Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determining cloud forcing by cloud type from geostationary satellite data

To fully attribute differences in cloud forcing between regions, or between models and observations, requires separation of the effects of different cloud types. This can only be achieved using data which resolve both day to day and diurnal variations. Here we propose a method which takes advantage of the high temporal resolution of geostationary data to estimate the contribution of individual cloud types to the monthly mean and monthly time‐step mean cloud forcing in each grid‐box. Details of the method are outlined, and data from the Meteosat‐8 satellite for June 2004 are used to demonstrate its benefits.
Tropical rainforests: a case study of UK, 13-year-olds’ knowledge and understanding of these environments

Tropical rainforests are biologically rich ecosystems, which are threatened by a variety of different human activities. This study focuses on students’ knowledge and understanding of rainforest locations, their reasons for protecting these environments and their familiarity with selected concepts about rainforest vegetation and soil. These questions are addressed, through the analysis of answers about rainforests included in an end-of-year examination provided by 102, 13-year-old pupils studying in the UK. The results suggest that the most familiar rainforest area is the Amazon, although some students are uncertain about its exact location. The importance of preserving rainforests in order to reduce global warming is well understood, but misconceptions surround the role of oxygen in this ecosystem. Almost all of the students are able to name the main vegetation layers in a rainforest, but many have difficulty in explaining why, despite luxuriant growth, the soils in this environment are relatively infertile. Most students offer partial rather than full explanations for anatomical features such as leaf drip-tips and also for the lack of leaf litter on the forest floor. The implications of the findings for teaching and learning about rainforests are addressed.
Global assimilation of satellite surface soil moisture retrievals into the NASA Catchment land surface model

Global retrievals of surface soil moisture from the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer for the period 1979–87 are assimilated into the NASA Catchment land surface model as it is driven with surface meteorological data derived from observations. Validation against ground‐based measurements in Eurasia and North America from the Global Soil Moisture Data Bank demonstrates a long assumed (but rarely proven) property of soil moisture fields derived from data assimilation – that the assimilation product is superior to either satellite data or model data alone. An analysis of the innovations reveals that the filter is only partially operating within its underlying assumptions and offers clues how spatially distributed model error parameters could further enhance filter performance.
Effects of Piston Design Parameters on Piston Secondary Motion and Skirt - Liner Friction

Abstract In this article, a previously developed and experimentally validated piston secondary motion model has been improved further numerically and applied to understand the detailed interactions between the piston skirt and the cylinder liner for various piston design parameters. The model considers the roughness of the surfaces and the topography of the skirt in both the axial (barrel profile) and circumferential (ovality) directions. Three modes of lubrication: hydro-dynamic, mixed, and boundary lubrication regimes have been considered and the skirt is partially flooded in most cases. Elastic deformation of the skirt is an essential part of the model. In this model, the piston dynamic behaviour and frictional and impact forces are predicted as functions of crank angle and are examined in detail. Parameters investigated include piston skirt profile, piston-to-liner clearance, surface roughness, and oil availability. The results show that some of these parameters have profound effects on the frictional and impact forces at the piston skirt/liner interface, and therefore, they have the potential to optimize the piston frictional power loss. Correlations and non-dimensional scaling laws are developed to illustrate the basic governing phenomena. These results aim to provide a set of quantitative design guidelines.
FlankFlux: an experiment to study the nature of hydrothermal circulation in young oceanic crust

The sediment-buried eastern flank of the Juan de Fuca Ridge provides a unique environment for studying the thermal nature and geochemical consequences of hydrothermal circulation in young ocean crust. Just 18 km east of the spreading axis, where the sea-floor age is 0.62 Ma, sediments lap onto the ridge flank and create a sharp boundary between sediment-free and sediment-covered igneous crust. Farther east, beneath the nearly continuous turbidite sediment cover of Cascadia Basin, the buried basement topography is extremely smooth in some areas and rough in others. At a few isolated locations, small volcanic edifices penetrate the sediment surface. An initial cruise in 1978 and two subsequent cruises in 1988 and 1990 on this sedimented ridge flank have produced extensive single-channel seismic coverage, detailed heat flow surveys co-located with seismic lines, and pore-fluid geochemical profiles of piston and gravity cores taken over heat flow anomalies. Complementary multichannel seismic reflection data w.
Principal Component Analysis of Observed and Modeled Diurnal Rainfall in the Maritime Continent

