Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cosmogenic nuclide exposure age constraints on the glacial history of the Lake Wellman area, Darwin Mountains, Antarctica

Abstract We present direct terrestrial evidence of ice volume change of the Darwin and Hatherton glaciers which channel ice from the Transantarctic Mountains into the Ross Ice Shelf. Combining glacial geomorphology with cosmogenic exposure ages from 25 erratics indicates a pre-LGM ice volume at least 600 m thicker than current Hatherton ice elevation was established at least 2.2 million years ago. In particular, five erratics spread across a drift deposit at intermediate elevations located below a prominent moraine feature mapped previously as demarcating the LGM ice advance limits, give a well-constrained single population with mean 10Be age of 37.0 ± 5.5 ka (1σ). At lower elevations of 50–100 m above the surface of Lake Wellman, a further five samples from within a younger drift deposit range in exposure age from 1 to 19 ka. Our preferred age model interpretation, which is partly dependent on the selection of a minimum or maximum age-elevation model, suggests that LGM ice volume was not as large as previously estimated and constrains LGM ice elevation to be within ± 50 m of the modern Hatherton Glacier ice surface, effectively little different from what is observed today.
The Mutualistic Side of Wolbachia–Isopod Interactions: Wolbachia Mediated Protection Against Pathogenic Intracellular Bacteria

Wolbachia is a vertically transmitted endosymbiont whose radiative success is mainly related to various host reproductive manipulations that led to consider this symbiont as a conflictual reproductive parasite. However, lately, some Wolbachia have been shown to act as beneficial symbionts by protecting hosts against a broad range of parasites. Still, this protection has been mostly demonstrated in artificial Wolbachia-host associations between partners that did not co-evolved together. Here, we tested in two terrestrial isopod species Armadillidium vulgare and Porcellio dilatatus whether resident Wolbachia (native or non-native) could confer protection during infections with Listeria ivanovii and Salmonella typhimurium and also during a transinfection with a Wolbachia strain that kills the recipient host (i.e., wVulC in P. dilatatus). Survival analyses showed that (i) A. vulgare lines hosting their native Wolbachia (wVulC) always exhibited higher survival than asymbiotic ones when infected with pathogenic bacteria (ii) P. dilatatus lines hosting their native wDil Wolbachia strain survived the S. typhimurium infection better, while lines hosting non-native wCon Wolbachia strain survived the L. ivanovii and also the transinfection with wVulC from A. vulgare better. By studying L. ivanovii and S. typhimurium loads in the hemolymph of the different host-Wolbachia systems, we showed that (i) the difference in survival between lines after L. ivanovii infections were not linked to the difference between their pathogenic bacterial loads, and (ii) the difference in survival after S. typhimurium infections corresponds to lower loads of pathogenic bacteria. Overall, our results demonstrate a beneficial effect of Wolbachia on survival of terrestrial isopods when infected with pathogenic intracellular bacteria. This protective effect may rely on different mechanisms depending on the resident symbiont and the invasive bacteria interacting together within the hosts.
A Cross-Country Study of Union Membership

This paper examines changes in unionization that have occurred over the last decade or so using individual level micro data on twenty seven of the thirty OECD countries, with particular emphasis on Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Micro-data is also used to model union membership in a further eleven non-OECD countries. Union density is found to be negatively correlated with level of education in the private sector and positively correlated in the public sector. The probability of being a union member is found to follow an inverted U-shaped pattern in age, maximizing in Canada, the USA and the UK in the mid to late 40s. This inverted U-shaped pattern is repeated in a further thirty countries (Australia; Austria; Bangladesh; Belgium; Bulgaria; Chile; Czech Republic; Denmark; Germany; Estonia; Finland; France; Greece; Hungary; Ireland; Israel; Japan; Luxembourg; Mexico; Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Russia; Slovak Republic; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden and Switzerland). I consider the question of why this inverted U-shape in age exists across countries with diverse industrial relations systems including early retirement and cohort effects.
Independent component analysis of fMRI data in the complex domain

In BOLD fMRI a series of MR images is acquired and examined for task‐related amplitude changes. These functional changes are small, so it is important to maximize detection efficiency. Virtually all fMRI processing strategies utilize magnitude information and ignore the phase, resulting in an unnecessary loss of efficiency. As the optimum way to model the phase information is not clear, a flexible modeling technique is useful. To analyze complex data sets, independent component analysis (ICA), a data‐driven approach, is proposed. In ICA, the data are modeled as spatially independent components multiplied by their respective time‐courses. There are thus three possible approaches: 1) the time‐courses can be complex‐valued, 2) the images can be complex‐valued, or 3) both the time‐courses and the images can be complex‐valued. These analytic approaches are applied to data from a visual stimulation paradigm, and results from three complex analysis models are presented and compared with magnitude‐only results. Using the criterion of the number of contiguous activated voxels at a given threshold, an average of 12–23% more voxels are detected by complex‐valued ICA estimation at a threshold of |Z| > 2.5. Additionally, preliminary results from the complex models reveal a phase modulation similar to the magnitude time‐course in some voxels, and oppositely modulated in other voxels. Magn Reson Med 48:180–192, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Synthetic Bandwidth Method for High-Resolution SAR Based on PGA in the Range Dimension

