Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multi‐annual dry episodes in Australian climatic variability

The output from a 10 000‐year simulation with the CSIRO Mark 2 coupled global climatic model has been analysed to investigate the occurrence of multi‐year dry episodes for three selected regions of Australia, specifically, the northeast, southeast and southwest of the continent. Results are presented for dry episodes lasting for 8 or more years. An episode is defined as a time interval having consecutive negative rainfall anomalies, but not necessarily a major drought, for each year of the episode. The hydrological consequences of such an episode can persist for over a century.
A comparison of mesospheric temperatures from the Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model and HALOE observations: Zonal mean and signature of the solar diurnal tide

Currently climate models are being extended to the middle atmosphere in order to investigate climate sensitivity in that region. This paper presents a comparison between the Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model (CMAM) climatology and 9 years of HALOE temperature measurements for the middle atmosphere. The analysis shows an overall agreement throughout the entire middle atmosphere with discrepancies within 10 K and less in various areas for both equinox and solstice conditions. For historical purposes, the analysis also includes a comparison with the CIRA‐86 reference model. In this case, the results indicate a significant CIRA‐86 warm anomaly in the upper mesosphere over the tropics which is particularly pronounced during equinox. Further analysis of the HALOE sunrise and sunset occultation measurements with the CMAM has revealed the signature of diurnal tides.
Role of large scale moist dynamics in November 1-5, 1994, hazardous Mediterranean weather

Investigation of the role of moist dynamics in the atmospheric processes during the abnormally intensive stormy period of November 1–5, 1994, over the Mediterranean region is presented. Analysis focuses on the eastern Mediterranean area employing 96-hour model predictions over the Mediterranean region with the Florida State University (FSU) global spectral model. Sensitivity simulations differ only by prescribing the initial moisture fields in the selected regions located in the Arabian Sea, Red Sea, and over large areas in the low and high latitudes. Both the tropospheric trajectories and the model tests suggest that the heavy rains over the eastern Mediterranean were associated with unusually intensive propagation of air masses from the Arabian Sea region, which took place before and during the first 24 hours of the period. Air masses from the Arabian Sea participated also in the intensive developments in Italy and southern France on November 5, 1994. According to the model simulations the convective processes over the equatorial Africa play a major role in the developments. Also, the intensification of the upper tropospheric westerly winds due to the convection over the equatorial Africa stimulates the northward extension of the Red Sea trough which consequently diminishes the moisture influx for the tropical convection and therefore seems to serve as a negative feedback.
Landscapes of Risk: The Geography of Fatal Traffic Collisions in Indiana, 2003 to 2011

Potential death from traffic collisions is a common hazard faced by nearly everyone. This analysis uses geographical approaches to examine fatal collision risk in the state of Indiana from 2003 to 2011. The state averaged 757 fatal collisions annually. About 60 percent occurred in urban or suburban areas. Risk was highest in low-density exurban and rural areas and on highways, county roads, and interstates. County sheriffs and state police were more likely to face fatal collisions than municipal police. Significant black spots existed around the Illinois and Kentucky state lines. Fatal collisions were less clustered than nonfatal collisions. Fatal collisions exhibited positive spatial autocorrelation but the global Moran's I for counties was close to random. Approximately 10 percent of ninety-two counties had significant local spatial autocorrelation in fatal collision rates. Police and emergency response resource distributions should be considered in light of fatal collision black spots in the state.
Testing the case for a Middle Pleistocene Scandinavian glaciation in Eastern England: evidence for a Scottish ice source for tills within the Corton Formation of East Anglia, UK

The provenance of the Happisburgh Till and Corton Till of the Corton Formation is investigated using erratic clast lithologie s and allochthonou s palynomorph s to test whether the long held assumptio n that they were deposited by ice that originated in Scandinavia is valid. The results show a wide range of lithologie s including Carboniferous Limestone and Coal Measures, and Permian Magnesian Limestone that are not found in Scandinavia, and an absence of distinctive Scandinavian material such as rhomb porphyry and larvikite. Lithologies found indicate deposition by an ice sheet which flowed southwards into north‐east East Anglia from central and southern Scotland eroding and transporting materials derived from outcrops in these areas and from eastern England and the western margins of the southern North Sea Basin. It is concluded that the long held assumption that the Happisburgh Till and Corton Till of the Corton Formation were deposited by a Scandinavian ice sheet is erroneous and that they were instead deposited by Scottish ice.
Influence of using a creep, rate, or an elastoplastic model for predicting the behaviour of embankments on soft soils

