Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regional climate model application at subgrid scale on Indian winter monsoon over the western Himalayas

The western Himalayas (WH) is characterized by heterogeneous land surface characteristics and topography. During winter (December, January, and February—DJF), eastward moving low‐pressure synoptic weather systems, called Western Disturbances (WDs) in Indian parlance, cause the majority of the precipitation mostly in the form of snow. The interplay between land surface/topography and WDs greatly controls precipitation distribution over the region. This study seeks to evaluate this using a mosaic‐type parameterization of subgrid‐scale topography and land use (sub‐BATS) for regional climate simulation with a regional climate model (RegCM3). The model coarse grid cell size in the control simulation is 60 km while the subgrid cell size is 10 km. This study compares two 22 year simulations (1980–2001) during winter (DJF). The first simulation is without (CONT) and the second is with (SUB) the fine scale subgrid scheme. Representing the fine scale processes using the subgrid scheme SUB experiment simulates reduced precipitation by approximately 2 mm d−1 with comparison to CONT experiment. This estimation of reduced and closer to the corresponding observed precipitation is important for regional water budget over the WH which is primarily governed by topographic and land surface disaggregation. Validation with corresponding observations over similar elevations shows that SUB displays an improvement over CONT experiment. This relevant decrease of precipitation in SUB using disaggregation‐reaggregation methodology for initial model input fields in subBATS scheme is due to better representation of the WH topography. In case of temperature, SUB experiment displays colder bias (∼2–4 °C) than the CONT over the Himalayas. This preliminary finding is important for studying regional water balance, snow melt accumulation in following summer period.
Evaluation of Compass Ambiguity Resolution Performance Using Geometric-Based Techniques with Comparison to GPS and Galileo

The Chinese GNSS system, Compass, is expected to be operational in the near future. The system will provide open and authorized service on four frequency bands. One of the important application areas involving Compass will be carrier-phase based precise positioning. However, the associated ambiguity resolution performance of Compass has not been discussed in the literature to date. In this paper, the ambiguity resolution performance of Compass is evaluated in terms of probability of correctly fixing ambiguities with different combinations of measurements using geometry-based covariance analysis. Simulation results presented in this paper show that using Compass B1 and B1-2 for dualfrequency positioning with slant ionospheric error estimation is not optimal since the center frequencies of two signals are too close making ionospheric observation difficult. Comparisons of ambiguity resolution performance among Compass, Galileo and GPS are also carried out in this investigation. Results show that Compass has poorer performance in terms of ambiguity resolution compared to GPS and Galileo due to the fact that Compass signals have larger measurement noise and are more susceptible to multipath effects.
Gently dipping fracture zones in Paleoproterozoic metagranite, Sweden: Evidence from reflection seismic and cored borehole data and implications for the disposal of nuclear waste

[1] The Svecokarelian orogen in the coastal area north of Stockholm, central Sweden, is characterized by a complex deformation belt. In this belt, bedrock domains strike WNW-NW, dip steeply, and are affected by high ductile strain. These domains anastomose around tectonic lenses that are up to a few tens of kilometers in length and are a few kilometers wide. The bedrock within the lenses is folded and, in general, affected by lower ductile strain. Site investigations for the disposal of highly radioactive nuclear waste are presently in progress within one of these lenses. Approximately 16 km of high-resolution (10 m source and receiver spacing, 100 channels) seismic data were acquired in 2002 along five separate profiles (2 to 5 km in length) within this lens. In the southeast, reflection orientations are well determined where profiles cross one another. Here, there is a nearly one to one correlation of distinct reflections on the seismic sections with hydraulically conductive fracture zones in cored boreholes, indicating that these fracture zones control the reflectivity. However, smaller lenses of amphibolite within the fracture zones may enhance the reflectivity. The reflections dip gently to the SSE and SE, and the zones in the boreholes are dominated by fractures that show the same dip direction or are subhorizontal. A working hypothesis for the gently dipping fracture zones suggests that these structures formed as minor thrust faults during the later stages of the Svecokarelian orogeny. Mineral fillings and coatings along fractures in these zones indicate later reactivation. The current stress field, a high intensity of fractures in the zones at a high angle to σ3, high in situ stresses in the bedrock, and rapid glacial unloading with the development of high differential stresses may explain the large volume of groundwater in these zones. The reflection seismic data, in combination with the verifying work presented in the cored borehole data, have steered the subsequent focus in geoscientific studies to the northwestern part of the candidate area.
SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 Delta variant emergence and vaccine breakthrough

