Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Technology Open Access

The identification, follow-up and notification of the changes experienced by the terrestrial cover may be made through field information, geographic statistics, models based on forest inventories, remote sensing techniques, flow measurements, soil sampling and ecological studies (IPCC, 2002). In Mexico, as in the world, the ecosystems are in permanent change due to natural causes and the pressure exercised upon them by human beings. Remote sensing and geographic information systems have been fundamental tools in monitoring these changes throughout the years. and consequences of processes linked to global warming. In this study, two different change detection techniques were applied in order to assess land cover changes in The failure of the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen in December 2009 to effectively reach a global agreement on emission reduction targets, led many within the developing world to view this as a reversal of the Kyoto Protocol and an attempt by the developed nations to shirk out of their responsibility for climate change. The issue of global warming has been at the top of the political agenda for a number of years and has become even more pressing with the rapid industrialization taking place in China and India. This book looks at the effects of climate change throughout different regions of the world and discusses to what extent cleantech and environmental initiatives such as the destruction of fluorinated greenhouse gases, biofuels, and the role of plant breeding and biotechnology. The book concludes with an insight into the socio-religious impact that global warming has, citing Christianity and Islam.
Lung Ultrasound in Prediction of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia in Neonates

Hyaline membrane disease (HMD) is one of the most common causes of respiratory distress in premature neonates. The most serious complications of prematurity and associated HMD with neonatal mechanical ventilation is bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) which characterized by chronic respiratory signs, persistent oxygen requirement, and an abnormal chest X-ray at 1 month of age postnatal or at 36 weeks corrected age. To determine the importance of lungs ultrasound (US) in prediction of BPD development in neonates with HMD and to detect the earliest neonatal age for BPD development diagnosis. A prospective descriptive study done on 85 preterm newborns with respiratory distress syndrome, admitted in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in El Galaa teaching hospital in Cairo, from November 2020 to March 2021. The study included: Preterm neonates (< 37 weeks gestation), having respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) whether mechanically ventilated or not with maternal history of antenatal corticosteroid administration. We excluded: Full term neonates, respiratory distress of causes other than respiratory distress syndrome, congenital anomalies, metabolic disorders or suspected inborn errors of metabolism and neurological causes leading to hyperventilation like seizures. The aim of first US examination is to determine RDS US pattern presence or absence. This was done initially on admission during the first 3 days of life. The subsequent examinations done twice weekly were for follow up. The US pattern correlated with the clinical and radiographic pattern of BPD at or after 28 days of life. Twenty (23.6%) preterm neonates developed BPD clinically and radiologically, they were 13(65%) males and 7(35%) females, with mean gestational age 32.3±2.2 weeks, whether they were mechanically ventilated or not. Nine (10.6%) preterm neonates died within the first three weeks of life, they were 5(55.5%) males and 4(44.5%) females with mean gestational age 31.6±2.1weeks. Ultrasound examination of the lung done in the period (9 th -13 th day postnatal) has a high predictive value for subsequent development of BPD. Lung US may be utilized in ventilated preterm neonates for early prediction of BPD in the period (9 th -13 th day postnatal) where persistence of the abnormal retro diaphragmatic hyper echogenicity by this time is a predictor for the future development of BPD .
Sustainable Agricultural Practices: Value Chain of Egusi, A Local Soup Condiment in Nigeria

Agriculture is one of the prevalent economic activities in Nigeria with different crops cultivated in diverse regions of the country. The justification for this study is based on Egusi being a food item used by almost 50% of Nigerian households and eateries on a recurring basis in the country, yet it is not known if sustainable agricultural practices are adopted in the value chain. Most farmers are not aware of the harmful effects of intensive agricultural practices and therefore, may be exposed to the use of unsustainable agricultural methods. This research intends to investigate the common agricultural practices adopted by Egusi farmers in Nigeria with a view to suggesting better sustainable methods. The study adopted the qualitative method of research. Questionnaires were administered to the players in the Egusi value chain in Nasarawa state of Nigeria. The research findings suggest that sustainable agricultural practice is alien to some stakeholders in the value chain. Other findings suggest the existence of trust between the suppliers of the input materials and the farmers. The findings of this research call for greater awareness and education of stakeholders in the value chain, particularly as it affects the use of chemicals in agricultural practice.
P2Prec: a Social-based P2P Recommendation System for Large-scale Data Sharing

