Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Conceptual modeling for improved understanding of the Rio Grande/Río Bravo socio-environmental system

Social processes are essential components of human-environment systems and their dynamics. However, modeling a tightly coupled socio-environmental system over a large area and across wide social and environmental diversity presents several challenges, given the complexity of the interactions and their spatial heterogeneity. The transboundary Rio Grande/Río Bravo (RGB) Basin is an excellent case study to address these challenges. Water scarcity and over-allocation of water are present in a highly engineered system with extensive damming and a complex structure of agreements and compacts that govern the distribution of hydrological resources among users. Since no basin-wide approaches to modeling the RGB as a socio-environmental system exist, we attempt to close this gap. Building on data collected through extensive ethnographic fieldwork, we used a structured, collaborative, and integrative approach for documenting existing knowledge on and modeling of the RGB socio-environmental system. We assess different models for conceptualizing human behavior applied in the RGB, identify a need to redefine the (spatial) boundaries of the system and produce inductively generated knowledge about the interlinkages of social processes with environmental system components in the form of a semi-quantitative conceptual model. Our research demonstrates an alternative to ad-hoc approaches to defining “the social” in socio-environmental models and is a first step towards the development of a basin-wide computer simulation model of the RGB socio-environmental system.
A Multimodal Analysis of Task Instructions for Webconferencing-supported L2 Interactions: A Pilot Study of the ISMAEL Corpus

This pilot study examines how trainee language teachers use the different semiotic resources available to them during webconferencing-supported interactions to give task instructions. The sub-corpus examined is taken from the ISMAEL corpus (Guichon et al., 2014) that structured interaction data from a six-week telecollaborative exchange between trainee teachers of French and learners of French, who majored in Business. The study explores, firstly, how the corpus of synchronous CMC interactions was structured in order to be used by researchers who were not involved in the pedagogical project. Secondly, we will describe how the interactions were transcribed with reference to a multimodal interactional analysis approach. Thirdly, a sequential analysis of two trainee teachers' instruction-giving practices for a role-play task will be presented. The aim of the pilot study is to determine whether research and pedagogical leads emerge that warrant a larger investigation of the corpus with relation to multimodal instruction-giving practices.
The Use of Remote Sensing Indices for Land Cover Change Detection

Remote sensing technology has been applied to monitor anthropogenic changes in the landscape that produce impacts on natural resources, such as environmental degradation, changes in the hydrological cycle and in ecosystems structure and functioning. As digital change detection may be a difficult task to perform, this study proposes a simple and logical technique to display land cover changes using Landsat imagery. Open source geoprocessing tools were used to acquire information for mapping changes on the land surface. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) derived from satellite images of four dates between 1984 and 2016 were used in RGB composites. The method was used to map gains and losses of vegetation cover and liquid water content in a spatiotemporal scale. The results indicate that this change detection method can effectively reflect the variations occurred over the years. Although both indices have similar responses, NDWI may provide opposite information to NDVI in certain areas, such as in wetlands and riparian zones, presenting wetness losses even in places that exhibit gains in vegetation. This method has applicability to other regions for deriving historical changes.
A Cross-Sectional Investigation of the Development of Modality in English Language Learners’ Writing: A Corpus-Driven Study

The present research investigated the development of English modality in the written discourse of Arab second language (L2) English learners across six levels of English proficiency. Two hundred texts were randomly selected from each of the six levels resulting in a total of 1,200 texts. Following the concept-oriented approach (CoA) to second language acquisition (SLA), modal expressions were analyzed for frequency, type and combinations of modal auxiliaries and verbs. Results indicate that initially learners express the concept of modality with limited linguistic means at their disposal such as over reliance on the primary modals can and will. Expression of this semantic concept becomes more productive and variant as learners progress in their language proficiency. More forms and types of modal expressions emerge and learners make clear distinctions between forms and meanings.
Fluid-pipeline-soil interaction at the seabed

