Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Local perceptions towards tourism impacts related to homestay programme

The purpose of this research was to identify how degrees of contact derived from frequency of communication with tourists influence the local perceptions towards social impacts of tourism. This research also examines the local’s support for additional tourism development or support for restrictions on tourism development in Kampung Benuk Homestay (KBH), Kuching. Two theoretical frameworks, namely Social Exchange Theory and Model of Resident Tourism Perceptions and Attitudes were adapted in this research. A qualitative method was employed in which a semi-structured interview was conducted face-to-face with 12 respondents. Data from these interviews were analysed manually using Microsoft Word 2010. From the findings, three categories of respondent: ‘High Contact’ (HC), ‘Medium Contact’ (MC), and ‘Low Contact’ (LC), showed significantly different perceptions towards social impacts of homestay programme. The findings indicated that the positive or negative perceptions towards social impacts influence the local’s support for additional tourism development or support for restrictions on tourism development. The HC respondents were positive towards social impacts and supported additional tourism development. In contrast, the MC respondents perceived social impacts negatively, but agreed to support additional tourism development. The LC respondents had positive perceptions towards social impacts, but were both supportive for additional tourism development and for restrictions on tourism development. The research provides practical implications for local government and stakeholders for planning and policy in the community-based homestay programme in Sarawak. The theoretical implication highlights the need for heterogeneous respondents in the future homestay programme studies on perceptions towards social impacts of tourism.
Structure mining and knowledge extraction from random forest with applications to The Cancer Genome Atlas project

The thesis discusses various approaches to interpreting black boxes, i.e. predictive models with extremely complicated structure. In particular, I consider random forests that often produce accurate predictions, which are not easily explained in terms of relative importance of input variables. As information on how the explanatory variables in uence prediction is often critical in applications, I introduce a new R package, randomForestExplainer, that calculates new and existing measures of variable importance in random forests. More importantly, the package proposes new ways of visualizing relative importance of variables and provides a wrap-up function that summarizes a given random forest in various ways. Finally, I demonstrate the usage of the package in an analysis of the Cancer Genome Atlas data concerning glioblastoma cancer. My data set has many more variables than observations, which leads to shallow trees in the forest and makes the assessment of variable importance particularly hard. Thus, using this example I show how the package works in such problematic settings.
Synthesis and characterization of magnetic nanocomposites for environmental remediation

In the present study, the effect of nano-magnetite (Fe3O4) content on mechanical and magnetic properties of polypropylene matrix is investigated. Magnetite nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by co- precipitation while the composites were prepared by an ex situ processing method involving solvent casting followed by compression molding. The nanoparticles and resulting nanocomposites were characterized by X- ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, tensile testing and vibrating sample magnetometry. It was found that composites have tailorable mechanical and magnetic properties dependent on the content of magnetic filler. Increase of concentration of magnetite particles provides a significant increase of Young’s modulus without affecting the yield strength and the ductility. As regards the magnetic properties, nanocomposites having 10 wt% of nanoparticles exhibited a superparamagnetic behaviour that can be exploited in environmental applications.
Exploring the Musical Culture of an African American Child with Developmental Disabilities in Group Music Therapy

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of the musical culture of an African American child with developmental disabilities in group music therapy. Qualitative methods were employed in an early childhood education setting. First, interview questions were sent home to parents and guardians of participants regarding music in the home, and music examples were analyzed based on the genres reported in the interview answers. Then, one session of four male participants with developmental disabilities, ages 4-5, was conducted and analyzed. The participants were of African American, Hispanic, Pakistani, and Caucasian ethnicities. The researcher focused on the African American child, utilizing clinical data and an examination of the musical sources that represent the child’s musical culture in the home. The results indicated that the musical culture of the child played a significant role in the group music therapy process. The musical culture of the African American child in the study was found to be characterized by three main elements: emphasis on a strong rhythmic pulse, emphasis on movement, and singing or chanting as a means of expression. The child seemed to be less engaged when the music was syncopated, lacked a strong rhythmic pulse, was interspersed with verbal injections, or contained Spanish lyrics. Although some conclusions have been drawn to indicate the significance of musical culture in a group music therapy setting with children, there is a great need for further research in order to determine more precise ways in which musical culture influences the group music therapy process. Thus, this study serves as a catalyst for future music therapy research.
FORCulator: A micromagnetic tool for simulating first‐order reversal curve diagrams

