Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Teleconnection between the Reduction of Rainfall in Southwest Western Australia and North China

AbstractRainfall in both southwest Western Australia (SWWA) and North China (NC) has been declining substantially since the mid-1960s, which has led to a series of droughts in both regions since then. Using observed rainfall datasets in China and Australia and the NCEP reanalysis dataset during 1951–2008, it is found that the decline of SWWA rainfall occurs in early austral winter [May–July (MJJ)] while the reduction of NC rainfall is in late boreal summer [July–September (JAS)]. The relationship between SWWA MJJ rainfall and NC JAS rainfall during 1951–2008 is then examined, and it is found that a significant link exists between these two rainfall series with a correlation of 0.43 and this link remains after the data are detrended. In particular, this relationship accounts for up to 62% variance on interdecadal time scales, and seems to be driven by the poleward shift of the southern subtropical high ridge (SSHR) and the northern subtropical high ridge (NSHR) over longitudes 110°–150°E. The poleward shif.
Prehistoric habitat stability and post-settlement habitat change in a Chesapeake Bay freshwater tidal wetland, USA

Analyses of fossil seeds and pollen grains preserved in seven sediment cores and borings were combined with historical land-use records to reconstruct an 1800-yr history of Otter Point Creek (OPC), a freshwater tidal deltaic wetland in the upper Chesapeake Bay. The objectives of the study were to document the role of natural and anthropogenic disturbance on habitat development at different sites within the wetland. Fossil seeds revealed a 1500-yr period (AD 230 to 1700) of subtidal habitat stability characterized by the aquatic macrophytes Zannichellia palustris, Najas gracillima, N guadalupensis, Elodea canadensis and Vallisneria americana. Natural disturbance had little or no impact on the estuarine habitat during this time. By the early 1700s, forest clearance for agriculture and lumber during European settlement led to higher erosion rates in the watershed. This led to rapid sediment efflux and broad habitat changes along a hydrologic gradient within the estuary. The aquatic macrophytes disappeared when estuarine sedimentation rates increased from a pre-1700 mean of 0.05 cm/yr to 0.60 cm/yr after 1730-1750. As the estuary continued to fill behind a prograding delta from AD 1750 to 1950, sub-tidal species were replaced sequentially by increasingly less flood-tolerant dominants of low marsh (Zizania aquatica), middle marsh (Typha angustifolia or Leersia oryzoides), high marsh (Acorus calamus), shrub marsh (Typha latifolia and Salix nigra) and riparian forest (Acer negundo, Fraxinus pennsylvanica and Betula nigra). Habitat change progressed in pulses followed by periods of habitat stasis. The most rapid and extensive period of change occurred between 1840 and 1880, synchronous with the period of highest sedimentation rates, mid-century storms and intensive land use in the watershed. The rate and pattern of community change differed among sites where position relative to the watershed, local disturbance, and channel shifts at or adjacent to the site influenced different community pathways. A conceptual model is proposed to describe the spatial and temporal development of eastern US freshwater tidal wetland habitats, reflecting the importance of the impact of colonial deforestation.
Background modeling and target segmentation via modified Kalman filtering

In target detection and tracking applications with imagery data taken from a moving camera platform, it is necessary to segment potential targets in each image frame. This is typically done by preprocessing individual images to exploit some known attribute about the data. Often these methods make many false detections, particularly in the presence of additive noise, and the results thus require significant post-processing. A means of estimating the background in the imagery sequence under the formalism of the Kalman filter is suggested. This background estimate is then used to recast the segmentation problem as one of outlier detection, and the result of segmentation is used to modify the filter update. Ways of making the technique computationally benign are discussed. The technique is used to analyse a simulated image sequence, and the performance is compared to that of a single-frame background-estimation technique. The feasibility of target segmentation via background tracking is thus demonstrated.
How Many Years Can a Mountain Exist before it's Washed to the Sea? Or, Bob Dylan's Theory of Landscape Evolution

