Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Drought Indices to Map Forest Fire Risks in Topographically Complex Mountain Landscapes

Drought has the potential to lead to forest fires. Forest fires generally occur during the dry season when the mountain slope forest experiences a water deficit. Drought identification based on remote sensing is useful for mapping potential fires in Arjuno- Welirang Forest and TNBTS Forest (in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park). This research used Landsat-8 images in 118/065 and 118/066 in August and November 2015-2018. Validation data were obtained using high resolution planet scope images and rainfall data. Three drought indices were tested to identify fires, namely TVDI, VHI and NDDI. The indices were tested visually using high resolution images and tested meteorologically using SPI. From the results of the accuracy test and correlation, TVDI had the highest accuracy in the Arjuno-Welirang forest (96% accurate), while the best index for TNBTS was the VHI index (96% accurate). Keywords: drought indices, TVDI, VHI, NDDI, forest fires, Indonesia
On MOND, extended gravity and non-geodesic motion

Starting from the origin of Einstein general relativity (GR) the request of Mach on the theory's structure has been the core of the foundational debate. That problem is strictly connected with the nature of the mass-energy equivalence. It is well known that this is exactly the key point that Einstein used to realize a metric theory of gravitation having an unequalled beauty and elegance. On the other hand, the current requirements of particle physics and the open questions within extended gravity theories request a better understanding of Equivalence Principle (EP). The MOND theory by Milgrom proposes a modify of Newtonian dynamics and a variation of the ratio m_{i}/m_{g}, to be tested, at least, within the solar system. In this paper we attack this important issue from the general point of view of a weak modification of GR which considers a direct coupling between the Ricci curvature scalar and the matter Lagrangian. It is shown that a non geodesic ratio m_{i}/m_{g} can be fixed and that Milgrom acceleration is retrieved at low energies.
Suzaku observation of the symbiotic X-ray binary IGR J16194-2810

We observed IGR J16194-2810 in the low/hard state with the Suzaku X-ray satellite in 2009. The source is a Symbiotic X-ray Binary (SyXB) classified as a category of a Low-Mass X-ray Binary (LMXB), since the system is composed of an M-type giant and probably a neutron star (NS). We detected the 0.8-50 keV signal with the XIS and HXD-PIN. The 2-10 keV luminosity was L ~ 7 x 10^34 erg s^-1 corresponding to ~10^-3 L_Edd, where L_Edd is the Eddington Luminosity of a 1.4 M_o NS and a source distance of 3.7 kpc is assumed. The luminosity is similar to those of past observations. The spectral analysis showed that there are two emission components below and above ~2 keV. The hard emission component is represented by a Comptonized black-body emission model with the seed-photon temperature ~1.0 keV and the emission radius ~700 m. The seed photon is considered to come from a small fraction of the NS surface. The soft component is reproduced by either a raw black-body (~0.4 keV, ~1.7 km) or a Comptonized emission (~0.1 keV, ~75 km). We think the origin is the emission from other part of the NS surface or the accreting stream. The physical parameters of the hard emission component of IGR J16194-2810 are compared with those of an SyXB (4U 1700+24) and LMXBs (Aql X-1 and 4U 0614+091). This comparison reveals that these SyXBs in the low/hard state have a smaller radiation region (< 1 km) on the NS surface with a higher seed-photon temperature (~1 keV) than the compared LMXBs.
Unusual Behavior in $\bar{p}-p$ and ℓ–p Collisions Involving High Energy and Momentum Transfer: Z0(W±) and Scalar Jets

We show that the axial-vector coupling of Z0(W±) to quarks, when acting together with the emission of a hypothetical spin-zero jet-generating quantum coupled to quarks results in an unusual behavior in certain processes, at high energy and momentum transfer. This involves an excess jet production at the subpicobarn level.
Hypertension Status Moderated the Relationship between the Hippocampal Subregion of the Left GC-ML-DG and Cognitive Performance in Subjective Cognitive Decline

