Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cryogenic Soil Activity along Bioclimatic Gradients in Northern Sweden: Insights from Eight Different Proxies

Cryogenic soil activity caused by differential soil movements during freeze‐thaw cycles is of fundamental importance for Arctic ecosystem functioning, but its response to climate warming is uncertain. Eight proxies of cryogenic soil activity (including measurements of soil surface motion, vegetation and grey values of aerial photographs) were examined at eight study sites where non‐sorted patterned ground spans an elevation gradient (400–1150 m asl) and a precipitation gradient (300–1000 mm yr‐1) near Abisko, northern Sweden. Six proxies were significantly correlated with each other (mean |r| = 0.5). Soil surface motion increased by three to five times along the precipitation gradient and was two to four times greater at intermediate elevations than at low and high elevations, a pattern reflected by vegetation assemblages. The results suggest that inferences about how cryogenic soil activity changes with climate are independent of the choice of the proxy, although some proxies should be applied carefully. Four preferred proxies indicate that cryogenic soil activity may respond differently to climate warming along the elevation gradient and could be greatly modified by precipitation. This underlines the strong but spatially complex response of cryogenic processes to climate change in the Arctic. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Observations of Anti-winds in a Deep Alpine Valley, Lake Tekapo, New Zealand

Abstract This paper presents observations of summertime anti-winds monitored under ideal conditions in the Lake Tekapo hydro-catchment situated in the central Southern Alps, New Zealand. Onset and cessation of anti-winds was observed to coincide with the change in phase of the surface limbs of thermally generated valley and mountain winds under settled anti-cyclonic conditions. Anti-winds were best developed in the early morning before surface heating and associated convective mixing of the valley atmosphere began to mask the boundaries between the surface based limb of the mountain-valley wind and the corresponding anti-wind. By mid-day, the anti-valley wind exceeded the height of the surrounding ridgeline and became embedded in the topographically channeled gradient wind. Observations presented here have both theoretical and applied implications with regard to the development of thermally generated wind systems in deep alpine valleys, and their role in the dispersion of air pollution.
Dayside ionospheric response to the intense interplanetary shocks–solar wind discontinuities: Observations from the digisonde global ionospheric radio observatory

[1] The digisonde Global Ionospheric Radio Observatory (GIRO) has recorded strong ionospheric responses to two powerful interplanetary shock passages on 7 November 7 2004 and 21 January 2005. Both events provide excellent opportunities to study geospace response processes to strong interplanetary forward shocks in great detail. The angle between the normal of the 7 November 2004, shock front and the Sun-Earth line was ∼3.0 degrees, indicating that the shock hit the equatorial magnetosphere at ∼1200 LT (local noon). The subsequent dayside shock-induced ionospheric phenomena were found to have marked longitudinal and latitudinal distributions. Comparative studies of the intense interplanetary shocks (including the sheath) associated with northward and southward interplanetary magnetic fields (IMF) revealed their different geospace effects on the dayside ionospheric region. The equatorial ionosphere responds to the interplanetary shock rather quickly, and if the shock is associated with southward IMF the plasma electrons in the equatorial ionosphere are rapidly uplifted. During the 7 November 2004 event the averaged uplift velocity was close to ∼67 m/s, and the ionospheric total electron content (TEC) increased from the original 16 TEC units (TECU) to ∼38 TECU (1 TECU = 1016 m−2) which may be due to the shock effect. When the interplanetary shock (including the magnetosheath) is associated with northward IMF, the plasma in the equatorial ionosphere moves downward, causing a sudden drop in the total electron content. During the 21 January 2005 event, the averaged downward velocity was ∼120 m/s, and the TEC dropped from 75 TECU to 22 TECU at the time of maximum solar wind dynamic pressure, and then recovered to ∼68 TECU in about 2 h after the shock passage. The middle and high latitude ionospheric TEC enhancements may be due to particle (ion and electron) precipitation ionization losses caused by the strong impacts of the interplanetary shocks.
Effects of sheep grazing episodes on sediment and nutrient loss in overland flow

