Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Numerical Investigation of the Aerodynamic and Structural Characteristics of a Corrugated Airfoil

Previous experimental studies on static, bioinspired corrugated wings have shown that they produce favorable aerodynamic properties such as delayed stall compared with streamlined wings and flat plates at high Reynolds numbers (Re 10). The majority of studies have been carried out with scaled models of dragonfly forewings from the Aeshna cyanea in either wind tunnels or water channels. In this paper, the aerodynamics of a corrugated airfoil was investigated using computational fluid dynamics at low Reynolds numbers of 500, 1000, and 2000. A structural analysis was also performed using the commercial software SolidWorks 2009. The complex vortex structures that formed in the corrugated airfoil valleys and around the corrugated airfoil are studied in detail. Comparisons are madewith experimentalmeasurements at different Reynolds numbers andwith simulations of a flat plate. The study shows that, at lowReynolds numbers, the corrugationdoes not provide anyaerodynamic benefit comparedwith aflat plate. Instead, the corrugated airfoil generates more drag than the flat plate. Structural analysis shows that the wing corrugation can increase the resistance to bending moments on the wing structure with reduced thickness and weight.
Drilled Shaft Side Friction in Gravelly Soils

To evaluate side friction, 28 axial tension (uplift) load tests were performed on drilled shafts in soil profiles ranging from uniform medium sand through well-graded sandy gravel. Typical load–displacement curves for skin friction in gravelly soils were developed. Measured load capacities were compared with capacities computed using equations proposed by Reese and O’Neill, Meyerhof, and Kulhawy. Reasonable agreement between measured and computed capacities was generally found for sandy profiles. However, measured capacities were typically two to four times higher than predicted at sites where the gravel fraction was over 50%. Additional load test data for gravelly soils were collected and combined with the data from Utah load tests. Based on this data set, modifications to the design equations were then developed to predict ultimate side friction capacity better while still maintaining a margin of safety.
Dispersion inversion of electromagnetic pulse propagation within freezing and thawing soil waveguides

Freeze and thaw processes are important components in characterizing glacial, periglacial and frozen ground environments, and hence the response of cryospheric regions to climate change. High‐frequency ground‐penetrating radar is particularly well suited for monitoring the freezing and thawing processes within the shallow subsurface (i.e., < 1 m depth) due to its non‐invasive nature and its sensitivity to the liquid water component in soil. The freezing of moist soil and thawing of frozen soil induce leaky and low‐velocity waveguides, respectively. Within these waveguide layers, the internally reflected radar energy produces interfering multiples that appear as a package of dispersed waves. Here, we present a new method for characterizing very shallow freeze and thaw processes, in which the waveguide properties are obtained by inverting the observed dispersion curves. This new method can non‐invasively monitor freezing and thawing processes in a wide range of glacial, periglacial and frozen ground studies.
Distribution of vegetation in wind‐dominated landscapes: Implications for wind erosion modeling and landscape processes

Dust emission and wind erosion from arid and semiarid environments provide a major source of global atmospheric aerosols. Well-known relations between wind stress and saltation sand flux for sand sheets and relations between sand flux and dust emission by sandblasting have enabled construction of dust models that have only been partly successful in predicting atmospheric mineral dust concentrations. Most models of wind erosion assume that vegetation is evenly distributed. Through the use of field, Fourier transform, and semivariogram analysis, we show that mesquite dunelands in the Chihuahuan Desert of southern New Mexico, United States, have anisotropic shrub distributions. Elongated areas of bare soil, “streets,” which are aligned with the prevailing winds may partially explain discrepancies between observed and predicted atmospheric dust concentrations. Soils in the streets are not protected from winds blowing down the streets and may therefore produce more dust than if vegetation were more evenly distributed. Currently, few desert landscape evolution models take the role of wind explicitly into account. The existence of streets implies that wind plays a major role in the evolution of vegetated arid and semiarid landscapes with wind-erodible soils. Here wind acts in tandem with water to enforce islands of fertility centered around individual shrubs and may provide an explanation for reduced soil fertility observed in shrublands. Furthermore, in order for mathematical models of dust flux to be successful in these landscapes, new landscape models are required which incorporate the existence and orientation of streets.
Age-related changes in working memory and the ability to ignore distraction