Pipeline, cable and riser systems are used in the offshore industry to transfer material, power and data between facilities, both across the seafloor and from the seafloor to the ocean surface. Important design challenges for these systems involve prediction of pipeline, cable and riser movements on or near the seabed and assessment of the consequences of these movements. The fundamental physics inherent in these problems fall upon a spectrum of fluid-structure-soil interactions. In this thesis, two particular pipeline, cable and riser design issues are considered: (i) the on-bottom stability and safe operation of subsea pipelines and cables, and (ii) predicting seabed trenching within the touchdown zone of risers connected to floating vessels. The first three main chapters in this thesis focus on soil-structure interaction with regard to the soil resistance available to prevent pipeline movement – with ‘pipeline’ being used hereafter to represent all cylindrical objects including cables and risers. First, in Chapter 2 finite element analyses are used to establish drained combined loading envelopes for the general case of a wished-in-place, surface-laid pipeline. This study parametrically explores the effect of sand density on the breakout resistance. The results show that under typical loading conditions, limit analysis using a modified set of soil strength parameters provides a close approximation to both non-associated flow finite element results and also experimental evidence. Chapter 3 explores the resistance of buried pipelines to upheaval movement and the effects of external fins fitted to the pipeline perimeter. Radial fins are experimentally shown to increase the uplift resistance by up to 25%. An analytical method for predicting the changes is derived from limit equilibrium, which predicts the resistance to within 13% percent of the measurements. Particle image velocimetry is also used to examine the failure mechanisms in loose sand; and notably, these are found to comprise a localised mechanism that differs subtly from the analytical and accompanying numerical results. Chapter 4 numerically quantifies the changes to pipeline breakout resistance that occur through natural evolution of the seabed due to sediment transport processes, based on observations of an operating pipeline. Collectively, these chapters provide a better basis for predicting the interaction forces between pipelines and sandy seabeds, and give insights on how stability is enhanced, either via natural sedimentation or via engineered appendages. The following two chapters shift focus to fluid-structure interaction, focusing on the fluid mechanics around an oscillating two-dimensional cylinder representative of a riser near the touchdown zone. Specific focus is placed on understanding how the local flow field is affected by the seabed, which is represented as a rigid wall. The first study (Chapter 5) uses computational fluid dynamics to directly solve the Navier-Stokes equations in two-dimensions at a Reynolds number of 150; while the latter (Chapter 6) uses particle
Effects of grazing pressure on plant species composition and water presence on bofedales in the Andes mountain range of Bolivia.

Bofedales are high-Andean peatland plant communities with high capacity for water retention, which are regarded as oases of biodiversity. These areas have great social and economic value for livestock grazing, which plays an important role in their vegetation dynamics. However, the effects of increased livestock pressure on vegetation composition and surface water have not yet been clarified. The goal of this study was to assess the impact of current grazing practices on bofedal vegetation, species diversity and function. Specifically, the study aimed to (1) quantify carrying capacity and stocking rate in grazed bofedales and (2) quantify the effects of grazing pressure on plant composition and the extents of bare soil and surface water. Biomass and stocking rate estimates for 25 bofedales along the Cordillera Real (Tropical Andes, Bolivia) showed that all bofedales were overgrazed (carrying capacity/stocking rate (CC/SR) <1). Regression analyses showed significant decreases in number of plant species, species dominance, diversity and percent surface water as CC/SR declined (p < 0.05). Bofedales are negatively affected by increased grazing pressure and potentially affected by changes in livestock species. These pressures, combined with land use changes and climate change, could result in long-term negative effects for the ecological functioning and sustainability of bofedale
3DPresence -A System Concept for Multi-User and Multi-Party Immersive 3D Videoconferencing

Traditional set-top camera video-conferencing systems still fail to meet the 'telepresence challenge' of providing a viable alternative for physical business travel, which is nowadays characterized by unacceptable delays, costs, inconvenience, and an increasingly large ecological footprint. Even recent high-end commercial solutions, while partially removing some of these traditional shortcomings, still present the problems of not scaling easily, expensive implementations, not utilizing 3D life-sized representations of the remote participants and addressing only eye contact and gesture-based interactions in very limited ways. The European FP7 project 3DPresence will develop a multi-party, high-end 3D videoconferencing concept that will tackle the problem of transmitting the feeling of physical presence in real-time to multiple remote locations in a transparent and natural way. In this paper, we present an overall concept, which includes the geometrical design of the whole prototype demonstrator, the arrangement of the cameras and displays and the general multi-view video analysis chain. The driving force behind the design strategy is to fulfil the requirements of a novel 3D immersive videoconferencing system, including directional eye gaze and gesture awareness. (8 pages)
Anomaly Detection in Hyperspectral Imagery Based on Low-Rank Representation Incorporating a Spatial Constraint

Hyperspectral imagery contains abundant spectral information. Each band contains some specific characteristics closely related to target objects. Therefore, using these characteristics, hyperspectral imagery can be used for anomaly detection. Recently, with the development of compressed sensing, low-rank-representation-based methods have been applied to hyperspectral anomaly detection. In this study, novel low-rank representation methods were developed for anomaly detection from hyperspectral images based on the assumption that hyperspectral pixels can be effectively decomposed into a low-rank component (for background) and a sparse component (for anomalies). In order to improve detection performance, we imposed a spatial constraint on the low-rank representation coefficients, and single or multiple local window strategies was applied to smooth the coefficients. Experiments on both simulated and real hyperspectral datasets demonstrated that the proposed approaches can effectively improve hyperspectral anomaly detection performance.
Drinking Water Disparities in Tennessee: The Origins and Effects of Toxic Heavy Metals

