Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Are Current Estimates of Coral Reef Biodiversity Too Low? the View through the Window of a Microcosm

Our results have provided an estimate of the biodiversity of pan tropic coral reefs that is more than 3 times higher than that previously published. The biodiversity of global coral reefs has recently been estimated at approximately 1 million species based on what is currently known about tropical rain forests. However, in order to determine the actual biodive~sity of even a single coral reef locality, an extensive team effort on the part of hundreds of specialists would be required. Close exanlitlation of the mature 5 m2 Caribbean coral reef microcosm described in this paper provided 534 species, with an estimated 70% tallied. Using the areddiversity relationship S=kAZ, we were able to more accurately assess the probable biodiversity of wild reefs. This outstanding species biodiversity, based in an extensive range of higher taxa, reconfirms the essential need to restore and conserve one of the most precious ecosystems on earth.
Clogging of granular hopper flows

This work focuses on the clogging of granular materials. Dynamic arrest in granular systems continues to elude a comprehensive description. We consider gravity-driven flow from a hopper as a quintessential example of a system that can spontaneously evolve from a freely flowing state to a jammed state. However, the nature of clogging remains poorly understood. A key point of debate is whether there exists a critical opening size Dc, for which when the opening size D > Dc, the flow never clogs. There has been little consensus about what material or hopper properties govern the clogging probability. To lay these issues to rest, we have investigated clogging through multiple approaches. We present several findings in this work. First, we demonstrate that clogging of hard granular media is controlled solely by an effective area Aeff, which is a function of the opening area and orientation. Second, we show that clogging is a Poisson process with a sampling rate set by the grain diameter and the effluent velocity. Finally, we show that in this picture, the only requirement for clog formation is for all of the grains in a region near the exit to be sufficiently “pre-clogged”. Clogging becomes highly unlikely for large openings simply because the number of grains which are required to be pre-clogged grows as D^alpha, where alpha is the system dimensionality. In a separate track, we have investigated the dynamics of granular flows, both with D < Dc and D > Dc. We find that the flow becomes more intermittent, with higher effective granular temperature, when it is more prone to clogging. However, we find no evidence of a clogging transition in the velocity fluctuations or intermittency. Indeed, the intermittency does not exhibit a diverging time scale as might be expected from a jamming or glass transition. Instead, the time scale of flow intermittencies is set entirely by the rate at which the flow samples for stable configurations. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Physics & Astronomy First Advisor Douglas J. Durian
Postprocessing and signal corrections for multibeam echosounder images

Multibeam echosounders own the attractive ability to simultaneously provide a bathymetric map and a sonar image of an insonified area. Nevertheless, their increasing resolution and data rate underline classical approximations used by the manufacturers in the real time algorithms. This leads to artefacts in sonar images and to difficulties in geological interpretations. In this paper, on the one hand, echo simulations characterise the artefact importance according to the sounder geometrical configuration (water depth, pulse time duration, .). On the other hand, the authors propose a post-processing correction method together with its validity limits.
Soil Phosphorus Transformations Following Forest Clearing for Pasture in the Brazilian Amazon

Phosphorus limits grass production in pastures planted on most cleared moist tropical forest, but little is known about soil P dynamics in these ecosystems. We describe changes to total P and different soil P fractions that occurred after the conversion of forest to pasture in the Brazilian Amazon State of Rondonia. We used chronosequences of forest and pasture of different ages to document patterns of labile, occluded, and organic P pools using a sequential P fractionation technique. Phosphorus released from the aboveground forest biomass substantially increased soil available P during the first 3 to 5 yr after forest clearing and burning. During this period, nonoccluded forms of inorganic P increased by 2.0- to 2.7-fold in the resin-extractable fraction and by 4- to 25-fold in the dilute HCl-extractable fraction. The introduction of grasses influenced the redistribution of soil P forms in older pastures. Occluded P comprised a lower proportion of total P (40-55%) in 20-yr-old pastures compared with forests (63-65%), but the proportion of organic P in these pastures increased (29-35%) compared with forests (20-21%). From the patterns in P transformations we developed a conceptual model in which we contrasted P transformations during slash and burn for pasture with changes to soil P that occur during soil formation. On cleared lands, the one-way process by which P in primary minerals is converted to occluded and organic forms is reset by the cutting and burning of plant biomass, but instead of being released from primary minerals, P is released from the burned and decomposing biomass. Because this occurs in an already weathered soil, P transformation from nonoccluded to occluded and organic forms occurs in <50 yr instead of the thousands of years required for these same transformations to occur during primary succession.
Land use/cover changes between 1990 and 2000 based on remote sensing and GIS in Pearl River Delta, China

