Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimation of evapotranspiration by FAO Penman–Monteith Temperature and Hargreaves–Samani models under temporal and spatial criteria. A case study in Duero Basin (Spain)

Abstract. Use of the Evapotranspiration based scheduling method is the most common one for irrigation programming in agriculture. There is no doubt that the estimation of the reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is a key factor in irrigated agriculture. However, the high cost and maintenance of agrometeorological stations and high number of sensors required to estimate it creates a non-plausible situation especially in rural areas. For this reason the estimation of ETo using air temperature, in places where wind speed, solar radiation and air humidity data are not readily available, is particularly attractive. Daily data record of 49 stations distributed over Duero basin (Spain), for the period 2000–2018, were used for estimation of ETo based on seven models against Penman–Monteith FAO 56 with temporal (annual or seasonal) and spatial perspective. Two Hargreaves–Samani models (HS), with and without calibration, and five Penman–Monteith temperature models (PMT) were used in this study. The results show that the models' performance changes considerably depending on whether the scale is annual or seasonal. The performance of the seven models was acceptable from an annual perspective (R2 > 0.91, NSE > 0.88, MAE
Understanding College Students Perceptions of Unhealthy Dating Relationships

This study addresses the prevalence and perceptions of unhealthy relationships at a medium size catholic college campus. An online voluntary survey measured student’s perceptions and understanding of unhealthy relationships through the use of silhouettes. Additionally, participants were asked to define psychological abuse. Results revealed that many of the college students were able to correctly identify types of abuse in relationships. Participants defined psychological abuse to include manipulation, control and guilt. Practice and policy implications were addressed as well.
Conservation Tillage Increases Water Use Efficiency of Spring Wheat by Optimizing Water Transfer in a Semi-Arid Environment

Water availability is a major constraint for crop production in semiarid environments. The impact of tillage practices on water potential gradient, water transfer resistance, yield, and water use efficiency (WUEg) of spring wheat was determined on the western Loess Plateau. Six tillage practices implemented in 2001 and their effects were determined in 2016 and 2017 including conventional tillage with no straw (T), no-till with straw cover (NTS), no-till with no straw (NT), conventional tillage with straw incorporated (TS), conventional tillage with plastic mulch (TP), and no-till with plastic mulch (NTP). No-till with straw cover, TP, and NTP significantly improved soil water potential at the seedling stage by 42, 47, and 57%, respectively; root water potential at the seedling stage by 34, 35, and 51%, respectively; leaf water potential at the seedling stage by 37, 48, and 42%, respectively; tillering stage by 21, 24, and 30%, respectively; jointing stage by 28, 32, and 36%, respectively; and flowering stage by 10, 26, and 16%, respectively, compared to T. These treatments also significantly reduced the soil–leaf water potential gradient at the 0–10 cm soil depth at the seedling stage by 35, 48, and 35%, respectively, and at the 30–50 cm soil depth at flowering by 62, 46, and 65%, respectively, compared to T. Thus, NTS, TP, and NTP reduced soil–leaf water transfer resistance and enhanced transpiration. Compared to T, the NTS, TP, and NTP practices increased biomass yield by 18, 36, and 40%; grain yield by 28, 22, and 24%; and WUEg by 24, 26, and 24%, respectively. These results demonstrate that no-till with straw mulch and plastic mulching with either no-till or conventional tillage decrease the soil–leaf water potential gradient and soil–leaf water transfer resistance and enhance sustainable intensification of wheat production in semi-arid areas.
INCREASING STORAGE LIFE OF BALADY LIME FRUITS BY USING SOME PASSIVE AND ACTIVE MODIFIED ATMOSPHERE TREATMENTS.

