Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Overconsolidation and microstructures in Neogene clays from the Warsaw area

The main objective of the study was determine the loading history and establish the current state of consolidation of Neogene clays, to study their lithological and microstructural properties, and to define their geological-engineering properties. To accomplish this task, series of laboratory and field tests were performed. The tests were made on clays taken from pits excavated for underground stations and tunnels (A-14-A-15) in Warsaw and from 2 borehole cores taken from the Stegny experimental field. The tests showed that: the clays are historically overconsolidated with an OCR ratio of 25-50 and their current state of preconsolidation is OCR = 2-14; their range of clay microstructures, observed for the first time, are matrix-turbulent and turbulent-laminar and there was a clear anisotropy of quantitative parameters of the pore paces, these parameters varying with depth. The engineering-geological characteristics (physical and mechanical properties) of the clays were assessed. The results of the study can be used directly to evaluate the Neogene clays of the Warsaw area for their suitability as a subsoil for engineering projects and indirectly to accomplish the same with other overconsolidated soils, particularly in regard to the study methodologies applied and described.
The effects of agricultural practices on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Abstract Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) form symbiotic associations with the majority of land plants, including many important agricultural crops. These fungi facilitate plant nutrient uptake, promote soil aggregation and use a significant portion of reduced carbon from the plants. AMF functional traits differ considerably among and within species, meaning that functional properties of a mycorrhizal community depend on its composition. Here we review studies exploring the effects of agricultural practices such as tillage, crop rotation, fertilization, pesticide application, irrigation and grazing on AMF communities. Although it is difficult to generalize the results of studies performed under different soil and climatic conditions, some universal patterns emerge. For example, soil tillage reduces the abundance of Scutellospora spp. ; phosphorus fertilization lowers the extent of AMF root colonization; and diversification of crops results in more diverse AMF communities. We now need to design simple and reliable field tests for quantifying the effects of AMF communities on crop growth, yields and sustainability of the agro-ecosystems.
PREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS OF IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME AMONG GENERAL SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

Introduction: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorder causing frequent distress in affected patients as well as affects the quality of life. The syndrome may affect patients’ abilities, productivity and the educational outcomes at various levels. Aim of Work: to determine the prevalence of IBS among a selected sample of general secondary school teachers and to find out the determinants associated with this disorder. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted during the period from October 2020 to March 2021 among a randomly selected sample of teachers. All participants were subjected to a pre-designed confidential self-administered questionnaire including Rome III diagnostic criteria for diagnosis of IBS. The psychiatric state of the studied participants, the Arabic version of Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (TMA) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scale were used. Results: The study showed that the prevalence of IBS was 19.4% among teachers versus 7.4% among controls. Regarding awareness of IBS and misconception were 46.4% and 30.6% among teachers compared to the control participants (25.2% and 29.7%; respectively). Regarding psychometric tests, the results showed that IBS teachers had statistically significantly poorer status in comparison with non IBS ones including emotional stress was reported among 55.1% vs. 34.0%, depression 67.3% vs. 42.9, anxiety 65.3% vs. 44.8%, and mixed-status (depression and anxiety) 42.9% vs. 26.1% . Logistic regression performed to ascertain the effects of certain studied risk factors on the likelihood that participants have IBS and it was statistically significant p<0.001. Conclusion and Recommendations: IBS was more prevalent among teachers. Screening of all teachers for IBS and analysis of the work environment to stand on all factors of this disorder are suggested. Providing psychological and emotional support along with stress management is highly recommended
Redeposition of Late Cretaceous pelagic sediments controlled by sea-level fluctuations

Northwest and middle European Upper Cretaceous pelagic carbonates contain abundant gravity-transported sediments in short-lived stratigraphic intervals of 100-500 ka. Redeposition terminates synchronously in different basins at horizons that are always overlain by deeper water sediments. These horizons can be correlated with defined sequence boundaries that are believed to be caused by eustatic sea-level falls. The change of hydrostatic pressure in the water column during sea-level fluctuations was not in equilibrium with pore-water pressures in the fine-grained sediments. About 10% of the hydrostatic pressure at times of sea-level highstands was preserved in the sediment as pore-water overpressure during sea-level falls. This may have caused sediment failure. Theoretical considerations agree with the observed degree of redeposition.
Lithospheric thinning during the evolution of continental large igneous provinces: A case study from the North Atlantic Tertiary province

Lithospheric thickness can act as an important physical control on the composition of asthenosphere-derived melts by restricting the minimum depth at which decompression melting can occur. A case study of plume-related Tertiary lavas from the Isle of Mull, Scotland, has revealed the presence of three successive magma types, which become progressively more depleted in the incompatible trace elements. Geochemical modeling suggests that melting initially took place within the garnet-Iherzolite stability field but subsequently involved more extensive melting (>10%) of spinel Iherzolite at shallower mantle depths. These results can be explained in terms of a progressively thinning lithosphere beneath the region during the evolution of the volcanic center. The observed degree of lithospheric thinning cannot be explained by extension alone, and it appears that some relatively rapid lower lithospheric erosion by the plume head is also required. Theoretical modeling suggests that lithospheric erosion can be a comparatively rapid process, and this has important implications for the various starting plume models.
Unroofing the Klamaths - Blame it on Siletzia?

