Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Internet Mindfulness Meditation Intervention (IMMI) Program with iMINDr Application Support for Older Adults with Depression Symptoms: A Feasibility Study

The growing population of older adults with depression is a significant public health concern, and effective treatments are necessary. Mindfulness meditation intervention offers effective treatment for depression, but little research has been conducted on the older population. This study aimed to evaluate if the combination of the Internet Mindfulness Meditation Intervention (IMMI) plus iMINDr application improves well-being in older adults with depressive symptoms. Potential participants were recruited online. IMMI included a one-hour online session once a week, a daily 30-minute home practice of guided meditation using the iMINDr app, and a workbook. Measures were collected online before and after the six-week intervention period. Online session adherence was tracked. Thirty-eight participants completed all study requirements and are included in the analysis. Participants showed clinically and statistically significant improvements in depression symptoms, well-being, positive and negative affect, sleep quality, and pain intensity. Participants took 9.9 ± 3.5 weeks to complete the course. High attrition rates mainly were related to participants' motivation to complete the course and stress levels. There were no significant demographic differences between participants and depression symptoms. Potential applications and limitations are discussed. Internet Mindfulness Meditation Intervention (IMMI) was effective in treating depression symptoms in older adults.
IDENTIFYING AND CLASSIFYING VEIN QUARTZ ARTEFACTS: AN EXPERIMENT CONDUCTED AT THE WORLD ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONGRESS, 2008

Worldwide, vein quartz was used as a raw material for stone tools, and in many regions quartz was the dominant raw material, if not the only raw material. While using quartz was not necessarily problematic for the communities in question, and was often preferred over other materials, the ‘problem’ with quartz is for archaeologists attempting to analyse the material, especially with coarse-grained quartz. This paper presents the results of a quartz recognition experiment conducted on volunteer participants at the 2008 World Archaeological Congress (WAC) conference held in Dublin, Ireland. The results have shown that the identification and classification of vein quartz artefacts is particularly challenging, even for analysts with substantial experience in quartz artefact analysis.
Late Pleistocene time series of atmospheric and oceanic variables recorded in sediments from the Subarctic Pacific

Time series analyses of atmospheric and oceanic variables in a late Pleistocene record from the northwest Pacific show the complex relationship of the response of various segments of the climate system to changes in the earth's orbit. Most variance spectra of time series from this subarctic record contain frequency peaks with periods corresponding to at least one of the major orbital components of eccentricity, obliquity, or precession. Although the radiolarian faunal (water mass) assemblages have prominent spectral peaks with 41,000-year periods which are coherent with obliquity at this frequency, only the Transitional faunal assemblage contains variance focused at a frequency corresponding to the 100,000-year period of eccentricity. Three of these faunal time series also show variance concentrated at a frequency with a 20,000-year period. These three time series are not coherent at a 20,000-year frequency with either of the dominant spectral peaks of precession. They are coherent, however, with variations in the second harmonic of the obliquity cycle. Changes in obliquity apparently affect siliceous faunal abundances in the northwest Pacific region of this high-latitude site more than variations in eccentricity or precession. Maxima in the time series of quartz abundance occur during low values of eccentricity and high glacial ice volume. Because atmospheric winds serve as the major source of supply of quartz to the sediments at this site, these high quartz values reflect increased aridity at the source region. Except for short periods during interglacials, the characteristics of the surface waters in this region of the subarctic Pacific during much of the last 460,000 years were similar to those which exist today in the Sea of Okhotsk. The spectrum of winter sea surface temperature estimates, derived from siliceous microfaunal abundances, contains dominant frequency peaks at periods of 100,000, 41,000, and 23,000 years which are coherent with eccentricity, obliquity, and precession, respectively. Based upon the relationship of the Subarctic Front with the dominance of specific faunal asemblages, the front was positioned south of its present-day location throughout much of the late Pleistocene.
Yield Response of Corn to Timing of a Limited Seasonal Irrigation Depth (150 mm) with Subsurface Drip Irrigation

