julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
From Dynamic Groundwater Level Measurements to Regional Aquifer Parameters— Assessing the Power of Spectral Analysis
2022-05-01

Abstract Large‐scale groundwater models are required to estimate groundwater availability and to inform water management strategies on the national scale. However, parameterization of large‐scale groundwater models covering areas of major river basins and more is challenging due to the lack of observational data and the mismatch between the scales of modeling and measurements. In this work, we propose to bridge the scale gap and derive regional hydraulic parameters by spectral analysis of groundwater level fluctuations. We hypothesize that specific locations in aquifers can reveal regional parameters of the hydraulic system. We first generate ensembles of synthetic but realistic aquifers which systematically differ in complexity. Applying Liang and Zhang’s (2013), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.11.044 , semi‐analytical solution for the spectrum of hydraulic head time series, we identify for each ensemble member and at different locations representative aquifer parameters. Next, we extend our study to investigate the use of spectral analysis in more complex numerical models and in real settings. Our analyses indicate that the variance of inferred effective transmissivity and storativity values for stochastic aquifer ensembles is small for observation points which are far away from the Dirichlet boundary. Moreover, the head time series has to cover a period which is roughly 10 times as long as the characteristic time of the aquifer. In deterministic aquifer models we infer equivalent, regionally valid parameters. A sensitivity analysis further reveals that as long as the aquifer length and the position of the groundwater measurement location is roughly known, the parameters can be robustly estimated.
Homophilic Interaction Between Transmembrane-JAM-A and Soluble JAM-A Regulates Thrombo-Inflammation
2022-05-01

Genetic predisposition through <i>F11R-</i>single-nucleotide variation (SNV) influences circulatory soluble junctional adhesion molecule-A (sJAM-A) levels in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. Homozygous carriers of the minor alleles (<i>F11R-</i>SNVs rs2774276, rs790056) show enhanced levels of thrombo-inflammatory sJAM-A. Both <i>F11R-</i>SNVs and sJAM-A are associated with worse prognosis for recurrent myocardial infarction in CAD patients. Platelet surface-associated JAM-A correlate with platelet activation markers in CAD patients. Activated platelets shed transmembrane-JAM-A, generating proinflammatory sJAM-A and JAM-A-bearing microparticles. Platelet transmembrane-JAM-A and sJAM-A as homophilic interaction partners exaggerate thrombotic and thrombo-inflammatory platelet monocyte interactions. Therapeutic strategies interfering with this homophilic interface may regulate thrombotic and thrombo-inflammatory platelet response in cardiovascular pathologies where circulatory sJAM-A levels are elevated.
A new gecko (Squamata, Gekkota) from the Eocene of Geiseltal (Germany) implies long‐term persistence of European Sphaerodactylidae
2022-05-01

Abstract Gekkota (geckos and pygopods) constitute a diverse and early diverging clade of squamates, but their highly fragmentary fossil record allows only limited insights into their evolutionary history. Even long‐known classic Palaeogene Lagerstätten, such as the Eocene Messel and Geiseltal, remained uninformative for gecko evolution. Here we describe an articulated near‐complete crown‐gekkotan skull from the Eocene of Geiseltal. The skull represents one of the most complete and oldest fossil geckos from the Cenozoic and warrants the naming of a new taxon, Geiseleptes delfinoi gen. et sp. nov. Parsimony analysis of an expanded morphological dataset that comprehensively samples fossil geckos recovers at least two lineages in the Palaeogene of Europe: Gekkonidae and Sphaerodactylidae. Further clades may have been present but require further support. The new species, together with several other European extinct taxa, belongs to the extant clade Sphaerodactylidae. Published molecular phylogenies imply a European dispersal from Africa for the clade, and G . delfinoi constrains the timing of this event to no later than the middle Eocene. Within Sphaerodactylidae, several Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene species form the stem‐lineage of the extant Mediterranean‐endemic Euleptes europaea of which G . delfinoi is the oldest representative. We here define the new clade Euleptinae for this group. Euleptine geckos had an unusually long evolutionary history in Cenozoic Europe and may represent one of the very few vertebrate clades with a persistent presence since the early Palaeogene, indicating extreme adaptability. As the oldest known crown‐sphaerodactylid, G . delfinoi represents an important fossil calibration for divergence dating analyses of geckos.
Weather, Land and Crops in the Indus Village Model: A Simulation Framework for Crop Dynamics under Environmental Variability and Climate Change in the Indus Civilisation
2022-05-01