The synthetic bandwidth technique is an effective method to achieve ultra-high range resolution in an SAR system. There are mainly two challenges in its implementation. The first one is the estimation and compensation of system errors, such as the timing deviation and the amplitude-phase error. Due to precision limitation of the radar instrument, construction of the sub-band signals becomes much more complicated with these errors. The second challenge lies in the combination method, that is how to fit the sub-band signals together into a much wider bandwidth. In this paper, a novel synthetic bandwidth approach is presented. It considers two main errors of the multi-sub-band SAR system and compensates them by a two-order PGA (phase gradient auto-focus)-based method, named TRPGA. Furthermore, an improved cut-paste method is proposed to combine the signals in the frequency domain. It exploits the redundancy of errors and requires only a limited amount of data in the azimuth direction for error estimation. Moreover, the up-sampling operation can be avoided in the combination process. Imaging results based on both simulated and real data are presented to validate the proposed approach.
Regulation of the glucose phosphotransferase system in Brochothrix thermosphacta by membrane energization

Uptake of 2-deoxyglucose, alpha-methylglucopyranoside, and glucose into intact cells of Brochothrix thermosphacta (formerly Microbacterium thermosphactum, ATCC 11509) was stimulated by KCN or CCCP. The glucose analogs were recovered almost totally as the sugar phosphates. Membrane vesicles were isolated from protoplasts and shown to be right side out by freeze fracturing and by using ATPase as a marker for the cytoplasmic membrane surface. Uptake of glucose into vesicles was dependent on the presence of phosphoenolpyruvate. NADH oxidation, K+ -diffusion gradients, and externally directed lactate gradients (pH greater than 7 initially) were used to generate transmembrane potentials across membrane vesicles. Above a threshold value of about -50 mV, uptake of glucose into membrane vesicles was reduced. Likewise, the maximum uptake of glucose and its two analogs into cells occurred when the protonmotive force was less than about -50 mV.
Grappling with Proteus: population level approaches to understanding microbial diversity

The emerging fields of microbial population genetics and genomics provide an avenue to study the ecological rules that govern how communities form, function, and evolve. Our struggle to understand the causes and consequences of microbial diversity stems from our inability to define ecologically and evolutionarily meaningful units of diversity. The 16S rRNA-based tools that have been so useful in charting microbial diversity may lack sufficient sensitivity to answer many questions about the ecology and evolution of microbes. Examining genetic diversity with increased resolution is vital to understanding the forces shaping community structure. Population genetic analyses enabled by whole genome sequencing, multilocus sequence analyses, or single-nucleotide polymorphism analyses permit the testing of hypotheses pertaining to the geographic distribution, migration, and habitat preference of specific microbial lineages. Furthermore, these approaches can reveal patterns of gene exchange within and between populations and communities. Tools from microbial population genetics and population genomics can be used to increase the resolution with which we measure microbial diversity, enabling a focus on the scale of genetic diversity at which ecological processes impact evolutionary events. This tighter focus promises to improve our understanding of the causes and consequences of microbial community structure.
An alternative approach to multi-path forwarding on IPv6 networks

This paper proposes a novel technique to enable flow-level multi-path forwarding on IPv6 networks. Generally on such networks, any packet from a node is forwarded toward a destination along the same path, even if some of the packets belong to a different flow with different characteristics. In accordance with packet characteristics and to fulfil demands such as traffic engineering and QoS routing, flow-level multi-path forwarding allows explicit selection of the paths on which to send packets. Multi protocol label switching (MPLS) technology has been used to perform this function so far. However, to apply MPLS on an existing IPv6 network, all non-MPLS-enabled routers in the network must be replaced with MPLS-enabled routers. Therefore, the migration cost is generally expensive. Our previous work has proposed a technique called flow-mapping explicit host routing (FMEHR,), that renders similar results to MPLS using unused address spaces such as IP private addresses. This paper describes the FMEHR concept and its realization on an IPv6 network and discusses its characteristics.
Impacts of environmental restrictions on 3D seismic survey design, operations and signal processing: Case study from offshore Exmouth, Western Australia

