Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Climate change and impacts in the urban systems

espanolLos sistemas urbanos no solo son los principales impulsores del cambio climatico, sino que tambien afectan a los puntos criticos. Los procesos de calentamiento global y crecimiento de la poblacion urbana hacen que nuestras aglomeraciones urbanas sean vulnerables a las reacciones en cadena provocadas por los peligros relacionados con el clima. Por lo tanto, la evaluacion confiable y rentable del impacto climatico futuro es de gran importancia. Dos enfoques principales emergen de la literatura: i) evaluaciones espaciales explicitas detalladas, y ii) enfoques mas holisticos que evaluan consistentemente multiples ciudades. En esta tesis multidisciplinar se abordaron ambos enfoques. En primer lugar, discutimos las razones subyacentes y los principales desafios de la aplicabilidad de los procedimientos de reduccion de escala de las proyecciones climaticas en el proceso de planificacion urbana. Si bien la comunidad climatica ha invertido un esfuerzo significativo para proporcionar tecnicas de reduccion de escala que brindan informacion localizada sobre eventos climaticos extremos en el futuro, estos metodos no se explotan ampliamente en el proceso de planificacion urbana. EnglishUrban systems are not only major drivers of climate change, but also impact hotspots. The processes of global warming and urban population growth make our urban agglomerations vulnerable to chain reactions triggered by climate related hazards. Hence, the reliable and cost-effective assessment of future climate impact is of high importance. Two major approaches emerge from the literature: i) detailed spatially explicit assessments, and ii) more holistic approaches consistently assessing multiple cities. In this multidisciplinary thesis both approaches were addressed. Firstly, we discuss the underlying reasons and main challenges of the applicability of downscaling procedures of climate projections in the process of urban planning. While the climate community has invested significant effort to provide downscaling techniques yielding localised information on future climate extreme events, these methods are not widely exploited in the process of urban planning.
Lung carcinoma surgical pathology report adequacy: a College of American Pathologists Q-Probes study of over 8300 cases from 464 institutions.

Objective. -To assess the adequacy of reporting gross and microscopic pathologic findings of resected lung carcinoma. Design. -Q-Probes study following the College of American Pathologists format. Setting. -Pathology laboratories, 1991. Participants. -Four hundred sixty-four institutions. Main Outcome Measures. - Rate of reporting gross and microscopic features. Results. -Information provided in over 8300 surgical pathology reports of resected primary lung carcinomas from 464 institutions was reviewed. Descriptors included gross and microscopic findings. The rate of reporting the descriptors from the aggregate sample is listed as follows (the corrected rate for those descriptors in which evaluation was not applicable are listed in parentheses for each descriptor where appropriate) : general findings, standard report or checklist used 20.8%, type of procedure stated 89.6%, and lobe or lung of origin stated 99.1% (99.5%) ; gross findings, distance of neoplasm from nearest visceral pleura 61.1%, involvement or lack of involvement of bronchus 68.7%, presence or absence of involvement of veins 18.3%, parenchyma not involved by neoplasm described 80.1% (81.4%), visceral pleural surface described 83.0%, tumor size stated 97.2%, and description of regional lymph nodes attached to specimen 74.7% (82.7%) ; and microscopic findings, microscopic description 77.6%, histologic type of tumor stated 99.3%, grade of carcinoma stated 80.9% (88.7%), presence or absence of lymphatic vascular invasion 24.3%, status of lymph nodes stated 89.0% (95.9%), presence or absence of venous invasion 22.6%, presence or absence of neoplasm at bronchial margin 90.8%, presence or absence of neoplasm at vascular margin 30.9%, presence or absence of carcinoma in the visceral pleura 64.6% (66.9%), and presence or absence of abnormality in nonneoplastic parenchyma 72.8% (74.1%). Conclusion. -The rate of reporting gross and microscopic features varies ; recommendations for reporting are made and include the use of a standard report form or checklist.
Unsteady RANS Simulation of Air Distribution in a Ventilated Classroom with Numerous Jets

