Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Triassic temnospondyl biostratigraphy, biochronology and correlation of the German Buntsandstein and North American Moenkopi Formation

Based on temnospondyl distributions, we propose a correlation of the non-marine Lower and Middle Triassic strata of Germany and the western United States. This correlation relies principally on the presence of two genera, Nonesian (late Early Triassic) Parotosuchus and Perovkan (early Middle Triassic) Eocyclotosaurus. The distribution of Parotosuchus helgolandicus indicates that the Torrey Member of the Moenkopi Formation in Utah, USA is equivalent to the Volpriehausen Formation of the German Buntsandstein of Nonesian age. Magnetostratigraphy and the distribution of Eocyclotosaurus indicate that the Perovkan Holbrook Member of the Moenkopi Formation in Arizona corresponds to a short interval of Anisian time, as does the German Upper Buntsandstein. The Buntsandstein and Moenkopi biostratigraphic schemes agree with a recently proposed biochronology of Triassic terrestrial tetrapods.
Segmentation of multispectral high-resolution satellite imagery using log Gabor filters

Image segmentation has been recognized as a valuable approach that performs a region-based rather than a pixel-based analysis of high-resolution satellite imagery. A scheme for segmenting the multispectral IKONOS image based on frequency-domain filtering is presented. The frequency spectrum of typical landscape objects is analysed first. The spectrum curves are comparable in logarithmic coordinates rather than in Cartesian coordinates; therefore the Gabor filters are superseded by log Gabor filters to extract the multiscale texture features from panchromatic band. Edge features then are calculated from the pan-sharpened multispectral bands based on the vector field model. Finally, the texture-marked watershed segmentation algorithm is implemented and the segmentation accuracy is assessed. The experimental results show that the developed scheme generated an effective tool for automatic segmentation of multispectral high-resolution satellite imagery and suppressing the over-segmentation problem of watershed transform.
Essentials of forestry practice

The Forestry Challenge. Forestry: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. Characteristics and Growth Requirements of Forest Trees. The Composition and Distribution of Forests. Applying Silvicultural Systems. Measuring the Forest. Forest Management and Timber Production Finance. Logging and Measuring Forest products. Protecting Forests from Fire, Insects, and Diseases. Processing and Marketing Forest Products. Managing Forest Lands for other Purposes. Organization and Administration of Forestry Programs. Appendixes. Index.
Decreasing rate of M=7 earthquakes in the northern hemisphere since 1900

Online Material: Figures showing variation through time of magnitude of completeness. The preceding decade was characterized by the abrupt increase of the number of large earthquakes ( M w≥8), with the occurrence of three of the six strongest seismic events recorded in the period of instrumental seismology (2004 M 9.0 Sumatra–Andaman earthquake; 2010 M 8.8 Maule, Chile, earthquake; 2011 M 9.0 Tohoku, Japan, earthquake [Shearer and Stark, 2012]). Many authors analyzed seismicity back to 1900 to assess whether large earthquakes either cluster in time or follow a random distribution (Daub et al. , 2012, and references therein) but reached contradictory conclusions (Kerr, 2011). We considered a declustered global catalog of M ≥7 earthquakes that occurred between 1900 and 2013 for a different, although related, objective. We investigated the existence of significant trends in the yearly distribution of earthquakes and evaluated their possible dependence on the geography. This study tries to extend the analysis by Shearer and Stark (2012), who find that after 1900, worldwide M ≥7 earthquakes are not uniformly distributed in time, but instead are mainly concentrated in the first half of the twentieth century. We separately considered the earthquakes that occurred in the southern and northern hemispheres. We found the seismicity rate is almost stable in the south, whereas it is strongly decreasing in the north, where it reduced from about nine earthquakes per year to about five per year in just over a century. We also found the decrease is common to the more important seismic regions of the northern hemisphere. It is possible that the result is an artifact due to a biased estimate of magnitude, especially in the first half of the twentieth century, when the instrumental coverage was scarce and different magnitude scales were adopted. The problem was raised by Engdahl and Villasenor (2002) …
The initiation of debris flow at high slopes: experimental results

Debris deposit laying over an impermeable high slope surface (e.g. in steep streams and gullies) could develop a water sediment mixture flow (usually known as debris flow) when a high enough water flow is flowing over the sediment bed. In particular the rainfall first saturates the debris deposit and then mobilizes it by an overland flow. The mechanisms which make unstable the granular material layer in such a case were studied by experimental tests performed in a tilting flume filled with uniformly distributed granular material. The experimental results are compared with theoretical relationships on the occurrence of debris flow and with experimental findings pertinent to sediment transport phenomena. The material employed in the experiments was nearly uniform gravel of three different sizes with mean diameters respectively equal to d = 0.023, 0.029 and 0.034 m.
Pre-inversion Corrections and Analysis of Radar Tomographic Data

