Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cognitive Demand, Concurrent Viewing Distances

Purpose: Digital devices are now ubiquitous in modern daily life. Reports of digital eye strain (DES) symptoms are occurring frequently, particularly since the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Despite its prevalence, the mechanisms underlying DES have not been fully elucidated and there is currently no clinically proven treatment. Given that both mental effort and the accommodative and vergence demand have been associated with DES, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the cognitive demand of the task, mode of presentation, working distance and symptoms of DES. Method: The study was performed on 30 young, normally-sighted individuals. Each participant completed four trials, each of which included a 30-minute reading task. The four conditions entailed: (1) a cognitively demanding task performed on a digital device (tablet) and (2) a less cognitively demanding task performed on the same digital device. Trials (3) and (4) were identical to (1) and (2) except that the tasks were performed on printed paper. Both prior to and immediately following each 30-minute task, subjects completed a 10 question DES symptom survey. For all four conditions, subjects wore a Clouclip, a spectacle-mounted device which uses infrared technology to monitor the working distance objectively every 5 seconds. Results: While all four 30-minute reading tasks induced symptoms of DES, the increase in symptoms was greater for the cognitively demanding tasks (p= <0.0001). However, there was no significant difference in symptoms between performing the tasks on paper
Formative Learning Assessment with Online Quizzing: Comparing Target Performance Grade and Best Performance Grade Approaches

Background: Using online low stakes MCQ quizzing as a formative learning method is common in many introductory courses; allowing for rapid student feedback. Purposes: A comparative study of two different approaches for administering low stakes multiple choice quizzes as tools to enhance formative learning in a large-lecture introductory marketing course was undertaken. Methodology/Approach: The sample population was 490 students drawn from two separate cohorts (Fall, n=172; and Winter, n=318). Both cohorts were subjected to 8 sets of quizzes. The Fall cohort’s quizzes were scored on the basis of a best performance grade (BPG) while the Winter cohort’s were scored employing a target performance grade system (TPG). Learning related outcomes measured included: overall course percentage grades, scores on midterm and final examinations, performance on an alternative exercise, practice exam performance, class participation activity, and time spent on the learning management system (LMS). ANCOVA and MANCOVA analyses were undertaken to compare the two treatments using major, university experience, number of weekly course meetings, number of hours on the LMS, and class participation as covariates. Findings: The results indicated that the TPG cohort performed better than the BPG cohort on the final examination and overall course grades. The results were statistically significant. They also had higher first attempt scores on weekly quizzes, though not all results were significant. Discussion: The findings indicate that online quizzing scored using a “Targeted Performance Grade” approach is a more beneficial motivation for formative learning than scoring with a “Best Performance Grade” approach.
Geochemistry and terrane affiliation of Haast Schist from the western Southern Alps, New Zealand

Abstract The Haast Schist comprises a polygenetic metamorphic suite derived from Caples, Aspiring, and Torlesse terrane lithologies. High-grade Alpine Schist, occurring immediately east of the Alpine Fault, has been ascribed previously to either the Caples or Torlesse terranes. Chemical analyses are presented of schist suites from (1) the Whitcombe River area, including samples that both stratigraphically overlie and structurally underlie the Pounamu Ultramafics, and (2) the lower Haast River, west of a greenschist-rich sequence correlated with the Aspiring terrane. Discriminant function analysis of these suites, and of published data from the Fox-Franz Josef area, indicates that the Alpine Schist has Torlesse affinities. This conclusion is also supported by ratio-ratio plots of trace elements. A Torlesse terrane affiliation is also suggested for a small population of psammitic schists from within the Aspiring terrane. The Aspiring terrane sequence at Haast River, like the Pounamu Ultramafic Belt to the n.
Accuracy Evaluation of 3D Geometry from Low-Attitude UAV collections A case at Zijin Mine

