Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A panoramic image stitching method for nuclear fuel assemblies

The fuel assembly (FA) is the core component of the nuclear reactor, and inaccurate inspection of FA bending and deformation can cause severe disasters in nuclear power plant reactors. It is an important task to restore a panoramic image of the FA from the video collected by the orthogonal visual inspection system. It can provide a more intuitive qualitative observation. Meanwhile, it is conducive to the estimation of deformation. This paper proposes a panoramic image stitching method for nuclear FA, which classifies video frames into grid images (GI) and non-grid images (NGI). It utilizes the speed of GI frames to estimate the speed of NGI frames. The horizontal offset and vertical offset between frames are estimated in two steps. The high-quality panoramic image can be obtained by image fusion. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method can achieve the panoramic image stitching of simulated samples and actual FAs with a deformation estimation accuracy of 0.3 mm. The proposed method has been verified and used in actual nuclear power plant reactor maintenance.
Remote Sensing-Based Piosphere Analysis

The term piosphere was orginially defined as an indicator of the localized impact of grazing on vegetation and soils. It is a radiating zone of attenuating animal impact away from a concentrator, e.g, water, mineral licks, bedding grounds, etc. Over time there may be increased soil erosion, reductions in vegetation cover and changes in soil chemistry within piospheres. This paper expands this definition to include any concentrated animal or anthropogenic impact that radiates from an area of concentration. Satellite remote sensing instruments are capable of detecting both broad-scale climatic effects and small-scale localized impacts. A remote sensing-based tool for conducting piospheric analysis was developed to help evaluate areas of landscape impact caused by livestock or other concentrators. The program characterizes a piospheric response using three GIS layers: a boundary (e.g., a paddock); a concentrator (e.g., a water source); and a response index (e.g., a remotely sensed vegetation index). Piospheric analysis was demonstrated within a grazing paddock that had obvious piospheres. The objectives of the analysis were to: (1) use a time series of dry-season vegetation index imagery from 1972 to 1997 to characterize the historical vegetation response and relate it to climate and grazing at the paddock spatial scale; (2) characterize vegetation response at water points and streams; (3) determine if piospheres can be detected in sagebrush steppe; and (4) demonstrate the utility of the piospheric analysis program. Evidence of persistent degradation at water sources was detected but not at streams. This type of analysis could be quite useful to land managers for separating the effects of climate from persistent degradation induced by localized disturbances.
Automated tree crown delineation from imagery based on morphological techniques

In current tree crown delineation from imagery, treetops and three dimensional (3D) radiometric shapes of tree crowns are frequently extracted from a spectral band or a brightness component of the image and taken as references to localize and delineate tree crowns. However, color components of the image are rarely used together with the brightness component of the image to facilitate localizing and delineating crowns. The 3D radiometric shape of a crown can be derived from a brightness or color component and may be taken as a half-ellipsoid. From top to bottom of such a half-ellipsoid, multiple horizontal slices can be drawn, contain the treetop, and indicate both the location and the horizontal extent of the crown. Based on such a concept of horizontal slices of crowns, a novel multi-scale method for individual tree crown delineation from imagery was proposed in this study. In this method, the brightness and color components of the image are morphologically opened within the scale range of target crowns, horizontal slices of target crowns are extracted from the resulting opened images and integrated together to localize crowns, and one component is segmented using the watershed approach with reference to the integrated slices. In an experiment on high spatial resolution aerial imagery over natural closed canopy forests, the proposed method correctly delineated approximately 74% of mixedwood tree crowns and 59% of deciduous crowns in the natural forests.
Aerosol optical depth over the oceans: Analysis in terms of synoptic air mass types

The results of spectral aerosol optical depth measurements in the Pacific Ocean, Baltic Sea, and North Atlantic are considered with regard to air mass types. It is found that the optical properties of continental and maritime air mass types differ significantly for the data employed in this study. A synoptical air mass context was also employed in demonstrating the correlation between near infrared aerosol optical depth τa(1640 nm) and wind speed as well as for investigations into the relationship between deck level relative humidity and the aerosol optical depth at 550 nm. Simulations, employing well-known aerosol parameterization models, of the aerosol optical depth spectra for various air mass types show good agreement with the experimental results in the visible and near infrared range.
Acheron Fossae, Mars: Tectonic rifting, volcanism, and implications for lithospheric thickness

