Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Trees on Summertime Below Canopy Urban Climates: A Case Study Bloomington, Indiana

The objective of this study is to quantify the effects of trees in a Midwest urban area on air temperature and humidity to determine if the effects are significantly different for: different species of trees, trees of the same species in different environments, and whether the effects can be explained by physical characteristics of the individual trees. Replicate trees in each of five categories were studied: sugar maple, pin oak and walnut individuals overgrass, sugar maple individuals along streets over concrete, and sugar maple clumps over grass. All the trees show a consistent effect: temperatures are reduced and humidities are elevated under the canopies. The greatest cooling effect (0.7 -1.3°C) occurs in the early afternoon. The difference between species is insignificant, but street trees are significantly less effective in reducing temperature than either individual trees or clumps planted over grass. The clumps had no greater effect than the individual trees. The amount of cooling observed in this study was considerably less than that documented in many previous studies. No consistent linear relationships were determined between physical characteristics of the trees, such as leaf area index, and temperature reductions or humidity increases.
Appendix C—Deformation Models for UCERF3

This document describes efforts to best characterize seismogenic deformation in and near California. The rate of hazardous earthquakes in California is expected to be proportional to deformation rates; in particular, the rates at which faults slip. Fault slip rates are determined from offsets of geologic and geomorphic features of measured age and by modeling geodetically determined surface displacement rates. Extensive use of geodesy in the form of Global Positioning System (GPS) observations is a new feature brought into the Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities (WGCEP) forecasts for the Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast, version 3 (UCERF3) model. Geodetic measurements are potentially more spatially comprehensive than geologic offset observations, which can be clustered. Applying either type of data is subject to considerable uncertainty. Geologic observations have dating and other measurement errors, and they often must be extrapolated long distances on fault sections. However, geodetic observations require a modeling step to translate them into estimates of fault slip rate, and they have poor resolution on closely spaced, locked faults. Details about fault slip rates from geologic offsets are presented in appendix B (this report). In this appendix we look at three deformation models that use geologic and geodetic constraints and compare/contrast them with the UCERF3 geological model and the UCERF2 deformation model. We present models, results, and evaluation for their use in the UCERF3 forecast. We identify here two classes of geodetic models for fault slip rate and residual “off-fault” seismogenic deformation: (1) elastic block models and (2) what we call faulted continuum models. Both fit the observed data reasonably well, and are viable representations of California deformation. Generally, the geodetic models give high weight to geologic information and change it only enough to also fit GPS and stress-direction observations. In so doing, they modify the geologic model to be more consistent with the overall relative plate-motion vectors across the Pacific-North American Plate boundary region in California. The faulted continuum models tend, like the geologic model, to have uniform slip along strike for most faults. One block model,
University of Birmingham If This, Then Habit

Implementation intentions, ‘if-then’ plans where ‘if’s are contextual cues and ‘then’s are specific goal-related behaviours, hold much promise as an effective behaviour change technique to support habit formation. Nevertheless, they have been underused in digital behaviour change interventions. To address this gap, we outline a novel design of an implementation intention intervention that exploits the context-aware functionality of smartphones to extend the scope of these goal constructs. The results of a probe study and qualitative data from an elicitation survey are presented, from which we derive a set of key design recommendations and pointers for future research.
SERPENTINE : A MODEL HABITAT FOR BOTANICAL RESEARCH IN SRI LANKA.

