Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Planetary Boundary Layer Height Modulates Aerosol—Water Vapor Interactions During Winter in the Megacity of Delhi

The Indo‐Gangetic Plain (IGP) is one of the dominant sources of air pollution worldwide. During winter, the variations in planetary boundary layer (PBL) height, driven by a strong radiative thermal inversion, affect the regional air pollution dispersion. To date, measurements of aerosol‐water vapor interactions, especially cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity, are limited in the Indian subcontinent, causing large uncertainties in radiative forcing estimates of aerosol‐cloud interactions. We present the results of a one‐month field campaign (February‐March 2018) in the megacity, Delhi, a significant polluter in the IGP. We measured the composition of fine particulate matter (PM1) and size‐resolved CCN properties over a wide range of water vapor supersaturations. The analysis includes PBL modeling, backward trajectories, receptor models and fire spots to elucidate the influence of PBL and air mass origins on aerosols. The aerosol properties depended strongly on PBL height and a simple power‐law fit could parameterize the observed correlations of PM1 mass, aerosol particle number and CCN number with PBL height, indicating PBL induced changes in aerosol accumulation. The low inorganic mass fractions, low aerosol hygroscopicity and high externally mixed weakly CCN‐active particles under low PBL height ( < $< $ 100 m) indicated the influence of PBL on aerosol aging processes. In contrast, aerosol properties did not depend strongly on air mass origins or wind direction, implying that the observed aerosol and CCN are from local emissions. An error function could parameterize the relationship between CCN number and supersaturation throughout the campaign.
A stochastic optimization framework for the restoration of an over-exploited aquifer

ABSTRACT This study investigates the impact of hydraulic conductivity uncertainty on the sustainable management of the aquifer of Lake Karla, Greece, using the stochastic optimization approach. The lack of surface water resources in combination with the sharp increase in irrigation needs in the basin over the last 30 years have led to an unprecedented degradation of the aquifer. In addition, the lack of data regarding hydraulic conductivity in a heterogeneous aquifer leads to hydrogeologic uncertainty. This uncertainty has to be taken into consideration when developing the optimization procedure in order to achieve the aquifer’s sustainable management. Multiple Monte Carlo realizations of this spatially-distributed parameter are generated and groundwater flow is simulated for each one of them. The main goal of the sustainable management of the ‘depleted’ aquifer of Lake Karla is two-fold: to determine the optimum volume of renewable groundwater that can be extracted, while, at the same time, restoring its water table to a historic high level. A stochastic optimization problem is therefore formulated, based on the application of the optimization method for each of the aquifer’s multiple stochastic realizations in a future period. In order to carry out this stochastic optimization procedure, a modelling system consisting of a series of interlinked models was developed. The results show that the proposed stochastic optimization framework can be a very useful tool for estimating the impact of hydraulic conductivity uncertainty on the management strategies of a depleted aquifer restoration. They also prove that the optimization process is affected more by hydraulic conductivity uncertainty than the simulation process. Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Guest editor S. Weijs
Isorthoceras wahlenbergi, a new Late Ordovician cephalopod from the Boda Limestone of Dalarna, Sweden

A new species of Isorthoceras (Proteoceratidae: Cephalopoda), I. wahlenbergi, is described from the Upper Ordovician Boda Limestone in Dalarna, central Sweden. The Boda Limestone consists of up to 20 isolated carbonate mounds ranging in size from a few meters to over 400 m in diameter and attaining 70 m in thickness (Jaanusson, 1982; Cocks, 2005). Each mound is divided into a micritic core facies, a pelmatozoan flank facies, and a bioclastic terminal facies (Suzuki and Bergstrom, 1999). The diverse faunas of the Boda Limestone include well documented taxonomic groups such as trilobites (e.g., Warburg, 1925; Suzuki, 2002), brachiopods (e.g., Wright, 1974, 1993; Cocks, 2005) and gastropods (e.g., Koken and Perner, 1925; Ebbestad and Peel, 1997). These faunas are suggestive of a middle Ashgillian age for these limestones. In contrast to these, taxonomic studies of cephalopods from the Boda Limestone are limited to Frye (1982, 1987), who described 18 species belonging to the orders Ascocerida, Oncocerida, Tarphycerida and Barrandeocerida.
Title Neurological soft signs and their relationships to neurocognitive functions : A revisit with the structural equation modeling design

