Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A GIS‐Based Ground Water Contamination Risk Assessment Tool for Pesticides

A process‐based preferential flow transport model was implemented in a geographic information system to locate areas in the landscape with high risk of contamination by agrochemicals, especially pesticides. Protecting ground water resources necessitates a reliable ground water quality monitoring strategy. It is valuable to be able to focus monitoring on areas with the highest risk of contamination because monitoring ground water is an expensive activity, especially at the landscape scale. The objective of this project was to develop a tool that quantifiably estimates distributed ground water contamination risk in order to develop reliable, cost‐effective ground water observation networks. The tool is based on a mechanistic model of chemical movement via preferential flow and uses land cover data, information about chemical properties, and modeled recharge to estimate the concentration of chemical reaching the ground water at each point in the landscape. The distributed risk assessment tool was tested by comparing the model‐predicted risk with observed concentrations from 40 sampling wells in Cortland County, New York, for atrazine (pesticide) and nitrate, the latter assumed to be an indicator of agricultural pollution. The tool predictions agreed well with observed nitrate concentrations and pesticide detections. An Internet‐based version of this tool is currently being developed for ready application to New York State.
How does Trading Volume Affect Financial Return Distributions?

We assess investors' reaction to new information arrivals in financial markets by examining the relationships between trading volume and the higher moments of returns in 18 international equity and currency markets. Our volume-volatility results support extant information theories and further contribute new evidence of cross market relations between volume and volatility. We also find that the direct impact of volume on the level of negative skewness is less significant for more diversified regional portfolios. Furthermore, the negative interaction between volume and kurtosis can be explained by the differences of opinion in financial markets. We observe stronger interdependence among higher moments in reaction to significant events, but the strength is dampened by trading volume. This result is consistent with trading volume being a source of heteroskedasticity in asset returns.
GIS and Logit Regression Model Applications in Land Use/Land Cover Change and Distribution in Usangu Catchment

This study applied time series analysis to examine land use/land cover (LULC) change and distribution in Usangu watershed and multinomial logistic regression in the GIS environment to model the influence of the related driving factors. Historical land use/cover data of the watershed were extracted from the 2000, 2006 and 2013 Landsat images using GIS and remote sensing data processing and analysis techniques. Data was analyzed using ArcMap 10.1, ERDAS Imagine, SPSS and IDRISI Selva software. Eight factors likely to influence LULC change and LULC distribution were assessed. These include elevation, slope, distance from roads, distance from rivers networks, population density, Normalized Vegetation Index (NDVI), annual rainfall and soil types. Results show that LULC changes are mainly influenced by variations in annual rainfall, population density and distance from road networks. LULC distribution is determined mainly by terrain and edaphic factors namely elevation, slope and soil types. NDVI does not influence LULC change nor determine the LULC distribution, but can be used to show concentration of LULC types on a landscape. Combination of GIS, remote sensing and statistical analysis capabilities are powerful tools for assessing and model processes of land use change and their underlying causes in terms of time and space. It is concluded that ingeniously integration of remote sensing, GIS application combined with multi-source spatial data analysis give great possibility of quantifying and explaining the temporal and spatial LULC changes and distribution in a given watershed.
The Analysis of Domestic Travelers in Indonesia

Indonesia is the largest archipelago country in the world, making one of popular tourist destinations in Southeast Asia region for both international and domestic holidays. The main objective of the study is to examine a wide range characteristics , including demographic, employment, and spatial characteristics for domestic travel in Indonesia. The method used in the study is d escriptive analysis using the 2015 National Socio-Economic Survey (SUSENAS) , which is used to explain some specific characteristics of domestic travelers in Indonesia. Some regression analysis using binary probit is also added to examine the determinants of domestic travel demand in Indonesia, measured by the probability to travel within the country. The result shows that, in general, domestic travelers in Indonesia are dominated by people who are living in urban areas, people who are aged 25-40 years old, highly educated, working as paid employees, and mostly originate from provinces in Java island. For specific purposes, people who are living in urban areas are more likely travel for holidays. Males are more likely travel for business compared to females. People who do have a job are more likely travel for business purposes, while people who are at school ages are the market for holiday travel.
Foraging habitat and diving activity of lactating Subantarctic fur seals in relation to sea-surface temperatures at Amsterdam Island

