Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An objective analysis of the dynamic nature of field capacity

Field capacity is one of the most commonly used, and yet poorly defined, soil hydraulic properties. Traditionally, field capacity has been defined as the amount of soil moisture after excess water has drained away and the rate of downward movement has materially decreased. Unfortunately, this qualitative definition does not lend itself to an unambiguous quantitative approach for estimation. Because of the vagueness in defining what constitutes “drainage of excess water” from a soil, the estimation of field capacity has often been based upon empirical guidelines. These empirical guidelines are either time, pressure, or flux based. In this paper, we developed a numerical approach to estimate field capacity using a flux‐based definition. The resulting approach was implemented on the soil parameter data set used by Schaap et al. (2001), and the estimated field capacity was compared to traditional definitions of field capacity. The developed modeling approach was implemented using the HYDRUS‐1D software with the capability of simultaneously estimating field capacity for multiple soils with soil hydraulic parameter data. The Richards equation was used in conjunction with the van Genuchten‐Mualem model to simulate variably saturated flow in a soil. Using the modeling approach to estimate field capacity also resulted in additional information such as (1) the pressure head, at which field capacity is attained, and (2) the drainage time needed to reach field capacity from saturated conditions under nonevaporative conditions. We analyzed the applicability of the modeling‐based approach to estimate field capacity on real‐world soils data. We also used the developed method to create contour diagrams showing the variation of field capacity with texture. It was found that using benchmark pressure heads to estimate field capacity from the retention curve leads to inaccurate results. Finally, a simple analytical equation was developed to predict field capacity from soil hydraulic parameter information. The analytical equation was found to be effective in its ability to predict field capacities.
New Important Iguanodontid and Theropod Trackways of the Tracksite Obernkirchen in the Berriasian of NW Germany and Megatracksite Concept of Central Europe

This article examines the high-resolution track horizon stratigraphy at the outcrop Obernkirchen. Massive sandstones, products of marine sand bar and fluviatile environments are present at the tracksite. Recently two track beds were examined in the outcrop. One new track slab of the lower track bed is described exposing well-preserved quadrupedal iguanodontid tracktypes of Iguanodontipus Sarjeant, Delair, and Lockley, 1998, and bipedal theropod tracks Megalosauropus Kaever and Lapparent, 1974. The ichnogenus Iguanodontipus is discussed and the diagnosis extended. The tracksite Obernkirchen belongs to a megatracksite of the ancient coastline of the marginal marine Hercynic Basin of the Lower Cretaceous of Europe, including the four well-known sites Obernkirchen, Bad Rehburg, Munchehagen, and Buckeburg of Northwest Germany. Three different tracktypes of huge sauropods, theropods, and ornithopods are abundant at basal Lower Cretaceous siliciclastic coastlines in different regions in Spain, Portugal, England,.
Hysteresis in soil water characteristics as a key to interpreting comparisons of laboratory and field measured hydraulic properties

This study is mainly aimed at assessing the adequacy of laboratory‐based soil hydraulic characterization carried out on undisturbed cores for reproducing the in situ soil hydraulic behavior. Assuming that the laboratory sample size is a representative elementary volume (REV) for a single horizon of the soil profiles examined, the analysis of the hysteretic features of the soil water retention function is used to explain the differences observed in the constitutive soil water relationships as obtained from either laboratory or in situ experiments. Because the wetting procedures differ in laboratory and in field experiments, it is argued that the difference in the obtained hydraulic characteristics is the result of different hysteretic paths. From the comparison of measured hydraulic conductivities we deduce that field and laboratory retention curves are a part of the same hysteresis loop. In such a context the field hydraulic functions can be derived from the laboratory functions using the maximum water content (i.e., at zero pressure head) and air entry value measured in the field. It is shown that the field parameters identified from the measurements in the early phases of the field test are sufficient to reliably describe field hydrological behavior.
[Cessation of cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea by bromocriptine treatment of a patient with invasive prolactinoma].

