Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Wetland Degradation and Conversion on Carbon Stock: The Case of Tekuma Wetland, Lake Tana Sub-Basin, Ethiopia

Wetlands are considered as one of the major carbon sinkers that have significant positive effect on reducing the impact of climate change. However, the contribution of wetland to climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration is not well understood by the public. Many developed and developing countries signed in and supported the inclusion of agriculture and wetland projects in the Kyoto Protocol. But Ethiopian government has not yet tried to take advantage of this opportunity and start negotiations to use conservation and improvement of wetland’s carbon sequestration potential in the country to obtain carbon funds as an economic incentive for the communities involved. With this background, this research was designed to carry out an in-depth study on the impact of wetland degradation and conversion on carbon sequestration potential in Ethiopia. To meet the stated objectives stratified sampling techniques were used to select sampling sites from the wetland areas having varying wetland degradation level. For the determination of carbon levels in each area replicates of plant and soil samples were collected. The plant organic matter was determined using a loss-on-ignition method and then converted to carbon stock. Carbon stock and bulk density of the sampled soil was determined using Walkely-Black oxidation and gravimetric methods, respectively. ANOVA and mean separation were computed to indicate whether there is significant difference in carbon stock due to wetland degradation. The research findings showed significant difference (P<0.05) of carbon storage with different wetland degradation levels. Carbon stock in the soil was on average 24 times higher than carbon stock in plants in each respective wetland area having varying degradation level. The intact wetland was able to sequester579 t/ha of CO2as compared to converted farmlands and grazing lands that had only 230 and 295 t/ha of CO2, respectively. The result showed that by protecting wetlands more than double carbon could be stored as compared to grazing and farmlands. Thus, it is recommended that special attention should be given to minimize the conversion of wetlands and maximize their benefits through carbon funding.
Information Acquisition and Credibility in Cheap Talk

This paper explores the interaction between uncertain bias and endogeneous information acquisition in strategic communication. I consider an expert who is privately informed about his bias as well as about whether he is informed, in addition can also engage in costly information acquisition. In this setup, information acquisition simultaneously serves the purposes of getting informed and increasing credibility before communicating through cheap talk to a decision maker. I define the signaling and the intrinsic value of information and find the conditions under which a separating equilibrium can arise, which is the most informative as well as the welfare maximizing equilibrium. I solve for equilibria as a function of cost of information acquisition and show that communication is most precise with an initially uninformed expert at an intermediary cost value. The overall welfare is non-monotone in cost, and it increases when cost increases to enable separation. When covert information acquisition is considered, there is a tradeoff between less wasteful investment versus less communication precision compared to the overt case.
Y‐Mars: An Astrobiological Analogue of Martian Mudstone

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission has collected evidence of a long‐lasting habitable environment in the Sheepbed sediments of Gale Crater on Mars. The geochemistry of this mudstone suggests that the lake filling the crater in Mars' past had a neutral pH and low salinity and contained elements and redox couples required by life. We produced a geochemical analogue to the Sheepbed mudstone by mixing a collection of its primary minerals to match the X‐Ray diffraction data from Mars Science Laboratory. Here we describe the production of the Y‐Mars (Yellowknife‐Mars) analogue and characterize its properties, including the presence of background carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. We highlight some of the unavoidable issues involved in making analogues, especially for astrobiological applications. The Y‐Mars analogue has a number of applications for astrobiological research, but more analogues are required to properly represent the diversity of Martian sedimentary contexts.
Same-sex vs. co-ed classrooms: do gender differences carry over Into a co-ed college?

v List of Tables vi Chapter 1: Introduction 1 1 1.1 Need for the Study 1 1.2 Purpose of the Study 1 1.3 Significance of the Study 2 1.4 Hypothesis 2 1.5 Operational Definitions 3 1.6 Assumptions and Limitations 3 1.7 Overview 4 Chapter 2: Literature Review 5 2.
Effect of conjoint application of nutrient sources and PGPR on soil microbiological properties of cauliflower

The present investigation entitled “Studies on conjoint application of nutrient sources and PGPR on microbiological properties of cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.) cv. Pusa Snowball K-1 was carried out at the Experimental Farm of Department of Soil Science and Water Management, Dr Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, (HP) during 2014-15 and 2015-16. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications comprising seven treatments viz. T1(100% NPK + FYM), T2(100% NPK + FYM+ PGPR), T3(100% NPK+ 50% FYM and 50% VC on N equivalence basis + PGPR), T4 (75% NPK+50% FYM and 50% VC on N equivalence basis), T5 (75% NPK+50% FYM and 50% VC on N equivalence basis+ PGPR), T6 (50% NPK+ 50% FYM and 50% VC on N equivalence basis) and T7 (50% NPK+ 50% FYM and 50% VC on N equivalence basis + PGPR). The seedlings were transplanted at a spacing of 60 x 45 cm in 3 x 2 m size plots. Conjoint use of fertilizers, manures and PGPR significantly influenced soil microbial properties of cauliflower crop. Treatment T3 resulted in significantly maximum microbiological properties which was found statiscally at par with T5.
IEA World Congress December 1995 INTERGENERATIONAL EQUITY AND THE RATE OF DISCOUNT IN LONG-TERM SOCIAL INVESTMENT

