Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of model-based seasonal streamflow and water allocation forecasts for the Elqui Valley, Chile

Abstract. In many semi-arid regions, multisectoral demands often stress available water supplies. Such is the case in the Elqui River valley of northern Chile, which draws on a limited-capacity reservoir to allocate 25 000 water rights. Delayed infrastructure investment forces water managers to address demand-based allocation strategies, particularly in dry years, which are realized through reductions in the volume associated with each water right. Skillful season-ahead streamflow forecasts have the potential to inform managers with an indication of future conditions to guide reservoir allocations. This work evaluates season-ahead statistical prediction models of October–January (growing season) streamflow at multiple lead times associated with manager and user decision points, and links predictions with a reservoir allocation tool. Skillful results (streamflow forecasts outperform climatology) are produced for short lead times (1 September: ranked probability skill score (RPSS) of 0.31, categorical hit skill score of 61 %). At longer lead times, climatological skill exceeds forecast skill due to fewer observations of precipitation. However, coupling the 1 September statistical forecast model with a sea surface temperature phase and strength statistical model allows for equally skillful categorical streamflow forecasts to be produced for a 1 May lead, triggered for 60 % of years (1950–2015), suggesting forecasts need not be strictly deterministic to be useful for water rights holders. An early (1 May) categorical indication of expected conditions is reinforced with a deterministic forecast (1 September) as more observations of local variables become available. The reservoir allocation model is skillful at the 1 September lead (categorical hit skill score of 53 %); skill improves to 79 % when categorical allocation prediction certainty exceeds 80 %. This result implies that allocation efficiency may improve when forecasts are integrated into reservoir decision frameworks. The methods applied here advance the understanding of the mechanisms and timing responsible for moisture transport to the Elqui Valley and provide a unique application of streamflow forecasting in the prediction of water right allocations.
Structural Genome Variations Related to Craniosynostosis

Craniosynostosis refers to a condition during early development in which one or more of the fibrous sutures of the skull prematurely fuse by turning into bone, which produces recognizable patterns of cranial shape malformations depending on which suture(s) are affected. In addition to cases with isolated cranial dysmorphologies, craniosynostosis appears in syndromes that include skeletal features of the eyes, nose, palate, hands, and feet as well as impairment of vision, hearing, and intellectual development. Approximately 85% of the cases are nonsyndromic sporadic and emerge after de novo structural genome rearrangements or single nucleotide variation, while the remainders consist of syndromic cases following mendelian inheritance. By karyotyping, genome wide linkage, and CNV analyses as well as by whole exome and whole genome sequencing, numerous candidate genes for craniosynostosis belonging to the FGF, Wnt, BMP, Ras/ERK, ephrin, hedgehog, STAT, and retinoic acid signaling pathways have been identified. Many of the craniosynostosis-related candidate genes form a functional network based upon protein-protein or protein-DNA interactions. Depending on which node of this craniosynostosis-related network is affected by a gene mutation or a change in gene expression pattern, a distinct craniosynostosis syndrome or set of phenotypes ensues. Structural variations may alter the dosage of one or several genes or disrupt the genomic architecture of genes and their regulatory elements within topologically associated chromatin domains. These may exert dominant effects by either haploinsufficiency, dominant negative partial loss of function, gain of function, epistatic interaction, or alteration of levels and patterns of gene expression during development. Molecular mechanisms of dominant modes of action of these mutations may include loss of one or several binding sites for cognate protein partners or transcription factor binding sequences. Such losses affect interactions within functional networks governing development and consequently result in phenotypes such as craniosynostosis. Many of the novel variants identified by genome wide CNV analyses, whole exome and whole genome sequencing are incorporated in recently developed diagnostic algorithms for craniosynostosis.
Determination of Local Chemistry Composition of Low-Dimensional Semiconductor Nanostructures Through the use of High-Resolution HAADF images

The introduction of aberration-correction into Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) has vastly improved the ability to carry out chemical analysis of low-dimensional semiconductor nanostructures, which is a topic of high relevance in fields such as electronics and optoelectronics [1,2]. Among different techniques in STEM, Energy Electron Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) and Energy-dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) are currently the most used to obtain a quantitative map of the structures’ chemical composition. However, in practice, extracting information from an area of the size of a Quantum Dot (QD) with these techniques in STEM mode is a complicated task, due to the time necessary to record the signal. During this time drift effects or sample damage could occur. Thus a method that uses only the High Angle Annular Dark Field (HAADF) signal to analyse the composition could avoid these problems, because in a few seconds it is possible to image large areas. HAADF images of QDs have widely for a qualitative analysis of their chemical distribution and for morphological However, due to the high dependence of the intensity with the atomic number (Z) of the HAADF images, the extraction of quantitative information from this sort of a of great HAADF quantitative
HYPERstream: A multi-scale framework for streamflow routing in large-scale hydrological model

