Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FINANCIAL WELL-BEING AMONGST DIFFERENT RACES IN SOUTH AFRICA

Financial well-being can be perceived as a function of an individual? s physical and emotional factors pertaining to their financial position and the level of satisfaction they feel in terms of their financial status. This research study aimed to place investors in a certain category of financial well-being based on their race. Data for this article was purposefully collected using a quantitative questionnaire which was electronically distributed to 600 investors within the South African market. A self-report measure for financial well-being was used where participants had to rate their own level of financial well-being. This research found that there are statistically significant differences in individuals? level of financial well-being amongst different groups of race. More specifically, results suggest that White individuals have a higher perceived level of financial well-being compared to their Black, Indian, and Coloured counterparts. However, no significant difference was found between the racial groups as low financial well-being was dominant in all four groups. Higher levels of perceived financial well-being will lead to more optimistic investment decisions which will be constructive to portfolio asset managers in creating investor profiles.
Virtual Tide Gauges for Predicting Relative Sea Level Rise

We present a Bayesian method to map contemporary rates of relative sea level change using a joint inversion of vertical trends from tide gauges, GPS time series, and satellite radar altimetry measurements. Tide gauge measurements constrain rates of relative sea level change on decadal to secular time scales at a few hundred sites sparsely distributed along coastlines. Predicting the rates of relative sea level change from historical tide gauge measurements is difficult due to the paucity and uneven distribution of sites with high quality records. Since the late twentieth century, deployments of GPS stations have enabled accurate determination of the rates of vertical land motion. A series of satellite radar altimetry missions provide continuous and global monitoring of geocentric sea level changes since the launch of TOPEX/Poseidon in 1992. By combining these three observations types into a single Bayesian inversion, we construct continuous maps of rates of relative sea level change, geocentric sea level change, and vertical land motion assuming linear trends, with robust estimates of uncertainties at regional scales. Cross‐validation tests show that reliable predictions of relative sea level changes are still provided where only GPS and satellite altimetry data are used, suggesting this method is viable for studying potential sea level risk for communities where historical tide gauge data are not available. Our results provide spatially and temporally consistent estimates of the various contributions to relative sea level changes.
Local voices in land use decisions : Co-producing spatial knowledge on ecosystem services with indigenous and tribal communities in intact forest regions

The relatively undisturbed tropical forest regions offer unique opportunities to mitigate climate change and the loss of biodiversity. The global importance of their management by indigenous and tribal communities for the conservation is widely understood. Despite this, the rapid expansion of external pressures (e.g. logging, agri-business, mining and infrastructure) far into these lands, with various consequences for local livelihoods, is challenging the ability of local communities to sustainably manage these lands. It is therefore urgent to involve them in the land use decision making that affects them, as well as to consider the entangled social and ecological transformation processes that they undergo upon the arrival of external pressures. However, tools and approaches that enable their engagement are not yet sufficiently available. Moreover, our scientific understanding of how external pressures affect the spatial and temporal dynamics of ecosystem service use by local communities and how these dynamics affect the conservation of intact forest areas is still limited. This doctoral thesis addresses this pressing gap through spatial knowledge co-production involving 1108 indigenous and tribal community members from three intact forest regions, one in the Colombian Amazon and two in Suriname. Two main conclusions stem from this doctoral thesis. First, that co-produced spatial knowledge is useful to understand the patterns of ecosystem service use by indigenous and tribal communities in intact forest regions and to respond to complex and multiple realities in the field. Second, practical application of the results of this thesis suggests that the engagement of an inspired local champion and broker is a crucial factor to foster the usability of co-produced spatial knowledge in land use decision-making. This doctoral thesis in particular contributes to filling the current deficit of local spatial knowledge in regional and global scenarios of land use planning in intact forest regions, as highlighted in the latest IPBES Global Assessment Report of ecosystems and biodiversity.
Predictors of thinness and improved dietary diversity among School Aged Children in Southern Ethiopia

