Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fontes diferenciadas de financiamento: impacto na estrutura de capital de usinas brasileiras de açúcar e álcool

Este artigo analisa o endividamento de usinas de acucar e alcool da regiao centro-sul do pais em cinco anos-safra (2001/2002 a 2005/2006). Procura-se incorporar fatores institucionais a analise da estrutura de capital das empresas, como o acesso a diferentes fontes de recursos, bem como conhecer qual a importância desses recursos na estrutura de capital das usinas analisadas. Para tanto, busca-se conhecer qual a participacao no endividamento das diferentes linhas de financiamento utilizadas pelas usinas, as quais sao agrupadas em quatro categorias: linhas diferenciadas em moeda nacional, linhas diferenciadas em moeda estrangeira, linhas de mercado em moeda nacional e linhas de mercado em moeda estrangeira. Tambem procura-se identificar se as usinas utilizaram no periodo as estrategias de baixo endividamento e/ou alta liquidez para compensar as altas taxas de juros a que estavam sujeitas no mercado nacional. A amostra e composta por 35 usinas que processam aproximadamente 33% de toda a cana moida no pais. Como principais resultados, encontra-se que as usinas utilizaram principalmente recursos provenientes de linhas diferenciadas em moeda nacional e de linhas de mercado em moeda estrangeira, e apresentaram um nivel medio de endividamento de 30%, prevalecendo financiamentos de longo prazo, e altos niveis de liquidez ao longo do periodo. Nota-se que o acesso a linhas diferenciadas de financiamento influenciou as decisoes de captacao de recursos tomadas pelas usinas, visto que a utilizacao destas linhas prevaleceu em todos os anos, o que ratifica a importância da inclusao de fatores institucionais na analise da estrutura de capital das empresas.
Historical Dune Pattern Dynamics: White Sands Dune Field, New Mexico

Research efforts studying dune fields as spatial units are limited and the historical dynamics associated with dune field-scale pattern attributes are currently not well documented. Historical repeat aerial photography was used to quantify temporal changes in the crescentic dune pattern at the White Sands Dune Field, New Mexico. A Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to digitize ~ 14,000 dune crests from the combined photoset. Crest length, sinuosity, spacing, orientation, transport vector, and defect density were calculated from these measurements and statistically analyzed. The pattern analysis revealed that crest length, sinuosity, and defect density were highly variable pattern elements over a 60-year period. These dune pattern elements also exhibited temporal relationships, such as the inverse relationship between crest length and sinuosity over time. Defect density calculations revealed that the dune field is trending to a possible state of disorganization. This trend was temporarily interrupted in 1985 by a massive period of organization in which crest length was inversely related to defect density and defect density was proportionally related to sinuosity. The temporal variations in these pattern elements and the episodic organizational event in 1985 were likely climatically induced.
Decadal Variations of North Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature in Observations and CMIP3 Simulations

Abstract This study evaluates the ability of the global climate models that compose phase 3 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3) to simulate intrinsic decadal variations detected in the observed North Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) record via multichannel singular spectrum analysis (M-SSA). M-SSA identifies statistically significant signals in the observed SSTs, with time scales of 5–10, 10–15, and 15–30 yr; all of these signals have distinctive spatiotemporal characteristics and are consistent with previous studies. Many of the CMIP3 twentieth-century simulations are characterized by quasi-oscillatory behavior within one or more of the three observationally motivated frequency bands specified above; however, only a fraction of these models also capture the spatial patterns of the observed signals. The models best reproduce the observed quasi-regular SST variations in the high-frequency, 5–10-yr band, while the observed signals in the intermediate, 10–15-yr band have turned out to .
Geology of the seismogenic subduction thrust interface