This study investigates the usability of low-attitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) acquiring high resolution images for the geometry reconstruction of opencast mine. Image modelling techniques like Structure from Motion (SfM) and Patch-based Multiview Stereo (PMVS) algorithms are used to generate dense 3D point cloud from UAV collections. Then, precision of 3D point cloud will be first evaluated based on Real-time Kinematic (RTK) ground control points (GCPs) at point level. The experimental result shows that the mean square error of the UAV point cloud is 0.11 m. Digital surface model (DSM) of the study area is generated from UAV point cloud, and compared with that from the Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) data for further comparison at the surface level. Discrepancy map of 3D distances based on DSMs shows that most deviation is less than ±0.4 m and the relative error of the volume is 1.55 %.
: children’s relationship with marketing standards and

Several products are discarded by supermarkets because they are not matching with the aesthetically standardized criteria. Nevertheless, in an ecological perspective and for new business opportunities, supermarkets have recently decided to change their marketing norm in proposing a new offer called: “ ugly products ”. This research focuses on children’s receptiveness because they could become influencers and future consumers. A qualitative study has been performed resulting in 18 individual interviews and drawings of French children aged 8 to 12 years. Results highlight the existence of an implicit norm and the negative consequences of a rupture with it. This research helps to understand how this transgression of the aesthetic norm must be realized
Observations of mean winds and tides in the upper mesosphere during 1980–1984, using the Poker Flat, Alaska, MST radar as a meteor radar

A postprocessing selection algorithm is used to determine the meteor echoes detected on the Poker Flat, Alaska, MST radar (65°N, 147°W) from a composite data base consisting of meteor and turbulence echoes. The echo distributions depend on the geometry of the antenna beams, the presence of strong turbulence echoes, average power transmitted, and the number of coherent averages used in the signal processing. Winds are derived from the meteor echoes and are used to compute monthly mean winds and tides in the upper mesosphere. These results are consistent with previous high-latitude observations. Tidal amplitudes are largest in summer and weakest in winter. The tides exhibit large month-to-month variability, although the seasonal averages in 1983 are in agreement with those of 1984. The semidiurnal tide exhibits a dramatic phase shift of approximately 180° from October to November in both years. Results suggest future enhancement of the MST wind data can be achieved with real-time meteor echo detection.
A Bayesian approach for Simultaneous Spike Extraction and Sorting

The information processing in the brain is governed by large neural ensembles organized in networks. The firing of the neuronal cells in each neural population bring insight on the role of this structure for a given task or on its involvement in a pathology. Such investigations require the detection and sorting of neuronal spikes from the recordings. This is known as a challenging task due to the high level of surrounding local field potential (LFP) and to the strong similarities between the patterns to classify. In this article we present a new method for spike classification leaning on the separation between the spike waveform and the background LFP. The approach is rooted in a Bayesian framework integrating prior on the LFP spectral density and considering mixture of Gaussian for the classification. The algorithm provides both the posterior mean of the spike waveforms for each cluster as well as the posterior mean of each singular spike waveforms.
TURC: A diagnostic model of continental gross primary productivity and net primary productivity

TURC, a diagnostic model for the estimation of continental gross primary productivity (GPP) and net primary productivity (NPP), is presented. This model uses a remotely sensed vegetation index to estimate the fraction of solar radiation absorbed by canopies, and an original parameterization of the relationship between absorbed solar radiation and GPP, based on measurements of CO2 fluxes above plant canopies. An independent, uncalibrated model of autotrophic maintenance and growth respiration is parameterized from literature data, and uses databases on temperature, biomass, and remotely sensed vegetation index. This model results in global estimates of GPP and NPP of 133.1 and 62.3 Gt(C) per year, respectively, which is consistent with commonly admitted values. The ratio of autotrophic respiration to GPP is about 70% for equatorial rain forests and 50% for temperate forests, as a result the highest predicted NPP are in tropical savannas of Africa and South America, and in temperate, highly cultivated zones of North America, not in equatorial rain forest zones. Conversion efficiencies defined as the ratio of yearly integrated NPP to absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) compare relatively well with a previous compilation of literature values, except for ecosystems with probable reduction of conversion efficiency due to water stress. Several sensitivity studies are performed on some input data sets, model assumptions, and model parameters.
Learning Low-Dimensional Structure via Closed-Loop Transcription: Equilibria and Optimization

