On the Impact of GPS Multipath Correction Maps and Post-Fit Residuals on Slant Wet Delays for Tracking Severe Weather Events

in Atmosphere (2023), 14(219), 1-26

Climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of weather events with heavy precipitation, making communities worldwide more vulnerable to flash flooding. As a result, accurate fore- and ... [more ▼]

Climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of weather events with heavy precipitation, making communities worldwide more vulnerable to flash flooding. As a result, accurate fore- and nowcasting of impending excessive rainfall is crucial for warning and mitigating these hydro-meteorological hazards. The measurement of integrated water vapour along slant paths is made possible by ground-based global positioning system (GPS) receiver networks, delivering three-dimensional (3D) water vapour distributions at low cost and in real-time. As a result, these data are an invaluable supplementary source of knowledge for monitoring storm events and determining their paths. However, it is generally known that multipath effects at GPS stations have an influence on incoming signals, particularly at low elevations. Although estimates of zenith total delay and horizontal linear gradients make up the majority of the GPS products for meteorology to date, these products are not sufficient for understanding the full 3D distribution of water vapour above a station. Direct utilization of slant delays can address this lack of azimuthal information, although, at low elevations it is more prone to multipath (MP) errors. This study uses the convective storm event that happened on 27 July 2017 over Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which caused flash floods and severe damage, to examine the effects of multipath-corrected slant wet delay (SWD) estimations on monitoring severe weather events. First, we reconstructed the one-way SWD by adding GPS post-fit phase residuals, describing the anisotropic component of the SWD. Because MP errors in the GPS phase observables can considerably impact SWD from individual satellites, we used an averaging technique to build station-specific MP correction maps by stacking the post-fit phase residuals acquired from a precise point positioning (PPP) processing strategy. The stacking was created by spatially organizing the residuals into congruent cells with an optimal resolution in terms of the elevation and azimuth at the local horizon. This enables approximately equal numbers of post-fit residuals to be distributed across each congruent cell. Finally, using these MP correction maps, the one-way SWD was improved for use in the weather event analysis. We found that the anisotropic component of the one-way SWD accounts for up to 20% of the overall SWD estimates. For a station that is strongly influenced by site-specific multipath error, the anisotropic component of SWD can reach up to 4.3 mm in equivalent precipitable water vapour. The result also showed that the spatio-temporal changes in the SWD as measured by GPS closely reflected the moisture field estimated from a numerical weather prediction model (ERA5 reanalysis) associated with this weather event. [less ▲]

A Metabolomics-Based Investigation of the Effects of a Short-Term Body Weight Reduction Program in a Cohort of Adolescents with Obesity: A Prospective Interventional Clinical Study

in Nutrients (2023), 15(3), 529

Metabolomics applied to assess the response to a body weight reduction program (BWRP) may generate valuable information concerning the biochemical mechanisms/pathways underlying the BWRP-induced ... [more ▼]

Metabolomics applied to assess the response to a body weight reduction program (BWRP) may generate valuable information concerning the biochemical mechanisms/pathways underlying the BWRP-induced cardiometabolic benefits. The aim of the present study was to establish the BWRP-induced changes in the metabolomic profile that characterizes the obese condition. In particular, a validated liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) targeted metabolomic approach was used to determine a total of 188 endogenous metabolites in the plasma samples of a cohort of 42 adolescents with obesity (female/male = 32/10; age = 15.94 ± 1.33 year; body mass index standard deviation score (BMI SDS) = 2.96 ± 0.46) who underwent a 3-week BWRP, including hypocaloric diet, physical exercise, nutritional education, and psychological support. The BWRP was capable of significantly improving body composition (e.g., BMI SDS, p < 0.0001), glucometabolic homeostasis (e.g., glucose, p < 0.0001), and cardiovascular function (e.g., diastolic blood pressure, p = 0.016). A total of 64 metabolites were significantly reduced after the intervention (at least p < 0.05), including 53 glycerophospholipids (23 PCs ae, 21 PCs aa, and 9 lysoPCs), 7 amino acids (tyrosine, phenylalanine, arginine, citrulline, tryptophan, glutamic acid, and leucine), the biogenic amine kynurenine, 2 sphingomyelins, and (free) carnitine (C0). On the contrary, three metabolites were significantly increased after the intervention (at least p < 0.05)—in particular, glutamine, trans-4-hydroxyproline, and the octadecenoyl-carnitine (C18:1). In conclusion, when administered to adolescents with obesity, a short-term BWRP is capable of changing the metabolomic profile in the plasma. [less ▲]

Introduction

in Pettiau; Wagner, Anne (Eds.) L'évêque contesté. Les résistances à l'autorité épiscopale des Pays-Bas à l'Italie du Nord (2023)

The study of such a problematic over such a long period, from the tenth to the seventeenth century, adopted by the Lodocat project, needs to be marked out even briefly. The contributions, grouped in four ... [more ▼]

