Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regression Equation of PM10 Dispersion of Gypsum Industry Emissions by AERMOD Model (Case Study: Zarch, Iran)

Environmental pollution is undoubtedly one of the problems of the present world and the harmful effects of air pollution on human health and the environment are not hidden from anyone. Particulate matter less than 10 microns is one of the most important critical pollutants and is introduced as the main indicator of airborne particles. According to studies, particulate matter is more hazardous to health than sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides [1].
Wave Energy in Tropical Regions: Deployment Challenges, Environmental and Social Perspectives

The harnessing of renewable sources of marine energy has become a promising solution for a number of problems, namely satisfying the increasing demand for electricity, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and the provision of energy to regions unconnected to a national grid. Tropical countries have an interesting dichotomy: Despite their varied potential sources of marine energy, their environmental and social conditions impose severe constraints on the development of a renewable energy industry. Moreover, the exploitation of these opportunities is limited by national economies´ reliance on fossil fuels, political and social restraints, and technological immaturity. The present work addresses challenges and opportunities common to wave energy implementation in tropical nations, as a first approach to a regional diagnosis. The motivation for this work is to encourage research on wave energy policies in the Tropics. Technical, environmental, and social challenges to be overcome in wave energy projects are discussed. The technical challenges are grouped into development, deployment, and operation stages of wave energy converters; environmental challenges are divided into biodiversity, cumulative effects, and monitoring aspects, whilst social issues include population growth and energy access matters. The Mexican strategy for developing sustainable technology throughout the wave energy production chain is also presented.
Enhanced Radiation of Near-Inertial Energy by Frontal Vertical Circulations

Near-inertial waves (NIWs) radiate energy out of the mixed layer when they develop small lateral scales. Refraction of these waves by gradients in planetary and vertical vorticity has traditionally been invoked to explain this phenomenon. Here, a new mechanism for the enhancement of NIW radiation is described involving the interaction of NIWs with vertical circulations at fronts undergoing frontogenesis. Frontal vertical circulations drive a Doppler shift that is proportional to the wave’s vertical wavenumber m and that changes sign across a front, inducing large lateral differences in wave phase within a few inertial periods. Theory predicts that the process should generate a vertical energy flux that varies inversely with m in contrast to the m−3 dependence expected from refraction. As a consequence, high-mode NIWs are much more effective at radiating energy when fronts and their vertical circulation are present. Numerical simulations initialized with fronts, an array of eddies that drive frontogenesis, and NIWs of various modes are used to test the theory. In the simulations, the interaction of the NIWs with the frontal vertical circulations generates wave beams that radiate down from the fronts. The resultant downward energy flux varies with m following the theoretical scaling laws. In the beams, the Eulerian frequency is inertial within a few percent, yet the waves’ potential and kinetic energies are comparable, thus indicating a superinertial intrinsic frequency. The downshift in Eulerian frequency from the intrinsic frequency is due to horizontal advection of the waves by the eddies.
Reptiles of Gujarat, India: Updated Checklist, Distribution, and Conservation Status

We present a revised checklist of reptiles inhabiting Gujarat, based on historical records and incorporating those from recent fieldwork. A total of 107 reptile species from 62 genera in 23 families was recorded. In addition, records for 23 species of reptiles dubiously or erroneously reported in the literature are discussed and recommended for removal from the Gujarat reptile list. Conservation status, threats, and endemism of recorded species are also discussed.
The Human Impacts of Air Pollution: Three Studies Using Internet Metrics

Chapter 1. —We provide first evidence of a link from daily air pollution exposure to sleep loss in a panel of Chinese cities. We develop a social media-based, city-level metric for sleeplessness, and bolster causal claims by instrumenting for pollution with plausibly exogenous variations in wind patterns. Estimates of effect sizes are substantial and robust. In our preferred specification, a one standard deviation increase in AQI causes an 11.6% increase in sleeplessness. The results sustain qualitatively under OLS estimation but are attenuated. The analysis provides a previously unaccounted-for benefit of more stringent air quality regulation. It also offers a candidate mechanism in support of recent research that links daily air quality to diminished workplace productivity, cognitive performance, school absence, traffic accidents, and other detrimental outcomes. Chapter 2. —We provide linear and non-parametric estimates of the causal impact of short-term exposure to polluted air on the prevalence of cough in a panel of a hundred Chinese cities. In our central estimate, which exploits plausibly-exogenous variations in the number of agricultural fires burning in the vicinity as an instrument, we find that a one standard deviation increase in airborne pollution causes a roughly 5% increase in the prevalence of cough in the affected city. Amongst pollutants the effect can be tied specifically to particulate matter (PM2.5). The results prove resilient in a series of robustness tests and falsification exercises. Chapter 3. —We provide the first study of the relationship between air pollution and students’ migration intentions for higher education. Young people’s interest in local study is
Integrated sea storm management strategy: the 29 October 2018
event in the Adriatic Sea

