Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Giant Dike Swarms: Earth, Venus, and Mars

▪ Abstract Earth, Venus, and Mars all exhibit populations of giant (radiating, linear, and arcuate) mafic dike swarms hundreds to >2000 km in length. On Earth the dikes are exposed by erosion, while on Venus and Mars their presence is mainly inferred from associated volcanic morphology and surface deformation. The apparent absence of plate tectonics in the geologic record of Venus and Mars means that the observed population of swarms remains geometrically intact, while on Earth plate tectonics has fragmented swarms. About 30 giant radiating swarms have so far been identified on Earth, but with further study the number is expected to rise and may eventually coincide with the hundreds of mantle plume head events now being proposed. On Venus, at least 118 radiating swarms are distributed across the planet, and new high resolution mapping is revealing additional swarms. On Mars, up to 16 giant dike swarms are observed, most associated with the Tharsis region.
COMPETING AUCTIONS WITH INFORMED SELLERS

We study a game of competing second-price auctions with reserve price between two sellers, each of whom has private information about the quality of his object and can choose the reserve price of a second-price auction. Buyers observe the reserve prices and decide which auction to participate in. We provide sufficient conditions under which the set of types of a buyer that would participate in an auction and have positive winning probability is connected. Under these conditions, we characterize the unique equilibrium of a participation game and provide comparative statics analysis. Perfect Bayesian equilibria exist when each seller has only finitely many feasible reserve prices. When a buyer’s valuation of an object is additively separable in his type and the seller’s information, it can be shown that perfect Bayesian equilibria exist with a continuum of feasible reserve price. Date: April 14th, 2017. Acknowledgment: We are grateful to Paulo Barelli, John Duggan and Srihari Govindan for their guidance and encouragement. We also thank seminar participants at University of Rochester for helpful discussions and suggestions. All errors are our own. 1 2 ZIZHEN MA AND NICOLAS RIQUELME
EPIC Ascending Auctions

“The Lovely by Lonely Vickrey Auction” is the title of a paper by two prominent economists, Ausubel and Milgrom, 1 who note that 1 Lawrence M. Ausubel and Paul Milgrom. The Lovely but Lonely Vickrey Auction. Discussion Papers 03-036, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, August 2004 the Vickrey auction is indeed lovely in theory but rarely used in practice.2 On the contrary, most auction houses sell their wares via
Application of platelet rich fibrin combined with atorvastatin in the regeneration treatment of degree II furcation involvements of mandibular molars

Objective: To study the application value of Platelet Rich Fibrin (PRF) combined with atorvastatin in the regeneration treatment of degree II furcation involvements of mandibular molars. Methods: Thirty patients with periodontitis (30 cases of degree II furcation involvements of mandibular molars) who underwent surgical treatment in our hospital from June 2015 to June 2016 were randomly divided into study group and control group, with 15 cases in each group (15 cases of degree II furcation involvements of mandibular molars). Both of the two groups were treated with periodontal Guided Tissue Regeneration (GTR) combined with bone graft, in which the study group was plus treated with Platelet-Rich Fibrin (PRF) combined with atorvastatin, and the control group was plus treated with PRF. Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) was used to evaluate the curative effect before and 6 months after this operation. The plaque index, gingival index and changes in clinical attachment loss were observed. The changes of IL-6 and TNF-α concentration in gingival crevicular fluid before and 6 months after operation were compared between the two groups. Results: There were no significant differences in plaque index, gingival index, clinical attachment loss, CBCT metrics and IL-6 and TNF-α contents in the gingival crevicular fluid between the two groups (P>0.05) before the operation. Six months after operation, the plaque index, gingival index, clinical attachment loss, and IL-6 and TNF-α concentration in the gingival crevicular fluid in the study group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). Compared with the control group, the CBCT metrics, vertical bone loss and horizontal bone loss, in the study group were significantly improved at baseline (P<0.05). Conclusion: PRF combined with atorvastatin can effectively reduce the levels of IL-6 and TNF-α in gingival crevicular fluid and promote the effect of bone grafting in the treatment of degree II furcation involvements of mandibular molars, which is worth popularizing.
The class group pairing and p‐descent on elliptic curves