AbstractPrincipal component analysis (PCA) is able to diagnose the diurnal rain cycle in the Maritime Continent into two modes that explain most of the diurnal variability in the region. The first mode results from the differential variation in potential instability forced by surface heat flux, insolation, and longwave radiative cooling on land and sea. The second mode is associated with intrinsic mesoscale dynamics of convective systems and its interactions with gravity waves, density currents, and local circulations in coastal regions or mountainous terrain. The spatial phase relation between the two modes determines whether a diurnal signal is propagating or stationary. Thus, validating model simulations of diurnal rainfall using PCA provides insights on the representation of dynamics and physics. In this paper, the main modes of diurnal rain variability in the Maritime Continent from satellite observations are studied and are compared with those from Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simula.
Cationized dextran nanoparticle-encapsulated CXCR4-siRNA enhanced correlation between CXCR4 expression and serum alkaline phosphatase in a mouse model of colorectal cancer

Purpose: The failure of colorectal cancer treatments is partly due to overexpression of CXCR4 by tumor cells, which plays a critical role in cell metastasis. Moreover, serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels are frequently elevated in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. A polysaccharide, dextran, was chosen as the vector of siRNA. Spermine was conjugated to oxidized dextran by reductive amination process to obtain cationized dextran, so-called dextran-spermine, in order to prepare CXCR4-siRNAs/dextran-spermine nanoparticles. The fabricated nanoparticles were used in order to investigate whether downregulation of CXCR4 expression could affect serum ALP in mouse models of colorectal cancer. Methods: Colorectal cancer was established in BALB/C mice following injection of mouse colon carcinoma cells CT.26WT through the tail vein. CXCR4 siRNA for two sites of the target gene was administered following injection of naked siRNA or siRNA encapsulated into nanoparticles. Results: In vivo animal data revealed that CXCR4 silencing by dextran-spermine nanoparticles significantly downregulated CXCR4 expression compared with naked CXCR4 siRNA. Furthermore, there was correlation between CXCR4 expression and serum ALP. Conclusion: CXCR4 siRNA/dextran-spermine nanoparticles appear to be highly effective, and may be suitable for further in vivo applications. Further research evaluation will be needed to determine the effect of CXCR4 silencing on serum ALP levels, which may be a useful marker to predict liver metastasis in colorectal cancer.
Detection of collapsed buildings caused by the 1999 Izmit, Turkey earthquake through digital analysis of post-event aerial photographs

In this study, the post-earthquake aerial photographs were digitally processed and analysed to detect collapsed buildings caused by the Izmit, Turkey earthquake of 17 August 1999. The selected area of study encloses part of the city of Golcuk, which is one of the urban areas most strongly hit by the earthquake. The analysis relies on the idea that if a building is collapsed, then it will not have corresponding shadows. The boundaries of the buildings were available and stored in a Geographical Information System (GIS) as vector polygons. The vector building polygons were used to match the shadow casting edges of the buildings with their corresponding shadows and to perform analyses in a building-specific manner. The shadow edges of the buildings were detected through a Prewitt edge detection algorithm. For each building, the agreement was then measured between the shadow producing edges of the building polygons and the thresholded edge image based on the percentage of shadow edge pixels. If the computed percentage value was below a preset threshold then the building being assessed was declared as collapsed. Of the 80 collapsed buildings, 74 were detected correctly, providing 92.50% producer's accuracy. The overall accuracy was computed as 96.15%. The results show that the detection of the collapsed buildings through digital analysis of post-earthquake aerial photographs based on shadow information is quite encouraging. It is also demonstrated that determining the optimum threshold value for separating the collapsed from uncollapsed buildings is important.
Exhaled nitric oxide: a new lung function test.

