Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Application of Organic Amendments and Botanical Foliar Sprays against Bacterial Diseases of Mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) in South Eastern Nigeria

A Field trial was conducted at the Eastern farm of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, during the 2012 farming season to assess the potentials of some organic soil amendments and some botanicals as foliar sprays in the control of some common bacterial diseases associated with munbean ( Vigna radiata L.) which include bacterial blight, halo blight, leaf spot and bacterial wilt. The soil organic amendments employed as control measure included leaves of Azadirachta indica , Delonix regia , poultry droppings and kitchen ash while the plant extracts that served as foliar sprays in control of these bacterial diseases were: neem seed ( A. indica ), ginger stem ( Zingiber officinale ) and bitter kola seed (Garcinia kola ), water was used as a control while streptomycin sulphate served as a standard check. A. indica and D. regia leaves were first allowed to decompose before application as organic amendments. All the experiment was in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) and replicated three times. Results obtained showed that organic amendments sourced from kitchen ash improved growth of mungbean, sustained total pod yield and suppressed disease incidence and severity. Foliar spray trials results showed that A. indica was the best in enhancing growth, yield (seed weight) and most effective in reducing disease incidence and disease severity more than other plant extracts.
Testosterone is positively related to the output of nematode eggs in male Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) faeces

Question: Does testosterone suppress the immune system of males in a strongly sexually dimorphic and long-lived ungulate? Immunocompetence handicap hypothesis: Testosterone promotes the development of secondary sexual characteristics and simultaneously suppresses immunological defence. Organisms: Free-ranging and individually identifiable male Alpine ibex (Capra ibex). Methods: In faecal samples, measure testosterone levels (ng · g−1) and the number of parasite eggs per gram of faeces (faecal egg counts). Determine social dominance by observing the outcomes of agonistic interactions in the field. Weigh males at a salt-lick scale. Data analysis: Path analysis to examine the relationships between testosterone levels, dominance, body mass, age, and faecal egg counts. Conclusions: We found a strong positive effect of testosterone on the amount of parasite eggs in the faeces of males. The level of parasite infection did not depend on any other tested variable. Testosterone therefore has an immunosuppressive effect in male Alpine ibex, as suggested by the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis.
Factors Influencing the Use of Compost from Household Waste in the Centre Province of Cameroon

Abstract The Centre province of Cameroon is facing both soil degradation problem in rural areas and the household waste management problem in Yaounde-city. However, those two problems can be solved by processing the household waste into agricultural compost. Actually, the produced compost is used by a few farmers living in the province. Thus, this article explains the factors influencing the utilization of compost by compost users and the reasons justifying the reticence of non-compost users to adopt this input. The results show that, farmers who are the most motivated to use compost are young men practising agriculture in smaller parcels of land. The attractive salaries in NGOs employing those young farmers associated with the higher productivity of compost are the main reasons justifying their motivation for using compost. However, the compost demand is less than its supply proving that some farmers are still not motivated to use this input in the province. The high price and transport cost of compost are the main reasons accounting for the non-utilization of compost by non-compost users. Therefore, in order to encourage the adoption of compost by most farmers, the government should subsidize the price and transport cost of this input.
Experiences of overseas trained teachers seeking public school positions in Western Australia and South Australia

Many overseas trained teachers migrate to Australia in search of different lifestyles. In their endeavour to find suitable teaching positions in public secondary schools, overseas trained teachers often confront multiple challenges. This study explored the different issues that 12 overseas trained teachers experienced before obtaining a teaching position in a public secondary school in either Western Australia or South Australia. Data were collected through using twelve in-depth semi-structured interviews and researchergenerated field notes. The results indicate that participants experienced the following challenges: apparent lack of information on post immigration life in Australia; danger of misinformation; registration delays; inconsistency in English language requirements; fixed term offers for teaching positions; difficult living conditions in the country areas; and a perceived lack of consistency in the teacher orientation programs provided by the Education Departments of Western Australia and South Australia.
The Impact of Oral Presentation on Fluency and Accuracy of Iranian EFL Learners’ Speaking