We consider the problem of learning maximally informative representations for data in a high-dimensional space with distribution supported on or around a single or multiple low-dimensional geometric structures, with or without labels. That is, we wish to compute a linear injective map (i.e., an “encoder”) such that the image of the data (i.e., the “representations”) have maximum “information gain”; we also want to compute a a suitable notion of inverse for the encoder (i.e., a “decoder”). We formulate this family of learning problems as a class of two-player games. For a broad notion of game-theoretic equilibria which is learnable via standard gradient-based optimization techniques, we show that the equilibrium solutions to games within the class indeed result in maximally informative representations and a consistent autoencoding. We then apply this framework to several instances of the closed-loop transcription (CTRL) framework, which has been recently proposed for learning discriminative and generative representations for data lying on low-dimensional submanifolds, obtaining desirable representations which provably emulate and extend ones given by classical theory. Finally, we present a novel optimization algorithm to obtain the particular equilibria which our theory desires, and prove its correctness in a restricted case.
COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF THREE URBAN RUNOFF MODELS1

: Three urban runoff models, namely, the Road Research Laboratory Model (RRLM), the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) and the University of Cincinnati Urban Runoff Model (UCURM), were examined by comparing the model simulated hydrographs with the hydrographs measured on several instrumented urban watersheds. This comparison was done for the hydrograph peak points as well as for the entire hydrographs using such statistical measures as the correlation coefficient, the special correlation coefficient and the integral square error. The results of the study indicated that, when applying the three selected non-calibrated models on small urban catchments, the SWM model performed marginally better than the RRL model and both these models were more accurate than the UCUR model. On larger watersheds, the comparisons between the SWM model and the other two models would be likely even more favourable for the SWM model, because it has the most advanced flow routing scheme among the studied models.
Rock Glacier Mapping: A Method Utilizing Enhanced TM Data and GIS Modeling Techniques

Abstract Rock glaciers, an important component to alpine systems, have been identified as an indicator of permafrost distribution as well as a resource for humans, serving as backdrops for residential areas, dam abutments, and a water source for urban areas. As a result, mapping is imperative; however, a simple method for rock glacier detection has not been developed. Traditionally, rock glaciers have been mapped using field techniques or aerial photography. Spaceborne Landsat MSS data has proven to be ineffective for identifying rock glaciers. The purpose of this research is to establish a modeling procedure to identify rock glaciers of the Blanca Massif of Colorado utilizing Landsat TM data, image enhancements, and ancillary DEM data. I used a topographic normalizing function to reduce shadows, band ratios and principal components to emphasize rock glaciers, edge enhancements to detect all distinct rock glacier borders, and a 1:24,000 DEM to restrict the study area to criteria common to all rock glaciers: elevations greater than 11,000 feet and a slope between 0° and 21°. Each of the enhancement techniques was tested individually and in combination with each other. The combination image, which utilized all of the enhancements, provided the greatest classification accuracy. The overall classification accuracy of rock glaciers in the Blanca Massif was 81.0%. Tests revealed that rock glaciers greater than 3.65 hectares can be mapped. These findings suggest that Landsat TM data, when used in conjunction with a combination of ratios, principal components, edge enhancements, and DEM data, can be used to accurately map most rock glaciers.
Prelaunch performance characteristics of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS)

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder represents a quantum leap in spaceborne sounding instruments with 2,378 infrared spectral channels ranging in wavelength from 3.5to 15.5 microns. AIRS was built by NASA subcontractor Lockheed Martin Sanders (LM Sanders) in Lexington, Massachusetts and is scheduled for launch on the NASA EOS-Aqua spacecraft in December 2000. Characterization of this high spectral resolution infrared spectrometer involved extensive laboratory testing in a thermal vacuum environment at cold optical temperatures. This paper summarizes the results of that testing and gives a detailed report on the spectral, radiometric, and spatial performance of the AIRS. Based on the excellent prelaunch calibration and results of data simulation, AIRS data should significantly improve global weather forecasts and provide an important new tool for climate research.
Dolomitization by Groundwater-Flow System in Carbonate Platforms

