Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
U.S. Soil Erosion Rates--Myth and Reality

No problem of resource or environmental management can be rationally addressed until its true space and time dimensions are known. The limitations of the universal soil loss equation and the wind erosion equation are such that we do not seem to have a truly informed idea of how much soil erosion is occurring in this country, let alone of the processes of sediment movement and deposition. The uncritical use of models is unacceptable as science and unacceptable as a basis for national policy. A comprehensive national system of monitoring soil erosion and consequent downstream sediment movement and/or blowing dust is critical. The costs would be significant; nevertheless, they would reflect efforts better focused on achieving better management of the United States9 land and water resources.
The Dynamics of Punishment and Trust

The trade-off between mercy and justice is a classic moral dilemma, particularly for organizational leaders and managers. In 3 complementary studies, we investigated how resolving the “punishment dilemma” influences interpersonal trust. Study 1 used controlled scenarios to show that uninvolved observers trusted leaders who administered large or medium punishment more than leaders who administered no punishment when transgressors deserved punishment. At the same time, large punishment decreased trust more than medium or no punishment for less deserving targets. Study 2’s similar scenarios showed that leaders who administered punishment lost trust when they subsequently received benefits even though it was not clear whether their benefits resulted from their act of punishment. Study 3 provided a behavioral replication of these results. These findings suggest that people trusted punishers more than nonpunishers, but only when punishers’ motives were not personal revenge. In the discussion, we explore the practical and theoretical implications of these results for organizations.
Learning to Predict from Crowdsourced Data

Crowdsourcing services like Amazon's Mechanical Turk have facilitated and greatly expedited the manual labeling process from a large number of human workers. However, spammers are often unavoidable and the crowdsourced labels can be very noisy. In this paper, we explicitly account for four sources for a noisy crowdsourced label: worker's dedication to the task, his/her expertise, his/her default labeling judgement, and sample difficulty. A novel mixture model is employed for worker annotations, which learns a prediction model directly from samples to labels for efficient out-of-sample testing. Experiments on both simulated and real-world crowdsourced data sets show that the proposed method achieves significant improvements over the state-of-the-art.
The Community of Parasites Infecting Clarias gariepinus in the Tanzanian Waters: A Case of Lake Victoria

Quantitative variations in parasites were investigated with respect to sex and size of Clarias gariepinus, season and localities sampled. Parasitic infection in male and female fish was not significantly different; prevalence (Man-Whitney paired sample test, U = 135.5, p = 0.7697), mean intensity (U = 136, p = 0.7829). Based on Kruskal-Wallis test analysis, the prevalence and mean intensity of five parasite species varied significantly among the three localities sampled. Adult parasites in Clarias gariepinus showed high abundance during the dry season while the larval forms showed high abundance in the wet season. In most of the parasite species analyzed the abundance varied significantly with host size. The abundance of Dolops ranarum, Paracamallanus cyatopharynx and Eumasenia bangweulensis for instance, increased with fish size, while that of Diplostomum mashonense, Tylodelphys species, Astiotrema reniferum, piscicolid leeches and Monobothrioides woodlandi increased initially but decreased as fish length reached 31 - 40 cm. Total parasite burden increased in fish of 20 - 40 cm standard length. Generally, most parasites were highly overdispersed and the negative binomial model described their distribution.
Assessing relationships between Radarsat-2 C-band and structural parameters of a degraded mangrove forest

Relationships were assessed between mangrove structural data (leaf area index (LAI), stem density, basal area, diameter at breast height (DBH)) collected from 61 stands located in a black mangrove (Avicennia germinans)-dominated forest and both single polarized ultra-fine (3 m) and multipolarized fine beam (8 m) Radarsat-2 C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. The stands examined included representatives from the four types of mangroves that typify this degraded system, specifically: predominantly dead mangrove, poor-condition mangrove, healthy dwarf mangrove, and tall healthy mangrove. The results indicate that the selection of the spatial resolution (3 m vs. 8 m) of the incidence angle (27–39°) and the polarimetric mode greatly influence the relationship between the SAR and mangrove structural data. Moreover, the extent of degradation, i.e. whether dead stands are considered, also determines the strength of the relationships between the various SAR and mangrove parameters. When dead stands are included, the strongest overall relationships between the ultra-fine backscatter (incidence angle of ∼32°) and the various structural parameters were found using the horizontal-horizontal (HH) polarization/horizontal-vertical (HV) polarization ratio. However, if the dead stands are not included, then significant relationships with the ultra-fine data were only calculated with the HH data. Similar results were observed using the corresponding incidence angle (∼33°) of the fine beam data. When a shallower incidence angle was considered (∼39°), fewer and weaker relationships were calculated. Moreover, no significant relationships were observed if the dead stands were excluded from the sample at this incidence angle. The highest correlation coefficients using the steepest incidence (∼27°) were found with the co-polarized (HH, vertical-vertical (VV) polarization) modes. Several polarimetric parameters (entropy, pedestal height, surface roughness, alpha angle) based on the decomposition of the scattering matrix of the fine beam mode at this incidence angle were also found to be significantly correlated to mangrove structural data. The highest correlation (R = 0.71) was recorded for entropy and LAI. When the dead stands were excluded, volume scattering was found to be the most significant polarimetric parameter. Finally, multiple regression models, based on texture measures derived from both the grey level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) and the sum and difference histogram (SADH) of the ultra-fine data, were developed to estimate mangrove parameters. The results indicate that only models derived from the HH data are significant and that several of these were strong predictors of all but stem density.
Osmotic and stimulant laxatives for the management of childhood constipation