Significance We reveal a novel and highly significant change in how items are held in mind in healthy aging. Using smartphones, data were collected from 29,631 participants, between the ages of 18–69 y. We compare the ability to exclude distractors when items are entered into working memory (WM) (encoding distraction, ED) and when items are held in mind (delay distraction, DD). In older adults, WM in the absence of distraction was more similar to ED exclusion than DD exclusion. A greater reliance on focused attention during encoding may reflect compensation for the more pronounced deterioration we observed in DD exclusion in older age. This can inform other areas of cognition and strategies to ameliorate or manage debilitating age-related cognitive decline. A weakened ability to effectively resist distraction is a potential basis for reduced working memory capacity (WMC) associated with healthy aging. Exploiting data from 29,631 users of a smartphone game, we show that, as age increases, working memory (WM) performance is compromised more by distractors presented during WM maintenance than distractors presented during encoding. However, with increasing age, the ability to exclude distraction at encoding is a better predictor of WMC in the absence of distraction. A significantly greater contribution of distractor filtering at encoding represents a potential compensation for reduced WMC in older age.
Low Rho activity in hepatocytes prevents apical from basolateral cargo separation during trans -Golgi network to surface transport

Hepatocytes, the main epithelial cells of the liver, organize their polarized membrane domains differently from ductal epithelia. They also differ in their biosynthetic delivery of single-membrane-spanning and glycophosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins to the apical domain. While ductal epithelia target apical proteins to varying degrees from the trans -Golgi network (TGN) to the apical surface directly, hepatocytes target them first to the basolateral domain, from where they undergo basolateral-to-apical transcytosis. How TGN-to-surface transport differs in both scenarios is unknown. Here, we report that the basolateral detour of a hepatocyte apical protein is due, in part, to low RhoA activity at the TGN, which prevents its segregation from basolateral transport carriers. Activating Rho in hepatocytic cells, which switches their polarity from hepatocytic to ductal, also led to apical-basolateral cargo segregation at the TGN as is typical for ductal cells, affirming a central role for Rho-signaling in different aspects of the hepatocytic polarity phenotype. Nevertheless, Rho-induced cargo segregation was not sufficient to target the apical protein directly; thus, failure to recruit apical targeting machinery also contributes to its indirect itinerary.
The Peter Principle : A Theory of Decline

Many have observed that individuals perform worse after having received a promotion. The most famous statement of the idea is the Peter Principle, which states that people are promoted to their level of incompetence. There are a number of possible explanations. Two are explored. The most traditional is that the prospect of promotion provides incentives, which vanish after the promotion has been granted; thus, tenured faculty slack off. Another is that output falls purely as a statistical matter. Being promoted is evidence that a standard has been met. Regression to the mean implies that future productivity will decline on average. Firms optimally account for the regression bias in making promotion decisions, but the effect is never eliminated. Usually, firms inflate the promotion criterion to offset the Peter Principle effect, and the greater the amount of the inflation of the standard, the larger the dispersion of the pre-promotion error. The same logic applies in other applications. For example, the logic explains movie sequels being worse than the original film on which they are based and popular restaurants going out of fashion.
Analysis of the airway registry from an academic emergency department in South Africa

Airway management is an essential skill for emergency department (ED) doctors. Management of airways in the ED can be fraught with difficulty, from acutely ill patients with deranged physiology to time and resource constraints. In order to ensure that emergency patients always receive the best care, it is necessary to evaluate current practice norms and identify areas that can be improved upon. [1-4] Numerous airway databases already exist around the world, providing insight into the complexity of emergency airway management. These data have been analysed repeatedly to create the many different airway algorithms available today. [1,2,5-8] They assist in providing the necessary insight into clinical practice and aid in identifying areas for improvement. As emergency medicine develops in South Africa (SA), ED doctors are becoming more skilled in airway management in the ED. International studies have showed widely varying success and complication rates in EDs in North America, Asia, Australasia and Europe, but currently there is very little research available concerning the level of airway management in Africa, and how that standard of care compares with global developed-world standards. [9] The small amount of local data available deal only briefly with success rates, techniques and adverse events (AEs) in an isolated single-centre report. [10]
Spectral/textural attributes from ALI/EO-1 for mapping primary and secondary tropical forests and studying the relationships with biophysical parameters

We analysed spectral and textural attributes from the Advanced Land Imager (ALI)/EO-1 for land-cover mapping and inspected their correlation with biophysical parameters of primary and secondary forests from Eastern Amazon. An artificial neural network (ANN) technique selected the most relevant spectral/textural attributes, which were combined for classification of the ALI scene. From the ANN land-cover map, areas classified as primary forest (PF), initial (SS1), intermediate (SS2) and advanced (SS3) stages of secondary succession were studied. Biophysical parameters were determined from field inventory of 40 sample plots. Results showed an overall classification accuracy of 79% using reflectance and 89% using the combined data set. The combined data set included the reflectance of ALI bands 3–9 and the texture metrics mean (bands 3–4; 6–8) and dissimilarity (band 8). The reflectance of the near-infrared/shortwave infrared bands and their texture mean decreased from SS1 to SS3/PF. The gradient between primary and secondary forests controlled the correlations of reflectance with biophysical parameters. While the aboveground biomass, basal area, leaf area index, tree height and canopy cover increased from SS1 to SS3/PF, the reflectance decreased with the development of canopy structure and the resultant canopy shadows. The mean was the only texture metric correlated with biophysical parameters.
Shergottites Dhofar 019, SaU 005, Shergotty, and Zagami: 40Ar‐39Ar chronology and trapped Martian atmospheric and interior argon

