Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using artificial intelligence to learn optimal regimen plan for Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract Background Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurological disorder with no specific curative medications. Sophisticated clinical skills are crucial to optimize treatment regimens given the multiple coexisting comorbidities in the patient population. Objective Here, we propose a study to leverage reinforcement learning (RL) to learn the clinicians’ decisions for AD patients based on the longitude data from electronic health records. Methods In this study, we selected 1736 patients from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database. We focused on the two most frequent concomitant diseases—depression, and hypertension, thus creating 5 data cohorts (ie, Whole Data, AD, AD-Hypertension, AD-Depression, and AD-Depression-Hypertension). We modeled the treatment learning into an RL problem by defining states, actions, and rewards. We built a regression model and decision tree to generate multiple states, used six combinations of medications (ie, cholinesterase inhibitors, memantine, memantine-cholinesterase inhibitors, hypertension drugs, supplements, or no drugs) as actions, and Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) scores as rewards. Results Given the proper dataset, the RL model can generate an optimal policy (regimen plan) that outperforms the clinician’s treatment regimen. Optimal policies (ie, policy iteration and Q-learning) had lower rewards than the clinician’s policy (mean −3.03 and −2.93 vs. −2.93, respectively) for smaller datasets but had higher rewards for larger datasets (mean −4.68 and −2.82 vs. −4.57, respectively). Conclusions Our results highlight the potential of using RL to generate the optimal treatment based on the patients’ longitude records. Our work can lead the path towards developing RL-based decision support systems that could help manage AD with comorbidities.
Structural interpretation of the Rukwa Rift, Tanzania

The Rukwa Rift lies between Lakes Tanganyika and Malawi in the western limb of the East Africa rift system. Because little was known about the rift's structure or hydrocarbon potential, Petro‐Canada International Assistance Corporation completed a 2150 station gravity survey as part of an assistance program for the Tanzanian Petroleum Development Corporation. The survey covered an area 165 km × 375 km, which included the entire rift valley and lake plus regional control on either side. Outcrops of Carboniferous‐Triassic conglomerate, coal, and limestone, as well as Cretaceous sandstone, occur along the southwestern edge of the rift. The younger section is presumed to be dominated by alluvial material. In the absence of any density control, the gravity data were modeled using clastic sedimentary fill, which yields minimum depth estimates. Alternate models with more shale in the section have also been tried. A rift model with two shale pulses corresponding to interrift times yielded maximum depths of about .
Atlas of Sedimentary Rocks under the Microscope

This is a companion to the Atlas of igneous rocks and their textures and from the same stable as the Atlas of rock-forming minerals in thin section: Manchester University Geology Department. Like the other two, the text is intended as a laboratory handbook to assist in the study of rocks and minerals in thin section. The text is divided into three parts. The first deals with terrigenous clastic rocks, the second with carbonates and the last with 'what's left '--ironstones, cherts, evaporites (in very considerable detail), phosphates, coals, and coalballs. Only one example for each of the last two categories is given. The clastics section concentrates on sandstones with just a few examples of siltstones. The text is essentially descriptive and the authors stress that this is their intention. Interpretation is kept to the minimum necessary. Sequence is logical; grain types are described first, followed by matrix and cement. Good examples from each of the major sandstone groups are then illustrated. Part 2 which deals with limestones, is necessarily more extensive. This is because of the very many bioclast types which are found with regularity. Most of the sections illustrated are stained with a combination of Alizarin Red S and potassium ferricyanide to differentiate between ferroan and non-ferroan varieties of calcite and dolomite. Both staining and acetate-peel preparation techniques are described in full in appendices. The final part deals with a range of less common sediment types, all of which, however, are quite likely to be encountered in sedimentological investigations. A particular strength of this handbook as far as I am concerned is that the authors have chosen their classification schemes (upon which rock nomenclature depends) carefully. For example, both sandstone and limestone classifications are the same as used in Tucker's 'The field description of sedimentary rocks" (Geological Society Handbook Series) and 'Sedimentary petrology, an introduction' (Blackwell). Both seem to be fairly widely used by undergraduates who will now be able to use the Atlas without introducing conflict or confusion. I 'm sure that students will find this volume helpful. The quality of illustration is excellent and most sections are presented as PPL/XPL pairs. Account is taken of commercial applications by illustration and discussion of porosity. Perhaps this aspect could have been developed more fully but that, of course, would have increased costs. Whilst I agree with the authors that clay minerals cannot be readily identified using an ordinary light microscope (if at all! ), I think that a couple of plates could have been set aside for (say) laminated and unlaminated mudrocks. These implied criticisms are very minor and probably reflect my own prejudices. I strongly recommend this volume to all geology students with a serious interest in sedimentology. It complements perfectly the three or four excellent texts which have emerged in recent years and which have made teaching this important branch of geology both simpler and more interesting. C. D. CURTIS
Atmospheric centres of action associated with the Atlantic ITCZ position