Background To investigate the relationship between hypertension status, hippocampus/hippocampal subregion structural alteration, and cognitive performance in subjective cognitive decline (SCD). Methods All participants were divided into two groups according to blood pressure status: SCD without hypertension and SCD with hypertension. The cognitive assessments and T1-MPRAGE brain MRI were performed to measure the cognitive function and the volume of the hippocampus and hippocampal subregions. Association and mediating/moderating effects were analyzed between the volume of hippocampus/hippocampal subregions and cognitive scores. Results Compared to the SCD without hypertension, we found (1) increased reaction time (RT) of the Go/No go test, compatible test, and divided attention visual task and (2) decreased volume of the left whole hippocampal/left subiculum/left CA1/left presubiculum/left parasubiculum/left molecular layer HP/left GC-ML-DG/left HATA in SCD with hypertension. There was a significant negative association between the volume of the left GC-ML-DG and Go/No go test RT in SCD without hypertension. A significant moderating effect of hypertension status on the relationship between the volume of the left GC-ML-DG and Go/No go test RT was found. Conclusion The results suggested that hypertension status affects inhibitory control function and visual divided attention which may be related to the reduction of hippocampus/hippocampal subregion volume in SCD. Limitations. The study has several limitations. First, this study does not include a healthy control group. In further studies, healthy controls may need to assess the interaction between hypertension status and disease status on cognitive function. Second, we defined the hypertension status using with or without hypertension disease. More detailed parameters of hypertension status need to be further studied. Third, our study was a small number of participants/single-center and cross-sectional study, which may hinder its generalization. A large-sample/multicenter, longitudinal study is helpful to comprehensively understand the relationship between hypertension status and cognitive function in SCD patients.
Prediction of Voice Fundamental Frequency and Intensity from Surface Electromyographic Signals of the Face and Neck

Silent speech interfaces (SSIs) enable speech recognition and synthesis in the absence of an acoustic signal. Yet, the archetypal SSI fails to convey the expressive attributes of prosody such as pitch and loudness, leading to lexical ambiguities. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of using surface electromyography (sEMG) as an approach for predicting continuous acoustic estimates of prosody. Ten participants performed a series of vocal tasks including sustained vowels, phrases, and monologues while acoustic data was recorded simultaneously with sEMG activity from muscles of the face and neck. A battery of time-, frequency-, and cepstral-domain features extracted from the sEMG signals were used to train deep regression neural networks to predict fundamental frequency and intensity contours from the acoustic signals. We achieved an average accuracy of 0.01 ST and precision of 0.56 ST for the estimation of fundamental frequency, and an average accuracy of 0.21 dB SPL and precision of 3.25 dB SPL for the estimation of intensity. This work highlights the importance of using sEMG as an alternative means of detecting prosody and shows promise for improving SSIs in future development.
The Seiberg-Witten equations on manifolds with boundary

In this thesis, we undertake an in-depth study of the Seiberg-Witten equations on manifolds with boundary. We divide our study into three parts. In Part One, we study the Seiberg-Witten equations on a compact 3-manifold with boundary. Here, we study the solution space of these equations without imposing any boundary conditions. We show that the boundary values of this solution space yield an infinite dimensional Lagrangian in the symplectic configuration space on the boundary. One of the main difficulties in this setup is that the three-dimensional Seiberg-Witten equations, being a dimensional reduction of an elliptic system, fail to be elliptic, and so there are resulting technical difficulties intertwining gauge-fixing, elliptic boundary value problems, and symplectic functional analysis. In Part Two, we study the Seiberg-Witten equations on a 3-manifold with cylindrical ends. Here, Morse-Bott techniques adapted to the infinite-dimensional setting allow us to understand topologically the space of solutions to the Seiberg-Witten equations on a semiinfinite cylinder in terms of the finite dimensional moduli space of vortices at the limiting end. By combining this work with the work of Part One, we make progress in understanding how cobordisms between Riemann surfaces may provide Lagrangian correspondences between their respective vortex moduli spaces. Moreover, we apply our results to provide analytic groundwork for Donaldson’s TQFT approach to the Seiberg-Witten invariants of closed 3-manifolds. Finally, in Part Three, we study analytic aspects of the Seiberg-Witten equations on a cylindrical 4-manifold supplied with Lagrangian boundary conditions of the type coming from the first part of this thesis. The resulting system of equations constitute a nonlinear infinite-dimensional nonlocal boundary value problem and is highly nontrivial. We prove fundamental elliptic regularity and compactness type results for the corresponding equations, so that these results may therefore serve as foundational analysis for constructing a monopole Floer theory on 3-manifolds with boundary. Thesis Supervisor: Tomasz Mrowka Title: Singer Professor of Mathematics Thesis Supervisor: Katrin Wehrheim Title: Associate Professor of Mathematics
Chemical Identification and Antioxidant Screening of Bufei Yishen Formula using an Offline DPPH Ultrahigh-Performance Liquid Chromatography Q-Extractive Orbitrap MS/MS

