Large Periods Of Time Research Articles

PRO54 Economic Burden of Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA) and Microscopic Polyangiitis (MPA) for ANCA-Associated Vasculatis (AAV) Patients in France

The two phenotypes of ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA) and Microscopic Polyangiitis (MPA) are rare autoimmune diseases causing necrosing of blood vessels. The annual incidences rates are 2.1-14.4 and 2.4-10.1 per million in Europe for GPA and MPA, respectively. These multisystem inflammatory diseases result in life-threatening or organ-threatening disease with an increased mortality ratio of 2.6. A study was set up to assess the therapeutic management of GPA/MPA patients and its associated economic burden in France. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the French National Healthcare databases (SNDS). The study population included GPA/MPA patients identified through relevant ICD-10 codes (M313/M317) in the period 2010-2018. Induction and maintenance treatment phases were defined through algorithms built from specific treatments and validated by a group of expert clinicians. Resources utilization were considered from the National Health Insurance perspective. A Kaplan-Meier model has been used to assess survival. The study cohort consisted of 6,581 GPA/MPA patients. The majority of patients had GPA only (4,445). Incident patients represented 2,605 patients, among which 1,578 were GPA only. They were aged 65 years old in median and 54.3% were men. Main treatments during induction and maintenance phases were glucocorticoids (95.5% and 98.3% for GPA and MPA, respectively), cyclophosphamide (47.6% and 0%), rituximab (18.7% and 30.9%), oral azathioprine (20.7% and 31.5%) and plasmatic exchange (21.0% and 0%). Standardized mortality rate was 2.21 in 2018. The average annual cost per GPA/MPA patient was 26,560±53,428€. The cost breakdown showed that the most important component was due to hospitalizations (61%) followed by medicines (9%). This study assessed a number of GPA and MPA patients in France during a large period of time and described the evolution of therapeutic management of patients. It demonstrates the major economic burden of the two phenotypes of AAV.

Assessing the impact of traffic signal performance on crash frequency for signalized intersections along urban arterials: A random parameter modeling approach

The recent development of Automated Traffic Signal Performance Measures (ATSPMs), has provided new opportunities and insights into traffic signal operations. As agencies begin to make decisions regarding investment in infrastructure and operation systems, it is imperative to understand the impacts these systems may have on safety. Past research has thoroughly investigated the impact of geometry and signal timing parameters on the safety of intersections, but little is understood on the relationship between improved signal performance and safety. This study uses vehicle trajectory data to create performance metrics for 121 signalized intersections on ten corridors near Columbus, Ohio. These metrics are used to understand the relationship between signal performance and safety. Two performance metrics, percent arrivals on green (POG) and level of travel time reliability (LOTTR), were used along with other volume and geometric data to model the total crash frequency on signalized mainline approaches. The crash data were modeled using a random parameters negative binomial approach. In consideration of potential unobserved heterogeneity between intersections, a correlated random parameters specification was tested alongside the traditional uncorrelated random parameters and fixed parameters model. Based on goodness of fit measures, the correlated random parameter model was chosen to interpret results because this model explains the complex cross-correlation among the estimates of random parameters. The elasticity values revealed a one percent increase in percent arrivals on green is associated with a reduction in total crashes by 1.12 %. The results of this study show the investment in signal operations and optimization result in an improvement in safety at signalized intersections. Further research should be explored to expand this study to additional intersections over a larger time period.