Five passive and active modified atmosphere (MA) treatments; i.e., 1Non MA as control (packing in plastic nits as traditional practice), 2Passive MA without additions, 3Passive MA with adding 25g wetted Ca(OH)2 per sealed package, 4Active MA 10% O2 + 3% CO2 and 5Active MA 10% O2 + 6% CO2 were applied prior to cold storage of Balady lime fruits for periods of 30, 60, 90 or 105 days at 12±1 ° C and 90 – 95% relative humidity. Fruits were subjected to active and passive MA in tightly sealed carton boxes. After cold storage, fruits of all treatments were hold for 5 days at 20 ° C and 60 70 % relative humidity as shelf period. The target of such research was to clarify effects of modified atmosphere treatments, cold storage periods and their interactions on fruit storability and its quality after cold storage periods and after shelf life during 2010 and 2011 seasons. Fruit samples taken after the tested cold storage and after 5 day's shelf life period exhibited that advancing storage period caused progressive increments in chilling injury index (CII), fruit decay % (FD%), fruit weight loss percentage (FWL %); peel color index (PCI), juice TSS %, Juice % as well as technological index (TI) and TSS / acid ratio. While, juice contents of vitamin C and acidity % as well as pulp firmness after cold storage and after shelf life period were gradually decreased with prolonging the cold storage period. Generally, all tested modified atmosphere treatments reduced chilling injury index, fruit weight loss percentage, fruit firmness, juice %, juice TSS, juice acidity % and TI. Simultaneously, they increased fruit decay%, peel color index as well as TSS/ acid ratio, but, did no significantly affect vitamin C content in fruit juice. Generally, make possible to recommend storage Balady lime fruits (in tight sealed carton boxes at rate of 190± 10 g fruits/ liter) under passive MA with adding 25g wetted Ca (OH)2 per package treatment for 60 days at 12±1 ° C and 90-95% relative humidity. This
Modelling rainfall with a Bartlett–Lewis process: new developments

Abstract. The use of Poisson cluster processes to model rainfall time series at a range of scales now has a history of more than 30 years. Among them, the randomised (also called modified) Bartlett–Lewis model (RBL1) is particularly popular, while a refinement of this model was proposed recently (RBL2; Kaczmarska et al., 2014). Fitting such models essentially relies upon minimising the difference between theoretical statistics of the rainfall signal and their observed estimates. The first statistics are obtained using closed form analytical expressions for statistics of the orders 1 to 3 of the rainfall depths, as well as useful approximations of the wet–dry structure properties. The second are standard estimates of these statistics for each month of the data. This paper discusses two issues that are important for the optimal model fitting of RBL1 and RBL2. The first issue is that, when revisiting the derivation of the analytical expressions for the rainfall depth moments, it appears that the space of possible parameters is wider than has been assumed in past papers. The second issue is that care must be exerted in the way monthly statistics are estimated from the data. The impact of these two issues upon both models, in particular upon the estimation of extreme rainfall depths at hourly and sub-hourly timescales, is examined using 69 years of 5 min and 105 years of 10 min rainfall data from Bochum (Germany) and Uccle (Belgium), respectively.
Ground temperature and deformation analysis for an expressway embankment in warm permafrost regions of the Tibet plateau

The physical and mechanical processes relating to infrastructure are strongly intertwined in subgrades of road or railway in warm permafrost regions, where the evolution of these processes may influence the functionality of infrastructure. Thus, this study analyzed the embankment thermal regime and thaw settlement behavior based on monitored data for three sections of the newly constructed Gonghe–Yushu expressway (GYE) in a warm permafrost area of Tibet. The efficiencies of crushed rock, ventilated, and insulated embankments in maintaining permafrost temperature were evaluated in relation to the permafrost table (PT) and the annual warming rate of the permafrost. The deformation characteristics of three embankments for different soil layers are summarized, along with analysis of heat balance. The results show that: (a) the permafrost thaw rate has a positive linear correlation with mean annual ground temperature; (b) the permafrost displays a warming trend regardless of whether PT increases or decreases; (c) the total deformation of a given embankment shows a tendency toward settlement; and (d) subgrade peak thaw settlement occurs later than its maximum seasonal thaw depth.
Ecosystem service preferences across multilevel stakeholders in co-managed forests: Case of Aberdare protected forest ecosystem in Kenya