Relationships between Atlantic extra‐tropical features and Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) position close to Northeast Brazil are discussed, on the basis of atmosphere and ocean patterns in DJF and April. Composites for three situations were analysed. In the first composite, years with extreme positive North Atlantic Oscillation Index (NAOI) in DJF and the ITCZ displaced southward in April were selected. The other two composites were related only to anomalous ITCZ positions—either south or north of the equator—in April. The physical mechanism for the relation between the NAOI and the ITCZ is the influence of the southern North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) centre on the North Atlantic subtropical high, the sea surface temperature (SST) and the intensity of the trade winds; however, this situation occurred in only a few years. Analysis of the other situations indicated the influence of a dominant mode of variability over the North and South Atlantic Oceans that affects the ITCZ position. Over the North Atlantic, this mode was related to a shifting of the NAO pattern, which modified the position of the North Atlantic subtropical high. Over the South Atlantic, this mode indicated an extra‐tropical centre of action associated with displacement of the South Atlantic subtropical high. A proposed index for monitoring ITCZ position, named the North Atlantic Index (NAI), was calculated from sea level pressure (SLP) anomalies in the two centres of action of the North Atlantic in DJF, which are related to the shifting of the NAO. Although the NAO index is related to atmospheric/oceanic features associated with ITCZ displacement, the new index presented higher and more organized correlations with atmospheric and oceanic conditions linked to ITCZ behaviour and can be useful even when the NAO is not extreme. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society
Multiport diffuser as line source of momentum in shallow water

Multiport diffusers are linear structures consisting of many closely spaced nozzles which inject a series of high-velocity jets into an ambient fluid. The discharge of heated water into the shallow coastal zone is considered herein as a typical practice for cooling water disposal from steam electric power generation. The flow and temperature fields, induced in the otherwise stagnant and homogeneous fluid layer, are analyzed by representing the diffuser as a line source of fluid momentum in a two-dimensional coordinate system, thus neglecting the initial momentum transfer zone in which the three-dimensional jets merge to produce a vertically fully mixed flow. A scaling argument which considers the effect of pressure deviations, turbulent bottom friction, and lateral turbulent diffusion shows that the flow field can be divided into the near field, of order of the diffuser length, and into the far field, at longer distances. The near field is characterized by a predominantly inviscid behavior and gives rise to a contracting slipstream motion, qualitatively similar to the slipstream produced by an airscrew. The shape of the slip streamline is found by mapping the complex potential of the flow into the log hodograph plane. The boundary conditions at the diffuser line are assumed to be a uniform normal velocity and a uniform longitudinal acceleration. The interior velocity and pressure distribution are determined through a finite difference solution using the known geometry of the slipstream. Results indicate a strong separation angle (60°) of the slipstream at the diffuser and a rapid approach to the asymptotic contraction value (½). An integral model is developed for the depth-averaged temperature and velocity in the far field of the ‘diffuser plume’ (i.e., a localized current with elevated temperatures with weaker velocities and a uniform temperature outside). The model includes the effect of turbulent friction at the plume bottom, described by a quadratic friction law, and of lateral turbulent entrainment, described by the entrainment hypothesis of Morton et al. (1956). The far-field model is combined with the inviscid near-field solution, thus superimposing the real fluid effects onto the properties of the contracting slipstream. Two distinctive features characterize the diffuser plume. First, it experiences an exponential loss of fluid momentum through turbulent bottom friction which leads to an ultimate plume stagnation at a characteristic distance ƒ0LD/(16H), where ƒ0 is a quadratic friction coefficient, LD the diffuser length, and H the water depth, and also puts a limit on the total lateral entrainment flow. Second, the initial plume characteristics, and thus its rate of entrainment, are controlled by the accelerating high-velocity slipstream in the vicinity of the line source. Experiments in a shallow laboratory basin corroborate the theoretical results, both as regards the qualitative features of the contracting slipstream and the quantitative observations of induced velocities and flow rates.
Pliocene exhumation and landscape evolution of central North Island, New Zealand: The role of the upper mantle

