Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Southern Ocean eddy phenomenology

Mesoscale eddies are ubiquitous features in the Southern Ocean, yet their phenomenology is not well quantified. To tackle this task, we use satellite observations of sea level anomalies and sea surface temperature (SST) as well as in situ temperature and salinity measurements from profiling floats. Over the period 1997–2010, we identified over a million mesoscale eddy instances and were able to track about 105 of them over 1 month or more. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), the boundary current systems, and the regions where they interact are hot spots of eddy presence, representing also the birth places and graveyards of most eddies. These hot spots contrast strongly to areas shallower than about 2000 m, where mesoscale eddies are essentially absent, likely due to topographical steering. Anticyclones tend to dominate the southern subtropical gyres, and cyclones the northern flank of the ACC. Major causes of regional polarity dominance are larger formation numbers and lifespans, with a contribution of differential propagation pathways of long-lived eddies. Areas of dominance of one polarity are generally congruent with the same polarity being longer-lived, bigger, of larger amplitude, and more intense. Eddies extend down to at least 2000 m. In the ACC, eddies show near surface temperature and salinity maxima, whereas eddies in the subtropical areas generally have deeper anomaly maxima, presumably inherited from their origin in the boundary currents. The temperature and salinity signatures of the average eddy suggest that their tracer anomalies are a result of both trapping in the eddy core and stirring.
Front line treatment of elderly multiple myeloma in the era of novel agents

: Melphalan combined with prednisone (MP) has long been the historical treatment of reference for a large proportion of elderly myeloma (MM) patients ineligible for autologous stem cell transplantation, and is still the backbone of new regimens that include the new era of novel agents. Melphalan–prednisone–thalidomide (MPT) and melphalan–prednisone–bortezomib (Velcade ® , MPV), proved superior to MP, currently appear to be the treatments of choice for this population. In the near future melphalan–prednisone–lenalidomide (Revlimid ® , MPR) will also provide a third therapeutic option (MPT, MPV, and MPR), in elderly multiple myeloma, eventually. These options could lead to more personalized treatment approaches, based on patient comorbidities, as the three novel agents have somewhat different toxicity proﬁ les. Dexamethasone-based regimen is another option and questions regarding the relative efﬁ cacy of melphalan-based versus low-dose dexamethasone-based regimens will require randomized phase III trials. More intensive approaches with new drug combinations or with the incorporation of polyethylene glycolated (PEGylated) liposomal doxorubicin will also require additional studies. Additionally, the important issue of maintenance treatment needs to be further investigated. These new and emerging therapies offer multiple effective treatment options for MM patients and greatly enhanced treatment strategies for clinicians.
NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES DISCRIMINATION AND STATE CAPACITY: EVIDENCE FROM WWII U.S. ARMY ENLISTMENT

This paper investigates the empirical relationship between inclusion and state capacity, as theorized by Besley and Persson (2009). We examine the impact of racial discrimination on Black U.S. military enlistment during the onset of WWII. We find that discrimination had a large and negative effect on volunteer enlistment after the Pearl Harbor attack. The result is robust to a large number of controls that account for potential confounders. The negative effect of discrimination is moderated by geographical proximity to Pearl Harbor, and is larger for educated men. We provide consistent evidence for Japanese Americans. Nancy Qian Kellogg School of Management Northwestern University 2001 Sheridan Road Evanston, Il 60208 and NBER nancy.qian@kellogg.northwestern. edu Marco Tabellini Harvard Business School 279 Morgan Hall Soldiers Field Road Boston, MA 02163 and CEPR mtabellini@hbs.edu
Are deep-sea demersal fish assemblages globally homogenous? Insights from seamounts

Deep-sea fishes have been poorly sampled globally, and overall knowledge of demersal fish distributions and the drivers of community composition and diversity remain limited. Here, we used nine comparable datasets with species-level identification of fishes from research surveys around the world to test the hypothesis that deep-sea demersal fish assemblage composition on seamounts is consistent between major oceans. Two levels of analysis were undertaken: the first combined all presence-absence data from a seamount, while a second more detailed analysis included catch weight data based on a smaller number of seamounts. Overall, there was a consistent separation of seamounts by region based on the compositions of their fish assemblages. New Zealand and SE Australian seamounts have a very similar ichthyofauna, which differs substantially from seamounts in the eastern South Pacific Ocean off Chile. In the North Atlantic, Bear Seamount appears to be distinct from all others, while seamount fish assemblages off Ireland, the Azores, and Faraday Seamount have some affinities. The Tasman Sea and New Caledonian seamounts show strong intra-regional variation. On an ocean basin scale we therefore reject the hypothesis that the composition of deep-sea demersal fish fauna is homogeneous globally. However, regional patterns of both species composition and relative abundance show some similarities between widely separated geographical locations, especially where orange roughy is a dominant species. Salinity was the main environmental factor identified in a multivariate analysis of environmental covariate data. This is likely to be a result of salinity being a key characteristic defining both Antarctic Intermediate Water and North Atlantic Deep Water, the water masses found over most seamounts examined in this study, and which may explain similarities between deep-sea fish assemblages.
IoPV: On Inconsistent Option Performance Variations

