Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rapid indirect solar responses observed in the lower atmosphere

Establishing clear evidence of solar-induced lower atmosphere effects is hampered by the small 11-year solar cycle responses, typically swamped by meteorological variability. Strong 27-day cyclic changes are exploited here instead. During the 2007/8 minimum in solar activity, regular 27-day lighthouse-like sweeps of energetic particles crossed the heliosphere and Earth, followed by a burst of solar ultraviolet radiation. Averaging the atmospheric responses at UK sites reveals immediate cooling in the troposphere after the peak energetic particle flux, followed by warming in the stratosphere. Regionally, this is accompanied by zonal wind changes, and temperature changes beneath cloud at the same time. Of two possible rapid distinct routes of solar influence—photochemical (through ozone) and atmospheric electrical (through low level clouds)—the ozone route does not provide a phase-locked response but the electrical route is supported by observed phase-locked thickening of low level clouds. These findings have potential value to weather forecasting.
Predicting the distribution of a rare chipmunk (Neotamias quadrivittatus oscuraensis): comparing MaxEnt and occupancy models

Species distribution models (SDMs) use presence records to determine the relationship between species occurrence and various environmental variables to create predictive maps describing the species' distribution. The Oscura Mountains Colorado chipmunk (Neotamias quadrivittatus oscuraensis) occurs in central New Mexico and is of conservation concern due to its relict distribution and threats to habitat. We previously created an occupancy model for this taxon, but were concerned that the model may not have adequately captured the ecological factors influencing the chipmunk's distribution because of the data hungry nature of occupancy modeling. MaxEnt is another SDM method that is particularly effective at testing large numbers of variables and handling small sample sizes. Our goal was to create a MaxEnt model for the Oscura Mountains Colorado chipmunk and to compare it with our previous occupancy model for this taxon, either to strengthen our original assessment of the relevant ecological factors or identify additional factors that were not captured by our occupancy model. We created MaxEnt models using occurrence records from baited camera traps and opportunistic surveys. We adjusted model complexity using a novel method for tuning both the regularization multiplier and feature class parameters while also performing variable selection. We compared the distribution maps and variables selected by MaxEnt to the results of our occupancy model for this taxon. The MaxEnt and occupancy models selected similar environmental variables and the overall spatial pattern of occurrence was similar for each model. Likelihood of occurrence was positively related to elevation, piñon woodland vegetation type, and topographic variables associated with escarpments. The overall similarities between the MaxEnt and occupancy models increased our confidence of the ecological factors influencing the distribution of the chipmunk. We conclude that MaxEnt offers advantages for predicting the distribution of rare species, which can help inform conservation actions.
Assessing Genetic Diversity of Three Species of Potato Tuber Moths (Gelechiidae, Lepidoptera) in the Ecuadorian Highlands

Abstract Three species of potato tuber moths, Tecia solanivora Povolny, Symmetrischema tangolias Gyen, and Phthorimaea operculella Zeller (all Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), attack potato plants in the highlands of Ecuador and cause great economic losses. To understand their ecology and to develop precise integrated pest management strategies, a description of the molecular identification of each species and genetic diversity within populations is needed. In this study, we assessed the genetic diversity of a total of 112 moth samples of these 3 distinct species. Samples were collected from the 4 central provinces (Bolívar, Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, and Tungurahua) in the Ecuadorian highlands, where potato is a major crop for food security. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Sanger sequencing, we compared mitochondrial gene sequences among conspecific moth samples. Each of the 3 species exhibited different patterns regarding genetic diversity; more than 1 haplotype was present in P. operculella and S. tangolias, whereas all T. solanivora samples were found to be genetically identical. This initial effort of molecular characterization of the potato tuber moths will facilitate identifying incursion and potential migration route of Gelechiidae species as well as prevention of the pest outbreaks.
RackMem: A Tailored Caching Layer for Rack Scale Computing

High-performance computing (HPC) clusters suffer from an overall low memory utilization that is caused by the node-centric memory allocation combined with the variable memory requirements of HPC workloads. The recent provisioning of nodes with terabytes of memory to accommodate workloads with extreme peak memory requirements further exacerbates the problem. Memory disaggregation is viewed as a promising remedy to increase overall resource utilization and enable cost-effective up-scaling and efficient operation of HPC clusters, however, the overhead of demand paging in virtual memory management has so far hindered performant implementations. To overcome these limitations, this work presents RackMem, an efficient implementation of disaggregated memory for rack scale computing. RackMem addresses the shortcomings of Linux's demand paging algorithm and automatically adapts to the memory access patterns of individual processes to minimize the inherent overhead of remote memory accesses. Evaluated on a cluster with an InfiniBand interconnect, RackMem outperforms the state-of-the-art RDMA implementation and Linux's virtual memory paging by a significant margin. RackMem's custom demand paging implementation achieves a tail latency that is two orders of magnitude better than that of the Linux kernel. Compared to the state-of-the-art remote paging solution, RackMem achieves a 28% higher throughput and a 44% lower tail latency for a wide variety of real-world workloads.
Dynamic Masking for Improved Stability in Online Spoken Language Translation