The start and end of the urban phase of the Indus civilization (IC; c. 2500 to 1900 BC) are often linked with climate change, specifically regarding trends in the intensity of summer and winter precipitation and its effect on the productivity of local food economies. The Indus Village is a modular agent-based model designed as a heuristic “sandbox” to investigate how IC farmers could cope with diverse and changing environments and how climate change could impact the local and regional food production levels required for maintaining urban centers. The complete model includes dedicated submodels about weather, topography, soil properties, crop dynamics, food storage and exchange, nutrition, demography, and farming decision-making. In this paper, however, we focus on presenting the parts required for generating crop dynamics, including the submodels involved (weather, soil water, land, and crop models) and how they are combined progressively to form two integrated models (land water and land crop models). Furthermore, we describe and discuss the results of six simulation experiments, which highlight the roles of seasonality, topography, and crop diversity in understanding the potential impact of environmental variability, including climate change, in IC food economies. We conclude by discussing a broader consideration of risk and risk mitigation strategies in ancient agriculture and potential implications to the sustainability of the IC urban centres.
Putting Potential at the Core of Teaching Electric Circuits
2022-05-01

Electricity has shaped modern civilization in a way few other discoveries have. Nonetheless, few students successfully develop a basic understanding of voltage, current, and resistance or their mutual relationship in simple DC circuits. Despite teachers’ best efforts in the classroom, so-called “alternative conceptions” often prevail after traditional instruction. In particular, voltage has proven to be a difficult concept to teach—many students erroneously think of voltage as a property of electric current. Furthermore, a battery is often considered to be a source of constant current rather than constant voltage. In order to help students develop a better understanding of simple DC circuits, we developed a new curriculum with an accompanying computer simulation that illustrates potential differences in circuits in order to make voltage rather than current the students’ primary concept when analyzing circuits. To this end, the curriculum takes typical alternative conceptions into account and builds on students’ everyday experiences with air pressure in order to provide them with an immediately tangible counterpart in electric potential. In analogy to air pressure differences that cause an air flow, voltage is introduced as an “electric pressure difference” that causes an electric current. Using the accompanying computer simulation, potential differences are visualized in simple DC circuits using color coding and a height representation. The new curriculum including teaching resources as well as the newly developed computer simulation are both freely available online to teachers and students alike.
Historicizing and Theorizing Pre-Narrative Figures—Who is Uncle Sam?
2022-05-01

This contribution examines Uncle Sam's development during the nineteenth century as an interesting case study for transmedial character theory, an increasingly common approach to the study of fictional characters. However, as Scolari, Bertetti, and Freeman have argued, "older forms of transmedia franchises were constructed on character sharing rather than on the logics of a particular world" (17). Characters were and still are in many cases the nodal points and intersections of various processes discussed as media convergence, yet the distinctions between "actual" characters and related terms such as "cultural icons" (Brooker) or "serial figures" (Denson and Mayer) remain somewhat contested and often hard to draw in practice. This contribution addresses these issues by investigating the nineteenth-century emergence and transformation of Uncle Sam as a recognizable figure within political cartoons. Without any overarching creative authority or any consistent "storyworld" to speak of, these cartoons lend themselves to recontextualizations by any artist able to uphold a recognizable iconography. In media-historical terms, political cartoons that did not merely comment upon actually existing public persons but instead developed their own inventory of allegorical figures are an important link between earlier, more "static" pictorial personifications of—and symbols for—countries and ideas and the later emergence of serial characters within comic books and other narrative media.
Turbulence above offshore wind farms measured by aircraft
2022-05-01

