Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Complex flow patterns through Hydrate Ridge and their impact on seep biota

Our recent measurements of long‐term fluid flux rates and output fluid chemistry at seep sites on Hydrate Ridge, Cascadia, suggest that the mechanisms driving fluid flow in gas hydrate bearing forearc settings may be significantly more complex than previously thought. Temporal changes in the polarity and magnitude of flow and in seep fluid chemistry were observed. The nature of flow appears to generate a strong response in the chemosynthetic seep community ecology. We document here: 1) the frequency and range of temporal variability in flow rates, 2) the relatively rapid changes in outflow composition, 3) strong outflow of seawater‐like fluids, 4) the association of Calyptogena (sp) clams with oscillatory and inflow settings, and 5) microbial mat communities associated with strong advection of altered fluids. These results suggest that a reappraisal may be required of the nature of the hydrologic system and its effect on related processes such as benthic seep community ecology and biogeochemical cycles.
History of the concept of ‘levels of evidence’ and their current status in relation to primary prevention through lifestyle interventions

Abstract Primary prevention is a major option to reduce the burden of chronic disease in populations. Because lifestyle interventions have proved to be effective, lifestyle recommendations including nutritional advice are made abundantly. However, both their credibility and their effectiveness are often considered not to be high. Therefore, scientific evidence should form the basis of recommendations and, as in clinical medicine, a rational approach should be followed for the evaluation of evidence. In this paper, the development and current concepts of ‘levels of evidence’ as they are applied in clinical medicine are outlined and their impact on evidence-based recommendations is discussed. Next, the question is raised as to how far the existing schemes are applicable to the evaluation of issues pertaining to primary prevention through lifestyle changes. Current schemes were developed mainly for clinical research questions and therefore place major emphasis on randomised controlled trials as the main and most convincing evidence in the evaluation process. These types of study are rarely available for lifestyle-related factors and might even not be feasible to obtain. Arguments are advanced to support the notion that a modification of currently existing ‘levels of evidence’ as developed for clinical research questions might be necessary. Thereby, one might be able to accommodate the specific aspects of evidence-related issues of recommendations for primary prevention through lifestyle changes, like dietary changes.
Phase II Study of Interferon-enhanced 31 I-Labeled High Affinity CC 49 Monoclonal Antibody Therapy in Patients with Metastatic Prostate Cancer

Adjuvant Interferon (IFN) was given to increase tumor antigen expression and enhance localization with ~31I-labeled CC49 radioimmunotherapy in a Phase II trial for hormone resistant metastatic prostate cancer. Patients received four doses of o~-IFN (3 x 106 IU) s.c. on alternate days, from day 5 to day +1 of 75 mCi/m 2 131I-CC49 treatment. Toxicity was well tolerated, with the majority of patients experiencing transient grade 3 or 4 neutropenia and/or thrombocytopenia (maximal at 4 6 weeks). The absorbed dose was > 25 Gy in four of eight tumors visualized, which represents an increase of > 20 fold over whole body radiation dose. Two patients had radiographic minor responses by 6 weeks post-therapy, whereas five of six patients experiencing pain had symptom relief without radiographic changes. The protocol provided modest antitumor effects (pain relief in five of six patients and two minor radiographic responses). This study suggests that the addition of IFN enhanced tumor uptake and antitumor effects as compared to a prior Phase II trial of 131I-CC49 alone.
Therapeutic hypothermia for elevated intracranial pressure in traumatic brain injury: does it do more harm than good?