The study of such a problematic over such a long period, from the tenth to the seventeenth century, adopted by the Lodocat project, needs to be marked out even briefly. The contributions, grouped in four thematic and chronological parts, examine the representation of episcopal authority at the local level and the competition between different models of episcopal action. [less ▲]

Скончалась Эмилия Пух

in Website of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (2023)

Biography of Emmy Poukh (1933-2023), the wife of the Russian-Orthodox priest Luxembourgs Serge Poukh (1926-2016)

The creative process in(between) humans and machines

Doctoral thesis (2023)

Arguably, embodiment is the most neglected aspect of cognitive psychology and creativity research. Whereas most existing theoretical frameworks are inspired by or implicitly imply “cognition as a ... [more ▼]

Arguably, embodiment is the most neglected aspect of cognitive psychology and creativity research. Whereas most existing theoretical frameworks are inspired by or implicitly imply “cognition as a computer” metaphor, depicting creative thought as a disembodied idea generation and processing of amodal symbols, this thesis proposes that “cognition as a robot” may be a better metaphor to understand how creative cognition operates . In this thesis, I compare and investigate human creative cognition in relation to embodied artificial agents that has to learn to navigate and act in complex and changing material and social environments from a set of multimodal streams (e.g., vision, haptic). Instead of relying on divergent thinking or associative accounts of creativity, I attempt to elaborate an embodied and action-oriented vision of creativity grounded in the 4E cognition paradigm. Situated at the intersection of the psychology of creativity, technology, and embodied cognitive science, the thesis attempts to synthesize disparate lines of work and look at a complex problem of human creativity through interdisciplinary lenses. In this perspective, the study of creativity is no longer a prerogative of social scientists but a collective and synergistic endeavor of psychologists, engineers, designers, and computer scientists. [less ▲]

Family policy, intrahousehold bargaining, and child health

in Review of Development Economics (2023)

This study examines the effects of an exogenous change in family policy in Ethiopia on women empowerment and the allocation of resources toward child health. Empowerment is formalized as an unobserved ... [more ▼]

This study examines the effects of an exogenous change in family policy in Ethiopia on women empowerment and the allocation of resources toward child health. Empowerment is formalized as an unobserved latent variable based on a large set of questions pertaining to women's autonomy and decision-making power. Exploiting the time and regional variation in the implementation of the law, the study finds that early implementation of the reform increases women's access to information, literacy and education levels, and their assertiveness toward family planning and domestic violence. In addition, more decision power in the hands of women is found to have a positive impact on investments in the health and nutrition of children. The findings suggest that factors that do not enter the individual's preferences may affect outcomes for individuals and emphasize the role of intrahousehold heterogeneity. The results are robust to a battery of validity and specification checks. [less ▲]

New results in finite mixture modeling

Scientific Conference (2023, January 05)

Federated Learning for Credit Risk Assessment

in Proceedings of the 56th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (2023, January 03)

Credit risk assessment is a standard procedure for financial institutions (FIs) when estimating their credit risk exposure. It involves the gathering and processing quantitative and qualitative datasets ... [more ▼]

Credit risk assessment is a standard procedure for financial institutions (FIs) when estimating their credit risk exposure. It involves the gathering and processing quantitative and qualitative datasets to estimate whether an individual or entity will be able to make future required payments. To ensure effective processing of this data, FIs increasingly use machine learning methods. Large FIs often have more powerful models as they can access larger datasets. In this paper, we present a Federated Learning prototype that allows smaller FIs to compete by training in a cooperative fashion a machine learning model which combines key data derived from several smaller datasets. We test our prototype on an historical mortgage dataset and empirically demonstrate the benefits of Federated Learning for smaller FIs. We conclude that smaller FIs can expect a significant performance increase in their credit risk assessment models by using collaborative machine learning. [less ▲]

Laurent Menager (1835-1902). Kritische Gesamtausgabe, Abteilung II: Instrumentalwerke, Band 6, Kammermusik

Book published by Merseburger (2023)

Beschreibung des Verlags "Der sechste Band der Kritischen Gesamtausgabe der Werke von Laurent Menager ist zugleich der erste Band der Abteilung 2: Instrumentalmusik. Über den Begriff Kammermusik lässt ... [more ▼]

Beschreibung des Verlags "Der sechste Band der Kritischen Gesamtausgabe der Werke von Laurent Menager ist zugleich der erste Band der Abteilung 2: Instrumentalmusik. Über den Begriff Kammermusik lässt sich indes diskutieren. Jedenfalls sind die Werke für kleine Besetzung konzipiert. In Menagers Gesamtwerk nimmt die Kammermusik mit nur sechs Kompositionen einen kleinen Raum ein. Inhalt: Divertissement pour Viola (Viola, Klavier) Liebchen Geige (Violine, Gesang) Paraphrase pour cordes, op. 45 (5 Streicher) Prière du soir (Violoncello, Klavier) Streichquartett A-Dur, op. 1 Sur la Montagne, op. 35 (Horn in F, Klavier) Schwierigkeitsgrad: mittelschwer" [less ▲]

