Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An improved method for determining the regional stress tensor using earthquake focal mechanism data: Application to the San Fernando Earthquake Sequence

The orientations of fault planes and slip directions indicated by a population of earthquake focal mechanisms can be used to determine best fit regional principal stress directions and R = (σ2–σ1)/(σ3–σ1), a measure of relative stress magnitudes, under the assumption of uniform stress in the source region. This analysis allows for the possibility that failure occurs on preexisting zones of weakness of any orientation. In the inversion we perform a grid search of stress models to find the one which requires the smallest total rotation of all the fault planes that is needed to match the observed and predicted slip directions; the method allows for errors in orientations of both the fault planes and slip directions. We have an objective means for identifying the more likely of the two possible fault planes from each focal mechanism relative to a given stress model; thus we do not face the problem of ambiguity of nodal planes which plagues other analyses of this kind. By using a grid search of stress models rather than a linearization scheme, we are able to perform a realistic error analysis and thus establish confidence limits for the preferred regional stresses. The method can be used to investigate possible stress inhomogeneities during earthquake sequences by analyzing subsets of the data population. The technique has been applied to 76 events from the San Fernando earthquake sequence for which we have found best fit stresses (plunge and azimuth): σ1, = 7,187; σ2 = 27,281; σ3 = 62,84; and R = 0.65. The average misfit between this stress model and all the data is about 8°, and all but eight of the aftershocks have misfits of less than 20°. These values are considerably less than the uncertainty of the focal mechanism determinations; therefore significant stress inhomogeneities are not required by the data. Our analysis does not support the suggestion of a change in stresses during the aftershock sequence, as proposed by others on the basis of an apparent change in focal mechanisms.
Estimates of Land Ice Changes from Sea Level and Gravity Observations

Understanding how global ice volume on the Earth has changed is of significant importance to improving our understanding of the climate system. Fortunately, the geographically unique perturbations in sea level that result from rapid changes in the mass of, otherwise di cult to measure, land-ice reservoirs can be used to infer the sources and magnitude of melt water. We explore the history of land-ice mass changes through the e↵ect that these mass fluxes have had on both global and regional gravity and sea-level fields. We use the time-dependent response of the Earth’s geopotential field to changes in mass distribution at the surface and within the Earth to identify an enigma in the generally assumed history of the planet’s degree-2 zonal harmonic over the past 25 Myr. The solution to this problem will have implications for the timing of global ice volume changes as they are determined from isotopic analysis of sedimentary cores. We describe the advantages of considering the degree-4 zonal harmonic of the geopotential, relative to the degree-2 harmonic, when deriving inferences of net polar ice mass change in the latter part of the 20th century. We then use the observed constraint on the degree-4 harmonic to provide an independent estimate of net polar ice-mass change over the past 20 years. Estimates of mountain glacier and polar ice sheet mass changes have become more
Mössbauer spectroscopy analysis of iron‐containing minerals in the Chinese loess

Chinese loess has been analyzed in bulk, using Mossbauer spectroscopy, in order to investigate the effects of climate on the overall iron-containing mineralogy. Strongly weathered loess is found to differ from weakly weathered loess in two significant respects. It contains a much larger content of fine-grained (superparamagnetic) hematite and the ratio of paramagnetic Fe 3+ /Fe 2+ is substantially increased. The suggestion is that weathering results in the liberation of Fe from silicate minerals and the formation of fine-grained hematite. Measurements of total iron content by atomic absorption spectrometry highlight that the strongly weathered loess has a higher content of iron than the weakly weathered loess, and that this is too large an effect to be explained by the leaching of carbonate. The indication is that the mineralogy of the dust input to the loess plateau varies as a function of climate. One possibility is that the grain size (and hence mineralogy) of the dust fluctuates in response to vegetational cover in proximal source areas. During interglacial times the vegetational cover would expand to stabilize these proximal sources, resulting in a bias to finer dust from more distant sources. Thus the mechanisms linking climate and mineralogy in the Chinese loess may be more complex than previously thought.
Evaluating Duero's basin (Spain) response to the NAO phases: spatial and seasonal variability

In this study, we analysed the influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) on the hydrological response of the Duero River (central Spain) and its tributaries. We identified the positive and negative phases of the winter NAO for the period 1961–2006 and related precipitation and river discharge anomalies. Significant differences in precipitation and river discharge were found between the positive and negative NAO phases with negative anomalies (dry conditions) during positive NAO periods, and positive anomalies (wet conditions) during negative NAO periods. Marked differences were also found in the precipitation and river discharge response times to the NAO episodes, with an immediate response for precipitation but a lag and more sustained response for river discharges. Differing patterns were also identified in the response of river discharge to the NAO throughout the Duero basin. The physical characteristics of watersheds (including area, altitude and permeability explained most of the differences in the timing and magnitude of anomalies in the river discharge in response to the NAO. The findings highlight the great variability in the hydrological response of rivers to the NAO episodes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Basaltic volcanism and extension near the intersection of the Sierra Madre volcanic province and the Mexican Volcanic Belt

