Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF UNSATURATED LOW QUALITY ROCKFILLS

This paper presents mechanical properties of two unsaturated low quality rockfills (Materials O and S) with almost the same water absorption values of particles and comprehensive experimental data in order to establish an elastoplastic model for rockfills. The data were obtained from soil water retention, oedometer, triaxial compression and rock particle compression tests. The soil column method used here may give certain suction ranges to obtain soil water retention curves for rockfills. In oedometer and triaxial tests, there is quite a difference in the deformation and shear strength properties between Materials O and S. The properties for Material S are strongly affected by initial water contents of specimens but there was little affection on those of Material O. In compression tests for rock particles, the breakage strength values for particles of Material S were strongly affected by the water content conditions, but the affection for those of Material O was remarkably smaller than that for Material S. The difference in mechanical behavior between Materials O and S may arise from the difference in breakage characteristics for particles of both materials.
Stability Analysis of Continuous-Time Switched Systems With a Random Switching Signal

This technical note is concerned with the stability analysis of continuous-time switched systems with a random switching signal. The switching signal manifests its characteristics with that the dwell time in each subsystem consists of a fixed part and a random part. The stochastic stability of such switched systems is studied using a Lyapunov approach. A necessary and sufficient condition is established in terms of linear matrix inequalities. The effect of the random switching signal on system stability is illustrated by a numerical example and the results coincide with our intuition.
Edad y crecimiento del bagre rayado Pseudoplatystoma orinocoense del Orinoco medio en Venezuela

Considering the importance of the barred sorubim Pseudoplatystoma orinocoense in the artisanal fishery landings of the middle Orinoco region, in this study age and growth were estimated using ring counts from dorsal spines of 120 fish. Sampling was carried out in the mid-Orinoco channel and a flood lagoon using a gillnet with 10 cm mesh opening. Parameters of the von Bertalanffy growth model were estimated for back-calculated length at age
Self-Potential Studies in Volcanic Areas (3) - Miyake-jima, Esan and Usu-

Self-potential (S.P.) measurements exhibit that the large and positive S.P. anom· aly is observed on the summit area of Miyake-jima volcano, while the significant anomaly related with the volcanic activity is not found on Esan volcano. A repeated measurement of the S.P. field on Usu volcano reveals the large and positive anomaly has been maintained during this decade. Different aspect of the S.P. fields probably depends on the differences in the hydrothermal system of each volcano.
Impact of drought on seasonal monoterpene emissions from Quercus ilex in southern France

[1] We studied monoterpene emissions from the evergreen oak Quercus ilex exposed to different levels of summer drought to examine the seasonal variation of emissions in the Mediterranean area and to test the role of water limitations therein. Measurements were made in seven campaigns between June and January on intact leaves of mature trees growing in two adjacent sites, in one of which the natural water supply was reduced by a ground roof. In both sites, actual emission rates as well as light- and temperature-normalized emission rates (i.e., emission factor (EF)) significantly changed during the seasons: Mean EFs increased from June to July to a broad summer maximum between 5.2 and 9.4 nmol m−2 leaf area s−1 (12–21 μg g−1 leaf dry mass h−1), dropped in October and November and reached a minimum of about 0.77 nmol m−2 s−1 (1.7 μg g−1 h−1) in January. From June to July, mean EFs of the trees with reduced water supply were significantly lower than those of trees with normal water supply. The lowered EF in summer was paralleled by lower predawn water potentials, leaf transpiration, photosynthesis and stomatal conductance with respect to control trees. The results suggest that in natural Q. ilex habitats the seasonal evolution of EF follows a marked summer-winter cycle whose shape and intensity can be modified by summer drought.
Analyzing a Community-based Coalition's Efforts to Reduce Health Disparities and the Risk for Chronic Disease in Kansas City, Missouri COMMUNITY CASE STUDY

