Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Understanding the Value of Radar Rainfall Nowcasts in Flood Forecasting and Warning in Flashy Catchments

Providing flood forecasts in flashy catchments poses significant challenges to the hydrologist. This is particularly the case when the prediction of high intensity rainfall at small spatial scales is difficult. Radar rainfall nowcasts, such as those provided by the Met Office Nimrod system, provide short range predictions at these spatial scales, and can be used as an input to hydrological models for the prediction of flood flows. Such short term forecasts are, however, considerably uncertain, and this uncertainty will influence the reliability of hydrological forecasts used in flood warning and forecasting. In this paper the value and benefit of the use of radar rainfall nowcasts in three small catchments in central Scotland is assessed through the evaluation of a large sample of forecasts. Both the reliability of the catchment rainfall predictions and the forecast flows are assessed. Whilst it is demonstrated that the rainfall predictions provided by Nimrod are uncertain and at times biased, it is also shown that there is considerable benefit in their use for flood forecasting when compared to the alternative of using no future prediction of rainfall. To deal with the uncertainty in the forecast, a method is shown that can help the hydrologist and forecaster to understand the structure of the uncertainties, allowing them to use the guidance provided by the forecasts more effectively in the provision of flood warnings. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society
The Syntax of Negation

Preface 1. Introduction 2. The WH-criterion and the NEG-criterion 3. NEG-movement and the NEG-criterion 4. The application of the NEG-criterion 5. A-positions and A'-positions and the syntax of negation 6. The syntax of negative operators Notes References Index.
Quantifying evidence in forensic authorship analysis

The judicial interest in ‘scientific’ evidence has driven recent work to quantify results for forensic linguistic authorship analysis. Through a methodological discussion and a worked example this paper examines the issues which complicate attempts to quantify results in work. The solution suggested to some of the difficulties is a sampling and testing strategy which helps to identify potentially useful, valid and reliable markers of authorship. An important feature of the sampling strategy is that these markers identified as being generally valid and reliable are retested for use in specific authorship analysis cases. The suggested approach for drawing quantified conclusions combines discriminant function analysis and Bayesian likelihood measures. The worked example starts with twenty comparison texts for each of three potential authors and then uses a progressively smaller comparison corpus, reducing to fifteen, ten, five and finally three texts per author. This worked example demonstrates how reducing the amount of data affects the way conclusions can be drawn. With greater numbers of reference texts quantified and safe attributions are shown to be possible, but as the number of reference texts reduces the analysis shows how the conclusion which should be reached is that no attribution can be made. The testing process at no point results in instances of a misattribution.
Sequential or selective access? Young people's strategies for finding information in non-fiction books

Despite the prominence now given in schools to information skills, little research has investigated how young people actually locate information in books. This paper draws on the results of a recent qualitative investigation to explore their methods in this regard. Two forms of behaviour were identified. In some instances, material within books was accessed sequentially — the user started at the beginning of the volume and turned the pages individually, sometimes in search of a picture dealing with the specific matter of interest. On other occasions, selective access was favoured. Here informants usually, although not always, exploited a contents list or back-of-the-book index. Sometimes a certain youngster employed different approaches according to circumstances such as the topic of the need and the thickness of the book. Informants put forward a range of reasons for their use of either contents lists or indexes, but the rationale for exploiting either finding aid was often similar. The paper concludes by assessing the implications of the research results for the teaching of information skills. In particular, it highlights the importance of discussing with pupils the need to avoid expedient and inefficient methods of finding information.
The Electronic Monitoring of Offenders

Electronic monitoring (EM) programs were first developed in the United States to enforce the house arrest of offenders. Offenders could be sentenced to remain in their homes and their whereabouts monitored by electronic equipment (e.g., ankle bracelets) worn by them. EM programs offered an apparently inexpensive alternative for offenders who would have been imprisoned were it not for EM. Most evaluations of EM programs do not provide clear results due to methodological weaknesses. Some studies have raised the possibility that EM may actually widen the “correctional net” (i.e., added control that is not necessary to manage the offender safely). There is also very little evidence to show that EM programs reduce the likelihood of offenders returning to crime.
The interpretation of non‐homogeneous hydrometeorological time series: a case study