The effect of sheep grazing on the loss of sediment and nutrients in overland flow was investigated on a hill-country farm in the Waikato, New Zealand. The losses were measured in runoff produced artificially with small (0.5 m2) and large (1050 m2) rainfall simulators. Immediately after intensive winter grazing, rainfall applied at high intensity increased concentrations by a factor of 13–16 for sediment and particulate nutrients, 33–76 for dissolved reactive phosphorus and ammonium-nitrogen, and 5–7 for dissolved organic nitrogen and phosphorus. During summer, when there was less removal of vegetative cover, there was a smaller effect of grazing. The concentrations of sediment and particulate nutrients in overland flow were strongly correlated with the percentage of bare ground. The concentrations returned to background levels within 6 weeks after grazing, and the infiltration rate and ground cover also recovered from grazing in this time. The small rainfall simulator experiments showed that the infiltration rate decreases with grazing, which results in greater runoff after grazing. The greater runoff combines with the increased concentrations to give higher loads after grazing. In late winter, the infiltration rates were approximately half the summer values and the soil erodibility was approximately double, so the risk of high sediment and nutrient loads is greatest in winter, especially considering the higher rainfall and lower grass growth. The management implications are that exposure of bare ground associated with intensive grazing should be avoided, especially in winter.
Bioavailability and chronic toxicity of cadmium in sediment to the estuarine amphipod Leptocheirus plumulosus

Numerous studies have demonstrated the efficacy of interstitial water metal concentrations and simultaneously extracted metals/acid-volatile sulfide (SEM/AVS) ratios in explaining the acute toxicity of sediment-associated metals to benthic organisms. However, no full life-cycle chronic marine or estuarine tests have been conducted for this purpose. In this study, cohorts of newborn amphipods, Leptocheirus plumulosus, were exposed to cadmium-spiked estuarine sediment for 28 d to determine effects on mortality, growth, and reproduction relative to interstitial water and SEM/AVS normalization. Seven treatments of cadmium were tested: 0 (control), 0.34, 0.74, 1.31, 1.55, 2.23, and 4.82 M SEM{sub Cd}/AVS ratios (measured concentrations). Interstitial water cadmium (IW{sub Cd}) and sediment concentrations of SEM{sub Cd} and AVS were monitored periodically and by depth during the exposure. When sediment SEM{sub Cd}/AVS ratios were {le} 1.55, mean IW{sub Cd} concentrations were less than the 96-h water-only cadmium LC50 for juvenile and subadult L. plumulosus, and mortality, growth, and reproduction were not affected. When SEM{sub Cd}/AVD ratios were {ge} 2.23, IW{sub Cd} concentrations were more than 100 times greater than the 96-h water-only cadmium LC50, and all amphipods died. These results are consistent with predictions of metal bioavailability from acute tests with metal-spiked sediments, i.e., that sediments with SEM{submore » Cd}/AVS ratios 1 may be toxic. « less
Combining Datasets of Satellite-Retrieved Products. Part I: Methodology and Water Budget Closure

AbstractThis study addresses in general terms the problem of the optimal combination of multiple observation datasets. Only satellite-retrieved geophysical parameter datasets are considered here (not the raw satellite observations). This study focuses on the terrestrial water cycle and presents methodologies to obtain a coherent dataset of four water cycle key components: precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff, and terrestrial water storage. Various innovative “integration” methodologies are introduced: simple weighting (SW), constrained linear (CL), optimal interpolation (OI), and neural networks (NN). The term “integration” will be used here, not “assimilation,” as no model will be included in the data fusion process. A simple postprocessing filtering (PF) step can be used to impose the water cycle budget closure after the integration method. It is shown that this constraint actually improves the estimation of the water cycle components. The integration techniques are tested using real observation da.
Unraveling xenon primary scintillation yield for cutting-edge rare event experiments