Background Although it is well known that racial and ethnic minorities in the United States have a higher prevalence of chronic diseases and a higher rate of related deaths than the overall U.S. population, less is understood about how to create conditions that will reduce these disparities. Context We examined the effectiveness of a collaborative community initiative ― the Kansas City-Chronic Disease Coalition ― as a catalyst for community changes designed to reduce the risk for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes among African Americans and Hispanics in Kansas City, Missouri.
Enhanced shortest Path and Query Response Time for Users in Location Based Service

The most important brave on answering live shortest paths is scalability, in terms of the number of clients and the amount of live traffic updates. An innovative and talented solution to the shortest path computation is to televise an air index over the wireless network called index transmission model. The most important advantages of this model are that the network overhead is self-determining of the number of clients and each client only downloads a portion of the entire roadmap according to the index information. For occurrence the proposed index comprises a set of pair wise smallest amount and maximum travelling costs between every two sub partitions of the road map. Though, these methods only resolve the scalability issue for the number of clients but not for the amount of live traffic updates. There-computation time of the index takes 2 hours for the San Francisco (CA) road map. It is prohibitively costly to update the index for OSP, in order to keep up with live traffic situation.
Regulation of the error-prone DNA polymerase polκ by oncogenic signaling and its contribution to drug resistance

Mutations in the proofreading domains of the replicative DNA polymerases polδ and polε are associated with elevated mutation rates in cancer, but the roles of other DNA polymerases in tumorigenesis remain poorly understood. One such polymerase is polκ, an enzyme that plays a key role in translesion synthesis. polκ contributes to cell survival in the face of DNA damage but can be highly mutagenic due to lack of a proofreading domain. Here we demonstrate that cancer cells under stress from oncogene inhibition upregulate polκ and shift its localization from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. This effect can be phenocopied by mTOR inhibition or glucose deprivation, analogous to stress-induced mutagenesis in E. coli whereby cell stress and nutrient deprivation can upregulate and activate DinB/pol IV (the bacterial orthologue of polκ). We find that cancer cells normally sequester polκ in the cytoplasm via exportin-1, likely to prevent excess mutagenesis from the error-prone nature of this polymerase. Subverting the normal nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling by forced overexpression of nuclear polκ increases resistance of melanoma cells to the BRAFV600E inhibitor vemurafenib. This data suggests a mechanism by which cancer cells regulate the expression and localization of the error-prone polymerase polκ, abrogation of which can contribute to drug resistance. One Sentence Summary: Cancer cells under stress from oncogene or mTOR inhibition dysregulate the error-prone DNA polymerase polκ, which contributes to drug resistance in melanoma cells.
Analysis of the Asian Longhorned Beetle Infestation in Jersy City, NJ

In October 2002 an adult Asian longhorned beetle (ALB), Anoplophora glabripennis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) was discovered on a tree in Jersey City, NJ. A survey of the area by APHIS and NJDA personnel revealed an infestation involving over 100 trees, mostly Norway maples, concentrated in a 3 hectare urban area. Because the infestation was well isolated from previous finds (Manhattan, > 3.2 km away), this site provided a unique opportunity to study the history and dynamics of colonization by the ALB. Detailed information on the numbers and spatial distribution (between-tree and withintree) of ALB egg sites, tunnels and exit holes was collected from the infested trees before and during removal. Infested material from selected trees was taken to the quarantine facility at Otis where it was dissected to collect ALB life table data and to estimate the ages of exit holes from growth rings. A total of 5,698 oviposition sites and 446 exit holes were found on 113 infested trees. Most trees had no exit holes or very few. Ten trees had 10 or more exit holes, including four having 40, 45, 56 and 104. Only the latter two trees were found to have exit holes pre-dating 2002 (1998-2001). Some exit holes were completely closed by new growth in a single growing season. Based on excavation of >1200 oviposition pits and tunnel systems in Norway maples, approximately 95% actually had eggs laid in them. Survival rates through the egg, neonate, phloem-feeding larval and pupal stages were about 85% each, while survival of xylem-feeding larvae was only 60%. Overall, 30% of observed oviposition pits produced adults. Intraspecific competition or cannibalism appeared to be the principal cause of the relatively high mortality rate seen among large larvae in the heavily infested trees from which most of these sites were collected. A simple population model (with conservative assumptions: sex ratio = 0.5, mating success = 0.8, oviposition pits chewed per female = 28 and adults emerging per initial pit = 0.25) indicates that the number of egg sites and exit holes observed in January 2003 could easily have resulted from a colonizing event of one gravid female arriving on site in the summer of 1997. The distance from the likely epicenter of this infestation to the most distant tree bearing an egg site in January 2003 was only 250 m.
Sr‐Nd‐Hf‐Pb isotope and trace element evidence for the origin of alkalic basalts in the Garibaldi Belt, northern Cascade arc