In recent decades, land use/cover change and its consequences have been an important aspect of geography, ecology, environment science and global change. The Pearl River Delta lying on the mouth of the Pearl River, South China, is an important ecostone between sea and river, terrestrial and hydrology. Since 1990, Land use/cover has changed greatly due to the rapid urbanization in the Pearl River Delta. Farmland area decreases 1414.75km2 from 13504.1 km2 to 12089.35 km2, the proportion to total land area decreases from 32.82% to 29.35%. Forestland area decreases 904.26 km2 between 1990 and 2000. Built land area increases rapidly, in 1990, the area of built land is 1849.60 km2, while in 2000, the built land area reaches 4427.03 km2, and the increased area is 2577.43 km2. The area of water land, idle land and wetland decrease 55.72 km2, 141.47km2 and 14.12 km2 respectively. The transition intension of LUCC is unprecedented, about 25.26% area of total Farmland has involved in this conversion, among this conversion, the change area of farmland converts to built land, water land, forestland, wetland, idle land are 1876.40 km2, 1175.61 km2, 315.83 km2, 31.13 km2 and 12.01 km2, respectively, the immigrated area is 3410.98 km2, and emigrated area is 1994.82 km2, most of those land use area loss convert into built land. The immigrated area of other land use to built land in turn is: Farmland >water land >forestland > wetland >idle land, and emigrated area of built land to other land use in turn is as: Farmland>forestland>water land> wetland>idle land. Idle land change intension reaches 80%. The dynamic index indicates that these cities (eg. Zhongshan) are associated with the most land use/cover change process. The cities of Jiangmen, Zhaoqing and Huizhou have lower values of the index. These changes coincide with the land use conversion process, which can reflect the urban and economic development.
A stochastic model for high‐resolution space‐time precipitation simulation

High‐resolution space‐time stochastic models for precipitation are crucial for hydrological applications related to flood risk and water resources management. In this study, we present a new stochastic space‐time model, STREAP, which is capable of reproducing essential features of the statistical structure of precipitation in space and time for a wide range of scales, and at the same time can be used for continuous simulation. The model is based on a three‐stage hierarchical structure that mimics the precipitation formation process. The stages describe the storm arrival process, the temporal evolution of areal mean precipitation intensity and wet area, and the evolution in time of the two‐dimensional storm structure. Each stage of the model is based on appropriate stochastic modeling techniques spanning from point processes, multivariate stochastic simulation and random fields. Details of the calibration and simulation procedures in each stage are provided so that they can be easily reproduced. STREAP is applied to a case study in Switzerland using 7 years of high‐resolution (2 × 2 km2; 5 min) data from weather radars. The model is also compared with a popular parsimonious space‐time stochastic model based on point processes (space‐time Neyman‐Scott) which it outperforms mainly because of a better description of spatial precipitation. The model validation and comparison is based on an extensive evaluation of both areal and point scale statistics at hydrologically relevant temporal scales, focusing mainly on the reproduction of the probability distributions of rainfall intensities, correlation structure, and the reproduction of intermittency and wet spell duration statistics. The results shows that a more accurate description of the space‐time structure of precipitation fields in stochastic models such as STREAP does indeed lead to a better performance for properties and at scales which are not used in model calibration.
Vocational high school students' attitudes toward wolves

The grey wolf (Canis lupus) is one of the most widespread mammals in the world today, as it inhabits the whole of Europe, most of the territory of Asia and North America, and it can even be found in the Arctic. Being the second biggest predator in our country, it has an immensely important part in nature as well as in human life. Its presence indicates a well preserved and pristine nature. Furthermore, the predation is a significant factor in preserving the natural balance and biodiversity. The past times saw the wolf roam most of Europe and Asia all the way to India and China in the South, but it was eradicated from the part of Middle and North Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. Rewards were offered for each wolf kill for a long time and this lead to fluctuation of the population in that period and it brought the wolf to the brink of extinction. The wolf is a protected species nowadays, both, in our country as well as internationally and since it was granted the status of a protected species, its numbers have been increasing. The wolf was never completely extinct in Slovenia, so that today's population represents one of the few autochthonous populations living in Europe. The preservation of the wolf in Slovenia is induced by the people's mindset of great beasts, which is why it is important to educate the students in order for them to form a positive mindset towards the wolf as well. Slovenia is the bridge between the Alps and the Dinarides, and that is why it is vital to maintain the autochthonous population, so the wolf can spread into Western Europe. The diploma paper's main goal was to determine the attitudes of students of the high school towards the wolf. We set out to determine if there were any differences in attitudes between female and male students, the attitudes between students of lower and higher levels, and between students who have lower and higher grades at biology classes. The results have shown that there are statistically important discrepancies in the attitudes towards wolves when it comes to gender, as the female students nurture more positive mindsets and attitudes towards the wolf from the point of view of protection of the species that the male students, who are more positive about the interaction with the wolf. In terms of high school levels and biology class grades, we have found that the differences are minimal which might be a consequence of a low level of topic examination, in both, elementary and high schools.
Migration: The Biology of Life on the Move

