Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatial distributions of secondary minerals in the Martian meteorite MIL 03346,168 determined by Raman spectroscopic imaging

Miller Range (MIL) 03346 is a nakhlite meteorite that has been extensively studied due to its unique complex secondary mineral phases and their potential implications for the hydrologic history of Mars. We conducted a set of Raman spectroscopic and Raman imaging studies of MIL 03346,168, focusing on the secondary mineral phases and their spatial distributions, with a goal to better understand the possible processes by which they were generated on Mars. This study revealed three types of calcium sulfates, a solid solution of (K, Na)‐jarosite and two groups of hydrated species with low crystallinity (HSLC) in the veins and/or mesostasis areas of the meteorite. The most abundant Ca‐sulfate is bassanite that suggests two possible paths for its direct precipitation from a Ca‐S‐H2O brine, either having low water activity or with incomplete development (producing bassanite with gypsum microcrystals) on Mars. The second most abundant Ca‐sulfate is soluble γ‐CaSO4 which raises a new question on the origins of this phase in the Martian meteorite, since γ‐CaSO4 readily hydrates in the laboratory but is apparently stable in Atacama Desert. The close spatial relationship of (K, Na)‐jarosite solid solutions with rasvumite (KFe2S3), magnetite, HSLC, and fine‐grained low‐crystallinity alkali feldspar in mesostasis suggests a potential in situ formation of mesostasis jarosite from these Fe‐K,Na‐S‐O‐H2O species.
Mortalidade por Mesotelioma no Brasil, 1980 a 2010 Mortalidad por Mesotelioma en Brasil, 1980 a 2010

Introduction: Mesothelioma is a type of cancer whose incidence has been increasing worldwide, mainly as a result of asbestos exposure. Brazil is still a major producer and consumer of that fiber. Objective: The aim of this paper is to describe the distribution of mesothelioma mortality rate in Brazil during the period of 1980-2010. Method: an ecologic study was carried out with a descriptive analysis. The records used came from the n ational s ystem of information on Mortality of d atasus (sn acional de i nformacoes sobre Mortalidade do d atasus). Results: Found 3,718 deaths from mesothelioma; the majority of them (2,180) occurred in the southeast of the country. There was a balance in the mortality rate between men and women showing a ratio of 1.12:1, and 80.7% of deaths occurred among individuals within the age range of 50 years old and above. The standardized mortality rates by age increased from 0.64 deaths per million population in 1980 to 1.18 deaths per million population in 2002. Conclusion: Mortality statistics for mesothelioma in Brazil are low; they don’t match the intensity of production and use of asbestos in our country; and they don’t reflect the actual magnitude of the problem.
Geochemistry of selected crude oils from Sabah and Sarawak

A total of 35 crude oils from 15 fields from offshore Sabah and Sarawak have been analysed and characterised using liquid and gas chromatography, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The normal alkane distribution shows that the oils are of three different types, namely, i) normal, non-waxy crude oils; ii) waxy oils (high proportion of C20+ n-alkanes); iii) biodegraded oils (less abundance ofn-alkanes relative to isoprenoids). Biological marker distributions (i.e. steranes and triterpanes) show that the oils were derived from terrigenous source rocks containing mixtures of different types of landplant derived organic matter, including resins. Features of these distributions include the presence of relatively high concentrations of 18n (H)-oleanane, a number of resin-derived compounds, a predominance of C29 steranes compared to the relatively low concentrations of C28 and C27 steranes, and the absence of CSD steranes in all the samples. Source rock matter for these oils were probably deposited under peat swamp environments, as indicated by the high pristanelphytane (>3.0) and pristanelnC17 (>1.0) ratios. Biological marker distributions indicate that the oils were generated from source rocks having maturities of 0.5% to at least 0.8% VRe (Vitrinite Reflectance Equivalent).
Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, Nov 2000 v126 i4 p459