For spoken language translation (SLT) in live scenarios such as conferences, lectures and meetings, it is desirable to show the translation to the user as quickly as possible, avoiding an annoying lag between speaker and translated captions. In other words, we would like low-latency, online SLT. If we assume a pipeline of automatic speech recognition (ASR) and machine translation (MT) then a viable approach to online SLT is to pair an online ASR system, with a a retranslation strategy, where the MT system re-translates every update received from ASR. However this can result in annoying "flicker" as the MT system updates its translation. A possible solution is to add a fixed delay, or "mask" to the the output of the MT system, but a fixed global mask introduces undesirable latency to the output. We show how this mask can be set dynamically, improving the latency-flicker trade-off without sacrificing translation quality.
Constraining the Transformer NMT Model with Heuristic Grid Beam Search

Constrained decoding forces a certain set words or phrases to appear in the translation results and is very useful when adapting MT to a certain domain. In recent years, the Transformer model has outperformed other neural machine translation models to become the state-of-the-art paradigm. However, constrained decoding for domain adaptation remains an open problem under the Transformer model. In this paper, we ﬁrst investigate how a constrained decoding method – Grid Beam Search (GBS) – performs in the Transformer model, and then propose a source-informed heuristic method that can fully take advantage of the alignment information from the multi-head attention mechanism in Transformer to speed up the decoding in the GBS method and guide the placement of constraints during the expansion of hypotheses in GBS. Experiments on English–Chinese and English–German translation domain adaptation tasks show that the proposed method signiﬁcantly outperforms the basic Transformer model in terms of BLEU and METEOR score, and prunes up to 30% hypotheses to save up to 20% decoding time compared to the GBS model while maintaining comparable translation performance.
A shift towards the annual habit in selfing Arabidopsis lyrata

An annual life history is often associated with the ability to self-fertilize. However, it is unknown whether the evolution of selfing commonly precedes the evolution of annuality, or vice versa. Using a 2-year common garden experiment, we asked if the evolution of selfing in the normally perennial Arabidopsis lyrata was accompanied by a shift towards the annual habit. Despite their very recent divergence from obligately outcrossing populations, selfing plants exhibited a 39% decrease in over-winter survival after the first year compared with outcrossing plants. Our data ruled out the most obvious underlying mechanism: differences in reproductive investment in the first year did not explain differences in survival. We conclude that transitions to selfing in perennial A. lyrata may be accompanied by a shift towards annuality, but drivers of the process require further investigation.
Geographic variation in body size of five Australian marsupials supports Bergmann's thermoregulation hypothesis

Despite a large body of research, little agreement has been reached on the ultimate driver(s) of geographic variation in body size (mass and/or length). Here we use skull length measurements (as a surrogate for body mass) from five Australian marsupial species to test the primary hypotheses of geographic variation in body size (relating to ambient temperature, productivity, and seasonality). We used a revised articulation of Bergmann's rule, wherein evidence for thermoregulation (heat dissipation or heat conservation) is considered supportive of Bergmann's rule. We modeled the skull lengths of four Petaurid glider species and the common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) as a function of indices of ambient temperature, productivity, and seasonality. The skull length of Petaurus ariel, P. notatus, and the squirrel glider (P. norfolcensis), increased with increasing winter minimum temperature, while that of T. vulpecula decreased with increasing summer maximum temperature. The skull length of P. ariel decreased with indices of productivity, falsifying the productivity hypothesis. Only P. ariel met the hypothesis of seasonality, as skull length increased with increasing seasonality. Thermoregulation was the most consistently supported driver of geographic variation in body size, as we found evidence of either heat conservation or heat dissipation in four of the five species examined. We found the geographic range of the individual species and the climate space in which the species occurred was integral to understanding the species' responses to climate variables. Future studies should use specimens that are representative of a species' entire geographic range, encompass a variety of climatic regions, and use consistent methodologies and terminology when testing drivers of geographic variation in body size.
A regularized phase-field model for faceting in a kinetically controlled crystal growth

