Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Roles of the Indo-Pacific subsurface Kelvin waves and volume transport in prolonging the triple-dip 2020–2023 La Niña

The rare triple-dip 2020–2023 La Niña event has resulted in a series of extreme climate events across the globe. Here, we reveal the role of tropical Indo-Pacific oceanic interactions in driving the first triple-dip La Niña of the twenty-first century. Specifically, we found that the eastern Indian Ocean subsurface warming anomalies were associated with the re-intensification of the subsequent La Niña event. The subsurface warming anomaly signals were propagated eastward by equatorial and coastal subsurface Kelvin waves from the eastern Indian Ocean to the western Pacific Ocean through the Indo-Pacific oceanic pathway, which contributes to the accumulation of heat content and deepens the thermocline in the western tropical Pacific. The westward Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) transported more heat during multi-year La Niña events from the western Pacific Ocean to the eastern Indian Ocean than during single-year events, resulting in the injection of more warm water into the eastern Indian Ocean. The combination of subsurface Kelvin wave propagation and increased ITF volume transport in the Indo-Pacific region acted to prolong the heat content in the western Pacific during the decay phase of La Niña, ultimately leading to the rare triple-dip 2020–2023 La Niña event.
Scottish Landform Example–41: The Geological Foundations and Landscape Evolution of Scotland

The exceptional diversity of Scotland’s landscapes and landforms reflects the combined influence of geological and geomorphological processes operating over different timescales, from millions to tens of years or less. However, with an emphasis on short-term process studies in geomorphology in the last few decades, the long-term perspective is often overlooked. Following the development of new dating methods and geophysical models, studies of landscape evolution have more recently undergone a revival (e.g. Summerfield, 1996, 2005; Sugden et al., 1997; Bishop, 2007; Japsen et al., 2009). This work has provided new insights into the links between geology, tectonics, surface processes, climate and landscape development, highlighting the value of a longer-term perspective and the antiquity of many features in the present landscape (cf. Godard, 1965; Hall, 1991, 1997; Hall & Bishop, 2002). This article outlines the geological framework that underpins the geomorphology of Scotland and the long-term processes and events that have shaped the present landscape. Geodiversity is the variety of rocks, minerals, fossils, landforms, sediments and soils, together with the natural processes which form and alter them. The geological development of Scotland has given rise to a remarkable geodiversity for a country of its size (e.g. Trewin, 2002; Gillen, 2003; McKirdy et al., 2007) and has played a fundamental part in shaping the landforms and landscape today. First, the broad geological and topographic framework of Scotland (Figure 1) is the result of several major global tectonic events, including the repeated formation and break-up of
Morphometry-based comparison of relevant brain regions for Alzheimer's disease detection

Morphometry based methods allow the detection of subtle anatomical differences in the Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI) between healthy subjects and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) patients. However, anatomical volumes are rarely used for clinical diagnosis as the changes induced by AD are hard to differentiate from normal brain aging. We present a morphometry method which uses brain models generated using Nonnegative Matrix Factorization (NMF) characterized by signatures calculated from perceptual features such as intensities, edges or orientations, of salient regions. The Earth Mover's Distance (EMD), a robust measure of the cost of transforming signature A into signature B, is used to calculate volume-models distances. The discerning power of these distances is tested by using them as features for a Support Vector Machine classifier. This work shows the usefulness of the EMD as a metric in medical image applications as it has proven to be robust to bin selection, takes into account cross bin relations, and allows high sensitivity with lower dimensionality. This method is able to find discerning regions which, besides aiding in classification, may provide new insights of the disease's development.
Reconstruction of late-Holocene slope and dry valley sediment dynamics in a Belgian loess environment

To unravel the evolution of a dry valley in the Belgian loess area soils and sediments along a slope catena were studied in detail. A 67 m long trench was opened from the upper slope to the centre of the valley bottom. The exposed soils and sediments showed evidence of severe soil erosion and other human disturbances that significantly changed the valley topography. The early-Holocene slope gradient was up to 25%, whereas now it is less than 10%. In the thalweg, a remnant of the early-Holocene soil was found underneath colluvial deposits, which were more than 3 m thick. A chronology for the valley evolution was established based on AMS 14C dating of charcoal fragments and optical dating of colluvial sediments. The first sediment deposition occurred in the early Iron Age, with an average sedimentation rate of approximately 3.4 ± 1.3 t/ha per yr. This increased to c. 5.4 ± 2.2 t/ha per yr during the Roman Period and further to 18.0 ± 2.2 t/ha per yr in the Middle Ages. Although sediment accumulation in the valley was substantial, soil-erosion processes were mainly low-magnitude and signs of gullying are absent in the thalweg until the last few centuries.
Automatic video surveillance of outdoor scenes using track before detect

