Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Daily surface wind fields produced by merged satellite data

Scatterometers and radiometers on several polar-orbiting satellites routinely produce oceanic surface wind field data. For this study, we merged the NASA scatterometer (NSCAT) data with scatterometer data from the European Remote Sensing (ERS) satellite 2, and the wind speeds from two of the Special Sensor Microwave/Imagers (SSM/I) and produced daily 1° latitude by 1° longitude gridded wind fields over the global ocean for September 1996 through June 1997. This time period coincides with the lifetime of the NSCAT aboard ADEOS-1. We created these wind fields by utilizing the Kriging technique with its associated variograms, which consider both space and time wind vector structures. The resulting daily wind fields, when compared with moored-buoy wind speed and direction measurements, resulted in a root-mean-square (rms) difference of less than 1.5 m/s. No significant difference was found between statistical parameters estimated over the equatorial zone and middle latitudes. To investigate the global patterns of these new satellite wind fields, comparisons with the National Environmental Prediction Center's (NCEP) re-analysis products have been carried out. The satellite data and the NCEP products have a similar statistical error structure, but the merged wind fields provide complete coverage at much higher spatial resolution. Accurate surface wind speed estimates are an important factor in determining the velocity and magnitude of air-sea gas exchange.
Wind speed trends over Turkey from 1975 to 2006

This study examines the spatial and temporal dynamics of wind speeds over Turkey by analysing data from 206 weather stations for a 32‐year period (1975–2006). Trends in annual, seasonal, and monthly average wind speeds were determined using the Mann–Kendall trend test with the trend‐free pre‐whitening procedure. The strengths of trends were estimated by calculating the Sen's slope. The possible causes of wind speed changes were discussed. The analysis showed that the majority of the stations (73%) in Turkey had average wind speeds between 1.6 and 3.3 m s−1 during the 32‐year period. From 1975 to 2006, 72% of stations had downward trends in annual average wind speeds. Downward trends were statistically significant at the 0.05 level for 62%. Significant upward trends were detected in only 16% of 206 stations. The rate of change in annual average wind speed data was on average −0.014 m s−1 year−1. The trends detected in monthly average wind speed data were mostly downward with an average strength between −0.007 and −0.017 m s−1 year−1. The directions and strengths of wind speed trends identified for the 1975–2006 period over Turkey are similar to the trends detected in wind speeds in many other regions over the earth. The changes in wind speeds in Turkey are most strongly related with the changes in general circulation patterns and air temperatures. The effects associated with changes in surface roughness and data quality are minor compared to other two factors.
Human transilience in the face of adversities

Climate change is happening and has negative impacts on communities. To adapt to climate change risks, people need to take action to protect, not only themselves, but also their community. We study whether collective transilience predicts community-based adaptation, such as joining a community initiative to protect the community from climate change risks. Collective transilience reflects the extent to which people perceive they can persist, adapt flexibly, and positively transform as a community in the face of climate change. Two studies (in the United States and The Netherlands) showed that, as expected, higher collective transilience is associated with increased engagement in different examples of community-based adaptation, even when controlling for individual transilience (the perceived capacity to persist, adapt flexibly, and positively transform in the face of climate change as an individual). Notably, collective transilience was the only significant predictor of individual adaptation behaviours, corroborating the relevance of examining transilience at the collective level to promote widespread adaptation. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Paleoearthquakes Determination of Magnitude~6.5 on the North Tehran Fault, Iran

