Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nitrogen Mineralization Potential (No) in Three Kenyan Soils, Nitisols, Ferralsols and Luvisols

Nitrogen mineralization potential is important so as to prevent over-fertilization that could lead to groundwater contamination or under-fertilization that could lead to poor nutrient provision by crops leading to low yields. Three soil types were selected on the basis of groups, agro-ecological zone, organic matter content and land use. The soil samples were taken from the 0-15 and 15-30 cm depth. The samples were placed in incubation bags, water added to field capacity, sealed and incubated in laboratory at room temperature. The bags were opened at intervals of two weeks and soil sub-samples taken for analysis of mineral N for a period of 17 weeks. The calculated mineralizable N was 138.8 μg N and 116.4 μg N/g for Gituamba andosols, 46.0 μg N and 46.4 μg N/g for Kitale ferralsol and 260.1 μg N and 197.3 μg N/g soil for Katumani luvisols in the 0-15 and 15-30 cm depth, respectively. These calculated values compared well with the actual cumulative mineralizable N for Gituamba andosols at 127 μg N and 74.1 μg N/g, for Kitale ferralsols at 48.0 μg N and 64.1 μg N/g and for Katumani 80.6 μg N and 47.7 μg N/g soil in the 0-15 and 15-30 cm depth, respectively. The time taken for 50% of potentially mineralizable N to be mineralized (t½) ranged from 6.3 weeks for Katumani luvisols 15-30 cm to 30.1 weeks for Kitale ferralsols 0-15 cm soil depths. The soils with highest rate constant (k) had the least. For example, 15-30 cm depth of Katumani luvisols with of 6.3 weeks had the highest k of 0.112 week-1 compared with Kitale ferralsols 0-15 cm depth with t½ of 30.1 weeks and the lowest k of 0.023 week-1. The observed data indicates that 50% of N would be mineralized in all the soil types with the exception of Kitale ferralsols (0-15 cm depth) within the growing period of the crops which is approximately 20 weeks.
Epidemiology of increasing hemo-parasite burden in Ugandan cattle.

Hemo-parasites (HP) are one of the major constraints to the economic development of the lives- tock industry in Uganda. Generally, the occurrence and importance of HP is a reflection of complex interactions involving the causative organisms, tick vectors, the vertebrate hosts and the envi- ronment. We carried out a cross sectional study to identify and determine the prevalence of the major HPs in Central and Western Uganda, to form a baseline for appropriate interventions. A to- tal of 295 bovine samples were analyzed from 15 districts of Uganda; 56.3% being from the Cen- tral and 43.7% from the Western region of the country for a period of six months, and a question- naire was administered to the farmers. Thin peripheral blood smears stained with Giemsa were used during the laboratory identification of the parasites. The disease prevalence was established at 47.4%, 6.7%, 1.9% and 14.4% for Theleria parva, Babesia spp. , Trypanasoma brucei, Anaplasma spp. with a corresponding disease risk ratio (DRR) of 67.4%, 9.5%, 2.6%, 20.5% respectively in Uganda. The odds of having an infection from the Central region were 1.7 times greater (P < 0.05) than those from the Western region with a corresponding risk ratio of 1.2 (CI.1.1, 2.84, 95%), which showed that there exist marked differences between the two regions. Mean PCV was at 29.8%, and majority (59%) of infected animals had low PCV which varied across the months. * Corresponding author.
The Development and Validation of a Questionnaire to Audit Advance Care Planning