Abstract— We report a high‐resolution 40Ar‐39Ar study of mineral separates and whole‐rock samples of olivine‐phyric (Dhofar 019, Sayh al Uhaymir [SaU] 005) and basaltic (Shergotty, Zagami) shergottites. Excess argon is present in all samples. The highest (40Ar/36Ar)trapped ratios are found for argon in pyroxene melt inclusions (˜1500), maskelynite (˜1200), impact glass (˜1800) of Shergotty and impact glass of SaU 005 (˜1200). A high (40Ar/36Ar)trapped component‐usually uniquely ascribed to Martian atmosphere‐can also originate from the Martian interior, indicating a heterogeneous Martian mantle composition. As additional explanation of variable high (40Ar/36Ar)trapped ratios in shocked shergottites, we suggest argon implantation from a “transient atmosphere” during impact induced degassing.
Differential Proteomic Analysis of Syncytiotrophoblast Extracellular Vesicles from Early-Onset Severe Preeclampsia, using 8-Plex iTRAQ Labeling Coupled with 2D Nano LC-MS/MS

Aims: Previous studies have revealed that the increased shedding of syncytiotrophoblast extracellular vesicles (STBM) may lead to preeclampsia (PE). We aimed to identify the proteins carried by STBM and their potential pathological roles in early-onset severe PE. Methods: In this study, we performed a differential proteomic analysis of STBM from early-onset severe PE patients, using iTRAQ isobaric tags and 2D nano LC-MS/MS. STBM were generated by the in vitro explant culture method, and then verified by electron microscopy and western blot analysis. Results: A total of 18 533 unique peptides and 3 317 proteins were identified, 3 292 proteins were quantified. We identified 194 differentially expressed proteins in STBM from early-onset severe PE patients, 122 proteins were up-regulated and 72 proteins were down-regulated. Further bioinformatics analysis revealed that mitochondrion, transmembrane transport and transmembrane transporter activity were the most abundant categories in gene ontology (GO) annotation. Glycolysis/ gluconeogenesis, citrate cycle, fatty acid elongation, steroid hormone biosynthesis and oxidative phosphorylation were the five significantly represented pathways. Four differentially expressed proteins (siglec-6, calnexin, CD63 and S100-A8) related to inflammation, coagulation or immunoregulation were independently verified using western blot. Conclusions: The identification of key proteins carried by STBM may serve not only as a basis for better understanding and further exploring the etiology and pathogenesis of PE, but also as potential biomarkers and in providing targets for future therapy in PE, especially in early-onset severe PE(sPE).
Variability of total soil respiration in a Mediterranean vineyard

Total soil respiration (TSR) is the major component of the CO2 global flux. The knowledge of the temporal-spatial variability of TSR allows for a better interpretation of a critical component of global greenhouse gas flux measurements. The objective of the research was to evaluate the TSR dynamic over a long measurement period in a vineyard in the South of Italy. A static home-made automatic system was used to measure TSR for a three year period. A portable gas analyser (Li-Cor 6400-09) was used to study TSR spatial variability. A non-invasive geophysical technique (Electromagnetic Induction – EMI) was applied to search for a significant relationship between apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa), the EMI signal and TSR. Long-term measurements of TSR enabled to study its temporal dynamics. CO2 rates ranged from 0.78 to 43.7 g CO2 m–2 day–1. TSR increased during spring and decreased by 45–50% during the mid-summer. The daily trend of TSR showed differences between the seasons studied reporting a clearly variation among TSR measured on row and inter-row positions. The supplemental irrigation significantly affected (P < 0.001) CO2 soil effluxes which showed a weekly mean increase of 300%. Significant inverse relationships were found by interpolating TSR values and ECa (coefficient of correlation ranging from –0.43 to –0.83 at P < 0.001). The spatialisation of TSR at field scale was performed using the linear regression between TSR values and EMI signals. TSR spatialisation gave a more detailed view of CO2 emissions distribution within the vineyard. EMI technique could be a useful tool to compute accurately the global CO2 emissions which are a complex and hard to measure component of the agrosystem carbon balance.
Wrestling with heart failure: SUMO-1 to the rescue.

