Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Contrasting physical properties of black carbon in urban Beijing between winter and summer

Abstract. Black carbon (BC) is known to have major impacts on both human health and climate. The populated megacity represents the most complex anthropogenic BC emissions where the sources and related impacts are very uncertain. This study provides source attribution and characterization of BC in the Beijing urban environment during the joint UK–China APHH (Air Pollution and Human Health) project, in both winter (November–December 2016) and summer (May–June 2017). The size-resolved mixing state of BC-containing particles was characterized by a single-particle soot photometer (SP2) and their mass spectra was measured by a soot particle aerosol mass spectrometer (SP-AMS). The refractory BC (rBC) mass loading was around a factor of 2 higher in winter relative to summer, and more variable coatings were present, likely as a result of additional surface emissions from the residential sector and favourable condensation in the cold season. The characteristics of the BC were relatively independent of air mass direction in summer, whereas in winter air masses from the Northern Plateau were considerably cleaner and contained less-coated and smaller BC, but the BC from the Southern Plateau had the largest core size and coatings. We compare two online source apportionment methods using simultaneous measurements made by the SP2, which measures physical properties of BC, and the chemical approach using the positive matrix factorization (PMF) of mass spectra from the SP-AMS for the first time. A method is proposed to isolate the BC from the transportation sector using a mode of small BC particles (core diameter Dc<0.18 µm and coating thickness ct < 50 nm). This mode of BC highly correlated with NOx concentration in both seasons (∼14 ng m−3 BC ppb−1 NOx) and corresponded with the morning traffic rush hour, contributing about 30 % and 40 % of the total rBC mass (35 % and 55 % in number) in winter and summer respectively. The BC from coal burning or biomass burning was characterized by moderate coatings (ct = 50–200 nm) contributing ∼20 %–25 % of rBC mass. Large uncoated BC particles (Dc>0.18 µm and ct < 50 nm) were more likely to be contributed by coal combustion, as these particles were not present in urban London. This mode was present in Beijing in both winter (∼30 %–40 % rBC mass) and summer (∼40 % rBC mass) but may be dominated by the residential and industrial sector respectively. The contribution of BC thickly coated with secondary species (ct > 200 nm) to the total rBC mass increased with pollution level in winter but was minor in summer. These large BC particles importantly enhanced the absorption efficiency at high pollution levels – in winter when PM1 > 100 µg m−3 or BC > 2 µg m−3, the absorption efficiency of BC increased by 25 %–70 %. The reduction of emissions of these large BC particles and the precursors of the associated secondary coating will be an effective way of mitigating the heating effect of BC in urban environments.
Graphical Methods for Data Analysis

Introduction. Portraying the distribution of a set of data. Comparing data distributions. Studying two-dimensional data. Studying multi-dimensional data. Plotting multivariate data. Assessing distributional assumptions data. Developing and assessing regression models. General principles and techniques. References. Appendix: tables of data sets. Index.
Innovative bit channel in downstream passive optical network frames based on reusing of bit sequences

In this article, a novel idea of a hidden bit channel established in the downstream passive optical network (PON) frames is proposed. As the downstream frames in time‐division multiplexed, PONs are broadcasted and delivered to all active end‐point optical network units (ONUs), and this bitstream could be potentially used for creating an additional hidden bit channel containing bits for all ONUs. Therefore, the downstream frames could simply transmit standard information fields and ONU contributions according to the standard PON principles; however, these bits could be also reused multiple times to carry additional data for each ONU in a form of segmented bit sequences spread within the entire bitstream. To establish effective bit channel with positive bit gain, an effective algorithm for addressing its bits is necessary. The most promising bit addressing algorithm is proposed within this article together with the results obtained by its simulations and performance evaluations. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 57:2346–2351, 2015
Interference cancelling equalizer (ICE) for mobile radio communication

This paper proposes an adaptive interference cancelling equalizer (ICE), which not only equalizes intersymbol interference (ISI), but also cancels cochannel interference (CCI) in the received signal in Rayleigh-fading environments, ICE is an adaptive multiuser detector for the frequency-selective fading environment commonly experienced by mobile communication channels. ICE employs a novel detection scheme: recursive least-squares maximum-likelihood sequence estimation (RLS-MLSE), which simultaneously estimates time-varying channel parameters and transmitted signal sequences. Diversity reception is used to enhance the signal detection performance of ICE. A computer simulation of a 40-kb/s QPSK time-division multiple-access (TDMA) cellular mobile radio system demonstrates the possibility of improving system capacity with ICE. Simulations of ICE with and without diversity are carried out under various fading conditions. For the maximum Doppler frequency of 40 Hz, ICE can attain an average bit-error rate (BER) of 10/sup -2/ under a single CCI carrier-to-interference ratio (CIR) of /spl sim/14 dB. Moreover, ICE for two independent CCI signals can attain the average BER of 1.5/spl times/10/sup -2/ with average CIR/spl ges/-10 dB.
Surrogate Modeling-Based Optimization of SAGD Processes