This study was an investigation into the efficacy of students’ oral presentations in improving their speaking ability in terms of accuracy and fluency. In this respect, control and experimental groups data were gathered through an oral interview. Oral pre- and post-tests were administered to both groups, comprising the total of 35 participants, while students’ performance was recorded for further analysis. The recorded data was transcribed later and two measures, i.e., error-free T-units and number of correct words per minute, were used to identify students’ speaking accuracy and fluency. An analytic scale was also prepared and used by an observer and a teacher as an observation checklist in pre- and post-test sessions to assess students’ performance. T-tests were run to compare groups on pre- and post-tests. The obtained results from observation checklists were compared with the data of two measures. The outcome of both analyses showed that oral presentation can improve accuracy and fluency in speaking ability of students and the effect size in both measures was large. In addition, the comparison between findings of accuracy and fluency measurement and outcome of observation checklists yielded the same result; both of which verified students’ speaking improvement.
Standardization of enzyme linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of antibodies to Argas persicus (Oken, 1818) infestation in fowl of Telangana State

In the present study the checker board titration was applied for optimization of Goat anti-chicken IgY HRPO conjugate, Argas persicus salivary gland antigen concentration and serum dilution. In the present study, the optimum conjugate dilution was 1:3000, optimum antigen concentration was 1 μg and optimum serum dilution was 1:100. The overall sensitivity of ELISA was 84.78% (39 out of 46 true positives) and the specificity as 70% (7 out of 10 true negatives). The laboratory standardized ELISA was applied on chicken sera collected from different poultry farms located in and around Hyderabad. A total of 486 chicken sera (326 layers and 160 backyard chicken) were tested out of which 125 (119 commercial layers plus 6 backyard chicken) were found positive indicating 25.72% (36.50% in commercial layers and 3.75% in backyard chicken) of prevalence respectively. A significant difference existed between the incidences among layers and backyard chicken.
Stock assessment of sardine ( Sardina pilchardus , Walb.) in the Adriatic Sea with an estimate of discards

Analytical stock assessment of sardine ( Sardina pilchardus , Walb.) in the Adriatic Sea from 1975 to 1999 was performed taking into account the occurrence of discarding at sea of sardine caught by the Italian fleet. We have attempted to model the fishermen’s behaviour using data collected by an observer on board fishing vessels. This enabled us to estimate the amounts of discards, which were added to the catches landed, collected by ISMAR-CNR Ancona. Discards were calculated for the period 1987-1999, as their values were negligible before 1987. Stock assessment on the entire data series from 1975-1999 was carried out by means of Virtual Population Analysis (VPA). Discarding behaviour differs among ports due to different local customs and market conditions. The quantity added to the annual total catch ranged from 900 tonnes to 4000 tonnes, corresponding to between 2% and 15% of the total corrected catch. VPAs indicated that mid-year sardine stock biomass rose steadily from 400,000 tonnes in 1975 to a peak of 950,000 tonnes in 1984. Subsequently, biomass declined steadily to the more recent values, around 300,000 tonnes. Although discarded quantities were relatively high, their influence on stock assessment was not strong because of the high level of both catch and, in particular, estimated biomass at sea.
Robust Multiperiod Poverty Comparisons

We propose a new methodology for comparing poverty over multiple periods across time and space that does not arbitrarily aggregate income over various years or rely on arbitrarily specified poverty lines or poverty indices. Following Duclos et al. (2006a), we use the multivariate stochastic dominance methodology to create dominance surfaces for different time spans. We elaborate the method first for the bidimensional case, using as dimensions income observed over two periods: one at the beginning and one at the end of a time span. Subsequently, we extend it to the case where incomes are observed over n-periods. We illustrate our approach by performing poverty comparisons using data for Indonesia and Peru.
ORTAOKUL ÖĞRENCİLERİNİN FACEBOOK ALGISI: BİR METAFOR ANALİZİ

