Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tropical Deep Convection Impact on Southern Winter Stationary Waves and Its Modulation by the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation

The impact of tropical deep convection on southern winter stationary waves and its modulation by the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) have been investigated in a long (210 year) climate model simulation and in ERA-Interim reanalysis data for the period 1979–2018. Model results reveal that tropical deep convection over the region of its climatological maximum modulates high-latitude stationary planetary waves in the southern winter hemisphere, corroborating the dominant role of tropical thermal forcing in the generation of these waves. In the tropics, deep convection enhancement leads to wavenumber-1 eddy anomalies that reinforce the climatological Rossby–Kelvin wave couplet. The Rossby wave propagates toward the extratropical southern winter hemisphere and upward through the winter stratosphere reinforcing wavenumber-1 climatological eddies. As a consequence, stronger tropical deep convection is related to greater upward wave propagation and, consequently, to a stronger Brewer–Dobson circulation and a warmer polar winter stratosphere. This linkage between tropical deep convection and the Southern Hemisphere (SH) winter polar vortex is also found in the ERA-Interim reanalysis. Furthermore, model results indicate that the enhancement of deep convection observed during the easterly phase of the QBO (E-QBO) gives rise to a similar modulation of the southern winter extratropical stratosphere, which suggests that the QBO modulation of convection plays a fundamental role in the transmission of the QBO signature to the southern stratosphere during the austral winter, revealing a new pathway for the QBO–SH polar vortex connection. ERA-Interim corroborates a QBO modulation of deep convection; however, the shorter data record does not allow us to assess its possible impact on the SH polar vortex.
Preliminary Design of Axial Flow Turbine for a Small Jet Engine

A computational program used to calculate the preliminary design of axial turbines which uses the Kacker and Okapuu’s loss model was modified to improve the losses predictions implementing Tournier and El-Genk’s loss model. The in-house program was written in FORTRAN 90 and is based on the meanline technique to calculate the axial turbine. As the losses interfere in the geometrical calculations applying more accurate loss models, the predictions of the preliminary design are more reliable. The program was applied to design a single-stage turbine and the results are compared with the commercial turbomachine design software AXIAL®. The improvements obtained by applying a more recent loss model have been discussed as the future works to improve the in-house program.
Dynamic Quality Management of Emergency Systems via Rich Explicit Constraints

One of the key aspects of any emergency system is the quality management of risk situations. Currently, these situations are accessible on a wide variety of embedded sensors. The heterogeneity of such sensors and the diversity of user needs require management quality of service and adapatation to different urgent situations (e.g. fire and theft). Since the last decade, a fair amount of research has been conducted in order to develop adaptation platforms. These platforms generally adapt services in order to comply with dynamic context evolution. However, we have noticed that current adaptation platforms do not fully exploit the semantic benefits for describing the heterogeneous contexts, the adaptation configurations. In this paper we propose to extend the software architecture model ContextualArchRQMM in order to specify architecture families. Moreover, we propose a model for specifying rich contexts containing explicit constraints expressions with qualitative and quantitative information. Our proposal has the great advantage to offer to users a global flexible adaptation infrastructure exploiting semantic information at multiple levels, i.e., from the design level to the run-time level. To demonstrate the utility of our approach, we propose the design of an ambient system applied to security management of museum.
Source Model for the Tsunami Inside Palu Bay Following the 2018 Palu Earthquake, Indonesia

On 28 September 2018, a strike‐slip earthquake occurred in Palu, Indonesia, and was followed by a series of tsunami waves that devastated the coast of Palu Bay. The tsunami was recorded at the Pantoloan tide gauge station with a peak amplitude of ~2 m above the water level and struck at high tide. We use the Pantoloan tsunami waveform and synthetic aperture rada displacement data in a joint inversion to estimate the vertical displacement around the narrow bay. Our inversion result suggests that the middle of the bay was uplifted up to 0.8 m, while the other parts of the bay subsided by up to 1 m. However, this seafloor displacement model alone cannot fully explain the observed tsunami inundation. The observed tsunami inundation heights and extents could be reproduced by a tsunami inundation simulation with a source model that combined the estimated vertical displacement with multiple subaerial‐submarine landslides.
Impact of cover/bar diameter ratio to the structural performance of reinforced concrete member due to corrosion

