Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the potential use of highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) as indicators for ozone formation sensitivity

Abstract. Ozone (O3), an important and ubiquitous trace gas, protects lives from harmful solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the stratosphere but is toxic to living organisms in the troposphere. Additionally, tropospheric O3 is a key oxidant and a source of other oxidants (e.g., OH and NO3 radicals) for various volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Recently, highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) were identified as a new compound group formed from the oxidation of many VOCs, making up a significant source of secondary organic aerosol (SOA). The pathways forming HOMs from VOCs involve autoxidation of peroxy radicals (RO2), formed ubiquitously in many VOC oxidation reactions. The main sink for RO2 is bimolecular reactions with other radicals, such as HO2, NO, or other RO2, and this largely determines the structure of the end products. Organic nitrates form solely from RO2 + NO reactions, while accretion products (“dimers”) form solely from RO2 + RO2 reactions. The RO2 + NO reaction also converts NO into NO2, making it a net source for O3 through NO2 photolysis. There is a highly nonlinear relationship between O3, NOx, and VOCs. Understanding the O3 formation sensitivity to changes in VOCs and NOx is crucial for making optimal mitigation policies to control O3 concentrations. However, determining the specific O3 formation regimes (either VOC-limited or NOx-limited) remains challenging in diverse environmental conditions. In this work we assessed whether HOM measurements can function as a real-time indicator for the O3 formation sensitivity based on the hypothesis that HOM compositions can describe the relative importance of NO as a terminator for RO2. Given the fast formation and short lifetimes of low-volatility HOMs (timescale of minutes), they describe the instantaneous chemical regime of the atmosphere. In this work, we conducted a series of monoterpene oxidation experiments in our chamber while varying the concentrations of NOx and VOCs under different NO2 photolysis rates. We also measured the relative concentrations of HOMs of different types (dimers, nitrate-containing monomers, and non-nitrate monomers) and used ratios between these to estimate the O3 formation sensitivity. We find that for this simple system, the O3 sensitivity could be described very well based on the HOM measurements. Future work will focus on determining to what extent this approach can be applied in more complex atmospheric environments. Ambient measurements of HOMs have become increasingly common during the last decade, and therefore we expect that there are already a large number of groups with available data for testing this approach.
The Heterogeneous Effects of Treated Water on Education: The Rural Drinking Water Program in China 1

Since little is known about the long-term effect of treated water, we examine the educational benefit to rural youth in China from a major drinking water treatment program started in the 1980’s. By employing a data set covering two decades and encompassing more than 4,700 individuals between 18 and 25 years old, we find that, on average, the program increased the completed grades of education by 1.1 years. Moreover, the effect was highly heterogeneous across gender and age of exposure. Girls benefited from water treatment more than boys such that the water treatment program completely eliminated the gender gap in education in treated villages. Young people that had access to treated water in early childhood experienced significantly higher gains in schooling attainment (i
Deformation along an apparent seismic barrier: a palaeoseismological study along the North Anatolian Fault

An overstep in the North Anatolian Fault, possibly acting as a seismic barrier, was investigated for its structural and palaeoseismological characteristics. Study interests were: i) to find overstep related spatial changes in deformation which would help assess the structure as a long term singularity in the fault; ii) to identify short term, event-triggered changes in structures where the major fault enters the overstep i.e., in an area where seismogenic slip is impeded or even arrested; iii) to investigate whether or not the surface overstep is related to a seismic barrier, and iv) to discuss structures that might possibly be characteristic of barriers. In order to achieve this: a) largescale faults were mapped in the area, b) fault-slip data were measured in 56 outcrops along and within the overstep, and c) trenches were dug at the eastern rim of the overstep where recent earthquake structures had been reported. Derived long term stretching directions and ratios change significantly over the fault step and structures of recent major earthquakes suggest different deformation mechanisms for different events at the same Location e.g. strike-slip, thrust and normal faulting.
Using Internal Standards in Time-resolved X-ray Micro-computed Tomography to Quantify Grain-scale Developments in Solid State Mineral Reactions

