Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Magmatic sources and tectonic setting of Gondwana margin Ordovician magmas, northern Puna of Argentina and Chile

Understanding the sources of Ordovician magmatic rocks in the broad western Faja Eruptiva Occidental and eastern Faja Eruptiva Oriental magmatic belts in the northern Puna of Argentina and Chile is important to Ordovician geodynamic models for western Gondwana evolution and Gondwana-Laurentian terrane interactions. A critical evaluation of existing chemical and age data, along with new major trace element data, and field observations leads to a working model in which magmatism in the western belt progressively occurred in an active to waning arc to collisional regime, whereas that in the eastern belt occurred in an oblique fault regime transitional to a subduction zone to the south. The model is hampered by data gaps in all areas, and particularly by lack of ages in western and southern regions. The best understood area is the northern Faja Eruptiva Oriental where dacitic and mafic units with published ages of 476‐467 Ma occur in linear fault-controlled trends. Their chemistry is consistent with dacitic magma sources being dominated by sedimentary-type protoliths melted in association with emplacement of mantle-derived alkaline mafic magmas. These dacitic units represent lava-dome complexes emplaced contemporaneously with outer shelf and slope basin sedimentation. Farther south where deeper crustal levels are exposed, volcanic/subvolcanic units grade into poorly studied plutonic facies. Trondhjemitic bodies are reported to the east. Contemporaneous units in the Faja Eruptiva Occidental are plutons and mafic to rhyolitic lavas in sequences of volcaniclastic sediments. Chemical signatures in the poorly dated Cordon de Lila lavas and Choschas dioritic to leucogranodioritic pluton in Chile are consistent with emplacement in a magmatic arc on thinned continental or oceanic crust. Mafic volcanic units in volcanic-sedimentary sequences just to the east could represent arc volcanism behind the front. An Arenig-Llanvirn change to bimodal and predominantly silicic magmatism, the emplacement of shoshonitic and mafic andesitic flows with weak arc signatures followed by alkaline dikes in the eastern Faja Eruptiva Occidental, and the formation of the Faja Eruptiva Oriental dacitic-mafic sequences could signal a change to a very oblique subduction regime. This change would be roughly contemporaneous with the arrival of the Laurentia-derived Precordillera terrane to the south. A post‐Arenig-Llanvirn compressional regime seems required to explain Ocloyic deformation in the east and late plutons to the west. The nature of the eastern boundary of a periGondwana Arequipa terrane and the existence of a peri-Gondwana Famatina-Puna Oriental terrane remain unclear.
New approaches for imaging bacteria and neutrophils for detection of occult infections

BACKGROUND: Diagnosis of implant-associated infection is challenging. Several radiopharmaceuticals have been described but direct comparisons are limited. Here we compared in vitro and in an animal model 99m Tc-UBI, 99m Tc-Ciprofloxacin, 99m TcN-CiproCS 2 and 111 In-DTPA-biotin for targeting E. coli (ATCC 25922) and S. aureus (ATCC 43335). METHODS: Stability controls were performed with the labelled radiopharmaceuticals during 6 h in saline and serum. The in vitro binding to viable or killed bacteria was evaluated at 37 °C and 4 °C. For in vivo studies, Teflon cages were subcutaneously implanted in mice, followed by percutaneous infection. Biodistribution of i.v. injected radiolabelled radiopharmaceuticals were evaluated during 24 h in cages and dissected tissues. RESULTS: Labelling efficiency of all radiopharmaceuticals ranged between 94% and 98%, with high stability both in saline and in human serum. In vitro binding assays displayed a rapid but poor bacterial binding for all tested agents. Similar binding kinetic occurred also with heat-killed and ethanol-killed bacteria. In the tissue cage model, infection was detected at different time points: 99m Tc-UBI and 99m TcN-CiproCS 2 showed higher infected cage/sterile cage ratio at 24 h for both E. coli and S. aureus ; 99m Tc-Ciprofloxacin at 24 h for both E. coli and at 4 h for S. aureus ; 111 In-DTPA-biotin accumulates faster in both E. coli and S. aureus infected cages. CONCLUSIONS: 99m Tc-UBI, 99m TcN-CiproCS 2 showed poor in vitro binding but good in vivo binding to E. coli only. 111 In-DTPA-biotin showed poor in vitro binding but good in vivo binding to S. aureus and poor to E. coli . 99m Tc-Ciprofloxacin showed poor in vitro binding but good in vivo binding to all tested bacteria. The mechanism of accumulation in infected sites remains to be elucidated.
Lattice modeling for the dynamics and biodiversity of plant communities

