Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Global-scale analysis of river flow alterations due to water withdrawals and reservoirs

Abstract. Global-scale information on natural river flows and anthropogenic river flow alterations is required to identify areas where aqueous ecosystems are expected to be strongly degraded. Such information can support the identification of environmental flow guidelines and a sustainable water management that balances the water demands of humans and ecosystems. This study presents the first global assessment of the anthropogenic alteration of river flow regimes, in particular of flow variability, by water withdrawals and dams/reservoirs. Six ecologically relevant flow indicators were quantified using an improved version of the global water model WaterGAP. WaterGAP simulated, with a spatial resolution of 0.5 degree, river discharge as affected by human water withdrawals and dams around the year 2000, as well as naturalized discharge without this type of human interference. Compared to naturalized conditions, long-term average global discharge into oceans and internal sinks has decreased by 2.7% due to water withdrawals, and by 0.8% due to dams. Mainly due to irrigation, long-term average river discharge and statistical low flow Q90 (monthly river discharge that is exceeded in 9 out of 10 months) have decreased by more than 10% on one sixth and one quarter of the global land area (excluding Antarctica and Greenland), respectively. Q90 has increased significantly on only 5% of the land area, downstream of reservoirs. Due to both water withdrawals and reservoirs, seasonal flow amplitude has decreased significantly on one sixth of the land area, while interannual variability has increased on one quarter of the land area mainly due to irrigation. It has decreased on only 8% of the land area, in areas downstream of reservoirs where consumptive water use is low. The impact of reservoirs is likely underestimated by our study as small reservoirs are not taken into account. Areas most affected by anthropogenic river flow alterations are the Western and Central USA, Mexico, the western coast of South America, the Mediterranean rim, Southern Africa, the semi-arid and arid countries of the Near East and Western Asia, Pakistan and India, Northern China and the Australian Murray-Darling Basin, as well as some Arctic rivers. Due to a large number of uncertainties related e.g. to the estimation of water use and reservoir operation rules, the analysis is expected to provide only first estimates of river flow alterations that should be refined in the future.
A Quality-based Framework for Leveraging the Process of Mashup Component Selection

Mashups are a new and interesting brand of Web 2.0 applications. They are simply built from available mashup components on the Web providing functionality, and content. The ever-increasing number and diversity of mashup components makes the process of selecting proper components a challenging task. Hence, the present thesis work is directed towards presenting a quality-based framework providing a recommendation-based mechanism to enhance this process.
Roll-to-roll functional testing of printed conductors and organic light emitting devices

Printing technologies enable manufacturing of large-area electronics on flexible substrates. Especially roll-to-roll (R2R) printing is utilized for high-volume manufacturing of components and applications in printed electronics. A main characteristic in R2R printing is high number of functional samples in a single printing run. Thus, a systematic approach is required for verifying the quality and electrical functionality of R2R printed units.This paper presents an automated electrical test equipment for R2R testing purposes by means of stop and go bed-of-nails test method. The functional tester comprises reeling equipment, general-purpose test and measurement instruments and utilizes test automation software to quantify the quality of printed electronics devices in roll form.In this study, the automated testsystem is utilized to perform electrical measurements for printed conductors and to verify thefunctionality of organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) on a roll. The conductors with variable width and orientation are rotary screen printed on over a 60 m long polyethylene terephthalate (PET) foil by using a conductive silver ink. The electrical response of each line is evaluated by resistance measurements to verify their quality and performance. The OLED modules undertest are single devices attached on a separate PET roll. Their functionality is tested by configuring the R2R tester to measure the IV-curves for all the devices and by including a photo diode to the test setup to verify the light output for each test sample.The test results show that the R2R test equipment is capable of measuring resistances for conductors repeatedly through the roll. Another implication is that the response of conductors varies along the roll, giving significant feedback for the R2R printing process. For testing of OLEDs, the measured characteristics show correct electrical responses for the test samples and verified their functionality. To conclude, the obtained test results prove that the automated test system has the capacity and capability for systematic functional testing of printed electronics structures and applications as a R2R process.
Effect of Financial Innovations and Operationalization on Market Size in Commercial Banks: A Case Study of Equity Bank, Eldoret Branch