At equilibrium, the shape of a strongly anisotropic crystal exhibits corners when for some orientations the surface stiffness is negative. In the sharp-interface problem, the surface free energy is traditionally augmented with a curvature-dependent term in order to round the corners and regularize the dynamic equations that describe the motion of such interfaces. In this paper, we adopt a diffuse interface description and present a phase-field model for strongly anisotropic crystals that is regularized using an approximation of the Willmore energy. The Allen–Cahn equation is employed to model kinetically controlled crystal growth. Using the method of matched asymptotic expansions, it is shown that the model converges to the sharp-interface theory proposed by Herring. Then, the stress tensor is used to derive the force acting on the diffuse interface and to examine the properties of a corner at equilibrium. Finally, the coarsening dynamics of the faceting instability during growth is investigated. Phase-field simulations reveal the existence of a parabolic regime, with the mean facet length evolving in t, with t the time, as predicted by the sharp-interface theory. A specific coarsening mechanism is observed: a hill disappears as the two neighbouring valleys merge.
VP Float: First Class Treatment for Variable Precision Floating Point Arithmetic

Optimizing compilers for high performance computing only support IEEE~754 floating-point (FP) types and applications needing higher precision involve cumbersome memory management and calls to external libraries. We introduce an extension of the C type system to represent variable-precision FP arithmetic, supporting both static and dynamically variable precision. We design and implement a compilation flow bridging the abstraction gap between this type system and hardware FP instructions or software libraries. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our solution by enabling the full range of LLVM optimizations and leveraging two backend code generators: one for the ISA of a variable precision FP arithmetic coprocessor, and one for the MPFR multi-precision FP library. Both targets support the static and dynamically adaptable precision of our type system. On the PolyBench suite, our optimizing compilation flow targeting MPFR is shown to outperform the Boost programming interface for the MPFR library.
The Forward Slice Core Microarchitecture

Superscalar out-of-order cores deliver high performance at the cost of increased complexity and power budget. In-order cores, in contrast, are less complex and have a smaller power budget, but offer low performance. A processor architecture should ideally provide high performance in a power- and cost-efficient manner. Recently proposed slice-out-of-order (sOoO) cores identify backward slices of memory operations which they execute out-of-order with respect to the rest of the dynamic instruction stream for increased instruction-level and memory-hierarchy parallelism. Unfortunately, constructing backward slices is imprecise and hardware-inefficient, leaving performance on the table. In this paper, we propose Forward Slice Core (FSC), a novel core microarchitecture that builds on a stall-on-use in-order core and extracts more instruction-level and memory-hierarchy parallelism than slice-out-of-order cores. FSC does so by identifying and steering forward slices (rather than backward slices) to dedicated in-order FIFO queues. Moreover, FSC puts load-consumers that depend on L1 D-cache misses on the side to enable younger independent load-consumers to execute faster. Finally, FSC eliminates the need for dynamic memory disambiguation by replicating store-address instructions across queues. FSC improves performance by 9.7% on average compared to Freeway, the state-of-the-art sOoO core, across the SPEC CPU2017 benchmarks, while incurring reduced hardware complexity and a similar power budget.
Long-term changes in mercury concentrations in herring gulls Larus argentatus and common terns Sterna hirundo from the German North Sea coast

1. Mercury concentrations in body feathers of herring gulls Larus argentatus Pontoppidan from the German North Sea coast showed no significant variation among seasons or regions. 2. Concentrations were higher in adults than in juveniles and two times higher after 1940 than in earlier years. Among adult herring gulls, concentrations increased abruptly to a peak of 12 μg g −1 during the 1940s, presumed to be due to high discharges of mercury during the Second World War. Concentrations dropped in the 1950s then increased to a second peak in the 1970s (10 μgg −1 ) before falling in the late 1980s
Diversity and Abundance of Dragonflies and Damselflies in Tampa Bay, Florida

Abstract Little is known about the community of dragonflies and damselflies in Tampa Bay, Florida, USA. To address this gap, we conducted 2 longitudinal surveys of adult odonates in a natural floodplain of the Hillsborough River in 2013 and 2017. Along with abundance and species diversity, we also measured intraspecific variation in body size, sexual dimorphism, wing-cell asymmetry, and water mite ectoparasitism. Our first weekly survey from Oct 2013 to Oct 2014 sampled 327 adults (230 female, 97 male) from 8 dragonfly species, with the eastern pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis Say; Odonata: Libellulidae) representing 79% of captures, followed by the second most abundant (14%), the Florida non-native and neotropical hyacinth glider (Miathyria marcella Selys; Odonata: Libellulidae). Our second weekly survey from Sept to Dec 2017, which focused on both damselflies and dragonflies and captured 205 adults from 8 species, with the fragile forktail (Ischnura posita Hagen; Odonata: Coenagrionidae) being the most abundant with 70% of captures. Female-biased sexual size dimorphism was found in both E. simplicicollis and I. posita; however, both sexes were equally variable in size and symmetric in a meristic trait. Female and male M. marcella were equally variable, monomorphic, and symmetric. Combing symmetry data from each sex, only I. posita damselflies were asymmetric overall. Finally, we did not observe any parasitism by larval water mites in either survey. We aim to continue surveys to track seasonal and climate-driven changes in dragonfly diversity and phenology in this region.
Effects of Microbial Biomineralization Surface Erosion Control Treatments on Vegetation and Revegetation along Highways

