Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental rapid alteration of basaltic glass: Implications for the origins of atmospheric particulates

Glassy microspherules collected from the plume of Etna volcano show a surprising compositional variability with SiO 2 from 48 to 90 wt%, despite a very homogeneous basaltic source magma (SiO 2 = 48%). This same variability is also observed in individual microspherules from their inner to outer parts. The most plausible hypothesis concerning these compositional variabilities is the interaction of the microspherules with the volcanic gases inside the crater prior to their atmospheric dispersal. In order to study this compositional variability we experimentally exposed basaltic glass to volcanic gases at Etna. The resulting glass composition documents a fundamental alteration mechanism, involving an apparent leaching process that can rapidly form nearly pure silica. Because microspherules erupted directly into the air from lava fountains remain unaltered, the duration of microspherules within a gas plume can explain the chemical variability of glass alteration. A major implication for the origin of glassy atmospheric particulates is that chemical compositions cannot be used as a reliable indicator of their source (e.g., meteoric, volcanic, anthropogenic).
House Price Cycles in Europe

This paper examines the house price dynamics for thirteen European countries. A Markov-switching error correction model is estimated on house price returns at the country level, with deviations between house prices and fundamentals feeding into the short-run dynamics. The system is assumed to be in either a stable regime, in which deviations from the long-run equilibrium tend to vanish over time, or in an unstable regime, in which no such correction takes place. The analysis yields three sets of results. First, house price returns in Europe are generally characterized by three (high, medium and low) phases; growth rates within regimes differ largely across countries. Second, for some European countries the observed high growth phases are associated with a stable regime. Third, European housing markets have been more in sync with each other since 2000 following a growing trend in the time-span 2002-2006 and a dramatic downturn after the Lehman collapse in 2008 and during the Euro area sovereign debt crisis.
Multi-View Discrete Clustering: A Concise Model

In most existing graph-based multi-view clustering methods, the eigen-decomposition of the graph Laplacian matrix followed by a post-processing step is a standard configuration to obtain the target discrete cluster indicator matrix. However, we can naturally realize that the results obtained by the two-stage process will deviate from that obtained by directly solving the primal clustering problem. In addition, it is essential to properly integrate the information from different views for the enhancement of the performance of multi-view clustering. To this end, we propose a concise model referred to as Multi-view Discrete Clustering (MDC), aiming at directly solving the primal problem of multi-view graph clustering. We automatically weigh the view-specific similarity matrix, and the discrete indicator matrix is directly obtained by performing clustering on the aggregated similarity matrix without any post-processing to best serve graph clustering. More importantly, our model does not introduce an additive, nor does it has any hyper-parameters to be tuned. An efficient optimization algorithm is designed to solve the resultant objective problem. Extensive experimental results on both synthetic and real benchmark datasets verify the superiority of the proposed model.
The association between cerebral amyloid angiopathy and atherosclerosis in patients with intracerebral hemorrhages.

UNLABELLED aim of the study: To analyze the incidence and grade of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) and atherosclerosis (AS) in cerebral vessels in patients who died from spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage. MATERIAL AND METHODS The clinical diagnosis, based on CT scans of the brain, was made and immunohistochemic neuropathological examinations were performed in patients with intracerebral hemorrhages due to CAA. Cerebral amyloid angiopathy was diagnosed according to the Boston criteria. The Vonsattel and Mountoy scales were used to assess the grade and score of CAA. Atherosclerosis was assessed according to a four-grade scale presented in the Coding Guide from Collaborative Study of Epidemiological Factors in Cerebral Vascular Disease. RESULTS Of the 189 patients who died due to intracerebral hemorrhages 42 (22%) presented CAA. According to the Vonsattel scale this group comprised 32 (76%) patients who showed severe, 6 (14%) moderate and 4 (10%) mild CAA. Atherosclerosis was diagnosed in the CAA group of patients as follows: 6 (14%) with grade 1; 20 (49%) with grade 2; 9 (20%) with grade 3; and 7 (17%) patients with grade 4. CONCLUSIONS There was no correlation between CAA and AS. The CAA was probably the direct cause of death in part of cases with advanced CAA. The different mechanisms presumably can cause CAA and AS.
Comparative studies of lunar, Martian, and Mercurian craters and plains