The importance of the correct choice of discount rate for social (or indeed individual) investments hardly needs elaboration. In the social context, the discount rate is, at least in part, an expression of concerns about equity between the present and future generations and among future generations. I say, in part, because it also expresses both an expectation of the rates of return available to future generations in alternative uses of capital and an expectation of the growth of income of the representative individual.
Journalists in times of change: evidence from a new survey of Australia's journalistic workforce

Studies of journalists’ professional views have a long history in many countries around the globe. This has been no less the case in Australia, where a number of surveys of journalists have been conducted, particularly in recent years. Yet, the only study so far able to lay claim to having studied a representative sample with a small error margin remains Henningham’s account of Australian journalists in the early 1990s. Clearly, Australian journalism has experienced a vast array of changes since that time, and it is crucial to provide a more up-to-date image of the profession. This study, based on telephone surveys with 605 Australian journalists, demonstrates some significant changes in the workforce. Journalists are now older, better educated, more experienced and arguably more left-leaning than 20 years ago. For the first time, women are in a majority, but are still disadvantaged. Journalists’ job satisfaction and ethical views are also discussed.
Decoupling of sediment sources in large river basins

It has been suggested that sediment dynamics of the upper and lower basins of large rivers of the North Carolina Coastal Plain are decoupled. The argument depends in part on sediment discharge from coastal plain uplands sufficient to account for observed alluvial storage and to dilute upper basin sediment. A synthesis of recent work shows extensive historical upland erosion in the region, coupled with limited sediment delivery to estuaries. This points to extensive storage. Further, estimates of slope-to-stream sediment delivery in the coastal plain, based on threshold drainage areas, suggest that sediment discharge is sufficient to account for the upper 70 cm of all flood plains having a mineral soil and a dominantly coastal plain sediment source. This supports upper and lower basin decoupling, but suggests that it may be unique to the historic period.
Measurement of the eta_b(1S) mass and the branching fraction for Upsilon(3S) --> gamma eta_b(1S)

We report evidence for the ground state of bottomonium, eta_b(1S), in the radiative decay Upsilon(3S) --> gamma eta_b in e^+e^- annihilation data taken with the CLEO III detector. Using 6 million Upsilon(3S) decays, and assuming Gamma(eta_b) = 10 MeV/c^2, we obtain B(Upsilon(3S) --> gamma eta_b) = (7.1 +- 1.8 +- 1.1) X 10^{-4}, where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic. The statistical significance is about 4 sigma. The mass is determined to be M(eta_b) = 9391.8 +- 6.6 +- 2.0 MeV/c^2, which corresponds to the hyperfine splitting Delta M_{hf}(1S)_b = 68.5 +- 6.6 +- 2.0 MeV/c^2. Using 9 million Upsilon(2S) decays, we place an upper limit on the corresponding Y(2S) decay, B(Y(2S) --> gamma eta_b) < 8.4 X 10^{-4} at 90 % confidence level.
Size at morphological maturity of Ucides cordatus (Linnaeus, 1763) (Brachyura, Ocypodidae) in the Laranjeiras Bay, Southern Brazil

Morphometry and maturity of Ucides cordatus were analyzed with males and females collected during one year on a monthly basis at Laranjeiras Bay, Parana State, Brazil. Carapace length, chelipeds propodus length and abdominal width were measured and related to carapace width to verify sexual dimorphism and size at morphological maturity of each sex. Carapace and propodus length of larger and smaller cheliped presented difference between sexes, confirming the use of both as secondary sexual characters. MATURE II program indicated 44mm and 43mm of carapace width to represent the size at sexual maturity of males and females, respectively.
Moment-based estimation of nonlinear regression models with boundary outcomes and endogeneity, with applications to nonnegative and fractional responses

ABSTRACT In this article, we suggest simple moment-based estimators to deal with unobserved heterogeneity in a special class of nonlinear regression models that includes as main particular cases exponential models for nonnegative responses and logit and complementary loglog models for fractional responses. The proposed estimators: (i) treat observed and omitted covariates in a similar manner; (ii) can deal with boundary outcomes; (iii) accommodate endogenous explanatory variables without requiring knowledge on the reduced form model, although such information may be easily incorporated in the estimation process; (iv) do not require distributional assumptions on the unobservables, a conditional mean assumption being enough for consistent estimation of the structural parameters; and (v) under the additional assumption that the dependence between observables and unobservables is restricted to the conditional mean, produce consistent estimators of partial effects conditional only on observables.
Assessing domestic water use habits for more effective water awareness campaigns during drought periods: a case study in Alicante, eastern Spain

