Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electronic Waste Management Practices and Its Extent of Implementation: A Case of an Academic Institution

The increase of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) electronic wastes and electronic products depends on the technology upgrading and obsolescence rates in the equipment. It can be assumed that the disposal of electronic equipment is driven by the production of new technological development. This descriptive study assessed the electronic waste management practices and extent of implementation of e-waste management. Data on the practices on e-waste disposal was collected using a researcher-made questionnaire, with Southern Leyte State University (SLSU) end-users of ICT serving as respondents. Findings showed that e-waste management was practiced only by a few and that processing techniques were only partially implemented. This revelation strengthens the need to implement the best practices and processing techniques in the handling and disposal of electronics waste.
Scatter-hoarding of Cape Proteaceae nuts by rodents

Most large-seeded shrubs and trees from Mediterranean shrublands are either serotinous (canopy stored seeds) or myrmecochorous (ant-buried). It has been hypothesized that these traits evolved to prevent access to the seeds by rodents. Here we present the first field evidence of a third guild, scatter-hoarding of nuts in the genus Leucadendron (Proteaceae) from the south-west Cape. The rodent concerned is Acomys subspinosus, a small (< 20 g) south-west Cape endemic murid. Seeds are typically buried singly, less than 2 cm deep and at distances of up to 5 m from seed depots. This finding has implications for the understanding of the evolution of myrmecochory and serotiny in shrublands. It extends the evolution of cached-nuts to a new family and is one of the first records of scatter-hoarding, outside of forests, in the southern hemisphere.
Women and Condoms: A Preliminary Study of Practice and Meaning

Experiences of condom use and meaning among feminist women of an urban college area of southwestern United States in 1994 were explored through ethnographic interviews. Women's disposition to use condoms coincides with the targeting of female consumers as a market for condoms. However, constraints on women's condom use are related to the meanings of condoms in the context of particular relationships, and to the meanings of condoms vis-a-vis ideas of sexuality, and to macrolevel power relations of gender. For some women condom use is an important component of self-transformation.
Universal Behavior of Modulationally Unstable Media

Evidence is presented of universal behavior in modulationally unstable media. An ensemble of nonlinear evolution equations, including three partial differential equations, an integro-differential equation, a nonlocal system and a differential-difference equation, is studied. Collectively, these systems arise in a variety of applications in the physical and mathematical sciences, including water waves, optics, acoustics, Bose-Einstein condensation, and more. All these models exhibit modulational instability, namely, the property that a constant background is unstable to long-wavelength perturbations. In this work, each of these systems is studied analytically and numerically for a number of different initial perturbations of the constant background, and it is shown that, for all systems and for all initial conditions considered, the dynamics gives rise to a remarkably similar structure comprised of two outer, quiescent sectors separated by a wedge-shaped central region characterized by modulated periodic oscillations. A heuristic criterion that allows one to compute some of the properties of the central oscillation region is also given.
VEGETATION AND SOIL DEVELOPMENT IN PLANTED PINE AND NATURALLY REGENERATED HARDWOOD STANDS 48 YEARS AFTER MINING 1

Restoration activities at the time of stand initiation can have lasting effects on subsequent recovery of stand structure and function. Here we compared several metrics, with an emphasis on soils, of structure and function in forest stands that had been planted with pine or remained unplanted, and had undergone primary succession over 48 years on mine spoils. These were also compared to reference sites in the adjacent forest, to test the hypothesis that the development of forest functional processes will differ between planted and unplanted sites. Areas planted to pine had a lower basal area, and lower soil and microbial respiration rates than did unplanted areas. Basal area of unplanted sites was comparable or higher than that of reference sites, suggesting that the natural succession of hardwood may lead to better long-term recovery than planting of pine. Differences in root biomass, along with corresponding differences in soil respiration, suggest that below-ground biomass production recovers more slowly than does above-ground productivity. Mined sites had a greater stock of phosphorus than did reference sites. The greater presence of earthworms on mined sites may speed up nutrient cycling, as indicated by faster cellulose decomposition. Additional keywords: carbon, mining, nitrogen, phosphorus, Pinus
The Social Disclosure Impact on Corporate Financial Performance: Case of Big French Companies

