Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Surface temperature trends in Russia over the past five centuries reconstructed from borehole temperatures

[1] We analyze borehole temperature logs from 101 sites in Russia and nearby areas to reconstruct the ground surface temperature history (GSTH) over the past five centuries. The data are drawn principally from three regions: the Urals, southwest Siberia, and northeast Siberia. We derive GSTHs for each region individually, and a composite “all-Russia” GSTH from the full ensemble of sites. The results show that over the past 500 years, the investigated areas have on average warmed ∼1 K, with more than half of the warming occurring in the 20th century alone, and 70–80% in the 19th and 20th centuries taken together. The 16th through 18th centuries in the Urals and southwest Siberia were on average 0.1–0.2 K cooler than at the beginning of the 19th century, but northeast Siberia was more moderate in the 16th through 19th centuries, relative to the present-day, than the Urals or southwest Siberia. A wide variety of instrumental, proxy, and indirect evidence support these geothermal results.
Poisson traffic flow in a general feedback queue

Consider a ·/G/k finite-buffer queue with a stationary ergodic arrival process and delayed customer feedback, where customers after service may repeatedly return to the back of the queue after an independent general feedback delay whose distribution has a continuous density function. We use coupling methods to show that, under some mild conditions, the feedback flow of customers returning to the back of the queue converges to a Poisson process as the feedback delay distribution is scaled up. This allows for easy waiting-time approximations in the setting of Poisson arrivals, and also gives a new coupling proof of a classic highway traffic result of Breiman (1963). We also consider the case of nonindependent feedback delays.
An Experimental Study of Low Velocity Impact Damage in Woven Fiber Composites

A study is made on the low velocity impact response and post-impact mechanical capacity of woven fiber [0/90,-45/45,0/90]s carbon epoxy composite plates. This complements the work done by numerous other researchers who have also examined low velocity impact of composites, but have focused on unidirectional, cross-ply or quasi-isotropic laminates. In the present study, post-impact static uniaxial tension, compression, as well as tension-compression fatigue tests are performed. The damage mechanisms for woven laminates are found to be predominantly delamination and fiber breakage, with the area of impact-induced delamination increasing linearly with impact energy for the range of energies examined. Damage extent and type are also dependent on the curvature of the impactor tip and deformation generated by a sharp impactor is more localized. The existence of a threshold energy level below which no delamination discernible by C-scan occurs is noted. In contrast with previous findings, it is observed that the peak in the impactor deceleration-time response is not associated with the onset of fiber failure, which can occur earlier. The amount of energy absorbed when this peak occurs therefore does not indicate the energy required to initiate fiber breakage. It is observed that residual tensile strength is a function of delamination area and impactor tip radius. For static compression and tension-compression fatigue, the residual load-bearing capacity is only dependent on delamination area. Under compression, delamination promotes the micro-buckling of fibers, whereas in tension, failure is predominantly via fiber breakage. For a common impact energy and impactor, a damaged specimen is weaker in compression than in tension.
The Study on the Influence of Molding Method and Thickness to Part Properties

A large polycarbonate plate molding with different thickness was conducted to investigate the differences between CIM and ICM. The results reveal that increase thickness can significantly reduce part shrinkage, and both part shrinkage and shrinkage difference of ICM are smaller than that of CIM. In addition, This study also shows the optical distortion is close relate to molding method and thickness, both ICM and thinner-wall can reduce the optical distortion.
Rangzen: Circumventing Government-Imposed Communication Blackouts

A challenging problem in dissent networking is that of circumventing large-scale communication blackouts imposed by oppressive governments. Although prior work has not focused on the need for user anonymity, we contend that it is essential. Without anonymity, governments can use communication networks to track and persecute users. A key challenge for decentralized networks is that of resource allocation and control. Network resources must be shared in a manner that deprioritizes unwanted traffic and abusive users. This task is typically addressed through reputation systems that conflict with anonymity. Our work addresses this paradox: We prioritize resources in a privacy-preserving manner to create an attack-resilient, anonymity-preserving, mobile ad-hoc network. Our prioritization mechanism exploits the properties of a social trust graph to promote messages relayed via trusted nodes. We present Rangzen, a microblogging solution that uses smartphones to opportunistically relay messages among citizens in a delay-tolerant network (DTN) that is independent of government or corporatecontrolled infrastructure.
Selective desorption of carbon dioxide from sewage sludge for in situ methane enrichment—Part II: modelling and evaluation of experiments

