Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tectono‐Magmatic, Sedimentary, and Hydrothermal History of Arsinoes and Pyrrhae Chaos, Mars

Arsinoes and Pyrrhae Chaos are two adjacent chaotic terrains located east of Valles Marineris and west of Arabia Terra, on Mars. In this work, we produced a morpho‐stratigraphic map of the area, characterized by a volcanic bedrock disrupted into polygonal mesas and knobs (Chaotic Terrain Unit) and two nondisrupted units. The latter present a spectral variation, likely associated with hydrated minerals, and they are here interpreted as sedimentary units. The reconstructed geological history of the area starts with the emplacement of the basaltic bedrock, followed by the collapse that caused the formation of the chaotic terrains. Since evidences of volcano‐tectonic activity are widespread across the area (e.g., fissure vents/graben, radial and concentric systems of faults, y‐shaped conjunctions, lava flows, and pit chains), and an intricate system of lava conduits is hypothesized for the occurrence of such features, we propose the possibility that the whole collapse was caused primarily by volcano‐tectonic processes. In a late stage, after the end of the volcano‐tectonic activity, a lacustrine/evaporitic depositional environment could have set, with the deposition of the nondisrupted units. The hydrated minerals found in the periphery of the Chaos could be the result of hydrothermal alteration of the basaltic bedrock.
VATT Working Papers 132

We provide novel evidence of discrete labor supply responses to tax incentives and study the broader implications of discrete rather than continuous labor supply. We utilize an income notch and a reform that shifted the location of the notch in order to study the labor supply mechanisms. We find transparent evidence of discrete labor supply responses, revealing that wage earners even in the part-time labor market can face significant restrictions in their available labor supply choices. As an implication of discrete labor supply, we show that the conventional differencesin-differences and bunching elasticity estimates can be downward-biased when labor
Mercury Stable Isotope Fractionation in Mining Environments and its Implications for Using HG Isotopes as Source Tracer

Active and closed Hg mines are significant sources of Hg contamination to the environment, mainly due to large volumes of mine waste material disposed of on-site. The application of Hg isotopes as source tracer from such contaminated sites requires knowledge of the Hg isotope signatures of different materials potentially released to the environment. Previous work has shown that calcine, the waste residue of the on-site ore roasting process, can exhibit distinct Hg isotope signatures compared with the primary ore. Here, we report results from a detailed small-scale study of Hg isotope variations in calcine collected from the closed New Idria Hg mine, San Benito County, CA, USA. The calcine samples exhibited different internal layering features which were investigated using optical microscopy, micro X-ray fluorescence, micro X-ray absorption spectroscopy (μ-XAS), and stable Hg isotope analysis. Significant Fe, S, and Hg concentration gradients were found across the different internal layers. Isotopic analyses revealed an extreme variation with pronounced isotopic gradients across the internal layered features. Overall, δ202Hg (±0.10‰, 2SD) describing massdependent fractionation (MDF) ranged from -5.96 to 14.49‰, which is by far the largest range of δ202Hg values reported for any environmental sample. In addition, Δ199Hg (±0.06‰, 2SD) describing mass-independent fractionation (MIF) ranged from -0.17 to 0.21‰. The μ-XAS analyses suggested that cinnabar and metacinnabar are the dominant Hg-bearing phases in the calcine. Our results demonstrate that the incomplete roasting of HgS ores in Hg mines can cause extreme mass-dependent Hg isotope fractionations at the scale of individual calcine pieces with enrichments in both light and heavy Hg isotopes relative to the primary ore signatures. This finding has important implications for the application of Hg isotopes as potential source tracers for Hg released to the environment from closed Hg mines and highlights the need for detailed source signature identification.
Predicting virus-receptor mutant binding by molecular dynamics simulation

