Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Application of molecular and biotechnological techniques in plant disease management: A review

Plant diseases are a major challenge in crop production. They are caused by nematodes, bacteria, fungi, viruses as well as plant nutritional factors. Diseases interfere with the normal physiological and metabolic processes of plants. This results in various effects including wilting, stunting, yellowing and death of plant tissues and organs. Crop losses due to diseases manifest in form of reduced yield, poor quality produce, and reduced post-harvest storage. Past research has brought to the limelight the continuous capacity of pathogens to revert to new pathotypes and strains, some that break resistant varieties or are less sensitive to chemical control products. Currently, farmers are advised to combine several plant disease management practices, a strategy known as integrated plant disease management. Such strategies include crop rotation, use of disease free planting materials, field sanitation, and chemical methods as well as use of resistant varieties. However, some of these methods are expensive and substantially increase the cost of production. Development in molecular biology and biotechnology found application in plant disease management. This ranges from identification, diagnosis to control through gene transfer, mutation breeding and RNA interference, among others. In this paper, the current developments in the application of molecular techniques and biotechnology to manage plant diseases, outlining their possible future application and potential for enhanced plant disease management. Key words: Phytopathogens, genetics, molecular biology, plant transformation, control options.
Plant debris of oak forest as soil amendment, to improve the biocontrol activity of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Trichoderma vierns against Meloidogyne javanica, in tomato

Application of antagonistic agents in the rhizosphere of plants is an important approach in control of soil-borne pathogens. Establishment and persistence of biocontrol agents in the soil is a major concern in biological control. This study aimed to determine the effect of plant debris of oak forests on activity of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Trichoderma vierns against Meloidogyne javanica in tomato in green house conditions. In different treatments, both or one of the bioagents were applied to the soil inoculated with M. javanica and amended or unamended with oak plant debris. Based on the results, the growth-related factors of tomato improved in those treatments, in which plant debris were mixed with the soil. In case of nematode-related factors, the number of galls on roots decreased significantly in pots amended with plant debris. Maximum reduction in reproduction factor was observed in treatments with one or both of the biocontrol agents. In comparison to unamended treatments, the rate of reduction in root gall was 56.3% for treatments receiving T. virens and maximum increase in dry weight of root was observed in soils treated with P. fluorescens or T. virens, 68.2% and 56.1%, respectively.
What can we learn about ship emission inventories from measurements of air pollutants over the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract. Ship emission estimates diverge widely for all chemical compounds for several reasons: use of different methodologies (bottom-up or top-down), activity data and emission factors can easily result in a difference ranging from a factor of 1.5 to even an order of magnitude. Combining three sets of observational data – ozone and black carbon measurements sampled at three coastal sites and on board of a Mediterranean cruise ship, as well as satellite observations of atmospheric NO2 column concentration over the same area – we assess the accuracy of the three most commonly used ship emission inventories, EDGAR FT (Olivier et al., 2005), emissions described by Eyring et al. (2005) and emissions reported by EMEP (Vestreng et al., 2007). Our tool is a global atmospheric chemistry transport model which simulates the chemical state of the Mediterranean atmosphere applying different ship emission inventories. The simulated contributions of ships to air pollutant levels in the Mediterranean atmosphere are significant but strongly depend on the inventory applied. Close to the major shipping routes relative contributions vary from 10 to 50% for black carbon and from 2 to 12% for ozone in the surface layer, as well as from 5 to 20% for nitrogen dioxide atmospheric column burden. The relative contributions are still significant over the North African coast, but less so over the South European coast because densely populated regions with significant human activity contribute relatively more to air pollution than ships, even if these regions attract a lot of ship traffic. The observations poorly constrain the ship emission inventories in the Eastern Mediterranean where the influence of uncertain land based emissions, the model transport and wet deposition are at least as important as the signal from ships. In the Western Mediterranean, the regional EMEP emission inventory gives the best match with most measurements, followed by Eyring for NO2 and ozone and by EDGAR for black carbon. Given the uncertainty of the measurements and the model, each of the three emission inventories could actually be right, implying that large uncertainties in ship emissions need to be considered for future scenario analysis.
Equity Variation of Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Outcomes of Middle School Education in Argentina Variación de la equidad en resultados cognitivos y no cognitivos de la educación media de Argentina

