Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Top-down structures of mafic enclaves within the Valle Fértil magmatic complex (Early Ordovician, San Juan, Argentina)

Magmatic structures related to the mechanical interaction between mafic magmas and granitoids have been studied in the Valle Fertil calc-alkaline igneous complex, Argentina. Excepcional outcrops with vertical walls of more than 300 m high allow us the study of three-dimensional geometries of individual blobs of mafic magma as well as the geometry of pipe-like structures in which mafic microgranular enclaves are concentrated in more than 50 times the normal abundance in the granodiorite mass. The shape of enclaves and pipe-like structures are interpreted as the ressult of top-to-down intrusions of a mafic magma into a granodiorite-tonalite mass. These sinking structures are the result of a reverselly stratified magma chamber with gabbros and diorites at the top and granodiorite-tonalite at the bottom. They may account for most of the structures found in microgranular enclaves and magma mingling zones that characterize calc-alkaline batholiths. Synplutonic intrusions from the top is the only plausible mechanism to account for the observed structures. The model may be of general application to calc-alkaline batholiths characterized by the presence of mafic microgranular enclaves. An implication of these reverselly stratified magma chambers is the presence of a petrological inversion which may be the consequence of cold diapirs emplaced below the mantle wedge in a suprasubduction setting.
Host heterogeneity affects both parasite transmission to and fitness on subsequent hosts

Infectious disease dynamics depend on the speed, number and fitness of parasites transmitting from infected hosts (‘donors’) to parasite-naive ‘recipients’. Donor heterogeneity likely affects these three parameters, and may arise from variation between donors in traits including: (i) infection load, (ii) resistance, (iii) stage of infection, and (iv) previous experience of transmission. We used the Trinidadian guppy, Poecilia reticulata, and a directly transmitted monogenean ectoparasite, Gyrodactylus turnbulli, to experimentally explore how these sources of donor heterogeneity affect the three transmission parameters. We exposed parasite-naive recipients to donors (infected with a single parasite strain) differing in their infection traits, and found that donor infection traits had diverse and sometimes interactive effects on transmission. First, although transmission speed increased with donor infection load, the relationship was nonlinear. Second, while the number of parasites transmitted generally increased with donor infection load, more resistant donors transmitted more parasites, as did those with previous transmission experience. Finally, parasites transmitting from experienced donors exhibited lower population growth rates on recipients than those from inexperienced donors. Stage of infection had little effect on transmission parameters. These results suggest that a more holistic consideration of within-host processes will improve our understanding of between-host transmission and hence disease dynamics. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Opening the black box: re-examining the ecology and evolution of parasite transmission’.
Ground-based intercomparison of nitric acid measurement techniques

An informal intercomparison of gas-phase nitric acid (HNO3) measuring techniques was carried out. The intercomparison involved two new chemical ionization mass spectrometers (CIMSs) that have been developed for the measurement of HNO3 along with an older, more established filter pack (FP) technique. The filter pack was composed of a teflon prefilter which collected aerosols followed by a nylon filter which collected the gas-phase HNO3. The study was carried out during the late winter and early spring of 1996 at a site located on the western edge of the Denver metropolitan area. Throughout the study the two CIMS techniques were in general agreement. However, under certain conditions the HNO3 levels obtained from the nylon filter of the FP gave values for the gas-phase concentration of HNO3 that were somewhat higher than that recorded by the two CIMS systems. The formation of ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) containing aerosols is common during the colder months in this area. An analysis of these results suggests that the HNO3 collected by the nylon filter in the FP suffers an interference associated with the disproportionation of NH4NO3 from aerosols containing that compound that were initially collected on the teflon prefilter. This problem with the FP technique has been suggested from results obtained in previous intercomparisons.
Application of hyperspectral imaging and chemometrics for classifying plastics with brominated flame retardants

Most plastics need to incorporate flame retardants to meet fire safety standards requirements. The amount and the type of flame retardants can differ, so that in waste plastics a large variety of polymers and flame retardants can be found. The recycling of plastics containing flame retardants is increasing. However, only plastics of the same polymer type and the same additive content can be recycled together. Three models based on different chemometrics techniques applied to hyperspectral imaging in the near infrared range were developed [partial least square-discriminant analysis, decision tree (DT) and hierarchical model (HM)]. Optimal results were obtained for all classification techniques. HM shows the highest error at all levels due to the noisy spectra of the black plastics. However, DT classification gave outstanding results, considering that the sensitivity was higher than 0.9 in all cases. Thus, the application of DT with hyperspectral imaging could be used to sort plastic samples with respect to the type of polymer and the flame retardant used with a high degree of accuracy in an automated way. These findings are highly valuable for the plastic and waste management industries.
An improved ANN-based sequential global-local approximation for small medical data analysis