Abstract. Addressing coastal risks related to sea storms requires an integrative approach which combines monitoring stations, forecasting models, early warning systems and coastal management and planning. Such great effort is sometimes possible only through transnational cooperation, which becomes thus vital to face effectively and promptly these marine events which are responsible for several damages impacting on the environment and citizens' life. Here we present a shared and interoperable system to allow a better exchange and elaboration of information related to sea storms among countries. The proposed Integrated Web System (IWS) is a combination of a common data system for sharing ocean observations and forecasts, a multi-model ensemble system, a geoportal and interactive geo-visualization tools to make results available to the general public. Multi-model ensemble mean and spread for sea level height and wave characteristics are used to describe three different sea condition scenarios. IWS is designed to provide sea state information required for issuing coastal risk alerts over the analysed region, as well as for being easily integrated into existing local early warning systems. This study describes the application of the developed system to the exceptional storm event of 29th of October 2018, that caused severe flooding and damages to coastal infrastructures in the Adriatic Sea. The forecasted ensemble products were successfully compared with in situ observations. The hazards estimated by integrating IWS results into existing early warning systems were confirmed by documented storm impacts along the coast of Slovenia, Emilia-Romagna and the City of Venice. For the investigated event, the most severe simulated scenario resulted to provide a realistic and conservative estimation of the peak storm conditions to be used in coastal risk management.
Long term performance of low temperature asphalt pavements containing reclaimed asphalt

Roads are the most widely used mode of transportation in the world, and a country’s development is often measured in terms of its total paved roads mile age. Pavements are an essential part of our social network and asphalt concrete is the main material used for manufacturing them. Currently, the European road network is not much growing anymore and mostly needs only maintenance. In a context of increasing demand of performance and durability of asphalt mixtures, a sustainable, durable and economical conceptionis required. Indeed it could be oriented towards a self sufficient road providing its own raw materials through recycling while limiting the use of energy and other natural resources for its maintenance.The combination of warm mix asphalts (WMA) technologies and high rates of reclaimed asphalt pavements (RAP)appears as a solution to achieve both energy and natural resources savings. But it is still ambiguous in terms of durability. Therefore, an experimental program is set up to show the evolution of the performances of such asphalt concretes with time, highlighting the notion of ageing mostly related to the bituminous fraction. At the bitumen scale, the long term assessment is carried out in particular by applying the δ-method compare with GPC measurements both on model samples with controlled asphaltene content and laboratory aged ones. At the asphalt mixture scale, a comparison studyis carried out between a reference HMA and WMAs with 0%- 50% of RAP submitted to a laboratory ageing procedure. The long term performances of the mixtures are compared by means of complex modulus and fatigue testing. Results show a relation between the evolution of the structure of the bitumen with ageing and the mechanical performances. Short term ageing is less important for warm processes. After ageing, the overall tendencies are similar for all processes.
Degradación y vulnerabilidad al cambio climático en pastizales altoandinos