Deficient water supplies in many areas of the High Plains of the USA are forcing many farmers to produce corn ( Zea mays L. ) under deficit irrigation conditions. When water is limited, it is especially important to know.how to time irrigations to optimize yield and water use efficiency. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of application timing of a fixed and deficient seasonal irrigation depth (150 mm) on grain yield, yield components, and water use characteristics of corn irrigated with subsurface drip irrigation in a semiarid climate. The study was conducted during 2005 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln West Central Research and Extension Center at North Platte, NE. Eight irrigation treatments (T1–T8) were evaluated, which consisted of dividing the application of 150 mm of water in different proportions during the months of July, August, and September. Irrigation timing resulted in significant differences in yield and actual seasonal evapotranspiration (ET d ). Yields were positively and linearly correlated to seasonal ET d and to the ratio of ET d and crop evapotranspiration with no water stress (ET w ). Although all treatments received the same seasonal irrigation depth, seasonal differences in ET d among treatments were as much as 70 mm (2.8 in), which resulted in yield differences of approximately 2 Mg ha –1 (32 bu Ac –1 ). Irrigation timing also affected grain test weight and grain moisture. The treatments that received all of the irrigation water in July and August resulted in the highest seasonal ET d , ET d /ET w , and grain yield. The opposite occurred with the treatment that received most of the irrigation water in September. These results point out the importance of proper irrigation scheduling to assure that irrigation is applied at the time needed to prevent crop stress, especially at the times of high ET d rates when stress can reduce seasonal ET d the most and consequently has a greater effect on yield.
Fire, climate and the origins of agriculture: micro‐charcoal records of biomass burning during the last glacial–interglacial transition in Southwest Asia

This study investigates changes in climate, vegetation, wildfire and human activity in Southwest Asia during the transition to Neolithic agriculture between ca. 16 and ca. 9 ka. In order to trace the fire history of this region, we use microscopic charcoal from lake sediment sequences, and present two new records: one from south central Turkey (Akgöl) and the other from the southern Levant (Hula). These are interpreted primarily as the result of regional‐scale fire events, with the exception of a single large event ca. 13 ka at Akgöl, which phytolith analysis shows was the result of burning of the local marsh vegetation. Comparison between these and other regional micro‐charcoal, stable isotope and pollen records shows that wildfires were least frequent when the climate was cold and dry (glacial, Lateglacial Stadial) and the vegetation dominated by chenopod–Artemisia steppe, and that they became more frequent and/or bigger at times of warmer, wetter but seasonally dry climate (Lateglacial Interstadial, early Holocene). Warmer and wetter climates caused an increase in biomass availability, with woody matter appearing to provide the main fuel source in sites from the Levant, while grass fires predominated in the interior uplands of Anatolia. Southwest Asia's grasslands reached their greatest extent during the early Holocene, and they were maintained by dry‐season burning that helped to delay the spread of woodland by up to 3 ka, at the same time as Neolithic settlement became established across this grass parkland landscape. Although climatic changes appear to have acted as the principal ‘pacemaker’ for fire activity through the last glacial–interglacial climatic transition (LGIT), human actions may have amplified shifts in biomass burning. Fire regimes therefore changed markedly during this time period, and both influenced, and were influenced by, the cultural‐economic transition from hunter‐foraging to agriculture and village life. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Runoff and sediment loss responses to rainfall and land use in two agricultural catchments on the Loess Plateau of China

Soil erosion is a severe problem hindering sustainable agriculture on the Loess Plateau of China. Plot experiments were conducted under the natural rainfall condition during 1995–1997 at Wangdongguo and Aobao catchments in this region to evaluate the effects of various land use, cropping systems, land slopes and rainfall on runoff and sediment losses, as well as the differences in catchment responses. The experiments included various surface conditions ranging from bare soil to vegetated surfaces (maize, wheat residue, Robinia pseudoacacia L., Amorpha fruticosa L., Stipa capillata L., buckwheat and Astragarus adsurgens L.). The measurements were carried out on hill slopes with different gradients (i.e. 0 ° to 36 °). These plots varied from 20 to 60 m in length. Results indicated that runoff and erosion in this region occurred mainly during summer storms. Summer runoff and sediment losses under cropping and other vegetation were significantly less than those from ploughed bare soil (i.e. without crop/plant or crop residue). There were fewer runoff and sediment losses with increasing canopy cover. Land slope had a major effect on runoff and sediment losses and this effect was markedly larger in the tillage plots than that in the natural grass and forest plots, although this effect was very small when the maximum rainfall intensity was larger than 58·8 mm/h or smaller than 2·4 mm/h. Sediment losses per unit area rose with increasing slope length for the same land slope and same land use. The effect of slope length on sediment losses was stronger on a bare soil plot than on a crop/plant plot. The runoff volume and sediment losses were both closely related to rainfall volume and maximum intensity, while runoff coefficient was mainly controlled by maximum rainfall intensity. Hortonian overland flow is the dominant runoff process in the region. The differences in runoff volume, runoff coefficient and sediment losses between the catchments are mainly controlled by the maximum rainfall intensity and infiltration characteristics. The Aobao catchment yielded much larger runoff volume, runoff coefficient and sediment than the Wangdongguo catchment. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Amplification of the 2‐day wave from mutual interaction of global Rossby‐gravity and local modes in the summer mesosphere