We propose P2Prec, a P2P recommendation system for large-scale data sharing, which exploits friendship links. The main idea is to recommend high quality contents related to query topics and contents of friends (or friends of friends), who are expert on the topics related to the query. Expertise is implicitly deduced based on the contents stored by a user. To exploit friendship links, we rely on Friend-Of-A-Friend (FOAF) descriptions. To disseminate information about experts, we propose new semantic-based gossip algorithms that provide scalability, robustness, simplicity and load balancing. By using information retrieval techniques, we propose an efficient query routing algorithm that recommends the best peers to serve a query. In our experimental evaluation, using the TREC09 dataset and Wiki vote social network, we show that using semantic gossiping increases recall by a factor of 2.5 compared with well known random gossiping. Furthermore, P2Prec has the ability to get reasonable recall with acceptable query processing load and network traffic.
Aalborg Universitet Hierarchical Control Scheme for Voltage Unbalance Compensation in Islanded

The concept of microgrid hierarchical control is presented, recently. In this paper, a hierarchical scheme which includes primary and secondary control levels is proposed for islanded microgrids. The primary control level consists of DG local controllers. Local controller of each DG comprises active and reactive power controllers, virtual impedance loop and voltage and current controllers. The secondary level is designed to compensate the voltage unbalance at the load bus (LB) of the islanded microgrid. Also, restoration of LB voltage amplitude and microgrid frequency to the rated values is considered in the secondary level. These functions are achieved by proper control of distributed generators (DGs) interface converters. The presented simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed control structure in compensating the voltage unbalance and restoring the voltage amplitude and system frequency. Keywords-distributed generation; microgrid; hierarchical control; voltage unbalance compensation
The Last Interglaciation in Northeast Siberia

Abstract Alluvial, fluvial, and organic deposits of the last interglaciation are exposed along numerous river terraces in northeast Siberia. Although chronological control is often poor, the paleobotanical data suggest range extensions of up to 1000 km for the primary tree species. These data also indicate that boreal communities of the last interglaciation were similar to modern ones in composition, but their distributions were displaced significantly to the north-northwest. Inferences about climate of this period suggest that mean July temperatures were warmer by 4 to 8°C, and seasonal precipitation was slightly greater. Mean January temperatures may have been severely cooler than today (up to 12°C) along the Arctic coast, but similar or slightly warmer than present in other areas. The direction and magnitude of change in July temperatures agree with Atmospheric General Circulation Models, but the 126,000-year-B.P. model results also suggest trends opposite to the paleobotanical data, with simulated cooler winter temperatures and drier conditions than present during the climatic optimum.
Climatic and geomorphic factors affecting contemporary (1950–2004) activity of retrogressive thaw slumps on the Aklavik Plateau, Richardson Mountains, NWT, Canada

The climatic and geomorphic factors affecting retrogressive thaw slump initiation and activity on the Aklavik Plateau (Richardson Mountains, NWT) were examined using historical air photographs over a 54‐year period (1950 to 2004). In this region, thaw slumps include a near‐vertical headwall, a floor of low gradient (2–10°) and a steeply sloping evacuation channel (15–25°) that connects the floor of the thaw slumps to Willow River located 60–150 m below. All thaw slumps on the Aklavik Plateau are located within the glacial limit of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and the majority developed on the western side of the valley on gently sloping terrain. Aerial photographic analysis showed an increase in thaw slump initiation from 0.35 new thaw slump yr−1 over the 1954–71 period to 0.68 new thaw slump yr−1 over the 1985–2004 period. This increase follows the pattern of the 10‐year running mean summer air temperature record over the 1950–2004 period. However, the total number of active mature thaw slumps on the Aklavik Plateau decreased from a maximum of 46 in 1950 to a minimum of 24 observed in 2004, which follows, to a certain extent, the 10‐year running average of rainfall. Both these trends may relate to the influence of climate on the erosional processes that are thought to initiate thaw slumps and keep them active in regions of highlands. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada.
Plasma regimes in the deep geomagnetic tail: ISEE 3

Using a lunar gravitation-assisted orbit, the ISEE-3 spacecraft remained close to and within a previously unexplored part of the distant (60--220 R/sub E/) geomagnetic tail nearly continuously from 1 January to 30 March 1983. An initial analysis of data obtained with the Los Alamos plasma electron analyzer onboard ISEE-3 reveals that all of the plasma regimes identified previously with near-earth measurements (i.e., plasma sheet, low-latitude boundary layer, plasma mantle, lobe, and magnetosheath) remain recognizable entities in the distant tail as well. However, these regimes apper to be intermingled in a more chaotic fashion than near the earth. Typical flow velocities within the plasma sheet at approx.200 R/sub E/ in this preliminary analysis are approx.500 km s/sup -1/ tailward, considerably higher than is characteristic of the near-earth plasma sheet. Earthward flow within the plasma sheet has been observed occasionally, suggesting the temporary presence of a neutral line beyond 220 R/sub E/. Strong bi-directional electron anisotropies are found throughout much of the distant plasma sheet, boundary layer, and magnetosheath.
Patient experience data as enacted: Sociomaterial perspectives and ‘singular- multiples’ in health care quality improvement research