In the Garibaldi Belt, the northern segment of the Cascade arc, basalts at Bridge River Cones, Salal Glacier, and Mt. Meager (BSM volcanic centers) are alkalic, atypical for an arc setting. Subduction signatures are negligible or absent from primitive alkalic basalts from Salal Glacier and Bridge River, while altered oceanic crust may have contributed a minimal amount of fluid at Mt. Meager. More evolved BSM basalts display trace element signatures considered typical of arc lavas, but this is a consequence of deep crustal assimilation rather than primary input from the subducted slab. Primary BSM basalts represent 3–8% melts that segregated from enriched garnet lherzolite at significantly higher temperatures and pressures (70–105 km) than calc‐alkaline Cascade arc basalts. The BSM mantle source is significantly more incompatible element‐enriched than the depleted mantle tapped by calc‐alkaline Cascade arc basalts. The BSM basalts are also isotopically distinct from calc‐alkaline Cascade arc basalts, more similar to MORB and intraplate basalts of the NE Pacific and NW North America. The relatively deep, hot, and geochemically distinct mantle source for BSM basalts is consistent with upwelling asthenosphere. The BSM volcanic centers are close to the projected trace of the Nootka fault, which forms the boundary between the subducting Juan de Fuca plate and the near‐stagnant Explorer plate. A gap or attenuated zone between the plates may promote upwelling of enriched asthenosphere that undergoes low‐degree decompression melting to generate alkalic basalts that are essentially free of slab input yet occur in an arc setting.
Detection and classification of stress using thermal imaging technique

This paper reports how Electro-Optics (EO) technologies such as thermal and hyperspectral [1-3] imaging methods can be used for the detection of stress remotely. Emotional or physical stresses induce a surge of adrenaline in the blood stream under the command of the sympathetic nerve system, which, cannot be suppressed by training. The onset of this alleviated level of adrenaline triggers a number of physiological chain reactions in the body, such as dilation of pupil and an increased feed of blood to muscles etc. The capture of physiological responses, specifically the increase of blood volume to pupil, have been reported by Pavlidis's pioneer thermal imaging work [4-7] who has shown a remarkable increase of skin temperature in the periorbital region at the onset of stress. Our data has shown that other areas such as the forehead, neck and cheek also exhibit alleviated skin temperatures dependent on the types of stressors. Our result has also observed very similar thermal patterns due to physical exercising, to the one that induced by other physical stressors, apparently in contradiction to Pavlidis's work [8]. Furthermore, we have found patches of alleviated temperature regions in the forehead forming patterns characteristic to the types of stressors, dependent on whether they are physical or emotional in origin. These stress induced thermal patterns have been seen to be quite distinct to the one resulting from having high fever.
Dating Terrestrial Impact Structures