Constipation refers to an alteration in elimination and is a primary nursing concern. Many children suffer from constipation that can cause pain, discomfort, and psychosocial issues (Gordon, MacDonald, Parker, Akobeng & Thomas, 2016). Functional constipation means that there is no known physical or physiological cause for the child's constipation. For some children, a cycle occurs of painful bowel motions, which causes the child to retain stools to prevent further pain occurring. However, retention results in further constipation with larger, harder stools, and the cycle continues. Consequences of constipation in children can include anal fissures, rectal prolapse, impaction and encopresis. Constipation can be identified using the Rome III criteria and is said to exist when children have at least 2 of the following symptoms (present for at least 2months in children over 4 years of age, or at least 1month in children less than 4 years of age): 2 or fewer defecations per week, 1 episode of incontinence after toilet training has been achieved, voluntary stool retention, painful or hard bowel movements, large diameter faecal mass in the rectum, or large diameter stools in the toilet. A clinical team works closely with the child and family to treat functional constipation, usually with combined therapies of laxatives and dietary and behavioural approaches. Osmotic laxatives work by drawing water into the stool, making it easier to pass. Osmotic laxatives include lactulose, milk of magnesia (MoM), and polyethylene glycol (PEG) such as Movicol. Stimulant laxatives work by increasing the contraction of muscles in the intestines that induces bowel movements. Stimulant laxatives include castor oil, senna compounds, aloe, and cascara.
The relationship between archaeological stratigraphy and artificial ground and its significance in the Anthropocene

Abstract This paper investigates the relationship between archaeological stratigraphy (in archaeology) and artificial ground (in geology) and considers their wider application to the investigation and characterization of the Anthropocene. Evidence from two archaeological case studies is used to illuminate key points. The first case study examines stratigraphic sequences from beneath the city of Leicester, UK; the second looks at stratified deposits within the prehistoric settlement mound of Abu Hureyra, Syria. Earthworks, riverworks and cultivation soils are also considered. Archaeological and geological perspectives are combined to develop a unified view of anthropogenic deposits that cover large parts of the surface of the Earth.
Sufi and scholar on the desert edge : Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Sanūsī and his brotherhood

The Sanusiya was one of the most influential Islamic movements in North Africa and the Sahara in the nineteenth century. It organised the Beduin of the desert and desert fringes into a Sufi movement that combined religious piety with trade. Later, it played a key role in the resistance to French and Italian colonialism. The basis of the movement was laid by the Maghrebi scholar Muhammad b. Ali al-Sanusi (1787-1859), who saw his task as being to advance the growth and spread of Islamic learning, in particular the study of Law and the prophetic tradition. This study of al-Sanusi focuses on the scholarly tradition of which he was part, and the heritage of his numerous books and the organisation of the Sufi order in North Africa. The book discusses his role in the Sufi network of Ahmad Ibn ldris and of the scholarly milieu of the Qarawiyin in Fez, giving an overview of the Sanusiya order in the mid-nineteenth century. It also presents al-Sanusi's writings.
Response of brinjal (Solaneum Melongela L.) to diffrent sources of nitrogen

A two year field trial was conducted during rainy seasons of 2000 and 2001 at Horticultural Research Station, Mondouri, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya to assess the response of brinjal cv. Jhuri, a local one, to different sources of nitrogen. The results revealed that combined application of organic manure, biofertilizers and 50% reduction in chemical fertilizer increased the growth, yield attributes and fruit yield of brinjal as compared to sole application of chemical fertilizer or chemical fertilizer at low dose in association with biofertilizer. The treatment 50% N + 25% PM + BF recorded a maximum fruit yield of 27.51 tonnes ha-1.
Diagenesis and porosity development in the First Eocene reservoir at the giant Wafra Field, Partitioned Zone, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait

The First Eocene reservoir at the Wafra Field produces heavy oil from very porous dolomites at depths of (300 to 400 m) in the Paleocene–Eocene Umm Er Radhuma Formation. Porosity is commonly 30–50%, permeability is commonly 100–2000 md, and those reservoir characteristics were determined largely by diagenesis. Early diagenesis is dominated by dolomitization, dissolution associated with dolomitization, and precipitation of sulfates. Petrographic and stable isotopic characteristics support dolomitization and sulfate precipitation in evaporated (refluxing) seawater during shallow burial. The highest permeabilities occur in subtidal facies. Low-permeability tidal-flat facies stratify the reservoir. Heavy oil preferentially filled high-permeability dolomites; whereas, low-permeability tidal-flat facies are commonly filled with water because their pore throats are too small to allow migration of viscous oil into the rock. This reservoir’s very high porosity is probably related to its shallow burial and early oil emplacement. Late-stage diagenesis is dominated by bacterial sulfate reduction (BSR) that caused dissolution of sulfate nodules, calcite cementation, sulfur precipitation, and oil biodegradation. The BSR is indicated by very low compositions of calcite cements ( to , Peedee Belemnite standard), which require an organic carbon source; probably oil. The oxygen isotopic compositions of the calcites support precipitation from formation waters similar to those in the reservoir now. The BSR probably started during initial oil emplacement and continues to the present. The BSR was heterogeneous resulting in produced oils with gravities of 14–21° API. Even heavier oils are present that could not flow during primary production. Primary production was likely greatest in areas and intervals with lighter, less viscous oil.
The age of the Mesoproterozoic Stoer Group sedimentary and impact deposits, NW Scotland

Abstract: The Mesoproterozoic Stoer Group of the ‘Torridonian' has been dated at 1177 ± 5 Ma (2σ), based on 40Ar/39Ar dating of authigenic K-feldspars precipitated in degassing structures within the Stac Fada Member, interpreted previously as an impact ejecta deposit. Fluid inclusion analysis of the K-feldspar shows that it precipitated from hot fluids, and so must immediately post-date emplacement of the ejecta blanket. The oxygen isotopic composition of K-feldspar is remarkably constant at 9.7 ± 0.2‰ (V-SMOW) and is consistent with derivation from evaporated lake water. The new age supports previous determinations of 1199 ± 70 Ma from Pb–Pb dating of limestone and 1180 Ma from palaeomagnetic data, but provides much higher precision. Supplementary material: The raw 40Ar/39Ar data, J-parameters, correction factors, air calibrations and blank data are available at http://www.geolsoc. org.uk/SUP18453.
Issues in dating young rocks from another planet: Martian shergottites

Abstract The 40Ar/39Ar ages of a group of Martian meteorites called shergottites are systematically older by about 25% or more than ages obtained using Sm–Nd and other radiometric dating methods. The older 40Ar/39Ar ages indicate the presence of 40Ar not derived in situ from the radiogenic decay of 40K. The ‘excess’ argon can be associated with several different components, including the Martian atmosphere and mantle. We discuss the sources of Ar in shergottites, and the methods used to separate and identify them.
Predictors of initiation of alcohol use among US adolescents: findings from a prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE To identify precursors of adolescent alcohol initiation and binge drinking. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING Self-report questionnaires. PARTICIPANTS A total of 5511 Growing Up Today Study participants aged 11 to 18 years in 1998. Main Exposures Individual, family, and social factors. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES First whole drink of alcohol and binge drinking. RESULTS Between 1998 and 1999, 611 girls (19%) and 384 boys (17%) initiated alcohol use. Older age, later maturational stage, smoking, adults drinking in the home, underage sibling drinking, peer drinking, possession of or willingness to use alcohol promotional items, and positive attitudes toward alcohol were associated with an increased likelihood of alcohol initiation. Girls who ate family dinner at home every day were less likely to initiate alcohol use than girls who ate family dinner only on some days or never (odds ratio, 0.66; 95% confidence interval, 0.50-0.87). Girls with higher social self-esteem and boys with higher athletic self-esteem were more likely to initiate alcohol use than those with lower self-esteem. Among teens who initiated alcohol use, 149 girls (24%) and 112 boys (29%) further engaged in binge drinking. Among girls, positive attitudes toward alcohol, underage sibling drinking, and possession of or willingness to use alcohol promotional items were associated with binge drinking; among boys, positive attitudes toward alcohol and older age were associated with binge drinking. CONCLUSIONS Eating family dinner at home every day may delay alcohol uptake among some adolescents. Alcohol promotional items appear to encourage underage alcohol initiation and binge drinking; this may warrant marketing restrictions on the alcohol industry.
Targeting and tailoring climate change communications