Abstract. The design of water awareness campaigns could benefit from knowledge of the specific characteristics of domestic water use and the factors that may influence certain water consumption habits. This paper investigates water use in 450 households in 10 municipalities of drought-prone Alicante (Spain). We aim to increase knowledge about existing domestic water behaviors and therefore help to improve the design and implementation of future water awareness campaigns and even to consolidate reductions in water use after drought periods. The survey suggests that awareness campaigns should revise their scope and their channels of diffusion on a regular basis. In a more specific way, for the Alicante case we propose policy-oriented recommendations on the scope of action for further reductions.
Earnings management and performance of French IPO companies

In this paper, we examine the impact of discretionary current accruals on the performance of French IPO companies. We first note income-increasing earnings management in the first year as a public company and not in the year before the IPO (Initial Public Offerings). Based on a sample of 139 French IPOs over the period 1999 to 2007, including 38 failures, we also document that companies associated with aggressive earnings management in the IPO process, tend to suffer from subsequently poor returns and to delist for performance failure after IPO. However, we find no evidence to suggest that the level of initial return is negatively related to discretionary current accruals. Key words: Initial public offerings, earnings management, initial return, long-run stock market performance, delisting risk.
MATHEMATICAL MODELLING AND PARENTAGE ANALYSIS OF HYBRID ZONES

Hybrid zones are narrow regions in which species exchange genes, and yet remain distinct. This situation represents a clash between two views of species; one based on the pattern of gene flow, and the other on the maintenance of a cluster of phenotypes that is stable to invasion by foreign genes. The present study aims to 1) review the theoretical framework behind the mathematical analysis of clines in nature; 2) Implement a simplified version of these theoretical models in Mathematica; 3) Design an 'in silico' setting to simulate reproduction while keeping track of the resulting pedigrees; and 4) test the efficiency of parentage analysis methods implemented in R and estimate a minimum number of molecular markers needed to reconstruct parentage in hybrid zones. Our results indicate that, for a given level of migration between demes, different levels of selection have a direct impact on the cline width, with stronger natural selection causing clines to be narrower. On the other hand, selection and recombination also seem to play a significant role on the distribution of the level of linkage disequilibrium along the cline. Finally, it was found that a minimum number of 18 molecular markers (with at least 5 alleles each) will be needed in order to obtain a 95% confidence on our parentage assignments.
A study on the effect of board of directors on the rate of corporate transparency

Article history: Received April 28, 2012 Accepted 23 July 2012 Available online July 27 2012 The main target of this study is to consider the effect of the combination of board of directors on the corporate transparency in some companies among selected ones in Tehran Stock Exchange Market over the period of 20072010. In this research, the combination of board of directors is selected among some factors of corporate transparency such as structure of ownership and the rights of owners, financial information and statistics and structure and combination of board of directors and managers as a sub-indicator for corporate governance. Linear regression statistical method is used to test hypotheses of study. The size of α is considered as 5% and hypotheses are accepted or rejected by means of Durbin-Watson and Clemogrov-Smirnov tests and by comparing p-value with α. At last, by means of forward regression method, the effect of control variables is considered over each hypothesis.The results show that the members of board of directors have no effect on partnership transparency, but effect on financial data and information and structure and combination of board of directors. © 2012 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES ON ROTAVIRUS INFECTION CAUSING SEVERE DIARRHEA IN HUMAN, ANIMALS AND POULTRY

The epidemiology of rotavirus infection in human, calves, sheep, goats and poultry were studied. Among total of 800 collected fecal samples , 320 samples from human, 125 samples from calves, 82 samples from sheep, 7 samples from goats, 267 samples from poultry were collected from July 2010 to May 2011 and examined by Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis and Silver Staining (PAGE-SS) technique for the detection of presence of rotavirus dsRNA. Human rotavirus was detected 10.94 % (35/320) in diarrhoeic fecal samples. The highest prevalence was recorded in September 33.33% and the lowest in May 4.54%. The prevalence of rotavirus infections was 33.33% in autumn (September), 11.69% in late autumn (October-November), 9.6% in winter (December-January), 9.72% in spring (February- March), 6.12% in summer (April-May) season in diarrhoeic samples indicated the presence of rotavirus in human round the year in Bangladesh and as such no marked seasonal variation in rotavirus infection in human. No calves, sheep and goat fecal sample was found positive for rotavirus on PAGE-SS technique. During the study period, 267 faecal samples (diarrhoeic and nondiarrhoeic) of chicken (from one day to one month of age) were tested and only one was found positive on PAGE-SS technique for rotavirus infection (0.38%; 1/267). The positive cases were found in samples collected in winter season from layer chicks aged 10 days. The migration patterns of detected positive strains were not similar on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and their migration speed was different types. Five electropherotypes were determined among 35 human rotavirus positive samples. All the electropherotypes were under group A and long pattern. The genome migration of avian rotavirus was distinct from human types and under group D and long pattern. In the present study, it was not investigated that bacteria, parasite or any other viruses which might be responsible for development of diarrhoea. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3329/bjvm.v9i2. 13473
THE EFFECT OF AUDIT QUALITY ATTRIBUTES ON CLIENT SATISFACTION

