Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using the climate change vulnerability index to inform adaptation planning: Lessons, innovations, and next steps

New tools and approaches are becoming available for wildlife conservation managers to help support climate adaptation activities, but few studies have documented how practitioners have applied these tools and perceive their utility. We surveyed the literature and users of the NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI), a tool that is widely used in North America to assess species' vulnerability to climate change, to characterize 1) how the tool has been used; 2) the objectives addressed by projects using the tool; 3) novel approaches that might be useful to other users; 4) how the results contributed to climate change adaptation planning; and 5) needed improvements recognized by users of the tool. Responses from 25 CCVI users, representing state agencies and natural heritage programs, conservation organizations, and universities, combined with published reports from 20 CCVI assessments, indicated that the CCVI has been applied to large numbers of species from diverse taxonomic groups. Results from these assessments have been used to communicate about climate change vulnerability, select species to be prioritized for management, inform management decisions, identify monitoring needs, and inform land-acquisition decisions. Users of the CCVI have developed novel ways to address uncertainty in climate and species natural-history data, involve stakeholders, evaluate migratory species, address specific management questions, and combine outputs with the results of parallel spatial analyses. To address user needs, future iterations of the tool should address climate exposure in the full life cycle of migratory species; better examine species dependent on specific vegetation microhabitats; and improve treatment of the effects of climate on diseases, parasites, and natural enemies. © 2015 The Authors. The Wildlife Society Bulletin published by The Wildlife Society.
Impact of zero tillage adoption on household welfare in Pakistan

The current study was carried out to estimate the impact of zero tillage technology adoption on household welfare in Pakistan. For the study cross sectional data set was collected from 234 households in the rice-wheat area of Pakistani Punjab. The data was collected through stratified random sampling technique from 3 main districts of rice-wheat area namely Gujranwala, Sheikhupura and Hafizabad. The empirical analysis was carried out by employing the propensity score matching approach to correct for potential sample selection biased ness that may arise due to systematic differences between adopters and non adopters. The empirical result indicates that adoption of zero tillage technology has positive and significant impact on wheat yield and household income while non significant impact on rice yield. Most importantly the adoption of zero tillage technology can help to reduce poverty among rural households in the range of 8-10 percent.
Sexual Violence and Legal Advocacy: Psychometric Evaluation of the Legal Advocacy Services Satisfaction Survey

Joanne Sparrow (304 words) The Legal Advocacy Services Satisfaction Survey (LASSS; Gibbs, Agatonovic, & Bikos, 2011) is a nine-item self-report inventory developed to evaluate both the quality of the information provided by the legal advocate as well as the quality of the relationship the advocate has established with the client. This dissertation sought to address an important gap in the literature on sexual violence and the provision of legal advocacy services by examining survey data collected from adult (i.e., age 18 and over) female survivors working with legal advocates at an urban-based agency that provides multiple types of services to survivors of sexual violence and their families. Survey items were developed via consensual qualitative research (CQR: Hill Thompson, & Williams, 1997) and examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The items of the LASSS formed two lower-order factors comprised of four items reflecting information and five items reflecting relationship, (ꭓ [24; N = 181] = 132.714, p < .001; CFI = .929; RMSEA = .159). Further psychometric analyses demonstrated: (a) satisfactory convergent (r = .467, p < .01 [two-tailed]) and discriminant (r = .387, p < .01 [two-tailed]) validity; (b) good internal consistency (overall scale T1 α = .948; T2 α = .957), and (c) robust temporal stability (r = .794, p < .01; two-tailed) of the measure. The LASSS demonstrates promise as both a screener and measure of client satisfaction with the provision of legal advocacy services; the measure can be completed by clients in less than 5 minutes and is easy for advocates to score and interpret. Information derived from the LASSS can be used by advocates to address aspects of service provision that may not be serving clients’ needs effectively. Further validation of the measure and its potential use as a tool to support training and development, supervision, program evaluation and grant writing are discussed. Psychometric Validation of the LASSS vi
Comparing Service Delivery to What Might Have Been

The effects of the specific emotions disappointment and regret on customers’ behavioral responses to failed service encounters were examined. Study 1, using a vignette methodology, showed that regret was more associated with switching behavior than was disappointment and that disappointment was more associated with word of mouth and complaining than was regret. These results were largely replicated in Study 2, in which each customer was asked to report an autobiographical episode in which he or she experienced dissatisfaction with a service. Characteristics of this experience, as well as regret, disappointment, satisfaction, and behavioral responses, were assessed. As hypothesized, regret had a direct effect on customers’ switching, over and above the effect of dissatisfaction. Moreover, disappointment had a direct effect on word of mouth, over and above the effect of dissatisfaction. Finally, neither regret nor disappointment had a direct effect on the actual complaining in Study 2.
Brain Drain Migration Type. What Causes Brain Drain Phenomenon