This study investigates the foraging behaviour of lactating Subantarctic fur seals Arctocephalus tropicalis breeding on Amsterdam Island, Indian Ocean, in relation to sea-surface temperatures (SST) of the surrounding waters over 3 consecutive breeding years (1995 to 1997). Foraging habitat and diving activity were investigated using time depth temperature recorders (TDRs), deployed on 29 individuals during the first trip after parturition in December (n = 7), later in the summer (n = 13), and in winter (n = 9). Argos satellite transmitters (n = 4) and a direction recorder (n = 1) were also used in the 1995 and 1996 austral summers, respectively. Sea temperatures recorded by TDRs in conjunction with the IGOSS SST database were used as a locational cue to estimate the foraging range. The foraging habitat of lactating females was associated with the northern part of the Subtropical Front (STF) (axial SST = 14.2°C), where their main prey, myctophid fish, are known to be abundant. The organisation of the foraging trips, in terms of diving activity, showed seasonal changes but remained similar among years. During the first trip after parturition, females foraged within the STF, 60 to 130 km from the colony, and exhibited a diving activity that did not vary significantly throughout the trip. Later in summer, when STF was south of Amsterdam Island, most females travelled in a straight south-east direction without diving (suggesting that they travelled regularly to reach a known area). They then concentrated their diving activity in the middle of the STF during 50% of the foraging trip duration, and continued diving on the return trip to the colony. In winter, the 14°C surface isotherm was 250 km north of Amsterdam Island and SST gradient was very low. Females increased their foraging range up to 530 km, and there was no evidence for females concentrating their diving activity within a given area, suggesting that they did not encounter dense patches of prey. In winter, seals also increased their diving effort probably in response to a decrease in food availability. Annual changes in SST surrounding Amsterdam Island, and in the surface temperature gradient of the STF appear to affect the time spent at sea, and the relative diving activity throughout the trips in summer. These results suggest that Subantarctic fur seals adjust their foraging behaviour according to both seasonal and annual changes in oceanographic conditions, and thus probably, food availability.
Regulatory Arbitrage and Cross-Border Bank Acquisitions

We study how differences in bank regulation influence cross‐border bank acquisition flows and share price reactions to cross‐border deal announcements. Using a sample of 7,297 domestic and 916 majority cross‐border deals announced between 1995 and 2012, we find evidence of a form of “regulatory arbitrage” whereby acquisition flows involve acquirers from countries with stronger regulations than their targets. Target and aggregate abnormal returns around deal announcements are positive and larger when acquirers come from more restrictive bank regulatory environments. We interpret this evidence as more consistent with a benign form of regulatory arbitrage than a potentially destructive one.
Nicosia-Concerted Retailing and Tourism Strategies to Awaken a Neglekted and Sleeping Beauty

Nicosia, the last divided European city, is only able to skim a small portion of the tourist purchasing power compared to the other tourism strongholds of the island and, at the same time, does not utilize the existing cultural potential in an efficient way. Therefore, this paper aims to contribute to the valorisation of the existing potential in a customer oriented manner. Concerted international (UN Nicosia Master Plan) and national (Strategic Plan 2010) strategies reflect the intended revival endeavours. For this new orientation to be successful the paper hypothesizes an effective interplay between tourism and retailing to happen and, for this reason, analyses the motives and satisfaction levels of tourists to Nicosia with regards to both, tourism and retailing offers. The paper focuses on the tourist segment with higher educational levels (and implicitly higher financial potential) as the communication objectives foresee to position the island mainly in the mind of this segment. The paper concludes, in line with recent developments with regard to tourist consumer profiles, that the concept of authenticity plays an increasing role when explaining the satisfaction levels of this specific segment and provides practical recommendations.
Interactions between Grape Maturity Indices and Quality for Pinotage and Cabernet Sauvignon Wines from Four Localities