Maintaining a good performance of a software system is a primordial task when evolving a software system. The performance regression issues are among the dominant problems that large software systems face. In addition, these large systems tend to be highly configurable, which allows users to change the behaviour of these systems by simply altering the values of certain configuration options. However, such flexibility comes with a cost. Such software systems suffer throughout their evolution from what we refer to as “Inconsistent Option Performance Variation” (IoPV ). An IoPV indicates, for a given commit, that the performance regression or improvement of different values of the same configuration option is inconsistent compared to the prior commit. For instance, a new change might not suffer from any performance regression under the default configuration (i.e., when all the options are set to their default values), while altering one option’s value manifests a regression, which we refer to as a hidden regression as it is not manifested under the default configuration. Similarly, when developers improve the performance of their systems, performance regression might be manifested under a subset of the existing configurations. Unfortunately, such hidden regressions are harmful as they can go unseen to the production environment. In this paper, we first quantify how prevalent (in)consistent performance regression or improvement is among the values of an option. In particular, we study over 803 Hadoop and 502 Cassandra commits, for which we execute a total of 4,902 and 4,197 tests, respectively, amounting to 12,536 machine hours of testing. We observe that IoPV is a common problem that is difficult to manually predict. 69% and 93% of the Hadoop and Cassandra commits have at least one configuration that hides a performance regression. Worse, most of the commits have different options or tests leading to IoPV and hiding performance regressions. Therefore, we propose a prediction model that identifies whether a given combination of commit, test, and option (CTO) manifests an IoPV. Our evaluation for different models shows that random forest is the best performing classifier, with a median AUC of 0.91 and 0.82 for Hadoop and Cassandra, respectively. Our paper defines and provides scientific evidence about the IoPV problem and its prevalence, which can be explored by future work. In addition, we provide an initial machine learning model for predicting IoPV.
A Regional Approach to Understanding Basin Evolution and Play Systematic in Brunei - Unearthing New Opportunities in a Mature Basin

Improvements in the understanding of basin evolution, stratigraphic architecture and play systematics on the NW Borneo margin has resulted in the identification of new exploration opportunities in Brunei Darussalam. A Play Based Exploration (PBE) approach was adopted with particular attention being focused on developing an understanding of the interplay between structural and sedimentary processes. Reinterpretation of the tectonostratigraphic architecture was achieved by integrating multiple data sets and by comparisons to regional and global analogues. Reconstruction of basin deformation and fill history for key intervals is captured in a series of paleaogeographic maps that show active structural and sedimentary features for a given play interval. The palaeogeographic maps are linked to 2D structural restorations and mapped key seismic horizons. These products provide a basis for the development of a robust, internally consistent geological model from which new plays and prospects have been defined and assessed.
Modeling temporal and large‐scale spatial variability of soil respiration from soil water availability, temperature and vegetation productivity indices

Field‐chamber measurements of soil respiration from 17 different forest and shrubland sites in Europe and North America were summarized and analyzed with the goal to develop a model describing seasonal, interannual and spatial variability of soil respiration as affected by water availability, temperature, and site properties. The analysis was performed at a daily and at a monthly time step. With the daily time step, the relative soil water content in the upper soil layer expressed as a fraction of field capacity was a good predictor of soil respiration at all sites. Among the site variables tested, those related to site productivity (e.g., leaf area index) correlated significantly with soil respiration, while carbon pool variables like standing biomass or the litter and soil carbon stocks did not show a clear relationship with soil respiration. Furthermore, it was evidenced that the effect of precipitation on soil respiration stretched beyond its direct effect via soil moisture. A general statistical nonlinear regression model was developed to describe soil respiration as dependent on soil temperature, soil water content, and site‐specific maximum leaf area index. The model explained nearly two thirds of the temporal and intersite variability of soil respiration with a mean absolute error of 0.82 μmol m−2 s−1. The parameterized model exhibits the following principal properties: (1) At a relative amount of upper‐layer soil water of 16% of field capacity, half‐maximal soil respiration rates are reached. (2) The apparent temperature sensitivity of soil respiration measured as Q10 varies between 1 and 5 depending on soil temperature and water content. (3) Soil respiration under reference moisture and temperature conditions is linearly related to maximum site leaf area index. At a monthly timescale, we employed the approach by Raich et al. [2002] that used monthly precipitation and air temperature to globally predict soil respiration (T&P model). While this model was able to explain some of the month‐to‐month variability of soil respiration, it failed to capture the intersite variability, regardless of whether the original or a new optimized model parameterization was used. In both cases, the residuals were strongly related to maximum site leaf area index. Thus, for a monthly timescale, we developed a simple T&P&LAI model that includes leaf area index as an additional predictor of soil respiration. This extended but still simple model performed nearly as well as the more detailed time step model and explained 50% of the overall and 65% of the site‐to‐site variability. Consequently, better estimates of globally distributed soil respiration should be obtained with the new model driven by satellite estimates of leaf area index. Before application at the continental or global scale, this approach should be further tested in boreal, cold‐temperate, and tropical biomes as well as for non‐woody vegetation.
Understorey responses to mechanical restoration and drought within montane forests of British Columbia

