Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gas Generation from K East Basin Sludges - Series II Testing

This report describes work to examine the gas generation behavior of actual K East (KE) Basin floor, pit and canister sludge. Mixed and unmixed and fractionated KE canister sludge were tested, along with floor and pit sludges from areas in the KE Basin not previously sampled. The first report in this series focused on gas generation from KE floor and canister sludge collected using a consolidated sampling technique. The third report will present results of gas generation testing of irradiated uranium fuel fragments with and without sludge addition. The path forward for management of the K Basin Sludge is to retrieve, ship, and store the sludge at T Plant until final processing at some future date. Gas generation will impact the designs and costs of systems associated with retrieval, transportation and storage of sludge.
A new species of small Scinax Wagler, 1830 (Amphibia, Anura, Hylidae) of the Scinax ruber clade from Cerrado of central Brazil

A new species of the Scinax ruber clade from the Brazilian Cerrado Domain similar to Scinax fuscomarginatus, S. parkeri, S. trilineatus and S. wandae is described. It is characterized by small snout-vent lenght, body slender, head approximately as long as wide and slightly wider than body, subovoid snout in dorsal view, protruding snout in lateral view, a developed supratympanic fold, absence of flash colour on the posterior surfaces of thighs, hidden portions of shanks and groin, and large vocal sac. Scinax lutzorum sp. nov. differs from S. fuscomarginatus, S. parkeri and S. trilineatus by its slightly larger SVL; from Scinax fuscomarginatus and S. parkeri it differs by its more slender body; from Scinax fuscomarginatus and S. trilineatus the new species differs by its wider head and more protruding eyes; and it differs from Scinax parkeri and S. wandae by its shorter snout. Comments on the type specimens of S. fuscomarginatus are presented and a lectotype is designated for this species.
Psychometric properties of instruments of the Swedish clinical multicenter Quality Star cohort

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the psychometric properties of three global user subjective measures of the ”The Quality Star” clinical review model: Consumer Satisfaction Scale, Global Quality of Life scale, and Perceived Global Distress scale. The mental health implementation context of this review model emphasizes the client as an agent of change, taking part in shared decision making in an empowered role as collaborative partner to the professional clinicians. In Paper I study the patient self-rating Consumer Satisfaction Scale gave results comparable to those obtained by independent interviewer assessors. Out of costeffective perspective professional time is saved and logistics simplified. In Paper II the visual analogue self-rating Global Quality of Life scale was shown to have satisfactory testretest reliability, and concurrent validity with the “Life as a whole” item of Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life (MANSA). The patients’ conceptualizations of the scale based on associative findings with a number of validating instruments were consistent with expected areas of concern for Serious Mentally Ill persons. Similarly, in Paper III the visual analogue scale the Perceived Global Distress scale, showed acceptable clinical testretest reliability, and concurrent validity with the MANSA item, “How satisfied are you with your mental health”. In associative analyses it was found that depressive, anxiety, interpersonal and existential elements contributed to the patient ́s conceptualization of the construct. In Paper IV, a previous finding suggesting that women were more satisfied with the health care and had better social functioning compared to men was further elaborated investigating the discriminative properties of the subjective instruments. In the multi-centre cohort of 2552 patients it was possible to detect differences between genders and functional levels professionally assessed with the split version of Global Assessment of Functioning rating scale. The General discussion underlines that although subjective measures tend to have strong interrelations, supporting earlier findings, one has to use multiple measures for an optimal management of mental illness as the subjective outcome ratings have to be
The Effect of Ocean Currents on Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies

