Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cybertectonic Earth and Gaia's weak hand: sedimentary geology, sediment cycling and the Earth system

Tectonics, climate and sea level are dominant controls on the nature and distribution of sedimentary environments. By inverse logic, recognition of influences on sedimentation from the stratigraphic record as a result of perturbations in these variables leads to clarification of past environmental and structural change. The succession of sedimentary environments in time and place is determined by a wider combination of variables; namely, sediment flux, biological evolution, atmosphere and water body productivity and chemistry. The feedbacks and interrelationships between all variables cause the complexity seen in sedimentation processes over geological time. The processes of global tectonics that cause widespread mountain belt and continental plateau uplift have produced numerous ‘severe’ events during Earth history: these often random workings-out of the plate tectonic cycle define the state of ‘Cybertectonic Earth’ (from cyber, after the Greek kubernan: to steer or govern). This has worked within a usually zonally arranged series of climatic belts and within the framework provided by biological evolution. At certain times in the geological past, a combination of factors arose as a response to continental uplift and have acted to cause certain Earth surface conditions and variables (notably mean global surface temperature, atmospheric pCO2, pO2) to have varied by very large amounts (×2–×10) compared with present values. These large fluctuations, such as those responsible for the Neoproterozoic, Late Palaeozoic and late Tertiary glaciations, lead one to doubt the reality of homeostatic control of surface conditions as proposed in Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis. The Gaian kuberne0te0s (steersman) had a weak hand on the helm, frequently unable to prevent vast areas of the globe experiencing rapid fluctuations in environmental conditions and inimical conditions to life for very long periods during Neoproterozoic and Phanerozoic times. At the same time, biogenic and abiogenic processes have proved capable of returning Earth to states of mean stability, although biogeochemical cycling models seem alarmingly ad hoc and largely untestable as scientific hypotheses in any true geological sense.
A first step toward an oceanic geophysical observatory

In 1992, the success of French Pilot Experiment Ocean Floor Observatory (OFM/SISMOBS) showed that a permanent broadband seismic and geophysical observatory could be installed on the seafloor. Coverage of the oceans by broadband three-component digital seismic stations will improve our knowledge of seismic sources and the dynamics of the Earth's interior, but such coverage requires both international and interdisciplinary cooperation.
Efficient Margin Maximizing with Boosting

AdaBoost produces a linear combination of base hypotheses and predicts with the sign of this linear combination. The linear combination may be viewed as a hyperplane in feature space where the base hypotheses form the features. It has been observed that the generalization error of the algorithm continues to improve even after all examples are on the correct side of the current hyperplane. The improvement is attributed to the experimental observation that the distances (margins) of the examples to the separating hyperplane are increasing even after all examples are on the correct side.We introduce a new version of AdaBoost, called AdaBoost*ν, that explicitly maximizes the minimum margin of the examples up to a given precision. The algorithm incorporates a current estimate of the achievable margin into its calculation of the linear coefficients of the base hypotheses. The bound on the number of iterations needed by the new algorithms is the same as the number needed by a known version of AdaBoost that must have an explicit estimate of the achievable margin as a parameter. We also illustrate experimentally that our algorithm requires considerably fewer iterations than other algorithms that aim to maximize the margin.
Ozone climatologies at 9–12 km altitude as seen by the MOZAIC airborne program between September 1994 and August 1996

