Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Ohmic Cable Losses on Time-Domain Reflectometry Measurements of Electrical Conductivity

In time domain reflectometry (TDR), the ohmic resistance of the sample medium is related to the amplitude of the reflected signal at long time, once all the multiple reflections have taken place and steady state is achieved. Such a relationship, which permits measuring the sample electrical conductivity, is exact when no signal dissipation occurs other than in the sample. To account for signal attenuation along the coaxial cable, sample and cable are generally modeled as two resistors in series. In this work we review the fundamentals of the transmission line theory and demonstrate, both theoretically and experimentally, that such a formulation is incorrect. We propose a new simple procedure for the analysis of TDR signals based on a difference reflection method, by scaling the reflection coefficients with respect to one or more standards of known conductivity. The procedure was tested on 16 CaCl 2 solutions, using two different TDR probes and two cable lengths. The experimental results are in excellent agreement with the theory.
DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF THE BENTHOS IN THE SEDIMENTS OF LAKE CUBHU: A FRESHWATER COASTAL LAKE IN ZULULAND SOUTH AFRICA

SUMMARY A preliminary investigation of the macrobenthic invertebrates of the sediments of Lake Cubhu, a freshwater coastal lake near Richards Bay was conducted on a quarterly basis during 1987. The most important factor which determined the abundance and distribution of each species appeared to be the type of substratum. Analysis of the surface sediments enabled the lake bed to be separated into three main substratum categories; sand, mud and detritus. The highest densities of benthic animals occurred in sandy substrata while areas with detritus supported a greater number of species. In terms of animal density, muddy substrata were the least productive. Fourteen taxa of macroinvertebrate were recorded in the lake. Of these, only eight were identified as far as species. Two species of relict estuarine amphipods, Grandidierella lignorum and Corophium triaenonyx were numerically dominant in the benthos. The former was particularly abundant in sandy substrata where it reached densities of 12 500 m−2. However,.
A Winter Cloud Seeding Program in Utah

A winter orographic cloud seeding program has been conducted over the higher elevation areas of central and southern Utah for 13 winter seasons. The primary seeding mode has been ground-based, manually operated "silver iodide generators" located in valley and foothill locations upwind of the intended higher elevation target areas. The goal of this program is to augment naturally occurring snowfall in these higher elevation areas. Resulting augmented spring and summer streamflow is utilized for irrigation. A target/control evaluation of this program indicates approximately an average 11 percent increase in precipitation in the target area over that predicted from the control area precipitation. A similar evaluation of precipitation falling in a lower elevation region downwind of the intended target area indicates an average excess of approximately 15 percent.
Drastic Disturbance of Salt-Affected Soils in a Semi-Arid Cool Desert Shrubland

Disturbing soils in arid regions can mix subsurface materials with surface soils salvaged for reclamation. Pre-disturbance assessment of soils can minimize impacts of disturbance, and better understanding of drastic disturbance in arid soils will improve reclamation success. Reclaimed well pads have undergone stockpiled soil respreading, tillage, and seeding after drilling is complete. Soil texture and chemical properties were analyzed at 0–15 cm depth in saline and sodic soils from eight paired undisturbed and recently reclaimed sites in the Great Divide Basin of Wyoming. Soil organic matter and structural properties were analyzed in additional samples from two of the paired sites (one sodic, one saline-sodic). Paired difference analysis across the eight well pads indicated that disturbed/reclaimed soils had higher electrical conductivity (EC) than undisturbed soils (12.2 and 3.0 dS m−1, respectively) and higher sodium adsorption ratios (SAR) (26.1 and 1.3, respectively). Analysis of variance of soil organic C (SOC), total N, and soil structural properties indicate that disturbed soils had nearly one-third less total N and two-thirds less SOC than undisturbed soils, and over 65 times more >9.5 mm dry aggregates by weight, representing predominance of large clods in disturbed soils on both sites. Disturbed soils contained significantly smaller proportions of smaller dry aggregate fractions (<53 µm, 53–250 µm, and 250 µm–1 mm) than undisturbed soils, and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) was about 25% of that in undisturbed soils. Disturbed soils exhibited lower organic materials, higher salt contents, altered soil structure, and low potential for eventually supporting successful native plant communities.
Ocean model validation of the NASA scatterometer winds

The suitability of basin-scale, satellite-based scatterometer winds for forcing of numerical ocean models is examined using a reduced gravity, primitive equation model of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Three surface forcing fields are validated in a comparison of upper layer thickness (ULT) from the ocean model with observed sea level data. The forcing fields are the Florida State University observed winds, winds derived from the NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT), and stresses derived directly from NSCAT. The sea level data sets are the World Ocean Circulation Experiment “fast” sea level data set from island measurements and sea level anomalies from TOPEX/POSEIDON. Results of this comparison demonstrate that while the three model results are qualitatively similar, the results are quantitatively better when forcing with the NSCAT derived stresses. This is particularly true in the eastern tropical Pacific and in convergent zones where forcing with the NSCAT stresses can lead to large differences in ULT (>40 m) compared with results from the other two wind products.
Development time mediates the effect of larval diet on ageing and mating success of male antler flies in the wild

