Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of Vertical Wind Shear on the Ocean Response to Tropical Cyclones Based on Satellite Observations

We here investigate the effects of tropical cyclone (TC)‐induced rainfall asymmetries driven by vertical wind shear on ocean salinity and temperature response to TCs using satellite and in situ observations. On average, TCs tend to initially freshen the ocean surface due to heavy rainfall and subsequently salinity from upwelling and vertical mixing, with strongest surface salinification on the right‐hand side of the Northern Hemisphere TCs. The direction of shear has been found to control the location of maximum TC rainfall, resulting in more freshwater accumulation on the right‐hand side of the right‐sheared storms. The accumulated freshwater strengthens salinity stratification and inhibits right‐side biased vertical mixing, reducing subsequent surface salinification by 0.15–0.3 psu and slightly suppressing the surface cooling by about 0.15°C, relative to left‐sheared storms. Thus, the directionality of shear can impact ocean‐TC coupling.
Effect on Squatting with Short Foot Exercise on Muscle Activation and Onset of Contraction in the Quadriceps Femoris

Objective: Short foot exercise(SFE) is frequently used to increase the medial longitudinal arch of the foot, as well as the intrinsic foot muscles. This studyinvestigated the effects of SFE onmuscular activity and the onset of contraction of the quadriceps femoris muscle during squats in healthypeople. It also aimed to compare and analyze the results with those of the general squat method and propose a more efficient squat method. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: This study compared 20 adults (male ＝ 10, female ＝ 10) who statisfied the inclusion criteria for the muscle activity and onset of the muscle contraction of the quadriceps femoris using surface EMG under two conditions: general squats and SFE squats. Results: Separate analyses and comparisons of the outcomes of the SFE squat and the general squat, showed a significant increase in the muscle activities of the rectus femoris and vastus medial muscles in both males and females (p ＜ 0.05). The onset of muscle contraction was significantly delayed for the vastus lateralis relative to that for the vastus medialis (p ＜ 0.05). However, it delayed significantly in females, but not in males. Conclusions: The SFE squats induced selective muscular activities of the rectus femoris and vastus medialis muscels and affected the onset of contraction of the vastus medialis and lateralis muscles.
Intraoperative study of the functional perforasome – an experimental model

Background and aims The aim of this study is to find the most suitable protocol based on an animal experimental model, through the use of a fluorescent dye, determining also its minimal concentration needed to stain the skin after arterial injection, in order to evidence the functional perforasome by visual examination. Methods Methylene blue solution was used in order to determine the territory vascularized by one perforator on fresh cadavers in many studies which introduced, as a final result, the concept of perforasome. One of the most frequent complications of perforator flaps is partial flap necrosis which could be avoided by correctly assessing pre-operatively the functional perforasome surface. Two groups of seven rats were used in order to establish a proper surgical protocol to evaluate the functional perforasome in vivo by injecting the dye. Also, the minimal concentration for methylene blue was experimentally determined. Results The direct injection into the femoral artery of the proper concentration of dye, 1mM for methylene blue and the clamping of all the branches except the medial branch of the superficial epigastric artery is a reliable model to study the functional perforasome. Conclusions Our study demonstrates that the intraoperative assessment with fluorescent dye of the functional perforasome by intra-arterial injection of methylene blue is an easy, affordable and very efficient method to reduce the number of partial necrosis of the perforator flaps.
A comparison of two combining techniques for equal gain, trellis coded diversity receivers

Trellis coded modulation is widely used for digital transmission over fading channels. Classical diversity techniques are also frequently employed to combat fading. In this paper two different strategies for equal gain combining are compared, One scheme is based on an interleaved code combining technique. The alternative scheme is based on averaged diversity combining. The well known transfer function bounding technique for trellis codes is used to obtain: expressions for the bit error rate performance of the two trellis coded diversity receivers over a slowly fading Rayleigh channel. The analysis of interleaved code combining is a straightforward modification of the analysis for multiple trellis coded modulation. The analysis of averaged diversity combining is accommodated through a more involved, novel modification of the branch labeling of the error state diagram. The analytic techniques presented in this paper are supported by simulation results using a TCM scheme based on QPSK modulation and a rate-l/2 linear convolution code. >
L’événement des 8-9 septembre 2002 : situation météorologique et simulation a mésoéchelle