From data collected at cruise levels by the five aircraft of the Measurement of Ozone and Water Vapor by Airbus In-Service Aircraft (MOZAIC) program during a 2-year period (September 1994 to August 1996), an accurate ozone climatology at 9-12 km altitude has been generated over the northern hemisphere (130°W-140°E; 0°-80°N), and down to 30°S over South America and Africa. North of 35°N, the distribution is dominated by the influence of ozone-rich air of stratospheric origin; farther south, ozone-poor air from the troposphere prevails. A classification based on a threshold of 100 ppbv of ozone is used to distinguish between the stratospheric and tropospheric components and to help in interpreting the data. Seasonal variations of ozone are observed in stratospheric air (maximum in spring, minimum in winter) and in tropospheric air (maximum in summer, minimum in autumn), related to the intensities of dynamic (tropopause variations; stratosphere/troposphere exchanges) and chemical (photochemistry) processes. The tropics exhibit variations that are heterogeneous in time and space, and reflect the influences of active photochemical processes, deep convection and biomass burning emissions. Ozone concentrations decrease with latitude in both the stratosphere and troposphere. A strong vertical gradient is found in stratospheric air but not in tropospheric air, which is much more homogeneous. The integration of data over characteristic geographical areas shows smaller concentrations over the Atlantic Ocean compared to the continents; this is related to the zonal variation of the polar front and the position of ridge/trough pressure systems.
Evaluation of Flow-Altering Countermeasures against Bridge Pier Scour

In this study, six different types of flow-altering countermeasures against pier scour were evaluated experimentally. The selected countermeasures were submerged vanes, bed sill, transverse sacrificial piles, collar, threading, and pier slot. Laboratory tests were performed in clear-water conditions with flow intensity slightly below the threshold of sediment motion. Tests were designed on the basis of the best configurations recommended in previous studies by different authors to obtain the maximum efficiency in terms of scour depth reduction. Results showed that some countermeasures, which were recommended as highly efficient in the literature, do not perform well under other test conditions; in particular, literature tests carried out with low flow intensity or short duration or in narrow-channel conditions are criticized. The efficiency of bed sill, submerged vanes, and threading was found to be less than 20%, whereas collar, pier slot, and transverse sacrificial piles reduced the maximum scour depth .
The taxonomy and ecology of Crithionina delacai sp. nov., and abundant large agglutinated foraminifer from Explorers Cove, Antarctica

We describe Crithionina delacai, a new large (up to 6.5 mm) agglutinated foraminifer that differs from related species (notably C. granum) in the composition and arrangement of particles within the test. The new species is abundant at a 28-m-deep site in Explorers Cove, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. This unusually shallow-water occurrence for a species of Crithionina probably reflects the tranquil, cold (-1.8 degrees C), thermally stable, and relatively oligotrophic conditions that prevail at our study site. Crithionina delacai lives infaunally in the top 1 cm of sediment and apparently feeds on diatoms. Its abundance at depths accessible to SCUBA divers provides a unique opportunity to conduct detailed biological studies of this predominantly deep-sea genus.
Good r-divisions Imply Optimal Amortised Decremental Biconnectivity

We present a data structure that, given a graph $G$ of $n$ vertices and $m$ edges, and a suitable pair of nested $r$-divisions of $G$, preprocesses $G$ in $O(m+n)$ time and handles any series of edge-deletions in $O(m)$ total time while answering queries to pairwise biconnectivity in worst-case $O(1)$ time. In case the vertices are not biconnected, the data structure can return a cutvertex separating them in worst-case $O(1)$ time. As an immediate consequence, this gives optimal amortized decremental biconnectivity, 2-edge connectivity, and connectivity for large classes of graphs, including planar graphs and other minor free graphs.
First search for gravitational waves from the youngest known neutron star

We present a search for periodic gravitational waves from the neutron star in the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. The search coherently analyzes data in a 12-day interval taken from the fifth science run of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. It searches gravitational wave frequencies from 100 to 300 Hz, and covers a wide range of first and second frequency derivatives appropriate for the age of the remnant and for different spin-down mechanisms. No gravitational wave signal was detected. Within the range of search frequencies, we set 95% confidence upper limits of 0.7--1.2e-24 on the intrinsic gravitational wave strain, 0.4--4e-4 on the equatorial ellipticity of the neutron star, and 0.005--0.14 on the amplitude of r-mode oscillations of the neutron star. These direct upper limits beat indirect limits derived from energy conservation and enter the range of theoretical predictions involving crystalline exotic matter or runaway r-modes. This is the first gravitational wave search to present upper limits on r-modes.
An Assessment of Direct Radiative Forcing, Radiative Adjustments, and Radiative Feedbacks in Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Models*