Part I: Migration and Methods for Its Study 1. A taxonomy of movement 2. Migration: A definition 3. Patterns in migratory journeys 4. Methods for studying migration Part II: Proximate Factors in Migration 5. Migration, winds, and currents 6. Physiology of migration 7. Biomechanical and bioenergetic constraints on migration 8. Orientation and navigation Part III. Migratory Life Histories and Their Evolution 9. Seasonal migration 10. Migration to special habitats 11. Migration under ephemeral conditions 12. Behavioral variability in migration 13. Polymorphisms and polyphenisms 14. Evolutionary genetics of migration Part IV. Applications and Implications 15. Migration and pest management 16. Migration and conservation Part V. Conclusions 17. Summing up and future directions References
Real‐time inversion of GPS data for finite fault modeling and rapid hazard assessment

Responses to recent great earthquakes and ensuing tsunamis in Sumatra, Chile, and Japan, with the resulting loss of life and damage to infrastructure demonstrate that our ability to ascertain the full extent of slip of catastrophic earthquakes and their tsunamigenic potential in the first minutes after the initiation of rupture is problematic. Regional GPS networks such as those in western North America and Japan are complementary to seismic networks by being able to directly measure displacements close to the source during large earthquakes in real time. We report on rapid modeling of two large earthquakes, the 2003 Mw 8.3 Tokachi‐oki earthquake 100 km offshore Hokkaido Island using 356 GEONET stations and the 2010 Mw 7.2 El Mayor‐Cucapah earthquake in northern Baja California using 95 CRTN stations in southern California about 75 km northwest of the epicenter. Working in a simulated real‐time mode, we invert for finite fault slip in a homogeneous elastic half‐space using Green's functions obtained from Okada's formulation. We compare two approaches: the first starts with a catalog of pre‐defined faults, while the second uses a rapid centroid moment tensor solution to provide an initial estimate of the ruptured fault plane. In either case, we are able to characterize both earthquakes in less than two minutes, reducing the time necessary to obtain finite fault slip and moment magnitude for medium and greater earthquakes compared to traditional methods by an order of magnitude.
Impact‐induced overland fluid flow and channelized erosion at Lyot Crater, Mars

Lyot Crater is one of the youngest impact basins > 200 km in diameter on Mars. Although published hydrological models suggest that impact‐related groundwater release might have occurred at Lyot, no geomorphic evidence for such activity has been previously identified. Here, we use images acquired predominantly by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Context Camera (CTX) and Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging Spectrometer (THEMIS) visible and infrared subsystems to document an extensive channeled scabland extending to the north, west, and east of Lyot, covering an area of ∼300,000 km2. The configuration and morphology suggests that the channel‐forming fluid was water derived from the target substrate and/or the surrounding terrain. Possible formation mechanisms are groundwater mobilization by seismic energy from the impact event and dewatering of the ejecta blanket.
Influence of wind roughness on the time characteristics of impulse airborne ocean lidars

A method is developed for estimating the influence of surface waves and multiple scattering in water on delay and broadening of light pulse signal propagating along the path: atmosphere - rough surface - sea water. The parameters of signal entering an underwater receiver with isotropic directional diagram are calculated. It is shown that surface waves strongly influence the temporal characteristics of signal at small depths of receiver location and in clear water. The influence of geometrical factors, including the size of receiving aperture and the angular characteristics of emitter, is studied. In the calculations, it is assumed that surface waves are isotropic, the elevation spectrum is determined by the Pierson-Moskowitz formula, and the surface slope variance corresponds to the Cox and Munk data. As the Green function of the radiative transfer equation we used the solution of this equation in the refined self-similar approximation taking into account diffusion of photons along multipaths. This method is generalized in the same approximations to evaluate the temporal characteristics of lidar signals reflected from the bottom or water. Delay and broadening of pulse echo signal for two types of lidars, i.e., with isotropic and extremely narrow receiving diagrams, are calculated. The contribution of waves to delay and broadening of echo signal in lidars is, as a rule, several times smaller than the contribution of multiple scattering effects in water; nevertheless it should be taken into account for correct estimation of the limiting depth resolution of lidar. It is shown that lidar with a narrow directional diagram has a better depth resolution than lidar with a wide diagram. However for some sets of parameters in these lidars, the wave contribution to signal delay can significantly exceed the contribution of water. The fulfilled estimates are greatly important for bathymetric lidars.
Stress effects on reservoir flow: — Numerical modelling used to reproduce field data