Hypervelocity impacts of asteroids and comets have played a key role in the evolution of the Solar System and planet Earth. Geochronology, the science that investigates the ages of rocks, has become a preponderant tool for dating impact events and for assessing whether they are related in time to mass extinctions on Earth. Impact events are instantaneous compared to other geological processes and, in theory, represent easy targets for multitechnique geochronology. Yet, only a few terrestrial impact events are accurately and precisely dated. A dating campaign is urgently needed if we are to fully understand the role of impacts in Earth history.
Activation Status of Human Microglia Is Dependent on Lesion Formation Stage and Remyelination in Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract Similar to macrophages, microglia adopt diverse activation states and contribute to repair and tissue damage in multiple sclerosis. Using reverse transcription–quantitative polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry, we show that in vitro M1-polarized (proinflammatory) human adult microglia express the distinctive markers CD74, CD40, CD86, and CCR7, whereas M2 (anti-inflammatory) microglia express mannose receptor and the anti-inflammatory cytokine CCL22. The expression of these markers was assessed in clusters of activated microglia in normal-appearing white matter (preactive lesions) and areas of remyelination, representing reparative multiple sclerosis lesions. We show that activated microglia in preactive and remyelinating lesions express CD74, CD40, CD86, and the M2 markers CCL22 and CD209, but not mannose receptor. To examine whether this intermediate microglia profile is static or dynamic and thus susceptible to changes in the microenvironment, we polarized microglia into M1 or M2 phenotype in vitro and then subsequently treated them with the opposing polarization regimen. These studies revealed that expression of CD40, CXCL10, and mannose receptor is dynamic and that microglia, like macrophages, can switch between M1 and M2 phenotypic profiles. Taken together, our data define the differential activation states of microglia during lesion development in multiple sclerosis–affected CNS tissues and underscore the plasticity of human adult microglia in vitro.
Aprotinin and transfusion requirements in orthotopic liver transplantation: a multicentre randomised double-blind study. EMSALT Study Group.

BACKGROUND Intraoperative hyperfibrinolysis contributes to bleeding during adult orthotopic liver transplantation. We aimed to find out whether aprotinin, a potent antifibrinolytic agent, reduces blood loss and transfusion requirements. METHODS We did a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in which six liver-transplant centres participated. Patients undergoing primary liver transplantation were randomly assigned intraoperative high-dose aprotinin, regular-dose aprotinin, or placebo. Primary endpoints were intraoperative blood loss and transfusion requirements. Secondary endpoints were perioperative fluid requirements, postoperative blood transfusions, complications, and mortality. FINDINGS 137 patients received high-dose aprotinin (n=46), regular-dose aprotinin (n=43), or placebo (n=48). Intraoperative blood loss was significantly lower in the aprotinin-treated patients, with a reduction of 60% in the high-dose group and 44% in the regular-dose group, compared with the placebo group (p=0.03). Total amount of red blood cell (homologous and autologous) transfusion requirements was 37% lower in the high-dose group and 20% lower in the regular-dose group, than in the placebo group (p=0.02). Thromboembolic events occurred in two patients in the high-dose group, none in the regular-dose group, and in two patients in the placebo group (p=0.39). Mortality at 30 days did not differ between the three groups (6.5%, 4.7%, and 8.3%; p=0.79). INTERPRETATION Intraoperative use of aprotinin in adult patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplantation significantly reduces blood-transfusion requirements and should be routinely used in patients without contraindications.
The metamorphism in the Central Himalaya

All along the Himalayan chain an axis of crystalline rocks has been preserved, made of the Higher Himalaya crystalline and the crystalline nappes of the Lesser Himalaya. The salient points of the metamorphism, as deduced from data collected in central Himalaya (central Nepal and Kumaun), are: 1 The Higher Himalaya crystalline, also called the Tibetan Slab, displays a polymetamorphic history with a first stage of Barrovian type overprinted by a lower pressure and/or higher temperature type metamorphism. The metamorphism is due to quick and quasi-adiabatic uplift of the Tibetan Slab by transport along an MCT ramp, accompanied by thermal refraction effects in the contact zone between the gneisses and their sedimentary cover. The resulting metamorphic pattern is an apparent (diachronic) inverse zonation, with the sillimanite zone above the kyanite zone. 2 Conversely, the famous inverted zonation of the Lesser Himalaya is basically a primary pattern, acquired during a one-stage prograde metamorphism. Its origin must be related to the thrusting along the MCT, with heat supplied from the overlying hot Tibetan Slab, as shown by synmetamorphic microstructures and the close geometrical relationships between the metamorphic isograds and the thrust. 3 Thermal equilibrium is reached between units above and below the MCT. Far behind the thrust tip there is good agreement between the maximum temperature attained in the hanging wall and the temperature of the Tibetan Slab during the second metamorphic stage; but closer to the MCT front, the thermal accordance between both sides of the thrust is due to a retrogressive metamorphic episode in the basal part of the Tibetan Slab.
Selecting GLP-1 agonists in the management of type 2 diabetes: differential pharmacology and therapeutic benefits of liraglutide and exenatide

