Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biogeosciences Historical records of coastal eutrophication-induced hypoxia

Under certain conditions, sediment cores from coastal settings subject to hypoxia can yield records of environmental changes over time scales ranging from decades to millennia, sometimes with a resolution of as little as a few years. A variety of biological and geochemical indicators (proxies) derived from such cores have been used to reconstruct the development of eutrophication and hypoxic conditions over time. Those based on (1) the preserved remains of benthic organisms (mainly foraminiferans and ostracods), (2) sedimentary features (e.g. laminations) and (3) sediment chemistry and mineralogy (e.g. presence of sulphides and redox-sensitive trace elements) reflect conditions at or close to the seafloor. Those based on (4) the preserved remains of planktonic organisms (mainly diatoms and dinoflagellates), (5) pigments and lipid biomarkers derived from prokaryotes and eukaryotes and (6) organic C, N and their stable isotope ratios reflect conditions in the water column. However, the interpretation of these indicators is not straightforward. A central difficulty concerns the fact that hypoxia is strongly correlated with, and often induced by, organic enrichment caused by eutrophication, making it difficult to separate the effects of these phenomena in sediment records. The problem is compounded by the enhanced preservation in anoxic and hypoxic sediments of organic microfossils and biomarkers indicating eutrophication. The use of hypoxiaCorrespondence to: A. J. Gooday (ang@noc.soton.ac.uk) specific proxies, such as the trace metals molybdenum and rhenium and the bacterial biomarker isorenieratene, together with multi-proxy approaches, may provide a way forward. All proxies of bottom-water hypoxia are basically qualitative; their quantification presents a major challenge to which there is currently no satisfactory solution. Finally, it is important to separate the effects of natural ecosystem variability from anthropogenic effects. Despite these problems, in the absence of historical data for dissolved oxygen concentrations, the analysis of sediment cores can provide plausible reconstructions of the temporal development of humaninduced hypoxia, and associated eutrophication, in vulnerable coastal environments.
An approach for estimating the health effects of changes over time in air pollution: an illustration using cardio-respiratory hospital admissions in London

Objectives First, we present a general analytical approach to estimating the association between medium-term changes in air pollution and health across small areas. As a specific illustration, we then applied the approach to data on London residents from a 4-year period to test whether reductions in traffic-related air pollution were associated with reductions in cardio-respiratory hospital admissions. Methods A binomial distribution was used to model change in admissions over time in each small area, which was measured as the proportion of admissions in 2003–2004 out of admissions over all study years (2001–2004). Annual average concentrations of nitrogen oxides (NOx) were modelled using an emissions-dispersion model. The association between change in NOx and change in hospital admissions was estimated using logistic regression and an instrumental variable approach. Results For some diagnostic groups, suggestive associations between reductions in NOx and reductions in admissions were observed, for example, OR=0.97 (95% CI 0.96 to 0.99) for an IQR decrease in NOx (3 μg/m3) and all respiratory admissions. Accounting for spatial dependence attenuated several of the associations; for respiratory admissions, the OR was 1.00 (95% CI 0.98 to 1.02), leaving only that for bronchiolitis significant (OR=0.91; 95% CI 0.84 to 0.99). In this particular illustration, the instrumental variable approach did not appear to add information. Conclusions In this illustration, there was relatively limited power to detect an association between changes in air pollution and hospital admissions over time. However, the analytical approach could deliver more robust estimates of the health effects of changes in air pollution in settings with greater spatial contrast in changes in air pollution over time.
Endogenous cannabinoids mediate long-term synaptic depression in the nucleus accumbens

Do endocannabinoids (eCBs) participate in long-term synaptic plasticity in the brain? Using pharmacological approaches and genetically altered mice, we show that stimulation of prelimbic cortex afferents at naturally occurring frequencies causes a long-term depression of nucleus accumbens glutamatergic synapses mediated by eCB release and presynaptic CB1 receptors. Translation of glutamate synaptic transmission into eCB retrograde signaling involved metabotropic glutamate receptors and postsynaptic intracellular Ca2+ stores. These findings unveil the role of the eCB system in activity-dependent long-term synaptic plasticity and identify a mechanism by which marijuana can alter synaptic functions in the endogenous brain reward system.
Economic Policy and Equality of Opportunity