La situation extrême des pluies diluviennes du 8-9 septembre 2002fait l’objet d’une étude a posteriori avec le modèle de recherche MESO-NH utilisé à une résolution de quelques kilomètres. Après une brève description du contexte et de l’événement météorologique qui ont conduit aux pluies exceptionnelles, le potentiel de la modélisation à haute résolution pour la prévision quantitative des précipitations est examiné à l’aide de différentes expériences de sensibilité aux conditions initiales et de surface. Dans un second temps, la modélisation à haute résolution est utilisée comme outil de retour d’expérience pour mieux comprendre les phénomènes météorologiques à l’origine des fortes précipitations.
The marine environmental evolution in the northern Norwegian Sea revealed by foraminifera during the last 60 ka

Both planktonic and benthic foraminifera were identified in a sediment core collected from the northern Norwegian Sea to reconstruct the paleoceanographic evolution since the last glaciation. The assemblages and distribution patterns of dominant foraminiferal species with special habitat preferences indicated that three marine environments occurred in the northern Norwegian Sea since 62 ka BP: (1) an environment controlled by the circulation of the North Atlantic Current (NAC); (2) by polynya-related sinking of brines and upwelling of intermediate water surrounding the polynya; (3) by melt-water from Barents Sea Ice Sheet (BSIS). At 62–52.5 ka BP, a period with the highest summer insolation during the last glaciatial period, intensification of the NAC led to higher absolute abundances and higher diversity of foraminiferal faunas. The higher abundance of benthic species Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi indicates bottom water conditions that were well-ventilated with an adequate food supply; however, higher abundances of polar planktonic foraminiferal species Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sin.) indicate that the near-surface temperatures were still low. During mid-late MIS 3 (52.5–29 ka BP), the marine environment of the northern Norwegian Sea alternately changed among the above mentioned three environments. At 29–17 ka BP during the last glacial maximum, the dominant benthic species Bolivina arctica from the Arctic Ocean indicates an extreme cold bottom environment. The BSIS expanded to its maximum extent during this period, and vast polynya formed at the edge of the ice sheet. The sinking of brines from the formation of sea ice in the polynyas caused upwelling, indicated by the upwelling adapted planktonic species Globigerinita glutinata. At 17–10 ka BP, the northern Norwegian Sea was controlled by melt-water. With the ablation of BSIS, massive amounts of melt water discharged into the Norwegian Sea, resulting in strong water column stratification, poor ventilation, and an oligotrophic bottom condition, which led to a drastic decline in the abundance and diversity of foraminifera. At 10–0 ka BP, the marine environment was transformed again by the control of the NAC, which continues to modern day. The abrupt decrease in relative abundance of Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sin.) indicates a rise in near-surface temperature with the strengthening of the NAC and without the influence of the BSIS. Citation : Wang W G, Zhao M W, Yang J C, et al. The marine environmental evolution in the northern Norwegian Sea revealed by foraminifera during the last 60 ka. Adv Polar Sci, 2021, 32(3): 210-220, doi: 10.13679/j.advps. 2021.0020
Recent Development in Electricity Price Forecasting Based on Computational Intelligence Techniques in Deregulated Power Market

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) based techniques for electricity price forecasting (EPF) provides essential information to electricity market participants and managers because of its greater handling capability of complex input and output relationships. Therefore, this research investigates and analyzes the performance of different optimization methods in the training phase of artificial neural network (ANN) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) for the accuracy enhancement of EPF. In this work, a multi-objective optimization-based feature selection technique with the capability of eliminating non-linear and interacting features is implemented to create an efficient day-ahead price forecasting. In the beginning, the multi-objective binary backtracking search algorithm (MOBBSA)-based feature selection technique is used to examine various combinations of input variables to choose the suitable feature subsets, which minimizes, simultaneously, both the number of features and the estimation error. In the later phase, the selected features are transferred into the machine learning-based techniques to map the input variables to the output in order to forecast the electricity price. Furthermore, to increase the forecasting accuracy, a backtracking search algorithm (BSA) is applied as an efficient evolutionary search algorithm in the learning procedure of the ANFIS approach. The performance of the forecasting methods for the Queensland power market in the year 2018, which is well-known as the most competitive market in the world, is investigated and compared to show the superiority of the proposed methods over other selected methods.
The impact of firms’ and CEOs’ social media usage on corporate performance

The impact of social media usage on corporate performance has not been examined in the Saudi context. This paper aims to investigate the influence of social media, namely companies’ and CEOs’ involvement in Twitter and LinkedIn, on the profitability of Saudi Arabia listed firms. A dynamic panel estimation method is used to empirically assess this relationship. The study employs 120 firms listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange Tadawul from 2014 to 2017. Data are obtained from the companies’ annual reports. Statements of financial status as well as income statements are used to collect data on the dependent variable and control variables. The results show that having a LinkedIn official account by both the CEO and the company does not improve the enterprise performance. In contrast, companies that are active on Twitter will contribute to an increase in their short-term performance. CEOs who engage in Twitter via a high number of followers help to boost the performance of their companies in the long and short term. Hence, this paper recommends that Saudi firms should be aware that their performance could be increased by monitoring their presence on social networks and by having a strong intention to use these tools. AcknowledgmentsThis study was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University through the Fast-track Research Funding Program.
HYBRID DUAL-LOOP CONTROL FOR CURRENT REGULATION AND LOW-FREQUENCY RIPPLE REJECTION IN LED DRIVERS

