Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Theoretical analysis of iterative signal reconstruction for impulsive noise mitigation in OFDM systems

In this paper a theoretical analysis of the iterative signal reconstruction algorithm for impulsive noise mitigation in orthogonal frequency‐division multiplexing (OFDM) systems is developed. The following main results are developed: first, analytical model for the total noise in the frequency domain, and second the model for the total noise probability density function (pdf) in the frequency domain, both defined for each step of the iterative reconstruction process. Finally, based on the pdf of the total noise, explicit expressions for BER in kth iteration are defined as well. The main intention of the paper is to present the approach to theoretical analysis of the iterative impulsive noise mitigation algorithm that has not yet been appeared in the literature, because the theoretical analysis of the noise pdf during iterations has been considered as too complex a problem. Analyses and analytical results presented in the paper are given for scenario with a fixed number of noise impulses per frame. However, this is not a handicap of the proposed approach, since all presented models can be used as building blocks for scenarios with other impulsive noise distributions including Bernoulli–Gaussian and Middleton's Class A. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Do We Know What We Owe? Consumer Debt as Reported by Borrowers and Lenders

Household surveys are the source of some of the most widely studied data on consumer balance sheets, with the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) generally cited as the leading source of wealth data for the United States. At the same time, recent research questions survey respondents’ propensity and ability to report debt characteristics accurately. This study compares household debt as reported by borrowers to the SCF with household debt as reported by lenders to Equifax using the new FRBNY Consumer Credit Panel (CCP). The borrower and lender debt distributions are compared by year, age of household head, household size, and region of the country, in total and across five standard debt categories. The authors’ central finding is that the SCF and CCP debt patterns are strikingly similar. There are, however, two noteworthy exceptions: the aggregate credit card debt implied by SCF borrowers’ reports is estimated to be 37 to 40 percent lower than that implied by CCP lenders’ reports, and the aggregate student debt implied by the SCF is roughly 25 percent lower than that implied by the CCP. In contrast to the credit card debt mismatch, bankruptcy history is reported comparably in the borrower and lender sources, indicating that not all stigmatized consumer behaviors are underreported.
The effect of intersite dependence on regional flood frequency analysis

Regional flood frequency analysis usually assumes that flood records from different sites are statistically independent. This assumption is unlikely to be valid in practice, so it is important to know how intersite dependence affects flood quantile estimates obtained by regional analysis. We use Monte Carlo simulation to assess the effect of realistically specified intersite dependence on the regional probability weighted moment algorithm, a robust and efficient procedure for regional flood frequency analysis. Our principal conclusions are as follows. Any bias in flood quantile estimates is unchanged by the presence of intersite dependence. The accuracy of flood quantile estimates decreases when intersite dependence is present, but this effect is less important for practical applications than the bias in flood quantile estimates due to heterogeneity (inequality of the flood frequency distributions in the region). Even when both heterogeneity and intersite dependence are present and the form of the flood frequency distribution is misspecified, regional flood frequency analysis is more accurate than at-site analysis.
Regional and seasonal variations in the flux of oceanic dimethylsulfide to the atmosphere

Dimethylsulfide (DMS) concentrations have been measured in over 1000 Pacific surface seawater samples during the past 4 years. The data have been tabulated to take into account both regional and seasonal variations in concentration. The area-weighted summer and winter concentrations of DMS in the North Pacific Ocean are 2.2 and 1.3 nmol/L, respectively. Wind speed, surface seawater temperature, and DMS diffusivities are used to calculate air-sea exchange coefficients. The area-weighted summer and winter DMS piston velocities are 2.3 and 2.7 m/d, respectively. These exchange coefficients combined with the concentration data yield a net ocean to atmosphere DMS flux in the North Pacific Ocean of 0.12 Tmol/yr. Extrapolating this calculation by regional areas to the global ocean yields a net DMS flux of 0.50 Tmol/yr, less than earlier estimates of 1.2 Tmol/yr, but still consistent with excess sulfate deposition estimates and model studies of the marine atmospheric sulfur budget. The uncertainty in the flux estimate is roughly a factor of 2.
Inferring shallow groundwater flow in saprolite and fractured rock using environmental tracers