Bu calismada bir ortaokulda ogrenim goren ogrencilerin Facebook algilari metafor analizi ile arastirilmistir. Calismada nitel arastirma yontemi ile olgu bilim deseni kullanilmistir. Bu calismanin katilimcilari bir ortaokulda okuyan 144 ogrencidir. Calismaya katilan ogrencilerden “Facebook … gibidir cunku …” cumlesinin tamamlamalari istenmistir. Verilerin analizinde ise icerik analizi teknigi kullanilmistir. Toplanan verilerin analizi sonucunda 37 metafor ve bu metaforlarin ortak ozelliklerine gore gruplandirilmasiyla olusan 5 kategori ortaya cikmistir. Sonuc olarak, ortaokul ogrencilerinin Facebook hakkinda oldukca olumlu kavramlara sahip olduklari ortaya cikmistir. Bununla birlikte ogrencilerin, bagimlilik ve kotuluk kaynagi gibi bazi olumsuz kavramlara da sahip olduklari gorulmustur.
Role of molecular species in pickup ion sputtering of the Martian atmosphere

This paper presents a new approach for calculating the sputtering of an atmosphere by impacting particles when there are molecular species at the exobase. We couple a test particle Monte Carlo approach with a molecular dynamic model to describe the collisions between hot particles and cold molecules in the Martian atmosphere. It is shown that both the heating efficiency and sputtering by pickup ions are reduced from that in an atomic thermosphere. The yields are given for three different ratios of atoms to molecules at the exobase and are used to obtain a better estimate of the total loss of atmosphere due to the pickup ion sputtering. Using the pickup ion fluxes of Zhang et al. [1993], ∼120 mbar of O and ∼60 mbar of CO2 are lost. The loss of O if associated with H2O would be equivalent to ∼4 m averaged over the Mars surface.
Two cycles of Atosiban in preventing preterm birth in twin pregnancies

Twin gestation contributes significantly to perinatal morbidity and mortality related to high occurrence of preterm birth. We evaluated 202 women consecutively selected with twin pregnancies and threatened preterm labor. 98 women were threatened with a single cycle of Atosiban; 34% of them delivered before 34 weeks. The study group consisted of 104 patients submitted to a second cycle of Atosiban because of regular uterine contractions and or cervical length modifications occurred from 48 hours to 7 days and gestational age was prior to 32 week of gestation (group A). After the second cycle of Atosiban, 49 out of 104 patients received a treatment with a vaginal tablet of lactoferrin (group B). After the second cycle of Atosiban, 84% of patients of group A and 90% of patients of group B delivered after 34 weeks. The overall rate of delivery before 34 weeks in the studies groups was of 16%. In our experience, repeated cycles of Atosiban have shown effectiveness in delaying delivery in twin pregnancies. It seems logical to use an oxytocin receptor antagonist as first line drugs in twin pregnancies because of the increased risk of pulmonary edema. Correspondence to: Mariavittoria Locci, Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Sciences and Odontostomatology, University of Naples Federico II, Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy; Tel: +39337865220; E-mail: mariavittorialocci@virgilio.it
Employment Insurance and the Business Cycle

This paper quantitatively investigates the scope for improving welfare by making aspects of the unemployment insurance (UI) system depend on the state of the business cycle. A particular focus is the Canadian system of "Employment Insurance" (EI), which is designed in such a way that the generosity of benefits depends on the state of the macroeconomy. Simulations of a life-cycle model with heterogeneous agents and search frictions confirm the expectation that optimal UI systems are characterized by a substantial increase in generosity during recessions, when adverse labour market conditions reduce the importance of moral hazard while increasing the need for consumption insurance. It turns out, however, that the welfare improvements resulting from this sort of temporal differentiation of benefits are extremely small. The insurance against business cycle effects inherent in the Canadian EI system is welfare enhancing when considered in isolation; this insurance effect is, however, dominated by the welfare implications of the inter-regional redistribution effected by the system.
A Case Study Review of the Strategy Formulation and Implementation Link among SMES in Zimbabwe