[1] The Acheron Fossae region is an ancient crustal block exposed in the northwestern Tharsis province on Mars. It is named after the Acheron Fossae, a particularly well-developed system of extensional tectonic grabens. This study is the first to describe the tectonic inventory in detail, using topographic and image data from the Global Surveyor and Mars Express missions. We see the extensional tectonics along the east–west trending topographic high of Acheron Fossae as a surface expression of upwelling asthenospheric material that initiated regional uplift, crustal extension and breakup, and associated volcanic activity in Noachian time. The tectonic architecture and the dimensions of the extensional structures are comparable to those of terrestrial continental rifts. An area of elevated topography and strong erosion, which constitutes a regional landmark in the eastern Acheron Fossae region, is interpreted as a rift-related center of volcanism, caused by local magmatic uprise and involvement of the lithosphere. The extension across the Acheron Fossae reaches values between 1.2 km and 8.7 km, comparable to young continental rifts on Earth. Crater statistics indicate an absolute cratering model age between ∼3.9 Ga and 3.7 Ga for the rifting. The uplift observed on the flanks of the Acheron Fossae indicates a fairly thin and thus hot lithosphere. Using flexural analysis, we have constrained the elastic lithosphere thickness at the time of rifting to 8.9–11.3 km, corresponding to thermal gradients between 28 and 41 K km−1. These heat flows are substantially larger than Noachian heat flow values previously reported, but are consistent with the presence of rift-related volcanism and a magmatically very active environment.
A new hurricane wind retrieval algorithm for SAR images

A new algorithm for hurricane wind retrieval is developed based on the primary characteristics of hurricane processes. By assuming constant wind speeds and equal‐distant wind directions in three neighboring sub‐image blocks of any specific concentric circle around the hurricane eye, both wind speed and wind direction are resolved without any external information. To evaluate the accuracy of the new algorithm, a Radarsat‐1 synthetic aperture radar image of hurricane Isabel is studied. The retrieved wind speed is compared with QuikSCAT scatterometer winds and in situ winds. Good consistency is shown. Since the new algorithm doesn't rely on any external wind information, fine resolution wind structures can be retrieved without adding errors due to linear interpolation of the externally‐derived coarse‐resolution wind direction.
A New Generation Decision Support System for Flood Prediction and Emergency Management on the Gold Coast

This paper describes the development and application of a new generation Flood Decision Support System (DSS) by the Gold Coast City Council (GCCC) in partnership with DHI Water & Environment. The system is the first of its kind in Australia and and is based on the MIKE FLOODWATCH software platform (DHI). This new system complements the existing DSS for the Gold Coast by introducing the following additional features: - The system is fully automated, creating flood forecasts every two hours, 7 days a week. - This system includes a feedback mechanism for automatic correction of forecasts. - The system publishes the forecasts onto the internet which can be viewed from anywhere in the world and at any time. - The system operation can be modified over the internet if required. This paper provides a detail description of the system and its application to the Gold Coast Flood Emergency Management.
Evolution of microseismicity during frictional sliding

We have done frictional sliding experiments on Inada granite in double shear and monitored the acoustic emission (AE) produced and temporal changes in the microseismic b‐value (where b is defined as the log‐linear slope of the AE frequency‐amplitude distribution), using both rough and smooth ground simulated fault surfaces. We have found, (i) the maximum amplitudes of AE events during stable sliding are strongly dependent on the surface roughness with smooth‐ground surfaces giving smaller maximum AE amplitudes; (ii) b‐values are related to the surface topographic fractal dimensions, so that in steady‐state stable sliding smooth surfaces exhibit lower b‐values than rough surfaces; (iii) the b‐value falls before stick‐slip instability. The change of b with slip we interpret in terms of evolving fractal crack damage during frictional sliding of the fault surfaces.
Sztywność podłoża piaszczystego w procesach obciążenia i odciążenia wywołanych udarem

In the paper the sensibility of the sandy subsoil on dynamic loading and unloading processes in series of the impact load was proved in the paper. The experiment results, expressed by the plate recorded displacements, were the basis of the analysis. The linear model of subsoil deformation with unloading was assumed for the analysis. Identification of the stiffness modulus of loading and unloading was carried out on the basis of the numerical program. The numerical ground model was based on the wave reaction description of the cylindrical bulk of the ground.
Detection of a corona of fast oxygen atoms during solar maximum

A series of twilight interferometric observations of the near infrared O+(²P) doublets at 7320 and 7330 A between April 1979 and October 1979 detected excessive amounts of emission at shadow heights above 550 km. The scale height deduced from the vertical brightness profile determined from data taken on September 26, 1979, when the F10.7 was 231, showed a marked increase above 550 km. The equivalent temperature was estimated to be 4000°K or higher. Observations of the emission line shape with the high-resolution capability of the interferometer substantiated these results by a very apparent progressive broadening of the emission profile between times of low and high shadow height. We conclude from these results that there exists an atomic oxygen corona overlying the thermosphere during the solar maximum period.
Aerosols and surface UV products from Ozone Monitoring Instrument observations: An overview

