Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Glaciers and Glacial Lakes under Changing Climate in Pakistan

The Himalayas, Karakoram and Hindukush lofty mountain ranges meet each other in Pakistan hosting more than 5000 glaciers in Pakistani geographical limits which feed snow/ice melt water to the Indus River System together with summer monsoon. Due to global warming, frozen water resources have been losing their reserves at an unprecedented rate, not only, reducing the ice mass but increasing the number and extent of glacial lakes. Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) are the devastating mountain hazards which have started occurring with increased frequency during the recent years. An alarming increasing temperature trend in northern parts of Pakistan during the last decade which surpassed all the past records has enhanced the snow/ice melt rate and given rise to lake formation process some of which are potentially dangerous for outburst. Due to increase in temperature, the snowline has shifted upward causing migration of biodiversity and lower elevation glaciers have started melting faster. Snow used to occur now in late winter and disappears in early summer, hence, reducing the residency period to complete metamorphic processes for conversion into ice. Ponding of melt water underneath and around the terminal moraine need continuous monitoring to understand their supraglacial behavior and to assess the potential danger of outburst on scientific basis for development of an early warning mechanism. An initiative of The Mountain Institute (TMI) in collaboration of ICIMOD toward Global Glacial Lake Partnership is a step forward to manage such lakes to mitigate the potential losses due to their outburst.
A variance‐based decomposition and global sensitivity index method for uncertainty quantification: Application to retrieved ice cloud properties

This study develops a novel uncertainty quantification (UQ) method for cloud microphysical property retrievals using variance‐based decomposition and global sensitivity index. In this UQ framework, empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis is applied to the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) ground‐based observations, which are the inputs for the cloud retrieval studied here. The principal components (PCs) in the EOF expansion are parameterized as random input variables, and hence, the input dimension is greatly reduced (up to a factor of 50), allowing large ensemble of random samplings. The EOF expansion improves the accuracy of the uncertainty estimation by taking into account the cross correlations in the input data profiles. This method enables a probabilistic representation of a retrieval process by adding normally distributed perturbations into PCs of sample means of input data profiles within a time window. Therefore, it effectively facilitates objective validation of climate models against cloud retrievals under a probabilistic framework for rigorous statistical inferences. Moreover, the variance‐based global sensitivity index analysis, part of this method, attributes the output uncertainties to each individual source, thus providing directions for improving retrieval algorithms and observation strategies. For demonstration, we apply this method to quantify the uncertainties of the ARM program's baseline cloud retrieval algorithm for an ice cloud case observed at the Southern Great Plains site on 9 March 2000.
ECOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY OF AVIAN VIRUSES USING NICHE MODELS AND WILD BIRD SURVEILLANCE

The emerging virus strain termed highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza (hearafter “H5N1”) has spread widely in the past decade and is now the focus of considerable concern in several sectors. We tested the hypothesis that spatial distributions of veterinary and human H5N1 cases are related to coarse-scale environmental features in West Africa. We used ecological niche models to associate Nigerian H5N1 occurrences with 1 km resolution digital data layers summarizing parameters of surface reflectance and landform. Predictive challenges included anticipating the spatial distribution of (i) random subsamples and (ii) spatially and temporally stratified subsamples of Nigerian occurrence data, and (iii) more limited occurrence data from across West Africa. In almost all tests, we found that H5N1 cases were occurring under predictable environmental conditions, suggesting that elements of the transmission cycle have some form of ecological determination, here measured as differences in land-surface reflectance and plant phenology through the year. Considerable additional work is needed to establish how these differences affect H5N1 transmission.
Paleoseismicity of the Rotoitipakau Fault Zone, a complex normal fault in the Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand

Abstract Trenching of 6 of the 10 fault strands that comprise the 5 km long, 1 km wide Rotoitipakau Fault Zone, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand, shows that surface rupture has occurred at least eight times in the zone during the past 8500 yr. Single‐event displacements on each strand vary from a few decimetres to perhaps more than 2.5 m, and there may have been as much as 4.5–5.0 m of cumulative slip on several strands in a single event. Five airfall tephra whose ages span the past 8500 yr provide time lines within which cumulative slip rate has varied by approximately 10 times: from 1–2.5 mm/yr in the period from the AD 1886Tarawera Tephra to the present, and in the c. 4000 yr period from the 4.8 ka Whakatane Tephra to the 0.65 ka Kaharoa Tephra; to 11 mm/yr in the c. 500 yr period from 0.65 ka to AD 1886. All but one of the fault strands are downthrown to the southeast, suggesting that the fault zone is part of the western margin of the Whakatane Graben. This short fault zone may therefore be a splay o.
A comparison between multiproxy and historical data (ad 1990–1840) of drift ice conditions on the East Greenland Shelf (~66°N)

The reduction in sea ice along the SE Greenland coast during the last century has severely impacted ice-rafting to this area. In order to reconstruct ice-rafting and oceanographic conditions in the area of Denmark Strait during the last ~150 years, we conducted a multiproxy study on three short (20 cm) sediment cores from outer Kangerdlugssuaq Trough (~300 m water depth). The proxy-based data obtained have been compared with historical and instrumental data to gain a better understanding of the ice sheet–ocean interactions in the area. A robust chronology has been developed based on 210Pb and 137Cs measurements on core PO175GKC#9 (~66.2°N, 32°W) and expanded to the two adjacent cores based on correlations between calcite weight percent records. Our proxy records include sea-ice and phytoplankton biomarkers, and a variety of mineralogical determinations based on the <2 mm sediment fraction, including identification with quantitative x-ray diffraction, ice-rafted debris counts on the 63–150 µm sand fraction, and source identifications based on the composition of Fe oxides in the 45–250 µm fraction. A multivariate statistical analysis indicated significant correlations between our proxy records and historical data, especially with the mean annual temperature data from Stykkishólmur (Iceland) and the storis index (historical observations of sea-ice export via the East Greenland Current). In particular, the biological proxies (calcite weight percent, IP25, and total organic carbon %) showed significant linkage with the storis index. Our records show two distinct intervals in the recent history of the SE Greenland coast. The first of these (ad 1850–1910) shows predominantly perennial sea-ice conditions in the area, while the second (ad 1910–1990) shows more seasonally open water conditions.
MARKET INTEGRATION: CASE STUDIES OF STRUCTURAL CHANGE

The grain/oilseed industry is undergoing considerable structural change in the form of mergers and the addition of new processing facilities to add value beyond commodity grade. The rapid structural changes in this industry call into question the relevance of previous research conducted in these areas. Focusing on two structural change events in northeast Missouri as case studies provides an incisive glimpse at the larger impact of structural change on the grain/oilseed industry. This study addresses the merger of Archer Daniels Midland and Quincy Grain, and the opening of a producer-owned ethanol plant in northeast Missouri to determine if these structural change events altered pricing patterns and linkages in Missouri grain/oilseed markets, and assess the need for re-specification of conventional economic models for price analysis in cases of potential structural change. This research utilizes a three-tier statistical analysis of cointegration tests, Flexible Least Squares analysis, and impulse response functions derived from Vector Autoregressive modeling to investigate the Law of One Price and price relationships among four Missouri grain/oilseed markets. The results are consistent with the Law of One Price, supporting the ideology that markets work, and implying that localized structural change may not significantly affect research shelf-life.
Quaternary stratigraphy, paleoecology, and glacial geology, Îles de la Madeleine, Quebec