Predators, Disease, and Environmental Change in the Nearshore Ecosystem: Mortality in Southern Sea Otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) From 1998–2012

We compiled findings from 15 years (1998–2012) of southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) necropsies, incorporating data from 560 animals. Sensitive diagnostic tests were used to detect biotoxins, bacteria, parasites and fungi. Methods to classify primary and contributing causes of death (COD) and sequelae utilized an updated understanding of health risks affecting this population. Several interesting patterns emerged, including identification of coastal regions of high mortality risk for sea otter mortality due to shark bite, cardiomyopathy, toxoplasmosis, sarcocystosis, acanthocephalan peritonitis and coccidioidomycosis. We identified demographic attributes that enhanced the risk of disease in relation to age, sex, and reproductive stage. Death due to white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) bite increased dramatically during the study period and was the most common primary COD. However, when primary and contributing COD were combined, the most prevalent COD was infectious disease (affecting 63% of otters), especially fatal infections by acanthocephalans (Profilicollisspp.) and protozoa (e.g.,Sarcocystis neuronaandToxoplasma gondii). Fatal bacterial infections were also extremely common as a primary process or a sequela, affecting 68% of examined otters. Substantial advances were made in identifying sea otters that died following exposure to the pervasive marine neurotoxin domoic acid (DA), and DA intoxication was conservatively estimated as a primary or contributing COD for 20% of otters. Cardiomyopathy was also highly prevalent as a primary or contributing COD (41%) and exhibited significant associations with DA intoxication and protozoal infection. For adult and aged adult females in late pup care through post-weaning at the time of death, 83% had end lactation syndrome (ELS) as a primary or contributing COD. This comprehensive longitudinal dataset is unique in its depth and scope. The large sample size and extensive time period provided an opportunity to investigate mortality patterns in a changing environment and identify spatial and temporal disease “hot spots” and emerging threats. Our findings will help improve estimates of population-level impacts of specific threats and optimize conservation and environmental mitigation efforts for this threatened species.

Richard Dickerson, Molecular Clocks, and Rates of Protein Evolution.

Proteins approximately behave as molecular clocks, accumulating amino acid replacements at a more or less constant rate. Nonetheless, each protein displays a characteristic rate of evolution: whereas some proteins remain largely unaltered over large periods of time, others can rapidly accumulate amino acid replacements. An article by Richard Dickerson, published in the first issue of the Journal of Molecular Evolution (J Mol Evol 1:26-45, 1971), described the first analysis in which the rates of evolution of many proteins were compared, and the differences were interpreted in the light of their function. When comparing the sequences of fibrinopeptides, hemoglobin, and cytochrome c of different species, he observed a linear relationship between the number of amino acid replacements and divergence time. Remarkably, fibrinopeptides had evolved fast, cytochrome c had evolved slowly, and hemoglobin exhibited an intermediate rate of evolution. As the Journal of Molecular Evolution celebrates its 50th anniversary, I highlight this landmark article and reflect on its impact on the field of Molecular Evolution.

Resolving period aliases for TESS monotransits recovered during the extended mission

ABSTRACT We set out to explore how best to mitigate the number of period aliases for a transiting Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) system with two identified transits separated by a large time period on the order of years. We simulate a realistic population of doubly transiting planets based on the observing strategy of the TESS primary and extended missions. We next simulate additional observations using photometry (NGTS) and spectroscopy (HARPS and CORALIE) and assess its impact on the period aliases of systems with two TESS transits. We find that TESS will detect around 400 exoplanets that exhibit one transit in each of the primary and extended missions. Based on the temporal coverage, each of these systems will have an average of 38 period aliases. We find that, assuming a combination of NGTS and CORALIE over observing campaigns spanning 50 d, we can find the true alias, and thus solve the period, for up to 207 of these systems with even more being solved if the observing campaigns are extended or we upgrade to HARPS over CORALIE.