X-ray computed tomography has established itself as a crucial tool in the analysis of rock materials, providing the ability to visualise intricate 3D microstructures and capture quantitative information about internal phenomena such as structural damage, mineral reactions, and fluid-rock interactions. The efficacy of this tool, however, depends significantly on the precision of image segmentation, a process that has seen varied results across different methodologies, ranging from simple histogram thresholding to more complex machine learning and deep learning strategies. The irregularity in these segmentation 5 outcomes raises concerns about the reproducibility of the results, a challenge that we aim to address in this work. In our study, we employ the mass balance of a metamorphic reaction as an internal standard to verify segmentation accuracy and shed light on the advantages of deep learning approaches, particularly their capacity to efficiently process expansive datasets. Our methodology utilises deep learning to achieve accurate segmentation of time-resolved volumetric images of the gypsum dehydration reaction, a process that traditional segmentation techniques have struggled with due to poor contrast be-10 tween reactants and products. We utilise a 2D U-net architecture for segmentation and introduce machine learning-obtained labelled data (specifically, from random forest classification) as an innovative solution to the limitations of training data obtained from imaging. The deep learning algorithm we developed has demonstrated remarkable resilience, consistently segmenting volume phases across all experiments. Furthermore, our trained neural network exhibits impressively short run times on a standard workstation equipped with a Graphic Processing Unit (GPU). To evaluate the precision of our workflow, we compared
The Coexistence of Multiple Distribution Systems for Financial Services : The Case of Property-Liability Insurance 1 Draft : March 31 , 1995

Property-liability insurance is distributed by independent agents, who represent several insurers, and exclusive agents, who represent only one insurer. The independent agency system is known to have higher costs than the exclusive agency system. The market imperfections hypothesis attributes the coexistence of the two systems to impediments to competition, while the product quality hypothesis holds that independent agents provide higher quality services. We measure both profit efficiency and cost efficiency for a sample of property-liability insurers and find strong support for the product quality hypothesis. The data are consistent with a higher quality of output for independent agency insurers that is rewarded with additional revenues. The Coexistence of Multiple Distribution Systems for Financial Services: The Case of Property-Liability Insurance
The Relationship Between Counseling and Communication Skills of Pediatric Nurses and Their Self-Efficacy

: Aim: This study was carried out to determine the relationship between counseling and communication skills of the pediatric nurses working in the northern region of Turkey and their professional self-efficacy. Method: This was a descriptive and cross-sectional study. 178 Nurses with working in the field of pediatrics who approved of participating in this research constituted the sample of the study. Data were collected by using Personal Information Form, Counseling Skills in Nurses Scale, Communication Skills Inventory and The Nursing Profession Self-Efficacy Scale. Results: Mean score of the nurses from counseling skills scale was found to be 40.60±7.43 and mean total score from communication skills was 155.39±13.05, mean total score of the Nursing Profession Self-Efficacy scale was 67.31±7.89. It was determined that there was a positive and moderate relationship between the total scores of counseling and communication skills and the subscale scores (cognitive, emotional and behavioral). In addition, a positive and moderate relationship was found between the total self-efficacy and subscale scores (the quality of care and the tasks to provide professionalism subscales). Conclusion and Suggestions: Based on the result of this study, it was determined that individuals with a good counseling and communication skills had higher professional self-efficacy.
A contribution to the synoptic climatology of the extratropics