Long records of hydrological and hydrometeorological variables are of inestimable value for the planning, design and management of water resource systems. Unfortunately, such long series invariably exhibit inconsistencies and non‐homogeneities arising from a wide variety of causes –for example, changes in instruments and observation practices, and alterations to the general environment of the instruments themselves. Both non‐parametric and parametric statistical tests are available to detect the presence of long‐term movements in recorded time series, but the interpretation of results from such testing has often to be carried out in the absence of sufficient station metadata. A case study of precipitation records for 20 stations in Scotland over the period from 1961–99 has demonstrated that the results from statistical testing for inconsistency and non‐homogeneity should also be interpreted in the context of prevailing weather systems. In particular, the increases in both annual and winter (Dec–Feb) rainfall totals recorded during this period at sites in western Scotland appear to reflect the changes in the winter atmospheric circulation over the Northern Hemisphere as encapsulated in the North Atlantic Oscillation Index (NAOI). Sustained periods of positive values of the NAOI, albeit less severe than during those of the 1970s and 1980s, are evident in the historical record of this index. The trends in rainfall totals identified could therefore be interpreted as arising from natural variability or even greenhouse gas forcing rather than from any inconsistency and non‐homogeneity. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society
The syntactic recoverability of null arguments

In The Syntactic Recoverability of Null Arguments Roberge studies the syntactic properties of subject and object clitic pronouns in several Romance languages and dialects from the perspective of the Principles-and-Parameters framework in generative grammar. He is able to make important claims through a comparative study of various rarely discussed French dialects, Spanish dialects, and Italian, and concludes that French should be analysed as a null subject language like many others in the Romance family. Roberge's parameters are so carefully detailed as to allow tests to be drawn up for both first and second language learners. As such, The Syntactic Recoverability of Null Arguments will be of interest not only to syntacticians and dialectologists but also to researchers in the field of language acquisition.
Toward understanding the importance of trust in influencing Internet banking adoption in Uganda

With the increasing popularity of the Internet, financial institutions are seeking ways to utilize this popular medium in an effort to keep up with the changing technological preferences of their customers through innovations like Internet banking services. In Uganda, however, the rate of Internet banking adoption has not risen as strongly as expected due to factors like lack of trust, security, poor perceptions on usefulness and ease of use of the system by the customers, lack of privacy over the Internet and poor attitude towards Internet banking, among others, which has led many to view Internet banking as a very risky undertaking. This study introduces perceived trustworthiness as one of the beliefs that may significantly influence Internet banking adoption and we examine its importance in determining customers’ attitude and behavioral intention towards using Internet banking as the purpose of the study. We conducted a survey by distributing questionnaires to customers of five highly competitive banks in Uganda and collected data from a total of 232 respondents. The results of the statistical analyses using structural equation modeling indicate that the relative importance of perceived trustworthiness of banks was statistically significant as it accounted for 47 percent of variance in predicting customers’ attitude towards Internet banking.
Use of medicinal plants by people with hypertension

Objective: to describe the use of medicinal plants in the treatment of high blood pressure for people with hypertension enrolled in the Family Health Program in a city in Pernambuco State. Methods: a descriptive study, whose data were obtained through semi-structured interview script applied to 172 patients. Results: the use of medicinal plants for hypertension control was reported by 39.5%, of which 57.4% used only one medicinal plant. Among the species cited, there was predominant use of chayote [Sechium edule (Jacq.) Sw. -34.8%]. Conclusion: medicinal plants constitute an adjunctive therapy in the treatment of hypertension. However, there is need for monitoring of handling and listed species.
Dimensions of web registers: an exploratory multi-dimensional comparison

In this paper, we use corpus-based, multi-dimensional analysis (Biber, 1988) to investigate the structural and functional linguistic variation in online language represented by blogs, micro-blogs, workplace e-mails, discussion posts and reader comments, and online newspaper and opinion columns. The primary goal of this study is to identify the statistically co-occurring features of online language and compare their distributions across web registers. The data used in our analysis came from an exploratory corpus of online texts (containing approximately 16,501,785 words) collected from various public domains from 2006 to the present. A combined automated and manual collection of texts was conducted across registers and the resulting corpus was grammatically tagged using the Biber tagger. Results show that the four primary functional dimensions of web registers are: (1) Personal Narrative Focus versus Descriptive, Informational Production; (2) Involved, Interactive Discourse; (3) Complex Statement of Opinio.
İlköğretim öğrencilerinin bilgisayar deneyimleri ile uzamsal düşünme ve geometri başarıları arasındaki ilişki

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among elementary school students’computer experience, computer ownership and their achievement in geometry. Assesed were 297 fourth and fifthgrade students from four different school sites. Results showed that students who have computer at home andhave an earlier computer experience scored higher in geometry test than those who do not have computers andwho do not have any earlier computer experience respectively. Results also showed that the difference is gettingwider. It was concluded that measures should be taken to increase computer access in schools located in poorersocio-economic areas to decrease the social disequity.
The integration and implementation of a range of ‘e‐tivities’ to enhance students' interaction and learning