We present an overview of the theoretical and algorithmic aspects of the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) aerosol and surface UV algorithms. Aerosol properties are derived from two independent algorithms. The nearUV algorithm makes use of OMI observations in the 350-390 nm spectral region to retrieve information on the absorption capacity of tropospheric aerosols. OMI-derived information on aerosol absorption includes the UV Aerosol Index and absorption optical depth at 388 nm. The other algorithm makes use of the full UV-to-visible OMI spectral coverage to derive spectral aerosol extinction optical depth. OMI surface UV products include erythemally weighted daily dose as well as erythemal dose rate and spectral UV irradiances calculated for local solar noon conditions. The advantages and limitations of the current algorithms are discussed, and a brief summary of several validation and evaluation analysis carried out to assess the current level of uncertainty of these products is presented. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union. U7 - Export Date: 2 August 2010 U7 - Source: Scopus U7 - Art. No.: D24S47
Rehabilitation effect of core muscle training combined with functional electrical stimulation on lower limb motor and balance functions in stroke patients

BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that core muscle training can accelerate the recovery of motor function in stroke patients. However, there are no relevant reports to show the effect of core muscle training combined with functional electrical stimulation (FES) on the rehabilitation of stroke patients. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to observe the efficacy of core muscle training combined with FES on motor and balance functions of lower limbs in stroke patients. METHODS: This study selected and divided 120 stroke patients with hemiplegia admitted to our hospital into the control and observation groups. Patients in the control group just received core muscle training; while patients in the observation group were treated by core muscle training combined with FES. Both groups were treated for 8 weeks. Subsequently, the clinical data and information of all patients were collected and counted. Muscle strength changes were observed by detecting paralytic dorsiflexor (pDF), plantar flexor (pPF), knee extensor (pKE), and knee flexor (pKF) before and after treatment. Motor and balance abilities of both groups were scored through the 10-meter walking test (10 MWT), Berg balance scale (BBS), functional ambulation category (FAC) scale, timed up and go (TUG) test, and lower extremity motricity index (MI-Lower). RESULTS: No significant difference was found in clinical data between the two groups. The intensity of pDF, pPF, pKE, and pKF significantly increased in both groups after treatment, and the intensity of these parameters was higher in the observation group relative to the control group. Additionally, 10 MWT and TUG test scores of patients in the observation group were notably decreased while the BBS and MI-Lower scores were significantly increased after treatment compared with those in the control group. CONCLUSION: Core muscle training combined with FES can significantly improve the rehabilitation effect of lower limb motor and balance functions in stroke patients.
Analysis of Wave Directional Spreading Using Neural Networks

The short-term directional spreading of wave energy at a given location is popularly modeled with the help of the Cosine Power model. This model is oriented mainly around value of the spreading parameter involved in its expression. This paper describes how a representative spreading parameter could be arrived at from easily available wave parameters such as significant wave height and average zero-cross wave period, using the technique of neural networks. It is shown that training of the network with the help of observed directional wave (e.g., heave-pith-roll buoy) data could be used to establish dependency of the spreading parameter on more commonly available unidirectional wave parameters derived from, for example, pressure gauge data. It is found that such a procedure involving neural networks is much more accurate and reliable than the conventional approach based on statistical linear regression.
Quantum Theory of Consciousness

Both consciousness and quantum phenomenon are subjective and indetermi-nistic. In this paper, we propose consciousness is a quantum phenomenon. A quantum theory of consciousness (QTOC) is presented based on a new interpretation of quantum physics. We show that this QTOC can address the mind and body problem, the hard problem of consciousness. It also provides a physics foundation and mathematical formulation to study consciousness and neural network. We demonstrate how to apply it to develop and extend various models of consciousness. We show the predictions from this theory about the existence of a universal quantum vibrational field and the large-scale, nearly instantaneous synchrony of brainwaves among different parts of brain, body, people, and objects. The correlation between Schumann Resonances and some brainwaves is explained. Recent progress in quantum information theory, especially regarding quantum entanglement and quantum error correction code, is applied to study memory and shed new light in neuroscience.
Some unusual structures in the river gravels of the Thames Basin

Summary Four sites in the London area are described where sandy gravel overlies London Clay. On two of these sites the unexpected occurrence of deep steep-sided natural depressions in the surface of the London Clay gave rise to delays during the construction of civil engineering works. On the other two the depressions were discovered during the initial site investigations and appropriate measures for dealing with them were taken in good time.
Investigation of Guided-Particle Transport for Noninvasive Healing of Damaged Piping Systems by Use of Electro-Magneto-Mechanical Methods

