Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ground‐based near‐infrared observations of the Venus nightside: The thermal structure and water abundance near the surface

We used ground-based near-infrared (NIR) observations of thermal emission from the Venus nightside to determine the temperature structure and water vapor distribution between the surface and the 6-km level. We show that emission from spectral windows near 1.0, 1.1, and 1.18 μm originates primarily from the surface and lowest scale height (∼16 km). These windows include absorption by weak H 2 O and CO 2 lines and by the far wings of lines in strong nearby CO 2 bands. Rayleigh scattering by the 90-bar CO 2 atmosphere and Mie scattering by the H 2 SO 4 clouds attenuate this emission, but add little to its spectral dependence. Surface topography also modulates this NIR thermal emission because high-elevation regions are substantially cooler and emit less thermal radiation than the surrounding plains. These contributions to the emission are clearly resolved in moderate-resolution (λ/Δλ ∼ 400) spectral image cubes of the Venus nightside acquired with the infrared imaging spectrometer (IRIS) on the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) in 1991. To analyze these observations, we used a radiative transfer model that includes all of the radiative processes listed above. Synthetic spectra for several topographic elevations were combined with Pioneer Venus altimetry data to generate spatially resolved maps of the NIR thermal emission. Comparisons between these synthetic radiance maps and the IRIS observations indicate no near-infrared signature of the surface emissivity differences seen at microwave wavelengths by the Magellan orbiter. Assuming constant surface emissivity in the near-infrared, we derive nightside averaged temperature lapse rates of -7 to -7.5 K/km in the lowest 6 km. These lapse rates are smaller and indicate much greater static stability than those inferred from earlier measurements and greenhouse models (-8 to -8.5 K/km) [Seiff 1983]. An acceptable fit to the data was obtained with an H 2 O mixing ratio profile which increases from 20 ppmv at the cloud base to 45 ppmv at 30 km, and then remains constant between that altitude and the surface. There is no evidence for H 2 O mixing ratios that decrease with altitude, like those inferred from the Pioneer Venus large probe mass spectrometer [Donahue and Hodges, 1992a] or the Venera 11 and 12 Lander spectrophotometers [Moroz, 1983].
Measuring and Valuing Health Benefits for Economic Evaluation

There are not enough resources in health care systems around the world to fund all technically feasible and potentially beneficial health care interventions. Difficult choices have to be made, and economic evaluation offers a systematic and transparent process for informing such choices. A key component of economic evaluation is how to value the benefits of health care in a way that permits comparison between health care interventions. In addition, the establishment of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and similar bodies around the world which require cost-effectiveness evidence to be in the form of incremental cost per QALY has resulted in an explosion of theoretical and empirical work in the field. This is the first comprehensive textbook concerning the measurement and valuation of health benefits for economic evaluation, an area which continues to be a major source of debate. The books addresses the key questions in the measurement and valuation of health, including: the definition of health, the techniques of valuation, who should provide the values, techniques for modelling health state values, the appropriateness of tools in children and vulnerable groups, cross cultural issues, and the problem of choosing the right instrument. The book concludes with a discussion of the way forward in light of the substantial methodological differences, the role of normative judgements, and where further research is most likely to take this fascinating component of health economics.
State-based SHOSLIF for indoor visual navigation

In this paper, we investigate vision-based navigation using the self-organizing hierarchical optimal subspace learning and inference framework (SHOSLIF) that incorporates states and a visual attention mechanism. With states to keep the history information and regarding the incoming video input as an observation vector, the vision-based navigation is formulated as an observation-driven Markov model (ODMM). The ODMM can be realized through recursive partitioning regression. A stochastic recursive partition tree (SRPT), which maps an preprocessed current input raw image and the previous state into the current state and the next control signal, is used for efficient recursive partitioning regression. The SRPT learns incrementally: each learning sample is learned or rejected "on-the-fly. " The purposed scheme has been successfully applied to indoor navigation.
Climatic niche conservatism and ecological diversification in the Holarctic cold- 3 dwelling butterfly genus Erebia