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of voluntary disclosure about corporate social responsibility (CSR) 1 on firm’s financial performance. First, a state of the art about corporate social responsibility and social reporting is presented. After that, the problems of measurement of CSR are indicated and the hypotheses are proposed. In the empirical analysis, regression models are developed to test the impact of social reporting on return on assets (ROA) 2 and return on equity (ROE) 3 , over a period of 11 years from 2000 to 2010 for 201 big French companies. The results showed that there is no significant relation between CSR disclosure and financial performance for French companies, but a positive effect of time on this relation is discerned when there is a lag of one year for the observations. The contribution of this work to the CSR literature is the elucidation of temporal impact of social and environmental disclosure on firm’s value.
Potential corollaries of land degradation on rural livelihoods in upper Songwe transboundary river catchment, Tanzania

Land degradation has been a part of Livelihoods in most of rural household of the developing countries. Its critical constraints have been observed in agricultural production and in living standards in most of rural livelihoods that leaves these households vulnerable to severe hardship. This paper aimed to understand the community’s responses on the impacts of land degradation and anticipated management strategies in the Upper Songwe basin. It used a survey method in which, household survey, key informant interviews, institutional interviews and field observation were used in data collection. The results revealed the decline in physical and social capital and limited opportunities in farming communities due to land degradation. Soil erosion and landslides reduced area for cultivation, changed the water colour and increased the silts and reduced fish catch in the river and Lake Nyasa. Expansion of cultivations, engaging in the processing of natural resources products have been ways of surviving in the area. Farmers also frequently migrate on a temporary basis to locations that have favorable farming conditions. To improve livelihood and sustain natural resource there is a need to institutionalize adaptation strategies that provide an environment for rural community to understand land resource management and adaptation strategies.
Indigenous Fire Use to Manage Savanna Landscapes in Southern Mozambique

Prescribed burn regimes for protected areas in southern Africa are often based solely on modeling of historic data and onsite experimentation. Most rural communities in this region continue to rely on fire to manage natural resources for subsistence needs, yet relatively few detailed studies of local fire knowledge and practices exist. The long history of anthropogenic fire in southern Africa suggests that traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of fire could provide further insight into location-specific anthropogenic contributions to fire-savanna interactions. This study used an ethnographic approach to investigate how local people think about and manage fire as part of their daily activities in two rural communities in southern Mozambique. Residents use fire for a range of livelihood activities and identify both controlled and uncontrolled anthropogenic fire sources. Fire regimes are presented for five common livelihood activities including frequency, seasonality, area, and type of habitat burned. Comparisons between historic and contemporary fires revealed decreases in the number of controlled burns and consequent increases in the size and number of wildfires, but no changes in the purposes for conducting controlled burns or the methods people used to conduct burns. Community fire regulations aim to reduce personal and communal property destruction, as well as protect locally valuable biodiversity. The results highlight the importance in accessing indigenous fire TEK for understanding anthropogenic contributions to fire regimes. Furthermore, they demonstrate that despite different worldviews, indigenous and western fire experts share a common goal in maintaining regional biodiversity.
On integrability in Grassmann geometries: integrable systems associated with fourfolds in Gr(3,5)

Let Gr(d,n) be the Grassmannian of d ‐dimensional linear subspaces of an n ‐dimensional vector space Vn . A submanifold X⊂Gr(d,n) gives rise to a differential system Σ(X) that governs d ‐dimensional submanifolds of Vn whose Gaussian image is contained in X . Systems of the form Σ(X) appear in numerous applications in continuum mechanics, theory of integrable systems, general relativity and differential geometry. They include such well‐known examples as the dispersionless Kadomtsev–Petviashvili equation, the Boyer–Finley equation, Plebańsky's heavenly equations and so on.
Pricing Hybrid Securities: The Case of Malaysian ICULS