Virtual Learning Environments provide a means by which students can interact with course material outside of contact time with lecturers; they also provide the potential to stimulate depth of learning by encouraging students to engage more fully with the topics and issues. A range of ‘e‐tivities’ delivered through a Virtual Learning Environment was implemented in a Sport and Exercise Physiology module—formative quizzes, interactive web pages and animations, topic discussions and an online lecture. Student questionnaires were administered retrospectively in order to assess the impact of these activities on student learning experiences. Staff reflection during and after the development of these e‐tivities allowed for the formulation of guidelines for good practice. Strengths and weaknesses of this innovative approach to teaching are discussed.
Fractal Analysis and Perception of Visual Quality in Everyday Street Vistas

Fractal analysis offers potential as a tool for evaluating the visual qualities of street vistas. In this paper we outline the concept of fractal dimension as a measure of texture in images of built form and describe a methodology for comparing fractal dimension with perceptions of visual quality in street vistas. We find that a positive relationship exists between levels of fractal dimension and judgments of visual quality in street vistas and outline the applications that this relationship may have.
Background Atmospheric Levels Of BTEXIn A Medium-sized City And Surrounding AreaIn Southern Italy

Background atmospheric levels of BTEX in the suburb of Caserta (41° 04’ N, 14° 20’ E), a Southern Italian city with about 75,000 inhabitants and a low level of industrialization, were measured during weekdays in 2005. The average annual concentrations (μg m) were 8.7 benzene, 26.0 toluene, 6.5 ethylbenzene, 14.4 (m+p)-xylene and 12.5 o-xylene, with higher values during summer. The average daily concentrations of the different BTEX hydrocarbons were strongly correlated (average correlation coefficients = 0.93). The (m+p)xylene/ethylbenzene concentration ratio was relatively low (2.2) and did not show statistically significant seasonal variations. In Naples, a densely populated city on the coast, 25 km from Caserta, the ratio was significantly higher (3.3). Intermediate ratios were recorded in sampling sites located between the two cities. The results suggest that BTEX tend to stagnate in Caserta area, producing relatively high levels with low X/E value, or, alternatively, that they are in greater part produced elsewhere, very likely in Naples, and are transported towards Caserta. To discriminate between these two hypotheses analysis of the patters of local winds is in progress.
Talking without overlap in the airline cockpit: Precision timing at work

Abstract This study examines temporal organization for interaction in a specific work setting: the airline cockpit. It is generally concerned with precise timing for turn taking as a feature of competent conduct in collaborative professional work, and for creating an acceptable orderly flow of talk for tasks. Specifically, it pursues an observation that moments of overlapping talk, when two or more parties talk simultaneously, are rare in cockpit interaction. Pilots are instructed in training not to speak simultaneously; however, cockpit talk is highly conducive to overlap. Mostly pilots know who will say what to whom, and when, because they are legally required to use scripted procedural wordings. The trajectories of turns are predictable and projectable, and therefore are vulnerable to terminal overlap, when a recipient starts talking just as a current speaker is completing a turn. This does not happen, because airline pilots precisely time next talk to start at the actual, not projected, end of current talk. Pilots allow talk to emerge complete. Pilots orient to the strictly sequential nature of their work to accomplish conflicting setting-specific demands for talk, in situ and in real time. The paper uses transcriptions from audio and video recordings of pilots on actual passenger flights.
Climate for crops: integrating climate data with information about soils and crop requirements to reduce risks in agricultural decision‐making

Locally applicable information about climate and soil properties can help farmers identify opportunities and reduce risks associated with changing to new land uses. This article describes techniques for preparing high‐resolution regional maps and GIS surfaces of agriculturally relevant climate parameters. Ways of combining these climate surfaces with soil data and information about the physical requirements of crops to identify areas likely to be the most suitable for new high‐value crops are then outlined. Innovative features include methods for merging observations from temporary climate stations installed for one to two years in conjunction with longer‐term climate station observations to improve input data for the maps, and techniques for mapping quantiles of climatic factors that may constrain agricultural operations. Examples are the expected ‘one‐in‐five year’ first and last frost dates, and the ‘one‐in‐five year’ lowest and highest seasonal rainfalls. The use of night‐time satellite infrared observations to improve spatial resolution of frost hazard maps is also described. Typical standard errors of these climate mapping techniques are summarised. The benefits of ongoing consultation with local farmers and local government staff during the design and implementation of climate/soil/crop potential studies are described. These include optimising products to meet local needs, quality control of the resulting maps and GIS surfaces through local knowledge, and improved uptake of information by users. Further applications of techniques described in this paper include products useful to the energy sector, preparation of daily gridded climate data estimates for use in water quality and plant growth modelling, and development of regional climate change scenarios. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Semantic-preload video model based on VOP coding