The predictability of the behaviour of an embankment constructed on a soft soil with three types of fully coupled finite element analysis models; namely a rate-formulated elasto-viscoplastic, a creep-formulated elasto-viscoplastic, and modified Cam clay (MCC) elastoplastic material model for the foundation soil is examined in this paper. The well documented geotextile reinforced Sackville test embankment was chosen for analyses using the three finite element models. Details of the analyses carried out using the three models and the results are discussed in comparison with field performance. All three models were found to be capable of predicting the behaviour of this embankment reasonably well. The creep model gave slightly better overall predictions of the behaviour compared to the rate and MCC models and therefore is considered to be better for predicting the time-dependent behaviour of this embankment. However, it requires the coefficient of secondary compression of the foundation soft soil as an addit.
Applying molecular genetic data at different scales to support conservation assessment of European Habitats Directive listed species: A case study of Eurasian otter in Austria

Evaluating intraspecific genetic structure and diversity is fundamental to assessing a species’ conservation status, but direct incorporation of such information into legal frameworks such as the EU's Habitats Directive is surprisingly rare. How genetic structure aligns with EU member state boundaries or biogeographic regions may be very important in designing management plans or achieving legislative goals. The Eurasian fish otter experienced a sharp population decline during the 20th century but is currently re‐expanding in several countries. The species is listed under Annex II and IV of the European Habitats Directive, and member states are obliged to assess the species separately across different biogeographic regions. We genotyped 2492 otter spraints across four provinces in Austria, collected between 2017 and 2021. A total of 384 different genotypes were identified, supporting densities along river habitats from 0.1 to 0.47 otters per river km (mean: 0.306), with a resampling‐based simulation supporting limited density overestimation at survey lengths of 20 km or more. Three distinct genetic clusters were revealed, two of them presumably reflecting two relict populations whereas the source of the third cluster is unknown. The geographic extent of the three clusters does not coincide with provincial or biogeographic boundaries, both relevant for assessment and management within existing national or European legislative frameworks. We advocate more consideration of genetic structure in the assessment and conservation management planning of species listed in the European Habitats Directive.
White matter microstructure and connectivity changes after surgery in male adults with obstructive sleep apnea: recovery or reorganization?

Study objectives Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a prevalent clinical problem significantly affecting cognitive functions. Surgical treatment is recommended for those unable to use continuous positive airway pressure. We aimed to investigate the therapeutic effect of upper airway surgery on the white matter (WM) microstructure and brain connectivity in patients with OSA. Methods Twenty-one male patients with moderate-to-severe OSA were recruited for multi-level upper airway surgery. Overnight polysomnography (PSG), neuropsychiatric tests, and brain MRI scans were acquired before and 6.1 ± 0.8 months after surgery. Nineteen male patients with untreated OSA were also included as a reference group. We calculated the longitudinal changes of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters, including fractional anisotropy (ΔFA) and mean/axial/radial diffusivity (ΔMD/AD/RD). We also assessed changes in network properties based on graph theory. Results Surgically treated patients showed improvement in PSG parameters and verbal memory after surgery. Globally, ΔFA was significantly higher and ΔRD was lower in the surgery group than in the untreated group. Especially ΔFA of the tracts involved in the limbic system was higher after surgery. In network analysis, higher Δbetweenness and lower Δclustering coefficients were observed in the surgical group than in the untreated group. Finally, the improvement of verbal memory after surgery positively correlated with ΔFA in superior thalamic radiation (p = 0.021), fronto aslant tracts (p = 0.027), and forceps minor tracts (p = 0.032). Conclusion Surgical treatment of OSA can alleviate alterations in WM integrity and disruptions in local networks, particularly for the tracts involved in the limbic system. These findings may further explain the cognitive improvement observed after the treatment of OSA.
Depositional Evolution of Confined Turbidite Basins

ABSTRACT Confined turbidite basins are a common feature of many structurally complex continental slopes, but their depositional history has never been characterized using outcrop data. A synthesis of outcrop data from Tertiary Alpine basins with subsurface data from the Gulf of Mexico indicates that the progressive infill of confined turbidite basins can be characterized by four phases: (1) Flow ponding, where incoming flows are totally trapped, depositing thick, sheet-like sand-mud couplets. (2) Flow stripping, where the finer, more dilute portion of the flow is able to escape over the confining topography to be deposited elsewhere, causing increased sand/mud ratio within the basin. (3) Flow bypass, either by flows traversing over the filled basin or by switching of feeder channels away from the basin; the former resulting in incision, the latter in abandonment. (4) Blanketing, of the basin and surrounding topography due to base-level rise; this usually takes the form of meandering channel-levee complexes with low sand/mud ratios. Confined basin sequences may be stacked during the episodic growth of the confining topography to a basin, and may appear similar to sea-level-induced depositional sequences.
Palaeozoic lithofacies correlatives and sequence stratigraphy of the Saharan Platform, Algeria