High-quality developmental environments often improve individual performance into adulthood, but allocating toward early life traits, such as growth, development rate and reproduction, may lead to trade-offs with late-life performance. It is, therefore, uncertain how a rich developmental environment will affect the ageing process (senescence), particularly in wild insects. To investigate the effects of early life environmental quality on insect life-history traits, including senescence, we reared larval antler flies (Protopiophila litigata) on four diets of varying nutrient concentration, then recorded survival and mating success of adult males released in the wild. Declining diet quality was associated with slower development, but had no effect on other life-history traits once development time was accounted for. Fast-developing males were larger and lived longer, but experienced more rapid senescence in survival and lower average mating rate compared to slow developers. Ultimately, larval diet, development time and body size did not predict lifetime mating success. Thus, a rich environment led to a mixture of apparent benefits and costs, mediated by development time. Our results indicate that ‘silver spoon' effects can be complex and that development time mediates the response of adult life-history traits to early life environmental quality.
On the relevance of accurate correction and validation procedures in the analysis of AVHRR‐NDVI time series for long‐term monitoring

[1] The effects of solar zenith angle (SZA) changes, short-wave calibration instability, and satellite switches on the interannual vegetation variability inferred from 1-km advanced very high resolution radiometer–normalized difference vegetation index (AVHRR-NDVI) were evaluated. The annual maximum value composite (MVC) of NDVI over middle and southern Italy was processed from afternoon viewings of NOAA 9, 11, and 14 for the period 1985–1999. MVCs were computed from imagery relative to the period of maximum photosynthetic activity. Raw data were compared with data corrected according to a procedure we recently developed and validated. Our results show that the SZA changes cause an error that increases as the NDVI value decreases. The maximum magnitude is 6.2% for forests and up to 41.8% for lakes. Calibration and intercalibration anomalies modify NOAA 11 NDVI values of 7–8% for all classes except for lakes and artificial surfaces, which show a variation of almost 11–12%; the NOAA 14 NDVI anomalies are set on about 11% with the exception of artificial surfaces (∼17%) and sparsely vegetated areas (∼9%). We also evaluated the improvement obtained from the use of the last update of calibration coefficients of NOAA 14. The positive impact of these coefficients is apparent for all the considered land covers, but a persistent overestimation of NOAA 14 calibration coefficients was still found. Altogether, the artificial anomalies can induce a relative error on NDVI variations up to 130%. This result strongly points out the relevance of performing an accurate correction of systematic errors and a careful validation before drawing conclusions from multitemporal AVHRR-NDVI analyses focused on the detection of long-term vegetation changes.
Annotation Ontology for Science on the Web

We present the Annotation Ontology (AO), an open ontology in OWL for annotating scientific documents on the web. AO supports both human and algorithmic content annotation. It enables " stand-off " (separate) metadata anchored to specific positions in document text by any one of several methods. In AO, the document may be annotated but is not required to be under update control of the annotator. AO contains a provenance model to support versioning, and a set model for specifying groups and containers of annotation.
Multi decadal variability of the North Atlantic and Mediterranean SST

two datasets the long-time trends of the Mediterranean SST, they low frequency oscillations and their relations with the global variability. The both datasets SST until to 1940. After SST remained final suggests a sort of oscillating behaviour with a period of about 70 years with two full cycles within the analysed time window. This oscillation was not so pronounced in the global time series where the temperature minimum of the between was not observed but is well visible in the North Atlantic Ocean and perfectly reproduces the behaviour of the Atlantic Multi decadal Oscillation (AMO). We observed that a very similar oscillation can be found in the intensity of the Azores sea level pressure high at about 30 °N. Periods of low mean Atlantic SST correspond to periods of higher SLP at 30 °N. This correspondence is even more evident if we compare SST at higher latitudes rather than mean North Atlantic (0-70 °N) with the Azores high behaviour. A possible scenario could be an intensification of the subtropical gyre circulation during the higher SLP periods that in turn intensify the branch
The Fear of COVID-19 Pandemic in Triggering Tourists' Material Deprivation, Social Rights, Social Participation, and Cultural Integration: The Mediating Role of Bullying

