Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Monitoring vegetation phenological stages using remote sensing data for pasture management in arid and semi-arid lands of Kenya.

Résumé Research Application Summary Monitoring vegetation phenological stages using remote sensing data for pasture management in arid and semi-Arid lands of Kenya Ambani, M.K. 1, Ouma, G.O. 1 & Lukorito, C.B. 1 1Department of Meteorology, University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 30197-00100, Nairobi, Kenya Corresponding author: kamaurine@googlemail.com The objective of this study was to monitor grassland phenological stages in selected arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) of Kenya, so as to provide information useful in pasture management. Five years of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from the VEGETATION instrument onboard SPOT were extracted over three ASAL districts. Extraction points were based on a land cover map that showed the location of grassland in the three districts. Piecewise logistic functions were applied on the NDVI data in order to identify phenological stages. RFE data were then used to relate the identified stages to rainfall using lagged correlation. Curves of the correlated lagged rainfall and NDVI from the determined phenological stages were plotted to compare their temporal patterns. Spatial patterns of length of the growth period were also assessed. Interannual phenological stages appeared to follow a clear growth – senescence temporal pattern. Two growth periods were identified in all the districts, consistent with known cycles of different grass and browse species in the areas. Peak growth was seen to occur during the short rains in Kajiado district and during the long rains in Baringo district. Growth in the two seasons was almost the same in Garissa district. Phenological stages were significantly correlated to different lags of rainfall, with response to a longer lag observed during the March to June growth period. Patterns of lagged rainfall were also found to be similar to those of NDVI at the different stages. The length of both growth periods showed spatially coherent patterns that signified the distribution of different pasture species. Given these results, logistic functions were able to model grassland phenological stages in the ASALs.
CrowdFlow : Integrating Machine Learning with Mechanical Turk for Speed-Cost-Quality Flexibility

Humans and machines have competing strengths for tasks such as natural language processing and image understanding. Whereas humans do these things naturally with potentially high accuracy, machines offer greater speed and flexibility. CrowdFlow is our toolkit for a model for blending the two in order to attain tighter control over the inherent tradeoffs in speed, cost and quality. With CrowdFlow, humans and machines work together to do a set of tasks at a user-specified point in the tradeoff space. They work symbiotically, with the humans providing training data to the machine while the machine provides first cut results to the humans to save effort in cases where the machine’s answer was already correct. The CrowdFlow toolkit can be considered as a generalization of our other domain-specific efforts aimed at enabling cloud computing services using a variety of computational resources to achieve various tradeoff points.
Branding India: An Incredible Story

It was at the peak of this crisis that the "Incredible India" campaign to position India as a tourist destination was launched. This is the story of how that campaign triggered the take-off of Indian tourism, and how support sectors like aviation, hotels and infrastructure grew in tandem so that in 2008 India got 5.38 million visitors compared to 2.54 million in 2001.The author, Amitabh Kant, played a key role in this phenomenon as joint secretary in the Union ministry of tourism. He writes a scholarly book that is full of personal insights into a remarkable growth story
How institutions elude design: river basin management and sustainable livelihoods.

This paper challenges ideas that it is possible to ‘get the institutions right’ in the management of natural resources. It engages with the literature and policy specifying ‘design principles’ for robust institutions and uses data from a river basin management project in Usangu, Tanzania, to illustrate the complexity of institutional evolution. The paper draws on emerging ‘postinstitutionalist’ perspectives to reject over-formalised managerial approaches in favour of those that accept the dynamic nature of institutional formation, and accommodate a variety of partial and contingent solutions. Data from Usangu suggests that external ‘crafting’ is inevitably problematic because, to a certain extent, institutions elude design.
SPEECH AND EMOTION FROM STILL FACES : fMRI FINDINGS

