Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integration of Global Positioning System and Scanning Water Vapor Radiometers for Precipitable Water Vapor and Cloud Liquid Path Estimates

In recent years the Global Positioning System (GPS) has proved to be a reliable instrument for measuring precipitable water vapor (PWV) (Bevis et al. 1992), offering an independent source of information on water vapor when compared with microwave radiometers (MWRs), and/or radiosonde observations (RAOBs) (Rocken et al. 1995, Basili et al. 2001). In our work we compared PWV from MWRs, GPS, and RAOBs examining in detail several assumptions in water vapor estimation. The objective was to combine GPS with MWR observations to get retrievals of cloud liquid path (CLP) that may be improvements over those obtained with MWR alone. We evaluated this method from data collected during the Cloudiness Inter-Comparison (CIC) Experiment intensive operational period (IOP) that was conducted at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program’s Southern Great Plains site (SGP) in North-Central Oklahoma. The SGP is a field measurement site consisting of a variety of in situ and remote-sensing instruments and is a powerful source for testing and analyzing concurrent data from different instruments. The instruments we considered in our work were three dual-channel scanning MWRs operated by ARM, the SuomiNet Ground-Based GPS operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Forecast Systems Laboratory (NOAA/FSL) at the same site, and RAOBs, with the Vaisala RS90 humidity sensor, launched four times a day. Soundings from all of these sources were compared during the CIC-IOP. Clear and cloudy conditions were identified by use of ARM operational cloud-boundary products derived from lidar and cloud radar. Combined GPS and MWR measurements were considered for the retrieval of PWV and CLP for both clear and cloudy datasets. Good general agreement in the PWV measurement was found between the three different kinds of instruments, with root mean square (rms) differences of 1 to 2 mm. We focused our analysis on cloudy conditions to investigate a possible dependence of the PWV differences on meteorological conditions as well as on water vapor amount itself. This comparison offered the opportunity of testing the reliability of these instruments in the presence of clouds.
Intake Systems In Ephemeral Rivers

This paper is focused on the study of bottom rack intake systems located in ephemeral and torrential streams. Clear water, and water with gravel sediment transport have been analyzed. Different tests have been carried out to quantify the influence of the solids passing through the racks. The wetted rack lengths and the efficiency of racks are studied. The clear water has also been modelled with computational fluid dynamics, and compared with the measurements obtained in the laboratory. Experimental and numerical studies that characterize both the clear water and the influence of solid load in the operation of the bottom racks will allow us to improve the existing design criteria.
Suplementación de fibra prebiótica en la elaboración de jamón prensado Prebiotic fiber supplementation in pressed ham production

The goal of this study is to assess pressed ham supplemented with prebiotic fiber at various levels: 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 % (weight). For this, samples of supplemented ham and a non-supplemented control were analyzed. The following indicators were assessed: moisture, fat, protein, pH, ash, non-nitrogenous elements (NNE),and organoleptic properties of ham, including: sweet taste, pink color, ham smell, and velvet-texture in the final product. Prebiotic fiber supplementation in pressed ham did not alter the content of moisture, fat, protein and pH. In these indicators the maximum values obtained were 73.11%, 5.63%, 23.57% and 6.0% respectively. While the ash and NNE percentages are slightly influenced, as are the organoleptic properties of texture, smell and color. The use of prebiotic fiber in pressed ham establishes its presence in the results concerning ash and NNE, while there is moderate modification in the sensory properties of color, smell and texture in the final product.
Advancing Women in Leadership Journal

