Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of the Kootenai River Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Community before and after Experimental Nutrient Addition, 2003-2006. [Chapter 3]

The Kootenai River ecosystem has experienced numerous ecological changes since the early 1900s. Some of the largest impacts to habitat, biological communities, and ecological function resulted from levee construction along the 120 km of river upstream from Kootenay Lake, completed by the 1950s, and the construction and operation of Libby Dam, completed in 1972 on the river near Libby Montana. Levee construction isolated tens of thousands of hectares of historic functioning floodplain habitat from the river channel, eliminating nutrient production and habitat diversity crucial to the functioning of a large river-floodplain ecosystem. Libby Dam continues to create large changes in the timing, duration, and magnitude of river flows, and greatly reduces sediment and nutrient transport to downstream river reaches. These changes have contributed to the ecological collapse of the post-development Kootenai River ecosystem and its native biological communities. In response to this artificial loss of nutrients, experimental nutrient addition was initiated in the Kootenay Lake's North Arm in 1992, the South Arm in 2004, and in the Kootenai River at the Idaho-Montana border during 2005. This report characterizes the macroinvertebrate community in the Kootenai River and its response to experimental nutrient addition during 2005 and 2006. This report also providesmore » an initial evaluation of cascading trophic interactions in response to nutrient addition. Macroinvertebrates were sampled at 12 sites along a 325 km section of the Kootenai River, representing an upriver unimpounded reference reach, treatment and control canyon reach sites, and braided and meandering reach sites, all downstream from Libby Dam. Principle component analysis revealed that richness explained the greatest amount of variability in response to nutrient addition as did taxa from Acari, Coleoptera, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera. Analysis of variance revealed that nutrient addition had a significant effect (p<0.0001) on invertebrate abundance, biomass, and richness at sites KR-9 and KR-9.1 combined (the zone of maximum biological response). Richness, a valuable ecological metric, increased more than abundance and biomass, which were subject to greater sampling bias. Cascading trophic interactions were observed as increased algal accrual, increased in-river invertebrate abundance, and increased invertebrate counts in mountain whitefish (Prosopium williamsonii) guts samples, but were not quantitatively tested. Sampling and analyses across trophic levels are currently ongoing and are expected to better characterize ecological responses to experimental nutrient addition in the Kootenai River. « less
A permanent El Niño–like state during the Pliocene?

The Pliocene may have been characterized by permanent El Nino–like conditions. Initial modeling studies suggest that this may have contributed to Pliocene warmth. The termination of this state may have influenced Northern Hemisphere glaciation (NHG). We use the Hadley Centre Coupled Model version 3 to examine the role of the oceans and ocean structure on Pliocene warmth. A permanent El Nino–like state is not predicted. Annual mean sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific at Ocean Drilling Program Sites 847 and 851 increase by 1.71°C and 1.15°C, respectively. However, El Nino Southern Oscillation events are clearly expressed by the model. Sensitivity tests indicate that a prescribed permanent El Nino–like condition increases annual global mean surface temperatures by a maximum of 0.6°C. If the Pliocene was characterized by such a condition, it is questionable that it provided a major contribution to global warmth and therefore unlikely that the termination of this state contributed significantly to the onset of NHG.
Regional income dispersion and market potential in the late nineteenth century Hapsburg Empire

This paper presents new regional GDP estimates for the Habsburg Monarchy and constructs measures of market potential for its 22 major regions. The paper argues that regional income differentials were significantly larger, that intra-empire catching-up of poor with rich regions was far more limited and that the empire’s Eastern regions were much further behind Western Europe than suggested in the historiography. The measurement of regional market potential proves strongly sensitive to the composition of foreign economies considered in the computations and the choice of regional ‘nodes’. Further, though being ‘remote’ imposed some penalty, there was no uniform relationship between changes in regions’ relative GDP position and their market potential.
Laboratory measurements of electrical conductivities of hydrous and dry Mount Vesuvius melts under pressure

