Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fertilizer Placement Affects Weed Growth and Grain Yield in Dry-Seeded Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Systems

A study was conducted in a split-plot design to evaluate the effect of fertilizer placement method on weed growth and grain yield in a dry-seeded rice (DSR) system. Main-plot treatments were four fertilizer placement methods: between narrow rows (between 15-cm-wide rows of the pattern 25-15-25 cm), between uniform rows (between 20-cm-wide rows), within uniform rows, and surface broadcast. Subplot treatments were three weed control methods: herbicide-treated, nontreated, and weed-free. Weed biomass was greater in the nontreated plots than in the herbicide-treated plots. Herbicide application reduced weed biomass by 89% to 99% compared with the nontreated control. Fertilizer placement did not influence weed biomass in the herbicide-treated plots; however, it greatly influenced biomass in the nontreated plots. Fertilizer placement on the surface increased weed biomass (69 -71 g·m–2) compared with the placement of fertilizer below the soil surface (37 -57 g·m–2). Fertilizer placement did not influence weed density and biomass at 60 days after planting. Nontreated plots yielded 700 to 2080 kg·ha–1. Grain yield was similar between the herbicide-treated (2660-3250 kg·ha–1) and weed-free (2620-3430 kg·ha–1) plots. Grain yield was not influenced when basal fertilizer was banded within (2390-2500 kg·ha–1) or between rows (2530-2650 kg·ha–1). However, grain yield decreased when basal fertilizer was broadcast on the soil surface (2200 kg·ha–1). The results of our study demonstrated that rice yield was usually lower with surface broadcast of fertilizer than with subsurface fertilizer treatments. In conclusion, surface broadcast of basal fertilizer may result in high weed pressure in DSR systems.
Exploratory Study on Taiwanese Secondary Teachers’ Critiques of Mathematics Textbooks

This study explores Taiwanese mathematics teachers’ critiques of a series of geometry textbooks for grades 8 and 9. Two hundred seventy-four critiques from 143 mathematics teachers were analyzed by referring to six attributes of abstraction. Through analysis and interpretation of these critiques, the meaning of each attribute was refined, and their features were revealed. Possible beliefs-in-critiquing related to the features were discussed. This study contributes to the literature by advancing understanding of mathematics teachers’ critiques of textbooks. We conclude with a discussion of the methodological and educational implications of teachers’ critiques as well as how critiques of teaching materials can influence teacher education.
Single Puncture CT Guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and Tru-cut biopsy in Indeterminate Lung Lesions

1,4 Senior Resident, Department of Radiodiagnosis, 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Radiodiagnosis 3 Professor, Department of Radiodiagnosis 5 Professor, Department of Pathology 6 Professor, Department of Pulmonary Medicine Abstract Purpose 1. To establish cytological and histopathological diagnosis of indeterminate focal and diffuse lung lesions 2. Comparison of coaxial lung FNAC and trucut biopsy 3. Combined complications of coaxial lung FNAC and trucut biopsy 4. Establishment of guidelines to use FNAC or Tru-cut biopsy or both in different indeterminate lung lesions Materials and Methods: Single puncture co-axial FNAC and biopsy was done in 76 patients referred to the department of radiodiagnosis, Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla who had indeterminate lung lesions on contrast enhanced CT. Role of co-axial biopsy needle in diagnosing indeterminate lesion was explored and comparison of both the techniques along with their complications was done using appropriate statistical tests. Results: Overall sensitivity of biopsy (81.08%) was higher than FNAC (74.29%) but its specificity was low (50% versus 83.3%). Sensitivity of biopsy for benign lesion was higher than FNAC (83.3% versus 76.6%) but was comparable for malignant lesions (76.92% versus 76.6%). Hence FNAC and biopsy are complementary to each other than done alone (sensitivity 94.59%, specificity 97.22%). Conclusion: Both the CT guided coaxial FNAC and trucut biopsy are complementary and should be done in a single sitting for a better diagnostic yield . Use of coaxial needle is more convenient for the patients rather than single biopsy needle.
Greenfield or Acquisition Entry? An Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on the Competitiveness of Polish Investors