A relationship is established between relative geostrophic vorticity on an isobaric surface and the Laplacian of the underlying layer-mean temperature. This relationship is used to investigate the distribution of vorticity and baroclinicity in a jet-stream model which is constantly recurrent in the winter troposhere. The investigation shows that the baroclinic and vorticity fields of the extratropical troposphere must be bifurcated with two extrema in the middle and subpolar latitudes. This pattern is present in daily tropospheric meridional cross-sections. The reasons for the disappearance of bifurcation in the time-and-longitude averaged distributions are discussed. The implications of the geographical distribution for the maintenance of the observed kinetic energy and baroclinicity distributions in the extratropical troposphere in winter are discussed. It is shown that the subtropical and subpolar ridges are nearly antiparallely distributed as is required by the observed distribution of temporal r.m.s. vorticity at the jet-stream level.
Autonomous determination of orbit for probe around asteroids using unscented Kalman filter

The observed images of the asteroid and the asteroid reference images are used to obtain the probe-to-asteroid direction and the location of the limb features of the asteroid in the inertial coordinate. These informa-tion in combination with the shape model of the asteroid and attitude information of the probe are utilized to ob-tain the position of the probe. The position information is then input to the UKF which determines the real-timeorbit of the probe. Finally, the autonomous orbit determination algorithm is validated using digital simulation.The determination of orbit using UKF is compared with that using extended Kalman filter (EKF), and the resultshows that UKF is superior to EKF.
Nonlinear Dynamic System Identification Using Chebyshev Functional Link Artificial Neural Networks

A computationally efficient artificial neural network (ANN) for the purpose of dynamic nonlinear system identification is proposed. The major drawback of feedforward neural networks such as a multilayer perceptron (MLP) trained with backpropagation (BP) algorithm is that it requires a large amount of computation for learning. We propose a single-layer functional link ANN (FLANN) in which the need of hidden layer is eliminated by expanding the input pattern by Chebyshev polynomials. The novelty of this network is that it requires much less computation than that of a MLP. We have shown its effectiveness in the problem of nonlinear dynamic system identification. In presence of additive Gaussian noise to the plant, the performance of the proposed network is found similar or superior to that of a MLP. Performance comparison in terms of computational complexity has also been carried out.
Application of Coastal Engineering in Coastal Zone Management

Traditional hard structures are often effective in dealing with the effects of nature on the shoreline. Groins, revetments, breakwaters and other structures have been constructed for the purposes of shoreline control and they are effective in many applications. There are situations or locations in the coastal zone where these traditional solutions are not feasible for economic, political or other reasons. In this case, prudent coastal zone management may employ alternative “soft engineering solutions” effectively. Soft engineering uses sand, vegetation, cobbles, and small structures to reduce the magnitude of erosion forces or to relocate coastal forces away from the coastline. This is in contrast to structural solutions where the objective is to abate the forces of erosion and scour in place. Examples of soft engineering include beach nourishment, sand scrapping, relocation of natural inlets, groundwater control, regional sediment management and sand berms. Successful examples of each type of soft engineering are provided in the chapter.
Good-case Early-Stopping Latency of Synchronous Byzantine Reliable Broadcast: The Deterministic Case (Extended Version)

This paper considers the good-case latency of Byzantine Reliable Broadcast (BRB), i.e., the time taken by correct processes to deliver a message when the initial sender is correct. This time plays a crucial role in the performance of practical distributed systems. Although significant strides have been made in recent years on this question, progress has mainly focused on either asynchronous or randomized algorithms. By contrast, the good-case latency of deterministic synchronous BRB under a majority of Byzantine faults has been little studied. In particular, it was not known whether a goodcase latency below the worst-case bound of t + 1 rounds could be obtained. This work answers this open question positively and proposes a deterministic synchronous Byzantine reliable broadcast that achieves a good-case latency of max(2, t + 3 -- c) rounds, where t is the upper bound on the number of Byzantine processes and c the number of effectively correct processes.
The WebStand Project

In this paper we present the state of advancement of the French ANR WebStand project. The objective of this project is to construct a customizable XML based warehouse platform to acquire, transform, analyze, store, query and export data from the web, in particular mailing lists, with the final intension of using this data to perform sociological studies focused on social groups of World Wide Web, with a specific emphasis on the temporal aspects of this data. We are currently using this system to analyze the standardization process of the W3C, through its social network of standard setters.
CTAS: Computer intelligence for air traffic control in the terminal area