INTRODUCTION: The task of approximation of complex nonlinear dependencies, especially in the case of short datasets, is important in various applied fields of medicine. Global approximation methods describe the generalized behavior of the model, while local methods explain the behavior of the model at specific data points. Global-local approximation combines both approaches, which makes such methods a powerful tool for processing short sets of medical data that can have both broad trends and local variations. OBJECTIVES: This paper aims to improve the method of sequential obtaining global and local components of the response surface to increase the accuracy of prediction in the case of short sets of medical data. METHODS: In this paper, the authors presented the method that combined two ANNs: a non-iterative SGTM neural-like structure for obtaining the global component and GRNN as a powerful tool of local approximation in the case of short datasets. RESULTS: The authors have improved the method of global-local approximation due to the use of a General Regression Neural Network instead of RBF ANN for obtaining the local component, which ensured an increase in the accuracy of the body fat prediction task. The authors optimized the operation of the method and investigated the efficiency of the sequential obtaining global and local components of the response surface in comparison with the efficiency using a number of existing methods. CONCLUSION: The conducted experimental studies for solving the body fat prediction task showed the high efficiency of using the improved method in comparison with a number of existing methods, including ensemble methods.
Supply Response Analysis of Pakistani Wheat Growers

Alternative specifications of model of supply response of Pakistani wheat growers and their economic implications are considered in terms of the existences and nature of production lags, and the choice between expected wheat and gross returns as the preferred explanatory of producer’s response to changing economic condition. Data were collected from 1961-2008 by using time series analysis and data were analysis by using SPSS-16.5 version. The analyses indicate that there are lags which are due primarily to the difficulties and cost of rapid adjustment rather than to the time required to revise expectations. The statistical results were similar for the alternative specification of gross margins and wheat as the economic decision available. However, the wheat elasticities derived using the gross margins specification were about a third of those using the wheat specification. The paper used data by using the time series analysis of Wheat response analysis. A longitudinal in depth study is needed for the decision analysis. The gross margin specification yielded additional information in the form of yield and input cost elasticities.The clarified concept of Wheat response analysis presented. Also, the systematized the factors is introduced and tested empirically.
Age-related white matter differences in children with neurofibromatosis type 1 compared to controls

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a common genetic condition in which 30-70% of children experience learning challenges including deficits in attention, executive function, and working memory. White matter pathways have been implicated in these cognitive functions; yet, they have not been well characterized in NF1. In this retrospective cohort study, we used diffusion MRI tractography to examine the microstructural properties of major white matter pathways in 20 children with NF1 aged 1 year to 18 years relative to 20 age- and sex-matched controls. An automated approach was used to identify and extract mean diffusivity (MD) and fractional anisotropy (FA) of eight cerebral white matter pathways bilaterally and the anterior and posterior part of the corpus callosum. Compared to controls, children with NF1 had significantly increased MD and significantly decreased FA in multiple white matter pathways including the anterior thalamic radiation, cingulate, uncinate fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, arcuate fasciculus, and corticospinal tract. Differences in MD and FA remained significant after controlling for intracranial volume. In addition, MD and FA differences between children with NF1 and controls were greater at younger than older ages. These findings have implications for understanding the etiology of the neurocognitive deficits seen in many children with NF1.
An analysis of the accuracy of Japanese Ocean Flux data sets with Use of Remote sensing Observations (J‐OFURO) satellite‐derived latent heat flux using moored buoy data

[1] To analyze the accuracy of Japanese Ocean Flux data sets with Use of Remote sensing Observations (J-OFURO) latent heat flux (LHF), comparisons with moored buoy data are conducted. In the tropical region, J-OFURO LHF is characterized by large overestimations when buoy LHF has large values. On the other hand, in the midlatitudes, J-OFURO LHF tends to be underestimated when buoy LHF has large values. We have concluded that these errors are mainly caused by the accuracy of surface air specific humidity. The large scatter between satellite and buoy products is due to the low accuracy of not only specific humidity data but also wind speed data in the midlatitudes. The J-OFURO LHF bias errors are compared with the bias errors of selected satellite (GSSTF2 and HOAPS1) and reanalysis (NRA1, NRA2, ERA15 and ERA40) data sets.
Processes of initiation of motion leading to bedload transport in gravel‐bed rivers

Transport processes that lead to the initiation of bedload motion in gravel‐bed rivers have not yet been clarified. We report patch‐ and grain‐scale processes involved in the initiation of bedload motion in a natural gravel‐bed stream as observed through a series of video experiments. With increasing flow strength, the phases of initiation of motion that have been identified are (1) within‐patch grain instability (grain vibration, pivoting, and grain‐scale rolling), (2) within‐patch gyratory step‐and‐rest motion, and (3) general sediment motion involving downstream transport from an individual patch and the throughput of grains inherited from upstream.
Boundary layer characteristics over areas of inhomogeneous surface fluxes