AbstractIn this study, radiative kernels are used to separate direct radiative forcing from radiative adjustments to that forcing to quantify the magnitude and intermodel spread of tropospheric and stratospheric adjustments in coupled ocean–atmosphere climate models. Radiative feedbacks are also quantified and separated from radiative forcing by assuming that feedbacks are a linear response to changes in global-mean surface temperature. The direct radiative forcing due to a quadrupling of CO2 is found to have an intermodel spread of ~3 W m−2. In contrast to previous studies, relatively small estimates of cloud adjustments are obtained, which are both positive and negative. This discrepancy is at least partially attributable to small, but nonnegligible, global-mean surface warming in fixed sea surface temperature experiments, which aliases a surface-driven feedback response into estimates of the adjustments. This study suggests that correcting for the bias induced from this global-mean surface warming offe.
Towards Practical Evaluation of Pedestrian Detectors

Despite recent significant advancement in the area of pedestrian detection in images, little effort has been devoted to algorithm evaluation for practical purposes. Typically, detectors are evaluated only on color images. It is not clear how the performance would be affected if other modalitites are used e.g. thermal or near infrared. Also, detectors are evaluated on cropped images that have the same size as training images. However, in practice, detectors are applied to large images with multiple pedestrian in different locations and sizes. To apply a single size pedestrian detector, the input image is, typically, scanned several times with different window sizes. It is not clear how the detection performance would be affected by such multiple-size scanning techniques. Moreover, to implement such a technique, one is faced with a multitude of design choices, each of which potentially affects the performance of the detector. The contribution of this paper is to assess and reason about the differences in detection performance of two state of the art detectors across changes in modality (visible or near infrared), evalution method (on cropped or whole images), the effect of different design choices (resizing features or images, smoothing or not).
A three‐dimensional stratigraphic model for the Messinian crisis in the Pannonian Basin, eastern Hungary

A three‐dimensional quantitative stratigraphic forward model is employed to investigate the controls leading to the Messinian events in the lacustrine Pannonian Basin of Central Paratethys, and the link between the Messinian salinity crisis in the Mediterranean and the late Miocene‐Pliocene stratigraphy of the Pannonian Basin. Subsurface geological data show that a prominent unconformity surface formed during Messinian time in the Pannonian Basin associated with a sudden forced regression, abrupt basinward shift of facies and a subsequent, prolonged lowstand normal regression. The lowstand prograding series filled up the shallow basin fast, while, at the same time, the marginal areas of the basin were subject to tectonic inversion. The Dionisos program used in this research is built on a nonlinear water‐driven sediment diffusion process, and it employs multiple sediment classes, basin flexure and compaction. Four different scenarios were built in the experiments to test possible basin histories with different rates and timing of tectonic inversion. Each scenario was modelled in two versions: including and not including a lake‐level fall in the Messinian. The results confirm that the Pannonian Basin in the study area has undergone a tectonic inversion since the Messinian, although the exact rates of uplift at different locations remain uncertain. The unconformity and the observed stratigraphic architecture and facies pattern could be modelled adequately only in the versions that applied a Messinian lake‐level fall. Our research concludes that the Messinian unconformity in the Pannonian Basin was caused by an absolute lake‐level drop, likely linked to the desiccation of the Mediterranean, followed by subsidence and normal regression in the basin centre and concomitant tectonic inversion and uplift along the basin margins.
Calcite twinning strains in Alpine orogen flysch: Implications for thrust-nappe mechanics and the geodynamics of Crete