[1] Mudstone porosity analyses show that over 2 km of exhumation has occurred in central North Island, New Zealand, since 5 Ma. This, combined with a coeval surface uplift of ∼500 m, indicates a maximum 2.5 km of rock uplift in central North Island. The magnitude and wavelength (∼400 km) of the rock uplift is similar to some topographic doming observed in continental areas associated with mantle upwelling, yet central North Island is recognized as a region of back arc extension. Marine terraces 100–150 km from the center of maximum exhumation show uplift rates of ∼0.2–0.3 mm yr−1, consistent with about 1 km of exhumation if averaged over 4–5 Myr, which compares well with mudstone porosity analyses. Seismic attenuation and slow Pn velocities indicate that a thermal anomaly in the upper mantle is the source of this rock uplift. The rock uplift may be explained by the replacement of a 100-km-thick mantle lid by asthenosphere with a density ∼66 kg m−3 less than the lid. About half this density contrast can be explained by thermal expansion, and the rest is ascribed to partial melts in the upper mantle. Southward migration for the locus of maximum rock uplift is consistent with the zone of maximum incision erosion, being 50 km south of the southernmost volcano. Such a migration is in keeping with other geological markers of volcanic and thermal phenomena and further strengthens the link of landscape evolution at active continental margins with processes in the mantle.
Selection and information: a class-based approach to lexical relationships

Selectional constraints are limitations on the applicability of predicates to arguments. For example, the statement "The number two is blue" may be syntactically well formed, but at some level it is anomalous-- scBLUE is not a predicate that can be applied to numbers. In this dissertation, I propose a new, information-theoretic account of selectional constraints. Unlike previous approaches, this proposal requires neither the identification of primitive semantic features nor the formalization of complex inferences based on world knowledge. The proposed model assumes instead that lexical items are organized in a conceptual taxonomy according to class membership, where classes are defined simply as sets--that is, extensionally, rather than in terms of explicit features or properties. Selection is formalized in terms of a probabilistic relationship between predicates and concepts: the selectional behavior of a predicate is modeled as its distributional effect on the conceptual classes of its arguments, expressed using the information-theoretic measure of relative entropy. The use of relative entropy leads to an illuminating interpretation of what selectional constraints are: the strength of a predicate's selection for an argument is identified with the quantity of information it carries about that argument. In addition to arguing that the model is empirically adequate, I explore its application to two problems. The first concerns a linguistic question: why some transitive verbs permit implicit direct objects ("John ate $\emptyset$") and others do not ("*John brought $\emptyset$"). It has often been observed informally that the omission of objects is connected to the ease with which the object can be inferred. I have made this observation more formal by positing a relationship between inferability and selectional constraints, and have confirmed the connection between selectional constraints and implicit objects in a set of computational experiments. Second, I have explored the practical applications of the model in resolving syntactic ambiguity. A number of authors have recently begun investigating the use of corpus-based lexical statistics in automatic parsing; the results of computational experiments using the present model suggest that often lexical relationships are better viewed in terms of underlying conceptual relationships such as selectional preference and concept similarity. Thus the information-theoretic measures proposed here can serve not only as components in a theory of selectional constraints, but also as tools for practical natural language processing.
Global monitoring of clouds and aerosols using a network of micropulse lidar systems