The amount of smooth plains material in craters surrounding the Caloris basin on Mercury depends on the extent these craters have been eroded by Caloris ejecta. Therefore smooth plains surrounding Caloris must have been emplaced at least in part by saturated secondary cratering. Mercurian uplands outside the continuous belt of smooth plains deposits have a crater population which is deficient in craters smaller than 50 km relative to extrapolations of craters larger than 50 km and relative to size frequency distributions of craters ≤50 km on typical lunar upland regions. However, the typical lunar upland regions have been masked by the addition of numerous large basin secondary craters. Only rare areas southwest of Mare Serenitatis appear to be similar to Mercurian terrain at great distances from smooth plains because the areas are relatively free of basin secondaries. Martian uplands also exhibit a crater population which is deficient in craters less than 30–50 km, which was previously interpreted to have been caused by obliteration of some craters less than 30 km by surface processes. The observed crater deficiencies on the moon, Mars, and Mercury below 30–50 km are mostly a reflection of the primary crater production population; it is characterized by a power function having two different exponents (−2.0 for craters less than 50 km and −3.2 to 3.5 for craters ≥50 km). The hypothesis that the observed deficiency of small lunar craters southwest of Mare Serenitatis resulted from an episode of premare volcanism which obliterated some small craters was evaluated and rejected because highland volcanic rocks are rare in returned samples, and if significant premare upland basaltic volcanism is hypothesized, it would be circumstantial that it occurred only in those areas least affected by basin ejecta. Premare upland volcanic activity would be required also to explain the Mercurian crater counts. However, the Mercurian mapping results indicate that intercrater plains representative of hypothetical volcanic rocks were formed before craters now observed on their surfaces. The most persuasive reason for rejecting the theory of lunar premare volcanism is that reexamination of all available crater count data for lunar uplands shows no evidence for a primary production population characterized by a single power function. Therefore crater counts showing deficiencies relative to a single power function which previously was acceptable evidence for crater obliteration need no longer be considered as evidence for crater obliteration.
Eocene magnetic stratigraphy at Gubbio, Italy, and its implications for Paleogene geochronology

The sequence of polarity zones established by Alvarez and others for the Cretaceous and Paleocene in the Scaglia Formation in the Bottaccione Gorge at Gubbio has now been extended through the uppermost Paleocene into the upper Eocene Globigerinatheka semiinvoluta zone (= anomaly 18). The relationships between the standard Paleogene foraminiferal zones and the sea-floor anomalies are defined, with the exception of the mid-Eocene zones of Morozovella lehneri , Orbulinoides beckmanni , and the base of the Truncorota-loides rohri zone, which are obscured by inadequate preservation and a fault gap. The base of the Eocene lies above anomaly 25; the lower to middle Eocene contact (base Lutetian) lies in the upper part of anomaly 22; the base of the Bartonian lies below the base of anomaly 18; and the base of the Priabonian (upper Eocene) lies within anomaly 18. Radiometric ages appear to diverge systematically from a geochronology based on steady sea-floor-spreading rates, suggesting that spreading may have been as much as a factor of 3 slower in the Paleocene and the late Eocene than in the early and middle Eocene.
Assessment of different spectral indices in the red-near-infrared spectral domain for burned land discrimination

A new spectral index named Burned Area Index (BAI), specifically designed for burned land discrimination in the red-near-infrared spectral domain, was tested on multitemporal sets of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) images. The utility of BAI for burned land discrimination was assessed against other widely used spectral vegetation indices: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) and Global Environmental Monitoring Index (GEMI). BAI provided the highest discrimination ability among the indices tested. It also showed a high variability within scorched areas, which reduced the average normalized distances with respect to other indices. A source of potential confusion between burned land areas and low-reflectance targets, such as water bodies and cloud shadows, was identified. Since BAI was designed to emphasize the charcoal signal in post-fire images, this index was highly dependent on the temporal permanence of charcoal after fires.
Benthic fauna of the inner part of Ariake Bay: long-term changes in several ecological parameters

We investigated the benthic fauna of the inner part of Ariake Bay in August 2006. We set 45 sampling stations including at 28 mud and 17 sand bottoms in subtidal areas. In each station, sediment samples were taken once with a Smith-McIntyre grab. The sediment samples were sieved with a 1 mm mesh, and the residue was fixed with 10% formalin solution. In the laboratory, benthic organisms were sorted, identified and weighed by their wet weight. The data obtained were compared to the samples collected in 1989. In both mud and sand bottoms, benthic fauna in 2006 was dominated by bivalves and polychaetes as in 1989. However, the abundance of polychaetes, bivalves, ophiuroidea, and the other taxa except crustaceans significantly or nearly significantly decreased from that in 1989 irrespective of bottom types, leading to an overall decrease in macrobenthos. The biomass of mud bottoms tended to decrease from that in 1989, though did not differ in the sand bottom. The distribution of bivalves dominating in 1989 also drastically decreased. The cause of the drastic decrease in macrobenthos may represent the consequence of the frequent occurrence of hypoxia in summer and/or change in sediment grain size, both of which have recently occurred in the inner part of Ariake Bay.
Synoptic Weather Types for the Ross Sea Region, Antarctica