The importance of SMEs development in the economic activities in Zimbabwe cannot be overemphasized. It has been acknowledged that strategy formulation and implementation are important to both the survival and growth of SMEs, and their continued contribution to economic growth. Despite this realisation, SMEs performance has continued to be marginal, hence the need to review the strategy formulation and implementation linkage. There is evidence that SMEs undertake strategic planning but what happens there after is not very clear. The findings indicate that there are neither forward nor backward linkages between strategy formulation and implementation, nor that each activity is treated as an end in itself rather than as part of a process. SMEs do not benefit from accumulated knowledge and experience. Key words: Strategy, formulation, implementation, linkages, performance, SMEs, strategic management, owner/manager, Zimbabwe
Clustering visitors to a religious island : the case of Tinos

Tourists visiting religious destinations are usually influenced by religious motivations. However, this might not be the case for all tourists, since visitors to religious sites may visit a destination not only for pilgrimage, but also to satisfy various needs interlinked with social, cultural and recreational factors. This paper attempts to investigate the motivations and activities of tourists visiting Tinos, a Greek island known as a religious destination for Christian Orthodox, by undertaking a clustering approach. A self-administrated questionnaire was distributed to 97 visitors of Tinos during the summer of 2007. From the findings it is evident that although the island is considered as one of the main religious sites for Christian Orthodox, tourists are not a homogenous group. Instead, the analytical approach adopted produced three segments, namely the “cultural tourists”, the “vacationers” and the “religious tourists”.
Global Energy Demand in a Warming Climate

This paper combines an econometric analysis of the response of energy demand to temperature and humidity exposure with future scenarios of climate change and socioeconomic development to characterize climate impacts on energy demand at different spatial scales. Globally, future climate change is expected to have a moderate impact on energy demand, in the order of 6-11%, depending on the degree of warming, because of compensating effects across regions, fuels, and sectors. Climate-induced changes in energy demand are disproportionally larger in tropical regions. South America, Asia, and Africa, increase energy demand across all sectors and climate scenarios, while Europe, North America and Oceania exhibit mixed responses, but with consistent reductions in the residential sector. Even so, only Europe and Oceania in the moderate warming scenario experience aggregate reductions in energy use, as commercial electricity use increases significantly. We find that climate change has a regressive impact on energy demand, with the incidence of increased energy demand overwhelmingly falling on low- and middle-income countries, raising the question whether climate change could exacerbate energy poverty.
Determining the location of localized defect in the perpendicular junction configuration with the use of electron beam induced current

This paper describes a new method of determining the location of a localized defect in semiconductor materials using the perpendicular p-n junction configuration. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) operating in the charge-collection, or the electron beam induced current (EBIC) mode, is used for this. This method is based on the model used to calculate the contrast of a localized defect as suggested by C. Donolato and is known as the contrast C/sub n''/ model. This model can be used to precisely extract the location of the localized defect and is unaffected by the value of the surface recombination velocity at the beam entrance surface. The model of the localized defect used in this paper is characterized by minority carriers with constant lifetimes that are lower than those in the bulk. An electron beam with an extended generation profile was used in a two-dimensional (2-D) device simulator, for the verification of the theory.
Construction of energy-independent potentials above inelastic thresholds in quantum field theories

We construct energy independent but non-local potentials above inelastic thresholds, in terms of Nambu-Bethe-Salpeter wave functions defined in quantum field theories such as QCD. As an explicit example, we consider NN --> NN + n pi scattering processes for n=0,1,2,. We show an existence of energy-independent coupled channel potentials with a non-relativistic approximation, where momenta of all particles are small compared with their own masses. In the case of two-body inelastic scatterings such as Lambda Lambda --> Lambda Lambda, N Xi, Sigma Sigma, on the other hand, we show that energy-independent potentials can be constructed without relying on non-relativistic approximations. We also propose a method to extract these potentials using time-dependence of general correlation functions.
Doxorubicin induced histomorphometric changes in testes of albino rat