Virtually all engineering applications involve the use of piping, conduits, and channels. In the petroleum industry, piping systems are extensively used in upstream and downstream processes. These piping systems often carry fluids that are corrosive, which leads to wear, cavitation, and cracking. The replacement of damaged piping systems can be quite expensive, both in terms of capital costs and in operational downtime. This motivates the present research on noninvasive healing of cracked piping systems. In this investigation, we propose to develop computational models for characterizing noninvasive repair strategies involving electromagnetically guided particles. The objective is to heal industrial-piping systems noninvasively, from the exterior of the system, during operation, resulting in no downtime and minimal relative cost. The particle accumulation at a target location is controlled by external electromagnetic/ mechanical means. There are two primary effects that play a role for guiding the particles to the solid-fluid-interface/wall: mechanical shear caused by the fluid flow, and an electrical or magnetic force. In this work we develop and study a relationship that characterizes contributions of both, and ascertain how this relationship scales with characteristic physical parameters. Characteristic nondimensional parameters that describe system behavior are derived, and their role in design is illustrated. A detailed, fully 3D discreteelement-simulation framework is presented, and illustrated by use of a model problem of magnetically guided particles. The detailed particle behavior is considered to be regulated by three effects: the field strength, the mass-flow rate, and the wall interactions.
Arctic Tropospheric Aerosols and Clouds in the Polar Night Season Observed by a Lidar at Eureka, Canada.

Vertical profiles of tropospheric aerosols and clouds were observed with a lidar at Eureka (80°N, 86°W) in the Canadian high Arctic. The observation periods were February, March and December 1993, and January and February 1994. Observations were also performed from December 1994 to March 1995. Vertical distributions of aerosols and cloud particles are not easy to observe in the Arctic region especially in the polar night season. The lidar observations showed us the first overviews of Arctic tropospheric particle characteristics in mid-winter. Ice crystals were often observed, which correlate very well with the relative humidity over ice that was observed by routine meteorological observations by radiosonde. Particle layers in a very dry environment were sometimes observed.
Craniofacial stereo mapping: improving accuracy with natural points

Stereo-photogrammetry has been reported in both photogrammetry and medical journals as the most suitable technique for craniofacial landmark mapping. Various size and shape of control frames were designed to provide three-dimensional object-space control for stereo images. A research was carried out to determine whether the accuracy could be further improved using natural points. In the research, control points and natural points were measured using photogrammetric digitising software and their coordinates computed using bundle adjustment technique. In addition, the six-camera stereo-photogrammetric system was electronically synchronized for optimum accuracy. Subsequently, a digital photogrammetric workstation was used for stereo orientation and stereo-digitising of the anthropometric landmarks. For the accuracy assessment of the 'natural point' technique, absolute orientation was performed on the stereo-model using control-frame control and natural points respectively. The results show that the developed technique achieves an accuracy of 0.6mm at one standard deviation. The best accuracy of the stereo-photogrammetric system was 0.25mm
On the Significance of Thermal Structure in the Scottish Highlands

The formation of a fold mountain chain is, essentially, a thermal phenomenon, as may be deduced from the internal locus of the forces involved, the frequent association of magrriatic activity with erogenic movements, and the widespread thermal and regional metamorphism of the sediments within the deeper parts of the mountain belt.
Using Classification Trees to Evaluate the Performance of Pedotransfer Functions

One issue in understanding the performance of pedotransfer functions (PTFs) is knowing the soil properties that contribute most to PTF errors. Classification trees provide a means for identifying these properties. The objective of this study was to use a classification tree to identify patterns in PTF residuals. The analysis was applied to PTFs developed by Vereecken and coworkers in 1989 to estimate water contents at −10 and at −1500 kPa. Errors below and above certain threshold values were defined as acceptable and unacceptable, respectively. The threshold acceptability values were assumed to be 0.04 and 0.01 cm3 cm−3 at −10 and −1500 kPa, respectively. The sensitivity of the trees to these values was studied by reducing them by 10%. Tentative predictors of the trees were sand, silt, and clay contents, bulk density (BD), soil organic C (OC) content, and horizon position (HP) in the soil profile (topsoil or subsoil). At −10 kPa, unacceptable data sets had very low clay contents or low BDs, given the poor representation of soil structure in the PTFs. At −1500 kPa, the unacceptable data sets had high clay and low OC contents with a HP of subsoil, or had high clay and high OC. Results were found to be moderately sensitive to small variations in the threshold. The least accurate estimates occurred for conditions in which the attributes used in the PTF were probably insufficient to unambiguously determine soil water retention data. Our study showed that classification trees can be helpful in identifying most optimal predictors for a PTF.