Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development and Testing of Riverbank-Stability Analysis

The ability to predict the stability of eroding riverbanks is a prerequisite for modeling alluvial channel width adjustments and a requirement for predicting bank-erosion rates and sediment yield associated with bank erosion. However, there are a number of limitations of existing bank-stability analyses that limit their physical basis and predictive ability. Some of these limitations are addressed through the development of a new bank-stability analysis. The new approach is applicable to steep, cohesive, nonlayered riverbanks that fail along planar failure surfaces. Pore-water and hydrostatic confining pressure terms are included in the analysis. The failure plane is not constrained to pass through the toe of the bank. The predictive abilities of four bank-stability analyses (Lohnes and Handy 1968; Huang 1983; Osman and Thorne 1988; and the present analysis) were assessed using field data. The new analysis is the most successful of the tested analyses in terms of predicting the stability of riverbanks wit.
Procalcitonin as a prognostic biomarker of severe sepsis and septic shock.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the tendency of the plasma concentration and clearance of procalcitonin (PCT-c) as biomarkers of prognosis of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock, compared to another early prognosis marker, the number of SIRS criteria at sepsis diagnosis. METHODS We conducted a prospective, observational, cohort study, with patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. The serum procalcitonin was determined at diagnosis of sepsis and after 24 and 48 hours. Demographic data, APACHE IV, SOFA score on arrival, number of SIRS criteria at diagnosis, site of infection and microbiological results were recorded. RESULTS Twenty-eight patients were included, 19 clinical and nine surgical. In 13 (46.4%) the source of sepsis was pulmonary, abdominal in seven (25.0%), urinary in five (17.9%) and soft tissue in three cases (10.7%). Fifteen patients had severe sepsis and 13 septic shock. Overall mortality was 17.9% (five patients), three with septic shock. Twenty-eight PCT determinations were performed at sepsis diagnosis, 27 after 24 hours and 26 after 48 hours. The initial concentration was not significantly different between survivors and non-survivors groups, but the differences between the two groups after 24 and 48 hours were statistically significant. There was no difference in the number of SIRS criteria. The 24-hour procalcitonin clearance proved to be significantly higher in the group of survivors (-3.0 versus -300.0, p = 0.028). Although the 48-hour procalcitonin clearance has shown to be higher in the group of survivors when compared to non-survivors, the difference did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSION Persistently high procalcitonin concentrations in plasma, as well as reduced 24-hours PCT clearence, were associated with a significant increase in mortality in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock.
Dust events in Kanpur, northern India: Chemical evidence for source and implications to radiative forcing

Dust samples were collected and analyzed during May 2004 in Kanpur (in Ganga basin), Northern India for the first time. Chemical evidence along with the air mass trajectories suggests three major sources of the mineral dusts transported to the Ganga basin. High concentration of Pb and Cd indicates possible mixing with the anthropogenic pollution. The composite aerosol model reveals low single scattering albedo (∼0.74) due to the presence of black carbon. During the dust storms, shortwave (SW) clear‐sky diurnally averaged top of the atmosphere (TOA) and surface forcing come out to be +11 ± 0.7 and −26 ± 3 W m−2, respectively. Corresponding forcings in the longwave (LW) region are +1.9 ± 0.6 and +1.6 ± 0.4 W m−2. Net atmospheric forcing (i.e., SW+LW, 36 W m−2) corresponds to heating rate of ∼1.02° K/day in the lower atmosphere. Dust alone has resulted in the net TOA and surface forcings of +7 and −12 W m−2.
Financial Literacy and Planning: Implications for Retirement Wellbeing