Anticancer drugs like doxorubicin have been found to affect male gonads thereby leading to infertility. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of doxorubicin over short, mid and long term on testes of male albino rats. Sixty male albino rats aged 6-8 weeks were taken for study. The rats were randomly divided into 3 groups of experimental (each group containing 10 rats) and 3 groups of control (each group containing 10 rats). The experimental groups were given a single dose of doxorubicin i.e. 10 mg/kg body weight intra-peritoneally and sacrificed after 3 different duration for each group (second week, eighth week and sixteenth week). All rats under 3 control groups were given a single intra-peritoneal dose of 2.5 ml/kg body weight normal saline and sacrificed with their respective experimental groups. Significant difference in diameters (p=0.029) and cross-sectional area (p=0.028) of seminiferous tubules was observed between short term experimental and short term control rats. For both between midterm experimental and midterm control group, and between long term experimental and long term control group, a significant difference in right testis weight (p<0.001 for both), left testis weight (p<0.001 for both), volume of testis (p<0.001 and p=0.038), diameter (p<0.001 for both) and area (p<0.001 for both) of seminiferous tubules was observed. As compared to short term experimental group, midterm experimental group and long term experimental group had significantly lower right testis weight (p<0.001 for both), left testis weight (p<0.001 for both), diameter of seminiferous tubule (p<0.001 for both) and cross-sectional area of seminiferous tubule (p<0.001 both). Cross-sections of the seminiferous tubules of all the control groups had normal architecture. However, there was progressive destruction of seminiferous tubules structure across the experimental groups. Doxorubicin has deleterious effect on seminiferous tubules of albino rat testis. Nepal Journal of Biotechnology. Dec. 2015 Vol. 3, No. 1: 10-14
The Study on the First Year Students of the Faculty of Medicine to Assess Their Health Compromising Behaviors and Knowledge About Reproductive Health

ABS TRACT Ob jec ti ve: The aim of this ar tic le is to as sess how well the stu dents in the first year of the Mer sin Uni ver sity Fa culty of Me di ci ne, as a sec ti on of ado les cents, are in for med abo ut the adoles cent and rep ro duc ti ve he alth and, to exa mi ne ado les cents’ he alth com pro mi sing be ha vi ors. Mate ri al and Met hods: The ma te ri al com pri sed of 88 stu dents in the first year of the fa culty of me di ci ne. Da ta was col lec ted thro ugh qu es ti on na i res comp le ted by the stu dents. Re sults: Fe ma les we re mo re inac ti ve than ma les. The ra ti o of ma les (78.6%) who re por ted ha ving par ti ci pa ted in physi cal ac ti vi ti es was hig her than fe ma les (40.6%). Most ado les cents re por ted that they had ne ver smo ked (64.8%), ne ver used al co ho lic drinks (54.5%), and ne ver used drugs (97.7%). The ma jo rity of ado les cents re por ted that they had ne ver had sex (79.5%). The ra ti o of using con tra cep ti ve met hods in the first se xu al in ter co ur se was 25%. Most of the ma les (55.4%) and fe ma les (74.2%) re por ted that the ir know led ge abo ut rep ro duc ti ve he alth was not eno ugh. The ge ne ral know led ge of the fe ma les abo ut the ado les cent he alth and rep ro duc ti ve he alth was better than tho se of ma les (p= 0.039). Conc lu si on: Among ado les cents in the first year of the fa culty of me di ci ne, risky be ha vi ors are com mon and ado les cents’ know led ge abo ut ado les cent and rep ro duc ti ve he alth is in suf fi ci ent. Edu ca ti o nal prog rams are ne e ded to in form the ado les cents abo ut the ado les cent he alth and rep ro duc ti ve he alth, and to pre vent the he alth com pro mi sing be ha vi ors.