Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Float Trays as an Alternative to Methyl Bromide in Tobacco Production in Hurungwe District, Zimbabwe

The study was carried out in Hurungwe district in Zimbabwe to evaluate the feasibility as well as the challenges of using float trays as an alternative to the use of methyl bromide in tobacco production. The study made use of the qualitative and quantitative research design. Questionnaires, interviews, economic analysis and field observations were used as data collection instruments. Descriptive analysis was used in the research. The results of the study indicated that floating trays can effectively substitute the use of methyl bromide in tobacco seedling production. This is because of their accessibility, ability to produce excellent quality seedlings because of reduced insect pest, weeds and disease attack and also a reduction in labor requirement. The float trays maintain or improve productivity because the transplanting shock is reduced; when the seedlings are ready for transplanting, there is a reduction land required for seedling production as well as the cost effectiveness of the float trays. There are, however, challenges that affect the float tray system, although the challenges are outweighed by the advantages. The challenges include the technical knowhow that is associated with the float tray system. The unavailability of additional substrates, the distance to the float tray distributors where the trays are procured, high initial establishment costs and the need for farmer to stay on the farm until the seedlings are transplanted onto the field are also factors affecting the adoption of the float trays. From the results of the research, it can be concluded that float trays can substitute methyl bromide in insect pest, weeds and disease control while being environmentally friendly. It is recommended that there is need for farmer training on the use of float trays, government subsidies in initial establishment of the technique, ready supply of the float trays and decentralization of the manufacturers of float trays into tobacco growing areas.
Customer Switching Patterns in Competitive and Noncompetitive Service Industries

This article is about behavioral change in customer relationships. Changes in customer switching behavior are compared in five different service industries. Switching barriers and the competitive industrial situations in the comparison between industries also revealed changes in behavior in an industrial monopoly in which switching to alternative external service providers was not an option. This kind of switching was articulated as internal switching. The behavioral change was therefore assessed in terms not only of frequency but also of type of change. The switching ability to cause change, called configuration energy, even caused a change in behavior at the highest level in a noncompetitive industry in which there was a lack of switching alternatives. Total change was considered to be a result of the higher energy level driving the switching configuration than when the change was partial.
Childbearing behaviours of Polish migrants in Norway

The chapter explores the aspects of childbearing, procreation plans and fertility among Polish migrant couples and families settled in Norway. It tackles the migration-fertility nexus by engaging with five hypotheses put forward by Milewski (2007) and sheds light on childbearing decision and the germane topics linked to fertility in the Polish-Norwegian transnationality. Through an integrated analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data, the chapter explores the links between mobility and a desire (and lack thereof) to have children, as well as the reasons for having more children. It outlines some issues around the timing of a first-time-parenthood and having subsequent children abroad, seeing them through a migration lens, i.e. experienced in a distinctively different cultural setting of Norway. The empirical material is guided by a mixed-methods approach and combines two datasets from the Transfam project: the quantitative data collected through an on-line survey (n=648) and the qualitative material from biographic interviews. The results confirm the hypothesis of a one-spouse migration being disruptive to fertility, while also pointing to the catching-up fertility behaviours. We argue that an interrelation of family biographic events, and a fulfilment of the family’s procreation desires, occur after the reunification and settlement in Norway.
Determinants of Risk Tolerance

Risk aversion is an important factor in explaining many everyday decisions. Thus, one asks which determinants can explain different attitudes towards risk. Several studies show different risk attitudes with respect to gender, age, income, and wealth (e.g. [19]). While these findings are hardly controversial, there is still some uncertainty about the effect of culture on risk tolerance. Thus, the main issue of this survey is to elaborate possible differences in risk preferences that are caused by cultural background. The main question in this context is whether religion or nationality are of importance for explaining risk attitudes. For this purpose, this study employs the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) to figure out differences in risk attitudes. Another contribution of this article is that is uses a generalized ordered logit model while others use simple linear regression models or simple logit or probit models which are not efficient. The estimations show that the cultural background does indeed have some impact on risk taking behaviour.
Edinburgh Research Explorer Surface-consistent amplitude corrections for single or multicomponent sources and receivers using reciprocity and waveform inversion

orientations have to be identical to the receiver components. Besides reciprocity, additional constraints are required to determine the lateral source and receiver amplitude variations fully. We use criteria based on minimizing total energy differences between adjacent common source and common receiver gathers, and in common offset panels of the medium response. Synthetic tests demonstrate that acquisition-related amplitude differences can be signiﬁcantly reduced using this method.
The tyranny of the impact factor: why do we still want to be subjugated?