A better understanding of Ecosystem Services (ES) contributes to sustainable use while conserving the ecosystems mainly in resource-rich developing regions. This paper explores multilevel stakeholder perceptions on the most important ES provided by Aberdare Forest Ecosystem (AFE). The importance rank matrix model was employed to establish the ES preferences of 15 selected key organisations involved in AFE co-management. A two-way ANOVA inferential analysis was used to compare the differences in ES type importance. The results revealed statistically significant differences between provisioning, regulating and cultural ES. Regulating ES were identified as the most important compared to provisioning and cultural ES; a gradual stakeholder preference shift from forest tangible goods. Water, wildlife habitat, flood regulation, carbon intake and climate regulation were identified as the most important ES by all the stakeholders. Therefore, it is important to understand the gradual changes in ES preferences by various stakeholders involved in the co-management of natural resources. This knowledge could be important to the decision-makers in sustainable co-management planning for natural resources and to enhance sustainable utiliation of ES.
Microbial life in the late Paleozoic : new discoveries from the Early Devonian and Carboniferous

Fungal spores from the Lower Devonian Rhynie Chert are known to harbor a wide variety of parasitic and saprotrophic microfungi. However, only a few of these intrusive organisms have been documented in detail. This paper describes a previously unknown microfungus contained in fungal spores from the Rhynie chert; it consists of tenuous branched filaments and terminal, globose, usually apophysate sporangia with a single discharge pore or papilla. This complement of features is similar to the rhizomycelial and zoosporangial morphology seen in certain extant polycentric chytrids, and thus the fossil is provisionally placed in the Chytridiomycota.
Ideas and perspectives: is shale gas a major driver of recent increase in global atmospheric methane?

Abstract. Methane has been rising rapidly in the atmosphere over the past decade, contributing to global climate change. Unlike the late 20th century when the rise in atmospheric methane was accompanied by an enrichment in the heavier carbon stable isotope (13C) of methane, methane in recent years has become more depleted in 13C. This depletion has been widely interpreted as indicating a primarily biogenic source for the increased methane. Here we show that part of the change may instead be associated with emissions from shale-gas and shale-oil development. Previous studies have not explicitly considered shale gas, even though most of the increase in natural gas production globally over the past decade is from shale gas. The methane in shale gas is somewhat depleted in 13C relative to conventional natural gas. Correcting earlier analyses for this difference, we conclude that shale-gas production in North America over the past decade may have contributed more than half of all of the increased emissions from fossil fuels globally and approximately one-third of the total increased emissions from all sources globally over the past decade.
Retained primary tooth in unusual ages in southern Iran: A population-based study

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The retained primary tooth (RPT) is a tooth that remains beyond its exfoliation time, which can cause some problems. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of RPT in unusual ages in Larestan, a city in Fars Province, southern Iran. METHODS: In this cross-sectional population-based study (April-October 2015), clinical and radiological evaluations were done for all patients referred to Larestan dentistry clinics. The characteristics of RPT were evaluated. All data were analyzed statistically using SPSS and MedCalc software (α = 0.05). RESULTS: Among 2106 patients, 145 (6.88%) had at least one RPT. The most frequent RPT were primary canine in the maxilla (42.45%) and second primary molar in the mandible (33.01%). The main cause of RPT was absence of permanent successor tooth congenitally (67.45%) and impaction of it (33.54%). The most tooth mobility was class III (17.92%) and the second molar in mandible had the most mobility (6.60%). Root resorption was seen in about 45% of patients, which level 3 was the most (24.76%), mostly in second molar in mandible. Infra-occlusion was seen only in 5.18% of patients. There were significant correlations between root resorption and age (r = 0.175, P = 0.0360) and gender (r = 0.171, P = 0.0400), mobility and decay (r = 0.470, P < 0.0010), as well as infra-occlusion (r = 0.262, P = 0.0010). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of RPT in unusual ages was not high in this study, but exact examination can detect the RPT earlier, to prevent the related problems by suitable treatments. Studies in larger population are recommended.
Anthropogenic Impacts on Land Use and Land Cover Change in Ombeyi wetland, Kisumu County, Kenya