As an unusual complication of bromocriptine treatment for prolactinoma, CSF rhinorrhea has been reported in the relevant literature. The authors, on the contrary, experienced cessation of CSF rhinorrhea during bromocriptine treatment. A 37-year-old man with invasive prolactinoma underwent a frontal craniotomy for removal of pituitary adenoma on February 2, 1978. Postoperative CT showed residual adenoma within the sella and the sphenoid sinus. Postoperative irradiation was started on February 27 and given in a total dose of 5,000 rad. On March 30, 1979, the patient noticed clear fluid dropping out of his nostrils, the fluid contained glucose and CSF rhinorrhea was suspected. The CSF rhinorrhea was considered due to the regrowth of adenoma in the paranasal sinuses. On June 27, 1979, the patient developed headache together with fever and CSF rhinorrhea. On examination, the patient was drowsy and showed marked nucheal rigidity. Under the diagnosis of meningitis caused by CSF rhinorrhea antiseptic chemotherapy was started. Hypocycloidal tomogram showed extensive destruction of the sella and a soft density mass in the sphenoid and the ethmoid sinuses. CT also showed intrasphenoidal and lateral extension of the adenoma. To repair of the CSF leak, transsphenoidal surgery was performed on August 2, 1979 when the patient was in favorable condition. The sphenoid sinus was full of adenoma and it was removed, however, the exact location of the CSF leak could not be identified. The sphenoid sinus was packed with muscle tissue. Bromocriptine treatment was postoperatively started with 5 mg per day on August 25, 1979. The patient sustained CSF rhinorrhea which was decreased by lumbar drainage. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Stable isotopes in the basal silty ice preserved in the Greenland Ice Sheet at summit; environmental implications

Modelling ice sheet behaviour in the context of climatic changes depends on initial and boundary conditions which can be better defined by studying the composition of basal ice. This study deals with basal ice reached by deep drilling at Summit in Central Greenland (GRIP core). The isotopic composition of this ice indicates that ice formed at the ground surface in the absence of the ice sheet largely contributed to its formation. The basal silty ice is a remnant of a growing stage of the ice sheet, possibly the original build up.
Sexually dimorphic human body fat distribution and second-to-fourth digit ratio

Since second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D:4D) measures might afford a window into the prenatal environment in terms of testosterone exposure, many researchers are focused to find out the relations between sexually dimorphic characteristics and 2D:4D. Aim of this study is to find out whether there is a relation between sexually dimorphic subcutaneous fat distribution and 2D:4D. Height, weight and skinfold thickness (SFT) were measured in 120 male and 120 female university students. Trunk SFT (sum of subscapular and supraspinale) and limb SFT (sum of triceps, biceps and calf) was used as the absolute amount of the trunk and limb fat, respectively. Limb / trunk fat ratio were used as the indices for the relative distribution of fat mass in the trunk and limbs. The length of index and ring fingers of the participants was measured to the nearest 0.01 mm using Vernier caliper, directly on fingers. As a result correspondingly to the feminine 2D:4D in both hands of men and in the right hand for women; body fat distribution gets feminine. There was no relationship between total fatness and 2D:4D for either sex. These findings could mean that sexually dimorphic body fat distribution is closely related not only to postnatal but also to prenatal steroid levels.
Recombination, decreased host specificity and increased mobility may have driven the emergence of maize streak virus as an agricultural pathogen

Maize streak virus (MSV; family Geminiviridae, genus Mastrevirus), the causal agent of maize streak disease, ranks amongst the most serious biological threats to food security in subSaharan Africa. Although five distinct MSV strains have been currently described, only one of these – MSV-A – causes severe disease in maize. Due primarily to their not being an obvious threat to agriculture, very little is known about the ‘grass-adapted’ MSV strains, MSV-B, -C, -D and -E. Since comparing the genetic diversities, geographical distributions and natural host ranges of MSV-A with the other MSV strains could provide valuable information on the epidemiology, evolution and emergence of MSV-A, we carried out a phylogeographical analysis of MSVs found in uncultivated indigenous African grasses. Amongst the 83 new MSV genomes presented here, we report the discovery of six new MSV strains (MSV-F to -K). The non-random recombination breakpoint distributions detectable with these and other available mastrevirus sequences partially mirror those seen in begomoviruses, implying that the forces shaping these breakpoint patterns have been largely conserved since the earliest geminivirus ancestors. We present evidence that the ancestor of all MSV-A variants was the recombinant progeny of ancestral MSV-B and MSV-G/-F variants. While it remains unknown whether recombination influenced the emergence of MSV-A in maize, our discovery that MSV-A variants may both move between and become established in different regions of Africa with greater ease, and infect more grass species than other MSV strains, goes some way towards explaining why MSV-A is such a successful maize pathogen.
Cortical thickness across the lifespan: Data from 17,075 healthy individuals aged 3–90 years