Xenon scintillation has been widely used in rare event detection experiments such as neutrinoless double beta decay, double electron captures and dark matter searches. Nonetheless, experimental values for primary scintillation yield in gaseous xenon (GXe) remain scarce and dispersed. The mean energy required to produce a scintillation photon, wsc, in GXe in the absence of recombination has been measured to be in the range of 34-111 eV. Lower values were reported for alpha-particles when compared to electrons produced by gamma- or x-rays. Since wsc is expected to be similar for x-, gamma-rays or electrons and alpha-particles, the above difference cannot be understood. In addition, one may pose the question of a dependence of wsc on photon energy. We carried out a systematic study on the absolute primary scintillation yield in GXe for electric fields in the 70-300 V/cm/bar range and for 1.2 bar supported by a robust geometrical efficiency simulation model. We were able to clear-out the above standing problems: we determined wsc for x/gamma-rays in the 5.9-60 keV range and alpha-particles in the 1.5-2.5 MeV range; no significant dependency neither on radiation type nor on energy was observed. Our values agree well with both state-of-art simulations and literature data obtained for alpha-particles. The discrepancy between our results and experimental values in the literature for x/gamma-rays is discussed in this work and attributed to unaddressed large systematic errors in previous studies. These findings can be extrapolated to other gases and have impact on experiments such as double beta decay, double electron capture and directional dark matter searches while also on potential future detection systems such as DUNE-Gas. Neglecting the 3rd continuum emission, as is the case of most of the literature values, a mean wsc-value of 38.7 [+- 0.6 (sta.)] [(- 7.2) (+ 7.7) (sys.)] eV was obtained.
Internal Kinematics of Salt Diapirs

The internal structure of intrusive and extrusive salt bodies elucidates their external shape and the mechanism and history of diapiric emplacement--information relevant to petroleum exploration. Trace amounts of brine can act like heat to weaken salt and promote geologic creep by solution-transfer mechanisms. We compare natural strain markers in salt with the artificial markers used by fluid dynamicists: stream lines are the smooth flow paths followed by fluid particles; stream surfaces separate flow laminae and contain the stream lines. Grain-shape fabrics in salt anneal readily and have strain memories so short that lineations map the stream lines and foliations map the stream surfaces of the last stages of deformation. By contrast, larger structures, like folded beddi g, have much longer strain memories. As a result, multiple generations of tonguelike, recumbent flow folds formed by unsteady flow in the mother source layer rotate to upright sheath folds or spines in the stems of diapirs. Here they are constricted and refolded into steep curtain folds to form crescentic and other interference patterns visible in the roofs of salt mines. Mature diapirs can form crestal bulbs, which may be balloon or mushroom shaped and which potentially form larger petroleum traps than previously supposed. Screens of country rock may be entrained between the stem and peripheral overhanging lobes caused by episodic sedimentation.
Spectral neutron flux oscillations of cosmic radiation on the Earth's surface: NEUTRON FLUX OSCILLATIONS

[1] Two Bonner Sphere Spectrometers (BSS) were used – one at the Schneefernerhaus, Germany (altitude: 2650 m; geomagnetic cut-off: 4.1 GV), the other at the Koldewey station on Spitsbergen (sea level; geomagnetic: cut-off 0 GV) – to measure continuously the spectral flux distribution of secondary neutrons from cosmic radiation. At the Schneefernerhaus, the flux of thermal neutrons was about 75% higher in summer than in winter, that of epithermal neutrons about 80%, that of neutrons between 0.125 and 17.8 MeV about 32%, and that of neutrons above 17.8 MeV about 4%, respectively. The period of the observed oscillations was very close to one year. Similar oscillations were observed at the Koldewey station, with somewhat smaller amplitudes (40%, 45%, 22%, and 2%, respectively). At both stations, the flux of the neutrons above 17.8 MeV increased with time similar to the count rates measured by nearby neutron monitors. While this increase reflects changes in the Sun's activity, the observed oscillations are due to changes in ground albedo neutrons and their absorption due to snow. Consequently, the monthly averaged neutron ambient dose equivalent rates, H*(10), oscillated by about ±7% at the UFS and about ±4% at the Koldewey Station. The results demonstrate that BSS measurements could be used to monitor secondary neutrons from cosmic radiation above about 20 MeV. Below detailed neutron transport calculations are necessary to correct for changes in ground albedo neutrons and snow cover. The data presented here can be used as an experimental basis to perform such simulations.
The effect of transient conditions on an equilibrium permafrost‐climate model