I have reviewed above article by Andrews et al. [1] with great interest. Reading this article has evidently produced me with a mixed feeling of both satisfying and unsatisfying emotional feedback for the reasons I have carefully outlined below. This is yet another disappointment to the multisubspecialty medical and surgical communities, because now the concept and application of hypothermia, or perhaps better termed as targeted temperature modulation, seems to be failing in "neuro" applications. As many readers are likely aware of, Nielsen et al. [2] have reported a negative trial of comparing 33 degrees Celsius versus 36 degrees Celsius after cardiac arrest at the end of 2013. After questioning the true value of hypothermia in cardiac arrest victims, it is now being questioned as to whether applying hypothermia in traumatic brain injury (TBI) would confer any benefits in long term outcomes.
Fluoxetine and Cocaine Induce the Epigenetic Factors MeCP2 and MBD1 in Adult Rat Brain

Once bound to methylated CpG sites, methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) is thought to silence transcription of downstream genes by recruiting a histone deacetylase (HDAC). Mutations within the MeCP2 gene have been found to cause Rett syndrome, a disorder of arrested neuronal development. Using immunohistochemistry, we found that Mecp2, as well as the methyl-CpG-binding protein MBD1, were significantly induced in normal adult rat brain after repeated injections of fluoxetine or cocaine for 10 days (one injection per day). Mecp2 was not induced by repeated injections of 1-(2-bis(4-fluorphenyl)-methoxy)-ethyl)-4-(3-phenyl-propyl)piperazine (GBR-12909) or nortriptyline. Together, the data indicate that the serotonergic system is predominantly involved. Using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction experiments, MBD1 mRNA and both Mecp2_e1 and Mecp2_e2 transcripts were found to be induced by fluoxetine. Induction of the methylbinding proteins was accompanied with enhanced HDAC2 labeling intensity and mRNA synthesis in response to fluoxetine. In tandem, acetylated forms of histone H3 were found to be decreased. The effect was characterized in three serotonin projection areas, the caudate-putamen, the frontal cortex, and the dentate gyrus subregion of hippocampus. Our data highlight GABAergic neurons as major target cells expressing Mecp2 in response to the serotonin-elevating agents and suggest that serotonin signaling enhances gene silencing in postmitotic neurons.
Matching NLO QCD computations and parton shower simulations

We propose a method for matching the next-to-leading order (NLO) calculation of a given QCD process with a parton shower Monte Carlo (MC) simulation. The method has the following features: fully exclusive events are generated, with hadronization according to the MC model; total exclusive rates are accurate to NLO; NLO results for distributions are recovered upon expansion in ? s; hard emissions are treated as in NLO computations while soft/collinear emissions are handled by the MC simulation, with the same logarithmic accuracy as the MC; and matching between the hard- and soft/collinear-emission regions is smooth. A fraction of events with negative weight is generated, but unweighting remains possible with reasonable efficiency. The method is clarified using a simple toy model, and illustrated by application to the hadroproduction of W+W? pairs.
Aeronet's Version 2.0 quality assurance criteria

The AERONET inversion products provide powerful information for understanding column integrated aerosol properties particularly given the wide global distribution of sites and the 13 year record for some sites. Significant evolution of the instrument, data quality, ancillary input data and inversion algorithm has necessitated release of Version 2.0 and establishment of criteria for quality assured products. This paper documents version 1.0 quality assurance criteria and the analysis of the entire retrieval record available for the Version 2.0 to revise the quality assured criteria. The result is an improvement in the number and quality of aerosol inversion parameters for most sites through the entire AERONET data record.
Effect of confining pressure on the degradation of ballast under cyclic loading

Traditional railway foundations or substructures have become increasingly overloaded in recent years due to the introduction of faster and heavier trains. A lack of substructure re-engineering has resulted in maintenance cycles becoming more frequent and increasingly expensive. Two significant problems arising from increasing axle loads are differential track settlement and ballast degradation. One potential method of enhancing the substructure is by manipulating the level of ballast confinement. To investigate this possibility, a series of high frequency cyclic triaxial tests have been conducted to examine the effects of confining pressure and
Lucky Strike seamount: Implications for the emplacement and rifting of segment‐centered volcanoes at slow spreading mid‐ocean ridges

