Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of friction and fault geometry on earthquake rupture

We investigate the impact of variations in the friction and geometry on models of fault dynamics. We focus primarily on a three-dimensional continuum model with scalar displacements. Slip occurs on an embedded two-dimensional planar interface. Friction is characterized by a two-parameter rate and state law, incorporating a characteristic length for weakening, a characteristic time for healing, and a velocity-weakening steady state. As the friction parameters are varied, there is a crossover from narrow, self-healing slip pulses to crack-like solutions that heal in response to edge effects. For repeated ruptures the crack-like regime exhibits periodic or aperiodic systemwide events. The self-healing regime exhibits dynamical complexity and a broad distribution of rupture areas. The behavior can also change from periodicity or quasi-periodicity to dynamical complexity as the total fault size or the length-to-width ratio is increased. Our results for the continuum model agree qualitatively with analogous results obtained for a one-dimensional Burridge-Knopoff model in which radiation effects are approximated by viscous dissipation.
Second‐Order Analysis of Semiparametric Recurrent Event Processes

Summary A typical recurrent event dataset consists of an often large number of recurrent event processes, each of which contains multiple event times observed from an individual during a follow‐up period. Such data have become increasingly available in medical and epidemiological studies. In this article, we introduce novel procedures to conduct second‐order analysis for a flexible class of semiparametric recurrent event processes. Such an analysis can provide useful information regarding the dependence structure within each recurrent event process. Specifically, we will use the proposed procedures to test whether the individual recurrent event processes are all Poisson processes and to suggest sensible alternative models for them if they are not. We apply these procedures to a well‐known recurrent event dataset on chronic granulomatous disease and an epidemiological dataset on meningococcal disease cases in Merseyside, United Kingdom to illustrate their practical value.
Demographics of mesoscale eddies in the California Current

Demographics and variability of persistent mesoscale eddies in the California Current have been investigated in a systematic manner using a decade (1995–2004) of merged satellite altimeter data. The number of persistent eddies formed each year varied almost 3‐fold (4‐fold) for cyclones (anticyclones) and was strongly modulated by the 1997–1998 El Niño event. Over the 10‐year period, cyclone formation was maximum in both winter and summer while maximum anticyclone formation occurred only in winter. The majority of long‐lived eddies (≥70‐day lifespan) originated seaward of the 1000 m isobath, and with the exception of 2 anticyclones, did not form between 45° and 50°N. Maximum westward propagation of long‐lived eddies was almost 800 km with similar mean propagation speeds for cyclones and anticyclones.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Games , walks and grammars : Problems I ' ve worked on Vervoort

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Educational Inequalities in the midst of widespread poverty; Diversity across Africa in primary school completion

10/1/2007 Revised version Preliminary draft Not for citation Educational Inequalities in the midst of widespread poverty; Diversity across Africa in primary school completion Cynthia B. Lloyd Paul Hewett Population Council September 28, 2007 Mapping Global Inequalities Conference, Santa Cruz, California December 13-14, 2007
Measuring the WTP for Recreation and Biodiversity Protection Programs

This paper focus on a contingent valuation (CV) exercise as to compute estimates for the willingness to pay (WTP) for recreation and biodiversity benefits of a Natural Park in Portugal. The CV survey gathers 1678 respondents and three development policy options. We refer to the Wilderness Areas (WA) tourism development scenario; the Recreational Areas (RA) tourism development scenario and, finally, a scenario version which is characterised by the tourism development of both WA and RA. The results show that the respondents evaluate the WA and RA differently. However, we find no statistical difference between the WTP for the WA and the WTP for the WA jointly with the RA. The last result can be interpreted as an indicator of an eventual presence of warm-glow in the WTP responses.
Breast cancer surveillance in patients treated by radiotherapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma Sorveglianza senologica nelle pazienti radiotrattate per linfoma di Hodgkin

Purpose. The authors evaluated the relative risk of developing radiation-induced breast cancer (BC) in women treated with radiotherapy for Hodgkin’s disease (HD) and analysed the imaging features of these breast neoplasms. Materials and methods. We retrospectively studied 54 women who had all undergone radiotherapy between 1980 and 2010 (median age, 36.6 years). Women aged ￻30 years were screened with clinical breast examination, ultrasound (US) and, if necessary, mammography; women >30 years had clinical breast examination, US and mammography. Three women underwent magnetic resonance (MR) imaging as well.
Face Processing: Advanced Modeling and Methods