Only a minority of American households feels "confident" about retirement saving adequacy, and little is known about why people fail to plan for retirement, and whether planning and information costs might affect retirement saving patterns. To better understand these issues, we devised and fielded a purpose-built module on planning and financial literacy for the 2004 Health and Retirement Study (HRS). This module measures how workers make their saving decisions, how they collect the information for making these decisions, and whether they possess the financial literacy needed to make these decisions. Our analysis shows that financial illiteracy is widespread among older Americans: only half of the age 50 respondents could correctly answer two simple questions regarding interest compounding and inflation, and only one-third correctly answered these two questions and a question about risk diversification. Women, minorities, and those without a college degree were particularly at risk of displaying low financial knowledge. We also evaluate whether people tried to figure out how much they need to save for retirement, whether they devised a plan, and whether they succeeded at the plan. In fact, these calculations prove to be difficult: fewer than one-third of our age 50 respondents ever tried to devise a retirement plan, and only two-thirds of those who tried actually claim to have succeeded. Overall, fewer than one-fifth of the respondents believed they engaged in successful retirement planning. We also find that financial knowledge and planning are clearly interrelated: those who displayed financial knowledge were more likely to plan and to succeed in their planning. Moreover, those who did plan were more likely to rely on formal methods such as retirement calculators, retirement seminars, and financial experts, and less likely to rely on family/relatives or co-workers.
Risk Factors and Causality of Early Graft Loss in Kidney Transplanted Patients in Northwestern Iran: A 10-Year Retrospective Study

Background: Early graft loss (EGL) is one of the rare complications of kidney transplantation. Several factors play a role in the occurrence of EGL in kidney transplant recipients, which must be identified and limited. Objectives: This ten-year retrospective study was conducted in a single center on 32 kidney transplant recipients with EGL to determine the reasons for and risk factors of kidney transplant rejection in Iran. Methods: This descriptive-analytical study’s population included 605 kidney transplant recipients receiving kidneys during the last ten years in our center. The diagnosis of EGL was based on renal allograft biopsy examination and primary clinical complications, including a rapid increase in serum creatinine. The age, gender, blood group, and rhesus (Rh) of both donors and recipients, as well as the kinship between the donor and recipient (relative and non-relative), right/left-sided living donor/recipient kidneys, primary kidney disease, the presence of underlying disease in the recipient, dialysis duration, the year of kidney transplantation, transplant survival time, patient survival time, and complications (surgery and others) were gathered. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 18. Results: In this study, 32 out of 605 kidney transplant recipients (5.28%) experienced EGL (53.1% male and 46.9% female, average age of 41.12 years). The duration of kidney function after transplantation was 5.56 ± 0.13 days. The transplanted kidneys were functional between 72 hours and one week after transplantation in 34.4% of the patients. The causes of EGL were found to be tissue rejection in 31.3% of the patients and vascular thrombosis and hyperacute rejection in 21.8%. Nephrectomy occurred in 41% of the patients, and 43.75% died because of a heart attack. Conclusions: Our findings supported previous studies' results, suggesting that EGL is associated with receiving an incompatible kidney transplant and surgery-related complications, including bleeding and thrombosis.
Case study: intermediate field mixing for a bank discharge in a natural river.

The intermediate field mixing characteristics of the Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant effluent into the North Saskatchewan River at Edmonton were evaluated. This region may be considered to be the early part of the transverse mixing region where local channel characteristics are important. An extensive field study was conducted to delineate the bathymetry of the study area and evaluate the mixing characteristics by means of a steady state dye test. The topographic and limited velocity results of the field study were used to create and validate a depth-averaged hydrodynamic model of the study reach in order to extract streamtube information. The results from the hydrodynamic model were used to interpret the mixing characteristics of the study reach as well as extract channel characteristics. From the analysis it is evident that the distribution of effective transverse mixing coefficient is highly dependent on local river conditions. The use of the hydrodynamic model to extract channel characteristics provided a reasonable estimate of mixing characteristics without requiring detailed field velocity data. The trade-off is more detailed bathymetry data is required to have a realistic model. Plume averaged channel characteristics rather than cross sectional averaged were shown to produce more realistic transverse mixing coefficients. Assumed Gaussian profile distributions were successfully applied suggesting that for a bank discharge if the maximum bank concentration and mass flux are known this technique could be applied.
Appraisal of Landslides Due to Rainfall