On the Iles de la Madeleine, a rock platform as much as 20 m asl, locally with clam borings, is correlated to the regional interglacial surface at 2–8 m; its anomalous height may be a consequence of salt tectonics. Overlying lagoonal and paludal organic beds, one with Th/U ages of 89–101 ka, record the Sangamonian climatic optimum (substage 5e), which culminated in forest more thermophilous than that of the Holocene optimum. Overlying littoral gravel and sand, considered analogous to sediments in present-day tombolos, and organic beds with less temperate pollen types were deposited during the marine transgressive climax of substage 5e and thus indicate that sea level remained high after the thermal optimum, as in Holocene time. Cold-based Early Wisconsinan ice, probably centred on the Magdalen Shelf, tectonized bedrock and interglacial beds and deposited till upon them. Periglacial features indicate a subsequent long cold period. An organic bed dating from 11.3 to 10.6 ka records a warm interval followed .
Bucaniid gastropods from the upper Ordovician of Baltica, with a discussion of the Bucaniinae

ABSTRACT. Three species of bucaniid gastropods from the upper Ordovician of Norway and Sweden are revised: Euomphalopterus excavatus is redescribed as a species of Phragmolites with very wide umbilici and ornamentation similar to that of Offleya. Three out of five specimens from the original type series of Temnodiscus lindstroemi remain, representing two different species of two different genera. The original species name is restricted to a species of Phragmolites, whereas two specimens are considered conspecific with Megalomphala? carinata sp. nov., although the high carina, the flaring aperture and the laterally compressed whorls seen in this species are unusual for the genus. The gastropod subfamily Bucaniinae of the family Bucaniidae is here considered to comprise nine genera. Placement of Phragmolites in this family is supported by its deep slit, tangential aperture, transverse growth lines, spiral and collabral ornamentation and the presence of a longitudinal keel on the base of the whorl.
System-level calibration of a transfer radiometer used to validate EOS radiance scales

A number of transfer radiometers have been developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with the support and funding of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) satellite sensor calibration programmes. The transfer radiometers travel to NASA satellite builder and calibration facilities and validate the radiance scale of calibration sources at those facilities. One of these instruments, the Earth Observing Systems (EOS) Visible Transfer Radiometer (VXR), was calibrated for spectral responsivity in different facilities at NIST using two types of integrating sphere sources (ISSs): an incandescent lamp-illuminated ISS and a laser-illuminated ISS. The laser-illuminated ISS results in reduced uncertainties and a greater dynamic range in radiance responsivity. We will discuss the calibration procedures using the two types of source, compare results of calibrations of two of the VXR filter channels in the two NIST facilities, and suggest additional irradiance and radiance responsivity calibrations that are now possible using the new laser-illuminated facility.
Keeping the edge: A numerical method that avoids knickpoint smearing when solving the stream power law

The stream power equation is commonly used to model river incision into bedrock. Although specific conditions allow an analytical approach, finite difference methods (FDMs) are most frequently used to solve this equation. FDMs inevitably suffer from numerical smearing which may affect their suitability for transient river incision modeling. We propose the use of a finite volume method (FVM) which is total variation diminishing (TVD) to simulate river incision in a more accurate way. The TVD_FVM is designed to simulate sharp discontinuities, making it very suitable to simulate river incision pulses. We show that the TVD_FVM is much better capable of preserving propagating knickpoints than FDMs, using Niagara Falls as an example. Comparison of numerical results obtained using the TVD_FVM with analytical solutions shows a very good agreement. Furthermore, the uncertainty associated with parameter calibration is dramatically reduced when the TVD_FVM is applied. The high accuracy of the TVD_FDM allows correct simulation of transient incision waves as a consequence of older uplift pulses. This implies that the TVD_FVM is much more suitable than FDMs to reconstruct regional uplift histories from current river profile morphology and to simulate river incision processes in general.
Expression of 11β-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase Type 1 in Adipose Tissue Is Not Increased in Human Obesity