Several toxic metals, commonly present in drinking water, are believed to play important roles in the development of cancerous tumors. Although the US Safe Drinking Water Act requires drinking water to meet health standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency, violations occur regularly. In this study, we have investigated the role of the two predominant toxic heavy metals identified in the drinking water sources in Tennessee: copper and lead. We have analyzed the levels of copper and lead, as well as the total water hardness among different counties of Tennessee, with different socioeconomic backgrounds. We determined that the effects of lead and copper in drinking water were random, although counties with typically lower average household incomes typically had higher levels of the metals. The contaminant levels were found to remain below the threshold established by the Environmental Protection Agency and the State of Tennessee. Water from the Cumberland River was harder than water obtained from other rivers in Tennessee. Furthermore, the total hardness of water did not correlate with the average household income of the various counties.
Cumulative impacts of roads and energy infrastructure on grassland songbirds

ABSTRACT Comparing impacts of co-occurring anthropogenic features is necessary for regional planning and can help identify mechanisms of negative impacts of development on wildlife. Because of the vast abundance of anthropogenic features in the Northern Great Plains, their combined negative impacts on songbird habitat use (e.g., abundance) and productivity (e.g., nesting success and clutch size) could exacerbate the decline of songbird populations. We compared the cumulative effects of energy-related infrastructure (oil wells, shallow gas wells, and roads) on habitat use and productivity of songbirds across a 120 × 180 km region in southern Alberta, Canada. We examined effects on Chestnut-collared Longspur (Calcarius ornatus) and Sprague's Pipit (Anthus spragueii), both of which are listed as Threatened in Canada, and Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis), Vesper Sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus), and Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta). Using piecewise regressions and generalized linear models, we estimated effects of distance from infrastructure and shallow gas well density on the habitat use and productivity of each species. We then used these analyses to quantify the availability of habitat suitable for settlement and breeding throughout our study region. Shallow gas wells, which are more abundant, affected a larger geographic area than oil wells, but oil wells were associated with the added impacts of roads. Our analyses suggest that impacts of wells on songbirds are not caused by industrial noise because individual shallow gas wells, which produce no mechanical noise, had similar impacts to noisy oil wells. Our results highlight the importance of regional plans that consider the impacts of multiple co-occurring anthropogenic features in working landscapes.
C3 plants converge on a universal relationship between leaf maximum carboxylation rate and chlorophyll content

Abstract. The leaf maximum carboxylation rate (Vcmax) is one of the crucial parameters in determining the photosynthetic capacity of plants. Providing accurate estimates of leaf Vcmax25 that cover large geographic areas and that incorporate plant seasonality is central to correctly predicting carbon fluxes within the terrestrial global carbon cycle. Chlorophyll, as the main photon-harvesting component in leaves, is closely linked to photosynthesis. However, how the nature of the relationship between the leaf maximum carboxylation rate scaled to 25 °C (Vcmax25) and leaf chlorophyll content varies according to plant type is uncertain. In this study, we investigate whether a universal and stable relationship exists between leaf Vcmax25 and leaf chlorophyll content across different C3 plant types from a plant physiological perspective and verify it using field experiments. Measurements of leaf chlorophyll content (Chl) and CO2 response curves were made on 283 crop, shrub, tree and vegetable leaves in China and the Borden Forest Research Station in southern Ontario, Canada. A strong relationship was found between the leaf Vcmax25 and chlorophyll content across different C3 plant types (R2 = 0.65, P
The Mechanism Research for Ankle Rehabilitation

The ankle joint of human body includes three degrees of freedom(DOF). After ankle sprain,proper rehabilitation training is a must in order to cure it.However,the ankle rehabilitation robots in existence mostly train only one degree of freedom and there is a lack of ankle rehabilitation mechanism of multiple degree of freedom(Multi-DOF). Aiming at this problem,this thesis puts forward a kind of ankle rehabilitation mechanisms scheme,which trains the movement of flexion,inversion and eversion of ankle,and completes the design of its body structure.
Reinforcement learning and simulation-based search in computer go