Abstract The flow inside and around large offshore wind farms may range from smaller and shorter structures present due to the mechanical turbulence generated by wind turbines to larger, and longer structures indicative of the mesoscale flow. In this study, we explore the variation in turbulence structures above large offshore wind farms located in the North Sea using the data obtained from a research aircraft. The aircraft was flown upstream, downstream, and above the wind farm clusters. We evaluate the normalized autocorrelation of the wind velocity component in the mean wind direction for transverse separations and the rate of energy dissipation in the inertial subrange for neutral and stable stratification. During the neutral stratification, there is high ambient turbulence in the atmosphere and large values of the energy dissipation rate. The intensity of small-scale turbulence structures is increased above and downstream of the wind farm and it dominates the mesoscale flow structures. While in stable stratification, mesoscale flow structures are not only dominant upstream of the wind farm but also in the downstream flow. Apart from the atmospheric stratification, the wind farm layout also affects the turbulent structures, the rate of energy dissipation, and time for wake recovery.
Change in Metabolomic Profile Associated with an Average Increase in Plain Water Intake of >+1 L/day, Sustained over 4 Weeks, in Healthy Young Men with Initial Total Water Intake below 2 L/day
2022-05-01

Cells adapt to chronic extracellular hypotonicity by altering metabolism, such that cell‐level chronic disease risk factors are reduced. Corresponding effects of sustained whole‐body hydration are hypothesized but remain to be confirmed and translated into population‐level chronic disease prevention. This analysis aimed to 1) describe change in urine and serum metabolomic profiles associated with change in hydration, induced by four weeks of sustained higher intake of drinking water, 2) check if features recognized as key osmolytes in specific tissues changed in urine and/or serum, and 3) identify which metabolic pathways might potentially be impacted by sustained hypotonic hydration. Adapt Study [Stookey JD et al., Physiol Rep 2013;1(5)] data from for 4 healthy, normal weight men (20‐25 years) who transitioned from not meeting to meeting 3 osmolality criteria (urine:&lt;800mmol/kg, serum:&lt;295mmol/kg and saliva:&lt;100mmol/kg) over 4 weeks of &gt;+1L/d intake of drinking water were used for this analysis. Untargeted metabolomic assays were performed by the UC Davis West Coast Metabolomic Center on first‐morning urine collected after overnight food and water restriction and urine (t+60min) and serum (t+90min) collected after a 750 ml bolus of drinking water. Metaboanalyst 5.0 was used to compare Week 1 vs Week 6 metabolomic profiles, using heatmap, OPLS‐DA, fold‐change, and pathway analyses. In heatmap and OPLS‐DA plots, metabolomic profiles appeared more similar in Week 6. Over 350 metabolic features decreased by 2‐fold or more relative to creatinine for at least 3 out of 4 participants in first‐morning and post‐bolus urine. Over 200 features increased by 2‐fold or more relative to creatinine in serum. A wide variety of known compounds changed by 2‐fold or more in at least one specimen type, including alcohols, monosaccharides, disaccharides, sugar acids, polyols, azoline, lactone, nucleosides, phenols, purines, pyridines, pyrimidines, fatty acids, cholesterol, glycerolipids, amino acids, carboxylic acids, phosphate, and urea. Based on hypergeometric test p‐value &lt;0.05 or pathway impact factor &gt;0.2, sustained +1L/d of drinking water was associated with concurrent changes in carbohydrate, protein, lipid, and micronutrient metabolism, a ‘reverse’ Warburg‐like pattern favoring carbohydrate oxidation via the TCA cycle in Week 6. The results warrant further work to leverage cell hydration effects for chronic disease prevention.
Mycoplasma infection modifies attachment, proliferation, and the expression of immune checkpoint antigen CD276 (B7‐H3) on the Cal29 bladder cancer cell line
2022-05-01