Central obesity is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Preadipocyte proliferation and differentiation contribute to increases in adipose tissue mass, yet the mechanisms that underlie these processes remain unclear. Patients with glucocorticoid excess develop a reversible form of central obesity, but circulating cortisol levels in idiopathic obesity are invariably normal. We have hypothesized that the enzyme 11-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11HSD1), by converting inactive cortisone to active cortisol in adipose tissue, might be an important autocrine regulator of fat mass. Paired omental and sc fat biopsies were obtained from 32 women (median age, 43 yr; range, 28–65; median body mass index, 27.5 kg/m 2 ; range, 19.7–39.2) undergoing elective abdominal surgery. 11-HSD1 activity and mRNA levels were assessed in whole tissue and in isolated preadipocytes and adipocytes using specific enzyme assays and real-time PCR. Preadipocyte proliferation was measured using tritiated thymidine incorporation.
ANALYSIS OF SURFACE MELTING AND SNOW ACCUMULATION OVER THE GREENLAND ICE SHEET FROM SPACEBORNE MICROWAVE SENSORS

ii Dedication . iv Acknowledgement . v Vita . vii List of Figures . xiii List of Tables . xx List of Abbreviations . xxi Chapter 1: Introduction . 1 1.
Effective Sediment-Transporting Discharge from Magnitude-Frequency Analysis

The long-term effectiveness of a geomorphic event of a particular magnitude is the product of the effect of a single event of that magnitude times the frequency with which it recurs (magnitude-frequency analysis). If discharge frequency of a stream is assumed to be log-normally distributed and if sediment transport rate is assumed to be a power function of discharge, then transport effectiveness attains a maximum value at some discharge, termed here the "effective discharge," that moves the most sediment over the long term. The effective discharge and its recurrence interval may be predicted if both assumptions are correct. Analysis of 55 U.S. streams demonstrates that the observed and the predicted recurrence intervals of the effective discharge are in poor agreement. This lack of agreement results from the failure of the power function of discharge to predict adequately the sediment transport rate above some high-discharge threshold or thresholds. The observed recurrence interval of the effective discharge for the studied streams is highly variable, ranging from a week to several decades, calling into question the widely held notion that effective fluvial discharge occurs about once a year.
Expectations as Reference Points: Field Evidence from Professional Soccer

We show that professional soccer players and their coaches exhibit reference-dependent behavior during matches. Controlling for the state of the match and for unobserved heterogeneity, we show on a minute-by-minute basis that players breach the rules of the game, measured by the referee's assignment of cards, significantly more often if their teams are behind the expected match outcome, measured by preplay betting odds of large professional bookmakers. We further show that coaches implement significantly more offensive substitutions if their teams are behind expectations. Both types of behaviors impair the expected ultimate match outcome of the team, which shows that our findings do not simply reflect fully rational responses to reference-dependent incentive schemes of favorite teams to falling behind. We derive these results in a data set that contains more than 8,200 matches from 12 seasons of the German Bundesliga and 12 seasons of the English Premier League. This paper was accepted by Uri Gneezy, behavioral economics.
A comparison of nonlinear flood forecasting methods

Two nonlinear models, nonlinear prediction (NLP) and artificial neural networks (ANN), are compared for multivariate flood forecasting. For NLP the calibration of the locally linear model is quite simple, while for ANN the validation and identification of the model can be cumbersome, mainly because of overfitting. Very good results are obtained with the two methods: NLP performs slightly better at short forecast times while the situation is reversed for longer times.
Spatial and seasonal variations of Q 10 determined by soil respiration measurements at a Sierra Nevadan Forest

We examined the spatial and seasonal variation of Q10 as an indicator of the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration based on field measurements at a young ponderosa pine plantation in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. We measured soil CO2 efflux and soil temperature and moisture in two 20 m × 20 m plots from June 1998 to August 1999. The Q10 values calculated from soil temperature at 10‐cm depth ranged spatially from 1.21 to 2.63 among 18 chamber locations in the plots. Seasonally, the Q10 values calculated on the basis of the average soil CO2 efflux and temperature (10 cm) across the sites could vary from 1.05 to 2.3. Q10 and soil temperature are negatively correlated through a simple linear relationship with R2 values of 0.45, 0.40, and 0.54 for soil temperature at 5−, 10−, and 20−cm depth, respectively. However, Q10 and soil moisture are positively correlated with R2 values of 0.81, 0.86, and 0.51 for soil temperature at 5−, 10−, and 20−cm depth, respectively. Q10 values derived from temperatures at different soil depths also showed considerable variation along the vertical dimension. Q10 had a large seasonal variation with the annual minimum occurring in midsummer and the annual maximum occurring in winter. Seasonal values of Q10 depended closely on both soil temperature and moisture. Soil temperature and moisture explained 93% of the seasonal variation in Q10. The spatial variation of Q10 had significant influences on the estimation of soil CO2 efflux of the ecosystem. These variations tended to affect the seasonality of the soil CO2 efflux more than the annual average. The variations of Q10 and its dependence on soil moisture and temperature have important implications for regional and global ecosystem carbon modeling, in particular for predicting the responses of terrestrial ecosystems to future global warming.
O magmatismo granítico Neoproterozóico do batólito pelotas no sul do Brasil: novos dados e revisão da geocronologia regional