Serpentine (ultramafic) outcrops are found in most parts of the world and for many years have attracted the attention of soil scientists and plant biologists alike due to the unusual nature of both the substrate and the life forms they harbour. In this paper, we introduce serpentine outcrops as a model habitat for botanical studies and review preliminary findings of a recently conducted soil and floristic survey of four of the five known serpentine outcrops in Sri Lanka. We hope that this paper will stimulate much-needed studies, both exploratory and experimental, and point to the immediate need for conservation of this unique habitat.
Machine Learning Models for Predicting Influential Factors of Early Outcomes in Acute Ischemic Stroke: Registry-Based Study

Background: Timely and accurate outcome prediction plays a vital role in guiding clinical decisions on acute ischemic stroke. Early condition deterioration and severity after the acute stage are determinants for long-term outcomes. Therefore, predicting early outcomes is crucial in acute stroke management. However, interpreting the predictions and transforming them into clinically explainable concepts are as important as the predictions themselves. Objective: This work focused on machine learning model analysis in predicting the early outcomes of ischemic stroke and used model explanation skills in interpreting the results. Methods: Acute ischemic stroke patients registered on the Stroke Registry of the Chang Gung Healthcare System (SRICHS) in 2009 were enrolled for machine learning predictions of the two primary outcomes: modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at hospital discharge and in-hospital deterioration. We compared 4 machine learning models, physiological and laboratory surveillance aided in predicting in-hospital deterioration. The use of the SHAP explanatory method successfully transformed machine learning predictions into clinically meaningful results. 2022;10(3):e32508)
An Investigation into the Sources, Cycling and Attenuation of Nitrate in an Agricultural Lowland Catchment Using Stable Isotopes of Nitrogen and Oxygen in Nitrate

A catchment-scale approach has been used to investigate sources, cycling and attenuation of nitrogen contamination which results in decreasing nitrate concentrations in a river downstream. Analysis of δNNO3 and δONO3 from catchment water samples using the denitrifier method, with solute and isotope mass-balance modelling, was employed to characterise the dominant influences which result in high nitrate concentrations seen in the River Wensum, an agricultural lowland catchment with an area of 570 km in East Anglia, eastern England. Nitrate isotopic composition and concentration demonstrate the effects of microbial cycling on source nitrate and riverine nitrogen export. Microbially mediated denitrification is responsible for the trend of decreasing nitrate concentration observed in the river. Primarily occurring in the hyporheic sediments, but also in-stream, denitrification is estimated to remove 883 kg/day of nitrate-nitrogen by the catchment outlet, representing 42% of the potential riverine nitrate load. Estimated removal rates of 372 kg/day and 511 kg/day for the mid and lower Wensum river respectively represent 27% and 25% of the within-reach nitrate-nitrogen load. In the mid Wensum, mass-balance isotope modelling suggests that in-stream removal accounts for up to a quarter of the within-reach reduction in load, while in the lower Wensum a strong influence is seen from denitrification in groundwater-fed lakes adjacent to the river. The nitrate removal via hyporheic and instream denitrification provides a natural attenuation mechanism which has significance for environmental regulators, and is an important process for the mitigation of global fixed nitrogen enrichment. At the catchment scale, the solute and isotope mass-balance mixing modelling approach is recommended to characterise the dominant influences on riverine nitrate concentrations and quantify denitrification within the river valley.
Open Research Online Through-Thickness Residual Stress Proﬁles in Austenitic Stainless Steel Welds: A Combined Experimental and Prediction Study

Economic and safe management of nuclear plant components relies on accurate prediction of welding-induced residual stresses. In this study, the distribution of residual stress through the thickness of austenitic stainless steel welds has been measured using neutron diﬀraction and the contour method. The measured data are used to validate residual stress proﬁles predicted by an artiﬁcial neural network approach (ANN) as a function of welding heat input and geometry. Maximum tensile stresses with magnitude close to the yield strength of the material were observed near the weld cap in both axial and hoop direction of the welds. Signiﬁcant scatter of more than 200 MPa was found within the residual stress measurements at the weld center line and are associated with the geometry and welding conditions of individual weld passes. The ANN prediction is developed in an attempt to eﬀectively quantify this phenomenon of ‘innate scatter’ and to learn the non-linear patterns in the weld residual stress proﬁles. Furthermore, the eﬃcacy of the ANN method for deﬁning through-thickness residual stress proﬁles in welds for application in structural integrity assessments is evaluated.
Emerging World Cities in Pacific Asia

