Web Based Query Optimization Simulator

The Web Based Query Optimization Simulator (WBQOS) is a software tool designed to enhance understanding of query optimization with a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS). WBQOS allows the user to visualize and participate in query optimization, which enhances the learning process

A comparison of recent and fossil large, high-spired gastropods and their environments: the Nopparat Thara tidal flat in Krabi, South Thailand, versus the Swiss Kimmeridgian carbonate platform

High-spired nerineoid gastropods are abundant in the tropical Kimmeridgian carbonate deposits of the Swiss Jura Mountains. Understanding the mode of life of this extinct group of gastropods is crucial for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. The knowledge on their ecology is, however, limited by the near absence of comparable large high-spired gastropods in Recent carbonate systems. Large high-spired turritellid gastropods are, however, abundant in siliciclastic-dominated environments in the tropical Indian Ocean. In order to compare the Recent and fossil environments of these two morphologically similar groups, a Recent tidal flat, where abundant turritellids occur, was studied in the National Park of Nopparat Thara in the district of Krabi, South Thailand. Ninety specimens of Turritella duplicata were measured and mapped, revealing zonations in population distribution, both parallel and perpendicular to the beach line. Attention was also paid to other faunal elements and sedimentary features. The thus-gained information on the depositional environment was then compared to a section of shallow-water carbonate deposits from the Kimmeridgian of the Swiss Jura Mountains. These are characterised by the occurrence of tidal laminites, dinosaur tracks, beach deposits and nerineoid gastropods. Especially for one succession, the faunal composition and sedimentary structures in the fossil record show intriguing similarities to those found today on the Nopparat Thara tidal flat, indicating that it formed in a comparable setting. It is therefore suggested that for some Kimmeridgian carbonate deposits, the Nopparat Thara tidal flat, although dominantly siliciclastic, represents an environmental analogu

Installment 2 of "Creating a Sustainable Food Future": Reducing Food Loss and Waste

Approximately one out of every four calories grown to feed people is not ultimately consumed by humans. Food is lost and wasted to a varying extent across the globe, across all stages of the food value chain, and across all types of food. As a result, overall global food availability is lower than it would be otherwise, negatively affecting food security and requiring the planet's agriculture system to produce additional food to compensate for the food that is not ultimately consumed by people. The potential benefits of reducing food loss and waste are large. As a strategy for closing the food gap between food available today and food needed in 2050 to adequately feed the planet's projected 9.3 billion people, reducing food loss and waste satisfies each of the development and environmental criteria we introduced in the first installment of the Creating a Sustainable Food Future series. While increasing food availability, reducing food loss and waste can alleviate poverty and provide gender benefits while reducing pressure on ecosystems, climate, and water. Reducing food loss and waste may be one of those rare multiple "win-win" strategies.How can the world go about reducing food loss and waste on a large scale? This installment of the forthcoming "World Resources Report Creating a Sustainable Food Future" addresses that question. This working paper, which will feed into that report, begins by clarifying definitions of food loss and waste, then quantifies the scale of the problem and explores the impact addressing the problem could have on the food gap. The paper then focuses on practical solutions for reducing food loss and waste and presents case studies of successful initiatives. It concludes by offering recommendations for how to scale up reductions in food loss and waste

Installment 1 of Creating a Sustainable Food Future: The Great Balancing Act

During 2013 and 2014, WRI is releasing on a rolling basis a series of "Creating a Sustainable Food Future" working paper installments. Each installment will analyze a menu item from our proposed "menu for a sustainable food future" and recommend policies and other measures for implementation. The series will not, however, cover all menu items. Questions each installment will consider include:What is the menu item?How big an impact could it make in food availability, economic development, and environmental benefits?Where might the menu item be most applicable?What are the three to five most promising, practical, and scalable approaches for achieving this menu item?What are the obstacles -- economic, political, technical, or other -- to implementing these approaches?How can these obstacles be overcome?What "bright spots" of success exist, and what can be learned from them?Each installment will be coauthored by its own cohort of WRI researchers, WRR partners, and renowned experts. Authors will engage representatives from target audiences during the research and writing phases. After the series has concluded, WRI will consolidate the installments into a final World Resources Report. To avoid overlap with upcoming installments, this first working paper does not cover many of the issues that may be important for the food-development-environment nexus. For instance, it does not cover international investments in agricultural land ("land grabs"); the merits of small-scale versus large-scale agricultural systems; the influence of land tenure, property rights, and generational succession laws and norms on agricultural productivity; and policies for providing access to clean energy services for agriculture. Future installments will address some of these issues. Many of the analyses in this series are global in nature and use global datasets. We recognize that they may not fully account for the ethical, cultural, and socioeconomic factors of specific locations. Moreover, the menu for a sustainable food future is designed for the long term; it is not a menu for tackling acute, near-term food shortage crises

Testing Alternative Models and Predictive Utility of the Death Anxiety Inventory-Revised: A COVID-19 Related Longitudinal Population Based Study

The beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic had a profound effect on all aspects of daily life and triggered a swell of anxiety across the world. Some suggest this emotional response to the pandemic can be explained through death anxiety (DA), a transdiagnostic dimension associated with numerous psychological disorders. However, it remains unclear as to whether DA is a unidimensional or multidimensional construct. The primary aim of this study was to examine the underlying structure of the Death Anxiety Inventory-Revised (DAI-R; Tomás-Sábado et al., 2005) and assess its associations with mental health and demographic variables during the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve these aims, we utilized data from Waves 1 (N = 2205: collected between March 23 and March 28, 2020) and 2 (N = 1406: collected between April 22 and May 1, 2020) of the COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC), a multi-wave nationally representative study. Results showed that a 4-factor model provided the best fit to the data compared to a unidimensional and 4-factor second-order model. Further analyses showed that DA at Wave 1 was positively associated with somatic symptoms, paranoia, depression, anxiety, and traumatic stress symptoms at Wave 2, supporting previous research that suggests that the fear of death is predictive of psychopathology. Significantly, the factor labelled ‘Thoughts about Death’ at Wave 1 was the strongest predictor of the five main psychological variables at Wave 2, after statistically controlling for the other latent variables. These findings highlight the transdiagnostic nature of DA and support this important diagnostic construct becoming a measure of mental health more generally within the population. It is hoped that this research will shine a light on those suffering from DA and become a catalyst for increased therapeutic intervention, funding, and research in this area

Practitioner perspectives on the application of palaeoecology in nature conservation

It is widely recognised that palaeoecology holds great potential to inform and support nature conservation, but that there are difficulties in knowledge exchange between academia and practitioners that inhibit the operationalisation of research. To facilitate the integration of palaeoecology into the conservation toolkit, it is essential to understand perspectives of the practitioners themselves and the contexts in which they work. This paper reports the results of a survey of 153 UK-based conservation practitioners, concerning their perceptions of palaeoecology, the barriers to its use and potential solutions for making palaeoecological insights more accessible in conservation practice. The survey was conducted online over a period of 3 months; closed question responses were analysed for statistical trends and thematic analysis was done on open question responses. The majority of respondents were strongly positive about the role palaeoecological research could play, though they also exhibited a limited understanding of how and why one might implement it. They identified time constraints as the biggest barrier to using palaeoecology within their work, and also flagged concerns around financial resources and the accessibility of the research. Access to applied case studies and a centralised database were the most favoured solutions among respondents. Respondents with prior experience of working with palaeoecology were generally more optimistic about its incorporation. This paper makes several key recommendations to progress the integration of palaeoecology into conservation, including improving data accessibility, aligning research design with conservation and policy drivers, and increasing both respective groups’ understanding of the other