Abstract This paper presents a solution methodology for the optimization of geometrical and operational parameters of SAGD processes in a heterogeneous and multiphase petroleum reservoir. The optimization refers to the maximization or minimization of performance measures such as net present value, cumulative oil production, or cumulative steam injected. The solution methodology includes the construction of a “fast surrogate” of an objective function whose evaluation involves the execution of a time-consuming mathematical model (i.e. reservoir numerical simulator) based on neural networks, DACE modeling, and adaptive sampling. Using adaptive sampling, promising areas are searched considering the information provided by the surrogate model and the expected value of the errors. The proposed methodology provides a global optimization method, hence avoiding the potential problem of convergence to a local minimum in the objective function exhibited by the commonly Gauss–Newton methods. Furthermore, it exhibits an affordable computational cost, is amenable to parallel processing, and is expected to outperform other general-purpose global optimization methods such as simulated annealing, genetic algorithms, and pattern search methods. The methodology is evaluated using a case study with vertical spacing, steam-injected enthalpy, injection pressure, and subcooling as the sought parameter values in a SAGD process that optimize a weighted sum of cumulative oil production and cumulative steam injected for a selected reservoir. From the results, it is concluded that the methodology can be used effectively and efficiently for the optimization of SAGD processes. In addition, the optimization approach holds promise to be useful in the optimization of objective functions involving the execution of computationally expensive reservoir numerical simulators, such as those found not only in oil recovery processes, but also in other areas of petroleum engineering (e.g. hydraulic fracturing).
Utilization of waste cotton linter for preparation of activated carbon to be used as catalyst support in aqueous‐phase reforming process

Waste cotton linter was evaluated for production of activated carbons (ACs) that can be used as catalyst support in aqueous‐phase reforming (APR) process. Activated carbons were prepared by two different precarbonization methods (thermal and hydrothermal) and two types of chemical activating agents (H3PO4 and KOH). The catalysts prepared by deposition of platinum particles on these carbon materials were evaluated for conversion of glycerol to hydrogen gas by APR. Thermal precarbonization treated LTA and LTB samples had a higher surface area (416.7 and 775.2 m2/g) than hydrothermal precarbonized LHA and LHB samples (395.8 and 627.5 m2/g) regardless type of the activating agent. In general, KOH was more effective activating agent than H3PO4 in creating porosity in the carbon structures derived from cotton linter. The Pt/LHB catalyst (hydrothermal precarbonization‐KOH activation) showed promising catalytic performance with hydrogen selectivity of 76.0% and 99.0% glycerol conversion at same APR conditions. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 38: 445–450, 2019
Design methodology for global resonant H-tree clock distribution networks

Design guidelines for resonant H-tree clock distribution networks are presented in this paper. A distributed model of a two level resonant H-tree is presented, supporting the design of low power, low skew, and low jitter resonant H-tree clock distribution networks. Excellent agreement is shown between the proposed model and SpectraS simulations. A case study is presented that demonstrates the design of a two level resonant H-tree network, distributing a 5 GHz clock signal in a TSMC 0.18 mum CMOS technology. The design methodology enables tradeoffs among design variables to be examined, such as the operating frequency, size of the on-chip inductors and capacitors, the output resistance of the driving buffer, and the interconnect width
Contour Extraction of Human with Single-Pixel Width

A novel algorithm is presented to acquire accurate human contour. For current algorithms extracting contour with multi-pixels width, it is difficulty in obtaining accurate distance between centroid and any point on human contour for gait recognition. For connective human contour, we use candidate regions and vectors to calculate and compare the angles of adjoining vectors, so that we get point set of human contour and describe human contour of single-pixel width. For disjoint contour, image pre-processing is implemented to fuse disjoint silhouettes with their centroids. Subsequently, we go on performing the algorithm of complete contour to get accurate contour. This algorithm solves the problem that any point on human contour locates accurately. It takes the advantages in image processing of human silhouette, particularly in accurate extraction of human contour for gait or posture recognition.
Investigating Learner Variability: The Impact of Task Type on Language Learners' Errors and Mistakes

In a project-based approach to teaching a foreign language at the university level, students are often required to participate in several task-based writing activities. In doing so, language learners not only write incorrect forms, but also correct forms of the same structures, both of which provide useful information on their strengths and weaknesses. There is variability in language use and such variance may be due to a large number of factors such as the task type or the conditions under which the task is carried out. However, information drawn from direct observations of learners' texts only enables inferences to be made about learners' performance. This paper argues that making a distinction between errors and mistakes, where errors represent gaps in the knowledge and mistakes occasional lapses in performance, provides a better insight into learner variability in terms of the learners' ability to use their knowledge. Following an overview of the instruments used to discriminate between errors and mistakes, this paper investigates, through a case study approach conducted over a 3-month period of time, whether errors and/or mistakes are produced in one written task but not in another. A preliminary focus on a variety of task-based writing activities produced by one learner of French language is analyzed and presented.
Ice injected into the tropopause by deep convection – Part 1: In the austral convective tropics

