Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Correlation of physical surfaces, bentonites, and biozones in the Cretaceous Colorado Group from the Alberta Foothills to southwest Saskatchewan, and a revision of the Belle Fourche - Second White Specks formational boundary

New allostratigraphic correlations in west-central Alberta show that flooding surfaces in the Sunkay and basal Vimy members of the Blackstone Formation can be traced eastward from Burnt Timber Creek for >500 km to western Saskatchewan, and for 350 km northward into the Dunvegan and Kaskapau formations. At Burnt Timber Creek, a Miliammina manitobensis microfauna in the lowest 1 m of the Sunkay Member indicates equivalence to the Westgate Formation, and an overlying 70 cm conglomerate is correlative with the Fish Scales Formation. Overlying mudstones contain foraminifera of the Verneuilinoides perplexus Zone, indicative of the middle Cenomanian Belle Fourche Formation. The base of the Second White Specks Formation, as currently defined in core in eastern Alberta, equates in outcrop with the lower part of the Sunkay, rather than the base of the Vimy Member as previously thought. The base of the Second White Specks Formation should be placed about 35 m higher in the stratotype core. A bentonite located 9.3 m .
Mixing in the Main Thermocline

Abstract A series of profiles of velocity microstructure along 152°E in the western North Pacific Ocean were collected in May–June 1982. Large, averaged turbulent dissipation rates, ϵ, found in the main thermocline (400 to 1000 m) were determined by a combination of large independent estimates of ϵ and a greater rate of occurrence of turbulent events in the main thermocline than elsewhere. Concurrently we find that averaged values of ϵ exhibit a positive dependence on the buoyancy frequency, N, and that form ϵ = aNγ is best fit by γ = 1 when only the data below 400 m are considered. Of the more than 5000 m of data collected below 1000 m depth, 12% showed measurable turbulence and dominated the depth averages. A deep ocean estimate of an upper bound to the eddy coefficient for vertical diffusion, Kρ, is 10−4 m2 s−1 and not significantly different from the value estimated by Munk. The inferred dependence of the mass flux with depth indicates the relative significance of vertical mixing in the main thermocli.
Pilot Study of the Prevalence of Contact Sensitization to Preservatives as Cosmetic Ingredients in Occupational and Educational Exposures

Abstract Aim: To evaluate the prevalence of contact sensitization to selected preservatives as cosmetic ingredients among cosmeticians and cosmetology students and to identify the most common allergens in occupational and non-occupational exposures. Materials and methods: Skin patch testing with formaldehyde, quaternium-15, DMDM hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea, methylisothiazolinone + methylchloro-isothiazolinone, iodopropynyl butylcarbamate, methyldibromoglutaronitrile, polyaminopropyl biguanide and paraben mix was performed among 109 participants – 37 cosmetology students, 26 cosmeticians, and 46 individuals – controls, occupationally unexposed to cosmetics. Fisher Exact Test and multiple binary logistic regression analysis were used. Results: Formaldehyde was the main contact sensitizer, with significantly higher prevalence of sensitization among the occupationally exposed cosmeticians and cosmetology students if compared to the controls (p = 0.005) [OR = 0.290 (95% CI: 0.092-0.916]). The positivity prevalence to DMDM hydantoin was 11%, with equal rates of sensitization to quaternium-15, methylisothiazolinone + methylchloroisothiazolinone and methyldibromo-glutaronitrile (9.2%). A significantly higher prevalence of co-sensitization to DMDM hydantoin and imidazolidinyl urea was revealed. The positivity rate to quaternium-15 was highest among cosmetology students – 13.5%. The frequency of positive reactions to imidazolidinyl urea was 2.7% for students and 11.5% for cosmeticians. Cosmetology students and cosmeticians were at risk of sensitization to DMDM hydantoin, and the cosmeticians – to methylisothiazolinone/methylchloro-isothiazolinone and methyldibromo glutaronitrile and parabens. Conclusions: This study established comparative high prevalence and risk of contact sensitization to the selected preservatives. Proper occupational risk information, developing and disseminating of practical tools for workplace risk assessment and management, with complex programs for prevention of occupational skin diseases should be provided.
Aging of Amateur Singers and Non-singers: From Behavior to Resting-state Connectivity

