Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Timing of ophiolite obduction in the Grampian orogen

This study addresses the timing and pressure-temperature (P-T) conditions of ophiolite obduction, one of the proposed causes of the ca. 470 Ma Grampian orogeny of Scotland and Ireland. This event gave rise to the main structural and metamorphic characteristics of the Grampian terrane-the type area for Barrovian metamorphism, the cause of which remains enigmatic despite a century of research. Zircons from the Highland Border ophiolite, Scotland, define a 499 +/- 8 Ma U-Pb concordia age, which is interpreted as dating magmatism. Its metamorphism is dated by a 490 +/- 4 Ma Ar-40-Ar-39 hornblende age, and a 488 +/- 1 Ma Ar-40-Ar-39 muscovite age from a metasedimentary xenolith within it, from which P-T estimates of 5.3 kbar and 580 degrees C relate to ophiolite obduction. Metamorphism of the Deerpark complex ophiolitic melange (Irish correlative of the Highland Border ophiolite) is constrained by a 514 +/- 3 Ma Ar-40-Ar-39 hornblende age, while mica schist slivers within it yield detrital zircon U-Pb ages consistent with Laurentian provenance and Rb-Sr and Ar-40-Ar-39 muscovite ages of ca. 482 Ma. P-T values of 3.3 kbar and 580 degrees C for the mica schist constrain the conditions of ophiolite obduction. Metamorphic mineral ages from the Grampian terrane (Dalradian Supergroup) are substantially younger (ca. 475-465 Ma) than those from the ophiolites. If conductive heating in overthickened crust was the cause of Barrovian metamorphism, then collisional thickening must have started soon after ophiolite obduction at ca. 490 Ma in order to generate the ca. 470 Ma metamorphic peak in the Grampian terrane. (Less)
A revised mathematical formulation for induced polarization

Introduction Researchers involved in induced polarization studies are well familiar with Seigel’s (1959) definition of the chargeability parameter m as the ratio of the secondary potential drop immediately after an infinitely long injected current is turned off, to the primary potential drop that builds up at the end of the current pulse. A major advantage of Seigel’s formulation is that it allows to recover the intrinsic chargeability of the subsurface applying a simple perturbation to the sensitivity matrix of the background resistivity (i.e. not affected by IP effects) model. In fact he proved that the apparent chargeability above an heterogeneous earth is simply (1) where mi and ρi represent the intrinsic chargeability and background resistivity of the ρa media (for a layered earth, layers) that compose the subsurface, and pa the apparent background resistivity. This important result implies that the chargeability model can be readily obtained after the resistivity model has been recovered, and forms the basis of well established time domain IP inversion techniques (Li and Oldenburg, 2000a; Loke, 1999; Oldenburg and Li, 1994; Sogade et al., 2006). This manuscript aims at showing a fundamental discrepancy between Seigel’s fundamental theory and many different well accepted IP models. While contradicting in practice Seigel’s model, these other models do make use of important mathematical formulation that Seigel derived from his model.
Method to Estimate Water Storage Capacity of Capillary Barriers

This paper presents a method to estimate the additional storage capacity derived from the presence of a capillary break or barrier beneath a soil layer used in a surface cover system. The method involves first estimating the suction head profile in the soil layer at breakthrough. Then, using a relationship between suction head and water content (i.e., the moisture characteristic function), the corresponding water content profile is derived. Integrating the water content over the depth of the soil layer yields the total water in the layer from which the net storage capacity can be determined. Good agreement was obtained between the water storage capacity calculated using this method to those derived from numerical simulations. Example calculations illustrate the influence of the overlying soil texture, thickness, and the water entry head of the coarse layer on the storage capacity of a capillary barrier system. The paper also discusses how the moisture characteristic curve provides insight into the expected storage capacity for a soil in a capillary barrier configuration.
Variation and covariation of external shape and cross‐sectional geometry in the human metacarpus