In recent years, in order to reduce semantic gap which exists between high-level semantics and low-level features of video when the human understanding image or video, people mostly try the method of video annotation where in signal’s downstream, namely further (again) attach labels to the content in video-database. Few people focus on the idea that: Use limited interaction and the means of comprehensive segmentation (including optical technologies) from the front-end of collection of video information (i.e. video camera), with video semantics analysis technology and corresponding concepts sets (i.e. ontology) which belong in a certain domain, as well as story shooting script and the task description of scene shooting etc; Apply different-level semantic descriptions to enrich the attributes of video object and the attributes of image region, then forms a new video model which is based on Video Object Plan (VOP) Coding. This model has potential intellectualized features, and carries a large amount of metadata, and embedded intermediate-level semantic concept into every object. This paper focuses on the latter, and presents a framework of a new video model. At present, this new video model is temporarily named “Video Model of Semantic-Preloaded or Semantic-Preload Video Model (simplified into VMoSP or SPVM)”. This model mainly researches how to add labeling to video objects and image regions in real time, here video object and image region are usually used intermediate semantic labeling, and this work is placed on signal’s upstream (i.e. video capture production stage). Because of the research needs, this paper also tries to analyses the hierarchic structure of video, and divides the hierarchic structure into nine hierarchy semantic levels, of course, this nine hierarchy only involved in video production process. In addition, the paper also point out that here semantic level tagging work (i.e. semantic preloading) only refers to the four middle-level semantic. All in all, this research was unfolded is based on analyzed the characteristic of the existing video mode, and with reference to MPEG series standard.
The Role of Polymorphism of Regulatory Region of MTDH Gene (Rs1835740) in Migraine and Other Forms of Primary Headaches

Objective: There is evidence that MTDH gene has a role in migraine pathophysiology. In our research, association of SNP in MTDH gene (rs1835740) with clinical parameters of migraine is considered. Background: As a result of the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) of a common migraine, a SNP in the regulatory region of MTDH gene (rs1835740) was found. However, the confirmation of GWAS findings on independent samples failed. Also, there is no clear answer on the role of this substitution in the formation of the clinical picture of the various forms of migraine. Patients and methods: The study included 143 patients with migraine. Comparison groups consisted of 9 patients with cluster headache and 20 patients with chronic tension headache. The control group included 362 unexaminated subjects. Genotypes were determined using real-time PCR with allelic discrimination test. Results: Our study evaluated the role of rs1835740 substitution in the clinical picture of the various forms of migraine (episodic, chronic), as well as identified the specificity of this marker for migraine compared with other forms of headache (cluster headache, chronic tension headache). We have not found any effect of T allele (rs1835740) on the formation of the clinical picture of migraine with aura and migraine without aura. Also, we have shown that rs1835740 polymorphism has no effect on the chronification of migraine. Meanwhile, the carriage of T allele is specific for patients with migraine and cluster headache, but is not a characteristic feature of patients with chronic tension headache. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the T allele of substitution rs1835740 in MTDH gene have not effect on the formation of the clinical picture of migraine with aura and migraine without aura, but specific for patients with migraine and cluster headache.
What Translation Tells Us about Motion: A Contrastive Study of Typologically Different Languages.

Slobin (1991, 1996a,b, 1997) has argued that the typological differences between languages with either a satellite-framed or a verb-framed lexicalisation pattern (Talmy, 2000) have important discourse and rhetorical consequences for the expression of 'paths of movement' and 'manner of movement'. These differences are especially significant for the translator since s/he has to adapt the rhetorical style of the source language to that of the target language. According to Slobin (1996a, 2000, ms.), the major difference lies in the loss or gain of information about path and manner specifications during the translation process.We will focus on three languages, English (satellite-framed), Spanish and Basque (both verb-frarned but with important intratypological differences). Basing ourselves on data from translations of the same English text (Tolkien's The Hobbit) into these two target languages, we will compare and analyse in detail the different strategies that Spanish and Basque translators follow when adapting the English text to the stylistic and typological characteristics of their own languages.