A collective obsession with the Impact Factor (IF) has led to major changes in political science in many countries, and in recent years, these changes have been especially visible in Brazil. Despite critiques of both this measure’s ability to evaluate the quality of scientific publications and its spread in the evaluation of researchers and institutions, Brazil has taken the IF as a decisive element in evaluating Brazilian post-graduate programs. In this article, we briefly try to demonstrate that the IF can be subject to many biases that seem to be completely ignored or unknown.
Tidal Correlation using Altimetry Satellite

Tides data is strongly needed especially on Indonesian Coastal Environment mapping to achieve its accuracy. Usually, tides data derived from direct or indirect measurement. From palm observation, the tides data collected directly. Indirect measurement takes the advantages of altimetry satellite, where tides data collection carried in a shorter time and large area. In the supremacy of using altimetry satellite, we could obtain tides information not only in coastal but also in open waters. Study of altimetry data is required to prove whether tides components resulted represent real tides condition in coastal or vice versa. Finding out the linkage between tidal components resulted from Jason-1 altimetry satellite became the aim of this paper. Cross-over analysis method ran to examine the linkage between each tidal constituent. The tidal correlation value determined the accuracy of amplitude result from altimetry satellite. Gaussian Distribution played a role in determining the status of cross-over point data. The amplitude will point whether the cross-over point will continue to involve in tidal amplitude gridding process. The higher value of cross-over amplitude related to influence subsists between tides components in which the emerging values do not represent each tidal constituent itself.
Ionized gas at the edge of the Central Molecular Zone

To determine the properties of the ionized gas at the edge of the CMZ near Sgr E we observed a small portion of the edge of the CMZ near Sgr E with spectrally resolved [C II] 158 micron and [N II] 205 micron fine structure lines at six positions with the GREAT instrument on SOFIA and in [C II] using Herschel HIFI on-the-fly strip maps. We use the [N II] spectra along with a radiative transfer model to calculate the electron density of the gas and the [C II] maps to illuminate the morphology of the ionized gas and model the column density of CO-dark H2. We detect two [C II] and [N II] velocity components, one along the line of sight to a CO molecular cloud at -207 km/s associated with Sgr E and the other at -174 km/s outside the edge of another CO cloud. From the [N II] emission we find that the average electron density is in the range of about 5 to 25 cm{-3} for these features. This electron density is much higher than that of the warm ionized medium in the disk. The column density of the CO-dark H$_2$ layer in the -207 km/s cloud is about 1-2X10{21} cm{-2} in agreement with theoretical models. The CMZ extends further out in Galactic radius by 7 to 14 pc in ionized gas than it does in molecular gas traced by CO. The edge of the CMZ likely contains dense hot ionized gas surrounding the neutral molecular material. The high fractional abundance of N+ and high electron density require an intense EUV field with a photon flux of order 1e6 to 1e7 photons cm{-2} s{-1}, and/or efficient proton charge exchange with nitrogen, at temperatures of order 1e4 K, and/or a large flux of X-rays. Sgr E is a region of massive star formation which are a potential sources of the EUV radiation that can ionize the gas. In addition X-ray sources and the diffuse X-ray emission in the CMZ are candidates for ionizing nitrogen.
The gendered affordances of Craigslist “new-in-town girls wanted” ads

Sex-for-rent schemes have emerged on online sites as rental options. We analyzed 583 advertisements that were posted on Craigslist in London and Los Angeles and interviewed 34 women who were or had been in these arrangements. This research yielded four key tensions: (1) navigating innuendo (mis)interpretation versus preserving arranged ambiguity, (2) the guise of amateurism and romance versus persistent specificity, (3) calculated sacrifice versus narrative of a better life, and (4) consent versus consensual non-consent. Findings attest to the affordances online platforms offer by connecting geographically dispersed parties in a low risk, anonymous forum. Furthermore, present research joins discourses on the commercialization of intimacy and forms of precarious, gendered labor while asserting Internet features are pivotal in facilitating these arrangements. We propose gendered affordances to conceptualize how individual aspirational labor efforts, combined with platform affordances, commodify intimacy for sale on the moral marketplace.
PROPERTIES OF STEEL IN RAILWAY BRIDGE

STRESZCZENIE. W eksploatacji znajduje się jeszcze wiele stalowych mostów kolejowych wybudowanych w drugiej połowie XIX wieku. Parametry mechaniczne i metalurgiczne stali w tych mostach oraz ich trwałość nie są dobrze rozpoznane, mogą się też między sobą znacznie różnić. Przedstawiono analizę właściwości mechanicznych oraz sposób wyznaczenia aktualnej wytrzymałości obl iczeniowej dla blachownicowego mostu kolejowego, będącego w eksploatacji od prawie 130 lat. Badania wykonano na próbkach materiału stali konstrukcyjnej pobranych ze zdemontowanych podłużnic pomostu belkowego, które utraciły swoją przydatność użytkową na skutek rozległych uszkodzeń korozyjnych. Rozpoznanie gatunku i jakości stali konstrukcyjnej umożliwiło opracowanie projektu remontu obiektu oraz zachowanie go w dalszej eksploatacji. Przedstawiona metodyka postępowania może być przydatna przy modernizacji i remontach starych mostów kolejowych.
Association of Vitamin D with Disease Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Ankylosing Spondylitis