The paper investigated the impact of the fear of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourists' social exclusion in terms of material deprivation, social rights, social participation, and cultural/normative integration, through the mediating role of bullying, in the early days of COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on social exclusion theory, we adopted a quantitative approach and an integrative model to collect data from 473 tourists through a web-based survey from 5th March to 17th June 2020. The results demonstrated that the fear of COVID-19 has a significant influence on tourists’ social exclusion, and in turn, has led to bullying. Besides, bullying has a significant influence on material deprivation, social rights, social participation, and cultural/normative integration of social participation. In addition, this study determined that the effect of the fear of COVID-19 on tourists' social exclusion is partially mediated by bullying. This study also draws attention to the importance of upholding the values of humanity and positive human transactions in times of crisis and pandemics.
Plate tectonics before 2.0 Ga: Evidence from paleomagnetism of cratons within supercontinent Nuna

Laurentia, the core of Paleo- to Mesoproterozoic supercontinent Nuna, has remained largely intact since assembly 2.0 to 1.8 billion years ago [Ga]. For earlier times, previous paleomagnetic data on poorly dated Paleoproterozoic mafic intrusions yielded ambiguous estimates of the amount of separation between key cratons within Nuna such as the Slave and Superior. Recent developments in paleomagnetism and U-Pb baddeleyite geochronology, including new results reported herein, yield sufficiently precise data to generate partial apparent polar wander paths for both the Slave and Superior craton from 2.2 to 2.0 Ga. Our new apparent polar wander comparison confirms earlier speculations that processes similar to plate tectonics, with relative motion between the Slave and Superior cratons, were operative leading up to the final assembly of supercontinent Nuna.
Selective Sorting and Abrasion of River Gravel. I: Theory

Most gravel rivers show a tendency for characteristic grain size to decrease in the downstream direction over scales of tens or hundreds of kilometers. It has been surmised that this downstream fining is due to some combination of selective sorting, by which finer grains are preferentially transported downstream; and abrasion, by which individual particles are reduced in size. Here a framework for the simultaneous treatment of both phenomena is developed. The analysis is restricted to bed‐load transport of gravel. Only abrasion due to binary collisions between moving bed load and stationary bed particles is considered. The formulation includes the possibility of differential basin uplift and subsidence due to tectonism, and mixtures of rock types with differing coefficients of abrasion. The formulation of selective sorting is based on the concept of hiding, as applied to a surface‐based bed‐load transport relation. Abrasion is first treated in terms of a Lagrangian formulation for individual grains, and t.
Remote sensing reflectance and inherent optical properties of oceanic waters derived from above-water measurements

Remote-sensing reflectance and inherent optical properties of oceanic properties of oceanic waters are important parameters for ocean optics. Due to surface reflectance, Rrs or water-leaving radiance is difficult to measure from above the surface. It usually is derived by correcting for the reflected skylight in the measured above-water upwelling radiance using a theoretical Fresnel reflectance value. As it is difficult to determine the reflected skylight, there are errors in the Q and E derived Rrs, and the errors may get bigger for high chl_a coastal waters. For better correction of the reflected skylight,w e propose the following derivation procedure: partition the skylight into Rayleigh and aerosol contributions, remove the Rayleigh contribution using the Fresnel reflectance, and correct the aerosol contribution using an optimization algorithm. During the process, Rrs and in-water inherent optical properties are derived at the same time. For measurements of 45 sites made in the Gulf of Mexico and Arabian Sea with chl_a concentrations ranging from 0.07 to 49 mg/m3, the derived Rrs and inherent optical property values were compared with those from in-water measurements. These results indicate that for the waters studied, the proposed algorithm performs quite well in deriving Rrs and in- water inherent optical properties from above-surface measurements for clear and turbid waters.
Effects of the intervals of tie points used in co‐registration on the accuracy of digital elevation models generated by INSAR

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) is a new measurement technology, making use of the phase information contained in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. InSAR has been recognised as a potential tool for the generation of digital elevation models (DEMs) and the measurement of ground surface deformation. In InSAR data processing for the generation of DEMs, the first step is image co‐registration, which brings both images into the same coordinate system for the generation of an interferogram for further processing. The accuracy of the resultant DEM will certainly be affected by the quality of the co‐registration, which is in turn affected by the set of tie points used and some other factors. In this study, only the interval of tie points is considered. This means that other factors are kept unchanged. Four pairs of SAR images with size of 1760 × 400 pixels were used for testing. The effects are assessed by a relative measure for the quality of the resultant interferogram and an absolute measure for the accuracy of the resultant DEM. Results show that the effect of tie point interval on the accuracy of the final DEM is not linear. When the tie point interval is smaller than 273 × 44 pixels (273 pixels in row and 44 pixels in column), the variation in the resultant DEM accuracy is not significant. It is also noticeable that an interval of 205 × 34 pixels always results in the best or very good results. Therefore, it seems that an interval of around 200 × 30 pixels (200 pixels in row and 30 pixels in column) is an appropriate choice for the selection of tie points for image co‐registration in hilly areas.
Targets for stabilization of atmospheric CO2