Abstract Delineating the association of age and cortical thickness in healthy individuals is critical given the association of cortical thickness with cognition and behavior. Previous research has shown that robust estimates of the association between age and brain morphometry require large‐scale studies. In response, we used cross‐sectional data from 17,075 individuals aged 3–90 years from the Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics through Meta‐Analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium to infer age‐related changes in cortical thickness. We used fractional polynomial (FP) regression to quantify the association between age and cortical thickness, and we computed normalized growth centiles using the parametric Lambda, Mu, and Sigma method. Interindividual variability was estimated using meta‐analysis and one‐way analysis of variance. For most regions, their highest cortical thickness value was observed in childhood. Age and cortical thickness showed a negative association; the slope was steeper up to the third decade of life and more gradual thereafter; notable exceptions to this general pattern were entorhinal, temporopolar, and anterior cingulate cortices. Interindividual variability was largest in temporal and frontal regions across the lifespan. Age and its FP combinations explained up to 59% variance in cortical thickness. These results may form the basis of further investigation on normative deviation in cortical thickness and its significance for behavioral and cognitive outcomes.
Influence of glyphosate, other herbicides and genetically modified herbicide-resistant crops on soil microbiota: a review

The use of herbicides and genetically modified crops that are herbicide tolerant (HT) is said to adversely affect soil microbial biodiversity, thus negatively influencing the soil ecosystem. Concern has also been raised regarding the potential increase in crop disease incidence and severity caused by the increased cultivation of HT crops and, specifically, the use of glyphosate-resistant (GR) crops. According to reports, the practice could lead to a decrease in soil fertility and plant nutrition, leading to weakened crops that are more susceptible to pathogen attack. Current literature on how glyphosate, other herbicides and HT crops influence soil microbiota is reviewed. Emphasis is placed on negative and positive effects of herbicides per se on soil microbiota. Specific reference is made to the effect of glyphosate and GR crops, either positive or negative, on soil micro-organisms and plant nutrition.
Calculating iron contents of lunar highland materials surrounding Tycho crater from integrated Clementine UV‐visible and near‐infrared data

[1] Optical properties of lunar surface materials are modified by exposure to the space environment, including bombardment by solar wind particles and micrometeorites. One of the main problems in the interpretation of lunar spectral observations is to separate the effects of exposure (“space weathering”) and those due to the composition of the soils (mainly iron and titanium content). Here we use Clementine near-infrared (NIR) data to investigate this problem for highland-type soils in the Tycho crater area. Our approach is based on the methods developed for an analysis of a mare region near Aristarchus Plateau [Le Mouelic et al., 2000]. We show that the systematic relationships between spectral parameters (1-μm band depth and continuum slope), which were previously observed in a mare area with varying maturity degree, are also valid for highland-type soils. This technique aimed at evaluating the iron content of the surface materials from Clementine UV-visible (UVVIS) and near-infrared data can therefore be applied globally. This approach complements the widely used method of Lucey and coworkers, which relies on the UV-visible bands only. The proposed method relies mostly on band ratios. The iron map produced from this method is therefore less dependent on topography than the iron estimates obtained with UV-visible data alone, where brightness is one of the controlling parameters. Therefore the proposed approach should be particularly useful at middle to high latitudes, where local topography generates large variations in brightness and therefore hampers the interpretation of iron maps produced from UV-visible bands only.
Habitat usage by prairie grouse on the Sheyenne National Grasslands

Prairie grouse habitat usage was observed for six years. Spring and summer habitat usage was primarily in the upland and midland grassland habitat types. Habitat usage shifted during the fall and winter to cropland and associated tree shelterbelts. The switchgrass plant community was the primary concealment cover for nesting and roosting. Cropland and associated tree shelterbelts was the primary habitat during winter.
South African rainfall, the Southern Oscillation and a Southern Hemisphere semi‐annual cycle

Significant differences in rainfall over central South Africa are known to occur between opposite extremes in the phase of the Southern Oscillation, but details of both temporal and spatial aspects of the modulation of South African rainfall with the phase changes of the Oscillation remain to be described. Zero-lag correlations between the Tahiti—Darwin Southern Oscillation Index and monthly and 3-month seasonal rainfall over South Africa suggest that the rainfall—Southern Oscillation Index association is best defined in the late summer season January—March and in a north-west to south-east aligned zone across the central summer rainfall region of South Africa. Rainfall in this zone is directly related to the Southern Oscillation Index, increasing during high phase summers. An apparent semi-annual cycle in the rainfall—Southern Oscillation Index correlations over central South Africa is in phase with the November and February turning points of a semi-annual cycle in atmospheric circulation parameters over southern Africa. A plausible circulation mechanism is suggested to account for some of the spatial and temporal characteristics of the association between the Southern Oscillation and South African rainfall.
Introducing Gemdat.org