Background: Neurological soft signs and neurocognitive impairments have long been considered important features of schizophrenia. Previous correlational studies have suggested that there is a significant relationship between neurological soft signs and neurocognitive functions. The purpose of the current study was to examine the underlying relationships between these two distinct constructs with structural equation modeling (SEM). Methods: 118 patients with schizophrenia and 160 healthy controls were recruited for the current study. The abridged version of the Cambridge Neurological Inventory (CNI) and a set of neurocognitive function tests were administered to all participants. SEM was then conducted independently in these two samples to examine the relationships between neurological soft signs and neurocognitive functions. Results: Both the measurement and structural models showed that the models fit well to the data in both patients and healthy controls. The structural equations also showed that there were modest to moderate associations among neurological soft signs, executive attention, verbal memory, and visual memory, while the healthy controls showed more limited associations. Conclusions: The current findings indicate that motor coordination, sensory integration, and disinhibition contribute to the latent construct of neurological soft signs, whereas the subset of neurocognitive function tests contribute to the latent constructs of executive attention, verbal memory, and visual memory in the present sample. Greater evidence of neurological soft signs is associated with more severe impairment of executive attention and memory functions. Clinical and theoretical implications of the model findings are discussed. Citation: Chan RCK, Wang Y, Wang L, Chen EYH, Manschreck TC, et al. (2009) Neurological Soft Signs and Their Relationships to Neurocognitive Functions: A ReVisit with the Structural Equation Modeling Design. PLoS ONE 4(12): e8469. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0008469 Editor: Jeremy Miles, RAND Corporation, United States of America Received September 16, 2009; Accepted December 1, 2009; Published December 24, 2009 Copyright: 2009 Chan et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This study was supported partially by the Project-Oriented Hundred Talents Programme (O7CX031003), the Knowledge Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-YW-R-131), a grant from National Science Foundation of China (30770723) and National Basic Research Programme of China (973 Program) (2007CB512302/5). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: rckchan@psych.ac. cn
Trade Protection, Stock-Market Returns, and Welfare *

This paper develops a method of using financial data to understand the expected impact of trade policy on welfare and other real variables when the policy has heterogeneous and uncertain impacts on firms. We embed a firm-level specific factors model in a consumption capital asset pricing model to map expected cash-flow movements into expected movements in productivity, wages, and welfare. Using our framework, we find that the U.S.-China
Moving Air: A Comparative Study of Physical Controllers and Hand Tracking in Virtual Reality

Onboarding is a procedure used to familiarize new employees with the details of a new industry, and VR and AR training are increasingly being used for role-specific medical field experiences. This study aims to explore the affordances and challenges of a task-specific shaped controller vs. a regular controller in a VR training scenario. To explore this comparison in this study, 26 participants performed a task based on a real-life task performed in the metals industry using an Oculus VR headset, as shown above. The task entailed using a large ladle to move "Liquid aluminum"
Pharmacological and Pharmacokinetic Properties of a Structurally-Novel, Potent, Selective mGlu2/3 Receptor Agonist: In Vitro Characterization of LY404039

Group II metabotropic glutamate (mGlu) receptor agonists, including LY354740 and LY379268, have demonstrated efficacy in animal models of anxiety and schizophrenia, and LY354740 decreased anxiety in human subjects. Herein, we report the in vitro pharmacological profile and pharmacokinetic properties of another potent, selective, structurally-novel mGlu2/3 receptor agonist (-)-(1 R ,4 S ,5 S ,6 S )-4- amino-2-sulfonylbicyclo[3.1. 0]hexane-4,6-dicarboxylic acid (LY404039) and provide comparisons with LY354740. Similar to LY354740, LY404039 is a nanomolar potent agonist at recombinant human mGlu2 and mGlu3 receptors (K i = 149 and 92, respectively) and in rat neurons expressing native mGlu2/3 receptors (K i = 88). LY404039 is highly selective for mGlu2/3 receptors, showing more than 100-fold selectivity for these receptors, versus ionotropic glutamate receptors, glutamate transporters, and other receptors targeted by known anxiolytic and antipsychotic medications. Functionally, LY404039 potently inhibited forskolin-stimulated cAMP formation in cells expressing human mGlu2 and mGlu3 receptors. Electrophysiological studies indicated that LY404039 suppressed electrically-evoked excitatory activity in the striatum, and serotonin-induced L -glutamate release in the prefrontal cortex; effects reversed by LY341495. These characteristics suggest LY404039 modulates glutamatergic activity in limbic and forebrain areas relevant to psychiatric disorders; and that, similar to LY354740, it works through a mechanism which may be devoid of negative side effects associated with current antipsychotics and anxiolytics. Interestingly, despite the slightly lower potency (~2-5-fold) of LY404039 versus LY354740 in binding, functional and electrophysiological
Spatial and diurnal variation of precipitation systems over Asia observed by the TRMM Precipitation Radar

