Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Absolute pitch and tone language - Two new studies

Two new studies provide evidence in favor of the hypothesis that absolute pitch is strongly influenced by a speech-related critical period. The first study examined the prevalence of absolute pitch among students in at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, as a function of age of onset of musical training, ethnicity, fluency in speaking a tone language, and country of early music education. Among those of East Asian ethnicity, performance on a test of absolute pitch was strongly correlated with fluency in speaking a tone language. The advantage of early onset of musical training did not interact statistically with the effects of tone language fluency, and further analyses showed that the results could not be explained by country of early music education. The second study investigated the pitch ranges of female speech in two relatively isolated villages in China. These pitch ranges clustered within each village, but differed significantly across the villages, indicating that, at least for speakers of tone language, the pitch range of speech is heavily influenced by an absolute pitch template that is developed through long term exposure to speech in the environment. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Competition within and Between Networks: The Contingent Effect of Competitive Embeddedness on Alliance Formation

I examine how firms use alliances to respond to the alliance networks of their rivals, by either allying with their rivals' partners or by building countervailing alliances. Evidence from the global airline industry (1994–98) suggests that these strategic responses depend on alliance cospecialization. Cospecialized alliances by rivals may involve exclusivity, precluding alliances with the rivals' partners and thus encouraging countervailing alliances. Nonspecialized alliances are less exclusive and are used when rivals share the same partners.
Application of Hidden Markov Models and Hidden Semi-Markov Models to Financial Time Series

Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) and Hidden Semi-Markov Models (HSMMs) provide flexible, general-purpose models for univariate and multivariate time series. Although interest in HMMs and HSMMs has continuously increased during the past years, and numerous articles on theoretical and practical aspects have been published, several gaps remain. This thesis addresses some of them, divided into three main topics. 1. Computational issues in parameter estimation of stationary HMMs. The parameters of a HMM can be estimated by direct numerical maximization (DNM) of the log-likelihood function or, more popularly, using the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm. We show how the EM algorithm could be modified to fit stationary HMMs. We propose a hybrid algorithm that is designed to combine the advantageous features of the EM and DNM algorithms, and compare the performance of the three algorithms (EM, DNM and the hybrid). We then describe the results of an experiment to assess the true coverage probability of bootstrap-based confidence intervals for the parameters. 2. A Markov switching approach to model time-varying Beta risk of pan-European Industry portfolios. The motive to take up this topic was the development of a joint model for many financial time series. We study two Markov switching models in a Capital Asset Pricing Model framework, and compare their forecast performances to three models, namely a bivariate t-GARCH(1,1) model, two Kalman filter based approaches and a bivariate stochastic volatility model. 3. Stylized facts of financial time series and HSMMs. The ability of a HMM to reproduce several stylized facts of daily return series was illustrated by Ryden et al. (1998). However, they point out that one stylized fact cannot be reproduced by a HMM, namely the slowly decaying autocorrelation function of squared returns. We present two HSMM-based approaches to model eighteen series of daily sector returns with about 5.000 observations. The key result is that, compared to a HMM, the slowly decaying autocorrelation function is significantly better described by a HSMM with negative binomial sojourn time and Normal conditional distributions.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Columbia River Fisheries Program Office Use of the Mainstem Columbia River by Walla Walla Basin Bull Trout

2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS . 4 LIST OF TABLES . 6 LIST OF FIGURES . 7 INTRODUCTION . 8 WALLA WALLA BASIN BULL TROUT . 8 BULL TROUT USE OF THE MAINSTEM COLUMBIA AND SNAKE RIVERS . 9 STUDY AREA . 10 WALLA WALLA BASIN . 10 MAINSTEM COLUMBIA RIVER . 11 METHODS . 12 BULL TROUT SAMPLING AND TAGGING . 12 Bull Trout Sampling . 12 Bull Trout Tagging . 14 MONITORING BULL TROUT MOVEMENTS . 15 Acoustic Tag Monitoring . 15 PIT Tag Monitoring . 17 BULL TROUT HABITAT USE IN THE MAINSTEM COLUMBIA RIVER . 17 RESULTS . 18 BULL TROUT SAMPLING AND TAGGING . 18 Bull Trout Sampling . 18 Bull Trout Tagging . 21 MONITORING BULL TROUT MOVEMENTS . 22 Acoustic Tag Monitoring . 22 PIT Tag Monitoring . 26 BULL TROUT HABITAT USE IN THE MAINSTEM COLUMBIA RIVER . 29 DISCUSSION . 30 BULL TROUT SAMPLING AND TAGGING . 31 MONITORING BULL TROUT MOVEMENTS . 32 Acoustic Tag Monitoring . 33 PIT Tag Monitoring . 34 Use of the Mainstem Columbia River by Walla Walla Basin Bull Trout-Final 2011 Annual Report 5 HABITAT USE OF ACOUSTIC TAGGED BULL TROUT . 36 SUMMARY . 37 PLANS FOR FY2012 . 37 REFERENCES . 39 APPENDIX A . 43 APPENDIX B . 44 APPENDIX C . 50 Use of the Mainstem Columbia River by Walla Walla Basin Bull Trout-Final 2011 Annual Report
climatic and oceanic forcing: Twenty years of rapid change Recent progress in understanding marine-terminating Arctic outlet glacier response to