Abstract Objectives Analyses of external bone shape using geometric morphometrics (GM) and cross‐sectional geometry (CSG) are frequently employed to investigate bone structural variation and reconstruct activity in the past. However, the association between these methods has not been thoroughly investigated. Here, we analyze whole bone shape and CSG variation of metacarpals 1–5 and test covariation between them. Materials and Methods We analyzed external metacarpal shape using GM and CSG of the diaphysis at three locations in metacarpals 1–5. The study sample includes three modern human groups: crew from the shipwrecked Mary Rose (n = 35 metacarpals), a Pre‐industrial group (n = 50), and a Post‐industrial group (n = 31). We tested group differences in metacarpal shape and CSG, as well as correlations between these two aspects of metacarpal bone structure. Results GM analysis demonstrated metacarpus external shape variation is predominately related to changes in diaphyseal width and articular surface size. Differences in external shape were found between the non‐pollical metacarpals of the Mary Rose and Pre‐industrial groups and between the third metacarpals of the Pre‐ and Post‐industrial groups. CSG results suggest the Mary Rose and Post‐industrial groups have stronger metacarpals than the Pre‐industrial group. Correlating CSG and external shape showed significant relationships between increasing external robusticity and biomechanical strength across non‐pollical metacarpals (r: 0.815–0.535; p ≤ 0.05). Discussion Differences in metacarpal cortical structure and external shape between human groups suggest differences in the type and frequency of manual activities. Combining these results with studies of entheses and kinematics of the hand will improve reconstructions of manual behavior in the past.
Targeted Treatment of Schizophrenia Symptoms as They Manifest, or Continuous Treatment to Reduce the Risk of Psychosis Recurrence

Abstract Current pharmacological treatment of schizophrenia employs drugs that interfere with dopamine neurotransmission, aiming to suppress acute exacerbation of psychosis and maintenance treatment to reduce the risk of psychosis recurrence. According to this treatment scheme, available psychotropic drugs intended to treat negative symptoms, cognitive impairment, or anxiety are administered as add-ons to treatment with antipsychotics. However, an alternative treatment scheme proposes a targeted or intermittent treatment approach, by which antipsychotic drugs are administered upon psychosis exacerbation and discontinued upon remission or stabilization, while negative symptoms, cognitive impairment, or anxiety are treated with specific psychotropics as monotherapy. Along these lines, antipsychotics are renewed only in the event of recurrence of psychotic symptoms. This 50-year-old debate between targeted and continuous treatment schemes arises from disagreements about interpreting scientific evidence and discordant views regarding benefit/risk assessment. Among the debate’s questions are: (1) what is the percentage of individuals who can maintain stability without antipsychotic maintenance treatment, and what is the percentage of those who exacerbate despite antipsychotic treatment? (2) how to interpret results of placebo-controlled 9- to 18-month-long maintenance trials in a life-long chronic disorder, and how to interpret results of the targeted trials, some of which are open label or not randomized; (3) how to weigh the decreased risk for psychotic recurrence vs the almost certainty of adverse effects on patient’s quality of life. Patients’ profiles, preferences, and circumstances of the care provision should be considered as the targeted vs continuous treatment options are considered.
What's special about horizontal disparity

Horizontal disparity has been recognized as the primary signal driving stereoscopic depth since the invention of the stereoscope in the 1830s. It has a unique status in our understanding of binocular vision. The direction of offset of the eyes gives the disparities of corresponding image point locations across the two retinas a strong horizontal bias. Beyond the retina, other factors give shape to the effective disparity direction used by visual mechanisms. The influence of orientation is examined here. I argue that horizontal disparity is an inflection point along a continuum of effective directions, and its role in stereo vision can be reinterpreted. The pointwise geometric justification for its special status neglects the oriented structural elements of spatial vision, its physiological support is equivocal, and psychophysical support of its special status may partially reflect biased stimulus sampling. The literature shows that horizontal disparity plays no particular role in the processing of one-dimensional stimuli, a reflection of the stereo aperture problem. The resulting depth is non-veridical, even non-transitive. Although one-dimensional components contribute to the stereo depth of visual objects generally, two-dimensional stimuli appear not to inherit the aperture problem. However, a look at the two-dimensional stimuli that predominate in experimental studies shows regularities in orientation that give a new perspective on horizontal disparity.
Collision avoidance in road crossing : Behavior of children with and without hemiparesis