We employ EOP definitions that have appeared in the philosophical literature on distributive justice, and apply it to a formal economic model which incorporates human capital investment and luck within and across generations. The human capital acquisition technology features multiple stages of parental investments during childhood, and on-the-job investments in adulthood. The benchmark model features an intergenerational borrowing constraint, education and low-income subsidies which are financed by a progressive income tax. The model is calibrated to the U.S. in 1990, on which we operationalize philosophical concepts by using the children’s continuation values as outcomes, and the state space of the recursive decision problem as circumstances. This reveals that intergenerational investments should be accounted for when comparing measures of EOP. When conditioning on parental luck instead of outcomes, EOP looks much larger: luck is overwhelmed by human capital accumulation. In contrast, when looking at children’s net wealth instead of lifetime earnings, EOP looks worse: intergenerational borrowing constraints are more pronounced in wealth than in earnings. In counterfactual experiments, we find that education subsidies increase utilitarian welfare and decrease overall inequality, but does little to promote EOP. This is for two reasons: when one takes the view that intergenerational efforts should be rewarded, there is little room for improvement in EOP to begin with. On the other hand, when one takes the view that intergenerational efforts should not be rewarded, much stronger redistribution is needed for the policies to have a quantitative impact.
The Optical Properties of Gravitational Lens Galaxies as a Probe of Galaxy Structure and Evolution

We combine photometry and lens modeling to study the properties of 17 gravitational lens galaxies between z = 0.1 and ~1. Most of the lens galaxies are passively evolving early-type galaxies, with a few spirals. The colors, scale lengths, and ellipticities of lens galaxies are similar to those of the general population of early-type galaxies, although there may be a deficit of apparently round lens galaxies produced by the inclination dependence of lensing cross sections. The projected mass distributions are aligned with the projected light distributions to ≲10°, except in the presence of a strong external tidal perturbation, suggesting that dark matter halos are significantly modified by interactions with the baryonic component and are not far out of alignment with the stars. Lens galaxies obey image separation/lens luminosity correlations analogous to the Faber-Jackson and Tully-Fisher relations, which are consistent with standard dark matter lens models. The lens galaxy mass-to-light ratios decrease with redshift as d(log M/LB)/dz = -0.3 ± 0.1 (-0.5 ± 0.1) for Ω0 = 1 (0.1), thus providing direct evidence of passive evolution for a sample of early-type galaxies in low-density environments. The evolution-corrected mass-to-light ratios are generally larger than predicted by constant M/L dynamical models, although there is significant scatter; with improved photometry, lens galaxy mass-to-light ratios would better distinguish between constant M/L and dark matter models. These conclusions are limited primarily by the quality of lens galaxy photometry.
Exposure to point‐of‐sale displays and changes in susceptibility to smoking: findings from a cohort study of school students

Abstract Aims To investigate the association between frequency of visiting shops and noticing of tobacco point‐of‐sale (PoS) displays and the development of susceptibility to smoking, or smoking uptake, in secondary school students. Design Two surveys of a school based cohort study carried out in 2011 and 2012. Settings Nottinghamshire, UK. Participants A total of 2270 children aged 11–16 years from eight schools in Nottinghamshire. Measurements We investigated changes in susceptibility to smoking and smoking status in relation to frequency of visiting shops and noticing PoS displays and number of tobacco brands recognized, controlling for a range of potential confounders. Susceptibility to smoking was defined using a set of three questions covering intentions to try smoking, to smoke within the next year and likelihood of smoking if a best friend offered a cigarette. For the analysis we used multinomial logistic regression. Findings Among non‐susceptible never smokers, noticing PoS displays more frequently was associated independently with an increased risk of becoming susceptible to smoking [adjusted relative risk ratio (RRR) = 1.74; 99% confidence interval (CI) = 1.13–2.69], but was not associated with smoking uptake. Recognizing a higher number of brands among non‐susceptible never smokers doubled the risk of becoming susceptible to smoking and of becoming a smoker, but this did not have a significant effect on transition to smoking among susceptible never smokers. Frequency of noticing tobacco PoS displays was not associated significantly with smoking uptake among those who were susceptible never smokers at baseline. Conclusions Noticing tobacco point‐of‐sale displays more often and recognizing a higher number of tobacco brands is associated with an increased risk of becoming susceptible to smoking among adolescents in the United Kingdom, and recognizing a higher number of brands is associated positively with an increased risk of smoking uptake.
Path planning for flexible needle insertion system based on Improved Rapidly-Exploring Random Tree algorithm