The SARS-CoV-2 B.1. 617.2 (Delta) variant was first identified in the state of Maharashtra in late 2020 and has spread throughout India, displacing the B.1. 1.7 (Alpha) variant and other pre-existing lineages. Mathematical modelling indicates that the growth advantage is most likely explained by a combination of increased transmissibility and immune evasion. Indeed in vitro, the delta variant is less sensitive to neutralising antibodies in sera from recovered individuals, with higher replication efficiency as compared to the Alpha variant. In an analysis of vaccine breakthrough in over 100 healthcare workers across three centres in India, the Delta variant not only dominates vaccine-breakthrough infections with higher respiratory viral loads compared to non-delta infections (Ct value of 16.5 versus 19), but also generates greater transmission between HCW as compared to B.1. 1.7 or B.1. 617.1 (p=0.02). In vitro, the Delta variant shows 8 fold approximately reduced sensitivity to vaccine-elicited antibodies compared to wild type Wuhan-1 bearing D614G. Serum neutralising titres against the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant were significantly lower in participants vaccinated with ChadOx-1 as compared to BNT162b2 (GMT 3372 versus 654, p<0001). These combined epidemiological and in vitro data indicate that the dominance of the Delta variant in India has been most likely driven by a combination of evasion of neutralising antibodies in previously infected individuals and increased virus infectivity. Whilst severe disease in fully vaccinated HCW was rare, breakthrough transmission clusters in hospitals associated with the Delta variant are concerning and indicate that infection control measures need continue in the post-vaccination era.
The effectiveness of a coconut beverage on exercise performance

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A COCONUT BEVERAGE ON EXERCISE PERFORMANCE Rayanne K. Nguyen, M.S. School of Family, Consumer, and Nutrition Sciences Northern Illinois University, 2015 Judith M. Lukaszuk, Thesis Director Background: Coconut water (CW) is a new sports drink on the market appealing to consumers who are seeking a more natural alternative to the traditional carbohydrate-containing sports beverage. CW contains five essential electrolytes as compared to the standard sports drinks which typically contains only two or three. Very little research has been completed in testing the effect of CW in exercise performance; however, carbohydrate-based sports drinks have been confirmed to replete glycogen reserves and thus act as an effective ergogenic aid. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of CW on recovery and exercise performance in comparison to plain water and another common sports drink. Methods: Twelve physically active males aged 18-45 with excellent VO2max scores (as defined by the American College of Sports Medicine guidelines) completed the study which consisted of three experimental trials in a repeated-measures crossover design. At each trial, subjects consumed 12 ounces of one of three beverages: water, CW, or a leading carbohydrate electrolyte (CE) beverage every 15 minutes during a 90-minute run at 60-70% VO2max. The beverages were randomized and blind to both subjects and researchers. At the end of each 90-minute run, participants completed a treadmill anaerobic test (TAT) until volitional fatigue. Distance traveled and TAT time were used to assess performance. Results: There were no significant differences between CW, CE, or water in TAT performance time (p=0.146) or distance traveled (p=0.225) during the 90-minute run when a repeatedmeasures ANOVA was completed. Conclusions: Participants performed similarly during the CW, water, and CE beverage trials in terms of distance traveled during the 90-minute run and TAT time. Additional research is needed to continue to examine the effectiveness of CW as a sports performance aid. NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY DEKALB, ILLINOIS
Impact of Lantana camara L. invasion on riparian vegetation of Nayar region in Garhwal Himalayas (Uttarakhand, India).

