Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship between topography, land use and soil moisture in loess hillslopes

The relationship between topography, land use, and topsoil moisture storage is investigated for a small catchment with undulating deep loess hilslopes in the south of the Netherlands. For a period of 10 months, soil moisture profiles have been measured weekly at 15 locations throughout the catchment. A Generalized Additive Model was employed to find relationships between the various factors influencing soil moisture. It defines a water balance as a sum of non-linear components. The water balance is applied to our data at various spatial (catchment, response unit, hillslope and plot), and temporal (monthly, weekly and daily) scales. Each of the water balance components is parameterized as a function of topographic variables, land use variables, weather variables and antecedent soil moisture. The model framework is hierarchical: it starts at the coarsest spatio-temporal resolution, the water balance components found here act as constraints when identifying models at finer resolutions. It turns out that the importance of land-use variables varies considerably with temporal resolution. At coarse resolutions land-use is unimportant, whereas at finer resolutions it becomes more relevant. Land use is equally important over all spatial resolutions (response unit and finer). Topography is mostly relevant at the plot scale. The water balance terms become increasingly non-linear at finer scales. Evapotranspiration depends mainly on reference evapotranspiration and crop cover. Drainage to deeper layers depends mainly on soil moisture and to a lesser extent on topography. Lateral transport is weakly dependent on topography. It appears that autoregressive components become increasingly important at finer temporal resolutions.
Properties of Tropical Cyclones in Atmospheric General Circulation Models

The properties of tropical cyclones in three atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs) with low-resolution are discussed. The models are analysed for a period of 40 years. Characteristics of the tropical cyclones in the models are analysed and compared with those of observations, such as genesis position, number of cyclones, accumulated cyclone activity, number of storm days, tracks, and others. The three AGCMs have different levels of skill in simulating the different aspects of tropical cyclone activity in different regions. Some of the weak and strong features in simulating tropical cyclone activity variables are common for the three models, others are unique for each model and basin. The relation between model tropical cyclones and ENSO is analyzed in a paper currently in preparation.
Habitat segregation by moose in a boreal forest ecotone

We examined seasonal home range size and habitat use by sexes of moose Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758) near the southern edge of this species' geographic range. Home range size did not differ between males and females during any season. The distribution of forage partly explained seasonal habitat use by both sexes. However, sites occupied by males in summer (1 June - 15 September) and autumn (16 September - 31 December) were at higher elevations, had steeper slopes, and were farther from potential aquatic feeding sites than sites used by females. We suggest that habitat segregation during these seasons was a consequence of differential resource requirements, not active avoidance by either sex. During summer, females occupied lowland sites near forest cuts, presumably because these sites had abundant forage and dense understory cover that concealed their young from predators. Additionally, females utilized roadside salt licks more often than males during summer and autumn. Males occupied upland hardwood stands during summer in an apparent effort to avoid heat stress and maximize forage intake. Habitat characteristics of both sexes were similar during winter when resource needs were probably equivalent, and the quality and distribution of forage were more homogenous.
In-plane shear behaviour of Brick Masonry - A Literature Review on experimental study

Masonry buildings are brittle in nature and one of the most vulnerable among the different types of structural buildings under strong earthquake shaking. Horizontal loads, induced by earthquake causes severe in-plane and out of plane forces in wall. A wall topples down easily if pushed horizontally at the top in a direction perpendicular to its plane (out - of plane), but offers much greater resistance if pushed along its length (in-plane). The lateral load resistance of masonry buildings is mainly due to in-plane shear resistance of the masonry elements/piers. Therefore detailed investigation on the in-plane shear behaviour of masonry thus becomes necessary. Earthquake performance of a masonry wall is very sensitive to the properties of its constituents, namely masonry units and mortar. The shearing strength of masonry mainly depends upon the bond or adhesion at the contact surface between the masonry unit and the mortar. Thus, it is very important to improve the shear behaviour of masonry buildings. The primary gap identified through literature review was the lack of experimental research that addressed the response of masonry shear walls. This paper contains a review on the shear test conducted to improve the lateral load resistance of masonry walls.
Issues on the residents' perceptions of the impacts of tourism development: the case-study of GuimarÃ£es