This paper presents a new hybrid dualloop control system for the DC/DC LLC resonant converter, operating as a downstream DC/DC converter in a two independent stage offline LED driver. The outer loop employs a PI controller to maintain the average LED current regulated at the reference value and reject parametric variation. The inner loop implements an adaptive periodic disturbance rejection (APDR) subsystem, thus conceiving the hybrid PI&APDR controller. The APDR subsystem is designed to strictly reject the bus voltage ripple and limit its transmission to the LED current. Experimental results show the proposed controller feasibility in achieving good tracking behavior, reduced output current ripple under different bus voltage ripple amplitude and frequency, robustness against parametric variations, and simple implementation and design. For the sake of completeness, the proposed PI&APDR is compared with the conventional proportional resonant controller employing experimental results and extra analysis based on simulations.
The Actuator Surface Model: A New Navier-Stokes Based Model for Rotor Computations

This paper presents a new numerical technique for simulating two-dimensional wind turbine flow. The method, denoted as the 2D actuator surface technique, consists of a two-dimensional Navier-Stokes solver in which the pressure distribution is represented by body forces that are distributed along the chord of the airfoils. The distribution of body force is determined from a set of predefined functions that depend on angle of attack and airfoil shape. The predefined functions are curve fitted using pressure distributions obtained either from viscous-inviscid interactive codes or from full Navier-Stokes simulations. The actuator surface technique is evaluated by computing the two-dimensional flow past a NACA 0015 airfoil at a Reynolds number of 10 6 and an angle of attack of 10 deg and by comparing the computed streamlines with the results from a traditional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes computation. In the last part, the actuator surface technique is applied to compute the flow past a two-bladed vertical axis wind turbine equipped with NACA 0012 airfoils. Comparisons with experimental data show an encouraging performance of the method.
Characterization of phase change memory materials using phase change bridge devices

Having become one of the most promising candidates for future nonvolatile memory applications, phase change random access memory is now driving an intensive search for phase change materials with optimized properties. In this paper, phase change bridge devices are utilized as a unique material test vehicle, allowing systematic extraction of crucial material parameters such as resistance contrast, switching speed, threshold voltage, and set and reset power. Bridge devices fabricated from undoped Ge15Sb85 are presented that reproducibly switch between set and reset states with one decade resistance contrast using current pulses as short as 10 ns. Since devices are fabricated in the amorphous-as-deposited phase, an interesting intermediate device state can be produced, which we attribute to a crystalline center region that fails to completely bridge the amorphous active device volume. The subtle differences between the amorphous-as-melt-quenched and amorphous-as-deposited phases are explored using both bridg.
A low-complexity equalization technique for OFDM system in time-variant multipath channels

In this paper, an equalization technique with low computational complexity is proposed for time-variant multipath channel in OFDM system. Under the assumption that channel impulse response (CIR) varies linearly within one OFDM symbol, this technique utilizes the property of Toeplitz matrix and fast Fourier transform (FFT) matrix to obtain the interchannel interference (ICI) terms in frequency domain with very low complexity, and Jacobi stationary iterative algorithm is proposed to compensate these ICI terms in manner of matrix.
‘Evaluation that Empowers’: A Model for Generating Evaluation-Minded Organisations

This article introduces the notion of ‘Evaluation that Empowers’ (EtE) as a model for generating ‘evaluation-mindedness’, which means to convey a deep and sustainable shift in organisational practice. The author developed the EtE Model through a literature review and a case study that involved examining evaluation practice in action. This article presents the initial findings from this research. What emerges is a framework for guiding evaluation practices that are participatory, empowering, sustainable and embedded.
The Aerosol Research Observation Station (AEROS)

Abstract. Information on atmospheric particles’ concentration and sizes are important for environmental and human health reasons. Air quality monitor stations (AQMSs) for measuring Particulate Matter (PM) concentrations are found across the United States, but only three AQMSs measure PM2.5 concentrations (particles with an aerodynamic diameter of < 2.5 μm) in the Southern High Plains of West Texas (area ≥ 1.8 × 105 km2). This area is prone to many dust events (~21 per year), yet no information is available on other PM sizes, total particle concentration, or size distribution during these events. The Aerosol Research Observation Station (AEROS) was designed to continuously measure these particles’ concentrations to better understand the impact of dust events on local air quality. The AEROS aerosol measurements unit features a temperature-controlled shed with a dedicated inlet and custom-built dryer for each of the three aerosol instruments used. This article provides a description of AEROS as well as an intercomparison of the different instruments using laboratory and atmospheric particles, which shows that the instruments used provided similar concentration measurements. Measurement with AEROS can distinguish between various pollution events (natural dust events vs anthropogenic haze) to improve knowledge of the air quality in this region.
On the method of moments approach applied to a (generalized) gamma population

