Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coda of Long-Range Arrivals from Nuclear Explosions

Short-period, three-component recordings from peaceful nuclear explosions (PNE) of the profile QUARTZ, located in Russia, are used to constrain the nature of the coda of PNE arrivals. In particular, we examine the unusually strong and extensive coda of the long-range P n (interpreted as a whispering-gallery, WG) phase propagating to beyond 3000 km. Energy-balance considerations in three dimensions show that such an extensive coda is inherent not only to WG but to all other P -wave phases and can be explained by crustal scattering. The long coda is a result of excitation of short-period scattered waves ( Pg, Sg, Lg, Rg ) within the crust by the waves incident from the mantle, or, conversely, by generation of mantle phases from crustal guided waves within the source region. The resulting estimates of coda Q range between Q = 380 near 2 Hz and Q = 430 near 5 Hz and can be associated with crustal attenuation including the sediments. Our coda model also explains quantitatively the observed build-up of the arrival amplitude with time and the apparent lack of a pronounced coda of the body-wave arrivals from the mantle transition zone. These effects result from adding up the energy of the later arrivals arriving during the codas of earlier arrivals. We “deconvolve” the overlapping coda patterns and show that the true relative energies of the arrivals are significantly lower than the apparent energies measured from the raw records. A whispering-gallery interpretation of the long-range P n and crustal scattering accounts for the entire range of observations of kinematic, spectral, and amplitude pattern of the PNE wavefield and allows the derivation of constraints on attenuation.
The Antarctic circumpolar current and Convergence

This review of work on the circumpolar current and Convergence will indicate that a number of hypotheses have been advanced, each claiming to have some support from the observations and each differing considerably in their premises. Thus on one side departures from purely zonal flow along lines of latitude are all important, on the other such departures are irrelevant. It will be seen that none of the hypotheses suggest the formation of the marked Convergence zone that has been described by Deacon and in that respect they fail, for the dynamics of the flow should contain a description of the Convergence. It is worth while to describe these hypotheses briefly and see in what respects they are successful and where they fail.
FARM: A Global Framework for Integrated Land Use/Cover Modeling

The Future Agricultural Resources Model (FARM) was developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service (ERS) to evaluate effects of global changes on agricultural systems. The model uses a geographic information system that links climatically defined land and water resources with production possibilities in 12 regions, and an economic model that simulates how changes in one region can affect land and water resources as well as production and consumption of 13 aggregate commodities in eight regions. Analyses carried out with FARM show that: 1) global climate change and population growth are likely to place additional stress on current agricultural and environmental systems during the 21st century; 2) the net economic effects of global climate change may be positive but realization of these benefits may increase environmental stresses; 3) deregulation of trade in agricultural commodities may help to alleviate some of the economic pressure generated by population growth and global climate change and 4) setting land aside from economic production to protect natural ecosystems may have relatively low opportunity costs, but global climate change will make it more difficult to implement such programs.
Kernel Observers: Systems-Theoretic Modeling and Inference of Spatiotemporally Evolving Processes

We consider the problem of estimating the latent state of a spatiotemporally evolving continuous function using very few sensor measurements. We show that layering a dynamical systems prior over temporal evolution of weights of a kernel model is a valid approach to spatiotemporal modeling, and that it does not require the design of complex nonstationary kernels. Furthermore, we show that such a differentially constrained predictive model can be utilized to determine sensing locations that guarantee that the hidden state of the phenomena can be recovered with very few measurements. We provide sufficient conditions on the number and spatial location of samples required to guarantee state recovery, and provide a lower bound on the minimum number of samples required to robustly infer the hidden states. Our approach outperforms existing methods in numerical experiments.
Experimental Animal Models for Retinal and Choroidal Diseases

Experimental animal models have an important place in medical research for the development of new therapeutic strategies in the treatment of the ocular diseases in humans. The aim of using animal models in ocular experiments is to achieve the easiness in the understanding of the pathophysiology of the diseases and to determine the specific treatment protocols for the diseases. Currently, a number of animal models are available for various choroidal and retinal diseases [1-6]. The researchers should be the choice to use the adequate animal model having the closest homology with human anatomy and pathology at the setting stage of their studies. The aim of this review is to give the general information on experimental animal models for various retinal and choroidal diseases and to provide the methods and techniques for researchers regarding experimental procedures in animals.
Tableplot: A New Tool for Assessing Precise Predictions