In recent years peripheral regions, such as GuimarA£es, in the Northwest of Portugal, has been experiencing the expansion of its tourism industry. This occurred, may be, as part of the wish felt by a large number of tourists of reaching "unspoilt" landscapes and more "authentical" experiences (Nepal, 2008). After the nomination by U.N.E.S. C.O. , in 2001, of its historical centre as world heritage, the city of GuimarA£es is now in the process of hosting the 2012 European Capital of Culture. These recent facts helped to reinforce its external visibility and cultural significance and put it in the trail to become a more consolidated cultural tourism destination. This paper aims presenting a few results of a survey that envisaged capturing the GuimarA£es residents' perceptions of tourism effects and attitudes regarding the tourists. The survey was implemented between January and March 2010 to a convenience sample of 540 inhabitants of the municipality of GuimarA£es. The results show that the GuimarA£es` residents keep a strong positive perception of the tourism benefits. The more or less favourable perception of tourism impacts the survey respondents kept are strongly correlated with some demographic features, such as age, gender and level of education. As expected, we got a more positive perception among the younger cohorts of age and the ones endowed with a higher level of education.
Place, provider and timing: Factors influencing the overuse of cesarean in low-risk primigravid women

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the type and timing of commonly used intrapartum clinical factors and their relationship to birth outcomes. The factors included in the analysis were type of provider (midwife or obstetrician), place of birth (home or hospital), cervical dilation on admission, and commonly used labor interventions, namely use of continuous electronic fetal monitoring, epidural anesthesia and oxytocin on the type of birth (cesarean or vaginal birth). The research question guiding the analysis was: what factors increase the likelihood of cesarean birth (CB)? The findings reported here are parts of a larger mixed methods study that used three data collection methods: a projective test, a focus group, and a semi-structured postpartum interview. The study took place in an urban area in the mid-Atlantic United States and the sample was comprised of 49 low-risk primigravid women recruited between 28-36 weeks gestation. The analysis reported here only used data from the postpartum interview. During the interview, each woman reported the events of their labor and birth that were then mapped along a timeline. The findings show that admission to hospital early in labor played a key role in increasing the number of interventions used and was associated with increased risk of CB. The small, homogenous sample limited the ability to conduct more comprehensive statistical analysis and to generalize to more diverse groups, however, the proportional differences are highly suggestive and warrant further investigation.
We heart cultured hearts. A comparative review of methodologies for targeted differentiation and maintenance of cardiomyocytes derived from pluripotent and multipotent stem cells

Human cell lines, including disease cell lines are often superior to routine animal models for the purposes of rapid and safe assessment of the effects of different agents that may modulate myocardial functioning under physiological and pathological conditions. There are several currently existing methodologies for derivation of cardiomyocyte-like cells by targeted differentiation from pluripotent cells and by reprogramming/ transdifferentiation from other types of cells (multipotent progenitors, somatic cells, etc). The present paper reviews the potential sources of cells capable of differentiation along the cardiomyocyte lineage; the existing methodologies for targeted differentiation, outlining the specificities of each method; and the markers for differentiation along the mesodermal and the cardiogenic lineage. The yield of robustly beating cells expressing cardio-specific proteins derived by any of the existing methods, however, still rarely exceeds 70-90 %, even with the newly developed approaches for increasing the differentiation capacity. There still is significant variance in the results obtained by different research groups and even between different experiments carried out in the same laboratory, with the same type of cells and same general type of protocol. Derivation of new lines of human pluripotent and multipotent stem cells according to standardised protocols and in completely defined; xeno-free conditions may increase the reliability and reproducibility of research and speed up the development of potential clinical applications.
Assessment of Urban Water Supply and Sanitation: The Case of Bedesa Town, Damot Woyde Woreda of Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia

This study was conducted in Bedesa town, Wolaita zone, southern Ethiopia to assess the water supply and sanitation situation of the town. For this study, 195 households were selected by using systematic random sampling technique. Both primary and secondary data sources were used in this study. For primary data collection, household surveys, key informant interview, focus group discussion and personal observation were used as tools to collect the necessary information. For secondary data collection, document review was used to collect valuable information. The data from the respondents were analyzed using SPSS software. The findings revealed that the average per capita domestic water consumption of the town was found to be 9.6 l/c/d for the base year (2014) which only satisfies 48% of the minimum urban water consumption value set by WHO as a basic need (20 l/c/d) without considering the distance travelled to fetch water. Similarly, sanitation situation in the town was not good and encouraging. Lack of private sanitary pit, poor hand washing practice, lack of communal land fill, improper handling and disposal of wastes and lack of drainage ditch were identified as the major factors responsible for poor sanitation situation of the town. The major coping strategies for the challenges of Bedesa town water supply are synchronizing different water sources, conserving water sources, demand management, demand oriented supply, participating different actors, mobilizing financial resources, and establishing organizational structure with skilled staff and equipping it with material facilities. Likewise, the strategies for managing sanitation challenges include constructing communal land fill, constructing drainage ditch, awareness creation on hand washing after defecation and waste handling and disposal method, and integrating water supply and sanitation sectors. Keywords: Water supply, sanitation, hygiene, water demand, Bedesa.
An Oceanic General Circulation Model (OGCM) investigation of the Red Sea circulation: 2. Three‐dimensional circulation in the Red Sea