The evolution and distribution of alpine species have been modulated by their climatic niches. 28 However, the relative roles of climatic niche conservatism promoting geographical speciation and of 29 climatic niche diversification are poorly understood in diverse temperate groups. Here, we describe 30 the evolution of climatic niche in a species rich butterfly genus, Erebia , which occurs across cold 31 regions of the Holarctic and its diversity centre lies in European mountains. We inferred a nearly 32 complete molecular phylogeny and modelled the climatic niche evolution using 25 thousand geo- 33 referenced occurrence records. First, we reconstructed the evolution of the climatic niche. Second, 34 we tested how the species’ climatic niche width changes across the occupied climate gradient and 35 compared the two main Erebia clades, the European and the Asian clade. Third, we explored climatic 36 niche overlaps among species. We revealed that the evolution of Erebia has been shaped by climatic 37 niche conservatism, supported by a strong phylogenetic signal and niche overlap in sister species, 38 promoting allopatric speciation and by ecological speciation driven by specialization of climatic 39 niches. However, the two main clades evolved their climatic niches toward different local optima. In 40 addition, niche width decreases in extreme conditions of low and high temperatures and species in 41 the diverse European clade have narrower niches compared to the Asian clade. This may be related 42 to the gradient of climate seasonality, with lower European seasonality favouring the evolution of 43 narrower niches. Our findings, coupled with declining diversification rates through time, support a 44 diversity-dependent radiation scenario. 45
AGI June 39/6

Jones, Michael K. , Rabiha M. Itani, Hongtao Wang, Morimasa Tomikawa, I. James Sarfeh, Sandor Szabo, and Andrzej S. Tarnawski. Activation of VEGF and Ras genes in gastric mucosa during angiogenic response to ethanol injury. Am. J. Physiol. 276 (Gastrointest. Liver Physiol. 39): G1345–G1355, 1999. —Our previous studies demonstrated that ethanol injury triggers the angiogenic response in gastric mucosa bordering necrosis. The present study was aimed to determine whether vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) (a potent angiogenic peptide selectively acting on endothelial cells) and Ras (a mediator of cell proliferation and a putative regulator of VEGF expression) are involved in gastric angiogenesis after ethanol injury. We studied the angiogenic response and expression of VEGF and Ras in gastric mucosa after ethanol injury. Ethanol damage triggered 1) angiogenesis in the gastric mucosa bordering necrosis, 2) significant increases in VEGF mRNA and protein expression, and 3) significant increases in the expression of Ki-ras mRNA and Ras proteins. Neutralizing anti-VEGF antibody significantly reduced (by greater than threefold) the angiogenic response to ethanol-induced injury. Moreover, mevastatin, an inhibitor of Ras activation, completely blocked the induction of VEGF expression in cultured primary endothelial cells. Because, in other tissues, VEGF is one of the most potent angiogenic factors and VEGF expression is dependent on Ras, our data indicate that Ras and VEGF are involved in gastric mucosal angiogenesis after ethanol injury.
A study of high pressure ridges to the east of the Appalachian Mountains