Objective : The purpose of this article is to determine the impact of Polish FDI companies on their competitiveness, depending on their establishment mode choice in the host country (greenfield investment vs. acquisition). Research Design & Methods : The study used a direct interview method. The results were analysed using impact indicators (w) calculated as the arithmetic mean of numerical values assigned to each response as well as Fisher’s exact test. Statistical calculations were performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics software version 21.0. 0.1. Findings: The impact of FDI on investor competitiveness in relation to the main competitors operating on the home market and on foreign markets depends on FDI entry mode (greenfield investment vs. acquisition), among other things. Implications & Recommendations: The results of this study may be the starting point for further research on the impact of FDI on competitiveness, particularly through foreign acquisitions. It should be assumed that as Polish companies gain experience on the international stage, this mode of entry will be chosen by investors more frequently. Contribution & Value Added: The uniqueness of the following study is in the presentation of the results of original empirical research, which demonstrate the relationship between the foreign establishment mode choice (greenfield investment vs. acquisition) and the competitiveness of investing companies. Ex post evaluations were taken into account while forming the conclusions.
Privatization and Restructuring in Central and Eastern Europe: Evidence and Policy Options

One of the most important policy questions in the transition economies is what governments can do to speed the restructuring of firms and thus hasten the transition to a mature market economy. The authors report on a study that provides some answers. Privatization encourages restructuring if it is rapid and comprehensive and leads to concentrated ownership. Privatization also promotes restructuring because privatized firms are more likely than state-owned enterprises to exercise wage restraint--and wage restraint is vital to free up the necessary internal finance. But policies that increase bank lending to firms, such as debt forgiveness and recapitalization, may do more harm than good. The safest course is to recapitalize banks only as part of privatization and to encourage negotiations for financial restructuring only after the banks are privatized.
How well does sticky information explain inflation and output inertia

This paper compares two approaches that aim to explain the lagged and persistent behaviorof inflation and output after a variation in the interest rate. Two variants that produce inertiaare added to a baseline DSGE model of sticky prices: 1) a lagged inflation indexation rulealong with habit formation; and 2) sticky information applied to firms, workers, and households. The rival models are then confronted to a monetary SVAR using U.S. data in order to estimate the rates of inflation indexation, habit formation, price rigidities, information stickiness, and the monetary policy rule parameters. It is shown that the sticky information model has a modest advantage at fitting inflation than the lagged inflation index. model with habits. For output, the opposite is true. These differences are consistent throughout the robustness analysis, but they are not big enough to imply a significant statistical difference in terms of the goodness of fit of each model. In addition, the results suggest that sticky information may replace entirely sticky prices as a explanation of price setting behavior, but the latter might not apply to wages. Finally, the analysis find that information stickiness should be pervasive (i.e., applied to households, firms, and workers) in order to replicate the responses of aggregate variables to a shock in monetary policy.
On the Fisher Effect and Inflation Dynamics in Low-Income Countries: An Assessment of Sub-Saharan Africa Economies

Controlling for structural breaks, this study examines whether the relationship between the interest rate and inflation exhibits common stochastic trends in a sample of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) economies. The results indicate that while the Fisher effect does not hold for the entire sample period, 1980:I-2005:II nor in pre-economic reforms period, this relationship holds for the post-economic reforms (deregulated financial markets and exchange rate float regime) period, 1995:I-2005:II. Further, from the vector error-correction model (VECM), we find a less than proportionate response of short-term adjustment of the nominal interest rate to expected inflation. This implies that, compared to the long-term, in the short-term the nominal interest rate are poor predictors of inflation and the monetary policy in these countries is unlikely to impact on ex ante real interest rates in the long-term.
Enhancement of Growth and Yield Productivity of Sesame Plants by Application of Some Biological Treatments