Corrosion of steel in reinforced concrete is one of the main issues among construction stakeholders. The main consequences of steel corrosion include loss of cross section of steel area, generation of expansive pressure which caused cracking of concrete, spalling and delaminating of the concrete cover. Thus, it reduces the bond strength between the steel reinforcing bar and concrete, and deteriorating the strength of the structure. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of c/d ratio to the structural performance of reinforced concrete member due to corrosion. A series of reinforced concrete cylinder of . 100mm x 200mm, . 150mm x 300mm and . 200mm x 400mm with c/d ratio of 2.13, 3.45 and 4.76 was modelled consisting of 19mm diameter of reinforcement bar at the center of the cylinder. Corrosion rate of 0%, 5% and 10% of rebar corrosion is used in parametric study to assess the influence of different level of corrosion rate to the structural performance. As a result, a positive linear relationship was sketched between the increase of expansive pressure and the corrosion rate for each c/d ratio. Meanwhile, the expansive pressure is inversely proportional to the c/d ratio due to the deflection effect in the larger concrete cover is smaller compared to the lower c/d ratio which is more severe. Furthermore, the analysis shows that there is a significant effect on the failure pressure for each c/d ratio as the failure pressure of lower c/d ratio increase proportionally with the increase of c/d ratio. This study could predict the structural deterioration by numerical analysis using the c/d ratio. Hence, the findings provide a good input in designing a structure which takes into account the c/d ratio and also the corrosion level of the structure.409E-3345-4
Generating and streaming immersive sports video content

Stereoscopic 3D videos have already become popular in movie theaters with most productions being released in this format. More recently, with the availability of commodity Virtual Reality (VR) products, immersive video content is receiving even more interest. A wide spread adoption of immersive devices and displays is hindered by the lack of content that matches the user expectations. Producing immersive videos is far more costly and time-consuming than regular 2D videos, which makes it challenging and thus rarely attempted, especially for live events, such as sports games. In addition, immersive content needs to be adapted for viewing on different displays/devices. To address these challenges, we first propose a new system for 3D video streaming that provides automatic depth adjustments as one of its key features. Our system takes into account both the content and the display type in order to customize 3D videos and optimize the viewing experience. Our stereoscopic video streaming system was implemented, deployed and tested with real users. Results show that between 60% to 70% of the shots can benefit from our system and more than 25% depth enhancement can be achieved. Next, we propose a novel, data-driven method that converts 2D videos to 3D by transferring depth information from a database of similar 3D videos. Our method then reconstructs the depth map while ensuring temporal coherency using a spatio-temporal formulation of Poisson reconstruction. Results show that our method produces high-quality 3D videos that are almost indistinguishable from videos shot by stereo cameras, while achieving up to 20% improvement in the perceived depth compared to the current state-of-the-art method. Furthermore, we extend our work in the direction of VR, and propose using video feeds from regular broadcasting cameras to generate sports VR content. We generate a wide-angle panorama by utilizing the motion of the main camera. We then use various techniques to remove the parallax, align all video feeds, and overlay them on the panorama. Subjective studies show that our generated content provides an immersive experience similar to ground-truth content captured using a 360 camera, with most subjects rating their sense of presence from Good to Excellent.
Scale‐Dependent Patterning of Wetland Depressions in a Low‐Relief Karst Landscape

Thousands of small wetland depression features (cypress domes) dot the low‐relief karst of Big Cypress National Preserve (BICY) in South Florida, USA. We hypothesized that these wetland depressions are organized in a regular pattern, which is atypical of wetlandscapes elsewhere. Regular patterning implies the existence of coupled feedbacks operating at different spatial scales, with local wetland depression expansion (facilitation via karst dissolution) limited by competition among adjacent depressions for finite water resources (inhibition). We sought to test the hypothesis that wetlands in BICY exhibit regular patterning, and to quantify pattern properties to evaluate competing genesis mechanisms. We tested four predictions about landscape structure and geometry using high‐resolution Light Detection and Ranging elevation data from six 2.25‐km2 domains across BICY. Specifically, we predicted (1) feature overdispersion resulting from competition between adjacent basins; (2) truncated wetland area distributions due to growth inhibition feedbacks; (3) periodicity in surface elevation indicating a characteristic pattern wavelength; and (4) elevation bimodality indicating distinct upland and wetland states. All four predictions were strongly supported. Depressions were significantly overdispersed and efficiently fill the landscape, generating hexagonal patterning. Wetland areas followed truncated power law scaling, indicating incremental constraints on basin expansion, in contrast to depression areas elsewhere. Variogram and radial spectrum analyses revealed clear periodicity (~150‐ to 250‐m wavelength) in surface elevations. Finally, surface elevations were consistently bimodal with elevation divergence of 10 to 40 cm. Regular patterning of wetland depressions across BICY is clear, implying long‐term biogeomorphic control on landform structure in this karst landscape.
Simulations and measurements of friction in oscillating flow