Until relatively recently, it was assumed that Arctic ice masses would respond to climatic/oceanic forcing over millennia, but observations made during the past two decades have radically altered this viewpoint and have demonstrated that marine-terminating outlet glaciers can undergo dramatic dynamic change at annual timescales. This paper reviews the substantial progress made in our understanding of the links between marine-terminating Arctic outlet glacier behaviour and the ocean-climate system during the past 20 years, when many ice masses have rapidly lost mass. Specifically, we assess three primary climatic/oceanic controls on outlet glacier dynamics, namely air temperature, ocean temperature and sea ice concentrations, and discuss key linkages between them. Despite recent progress, significant uncertainty remains over the response of marine-terminating outlet glaciers to these forcings, most notably: (1) the spatial variation in the relative importance of each factor; (2), the contribution of glacier-specific factors to glacier dynamics; and (3) the limitations in our ability to accurately model marine-terminating outlet glacier behaviour. Our present understanding precludes us from identifying patterns of outlet glacier response to forcing that are applicable across the Arctic and we underscore the potential danger of extrapolating rates of mass loss from a small sample of study glaciers.
The Effect of Utilizing Microbiological Parameters on Water Quality Index Values Implemented at Wadi Al-Arab Dam Reservoir, North-Jordan.

The aims of this study are to investigate the effect of using microbiological parameters, particularly Escherichia coli on water quality index values that has been implemented at Wadi Al-Arab Dam Reservoir (WADR) in Northern Jordan and to evaluate its water suitability for domestic purposes. For these purposes, the study period from January 2009 through December 2014, one sample on a monthly basis was used in the calculation of WQI. Firstly, computed the WQI for the seventy two samples that were analyzed for different physico-chemical parameters such as pH, Electrical Conductivity, Total Dissolved Solids, Total Suspended Solids, ions of Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Chloride, Sulfate, Bicarbonate, Ammonium, Nitrite and Nitrate in various seasons (winter, spring, summer and autumn). Secondly, performing the previous calculations taking into account the Escherichia coli (species of bacteria) counts. The analyzed results (by WQI method) have been used to depicting water quality for the two approaches. Based on physico-chemical parameters, the calculated values for WQI over the 6-year study period from 2009 to 2014 were 83.4, 80.6, 59.33, 78.0, 89.3, and 85.4, respectively. On the other hand, the WQI values were 41.7, 40.1, 43.5, 44.2, 51.0 and 44.7, respectively, as a result of incorporated microbiological parameters in WQI calculations that significantly contribute to decrease the WQI values over the 6-year study period. The analysis shows that the water quality rank of the (WADR) is varies from good to marginal based on physico-chemical parameters only, and from poor to marginal based on physico-chemical and microbiological parameters. In comparison with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Jordanian Standards (JS 286:2008). The results signify that the (WADR) is not polluted based on the physical and chemical characteristics of water. However, from microbiological perspective the water is not safe for domestic use and needs further treatment. Keywords: reservoir, seasonality, Irbid, Wadi Al-Arab Dam, Water Quality Index, microbiology, Jordan.
Oxygenation of the Archean atmosphere: New paleosol constraints from eastern India

