Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Filling of Pipelines with Undulating Elevation Profiles

The authors develop a model that describes the unsteady motion of a lengthening rigid water column filling an empty pipeline with an undulating elevation profile. The model provides time histories of the water column's length, velocity, and pressure at various sites. A criterion to evaluate the applicability of the model is given in terms of air intrusion at the advancing front. The early phase of filling was examined experimentally. The model yields velocities comparable with the experimental data. A high but short-lived peak velocity is possible when the inlet submergence is large, the entrance head loss small, and the length of water column short. With column lengthening comes acceleration or deceleration according to the undulating profile, the inertia of the column, and the velocity history. The model captures the interaction of the variables. Applications of the model for evaluating the velocity history and for judging the occurrence of column separation in filling an undulating pipeline are illustrated in an example.
Measuring institutional change : the application of two theoretical models to two South African higher education institutions

The purpose of this study is to compare and assess two theoretical models of higher education institutional change: the policy response and the adaptational model. The policy response model is essentially a measurement of policy impact, and through the application of an indicator framework allows the evaluation of the extent to which a higher education institution has applied a government policy directive. The adaptational model is based on the idea that institutional change can be explained in terms of the categorisation of the strategic choices an institution makes in order to adapt to and survive in a constantly changing environment. The application of the two models is demonstrated through case studies of two South African higher education institutions: the University of Port Elizabeth and Peninsula Technikon. Data sources for these studies include institutional documents, interviews and the formal record submissions of the two institutions to the national Department of Education. The transformation goals of the 1997 White Paper on higher education transformation are used to construct a set of indicators against which the policy responses of each institution could be measured. The set of data is then used· to construct an analysis of strategic choice in terms of the adaptational model of change. The findings of the study show that the policy response and adaptational models each contribute in a different way towards an understanding of transformative change in higher education institutions. The conclusion drawn is that the measurement of policy response is the most immediately useful and robust, and that although the analysis of adaptation in terms of strategic choice can be used as an enriching tool, it cannot stand on its own.
Near UV atmospheric absorption measurements of column abundances during Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition, January – February 1989: 1. Technique and NO2 observations

Spectroscopic measurements of column abundances of NO2 were carried out from the NASA DC-8 airplane during the Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition in January and February 1989. Stratospheric airmasses inside and close to the polar vortex were found to be highly depleted of NO2 with lowest vertical column abundances of NO2 below 2 × 1014 cm−2 compared to abundances of 3 – 5 − 1015 cm−2 south of 50° N in winter (WMO, 1985).
Tree‐ring growth variability in the Austrian Alps: the influence of site, altitude, tree species and climate

We present an extensive new network of ring‐width chronologies, comprising data from 100 sites within the Austrian Eastern Alps, made up of multiple tree species. Principal components analysis and cluster analysis were used to identify five separate high‐frequency tree‐growth signals from these data. Tree‐growth variability at these sites is explained by site altitude and species differences that moderate the effects of the annually varying climatic forcing on tree growth. Recently developed, two‐century long gridded climate data sets for the Greater Alpine Region were used to assess the relationship between climate and tree growth. Tree growth at low altitudes is controlled mainly by spring‐summer moisture availability. At high altitudes precipitation is no longer a limiting factor and growth is mostly determined by summer temperature. In the intermediate altitudinal range, we did not find any direct relationships with specific climatic variables. High‐altitude chronologies suitable for reconstructing past temperatures and low‐altitude chronologies suitable for reconstructing past precipitation were identified.
Evidence for a pulse of 1.45 Ga anorthosite–mangerite–charnockite–granite (AMCG) plutonism in Lithuania: implications for the Mesoproterozoic evolution of the East European Craton

Several subcropping anorthosite–mangerite–charnockite–granite (AMCG) plutonic suites are aligned along E–W trending lineaments in the Lithuanian part of the East European Craton. The Rukai quartz monzodiorite from the Nemunas suite yields a zircon U–Pb intrusion age of 1447 ± 5 Ma, and the Geluva granite an age of 1445 ± 8 Ma, both obtained using secondary ion mass spectrometry. These rocks are 50 Myr younger than the 1.53–1.50 Ga Mazury AMCG complex in southern Lithuania and northern Poland.
The geomorphic character and hydrological function of an upland swamp, Budderoo plateau, southern highlands, NSW, Australia