The study aimed at establishing the effect of financial innovations and operationalization on market size while focusing on Equity, a commercial bank. Further, the study was guided by the following research questions: a. )To what extent has Equity Bank Engineered Financial Products? b. )To what level has the market size been attained in relation to the Current Financial Innovations Undertaken? c. )And what are the pre –existing customers’ needs that need to be met, those that will influence the Current and Future Financial Innovations? The study adopted a Case design approach and used both questionnaires and interview schedules in data collection. The study targeted a population of 1600 people who comprised Equity Bank Staff and Customers who formed its primary sample group. A sample of 200 respondents was drawn from the target population. The collected data was coded, entered and analyzed using the STRATA program; the analysis of the result was based on descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviations, frequencies and percentages). Interview schedules were analyzed thematically using content analysis. Frequency distribution tables and percentages were generated. On tabulation of the data, the researcher interpreted the unique trends that assisted to evaluate whether the objectives of the study have been met. Regression models were used to show relationships between the variables. The key finding was that a significant relationship between the various types of accounts and the assets growth of the bank (p=0.006) and on the profitability of the bank (p = 0.007). The study findings also indicated that there was an effect on the loans issued by the bank on the assets (p = 0.007) and on the profitability of the bank (p = 0.002). Finally, the Correlation indicated no significant relationship between the transaction channels employed and market size (p = 0.011) but a significant relationship between the various market needs and products developed. Thus more innovations were recommended to meet the customer need and expand the market size.
Technology Roadmapping of Emerging Technologies: Scientometrics and Time Series Approach

The present work is framed within tech mining and technology forecasting fields. It proposes an approach which combines a set of quantitative methods to completely describe an emerging technology, based on science, technology & innovation data. These methods are scientometrics, with which a customized and clean database is generated; hierarchical clustering to generate the ontology of the technology; principal component analysis, which is used to identify the main sub-technologies; time series analysis to quantitatively analyze the evolution of the technology, as well as future development; and technology roadmapping to integrate all the generated information in a single visual element. The results can be regarded as inputs for competitive technical intelligence activities, as they provide information about the past evolution of the technology, as well as potential future fields of application. The practical application of the approach, to BD technology, yields outcomes that allow conclusions to be drawn, such as how competitive intelligence, query processing and internet of things sub-technologies have been dominating the basic technology during the initial evolution, and how competitive intelligence and data communications systems will do so in the short-term future.
Modeling and characterization by means of the magnetic dispersion

In 1978, we pointed out firstly the frequency power law dependence of the viscous friction coefficient corresponding to the magnetization walls oscillations for the low frequency part (of interest in Electronics) of the magnetization permeability dispersion of some spinelic ferrimagnetic materials. A similar dependence was found approx. concomitantly for the quality factor corresponding to ultra-sounds propagation in certain media. The present work analyzes several phenomenological models of the magnetic dispersion and points out the common "denominator" of the oscillations of the mesoscopic domains corresponding to the magnetization walls and to the elastic media grains, respectively. The obtained results allow rather simple and accurate descriptions of the magnetic dispersion of ferrimagnetic materials, in the frequency domain of major interest for Electronics.
Foundations and Applications Of Weak Quantum Measurements

Weak quantum measurement (WM) is unique in measuring noncommuting operators and other peculiar, otherwise-undetectable phenomena predicted by the two-state-vector-formalism (TSVF). The aim of this article is threefold: (i) introducing the foundations of WM and TSVF, (ii) studying temporal peculiarities predicted by TSVF and manifested by WM, and (iii) presenting applications of WM to single particles.
Levels of Deoxynivalenol (DON) in Malt Prepared from Barley Artificially Inoculated with Fusarium spp. 1. Influence of DON on Gushing and Other Technological Parameters of Malt.

Literatura/References [1] Psota, V. : Komise pro hodnoceni kvality odrůd sladovnickeho jecmene při VUPS, a.s. [Commitee for Quality Evaluation of Malting Barley Varieties at RIBM, Plc. ]. Kvasny Prum. 49, 2003, pp. 7374. [2] EBC: Results Field Trials Harvest 1999. Zoeterwoude, April 2000. [3] EBC: Analytic-EBC. Carl, Getranke-Fachverlag, Nurnberg 1998. [4] MEBAK: Brautechnische Analysenmethoden, MEBAK, Weihenstephan – Freising 1979. [5] Basařova, G. et al.: Pivovarsko-sladařska analytika (1) [Brewing and malting analytics]. Merkanta, Praha 1992. [6] Psota, V. , Kosař, K. : Ukazatel sladovnicke jakosti [Malting Quality Index]. Kvasny Prum. 48, 2002, pp. 142-148. [7] Kolektiv: Metodiky statnich odrůdových zkousek UKZUZ, podle platneho zněni z roku 1999 [Methods of plant variety state tests CISTA, pursuant to the valid wording from the year 1999]. UKZUZ 1999.
To Choose or Not to Choose: Contracts, Reference Points, Reciprocity, and Signaling