Introduction and aim Bladder cancer is among the most prevalent malignancies in Western societies. Despite intensive research, progress towards better diagnosis or therapy was sparse in the last decades. However, many studies documented elevated expression of immune checkpoint antigens including PD‐1, PD‐L1, CTLA‐4, or CD276 (alias B7‐H3) on bladder tumor cells. Immune checkpoint antigens are capable to suppress immune responses against the tumor. But novel therapies targeting immune checkpoint antigens are promising. Some of these agents are already part of clinical studies. At the same time mycoplasma infections were reported in about 18% of sexually experienced adults. We therefore investigated if mycoplasma contaminated urothelial carcinoma cells Cal29 differed in attachment, appearance, proliferation, and expression of immune checkpoint antigen CD276 from mycoplasma‐free Cal29. Materials and Methods Mycoplasma infected Cal29 cells (mcCal29) and clean Cal29 cells (Cal29, from ATCC) were expanded and infection vs. sterility was monitored by PCR throughout the experiment. Cells were seeded and attachment, appearance and size of the cells were observed by microscopy. Proliferation was enumerated in consecutive passages using a hematocytometer and trypan blue dye exclusion. Expression of CD276 was studies on the mRNA level by quantitative PCR of cDNA (RT‐qPCR). Analyses of GAPDH and PPIAγ served as controls. CD276 protein levels were explored by immunoblot, and ß‐actin served a control. CD276 expression on cell surfaces was explored by flow cytometry and is documented as mean fluorescence intensity (MFI). Unstained cells and beads served as controls. Results Mycoplasma‐contaminated Cal29 proliferated significantly faster than clean Cal29 (n=5, 132%, p&lt;7,8E‐09). Upon seeding in flasks, Cal29 adhered faster then mcCal29, attached more firm to the flasks as microscopy showed up to double diameters in comparison to mcCal29. Expression of CD276 transcripts and total proteins did not differ, but on cell surfaces mcCal29 (MFI 4334) expressed less than half of CD276 in comparison to Cal29 (MFI 9729). Conclusions Urinary infection by mycoplasma may indirectly contribute to tumor spready by accelerating proliferation of bladder cancer cells and by reducing cell‐cell and/or cell‐matrix interactions as documented by attachment and cell growth studies. However, mcCal29 presented less CD276 on tumor cell surfaces. Thus, mycoplasma infection may facilitate immune responses to bladder cancer cells by reducing the expression of CD276. But these preliminary results must be conformed or challenged by additional studies with other urothelial cells.
MO510: CKD Progression in a Cohort of Older Community-Dwelling Adults– Results From the Berlin Initiative Study (BIS)
2022-05-01

Abstract BACKGROUND AND AIMS Data on the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) over time in older populations are scarce. Identifying patterns of eGFR progression is essential for a better understanding of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in older adults. METHOD We used data from the BIS, a community-dwelling cohort of 2069 people aged 70 or older. Participants were recruited between 2009 and 2011. After baseline assessment, four follow-up visits were conducted biennially over a total observation period of 8 years. During all study visits, eGFR and CKD stages based on KIDGO guidelines were assessed using the creatinine and cystatin C-based BIS2 equation (eGFRBIS2). Additionally, we used the creatinine-based EKFC equation (eGFREKFC). In a sub-analysis, we included only non-deceased participants with complete attendance at all study visits and valid eGFR values at all measurements. RESULTS At baseline, the mean age was 80.4 years (SD = 6.7), and 52.6 % were females. Prevalence was highest for CKD stage 2 (45.4%) and 3 (49.3%). After 8 years, the prevalence for CKD stages 1 and 2 decreased, whereas stages 3 and 4 showed a consistent upward trend resulting in 18.4%, 72.4% and 8.9% of participants in stages 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Mean eGFRBIS2 decreased from 58.1 (SD = 15.2) to 48.3 (SD = 13.3) mL/min/1.73 m2 after 8 years. Mean eGFREKFC showed a similar trend with estimates being slightly higher (60.4 versus 54.2 mL/min/1.73 m2 after 8 years). Same trends applied to the subgroup with complete attendance (mean age: 77.4 years). However, compared with the total population they showed a higher mean eGFRBIS2 (63.3 versus 58.1 mL/min/1.73 m2) and lower prevalence of CKD stages 3 and 4 (stage 2: 59.4 versus 45.4%; stage 3: 37.1 versus 49.3% stage 4: 1.2 versus 3.6%) at baseline. CONCLUSION We found that over the observation period of 8 years, mean eGFRBIS2 decreased by 9.8 mL/min/1.73 m2 resulting in an increasing prevalence of CKD stages 3 and 4 by 23.1 and 5.3%, respectively. This was observed in the total population as well as in the subgroup with complete study attendance.
Anatomical feasibility of the total endovascular aortic arch repair—and what lies beyond
2022-05-01

