Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Relief Food Aid and its Implications on Food Production and Consumption Patterns: A case study of Communal Farmers in Chigodora Community, Zimbabwe

The research study focuses on the effects of relief food aid on food production and consumption patterns of communal farmers in Chigodora Ward 15, Mutare District. The researcher adopted a descriptive research design. Data collection instruments used in this research study included questionnaires, interviews as well as published documents. Questionnaires targeted households in selected villages. The researcher used a cluster sampling strategy in selecting villages and random sampling technique was used to select households from the selected villages. Interviews targeted key informants such as the Agritex Extension Officer, Mutare Rural District Council Social Services Director, and Chitakatira Health Care leader, Ward 15 Councilor, Plan International Selection Director and The Village Heads. Key informants were selected using purposive sampling technique. Research findings from this study have established that relief food aid beneficiaries in Chigodora Ward 15 receive maize, beans, peas, cooking oil and porridge on a monthly basis. Plan international is the only humanitarian organization which supplies food in the community. Since the involvement of food aid agencies in Chigodora, the production of indigenous crops such as finger millet, sorghum and rapoko significantly decreased. The major factors driving the persistence of relief food are HIV and AIDS, climate change, lack of fair distribution of farming inputs, the restructuring of the agricultural system and high dependency syndrome. Short term impacts of relief food aid on food production and access include impacts on local taste, promotes laziness and compromises access to local foods. The long term impacts of relief food aided are; overall decrease in food production, disincentives on farmers to produce and exposure to low quality and unsafe products. The suggest the government of Zimbabwe needs to adequately assist and empower communal farmers to produce enough food from their fields through modern technologies as well as providing farmers with loans for inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and equipment to improve productivity. Classification JEL: A11; A 13, Q15; Q10
Bermudagrass Response to High Nitrogen Rates, Source, and Season of Application

High N rates and source of N have been thoroughly evaluated in bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. ] forage production, but less is known concerning season of application and estimated fertilizer N recovery in these systems. Two field studies (Ardmore, OK: Wilson silt loam, Vertic Haplustalfs ; Burneyville, OK: Minco fine sandy loam, Udic Haplustolls) were conducted at two locations over two years to evaluate the effects of rate, timing, and source of N on bermudagrass forage yield, total N, NO 3 concentration, and estimated fertilizer N recovery. Nitrogen was applied at rates of 112, 224, 448, 672, and 1344 kg N ha 1 as NH 4 NO 3 or urea in early spring (March) and late summer (August). Fertilizer N recovery can be maximized at rates of 112 and 224 kg N ha 1 applied in the early spring and late summer, respectively. Even when N rates of 1344 kg N ha -1 were applied annually, bermudagrass forage NO 3 -N was seldom above 2000 mg kg -1 , which is below published toxic levels (2400-4500 mg kg -1 ) for cattle (Bos taurus) consumption. Early-spring applied N increased yields, N removal, and fertilizer recovery compared with late-summer applied N. Fertilizer N recovery was higher for NH 4 NO 3 than for urea, especially when applied in late summer. Late-summer applications of urea should be avoided, due to increased NH 3 volatilization losses. Nitrogen applied at 112 kg N ha -1 in early spring can result in fertilizer recoveries in excess of 85%. These high recoveries in forage production systems are possibly a result of continuous preanthesis forage harvesting when gaseous plant N losses are small, but which increase following anthesis.
Laboratory and Astronomical Detection of the Negative Molecular Ion C3N−

The negative molecular ion C3N− has been detected at millimeter wavelengths in a low-pressure laboratory discharge, and then with frequencies derived from the laboratory data in the molecular envelope of IRC+10216. Spectroscopic constants derived from laboratory measurements of 12 transitions between 97 and 378 GHz allow the rotational spectrum to be calculated well into the submillimeter-wave band to 0.03 km s−1 or better in equivalent radial velocity. Four transitions of C3N− were detected in IRC+10216 with the IRAM 30 m telescope at precisely the frequencies calculated from the laboratory measurements. The column density of C3N− is 0.5% that of C3N, or approximately 20 times greater than that of C4H− relative to C4H. The C3N− abundance in IRC+10216 is compared with a chemical model calculation by Petrie & Herbst. An upper limit in TMC-1 for C3N− relative to C3N (<0.8%) and a limit for C4H− relative to C4H (<0.004%) that is 5 times lower than that found in IRC+10216, were obtained from observations with the NRAO 100 m Green Bank Telescope (GBT). The fairly high concentration of C3N− achieved in the laboratory implies that other molecular anions containing the CN group may be within reach.
Vortex instability in turbulent free-space propagation