Introduction: and nutritional problems among children in developing countries. There is limited evidence on the level of thinness, and dietary among school aged children in Ethiopia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of thinness and adequate dietary diversity and their predictors among primary schools. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Meskan District of Southern Ethiopia, from October 11 to November 3, 2016. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 408 school age children. Data on sociodemographic, and anthropometric variables were collected using structured and trained interviewer administered questionnaires and anthropometrists, respectively. Body-mass-index-for-age z-scores for thinness were computed using WHO AnthroPlus, and dietary diversity score was generated using 24-hour recall dietary data. Both bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were done to identify factors associated with thinness and dietary diversity. A p -value <0.05 was used to declare the signi ﬁ cance of association. Results: The prevalence of thinness was 10.1% (95% CI=7.1 – 13). Children who lived in urban areas were 65% less likely to be thin (AOR=0.35; 95% CI=0.13-0.93) compared to those who lived in rural areas after controlling for other variables. The proportion of children who met minimum dietary diversity was 27.5% (95% CI=23 – 32). Children living in households with rich wealth index Terciles (AOR=1.88; 95% CI=1.09 – 3.21) and children living in urban areas (AOR=2.38; 95% CI=1.28 – 4.39) were twice more likely to have adequate dietary diversity compared to their counter parts. Discussion: The prevalence of thinnessn is less common in the study area when compared to the prevalence reported by other studies in developing countries. Residence of children was associated with thinness. The practice of having diversi ﬁ ed diet was low among children . Rich family wealth status and place of residence were signi ﬁ cantly associated with adequate dietary diversity. Hence, targeted interventions that focus on rural children and household socioeconomic status are needed to improve dietary diversity and nutritional status.
Determination of relationship between standard penetration test and geotechnical parameters in Ahwaz soil

ABSTRACT The present study is the result of more than 150 geotechnical investigations that were conducted over 2 years (from 2015 to 2016) on the Ahwaz soil (which is mainly composed of clay with low plasticity in different regions). The standard penetration test was performed at all the boring locations, and after preparing the undisturbed Shelby tube samples from different depths, the unconsolidated undrained triaxial (UU), Atterberg limits, in situ moisture content and grading tests were performed on all samples. All of the abovementioned parameters are presented for the Ahvaz soil, and the range of values of each of the parameters were investigated, and finally, the relationship between the modulus of elasticity and the standard penetration test was studied. The effect of different soil parameters and their contribution to the determination of soil elasticity modulus is another important result of this study. The most important result of this study could be the different classifications of soil elasticity moduli by using the sample Nspt values to estimate the elasticity moduli because the standard penetration test value has the highest correlation and the most significant relationship with elasticity moduli.
Tidal Flow Asymmetry and Discharge of Lateral Tributaries Drive the Evolution of a Microtidal Meander in the Venice Lagoon (Italy)

Tidal landscapes are extensively characterized by the presence of meandering channels, the latter being important for the ecomorphodynamic evolution of these environments. It remains unclear whether changes in the relative strength of maximum flood and ebb currents (i.e., tidal flow asymmetries), together with the widespread presence of lateral tributaries, cause tidal meanders to evolve differently from their fluvial relatives. Here, we investigate the evolution of a meandering channel in the Venice Lagoon (Italy) that receives water from two major tributaries along its outer bank. Using a 2‐D numerical model, we first analyze the changes in local tidal flow asymmetries, both natural and anthropogenically induced, which occurred during the last 120 years. The effects of these modifications on the meander morphodynamics are then investigated by means of a 3‐D numerical model, and results are compared to modern and historical field data spanning more than one century. We show that under asymmetric tidal flows, tidal meanders develop depositional patterns according to the dominant flow direction, similar to that of fluvial meanders. In addition, the morphological effects of the nondominant tidal flow become increasingly negligible as tidal flow asymmetry increases. We also show that enhanced sediment and water fluxes from major lateral tributaries, sourced from wind‐wave exposed tidal flats, can critically influence the development of erosional and depositional patterns within tidal meanders otherwise sheltered from wind action by the presence of salt marshes.
Differential Responses of Bacterial Communities Inhabiting Pristine and Industrially Polluted Sediment from Oil Spills along Dalian, China