In a survey of senior academic women whose careers began around 1970, over half of the 98 respondents cited the desire to serve or make a difference and sought personal fulfillment in their work. Most saw men’s motivations as dissimilar, typically as more self-interested and competitive. Despite generally high satisfaction, dissatisfaction with time pressure/workload and with support was common. Satisfactions and accomplishments overlapped. Frequently mentioned were teaching, scholarship, and their discipline, especially by faculty, and programmatic accomplishments, especially by administrators. Many respondents mentioned helping women; many mentioned a collaborative, nurturing style as integral to their success and as different from their typical male colleagues. Context is provided by the metaphor of immigration (Martin, 1997, 2000), the concept of ambivalent sexism (Krefting, 2003; Glick & Fiske, 1999), and recent work on women and leadership by Eagly and colleagues (e.g., Eagly, 2005; Eagly & Carli, 2007).
Leveraging Machine Learning Algorithms for Football Predictions and Wager Suggestions

Growing public interest in football, particularly in the wake of the recent world cup, has had an impact not just on people’s desire to watch the game, but also on the different analytics conducted in relation to it. The availability of clean, consistent data greatly enhances these analytics. This study’s primary goal is to demonstrate how various football statistics, such as goals, shots, possession, passing accuracy, and others, can be used to create an effective prediction model that will meet our primary goal of achieving over 60% test accuracy. (Given the nature of sports, it is typically difficult to quantify all the factors directly influencing the game. Therefore, although they could directly affect the outcome of the game, things like injuries sustained in the middle of play, weather, and interpersonal problems between players cannot be recorded as metrics to be worked upon. Verifying the generated winning probabilities against the odds provided by well-known bookies also made sense. The model will excel as it learns from the most recent data by dynamically obtaining the data at regular intervals through API requests. Also demonstrated is a flimsy attempt to gauge fan sentiment toward their team, which was measured and subsequently incorporated as a bias in the prediction model.
Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia comorbid with COPD is feasible with preliminary evidence of positive sleep and fatigue effects

Background: Many people with COPD report difficulties falling asleep or staying asleep, insufficient sleep duration, or nonrestorative sleep. Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) has proved effective not only in people with primary insomnia but also in people with insomnia comorbid with psychiatric and medical illness (eg, depression, cancer, and chronic pain). However, CBT-I has rarely been tested in those with COPD who have disease-related features that interfere with sleep and may lessen the effectiveness of such therapies. The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of applying a CBT-I intervention for people with COPD and to assess the impact of CBT-I on insomnia severity and sleep-related outcomes, fatigue, mood, and daytime functioning. Methods: The study had two phases. In Phase 1, a 6-weekly session CBT-I intervention protocol in participants with COPD was assessed to examine feasibility and acceptability. Phase 2 was a small trial utilizing a prospective two-group pre- and post-test design with random assignment to the six-session CBT-I or a six-session wellness education (WE) program to determine the effects of each intervention, with both interventions being provided by a nurse behavioral sleep medicine specialist. Results: Fourteen participants (five in Phase 1 and nine in Phase 2) completed six sessions of CBT-I and nine participants completed six sessions of WE. Participants indicated that both interventions were acceptable. Significant positive treatment-related effects of the CBT-I intervention were noted for insomnia severity ( P = 0.000), global sleep quality ( P = 0.002), wake after sleep onset ( P = 0.03), sleep efficiency ( P = 0.02), fatigue ( P = 0.005), and beliefs and attitudes about sleep ( P = 0.000). Significant positive effects were noted for depressed mood after WE ( P = 0.005). Conclusion: Results suggest that using CBT-I in COPD is feasible and the outcomes compare favorably with those obtained in older adults with insomnia in the context of other chronic illnesses.
CogniTivE BEhavioral ThErapy for insomnia “ Stepped Care ” : A Health Technology Solution for Delivering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as a First Line Insomnia Treatment