The North Tehran Fault is located at the southernmost piedmont of Central Alborz, north of Iran. It stands out as a major active fault menacing directly the city of Tehran, a 12 million people metropolis, and would have been the source of several major historical earthquakes in the past. The fault zone extends up to 110km and corresponds mainly to a reverse fault mostly crossing the northern suburbs of the Tehran metropolis, although NTF in its eastern part is characterized more as a left lateral strike slip active fault. We carried out a paleoseismological study of the fault zone in order to determine whether the fault was activated during the Holocene, and to define the characteristics of its activity in terms of kinematics and magnitude. Here in this paper we present only a part of our paleoseismological investigations trench TE2. Observations fromtwo trenches dug across the North Tehran fault scarp reveal evidence for a maximum of six surface-rupturing events within the late quaternary. According to the empirical relationships among average displacement per event and Moment magnitude [25], we can estimate six events Mw~ 6.5 associated with these ruptures in TE2 trench.
A New Peirosaurid (Crocodyliformes, Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina

Abstract. Peirosaurids are a group of Cretaceous continental crocodyliforms from Gondwana. Two species are known from the Neuquén Group in Argentina: Lomasuchus palpebrosus (Portezuelo Formation, late Turonian—early Coniacian) and Gasparinisuchus peirosauroides (Bajo de la Carpa and Anacleto formations, Santonian and early Campanian, respectively). Here, we describe the first peirosaurid from the Cerro Lisandro Formation, Bayomesasuchus hernandezi gen. et sp. nov. The material corresponds to a fragmentary skull and mandible. Although fragmentary, this is the most complete crocodyliform specimen recorded for the Cerro Lisandro Formation. In a phylogenetic analysis Bayomesasuchus is depicted in a polytomy together with South American peirosaurids and the African form Hamadasuchus rebouli.
Uso de follaje fresco de árnica (Tithonia diversifolia) y morera (Morus alba) en la alimentación de conejos

Se condujeron dos experimentos para evaluar el uso de follaje fresco de arnica (Tithonia diversifolia) y morera (Morus alba) como suplemento en conejos de engorde alimentados con dieta balanceada comercial (AC). En el primero, 21 conejos con peso promedio de 1350 ± 175 g fueron distribuidos individualmente segun un diseno experimental completamente aleatorizado con siete repeticiones. Los tratamientos fueron T1 = suministro ad libitum de AC; T2 = AC restringido en 20% mas follaje fresco de arnica ad libitum; T3 = AC restringido en 40 % mas follaje fresco de arnica ad libitum. En el segundo experimento, 30 animales con peso promedio de 1475 ± 36 g se distribuyeron siguiendo similar diseno con 10 repeticiones. Los tratamientos fueron T1 = suministro ad libitum de AC; T2 = suministro ad libitum de AC mas follaje de arnica y morera ad libitum; T3 = AC restringido en 20 % mas follaje fresco de arnica y morera ad libitum. En la primera experiencia, la ganancia diaria de peso (GDP) y el consumo de materia seca (CMS) fue menor (P 0,05) entre dietas (34,73; 32,36 y 33,15 g/conejo para T1, T2 y T3, respectivamente); mientras que el CMS fue menor con solo AC (120,70; 140,03 y 138,60 g/conejo/dia, en el mismo orden). El consumo de forrajes fue 170,67 y 169,36 g/conejo/dia para T2 y T3. El consumo de AC se redujo (P<0,05) cuando se suministro forraje. El peso del ciego tendio a disminuir cuando los animales consumieron forrajes. La oferta de estos forrajes frescos permitio reducir el uso de alimento comercial y propicio respuesta productiva favorable en los conejos.
Effectiveness of Foreign Exchange Derivatives Usage from Non-Financial Companies: A Brazilian Perspective

Objective: The present study analyses the financial statements of the Brazilian non-financial companies that are listed at the Brazilian stock market (B3), which had foreign currency indebtedness during the period of 2019, 2020 and 2021, to understand whether the use of foreign exchange derivatives for hedging purposes have generated value or not. Methods: It was analysed the financial statements and annual reports of the Brazilian non-financial companies that are listed at B3, to raise information about their debt in foreign currency, and to understand if they applied foreign currency derivatives for hedging purposes. After that, it was made a descriptive statistics analysis, followed by an econometric study applying the Fixed Effects and Random Effects methods, and a Hausman test to verify robustness. Results: The results of the estimations indicate that the use of foreign currency derivatives for hedging purposes has a positive impact on companies’ profitability in moments of macroeconomic instability, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, they indicate that foreign currency indebtedness has a negative impact on profitability. Contributions: The present study aims to enhance the available literature regarding risk management and value creation, with evidence that the use of hedging techniques can improve companies’ value creation even in moments of unfavourable macroeconomic scenarios.
Trainable Self-Guided Filter for Multi-Focus Image Fusion