The Ridge and Valley Province of eastern Tennessee is characterized by (1) substantial topographic relief, (2) folded and highly fractured rocks of various lithologies that have low primary permeability and porosity, and (3) a shallow residuum of medium permeability and high total porosity. Conceptual models of shallow groundwater flow and solute transport in this system have been developed but are difficult to evaluate using physical characterization or short-term tracer methods due to extreme spatial variability in hydraulic properties. In this paper we describe how chlorofluorocarbon 12, 3H, and 3He were used to infer groundwater flow and solute transport in saprolite and fractured rock near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In the shallow residuum, fracture spacings are <0.05 m, suggesting that concentrations of these tracers in fractures and in the matrix have time to diffusionally equilibrate. The relatively smooth nature of tracer concentrations with depth in the residuum is consistent with this model and quantitatively suggests recharge fluxes of 0.2 to 0.4 m yr−1. In contrast, groundwater flow within the unweathered rock appears to be controlled by fractures with spacings of the order of 2 to 5 m, and diffusional equilibration of fractures and matrix has not occurred. For this reason, vertical fluid fluxes in the unweathered rock cannot be estimated from the tracer data.
History of Australian aridity: chronology in the evolution of arid landscapes

Abstract Australian climate and vegetation, known from marine and lacustrine sediments and fossils, varied dramatically throughout the Cenozoic Era, with several warm reversals superimposed on overall drying and cooling. A suite of landforms, including stony deserts, dunefields and playa lakes, formed in response to the advancing aridity but their age generally remained uncertain until fairly recently, owing to a lack of suitable dating methods. Within the last 5 years, the chronology of Late Quaternary fluctuations of lakes, dunes and dust-mantles has been established by luminescence dating methods, and mid-Pleistocene onset of playa conditions in a few closed basins has been estimated using palaeomagnetic reversal chronology. Only recently has it been shown, by cosmogenic isotope dating, that major tracts of arid landforms including the Simpson Desert dunefield, and stony deserts of the Lake Eyre Basin, were formed in early Pleistocene and late Pliocene times, respectively. These landscapes represent a stepwise response to progressive climatic drying and, speculatively, were accompanied by biological adaptations. Recent molecular DNA studies indicate that Australia's arid-adapted species evolved from mesic-adapted ancestors during the Pliocene or earlier, but whether speciation rapidly accompanied the development of stony deserts and other arid geomorphological provinces awaits further studies of arid landscape chronology.
Impact of updates to the HITRAN spectroscopic database on the modeling of clear‐sky infrared radiances

Recent versions of the HITRAN spectroscopic database are evaluated to assess the impact of the latest revisions to line parameters on the ability to model clear‐sky radiances. Observations made using the Met Office C‐130 aircraft with an infrared interferometer are compared with line‐by‐line radiative transfer simulations incorporating the HITRAN 96 and HITRAN 2000 databases. Substantial reductions in the differences between observed and calculated spectra are found when including the latest database in the model, largely due to refinements in water vapor parameters. Although the use of HITRAN 2000 is broadly successful in reproducing the observed spectra, a number of discrepancies remain in some spectral regions which may indicate further room for improvement in the database.
Innovation in SMEs: An Empirical Investigation of the Input- Througput-Output-Performance Model

Small and medium-sized firms have gained increasing attention in the innovation literature. Exactly how innovation occurs in these firms is still rather unknown. This study was conducted on a large number (N=1303) of small manufacturing and service firms in the Netherlands. In these organizations a conversion model that consisted of input, throughput, output and performance indicators was tested. The results clearly support the input-throughput-output model. The relation between output and financial performance was not supported. However, when extending the basic model with contextual variables, type of industry and firm size, we did find some support for the relationship between innovation output and financial performance in larger firms. Finally, we did not find substantial differences in the input-throughput-output model between manufacturing firms and service firms.
Staircase ion signature in the polar cusp: A case study

On 15 October 1981 Dynamics Explorer 2 crossed the polar cusp at 1015 MLT and observed three distinct ion populations as it was moving poleward. These three populations had peak-flux energy around 2.7 keV, 850 eV and 360 eV. At the time of observation, the IMF was southward. The first step coincided with a rotation of the flow from westward to poleward and then eastward. The second and third steps showed a flow directed principally poleward. Furthermore, the magnetic and electric perturbations in the first step are well fitted by an elongated flux tube footprint model. These results suggest that three consecutive Flux Transfer Events (FTEs) have injected solar wind plasma into the ionosphere forming the polar cusp. The individual FTE signatures can only be identified by the jumps in the precipitation pattern. The newest reconnected FTE footprint was crossed near the edge of the event while the two oldest ones were crossed around the event center. The small latitudinal size of these FTE footprints ([approximately]40 km) and their short recurrence rate (3,6 min) is consistent with an intermittent reconnection taking place at the subsolar point on a short time scale. 21 refs., 4 figs.
A COLLABORATIVE LEARNING MATRIX FOR COMBINING SCIENCE WITH STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT TO PRIORITIZE WATERSHED IMPLEMENTATION IN ARKANSAS' NONPOINT SOURCE STATE MANAGEMENT PLAN