Abstract A microseismically active layer of underthrust sediments is commonly inferred along subduction thrust interfaces. The exhumed Chrystalls Beach Complex, in the Otago Schist, New Zealand, may be analogous to an actively deforming underthrust rock assemblage. The complex contains asymmetric competent lenses of sandstone, chert and basalt enclosed in a cleaved mudstone matrix. Continuous fabrics such as folds, boudins and asymmetric phacoids formed by distributed cataclasis and dissolution–precipitation creep. Discontinuous deformation is evident in an extensive fault-fracture mesh involving mutually cross-cutting subvertical extension veins and subhorizontal slickenfibre shear surfaces. The Hikurangi margin provides an example of along-strike variations in seismic style, possibly related to heterogeneous fluid-pressure state and interface geology. In both the ancient and active subduction-related shear zone, fluid-pressure state appears to be a critical control on frictional failure, which primarily occurs on weak, fluid-overpressured discontinuities. Continuous, aseismic deformation occurs where other mineral deformation mechanisms, such as dissolution–precipitation creep, are preferred. The geometry and composition of the underthrust rock assemblage appear to be first-order controls on megathrust fluid-pressure distribution, bulk rheology and dominant deformation mechanism, and thus may be significant controls on megathrust seismic style.
Finite‐difference P wave travel time seismic tomography of the crust and uppermost mantle in the Italian region

We present a 3‐D P wave velocity model of the crust and shallowest mantle under the Italian region, that includes a revised Moho depth map, obtained by regional seismic travel time tomography. We invert 191,850 Pn and Pg wave arrival times from 6850 earthquakes that occurred within the region from 1988 to 2007, recorded by 264 permanent seismic stations. We adopt a high‐resolution linear B‐spline model representation, with 0.1° horizontal and 2 km vertical grid spacing, and an accurate finite‐difference forward calculation scheme. Our nonlinear iterative inversion process uses the recent European reference 3‐D crustal model EPcrust as a priori information. Our resulting model shows two arcs of relatively low velocity in the crust running along both the Alps and the Apennines, underlying the collision belts between plates. Beneath the Western Alps we detect the presence of the Ivrea body, denoted by a strong high P wave velocity anomaly. We also map the Moho discontinuity resulting from the inversion, imaged as the relatively sharp transition between crust and mantle, where P wave velocity steps up to values larger than 8 km/s. This simple condition yields an image quite in agreement with previous studies that use explicit representations for the discontinuity. We find a complex lithospheric structure characterized by shallower Moho close by the Tyrrhenian Sea, intermediate depth along the Adriatic coast, and deepest Moho under the two mountain belts.
The effects of endmember selection on modelling impervious surfaces using spectral mixture analysis: a case study in Sydney, Australia

In urban areas, spectral mixture analysis (SMA) is a common technique for deriving the fractions of land covers within a pixel and information on the distribution of impervious surfaces. This study examined how the selection of endmembers affected the quantification of impervious surfaces using TM and ASTER imagery. Multiple subsets of endmembers derived using (1) extreme pixels from a minimum noise fraction (MNF) transformation, and (2) a manual approach using a priori knowledge of the study area were analysed. Two data sets were used to assess accuracy: (1) simulated image data comprising unmixed and mixed pixels of 10 typical and spectrally different urban land covers, and (2) detailed data derived from high-resolution aerial photography. The dimensionality of the imagery limited the number of endmembers, and as a result, unmixed land covers were modelled using multiple endmembers and some cells had abundance values that summed to more than one or were negative. The land covers of red roofs and concrete were the largest contributors to the error in impervious surfaces. The Sequential Maximum Angle Convex Cone (SMACC) endmember model was also used to unmix the images; however, the larger number of endmembers did not resolve the use of multiple endmembers to model the unmixed land covers and the accuracy was similar to that using SMA. The relationship between the pervious fraction estimated using the vegetation endmember and the ground reference data was stronger than that for the impervious fraction, although the fraction was underestimated. The problems in modelling highly variable impervious surfaces with a limited number of endmembers suggest that in urban environments with substantial vegetation, modelling the vegetation component as the inverse of the impervious fraction may lead to improved results.
Scattering and emission from two-scale randomly rough sea surface with foam scatterers