The spatial structuring of optical fields is integral within many next generation optical metrology and communication techniques. A verifiable physical model of the propagation of these optical fields in a turbulent environment is important for developing effective mitigation techniques for the modal degradation that occurs in a free-space link. We present a method to simulate this modal degradation that agrees with recently reported experimental findings. A 1.5 km free-space link is emulated by decomposing the optical turbulence that accumulates over a long distance link, into many, weakly perturbing steps of 10 m. This simulation shows that the high-order vortex at the centre of the helical phase profiles in modes that carry orbital angular momentum of ∣ ℓ ∣ ≥ 2 ℏ are unstable and fracture into many vortices when they propagate over the link. This splitting presents issues for the application of turbulence mitigation techniques. The usefulness of pre-correction, post-correction, and complex field conjugation techniques are discussed.
Genetic Algorithms for Development of New Financial Products

New Product Development (NPD) is recognized as a fundamental activity that has a relevant impact on the performance of companies. Despite the relevance of the financial market there is a lack of work on new financial product development. The aim of this research is to propose the use of Genetic Algorithms (GA) as an alternative procedure for evaluating the most favorable combination of variables for the product launch. The paper focuses on: (i) determining the essential variables of the financial product studied (investment fund); (ii) determining how to evaluate the success of a new investment fund launch and (iii) how GA can be applied to the financial product development problem. The proposed framework was tested using 4 years of real data from the Brazilian financial market and the results suggest that this is an innovative development methodology and useful for designing complex financial products with many attributes.
BNC-Based Design of College English Vocabulary Teaching for Chinese College Students

The present study aims to bring about some innovations in construction and designing of vocabulary teaching on the basis of the BNC (British National Corpus). Corpus linguistics, providing the enormous and authentic language material, has been widely employed by scholars, teachers and researchers in various fields and perspectives of language research. Therefore, it has made significant contribution to language theory construction and gives a lot of inspiration to English foreign language (EFL) teaching. The present research applying the BNC corpus to the vocabulary teaching is intended to effectively improve teacher’s input and introduce corpus-based approach. Moreover, it wants to show that the computer-aided curriculum designing can effectively facilitate students’ vocabulary learning and improve their language proficiency.
"A Simple Model of City Crowdedness"

Population density varies widely across U.S. cities. A calibrated general equilibrium model in which productivity and quality-of-life differ across locations can account for such variation. Individuals derive utility from consumption of a traded good, a nontraded good, leisure, and quality-of-life. The traded and nontraded goods are produced by combining mobile labor, mobile capital, and non-mobile land. An eight-fold increase in population density requires an approximate 50 percent productivity differential or an approximate 20 percent compensating differential. A thirty-two-fold increase in population density requires an approximate 95 percent productivity differential or a 33 percent compensating differential. Empirical evidence suggests productivity and quality-of-life differentials of this magnitude are plausible. The model implies that broad-based technological progress can induce substantial migration to localities with high quality-of-life.
The concept of estimating usable floor area of buildings based on cadastral data

Abstract Usable floor area is one of the most important spatial attributes of buildings and premises. It is used, for example, to determine the basis for their taxation. Unfortunately, the question of proper determination of usable floor area in Poland has remained problematic for many years, which is closely related to the occurrence of various definitions of usable floor area in the currently binding legal acts. Consequently, usable floor area is not a universal attribute. This means that in certain cases significant discrepancies may occur between the usable floor area of the same structure, determined for different purposes. In addition, despite attempts made to unify the principles for the performance of surveys of building structures and their parts, this requirement still can not be recognized as fully met. Therefore, there is no doubt that the problem of reliability and availability of data defining the usable floor area of buildings is becoming even more important in view of the introduction of the ‘ad valorem’ tax, which has been planned for years. For this reason, this paper proposes a universal, multi-variant method of estimating usable floor area based on geometric and descriptive data of buildings contained in the cadastre. The Authors, taking into account the applicable legal regulations, have considered the possibilities of practical implementation of individual variants of this specific method. They have carried out empirical tests of effectiveness of the proposed approach. They have also defined tasks for which this method of determining the usable floor area of buildings would be particularly useful.
A Spectral Representation of the Phillips Curve in Australia

We document evolving patterns in the inflation-unemployment relationship in Australia in the frequency domain under different monetary policy regimes and labor market regulations. The RBA adopted monetary targeting in 1976 and inflation targeting in 1993. There were important changes in the labor relations during mid-1980s-mid-1990s. We document an upward sloping medium-run Phillips curve in the pre-1977 period, a downward sloping long-run Phillips curve during 1977-1993, and a flattened Phillips curve from 1993 onwards. Inflation lags unemployment during the first period but leads during the second period. The Phillips curve at business-cycle frequencies is downward sloping in all periods. Similar patterns are also observed in several industrialized countries that adopted inflation targeting.
Mathematical Modeling of In Situ Chemical Oxidation with Permanganate - Model Development and Sensitivity Analyses