Abstract. We present HYPERstream, an innovative streamflow routing scheme based on the width function instantaneous unit hydrograph (WFIUH) theory, which is specifically designed to facilitate coupling with weather forecasting and climate models. The proposed routing scheme preserves geomorphological dispersion of the river network when dealing with horizontal hydrological fluxes, irrespective of the computational grid size inherited from the overlaying climate model providing the meteorological forcing. This is achieved by simulating routing within the river network through suitable transfer functions obtained by applying the WFIUH theory to the desired level of detail. The underlying principle is similar to the block-effective dispersion employed in groundwater hydrology, with the transfer functions used to represent the effect on streamflow of morphological heterogeneity at scales smaller than the computational grid. Transfer functions are constructed for each grid cell with respect to the nodes of the network where streamflow is simulated, by taking advantage of the detailed morphological information contained in the digital elevation model (DEM) of the zone of interest. These characteristics make HYPERstream well suited for multi-scale applications, ranging from catchment up to continental scale, and to investigate extreme events (e.g., floods) that require an accurate description of routing through the river network. The routing scheme enjoys parsimony in the adopted parametrization and computational efficiency, leading to a dramatic reduction of the computational effort with respect to full-gridded models at comparable level of accuracy. HYPERstream is designed with a simple and flexible modular structure that allows for the selection of any rainfall-runoff model to be coupled with the routing scheme and the choice of different hillslope processes to be represented, and it makes the framework particularly suitable to massive parallelization, customization according to the specific user needs and preferences, and continuous development and improvements.
Sr Deposition Observed in Central and Northeast Honshu Island after the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident

Monthly depositions of anthropogenic radionuclides, which directly reflect atmospheric processes including emission from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant (FDNPP), are an important probe to re-construct FDNPP accident sequence. Japanese radioactivity survey network monitored monthly 90Sr deposition after the FDNPP accident. The highest monthly 90Sr deposition (470 ± 17 Bq m-2) was observed in March 2011 at Futaba near the FDNPP site, which is the same order of magnitude as that due to global fallout observed in 1963. The higher 90Sr deposition in March 2011 occurred in the Kanto and inland of the Tohoku areas. The monthly 90Sr deposition decreased with time, as did 137Cs. Atmospheric effect of the FDNPP-derived 90Sr continued more than 1 year. 90Sr/137Cs activity ratios in March 2011, which were in the range from 0.99 ×10-4 to 3 ×10-4, showed no large spatial variation. This result allowed us to estimate total atmospheric emission of 90Sr from the FDNPP accident from the total atmospheric release of 137Cs. The total release amount of 90Sr at an early stage of the accident was calculated to be 2.7 – 3.6 TBq.
Comparison among operators for detecting and/or extracting or roads using the matlab software and the cartomorph software

Abstract. FCT / UNESP has been developing CARTOMORPH to be a public domain software which can be operated by users needing to extract and / or detect features from digital images. In this work, two methods were applied for the extraction and / or detection of the contours of the feature of interest (the highway) using a digital image containing part of a highway. One method was applied through the use of operators contained in the Mathematical Morphology toolbox, which is a private domain, SDC Information Systems, and the other was applied using the routine contained in the CARTOMORPH software. In the toolbox, the operators used were mmreadgray, responsible for opening the original image, mmhisteq, which softens the image, mmneg which can reverse the grayscale of pixels, and mmareaclose, which aims to remove image segmentation. This set of operators has resulted in a routine capable of extracting and / or detecting the contour of a road. The Blur and Minimum (Gblur) operator was used in the process using the CARTOMORPH software. This can detect the edges of objects present in the original blurred image, and transform them into an ideal edge ramp. Results from both methods were compared and the conclusion is that the blur and minimum (GBlur) operator gave a better performance. This finding indicates that the set of operators implemented in CARTOMORPH will be able to be operated by users in the field of cartography and related fields, thus enabling the use of a public domain software with efficient results.
General microscopic model of magnetoelastic coupling from first principles

Magnetoelastic coupling, i.e., the change of crystal lattice induced by a spin order, is not only scientifically interesting, but also technically important. In this work, we propose a general microscopic model from first-principles calculations to describe the magnetoelastic coupling and provide a way to construct the microscopic model from density functional theory calculations. Based on this model, we reveal that there exists a previously unexpected contribution to the electric polarization induced by the spin-order in multiferroics due to the combined effects of magnetoelastic coupling and piezoelectric effect. Interestingly and surprisingly, we find that this lattice deformation contribution to the polarization is even larger than that from the pure electronic and ion-displacement contributions in BiFeO3. This model of magnetoelastic coupling can be generally applied to investigate the other magnetoelastic phenomena.
Alu Insertion/Deletion Polymorphism in Four Tribes of South India

