Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing catchment-coast interactions for the Elbe by linking scenarios, indicators and modelling

While eutrophication creates impacts on coastal ecosystems and can result in negative impacts on coastal eco-system services, its source is often located far away from the coast, related to nutrient emissions from river catchments. Within the EU funded EUROCAT project a chain of tools and models were applied to assess these catchment-coast interactions. The Elbe catchment-coast system is one of several case studies within EURO-CAT. Aim of the project is to support Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM), as targeted in the Water Framework Directive (WFD), in order to mitigate possible externalities induced in the coastal zone by socio-economic development in the catchment. The DPSIR-approach of the European Environment Agency was se-lected as the analytical tool to handle this complex man-ecosystem interactions. Scenarios represent possible futures in which environmental risk perception, societal interpretation of environmental risk and (coastal) vul-nerability will influence political targets, such as the WFD implementation. Some society drivers and related policies are qualitatively assessed under each scenario and the resulting ecological impact on ecosystem integ-rity is quantified by applying the North Sea ecosystem model ERSEM. The presentation will outline the as-sessment framework focussing on the link between scenarios, DPSIR-indicators and modelling of impacts for coastal waters from the Elbe plume. Future scenarios and related modelling results describing the ecological status of the German North Sea under different scenarios will be presented.
RULES AND COMPLEX THINKING IN DESIGN EDUCATION

This article seeks to reformulate the notion of basics as rules within the context of design education. The typical design education curriculum introduces design methods as a pedagogical approach. This includes concepts for how to approach goals and the means for how to solve problems or disclose possibilities. Such methods are comparable to the qualities of rules found in games and play, which in turn influence behaviour and mentality. We analyzed introductory course descriptions in design education as they relate to theories on play and game, phenomenology and pragmatist aesthetics. This exploration showed that there is a tendency to define basic knowledge and skills in the very first course in design education. We interpreted this to represent a belief in rules, as in truths, following a possible unconscious establishment of a tradition for the acceptance of certain rights and wrongs as well as automatic behaviour. We argue that such a recognition of rules as a pedagogical platform may transfer to students and represent a subsequent type of culture wherein the students follow instructions rather than think for themselves.
Syddansk Universitet Examining the heterogeneity and cost effectiveness of a complex intervention by segmentation of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Objectives: To examine the heterogeneity in cost-effectiveness analyses of patient-tailored complex interventions. Methods: Latent class analysis (LCA) was performed on data from a randomized controlled trial evaluating a patient-tailored case management strategy for patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). LCA was conducted on detailed process variables representing service variation in the intervention group. Features of the identified latent classes were compared for consistency with baseline demographic, clinical, and economic characteristics for each class. Classes for the control group, corresponding to the identified latent classes for the intervention group, were identified using multinomial logistic regression. Cost-utility analyses were then conducted at the class level, and uncertainty surrounding the point estimates was assessed by probabilistic sensitivity analysis. Results: The LCA identified three distinct classes: the psychologically care class, the extensive COPD care class, and the limited COPD care class. Patient baseline characteristics were in line with the features identified in the LCA. Evaluation of cost-effectiveness revealed highly disparate results, and case ee front matter Copyright & 2018, International S r Inc. This is an open access article under the CC ons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). 1016/j.jval. 2017.08. 001 ondence to: Sabrina Storgaard Sørensen, Departm org University, Fibigerstræde 11, Aalborg 9220, D torgaardsoerensen@gmail.com. management for only the extensive COPD care class appeared costeffective with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of £26,986 per quality-adjusted life-year gained using the threshold value set by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence. Conclusions: Findings indicate that researchers evaluating patient-tailored complex interventions need to address both supply-side variation and demand-side heterogeneity to link findings with outcome. The article specifically proposes the use of LCA because it is believed to have the potential to enable more appropriate targeting of complex care strategies.
Environmental Change Detection Study in the Wider Area of Lignite Mines

Environmental monitoring of mine areas offers critical information about how they affect both natural and man-made environment. The Ptolemaida-Amyntaio lignite center plays a very important role in electrical industry of Greece, since it is the main energy fuel. The spatial growth of the lignite mine causes land cover change in the wider area. This paper aims to detect land cover changes in the wider area of the mines, in northwestern Greece, between two time periods using Remote Sensing and Geoinformation system (RS and GIS) methods. For this purpose multispectral images for both times were acquired, from Landsat data and a supervised classification was applied. Finally, qualitative and quantitative results obtained through visual interpretation and digital change detection study indicate that there has been a great increase in mine areas, affecting both agricultural land and man-made environment.
Transitions to alternate farming: A dialectic study from Australia and India