Nitric oxide (NO) is produced by many cells within the respiratory tract and endogenousNO may play an important signalling role in the physiological control ofairway function and in the pathophysiology of airway diseases. '3 Endogenous NO is generated from the amino acid L-arginine by the enzyme NO synthase (NOS), ofwhich three distinct isoforms exist.4 Constitutive isoforms are found in endothelial cells (ecNOS or type III) and neurons (nNOS, type I) and are activated by a rise in intracellular calcium, usually in response to physiological stimuli. A third isoform (iNOS, type II) is induced in several cell types by exposure to proinflammatory cytokines and endotoxin and its induction is blocked by glucocorticoids. All three isoforms have been detected in the human respiratory tract. "~ Gustafsson and colleagues first showed that NO can be detected in the exhaled air of animals and normal human subjects9 and this has subsequently been confirmed in many studies. ""'5 Furthermore, the concentration of exhaled NO is increased in patients with inflammatory diseases of the airways such as asthma" 1216 and bronchiectasis. '7 This suggests that exhaled NO may provide a non-invasive means of monitoring inflammation in the respiratory tract and the measurement of exhaled NO has attracted increasing interest. However, interpretation of exhaled NO measurements may be difficult and there is a wide variation in the reported levels ofNO in exhaled air, suggesting that technical factors are important.
Preparing for preventive clinical trials: the Predict-HD study.

BACKGROUND The optimal design and outcome measures for preventive clinical trials in neurodegenerative diseases are unknown. OBJECTIVE To examine measures that may be associated with disease in the largest cohort ever recruited of prediagnosed individuals carrying the gene expansion for Huntington disease (HD). DESIGN The Predict-HD study is a multicenter observational research study in progress at 17 sites in the United States, 4 in Canada, and 3 in Australia. SETTING Genetics and HD outpatient clinics. PARTICIPANTS Five hundred five at-risk individuals who had previously undergone elective DNA analyses for the CAG expansion in the HD gene (predictive testing) and did not currently have a clinical diagnosis of HD. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Basal ganglia volumes on magnetic resonance images, estimated probability of diagnosis (based on CAG repeat length), performances on 21 standardized cognitive tasks, total scores on 3 scales of psychiatric distress, and motor diagnosis based on the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale. RESULTS Several variables showed progressive decline as the diagnostic ratings advanced toward manifest disease. Estimated probability of diagnosis was associated with Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale prediagnostic stages and varied from 15% in persons with no motor abnormalities to nearly 40% in those with abnormalities suggestive of probable disease. Striatal volumes, cognitive performances, and even psychiatric ratings declined significantly with motor manifestations of disease. CONCLUSIONS The documentation of biological and refined clinical markers suggests several clinical end points for preventive clinical trials. Longitudinal study is critical to further validate possible markers for prediagnosed HD.
Factor analysis approach for composited ASTER band ratios and wavelet transform pixel-level image fusion: lithological mapping of the Neoproterozoic Wadi Kid area, Sinai, Egypt

In this study, we have adopted an approach for objective optimization of the selection of band ratios in forming Advanced Space-borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) band ratio composites, based on factor analysis loadings and specific variances. The factor loadings and specific variances of all 72 possible spectral band ratios of the visible and near infrared (VNIR) and the short-wave infrared (SWIR) of ASTER data from Wadi Kid, southeastern Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, were utilized to construct two separate rankings of band ratios in an ascending manner in order to determine the best ASTER band ratio combinations for lithological mapping in the study area. Two ASTER band ratio composites ((band 6/band 3–band 1/band 3–band 9/band 5) and (8/6–8/7–4/7) in blue–green–red (BGR)) were built, based on the rankings of factor loadings and specific variances, respectively. These two composites were fused together based on a discrete wavelet transform (DWT) decomposition, which enables decomposition of an image into (high-pass) details and (low-pass) approximations at various levels of resolution, resulting in improved lithological discrimination of granitic and meta-sediments rock units and a reduction in the BGR imprints of topographic reliefs.
Multifunctional Prussian blue analogous@polyaniline core–shell nanocubes for lithium storage and overall water splitting