Abstract The question of the persistence of topography is not just a line in one of the most famous songs ever written, it is also one of the long-standing questions in geomorphology. Mountains created by tectonic processes hundreds of millions of years ago still stand proud in the landscape, posing intriguing questions of how topography can persist for such a long time, and if the mountains we see today are the result of more recent processes, and therefore not a direct relict of the original topography. Although models have been proposed to explain the antiquity of topography, the only way to test these models is by providing denudation rates over millions of year time scales. Such data can be uniquely provided by low temperature thermochronometers. In this paper we provide a brief review of these techniques and an example from western Scotland where the thermochronometers have been applied to determine the age of first order topography. The results indicate that although denudation rates have been temporally and spatially variable in the last ∼300 Ma, the macro-topography has not changed significantly.
A novel method to test for significant trends in extreme values in serially dependent time series

We propose a novel method to investigate the statistical significance of trends of extreme values in serially correlated time series based on quantile regression and surrogate data. This method has the advantage over traditional extreme value methods that it takes into account all data points from the time series. We test this method on a temperature time series from the Antarctic Peninsula (Faraday/Vernadsky station), which is highly non‐Gaussian and serially correlated. We find evidence for a significant upward nonlinear trend in the extreme cold temperatures (95th percentile) and that most of the observed warming at Faraday/Vernadsky is due to a reduction in cold extremes. Quantile regression can also be used for multivariate regression with external factors. This multivariate regression analysis suggests that CO 2 emissions play a large role in the observed trend at Faraday/Vernadsky while also the ozone hole and solar fluctuations play some role.
Ligand-Guided Selection with Artificially Expanded Genetic Information Systems against TCR-CD3 ε

Here we are reporting, for the first time, a ligand-guided selection (LIGS) experiment using an artificially expanded genetic information system (AEGIS) to successfully identify an AEGIS– DNA aptamer against T cell receptor-CD3 ε expressed on Jurkat.E6 cells. Thus, we have effectively combined the enhanced diversity of an AEGIS DNA library with LIGS to develop a superior screening platform to discover superior aptamers. Libraries of DNA molecules from highly diversified building blocks will provide better ligands due to more functional diversity and better-controlled folding. Thus, a DNA library with AEGIS components (dZ and dP) was used in LIGS experiments against TCR-CD3 ε in its native state using two clinically relevant monoclonal antibodies to identify an aptamer termed JZPO-10, with nanomolar affinity. Multiple specificity
The Portsoy–Duchray Hill Lineament: a review of the evidence

Abstract The Portsoy–Duchray Hill Lineament has been widely quoted in the literature as a major zone of discontinuities, running from Portsoy on the Banff coast to the Duchray Hill area in Perthshire. A review of the evidence indicates that there is no single structural entity running from Portsoy to Duchray Hill; the term ‘Portsoy-Duchray Hill lineament’ should be avoided. There are, however, significant along- and across-strike variations in geological history across a zone which extends from Portsoy to the Cabrach (the ‘Portsoy Line’). Certain elements can be identified also in areas further south, e.g. the Coyles of Muick shear zone and Glen Doll fault. The Portsoy Line was initiated as a zone of syn-depositional faulting, with resulting facies variations similar to those seen across the Glen Doll fault. The Portsoy Line was reactivated as a ductile shear zone during Caledonian orogenesis, while the Glen Doll fault is a later, more brittle, structure. The shear zone from Portsoy to the Cabrach forms the western branch of a system of shears which acted to focus syn-orogenic basic magmatism, and differential movement during post- metamorphic uplift. The Coyles of Muick shear zone is the most southerly example of the system of shears, and there is probably a transfer zone along Deeside between it and the Portsoy-Cabrach shear zone, now obscured in part by the Ballater Granite. The focused shear zones serve to delineate the Buchan area, with its low pressure metamorphism and distinctive structural style, from areas to the south and west where the structural level was deeper, and deformation more pervasive.
Dependence of Antarctic surface mass balance on temperature, elevation, and distance to open ocean