Abstract This paper describes results from a June 1992 field program to study the response of the boundary layer over a site with well-defined extreme differences in sensible and latent heat fluxes over clearly separated areas, each with characteristic length scales of 10 km or more. The experiment region consisted of semiarid grassland steppe and irrigated farmland. Sensible heat flux maxima over the steppe regularly reached values in excess of 300 W m−2 and were typically a factor of 4 or more greater than those over the farmland. Two days were selected for analysis: one with moderate winds of 710 m s−1 and one with lighter winds of 47 m s−1 over the steppe. In both cases the wind directions were nearly perpendicular to the boundary between the steppe and farm. An analysis of potential temperature soundings showed that mixed-layer characteristics over both the farm and the steppe were largely determined by heating over the steppe, with advection from the steppe to the farm playing a significant role.
P–T and structural evolution during exhumation of high‐T, medium‐P basement rocks in the Barberton Mountain Land, South Africa

The P–T evolution of amphibolite facies gneisses and associated supracrustal rocks exposed along the northern margin of the Paleo to MesoArchean Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa, has been reconstructed via detailed structural analysis combined with calculated K(Mn)FMASH pseudosections of aluminous felsic schists. The granitoid‐greenstone contact is characterized by a contact‐parallel high‐strain zone that separates the generally low‐grade, greenschist facies greenstone belt from mid‐crustal basement gneisses. The supracrustal rocks in the hangingwall of this contact are metamorphosed to upper greenschist facies conditions. Supracrustal rocks and granitoid gneisses in the footwall of this contact are metamorphosed to sillimanite grade conditions (600–700 °C and 5 ± 1 kbar), corresponding to elevated geothermal gradients of ∼30–40 °C km−1. The most likely setting for these conditions was a mid‐ or lower crust that was invaded and advectively heated by syntectonic granitoids at c. 3230 Ma. Combined structural and petrological data indicate the burial of the rocks to mid‐crustal levels, followed by crustal exhumation related to the late‐ to post‐collisional extension of the granitoid‐greenstone terrane during one progressive deformation event. Exhumation and decompression commenced under amphibolite facies conditions, as indicated by the synkinematic growth of peak metamorphic minerals during extensional shearing. Derived P–T paths indicate near‐isothermal decompression to conditions of ∼500–650 °C and 1–3 kbar, followed by near‐isobaric cooling to temperatures below ∼500 °C. In metabasic rock types, this retrograde P–T evolution resulted in the formation of coronitic Ep‐Qtz and Act‐Qtz symplectites that are interpreted to have replaced peak metamorphic plagioclase and clinopyroxene. The last stages of exhumation are characterized by solid‐state doming of the footwall gneisses and strain localization in contact‐parallel greenschist‐facies mylonites that overprint the decompressed basement rocks.
Fear of Crime among Women in the Old City Center of Istanbul

Istanbul, the biggest city of Turkey with a population of 17 million people, is a city where both the negative and positive effects of urban life standards are intensely experienced. Along with problems such as migration from rural areas to urban areas, rapid population growth, unemployment and squatting, crime rates have recently been observed to go higher (Yirmibesoglu & Ergun, 2013). The old city center, Beyoglu was infamously known for its high crime rates and fear of crime, but today it seems that this image has changed and the fear of crime has decreased. Among the reasons for this decrease, we can mention the fact that Beyoglu has been through a gentrification process that some buildings have been restored, and that urban design implementations have been done in some streets. This study aimed to find out how fear of crime according to gender differed before and after the renovation process. With this aim in mind, field research and surveys were conducted in 2006 and 2010. The research problem, fear of crime and environmental safety in Beyoglu, was investigated based on certain variables such as the participants’ gender, occupation, duration of residence in Istanbul, the place of residence, age group, place of birth, and educational level; the participants were also asked about the frequency of their visits to Beyoglu and the reasons why they go to Beyoglu. The results of the study revealed the differences in fear of crime between men and women. It was found that Beyoglu district became safer after the renovations; yet, the rate of fear of walking alone, and therefore the fear of crime, was found to be higher among women than among men.
A physically based model for the hydrologic control on shallow landsliding