The study is devoted to the Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navies-Stokes (URANS) simulation of ventilation in an isothermal room with numerous jets supplied from ceiling diffusers. The computations of the airflow under the test conditions considered were carried out in the classroom of the Technical University of Sofia with no occupants. The room floor has a simple rectangular form, but several columns, beams, window sills, and four radiators are located inside the room that makes the geometry more complex. Air is supplied to the room through four ceiling fan coils, the Reynolds number is 2×104. Calculations were carried out using the ANSYS Fluent 18.2 software with the standard k-ε turbulence model chosen. Computational meshes of up to 33 million hexahedral cells clustered to the inlet and outlet sections were used. The main aim of the study presented is to analyze and discuss the complicated 3D flow structure in the room and to give foundation for future measurements of air velocity field in the room.
Volcanogenic CO2 Degassing in the Songliao Continental Rift System, NE China

The Wudalianchi monogenetic volcanic field (WMVF) is located in the Songliao basin within a major continental rift system in NE China. Bubbling springs and diffuse degassing from soils are typical features of the WMVF. Chemical compositions and C-He isotope analyses revealed that the cold spring gases might originate from the enriched upper mantle (EM), which resulted from the mixing between slab materials (subducted organic sediments and carbonates) in the mantle transition zone (MTZ) and the ambient depleted mantle. These EM-derived volatiles experienced variable degrees of crustal input, including both continental organic metasediments and crustal carbonates during their ascending path to the surface. The estimated results of the degassing CO2 fluxes, combined with previous geophysical evidence, suggest that the CO2 degassing activities become weaker from early to late in Quaternary.
Behavioral activation for depressed patients in Iran: Effectiveness, predictors and mediators in the context of a randomized trial

Behavioral activation is a relatively new psychological treatment that could be a viable alternative and effective treatment for people with major depressive disorder. The findings of this thesis show that those participants who preferred psychological treatment for treatment of depression, might be benefitting more from behavioral activation than antidepressant medication. The drop out of the treatment was higher for the group that preferred psychological treatment, but at the same time received antidepressant medication. To implement behavioral activation in clinical settings is easier than cognitive behavioral therapy. It can be disseminated by mental health professionals with short-term training. Behavioral activation treatment might be a very cost-effective intervention for depression.
Multidecadal Historical Trends in Tropical Cyclone Intensity and Evolution Characteristics for Two North Atlantic Subbasins

This paper investigates the relationship between long‐term trends (1980–2017) in intensity and wind evolution for tropical cyclones (TCs) within the western tropical Atlantic (WTA) and central/eastern tropical Atlantic (CETA) subbasins. Long‐term TC trends in intensity, intensification time, and wind variability for the CETA were generally more significant than, and in some cases opposite to, those for the WTA. Both the TC intensity levels, as measured by the power dissipation index normalized by storm hours and proportion of rapid intensification intervals (defined as a 12‐hr wind speed increase of 20 kt or more), exhibit no long‐term trends in either subbasin. A TC wind variability index (WVI) calculated over 72‐hr intervals of the TC lifecycle decreases for the WTA over the decades, while the CETA has the 72‐hr intervals with the greatest wind speed fluctuations. The average period of intensification before the peak in TC intensity increases ~0.97 hr/year for the CETA. TC maximum intensity exhibits no trend, suggesting that TCs in the tropical North Atlantic have a trend favoring a longer intensification period to reach their lifetime maximum intensity. A correlation analysis suggests that warmer sea surface temperatures and greater moisture favor longer intensification and greater WVI. In contrast, greater 850‐ to 200‐hPa vertical wind shear is associated with shorter intensification periods and less WVI.
Gender specific determinants of inorganic fertilizer adoption in the semi-arid region of Ghana