The present richness of ecological diversity in the world has always baffled scientists. This is because of the fact that a lot of ecological models in literature point to the existence of a single or a few superior species also known as competitive exclusion principle. Adapting these models so that the present diversity is taken into consideration would be almost impossible and very hard to achieve. Moreover, most of these models includes complicated equations which only consider a few species. Here, we build simple models in attempts to explain the rich diversity of species of phytoplankton in limnological waters and terrestrial plants present in the world today. We present very simple competition models based on the lattice Lotka-Volterra system that includes several parameters that can be seen in the real world. The first phenomenon that we considered is the vast number of phytoplankton species in fresh bodies of water even though limited nutrients for proliferation is scarce. This phenomenon is also known as the paradox of the plankton which apparently contradicts the competitive exclusion principle. This phenomenon is in conjunction to the paradox of enrichment proposed by Michael Rosenzweig in 1971. This refers to the occurrence where abundance in food availability is detrimental to the diversity and destabilizes the population dynamics between predator and prey, not just in freshwater ecosystems, but also in other biological communities. This can be seen as eutrophication reported in aquatic ecosystems, e.g., water pollution and red tides. We here propose the paradox of enrichment by induced competitive interactions using multiple contact process, a lattice Lotka-Volterra model. Simulation results demonstrate how eutrophication invokes more competitions in a competitive ecosystem resulting in the loss of phytoplankton diversity in ecological time. The paradox is enhanced under local interactions, indicating that the limited dispersal of phytoplankton reduces interspecific competition greatly. Thus, the paradox of enrichment appears when eutrophication destroys an ecosystem either by elevated interspecific competition within a
Late incomplete apposition after drug-eluting stent implantation: incidence and potential for adverse clinical outcomes.

AIM Late-acquired incomplete stent apposition (ISA) has been documented after drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation; however, its clinical role remains controversial. We sought to investigate the incidence and long-term clinical consequences of late ISA after implantation of sirolimus- (SES) or paclitaxel-eluting stent (PES) in a non-selected population. METHODS AND RESULTS From our database, we analysed 195 consecutive patients who underwent DES placement (175 with SES and 20 with PES) into native artery lesions and had serial intravascular ultrasound studies (IVUS) performed at index procedure and after 6-8 months. They were clinically followed for 29 +/- 15 months (median of 24.3 months, interquartile range 18.1-31.6 months). Late ISA was defined as separation of at least one stent strut from the vessel wall in a segment without a side-branch and where the immediate post-implantation IVUS revealed complete apposition of stent struts. We identified 10 patients (5.1%) with late ISA, three patients after PES, and seven patients after SES implantation. ISA was localized almost exclusively at body of the stents (nine out of 10 cases). Mean ISA volume and length were 44.5 +/- 41.9 mm(3) and 7.4 +/- 11 mm, respectively. There was a marked increase in vessel volume from 416.0 +/- 163.9 mm(3) at baseline to 514.4 +/- 247.9 mm(3) at follow-up (P = 0.001) with no significant change in plaque volume (232.4 +/- 52.7 at baseline and 226.4 +/- 22.3 mm(3) at follow-up, P = 0.3) in patients who presented with late-acquired ISA. During the follow-up period, one patient with SES and one patient with PES who presented late-acquired ISA had late stent thrombosis and acute myocardial infarction. CONCLUSION Late-acquired ISA was observed in 5.1% of patients after DES implantation and is related to regional vessel positive remodelling. The relationship between late-acquired ISA and long-term adverse outcomes (e.g. stent thrombosis) requires further analysis.
Tissue heterogeneity as a mechanism for localized neural stimulation by applied electric fields