A system for the automated management and control of arrival traffic, referred to as the Center-TRACON Automation System (CTAS), has been designed by the ATC research group at NASA Ames research center. In a cooperative program, NASA and the FAA have efforts underway to install and evaluate the system at the Denver and Dallas/Ft. Worth airports. CTAS consists of three types of integrated tools that provide computer-generated intelligence for both Center and TRACON controllers to guide them in managing and controlling arrival traffic efficiently. One tool, the Traffic Management Advisor (TMA), establishes optimized landing sequences and landing times for aircraft arriving in the center airspace several hundred miles from the airport. In TRACON, TMA frequencies missed approach aircraft and unanticipated arrivals. Another tool, the Descent Advisor (DA), generates clearances for the center controllers handling at crossing times provided by TMA. In the TRACON, the final approach spacing tool (FAST) provides heading and speed clearances that produce and accurately spaced flow of aircraft on the final approach course. A data base consisting of aircraft performance models, airline preferred operational procedures and real time wind measurements contribute to the effective operation of CTAS. Extensive simulator evaluations of CTAS have demonstrated controller acceptance, delay reductions, and fuel savings.
Opposite spectral properties of Rossby waves during weak and strong stratospheric polar vortex events

In this study we provide a systematic characterization of Rossby wave activity during the 25 sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) and 31 strong polar vortex (SPV) events that occurred in the period 1979-2021, identifying the specific tropospheric and stratospheric waves displaying anomalous behaviour during such events. Space-time spectral analysis is applied to ERA5 data for this purpose, so that both the wavenumber and the zonal phase speed of the waves can be assessed. We find that SSW events are associated with a reduction in the phase speed of Rossby waves, first in the stratosphere and 5 then in the troposphere; SPV events are tied to a concomitant increase of phase speed across vertical levels. Phase speed anomalies become significant around the event and persist for 2-3 weeks afterwards. Changes of Rossby wave properties in the stratosphere during SSW and SPV events are dominated by changes in the background flow, with a systematic reduction or increase, respectively, in eastward propagation of the waves across most wavenumbers. In the troposphere, on the other hand, the effect of the background flow is also complemented by changes in wave properties, with a shift towards higher 10 wavenumbers during SSW events and towards lower wavenumbers for SPV events. The opposite response between SSW and SPV events is also visible in the meridional heat and momentum flux co-spectra, which highlight from a novel perspective the connection between stratospheric Rossby waves and upward propagation of waves.
TITLE: A CHOLESTATIC PATTERN PREDICTS MAJOR LIVER-RELATED OUTCOMES IN PATIENTS WITH NONALCOHOLIC FATTY LIVER DISEASE

BACKGROUND&AIMS: NAFLD patients usually have increase in AST/ALT levels but cholestasis can also be observed. We aimed to assess in subjects with NAFLD the impact of the (cholestatic)C pattern on the likelihood of developing of major liver-related outcomes(MALO). METHODS: 582 consecutive patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD or a clinical diagnosis of NAFLD-related compensated cirrhosis were classified as hepatocellular(H), C and mixed(M) patterns, by using the formula (ALT/ALT Upper Limit of Normal-ULN)/(ALP/ALP ULN). MALO were recorded during follow-up. An external cohort of 1281 biopsy-proven NAFLD patients was enrolled as validation set. RESULTS: H, M and C patterns were found in 153(26.3%), 272(46.7%) and 157(27%) patients, respectively. During a median follow-up of 78 months, only 1(0.6%) patient with H pattern experienced MALO, while 15(5.5%) and 38(24.2%) patients in M and C group had MALO. At multivariate Cox regression analysis, age>55 years(HR2.55,95%C.I.1.17-5.54;p=0.01), platelets<150,000/mmc(HR0.14,95%C.I.0.06-0.32;p<0.001), albumin<4g/L(HR0.62,95%C.I.0.35-1.08;p=0.09), C vs M pattern(HR7.86,95%C.I.1.03-60.1;p=0.04), C vs H pattern(HR12.1,95% C.I.1.61-90.9;p=0.01) and fibrosis F3-F4(HR35.8,95%C.I.4.65-275.2;p<0.001) were independent risk factors for MALO occurrence. C vs M pattern(HR14.3,95%C.I. 1.90-105.
Optimizing the management of soil erosion using GIS

