Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evolution of WRF-HAILCAST during the 2014–16 NOAA/Hazardous Weather Testbed Spring Forecasting Experiments

Four different versions of the HAILCAST hail model have been tested as part of the 2014–16 NOAA Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT) Spring Forecasting Experiments. HAILCAST was run as part of the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) WRF Ensemble during 2014–16 and the Community Leveraged Unified Ensemble (CLUE) in 2016. Objective verification using the Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor maximum expected size of hail (MRMS MESH) product was conducted using both object-based and neighborhood grid-based verification. Subjective verification and feedback was provided by HWT participants. Hourly maximum storm surrogate fields at a variety of thresholds and Storm Prediction Center (SPC) convective outlooks were also evaluated for comparison. HAILCAST was found to improve with each version due to feedback from the 2014–16 HWTs. The 2016 version of HAILCAST was equivalent to or exceeded the skill of the tested storm surrogates across a variety of thresholds. The post-2016 version of HAILCAST was found to improve 50-mm hail forecasts through object-based verification, but 25-mm hail forecasting ability declined as measured through neighborhood grid-based verification. The skill of the storm surrogate fields varied widely as the threshold values used to determine hail size were varied. HAILCAST was found not to require such tuning, as it produced consistent results even when used across different model configurations and horizontal grid spacings. Additionally, different storm surrogate fields performed at varying levels of skill when forecasting 25- versus 50-mm hail, hinting at the different convective modes typically associated with small versus large sizes of hail. HAILCAST was able to match results relatively consistently with the best-performing storm surrogate field across multiple hail size thresholds.
The winter 2015/2016 floods in the UK: a hydrological appraisal

The flooding in winter 2015/2016 was one of the most extraordinary hydrological episodes witnessed in the UK in recent decades. The winter was defined by a succession of severe storms, bringing extreme rainfall and associated widespread flooding across northern and western regions. For the UK, December 2015 was the wettest month (for any calendar month) and it was the second wettest winter (December–February) in a series from 1910, while a number of new records were established for rainfall accumulations over shorter timescales. The hydrological response was remarkable; period of record maximum peak flows were established across northern areas of the UK, and the high flow response was notable in terms of its spatial extent, duration and frequency. The flooding had severe impacts on properties, infrastructure and livelihoods. Inevitably, the flooding was at the forefront of public, political and media attention through much of the winter and, occurring only two years after the major flooding of 2013/2014, led to a significant debate around flood management in a warming world.
The Effect of Laminate Angles in Composite Substrates on the Performance of Rectangular Microstrip Antenna

The performance of a microstrip antenna has been known sensitive to substrate’s dielectric properties, which is dependent on the angle of laminate layers inside a composite laminated substrate. Modal analysis in spectral domain is applied to investigate the resonant frequency and radiation pattern of rectangular microstrip antenna on composite substrates. It is shown that the substrate’s dielectric properties are dependent upon the laminate angles, i.e., upon the orientation of the antenna relative to the substrate’s fiber direction. For the same operating frequency, the antenna size on composite substrates is larger than that on isotropic substrates, and the far field pattern is also more directional.
Combining estimators of a common parameter across samples

ABSTRACT In many settings, multiple data collections and analyses on the same topic are summarised separately through statistical estimators of parameters and variances, and yet there are scientific reasons for sharing some statistical parameters across these different studies. This paper summarises what is known from large-sample theory about when estimators of a common structural parameter from several independent samples can be combined functionally, or more specifically linearly, to obtain an asymptotically efficient estimator from the combined sample. The main idea is that such combination can be done when the separate-sample nuisance parameters, if any exist, vary freely and independently of one another. The issues are illustrated using data from a multi-centre lung cancer clinical trial. Examples are presented to show that separate estimators cannot always be combined in this way, and that the functionally combined separate estimators may have low or 0 efficiency compared to the unified analysis that could be performed by pooling the datasets.
The contribution of economics to sustainable tourism research

Abstract This paper aims to identify and explore the interlinkages between sustainable tourism research and the study of economics with the goal of identifying main themes and gaps in the economics of sustainable tourism. It contributes to identifying the unique perspective that economics has contributed and can still contribute towards the sustainable tourism discourse. This review article retrieved and analysed 5593 papers using scientometric analysis. The findings indicate that economic theory and/or methods have had a clear influence on some, but not all clusters of sustainable tourism research. Clusters that are dominated by economic theory and methods include economic growth, climate change, the sharing economy and evolutionary framework. Current themes in economics, including migration, declining labour shares and rising inequality have not attracted attention in sustainable tourism research. Additionally, a much clearer focus on inter- and intragenerational effects, shadow prices and dealing with externalities deserves further scrutiny. Gaps also exist in terms of laboratory studies, field experimental studies and the application of behavioural economics. This article also launches the special issue – the Economics of Sustainable Tourism – which includes ten blind-peer-reviewed papers.
Comparative Solar Minima Using the McIntosh Archive

