julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
MaGe-a Geant4-Based Monte Carlo Application Framework for Low-Background Germanium Experiments
2011-06-01

We describe a physics simulation software framework, MAGE, that is based on\\nthe GEANT4 simulation toolkit. MAGE is used to simulate the response of\\nultra-low radioactive background radiation detectors to ionizing radiation,\\nspecifically the MAJORANA and GERDA neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments.\\nMAJORANA and GERDA use high-purity germanium detectors to search for the\\nneutrinoless double-beta decay of 76Ge, and MAGE is jointly developed between\\nthese two collaborations. The MAGE framework contains the geometry models of\\ncommon objects, prototypes, test stands, and the actual experiments. It also\\nimplements customized event generators, GEANT4 physics lists, and output\\nformats. All of these features are available as class libraries that are\\ntypically compiled into a single executable. The user selects the particular\\nexperimental setup implementation at run-time via macros. The combination of\\nall these common classes into one framework reduces duplication of efforts,\\neases comparison between simulated data and experiment, and simplifies the\\naddition of new detectors to be simulated. This paper focuses on the software\\nframework, custom event generators, and physics lists.\\n
Disease severity affects quality of life of hereditary spastic paraplegia patients
2011-06-01

Background and purpose: Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) causes progressive gait disturbance because of degeneration of the corticospinal tract. To assess its impact on Health‐Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), we analyzed the correlation of HRQoL with disease severity and clinical symptoms in HSP. Methods: HRQoL was assessed by the Short‐Form 36 (SF‐36) Mental and Physical Component summary scores (MCS and PCS) in 143 German patients with HSP. Disease severity was assessed by the Spastic Paraplegia Rating Scale (SPRS) and landmarks of walking ability. Patients with ‘pure’ or ‘complicated’ HSP were compared. Results: Higher SPRS scores indicating higher disease severity correlated significantly with lower PCS ( r = −0.63; P &lt; 0.0005) and MCS ( r = −0.38; P &lt; 0.0005) scores. MCS and PCS were reduced in patients with ‘complicated’ forms compared to ‘pure’ HSP and with decreasing walking ability. Conclusion: HRQoL is substantially impaired in patients with HSP and decreases with disease severity and the presence of ‘complicating’ symptoms. Patients are most affected by the physical restraints of their disease, but mental health is impaired as well. HRQoL is a valid parameter in HSP that should be considered in upcoming therapeutical trials.
Explaining global governance—a complexity perspective
2011-06-01

As patterns of global governance have undergone significant changes over time, there is a need for new theoretical concepts that are less oriented towards formal hierarchies and give more emphasis to social processes. A framework, however, that takes account of complex interactions and tangling relations bears the danger of losing analytical power. The article addresses the question of the extent to which complexity theory can overcome this problem by combining scientific rigour with contextual sensitivity. A dynamic mechanistic approach is explored that addresses the underlying processes that generate new collective patterns based on changed actor constellations and relational orders. An activator–inhibitor interaction model is introduced as a framework for analysing the multi-level processes that drive international change, using the example of climate protection. Global governance is theorized as it grows within the system fleshing out a new logic of collective action based on decentralization and clustering.
Stochastic flux‐related analysis of transverse mixing in two‐dimensional heterogeneous porous media
2011-06-01