The history of emplacement, tectonic evolution, and dismemberment of a central volcano within the rift valley of the slow spreading Mid‐Atlantic Ridge at the Lucky Strike Segment is deduced using near‐bottom sidescan sonar imagery and visual observations. Volcano emplacement is rapid (<1 Myr), associated with focused eruptions, and with effusion rates feeding lava flows that bury tectonic features developed prior to and during volcano construction. This volcanic phase likely requires efficient melt pooling and a long‐lived crustal magma chamber as a melt source. A reduction in melt supply triggers formation of an axial graben rifting the central volcano, and the onset of seafloor spreading may eventually split it. At Lucky Strike, this results in two modes of crustal construction. Eruptions and tectonic activity focus at a narrow graben that bisects the central volcano and contains the youngest lava flows, accumulating a thick layer of extrusives. Away from the volcano summit, deformation and volcanic emplacement is distributed throughout the rift valley floor, lacking a clear locus of accretion and deformation. Volcanic emplacement on the rift floor is characterized by axial volcanic ridges fed by dikes that propagate from the central axial magma chamber. The mode of rapid volcano construction and subsequent rifting observed at the Lucky Strike seamount is common at other central volcanoes along the global mid‐ocean ridge system.
A Behavioral Handwriting Model for Static and Dynamic Signature Synthesis

The synthetic generation of static handwritten signatures based on motor equivalence theory has been recently proposed for biometric applications. Motor equivalence divides the human handwriting action into an effector dependent cognitive level and an effector independent motor level. The first level has been suggested by others as an engram, generated through a spatial grid, and the second has been emulated with kinematic filters. Our paper proposes a development of this methodology in which we generate dynamic information and provide a unified comprehensive synthesizer for both static and dynamic signature synthesis. The dynamics are calculated by lognormal sampling of the 8-connected continuous signature trajectory, which includes, as a novelty, the pen-ups. The forgery generation imitates a signature by extracting the most perceptually relevant points of the given genuine signature and interpolating them. The capacity to synthesize both static and dynamic signatures using a unique model is evaluated according to its ability to adapt to the static and dynamic signature inter- and intra-personal variability. Our highly promising results suggest the possibility of using the synthesizer in different areas beyond the generation of unlimited databases for biometric training.
Foraging ecology of southern elephant seals in relation to the bathymetry and productivity of the Southern Ocean

Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) are among the most proficient of mammalian divers and are a major component of the Antarctic food web. Yet little is known of their movements or interaction with their oceanic environment. Specially designed satellite-link data loggers allowed us to visualize the 3-D movements of elephant seals as they swam rapidly from South Georgia to distant (up to 2650 km) areas of Antarctic continental shelf. One seal dived continuously to the sea bed in one small area for a month, implying consumption of benthic prey. Dives here were shorter even though average swimming velocity was lower. It is suggested that the physiological requirements of feeding and digestion reduced the aerobic dive limit. Long distance travel to relocatable hydrographic or topographical features, such as shelf breaks, may allow large predators to locate prey more consistently than from mid-ocean searches.
Fault Detection and Faulted Line Identification in Active Distribution Networks Using Synchrophasors-Based Real-Time State Estimation

We intend to prove that phasor-measurement-unit (PMU)-based state estimation processes for active distribution networks exhibit unique time determinism and a refresh rate that makes them suitable to satisfy the time-critical requirements of protections as well as the accuracy requirements dictated by faulted line identification. In this respect, we propose a real-time fault detection and faulted line identification functionality obtained by computing parallel synchrophasor-based state estimators. Each state estimator is characterized by a different and augmented topology in order to include a floating fault bus. The selection of the state estimator providing the correct solution is performed by a metric that computes the sum of the weighted measurement residuals. The proposed process scheme is validated by means of a real-time simulation platform where an existing active distribution network is simulated together with a PMU-based monitoring system. The proposed process is shown to be suitable for active and passive networks, with solid-earthed and unearthed neutral, for low- and high-impedance faults of any kind (symmetric and asymmetric) occurring at different locations.
Critères et indicateurs de gestion durable des forêts : la biodiversité

