Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing ecological condition of large landscapes with limited human impacts

Our ability to measure global climate change has generated dire predictions in global ecosystem conditions. These predictions have inspired efforts to develop assessment metrics that examine alterations in ecological condition resulting from climate dynamics. As climate change drives future watershedor regional-scale assessment model development, many questions will need to be addressed concerning potential tool constraints. Chief among these will be: to what degree is ecosystem condition affected by anthropogenic disturbance, climate-driven disturbance or natural variability, both individually and in combination? As a first step toward assessing impacts on ecological condition resulting from climate driven spatial or temporal disturbance gradients, an assessment methodology would need to be developed for ecosystems with limited direct human land use disturbance. In the first of three case studies, I propose such an assessment methodology for Glacier National Park (GNP), Montana. This approach combines theoretical elements of biological and ecosystem structural assessments with approaches developed for risk and landscape assessments to approach to assist GNP with prioritizing natural resource monitoring and management and with informing the public on the current condition of the park’s ecosystem. There has been increased accessibility to publicly available thematic maps derived from Landsat imagery that can be used to develop watershed or regional assessment tools in remote areas. Most remote sensing products have associated assessment of its error. However, the impacts of these uncertainties on landscape scale multi-metric management tools are poorly developed. In my second case study, I provide an approach that incorporates these errors into the assessment process. Finally, dynamics of ecosystem are rarely incorporated into assessment tools as a means to distinguish natural variability from one perturbed by climate or anthropogenic disturbance. The Shifting Habitat Mosaic Concept addresses variability of floodplain habitat patch composition and provides a platform to develop potential assessment metrics for dynamics in floodplain habitat condition as climate shifts. In the third case study, I document the influence of multiple disturbance regimes across several geomorphic settings through a remotely sensed, multi-decadal whole-river census as a step towards developing effective metrics that measure perturbations in the variability of floodplain condition.
The water balance of wetland-dominated permafrost basins.

Field studies were conducted in the wetland-dominated region of discontinuous permafrost of the lower Liard River valley in order to: (a) estimate the relative magnitudes of basin water balance components; and (b) demonstrate associations between total annual runoff and the relative proportions of flat bogs, channel fens and peat plateaus within this region. Annual runoff from the study basins is generally below 200 mm, while evapotranspiration ranges between 200 and 500 mm. The magnitude of the annual basin runoff increases with increasing coverage of channel fen, but decreases as the proportion of flat bogs increases.
UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Bilingual children's production of regular and irregular past tense morphology

This study examined the production of the Dutch past tense in Dutch–Hebrew bilingual children and investigated the effect of type of past tense allomorph ( de versus te ) and token frequency on productions of the past tense. Seven-year-old bilingual children (n = 11) were compared with monolingual children: age-matched (n = 30) and younger vocabulary-matched (n = 21). Accuracy of regular and novel past tense was similar for the bilingual and monolingual groups, but the former group was worse on irregular past tense than the age-matched monolingual peers. All three groups showed effects of type frequency: te past tenses were more accurate than de . The difference between the bilingual and monolingual children surfaces in the extent of the effect: for the bilingual children it was most pronounced in verbs with low token frequency and novel verbs. Results are interpreted as stemming from a learning strategy or from phonological transfer from the Hebrew morphosyntactic system.
) Search for pair-produced third-generation squarks decaying via charm quarks or in compressed supersymmetric scenarios in pp collisions at √s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for supersymmetry via direct production of third-generation squarks are reported, using 20 . 3 fb − 1 of proton-proton collision data at ﬃﬃﬃ s p ¼ 8 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2012. Two different analysis strategies based on monojetlike and c -tagged event selections are carried out to optimize the sensitivity for direct top squark-pair production in the decay channel to a charm quark and the lightest neutralino ( ~ t 1 → c þ ~ χ 01 ) across the top squark – neutralino mass parameter space. No excess above the Standard Model background expectation is observed. The results are interpreted in the context of direct pair production of top squarks and presented in terms of exclusion limits in the ( m ~ t 1 , m ~ χ 01 ) parameter space. A top squark of mass up to about 240 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for arbitrary neutralino masses, within the kinematic boundaries. Top squark masses up to 270 GeV are excluded for a neutralino mass of 200 GeV. In a scenario where the top squark and the lightest neutralino are nearly degenerate in mass, top squark masses up to 260 GeV are excluded. The results from the monojetlike analysis are also interpreted in terms of compressed scenarios for top squark-pair production in the decay channel ~ t 1 → b þ ff 0 þ ~ χ 01 and sbottom pair production with ~ b 1 → b þ ~ χ 01 , leading to a similar exclusion for nearly mass-degenerate third-generation squarks and the lightest neutralino. The results in this paper significantly extend previous results at colliders.
Patterns and processes of larval fish supply to the coral reefs of the upper Florida Keys

