Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship between Amazon biomass burning aerosols and rainfall over the La Plata Basin

Abstract. High aerosol loads are discharged into the atmosphere by biomass burning in the Amazon and central Brazil during the dry season. These particles can interact with clouds as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) changing cloud microphysics and radiative properties and, thereby, affecting the radiative budget of the region. Furthermore, the biomass burning aerosols can be transported by the low-level jet (LLJ) to the La Plata Basin, where many mesoscale convective systems (MCS) are observed during spring and summer. This work proposes to investigate whether the aerosols from biomass burning may affect the MCS in terms of rainfall over the La Plata Basin during spring. Aerosol effects are very difficult to isolate because convective clouds are very sensitive to small environment disturbances; for that reason, detailed analyses using different techniques are used. The binplot, 2-D histograms and combined empirical orthogonal function (EOF) methods are used to identify certain environmental conditions with the possible effects of aerosol loading. Reanalysis 2, TRMM-3B42 and AERONET data are used from 1999 up to 2012 during September–December. The results show that there are two patterns associated with rainfall–aerosol interaction in the La Plata Basin: one in which the dynamic conditions are more important than aerosols to generation of rain; and a second one where the aerosol particles have a more important role in rain formation, acting mainly to suppress rainfall over the La Plata Basin. However, these results need further investigation to strengthen conclusions, especially because there are limitations and uncertainties in the methodology and data set used.
The GRENE-TEA model intercomparison project (GTMIP) Stage 1 forcing data set

Abstract. Here, the authors describe the construction of a forcing data set for land surface models (including both physical and biogeochemical models; LSMs) with eight meteorological variables for the 35-year period from 1979 to 2013. The data set is intended for use in a model intercomparison study, called GTMIP, which is a part of the Japanese-funded Arctic Climate Change Research Project. In order to prepare a set of site-fitted forcing data for LSMs with realistic yet continuous entries (i.e. without missing data), four observational sites across the pan-Arctic region (Fairbanks, Tiksi, Yakutsk, and Kevo) were selected to construct a blended data set using both global reanalysis and observational data. Marked improvements were found in the diurnal cycles of surface air temperature and humidity, wind speed, and precipitation. The data sets and participation in GTMIP are open to the scientific community ( doi:10.17592/001.2015093001 ).
Chinese urbanites and the preservation of rare species in remote parts of the country: The example of Eaglewood

Based on a Contingent Valuation study in Shanghai we assess people's willingness to contribute personally to the alleviation of environmental problems occurring in distant parts of the country. One split of our survey assessed Shanghai residents' willingness to pay for the preservation of rainforest in Yunnan, while the other split referred to the willingness to pay for the preservation of a single plant species (i.e. eaglewood) growing in this rainforest. The objectives of this study were twofold. Firstly, we wanted to find out if people living in big Chinese cities like Shanghai take an interest in the environmental problems existing in some remote parts of the country and if they are willing to contribute personally to remedy these problems. Secondly, we wanted to learn more about the motivation behind this kind of empathy, if it exists. We were especially interested in the question if this empathy refers to the specific environmental problems we addressed in our surveys or if it is motivated more by a general feeling of obligation towards environmental issues.
Acoustical behaviour of conical muffler with single-inlet and single-outlet: a 3-D semi-analytical approach

This paper analyses the acoustical attenuation behaviour of a conical chamber muffler having a SingleInlet and Single-Outlet (SISO) by means of a 3-D semi-analytical formulation based on modal expansion of the acoustic field and the Green’s function approach. The 3-D acoustic field inside the rigid-wall conical chamber is expressed in terms of the spherical Bessel and Neumann functions of non-integer order, the Legendre and associated Legendre functions of integer order and non-integer degree and the circular functions. The conical chamber muffler is characterised using the uniform piston-driven model in terms of the impedance [Z] matrix parameters (equivalently, the acoustic pressure response function) obtained by computing the average of the 3-D Green’s function over the surface area of the inlet/outlet ports modelled as rigid pistons. The 3-D semi-analytical approach enables one to taken into account, effect of relative azimuthal angular location between the inlet and outlet ports on the TL performance by consideration of the non-axisymmetric or azimuthal transverse modes (in addition to the symmetric transverse modes) in the modal summation of the acoustic field. The Transmission Loss (TL) graphs computed by using the 3-D semi-analytical formulation are found to be in an excellent agreement with that obtained from the 3-D FEA, thereby validating the technique presented in this work. Design guidelines for obtaining a broadband TL performance are suggested in terms of optimal (polar and azimuthal) angular and radial location of the ports on the appropriate pressure nodes which is a practically useful outcome of this investigation.
The great escape: how exoplanets and smaller bodies desert dying stars