Lantana camara L. (Verbenaceae), an exotic from tropical America, has invaded vast areas of forests surrounding Nayar River in Garhwal Himalayas (Uttarakhand, India). Several factors like high reproductive potential, absence of preferred predators, evergreen nature and sufficient moisture provided by river water favour extraordinary growth of L. camara in this area. In this study, the impact of L. camara invasion on basal area cover, density, frequency and abundance of various plant species was determined. Invasion was able to change the quality (composition, distribution) and quantity (growth in number and size) of different species in this region. The invasion was also found to have some relation with native-exotic nature and different plant habits (like tree and herbs) of local flora. As determined by various ecological indices, there was significant loss of species richness and diversity in invaded localities. In total, there was a 28.4% decrease in species richness of invaded localities. Excluding L. camara, nearly 63% loss of basal area of vegetation was recorded in the invaded localities compared to not invaded ones. There was also an impression that L. camara favoured exotics over endemic species in this riparian zone.
Algebraic & Geometric Topology

We show how a continuous action of the Morava stabilizer group G n on the Lubin– Tate spectrum E n , satisfying the conclusion E h G n n ' L K . n / S of the Devinatz– Hopkins theorem, may be obtained by monodromy on the stack of oriented deformations of formal groups in the context of formal spectral algebraic geometry.
Active Reinforcement Learning for Robust Building Control

Reinforcement learning (RL) is a powerful tool for optimal control that has found great success in Atari games, the game of Go, robotic control, and building optimization. RL is also very brittle; agents often overfit to their training environment and fail to generalize to new settings. Unsupervised environment design (UED) has been proposed as a solution to this problem, in which the agent trains in environments that have been specially selected to help it learn. Previous UED algorithms focus on trying to train an RL agent that generalizes across a large distribution of environments. This is not necessarily desirable when we wish to prioritize performance in one environment over others. In this work, we will be examining the setting of robust RL building control, where we wish to train an RL agent that prioritizes performing well in normal weather while still being robust to extreme weather conditions. We demonstrate a novel UED algorithm, ActivePLR, that uses uncertainty-aware neural network architectures to generate new training environments at the limit of the RL agent's ability while being able to prioritize performance in a desired base environment. We show that ActivePLR is able to outperform state-of-the-art UED algorithms in minimizing energy usage while maximizing occupant comfort in the setting of building control.
The oldest known avian eggshell, Plagioolithus fukuiensis, from the Lower Cretaceous (upper Barremian) Kitadani Formation, Fukui, Japan

Fossil record of Early Cretaceous birds may be geographically biased, and eggs and eggshells predating the Late Cretaceous were unknown. Here, we report the oldest known bird eggshell (FPDM-V-0009175) collected from the upper Barremian Kitadani Formation in Katsuyama City, Fukui, Japan. The Kitadani Formation likely represents fluvial environments. Thin-section and scanning electron microscope analyses revealed diagnostic characters of FPDM-V-0009175, including thin (0.44 mm) shell, smooth external surface, non-branching and narrow pore canals with relatively constant width, three structural layers, oblique crystal orientation from vertical in the external layer, and mammillary to continuous to external layer thickness ratio of 1:1:0.44. These characters allow assignment of FPDM-V-0009175 to a new oogenus and oospecies, Plagioolithus fukuiensis, and suggest it belonging to a bird. The three-layered eggshell structure is seen in extant and extinct birds, Plagioolithus fukuiensis, and non-avian theropods. Therefore, such structure may be plesiomorphic among theropods, appearing in the late Barremian or earlier. As the first bird body fossil from the Mesozoic of Japan, Plagioohlithus fukuiensis suggests extensive distribution and abundance of birds in the Barremian East Asia. Plagioolithus fukuiensis indicates that the late-Barremian birds inhabited and reproduced in the fluvial environments within a basin located along the eastern margin of the Asian continent.http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:90A8CCE8-57F7-473C-855C-B2CCE2BBD1A2
Relevance of Unsteady Friction to Pipe Size and Length in Pipe Fluid Transients