3 Abstract: Two field experiments were conducted during the successive summer seasons of 2011 and 2012, at the Agricultural Experiment and Research Station, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt. The study included 16 (2 cultivars * 8 fertilizer treatments) including two sesame cultivars, viz: Toushki-1 and Shandaweel-3 besides eight different mineral and biological fertilizers (100% NPK, biological fertilizers, 50% mineral NPK, 100% NPK+ biological fertilizers, 100%NPK+ biofertilizer + bio agent, 50% NPK + biofertilizer, 50% NPK + biofertilizer+ bio agent and control (without fertilizer)). The biofertilizer and bio agent were adopted as soil inoculants. Their effects on growth and yield of sesame plant were studied. Data obtained exhibited significant differences among the applied treatments for most of the studied characters. The cultivar Shandaweel-3 surpassed Toushka-1 in total bacterial counts, plant height, seed weight per plant, 1000-seed weight and seed yield per feddan as well as oil and protein percentages. Application of both plant growth promoting and bio agent bacteria with different rates of NPK fertilizers scored significant effects on total bacterial counts compared to initial counts and recorded percentage increases ranged from 20 to 175%, 125 to 525%, 150 to 317 and 94 to 483% for Bacillus megaterium (BM), Bacillus cerculans (BC), Bacillus polymexa (BP) and Pseudomonas florosences (PF), respectively. Treatment 100% recommended chemical fertilizer + biofertilizer came in the first order for sesame attributes (plant height, seed weight per plant and 1000-seed weight). While treatment 100%NPK +biological +bio agents came in the second order with seed yield per feddan and oil and protein percentages. The lowest treatment was by using control in comparison with the other experimental treatments for all characters studied. The effect of the interaction between the two commercial cultivars and fertilization treatments on seed yield per plant, seed yield per feddan, oil and/or protein percentages was significant in the two seasons except oil percentage had no significant in the second season. The results showed the importance of applying biofertilizers and bio agent chemical fertilizers to protect the environment from harmful chemical pollution.
The invisible moats of the Mun River Valley, NE Thailand: The examination of water management devices at mounded sites through ground penetrating radar (GPR)

The Mun River valley is well known for its moat-bound mounded archaeological sites that are usually associated with Iron Age occupation (~500BC- AD500). The investigation of these sites has provided a wealth of information on the changing social and environmental conditions during late prehistory. In recent years, research has identified a greater diversity of site morphologies in the region, many of which, importantly, do not appear to have moats surrounding them. This paper seeks to investigate whether the apparently ‘non-moated’ mound site of Non Klang (Nong Hua Raet village) was actually moated in the past, and if such, now in-filled, features can be investigated using non-destructive Ground-penetrating radar. Additionally, while large external moats can be observed in the modern day topography at sites such as Ban Non Wat, excavation has demonstrated that further, invisible, water management features exist beneath the surface within the current mound boundary of the site. These are probably Iron Age precursors to the later more extensive and still visible moats. This paper seeks to answer several fundamental questions: What application can GPR have at mounded sites in Southeast Asia? Do invisible moats exist? How will this affect our understanding of the broader prehistoric landscape in the Upper Mun River Valley?
Do Conditional Cash Transfers for Schooling Generate Lasting Benefits?: A Five-Year Followup of PROGRESA/Oportunidades

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs link public transfers to human capital investment in hopes of alleviating current poverty and reducing its intergenerational transmission. However, little is known about their long-term impacts. This paper evaluates longer-run impacts on schooling and work of the best-known CCT program, Mexico's PROGRESA/Oportunidades, using experimental and nonexperimental estimators based on groups with different program exposure. The results show positive impacts on schooling, reductions in work for younger youth (consistent with postponing labor force entry), increases in work for older girls, and shifts from agricultural to nonagricultural employment. The evidence suggests schooling effects are robust with time.
Holes and Entrainment in Stratocumulus

