Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of principal component images for classification of the EM response of unexploded ordnance

Abstract The location and identification of unexploded ordnance (UXO) is a major challenge for environmental rehabilitation of former military firing ranges and bombing target areas. EM methods are in widespread use for the location of metal objects, however the presence of large quantities of scrap metal from successful detonation of munitions makes discrimination between munitions and scrap and munitions of various sizes a necessity in order for efficient location, digging and removal of UXOs to proceed. Several recent papers show that detailed three- component EM measurements followed by inversion to dipole moments of an EM target is effective in characterising a target, however such techniques require precise data, usually from stationary data acquisition. EM data acquired from a moving ground platform for UXO detection is typically high in motion-induced noise which limits the usefulness of decay-curve analysis in target characterization. We use a data set from the Australian Air Force Newholme UXO Test Range, Armidale, NSW, and show that a) images of time-window data are unsuccessful in discriminating between different types of munitions, b) adaptive decay index methods are ineffective due to high noise levels on the observed decay curves, and c) principal-component transforms of the data are successful in differentiating between different types of munitions. The method provides a tool for initial classification and prioritization of anomalies from a surveyed area, thus facilitating preparation of an efficient program of follow-up surveys and site clean-up.
Assessment of Significant Sources Influencing the Variation of Water Quality of the River Damodar through Factor Analysis

In the present study, a large environmental data matrix, obtained during one year monitoring programme of 18 parameters at 16 different sites, subjected to factor analysis (FA) to study the geochemical status and to discriminate the different pollution sources of the river Damodar. Various physicochemical parameters like pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solid (TDS), ammonia (NH 4 + ), chloride (Cl - ), nitrate (NO 3 - ), sulphate (SO4 2- ), phosphate (PO4 3- ), iron (Fe), cadmium (Cd), manganese (Mn) and lead (Pb) were determined following the standard methods of APHA (1998). The average concentrations (µg/l) of the heavy metals in the water are Fe (598.4) > Pb (2.813) > Mn (1.369) > Cd (0.538). Factor analysis reveals four factors like industrial effluents, geogenic sources, agricultural activities and natural factors controlling the variability in waters of the river Damodar. The study of cluster analysis classified monitoring sites (16) into three clusters i.e., relatively less polluted, moderately polluted and highly polluted area. These results indicate that heavy metal pollution and toxicity might pose serious risks to the health of communities using these surface waters for domestic, commercial and socio-cultural purposes. It is, therefore, recommended that more strict methods of waste effluent management should be adopted to reduce further inputs into the study area.
Full year cycle of desert dust spectral optical thickness and precipitable water vapor over Alexandria, Egypt

We study the annual cycle of dust loading in Alexandria, Egypt. Observations were performed from December 1997 to November 1998, including during the Kamaseen storms of March 1998. A ground-based, manual Sun photometer was used to measure aerosol optical thickness (τ a ) at four spectral bands in the 340-870 nm wavelength range (namely 340, 440, 675, 870) Total precipitable water vapor (W) was also measured simultaneously, based on the 936 nm channel measurements and extrapolations of the aerosol optical thickness from the neighboring 675 and 870 nm channels. Aerosol optical thickness τ a at all the four spectral bands were very high (averaging 2.0-4.0) during the Kamaseen storms of late March 1998. Correspondingly, the Angstrom wavelength exponent a of the optical thickness fell close to zero during that time, implying a substantial increase in dust. Overall, the monthly mean and median aerosol optical thickness were highest during January-May and lowest in June-October. During the January-May period total precipitable water vapor and Angstrom exponent were lower than during the June-October period. There is a high correlation between the Angstrom exponent and the optical thickness (r=0.63). with α ranging from 0.0 to 0.5 for τ a > 1.0, indicating high dust concentration. Trajectory analysis shows that the presence of dust was associated with air masses arriving predominantly from the Sahara or North Africa. No significant correlation was found between the optical thickness and the precipitable water vapor. These basic systematic observations are vital for assessing dust climatology in this important part of the world and also for validating satellite observations and dust transport models.
Ichnology of Carboniferous tide-influenced environments and tidal flat variability in the North American Midcontinent