Cameras are limited in their ability to capture all-in-focus images due to their limited depth of field. This results in blurriness for objects too far in front of or behind the focused point. To overcome this limitation, multi-focus image fusion (MFIF) approaches have been proposed. Although recent MFIF methods have shown promising results for this task, they still need to be improved in terms of artifacts and color degradation. Motivated by these observations, in this paper, we propose a new Generative Adversarial Network (GAN)–based MFIF model to improve fusion quality by predicting more accurate focus maps thanks to a trainable guided filter we incorporated. The proposed model comprises an encoder-decoder network, and a trainable self-guided filtering (TSGF) module that is specifically designed to enhance spatial consistency in the predicted focus map and to eliminate the requirements of post-processing in existing GAN-based methods. The encoder-decoder network first predicts raw focus maps, which are then passed to the TSGF to produce the final focus maps. To train the proposed model effectively, we define three objectives: L1 loss, GAN loss, and Focal Frequency Loss (FFL) in the frequency domain. L1 loss is defined on ground-truth and predicted focus maps, whereas GAN loss and FFL are defined on ground-truth all-in-focus images and fused images. Experimental results show that the proposed approach outperforms the existing GAN-based methods and achieves highly competitive performance with state-of-the-art methods in terms of standard quantitative image fusion metrics and visual quality on three MFIF benchmark datasets.
Parada cardiorrespiratória em ambiente pré-hospitalar: ocorrências atendidas pelo serviço de atendimentomóvel de urgência de Belo Horizonte

O Servico de Atendimento Medico de Urgencia de Belo Horizonte (SAMU/BH), implantado em 2003, conta com equipe preparada e ambulâncias equipadas para atendimento pre-hospitalar. Dentre esses atendimentos tem-se a parada cardiorrespiratoria (PCR) que e uma das ocorrencias mais graves. Este estudo foi desenvolvido com o objetivo de analisar as ocorrencias de parada cardiorrespiratoria, atendidas pelas unidades de suporte avancado (USA), em ambiente pre-hospitalar, na cidade de Belo Horizonte, durante o ano de 2005. Para a coleta de dados, elaboramos um instrumento com variaveis baseadas no estiloUstein. Os dados foram submetidos a tratamento estatistico (analise espacial, descritiva e de associacao). Estudamos 1548 casos de pessoas vitimas de PCR. A analise espacial dos casos ocorridos em Belo Horizonte mostrou uma ausencia de conglomerados. A maioria dos atendimentos se deu no periodo diurno, entre sabado e terca-feira (com media de 5 atendimentos/dia) e media de 129 atendimentos/mes.O maior percentual (68,8%) foi de pessoas do sexo masculino, idade variando de 0 a 106 anos com faixa etaria media de 45 a 54 anos. As causas de PCR foram categorizadas em clinicas e externas, sendo a primeira em maior quantitativo (62,2%). As USA que atenderam ocorrencias de PCR, no municipio de Belo Horizonte, chegaram ao local indicado em tempo medio (tempo-resposta) de 10,3 minutos e, em outras cidades da regiao metropolitana, em media 18 minutos. Namaioria das ocorrencias atendidas (77,3%), apenas se constatou o obito. A realizacao das manobras de RCP se restringiu a 351 pessoas, e, 33,3% apresentavam fibrilacao ventricular ou taquicardia ventricular sem pulso no momento da primeira avaliacao pela equipe de atendimento. Dessas, 23,6% tiveram sobrevida imediata e foram encaminhadas para diversos hospitais. Dentre os fatores que influenciaram sobrevida imediata pos-RCP, tem-se o tempo-resposta da ambulância, PCR presenciada pela equipe e o ritmo cardiaco. Porem, na regressao logistica, somente as duas ultimas variaveis foram significativas. Para os casos em que a PCR foi presenciada pelas equipes das USA do SAMU/BH, as pessoas tiveram 2,8 vezes mais chance de sobrevida imediata pos-RCP do que as com PCR naopresenciadas pelas equipes. Vitimas com o ritmo de assistolia tiveram 2,6 vezes menos chance de sobrevida imediata caso o ritmo cardiaco encontrado fosse outro como FV/TV sem pulso ou AESP. As outras variaveis nao tiveram associacao com a sobrevida imediata pos-RCP. Os resultados mostraram o importante papel do SAMU no atendimento as vitimas de parada cardiopulmonar na comunidade.
Transport out of the lower stratospheric Arctic vortex by Rossby wave breaking