Poor soil fertility is a major challenge in food production in Ghana especially in the upper east region. Fertilizer which is known to increase soil fertility is not widely adopted especially by female headed households. This research is aimed at investigating the influence of gender on inorganic fertilizer adoption in the Upper East Region of Ghana. A total of 300 households comprising 150 male and 150 female headed households were interviewed. A separate model was used to determine if the factors of adoption of fertilizer differ by gender. Results show that household size, area of land allocated for maize production and area for rice production were common factors that influence fertilizer adoption by both gender groups. However additional factors such as marital status and perception about soil fertility status positively and significantly influenced fertilizer adoption by male headed households while farming experience, dependency ratio, and family remittance were additional factors that significantly influenced fertilizer adoption by female headed households. Similarly factors such as age of farmers, access to extension services, access to credit, access to market, livestock holdings, slope of the land and group membership were not statistically significant to fertilizer adoption for both gender groups. Male headed households had additional factors such as education, farming experience, dependency ratio, slope of the land and remittance that were not statistically significant. Factors such as, marital status, non-farm income, soil fertility status, and access to climate information were not statistically significant for female headed households. Policies which target large scale maize and rice farmers will be relevant in increasing fertilizer adoption among male and female headed households. In addition government policies should target farmers with long farming experience and female headed households with large family sizes.
Efficiency Enhancement of Chlorine Contact Tanks in Water Treatment Plants: A Full-Scale Application

The mixing and disinfection performance of a full-scale chlorine contact tank (CCT) is thoroughly investigated by means of numerical simulations for seasonal water supply variations in the water treatment plant (WTP) of Eskisehir in Turkey. Velocity measurements and tracer studies are carried out on a 1:10 scale laboratory model of the CCT to validate the numerical model. A good agreement between numerical and experimental results shows that the numerical model developed can be reliably used for the simulation of turbulent flow and solute transport in the full-scale CCT. Tracer studies indicate that the hydraulic performance of the CCT is classified as “average” according to the baffling factor, while the Morrill, Aral-Demirel (AD), and dispersion indexes indicate low mixing due to the recirculating and short-circuiting effects inside the chambers of the CCT. With respect to the first order modeling of chlorine decay and pathogen inactivation, chlorine concentrations are found to be significantly distinct for seasonal variations in water supply to maintain 3-log inactivation of Giardia cysts. A recently developed and patented slot-baffle design (SBD) is then applied to the full-scale CCT. It is found that the hydraulic efficiency of the CCT is improved to “high” and the Morrill index approaches 2, which identifies the system as a perfect mixing tank. Using the SBD, the chlorine demand has been successfully decreased by 19% while providing equivalent inactivation level. The novel SBD design also reduces energy loses in the turbulent flow through the tank and increases the energy efficiency of the CCT by 62%, which is significant for energy considerations in modern cities.
Large Dust Aerosol Sizes Seen During the 2018 Martian Global Dust Event by the Curiosity Rover

Mars' atmosphere typically supports dust aerosol with an effective radius near 1.5 μm, varying from ~1 μm during low dust times near northern summer solstice to ~2 μm during higher dust times in southern spring and summer. After global dust events, size variations outside this range have not previously been observed. We report on imaging and spectral observations by the Curiosity rover through the 2018 global dust event. These observations show that the dust effective radius was seasonally normal prior to the local onset of increased opacity, increased rapidly above 4 μm with increasing opacity, remained above 3 μm over a period of ~50 Martian solar days, then returned to seasonal values before the opacity did so. This demonstrates lifting and regional‐scale transport of a dust population ~3 times the size of typical dust aerosol.
Nonlinear analysis of unsaturated soils using a meshfree method

A fully coupled algorithm based on a recently developed meshfree method, called smoothed point interpolation method, is introduced for hydro-mechanical analysis of unsaturated porous media considering hydraulic hysteresis and material nonlinearity. A simple node selection scheme is adopted which ensures the non-singularity of the moment matrix in constructing the polynomial point interpolation shape functions. An effective stress based framework based on the work of Khalili et al. (2008) is followed in this study, and a hysteretic water retention model is taken into account which enables the evolution of water retention curve (WRC) with volumetric changes (Pasha et al., 2017). An elastoplastic constitutive model is employed within the context of bounding surface plasticity theory for predicting the nonlinear behavior of soil skeleton in unsaturated porous media. The applicability of the model is verified through several numerical examples.
Auditory attention causes gain enhancement and frequency sharpening at successive stages of cortical processing: evidence from human EEG