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has high morbidity and mortality and presents a threat to human health worldwide. Numerous clinical trials have confirmed that Bufei Yishen formula (BYF), an herbal medicine, can alleviate the symptoms of COPD by reducing oxidative stress-mediated inflammation. However, the active components of BYF remain unclear. We developed an efficient ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography Q-Extractive Orbitrap mass spectrometry method to identify the composition of BYF and determine its antioxidant profile through an offline screening strategy based on 1,1-diphenyl-2-trinitrophenylhydrazine (DPPH)-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. In total, 189 compounds were identified in BYF extract, including 83 flavonoids, 24 lignans, 20 alkaloids, 15 saponins, 11 terpenoid, 10 saccharides, eight lipids, seven organic acids, two coumarins, two amino acids, and seven other compounds. Among them, 79 compounds were found to have a potential antioxidant activity. In vitro validation indicated that the free radical scavenging activities of rosmarinic acid and calycosin were similar to that of the positive control (DPPH IC50 = 25.72 ± 1.02 and 147.23 ± 25.12 μg/mL, respectively). Furthermore, calycosin had a high content in serum after the oral administration of BYF, indicating that calycosin might be the major antioxidant compound in BYF.
Risk of Glioblastoma Multiforme in Patients Taking Ion Channel Blockers

Background Ion channels play a role in the development and progression of glioblastoma multiforme. This study investigates the association between the risk of developing glioblastoma multiforme in patients taking these medications. Methods A retrospective propensity score-matched analysis was performed using the TriNetX multinational electronic health record database for patients taking verapamil, digoxin, amiodarone, or diltiazem versus those not taking these medications. The outcome of interest was the incidence of glioblastoma multiforme. Results Verapamil users had an OR of 0.494 (p < 0.0001) of developing glioblastoma versus verapamil non-users. Patients on digoxin had an OR of 0.793 (p = 0.2393), patients on amiodarone had an OR of 0.600 (p = 0.0035), patients on diltiazem had an OR of 0.584 (p < 0.0001), and patients on verapamil, digoxin, amiodarone, or diltiazem had an OR of 0.641 (p < 0.0001) of developing glioblastoma versus patients not taking these medications. Conclusion In patients taking the ion channel blockers diltiazem, amiodarone, or verapamil, the odds of developing glioblastoma multiforme were lower than in patients not taking these medications.
Structural Mechanics: A unified approach

Preface. About the author. Introduction. Geometry of areas. Kinematics and statics of rigid systems. Determination of constraint reactions. Internal beam reactions. Statically determinate beam systems. Analysis of strain and stress. Theory of elasticity. The Saint Venant problem. Beams and plates in flexure. Finite element method. Structural symmetry. Statically indeterminate structures: method of forces. Statically indeterminate structures: method of displacements. Plane frames. Energy methods for the solution of beam systems. Instability of elastic equilibrium. Theory of plasticity. Plane stress and plane strain conditions. Mechanics of fracture. Appendices A-N. Further reading. Index.
Evolutionary status of isolated B[e] stars