Description: Major strides have been made in face processing in the last ten years due to the fast growing need for security in various locations around the globe. A human eye can discern the details of a specific face with relative ease. It is this level of detail that researchers are striving to create with ever evolving computer technologies that will become our perfect mechanical eyes. The difficulty that confronts researchers stems from turning a 3D object into a 2D image. That subject is covered in depth from several different perspectives in this volume.
Neural Systems of Social Comparison and the " Above-average " Effect

a r t i c l e i n f o Extant neural models of self-evaluation are dominated by associations with medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) function and have mostly been developed from studies differentiating self-evaluation from evaluation of other people. Although self-evaluation is robustly characterized by systematic biases, current neural models of self-evaluation cannot speak to their neurobiology because of a lack of research. The few extant studies have made claims about associations between bias and ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) function but have confounded bias with the valence of experimental stimuli. In study 1, fMRI was used to examine the neurobiology of the " above-average " effect, a robust self-evaluation bias. The majority of people judge their personality to be more desirable (i.e., more positive and less negative traits) than their peers' personalities. MPFC and PCC were significantly more activated by a condition that reduced susceptibility to " above-average " judgments. However, MPFC and PFCC activity were not modulated by individual differences in " above-average " judgments. VACC activity distinguished positive from negative valence but did not predict individual differences in " above-average " judgments. Instead, the extent to which participants viewed themselves as " above average " was negatively correlated with orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and, to a lesser extent, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activation. A complementary study found that mental load increases " above-average " judgments (study 2). These findings are the first to directly examine the neural systems involved in social judgment bias and have implications for the association between frontal lobe dysfunction and poor insight. Neural research on the self has mostly focused on identifying neural regions that are used to evaluate social targets such as the self or other people (for a review, see Ochsner et al., 2005; Uddin et al., 2007). These studies most often associate self-judgment with medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) activity see Ochsner et al., 2005 for a review). While these studies provide an important foundation of knowledge for developing neural models of social cognition, they do not address a central feature of self-evaluation. Specifically, self-evaluations tend to be flawed. These flaws are not random errors. Instead, decades of behavioral research have shown that self-evaluations are predictably more positive than indicated by external criteria self-evaluations are most susceptible to inflated positivity; judgments of most other people often do not show such …
Psychosocial stress is associated with in vivo dopamine release in human ventromedial prefrontal cortex: a positron emission tomography study using [ 18 F]fallypride.

Rodent studies suggest that prefrontal dopamine neurotransmission plays an important role in the neural processing of psychosocial stress. Human studies investigating stress-induced changes in dopamine levels, however, have focused solely on striatal dopamine transmission. The aim of this study was to investigate in vivo dopamine release in the human prefrontal cortex in response to a psychosocial stress challenge, using the highly selective dopamine D 2/3 PET radioligand [ 18 F]fallypride in healthy subjects. Twelve healthy subjects (age (y): 39.8; SD = 15.8) underwent a single dynamic Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanning session after intravenous administration of 185.2 (SD = 10.2) MBq [ 18 F]fallypride. Psychosocial stress was initiated at 100 minutes postinjection. PET data were analyzed using the linearized simplified reference region model (LSRRM), which accounts for time-dependent changes in [ 18 F]fallypride displacement. Voxel-based statistical maps, representing specific D 2/3 binding changes, were computed to localize areas with increased ligand displacement after task initiation, reflecting dopamine release. The psychosocial stress challenge induced detectable amounts of dopamine release throughout the prefrontal cortex, with dopaminergic activity in bilateral ventromedial prefrontal cortex being associated with subjectively rated experiences of psychosocial stress. The novel finding that a mild psychosocial stress in humans induces increased levels of endogenous dopamine in the PFC indicates that the dynamics of the dopamine-related stress response cannot be interpreted by focusing on mesolimbic brain regions alone.
The Aladin Project: Status Report

The Aladin project aims to provide a new cross-identiication tool for the CDS and its co-workers, and, eventually, other astronomers. This tool is designed as an interactive X-window client with access to images from a local directory or the CDS image server, as well as to the Simbad database, the CDS catalogue server and local, on-site catalogues. Present development includes: The building of a high resolution image archive of Schmidt plates digitized by the Paris MAMA facility and covering a signiicant portion of the sky (250 plates = 500 gigabytes); The integration of the STScI DSS in the system to provide full-sky coverage (at a lower spatial resolution than the MAMA archive); The development of a client emphasising the possibility of astrometric and photometric re-calibration of the images using high quality standards. Presently, a reduced version of the client is already available for the CDS and its co-workers. Full realization of the project is planned for the middle of 1996.
Comprehensive Evaluation of Rhythm Monitoring Strategies in Screening for Atrial Fibrillation