Abstract This paper attempts to unravel the interacting effects of eustacy, subsidence and sediment supply in controlling facies distributions in the Palaeozoic of the Algerian craton. These strata, particularly the Cambro-Ordovician section, contain no diagnostic index fossils, and the identification of sequence boundaries is therefore of paramount importance in defining a stratigraphic framework for the region. The wealth of outcrop and subsurface data in the Algerian Palaeozoic enables us to recognize six major sequences, the boundaries of which correspond to major events such as Taconic and Hercynian tectonism, the Ordovician glaciation and global-scale sea-level falls. Formations within these sequences exhibit thickness variations and lateral facies changes that are traceable and predictable in the subsurface. Unconformities of regional extent generally tie to significant facies changes and to inflection points on the global sea-level curve. These trends stem from the high sensitivity of this area, which was structurally stable over most of its Palaeozoic history, to eustatic sea-level fluctuations. The Cambro-Ordovician strata feature a high proportion of coarse clastic rocks, with subtle lateral and vertical facies variations, which were deposited within continental fluvial and shallow marine environments. The Silurian, Devonian and Early Carboniferous sequences show a typical pattern of marginal shallow marine sand belts, which migrate with changing sea-level and pass rapidly into deep marine shales, many of which are organic rich. The Upper Carboniferous strata consist of sediments deposited in continental and restricted basin settings, created as a result of tectonic movements heralding the Hercynian event. With respect to the occurrence of petroleum, the most important reservoirs are found in lowstand tracts in the Cambro-Ordovician and Siluro-Devonian sequences. Thick radioactive marine Silurian and Devonian black shales deposited during major transgressions provide both source and cap-rocks.
Modelling of air pollution in the area of Algiers City, Algeria

Algiers is the political and economic capital of Algeria. The city drains a large part of the activities of the country with intense road traffic. This road traffic is the main source of air pollution, followed by industry and waste combustion. An application of the new road traffic emission model, called EMISENS, is performed to build road traffic emission inventories for the Algiers region. These emission inventories are then used as input to the MM5/CHIMERE system to estimate air pollution. The objective of this study is to propose a methodology to improve the quality of emission inventories, and to validate results. First, by studying the correlation between observed measurements and data concerning cadastre of primary pollutants emitted mainly by road traffic, then by comparing the pollutants concentrations from observed measures with the simulated concentrations with the model of chemistry-transport CHIMERE.
Seasonal changes in snow surface roughness characteristics at Summit, Greenland: implications for snow and firn ventilation

Abstract Air–snow transfer processes impact both ice-core interpretation and exchange affecting atmospheric chemistry. An understanding of seasonal differences in the character of the surface snow will facilitate evaluation of possible preferential seasonal exchange of reactive chemical species. Both diffusive processes and advective (ventilation) processes can serve to alter the physical, chemical and isotopic character of snow and firn. In this paper, we examine measurements of surface roughness over the course of a year at Summit, Greenland, and the implications for snow and firn ventilation. At Summit, during the winter-over experiment, summer and fall sastrugi amplitudes were approximately 5 cm and had smoothly curved profiles. the average amplitudes experienced mild increases in January, but by the end of February through March the amplitude increased to approximately 20 cm, and the profiles exhibited more abrupt geometries. Calculations are performed to show the potential impact of the changing roughness on interstitial ventilation rates in the snow, assuming that the permeability profile does not change in time. Under high winds, ventilation velocities in the near-surface snow can be up to 3 cms–1 in the winter, compared to 1 cms–1 in the summer. the frequency of 12 ms–1 winds in the summer, however, is less than in the winter. Under low-wind conditions, the summer roughness causes ventilation rates that are comparable to diffusion rates. However, in winter even 5 ms–1 wind conditions can cause the interstitial airflow due to ventilation to exceed the diffusion rates.
Remote sensing of biophysical variables in boreal forest stands of Picea mariana

Using two hybrid radiative transfer models to represent conifer canopies and stands, algorithms to infer several important structural parameters of stands of black spruce (Picea mariana), the most common boreal forest dominant, were developed and evaluated. Spectral mixture analysis and multi-spectral reflectance data for 31 black spruce stands of varying density and structure were used to infer the values for the areal proportions of sunlit canopy, sunlit background and shadow fraction, which we call radiometric elements, and the areal proportions of these radiometric elements were strongly related to leaf area index, biomass density, and annual above ground net primary productivity. The best overall correspondence between the radiometric elements and biophysical variables was found from the shadow fraction obtained with the cone-based canopy reflectance model corrected for variations in solar zenith angle.
Domestic Borrowing and the Nigerian Economy: A Bayesian VAR Analysis