This paper investigates the importance of pipe system scale—specifically pipe length and diameter—on unsteady friction in pipe transients. A dimensionless analysis is conducted for the one-dimensional (1D) water-hammer model in this study and the analytical ex- pression for the relative importance of unsteady friction damping to the total friction damping is obtained in the frequency domain. In addition, a two-dimensional (2D) waterhammer model coupled with a 2D κ-e turbulence model is applied to a reservoir-pipe-valve system. A parametric study covering a number of pipe diameters, pipe lengths, and initial Reynolds numbers is conducted. The investigation spans a range of water-hammer travel time and turbulent radial diffusion timescales. In each case, the transient is generated by a sudden and complete valve closure. The analytical solution for the importance of unsteady friction is verified by the numerical simulations and the results show that unsteady friction damping has less effect on the damping rate of the transient envelope as (1) the ratio of the wave travel timescale to the radial diffusion timescale increases and (2) the product of the initial friction factor and Reynolds number increases. Furthermore, the findings of this study arevalidated by both laboratory and field experiments from literature. The implication of the findings is that the role of unsteady friction on the damping rate of the transient envelope diminishes with the scale ratio of pipe length and pipe diameter and that laboratory experiments, which are usually limited to relatively small scale ratios of pipe lengths and diameters, have lead researchers to overestimate the importance of unsteady friction on the damping of the transient envelope in real large pipe-scale systems. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0000497. © 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers. CE Database subject headings: Pipe sizes; Damping; Hydraulic transients; Friction; Reynolds number. Author keywords: Pipe length; Pipe diameter; System scale; Transients; Unsteady friction; Pressure head damping; Dimensionless ana- lysis; 1D analytical analysis; 2D κ-e model; Initial Reynolds number.
Simultaneous Global Positioning System observations of equatorial scintillations and total electron content fluctuations

One aspect of the Global Positioning System (GPS) is the potential to conduct geophysical research, and worldwide networks of GPS receivers have been established to exploit this potential. Several research groups have begun using this global GPS data to study ionospheric total electron content (TEC) variations, also referred to as GPS phase fluctuations, as surrogates for ionospheric scintillations. This paper investigates the relationship between GPS amplitude scintillations and TEC variations for the same line of sight using observations from Ancon, Peru. These observations were taken under equatorial spread F conditions for three nights in April 1997. As expected, only when the spectrum of TEC fluctuations includes significant power at the Fresnel scale do scintillations appear. We also find that when the TEC fluctuation spectrum includes the Fresnel scale, the S4 scintillation index is roughly proportional to measures of TEC fluctuation for the weak scintillations observed. The proportionality constant varies from night to night, however, casting doubt on the ability to predict GPS S4 successfully from TEC fluctuation data alone. We also present a simple theoretical phase screen model and show that if a relationship between TEC fluctuation measures and S4 exists, that relationship depends on the power spectrum of phase variations at the screen. Unfortunately, the available TEC data, at 30 s per sample (with some aliasing apparently permitted), offer limited spectral information. A preliminary comparison of 1 s/sample data with the same data decimated to a 30 s/sample interval suggests, however, that the level of successful S4 prediction, based on TEC fluctuation measures alone, is comparable at either sample rate.
Tracking elevated pollution layers with a newly developed hyperspectral Sun/Sky spectrometer (4STAR): Results from the TCAP 2012 and 2013 campaigns

Total columnar water vapor (CWV), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3) are derived from a newly developed, hyperspectral airborne Sun‐sky spectrometer (4STAR) for the first time during the two intensive phases of the Two‐Column Aerosol Project (TCAP) in summer 2012 and winter 2013 aboard the DOE G‐1 aircraft. We compare results with coincident measurements. We find 0.045 g/cm2 (4.2%) negative bias and 0.28 g/cm2 (26.3%) root‐mean‐square difference (RMSD) in water vapor layer comparison with an in situ hygrometer and an overall RMSD of 1.28 g/m3 (38%) water vapor amount in profile by profile comparisons, with differences distributed evenly around zero. RMSD for O3 columns average to 3%, with a 1% negative bias for 4STAR compared with the Ozone Measuring Instrument along aircraft flight tracks for 14 flights during both TCAP phases. Ground‐based comparisons with Pandora spectrometers at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, showed excellent agreement between the instruments for both O3 (1% RMSD and 0.1% bias) and NO2 (17.5% RMSD and −8% bias). We apply clustering analysis of the retrieved products as a case study during the TCAP summer campaign to identify variations in atmospheric composition of elevated pollution layers and demonstrate that combined total column measurements of trace gas and aerosols can be used to define different pollution layer sources, by comparing our results with trajectory analysis and in situ airborne miniSPLAT (single‐particle mass spectrometer) measurements. Our analysis represents a first step in linking sparse but intense in situ measurements from suborbital campaigns with total column observations from space.
The dependence of the electrical conductivity measured by time domain reflectometry on the water content of a sand

