Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Circular SAR imagery for urban remote sensing

Building extraction using SAR imagery has been a subject of interest since the availability of high resolution SAR images. One of the main advantages of this technique is that SAR imagery does not depend on weather conditions. The main drawback is the slant range geometry which leads to large shadow areas, and therefore to incomplete dataset. Authors have tried to use images from different points of view in order to fill the gaps and ease the extraction step. In this pape, we take advantage of an acquisition of SAR data over a circular trajectory to extract DEM. The new SETHI sensor from ONERA is an airborne radar equipped with different bands (P, L, X) on a Falcon 20. Data were acquired over the city of Nimes in September 2007 in X, L and P band with a circular trajectory so that images could be processed for all the possible azimuth angles. The X data have a 45 cm slant range resolution. In this paper we present the SAR processing of such data and we analyse the interest of this configuration for the study of building extraction.
Estudio de procesos ecológicos para el desarrollo sostenible del castaño (Castanea sativa Mill.) de la Sierra de Francia

En la cuenca mediterranea los bosques de castano (Castanea sativa Mill.) tienen una gran importancia tanto desde un punto de vista ecologico, economico, paisajistico o cultural. Debido a esta importancia se estudiaron estos ecosistemas desde una perspectiva ecologica La investigacion se llevo a cabo en la Sierra de Francia, en la provincia de Salamanca (Espana). Se seleccionaron tres ecosistemas de estudio, dos castanares (vegetacion paraclimacica en la zona de estudio), uno dedicado a la produccion de fruto y otro a la produccion de madera y, por ultimo, un ecosistema de Quercus pyrenaica Wild. (vegetacion climax). De este modo se analizaron diversas variables y procesos ecologicos que forman parte del ciclo biogeoquimico. Las concentraciones de N, P y K en las hojas del arbol en ambas especies disminuyeron a lo largo de la vida de la hoja, mientras que en el caso del Ca, sus niveles en la hoja del arbol aumentaron. La produccion de hojarasca fue ligeramente mayor en ambos castanares frente a la observada en el rebollar. Ademas de cuantificar la cantidad de restos vegetales que caen anualmente al suelo, es importante conocer la dinamica de la descomposicion de dichos restos organicos. Las tasas de descomposicion fueron ligeramente superiores en las hojas de ambos castanares frente a las del rebollo. Por ultimo, se analizaron una serie de parametros bioquimicos del suelo para determinar la actividad metabolica en el suelo de los tres ecosistemas forestales. El castanar dedicado a la produccion de madera fue el ecosistema con mayor actividad metabolica en el suelo. La humedad edafica es el principal regulador de la actividad metabolica del suelo aunque otros factores como temperatura, desfronde, etc. pueden regular la actividad de los parametros bioquimicos del suelo.
Modifikasi Penaksir Robust dalam Pelabelan Outlier Multivariat

Outlier adalah suatu observasi yang polanya tidak mengikuti mayoritas data.Outlier dalam kasus multivariat sangat sulit untuk dideteksi, khususnya ketikadimensi lebih dari 2. Kesulitan ini meningkat ketika data set berukuran besar,yakni jumlah variabel menjadi besar. Metode-metode pendeteksian outlier telahlama berkembang dan beberapa digunakan untuk pelabelan outlier sehingga datadapat dipisahkan antara data yang dicurigai sebagai outlier dan data set padaumumnya. Metode-metode tersebut adalah minimum volume ellipsoid disingkatMVE, minimun covariance determinant disingkat MCD, dan minimum vectorvariance disingkat MVV. Dari ketiga metode tersebut MVV memiliki waktuperhitungan yang paling cepat. Berdasarkan algoritma MVV, kriteriamengurutkan data menggunakan jarak mahalanobis, maka pada paper ini akandimodifikasi kriteria pengurutan data dengan menghindari penulisan dalambentuk invers dari matriks variansi kovariansi. Hasil yang diperoleh adalahmetode MVV menjadi lebih cepat dengan menggunakan kriteria baru dengankecermatan yang sama dengan MVV sebelumnya serta akan diaplikan untukdata real dan data simulasi.
Évolution de la production végétale des parcours naturels au Sahel : le nord‐ouest sénégalais durant les années 1990