CHA, KI YOUNG. Mathematical Modeling of In Situ Chemical Oxidation with Permanganate -Model Development and Sensitivity Analyses. (Under the direction of Robert C. Borden.) In situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) using permanganate can be a very effective technique for remediating groundwater and soil contaminated by chlorinated solvents. Injected reagent must be delivered to contaminated zone for successful clean up in ISCO. Many current remediation projects using chemical oxidation system are less effective than desired because of poor delivery of the chemical reagents to the treatment zone. A variety of site specific factors can affect reagent delivery including the amount of oxidant injected, volume of water injected, aquifer heterogeneity, and natural oxidant demand (NOD). A model was developed and validated for simulating the transport and reaction of permanganate in the subsurface for ISCO. Six different kinetic relationships with zero, 1 st , and 2 nd order reaction were examined to identify the kinetic equation which best predicts the consumption of permanganate in experimental incubations. The numerical model RT3D was modified to simulate ISCO by developing a module that simulates reactions between permanganate, NOD and contaminants. The newly developed RT3D model was calibrated to an ISCO pilot test at MMR. The calibrated model provided an adequate match to the field data demonstrating this approach is appropriate for simulating ISCO of groundwater contaminants. A sensitivity analysis with validated model examined the influence of aquifer conditions and design variables on treatment efficiency. Mathematical Modeling of In Situ Chemical Oxidation with Permanganate Model Development and Sensitivity Analyses
The effect of foreign ownership on the company performance of companies owned by a pyramidal ownership structure.

Multinational corporations use pyramidal ownership structures to enter new countries. The academic debate regarding these entries focuses on independent research of pyramidal ownership structures and cross-border ownership. I combine these two subjects and test the effect of foreign ownership on the company performance of companies owned by a pyramidal ownership structure. Firstly, I focus on a change of ownership from domestic pyramidal to cross-border pyramidal within the same company through an acquisition. The methodology of Arnold & Javorcik (2009) is used in which the propensity score matching procedure is combined with the difference-indifference technique. I find no statistically significant difference in the performance measures: return on assets, profit margin, operating revenue and total of assets. Secondly, I compare the development in performance measures of domestic pyramidal owned companies with that of matching cross-border pyramidal owned companies. The propensity score matching procedure and the difference-in-difference technique are employed again. I find statistically significantly lower return on assets, lower profit margins and higher operating revenues in cross-border pyramidal owned companies. The total of assets and the number of employees are only statistically significantly higher in the long-term. The results show the different effects of foreign ownership on the company performance of pyramidal owned companies and the importance for multinational corporations to think about the way they enter new countries.
Definition of essential tremor : towards new clinical criteria ?

Essential tremor is the most common movement disorder in adults. It is characterized by a postural and kinetic tremor affecting the arms, but it can also affect other body parts. It evolves gradually and can be responsible for a functional impairment in activities of daily living. Its pathophysiology remains poorly understood and effective therapeutic options are limited. There are significant semiological variations between patients, and the term ‘‘essential tremor’’ seems to encompass a wide range of heterogeneous clinical phenotypes. The diagnostic criteria presented in 1998 are now challenged. Furthermore, there is a current debate concerning the etiology of this affection, as to whether essential tremor is a complex degenerative disorder or a functional reversible disorder of neuronal oscillation. In this review, we summarize some aspects of clinical, etiologic and therapeutic news, to better address the questioning on unravelling the clinical presentation and examine the current pathophysiological controversy in this
Analysis of the Relationship between MHC-DRB1 Gene Polymorphism and Hydatidosis in Kazakh Sheep

The objective of this work was to analyze the relationship between ovine major histocompatibility complex (MHC) DRB1 gene polymorphism and genetic resistance to hydatidosis in Kazakh sheep. The Ovar (ovine MHC) class II DRB1 second exon was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from DNA samples of 702 Kazakh sheep, including 302 sheep with hydatidosis and 400 health controls. PCR products were characterized by the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) technique using five restriction enzymes, i.e., MvaI, HaeIII, SacI, SacII and Hin1I, yielding 14 alleles and 28 genotypes. Comparing the frequency of genotypes in hydatidosis sheep with the control group, it was found that the genotype frequencies of MvaIbc, Hin1Iab, SacIIab, HaeIIIde, HaeIIIdf and HaeIIIdd in control sheep were significantly (p<0.01) higher than in hydatidosis sheep, indicating that a significant correlation existed between these genotypes and resistance to hydatidosis. Genotype frequencies of MvaIbb, SacIIaa, Hin1Ibb and HaeIIIef in sheep with hydatidosis were extremely significantly (p<0.01) higher than in the control group, and the genotype frequency of HaeIIIab was significantly higher (p<0.05), indicating that a marked correlation existed between these genotypes and susceptibility to hydatidosis. By way of analyzing haplotype with these resistant genotypes, the hydatidosis resistant haplotype MvaIbc-SacIIab-Hin1Iab of Kazakh sheep was screened out, and then verified through artificial hydatid infection in sheep. The results indicated that the infection rate of sheep with the resistant haplotype of hydatidosis was significantly lower (p<0.01) than without this resistant haplotype. It showed that the genic haplotype MvaIbc-SacIIab-Hin1Iab of Ovar-DRB1 exon 2 was the resistant haplotype of hydatidosis in Kazakh sheep.
The multiscale relationship between exchange rates and fundamentals differentials: Empirical evidence from Scandinavia