Background: Advance Care Planning (ACP) is established as a standard of care in many settings. However, no validated tool exists to measure participants’ perspectives on ACP. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire to assess ACP from the perspectives of patients and their family members, and to pilot the use of this questionnaire in both English and French. Methods: To develop the ACP-specific questionnaire, items were generated from focus groups with health care professionals and face-to-face interviews withhospitalized patients and their families. The items from this novel questionnaire were combined with other validated evaluation instruments and then piloted in English-speaking hospitalized patients who had advanced, life-limiting illnesses and a version for their family members. Revisions were made based on that experience and feedback from content experts and this questionnaire was then piloted in another sample of French-speaking respondents. Results: The novel questionnaire was divided into 2 parts, the first part focusing on ACP activities before admission to hospital (6 questions) and the second part relating to ‘goals of care’ discussions that occur during hospitalization (8 questions). For the English pilot study, the average duration of the entire interview (including consent, baseline demographics and other questionnaires) was 53.1 mins (range 35-80 mins) for patients and 60.8 mins (range 33-125 mins) for family members. English-speaking patients rated the burden of participating in the interview as a mean of 2.8 (Standard Deviation [SD] 1.9, 1=no burden, 10=extreme burden) and family members as 1.9 (SD 1.9). For the French pilot study, the results were similar. Conclusions: This is the first ACP questionnaire to be developed that has face and content validity. Despite a relatively lengthy interview process, the ACP audit process seems feasible and is not associated with undue burden.
Statistical evaluation of spectral methods for anomaly detection in static networks

Abstract The topic of anomaly detection in networks has attracted a lot of attention in recent years, especially with the rise of connected devices and social networks. Anomaly detection spans a wide range of applications, from detecting terrorist cells in counter-terrorism efforts to identifying unexpected mutations during ribonucleic acid transcription. Fittingly, numerous algorithmic techniques for anomaly detection have been introduced. However, to date, little work has been done to evaluate these algorithms from a statistical perspective. This work is aimed at addressing this gap in the literature by carrying out statistical evaluation of a suite of popular spectral methods for anomaly detection in networks. Our investigation on the statistical properties of these algorithms reveals several important and critical shortcomings that we make methodological improvements to address. Further, we carry out a performance evaluation of these algorithms using simulated networks and extend the methods from binary to count networks.
Are Canadian closely-held firms perceived to report low quality accounting information? Empirical evidence

The objective of this study is to provide empirical evidence as to how corporate ownership structure in Canada affects earnings informativeness, as measured by the earnings-return relationship. Like those in many countries around the world, Canadian publicly traded companies are characterized by both concentrated ownership and divergence between voting rights and cash-flow rights. Like those in many other countries, their main agency problem resides in the conflict between large controlling blockholders and minority shareholders. These large dominant shareholders, with their imposing block of voting rights, are likely to influence accounting-information reporting. In this paper, we test whether large dominant shareholders are perceived to report low quality earnings. We show that earnings informativeness depends directly on the ownership structure of publicly traded firms. Furthermore, we show that investors perceive reported earnings as least credible when a controlling blockholder has both the power and impetus to expropriate minority shareholders, which suggests a non-monotonic relationship between earnings informativeness and ownership structure.
PREDICTING DEGRADATION WITH BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND IN DISINFECTANT-POLLUTED SEWAGE

Most households frequently make use of disinfectants to annihilate infectious bacteria present in toilets and bathrooms. Unfortunately, some of these bacteria may be required for the degradation of sewage in the septic tank system (STS). This paper investigates how the performance (degradation capacity) of sewage will be affected by the inharmonious addition of disinfectants with biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) as the predictor. With a clean 50-litre container, a sewage sample was collected from a waste stabilization pond situated in a Nigerian Tertiary University, transported to the sanitary laboratory in the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and poured into five 4-litre white containers. Different doses of disinfectants – 0.5 ml, 1 ml, 1.5 ml, 2 ml, and 2.5 ml, were simultaneously added only at the initial day of experimental setup under aerobic conditions, and the pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), disinfectant dose, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and BOD were measured every three days for three weeks. Multivariate analysis was performed on the explanatory variable – pH, DO, disinfectant dosage, and COD – using e-Views 8.0, which revealed that the continuous addition of disinfectants to sewage inhibits its degradation, thereby resulting in increased organic loading within the STS, and may further lead to septic tank failure due to shock loading and a major source of ground water been polluted with emerging contaminants.
Comparing forecasts of Latvia's GDP using simple seasonal ARIMA models and direct versus indirect approach