Summary Seismic acquisition in environmentally sensitive areas is governed by exacting Commonwealth and State regulatory frameworks. These are designed amongst other things to (1) minimise risks of adverse impacts to marine biota, and (2) minimise disturbance to other users of the marine environment. Seismic surveys today require an adaptive approach to survey design and operations to ensure exploration and environmental objectives are realised. This paper describes seismic survey design, operational practices and implications on signal processing of Gazelle 3D, a shallow water marine seismic survey off the coast of Exmouth in exploration permit WA-399-P. Survey design and operational practices were modified to meet regulatory charters. We describe the effects these had on signal processing and the techniques used to mitigate acquisition signatures on resultant seismic images.
Organizational Culture, Quality of Work Life, and Organizational Effectiveness in Korean University Hospitals

Purpose: This study investigated correlates and predictors of organizational effectiveness, focusing on organizational culture and quality of work life. Design: Convenience sample of 145 nurses working in Korean university hospitals responded to a self-administered questionnaire. Findings: There were significant correlations between organizational culture, quality of work life, and organizational effectiveness. R 2 was 44.7% in the hierarchical multiple regression model, explaining and predicting organizational effectiveness. Discussion: Intact organizational culture and quality of work life for nurses will undoubtedly lead to improved organizational effectiveness. Without efficient and effective nursing care, desired patient outcomes cannot be achieved.
Automatic Domain Identification for Linked Open Data

Linked Open Data (LOD) has emerged as one of the largest collections of interlinked structured datasets on the Web. Although the adoption of such datasets for applications is increasing, identifying relevant datasets for a specific task or topic is still challenging. As an initial step to make such identification easier, we provide an approach to automatically identify the topic domains of given datasets. Our method utilizes existing knowledge sources, more specifically Freebase, and we present an evaluation which validates the topic domains we can identify with our system. Furthermore, we evaluate the effectiveness of identified topic domains for the purpose of finding relevant datasets, thus showing that our approach improves reusability of LOD datasets.
A Review of Risk Management in Construction: Opportunities for Improvement

To expand knowledge of a search on a particular topic or to gather a significant sample of information that allows the researcher to identify and analyze the current state of knowledge on a topic, this paper presents a structured process for the selection of academic papers, evidence of papers’ relevance through bibliometric analysis, and analysis of the papers’ contents to identify gaps in the knowledge related to the theme under consideration and the objectives of the researcher. Starting from an interest in identifying and analyzing valuation models and risk management applied to the construction industry and using the Knowledge Development Process-Constructivist (ProKnow-C), this research identified 12,032 articles in thirteen academic databases. In its subsequent steps, the ProKnow-C allowed, in a process of continuous selection, the choice of the 23 articles that presented quantitative or qualitative risk management models developed for the construction industry. The relevance of this set of papers was demonstrated by bibliometric analysis. The content of the articles was systematically analyzed from ten research lenses based on the concepts of risk, risk management, and performance measurement adopted by the researchers, representing their research vision. The results of the systematic analysis demonstrated that risk management is a broad and complex subject, especially when its management aims to both avoid/minimize risk and guide the organization to a level where the risks can be transformed into competitive advantages. The analysis revealed the unique character of risk perception, indicating that models developed in one context are suitable only for that context. Thus, the use of ProKnow-C facilitated the acquisition of knowledge and enabled the researcher to identify numerous research opportunities, which, if included in the development of a new model, would allow this model to be used as an instrument that is legitimate and valid for the measurement, assessment, and management of risk, enabling the company to achieve competitive advantages in the market.
Nonlinear Unmixing of Hyperspectral Data Based on a Linear-Mixture/Nonlinear-Fluctuation Model

Spectral unmixing is an important issue to analyze remotely sensed hyperspectral data. Although the linear mixture model has obvious practical advantages, there are many situations in which it may not be appropriate and could be advantageously replaced by a nonlinear one. In this paper, we formulate a new kernel-based paradigm that relies on the assumption that the mixing mechanism can be described by a linear mixture of endmember spectra, with additive nonlinear fluctuations defined in a reproducing kernel Hilbert space. This family of models has clear interpretation, and allows to take complex interactions of endmembers into account. Extensive experiment results, with both synthetic and real images, illustrate the generality and effectiveness of this scheme compared with state-of-the-art methods.
Electronic Supporting Information ( ESI ) Arginine assisted immobilization of silver nanoparticles on ZnO nanorods : An enhanced and reusable antibacterial substrate without human cell cytotoxicity

A typical sol-gel method 1 was used for the formation of ZnO seeds. Ethanolic solution of zinc acetate dihydrate (0.25 mM, 50 ml) was refluxed in a condenser at 80°C for 2 hours with stirring and was subsequently cooled down to 0°C. The obtained zinc precursor (sol) was hydrolyzed using ethanolic solution of lithium hydroxide monohydrate (0.35 mM, 50 ml), added drop wise under vigorous stirring in an ice bath at 0°C for 30 min. This caused precipitation of the zinc precursor in the form of gel and the entire solution became turbid. After the reaction was complete, ZnO seeds were collected by centrifugation and washed thrice with ethanol in order to remove the excess ions. ZnO seeds (average size, 5 nm) were finally redispersed in deionized water for use in the subsequent growth process.
Selection of valued ecosystem components in cumulative effects assessment: lessons from Canadian road construction projects