This thesis examines the skill of avoiding collisions with approaching moving objects, and in particular the competences of primary-school children and children with motor impairment. Pedestrian road crossing is chosen as the point of departure. Chapter 2 reviews children’s capacities on four component skills; namely, finding a safe place to cross, looking behaviour, perceptual judgements whether or not to cross, and the visual guidance of walking across the road. Chapter 3 and 4 aim to investigate whether the increased collision proneness of young children is associated with age-related differences in the perception of the affordance crossability and the visual control of movements. Chapter 5 and 6 aim to investigate whether the perception of the affordance crossability in children with hemiparesis is different from that in typically-developing children, and to identify the underlying movement planning and control processes that are involved in road- crossing behaviour of children with hemiparetic CP.
Neutrophil elastase activates the release of extracellular traps from COPD blood monocyte‐derived macrophages

Neutrophil elastase (NE), a major inflammatory mediator in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) airways, impairs macrophage function, contributing to persistence of airway inflammation. We hypothesized that NE activates a novel mechanism of macrophage‐induced inflammation: release of macrophage extracellular traps (METs). The METs are composed of extracellular DNA decorated with granule proteinases and oxidants and may trigger persistent airway inflammation in COPD. To test the hypothesis, human blood monocytes were isolated from whole blood of subjects with COPD recruited following informed written consent. Patient demographics and clinical data were collected. Cells were cultured in media with GM‐CSF to differentiate into blood monocyte derived macrophages (BMDMs). The BMDMs were treated with FITC‐NE and unlabeled NE to determine intracellular localization by confocal microscopy and intracellular proteinase activity by DQ‐Elastin assay. After NE exposure, released extracellular traps were quantified by abundance of extracellular DNA in conditioned media using the Pico Green assay. BMDM cell lysates were analyzed by Western analysis for proteolytic degradation of histone H3 or H4 or upregulation of peptidyl arginine deiminase (PAD) 2 and 4, two potential mechanisms to mediate extracellular trap DNA release. We observed that NE was taken up by COPD BMDM, localized to the cytosol and nucleus, and retained proteinase activity in the cell. NE induced MET release at doses as low as 50 nM. NE treatment caused histone H3 clipping but no effect on histone H4 nor PAD 2 or 4 abundance or activity. In summary, NE activated COPD MET release by clipping histone H3, a prerequisite for chromatin decondensation.
Comparing Tourist Destination Images between Pre-trip and Post-trip

There are several studies identified tourism destination image to three types-original image, reduced image, and complex image based on before and after traveler’s itinerary. However, the dimension of comparing the transformation of these three types in different formation stages is not emphasized. This research aims to explore the transformation of the organic image before the trip and the complex image after the trip based on the traveler’s experiences, and then further approach to the important forces which influence images development. This research identified four major dimensions-nature ecology, religious culture, leisure activity, and travel atmosphere to analyze the tourism destination image through literature reviews. Using these four dimensions extended to design 24 image items as the measuring determinants of the reduced images and the complex images of the travelers. We conducted to 400 questionnaires for two categories travelers-with the travel experience (after the trip) and without the travel experience (before the trip) by cluster sampling way. The 24 image items were factor analyzed using t test and principal component analysis with a varimax rotation procedure to examine whether the reduced image and the complex image transformed or not, and the influences of stimulus factors and personal factors to destination image development. There were two study findings in this research. First, the reduced image and the complex image transformed with significance, especially identified in dimensions on nature ecology and travel atmosphere of the reduced images, and on religious culture and leisure activity of the complex images. Secondly, from the 16 items distinguished based on p＜0.05 significance level, the stimulus factors than personal factors played more important role to the development of destination image.
Prevalence of colistin resistance and antibacterial resistance in commensal Escherichia coli from chickens: An assessment of the impact of regulatory intervention in South Africa