This paper contributes to the literature by comparing predictive accuracy of one-period real-time simple seasonal ARIMA forecasts of Latvia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as by comparing a direct forecast of Latvia's GDP versus three kinds of indirect forecasts. Four main results are as follows. Direct forecast of Latvia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) seems to yield better precision than an indirect one. AR(1) model tends to give more precise forecasts than the benchmark moving-average models. An extra regular differencing appears to help better forecast Latvia's GDP in an economic downturn. Finally, only AR(1) gives forecasts with better precision compared to a naive Random Walk model.
Analysis of Climatic Factors Impact on RSV Infection Distribution in Children Attending Childcare at Northwest Region of São Paulo, Brazil

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was detected in samples collected from children from 0 to 6 years of age with acute respiratory infection, attending public childcare on Northwest region of Sao Paulo, Brazil. RSV distribution was associated to seasonal climatic variables as temperature, rainfall and relative air humidity. We utilized samples of nasopharyngeal aspirate collected during the period of July 2003 to September 2005. RT-PCR was the chosen method for viral identification. Results showed that from the 817 samples (collected from 179 children), 7.7% (63/817) were RSV positive. In 2003, RSV was detected from July until October. In 2004, RSV infections occurred in March, May, June, July, October, November, and December. In 2005, RSV was detected in March, April, May, August, and September. RSV circulation patterns in childcare children showed seasonal distribution associated to decreases in temperature and relative air humidity. RSV was detected in childcare children as an important viral agent causing respiratory infections, with varying patterns of circulation into the cohort during the study period. Moreover, RSV distribution showed to be associated with the dry season on Northwest region of Sao Paulo, Brazil. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.17525/vrr.v17i1-2.59
Karakteristik Pasien Kanker Payudara dan Penanganannya Di RSUD Arifin Achmad Pekanbaru Periode Januari 2010 - Desember 2012

Latar belakang Kanker payudara merupakan kanker kedua terbanyak di Indonesia setelah kanker leher rahim. Insidensi 12,2%. Penanganan kanker payudara telah terjadi perubahan selama dua dekade terakhir. Hal ini diakibatkan karena deteksi dini yang baik dan terapi yang lebih baik tiap tahunnya. Tujuan penelitian Untuk mengetahui karakteristik pasien kanker payudara dan penanganannya di RSUD Arifin Achmad Pekanbaru. Metode Penelitian ini bersifat deskriptif retrospektif dengan menggunakan data sekunder pasien kanker payudara berupa usia, lokasi tumor, ukuran tumor, stadium, gambaran histopatologi, grade histologi, penanganan dengan pembedahan, kemoterapi, radioterapi, terapi hormonal, dan terapi biologi di RSUD Arifin Achmad Pekanbaru periode Januari 2010– Desember 2012. Hasil penelitian didapatkan 95 kasus kanker payudara pada wanita. Simpulan Penderita kanker payudara terbanyak pada kelompok usia 40-49 tahun (36,8%), lokasi pada kuadran lateral atas payudara (30,5%), terbanyak ukuran 2-5 cm (69,5%), pada stadium lanjut lokal (53,7%), jenis terbanyak invasive ductal carcinoma (96,9%), grade II (50,6%). Penanganan dengan mastektomi radikal modifikasi (92,6%), kemoterapi adjuvant (96,8%), radioterapi (17,9%), terapi hormonal (50,5%) dan tidak ditemukan terapi biologi.
Parasitism by Campoletis flavicincta on Spodoptera frugiperda in corn