By using an iterative method to solve the vector radiative transfer equation for a layer of discrete scatterers with randomly rough underlying boundary, the bistatic- and back-scattering, thermal emission and brightness temperature can be derived and applied to both active and passive remote sensing of rough sea surfaces with foam scatterers driven by wind. Numerical results for polarised bistatic- and back-scattering coefficients and thermal emissivities are calculated using a newly modified Cox and Munk (1954) probability density function and the Pierson empirical sea spectrum. The functional dependences on wind speed and direction, observation angle, polarisation, frequency and other parameters are discussed. Theoretical results compare well with experimental data in both active and passive remote sensing of the ocean.
Effects of Aerosol Particles on the Microphysics of Coastal Stratiform Clouds

Abstract Aerosol particles can act as cloud condensation nuclei and thereby influence the number and size of droplets in clouds. Consequently, anthropogenic particles have the potential to influence global climate by increasing cloud albedo and decreasing precipitation efficiencies. Enhanced cloud reflectances associated with increases in panicle number have been observed, but our understanding of these interactions has been hindered by incomplete empirical studies and models of limited scope. In this study, aerosol and droplet size distributions were measured on 13 research flights in stratiform clouds within 300 km west of the northern California coast. The chemical composition of the droplet solute was also assessed. Microphysical and chemical properties indicated that most of the clouds were influenced by pollution from the North American continent, but pristine marine clouds were sampled on one flight during westerly flow conditions. Data from this flight and another, representing a pristine and poll.
Source of the July 2006 West Java tsunami estimated from tide gauge records

The source of the West Java tsunami of July 17, 2006, which was generated during a large earthquake near the Sunda trench, is constrained by tsunami waveforms that were recorded on six tide gauges around the Indian Ocean. The tsunami travel times poorly constrain the source area, probably because shallow bathymetry near these gauges is not well known. Inversion of tsunami waveforms, however, reveals that the tsunami source was about 200 km long. The largest slip, about 2.5 m for instantaneous rupture model, was located about 150 km east of the epicenter. Most of the slip occurred on shallow parts of the fault, indicating that this earthquake shares the same characteristics with “tsunami earthquakes” which generate abnormally large tsunamis compared with ground shaking. The slip distribution yields a total seismic moment of 7.0 × 1020 Nm (Mw = 7.8).
Chemical composition of simulated Titan's midatmospheric aerosols

[1] A large fraction of the major unsaturated species (C2H2 C2H4, HCN, and HC3N) with mixing ratios of about 3 × 10−6, 10−7–10−8, 3 × 10−7, and 10−9–10−10 reside in Titan's atmosphere between 150 and 500 km (Vinatier et al., 2009; Coustenis et al., 2007) before they condense near the tropopause. A large flux of medium-wavelength UV penetrates down to these levels, resulting in the polymerization of these unsaturated compounds and the formation of aerosols. We performed our experiments on aerosol formation at these altitudes where both abundances and solar UV flux are high, bearing in mind that additional photolysis occurs at both higher and lower altitudes. In the gas phase, C2H2 photolysis results in unsaturated C4 species that, on further addition of C2, form the cyclic benzene. These gas-phase intermediates are consumed when an acetylene-poor gas mixture is irradiated for a long time, giving rise to larger solid-state species, mainly by addition of C2, followed by further cyclization. The largest species formed was the condensed 5-ring benzpyrene, not the 7-ring coronen molecule, which could have been detected there. Another fraction of the polymers consists of polyvinyl and vinyl acetylene chains, which are cross-linked due to their labile π electrons and form an insoluble solid matrix. This explains the reduction of the C:H ratio from the condensed aromatics of 1.2 to the measured C:H = 1.013 ± 0.001 of the polymers.
Evaluation of the PESERA model in two contrasting environments