Land use and land cover change as a result of human-induced transitions is a major environmental challenge in Lake Victoria Basin. The study adopted a mixed-method consisting of remote sensing and GIS-based analysis, key informant interviews, and household survey consisting of 384 households to asses Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics and associated human-induced transformations in Ombeyi wetland. The study aimed at generating a characterized area estimate of Ombeyi wetlands land use and land cover change schema for the study period (1990-2017), and examining the spatial and temporal characteristics of anthropogenic impacts and their relationship with land use and land cover change in Ombeyi wetland. The gis-based analysis revealed that built-up area/settlements and agricultural lands extensively increased in area at the expense of wetland vegetation. Key informants attributed the changes to population increase (29.2%) and an associated demand for land and natural resources as the major driving forces for the changes. Analysis of household-survey results validated the observed patterns during the remotely sensed data analysis phase of the research, as 90.1% (n=384) of the respondents reported to own land within the wetland through inheritance. 92.2% of the respondents are farmers practicing farming in the wetland with 72.4% of the same respondents attaining primary level education and below. Poverty and education levels were significant factors in influencing unsustainable land use and land cover changes observed in this study. The present state of land cover and its dynamics have had negative impacts on the riparian rural livelihoods and natural resource management.
Age and development of active cryoplanation terraces in the alpine permafrost zone at Svartkampan, Jotunheimen, southern Norway

Abstract Schmidt-hammer exposure-age dating (SHD) of boulders on cryoplanation terrace treads and associated bedrock cliff faces revealed Holocene ages ranging from 0 ± 825 to 8890 ± 1185 yr. The cliffs were significantly younger than the inner treads, which tended to be younger than the outer treads. Radiocarbon dates from the regolith of 3854 to 4821 cal yr BP (2σ range) indicated maximum rates of cliff recession of ~0.1 mm/yr, which suggests the onset of terrace formation before the last glacial maximum. Age, angularity, and size of clasts, together with planation across bedrock structures and the seepage of groundwater from the cliff foot, all support a process-based conceptual model of cryoplanation terrace development in which frost weathering leads to parallel cliff recession and, hence, terrace extension. The availability of groundwater during autumn freezeback is viewed as critical for frost wedging and/or the growth of segregation ice during prolonged winter frost penetration. Permafrost promotes cryoplanation by providing an impermeable frost table beneath the active layer, focusing groundwater flow, and supplying water for sediment transport by solifluction across the tread. Snow beds are considered an effect rather than a cause of cryoplanation terraces, and cryoplanation is seen as distinct from nivation.
Spatial-temporal distribution, abundance, diversity and mortality of birds on road network in the Serengeti Ecosystem, Tanzania

Vehicle collisions with wild animals are acknowledged as a non-negligible source of death of wild birds and often affect their spatial-temporal distribution, abundance and diversity. However, data to ascertain the impact of road kills on wild birds are scarce, especially around the Serengeti Ecosystem in Tanzania. This work aims to investigate the impact of road kills on wild birds and their spatial-temporal distribution, abundance and diversity in the Serengeti ecosystem in Tanzania. Five road transects each with a length of 40 km were established within the main roads of the Serengeti ecosystem. Bird surveys were conducted in the morning and afternoon in both wet and dry seasons (March and August 2015), respectively. The study results indicated that, 1472 birds have been inventoried which belong to 42 families, 62 genera and 98 species. Mean number of individual birds was the highest in wooded grassland and species richness was also the highest in grassland habitats. In addition, more birds were observed during the wet than dry season. Birds’ mean abundance was higher during the morning than afternoon, especially in the grassland. In the ecosystem, 31 individual birds belonging to 19 species that were distributed in five families were found killed along the road networks. In the Seronera-Fort Ikoma transect, more bird species were killed in roads with higher traffic volume during the morning than afternoon compared to other transects in the area. On the contrary, the extent of the road kill was the highest in wooded grassland. This study recommends that increased road kills could be regulated within the ecosystem by placing signposts at the entrance and visitors’ centre in conjunction with educational programs to raise road users' awareness on the impact of road kills for biodiversity conservation in the area. Key words: Birds’ roadkill, traffic volume, richness, distribution, diversity, habitat type, conservation, Serengeti ecosystem.
Numerical Assessment of Infragravity Swash Response to Offshore Wave Frequency Spread Variability