Part 1 Global-Asia-Pacific functional linkages: global restructuring and emerging corridors in Pacific Asia international transport and communications interactions between Pacific Asia's emerging world cities. Part 2 Changing Asia-Pacific world cities: the Japanese urban system and the growing centrality of Tokyo in the global economy Seoul - a global city in a nation of rapid growth globalization and the urban system in Taiwan globalization and the urban system in China global influences on recent urbanization trends in the Philippines the changing urban system in a fast-growing city and economy - the case of Bangkok and Thailand emerging urban trends and the globalizing economy in Malaysia Jabotabek and globalization. Part 3 Borderless cities: the Singapore-Johore-Riau triangle - an emerging extended metropolitan region the Hong-Kong-Zhujiang delta and the world city system the evolving urban system in North-East Asia.
Distribution of Electrical Stimulation Current in a Planar Multi Layer Anisotropic Tissue

 Abstract— This study analytically addresses the problem of neuromuscular electrical stimulation for a planar, multi-layer, anisotropic model of a physiological tissue (referred to as volume conductor). Both conductivity and permittivity of the volume conductor are considered, including dispersive properties. The analytical solution is obtained in the two dimensional Fourier transform domain, transforming in the planes parallel to the volume conductor surface. The model is efficient in terms of computational cost, as the solution is analytical (only numerical Fourier inversion is needed). It provides the current distribution in a physiological tissue induced by an electrical current delivered at the skin surface. Three representative examples of application of the model are considered. 1) The simulation of stimulation artefact during transcutaneous electrical stimulation and EMG detection. Only the effect of the volume conductor is considered, neglecting the other sources of artefact (such as the capacitive coupling between the stimulating and recording electrodes). 2) The simulation of the electrical current distribution within the muscle, and the low pass filter effect of the volume conductor on sinusoidal stimulation currents with different stimulation frequencies. 3) The estimation of the amplitude modulated current distribution within the muscle for interferential stimulation. The model is devoted to the simulation of neuromuscular stimulation, but the same method could be applied in other fields in which the estimation of the electrical current distribution in a medium induced by the injection of a current from the boundary of the medium is of interest.
University of Birmingham Novel-view synthesis of human tourist photos

We present a novel framework for performing novel-view synthesis on human tourist photos. Given a tourist photo from a known scene, we reconstruct the photo in 3D space through modeling the human and the background independently. We generate a deep buffer from a novel viewpoint of the reconstruction and utilize a deep network to translate the buffer into a photo-realistic rendering of the novel view. We additionally present a method to relight the renderings, allowing for relighting of both human and background to match either the provided input image or any other. The key contributions of our paper are: 1) a framework for performing novel view synthesis on human tourist photos, 2) an appearance transfer method for relighting of humans to match synthesized backgrounds, and 3) a method for estimating lighting properties from a single human photo. We demonstrate the proposed framework on photos from two different scenes of various tourists.
Comparison of tillage practices on soil health in the lower Colorado River basin region of the Sonoran Desert

There is interest in learning how agriculture impacts the greater desert riparian ecosystem. Focus on tillage practices revealed information as to how soil functions on rotation and mono-crop managed systems in comparison to undeveloped land. The purpose was to determine if tillage increased soil health. The secondary question looked at the effect non-tilled soil has on biological activity. Background research studies focused on measuring potential indicators of soil health or quality. Three adjacent fields in the Lower Colorado River Basin in Arizona were used to measure indicators of soil health. Each field differed by tillage and crop management system. Soil health testing methods for biological, chemical and physical indicators were conducted through laboratory analysis and fieldwork. Colony forming units and laboratory soil analysis indicated soil organic matter and soil bacteria were higher as tillage levels increased. Physical indicators of moisture, compaction, and texture showed soil composition of tilled soils was similar to, but not the same in to no-till. Biological indicators showed that except for bacteria colonies, biological activity was highest in reduced and no-till levels. This revealed that conventional tillage is a good habitat for soil bacteria but it potentially does not provide for a diverse number of organisms. The overall assessment showed that each tillage level offered benefits to the soil ecosystem.
Backtesting Value-at-Risk : A Duration-Based Approach 1