The fine-scale structure in lower stratospheric tracer transport during the period of the two Arctic Airborne Stratospheric Expeditions (January and February 1989; December 1991 to March 1992) is investigated using contour advection with surgery calculations. These calculations show that Rossby wave breaking is an ongoing occurrence during these periods and that air is ejected from the polar vortex in the form of long filamentary structures. There is good qualitative agreement between these filaments and measurements of chemical tracers taken aboard the NASA ER-2 aircraft. The ejected air generally remains filamentary and is stretched and mixed with midlatitude air as it is wrapped around the vortex. This process transfers vortex air into midlatitudes and also produces a narrow region of fine-scale filaments surrounding the polar vortex. Among other things, this makes it difficult to define a vortex edge. The calculations also show that strong stirring can occur inside as well as outside the vortex.
Examining Communication Between Florida Agriculture and Natural Resource Organizations’ Leaders and Membership to Foster Policy Engagement. 

The agricultural sector has been influenced significantly by agriculture and natural resources (ANR) policies voted in by elected officials. Many agricultural organizations and their members have sought to provide a ‘voice’ for the ANR industry and communicate with policymakers about emerging issues. It is necessary that such organizations and members be able to use that voice effectively. This study was conducted to examine the communication preferences of Florida agricultural organization members and factors that may encourage them to contact elected officials about an ANR policy. Respondents in this study least preferred to be contacted by their organization(s) via phone call or text message. They also identified local Extension offices and the university as the most trustworthy sources of communication regarding ANR policy. When contacting members to spur involvement in ANR policy decisions, organizational leaders should use a variety of communication mediums, including email magazines and printed newsletters and magazines, to promote engagement in ANR policy discussions. Future research is needed to examine other factors that may influence agriculture organization members’ communication with elected officials, as well as the types of messaging strategies organizational leaders can use to further members’ engagement in ANR policy decisions.
On the AoI-Aware Status Update in Buffer-Aided Wireless-Powered Internet of Things Network

In this article, we focus on buffer-aided wireless-powered Internet of Things (IoTs) comprising of one wireless access point (AP) and multiple devices, where the AP provides energy to all devices via downlink radio frequency (RF) energy beams. All devices utilize the harvested energy to transmit their data to the AP in a time-division multiple access (TDMA) manner. Every device is assumed to be provisioned with energy storage and data buffer to store the collected energy from the AP and its data, respectively. The problem of minimizing the long-term average Age of Information (AoI) of the system is formulated in this article. By solving the problem under the Lyapunov optimization framework, the AoI-aware adaptive transmission scheme is obtained, in which downlink RF energy beamforming, downlink energy transfer and uplink access, as well as transmit power and transmission rate by every device, will be jointly adjusted in order to minimize average weighted AoI according to the underlying channel state information (CSI), the buffer state information (BSI), the energy-consumption status information (ESI) of all terminals, as well as the AoI status information (ASI). Our analysis unveils that, the status update rate at devices has a significant impact on the achievable AoI performance, and the minimum average weighted AoI can only be realized at a reasonable status update rate, which is neither too high nor too low. Moreover, flexible AoI-aware scheme can be realized by adjusting either the AoI priority level or the AoI weighting coefficient.
Anthropogenic Weakening of the Atmospheric Circulation During the Satellite Era

