Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ensemble flood forecasting considering dominant runoff processes: II. Benchmark against a state-of-the-art model-chain (Verzasca, Switzerland)

Abstract. Model benchmarking is needed in order to establish how newly developed forecasting approaches perform against current state-of-the-art systems. In many cases, resources for re-forecasting long periods of time are limited and therefore, a period of parallel-operations is evaluated. For this study, the forecasting chain presented in the companion paper by Antonetti et al. (2018) has been set up for the Verzasca basins in the southern Swiss Alps. In this region, an operationally running system is available from previous studies on probabilistic flash flood (FF) forecasts. This current system relies on the calibrated semi-distributed hydrological model PREVAH. The new model RGM-PRO includes the concept of dominant runoff processes and requires a priori estimation of parameters but no direct discharge observations for calibration. This is a significant benefit to FF prediction in ungauged catchments. Both FF forecasting chains are forced by information from numerical weather prediction COSMO-1 and COSMO-E. Real-time rainfall is provided by the CombiPrecip product, which combines rain gauge and weather radar data. As RGM-PRO is an event-based model, initial conditions are not computed internally. Such initial conditions are obtained from operationally available gridded simulations of the PREVAH model. The current PREVAH-HRU setup uses rainfall data as obtained by interpolating real-time data of the station network maintained by MeteoSwiss. Initial conditions are tracked internally day-by-day. The PREVAH-HRU runs forced by COSMO-1 and COSMO-E during real-time operations in the period May to August 2016 have been compiled. Corresponding model runs using RGM-PRO have been computed a posteriori. Both sets of forecasts are evaluated against discharge observations using deterministic and probabilistic verification metrics. Results showed that the novel approach was able to compete with the operational benchmark prediction system and was consistently superior for high-flow situations. The new forecasting chains were able to react faster on precipitation in comparison with the benchmark forecasts. Confirming previous studies for all forecasting chains, a clear preference for using a meteorological ensemble as forcing data was found. In a synthesis of the two companion papers, more skill was found in the Verzasca basin than in the Emme catchment, suggesting a better forecast performance in strongly topography driven basins with shallow soils and weak dependence on initial conditions. The findings of the two studies suggest that the novel forecasting chains can compete with the traditional ones in operational setup without the need of long-term discharge measurements and extensive calibration. With the new runoff generation module, extension of FF prediction to ungauged catchments is possible, provided that spatially distributed information on dominant runoff processes is available.
Deformation behaviors of InP pillars under uniaxial compression

Understanding the dislocation-based plasticity in prominent functional materials at the sub-micron scale is important not only for gaining insights into the fundamental mechanisms of small scale plasticity but also for designing reliable devices in the field of nano- or micro-electromechanical systems. Recent advancement in nanoscale fabrication and mechanical measurements has enabled the systematic investigation of size effects on the deformation behaviors of various materials. In this way, the size-scale effects on the materials mechanics can be explored under the conditions of minimized imposed deformation gradients, thus, limiting influence from concomitant changes in local strength and hardening rate resulted from the evolution of geometrically necessary dislocations induced by strain gradients. 1 Indeed, the compression tests on micro-pillars made of various materials 1‐4 have been demonstrated to exhibit dramatically different deformation behaviors as compared to their bulk counterparts. For instance, in addition to prevailing the tenet of “smaller is stronger” in essentially all the measurements preformed, drastic reduction in brittle-to-ductile transition temperatures in micro-compression of GaAs 5,6 and Si 7 was also observed when the diameter of the testing pillars is smaller than certain critical sizes. However, because of the small sizes of the structures, observation and subsequent analysis remain as challenging tasks and even involve numerous assumptions. To address this issue, micro-compression tests on pillars made of various materials have been conducted and analyzed with the aids of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to delineate the activities of the extended defects associated with the compression-induced deformation. 3‐9 Very recently, in-situ micro-compression test on Al micro-pillars has been conducted directly inside a high-resolution electron microscope. 10 This enables the in-situ observations of the structural changes during compression test and provides information concerning the mechanisms governing the manifestations of
Cellulose-degrading enzyme production by Clonostachys byssicola: Partial purification and characterization of an endoglucanase