This thesis considers the orographically induced high pressure ridge that appears in the sea-level pressure field on the windward side of mountain ranges. The outstanding characteristic of these synoptic-scale ridges is their persistence. Many appear to be in a steady-state, even though the broad-scale flow in which they are embedded is changing. Two distinctly different types of pressure ridges form to the east of the Appalachian Mountains. This investigation is limited to the type of ridge associated with a shallow, cold airflow topped by a strong low-level inversion. Previously proposed theories of the pressure ridge assume there is no inversion present. Hence, they are not applicable to this type of ridge. A detailed synoptic study is made of one pressure ridge case. It is found that there are two kinds of pressure ridges with low-level inversions. It is shown that these two ridges have fundamentally different airflows. In the first, called the corner ridge, the cold air flows over the mountains. In the second, called the wedge ridge, the cold air is blocked by an adverse pressure gradient and forced to flow parallel to the mountains. The available radiosonde data is insufficient to resolve variations in the inversion height. Therefore, a method, which assumes the existence of an inversion discontinuity, is used in order to obtain the inversion heights from the synoptic surface stations. In addition, frictionless dynamic trajectories are used to estimate the cold airflow trajectories. From these two techniques the variation of the inversion along the cold airflow is found. It is concluded that the pressure ridge is only a reflection in the sea-level pressure field of changes in the inversion height. 3 In order to explain the observed features of this cold airflow, it is concluded that, in addition to the inversion height, the pressure gradient above the inversion, the coriolis force, surface friction, and mixing of warm and cold air are all important physical factors in the cold airflow. Thesis Supervisor: Frederick Sanders Title: Professor
DEVELOPMENT OF A STOCHASTIC WATER TEMPERATURE MODEL AND PROJECTION OF FUTURE WATER TEMPERATURE AND EXTREME EVENTS IN THE OUELLE RIVER BASIN IN QUÉBEC, CANADA

A stochastic model is proposed to reproduce daily water temperature at 18 observation sites (11 main stem and 7 tributary sites) in the Ouelle River basin located in southern Quebec, Canada, using meteorological variables as predictors. A random sampling procedure without replacement was adopted for the model calibration and validation to overcome the limited length of the observed water temperature series. The predicted water temperature series were then submitted to variance inflation to reproduce the observed variability of the water temperature series. Historical water temperature series were obtained from observed meteorological predictors, whereas reference and future water temperature series were obtained from stochastic water temperature model using five reference (1970–1999) and future (2046–2065) meteorological predictors simulated by five different climate model runs. The reference series reproduced summer mean water temperature and the number of consecutive days with water temperature higher than 21 °C or 25 °C fairly well. On the basis of the historical series, it can be assumed that the seven tributaries of the Ouelle River provided thermal refugia for native salmon between 1970 and 1999. Future water temperature series projected by the stochastic model show that the seven tributaries could still be used as refugia to prevent lethal stress, whereas the temperature in the main stem and in three tributaries will be high enough to constitute stressful conditions for feeding juvenile Atlantic salmon. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Photodissociation of O2 and H2O in the middle atmosphere: Comparison of numerical methods and impact on model O3 and OH

We have compared three photochemical diurnal models of O3 and OH in the upper stratosphere and mesosphere which use different techniques for calculating the absorption of solar ultraviolet radiation by the O2 Schumann-Runge bands. One model uses a detailed line-by-line representation of the O2 cross section from 1750–2050 A, while the two others use lower resolution, parameterized cross sections. Using the parameterized cross sections, the calculated O3 profiles for both day and night agree with those obtained from the line-by-line model to within 6%. This appears to eliminate inaccuracies in the parameterized O2 cross section as a major cause of previously reported model O3 deficits. A portion of the residual differences from the line-by-line model are attributed to inaccuracies in the calculated H2O photolysis rate. A parameterized H2O cross section is offered which improves the accuracy of this calculation.
Inhibition of nuclear factor-kappaB activation reduces cortical tubulointerstitial injury in proteinuric rats.