Abstract Global and regional correlations between observed anomalies in sea surface temperature and height are investigated. A strong agreement between the two fields is found over a broad range of latitudes for different ocean basins. From a global frequency spectrum, a mean SST damping timescale of 2–3 months was found with westward and eastward propagating anomalies contributing more or less equally to the total variance. Time–longitude plots and wavenumber–frequency spectra show a significant advective forcing of SST anomalies by a first-mode baroclinic eddy or wave field on spatial scales down to 400 km and timescales as short as 1 month. A scaling analysis of forcing terms in a mixed layer temperature model suggests that Ekman terms are expected to be smaller in magnitude. Even though the magnitude of the mean background temperature gradient determines the effectiveness of the forcing, there is no obvious seasonality that can be detected in the amplitudes of SST anomalies. Instead, individual waveli.
Intercomparison of Model-Estimated Potential Evapotranspiration on the Tibetan Plateau during 1981–2010

AbstractPotential evapotranspiration (PET), the maximum evapotranspiration rate under unlimited water supply, reflects the capacity for transpiration flow and plant primary production. Numerous models have been developed to quantify PET, but there are still large uncertainties in PET estimations. In this study, the authors conducted spatially explicit estimations of daily PET from 1981 to 2010 for eight different land-cover types on the Tibetan Plateau by applying three types of PET models including a combination model (Penman–Monteith), a radiation-based model (Priestley–Taylor), and a temperature-based model (Thornthwaite). This study found that the PET estimated by Thornthwaite model (PETT) was lower than those estimated by Priestley–Taylor (PETPT) and Penman–Monteith models (PETPM). Penman–Monteith model gave the highest estimates of PET on annual and daily scales. The mean annual PET for the whole plateau estimated by these three models varied from 675.1 to 700.5 mm yr−1, and daily PET varied from 1.
Volatility and Covariation of Financial Assets: A High-Frequency Analysis

Using high frequency data for the price dynamics of equities we measure the impact that market microstructure noise has on estimates of the: (i) volatility of returns; and (ii) variance–covariance matrix of n assets. We propose a Kalman-filter-based methodology that allows us to deconstruct price series into the true efficient price and the microstructure noise. This approach allows us to employ volatility estimators that achieve very low Root Mean Squared Errors (RMSEs) compared to other estimators that have been proposed to deal with market microstructure noise at high frequencies. Furthermore, this price series decomposition allows us to estimate the variance covariance matrix of n assets in a more efficient way than the methods so far proposed in the literature. We illustrate our results by calculating how microstructure noise affects portfolio decisions and calculations of the equity beta in a CAPM setting.
Contribution of natural sources to PM emissions over the metropolitan areas of Athens and Thessaloniki

The objective of this study is to examine the seasonal and inter-annual variation of particulate matter (PM_2.5 and PM_2.5-10) primary and secondary emissions from natural sources and their contributions to total PM emissions over the Athens and Thessaloniki metropolitan areas (Greece; AMA and TMA respectively), during the period 2000-2010. Therefore spatiotemporally disaggregated emission inventories for PM_2. 5, PM_2. 5-10 and BVOCs (Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds), precursor to PM, from natural sources (vegetation, sea surface and wind erosion of soil) were created and compared to anthropogenic emissions in the areas. The results showed that the contribution of natural sources to PM_10 emissions was significant (~79% for AMA; ~46% for TMA). Sea surface was the most abundant source of PM2.5-10 emissions in both areas whereas windblown dust accounted for a relatively small fraction of total natural PM_10 emissions in AMA and TMA (~8%; ~12.5%). In addition, BVOCs emissions accounted for approximately 0.3% and 1.6% of total primary and secondary PM_10 emitted from the AMA and TMA, respectively. It was found that the relative contribution of natural sources to total PM_10 emissions has increased in both areas (0.9% in AMA and 27.6% in TMA) from the beginning to the end of the studied period. There was no significant seasonal variation observed in the natural PM_10 emissions or to their contribution to total PM_10 emissions while BVOCs emissions were increased during the warm period due to the enhanced solar radiation and temperature. The period averaged share of primary PM_10 and gaseous precursors to secondary aerosol formation from natural sources to total equivalent PM_10 mass in the areas was approximately 32% in AMA and 12% in TMA.
Abundance, Distribution, and Drivers of Microplastic Contamination in Urban River Environments