Abstract Trace fossils are sensitive indicators of environmental fluctuations and, accordingly, ichnological studies have the potential to improve facies characterization of marginal-marine systems. Carboniferous intertidal deposits in eastern Kansas and western Missouri accumulated under contrasting palaeoenvironmental conditions, ranging from the open shoreline to fluvio-estuarine transitions. Comparative analysis of these exposures illustrates lateral variations in trace-fossil content and allows characterization of the intertidal ichnofaunas developed in three sub-environments: open marine, restricted bays and fluvio-estuarine transitions. Openmarine tidal flat ichnofaunas are characterized by (1) high ichnodiversity, (2) marine ichnotaxa produced by both euryhaline and stenohaline forms, (3) the presence of both infaunal and epifaunal traces, (4) the presence of simple and complex structures produced by presumed trophic generalists and specialists respectively, (5) dominance of horizontal trace fossils of the Cruziana ichnofacies, (6) presence of multispecific associations, (7) high density, and (8) wide size range. This ichnofauna is present in heterolithic deposits and reflects the activity of a biota that inhabited tidal flats dominated by normal-marine salinities and connected directly to the open sea. Restricted-bay ichnofaunas display (1) low ichnodiversity, (2) ichnotaxa commonly found in marine environments, but produced by euryhaline organisms, (3) dominance of infaunal traces rather than epifaunal trails, (4) simple structures produced by opportunistic trophic generalists, (5) a combination of vertical and horizontal trace fossils from the Skolithos and Cruziana ichnofacies, (6) the presence of monospecific associations, (7) variable density, and (8) small size. This assemblage occurs in heterolithic facies and records the activity of a brackish-water benthic fauna inhabiting intertidal areas of estuarine basins and embayments. Fluvio-estuarine ichnofaunas are characterized by (1) moderate to relatively high diversity, (2) forms typically present in continental environments, (3) the dominance of surface trails and absence of burrows, (4) temporary structures produced by a mobile deposit-feeding fauna, (5) a mixture of trace fossils belonging to the Scoyenia and Mermia ichnofacies, (6) moderate density of individual ichnotaxa, (7) absence of monospecific suites, and (8) small size. This assemblage occurs in tidal rhythmites and records the activity of a typical freshwater/terrestrial benthos inhabiting tidal flats that were developed in the most proximal zone of the inner estuary under freshwater conditions. Through integration of ichnological and sedimentological data, conventional sedimentological interpretations of marginal-marine depositional systems can be refined and enhanced.
A soil technical classification system for Pinus radiata (D. Don) plantations. I. Development.

A technical classification system for soils of Pinus radiata plantations is presented. The soil attributes used were mainly from published data and classes were established on an a priori basis from information and experience of plantation forestry with this species. The system is designed for field use and does not require laboratory analyses; it uses factors that are not affected by the presence of the forest species; the classes are coded so as to produce data suitable for computerized information systems. The attributes used are parent rock, texture profile, depth to and nature of any impeding layer, texture and condition of the uppermost 10 cm of soil, character of surficial horizons according to paler subsurface or exposed subsoil, and the condition and colour of the subsoil. A parent rock classification has been devised according to soil-forming potential; this reduces rock identification to 12 main classes so as to facilitate field recognition. The classification is aimed at assisting soil-based silvicultural management of P. radiata forests, providing a basis for transferring technology between forests, and at accumulating specific resource information for inclusion in forest management information systems.
Chemistry and Biological Activities of Cannflavins of the Cannabis Plant