Pre-inversion corrections and analysis of transmission radar data is important for producing reliable tomographic images. In order to extract high-resolution, quantitative information from radar tomographic data, it is important to process the data as accurately as possible. This is especially true when analyzing data collected in a time-lapse mode, where changes in geophysical attributes with time may be less than a few percent, or when the spacing between acquisition wells is on the order of several meters. Using high-resolution tomographic radar data collected in a variety of geological environments, this study illustrates how different pre-inversion travel time and amplitude processing steps affect the velocity and attenuation estimates. In some cases, the distortion caused from incorrect processing can lead to severe artifacts in the tomogram including the appearance of anisotropy. This paper presents methods for recognizing and correcting the raw data for errors caused by incorrect station geometry .
The geochemistry, origin, and role of carbon dioxide, water, sulfur, and boron in the Yellowknife gold deposits, Northwest Territories, Canada

The gold deposits of the Yellowknife district occur in two distinct geological settings. The principal economic deposits occur in quartz-carbonate lenses in extensive chlorite schist zones (shear zones) cutting greenstone (amphibolite) rocks. The other deposits, of less economic importance, occur in quartz lenses in meta-sedimentary rocks.The deposits in the greenstones represent concentrations of silica, carbon dioxide, water, sulfur, arsenic, antimony, gold, and other metallic elements. Those in the sediments represent concentrations of silica, sulfur, boron, gold, and other metallic elements.For the deposits in the greenstones chemical evidence is presented to show that, under the influence of a strong thermal gradient, some of the carbon dioxide, water, sulfur, gold, silver, and other metallic elements in the original volcanic rocks was mobilized and migrated into the extensive shear zone systems. In the shear zones the chemical equilibrium was severely displaced, water and carbon dioxide reacted with the amphibolite rock producing extensive widths of chlorite and chlorite-carbonate schist, and silica, sulfur, gold, and numerous other elements present in the rock were mobilized. These mobilized constituents, together with those added by diffusion from the country rocks, migrated into dilatant zones, principally at shear zone junctions and flexures. In these sites they were precipitated as quartz, carbonates, sulfides, and gold.A similar process has operated to form the gold-quartz lenses in the meta-sediments. In these rocks silica, boron, sulfur, and various metallic elements were mobilized during the metamorphism of the sediments, and these migrated into and were precipitated in dilatant zones in faults, fractures, and drag folds in the rocks.
LDACS: future aeronautical communications for air-traffic management

A major modernization process in air traffic management for civil aviation is currently taking place under the framework of SESAR and NextGen in Europe and the United States, respectively. Air traffic management modernization is required to meet the needs sustainable air traffic growth in Europe, the United States, and worldwide are posing. A key enabler for this modernization process is the introduction of improved communications, navigation, and surveillance technologies. In this article, new developments in aeronautical communications for air traffic management are presented, with special focus on the air/ground communications technology L-band Digital Aeronautical Communications System (LDACS). The most promising LDACS technology candidate, LDACS1, is described in detail, and possible extensions toward navigation and surveillance are discussed. With these extensions, LDACS1 is well placed to become the first integrated communications, navigation, and surveillance technology for civil aviation. Utilizing a common ground infrastructure, such an integrated approach simplifies deployment and reduces costs for both deployment and maintenance.
Towards behaviour-recognition-based video surveillance

We present the latest results on learnable stochastic temporal models for automatic event and behaviour recognition in CCTV surveillance video. We introduce a novel approach to modelling and recognising complex activities involving simultaneous movement of multiple objects. Our approach differs from most previous work in that the visual understanding of activity is based on visual event detection and reasoning instead of object tracking and trajectory matching. Dynamic probabilistic graph models are exploited for modelling the temporal relationships among a set of different object temporal events. Typical applications of this technology include automatic semantic video content analysis, profiling and indexing of salient event and behaviour captured in CCTV video, and the early recognition of atypical behaviour in scenes where such behaviour could lead to a threat to safety.
LWIR/MWIR imaging hyperspectral sensor for airborne and ground-based remote sensing