Given the persistence of microplastics in the environment and their potential toxicity to ecosystems, understanding of likely microplastic accumulation ‘hotspots’ in rivers is urgently needed. To contribute to this challenge, this paper reports results of a microplastic survey from a heavily urbanised catchment, the River Tame and four of its tributaries, which flows through the city of Birmingham, UK. All sediment sampled was found to contain microplastics with an average abundance of 165 particles kg−1. While urban areas generally have a greater abundance of microplastics as compared with rural, there is no simple relationship between microplastic numbers and population density or proximity to wastewater treatment sites. The greatest change in microplastic abundance was due to the presence of a lake along the course of the River Tame—i.e., flow velocities are reduced on entering the lake, which promotes the deposition of fine sediment and potentially microplastics. This suggests that the greatest concentrations of microplastics will not be found in-channel but rather on the floodplain and other low velocity environments such as meander cutoffs. We also identified a new mechanism of microplastic fixation in freshwater environments through ecological engineers, specifically caddisflies, that incorporated microplastics into their casing. These results highlight the need to explore further hydrodynamic and ecological impacts on microplastics fate and transport in rivers.
Improvement of GPS/MET Ionospheric Profiling and Validation Using the Chung-Li Ionosonde Measurements and the IRI model

The retrieval processes of ionospheric profiling from radio occultation observations usually assume spherical symmetry of electron density distribution at the locality of occultation and use the Abel integral transform to invert the measured total electron content (TEC) values. In this paper, we have considered the effect of large-scale horizontal gradient and/or inhomogeneous electron density and developed a compensation procedure for measured TEC values through several close-up occultation observations. The compensated TEC values are then used to yield electron densities through the Abel inversion. In order to assess the accuracy of GPS/MET ionospheric electron density retrievals, coincidences of the Chung-Li digisonde data with observed GPS/MET occultations have been examined. From 232 matches during the GPS/MET mission, the rms fF 02 differences between the digisonde measurements and the GPS/MET retrievals are improved from 1.58 MHz to 1.41 MHz. Further validation of the improved retrieval processes has also been investigated by means of over thirty-eight thousand simulated occultation observations within a reference GPS/MET experiment using the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) 2001 model. The results show successful improvement of overestimates (underestimates) on low (high) retrieved fF 02 .
A Hybrid Approach to Forecast Air Quality during High-PM Concentration Pollution Period

In this study, a hybrid approach of combining numerical prediction with statistical analysis was proposed to forecast high-PM_10 (aerosol particle with aerodynamic diameter less than 10μm) concentration events in Beijing, China. This approach was used to forecast the daily PM_10 in Beijing from January 1 to December 30, 2013. The WRF-CMAQ modeling system was also applied to simulate Beijing’s PM_10 in the same period. The performance of the two methods was then assessed according to the mean bias (MB), normalized mean bias (NMB), normalized mean gross error (NME), mean normalized bias (MNB), mean normalized gross error (MNE), and root mean square error (RMSE). The results demonstrate that both methods perform well during low-PM10 concentration periods (PM_10 concentration ＜ 250μg/m^3), the MB, NMB, NME, MNB, MNE and RMSE for hybrid approach during low-PM10 concentration periods were 26.15, 24.88%, 41.94%, 43.23%, 56.35% and 61.67, respectively. The MB, NMB, NME, MNB, MNE and RMSE for CMAQ during low-PM_10 concentration periods were -6.04, 57.47%, 41.49%, 21.52%, 55.64% and 60.11, respectively. While the MB, NMB, NME, MNB, MNE and RMSE for CMAQ during high-PM10 concentration periods (PM10 concentration ≥250μg/m^3) were -162.87, -50.37%, 50.37%, -49.86%, 49.86% and 175.93, respectively. The MB, NMB, NME, MNB, MNE and RMSE for hybrid approach during high-PM10 concentration periods were -30.3, -9.37%, 23.21%, -8.21%, 24.25% and 97.37, respectively. The hybrid approach shows significant improvement in accuracy during high-PM_10 concentration periods.
Post-Logging Recovery of Animal-Dispersed Trees in a Tropical Forest Site in North-East India