Three grape maturity indices viz. degrees Balling (OB), OB total titratable acid (TT A) ratio and the OB.pH product of musts were compared regarding their ability to predict optimum quality for Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinotage wines. Comprehensive analytical data from 128 musts and corresponding wines for the 1979 and 1980 vintages from the Stellenbosch, Durbanville, Lutzville and Robertson areas were subjected to principal component analysis using variables and variable ratios selected by correlation to quality weighting. The results indicated that 0B alone could not perform the function of a grape maturity index for predicting optimum quality. In the case of the OB/TT A index, the range wherein maximum wine quality occurred was too wide to be of practical value in this instance. The 0B.pH index gave a narrower optimum range, and in contrast to the two other indices gave similar results for both cultivars.
Commentary on using equivalent latitude in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere

Abstract. We discuss the use of potential vorticity (PV) based equivalent latitude (EqLat) and potential temperature (θ) coordinates in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) for chemical transport studies. The main objective is to provide a cautionary note on using EqLat-θ coordinates for aggregating chemical tracers in the UTLS. Several examples are used to show 3-D distributions of EqLat together with chemical constituents for a range of θ. We show that the use of PV-θ coordinates may not be suitable for several reasons when tropospheric processes are an important part of a study. Due to the different static stability structures between the stratosphere and troposphere, the use of θ as a vertical coordinate does not provide equal representations of the UT and LS. Since the θ surfaces in the troposphere often intersect the surface of the Earth, the θ variable does not work well distinguishing the UT from the boundary layer when used globally as a vertical coordinate. We further discuss the duality of PV/EqLat as a tracer versus as a coordinate variable. Using an example, we show that while PV/EqLat serves well as a transport tracer in the UTLS region, it may conceal the chemical structure associated with wave breaking when used as a coordinate to average chemical tracers. Overall, when choosing these coordinates, considerations need to be made not only based on the time scale of PV being a conservative tracer, but also the specific research questions to be addressed.
Effect of screw speed and plasticizer on the torque requirement in single screw extrusion of starch based plastics and their mechanical properties

Rod-shaped plastics have been prepared from blends of corn starch (69%) and plasticisers (31%), in the form of glycerol and water in different proportions (ranging from no glycerol to full glycerol) using a single screw extruder (compression ratio 1:1) (Length: Diameter ratio of 20:1) operated at specified constant temperatures, viz., 70, 110 and 110°C at feed, mixing (plasticizing) and metering zones of the barrel, respectively. The screw speed was varied between 20 and 80 rpm. The torque generated during extrusion was recorded and then ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and elongation at break (EB) were measured after storing the extrudates for nine months at ambient condition. There was no significant difference in torque requirement for extrusion for use of zero to 9% glycerol content in the blends; however, for glycerol content greater than 9%, the developed torque gradually increased over the full range of rpm used. The range of torque was from 4.5 to 28 Nm, and for each blend it passed through a minimum at 60 rpm. Ultimate tensile strength followed a decreasing trend with increase in glycerol content in the plasticizer mix. However, elongation at break followed an increasing trend for increase in glycerol content up to 24%, and thereafter followed a decreasing trend with further increase in glycerol content. For glycerol content less than 24%, screw speed had a strong and direct bearing on UTS, but for EB, screw speed had no specific trend.
Ingestion and assimilation of carbon from cellulolytic bacteria and heterotrophic flagellates by the mussels Geukensia demissa and Mytilus edulis (Bivalvia, Mollusca)