This paper concerns automatic video surveillance of outdoor scenes using a single camera. The first step in automatic interpretation of the video stream is activity detection based on background subtraction. Usually, this process will generate a large number of false alarms in outdoor scenes due to e.g. movement of thicket and changes in illumination. To reduce the number of false alarms a Track Before Detect (TBD) approach is suggested. In this TBD implementation all objects detected in the background subtraction process are followed over a number of frames. An alarm is given only if a detected object shows a pattern of movement consistent with predefined rules. The method is tested on a number of video sequences and a substantial reduction in the number of false alarms is demonstrated.
Hydroxide in olivine: A quantitative determination of the absolute amount and calibration of the IR spectrum

[1] Olivine is an important host of hydrogen in the Earth's upper mantle, and the OH abundance in this mineral determines many important physical properties of the planet's interior. To date, natural and experimentally hydrated olivines have been analyzed by uncalibrated spectroscopic methods with large (±100%) uncertainties in accuracy. We determined the hydrogen contents of three natural olivines by 15 N nuclear reaction analysis and used the results to calibrate the common infrared (IR) spectroscopic method for quantitative hydrogen analysis of olivine. OH content (expressed as parts per million H 2 O by weight) is 0.188 times the total integrated absorbance of the fundamental OH stretching bands in the 3750-3100 cm -1 region. The results indicate that an upward revision of some previous determinations by factors of between 2 and 4 is necessary. The most hydrous naturally occurring mantle-derived olivine analyzed to date contains 240 ppm wt. H 2 O. Retrospective application of this calibration to experimentally hydrated olivines may be limited by spectral differences in some cases and by the previous use of nonpolarized IR spectra.
Surface Statistics Determined From IR Scatter

This paper examines the requirement for reflector "smoothness" that is imposed when BRDF data is used to calculate surface statistics. There are applications for use of these calculations at surfaces that appear rough at visible wavelengths (greater than about 300 angstroms). Wavelength extension into the mid IR and increasing the angle of incidence are the two techniques investigated. Experimental results are compared to two widely used diffraction calculations by using known sinusoidal gratings and the advantages and limitations of each are discussed. Extension of the calculations to surfaces that have surface features as large as 5000 angstroms has been demonstrated at a wavelength of 10.6 micrometers.
Protecting sensitive web content from client-side vulnerabilities with CRYPTONS

Web browsers isolate web origins, but do not provide direct abstractions to isolate sensitive data and control computation over it within the same origin. As a result, guaranteeing security of sensitive web content requires trusting all code in the browser and client-side applications to be vulnerability-free. In this paper, we propose a new abstraction, called Crypton, which supports intra-origin control over sensitive data throughout its life cycle. To securely enforce the semantics of Cryptons, we develop a standalone component called Crypton-Kernel, which extensively leverages the functionality of existing web browsers without relying on their large TCB. Our evaluation demonstrates that the Crypton abstraction supported by the Crypton-Kernel is widely applicable to popular real-world applications with millions of users, including webmail, chat, blog applications, and Alexa Top 50 websites, with low performance overhead.
In vivo evidence that eIF3 stays bound to ribosomes elongating and terminating on short upstream ORFs to promote reinitiation

Abstract Translation reinitiation is a gene-specific translational control mechanism characterized by the ability of some short upstream ORFs to prevent recycling of the post-termination 40S subunit in order to resume scanning for reinitiation downstream. Its efficiency decreases with the increasing uORF length, or by the presence of secondary structures, suggesting that the time taken to translate a uORF is more critical than its length. This led to a hypothesis that some initiation factors needed for reinitiation are preserved on the 80S ribosome during early elongation. Here, using the GCN4 mRNA containing four short uORFs, we developed a novel in vivo RNA–protein Ni2+-pull down assay to demonstrate for the first time that one of these initiation factors is eIF3. eIF3 but not eIF2 preferentially associates with RNA segments encompassing two GCN4 reinitiation-permissive uORFs, uORF1 and uORF2, containing cis-acting 5΄ reinitiation-promoting elements (RPEs). We show that the preferred association of eIF3 with these uORFs is dependent on intact RPEs and the eIF3a/TIF32 subunit and sharply declines with the extended length of uORFs. Our data thus imply that eIF3 travels with early elongating ribosomes and that the RPEs interact with eIF3 in order to stabilize the mRNA-eIF3-40S post-termination complex to stimulate efficient reinitiation downstream.
Use of alkaline flyash-based products to amend acid soils: Plant growth response and nutrient uptake