1549 THERE IS COMPELLING EVIDENCE THAT COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY (CBT) IS A LASTINGLY EFFECTIVE TREATMENT FOR CHRONIC PRIMARY INSOMNIA, and mounting evidence that it is similarly effective for persistent insomnia associated with medical or psychiatric disorders. The challenge for CBT is no longer to prove its credentials, but to punch its weight. For at least a decade, CBT should have been a contender as the treatment of first choice for insomnia. In reality, however, it has had very little impact on the high volume of insomnia patient care. Indeed, it has amounted to little more than a patchy cottage industry. This is not a criticism of individual professionals, or of groups of practitioners, or of local service initiatives. People are doing their best; as indeed we have tried to do in Scotland. Rather, it is stark recognition that the challenge for CBT with respect to delivery is very much greater than so far envisaged. The argument in this paper is that insomnia constitutes an international public health problem. As such, it needs to be addressed systemically not just clinically; that is at the level of care organisation. Prevalence and morbidity data alone demonstrate that CBT would need to be scaled up enormously if it were to address population need. This will not happen soon, or at all, unless new horizons are scanned. There needs to be serious engagement with models that are capable of supporting regional, national and international CBT service delivery. The principal aim of this paper is to open debate on one such model, based upon the “stepped care” approach. Before doing so, a brief review of CBT is presented to reflect upon its evidence base and its suitability as a “health technology” for adaptation to stepped care.
A study of the organic and inorganic geochemistry of sulphur in shales

The formation, evolution and weathering of sulphur bearing compounds within shales have been investigated using range of samples from the Carboniferous (Bowland Shales and Caton Shales) and the Jurassic Get Rock). Experimental methodologies have been developed and modified where necessary, to enable both the concentrations and isotopic composition of sulphur compounds in shales to be determined. The Caton Shales contain a mixture of authigenic (range 3.1 to 15.3ppm) and detrital (range 0 to 9.99ppm) uranium. The precipitation of authigenic uranium was partly controlled by organic carbon. Preferential absorption of uranium by phosphate produced authigenic uranium enrichment within a horizon containing phosphate pellets. Palaeoenvironmental conditions at the time of deposition of the Caton Shales were determined using a variety of parameters which indicate oxic bottom water conditions. The CIS ratio (mean 0.69) is lower than expected because there has been significant loss of organic carbon and a small loss of pyrite sulphur. The septarian concretions of the Caton Shales have had a complex history. The carbonate cements evolved from a heavy (-1.5700 PDB) to a light (-14.5%o PDB) oxygen composition and a light (-29700 PDB) to a heavy (-7700 PDB) carbon composition. Initial formation of the concretion matrix took place early during diagenesis, close to the sediment water interface. Overpressuring of the sediment resulted in the formation of cracks which were filled by cements derived from a mixture of meteoric water and sulphate reduction. Regional tectonic activity initiated a later generation of cracks which were filled by three distinct generations of carbonate cements. The last cementation phase was accompanied by hydrocarbon migration. The use of Ka X ray maps of large areas of diagenetic cement provide a rapid method of obtaining geochemical data. The Jet Rock shows a positive correlation between reactive iron and organic carbon and DOP is inde~e~dent of organic carbon indicating significant syngenetic pyrite formation. High TOC concentrations (>8%) are found around the Whales tone concretions where different diagenetic conditions prevailed. Samples with TOC<8% contain framboidal pyrite with 0345 in the range -30 to
Western North Pacific Tropical Cyclone Intensity Guidance Evaluations Using an Alternative Verification Technique

Abstract In this study, six intensity forecast guidance techniques from the East China Regional Meteorological Center are verified for the 2008 and 2009 typhoon seasons through an alternative forecast verification technique. This technique is used to verify intensity forecasts if those forecasts call for a typhoon to dissipate or if the real typhoon dissipates. Using a contingency table, skill scores, chance, and probabilities are computed. It is shown that the skill of the six tropical cyclone intensity guidance techniques was highest for the 12-h forecasts, while the lowest skill of all the six models did not occur in 72-h forecasting. For both the 2008 and 2009 seasons, the average probabilities of the forecast intensity having a small error (6 m s-1) tended to decrease steadily. Some of the intensity forecasts had small skill scores, but the associated probabilities of the forecast intensity errors > 15 m s-1 were not the highest.
Structural and Functional Analyses of the Shedding Protease ADAM17 in HoxB8-Immortalized Macrophages and Dendritic-like Cells

