194,389 research outputs found
A conceptual model and rapid appraisal tool for integrated coastal floodplain assessments
No full textLow-lying coastal zones are high-risk areas threatened by flooding due to extreme coastal events and rising sea-levels. The coastal floodplain system includes elements such as near-shore waves and water levels, inter-tidal beaches and coastal habitats, natural and artificial sea defences and multiple inland floodplain features. Flood risk studies generally achieve an integrated assessment of these elements using multiple numerical models for different floodplain elements. However fundamental choices of floodplain description and the appropriate data, methods and models can vary widely between different sites and flood risk studies. A comprehensive conceptual model is needed to describe the floodplain system and help inform these choices in each site. However a descriptive conceptual model for coastal floodplain systems does not exist at present. There is a bias in flood risk studies towards the direct use of numerical models with limited use of conceptual models – existing models are implicit and do not describe the coastal floodplain system.This thesis addresses this gap by developing, applying and testing a rapid appraisal tool that conceptually describes the coastal floodplain as a system of interacting elements. The tool is developed in two parts – i) a quasi-2D Source– Pathway – Receptor (SPR) model that provides a comprehensive qualitative description of the floodplain; and ii) a Bayesian network model that uses this description to quantify individual elements as sources, pathways and receptors of flood propagation. The quasi-2D SPR is applied in 8 diverse coastal zones across Europe 4 of which include nested case-studies. It is an effective way of gathering and describing information about the floodplain from stakeholders across multiple disciplines. The Bayesian network model is applied to two contrasting floodplain systems in England – Teignmouth and Portsmouth. The network model is effective in pinpointing critical flood pathways and identifying key knowledge gaps for further analyses. The two models together provide a comprehensive understanding of the coastal floodplain system that can be used to inform and target the use of more detailed numerical models.Hence this thesis provides a conceptual model and tool to improve flood risk assessment. It makes conceptual understanding of the floodplain explicit and stratifies quantitative analysis by application of a rapid assessment tool before the use of detailed numerical models
Fanon’s Decolonized Europe: The Double Promise of Coloured Cosmopolitanism in the Age of Austerity
No full textA Critical Study of the Autobiographical Elements in the Fictional Works of R. K. Narayan
No full textNot availabl
Are Shocks to Commodity Prices Persistent?
No full textThis paper considers the issue of whether shocks to ten commodity prices (gold, silver, platinum, copper, aluminum, iron ore, lead, nickel, tin, and zinc) are persistent or transitory. We use two recently developed unit root tests, namely the Narayan and Popp (NP, 2010) test and the Liu and Narayan (LN, 2010) test that allow for two structural breaks in the data series. Using the NP test, we are able to reject the unit root null for iron ore and tin, while, using the GARCH-based unit root test of LN, we are able to reject the unit root null for five commodity prices; namely, iron ore, nickel, zinc, lead, and tin. Our findings, thus, suggest that only shocks to gold, silver, platinum, aluminum, and copper are persistent.Commodity Prices; Unit Root Test; GARCH.