The McIntosh Archive consists of four solar cycles (SC20–23) of synoptic maps of solar features (magnetic polarities, coronal holes, filaments, sunspots, plage) that were produced by Patrick McIntosh and his cartographers. In this paper we present the full Archive for the first time and find a hemispheric pattern of coronal hole polarity reflecting the Hale sunspot polarity pattern. In addition, we present a supplemental set of related maps created for the 2019–2020 solar minimum in support of the Whole Heliosphere and Planetary Interactions (WHPI) interval. To facilitate this addition, we cross calibrate EUV and He‐I 10,830 Å coronal holes and study differences between the WHPI solar minimum and the earlier minima in the main Archive. We find, first, that the visibility of coronal holes in EUV introduces a bias toward larger counts of low‐latitude coronal holes near solar minimum. However, the estimated lifetimes (in Carrington Rotations) of coronal hole complexes are unaffected by this fragmentation, and we find the longest‐lived low‐latitude coronal holes occurred during the 2008–2009 solar minimum, with 2019–2020 solar minimum lifetimes not far behind. In this way, we consider the large‐scale organization of solar magnetic fields between solar minima and study each solar minimum in the context of its solar cycle.
Fusion nuclear science facilities and pilot plants based on the spherical tokamak

A fusion nuclear science facility (FNSF) could play an important role in the development of fusion energy by providing the nuclear environment needed to develop fusion materials and components. The spherical torus/tokamak (ST) is a leading candidate for an FNSF due to its potentially high neutron wall loading and modular configuration. A key consideration for the choice of FNSF configuration is the range of achievable missions as a function of device size. Possible missions include: providing high neutron wall loading and fluence, demonstrating tritium self-sufficiency, and demonstrating electrical self-sufficiency. All of these missions must also be compatible with a viable divertor, first-wall, and blanket solution. ST-FNSF configurations have been developed simultaneously incorporating for the first time: (1) a blanket system capable of tritium breeding ratio TBR ≈ 1, (2) a poloidal field coil set supporting high elongation and triangularity for a range of internal inductance and normalized beta values consistent with NSTX/NSTX-U previous/planned operation, (3) a long-legged divertor analogous to the MAST-U divertor which substantially reduces projected peak divertor heat-flux and has all outboard poloidal field coils outside the vacuum chamber and superconducting to reduce power consumption, and (4) a vertical maintenance scheme in which blanket structures and the centerstack can be removed independently. Progress in these ST-FNSF missions versus configuration studies including dependence on plasma major radius R0 for a range 1 m–2.2 m are described. In particular, it is found the threshold major radius for TBR = 1 is R0⩾1.7 m, and a smaller R0 = 1 m ST device has TBR ≈ 0.9 which is below unity but substantially reduces T consumption relative to not breeding. Calculations of neutral beam heating and current drive for non-inductive ramp-up and sustainment are described. An A = 2, R0 = 3 m device incorporating high-temperature superconductor toroidal field coil magnets capable of high neutron fluence and both tritium and electrical self-sufficiency is also presented following systematic aspect ratio studies.
Computation of equilibria on integer programming games

The knapsack problem, the maximum matching problem and the lot-sizing problem are classical examples of combinatorial optimization models that have been broadly studied in the literature. In recent years, more intricate variants of these problems have been investigated, resulting in better approximations of real-world problems and in improvements in solution techniques. The goal of this Ph.D. thesis is to extend the algorithmic tools for solving these (single) decision-maker combinatorial problems to games, that is, to combinatorial problems with several decision makers. It is frequent for a decision process to depend on parameters that are controlled by external decision makers. Therefore, combinatorial games are a crucial line of research since they reflect the reality of these problems. We focus in understanding the computational complexity and in designing algorithms to find equilibria to integer programming games with quadratic utilities. In an integer programming game, a player’s goal is formulated by using the mathematical programming framework. Each player aims at maximizing her utility, a function of her and other players’ decision variables (strategies). We will concentrate in games with quadratic utilities on each player’s decision variables. In order to make this thesis self-contained, we start by covering the essential background in computational complexity, mathematical programming and game theory. It is followed by the presentation of our contributions, which are fleshed out in two parts: Stackelberg competition and simultaneous games. The first part concerns Stackelberg competitions (also known as bilevel programming), where players play sequentially. We study the most simple to model combinatorial Stackelberg competitions, which are based on the knapsack problem. We characterize the complexity of computing equilibria and we design a novel algorithm to tackle a bilevel interdiction problem, the knapsack problem with interdiction constraints, a special class of problems which have recently received significant attention in the research community. The second part deals with simultaneous games, i.e., games in which players select their strategies at the same time. This definition already gives a hint of the obstacles involved in finding players’ rational strategies, since the opponents strategies have to be predicted. In this context, we investigate the structure of three particular games: the coordination knapsack game (based on the knapsack problem), the kidney-exchange game (based on the maximum matching problem) and the lot-sizing game (based on the lot-sizing problem).
Orthogonal Polynomials on Arcs of the Unit Circle: II. Orthogonal Polynomials with Periodic Reflection Coefficients