DOI 10.1027/0044-3409.217. 1.38 Abstract. In the debate over null hypothesis significance testing, Paul Meehl strongly advocated appraising theories through the generation and evaluation of precise predictions (e.g., Meehl, 1978). The study of personality structure through the five-factor model (FFM; McCrae & John, 1992) is an important area of research where one encounters many precise predictions. Extant methods of assessing such predictions, however, do not allow researchers to examine the outcome of the predictions in great detail. That is, it may be difficult to determine how estimates fail to match predicted values. As Meehl argued, one must examine how a theory fails to predict in order to refine and improve the theory. To promote better theory appraisal in FFM research, we present a powerful new tool, called a tableplot (Kwan, 2008a), that can summarize and clarify factor-analytic results. Specifically, we illustrate how the tableplot enables detailed appraisal of precise predictions in the FFM.
OPNET simulation model for performance evaluation of CAHP-C handover procedure

In this paper, we focus on building the simulation model for testing advanced handover procedures. Simulation model based on real operator network measurements was presented, verified and validated. From the comparisons we can conclude that the modified simulation model works accurately enough for using the results from the simulator for simulating handover using SIP protocol.
Helicobacter pylori infection and the risk of gastric carcinoma.

BACKGROUND Infection with Helicobacter pylori has been linked with chronic atrophic gastritis, an inflammatory precursor of gastric adenocarcinoma. In a nested case-control study, we explored whether H. pylori infection increases the risk of gastric carcinoma. METHODS From a cohort of 128,992 persons followed since the mid-1960s at a health maintenance organization, 186 patients with gastric carcinoma were selected as case patients and were matched according to age, sex, and race with 186 control subjects without gastric carcinoma. Stored serum samples collected during the 1960s were tested for IgG antibodies to H. pylori by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Data on cigarette use, blood group, ulcer disease, and gastric surgery were obtained from questionnaires administered at enrollment. Tissue sections and pathology reports were reviewed to confirm the histologic results. RESULTS The mean time between serum collection and the diagnosis of gastric carcinoma was 14.2 years. Of the 109 patients with confirmed gastric adenocarcinoma (excluding tumors of the gastroesophageal junction), 84 percent had been infected previously with H. pylori, as compared with 61 percent of the matched control subjects (odds ratio, 3.6; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.8 to 7.3). Tumors of the gastroesophageal junction were not linked to H. pylori infection, nor were tumors in the gastric cardia. H. pylori was a particularly strong risk factor for stomach cancer in women (odds ratio, 18) and blacks (odds ratio, 9). A history of gastric surgery was independently associated with the development of cancer (odds ratio, 17; P = 0.03), but a history of peptic ulcer disease was negatively associated with subsequent gastric carcinoma (odds ratio, 0.2; P = 0.02). Neither blood group nor smoking history affected risk. CONCLUSIONS Infection with H. pylori is associated with an increased risk of gastric adenocarcinoma and may be a cofactor in the pathogenesis of this malignant condition.
Efficiency improvement of p-i-n solar cell by embedding quantum-dots

Conventional solar cells collect photons from the solar radiation in p-n junctions. Their efficiency is constrained by the Shockley-Queisser limit, due to blackbody radiation, spectral loss, excessive energy of the absorbed photons, and recombination loss. As of August 2013, the highest efficiency achieved by a single-junction solar cell, made of GaAs, is 28.8 %.
The Meteor 3/total ozone mapping spectrometer version 7 data set: Calibration and analysis

The Meteor 3/total ozone mapping spectrometer (TOMS) data set has been reprocessed using the version 7 TOMS total ozone algorithm and a recalibration of the TOMS instrument using in-flight and revised laboratory data. To provide continuity for the analysis of long-term trends, the absolute calibration of Meteor 3/TOMS was adjusted so that the measured radiances closely matched Nimbus 7/TOMS. The residual bias in ozone is less than 1% and shows no significant latitudinal or seasonal dependence. The calibration procedure and the differences between the current and previously used calibrations are discussed. Problems in the Meteor 3/TOMS data set caused by chopper wheel synchronization problems are described, and comparisons of the resulting data with version 7 of the Nimbus 7/TOMS data are presented.
Squirrel monkey lateral thalamus. II. Viscerosomatic convergent representation of urinary bladder, colon, and esophagus

