Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Flat subduction dynamics and deformation of the South American plate: Insights from analog modeling

We present lithospheric‐scale analog models, investigating how the absolute plates' motion and subduction of buoyant oceanic plateaus can affect both the kinematics and the geometry of subduction, possibly resulting in the appearance of flat slab segments, and how it changes the overriding plate tectonic regime. Experiments suggest that flat subductions only occur if a large amount of a buoyant slab segment is forced into subduction by kinematic boundary conditions, part of the buoyant plateau being incorporated in the steep part of the slab to balance the negative buoyancy of the dense oceanic slab. Slab flattening is a long‐term process (∼10 Ma), which requires the subduction of hundreds of kilometers of buoyant plateau. The overriding plate shortening rate increases if the oceanic plateau is large enough to decrease the slab pull effect. Slab flattening increases the interplate friction force and results in migration of the shortening zone within the interior of the overriding plate. The increase of the overriding plate topography close to the trench results from (1) the buoyancy of the plate subducting at trench and (2) the overriding plate shortening. Experiments are compared to the South American active margin, where two major horizontal slab segments had formed since the Pliocene. Along the South American subduction zone, flat slab segments below Peru and central Chile/NW Argentina appeared at ∼7 Ma following the beginning of buoyant slab segments' subduction. In northern Ecuador and northern Chile, the process of slab flattening resulting from the Carnegie and Iquique ridges' subductions, respectively, seems to be active but not completed. The formation of flat slab segments below South America from the Pliocene may explain the deceleration of the Nazca plate trenchward velocity.
FINITE SEISMIC SOURCE PARAMETERS INFERRED FROM STOPPING PHASES FOR SELECTED EVENTS OF WEST BOHEMIA 2000 SWARM

Parameters of finite seismic source model were determined for a set of 36 selected events of the West Bohemia 2000 earthquakes swarm (Ml from 1.7 to 3.0) using stopping phases method. Two stopping phases are generated along the source border where the rupture process terminates and these phases form Hilbert transform pair, which is also the criterion for their identification. Circular and elliptical source models were considered and corresponding source parameters were calculated by inverting interpreted stopping phases delays. As generalization of circular to elliptical model was found to be statistically insignificant, only results related to the circular source including error estimates are presented. Our results are in a good agreement with previously published theoretical formula concerning source radius and magnitude and also fairly well confirm general theoretical assumption about constant stress drop. The determined stress drop ranges between 1 – 10 MPa with the typical value of 2.4 MPa.
A description of midlatitudes eddies within the moist isentropic meridional circulation

Using a joint isentropic analysis, a theory of the meridional overturning circulation is developed. Our method is based on a careful treatment of the mass flux joint distribution, a quantity that records meridional mass fluxes according to their potential temperature and their equivalent potential temperature simultaneously. This approach reveals mass fluxes that would otherwise be impossible to retrieve with previously available methods. Moreover, it creates as a by-product a completely new diagnostic for the vertical profile of equivalent potential temperature in midlatitudes. These vertical profiles are unusual in that they represent the atmospheric state that is experienced by poleward and equatorward fluxes independently. While poleward fluxes are subjected to a moist atmosphere with slanted moist isentropes, equatorward fluxes experience a dry atmosphere with moist isentropes confounded with dry isentropes. Using these diagnostics, we unify the circulation on dry isentropes with the circulation on moist isentropes by identifying the mass fluxes related to midlatitudes moist ascents. In the process of unifying the two, we propose a moist theory of lower tropospheric dynamic that, when viewed in the context of strong moist ascents, gives an explanation for the midlatitudes moist stratification. This theory is applied to the study of moist baroclinic eddies using idealized moist life-cycle experiments. We compute the cumulative mass flux joint distribution for a series of individual eddies and use it to describe transports of mass and heat. We relate the moist circulation strength to the amount of available moisture and show that by increasing the depth or relative humidity of a surface moist layer we are increasing the mass fluxes
RELEASE AND TRANSPORT OF BACTERIA AND NUTRIENTS FROM LIVESTOCK MANURE APPLIED TO PASTURELAND

