Learning about the Meanings of Ambiguous Words: Evidence from a Word-Meaning Priming Paradigm with Short Narratives

Fluent language comprehension requires readers and listeners to rapidly select an appropriate meaning for each word that they encounter. This meaning selection process is particularly challenging when low-frequency (subordinate) word meanings are used (e.g. the “river bank” meaning of “bank”). Recent word-meaning priming experiments show that recent experience can help to make subordinate word meanings more readily available, and thereby reduce the difficulty in accessing these meanings. One limitation of previous word-meaning priming experiments is that participants encounter the ambiguous words within a list of unconnected single sentences in which each ambiguous word is strongly disambiguated by words within the prime sentence. The current web-based study (N=51) extends this work to replicate word-meaning priming using short 3-sentence narratives as primes in which relatively weak contextual cues in sentence 1 serve to disambiguate a target ambiguous word that occurs in sentence 3. The results from the subsequent word-association test task confirmed that following a short delay (digit span) task the primed (subordinate) meanings were more readily available compared with an unprimed control. This work represents an important first step in moving the word-meaning priming paradigm towards materials that more reflect the varied ways in which ambiguous words are used within natural language.

Analysis of the Jelawat Park roles based on space use for community education towards river functions sustainability

Jelawat Park of Sampit City is a city park located in the city center and in a river bank area. Utilizing the river as one of the main views of the area, Mentaya River and the icon of Jelawat fish statue are the vocal points of Jelawat Park that attract visitors to pay a visit. The river which is the viewpoint of the area has attracted many visitors to Jelawat Park, but a question may rise: whether Jelawat Park gives an effect on Mentaya River. This study aims to analyze the roles of Jelawat Park based on space use for community education towards the sustainability of Mentaya river functions. The Jelawat Park space use consists of 4 spaces, namely the core-park, river view, playground and supporting spaces. A quantitative methodology was used and assisted by frequency distribution analysis to give meaning cluster results in each space. The result of this study is that the river view space provides the highest cognitive and affective aspects to the community regarding the river functions. The conclusion is that the closer a space is to the river, the higher cognitive and affective effects on the river will be, but the proximity of a space to the river will decrease the cognitive and affective effects if the activity in that space is unrelated to the river.

Evaluation of the river bank filtration technology in water purification in Iraq

Water purification of pollutants is a major challenge to the sustainable development of health in arid and arid regions of the world. Organization of water purification by the river bank filtration is a natural technique. Therefore, this survey was conducted to evaluate the shoulder of the Kufa River in purifying water from pollutants in an inexpensive and natural way. Six water samples were taken from six different locations of the river course, and six corresponding water samples were taken from the well locations near the river. The chemical analyzes of the samples were conducted during the month of December of the year 2020. The statistical analysis was carried out using the SAS program. The results showed that there were significant differences, as they showed the superiority of the concentration of phosphorous, cadmium, lead, copper, iron, manganese, chromium, molybdenum, and the total number of bacteria in river water compared to their concentration in well water. While it was observed that the concentration of total dissolved salts, sulfate, nickel and chlorine was superior in well water compared to river water. From this, it is clear that the effectiveness of the river shoulder technology in purifying the water of the Kufa River is low because the process of pumping water from wells is not continuous. It is assumed that to achieve the effectiveness of this technology, we need continuous months of pumping until the work of the river shoulder technology is achieved.

Lithofacies Analysis of the Tista River Deposits, Rangpur, Bangladesh

Eight (8) distinct lithofacies within the fluviatile reach of the Tista River have been recognized by the detailed study of the sediments as exposed along the river bank and river bars. Genetically, the matrix-supported conglomerate (Gms), massive sand (Sm), Trough cross stratified sand (St), planar cross stratified sand (Sp), ripple laminated sand (Sr) comprise the channel deposits whereas, the ripple laminated sand (Sr), parallel laminated sand (Sh), clay with silt (Fl) and massive Clay (Fm) represent overbank fine deposits. The channel deposits were laid down under relatively high energy conditions compared to the sediments of overbank fines. The stratigraphic succession is indicative of fining upward sequence. The dominance of coarser-grained sediments at the base of the lithostratigraphic unit, especially the matrix supported conglomerate (Gms) suggests that the deposition took place in the proximal part of the Tista Fan, which might be of glacial origin. Massive clay (Fm) is the final stage of vertical aggradations in the overbanks, possibly in the floodplains, flood basins, and back swamps when the velocity of the transporting medium was virtually lean that promotes the deposition of clay materials from suspension. The growth of cracks in the sedimentary succession is resulting from the compaction of the sediments and/or instant change in the paleoslope direction. The unimodal distribution of paleocurrent data with high mode value indicates mainly unidirectional sediment transport. The study of the lithofacies manifests that the deposits are produced by the braided river and debris flows. The modification of the depositional pattern from debris flow to overbank fines discloses the change of climatic condition in the Quaternary period.