BACKGROUND Protein-induced chemokine expression in proximal tubular cells is mediated by the transcription factor nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB). We hypothesized that in vivo inhibition of renal NF-kappaB activation would reduce interstitial monocyte infiltration in a rat model of nonimmune proteinuric tubulointerstitial inflammation. METHODS Male Wistar rats received a single intravenous injection of doxorubicin hydrochloride [adriamycin (ADR), 7.5 mg/kg] and were studied 7, 14, 21, and 28 days later. In a second study, inhibitors of NF-kappaB [N-acetylcysteine (NAC; 150 mg/kg, b.i.d., i.p.), pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC, 50 mg/kg, b. i.d., i.p.)] or vehicle were commenced on day 14 after the onset of proteinuria and were continued until day 30. RESULTS Rats injected with ADR had increased proteinuria (UpV, day 28, 474 +/- 57; control, 18 +/- 2 mg/day; P < 0.01) and cortical tubulointerstitial injury [tubule cell atrophy, interstitial volume, and monocyte/macrophage (ED-1) infiltration]. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay of nuclear extracts from whole cortex of ADR rats demonstrated that NF-kappaB activation (p50/65, p50/c-Rel) increased from day 7 (4.7 +/- 0.2 fold-increase above control; P < 0.01) was maximal at day 28 (6.2 +/- 0.7; P < 0.01) and correlated with UpV (r = 0.63; P < 0.05) and interstitial ED-1 infiltration (r = 0.67; P < 0.01). Chronic treatment of ADR rats with PDTC suppressed NF-kappaB activation (by 73%; P < 0.05) without any effect on UpV. NF-kappaB inhibition with PDTC was accompanied by a reduction in tubule cell atrophy (59%; P < 0.01), interstitial volume (49%; P < 0.05) and ED-1 infiltration (48%; P < 0.01), and cortical lipid peroxidation (41%; P < 0.05) compared with vehicle-treated ADR rats. In contrast NAC had no effect on NF-kappaB activation, tubulointerstitial injury, or UpV in ADR rats. CONCLUSION The activation of NF-kappaB may have an important role in mediating cortical interstitial monocyte infiltration and tubular injury in nonimmune proteinuric tubulointerstitial inflammation.
Space symmetry of prehnite, Ca2Al[6](Si3AlO10)(OH)2, from the Tieshan iron mineral deposit, Central China

Abstract The space symmetry of prehnite, a mineral which occurs in cavities and veins within skarn from the Tieshan iron mineral deposit, Daye, Hubei province, central China, has been determined using selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and convergent-beam electron diffraction (CBED) on the submicrometer scale. Our results confirm that natural prehnite may belong to space group Pncm. The unit-cell parameters of the prehnite investigated ( a = 0.458 nm, b = 0.555 nm and c = 1.853 nm) have been calculated using the multicrystal diffraction rings of gold, the internal standard.
An in‐scene method for atmospheric compensation of thermal hyperspectral data

[1] Interpretation of surface radiation characteristics by overhead hyperspectral imagery often requires a compensation of the measured radiance data for the absorption and emission effects of the intervening atmosphere. We describe a procedure that accounts for these effects by direct use of the hyperspectral radiance data without recourse to ancillary meteorological data or atmospheric modeling. This in-scene atmospheric compensation (ISAC) procedure is applicable to a broad class of problems. The present work concerns terrestrial surface characterization by remote sensing in the 8–13 μm atmospheric window band. A complete ISAC analysis is carried out in two steps. In the first step, unscaled atmospheric compensation spectra (transmittance and upwelling radiance) are extracted from the data. The step is carried out by application of a specially designed, line-fitting procedure to a scatterplot constructed from the hyperspectral data. The compensation spectra are defined in terms of the slope and intercept parameters of the line. In the second step, these unscaled compensation spectra are scaled to quantitative compensation spectra. Here, this step is carried out using the strength of absorption in the 11.7-μm water band. The compensation procedure is demonstrated by application to hyperspectral imagery obtained with the Aerospace Corporation's Spatially Enhanced Broadband Array Spectrograph System (SEBASS) hyperspectral imaging sensor at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) facility. Example applications demonstrate the ability of the method to remove atmospheric spectral structure from the observed data and reveal the spectral structure intrinsic to the underlying surface. This removal is demonstrated both for near-blackbody surfaces composed of grass and for surfaces containing limestone gravel and Red Clay soil.
70th Anniversary Conference on 'Vitamins in early development and healthy aging: impact on infectious and chronic disease' Symposium 2: Vitamins in muscular and skeletal function Musculoskeletal phenotype through the life course: the role of nutrition