Parasitism by Campoletis flavicincta (Ashmead) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) on Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and consequent reduction of production losses were evaluated on caged corn plants in the field. Treatments consisted of plots infested with 0 (control), 15 and 30 pairs of C. flavicincta with egg masses per cage and plot infested without cage and liberation of the parasitoid. Parasitoid release was done when S. frugiperda larvae were three-day-old. Fifty corn plants (40%) per plot were collected seven days after infestation and S. frugiperda larvae present were reared in glass cups on an artificial diet . Number of S. frugiperda larvae was reduced by C. flavicincta but mortality of the pest and parasitoid sex ratio in laboratory were similar among treatments. Total progeny and female production from collected larvae were similar among densities of released parasitoid. Parasitism rate was higher on 30 than on 15 pairs of C. flavicincta. Damage on corn plants at seven and 14 days after S. frugiperda infestation had similar grades at 0, 15 or 30 C. flavicincta pairs and higher values than the plots without cage. Damage by S. frugiperda was lower at 30 C. flavicincta pairs after 21 days of infestation. Final stand, stand reduction by plant death and corn productivity were similar among treatments.
Health behaviour of postmenopausal women after mastectomy – preliminary study

Introduction. A sample of 95 Polish postmenopausal women after mastectomy were studied with the objective of describing Health Behaviour Indicators (HBIs) among the participants. The notion of health, the subjective evaluation of the participants’ health condition and their lifestyle before cancer diagnosis and at present wewre examined. Materials and method. Two data collection instruments were used: a questionnaire developed by the research team, and the Health Behaviour Inventory (HBI) – a standardised questionnaire developed by Juczyński. The HBIs four main dimensions: proper nutritional habits (PNH), preventive behaviours (PB), health practices (HPs), and positive mental attitude (PMA) were examined. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed with the post-hoc test (multiple comparisons conducted Turkey’s test). Results. Well-being was the most often indicated description of the health notions of the women surveyed. The majority of women (75; 78.9%) believed that they led a healthy lifestyle. The overall HBI, on average, was 85.7 out of 120. Specifically, HPs was the highest health behaviour enacted (3.75 Standard Deviation [SD] 1.59), followed by PB (3.66; 0.69 SD). In the bivariate analysis, married (87.2; 12.7 SD) and widowed (89.8; 7.9 SD) women reported higher scores than those who were unmarried (76.7; 14.6 SD) and divorced (83.6; 12.5 SD) (p < 0.05). Conclusions. HBI of postmenopausal women after mastectomy is high, which may suggest that mastectomy at the postmenopausal state enforces pro-healthy HBs.
How Does Ownership Structure Affect Capital Structure and Firm Value? Recent Evidence from East Asia

The present paper examines the effects of ownership structures on capital structure and firm valuation and argues that the effects of separation of control from cash flow rights on capital structure and firm value also depend on the separation of control from management as well as legal rules and enforcement defining investors’ protection. We obtain firm-level panel data 3SLS estimates from four East Asian countries worst affected by the last Crisis. There is evidence that the general wisdom that higher control than cash flow rights may lower firm value may be reversed among owner-managed family firms in the sample countries.
3D Computation of the Overhead Power Lines Electric Field

In this paper, a 3D quasistatic numerical algorithm for computation of the electric field produced by overhead power lines is presented. The real catenary form of the overhead power line phase conductors and shield wires is taken into account with an arbitrary number of straight thin-wire cylindrical segments of active and passive conductors. In order to obtain more precise results of the charge density distribution, segmentation is conducted for each overhead power line span separately. Moreover, the presence of the towers which distort the electric field and significantly reduce its magnitude is taken into account. Therefore, the towers of overhead power lines are approximated using thin-wire cylindrical segments of passive conductors with electric potential equal to zero. From self and mutual coefficients of these components, system of linear equations for computation of the charge density distribution was obtained. In the numerical example, electric field intensity distribution in the vicinity of towers and under the midspan of overhead power lines is shown. In order to verify the accuracy of the presented model, the obtained results are compared with similar published examples and results available in the literature.
Projected changes in wet-bulb globe temperature under alternative climate scenarios