La degradacion de los pastizales es un proceso asociado a la perdida de equilibrio del ecosistema causado por la interaccion de multiples factores tales como el incremento de la densidad poblacional y animal, condiciones de suelo (altitud, pendiente) y climaticas (precipitacion, temperatura), que pueden hacerlas vulnerables a los efectos del cambio climatico (Ludwig et al., 2000; Liu et al., 2006). Por ello este trabajo busca identificar los factores mas importantes que determinan el proceso de degradacion de los pastizales, evaluar el grado de degradacion y vulnerabilidad al cambio climatico actual de estos ecosistemas; y determinar si existe una relacion entre el grado de degradacion del pastizal y la vulnerabilidad al cambio climatico de pastizales altoandinos. El estudio se localizo en la region puna de Ancash, Junin, Pasco, Huancavelica y Lima, e involucro el diseno de un marco de evaluacion de la degradacion de pastizales basado en informacion de campo y productos del satelite Landsat, contrastandola con variables socioeconomicas, ecologicas y de localizacion. La estimacion de la vulnerabilidad al cambio climatico se realizo mediante el proceso analitico jerarquico (AHP), en una plataforma de Sistemas de Informacion Geografica (SIG). Los resultados revelan que los principales factores asociados al proceso de degradacion seria y extrema en orden de importancia son, perdida de la fraccion de cobertura vegetal (FCV) de anos pasados, incremento de la temperatura media anual, mayor densidad animal, deficientes politicas de proteccion, mayor densidad poblacional y menor indice de intemperismo. Se encontro que aproximadamente el 80% de los pastizales estudiados se encuentran en estado de degradacion extrema y seria, siendo el distrito de Santa Ana, Huancavelica, el mas degradado (extrema), y el distrito de Olleros, Ancash, el menos degradado (seria), con una tendencia a que la degradacion siga incrementandose. Cerca del 85% de pastizales se clasificaron como de extrema y pesada vulnerabilidad, siendo los principales factores en orden de importancia asociadas a este indice, baja FCV, mayor pendiente, menor indice de intemperismo, menor precipitacion, mayor distancia a fuentes de agua, mayor densidad poblacional, mayor temperatura media anual y mayor densidad animal. El distrito de Tomas, Lima, es el mas vulnerable y Canchayllo, Junin, el menos vulnerable, siendo la tendencia de la vulnerabilidad a seguir incrementandose. Por ultimo, se encontro que existe una correlacion espacial positiva entre degradacion y vulnerabilidad al cambio climatico de pastizales altoandinos (Pearson=0.67; Speearman=0.61).
Effect of the Quasi‐Biennial Oscillation on Carbon Monoxide in the Stratosphere

The interannual variability of tropical carbon monoxide from the Microwave Limb Sounder over 2004–2018 period is dominated by the quasi‐biennial oscillation (QBO). We simulate the carbon monoxide variability over this period using the 2‐D Caltech/JPL chemistry‐transport model. The chemistry‐transport model includes the photochemical sources and sinks and transport driven by a stream function and eddy diffusivity derived from the assimilated winds of National Centers for Environmental Prediction Reanalysis 2. The results show good agreement between model and Microwave Limb Sounder observations. We also investigate the anomalous period 2015–2016, when the QBO winds deviated significantly from their climatological values. The model simulations could capture the QBO features in agreement with observations for the anomalous period.
The potential of very high spatial resolution remote sensing in applications in smallholder agriculture

Smallholder farmers contribute to more than 50% of the world's annual production of cereals, meat and dairy products and they cultivate more than 80% of the total agricultural area in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Conversely, it is estimated that more than 2.5 billion people depend directly on the agricultural sector. Earth Observation has been a tool for agronomists with ever-increasing capability, however, the case of agriculture in low-income countries imposes challenges, for instance in recognizing mixed- and inter-cropping, the small size of the farm plots and lack of sound crop management systems, which increase the uncertainty of information derived from remotely sensed data. The Spurring a Transformation for Agriculture through Remote Sensing (STARS) project aims to investigate the potential of Very High Spatial Resolution remote sensing in delivering data products that can better inform decisions around smallholder agriculture. Data are collected throughout the growing season via in-situ measurements, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles equipped with NIR and multispectral cameras and VHSR satellite images. One important STARS' objective is to analyze the spectral information of this multi-scale and multi-temporal dataset and establish implementation flows to support stakeholders in their decision making and economic development. In this study, we demonstrate the usefulness of VHSR images in mapping and monitoring smallholder crop fields in Bangladesh. UAV-based and satellite data at a variety of spatial scales are presented and the degree to which delineation of crop fields and related agronomical information can be extracted is discussed. This study aims to demonstrate potentials and limitations of the use of remote sensing for monitoring crop fields of smallholder farmers.
Motion-compensated optical coherence tomography using envelope-based surface detection and Kalman-based prediction

We present an optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging system that effectively compensates unwanted axial motion with micron-scale accuracy. The OCT system is based on a swept-source (SS) engine (1060-nm center wavelength, 100-nm full-width sweeping bandwidth, and 100-kHz repetition rate), with axial and lateral resolutions of about 4.5 and 8.5 microns respectively. The SS-OCT system incorporates a distance sensing method utilizing an envelope-based surface detection algorithm. The algorithm locates the target surface from the B-scans, taking into account not just the first or highest peak but the entire signature of sequential A-scans. Subsequently, a Kalman filter is applied as predictor to make up for system latencies, before sending the calculated position information to control a linear motor, adjusting and maintaining a fixed system-target distance. To test system performance, the motioncorrection algorithm was compared to earlier, more basic peak-based surface detection methods and to performing no motion compensation. Results demonstrate increased robustness and reproducibility, particularly noticeable in multilayered tissues, while utilizing the novel technique. Implementing such motion compensation into clinical OCT systems may thus improve the reliability of objective and quantitative information that can be extracted from OCT measurements.
Arrival management for eVTOL aircraft in on-demand urban air mobility

The electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft can alleviate transportation congestion on the ground by utilizing three-dimensional airspace efficiently. However, the endurance (specific energy) of Lithium-ion Polymer (Li-Po) batteries imposes severe constraints on the operational time-span of an eVTOL on urban air mobility (UAM) passenger transportation mission. The first part of the research focuses on the generation of energy efficient trajectories for eVTOLs with the assigned required times of arrival (RTA)s. The problem formulations are performed in multiphase optimal control framework with energy as the performance index for the following eVTOL aircraft types: (i) multirotor and (ii) tandem tilt-wing. These two types of eVTOLs are chosen because of their performance characteristics falling at the two extremes of the performance spectrum of eVTOLs. The proposed multiphase optimal control problem formulations and the corresponding numerical solutions enable an eVTOL to meet the assigned RTA and achieve the most energy efficient arrival trajectory, which is a critical enabler for the safe and efficient future eVTOL operations for passenger transportation and cargo delivery in UAM environment. The problem formulations are applied to a UAM passenger transport use cases with (i) EHang 184, (ii) Airbus Vahana, and (iii) the Uber Elevate proposed vertiport concept in numerical simulations. The second part of the research involves arrival sequencing and scheduling problem formulation in UAM context for a mixed fleet (winged/wingless) of eVTOLs expected to land on a vertiport. Based on anticipated UAM traffic density in emergent (low) and early expanded (moderate/high) operations, two separate vertiport arrival procedures have been proposed for the problem. The arrival procedure for early expanded operations is proposed based on arrival procedure of emergent operations as a baseline with the addition of metering gate(s) on the boundary of the terminal area (a circular area of radius 400 m around a vertiport) and multiple landing pads on the vertiport. The objective of the problem is to minimize the makespan (landing completion time) of a given
Thermodynamic and Elastic Properties of Grossular at High Pressures and High Temperatures: A First‐Principles Study

Thermodynamic and elastic properties of grossular (Ca3Al2(SiO4)3, the calcium‐aluminium end‐member of garnet) at high pressures and temperatures are obtained using the first‐principles calculations based on the density functional theory. Our calculated results agree well with available experimental data. The elastic moduli and wave velocities of grossular exhibit the nonlinear pressure and temperature dependences. Although the bulk moduli of grossular are similar to those of pyrope (Mg3Al2(SiO4)3) and almandine (Fe3Al2(SiO4)3), its shear moduli are significantly larger than those of pyrope and almandine. Combining our calculated results with previously calculated elasticity of other upper‐mantle minerals, we estimated density and wave velocity profiles for the pyrolitic and eclogitic compositions along different mantle geotherms. We find that a pyrolitic composition along the normal geotherm can well reproduce the reference velocities and densities for the upper mantle, supporting a pyrolitic upper mantle. Although an eclogitic composition also has similar velocities to reference seismic models above 300 km, it is significantly denser than the pyrolitic composition and the ambient mantle. However, the velocities of eclogite along the cold geotherm are relatively larger than those of the pyrolitic composition, indicating that the presence of eclogite in subduction zones could produce high‐velocity anomalies. In addition, the decomposition of grossular to calcium perovskite and corundum at the conditions of the mantle transition zone can produce considerable velocities and density jumps, which probably provides an interpretation for the seismically observed multiple reflections at ~660 km.
Courtroom Ethnography: Researching the Intersection of Law, Space, and Everyday Practices

This article argues for a more sustained use of courtroom ethnography by geographers as a means to research legal phenomena, especially in matters of court trials. To do this, I begin by referencing two main threads of courtroom ethnographies conducted in disciplines outside geography, specifically the spaces of the courthouse and courtrooms and the study of emotion and bodily performances by sociolegal and sociology scholars. To then underscore the ways in which a geographical perspective can enhance this existing research and point to topical and theoretical interventions that courtroom ethnography might offer geography, I draw on my experiences with courtroom ethnography on the criminal trial against former Enron chief executives Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. This experience produced a nuanced and lively understanding of how law, justice, and space comingle through the court’s physical spaces and performative embodiments. My conclusions emphasize courtroom ethnographies’ scholarly opportunities for researchers who study the intersection of law and space, while also reflecting on its challenges. Key Words: corporation, courtroom, Enron, ethnography, legal geography.