This review considers the definition of a healthy bone phenotype through the life course and the modulating effects of muscle function and nutrition. In particular, it will emphasise that optimal bone strength (and how that is regulated) is more important than simple measures of bone mass. The forces imposed on bone by muscle loading are the primary determinants of musculoskeletal health. Any factor that changes muscle loading on the bone, or the response of bone to loading results in alterations of bone strength. Advances in technology have enhanced the understanding of a healthy bone phenotype in different skeletal compartments. Multiple components of muscle strength can also be quantified. The critical evaluation of emerging technologies for assessment of bone and muscle phenotype is vital. Populations with low and moderate/high daily Ca intakes and/or different vitamin D status illustrate the importance of nutrition in determining musculoskeletal phenotype. Changes in mass and architecture maintain strength despite low Ca intake or vitamin D status. There is a complex interaction between body fat and bone which, in addition to protein intake, is emerging as a key area of research. Muscle and bone should be considered as an integrative unit; the role of body fat requires definition. There remains a lack of longitudinal evidence to understand how nutrition and lifestyle define musculoskeletal health. In conclusion, a life-course approach is required to understand the definition of healthy skeletal phenotype in different populations and at different stages of life.
Research on regularization super resolution reconstruction algorithm based on ASTER image

Super resolution reconstruction is to produce one or a set of high resolution images from a sequence of low resolution images using the additional information among them. Traditional super resolution reconstruction algorithms are limited to their assumed data and noise model. The robust reconstruction algorithm which is not sensitive to model error has always been a hot research. We propose an alternate approach based on p-norm minimization and robust regularization with bilateral total variation (BTV). This method is robust to errors caused by motion and blur estimation. Hybrid steepest descent and limited storage quasi-Newton method is used to solve the cost function. Experiments are carried out in simulated images and ASTER multi-band thermal infrared images, experiment results indicate that the proposed method removes noises effectively and results in fine detail, sharp edge and rich content.
Navigating Multiple Worlds: A Qualitative Study of the Lived Experiences of Hmong Women Leaders

This article presents the findings from a narrative study that examined the leadership development and pathways of nine prominent Hmong American women leaders from Minnesota and California. Each of these women was able to break through the cultural and gender glass ceiling to become positional and influential leaders in mainstream American society. The study focused on the factors that contributed to the participants’ leadership development; strategies used in attaining and maintaining leadership roles; and barriers each participant encountered on her path to becoming a leader. Important findings included the impact of poverty, the prominent role of education, inner strength the women possessed, importance of networking and support systems, and strong role models. Other factors included familial responsibilities, gender disparities, racism and ageism. The conceptual frameworks of Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger and Tarule (1986), and Alon and Higgins (2005), were utilized to guide the analysis and presentation of each participant’s life journey, and show the intersections between culture and feminist epistemology. The narrative case study approach included in-depth interviews, collective story mapping and re-narration techniques to explore the lives of these women leaders. One overarching goal of the study and this article is to create a greater understanding of complex issues and impediments associated with leadership development, with the hope of beginning a dialog that will help facilitate policy changes regarding developing and supporting minority women in leadership roles.
A comparison between simulation and experiment for hysteretic phenomena during two‐phase immiscible displacement

The paper compares a theory for immiscible displacement based on distinguishing percolating and nonpercolating fluid parts with experimental observations from multistep outflow experiments. The theory was published in 2006 in Physica A, volume 371, pages 209–225; the experiments were published in 1991 in Water Resources Research, volume 27, pages 2113. The present paper focuses on hysteretic phenomena resulting from repeated cycling between drainage and imbibition processes in multistep pressure experiments. Taking into account, the hydraulic differences between percolating and nonpercolating fluid parts provides a physical basis to predict quantitatively the hysteretic phenomena observed in the experiment. While standard hysteretic extensions of the traditional theory are nonlocal in time the theory used in this paper is local in time. Instead of storing the pressure and saturation history, it requires only the current state of the system to reach the same quantitative agreement.