Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Public and expert perceptions of sea-level change on the Severn Estuary

As coastal communities become increasingly exposed to the risks posed by sea-level change, understanding their beliefs and responses becomes more important. While studies have identified differences in lay and expert understandings of climate change, little research has investigated how these groups understand sea-level change. This thesis uses a mental models approach to explore and compare expert and public perceptions of sea-level change on the Severn Estuary, a threatened coastal environment in the southwest of the United Kingdom. A three-phase methodology is adopted. First, expert perceptions are investigated through semi-structured interviews, probability elicitations and cognitive mapping with experts in the field of sea-level change on the Severn Estuary (N=11). Second, public perceptions are investigated through mental models interviews that include a semi-structured discussion, a picture sorting task, and a cognitive mapping session (N=20). Third, perceptions raised during public interviews are explored by way of a wider survey of members of the public living around the Severn Estuary (N=359). These perceptions are then compared and contrasted. A grounded approach is utilised to explore themes emerging from expert and public qualitative interviews, while regression analyses explore the relationships between themes explored in the quantitative public survey. Results show areas of public understanding consistent with expert understandings: most public respondents think that sea levels will rise, leading to increased flooding and property damage. However, the Severn Estuary public does not feel well informed about sea-level change, and there are a number of key differences between expert and public perceptions. For example, there is low public salience of some of the key drivers of sea-level change and its indirect impacts. Perceptions are influenced by many factors including information sources, the ways in which individuals think about the future, and the biases that they hold. Many findings are consistent with climate change research more generally. For example, respondents tend to express low concern about sea-level change in relation to other matters such as the economy; they feel detached from the issue, seeing it as something that will happen in the future to other people; and they perceive that neither the causes of nor responses to sea-level change are their responsibility. From an applied perspective, the study fills a research gap in how the Severn Estuary public perceives sea-level change in their region, and provides insights into how it might best be communicated. From a methodological perspective, the study illustrates the utility of using mixed methods, interdisciplinary approaches for investigating public and expert perceptions of specific climate change risks.
Growth and Human Development in North-East India

One of the most comprehensive works in the vast area of human development in the North-Eastern region of India, this volume brings new thinking on the approach to poverty, measurement of poverty, relationship between economic growth and human development, socio-political transition, politics of growth and growth trends, and development attainment. The status of HD across and within the eight North-Eastern states (the study also includes Orissa), have been provided with large empirical data. Academicians from within and outside the region contributing to this volume broadly divide the literature into three sections: (i) concept and measurement of growth and human development; (ii) the issue at the national level; and (iii) the issue in the North-East region. Meaningful for formulating development policies that will have larger implications for the country as a whole, the volume is enriched with HD indices of each major state, and comparative HD analysis at all-India level.
Libby Dam Hydro-electric Project Mitigation: Efforts for Downstream Ecosystem Restoration.

Construction of Libby Dam, a large hydropower and flood control dam occurred from 1966 to 1975 on the Kootenai River, near Libby, Montana in the Northwestern United States. Live reservoir storage is substantial, with water residence time of about 5 1/2 months (based on mean annual discharge of about 440 m{sup 3}/s). Downstream river discharge and thermal regimes and the dependent habitat conditions have been significantly altered by dam construction and operation relative to pre-dam conditions. Highly valued Kootenai River fish populations, including white sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus, burbot Lota lota and bull trout Salvelinus confluentus and their supporting ecological conditions have been deteriorating during post-dam years. Measurements of the presence of very low (ultraoligotrophic) concentrations of dissolved phosphorus in the river downstream from Libby Dam were identified as a critical limitation on primary production and overall ecosystem health. A decision was made to initiate the largest experimental river fertilization project to date in the Kootenai River at the Montana-Idaho border. Pre-treatment aquatic biomonitoring began in 2001; post-treatment monitoring began in 2005. A solar-powered nutrient addition system was custom designed and built to dose small releases of dissolved nutrients at rates from 10 to 40 L/hour, depending on river discharge, whichmore » averaged several hundred m3/s. Closely monitored experimental additions of ammonium polyphosphate solution (10-34-0) into the river occurred during the summers of 2005 through 2008. Targets for mixed in-river P concentrations were 1.5 {micro}g/L in 2005, and 3 {micro}g/L in subsequent years. Primary productivity and algal accrual rates along with invertebrate and fish community metrics and conditions were consistently measured annually, before and after experimental fertilization. Initial results from the program are very encouraging, and are reported. « less
GUSTS AT LOW ALTITUDE IN NORTH AFRICA