Pre- and post-thinning relationships between forest overstorey and understorey characteristics at sites in both the Interior Douglas-fir (IDF) and Ponderosa Pine (PP) biogeoclimatic zones in the East Kootenay region of southeast British Columbia were investigated to quantify understorey responses to dry forest restoration thinning. Pre-thinning data consistently indicated that understorey shrub and herb abundance were positively associated with light intensity and inversely with tree density (i.e., ingrowth) at both locations. Immediately after thinning, greater reductions in tree density or increases in understorey light were generally associated with greater reductions in understorey species richness, diversity, and shrub and herb cover; however, the presence of drought conditions complicated this effect. Overall, the results indicate that while the effects of ingrowth appear detrimental to understorey vegetation, the disturbance caused by mechanical thinning, particularly when accompanied by drought, can reduce the abundance of many important understorey characteristics in the short term. These results have management implications for areas where forest restoration using commercial thinning is being considered.
Hurricane intensification detected by continuously monitoring tall precipitation in the eyewall

Previous studies show that a single observation of tall precipitation in a hurricane's eyewall is often associated with intensification of that hurricane's surface wind. Using WSR‐88D radars, we show that repeated observation of precipitation height provides even more information about wind intensification. If the frequency of tall precipitation in the eyewall is at least 33% (1 in 3 radar volume scans), we find an 82% chance of wind intensification. If this threshold is not met, the chance of wind intensification drops from 82% to just 17%. We show that the WSR‐88D height measurements are reasonable using the TRMM Precipitation Radar.
The Sgurr Beag Slide–a major tectonic break within the Moinian of the Western Highlands of Scotland

Detailed mapping of an area at the head of Loch Hourn, Inverness-shire, has shown that major facies changes occur within the Glenelg–Knoydart succession (Ramsay & Spring 1962) as it is traced north-eastwards from the type area. A slide, here recognized as a tectonic break of major importance within the Moine Nappe, separates members of this succession at Kinloch Hourn from rocks of a different stratigraphical sequence farther east. Lewisian-type rocks rest upon the slide plane and together with an overlying sequence of Moinian rocks have been slid against upper members of the Glenelg–Knoydart succession. It is suggested that the Scardroy Lewisian, which forms a sheet-like body in central Ross-shire, has been brought to its present position by this slide movement and not thrust wedge-like into an unbroken Moinian succession as suggested by Sutton & Watson (1962). Three phases of folding are recognized and the geometry of the major folds and their structural relationship to the slide plane is described in detail. Slide movement occurred during the second folding and before the peak of the regional metamorphism.
Power law distributions of discharge mass and energy in river basins

River networks constitute dissipative systems with many spatial degrees of freedom. Previous work by Mandelbrot (1983) and Bak et al. (1987, 1988, 1990) suggests that such systems will follow power law distributions in their mass and energy characteristics. It is shown that this is the case for river networks where the exponent β in the distribution, P[X > x] ∝ x−β, is approximately equal to 0.45 and 0.90 for discharge and energy respectively in the case of several networks analyzed in North America when these variables are calculated for each individual link throughout the drainage network. An explanation of the values of β is offered based on the fractal structure of rivers and on principles of energy expenditure in river basins.
A 17‐element conodont apparatus from the Soom Shale Lagerstätte (Upper Ordovician), South Africa

Abstract: Natural assemblages of a new conodont taxon, Notiodella keblon, from the Upper Ordovician Soom Shale Lagerstätte of South Africa contain 17 elements. This is the first time that a 17‐element apparatus plan has been unequivocally demonstrated in conodonts. The apparatus comprises paired P1, P2, P3, M, S1, S2, S3 and S4 elements and an unpaired, axial S0 element and provides a new template for use in the reconstruction of apparatuses from the collections of dispersed elements, particularly for those with icrion‐bearing P1 elements and perhaps for other balognathids.
The Inland Penetration of Atmospheric Rivers over Western North America: A Lagrangian Analysis

