Large-scale scientific collaborations, such as the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) at CERN, produce a vast and ever-growing corpus of internal documentation. Navigating this complex information landscape presents a significant challenge for both new and experienced researchers, hindering knowledge sharing and slowing down the pace of scientific discovery. To address this, we present a prototype of MITRA, a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) based system, designed to answer specific, context-aware questions about physics analyses. MITRA employs a novel, automated pipeline using Selenium for document retrieval from internal databases and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) with layout parsing for high-fidelity text extraction. Crucially, MITRA's entire framework, from the embedding model to the Large Language Model (LLM), is hosted on-premise, ensuring that sensitive collaboration data remains private. We introduce a two-tiered vector database architecture that first identifies the relevant analysis from abstracts before focusing on the full documentation, resolving potential ambiguities between different analyses. We demonstrate the prototype's superior retrieval performance against a standard keyword-based baseline on realistic queries and discuss future work towards developing a comprehensive research agent for large experimental collaborations.
We propose a methodology for falsifying safety properties in robotic vehicle systems through property-guided reduction and surrogate execution. By isolating only the control logic and physical dynamics relevant to a given specification, we construct lightweight surrogate models that preserve property-relevant behaviors while eliminating unrelated system complexity. This enables scalable falsification via trace analysis and temporal logic oracles. We demonstrate the approach on a drone control system containing a known safety flaw. The surrogate replicates failure conditions at a fraction of the simulation cost, and a property-guided fuzzer efficiently discovers semantic violations. Our results suggest that controller reduction, when coupled with logic-aware test generation, provides a practical and scalable path toward semantic verification of cyber-physical systems.
Study region: Inland River Basin of Inner Mongolia Plateau(IRB), China. Study focus: Ecological drought (ED) may trigger irreversible ecosystem disruptions, including shifts in habitat distribution patterns and sharp reductions in species populations within affected environments. This research developed the Standardized Ecological Water Deficit Index (SEWDI), while employing the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA) model to quantify Net Primary Productivity (NPP) variations in Inland River Basin (IRB). The cumulative and laggged effects of ED on NPP were analyzed using the maximum correlation coefficient method. The NPP loss probability of different ED levels was calculated based on Copula function. The impacts of ED and meteorological factors on NPP were examined through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). New hydrological insights for the region: The results reveal that the mean annual NPP exhibited a distinct southeast-to-northwest gradient in spatial distribution. The maximum cumulative correlation between SEWDI and NPP was 87.89 %, mainly in the southern part of IRB. The maximum lagged time correlation showed a positive correlation of 74.65 %, and the average lagged time was 2.60 months. With the increase of ED grade, the probability of NPP loss decreased, and when ED occurred, the high loss probability of NPP less than 0.4 and 0.3 quantile was located in the eastern part of IRB. The total effect of different factors on NPP was SEWDI (0.086), Prec (0.159), Temp (0.282) and Srad (0.077).
This work introduces a unified emulation framework for studying continuum physics in finite quantum systems. Using a reduced basis method, we construct powerful emulators for the inhomogeneous Schrödinger equation that operate in a combined parameter space of complex energy ($E$) and other inputs ($\bmθ$). Within the space, the emulators simultaneously perform analytical continuation in $E$ -- extracting continuum physics from numerically simpler bound-state-like calculations -- and interpolate this entire process across $\bmθ$. This yields a small, non-Hermitian system whose properties (e.g., resonances and scattering observables) can be rapidly predicted for any $\bmθ$. Crucially, the complex-$E$ emulation provides a pathway to compute continuum observables for complex systems where advanced bound-state methods exist but direct continuum calculations are yet to be developed, while the $\bmθ$-emulation enables rapid parameter-space exploration and can be adapted to accelerate other existing continuum calculations. Demonstrations with two- and three-body systems highlight the method's effectiveness and suggest its connection to (near-)optimal rational approximation. This Letter presents the key results, with further details reserved for a companion paper.
Dorina Camelia Ilieș, Andrei-Ionuț Apopei, Cristina Mircea
et al.
Natural stone can undergo disaggregation from various causes, including physical actions such as freeze–thaw cycles, temperature and humidity variations, chemical actions such as the solubilization of minerals by organic and inorganic acids, as well as biological actions due to the colonization of organisms that can produce biocorrosion and biomineralization. This research investigates the impact of microclimatic conditions and microbial activity on the physical and chemical integrity of stone heritage, particularly the biodeterioration caused by fungi in the case of a Romanian rock church. Various analytical techniques were employed, including macroscopic and optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and culture-based identification methods, to characterize the mineral composition and microbial contamination of the rock samples. The analyses revealed that the sandstone consists primarily of quartz (over 90%), muscovite (5–10%), and feldspars. The identified fungi included <i>Cladosporium herbarium</i>, <i>Aspergillus niger</i>, and <i>Mortierella hyalina</i>. The SEM images showed fungal hyphae and spores within the kaolinite–illite matrix, indicating significant microbial colonization and its role in rock deterioration. Additionally, microclimatic data collected over a 12-week period highlighted the substantial fluctuations in temperature and relative humidity within the church, which contribute to the physical and chemical weathering of the stone. This study also noted high levels of particulate matter (PM<sub>2</sub>.<sub>5</sub> and PM<sub>10</sub>) and volatile organic compounds, which can exacerbate microbial growth and stone decay. The comprehensive analysis underscores the need for targeted preservation strategies that consider both microclimatic factors and microbial colonization to effectively conserve stone heritage sites, ensuring their longevity and structural integrity.