Abstract The present study was conducted to investigate the genetic diversity and affinities of four South Indian tribal populations namely, Malaikuravan, Malasar, Palliyan and Kattunaikkan. DNA samples from 184 unrelated individuals belonging to four tribal populations were analyzed for nine human-specific insertion and deletion polymorphic loci. The results indicate that all the studied biallelic loci are highly polymorphic in terms of allele frequencies and average heterozygosities (HT = 0.49) in all the study populations. The genomic diversity (GST) of the four tribal populations was quite low (2.4%). The neighbor joining tree and centroid analysis showed that the four tribal populations under consideration are equally distant from other Indian tribal and world populations. The results reveal that the study populations have received moderate gene flow compared to other populations.
Genetic evolution of influenza A ( H 7 N 9 ) virus in China – implications for public health Sixth update , 9 March 2017

Since the notification of a novel reassortant influenza A(H7N9) virus on 31 March 2013, 1 258 laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus have been reported. This is the fifth winter season in the northern hemisphere with human cases caused by A(H7N9) infections. During this wave, the number of human cases has been higher than in previous waves and accounts for 37% of the human cases reported so far. This is most likely due to greater environmental contamination in live bird markets and increased circulation of the virus among poultry.
Optimization of Controlled Release Matrix Formulations of the Chronobiotic Hormone Melatonin via Experimental Design

Melatonin (MT) is a chronobiotic hormone synthesized by the pineal gland and has a significant role in the regulation of the circadian biological clock. In order to be administered as a drug, the time of melatonin release from its formulation is of great significance. To this purpose, controlled release matrix tablets (200 mg) of MT were developed by using D-optimal experimental design, including 1 categorical and 2 numerical factors, aiming at effecting its sustained release using a USP XXIII dissolution apparatus II at pH 1.2 and 7.4 media. The excipients selected are polyvinyl pyrrolidone (M.W.: 10.000 and 55.000), hydroxylpropyl Methylcellulose K15M and lactose monohydrate. The in vitro release data were fitted to the Korsmeyer-Peppas empirical equation; the n exponent, which refers to release kinetics, was evaluated. The optimal composition was reached via the desirability function, as a compromise to the different responses (the time for 50% drug dissolution at pH=1.2 and the diffusional exponent (n) at pH values 1.2 and 7.4). As the differences in the n values amongst the formulations are closely related to variation in water penetration into the different excipients used, excipients with different physicochemical characteristics were used so that the desired formulation was produced. Overall, this procedure resulted in a suitable excipients’ composition for the controlled release of melatonin with the minimal number of experiments.
Comparison of Tandem-X InSAR and TerraSAR-C stereo-radargrammetric 3D metrics in mapping of forest resources

Accurate forest resources maps are needed in diverse applications ranging from the local forest management to the global climate change research. In particular, it is important to have tools to map changes in forest resources, which helps us to understand the significance of the forest biomass changes in the global carbon cycle. In the task of mapping changes in forest resources for wide areas, Earth Observing satellites could play the key role. In 2013, an EU/FP7-Space funded project “Advanced_SAR” was started with the main objective to develop novel forest resources mapping methods based on the fusion of satellite based 3D measurements and in-situ field measurements of forests. During the summer 2014, an extensive field surveying campaign was carried out in the Evo test site, Southern Finland. Forest inventory attributes of mean tree height, basal area, mean stem diameter, stem volume, and biomass, were determined for 91 test plots having the size of 32 by 32 meters (1024 m 2 ). Simultaneously, a comprehensive set of satellite and airborne data was collected. Satellite data also included a set of TanDEM-X (TDX) and TerraSAR-X (TSX) X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, suitable for interferometric and stereo-radargrammetric processing to extract 3D elevation data representing the forest canopy. In the present study, we compared the accuracy of TDX InSAR and TSX stereo-radargrammetric derived 3D metrics in forest inventory attribute prediction. First, 3D data were extracted from TDX and TSX images. Then, 3D data were processed as elevations above the ground surface (forest canopy height values) using an accurate Digital Terrain Model (DTM) based on airborne laser scanning survey. Finally, 3D metrics were calculated from the canopy height values for each test plot and the 3D metrics were compared with the field reference data. The Random Forest method was used in the forest inventory attributes prediction. Based on the results InSAR showed slightly better performance in forest attribute (i.e. mean tree height, basal area, mean stem diameter, stem volume, and biomass) prediction than stereo-radargrammetry. The results were 20.1% and 28.6% in relative root mean square error (RMSE) for biomass prediction, for TDX and TSX respectively.
Influence of School Violence on Psychosocial Wellbeing of Students in Selected Secondary Schools in Ibadan, Oyo State