The Klamath Mountains province of northwestern California–southwestern Oregon is an anomalous element in the Cascadia margin; these mountains have the highest average topography, the oldest rocks, and the only identified example of late Cenozoic detachment faulting in the coastal mountains of the Cascadia forearc. Low-temperature thermochronology (apatite fission-track, apatite [U-Th]/He) analyses from the central and southern Klamath Mountains province record two distinct exhumation events—a Cretaceous–Paleocene regional cooling and a southward-migrating locus of rapid cooling/exhumation in the middle Tertiary. This younger event is localized within the geographic extent of the La Grange fault. We infer that this pattern reflects two distinct processes of exhumation: regional surface erosion (older) and migrating localized tectonic exhumation (younger). At the southern limit of this region of rapid cooling, slickenside striations on the exposed La Grange fault surface record southward displacement of the upper plate along a shallowly dipping (~20°) detachment surface. Thermochronologic data constrain average dip of the fault to a few degrees, upper-plate thickness to <~6–8 km, and fault slip rate to <2 mm/ yr for a duration of 30 m.y . (ca. 45 Ma to 15 Ma). The fault dip is unusually low compared to that of typical detachment faults; the duration of this extensional event is unusually long compared to other detachment faults; the north-south (margin-parallel) slip direction is roughly perpendicular to that of other Klamath Mountains province faults; and the Eocene to early Miocene timing of extensional faulting does not correlate with recognized tectonic events in northern California. Mid-Tertiary tectonic events in the Oregon Coast Ranges provide a context for understanding the unusual mid-Tertiary tectonism in the Klamath Mountains province. Immediately north of the Klamath Mountains province, early Eocene accretion of a large early Cenozoic igneous province, the Siletz terrane, initiated a westward jump of active subduction. Accretion was followed by late Eocene margin-parallel extension in the Oregon Coast Ranges, recorded by formation of a regional dike swarm. Both the timing of tectonic exhumation and the direction of extension on the La Grange detachment fault suggest that mid-Tertiary tectonism in the southern Klamath Mountains province was likely driven by plate tectonics associated with the accretion of Siletzia and the reestablishment of subduction outboard of the accreted terrane.
Designing Tax Policy: Constraints and Objectives in an Open Economy

This paper is a non-technical discussion by an economist and lawyer, each with long international experience in taxation, of the constraints and objectives that in principle and practice shape tax policy design. After discussing the main factors traditionally taken into account by those charged with designing tax policy in any country – such as revenue, the costs of taxation, equity and fairness, administrability, and the effects of taxation on growth and other non-fiscal objectives – several additional important considerations associated with ‘globalization’ are then discussed with special attention to income taxes. The paper concludes with a brief reflection on how the ‘new world tax order’ in which countries must now develop their tax systems may perhaps develop over time.
Unsupervised segmentation of ERS and Radarsat sea ice images using multiresolution peak detection and aggregated population equalization

In this paper we describe Automated Sea Ice Segmentation (ASIS), a system that automatically segments Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sea ice imagery. This system integrates image processing, data mining, and machine learning methodologies to determine the number of visually separable classes in ERS and Radarsat sea ice images. We introduce two new techniques: multiresolution peak detection and spatial clustering. The detection is a noise-resistant data discretization methodology that results in an initial segmentation of the image. The clustering is based on an innovative concept called Aggregated Population Equalization that utilizes spatial relationships among classes to merge and split the population environment. Its self-organizing ability produces the final segmentation and automates ASIS. In addition, we have designed a Java-based graphical user interface that facilitates post-segmentation human evaluation and classification. Thus, ASIS can be used as a pre-processor to help analyse sea ice images a.
Reconstruction of dynamic rupture process of an earthquake with constraints of kinematic parameters