Microbial induced calcite precipitation (MICP) has been widely studied in laboratories to test changes to soil strength and density. Rarely studied is the biogeotechnology’s influence on real-world conditions. Consideration for the natural environment coexisting with treated soil is important, particularly vegetative responses to biochemical and physical changes from treatments. In this factorial designed study, vegetative response from one-time biochemical surficial treatments is observed in four soil growth mediums: two variants burned soil, unburned side slope construction soil, and Ottawa sand. Treatment objectives are to create a light crust that provides short-term erosion control, protects concurrently applied seeds and provides a beneficial plant environment (BPE). The crust creates a BPE through increased soil water retention and shear soil strength allowing better root and plant stability. An overly dense crust prevents root penetration and is avoided because established root systems are crucial in long-term erosion control. This study successfully created such a crust in all soil types treated. Also studied were influences of solution components on germination rates. Component influence proved highly dependent on soil type as calcium chloride inclusion was highly detrimental to seedling success in clean sand, somewhat detrimental to burned soil with ash layer, insignificant in unburned soil, and beneficial to burned soil without ash layer. These results give an indication of the complex biochemical soil reactions occurring from MICP treatment. This study gives evidence that a one-time application of a seeded biochemical solution has real-world potential as a balanced short-term and long-term erosion control technology for burned and construction soils.
Evaluating telephone and online psychological support and referral

Mental health counselling and support over the telephone or internet is increasingly common. Evaluating effectiveness requires outcome measures and understanding factors driving behaviour. This article describes a theory-driven evaluation of the one-month outcomes of a short-term solution-focused support session for anxiety or depression with a counsellor. The primary aim of the evaluation was to measure the outcomes of this session on service users’ help-seeking behaviour. It also sought to understand reasons for behaviour based on behaviour change theory. A secondary aim was to measure changes in feelings of stress and coping before and after the session, and collect evidence of the value of the service in terms of ‘consumer-defined recovery’. The evaluation found the service was effective, with the overwhelming majority taking some action, being more engaged with a health professional, having reduced feelings of distress, increased confidence to cope and less hopelessness. Improvements for service users included ‘reality testing’ the advice given and building commitment or intent to follow the advice, and ‘rehearsing’ so service users can demonstrate to themselves they have the skills required and can overcome any obstacles to following the advice.
Incorporating Demographic Proportions into Crash Count Models by Quasi-Induced Exposure Method

Quasi-induced exposure (QIE) is an effective technique for estimating the exposure of a specific driving or vehicle population when real exposure data are not available. Typically crash prediction models are carried out at the site level, that is, segment or intersection. Driving population characteristics are generally not available at this level, however, and thus are omitted from count models. Because of the sparsity of traffic crashes, estimating driving population distributions at the site level using crash data at individual sites is challenging. This study proposes a technique to obtain demographic proportions to incorporate in the count models as an exposure at each site by aggregating similar adjacent sites until significant demographic proportions are obtained. Information on driver gender, age, and vehicle type are obtained by QIE using five years (2010–2014) of crash data; and road inventories are obtained for 1,264 urban four-lane divided highway segments in California. Count models including only site level factors were compared with models including both crash level and site level factors. The latter outperformed the former in relation to mean prediction bias and mean absolute deviation statistics on holdout sample predictions. Results indicate that teen drivers are more crash prone in total and in fatal plus injury severity crashes. For senior drivers, crash risk increases with the increase in severity level. The presence of vehicles other than passenger cars and trucks reduces total and property damage only crash counts. Female drivers are associated with higher total and fatal plus injury crash counts.
Determination of macronutrients to be included in in vitro culture media according to leaf concentrations

Summary Because of the great number of in vitro culture media used in micropropagation, the present work proposes a method that optimizes and systematizes the macronutrient concentration to be used in a given medium. The method consists of adding the macronutrients that the leaves contain in the period of maximum growth to the culture medium, since this should provide the best nutritional conditions. We compared the proliferation stage of six spontaneous peach-almond hybrids (Mayor, Cieza 1, Cieza 2, Cieza 3, Cieza 4 and Cieza 5) and ‘Mirobolan Adara‘ in the specific medium obtained from each selection as a function of its own leaf macronutrient content and the macronutrient of the widely used Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. The growth regulator concentration in all cases was 1.mg l-1 BAP and 0.1.mg l-1 IBA, obtaining higher proliferation rates, height and number of leaves and lower hyperhydricity symptoms in the specific media in all the rootstock selections than in control MS.