Abstract In this article we propose for a generalized gamma population method of moment estimators for the three unknown parameters. This method of moment approach is based on estimating the unknown parameters of the log generalized gamma distribution. Contrary to the more classical method of moment approaches discussed in the literature the associated system of nonlinear equations satisfies the following properties. The system of nonlinear equations associated with these moment estimators do not have a solution if and only if the sample moment estimation of the skewness of a log generalized gamma distribution is outside a given interval. This might happen with a positive probability for small sample sizes and this probability goes to zero as the sample size increases. However, if the system of nonlinear equations has a solution the method of moment estimators are a unique solution of this system and this solution is easy to determine by applying a univariate bisection procedure. The efficiency of these methods of moment estimators are tested in the computational section against the classical maximum likelihood estimators. Based on these experiments we give some guidelines how to use these methods of moments estimators in practice.
Consequences of evidential marking on the interpretation of subjective predicates: Experimental data from Korean

We report two psycholinguistic experiments on how two kinds of subjective predicates – predicates of personal taste (PPTs) and non-PPT multidimensional adjectives (MDs) – interact with evidential morphology in Korean. We build on theoretical discussion on PPTs and MDs, according to which the semantics of PPTs, but not MDs, makes reference to an individual’s first-person experience. We test whether and how the perceived generalizability of opinions containing PPTs or MDs is modulated by evidentiality. We tested three evidential morphemes in Korean: the direct evidential -te-, the hearsay (reportative) evidential -tay, and the inferential evidential -napo-, along with a baseline condition with no evidential marking. The results suggest that (a) with PPTs, type of evidential marking has no effect on the perceived generalizability of opinions, but (b) with MDs, use of the inferential evidential lowers perceived generalizability. We attribute these patterns to the first-person direct experience requirement of PPTs (which we suggest renders opinions with PPTs harder to generalize, regardless of evidential marking), and to the decreased reliability of inferential evidence. Our work provides novel evidence for a link between evidentiality, subjectivity and the perceived generalizability of opinions.
Optimal Attitude Maneuvering Analyses for Imaging at Squint Staring and Sliding Spotlight Modes of SAR Satellite

In this study, we analyzed the imaging maneuver time, retargeting maneuver time, and attitude maneuvering characteristics in the imaging section (Phase 1) and retargeting maneuver section (Phase 2) when taking multiple-target images in squint spotlight mode in a single pass of a passive SAR satellite. In particular, the synthetic aperture time and attitude maneuvering characteristics in the staring and sliding spotlight modes that can image the wider swath width while maintaining high resolution were compared and analyzed. In the sliding spotlight mode, the rotation center was located below the ground surface when the satellite was maneuvering towards the target. Steering and sliding maneuvers were performed when targeting, and the synthetic aperture time of the sliding spotlight was longer than that of the staring spotlight because overlapping imaging was performed on the point target. The satellite maneuvering during imaging can be considered as a time-fixed problem, because it was performed within synthetic aperture time according to resolution, incidence angle, swath width, etc., by minimizing the Doppler centroid variation. In order to optimize the retargeting maneuver time, an optimal analysis of the attitude maneuvering was carried out and the validity of the optimal analysis algorithm was confirmed. Finally, the scenario was analyzed by assuming a problem of imaging four targets with 5 × 5 km swath width in a 20 km × 20 km densely populated area. It was confirmed that if a squint angle of ±12 degrees is provided in a single pass, four high resolution images of 5 km × 5 km can be imaged in the sliding spotlight mode.
Pyramid self-attention mechanism-based change detection in hyperspectral imagery

Abstract. To address the problem of “pseudochange” caused by illumination, phasing, and shadows in multiperiod remote sensing images, a bitemporal, hyperspectral remote sensing image change detection method is proposed. The method uses a pyramid self-attention mechanism, and the attention module is introduced to simulate the attention mechanism of human eyes, where more attention is given to a small number of important objects. The model architecture uses a general encoder–decoder paradigm, in which shared encoders extract common features, whereas individual decoders learn task-specific representations. The classifier takes fused data to locate where the changes occurred. The method is tested on the ZY1-CD dataset.