Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Center pivot simulator for evaluating system design and management effects on infiltration and erosion

A 4-wheeled commercial irrigation boom was modified for use in investigating center pivot design and management effects on infiltration, runoff and erosion of specific soil types. The center pivot simulator used a hydraulic winch attached to the front of a tractor for mobilization and controlled travel speed. A 3 inch diameter 300 ft drag hose is used to supply water to the center pivot simulator. The center pivot simulator was used to conduct two studies to investigate infiltration, runoff and erosion differences of common commercially available center pivot sprinkler types on a Portneuf silt loam soil. Sprinklers used in the first study were: 1) Nelson R3000 with brown plate, 2) Nelson R3000 with red plate, 3) Nelson S3000 with purple plate, and 4) Senninger I-Wob with standard 9-groove plate. Measured runoff was highly variable despite the controlled experimental conditions. Runoff from all sprinkler types increased with number of irrigations indicating that soil surface sealing continued to increase without reaching a maximum after five irrigations. Measured runoff tended to be the highest for the S3000 and I-Wob sprinklers. Sediment loss tended to be highest for these sprinklers as well. The second study investigated differences in runoff and erosion related to kinetic energy of sprinkler droplets from commercial center pivot sprinklers. The sprinklers used in the study were: 1) Senninger I-Wob with standard 9-groove plate, 2) Nelson R3000 with brown plate, 3)Nelson D3000 spray with flat plate and 4) sprinkler 3 with the runoff plot covered with 20-mesh nylon window screen suspended about 1 inch above the soil surface to eliminate sprinkler droplet impact on the bare soil surface. Covering the plot with screen to eliminate sprinkler droplet impact resulted in significantly (p? 0.05) less runoff and sediment loss for all four irrigation events. The D3000 and I-Wob sprinklers tended to have the greatest runoff and sediment losses. Sprinkler type and configuration had a significant (p? 0.05) effect on runoff and erosion of a Portneuf silt loam soil.
FACTORS AFFECTING DISTRIBUTION OF FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS IN KENYA: A CASE OF EVEREADY EAST AFRICA

The general objective was to investigate factors affecting distribution of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) in Kenya, with particular emphasis on Eveready East Africa Limited. The study specifically aimed to; determine the effect of competition; establish the effect of price; analyze the effect of promotion and investigate the effectiveness of demand forecasting on distribution of Eveready East Africa Ltd products. The study adopted a descriptive research design and the study population comprised of 120 distributors and staff assigned in market territories in Kenya. The study applied a stratified sampling technique to select a total of 120 respondents. Questionnaires were used as the main data collection instruments and a pilot study was conducted to pre-test questionnaires for validity and reliability. Descriptive statistics data analysis method was applied. The study findings indicated that the major factors affecting distribution of the company fast moving consumer goods are; high competition from cheap imports, high prices of the company FMCG in comparison to the competitors FMCGs, application of ineffective promotion campaigns and lack of effective demand forecasting systems. The study recommendations were; introduction of less expensive and high quality FMCGs in the market that is dominated by cheap and poor quality imports; application of effective pricing strategies like competitor based pricing; offering of effective promotion methods such as sales promotion and continuous advertising and application of effective demand and forecasting systems such as distribution requirement system and material requirement
Repetitive thinking and depressive symptoms in a normal population : responses to normal negative events