La "furor poetica", une manifestation des troubles du spectre autistique ? Le cas de l'écriture poétique de Simon-Gabriel Bonnot.

in Paradigmes (2023), VI(N°01), 11-26

La pluralité des approches de la folie (médecine, arts, littérature, philosophie, histoire) rend impossible un consensus définitionnel de ce concept. Néanmoins, d’un point de vue étymologique, qu’il ... [more ▼]

La pluralité des approches de la folie (médecine, arts, littérature, philosophie, histoire) rend impossible un consensus définitionnel de ce concept. Néanmoins, d’un point de vue étymologique, qu’il s’agisse de *mania* en grec ou de *furor* en latin, quelques uns des sens communs à ces deux mots sont : le délire prophétique, le transport, l’inspiration. Ces trois dénotations partagent l’idée d’une sortie de soi, hors de son bon sens, à des moments précis. Pour les Anciens, le poète est en effet précipité dans un état second par la puissance avec laquelle les muses possèdent son esprit, comme l’explicite Socrate dans le dialogue *Ion* : "Ainsi la Muse crée-t-elle des inspirés et, par l’intermédiaire de ces inspirés, une foule d’enthousiastes se rattachent à elle. Car tous les poètes épiques disent tous leurs beaux poèmes non en vertu d’un art, mais parce qu’ils sont inspirés et possédés, et il en est de même pour les bons poètes lyriques. […] Car ils nous disent, n’est ce pas, les poètes, qu’à des fontaines de miel dans les jardins et les vergers des Muses, [534b] ils cueillent leurs mélodies pour nous les apporter, semblables aux abeilles, ailés comme elles ; ils ont raison, car le poète est chose ailée, légère, et sainte, et il est incapable de créer avant d’être inspiré et transporté et avant que son esprit ait cessé de lui appartenir ; tant qu’il ne possède pas cette inspiration, tout homme est incapable d’être poète et de chanter." Cette théorie de l’enthousiasme peut s’apparenter synthétiquement à l’orphisme, dans la mesure où Orphée a pu aller, de son vivant, au royaume des morts, en revenir et en garder le souvenir. De la même manière, la croyance en la réincarnation des sectes orphiques néoplatoniciennes permet de concevoir que l’âme du poète a bu à la fontaine de Mémoire (Mnémosyne) et se rappelle ainsi son origine divine. De ce fait, l’art du poète est empreint de la divinité, mais ne peut être compris par les hommes dont l’âme s’est abreuvée au Léthé qui leur a donné l’oubli. Parlant une langue inconnue pour le commun des mortels, le poète orphique est alors maudit et rejeté par ses semblables : il est considéré comme fou. Je ne prétends pas défendre les croyances en la réincarnation des âmes, mais j’établis un parallèle entre l’état du poète possédé par les muses, le souvenir du divin qui habite sa langue causant ainsi son ostracisation, et le statut de fou. Cet article ne s’attache pas à étudier la folie représentée à travers des personnages romanesques, mais à appréhender les textes d’un poète que l’on peut qualifier de « fou » à l’aune des règles normatives corsetant de manière de plus en plus drastique les sociétés contemporaines. Je m’intéresserai donc aux écrits de Simon-Gabriel Bonnot3, poète de 23 ans atteint de troubles du spectre de l’autisme (TSA), Asperger à haut potentiel intellectuel. Mon objectif est de montrer comment l’hypersensibilité propre à cette « pathologie » (le terme est à prendre avec beaucoup de précautions) est source de création poétique. Mon corpus est constitué du premier recueil de poèmes de Simon-Gabriel Bonnot, *Courir dans la chair des murs*, publié en 2016, et de l'avant-dernier paru, *La nuit abolie*, 2020, afin d’introduire dans mon étude une dimension diachronique. Je souhaite explorer toutes les manifestations de l’hypersensibilité du poète, quel que soit le sens sollicité. L’acuité anormalement développée avec laquelle Simon-Gabriel Bonnot ressent son environnement peut constituer, pour le lecteur sans trouble de cette nature, une espèce d’initiation aux propriétés charnelles du monde. Cette expérience sensuelle extrême va de pair, chez le poète, avec l’angoisse douloureuse de la vie et de la mort. En d’autres termes, je voudrais montrer que chez le poète de notre corpus, la *furor poetica* n’est pas le fruit d’une possession par les Muses lors de moments d’inspiration circonscrits, mais un état permanent causé par le fonctionnement différent de son système cognitif. Cette recherche se trouve donc au carrefour de la littérature, de la stylistique, de la médecine psychiatrique et des études littéraires cognitives. [less ▲]