Upland swamps are a form of topogenous mire that occur on the plateau areas of eastern Australia. These systems are well recognized for their ecological value, but little is known about their internal hydrological function and how this relates to their geomorphic structure and evolution. In this study, the geomorphic, sedimentological, and hydrological properties of an intact upland swamp on the Budderoo Plateau NSW are investigated. The geomorphic structure of the swamp is simple, and the sedimentology comprises basal layers of coarse sands, overlain by several layers of organic accumulation up to 3.3 m in thickness. Each of these sedimentary units has different hydrological behaviors (rates of water throughflow and discharge) that drive the overall function of the swamp in response to rainfall of various magnitudes and duration. Four hydrological response types have been identified in the functioning of this swamp. These response types (RT) are characterized by different peaks and recession responses to rainfall. The form of the hydrograph produced is controlled by antecedent water table position and the amount, timing and duration of rainfall. Depending on antecedent moisture conditions, the swamp can operate either as a store for water or as a rapid conduit for water throughflow and overland flow.
Winning by Losing: Evidence on Overbidding in Mergers

Do shareholders of acquiring companies profit from acquisitions, or do acquiring CEOs overbidand destroy shareholder value? Answering this question is difficult since the hypotheticalcounterfactual is hard to determine. We exploit merger contests to address the identificationissue. In those cases where, ex ante, at least two bidders had a significant chance at winningthe contest, the post-merger performance of the loser allows calculating the counterfactualperformance of the winner without the merger. In a novel data set of merger contests since1985, we find that the returns of bidders are closely aligned before the merger contest, butdiverge afterwards. In the sample where the loser had a significant chance to win, winnersunderperform losers by 48 percent over the following three years. Our results also imply thatannouncement returns fail to provide an informative estimate of the causal effect of mergersin our sample. Existing measures of long-run abnormal returns tend to underestimate thenegative return implications.
Prediction-driven computational auditory scene analysis

The sound of a busy environment, such as a city street, gives rise to a perception of numerous distinct events in a human listener--the 'auditory scene analysis' of the acoustic information. Recent advances in the understanding of this process from experimental psychoacoustics have led to several efforts to build a computer model capable of the same function. This work is known as 'computational auditory scene analysis'. The dominant approach to this problem has been as a sequence of modules, the output of one forming the input to the next. Sound is converted to its spectrum, cues are picked out, and representations of the cues are grouped into an abstract description of the initial input. This 'data-driven' approach has some specific weaknesses in comparison to the auditory system: it will interpret a given sound in the same way regardless of its context, and it cannot 'infer' the presence of a sound for which direct evidence is hidden by other components. The 'prediction-driven' approach is presented as an alternative, in which analysis is a process of reconciliation between the observed acoustic features and the predictions of an internal model of the sound-producing entities in the environment. In this way, predicted sound events will form part of the scene interpretation as long as they are consistent with the input sound, regardless of whether direct evidence is found. A blackboard-based implementation of this approach is described which analyzes dense, ambient sound examples into a vocabulary of noise clouds, transient clicks, and a correlogram-based representation of wide-band periodic energy called the weft. The system is assessed through experiments that firstly investigate subjects' perception of distinct events in ambient sound examples, and secondly collect quality judgments for sound events resynthesized by the system. Although rated as far from perfect, there was good agreement between the events detected by the model and by the listeners. In addition, the experimental procedure does not depend on special aspects of the algorithm (other than the generation of resyntheses), and is applicable to the assessment and comparison of other models of human auditory organization. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Tomographic image of the Mid‐Atlantic Plate Boundary in southwestern Iceland

The 170 km South Iceland Seismic Tomography (SIST) profile extends from the west and across the Mid-Atlantic Ridge spreading center in the Western Volcanic Zone and continues obliquely through the transform zone (the South Iceland Seismic Zone) to the western edge of the Eastern Volcanic Zone. A total of 11 shot points and 210 receiver points were used, allowing precise travel times to be determined for 1050 crustal P wave rays and 180 wide-angle reflections. The large amplitudes of the wide-angle reflections and an apparent refractor velocity of 7.7 km/s are interpreted to be from a relatively sharp Moho at a depth of 20-24 kin. This interpretation differs from the earlier models (based on data gathered in the 1960s and 1970s), of a 10-15 km thick crust underlain by a upper mantle with very slow velocity of 7.0-7.4 km/s. Nevertheless, these older data do not contradict our new interpretation. Implication of the new interpretation is that the lower crust and the crust-mantle boundary are colder than previously assumed. A two-dimensional totoographic inversion of the compressional travel times reveals the following structures in the crust: (1) a sharp increase in thickness of the upper crust ("layer 2A") from northwest to southeast and (2) broad updoming of high velocity in the lower crust in the Western Volcanic Zone, (3) depth to the lower crust ("layer 3") increases gradually from 3 km at the northwestern end of the profile to 7 km at the southeastern end of the profile, (4) a low-velocity perturbation extends throughout the upper crust and midcrust into the lower crust in the area of the transform in south Iceland (South Iceland Seismic Zone), and (5) an upper crustal high-velocity anomaly is associated with extinct central volcanos northwest of the Western Volcanic Zone. The travel time data do not support the existence of a large (> 0.5 km thick) crustal magma chamber in this part of the Western Volcanic Zone but do not exclude the possibility of a smaller one.
Centre Selection for Clinical Trials and the Generalisability of Results: A Mixed Methods Study

