (CG), and 9.8 cm∕s (WAAS). Errors were observed more often near channel margins, presumably due to obstruction and multipath associated with riverbank vegetation .
G 2 N 2 : Weisfeiler and Lehman go grammatical

This paper introduces a framework for formally establishing a connection between a portion of an algebraic language and a Graph Neural Network (GNN). The framework leverages Context-Free Grammars (CFG) to organize algebraic operations into generative rules that can be translated into a GNN layer model. As CFGs derived directly from a language tend to contain redundancies in their rules and variables, we present a grammar reduction scheme. By applying this strategy, we define a CFG that conforms to the third-order Weisfeiler-Lehman (3-WL) test using MATLANG. From this 3-WL CFG, we derive a GNN model, named G 2 N 2 , which is provably 3-WL compliant. Through various experiments, we demonstrate the superior efficiency of G 2 N 2 compared to other 3-WL GNNs across numerous downstream tasks. Specifically, one experiment highlights the benefits of grammar reduction within our framework.
Long‐term effect of volcanic forcing on ocean heat content

Explosive volcanic eruptions cause episodic negative radiative forcing of the climate system. Using coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) subjected to historical forcing since the late nineteenth century, previous authors have shown that each large volcanic eruption is associated with a sudden drop in ocean heat content and sea‐level from which the subsequent recovery is slow. Here we show that this effect may be an artefact of experimental design, caused by the AOGCMs not having been spun up to a steady state with volcanic forcing before the historical integrations begin. Because volcanic forcing has a long‐term negative average, a cooling tendency is thus imposed on the ocean in the historical simulation. We recommend that an extra experiment be carried out in parallel to the historical simulation, with constant time‐mean historical volcanic forcing, in order to correct for this effect and avoid misinterpretation of ocean heat content changes.
UC Merced Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

What is the function of immature vocalizing in early learning environments? Previous work on infants in the US indicates that prelinguistic vocalizations elicit caregiver speech which is simplified in its linguistic structure. However, there is substantial cross-cultural variation in the extent to which children’s vocalizations elicit responses from caregivers. In the current study we ask whether children’s vocalizations elicit similar changes in their immediate caregivers’ speech structure across two cultural sites with differing perspectives on how to interact with infants and young children. Here we compare Tseltal Mayan and US caregivers’ verbal responses to their children’s vocalizations. Similar to findings from US dyads, we found that children from the Tseltal community regulate the statistical structure of caregivers’ speech simply by vocalizing. Following the interaction burst hypothesis , where clusters of child-adult contingent response alternations facilitate learning from limited input, we reveal a stable source of information facilitating language learning within ongoing interaction.
Association of the vertical ozone structure with the lower‐stratospheric circulation

This study aims to examine the role of the atmospheric circulation in the lower stratosphere in relation to the vertical ozone distribution. This analysis is based on the vertical ozone profiles collected by balloon‐borne sondes released at Athens, Greece (38° N, 24° E) during the period 2002–2005 and those derived from Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) observations of ENVISAT. The most pronounced special features of the ozone structure have been used in order to create groups of relevant profiles. The occurrence of the laminated ozone structure, the minimum of ozone partial pressure at the height region of 14–17 km and the ozone minima at the height region of 20–25 km as well as the scalable ozone increment from the region of the characteristic ozone minimum up to the ozone maximum concentration region, correlated with the general circulation, leads to several results. They are (1) the laminated ozone profiles are associated with the north‐north‐west circulation in the lower stratosphere; (2) the characteristic ozone minimum is related to the influence of the subtropical jet stream circulation; (3) the observed ozone depletion at the height region of 20–25 km is characterized by the movement of the polar vortex to the mid‐latitudes, resulting in more intense north‐western circulation above our experimental site; and (4) the scalable ozone increment from the characteristic ozone minimum region at 100 hPa up to the region where the ozone partial pressure takes its maximum value was observed on the southern side of the trough during cyclonic flow.
The behaviour of axially and laterally loaded single piles embedded in nonhomogeneous soils

An approximate elastic analysis is made of the working load responses of single piles embedded in a soil of linearly increasing modulus with depth. The formulation employs, within a boundary element algorithm, the fundamental solution for point loads acting at the interface of a two-layer elastic half-space. This analysis is of comparable generality and computational efficiency to earlier elastic solutions of the corresponding homogeneous problem and has distinct advantages in practical applications over the simpler homogeneous soil model, namely, improved predictions of the response due to lateral loads and the rationalization of the selection of soil moduli. These advantages are highlighted in the comparisons made between reported observations on the behaviour of single piles from model and full scale field tests and those predicted by the theory. Comprehensive plots of the results of a parametric study are presented in non-dimensional form. Une analyse elastique approximative est faite a partir des rep.