This paper investigates the extent to which macroeconomic fundamentals explain movements in the Swedish Krona against the Danish Krone and the Norwegian Krone exchange rates; three currencies of neighboring countries that are main trade partners and with long-term economic similarities. Exchange rates and fundamentals are decomposed into wavelet scales to gauge the explanatory power of the monetary model at different frequencies. There is a significant relationship between interest rate, inflation, and to a lesser extent the stock of money and output differentials and in-sample exchange rates movements at horizons of eight months and above. Wavelet decomposition uncovers the time scale aspect of exchange rate determination, and suggests that the monetary model is still a useful framework at medium and long horizons.
A rapid method of assessing the photocatalytic activity of thin TiO2 films using an ink based on the redox dye 2,6-dichloroindophenol

An indicator ink based on the redox dye 2,6-dichloroindophenol (DCIP) is described, which allows the rapid assessment of the activity of thin, commercial photocatalytic films, such as Activ. The ink works via a photoreductive mechanism, DCIP being reduced to dihydro-DCIP within ca. 7.5 minutes exposure to UVA irradiation of moderate intensity (ca. 4.8 mW ). The kinetics of photoreduction are found to be independent of the level of dye present in the ink formulation, but are highly sensitive to the level of glycerol. This latter observation may be associated with a solvatochromic effect, whereby the microenvironment in which the dye finds itself and, as a consequence, its reactivity is altered significantly by small changes in the glycerol content. The kinetics of photoreduction also appear linearly dependent on the UVA light intensity with an observed quantum efficiency of ca.
cacy of virtual reality exposure therapy combined with two pharmacotherapies in the treatment of agoraphobia 1

Currently, some psychopharmacological treatments, cognitivebehavioral therapies (CBT), and a combination of both are considered effective treatments for agoraphobia. Among psychological treatments, new therapeutic alternatives such as virtual reality exposure treatment (VRET) have been developed. The aim of this experimental study was to evaluate the ef cacy of VRET combined with two antidepressant drugs (venlafaxine and paroxetine) in a sample of agoraphobia patients (N = 64), using a virtual system consisting of seven scenarios. Five types of treatment were compared: four combined treatment groups and one psychopharmacological treatment. Measures were taken at pre-treatment, posttreatment, and six-month follow-up; agoraphobia and anxiety measures were used as dependent variables. Results showed that all groups were statistically effective, both at post-treatment and six-month follow-up. However, based on clinical ef cacy, results showed that combined treatment groups including VRET appeared to be better than traditional techniques at decreasing agoraphobia and anxiety measures and keeping them lower over time. Maqueta_rev. juancarlos.indd 189 30/03/2011 8:32:15 Int J Clin Health Psychol, Vol. 11. No 2 190 GONZALEZ LORENZO et al. Ef icacy of virtual reality exposure therapy and agoraphobia
Export Behaviour of Micro Firms in the Swedish Computer and Business Service Industries

Abstract The export participation of SMEs in the Swedish computer and business service industries has increased rapidly over the last decade. Despite this, export participation rates—including those of micro enterprises—remained low at 13 per cent in computer services and 8 per cent in business services in 2010. Based on uniquely linked firm-level datasets with full coverage of micro enterprises, this study investigates the determinants of the export participation of Swedish SMEs in the computer and business service industries. Exports include both goods and services. Estimates based on the conditional fixed-effects logit model show a significantly positive relationship between initial labour productivity and the decision to export. One new and interesting finding is that the magnitude of the relationship between the probability to export and initial labour productivity is low when controlling for firm effects. Surprisingly, the impact of labour productivity on exporting in computer services does not differ between micro enterprises and other SMEs (10–249 employees). In business services, the relationship between export probability and labour productivity on the one hand and skill intensity on the other is significant for micro enterprises, but not for other SMEs (10–249 employees).