Aims. We study a sample of eight B[e] stars with uncertain evolutionary status to shed light on the origin of their circumstellar dust. Methods. We performed a diagnostic analysis on the spectral energy distribution beyond infrared wavelengths, and conducted a census of neighboring region of each target to ascertain its evolutionary status. Results. In comparison to pre-main sequence Herbig stars, these B[e] stars show equally substantial excess emission in the near-infrared, indicative of existence of warm dust, but much reduced excess at longer wavelengths, so the dusty envelopes should be compact in size. Isolation from star-forming regions excludes the possibility of their pre-main sequence status. Six of our targets, including HD 50138, HD 45677, CD-245721, CD-49 3441, MWC 623, and HD 85567, have been previously considered as FS CMa stars, whereas HD 181615/6 and HD 98922 are added to the sample by this work. We argue that the circumstellar grains of these isolated B[e] stars, already evolved beyond the pre-main sequence phase, should be formed in situ. This is in contrast to Herbig stars, which inherit large grains from parental molecular clouds. It has been thought that HD 98922, in particular, is a Herbig star because of its large infrared excess, but we propose it being in a more evolved stage. Because dust condenses out of stellar mass loss in an inside-out manner, the dusty envelope is spatially confined, and anisotropic mass flows, or anomalous optical properties of tiny grains, lead to the generally low line-of-sight extinction toward these stars.
Integrating local ecological knowledge, ecological monitoring, and computer simulation to evaluate conservation outcomes

Successful conservation of long‐lived species requires reliable understanding of long‐term trends and historical baselines. We present a framework for evaluating abundance trends and conservation outcomes for long‐lived marine species by integrating local ecological knowledge (LEK), ecological monitoring, and computer simulation, tested on a case‐study of long‐lived and heavily exploited green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the Eastern Pacific. Models fit to LEK and monitoring data indicate that turtle abundance is increasing, but only after ∼40 years of safeguarding the species’ nesting and foraging habitats in Mexico. However, current abundance is at ∼60% of baseline levels and historic population structure has not been reestablished, indicating the need for sustained, long‐term conservation actions. We demonstrate the potential of linking LEK and ecological science to provide critical information for conservation, by establishing reference baselines and gauging population status with a long‐term historical perspective, while promoting equitable and sustainable futures.
Stochastic orders in heterogeneous samples with applications

The statistics literature has mostly focused on the case when the data available is in the form of a random sample. In many cases, the observations are not identically distributed. Such samples are called heterogeneous samples. The study of heterogeneous samples is of great interest in many areas, such as statistics, econometrics, reliability engineering, operation research and risk analysis. Stochastic orders between probability distributions is a widely studied concept. There are several kinds of stochastic orders that are used to compare different aspects of probability distributions like location, variability, skewness, dependence, etc. In this dissertation, most of the work is devoted to investigating the properties of statistics based on heterogeneous samples with the aid of stochastic orders. We will see the effect of the change in the stochastic properties of various functions of observations as their parameters change. The theory of majorization will be used for this purpose. First, order statistics from heterogeneous samples will be investigated. Order statistics appear everywhere in statistics and related areas. The k-out-of-n systems are building blocks of a coherent system. The lifetime of such a system is the same as that of the (n−k+1)th order statistic in a sample size of n. Stochastic comparisons between order statistics have been studied extensively in the literature in case the parent observations are independent and identically distributed. i However, in practice this assumption is often violated as different components in a system may not have the same distribution. Comparatively less work has been done in the case of heterogeneous random variables, mainly because of the reason that their distribution theory is very complicated. Some open problems in the literature have been solved in the dissertation. Some new problems associated with order statistics have been investigated in the thesis. Next, stochastic properties of spacings based on heterogeneous observations are studied. Spacings are of great interest in many areas of statistics, in particular, in the characterizations of distributions, goodness-of-fit tests, life testing and reliability models. In particular, the stochastic properties of the sample range are investigated in detail. Applications in reliability theory are highlighted. The relative dependence between extreme order statistics will be investigated in Chapter 4. In particular, the open problem discussed in Dolati, et al. [18] is solved in this Chapter. In the last Chapter, convolutions of random variables from heterogeneous samples will be investigated. Convolutions have been widely used in many areas to model many practical situations. For example, in reliability theory, it arises as the lifetime of a redundant standby system; in queuing theory, it is used to model the total service time by an agent in a system; in insurance, it is used to model total claims on a number of policies in the individual risk model. I will compare the dispersion and skewness properties of convolutions of different heterogeneous
Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensates of Rotating Polar Molecules