Makalah ini menjelaskan analisa pengaruh hujan terhadap kestabilan lereng melalui beberapa simulasidengan menggunakan software geoteknik. Keruntuhan lereng bisanya terjadi pada tanah residual yangterletak di daerah yang mengalami musim hujan yang berkepanjangan. Dari hasil simulasi yangdilakukan, dapat disimpulkan bahwa kestabilan lereng dipengaruhi oleh 2 faktor yang sangat penting,yaitu: curah hujan dan geometri dari lereng tersebut. Hasil analisis menggambarkan hubungan antara 2faktor penting tersebut dan kestabilan dari lereng, berikut dengan kesimpulannya. Perbandingandengan data dari hasil penelitian yang lain juga dilampirkan dalam makalah ini.
Physical description of an upwelling filament west of Cape St. Vincent in late October 2004

[1] The present paper describes the physical characteristics of an upwelling filament off Cape St. Vincent (southern Iberia) in October 2004, based on remote sensing, hydrographic, ADCP and wind data. It was associated with a meandering jet similar to eastern Pacific or Canary filaments, though its dynamical features were weaker as a result of the surface-trapped (top 100 m) and weak horizontal density gradients. The filament transported 0.9 Sv of coastal water offshore, of which 8% was due to Ekman transport; it formed following the destabilization of an alongshore equatorward upwelling jet close to the cape. The filament was structurally asymmetric, with anticyclonic geostrophic vorticity to the north and more strongly cyclonic to the south, as a result of the meanders and existing eddies. The filament comprised a sequence of cold, submesoscale (∼30 km diameter) cyclones. Vertical velocities of ±15 m·d−1 were associated with meanders of the jet. The surface and subsurface circulation was coupled. At middepths (90–150 m) anticyclonic recirculation of northern water seemed associated with a separated, older upwelling jet. Mediterranean Water (MW) was present below 350 dbar as a topographically steered undercurrent and a meddy-cyclone dipole. These undercurrents contributed to the formation of the October filament through baroclinic instability associated with the enhanced vertical shear.
Role of Interventional IBD in Management of Ulcerative Colitis(UC)-Associated Neoplasia and Post-Operative Pouch Complications in UC: A Systematic Review

Interventional inflammatory bowel disease (IIBD) is going to play a major role in complex IBD including ulcerative-colitis associated neoplasia (UCAN) and postoperative complications after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) in ulcerative colitis (UC). We performed a literature search in PubMed using keywords such as “UCAN” and “endoscopic management of pouch complications,” After screening 1221 citations, finally, 91 relevant citations were identified for the systematic review. Endoscopic recognition of dysplasia should be done by high-definition white light endoscopy (HD-WLE) or dye-based/virtual chromoendoscopy (CE) especially in known dysplasia or primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). Endoscopically visible lesions without deep submucosal invasion can be resected endoscopically with endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR), endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), or using full-thickness resection device (FTRD). Image-enhanced endoscopy (IEE) and IIBD have an emerging role in screening, diagnosis, and management of colitis-associated neoplasia in UC and can avoid colectomy. IIBD can manage a significant proportion of post-IPAA complications. Pouch strictures can be treated with endoscopic balloon dilation (EBD) or stricturotomy, whereas acute and chronic anastomotic leak or sinuses can be managed with through the scope (TTS)/over the scope clips (OTSC) and endoscopic fistulotomy/sinusotomy.
Tertiary geodynamic evolution of the Southern Adria microplate