Impact of Hydro-Climatic Changes on Coastal Dunes Landscape According to Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (The Case Study of Curonian Spit)

Coastal dunes are recognized as one of the most threatened ecosystems, the formation of which mainly depends on two opposite processes—sand dunes overgrowth and formation of open dunes. The application of cost-effective remote sensing methods permits monitoring the interaction of these two processes over a large area and long periods of time. Therefore in this study we assessed the links between hydro-meteorological parameters and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in Curonian spit coastal dunes landscape-a creation of human and nature integrity situated in the South eastern part of the Baltic Sea. Time series of NDVI (2000–2019) were obtained from the moderate resolution imaging spectro-radiometer and compared with hydro-meteorological parameters in three different ecosystems—forest, herbaceous and open sands. Moderate and strong positive correlation between NDVI and average wind speed was detected in non-forested ecosystems. Moderate positive correlation was detected between NDVI and the Baltic sea water level in all three analyzed ecosystems. Moderate positive correlation between NDVI and air temperature was found in forest ecosystem. This confirms that NDVI could be treated as an appropriate indicator, showing the interaction of coastal dunes overgrowth and formation of open dunes, and could be applied in its management that should be reconsidered under nowadays climate change.

Assessing the strength of democratic institutions associated with modern universities: the case of the Greek university

This paper proposes the establishment of a systematic framework for measuring dimensions of democracy within a university. It is shown that certain indicators internationally established and validated for the measurement of the institutional characteristics of democracy can, through appropriate adaptation, be transferred to the university field. A new model of mapping these characteristics to the university field was built using all available knowledge from international surveys, valid databases and researches conducted using questionnaires and structured interviews, specifically for the purposes of this paper. Chord diagrams, capable of providing meaningful dynamic graphical representations, were employed as a novel evaluative tool that highlights the existence and degree of significant interrelations between democracy indicators and democratic characteristics of the university. As a case study, we have chosen to analyze, compare and contrast the three most representative laws governing the operation of Greek universities for the last 35 years using the proposed model. Its operation, validity and capabilities were verified, after encapsulating the complex interdependencies among its variables, for a large time period, influenced by adverse social and economic changes. Thus, it can be used as an effective tool for comparisons among different universities, with respect to their democratic constitution.

Mining Impacts Assessment Using the LCA Methodology: Case Study of Afema Gold Mine in Ivory Coast

Environmental impact assessment studies are mandatory for major industrial or infrastructure projects in most countries. These studies are usually limited to on-site impacts during exploitation but do not consider indirect impacts generated off-site or those concerning other steps of the project, including dismantling. National regulations in various countries have recently begun to include these neglected impacts to obtain a better appreciation of project trade-offs. Several scientists have highlighted the substantial potential of using the life cycle assessment methodology to increase the level of detail and completeness of environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies. Even if mining activities are known to produce significant local impacts, their consequences outside an extraction site have not yet been well documented. The implementation of the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology in the EIA procedure has been carried out in a Au mining project by separating on-site and off-site impacts during the entire life cycle of the mine from prospection to site restoration following the end of exploitation. Mining projects occur over large time periods and require diverse materials and processes. The main difficulty of such analysis is the data collection that needs to be extrapolated for some of the activities. Even with these limitations, the Afema case study highlighted the significant share of off-site impacts (from a spatial perspective) and the major contribution of the exploitation phase of the mine (from a temporal perspective). Operating activities, especially excavation, ore, and waste rock transportation, blasting, ore processing, and tailing treatments, are the main impacts produced during the exploitation phase and are involved in climate change, particulate matter formation, and land destruction. Therefore, this standardized LCA method should be recommended by the regulatory authorities for use in EIA procedures. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:465-479. © 2020 SETAC.

Spatiotemporal variation in disturbance impacts derived from simultaneous tracking of aircraft and shorebirds