The dynamic nature of erosion and associated processes and their dependence on climatic, pedological, land cover, land use, and management factors result in spatial and temporal variability. Computing and mapping this variability will produce information which is essential for designing dams, reservoirs, channels, soil conservation management plans, and the evaluation of on-site and off-site damages by soil erosion, land use projects, and transport of pollutants. This thesis presents the Modified Universal Soil Loss Equation (MUSLE) as a promising tool for the spatial modeling of soil erosion by water integrated with the SPatial ANalysis System (SPANS)-GIS. The information that resulted from this integration was used for land-use optimization to minimize sediment yield and maximize watershed farm income by a multi-objective linear programming model. These models were applied to Syahrood, one of the sub-basins of Damavand watershed in Iran, where soil erosion by water is one of the major land-related problems. Runoff erosivity, soil erodibility, slope length, slope steepness, cover management, and erosion control practice factors were computed and included in the digitized and computed Thiessen polygon, land component, slope and land-use maps of the watershed. The sediment yield of each land use was computed by overlaying these maps with the appropriate models in the SPANS-GIS. The optimization process allocated dryland-farming areas to rangelands if no changes are made to the current supporting practice system. The expected annual sediment yield from the entire sub-basin was reduced by 2420 t/y (or by 5%) and the annual net farm income was increased by 3.99 billion Iranian Rial/y (or by 134%). Results demonstrated that interfacing MUSLE with a GIS is an effective method for the prediction of soil erosion in large watersheds with limited data sets. Overlay operations enable the land manager to obtain higher quality results in a shorter period of time compared to manual calculations. A GIS simplifies the extracting of necessary factors from the databases. However the SPANS-GIS 6.0 was weak in preparing a slope map from the digital elevation database for such mountainous areas. The results indicate that application of land-use optimization methods to reduce sediment yields has great potential in the study area and in other watersheds. The methodology developed in this study can provide a useful tool for watershed managers to reduce sediment yield (soil conservation) while increasing the income of the local inhabitants.
Teaching Reform for the Optimized Design Theory and Method Course Based on the OBE Concept and Power Index Method

The essential requirement of the OBE concept is to focus on the overall developmentofstudentsandtheneedsoftheirjobs.Therefore,thispaperproposed abriefanalysisoftheteachingreformfortheoptimizeddesigntheoryandmethod coursebasedontheOutcomes-BasedEducationconcept and powerindexmethod. Firstly, we analyzed the problems in the teaching of this course. Secondly, the power index method is proposed to evaluate the optimization design theory and method course. Finally, the teaching reform of the optimized design theory and method course is presented based on the above evaluation method. The above results can provide reference value for teaching reform of other courses.
THE GLORIES OF IMMIGRATION: HOW FOOTBALL WINS SHAPE OPINION ON IMMIGRATION *

: While there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence on the impact of football wins on attitudes toward immigrants and immigration, there is relatively little hard empirical evidence. We expect that football stimulates more positive attitudes towards immigrants when it highlights benefits rather than costs of immigration. We rely on individual-level data from the eight rounds of the European Social Survey (2002-2016) in Spain and aggregated data from the Spanish football league, La Liga , to test the hypothesis that the more expatriate players in the squid of the club winning the corresponding edition of the Spanish La Liga , the more favorable the views toward immigrants in the club’s region in that year. The main finding is that, irrespective of how the attitudes toward immigrants and immigration are measured, respondents have more positive views the more foreign players the winning club has.