We propose a scheme to realize a pseudospin-$1/2$ model of the $^{1}\Sigma(v=0)$ bialkali polar molecules with the spin states corresponding to two sublevels of the first excited rotational level. We show that the effective dipole-dipole interaction between two spin-$1/2$ molecules couples the rotational and orbital angular momenta and is highly tunable via a microwave field. We also investigate the ground state properties of a spin-$1/2$ molecular condensate. A variety of nontrivial quantum phases, including the doubly-quantized vortex states, are discovered. Our scheme can also be used to create spin-$1$ model of polar molecules. Thus, we show that the ultracold gases of bialkali polar molecules provide a unique platform for studying the spinor condensates of rotating molecules.
Position estimation and calibration for high precision human positioning and tracking using millimeter-wave radar

In this paper, a context-based human target detection and position estimation algorithm, as well as a position calibration algorithm based on radar irradiation angle are proposed to improve the positioning accuracy, which is limited by the sparse and easily submerged characteristics of the point cloud generated by millimeter-wave radar, which leads to difficulty in achieving high-precision positioning. Furthermore, an indoor target positioning and tracking system is built using 77 GHz millimeter-wave radar to verify the proposed algorithms. The experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithms can improve the positioning accuracy both in single-person and multi-person positioning scenarios, with median positioning errors 8.7 cm (36.7% decrease) and 12.95 cm (average) respectively. Therefore, the proposed sensing method is considered as a very promising technique for designing a high precision human trajectory tracking and positioning radar system.
DoFP+: An HTTP/3-Based Adaptive Bitrate Approach Using Retransmission Techniques

HTTP Adaptive Streaming (HAS) solutions use various adaptive bitrate (ABR) algorithms to select suitable video qualities with the objective of coping with the variations of network connections. HTTP has been evolving with various versions and provides more and more features. Most of the existing ABR algorithms do not significantly benefit from the HTTP development when they are merely supported by the most recent HTTP version. An open research question is “How can new features of the recent HTTP versions be used to enhance the performance of HAS? ” To address this question, in this paper, we introduce Days of Future Past+ (DoFP+ for short), a heuristic algorithm that takes advantage of the features of the latest HTTP version, HTTP/3, to provide high Quality of Experience (QoE) to the viewers. DoFP+ leverages HTTP/3 features, including (i) stream multiplexing, (ii) stream priority, and (iii) request cancellation to upgrade low-quality segments in the player buffer while downloading the next segment. The qualities of those segments are selected based on an objective function and throughput constraints. The objective function takes into account two factors, namely the (i) average bitrate and the (ii) video instability of the considered set of segments. We also examine different strategies of download order for those segments to optimize the QoE in limited resources scenarios. The experimental results show an improvement in QoE by up to 33% while the number of stalls and stall duration for DoFP+ are reduced by 86% and 92%, respectively, compared to state-of-the-art ABR schemes. In addition, DoFP+ saves, on average, up to 16% downloaded data across all test videos. Also, we find that downloading segments sequentially brings more benefits for retransmissions than concurrent downloads; and lower-quality segments should be upgraded before other segments to gain more QoE improvement. Our source code has been published for reproducibility at https://github.com/cd-athena/DoFP-Plus.