The southern Adria microplate is the common foreland for the Hellenide and Southern Apennine thrust belts. The Apulian Platform dominates the microplate; outcrop, well and seismic data allow us to trace the carbonate platform edge, whilst structural analysis, geophysical and palaeomagnetic data provide important clues to the geodynamic evolution of the region. The present structural fabric of Apulia is dominated by several E-W lineaments that divide the region into different blocks (Rospo Plateau, Gargano Promontory, Murge Ridge, Salento Peninsula, Apulian Plateau). One such lineament (the Pescara Dubrovnik ‘Line’, a prominent feature traversing the Adriatic Sea between central Italy and southern Croatia) has been active since the early Mesozoic, when it acted as a major transform fault controlling sedimentation along the northern margin of Southern Adria. During the Cenozoic the Pescara-Dubrovnik underwent predominantly vertical and oblique movement due to a differential flexural response of the platform and the adjacent pelagic sequences to the thrust belt loading. In Tertiary time the Southern Adria microplate was partly involved in HeIlenide collision. The Apulian platform can be considered as an area of thicker crust more resistant to underthrusting than the surrounding basins. During the orogenic events it acted as a passive rigid indentor, causing local distortion of the most external Hellenide structures. The dextral transpressive activity recorded along the south-east margin of this indentor (Kephallinia line) can be interpreted as the result of the oblique collision between the margin of the thick Apulian Platform (in this zone NNE-SSW striking) and the NW-SE striking Hellenic thrust belt. Horizontal stress generated during the collision was partly transmitted to the rigid foreland re-activating palaeo E-W faults within the south Adria microplate in a dextral strike-slip sense. The clockwise rotation recorded in the Salento Peninsula can be explained by the rotation of several NW-SE striking faulted blocks. The rotation was accompanied by the opening of small transtensional basins between blocks. This block rotation was caused by the dextral shear that is expressed along the North and the South Salento Fault Zones.
Holocene slip rate and earthquake recurrence on the Honey Lake fault zone, northeastern California

The Honey Lake fault zone, a major right-lateral fault in the Basin and Range province of eastern California, is one of a broad system of faults that accommodate some of the relative motion between the Pacific and North American plates. These right-lateral faults may have significantly higher slip rates, and thus greater earthquake hazards, than the normal faults for which the Basin and Range is more commonly known. In the Honey Lake Valley, the fault forms a 50-km-long zone of landforms typical of active strike-slip faults. Right-lateral offset of an incised creek channel is used to estimate a Holocene slip rate of between 1.1 and 2.6 mm/yr. A fault exposure in Holocene alluvium shows evidence for at least four late Holocene surface-faulting earthquakes.
Assessment of sea‐surface temperature at 42°N in the California Current over the last 30,000 years

Assessment of changes in surface ocean conditions, in particular, sea-surface temperature (SST), is essential to understand long-term changes in climate especially in regions where continental climate is strongly influenced by oceanographic processes. To evaluate changes in SST in the northeast Pacific, we have analyzed long-chain alkenones of prymnesiophyte origin at 38 depths in a piston and associated trigger core collected beneath the contemporary core of the California Current System at 42°N, ∼270 km off the coast of Oregon/California. The samples span 30,000 years of deposition at this location. Unsaturation patterns (U37K′) in the alkenone series display a statistically significant difference (p ≪ 0.001) between interglacial (0.44 ± 0.02, n = 11) and glacial (0.29 ± 0.04, n = 20) intervals of the cores. Detailed examination of other compositional features of the C37, C38, C39 alkenone series and a related C36 alkenoate series measured downcore suggests the published U37K′- temperature calibration (U37K′=0.034×T+0.039), defined for cultures of a strain of Emiliania huxleyi isolated from the subarctic Pacific, provides best estimates of winter SST at our study site. This inference is purely statistical and does not imply, however, that the phytoplankton source of these biomarkers is most productive in winter or at the ocean surface. The temperature record for U37K′ implies (1) an ∼4°C shift occurred in winter SST from ∼ 7.5 ± 1.1°C at the last glacial maximum to ∼ 11.7 ± 0.7°C in the present interglacial period, and (2) this warming trend was confined to the time frame 14–10 Ka within the glacial to interglacial transition period. These conclusions are corroborated entirely by results from an independent SST transformation of radiolarian species assemblage data obtained from the same core materials.
Vertical sediment fluxes and wave-induced sediment resuspension in a shallow-water coastal lagoon