Quantitative interpretation of MT anomalies in volcanic regions requires laboratory measurements of electrical conductivities of natural magma compositions. The electrical conductivities of three lava compositions from Mt. Vesuvius (Italy) have been measured using an impedance spectrometer. Experiments were conducted on both glasses and melts between 400 and 1300°C, and both at ambient pressure in air and at high pressures (up to 400 MPa). Both dry and hydrous (up to 5.6 wt% H2O) melt compositions were investigated. A change of the conduction mechanism corresponding to the glass transition was systematically observed. The conductivity data were fitted by sample-specific Arrhenius laws on either side of Tg. The electrical conductivity increases with temperature and is higher in the order tephrite, phonotephrite to phonolite. For the three compositions investigated, increasing pressure decreases the conductivity, although the effect of pressure is relatively small. The three compositions investigated have similar activation volumes (ΔV=16-24 cm3/mol). Increasing the water content of the melt increases the conductivity. Comparison of activation energies (Ea) from conductivity and sodium diffusion, and use of the Nernst-Einstein relation allow sodium to be identified as the main charge carrier in our melts and presumably also in the corresponding glasses. Our data and those of previous studies highlight the correlation between the Arrhenius parameters Ea and σ0. A semi-empirical method allowing the determination of the electrical conductivity of natural magmatic liquids is proposed, in which the activation energy is modelled on the basis of the Anderson-Stuart model, σ0 being obtained from the compensation law and ΔV fitted from our experimental data. The model enables the electrical conductivity to be calculated for the entire range of melt compositions at Mt. Vesuvius and also predicts satisfactorily the electrical response of other melt compositions. Electrical conductivity data for Mt. Vesuvius melts and magmas are slightly lower than the electrical anomaly revealed by MT studies.
Interglacial climates: Advances in our understanding of warm climate episodes

The Quaternary is characterized by the alternation of relatively brief periods of temperate climate (interglacials) with episodes of extreme cold, often with the build-up of extensive continental ice sheets. Over the last decade, new research has revealed far greater complexity and diversity in the interglacial record than previously recognized, with temperate-climate episodes of markedly different duration, stability and intensity. These findings not only shed light on the climatic parameters behind changing floras and faunas during the Pleistocene but also aid our understanding of climatic evolution during the Holocene (the current interglacial), in particular the search for the most appropriate past analogues. In this progress report, we review the basis for interglacial complexity, drawing upon the evidence from long continuous terrestrial records in the Mediterranean, Antarctic ice cores and river terrace sequences in western Europe, before using the details of the British Quaternary interglacial record as an example of how marine and terrestrial records can be linked.
Dolphin social phenotypes vary in response to food availability but not the North Atlantic Oscillation index

Social behaviours can allow individuals to flexibly respond to environmental change, potentially buffering adverse effects. However, individuals may respond differently to the same environmental stimulus, complicating predictions for population-level response to environmental change. Here we show that bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) alter their social behaviour at yearly and monthly scales in response to a proxy for food availability (salmon abundance) but do not respond to variation in a proxy for climate (the North Atlantic Oscillation index). There was also individual variation in plasticity for gregariousness and connectedness to distant parts of the social network, although these traits showed limited repeatability. In contrast, individuals showed consistent differences in clustering with their immediate social environment at the yearly scale but no individual variation in plasticity for this trait at either time scale. These results indicate that social behaviour in free-ranging cetaceans can be highly resource dependent with individuals increasing their connectedness over short timescales but possibly reducing their wider range of connection at longer timescales. Some social traits showed more individual variation in plasticity or mean behaviour than others, highlighting how predictions for the responses of populations to environmental variation must consider the type of individual variation present in the population.
Barotropic tide and baroclinic waves observations in the Río de la Plata Estuary

[1] The first long-period ADCP series collected in two locations of the salinity front of the Rio de la Plata estuary are explored for periods less than 30 hours. Barotropic velocity shows tidal and mean currents consistent with what is known about the estuarine circulation in tidal and seasonal scales. Baroclinic currents provide the first evidence of the occurrence of internal waves, which can account for half of the total variance. In the northernmost location, predominantly zonal oscillations with semidiurnal period, and oscillations with a dominant meridional component and diurnal period, are found. Whereas the first ones can be related to the semidiurnal tide, the second ones seem to be atmospherically forced by the land/sea breeze. In the southernmost location, more rotational oscillations are observed, with periods around the inertial and diurnal ones. Inertial oscillations could result from wind relaxation, whereas diurnal oscillations also seem to be forced by breeze. Wave activity in the diurnal band was less frequent in the northernmost than in the southernmost location. This can be attributed to less frequent favorable stratification conditions in that area during the observed period. Wave activity in the southernmost location resulted weaker during the observed fall than during the summer. This could be a typical feature given that in autumn both the number of storms destroying the thermohaline structure increases and land/sea breeze is less frequent. This suggests a likely seasonal cycle in the diurnal wave activity in this area, given that those unfavorable conditions are even more marked during winter.
SOME SUSPENDED SEDIMENT YIELDS FROM SOUTH ISLAND CATCHMENTS, NEW ZEALAND