It is widely believed that atmospheric oxygen saturation rose from −5 present atmospheric level (PAL) in the Archean to >10 −2 PAL at the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) at ca. 2.4 Ga, but it is unclear if any earlier oxygenation events occurred. Here we report U-Pb zircon data indicating that a pyrophyllite-bearing paleosol, from Keonjhar in the Precambrian Singhbhum Craton of eastern India, formed between 3.29 and 3.02 Ga, making it one of very few known Archean paleosols globally. Field and geochemical evidence suggests that the upper part of the paleosol was eroded prior to unconformable deposition of an overlying sequence of shallow-marine siliciclastic sediments. A negative cerium anomaly within the currently preserved level of the paleosol indicates that ancient oxidative weathering occurred in the original upper soil profile. The presence of redox-sensitive detrital uraninite and pyrite together with a complete absence of pyrophyllite in the overlying sediments indicate that the mineralogical and geochemical features of the paleosol were established prior to the unconformable deposition of the sediments and are not related to subsequent diagenetic or hydrothermal effects. We suggest that a transient atmospheric oxygenation event occurred at least 600 m.y. prior to the GOE and ∼60 m.y. prior to a previously documented Archean oxygenation event. We propose that several pulsed and short-lived oxygenation events are likely to have occurred prior to the GOE, and that these changes to atmospheric composition arose due to the presence of organisms capable of oxygenic photosynthesis.
Species of Concern within the Georgia Basin Puget Sound Marine Ecosystem: changes from 2002 to 2006

Species of concern are native species, sub-species or ecologically significant units that warrant special attention to ensure their conservation. Within the Georgia Basin Puget Sound marine ecosystem, the Province of British Columbia, the State of Washington, the Canadian Federal Government, and the United States Federal Government each assess which species require special initiatives to ensure protection and survival of the population. As of September 1, 2006, 64 species of concern were listed by one or more jurisdiction in the Georgia Basin Puget Sound marine ecosystem. Each jurisdiction underestimated the total number of species of concern within the entire marine ecosystem. Since 2002 when an ecosystem-based list of species of concern was first compiled, the number of species of concern has slowly advanced from 60 species in 2002, to 63 in 2004 to 64 species but the percentage of total species listed by each jurisdiction has not altered significantly. Using unpublished data on species richness for the ecosystem, approximately 0.1% of invertebrates (3/3000), 12% of fishes (27/219), 19% of birds (24/128) and 45% (9/20) of mammals that utilize the Georgia Basin Puget Sound marine waters are listed by one or more jurisdiction as species of concern. This is concerning and suggestive of ecosystem decay. In light of projected human population growth in the region, efforts need to be enhanced to more rapidly address regional species declines and to institute multi-species ecosystem-based solutions where possible.
Habitat Use and Foraging Patterns of Molting Male Long-tailed Ducks in Lagoons of the Central Beaufort Sea, Alaska

From mid-July through September, 10 000 to 30 000 Long-tailed Ducks ( Clangula hyemalis ) use the lagoon systems of the central Beaufort Sea for remigial molt. Little is known about their foraging behavior and patterns of habitat use during this flightless period. We used radio transmitters to track male Long-tailed Ducks through the molt period from 2000 to 2002 in three lagoons: one adjacent to industrial oil field development and activity and two in areas without industrial activity. We found that an index to time spent foraging generally increased through the molt period. Foraging, habitat use, and home range size showed similar patterns, but those patterns were highly variable among lagoons and across years. Even with continuous daylight during the study period, birds tended to use offshore areas during the day for feeding and roosted in protected nearshore waters at night. We suspect that variability in behaviors associated with foraging, habitat use, and home range size are likely influenced by availability of invertebrate prey. Proximity to oil field activity did not appear to affect foraging behaviors of molting Long-tailed Ducks.
Improved quality-based channel state feedback scheme in multicast systems with greedy scheduling

This paper proposes an Improved Quality-Based Channel State Feedback (IQCF) scheme in multicast systems with greedy scheduling for multiple multicast groups. The proposed scheme outperforms the Quality-Based Channel State Feedback (QCF) scheme in the literature by selecting a scheduling outage group for data transmission when scheduling outage happens. We also analyze its performance in terms of average capacity and outage probability, and present a closed-form system average capacity expression over Rayleigh fading channels. The numerically evaluated analytical results are verified by simulations.
Sustainable Energy Development: Iceland as a Case Study