Violence is a universal scourge that tears at the fabric of communities and threatens the life, health, happiness and general wellbeing of everybody. Thus, this study finds out the influence of school violence on students psycho-social wellbeing in selected secondary schools. Three research hypotheses were constructed to pilot the study. The hypotheses formulated for the study were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for this study. The population consists of two hundred and fifty (250) respondents between ages 9 to 20years in both private and public mixed secondary schools in Ibadan metropolis. The simple percentage statistics and pearson moment correlation statistics were used to analyze the data collected. Findings revealed that there is a positive significant relationship between students self-esteem and school violence (r = .251, N= 250, P < .05). It also revealed a significant positive relationship between students’ competence and school violence (r = .315, N= 250, P < .05), and a positive relationship between students’ interpersonal relationship and school violence (r = .269, N= 250, P <.05). Based on the findings of the study, recommendations were made to the government to provide resources that will help change the school environment to a more positive climate, nurturing, inclusiveness and a feeling of community occur. Keyword: School, Violence, Self esteem, Competence, Relationship.
Brownian Bubble Router: Enabling Deadlock Freedom via Guaranteed Forward Progress

Deadlocks are a bane for network designers, be it a Network on Chip (NoC) in a multi-core or a large scale HPC/datacenter network. A routing deadlock occurs when there is a cyclic dependence between the buffers of network routers. Most modern systems avoid deadlocks by placing routing restrictions or adding extra virtual channels, in turn hurting performance and adding overhead respectively. In this work, we demonstrate that instead of placing such restrictions, we can, in fact, design routers to themselves guarantee deadlock-freedom, by (i) ensuring that every router always has at least one bubble (i.e., free buffer slot) at any input port, and (ii) this bubble pro-actively moves between input ports. We call this a Brownian Bubble Router (BBR). A BBR guarantees forward progress in any network topology, without requiring any routing restrictions or additional virtual channels. With our BBR design we provide 4× better throughput over state of art deadlock recovery schemes and 40% better throughput over traditional deadlock avoidance schemes in a 8×8 Mesh at negligible area and power overheads.
How Socially Assistive Robots Supporting on Cognitive Tasks Perform

Understanding the effects of Socially Assistive Robots (SAR) on human’s task performance is crucial for designing powerful assistive systems. A variety of interaction design questions have to be taken into account in order to implement SAR. We present the results of a case-control study (no robot present vs. robot giving generic motivational feedback vs. robot giving task performance related feedback) for a scenario in which a SAR assists users on a cognitive task. Results show that SARs can have positive effects on user’s task performance on cognitive tasks and that the task is perceived as pleasurable if the robot’s feedback is appropriate to the user’s task processing.
A Case of Herpes Zoster Presented with Lower Limb Paresis

Herpes zoster is a common viral disorder that typically shows characteristic painful skin lesion. Motor neuropathy rarely complicates herpes zoster infection, and it may be overlooked without suspicion. Here, we report a case of a herpes zoster patient who presented with sciatica and paresis, but without the typical skin lesion. The patient was initially misdiagnosed as having other disorders including trauma or spine lesion. Electrodiagnostic study and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) helped to make an accurate diagnosis and localize the motor nerve involvement of herpes zoster.
Shadow-Avatars : A Visualization Method to Avoid Collisions of Physically Co-Located Users in Room-Scale VR

In a typical living room scenrario, the physical space might be shared by multiple virtual reality (VR) users. Although, they might collaborate in the same virtual environment, their physical spatial relations, i. e. , distances and orientations between users in the physical world, might vary from their virtual spatial relations, i. e. , distances and orientations between them in the virtual world. When physical and virtual spatial relations are not consistent anymore, collisions between users in the physical space could occur. However, the feedback about the positions of physically co-located VR users should be effective if required, but not disturbing otherwise. For such situations, we suggest to use shadow-avatars, which provide a visualization of the actual physical positions of co-located VR users to avoid collisions and accidents. For these shadow-avatars, we use a semi-transparent silhouette of a virtual human. We evaluated two different types of shadow-avatars in a user study and compared them with a baseline condition regarding presence, usability, and number of collisions. The results show that a continuously visible shadow-avatar is preferred by the users and a dynamically visible shadow-avatar generated significantly more collisions.
Trends in Park Tourism: Economics, Finance and Management

This paper discusses issues in tourism to protected areas/parks. Emphasis is given to the relationships between the globally growing numbers of parks, the rise in tourism to those parks and its economic impacts, and finance and management policies used within the parks. In-depth consideration is given to park pricing policies, park tourism competencies, the need for better visitation/visitor statistics, and new tourism management structures. The development of parastatal management structures with greater links between tourism competencies and conservation management techniques is seen to be central to the creation of both successful parks and sustainable tourism within those parks.