Transport of fecal bacteria and nutrients from point and nonpoint sources to surface water bodies is of significant concern in Virginia and the United States. In Virginia, 4,320 river miles are impaired for one or more beneficial use and 72% of the streams are impaired due to pathogen indicators (VDEQ, 2002). Land applications of manure from confined animal systems and by direct deposit by grazing animals are both major sources of fecal bacteria and nutrients in runoff. Therefore, an understanding of the overland transport mechanisms for fecal bacteria and nutrients is very important for the development of best management practices to reduce loading of pathogens and nutrients to surface water bodies. The objectives of this study were to quantify the release and transport potential of three fecal bacterial indicators: E. coli, Enterococcus, and fecal coliforms; and nitrogen and phosphorus from land applied manure during runoff events. Another objective was to identify the Enterococcus species present in dairy manure and determine which species have the highest potential to be transported by runoff. Release plots were established to study the in-field bacteria and nutrient release. The bacteria and nutrients released from the plots are available to be transported to the edge of the field in runoff. Four manure treatments (turkey litter, liquid dairy manure, cowpies, and none or control) and three land type treatments: pasture with a history of poultry litter application (Turkey Farm), pasture with a history of liquid dairy manure application (Dairy Farm), and pasture with no prior manure application (Tech Research Farm) were studied. During a short but intense rainfall event, the highest bacterial release was measured under the cowpie treatment (E. coli concentrations ranging from 37,000 to >300,000 and FC concentrations ranging from 65,000 to >300,000).
Exploring the interplay between metabolic power and equivalent distance in training games and official matches in soccer: a machine learning approach

Introduction: This study aimed to explore the interplay between metabolic power (MP) and equivalent distance (ED) and their respective roles in training games (TGs) and official soccer matches. Furthermore, the secondary objective was to investigate the connection between external training load (ETL), determined by the interplay of metabolic power and equivalent distance, and internal training load (ITL) assessed through HR-based methods, serving as a measure of criterion validity. Methods: Twenty-one elite professional male soccer players participated in the study. Players were monitored during 11 months of full training and overall official matches. The study used a dataset of 4269 training games and 380 official matches split into training and test sets. In terms of machine learning methods, the study applied several techniques, including K-Nearest Neighbors, Decision Tree, Random Forest, and Support-Vector Machine classifiers. The dataset was divided into two subsets: a training set used for model training and a test set used for evaluation. Results: Based on metabolic power and equivalent distance, the study successfully employed four machine learning methods to accurately distinguish between the two types of soccer activities: TGs and official matches. The area under the curve (AUC) values ranged from 0.90 to 0.96, demonstrating high discriminatory power, with accuracy levels ranging from 0.89 to 0.98. Furthermore, the significant correlations observed between Edwards’ training load (TL) and TL calculated from metabolic power metrics confirm the validity of these variables in assessing external training load in soccer. The correlation coefficients (r values) ranged from 0.59 to 0.87, all reaching statistical significance at p < 0.001. Discussion: These results underscore the critical importance of investigating the interaction between metabolic power and equivalent distance in soccer. While the overall intensity may appear similar between TGs and official matches, it is evident that underlying factors contributing to this intensity differ significantly. This highlights the necessity for more comprehensive analyses of the specific elements influencing physical effort during these activities. By addressing this fundamental aspect, this study contributes valuable insights to the field of sports science, aiding in the development of tailored training programs and strategies that can optimize player performance and reduce the risk of injuries in elite soccer.
Pliocene suids from Musaitu and Dermenji, Moldova: implications for understanding the origin of African Kolpochoerus Van Hoepen & Van Hoepen, 1932