Vast quantities of flyash are generated annually by the burning of coal in the power industry, with most of this material being stockpiled with little prospect of being utilised at present. Two alkaline flyash-based products (FAP) for use as soil amendments (FAP1 and FAP2) have been assessed using glasshouse pot trials to determine the suitability of using these products to treat acid soils. The products both contain ~80% flyash which originated from coal-fired electricity generation. The acid soils used in the study were 2 Podsols and a Ferrosol, all originating from south-east Queensland and ranging in pH (1 : 5 suspension in water) from 4 to 5.5. The flyash products when applied to the soil significantly enhanced growth of maize plants (Zea mays L.), with optimal application rates in the range 1.25–5% w/w. The FAP/soil mixtures and plants were analysed using a range of methods including extraction with DTPA, and plant biomass (aboveground dry matter). The results indicate that in addition to the liming effect, the flyash in the alkaline flyash products may enhance plant growth as a result of increasing the uptake of micro-nutrients such as copper, zinc, and manganese. The study suggests that flyash has the potential to be used as a base material in the production of soil amendment materials that can change soil pH and act as a fertiliser for certain soil micro-nutrients such as Cu, Mn, and Zn.
Protein homology detection using string alignment kernels

MOTIVATION Remote homology detection between protein sequences is a central problem in computational biology. Discriminative methods involving support vector machines (SVMs) are currently the most effective methods for the problem of superfamily recognition in the Structural Classification Of Proteins (SCOP) database. The performance of SVMs depends critically on the kernel function used to quantify the similarity between sequences. RESULTS We propose new kernels for strings adapted to biological sequences, which we call local alignment kernels. These kernels measure the similarity between two sequences by summing up scores obtained from local alignments with gaps of the sequences. When tested in combination with SVM on their ability to recognize SCOP superfamilies on a benchmark dataset, the new kernels outperform state-of-the-art methods for remote homology detection. AVAILABILITY Software and data available upon request.
Initial results from a distributed, physically based model of glacier hydrology

This paper describes the development and testing of a distributed, physically based model of glacier hydrology. The model is used to investigate the behaviour of the hydrological system of Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Valais, Switzerland. The model has an hourly time-step and three main components: a surface energy balance submodel, a surface flow routing submodel and a subglacial hydrology submodel. The energy balance submodel is used to calculate meltwater production over the entire glacier surface. The surface routing submodel routes meltwater over the glacier surface from where it is produced to where it either enters the subglacial hydrological system via moulins or runs off the glacier surface. The subglacial hydrology submodel calculates water flow in a network of conduits, which can evolve over the course of a melt season simulation in response to changing meltwater inputs. The main model inputs are a digital elevation model of the glacier surface and its surrounding topography, start-of-season snow depth distribution data and meteorological data. Model performance is evaluated by comparing predictions with field measurements of proglacial stream discharge, subglacial water pressure (measured in a borehole drilled to the glacier bed) and water velocities inferred from dye tracer tests. The model performs best in comparison with the measured proglacial stream discharges, but some of the substantial features of the other two records are also reproduced. In particular, the model results show the high amplitude water pressure cycles observed in the borehole in the mid-melt season and the complex velocity/discharge hysteresis cycles observed in dye tracer tests. The results show that to model outflow hydrographs from glacierized catchments effectively, it is necessary to simulate spatial and temporal variations in surface melt rates, the delaying effect of the surface snowpack and the configuration of the subglacial drainage system itself. The model's ability to predict detailed spatial and temporal patterns of subglacial water pressures and velocities should make it a valuable tool for aiding the understanding of glacier dynamics and hydrochemistry. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Length‐scale dependence of relief along the south eastern border of Massif Central (France)

Relief has been calculated over four orders of length‐scales (75 m to 800 km) for several drainage basins along the south‐eastern border of Massif Central, an asymmetric plateau edge feature. Relief is not uniform over the length‐scale domain, but rather appears as smooth at small and large scales, and rough at meso‐scale. This heterogeneous behaviour is interpreted as a consequence of the different processes that shape topography at such ranges of scales. The threshold between small and meso scales is rather well constrained for all basins (400–500 m), and may represent the limit where channel networks appear, while the threshold between meso‐scale and large scale varies with geological context: where relief is fault controlled (Mediterranean drainage basins), the threshold value is of the order of 15–20 km. Where topography is flexurally controlled (Atlantic drainage basins), the threshold value is different (40–80 km).
Hydraulic factors controlling the shape of laminae in laboratory deltas