Transverse mixing of solutes in steady state transport is of utmost importance for assessing mixing‐controlled reactions of compounds that are continuously introduced into the subsurface. Classical spatial moments analysis fails to describe mixing because the tortuous streamlines in heterogeneous formations cause plume meandering, squeezing, and stretching, which affect transverse spatial moments even if there is no mass transfer perpendicular to the direction of flow. For transverse solute mixing, however, the decisive process is the exchange of solute mass between adjacent stream tubes. We therefore reformulate the advection‐dispersion equation in streamline coordinates (i.e., in terms of the potential and the stream function values) and analyze how flux‐related second central moments of plumes increase with dropping hydraulic potential. We compare the ensemble behavior of these second central moments in random two‐dimensional heterogeneous flow fields with the moments in an equivalent homogeneous system, thus defining an equivalent effective transverse dispersion coefficient. Unlike transverse macrodispersion coefficients derived by traditional moment analysis, our mixing‐relevant, flux‐related coefficient does not increase with travel distance. We present closed‐form solutions for the mean enhancement of transverse mixing by heterogeneity in two‐dimensional isotropic media for linear laws of local‐scale transverse dispersion. The mixing enhancement factor increases with the log conductivity variance but remains fairly low. We also evaluate the variance of our cumulative measure of transverse mixing, showing that heterogeneity causes substantial uncertainty of mixing. The analytical expressions are compared to numerical Monte Carlo simulations for various values of log conductivity variance, indicating good agreement with the analytical results at low variability. In the numerical simulations, we also consider nonlinear models of local‐scale transverse dispersion.
Multi-stage Ag–Bi–Co–Ni–U and Cu–Bi vein mineralization at Wittichen, Schwarzwald, SW Germany: geological setting, ore mineralogy, and fluid evolution
2011-06-01

The Wittichen Co-Ag-Bi-U mining area (Schwarzwald ore district, SW Germany) hosts several unconformity-related vein-type mineralizations within Variscan leucogranite and Permian to Triassic redbeds. The multistage mineralization formed at the intersection of two fault systems in the last 250 Ma. A Permo-Triassic ore stage I with minor U-Bi-quartz-fluorite mineralization is followed by a Jurassic to Cretaceous ore stage II with the main Ag and Co mineralization consisting of several generations of gangue minerals that host the sub-stages of U-Bi, Bi-Ag, Ni-As-Bi and Co-As-Bi. Important ore minerals are native elements, Co and Ni arsenides, and pitchblende; sulphides are absent. The Miocene ore stage III comprises barite with the Cu-Bi sulfosalts emplectite, wittichenite and aikinite, and the sulphides anilite and djurleite besides native Bi, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena and tennantite. The mineral-forming fluid system changed from low salinity (< 5 wt.% NaCl) at high temperature (around 300A degrees C) in Permian to highly saline (around 25 wt.% NaCl + CaCl2) at lower temperatures (50-150A degrees C) in Triassic to Cretaceous times. Thermodynamic calculations and comparison with similar mineralizations worldwide show that the Mesozoic ore-forming fluid was alkaline with redox conditions above the hematite-magnetite buffer. We suggest that the precipitation mechanism for native elements, pitchblende and arsenides is a decrease in pH during fluid mixing processes. REE patterns in fluorite and the occurrence of Bi in all stages suggest a granitic source of some ore-forming elements, whereas, e.g. Ag, Co and Ni probably have been leached from the redbeds. The greater importance of Cu and isotope data indicates that the Miocene ore stage III is more influenced by fluids from the overlying redbeds and limestones than the earlier mineralization stages.
Object-oriented Bayesian networks for detection of lane change maneuvers
2011-06-01

In this paper we introduce a novel approach towards the recognition of typical driving maneuvers in structured highway scenarios and identify some of the key benefits of traffic scene modeling with object-oriented Bayesian networks (OOBNs). The approach exploits the advantages of an introduced lane-related coordinate system together with individual occupancy grids for all vehicles. This combination allows for an efficient classification of the existing vehiclelane and vehicle-vehicle relations in a traffic scene and thus substantially improves the understanding of complex traffic scenes. We systematically propagate probabilities and variances within our network which results in probabilistic sets of the modeled driving maneuvers. Using this generic approach, we are able to classify a total of 27 driving maneuvers including merging and object following.
The role of the cerebellum in saccadic adaptation as a window into neural mechanisms of motor learning
2011-06-01