Selective logging is known to alter the structural and community composition of tropical forests and may disrupt plant-frugivore interactions. We hypothesized that even after a sufficient period of recovery, logged areas will not possess as complete a suite of species as an unlogged forest, the differences being more marked for biotically-dispersed species. Species of this functional group are expected to occur at lower densities, have lower species richness and diversity, and be smaller in logged forests. To quantify structural and functional differences in tree communities, we sampled 120 randomly placed plots, 60 each in logged and unlogged forest sites. We found significant differences in species richness and diversity between logged and intact forest. Within biotically-dispersed species, bird dispersed species showed a significant reduction in species richness. Consistent with previous studies, trees in logged forests were smaller, although overall density was not different between the two treatments. We posit that selective logging might have pervasive effects on functional aspects of tropical tree communities, which appear to persist even after two decades of logging cessation.
State Litigation during the Obama Administration: Diverging Agendas in an Era of Polarized Politics

Throughout the Obama Administration, state attorneys general (AGs) have collaborated on several high-profile political issues. To get a fuller picture of this contemporary AG activism, this article analyzes AG participation in lawsuits and amicus curiae briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court across three presidential administrations. The results suggest that AGs’ agendas have increasingly diverged throughout the Obama Administration, reflecting greater vertical conflict between AGs and the federal government as well as horizontal conflict among AGs themselves. Several factors have contributed to this development, including the broader polarization of American politics, intensified activism among Republican AGs, and increased collaborations between AGs and ideological interest groups. Much as with partisan contestation in other venues, these AG conflicts show few signs of abating.
Cannabis use and abuse correlates in a homogeneous South African schizophrenia population

Objective. Worldwide, cannabis is the most widely used illicit substance, and it has been identified as a correlate in schizophrenia samples for poorer symptomatic and functional outcomes in many international studies. The object of this retrospective study was to identify the prevalence of cannabis use/abuse and the demographic and clinical correlates therefor in a large homogeneous South African schizophrenia population. Methods. As part of a large genetic study, 547 subjects with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were recruited. Demographic and clinical data were collected and each participant underwent a urinary drug screen. Use/abuse of cannabis was defined as using cannabis more than 21 times in a single year. Subjects with and without cannabis use/abuse were statistically compared. Results. Significant differences between the two groups were found in terms of gender, marital status, age of onset of schizophrenia, number of hospitalisations and relapses, alcohol abuse, smoking, the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) scores for hallucinations, delusions, bizarre behaviour and formal thought disorder, and the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) score for avolition/apathy. Conclusion. The prevalence of cannabis use/abuse in this study was high, and our findings were comparable with those of previous international studies. Abuse/use started mainly in the teenage years, was more prevalent among males than females, and was associated with negative overall outcomes. There was also a positive correlation between cannabis and nicotine and alcohol use/abuse. Determination of cannabis abuse based solely on history was found to be reliable, and urine cannabis testing appeared to be of limited value in routine management of this group of schizophrenic patients.
Ultrasound Guided Axillary Brachial Plexus Block Versus Supraclavicular Block In Emergency Crushed Hand Patients : A Comparative Study

The current study focusses on ultrasound guided Brachial Plexus Block (BPB) which plays an important role in patients with hand trauma either in pain control or for surgical intervention. The brachial plexus can be blocked by several techniques but the most commonly used are the Supraclavicular (SCB) and Axillary (AXB) blocks. To compare the two techniques with regards to the performance time, needling time, anesthesia-related time, block-related complications, number of needle pass and block related pain. After approval of the ethical committee and obtaining a written informed consent from patients, this prospective, randomized, interventional double-blinded study was done to patients undergoing emergency crushed hand surgery. 80 patients were allocated randomly into two equal groups. Under ultrasound guidance, the SCB and AXB were done for the two groups, respectively. The needling time, performance time, anesthesia-related time, onset time, number of 1st needle pass in each group and block related complications were noted. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (IBM SPSS) version 23 SPSS. Longer needling, performance, anesthesia-related time in the AXB group than SCB and less complications have occurred with AXB than SCB group. Axillary block of brachial plexus is a good alternative to Supraclavicular block in emergency crushed hand surgery and the choice is made according to the requirement of each case.
Ecosystem development explained by competition within and between material cycles