Over the last three decades, sociomaterial approaches to the study of health care practices have made an important contribution to the sociology of health care. Significant attention has been paid to the role of technology and artefacts in health care and the operation of actor- networks but less space has been given to questions of ontological multiplicity in health care practices. In this paper, we draw upon our study of patient experience data in five acute hospitals in England to illustrate how treating patient experience data as ‘singular- multiples’ can enable useful insights into patient experience data work in health care organisations. Our data was generated during 12 months of fieldwork
A new calibration approach of rotor axes for 3D measurement system

Rotating scan is a common 360-degrees measurement method in 3D measure system which based on line-structure light. In this system, the calibration for rotary axis of the rotary platform is an important section. It will be affecting the measurement results. In known methods, precision and expensive auxiliary instruments are required to ensure that the rotation axis is located in the plane of line-structure light. In this paper, a simple, flexible and real-time calibration method is proposed. Firstly, a plane calibration board with tessellated pattern is placed incline on the rotating stage. Secondly, recoded several pictures of the calibration board while the stage rotating several angles. Thirdly, the parameters of camera (include the intrinsic parameters and the extrinsic parameters, such as rotating matrixes and transform vectors between the local coordinates of these planes and the global coordinate of sensor) can be estimated from these pictures. Then, the global coordinates of these control points were calculated according to these parameters. Finally, the axis parameters of the working stage can be optimized with these control points because the global coordinates of same control point in different position are in circle. This method is proved by experiment, and the root-mean-square error is 0.04mm.
6-Hour to 1-Year Variance of Five Global Precipitation Sets

Abstract Three-hourly time series of precipitation from three high-resolution precipitation products [Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) algorithm 3B-42, the Climate Prediction Center’s morphing method (CMORPH), and the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information Using Artificial Neural Networks (PERSIANN)] and two reanalyses are examined for their frequency characteristics using broad and narrow variance categories. After isolating the diurnally forced peaks (at 24, 12, 8, and 6 h), the power spectra are divided into comprehensive broad bands comprising the annual (∼80 days–1 yr), intraseasonal (20 to ∼80 days), slow (6–20 days) and fast (36 h–6 days) synoptic, and high-frequency (6–36 h) periods. Global maps accounting for 100% of precipitation’s variance are analyzed to identify unique regional behaviors. Annual variability is strongest over regions affected by the seasonal migration of the intertropical convergence zone, as well as over monsoonal regions. The intraseasonal band d.
The cleft ion fountain

Low-energy (below approximately 50 eV) ionospheric ions, injected into the magnetosphere at the dayside cleft, are studied using data from the retarding ion mass spectrometer (RIMS) experiment on the Dynamics Explorer 1 satellite. It is concluded that upwelling ions at the cleft form an ion fountain and are blown into the polar cap by antisunward convection. At high Kp (>4), convection is generally strong enough to fill the entire polar magnetosphere with low-energy O+ ions, whereas at low kp (<2) they are largely restricted to the dayside half of the cap. Using a two-dimensional kinetic ion trajectory model, the locations where RIMS detected O+ within the cap are shown to be consistent with the spatial distributions of O+ density, predicted for an upwelling ion source at the cleft and various dawn-dusk convection electric fields. A detailed study is made of one polar pass of DE 1, during which RIMS detected He+, N+, O+, and O++ ions, the ion trajectory model being used to trace all these ions back to a common source at an observed upwelling ion event near the cleft. All observed species are deduced to be falling earthward in the nightside of the cap, as predicted from the model, indicating the dominance of gravity over upward field-aligned acceleration (such as by the ambipolar electric field). Comparison of field-aligned velocities observed for O+ and O++ ions defines a maximum limit to the upward electrostatic acceleration present within the cap which was only sufficient to eject ionospheric H+ ions, all heavier ions being supplied from the dayside by the cleft ion fountain.
The Stokes drift and wave induced-mass flux in the North Pacific

[1] Stokes drift and wave induced-mass flux in realistic wavefields and ocean currents in the North Pacific Ocean are studied using a third generation wave model with ambient geostrophic currents estimated from satellite altimetry data to directly estimate the Stokes drift for random directional waves. Comparison with in situ buoy data shows that the model performed well in representing the Stokes drift field and total wave momentum. In the North Pacific, the annual mean surface Stokes drift ranges from 2 to 10 cm/s and the mean Stokes e-folding depth is 1 to 2 m. The Stokes drift fields estimated using bulk wave parameters compare poorly against buoy data, and are shown to overestimate (underestimate) the Stokes e-folding depth (the surface Stokes drift) computed directly from wave spectra by as much as 5–20 times larger (2–10 times smaller). The spatial distributions of mean wave height and mass transport approximately follow the synoptic scale associated with atmospheric forcing, and the divergence of wave induced-mass flux is significantly modified by local fetch, the coast and ocean currents. Due to strong wave refraction along the Kuroshio extension, surface vertical velocity induced by Stokes divergence is comparable to the Ekman velocity, and may alter the meso-scale dynamics of the front.
Policies or Knowledge: Priors differ between perceptual and sensorimotor tasks