Developing efficient multifunctional electrode materials is highly effective to dramatically reduce the overall cost of the electrochemical devices. In this work, we for the first time demonstrate a facile strategy for preparing Prussian blue analogous@polyaniline core–shell nanocubes (denoted as PBAs@PANI) as multifunctional electrode materials for lithium storage and overall water splitting. By finely controlling the reaction parameters, PANI was uniformly coated on the surface of PBAs nanocubes and that the thickness of the PANI shell can be adjusted. The as-synthesized PBAs@PANI nanocubes yield improved electrochemical performance due to significantly enhanced charge transport, elastic buffer, and corrosion protection afforded by the PANI coating. More specifically, PBAs@PANI nanocubes show excellent lithium storage behavior with a reversible capacity of 626 mA h g−1 compared with the uncoated PBAs (203 mA h g−1) after 500 cycles at a high current density of 1 A g−1. Furthermore, PBAs@PANI nanocubes can also efficiently catalyze the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and we therefore investigated their applications as bifunctional electrocatalysts (as both the anode and cathode) for overall water splitting. A current density of 10 mA cm−2 can be gained at a low cell voltage of 1.73 V over a long-term operation in base, representing a combined overpotential of 500 mV for full water splitting. These superior performances manifest that PBAs@PANI nanocubes can serve as high-performance anode for LIBs as well as promising bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting.
Histologic Preparations

Rabbits were immunized with diphtheria toxoid combined with complete Freund's adjuvant. Half of the animals were started on intramuscular injections of chloramphenicol 24 hr before the injection of the antigens. There was a general depression of protein synthesis in the immune system in the presence of chloramphenicol, but a greater effect on the synthesis of antibody than on the synthesis of proteins necessary for reproduction and maturation. In contrast to the finding of antibody in cells of the spleen and in the circulation of the control animals, those animals receiving chloramphenicol did not have measurable circulating antibody, and their spleens contained only a few cells with intracytoplasmic antibody late in the course of the experiment. Cytologically there was maturation of potential antibody-producing cells in the red pulp and nonfollicular white pulp of the spleen while the animals were receiving chloramphenicoL These cells developed more slowly, and were fewer and smaller than those of the control animals. They had numerous small, electron-opaque particles in their cytoplasm early in development. Ribosomes were synthesized, though fewer in number. The endoplasmic reticulum formed more slowly. I N T R O D U C T I O N In bacteria and bacterial cell-free systems chloramphenicol (CM) has been shown to have an inhibitory effect on protein synthesis. In contrast to this, mammalian systems are relatively insensitive to the antibiotic. The notable exception seems to be antibody synthesis. When CM is administered in sufficient quantity before immunization, or early in the inductive phase of antibody synthesis, there is an attenuation of the formation of antibody. This has been shown in animals (1-5) and in cultures of lymphoid tissue from immunized animals (6-8). Those observations were concerned with the effects of CM on circulating antibody and synthesis of antibody in cultures of lymphoid tissue. There is little information about the cellular aspects of the immune process in the presence of CM. In this study the parameters considered were the effect of CM on: (a) antibody synthesis in terms of circulating antibody and intracellular antibody; (b) the maturation of immunologically competent cells, particularly the development, in the walls of the sinusoids of the red pulp of the spleen, of mononuclear cells associated with the synthesis of "yM antibody, and the development, in the nonfollicular white_ pulp of the spleen, of plasma cells associated with "yG antibody synthesis; and (c) mitotic activity in these areas. 401 on April 27, 2019 jcb.rupress. org Downloaded from http://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.32. 2.401 Published Online: 1 February, 1967 | Supp Info:
A case study of relationship between substorm expansion and global plasma convection