Increasing energy prices, political unrest in the Middle East and climate change are only a few issues that have pushed planning for Sustainable energy development (SED) onto the political horizon. SED is broadly defined as ‘the provision of adequate energy services at affordable cost in a secure and environmentally benign manner, in conformity with social and economic development needs’. Planning for SED implies that we need to consider the three dimensions of sustainable development, where such movement should not have negative consequences for the economy, the public (social dimension), nor the environment. This paper presents the development of the Icelandic Energy System since the year 1900 in this context. Iceland has in the last 40 years gone from being mostly reliant on coal and oil, towards extracting 73% of its primary energy needs from renewable energy, and at the same time achieved impressive economic success. Only the transportation sector relies on fossil fuels, and various experiments are being conducted to significantly reduce the reliance on imported fossil fuels. Some of those experiments include planning for a hydrogen economy by 2050. A central question that is asked in this presentation is if Iceland’s path is indeed sustainable, if it is unique and if other countries possibly can do the same.
The wind profile up to 300 meters over flat terrain

Analysis of profiles of meteorological measurements from a 160 m high mast at the National Test Site for wind turbines at Hovsore (rural, Denmark) shows that the wind profile based on surface-layer theory and Monin-Obukhov scaling is valid up to a height of 50 to 80 m. At higher levels deviations from the measurements progressively occur. The measurements also indicated that the height of the boundary layer influences the wind profile even in the lowest hundreds of meters. A parameterization of the wind profile for the entire boundary layer is formulated, with emphasis on the lowest 200 - 300 meters.
Limitation of Super Resolution Image Reconstruction

There are several super resolution technologies and super resolution image reconstruction is a typical one. It is applied to commercial products. However, it has several issues. This report describes one of them. 1. はじめに ディスプレイの高解像度化に伴い、映像の高解像度 化技術の研究開発が実用化に結びつきつつある。 再構 成超解像技術は高解像度化技術の一つである。 超解像 技術の目的は画像・映像の高解像度化である。 再構成 超解像は様々な課題を持っているが、近年の再構成超 解像に関する研究は ”Fast and Robust”に主眼が置かれ ている。 本報告では再構成超解像の根本的な課題であ るイテレーションと再構成超解像画質について報告す る。 2. 再構成超解像 再構成超解像は複数の低解像度画像から1枚の高 解像度画像を再構成する手法である [1]。 再構成超解像 の論文には複雑な数式が並ぶため、高度な処理が行わ れているかのような誤解を与えるが、エッセンスは非 常に単純であり、高解像度画像をジグゾーパズルのよ うに分解し、パズルを再び組み立てることと等価であ る。 再構成の際にはイテレーションを行うが、画素の位 置合わせとフレームメモリ中の最も高精細な画素を選 択しているに過ぎない。 このため、イテレーションの 回数が不十分な場合、低解像度な状態で再構成が停止 する。 図 1 に示す 256x256 画素画像を高精細画像とし て、128x128 画素の低解像度画像を 8 枚作製した。 作 成した低解像度画像を用いて再構成構成超解像処理に より得られた画像が図 2 である。 再構成のためのイテ レーション回数は 10 回である。 両者には明らかに画質 差が存在する。 再構成超解像をテレビに用いると、イ テレーションは遅延時間に直結する。 低遅延を実現す るために、イテレーションを 1 回にしている報告もあ る [2]。 1 回のイテレーションで再構成超解像の効果が あるか否かの検証が必要である。 3. むすび 再構成超解像にはいくつかの課題が存在する。 本報 告では、イテレーション回数と解像度との関係につい て報告した。 イテレーション回数が不十分な場合、再 構成画像の高解像度化は期待できない。 再構成回数を 極限まで増やすとある程度現画像に近づくが、演算量 は膨大となり、原画像とのギャップも残留する。
Volatiles in magmas related to the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption: Experiments vs. natural findings