Abstract Assessing the impacts of disturbance over large areas and long time periods is crucial for nature management, but also challenging since impacts depend on both wildlife responses to disturbance and on the spatiotemporal distribution of disturbance sources. Combined tracking of animals and disturbance sources enables quantification of wildlife responses as a function of the distance to a disturbance source. We provide a framework to derive such distance–response curves and combine those with disturbance source presence data to quantify energetic costs of disturbance at a landscape scale. We tracked 90 Eurasian Oystercatchers Haematopus ostralegus and all aircraft in a military training area in the Dutch Wadden Sea. We quantified distance–response curves estimating flight probability and additional displacement for five types of aircraft activities, by comparing bird movement prior to aircraft presence with movement during aircraft presence. We then used the distance–response curves to map mean and variation in additional daily energy expenditure due to cumulative aircraft disturbance across the landscape for a 700‐day period. Flight probability and displacement responses differed strongly among aircraft activities and decreased from transport aeroplanes, through bombing jets, helicopters, jets to small civil aeroplanes. Since the most disturbing aircraft activities were also the rarest ones, mean additional daily energy expenditure did not exceed 0.25%. However, days with substantial (>1%) additional expenditure occurred between 0.1% and 3.7% of all days across high‐tide roosts in the tidal basin. Notably, expenditure particularly spiked on days with transport aeroplane activity (up to 8.5%). Synthesis and applications. We quantified cumulative energetic flight costs due to aircraft disturbance and found that these were low and unlikely to impact survival of oystercatchers in our study area. Our results provide evidence that the legal minimum flight height of 450 m for small civil aeroplanes effectively limits the disturbance of oystercatchers. Mitigation should focus on limiting the number of days when disturbance has a high impact by reducing rare but highly disturbing activities, especially transport aeroplanes. Our approach can be applied to other species and disturbance sources that are automatically tracked, for example boats and walkers, ultimately to quantify the entire anthropogenic disturbance landscape.

Thallium isotope ratios in shales from South China and northwestern Canada suggest widespread O2 accumulation in marine bottom waters was an uncommon occurrence during the Ediacaran Period

The tempo and magnitude of ocean oxygenation during the rise of animals in the Ediacaran Period (635 to 539 million years ago, or Ma) is debated. Reconciling this debate is key to understanding what role, if any, oxygen played in the rise of large morphologically complex life on Earth. We reconstruct a portion of Ediacaran ocean oxygenation history using thallium isotope records (reported as ε205Tl) captured in shales from South China (Wuhe section) and northwestern Canada (Goz A and Sekwi Brook sections). At first blush, our ε205Tl data from these two locations are very different. South China shales reveal two pronounced and extremely negative Tl isotope excursions, in mid-members II and III of the Doushantuo Formation (where ε205Tlauthigenic reach nadirs of −10.4 ± 0.2; 2SD and − 9.1 ± 0.2; 2SD, respectively). In contrast, northwestern Canada shales reveal fairly invariant values (average ε205Tlauthigenic = −2.1 ± 1.6; 2SD, n = 75). These disparate records are in much better agreement, however, if we cull from our dataset shales that were inferred in previous work to have been deposited in restricted settings. By comparison to analogous modern settings (e.g., the Black Sea), ε205Tl data in these shales most likely fingerprint local-scale processes. On the other hand, and also by comparison to modern settings (e.g., Cariaco and Santa Barbara basins), shales deposited in an open ocean setting probably captured a globally homogenous seawater ε205Tl (ε205TlSW). Moving forward with this assumption, we find that Ediacaran open ocean ε205TlSW values were predominantly comparable to bulk upper continental crust (ε205Tl = ~−2). These relatively heavy open ocean ε205TlSW imply limited Mn oxide burial in global marine sediments for large periods of time during the Ediacaran, and by inference also limited accumulation of O2 in global marine bottom waters. Only for what appear to be very brief episodes of time (≪5–10 million years) at ~635 Ma and ~580 Ma did open ocean ε205TlSW reach values considerably lighter than bulk upper continental crust (for example, ε205TlSW as low as −4.4 ± 0.2; 2SD at ~635 Ma and − 5.3 ± 0.3: 2SD at ~580 Ma). These much rarer negative ε205TlSW values require short-lived episodes of globally enhanced Mn oxide burial in marine sediments, and by implication also brief episodes of enhanced accumulation of O2 in global marine bottom waters. When interpreting geochemical data, it is important to make global-scale inferences only after identifying and accounting for local-scale overprints. Applying this strategy ourselves, we find compelling evidence for an Ediacaran global ocean that only very briefly experienced widespread bottom water oxygenation during the rise of animals.