Violence and aggression in the workplace are problems that most Americans confront on a daily basis. The present study is an exploration of the predisposition to conflict in a work environment in which personality traits responsible for increased sarcasm and increased anger in response to sarcasm are identified. Participants represented two subdepartments within a city general hospital. The Keirsey Temperament Sorter (D. Keirsey, 1998) test for departmental temperament and a sarcasm survey designed by the author were used to test for frequency of sarcasm and anger in relation to differing categories of sarcasm. Angry reactions were gauged in relation to sarcasm directed at job performance, personal life, behavior, and appearance. Conclusions from this study point to many variables as causes for workplace anger; these include influences from organizational culture, work environment, psychological defense mechanisms, leadership decisions, stress, task orientation, and personality differences. Sarcasm trigger points leading to anger may be predicted based on a work group's personality composition. A homogeneous personality composition within a work group may involve factors such as personality characteristics common to a particular profession, organizational demands, and hiring practices.
Wide-angle seismic reflection studies of the Elberton granite and Carolina Terrane, southern Appalachians, northeast Georgia

The study uses wide-angle seismic reflections to investigate the tectonic relationship between the Elberton granite and Appalachian thrusting. The principal goal was to image the base of the granite. Field experiments were designed to take advantage of the increase in reflection coefficients near the critical angle to image relatively subtle contrasts in the acoustic impedance between the Elberton and underlying gneisses. Shotreceiver offsets were chosen to avoid interference with shear waves. A total of 9 timed, instantaneous dimension-stone quarry blasts were recorded at distances from 7.77 to 14.91 km. The receiver spacings were chosen tight, 50 m, to avoid spatial aliasing. Recording apertures for each blast were roughly 1 km, giving a total coverage of about 89 km. Shot gathers show strong first arrivals and high amplitude events arriving shortly after the direct P wave that are interpreted as post-critical reflections from a “layered” complex at migrated depths of 3 to 4 (possibly 2-4) km. These events are interpreted as reflections from layering near the base of the Elberton granite. Possible interpretations of the layering include migmatitic rocks with alternating layers of different densities (acidic and mafic), mafic cumulates, or a mylonitic shear zone at the base of the granite associated with late Alleghanian compression. Although the wide-angle recordings give an incomplete image of the subsurface and further recording is recommended, they are considered the first successful attempt to image the base of the Elberton granite. The migrated sections also show southeast-dipping features that span a depth of 5-10 km and which correlate with previously reported southeast-dipping features from COCORP work. The transition from horizontal to dipping reflections beneath the Elberton granite supports the hypothesis that the granite is a tabular body that does not extend deeper than
Catalysts for Fuel Cell Vehicles Development of Methanol-Reforming

Vehicles powered by proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells are approaching commercialisation. Being inherently clean and efficient sources of power, fuel cells constitute a sustainable alternative to internal combustion engines to meet future lowemission legislation. The PEM fuel cell may be fuelled directly by hydrogen, but other alternatives appear more attractive at present, due to problems related to the production, transportation and handling of hydrogen. Fuelling with an alcohol fuel, such as methanol, which is oxidised directly at the anode, offers certain advantages. However, the efficiency of the direct-methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is still significantly lower than that of the conventional hydrogen-fuelled PEM fuel cell, due to some technical problems remaining unsolved. Hence, indirect fuelling by a reformed liquid fuel may be the most feasible option in the early stages of the introduction of fuel cell vehicles. The work presented in this thesis concerns the development of catalysts for production of hydrogen from methanol by partial oxidation, steam reforming or a combination thereof. The work contributes to the understanding of how the preparation route affects catalyst morphology and how physicochemical properties determine catalytic behaviour and reaction pathways. The thesis is a summary of seven papers published in scientific periodicals. The first paper (Paper I) reviews the current status of catalytic hydrogen generation from methanol, focusing on the fuel cell application. Paper II investigates the partial oxidation of methanol over Cu/ZnO catalysts prepared in microemulsion and by a conventional coprecipitation technique. The activity for methanol conversion in the low-temperature regime is found to be significantly higher over the former materials and the work continues by determining the nature of possible Cu-ZnO interactions in the catalysts by studying their physicochemical properties more thoroughly (Paper III). In Paper IV, the pathways for methanol conversion via both partial oxidation and steam reforming are elucidated. In Paper V, partial oxidation of methanol is studied over Pd/ZnO catalysts prepared by microemulsion technique and again compared to conventional materials. This investigation demonstrates that although possessing high methanol conversion activity, palladium-based catalysts are not suitable for reforming in fuel cell applications due to the considerable amounts of carbon monoxide formed. In Paper VI, methanol reforming is investigated over a commercial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst. The mechanisms for carbon monoxide formation and strategies for its suppression are discussed, as well as reactor design aspects. The study also includes some simple kinetic modelling. Finally, Paper VII describes the optimisation of catalyst composition and process conditions to reach high hydrogen production efficiency at low operating temperatures and with minimum carbon monoxide formation.
Basic Principles,Key Techniques and Applications of Tomographic SAR Imaging