The present study describes variations in the vertical fluxes measured concurrently with sediment traps at both a shallow water (4 m) and a deeper water (7.5 m) position in a coastal lagoon in April 1995. A tripod equipped with five sediment traps (trap openings at 0.35 m, 0.75 m, 1.05 m, 1.40 m, and 1.80 m above the seabed) was placed at the shallow water position. This tripod was deployed three times during the study period and deployment periods varied between 2 d and 5 d. The second sediment trap, placed at the deep water position in the central part of the lagoon, measured vertical flux for intervals of 12 h at 1.4 m above the seabed. The horizontal distance between the sediment traps was 8 km. The average maximum vertical flux at the shallow water position reached 27.9 g m−2 d−1 during a period of high, westerly wind speeds, and a maximum vertical flux of 16.9 g m−2 d−1 was reached at the deep water position during a period of high, easterly wind speeds. Both strong resuspension events were closely related to increased wave shear stress derived from surface waves. Maximum wave-induced resuspension rate was 10 times higher at the shallow water position and 3.8 times higher at the deep water position compared with the net sedimentation rate in the lagoon. Small resuspension events occurred at the shallow water position during periods of increased current shear stress, Estimations of conditions for transport of sediment between shallow water and deep water showed that particles must be resuspended to a height between 3 m and 4 m and that current speeds must be higher than about 0.1 m s−1. An average sedimentation rate of 3.8 g m−2 d−1 was obtained at the shallow water position during a period without wave shear stress and low current shear stress. This rate measured by sediment traps is similar to a net sedimentation rate in the lagoon of 4.4 g m−2 d−1, which was determined by radiocarbon dating of a sediment core (Kristensen et al. 1995).
Natal philopatry and local movement patterns of Twite Carduelis flavirostris

The Twite Carduelis flavirostris is classified as a red‐listed bird of conservation concern in the United Kingdom. Successful conservation initiatives will depend on an understanding of local movement patterns and natal philopatry as these will be important in determining how likely the species is to colonise new nesting areas. Natal philopatry was studied in twelve breeding colonies in the South Pennines Special Protection Area using an intensive colour‐ringing programme. Of twenty birds colour‐ringed as nestlings and relocated in a subsequent breeding season, half had returned to their natal colony. Seven had moved to adjacent colonies while the remaining three had moved up to 12.1 km away. Local movement patterns were studied by colour‐ringing birds at two feeding stations outside the breeding season. These birds did not necessarily breed in adjacent colonies in subsequent years but rather dispersed throughout the South Pennines. In the post‐breeding season, before winter migration, adults and first‐year birds moved extensively throughout the study area. During this time, certain key feeding sites were utilised by individuals from widely dispersed colonies. The observed pattern of natal dispersal and local movements within the South Pennines suggests that historical breeding sites can be recolonised if appropriate breeding conditions are restored.
Vertical uplift resistance of a group of two strip anchors in sand from model tests

Abstract The ultimate uplift resistance of a group of two strip anchors embedded in sand and subjected to equal magnitudes of vertical upward pullout loads has been determined by performing a series of small scale model tests. In the chosen experimental setup, by simulating the boundary conditions along the vertical plane of symmetry mid-way between the two anchor plates, a single anchor plate was employed rather than using both the anchor plates. For different combinations of embedment ratio of anchors and friction angle of soil mass, the effect of clear spacing between the two anchors, was brought out. It was clearly noted that the ultimate pullout capacity of the anchors decreases continuously with a decrease in the spacing between the anchors. The experimental results obtained in this paper were found to compare reasonably well with the available theoretical data from literature.
New constraints on the ages of Neoproterozoic glaciations in south China

The most complete Neoproterozoic successions in south China contain three diamictite intervals in the Changan, Tiesiao, and Nantuo Formations. The youngest and most widespread Nantuo glacial deposit overlies the Datangpo Formation and underlies the fossil- rich Doushantuo Formation. Previous authors have correlated the Nantuo diamictite to either Sturtian or Marinoan glacial deposits elsewhere. Here we report sedimentary and δ13C chemostratigraphic data of the Doushantuo cap dolostone, which overlies the Nantuo Formation. Facies-dependent variation in δ13C is interpreted as evidence for spatial heterogeneity in δ13C and/or temporal diachroneity in the initiation of cap carbonate sedimentation. Sedimentary and chemostratigraphic data are indicative of a Marinoan age for the Nantuo glaciation. This inference is supported by a new U-Pb zircon age of 663 ± 4 Ma from a tuffaceous bed in the Datangpo Formation. The new date and other isotopic ages from south China constrain the age of the Changan and Tiesiao glaciation(s) as between 761 ± 8 Ma and 663 ± 4 Ma, and the Nantuo glaciation as between 663 ± 4 Ma and 599 ± 4 Ma.