This study examined the reasons for transition to alternative farming in two countries namely, Australia, as an example of the western world practicing modern agriculture and India, as an example of the developing world with a history of practicing indigenous practices. An action research qualitative study was conducted using a convergent interviewing technique, with 20 participants in Australia and 18 participants in India known to have made a transition from conventional agriculture to a range of alternative farming systems. A reflexive process of change undergone by farmers in making transitions from conventional farming to alternative farming was documented by recording the interviews which each lasted from 45 to 90 minutes. The recorded interviews were transcribed and the various reasons to convert to alternate farming are discussed with the interview quotes. The findings indicated that in reality, the Australian participants and the Indian participants have multiple reasons for making the change that exist alongside the commonly accepted reasons of economic, environmental and health factors.
The effects of tax competition

Tax competition between governments is a research topic of growing importance in the context of globalization. This subject is particularly important for the European Union, characterized by a high degree of economic integration, single currency and free movement of goods, services, persons and capital. In this paper we define the concept of tax competition and we provide a review of the literature to highlight its potential effects.
School-Based Social Work and Socioemotional Learning Interventions in Alternative Education Programs

School-Based Social Work and Socioemotional Learning Interventions in Alternative Education Programs by Heather Oosterhoff MSW, Loyola University Chicago, 1992 BS, Loyola University Chicago, 1990 Proposal Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Social Work Walden University May 2019
LARGE-SCALE MECHANISMS RESPONSIBLE FOR HEAT WAVES OCCURRENCE IN ROMANIA

The heat waves, severe weather events, are generally associated with high pressure synoptic systems and tropical air mass advection. The study of the main causes and effects of these particular situations and their subsequent impacts focuses on the analysis of connections between heat waves and large-scale circulation. Daily maximum temperatures from 105 meteorological stations were used to identify the heat waves. The heat waves are identified by using thresholds impose d to the maximum temperature and to the duration of heat waves. After identification, heat waves were associated to circulation types established with GWT and WLK Catalogues developed within the COST733 Action. The most prolonged heat wave episode (18 days) was registered in 1994 at the Oradea synoptic station. The results reveal the persistence over the southeastern Europe of high pressure synoptic systems, having a northeastern circulation component at sea level and a northwestern or southwestern circulation component in altitude. These circulation types are generally responsible for extreme temperatures episodes over most parts of Romania.
A survey on carcass and meat characteristics of Ischia rabbits raised in pits.

The aim of the paper was to investigate the carcass and meat characteristics of Ischia rabbits raised in pits, according to the traditional island technique. Fourteen animals, fed grass and field beans as protein source, were slaughtered at 4.5 months of age, on average. After slaughter, skin, distal legs and tail, urinary bladder and gastrointestinal tract were removed and weighed to obtain the “commercial carcass”, chilled at 4°C for 24 h. The head, lungs, thymus gland, trachea, heart, liver and kidneys were removed to obtain the “reference carcass” from which the muscles of hind legs and the Longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle were removed. One hour and 24h after slaughter the pH was measured on LD and Biceps femoris muscles. The right hind leg and the LD muscle were used to measure colour while on the left LD muscle the water holding capacity (WHC) was determined. After calculating the meat to bone ratio, the meat obtained from dissection of the left hind leg was used for chemical composition. Our results show that rabbits raised in pits, both due to their genetic type breed and the particular breeding technique adopted, is small (average weight at slaughter 1286 g ± 169) and has a low hot dressing percentage (52.9 % ± 3.5) due to the high percentage of the gastrointestinal tract (26.4 % ± 3.5). Nevertheless, it is possible to note a good pH decrease and WHC, as well as a similar meat chemical composition to those of other genetic types raised for meat production.
Autoethnography: situating personal sporting narratives in socio-cultural contexts

Autoethnography: situating personal sporting narratives in socio-cultural contexts Purpose: To introduce autoethnography as an innovative research approach within sport and physical culture, and consider its key tenets, strengths and weaknesses. For illustrative purposes, the chapter draws upon two specific autoethnographic research projects on distance running, one collaborative and one solo.
Exploring the thermal state of the low-density intergalactic medium at z = 3 with an ultrahigh signal-to-noise QSO spectrum