ABSTRACT Early Pliocene suids of Europe are generally rare and poorly preserved, but some exceptional fossils have been found at Roussillon, France, Villafranca d'Asti, Italy, and Kvabebi, Georgia. We here describe and interpret an almost complete skull of a small suid from Musaitu and a mandible fragment from Dermenji, Moldova, which add precious information to the data base concerning these small European Pliocene suids, here attributed to Dasychoerus arvernensis (Croizet & Jobert, 1828). The Moldovan fossils provide an important biogeographic link between the Western European and Asian Plio-Pleistocene suines. The Musaitu skull, in particular, shows the elongated snout, enlarged canine flanges, pneumatised zygomatic arch and low slung incisor row characteristic of the genus Dasychoerus Gray, 1873. This species is important because it represents the group from which the African Kolpochoerus Van Hoepen & Van Hoepen, 1932 lineage probably emerged. The latter group is useful for biochronology because, having arrived in Africa, where it has been called Kolpochoerus deheinzelini Brunet & White, 2001 (in fact a junior synonym of Dasychoerus arvernensis) it evolved rapidly in dimensions and dental morphology. During the Pliocene the genus Dasychoerus, already adapted to tropical and sub-tropical climates, was widespread in mid-latitude Eurasia and Africa, but when much of mid-latitude Eurasia became boreal during the Plio-Pleistocene, the range of Dasychoerus shrank equatorwards, giving way to boreally adapted Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1758 over much of its former territory, leaving a disjunct distribution of its descendants in Africa (Hylochoerus Thomas, 1904, possibly Potamochoerus Gray, 1854) and the tropical islands of the Far East (Dasychoerus).
Moving Target Defense Through Approximation for Low-Power Neuromorphic Edge Intelligence

Neuromorphic intelligence is driven by spiking neural networks (SNNs) to achieve high algorithmic performance. However, similar to artificial neural networks (ANNs), SNNs are vulnerable to adversarial attacks. Such attacks often succeed in misclassification by repeatedly probing a fixed target model. Recent works claim that repeated attacks can be defended in ANNs by employing a moving target defense (MTD). Nonetheless, the state-of-the-art defense mechanisms in SNNs do not consider the notion of moving targets and are limited to shallow network architectures. To this end, we propose a novel MTD strategy for neuromorphic edge intelligence (MTSpike) that incorporates approximate knowledge distillation based on the distinct inherent structural parameters, i.e., firing threshold and time steps in SNNs, under a pretrain and finetune paradigm. Indeed, it is a 2-in-1 approach that enhances robustness against repeated attacks and reduces energy consumption for deeper SNNs. We evaluate our proposed MTSpike with four benchmark image classification datasets, i.e., ImageNet, CIFAR10, DVS128 Gesture, and CIFAR10-dynamic vision sensor datasets against white-box, black-box, and gray-box fast gradient sign method, projected gradient descent, sparse and efficiency attacks on deep residual SNNs. Our results demonstrate that MTSpike outperforms the state-of-the-art defense techniques by enabling SNNs to operate with a negligible drop in classification accuracy (as low as 1%–2%) under adversarial attacks. Also, MTSpike achieves $1.3\times $ higher energy efficiency under efficiency attack. Apart from defense, MTSpike provides an additional advantage of energy efficiency by reducing the spike rate by $3\times $ in deeper SNNs.
Spatial evolution of nitrogen and phosphorus loads along a small Mediterranean river: implication of bed sediments

This study addresses the spatial variations in water quality along the River Vène (France). The Vène drains a 67 km2 rural basin, with a large karstic area, located in a Mediterranean context. A 1 day sampling campaign was conducted along the river, in winter low‐flow conditions (February 2003). Physico‐chemical parameters and water flow discharge were measured in situ during the sampling campaign. Water quality was evaluated by determining the concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in water and bed‐sediment samples. Nitrogen and phosphorus loads were evaluated taking into account the measured concentrations and discharge. The campaign included 18 sampling points and concerned the whole river from the spring to the outlet, plus the main inputs, i.e. sewage treatment works, main tributaries and karstic springs. The spatial evolution of nitrogen and phosphorus loads along the river allowed the significant role of point‐source inputs to be demonstrated. The decrease in nutrient loads along the river occurred mainly in specific reaches where fine sediments had accumulated. In these zones, phosphorus is trapped in the bed sediments in calcium‐bound phosphates due to precipitation processes. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Pancreatic Exocrine Insufficiency and the Gut Microbiome in Pancreatic Cancer: A Target for Future Diagnostic Tests and Therapies?