Hart and Moore (2008) argue that varying degrees of flexibility in contracts induce differing reference points and aspiration levels for parties’ shares of a transaction’s total surplus. As a consequence, a trade-off between adaptational flexibility and the prevention of distributional conflicts emerges. In a recent paper, Fehr et al. (2009b) analyze a buyer-seller-relationship with incomplete contracts and ex ante uncertainty regarding the sellers’ cost level to test these effects. We re-run their experiment and introduce another treatment with exogenously determined contract types. Like FHZ we find reference point effects in both treatments. However, uncooperative shading behavior in our treatments differs substantially from that described in FHZ. Furthermore, it makes a significant difference whether contract types are determined by buyers or determined exogenously. We explain this by introducing two further effects, a reciprocity effect and a signaling effect.
A Vector of Locally Aggregated Descriptors Framework for Action Recognition on Motion Capture Data

In this paper we introduce an approach for action recognition in motion capture data. The data are represented by the joints positions of the skeleton in each frame (posture vectors) and the differences of these positions over time, in different temporal scales. The Vector of Locally Aggregated Descriptors (VLAD) framework is used to encode the extracted features whereas a Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used for classification. A voting scheme is used in the VLAD framework to achieve soft encoding. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed approach is shown in experiments performed on three datasets (MSRAction3D, MSRActionPairs and HDM05).
The Exchange Processes in the Patos Lagoon Estuarine Channel, Brazil

Investigation of process controlling the estuarine-shelf interaction in the Patos Lagoon estuarine channel is accessed using a two-dimensional numerical model. Results obtained suggest this approximation provides good precision level to investigate the advective transport of oceanic waters near the estuarine mouth. The introduction of coastal waters in synoptic time scales is dominated by advection in sub-superficial layers. This process results from the competition between flood currents driven by remote wind effects and gravitational circulation controlled by the intensity of the freshwater discharge. The short term exchange processes follow one most energetic cycle of 8 days and intense flood events occur during periods of low continental discharge and higher intensity winds. Very stratified salinity profiles are found during periods of moderated freshwater discharge. The salt transport is inversely related to the freshwater discharge intensity. It presents a mean rate of the 105 kg.day-1 transported landward during flood events.
Stable atmospheric conditions over the Baltic Sea: model evaluation and climatology

The WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting model) was evaluated against flight measurements over the Baltic Sea during stable conditions, focusing on vertical profiles of temperature and wind speed. Six different boundary layer parameterization schemes were used. It is shown that there are generally small differences between the boundary layer schemes, and that all schemes have problems in capturing the strength and height of lowlevel jets. Climatological simulations over the Baltic Sea show that there is a strong seasonality in the stability over the sea with up to 80% stable conditions in spring as compared with 10% in winter. Low-level jets are common, and occur up to 45% of the time in spring. The entire Baltic Sea, not only its coastal areas, is affected by stable stratification.
Analyzing How Rape Culture Affects Perceived Victim Responsibility, Control, and Distress in Situations in which Verbal Sexual Coercion Occur