Three groups (Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene) off oceanic-type basalts associated with normal faulting have been identified in an area surrounding the city of Guadalajara, Mexico. Although most basalts within these groups have compositional characteristics of an asthenospheric source, each group is also associated with lavas that have subduction-related traits. The first group, the San Cristobal plateau basalts, has a minimum volume of 1,800 km 3 of predominantly alkali olivine basalt and lesser basaltic andesite and fills a pre-existing extensional basin of unknown configuration ∼10 m.y. ago. The relatively rapid eruption of these basalts along with their volume, structural association, and chemistry suggest an upwelling mantle plume beneath the Guadalajara region. This region may be the earliest indication of the separation of the Jalisco block from North America. The second basalt group, the Guadalajara basalts, consists of small volumes of porphyritic basalts and basaltic andesites, 3.3-5.0 Ma in age, that outcrop near the northern outskirts of Guadalajara and near the town of Hostotip-aquillo to the northwest. The youngest basalts in the Guadalajara area are the 0.4-1.4 Ma Santa Rosa suite of basalts-hawaiites-mugearites close to the contemporary (>0.2 Ma) andesitic central volcano, V. Tequila; these either flowed from nearby cinder cones toward the Rio Santiago canyon or erupted in the canyon to dam the river. The flat-lying Tertiary (23-27 Ma) ash flows of the Sierra Madre volcanic province that lie to the north of Guadalajara are faulted (north-northeast) into horsts and grabens that in one case can be dated as being older than 21.8 Ma. This fault trend has been reactivated closer to Guadalajara, as normal faults (200- to 300-m displacement) cut the Miocene plateau basalts but are hidden by a cover of younger volcanic rocks close to the city. Also hidden by the young volcanic succession there is the north-west-southeast fault zone that extends to the Gulf of California as the Tepic-Zacoalco graben system. Faulting of this zone is well displayed in the region of the Santa Rosa dam in the Santiago canyon, northwest of Guadalajara. Two styles of faulting are found there: an older (>1 Ma, 3 , has been approximately north-northeast for at least 4 m.y. , characteristic of the Mexican Basin and Range province.
Carbon dioxide fluxes of an urban tidal marsh in the Hudson‐Raritan estuary

Net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of tidal brackish wetlands in urban areas is largely unknown, albeit it is an important ecosystem service. High carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake of estuaries can potentially be achieved by creating conditions that foster CO2 uptake and sequestration. Thus, this study sought to assess NEE in a mesohaline tidal urban wetland that has been restored and determine the biophysical drivers of NEE in order to investigate uptake strength and drivers thereof. Beginning in 2009, NEE was measured using the eddy covariance technique in a restored urban estuarine wetland. Maximum NEE rates observed were −30 µmol m−2 s−1 under high light conditions in the summer. Monthly mean NEE showed this ecosystem to be a CO2 source in the winter, but a CO2 sink in summer. Conditional Granger causality showed the influence of net radiation on half daily to biweekly timescales on NEE and the influence of water level at half daily time scales. The overall productivity of this wetland is within the expected range of tidal brackish marshes and it was a sink for atmospheric CO2 in two out of the 3 years of this study and had a continued increase over the study period.
The character and bioactivity of dissolved organic matter at thaw and in the spring runoff waters of the arctic tundra North Slope, Alaska

The brief spring thaw period in the arctic is an important time when carbon is transferred from terrestrial to aquatic systems as melting snow and soil waters run off into the streams, lakes, and ocean. Measurements were made of the quantity and quality of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in thawing soil and runoff waters in the foothills region of the Kuparuk River basin of arctic Alaska, during the thaw of May 1996. Incubations were performed using DOC and soil cores at the time of thaw from the surface layers of two major tundra types of the region, nonacidic and acidic tundra. Results indicated that there are major changes in both the quantity and quality of DOC as soil waters thaw and move to the streams and lakes. DOC concentrations were found to be reduced up to 90% as soil waters thawed and became free-flowing soil waters with leachates from thawed soil cores averaging 116 mg DOC/L at thaw and soil waters averaging 20 mg DOC/L. Stream and inlet to Toolik Lake DOC concentrations averaged 12 and 10 mg DOC/L respectively indicating further dilution of DOC. Quality differences elucidated by XAD-8/4 resin fractionation of DOC were observed for waters at various points in the ecosystem. The hydrophilic neutral fraction (HIN) accounted for 71% of the DOC in waters of thawing soil cores, but was only 23% in flowing waters of soils, and 9-20% in stream waters. A 14 day 4°C incubation of DOC from thawing soil core waters reduced DOC an average of 39%, with 80% of that reduction occurring in the HIN fraction. Soil waters and stream waters were similar in DOC fraction composition, and fulvic acid fractions were dominant. Initial 14 day DOC respiration rates with high HIN waters were 10 mg CO 2 -C/g DOC/d, and reduced to 1.2-1.7 mg CO 2 -C/g DOC/d after 34 days incubation. Respiration rates of thawed cores ranged from 0.12 to 0.06 and 0.03 mg CO 2 -C/g C/d for nonacidic and acidic cores, respectively.
Analogue models of an Early Cenozoic transpressive regime in southern Mexico: implications on the evolution of the Xolapa complex and the North American-Caribbean Plate boundary