Mounting discoveries of extrasolar planets orbiting post-main sequence stars motivate studies aimed at understanding the fate of these planets. In the traditional “adiabatic” approximation, a secondary’s eccentricity remains constant during stellar mass loss. Here, we remove this approximation, investigate the full twobody point-mass problem with isotropic mass loss, and illustrate the resulting dynamical evolution. The magnitude and duration of a star’s mass loss combined with a secondary’s initial orbital characteristics might provoke ejection, modest eccentricity pumping, or even circularisation of the orbit. We conclude that Oort clouds and wide-separation planets may be dynamically ejected from 1M⊙ 7M⊙ parent stars during AGB evolution. The vast majority of planetary material which survives a supernova from a 7M⊙ 20M⊙ progenitor will be dynamically ejected from the system, placing limits on the existence of firstgeneration pulsar planets. Planets around > 20M⊙ black hole progenitors may easily survive or readily be ejected depending on the core collapse and superwind models applied. Material ejected during stellar evolution might contribute significantly to the free-floating planetary population.
Team organization may help swarms of flies to become invisible in closed waveguides

We are interested in a time harmonic acoustic problem in a waveguide containing flies. The flies are modelled by small sound soft obstacles. We explain how they should arrange to become invisible to an observer sending waves from $-\infty$ and measuring the resulting scattered field at the same position. We assume that the flies can control their position and/or their size. Both monomodal and multimodal regimes are considered. On the other hand, we show that any sound soft obstacle (non necessarily small) embedded in the waveguide always produces some non exponentially decaying scattered field at $+\infty$ for wavenumbers smaller than a constant that we explicit. As a consequence, for such wavenumbers, the flies cannot be made completely invisible to an observer equipped with a measurement device located at $+\infty$.
Eye Tracking in Retrospective Think-Aloud Usability Testing:Is there Added Value?

Eye tracking is the process of recording users’ eye movements while they are looking at the location of an object. In usability testing, this technique is commonly used in combination with think-aloud protocols. This paper presents an experimental study involving 24 participants; with the aim of comparing two variants of retrospective think-aloud (RTA) methods, that is, video-cued RTA method and gaze-cued RTA method, to address the value of having an extra eye-cue in retrospective think-aloud usability testing. Results suggest that both RTA variants are effective in detecting major usability problems. Moreover, the combination of eye tracking techniques and think-aloud protocols can further help evaluators to detect more usability problems, especially minor navigational and comprehension problems. It also helps participants to remember their behavior details, such as what they were looking at on a web page, as mouse movement alone might not be representative of their actual thoughts. Nevertheless, we found that participants might become distracted while seeing their eye movement, which can affect their verbalization performance and, hence, they might experience longer silence periods.
A Novel Class of Gene Delivery Systems : Exosomes