Rapid changes in the operating point of a hydropower plant cause transients in the hydraulic system. The flow will oscillate between the surge shaft and the reservoir until the oscillations are damped out by the friction. This paper investigates different friction models for oscillating flow, such as a quasi-steady model, Vítkovský’s model, and a one-term model. The governing equations for transient flow were solved by using rigid water column theory. The simulations were compared with experimental results from a small-scale test rig. The test rig consisted of a small reservoir, a horizontal pipe, and a surge shaft. The oscillations were induced by closing a valve downstream of the surge shaft. Measurements were obtained with pressure transducers.
Multi-Function CIM Array for Genome Alignment Applications built with Fully Digital Flow

With the advent of next generation genome sequencing machines, the number of genomic reads has increased in the last few years. The assembly and alignment of the reads to reference genomes is computationally complex: Optimal solutions obtained by solving the approximate string matching problem are computationally infeasible when reference genomes are in the order of 3 billion bases. Modern alignment algorithms perform a preprocessing step, where likely matching regions are computed efficiently and only in that region, a base level alignment is performed. In this paper, we show how sorting and searching in memories can be accelerated, which are key steps in common genome alignment algorithms. We develop a CIM (compute in memory) array out of standard-cells, which is capable of sorting a stream of data, as well as act as a CAM (content addressable memory) and perform multi-word logic operations. We fabricated the 2.6 µm2/bit design in a 22nm FDSOI technology, achieving up to 4.28 GB/s throughput and 4.97 nJ/sort at the minimum energy point as a sorter.
Numerical Simulation of the Formation of a Large Lower Positive Charge Center in a Tibetan Plateau Thunderstorm

Numerical modeling is applied to elucidate the formation mechanism of the large lower positive charge centers (LPCCs) observed during thunderstorms over the Tibetan Plateau based on the simulation of a storm at the northeastern boundary of the plateau. Four sensitivity tests were carried out to explore the impacts of inductive charging, reversal temperature, and the choice of noninductive charging scheme. The results show that the unique environmental conditions of the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau, which include weak convection and low freezing level, are fundamental to the formation of large LPCC. A weakened charge density in the upper positive charge center highlights the role of a LPCC in lightning initiation although the charge density of the LPCC has no obvious change compared to that in the LPCC of the typical tripole structure. This accounts for Tibetan Plateau thunderstorms having low frequencies of lightning flashes, which occur mainly in the lower dipole. Inductive electrification, which provided more than 50% of the positive charge on graupel and increased the positive and negative charge on cloud drops by 2 orders of magnitude, is an important complement to the lower dipole of the tripole charge structure originally established by noninductive electrification. The inductive electrification also evidently enhances the LPCC and the middle negative charge center while slightly reducing the upper positive charge center. Subsequently, the lightning activity is strengthened, and lightning flashes are more likely to be initiated at the lower dipole. Varying the reversal temperatures and noninductive charging scheme does not fundamentally affect the formation of the LPCC.
Modulation of corticospinal influence over hand muscles during gripping tasks in man and monkey

Transcranial magnetic brain stimulation (TMS) was used to investigate corticospinal influences during a task in which human subjects had to reach out and grasp and lift an object. TMS applied to the hand area of the motor cortex was delivered during eight different phases of the task. There was a striking phase-related modulation in the amplitude of the short-latency EMG responses elicited by TMS in six arm and hand muscles. Although several mechanisms probably contribute to this modulation, one result of their operation is a potentially greater influence of the cortex during particular phases of the task. Evidence is produced that one factor contributing to this modulation is a phase-related change in corticospinal excitability. The results are consistent with a strong excitatory corticospinal drive throughout the reach to brachioradialis and anterior deltoid, which contribute to hand transport, and to the extrinsic hand muscles, which orientate the hand and fingertips. In contrast, the intrinsic hand muscles appear to receive their strongest cortical input as the digits close around and first touch the object. TMS just before contact delayed the isometric parallel increase in load and grip forces necessary to lift the object. The particularly strong EMG and behavioral effects seen at touch may reflect a powerful interaction, at the cortical level, between cutaneous inputs signalling contact with the object and the effects of TMS. Central interactions between tactile afferent input and TMS were tested by delivering TMS at different times relative to the application of an unexpected load to an object held between the fingertips. The largest responses occurred when TMS was applied 60-80 ms after load onset. The enhanced corticospinal influence that this represents probably contributes to the powerful, short-latency boosting in grip force observed when the object was suddenly subjected to an external load. Recording of corticospinal cells in the primary motor cortex of the awake monkey suggests that the phasic modulation observed with TMS may reflect the phasic-tonic pattern of corticomotoneuronal cell discharge during the task. Since the activation of corticospinal cells by low-intensity TMS is dependent upon their level of excitability, EMG responses evoked by TMS during the performance of skilled tasks in man may, in part, reflect changes in the excitability of these cells.
Nueva localidad de anidación de la garza agami, Agamia agami (Pelecaniformes: Ardeidae) en Ecuador