Path planning is one of the most important parts in the research on flexible needle insertion. Based on the Improved Rapidly-exploring Random Tree (I-RRT), the path planning for flexible needle insertion is studied in this paper. Traditional RRT algorithm can generate paths which can avoid obstacle and reach the target precisely, but the path is not continuously differentiable and cannot match the physical constraints of the flexible needle inserting into soft tissue. Aiming at solving this problem, the I-RRT algorithm is proposed to generate paths for minimally invasive treatment and meanwhile guarantee the continuity and effectiveness of the path. The path evaluation function is designed to implement path selection based on path length, obstacle avoidance and the number of arcs. Then the simulation of the flexible needle path is performed in the environment with obstacles. Results show that the I-RRT is more practical and effective for flexible needle insertion path planning.
Clock Skew Minimization in Multi-Voltage Mode Designs Using Adjustable Delay Buffers

In synchronous circuit designs, clock skew is difficult to minimize because a single physical layout of a clock tree must satisfy multiple constraints in a complicated power mode environment where certain modules may operate with different voltages. In this paper, we use adjustable delay buffers (ADB) whose delays can be tuned or adjusted to minimize clock skew under different power modes. Assuming that the positions of k ADBs are already determined, we first propose a linear-time optimal algorithm which assigns the values of ADBs so that the skew is optimal among all possible ADB assignments with a possibility of latency penalty. Then, we propose a modified optimal algorithm without latency penalty. We also propose an efficient heuristic to determine good positions for ADBs. Our results show significant improvement when compared to cases without ADBs.
Multicast schedulers for ATM switches with multiple input queues

The evolution of high-speed ATM switches demands the design of efficient, high-performance scheduling algorithms for multicast as well as unicast traffic. Unicast traffic scheduling has improved significantly by adopting the advanced input queuing (virtual output queuing) switch memory architecture. However, conventional multicast scheduling algorithms do not utilize effectively this memory organization and achieve considerably low throughput In this paper, we present two multicast scheduling algorithms, LFINE and MuSe, that employ the advanced input queuing architecture. These algorithms achieve high throughputs by approximating the one provided by FINE introduced in (M. Gamvrili et al., 2003) with a significantly lower implementation cost. In addition they outperform most known alternative multicast scheduling algorithms, such as Tatra and Multicast Greedy. As the results show, both algorithms achieve higher throughput and lower mean packet delay over most alternatives, while providing enhanced characteristics.
Different expression of caspase‐3 in rat hippocampal subregions during postnatal development