To identify temporal and spatial patterns in the supply of late-stage fish larvae to the coral reefs of the upper Florida Keys, 3 replicate light traps that collect larvae in the process of set- tling were deployed at each of 2 reefs from May 2002 to February 2004. Traps were deployed every other night from May through October and twice monthly from November through April to examine cross-shelf (2002 and 2003) and alongshore (2002 and 2004) patterns. The nightly abundance of set- tling larvae was compared to concurrently collected environmental data to assess the relationships between these variables and temporal patterns of larval supply. In total, 26 185 fish larvae from 55 families were collected during 174 nights of sampling. Seasonally, the supply of larvae peaked in the late winter to early spring and reached a minimum in late fall. Within-season supply of late-stage larvae was cyclic and strongly related to the lunar cycle, and to a lesser extent, the maximum tidal amplitude cycle. Strong negative correlations between larval supply and both moon illumination and maximum tidal amplitude each night resulted in peak supply of fish larvae between the third quarter moon/minimum amplitude tides and the new moon/maximum amplitude tides. While these cyclic environmental cues provided a high degree of temporal predictability of larval pulses, the magnitude of pulses was stochastic, with some variability related to the passage of mesoscale frontal eddies by the upper Florida Keys. However, the effects of these physical features on larval supply were not con- sistent over time. Spatial variability (kilometer-scale) was greater in the cross-shelf direction than in the alongshore direction: the supply of larval fishes was significantly greater to the fringing reef site (French Reef) than to the inshore patch reef (White Banks), due to either active larval avoidance of inshore environments or depletion of larvae originating offshore as they pass over and settle on the fringing reef.
WL meet VC

Recently, many works studied the expressive power of graph neural networks (GNNs) by linking it to the 1 -dimensional Weisfeiler–Leman al-gorithm ( 1 - WL ). Here, the 1 - WL is a well-studied heuristic for the graph isomorphism problem, which iteratively colors or partitions a graph’s vertex set. While this connection has led to significant advances in understanding and enhancing GNNs’ expressive power, it does not provide insights into their generalization performance, i.e., their ability to make meaningful predictions beyond the training set. In this paper, we study GNNs’ generalization ability through the lens of Vapnik–Chervonenkis (VC) dimension theory in two settings, focusing on graph-level predictions. First, when no upper bound on the graphs’ order is known, we show that the bitlength of GNNs’ weights tightly bounds their VC dimension. Further, we derive an upper bound for GNNs’ VC dimension using the number of colors produced by the 1 - WL . Secondly, when an upper bound on the graphs’ order is known, we show a tight connection between the number of graphs distinguishable by the 1 - WL and GNNs’ VC dimension. Our empirical study confirms the validity of our theoretical findings.
On the uniqueness of solutions of certain improperly posed problems.