SUMO-1 Gene Transfer Improves Cardiac Function in a Large-Animal Model of Heart Failure Tilemann et al Sci Transl Med . 2013;5:211ra159. A small ubiquitin-like protein was shown to be beneficial to the failing heart through enhancing sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca 2+ ATPase 2a (SERCA2a) stability and activity in a large animal model of heart failure. Dysregulation of calcium cycling in cardiomyocytes has been recognized as a major molecular mechanism of heart failure. SERCA2a plays a pivotal role in regulating calcium homeostasis, and reduction of SERCA2a activity has been recognized as a hallmark of heart failure. Hajjar and his colleagues1 reported that the activity of SERCA2a is regulated by conjugation of small ubiquitin-like modifier-1 (SUMO-1) to SERCA2a. They also demonstrated that SUMO-1 gene delivery can restore SERCA2a expression and activity in the failing heart in a mouse model. Based on these findings, they postulated that SUMO modification (SUMOylation) is a critical regulator of SERCA2a function, which led to the design of SUMO-1 gene therapy in a swine ischemia–reperfusion heart failure model.2 The authors performed a temporary balloon occlusion of the proximal left anterior descending artery to create myocardial infarction. One month later, 31 survived pigs were randomized to receive via antegrade coronary infusion either saline or adeno-associated vector type 1 (AAV1) loaded with SUMO-1 (low and high dose), SERCA2a , or both. They showed that both SUMO-1 and SERCA2a levels were increased in the pigs that received AAV1. SUMO-1 with or without AAV1. SERCA2a 2 months later. However, the changes in left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) were not statistically significant in all treated groups. Statistically significant changes were demonstrated in the maximal rate of pressure rise [d P /d t (max)] in the groups that received high-dose SUMO-1 , SERCA2a , or both. Furthermore, the treated groups have less left …
Modelling the Mean Circulation of Baffin Bay

Abstract The Princeton Ocean Model is applied to the Baffin Bay and Labrador region in order to model the summer mean circulation and transport of Baffin Bay. Several aspects of the mean circulation are investigated, but are restricted to the month of September when hydrographic data are available. These include the horizontal and vertical structure of the currents, the sensitivity of the volume transport to the boundary forcing and the effect of the local wind forcing. The model results are shown to be in general agreement with observations. The model reproduces the strongest currents: (a) offshore from the coast of Baffin Island and Ellesmere Island, and (b) at the mouth of Lancaster Sound. The model results also show the presence of the relatively strong southward current along the shelf break on the eastern side of the bay. Strong topographic control is evident in Davis Strait and in the vicinity of deep canyons on the continental shelf of western Greenland. Model sensitivity studies show that the Baffin Bay outflow through western Davis Strait is controlled mainly by the inflow from the archipelago. The inflow through eastern Davis Strait is controlled by both the archipelago inflow and the transport in the Labrador Sea gyre. The local wind stress plays a relatively unimportant role.
The clinical problem of the lethality of insomnia: a new empirical exploration from a clinical trial.

The clinical problem of the lethality of insomnia: a new empirical exploration from a clinical trial Commentary on Rumble ME, McCall WV, Dickson DA, Krystal AD, Rosenquist PB, Benca RM. An exploratory analysis of the association of circadian rhythm dysregulation and insomnia with suicidal ideation over the course of treatment in individuals with depression, insomnia and suicidal ideation. J Clin Sleep Med. 2020;16(8):1311–1319. doi:10.5664/jcsm.8508
The mean structure and temporal variability of the semiannual oscillation in the southern extratropics

The semiannual oscillation of the pressure and mid-tropospheric baroclinicity in the southern extratropics has been studied using 21 years (1973–1993) of numerical Southern Hemisphere analyses and long series of pressure data from a number of mid- and high latitude stations. Using recent data and techniques not previously documented, this study has verified that the semiannual oscillation is an important but highly variable feature of the annual cycle of pressure and meridional temperature gradient. In the pressure, the half-yearly wave attains its greatest amplitudes in the mid-latitude ocean basins and on the Antarctic periphery, with a minimum near 55°S. The semiannual oscillation of the temperature gradient is strongest near 60°S, where it explains typically 50% of the mean annual variance of monthly data, and the harmonic maxima (strongest gradients) occur during the transition seasons. Analysis of the temporal behaviour of the half-yearly wave has revealed considerable variability on interannual to decadal time scales. The comparison and correlation of the temporal variability of the mid- and high latitude components of the semiannual oscillation of the pressure has revealed that these are statistically related and the strength of the relationship is greatest for variations occurring on longer time scales. In both the mid- and high latitudes the temporal variability of the semiannual oscillation of pressure has been found to be statistically related to the variability of the high latitude temperature gradient. These observations suggest that the differing annual cycles of temperature in the mid- and high southern latitudes not only give rise to the semiannual oscillation of the pressure in the mean, but, in addition, the variability of this dynamic phenomenon is linked to the variability of the thermal gradients. These findings suggest that a key to understanding the temporal variability of pressure in the southern extratropics on annual to decadal time scales lies in the understanding of the large scale variability of the temperature gradients. © 1998 Royal Meteorological Society