[1] The 2-day wave is a planetary-scale wave recurrently observed in the summer mesosphere. It is predominantly zonal wave number 3 (though wave numbers 2 and 4 are also observed) and has a period of approximately 2 days. It is generally accepted that the 2-day wave has characteristics of both global-scale Rossby-gravity normal mode and baroclinic/barotropic instability. Here we examine how local instability amplifies the global Rossby-gravity mode. We perform a two-dimensional instability calculation to calculate unstable modes. The fastest growing modes have wave number 3, a 35-hour Rossby mode localized in the summer hemisphere at high latitudes, and a Rossby-gravity mode with period 42 hours with similar characteristics to the observed 2-day wave. The Rossby-gravity mode was examined as the background state was changed from an isothermal atmosphere to realistic conditions. The wave was slowly Doppler shifted toward shorter periods and its spatial structure became distorted. Approaching realistic conditions the mode becomes weakly unstable. Near this point a localized Rossby mode also emerges which exists on the reversed potential vorticity gradients of the summer jet. This has the necessary characteristics to phase lock with the Rossby-gravity mode. Hence we propose that the 2-day wave amplifies from the interaction of global-scale Rossby-gravity and local modes. A nonlinear model was used to examine the unstable modes as they grow to finite amplitude. It was found that even though the 35-hour Rossby wave had the largest growth rates, it did not reach large amplitude. It was the slower growing 42-hour Rossby-gravity mode which dominated the long time evolution.
Alternating contractional and extensional events in the Alpujarride nappes of the Alboran Domain (Betics, Gibraltar Arc)

In the western Alpine system, Neogene extensional tectonics triggered the development of marine basins on the concave side of tight orogenic arcs, as happened within the Alboran Crustal Domain, the hinterland of the Gibraltar Arc. A detailed analysis of the structural and metamorphic records of one of the main Alboran Domain complexes, however, plainly reveals a complex tectonic evolution prior to the development of the Miocene arc/back arc system, which includes a major intraorogenic extensional event. This large‐scale subvertical shortening, that can be assessed from the PT paths of representative tectonic units, was subsequent to the continental crust subduction inferred from high pressure‐low temperature mineral asssemblages. The crustal section was thinned in nearly isothermal conditions, its thickness being reducted to at least 1/3 of the initial value. Yet still before the Miocene, a second contractional event led to the overthrusting of high‐grade metamorphic rocks over other low‐grade rocks, accompanied by subordinate overturning of the metamorphic zones. Since migration of the Gibraltar Arc is roughly balanced by crustal spreading in the back arc, available data concerning Miocene extension suggest that the Alboran Domain can be restored to its appropriate position several hundred kilometers to the east. Thus a collision belt that underwent significant intraorogenic extension must have existed in what is now the western South‐Balearic basin.
A generalized thermal conductivity model for soils and construction materials

This paper intends to develop a generalized thermal conductivity model for moist soils that is based on the concept of normalized thermal conductivity with respect to dry and saturated states. This model integrates well the effects of porosity, degree of saturation, mineral content, grain-size distribution, and particle shape on the thermal conductivity of unfrozen and frozen soils. The thermal conductivity for saturated soils is computed with the use of a well-known geometric model that includes the unfrozen water content in frozen fine-grained soils. Nearly 220 experimental results available from the literature were analysed to develop a generalized empirical relationship to assess the thermal conductivity of dry soils. A general relationship between the normalized thermal conductivity of soils and the degree of saturation using a soil-type dependent factor was used to correlate the normalized thermal conductivity for more than 650 test results for unfrozen and frozen moist soils, such as gravels, sands.
The Brewer‐Dobson circulation

One of the more robust results of greenhouse gas‐induced climate change to emerge from chemistry‐climate and climate model projections in the last decade is, depending on the greenhouse gas scenario, an ∼2.0–3.2% per decade acceleration of the global mass circulation of tropospheric air through the stratosphere. This circulation is generally known as the Brewer‐Dobson circulation and is characterized by tropospheric air rising into the stratosphere in the Tropics, moving poleward before descending in the middle and high latitudes. The circulation is, however, poorly constrained by observations, and many fundamental questions about it remain. In this review, historical developments in observations, theory, and models describing the Brewer‐Dobson circulation are presented along with a reexamination of the basis of the current understanding of the Brewer‐Dobson circulation and the mechanisms driving it and its response to climate change. Impacts of anthropogenically driven changes in the Brewer‐Dobson circulation are also reviewed.
Three‐dimensional modeling of equatorial spread F airglow enhancements