Verbal sexual coercion (VSC) is sexual assault without physical force. This study examined how cultural (macrosystemic) beliefs affect the perception of sexual situations that involve VSC. These beliefs are reflected by statements within scenarios that explain why the perpetrator believed his behavior was justified due to his status as an athlete or a college guy. The type of verbal sexual coercion the perpetrator used was also manipulated and included social coercion, interpersonal coercion, and threatened physical coercion. It was hypothesized that perceptions of rape culture compliance, rape culpability, victim control, and victim distress will differ based on the type of verbal sexual coercion and macrosystemic beliefs presented. Results indicated that there was a significant main effect of type of coercion, but there was no significant main effect for macrosystemic beliefs. This suggests that people tend to view verbal sexual coercion differently based upon the type with which they’re presented. Document Type Thesis Distinguished Thesis Yes Degree Name Bachelor of Arts (BA) Department or Program Psychology First Advisor Susan M. Long Second Advisor Matthew R. Kelley Third Advisor Donald C. Meyer Subject Categories Psychology | Social Psychology This thesis is available at Lake Forest College Publications: https://publications.lakeforest. edu/seniortheses/122 Lake Forest College Archives Your thesis will be deposited in the Lake Forest College Archives and the College’s online digital repository, Lake Forest College Publications. This agreement grants Lake Forest College the non-exclusive right to distribute your thesis to researchers and over the Internet and make it part of the Lake Forest College Publications site. You warrant: • that you have the full power and authority to make this agreement; • that you retain literary property rights (the copyright) to your work. Current U.S. law stipulates that you will retain these rights for your lifetime plus 70 years, at which point your thesis will enter common domain; • that for as long you as you retain literary property rights, no one may sell your thesis without your permission; • that the College will catalog, preserve, and provide access to your thesis; • that the thesis does not infringe any copyright, nor violate any proprietary rights, nor contain any libelous matter, nor invade the privacy of any person or third party; • If you request that your thesis be placed under embargo, approval from your thesis chairperson is required. By signing below, you indicate that you have read, understand, and agree to the statements above. Printed Name: Magdalen E. Kroeger Thesis Title: Analyzing How Rape Culture Affects Perceived Victim Responsibility, Control, and Distress in Situations in which Verbal Sexual Coercion Occur This thesis is available at Lake Forest College Publications: https://publications.lakeforest. edu/seniortheses/122
JOLer: A Java standalone application for simulating the Weaver & Kelemen's judgment of learning (JOL) model

To assess judgment of learning (JOL) accuracy in metamemory, researchers have to measure how much the metamemory judgments adjust to the participant's memory-test performance. Absolute accuracy or calibration is the average correspondence between JOL and memory performance. Metamemory relative accuracy or resolution is a measure of how sensitive a participant is to the differential recallability between two studied items. Unfortunately, factors altering both calibration and resolution very often change also the distribution of JOL on the available scale for judgment. The problem with these effects on JOL distribution is that they could yield an altered resolution estimation due to the way in which its usual estimate is computed. JOLer simulates the behavior of participants in a typical metamemory procedure. The application is offered as a tool for metamemory researchers: it affords the opportunity to check whether, maintaining calibration parameters but changing JOL distributions between conditions, a different (and somewhat spurious) resolution estimate would be obtained.
Balanced scorecard approach to human resource management a study of select universitiesBalanced scorecard approach to human resource management: a study of select universities

Balanced Scorecard Approach to Human Resource Management: A study of Select Universities Abstract Introduction Human resources play an important role in development and growth of any organization and for that matter of any economy. Among all the factors of production only human resources are living being and have unlimited capacity and potentials. Such capacity and potentials of human beings can be developed for the benefit of organization by applying proper strategies. More effective management of human resources (HR) increasingly is being seen as positively affecting performance in organizations, both large and small. It is evident that the transition of HR management has enhanced organizational competitiveness and success. There are different approaches of Human Resource Management and Balance Scorecard is one of the important approaches of evaluation of an organization. (Berg, 1950) The BSC provides executives with a comprehensive framework that translates a company's vision and strategy into a coherent set of performance measures. BSC translates mission and strategy into objectives and measures, organized into four different perspectives; financial, customer, internal business process, and learning and growth The scorecard provides a framework, a language, to communicate mission and strategy; it uses measurement to inform employees about the drivers of current and future success. A lot of people think of measurement as a tool to control behavior
The Predictive Validity of Ideal Partner Preferences in Relationship Formation: What We Know, What We Don't Know, and Why It Matters

A great deal of research on interpersonal attraction implicitly assumes that stated ideal partner preferences guide the mate selection, and therefore relationship formation, process. Nevertheless, recent research has yielded contradictory results. Whereas some research has failed to demonstrate that ideal partner preferences influence attraction to actual potential romantic partners, other studies have provided empirical evidence for the predictive validity of ideal partner preferences following interactions with potential romantic partners. A new meta-analysis on the predictive validity of ideal partner preferences concluded that people may not preferentially pursue potential partners that more closely match their stated preferences. This conclusion has significant implications for several empirical literatures that have relied on self-reported ideal partner preferences to test hypotheses. We demonstrate, however, that the majority of the research on the predictive validity of ideal partner preferences, and thus research included in this meta-analysis, focuses on interpersonal attraction or later relationship processes and not on individuals transitioning into actual new relationships. We suggest that research that directly focuses on the transition into actual relationships is needed before firm conclusions can be made regarding the predictive validity of ideal partner preferences in the formation of new relationships.