The latest compilations of surface mass balance, mean annual surface temperature, and elevation for the Antarctic ice sheet, derived from data sets of approximately 1500, 700, and 105 points, respectively, have been used to obtain areally integrated means for 24 ice drainage systems and 329 grid point values covering the whole ice sheet. Monthly summaries of remotely sensed sea ice data for 1973–1976 have been used to obtain mean annual distance to open ocean. Linear and second-order regression analyses of surface balance on (1) temperature for the entire ice sheet, (2) elevation for the conterminous grounded ice, and (3) distance to the open ocean for the ice shelves (including ice rises and attached islands) have been made using both system means and grid point values. These analyses show correlation coefficients of between 0.63 and 0.81, and they provide bases for descriptive models of the present Antarctic ice sheet, as well as for predictive models of the response of the ice sheet to air temperature changes and variations in meridional mass and energy transfers. Extrapolation to other ice sheets, past and present, may be possible but should be made cautiously. Linear models are recommended for paleoclimatic reconstructions of ice sheets in upper mid-latitudes, and second-order models are recommended for those in high latitudes. System means are shown to be reliable for these purposes. Incidental results are new estimates of the mean annual surface temperature for the whole ice sheet (−36°C) and mean surface elevation for the conterminous grounded ice (2290 m).
Space, time, and the third dimension (model error)

The space-time tradeoff of hydrologic data collection (the ability to substitute spatial coverage for temporal extension of records or vice versa) is controlled jointly by the statistical properties of the phenomena that are being measured and by the model that is used to meld the information sources. The control exerted on the space-time tradeoff by the model and its accompanying errors has seldom been studied explicitly. The technique, known as Network Analyses for Regional Information (NARI), permits such a study of the regional regression model that is used to relate streamflow parameters to the physical and climatic characteristics of the drainage basin. The NARI technique shows that model improvement is a viable and sometimes necessary means of improving regional data collection systems. Model improvement provides an immediate increase in the accuracy of regional parameter estimation and also increases the information potential of future data collection. Model improvement, which can only be measured in a statistical sense, cannot be quantitatively estimated prior to its achievement; thus an attempt to upgrade a particular model entails a certain degree of risk on the part of the hydrologist.
The Transient Tracers in the Ocean (TTO) program: The North Atlantic Study, 1981; The Tropical Atlantic Study, 1983

The scientific papers here collected result from the Transient Tracers in the Ocean (TTO) program. The two parts of this major geochemical and physical oceanographie expedition took place in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1981 and in the Tropical Atlantic in 1983 on the research vessel Knorr of the Woods Hole Oceanographie Institution. The expeditions, sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy (North Atlantic only), were designed to observe the passage of man-made geochemical tracers into the interior of the ocean. The foundations for such an experiment were laid in the 1972-1978 GEOSECS program. Here, for the first time, a systematic survey revealed the penetration into the thermocline and deep ocean of the products of man's military/industrial activities, principally tritium and carbon-14 resulting from atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, which terminated with the nuclear test ban treaty in 1962.
Evidence for Forest Clearance, Agriculture, and Human-Induced Erosion in Precolumbian El Salvador

Abstract It is now well established that Precolumbian farmers of Mexico and Central America were responsible for widespread environmental degradation before the arrival of Europeans. Relatively little is known, however, of the chronology, severity, and exact geographic distribution of these anthropogenic landscape impacts. This article addresses questions of Holocene land use and anthropogenic environmental change in the upper Rio Paz Valley, El Salvador, before and after the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century. A lacustrine sediment sequence from Chalchuapa records the impacts of prehistoric agriculturalists on a mid-elevation tropical watershed during the past 3700 years. The 9.72 m sediment core from Laguna Cuzcachapa contains unequivocal evidence for human manipulation of the landscape: high levels of maize and agricultural weed pollen, charcoal, magnetic susceptibility, and sediment flux. The abundance of maize pollen (>6 percent) even in the basal sediments of the core indicates that an intensive system of maize cultivation was well established in Chalchuapa by 3700 cal yr BP. Proxy indicators of human disturbance continue to exhibit high values from 3700 cal yr BP to the present, interrupted only by two hiatuses: one centered on the ca. AD 430 Tierra Blanca Joven eruption of the Ilopango volcano, and another during a period of population decimation following the arrival of Europeans in the early sixteenth century AD. The periods of greatest anthropogenic disturbance include ca. 3700–1600 cal yr BP (Preclassic/“Protoclassic”) and ca. 1350–1000 cal yr BP (Late Classic and Early Postclassic Periods).
Review of Japanese Dinosaur Track Localities: Implications for Ichnotaxonomy, Paleogeography and Stratigraphic Correlation