Structural transformation in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia: Patterns, drivers and constraints

AbstractThis study analyses structural transformation in three Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries: Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt over a large time period (1960–2010). We examine labour productivity evolution and structural change contribution to productivity growth over different sub‐periods. We analyze the contribution of different economic sectors to aggregate structural change in the three countries. An econometric analysis is also performed to identify the main factors underlying the intensity and the pattern of structural change. Results suggest that the three countries initiated and achieved some progress in structural transformation over the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. However, this process has stagnated at low‐income levels and has remained unfinished. Deindustrialization occurred at an early stage of development in the three countries, in contrast to that noticed in developed and emergent countries. The results of the econometric analysis suggest a significant and positive association between investment and structural change as capital accumulation increases the future productive capacity and triggers reallocative efficiency. The human capital quality and availability has a positive and significant impact on structural change. Trade openness is also expected to boost structural transformations. However, labour market rigidity hampers structural transformation.

Hierarchical Resource Allocation in Multi-Service Wireless Networks With Wireless Network Virtualization

To balance the contradiction between the rapid growth of data service demands and the limited spectrum resources, wireless network virtualization (WNV) has been proposed as a promising technology by isolating and sharing wireless resources among different virtual networks in the future wireless networks. In this paper, a two-dimension-time-scale hierarchical resource allocation scheme is proposed in the multi-service wireless virtualized network, which consists of three 5G generic scenarios. The resource slicing problem is decomposed into two time scales including large time period for inter-slice resource pre-allocation and small time slot for intra-slice resource scheduling. In large time period, the inter-slice resource pre-allocation problem is formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem (MOOP) by modeling the packets arriving and serving process of each slice as a queueing system. While in small time slot, the resource block (RB) and power scheduling in each slice is formulated as a stochastic optimization problem considering dynamic traffic arrivals and time-varying channel conditions, which is aimed at optimizing the overall performance subject to various quality of service (QoS) requirements such as network stability, delay, reliability, transmission rate and power constraints. The stochastic optimization problem can be transformed into a delay-aware optimization problem by applying Lyapunov optimization technique, and be solved by the proposed algorithm consisting of a heuristic algorithm and a concave optimization algorithm. The simulation results show that the proposed schemes are close to the optimal solution with a lower complexity, which can also achieve a performance-delay tradeoff related to the control factor.

Assessing the usefulness of citizen science data for habitat suitability modelling: Opportunistic reporting versus sampling based on a systematic protocol

AbstractAimTo evaluate the potential of models based on opportunistic reporting (OR) compared to models based on data from a systematic protocol (SP) for modelling species distributions. We compared model performance for eight forest bird species with contrasting spatial distributions, habitat requirements and rarity. Differences in the reporting of species were also assessed. Finally, we tested potential improvement of models when inferring high‐quality absences from OR based on questionnaires sent to observers.LocationBoth datasets cover the same large area (Sweden) and time period (2000–2013).MethodsSpecies distributions were modelled using logistic regression. Predictive performance of OR models to predict SP data was assessed based on AUC. We quantified the congruence in spatial predictions using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. We related these results to species characteristics and reporting behaviour of observers. We also assessed the gain in predictive performance of OR models by adding inferred absences. Finally, we investigated the potential impact of sampling bias in OR.ResultsFor all species, and despite the sampling biases, results from OR overall agreed well with those of SP, for the nationwide spatial congruence of habitat suitability maps and the selection and directions of species–environment relationships. The OR models also performed well in predicting the SP data. The predictive performance of the OR models increased with species rarity and even outperformed the SP model for the rarest species. No significant impact of observer behaviour was found.Main conclusionsRelatively simple analyses with inferred absences could produce reliable spatial predictions of habitat suitability. This was especially true for rare species. OR data should be seen as a complement to SP, as the weakness of one is the strength of the other, and OR may be especially useful at large spatial scales or where no systematic data collection protocols exist.