We describe the design and performance of an infrared imaging spectrograph that was first used as an airborne sensor in October, 1995. This instrument, called the spatially-enhanced broadband array spectrograph system (SEBASS), is intended to explore the utility of hyperspectral infrared sensors for remotely identifying solids, liquids, gases, and chemical vapors in the 2 to 14 micrometers 'chemical fingerprint' spectral region. The instrument, which is an extension of an existing non-imaging spectrograph uses two spherical-faced prisms to operate simultaneously in the atmospheric transmission windows found between 2.0 and 5.2 micrometers and between 7.8 and 13.4 micrometers (LWIR). ALthough the SEBASS instrument is designed primarily for use from an aircraft platform, it was used in March 1996 for a tower-based collection.
Fingerprint Database Optimization Using Watershed Transformation Algorithm

Fingerprints are a unique feature for identification and verification of humans. The need to optimise several databases for storing the images of fingerprints is a major concerning issue. Several segmentation algorithms have been used in the time past but there are still several challenges facing some current segmentation algorithms like computational efficiency. Another challenge is that segmentation procedure can be impractically slow, or requires extremely large amounts of memory. This paper addresses the challenges by employing watershed flooding algorithm on the fingerprint images so as to optimize the sizes of the databases. A pre-processing plug-in that implements this segmentation process is developed using Java. We showed its effectiveness by testing it on fingerprint image dataset and the entropy showed that the segmented images sizes were reduced.
Queries? Links? Is there a difference?

Hypertext interfaces are considered appropriate for information exploration tasks. The prohibitively expensive link creation effort, however, prevents traditional hypertext interfaces from being used with large coherent collections of text. Such collections typically require query–based interfaces. This paper examines a hybrid approach: the system described here creates anchors dynamical] y based on users’ queries, and uses anchor selection as a query expansion mechanism. An experiment was conducted to compare browsing behavior in query– and link–based interfaces. Results suggest that query–mediated links are as effective as explicit queries, and that strategies adopted by users affect performance. This work has implications for the design of information exploration interfaces; the dynamic link algorithms described here are being incorporated into a Web server.
Evaluating the Accuracy and Effectiveness of Criminal Geographic Profiling Methods: The Case of Dandora, Kenya

Criminal geographic profiling (CGP) prioritizes offender search, extensively reducing the resources expended in criminal investigations. The utility of CGP has, however, remained unclear when variations in environmental characteristics and offense type are introduced. This study evaluates several CGP strategies with data from Dandora, a small but densely populated suburb of Nairobi, Kenya. The research employs error distance and search-cost measures to determine CGP accuracy. Characterized by much shorter journeys to crime than those observed in Western cities, this study discovers significant applicability of CGP strategies in prioritizing offender searches. The negative exponential CGP strategy is identified to generate the most accurate geo-profiles.
Satellite radar and optical remote sensing for earthquake damage detection: results from different case studies

In case of a seismic event, a fast and draft damage map of the hit urban areas can be very useful, in particular when the epicentre of the earthquake is located in remote regions, or the main communication systems are damaged. Our aim is to analyse the capability of remote sensing techniques for damage detection in urban areas and to explore the combined use of radar (SAR) and optical satellite data. Two case studies have been proposed: Izmit (1999; Turkey) and Bam (2003; Iran). Both areas have been affected by strong earthquakes causing heavy and extended damage in the urban settlements close to the epicentre. Different procedures for damage assessment have been successfully tested, either to perform a pixel by pixel classification or to assess damage within homogeneous extended areas. We have compared change detection capabilities of different features extracted from optical and radar data, and analysed the potential of combining measurements at different frequency ranges. Regarding the Izmit case, SAR features alone have reached 70% of correct classification of damaged areas and 5 m panchromatic optical images have given 82%; the fusion of SAR and optical data raised up to 89% of correct pixel‐to‐pixel classification. The same procedures applied to the Bam test case achieved about 61% of correct classification from SAR alone, 70% from optical data, while data fusion reached 76%. The results of the correlation between satellite remote sensing and ground surveys data have been presented by comparing remotely change detection features averaged within homogeneous blocks of buildings with ground survey data.
Capturing the influence of groundwater dynamics on land surface processes using an integrated, distributed watershed model

The influence of groundwater dynamics on the energy balance at the land surface is studied using an integrated, distributed watershed modeling platform. This model includes the mass and energy balance at the land surface; three‐dimensional variably saturated subsurface flow; explicit representation of the water table; and overland flow. The model is applied to the Little Washita watershed in Central Oklahoma, USA and compared to runoff, soil moisture and energy flux observations. The connection between groundwater dynamics and the land surface energy balance is studied using a variety of conventional and spatial statistical measures. For a number of energy variables a strong interconnection is demonstrated with water table depth. This connection varies seasonally and spatially depending on the spatial composition of water table depth. A theoretical critical water table depth range is presented where a strong sensitivity between groundwater and land‐surface processes may be observed. For this particular watershed, a critical depth range is established between 1 and 5 m in which the land surface energy budget is most sensitive to groundwater storage. Finally, concrete recommendations are put forth to characterize this interconnection in the field.
Interactions between Microorganisms, Crude Oil and Formation Waters