Agro-industrial wastes offer potential as renewable carbon sources for microbial growth and industrial enzyme production, with potential applications in textile and biofuel industries, among others. The filamentous fungus Clonostachys byssicola was cultivated for seven days in liquid medium containing 1% (w/v) soybean hulls as unique carbon source. Hemicellulase, cellulase and pectinase activities were observed in the crude extract after seven days growth. A CMCase, denominated Cb-Cel, was partially purified using ultrafiltration and chromatographic methods. With a molecular weight of 48 kDa, the enzyme was most active at 70°C and pH 5.0, and thermostable at 40 and 50°C. Cb-Cel showed Km and Vmax values of 15.81 ± 1.65 mg/mL and 0.59 ± 0.03 IU/mL, respectively. Phenolic compounds (tannic, 4-hydroxybenzoic, ferulic, ρ-coumaric, cinnamic acids and vanillin) had no inhibitory or deactivator effects on enzymatic activity when tested on the concentrated fraction or Cb-Cel. Enzymatic hydrolysis of CMC and filter paper hydrolysis resulted in the release of glucose, cellopentaose and cellohexaose. Enzymatic hydrolysis of soybean hulls released mostly cellohexaose, cellopentase, mannose and xylobiose. In comparison to hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse, the hydrolysis of soybean hulls yielded higher amounts of reducing sugars, suggesting that the enzymes secreted during growth of C. byssicola are more active on this substrate as carbon source.
A FREQUENCY SELECTIVE POLARIZER USING CARBON FIBRE REINFORCED POLYMER COMPOSITES

Unidirectional carbon/epoxy composite laminates are highly orthotropic, with their conductivity and permittivity being strongly dependent on the incident angle relative to the flbre orientation. This paper presents a novel frequency selective polarizing subre∞ector manufactured from unidirectional carbon flbre reinforced polymer (CFRP), placed a certain distance from a conducting ground also made from CFRP laminate. Theoretical analysis, computational simulation, and experimental measurements are conducted to investigate the efiects of separation ofiset, laminate thickness and incident angle on the performance of a re∞ector manufactured from a unidirectional IM7/977-3 CFRP. The results show that this new re∞ector reduces the cross polarization at S-band by 13dB while remaining a good re∞ector at X-band and the incident angle has minimal efiect on the frequency response of the polarizer. The single re∞ector can support two orthogonal polarized frequencies, unlike traditional wire grid polarizer screens.
Morphological estimators on Sunyaev–Zel'dovich maps of MUSIC clusters of galaxies

This work has been partially supported by funding from Sapienza University of Rome - Progetti di Ricerca Anno 2015 prot. C26A15LXNR. GY and FS acknowledge financial support from MINECO/FEDER under research grant AYA2015-63810-P. ER acknowledge financial contribution from the agreement ASI-INAF n 2017-14-H.0
The Development of an Infrastructure Quality Index for Nigerian Metropolitan Areas Using Multivariate Geo-Statistical Data Fusion

Nigeria recently witnessed a decade of urban, economic, and social transformation. However, certain features of the Nigerian business environment act as constraints on economic growth. These characteristics also deter investment and exasperate business competitiveness. Inadequate infrastructure is identified as a major constraint to growth and competitiveness. This article summarises the technical development of a City Infrastructure Quality Index (CIQI) aimed at providing a relative measure of performance in urban infrastructure in Nigeria, focusing specifically on factors of production and resources for inclusive economic growth and development. The design of the CIQI adopts quality assurance principles undergirded by a five-stage systematic integration and calibration of spatial statistics derived from secondary data sources. The results have allowed for the piloting of a comparative framework for gauging good practice, excellence and adherence to recognisable standards in the provision of infrastructure across 37 Nigerian urban and metropolitan areas.
A Novel optIcAl GrANulometry AlGorIthm for ore pArtIcles