We give explicit formulae for the logarithmic class group pairing on an elliptic curve defined over a number field. Then we relate it to the descent relative to a suitable cyclic isogeny. This allows us to connect the resulting Selmer group with the logarithmic class group of the base. These constructions are explicit and suitable for computer experimentation. From a conceptual point of view, the questions that arise here are analogues of ‘visibility’ questions in the sense of Cremona and Mazur.
The Benefits of Procurement Auctions : Competitive Pressure vs . Selection of Efficient Suppliers

We study how the quantity of regional train services and the procurement price in Germany change when an agency uses procurement auctions rather than negotiations. We exploit a 1996 reform that allowed regional rail agencies to use procurement auctions. Our empirical analysis shows that procurement auctions increase the frequency of service by 12%, and decrease the procurement price of a train kilometer by about 23%. Adopting a structural auction framework, we find that the price reduction has two sources. Competitive pressure reduces markups substantially, and more efficient suppliers participate in the auction, reducing costs. Procurement auctions increase surplus on regional railway lines by about 20%.
Upgrading LMSs: Understanding Faculty Perceptions and Use for Improved Implementation

Like most colleges and universities, Adventist schools are in a constantly changing academic environment and are under consistent pressure to implement the latest technologies, such as Learning Management Systems (LMSs). This research study seeks to provide a better understanding of faculty perceptions of their LMS by using a survey developed from the Technology Acceptance Model 3 with the addition of change fatigue. The results helped us determine what factors lead to successful use of LMSs by faculty. Responses from two hundred surveys from nine North American Adventist universities explored the factors that lead to intention and use. The study highlighted seven important factors in the implementation of an LMS. These factors included: Perceptions of LMSs, Experience, User Participation, Training, Peer Support, Voluntariness, and Change Fatigue. We expect that those administrating and directing Learning Management Systems that consider these factors will be more likely to experience successful implementation.
Learning Multi-Goal Inverse Kinematics in Humanoid Robot

General Inverse Kinematic (IK) solvers may not guarantee real-time control of the end-effectors in external coordinates along with maintaining stability. This work addresses this problem by using Reinforcement Learning (RL) for learning an inverse kinematics solver for reachability tasks which ensures stability and self-collision avoidance while solving for end effectors. We propose an actor-critic based algorithm to learn joint space trajectories of stable conﬁguration for solving inverse kinematics that can operate over continuous action spaces. Our approach is based on the idea of exploring the entire workspace and learning the best possible conﬁgurations. The proposed strategy was evaluated on the highly articulated upper body of a 27 degrees of freedom (DoF) humanoid for learning multi-goal reachability tasks of both hands along with maintaining stability in double support phase. We show that the trained model was able to solve inverse kinematics for both the hands, where the articulated torso contributed to both the tasks.
Estimating precipitation phase using a psychrometric energy balance method

Precipitation phase is fundamental to a catchment's hydrological response to precipitation events. Phase is particularly variable over time and space in the Canadian Rockies where snowfall or rainfall can occur any month of the year. Phase is controlled by the microphysics of the falling hydrometeor, but microphysical calculations require detailed atmospheric information that is often lacking for hydrological analyses. In hydrology, there have been many methods developed to estimate phase, but most are regionally calibrated, and many depend on air temperature (Ta) and use daily time steps. Phase is not only related to Ta, but to other meteorological variables, and precipitation events are temporally dynamic, adding uncertainty to the use of daily indices to estimate phase. To better predict precipitation phase, the psychrometric energy balance of a falling hydrometeor was calculated and used to develop a method to estimate precipitation phase. High quality precipitation phase and meteorological data were observed at multiple elevations in a small Canadian Rockies catchment, Marmot Creek Research Basin, at 15‐min intervals over several years to develop and test the method. The results of the psychrometric energy balance method were compared to phase observations, to other methods over varying time scales and seasons and at varying elevations and topographic exposures. The results indicate that the psychrometric energy balance method performs much better than Ta index methods and that this improvement, and the accuracy of the psychrometric energy balance method, increases as the time step of calculation decreases. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Retelling Is Not the Same as Recalling