A disintegrin and metalloproteinase (ADAM) 17 has been implicated in many shedding processes. Major substrates of ADAM17 are TNF-α, IL-6R, and ligands of the epidermal growth factor receptor. The essential role of the protease is emphasized by the fact that ADAM17 deficiency is lethal in mice. To study ADAM17 function in vivo, we generated viable hypomorphic ADAM17 mice called ADAM17ex/ex mice. Recent studies indicated regulation of proteolytic ADAM17 activity by cellular processes such as cytoplasmic phosphorylation and removal of the prodomain by furin cleavage. Maturation and thus activation of ADAM17 is not fully understood. So far, studies of ADAM17 maturation have been mainly limited to mouse embryonic fibroblasts or transfected cell lines relying on nonphysiologic stimuli such as phorbol esters, thus making interpretation of the results difficult in a physiologic context. In this article, we present a robust cell system to study ADAM17 maturation and function in primary cells of the immune system. To this end, HoxB8 conditionally immortalized macrophage precursor cell lines were derived from bone marrow of wild-type and hypomorphic ADAM17ex/ex mice, which are devoid of measurable ADAM17 activity. ADAM17 mutants were stably expressed in macrophage precursor cells, differentiated to macrophages under different growth factor conditions (M-CSF versus GM-CSF), and analyzed for cellular localization, proteolytic activity, and podosome disassembly. Our study reveals maturation and activity of ADAM17 in a more physiological-immune cell system. We show that this cell system can be further exploited for genetic modifications of ADAM17 and for studying its function in immune cells.
A balancing act : China’s role in climate change

Climate change has reached the apex of the global agenda at a time when China faces significant development and energy security challenges. The political leadership and leading intellectuals are debating the direction of a new development pathway that provides both growth to meet development objectives, and dramatically reduces energy intensity and pollution. While the official position has not changed significantly, there are four key aspects that illustrate how climate change is conceived by the Chinese leadership. This signals that China may come to play a much more important role in global mitigation of climate change than was thought only a couple of years ago.
A connectionist approach to using outer ear images for human recognition and identication

Traditional image-based approaches to personal identication have almost exclusively employed front views of the individual’s face [5], occasionally complemented by prole views [4]. Here, prole images were primarily used to match a template to the prole curve (from the chin to the top of the forehead) and additionally to help to locate those parts of the face (in the front view) that are considered to carry more discriminant information|such as the eyes and the lips. This obsession for the front views of the face is justied by the extraordinarily developed capacity that humans show to recognize and identify an individual by means of a sheer image of his/her face. However, this does not necessarily mean that the face is the part of the human body that contains the largest quantity of discriminant data; an outstanding counterexample is the ngerprin t. The human capacity to distinguish faces seems to be learned, as its eciency is notably smaller when identifying faces from another race (the other-race ee ct). In this paper, we propose the use of auricle images, i. e. images of the outer ear. An average person may not be used to employ the ear to identify an individual, unless it is so unusual that appeals even more than the eyes or the mouth (but even in this case it plays a secondary role). However, it has been shown to have more identication richness than the face or any other part of the human body|except for the own ngerprin ts|and not to change signican tly from the moment in which the subject reaches adult age. The countless variations of the complex structure of the helix, lobe and dieren t cavities and wrinkles, as well as its shape and size, make true the saying that \there aren’t two equal ears," and in fact their importance has been known for a long time to both anatomists and the police: in the absence of ngerprin ts ears are often used in identication tasks [3]. From the point of view of image processing, ears have some advantages over faces:
Mapping genes for birth weight in a wild population of red deer (Cervus elaphus)