ABSTRACT The cross-bedded (internal) structure of a laboratory delta delineates successive profiles of the delta front as the latter progresses downstream. Some of the basic variables affecting the frontal profile of laboratory deltas (tabular units of cross-bedding) were studied in a series of controlled flume experiments. The variables isolated for study were: (a) stream velocity and bed shear stress, (b) the ratio of stream depth to basin depth (depth-ratio), and (c) sediment type, as expressed by relative fall velocity. The results of the investigation demonstrate that bed-load transport deposits an angular type of cross-bedding with planar foreset abutting the basin floor with an angular contact. A low velocity of flow or a bed shear stress just above the threshold for particle mov ment favors the development of a planar type of internal structure. Even at higher velocities characterized by a moderate amount of suspension transport, an angular basal contact may still persist provided the basin is relatively deep with respect to the stream (low depth-ratio). The transition stage from an angular to a tangential basal contact is characterized by the deposition of laminae that alternate from planar to incipiently tangential, that is, with the bottomset. As velocity and depth-ratio increase, the frontal profile evolves through the following stages: angularincipiently tangentialtangentialstrong y tangentiallow-angle concave. The comparative behavior of different sediment types in similar hydraulic environments can be evaluated on the basis of relative fall velocity. The latter is defined as the ratio of the median fall velocity of the sediment particles to the average velocity of streamflow. Thus a coarse-grained sediment transported by a current of given strength may yield a planar foreset with an angular basal contact, whereas a fine-grained sediment transported and deposited under comparable conditions may yield a strongly tangential contact. Wave action and small oscillations of base level may produce frontal profiles that are either convex or sigmoidal (S-shaped) in vertical section.
The influence of gas transport and porosity on methane oxidation in soils

Two porosity-dependent parameters that affect gas transport in soils, gas diffusivity and air permeability, were assessed as possible indicators of methane oxidation rates. Soil gas diffusivity was measured in intact cores in the laboratory and in situ, and air permeability was measured in intact cores. An in situ method of measuring gas diffusivity was specifically modified for this purpose to use Freon in a portable probe. A laboratory (core) method of measuring gas diffusivity, using krypton 85, was also employed. Measurements were made at the soil surface and at a range of depths within the topsoil, in conjunction with in situ measurements of CH4 oxidation, in forest, arable, and set-aside soils at a lowland site and in a forest soil at an upland site, in southeast Scotland. The surface layer of soil caused marked variations in diffusivity measurements, particularly with the in situ method. At the upland site, where a 50-mm-thick surface organic layer was present, the in situ technique revealed a sharp decrease in diffusivity with depth. Only where gas transport was low, in the set-aside soil, was methane oxidation rate influenced by gas transport changes associated with increasing soil water content. Differences in CH4 oxidation rates related better to core gas diffusivities than to in situ diffusivities. The relationship was best at 50–150 mm depth where diffusivities were lower than at the surface. Air permeability, which is affected more by soil structure than diffusivity, appeared to be as relevant as the latter parameter to CH4 oxidation rate, particularly for land use changes associated with agriculture. Thus CH4 oxidation rate appears to be influenced by gas transport properties and soil structure, either at the surface in the litter layer or below the surface where the oxidizing microorganisms are likely to occur.
The Kalahari Transect: Research on Global Change and Sustainable Development in Southern Africa

The Kalahari Transect is proposed as one of IGBPs Transects (see Koch et al. 1995 [IGBP Report 36]). It is located so as to span the gradient between the arid subtropics and the moist tropics in southern Africa, a zone potentially susceptible to changes in the global precipitation pattern. Its focus is the relationships between the structure and function of ecosystems and their large-scale biophysical and human drivers (climate, atmosphere and land use). The Kalahari Transect spans a strong climatic gradient in southern Africa, from the arid south to the humid north, while remaining on a single broad soil type, the deep sands of the Kalahari basin. The vegetation ranges over the length of the transect from shrubland through savannas and woodlands to closed evergreen tropical forest, with land uses ranging from migratory wildlife systems, through pastoralism, subsistence cropping to forestry. The objectives of the Kalahari Transect activity are to: build an active network of regional and international researchers around the issue of ecosystem structure and function in savanna woodlands undergoing climatic and land use change; quantify the current and future role of southern African savanna woodlands in the global carbon, water and trace gas budgets and the degree of dependence of these budgets on climate and land use change; develop a predictive understanding of future changes in southern African savannas and woodlands on sandy soils, including their capacity to deliver forage, timber and other products. A five year project is proposed, commencing in 1997. The project revolves around four themes: vegetation structure, composition and dynamics; biogeochemistry, trace gas emissions and productivity; resource use and management and water and energy balance. These themes define the minimum set of processes necessary for understanding of the Kalahari system.