We investigate the heterogeneity of electrical conductivity as a new mechanism to stimulate excitable tissues via applied electric fields. In particular, we show that stimulation of axons crossing internal boundaries can occur at boundaries where the electric conductivity of the volume conductor changes abruptly. The effectiveness of this and other stimulation mechanisms was compared by means of models and computer simulations in the context of transcranial magnetic stimulation. While, for a given stimulation intensity, the largest membrane depolarization occurred where an axon terminates or bends sharply in a high electric field region, a slightly smaller membrane depolarization, still sufficient to generate action potentials, also occurred at an internal boundary where the conductivity jumped from 0.143 S m−1 to 0.333 S m−1, simulating a white-matter-grey-matter interface. Tissue heterogeneity can also give rise to local electric field gradients that are considerably stronger and more focal than those impressed by the stimulation coil and that can affect the membrane potential, albeit to a lesser extent than the two mechanisms mentioned above. Tissue heterogeneity may play an important role in electric and magnetic ‘far-field’ stimulation.
Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM and cellobiose does not affect human gut bacterial diversity but increases abundance of lactobacilli , bifidobacteria and branched-chain fatty acids : a randomized , double-blinded cross-over trial

This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.1111/1574-6941.12397 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Received Date : 28-Apr-2014 Revised Date : 10-Jul-2014 Accepted Date : 14-Jul-2014 Article type : Research Paper Editor: Julian Marchesi
$100 Bills on the Sidewalk: Suboptimal Investment in 401(k) Plans

It is typically difficult to determine whether households invest optimally. But sometimes, investment incentives are strong enough to create sharp normative restrictions. We identify employees at seven companies who are eligible to receive employer matching contributions in their 401(k) and can make penalty-free withdrawals for any reason. For these employees, contributing less than the match threshold is a dominated action that violates the no-arbitrage condition. Nevertheless, between 20% and 60% contribute below the threshold, losing as much as 6% of their annual pay. Providing employees with information about the free lunch they are foregoing fails to raise contribution rates.
Three Years of Δ14CO2 Observations from Maize Leaves in the Netherlands and Western Europe

Abstract Atmospheric Δ14CO2 measurements are useful to investigate the regional signals of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, despite the currently scarce observational network for Δ14CO2. Plant samples are an easily attainable alternative, which have been shown to work well as a qualitative measure of the atmospheric Δ14CO2 signals integrated over the time a plant has grown. Here, we present the 14C analysis results for 89 individual maize (Zea mays) plant samples from 51 different locations that were gathered in the Netherlands in the years 2010 to 2012, and from western Germany and France in 2012. We describe our sampling strategy and results, and include a comparison to a model simulation of the Δ14CO2 that would be accumulated in each plant over a growing season. Our model simulates the Δ14CO2 signatures in good agreement with observed plant samples, resulting in a root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) of 3.30‰. This value is comparable to the measurement uncertainty, but still relatively large (20–50%) compared to the total signal. It is also comparable to the spread in Δ14CO2 values found across multiple plants from a single site, and to the spread found when averaging across larger regions. We nevertheless find that both measurements and model capture the large-scale (>100 km) regional Δ14CO2 gradients, with significant observation-model correlations in all three countries in which we collected samples. The modeled plant results suggest that the largest gradients found in the Netherlands and Germany are associated with emissions from energy production and road traffic, while in France, the 14CO2 enrichment from nuclear sources dominates in many samples. Overall, the required model-based interpretation of plant samples adds additional uncertainty to the already relatively large measurement uncertainty in Δ14CO2, and we suggest that future fossil fuel monitoring efforts should prioritize other strategies such as direct atmospheric sampling of CO2 and Δ14CO2.
A feasibility study of systematic symptom assessment in palliative care using the PERS2ON score