ABSTRACT:The Nigerian government has borrowed for more than three decades to fund the growing fiscal deficit based on a weak tax revenue base. After the repayment of the country's foreign loans in 2006, the borrowing structure has been dominated by domestic loans. Between 2006 and 2020, domestic borrowing has grown by more than 800 per cent. This study examines the effect of domestic borrowing on Nigeria's macroeconomic variables from 1975 to 1980. The variables examined against the effect of domestic borrowing include economic growth, financial development (broad money supply and credit to private sector), external borrowing, interest rate, inflation, industrial production, private investment, trade openness and population growth rate. The study utilised the Bayesian Vector Autoregressive (BVAR) model. The BVAR approach gives more realistic estimations than other VAR models as it considers prior information steady states during analysis. The study also adopts the Cholesky impulse response function and variance decomposition approach in the investigation. The study found a long-run equilibrium relationship between domestic borrowing and other macroeconomic variables. Also, domestic borrowing positively and significantly affected economic growth, industrial production and inflation. However, domestic borrowing negatively and significantly affects trade openness. Although the effect of domestic borrowing on the financial development variables (broad money supply and credit to the private sector) is negative, it is insignificant. The Bayesian VAR impulse response simulation demonstrates that the fiscal policy shock from domestic borrowing impacts the macroeconomic variables in line with the estimated regression results. As a follow-up, the variance decomposition results show that the decomposition of the shocks from government domestic borrowing is borne more by external borrowing, broad money supply and interest rate in the order of magnitude. The study recommends a restriction in monetary policy to benchmark and closely checkmate the aggressive spending from domestic borrowing. Also, the Nigerian government should improve investment in infrastructure to enhance private sector productivity and expand taxes revenue base to mitigate the reliance on borrowing as a source of funding for fiscal deficit. Furthermore, the country's productivity must be coordinated by the government to expand the sources of foreign exchange earnings to enhance stability in the country's external sector.
Revisiting Oxygen‐18 and Clumped Isotopes in Planktic and Benthic Foraminifera

Foraminiferal isotopes are widely used to study past oceans, with different species recording conditions at different depths. Their δ18O values record both seawater oxygen‐18 and temperature according to species‐specific fractionation factors, while their Δ47 signatures likely depend only on temperature. We describe an open‐source framework to collect/combine data relevant to foraminiferal isotopes, by constraining species‐specific oxygen‐18 fractionation factors (18α) based on culture experiments, stratified plankton tows or core‐top sediments; compiling stratified plankton tow constraints on living depths for planktic species; extracting seawater temperature, δ18O, and chemistry from existing databases for any latitude, longitude, and depth‐range; inferring calcification temperatures based on the above data. We find that although 18α differs between species, its temperature sensitivity remains indistinguishable from inorganic calcite. Based on > 2,600 observations we show that, although most planktic δ18O values are consistent with seawater temperature and δ18O over their expected living depths, a sizable minority (12%–24%) have heavier‐than‐predicted δ18O, best explained by calcification in deeper waters. We use this framework to revisit three recent Δ47 calibration studies of planktic/benthic foraminifera, confirming that planktic Δ47 varies systematically with oxygen‐18‐derived temperature estimates, even for samples whose δ18O disagrees with assumed climatological conditions, and demonstrating excellent agreement between planktic foraminifera and modern, largely inorganic Δ47 calibrations. Benthic foraminifera remain ambiguous: modern benthic Δ47 values appear offset from planktic ones, yet applying equilibrium Δ47 calibration to the Cenozoic benthic foraminifer record of Meckler et al. (2022, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abk0604) largely reconciles it with δ18O‐derived temperatures, with discrete Δ47/δ18O discrepancies persisting in the Late Paleocene/Eocene/Plio‐Pleistocene.
The sliding bed facies in esker sands and gravels: a criterion for full‐pipe (tunnel) flow?

The Guelph esker (Ontario, Canada) consists of a sinuous, steep-sided and segmented ridge which comprises poorly sorted, matrix-supported sands and gravels. These sands and gravels were probably deposited during the sliding bed stage which has been observed by others in closed-conduit hydraulic experiments. The poor sorting probably resulted from a high concentration of bed-material load in the lower part of a subglacial tunnel, sorting being restricted to that produced by particle collisions. Inclusive graphic standard deviation is characteristically large for the sands and gravels, indicating that virtually all sizes available were in transport. The overall grain size distribution shows a characteristic undulatory shape on arithmetic probability paper, mostly because of selective removal of pebble gravel and granule sizes. This poorly sorted fades is believed to be diagnostic of transport in a subglacial tunnel flowing full of water, and may be used to identify subglacial conditions in other eskers. Deltaic sands and gravels occur downcurrent of the esker and contain a greater diversity of structures; climbing-ripple cross-laminae, parallel laminae and massive structure, deposited in large-scale foresees at the end of a subglacial tunnel. These deltaic sands and gravels grade distally into outwash sands and gravels.