This paper provides an indepth analysis of Irredeemable Convertible Unsecured Loan Stocks or ICULS. A Malaysian variant of the convertible bond, ICULS are a hybrid security. Despite their introduction and trading since the late 1980’s, not much work have been done on them. This paper presents the first empirical evidence on the pricing of ICULS. We propose a pricing model for ICULS, built on the replication technique of options. Using 30 months (2½ years) of daily price data, we test our model on a sample of 34 ICULS. Though on average ICULS are underpriced by 2.3%, we find an equal number of under and overpriced ICULS. Our findings show that not only does the market misprice ICULS, the mispricing is sustained over quite a while. Infact, even over a one year window period, marginal mispricing remains. We argue that issuers of ICULS benefit much more than investors do.
Teacher Quality, Test Scores and Non-Cognitive Skills: Evidence from Primary School Teachers in the UK. CEP Discussion Paper No. 1472.

Schooling can produce both cognitive and non-cognitive skills, both of which are important determinants of adult outcomes. Using very rich data from a UK birth cohort study, I estimate teacher value added (VA) models for both pupils' test scores and non-cognitive skills. I show that teachers are equally important in the determination of pupils' test scores and non-cognitive skills. This finding extends the economics literature on teacher effects, which has primarily focused on pupils' test scores and may fail to capture teachers' overall effects. In addition, the large estimates reveal an interesting trade-off: teacher VA on pupils' test scores are weak predictors of teacher VA on non-cognitive skills, which suggests that teachers recourse to different techniques to improve pupils' cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Finally, I find that teachers' effects on pupils' non-cognitive skills have long-run impacts on adult outcomes such as higher education attendance, employment and earnings, conditional on their effects on test scores. This result indicates that long-run outcomes are improved by a combination of teachers increasing pupils' test scores and non-cognitive skills and has large policy implications.
Carbadox, formic acid and potato fibre as feed additives for growing pigs

A growth trial was conducted on 160 pigs to evaluate the effect of different types of feed additives on performance. The barley-oats-soyabean meal-based diets were supplemented with either carbadox (0 or 50 mg/kg) or potato fibre (Povex, 0 or 20 g/kg) in the growing period, or with formic acid (0 or 8 g/kg, 85% v/w) throughout the trial. No interactions between the feed additives were observed. Both carbadox and formic acid improved, but potato fibre tended to impair the performance of growing pigs (22-51 kg liveweight, LW). Formic acid did not affect the performance of the finishing pigs (51-102 kg LW). In the finishing period the pigs fed grower diets without carbadox or formic acid compensated fully for their reduced performance. The performance of pigs fed grower diets with potato fibre remained poorer than that of pigs fed without addition of fibre.
The Piosphere: Sheep Track and Dung Patterns.

The basic ecological unit in arid areas under grazing animals is envisaged as a zone round a watering point and is termed the piosphere (from the Greek "pios" = to drink). A piosphere in which sheep tracks can be distinguished in aerial photographs has been investigated; length, direction and type of track are described; remarkable adherance of the tracks to the near radial (significant deviation of 2.5? to left) indicate navigational skill in sheep. Sheep forage but do not cut visible tracks between the radial tracks. Sheep density can be estimated from dung density since pellets of dung persist for long periods in the arid regions. It is suggested that understanding the piosphere will contribute to management in arid rangelands.
Bordism of elementary abelian groups via inessential Brown–Peterson homology

We compute the equivariant bordism of free oriented (Z/p)n ‐manifolds as a module over Ω* SO , when p is an odd prime. We show, among others, that this module is canonically isomorphic to a direct sum of suspensions of multiple tensor products of Ω* SO (BZ/p) , and that it is generated by products of standard lens spaces. This considerably improves previous calculations by various authors.
How Do Regulated and Unregulated Labor Markets Respond to Shocks? Evidence from Immigrants During the Great Recession