Social marketing studies suggest that targeting segments of the population, by assessing and addressing their values and motives for actions in the design of communications, can improve the effectiveness of health and environmental communications efforts. Guidance for climate change communication now routinely proposes targeting specific audience segments as a fundamental principle, despite ambiguity regarding what specific behaviors to target and a lack of empirical evidence for specific strategies. Audience segmentation strategies proposed to date for climate change communications resemble those used in other social marketing efforts, but can be proprietary or opaque, with little data on the effects of implementing them. Insufficient evidence exists to systematically demonstrate the effectiveness of targeting or tailoring climate change communications per se, other than by reference to related research on health and environmental risk communications. Meta‐analyses with systematic literature reviews, however, demonstrate that health risk communications can be more effective at changing attitudes and behaviors if they are tailored to the individual recipients' beliefs about their self‐efficacy. The advent of technology‐enabled microtargeting is rapidly expanding the opportunities for tailoring and targeting climate change communications and for adding to what we know from using them to make them effective. WIREs Clim Change 2013, 4:447–455. doi: 10.1002/wcc.234
Geochemical constraints on the origin of the Continental Flood Basalt magmatism in Franz Josef Land, Arctic Russia

The Continental Flood Basalts in Franz Joseph Land, Russia, consist of basaltic andesites and tholeiitic basalts with basalticandesitesalwaysunderlyingthetholeiiticbasalts.BothlavatypeslacknegativeNb-Taanomaliesprecludinganyinteraction or assimilation of continental crust. Ratios of highly incompatible elements like Th/Ce are similar to those of the oceanic island basalts and positive Nd values lying between MORB and Bulk Earth, indicate that the erupted magmas originated from an asthenospheric mantle plume. Major and trace element abundances that used to reconstruct the hypothetical parental magmas, indicate that for basaltic andesites this hypothetical magma originated by partial melting of an ascending plume at higher pressures than those for tholeiitic basalts. Our model requiresfor basalticandesites11% melting of aplumeat apressure of 45 kbar.Thestarting picrite with 20wt% MgO becamelessMg-richandachievedacompositionof11wt%MgOmainlybyolivinefractionation.Thesubsequentevolutionofthese lavas is characterised by fractionation processes in which clinopyroxene was the dominant phase. For tholeiitic basalts a starting picrite with 16 wt% MgO requires 23% melting of an ascending plume at a pressure of 30 kbar.
Glacier winds in the Rongbuk Valley, north of Mount Everest: 2. Their role in vertical exchange processes

[1] High ozone concentrations, combined with low humidity and strong, persistent glacier winds, were found at the surface of Rongbuk Valley, north of Mount Everest, with sharply increased ozone concentrations in their vertical profiles. Glacier winds and their roles in vertical exchange of the atmosphere were investigated numerically to understand the phenomena. A Lagrangian particle dispersion model was used to carry out numerical experiments (forward-in-time simulations) and footprint analysis (backward-in-time simulations). The meteorological data inputs for these experiments were derived from the Advanced Regional Prediction System. Results showed that glacier winds may lead to significant downward transport of 1.5–2 km during the daytime from the northern slopes of Mount Everest. Glacier winds could advance down through the valley, with strong upward motions shown as a rolling up in front of their leading edge. Combining with upslope winds at two sidewalls of the valley or up-valley winds of tributaries, the lifting flows produced strong mixing of the atmosphere to a depth of approximately 3 km. Three-dimensional footprints derived from the particle dispersion model for the observational site, Rongbuk Monastery, clearly show influence from the mountainside of Mount Everest and from the southern part of the valley. The vertical extension of influence was as much as 2–3 km. Good correlation was found between the influence height and the ozone concentration. All the simulation results strongly indicate that the glacier winds and their related vertical exchange processes “pump down” ozone-rich air from upper levels to the surface of the valley.
Multilocus Association Testing of Quantitative Traits Based on Partial Least-Squares Analysis

Because of combining the genetic information of multiple loci, multilocus association studies (MLAS) are expected to be more powerful than single locus association studies (SLAS) in disease genes mapping. However, some researchers found that MLAS had similar or reduced power relative to SLAS, which was partly attributed to the increased degrees of freedom (dfs) in MLAS. Based on partial least-squares (PLS) analysis, we develop a MLAS approach, while avoiding large dfs in MLAS. In this approach, genotypes are first decomposed into the PLS components that not only capture majority of the genetic information of multiple loci, but also are relevant for target traits. The extracted PLS components are then regressed on target traits to detect association under multilinear regression. Simulation study based on real data from the HapMap project were used to assess the performance of our PLS-based MLAS as well as other popular multilinear regression-based MLAS approaches under various scenarios, considering genetic effects and linkage disequilibrium structure of candidate genetic regions. Using PLS-based MLAS approach, we conducted a genome-wide MLAS of lean body mass, and compared it with our previous genome-wide SLAS of lean body mass. Simulations and real data analyses results support the improved power of our PLS-based MLAS in disease genes mapping relative to other three MLAS approaches investigated in this study. We aim to provide an effective and powerful MLAS approach, which may help to overcome the limitations of SLAS in disease genes mapping.