Early Bacterial Colonization and Antibiotic Resistance Gene Acquisition in Newborns.

Several studies have recently identified the main factors contributing to the bacterial colonization of newborns and the dynamics of the infant microbiome development. However, most of these studies address large time periods of weeks or months after birth, thereby missing on important aspects of the early microbiome maturation, such as the acquisition of antibiotic resistance determinants during postpartum hospitalization. The pioneer bacterial colonization and the extent of its associated antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) dissemination during this early phase of life are largely unknown. Studies addressing resistant bacteria or ARGs in neonates often focus only on the presence of particular bacteria or genes from a specific group of antibiotics. In the present study, we investigated the gut-, the oral-, and the skin-microbiota of neonates within the first 72 h after birth using 16S rDNA sequencing approaches. In addition, we screened the neonates and their mothers for the presence of 20 different ARGs by directed TaqMan qPCR assays. The taxonomic analysis of the newborn samples revealed an important shift of the microbiota during the first 72 h after birth, showing a clear site-specific colonization pattern in this very early time frame. Moreover, we report a substantial acquisition of ARGs during postpartum hospitalization, with a very high incidence of macrolide resistance determinants and mecA detection across different body sites of the newborns. This study highlights the importance of antibiotic resistance determinant dissemination in neonates during hospitalization, and the need to investigate the implication of the mothers and the hospital environment as potential sources of ARGs.

Body Composition And Energy Balance Changes In Collegiate Female Swimmers

Maintaining energy balance (EB) throughout training and competition should be a primary goal for competing athletes. Female athletes, in particularly, may be prone to low energy availability which can reduce performance and negatively impact training adaptations observed. Regular determination of EB is challenging due to the need for accurate dietary intake and energy expenditure. However, recently published formulas have allowed for the estimation of energy balance using body composition derived computation, but comparisons across competitive seasons in various sports are limited. PURPOSE: To examine the changes in body composition and EB in collegiate female swimmers across an entire competitive season. METHODS: Thirteen female NCAA Division II swimmers (mean ± SD: 19.5 ± 1.2 years; 68.9 ± 8.6 kg; 169.9 ± 8.8 cm) were evaluated annually at the beginning of two competitive seasons. Fat mass (FM), fat-free mass (FFM), and body fat percentage (BF%) were evaluated with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) and changes in energy balance (EB) were calculated as 1.0(ΔFFM/Δtime) + 9.5(ΔFM/Δtime). Data was analyzed using paired samples t-tests. A p-value of 0.05 was used for statistical determinations. RESULTS: Approximately 406 days separated each DEXA scan. Although body mass was not significantly affected (Year 1: 68.9 ± 8.9 kg vs. Year 2: 69.4 ± 8.2 kg, p > 0.05), a negative EB was observed (-67.0 ± 51.3 kcal·day-1) across the season. Significant changes (p < 0.001) in FM (Year 1: 18.6 ± 5.0 kg vs. Year 2: 15.4 ± 5.1 kg), BF% (Year 1: 28.0 ± 4.9%; Year 2: 23.4 ± 5.7%), and FFM were observed across time (Year 1: 47.0 ± 5.3 kg vs. Year 2: 50.2 ± 4.8 kg). CONCLUSION: Assessments of changes in body composition and energy balance are important considerations for athletes and coaches regarding the health and performance of athletes. From Year 1 to Year 2, female swimmers were largely successful at maintaining their energy balance while significantly improving FM, FFM, and %BF. Body composition derived assessment of energy balance can be used to provide general indications of energy balance status in athletes across large periods of time.