[1] The three-dimensional circulation of the Red Sea is studied using a set of Miami Isopycnic Coordinate Ocean Model (MICOM) simulations. The model performance is tested against the few available observations in the basin and shows generally good agreement with the main observed features of the circulation. The main findings of this analysis include an intensification of the along-axis flow toward the coasts, with a transition from western intensified boundary flow in the south to eastern intensified flow in the north, and a series of strong seasonal or permanent eddy-like features. Model experiments conducted with different forcing fields (wind-stress forcing only, surface buoyancy forcing only, or both forcings combined) showed that the circulation produced by the buoyancy forcing is stronger overall and dominates the wind-driven part of the circulation. The main circulation pattern is related to the seasonal buoyancy flux (mostly due to the evaporation), which causes the density to increase northward in the basin and produces a northward surface pressure gradient associated with the downward sloping of the sea surface. The response of the eastern boundary to the associated mean crossbasin geostrophic current depends on the stratification and b-effect. In the northern part of the basin this results in an eastward intensification of the northward surface flow associated with the presence of Kelvin waves while in the south the traditional westward intensification due to Rossby waves takes place. The most prominent gyre circulation pattern occurs in the north where a permanent cyclonic gyre is present that is involved in the formation of Red Sea Outflow Water (RSOW). Beneath the surface boundary currents are similarly intensified southward undercurrents that carry the RSOW to the sill to flow out of the basin into the Indian Ocean. INDEX TERMS: 4243 Oceanography: General: Marginal and semienclosed seas; 4255 Oceanography: General: Numerical modeling; 4532 Oceanography: Physical: General circulation; KEYWORDS: Red Sea, marginal sea, Oceanic General Circulation Model, water mass formation
Does Being Bound Together Suffocate, or Liberate? The Effects of Economic, Social, and Political Globalization on Human Rights, 1981-2005

Liberals argue that globalization, or growing interdependence among states, will transform societies towards more liberal values reflected in better respect for human rights. Skeptics of globalization, among them Marxists, critical theorists, and a large portion of the NGO community, see globalization facilitating the exploitation of the weak by the strong, exclusion of the poor from economic gain and political rights, increased inequality and economic insecurity, all of which results in social disarray, in other words, globalization is a race to the bottom. Thus, resistance to globalization by ordinary people, they argue, will be met with greater state repression. Previous studies have examined the issue with single indicators, such as trade openness and the level of FDI. We make use of a unique measure of globalization, which gauges globalization along economic, political, and social dimensions, to assess the propositions. Our findings reveal a strong positive association between overall globalization and its disaggregated components on government respect for physical integrity rights between 1981 and 2005 for a large sample of countries, controlling for a host of relevant factors, including the possibility of endogeneity. The results are robust to sample size, alternative data and methods, and when assessing developing countries only. Contrary to the skeptics, our results show that increased exposure to globalization lowers state violations of basic human rights.
Interannual variations in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and its relationship with the net northward heat transport in the South Atlantic

Variability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and its effect on the net northward heat transport (NHT) in the South Atlantic are examined using a trans‐basin expendable bathythermograph (XBT) high‐density line at 35°S (AX18). The time‐mean AMOC is 17.9 ± 2.2 Sv during 2002–2007. Although the geostrophic transport dominates the time‐mean AMOC, both geostrophic and Ekman transports are important in explaining the AMOC variability. The contributions of geostrophic and Ekman transports to the AMOC show annual cycles, but they are out of phase, resulting in weak seasonal variability of the AMOC. The NHT variability is significantly correlated with the AMOC, where a 1 Sv increase in the AMOC would yield a 0.05 ± 0.01 PW increase in the NHT. Partition of transport into the western and eastern boundaries and interior suggests that, to quantify changes in the AMOC and NHT, it is critical to monitor all three regions.
High Technical Efficiency of Farms in Two Different Agricultural Lands: A Study under Deterministic Production Frontier Approach