Abstract We present analogue models that illustrate the tectonic evolution of the continental margin of southwestern Mexico and the Early Cenozoic deformation of the Xolapa complex. Together with geological data they suggest that oblique convergence caused distributed deformation and mountain building near the present-day margin of southern Mexico in a general left-lateral transpressional regime. A similar deformation is also observed north of the Xolapa complex in Maastrichtian to Paleocene sedimentary and volcanic rock units. Since post-Oligocene exhumation of middle crust does not significantly affect Late Eocene to Oligocene volcanic rocks, we infer that the evolution of the transform margin led to the formation of discrete boundaries that eventually decoupled exhumed mid-lower crust from the onshore upper-crust sequences since the Late Eocene.
Field Tracer Tests on the Mobility of Natural Organic Matter in a Sandy Aquifer

The field-scale transport of natural organic matter (NOM) was examined in a two-well forced gradient injection experiment in a sandy, coastal plain aquifer in Georgetown, South Carolina. Spatial moments described the migration of the center of mass of NOM and conservative tracer. Temporal moments were used to estimate mass loss and retardation of the NOM along a transect of six sampling locations at two depths and at the withdrawal well. Large differences were observed in transport behavior of different subcomponents of NOM. Larger and more strongly binding NOM components in the injection solution are postulated to adsorb and displace weakly binding, low-molecular weight NOM in groundwater. Conversely, NOM components that were similar to the groundwater NOM were transported almost conservatively, presumably due to 'passivation' of the aquifer by previously adsorbed components of the groundwater NOM. NOM may thus exhibit two types of effects on contaminant dynamics in the subsurface. When the equilibria between solution and solid phase NOM is disrupted by introduction of a novel source of NOM, descriptions of the multicomponent transport process are complex and predictive modeling is problematic. Because of the differences in transport behavior of NOM subcomponents, the chemical properties and, more importantly, the functional behavior of NOM with respect to contaminant migration will vary with time and distance along a flow path. However, when groundwater NOM exists at a steady state with respect to adsorption on aquifer surfaces, the migration of NOM, and the contaminant-NOM complex, may be approximated as the transport of a conservative solute
An Examination of Academic Department Chairs in Canadian Universities

This thesis is a baseline, population study, designed to create historical and contemporary contexts for and to inform current understanding of the department chair function in Canadian universities. Chairs are explored from five discrete yet dependent perspectives to discern distinctions and associations among institutions, disciplines/fields of study and individuals: What is the job? Who holds the job? Does formal position prescription match practice? Has the job changed over time? What makes department chairs job ready and effective? Canvassing 43 predominantly English-language public universities in 10 provinces, the inquiry encompasses four data sources: (1) 58 university policy documents and faculty association collective agreements; (2) a national electronic survey in two versions – for incumbent chairs, which generated replies from 511 email recipients, representing 38 per cent of the 1,333 individuals in the population approached; and for incumbent deans, sought for their views of the chair function, which drew the participation of 79 email recipients of 269 prospective contributors, signifying a 29 per cent response rate; (3) telephone interviews with 30 chairs and 15 deans (active, former and retired); and (4) curricula vitae of 134 chairs and deans (active, former and retired). The findings confirm the longstanding tradition of the job’s temporary nature, irrespective of institution and discipline. Candidates are usually drawn from tenured faculty ranks, primarily from the immediate unit. The notion of non-academic
A Malware Detection Approach Based on Feature Engineering and Behavior Analysis