In contrast to laboratory free recall (which emphasizes detailed and accurate remembering), conversational retellings depend upon the speaker's goals, the audience, and the social context more generally. Because memories are frequently retrieved in social contexts, retellings of events are often incomplete or distorted, with consequences for later memory. Selective rehearsal contributes to the memory effects, as does the schema activated during retelling. Retellings can be linked to memory errors observed in domains such as eyewitness testimony and flashbulb memories; in all of these situations, people retell events rather than engage in verbatim remembering.
Case studies for high voltage network development with respect to resonance conditions

This paper presents a case study of 400 kV network that was subjected to a comprehensive analysis performed in EMTP-ATP software. A part of 400 kV transmission network was investigated in 2016 in terms of possible resonance conditions with shunt reactors and transmission lines involved. Due to multiple configurations of close-by substations and overhead lines (OHL), dozens of scenarios had to be investigated, with main focus on switching events and faults. Circuit breakers’ reclosing schemes that would allow to avoid any resonance conditions were determined.
Incentive Effects of Fiscal Rules on the Finance Minister's Behaviour: Evidence from Revenue Projections in Swiss Cantons

Predicting available tax revenue accurately is a key step of fiscal policy. It has recently been shown that revenue projection errors have a direct impact on fiscal deficits. In this paper, we explore the relationship between the ideology of the finance minister and tax revenue projection errors, and assess how the stringency of fiscal rules alters this relationship. We use a panel dataset of 26 Swiss cantons over the period 1980–2007 as well as a new dataset of 99 finance ministers at the cantonal level. Our empirical strategy exploits the fact that the allocation of the departments – including the department of finance – to the elected politicians is a random process from the point of view of the voters. We identify a rather counter-intuitive positive effect of the ideology of the finance minister on tax revenue projection errors in the sense that a more left-wing finance minister produces relatively more conservative forecasts. We also find that fiscal rules reduce the effect of ideology on tax revenue projection errors. These results suggest that left-wing finance ministers need to curb deficits relatively more in order to signal the same level of competence to the voters than right-wing finance ministers. They also suggest that fiscal rules render the signal less informative to the voters and thereby reduce the incentive for left-wing finance ministers to be more conservative in their projections.
Advancing the Counterstrain Mechanism of Action Theory

March 2007 Proposed Theory Previous explanations for the mechanism of action in counterstrain theory have centered prominently on the role of the muscle spindle apparatus triggered from a sudden “panic lengthening” of the muscle fibers during injury. This theory asserts that the muscle spindle maintains the abnormal tone. This article will review the various effects on muscle metabolism that result from injury and the resultant forces placed on all structures associated with the muscle. Key to this process is the critical balance of oxygen delivery, blood flow, sympathetic tone, and intramuscular pressure on metabolic recovery after muscle effort. The resultant alteration in muscle effort may exert a traction/compression effect on the nerve fibers, blood vessels, and lymphatic channels as they course through the myofascial tissues. Anatomical consistency of many of the tender point and motor point locations throughout the body will also be explored. Viewed in relation to the metabolic alterations found within injured muscles, the following discussion will provide additional insight into the tremendous overlap in physiological and anatomical processes leading toward a possible explanation for the shared phenomenon of tenderness and treatment approaches. Therefore, sustained altered metabolism is at the center of the establishment of tender point manifestations. Proper positioning of the tissues during counterstrain treatment reduces the tender point manifestation while enhancing circulatory movement and, therefore, normalization within these tissues.
An Exploratory Analysis of Microcode as a Building Block for System Defenses