Available evidence in the last few years reveals that technological package via its efficient utilisation may accelerate the pace of agricultural development in India. But there are large variations in input practices and output levels among farms in different regions within the country. Therefore, an analysis at the farm level is desirable to have a clear understanding of the existence of gap between actual and potential output of agricultural crops in different regions as well as within the same region of the country. This paper examines the extent of technical efficiency under different types of tenure and different farm sizes within the same region of West Bengal in two types of villages - one having high incidence of irrigational facilities and highyielding varieties (HYV) technology in an area usually cropped twice (technologically advanced villages [TAV]) and the other having no irrigational facilities except rainwater and non-HYV technology in a mono-cropping area (technologically backward village [TBV]), because the estimates on the extent of inefficiencies could help to decide whether to improve or to develop new technology to raise productivity. In this study we have tried to estimate the technical efficiency level of each individual farm employing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach under deterministic production frontier model with cross-sectional data for 80 sample farms from our field work on two different types of villages - TAV and TBV - in a particular area of West Bengal for the year 1995-96. It is said that the extent by which a farm lies below its production frontier which sets the limit to the range of maximum obtainable output is regarded as a measure of inefficiency under frontier production function approach (Neogi and Ghosh, 1998). The estimation of production frontiers has proceeded along two general paths - deterministic and stochastic. In the deterministic production frontier model, output is assumed to be bound from above by a non-stochastic (deterministic) production function so that all deviations from the frontier are attributed to inefficiency; the one-sided error component which is under the control of the farm captures deviations from the frontier due to inefficiency. Conversely, in a stochastic production frontier model, output is assumed to be bound
Employment Status and Choice-Making in Adults with Intellectual Disability with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder or Down Syndrome

ii Acknowledgements . iv Vita . v List of Tables . x List of Figures . xi Chapter 1: Introduction . 1 Choice Making as a Factor of Self-Determination . 2 Importance of Employment . 4 Employment Policy . 5 Predictive Factors for Employment . 6 Summary . 9 Aims . 9 Chapter 2: Methods . 11 Data Source . 11 Sample . 12
A study on relationship between organizational culture and communication apprehension

Article history: Received January 18, 2013 Received in revised format 8 June 2013 Accepted 10 June 2013 Available online June 14 2013 This paper presents a study to investigate the relationship between organizational culture and communication apprehension among some employees who worked for Iran broadcasting channel. The study has adopted two well-known questionnaires developed by Hofstede (1984) [Hofstede, G. (1984). Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values (2nd ed.). Beverly Hills CA: SAGE Publications. ISBN 0-8039-1444-X] for organizational culture and McCroskey et al. (1985) [McCroskey, J. C. , Beatty, M. J., Kearney, P., & Plax, T. G. (1985). The content validity of the PRCA‐24 as a measure of communication apprehension across communication contexts. Communication Quarterly, 33(3), 165-173. ] for communication apprehension (CA). We have used Chi-Square test to verify different hypotheses of the survey and the results of the survey have indicated that while there was no relationship between CA and three components including cultures of masculinity, individualistic culture and ambiguity aversion, there was a significance relationship between CA and power distance. The results of our survey indicate that as the power distance increases we may expect a higher level on CA. © 2013 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Rotary Hood Massive Break Solutions? Massive Rotator Cuff Tear Solutions?

The ruptures of the hood are the most common musculotendinous ruptures [4], and the prevalence of massive ruptures ranges from 10% to 40% and increases with age [2,57]. The first studies to use the term “solid rupture” date from the decades of 70, 80 [1]. Since then, several definitions and classifications have been proposed and there is no consensus as to the correct one. Cofield et al. [2] defined a solid rupture as the rupture with at least 5 cm in diameter. Already Zumstein et al. [8] considered that it is massive when detachment occurs of two or more tendons. Taurus et al. [2] propose an index calculated by multiplying the anteroposterior dimension by the mediolateral rupture.
Investigation of the Formalism of Particle Dynamics Under the Framework of Classical Mechanics

In this paper we reconstruct the formulism of particle dynamics under the framework of classical mechanics according to the causal consistency principle, and obtain a new particle dynamical equation. In this derivation there is a most natural and simple assumption that an absolute background of space exists. Because in essence, the absolute background of space must be distinguished from the relative scales of space. The existence of an absolute background can not only be mostly compatible with the physical logic in special theory of relativity, but also retains the most fundamental elements in our intuitional experience. Certainly, the absolute background of space is also the underlying part of Newton’s absolute view of space-time. In the application of the new dynamical equation, inertial reference frames are no longer required and inertial forces are no longer introduced by hand. This new dynamical equation can be directly applied in any reference frame which is irrotational with respect to the absolute background of space, namely a moderate general principle of relativity is realized on particle dynamics. The nature of the inertial force is nothing but the real forces exerted on the reference object. Further analysis illustrates that the new particle dynamical equation is more in line with the empirical laws of classical mechanics experiments, than the traditional theoretical formula of Newton’s second law.