Abstract. The contribution of deep convection to the amount of water vapour and ice in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) from the tropical upper troposphere (UT; around 146 hPa) to the tropopause level (TL; around 100 hPa) is investigated. Ice water content (IWC) and water vapour (WV) measured in the UT and the TL by the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS; Version 4.2) are compared to the precipitation (Prec) measured by the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM; Version 007). The two datasets, gridded within 2∘ × 2∘ horizontal bins, have been analysed during the austral convective season, December, January, and February (DJF), from 2004 to 2017. MLS observations are performed at 01:30 and 13:30 local solar time, whilst the Prec dataset is constructed with a time resolution of 1 h. The new contribution of this study is to provide a much more detailed picture of the diurnal variation of ice than is provided by the very limited (two per day) MLS observations. Firstly, we show that IWC represents 70 % and 50 % of the total water in the tropical UT and TL, respectively, and that Prec is spatially highly correlated with IWC in the UT (Pearson's linear coefficient R=0.7). We propose a method that uses Prec as a proxy for deep convection bringing ice up to the UT and TL during the growing stage of convection, in order to estimate the amount of ice injected into the UT and the TL, respectively. We validate the method using ice measurements from the Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) during the period DJF 2009–2010. Next, the diurnal cycle of injection of IWC into the UT and the TL by deep convection is calculated by the difference between the maximum and the minimum in the estimated diurnal cycle of IWC in these layers and over selected convective zones. Six tropical highly convective zones have been chosen: South America, South Africa, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and the Maritime Continent region, split into land (MariCont-L) and ocean (MariCont-O). IWC injection is found to be 2.73 and 0.41 mg m−3 over tropical land in the UT and TL, respectively, and 0.60 and 0.13 mg m−3 over tropical ocean in the UT and TL, respectively. The MariCont-L region has the greatest ice injection in both the UT and TL (3.34 and 0.42–0.56 mg m−3, respectively). The MariCont-O region has less ice injection than MariCont-L (0.91 mg m−3 in the UT and 0.16–0.34 mg m−3 in TL) but has the highest diurnal minimum value of IWC in the TL (0.34–0.37 mg m−3) among all oceanic zones.
Evaluating the “2+26” regional strategy for air quality improvement during two air pollution alerts in Beijing: variations in PM2.5 concentrations, source apportionment, and the relative contribution of local emission and regional transport

Abstract. To comprehensively evaluate the effects of the recent “2+26” regional strategy for air quality improvement, we compared the variations in PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing during four pollution episodes with different emission-reduction strategies. The 2+26 strategy implemented in March 2018 led to a mean PM2.5 concentration 16.43 % lower than that during the pollution episode in March 2013, when no specific emission-reduction measures were in place. The same 2+26 strategy implemented in November 2017 led to a mean PM2.5 concentration 32.70 % lower than that during the pollution episode in November 2016, when local emission-reduction measures were implemented. The results suggested that the effects of the 2+26 regional emission-reduction measures on PM2.5 reductions were influenced by a diversity of factors and could differ significantly during specific pollution episodes. Furthermore, we found the proportions of sulfate ions decreased significantly, and nitrate ions were the dominant PM2.5 components during the two 2+26 orange alert periods. Meanwhile, the relative contribution of coal combustion to PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing during the pollution episodes in March 2013, November 2016, November 2017 and March 2018 was 40 %, 34 %, 28 % and 11 %, respectively, indicating that the recent “Coal to Gas” project and the contingent 2+26 strategy led to a dramatic decrease in coal combustion in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. On the other hand, the relative contribution of vehicle exhaust during the 2+26 orange alert periods in November 2017 and March 2018 reached 40 % and 54 %, respectively. The relative contribution of local emissions to PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing also varied significantly and ranged from 49.46 % to 89.35 % during the four pollution episodes. These results suggested that the 2+26 regional emission-reduction strategy should be implemented with red air pollution alerts during heavy pollution episodes to intentionally reduce the dominant contribution of vehicle exhausts to PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing, while specific emission-reduction measures should be implemented accordingly for different cities within the 2+26 framework.
Temporally consistent disparity estimation using PCA dual-cross-bilateral grid