In the Sahel, spontaneous and post‐cultural vegetation areas are used as pasture lands for cattle. Can it be inferred from this that natural fodder and cattle undergo the same constraints and run the same risks as the vegetation cover, in particular that of being dependent of rainfall? With a view to answer this question, the distribution of vegetal production in 59 rural communities of North‐West Senegal over 8 years (1987‐1996) is analysed using a series of detailed maps established by the Dakar‐based Centre de suivi ecologique (Ecological Monitoring Centre) from remote sensing data and in situ biomass surveys. The simplified contents of these maps and the diachronic analysis of the statistic data which can be derived from them are sufficient to highlight the kinematics of these natural range lands through the time span referred to. The conclusion is that the vegetal yield of natural range lands is distributed in a very variable fashion and mainly depends on three simultaneous factors: the yearly rainfall; the North‐South rainfall gradient; and the East‐West differenciation of land use.
Diffusion Tensor Imaging Studies of Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis

A meta-analysis was conducted to assess alterations in measures of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in the patients of cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM), exploring the potential role of DTI as a diagnosis biomarker. A systematic search of all related studies written in English was conducted using PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Cochrane comparing CSM patients with healthy controls. Key details for each study regarding participants, imaging techniques, and results were extracted. DTI measurements, such as fractional anisotropy (FA), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), and mean diffusivity (MD) were pooled to calculate the effect size (ES) by fixed or random effects meta-analysis. 14 studies involving 479 CSM patients and 278 controls were identified. Meta-analysis of the most compressed levels (MCL) of CSM patients demonstrated that FA was significantly reduced (ES -1.52, 95% CI -1.87 to -1.16, P < 0.001) and ADC was significantly increased (ES 1.09, 95% CI 0.89 to 1.28, P < 0.001). In addition, a notable ES was found for lowered FA at C2-C3 for CSM vs. controls (ES -0.83, 95% CI -1.09 to -0.570, P < 0.001). Meta-regression analysis revealed that male ratio of CSM patients had a significant effect on reduction of FA at MCL (P = 0.03). The meta-analysis of DTI studies of CSM patients clearly demonstrated a significant FA reduction and ADC increase compared with healthy subjects. This result supports the use of DTI parameters in differentiating CSM patients from health subjects. Future researches are required to investigate the diagnosis performance of DTI in cervical spondylotic myelopathy.
Biodiversity conservation planning tools

Species extinctions and the deterioration of other biodiversity features worldwide have led to the adoption of systematic conservation planning in many regions of the world. As a consequence, various software tools for conservation planning have been developed over the past twenty years. These tools implement algorithms designed to identify conservation area networks for the representation and persistence of biodiversity features. Budgetary, ethical, and other sociopolitical constraints dictate that the prioritized sites represent biodiversity with minimum impact on human interests. Planning tools are typically also used to satisfy these criteria. This chapter reviews both the concepts and technical choices that underlie the development of these tools. Conservation planning problems can be formulated as optimization problems, and we evaluate the suitability of different algorithms for their solution. Finally, we also review some key issues associated with the use of these tools, such as computational efficiency, the effectiveness of taxa and abiotic parameters at choosing surrogates for biodiversity, the process of setting explicit targets of representation for biodiversity surrogates, and biodiversity surrogates, conservation area networks, multicriteria analysis, reserve selection, software packages dealing with multiple criteria. The review concludes by identifying areas for future research, including the scheduling of conservation action over extensive time periods and incorporating data about site vulnerability. Copyright Â© 2006 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved.
Adjoint-Based Targeting of Observations for Fastex Cyclones,