Abstract Empirical field data show a strong correlation between the preferred directionality in many normal IOR floods and the local modern-day state of earth stress. The conjecture that this correlation is due to the activation of natural fractures by changes in the stress state induced by the flood has been tested with coupled modelling of fluid flow and geomechanical deformaton. The results of initial generic modelling incoroporating thermal stresses from cold water injection showed good agreement with the details of the field data, lending strong support to the conjecture. The modelling indicated that directionality trends increasingly towards the major horizontal stress axis as a flood progresses. The new coupled modelling capability provides an improved tool for planning well patterns, infill drilling and flood management.
Augmentation of Indoor Positioning Systems with a Barometric Pressure Sensor for Direct Altitude Determination in a Multi-storey Building

To determine the correct floor of a user in a multi-storey building using pedestrian navigation and guidance services is a challenging task, as most common indoor location techniques provide only 2D position determination. Consequently, it is recommended to augment the position determination system with a barometric pressure sensor for direct observation of height differences. In the research project NAVIO (Pedestrian Navigation Systems in Combined Indoor/Outdoor Environments), tests with a barometric pressure sensor have been performed and their results are presented in this paper. The tests show that using a barometric pressure sensor, the building floor at which a person is located can be determined with the standard deviation of better than ± 0.5 m.
Four‐point discontinuity observations using Cluster magnetic field data: A statistical survey

Using magnetic field data from the four Cluster spacecraft between February and May 2001, a detailed statistical analysis of interplanetary discontinuities is accomplished. In order to find the surface normals, we apply three different methods: (1) minimum variance analysis (MVA), (2) cross-product method, and (3) triangulation, the latter being the only one that needs information from all four spacecraft. Whereas the cross-product normals are always almost the same at the position of the four spacecraft, strong deviations between the MVA normals are observed. The cross-product normals also agree fairly well with the triangulation normals, which mostly point in a direction approximately perpendicular to the magnetic field. The scatter of the MVA normals around the triangulation normal can be reduced by triggering the parameters controlling the MVA accuracy, i.e., λ 2 /λ L 3, the lower limit of the MVA eigenvalue ratio, and ω L , the lower limit of the spreading angle. Our analysis allows to compare the impact of these two parameters on the MVA normals. The error analysis shows that both parameters have strong impact on the MVA accuracy; however, λ/λ L 3 is more important. In order to ensure reliable normal estimates, MVA should only be applied if ω L > 60°. The MVA error analysis also enables us to provide a new criterion to distinguish rotational discontinuities (RDs) from tangential discontinuities. However, the triangulation results show that there are no clearly identified RDs in our data set. We will discuss implications for the theory of solar wind discontinuity generation processes. A practical consequence is that the cross-product method presumably yields better normal estimates than MVA when B n is small. The colinerarity of the cross-product normals at the positions of the four spacecraft demonstrate that the discontinuities are one-dimensional structures on the Cluster separation scale.
The role of pitch in the recognition of vocalizations in songbirds and humans

Author(s): Bregman, Micah Rendler | Abstract: Recognizing other individuals by sound is a primary function of many vertebrate communication systems. Both speech and birdsong provide an auditory "face," allowing individuals to recognize each other without visual contact. Humans and songbirds have brain mechanisms that have evolved to support these behaviors. In this thesis, I present results from three studies investigating the recognition of complex sounds. Sounds are typically described in terms of four perceptual features: pitch, timbre, loudness and duration. Here we focus on the role of pitch and timbre in auditory recognition. We trained European starlings, a species of songbird, to recognize excerpts of conspecific song and human melodies. Starlings were more flexibly able to recognize song excerpts that had been shifted than shifted melodies, although they were able to learn to recognize both well. This indicates that the use of auditory cues may be stimulus dependent. We then describe a study investigating the interaction of pitch and timbre cues in recognition. Our hypothesis was that adding timbre cues to tone sequences would enable continued recognition even when pitch was altered. However, the results of this study suggest that songbirds are maintaining acoustic memories closely tied to specific spectral features and are unable to recognize tone sequences based on pitch cues alone. In contrast, human listeners performed well when asked to recognize pitch- altered tone sequences. We then investigated the role of individual differences in humans learning to recognize unfamiliar voices. Individuals who learned a language early in life were able to recognize talkers in that language better than those who learned the language later. Extensive music training also plays a role--listeners with more music training learned to recognize voices in an unfamiliar language more quickly than those with less training. Together, these studies contribute a new comparative perspective on the recognition of complex sounds. A description of natural vocalizations consisting of pitch, timbre, loudness and duration is convenient but limiting. The cognitive processes underlying sound recognition are complex, relying on interactions between spectrotemporal features that depend not only on the features of the signal itself, but also on the listener's auditory experience