Abstract Healthy aging is associated with extensive changes in brain structure and physiology, with impacts on cognition and communication. The “mental exercise hypothesis” proposes that certain lifestyle factors such as singing—perhaps the most universal and accessible music-making activity—can affect cognitive functioning and reduce cognitive decline in aging, but the neuroplastic mechanisms involved remain unclear. To address this question, we examined the association between age and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) in 84 healthy singers and nonsingers in five networks (auditory, speech, language, default mode, and dorsal attention) and its relationship to auditory cognitive aging. Participants underwent cognitive testing and fMRI. Our results show that RSFC is not systematically lower with aging and that connectivity patterns vary between singers and nonsingers. Furthermore, our results show that RSFC of the precuneus in the default mode network was associated with auditory cognition. In these regions, lower RSFC was associated with better auditory cognitive performance for both singers and nonsingers. Our results show, for the first time, that basic brain physiology differs in singers and nonsingers and that some of these differences are associated with cognitive performance.
Bifurcation of closed orbits of Hamiltonian systems with application to geodesics of the Schwarzschild metric

We investigate bifurcation of closed orbits with a fixed energy level for a class of nearly integrable Hamiltonian systems with two degrees of freedom. More precisely, we make a joint use of Moser invariant curve theorem and Poincar\'e-Birkhoff fixed point theorem to prove that a periodic non-degenerate invariant torus $\mathcal{T}$ of the unperturbed problem gives rise to infinitely many closed orbits, bifurcating from a family of tori accumulating onto $\mathcal{T}$. The required non-degeneracy condition, which is nothing but a reformulation of the usual non-degeneracy condition in the isoenergetic KAM theory, is expressed in terms of the derivative of the apsidal angle with respect to the angular momentum: in this way, tools from the theory of time-maps of nonlinear oscillators can be used to verify it in concrete problems. Applications are given to perturbations of central force problems in the plane, and to equatorial geodesic dynamics for perturbations of the Schwarzschild metric.
Convergence analysis of kernel conjugate gradient for functional linear regression

In this paper, we discuss the convergence analysis of the conjugate gradient-based algorithm for the functional linear model in the reproducing kernel Hilbert space framework, utilizing early stopping results in regularization against over-fitting. We establish the convergence rates depending on the regularity condition of the slope function and the decay rate of the eigenvalues of the operator composition of covariance and kernel operator. Our convergence rates match the minimax rate available from the literature.
Multi-objective Bayesian optimisation for design of Pareto-optimal current drive profiles in STEP

The safety factor profile is a key property in determining the stability of tokamak plasmas. To design the safety factor profile in the United Kingdom's proposed Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP), we apply multi-objective Bayesian optimisation to design electron-cyclotron heating profiles. Bayesian optimisation is an iterative machine learning technique that uses an uncertainty-aware predictive model to choose the next designs to evaluate based on the data gathered during optimisation. By taking a multi-objective approach, the optimiser generates sets of solutions that represent optimal tradeoffs between objectives, enabling decision makers to understand the compromises made in each design. The solutions from our method score higher than those generated in previous work by a genetic algorithm; however, the key result is that our method returns a purposefully diverse range of optimal solutions, providing more information to tokamak designers without incurring additional computational cost.
Photosynthesis, transpiration, and primary productivity: Scaling up from leaves to canopies and regions using process models and remotely sensed data