ABSTRACT Guo, J.; Sun, Y. ; Mi, D. , and Qin, C. , 2020. Differential responses of bacterial communities inhabiting pristine and industrially polluted sediment from oil spills along Dalian, China. Journal of Coastal Research, 36(2), 218–227. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Several studies have compared bacterial communities between polluted and unpolluted areas, but few have investigated the responses of bacterial communities in different habitat types to oil spills. This work monitored the responses of bacterial communities inhabiting pristine area (PA) and chronically industrially polluted (CI) sites in Dalian, China, and compared them with background samples at other sites through next-generation sequencing. The PA site had a significantly lower Shannon index than the CI site before the oil spill, but it significantly increased after the oil spill. The community structure also dramatically changed after the oil spill, with the abundance of several classes significantly increasing within 3 weeks, although these differed between the PA and the CI sites. By two calculation strategies, 15 oil-induced genera were identified, most of which have been proved in other studies. However, these genera had inconsistent responses depending on the background pollution level. Alcanivorax, Cycloclasticus, Erythrobacter, Glaciecola, Granulosicoccus, and Maribacter were the majorly induced taxa at the PA site, whereas Granulosicoccus and Maribacter were the predominantly induced taxa at the CI site after the oil spill. These findings will help develop niche-targeting bioremediation strategies for oil spills in different habitat types.
What Attracts Mature Students to Occupational Therapy?

Over the past 36 years, there have been many studies in North America on the factors that attract recruits to occupational therapy, but often they are combined with similar professions and do not distinguish the characteristics of mature recruits. There is no similar literature in the United Kingdom. A semi-structured postal questionnaire gathered data from students aged 30 and over in their second and third year at Brunel University, London. Thirty-seven mature students responded and Identified previous occupational therapy experiences and the role of practitioners in encouraging recruitment. The three most important reasons for choosing occupational therapy as a career were job satisfaction, helping people and job security. A third of respondents would not have been ready emotionally to commence their education straight from school, while a quarter felt that maturity would make them better therapists. Promotion prospects were seen as similar or better than those of younger colleagues, but financial constraints would deter future mature students from considering the profession. This study, although small, may have implications for the recruitment and education of similar students and adds to the body of knowledge about the profession.
Characterizations of flow over stepped spillways with steps having transverse slopes

The top and downstream face of the embankment dams must be protected from overtopping damages happen due to extreme floods. This can be achieved by providing one of the overtopping protection systems. The most common overtopping protection systems are those which have stepped fashion. This type of protection systems consists of a series of continues steps mostly made of concrete. In this study, the effects of the transverse slope of steps on flow properties over the overtopping protection systems were explored experimentally. Steps with transverse slopes are those which have inclinations from one spillway wall towards the other spillway wall in a zigzag way. To achieve the goals of the study, three physical models, stepped spillways, were made of wood and tested in a prismatic flume. The width, depth, and length of the wooden models were 0.6 m, 0.96 m and 1.92 m respectively. Sixteen steps (with three different transverse slopes ranging from zero to 5.7°) were cut into the surface of the models from the crest to the toe. The models were then tested under various flow rates ranging from 0.003 to 0.05 m3/s. The results showed that the models with steps having transverse slope had higher energy dissipation capability compared to the model with steps having zero transverse slopes (flat steps); up to 14% higher. In addition, for the models with steps having the transverse slope, the onset of the skimming flow occurred at higher ratios of critical depth (yc) to step height (h); greater than 1.37. However, the distances of the inception points from the first step brink (inception point locations) were reduced by half, on average, for the model with steps having a transverse slope of 5.7°.
Evaluating the Effect of Vane Trailing Edge Flow on Turbine Rim Sealing

Modern gas turbine development continues to move toward increased overall efficiency, driven in part by higher firing temperatures that point to a need for more cooling air to prevent catastrophic component failure. However, using additional cooling flow bled from the upstream compressor causes a corresponding detriment to overall efficiency. A primary candidate for cooling flow optimization is purge flow, which contributes to sealing the stator–rotor cavity and prevents ingestion of hot main gas path (MGP) flow into the wheelspace. Previous research has identified that the external main gas path flow physics play a significant role in driving rim seal ingestion. However, the potential impact of other cooling flow features on ingestion behavior, such as vane trailing edge (VTE) flow, is absent in the open literature. This paper presents experimental measurements of rim cavity cooling effectiveness collected from a one-stage turbine operating at engine-representative Reynolds and Mach numbers. Carbon dioxide (CO2) was used as a tracer gas in both the purge flow and vane trailing edge flow to investigate flow migration into and out of the wheelspace. Results show that the vane trailing edge flow does in fact migrate into the rim seal and that there is a superposition relationship between individual cooling flow contributions. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations using unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) were used to confirm VTE flow ingestion into the rim seal cavity. Radial and circumferential traverse surveys were performed to quantify cooling flow radial migration through the main gas path with and without vane trailing edge flow. The surveys confirmed that vane trailing edge flow is entrained into the wheelspace as purge flow is reduced. Local CO2 measurements also confirmed the presence of VTE flow deep in the wheelspace cavity.
Leaf Gas Exchange Attributes and Quality Performance of Kacip Fatimah (Labisia Pumila Blume) Under Different Sources of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers

An experiment was designed with Randomized Complete Block Designed to investigate the effects of organic and inorganic nitrogen fertilizer at 90 kg N/ha on growth and leaf gas exchange in two varieties of Labisia pumila at 15 weeks after transplanting (WAT). In this study total biomass and photosynthesis (A) were significantly (P≤0.05) different among all factor. The results indicated that chicken manure enhanced the net photosynthetic rate (11.10 µmol/m²/s), stomatal conductance (0.40 mmol/m/s) and transpiration rate (5.30 mmol/m²/s) of L.pumila significantly after 31 weeks of planting. Chicken manure and Gobi indicated higher accumulation on total phenolic and total flavonoid compared to NPK green and control. Organic fertilizers (chicken manure and Gobi) were positively influenced the leaf gas exchange and growth of L.pumila as compared to the NPK green and control. This study proved that organic fertilizer can produce a quality of L. pumila compared to NPK green. Based on the principle of organic fertilizer which is slowly release from organic fertilizer will limit the nutrient availability for plant growth and allocate more carbon to produce secondary metabolites.
Gully Erosion Susceptibility Mapping Using Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines—Replications and Sample Size Scenarios

Soil erosion is a serious problem affecting numerous countries, especially, gully erosion. In the current research, GIS techniques and MARS (Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines) algorithm were considered to evaluate gully erosion susceptibility mapping among others. The study was conducted in a specific section of the Gorganroud Watershed in Golestan Province (Northern Iran), covering 2142.64 km2 which is intensely influenced by gully erosion. First, Google Earth images, field surveys, and national reports were used to provide a gully-hedcut evaluation map consisting of 307 gully-hedcut points. Eighteen gully erosion conditioning factors including significant geoenvironmental and morphometric variables were selected as predictors. To model sensitivity of gully erosion, Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) was used while the Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Curve (AUC), drawing ROC curves, efficiency percent, Yuden index, and kappa were used to evaluate model efficiency. We used two different scenarios of the combination of the number of replications, and sample size, including 90%/10% and 80%/20% with 10 replications, and 70%/30% with five, 10, and 15 replications for preparing gully erosion susceptibility mapping (GESM). Each one involves a various subset of both positive (presence), and negative (absence) cases. Absences were extracted as randomly distributed individual cells. Therefore, the predictive competency of the gully erosion susceptibility model and the robustness of the procedure were evaluated through these datasets. Results did not show considerable variation in the accuracy of the model, with altering the percentage of calibration to validation samples and number of model replications. Given the accuracy, the MARS algorithm performed excellently in predictive performance. The combination of 80%/20% using all statistical measures including SST (0.88), SPF (0.83), E (0.79), Kappa (0.58), Robustness (0.01), and AUC (0.84) had the highest performance compared to the other combinations. Consequently, it was found that the performance of MARS for modelling gully erosion susceptibility is quite consistent while changes in the testing and validation specimens are executed. The intense acceptable prediction capability of the MARS model verifies the reliability of the method employed for use of this model elsewhere and gully erosion studies since they are qualified to quickly generating precise and exact GESMs (gully erosion sensitivity maps) to make decisions and management edaphic and hydrologic features.
Recent advances in spontaneous imbibition with different boundary conditions

Spontaneous imbibition plays an important role in many practical processes, such as oil recovery, hydrology, and environmental engineering. The development in spontaneous imbibition goes fast in the past few years. In this paper, we focus on boundary conditions of spontaneous imbibition, which has important effects on spontaneous imbibition rate and efficiency. We introduce the fundamental physical mechanism of spontaneous imbibition with different boundary conditions by capillary model. Then, the studies of spontaneous imbibition in core scale are reviewed. The feature of spontaneous imbibition with different boundary conditions is discussed and the relative permeability for co- and counter-current imbibition is analyzed. The scaling of imbibition data with different boundary condition is also discussed by combination of experimental and numerical methods. At last, the analytical model of spontaneous imbibition is discussed. Cited as : Meng, Q. , Cai, J. Recent advances in spontaneous imbibition with different boundary conditions. Capillarity, 2018, 1(3): 19-26, doi: 10.26804/capi.2018. 03.01