Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multiscale Daylight Modeling for Urban Environments

Daylight in buildings is the natural illumination experienced by the occupants of any man- made construction with openings to the outside. The quantity and quality of daylight in buildings is continually varying due to the natural changes in sun and sky conditions from one moment to the next. In urban settings, the dynamics of daylight illumination are ampli ed by the vertical extent of buildings and the density of the built form. Traditional schema for evaluating daylight in the built environment consider only one or perhaps a few `snapshot' conditions, e.g. a single overcast sky, or a sequence of shadow patterns for selected hours. This chapter describes the application of a technique called climate-based daylight modelling (CBDM) across various urban scales { from o ce spaces to large- scale city models. Climate-based daylight modelling is the prediction of various radiant or luminous quantities (e.g. irradiance, illuminance, radiance and luminance) using sun and sky conditions that are derived from standard meteorological datasets. Climate- based modelling delivers predictions of absolute quantities (e.g. illuminance) that are dependent both on the locale (i.e. geographically-speci c climate data is used) and the building orientation (i.e. the illumination e ect of the sun and non-overcast sky conditions are included), in addition to the building's composition and con guration. The examples described in this chapter include theoretical studies and two `live' projects.
Elastic anisotropy in hcp metals at high pressure and the sound wave anisotropy of the Earth's inner core

We compare the elastic anisotropy in hcp metals at high pressure obtained by radial diffraction measurements with those determined by other experiments and calculations. Our analysis demonstrates that in non‐hydrostatically compressed hcp metals the assumption of a single uniform macroscopic stress applied to all grains in the polycrystal for the inversion of the lattice strain equations is violated due to plastic deformation. In addition, the derived apparent moduli and elastic anisotropy differ significantly from those derived from single crystals. We propose that for cobalt, rhenium and iron, the elastic anisotropy in the meridian plane is best described by a sigmoidal shape for the longitudinal velocity, with the fastest direction along the c‐axis. Based on these results, we suggest that preferential alignment of the c‐axis of iron crystallites along the Earth's rotation axis is the most plausible explanation for the observed P‐wave travel time anomalies in the inner core.
Resistance training in humans and mechanical overload in rodents do not elevate muscle protein lactylation

Although several reports have hypothesized that exercise may increase skeletal muscle protein lactylation, empirical evidence in humans is lacking. Thus, we adopted a multi-faceted approach to examine if acute and subchronic resistance training (RT) altered skeletal muscle protein lactylation levels. In mice, we also sought to examine if surgical ablation-induced plantaris hypertrophy coincided with increases in muscle protein lactylation. To examine acute responses, participants’ blood lactate concentrations were assessed before, during, and after eight sets of an exhaustive lower body RT bout (n = 10 trained college-aged men). Vastus lateralis biopsies were also taken before, 3-h post, and 6-h post-exercise to assess muscle protein lactylation. To identify training responses, another cohort of trained college-aged men (n = 14) partook in 6 weeks of lower-body RT (3x/week) and biopsies were obtained before and following the intervention. Five-month-old C57BL/6 mice were subjected to 10 days of plantaris overload (OV, n = 8) or served as age-matched sham surgery controls (Sham, n = 8). Although acute resistance training significantly increased blood lactate responses ∼7.2-fold (p < 0.001), cytoplasmic and nuclear protein lactylation levels were not significantly altered at the post-exercise time points, and no putative lactylation-dependent mRNA was altered following exercise. Six weeks of RT did not alter cytoplasmic protein lactylation (p = 0.800) despite significantly increasing VL muscle size (+3.5%, p = 0.037), and again, no putative lactylation-dependent mRNA was significantly affected by training. Plantaris muscles were larger in OV versus Sham mice (+43.7%, p < 0.001). However, cytoplasmic protein lactylation was similar between groups (p = 0.369), and nuclear protein lactylation was significantly lower in OV versus Sham mice (p < 0.001). The current null findings, along with other recent null findings in the literature, challenge the thesis that lactate has an appreciable role in promoting skeletal muscle hypertrophy.
Novel Prion Protein Gene Polymorphisms in Awassi Sheep in Three Regions of the Fertile Crescent