Abstract First we give necessary and sufficient conditions on a set of intervalsEl=∪lj=1[ϕ2j−1, 2j], 1 T N(z)=zN/2τN(z),z=eiϕ, is called the complex Chebyshev polynomial. Then it is shown that polynomials orthogonal onElhave periodic reflection coefficients if and only if they are orthogonal onElwith respect to a measure of the form[formula]certain point measures, where A is a real trigonometric polynomial with no zeros onEland there exists a complex Chebyshev polynomial onEl. Let us point out in this connection that Geronimus has shown that orthogonal polynomials generated by periodic reflection coefficients of absolute value less than 1 are orthogonal with respect to a measure of the above type. Furthermore, we derive explicit representations of the corresponding orthogonal polynomials with the help of the complex Chebyshev polynomials. Finally, we provide a characterization of those definite functionals to which orthogonal polynomials with periodic reflection coefficients of modulus unequal to one are orthogonal.
Patients Living with Social Vulnerabilities Experience Reduced Access at Team-Based Primary Healthcare Clinics

Objective: This study aims to explore differences in access to care as experienced by patients registered in team-based primary healthcare clinics according to their social vulnerability profile. Method: A total of 1,562 patients from four team-based primary healthcare clinics completed an e-survey conducted between June and November 2021. The social vulnerability index was used to compare the experiences. Results: Patients with low vulnerability consulted at emergency rooms three times more often because their family physician was not available (p = 0.006) than patients with no vulnerability. Lack of continuity was reported two times more often by patients with low vulnerability related to team members not knowing their recent medical history (p = 0.006) and by patients with high vulnerability related to no one being in charge of their file (p = 0.023). Both vulnerable groups reported receiving contradictory information more often than patients with no vulnerability. Conclusion: Patients with high vulnerability experienced more access difficulties related to continuity, interprofessional collaboration and communication with providers.
Unsteady pressure estimation and compensation capabilities of the hybrid simulation combining PIV and DNS

The hybrid unsteady-flow simulation, which has been developed to assimilate the Navier–Stokes simulation into a time-resolved particle image velocimetry (PIV) field by synchronizing the frame rate with the direct-numerical-simulation time step, can simultaneously produce an unsteady pressure field. The hybrid process typically introduces a ‘patch function’, which transplants the PIV fields inside the camera window into a larger computational domain. This study evaluates the pressure fields produced by the hybrid simulation inside the patch function (i.e. estimation) and outside of it (i.e. compensation). We take time-resolved planar PIV data of a separated flow past the NACA 0012 airfoil at an angle of attack of 30° in a water tunnel as an example. First, an unsteady pressure field produced from the hybrid simulation is compared with other existing pressure-estimation methods in two dimensions over the entire domain of the camera window. The results of the two-dimensional (2D) hybrid simulation are found to agree best with those of the sequential-integration method with much lower noise levels in time and space. Next, the domain of the forcing is reduced by truncating the patch function in the hybrid simulation, and the pressure fields in the missing parts of the patch function are compared with those solved using the full patch function. When at least the regions in which 2D vortical structures collapse are included in the patch function downstream, the rest of the pressure fields can be compensated for relatively well. In contrast, the forces acting on the airfoil can be estimated accurately only if it is enclosed by the camera window.
A Study of the Susceptibility of Candida Species Isolated from Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infected Patients to Antifungal Drugs