Flights have been made in North Africa over a period of one year in order to investigate low altitude turbulence. Discrete gust analysis is used and gust spectra are given covering the year's flights for different times of day and over different types of terrain. The variation in intensity throughout the year and the variation with height up to 600 feet are examined. The effect of compressibility on the gust alleviation factors for speeds up to a Mach number of 0.6 is shown to be small.
Pressure–temperature–time evolution of the Central East Greenland Caledonides: quantitative constraints on crustal thickening and synorogenic extension

Whereas geologists have known for three‐quarters of a century that there was significant crustal thickening in the central East Greenland Caledonides, the crucial role of extensional faulting during Caledonian orogenesis has only been recognized during the past decade. In this paper, new petrographic and thermobarometric observations are presented from migmatitic metasedimentary gneisses of the Forsblad Fjord region (c. 72.5°N). Samples of the Krummedal Sequence, collected from the footwall of the upper of two significant splays of the main extensional fault system in the region—the Fjord Region Detachment (FRD)—enable us to establish a relative sequence of metamorphism. Our pressure (P)–temperature (T) results imply a clockwise loop in P–T space. As recorded by mineral assemblages in the Krummedal gneisses, prograde metamorphism involved a net increase of c. 4 kbar and 250 °C, with peak conditions of c. 10.5 kbar at 785 °C. Early burial and heating was followed by near‐isothermal decompression of 4.5 kbar, a process which is attributed to roughly 18 km of tectonostratigraphic throw on the upper splay of the FRD. Combining data reported here with the published data, it is estimated that the approximate tectonostratigraphic throw along the lower splay of the FRD was c. 16 km. In situ U–Th–Pb‐monazite electron microprobe dating suggests that the earliest phase of metamorphism recorded in the Krummedal Sequence gneisses of Forsblad Fjord occurred during the Caledonian orogeny. Furthermore, the combination of our new data with existing conventional TIMS U‐Pb and 40Ar/39Ar data imply that: (1) movement along the uppermost splay of the FRD (c. 425–423 Ma) occurred at maximum time‐averaged slip‐rates equivalent to c. 9 mm of vertical displacement per year; and (2) that the final stages of metamorphism occurred prior to c. 411 Ma, although part of this denudation was likely accommodated on overlying extensional structures that may have been active more recently. There is close agreement between our data and results from the Krummedal Sequence north of the field area (72.5°−74°N), and rocks of the Smallefjord Sequence (75°−76°N) that are suggested to correlate with the Krummedal Sequence. This leads us to infer that the events recorded in the Forsblad Fjord region are of orogen‐scale significance.
The Influence of Heterogeneous Risk Preferences on Water Market Activity: an Application to the Paloma System of the Limarí Water Basin, Chile