Simple Summary The Awassi sheep is the most widely bred fat-tail sheep in the Near and Middle East. In this research, a total of 150 healthy Awassi sheep from Türkiye, the Palestinian Authority, and Saudi Arabia were screened for variants in the prion protein gene (PRNP). Genotyping Awassi sheep for the prion protein gene allowed us to assess the level of genetic susceptibility to scrapie in studied populations. In addition, twenty-seven amino acid substitutions were found. Eight of them have not been previously reported. Our results on Awassi sheep may assist selection programs that aim to increase the scrapie-resistant genotypes in the populations to reduce the risk of scrapie. Abstract Scrapie is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease that affects sheep and goats, and genetic susceptibility to scrapie in sheep is associated with polymorphisms in the prion protein (PRNP) gene. The aim of this study is to identify PRNP polymorphism in Awassi sheep from Türkiye, the Palestinian Authority, and Saudi Arabia. A total of 150 healthy sheep were genotyped for PRNP, using Sanger sequencing. There were seven alleles and eleven genotypes observed based on codons 136, 154, and 171 of PRNP. The ARQ allele was predominant in all populations. The most resistant allele to scrapie, ARR, was present in all three regions. The VRQ allele, associated with the highest susceptibility to scrapie, was detected only in Türkiye at a low frequency. In this study, twenty-seven amino acid substitutions were found. Eight of them (R40Q, G65E, H88L, S98T, A118P, S138T, V192F and L250I) have not been previously reported. These data indicate that sheep breeds close to the sheep domestication center have maintained high genetic diversity in the PRNP region. Our findings on PRNP will provide valuable insights for sheep breeding programs, aiding in the selection of genotypes resistant to scrapie in Türkiye, the Palestinian Authority, and Saudi Arabia.
Application of Nanofluids and Nanocomposites for Enhanced Oil Recovery

- The low recovery of oil (only one-third) is mainly related to the displacement efficiency of porous media, which is influenced by wettability and interfacial tension. Since a large amount of oil deposits, two third of the original oil-in-place is trapped by the capillary forces, and there is a need to recover residual oil by improving oil recovery techniques. Although gas, thermal, microbial, and chemical injection is very popular and highly used techniques, they have some disadvantages. Therefore, tertiary oil recovery techniques, such as the application of nanofluids and nanocomposites, may solve this problem. The selection of appropriate techniques depends on the reservoir and economics. The mobility ratio and the mechanisms for nano-enhanced oil recovery have also been explained. Silica, zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, carbon-based nanoparticles, graphene quantum dots, graphene oxide nanosheets, and anionic surfactants are widely used in enhanced oil recovery research. Nanocomposites were discussed recently prepared, including potassium chloride/silicon dioxide/xanthan and zinc oxide/silicon dioxide/xanthan nanocomposite and others. The reviewed literature experimental data has shown that it is possible to increase the enhanced oil recovery in the 10 to 79% range depending on the applied nanofluid or nanocomposite.
Global Situational Awareness and Early Warning of High-Consequence Climate Change

Global monitoring systems that have high spatial and temporal resolution, with long observational baselines, are needed to provide situational awareness of the Earth's climate system. Continuous monitoring is required for early warning of high-consequence climate change and to help anticipate and minimize the threat. Global climate has changed abruptly in the past and will almost certainly do so again, even in the absence of anthropogenic interference. It is possible that the Earth's climate could change dramatically and suddenly within a few years. An unexpected loss of climate stability would be equivalent to the failure of an engineered system on a grand scale, and would affect billions of people by causing agricultural, economic, and environmental collapses that would cascade throughout the world. The probability of such an abrupt change happening in the near future may be small, but it is nonzero. Because the consequences would be catastrophic, we argue that the problem should be treated with science-informed engineering conservatism, which focuses on various ways a system can fail and emphasizes inspection and early detection. Such an approach will require high-fidelity continuous global monitoring, informed by scientific modeling.
Application of Queuing Theory to Analysis of Waiting Time in the Hospital

The main problem that healthcare workers face in many hospitals is how long it takes patients to receive services. This tendency is becoming more prevalent, posing a threat to healthcare services. The repercussions of keeping people in a long line for medical care can result in a variety of issues, including death. The many server queuing models were utilized to examine the government hospital's service efficiency in this study. Over two weeks, primary data was collected at the hospital using observation and questionnaire methods to find the queuing model that minimizes patient waiting time. The findings revealed that most of the patients were dissatisfied with the hospital's queue management tactics.
Fractal behavior of ozone, wind and temperature in the lower stratosphere

We apply a measure from fractal geometry to time series of airborne observations of ozone and meteorological quantities in the lower stratosphere. The Hurst exponent measure demonstrates that the lower stratospheric ozone, wind and temperature obey single exponent power law scaling to a high degree of fidelity. As a result, we suggest that ozone and horizontal windspeed behave as random, self‐affine fractals, that vertical wind speed behaves antipersistently and that horizontal wind direction and temperature behave persistently. The persistent variables are candidates for multifractality.
Going digital and intangible: intangible investments effects on a company’s success