Simple Summary It is now thought that bacteria in the gut and tumour of patients with pancreatic cancer play an important role in the growth of the cancer and its sensitivity to chemotherapy. It has been shown that pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (PEI), common in pancreatic cancer patients, is linked to poorer outcomes. Conversely, it has also been demonstrated that treatment with pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) can improve survival in pancreatic cancer patients. The reasons for this are not fully understood, but it is possible that PEI alters the gut and tumour microbiome of pancreatic cancer patients towards a less favourable composition, whereas PERT can reverse these changes and make the gut and tumour microbiome more favourable. If true, this could represent an opportunity for the development of new diagnostic tests and therapies for pancreatic cancer, which remains one of the deadliest cancers. Abstract Pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (PEI) is common amongst pancreatic cancer patients and is associated with poorer treatment outcomes. Pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) is known to improve outcomes in pancreatic cancer, but the mechanisms are not fully understood. The aim of this narrative literature review is to summarise the current evidence linking PEI with microbiome dysbiosis, assess how microbiome composition may be impacted by PERT treatment, and look towards possible future diagnostic and therapeutic targets in this area. Early evidence in the literature reveals that there are complex mechanisms by which pancreatic secretions modulate the gut microbiome, so when these are disturbed, as in PEI, gut microbiome dysbiosis occurs. PERT has been shown to return the gut microbiome towards normal, so called rebiosis, in animal studies. Gut microbiome dysbiosis has multiple downstream effects in pancreatic cancer such as modulation of the immune response and the response to chemotherapeutic agents. It therefore represents a possible future target for future therapies. In conclusion, it is likely that the gut microbiome of pancreatic cancer patients with PEI exhibits dysbiosis and that this may potentially be reversible with PERT. However, further human studies are required to determine if this is indeed the case.
LONGITUDINAL CHANGES IN PARAFOVEAL MICROVASCULAR STRUCTURE IN DIABETIC MACULAR EDEMA

Objective: This study aims to investigate retinal microvascular changes according to increases and decreases in macular edema, explain how these changes are associated with different capillary plexuses in diabetic macular edema (DME), and provide evidence for treatment efforts. Materials and Methods: 21 eyes of diabetic patients with DME who were treated with intravitreal injections were investigated. The control group was assigned age-and sex-matched healthy subjects. The patients were divided into decreased edema and increased edema subgroups to compare microvascular changes before and after treatment. Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA) parameters were used for comparison. Results: There were significant differences in visual acuity and mean OCTA parameters between the main patient group and the control group (all P<0.05). There were no significant differences between the two DME subgroups in terms of baseline values (all P>0.05). The foveal avascular zone (FAZ) in the deep capillary plexus (DCP) was significantly lower in the decreased edema group; however, there were no significant differences in the other parameters between the two subgroups after 6 months of treatment. The changes in the FAZ in the DCP ranged from 2126.82 ± 1858.59 μm2 to 711.64 ± 738.55 μm2 in the decreased edema group (P = 0.013) and from 2231.50 ± 2187.66 µm2 to 2025.50 ± 2020 µm2 in the increased edema group (P = 0.575) after 6 months of treatment. Conclusion: Deep retinal ischemia can actually recover after proper treatment. However, we were unable to find a significant change in the density of the parafoveal vessel in DME after treatment; the changes in the FAZ of the DCP were the most prominent indicator of that improvement.
Untapped Potential of Manufacturing MSEs in Bali Amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic

The macro health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in an economic slump in Bali exposed the need for economic development outside the tourism sector. Manufacturing Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) is one sector that contributes significantly to the economy, export value, and employment, particularly during moments when the tourism sector is down. This study aims to determine the performance of manufacturing MSEs during 2018-2021 using Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function analysis. The Technical Inefficiency (TE) value of manufacturing MSEs in Bali was 22.24% over 2018-2021. The impact of COVID-19 on each ISIC and business location has a varied impact on the production value of MSEs Manufacturing. The gender of the business owner, financial service, age of workers, and source of raw materials are inefficiency variables that significantly affect production value. However, the training received by manufacturing MSEs had no significant effect. The findings from this study can be used as a basis for government policy in further developing the untapped potential of manufacturing MSEs in Bali regarding impacts upon Bali's tourism sector during the pandemic.JEL Classification: D24, E23, J16, L86, O14 How to Cite:Candrawati, I.A. , & Purwanti, P.A. P. (2023). Untapped Potential of Manufacturing MSEs in Bali Amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic. Signifikan: Jurnal Ilmu Ekonomi, 12(2), 383-398. https://doi.org/10.15408/sjie. v12i2.32389.
Medium-Term Clinical Outcomes of the Global Icon Stemless Shoulder System: Results of a 2-Year Follow-Up

The primary aim of this study was to assess the medium-term outcomes of the Global Icon stemless shoulder replacement in patients who have undergone primary total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) for glenohumeral joint osteoarthritis. A retrospective review of patients who had undergone a TSA using the Global Icon stemless shoulder system was performed. The Western Ontario Osteoarthritis Shoulder (WOOS) Index and Oxford Shoulder Score (OSS) were evaluated pre-operatively and at 12 to 24 months post-operatively. Radiological outcomes, operation time, and post-operative complications were reported. Primary analysis for the WOOS Index and OSS focused on detecting within-group treatment effects at 24 months using a repeated measures ANOVA. Thirty patients were included in the study. Post-surgery, there was a significant improvement at 24 months on the OSS (ES = 0.932, CI: 41.7 to 47.7, p < 0.001) and the WOOS Index (ES = 0.906, CI: 71.9 to 99.8, p < 0.001). Radiographs revealed that no component loosened, migrated, or subsided. The median operative time was 75.5 (IQR: 12.25, range: 18 to 105) min. No implant-related complications were reported. The Global Icon stemless replacements have excellent clinical outcomes in this cohort at 12- and 24-month follow-up with no implant-related complications.
Chemical Composition and Insulin-Resistance Activity of Arginine-Loaded American Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton, Ericaceae) Leaf Extracts

One of the key pathogenetic links in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is the formation of insulin resistance (IR). Besides a wide selection of synthetic antidiabetic drugs, various plant-origin extracts are also available to support the treatment of T2DM. This study aimed to investigate and gain knowledge of the chemical composition and potential IR correction effect of American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton) leaf extracts and formulate novel 3D-printed oral dosage forms for such extracts. The bioactivity and IR of L-arginine-loaded cranberry leaf extracts were studied in vivo in rats. The cranberry leaf extracts consisted of quinic, 3-caffeoylquinic (chlorogenic), p-coumaroylquinic acids, quercetin 3-O-galactoside, quercetin-3-O-glucoside, quercetin-3-xyloside, quercetin-3-O-arabino pyranoside, quercetin-3-O-arabinofuranoside, quercetin 3-O-rhamnoside, and quercetin-O-p-coumaroyl hexoside-2 identified by HPLC. In vivo studies with rats showed that the oral administration of the cranberry leaf extracts had a positive effect on insulin sensitivity coefficients under the insulin tolerance test and affected homeostasis model assessment IR levels and liver lipid content with experimental IR. A novel 3D-printed immediate-release dosage form was developed for the oral administration of cranberry leaf extracts using polyethylene oxide as a carrier gel in semi-solid extrusion 3D printing. In conclusion, American cranberry leaf extracts loaded with L-arginine could find uses in preventing health issues associated with IR.