The response properties of 106 visceroceptive lateral thalamic neurons were investigated in anesthetized squirrel monkeys. Most neurons were located in the ventral posterior lateral nucleus (VPL), and a smaller number of cells was also found in a variety of thalamic nuclei around VPL. Ninety (85%) of these cells responded to distension of the urinary bladder, the distal colon, and/or the lower esophagus. The majority of the visceral-responsive cells also had convergent somatic and multivisceral responses (71% of the 85%). A small population (6%) was visceral specific; that is, these neurons were not activated with somatic stimuli. Visceral responses were excitatory, inhibitory, or mixed, and most were either visceral nociceptive specific (65%) or visceral wide-dynamic-range type (34%). Very few visceral responses (1%) could be classified as low threshold. The incidence of these response types were highly dependent on the specific viscus stimulated. Most visceral responses were able to code stimulus duration and intensity. The majority (69%) of the visceroceptive neurons had somatic low-threshold convergent input mainly from the surface of the lower body. The somatic receptive field locations and the somatic response properties seem unrelated to the convergent visceral input and the visceral response properties, although there were some exceptions. No obvious viscerotopical organization was found in VPL. The results lead us to propose two different modes of representation for processing of and distinguishing between visceral and somatic inputs: a distributed population code for visceral inputs, and a local code for somatic inputs. Based on these codes, we discuss a new hypothesis for referred pain.
Parameter Design and Frequency Synchronization for an OFDM Based HF Modem

With Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM), a new implementation of the parallel HF modem specified in MIL-STD-188-110B is discussed. The key parameters are analyzed in detail and the analog quadrature modulation and demodulation modules in typical OFDM systems are simplified through Hilbert transform. In addition, the frequency offset estimation method based on short training sequences or several identical parts in one OFDM symbol is introduced and generalized to be used on several identical parts in more than one OFDM symbols. Moreover, an improved method with favorable MSE and twice estimation range of the former one is given, with the same training sequence length. It is shown that the modified method can also be used in other OFDM systems.
Experiments with Feature-Prior Hybrid Ensemble Method for Classification

In multiple classifier systems, base classifiers are trained to be accurate and diverse by a set of training data. The generation of training data is necessary and important in classifier ensemble, which can be achieved by instance selection (IS) or feature selection (FS) on initial data. In this paper, a feature-prior FS-IS hybrid ensemble method is proposed by integrating feature selection with instance selection. The influence of instance selection to feature selection and the effect of feature-prior and instance-prior methods to ensemble accuracy are discovered. Dataset experiments indicate that feature-prior model generally performs better in comparison with previous instance-prior model, and feature selection is convincible to be used in classifier ensemble prior to instance selection.
Oral language supports early literacy: A pilot cluster randomized trial in disadvantaged schools

Abstract This study examined the impact of teacher professional development aimed at improving the capacity of primary teachers in disadvantaged schools to strengthen children's expressive and receptive oral language skills and early literacy success in the first 2 years of school. Fourteen low-SES schools in Victoria, Australia were randomly allocated to a research (n = 8) or control arm (n = 6), resulting in an initial sample of 1254 students, (n = 602 in research arm and n = 652 in control arm). The intervention comprised 6 days of teacher and principal professional development (delivered by language and literacy experts), school-based continuing contact with the research team and completion by one staff member of each research school of a postgraduate unit on early language and literacy. Schools in the control arm received standard teaching according to state auspiced curriculum guidelines. Full data were available on 979 students at follow-up (time 2). Students in the research arm performed significantly better on Test of Language Development: Primary (Fourth Edition) sub-tests (p ≤ .002) and the Reading Progress Test (F = 10.4(1); p = . 001) than students in the control arm at time 2. Narrative scores were not significantly different at time 2, although students in research schools showed greater gains. Findings provide “proof of concept” for this approach, and are discussed with respect to implications for teacher professional development and pre-service education concerning the psycholinguistic competencies that underpin the transition to literacy.
Formation of the volcanic front in subduction zones

A model is proposed to understand the magma genesis beneath the volcanic front which overlies the dipping seismic zone with a constant depth of about 110 km in most subduction zones. It is suggested that the constant depth of 110 km is governed by the decomposition of amphibole in the mantle wedge. Hydrous phases in the subducted slab decompose at levels shallower than 100 km, that is, beneath the fore-arc region. The slab-derived H2O, enriched in incompatible elements with larger ionic radii, reacts with the overlying mantle wedge materials to form polluted amphibole peridotite. The polluted peridotite is transported downward on the slab by the induced convection in the mantle wedge. Amphibole in the dragged peridotite decomposes at a depth of about 110 km, just beneath the volcanic front. H2O released migrates upward to reform amphibole peridotite in the higher-temperature and lower-pressure region. When the front of amphibolization reaches a level at which the solidus temperature of amphibole peridotite is distributed, initial magmas are produced and rise as a form of mantle diapir. The mantle diapir stops rising to segregate a primary magma for lavas on the volcanic front.
Study of the tidal variations in mesospheric temperature at low and mid latitudes from WINDII and potassium lidar observations