The Loess Plateau in China is renowned for its dense gullies and complex terrain, with drastic changes primarily due to soil erosion and human activities, significantly affecting the evolution of the ecological environment. The complex terrains and dense vegetation make precise terrain measurement and modeling challenging. Although the development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) light detection and ranging (LiDAR) scanning and photogrammetry technologies has improved data acquisition precision, relying solely on one remote sensing technology struggles with accurately extracting bare earth information. This study adopted a method that fuses UAV lidar scanning with aerial photogrammetric imagery, generating detailed lidar point cloud data that includes coordinate, reflectance, true color, and texture information to enhance data classifiability and interpretability. Subsequently, a point cloud classification model based on the Transformer architecture (Stratified Transformer) is introduced to intelligently complete the initial ground point cloud extraction in complex gully terrains. Further, to address residual non-ground noise in the initial ground point clouds, a new point cloud classification optimization algorithm (MDD, Multi-scale C2M Distance Difference) is proposed. This algorithm, based on the characteristics of discrete and non-continuous with the ground surface of the noisy point clouds, effectively eliminates the discrete noisy point clouds by analyzing the distances between the point clouds and TINs (Triangular Irregular Networks) of different scales and their differences. This study effectively addresses the technical challenges of ground point cloud extraction in the mixed environment of complex terrain and vegetation, solving the problem of precise terrain measurement and intelligent data processing in complex gully terrains, and offering new technical pathways for detecting geomorphological changes.
The physical impossibility of heat transfer under isothermal conditions implies that the classical expression for the entropy of the ideal gas may not be compatible with the internal energy of the gas itself. A corrected expression of the ideal gas entropy is derived here. It is independent on volume. This result is shown to be at a variance with the statistical interpretations of entropy as a quantity that is related to the number of microstates compatible with the macroscopic state of the system. It also offers a better understanding of the thermodynamic notion of entropy. The present analysis also establishes a general equation that links the entropy of a system to its internal energy.
Abstract The Smithian–Spathian boundary (SSB) crisis played a prominent role in resetting the evolution and diversity of the nekton (ammonoids and conodonts) during the Early Triassic recovery. The late Smithian nektonic crisis culminated at the SSB, ca. 2.7 Myr after the Permian–Triassic boundary mass extinction. An accurate and high-resolution biochronological frame is needed for establishing patterns of extinction and re-diversification of this crisis. Here, we propose a new biochronological frame for conodonts that is based on the Unitary Associations Method (UAM). In this new time frame, the SSB can thus be placed between the climax of the extinction and the onset of the re-diversification. Based on the study of new and rich conodont collections obtained from five sections (of which four are newly described here) in the Nanpanjiang Basin, South China, we have performed a thorough taxonomical revision and described one new genus and 21 new species. Additionally, we have critically reassessed the published conodont data from 16 other sections from South China, and we have used this new, standardized dataset to construct the most accurate, highly resolved, and laterally reproducible biozonation of the Smithian to early Spathian interval for South China. The resulting 11 Unitary Association Zones (UAZ) are intercalibrated with lithological and chemostratigraphical (δ13Ccarb) markers, as well as with ammonoid zones, thus providing a firm basis for an evolutionary meaningful and laterally consistent definition of the SSB. Our UAZ8, which is characterized by the occurrence of Icriospathodus ex gr. crassatus, Triassospathodus symmetricus and Novispathodus brevissimus, is marked by a new evolutionary radiation of both conodonts and ammonoids and is within a positive peak in the carbon isotope record. Consequently, we propose to place the SSB within the separation interval intercalated between UAZ7 and UAZ8 thus leaving some flexibility for future refinement and updating. ZooBank LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:12326FE6-79DD-43A8-9421-26C3883FBE2E
Shanidar Cave, Iraqi Kurdistan, is one of the most important Palaeolithic sites in Southwest Asia. This is due to the long sequence of hominin occupation of the cave and the discovery of multiple Neanderthal individuals from the original Solecki excavations (1951–1960) and recent excavations (2014 to present). Preliminary taphonomic analyses of the microvertebrate assemblage were undertaken to understand the factors affecting assemblage formation and accumulation, and this paper presents the first results of these analyses. All contexts display a high proportion of fragmentation, with a slight decrease in breakage towards the base of the sequence. Black staining and root etching were observed in a similar pattern, present in most contexts but with an increase in the lower levels. A significant proportion of the microvertebrate remains examined displayed light traces of digestion, indicating some contribution to the assemblage by predators. The results are consistent with wider palaeoecological records that indicate relatively warm, wet conditions at the base of the sequence and cooler, drier conditions at the top.