In 2004, the Ecological Engineering Group at the University of Arkansas received a grant to update Arkansas' nonpoint source pollution (NPS) management program. A stakeholder involvement process was developed that used collaborative learning (CL) and comparative risk assessment (CRA) to prioritise watersheds for NPS implementation. The relative ecological risk posed by nonpoint pollution to each watershed was assessed and values assigned using available water quality, GIS, and demographic data. This risk assessment was the foundation to a CL exercise. Through the CL process, the knowledge and experience of scientists, administrators and laypersons were used. Watersheds prioritised through the CRA became eligible for section 319(h) funding from EPA. This study evaluated the substantive legitimacy of the stakeholder process. Overall, stakeholders were found to be satisfied. The repeatability of the process made it a valuable improvement to Arkansas' NPS program.
Initial evaluation of a simple coupled surface and ground water hydrological model to assess sustainable ground water abstractions at the regional scale

Additional surface–ground water interaction routines were recently added to the Pitman monthly rainfall–runoff model, widely used in South Africa for quantifying water resources in ungauged catchments. Some evaluations of the model have demonstrated that it can realistically simulate interactions between surface and ground water at catchment scales of approximately 100 to 5,000 km2. The model allows ground water abstractions to be simulated, but no reported evaluations of this component are available. This study uses the model to estimate sustainable abstraction volumes in a semi-arid catchment and includes an assessment of model parameter uncertainties. In recognition of potential spatial scale issues related to the model structure an alternative model configuration, based on splitting the total catchment into recharge and abstraction sub-catchments, was also tested. While the results appear to be conceptually appropriate, there is insufficient available information to quantitatively confirm the model parameters and results. The same would apply regardless of the type of model being applied in such a data-deficient area. Additional geo-hydrological information is required to resolve the model uncertainties and improve the parameter estimation process. This pilot study has highlighted the type of information required, but further work is needed to identify how best to obtain that information.
Software visualization

Software visualization (SV) involves the use of the crafts of typography, graphic design, animation, and cinematography with modern Human-Computer Interaction technology to facilitate both the human understanding and effective use of computer software. Software visualizations are often used to portray both concrete and abstract concepts and range from depictions of source code to performance characteristics to the execution of an algorithm as a discrete or continuous sequence of graphical images, or algorithm visualization. Numerous algorithm visualizations have been developed for use in educational settings. However, studies that were designed to demonstrate the pedagogic effectiveness of algorithm visualizations have been markedly unsuccessful, in spite of high expectations. In response to these results, lists of recommended features have been suggested to algorithm visualization system designers, but most of these features have not been proven to be beneficial. The broad goal of this research is to provide an empirically-validated method for designing and evaluating the effectiveness of dynamic visualizations. Our approach has been to identify features of these visualizations and systems that may improve learning, to create software that can isolate features of interest and aid in evaluating the usefulness of these features, and to then use the software to conduct and analyze user studies. i) assembles an initial listing of features of SVs and SV systems and introduces a framework for testing the effectiveness of each, ii) provides verified design guidelines for dynamic visualizations, iii) applies concepts already researched and established in perceptual psychology and cognitive psychology to the design of effective SVs, iv) offers an explanation of the inevitable variability present in studies involving human subjects through the investigation of the effects of individual differences on comprehending SVs, and v) objectively classifies SV systems and makes them widely and easily available in a way never done before, with VisIOn, an Interactive Visualization Ontology. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee members, family, friends, fellow students and most importantly God! Thank you to my major professor, Dr. Eileen Kraemer, for sharing her invaluable advice, guidance, and wisdom and for providing both mental and physical nourishment throughout the spending time to meet with me to discuss this research and provide input from your respective areas of expertise. I would like to thank the other graduate students from the VizEval lab and project whose hard work continuously motivated me – for always making sure that proper documents and processes were completed correctly …
Relations among subduction parameters