Title of Dissertation: THE INFLUENCE OF HETEROGENEOUS RISK PREFERENCES ON WATER MARKET ACTIVITY: AN APPLICATION TO THE PALOMA SYSTEM OF THE LIMARÍ WATER BASIN, CHILE Oscar E Cristi, Doctor of Philosophy, 2007 Dissertation directed by: Professor Lars Olson, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics This dissertation contributes to our knowledge about water markets by analyzing the factors that explain market transactions of water rights when there is also a spot market for water volumes. I hypothesize that risk heterogeneity among farmers can explain those transactions. To test the aforementioned hypothesis I model farmers’ decisions on investment in water rights each season under the assumptions that they face output risk and that uncertainty is generated by future water availability and price. The first order condition to this problem, which is represented by the Euler Equation, indicates that the current period reservation value of a water right depends on the current value of the amount of water accorded to water rights in the spot market, the stochastic discount factor, and the expected future prices of water rights. Using the relationship between the reservation value of a water right and the stochastic discount factor I show analytically how heterogeneous preferences are a sufficient condition for an active market for water rights. Then, I test for heterogeneous preferences by allowing them to be a function of specific characteristics of farmers. That requires the estimation of a system of equations that includes a parametric specification of the Euler Equation and the first order conditions for optimal input quantities. For that, I use an exponential utility function and a production function of the Just-Pope type. I jointly estimate the parameters that describe a farmer’s utility function along with production function parameters. The empirical application uses farmer micro-level data from a two-round survey that I conducted on a sample of Limarí Basin farmers. That Basin is located in the northern part of Chile and is characterized by an active water market that has existed since 1981. Evidence rejects the hypothesis of homogeneity among farmers and suggests that those better educated and more experienced Limarí Basin farmers are less riskaverse. Results also show that water, labor and fertilizers have a positive impact on mean output per hectare but their effect on yield variability implies that those inputs are risk increasing. THE INFLUENCE OF HETEROGENEOUS RISK PREFERENCES ON WATER MARKET ACTIVITY: AN APPLICATION TO THE PALOMA SYSTEM OF THE LIMARÍ WATER BASIN, CHILE.
The inﬂuence of human papillomavirus infection on risk of colorectal cancer:a mendelian randomization study

Despite the well-established link between human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical and anogenital cancers, there is ongoing debate regarding the relationship between HPV and colorectal cancer (CRC). This study aimed to evaluate the causal connection between HPV infection and CRC. To achieve this, we conducted a Mendelian randomization analysis utilizing data from genomewide association studies (GWAS) to explore the association between HPV and CRC. Our analysis revealed a signiﬁcant association between genetically predicted HPV-16 infection and the risk of paternal colorectal adenocarcinoma (HPV-16: OR 1.058, 95% CI 1.013 to1.102; p = 0.011), as well as CRC (HPV-16: OR 1.045 95% CI 1.005 to 1.085; p = 0.025). These ﬁndings provide compelling evidence for a causal eﬀect of HPV-16 on the development of CRC. Further investigations into the underlying mechanisms and elucidation of this association are necessary to identify viable interventions for the prevention and treatment of HPV-16-associated CRC.
Profile distribution and storage of soil organic carbon and total nitrogen under conservation tillage in Northwest Liaoning, China.

To evaluate the effect of conservation tillage for 6 years on soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN), the profile distribution and storage of SOC and TN were compared between conventional tillage (CT) and no-tillage (NT). Soil samples were taken to 1 m depth (0–5, 5–15, 15–30, 30–50, 50–75 and 75–100 cm) from the CT and NT fields in Northwest Liaoning, China. The results showed that there were similar variation trends in the profile distribution and storage of SOC and TN. Significant depth effects on SOC and TN were observed in this investigation. A higher tillage effect was found on SOC than on TN. The concentration of SOC was significantly correlated with that of TN in the CT and NT fields. C/N ratios significantly declined with increasing soil depth. No-tillage significantly increased the SOC storage at the 0-15 cm depth. No significant differences in the SOC and TN storage were found at the 0-100 cm depth. Soil depth was a key factor in evaluating SOC and TN storage in the conservation tillage system.
Large-scale occupancy surveys in East Antarctica discover new Adélie penguin breeding sites and reveal an expanding breeding distribution