Improving the usability of the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) L1B2 Georectified Radiance Product (2000–present) in land surface applications

Abstract. The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on NASA's Terra platform has been acquiring global measurements of the spectrodirectional reflectance of the Earth since 24 February 2000 and is still operational as of this writing. The primary radiometric data product generated by this instrument is known as the Level 1B2 (L1B2) Georectified Radiance Product (GRP): it contains the 36 radiometric measurements acquired by the instrument's nine cameras, each observing the planet in four spectral bands. The product version described here is projected on a digital elevation model and is available from the NASA Langley Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC; http://doi.org/10.5067/Terra/MISR/MI1B2T_L1.003; Jovanovic et al., 1999). The MISR instrument is highly reliable. Nevertheless, its onboard computer occasionally becomes overwhelmed by the number of raw observations coming from the cameras' focal planes, especially when switching into or out of Local Mode acquisitions that are often requested in conjunction with field campaigns. Whenever this occurs, one or more lines of data are dropped while the computer resets and readies itself for accepting new data. Although this type of data loss is minuscule compared to the total number of measurements acquired and is marginal for atmospheric studies dealing with large areas and long periods of time, this outcome can be crippling for land surface studies that focus on the detailed analysis of particular scenes at specific times. This paper describes the problem, reports on the prevalence of missing data, proposes a practical solution to optimally estimate the values of the missing data and provides evidence of the performance of the algorithm through specific examples in southern Africa. The software to process MISR L1B2 GRP data products as described here is openly available to the community from the GitHub website (https://github.com/mmverstraete or https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3519988). Two additional sets of resources are also made available on the research data repository of GFZ Data Services in conjunction with this paper. The first set (A; Verstraete et al., 2020, https://doi.org/10.5880/fidgeo.2020.012) includes five items: (A1) a compressed archive (L1B2_Out.zip) containing all intermediary, final and ancillary outputs created while generating the figures of this paper; (A2) a user manual (L1B2_Out.pdf) describing how to install, uncompress and explore those files; (A3) an additional compressed archive (L1B2_Suppl.zip) containing a similar set of results, only for eight other sites, spanning a much wider range of geographical, climatic and ecological conditions; (A4) a companion user manual (L1B2_Suppl.pdf) describing how to install, uncompress and explore those additional files; and (A5) a separate input MISR data archive (L1B2_input_68050.zip) for Path 168, Orbit 68050. This latter archive is usable with the second set (B; Verstraete and Vogt, 2020; https://doi.org/10.5880/fidgeo.2020.011), which includes (B1) a stand-alone, self-contained, executable version of the L1B2 correction codes (L1B2_Soft_Win.zip) that uses the IDL Virtual Machine technology and does not require a paid IDL license as well as (B2) a user manual (L1B2_Soft_Win.pdf) that explains how to install, uncompress and use this software.

Dutch Lives. The Historical Sample of the Netherlands (1987–): Development and Research

The HSN was initiated during the period 1987–1989 when an interdisciplinary and interuniversity group of Dutch scholars started discussing the foundation of one large database with data on individuals. Building one general prospective database with multiple research possibilities was considered as the only way to realize a cost-effective and properly documented tool for historical research from economic, social, demographic, epidemiological and geographic perspective. The birth registration was considered the most adequate sample framework. The new database should be 'open' in the sense that extension should be possible in all kinds of ways: more sources or variables, more persons and larger time periods. The HSN was deliberately created as a nationwide sample covering the whole 19th and 20th century. Since 1991 about 12 million Euro has been invested in the database and related projects. Besides the basic sample about 25 additional projects have been realized that created all kind of extensions to the database. A special project is LINKS by which the indices of names from the Dutch civil registration are used to reconstruct pedigrees (for the period 1780–1940) and complete families (1811–1900) for the whole of the Netherlands or parts of it. In this article we will present an overview of the research that was done with the original themes and the new fields that were introduced over the years. We will also go into methodological issues that were picked up by the 'HSN community' and we will point out the present and future challenges for the HSN.