Biophysical and physiological processes in plants and ecosystems occur over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Our knowledge (or models) of these processes is largely at small scales. It is, however, difficult to directly apply mechanistic process‐oriented models over large scales due to heterogeneities in the distributions of processes, and nonlinearities in the functional responses of processes to environmental variables. On the other hand, simple parametric/empirical models in which system complexity is lumped into a small number of parameters have been widely employed to describe processes at larger scales. The variation of these parameters in these simple parametric/empirical models depends on the underlying biophysical processes. In this work, we showed that detailed process models and simple parametric models for primary production and transpiration could be effectively combined to scale leaf photosynthesis and transpiration up to large spatial scales. The integrated process model, General Energy Mass Transfer Model (GEMTM), was used to identify major factors contributing to the variability of the parameters in the parametric models for regional transpiration and primary production and quantify their responses to these factors. Simulations with the GEMTM showed that net carbon assimilation was proportional to intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (IPAR), but the radiation use efficiency (RUE) changed with leaf N concentration, temperature, and atmospheric CO2 concentration; transpiration was linearly correlated with the product of net primary production (NPP) and atmospheric water vapor pressure deficit (VPD), and the slope varied with leaf N concentration. RUE increased with leaf N content asymptotically, and responded to temperature in an asymmetric bell shape pattern with a 22°C and 26°C optimal temperature under current ambient and doubled CO2 concentration, respectively. A simple parametric NPP model and a regional transpiration model (Tr model) were developed from the relationships and parameter values obtained using the GEMTM. The NPP model reasonably simulated the seasonal and interannual variations of accumulated NPP estimated from field data. Simulated regional distribution of NPP over the Central Grassland Region of the United States was consistent with estimates obtained using other models. NPP increased from 120 gC/m2/year in the northwest to 956 gC/m2/year in the southeast. Simulated regional transpiration had a similar spatial distribution pattern as NPP, ranging from about 16 cmH2O/year to 136 cmH2O/year. The transpiration model introduced in this study provides a mechanism to explicitly couple transpiration and NPP in large‐scale analyses, although more complete analysis and validation are required.
Pre-clinical Evaluation of Biomarkers for Early Detection of Nephrotoxicity Following Alpha-particle Radioligand Therapy

Purpose Cancer treatment with alpha-emitter-based radioligand therapies (α-RLTs) demonstrates promising tumor responses. Radiolabeled peptides are filtered through glomeruli, followed by potential reabsorption of a fraction by proximal tubules, which may cause acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Because tubular cells are considered the primary site of radiopeptides’ renal reabsorption and potential injury, the current use of kidney biomarkers of glomerular functional loss limits the evaluation of possible nephrotoxicity and its early detection. This study aimed to investigate whether urinary secretion of tubular injury biomarkers could be used as additional non-invasive sensitive diagnostic tool to identify unrecognizable tubular damage and risk of long-term α-RLTs nephrotoxicity. Methods A bifunctional cyclic peptide, melanocortin ligand-1(MC1L), labeled with [203Pb]Pb-MC1L, was used for [212Pb]Pb-MC1L biodistribution and absorbed dose measurements in CD-1 Elite mice. Mice were treated with [212Pb]Pb-MC1L in a dose escalation study up to levels of radioactivity intended to induce kidney injury. The approach enabled prospective kidney functional and injury biomarker evaluation and late kidney histological analysis to validate these biomarkers. Results Biodistribution analysis identified [212Pb]Pb-MC1L reabsorption in kidneys with a dose deposition of 2.8, 8.9, and 20 Gy for 0.9, 3.0, and 6.7 MBq injected [212Pb]Pb-MC1L doses, respectively. As expected, mice receiving 6.7 MBq had significant weight loss and CKD evidence based on serum creatinine, cystatin C, and kidney histological alterations 28 weeks after treatment. A dose-dependent urinary Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL, tubular injury biomarker) urinary excretion the day after [212Pb]Pb-MC1L treatment highly correlated with the severity of late tubulointerstitial injury and histological findings. Conclusion urine NGAL secretion could be a potential early diagnostic tool to identify unrecognized tubular damage and predict long-term α-RLT-related nephrotoxicity.
Shock Enhanced [C ii] Emission from the Infalling Galaxy Arp 25