List of Species and Conservation Status of Avifauna and Small mammal around Bade Segment Area of River Yobe, Yobe State, Nigeria

The study was carried out to assess a Checklist of avifauna and small mammal species along Bade catchment area of Yobe State, Nigeria. Preliminary survey was conducted around the river, three (3) habitat types were identified; (river bank, farm lands and flood plain). The line transect was 8 km in length. Two (2) transects were established per habitat type, making a total of six (6) transects. The transects were 100 m apart to the left or right in order to avoid double counting of species. A distance of 200m was maintained between each habitat. The data obtained were analyses using descriptive statistics (Frequency tables and Charts were used to portrayed the findings. The result of the study; showed that a total of 50 bird species in 28 families were recorded. RB had the highest individuals of Fifty (50) species while FP has the lowest with ten (10) species. The Bird family Columbidae has the highest number with six (6) of species, while the lowest were Ardeidae, Sturnidae and Tytonidae with one species in each of the habitat types. However, checklist of small mammal species also indicated that a total of 6 species of small mammals belonging to 4 families were identified. The result of the study shows that the family Muridae has 3 species which was the highest number of per family identified in the study area, this is due to the fact that Muridae family are the most common small mammals in the study area. And both bird small species fell under least concern (LC) category except Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus which felled under near threatened (NT) species. However, awareness campaign should also be organize for the residents around the study area on the presence, distribution of bird and small mammal species and also disturbing effect of their activities on bird and small mammal around the segment area of river Yobe.

An Analysis of the Morphological Changes of Surma River in Sylhet District Using Multitemporal Remote Sensing Images

The Surma River is one of the most important rivers in the northeastern part of Bangladesh, which has changed significantly throughout history. Very few studies have taken place to understand this river's complex behavior, which characterizes its morphology. The core objective of this research is to analyze the river dynamics to understand the morphological changes of the river from 1978 to 2021. Remotely sensed satellite images of 1978, 1989, 1999, 2011, and 2021 were secondary data. The whole working procedure is the correction of satellite images, application of normalized difference water index (NDWI), demarcation of the river bank line using bank line methods, quantification of the erosion-deposition using an overlapping method, demarcation of central line shifting, measurement of the river width and finally the sinuosity index metering for 43 years. The river has changed significantly in several locations within the period in Sylhet District. Ten bends, three segments, and 200 points were taken to quantify the change dynamics. The overall analysis found that the left bank shifted more than the right bank. According to the findings, the deposition rate (80.98m/year) of river Surma is almost double the erosion rate (42.11m/year), which causes a significant decline in river width from 163m in 1978 to 123m in 2011. After counting 200 sample points, the result concluded that the average central line shifted more than average (79.50m) at 38 points indicates three major locations- Kanaighat, Dakshin Banigram, and Lalargaon. Finally, the sinuosity index found that the river became more meander following its shifting movement except the ninth bend near Kandigaon. The riverine people indicated several anthropogenic factors, e.g., encroachment, illegal construction, pollution, illegal sand extraction, as the key issues which should be intervened and take necessary action.

Estimation and Prediction of Riverbank Erosion Susceptibility and Shifting Rate Using DSAS, BEHI, and REBVI Models: Evidence from the Lower Ganga River in India

The process of riverbank erosion (RE) is often accelerated by natural events and anthropogenic activities leading to the transformation of this natural process to natural hazard. The present study aims to estimate bank erosion rate and prediction of the lower Ganga River in India using digital shoreline analysis system (DSAS) model. The prediction of RE susceptibility mapping has been generated using three ensemble models such as DSAS, bank erosion hazard index (BEHI), and river embankment breaching vulnerability index (REBVI). For the study satellite images and field data (bank materials, geotechnical parameters, embankment structure, hydraulic pressure etc.) have been used to recognize the river bank position and BEHI and REBVI scores. During 1973-2020, the average bank erosion and accretion rate was found 0.059 km/y and 0.022 km/y at the left bank while 0.026 km/y and 0.046 at the right bank respectively. The prediction results illustrated that the very high vulnerable condition of 06 villages and 21 villages for high vulnerable due to left bank erosion. BEHI and REBVI scores have been the significant performance of understanding and identification of RE vulnerable areas. The long-term (2020-2045) average erosion and deposition rate was predicted at 0.135 km/y and 0.024 km/y at the left bank and 0.043 km/y and 0.045 km/y at the right bank respectively. The prediction accuracy and validation of models were measures by statistical techniques such as student’s t-test, RMSE, and R2 values. This study would be help planners and decision makers the spatial guidelines to understanding future trends of bank erosion and shifting rate for land-use planning and management strategies to protect riverbank.

Assessment of bank erosion and its impact on land use and land cover dynamics of Mahananda River basin (Upper) in the Sub-Himalayan North Bengal, India

Bank erosion is the predominant character of River Mahananda in the Sub-Himalayan North Bengal. The present study aims to identify the bank erosion mechanism as well as the impact of river bank erosion on land use and land cover (LULC) dynamics of the study area. Survey of India (SOI) topographical map 78 B/5 (1975) and satellite imageries for the temporal year of 1991 and 2019 from USGS have been used for the study. For the assessment of bank erosion process Bank erosion hazard index (BEHI) model has been adopted here. The channel migration has been delineated by the superimposition of temporal bank lines extracted from the temporal satellite imageries. LULC analysis has been carried out through the supervised classification technique using remote sensing and GIS tools. Form the assessment of BEHI it can be visualized that the scores have been ranging from 30.75 to 44.30 which indicates high to very high vulnerable areas under fluvial erosion. The channel migration for the temporal period from 1991 to 2019 is ranging from 7.72 to 411.16 m along the studied reach which reflects the high erosion effectiveness. From LULC classes it has been assessed that settled or built-up areas have been increased and the water body is gradually decreased overall in the study area. The study resulted that the river bank erosion has its direct impact on land use of the studied area. In the study vulnerable sites to fluvial erosion have been delineated and unplanned land use can be managed through sustainable way.