Climate models predict a slowing of the atmospheric overturning circulation with warming. In models, this slowing manifests primarily as a weakening of the Walker Circulation (WC). However, observational studies indicate a strengthened Pacific WC over the past several decades, raising questions about the models' ability to represent critical energetic and hydrologic constraints responsible for the predicted weakening. This discrepancy is closely tied to differences in the warming pattern over the Pacific during this period. We show that model simulations with either observed or model‐projected warming patterns predict a robust weakening of atmospheric overturning circulation, despite having opposing changes in the Pacific WC strength. This weakening occurs in the zonally asymmetric circulation, rather than in the zonal‐mean Hadley cell. Weakening inferred from satellite observations is reproduced in coupled models only when anthropogenic forcing is included, suggesting that a human‐induced weakening of the global atmospheric circulation is already detectable in observations.
Psychological Impacts of Teaching Models on Ibero-American Educators during COVID-19

Educational systems globally, and notably in the Ibero-American context, underwent significant adaptations in response to the myriad challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pedagogical evolution unfolded through three discernible phases: predominantly online, hybrid, and ultimately, a return to face-to-face instruction. While these phases were universally apparent, cultural, socio-economic, and health disparities across regions subtly influenced the quality and experiential aspects of teaching and learning within these models. This study seeks to illuminate the psychological profiles and evaluative perspectives regarding teaching and learning quality among university educators during COVID-19’s tri-phase educational transformation. Engaging 601 university instructors from various Ibero-American countries, a comprehensive questionnaire mapped demographic, academic, and psychological landscapes across the pandemic’s distinctive epochs. The pivot to online educational methodologies, supplanting traditional modalities, permeated numerous facets of the educational endeavor, particularly impacting faculty life and wellbeing. Data underscored a prevalent sentiment of loneliness, indicative of broader mental health challenges, especially pronounced among educators in Latin American nations. Notwithstanding these hurdles, Latin American educators demonstrated a predilection towards online instruction, in stark contrast to their European peers, who exhibited a preference for in-person pedagogy. This study unveils the divergent pedagogical preferences and mental health challenges among university educators in the Ibero-American realm during COVID-19’s educational shifts, underlining the need for adaptable educational frameworks and robust mental health support, attuned to the region’s distinct socio-cultural and economic contexts.
Surface Quality of AZ91D Magnesium Alloy After Precision Milling with Coated Tools

This study investigates the surface quality of AZ91D magnesium alloy specimens after precision milling. The milling was conducted with the use of TiB2- and TiAlN-coated carbide end mills. The following variables were used in the milling process: cutting speed vc, feed per tooth fz and axial depth of cut ap. The surface quality was analysed based on surface roughness parameters and Abbott-Firestone curves. The results showed that the surface quality after machining depended on the tool coating type and applied machining parameters; the only exception was the axial depth of cut because changes in its value did not have any significant effect on the obtained surface quality. After precision milling, AZ91D specimens were characterized by very low surface roughness parameters. The impact of machining conditions was also evaluated with ANOVA analysis, which confirmed the significant effect of cutting speed and feed per tooth. It also indicated the dependence of the roughness parameters on the tool coating type. The tool coating type and machining conditions did not have any significant effect on the Abbott-Firestone curves. Despite the changes applied, the shape of the curves remained similar. The obtained results provide both theoretical and practical knowledge about the achievable surface roughness of AZ91D magnesium alloy specimens after precision milling.