Learning and planning are two fundamental problems in artificial intelligence. The learning problem can be tackled by reinforcement learning methods, such as temporal-difference learning, which update a value function from real experience, and use function approximation to generalise across states. The planning problem can be tackled by simulation-based search methods, such as Monte-Carlo tree search, which update a value function from simulated experience, but treat each state individually. We introduce a new method, temporal-difference search, that combines elements of both reinforcement learning and simulation-based search methods. In this new method the value function is updated from simulated experience, but it uses function approximation to efficiently generalise across states. We also introduce the Dyna-2 architecture, which combines temporal-difference learning with temporal-difference search. Whereas temporal-difference learning acquires general domain knowledge from its past experience, temporal-difference search acquires local knowledge that is specialised to the agent's current state, by simulating future experience. Dyna-2 combines both forms of knowledge together. We apply our algorithms to the game of 9 × 9 Go. Using temporal-difference learning, with a million binary features matching simple patterns of stones, and using no prior knowledge except the grid structure of the board, we learnt a fast and effective evaluation function. Using temporal-difference search with the same representation produced a dramatic improvement: without any explicit search tree, and with equivalent domain knowledge, it achieved better performance than a vanilla Monte-Carlo tree search. When combined together using the Dyna-2 architecture, our program outperformed all handcrafted, traditional search, and traditional machine learning programs on the 9 × 9 Computer Go Server. We also use our framework to extend the Monte-Carlo tree search algorithm. By forming a rapid generalisation over subtrees of the search space, and incorporating heuristic pattern knowledge that was learnt or handcrafted offline, we were able to significantly improve the performance of the Go program MoGo . Using these enhancements, MoGo became the first 9 × 9 Go program to achieve human master level.
Vertical Current Density Structure of Saturn's Equatorial Current Sheet

Routine spacecraft encounters with the Saturn current sheet due to the passage of aperiodic waves provide the opportunity to analyze the current sheet structure. The current density is expected to peak where the field strength reaches a minimum if approximated as a Harris current sheet. However, in Earth's magnetotail this is not always the case as the sheet is sometimes bifurcated (having two or more maxima in the current density). We utilize measurements of Saturn's magnetic field to estimate the current density during crossings of the current sheet by time differentiating the Ba component of the field in a current sheet coordinate system, where Ba is perpendicular to both the current and current sheet normal. This is then averaged and organized by the magnitude of Ba. Using this method, we can identify a classical Harris‐style or bifurcated current sheet as a peak at the center or two distinct maxima on either side of Ba=0, respectively. We find that around 10% of current sheet profiles exhibit a bifurcated current sheet signature, which is substantially lower than an ∼25% occurrence rate at Earth.
Compiler optimizations for architectures supporting superword-level parallelism

The increasing importance of multimedia applications in embedded and general-purpose computing environments has led to the development of multimedia extensions in most commercial microprocessors. At the core of these extensions is support for single instruction multiple data (SIMD) operations on superwords, that is, aggregate data objects larger than a machine word. Several compilers have been developed to generate the SIMD instructions for multimedia extensions automatically. However, most are based on conventional vectorization technology. More recently, a technique called superword-level parallelization (SLP) was developed to exploit unique features of multimedia extensions, such as short vectors and single cycle instruction latency. Instead of finding parallelism from loops. SLP finds parallelism between instructions making this approach simple and more robust than the vectorization technique. We propose a new compiler framework based on SLP where a number of optimizations are performed in a seamless fashion. First, we describe how to extend the concept of SLP in the presence of control flow constructs to increase its applicability. A key insight is that we can use techniques related to optimizations for architectures supporting predicated execution, even for multimedia instruction sets that do not provide hardware predication. Second, we treat the large superword register file as a compiler-controlled cache, thus avoiding unnecessary memory accesses by exploiting reuse in superword registers. This approach also targets a research prototype, the DIVA processor-in-memory (PIM) device. We describe DIVA-specific optimizations including a technique to exploit a DRAM memory characteristic automatically. We implemented the new techniques in a complete compiler that generates SIMD instructions automatically from sequential programs. We describe the evaluation of our implementation on a set of 14 benchmarks. The speedups range from 1.05 to 19.22 over sequential performance.
Consolidating empirical method in data-assisted stylistics: Towards a corpus-attested glossary of literary terms.

Method (Gk. Meta + hodos) means an ‘after-path’. Radical revisions of methodology follow momentous paradigm-shifts within scientific theories. Hence linguistic-stylistics developed analogue collocation into its digital counterpart, especially through the discovery of semantic prosodies (Sinclair 2004b; Louw 1993). This led to the recognition (Louw 1991; 2000; 2007d) that all literary devices have a corpus-accessible feature in common: relexicalisation. Delexicalisation arose out of developments in lexicography. Sinclair refers to the two terms as forming a continuum (Sinclair 2004a: 198fn18). This continuum is marked (Enkvist 1973), unlike Hoey’s (2005) purported, but psychologist priming. He omits Firth’s (1957) pre-condition that collocation is abstracted from syntax and that collocative (relexicalising) power falls off within four words on either side of a node. This paper explores the consequences for science and glossaries of literary terms of collocation as instrumentation for meaning.