In situ methane enrichment in anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge has been investigated by experiments and by modelling. Sludge from a full scale digester was fed to a pilot scale bubble column having 0.3 m diameter for preferential desorption of carbon dioxide. In this second part, a model describing the steady‐state performance of the bubble column for desorption of carbon dioxide and methane has been developed. The column is assumed to operate in the homogeneous flow regime, and with respect to carbon dioxide and methane both phases are described by the axial dispersion model. The model treats the chemical reaction equilibrium between carbon dioxide and bicarbonate as being slow and the bicarbonate concentration as being constant. The model is correlated to previously reported experimental results to determine the liquid side mass transfer coefficient in each experiment. A simple power law model is used to correlate the mass transfer coefficient to the gas flow rate. In general, the model allows for a reasonable qualitative description of the behaviour of the bubble column performance but the quantitative agreement with experimental results is not satisfactory. It is believed, though that the main problem is actually not in the model but is related to experimental uncertainties concerning inlet concentrations of liquid phase methane and bicarbonate. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2007; 97: 1039–1052. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Estimation of local linear heat rate jump values in the variable loading mode

A method of the WWER-1000 fuel element cladding durability analysis using the energy creep theory makes it possible to determinate the WWER-1000 reactor permissible operation time for the mode of varying loading. But the WWER-1000 axial segments and fuel assemblies differ greatly in their local linear heat rate jump value. It has been found that the value of linear heat rate is one of key parameters that influences on a fuel element cladding durability in the mode of variable loading. So, determination of the WWER-1000 reactor permissible operation time for the mode of varying loading requires estimation of the WWER-1000 local linear heat rate jumps.
Advancing large scale object retrieval

The objective of this work is object retrieval in large scale image datasets, where the object is specified by an image query and retrieval should be immediate at run time. Such a system has a wide variety of applications including object or location recognition, video search, near duplicate detection and 3D reconstruction. The task is very challenging because of large variations in the imaged object appearance due to changes in lighting conditions, scale and viewpoint, as well as partial occlusions. A starting point of established systems which tackle the same task is detection of viewpoint invariant features, which are then quantized into visual words and efficient retrieval is performed using an inverted index. We make the following three improvements to the standard framework: (i) a new method to compare SIFT descriptors (RootSIFT) which yields superior performance without increasing processing or storage requirements; (ii) a novel discriminative method for query expansion; (iii) a new feature augmentation method. Scaling up to searching millions of images involves either distributing storage and computation across many computers, or employing very compact image representations on a single computer combined with memory-efficient approximate nearest neighbour search (ANN). We take the latter approach and improve VLAD, a popular compact image descriptor, using: (i) a new normalization method to alleviate the burstiness effect; (ii) vocabulary adaptation to reduce influence of using a bad visual vocabulary; (iii) extraction of multiple VLADs for retrieval and localization of small objects. We also propose a method, SCT, for extremely low bit-rate compression of descriptor sets in order to reduce the memory footprint of ANN. The problem of finding images of an object in an unannotated image corpus starting from a textual query is also considered. Our approach is to first obtain multiple images of the queried object using textual Google image search, and then use these images to visually query the target database. We show that issuing multiple queries significantly improves recall and enables the system to find quite challenging occurrences of the queried object. Current retrieval techniques work only for objects which have a light coating of texture, while failing completely for smooth (fairly textureless) objects best described by shape. We present a scalable approach to smooth object retrieval and illustrate it on sculptures. A smooth object is represented by its imaged shape using a set of quantized semi-local boundary descriptors (a bag-of-boundaries); the representation is suited to the standard visual word based object retrieval. Furthermore, we describe a method for automatically determining the title and sculptor of an imaged sculpture using the proposed smooth object retrieval system. This thesis is submitted to the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. This thesis is entirely my own work, and except where otherwise stated, describes my own research. Relja Arandjelović, Christ Church
Relations between Service Quality and Customer Loyalty : An Empirical Investigation of Retail Chain Stores in Emerging Markets

The current study investigated the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty across three emerging countries. The quantitative research data was collected through a survey of current customers of the specific retail sector, the household retail chain in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Data obtained from 370 survey questionnaires was analyzed using SPSS; the Principal Component Analysis and Linear Regression statistical methods were applied. The study findings indicate that the dimensions of retail service quality in a specific sector of the industry are different in emerging markets compared to those that are in the original measurement scale such as RSQS. The study revealed that the three dimensions of service quality, namely, personal interaction, policy and product quality have a positive impact on customer loyalty across household retail markets in the three researched countries.
THE SAMI GALAXY SURVEY: GALAXY INTERACTIONS AND KINEMATIC ANOMALIES IN ABELL 119