Abstract. Zonal mean daytime temperatures from the Wind Imaging Interferometer (WINDII) on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) and nightly temperatures from a potassium (K) lidar are employed in the study of the tidal variations in mesospheric temperature at low and mid latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. The analysis is applied to observations at 89km height for winter solstice, December to February (DJF), at 55° N, and for May and November at 28° N. The WINDII results are based on observations from 1991 to 1997. The K-lidar observations for DJF at Kuhlungsborn (54° N) were from 1996–1999, while those for May and November at Tenerife 28° N were from 1999. To avoid possible effects from year-to-year variability in the temperatures observed, as well as differences due to instrument calibration and observation periods, the mean temperature field is removed from the respective data sets, assuming that only tidal and planetary scale perturbations remain in the temperature residuals. The latter are then binned in 0.5h periods and the individual data sets are fitted in a least-mean square sense to 12-h and 8-h harmonics, to infer semidiurnal and terdiurnal tidal parameters. Both the K-lidar and WINDII independently observed a strong semidiurnal tide in November, with amplitudes of 13K and 7.4K, respectively. Good agreement was also found in the tidal parameters derived from the two data sets for DJF and May. It was recognized that insufficient local time coverage of the two separate data sets could lead to an overestimation of the semidiurnal tidal amplitude. A combined ground-based/satellite data set with full diurnal local time coverage was created which was fitted to 24h+12h+8h harmonics and a novel method applied to account for possible differences between the daytime and nighttime means. The results still yielded a strong semidiurnal tide in November at 28° N with an amplitude of 8.8K which is twice the SD amplitude in May and DJF. The diurnal tidal parameters were practically the same at 28° N and 55° N, in November and DJF, respectively, with an amplitude of 6.5K and peaking at ~9h. The diurnal and semidiurnal amplitudes in May were about the same, 4K, and 4.6K, while the terdiurnal tide had the same amplitudes and phases in May and November at 28° N. Good agreement is found with other experimental data while models tend to underestimate the amplitudes. Key words. Atmospheric composition and structure (pressure, density and temperature) – Meteorology and atmospheric dynamics (middle atmosphere dynamics; waves and tides)
Direct measurements of atmospheric CH2O, HNO2, O3, NO2, and SO2 by differential optical absorption in the near UV

Measurements of CH2O, HNO2, O3, NO2, and SO2 at four different sites in western Europe are reported. At the maritime sites (Loophead, Ireland, and Dagebull, Germany) the mixing ratios of the pollution indicators SO2 and NO2 are <0.5–2 ppb, while concentrations of several tenths of a part per billion of CH2O are consistent with photochemical equilibrium. HNO2 was only found at continental sites (Julich and Deuselbach) with SO2 and NO2 mixing ratios up to 100 ppb. Surprisingly, NO3 was found to be at least 10 times lower than expected in most cases.
Diatom-Based Paleolimnological Reconstruction of Quaternary Environments in a Florida Sinkhole Lake

Models for paleoenvironmental reconstructions were developed from diatom assemblages of three different habitat types (epiphytes, plankton, and sediments) from 46 lakes on the Lake Wales Ridge in Central Florida. Plankton and sediment assemblages were similarly comprised, but epiphyte assemblages were distinct from those in the sediments, suggesting differences in sediment delivery from different parts of the lakes. A discriminant function analysis was performed to exploit assemblage differences for the purpose of predicting whether an unknown sample came from an epiphytic or planktonic habitat. Relationships between a variety of physical and chemical data and the diatoms from each habitat type were explored. Total phosphorus (TP), pH, and color were found to be the most desirable variables for reconstruction, with sediment and epiphyte assemblages having the strongest relationships to those variables. Six weighted averaging models were constructed from the combination of these habitat types and environmental variables. Reconstructions utilizing the discriminant function and weighted averaging models in this study may be used to directly reveal TP, color, and pH changes from a sediment record that might be suggestive of local or regional changes in climate, land-use and water quality.
Promotional Communications for Influenza Vaccination: A Systematic Review

The authors conducted a systematic review that aimed to map current practice and identify effective practice in promotional communications for seasonal influenza vaccination in Europe. They identified 22 studies from 7 European countries. Included studies were primarily outcome evaluations of communications promoting vaccination to health care workers and elderly adults. Evidence on communications to improve public acceptance was sparse. A range of communication approaches, methods, materials, and channels were used, frequently in combination. All forms of promotional communications have the potential to increase uptake in health care workers and can also improve uptake among patients. There was promising evidence that mass communication methods, delivered as standalone activities or as one component of a communication mix, can improve uptake in target populations. Education for health care workers and improved service delivery are common adjuncts to promotional communications that were associated with effectiveness. The evidence suggests that personalized communications, combined with improved service delivery, might boost rates of uptake among elderly adults. Future development of good practice could be enhanced by more systematic, theory-based intervention design and more detailed reporting of process and outcome evaluations. Vaccine hesitancy is increasingly prevalent; more policy and research to improve public acceptance should therefore be considered.