Clues to the dynamics of the subduction process are found in the many measurable parameters of modern subduction zones. Based on a critical appraisal of the geophysical and geological literature, 26 parameters are estimated for each of 39 modern subduction zones. To isolate causal relationships among these parameters, multivariate analysis is applied to this data set. This analysis yields empirical quantitative relations that predict strain regime and strike-slip faulting in the overriding plate, maximum earthquake magnitude, Benioff zone length, slab dip, arc-trench gap, and maximum trench depth. Excellent correlation is found between length of the Benioff zone and the product of convergence rate and age of the downgoing slab. This relationship is consistent with the conductive heating model of Molnar et al. (1979), if the model is modified in one respect. The rate of heating of the slab is not constant; it is substantially slower during passage of the slab beneath the accretionary prism and overriding plate. The structural style in the overriding plate is determined by its stress state. Though the stress state of overriding plates cannot be quantified, one can classify each individual subduction zone into one of seven semiquantitative strain classes that form a continuum from strongly extensional (class 1, back-arc spreading) to strongly compressional (class 7, active folding and thrusting). This analysis indicates that strain class is probably determined by a linear combination of convergence rate, slab age, and shallow slab dip. Interplate coupling, controlled by convergence rate and slab age, is an important control on strain regime and the primary control on earthquake magnitude. Arc-parallel strike-slip faulting is a common feature of convergent margins, forming a forearc sliver between the strike-slip fault and trench. Optimum conditions for the development of forearc slivers are oblique convergence, a compressional environment, and a continental overriding plate. The primary factor controlling presence of strike-slip faulting is coupling; strongly oblique convergence is not required. The rate of strike-slip faulting is affected by both convergence obliquity and convergence rate. Maximum trench depth is a response to flexure of the underthrusting plate. The amount of flexural deflection at the trench depends on the vertical component of slab pull force, which is very sensitive to slab age and shallow slab dip. Shallow slab dip conforms to the cross-sectional shape of the overriding plate, which is controlled by width of the accretionary prism and duration of subduction. Deep slab dip is affected by the mantle trajectory established at shallow depth but may be modified by mantle flow. Much of the structural complexity of convergent margins is probably attributable to terrane juxtaposition associated with temporal changes in both forearc strike-slip faulting and strain regime. Empirical equations relating subduction parameters can provide both a focus for future theoretical studies and a conceptual and kinematic link between plate tectonics and the geology of subduction zones.
From Space to Place in Urban Planning: Facilitating Change through Participatory Action Research

Transforming space to place implies an open accountable process during which people can influence decision-making about how and what their physical spaces should become. Spatial planning plays a prominent role in this process as planning is an important change agent to enhance democracy. While communicative planning theory serves as a theoretical framework to follow a participatory approach in urban planning, the practical application of this theory is questioned. Participatory Action Research (PAR) aims to develop equal distribution of power in terms of decision-making by embracing values such as empowerment, social justice and equity, collaborative relationships, learning and respect towards diversity. This research describes the use of PAR in urban planning by proactively including community members in transforming an open space to place in their neighbourhood. The study area, located in Ikageng, Potchefstroom, South Africa, is facing stark socio and economic realities after Apartheid. A qualitative research approach was followed where no extraneous influences occurred. Data was generated by focus group discussions about participants’ experiences and expectations of the process followed. The findings suggested that the process followed created a platform for change in terms of (i) the physical site (upgrade, beautification and functional use), (ii) social change (the formation of positive relationships) and (iii) psychological change (pride, sense of ownership, the development of responsibility and respect for diversity). PAR is suggested as a valuable method for planners to create meaningful places while space is used as a platform for personal and collective change.
Ice cloud microphysical property retrieval using airborne two-frequency radars

An algorithm to retrieve the optically thick ice cloud microphysical property profiles is developed by using the GSFC 9.6 GHz ER-2 Doppler Radar (EDOP) and the 94 GHz Cloud Radar System (CRS) measurements aboard the high-altitude ER-2 aircraft. In situ size distribution and total water content data from the CRYSTAL-FACE field campaign are used for algorithm development. To reduce uncertainty in calculated radar reflectivity factors (Ze) at these wavelengths, coincident radar measurements and size distribution data are used to guide the selection of mass-length relationship and to deal with the density and non-spherical effects of ice crystals on Ze. The algorithm is able to retrieve microphysical property profiles of optically thick ice clouds, such as, deep convective and anvil clouds, which are very challenge for single frequency radar and lidar. An example of retrieved microphysical properties of a deep convective cloud is presented.