We describe a method for simulating first‐order reversal curve (FORC) diagrams of interacting single‐domain particles. Magnetostatic interactions are calculated in real space, allowing simulations to be performed for particle ensembles with arbitrary geometry. For weakly interacting uniaxial particles, the equilibrium magnetization at each field step is obtained by direct solution of the Stoner‐Wohlfarth model, assuming a quasi‐static distribution of interaction fields. For all other cases, the equilibrium magnetization is calculated using an approximate iterated solution to the Landau‐Lifshitz‐Gilbert equation. Multithreading is employed to allow multiple curves to be computed simultaneously, enabling FORC diagrams to be simulated in reasonable time using a standard desktop computer. Statistical averaging and post processing lead to simulated FORC diagrams that are comparable to their experimental counterparts. The method is applied to several geometries of relevance to rock and environmental magnetism, including densely packed random clusters and partially collapsed chains. The method forms the basis of FORCulator, a freely available software tool with graphical user interface that will enable FORC simulations to become a routine part of rock magnetic studies.
Clinical significance of single nucleotide polymorphisms of adiponectin gene in Chinese benign prostatic hyperplasia patients

Epidemiologic studies indicated that Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) is closely associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS), which commonly associated with decreased serum adiponectin level. The presented study evaluated the clinical significance of a set of tag Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) of adiponectin gene in a cohort of Chinese BPH patients. 1008 healthy controls and 426 BPH patients, who received combination treatment of α-adrenergic blockers and 5α-reductase inhibitors for at least 9 months, were included in this study. Associations between SNPs and BPH risk, BPH aggressiveness, and clinical response to the combination treatment were tested by log-linear analysis. At least four SNPs were identified with clinical significance in BPH outcomes. For example, minor allele “A/A” of SNP rs16861205 was found significantly associated with an overall increased risk of BPH, and impaired clinical response to the treatment. In conclusion, our study showed a set of adiponectin SNPs may serve as risk indicators and prognosis predictors for Chinese BPH patients.
Evaluation of Cloud Microphysics Simulated using a Meso-Scale Model Coupled with a Spectral Bin Microphysical Scheme through Comparison with Observation Data by Ship-Borne Doppler and Space-Borne W-Band Radars

Equivalent radar reflectivity factors (Ze) measured by W-band radars are directly compared with the corresponding values calculated from a three-dimensional non-hydrostatic meso-scale model coupled with a spectral-bin-microphysical (SBM) scheme for cloud. Three case studies are the objects of this research: one targets a part of ship-borne observation using 95 GHz Doppler radar over the Pacific Ocean near Japan in May 2001; other two are aimed at two short segments of space-borne observation by the cloud profiling radar on CloudSat in November 2006. The numerical weather prediction (NWP) simulations reproduce general features of vertical structures of Ze and Doppler velocity. A main problem in the reproducibility is an overestimation of Ze in ice cloud layers. A frequency analysis shows a strong correlation between ice water contents (IWC) and Ze in the simulation; this characteristic is similar to those shown in prior on-site studies. From comparing with the empirical correlations by the prior studies, the simulated Ze is overestimated than the corresponding values in the studies at the same IWC. Whereas the comparison of Doppler velocities suggests that large-size snowflakes are necessary for producing large velocities under the freezing level and hence rules out the possibility that an overestimation of snow size causes the overestimation of Ze. Based on the results of several sensitivity tests, we conclude that the source of the overestimation is a bias in the microphysical calculation of Ze or an overestimation of IWC. To identify the source of the problems needs further validation research with other follow-up observations.
Limited scope for plasticity to increase upper thermal limits

Summary Increases in average temperature and the frequency of extreme temperature events are likely to pose a major risk to species already close to their upper physiological thermal limits. The extent to which thermal phenotypic plasticity can buffer these changes and whether plasticity is constrained by basal tolerance levels remains unknown. We examined the effect of developmental temperature under both constant and fluctuating thermal regimes (developmental acclimation), as well as short-term heat hardening, on upper thermal limits (CTmax) in a tropical and temperate population of Drosophila melanogaster. We found evidence for thermal plasticity in response to both developmental acclimation and hardening treatments; CTmax increased at warmer developmental temperatures and with a prior heat hardening treatment. However, hardening and acclimation responses were small, improving CTmax by a maximum of 1·01 °C. These results imply that overheating risk will only be minimally reduced by plasticity. We observed significant associations between developmental temperature and both basal CTmax and hardening capacity (a measure of the extent of the plastic response). Basal CTmax increased, while hardening capacity decreased, with increasing developmental acclimation temperature. This indicates that increases in basal heat resistance at warmer temperatures may come at the cost of a reduced capacity to harden. While plasticity in CTmax is evident in both populations of D. melanogaster we studied, plastic increases in upper thermal limits, particularly at warmer temperatures, may not be sufficient to keep pace with temperature increases predicted under climate change. A lay summary is available for this article.
Transformations of runoff chemistry in the Arctic tundra, Northwest Territories, Canada