Tiina Nõges, Sirje Vilbaste, Mark J. McCarthy
et al.
We analysed long-term (1992–2020) changes in fertiliser use, wastewater treatment, and river water nutrient status in Estonia (N-E Europe) in the context of changing socio-economic situations and legislation. We hypothesised that improved regulation of fertiliser usage and wastewater treatment are reflected as declining riverine nutrient concentrations, with the largest relative improvements occurring in catchments with initially high proportions of point source loading. We analysed nutrient dynamics in 16 rivers differing by catchment land use, population and livestock densities. Data on fertiliser use and wastewater treatment originated from the Statistics Estonia database, and riverine nutrient concentrations from the State Environmental Monitoring Database. We clustered the rivers by their catchment properties and analysed trends in their nutrient status. Point source nutrient loading reductions explained most of the decline in riverine nutrient concentrations, whereas application of mineral fertilisers has increased, hindering efforts to reach water quality and nutrient load targets set by the EU Water Framework Directive and the Baltic Sea Action Plan. Highest nitrogen concentrations and strongest increasing trends were found in rivers within the Nitrate Vulnerable Zone, indicating violation of the EU Nitrates Directive. To comply with these directives, resource managers must address non-point source nutrient loading from river watersheds.
HIGHLIGHTS
Drop in point source loading explained the decline in riverine nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) since 1994.;
Fertiliser and wastewater management measures failed short to meet the water quality and nutrient load targets set by the EU Water Framework Directive.;
Highest N concentrations and strongest increasing trends were found in rivers within the nitrate vulnerable zone violating the EU Nitrates Directive.;
River, lake, and water-supply engineering (General), Physical geography
Rafael Llorens, José Antonio Sobrino, Cristina Fernández
et al.
A methodology to estimate the extent of areas affected by forest fires, as well as the burn severity levels using Sentinel 2 images (10 and 20 m) is proposed and applied to the fires occurred in October 2017 in Spain and Portugal. An extension larger than 250,000 ha and 4 burn severity levels (low, moderate, high and very high) have been obtained. The comparison with the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), which uses MODIS images (250 m), shows that the methodology improves the area estimate by 10 % in commission area. In terms of burn severity levels, the Separability index (SI) and the Kappa statistic (k) show a high correlation between Sentinel-2 and EFFIS (SI values higher than one in all cases and k higher than 0.69, respectively).
Eva Pažourková, Josef Křeček, Peter Bitušík
et al.
Headwater streams are the smallest parts of rivers but make up the majority of river miles. The chemistry and macroinvertebrate composition of such streams are among the most important indicators of their environmental health. Macroinvertebrates are affected namely by runoff genesis and, in many regions of the world, also by acid atmospheric deposition and its consequences. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impacts of an extreme summer flash flood on the physical environment, chemistry and macroinvertebrates in a small headwater stream located in the Beech-woods National Nature Reserve of the Jizera Mts. (Northern Bohemia, Czech Republic). The studied stream is characterized by a pluvial hydrologic regime with perennial streamflow uniformly distributed within the year, with peak-flows originating mainly from summer rainstorms, and moderate current anthropogenic acidification. During the observed summer flash flood of the return period near 1,000 years, high currents (1-2.5 m s-1) flushed out 2.7 m3 of sand and gravel from the streambed, resulting in a devastating effect on macroinvertebrates. Both number of species/taxa and diversity were reduced by about 50% while the abundance of surviving taxa was reduced to about 10% compared with before the flood. The following spring after the event, both number of species/taxa, diversity and abundance increased, partially due to the temporary unsuccessful colonization of the site by several alien species creating a peak of biological diversity, but complete recovery of the original macroinvertebrate assemblages was not observed even during the subsequent two years. On the other hand, a significant drop in sulphate contents and rising alkalinity observed in stream waters during base flow conditions after the flood indicate positive effects on recovery of the aquatic environment by depleting the catchment sulphur pool. Thus, the flood did not significantly alter the long-term recovery of the studied headwater stream from acidification.