Conditions are derived for uniqueness of solutions of some improperly posed problems for hyperbolic equations. Unique- ness results for backward parabolic problems are also included. In (1) Dunninger and Zachmanoglou derived a condition for uniqueness of the Dirichlet problem for a hyperbolic equation in cylindrical domains. The purpose of this note is to point out that the technique used in (1 ) can be employed, with only slight changes, to derive similar uniqueness conditions for a variety of boundary value problems for hyperbolic equations. We also indicate how the argu- ments of (I) can be modified to give elegant proofs of known unique- ness theorems for three initial-boundary value problems associated with the backward heat equation. Related results were obtained in (2 ) for the Dirichlet and Neumann problems associated with the n-dimensional wave equation in rec- tangular domains bounded by hyperplanes normal to the coordinate axis using a variation of the methods of Bourgin and Duffin (3). Studies concerned with questions of uniqueness, existence and con- tinuous dependence of the solution on the boundary data have been carried out by John (4) and Fox and Pucci (5) for the two-dimen- sional wave equation. Preliminaries. Denote by B a bounded domain in n-dimensional space R. and by D the n+ 1-dimensional cylindrical domain
Identification of a novel lineage bat SARS-related coronaviruses that use bat ACE2 receptor

Severe respiratory disease coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes the most devastating disease, COVID-19, of the recent century. One of the unsolved scientific questions around SARS-CoV-2 is the animal origin of this virus. Bats and pangolins are recognized as the most probable reservoir hosts that harbor the highly similar SARS-CoV-2 related viruses (SARSr-CoV-2). Here, we report the identification of a novel lineage of SARSr-CoVs, including RaTG15 and seven other viruses, from bats at the same location where we found RaTG13 in 2015. Although RaTG15 and the related viruses share 97.2% amino acid sequence identities to SARS-CoV-2 in the conserved ORF1b region, but only show less than 77.6% to all known SARSr-CoVs in genome level, thus forms a distinct lineage in the Sarbecovirus phylogenetic tree. We then found that RaTG15 receptor binding domain (RBD) can bind to and use Rhinolophus affinis bat ACE2 (RaACE2) but not human ACE2 as entry receptor, although which contains a short deletion and has different key residues responsible for ACE2 binding. In addition, we show that none of the known viruses in bat SARSr-CoV-2 lineage or the novel lineage discovered so far use human ACE2 efficiently compared to SARSr-CoV-2 from pangolin or some of the SARSr-CoV-1 lineage viruses. Collectively, we suggest more systematic and longitudinal work in bats to prevent future spillover events caused by SARSr-CoVs or to better understand the origin of SARS-CoV-2.
Effect of velocity ratio on the interaction between plasma synthetic jets and turbulent cross-flow

Plasma synthetic jet actuators (PSJAs) are particularly suited for high-Reynolds-number, high-speed flow control due to their unique capability of generating supersonic pulsed jets at high frequency ( ${>}5$ kHz). Different from conventional synthetic jets driven by oscillating piezoelectric diaphragms, the exit-velocity variation of plasma synthetic jets (PSJs) within one period is significantly asymmetric, with ingestion being relatively weaker (less than $20~\text{m}~\text{s}^{-1}$ ) and longer than ejection. In this study, high-speed phase-locked particle image velocimetry is employed to investigate the interaction between PSJAs (round exit orifice, diameter 2 mm) and a turbulent boundary layer at constant Strouhal number (0.02) and increasing mean velocity ratio ( $r$ , defined as the ratio of the time-mean velocity over the ejection phase to the free-stream velocity). Two distinct operational regimes are identified for all the tested cases, separated by a transition velocity ratio, lying between $r=0.7$ and $r=1.0$ . At large velocity and stroke ratios (first regime, representative case $r=1.6$ ), vortex rings are followed by a trailing jet column and tilt downstream initially. This downstream tilting is transformed into upstream tilting after the pinch-off of the trailing jet column. The moment of this transformation relative to the discharge advances with decreasing velocity ratio. Shear-layer vortices (SVs) and a hanging vortex pair (HVP) are identified in the windward and leeward sides of the jet body, respectively. The HVP is initially erect and evolves into an inclined primary counter-rotating vortex pair ( $p$ -CVP) which branches from the middle of the front vortex ring and extends to the near-wall region. The two legs of the $p$ -CVP are bridged by SVs, and a secondary counter-rotating vortex pair ( $s$ -CVP) is induced underneath these two legs. At low velocity and stroke ratios (second regime, representative case $r=0.7$ ), the trailing jet column and $p$ -CVP are absent. Vortex rings always tilt upstream, and the pitching angle increases monotonically with time. An $s$ -CVP in the near-wall region is induced directly by the two longitudinal edges of the ring. Inspection of spanwise planes ( $yz$ -plane) reveals that boundary-layer energization is realized by the downwash effect of either vortex rings or $p$ -CVP. In addition, in the streamwise symmetry plane, the increasing wall shear stress is attributed to the removal of low-energy flow by ingestion. The downwash effect of the $s$ -CVP does not benefit boundary-layer energization, as the flow swept to the wall is of low energy.
Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology

Quantifying the impact of lockdowns on COVID-19 mortality risks is an important priority in the public health fight against the virus, but almost all of the existing research has only conducted macro country-wide assessments or limited multi-country comparisons. In contrast, the extent of within-country variation in the impacts of a nation-wide lockdown is yet to be thoroughly investigated, which is the gap in the knowledge base that this paper fills. Our study focuses on England, which was subject to 3 national lockdowns between March 2020 and March 2021. We model weekly COVID-19 mortality counts for the 312 Local Authority Districts in mainland England, and our aim is to understand the impact that lockdowns had at both a national and a regional level. Specifically, we aim to quantify how long after the implementation of a lockdown do mortality risks reduce at a national level, the extent to which these impacts vary regionally within a country, and which parts of England exhibit similar impacts. As the spatially aggregated weekly COVID-19 mortality counts are small in size we estimate the spatio-temporal trends in mortality risks with a Poisson log-linear smoothing model that borrows strength in the estimation between neighbouring data points. Inference is based in a Bayesian paradigm, using Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation. Our main findings are that mortality risks typically begin to reduce between 3 and 4 weeks after lockdown, and that there appears to be an urban–rural divide in lockdown impacts.
Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology

COVID-19 has spread worldwide with a high variability in cases and mortality between populations. This research aims to assess socioeconomic inequities of COVID-19 in the city of Cali, Colombia, during the first and second peaks of the pandemic in this city. An ecological study by neighborhoods was carried out, were COVID-19 cases were analyzed using a Bayesian hierarchical spatial model that includes potential risk factors such as the index of unsatisfied basic needs and socioeconomic variables as well as random effects to account for residual variation. Maps showing the geographic patterns of the estimated relative risks as well as exceedance probabilities were created. The results indicate that in the first wave, the neighborhoods with the greatest unsatisfied basic needs and low socioeconomic strata, were more likely to report positive cases for COVID-19. For the second wave, the disease begins to spread through different neighborhoods of the city and middle socioeconomic strata presents the highest risk followed by the lower strata. These findings indicate the importance of measuring social determinants in the study of the distribution of cases due to COVID-19 for its inclusion in the interventions and measures implemented to contain contagions and reduce impacts on the most vulnerable populations.
Palaeobiogeographic significance of Jurassic and Cretaceous Western Australian ostracod faunas

The palaeobiogeographic distribution of Western Australian ostracods during the Jurassic and Cretaceous illustrates how Gondwana broke apart to form the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and how the new ostracod genera from here migrated into the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Western Pacific Ocean and the Western Indian Ocean.
UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Steady-state magneto-optical trap of fermionic strontium on a narrow-line transition

A steady-state magneto-optical trap (MOT) of fermionic strontium atoms operating on the 7 . 5-kHz-wide 1 S 0 - 3 P 1 transition is demonstrated. This MOT contains 8 . 4 × 10 7 atoms, a loading rate of 1 . 3 × 10 7 atoms / s, and an average temperature of 12 μ K. These parameters make it well suited to serve as a source of atoms for continuous-wave superradiant lasers operating on strontium’s mHz-wide clock transition. Such lasers have only been demonstrated using pulsed Sr sources, limiting their range of applications. Our MOT makes an important step toward continuous operation of these devices, paving the way for continuous active optical clocks.
Mnemonist: Locating Model Parameters that Memorize Training Examples