Cybercriminals are constantly developing new techniques to circumvent the security measures implemented by experts and researchers, so malware is able to evolve very rapidly. In addition, detecting malware across multiple systems is a challenging problem because each computing environment has its own unique characteristics. Traditional techniques, such as signature-based malware detection, have become less effective and have largely been replaced by more modern approaches, including machine learning and robust cross-platform behavior-based threat detection. Researchers employ these techniques across a variety of data sources, including network traffic, binaries, and behavioral data, to extract relevant features and feed them to models for accurate prediction. The aim of this research is to provide a novel dataset comprised of a substantial number of high-quality samples based on software behavior. Due to the lack of a standard representational format for malware behavior in current research, we also present an innovative method for representing malware behavior by converting API calls into 2D images, which builds on previous work. Additionally, we propose and describe the implementation of a new machine learning model based on binary classification (malware or benign software) using the previously mentioned novel dataset as its data source, thereby establishing an evaluation baseline. We have conducted extensive experimentation, validating the proposed model with both our novel dataset and real-world data. In terms of metrics, our proposed model outperforms a well-known model that is also based on behavior analysis and has a similar architecture.
The Hellenic Subduction Zone: A tomographic image and its geodynamic implications

New tomographic images of the Hellenic subduction zone demonstrate slab penetration in the Aegean Upper Mantle to depths of at least 600 km. Beneath Greece the lower part of the slab appears to be detached at a depth of about 200 km whereas it still seems to be unruptured beneath the southern Aegean. Schematically we derive minimum time estimates for the duration of the Hellenic subduction zone that range from 26 to 40 Ma. This is considerably longer than earlier estimates which vary between 5 and about 13 Ma.
Upper Old Red Sandstone (Farlovian) Paleogeography in South Wales and the Welsh Borderland

ABSTRACT The Upper Old Red Sandstone, reaching a maximum thickness of about 1200 feet, rests with a marked depositional break on gently folded Lower Old Red Sandstone and Silurian rocks. Two major sedimentary cycles are represented in the sequence of the Upper Old Red Sandstone through to the Tournasian (Carboniferous) Lower Limestone Shales. In each cycle alluvial deposits graduate up into marginal-marine strata. The alluvial deposits, arranged locally in fining-upwards cycles, are chiefly cross-stratified or flat-bedded sandstones and conglomerates, and subordinate siltstones with proofs of exposure. Compared with modern sediments these lithologies appear to represent stream channel and floodplain sedimentary environments. The marine strata following in each major cycle are fossiliferous san stones, siltstones, and shales comparing with the deposits of modern coastal barrier complexes. Post-dating the Middle Devonian phase of the Caledonian Orogeny, the Upper Old Red Sandstone accumulated on a coastal plain bearing comparison with that of the Gulf of Mexico, which lay between uplands (St. George's Land) in the north and a newly created deep-water marine trough in the south. Cross-stratification and regional sandstone petrology suggest that several rivers, each with a distinctive drainage basin geology, constructed the plain and that these rivers flowed from north to south, off the uplands. The plain experienced two marine transgressions from the south during Upper Devonian and early Carboniferous times, each relative rise of the sea leading first to alluviation.
Acropora (Scleractinia) from the Oligocene and Miocene of Europe: species longevity, origination and turnover following the Eocene–Oligocene transition

Four new species and new records for six species of the highly successful reef-building coral genus Acropora are described from Oligocene and Early Miocene (Rupelian to Burdigalian) localities in Europe. Acropora slovenica sp. nov. is described from Slovenia (Gornji Grad beds); A. piedmontensis sp. nov. and A. macrocalyx sp. nov. from the Torino Hills (Piedmont), and A. salentina sp. nov. from the Salento Peninsula (Apulia) of Italy. The remaining six species have an Eocene lineage. From south-west France, A. anglica and A. bartonensis, previously known from England (Priabonian and Bartonian), are recorded: A. anglica in Oligocene (Chattian) and both in Miocene (Aquitanian) deposits, indicating their persistence in the western Tethys for up to 17 and 20 million years respectively. Also recorded from Aquitaine is A. wilsonae (type locality Eocene Paris Basin), indicating persistence in western France for up to 28 million years. Italian material includes A. proteacea, also known from the Lower Bartonian of France and A. lavandulina, already known from Italy and the Eocene of France. From Slovenia (Oligocene, Rupelian), A. haidingeri is recorded, including from the type locality. The species are interpreted as representing seven extant species groups previously documented from the Eocene of Europe and the first records for two further extant groups. These results complement a previous finding of Eocene diversification of Acropora into the beginnings of up to 10 of the 20 recognized modern species groups in England and France. They indicate that the longevity of some Eocene taxa was extended into the Oligocene to Early Miocene of Europe and allowed some turnover, probably associated with changes in configuration of the western Tethys Sea. This information is important for interpreting molecular phylogenies and the evolution of modern Acropora diversity, by providing extended stratigraphical ranges for species groups with Eocene origins and dates of origination for two groups previously unrecorded in the early fossil record. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:CF79D0FC-86C8-4898-B4C0-82C570045F52