[1] The spatial and diurnal variation of rainfall over Asia was investigated using the spaceborne radar data for four seasons during 1998–2003. The regional variation of the prevailing precipitation systems most closely associated with the maximum hourly rainfall was shown by examining the fine spatial distribution of rainfall amount and scale-based precipitation systems. Small precipitation systems ( 104 km2) developed mostly in the evening over nearly flat landmasses. Wide-spread systems with intense rain pixels developed over the foothills of the Himalayas in late night–early morning period, which was distinct from the daytime convection. Over ocean, in addition to the morning signature, spatially inhomogeneous and systematic characteristics were evident over the offshore region, for example, around the maritime continent. Large systems, which are strongly associated with terrain, have a great influence on the total number of rain pixels and the total amount of rainfall. For 86% of the region where large system is dominant the time of maximum rainfall is within 3 hours of the time of maximum rainfall for large systems.
Extraction of tire size code using local phase

Tire size code (TSC) specifies the dimensions of the tire, and some of its key limitations, such as load-bearing ability and maximum speed. The key challenge of vision based TSC identification is the low contrast of TSC to tire background. In order to extract TSC from low-contrast tire images, this paper proposed to consider the contours of TSC as the symmetry axes of the neighbor pixels along the contours. The symmetry axes were detected using local phase information which is robust to image brightness and contrast. Firstly, the ring shaped tire region was segmented and then expanded to a rectangular region, where all characters were upright. Due to the intensity values of the neighbor pixels along the contours of TSC were symmetric, the contours in low-contrast tire image were enhanced using local phase information, which is computed by Log-Gabor wavelets. Finally, the thin contours were extracted by non-maxima suppression and thresholding with hysteresis. Experiments on real tire images showed that, in comparison with intensity based algorithms, the proposed algorithm were robust to uneven illumination and low-contrast.
Characterization of Mos1 Mediated Mutagenesis in C. elegans : A Method for the Rapid Identification of Mutated Genes.

: Insertional mutagenesis with a heterologous transposon provides a method to rapidly determine the molecular identity of mutated genes. The Drosophila transposon Mos1 can be mobilized to cause mutations in C. elegans (B ESSEREAU et al. 2001), however, the mutagenic rate was initially too low for use in most forward genetic screens. To increase the effectiveness of Mos1 -mediated mutagenesis we examined the conditions influencing Mos1 transposition. First, optimal transposition occurs 24 hours after expression of the transposase and is unlikely to occur in differentiated sperm or oocytes. Second, transposition is limited to germ cell nuclei that contain donor elements, but the transposase enzyme can diffuse throughout the gonad syncytium. Third, silencing of transposition is caused by changes in the donor array that occur over time. Finally, multiple transposition events occur in individual germ cells. By using screening techniques based on these results, Mos1 mutagenicity was increased to within an order of magnitude of chemical mutagens.
The role of tilted heating in the evolution of the MJO

There has been much discussion about the role of tilted heating in the evolution of the MJO. It is believed that the inability of many general circulation models to produce a robust MJO is directly related to deficiencies in the model‐produced tropical heating distributions. Given the MJO's importance in tropical climate, we need to better understand what heating distributions are required in climate models to produce strong MJOs. This study addresses the role of tilted heating in the Community Atmospheric Model version 4 (CAM4). Idealized and observed heating distributions are added to the tropical atmosphere in CAM4. These include heating that tilts westward with height in the lower and upper atmosphere, as well as various tilted and untilted heating in the form of either idealized blobs or observations derived from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Precipitation Radar and the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project. We find that low‐level heating ahead of the MJO convective center is critical for the initial strengthening and later maintenance of the MJO. However, tilted heating is not necessary to simulate a realistic MJO. In addition, excess upper level heating, whether tilted or not, appears to degrade the MJO signal, although Rossby wave modes are evident only in runs with additional upper level heating. Kelvin waves are evident during strong MJOs for all simulations but are only visible over the central Pacific. Results suggest that accurate shallow convective parameterizations may be more important than deep convective ones in the evolution of the MJO.
Encapsulation for BIER in Non-MPLS IPv6 Networks

Bit Index Explicit Replication (BIER) introduces a new multicast- specific BIER Header. Currently BIER has two types of encapsulation formats: one is MPLS encapsulation, the other is Ethernet encapsulation. This document proposes a BIER IPv6 encapsulation for Non-MPLS IPv6 Networks using an IPv6 Destination Option extension header.
Development and testing of the WaterGAP 2 global model of water use and availability