Background: Throughout history, Cannabis has had a significant influence on human life as one of the earliest plants cultivated by humans. The plant was a source of fibers used by the oldest known civilizations. Cannabis was also used medicinally in China, India, and ancient Egypt. Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), the main psychoactive compound in the plant was identified in 1964 followed by more than 125 cannabinoids. More than 30 flavonoids were isolated from the plant including the characteristic flavonoids called cannflavins, which are prenylated or geranylated flavones. Material and Methods: In this review, the methods of extraction, isolation, identification, biosynthesis, chemical synthesis, analysis and pharmacological activity of these flavonoids are described. Results: The biosynthetic routes of the cannflavins from phenylalanine and malonyl CoA as well as the microbial biotransformation are also discussed. Details of the chemical synthesis are illustrated as an alternative to the isolation from the plant materials along with other possible sources of obtaining cannflavins. Detailed methods discussing the analysis of flavonoids in cannabis are presented, including the techniques used for separation and detection. Finally, the various biological activities of cannflavins are reviewed along with the available molecular docking studies. Conclusion: Despite the low level of cannflavins in cannabis hamper their development as naturally derived products, efforts need to be put in place to develop high yield synthetic or biosynthetic protocols for their production in order for their development as pharmaceutical products.
Understanding farmer adoption of agricultural best management practices

In an ideal world, we would have a complete understanding about what motivates farmers to adopt best management practices (BMPs). With this knowledge in hand, conservation promoters and educators could deliver the perfect set of incentives and messages to each individual producer. If we knew that certain farmers would never be interested in adopting practices, we would not waste scarce time and resources on these individuals but could focus our energy on more amenable farmers. For over 25 years, researchers have been trying to address this complex issue. Unfortunately, human behavior is difficult to predict, and even when studies ask similar questions, they often find different answers. In an attempt to understand the complete state of our knowledge about farmer adoption, we conducted a meta-analysis of all the relevant literature in the United States. We included all studies that presented some sort of statistical analysis with conclusions about the significance (or insignificance) of the relationship between independent variables and the dependent variable, BMP adoption. A total of 55 articles met our criteria. As studies often include very similar variables and test similar hypotheses, we were able to organize the independent variables into summary categories of capacity, awareness, attitudes, and farm
Small-Scale Variability in Solute Transport Processes in a Homogeneous Clay Loam Soil

Small-scale variations in transport parameters may have a profound influence on larger scale flow processes. Fiber-optic miniprobes (FOMPs) provide the opportunity to continuously measure solute resident concentration in small soil volumes. A 20-channel multi-plexed-FOMP system was used in repeated miscible displacements in a repacked clay loam soil column to examine small-scale, point-to-point variability in convective-dispersive transport processes. Transport parameters, measured 10 cm below the surface, were compared at two drip irrigation point densities and two fluxes. Irrigation densities of one irrigation drip point per 4 cm{sup 2} and 11 cm{sup 2} of column surface area produced similar results. The breakthrough curves measured at 0.10 cm h{sup {minus}1} had a larger immobile phase than at a flux of 1.07 cm h{sup {minus}1}. In the clay loam soil the mobile-immobile model fit the breakthrough curves better than the convective-dispersive equation (CDE), with r{sup 2} values of 99.6 and 97.1, respectively. This analysis demonstrated that dispersion and mass recovery were much more variable than pore water velocity in this repacked clay loam soil. However, even in the most variable transport conditions encountered, only 17 sampling points were necessary to describe the column average transport parameters within 20% of the mean.
Induction Fault Traveling Wave Measurement Technique Based on Tunnel Magnetoresistance

To improve the measurement accuracy of high-frequency traveling wave signals, eliminate the measurement errors of the existing measuring device caused by its complex distribution parameters, an induction fault traveling wave measurement method based on tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) is proposed. A new type of induction current traveling wave sensor is designed and developed in this study. The influence of the sensor's spatial position in the magnetic field on measurement accuracy is analyzed. The high-frequency traveling wave signal is obtained by measuring the magnetic field generated by the wave in the conductor. A unique coefficient matrix based on the sensor installation position on the overhead line is established to correct the interference error of the sensor and to calculate the accurate primary system waveform to enable high-precision, wideband, and induction measurement of the traveling wave signals. Simulation and experimental tests demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms existing traveling wave measurement methods in terms of accuracy and reflects the primary system current traveling wave more accurately. The proposed sensor has the advantages of small size, excellent frequency characteristics, and live installation without power outage, making it suitable for widely applied in the distribution networks to measure low amplitude high-frequency current traveling wave signals.
The data‐driven seismic value chain, providing a business context for the velocity issue