Crotalaria spectabilis Roth. is an annual woody herbaceous plant of Fabaceae and commonly known as Showy rattle box in English, Ghantarava in Sanskrit, Jhunjhunia in Hindi & Pipuli jhunjhun in Bengali. The present study was aimed at preliminary pharmacognostic and phytochemical analysis of C. spectabilis leaves. Preliminary pharmacognostic study and physicochemical analysis was carried out according to the standard protocols to find out the distinct anatomical characters and the presence of different phyto-constituents in different solvent extracts of the leaves. Macroscopical study showed that the leaves were oblong, wedge shaped base. The length of the leaf lamina was found to be 13.9-14.8 cm and the breadth was 77.2 cm; length of the petiole was 0.8-1 cm. The upper surface was smooth, glabrous and the lower surface was slightly rough. Microscopical study explored the features likevascular bundle surrounded by lignified pericycle, anomocytic stomata, presence of cystoliths etc. The total ash value was found to be 7.99% w/w. Phyto-chemical screenings showed the presence of steroid, terpenoid, glycosides, tannins, phenolic compounds and carbohydrates. The results may be useful to get desired therapeutic activity by identifying the standard variety and further to build up a monograph of the plant.
Manifolds of negative curvature

1.1. For a Riemannian manifold V we denote by c(V) and c~(V) respectively the upper and the lower bounds of the sectional curvature, by vol(F) the volume, and by d(V) the diameter. 1.2. Let V be an ^-dimensional closed Riemannian manifold of negative curvature and c~(V) > 1 . If n > 8, then vol (V) > C(l + d{V)\ where the constant C > 0 depends only on n. Remark. This inequality is exact: For each n there exists an infinite sequence Vi with d(Vi) —> oo, / —> oo, and with uniformly bounded ratio vol {Vi)jd{Vi). Proof. Take a manifold V of constant negative curvature with infinite group Hλ(V) (see [8]) and a sequence of its finite cyclic coverings. For n = 4, 5, 6, 7 we shall prove here the following weaker result: vol (V) > C(l + d(V)). Notice that arguments from § 4 show that for n > 4 an ndimensional manifold V with — ε > c(V) > c~(V) > — 1, ε > 0, satisfies: vol (V) > C(l + d{V)) where C depends on n and ε. 1.3. Theorem 1.2 sharpens the Margulis-Heintze theorem (see [6], [4]) stating the inequality vol (V) > C = Cn. In this paper we prove the following generalization. 1.3A. Let X be a complete simply connected manifold of negative curvature with c~(X) > — 1. Let Γ be a discrete group (possibly with torsion) of isometries of V. Then vol(X/Γ) > C, where C > 0 depends only on dim(X). This fact is still true for manifolds of nonpositive curvature with c~(X) > — 1 and negative Ricci curvature (see [5]). In the homogeneous case this is the Kazhdan-Margulis theorem (see [9]).
Design and Measurement of a 220 GHz Wideband 3-D Printed Dielectric Reflectarray

A wideband high-gain terahertz dielectric reflectarray working at 220 GHz is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The reflectarray unit cell consists of a ground plane and a dielectric block. The reflection phase is obtained by adjusting the height of the block. Using the reflection phase computational algorithm, a dielectric reflectarray composed of 40 × 40 unit cells is designed and fabricated through three-dimensional (3-D) printed technology. Four types of 3-D printed material are measured using the THz time-domain spectroscopy system. It is found that the maximum gain and gain bandwidth of the proposed reflectarray is 31.3 dBi and 20.9%, respectively. Measured results are in reasonable agreement with simulated results. This result is an important step toward the 3-D printed THz dielectric reflectarray above 220 GHz.
TRACING THE CHROMOSPHERIC AND CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD WITH AIA, IRIS, IBIS, AND ROSA DATA

The aim of this study is to explore the suitability of chromospheric images for magnetic modeling of active regions. We use high-resolution images ( ), from the Interferometric Bidimensional Spectrometer in the Ca ii 8542 Å line, the Rapid Oscillations in the Solar Atmosphere instrument in the Hα 6563 Å line, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph in the 2796 Å line, and compare non-potential magnetic field models obtained from those chromospheric images with those obtained from images of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly in coronal (171 Å, etc.) and in chromospheric (304 Å) wavelengths. Curvi-linear structures are automatically traced in those images with the OCCULT-2 code, to which we forward-fitted magnetic field lines computed with the Vertical-current Approximation Nonlinear Force Free Field code. We find that the chromospheric images: (1) reveal crisp curvi-linear structures (fibrils, loop segments, spicules) that are extremely well-suited for constraining magnetic modeling; (2) that these curvi-linear structures are field-aligned with the best-fit solution by a median misalignment angle of –7°; (3) the free energy computed from coronal data may underestimate that obtained from cromospheric data by a factor of –4, (4) the height range of chromospheric features is confined to km, while coronal features are detected up to h = 35,000 km; and (5) the plasma-β parameter is for all traced features. We conclude that chromospheric images reveal important magnetic structures that are complementary to coronal images and need to be included in comprehensive magnetic field models, something that is currently not accomodated in standard NLFFF codes.
Ensemble of Unsupervised Fuzzy C-Means classifiers for clustering health status of oil sand pumps