Abstract How does the nervous system guide the muscular periphery during the acquisition of a new motor skill? This is a fundamental question for researchers trying to understand the neural basis of motor learning. Recent advances in studying a valuable example of short‐term motor learning, namely the adaptation of saccadic eye movements, have revealed neuronal processes in the cerebellum that underlie the unfolding of the learned behavior. In this review, we describe the latest findings from electrophysiology studies of saccadic adaptation and how they can generalize to more elaborate examples of cerebellum‐dependent adaptation of movements. We focus our discussion on the plastic changes that are observed in the firing properties of Purkinje cells during the acquisition of the wanted motor response and describe how the altered activity of these neurons modifies the dynamics of the cerebellar microcircuitry. We finally demonstrate how such task‐related modifications in the cerebellum are appropriate to fine‐tune extracerebellar pre‐motor structures and induce the learned behavior.
Towards brain-robot interfaces in stroke rehabilitation
2011-06-01

A neurorehabilitation approach that combines robot-assisted active physical therapy and Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) may provide an additional mileage with respect to traditional rehabilitation methods for patients with severe motor impairment due to cerebrovascular brain damage (e.g., stroke) and other neurological conditions. In this paper, we describe the design and modes of operation of a robot-based rehabilitation framework that enables artificial support of the sensorimotor feedback loop. The aim is to increase cortical plasticity by means of Hebbian-type learning rules. A BCI-based shared-control strategy is used to drive a Barret WAM 7-degree-of-freedom arm that guides a subject's arm. Experimental validation of our setup is carried out both with healthy subjects and stroke patients. We review the empirical results which we have obtained to date, and argue that they support the feasibility of future rehabilitative treatments employing this novel approach.
Side Chain-oxidized Oxysterols Regulate the Brain Renin-Angiotensin System through a Liver X Receptor-dependent Mechanism
2011-06-01

Disturbances in cholesterol metabolism have been associated with hypertension and neurodegenerative disorders. Because cholesterol metabolism in the brain is efficiently separated from plasma cholesterol by the blood-brain barrier (BBB), it is an unsolved paradox how high blood cholesterol can cause an effect in the brain. Here, we discuss the possibility that cholesterol metabolites permeable to the BBB might account for these effects. We show that 27-hydroxycholesterol (27-OH) and 24S-hydroxycholesterol (24S-OH) up-regulate the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in the brain. Brains of mice on a cholesterol-enriched diet showed up-regulated angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), angiotensinogen (AGT), and increased JAK/STAT activity. These effects were confirmed in in vitro studies with primary neurons and astrocytes exposed to 27-OH or 24S-OH, and were partially mediated by liver X receptors. In contrast, brain RAS activity was decreased in Cyp27a1-deficient mice, a model exhibiting reduced 27-OH production from cholesterol. Moreover, in humans, normocholesterolemic patients with elevated 27-OH levels, due to a CYP7B1 mutation, had markers of activated RAS in their cerebrospinal fluid. Our results demonstrate that side chain-oxidized oxysterols are modulators of brain RAS. Considering that levels of cholesterol and 27-OH correlate in the circulation and 27-OH can pass the BBB into the brain, we suggest that this cholesterol metabolite could be a link between high plasma cholesterol levels, hypertension, and neurodegeneration.
Cognitive styles in hypomanic episodes of bipolar I disorder
2011-06-01

Dysfunctional cognition in bipolar disorder seems to relate to state rather than to trait. Hypomania includes depression-related as well as mania-related cognitions and can therefore not be considered as the mere opposite of depression.
Single-Port Surgery and NOTES
2011-06-01

Two different ways have been developed to perform endoscopic surgery. The standard way is multiport laparoscopic surgery. When entering through a natural orifice, we use single-port surgery for transanal work (transanal endoscopic microsurgery). In clinical routine, we moved from intralumenal surgery toward surgery in the perirectal area and finally the free abdomen. In the context of natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery, we have modified the length and diameter of optics and tube and developed new mechanisms for steering long curved instruments. This technology is then used for transvaginal cholecystectomy and transanal rectosigmoid resection. Global clinical application of transanal endoscopic microsurgery has proven superiority in preciseness and clinical results for adenomas and early cancer. The initial clinical study for transvaginal cholecystectomy is successfully performed in 6 female patients with an average operation time of 80 minutes and without major complication. Feasibility of transanal rectosigmoid resection is demonstrated in an ex vivo experimental model.
Charcoal remains from a tonstein layer in the Faxinal Coalfield, Lower Permian, southern Paraná Basin, Brazil
2011-06-01