AbstractAlthough atmospheric rivers (ARs) typically weaken following landfall, those that penetrate inland can contribute to heavy precipitation and high-impact weather within the interior of western North America. In this paper, the authors examine the evolution of ARs over western North America using trajectories released at 950 and 700 hPa within cool-season ARs along the Pacific coast. These trajectories are classified as coastal decaying, inland penetrating, or interior penetrating based on whether they remain within an AR upon reaching selected transects over western North America. Interior-penetrating AR trajectories most frequently make landfall along the Oregon coast, but the greatest fraction of landfalling AR trajectories that eventually penetrate into the interior within an AR is found along the Baja Peninsula. In contrast, interior-penetrating AR trajectories rarely traverse the southern “high” Sierra. At landfall, interior-penetrating AR trajectories are associated with a more amplified flow.
Chemical characteristics of water‐soluble organic carbon in the Asian outflow

[1] Semicontinuous measurements of water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) and organic carbon (OC) in PM2.5 were made at Gosan, Korea, in March-April 2005. On average, the WSOC/OC mass ratio for all air masses observed at Gosan was 0.30 ± 0.12. WSOC correlated well with CO (r2 = 0.54) in Chinese outflow, suggesting that a major part of the observed WSOC and/or their precursors was of combustion origin. The relationship between the increase of WSOC and O3 suggests that the observed WSOC was mostly secondary product. To interpret the measured organic compounds, thermal analyses of organic standards were made in the laboratory. Thermograms of a single standard of water-soluble organic species showed that carbon that evolved at high temperatures (600°–870°C) was generally associated with water-soluble compounds having high molecular weights (MWs) on the order of hundreds, while carbon that evolved at low temperatures (<300°C) generally had MWs of less than ∼180 g mol−1. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis revealed three organic compound groups (low, medium, and highly refractory compounds) based on the OC thermograms. On average, highly and low refractory compound groups accounted for 79% and 21% of the WSOC mass, respectively, at Gosan. Highly refractory compound groups significantly contributed to WSOC regardless of air mass origin. The results of the laboratory experiments imply that a large fraction of these highly refractory compound groups was likely associated with high MW compounds. For water-insoluble organic carbon(=OC–WSOC), medium and low refractory compound groups accounted for 60% and 40%, respectively, consistent with the results of the laboratory experiments.
Spatial distribution of innovation activity. The case of European regions

This paper explores the spatial distribution of innovative activity across 138 regions of 17 countries in Europe (the 15 members of the European Union plus Switzerland and Norway). The analysis is based on an original statistical databank set up by CRENoS on regional patenting at the European Patent Office spanning from 1978 to 1997 and classified by ISIC sectors (3 digit). In a first step, a deep exploratory spatial data analysis of the dissemination of innovative activity in Europe is performed. Some global and local indicators for spatial association are presented, summarising the presence of a general dependence process in the distribution of innovative activity. Such an analysis is also implemented for different manufacturing macro-sectors to assess for the presence of significant differences in the their spatial features. Moreover, the extent and strength of spatial externalities are evaluated for three different periods - 1981-83, 1988-90 and 1995-97. Finally, we attempt to model the behaviour of innovative activity at the regional level on the basis of a knowledge production function. Econometric estimation findings seem to prove that internal and external factors are important in the production of knowledge and technology by European regions.
Introduction to air guns and air-gun arrays

The effect of seismic operations on marine mammals has been debated vigorously for years. Some feel that these operations could harm the animals. Others, based on anecdotal evidence of marine mammals swimming (or even playing) near active air-gun arrays, feel that harmful effects are unlikely. They claim that such evidence indicates, at the very least, that air guns do not physically damage the animals. Still others have relied on acoustic measurements to argue that any potential effect on the marine mammal population within a seismic survey area is negligible. Because of the importance of the discussion, the seismic industry has conducted numerous tests and monitoring studies to try to address this issue. To date, those studies have not identified any harmful long-term effects due to the proximity of marine mammals to air guns. Why then, does the debate continue? The answer may lie in the shear complexity of the issues. Air-gun design, underwater acoustics, animal behavior, and marine mammal physiology are complex subjects and interactions between them are even more complicated. Although many debate participants are experts in one or more of these fields, none is an expert in all. Thus, individuals can interpret the same data in different ways and report their interpretations using different terms. Suppose two individuals with varying backgrounds observed a dolphin jumping near an active air-gun array. One might see a dolphin “leaping from the water to avoid the noise” while the other may conclude that same dolphin is “playing in the air bubbles. ” Because of this communication problem and a lack of definitive scientific studies, no clear consensus has been reached about how air guns affect marine mammals. Thus, many organizations have recommended mitigation practices until a clear answer is found. One common mitigation procedure is air-gun ramp-up, in which guns in an array …