We I4C-labeled cellulolytic bacteria and 3 species of bacterivorous nanoflagellates and fed these cultured organisms to 2 species of intertidal mussels, Geukensia demissa and Mytllus edulis. using a pulse-chase experimental design under controlled laboratory conditions. Ingestion and assimilation of C from these rmcroheterotrophs by mussels were calculated from measured rates of defecation, respiration, excretion, and tlssue incorporation. The proportion of available C ingested by G. demissa did not dlffer significantly among bacteria (39%), heterotrophic flagellates (58%), or the unicellular algae Isochrysis galbana (66%), which was used as a reference diet. In contrast, M. edulis ingested a signlflcantly lower proportion (19%) of the small bacterla ( < l pm in diameter) than the larger ( 3 to 5 pm diameter) heterotrophic flagellates (58%). The efficiency with which G. dernissa assimilated C from I. galbana (77 %) was significantly greater than that from either bacteria (42 %) or heterotrophic flagellates (44%) M edulis assimilated bacterial C with significantly lower efficiency (21 96) than C from heterotrophic flagellates (62%) These results indicate that heterotrophic flagellates can contribute to the C requirements of both G. dernlssa and M edulis, however, only G. demissa is capable of assimilating a considerable amount of C from bactena. KEY WORDSMussel . Bacteria Flagellate Assimlation . Ingestion . Carbon
Diet and food preferences of the endangered Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus: a basis for their conservation: Diet and food preferences in the Bearded Vulture

The Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus population in the Pyrenees is managed using feeding stations to increase breeding success and reduce mortality in the pre-adult population. Nevertheless, very little quantitative and qualitative information has been published on such basic aspects of the species’ ecology as feeding habits and dietary preferences. This study investigated both aspects through direct and unbiased observation of breeding Bearded Vultures during the chick-rearing period. Bearded Vulture diet comprises mammals (93%), birds (6%) and reptiles (1%), with medium-sized ungulates (mainly sheep/goats) the most important species in the diet (61%, n = 677). Prey items were not selected in proportion to their availability, with the remains of larger species (cows and horses) being avoided, probably due to the variable cost/benefit ratios in handling efficiency, ingestion process and transport. There is no relationship between the proportion of sheep limbs in the diet and the proximity of feeding stations, suggesting that these sites are probably less important for breeding adults than for the pre-adult population. On the other hand, diet specificity seems related to productivity, with territories with greater trophic breadth being those with higher fecundity. Bearded Vultures prefer to eat limbs, although meat remains (provided principally by small mammals) can play an important role in guaranteeing breeding success during the first few weeks after hatching. The management of carrion provided by animals that die naturally in extensive livestock practices and the remains of wild ungulates which have died naturally or by human hunting, are important conservation tools for the Bearded Vulture and other carrion-eating species.
The Visual Language of Comics: Introduction to the Structure and Cognition of Sequential Images.

Chapter 1. Introducing Visual Language SECTION 1: STRUCTURE OF VISUAL LANGUAGE Chapter 2. The Visual Lexicon, Part 1: Visual morphology Chapter 3. The Visual Lexicon, Part 2: Panels and Constructions Chapter 4. Visual Language Grammar: Narrative Structure Chapter 5. Navigation of External Compositional Structure Chapter 6. Cognition of Visual Language SECTION 2: VISUAL LANGUAGE ACROSS THE WORLD Chapter 7. American Visual Language Chapter 8. Japanese Visual Language Chapter 9. Central Australian Visual Language Chapter 10. The Principle of Equivalence
Influence of the Variable Valve Timing Strategy on the Control of a Homogeneous Charge Compression (HCCI) Engine