Previous findings have suggested that auditory attention causes not only enhancement in neural processing gain, but also sharpening in neural frequency tuning in human auditory cortex. The current study was aimed to reexamine these findings, and investigate whether attentional gain enhancement and frequency sharpening emerge at the same or different processing levels, and whether they represent independent or cooperative effects. For that, we examined the pattern of attentional modulation effects on early, sensory-driven cortical auditory-evoked potentials (CAEPs) occurring at different latencies. Attention was manipulated using a dichotic listening task and was thus not selectively directed to specific frequency values. Possible attention-related changes in frequency tuning selectivity were measured with an EEG adaptation paradigm. Our results show marked disparities in attention effects between the earlier N1 CAEP deflection and the subsequent P2 deflection, with the N1 showing a strong gain enhancement effect, but no sharpening, and the P2 showing clear evidence of sharpening, but no independent gain effect. They suggest that gain enhancement and frequency sharpening represent successive stages of a cooperative attentional modulation mechanism, which appears to increase the representational bandwidth of attended versus unattended sounds.
Processing and Analysis of Clinical-laboratory Features in the Therapy of Lupus Nephritis

hematology, immunology, cytology, etc) the and up delivery of The number of completed clinical-laboratory analysis in the shows high rate of growth that annually ranges from 10-17. the disorder of immune regulation which manifested by activation of T and B lymphocytes, production of antibodies, and the formation of immune complex causing to tissues. SLE is a time and to the doctors for more a while being a prototype of autoimmune disease. Kidney function loss is the most serious complication of SLE which represents a threat for long-term survival. Goal: The aim is to show the clinical and labora- tory parameters of lupus nephritis and principle of therapeutic protocol for the treatment of lupus nephritis using aggressive immunosuppressive therapy at the Institute of Nephrology of Clinical Center of the Sarajevo University by monitoring activity of disease. Patients and methods: Randomized retrospective study includes 14 patients with SLE and lupus nephritis that are treated at the Institute of Nephrology of Clinical Center University of Sarajevo in the period from the beginning of 2000 to 2003. Discussion: In our retrospective study, all patients were females with mean age of 34.5±13.5 years. Mean age at the beginning of SLE was 30.5±12.5 years. Most often clinical manifestations observed in patients with SLE are general ones (85.7%) - skeletal muscle (64.3%), skin (78.6%), hematologic (64.3), cardiac and pulmonal (42.9), neurologic (21.4%), thrombosis (35.7%), eye (14.3%) and abortion (7%). Conclusion: Females in reproductive age have SLE and lupus nephritis more frequently , which indicates that hormonal status (estrogen) has important role in illness pathogenesis. Most relevant parameters in evaluation of illness activity are the levels of complement components C3 and C4, level of antidsDNA, activity of urine sediment and proteinuria level. Aggressive immunosuppressive therapy that includes corticosteroids and cyclophosphamide, with control of side effects and its prevention, and duly treatment can lead to improvement of clinical symptoms and improvement of patient life. As long as new therapeutic modalities and more efficient treatment of autoimmune illnesses is not available, the greatest impact on mortality and morbidity can be achieved by monitoring late manifestations and treatment of extracranial manifestations that can lead to kidney function loss.
Proxy-based 300-year High Arctic climate warming record from Svalbard