The equity level and variations of cognitive and non-cognitive achievements are analyzed, in the mathematics and language subjects, at the end of middle school education in Argentina. It has been used, all the available data from the National Census at the Conclusion of Middle School Level 1988, (“Censo Nacional de Finalizacion del Nivel Secundario de 1988”) performed by the Culture and Education Ministry of that country. The analyzed data is of about 116,894 students from about 2,062 schools. The model of lineal hierarchy or multilevel technique is used with three levels: students, schools and State. Objectives: To evaluate the effect of a set of factors of educational (in) equity, from cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes, the interschool variation from the effect of such factors and the consistency of institutional effectiveness. This study detects different
DETERMINANTS OF CAPITAL ADEQUACY RATIO IN KUWAITI BANKS

The aim of this study is to identify the effects of seven internal factors of five conventional Kuwaiti banks on capital adequacy ratio (CAR). The five factors are: Loans to Assets, Loans to Deposits, NonPerforming Loans to Total Loans, Return on Assets, Return on Equity, Dividend Payout and Total Liability to Total Assets. The study covers the period from 2005 to 2013. The study shows that under fixed effect model, variables DIVIEDEND, LAR, LDR, NPLLR, and ROE do not have any impact on capital adequacy ratio. However, SIZE has a significant and negative relationship with capital adequacy ratio. Also, ROA shows a significant and negative relationship with capital adequacy ratio. Under random effect model, results indicate that CAR is adversely affected by bank’s SIZE (total liability to assets), and ROA has a significant and negative relationship with capital adequacy ratio, However, Loan to Deposit Ratio (LDR) showed a significant and positive relationship with capital adequacy ratio. On the other hand, dividend payout, loans to assets, Non-Performing Loans to Total Loans and Return on equity do not have significant effect on CAR under random effect model.
Prevalence and distribution of gram negative bacteria of Enterobacteriaceae causing Urinary tract infections among hospitalized patients

Prevalence and frequency distribution in isolated gram negative bacteria causing urinary tract infections (UTI) in patients attending Meerut Kidney Hospital, Meerut city, Uttar Pradesh, India was determined. About 132 clinical samples of urine were collected from the patients and 96 gram negative bacteria were isolated from 64 positive samples of urine. The total prevalence of UTI was found to be 48.48% in the study population. The urinary tract infection was most frequently encountered in females (64.49%) between the age group 26 to 36 years (90.48%) followed by 15-25 years (70.59%). Among the isolated gram negative bacteria, the prevalence of Escherichia coli was found highest (42.71%) followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (23.96%), Proteus spp. (19.79%) and Enterobacter spp. (13.54%).
Disruption of reading comprehension by irrelevant speech: The role of updating in working memory

This investigation examined the relationship between updating in working memory and the effect of irrelevant speech on reading comprehension. In updating tasks, participants can make two types of errors labelled delayed intrusions and immediate intrusions. Delayed intrusions measures people’s ability to suppress active information in working memory, while immediate intrusions measure people’s ability to inhibit information from becoming too active. In our study, a negative relationship between reading comprehension and delayed intrusions was found, and reading comprehension was disrupted by irrelevant speech. This disruption was larger for participants with poor updating ability, specifically for those who made a lot of immediate intrusion errors. The results suggest that people with poor updating ability are not only less able to comprehend what they read, but also more susceptible to the disruptive effects from background speech while reading.
Does Tunneling the Temporary Vascular Access Extend Its Lifetime

Introduction: A significant proportion of infertile men with azoospermia and severe oligoazoospermia have a genetic etiology for their reproductive failure. Genetic analysis has major effects on finding the causes of infertility in last decade, but still in some cases, we still do not have clear answer for our patients. During last years it has become evident that endogenous estrogens and estrogen receptors (ER) play role in the regulation of testicular function. Present study was performed to evaluate the significance of RsaI and AluI single nucleotide polymorphism in the ER gene in infertile patients in comparison with normal fertile male control. Methods: From 120 infertile men referred to our center after ruling out all the known causes of the infertility such as chromosomal abnormalities, Y-chromosome microdeletion, and other pathologic disorders, 5 ml peripheral blood were obtained for DNA extraction. PCR amplification of the polymorphic region was carried out and after running the PCR products on 1.5% agarose gel, the frequency of the polymorphism were calculated. Results: A 3 times higher frequency of the heterozygous RsaI genotype was found in men with low sperm concentration compared to control (P=0.003). In contrast, the proportion of homozygous AluI genotype was only 1/3 in severely oligoazoospermic men in comparison with control (P=0.03). Conclusion: Our results could suggest that ER and RsaI and AluI single nucleotide polymorphisms on this gene are important for spermatogenesis in humans, and could play an important role in the spermatogenesis process in males. Also it is possible to conclude that different conditions of infertility may not have genetic predisposition in common. Key words: estrogen receptor, polymorphism
Access to f inAnce And funding composition during the crisis : A f irm-level AnAlysis of lAtin AmericAn countries