Nine dinosaur ichnospecies from the Lower Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous of Japan, including two that are new, are described herein. The new ichnotaxa are Asianopodus pulvinicalx ichnogen. et ichnosp. nov. and Schizograllator otariensis ichnosp. nov. The Japanese ichnotaxa are allied to Lower Jurassic ichnospecies in South China, North America, Western Europe and South Africa, and Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous ichnospecies from Southeast and East Asia. This suggests they were part of a global ichnofauna before continental drift began in the Middle Jurassic, leading to the development of a more endemic dinosaur fauna in the Cretaceous. At least two assemblages, an ornithopod-gracile-toed theropod-dominated community, in northeastern Asia, and a robust theropod- and sauropod-dominated community in the southern part of the continent, existed in the Cretaceous. This parallels North American dinosaur distribution patterns in the Cretaceous and seems to be a reflection of paleolatitudinal controls.
Comparison of in situ aerosol extinction and scattering coefficient measurements made during the Aerosol Intensive Operating Period

In May 2003, the Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program sponsored the Aerosol Intensive Operating Period (AIOP) which was conducted over the ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF) in central Oklahoma. One new instrument that flew in the AIOP, called Cadenza, employed a cavity ring-down technique to measure extinction coefficient and a reciprocal nephelometer technique to simultaneously measure scattering coefficient. This instrument is described in this paper, and measurements are compared to those of conventional instrumentation. Agreement between Cadenza extinction coefficient and that derived from combining nephelometer scattering and PSAP absorption (Neph + PSAP) was excellent, about 2%. Agreement between Cadenza scattering coefficient and TSI nephelometer scattering was also excellent, about 2%, well within the uncertainty of the nephelometer and Cadenza scattering measurements. Comparisons between these instruments, made for the special case of plumes, showed that Cadenza measured extinction and scattering several percent higher on average than the Neph + PSAP and nephelometer alone. This difference is likely due to differences in the instrument response time: The response time for Cadenza is 1 s while that for the nephelometer is a minimum of 8 s. Plumes, identified as originating from Siberian biomass burning, are characterized. Composite size distributions from wing-mounted probes showed that two of the plumes had significant large particle modes that resulted in high values of the effective radius. The effect of the large particle mode was not seen in the Angstrom coefficient calculated from the in-cabin scattering measurements because of the characteristics of the aircraft inlet.
Efficacy of Antibiotic Prophylaxis Before the Implantation of Pacemakers and Cardioverter-Defibrillators: Results of a Large, Prospective, Randomized, Double-Blinded, Placebo-Controlled Trial

Background—Although routinely administered, definitive evidence for the benefits of prophylactic antibiotics before the implantation of permanent pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators from a large double-blinded placebo-controlled trial is lacking. The purpose of this study was to determine whether prophylactic antibiotic administration reduces the incidence of infection related to device implantation. Methods and Results—This double blinded study included 1000 consecutive patients who presented for primary device (Pacemaker and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators) implantation or generator replacement randomized in a 1:1 fashion to prophylactic antibiotics or placebo. Intravenous administration of 1 g of cefazolin (group I) or placebo (group 2) was done immediately before the procedure. Follow-up was performed 10 days, 1, 3, and 6 months after discharge. The primary end point was any evidence of infection at the surgical incision (pulse generator pocket), or systemic infection related to be procedure. The safety committee interrupted the trial after 649 patients were enrolled due to a significant difference in favor of the antibiotic arm (group I: 2 of 314 infected patients—0.63%; group II: 11 of 335 to 3.28%; RR=0.19; P=0.016). The following risk factors were positively correlated with infection by univariate analysis: nonuse of preventive antibiotic (P=0.016); implant procedures (versus generator replacement: P=0.02); presence of postoperative hematoma (P=0.03) and procedure duration (P=0.009). Multivariable analysis identified nonuse of antibiotic (P=0.037) and postoperative hematoma (P=0.023) as independent predictors of infection. Conclusions—Antibiotic prophylaxis significantly reduces infectious complications in patients undergoing implantation of pacemakers or cardioverter-defibrillators.
The Dijon Physical Activity Score: Reproducibility and correlations with physical fitness in patients with coronary artery disease Le score d'activitephysique de Dijon : reproductibiliteet correlations avec l'aptitude physique de sujets coronariens