In the framework of a general scalar-tensor theory, where the scalar field is non-minimally coupled to the five-dimensional Ricci scalar curvature, we investigate the emergence of complete brane-world solutions. By assuming a variety of forms for the coupling function, we solve the field equations in the bulk, and determine in an analytic way the form of the gravitational background and scalar field in each case. The solutions are always characterized by a regular scalar field, a finite energy-momentum tensor, and an exponentially decaying warp factor even in the absence of a negative bulk cosmological constant. The space-time on the brane is described by the Schwarzschild solution leading to either a non-homogeneous black-string solution in the bulk, when the mass parameter $M$ is non-zero, or a regular anti-de Sitter space-time, when $M=0$. We construct physically-acceptable solutions by demanding in addition a positive effective gravitational constant on our brane, a positive total energy-density for our brane and the validity of the weak energy condition in the bulk. We find that, although the theory does not allow for all three conditions to be simultaneously satisfied, a plethora of solutions emerge which satisfy the first two, and most fundamental, conditions.
Abstract 1. The severe and ongoing decline in semi‐natural grassland habitat during the past two centuries means that it is important to consider how other, marginal grassland habitat elements can contribute to landscape‐level biodiversity, and under what circumstances. 2. To examine how habitat age and the amount of core grassland habitat in the surrounding landscape affect diversity in green infrastructure, we carried out inventories of 36 rural road verges that were either historical (pre‐1901) or modern (established post‐1901 and before 1975), and were surrounded by relatively high (>15%) or low (<5%) levels of grassland habitat. We recorded the number of plant species, grassland specialists, grassland conservation species and the fraction of the landscape's species and specialists found in the road verge. 3. Road verge communities were characterised by high levels of grassland specialist species (35% of the 161 species recorded), with road verge sites supporting 15–20% of the specialist species found in the surrounding 25 km2 landscape. 4. Richness of species and specialists were more closely related to road age than to the amount of surrounding habitat. Higher diversity in historical roads, despite the majority of modern roads being at least 60 years old, suggests a long time lag in the establishment of grassland communities in marginal grassland habitats. We identified no effect of historical surrounding land use on present day diversity in road verges. 5. Road verge richness was not affected by the amount of surrounding grassland. This could be due to the relatively low amounts of grassland remaining in all landscapes, together with dispersal limitation commonly found in grassland plant communities contributing to a potential time lag. 6. We identified road verges as potentially very important habitats for grassland communities. Because of the high levels of grassland specialists present, these and other marginal grasslands and grassland green infrastructure should be explicitly considered in landscape‐scale conservation management. Practitioners looking to identify the most species‐rich road verges should aim to find the oldest possible, while long time lags in community assembly suggests that seed sowing could be appropriate to enhance roadside diversity, even in decades‐old road verges.
Lucas Harris, Linjiong Zhou, Shian‐Jiann Lin
et al.
Abstract We present the System for High‐resolution prediction on Earth‐to‐Local Domains (SHiELD), an atmosphere model developed by the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) coupling the nonhydrostatic FV3 Dynamical Core to a physics suite originally taken from the Global Forecast System. SHiELD is designed to demonstrate new capabilities within its components, explore new model applications, and to answer scientific questions through these new functionalities. A variety of configurations are presented, including short‐to‐medium‐range and subseasonal‐to‐seasonal prediction, global‐to‐regional convective‐scale hurricane and contiguous U.S. precipitation forecasts, and global cloud‐resolving modeling. Advances within SHiELD can be seamlessly transitioned into other Unified Forecast System or FV3‐based models, including operational implementations of the Unified Forecast System. Continued development of SHiELD has shown improvement upon existing models. The flagship 13‐km SHiELD demonstrates steadily improved large‐scale prediction skill and precipitation prediction skill. SHiELD and the coarser‐resolution S‐SHiELD demonstrate a superior diurnal cycle compared to existing climate models; the latter also demonstrates 28 days of useful prediction skill for the Madden‐Julian Oscillation. The global‐to‐regional nested configurations T‐SHiELD (tropical Atlantic) and C‐SHiELD (contiguous United States) show significant improvement in hurricane structure from a new tracer advection scheme and promise for medium‐range prediction of convective storms.
Katherine Power, Jamie Barnett, Travis Dickinson
et al.
Irregular climate events frequently occur in Southeast Asia due to the numerous climate patterns combining. Thailand sits at the confluence of these interactions, and consequently experiences major hydrological events, such as droughts. Proxy data, speleothem records, lake sediment sequences and tree ring chronologies were used to reconstruct paleo drought conditions. These trends were compared with modelled and historic El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) data to assess if the ENSO climate phenomena is causing droughts in Thailand. Drought periods were found to occur both during El Niño events and ENSO neutral conditions. This indicates droughts are not a product of one climate pattern, but likely the result of numerous patterns interacting. There is uncertainty regarding how climate patterns will evolve under climate change, but changes in amplitude and variability could potentially lead to more frequent and wider reaching hydrological disasters. It is vital that policies are implemented to cope with the resulting social and economic repercussions, including diversification of crops and reorganisation of water consumption behaviour in Thailand.