METHODS: Individuals with stroke risk factors but without AF were recruited from the general population to undergo screening with an implantable loop recorder. New-onset AF lasting ≥6 minutes was adjudicated by senior cardiologists. After continuous monitoring for >3 years, complete day-to-day heart rhythm data sets were reconstructed for every participant, including exact time of onset and termination of all AF episodes. Random sampling was applied to assess the sensitivity and negative predictive value of screening with various simulated screening strategies compared with the implantable loop recorder. The diagnostic yield across strategies and population subgroups was compared by use of nonparametric tests.
salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol responsiveness following electrically stimulated physical stress in bipolar disorder patients

Background: Bipolar disorder (BP) is often associated with a change in hypothalamus– pituitary–adrenal axis function change due to chronic stress. Salivary α -amylase (sAA) levels increase in response to psychosocial stress and thus function as a marker of sympathoadrenal medullary system activity. However, sAA has been studied less often than salivary cortisol in BP patients. Method: We measured Profile of Mood States and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory scores, heart rate variability, and salivary cortisol levels during electrical stimulation stress in 25 BP patients and 22 healthy volunteers. Results: Tension–anxiety, depression–dejection, anger–hostility, fatigue, and confusion scores in BP patients significantly increased compared with those of the healthy controls. In contrast, the vigor scores of BP patients significantly decreased compared with those of the healthy controls. Significant difference in the sAA levels was observed between BP patients and healthy controls. sAA of female patients was significantly higher than that of female healthy controls, and sAA in male patients tended to be higher than that of male healthy controls. No difference in salivary cortisol was observed between BP patients and the healthy controls. Only three time points were measured before and after the electrical stimulation stress. Furthermore, sAA secretion by BP patients increased before and after electrical stimulation. Conclusion: These preliminary results suggest that sAA may be a useful biological marker for BP patients.
Neuropsychological Dissociations between Priming and Recognition: a Single-system Connectionist Account

A key claim of current theoretical analyses of the memory impairments associated with amnesia is that certain distinct forms of learning and memory are spared. A compelling example is that amnesic patients and controls are indistinguishable in repetition priming but amnesic patients are impaired at recognizing the study items. The authors show that this pattern of results is predicted by a single-system connectionist model of learning in which amnesia is simulated by a reduced learning rate. They also demonstrate that the model can reproduce the converse pattern in which priming but not recognition is impaired if the input is assumed to be additionally degraded in a priming test. The authors conclude that dissociations between priming and recognition do not require functionally or neurally distinct memory systems. According to an influential view, memory is not a unitary faculty but is composed of multiple systems that work independently of each other (Gabrieli, 1998; Squire, 1994). The most prominent distinction that has been proposed is between declarative and nondeclarative memory. Declarative (or explicit) memory is usually characterized by the conscious and intentional recollection of knowledge. Typical tests of declarative memory involve recall or recognition of previously studied stimuli. Nondeclarative (or implicit) memory, by contrast, is thought to influence behavior in the absence of conscious recollection. This type of memory is often measured indirectly, for instance on skill-learning tasks. A typical measure of nondeclarative memory is repetition priming, which is defined as an improvement in identifying, detecting, or producing a stimulus resulting from its prior presentation. The most compelling evidence in support of the distinction between the two memory systems is that tests of declarative and nondeclarative memory functionally dissociate in amnesic patients 1997b). These patients are impaired on recall and recognition but often perform normally when memory is measured indirectly. For instance, amnesic patients appear to show a normal increase of performance on skill-learning tasks such as speeded reading of Two patients with lesions of the occipital lobe, by contrast, were shown to exhibit the reverse pattern of results, namely normal recognition with no or little priming A straightforward conclusion from these results seems to be that recall and recognition reflect a memory system that is distinct from the one(s) mediating performance on indirect memory tests. The aim of the present study is to reassess this conclusion from neu-ropsychological studies. By means of simulation methodology, we intend to demonstrate that even findings that …
Soil erosion assessment and monitoring by using ImpelERO model in east Azerbaijan province, Iran.

Soil erosion continues to be a major concern for the development of sustainable agricultural management systems. Neural networks, as an artificial intelligence technology, have grown rapidly over the past few years and have an ability to deal with nonlinear multivariate systems. An integrated Model to Predict European Land use named ImpelERO is a decision trees/neural network hybrid model. This paper focuses on the possibility of model application in an area of west Asia by recalibration and generalization. The overall approach of ImpelERO model was applied in 14 natural regions from the east Azerbaijan province, Iran. Results showed that vulnerability indexes vary from 0.03 to 1.32 while risk classes will be very small (V1), small (V2), moderate (V3), large (V4), and very large (V5) in an area extension of 1080, 1860, 1184, 2981, and 1772 hectares, respectively. Lands belong to Zargar and Dizanlou natural regions because of topographical limitation factors are established with a very large risk class. Long term productivity reduction for time horizons 2020, 2050 and 2100 indicutes that management planning is necessary to minimize soil loss rate.
Fundamental limits on the rate of bacterial growth