The phenomenon of migration of intellectuals, also known as "brain drain", we mean that constant transfer of highly qualified persons, especially in generally into less developed countries, to those states that have a developed economy. Most often, aspects of the social environment of home country, are the triggering factor in the migration decision intellectuals. Reducing the negative impact of brain drain can be achieved through the transfer of "know-how" through collaboration between intellectuals in the Diaspora with those of the country of origin in some projects.
Differences in the College Enrollment Decision across Race

We find the determinants of the college enrollment decision differ greatly between whites and blacks. Within race, differences exist between black males and females, and to a lesser extent between white males and females. The largest differences are in the effects of parents' education, school quality, and family income. Of the four race-gender groups, black males are the most sensitive likely to their mother's education attainment and to changes in school quality. Unlike whites, we find almost no effect of income on the black college enrollment decision, particularly for black females. We conclude that policies that increase affordability do not expand the pool of college-bound blacks.
Reddening and metallicity maps of the Milky Way bulge from VVV and 2MASS. I. The method and minor axis maps

We present a method to obtain reddening maps and to trace structure and metallicity gradients of the bulge using data from the recently started ESO public survey Vista Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV). We derive the mean J-Ks color of the red clump (RC) giants in 1835 subfields in the Bulge region with -8<b<-0.4 and 0.2<l<1.7, and compare it to the color of RC stars in Baade's Window for which we adopt E(B-V)=0.55. This allows us to derive the reddening map on a small enough scale to minimize the problems arising from differential extinction. The dereddened magnitudes are then used to build the bulge luminosity function in regions of 0.4 x 0.4 deg to obtain the mean RC magnitudes. These are used as distance indicator in order to trace the bulge structure. Finally, for each subfield we derive photometric metallicities through interpolation of red giant branch colors on a set of empirical ridge lines. The photometric metallicity distributions are compared to metallicity distributions obtained from high resolution spectroscopy in the same regions. The reddening determination is sensitive to small scale variations which are clearly visible in our maps. The luminosity function clearly shows the double RC recently discovered in 2MASS and OGLE III datasets, hence allowing to trace the X-shape morphology of the bulge. Finally, the mean of the derived photometric metallicity distributions are in remarkable agreement with those obtained from spectroscopy. The VVV survey presents a unique tool to map the bulge properties by means of the consistent method presented here. The remarkable agreement between our results and those presented in literature for the minor axis allows us to safely extend our method to the whole region covered by the survey.
Why and How to Develop a Meaningful Quality Assurance System in Engineering Schools

National accreditation of engineering undergraduate programs is probably the most common quality assurance scheme used in universities today. However, calls are increasingly being made to expand the scope of formal quality assurance systems into graduate education and research, and to provide an international accreditation framework. The new ISO 9000 (2000) standards have the capability to address these issues. This paper discusses the reasons for the implementation of the flagship standard in the series, namely ISO 9001 (2000), as well as methods for the development of a quality system in engineering education and research. In addition, approaches to monitoring the quality of teaching and learning outcomes are presented.
On discrimination and the status of immigrants in the Hong Kong labour market

This paper studies the extent of discrimination against mainland Chinese immigrants in the Hong Kong labour market and provides a quantitative assessment of the source of wage differentials between local born Hong Kong residents and Chinese immigrants. Using the 2001 Hong Kong Population Census data, we find strong evidence of a wage gap between locals and post-1980 Chinese immigrants. There is also clear evidence that discrimination accounts for a substantial proportion of the wage gap between the two groups. Furthermore, our findings suggest that while the overall wage gap may shrink with the immigrants' duration of residence in Hong Kong, the percentage of the wage gap due to discrimination does not change very much after the immediate post-immigration period.
Real Time Monitoring of Fluorescent Particles in Micro-Channels by High Resolution Dual Modality Probe Imaging

Imaging of micro particles in micro-fluidic channels is one of the recent thrust areas in research as it provides more flexibility in setup and analysis compared to conventional microscopy. However, a probe based imaging scheme, with achievable high resolutions incorporating multimodal analysis is one of the challenges researchers have been facing. In this context, this paper illustrates a simple dual modality high resolution flexible probe imaging system for imaging applications in micro/optofluidic channels. The proposed system exhibits axial and lateral resolution of about 16 μm and 3.12 μm respectively. This proposed system also exhibits a modulation transfer function (MTF) of about 38.42 %. The performance of the system is validated by imaging micro particles in a microchannel and obtaining the fluorescent emission spectrum simultaneously.
Crane Safety in Construction Sites