Some theories view repetitive thinking as a maladaptive coping response that exacerbates depressive symptoms and explains the sex difference in depression. Other theories view repetitive thinking as the chief mechanism for solving complex social problems. A central theoretical assumption in evolutionary psychology is that psychological mechanisms are sensitive to modern cues to ancestral fitness-relevant contexts. The measures that are currently used to probe repetitive thinking does not reflect this context sensitivity. This study explores qualitatively different types of repetitive thinking after the most recent negative events in different social contexts. Data from a survey of 524 students were collected to test predictions from competing hypotheses derived from Response Style theory, Metacognitive therapy, Analytical Rumination theory, Rank theory, the Female Co-rumination for Bonding hypothesis, and the Male Options Rumination hypothesis. Multivariate analyses revealed that number of depressive symptoms after a negative event depends upon sex, social context, and the type of repetitive thinking. In consistence with previous research, females reported more repetitive thinking than males. However, the sex difference in repetitive thinking disappeared and even reversed after a loss in a competitive social situation. All measures of repetitive thinking predicted depression but there was significant differences in how much the respondents used the different types of thinking. These finding are relevant to theories about the nature of depression and repetitive thinking and for theories that might explain known sex differences in depression. Theories about the link between depression, sex and repetitive thinking should consider the effect of social contexts on the relationship between variables.
Mode of action of brown rot decay resistance of thermally modified wood: resistance to Fenton’s reagent

Abstract The resistance of heat treated (HT) wood to brown rot fungi has been investigated, while the role of the Fenton reaction (FR) in the initial phase of degradation was in focus. Micro-veneers made of Scots pine, were HT with various intensities and their mass losses (MLHT) were determined before soaking with a solution of Fenton’s reagent containing Fe ions and hydrogen peroxide. The mass loss of the veneers treated that way (MLFT), their tensile strength loss (TSLFT) and the H2O2 decomposition were observed. The MLFT, TSLFT, and H2O2 loss decreased with increasing MLHT of the veneers. Soaking of the veneers in acetate buffer containing only Fe without H2O2 revealed that the heat treatment (HT) strongly reduces the Fe uptake by the cell walls. FTIR spectroscopy indicated oxidation of the unmodified control veneers but did not reveal predominant decay of cell wall components; the HT veneers were not changed at all due to FR. It was concluded that the reason for the enhanced resistance of HT wood to FR is attributable to hindered diffusion of Fe ions into the wood cell wall.
NAFTA and Convergence in North America: High Expectations, Big Events, Little Time

"The rest of the paper is organized as follows. The next section uses times series techniques to identify the impact of NAFTA on the income gap between Mexico and the United States. To deal with the big-events little- time problem, we apply two time series methods. First, we follow Harvey in conducting a structural time series exercise that might be able to separate transitory effects (such as the tequila crisis) from the long-term effects expected from NAFTA.19 Second, following Bernard and Durlauf, we apply cointegration analysis to see whether there is an observable process of income convergence between the United States and Mexico.20 We do this recursively to test for any structural change in the equilibrium condition between U.S. and Mexican GDP using quarterly data from 1960 to 2001. We find that the debt crisis in the early 1980s and the tequila crisis temporarily interrupted a process of economic convergence, which resumed after 1995. Convergence after Mexico´s trade liberalization in the late 1980s and after NAFTA might have been faster prior to the debt crisis. However, given that other Latin American economies also grew quickly during this period, we also provide econometric annual estimates of the differences between Mexico-specific and Latin American income effects. These results indicate that Mexico´s performance between 1986 and 1993 was not that different from the average Latin American economy, but it was significantly more positive after NAFTA, with the obvious exception of 1995. "
EFFECTS OF COMPACTION DUE TO MACHINERY TRAFFIC ON SOIL PORE CONFIGURATION

Soil compaction has been recognized as a severe problem in mechanized agriculture and has an influence on many soil properties and processes. Yet, there are few studies on the long-term effects of soil compaction, and the development of soil compaction has been shown through a limited number of soil parameters. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the persistence of soil compaction effects (three traffic treatments: T0, without traffic; T3, three tractor passes; and T5, five tractor passes) on pore system configuration, through static and dynamic determinations; and to determine changes in soil pore orientation due to soil compaction through measurement of hydraulic conductivity of saturated soil in samples taken vertically and horizontally. Traffic led to persistent changes in all the dynamic indicators studied (saturated hydraulic conductivity, K0; effective macro- and mesoporosity, ema and eme), with significantly lower values of K0, ema, and eme in the T5 treatment. The static indicators of bulk density (BD), derived total porosity (TP), and total macroporosity (θma) did not vary significantly among the treatments. This means that machine traffic did not produce persistent changes on these variables after two years. However, the orientation of the soil pore system was modified by traffic. Even in T0, there were greater changes in K0 measured in the samples taken vertically than horizontally, which was more related to the presence of vertical biopores, and to isotropy of K0 in the treatments with machine traffic. Overall, the results showed that dynamic indicators are more sensitive to the effects of compaction and that, in the future, static indicators should not be used as compaction indicators without being complemented by dynamic indicators.
Synthesis of research studies examining prediction of bankruptcy