Recent studies indicate that caspase‐3 has distinct characteristics in postmitotic and neuronal progenitor apoptosis. Pyramidal neurons in CA1 and CA3 of the hippocampus become postmitotic during early postnatal development, whereas granule cells in the dentate gyrus (DG) undergo self‐renewal throughout life. The distribution of caspase‐3 in the hippocampal subfields during postnatal development is largely unknown. We used immunofluorescent staining for two isoforms of caspase‐3 (an active 17 kDa isoform and an inactive 35 kDa precursor) and the Hoechst 33342 staining for nuclear chromatin to assess caspase‐3 expression in the CA1, CA3, and DG of rat hippocampus during postnatal development. The expression of active caspase‐3 reached a peak at P7 in CA1, at P2 in CA3, and then decreased with age. Whereas in DG, active caspase‐3 expression increased slightly after P7, and remained at high levels for the rest of the investigated period. Procaspase‐3 immunoreactivity was strong at P2 and decreased gradually to a basal plateau by P21 in the three regions examined. In addition, the number of apoptotic cells in the three regions all reached maximum levels at P7, and then decreased with age. These data indicate that there were specific spatio‐temporal patterns of expression of active and precursor caspase‐3 in the postnatally developing rat hippocampal subregions, and that the activation of caspase‐3 in neuronal progenitor cells of DG and that in the postmitotic neurons of CA1 and CA3 may have distinct roles and mechanisms during postnatal development. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Obesity and Its Potential Effects on Antidepressant Treatment Outcomes in Patients with Depressive Disorders: A Literature Review

Accumulating evidence regarding clinical, neurobiological, genetic, and environmental factors suggests a bidirectional link between obesity and depressive disorders. Although a few studies have investigated the link between obesity/excess body weight and the response to antidepressants in depressive disorders, the effect of weight on treatment response remains poorly understood. In this review, we summarized recent data regarding the relationship between the response to antidepressants and obesity/excess body weight in clinical studies of patients with depressive disorders. Although several studies indicated an association between obesity/excess body weight and poor antidepressant responses, it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions due to the variability of subject composition and methodological differences among studies. Especially, differences in sex, age and menopausal status, depressive symptom subtypes, and antidepressants administered may have caused inconsistencies in the results among studies. The relationship between obesity/excess body weight and antidepressant responses should be investigated further in high-powered studies addressing the differential effects on subject characteristics and treatment. Moreover, future research should focus on the roles of mediating factors, such as inflammatory markers and neurocognitive performance, which may alter the antidepressant treatment outcome in patients with comorbid obesity and depressive disorder.
Teaching Novices Programming with Core Language and Dynamic Visualisation

This paper attempts to explore a new method to improve the teaching of computer programming for beginners at tertiary level. It begins with a change of approach to teaching and then to a mix of basic theory and practice. It then finds a core language, which simplified the scope of programme design and implementation. Dynamic visualisation technique was used as a supplementary tool in programme logic design, debugging and testing with desk-check, which helps novices understand their programme. Finally, the author expects programming educators to integrate and use these findings throughout the procedure of teaching programme development, from teaching approach, logic design, desk-check, implementation, to debugging and testing.
Development, learning and memory in large random networks of cortical neurons: lessons beyond anatomy

1. Introduction 63 1.1 Outline 63 1.2 Universals versus realizations in the study of learning and memory 64 2. Large random cortical networks developing ex vivo 65 2.1 Preparation 65 2.2 Measuring electrical activity 67 3. Spontaneous development 69 3.1 Activity 69 3.2 Connectivity 70 4. Consequences of spontaneous activity: pharmacological manipulations 72 4.1 Structural consequences 72 4.2 Functional consequences 73 5. Effects of stimulation 74 5.1 Response to focal stimulation 74 5.2 Stimulation-induced changes in connectivity 74 6. Embedding functionality in real neural networks 77 6.1 Facing the physiological definition of ‘reward’: two classes of theories 78 6.2 Closing the loop 79 7. Concluding remarks 84 8. Acknowledgments 85 9. References 85 The phenomena of learning and memory are inherent to neural systems that differ from each other markedly. The differences, at the molecular, cellular and anatomical levels, reflect the wealth of possible instantiations of two neural learning and memory universals: (i) an extensive functional connectivity that enables a large repertoire of possible responses to stimuli; and (ii) sensitivity of the functional connectivity to activity, allowing for selection of adaptive responses. These universals can now be fully realized in ex-vivo developing neuronal networks due to advances in multi-electrode recording techniques and desktop computing. Applied to the study of ex-vivo networks of neurons, these approaches provide a unique view into learning and memory in networks, over a wide range of spatio-temporal scales. In this review, we summarize experimental data obtained from large random developing ex-vivo cortical networks. We describe how these networks are prepared, their structure, stages of functional development, and the forms of spontaneous activity they exhibit (Sections 2–4). In Section 5 we describe studies that seek to characterize the rules of activity-dependent changes in neural ensembles and their relation to monosynaptic rules. In Section 6, we demonstrate that it is possible to embed functionality into ex-vivo networks, that is, to teach them to perform desired firing patterns in both time and space. This requires ‘closing a loop’ between the network and the environment. Section 7 emphasizes the potential of ex-vivo developing cortical networks in the study of neural learning and memory universals. This may be achieved by combining closed loop experiments and ensemble-defined rules of activity-dependent change.
Imaging cortical anatomy by high‐resolution MR at 3.0T: Detection of the stripe of Gennari in visual area 17