ABSTRACT Dolomite occurs throughout the subsurface of modern carbonate platforms such as the Bahamas. Groundwater-flow systems must be responsible for delivery of reactants needed for dolomitization. Reflux, freshwater lens flows, and thermal convection are large-scale flow systems that may be widespread in active platforms. I have evaluated some aspects of the dynamics and characteristics of these processes with groundwater-flow theory and scaled sandbox experiments. Reflux is not restricted to hypersaline brines but can occur with bankwaters of only slightly elevated salinity such as those found on the Bahama Banks today (42). The lack of evaporites in a stratigraphic section, therefore, does not rule out the possibility that reflux may have operated. Flows associated with freshwater lenses include flow in the lens, in the mixing zone, and in the seawater beneath and offshore of the lens. Upward transfer of seawater through the platform margins occurs when surrounding cold ocean water migrates into the platform and is heated. This type of thermal convection ("Kohout convection") has been studied by Francis Kohout in South Florida. The ranges of mass flux of magnesium in these processes are all comparable and are all sufficient to account for young dolomites beneath modern platforms. Each process yields dolomitized zones of characteristic shape and location and perhaps may be distinguishable in ancient rocks. The concepts presented here may have application to exploration for dolomite reservoirs in the Gulf Coast and elsewhere.
What Are Reflexive Economic Agents? Position-Adjustment, SLAM, and Self-organization

: If mainstream economics and its view of economic agents is designed for a world in which reflexivity and feedback processes in the economy are ‘tamed’ and predictable, how are we to understand economic agents in a world in which reflexivity is ‘untamed’ and economies regularly exhibit unexpected fluctuations and significant nonlinearities? In a nonlinear world, economies evolve and undergo critical phase transitions from one form of organization to another. It seems, then, that we should also expect economic agents to evolve and undergo critical phase transitions from being one type of agent to another just as we observe that economies evolve and undergo phase transitions from being one type of economy to another. Minsky’s analysis of how economies evolve in financial crises and how firms as agents evolve as their financial status changes seems a clear example of this. But then we would need a new conception of what economic agents are. This chapter offers such a conception in the idea of reflexive economic agents, both to redevelop an evolutionary, complexity account of what agents must be and also to forestall complexity researchers from falling back upon the standard utility conception of individuals. The chapter builds its reflexive agents conception around Herbert Simon’s complexity thinking about quasi-independence. It describes reflexive economic agents in what it call position-adjustment terms, and focusing on the ‘reflexive moment’ when agents find they need to revise and adjust their positions in regard to what they are doing. To explain how we can understand adjustment, the chapter employs the thinking behind recent ‘simultaneous localization and mapping’ (SLAM) research in robotics engineering to
WORKING MEMORY FOR ACTIONS DURING REINFORCEMENT LEARNING

The ability of an individual to learn from delayed action outcomes helps them to better adapt to their environment. In order for learning to take place, they might utilize working memory to hold in mind a response they have just made and compare it to feedback received. This dissertation encompasses three experiments that test several putative neural correlates of working memory during the prefeedback delay. In the first experiment, I show that two EEG measures, the stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) and lateralized theta, decline in amplitude over the course of learning a new motor skill. In the second experiment, I show that SPN and frontocentral beta are of greater amplitude in a condition that imposes a high load on working memory for actions. In the third experiment, I show that SPN and frontocentral beta increased progressively across conditions with one, two, or three cues in a probabilistic categorization task. This effect was greatly reduced in participants whose ability to develop complex hypotheses regarding the relation of stimuli, responses, and outcomes was impaired by Parkinson’s Disease. By adopting three different approaches to testing the relationship of EEG measures to the brain’s ability to bridge the gap between responses and outcomes, this dissertation provides converging evidence regarding the role of working memory.
Potassium fixation in san joaquin valley soils derived from granitic and nongranitic alluvium