This paper describes the ef fects of the 2009 global f inancial crisis on f irms’ access to f inancing for investment projects. The analysis uses data from the Latin American and Caribbean Enterprise Surveys 2006 and 2010, demonstrating that during the crisis, the availability of internal sources was crucial for larger and foreign-owned f irms or f irms that were part of a group, while state-owned f irms did not enjoy any f inancial privileges. F irms sought greater bank and supply-chain f inancing, larger f irms used less internal funds, foreign f irms relied more on internal funds, while f irms that export and import used bank credits more intensively.
Revisiting the radio interferometer measurement equation - IV. A generalized tensor formalism

Context. The radio interferometer measurement equation (RIME), especially in its 2 ×2 form, has provided a comprehensive matrixbased formalism for describing classical radio interferometry and polarimetry, as shown in the previous three papers of this series. However, recent practical and theoretical developments, such as phased array feeds (PAFs), aperture arrays (AAs) and wide-field polarimetry, are exposing limitations of the formalism. Aims. This paper aims to develop a more general formalism that can be used to both clearly define the limitations of the matrix RIME, and to describe observational scenarios that lie outside these limitations. Methods. Some assumptions underlying the matrix RIME are explicated and analysed in detail. To this purpose, an array correlation matrix (ACM) formalism is explored. This proves of limited use; it is shown that matrix algebra is simply not a sufficiently flexible tool for the job. To overcome these limitations, a more general formalism based on tensors and the Einstein notation is proposed and explored both theoretically, and with a view to practical implementations. Results. The tensor formalism elegantly yields generalized RIMEs describing beamforming, mutual coupling, and wide-field polarimetry in one equation. It is shown that under the explicated assumptions, tensor equations reduce to the 2 × 2R IME. From a practical point of view, some methods for implementing tensor equations in an optimal way are proposed and analysed. Conclusions. The tensor RIME is a powerful means of describing observational scenarios not amenable to the matrix RIME. Even in cases where the latter remains applicable, the tensor formalism can be a valuable tool for understanding the limits of such applicability.
Women's Cooperatives in Greece and Niche Market Challenge

Rural tourism is a field of activation for women within the broader process of promotion of reconstruction measures for the development of the countryside via integrated and endogenous procedures. The running of private or cooperative nature accommodation in rural areas and the establishment and development of the women’s cooperatives for the better exploitation of local products, traditions and cultural heritage comprise the main axes of women’s involvement in the field of rural tourism activities in Greece. The present work approaches the issue under a niche market perspective. Initially, it presents the institutional framework supporting the respective activities and the successive development phases of rural tourism in Greece. It further provides three typical case study examples of respective women’s cooperatives in Greece regarding their evolutionary process and a number of major aspects of their profile. In the end, the cooperatives are considered and evaluated with a view to creating, developing and maintaining a niche market organization in rural tourism. It seems that for a number of reasons the rapid increase of the numbers of the women’s cooperatives in Greece has not been accompanied by the development of all those necessary conditions that would make them successful niche market examples.
Simulation of traffic pollution dispersion near roadways

A semi-empirical model intended for simulation of dispersion of aerosol particles with the diameter larger than 0.05 μm near roadways is proposed. The pollution source is simulated as a cut-off cylinder, formed due to traffic pollution on the roadways at the initial time moment and uniformly filled with aerosol particles. The aerosol particle transfer by the wind further from the roadway is simulated, its settling being influenced by the gravitation, particle buoyancy, and thermal pollutant plume rise effects. Good agreement between the model and experimental results is obtained. Keywords: modelling, traffic pollution, aerosol particles (>0.05 μm), roadside
Analysis of exchange rate fluctuations and external debt: Empirical evidence from Pakistan