The transformation of snowmelt water chemical composition during melt, elution and runoff in an Arctic tundra basin is investigated. The chemistry of the water flowing along pathways from the surface of melting snow to the 95·5 ha basin outlet is related to relevant hydrological processes. In so doing, this paper offers physically based explanations for the transformation of major ion concentrations and loads of runoff water associated with snowmelt and rainfall along hydrological pathways to the stream outlet. Late‐lying snowdrifts were found to influence the ion chemistry in adjacent reaches of the stream channel greatly. As the initial pulse of ion‐rich melt water drained from the snowdrift and was conveyed through hillslope flowpaths, the concentrations of most ions increased, and the duration of the peak ionic pulse lengthened. Over the first 3 m of overland flow, the concentrations of all ions except for NO$_{3}^{-}$ increased by one to two orders of magnitude, with the largest increase for K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+. This was roughly equivalent to the concentration increase that resulted from percolation of relatively dilute water through 0·25 m of unsaturated soil. The Na+ and Cl− were the dominant ions in snowmelt water, whereas Ca2+ and Mg2+ dominated the hillslope runoff. On slopes below a large melting snowdrift, ion concentrations of melt water flowing in the saturated layer of the soil were very similar to the relatively dilute concentrations found in surface runoff. However, once the snowdrift ablated, ion concentrations of subsurface flow increased above parent melt‐water concentrations. Three seasonally characteristic hydrochemical regimes were identified in a stream reach adjacent to late‐lying snowdrifts. In the first two stages, the water chemistry in the stream channel strongly resembled the hillslope drainage water. In the third stage, in‐stream geochemical processes, including the weathering/ion exchange of Ca2+ and Mg2+, were the main control of streamwater chemistry. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Knowing what not to do: Financial literacy and consumer credit choices

Based on a rich panel of household data, we investigate the determinants of the use of consumer credit in Germany. We find that the usage frequency of an easily accessible, but relatively expensive source of consumer credit decreases with financial literacy but is unrelated to household income. This result is robust to household structure, age, formal education, and occupational status. Based on childhood-related information on spending behavior, we control for the influence of self- control on credit decisions. We document that neither self-control, nor low numeracy drive out financial literacy when explaining the frequency of (expensive) credit usage. Hence, financial education plays an important role to improve consumer choices.
Chronic vascular wounds

Chronic venous insufficiency is a widespread, debilitating disease and is estimated to affect 10-15 million Americans with a loss of two million work days annually (Motykie, et al., 1999). The purpose of this study using Lewin’s change theory was to compare the effect of using compression wraps alone against compression wraps combined with silver impregnated dressings on improving the healing time of chronic venous wounds of adults. The design of this study was a descriptive, retrospective, non-experimental design using a chart review. The 27 patient charts (11 males [40.7%] and 16 females [59.3%] between 50-70 years of age) contained seven compression wraps and 20 compression wraps with silver impregnated dressings. Results indicated no statistical difference in the 7-10 days and the 14-20 days healing rate between the two types of dressings, the gender or the ages. Conclusions are that compression wraps were used on smaller wounds while the compression impregnated wraps were used on larger wounds with the latter having a faster healing rate in days. Implications are that it is imperative for healthcare professionals to promote improved wound healing with advanced wound healing methods.
Strong carbon cycle feedbacks in a climate model with interactive CO2 and sulphate aerosols

Carbon cycle feedbacks are a significant source of uncertainty in climate change projections, with the potential for strong positive feedbacks to accelerate the rate of anthropogenic global warming during the 21st century. A climate change experiment is presented which uses a General Circulation Model (GCM) in which both interactive carbon and sulphur cycles have been included for the first time, along with the natural climate forcings due to solar changes and volcanic aerosol. These extra climate forcing factors have a significant impact on both 20th century climate change and the contemporary land and ocean carbon sinks. The additional forcings act to delay by more than a decade the conversion of the land carbon sink to a source, but ultimately result in a more abrupt rate of CO2 increase with the land carbon source (which reaches 7 GtC yr−1 by 2100) exceeding the ocean carbon sink (which saturates at 5 GtC yr−1 by 2100) beyond about 2080.
Pleistocene archaeology and chronology of putslaagte 8 (PL8) Rockshelter, Western Cape, South Africa