Cognitive and neurocognitive models of face processing suggest that independent (modular) processing routes are engaged for different types of face processing tasks. This study used fMRI (1.5 T) to examine common and distinctive processing routes for the perception of speech and emotion from posed photographs. For speech categorization (‘Is that a vowel or a consonant? ’), there was bilateral activation in frontal and inferior temporal (including fusiform) regions. The emotion task (‘Is the expression positive or negative? ’) also showed activation in inferior temporal and frontal regions, but this was right lateralized. While an incidental task (‘Can you see her teeth? ’), using the same pictures, activated identical regions for the emotion faces, this was not the case for speech, where activation was limited to fusiform regions. Emotionally expressive, but not speech face images, readily activate a right-lateralized temporo-frontal circuit, whatever the task demands. Speech categorization from still images recruits extensive frontal regions, bilaterally, confirming previous findings [1]. Unlike previous reports, superior temporal regions did not show significant levels of activation for speech faces, although right superior temporal sulcus (STS) was activated by the emotional faces.
Black Hole Accretion

Black holes are most often detected by the radiation produced when they gravitationally pull in surrounding gas, in a process called accretion. The efficiency with which the hot gas radiates its thermal energy strongly influences the geometry and dynamics of the accretion flow. Both radiatively efficient thin disks and radiatively inefficient thick disks are observed. When the accreting gas gets close to the central black hole, the radiation it produces becomes sensitive to the spin of the hole and the presence of an event horizon. Analysis of the luminosities and spectra of accreting black holes has yielded tantalizing evidence for both rotating holes and event horizons. Numerical simulations imply that the relativistic jets often seen from accreting black holes may be powered in part by the spin of the hole.
A Collaborative Systems Approach to Rural Burn Care

A collaborative systems approach was created between the regional verified burn center (BC) and the rural verified Level 1 trauma center (TC) to treat minor burns. This study assesses the feasibility of providing outpatient burn care at the TC. A retrospective review was performed from January 2000 to June 2005 of burn patients seen at the TC. Seven trauma/critical care surgeons and a dedicated burn nurse staffed the clinic twice a week. Burn surgeons from the BC provided consultation via email and telephone links and served as the regional resource. In the TC clinic, 314 injuries occurred in 311 patients. 196 patients were male with an average age of 34.5 ± 1.1 years. The mean burn TBSA was 2.9 ± 0.2%. Fourteen patients (4%) required skin grafts. Patients averaged 3.5 ± 0.1 clinic visits over a mean follow-up period of 42.9 ± 7.4 days from initial injury. There were 1252 scheduled appointments during the study period. Silver sulfadiazine or triple antibiotic ointment was applied in the majority of the cases. Thirty-one patients (9.9%) were documented to have complications, most of which were local wound infections. Long-term sequelae (scarring, chronic pain, and contractures) occurred in 13.4% of patients. Clinical success in outpatient burn care can be achieved at a non burn center with dedicated personnel. The successful collaboration between the BC and TC can unload some minor burn care from the burn center, while providing good clinical care to the local rural population.
Observations of Secondary Circulation Around Curved Open Channels and Coastal Headlands