Fossil charcoal has been discovered in the Faxinal Coalfield, Early Permian, Rio Bonito Formation, in the southernmost portion of the Paraná Basin, Brazil. Three types of pycnoxylic gymnosperm woods recovered from a single tonstein layer are described and confirm the occurrence of paleowildfire in this area. A decrease of the charcoal concentration from the base to the top within the tonstein layer indicates that the amount of fuel declined during the deposition probably due to the consumption of vegetation by the fire. The presence of inertinite in coals overlying and underlying the tonstein layer indicates that fire-events were not restricted to the ash fall interval. The integration of the new data presented in the current study with previously published data for the Faxinal Coalfield demonstrates that volcanic events that occurred in the surrounding areas can be identified as one potential source of ignition for the wildfires. The presence of charcoal in Permian sediments associated with coal levels at different localities demonstrates that wildfires have been relatively common events in the peat-forming environments in which the coal formation took place in the Paraná Basin.
Virtual Assessment of the Endocranial Morphology of the Early Modern European Fossil Calvaria From Cioclovina, Romania
2011-06-01

Abstract Endocasts provide evidence on size and shape characteristics, blood supply trajectories, and neurological features of the brain, allowing comparative analyses of fossil hominins crucial to our understanding of human brain evolution. Here, we assess the morphological features of the virtual endocast of the Cioclovina Upper Paleolithic calvarium, one of the earliest reliably dated European modern human fossils. Our study was conducted on a computed tomography (CT) scan of the original specimen. The endocranial profile was approximated via a semiautomatic segmentation of the CT data. Virtual reconstructions of the endocast were used for assessing the morphological features of the endocranium and for the estimation of the endocranial volume. Cioclovina exhibits a clockwise torque with a small anterior extension of the left frontal lobe over the right one and a protrusion of the right occipital lobe over the left, most likely due to the superior sagittal sinus coursing over the occipital pole. There is an obvious right predominance of the posterior drainage system. Interestingly, the area of the frontal sinus is occupied by dense bony tissue with small air cells corresponding probably to a natural bony loss in the diploë and to vascular spaces. An estimated endocranial volume of 1498.53 cc was calculated. The convolutional details of the third inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's caps) are indistinguishable from those found in modern Homo sapiens , and the left occipital lobe appears wider than the right, a possible correlate of right‐handedness. Our metric analysis of endocranial measurements also aligns Cioclovina with modern humans. Anat Rec, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Disseminated and circulating tumor cells for monitoring chemotherapy in urological tumors.
2011-06-01

This review focused on technical advancements in the detection of CTCs/DTCs in urogenital cancer. Most of the established methods of circulating tumor cell enrichment use density-gradient centrifugation and immunomagnetic procedures. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is another detection technique. Novel methods, the CTC chip and the epithelial immunospot (EPISPOT) assay, have already shown promising results. For localized and metastatic prostate cancer, significant correlations between CTCs/DTCs and well-established indicators of disease activity have been demonstrated. Furthermore, various studies support the prognostic relevance of CTCs in metastatic bladder and renal cell carcinoma patients. Advanced technologies offer new options for estimating the risk of progression after curative-intended surgery and may allow a more effective monitoring of disease progression or response to therapy.
Vishnoo &#x2014; An open-source software for vision research
2011-06-01

The visual input is perhaps the most important sensory information. Understanding its mechanisms as well as the way visual attention arises could be highly beneficial for many tasks involving the analysis of users' interaction with their environment. We present Vishnoo (Visual Search Examination Tool), an integrated framework that combines configurable search tasks with gaze tracking capabilities, thus enabling the analysis of both, the visual field and the visual attention. Our user studies underpin the viability of such a platform. Vishnoo is an open-source software and is available for download at http://www.vishnoo.de/
Short Assessment of the Big Five: Robust Across Survey Methods Except Telephone Interviewing
2011-06-01