Tomographic SAR imaging is an information inversion technique that develops from SAR interferometry. This paper first introduces the basic principles of tomographic imaging,including the signal model and reconstruction methods. Thensome key issues and the corresponding solutions with respect to SAR tomography are provided. Finally,we present the primary applications and prospects of SAR tomography.
JIBS Book Review - Multinational Firms, Innovation and Productivity

It has long been argued that multinational enterprises (MNEs) outperform their rivals that are less internationalized (Morck and Yeung, 1991). More recently, performance measures on internalization, innovation, technology and productivity show this (Helpman et al. 2004). Based on such findings, governments around the world have come to support and entice such firms to invest in their countries in the expectation that domestic industries will benefit from the creation and dissemination of superior knowledge (Mudambi, 1998). However, much less is known about how and why firms differ across various performance indicators and the implications of such diversity on the economies in which they operate.
Coordinated Ocean Stewardship in the Arctic: Needs, Challenges and Possible Models for an Arctic Ocean Coordinating Agreement

Abstract This article proposes an Arctic Ocean Coordinating Agreement (AOCA) as a framework for more effective coordination and sharing of practices regarding national conservation and management policies in the marine Arctic. It envisions a nimble, versatile body that operates without creating new institutions and focuses instead on convening and coordinating existing individuals and institutions whose expertise can assist the Arctic states with questions that the Arctic states define. The AOCA could incorporate aspects of regional seas agreements (RSAs) into a less formal regional arrangement that would differ significantly from traditional RSAs. Identifying the Arctic Council as the right entity to launch AOCA discussions, the article proposes that an AOCA should draw on entities already engaged in work relevant to the emerging challenges in the Arctic Ocean: the Helsinki and OSPAR Commissions, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES), and other institutions that have successfully convened appropriate sets of actors for targeted responses to shared marine management concerns around the world.
A desert in disguise: The resilience of the Nebraska Sandhills

Aboveground net primary production (ANPP) is a key ecosystem characteristic, which integrates fluxes of matter and energy, and is useful metric to compare productivity across terrestrial ecosystems. In the Nebraska Sandhills, ANPP provides the economic basis for cattle ranching in the region and serves to stabilize the sandy soils from erosion. Historically, this region has undergone widespread dune activity several times in the last 10,000 years, so it is important to understand the buffering capacity of aboveground vegetation to erosion, as well as determining how grasslands respond to altered disturbance regimes. The purpose of this research was to determine how experimental vegetation disturbances (Press and Pulse), climate variability (intra and inter annual), and topographic position across the landscape contribute to the variation in aboveground live biomass (ANPP estimate) and the persistence of aboveground biomass. Aboveground biomass was sampled monthly during the growing season (April-October) from 2005-2014, by hand clipping 0.25 m quadrat frames at a designated dune ridge and swale location. Aboveground biomass was then sorted into forb, grass, shrub, and dead fractions, dried, and then weighed. I found the aboveground biomass in the Nebraska Sandhills to be resilient to drought, grazing, and experimental vegetation disturbances. Peak aboveground live biomass, weighted by landscape topography, averaged 160.1 g m
Paleoproterozoic Granite and Its Tectonic Significances in Southwestern Margin of North China Plate,Baojiashan Section in Longxian County