Evolutionary genetics theory predicts that additive genetic variation for fitness should be depleted by natural selection. Consequently it is expected that genes of large effect on fitness related traits should be rapidly selected to fixation. With the recent discovery of highly polymorphic molecular markers it has become possible to detect quantitative trait loci (QTL). This thesis describes the first attempt to detect QTL in an unmanipulated wild population. The red deer (Cervus elaphus) on the Isle of Rum, Inner Hebrides, Scotland have been the focus of an intensive study for thirty years and constitute a suitable population for a QTL search. I performed a power analysis in which it was determined that QTL of large effect might be detectable in a complex pedigree descending from a recently introduced stag, 'MAX! '. Primers for 354 bovine microsatellite markers were obtained and tested for polymorphism in red deer. Informative markers were placed on the deer genetic map, of which 84 were screened in 364 deer descended from MAX! I performed a genome wide search for QTL for birth weight, using a recently developed variance components approach. Birth weight is under directional selection and known to influence overall fitness in the study population, yet does retain some additive genetic variance (h 2 0.18). Three regions explained significant evidence for birth weight QTL if treated as single statistical tests, but none were significant at an experiment-wide threshold of p < 0.05. One of these regions has previously been reported to be associated with birth weight in a farmed pedigree derived from hybridised red deer and Père David's deer (Elaphurus davidianus). All three regions explained around 25% of the variation in birth weight, suggesting that genes of large effect on a fitness related trait can segregate in the wild. The large panel of markers screened also enabled me to derive a likelihood method to test and confirm the accuracy of the parentage inference program CERVUS. A further theoretical prediction is that selection will erode additive genetic variation for fitness traits faster than for morphometric traits. Thus a greater proportion of genetic variation in fitness traits should be attributable to dominance variance. Testing this hypothesis is difficult, as measuring dominance variance directly is not trivial. One solution is to attempt to detect inbreeding depression or heterosis, as a trait can only experience these phenomena if its genetic architecture includes a component of dominance variance. Previous analyses in the study population have detected inbreeding depression or heterosis using the related genetic variables multilocus heterozygosity (MLH) and mean d2. I used generalised linear modelling techniques to determine whether these genetic variables explained significant variation in life history and morphometric traits. In accordance with predictions, dominance variance appeared to be more important in fitness-related traits than morphometric traits, especially in males.
Parameter Identification of a DC servomechanism using a Robust Least Squares Algorithm with Variable Forgetting Factor

This work presents a comparative analysis between two online parameter identification algorithms, namely the Robust Least-Squares and the Robust Least Squares with Variable Forgetting Factor, and the standard offline Least Squares algorithm. These algorithms are employed for estimating the parameters of the model of a DC servomechanism which is the main component of a low-cost experimental platform. The algorithms are tested using real-time data.
AK BLOCK PROJECT STATUS UPDATE 2008

The AK Block is a large block snow test sized to the tester's weight and their ski or snowboard contact length, dug out on three sides, and loaded much like a Rutschblock. It has the advantages of quick and simple setup, large sample area, tester-weight compensation, numerical score, and direct sensory feedback. Statistical analysis indicates that the presence or absence of a back cut makes no significant difference, the AK Block and Rutschblock are comparable predictors of avalanche activity, and both are particularly useful as part of larger decision-making frameworks such as the Stability Wheel. The sizing table appears to work well, but verification and fine-tuning still require more fieldwork and analysis. This is an update of Glude and Mullen (2006), not new work. Injuries and workload prevented completion of block sizing studies this year. The authors are soliciting field data contributors for this final stage.
Pattern of water availability and water requirement for grain sorghum production at Samaru, Nigeria.

The performance of rainfed sorghum at Samaru in a dry sub-humid region of N. Nigeria was analysed in terms of adaptability to climate with particular reference to water availability for annual crop production. Water availability was related to the water requirement of sorghum during the whole period of growth and development. Crop phenology of local and exotic sorghum cv. is discussed.