Aircraft flights through stratocumulus clouds (Sc) during the Dynamics and Chemistry of Marine Stratocumulus II (DYCOMS-II) study off the California coast found narrow in-cloud regions with less liquid water content (LWC) and cooler temperatures than average background values. The regions are named cloud holes and are assumed to be a result of water evaporated by the entrainment of dryer air from above the Sc. While such features have been noted previously, this study provided a unique opportunity to investigate in much greater detail the nature of the holes, as well as their relationship to the entrainment rate, because high-speed temperature and LWC probes with maximum spatial resolution of 10 cm were flown together for the first time. Nine long-duration flights were made through mostly unbroken Sc for which conditional sampling was used to identify the location and size of the holes. The holes are concentrated near cloud top, their average width near cloud top is about 5 m, their relative length distribution is nearly constant for all flights, and they can penetrate hundreds of meters deep into the Sc before being lost by mixing. Entrainment velocities at cloud top are estimated from measurements of fluxes of reduced LWC and vapor mixing ratios in holes, the fraction of cloud area covered by holes, and the total water jump between cloud top and the free atmosphere. Rates as large as 10 mm s 1 are found for nocturnal flights, and these rates are about 3 times larger than for daytime flight segments. The rates correlate best with the size of the buoyancy jump above the Sc; the present conditional-sampling approach for measuring the rates gives larger rates than the “flux jump” rates determined by others for the same flights by a factor of about 2. The stability criterion for all Sc predicts thinning and breakup of the Sc, which does not occur. The minimal amount of cloud-top evaporative cooling caused by entrainment contributes little to the top-down convection dominated by radiative cooling during nocturnal flights; however, evaporative cooling caused by the mixing of holes as they subduct with the large-scale eddy circulation in the Sc may contribute, but with an as-of-yet unknown amount.
Industry Conditions, Growth Opportunities, and Market Reactions to Convertible Debt Financing Decisions

This paper examines the relationship between convertible debt issue announcements, announcement period share price reactions, and the profitability of the issuing firm's growth opportunities. We find that investor reactions are positively related to the profitability of the issuing firm's investment opportunities. However, the relationship does not appear to be particularly robust across several model specifications. We then investigate the explanatory power of the issuer's relative performance within its own industry, and find that industry- adjusted growth opportunities appear to better explain investor reactions to convertible debt issues. Share price reactions are less negative (more positive) the higher the issuer's investment opportunities relative to that of the median industry performer. Thus, investors seem to react to convertible debt offerings more on the basis of relative performance with the issuer's industry, rather than absolute measures of issuer or industry performance.
Numerical modelling of two-scale flow dynamics

Two-scale actuator disc theory is shown to predict qualitatively the performance of a lateral array of tidal turbines in a depth-averaged channel model. The agreement between the numerical and analytical models is improved by extrapolating the numerical results to zero background roughness. Increasing background roughness is shown to reduce the optimal turbine spacing and increase the peak power coefficient of the array.
Preliminary Geologic Interpretation of SAR Data, Yellowknife-Hearne Lake Area, N.W.T.