Proterozoic magmatic rocks are seldom reported in the southwestern margin of the North China craton,but the K-feldspar granite porphyry and altered diabase distributing along the Liupan fault belt in the Tiemahe section in Baojiashan of Longxian County in southwestern margin of the North China Craton are formed in Early Proterozoic. The K-feldspar granite porphyry is characterized by rich potassium( Na2 O / K2 O = 1. 66 ~ 3. 36),Calc-alkaline and metaluminous to weakly peraluminous( A / CNK = 0. 85 ~ 1. 18) series. It shows a LREE enrichment pattern,a obvious differentiation between LREE and HREE( LREE / HREE = 4. 08 ~ 12. 03) and significantly negative Eu anomalies( δEu = 0. 50 ~ 0. 53). The trace element geochemistry is characterized by enrichment of large ion lithophile elements K,Rb,Ba,Th and depletion of high strength field elements Nb,Ta,Ti,Hf; P and Sr depleted extremely. The K-feldspar granite porphyry has higher ratios of Rb / Sr and Ga / Al,and exhibits characteristics of A-type granitic rocks. Zircon U-Pb LA-ICP-MS ages of two samples of the granite porphyry are 1814 ± 12 Ma and 1781 ± 12 Ma respectively. According to regional geological data,the Southwestern Margin of North China Plate in Paleoprotozoic is under the strongly extensional setting and probably related to the Helan aulacogen's southwards.
Does Investment Skill Deteriorate With Age ?

This study focuses on the stock investment choices of older investors. Consistent with the theoretical predictions of life-cycle and learning models, we find that older investors hold less risky and better diversified stock portfolios, and their choices reflect greater knowledge about investing. However, consistent with the psychological evidence on cognitive aging, we also find that older investors have worse stock selection ability and poor diversification skill. The adverse effects of aging are stronger among older investors who are also relatively less educated, earn lower income, and belong to a minority ethnic group. The economic costs of aging are significant – older investors earn roughly 2% lower annual returns on a risk-adjusted basis. Collectively, our results indicate that while older investors’ portfolio choices reflect greater knowledge about investing, investment skill deteriorates with age due to declining cognitive abilities. THE OLDER POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES is growing at a dramatic pace and it is also becoming more diverse in terms of its racial and ethnic composition. Because of the dramatic growth in the proportion of older people, there has been heightened interest in understanding their post-retirement quality of life. Particularly, there have been concerns that older people might not be able to generate the annual income necessary to sustain the pre-retirement quality of life. As the U.S. population ages, it becomes particularly important to understand the portfolio choices of older individual investors because investment income is likely to be a significant proportion of their post-retirement income and hence an important determinant of their post-retirement quality of life. According to the 2004 Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics, in the year 2000, older people (people aged 65 and above) represented about 12% of the population and by the year 2030, their proportion is expected to increase to about 20%. While the proportion of older people is expected to rise across all racial and ethnic groups, the growth rates are significantly higher (about 60% for Hispanics and 20% for African Americans, compared to only 8% for Whites) among the minority groups. In the year 2000, the older population was predominantly (about 84%) White and African Americans and Hispanics represented only 8% and 6% of the population. In contrast, in the year 2030, the Whites, African Americans, and Hispanics are expected to represent 61%, 12%, and 18% of the U.S. population, respectively. Reynolds (2005) raises several thought provoking questions about the ability of older people to retire successfully. Our study has been partially inspired by the questions raised in that article, which is available online at http://www.nd. edu/∼ndbizmag/spring2005/Feature Old web.shtml.
The Emu Bay Shale Konservat-Lagerstätte: a view of Cambrian life from East Gondwana