Recent work has shown that an adversary can re-construct training examples given access to the parameters of a deep learning image classiﬁcation model. We show that the quality of reconstruction depends heavily on the type of activation functions used. In particular, we show that ReLU activations lead to much lower quality reconstructions compared to smooth activation functions. We explore if this phenomenon is a fundamental property of models with ReLU activations, or if it is a weakness of current attack strategies. We ﬁrst study the training dynamics of small MLPs with ReLU activations and identify redundant model parameters that do not memorise training examples. Building on this, we propose our Mnemonist method, which is able to detect redundant model parameters, and then guide current attacks to focus on informative parameters to improve the quality of reconstructions of training examples from ReLU models.
Axisymmetric benchmarks of impurity dynamics in extended-magnetohydrodynamic simulations

A verification benchmark has been carried out between the M3D-C1 and NIMROD extended-magnetohydrodynamic codes for simulations of impurity-induced disruption mitigation. Disruptions are a significant concern for future tokamaks and high-fidelity simulations are required in order to ensure the success of disruption mitigation techniques (e.g. shattered-pellet injection) in large-scale fusion reactors. Both magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) codes have been coupled to the Killer Pellet RADiation code for impurity dynamics. The codes show excellent agreement in four axisymmetric, nonlinear simulations, particularly during the thermal quench. This agreement is seen in the time histories of global plasma quantities such as thermal energy, radiated power, and total number of electrons, as well as 2D contours of temperature and current density. The simulations predict that, given the same number of atoms injected, argon quenches the plasma two-to-three times as fast as neon. Furthermore, the inclusion of temperature-dependent Spitzer resistivity causes the current to diffuse and to decay, inducing axisymmetric MHD instabilities that result in a current quench. This work represents an important verification of the coupled impurity and MHD models implemented in M3D-C1 and NIMROD, giving greater confidence in the ability of both codes to perform more sophisticated disruption mitigation simulations.
On the limitations of Markovian rewards to express multi-objective, risk-sensitive, and modal tasks

In this paper, we study the expressivity of scalar, Markovian reward functions in Reinforcement Learning (RL), and identify several limitations to what they can express. Specifically, we look at three classes of RL tasks; multi-objective RL, risk-sensitive RL, and modal RL. For each class, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions that describe when a problem in this class can be expressed using a scalar, Markovian reward. Moreover, we find that scalar, Markovian rewards are unable to express most of the instances in each of these three classes. We thereby contribute to a more complete understanding of what standard reward functions can and cannot express. In addition to this, we also call attention to modal problems as a new class of problems, since they have so far not been given any systematic treatment in the RL literature. We also briefly outline some approaches for solving some of the problems we discuss, by means of bespoke RL algorithms.
Evaluation of the Efficacy and Safety of Autologous Adipose Tissue-Derived Stem Cells in Treatment of Keloids

Background: The formation of keloids is accompanied by undesirable aesthetic and psychological impacts. Different therapeutic techniques, including local injection, occlusive dressings, surgical excision, and lasers have been examined for keloids. This work objects to evaluate the efficacy and the safety of autologous adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) in keloids treatment. Methods: This prospective clinical research involved 15 subjects with keloids who were injected with autologous ADSCs three sessions at monthly intervals. Follow up was done for 3 months after treatment and evaluation was done for improvement in Vancouver scar score, patient's opinion and physician's opinion. Results: In the studied patients, 8 patients (53.3%) showed good improvement (25 – 49%), 7 patients (46.7%) showed very good improvement (50 – 74%) and none of the patients (0%) showed excellent improvement. Side effects were mild and tolerable and included pain during injection and abdominal discomfort for few days after lipoaspiration. Conclusions: Adipose-derived stem cells are effective, safe and are of more value in improving consistency and vascularity of keloids.