Recent uplift in Crete, along the Hellenic trench, has exposed the internal portions of Alpine nappes that were transported south along north-dipping thrusts from the middle Cretaceous to the Oligocene (100–20 Ma). Flysch deposited along the leading, southern edge of the Alpine foreland basin dates the timing of nappe transport and contains twinned calcite in synorogenic limestones and calcite veins that record the stress-strain fields associated with nappe transport and stacking for a 17 Ma period between 35 and 18 Ma. The flysch ages young away from the craton thereby documenting thin-skin thrusting and nappe motion, for the first time, toward the trench. Fossiliferous marine limestones and calcareous shales were deposited in marginal basins on the leading edges of four thrust-nappes in Crete: the higher and older flysch deposits (Asteroussia, Pindos) are underlain by younger flysch deposits of the Tripolitza and Plattenkalk nappes. The ages of these flysch deposits are well constrained and the flysch sequences are now found deformed between nappes without visible signs of Alpine metamorphism, except the lowest Plattenkalk flysch. Field observations in the flysch deposits include variable bedding, vein, fold axis, and kinematic orientations. Twinned calcite in the flysch limestones (16 samples, n = 425) and veins (23 samples, n = 612) generally preserve subhorizontal, in-transport shortening and vertical extension; where there is a strain overprint (high negative expected values [NEV]), a vertical shortening strain with transport-parallel extension (~N-S) is preserved. Strain magnitudes are greater in the vein sample suite, and differential stress magnitudes responsible for twinning are −230 bars for the entire sample suite. The tectonic evolution of the region involved thin-skinned shortening with south-vergent nappe formation, from north to south, followed by thrust motion on the Cretan detachment. Today, metamorphosed rocks (i.e., Phyllite-Quartzite unit [PQU]) overlie the basal Plattenkalk nappe placing earlier exhumed rocks of the Asteroussia, Tripolitza, and Pindos nappes on top of high-pressure (HP)-metamorphic rocks of the PQU without the deposition of any flysch.
STRESS-DEFORMATION AND STRENGTH CHARACTERISTICS OF SOIL UNDER THREE DIFFERENT PRINCIPAL STRESSES

The concept that the deformation of soil is governed by the shear-normal stress ratio on the mobilized plane of soil particles has already been discussed on the basis of the microscopic analysis of the behaviors of soil particles under shear. 5 This discussion originates in an idea that soil is one of the materials to which the frictional law in its broad sense of word applies. In the present paper, the authors expand the formerly proposed concept2),4 of three mobilized planes (compounded mobilized planes) among the three principal stress axes into a new postulate that a stress plane called "spatial mobilized plane" occurs in the three-dimensional stress space. Then, they propsse to verify, with various test data, the fact that stress-strain relationships of soil under three different principal stresses can uniquely be expressed by interpreting the relationships with respect to this plane. They also propose a new yield condition (failure criterion) of soil that soil yields when the shear-normal stress ratio on this plane has reached a fixed value.
Residual Bi-Fusion Feature Pyramid Network for Accurate Single-shot Object Detection

State-of-the-art (SoTA) models have improved the accuracy of object detection with a large margin via a FP (feature pyramid). FP is a top-down aggregation to collect semantically strong features to improve scale invariance in both two-stage and one-stage detectors. However, this top-down pathway cannot preserve accurate object positions due to the shift-effect of pooling. Thus, the advantage of FP to improve detection accuracy will disappear when more layers are used. The original FP lacks a bottom-up pathway to offset the lost information from lower-layer feature maps. It performs well in large-sized object detection but poor in small-sized object detection. A new structure "residual feature pyramid" is proposed in this paper. It is bidirectional to fuse both deep and shallow features towards more effective and robust detection for both small-sized and large-sized objects. Due to the "residual" nature, it can be easily trained and integrated to different backbones (even deeper or lighter) than other bi-directional methods. One important property of this residual FP is: accuracy improvement is still found even if more layers are adopted. Extensive experiments on VOC and MS COCO datasets showed the proposed method achieved the SoTA results for highly-accurate and efficient object detection.
Widespread extension in the core of the western Alps revealed by earthquake analysis