Artykuł przedstawia empiryczną analizę czynników sukcesu warunkowanych przez kapitał niematerialny, w tym informacje oparte na systemach komputerowych, jako głównych motywatorów rozwoju cyfrowego opartego na wiedzy. Dane do analizy zostały zebrane za pomocą ankiety dotyczącej inwestycji w kapitał niematerialny i technologie cyfrowe. Do oszacowania modelu wykorzystano pakiet Stata SEM. Na podstawie uzyskanych wyników można stwierdzić, że inwestowanie w kapitał niematerialny ma pozytywny wpływ na sukces firmy w porównaniu z osiągnięciami konkurencji, a inwestowanie w aktywa niematerialne w połączeniu z elastycznością biznesową umożliwia szybkie reagowanie na presję konkurencyjną i poprawę wyników biznesowych. Firmy, które działają na wysoce konkurencyjnych rynkach, gdzie kapitał niematerialny jest kluczowym czynnikiem sukcesu, powinny skoncentrować się na inwestowaniu w wartości niematerialne i prawne podczas projektowania swoich strategii biznesowych.
Changes in memory and attention during and after occupational rehabilitation: A longitudinal study

BACKGROUND: There is need for more knowledge about the relationship between work and cognitive functioning in sick-listed individuals. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated whether the degree of work participation is relevant for recovery of cognitive functioning in sick-listed individuals. METHODS: 177 occupational rehabilitation participants and 70 controls participated in a non-randomised, longitudinal study. Participants completed computerised cognitive tests targeting sustained attention and working memory at start and end of rehabilitation and 3 and 12 months after rehabilitation. The change score performance in attention and memory between start and end, start and 3 months and 12 months was compared in individuals on sick leave 100–75%, 74–40% and 39–0% (three sick leave groups) of the time in the year after rehabilitation, and a control group not being on sick leave. Fixed effect analysis of covariance adjusting for education and work ability was used. RESULTS: The sick leave group 100–75% had significantly lower score on work ability compared to the other groups at baseline. The main findings indicated that the sick leave group 39–0% improved significantly more in sustained attention compared to the sick leave group 100–75% between start and end of rehabilitation and from start of rehabilitation to 3 and 12 months after. CONCLUSION: The degree of work participation seems relevant to recovery of the cognitive function sustained attention in sick-listed individuals. These findings encourage work rehabilitation clinicians, work consultants and employers to develop RTW plans which take into account that graded employment influence cognitive functioning.
Stakeholder Perceptions of a Web-Based Physical Activity Intervention for COPD: A Mixed-Methods Study

Technology-based physical activity interventions have been shown to be efficacious in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), though their potential impact has not been fully realized due to ineffective implementation. We used a convergent, parallel mixed-methods design to identify patient- and provider-facing barriers and facilitators to implementing a rigorously studied web-based physical activity intervention for COPD. Quantitative surveys (based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology; range 1 (poor usability)—5 (high usability)) and semi-structured interviews (guided by the practical robust implementation and sustainability model) assessed the perspectives of 15 patients and 15 health care providers. The patients and providers rated the usability of the intervention as high (median = 5.0, IQR = 1.0). For both patients and providers, the main facilitators included: the potential high impact of the intervention on patient health, the usefulness of the intervention for unmet clinical needs, and the perceived ease of use of the intervention. The main barriers identified were digital literacy and its fit with current clinical workflows. Implementation efforts may benefit from supporting patients’ use of the website and developing strategies to integrate referrals to the intervention and the monitoring of patients into current clinical infrastructures.
Influence of air mass history on the columnar aerosol properties at Valencia, Spain

[1] The physical and radiative properties of atmospheric aerosols have been obtained in Valencia (latitude 39.508°, longitude −0.418°, 60 m a. s. l.), a city of the Spanish Mediterranean coast, by the inversion of direct solar irradiance and diffuse sky irradiance measurements made with a CIMEL CE318 system, from January 2002 to July 2005. The data acquired by the CE318 were used to determine the instantaneous values of the aerosol optical depth (AOD), the columnar water vapor content (w) and the Angstrom wavelength exponent (α). The SKYRAD code was used to obtain the size distribution, the asymmetry parameter, the complex refractive index and the single scattering albedo of the aerosols. By dividing the source regions into sectors, and with the help of a simple model that quantified the relative influence of each sector in the final character of the air masses arriving over the measurement site, it was possible to classify and understand the dependence of these physical and radiative properties on the dominant air mass type.
Interannual Variability of Hudson Bay Ice Thickness