This paper proposes a novel algorithm to detect the particle size distribution of ores with irregular shapes and dim edges. This optical granulometry algorithm is particularly suitable for blast furnace process control, so its result can be used directly as a reliable basis for control system dynamics optimization. The paper explains the algorithm and its concept, as well as its method, which consists of five steps to detect ore granularity and distribution. A series of comparative experiments under industrial environments proved that this novel algorithm, compared with conventional ones, improves the accuracy of granulometry.
Dose-effect on the mothers and babies attending the Programa de Apoyo Psicológico P / Materno-Infantil

Título: Efecto de la dosis de intervención del Programa de Apoyo Psicológico P/Materno Infantil© sobre las madres y sus bebés. Resumen: Se analizan los efectos de la dosis de intervención del Programa de Apoyo Psicológico P/Materno Infantil© (Cerezo 1992). Es un Programa dirigido a toda la población, que apoya a los padres durante los primeros 18 meses de vida del bebé, cuyo objetivo es promover sistemas adaptativos protectores en los niños. Los efectos de la dosis de intervención se evalúan sobre las madres, en sus niveles de distrés o malestar psicológico informado por ellas, y sobre sus bebés, en el tipo de apego que desarrollan evaluado con la “Situación Extraña” de Ainsworth y colaboradores (1978). La muestra son 342 familias que acuden al Programa entre 2 y 4 visitas antes de la evaluación post-intervención. Los resultados indican que se requieren al menos 3 sesiones de intervención para que se produzcan descensos significativos de las puntuaciones que obtienen las madres en distrés entre la evaluación pre y post. La proporción de niños con apego seguro es mayor cuando la familia acude 3 ó 4 visitas que cuando acude 2. También, se observa que las madres de niños con apego inseguro tienen puntuaciones más altas en distrés, y en otros factores que afectan la parentalidad, que las madres de niños con apego seguro. Palabras clave: Evaluación Programa de Apoyo Psicológico P/Materno Infantil (PAPMI); efecto de la dosis de intervención; prevención de conflictos familiares y de maltrato infantil. Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of the intervention dose-effect of the Parent Child Psychological Support Program© (Cerezo 1990) a program aimed at promoting protective adaptive system in children which is offered to all new-borns in a given catchment area. The program offers support to parents during the first 18 months of the baby‟s life. The program doseeffect is examined regarding the parents by examining the level of distress reported by them and with babies by examining the development of attachment using the Strange Situation test of Ainsworth et al. (1978). The study is based on 342 families who made between 2 and 4 visits to the Program before being evaluation post-intervention. The results indicate that at least 3 program sessions are required to produce a significant decrease in the distress scores for mothers, between pre and post evaluation. The proportion of children with secure attachment is greater when the family attends 3 or 4 times, compared to those who attend on 2 occasions. It was also noted that mothers of children with insecure attachment had higher scores on the maternal distress and other factors affecting parenting than mothers of children with secure attachment.
Deep Insight Section

John Dick and colleagues demonstrated in the mid1990s that only a small fraction of human acute myeloid leukemia tumour cells were capable of initiating and sustaining tumour growth following transplantation into an immunocompromised murine host (Lapidot et al., 1994; Bonnet and Dick, 1997). While the remaining tumour cells were able to proliferate, their proliferative potential was limi ted and they were incapable of sustaining tumour growth. In addition to their capability to proliferate, these leukemia-initiating cells possessed the ability to selfrenew and were able to give rise to multiple heterogeneous progeny. Interestingly, these cells w ere identifiable by surface marker reminiscent of SCIDrepopulating cells rather than committed precursors . Given their functional and morphologic similarity t o normal hematopoietic stem cells, Bonnet and Dick called these cells leukemic cancer stem cells. Furt her, they hypothesized that the cellular heterogeneity f ound within this cancer reflected a hierarchy that recapitulates normal hematopoietic development and that cell identity within a cancer –as defined by a stemlike or a more committed state– had functional relevance for a cell's ability to drive tumour grow th. Since then, numerous hematologic and solid tumours – including acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Cobaleda et al., 2000; Cox et al., 2004; Castor et al., 2005), breast (Al-Hajj et al., 2003), colon (O'Brien et al., 2007 ; Ricci-Vitiani et al., 2007) and lung cancer (Eramo et al., 2008), melanoma (Fang et al., 2005), and prima ry brain tumours (Singh et al., 2004)– have been found to harbor cancer stem cells. The cancer stem cell hypothesis has been forwarded as an alternative to the clonal evolution model of cancer development. In primary brain tumours, the cancer stem cell hypothe sis has important ramifications for how we think about disease treatment and how we understand disease recurrence and progression. Here, I will review the current literature regarding cancer stem cells in p rimary brain tumours and discuss the relevance of the canc er stem cell hypothesis and clonal evolution model to their biology. Then, I will review the question of cell-o f origin in primary brain tumours. Finally, I will br ing up questions regarding the implications of the cancer st m cell hypothesis for glioma biology that must be addressed with future studies.
Correlation Analysis of Rainstorm Runoff and Density Current in a Canyon-Shaped Source Water Reservoir: Implications for Reservoir Optimal Operation