Airborne, narrow swath, C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery, obtained from the Yellowknife-Hearne Lake area, essentially reflects the geomorphology or landforms of the region. These in turn can be readily related to specific lithologies, rock masses, structure and cultural features. Terrain analysis using textural and tonal (brightness) characteristics of the radar images along with drainage and lakeshore characteristics permitted definition of several lithologic classes: Granite terrain type-1, generally the brightest (lightest) area, has a "coarse" mottled signature, reflecting the hummocky surface characteristic of granites in this area. Metasedimentary terrain is typified by an intermediate tone, a thinly laminated texture reflecting bedding and angular shorelines of some lakes. Metavolcanic terrain is subordinate in area and lacks well-defined textural or tonal characteristics. It is most easily recognized as parallel ridges with little or no curvature. The city of Yellowknife is readily identifiable by its bright signature and rectangular pattern or texture. Lineaments, recognized by the alignment of rivers and shorelines, are greatly enhanced by bright radar reflections from northerly facing cliffs and radar shadow (zero signal return) of southerly facing cliffs. Several major structural lineaments in the area, known from aeromagnetic and geological maps (diabase dykes, faulted contacts, etc.) are readily apparent in the SAR imagery, as are numerous extensions and subsidiary lineaments. Circumstantial evidence suggests that post-Precambrian and neotectonic activity may be related to lineaments. Key words: synthetic aperture radar (SAR), Yellowknife-Hearne Lake area, terrain analysis, lineaments, neotectonics
Freeze-lining Formation and Microstructure in a Direct-to-blister Flash Smelting Slag

Abstract Copper smelting in one processing step directly from concentrates to blister copper has been realized on an industrial scale in a few smelters, using concentrates with a high Cu/Fe-ratio. The fluxing of any direct-to-blister slag is demanding task as it must be fluid and maintain suitable properties in the oxidising conditions of copper making, and the reducing conditions of slag cleaning. The smelting slags in the direct-to-blister furnaces contain much more chemically dissolved copper than typical matte making slags. In this investigation, an industrial direct-to-blister slag was used in a freeze lining growth kinetics study. The freeze lining was formed on a water cooled metal finger at typical smelting temperatures using different dipping times from 5 to 120 min. The growth kinetics of the lining was very fast in the initial stage of the slag contact with the cooled metal surface. The quenched samples showed characteristic solidification zones from the cold end towards the hot side of the freeze lining and the molten slag shown already in other freeze linings and different slag types. The slag chemistry modifies the solidification pattern very much and thus the crystalline phases in the lining included also phases created by the high copper oxide concentration as well as the specific gangue assay of the smelters feed mixture. The thermal stability of the freeze lining in high-in-copper DB slags is discussed as well as the mechanism of delafossite precipitation.
Use of essential oils of aromatic plants for the management of pigeon pea infestation by pulse bruchids during storage.

This study investigated the insecticidal and deterrent behaviour of volatile constituents derived from fresh parts of four aromatic plants such as Chenopodium ambrosioides Linn. (Chenopodiaceae), Clausena pentaphylla (Roxb.) DC (Rutaceae), Mentha arvensis Linn. (Lamiaceae) and Ocimum sanctum Linn. (Lamiaceae) against pulse bruchids Callosobruchus chinensis L. and C. maculatus F. All the tested oils showed significant lethality and ovipositional deterrency of test insects as compared to control set. Chenopodium oil was more toxic to both adults with LC50 value ranges from 9.3-9.9µl followed by Clausena (9.9-10µl), Mentha (10-10.2µl) and Ocimum (11-12.8µl) oils. Egg laying and adult emergence of both beetles were drastically reduced by Chenopodium and Clausena oils when applied at 5µl dose than other oils. During in vivo study fumigant application of Chenopodium and Clausena oils’ formulations at 20 and 40µl concentration significantly enhanced feeding deterrence in insects and reduced seed damage as well as weight loss. In view of overall pesticidal potential of aforesaid oil based formulations, they can be successfully exploited as fumigants against insect infestation of pigeon pea seeds during storage and strengthen the possibility of using it as an alternative preservative to the commercial pesticides.
A High Power Doubler for 174 GHz Using a Planar Diode Array

A balanced doubler for 174 Gllz has been built using a planar array of four varactor diodes. The maximum output power is 55 mW, and this power is limited only by the available pump source. The peak efficiency is 25% at 150 mW input, with little saturation at higher power levels. Circuit parasitics due to the chip are not serious, and device heating is not predicted to be large at the present power levels. Higher efficiencies should be possible with minor improvements in the diode parameters.