Financial risk model evaluation or backtesting is a key part of the internal model’s approach to market risk management as laid out by the Basle Commitee on Banking Supervision (1996). However, existing backtesting methods such as those developed in Christoffersen (1998), have relatively small power in realistic small sample settings. Methods suggested in Berkowitz (2001) fare better, but rely on information such as the shape of the left tail of the portfolio return distribution, which is often not available. By far the most common risk measure is Value-at-Risk (V aR), which is defined as a conditional quantile of the return distribution, and it says nothing about the shape of the tail to the left of the quantile. Our contribution is the exploration of a new tool for backtesting based on the duration of days between the violations of the V aR. The chief insight is that if the one-day-ahead V aR model is correctly specified for coverage rate, p, then, every day, the conditional expected duration until the next violation should be a constant 1/p days. We suggest various ways of testing this null hypothesis and we conduct a Monte Carlo analysis which compares the new tests to those currently available. Our results show that in realistic situations, the duration based tests have better power properties than the previously suggested tests. The size of the tests is easily controlled using the Monte Carlo technique of Dufour (2000).
Cellular automaton approach for the group size distribution of agents on a Newton-like potential field

An agent based model for the formation of groups has been proposed. Each of the agents occupies a cell on a square lattice of size LxL. Each cell is defined to have a Newton-like potential depending on the distribution of the agents in the system. Agents seek to move to a cell of lower potentials. Actual move happens when the potential difference is greater than the friction work. The group is defined in a natural sense and the size distribution is analyzed as the system evolves. The proposed model depends on two of the main parameters, the density of the population and the friction factor. Two modes of group formations are identified. The 'black-hole' phenomena happened for relatively small values of friction and larger values of population density. Also distributed groups showed the well known power-laws. The proposed model is expected to be used as a tool for studying the emergent properties of the group size distributions widely found in natural and human systems.
An optimized scheme for battlefield target tracking in wireless sensor network

Due to uncertainties in target motion and limited sensing regions of sensors, collaborative target tracking in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) suffers from low tracking accuracy and lack of reliability when a target cannot be detected by a scheduled sensor. Generally, actuating multiple sensors can achieve better tracking performance but with high energy consumption. Tracking accuracy, reliability, and energy consumed are affected by the continuous sensing and transmission and coding method. In this paper, an optimized energy-efficient multisensor scheduling scheme is proposed for collaborative target tracking in WSNs. Simulation results show that, compared with existing scheduling mechanism the proposed scheme can achieve superior energy efficiency and tracking reliability while satisfying the tracking accuracy requirement. It is also robust to the uncertainty of the process noise.
Magzati aneuploidiák szabadnukleinsav-alapú, nem invazív diagnosztikája

A magzati aneuploidiák kizárása a korszerű praenatalis diagnosztika egyik legfontosabb kihívása. Az elmúlt évtizedekben, köszönhetően az ultrahangos vizsgálóberendezések, valamint a molekuláris biológiai módszerek fejlődésének, a magzati kromoszóma-rendellenességek szűrése jelentős fejlődésen ment keresztül. Pozitív szűrővizsgálati eredmények esetében azonban a várandósoknak továbbra is szembe kell nézniük az invazív diagnosztika által jelentett vetélés kockázatával. Az invazív mintavételi módszerek vetéléskockázatát fi gyelembe véve érthető, hogy egyre nagyobb igény van olyan vizsgálómódszerek fejlesztésére, amelyek során úgy juthatunk magzati eredetű mintához, hogy a vetéléskockázatot kiküszöböljük, ugyanakkor a vizsgálómódszer érzékenysége és specifi citása megközelíti vagy eléri az invazív mintavétel során nyert minták vizsgálati eredményeinek megbízhatóságát. Az anyai vérben keringő, magzati eredetű szabad nukleinsavak vizsgálata reális esélyt jelent e cél elérésére, lehetőséget teremtve az invazív mintavételek számának ésszerű/megalapozott csökkentésére. Jelen közleményünkben röviden összefoglaljuk a magzati aneuploidiák nem invazív diagnosztikájának hátterét és lehetőségeit. Orv. Hetil. , 2012, 153, 1687–1691.
Mécanismes du collapse du chêne séché sous vide en vapeur d'eau surchauffée