We report on excavations of a small rock shelter — Putslaagte 8 (PL8) — located on the arid interior fringe of South Africa’s Fynbos biome. The shelter preserves a long sequence of Holocene and late Pleistocene occupation dating back beyond 75,000 years BP. This paper presents data on the technological, faunal and chronological sequence. Occupation is markedly pulsed and includes three late Pleistocene Later Stone Age (LSA) units (macrolithic, Robberg and early LSA), as well as several distinct Middle Stone Age (MSA) components from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3–5. Pulsing may reflect the arid and possibly marginal environments in which the shelter is situated, and to that end some elements of the sequence contrast with occupational patterns towards the coast. Viewed in a regional setting PL8 suggests: 1) complementarity of resource movements between the coast and interior in terminal MIS 2; 2) distinctions in material selection, and possibly technology, between the coast and interior in earlier MIS 2; 3) an MSA lasting to at least 40,000 years before present; 4) a weak Howiesons Poort and post-Howiesons Poort in the interior; 5) possibly distinct periods of denticulate manufacture within the MIS 5 MSA; 6) highly localised patterns of material acquisition in the earlier MSA.
Velocity and Temperature Measurement in Supersonic Free Jets Using Spectrally Resolved Rayleigh Scattering

The flow fields of unheated, supersonic free jets from convergent and convergent-divergent nozzles operating at M = 0.99, 1.4, and 1.6 were measured using spectrally resolved Rayleigh scattering technique. The axial component of velocity and temperature data as well as density data obtained from a previous experiment are presented in a systematic way with the goal of producing a database useful for validating computational fluid dynamics codes. The Rayleigh scattering process from air molecules provides a fundamental means of measuring flow properties in a non-intrusive, particle free manner. In the spectrally resolved application, laser light scattered by the air molecules is collected and analyzed using a Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI). The difference between the incident laser frequency and the peak of the Rayleigh spectrum provides a measure of gas velocity. The temperature is measured from the spectral broadening caused by the random thermal motion and density is measured from the total light intensity. The present point measurement technique uses a CW laser, a scanning FPI and photon counting electronics. The 1 mm long probe volume is moved from point to point to survey the flow fields. Additional arrangements were made to remove particles from the main as well as the entrained flow and to isolate FPI from the high sound and vibration levels produced by the supersonic jets. In general, velocity is measured within +/- 10 m/s accuracy and temperature within +/- 10 K accuracy.
Archaeoacoustic analysis of the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum in Malta

Recently we studied the acoustic properties of the underground Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum in Malta. Identified as “architecture in the negative”, it is a unique prehistoric complex, intentionally sculpted with features that mirror megalithic temples above ground. It is known that the Hypogeum was used in the Neolithic not only as a depository for bones, but also as a shrine for ritual use. In a room known as the “Oracle Room” set in the second level of the hypogeum, we have been able to detect the presence of a strong resonance effect: a double resonance frequency at 70Hz and 114Hz. With a male voice tuned to these frequencies it is possible to stimulate the resonance phenomenon throughout the hypogeum. It was further detected that percussion instruments can stimulate the resonance by their harmonics. Laboratory testing indicates that these frequencies have a strong effect on human brain activity. Since it is likely that the chambers served as centers for social or spiritual events, the resonance of the chamber cavities would have supported human ritual chanting and mystic consciousness.
Block-based motion estimation algorithms — a survey

In the multi-view video coding, both temporal and inter-view redundancies can be exploited by using standard block-based motion estimation (BBME) technique. In this paper, an extensive review of BBME algorithms proposed within the last three decades is presented. Algorithms are divided into five categories: 1) based on the search position number reduction; 2) multiresolution; 3) based on the simplification of matching criterion; 4) fast full search; 5) computation-aware. Algorithms are compared in terms of their efficiency and computational complexity.
A receiver bias for red predates the convergent evolution of red color in widowbirds and bishops

Preexisting receiver biases are well known and empirically supported alternatives or complements to signal evolution through coevolving mate choice, but largely neglected as drivers of sexually or socially selected agonistic signal evolution. In further pursuit of a recently revealed receiver bias for red agonistic signaling in Euplectes (17 species of widowbirds and bishops), we investigate here its presence in the yellow-crowned bishop (Euplectes afer), a representative of the earliest phylogenetic branch of the genus. In a captive population in southern Spain, where the yellow-crowned bishop is invasive, we staged and filmed 10-min dyadic contests over access to a feeder, between males with experimentally yellow- (control-) and red-painted crown plumage, respectively. Red males secured significantly more time at the feeder, and tended to win more of the limited number of supplant attempts observed. This suggests that the previously demonstrated agonistic signal function of red carotenoid coloration in widowbirds also applies to the bishop birds, and may derive from a receiver bias (aversion) that is substantially older than the convergent gains of red plumage pigmentation in Euplectes, and perhaps also predating the evolution of red in a few other weaverbird (Ploceidae) lineages. Given the similarities in ecology and behavior across Euplectes, the color diversity appears to primarily be a consequence of evolutionary limitations on mechanisms for achieving red coloration.