We study wage adjustment during the recent crisis in regulated and unregulated labor markets in Italy. Using a unique dataset on immigrant workers, we show that before the crisis wages in the formal and informal sectors moved in parallel (with a 15 percent premium in the formal labor market). During the crisis, however, formal wages did not adjust down while wages in the unregulated informal labor market fell so that by 2013 the gap had grown to 32 percent. The difference was particularly salient for workers in "simple" occupations where there is high substitutability between immigrant and native workers. Calibrating a simple model of spillovers between formal and informal markets, we find that less than 10 percent of workers who lost a formal job during the crisis move to the informal sector. We also find that if the formal sector wages were fully flexible, the decline in formal employment would be in the range of 1.5-4.5 percent - much lower than 16 percent decline that we observe in the data.
The Reproductive Biology of the Softshell Clam, Mya arenaria, in Ireland, and the Possible Impacts of Climate Variability

Little is known about the biology of the softshell clam in Europe, despite it being identified as a potential species to culture for food in the future. Monthly samples of the softshell clam, Mya arenaria, were collected intertidally from Co. Wexford, Ireland, over a period of sixteen months. The mean weight of sampled individuals was 74±4.9 g and mean length was 8.2±0.2 cm. Histological examination revealed a female-to-male ratio of 1 : 1.15. In 2010, M. arenaria at this site matured over the summer months, with both sexes either ripe or spawning by August. A single spawning event was recorded in 2010, completed by November. Two unusually cold winters, followed by a warmer-than-average spring, appear to have affected M. arenaria gametogenesis in this area, potentially affecting the time of spawning, fertilisation success, and recruitment of this species. No hermaphrodites were observed in the samples collected, nor were any pathogens observed. Timing of development and spawning is compared with the coasts of eastern North America and with other European coasts.
Are menstrual knowledge outcome scores similar among rural and urban girls

Background: Adolescent girls constitute a vulnerable group particularly in India where menstruation is still regarded as something dirty and messy. The cultural and social influences appear to be hurdle for advancement of knowledge of the subject. This results in adverse health outcomes in these adolescent girls. Awareness about menstruation and hygienic practices followed during menstruation are of immense importance as it has a health impact in terms of increased vulnerability to reproductive tract infection. Aim: a) To assess and compare the knowledge regarding menstruation in rural & urban adolescent girls. b) To associate the findings with the selected sociodemographic variables. Subjects and Methods: A community based, cross sectional study was undertaken among 715 adolescent schools going girls in the field practice area of the RHTC & UHTC of Department of Community Medicine, District Bareilly. A pre-designed, pretested structured questionnaire was used in the study regarding knowledge and perception of the school going girls regarding menstruation. Results: Majority of the girls had first heard of menstruation and acquired knowledge related to it before attaining menarche (72.45%). The major source of information was from their mothers and sisters (60.6%). Maximum number of girls was not aware of the source of bleeding (53.7%). Statistically significant difference with knowledge scores was seen in girls of higher standards, maternal literacy and father’s occupation. Conclusion: Several factors are known to influence menstrual behaviour, the most significant being maternal literacy and father’s occupation. Imparting knowledge about menstruation and safe practices during menstruation is necessary to mitigate the suffering of adolescent girls. Therefore promoting positive attitudes towards management of menstruation and related problems among the adolescent girls is the need of the hour.
Estimates of genetic parameters for meat quality and carcass traits in Duroc pigs