: Estimates of specific annual suspended sediment yields, some of which rank among the highest reported in the world, are presented for 33 basins of South Island, New Zealand. Yield from each basin was determined by combining a suspended sediment concentration rating with the complete flow record of each catchment stream gaging station. A multiple regression analysis between sediment yields and climatic, hydrologic and physiographic parameters of each basin demonstrates that most of the variance in yields is explained by catchment mean rainfall. Geology apparently has little influence on sediment yield as suspended sediment concentration ratings, from rivers draining catchments of differing lithology, and regolith, are indistinguishable. Specific suspended sediment yield prediction equations are given for four defined regions covering in area almost all South Island; and except for one area, feature rainfall as the principle independent variable. Differences between regions may be due to variations in intensity, frequency, and duration patterns of storms. It is proposed that a simple power law relationship between yield and rainfall provides useful suspended sediment yield estimates in mountainous regions of temperate maritime climate, provided catchments have not been modified extensively by man.
Chemical‐ and Clapeyron‐induced buoyancy at the 660 km discontinuity

The impact of phase equilibria and equation of state measurements on defining the buoyancy associated with the 660 km discontinuity is examined. Aluminum has a striking effect on the sequence of phase transitions expected at 660 km. With a pyrolite chemistry the sign of the phase transition contribution to buoyancy depends on temperature, with convection-assisting forces being victorious in hotter regions. Lower Al and/or temperature result in the perovskite-forming transformation resisting convection but with a much reduced magnitude compared with a pure olivine mantle. Density considerations suggest that there is no positive evidence for chemical-induced buoyancy across the 660 km discontinuity. The surface processing which forms a basaltic crust will cause a density contrast that assists convection in the transition zone but resists convection through the expanded garnet stability field of mid-ocean ridge basalt. The detailed seismic character of the 660 km depth region and its lateral variations hold the key to defining the location of the mantle state relative to the parameter space defined by Al and temperature in this study.
Design-Time Reference Current Generation for Robust Spintronic-Based Neuromorphic Architecture

Neural Networks (NN) can be efficiently accelerated in a neuromorphic fabric based on emerging resistive non-volatile memories (NVM), such as Spin Transfer Torque Magnetic RAM (STT-MRAM). Compared to other NVM technologies, STT-MRAM offers many benefits, such as fast switching, high endurance, and CMOS process compatibility. However, due to its low ON/OFF-ratio, process variations and runtime temperature fluctuations can lead to miss-quantizing the sensed current and in turn, degradation of inference accuracy. In this paper, we analyze the impact of the sensed accumulated current variation on the inference accuracy in Binary NNs and propose a design-time reference current generation method to improve the robustness of the implemented NN under different temperature and process variation scenarios (up to 125 °C). Our proposed method is robust to both process and temperature variations. The proposed method improves the accuracy of NN inference by up to \(20.51\% \) on the MNIST, Fashion-MNIST, and CIFAR-10 benchmark datasets in the presence of process and temperature variations without additional runtime hardware overhead compared to existing solutions.
Factors affecting the measurement of mercury emissions from soils with flux chambers

Air-surface exchange of mercury (Hg) above an arid geothermal area was measured with three parallel flux chamber experiments. The different experimental designs were intercompared with each other, with regard to the magnitude of the measured Hg fluxes and their response to environmental changes. Qualitatively, the measured Hg fluxes agreed well throughout the diurnal cycle, and in their response to environmental events and experimental manipulations, but quantitatively, there were significant discrepancies between the individual flux results. On average, the three designs yielded Hg fluxes agreeing within a factor of 2, but even more pronounced differences were observed during midday high emission periods and during apparent nighttime deposition events. The chamber flushing rate appears to have a very significant impact on the measured fluxes and on the response behavior to environmental change. This study demonstrates that both experimental differences and small-scale regional variability introduce large uncertainty in the estimation of natural Hg air-surface exchange by different flux chamber techniques. Also, the impact of environmental parameters on Hg air-surface exchange was studied. Rain events led to a strong increase in the Hg emissions, even when the covered soil remained dry, suggesting that the apparent chamber footprint is larger than the actually covered area. Exclusion of sunlight led to decreases in Hg emissions. Statistical analysis revealed the strongest correlations between the measured Hg fluxes and radiation and wind speed. Weaker correlations were observed with air and soil temperature and wind direction (probably due to local Hg sources). Fluxes were also inversely correlated with relative humidity.
The fossil record and limb disparity of enantiornithines, the dominant flying birds of the Cretaceous