At low densities, the standard ionization history of the intergalactic medium (IGM) predicts a decreasing temperature of the IGM with decreasing density once hydrogen (and helium) reionization is complete. Heating the high-redshift, low-density IGM above the temperature expected from photoheating is difficult, and previous claims of high/rising temperatures in low-density regions of the Universe based on the probability density function (PDF) of the opacity in Ly α forest data at 2 < z < 4 have been met with considerable scepticism, particularly since they appear to be in tension with other constraints on the temperature–density relation (TDR). We utilize here an ultrahigh signal-to-noise spectrum of the Quasi-stellar object HE0940-1050 and a novel technique to study the low opacity part of the PDF. We show that there is indeed evidence (at 90 per cent confidence level) that a significant volume fraction of the underdense regions at z ∼ 3 has temperatures as high or higher than those at densities comparable to the mean and above. We further demonstrate that this conclusion is nevertheless consistent with measurements of a slope of the TDR in overdense regions that imply a decreasing temperature with decreasing density, as expected if photoheating of ionized hydrogen is the dominant heating process. We briefly discuss implications of our findings for the need to invoke either spatial temperature fluctuations, as expected during helium reionization, or additional processes that heat a significant volume fraction of the low-density IGM.
Outer trench-slope faulting and the 2011 Mw 9.0 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake

The 11 March 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake (Mw 9.0) produced megathrust displacements of at least 40 m. The resulting tsunami devastated the Honshu coast southwest of regions struck by earthquake-generated tsunami in 1611, 1896 and 1933. The 1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake was also an underthrusting earthquake, but the 1933 Sanriku-oki earthquake was a trench-slope normal faulting event; both generated inundation heights of 10 to 25 m along the coast of Iwate prefecture. Possible occurrence of a great outer trench-slope earthquake seaward of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake along a southwestward extension of the 1933 fault zone is a concern. The second largest 2011 aftershock, an outer rise Mw 7.7 normal faulting earthquake occurred near the southern end of the 1933 rupture. Additional aftershock activity has been distributed along a trend below the trench and diffusely spread in the outer rise, seaward of the megathrust region where the largest slip occurred. Coulomb stress perturbations of at least 5–10 bars are calculated for outer rise normal fault geometries for mainshock slip models. Whether a future great trench slope event will occur is uncertain, but the potential tsunamigenic hazard can be gauged by the huge inundations accompanying the 1933 rupture.
Day-to-day variability and habit in modal choices: a mixed logit model on panel data

Understanding variability in individual behaviour is crucial for the comprehension of travel patterns and for the development and evaluation of planning policies. In the last 30 years a vast body of research has approached the issue in a variety of ways, but there are no studies on the intrinsic day-to-day variability in the individual preferences for mode choices and on the effect of habitual behaviours in absence of external changes. This requires using continuous panel data. Few papers have studied mode choice with continuous panel data but focused on the panel correlation. In this work we use a six-week travel diary survey to study the intrinsic day-to-day variability in the individual preferences for mode choices, the effect of habitual behaviour in the daily mode choices and the effect of long period plans. Mixed logit models are estimated that account for the above effects as well as for systematic and random heterogeneity over individual preferences and responses. We also account for correlation over several time periods. Our results suggest that individual tastes for time and cost are fairly stable but there is a significant systematic and random heterogeneity around these mean values and in the preferences for the different alternatives. We found that there is a strong inertia effect in mode choice that increases with (or is reinforced by) the number of time the same tour is repeated. The sequence of mode choice made is influenced by the duration of the activity and the weekly structure of the activities. Finally, models improve significantly when panel correlation is accounted for. But it seems that inertia can explain to some extent for panel effect.
A Gain with a Drain? Evidence from Rural Mexico on the New Economics of the Brain Drain

Evidence is presented in support of the “brain gain” view that the likelihood of migrating to a destination wherein the returns to human capital (schooling) are high creates incentives to acquire human capital in migrant-sending areas. In Mexico, even though internal migrants are more educated than those who stay behind, the average level of schooling in the migrant-sending villages increases with internal migration. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that the dynamic investment effects reverse the static, depletion effects of migration on schooling. Households’ access to high-skill internal migration networks significantly increases the likelihood that children will attend school beyond the compulsory level. Access to low-skill internal networks has the opposite effect. By contrast with internal migration, migration from rural Mexico to the U.S. does not select positively on schooling, nor does it significantly influence human capital formation, even though remittances from Mexican migrants in the U.S. far outweigh remittances from internal migrants.
Effect of Modified Atmosphere Packaging on Postharvest Quality of Mango cvs. Sindhri and Sufaid Chaunsa During Storage

Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) technology is gaining popularity worldwide for its potential of extending shelf life of fresh produce with better fruit quality. Effect of MAP (using Xtend® bags), was investigated on postharvest storage life and quality of mango cvs Sindhri and Sufaid Chaunsa stored at 11°C with 80-85% RH for 4 and 5 weeks respectively, in comparison with un-bagged (control) fruit. Uniform physiological mature fruit of Sindhri and Sufaid Chaunsa were harvested from a commercial mango orchard along with 4-5 cm long pedicel and were de-sapped in 0.5% lime solution (to avoid sap burn injury). Later on fruit were given cold water fungicidal dip (Sportak @ 0.5ml/L, Active Ingredient: Prochloraz) followed by hot water treatment (52°C; 5 min). After shade drying and pre-cooling (11°C; 10-12 hours), fruit were packed according to the treatment combination and stored at 11°C. Fruit of both varieties were removed after 2, 3 and 4 weeks of storage followed by ripening at 24±2°C with an additional removal after 5 weeks for Sufaid Chaunsa only. Fruit quality was evaluated for various bio-chemical, organoleptic and physical parameters at two stages of ripening (at removal day and at final ripening day). Fruit of both varieties stored in MAP exhibited better firmness and retained green colour as compared to un-bagged fruit. Quality of fruit subjected to postharvest fungicidal application and hot water treatments and stored under MAP at 11°C showed better peel colour development and less disease development. Moreover, storage durations and post storage ripening stages significantly affected fruit peel colour, textural softness and disease development. Further, cv. Sindhri showed better storage potential with lower disease incidence as compared to cv. Sufaid Chaunsa which warrants further studies on disease control aspects.
Modeling and Characterization of Inconsistent Behavior of Gate Leakage Current with Threshold Voltage for Nano MOSFETs

A strange relationship of gate leakage current and threshold voltage variation for nano MOSFETs is analyzed using factual strategy and subsequently a physical model is proffered. The gate leakage current increments with the threshold voltage before it diminishes at higher threshold voltage in nanoscale devices. This inconsistent behavior of gate leakage current with threshold voltage variations is precisely clarified in the manuscript through the concept of accord between two contrary operations: threshold voltage roll-off impact and gate leakage current reliance on surface potential. The tunneling gate leakage current density diminishes with threshold voltage over surface potential. However, the threshold voltage roll-off impact causes higher threshold voltage for larger channel length devices. The net gate leakage current is adjusted by these two contrary functions of threshold voltage. In addition, the rate of accretion of the gate leakage current with threshold voltage variation is also analyzed. The impact of the increase in the power supply voltage on the rate of accretion of the gate leakage current vs. threshold voltage curve is also explored. Thorough methodical TCAD simulations are accomplished to validate the proffered models. Both the experimental outcomes, TCAD simulations and physics based models are implemented to uncover and clarify the threshold voltage gate leakage relationship, particularly for nano MOSFETs. The proposed notion is not currently captured in conventional gate leakage nano device models, hence the proffered physical models may be utilized in progression of reliable and trustworthy TCAD simulation tools for nano devices.
Aerosol optical depth and precipitation rate projections over east africa utilizing self organizing map

Assessment of future aerosols impacts on both regional and global climate change requires a comprehensive projection tool that reliably provides information on aerosol evolution characteristics with high fidelity. In the current study, we propose an algorithm based on Self-Organizing Map (SOM) and Community Atmosphere Model 4 (CAM4) for long term Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and Precipitation Rate (PR) projections over East Africa. To start with, AOD and PR retrievals from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) respectively were cross validated with simulation from CAM4 so as to assess the uncertainty between the measured and simulated retrievals from 2000 to 2014.The error analysis between CAM4 simulations and MODIS measurements (from 2000 to 2014)shows a close match where varies from 0.58 to 0.83 with a corresponding RMSE of between 0.014 and 0.065 (for AOD). Likewise, the uncertainty between simulate and measured PR from CAM4 and TRMM showed an estimated to range between 0.40 and 0.78 while the RMSE varied from 0.021 to 0.091 in the same period and study sites. Based on proposed SOM algorithm and simulated CAM4 retrievals over each study site, an increase of between 1.34-2.43 % for AOD and a decrease of between 1.03-1.98 % in PR are projected over the region by 2030.
The Influence of Parent Brands Commitment On Consumers' Atitude Toward Co-Branding Between Those Brands

This paper examines the influence of parent brands' commitment on consumers' attitude toward cobranding. Co-branding refers to the combination of two brand names to launch a single and unique product for a short to long term cooperation. Two experiments were conducted to test the hypotheses. The 82 subjects were exposed to two sessions of experiment; evaluations on each brand with no cobranding, evaluations on co-branding. Consumers' attitude was derived through obtaining consumers' perception on brand personality and favorability. The findings showed that parent brands with high commitment received more positive attitude compared to parent brands with low commitment.