Equilibrium permafrost models assume a stationary temperature and snow‐cover climate. With a variable or changing climate, short‐term energy imbalances between the active layer and permafrost result in transient departures from the equilibrium condition. This study examines the effects of such variability on an equilibrium permafrost‐climate model, the temperature at the top of permafrost (TTOP) model. Comparisons between numerical results and temperatures predicted by the TTOP‐model suggest that stationary inter‐annual variability introduces an error in the top‐of‐permafrost temperature obtained with the equilibrium model that is higher where permafrost temperature is close to 0°C, although multi‐year averaging reduces the error to 0.1°C or less. In the presence of a warming trend, the equilibrium model prediction tracked the changing top‐of‐permafrost temperature until permafrost temperatures reached 0°C, after which the equilibrium model produced significant errors. Errors up to 1°C were due to the temperature gradient through the developing talik, and depended on the warming rate, and the thickness of the talik. For all warming rates, the error was largest when the permafrost table was about 4 m below the surface, with the error declining as the permafrost table fell. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Chop & Learn: Recognizing and Generating Object-State Compositions

Recognizing and generating object-state compositions has been a challenging task, especially when generalizing to unseen compositions. In this paper, we study the task of cutting objects in different styles and the resulting object state changes. We propose a new benchmark suite Chop & Learn, to accommodate the needs of learning objects and different cut styles using multiple viewpoints. We also propose a new task of Compositional Image Generation, which can transfer learned cut styles to different objects, by generating novel object-state images. Moreover, we also use the videos for Compositional Action Recognition, and show valuable uses of this dataset for multiple video tasks. Project website: https://chopnlearn.github. io.
Bias Testing and Mitigation in LLM-based Code Generation

Utilizing state-of-the-art Large Language Models (LLMs), automatic code generation models play a pivotal role in enhancing the productivity of software development procedures. As the adoption of LLMs becomes more widespread in software coding ecosystems, a pressing issue has emerged: does the generated code contain social bias and unfairness, such as those related to age, gender, and race? This issue concerns the integrity, fairness, and ethical foundation of software applications that depend on the code generated by these models, yet is under-explored in the literature. This paper presents a novel bias testing framework that is specifically designed for code generation tasks. Based on this framework, we conduct an extensive evaluation of the bias in code generated by five state-of-the-art LLMs. Our findings reveal that 20.29% to 44.93% code functions generated by the models under study are biased when handling bias sensitive tasks (i.e., tasks that involve sensitive attributes such as age and gender). This indicates that the existing LLMs can be unfair in code generation, posing risks of unintended and harmful software behaviors. To mitigate bias for code generation models, we evaluate five bias mitigation prompt strategies, i.e., utilizing bias testing results to refine the code (zero-shot), one-, few-shot, and two Chain-of-Thought (CoT) prompts. Our evaluation results illustrate that these strategies are all effective in mitigating bias. Overall, one-shot and few-shot learning are the two most effective. For GPT-4, 80% to 90% code bias can be removed with one-shot learning.
Learning the Uncertainty Sets for Control Dynamics via Set Membership: A Non-Asymptotic Analysis

Set-membership estimation is commonly used in adaptive/learning-based control algorithms that require robustness over the model uncertainty sets, e.g., online robustly stabilizing control and robust adaptive model predictive control. Despite having broad applications, non-asymptotic estimation error bounds in the stochastic setting are limited. This paper provides such a non-asymptotic bound on the diameter of the uncertainty sets generated by set membership estimation on linear dynamical systems under bounded, i.i. d. disturbances. Further, this result is applied to robust adaptive model predictive control with uncertainty sets updated by set membership. We numerically demonstrate the performance of the robust adaptive controller, which rapidly approaches the performance of the offline optimal model predictive controller, in comparison with the control design based on least square estimation's confidence regions.
Perfect Coulomb drag in a dipolar excitonic insulator