Existing computational methods to predict protein–protein interaction affinity often per form poorly in important test cases. In particular, the effects of multiple mutations, non-alanine substitutions, and flexible loops are difficult to predict with available tools and protocols. We present here a new method to interrogate affinity differences resulting from mutations in a host-virus protein–protein interface. Our method is based on extensive non-equilibrium all atom simulations: We computationally pull the machupo virus (MACV) spike glycoprotein (GP1) away from the human transferrin receptor (hTfR1) and estimate affinity using the max imum applied force during a pulling simulation and the area under the force-versus-distance curve. We find that these quantities can provide novel biophysical insight into the GP1/hTfR1 interaction. First, with no prior knowledge of the system we can differentiate among wild type and mutant complexes. Second, although the static co-crystal structure shows two large hydrogen-bonding networks in the GP1/hTfR1 interface, our simulations indicate that one of them may not be important for tight binding. Third, one viral site known to be critical for infection may mark an important evolutionary suppressor site for infection-resistant hTfR1 mutants. Finally, our method provides an elegant framework to compare the effects of multi ple mutations, individually and jointly, on protein–protein interactions.
Are Consumption Taxes Really Better than Labour Income Taxes?

In many standard economic models, taxes on labour earnings and taxes on consumption are outcome-equivalent. However, this is not the case when taxes are non-linear and households differ with respect to wages and earnings, which is the case considered in this paper. I study the differences between the two tax regimes using a tractable twoperiod framework and show that the theoretical advantages of consumption taxation are twofold. First, it eliminates an intertemporal distortion on labour supply. Second, consumption is more strongly correlated with lifetime resources, which matters for the distributional impact of the tax system. To assess the quantitative implications of the choice of tax base, I construct a standard overlapping generations model with incomplete markets. After calibrating the model to the U.S. economy, I replace a progressive labour income tax with a progressive consumption tax, taking into account post-reform transition dynamics. This reform produces non-trivial gains in output, consumption and welfare. Most of the benefits stem from improvements in labour efficiency that follow from the mitigation of distortions on work decisions.
Lateral Variations in Lower Crustal Strength Control the Temporal Evolution of Mountain Ranges: Examples From South‐East Tibet

Controversy surrounds the rheology of the continental lithosphere, and how this rheology controls the evolution and behavior of mountain ranges. In this study, we investigate the effect of lateral contrasts in the strength of the lower crust, such as those between cratonic continental interiors and weaker rocks in the adjacent deforming regions, on the evolution of topography. We combine numerical modeling with recently published results from stable‐isotope palaeoaltimetry in south‐east Tibet. Stable‐isotope palaeoaltimetry in this region provides constraints on vertical motions, which are required to distinguish between competing models for lithosphere rheology and deformation. We use numerical modeling to investigate the effect of lateral strength contrasts on the shape and temporal evolution of mountain ranges. In combination with palaeoaltimetry results, our modeling suggests that lateral strength contrasts provide a first‐order control on the evolution of topography in south‐east Tibet. We find that the evolution of topography in the presence of such strength contrasts leads to laterally varying topographic gradients, and to key features of the GPS‐ and earthquake‐derived strain‐rate field, without the need for a low‐viscosity, lower‐crustal channel. We also find that palaeoaltimetric samples may have been transported laterally for hundreds of kilometers, an effect which should be accounted for in their interpretation. Our results are likely to be applicable to the evolution of mountain ranges in general and provide an explanation for the spatial correlation between cratonic lowland regions and steep mountain range‐fronts.
The energy transition and fossil energy use

Achieving the energy transition is among global priorities of the 21st century, one key element to success being the development of affordable renewable technology to compete with fossil energy. While technological progress seems already biased in favor of the renewable sector since the 70’s, we had to wait until 2005 to observe a sharp increase of its share in the energy mix. In this paper I develop a theoretical model of energy transition able to explain this delay through a lasting capital effect in favor of fossil energy. The existence of a trade-off between efficient pollutant capital and less efficient carbon-free alternative, in a context of embodied technical change and long living power plants, slows down the capacity to close polluting units. This mechanism postpones the effect of biased technical change. I also show that the divergence between the EU and the US on the timing of the energy transition can be explained by subjective beliefs about future damages from pollution. Simulation of both an optimistic view for the US and a pessimistic one for the EU matches with trajectories observed in the data.
2 Tone patterns and tonal processes of Bemba