Abstract The solubility of H2O- and CO2-bearing fluids in trachytic and trachybasaltic melts from erupted magmas of the Campi Flegrei Volcanic District has been investigated experimentally at 1100 and 1200 °C, respectively, and at 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 MPa. The solubility of H2O in the investigated melts varies between 3.48 ± 0.07 wt% at 100 MPa to 10.76 ± 0.12 wt% at 500 MPa in trachytic melts and from 3.49 ± 0.07 wt% at 100 MPa to 9.10 ± 0.11 wt% at 500 MPa in trachybasaltic melts. The content of dissolved CO2 in melts coexisting with the most CO2-rich fluid phase increases from 281 ± 24 ppm at 100 MPa to 2710 ± 99 ppm at 500 MPa in trachyte, and from 727 ± 102 ppm at 100 MPa to 3565 ± 111 ppm at 500 MPa in trachybasalt. Natural samples from the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption (trachyte) and from the Solchiaro eruption (trachybasalt) were collected around the city of Naples and on Procida Island. Deuterium/hydrogen (D/H) ratios were analyzed in natural pumices pre-heated at different temperatures to remove water adsorbed and/or imprinted by glass alteration processes. It has been determined that heating of the glass to 350 °C efficiently removes most of secondary water and the remaining concentrations represent primary magmatic water preserved in the erupted material. Hydrogen isotope composition (with δD values ranging between -70‰ and -110‰) and its correlation with bulk water content in selected pumice samples of the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption are consistent with isotopic fractionation between magmatic fluid and melt during degassing of erupting magma. Hence, the H2O and CO2 contents in natural glasses from pumice samples are considered as minimum estimates on volatile concentrations in the melt just prior to the eruption or at the fragmentation event. The water contents in natural glasses vary from 0.83 ± 0.07 to 3.74 ± 0.06 wt% for trachytes from the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption and from 1.96 ± 0.06 to 3.47 ± 0.07 wt% for trachybasalts from the Solchiaro eruption. The CO2 contents vary from 78 ± 120 ppm CO2 to 1743 ± 274 ppm for trachytes from the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption and from 240 ± 293 to 1213 ± 250 ppm for trachybasalts from the Solchiaro eruption. A combination of natural and experimental data provides minimum pressure estimates for the storage and ascent conditions of magmas. The Campanian Ignimbrite magma could have been stored or ponded during its rising path at two different levels: a deeper one corresponding to depth of about 8 to 15 km and a shallower one at about 1 to 8 km. Trachybasalts from Solchiaro erupted from the deepest level of about 11 km with a storage or ponding level at around 2 to 8 km depth. Although an uncertainty of at least a kilometer has to be considered in estimating storage or ponding depths, these estimates point to significantly deeper magmatic sources for both eruptions as those considered previously.
THE CLOWES–CAMPUSANO LARGE QUASAR GROUP SURVEY. I. GALEX SELECTED SAMPLE OF LYMAN BREAK GALAXIES AT z ∼ 1

The nature of galaxy structures on large scales is a key observational prediction for current models of galaxy formation. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the 2dF galaxy survey have revealed a number of structures on 40–150 h−1 Mpc scales at low redshifts, and some even larger ones. To constrain galaxy number densities, luminosities, and stellar populations in large structures at higher redshift, we have investigated two sheet-like structures of galaxies at z = 0.8 and 1.3 spanning 150 h−1 comoving Mpc embedded in large quasar groups (LQGs) extending over at least 200 h−1 Mpc. We present first results of an analysis of these sheet-like structures using two contiguous 1 deg Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) fields (FUV and NUV) cross-correlated with optical data from the SDSS. We derive a sample of 462 Lyman break galaxy (LBG) candidates coincident with the sheets. Using the GALEX and SDSS data, we show that the overall average spectral energy distribution of a LBG galaxy at z ∼ 1 is flat (in fλ) in the rest-frame wavelength range from 1500 Å to 4000 Å, implying evolved populations of stars in the LBGs. From the luminosity functions we get indications for overdensities in the two LQGs compared to their foreground regions. Similar conclusions come from the calculation of the 2-point correlation function, showing a 2σ overdensity for the LBGs in the z ∼ 0.8 LQG on scales of 1.6 to 4.8 Mpc, indicating similar correlation scales for our LBG sample as their z ∼ 3 counterparts.
Holothurian Distribution In the Lagoon at La Preneuse and Baie du Cap, Mauritius, Indian Ocean

Holothurian (Sea cucumber) study was carried out at two sites along the western and southern coast of Mauritius; namely La Preneuse and Baie du Cap. Visual census was adopted along five belt transect sets; placed at the back reef and shore reef respectively parallel to the reef and the shoreline at each site, to study the abundance and distribution of sea cucumbers. Together with the number of species present, the substrate cover type was noted. Each belt transect set covered 1,000m2, so that we investigated 20,000m2 in this study. Although eleven edible species are found in the Southwestern Indian Ocean including Mauritius, little information exists about their abundance and distribution patterns in the waters around the island. In this study, nine species, viz. Aetinopyga eehinires, Bohadsehia marmorara, Holorhuria atra, H. leueospilora, H. pervieax, H. sea bra, Sriehopus ehloronotus, S. variegatus and Thenelora ananas were observed, about which the abundance and distribution patterns were discussed. This study will help in formulating coastal zone management policies.