: Failure of secretion of the incretin hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) plays a prominent role in type 2 diabetes, and restoration of GLP-1 action is an important therapeutic objective. Although the short duration of action of GLP-1 renders it unsuited to therapeutic use, 2 long-acting GLP-1 receptor agonists, exenatide and liraglutide, represent a significant advance in treatment. In controlled trials, both produce short-term glucose-lowering effects, with the reduction in hemoglobin A 1c of up to 1.3%. These responses are often superior to those observed with additional oral agents. However, unlike sulfonylureas, thiazolidinediones, or insulin, all of which lead to significant weight gain, GLP-1 receptor agonists uniquely result in long-term weight loss of around 5 kg, and higher doses may enhance this further. Reduction in blood pressure of 2–7 mm Hg also has been observed. Both drugs produce transient mild gastrointestinal side effects; although mild hypoglycemia can occur, this is usually in combination with other hypoglycemic therapies. However, serious hypoglycemia and acute pancreatitis are rare. The once-daily dosage of liraglutide makes it more convenient than twice-daily dosage of prandial exenatide, and a superior glucose-lowering effect was observed in the only head-to-head comparison reported so far. Besides cost, these considerations currently favor liraglutide over exenatide. Further studies are needed to confirm long-term safety, and most importantly, that short-term benefits translate into long-term reductions of diabetes-related cardiovascular events and other complications.
Effect of biogenic volatile organic compound emissions on tropospheric chemistry during the Atmospheric Pollution Over the Paris Area (ESQUIF) campaign in the Ile-de-France region

[1] This paper investigates the impact of biogenic isoprene and terpene emissions on photochemical species levels in the French Ile-de-France region during several photooxidant pollution episodes in summer 1998 and 1999 during the Atmospheric Pollution Over the Paris Area (ESQUIF) project. The effect of biogenic emissions on both ozone produced on a continental scale and advected in Ile-de-France and on ozone locally formed are assessed. For this purpose, simulations with and without biogenic emissions are performed with a nested version of the CHIMERE model. This chemistry transport model includes both a continental (western European) domain with 0.5° horizontal resolution and a regional domain (Ile-de-France) of 150 × 150 km extension with a horizontal resolution of 6 km. An emissions database for biogenic isoprene and terpene emissions from forests has been set up. These emissions are estimated using emission factors for different tree species recently revised by Simpson et al. [1999] and for different land use data sets, including highly resolved (1 km) satellite measurements for Ile-de-France. Good agreement has been found between modeled and measured (by aircraft) isoprene levels (overall bias <10%), which lends confidence to the use of the emissions database for subsequent simulations. The comparison between runs with and without biogenic volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions indicates a significant difference in ozone in Ile-de-France, up to 40 ppb for one extreme day. Biogenic VOC emissions from Ile-de-France along with those from outside the Ile-de-France region have an approximately equal responsibility for the additional ozone buildup. The main reason for this increased ozone formation is the enhancement of radicals due to larger concentrations of carbonyl species and ozone and their subsequent photolysis. Biogenic emissions lead to a shift in the sensitivity to emissions (toward more “NOx-limited”). However, generally, either with or without biogenic emissions, a “VOC-limited” regime is simulated over the Ile-de-France region.