This chapter identifies a number of key features in the intonation of Bemba. Final lowering is a robust feature found in all sentence types but which is implemented in two different ways. At the end of clauses a boundary L% affects the last few syllables of a clause-final word but at the end of minimal intonational phrases, like fronted topics, the boundary L% affects only the final syllable. Polar questions show pitch range expansion with a final L%. Such global effects are seen to result in suspension of downstep. Constituent questions and focus constructions show a suppression of downdrift with pitch range expansion occurring before the focus, leaving the focused constituent prosodically unmarked. Right dislocated clauses which are outside the matrix clause show pitch range compression. We treat global effects of pitch range expansion and compression as the result of left edge intonational tones (-H or -L) and local effects of pitch lowering as resulting from right edge boundary tones which then interact with lexical tones.
Performance-Optimal Read-Only Transactions

Read-only transactions are critical for consistently reading data spread across a distributed storage system but have worse performance than simple, non-transactional reads. We identify three properties of simple reads that are necessary for read-only transactions to be performance-optimal, i.e., come as close as possible to simple reads. We demonstrate a fundamental tradeoff in the design of read-only transactions by proving that performance optimality is impossible to achieve with strict serializability, the strongest consistency. Guided by this result, we present PORT, a performance-optimal design with the strongest consistency to date. Central to PORT are version clocks, a specialized logical clock that concisely captures the necessary ordering constraints. We show the generality of PORT with two applications. Scylla-PORT provides process-ordered serializability with simple writes and shows performance comparable to its non-transactional base system. Eiger-PORT provides causal consistency with write transactions and signiﬁcantly improves the performance of its transactional base system.
Irrigação da bolsa cloacal em Gallus gallus domesticus (matrizes de corte Hubbard)

The Cloacal Bursa's arteries of 30 females Hubbard were injected with 50% Neoprene Latex 450 solution, and submited to dissection. The ages of the birds was to 10 to 12 weeks. The vessel's origin, number and sequence were studied The results showed the participation of the left and right internal pudendal artery in all cases, witch the association of the cranial mesenteric artery (333,33%), to median caudal artery (3,33%), and to left internal iliac artery (3,33%). The total branches number, without considering its origin, varied in 2 to 9, being 4 branches the major frequency. The vessels distribuition was the same in each bird.
Large-scale Debloating of Binary Shared Libraries

Developers nowadays have access to an arsenal of toolkits and libraries for rapid application prototyping. However, when an application loads a library, the entirety of that library’s code is mapped into the process address space, even if only a single function is actually needed. The unused portion is bloat that can negatively impact software defenses by unnecessarily inflating their overhead or increasing the attack surface. In this article, we investigate whether debloating is possible and practical at the binary level. To this end, we present Nibbler: a system that identifies and erases unused functions within dynamic shared libraries. Nibbler works in tandem with defenses such as continuous code re-randomization and control-flow integrity, enhancing them without incurring additional run-time overhead. We developed and tested a prototype of Nibbler on x86-64 Linux; Nibbler reduces the size of shared libraries and the number of available functions, for real-world binaries and the SPEC CINT2006 suite, by up to 56% and 82%, respectively. We also demonstrate that Nibbler benefits defenses by showing that: (i) it improves the deployability of a continuous re-randomization system for binaries, namely, Shuffler, by increasing its efficiency by 20%, and (ii) it improves certain fast but coarse and context-insensitive control-flow integrity schemes by reducing the number of gadgets reachable through indirect branch instructions by 75% and 49%, on average. Last, we apply Nibbler on ≈30K C/C++ binaries and ≈5K unique dynamic shared libraries (i.e., almost the complete set of the Debian sid distribution), as well as on nine official Docker images (with millions of downloads in Docker Hub), reporting entrancing findings regarding code bloat at large.
Deoxynivalenol (DON) Content and Fusarium Head Blight Resistance in Segregating Populations of Winter Rye and Winter Wheat

Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by Fusarium graminearum Schw. [teleomorph: Gibberella zeae (Schw.) Petch] and Fusarium culmorum (W.G. Sm.) Sacc. , is a devastating disease in cereals, resulting in yield loss and contamination of harvested grains with mycotoxins, mainly deoxynivalenol (DON) and 3-acetyl DON (3-ADON). This study was undertaken to evaluate the possibility of selecting to reduced DON content and FHB resistance early in a breeding program. We estimated the genetic variance among F 3 lines in winter rye (Secale cereale L.) and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and the association between the two traits. In field experiments, four rye and one wheat populations with a total of 218 and 77 progenies, respectively, together with their parental lines were inoculated in four location-year combinations (environments) with an isolate of F. culmorum that produced high levels of DON. Grain DON and 3-ADON contents were determined by an enzyme immunoassay and head blight severity was assessed. Additionally, a total of 166 rye samples were analyzed by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The two methods were highly correlated (0.9). Mean DON contents ranged from 20 to 129 mg kg -1 , and mean disease severity from 3.8 to 6.8 on the 1-to-9 scale. The parental means generally resembled the means of their respective F3 progenies. Significant (P = 0.01) genotypic variance was detected, but genotype × environment interaction was also high (P = 0.01) for the two traits. Grain DON content, however, showed lower heritabilities than head blight rating, especially in rye. Coefficients of phenotypic correlation between FHB severity and DON content, therefore, were only in the medium range for rye (0.3-0.7) and higher for wheat (0.8). Genotypic correlation coefficients generally showed a tight association in both rye and wheat (0.8-0.9). Transgressive segregants for higher DON content were found in three rye populations and for higher FHB resistance in one rye population. Selection for lower grain DON content and FHB resistance can be effectively started by plant breeders as early as in the F 3 generation. Lines with low DON content can be indirectly achieved by selecting for reduced head blight severity across environments.
Bioaccumulation of butyltin compounds by mussels in harbours

AbstractThe bioaccumulation of butyltin compounds by freshwater mussels (Elliptio complanata) from contaminated sediments has been investigated in the laboratory and in the field in Oshawa and Whitby Harbours in Ontario. Tributyltin (TBT) was concentrated by mussels to higher concentrations in Whitby Harbour than in Oshawa Harbour. Concentrations of TBT in mussels and rates of accumulation related positively to the concentration of TBT in sediment.
UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Customer service chatbots: A qualitative interview study into customers’ communication journey

The current qualitative interview study describes the communication journey of customers who wish to contact companies, and their evaluation of chatbot communication within this journey. Interviews were conducted with a sample (N=24) that was varied in terms of gender, age, educational level and household composition. Experiences with nine customer service chatbots were included. The analysis focuses on three stages in the journey: first, customers’ prior expectations when contacting a company; second, their experiences during chatbot conversations, and third, their final conclusions about under which conditions customer service chatbots should be implemented, and the consequences of chatbot communication for customers’ company perceptions. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Exchange Rates, Stock Prices, and Stock Market Uncertainty

While the reference framework for international portfolio choice emphasizes a mean-variance framework, uncovered parity conditions only involve mean stock or bond returns. We propose to augment the empirical specification by using the relative stock market uncertainty of two countries as an extra determinant of their bilateral exchange rate returns. A rise in the relative uncertainty of one stock market will lead capital to flow to the other stock market and generate an appreciation in the currency of the latter. By focusing on the JPY/USD exchange rate returns during the most recent decade (2009-2019) and relying on a nonlinear framework, we provide evidence that the Japanese-US differential stock market uncertainty affects the JPY/USD returns both contemporaneously and with weekly lags. This finding is robust when we control for the stock returns differential and the differential changes in Japanese and US unconventional monetary policy measures.
Public and Private Real Estate in a Mixed-Asset Portfolio