Effective communication between seismic specialists should be facilitated by a shared process model that can be used at different levels of abstraction. In this shared model the seismic work‐flow is presented as a value chain, showing the complex interrelationships between the broad range of specialized activities that are needed in today's practice. One of these activities is velocity estimation, providing the relationship between seismic time and geological depth. Excellence in the seismic value chain will depend on the quality of the specialized tools and skills (abilities) involved, as well as on the capability of the organization to combine these abilities in an integrated work‐flow to realize maximum value at the end of the chain.
Bio-Resorption Control of Magnesium Alloy AZ31 Coated with High and Low Molecular Weight Polyethylene Oxide (PEO) Hydrogels

Magnesium AZ31 alloy has been chosen as bio-resorbable temporary prosthetic implants to investigate the degradation processes in a simulating body fluid (SBF) of the bare metal and the ones coated with low and high-molecular-weight PEO hydrogels. Hydrogel coatings are proposed to control the bioresorption rate of AZ31 alloy. The alloy was preliminary hydrothermally treated to form a magnesium hydroxide layer. 2 mm discs were used in bioresorption tests. Scanning electron microscopy was used to characterize the surface morphology of the hydrothermally treated and PEO-coated magnesium alloy surfaces. The variation of pH and the mass of Mg2+ ions present in the SBF corroding medium have been monitored for 15 days. Corrosion current densities (Icorr) and corrosion potentials (Ecorr) were evaluated from potentiodynamic polarisation tests on the samples exposed to the SBF solution. Kinetics of cumulative Mg ions mass released in the corroding solution have been evaluated regarding cations diffusion and mass transport parameters. The initial corrosion rates for the H- and L-Mw PEO-coated specimens were similar (0.95 ± 0.12 and 1.82 ± 0.52 mg/cm2day, respectively) and almost 4 to 5 times slower than that of the uncoated system (6.08 mg/cm2day). Results showed that the highly swollen PEO hydrogel coatings may extend into the bulk solution, protecting the coated metal and efficiently controlling the degradation rate of magnesium alloys. These findings focus more research effort on investigating such systems as tunable bioresorbable prosthetic materials providing idoneous environments to support cells and bone tissue repair.
Conditions for flow in the continental crust

Earthquake focal depth distributions and effective elastic thickness variations on the continents suggest that in old cold regions such as shields, the lower continental crust can be stronger than the upper mantle, and imply that the upper mantle can flow even when the lower crust does not. However, in other places substantial flow in the lower crust does occur, particularly near extensional metamorphic core complexes. We suggest that the lower crust only flows when its viscosity is significantly reduced, either by heating from igneous intrusions or by the addition of water. In both cases, the important characteristics of the flow are a consequence of the limited time over which the viscosity reduction occurs. The timescale is controlled either by conductive cooling of intrusions, or by the separation of melt from its matrix, which removes the water.
Paleomagnetic tracking of mountain building in the Peruvian Andes since 10 Ma