Abstract Background Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health problem largely due to the overuse of antimicrobials. In recognition of this, the World Health Assembly in 2015 agreed on a global action plan to tackle AMR. Following the global emergence of the mcr‐1‐associated colistin resistance gene in the livestock industry in 2016, several countries including South Africa restricted the veterinary use of colistin as the gene threatens the clinical utility of the drug. This study is a follow‐up to the restriction in place in order to evaluate the impact of such policy adoption. Objective To assess the prevalence of antibacterial resistance (ABR), and the mcr‐1 colistin resistance gene in broiler chicken over a 2‐year period, as a follow‐up to the veterinary ban on colistin use in South Africa. Methods A total of 520 swab samples were obtained during 2019 (March–April) and 2020 (February–March), from healthy broiler chicken carcasses (n = 20) and chicken droppings in transport crates (n = 20) at various poultry abattoirs (N = 7) in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Escherichia coli organisms were isolated and subjected to a panel of 24 antibacterials using the MicroScan machine. Screening for mcr‐1 colistin resistance gene was undertaken using PCR. Result Four hundred and thirty‐eight (438) E. coli strains were recovered and none demonstrated phenotypic resistance towards colistin, amikacin, carbapenems, tigecycline and piperacillin/tazobactam. The mcr‐1 gene was not detected in any of the isolates tested. Resistances to the aminoglycosides (0%–9.8%) and fluoroquinolones (0%–18.9%) were generally low. Resistances to ampicillin (32%–39.3%) and trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole (30.6%–3.6%) were fairly high. A significant (p < 0.05) increase in cephalosporins and cephamycin resistance was noted in the year 2020 (February–March) when compared with the year 2019 (March–April). Conclusion The absence of mcr‐1 gene and colistin resistance suggests that mitigation strategies adopted were effective and clearly demonstrated the significance of regulatory interventions in reducing resistance to critical drugs. Despite the drawback in regulatory framework such as free farmers access to antimicrobials OTC and a dual registration system in place, there is a general decline in the prevalence of ABR when the present data are compared with the last national veterinary surveillance on AMR (SANVAD 2007). To further drive resistance down, mitigation strategies should focus on strengthening regulatory framework, the withdrawal of OTC dispensing of antimicrobials, capping volumes of antimicrobials, banning growth promoters and investing on routine surveillance/monitoring of AMR and antimicrobial consumption.
Light-scattering reconstruction of transparent shapes using neural networks

We propose a cheap non-intrusive high-resolution method of visualising transparent or translucent objects which may translate, rotate and shapeshift. We propose a method of reconstructing a strongly deformed time-evolving surface from a time-series of noisy clouds of points using a lightweight neural network. We benchmark the method against three different geometries and varying levels of noise and find that the Gaussian curvature is accurately recovered when the noise level is below $2\%$ of the diameter of the surface and the data from distinct regions of the surface do not overlap.
Fast Minimization of Expected Logarithmic Loss via Stochastic Dual Averaging