The purpose of this study is to synthesize the findings of prior bankruptcy prediction research studies by compiling and classifying the independent variables used as predictor variables in the studies. The objective is to find out the popularity of the different types of the predictor variables by classifying the variables into the categories describing the fincancial function of the variables, and by assessing the popularity of the significant variables in the categories. This work studies elementary theories on firm failure and bankruptcy to discuss and seek justitication for what might be the reasons for using the most popular financial function measures in the bankruptcy prediction. Bankruptcy prediction research literature covers vast amount of studies in which various different predicton models are developed for predicting bankruptcy. Usually these studies use a prediction model with a set of some financial and/or non-financial variables that are presumed to be relevant proxies for financial distress and eventually business failure and bankrupcty. However, there seems to be no consensus or unified theory on how the variables predicting bankrupcty should be selected, thus the numerous bankruptcy prediction research studies include vast number and various different types of variables that are presumed to be applicable in predicting bankruptcy. This study includes a systematic literature review where 51 bankruptcy prediction research studies were collected from well-recognized scientific journals. The studies included into the review were such that included a single or multiple bankruptcy prediction models, the detailed description of the independent variables, and the information about the statistical significances of the independent variables. The variables were then classified according to their financial function and a meta-analysis were conducted on those variables which were significant in bankruptcy prediction, to find out the popularity of the different variable categories. The findings of this study suggest that the most popular predictor variables included into the banktuptcy predicton models are accounting-based financial ratios, particurarly ones measuring liquidity, profitability, and financial leverage, and that there exists also theoretical foundation for using these variables in the bankruptcy prediction.
Resolving combinatorial ambiguities in dilepton t t̄ event topologies with constrained M 2 variables

We advocate the use of on-shell constrained $M_2$ variables in order to mitigate the combinatorial problem in SUSY-like events with two invisible particles at the LHC. We show that in comparison to other approaches in the literature, the constrained $M_2$ variables provide superior ansatze for the unmeasured invisible momenta and therefore can be usefully applied to discriminate combinatorial ambiguities. We illustrate our procedure with the example of dilepton $t\bar{t}$ events. We critically review the existing methods based on the Cambridge $M_{T2}$ variable and MAOS-reconstruction of invisible momenta, and show that their algorithm can be simplified without loss of sensitivity, due to a perfect correlation between events with complex solutions for the invisible momenta and events exhibiting a kinematic endpoint violation. Then we demonstrate that the efficiency for selecting the correct partition is further improved by utilizing the $M_2$ variables instead. Finally, we also consider the general case when the underlying mass spectrum is unknown, and no kinematic endpoint information is available.
The Renin Angiotensin System in the Human Esophageal Mucosa − expression, actions and potential involvement in reflux disease