Abstract We used fossil Chironomidae assemblages and the transfer function approach to reconstruct summer air temperatures over the past 300 years from a High Arctic lake in Hornsund, Svalbard. Our aims were to compare reconstructed summer temperatures with observed (last 100 years) seasonal temperatures, to determine a potential climate warming break point in the temperature series and to assess the significance and rate of the climate warming trend at the study site. The reconstructed temperatures were consistent with a previous proxy record from Svalbard and showed good correlation with the meteorological observations from Bjørnøya and Longyearbyen. From the current palaeoclimate record, we found a significant climate warming threshold in the 1930s, after which the temperatures rapidly increased. We also found that the climate warming trend was strong and statistically significant. Compared with the reconstructed Little Ice Age temperatures in late eighteenth century cooling culmination, the present day summer temperatures are >4°C higher and the temperature increase since the 1930s has been 0.5°C per decade. These results highlight the exceptionally rapid recent warming of southern Svalbard and add invaluable information on the seasonality of High Arctic climate change and Arctic amplification.
The Trend Reversal of Dust Aerosol Over East Asia and the North Pacific Ocean Attributed to Large‐Scale Meteorology, Deposition, and Soil Moisture

The long‐term trend in dust loading over East Asia remains under debate and is dependent on the study period chosen. In this study, the long‐term trends in springtime dust over East Asia and the North Pacific Ocean (NPO) during 1980–2017 were examined based on the Modern‐Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications version 2 reanalysis. Results showed that there was a spatial gradient in dust aerosol loadings, with decreases from western China eastward toward the NPO. This pattern was corroborated by Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization observations. Furthermore, the empirical orthogonal function method was used to reveal the leading modes of springtime dust aerosol optical depth (AOD) over East Asia and the NPO. An abrupt shift occurred in the dust AOD trend in 2010 for the empirical orthogonal function 1 mode. The dust AOD increased at a rate of approximately 2 × 10‐4/year during 1999–2009 and then decreased more sharply (around 5 × 10‐4/year) afterward. This trend reversal of dust AOD was closely associated with a decrease in 10‐m wind velocity, which induces reduced dust emission. Compared with 10‐m wind, the soil moisture is less correlated with the trend reversal in dust AOD. Additionally, the trends of dry (wet) deposition were closely associated with the trends of the dust AOD, especially for the period 2010–2016. Overall, our findings add new insights to the long‐term nonlinear variability of dust.
Analytical Identification and Characterization of the Major Geochemical Terranes of Mercury's Northern Hemisphere

Principal component analysis of Mercury chemical composition maps provide analytically robust identification of distinct geochemical terranes on Mercury. The results reveal a wide diversity of terrane types, including previously identified terranes like the high‐Mg terrane and northern terranes, as well as a new terrane not identified in prior studies, the intermediate composition, high‐K (IHK) terrane. We propose that the IHK is material excavated from beneath the Borealis planitia by the Rustaveli‐basin‐forming impact. In addition to the new IHK terrane, Caloris‐basin‐like materials are recognized outside of the basin rim for the first time. This indicates that the terrane type found within the Caloris basin is not a unique consequence of the Caloris impact event. Geochemical modeling of terrane compositions facilitates interpretation of the principal components in terms of mineral end‐members, making the individual principal component maps also a measure of the relative variability of pyroxenes, olivine, and plagioclase. Our mineralogical modeling also confirms the low‐viscosity nature of the lava that flooded Mercury's surface to produce the present‐day crust, consistent with the geomorphology of Mercury's extensive volcanic plains units.
Measurement of the crankshaft seals friction losses in a modern passenger car diesel engine

This paper presents results of experimental investigations on the friction losses of the crankshaft radial lip seals of a modern four-cylinder diesel engine for passenger car applications. A two stage strip-test has been conducted on a motored engine test bed to obtain the friction torque of the radial lip seals. For the experimental investigations with the crankshaft seals removed from the engine, a special sealing apparatus has been designed and built. A wide range of tests have been performed covering the full speed range of the engine at lubricant temperatures of 70 ℃, 90 ℃, and 110 ℃. The results show a dependency on crankshaft speed and engine media supply temperature but also revealed the presence of constant plateaus of friction torque over engine speed.