Seasonal sea ice in Hudson Bay plays a key role in determining the regional climatology. In this paper, the relationship between ice thickness with local surface air temperature and snow depth is explored at nine locations in the Hudson Bay region. A weak but statistically significant correlation was found between basin averaged ice thickness and concurrent surface air temperature. At the local scale, however, ice thickness correlated well with winter air temperature at only three measuring sites, explaining the poor relationship at the basin scale. A relationship was also identified between winter ice thickness and previous summer's air temperatures at two measuring sites, suggesting that preconditioning of Hudson Bay waters may play a significant role in sea-ice formation in some subregions of Hudson Bay. Simple and multiple linear regression analyses indicate that at the majority of the measuring sites, snow depth is a more important contributor to the inter-annual variability of ice thickness than winter air temperatures. The results of this study have important implications regarding the use of landfast ice thickness data to detect an early climate change signal over Hudson Bay.
Climate Change and Geotourism: Impacts, Challenges, and Opportunities

Climate change and rising sea levels present significant challenges for geotourism destinations and activities. Accelerated changes in geomorphological processes threaten or diminish both the physical existence and aesthetic qualities of geoheritage assets, and hence the visitor experience, as well as presenting increased or new risks from natural hazards. This is particularly a concern in mountain and coastal areas, and also where greater extremes of temperature and precipitation affect visitor comfort. A literature review was conducted to assess the extent to which the consequences of climate change have been recognised in geotourism research. With the exception of glacier-based geotourism, few studies have considered the impacts of climate change and reported the planning or development of adaptation measures. However, the didactic potential of geotourism in raising awareness of climate change has been commonly recognised. A review of the wider tourism literature identified additional destination-supply and visitor-demand issues that will affect the sustainability of geotourism in the face of climate change. These include changes in visitor motivations, travel behaviour, perceptions of destination image, and reactions to local, national, and international mitigation and adaptation responses, as well as geoethical considerations around carbon footprints and sustainable modes of travel. Situating geotourism within a broader body of multidisciplinary tourism research should help inform adaptation strategies in conjunction with measures to adapt to the physical impacts of climate change on geotourism sites.
MGD+: An Enhanced Music Genre Dataset with Success-based Networks

Streaming platforms like Spotify have revolutionized music consumption, generating big volumes of data on hit songs. Such data serve as input to analyzing the music community and to the field of Music Information Retrieval. In this context, we present MGD+: an enhanced Music Genre Dataset with Success-based Networks. By combining Spotify chart data with acoustic metadata, we capture the evolution of musical careers. We further enhance the dataset with a genre-based collaboration network, represented as a graph, connecting artists through collaborations. MGD+ enables building success-based time series across several music markets, offers a friendly interface, and allows reproducibility; being a valuable tool for music-related tasks.
Exploration of Very High Spatial Resolution Data for Vegetation Mapping using Cartographic Ontologies: Identifying Life Forms to Mapping Formations

Vegetation mapping is often considered the process of identifying landscape patterns of individuals or clusters of species or life forms (LF). At the landscape scale, the larger pattern represented by individuals or clusters represents the conceptualization of "vegetation mapping" and can be used as a building block to describe an ecosystem. To represent these building blocks or LF a "common entity (CE)" concept is introduced to represent the components of Formations as described by the National Vegetation Classification (NVC) system. The NVC has established protocols to consistently represent plant communities and promote coordinated management, particularly across jurisdictional boundaries. However, it is not a universal standard and the methods of producing detailed maps of vegetation CE from very high spatial resolution (VHR) remote sensing data are important research questions. This research addressed how best to understand and represent plant cover in arid regions, the most effective methods of mapping vegetation cover using high spatial resolution data, how to assess the accuracy of these maps, and their value in establishing more standardized mapping protocols across ecosystems. Utilizing VHR products from the IKONOS and QuickBird sensors the study focused on the Coronado National Memorial and Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona and Los Ajos and Pinacate Grand Desierto Biosphere Reserves in México. Individual CE were semi-automatically mapped incorporating spectral, textural and geostatistical variables. The results were evaluated across sensors, study sites, and input variables. In addition, multiple methods of acquiring field data for accuracy assessment were evaluated and then an evaluation was made of a semi-automatic determination of Formation based on CE.
ENHANCED BIODEGRADATION OF A LIGHT CRUDE OIL IN SANDY BEACHES

ABSTRACT Laboratory tests conducted at 3° C and 20° C indicate that biodegradation of a light crude oil (condensate) by indigenous microflora of sandy beach environments can be enhanced by the addition of an oleophilic nutrient. However, field trials conducted over a 204 day period in the intertidal zone of a sandy beach in Atlantic Canada demonstrated an acute toxic response by natural microflora to the “unweathered” condensate, and bacterial growth in the oiled sediments did not increase until the concentration of toxic low molecular weight aromatic compounds had been reduced by evaporation and/or dissolution. Chemical and bacteriological data suggest that this increase in bacterial numbers within the oiled enclosures may not be a direct consequence of condensate utilization. Although biodegradation of condensate stranded in beaches may be limited by the availability of nutrients, a single application of an oleophilic nutrient immediately following the addition of the crude oil did not enhance biodegrad.