Valued ecosystem component (VEC) selection is a core component of cumulative effects assessment (CEA) and gives direction to impact analysis, mitigation and monitoring. Yet little is known about CEA VEC selection practices. This paper examines 11 Canadian road infrastructure project CEAs completed between 1995 and 2011 to determine how VEC selection in CEA is performed, and whether these practices are sensitive to the linear project development context. Document review and semi-structured interviews reveal an absence of VEC selection guidance, late timing of cumulative effects considerations in impact assessment, lack of sensitivity in CEA VEC selection to the unique, linear nature of the road construction projects and a general lack of insightful, creative approaches to CEA VEC selection – ones that better reflect potential impacts to social and economic aspects of the environment – despite it being shown to be a values-driven, subjective process. There is a clear need for regional databases to support consistent CEA VEC selection processes, and the development of CEA-specific VEC selection guidance.
Immunogenicity and protective efficacy of rotavirus VP8* fused to cholera toxin B subunit in a mouse model

ABSTRACT In attempts to develop recombinant subunit vaccines against rotavirus disease, it was previously shown that the N-terminal truncated VP8* protein, VP8-1 (aa26-231), is a good vaccine candidate when used for immunization in combination with Freund's adjuvant. However, this protein stimulated only weak immune response when aluminum hydroxide was used as an adjuvant. In this study, the nontoxic B subunit of cholera toxin (CTB) was employed as intra-molecular adjuvant to improve the immunogenicity of VP8-1. Both, the N-terminal and C-terminal fusion proteins, were purified to homogeneity, at which stage they formed pentamers, and showed significantly higher immunogenicity and protective efficacy than a VP8-1/aluminum hydroxide mixture in a mouse model. Compared to VP8-1-CTB, CTB-VP8-1 showed higher binding activity to both, GM1 and the conformation sensitive neutralizing monoclonal antibodies specific to VP8. More importantly, CTB-VP8-1 elicited higher titers of neutralizing antibodies and conferred higher protective efficacy than VP8-1-CTB. Therefore, the protein CTB-VP8-1, with enhanced immunogenicity and immunoprotectivity, could be considered as a viable candidate for further development of an alternative, replication-incompetent, parenterally administered vaccine against rotavirus disease.
Sentiment Analysis of Microblog text based on joint sentiment-topic model

Sentiment Analysis of Microblog text is a challenging work. Microblog text is different with general user-generated text, because it often contains some special symbols such as “@ # //” and a lot of emotional symbols. Previous joint sentiment-topic models did not consider these features of Microblog texts and then could not well model them. In this paper, considering the structural features and content features of Microblog text, we present a semi-supervised joint sentiment-topic model (MB-PL-ASUM). This new model uses semi-structured information and emotional symbol information to classify sentiments of Microblog text without labeling them. The experiments of sentiment classification on real Sina Microblog texts show that MB-PL-ASUM outperforms word matching, JTS and ASUM model.
Secondary poisoning of cadmium, copper and mercury: implications for the Maximum Permissible Concentrations and Negligible Concentrations in water, sediment and soil

The impact of secondary poisoning on the Maximum Permissible Concentrations (MPCs) and Negligible Concentrations (NCs) of cadmium, copper and mercury in water, sediment and soil have been evaluated. Field data on accumulation of these elements by fish, mussels and earthworms were used to derive MPCs and NCs for birds and mammals for which these organisms are a food source. Accumulation by aquatic and terrestrial biota seems to be negatively correlated with external concentrations. The correlations lacked in strength and too few data on external concentrations for fish and mussels were available to draw conclusions. The scientific justification for using location-specific BCFs in the estimation of risk limits therefore still has to be established. Secondary poisoning of birds and mammals via fish or mussels may contribute to the risks of cadmium and mercury for the aquatic ecosystem. MPCs for copper in water derived with or without the inclusion of secondary poisoning are similar, although this conclusion is based on field data for mussels only. For the terrestrial compartment, inclusion of secondary poisoning does not lead to major changes in the MPCs for cadmium and copper. As toxicity data on soil organisms are hardly available, conclusions for mercury cannot be drawn. Further research into the accumulation of cadmium, copper and mercury by aquatic organisms is recommended. Data collection should include measurements in animals and water from the same location. For mercury, the determination of field BCFs should also include investigations into the relative contribution of methyl-mercury to the total mercury concentration in soil, water, sediment and animals living in these compartments.