1 Abdullah Erman Yagiz1, Nilgun Ustun1, Hacer Paksoy1, Ihsan Ustun2, Ayhan Mansuroglu3, Hayal Guler1, Ayse Dicle Turhanoglu1 1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Mustafa Kemal University, 2Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Mustafa Kemal University, 3Clinic of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Antakya State Hospital, Hatay, Turkey Vitamin D ve Hastalık Aktivitesi / Vitamin D and Disease Activity Association of Vitamin D with Disease Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Ankylosing Spondylitis
Speaker meaning attributed to the terms salvation and insindiso in selected mainline and independent church contexts

This study was conducted to ascertain what meanings the terms salvation, saved, and their isiZulu equivalents have for some Zulu Christians. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine mother-tongue speakers of isiZulu varying in terms of age, gender, church affiliation and level of theological training. It transpired that both the English and isiZulu terms have undergone selective semantic narrowing: Apart from having their conventional meaning (pertaining to a personal acceptance of the redemptive work of Christ), these terms also imply for some Christians (specifically Evangelical and Pentecostal Zulus) an exclusive, validating spiritual experience precluding any involvement with ancestral practices. Consequently, one is viewed as saved only if one denounces certain apparently evil cultural practices, particularly those pertaining to ancestors. As other isiZuluspeaking Christians disagree with this narrowed meaning, and as mother-tongue speakers of English are generally unaware of it, indiscriminate use of these terms could lead to intercultural miscommunication of a complex nature.
UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY CHRISTCHURCH , NEW ZEALAND Crude Oil Hedging Strategies Using Dynamic Multivariate GARCH

The paper examines the performance of four multivariate volatility models, namely CCC, VARMA-GARCH, DCC and BEKK, for the crude oil spot and futures returns of two major benchmark international crude oil markets, Brent and WTI, to calculate optimal portfolio weights and optimal hedge ratios, and to suggest a crude oil hedge strategy. The empirical results show that the optimal portfolio weights of all multivariate volatility models for Brent suggest holding futures in larger proportions than spot. For WTI, however, DCC and BEKK suggest holding crude oil futures to spot, but CCC and VARMA-GARCH suggest holding crude oil spot to futures. In addition, the calculated optimal hedge ratios (OHRs) from each multivariate conditional volatility model give the time-varying hedge ratios, and recommend to short in crude oil futures with a high proportion of one dollar long in crude oil spot. Finally, the hedging effectiveness indicates that DCC (BEKK) is the best (worst) model for OHR calculation in terms of reducing the variance of the portfolio.
An Evaluation of Tropical Cyclone Genesis Forecasts from Global Numerical Models

Tropical cyclone (TC) forecasts rely heavily on output from global numerical models. While considerable research has investigated the skill of various models with respect to track and intensity, few studies have considered how well global models forecast TC genesis in the North Atlanticbasin. This paper analyzes TC genesis forecasts from five global models [Environment Canada’s Global Environment Multiscale Model (CMC), the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) global model, the Global Forecast System (GFS), the Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS), and the Met Office global model (UKMET)] over several seasons in the North Atlantic basin. Identifying TCs in the model is based on a combination of methods used previously in the literature and newly defined objective criteria. All modelindicated TCs are classified as a hit, false alarm, early genesis, or late genesis event. Missed events also are considered. Results show that the models’ ability to predict TC genesis varies in time and space. Conditional probabilities when a model predicts genesis and more traditional performance metrics (e.g., critical success index) are calculated. The models are ranked among each other, and results show that the best-performing model varies from year to year. A spatial analysis of each model identifies preferred regions for genesis, and a temporal analysis indicates that model performance expectedly decreases as forecast hour (lead time) increases. Consensus forecasts show that the probability of genesis noticeably increases when multiple models predict the same genesis event. Overall, this study provides a climatology of objectively identified TC genesis forecasts in global models. The resulting verification statistics can be used operationally to help refine deterministic and probabilistic TC genesis forecasts and potentially improve the models examined.
TheInfluenceof1.2 lT,60 Hz Magnetic Fieldson Melatonin- and Tamoxifen-Induced Inhibitionof MCF-7 Cell Growth