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the relationship, with respect to the Pakistani economy, between exchange rates and external debt by utilizing quarterly data from the 1983:Q1 to 2008:Q4 period. Short-run and long-run nominal and real effective exchange rates and their respective equilibrium rates have been assembled. The long run equilibrium exchange rate has been determined by employing the natural real exchange rate (NATREX) model suggested by Stein et al. (1990). We applied the Johanson (1988) cointegration test to examine the long run cointegration relationships among exchange rates and the relevant exogenous variables in the Natrex model. After computing the deviation of exchange rate from its long run, the autoregressive distributive lag model (ARDL) was applied to examine the role of external debt in the fluctuation of exchange rate. The results suggest that there is a long-run cointegration relationship among the relevant variables in the Natrex model and there is a long run cointegration relationship between the exchange rate and external debt variables. We also checked the stability of the functions and performed diagnostic tests. Most of the tests suggested that the functions adopted for the analysis are appropriate and stable over time. Moreover, the obtained results are robust and in according to the predictions of the model. Key words: Exchange rate, external debt, autoregressive distributive lag model (ARDL), methodology.
An application of Schauder's fixed point theorem with respect to higher order BVPs

We shall provide conditions on the function f (t, ul, ,Un-1). The higher order boundary value problem (BVP) I(E) U(n)(t) + f (t,u(t),u(')(t),,u(n-2)(t)) = 0 for t E (0,1) and n > 2, J u(i)(0) = , < i < -3, (BC) lcu(n-2)(0) u(n-i)(0) 0, yU(n-2) (1) + 6U(n-1) (1) = 0 has at least one solution.
Personality and mental health in a cohort of black African teachers : the SABPA study

English abstracts must be supplied with all submissions accompanied by a French, Portuguese and/or Spanish translation. For data-based contributions, the abstract should be structured as follows: Objective — the primary purpose of the paper, Method — data source, subjects, design, measurements, data analysis, Results — key findings, and Conclusions — implications, future directions. For all other contributions (except editorials, letters and book reviews) the abstract must be a concise statement of the content of the paper. Abstracts must not exceed 200 words. It should summarise the information presented in the paper but should not include references. Referencing: References in text: References in running text should be quoted as follows: Louw and Mkize (2004), or (Louw 2004), or Louw (2000, 2004a, 2004b), or (Louw & Mkize 2004), or (Mkize 2003;Louw&Naidoo, 2004). All surnames should be cited the first time the reference occurs, e.g. Louw, Mkize and Naidoo (2004) or (Louw, Mkize & Naidoo, 2004). Subsequent citations should use et al., e.g. Louw et al., (2004) or (Louw et al., 2004). ‘Unpublished observations’ and ‘personal communications’ may be cited in the text, but not in the reference list. Manuscripts accepted but not yet published can be included as references followed by ‘in press’. Reference list: Full references should be given at the end of the article in alphabetical order, using double spacing. References to journals should include the authors’ surnames and initials, the full title of the paper, the full name of the journal, the year of publication, the volume number, and inclusive page numbers. Titles of journals must not be abbreviated. References to books should include the authors’ surnames and initials, the year of publication, the full title of the book, the place of publication, and the publisher’s name. References should be cited as per the examples below (please note the absence of punctuation): Appoh, L. (1995). The effects of parental attitudes, beliefs and values on the nutritional status of their children in two communities in Ghana. Unpublished masters dissertation, University of Trondheim,
Working for less? Women's part-time wage penalties across countries

Abstract This paper investigates wage gaps between part- and full-time women workers in six OECD countries in the mid-1990s. Using comparable micro-data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), for Canada, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the UK, and the US, the paper first assesses cross-national variation in the direction, magnitude, and composition of the part-time/full-time wage differential. Then it analyzes variations across these countries in occupational segregation between part- and full-time workers. The paper finds a part-time wage penalty among women workers in all countries, except Sweden. Other than in Sweden, occupational differences between part- and full-time workers dominate the portion of the wage gap that is explained by observed differences between the two groups of workers. Across countries, the degree of occupational segregation between female part- and full-time workers is negatively correlated with the position of part-time workers' wages in the full-time wage distribution.
Girl child education and enrollment drive: The role of traditional music and dance

The study is set out from an intervention perspective using music and dance as a vehicle for enhancing the enrollment drive and retention of girls in basic schools. It was a qualitative research under the auspices of “Ghana Wins” project that involved pupils, parents and teachers of New Winneba Municipal Assembly Primary and Junior High School to deepen their understanding on how Music and Dance has the potency of attracting children to school. Through the concept of interculturalism in music the study highlights the challenges of girl-child education in Ghana and documents the needed information, materials and guides that may help teachers in basic schools to intercede appropriately. Data were sourced by interview and participant observation. Findings of the paper provide assistance for both specialist and non-specialist music teachers at the basic level to integrate their lessons with Music and Dance for optimum sustenance of interest in school among pupils. Key words: Music, dance, New Winneba, enrollment, Ghana Wins, interculturalism, girl child.