The renin angiotensin system (RAS) is a classical endocrine system, regulating body fluid balance and blood circulation. Recent research has shown that the system is being also locally expressed and active in several organs and tissues. Components of RAS have been discovered throughout the gastrointestinal tract and have, in addition, been found in the human esophagus. It was hypothesised that RAS could be of interest in relation to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), which is a prevalent clinical condition, where gastric content backflows into the esophagus and causes troublesome symptoms. The general aim of the present thesis was to confirm the presence and further investigate RAS in healthy and reflux exposed human esophageal mucosae. Esophageal biopsies were collected from healthy volunteers and GERD patients. The gene activity and protein expression of various RAS components were investigated using RT-PCR, western blot, ELISA and immunohistochemistry. The square wave current pulse analysis was investigated for its applicability in Ussing chambers for assessing mucosal epithelial resistance (Rep), which in turn permits calculation of the epithelial ion current (Iep). All investigated RAS components were detected and several of these were significantly altered in relation to reflux disease. Particular attention was paid to the induced expression of the angiotensin II type 2 receptor (AT2R), and to the reduced expression of the angiotensin IV (AngIV) receptor (AT4R) in certain areas in the mucosae from patients with erosive reflux disease (ERD). Using the validated Ussing chamber method, it was found that biopsies from reflux exposed mucosa exhibited lower Rep and higher Iep at baseline. Upon AT2R stimulation the healthy individuals responded with increased Iep, while no significant change was observed in relation to ERD, despite the higher AT2R expression. The peptide AngIV also stimulated the net epithelial current, although the response was small in the mucosae from ERD patients. The thesis demonstrates that a substantial local RAS is present in the human esophageal mucosa, and it is likely that also angiotensins other than Angiotensin II are produced. Particularly, the AT2R, seems to have reduced response capability in individuals with reflux disease. The expressional and functional alterations suggest that RAS might be involved in the pathophysiology of GERD.
Does Project-based Learning Enhance Iranian EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Recall and Retention?

Vocabulary knowledge is an integral part of second/foreign language learning. Thus, using teaching methods that can help learners retain and expand their vocabulary knowledge is necessary to facilitate the language learning process. The current research investigated the effectiveness of an interactive classroom method, known as Project-Based Learning (PBL), in helping Iranian EFL learners not just learn but retain new vocabulary knowledge. To this end, an experimental approach using two groups of participants (i.e. experimental and control) was employed. The experimental group was taught using the PBL method while the control group was taught using the conventional method. The findings of the study indicated that learners who were taught using the PBL approach (i.e. the experimental group) had a significant improvement in their vocabulary recall and retention rate. Besides, they even showed better retention of new vocabulary with higher level of difficulty. This supports previous findings on the effectiveness of PBL as a vocabulary teaching method in the EFL context which could contribute to the betterment of the existing teaching methods.
MODELING STREAMBANK EROSION ON COMPOSITE STREAMBANKS ON A WATERSHED SCALE

Streambanks can be a significant source of sediment and phosphorus to aquatic ecosystems. Although the streambank-erosion routine in the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) has improved in recent versions, the recently developed routine in SWAT 2012 has undergone limited testing, and the lack of site or watershed specific streambank data increases the uncertainty in the streambank-erosion predictions. There were two primary objectives of this research: (1) modify and test the 2012 SWAT streambank-erosion routine on composite streambanks, and (2) compare SWAT default and field-measured channel parameters and assess their influence on predicted streambank erosion. Three modifications were made to the SWAT 2012 streambank-erosion routine: (1) replacing the empirical effective shear stress equation with a process-based equation, (2) replacing bankfull width and depth measurements with top width and streambank height, and (3) incorporating an area-adjustment factor to account for non-trapezoidal cross-sections. The proposed streambank-erosion routine was tested on gravel-dominated streambanks on the Barren Fork Creek in northeastern Oklahoma. The study used data from 28 cross-sectional surveys, including streambank height and top width, side slope, thickness and texture of streambank layers, and an area-adjustment factor. Gravel d50 and kd-τc relationships were used to estimate the critical shear stress (τc) and the erodibility coefficient (kd), respectively. Incorporating the process-based shear stress equation, areaadjustment factor, or the top width and streambank height increased predicted streambank erosion by 85%, 31%, and 30%, respectively. Incorporating the process-based effective shear stress equation, sinuosity, radius of curvature, and measured bed slope improved the predicted versus observed streambank erosion Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency from -0.33 to 0.49 and the coefficient of determination (R2) from 0.02 to 0.65 at the ten study sites. Although the process-based effective shear stress equation was the most influential modification, incorporating the top width, streambank height, and area-adjustment factor more accurately represented the measured irregular cross-sections.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF PMRI TEACHERS FOR INTRODUCING SOCIAL NORMS