Journal Article Anatomical feasibility of the total endovascular aortic arch repair—and what lies beyond Get access Mario Lescan Mario Lescan Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, University Medical Centre Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany Corresponding author. Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, University Medical Center Tübingen, Hoppe-Seyler Strasse 3, Tübingen 72076, Germany. Tel: +49-7071-29-68192; fax: +49-7071-29-4047; e-mail: mario.lescan@med.uni-tuebingen.de (M. Lescan). https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3124-4994 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, Volume 62, Issue 3, September 2022, ezac296, https://doi.org/10.1093/ejcts/ezac296 Published: 04 May 2022 Article history Received: 24 April 2022 Accepted: 01 May 2022 Published: 04 May 2022 Corrected and typeset: 11 May 2022
Teudefred and the king. On the manuscript Carcassonne G 6 and the intertwining of localities and centre in the Carolingian world
2022-05-01

Carcassonne G 6, preserving a judicial oath from 833, is an exceptional source for the history of the Spanish March and more generally the workings of power in the Carolingian world. The oath, concerning at first glance a very local dispute, links a body of royal charters with the precepts for the hispani issued by Charlemagne, Louis the Pious and Charles the Bald. This link reveals the close entanglement of localities and centre that structured the better part of western Europe into a political entity. A critical edition, which was not available for this text before, is provided as an appendix.
Material Practices and Semiotic Objects: A Response to Shane Denson
2022-05-01

This contribution examines Uncle Sam's development during the nineteenth century as an interesting case study for transmedial character theory, an increasingly common approach to the study of fictional characters. However, as Scolari, Bertetti, and Freeman have argued, "older forms of transmedia franchises were constructed on character sharing rather than on the logics of a particular world" (17). Characters were and still are in many cases the nodal points and intersections of various processes discussed as media convergence, yet the distinctions between "actual" characters and related terms such as "cultural icons" (Brooker) or "serial figures" (Denson and Mayer) remain somewhat contested and often hard to draw in practice. This contribution addresses these issues by investigating the nineteenth-century emergence and transformation of Uncle Sam as a recognizable figure within political cartoons. Without any overarching creative authority or any consistent "storyworld" to speak of, these cartoons lend themselves to recontextualizations by any artist able to uphold a recognizable iconography. In media-historical terms, political cartoons that did not merely comment upon actually existing public persons but instead developed their own inventory of allegorical figures are an important link between earlier, more "static" pictorial personifications of—and symbols for—countries and ideas and the later emergence of serial characters within comic books and other narrative media.
Mânevî Hümanizm: Tasavvuf Araştırmaları Alanında Yaratıcılığa Bir Çağrı
2022-05-01

Chinese philosopher Tu Weiming (1940-) has spent a lifetime in dialogue with cultural and spiritual traditions beyond the sanjiao or ‘three religions’ (Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism) of the Sinic world. This engagement has included sustained intercourse with the Abrahamic monotheisms and Hellenic philosophy, Hinduism and Indian spirituality, and a variety of indigenous heritages. The outcome of such cross-cultural ferment has been the elaboration of a ‘spiritual humanist’ alternative to the secular humanism of post-Enlightenment modernity. We begin by introducing Tu’s concept of Spiritual Humanism in general and his engagement with the Islamic world in particular. Adonis is then identified as a natural ally; his Sufism and Surrealism is presented as a case study in Spiritual Humanism with obvious relevance for Sufi Studies. Contemporary Sufi Studies discourse, this paper ultimately argues, should likewise not restrict itself to hermetic philological analyses of traditional sources; following Adonis’s example in Sufism and Surrealism, it should embrace the creative reelaboration of this tradition in the face of contact with new stimuli. Tu’s Spiritual Humanism is both one such stimulus and an active Confucian embodiment of this spirit of creativity.
Redox state and altered pyruvate metabolism explain the dose-dependent metformin-induced lactate production of human myotubes
2022-05-01

Background Metformin is the most commonly used oral antidiabetic drug with lactic acidosis as life-threatening side effect. The molecular mechanism of action is partly understood. Skeletal muscle has been poorly investigated in this context although it comprises 40% of the total body mass, plays a key role in the insulin-dependent glucose uptake and has a high capacity to produce lactate. We aim to characterize global effects of metformin on human myotube metabolism and to identify molecular mechanisms that explain the metformin-induced increase in lactate production.