Avec le developpement du concept de gestion durable des forets, une batterie de criteres et d'indicateurs de l'etat des forets a ete etablie. De nombreux criteres et indicateurs concernent la capacite des habitats forestiers a abriter et maintenir une diversite biologique importante, d'autres concernent directement la presence d'especes ou de groupes d'especes. Ces derniers ont stimule la reflexion sur la signification de la biodiversite vis-a-vis de la durabilite des forets faisant largement echo aux reflexions theoriques menees en ecologie. Existe-t-il des especes cles, des especes parapluie qui garantissent la durabilite de l'ensemble d'un ecosysteme forestier ? Doit-on viser la biodiversite maximale ? A quel etat doit-on se referer pour apprecier la durabilite ecologique d'une foret? Comment definir la durabilite ecologique? Dans cet article, nous presentons les principaux indicateurs qui concernent la biodiversite des especes animales et vegetales. Nous en discutons la pertinence en matiere de signification ecologique et d'operationnalite pour la gestion.
Spatial patterns in phytoplankton biomass and pigment distributions in the Ross Sea

The distribution of phytoplankton biomass and pigments was determined in the Ross Sea during late austral summer 1992. Large gradients in biomass were noted both in the east-west and north-south direction, with maximum particulate matter concentrations occurring in the southwest portion of the Ross Sea. Two xanthophyll pigments dominated the profiles, fucoxanthin (indicative of diatoms) and 19′ hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin (hex) (indicative of the prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis antarctica). Fucoxanthin concentrations were greatest near the coast of Victoria Land and within the northern transect, whereas hex concentrations were highest offshore in the SE Ross Sea. Particulate carbon:chlorophyll a (POC:chl) ratios in diatom-dominated waters of the western Ross Sea were relatively high (210). The POC:chl ratio for Phaeocystis antarctica populations from the SE Ross Sea was substantially less (92) than the ratios observed in diatom-dominated waters. Pigment 14C labeling indicated that phytoplankton carbon in the diatom-dominated northern Ross Sea accounted for approximately 30% of the POC, with a phytoplankton C:chl ratio of 130. Short-term (24 hour) vertical fluxes of pigments ranged from 3 to 40 μg chl a m−2 d−1. Diatom-dominated regions had greater fluxes of phaeophorbides, suggesting that metazoans were the most important grazers at these locations. In contrast, the phaeophytin/total phaeopigment ratio was highest in waters dominated by Phaeocystis antarctica. The distribution of phytoplankton biomass and pigments revealed a spatially variable distribution of taxa, one which clearly has important consequences to food-web dynamics, biogeochemical cycles, and vertical flux patterns in the Ross Sea.
Acceleration CFD-based aeroelastic predictions using system identification

System identification is evaluated as an efficient and accurate technique for modeling unsteady aerodynamic forces for use in time-domain aeroelastic analysis. In the system identification methodology, the constant coefficients of a linear system model are fit to the computed response time histories from a 3-D, unsteady CFD solver. The resulting model of the unsteady CFD solution is independent of both dynamic pressure and structural parameters. Hence, this methodology has the advantage that only one CFD flow-field computation for each Mach number must be completed to determine the aeroelastic instability boundary. Results show that system identification can accurately model the unsteady aerodynamic forces for complex aerospace structures of practical interest. The methodology results in a substantial savings in computational time when predicting aeroelastic instabilities.
Network-Coded Cooperation Analysis for Multiple Source – Multiple Relay Architectures

Distributed channel coding and network coding techniques are means employed to improve the performance of cooperative transmissions. This paper studies the BLER performance provided by a cooperative scheme that combines distributed channel coding and network coding for multiple sourcemultiple relay architectures, within which the number of available relays is smaller than the number of sources. It includes a cooperation strategy which employs XOR-based network coding for such architectures and proposes a model to analyze the overall performance provided. The performance is analyzed for various values of the ratio between the source and relay numbers.
Linking urban water balance and energy balance models to analyse urban design options