The performance of the Pan‐European Soil Erosion Risk Assessment (PESERA) model was evaluated by comparison with existing soil erosion data collected in plots under different land uses and climate conditions in Europe. In order to identify the most important sources of error, the PESERA model was evaluated by comparing model output with measured values as well as by assessing the effect of the various model components on prediction accuracy through a multistep approach. First, the performance of the hydrological and erosion components of PESERA was evaluated separately by comparing both runoff and soil loss predictions with measured values. In order to assess the performance of the vegetation growth component of PESERA, the predictions of the model based on observed values of vegetation ground cover were also compared with predictions based on the simulated vegetation cover values. Finally, in order to evaluate the sediment transport model, predicted monthly erosion rates were also calculated using observed values of runoff and vegetation cover instead of simulated values. Moreover, in order to investigate the capability of PESERA to reproduce seasonal trends, the observed and simulated monthly runoff and erosion values were aggregated at different temporal scale and we investigated at what extend the model prediction error could be reduced by output aggregation.
Variability of Fram Strait ice flux and North Atlantic Oscillation

We estimate the winter sea ice export through the Fram Strait using ice motion from satellite passive microwave data. Sea ice motion (October-May) is obtained by tracking the displacement of common features in sequential 85 and 37 GHz brightness temperature fields. The average winter area flux over the 18-year record (1978–1996) is 670,000 km2, ∼7% of the area of the Arctic Ocean. The winter area flux ranges from a minimum of 450,000 km2 in 1984 to a maximum of 906,000 km2 in 1995. The daily, monthly, and interannual variabilities of the ice area flux are high. There is an upward trend in the ice area flux over the 18 year record. The average winter volume flux over the winters of October 1990 through May 1995 is 1745 km3 ranging from a low of 1375 km3 in the 1990 flux to a high of 2791 km3 in 1994. The sea level pressure gradient across the Fram Strait explains more than 80% of the variance in the ice flux over the 18 year record. We use the coefficients from the regression of the time series of area flux versus pressure gradient across the Fram Strait and ice thickness data to estimate the summer area and volume flux. The average 12 month area flux and volume flux are 919,000 km2 and 2366 km3. We find a significant correlation (R = 0.86) between the area flux and positive phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index over the months of December-March. Correlation between our 5 years of volume flux estimates and the NAO index gives R = 0.56. During the high NAO years a more intense Icelandic low increases the gradient in the sea level pressure by almost 1 mbar across the Fram Strait, thus increasing the atmospheric forcing on ice transport. Correlation is reduced during the negative NAO years because of decreased dominance of this large-scale atmospheric pattern on the sea level pressure gradient across the Fram Strait.
Tropical stratospheric zonal winds in ECMWF ERA‐40 reanalysis, rocketsonde data, and rawinsonde data

ECMWF ERA‐40 reanalysis zonal winds are very close to tropical rocketsonde and rawinsonde (radiosonde & radar wind soundings) observations up to 10 hPa. Above 10 hPa differences increase, although the ERA‐40 data provide a good representation of tropical winds up to 2–3 hPa. The amplitudes of the quasi‐biennial oscillation (QBO) and the semi‐annual oscillation (SAO) derived from ERA‐40 data match the rawinsonde and rocketsonde observations up to 2–3 hPa. We conclude that zonal‐mean ERA‐40 equatorial winds could be used, for most purposes, in place of rawinsonde station observations.
The 1993 Kushiro-Oki, Japan, Earthquake: A high stress-drop event in a subducting slab

A spatial slip distribution of the 1993 Kushiro-Oki earthquake (Mw; 7.6) is undoubtedly constrained using near-field data and the detailed aftershock distribution. This earthquake has peculiar features in that the slip on the fault plane is restricted within an extremely small area (about 40 km × 20 km) between the upper and lower planes of the double seismic zone in the subducting slab beneath Hokkaido. The total seismic moment, averaged slip, and stress-drop in this area are 3.3 × 1020 Nm, 5.5 m, and 4.2 × 107 Pa, respectively. This earthquake indicates that the region of the slab between the planes of the double seismic zone beneath Hokkaido is strong enough to sustain a stress of about 4 × 107 Pa. The slip motion of this event is consistent with retrograde slab migration along the Southern Kuril trench, and may represent a process by which retrograde motion of subducting slabs could occur.
A Stochastic Analysis of Cross‐Hole Ground‐Penetrating Radar Zero‐Offset Profiles for Subsurface Characterization