Long-term global radiation programs, such as AERONET and BSRN, have shown success in monitoring column averaged cloud and aerosol optical properties. Little attention has been focused on global measurements of vertically resolved optical properties. Lidar systems are the preferred instrument for such measurements. However, global usage of lidar systems has not been achieved because of limits imposed by older systems that were large, expensive, and logistically difficult to use in the field. Small, eye-safe, and autonomous lidar systems are now currently available and overcome problems associated with older systems. The first such lidar to be developed is the Micro-pulse lidar System (MPL). The MPL has proven to be useful in the field because it can be automated, runs continuously (day and night), is eye-safe, can easily be transported and set up, and has a small field-of-view which removes multiple scattering concerns. We have developed successful protocols to operate and calibrate MPL systems. We have also developed a data analysis algorithm that produces data products such as cloud and aerosol layer heights, optical depths, extinction profiles, and the extinction-backscatter ratio. The algorithm minimizes the use of a priori assumptions and also produces error bars for all data products. Here we present an overview of our MPL protocols and data analysis techniques. We also discuss the ongoing construction of a global MPL network in conjunction with the AERONET program. Finally, we present some early results from the MPL network.
Winter precipitation intensity and ENSO/PDO variability in the Willamette Valley of Oregon

There is growing concern about the effects of inter‐annual climatic variability, such as the El‐Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), on regional hydrology and water resources. We analysed patterns of wintertime precipitation intensity, using both simple intensity and number of heavy precipitation days per year, for eight stations in northwestern Oregon's Willamette Valley for the period 1972–2006, and examined the separate and combined influence of ENSO and PDO on precipitation intensity. The analysis was accomplished using Kendall's tau and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to determine differences in precipitation intensity among combinations of positive and negative ENSO and PDO phases. The results suggest that the relation between ENSO phase and precipitation intensity is negative in November and positive in April, while the relation between PDO and intensity is negative and strongest in January and March. These varying seasonal associations with ENSO/PDO phase may be related to the Willamette Valley's location in the transitional zone between positive and negative El Niño response and to the moderating effects of out‐of‐phase ENSO/PDO. This seasonal variability of heavy rainfall has implications for the quantity and quality of regional water resources. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society
Metabolite Profile Characterization of Cyanobacterial Strains with Bioactivity on Lipid Metabolism Using In Vivo and In Vitro Approaches

Cyanobacteria have demonstrated their therapeutic potential for many human diseases. In this work, cyanobacterial extracts were screened for lipid reducing activity in zebrafish larvae and in fatty-acid-overloaded human hepatocytes, as well as for glucose uptake in human hepatocytes and ucp1 mRNA induction in murine brown adipocytes. A total of 39 cyanobacteria strains were grown and their biomass fractionated, resulting in 117 chemical fractions. Reduction of neutral lipids in zebrafish larvae was observed for 12 fractions and in the human hepatocyte steatosis cell model for five fractions. The induction of ucp1 expression in murine brown adipocytes was observed in six fractions, resulting in a total of 23 bioactive non-toxic fractions. All extracts were analyzed by untargeted UPLC-Q-TOF-MS mass spectrometry followed by multivariate statistical analysis to prioritize bioactive strains. The metabolite profiling led to the identification of two markers with lipid reducing activity in zebrafish larvae. Putative compound identification using mass spectrometry databases identified them as phosphatidic acid and aromatic polyketides derivatives—two compound classes, which were previously associated with effects on metabolic disorders. In summary, we have identified cyanobacterial strains with promising lipid reducing activity, whose bioactive compounds needs to be identified in the future.
PLANKTIC FORAMINIFERS IN THE OUTER LAPTEV SEA AND THE FRAM STRAIT—MODERN DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY

Planktic foraminifers were studied in the Arctic Ocean in the outer Laptev Sea (76–80°N, 100–150°E) in 1995, in the Fram Strait (81–82°N, 10°W–15°E) and in the western Barents Sea (76°N, 33°E) in 1997. Five depth intervals were sampled vertically between 500 m water depth and the sea surface. In the 125–250 μm size class, highest abundances of living individuals were present in the western Fram Strait (17 ind/m3) and the Barents Sea (14 ind/m3), decreasing to 4 ind/m3 near Severnaya Zemlya and less than 2 ind/m3 at the eastern Laptev Sea continental margin. The most common species Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistral coiling) occured in cold Polar water masses between 50 and 100 m water depth, where they accounted for >70% of all shells. A synodic lunar reproductive cycle is demonstrated in all sampled areas, where reproduction takes place around full moon. In warmer Atlantic water masses of the West Spitzbergen Current and the Barents Sea, Turborotalita auinqueloba contributes >85% to the total assemblage. Most individuals were obtained between 50 and 200 m water depth. In the western Fram Strait affected by the East Greenland Current and at the outer Laptev Sea relative abundances decrease to 2–10%. All other species combined make up only 5% of the total fauna. In general, empty tests are most abundant in water depths deeper than 200 m as a result of gametogenesis and due to high juvenile mortality. The strong gradient in absolute abundances seems to be determined by the availability of food, low salinity due to freshwater discharge from the Siberian rivers and the ice coverage of the Arctic Ocean. The relative abundances, however, reflect the complex hydrographic interaction between relatively warm Atlantic water inflow and cold polar water export in the Arctic Ocean.
Wear Traces and Projectile Impact: A Review of the Experimental and Archaeological Evidence

AbstractExperimental and archaeological researchers have identified a variety of fracture or breakage types associated with stone implements used as projectile points. The mechanics of formation of the fracture types are similar regardless of mode of use: bow, atlatl, or thrusting. Even so, there continues to be some confusion and lack of standardization regarding terminology and the recognition of these fracture types. Identification of impact damage in lithic assemblages is facilitated by the isolation of both abrasive and fatigue wear and the adoption of standardized terminology. Impact-damaged artifacts can also provide relevant data pertaining to site function, patterns of weapons use and discard, and other aspects of subsistence behavior.
High-Resolution Paleoclimatic Trends for the Holocene Identified Using Magnetic Susceptibility Data from Archaeological Excavations in Caves

Abstract A proxy paleoclimatic curve has been produced for the Holocene,c. 9000–3500 bp , from magnetic susceptibility (MS) measurements of sediment samples collected from two dated archaeological excavation trenches in Konispol Cave, Albania. The resulting MS data provide paleoclimate estimates that are in excellent agreement with independently published paleoclimatic trends for early–middle Holocene time. Basically, MS variations are attributed to variations in climate-controlled pedogenesis and the production of magnetic mineral phases, including maghemite, outside the cave. These soils are then washed, blown or tracked into the cave where they accumulate, creating the MS changes observed in the samples recovered. Low MS magnitudes indicate times of cooler/drier climate resulting from reduced pedogenesis, while warmer/wetter times yield higher pedogenetic rates and thus higher MS magnitudes. It is clear from the Konispol Cave results that some caves provide ideal, protected environments from which high-resolution, paleoclimatic records can be extracted. Composite sections from excavations within a single region can yield a relatively continuous, long-term climatic proxy that can be routinely correlated to artefacts recovered from these or other protected excavations within the same region.