website has been running since October 2000 and is probably well known to any mineral enthusiasts who use the Internet, as it has become the primary information resource for minerals and mineral localities. Through the years, people have raised questions about doing something similar to mindat.org but for different areas of interest: for example, on fossils (too much work) and rocks (something that can be incorporated quite well into mindat.org). But by far the most popular request has been for extra information on gemstones. It became apparent quite quickly that building gemstone information into mindat.org would not be the right approach and that an entirely new site would be needed. During the past eighteen months, we have worked hard to build the new website—gemdat.org—that is now open for users (fig. 2). The basic concept of gemdat.org is the same as that of mindat.org: to build a community database, in this case of gemological information, contributed by members from around the world and available for free to everyone online. There is a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding about gemstones, far more than in the mineral world, and we strongly believe that gemdat.org can become a standard point of reference for people to learn, debate, and help inform others, in exactly the same way that mindat.org has done for the mineral world. Gems and minerals are very closely related. Most, but not all, gemstones are minerals (consider pearl and synthetic gemstones as exceptions), and mindat.org already contains considerable information about gem mineral deposits around the world. But in some ways mindat.org has too much information. If we look at, for example, ruby (mineral collectors tend to classify any red corundum as “ruby” whether it is of gem quality or not) on mindat.org, we have a large number of “ruby” deposits listed, many of which have never provided stones suitable for cutting. So gemdat.org contains a subset of mindat.org localities, listing only those that produce gemquality material. As with mindat.org, new localities can be added, but to avoid duplication and mistakes between the two systems, the locality must be added first to mindat.org and then shared with gemdat.org. Gem deposits, because they are far less common than normal mineral deposits, can be mapped in different ways than on mindat.org. We have an interactive gem deposit explorer tool that plots and explores gem localities worldwide on a full-screen map (fig. 3). Introducing .
The impact of climate change on urban transport resilience in a changing world

The assessment of the potential impact of climate change on transport is an area of research very much in its infancy, and one that requires input from a multitude of disciplines including geography, engineering and technology, meteorology, climatology and futures studies. This paper investigates the current state of the art for assessments on urban surface transport, where rising populations and increasing dependence on efficient and reliable mobility have increased the importance placed on resilience to weather. The standard structure of climate change impact assessment (CIA) requires understanding in three important areas: how weather currently affects infrastructure and operations; how climate change may alter the frequency and magnitude of these impacts; and how concurrent technological and socio-economic development may shape the transport network of the future, either ameliorating or exacerbating the effects of climate change. The extent to which the requisite knowledge exists for a successful CIA is observed to decrease from the former to the latter. This paper traces a number of developments in the extrapolation of physical and behavioural relationships on to future climates, including a broad move away from previous deterministic methods and towards probabilistic projections which make use of a much broader range of climate change model output, giving a better representation of the uncertainty involved. Studies increasingly demand spatially and temporally downscaled climate projections that can represent realistic sub-daily fluctuations in weather that transport systems are sensitive to. It is recommended that future climate change impact assessments should focus on several key areas, including better representation of sub-daily extremes in climate tools, and recreation of realistic spatially coherent weather. Greater use of the increasing amounts of data created and captured by ‘intelligent infrastructure’ and ‘smart cities’ is also needed to develop behavioural and physical models of the response of transport to weather and to develop a better understanding of how stakeholders respond to probabilistic climate change impact projections.
Interannual summer streamflow variability over Romania and its connection to large‐scale atmospheric circulation

In this study, the spatial and temporal variability of summer (June–July–August, JJA) streamflow over Romania, as recorded at 46 hydrological stations over the period 1935–2010 is analysed. An empirical orthogonal function analysis and a canonical correlation analysis (CCA) were used to characterize the spatial and temporal variability of summer streamflow and its relationship with large‐scale atmospheric factors. The dominant summer mode captures in‐phase variability of river flow anomalies over the entire country, while the second mode of variability is characterized by a northwest–southeast dipole, emphasizing the influence of topography over the streamflow variability. Based on a CCA analysis, more than 50% of the summer streamflow variability is shown to be influenced by cloud cover and summer temperatures, via the modulation of precipitation and potential evapotranspiration. In general, positive (negative) streamflow anomalies, at country level, are associated with cyclonic (anticyclonic) circulation, the advection of moist (warm and dry) air, enhanced (reduced) precipitation and positive (negative) cloud cover anomalies.