City Grade Classification Based on Connectivity Analysis by Luojia I Night-Time Light Images in Henan Province, China

City classification can provide important data and technical support for city planning and government decision-making. Traditional city classification mainly relies on the accumulation and analysis of census data, which requires a large time period and relies heavily on historical and statistical data. This paper mainly utilizes Luojia I Night-Time Light (NTL) images to analyze the rank classification of cities in Henan Province, China. Intensity values can be expressed as the mathematical surface of continuous human activities, and the basic characteristics of urban structures are determined by analogy with the topography of the earth. A connectivity analysis method for NTL images is proposed to analyze the connected regions of images at different intensity levels. By constructing a tree structure, different cities can be analyzed “crosswise” and “lengthwise” to generate a series of parametric information from connected regions of NTL images. Based on these parameters, 18 cities in Henan Province were classified and analyzed. The results show that these attribute information can be well used for city center detection and grade classification, and can meet the requirements of application analysis.

Observations of Temperature and Salinity Mesoscale Variability off the East Coast of Korea using an Underwater Glider: Comparison with Ship CTD Survey Data

Lee, J.-H.; Hyeon, J.-W.; Jung, S.-K.; Lee, Y.-K., and Ko, S.-H., 2020. Observations of temperature and salinity mesoscale variability off the east coast of Korea using an underwater glider: Comparison with ship CTD survey data. In: Malvárez, G. and Navas, F. (eds.), Global Coastal Issues of 2020. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 95, pp. 1167–1171. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.An underwater glider is an autonomous underwater vehicle that observes oceanographic data while following way points. Underwater gliders can be operated remotely, regardless of dangerous sea states such as typhoons, and have the advantage of acquiring high-resolution three-dimensional oceanographic data over large areas and long time periods. Here, we present water temperature and salinity data observed by an underwater glider following the ship conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) survey line 105 off the east coast of Korea for a period of 30 days (20 August–20 September 2018). In total, the underwater glider traveled 450 km horizontally in two round trips along the survey line at depths of approximately 200 m. The CTD profile data from the underwater glider and the ship were compared at three sites on the survey line. The root mean square error of the water temperature and salinity measured by the underwater glider and the ship at site 105-8 were 0.08–0.10°C, and 0.02–0.17 psu, respectively. Overall, the distribution, range, and variability of the data collected by the underwater glider and the ship were similar at this site. The underwater glider was able to continuously observe changes in water temperature and salinity between the sites during Typhoon Soulik. Following the passage of the typhoon, the surface water temperature at site 105-7 decreased by 2.68°C and salinity increased by 0.87 psu; at site 105-9, temperature decreased by 3.54°C and salinity increased by 0.44 psu. These changes were caused by vertical mixing of surface water with sub-surface water during the typhoon. The mesoscale vertical mixing effect of the typhoon was examined using zonal hydrographic section measurements of temperature and salinity data. Our findings demonstrate the suitability of using underwater gliders off the east coast of Korea for long-term observations of mesoscale variability in water temperature and salinity.

A comparative study of prediction and classification models on NCDC weather data

Weather forecasting plays a significant role in different aspects of life such as in the operation of hydro-power plants, renewable energy, flood management, and agriculture. Recently, machine learning techniques have been used for weather forecasting for large periods of time, as it is more accurate than models based on physical principles. To address various problems, varieties of machine learning algorithms are applied in different fields. In our work, to examine whether these models are robust to predict National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) weather conditions, we carried out to compare newly emerging models with traditional meteorological models. In this paper, a set of the most common machine learning techniques are explored to generate robust weather forecasting model for long periods of time. Moreover, the combinations of all the model parameters are considered for simulations and the performance results of each method using a 10-fold cross-validation procedure are presented. The experimental results of the classifiers show that the decision tree CART, XGBoost and AdaBoost models exhibit better classification accuracy when compared with the other methods and for regression task, the linear regression method performs better in terms of R2 metric.