Many types and sizes of cranes are used to lift and move heavy materials in construction sites. The technology used in cranes has improved dramatically in the past decades in a way that this technology has, in many ways, outstripped the ability of people to use the machines safely. This misusage makes crane's accidents one of the more severe and highly visible construction accidents. Heavy reliance must be placed on the factors aecting crane safety that may dier with its impact and severity from one project to another. The presented research in this paper establishes a methodology for assessing and evaluating crane safety in construction site by introducing a crane safety index (CSI) model using two dierent decision-making methodologies: Analytic Hierarchy process (AHP) and Fuzzy Logic. The goal of the developed model is to help planners improve crane operation and meet safety requirements. In order to achieve this goal, a survey was conducted aiming at assessing the factors that aect crane operation. The CSI was designed and applied to the collected data to obtain a safety index value. The presented research is vital for planners (contractors) because it gives them a fast, accurate, and advanced tool for obtaining a CSI. The index indicates the performance of crane safety operation in construction sites, allowing for a chance to spot and encompass the factors causing hazardous circumstances, and the possibility to enhance the crane safety plan.
Modulus Measurement for Prepreg-based Discontinuous Carbon Fiber/Epoxy Systems

The elastic modulus of discontinuous carbon fiber/epoxy laminates produced by compression molding of chopped unidirectional prepreg tape is measured by several means. Commercial applications for this type of material form already exist, such as Hexcel HexMC®. Although the average elastic modulus of this material has been shown to be as high as that of the continuous fiber quasiisotropic benchmark, its non-homogenous nature gives rise to variations as high as 19% in the measurement by means of strain gage or extensometer. This phenomenon would be attributed to the variability of the manufacturing process, were it not for the fact that strength variation is much lower, with a maximum of 9%. In order to assess whether the variation observed is a result of the measurement technique and not an actual variation in material properties, a series of tensile tests is conducted while systematically varying strain gage length and location. The measurements are then compared relative to each other as well as to multiple extensometer readings along the length and opposite sides of the specimen. Digital image correlation (DIC) technique is used to gain further insight on the observed phenomena, and it has shown to be fundamental to obtain a full-field strain measurement, which is more repeatable than any of the traditional measurement techniques. Furthermore, DIC shows that complex strain distributions exist on the surface of the specimen, varying greatly along the width and across the length of the specimen, and these are associated to the non-homogeneous nature of the sub-structure.
Effects of Zinc Plus Arachidonic Acid on Insulin Resistance in High Fructose-Fed Rats

We previously demonstrated that zinc plus arachidonic acid (ZA) treatment lowered blood glucose levels in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats, genetically diabetic obese (ob/ob) mice, and genetically diabetic, non-obese Goto-Kakizaki rats. However, plasma insulin levels did not increase with ZA treatment, suggesting that ZA lowers blood glucose levels not by stimulating pancreatic insulin secretion. However, it is unclear whether these agents lower blood glucose levels by decreasing hepatic glucose output (HGO) or by increasing glucose utilization in peripheral tissues, or both. In order to determine ZA target organ of insulin action, we divided 18 Sprague- Dawley rats weighing ~130 g into 3 groups (6 rats per group) and treated them for four weeks with: (1) Control diet (regular rat chow), (2) High fructose (60.0%) diet only, and (3) the same fructose diet plus zinc (10 mg/L) and arachidonic acid (50 mg/L) containing drinking water. After 4 weeks, insulin action was assessed using the hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp technique. Food intake and body weights were comparable in all three groups of rats throughout the study period. Plasma glucose and insulin concentrations, glucose uptake, and HGO in the basal state were all the same in these three rat groups. During the clamp study, fructose-treated and fructose+ZA treated rat groups did not exhibit any detectable change on insulin-mediated glucose uptake com- pared to controls. High fructose feeding impaired insulin mediated suppression of HGO, compared to controls during clamp (4.39 vs. 2.35 mg/kg/min; p<0.05). However, ZA treatment in high fructose-fed rats showed a remarkable increase in hepatic insulin sensitivity compared to high fructose-fed rats, reflected by a complete recovery in suppression of HGO during the clamp (4.39 vs. 2.18 mg/kg/min; p<0.05). This data suggests that ZA increases insulin sensitivity in liver but not glucose utilization of peripheral tissues in high fructose-fed rats.
Differential Factors of Contraceptive Use and Adverse Outcomes of Pregnancy in Women with Ages 15 to 49 in Pretoria, South Africa