Abstract Knowledge of spatial distribution is fundamental to ecological studies and crucial for conservation and management of species and biodiversity, but detailed, large-scale spatial data are lacking for most taxa. Although the Adélie penguin is one of the most intensively studied Antarctic vertebrates, spatial data that could aid in ecological study and conservation management are incomplete. We undertook a large-scale survey of the current breeding distribution of Adélie penguins along 3800 km of the East Antarctic coastline. The survey increased the number of known breeding locations by 50% and revealed that the breeding distribution has expanded in some parts of the survey region over the past two to three decades. The expanding breeding distribution may reflect underlying population dynamics of sustained growth and resultant density dependent effect on dispersal and movement from established breeding sites to new sites. The comprehensive, large-scale distribution data from this study will form a baseline for assessing any future changes in Adélie penguin breeding distribution, provide data for developing spatial models for predicting future changes in breeding distribution under plausible scenarios of environmental change, and contribute to the development of metapopulation models by providing estimates of local colonization and extinction probabilities under specific conditions of metapopulation change.
Structural setting and tectonic evolution of North Sinai folds, Egypt

Abstract Detailed study of outcrop and subsurface data of North Sinai indicates the existence of a NE–SW oriented region with very large asymmetric folds lying between the Nile Delta hinge zone and the Sinai hinge belt. The steep southeastern flanks of these folds are often associated with high-angle reverse faults. These folds continue northeastward in the Naqb Desert toward the Dead Sea transform. The North Sinai folds represent inversion anticlines formed by inversion of Mesozoic (Jurassic and probably Cretaceous) extensional basins during Late Cretaceous to pre-Miocene times. Mesozoic extension is related to the divergence between Afro-Arabia and Eurasia and opening of the Neotethys whereas inversion is related to the convergent movement between these two plates. The acme of inversion was at Campanian time. The central Sinai hinge belt is a zone of ENE–WSW oriented, right-lateral strike–slip faults that separate the folded area to the north from the tectonically stable area of central and southern Sinai. It responded to the convergent movement between Afro-Arabia and Eurasia by dextral transpression on the faults. Later reactivation of the eastern edges of these faults by drag on the west side of the Dead Sea transform took place in post-Miocene to Recent times.
Silica depleted melting of pelites. Petrogenetic grid and application to the Susqueda Aureole, Spain

Metapelitic rocks in the low pressure contact metamorphic aureole around the Susqueda igneous complex, Spain show a number of features that make them an ideal testing ground for the modelling of silica‐undersaturated melting. Rocks in the aureole experienced localized depletion in silica by the segregation of quartz veins during a pre‐anatectic, regional cordierite‐andalusite grade metamorphic event. These rocks were then intruded by gabbroic to dioritic rocks of the Susqueda igneous complex that formed a migmatitic contact metamorphic aureole in the country rocks. This migmatisation event caused quartz‐saturated hornfels and restite formation in rocks that had experienced no quartz vein segregation in the previous regional metamorphic event, but silica‐undersaturated melting in those rocks that were previously depleted in silica. Silica‐undersaturated melting is investigated using a new petrogenetic P–T projection and equilibrium pseudosections calculated in the KFMASH and NCKFMASH systems, respectively. The grid considers quartz absent equilibria and a range of phases that form typically in silica‐undersaturated bulk compositions, for example corundum. It is shown that the quartz‐rich precursors in the Susqueda contact aureole produced about 10% melt during contact metamorphism. However, most of this melt was extracted leaving behind rocks with restitic bulk compositions and minor leucosome segregation. It is suggested that the melt mixed with the host igneous rocks causing an apparent magmatic zoning from diorite in the centre of the complex to tonalite at the margins. In contrast, the quartz‐poor precursors (from which the quartz veins segregated) melted in the silica‐undersaturated field producing a range of assemblages including peritectic corundum and spinel. Melting of the silica‐undersaturated rocks produced only negligible melt and no subsequent melt loss.
Temporal variation of multifractal properties of seismicity in the region affected by the mainshock of the October 6, 2000 Western Tottori Prefecture, Japan, earthquake (M = 7.3)