The Agami heron, Agamia agami , is a rare species of the Neotropics, and even though its distribution is large, little is known about the sites where it congregates to nest. We report a new nesting site, which is the eighth reported site in the Neotropics, located in Tambococha, Yasuni National Park, Ecuador. We estimate that it is occupied by approximately 140 individuals, based on the 70 nests counted and considering the monogamous behavior of this species for at least one year. The discovery of this nesting colony is important to determine more precisely the distribution area of this species, and, in the future, monitor populations and develop studies of population genetics, migration, and behavioral movements as a basis to implement a conservation strategy for the Agami Heron in Ecuador.
Impact of Climate Change and Land-Use on the Propagation from Meteorological Drought to Hydrological Drought in the Eastern Qilian Mountains

As one of the most destructive and costly natural disasters, drought has far-reaching negative effects on agriculture, water resources, the environment, and human life. Scientific understanding of propagation from meteorological to hydrological drought is of great significance for accurate forecasting of hydrological drought and preventing and mitigating drought disasters. The objective of this study is to analyze the spatio-temporal variational characteristics of propagation from meteorological drought to hydrological drought and the associated driving mechanisms in the eastern Qilian Mountains using the standard precipitation index (SPI), standardized runoff index (SRI), and drought propagation intensity index (DPI). The results show that there has been meteorological humidification and hydrological aridification in the upper reaches of the Shiyang River Basin over the last 56 years; especially in the 2000s, the intensity of hydrological drought was the strongest and the intensity of meteorological drought was the weakest, indicating the propagation intensity of meteorological drought to hydrological drought was extremely strong during this period. The changes of meteorological and hydrological dry–wet are different, both on seasonal and monthly scales. The meteorological dry–wet is shown to have had a significant effect both on the current and month-ahead hydrological dry–wet, where the one-month lag effect was most obvious. The relationship between meteorological and hydrological droughts also vary in space: Hydrological aridification in the Huangyang River, and the rivers east of it, was greater than that in the western tributaries. The drought propagation intensities from west to east showed a decreasing trend, excluding the Huangyang River. Climate and land-use changes are the main factors affecting the propagation from meteorological drought to hydrological drought. When the natural vegetation area accounted for between 76.3–78%, the cultivated land area between 0.55–3.6% and the construction area between 0.08–0.22% were a peer-to-peer propagation process from meteorological drought to hydrological drought in the upper reaches of the Shiyang River.
Effect of Repeated Magnetization Process of Water on the Waterand Soil Properties as well as Lettuce Yield

It is known that the magnetic field works to change the chemical and physical properties of water and this is reflected in the properties of soil and plant. An experiment was conducted during 2017 and 2018 seasons at a farm in MitKenana village, Qalyobia, Egypt. The aim was to study the effect of water re-magnetization on the properties of water, soil and Lettuce growth. The experiment was divided into four treatments with three replicates. Normal water treatment and other magnetized water treatments were irrigated with water passed through the magnetic device one, two and three times. EC, pH, anions and cations for both water and soil as well as yield and yield components for Lettuce were measured. Results indicated that, irrigation with magnetized water induced positive significant effect on all studied treatments on water, soil and plant where it improved water and soil properties with increasing plant productivity. The one-time passing magnetic treatment of irrigation water significantly decreased electrical conductivity of the soil, but the effect on pH was moderatein addition to increasing lettuce productivity by 29.1% more than non-magnetic treatment. With multiple magnetic treatments, did not show big differences between treated and untreated treatments.
Environmental drivers of plant assemblages: are there differences between palustrine and lacustrine wetlands? A case study from the northern Apennines (Italy)

Mountain wetlands are among the most vulnerable habitats in the Mediterranean basin. Their conservation requires knowledge of plant species assemblages and their environmental drivers. In this study, we investigated what the main environmental factors driving species composition in mountain wetlands are. Differences in environmental control and floristic composition between palustrine and lacustrine wetlands were explored. We used a dataset of 168 vegetation plots (relevés), sampled at 45 mountain wetlands in the northern Apennines (central Italy). Direct ordination showed that water depth, geology type and altitude were the main factors responsible for species distribution. The most important gradient was linked to soil moisture, with hygrophilous species increasing with moisture levels. Indicator Species Analysis underlined a clear distinction in the distribution of aquatic plants between wetland subsystems. Geology and rainfall affected species assemblages in lacustrine and palustrine subsystems. Indirect ordination and Generalized Additive Models revealed that plant species and their attributes significantly changed in the wetland subsystems with an increase in hydrophytes with increasing rainfall in palustrine wetlands and a decrease in thermophilous species along an altitudinal gradient in lacustrine wetlands. Management and conservation guidelines for northern Apennines wetlands are suggested.