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has published emission trajectories for CO 2 leading to atmospheric equilibrium in the range of 350 to 1000 parts per million by volume (ppmv). This range does not, however, imply that any one concentration is the appropriate value toward which policies influencing worldwide anthropogenic emissions should aim. Scientists must join the debate, despite the difficulty of pinpointing the correct number; otherwise, action may not be taken. Analysis suggests that a value nearer to 350 ppmv should be adopted, until it can be proven that a higher value is safe.
Comparison of local precipitation–SST relationship between the observation and a reanalysis dataset

We defined a grid–scale time–phase relationship between precipitation (PR) and underlying sea surface temperature (SST) as the local PR–SST relationship, and compared the spatial distribution of the relationship in the observation with that in a reanalysis dataset. An analysis using observed pentad mean data shows precipitation lagging SST for two pentads over large areas of tropical oceans. A reanalysis dataset, on the other hand, has a shorter time–phase difference between precipitation and SST than that in the observation and does not match the spatial distribution of the observed local PR–SST relationship over the tropical Indian Ocean and the tropical western Pacific. A reanalysis dataset may not capture the observed local PR–SST relationship in terms of either time–phase difference or spatial distribution because a numerical model in a data assimilation system uses SST as a lower boundary condition as well as the inhomogeneity of observations the system used.
Evolution of potential vorticity in the winter stratosphere of January‐February 1979

This paper presents observations which are derived from Nimbus 7 LIMS data. Results at 850 K, January-February 1979 are considered, taking into account an overview of the period, January 19-30, January 31-February 11, February 12-23, and a postwarming sequence. Upper stratosphere diagnostics for early February 1979 are discussed, giving attention to the geopotential at 3 mbar, the 1200 K isentropic surface, the isentropic potential vorticity at 1200 K, and isentropic parcel trajectories. The vertical structure of potential vorticity is also examined. This paper helps also to interpret the area diagnostics of Butchart and Remsberg (1985). It is pointed out that the LIMS data allow calculation of the potential vorticity distribution at higher levels of the middle atmosphere.
Plant Response-Based Sensing for Control Strategies in Sustainable Greenhouse Production

The effect of environmental variability is one of the major concerns in experimental design for both research in plant systems and greenhouse plant production. Microclimates surrounding plants are not usually uniform. Therefore, many samples and sensors are required to obtain a true representation of the plant population. A plant monitoring system capable of reducing the required number of samples by reducing environmental variability would be more advantageous. To better understand plant-environment interaction, it is essential to study plants, microclimate surrounding the plants and the growth media. To achieve this, the monitoring system must be equipped with proper instrumentation.To achieve proper management practices and sustainable greenhouse production, it is essential first to understand plants and their interactions with their surroundings and then establish plant response-based sensing and control strategies for greenhouse processes. Therefore, an effort was conducted to review and discuss current sensing and control strategies in greenhouse research and plant production and provide recommendations on plant response-based sensing and control strategies for sustainable greenhouse production.
Suggested Test Method for Determination of Degree of Saturation of Soil Samples by B Value Measurement

Three methods are proposed for using Skempton's B parameter for determining levels of soil saturation. In the first method, achievement of a specified B value is required before consolidation of the test specimen. In the second, achievement of a specified B value is required after consolidation of the test specimen. In the third method, the B value remains constant when plotted against increasing back pressure. The detrimental effect of performing a B value test on a partially saturated specimen is discussed, along with methods for increasing specimen saturation by flushing with carbon dioxide gas and increasing back pressure. Data are also presented on recommended B criteria as a function of soil type and saturation level, along with typical times required to flush samples.
Inter-comparison of various global sea surface temperature products

In this study, eight global sea surface temperature (SST) products for 2009 are compared to clarify their characteristics. The median of eight daily values, the Ensemble Median as Reference Product (EMRP), is used as a reference product for inter-comparison. The results show that the absolute value of mean differences and the value of root mean square (RMS) differences are higher in single-microwave products such as Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth observing system (AMSR-E), Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Microwave Imager (TMI), and WindSat, than in products such as MicroWave Optimally Interpolated SST (MWOI), Merged satellite and in situ data Global Daily SST (MGD), and Operational Sea Surface Temperature and Sea Ice Analysis (OSTIA) constructed by merging several SST data. It is of note that the characteristics of SST products depend on the type of SST used within the product, rather than the data source used. A comparison of SST products was also conducted using EMRP and data observed by moored buoys. The results show that only AMSR-E has a warm bias (+0.06°C) while other products have a cool bias (maximum value −0.10°C). The RMS error of TMI is the highest (0.57°C), and that of EMRP the lowest (0.28°C). Furthermore, the temporal variability between the data in each SST product was compared to those observed by the Kuroshio Extension Observatory (KEO) buoy. Results show that the temporal variability of EMRP corresponds well to that of buoy data, and that the RMS error of EMRP is lower than that of the other SST products.