The brain can be parcellated into numerous anatomical and functional subunits. The classic work by Brodmann (Vergleichende Lokalisationslehre der Grosshirnrinde in ihren Prinzipien dargestellt auf Grund des Zellenbaues. Leipzig: Barth; 1909) identified areas of the cerebral cortex based on histological differences. An alternative to his cytoarchitectonic approach is the myeloarchitectonic approach. MRI has excellent white/gray matter contrast in the brain due to the presence of myelin, and thus seems uniquely suited for in vivo studies of cortical myeloarchitecture. Here it is demonstrated that the stripe or stria of Gennari can be consistently detected in human occipital cortex. T1‐weighted images obtained at 3T from six of 10 normal volunteers, with resolutions of 350 × 350 × 600 μ, clearly demonstrate this myelin‐rich intracortical layer. It is concluded that the striate cortex (area 17 of Brodmann) of the human brain can be delineated in vivo on T1‐weighted images, potentially enabling detection of specific cortical boundaries within individual brains. Magn Reson Med 48:735–738, 2002. Published 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Aqueous Extract of Ficus bengalensis Linn. Bark for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

The present study was designed to evaluate the effects of aqueous extract of Ficus bengalensis Linn. bark (AEFB) on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Effects of AEFB were studied on 2, 4, 6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS, 0.25 ml 120 mg/ml in 50% ethanol intrarectally, on first day only)-induced IBD in rats. Effects of co-administration of prednisolone (2 mg/kg) and AEFB (250, 500 mg/kg) for 21 days were also evaluated. Various physical parameters including body weight, food, and water intake measured on 1st and 21st days. At end of the experiment, various histopathological indexes are assessed. The colon homogenate malondialdehyde (MDA), myeloperoxidase (MPO), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and nitric oxide (NO) levels and % mast cell protection in mesentery were also measured. In our study, we found that AEFB has a significant protective effect in the inflammatory bowel disease as compared to prednisolone in rats.
Divorce, Fertility and the Value of Marriage

Easier divorce has two effects on marriage rates and fertility. It dilutes the value of marriage, therefore reducing marriage rates and marital fertility and potentially increasing out of wedlock fertility. But easier divorce reduces also the commitment cost of marriage leading women to "try" marriage especially when in child bearing age or even already pregnant. We find that total fertility and out-of-wedlock fertility decline after the introduction of unilateral divorce. Women planning to have children marry more easily with an easier "exit option" from marriage. Thus, more children are born in the first years of marriage, while marital fertility does not change, probably as a result of an increase in divorce and marital instability. Therefore we find strong evidence consistent with the "commitment effect".
Improving Drug Sensitivity Prediction Using Different Types of Data

The algorithms and models used to address the two subchallenges that are part of the NCI‐DREAM (Dialogue for Reverse Engineering Assessments and Methods) Drug Sensitivity Prediction Challenge (2012) are presented. In subchallenge 1, a bidirectional search algorithm is introduced and optimized using an ensemble scheme and a nonlinear support vector machine (SVM) is then applied to predict the effects of the drug compounds on breast cancer cell lines. In subchallenge 2, a weighted Euclidean distance method is introduced to predict and rank the drug combinations from the most to the least effective in reducing the viability of a diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL) cell line.