Disparity estimation has been extensively investigated in recent years. Though several algorithms have been reported to achieve excellent performance on the Middlebury website, few of them reach a satisfying balance between accuracy and efficiency, and few of them consider the problem of temporal coherence. In this paper, we introduce a novel disparity estimation approach, which improves the accuracy for static images and the temporal coherence for videos. For static images, the proposed approach is inspired by the adaptive support weight method proposed by Yoon et al. and the dual-cross-bilateral grid introduced by Richardt et al. Principal component analysis (PCA) is used to reduce the color dimensionality in the cost aggregation step. This simple, but efficient technique helps the proposed method to be comparable to the best local algorithms on the Middlebury website, while still allowing real-time implementation. A computationally efficient method for temporally consistent behavior is also proposed. Moreover, in the user evaluation experiment, the proposed temporal approach achieves the best overall user experience among the selected comparison algorithms.
Providing Free Document Delivery Services to a Campus of 48,000 Library Users

Abstract In June 2002, the Texas A&M University Libraries implemented a new electronic document delivery service called deliverEdocs. The service uses ILLiad software. We began to offer free desktop delivery of any article, book chapters up to 50 pages (even those found on our own Libraries' shelves), to our entire campus. The service is well appreciated by our users. This paper reveals the initial reactions of the staff members in face of the challenge, discusses the resources needed to provide such a high profile service, details the workflow of the operation, shares the positive comments from the patrons, and illustrates the five key factors to the success of this service.
Estimating vehicle carbon dioxide emissions from Boulder, Colorado, using horizontal path-integrated column measurements

We performed 7.5 weeks of path-integrated concentration measurements of CO2, CH4, H2O, and HDO over the city of Boulder, Colorado. An open-path dual-comb spectrometer simultaneously measured time-resolved data across a reference path, located near the mountains to the west of the city, and across an over-city path that intersected two-thirds of the city, including two major commuter arteries. By comparing the measured concentrations over the two paths when the wind is primarily out of the west, we observe daytime CO2 enhancements over the city. Given the warm weather and the measurement footprint, the dominant contribution to the CO2 enhancement is from city vehicle traffic. We use a Gaussian plume model combined with reported city traffic patterns to estimate city emissions of on-road CO2 as (6.2 ± 2.2) × 105 metric tons (t) CO2 yr−1 after correcting for non-traffic sources. Within the uncertainty, this value agrees with the city’s bottom-up greenhouse gas inventory for the on-road vehicle sector of 4.5 × 105 t CO2 yr−1. Finally, we discuss experimental modifications that could lead to improved estimates from our path-integrated measurements.
Automated Information Transformation for Automated Regulatory Compliance Checking in Construction

AbstractTo fully automate regulatory compliance checking of construction projects, regulatory requirements need to be automatically extracted from various construction regulatory documents and then transformed into a formalized format that enables automated reasoning. To address this need, the authors propose an approach for automatically extracting information from construction regulatory textual documents and transforming them into logic clauses that could be directly used for automated reasoning. This paper focuses on presenting the proposed information transformation (ITr) methodology and the corresponding algorithms. The proposed ITr methodology utilizes a rule-based, semantic natural language processing (NLP) approach. A set of semantic mapping (SeM) rules and conflict resolution (CoR) rules are used to enable the automation of the transformation process. Several syntactic text features (captured using NLP techniques) and semantic text features (captured using an ontology) are used in the SeM and Co.
A visualization environment for super scalar machines

In this paper, we introduce an environment to visualize the internal activities of super scalar processors. This seems currently to be the dominating class of processors on the market. A programmer or a compiler can produce optimized code only with a thorough understanding of the internal structures. This usefulness of this environment is then demonstrated for two aspects of program optimization: loop unrolling in situations with cold or perfectly warmed cache and instruction ordering. We use matrix multiplication as representative example to reflect signal processing code.
Adopting the Banked Register File Scheme for Better Performance and Less Leakage

Excessively high temperature deteriorates the reliability and increases the leakage power consumption of microprocessors. The register file, known as one of the hottest functional units in microprocessors, incurs frequent dynamic thermal management operations for thermal control. In this letter, we adopt the banked register file scheme, which was originally proposed to reduce dynamic power consumption. By simply modifying the register file structure, the temperature in the register file was reduced dramatically, resulting in 13.37% performance improvement and 10.49% total processor leakage reduction.
Design and Experiment of Mathematical Model and Interface Algorithm Based on Internet Integration of New Media

In this paper, using the variational principle of multiple two functions establishes the extremal function model of new media Internet network nodes, and the integration of Internet resources is realized by INON network node overlapping technology and P2P technology. Through the integration of Internet moral education resources in colleges, this paper carries out statistics the failure rate of computer resources, when the statistical number is 1000, the failure rate will reach the lowest, and its value is 0.2; when the statistical number is 6000, the failure rate will reach the highest, its value is 1.6. The simulation experiment has been the time curve of Internet moral education resources integration, when a number is 3000 and 4000, the required time is relatively large, and the other number required time is relatively small, which is consistent with the theory, so as to verify the reliability of multiple two variational algorithm and model.