Abstract : Recent development of adjoint versions of numerical weather prediction models makes possible a number of new diagnostic and interpretive techniques that can be applied to atmospheric forecasting. For example, adjoint models can be used to evaluate conceptual ideas of atmospheric processes, including considerations of potential vorticity and the Charney and Eady problems that relate to extratropical cyclone development (Langland et al. 1995). In addition, the sensitivity of forecasts to initial condition error can be studied with adjoint methods, providing insight into atmospheric predictability. A related problem is the idea of using an adjoint model to 'target' specific upstream locations where additional observations are likely to have maximum impact on forecast skill. The work described here is performed with the goal of assisting the Fronts and Atlantic Storm Track Experiment (FASTEX), which has a field phase in January and February 1997. Patterns of initial condition sensitivity in four North Atlantic frontal cyclones are examined using adjoint and tangent linear versions of the Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS, Hogan and Rosmond 1991), and the Mesoscale Adjoint Modeling System Version 1 (MAMS1, Errico et al. 1994). In MAMS1, moist processes, including convective and nonconvective precipitation are included. NOGAPS is run at T79L18 resolution, MAMS1 with 60km grid spacing and 14 sigma levels.
N2O emission and CH4 uptake in arable fields managed under conventional and reduced tillage cropping systems in northern Japan

Nitrous oxide (N2O) emission and methane (CH4) uptake were measured in an experimental long‐term tillage field (Andosol) in Hokkaido, northern Japan, to assess their contributions to net global warming, associated with arable crop production. From May 2001 to August 2002, the field was cultivated with winter wheat, adzuki bean, sugar beet, potato, and cabbage, where the total N applied was 110, 40, 150, 60, and 220 kg N ha−1 yr−1, respectively. Under conventional tillage (CT) cropping systems, basal N fertilization and plowing for residue incorporation had little effect on N2O fluxes, but vigorous N2O emission was observed when rotary harrowing was used for incorporating N‐rich cabbage residues into soil in summer. Also, high N2O emissions occurred when there was heavy rainfall after a large amount of N fertilizer had been applied to sugar beet and also when there was thawing of frozen soil and snow in the winter wheat treatment. Despite the differing N2O flux patterns among the crops, the annual N2O emissions from each crop were positively correlated with the total N applied as fertilizer. Under CT systems, across all five crops, the mean N2O emission factor (the percent ratio of N2O‐N emitted out of total N applied as fertilizer) was 0.36%. Under reduced tillage (RT) cropping systems, where crop residues were left on the ground over winter, large quantities of N2O were emitted from adzuki bean and sugar beet residues when the frozen soil and snow thawed. Therefore, total N2O emissions from adzuki bean and sugar beet cultivated under RT systems were much greater than under CT systems. The rates of CH4 uptake by arable soils were less sensitive to crop type, field management practices, and fertilizer application rates, but the rates were strongly influenced by long‐term tillage management. For fallow, winter wheat, adzuki bean, and sugar beet treatments, the CH4 uptake rates in the CT soils (1.36 kg CH4 ha−1 yr−1), which had a 20‐year history of intensive plowing, were lower than those in the RT soils (2.40 kg CH4 ha−1 yr−1). Thus RT production systems improved CH4 uptake by arable soils, although they adversely affected N2O emissions for adzuki bean and sugar beet production.
Review of "The boost graph library: user guide and reference manual by Jeremy G. Siek, Lie-Quan Lee, and Andrew Lumsdaine." Addison-Wesley 2002.