We estimated the heritabilities of meat quality and carcass traits and the genetic correlations between these traits by using data on 387 Duroc pigs selected for loin muscle area, backfat thickness, and intramuscular fat (IMF) content over 5 generations. The heritability estimates of the following meat quality traits were, for moisture content, 0.46; IMF, 0.52; crude protein content, 0.57; cooking loss (CL), 0.39; water-holding capacity, 0.21; and shear force value (SFV), 0.63. The estimates of the genetic correlations of IMF with CL and SFV were favorably negative at –0.53 and –0.37, respectively. The heritability estimates for the following carcass traits were, for dressing percentage, 0.22; carcass length (CaL), 0.61; back and loin length, 0.63; carcass width, 0.43; number of thoracic vertebrae (NTV), 0.53; and number of lumbar vertebrae (NLV), 0.09. The genetic correlation between CaL and IMF was estimated as moderate and negative at –0.35, and those of CaL with CL and SFV were moderate and positive at 0.33 and 0.24, respectively. The estimated genetic correlation between IMF and NTV was approximately 0, whereas that between IMF and NLV was high and negative at –0.61. These results suggest that improvement of IMF increases meat juiciness and softness indirectly. The genetic gain of IMF can be increased by using information on body length, but potential shortening of body length needs to be taken into account when increasing IMF.
Surface and Ground Waters Concentrations of Metal Elements in Central Cross River State, Nigeria, and their Suitability for Fish Culture

One of the requirements for fish farming is good water quality, void of pollutants. Some heavy metals such as Magnesium, Calcium, Zinc and Iron, which are important in daily life processes, could become pollutants above the required concentrations. Others such as Mercury (Hg), Arsenic (As), Silver (Ag), and Cadmium (Cd) are not required by organisms even at low concentrations. Surface and ground water were investigated for heavy metals concentration to establish their suitability for fish culture. Three surface water bodies (a river, stream and fish pond) and ground water stations (dugout well and two bore holes) were sampled. Heavy metals were analyzed spectrophotomically at different wave lengths. Data were collated and subjected to analysis of variance which showed that heavy metal concentration in order of abundance was pond, river, stream, dug out well and the bore holes. Heavy metals were therefore, more concentrated in surface water than in ground water (p < 0.05). Surface water contain run off from within their basins while ground water contain what has been sieved into it from the surrounding. Hardness which is a measure of Calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) salts were higher in ground water compared to surface water. Heavy metal concentration were Cu = 0.06 - 0.97 mg/l, Cd = 0.0 - 0.0013 mg/l, Zn = 0.04 – 2.97 mg/l, Ni = 0.0 – 0.43 mg/l, Mn = 0.1 – 3.67 mg/l, Fe = 0.95 – 5.11 mg/l and Al = 0.02 - . 02 mg/l. Though heavy metals have no safe concentration for living organisms, the metals were observed to be lower than concentrations recommended by several bodies including Food and Nutrition Board (USA) and Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC in Nigeria).
Evaluation of Atomic Structure in Chemistry Textbooks Used in Secondary Schools in Tanzania

Teaching atomic structure within a history and philosophy of chemistry perspective has been recognized by researchers in science education. The present study aimed at evaluation of the presentation of chemistry textbooks used in secondary schools in Tanzania. The criteria used for evaluation were the atomic models of Thomson, Rutherford and Bohr and twenty seven chemistry textbooks were analyzed. Results obtained showed that none of the studied textbooks explained satisfactorily that Bohr’s model was based on an inconsistent foundation in which he ‘grafted’ Planck’s ‘quantum of action’ on to Maxwell’s electrodynamics. On the other hand few textbooks described satisfactory that Bohr had not even heard of the Balmer and Paschen formulae for hydrogen line spectrum, when he wrote the first version of his article; Similarly, The rivalry between Rutherford’s hypothesis of single scattering based on a single encounter and Thomson’s hypothesis of compound scattering led to a bitter dispute and the Thomson’s experiments on cathode rays were conducted to clarify the controversy with respect to the nature of cathode rays, that is charged particles or waves in the ether. Some textbooks explained satisfactorily that Rutherford’s model of the atom had to compete with that of Thomson; and that Bohr’s main objective was to explain the paradoxical stability of the Rutherford model. It is concluded that the inclusion of historical reconstructions of atomic structure in chemistry textbooks used in Tanzania can provide students with a better appreciation of the dynamics of scientific progress.