The increased levels of Greenhouse Gasses (GHGs) in the atmosphere will result in increased near-surface air temperature and absolute humidity. These two factors increasingly pose a risk of heat stress to humans. The Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) is a widely used and validated index for assessing the environmental heat stress. Using the output from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) simulations of the four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs), we calculated the global and regional changes in WBGT. Globally, the WBGT is projected to increase by 0.6–1.7 °C for RCP 2.6 and 2.37–4.4 °C for RCP 8.5. At the regional scale, our analysis suggests a disproportionate increase in the WBGT over northern India, China, northern Australia, Africa, Central America and Southeast Asia. An increase in WBGT has consequences not only on human health but also on social and economic factors. These consequences may be exacerbated in developing economies, which are less able to adapt to the changing environmental conditions.
STUDIES ON PRODUCTION OF OIL BASED FORMULATION OF TRICHODERMA AND THEIR EFFICACY ON FOLIAR DISEASES OF GROUNDNUT

Isolation of Trichoderma harzianum, maintenance of pure culture, mass production and preparation of oil based formulations were carried out at Institute of Organic Farming and field experiments and studies on shelf life and field evaluation of different oil based formulation against rust and late leaf spot of groundnut were carried out during kharif 2010 at MARS, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka. Among the several diseases affecting the groundnut crop, foliar disease cause heavy loss in yield. These include late leaf spot [Phaeoisariopsis personata (Berk. and Curt.) V. Arx] and rust (Puccinia arachidis Speg.). Results of in-vitro studies of present investigation on shelf life reveals that among various oil based formulations Canola oil + Glycerol based formulation (3.00 x 10 6 cfu/ml) was found to be the best formulation with highest shelf life, followed by Paraffin oil based formulation (2.00 x 10 6 cfu/ml). In in-vitro evaluation of different Trichoderma oil based formulations against pathogenic propagules of rust and late leaf spot causing fungi indicated Paraffin oil + Neem oil based formulations to be superior with 4.79% and 3.67% uredospore germination and conidial germination, respectively followed by Neem oil based formulation with 5.68% and 4.59% germination against 92.27% and 95.60% uredospore and conidial germination in control. Among different oil based formulations tested for the management of both rust and late leaf spot, Canola oil + Glycerol based formulation was found to be most effective in reducing the incidence of both rust and late leaf spot with PDI of 11.70 and 12.64, respectively compared to rust and late leaf spot with PDI of 35.62 and 38.45 in untreated check. Similar trend was also observed with respect to groundnut pod yield, treatment with Canola oil + Glycerol oil based formulation had shown maximum pod yield of 22.22 q per ha.
Transport d'eau et d'acide en milieu complexe. Application au séchage du cacao

Graines de l'arbre tropical cacaoyer, les feves de cacao connaissent un probleme de qualite, du a une teneur trop elevee en acide acetique. Issu de la fermentation du cacao et indispensable a la formation de l'arome, cet acide doit etre ensuite evacue de la graine. Deux campagnes d'essais (1997 et 1998) realisees a proximite des zones de production (Tabasco, Mexique), ont permis de constituer une base de donnees concernant l'evolution de l'acidite au cours du sechage. En particulier, l'etude porte sur la "matiere cacao", c'est-a-dire l'interieur d'une "feve moyenne representative", concept original mis en oeuvre pour cette etude. Une premiere analyse de ces resultats met en evidence certains aspects des mouvements d'acide au sein de la graine. Dans le but d'approfondir la comprehension du sujet, un modele de transport couple d'eau et d'acide, est developpe et valide par confrontation avec les resultats experimentaux. Il sert de base a un programme informatique de simulation, reproduisant convenablement l'experience et permettant de cerner les parametres-cles responsables de la migration d'acide. La simulation amene finalement a definir une strategie de conduite du sechage preservant la qualite. (Resume d'auteur)
Polarisation Characteristics and Variability of the Compact Radio Structures of AGN

Abstract Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) polarisation measurements provide information about the parsec-scale magnetic field structures in compact active galactic nuclei (AGN), as well as the densities of relativistic and thermal electrons in the radio emitting regions. This paper reviews the role of polarisation VLBI in studies of AGN variability on both relatively long and short (intraday) timescales.