PURPOSE A comprehensive and standardized assessment of symptoms is fundamental for individualized palliative care (PC). Numerous scoring systems are available, but they are often cumbersome and hence unsuitable for routine use. The PERS2ON score has been developed to provide a short, and feasible score to evaluate symptom burden. We performed an external evaluation of the feasibility of this score in a rural hospital.
5 Chapter 2 : Insurance Demand and Social Comparison : An Experimental Analysis 9 Chapter 3 : Gender differences in ambiguity aversion under different outcome correlation structures 2 5 Chapter 4 : Gender Differences in Social Risk Taking 3 8

This paper analyzes whether social comparison can explain the low take up of disaster insurance usually reported in field studies. We argue that risks in the case of disasters are highly correlated between subjects whereas risks for which high insurance take up can be observed (e.g. extended warranties or cell phone insurance) are typically idiosyncratic. We set up a simple model with social reference points and show that in the presence of inequality aversion social comparison makes insurance indeed less attractive if risks are correlated. In addition we conducted a simple experiment which confirms these theoretical results. The average willingness to pay for insurance is significantly higher for idiosyncratic than for correlated risks.
The adult patient with native coarctation of the aorta: balloon angioplasty or primary stenting?

Objective: To compare results of dilatation of native coarctation of the aorta with and without stent implantation. Design: Open, observational, non-randomised study. Patients: 54 consecutive adult patients: 32 with balloon angioplasty alone (group 1) and 22 with stent placement (group 2). Interventions: Balloon dilatation from 1995 to 1997; dilatation with Palmaz stent placement from 1997 to 1999. Main outcome measures: The primary end point was a composite index of failure including heart related death, a residual gradient of > 20 mm Hg, the need of reintervention, and aneurysm formation. Results: Peak systolic gradient (mean (SD)) was reduced both in group 1 (from 63.3 (22.8) to 10.7 (10.8) mm Hg, p < 0.001) and group 2 (from 63.9 (20.8) to 2.7 (4.3) mm Hg, p < 0.001), but Δ change was significantly greater in group 2. A residual gradient of > 10 mm Hg was shown to be the best cut off point to separate risk groups, representing a hazard ratio (HR) of 9.59 compared with a residual gradient of ≤ 10 mm Hg (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.92 to 47.8). From multivariate Cox regression analysis, the only risk marker was the residual gradient (HR 8.9, 95% CI 1.2 to 63.0). The type of the coarctation and the use of stent were the factors associated with a residual gradient of ≤ 10 mm Hg. Conclusions: Mid term outcome in adult patients with native aortic coarctation receiving percutaneous treatment is strongly related to the immediate residual gradient. When treating these cases, efforts should be made to obtain gradients under 10 mm Hg, either by angioplasty alone or by placing a stent. Patients with discrete aortic coarctation have similar mid term results when the immediate residual gradient is ≤ 10 mm Hg despite the implantation of a stent. To achieve these gradients, patients with hypoplastic isthmus or tubular coarctation should be treated with primary stenting. Further studies including exercise tests and non-invasive imaging are still needed before definitive conclusions can be drawn.
The Flattening Firm and Product Market Competition: The Effect of Trade Costs and Liberalization

It has been documented that firm hierarchies are flattening. CEO span of control has increased significantly over time while the number of levels in the hierarchy has declined. In this paper, we establish a causal effect of foreign competition (using changes in trade costs and trade liberalization) on various characteristics of organizational design. We exploit a unique panel dataset of large US firms with detailed information on firm hierarchies and managerial positions over the period 1986-1999. We find that globalization leads to flatter firms: (i) firms reduce the number of positions between the CEO and division managers, and (ii) increase the number of positions reporting directly to the CEO. We also find that competition increases performance-based pay for division managers and affects the reporting relationships of senior officers including Chief Financial Officers and Legal Counsel. The results are generally consistent with the explanation that intensified competition increases the value of innovation and quick decision making, causing multidivisional firms to redesign their organizations to be more adaptive to local information while simultaneously coordinating activities across divisions.
Comparing Sea-Ice Sediment Load With Beaufort Sea Shelf Deposits: Is Entrainment Selective?