The Pelotas Batholith is an about 40,000 km 2 polyphase plutonic complex located in the eastern part of Sul-rio-grandense Shield, southernmost Brazil. It is composed of six granitic suites (Pinheiro Machado, Erval, Viamao, Encruzilhada do Sul, Cordilheira and Dom Feliciano) and one syenitic suite (Piquiri). The batholith shows a compositional evolution from suites dominated by granodiorites and monzogranites with minor tonalites, diorites, and quartz-diorites to those dominated by syenogranites with microcline-ortoclase granites, quartz-syenites, and subordinated syenites. All the suites contain basic and intermediate rocks with mixing and mingling relations indicating they are coeval with the granitic magmatism. The Pinheiro Machado Suite has a medium to high-K nature and ages from 625 Ma to 610 Ma and the Viamao Suite shows high-K calc-alkaline affinity and ages about 600 Ma. The Cordilheira Suite is more peraluminous then the former. The Piquiri Suite resulted from an alkaline satured shoshonitic magmatism at about 610 Ma. Metaluminous and peralkaline alkaline supersatured rocks form the Encruzilhada do Sul Suite, with ages between 600 Ma and 590 Ma, and in granite and rhyolite dikes included in the Don Feliciano Suite, of 595 Ma to 570 Ma. Basement megaxenoliths are widespread in these suites and are similar to the metamorphic rocks found at the western border of this batholith. The Pelotas Batholith contains evidence of two ductile deformational events (D 1 and D 2 ) and one ruptile (D 3 ). Most suites were emplaced in a transpressive regime, during a post-collisional stage, being partially accompanied by oblique convergence and transcurrence of continental plates. Available geocronological data indicate that D 1 and D 2 have similar age and that the Pelotas Batholith magmatism has ages from 630 Ma to 570 Ma. Granitic magmatism of the batholith shows an important mantle contribution represented by diorites associated to most of the studied suites, which are part of a maficmagmatism The generation and emplacement of the granitic magmatism are related to the evolution of the ductile shear zones. These structures have also influenced the occurrence of mafic magmatism that contributed to increase the geothermal gradients and to promote crustal melting and the generation of granitic rocks in the batholith.
Describing the adsorption of copper, zinc and lead on a variable charge mineral surface

The ability of a model to describe quantitatively the adsorption of copper, lead and zinc on goethite was tested. The model was able to describe both the increase in adsorption of metals with increasing pH and the release of protons that accompanied adsorption. For copper and zinc, MeOH+ were the adsorbing species. Part of the increase in adsorption with increasing pH arose because these ions increase in concentration with pH. For lead, Pb2+ ions appeared to be adsorbed, and in this case the increase in adsorption with pH was entirely due to the decreased charge on the surface and thus decreased repulsion. For all three metals, the MeCl+ ions also appeared to be adsorbed, and this explained higher adsorption from chloride solution than from nitrate solutions. The observed release of protons accompanying adsorption was matched by moving the plane of adsorption of metal ions relative to that of the H+ and OH- ions. When the two planes were close, the proton release was almost equivalent to the charge on the metal ions; as the distance increased, proton release decreased.