Background The rationale for centre selection in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) is often unclear but may have important implications for the generalisability of trial results. The aims of this study were to evaluate the factors which currently influence centre selection in RCTs and consider how generalisability considerations inform current and optimal practice. Methods and Findings Mixed methods approach consisting of a systematic review and meta-summary of centre selection criteria reported in RCT protocols funded by the UK National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) initiated between January 2005-January 2012; and an online survey on the topic of current and optimal centre selection, distributed to professionals in the 48 UK Clinical Trials Units and 10 NIHR Research Design Services. The survey design was informed by the systematic review and by two focus groups conducted with trialists at the Birmingham Centre for Clinical Trials. 129 trial protocols were included in the systematic review, with a total target sample size in excess of 317,000 participants. The meta-summary identified 53 unique centre selection criteria. 78 protocols (60%) provided at least one criterion for centre selection, but only 31 (24%) protocols explicitly acknowledged generalisability. This is consistent with the survey findings (n = 70), where less than a third of participants reported generalisability as a key driver of centre selection in current practice. This contrasts with trialists’ views on optimal practice, where generalisability in terms of clinical practice, population characteristics and economic results were prime considerations for 60% (n = 42), 57% (n = 40) and 46% (n = 32) of respondents, respectively. Conclusions Centres are rarely enrolled in RCTs with an explicit view to external validity, although trialists acknowledge that incorporating generalisability in centre selection should ideally be more prominent. There is a need to operationalize ‘generalisability’ and incorporate it at the design stage of RCTs so that results are readily transferable to ‘real world’ practice.
SHRIMP zircon age of a Proterozoic rapakivi granite batholith in the Gyeonggi massif (South Korea) and its geological implications

A large rapakivi granite batholith in the Neo-Archaean/Palaeoproterozoic Odesan complex, northeastern Gyeonggi massif, South Korea, has been dated at 1839±10 Ma using SHRIMP U–Pb analysis of zircons. The age, petrological and geochemical characteristics of this batholith are similar to those of the rapakivi granite batholiths exposed in the Rangnim massif of North Korea and in the Miyun–Chengde complex of North China. The country rocks of these rapakivi granite batholiths are also comparable; all are composed of granitic gneisses and banded iron formation (BIF)-bearing supracrustal rocks metamorphosed to amphibolite- to granulite-facies. This study provides new evidence for the suggestion that the Gyeonggi and Rangnim massifs may share an affinity with the Precambrian basement of the North China craton. The study provides new insight into the possible eastward extension of the Sulu orogenic belt in the Korean peninsula and further provides evidence to correlate the Korea basement to a possible global 2.1–1.8 Ga supercontinent.
Correction of atmospheric and topographic effects for high-spatial-resolution satellite imagery

A method for the combined correction of atmospheric and topographic effects has been developed. It accounts for horizontally varying atmospheric conditions and also includes the height dependence of the atmospheric radiance and transmittance functions to simulate the simplified properties of a 3D atmosphere. A digital elevation model is used to obtain information about surface elevation, slope, and orientation. Based on the Lambertian assumption the surface reflectance in rugged terrain is calculated. The method is restricted to high spatial resolution satellite sensors like Landsat TM and SPOT HRV, since some simplifying assumptions are being made to reduce the required image processing time. The algorithm can be applied to multispectral and panchromatic imagery.
Three-dimensional analysis of moving target radar signals: methods and implications for ATR and feature-aided tracking