Microcode is an abstraction layer used by modern x86 processors that interprets user-visible CISC instructions to hardware-internal RISC instructions. The capability to update x86 microcode enables a vendor to modify CPU behavior in-field, and thus patch erroneous microarchitectural processes or even implement new features. Most prominently, the recent Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities were mitigated by Intel via microcode updates. Unfortunately, microcode is proprietary and closed source, and there is little publicly available information on its inner workings. In this paper, we present new reverse engineering results that extend and complement the public knowledge of proprietary microcode. Based on these novel insights, we show how modern system defenses and tools can be realized in microcode on a commercial, off-the-shelf AMD x86 CPU. We demonstrate how well-established system security defenses such as timing attack mitigations, hardware-assisted address sanitization, and instruction set randomization can be realized in microcode. We also present a proof-of-concept implementation of a microcode-assisted instrumentation framework. Finally, we show how a secure microcode update mechanism and enclave functionality can be implemented in microcode to realize a small trusted execution environment. All microcode programs and the whole infrastructure needed to reproduce and extend our results are publicly available.
Bone marrow derived mononuclear stromal cells and experimental model of deep endometriosis

Objective: To evaluate the effect of the treatment with mononuclear bone marrow stromal cells and the expression of metalloproteinases MMP-1, MMP-9 and the factor TGF-β1 in Wistar rats submitted to induction of deep/retrocervical endometriosis. Methods: A total of 120 female Wistar rats were induced to a deep endometriosis and after development of the disease, the animals were randomized into three different groups, referring to the treatment applied: saline (n = 38), leuprolide (n = 30) and stem cells (n = 35). Results: There was a significant difference in reduction of implant in the stem cell (P = 0.017) and leuprolide (P = 0.025) groups. However, there was no significant difference in the saline solution group (P = 0.771). In metalloproteinases expression there was no significant difference among groups. Conclusions: Treatment with bone marrow derived-mononuclear stromal cells was effective in reducing ectopic implant area. However, there were no significant differences between groups in relation to the expression of MMP-1, MMP-9 and TGF-β1.
A Heavy Haze Episode in Shanghai in December of 2013: Characteristics, Origins and Implications

As the largest Chinese city by population and the largest city proper by population in the world, Shanghai has frequently suffered the heavy haze in recent years. In this study, the observational data (PM_(2.5), PM_(10), O_3, NO_2, CO and SO_2) at the ten urban monitoring stations in Shanghai from November 25 to December 9, 2013, were used to analyze the haze pollution. The source contributions of PM_(2.5) in Shanghai were identified by trajectory clustering and hybrid receptor models (potential source contribution function (PSCF) and concentration weighted trajectory (CWT)). The results showed that for the whole study period, the ranges of pollutant concentrations are 2.0-635.0 μg m(-3) (PM_(2.5)), 2.0-726.0 μg m(-3) (PM_(10)), 1.0-139.0 μg m^(-3) (O_3), 11.0-197.0 μg m^(-3) (SO_2), 7.0-221.0 μg m^(-3) (NO_2), and 0.3-8.5 mg m^(-3) (CO). It was found that PM_(2.5) contributed more than 80% of PM_(10) for the whole period except the relatively clean period in which only 45% of PM_(10) is PM_(2.5). The model analyses show that clean air masses reaching at Shanghai were from the far away regions like Mongolia and Inner Mongolia with the high mean wind speed (fast air masses). On the other hand, the heavy haze air masses were mainly from the nearby industrialized and urbanized provinces with industrial cities. It was found that the formation of the extremely heavy haze from December 5 to 7 in Shanghai was mainly because of the air pollution transported from the nearby provinces (i.e., Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang) and central part provinces (such as Shandong, Hebei) of eastern China. The correlation analyses among PM_(2.5) and other pollutants show that the PM_(2.5) formation in Shanghai is affected by the sources similar to those of CO such as combustion, industry, mobile and oxidation of hydrocarbons. Finally, the controlling strategies are discussed on the basis of this result.
A review on low-rank models in data analysis