deeper into graph theory, thereby generating algorithms that are more challenging to the reader. Topics such as Depth-First Search, Hamiltonian Paths, Kruskal's Algorithm and Euclidean Networks are explored in detail. I have studied graph theory and therefore I was able to appreciate the examples and algorithms given in the text. However, I believe the author gives enough of an introduction in the beginning and explanations throughout the text so that a reader without any prior exposure to graph theory can still gain valuable experience in developing algorithms to solve complex problems. This book would be an excellent tool for a graph theory course (assuming the student is familiar with programming) or perhaps an advanced programming course dealing with algorithms or object oriented design methods. I found that the explanations of theorems and proofs in this text were excellent and helped me to further my knowledge and appreciation of graph theory. The object-oriented approach to implementing algorithms in C++ broadened my programming experience and helped to keep my interest in the topic. Occasionally the author assumes that the reader either has read the first volume, or has the text available for review. The first two volumes can be purchased as a bundle, and I suggest the reader consider obtaining both texts. However the programs from both volumes are available for download on the author's website, so it is not necessary to have both books if the reader is comfortable with programming topics such as queues. Overall, I enjoyed Algorithms in C++, and I plan to purchase the first and third volumes to compliment this text. I am certain that I will refer to all three in the future when I am in need of guidance, or perhaps even diversion. Pattern matching in strings is a basic problem in many areas of computer science, but particularly in applications that deal with text searching and genetic sequences. Information retrieval and computational biology are generating dramatic increases both in the size of texts to search and in the sophistication of the searches. The authors are two academics with bioinformatics industry experience. They use this book to make the case that information on pattern matching algorithms is not well understood except by experts in the area, and that for non-experts useful, practical implementations are nearly impossible to construct from available literature. Further , they claim that the only way to truly determine the fastest algorithm …
General Solutions for Viscoplastic Debris Flow

Theoretical velocity profile and theoretical pressure and concentration distributions for (steady) uniform debris flow in wide channels are derived from a generalized viscoplastic fluid (GVF) model without imposing Bagnold’s assumption of constant grain concentration. Good agreement between the theoretical velocity profile and the experimental data of Japanese scientists strongly supports the validity of both the GVF model and the proposed method of solution from the model. It is shown that both Bingham and Bagnold versions (or submodels) of the GVF model can be used to simulate debris flow at the dynamic state. Although Bagnold’s dilitant submodel appears to fit the Japanese data better than the Bingham submodel for flow of noncohesive grains, the choice between them is by no means clear-cut. No matter which submodel is used, a full understanding of the major factors that affect the behavior of debris flows is essential prior to its application. This paper thus lays theoretical ground for extensive further studies of such factors.
Latent and Sensible Heat Flux Anomalies over the Northern Oceans: The Connection to Monthly Atmospheric Circulation

Abstract The influence of the atmospheric circulation on monthly anomalies of ocean surface latent and sensible heat fluxes is explored. The fluxes are estimated using bulk formulas applied to a set of about four decades of marine observations over 1946–1986. Monthly averaging over 5° “square” reduces errors contained in individual observations. The focus is on behavior of the flux anomalies over the relatively well-sampled North Atlantic and North Pacific ocean during winter, when the latent and sensible components are large and the incoming shortwave radiative flux is low. In the North Atlantic and North Pacific (north of about 15°N), flux anomalies are partially caused by local variations in the monthly mean wind direction. In these extratropical regions, largest positive anomalies occur during northerly to northwesterly winds in response to advection of humidity and temperature from north to south and also to favored directions experiencing strong wind speeds. In the tropics, there is little relations.
Facies associations in warm-temperate siliciclastic deposits: insights from early Pleistocene eastern Mediterranean (Rhodes, Greece)

Abstract Diverse, abundant and usually well-preserved communities of skeletal organisms occur in the lower Pleistocene (Gelasian) siliciclastic deposits of the Greek island of Rhodes. Benthic foraminifers, molluscs and bryozoans have been studied in four measured and sampled sections located in the northern part of the island. Among these bottom-dwelling organisms, numerous extant taxa are good environmental indicators and, combined with field observations and sedimentological data, they provide information on the probable conditions in which they developed. The siliciclastic deposits of the Kritika Formation have been divided into 14 different bio- and lithofacies, which have been further grouped into four facies associations corresponding to four different environmental settings: (1) continental to fluviatile; (2) brackish-water (lagoonal/deltaic); (3) infralittoral (0–20 m); and (4) upper circalittoral (depths of 20–40 m, but also down to c. 50–60 m). Among the marine facies associations, several characteristic biocoenoses have been recognized: soft-bottoms (fine to coarse sands and gravels); seagrass meadows; biogenic calcareous crusts on drowned beachrock slabs; red algal rhodoliths; and bivalve shell beds. In the studied sections, 13 superimposed genetic sequences have been documented. The repetition of similar facies associations within each sequence suggests: (1) a possibly eustasy-controlled, cyclic sedimentation; (2) a general subsidence of Rhodes during the deposition of the studied facies associations; and (3) a mostly constant range of environmental conditions (i.e. sedimentation rates and temperature) throughout the Gelasian.
Disturbance regimes in coastal British Columbia