In this paper, a simple approximate method that converts the distribution of kinematic rupture parameters on a fault into that of physical or dynamic parameters, is proposed. The method in which the static stress drop assumed to be equal to the dynamic stress drop, is applied to investigate rupture dynamics of the 1979 Imperial Valley, California, earthquake (M=6.5). The dynamic rupture process is reconstructed by using a propagating crack, which is a process of expanding area of stress release. If we know the amount of stress drop and rupture time at each point on the fault, dynamic rupture process can be simulated. We use the kinematic parameters previously obtained by using waveform inversion techniques. With constraints of the kinematic parameters, the dynamic rupture process of the event can be reconstructed and several dynamic parameters, stress drop and strength excess (the difference between strength and applied initial stress), can be estimated at each point on the fault. By applying this method to the 1979 Imperial Valley earthquake, we found that the rupture initiated at the low strength excess part first, and then expanded toward the north, and ruptured a large-size high stress drop region located in the north part of the fault, and finally decelerated and stopped at the north edge where the strength is high and stress drop is low. These features are well explained by barrier model [Das and Aki, 1977] and are quite similar to those obtained by Quin in 1990 who investigated the dynamic rupture process by the Monte Carlo technique with a large number of trials. Since repeated calculation is unnecessary, our method is very effective and practical compared with his method.
Transient electromagnetic sounding using a 5 m square loop

Our study of the diffusion of transient electromagnetic (TEM) fields into a two-dimensional (2D) earth, simulated by a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) algorithm, proves that the depth of investigation depends primarily on the measurement time and the ground resistivity. Sufficient signal strength can be gained by a small central-loop configuration equipped with a high-power transmitter and a large equivalent area receiver coil. When receiver sensitivity is 1 mV, average resistivity of the overlying section is around 50 Ω. m, and the noise level is 3 to 20 nV/m2, a depth of exploration of 150 m can be achieved with a 5 m × 5 m loop with 100 A of transmitter current; for a noise level of 0.1 nV/m2, the depth of exploration is up to 800 m with 1200 A of transmitter current. The results have been compared with results from the electrical resistivity method and from large loop techniques, and verified by drilling. We show that using a small loop can attain not only a greater depth of investigation but also higher resolution. The small loop configuration with a high-power transmitter is a convenient combination, and useful for exploration in mountainous terrains and restricted sites.
The interaction of oceanic jets with the midlatitude storm tracks

Two mechanisms through which oceanic jets and the atmospheric storm tracks interact in midlatitudes are considered. Firstly, the response of a two-layer ocean model to largescale stochastic forcing, a simplified model of forcing by the North Atlantic Oscillation, is investigated. Long Rossby waves are excited at the eastern boundary of the square model basin and the waves are baroclinically unstable. A novel aspect is that the instability leads to the generation of zonal jets throughout the domain. Unlike other theories of jet generation, the jets are actually wave-like in nature, and result directly from the instability. The “jets” appear when averaging the zonal velocity field over fixed periods of time. The longer the averaging period, the weaker the jets as the latter are actually time-varying. The jets occur for a wide range of stochastic forcing strength and the presence or not of a time mean circulation. The mechanism described here thereby provides an explanation for the recent observations of alternating zonal jets. The response of the Pacific storm track to the variability of the Kuroshio Extension jet is then studied. An index of the Kuroshio Extension front strength is produced using sea surface temperature and sea surface height observations. The index reflects the strengthening and weakening of the SST gradient associated with the bimodal states of the Kuroshio, and composites of the atmospheric state are presented during its positive and negative phases. The anomalous response of the transient eddy heat transport resembles a zonal dipole structure. With a weaker (stronger) SST front, the eddy heat transport is increased in the eastern (western) Pacific region, consistent with reduced (enhanced) lowlevel baroclinicity. The response of the large-scale atmospheric circulation is a barotropic blocking-type pattern in the east Pacific, which is interpreted in terms of the barotropic “eddy-straining” mechanism and eddy-mean flow interaction.
The Ethics of Life as It Could Be: Do We Have Moral Obligations to Artificial Life?

The field of Artificial Life studies the nature of the living state, by modeling and synthesizing living systems. Such systems, under certain conditions, may come to deserve moral consideration similar to that of non-human vertebrates or even human beings. The fact that these systems are non-human and evolve in a potentially radically different substrate should not be seen as an insurmountable obstacle to their potentially having rights, if they are sufficiently sophisticated in other respects. Nor should the fact that they owe their existence to us be seen as reducing their status as targets of moral concern. On the contrary, creators of artificial life may have special obligations to their creations, resembling those of an owner to their pet or a parent to their child. For a field that aims to create artificial lifeforms with increasing levels of sophistication, it is crucial to consider the possible ethical implications of our activities, with an eye toward assessing potential moral obligations for which we should be prepared. If artificial life is larger than life , then the ethics of artificial beings should be larger than human ethics .
Late Pleistocene Cold-Blooded Vertebrate Faunas from the Mid-Continental United States. I. Reptilia; Testudines, Crocodilia. Claude W. Hibbard Memorial Volume VI