Myrmarachne ramunni Narayan 1915
No full textMyrmarachne ramunni Narayan, 1915 (Figures 2E, F, 3E, F) Myrmarachne ramunni Narayan, 1915: 400–402, figure 4a–c. Identification Types have not been examined. Narayan (1915) illustrates and describes the unique chelicerae of this species, aiding positive identification. Material examined Sri Lanka, Eastern Province, 1 male, Ampara District, Inginiagala, 250 ff, Samudra gardens, 22–23 November 1976, G.F. Havel, R.E. Dietz IV, S. Karunaratne, USNM. Diagnosis Very similar to M. bicurvata, however, males are easily separated by the chelicerae. The distal half of the chelicerae of M. ramunni is wider than the proximal half (Figure 2E). The inner and outer sides of the proximal half are parallel, whereas the distal half has convex outer sides and parallel inner sides. M. bicurvata has parallel inner and outer sides (Figure 2A, C). The RTA of the male palp is broad base and tapered to a point in one corner. In M. bicurvata the RTA is hook-shaped with a constriction at the base (Figure 3B, E). Description Male: total length: 6.8; prosoma length: 4.4, width: 1.2. Leg I: femur 1.6, patella 0.6, tibia 1.6, metatarsus 0.8, tarsus 0.4. The cephalic part of the prosoma is elevated and rounded on all sides. The thoracic part is lower than the cephalic, the highest point being the centre (Figure 2E, F). Opisthosoma oval, almost as wide as long, with no clear constriction (Figure 2E, F). Dorsally sclerotized, ventrally softer. Chelicerae are characteristically long and stout, distal half is wider than the proximal half (Figure 2E, F). The distal half is hammer-shaped. The inner and outer sides of the proximal half are parallel, whereas the distal half has convex outer sides and parallel inner sides. Chelicerae dentition not examined. Leg formula 4132. Leg spination not examined. Palps as in Figure 3E, F. Female: remains unknown, but see Dyal (1935) for a description of a female attributed to this species. Natural history Borges et al. (2007) associated the ant Myrmicaria brunnea with this species (spiders identified as Myrmarachne morphospecies 3). Distribution India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.Published as part of Benjamin, Suresh P., 2015, Model mimics: antlike jumping spiders of the genus Myrmarachne from Sri Lanka, pp. 2609-2666 in Journal of Natural History 49 (43) on page 2651, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2015.1034209, http://zenodo.org/record/400086
To what extent are Bangladesh's recent gains in poverty reduction different from the past?
No full textThe poor in Bangladesh are more likely to belong to households with a larger number of dependents and lower education among household members, be engaged in daily wage labor, own little land, and be less likely to receive remittances. This poverty profile for 2005 is similar to the profile in the mid-1980s and hence at first glance it would appear that little has changed over time. A closer look at national household survey data suggests a more nuanced story. This paper uses the latest two rounds of the Bangladesh Household Income and Expenditure Survey to decompose the micro-determinants of poverty reduction between 2000 and 2005, closely following a similar analysis using five earlier rounds of the Survey. The comparison of results shows that the spatial distribution of poverty seen in earlier decades has changed with time and the drivers of poverty reduction are different in several respects.Rural Poverty Reduction,Regional Economic Development,Access to Finance,Small Area Estimation Poverty Mapping
From Maigania to Malgudi : Review of Mohan G. Ramanan, RK Narayan - an introduction
No full textA review of Mohan G. Ramanan's book, RK Narayan - An IntroductionObra ressenyada: Mohan G. RAMANAN, (2013). RK Narayan - An Introduction. New Delhi: Foundation Books, 2013
Japan's fertility transition: Empirical evidence from the bounds testing approach to cointegration
No full textCopyright © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Paresh Kumar Narayan and Xiujian Penghttp://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/505557/description#descriptio
MicroRNA-155 expression and function in AML: An evolving paradigm
No full textLink to a related website: http://www.exphem.org/article/S0301472X18301656/pdf, Open Access via UnpaywallAbstract not availableNisha Narayan, Cameron P. Bracken, and Paul G. Eker
Dose-response relationship between serum 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin and diabetes mellitus: A meta-analysis
No full textWe systematically evaluated studies published through May 2014 in which investigators assessed the dose-response relationship between serum levels of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and the occurrence of diabetes mellitus (DM), and we investigated the extent and sources of interstudy heterogeneity. The dose-response relationship between serum TCDD and DM across studies was examined using 2 dependent variables: an exposure level-specific proportion of persons with DM and a corresponding natural log-transformed ratio measure of the association between TCDD and DM. Regression slopes for each dependent variable were obtained for each study and included in a random-effects meta-analysis. Sensitivity analyses were used to assess the influence of inclusion and exclusion decisions, and sources of heterogeneity were explored using meta-regression models and a series of subanalyses. None of the summary estimates in the main models or in the sensitivity analyses indicated a statistically significant association. We found a pronounced dichotomy: a positive dose-response in cross-sectional studies of populations with low-level TCDD exposures (serum concentrations <10 pg/g lipid) and heterogeneous, but on balance null, results for prospective studies of persons with high prediagnosis TCDD body burdens. Considering the discrepancy of results for low current versus high past TCDD levels, the available data do not indicate that increasing TCDD exposure is associated with an increased risk of DM. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
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