Objectives. – To study the clinimetric properties of the Dijon Physical Activity Score (PAS) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Patients. – Two populations of patients with CAD: one group of stabilized patients from the RICO county-wide monitoring program and one group in the initial phase of a cardiovascular rehabilitation program (CVR group). Methods. – Thepatients carriedoutamaximalefforttestonacycleergometer,plustwowalkingtests(asix-minutewalktestanda200 mfastwalk test). They completed the Dijon PAS questionnaire on two occasions at an interval of 10 days. The reproducibility of the score and the latter’s correlations with physical parameters were analyzed. Results. – Sixty-seven subjects were included and 52 answered the questionnaire both times. The average time spent answering the questionnaire was 173 37 seconds and reproducibility was satisfactory in the RICO group only. In this group, there were significant correlations between total score and maximal power during the effort test (r = 0.41; P < 0.05) and between the ‘‘sports/leisure activities’’ sub-score and maximal power (r = 0.57; P < 0.01). No correlations were found in the CVR group. Conclusion. – The Dijon PAS is a simple, generic, reproducible and reliable score for measuring physical activity in patients with stable coronary artery disease but, because of the conjunction of confounding factors, it is not suitable for subjects who experienced a recent acute cardiac event. It could thus be used in epidemiological studies to determine the impact of a sedentary lifestyle and the efficacy of methods intended to counter sedentariness and to help design personalized secondary prevention programs.
High-Speed Isothermal Analysis of Atmospheric Isoprene and DMS Using On-Line Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography

An instrument has been developed that allows rapid measurements of two of the most important volatile organic species in the atmosphere. The method utilizes two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to a programmed temperature vaporization injector used for sample preconcentration and injection. Attention is paid to the deter mination of atmospheric concentrations of isoprene (the most reactive hydrocarbon species) and dimethyl sulfide (DMS), the major source of sulfur in the marine troposphere and a precursor to cloud formation. A sorbent packed liner placed inside a programmed temperature vaporization injector was held subambiently by means of a Peltier device during sample collection. Thermal desorption is performed and the analytes passed to a primary column, separating with respect to analyte vapor pressure. Selected linear or “heart-cut” transfer is performed to a second column where the final separation is performed with respect to chemical functionality. Both primary and secondary separa tions ar.
DEEP SEISMIC REFLECTION DATA FROM OFFSHORE WESTERN GREECE: A NEW CRUSTAL MODEL FOR THE IONIAN SEA

Contractional structures recognised in a recent SW‐NE oriented seismic profile offshore western Greece, between the islands of Zakynthos and Kefallinia (Cephalonia), indicate that this part of the Pre‐Apulian geotectonic zone was involved in Quaternary shortening related to the westward propagation of the Hellenic fold‐and‐thrust system. Deep reflector horizons including the Moho and the top of the crystalline basement were identified on the profile. Shallower reflectors include those corresponding to the contacts between the Mesozoic/Miocene, Upper Miocene/Lower Pliocene, and Pliocene/Pleistocene sedimentary sequences. The Upper Cenozoic to Quaternary sequence rests unconformably upon Mesozoic carbonates. Triassic evaporites wedge‐out in the Paxos geotectonic zone, where the Palaeozoic passes up into Mesozoic deposits.