Executive Summary. Recent stock market volatility and low interest rates have renewed interest in income / dividend producing investments. Previous research has studied the inclusion of public real estate or private real estate in a mixed-asset portfolio, but only one study has included both (with constraints). This study analyzes the inclusion of both public and private real estate in a mixed-asset portfolio using the mean / variance Markowitz efficient frontier methodology unconstrained. The 5-, 10-, 15- and 25-year results show that both public and private real estate can improve efficient frontiers substantially and may command a larger allocation than currently used.
Title: Immunity status of Health Care Workers post recovery from COVID-19: An online longitudinal panel survey

Abstract Background: Corona virus has literally travelled 'around the world in 80 days' akin to Fogg and Passepartoute of Jules Verne fame. Manning of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) wards and ICUs, also surgery on COVID-positive patients is increasingly being relegated to that subset of health care workers (HCW) who themselves have resumed duties after surviving COVID-19 infection. Convalescent plasma therapy has been widely endorsed. Several vaccines are in the pipeline as potential preventive measures against the virus keeping HCW on the priority-list of recipients. Immunity passports are being validated for foreign travel. These events share a common presumption that exposure to COVID-19 virus (natural infection/inoculation) produces protective adaptive immunity. It is unknown whether all (COVID-19) infected patients mount a protective immune response and for how long any protective effect will last. Methods: This single institutional prospective longitudinal panel survey questions were deployed to the respondents online via email/WhatsApp groups to ascertain the symptomology and immunity status of HCW in the months following COVID-19 infection. The survey was administered to the same set/cohort of health care workers over 6 months. Results: 165 responses from 151 respondents (70 at 1-2months; 95 at 3-4 months including 14 at both time points) were analysed.7. 14% of infected HCW failed to develop IgG antibodies at 4-6 weeks. 91.7% HCW with IgG titres in the highest bracket had experienced anosmia. Mean antibody titres were 12.08 {+/-} 9.56 and 9.72 {+/-} 9.34 at 1-2 months and 3-4 months post-development of first symptom, respectively. Conclusion: Understanding of COVID-19 patterns of variation in HCW may guide their deployment in the COVID ward and COVID-OTs. Revelation of this enigma (by quantification of serial IgG antibody levels) is critical for predicting response to vaccines under trial, fostering effective stratagems and tactics for pandemic control, ascertaining validity of immunity passports and understanding longevity/durability of protection by forecasting immunological memory against SARS-CoV-2.
Preferences and barriers to mental help seeking among students attending the University of Dschang, West region, Cameroon.

Background: Mental disorders are a major source of disability and receive little attention in developing countries in general and particularly in Cameroon. Students are at a higher risk of developing mental disorders. The aim of this study was to assess students mental help seeking preferences and the barriers to mental health seeking. Methods: We conducted a cross sectional study. Participants were selected using a multistage sampling method. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on sociodemographic characteristics preferences and barriers to mental health seeking. Results: Of the 84.23%[534/634, CI :81.18%- 86.86% ] who consider depression a serious health problem 34.14%[183/534, CI : 30,25%- 38.26% ] will go to a psychologist, in case of a mental health problem. Most of the participants 47.32% [300/634,CI : 43,46%- 51.21% ] prefer a private hospital for healthcare. The greatest barrier to health access is the inability to pay 38.64%[245/634, CI : 34.93%- 42.49%]. Conclusion: Interventions to increase awareness on available health services, implementation of universal health coverage and the promotion of mental health could greatly improve health seeking behaviour and access to mental healthcare.