Using a water balance modelling framework, this paper analyses the effects of urban design on the water balance, with a focus on evapotranspiration and storm water. First, two quite different urban water balance models are compared: Aquacycle which has been calibrated for a suburban catchment in Canberra, Australia, and the single‐source urban evapotranspiration‐interception scheme (SUES), an energy‐based approach with a biophysically advanced representation of interception and evapotranspiration. A fair agreement between the two modelled estimates of evapotranspiration was significantly improved by allowing the vegetation cover (leaf area index, LAI) to vary seasonally, demonstrating the potential of SUES to quantify the links between water sensitive urban design and microclimates and the advantage of comparing the two modelling approaches. The comparison also revealed where improvements to SUES are needed, chiefly through improved estimates of vegetation cover dynamics as input to SUES, and more rigorous parameterization of the surface resistance equations using local‐scale suburban flux measurements. Second, Aquacycle is used to identify the impact of an array of water sensitive urban design features on the water balance terms. This analysis confirms the potential to passively control urban microclimate by suburban design features that maximize evapotranspiration, such as vegetated roofs. The subsequent effects on daily maximum air temperatures are estimated using an atmospheric boundary layer budget. Potential energy savings of about 2% in summer cooling are estimated from this analysis. This is a clear ‘return on investment’ of using water to maintain urban greenspace, whether as parks distributed throughout an urban area or individual gardens or vegetated roofs. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection: Revascularization Versus Conservative Therapy

Background—Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a nonatherosclerotic acute coronary syndrome for which optimal management remains undefined. Methods and Results—We performed a retrospective study of 189 patients presenting with a first SCAD episode. We evaluated outcomes according to initial management: (1) revascularization versus conservative therapy and (2) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) versus conservative therapy stratified by vessel flow at presentation. Demographics were similar in revascularization versus conservative (mean age, 44±9 years; women 92% both groups), but vessel occlusion was more frequent in revascularization (44/95 versus 18/94). There was 1 in-hospital death (revascularization) and 1 late death (conservative). Procedural failure rate was 53% in those managed with PCI. In the subgroup of patients presenting with preserved vessel flow, rates of PCI failure were similarly high (50%), and 6 (13%) required emergency coronary artery bypass grafting. In the conservative group, 85 of 94 (90%) had an uneventful in-hospital course, but 9 (10%) experienced early SCAD progression requiring revascularization. Kaplan–Meier estimated 5-year rates of target vessel revascularization and recurrent SCAD were no different in revascularization versus conservative therapy (30% versus 19%; P=0.06 and 23% versus 31%; P=0.7). Conclusions—PCI for SCAD is associated with high rates of technical failure even in those presenting with preserved vessel flow and does not protect against target vessel revascularization or recurrent SCAD. A strategy of conservative management with prolonged observation may be preferable.
Greenhouse gases and future long‐term changes in the stratospheric temperature and the ozone layer

A numerical two‐dimensional (2D) interactive dynamical–radiative–photochemical model including aerosol physics is used to examine the expected long‐term changes in stratospheric temperature and the Earth's ozone layer due to anthropogenic pollution of the atmosphere by the greenhouse gases CO2, CH4 and N2O. The model time‐dependent runs were made for the period from 1975 to 2050. The results of the calculations show that the basic mechanism by which greenhouse gases influence the ozone layer is stratospheric cooling accompanied by a weakness in the efficiency of the catalytic cycles of ozone destruction due to temperature dependencies of the photochemical gas‐phase reactions. Modification of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) caused by anthropogenic growth of the greenhouse gases is important only for the polar ozone. An essential influence of the greenhouse gases on the ozone by a modification of the stratospheric sulphate aerosol is revealed. The aerosol changes caused by the greenhouse gases modify the distribution of the ozone‐active gaseous chlorine, bromine and nitrogen components by means of heterogeneous reactions on the aerosol surface, resulting in a significant decrease in springtime polar ozone depletion of the Antarctic ozone hole.