If the brain abstractly represents probability distributions as knowledge, then the modality of a decision, e.g. movement vs perception, should not matter. If on the other hand, learned representations are policies, they may be specific to the task where learning takes place. Here, we test this by asking if a learned spatial prior generalizes from a sensorimotor estimation task to a two-alternative-forced choice (2-Afc) perceptual comparison task. A model and simulation-based analysis revealed that while subjects learn the experimentally-imposed prior distribution in the sensorimotor estimation task, measured priors are consistently broader than expected in the 2-Afc task. That the prior does not fully generalize suggests that sensorimotor priors strongly resemble policies. In disagreement with standard Bayesian thought, the modality of the decision has a strong influence on the implied prior distributions.
Epidemiological Model for Conventional Tobacco Control Measures and Tobacco Endgame Policies

Epidemiological models, also known as host-agent-vector-environment models, are utilized in public health to gain insights into disease occurrence and to formulate intervention strategies. In this paper, we propose an epidemiological model that incorporates both conventional measures and tobacco endgame policies. Our model suggests that conventional measures focus on relationships among agent-vector-host-environment components, whereas endgame policies inherently aim to change or eliminate those components at a fundamental level. We also found that the vector (tobacco industry) and environment (physical and social surroundings) components were insufficiently researched or controlled by both conventional measures and tobacco endgame policies. The use of an epidemiological model for tobacco control and the tobacco endgame is recommended to identify areas that require greater effort and to develop effective intervention measures.
The ecological implications of sea-level rise and storms for sandy beaches in KwaZulu-Natal.

The aesthetic appeal of beaches has made coastal properties prime sites for development. However, this development has been mismanaged and is within the littoral active zone. Beaches retreat landwards as sea levels rise, but with current development trends, beaches are trapped in a coastal squeeze. Climate-change predictions include an increase in frequency and heightened intensity of storms, which can cause significant erosion. This study aimed to determine the ecological implications of sea-level rise and storms for beaches in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), using geographic information systems (GIS) and beach sampling methods. The beaches were mapped in terms of physical and biological attributes. Spatial trends in these attributes showed that the coastline can be split into three – the northern, central and southern regions. Although 25 % of the coastline is protected by marine reserves, these are located in the Delagoa bioregion: 28 macrofauna species in the Natal bioregion are not protected. Storm impacts for beaches can be heterogeneous, depending on local coastal features, e.g., nearshore reef and sand dunes, and represented a temporary disturbance to macrofauna communities. A GIS-based coastal recession model was derived from Bruun’s rule, and applied for different scenarios of sea-level rise and coastal development. Coastal squeeze is concern, particularly in the southern region. Further, the 10-m elevation contour was not completely effective as a setback line, even for a low sea-level rise scenario. The coastal recession model was validated using data from a real event in KZN, where sea level rose temporarily by ~1.0 m. The model performed well, although the calibration possibly did not span a wide enough range of beach morphodynamic types, and under-predicted retreat for dissipative beaches. It was concluded that the Natal bioregion needs marine reserves, and that higher resolution spatial data are required for accurate beach modeling and the south coast railway line should be relocated proactively. Guidelines for sandy beach systematic conservation planning were outlined, and seated in a conceptual framework of managing beaches for resilience. Application of the proposed recommendations and frameworks could aid in determining a way forward in integrated coastal zone management for KZN, in the face of the uncertainties associated with climate change.
Discrete element modeling of subglacial sediment deformation

The Discrete Element Method (DEM) is used in this study to explore the highly nonlinear dynamics of a granular bed when exposed to stress conditions comparable to those at the bed of warm‐based glaciers. Complementary to analog experiments, the numerical approach allows a detailed analysis of the material dynamics and the shear zone development during progressive shear strain. The geometry of the heterogeneous stress network is visible in the form of force‐carrying grain bridges and adjacent, volumetrically dominant, inactive zones. We demonstrate how the shear zone thickness and dilation depend on the level of normal (overburden) stress, and we show how high normal stress can mobilize material to great depths. The particle rotational axes tend to align with progressive shear strain, with rotations both along and reverse to the shear direction. The results from successive laboratory ring‐shear experiments on simple granular materials are compared to results from similar numerical experiments. The simulated DEM material and all tested laboratory materials deform by an elastoplastic rheology under the applied effective normal stress. These results demonstrate that the DEM is a viable alternative to continuum models for small‐scale analysis of sediment deformation. It can be used to simulate the macromechanical behavior of simple granular sediments, and it provides an opportunity to study how microstructures in subglacial sediments are formed during progressive shear strain.