This work has been funded under (1) the RETOS INVESTIGACION 2014 (Grant BIA2014-59718-R) program of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and (2) the NEPTUNE 2 project, L. R. 7/2007 by Regione Autonoma della Sardegna.
A Civilian/Military Trauma Institute: National Trauma Coordinating Center

Abstract : The purpose of this grant is to support a national coordinating center for trauma research funding, and provide a forum for dissemination of trauma research information to the trauma community. The infrastructure/process is streamlined and efficient leading to the selection of research projects based on a solid scientific, peer review of submitted research proposals. The selected research projects are well on their way to achieving their objectives. The NTI annual Trauma Symposium was held August 30 - September 1, 2010.
Supraglacial ice cliffs and ponds on debris-covered glaciers: spatio-temporal distribution and characteristics

ABSTRACT Ice cliffs and ponds on debris-covered glaciers have received increased attention due to their role in amplifying local melt. However, very few studies have looked at these features on the catchment scale to determine their patterns and changes in space and time. We have compiled a detailed inventory of cliffs and ponds in the Langtang catchment, central Himalaya, from six high-resolution satellite orthoimages and DEMs between 2006 and 2015, and a historic orthophoto from 1974. Cliffs cover between 1.4% (± 0.4%) in the dry and 3.4% (± 0.9%) in the wet seasons and ponds between 0.6% (± 0.1%) and 1.6% (± 0.3%) of the total debris-covered tongues. We find large variations between seasons, as cliffs and ponds tend to grow in the wetter monsoon period, but there is no obvious trend in total area over the study period. The inventory further shows that cliffs are predominately north-facing irrespective of the glacier flow direction. Both cliffs and ponds appear in higher densities several hundred metres from the terminus in areas where tributaries reach the main glacier tongue. On the largest glacier in the catchment ~10% of all cliffs and ponds persisted over nearly a decade.
Understanding cetacean and fisheries interactions in the North-west Iberian Peninsula

The North West Iberian Peninsula (north-west Spain and north-central Portugal) is one of the world's main fishing areas and high levels of cetacean-fisheries interactions are reported. The Iberian harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) is a genetically distinct population with an estimated abundance estimate of around 2,357 individuals. Around 60% of stranded porpoises showed evidence of fisheries interactions, and no sex- or age-related differences in bycatch were detected. Combining results of a life table and necropsies suggest that there is between 4.3 and 11% annual mortality in the Iberian porpoise population due to fisheries interactions. However, the estimated pregnancy rate would be insufficient to balance mortality. Life history parameters and patterns in strandings were determined for short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) from Galicia, north-west Spain for the period 1990-2009. The majority of strandings were immature animals and males stranded more frequently than females. Around 40% of common dolphins showed evidence of fisheries interactions, and as with the porpoises, there was high interannual variation in the number of dolphins classified as bycaught. Based on results of a life table and necropsies, there is around 5% annual mortality of common dolphins in Galicia due to fisheries interactions. Face-to-face interviews with fishers were conducted in local fishing harbours in Galicia to quantify economic loss and bycatch rates associated with cetacean-fisheries interactions. Cetacean-fishery interactions are frequent, although damage to catch and fishing gear by cetaceans was mostly reported as small. Over 1,700 cetaceans were estimated to be bycaught annually in Galician fisheries and highest rates were reported for trawls and set gillnets, as is also reported in strandings and on-board observers. Overall, in the NWIP cetacean and fisheries have a high overlap in their distribution and exploit the same resources, resulting in a high volume of cetacean-fisheries interactions. Estimated annual mortality attributed to fisheries interactions in the NWIP greatly exceeds the current recommendations and is of serious concern for the conservation of Iberian harbour porpoise. Minimising cetacean-fishery interactions requires the implementation of case-specific management strategies with the active participation of fishers, however conservation actions are needed urgently.