Extreme weather has recently become frequent. Heavy rainfall forms storm runoff, which is usually very turbid and contains a high concentration of organic matter, therefore affecting water quality when it enters reservoirs. The large canyon-shaped Heihe Reservoir is the most important raw water source for the city of Xi’an. During the flood season, storm runoff flows into the reservoir as a density current. We determined the relationship among inflow peak discharge (Q), suspended sediment concentration, inflow water temperature, and undercurrent water density. The relationships between (Q) and inflow suspended sediment concentration (CS0) could be described by the equation CS0 = 0.3899 × e0.0025Q, that between CS0 and suspended sediment concentration at the entrance of the main reservoir area S1 (CS1) was determined using CS1 = 0.0346 × e0.2335CS0, and air temperature (Ta) and inflow water temperature (Tw) based on the meteorological data were related as follows: Tw = 0.7718 × Ta + 1.0979. Then, we calculated the density of the undercurrent layer. Compared to the vertical water density distribution at S1 before rainfall, the undercurrent elevation was determined based on the principle of equivalent density inflow. Based on our results, we proposed schemes for optimizing water intake selection and flood discharge during the flood season.
Early Proterozoic palaeomagnetic data from the Pechenga Zone (north‐west Russia) and their bearing on Early Proterozoic palaeogeography

SUMMARY An Early Proterozoic palaeomagnetic signature (c. 2125 Ma), verified by a positive conglomerate test, is recorded in the Kuetsyarvi Formation, Pechenga Group (north-west Russia), but the majority of the palaeomagnetic directions observed in the Pechenga Group lithologies reflect a low-grade remagnetization event probably linked with the Late Precambrian Baikalian Orogeny which affected north-west Russia and northern Norway. Secondary pyrrhotite is. the dominant remanence carrier in the uppermost formations of the Pechenga Group. Palaeomagnetic poles from the Kuetsyarvi Formation differ somewhat or partially overlap with coeval palaeomagnetic poles from other tectonomagmatic provinces in northern Fennoscandia, but it is premature at this stage to speculate on intraplate movements during the Early Proterozoic. Besides, the Kuetsyarvi Formation probably developed during an early phase of intracontinental rifting along the northern margin of Fennoscandia, similar to the present-day East African rift. Hence younger intercontinental rifting, possible seafloor-spreading and subsequent convergence would remain undetected by our palaeomagnetic data. Palaeolatitude estimates from the Kuetsyarvi Formation suggest that the Pechenga region was located in latitudes of around 20" to 30" during the 2100-2200Ma interval. These low-latitude estimates are supported by the sedimentary record in the Pechenga region which is characterized by red beds and evaporites. Comparison of Fennoscandian palaeomagnetic poles with coeval poles from the Slave and Superior cratons (Laurentia) questions previously publicized supercontinental configurations. A close relationship between Fennoscandia and Early Proterozoic Laurentian Provinces is conceivable from palaeomagnetic data, but, given the lack of longitudinal control as well as the choice of hemisphere, such postulates are tentative at best on purely palaeomagnetic grounds.
Exploring the Influence of Light and Cognitive Load on Pupil Diameter Driving Simulator Studies