Galaxy mergers are important events that can determine the fate of a galaxy by changing its morphology, star formation activity and mass growth. Merger systems have commonly been identified from their disturbed morphologies, and we now can employ integral field spectroscopy to detect and analyze the impact of mergers on stellar kinematics as well. We visually classified galaxy morphology using deep images ( ) taken by the Blanco 4 m telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. In this paper we investigate 63 bright ( ) spectroscopically selected galaxies in Abell 119, of which 53 are early type and 20 show a disturbed morphology by visual inspection. A misalignment between the major axes in the photometric image and the kinematic map is conspicuous in morphologically disturbed galaxies. Our sample is dominated by early-type galaxies, yet it shows a surprisingly tight Tully–Fisher relation except for the morphologically disturbed galaxies which show large deviations. Three out of the eight slow rotators in our sample are morphologically disturbed. The morphologically disturbed galaxies are generally more asymmetric, visually as well as kinematically. Our findings suggest that galaxy interactions, including mergers and perhaps fly-bys, play an important role in determining the orientation and magnitude of a galaxy’s angular momentum.
First-Line First? Trends in Thiazide Prescribing for Hypertensive Seniors

Background Evidence of reduced cardiovascular morbidity and mortality as well as cost support thiazide diuretics as the first-line choice for treatment of hypertension. The purpose of this study was to determine the proportion of senior hypertensives that received thiazide diuretics as first-line treatment, and to determine if cardiovascular and other potentially relevant comorbidities predict the choice of first-line therapy. Methods and Findings British Columbia PharmaCare data were used to determine the cohort of seniors (residents aged 65 or older) who received their first reimbursed hypertension drug during the period 1993 to 2000. These individual records were linked to medical and hospital claims data using the British Columbia Linked Health Database to find the subset that had diagnoses indicating the presence of hypertension as well as cardiovascular and other relevant comorbidities. Rates of first-line thiazide prescribing as proportion of all first-line treatment were analysed, accounting for patient age, sex, overall clinical complexity, and potentially relevant comorbidities. For the period 1993 to 2000, 82,824 seniors who had diagnoses of hypertension were identified as new users of hypertension drugs. The overall rate at which thiazides were used as first-line treatment varied from 38% among senior hypertensives without any potentially relevant comorbidity to 9% among hypertensives with previous acute myocardial infarction. The rate of first-line thiazide diuretic prescribing for patients with and without potentially relevant comorbidities increased over the study period. Women were more likely than men, and older patients were more likely than younger, to receive first-line thiazide therapy. Conclusions Findings indicate that first-line prescribing practices for hypertension are not consistent with the evidence from randomized control trials measuring morbidity and mortality. The health and financial cost of not selecting the most effective and least costly therapeutic options are significant.
Open Reduction and Internal Fixation of Posterior Wall Fractures of the Acetabulum

The results of 94 patients with posterior wall fractures of the acetabulum associated with hip instability treated within 3 weeks of injury by open reduction and internal fixation were reviewed. Patients were followed up for an average of 3.5 years (range, 1-13 years). Fracture reductions were graded as anatomic (0-1 mm displacement) in 92 patients and imperfect (2-3 mm displacement) in two patients, as determined by plain radiography. However, postoperative computed tomography scans obtained in 59 patients revealed incongruency of more than 2 mm in six patients and fracture gaps of 2 mm or more in 44 patients. Complications included deep wound infection (one patient), deep vein thrombosis, (seven patients), and revision surgery to redirect an errant screw (one patient). Clinical outcome was graded as excellent in 34 patients (36%), good in 49 (52%), fair in two (2%), and poor in nine (10%). Radiographic results were excellent in 79 hips (84%), good in four (4%), fair in two (2%), and poor in nine (10%). There was a strong association between clinical outcome and radiographic grade. Variables identified as risk factors for an unsatisfactory result included age greater than 55 years, a delay greater than 24 hours from the time of injury for reduction of a hip dislocation, a residual fracture gap greater than 1 cm, and severe intraarticular comminution. The apparent disparity between the accuracy of surgical fracture reduction, as determined by plain radiographs obtained postoperatively, and clinical outcome is explained only partially by the limitations of plain radiography. Other variables are involved, many of which are under the surgeon's control but some are not. As is the case with other acetabular fracture types, the best results are predicated on anatomic fracture reduction.
Implicit and Explicit Attention to Pictures and Words: An fMRI-Study of Concurrent Emotional Stimulus Processing