In three dimensions when water flows around a bend, instead of flowing straight, it spirals around the bend in a loose helical pattern. This pattern is commonly known as secondary circulation or secondary flow. The driving forces behind curvature induced secondary circulation are a stream-wise velocity shear due to bottom friction and centripetal acceleration. The velocity shear decreases the velocity towards the bottom resulting in an imbalance in the centripetal acceleration. This drives the flow radially outwards near the surface, and radially inwards near the bottom, creating a loose helical flow pattern around the curve. Secondary circulation plays an important role in nature, this includes mixing, erosion and formation of banks in rivers and estuaries, and localized up-welling at coastal headlands. Observations from the curved tidal channel of the Otago Harbour show secondary flows up to 20 % of the primary flow and vertical velocity inferred from secondary flow that is up to 1% of the primary flow. Linear regression shows the cross-channel distribution of the observed secondary flow can be resolved from the horizontal ADCP measurements well enough to be able to infer the vertical velocity using mass continuity, rp = 0.95. The pattern of this vertical velocity is upwards on the inside and downwards on the outside of the curve. Observed around the curved tidal channel is the radially outwards movement of the depth averaged velocity maxima due to advective momentum transport and this movement is contrasted between the flood and ebb tide. Observations from a sharper curvature bend in the Clutha river delta show flattening and deformation of the vertical profile of the primary flow due to the advection of momentum by secondary circulation and associate a counter rotating outer-bank cell of secondary circulation with this deformation. A visual explanation for this outer bank cell is proposed, based around the forces of plane equilibrium and the deformation of the vertical profile of the primary flow. At Cape Saunders, a coastal headland, the vertical velocity inferred from horizontal ADCP measurements show a significant localized up-welling synchronized with the tidal cycle of up to 0.007 ms−1. Concurrent CTD measurements show up-welling of up to 0.002 ms−1 are correlated with the vertical velocity inferred from secondary flow, rp = 0.65, supporting the concept of inferring vertical velocity from the horizontal measurements. This up-welling equates to ≈ 7 m per hour meaning the entire water column is replacing itself with nutrient rich deep waters at least once during a tidal cycle.
CEFIN Working Papers

In the light of the fundamental role played by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the economy of many countries including Italy and of the specific treatment of this issue within the Basel II regulation, the aim of this work is to build a default prediction model for the Italian SMEs. Specifically, we develop a logit model based on financial ratios: using the AIDA database, we focus the attention on a specific region in Italy, Emilia Romagna, where SMEs represent the firms’ majority . We find that a parsimonious model based on only four explanatory variables fits well the default data.
Runoff and erosion from a rapidly eroding pinyon-juniper hillslope

The dramatic acceleration of erosion associated with the expansion of pinyon-juniper woodlands over the past 100 years has been a widely recognized but poorly understood phenomenon. A more complete understanding will come only through long-term observations of erosion and related factors. To this end, we are conducting a study of a small (1-ha) catchment in a rapidly eroding pinyon-juniper woodland. Since July 1993, we have been collecting data on runoff, erosion, and weather conditions in the catchment, as well as on the topography, soils, and vegetation. Our preliminary results suggest that (1) the catchment is currently in a cycle of accelerated erosion that began concomitant with a shift from ponderosa pine forest to pinyon-juniper woodland that was initiated by a prolonged drought; (2) the intercanopy soils cannot be sustained at the current erosion rates and will be mostly stripped away in about a century; (3) large summer thunderstorms are the most important agents of erosion (4) erosion increases dramatically as the scale increases; (5) runoff makes up <10% of the water budget.
EMISSIONS TRADING IN THE U.S.: EXPERIENCE, LESSONS, AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR GREENHOUSE GASES

This paper discusses emissions trading and its use in programs that control air pollution. The table of contents lists the following chapter headings: I. INTRODUCTION - A. Overview of the Concept of Emissions Trading, B. Three Basic Types of Emissions Trading Programs, C. Other Features of Emissions Trading Programs, D. Objective and Organization of this Report; II. EXPERIENCE WITH EMISSIONS TRADING - A. EPA Emissions Trading Programs, B. Lead-in-Gasoline Program, C. Acid Rain Trading Program, D. Los Angeles Air Basin RECLAIM Program, E. Mobile Source Averaging, Banking, and Trading Programs, F. Northeast NOx Budget Trading; III. LESSONS FROM EXPERIENCE WITH EMISSIONS TRADING - A. Economic Effectiveness, B. Environmental Effectiveness, C. Ability to Trade, D. Banking, E. Initial Allocation; IV. CONSIDERATIONS FOR GREENHOUSE GAS CONTROL PROGRAMS - A. Suitability of Trading, B. Opt-in Features; V. CONCLUSIONS.
A Key for Predicting Postfire Successional Trajectories in Black Spruce Stands of Interior Alaska