Local faunas containing fossils of turtles and alligators and located principally in the Great Plains and Central Lowlands physiographic provinces (Ferneman, 1931) are reviewed. A temporal sequence is outlined for these faunas based on published information regarding stratigraphy, faunal shifts and radiogenic dates, as well as on new data available from the study of reptiles and wphibians. An attempt is made to determine the dates of extinction or major faunal shifts in various areas. In general this can be done only on a relative basis; however, it appears that the small tortoise, Hesperotestudo wilsoni, became extinct and Terrapene carolina, forest box turtles, disappeared from New Mexico and western Texas after the time of the Llano culture (Clovis points), but by the time of Folsom occupation at Lubbock Lake (i.e., between 11,000 and 10,000 years ago). The time of extinction of Gopherus and large Hesperotestudo has not been determined. Comparison of chelonian faunal compositions between the interval under discussion and both earlier fossil assemblages and the Recent faunas indicate a gradual southward and/or eastward contraction of ranges of some forms in northern Nebraska. Similar contractions are evident in Kansas, along with possibly sporadic invasions of species with prirnanly more southern or eastern distributions. In Texas distributional events are well known only for the past 50,000 years or so, but display similar patterns as well as minor fluctuations of ranges over small time intervals. In general the most dramatic changes in faunal composition occur during and at the close of Wisconsinan glaciation. The importance as indicators of climate and local habitat of the reptiles, amphibians and fishes of each local fauna is discussed. Numerous new faunal and geographic records for turtles in the late Pleistocene are presented. Occurrences of Graptemys pseudogeographica and floridana-group Chrysemys are documented for the Great Plains. A new species, Chrysemys hibbardi, making singular appearances in two local faunas of similar composition, is described. Detailed characters for systematic placement of shell bones belonging to the genus Chiysemys are presented. Chrysemys timida Hay is considered synonymous with C, picta. Pseudemys bisomatus Cope and Emys petrolei Leidy are maintained in synonymy with Chrysemys scnpta. The portion of the type-specimen of Trachemys trulla Hay that belongs to this subgenus (in current usage) is also referred to Chrysemys scripta. All material considered in this paper belonging in the genus Gopherus is referred to a single, possibly undescribed, probably extinct species. Material referable to Hesperotestudo (Williams, 1950b; Geochelone of most authors) is divided among two described species and two additional uncertain or undescribed specific placements. A key to aid in identification of late Pliocene-Recent fossil turtle-shell bones of the eastern and central United States and Canada is presented as an appendix.
UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Teaching Turkish-Dutch kindergarteners Dutch vocabulary with a social robot: Does the robot's use of Turkish translations benefit children's Dutch vocabulary learning?

Providing first language (L1) translations in L2 vocabulary interventions may be beneficial for L2 vocabulary learning. However, in linguistically diverse L2 classrooms, teachers cannot provide L1 translations to all children. Social robots do offer such opportunities, as they can be programmed to speak any combination of languages. This study investi-gates whether providing L1 translations in a robot-assisted L2 vocabulary training facilitates children's learning. Participants were Turkish-Dutch kindergartners ( n = 67) who were taught six Dutch (L2) words for which they knew the L1 (Turkish), but not the L2 Dutch form. Half of these words were taught by a Turkish-Dutch bilingual robot, along-side their Turkish translations; the other half by a monolingual Dutch robot. Children also completed Dutch and Turkish receptive vocabulary tests. Results of generalized linear regression models indicated better performance in the Dutch-only condition than in the Turkish-Dutch condition. Children with well-developed Turkish and Dutch vocabulary knowledge outperformed children with less well-developed vocabulary knowledge. The majority of children preferred working with the bilingual robot, but children's preference did not affect word learning. Thus, contrary to our prediction, we found no evidence for a facilitating effect of providing L1 translations through a robot on bilingual children's L2 word learning.
A reconstruction of the North Atlantic Oscillation using tree-ring chronologies from North America and Europe

Tree-ring records, six from eastern North America and four from northwestern Europe, are used to develop the first reconstruction of the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The reconstructed series spans the interval AD 1701-1980 and explains 41%, of the variance in the NAO over the AD 1874-1980 calibration period. The reconstruction also captures the spectral properties of this index, suggesting that the oscillatory character of the NAO is a long-term feature of the North Atlantic climate system.