What is the dominant disturbance regime in coastal British Columbia? In this literature review, we discuss the relative importance of fire versus canopy gaps as agents of disturbance affecting the structure and dynamics of unmanaged coastal forests in British Columbia. Our analyses focus on the province? s wet coastal temperate rain forests, specifically the Hypermaritime and Very Wet Maritime Coastal Western Hemlock (CWHvh and CWHvm) subzones, and the Wet Hypermaritime and Moist Maritime Mountain Hemlock (MHwh and MHmm) subzones. After reviewing the relationships between disturbance events, disturbance regimes, and stand dynamics, we critically assess the traditional classification of fire regimes in the wet coastal temperate rain forests, in part by differentiating between fire occurrence and mean return intervals. We provide four lines of evidence to reject the traditional view that stand-initiating fire at intervals of 250–350 years was the dominant disturbance regime in the wet coastal temperate rain forests of British Columbia. According to recent field research, historical fires were very infrequent in wet coastal temperate rain forests and were more likely low- and mixed-severity events, rather than stand-initiating fires. As an alternative to fire, we propose that fine-scale gap dynamics is the dominant process explaining the structure and dynamics of most unmanaged stands in the province? s wet coastal temperate rain forests. Improved understanding of the spatial and temporal attributes of disturbance regimes in coastal forests has important implications for sustainable forest management and conservation of biodiversity.
A dynamic modelling approach to evaluate GHG emissions from wastewater treatment plants

The widened scope for wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) to consider not only water quality and cost, but also greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change calls for new tools to evaluate operational strategies/treatment technologies. The IWA Benchmark Simulation Model no. 2 (BSM2) has been widely used within the scientific community for the unbiased comparison of control strategies in wastewater treatment facilities. In this paper, the default set of BSM models is extended with a set of comprehensive dynamic approaches that estimate the most significant on-site (secondary treatment, sludge processing) and off-site (net energy use, embedded chemicals, sludge disposal) sources of GHG emissions. The case study presented here calculates and discusses the changes in the effluent quality (EQI) and operational cost (OCI) indices and the formation of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) when modifying the percentage of total suspended solids (TSS) removal efficiency in the primary clarifier (PRIM). Simulations show that high PRIM efficiency decreases the quantity of TSS entering the activate sludge (AS) section leading to lower operational cost due to better energy recovery (and subsequent reduced GHG emissions) in the sludge line, but increases the overall N2O emissions due to the low C/N ratio as a trade-off. Overloading of the bioreactors as a result of poor PRIM performance: i) increases the biogenic CO2 emissions from BOD oxidation and biomass decay in the AS section; ii) increases off-site CO2 emissions due to higher energy demand during the nitrification stage; and, iii) reduces energy recovery from settled organics. The reported results emphasize the importance of a plant-wide approach and the need to consider the interactions between the different treatment units when evaluating the global warming potential (GWP) of a WWTP. Finally, the paper demonstrates the potential of using the proposed approach as a general model-based tool for determining the most sustainable WWTP operational strategies, which is essential in a water sector where climate change, energy and sustainability are key challenges to be tackled.
Hillslope Landforms on Venus: Preliminary Results from Magellan

Preliminary interpretation of Magellan radar images of the surface of Venus suggest that gradational processes are relatively weak, with estimates of eolian re-working rates for crater ejecta, for example, being < 10-1 p d y r (Arvidson et al., 1991). Reflectivity measurements suggest much of Venus is covered, at most, by a relatively thin veneer of unconsolidated material. Environmental geomorphic processes thus appear to be ineffective on Venus.