Ecosystems develop generally towards increased productivity and biomass, a decreased productivity/biomass ratio, and tighter nutrient cycles. These broad–scale trends are still lacking an explanation in terms of underlying ecological processes. Here I present a simple ecosystem model to show that resource competition between organisms in a material cycle (within–cycle competition) can explain successional and evolutionary changes in functional properties of ecosystems. Competition between organisms that are involved in spatially distinct cycles (between–cycle competition) constitutes another selective force that may lead to more productive and more closed ecosystems. However, these changes in ecosystem properties are only the indirect result of selection for different functional or demographic traits in the organisms involved. Within–cycle competition maximizes resource–use intensity, while between–cycle competition maximizes the basic reproductive rate. Therefore, the two levels of competition may operate in partly contradictory directions, a complication that is ignored by holistic ‘maximum principles’ in ecology.
Effects of elevated CO2 on grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.): physiological and yield attributes.

During the 2004, 2005 and 2006 growing seasons, physiological and anatomical leaf characteristics and productivity were studied in field-grown grapevines ( Vitis vinifera L.) cv. 'Touriga Franca' under ambient (C, 365 ± 10 ppm) or elevated carbon dioxide [CO 2 ] (E, 500 ± 16 ppm) under Open-top chambers (OTC-C and OTC-E, respectively). The elevated [CO 2 ] concentration increased net photosynthetic rate (A), intrinsic water use efficiency (A/gs), leaf thickness, Mg concentration, C/N, K/N and Mg/N ratios and decreased stomatal density and N concentration. Nevertheless, stomatal conductance (gs), transpiration rate (E), photochemical efficiency (F v /F m ), leaf water potential, SPAD-values and Red/Far-red ratio transmitted by leaves were not significantly affected by [CO 2 ]. Meanwhile, there is no evidence for downward acclimation of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance. Yield, cluster weight and vigour showed an increase in elevated [CO 2 ] treatment but yield to pruning mass ratio was unaffected. Despite elevated [CO 2 ] stimulates grapevine photosynthesis and yield, more long-term studies, particularly at sub-optimal nutrient and water availability, are needed in order to reveal the grapevine responses to climate change in the Mediterranean area.
Predictors of Enrolment in the National Health Insurance Scheme Among Women of Reproductive Age in Nigeria

Background: Despite the implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) since 2005 in Nigeria, the level of health insurance coverage remains low. The study aims to examine the predictors of enrolment in the NHIS among women of reproductive age in Nigeria. Methods: Secondary data from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) were utilized to examine factors influencing enrolment in the NHIS among women of reproductive age (n=38 948) in Nigeria. Demographic and socio-economic characteristics of women were determined using univariate, bivariate and multivariate analyses. Data analysis was performed using STATA version 12 software. Results: We found that 97.9% of women were not covered by health insurance. Multivariate analysis indicated that factors such as age, education, geo-political zone, socio-economic status (SES), and employment status were significant predictors of enrolment in the NHIS among women of reproductive age. Conclusion: This study concludes that health insurance coverage among women of reproductive age in Nigeria is very low. Additionally, demographic and socio-economic factors were associated with enrolment in the NHIS among women. Therefore, policy-makers need to establish a tax-based health financing mechanism targeted at women who are young, uneducated, from poorest households, unemployed and working in the informal sector of the economy. Extending health insurance coverage to women from poor households and those who work in the informal sector through a tax-financed non-contributory health insurance scheme would accelerate progress towards universal health coverage (UHC).