The temporal variation of multifractal properties in spatial distribution of seismicity in the region affected by the main shock of the Western Tottori Prefecture, Japan, earthquake of October 6, 2000 (M = 7.3) and its aftershock sequence are investigated. We use earthquake catalog data from 1985 to 2001 in order to understand the process and mechanism preceding a large, shallow earthquake. A monotonous decrease of multifractal dimension Dq with a wide range of q appeared clearly for about two years prior to this large, shallow earthquake; Dq then increased to a maximum at the time of the main shock. During the aftershock sequence, Dq oscillated between 2.0 and 0.7. The decrease and then increase of Dq with respect to the spatial distribution of seismic events indicate clustering and declustering in multifractal structure, respectively. The temporal variation of Dq reflects the accumulation and release of strain energy within the tectonic stress field.
Animal dung from arid environments and archaeobotanical methodologies for its analysis: An example from animal burials of the Predynastic elite cemetery HK6 at Hierakonpolis, Egypt

Abstract Bioarchaeological studies of animal dung from arid environments provide valuable information on various aspects of life in ancient societies relating to land use and environmental change, and from the Neolithic onwards to the animal husbandry and the use of animals as markers of status and wealth. In this study we present the archaeobotanical analysis of animal gut contents from burials in the elite Predynastic cemetery HK6 at Hierakonpolis, Upper Egypt. The study involved analysis of plant macrofossils, phytoliths and pollen applied on samples from two elephants, a hartebeest, an aurochs and five domestic cattle. The study showed that most probably the elephants were given fodder containing emmer spikelets (dehusking by-products) before the animals death. Most of the other animals were also foddered with cereal chaff, but were mainly allowed to browse and graze in the settlement area and near the Nile. The diet of some contained only wild growing plants. The variety of plant remains identified in the stomach contents indicates that the food plants for the animals were obtained from three possible habitats near the site: the river banks, the low desert and the cultivated/anthropogenically modified areas.
The Dynamics of the Amery Ice Shelf

A general survey of the preliminary results of a three-year program of measurements on the Amery Ice Shelf by A.N. A.R. E. are presented, together with theoretical considerations of the velocity and stress distributions and the mass and energy regimes of the ice shelf. In order to explain the observed velocity distribution it has been found necessary to extend Weertman’s theory of ice-shelf creep to an ice shelf bounded at its sides. The resulting theoretical velocity profile applied to the results of the Amery Ice Shelf provides estimates of the average values of the power flow-law parameters for the ice shelf. The energy and mass budget considerations, together with the recorded change in form of the ice front, suggest that the ice-shelf regime is not in a continual state of balance but may fluctuate as the ice shelf changes in form over a period of about forty years.
Muslim Women’s Entrepreneurship in Conflict Zones: Religiosity, Culture, and Gender Egalitarianism

Whilst the role and impact of culture upon women’s entrepreneurship have been acknowledged within the entrepreneurship literature, the interplay and nuances of Islamic religiosity and gender egalitarianism as cultural indicators of Muslim women’s entrepreneurship in conflict-ridden countries remain understudied. Within this study, we contribute to this special issue and bridge this gap by analysing the interplay between Islamic culture and Muslim women’s entrepreneurial behaviours and strategies in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine, as all three contexts continue to experience decades of intense and protracted political and violent conflict. Our qualitative data collected from 16 Muslim women entrepreneurs operating their businesses in these contexts shows how their Islamic religiosity plays a powerful role in guiding entrepreneurial behaviours and strategies in multiple ways within precarious structural conditions and failed states. Indeed, the women’s Islamic religiosity influenced the launch, operations and growth of their enterprises, and anchored them within the chaotic and dangerous void within their failed states. In addition, this study shows that Islamic gender egalitarianism embedded within Islamic principles is promoted by the women entrepreneurs as they utilise their entrepreneurship as an expression of Islamic feminist activism challenging the prevailing stereotypes of Muslim women under patriarchal cultural contexts, and creating awareness about women’s rights to engage in entrepreneurship under Islamic law.