Background: On a worldwide scale there is an increase in resistance in fungal infection (resistance,) which is crucial for people with compromised immune systems. One of the most frequent causes of fungal infections in these individuals is Candida fungus infection, which can have fatal consequences. This study aimed to investigate the (medication) antimicrobial sensitivity profile of Candida in HIV seropositive patients. Methods: The study included a total of 674 Candida isolates. Candida was isolated from clinical samples using wet mount, Gram stain, and SDA culture. Germ tube test, cornmeal agar morphology, sugar assimilation, fermentation tests, and BACT/ALERT 3D were used to further speciate the organisms. Results: Six and a half percent (6.5%) of the population was found to contain one or more Candida species. The most prevalent isolate was discovered to be 20 Candida tropicalis (45.45%), followed by 9 Candida albicans (20.45%), 7 Candida glabrata (15.9%), 4 Candida parapsilosis, and 4 Candida krusei. Antifungal susceptibility test performed by disk diffusion method revealed resistance to Amphotericin B in Candida tropicalis (25%), Candida albicans (33.33%) and Candida glabrata (28.5%). Conclusion: The clinician can select the most efficient antifungal drug with the help of a quicker identification of the Candida species in immunocompromised patients, thereby resulting in lower treatment costs and shorter hospital stays.
Ex vivo STUDY OF THE ACTION OF INTEGRIN RECEPTORS ANTAGONIST FROM ECHIS MULTISQUAMATIS SNAKE VENOM ON PLATELETS OF PREGNANT WOMEN WITH COMPICATIONS DURING GESTATION

Aim. In our work, we studied platelet aggregation in blood plasma of pregnant women and estimated the possibility of ex vivo normalization of aggregation rate using a polypeptide from the Echis multisquamatus snake venom. Previous reports demonstrated that it directly interacts with glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptors on the surface of platelets, preventing their adhesion, thereby affecting the degree of aggregation. Methods. chromatography followed by size-exclusion chromatography on Superdex 75 using the FPLC system (ӒKTA, GE Healthcare, USA). Analysis of molecular weight of protein components was performed using SDS-PAGE. The concentration of protein was measured using spectrophotometer Optizen POP (Korea) at 280 nm. The ability of obtained protein to inhibit platelet aggregation was measured directly by aggregometry. Blood samples of women with placental disfunction during pregnancy (n = 28) were kindly provided by “Perinatal Center of Kyiv”. This study was approved by the Ethics Commission of the Shupyk National Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education and the Ethics Commission of the Kyiv Perinatal Center (# 3 from 05/05/2020). Aggregation of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) induced by ADP was investigated using aggregometry on the AP 2110 (Solar, Belarus). We compared the rate of platelet aggregation in the presence vs absence of platelet aggregation inhibitor. Results. Two-step chromatography protocol allowed us to obtain the polypeptide from the venom of Echis multisquamatus that possessed the anti-aggregatory action. SDS-PAGE analysis confirmed the homogeneity of obtained polypeptide with apparent molecular weight 14 kDa that corresponds to the platelet aggregation inhibitor reported earlier. Initial studies of ADPinduced platelet aggregation allowed selecting active concentration for the effective inhibitory action as 0.02 mg/ml. Conclusions. Platelet aggregation inhibitor from Echis multisquamatis snake venom of can be assumed as the effective agent that reduce the rate of platelet aggregation. We demonstrated it efficacy in platelet rich plasma of pregnant women that had placenta dysfunction. The use of direct antagonist of platelet integrin receptors was assumed as the prospective approach for suppressing of platelet reactivity in particular during complicated pregnancy.
Hierarchical Metamodel of Communication in the Experience of Resacralization of Spiritual Practics

This article highlights the view of conceptual advertising as a process of Resacralization of Spiritual Practices (RSP). To analyze the empirical material, the authors propose using a Hierarchical Metamodel of Communication. In the context of the growth of intangible production, both the advertised product and the advertising product itself are undergoing transformation. To study the patterns of dissemination of ideas (non-material products of culture) based on a Hierarchical Metamodel of Communication, RSP is considered as a Method of Conceptual Advertising (MCA). The authors illustrate this through the values and principles of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (ROC), introducing the concept of Orthodox Resacralization of Spiritual Practices (ORSP). The paper analyzes a small amount of empirical material, — the minimum necessary to demonstrate the validity of the proposed theoretical model. The author’s interdisciplinary approach is based on subordinating qualitative methods of the sociology of culture and analytical and semiotic methods to general scientific methods of comparison and typology. As a result, the article reveals the prospects for methodological enrichment of the theory of advertising and PR, as well as the pragmatic metamodel of communication of the relational theory of communication. The authors propose uniting the efforts of theorists and practitioners of advertising and PR, experts in the fields of social and intercultural communication, as well as theologians and researchers of religions, to analyze the applicability of the proposed theoretical model in various cultural locations.
Over half a century of studying carbon-12

Carbon-12 is one of the most studied light nuclei yet it continues to surprise and provide a rigorous testing ground for a wide range of physics, from nucleosynthesis models to theories of symmetries. This paper discusses the background motivating the investigations of 12C and summarises the recent results, with an emphasis on collective excitations and the high-energy structure together with possible future directions for this most intriguing of nuclei.