Detection of anomalies and faults in slurry pumps is an important task with implications for their safe, economical, and efficient operation. Wear, caused by abrasive and erosive solid particles, is one of the main causes of failure. Condition monitoring and on-line assessment of the wear status of wetted components in slurry pumps are expected to improve maintenance management and generate significant cost savings for pump operators. In this context, the objective of the present work is to present a framework for the assessment and measurement of the wear status of slurry pumps when available data is extremely limited. Four sequential steps are performed: data collection, feature extraction, feature selection and classification. The main idea is to combine the predictions of multiple unsupervised classifiers fed with different inputs taken from different signals, based on fuzzy C-means clustering, to reduce the variance of the results so that they are less dependent on the specifics of a single classifier. This will also reduce the variance of the bias, because a combination of multiple classifiers may learn a more expressive concept class than a single classifier.
Musically-Induced Chills : The Effects of “ Chills Sections ” in Music

Musically-induced chills, the experience of shivers down the spine, gooseflesh or tingling sensations in response to music, have previously been linked to specific musical features such as sudden dynamic changes or unprepared harmonies. However, there currently exists no empirical research that tests these proposed relationships through the manipulation of musical stimuli. In addition, rarely has the phenomenon of chills been contextualised in terms of the causal processes underlying the experience of musical chills in listeners. In the current study, participants (N = 24) listened to two versions (original and manipulated) of three different pieces of music found to elicit chills across numerous listeners in a previous survey on the chills experience (N = 375). The stimuli were manipulated through the removal of “chills sections” highlighted in the previous survey, whilst maintaining a natural musical progression in the pieces. Features in each chills section were contextualised in terms of underlying mechanisms of music and emotion proposed in the BRECVEMAC framework. Results show that the frequency of chills across participants was higher for all original versions, though these differences did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.11). Experiencing chills resulted in significantly higher ratings of being moved and emotional intensity in most original pieces, though ratings of the Geneva Emotional Music Scale were similar in chills and no chills experiences. An analysis of mean scores for skin conductance and continuous measurements of chills intensity showed a significant difference between chills sections compared with a control section of equal duration in the same piece; this difference was found for each original piece, supporting the idea that these specific sections are emotionally salient across different listeners. The possible role of underlying mechanisms is also discussed. The current project is a first empirical assessment of the causal processes in the elicitation of chills in music, providing some evidence for a causal relationship between a specific section in a piece of music and intense emotional experiences such as chills.
Responsible Innovation in the Light of Moral Responsibility

Responsible innovation (RI) has become a powerful tenet of the European Commission discourse on science and society. And yet, the concept has remained surprisingly under-theoretically developed by RI advocates, who appear to be more interested in investigating the ‘ingredients’ or ‘pillars’ of responsibility than the normative dimension of it. In order to fill this gap, the paper below will consider ‘moral responsibility’ in the context of supply chains and innovation networks. It will firstly scrutinize the conception of responsibility developed in corporate social responsibility (CSR) approaches and what impact this conception might have on RI. Somewhat paradoxically, CSR approaches have been neglected by most RI theorists. It will then propose a conceptual mapping of the ten different meanings of responsibility that have emerged in moral philosophy, drawing on a distinction between negative and positive conceptions. Finally, it will scrutinize possible implementation of these various meanings of responsibility in supply chains and innovation networks.
NON-PROPORTIONAL HAZARDS WITH APPLICATION TO KIDNEY TRANSPLANT DATA