Challenges of teenage pregnancy and adverse outcomes of pregnancy constitute a major public health problem in South African women of the childbearing age of 15 to 49 years. This is a 6-year long study that was conducted in Pretoria, South Africa in order to identify factors that affect utilization of modern contraceptives and adverse pregnancy outcomes in women of the childbearing age of 15 to 49 years. Data analysis was conducted by using two-by-two Pearson’s chisquare tests of associations, binary logistic regression analysis, survival analysis, and multilevel analysis. The study showed that the percentage of women who regularly used modern family planning methods such as condoms, pills, injections, intra-uterine devices and sterilization was 41.74%. The average ages of women at first sex and pregnancy were 18.72 and 19.36 years respectively. Adverse outcomes of pregnancy occurred in 12.19% of women. Based on Odds Ratios (OR) estimated from binary logistic regression analysis, utilization of contraceptives was significantly influenced by easy access to family planning services, level of support from sexual partner, and young age at first pregnancy. Based on Hazard Ratios (HR) estimated from the Cox Proportional Hazards Model, the occurrence of adverse outcomes of pregnancy was significantly influenced by easy access to family planning services, unwanted pregnancy, and young age at first pregnancy. Women who experienced adverse outcomes of pregnancy were characterized by poor utilization of reproductive health and modern family planning services. There was a significant difference among the 20 health service delivery wards and 11 health service facilities in which reproductive health services were delivered to women with regards to the quality of service delivery.
Colour schemes for birds: structural coloration and signals of quality in feathers

Plumage coloration may signal individual quality through carotenoid and melanin colour patterns; novel mechanisms by which structural coloration in feathers could signal individual quality are proposed here. Uniformity of structural colour is suggested to signal developmental stability during feather growth, the colour constituting an amplifier. For structural coloration produced by coloured portions of barbules which are susceptible to loss by abrasion, the intensity of colour is suggested to signal feather quality and abrasion-resistance, the structural colour constituting an amplifying handicap. In both cases, large areas of structural coloured plumage may be more revealing of quality than small areas. Predictions as to the extent, position and combinations of these structural colours relative to carotenoid and melanin coloration were derived from these mechanisms and supported by comparative tests. Structural coloration may thus be a component in multiple messages of individual quality in plumage coloration.
Gradient descent revisited via an adaptive online learning rate

Any gradient descent optimization requires to choose a learning rate. With deeper and deeper models, tuning that learning rate can easily become tedious and does not necessarily lead to an ideal convergence. We propose a variation of the gradient descent algorithm in the which the learning rate is not fixed. Instead, we learn the learning rate itself, either by another gradient descent (first-order method), or by Newton's method (second-order). This way, gradient descent for any machine learning algorithm can be optimized.
FROM ANALYSIS TO TEACHING TYPES OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE

The article argues for discourse approach to teaching postgraduates to foreign languages for scientific purposes. In supporting this idea, the term 'scientific discourse' is specified, a clear distinction between 'genre' and 'discourse type' is made, the existing classifications of discourse types are analyzed, basic types of written scientific discourse are singled out, the sequence of teaching stages as well as the framework of techniques and activities are proposed. Modern methodology of foreign language (FL) teaching which is based on the principles of communicative language teaching makes us appeal to such a phenomenon as discourse. Recent years have seen increased consideration being given to discourse embedding in the process of teaching which is thought as a requirement of the communicative approach realization. Some authors argue that discourse as a "live" language and a "grammar above the sentence", can inform the process of communicative language teaching in a far better way and enrich its content with real world functional features that are typical of natural language use (16); the use of discourse as a sample of realization of certain communicative intentions in a specific communicative situation and addressed to a particular recipient can help learners get ready to participate in real life communication (3). Discourse types alongside with text types are indicated as essential components of instruction content in the up-to-date conception of specialism-oriented English language learning and teaching at tertiary school (6). Sharing the above-mentioned viewpoints, we suggest embedding the concept of scientific discourse in the process of FL teaching of magistrates, post-graduates and young researchers at the stage of their post-diploma Мордовина Татьяна Валерьевна - ассистент кафедры «Иностранные языки», tvmordovina@rambler.ru; Никульшина Надежда Леонидовна - кандидат педагогических наук, доцент кафедры «Иностранные языки», nadezhda-nkl@mail.ru, ТамбГТУ, г. Тамбов.