Like the hypothetical shadow watchers of Plato's cave, ATR researchers have spent years in the study of one and two- dimensional signals, collected from three dimensional targets. Three-dimensional geometric invariance theory of radar returns from moving targets gives us a new opportunity to escape the study of two-dimensional information which is present, with probability one, in the signals from any randomly moving target. Target recognition for moving targets is fundamentally harder than for stationary targets, if one remains in a two- dimensional paradigm. Viewing geometry calculations based on sensor flight lines become false, due to uncontrolled target rotations. Three-dimensional analysis shows that even the most optimal purely two-dimensional approach will generically construct false target measurements and distorted target images. But the geometric facts also show that all types of three-dimensional Euclidean invariants, such as true (not projected) lengths, surface areas, angles, and volumes of target components can be extracted from moving target data. These facts have profound implications for target recognition, and for the dynamic tracking of target movements, allowing target signals to be correlated by comparing fundamental three-dimensional invariants, which are not confounded by changing illumination directions.
Mapping Burned Areas in a Mediterranean Environment Using Soft Integration of Spectral Indices from High-Resolution Satellite Images

Abstract This article presents a new method for burned area mapping using high-resolution satellite images in the Mediterranean ecosystem. In such a complex environment, high-resolution satellite images represent an appropriate data source for identifying fire-affected areas, and single postfire data are often the only available source of information. The method proposed here integrates several spectral indices into a fuzzy synthetic indicator of likelihood of burn. The indices are interpreted through fuzzy membership functions that have been derived with a partially data-driven approach exploiting training data and expert knowledge. The final map of fire-affected areas is produced by applying a region growing algorithm on the basis of seed pixels selected on a conservative threshold of the synthetic fuzzy score. The algorithm has been developed and tested on a set of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) scenes acquired over Southern Italy. Validation showed that the accu.
FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING OF EXCAVATION AND ADVANCEMENT PROCESSES OF A SHIELD TUNNELLING MACHINE

During shield tunnelling operation, a shield machine is driven forward by applying mechanical jack forces behind the machine tail and excavating the soil in front of the machine with its cutting face. In this study, the advancement and excavation processes of the shield tunnelling operation are modelled using the finite element method in order to investigate the effect of these construction processes on the ground response. A new excavating finite element, which models the disturbed soil in front of the cutting face, is introduced. The operation of shield advancement and of soil excavation is simulated using the finite element remeshing technique at each time step of the analysis. The accuracy of the finite element remeshing technique is discussed by analysing one-dimensional consolidation of an isotropic elastic medium. The proposed modelling techniques of shield tunnelling construction are applied to simulate a tunnelling project in Tokyo and the numerical results are compared with the field measurements. The soil deformation mechanism associated with the shield tunnelling operation is examined in detail.
Non-toxic fluorescent phosphonium probes to detect mitochondrial potential

We evaluated our phosphonium-based fluorescent probes for selective staining of mitochondria. Currently used probes for monitoring mitochondrial membrane potential show varying degrees of interference with cell metabolism, photo-induced damage and probe binding. Here presented probes are characterised by highly efficient cellular uptake and specific accumulation in mitochondria. Fluorescent detection of the probes was accomplished using flow cytometry and confocal microscopy imaging of yeast and mammalian cells. Toxicity analysis (impedimetry—xCELLigence for the cellular proliferation and Seahorse technology for respiratory properties) confirms that these dyes exhibit no-toxicity on mitochondrial or cellular functioning even for long time incubation. The excellent chemical and photophysical stability of the dyes makes them promising leads toward improved fluorescent probes. Therefore, the probes described here offer to circumvent the problems associated with existing-probe’s limitations.
Models for estimation of hourly soil temperature at 5cm depth and for degree-day accumulation from minimum and maximum soil temperature

A model has been developed for the daily variation in soil temperature at 5 cm depth, for use where both the minimum and maximum temperatures are known or can be estimated. The model is based on data from three Australian sites with minute-by-minute data over 3–7 years. The model uses two sine curves; one for the increase from minimum to maximum and another for the relatively rapid decrease in temperature immediately after the maximum. An exponential decay function is used for the slower decrease in temperature until the minimum is reached. The time of the minimum soil temperature is primarily determined by the time of sunrise and therefore varies depending on the day of the year, whereas the time of the maximum temperature is influenced primarily by the time of the middle of the day (midpoint between sunrise and sunset). The time of the transition point between the maximum and the next minimum is related to the time of sunset. Therefore, the model uses latitude, longitude, and the day of the year to determine the time of sunrise and sunset to adjust the shape of the temperature profile throughout the day. The model has been validated using 3-hourly soil temperature data for 35 other sites in Australia, with a correlation of 0.993 between actual 3-hourly temperatures and those predicted. Its use for degree-day calculations has been validated using hourly data from a site in Victoria, where the model’s estimates of degree-days differ <0.7% from the value based on individual hourly temperatures, whereas methods that assume a symmetrical change from maximum to minimum temperature overestimate degree-days by 6–7%.