Both rainfall intensity and duration take part in determining the hydrologic conditions favorable to the occurrence of shallow landslides. Hydrogeomorphic models of slope stability generally account for the dependence of landsliding on soil mechanical and topographic factors, while the role of rainfall duration is seldom considered within a process‐based approach. To investigate the effect of different climate drivers on slope stability, we developed a modeling framework that accounts for the variability of extreme rainfall rate with the duration of rainfall events. The slope stability component includes the key characteristics of the soil mantle, i.e., angle of shearing resistance, void ratio, and specific gravity of solids. Hillslope hydrology is modeled by coupling the conservation of mass of soil water with the Darcy's law used to describe seepage flow. This yields a simple analytical model capable of describing combined effect of duration and intensity of a precipitation episode in triggering shallow landslides. Dimensionless variables are introduced to investigate model sensitivity. Finally, coupling this model with the simple scaling model for the frequency of storm precipitation can help in understanding the climate control on landscape evolution. This leads to predict the temporal scale of hillslope evolution associated with the occurrence of shallow landslides. Model application is shown for the Mettman Ridge study area in Oregon, United States.
Monetary Policy Announcement Effects on U.S. Corporate Credit Spreads

During the last 15 years central banks have tried to stimulate economic output with unprecedented measures and power, but have they succeeded in facilitating private borrowing for firms? In this thesis, I study the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement effects on large U.S. corporates between 2003 and 2022 through credit default swap (CDS) spreads, to see how the announced measures are reflected in private borrowing costs. The company specific CDS data provides interesting insights to announcement reaction differences between companies with varying creditworthiness, dependence on external finance, and operating industries during different monetary policy regimes. I find that the first two factors have moderate and varying effects on spread changes, while operating industry does not. By separating the monetary policy shock effect from the announcement effect, I also find that the shock effect is likely dominated by an opposite effect from Fed revealing new information on its economic outlook, causing both the spreads and underlying Treasury yields to react contrary to monetary policy transmission theories.
Diagnostics and Prediction of Anomalous River Discharge in Northern South America

Abstract The annual cycles of rainfall and river discharge in northern South America are dominated by the seasonal latitude migration of the intertropical convergence zone. The catchments in the west (Madden. Magdalena and Orinoco) have their high stands between August and December, while those of the Guyanas (Cuyuni, Essequibo, Suriname, Maroni and Oyapock) peak between May and July. Anomalously abundant discharge is in almost all catchments (except Orinoco) associated with the high SO phase (defined by anomalously high/low pressure at Tahiti/Darwin), weakened Caribbean tradewinds. and accelerated cross-equatorial southerly flow over the eastern Pacific. In a series of experiments a sharp distinction was kept between a “dependent” dataset (1940–70, or the part available in the river series) used as training period and an “independent” portion of the record (1971–87) reserved for prediction. Stepwise multiple regression models for bimonthly “seasons” used as input river discharge as regressand, and as reg.
Runtime Analysis of the (1+1) EA on Computing Unique Input Output Sequences

Computing unique input output (UIO) sequences is a fundamental and hard problem in conformance testing of finite state machines (FSM). Previous experimental research has shown that evolutionary algorithms (EAs) can be applied successfully to find UIOs for some FSMs. However, before EAs can be recommended as a practical technique for computing UIOs, it is necessary to better understand the potential and limitations of these algorithms on this problem. In particular, more research is needed in determining for what instance classes of the problem EAs are feasible, and for what instance classes EAs are provably better than random search strategies. This paper presents rigorous theoretical and numerical analyses of the runtime of the (1+1) EA and random search on several selected instance classes of this problem. The theoretical analysis shows firstly, that there are instance classes where the EA is efficient, while random testing fails completely. Secondly, an instance class that is difficult for both random testing and the EA is presented. Finally, a parametrised instance class with tunable difficulty is presented. The numerical study estimates the constants in the asymptotic expressions obtained in the theoretical analysis, and the variability of the runtime. The numerical results fit well with the theoretical results, even for small problem instance sizes. Together, these results provide a first theoretical characterisation of the potential and limitations of the (1+1) EA on the problem of computing UIOs.
Northern Hemisphere Stratospheric Polar Vortex Extremes in February under the Control of Downward Wave Flux in the Lower Stratosphere

Abstract Using ECWMF ERA-40 and Interim reanalysis data, the planetary wave fluxes associated with the February extreme stratospheric polar vortex were studied. Using the three-dimensional Eliassen-Palm (EP) flux as a measure of the wave activity propagation, the authors show that the unusual warm years in the Arctic feature an anomalous weak stratosphere-troposphere coupling and weak downward wave flux at the lower stratosphere, especially over the North America and North Atlantic (NANA) region. The extremely cold years are characterized by strong stratosphere-troposphere coupling and strong downward wave flux in this region. The refractive index is used to examine the conception of planetary wave reflection, which shows a large refractive index (low reflection) for the extremely warm years and a small refractive index (high reflection) for the extremely cold years. This study reveals the importance of the downward planetary wave propagation from the stratosphere to the troposphere for explaining the unusual state of the stratospheric polar vortex in February.