We examined measurement invariance and age-related robustness of a short 15-item Big Five Inventory (BFI–S) of personality dimensions, which is well suited for applications in large-scale multidisciplinary surveys. The BFI–S was assessed in three different interviewing conditions: computer-assisted or paper-assisted face-to-face interviewing, computer-assisted telephone interviewing, and a self-administered questionnaire. Randomized probability samples from a large-scale German panel survey and a related probability telephone study were used in order to test method effects on self-report measures of personality characteristics across early, middle, and late adulthood. Exploratory structural equation modeling was used in order to test for measurement invariance of the five-factor model of personality trait domains across different assessment methods. For the short inventory, findings suggest strong robustness of self-report measures of personality dimensions among young and middle-aged adults. In old age, telephone interviewing was associated with greater distortions in reliable personality assessment. It is concluded that the greater mental workload of telephone interviewing limits the reliability of self-report personality assessment. Face-to-face surveys and self-administrated questionnaire completion are clearly better suited than phone surveys when personality traits in age-heterogeneous samples are assessed.
Mood and Multiple Source Characteristics: Mood Congruency of Source Consensus Status and Source Trustworthiness as Determinants of Message Scrutiny
2011-06-01

This research deals with the interplay of mood and multiple source characteristics in regard to persuasion processes and attitudes. In a four-factorial experiment, mood (positive vs. negative), source consensus status (majority vs. minority), source trustworthiness (high vs. low), and message strength (strong vs. weak) were manipulated. Results were in line with predictions of a mood-congruent expectancies perspective rather than competing predictions of a mood-as-information perspective. Specifically, individuals in both moods evinced higher message scrutiny given mood-incongruent (vs. mood-congruent) source characteristics. That is, across source trustworthiness, positive (negative) mood led to higher message scrutiny given a minority (majority) versus a majority (minority) source. Furthermore, across source consensus, positive (negative) mood led to higher message scrutiny given an untrustworthy (trustworthy) versus a trustworthy (untrustworthy) source. Additional analyses revealed that processing effort increased from doubly mood-congruent source combinations (low effort) over mixed-source combinations (intermediate effort) to doubly mood-incongruent combinations (high effort). Implications are discussed.
The Impact of Controlled Foreign Company Legislation on Real Investments Abroad: A Two-Dimensional Regression Discontinuity Design
2011-06-01

Controlled foreign company (CFC) rules are frequently imposed by countries as part of their anti-tax-avoidance legislation. This paper aims at quantifying their impact on foreign investments by utilizing a regression discontinuity design and the universe of German foreign investments notified to Deutsche Bundesbank. While most regression discontinuity designs are one-dimensional, German CFC legislation gives rise to a two-dimensional design. The latter allows the local average treatment effect (LATE) to be heterogeneous along the two treatment thresholds, which are related to the level of the foreign corporate profit tax rate and to the returns on passive assets relative to total returns. We find clear evidence of a negative average LATE of the CFC legislation on the fixed assets held by German multinationals abroad. We find also evidence of some heterogeneity of LATE according to parametric as well as nonparametric estimates. On average, foreign assets are estimated to respond by about 10 million Euros in the neighborhood of the intersection of both treatment thresholds. This evidence points to a significant and economically large impact of anti-tax-avoidance legislation on multinational firms’ real activity abroad.
Medical, Psychological and Intellectual Development of 5-Year-Old Children Born after Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection
2011-06-01

Once severe congenital anomalies were excluded, there were no differences in physical and neurodevelopmental outcome of 5-year-old ICSI children compared with controls.With regard to behaviour and emotional development, ICSI children seem to be similar or might be even more stable and socially competent than the control children. As our study is limited by the small sample size, further research is needed to confirm our results.
Interventional Stress in Renal Stone Treatment
2011-06-01

Contrary to common opinion that SWL is the least invasive therapy, the reported stress parameters did not show significant differences between SWL, RIRS, and MIP, although significantly bigger stones were treated with MIP.