The bonding variation of γ-TiAl during deformation

A relative importance analysis of various types of bonding through local energy and electronic structure was performed.

Modeling of Basin Scale Hydro-meteorological association by Hybrid Wavelet-ARX approach

<p>Modeling the interaction between meteorological and hydrological variables (hydro-meteorological association) is challenging owing to its high spatiotemporal variability. However, the reliable modeling of these hydro-meteorological association can help in ensuring future water security under changing climate, and it might reduce the cost of managing water resources. These associations are expected to evolve with time. Hence, analysis of the meteorological and hydrological variable at their constituent wavelet level might help in modeling of underlying association between them. This article reports the research findings of a recent study (Suman and Maity, 2019), in which a method based on Multi-Resolution Stationary Wavelet Transformation (MRSWT) is used for transforming the variables (target variable: hydrological variables; forcing variables: meteorological variables) to their wavelet components. The memory of the components of the target variable is modeled by a kernel-based auto-regressive (AR) model and the prediction residuals are modeled using auto-regressive model with exogenous inputs (ARX). The MRSWT components of the meteorological variables are considered as the exogenous inputs. The predicted components of the target variables are inverse-transformed to obtain its predicted value. This hybrid Wavelet-ARX approach is applied for predicting total monthly precipitation over Upper Mahanadi Basin using 16 predictor meteorological variables. The efficacy of the model (compared to other modeling frameworks, such as ARX, Vector ARX) in modeling hydro-meteorological association is observed given the poorly associated hydro meteorological variables. Additionally, a relative importance analysis (RIM) framework in the context of the model is formulated using dominance analysis (DARIM) and Birnbaum Importance Measure (BIM). These RIM frameworks help in separating a set of predictor variables, which have stronger hydro-meteorological association with total monthly precipitation compared to other meteorological variables. Under these frameworks, five most important meteorological variables with the strongest hydro-meteorological association are selected, and the model is again trained using these five inputs. The effectiveness of RIM frameworks in selecting predictors with stronger hydro-meteorological association is observed as the similar model performance is obtained with five selected predictors. Hence, hybrid wavelet-ARX model can effectively model hydro-meteorological association, and RIM frameworks can help in figuring out the predictors with the stronger hydro-meteorological association, leading less complexity and computation requirement in modeling. The developed model is suitable for extracting meteorological forcings and is desirable in a changing climate.</p><p> </p><p>Keywords: Hydro-meteorological association; Rainfall prediction/simulation; Climate change; Hybrid Wavelet-ARX model; Relative Importance analysis.</p><p> </p><p>Reference: Suman, M. and Maity, R., 2019. Hybrid Wavelet-ARX approach for modeling association between rainfall and meteorological forcings at river basin scale. <em>Journal of Hydrology</em>, <em>577</em>, p.123918.</p>

CULTURE AND SAVINGS: WHY DO ASIANS SAVE MORE?

It is a basic consensus that culture affects savings, but the empirical evidence is inadequate. This paper investigates the relationship between culture and savings by using the Hofstede cultural indices, and macro data across 48 countries over the period 1990–2013. The results show that country-fixed effects are highly significant, even if traditional variables are controlled for. We discover that culture can explain much of these individual effects and thus is very important in explaining differences in savings across countries. We use the method of Relative Importance Analysis (RIA) to measure the relative importance of the various cultural dimensions in affecting saving rates. We find that culture-related variables are among the most important saving determinants, along with other variables more commonly used in the economics literature, such as economic growth, social security, and demographics.

Characteristics of Bacterial Community and Function in Paddy Soil Profile around Antimony Mine and Its Response to Antimony and Arsenic Contamination

Research of bacterial communities and metabolism potential of paddy soils contaminated by antimony (Sb) and arsenic (As) are vital to acquire understanding for their bioremediation. Here, the relative abundance of Sb and As metabolism genes, the diversity and composition of the bacterial community, and the influences of geochemical properties and the bacterial community and metabolism potential have been researched by Tax4Fun2 prediction and high-throughput sequencing. LEfSe (linear discriminant analysis effect size) analysis shown different taxa were enriched in dissimilar soil layers. RDA (Redundancy analysis) and relative importance analysis indicated the main properties including total sulfur (TS), total organic carbon (TOC), pH, and the bioavailable fractions of Sb and As affects the bacterial community, which Sbrec, Astot, and Asrec had greater impact on the bacterial taxonomic community. For example, Asrec, Astot, and Sbrec had a positive correlation with Chloroflexi and Rokubacteria, but negatively correlated with Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria. Obtaining metabolic function genes by using the tax prediction method. RDA, relative importance analysis, and co-occurrence network analysis showed the geochemical properties and bacterial community affected Sb and As related bacterial functions. The partial least squares path model (PLS-PM) analysis indicated Sb and As contamination fractions had negative effects on ecological function, bacterial community structure had positive influences on ecological function, and the direct effects of geochemical properties on ecological function was greater than community structure. The direct impact of As contamination fractions on bacterial community structure was greater than Sb, while the direct impact of Sb contamination fractions on bacterial function was more remarkable than As. Obviously, this study provides a scientific basis for the potential of biochemical remediation of Sb and As contamination in paddy soils profile.