This paper reports implementation results of designing a workshop for mathematics teacher in introducing classroom social norms. The participants are eight mathematics teachers in primary and junior secondary level. Teachers learned and did some activities about social norms during the workshop. First, they watched an example of learning videos about social norms. Then they discussed and shared in the group about their experiences in using social norms in the classroom. Finally, they made a commitment to try their knowledge about social norms in their classroom. This research used the design research method. Data were collected using videotaped, interview, and focus group discussion and were analyzed qualitatively. Results show that: (1) Teachers satisfied in following all activities relating to the social norms in the workshop. (2) Teachers realized that they had used some activities of social norms such as guiding students to communicate, asking questions and giving argumentation. (3) Teachers have more confidence to use social norms in their mathematics classroom. Keywords: Classroom Social Norms, Teacherâ€™s Workshop, Design Research, PMRI Â DOI: dx.doi. org/10.22342/jme.61. 11
Proximate composition and amino acid profile of rice husk biodegraded with Pleurotus ostreatus for different periods.

Native rice husk (NRH) was fermented with Pleurotus ostreatus for 7, 14 and 21 days to improve the nutritional values. The proximate composition and amino acid profiles were determined. The results showed that crude fibre (CF), nitrogen free extract (NFE), acid detergent fibre (ADF), and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) were significantly higher (p<0.05) in the NRH (with values 13.37%,42.93%, 17.45% and13.42%, respectively) while corresponding lowest values of 12.14%, 34.26%, 12.27% and 12.41% were obtained in the 14 days samples. Crude protein (CP) was significantly highest (p<0.05) in the 7 days fermentation (12.37%) but lowest in the 21 days (7.94%). The nitrogen free extract (NFE) values were similar and higher (p<0.05) in the NRH (control), 7 and 21 days fermentation that is 42.93%, 40.37% and 39.53%, respectively. The calculated metabolizable energy (ME) was similar and higher (p<0.05) for the fermented native rice husk at 7, 14 and 21 days that is 2289.19, 2308.77 and 2328.59 kcal/kg, respectively. Dry matter (DM), ash, calcium and phosphorous values were not influenced (p<0.05) by the fungi treatment of the NRH. Essential amino acids (EAA) values viz; lysine (4.94 g/100g), valine (7.34 g/100g), threonine (4.81 g/100g), isoleucine (4.83 g/100g) and phenylalanine (5.59 g/100g) were higher (p<0.05) in the 14 days fermentation with p. ostreatus while others that are non-essential amino acids (NEAA) in this group include alanine (7.06 g/100g) and tyrosine (4.12 g/100g). Glycine (6.02 g/100g), serine (5.18 g/100g), proline (4.85 g/100g), leucine (7.44 g/100g), glutamate (14.54 g/100g) and arginine (8.51 g/100g) values were higher (p<0.05) in the 21 days while aspartate (8.70 g/100g), histidine (2.37 g/100g), methionine (2.69 g/100g), tyrosine (4.20 g/100g) and cystine (2.09 g/100g) were higher (p<0.05) in the 7 days treatment. All the amino acids with the exception of glycine, alanine and aspartate had lowest (p<0.05) values recorded in the native rice husk. The total amino acids (TAA), total essential amino acids (TEAA), total non-essential amino acids (TNEAA) were all significantly higher in the 7 days fermentation (95.43, 45.01 and 50.42, respectively) and the lowest values in the NRH. Percent EAA followed the same trend while %NEAA was highest in the NRH. Fermentation of native rice husk for 7 days improved its nutritive value and consequently increased its usage as a component of livestock feed. Key words: Native Rice Husk, Fermentation, Proximate Composition, Amino Acids