The western Alps are an active collision belt whose current stress field is inhomogeneous [Muller et al., 1992]. We report new seismological data which significantly improve our knowledge of this stress field. About 1600 earthquakes which occurred in the western Alps during the last 10 years were precisely located, and 79 new focal solutions were computed. The analysis of this database shows that widespread extension affects all the internal zones of the belt. To better constrain the associated stress regime, six stress tensors were computed using the Gephart and Forsyth [1984] method. They show that the current tectonics of the western Alps are contrasted with close variation in the stress regime (transpression to the front of the belt contrasting with extension in the core of the belt). The extensional direction is radial to the arcuate geometry of the belt and bounded outboard by the former thrust of the internal zones onto the external zone, suggesting extensional reactivation of this inherited crustal discontinuity. Such widespread extension within the inner part of an actually ongoing collision belt cannot be explained by simple collision-related tectonics. We propose that intrabelt buoyancy forces, such as those produced by a slab retreat or slab break-off, interfere with the boundary forces driven by the ongoing Europe-Africa convergence.
Gênese de latossolos e cambissolos desenvolvidos de rochas pelíticas do grupo Bambuí - Minas Gerais

The widespread occurrence of Cambisols (shallow, dense and silty) and of clayey and very clayey Latosols is typical of pelitic rocks of the pre-Cambrian Bambui Group landscape, but few studies are focused on the genesis and agricultural potential of these soils. Two areas were selected in Curvelo, state of Minas Gerais, for a detailed study of physical, chemical and mineralogical properties of these soils, to deepen the understanding of the pedogenesis of this area. Soils classified as Haplic Cambisols (Inceptisols), Red-Yellow latosol (Xanthic Haplustox) and Red latosol (Rhodic Haplustox) were selected and sampled, and analyzed for the chemical, mineralogical and physical properties. The XRD data coupled with the calculated weathering index indicated a lower degree of weathering in the shallow Cambisols, with higher proportion of illite and kaolinite in the clay fraction, in comparison to the Latosols, where kaolinite, gibbsite and hydroxy-interlayered vermiculite (HIV) coexist. In this case, the occurrence of gibbsite is not a good indicator of severe weathering. In the shallow Cambisols, higher silt content combined with a face-to-face arrangement of clay particles (kaolinite/illite) may have resulted in poor structural organization, denseness, low water infiltration and soil sealing. In the clay fraction of Latosols, we observed the coexistence of kaolinite/illite and Fe/Al oxides, similarly to the Cambisols, but with much less illite and higher gibbsite contents, as inferred from the results of Ki of around 1.4. Although there are no remarkable physical and chemical differences among Latosols, the Rhodic Latosols displayed considerable magnetization in the sand fraction, where XRD confirmed the presence of magnetite, an uncommon fact in the supposedly magnetite-free pelitic lithologies of the Bambui Group, but reported in previous studies as well.
Striding-Athabasca mylonite zone: implications for the Archean and Early Proterozoic tectonics of the western Canadian Shield

Study of the northern Saskatchewan–District of Mackenzie segment of the Snowbird tectonic zone suggests that fragments of relatively stiff mid-Archean crust, possibly arc related, have controlled the localization, shape, and complex kinematics of the multistage Striding–Athabasca mylonite zone during the Archean, as well as the geometry of the Early Proterozoic rifted margin of the western Churchill continent. By the late Archean, the Striding–Athabasca mylonite zone was located in the interior of the western Churchill continent, well removed from the contemporaneous plate margins. Except for the Alberta segment, the Snowbird tectonic zone was not the site of an Early Proterozoic plate margin. We suggest that the geometry of the Archean–Early Proterozoic boundary in the western Canadian Shield represents a jagged continental margin, composed of a pair of reentrants defined by rifted and transform segments. These segments were inherited from Early Proterozoic breakup and controlled by the Archean structure.
A late Ordovician (Hirnantian) karstic surface in a submarine channel, recording glacio‐eustatic sea‐level changes: Meifod, central Wales

The growth and decay of the end‐Ordovician Gondwanan glaciation is globally reflected by facies changes in sedimentary sequences, which record a major eustatic fall and subsequent rise in the Hirnantian Stage at the end of the Ordovician. However, there are different reported estimates of the magnitude and pattern of sea‐level change.