A sequence of 630.0 nm images obtained with the Boston University all‐sky imaging system at Arecibo (18.3 N, 66.7 W, 28 N mag) shows equatorial spread F (ESF) airglow depletions evolving into ESF airglow enhancements. Using a combination of a meridional wind and a converging zonal wind, the NRL ionosphere model SAMI3/ESF can reproduce ESF airglow enhancements.
A second specimen of Blikanasaurus (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) and the biostratigraphy of the lower Elliot Formation

A second specimen of the rare basal sauropod Blikanasaurus cromptoni, is recorded from a site in the Ladybrand district of the Eastern Free State, South Africa. The specimen consists of a right metatarsal 1 that originated from the upper 20 m of the lower Elliot Formation. It can be referred to B. cromptoni on the basis of its small size and highly robust proportions, which distinguish this taxon from all other sauropodomorphs. This record extends the geographic distribution of B. cromptoni north into the region of the main Karoo Basin where the Elliot Formation is dramatically thinner. It also extends the known stratigraphic range of B. cromptoni up from the base of the Elliot Formation into a position near the top of the lower member. This new record, combined with other new discoveries, supports the hypothesis that the thin northern part of the lower Elliot Formation is a condensed section that is largely, if not entirely, coeval with the thicker southern sections.
Comparative ecological analysis of Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) benthic faunas from southern France and east-central Spain

Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) argillaceous-marly sediments of southern France (Causses) and east-central Spain (Barranco de la Puta section) were deposited in mid to lower shelf settings. They contain a low to moderately diverse, autochthonous fauna of benthic macroinvertebrates dominated by bivalves and gastropods, in the case of the Causses, and by bivalves and brachiopods in the Barranco de la Puta section. Five benthic associations are recognized at the latter locality and four at the former. In the Causses, low species diversity, evidence of seasonal mass mortality, presence of the opportunistic bivalve Parvamussium pumilum, local dominance of the soft bottom coral Thecocyathus mactrus and the dark-grey, fine-grained sediment point to high rates of sedimentation, high turbidity, intermittently lowered oxygen values and soft to soupy substrate conditions. These factors, together with eutrophic water masses, were the main environmental parameters governing faunal distribution. Soupy substrate conditions are thought to be largely biologically produced by the activity of infaunal depositfeeders, chiefly nuculoid bivalves. In the Barranco de la Puta section, abundant brachiopods, higher carbonate content of the sediment, and evidence of intermittent in-situ reworking and winnowing point to an influence of storm-induced currents, a shallower depositional depth, lower turbidity, a lower rate of sedimentation, and a somewhat firmer substrate. As a consequence, the fauna is largely dominated by epifaunal suspension-feeders. Compared with maximum and average sizes from elsewhere in the Jurassic, most bivalve species are distinctly smaller, a feature interpreted as stunting. Brachiopods, in contrast, reach normal size. The lack of nuculids, scarcity of deposit-feeders in general, and stunting are interpreted as evidence of an oligotrophic environment. Lowered oxygen conditions appear to have played only a very limited role in shaping the distribution pattern. Many of the differences between both areas can be explained by the different trophic regimes that reflect considerably higher run-off and consequently higher input of terrigenous sediment and dissolved nutrients to the basin in the case of the Causses. This in turn is thought to possibly reflect differences in regional climate; humid in southern France and more arid in eastcentral Spain.
Near-surface geophysical investigations inside the cloister of the historical palace 'Palazzo dei Celestini' in Lecce, Italy

Non-invasive geophysical investigations are usually the only way to gain information on subsurface properties that can affect the stability of historical structures and accelerate degradation processes. A combined multi-frequency ground-penetrating radar (GPR) geoelectrical and induced polarization (IP) survey was performed in the cloister of 'Palazzo dei Celestini', Lecce, southern Italy, in order to investigate possible subsurface causes of deterioration. The historical palace was originally a convent connected to the Basilica of 'Santa Croce' and is now the head office of the Province of Lecce Administration and the Prefecture. Built in Pietra Leccese, a fine-grained calcarenite, Santa Croce and Palazzo dei Celestini is the most famous baroque architectural complex of the historical centre of Lecce. The high capillarity of the building material causes deterioration problems especially at some altars of the church and in the lower portion of the walls and pillars of the monumental building. The integrated geophysical survey yielded a detailed description of the shallow stratigraphical and hydro-geological setting of the area and an accurate location of ancient and modern drainage systems. The geophysical information was essential for identifying natural or anthropogenic causes of the local increase in subsoil moisture that could accelerate the degradation process and for developing effective remediation activities.