Recent fossil discoveries from the lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale (EBS) on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, have provided critical insights into the tempo of the Cambrian explosion of animals, such as the origin and seemingly rapid evolution of arthropod compound eyes, as well as extending the geographical ranges of several groups to the East Gondwanan margin, supporting close faunal affinities with South China. The EBS also holds great potential for broadening knowledge on taphonomic pathways involved in the exceptional preservation of fossils in Cambrian Konservat-Lagerstätten. EBS fossils display a range of taphonomic modes for a variety of soft tissues, especially phosphatization and pyritization, in some cases recording a level of anatomical detail that is absent from most Cambrian Konservat-Lagerstätten.
Rheological modelling of complex fluids. I. The concept of effective volume fraction revisited

Number of complex fluids (as slurries, drilling muds, paints and coatings, many foods, cosmetics, biofluids.) can approximately be described as concentrated dispersions of Structural Units (SUs). Due to shear forces, SUs are assumed to be approximately spherical in shape and uniform in size under steady flow conditions, so that a complex fluid can be considered as a roughly monodisperse dispersion of roughly spherical SUs (with a shear-dependent mean radius), what allows to generalize hard sphere models of monodisperse suspensions to complex fluids. A rheological model of such dispersions of SUs is based on the concept of the effective volume fraction, $\rm \phi_{eff}$ which depends on flow conditions. Indeed, in competition with particle interactions, hydrodynamic forces can modify (i) S , the number fraction of particles that all SUs contain, (ii) both SUs arrangements and their internal structure, especially the SU's compactness, φ . As a structural variable, S is governed by a kinetic equation. Through the shear-dependent kinetic rates involved in the latter, the general solution S depends on Γ , a dimensionless shear variable, leading to $\rm \phi_{eff}$ ( t , Γ ; φ ). The structural modelling is achieved by introducing this expression of $\rm \phi_{eff}$ into a well-established viscosity model of hard sphere suspensions. Using the steady state solution of the kinetic equation, S eq ( Γ ), allows to model non-Newtonian behaviors of complex fluids under steady shear conditions, as pseudo-plastic, plastic, dilatant . ones. In this model, the ratio of high shear to low shear limiting viscosities appears as a key variable. Different examples of application will be discussed.
Estimating evapotranspiration with land data assimilation systems

Advancements in both land surface models (LSMs) and land surface data assimilation, especially over the last decade, have substantially advanced the ability of land data assimilation systems (LDASs) to estimate evapotranspiration (ET). This article provides a historical perspective on international LSM intercomparison efforts and the development of LDASs, both of which have improved LSM ET skill. In addition, an assessment of ET estimates for current LDASs is provided along with current research that demonstrates improvement in LSM ET estimates due to assimilating satellite‐based soil moisture products. Using the Ensemble Kalman Filter in the Land Information System, we assimilate both NASA and Land Parameter Retrieval Model soil moisture products into the Noah LSM Version 3.2 with the North American LDAS Phase 2 (NLDAS‐2), forcing to mimic the NLDAS‐2 configuration. Through comparisons with two global reference ET products, one based on interpolated flux tower data and one from a new satellite ET algorithm, over the NLDAS‐2 domain, we demonstrate improvement in ET estimates only when assimilating the LPRM soil moisture product. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Visualizing pairwise similarity via semidefinite programming

We introduce a novel learning algorithm for binary pairwise similarity measurements on a set of objects. The algorithm delivers an embedding of the objects into a vector representation space that strictly respects the known similarities, in the sense that objects known to be similar are always closer in the embedding than those known to be dissimilar. Subject to this constraint, our method selects the mapping in which the variance of the embedded points is maximized. This has the efiect of favoring embeddings with low efiective dimensionality. The related optimization problem can be cast as a convex Semideflnite Program (SDP). We also present a parametric version of the problem, which can be used for embedding out of sample points. The parametric version uses kernels to obtain nonlinear maps, and can also be solved using an SDP. We apply the two algorithms to an image embedding problem, where it efiectively captures the low dimensional structure corresponding to camera viewing parameters.