Potassium fixation influences the effectiveness of fertilization in soil-plant systems. A rapid method for measuring K fixation could help clarify relationships with other soil properties, especially mineralogy. Our objectives were to compare some existing measurement techniques for soil K fixation and availability, develop an alternative K fixation test, and evaluate the utility of soil texture and parent material for predicting K fixation in soils derived from granitic Sierra Nevada (SN) and nongranitic Coast Range (CR) alluvium. Potassium pools were estimated by 1 mol L -1 NH 4 OAc and sodium tetraphenylboron (TPB) extractions. Our 1-h fixation method correlated well (R 2 = 0.95, P= 0.001) with a 7-d procedure, so the 1-h method was used for subsequent work. The SN soils fixed up to 740 mg K kg -1 ; CR soilsfixed up to 263 mg K kg -1 . There was no significant relationship between K fixation and soil clay or silt content for either parent material. The TPB test had a stronger correlation with NH 4 OAc-extractable K in SN soils (R 2 = 0.77, P = 0.001) than in CR (R 2 = 0.49, P = 0.001). Plant-available nonexchangeable K (PANK = TPB minus NH 4 OAc) did not correlate with K fixation potential for pooled data from all pedons (R 2 < 0.11), and had negative correlation (R 2 from 0.97 to 0.99, P = 0.01) for individual pedons. The PANK probably represents K that has already been fixed and satisfies some of the K fixation capacity. The 1-h test is a reliable, rapid method for predicting K fixation potential. Together, the TPB and NH 4 OAc tests could be useful for identifying K already fixed by soils, thereby reducing K fixation potential.
Strain-rate effect on soil secant shear modulus at small cyclic strains

The effects of the shear strain rate γ˙=dγ/dt on the secant shear modulus Gs of three clays and three sands at small cyclic shear strain amplitudes γc under simple shear loading conditions are described. The amplitude γc varied between 0.0003 and 0.02% and γ˙ between 0.0002 and 0.04 %/s. For all six soils Gs increases with γ˙, such that the Gs versus log γ˙ data plot approximately along a straight line. The slope of this line is αG=strain-rate shear modulus parameter, while its normalized value αG/Gs=Nγ˙-G=shear strain-rate modulus factor. For the clays tested αG ranges between 2.5 and 7.5 MPa and Nγ˙-G between 2.0 and 11.5%. For the sandy soils αG ranges between 0.2 and 3.0 MPa and Nγ˙-G between 0.2 and 6.0%. Both αG and Nγ˙-G decrease moderately with increasing γc, i.e., the largest αG and Nγ˙-G were obtained at the smallest γc. For five soils the families of the normalized modulus reduction curves (Gs/Gmax)-log γc were constructed, such that each curve pertains to a constant γ˙. It was found that γ˙ ha.
HSOA Journal of Environmental Science Current Research

The purpose of this research was to analyze soil samples from different altitudes of Nepal to know about their physical, chemical and biological properties; including the content of N, P, K, O, C, pH and population of bacteria, fungus and Azotobacter. Materials and Methods Soil sample assessment on “Altitudinal Variation in Soil Microbial Population and Associated Soil Properties in Long Term Soil Fertility Trial” was carried out on 3 different altitudes; Terai (Agriculture Research Station, Parwanipur, Bara), Mid-hills (Regional Agriculture Research Station, Pakhribas, Dhankuta) and High-hills (Agriculture Research Station, Bijaynagar Jumla). There were 7 treatments in Jumla, 7 treatments in Pakhribas and 12 treatments in Parwanipur which were replicated thrice. Soil samples were taken after harvesting rice and the soil was subjected to determination of microbial population such as (Azotobacter, fungus and bacteria) along with soil chemical properties.