Crude oil and formation waters surrounding oil deposits constitute two environments that harbor various groups of microorganisms, such as sulphate-reducing bacteria, iron-reducing bacteria, fermenting bacteria and methanogenic archaea. Microorganisms occurring in crude oil and formation waters, which are usually mineral waters or brines, can modify the chemical composition of both oil and aqueous solution, affect dissolution/precipitation reactions of mineral phases, and consequently may influence the hydraulic properties of reservoir rocks and the conditions for hydrocarbon migration. This paper describes the potential biogeochemical reactions, which can take place in oil deposits and formation waters with the participation of microorganisms and the results of their activity. The results of geochemical modelling of formation waters based on hydrochemical data (obtained from Polish Oil & Gas Company) are discussed in terms of carbonate mineral stability. The modelling confirms theoretical predictions of the formation of the mineral phases through abiotic and biotic processes in the formation waters.
Toward regional‐scale modeling using the two‐way nested global model TM5: Characterization of transport using SF6

[1] We present an evaluation of transport of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) in the two-way nested chemistry-transport model “Tracer Model 5” (TM5). Modeled SF6 values for January 2000 to November 2003 are compared with NOAA CMDL observations. This includes new high-frequency SF6 observations, frequent vertical profiles, and weekly flask data from more than 60 sites around the globe. This constitutes the most extensive set of SF6 observations used in transport model evaluation to date. We find that TM5 captures temporal variability on all timescales well, including the relatively large SF6 signals on synoptic scales (2–5 days). The model overestimates the meridional gradient of SF6 by 19%, similar to previously used transport models. Vertical profiles are reproduced to within the standard error of the observations, and do not reveal large biases. An important area for future improvements is the mixing of the planetary boundary layer which is currently too slow, leading to modeled SF6 mixing ratios that are too large over the continents. Increasing the horizontal resolution over North America from 6×4°, to 3×2°, to even 1×1° (lon×lat) does not affect the simulated global scale SF6 distribution and potentially minimizes representation errors for continental sites. These results are highly relevant for future CO2 flux estimates with TM5, which will be briefly discussed.
Surface Hydrology: IV°Flow in Sloping, Layered Soil

In a nonuniform soil with rotational symmetry the properties change along a coordinate n that forms an angle \Ia\N with the vertical. During infiltration there will be a flow component in the parallel direction s downstream, which is proportional to the rain itself and the slope. The horizontal flow is proportional to the vertical flow, the slope, and the coefficient of anisotropy. The last has been calculated for a soil made up distinct layers. In the limiting case of very thin layers or near the saturation point, the vertical and horizontal conductivities are, respectively, the expected arithmetic and harmonic means familiar from saturated flow. The coefficient of anisotropy increases with the rate of vertical flow to a power greater than unity. The horizontal flow component can be many times the vertical one. It finds application in pollution problems and in the study of the underground water regime.
Food security in Igloolik, Nunavut: an exploratory study

ABSTRACT This paper reports on an exploratory analysis examining the prevalence of food (in)security in the Inuit community of Igloolik, Nunavut, identifying high risk groups, and characterising conditions facilitating and constraining food security. A stratified cross-sectional food survey was administered to 50 Inuit community members in July 2007. 64% of the participants surveyed experienced some degree of food insecurity in the past year (July 2006–July 2007). Food insecurity among the sample population greatly exceeds the Canadian average. This is cause for concern given the negative physical and mental health impacts that have been documented for low nutritional status. The prevalence and severity of food insecurity differed among participants; females and those obtaining most of their food from the store were at highest risk of food insecurity. Consumption of traditional foods was significantly associated with increased food security. The study supports the need for further research to investigate key trends highlighted by the sample. Preliminary identification of potential trends contributes towards the goal of identifying entry points for policy aimed at strengthening northern Inuit food systems.
Effect of PDAC-derived conditioned media on endothelial ablation

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is regularly characterized by reduced in overall vasculature with thin collapsed and poor perfusion, known as a hypovascularity which is one of the most challenges of chemotherapeutic drug delivery in PDAC patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of PDAC cells on vascular endothelial cell (EC) behaviors through paracrine signaling using PDAC-derived conditioned media (CMs). We found that PDAC CMs harvested under both normoxic-and hypoxic-PDAC cultures showed no effect on reducing vascular endothelial cells. Therefore, the ablation of ECs during PDAC progression might be regulated through other communication such as cell-direct manner.