We present paired measurements of the water content and electrical conductivity collected in a laboratory column packed with a homogeneous, clean sand over a wide range of water content and pore water electrical conductivity (EC) conditions. The EC was determined using the method of Nadler et al. [1991] from waveforms collected with two‐rod time domain reflectometry (TDR) probes with and without baluns and with three‐rod probes without baluns. Following Heimovaara et al. [1995], we calibrated the probes in saline solutions to account for the series resistance of the cable and connectors. The calibrated EC shows a nonlinear dependence on the water content that is well described by a simple power relationship [Archie, 1942]. Recognizing that calibration in saline solutions is impractical for some TDR probes, we demonstrate that the EC response can be calibrated directly using the results of drainage events, incorporating only a separate calibration of the cable resistance. None of the probe designs shows any clear advantage for EC measurement.
Introduction to Environmental Analysis

Series Preface Preface Acronyms, Abbeviations and Symbols About the Author 1. Introduction The Environment Reasons for Concern Pollution The Necessity of Chemical Analysis 2. Transport of Pollutants in the Environment and Approaches to their Analysis Introduction Sources, Dispersal, Reconcentration and Degradation Transport and Reconcentration of Neutral Organic Compounds Transport and Reconcentration of Metal Ions What is a Safe Level? Sampling and Sample Variability General Apporoach to Analysis The Choice of Laboratory or Field Analysis Quality Assurance 3. Water Analysis -- Major Constituents Introduction Sampling Measurement of Water Quality Techniques for the Analysis of Common Ions 4. Water Analysis -- Pollutants Introduction Organic Trace Pollutants Metal Ions 5. Analysis of Land, Solids and Waste Introduction Common Problem Areas in the Analysis of Solids Specific Considerations for the Analysis of Biological Samples Specific Considerations for the Analysis of Soils Speicifc Considerations for the Analysis of Contaminated Land Specific Considerations for the Analysis involved in Waste and Its Disposal by Landfill Specific Considerations of Sediments and Sewage Sludge New Extraction and Dissolution Techniques 6. Atmospheric Analysis -- Gases Introduction Determination of Time--weighted Average Concentrations Determination of Instanteous Concentrations 7. Atmsopheric Analysis -- Particles Introduction Sampling Methods Analytical Methods involving Sample Dissolution Direct Analysis of Solids 8. Ultra--Trace Analysis Introduction Analytical Methods A Typical Analytical Scheme Responses to Self--Assessment Questions Bibliography Glossary of Terms Units of Measurement and Physical Constants Periodic Table Index
Internal-Tide Spectroscopy and Prediction in the Timor Sea

AbstractSpectral analyses of two 3.5-yr mooring records from the Timor Sea quantified the coherence of mode-0 (surface) and mode-1 (internal) tides with the astronomical tidal potential. The noncoherent tides had well-defined variance and were most accurately quantified for tidal species (as opposed to constituents) in long records (>6 months). On the continental slope (465 m), the semidiurnal mode-0 and mode-1 velocity and mode-1 pressure variance were 95%, 68%, and 56% coherent, respectively. On the continental shelf (145 m), the semidiurnal mode-0 and mode-1 velocity and mode-1 pressure variance were 98%, 34%, and 42% coherent, respectively. The response method produced time series of the semidiurnal coherent and noncoherent tides. The spectra and decorrelation time scales of the semidiurnal tidal amplitudes were similar to those of the barotropic mean flow and mode-1 eigenspeed (~4 days), suggesting local mesoscale variability shapes noncoherent tidal variability. Over long time scales (>30 days), mod.