A method of perforating a nonwoven web of fibrous fabric by directing the web through a nip defined by first and second moveable members. As the web moves through the nip it is penetrated by a plurality of heated pins projecting from the first member which enter heated apertures formed in the second member. The penetration of the pins causes the fibers of the fabric to separate and enter into the apertures and form openings through the web. The openings are surrounded by dense consolidated rings exhibiting greater hydrophilic properties than the nonperforated surface of the web.
The Impact of Drug Market Pulling Levers Policing on Neighborhood Violence: An Evaluation of the High Point Drug Market Intervention

Research Summary Pulling levers policing draws upon the focused deterrence framework, which has shown considerable promise when directed at youth, gun, and gang offenders. However, much less is known about the viability of pulling levers when applied to different contexts as well as to diverse groups of offenders. We examine the High Point (North Carolina) Drug Market Intervention (DMI), the first site to use pulling levers as a place-based policing approach to disrupt a series of open-air drug markets across the city. Eleven years of longitudinal data are analyzed by using difference-in-difference panel regression analyses combined with finite mixture estimation as a means to test for divergence in violent crime patterns. Several key, although inconsistent, findings are presented. First, we found a statistically significant reduction in violent offenses in specific high-crime places (i.e., high-trajectory census blocks) located across the different targeted neighborhoods compared with the remainder of High Point, and relative to comparable nontargeted areas. Second, the citywide violent crime rate actually increased after a series of interventions unfolded, which may suggest limitations with the approach. Finally, trend analyses indicated the strategy had different levels of violent crime impact throughout unique geographic contexts. Policy Implications Rather than arresting every offender identified as having participated in illicit drug trafficking across various geographic contexts within the city, officials in High Point decided to invite low-risk drug offenders to community notification sessions in order to change their perceived risk of punishment as well as to mobilize community members across the different targeted neighborhoods. The suggestive evidence of potential, although limited, violent crime impact illustrates that this type of policing strategy may hold considerable promise. This interpretation gains credence when considered with prior evaluations of the DMI approach that illustrated the potential for reducing drug-related crime and in light of reports of improved police–community relations. The inconsistent findings across all locations and the overall city increase in violent crime toward the end of the study period, however, raise several concerns when interpreting study results. Additionally, our findings suggest that further replications should include systematic problem-identification, process measures, and more precise research designs.
Slow slip events and seismic tremor at circum‐Pacific subduction zones

It has been known for a long time that slip accompanying earthquakes accounts for only a fraction of plate tectonic displacements. However, only recently has a fuller spectrum of strain release processes, including normal, slow, and silent earthquakes (or slow slip events) and continuous and episodic slip, been observed and generated by numerical simulations of the earthquake cycle. Despite a profusion of observations and modeling studies the physical mechanism of slow slip events remains elusive. The concurrence of seismic tremor with slow slip episodes in Cascadia and southwestern Japan provides insight into the process of slow slip. A perceived similarity between subduction zone and volcanic tremor has led to suggestions that slow slip involves fluid migration on or near the plate interface. Alternatively, evidence is accumulating to support the notion that tremor results from shear failure during slow slip. Global observations of the location, spatial extent, magnitude, duration, slip rate, and periodicity of these aseismic slip transients indicate significant variation that may be exploited to better understand their generation. Most slow slip events occur just downdip of the seismogenic zone, consistent with rate‐ and state‐dependent frictional modeling that requires unstable to stable transitional properties for slow slip generation. At a few convergent margins the occurrence of slow slip events within the seismogenic zone makes it highly likely that transitions in frictional properties exist there and are the loci of slow slip nucleation. Slow slip events perturb the surrounding stress field and may either increase or relieve stress on a fault, bringing it closer to or farther from earthquake failure, respectively. This paper presents a review of slow slip events and related seismic tremor observed at plate boundaries worldwide, with a focus on circum‐Pacific subduction zones. Trends in global observations of slow slip events suggest that (1) slow slip is a common phenomena observed at almost all subduction zones with instrumentation capable of recording it, (2) different frictional properties likely control fast versus slow slip, (3) the depth range of slow slip may be related to the thermal properties of the plate interface, and (4) the equivalent seismic moment of slow slip events is proportional to their duration (Moατ), different from the Moατ3 scaling observed for earthquakes.
Does psi exist? Replicable evidence for an anomalous process of information transfer.