We present SOFIA observations with HAWC+ and FIFI-LS of the peculiar galaxy Arp 25, also known as NGC 2276 or UGC 3740, whose morphology is deformed by its impact with the intragroup medium of the NGC 2300 galaxy group. These observations show the first direct proof of the enhancement of [C ii] emission due to shocks caused by ram pressure in a group of galaxies. By comparing the [C ii] emission to UV attenuation, dust emission, PAH, and CO emission in different regions of the galaxy, we find a clear excess of [C ii] emission along the impact front with the intragroup medium. We estimate that the shock due to the impact with the intragroup medium increases the [C ii] emission along the shock front by 60% and the global [C ii] emission by approximately 25% with respect to the predicted [C ii] emission assuming only excitation caused by stellar radiation. This result shows the danger of interpreting [C ii] emission as directly related to star formation since shocks and other mechanisms can significantly contribute to the total [C ii] emission from galaxies in groups and clusters.
A complex and dynamic redox network regulating oxygen reduction at photosystem I

Thiol-dependent redox regulations of enzyme activities play a central role in regulating photosynthesis. Beside the regulation of metabolic pathways, alternative electron transport has been shown to be subjected to thiol-dependent regulation. We investigated the regulation of O2 reduction at photosystem I. The level of O2 reduction in leaves and isolated thylakoid membranes depends on the photoperiod in which plants are grown. We used a set of Arabidopsis mutant plants affected in the stromal, membrane and lumenal thiol network to study the redox protein partners involved in regulating O2 reduction. Light-dependent O2 reduction was determined in leaves and in thylakoids of plants grown in short day and long day conditions using a spin-trapping EPR assay. In wild type samples from short day, ROS generation was twice the amount of that in samples from long day, while this difference was abolished in several redoxin mutants. An in vitro reconstitution assays showed that thioredoxin m, NADPH-dependent reductase C (NTRC) and NADPH are required for high O2 reduction levels in long day thylakoids. Using isolated photosystem I, we also show that reduction of a PSI protein is responsible for the increase in O2 reduction. Furthermore, differences in the membrane localization of thioredoxins m and 2-Cys peroxiredoxin were demonstrated between thylakoids of short day and long day plants. Finally, we propose a model of redox regulation of O2 reduction according to the reduction power of the stroma and the capabilities of the different thiol-containing proteins to form a network of redox interactions.
Consistency Trajectory Models: Learning Probability Flow ODE Trajectory of Diffusion

Consistency Models (CM) (Song et al., 2023) accelerate score-based diffusion model sampling at the cost of sample quality but lack a natural way to trade-off quality for speed. To address this limitation, we propose Consistency Trajectory Model (CTM), a generalization encompassing CM and score-based models as special cases. CTM trains a single neural network that can -- in a single forward pass -- output scores (i.e., gradients of log-density) and enables unrestricted traversal between any initial and final time along the Probability Flow Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE) in a diffusion process. CTM enables the efficient combination of adversarial training and denoising score matching loss to enhance performance and achieves new state-of-the-art FIDs for single-step diffusion model sampling on CIFAR-10 (FID 1.73) and ImageNet at 64x64 resolution (FID 1.92). CTM also enables a new family of sampling schemes, both deterministic and stochastic, involving long jumps along the ODE solution trajectories. It consistently improves sample quality as computational budgets increase, avoiding the degradation seen in CM. Furthermore, unlike CM, CTM's access to the score function can streamline the adoption of established controllable/conditional generation methods from the diffusion community. This access also enables the computation of likelihood. The code is available at https://github.com/sony/ctm.
The Caulobacter NtrB-NtrC two-component system bridges nitrogen assimilation and cell development