This letter reports observations of large‐scale ionospheric plasma flows from the SuperDARN radar network and global auroral images from the Polar ultraviolet imager during two large and rare substorm events. The substorm events were characterized by predominantly westward expansion for one and predominantly eastward expansion (or lack of westward expansion) for the other. The westward expansion case was associated with a positive y‐component of interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), whereas the eastward expansion case was associated with a negative y‐component of IMF. The concurrent plasma flow measurements from the SuperDARN radar network suggest that the westward (eastward) expansion is embedded in the large, round dusk (dawn) convection cell. A simple explanation is offered for the observed preponderance of westward expansions, namely, that the pre‐midnight onset location favors the westward plasma flow that is associated with the dusk cell. Eastward expansion occurs only when a large IMF By negative condition causes the midnight sector to be dominated by eastward plasma flows.
Framing Perceptions of the Historic Landscape: Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC) and Historic Land-Use Assessment (HLA)

Abstract Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC) and Historic Land-Use Assessment (HLA), the English and Scottish versions of historic landscape characterisation respectively, take systematic representations of landscape components such as boundary and land use patterns and use transparent processes of assessment and interpretation to abstract or characterise the essence of the history that established the form, and feel, of the present-day world. Time-depth is introduced when either earlier or archaeological mappings are subjected to similar assessment, allowing people to appreciate the trajectory of past change in ways that are useful for guiding future change. Some attributions and interpretations can, like those in all other forms of historical study and discourse, be debatable and some see the broad-brush approach as over-simplifying a complex world. However, if HLA and HLC are regarded as problematising frameworks within which secondary more detailed and critical work can be located, then many of these issues evaporate. Applications include supporting, informing, framing and stimulating further historic landscape and archaeological research; informing landscape assessment, policy, strategy and management; and developing dialogue with a wide range of partners.
Shear instability in a highly stratified estuary

Abstract Shear instability is found to be the principal mechanism of vertical exchange within the pycnocline of a salt wedge estuary. A field program involving high-resolution velocity and density measurements, as well as high-frequency acoustic imagery, allowed direct comparison of instantaneous Richardson number distributions to the occurrence of shear instability. The theoretical stability threshold of 0.25 is consistent with the measurements, based on estimates of gradients that contain the mean as well as fluctuations due to internal waves. An effective stability threshold based on mean gradients is found to be approximately one-third, reflecting a significant contribution of internal wave shear. The integral effect of the mixing process is to homogenize the gradients of velocity and density, producing linear profiles of these quantities across the pycnocline. A turbulent Prandtl number of unity is suggested by the vertical distributions of velocity and density during periods of active vertical mixin.
Isotopic Constraints on Emplacement Age of Anorthositic Rocks of the Marcy Masiff, Adirondack Mts., New York

The igneous emplacement age of anorthositic rocks comprising the Marcy massif have been constrained by fixing minimum and maximum ages for their intrusion. Minimum ages have been fixed by: (a) U-Pb dating of cores of air abraded zircons from the anorthosite (>1113 Ma), (b) U-Pb dating of baddeleyite within the anorthosite (>1087 Ma), (c) U-Pb dating of baddeleyite from an olivine metagabbro crosscutting Marcy massif anorthosite (>1109 Ma), (d) U-Pb zircon dating of jotunitic rocks crosscutting the Marcy anorthosite massif ($$1143 \pm 31 Ma$$). Maximum emplacement ages are based upon: (a) sheets of anorthositic rock crosscutting mangeritic-charnockitic gneiss dated by U-Pb zircon at $$1125 \pm 10 Ma$$, $$1134 \pm 4 Ma$$, and $$1135 \pm 43 Ma$$, and (b) anorthosite-related pyroxenite dikes crosscutting mangerite that contains xenoliths of identical pyroxenite. These results constrain emplacement of the Marcy anorthosite to 1113-1138 Ma with the most probable age in the interval 1125-1135 Ma. This time of intrusion is coincident with that of the granitoid envelope enclosing the anorthosite massif and indicates that, together, these rocks represent a bimodal magmatic complex.