Most academic psychologists do not yet accept the existence of psi, anomalous processes of information or energy transfer (such as telepathy or other forms of extrasensory perception) that are currently unexplained in terms of known physical or biological mechanisms. We believe that the replication rates and effect sizes achieved by one particular experimental method, the ganzfeld procedure, are now sufficient to warrant bringing this body of data to the attention of the wider psychological community. Competing meta-analyses of the ganzfeld database are reviewed, 1 by R. Hyman (1985), a skeptical critic of psi research, and the other by C. Honorton (1985), a parapsychologist and major contributor to the ganzfeld database. Next the results of 11 new ganzfeld studies that comply with guidelines jointly authored by R. Hyman and C. Honorton (1986) are summarized. Finally, issues of replication and theoretical explanation are discussed. The term psi denotes anomalous processes of information or energy transfer, processes such as telepathy or other forms of extrasensory perception that are currently unexplained in terms of known physical or biological mechanisms. The term is purely descriptive: It neither implies that such anomalous phenomena are paranormal nor connotes anything about their underlying mechanisms. Does psi exist? Most academic psychologists don't think so. A survey of more than 1,100 college professors in the United States found that 55% of natural scientists, 66% of social scientists (excluding psychologists), and 77% of academics in the arts, humanities, and education believed that ESP is either an established fact or a likely possibility. The comparable figure for psy
Review : nature-based tourism

Ecotourism is big business. It can provide foreign exchange and economic reward for the preservation of natural systems and wildlife. But ecotourism also threatens to destroy the resources on which it depends. Tour boats dump garbage in the waters off Antarctica, shutterbugs harass wildlife in National Parks, hordes of us trample fragile areas. This frenzied activity threatens the viability of natural systems. At times we seem to be loving nature to death (Berle, 1990). This quotation, from an editorial in the American nature conservation journal Audubon, at once expresses the hopes and fears many people hold for nature-based tourism. Is it the ideal, low impact, high value, dream tourism sought by host communities the world over? Is it ecologically sustainable development? Can it form the basis for community tourism in developing countries? Will it further destroy the ailing conservation programs by adding internal pressures to parks already under assault from external forces? Can we live with it? Can we live without it? In this chapter the essential elements of nature-based tourism are explored and examples from around the world help illustrate its diversity of form. Existing literature is reviewed and an assessment made on the present state of knowledge about ecotourism and some of the most pressing issues awaiting research. An overall management perspective reflects the intimate link between nature-based tourism and nature conservation.
Gender role asymmetry and stock market participation – evidence from four European household surveys

ABSTRACT This study investigates the importance of social norms for shaping women's and men's decision to participate in the stock market, aiming to disentangle the different channels playing a role in this decision. Gender role asymmetry is indicated by the country's rank in the gender equality index of the World Economic Forum. Using data from four national household surveys, we find that in Italy – the country with highly asymmetric gender role prescriptions – women's risk-taking behavior responds to this non-supportive environment. Consistent with the theory of social identity, Italian women refrain from stock market participation more than their self-reported risk tolerance levels would suggest. In contrast, in the three countries with a lower asymmetry in gender role prescriptions, no exaggerated female backing off from investing in stocks is observable. The result is robust to separately analyzing sub-samples of singles and couples. However, women who self-select into stock market participation invest the same portfolio share in stocks as do their male peers – independent of the society's degree of gender role divergence.