This study aims to determine whether the quality attributes affect the quality of the audit clientsatisfaction. The primary data were taken through questionnaires using non probabilitysampling with convenience sample technique. The sample being processed consists of 37 respondentsthat financial managers of companies already involved in services, trades and industries.The statistical analysis is OLS (Ordinary Least Square) using SPSS version 17.0. The results of this study concluded that audit quality attributes are formed by the attributes ofexperience in audit, understanding industry customer to respond to the needs of the clientcomplying with common rules, the attitude of care, strong commitment to quality, audit firm,leadership participation doing work field properly, the participation of the audit committee,high ethical and not easily to believe simultaneously and partially are not influential significantlytoward the customer satisfaction. In this case, such finding is in terms of significancelevel each of audit quality has significance level above 0.05 or 5 percent.
Financial sector development and growth in Fiji: an analysis of credit boom and its implications

Fiji witnessed strong growth in domestic private sector credit for the continuous of four years from 2001. Aside from contributing to Fiji’s economic recovery, the credit expansion resulted in deteriorating annual trade balances. Examining the relationship between private sector credit, economic growth and trade balance, this paper finds the presence of a long-run relationship with linkage from domestic private sector credit to economic growth but not vice versa. Further, the results indicate evidence of a bi-directional short-run causality between the variables suggesting that private sector credit not only promoted economic growth, but also affected trade balance.
ASAA SOPHISTICATION IN THE USE OF BUDGETING PRACTICES

Previous studies regarding the budgeting practices topic seek to conduct surveys about what budgeting practices are used by companies, but there is no initiative to indicate which of them can be best suited. This paper aims to construct a model to assess the level of sophistication of the budgeting practices of companies. To build the model, we used MCDA-C (Multicriteria Decision Aiding Constructivist) methodology. We developed the model with the use of a value function for conversion of the scale, the method of the Direct Score was used. The model enables the demonstration of the sophistication level in the use of surveyed budgeting practices as well as for comparisons between research in different countries and industries. Using an instrument from another area of knowledge, the model contributes to measure the sophistication level of budgeting practices used.
Changes in cardiac autonomic regulation after acute lung exposure to carbon nanotubes: implications for occupational exposure

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are among the most relevant engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). Given the expected rise of exposure to ENMs, there is concern that they may adversely affect health of exposed people. Aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) pulmonary exposure acutely affect the autonomic cardiovascular regulation in conscious rats. We studied Wistar-Kyoto rats in which a telemetry transmitter for continuous arterial pressure (AP) and heart rate (HR) recordings was surgically implanted. SWCNTs dispersed in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) or PBS alone were randomly administered intratracheally. Immediately before, and 24 hours after each instillation a 30 min AP recording was performed. The sequence analysis was performed to evaluate the baroreflex function. In the control group, PBS instillation did not induce any significant changes. At variance the SWCNT exposure induced a significant reduction of baroreflex system (BRS) (3.5 ± 0.6 versus 2.6 ± 0.40 msec/mmHg) without significant changes in the occurrence of baroreflex sequences (7.5 ± 0.47% versus 7.4 ± 0.38%). Our results show that SWCNT pulmonary exposure might affect the cardiovascular autonomic regulation thus contributing to cardiac and arrhythmic events.
Short-Run Returns Around the Trades of Corporate Insiders on the London Stock Exchange

Previous work examined the long-run profitability of strategies mimicking the trades company directors in the shares of their own company, as a way of testing for market efficiency. The current paper examines patterns in abnormal returns in the days around these trades on the London Stock Exchange. We find movements in returns that are consistent with directors engaging in short-term market timing. We also report that some types of trades have superior predictive content over future returns. In particular, medium-sized trades are more informative for short-term returns than large ones, consistent with Barclay and Warner's (1993) "stealth trading" hypothesis whereby informed traders avoid trading in blocks. Another contribution of this study is to properly adjust the abnormal return estimates for microstructure (spread) transactions costs using daily bid-ask spread data. On a net basis, we find that abnormal returns all but disappear.