Excitonic insulators (EIs), arising in semiconductors when the electron-hole binding energy exceeds the band gap, are a solid-state prototype for bosonic phases of matter. Unlike the charged excitations that are frozen and unable to transport current, the neutral electron-hole pairs (excitons) are free to move in EIs. However, it is intrinsically difficult to demonstrate exciton transport in bulk EI candidates. The recently emerged dipolar EIs based on Coulomb-coupled atomic double layers open the possibility to realize exciton transport across the insulator because separate electrical contacts can be made to the electron and hole layers. Here we show that the strong interlayer excitonic correlation at equal electron and hole densities in the MoSe2/WSe2 double layers separated by a 2-nm barrier gives rise to perfect Coulomb drag. A charge current in one layer induces an equal but opposite drag current in the other. The drag current ratio remains above 0.9 up to about 20 K for low exciton densities. As exciton density increases above the Mott density, the excitons dissociate into the electron-hole plasma abruptly, and only weak Fermi liquid frictional drag is observed. Our experiment moves a step closer to realizing exciton circuitry and superfluidity.
Protostellar Cores in Sagittarius B2 N and M

We present 500 and 700 au resolution 1 and 3 mm Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations, respectively, of protostellar cores in protoclusters Sagittarius B2 (Sgr B2) North (N) and Main (M), parts of the most actively star-forming cloud in our Galaxy. Previous lower-resolution (5000 au) 3 mm observations of this region detected ∼150 sources inferred to be young stellar objects (YSOs) with M > 8 M ⊙. With a 10-fold increase in resolution, we detect 371 sources at 3 mm and 218 sources in the smaller field of view at 1 mm. The sources seen at low resolution are observed to fragment into an average of two objects. About one-third of the observed sources fragment. Most of the sources we report are marginally resolved and are at least partially optically thick. We determine that the observed sources are most consistent with Stage 0/I YSOs, i.e., rotationally supported disks with an active protostar and an envelope, that are warmer than those observed in the solar neighborhood. We report source-counting-based inferred stellar mass and the star formation rate of the cloud: 2800 M ⊙ and 0.0038 M ⊙ yr−1 for Sgr B2 N and 6900 M ⊙ and 0.0093 M ⊙ yr−1 for Sgr B2 M, respectively.
Revisiting Softmax Masking: Stop Gradient for Enhancing Stability in Replay-based Continual Learning

In replay-based methods for continual learning, replaying input samples in episodic memory has shown its effectiveness in alleviating catastrophic forgetting. However, the potential key factor of cross-entropy loss with softmax in causing catastrophic forgetting has been underexplored. In this paper, we analyze the effect of softmax and revisit softmax masking with negative infinity to shed light on its ability to mitigate catastrophic forgetting. Based on the analyses, it is found that negative infinity masked softmax is not always compatible with dark knowledge. To improve the compatibility, we propose a general masked softmax that controls the stability by adjusting the gradient scale to old and new classes. We demonstrate that utilizing our method on other replay-based methods results in better performance, primarily by enhancing model stability in continual learning benchmarks, even when the buffer size is set to an extremely small value.
Communication games, sequential equilibrium, and mediators

We consider $k$-resilient sequential equilibria, strategy profiles where no player in a coalition of at most $k$ players believes that it can increase its utility by deviating, regardless of its local state. We prove that all $k$-resilient sequential equilibria that can be implemented with a trusted mediator can also be implemented without the mediator in a synchronous system of $n$ players if $n>3k$. In asynchronous systems, where there is no global notion of time and messages may take arbitrarily long to get to their recipient, we prove that a $k$-resilient sequential equilibrium with a mediator can be implemented without the mediator if $n>4k$. These results match the lower bounds given by Abraham, Dolev, and Halpern (2008) and Geffner and Halpern (2023) for implementing a Nash equilibrium without a mediator (which are easily seen to apply to implementing a sequential equilibrium) and improve the results of Gerardi, who showed that, in the case that $k=1$, a sequential equilibrium can be implemented in synchronous systems if $n \ge 5$.