Nowadays we are in the big data era. The high-dimensionality ofdata imposes big challenge on how to process them effectively andefficiently. Fortunately, in practice data are not unstructured.Their samples usually lie around low-dimensional manifolds andhave high correlation among them. Such characteristics can beeffectively depicted by low rankness. As an extension to thesparsity of first order data, such as voices, low rankness is alsoan effective measure for the sparsity of second order data, suchas images. In this paper, I review the representative theories,algorithms and applications of the low rank subspace recoverymodels in data processing.
Differential expression of PI 3 K isoforms and correlation with clinicopathological factors in patients with gastric cancer

Activation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) is pivotal for the oncogenic PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. This study assessed the differential expression of PI3K isoforms in gastric cancer and correlation with clinicopathological parameters. Tissue microarray blocks were generated from 153 gastric cancers and immunohistochemically stained for 4 PI3K isoforms: p110α, p110β, p110γ and p110δ. Isoform p110α was more highly expressed in tumors with a diameter less than 4 cm (P=0.009); lower pathological T (pT) stage (P<0.001), N stage (P=0.001), or TNM stage (P<0.001); and no lymphovascular invasion (P=0.001); p110β was significantly associated with advanced pT stage (P=0.028) and lymphovascular invasion (P=0.014). High p110α expression significantly correlated with longer overall survival (OS) (P=0.007) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) (P=0.048), whereas high p110β expression correlated with shorter OS (P=0.008) and RFS (P=0.058). In addition, p110β was an independent factor for poor prognosis in multivariate analysis for OS. Neither p110γ nor p110δ expression showed clinicopathological significance. These results suggested that p110β might be more important for the development and progression of gastric cancer than other PI3K isoforms and had potential as a prognostic biomarker in patients with gastric cancer.
Inhibition of RIPK 1 expression and facilitation of TRAIL-induced hepatocellular carcinoma cell apoptosis by miR-141

Receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) activates NF-κB and facilitates cell survival under tumor necrosis factor related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) induction, thus negatively regulating cell apoptosis but leaving detailed mechanism unclear. Previous study showed depressed expression of microRNA (miR)-141 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Bioinformatics analysis showed satisfactory targeted relationship between miR-141 and 3’-UTR of RIPK1. This study thus investigated the role of miR-141 and RIPK1 expressional dysregulation in HCC cell apoptosis. Rat HCC model was generated to test miR-141 and RIPK1 expression. HCC patients were recruited to compare expression levels between HCC and adjacent tissues. Dual luciferase reporter assay substantiated targeting relationship between miR-141 and RIPK1. Cultured HepG2 cells were treated with 80 ng/mL TRAIL, miR-141 mimic and/or si-RIPK1. Caspase-3 activity was measured in addition to flow cytometry for cell apoptosis, plus CCK-8 assay for proliferative activity. Western blot was used to test transcriptional activity of RIPK1 and NF-κB proteins. Rat HCC tissue had lower miR-141 and higher RIPK1 expression, as those in HCC patients. MiR-141 targeted 3’-UTR of RIPK1 and inhibited its expression. TRAIL up-regulated RIKP1 expression in HepG2 cells. Elevation of miR-141 and/or silencing RIPK1 inhibited TRAIL-induced NF-κB transcriptional activation, weakened cell proliferative activity, potentiated caspase-3 activity and facilitated cell apoptosis. MiR-141 targeted and inhibited RIPK1, inhibited TRAIL-induced NF-κB transcriptional activation in HepG2 cells, and facilitated TRAIL-induced caspase-3 activation and apoptosis.