Abstract Growing interest in global environmental issues has led to the need for global and regional assessment of water resources. A global water assessment model called “WaterGAP 2” is described, which consists of two main components'a Global Water Use model and a Global Hydrology model. These components are used to compute water use and availability on the river basin level. The Global Water Use model consists of (a) domestic and industry sectors which take into account the effect of structural and technological changes on water use, and (b) an agriculture sector which accounts especially for the effect of climate on irrigation water requirements. The Global Hydrology model calculates surface runoff and groundwater recharge based on the computation of daily water balances of the soil and canopy. A water balance is also performed for surface waters, and river flow is routed via a global flow routing scheme. The Global Hydrology model provides a testable method for taking into account the effects of climate and land cover on runoff. The components of the model have been calibrated and tested against data on water use and runoff from river basins throughout the world. Although its performance can and needs to be improved, the WaterGAP 2 model already provides a consistent method to fill in many of the existing gaps in water resources data in many parts of the world. It also provides a coherent approach for generating scenarios of changes in water resources. Hence, it is especially useful as a tool for globally comparing the water situation in river basins.
Insulin Resistance in Obese and Non-obese PCOS Patients using Homeostasis Model Assessment – Insulin Resistant: A Comparison Study

Aim: this study was conducted to assess the insulin resistance in obese PCOS patients in comparison with non-obese PCOS women. Methodology: a comparative observational study was conducted on 165 Libyan PCOS women; 81 obese PCOS and 84 non-obese PCOS attending the out-patient clinic of Albayda Fertility Teaching Center and two private clinics in Albayda city/Libya, in the period between January 2021 and January 2023. All subjects undergone day 2 pelvic ultrasound scan, relevant hormonal assay and an overnight insulin and glucose levels were measured and used for insulin resistance calculation, using Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) formula, 2.6 was used as a HOMA-IR cutoff value. Result: of the total 165 PCOS women, 81 (49%) were obese with BMI ≥30 kg/m2 (study group) and 84 (51%) were non-obese (control group) PCOS. The prevalence of insulin resistance (IR) in all the included PCOS patients was 39% and the difference in prevalence of IR was non-significant between obese and non-obese PCOS (p=0.44). Insulin resistance was significantly higher among the obese PCOS (mean HOMA-IR =3) than non-obese PCOS group (mean HOMA-IR = 2.4) with P-value < 0.001. Insulin resistance had a significant positive correlation with fasting insulin and glucose levels but was not significantly correlated with BMI, age, LH, or with testosterone. Conclusion: both obese and non-obese PCOS women have insulin resistance, strengthening the aetiological role of Insulin resistance in PCOS pathogenesis. However, the insulin resistance was significantly higher among the obese PCOS accordingly life-style modifications might be beneficial in restoring PCOS pathogenesis.
Recent Trends in Occupational Segregation by Gender: A Look Across the Atlantic

In this paper, we analyse the recent patterns of occupational segregation by gender in the EU countries vis-a-vis the US. Given the lack of long time-series data on homogeneous LFS data about occupations and educational attainments for male and female workers in EU countries, we use a single cross section corresponding to 1999 as the basis of comparison, hoping to uncover convergence trends by examining whether the EU-Us differentials in gender occupational segregation decline across age cohorts. The main findings of our study are: (i) gender segregation has been declining across age cohorts in the case of female graduates and has remained steady for those with lower educational levels; in particular, the level of segregation for the former group is higher in the EU than in the US; (ii) gender segregation seems to be positively correlated with the share of part-time jobs; and (iii) there is some evidence, albeit a weak one, that the gender wage gap and occupational segregation are positively correlated, particularly when the Scandinavian countries are excluded from the sample.
Autonomic nervous system function and behavioral characteristics in (pre)adolescents from a general population cohort

The aim of this study was to investigate temperamental activation (high-intensity pleasure) and inhibition (shyness) in relation to autonomic function as measured by heart rate (HR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) in a preadolescent population cohort. Temperament was evaluated by parent-reports on the Revised Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire. Autonomic measurements were obtained in supine and standing position. Temperamental activation was negatively associated with supine HR and positively with supine RSA and BRS. Temperamental inhibition was positively related to supine BRS in girls only. Autonomic reactivity scores (i.e., difference between supine and standing) that were adjusted for supine values were unrelated to temperamental measures. Results suggest a physiological basis promoting the tendency towards engagement in activities with high intensities. Moreover, it appears that higher scores on the temperamental poles of activation (in both boys and girls) and inhibition (in girls only) are associated with increased dynamic and flexible autonomic regulation, which implicates healthy physiological functioning.
Low-temperature Hydraulic Binders for Restoration Needs

The late 19th/ early 20th century was a period of active usage of low-temperature hydraulic binders, e.g., Roman cement, for the construction of buildings. Dolomitic Roman cement was characteristic of Latvia in contrast to the rest of Europe, where calcitic Roman cement was applied. The research has been conducted with the aim to synthesize a binder from local clay and dolomite compatible with historical dolomitic Roman cement. The results of chemical and XRD phase analyses have approved that Devonian as well as Quaternary clay mixed with dolomite can form a binder that closely conforms with historical ones. The obtained compositions can be considered perspective for restoration needs.