The present study utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the neural processing of concurrently presented emotional stimuli under varying explicit and implicit attention demands. Specifically, in separate trials, participants indicated the category of either pictures or words. The words were placed over the center of the pictures and the picture-word compound-stimuli were presented for 1500 ms in a rapid event-related design. The results reveal pronounced main effects of task and emotion: the picture categorization task prompted strong activations in visual, parietal, temporal, frontal, and subcortical regions; the word categorization task evoked increased activation only in left extrastriate cortex. Furthermore, beyond replicating key findings regarding emotional picture and word processing, the results point to a dissociation of semantic-affective and sensory-perceptual processes for words: while emotional words engaged semantic-affective networks of the left hemisphere regardless of task, the increased activity in left extrastriate cortex associated with explicitly attending to words was diminished when the word was overlaid over an erotic image. Finally, we observed a significant interaction between Picture Category and Task within dorsal visual-associative regions, inferior parietal, and dorsolateral, and medial prefrontal cortices: during the word categorization task, activation was increased in these regions when the words were overlaid over erotic as compared to romantic pictures. During the picture categorization task, activity in these areas was relatively decreased when categorizing erotic as compared to romantic pictures. Thus, the emotional intensity of the pictures strongly affected brain regions devoted to the control of task-related word or picture processing. These findings are discussed with respect to the interplay of obligatory stimulus processing with task-related attentional control mechanisms.
Moisture Dynamics in Masticated Fuelbeds: A Preliminary Analysis

Mastication has become a popular fuels treatment in the Western United States, but predicting subsequent fire behavior and effects has proven difficult. Fire behavior and effects in masticated fuelbeds have been more intense and erratic in comparison with model predictions. While various particle or fuelbed characteristics in these fuels may contribute to the inaccuracy of model predictions, an increase in particle surface area to volume ratio by the mastication process may affect moisture dynamics. The prediction of fuel moisture is critical to predicting fire behavior and effects in prescribed fire or wildfire scenarios. Moisture dynamics in masticated fuels is characterized here by analyzing desorption rates in masticated and intact manzanita and compared with pine and maple dowels under laboratory experiments. Preliminary analysis shows that desorption rates are similar in masticated and intact manzanita as well as pine dowels by comparing relative moisture contents throughout desorption as well as by calculating response times using the timelag concept. These results held true both at the particle and fuelbed level, although masticated manzanita and pine dowels were both found to desorb moisture more quickly as individual particles com- pared to within fuelbeds. Particle density was strongly linked to desorption although it is not fully explored in terms of its significance as compared with other physical properties. Physical and chemical differences due to particle weathering and species differences may play significant roles as well. While this may be some of the first work to address the effects of mastication on moisture dynamics in forest fuels, future work should focus on other aspects where fuelbed or particle characteristics in masticated fuels may influence fire behavior and effects.
Dynamics of Motor Network Overactivation After Striatocapsular Stroke: A Longitudinal PET Study Using a Fixed-Performance Paradigm

Background and Purpose— Although excessive brain activation during affected hand motion after stroke is well documented, its time course has been rarely studied, and when studied, this has either been with passive movement or with active but cognitively complex task and uncontrolled performance over time, complicating interpretation. Methods— According to a prospective and longitudinal design, we studied 5 right-handed patients with right-sided hemiparesis due to first-ever left striatocapsular infarction. Three-dimensional PET H2O15 studies were performed twice (≈7 and ≈31 weeks after stroke [PET1 and PET2, respectively]) during right thumb-to-index tapping executed at the same rate in both studies (1.26 Hz, auditory cued). With SPM96 software, significant group and individual overactivations (P <0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons) were computed by comparison with a group of 7 healthy age-matched right-handed control subjects performing the same task. Results— Motor recovery was significant from PET1 to PET2. Both the group and individual analyses revealed striking overactivations at PET1, affecting notably the cortical hand area and the whole motor network bilaterally. These overactivations were less prominent at PET2 over both hemispheres, not only in terms of Z score but also in terms of spatial extent (almost reaching statistical significance in the affected hemisphere for the latter, P =0.09). However, new overactivations were found at PET2 in the left prefrontal areas, the putamen, and the premotor cortex. Conclusions— This study is the first to document that to perform the same simple movement of the paretic fingers, the brain with subcortical infarction shows less overactivations at the late than at the early timepoint, especially on the affected side, suggesting reduced recruitment of affected-hemisphere motor networks. However, unaffected-hemisphere prefrontal, premotor, and putaminal overactivations, observed at PET2 only, may suggest late-appearing compensatory reorganization.