Consider the problem of minimizing an expected logarithmic loss over either the probability simplex or the set of quantum density matrices. This problem includes tasks such as solving the Poisson inverse problem, computing the maximum-likelihood estimate for quantum state tomography, and approximating positive semi-definite matrix permanents with the currently tightest approximation ratio. Although the optimization problem is convex, standard iteration complexity guarantees for first-order methods do not directly apply due to the absence of Lipschitz continuity and smoothness in the loss function. In this work, we propose a stochastic first-order algorithm named $B$-sample stochastic dual averaging with the logarithmic barrier. For the Poisson inverse problem, our algorithm attains an $\varepsilon$-optimal solution in $\smash{\tilde{O}}(d^2/\varepsilon^2)$ time, matching the state of the art, where $d$ denotes the dimension. When computing the maximum-likelihood estimate for quantum state tomography, our algorithm yields an $\varepsilon$-optimal solution in $\smash{\tilde{O}}(d^3/\varepsilon^2)$ time. This improves on the time complexities of existing stochastic first-order methods by a factor of $d^{\omega-2}$ and those of batch methods by a factor of $d^2$, where $\omega$ denotes the matrix multiplication exponent. Numerical experiments demonstrate that empirically, our algorithm outperforms existing methods with explicit complexity guarantees.
Analysis of Decentralization in Governance and Financial Efficiency of Companies: Studying the Relationship in the Field of Decentralized Finance

Currently, the advantages of decentralization through blockchain technology in the financial sector are actively discussed. In this article, we investigate the decentralization in the governance of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) using the Gini coefficient as an indicator of inequality among the token owners. This metric is analyzed in the context of Return on Investment (ROI) for companies in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. Our goal is to understand whether the level of"real"decentralization in blockchain-based governance affects financial efficiency, and to explore the benefits and possible limitations of such an approach. This analysis allows for a deeper understanding of the significance and impact of decentralization on the functioning and productivity of organizations in the DeFi sector, and to determine the extent to which this impact is positively or negatively reflected in their success and profitability. Additionally, the results of this analysis will provide a fuller understanding of the dynamics and potential of blockchain for organization governance.
Dynamic Neural Fields for Learning Atlases of 4D Fetal MRI Time-series

We present a method for fast biomedical image atlas construction using neural fields. Atlases are key to biomedical image analysis tasks, yet conventional and deep network estimation methods remain time-intensive. In this preliminary work, we frame subject-specific atlas building as learning a neural field of deformable spatiotemporal observations. We apply our method to learning subject-specific atlases and motion stabilization of dynamic BOLD MRI time-series of fetuses in utero. Our method yields high-quality atlases of fetal BOLD time-series with $\sim$5-7$\times$ faster convergence compared to existing work. While our method slightly underperforms well-tuned baselines in terms of anatomical overlap, it estimates templates significantly faster, thus enabling rapid processing and stabilization of large databases of 4D dynamic MRI acquisitions. Code is available at https://github.com/Kidrauh/neural-atlasing
NEURO HAND: A weakly supervised Hierarchical Attention Network for neuroimaging abnormality Detection

Clinical neuroimaging data is naturally hierarchical. Different magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences within a series, different slices covering the head, and different regions within each slice all confer different information. In this work we present a hierarchical attention network for abnormality detection using MRI scans obtained in a clinical hospital setting. The proposed network is suitable for non-volumetric data (i
Race Against the Machine: A Fully-Annotated, Open-Design Dataset of Autonomous and Piloted High-Speed Flight

Unmanned aerial vehicles, and multi-rotors in particular, can now perform dexterous tasks in impervious environments, from infrastructure monitoring to emergency deliveries. Autonomous drone racing has emerged as an ideal benchmark to develop and evaluate these capabilities. Its challenges include accurate and robust visual-inertial odometry during aggressive maneuvers, complex aerodynamics, and constrained computational resources. As researchers increasingly channel their efforts into it, they also need the tools to timely and equitably compare their results and advances. With this dataset, we want to (i) support the development of new methods and (ii) establish quantitative comparisons for approaches originating from the broader robotics and artificial intelligence communities. We want to provide a one-stop resource that is comprehensive of (i) aggressive autonomous and piloted flight, (ii) high-resolution, high-frequency visual, inertial, and motion capture data, (iii) commands and control inputs, (iv) multiple light settings, and (v) corner-level labeling of drone racing gates. We also release the complete specifications to recreate our flight platform, using commercial off-the-shelf components and the open-source flight controller Betaflight, to democratize drone racing research.