Dans le cadre d'un projet europeen visant a secher le chene sous vide en vapeur d'eau surchauffee pour eviter ses discolorations, des essais de sechage ont ete realises sur pilote de laboratoire, a partir de l'etat vert, et l'etude presentee ici est une analyse parallele, menee a l'echelle microscopique, des fentes de sechage et/ou du collapse, localise dans les rayons ligneux ou generalise, qui a pu se produire pendant le traitement, pour aider a la determination d'une bonne table de sechage. Pour donner une interpretation mecanique correcte de ces phenomenes, il a ete necessaire de connaitre les niveaux de resistance mecanique en compression ou en tension du bois vert a differentes temperatures pour les comparer a la superposition des contraintes internes de sechage et de la tension capillaire. Cet article presente finalement un raisonnement micromecanique qui permet de rendre coherent, en utilisant des concepts usuels de la mecanique des sols, des ensembles d'observations (rupture, collapse) sur le pilote et de donnees rheologiques.
Simulation of NMR spectra at zero-and ultra-low field from A to Z – a tribute to Prof.

Simulating NMR experiments may appear mysterious and even daunting for those who are new to the field. Yet, broken down into pieces, the process may turn out to be easier than expected. Quite to the opposite, it is in fact a powerful and playful means to get insights into the spin dynamics of NMR experiments. In this Tutorial Paper, we show step by step 10 how some NMR experiments can be simulated, assuming as little prior knowledge from the reader as possible. We focus on the case of NMR at zero-and ultra-low field, an emerging modality of NMR in which the spin dynamics is dominated by spin-spin interactions rather than spin-field interactions, as is usually the case of conventional high-field NMR. We first show how to simulate spectra numerically. In a second step, we detail an approach to construct an eigenbasis for systems of spin-½ nuclei at zero-field. We then use it to interpret the numerical simulations. In this attempt to make NMR simulation 15 approachable, the authors wish to pay a tribute to Prof. Konstantin L’vovich Ivanov, a great scientist and pedagogue who passed away on March 5th 2021.
ZnS İnce Filmlerinin Termiyonik Vakum Ark (TVA) Tekniği İle Elde Edilmesi ve Optik ve Yüzey Özelliklerinin İncelenmesi

Özet – Çinko sülfür (ZnS) yarı iletken ince filmleri, mikroskop camı ve polietilen taraftalat (PET) alttaşlar üzerine eş zamanlı olarak Termiyonik Vakum Ark (TVA) tekniği ile depolanmıştır. Depolanan ZnS ince filmlerin optik ve yüzey özellikleri incelenmiştir. ZnS ince filmlerin kalınlıkları cam ve PET alttaşlar için sırası ile yaklaşık 510 ve 155 nm olarak ölçülmüştür. İki farklı alttaş üzerinde depolanan ZnS ince filmlerin kırılma indisi (n) ve yansıma (R) değerleri dalgaboyunun bir fonksiyonu olarak spektroskopik yöntemler ile belirlenmiştir. Cam ve PET alttaşlar üzerine depolanan ZnS ince filmlerinin direk bant geçişine sahip yasak enerji aralığı değerlerinin ise sırasıyla 3,44 ve 3.32 eV olarak hesaplanmıştır. ZnS ince filmlerinin yüzey özellikleri incelendiğinde ise filmlerin yüzeylerinde boşluk ve çatlakların olmadığı, pürüzsüz ve homojen bir yapıya sahip olduğu görülmüştür.