AbstractSynoptic classifications over the Southern Ocean in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica (50°S–Antarctic coast, 150°E–90°W) have been derived from NCEP reanalysis data (1979–2011), producing a set of six synoptic types for the region. These types describe realistic synoptic conditions for the region and represent the moisture-bearing low pressure systems that circulate around Antarctica. The types are described as follows: low Bellingshausen/Amundsen (L-BA), low (L), zonal (Z), low Ross (L-R), ridge (R), and low Amundsen (L-A). Seasonal frequencies of the synoptic types reflect the seasonal zonal shift of the Amundsen Sea low (ASL) and also correlate well with the Southern Oscillation index (SOI) and the southern annular mode (SAM). Variability in the occurrences of the synoptic types L-R and L-BA indicate a shifting of the position of the ASL farther east (west) toward (away from) the Antarctic Peninsula during La Nina (El Nino) and positive (negative) SAM conditions. A joint linear regression of the.
No association between the I105V polymorphism of the glutathione S-transferase P1 gene (GSTP1) and prostate cancer risk: a prospective study.

GSTs[3][1] conjugate glutathione to harmful substances facilitating their removal. Allelic variants of the GSTP1 gene have been identified, one isoleucine (GSTP1-1/I-105) and one valine (GSTP1-1/V-105) at codon 105. The allele frequency varies between ethnic groups. The isozymes have activities that
Long‐period seismic radiation from the May 23, 1989, Macquarie Ridge Earthquake: Evidence for coseismic slip in the mantle?

Long-period seismic source parameters of the May 23, 1989, Macquarie Ridge earthquake are determined using a surface wave inversion procedure that incorporates detailed source-time functions obtained from shorter-period body waves. The seismic source model obtained using this method is consistent with observations of both body waves and long-period Rayleigh waves from the earthquake. The Macquarie Ridge earthquake rupture has a centroid time (28 s) and a right-lateral strike-slip fault mechanism with a rake of 175° on a vertical fault plane striking N38°E. This mechanism is consistent with P wave first motions of the event Inversions performed for various earth models demonstrate that the choice of surface wave attenuation model, in particular, affects the estimates of centroid depth and seismic moment significantly. Allowing for uncertainty in attenuation, the long-period Rayleigh waves (periods from 150 to 300 s) indicate that the Macquarie Ridge earthquake had a seismic moment of 1.9±0.2 × 1021 N m and a corresponding centroid depth of 21±6 km. The static stress drop calculated using the depth and seismic moment is 0.7±0.5×107 Pa (70±50 bars). The centroid depth, combined with the lack of resolvable directivity of the earthquake rupture, suggests that significant slip occurred beneath the Moho, which has a maximum depth of about 16 km in the epicentral region. The mantle slip component may have preferentially radiated long-period seismic energy given the shallow centroid depths and low moments determined for the event from the shorter-period body wave observations.
The 1976 August 16, Mindanao, Philippine earthquake (Ms = 7.8) - evidence for a subduction zone south of Mindanao

Summary. The Philippine earthquake of 1976 August 16, is one of the largest to have occurred world-wide in recent years (Mw=8.8; Ms=7.8; seismic moment, Mo= 1.9 × 1028dyne-cm). It is, however, associated not with the Philippine Trench, which is the dominant tectonic feature along the eastern Philippine Islands, but with a much less prominent trench system in the Moro Gulf, North Celebes Sea, south of Mindanao. In this area most of the seismicity is at depths greater than 500 km, associated with the westward dipping Benioff zones of the Sangihe and Mindanao arc systems. This event, however, has a shallow focus and caused a locally destructive tsunami. The focal mechanism of the mainshock determined in this study from long-period surface and body waves indicates a predominantly thrust mechanism with strike N 33°W, dip 22° NE and rake + 68°. A significant amount of directivity, which can be seen in the observed surface wave seismograms, is explained very well if the source rupture propagates 160 km unilaterally in an azimuth of 300° from the mainshock hypocentre, with rupture velocity 2.5 km/s. The largest aftershock (Ms= 6.8) occurred outside the main aftershock area 12 hr following the mainshock and apparently resulted from motion on a subsidiary fault since the P-wave first motion data indicate strike-slip motion for this event. Bathymetric data indicate the presence of a trench striking north-south in the region of the Moro Gulf, and seismic reflection profiling indicates disturbed sediments east of the trench showing evidence for subduction. In addition, the geological structures mapped on the island of Mindanao are consistent with this mode of deformation. The only other known large earthquake in the region on 1918 August 15 (Ms=8.0) probably occurred along the same subduction zone, on an adjacent segment, to the south of the recent event. The 1976 August 16 Philippine earthquake thus represents the first clear seismic evidence for a north-east dipping subduction zone beneath Mindanao in the Moro Gulf, North Celebes Sea.
Variability of the impact of El Niño–southern oscillation on sea‐level pressure anomalies over the North Atlantic in January to March (1874–1996)