melatonin (10 ˇ9 M) and of pharmacological levels of tamoxifen (10 ˇ7 M) on the growth of MCF-7 human breast cancer cells in vitro. We used two testing protocols. In the melatonin study, the cell numbers per dish on day 7 of treatment were determined using a hemocytometer assay. In the tamoxifen study we used an expanded protocol, employing an alternative cell counting assay to characterize the cell numbers per dish on days 4, 5, 6, and 7. In both the melatonin and tamoxifen studies, cells were plated on 35 mm dishes and placed in each of two exposure chambers inside 5% CO2 incubators. One exposure chamber was energized to produce 1.2mTrms, 60 Hz magnetic fields and the other chamber was not energized. Treatment was continuous until assays were performed. Cells were harvested at selected times, and enumerated without knowledge of treatment. In the melatonin study, the experiment was repeated three times, whereas in the tamoxifen study, each experiment was repeated nine times. In the melatonin study, cell numbers per dish were significantly reduced (by 16.7%) in the melatonin treated cultures after 7 days of incubation compared to control cultures, whereas in the presence of 1.2mTrms, 60 Hz magnetic fields, the melatonin treated cultures had the same cell populations as the control cultures. In the tamoxifen study, tamoxifen reduced the cell growth by 18.6 and 25% on days 6 and 7, respectively, in the chamber not energized, while in 1.2mTrms, 60 Hz fields, tamoxifen reduced the cell growth only by 8.7 and 13.1%, respectively. These results are consistent with those reported by Harland and Liburdy. A critical element of this successful replication effort was the constructive communication established and maintained with the original investigators. Bioelectromagnetics 22:122‐128, 2001. Published 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. y
COMPARISON OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE DEEP TRUNK MUSCLES MEASURED USING INTRAMUSCULAR AND SURFACE ELECTROMYOGRAPHY

Surface electromyography (EMG) has been used to estimate deep trunk muscle activity. However, it remains unknown whether surface EMG provides an accurate estimation of this activity. The purposes of this study were to compare surface and intramuscular EMG activity measurements and investigate the efficacy of surface EMG measurement for the transversus abdominis (TrA) and the multifidus (MF) muscles. Eight healthy men participated in the study. TrA and MF activities were simultaneously measured by both intramuscular and surface EMG during isometric trunk exercises. Spearman correlation coefficients for the relationship between the two activity measurements for the right TrA, left TrA, right MF, and left MF were 0.55, 0.36, 0.67, and 0.79, respectively. For the TrA, Bland–Altman plots revealed that mean differences between measurements obtained by intramuscular EMG and surface EMG were not close to zero, with a systematic bias toward higher surface EMG values. In conclusion, surface and intramuscular EMG ac.
Phylogenetic and molecular evolutionary analyses of Ty1-copia group retrotransposons in cultivated Egyptian cotton, Gossypium barbadense L.

The Ty1-copia group retrotransposons have been characterized in cultivated Egyptian cotton, G.barbadense L. , using degenerate PCR primers for their reverse transcriptase (RT) domains. Comparative nucleotide and amino acid sequences analyses showed that G. barbadense Ty1-copia RT sequences are heterogeneous and this heterogeneity is resolved into 11 distinct families. The high ratio of synonymous to nonsynonymous changes indicates that there is a strong selection for the RT domain of these families. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that two cultivated G. barbadense RT families are closely related to Ty1-copia group retrotransposons present in other plant species. In other words, these families mirror their own phylogenies rather than that of their host cultivars. On the other hand, the remaining G. barbadense RT families are closely related to their respective Gossypium species. These data show that Ty1-copia group retrotransposons tend to span species boundaries, suggesting that they existed early in plant evolution, and were diverged into heterogeneous sequences prior to modern plant species divergence.
Information needs during pregnancy from women’s perspective.With regards to cultural differences

Introduction: Pregnancy is a life-changing experience that is accompanied by many psychological and physical changes. The importance and life-altering effects of this stage in women’s lives, also put special demands on the information they might want and need. Further, there are differences in what information is readily available through various health systems, both culturally and through pregnancy care models adopted by the given systems. Therefore, this project aims to capture women’s experience and find out if the cultural aspects of the women’s residual area can affect their needs and decisions. Methodology: This study employed both an online survey and interview as data collection tools. The survey questionnaire was distributed online through Facebook pregnancy-related groups. In addition, face-to-face interviews were conducted in Norway and Iran. There were 15 interviewees recruited in total, with the ratio of 9 in Iran and 6 in Norway. Results: Findings of this study indicate a strong effect of cultural values on one’s preference and decisions. It also highlights the importance of a communicative relationship between the physicians and the patients. Conclusion: From the results of this study it can be concluded that in order to understand ones’ needs, the cultural perspective of that society should be considered. The cultural values constantly influenced one’s decision making and behaviour. Therefore, understanding this factor can be of utmost importance especially in multicultural societies’ health system.