Morphometric and stratigraphic analyses that encompass the known fossil record of enantiornithine birds (Enantiornithes) are presented. These predominantly flighted taxa were the dominant birds of the second half of the Mesozoic; the enantiornithine lineage is known to have lasted for at least 60 million years (Ma), up until the end of the Cretaceous. Analyses of fossil record dynamics show that enantiornithine ‘collectorship’ since the 1980s approaches an exponential distribution, indicating that an asymptote in proportion of specimens has yet to be achieved. Data demonstrate that the fossil record of enantiornithines is complete enough for the extraction of biological patterns. Comparison of the available fossil specimens with a large data set of modern bird (Neornithes) limb proportions also illustrates that the known forelimb proportions of enantiornithines fall within the range of extant taxa; thus these birds likely encompassed the range of flight styles of extant birds. In contrast, most enantiornithines had hindlimb proportions that differ from any extant taxa. To explore this, ternary diagrams are used to graph enantiornithine limb variation and to identify some morphological oddities (Otogornis, Gobipteryx); taxa not directly comparable to modern birds. These exceptions are interesting – although anatomically uniform, and similar to extant avians in their wing proportions, some fossil enantiornithines likely had flight styles not seen among their living counterparts
The Occurrence of Heavy Metals and Metalloids in Surficial Lake Sediments before and after a Tailings Dam Failure

Tailings dam failures arc relatively rare but can cause extremely high and long-term impacts on the environment. The Sasa tailings dam collapsed in August 2003 and caused an intensive flow of tailings material through the Kamenica River all the way to Lake Kalimanci, where most of the tailings material discharged. This study deals with the characterization of surficial lake sediments from Lake Kalimanci in eastern Macedonia. Mineralogical, geochemical, and statistical analyses of surficial sediments in two sampling years, before and after the Sasa tailings dam failure, were carried out. To determine the pollution status of surficial lake sediments, two environmental indexes were calculated for 2001 and 2007. Spatial distribution of the analyzed heavy metals and metalloids shows that the highest concentrations were measured on the northern part of the lake, where the Kamenica River enters.
Climatology of precipitation and lightning over the Pacific coast of southern Mexico retrieved from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite products and World Wide Lightning Location Network data

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite products for the period 1998–2009 are used to elaborate the climatology of vertical hydrometeor profiles and diurnal evolution of rainfall over the Pacific coast of southern Mexico. Precipitation characteristics are compared with those of lightning strokes, registered by the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN). The WWLLN data are verified against a climatological product (High-Resolution Monthly Climatology, HRMC) obtained from merged data sets of the TRMM Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) and the Optical Transient Detector (OTD) of the MicroLab-1 satellite. The TRMM 2A12 data set reveals that summer precipitation over the study region is a result of mixed phase processes, whereas during winter and spring, there is a significant contribution of warm precipitation over land. Diurnal evolution of rainfall retrieved from the 3B42 TRMM product and lightning registered by the WWLLN follows the sea–land breeze cycle measured by Baumgardner et al. (2006; Evolution of anthropogenic aerosols in the coastal town of Salina Cruz, Mexico: part I particle dynamics and land–sea interactions, Science of the Total Environment, 367, pp. 288–301). The spatial distribution of lightning is similar to that of rainfall; however, over the seaside coastal region, a phase shift is observed between these two variables, with the maximum lightning activity occurring about 3 hours before the precipitation peak. Monthly distribution of flashes is monomodal over land and bimodal over the ocean. Over the ocean, the evolution of monthly rainfall during summer is contrary to that of lightning activity: the months with highest precipitation (June and September) correspond to those with the lowest number of lightning strokes, whereas during the mid-summer drought, an increase in electrical activity is observed. An explanation for this phenomenon, related to the wind circulation and its effect on the concentration of aerosol particles, is proposed.