Sea‐level pressure (SLP) anomalies over the North Atlantic and European (NAE) sector (25–70°N, 100°W–50°E) and over a larger domain encompassing the entire North Pacific domain are studied to demonstrate that SLP anomalies (SLPAs) during boreal winter (January–March) vary widely between years characterized by the same El Niño–southern oscillation (ENSO) phase. The typical cold ENSO signal tends to be more stable than the warm one during the 1874–1996 period. The typical cold ENSO pattern (e.g. positive SLPA south of 55°N across the North Atlantic and negative SLPA in the northern North Atlantic) is similar to the positive phase of the North Atlantic oscillation (NAO) and occurs throughout the 20th century, except during the 1950s and 1960s when the basinwide westerlies are particularly slow. On the contrary, the typical warm ENSO pattern (e.g. positive SLPA from central Canada to Scandinavia and negative SLPA from the southeastern USA to central Europe, corresponding to the negative phase of the NAO) occurs mainly from 1930 to 1970. Another robust warm ENSO pattern is associated with a large positive (negative) SLPA between Newfoundland and western Europe (between Greenland and Scandinavia), and occurs mainly at the beginning and the end of the 20th century when the basinwide North Atlantic westerlies are strengthened. All these patterns stay statistically significant when the multi‐decadal variability is removed from the North Atlantic SLPA. It is shown that the low‐frequency variability of the north tropical Atlantic sea‐surface temperature anomalies could exert a modulating effect on the ENSO teleconnection. NAE SLPAs tend to be strong during warm (cold) ENSO winters and consistent with a negative (positive) phase of the NAO when the north tropical Atlantic is anomalously warm (cold). Lastly, the magnitude of the SLPA patterns over the NAE sector appears poorly related to the intensity of sea‐surface temperature anomalies in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society
Metered dose inhalers in the transition to low GWP propellants: what we know and what is missing to make it happen

ABSTRACT Introduction The urgency to replace the propellants currently in use with the new sustainable ones has given rise to the need for investigation and reformulation of pMDIs. Areas covered The reformulation requires in-depth knowledge of the physico-chemical characteristics of the new propellants, which impact the atomization capacity and the plume geometry. Among the investigated propellants, HFA 152a, due to its lower vapor pressure and higher surface tension compared to HFA 134a, deliver larger particles and has a higher solvent capacity toward lipophilic drugs. On the other hand, HFO 1234ze has properties more similar to HFA 134a, but showed lower reproducibility of the generated spray, indicating a possible high susceptibility to variation in the consistency of the dose delivered. In addition, the device components currently in use are compatible with the new propellants. This allowed promising preliminary results in the re-formulation of pMDIs by academia and pharma companies. However, there is little information about the clinical studies required to allow the marketing of these new products. Expert opinion Overall, studies conducted so far show that the transition is technically possible, and the main obstacle will be represented by the investment required to put the product on the market.
Alternatives for landmine detection

Abstract : Antipersonnel mines remain a significant international threat to civilians despite recent intense efforts by the United States, other developed countries, and humanitarian aid organizations to clear them from postconflict regions. Mines claim an estimated 15,000-20,000 victims per year in some 90 countries. They jeopardize the resumption of normal activities-from subsistence farming to commercial enterprise-long after periods of conflict have ceased. For example, in Afghanistan during 2000, mines claimed 150-300 victims per month, half of them children. Although most of these mines were emplaced during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (from 1979 to 1988), they continue to pose a serious risk to returning refugees and have placed vast tracts of farmland off limits. The United States currently invests about $100 million annually in humanitarian mine clearance-the largest commitment of any country. Despite this investment and the funding from many other developed nations and nongovernmental organizations, at the current rate clearing all existing mines could take 450-500 years.
Conceptual framework for the analysis and classification of fossil concentrations

Densely fossiliferous deposits are receiving increasing attention for their yield of paleobiologic data and their usefulness in sedimentology and stratigraphy. This trend has created a pressing need for standardized descriptive terminology and a genetic classification based on a coherent conceptual framework. The descriptive procedure outlined here for skeletal concentrations stresses four features -taxonomic composition, bioclastic fabric, geometry, and internal structure-that can be described readily in the field by nonspecialists. The genetic classification scheme is based on three end members, representing biologic, sedimentologic, and diagenetic factors in skeletal concentration. Concentrations created through the simultaneous or sequential action of two or more factors are classified as mixed types. As a conceptual framework for comparative biostratinomic analysis, the broad categories of this ternary classification scheme should facilitate recognition of large-scale temporal and spatial patterns in skeletal accumulation. The usefulness of this approach is suggested by the good agreement between biostratinomic patterns observed in ancient onshore-offshore facies tracts and those predicted across paleobathymetric transects based on modern processes of skeletal concentration.