Cross‐hole ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) zero‐offset profiling (ZOP) is a well‐established technique for the measurement of the one‐dimensional (1‐D) vertical distribution of soil dielectric permittivity and has often been used in time‐lapse mode for the monitoring of natural or man‐made infiltration and soil moisture redistribution processes in the vadose zone. However, in spite of its widespread use, the quantitative interpretation of ZOPs in terms of dielectric permittivity profiles is known to be fraught with difficulties. Often a simplified approach is adopted that translates directly ZOP travel times into electromagnetic (EM) velocities and these, in turn, into dielectric permittivities and soil volumetric moisture content. This approach is known to lead to over‐smoothed moisture content profiles, which are a consequence of the ZOP measurement scale, controlled by critical refractions along fast layers and averaging effects within the first Fresnel zone. Such smooth profiles are not necessarily compatible with the true soil moisture content that should be reproduced by water flow models. In this paper we present a stochastic inversion approach that aims at solving these issues. The approach is based on a forward stochastic simulation that generates the expected travel times by means of a two‐dimensional (2‐D) full waveform modeling, thus reproducing all physical processes that contribute to profile smoothing. We first assess the robustness of this approach on synthetic data, where the true dielectric permittivity profile is known. Then we apply the technique to two different case studies, where the results of the proposed technique show supporting evidence from independent information on the sites' stratigraphy. The proposed approach proves to be capable of reconstructing sharp dielectric profiles, in addition to assigning relevant uncertainty bounds derived from the expected errors in travel time picking. These results may prove very useful in a correct assessment of the hydrological implications of the measured dielectric permittivity, and thus moisture content, profile.
From Signs to Minds: Spatial Information Design and Mental Maps

Abstract This study examines how information design on road signs influences spatial learning. Participants viewed a sequence of signs as if travelling by car through a fictional environment, making turn choices according to assigned goals, and then completed a mapping task. After a second sign viewing, this time without turn decisions, participants repeated the mapping task. For the first mapping task, participants who viewed signs with spatial information presented cartographically produced more topologically-accurate maps than those viewing conventional signs. These differences faded after the second sign viewing. Our results suggest that guide signs with maps can facilitate incidental learning of spatial configuration.
Simulation of induction heating process with radiative heat exchange

Purpose: Numerical modelling of induction heating process is a complex issue. It needs analysis of coupled electromagnetic and thermal fields. Calculation models for electromagnetic field analysis as well as thermal field analysis need simplifications. In case of thermal field calculations, correct modelling of radiative heat exchange between the heated charge and inductor’s thermal insulation is essential. Most commercial calculation programs enabling coupled analysis of electromagnetic and thermal fields do not allow taking into consideration radiative heat exchange between calculation model components, which limits thermal calculations only to the charge area. The paper presents a supplementation of the program Flux 2D with radiative heat exchange procedures. Design/methodology/approach: Commercial program Flux 2D designed for coupled electromagnetic and thermal calculation (based on finite element method) was supplemented with authors program for radiative heat exchange based on numerical integration of classic equations. Findings: Supplementation EM-T calculations with radiative heat exchange between charge and inductor enables to calculate thermal insulation parameters and increase precision of modelling. Research limitations/implications: Procedures for radiative heat exchange enables calculation of two surfaces (flat or cylindrical) with finite dimensions. The surfaces can be displaced relative to each other (charge shorter or longer than thermal insulation of inductor). Material of surfaces is modelled as: flat, diffuse, radiant surfaces absorb energy evenly in the whole spectrum (grey bodies). The whole system is modelled as in a steady thermal state (quasi-steady). Originality/value: Authors program extends Flux 2D features with a possibility for calculating radiative heat transfer. The application of radiative process is possible between all components of the studied model, not only for the boundary conditions.