We report paleomagnetic data from 73 sites (628 samples) of upper Oligocene to Pliocene rocks from central and northern Peru. The data indicate that the Subandean Zone has not experienced vertical axis rotation since the upper Oligocene, whereas the coast and the Western Cordillera record a coherent pattern of counterclockwise rotations emplaced in the last 10 Ma. This pattern can best be explained by two competing hypotheses: (1) a propagation in rotations from the Bolivian Orocline toward the north or (2) a more punctual and widespread event linked to subduction of the Nazca Ridge that caused the rotations. On the basis of the time‐space relationship of paleomagnetic rotations, deformation, magmatism and Nazca‐South America plate convergence, the latter appears more likely. Moreover, because the rotations north of the Abancay deflection (∼15.5°S) are synchronous with deformation and exhumation, they indicate that major mountain building in the Peruvian Andes has occurred since 10 Ma. Finally, we suggest that a succession of aseismic ridge subduction events played an important role in shaping the modern topography of the Andean chain.
Two-User Gaussian Broadcast Wiretap Channel With Common Message and Feedback: Revisit

The two-user Gaussian broadcast wiretap channel with common message and feedback (GBC-WTC-CM-F) is revisited. Traditionally, achievable secrecy rate of this model is achieved by combining Marton’s coding scheme for the two-user broadcast channel (BC) and the secret-key based feedback scheme, where both of the two feedback links are used to transmit secret keys shared between the transceivers. Recently, it has been shown that for the Gaussian wiretap channel with feedback, the Schalkwijk-Kailath (SK) feedback scheme achieves its secrecy capacity. Then it is natural to ask: can we do better when applying the SK-type scheme to the GBC-WTC-CM-F? In this paper, we answer this question by proposing two kinds of SK-type schemes. Specifically, first, we propose a hybrid scheme where one feedback link is used to transmit a secret key, and the other one is used for SK-type coding. We show that this hybrid scheme may perform better than the existing one in some cases. Next, we show that Ozarow’s extended SK scheme for the two-user Gaussian BC with feedback, where both feedback links are used for SK-type coding, is self-secure (satisfying perfect weak secrecy constraint by itself) and may perform the best. We further show that Ozarow’s scheme is in fact a secure finite blocklength coding scheme, and extend it to the static fading SISO and SIMO cases. Finally, the results of this paper are further explained by numerical examples.
Self-Adversarial Generative Adversarial Network for Underwater Image Enhancement

Generative adversarial network (GAN)-based underwater image enhancement methods improve image quality by encoding a raw image and an adversarial image with the corresponding high-quality version. Although these methods have recently attracted significant attention, the lack of referred clear underwater imagery forces GAN-based underwater image enhancement models to be trained with synthetic or enhanced underwater images, limiting their applicability and performance. This article proposes a novel self-adversarial GAN (SA-GAN) to enhance underwater images by referring to paired raw and high-quality natural images. Specifically, a self-adversarial mode is designed that attaches a further constraint to the generation procedure. By applying two pairwise image quality discriminators, the generators are supervised with a stronger decision boundary to generate better quality than the high-quality natural image and the last-generated image. This is a novel settlement of the limitation caused by the adversary system with the synthetic or enhanced underwater images, realizing the quality transfer from natural images to distorted underwater images. Several experiments on real underwater images and two commonly used underwater image data sets demonstrate that the proposed method subjectively and objectively performs better than current methods in restoring the coloration of underwater images.
Crustal thickness and Vp/Vs ratio in NW Namibia from receiver functions: Evidence for magmatic underplating due to mantle plume‐crust interaction

A seismological network was operated at the junction of the aseismic Walvis Ridge with the northwestern Namibian coast. We mapped crustal thickness and bulk Vp/Vs ratio by the H‐k analysis of receiver functions. In the Damara Belt, the crustal thickness is ~35 km with a Vp/Vs ratio of <1.75. The crust is ~30 km thick at the coast in the Kaoko Belt. Strong variations in crustal thickness and Vp/Vs ratios are found at the landfall of the Walvis Ridge. Here and at ~150 km northeast of the coast, the crustal thickness increases dramatically reaching 44 km and the Vp/Vs ratios are extremely high (~1.89). These anomalies are interpreted as magmatic underplating produced by the mantle plume during the breakup of Gondwana. The area affected by the plume is smaller than 300 km in diameter, possibly ruling out the existence of a large plume head under the continent during the breakup.