ABSTRACT Modern dispersal of sea-ice-rafted debris (IRD) is important for the Arctic Ocean sediment budget from sources to sinks. Sediment entrainment occurs mainly through the action of small ice crystals (frazil) attaching to sedimentary particles in shallow water, a mechanism that could be selective. The principal source for entrainment of IRD by suspension freezing into the Beaufort Gyre, western Arctic Ocean, is the adjacent shallow ( 250 m) lithology, and carbon and carbonate content of IRD in the Beaufort Gyre were compared to sediments from the probable source surface, in order to determine whether preferential entrainment occurs with any of these sediment parameters. IRD is generally much finer grained than the source surface, showing that silt- and clay-size particles are preferentially entrained by frazil ice, although anchor ice can locally incorporate very high percentages of sand and coarser clasts. The coarsest IRD is also the most poorly sorted. The clay mineralogy of the < 2 m IRD fraction is very similar to that of the source surface, indicating no selective entrainment within the clay fraction. The lithology of sand in IRD also matches that of the source surface, although the number of coarse grains is too small (< 100) in most samples for a statistically meaningful count. The average organic-carbon content of IRD is three times higher than that of the source surface, but we attribute this to summer algal growth on ice floes rather than to selective entrainment. A relatively low carbonate content in IRD may be because much of the carbonate in the source is of silt size while about 50% of the IRD measured is clay size. The low carbonate content may also reflect solution under acidic summer conditions on sea ice. Selective export of silt- and clay-size particles by ice rafting from the shallow shelf with time should lead to the formation of a slightly coarser lag, even though some of the dirty ice drops its sediment load in the entrainment area. Further mineralogical and lithological analysis on IRD promises to become a useful tool for the study of sediment dispersal paths by drift ice in the Arctic today and in the past, and also for the study of sources of anthropogenic pollutants found in sea ice.
Working Paper No. 12-22 the Agglomeration of R&d Labs the Agglomeration of R&d Labs

We study the location of more than 1,000 research and development (R&D) labs located in the Northeast corridor of the U.S. Using a variety of spatial econometric techniques, we find that these labs are substantially more concentrated in space than the underlying distribution of manufacturing activity. Ripley's K-function tests over a variety of spatial scales reveal that the strongest evidence of concentration occurs at two discrete distances: one at about one-quarter of a mile and another at about 40 miles. We also find that R&D labs in some industries (e.g., chemicals, including drugs) are substantially more spatially concentrated than are R&D labs as a whole. Tests using local K-functions reveal several concentrations of R&D labs that appear to represent research clusters. We verify this conjecture using significance maximizing techniques (e.g., SATSCAN) that also address econometric issues related to " multiple testing " and spatial autocorrelation. We develop a new procedure for identifying clusters – the multiscale core-cluster approach, to identify labs that appear to be clustered at a variety of spatial scales. Locations in these clusters are often related to basic infrastructure such as access to major roads. There is significant variation in the industrial composition of labs across these clusters. The clusters we identify appear related to knowledge spillovers: Citations to patents previously obtained by inventors residing in clustered areas are significantly more localized than one would predict from a (control) sample of otherwise similar patents. comments and suggestions. The R&D labs data used in this paper were painstakingly assembled and checked by Cristine McCollum, Elif Sen, Annette Swahla, and especially Kristy Buzard. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia or the Federal Reserve System. This paper is available free of charge at