Recent years have seen an experimental deluge interrogating the relationship between bacterial growth rate, cell size, and protein content, quantifying the abundance of proteins across growth conditions with unprecedented resolution. However, we still lack a rigorous understanding of what sets the scale of these quantities and when protein abundances should (or should not) depend on growth rate. Here, we seek to quantitatively understand this relationship across a collection of Escherichia coli proteomic data covering ≈ 4000 proteins and 36 growth rates. We estimate the basic requirements for steady-state growth by considering key processes in nutrient transport, cell envelope biogenesis, energy generation, and the central dogma. From these estimates, ribosome biogenesis emerges as a primary determinant of growth rate. We expand on this assessment by exploring a model of proteomic regulation as a function of the nutrient supply, revealing a mechanism that ties cell size and growth rate to ribosomal content.
Hydropedological assessment of a vertisol climosequence on the Gulf Coast Prairie Land Resource Area of Texas

Hydropedological assessment of a vertisol climosequence on the Gulf Coast Prairie Land Resource Area of Texas L. C. Nordt and S. G. Driese Department of Geology, Baylor University, Waco, Texas 76798, USA Received: 31 March 2009 – Accepted: 5 April 2009 – Published: 30 April 2009 Correspondence to: L. C. Nordt (lee nordt@baylor.edu) Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.
“Mobility, networks and innovation: The role of regions’ absorptive capacity”

The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which regions’ absorptive capacity determines knowledge flows’ impact on regional innovation intensity. In particular, it looks at the role of the cross-regional co-patenting and mobility of inventors in fostering innovation, and how regions with large absorptive capacity make the most of these two phenomena. The paper uses a panel of 274 regions over 8 years to estimate a regional knowledge production function with fixed-effects. Network and mobility variables, and interactions with regions’ absorptive capacity, are included among the r.h. s. variables to test the hypotheses. We find evidence of the role of both mobility and networks. However, inflows of inventors are critical for wealthier regions, while have more nuanced effects for less developed areas. It also shows that regions’ absorptive capacity critically adds an innovation premium to the benefits to tap into external knowledge pools. Indeed, the present study corroborates earlier work on the role of mobility and networks for spatial knowledge diffusion and subsequent innovation. However, it clearly illustrates that a certain level of technological development is critical to take advantage of these phenomena, and therefore “one-size-fits-all” innovation policies need to be reconsidered.
Outdoor Recreation: United States National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands

Recreational Resources: Basic Concepts and Use. Recreational Resources: Background and Sectors. National Parks: Concept and System. National Parks: Alaska. National Parks: The Lower 49 States. National Parks: Other Areas--The Lower 49 States. National Forest System: Evolution and Extent. National Forest System: Recreational Planning and Management. National Forest System: Recreational Facilities and Use. National Forest System: Case Studies. National Wildlife Refuge System. Bureau of Land Management. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, Tennessee Valley Authority and Indian Lands. Amenity Resources: Wilderness, Rivers, Trails, Seashores, and Lakeshores. Epilogue. Appendices. Index.
Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health Management of Neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration : Systematic Drug Class Review and Economic Evaluation

Authors' objectives The objective of this report is to assess the impact of the pharmaceutical management of neovascular age-related macular degeneration by answering the following research questions: • What is the clinical evidence on the relative effectiveness of pegaptanib, bevacizumab, ranibizumab, triamcinolone, anecortave acetate, or placebo (either alone or in combination) versus V-PDT in neovascular AMD? • What is the relative cost-effectiveness of the various forms of pharmaceutical management of neovascular AMD? • What is the evidence regarding the timing for the initiation of therapy for the comparisons listed above? • What is the evidence regarding re-treatment with a different regimen in persons who did not have satisfactory clinical response to a particular regimen?
Coseismic radon changes in groundwater

Coseismic changes in the radon concentration of groundwater were consistently observed at a sensitive observation station for all nearby earthquakes (100–130 km away) with magnitudes of 6.0 and over, and for some earthquakes of the same magnitudes occurring up to about 400 km away. A total of 11 coseismic changes, larger than 2σ of the noise level, were observed for 16 earthquakes which occurred during the observation period, between January 1984 and July 1988. A similar change was also found for an M7.9 earthquake at a distance of about 1000 km. The radon changes lasted a few days in most cases; they may be caused by changes in the earth's stress field.