Pupil diameter can be used as a physiological measure of cognitive load in driving simulator studies. However, pupil size depends on both cognitive load and lighting conditions. In order to accurately estimate cognitive load these two effects must be separated. In this study the authors introduce illumination only, cognitive only and combined tasks. Based on these they decouple the two effects on pupil diameter and they design a predictor of the pupil’s reaction to light which can be used to estimate changes in pupil diameter that are due to cognitive load.
Plio-Pleistocene evolution of water mass exchange and erosional input at the Atlantic-Arctic gateway

Water mass exchange between the Arctic Ocean and the Norwegian-Greenland Seas has played an important role for the Atlantic thermohaline circulation and Northern Hemisphere climate. We reconstruct past water mass mixing and erosional inputs from the radiogenic isotope compositions of neodymium (Nd), lead (Pb), and strontium (Sr) at Ocean Drilling Program site 911 (leg 151) from 906 m water depth on Yermak Plateau in the Fram Strait over the past 5.2 Myr. The isotopic compositions of past bottom waters were extracted from authigenic oxyhydroxide coatings of the bulk sediments. Neodymium isotope signatures obtained from surface sediments agree well with present-day deepwater eNd signature of −11.0 ± 0.2. Prior to 2.7 Ma the Nd and Pb isotope compositions of the bottom waters only show small variations indicative of a consistent influence of Atlantic waters. Since the major intensification of the Northern Hemisphere Glaciation at 2.7 Ma the seawater Nd isotope composition has varied more pronouncedly due to changes in weathering inputs related to the waxing and waning of the ice sheets on Svalbard, the Barents Sea, and the Eurasian shelf, due to changes in water mass exchange and due to the increasing supply of ice-rafted debris (IRD) originating from the Arctic Ocean. The seawater Pb isotope record also exhibits a higher short-term variability after 2.7 Ma, but there is also a trend toward more radiogenic values, which reflects a combination of changes in input sources and enhanced incongruent weathering inputs of Pb released from freshly eroded old continental rocks.
IL-1β‐induced inflammation in chondrocytes by attenuating increases in the gene expression levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2, as well as the concen- trations of nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2. CS-CrmA microspheres significantly decreased the number of apoptotic chondr

The aim of the present study was to investigate the protective effect of cytokine response modifier A (CrmA) released from chitosan (CS) microspheres in a controlled manner on interleukin (IL)-1β-induced inflammation and apoptosis in chondrocytes. The CrmA release kinetics were characterized by an initial burst release, which was reduced to a linear release over 8 days. Furthermore, chondrocytes were isolated from 1-week-old Sprague Dawley rats. The cell culture was established by stimulation with 10 ng/ml IL-1β and subsequent incubation with CS-CrmA microspheres. Following stimulation with IL-1β, the viability of chondrocytes was decreased. However, the cell viability was attenuated by CS-CrmA microspheres as revealed by a cell counting kit‐8 assay. CS‐CrmA microspheres significantly inhibited IL-1β‐induced inflammation in chondrocytes by attenuating increases in the gene expression levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2, as well as the concentrations of nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2. CS-CrmA microspheres significantly decreased the number of apoptotic chondrocytes induced by IL-1β as indicated by a terminal deoxyribonucleotide transferase deoxyuridine triphosphate nick-end labeling assay. In addition, CS-CrmA microspheres blocked IL-1β-induced chondrocyte apoptosis by increasing B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and decreasing Bcl-2-associated X protein, caspase-3 and poly adenosine diphosphate-ribose polymerase expression at the mRNA and protein levels, as indicated by reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis, respectively. The results of the present study revealed that CS-CrmA microspheres, as a controlled release system of CrmA, may protect rat chondrocytes from IL-1β‐induced inflammation and apoptosis via regulating inflammatory and apoptosis‐associated genes.