The Cox proportional hazards (PH) model is the popular methodfor modelling censored survival data.Cox PH model is the proportionality of hazards in which the hazard ratiois linear in the covariates. However this assumption may not hold in somesurvival studies. Therefore, digerent non-parametric regression methods havebeen proposed to estimate the hazard ratio as a function of time when theproportionality of hazards can not be assumed.In this study a piecewisemodel and a non-parametric regression spline model have been considered forthe non-proportional hazards. The models have been illustrated with kidneytransplant data
Generalized Inversion of Tropical Atmosphere–Ocean Data and a Coupled Model of the Tropical Pacific

Abstract It is hypothesized that the circulation of the tropical Pacific Ocean and atmosphere satisfies the equations of a simple coupled model to within errors having specified covariances, and that the Tropical Atmosphere–Ocean array (TAO) measures the circulation to within errors also having specified covariances. This hypothesis is tested by finding the circulation that is the weighted least squares best fit to the dynamics of the simple model, to its initial and boundary conditions, and to a year of monthly mean TAO data for sea surface temperature, for the depth of the 20°C isotherm, and for surface winds. The fit is defined over the entire tropical Pacific and from 1 April 1994 to 31 March 1995. The best-fit circulation or state estimate is calculated using variational methods. Posterior error covariances are estimated using statistical simulation. The best fit is also subjected to a significance test. It is found that, although the fit to data is largely within standard errors, the misfit to dynam.
Noncommutative geometry and twisted conformal symmetry

The twist-deformed conformal algebra is constructed as a Hopf algebra with twisted coproduct. This allows for the definition of conformal symmetry in a noncommutative background geometry. The twisted coproduct is reviewed for the Poincare algebra and the construction is then extended to the full conformal algebra. The case of Moyal-type noncommutativity of the coordinates is considered. It is demonstrated that conformal invariance need not be viewed as incompatible with noncommutative geometry; the noncommutativity of the coordinates appears as a consequence of the twisting, as has been shown in the literature in the case of the twisted Poincare algebra.
Reconstruction of shape and its effect on flow in arterial conduits

The geometry of arterial conduits derived from in vivo image data is subject to acquisition and reconstruction errors. This results in a degree of uncertainty in defining the bounding geometry for a patient‐specific anatomical conduit. In applying computational fluid dynamics to model the flow in specific anatomical configurations, the effect of the uncertainty in boundary definition should be considered, particularly if the objective is to extract quantitative measures of the local haemodynamics.
Evaluation of cryptographic primitives on modern microcontroller platforms

Security is an important issue, sometimes critical, when it comes to embedded applications such as industrial, Internet of Things or wearable devices. Due to the limited resources available, adding modern cryptography features may be difficult, even unfeasible in some cases. In this paper, we evaluate the different implementations (mbedTLS, TomCrypt, wolfSSL) of popular cryptographic algorithms (AES, SHA, ChaCha, Poly1305, RSA) on modern, 32-bit microcontrollers. We present the results: space requirements, memory usage, speed and power consumption on three popular, representative ARM Cortex-M platforms. We analyze and compare them to help embedded application developers in choosing the tools without too much compromises in security.
Regional Banks and Economic Development — Evidence from German Savings Banks —

Localized banks may be desirable from a regional perspective in a financially integrated economy because they can prevent a capital drain from poor to rich regions. Consequently, they improve regional economic development. In this context, our paper discusses the effect of small regional banks on local economic growth. We first theoretically show that a more efficient regional banking system in both quantity and quality can spur local economic growth. Furthermore, in less developed regions, the impact of an expansion in loan volume of regional banks is higher, and the impact of a local bank efficiency improvement is larger. We then test the model predictions based on a data set of 457 local savings banks and the corresponding regional statistics in Germany for a time period from 1995 to 2004. Our empirical results suggest that efficient savingsbanks can spur regional growth; the effect is stronger in relatively poor regions.