A suite of molecular sensory systems enables Caulobacter to control growth, development, and reproduction in re-sponse to levels of essential elements. The bacterial enhancer binding protein (bEBP) NtrC, and its cognate sensor histidine kinase NtrB, are key regulators of nitrogen assimilation in many bacteria, but their roles in Caulobacter metab-olism and development are not well defined. Notably, Caulobacter NtrC is an unconventional bEBP that lacks the σ54- interacting loop commonly known as the GAFTGA motif. Here we show that deletion of C. crescentus ntrC slows cell growth in complex medium, and that ntrB and ntrC are essential when ammonium is the sole nitrogen source due to their requirement for glutamine synthetase (glnA) expression. Random transposition of a conserved IS3-family mobile genetic element frequently rescued the growth defect of ntrC mutant strains by restoring transcription of the glnBA operon, revealing a possible role for IS3 transposition in shaping the evolution of Caulobacter populations during nutri-ent limitation. We further identified dozens of direct NtrC binding sites on the C. crescentus chromosome, with a large fraction located near genes involved in polysaccharide biosynthesis. The majority of binding sites align with those of the essential nucleoid associated protein, GapR, or the cell cycle regulator, MucR1. NtrC is therefore predicted to directly impact the regulation of cell cycle and cell development. Indeed, loss of NtrC function led to elongated polar stalks and elevated synthesis of cell envelope polysaccharides. This study establishes regulatory connections between NtrC, nitrogen metabolism, polar morphogenesis, and envelope polysaccharide synthesis in Caulobacter. Importance Bacteria balance cellular processes with the availability of nutrients in their environment. The NtrB-NtrC two-component signaling system is responsible for controlling nitrogen assimilation in many bacteria. We have characterized the effect of ntrB and ntrC deletion on Caulobacter growth and development and uncovered a role for spontaneous IS element transposition in the rescue of transcriptional and nutritional deficiencies caused by ntrC mutation. We further defined the regulon of Caulobacter NtrC, a bacterial enhancer binding protein, and demonstrate that it shares specific binding sites with essential proteins involved in cell cycle regulation and chromosome organization. Our work provides a com-prehensive view of transcriptional regulation mediated by a distinctive NtrC protein, establishing its connection to nitro-gen assimilation and developmental processes in Caulobacter.
Sperm production is negatively associated with muscle and sperm telomere length in a species subjected to strong sperm competition

Life‐history theory suggests that ageing is one of the costs of reproduction. Accordingly, a higher reproductive allocation is expected to increase the deterioration of both the somatic and the germinal lines through enhanced telomere attrition. In most species, males' reproductive allocation mainly regards traits that increase mating and fertilization success, that is sexually selected traits. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that a higher investment in sexually selected traits is associated with a reduced relative telomere length (RTL) in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata), an ectotherm species characterized by strong pre‐ and postcopulatory sexual selection. We first measured telomere length in both the soma and the sperm over guppies' lifespan to see whether there was any variation in telomere length associated with age. Second, we investigated whether a greater investment in pre‐ and postcopulatory sexually selected traits is linked to shorter telomere length in both the somatic and the sperm germinal lines, and in young and old males. We found that telomeres lengthened with age in the somatic tissue, but there was no age‐dependent variation in telomere length in the sperm cells. Telomere length in guppies was significantly and negatively correlated with sperm production in both tissues and life stages considered in this study. Our findings indicate that telomere length in male guppies is strongly associated with their reproductive investment (sperm production), suggesting that a trade‐off between reproduction and maintenance is occurring at each stage of males' life in this species.
The Low-Level Jet over the Southern Great Plains Determined from Observations and Reanalyses and Its Impact on Moisture Transport

AbstractThis study utilizes six commonly used reanalysis products, including the NCEP–Department of Energy Reanalysis 2 (NCEP2), NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR), ECMWF interim reanalysis (ERA-Interim), Japanese 25-year Reanalysis Project (JRA-25), Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA), and North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR), to evaluate features of the southern Great Plains low-level jet (LLJ) above the U.S. Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM) Climate Research Facility (ACRF) Southern Great Plains site. Two sets of radiosonde data are utilized: the six-week Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) and a 10-yr period spanning 2001 through 2010. All six reanalyses are compared to MC3E data, while only the NARR, MERRA, and CFSR are compared to the 10-yr data. The reanalyses are able to represent most aspects of the composite LLJ profile, although there is a tendency for each reanalysis to overestimat.
Multiple resolution surface wave tomography: the Mediterranean basin

SUMMARY From a large set of fundamental-mode surface wave phase velocity observations, we map the transversely isotropic lateral heterogeneities in the upper-mantle shear velocity structure. We design a multiple resolution inversion procedure, which allows us to parametrize any selected region more finely than the rest of the globe. We choose, as a high-resolution region, the upper mantle underlying the Mediterranean basin. We formulate the inverse problem as in a