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine concept has the potential to be high efficient and to produce low NOx and particulate matter emissions. However, the problem of controlling the combustion over the entire load/speed range limits its practical application. The HCCI combustion is controlled by chemical kinetics of the charge mixture, with no influence of the flame diffusion or turbulent propagation. Therefore, to achieve a successful control of the HCCI process, the composition, temperature and pressure of the charge mixture at IVC point have to be controlled. The use of the variable valve timing strategy that enables quick changes in the amount of trapped hot exhaust gases shows the potential for the control of the HCCI combustion. The aim of this paper is to analyse influence of the variable valve timing strategy on the gas exchange process, the process between the first valve open event (EVO) and the last valve closing event (IVC), in a HCCI engine fuelled with standard gasoline fuel (95RON). The gas exchange process affects the engine parameters and charge properties and therefore plays a crucial role in determining the control of the HCCI process. Analysis is performed by the experimental and modelling approaches. The single-cylinder research engine equipped with the fully variable valve train (FVVT) system was used for the experimental study. A combined code consisting of a detailed chemical kinetics code and one-dimensional fluid dynamics code was used for the modelling study. The results obtained indicate that the variable valve timing strategy has a strong influence on the gas exchange process, which in turn influences the engine parameters and the cylinder charge properties, hence the control of the HCCI process. The EVC timing has the strongest effect followed by the IVO timing, while the EVO and IVC timings have the minor effects.
Identification and genetic purity testing of cotton F 1 hybrid using molecular markers

Gossypium hirsutum F 1 hybrid Phule-388 and it’s parents RHCb-001 as male and RHC-006 as female were studied for identification and genetic purity testing with three PCR based molecular markers. Twenty RAPD primers, 19 ISSR primers and 33 cotton microsatellite loci were used for the analysis. RAPD primers, OPA-08 and OPA-11, were found to be useful in differentiating parents and hybrid. Two ISSR primers, IS-10 and IS-12, were identified. Two male specific amplicons of 1200 bp, 1500 bp and 1000 bp, 1300 bp each were also present in the hybrid. Microsatellite loci, JESPR-151 and JESPR152 were found to be heteroallelic for parents. JESPR-151 identified male specific 140 bp repeat and female specific 180 bp repeat while JESPR-152 detected one male and female specific repeats of 120 bp and 180 bp, respectively. Results indicated that using all the three markers-RAPD, ISSRs and Microsatellites in combination is more reliable than using the three in isolation for identification and testing of genetic purity of cotton hybrids.
Embodying the Spirit(s): Pentecostal Demonology and Deliverance Discourse in Ethiopia

The article explores Pentecostal embodiment practices and concepts with regard to Holy Spirit baptism and demon possession. The studied material is connected to a specific and highly controversial debate in Ethiopian Pentecostalism, which revolves around the possibility of demon possession in born-again and Spirit-filled Christians. This debate runs through much of Ethiopian Pentecostal history and ultimately is concerned with whether or how Christians can be seen to host conflicting spiritual forces, in light of the strong dualism between God and evil in Pentecostal cosmology. The article shows that the embodiment of spirits and/or the Holy Spirit is related to theological concepts of the self, because these concepts define what may or may not be discerned in certain bodily manifestations. Moreover, the article contends that this debate thrives on a certain ambiguity in spirit embodiment, which invites the discernment of spiritual experts and thereby becomes a resource of power.
Demandasaurus darwini, a New Rebbachisaurid Sauropod from the Early Cretaceous of the Iberian Peninsula

A new medium-sized rebbachisaurid sauropod from the Castrillo la Reina Formation (Upper Barremian-Lower Aptian) in Burgos Province, Demandasaurus darwini gen. et sp. nov., is described. It is known from an incomplete but associated skeleton that includes cranial and post-cranial remains. Demandasaurus darwini gen. et sp. nov. presents 9 autapomorphies in the teeth and vertebrae. Demandasaurus is the first diplodocoid sauropod described from the Cretaceous of the Iberian Peninsula. Its inclusion in the Rebbachisauridae is well supported by our phylogenetic hypothesis, which situates it as a sister group of Nigersaurus from the Aptian of Niger, with which it shares various synapomorphies. The discovery of Demandasaurus provides further evidence of the sporadic use of the Apulian Route by dinosaurs during the Early Cretaceous for moving between the south of Europe (Laurasia) and the north of Africa (Gondwana).