Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pattern and change of soil organic carbon storage in China: 1960s–1980s

Soils, an important component of the global carbon cycle, can be either net sources or net sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). In this study, we use the first and second national soil surveys of China to investigate patterns and changes in soil organic carbon storage (SOC) during the period from the 1960s to the 1980s. Our results show that there is a large amount of variability in SOC density among different soil types and land uses in the 1980s. The SOC density in the wetlands of Southwest China was the highest (45 kg m−2), followed by meadow soils in the South (26 kg m−2), forest and woodlands in the Northwest (19 kg m−2), steppe and grassland in the Northwest (15 kg m−2), shrubs in the Northwest (12 kg m−2), paddy lands in the Northwest (13 kg m−2), and drylands in the Northwest (11 kg m−1). The desert soils of the Western region ranked the lowest (1 kg m−2). The density of SOC was generally higher in the west than other regions. Eastern China had the lowest SOC density, which was associated with a long history of extensive land use in the region. The estimation of SOC storage for the entire nation was 93 Pg C in the 1960s and 92 Pg C in the 1980s. SOC storage decreased about 1 Pg C during the 1960s–1980s. This amount of decrease in SOC for the entire nation is small and statistically insignificant. To adequately characterize spatial variations in SOC, larger sampling sizes of soil profiles will be required in the future analyses.
Gender and birth-order differences in time and risk preferences and decisions

We study how gender, birth-order and number of siblings are related to stated time and risk preferences and real-life decisions. We use survey data covering about 2,300 individuals and find that time and risk preferences are significantly correlated among women but not among men. We also find that stated time and risk preferences have clear explanatory power for real-life decisions, but in different ways for men and women. Moreover, risk preferences have stronger explanatory power for males than for females, whose decisions are more related to birth order and number of siblings. For example, the often claimed result that first-borns are more likely to have higher education is found among women only, while risk aversion and patience can explain part of men's corresponding choice.
Impacts and Implications of MGNREGA on Labour Supply and Income Generation for Agriculture in Central Dry Zone of Karnataka

This study has evaluated the impact of MGNREGA on income generation and labour supply in agriculture in one of the districts in central dry zone of Karnataka. Results have shown that the number of days worked in a year with the implementation of MGNREGA programme has significantly increased to 201 days, reflecting 16 per cent increase. Regression analysis has revealed that gender, education and family size of the workers are the significant factors influencing the worker’s employment under the Program. The increase in income is to the tune of 9.04 per cent due to additional employment generated from MGNERGA. In the total income, the contribution of agriculture is the highest (63%), followed by non-agricultural income (29%) and MGNREGA income (8%). Implementation of MGNERGA works has led to labour scarcity to the tune of 53 per cent and 30 per cent for agriculture operations like weeding and sowing, respectively. There has been a decline in area for labour-intensive crops like tomato and ragi to the extent of 30 per cent due to MGNERGA implementation.
Understanding Innovation in Production Networks in East Asia

This paper explores the “black box” of innovation in the electronics production network in East Asia through a mapping exercise of technological capabilities and an econometric analysis of exporting in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Thailand, and the Philippines. Technology-based approaches to trade offer a plausible explanation for firm-level exporting behavior and complement the literature on production networks. The econometric results confirm the importance of foreign ownership and innovation in increasing the probability of exporting in electronics. Higher levels of skills, managers’ education, and capital also matter in the PRC as well as accumulated experience in Thailand. Furthermore, a technology index composed of technical functions performed by firms (to represent technological capabilities) emerges as a more robust indicator of innovation than the research and development (R&D) to sales ratio. Accordingly, technological effort in electronics in these countries mostly focuses on assimilating and using imported technologies rather than formal R&D by specialized engineers.
The role of non-wood forest products in poverty alleviation and food security in Urban Ghana

Non Wood Forest Product (NWFP) is as old as the existence of humans and has gained increasing importance. The study focused on processing NWFPs in urban Ghana with special reference to the bushmeat commodity chain that supplies the urban areas. It described the existing forms of bushmeat processing requirements and constraints. It also examined the contribution of bushmeat to poverty alleviation and food security through its use, processing and trade as a NWFP. Methods for data collection involved the use of qualitative research approach in form of selective case study approach. In line with this approach, the study used both participant observation combined with focus group discussion to collect information from a cross section of primary actors in the bushmeat trade. Results showed that processing bushmeat for sale vary from place to place. It is conveyed to the major markets either smoked or fresh. Those using bushmeat for medicinal purposes cut the meat into various parts and dry them for their clientele. Results also showed that bushmeat trading activities involve a chain of actors composed of hunters, wholesalers and chop bar owners/retailers. This livelihood activity contributes highly to food security and household incomes of actors of the trade.
How an Evolution View of Workplace Mentoring Relationships Helps Avoid Negative Experiences: The Developmental Relationship Mentoring Model in Action

In this paper, we explore how the use of a specific mentoring model focusing on the evolution of the relationship between mentor and mentee, may influence the incidence of failure. In our research we employed a case study methodology to examine a regional public service mentoring scheme in the UK where a developmental relationship mentoring model had been developed and used to guide practice. Findings indicated toxicity and negative outcomes may be positively influenced by mentor motivation and emotional intelligence, and can be avoided when there is awareness of how relationships develop and evolve. For example, the use of contracting in the early stages can limit the mismatched expectations that provoke disappointment, but equally mentor actions at other stages play key roles in reducing potential failure. Our study has implications for the enhancement of mentor training and scheme coordination as well as contributing to the understanding of negative mentoring relationships.
Ras-Association Domain Family 1c protein enhances Breast Tumor Growth In Vivo

The Ras association domain family 1 (RASSF1) gene is a Ras effector that plays an important role in carcinogenesis. We have previously shown that silencing of RASSF1C decreases and over-expression of RASSF1C increases cell proliferation, migration, and attenuates apoptosis of breast cancer cells in vitro. To further confirm our working hypothesis that RASSF1C may play a role as a growth promoter, we have tested the growth of human breast cancer cells stably over-expressing RASSF1A or RASSF1C in nude mice. Our studies show that breast cancer cells over-expressing HA-RASSF1A developed significantly smaller tumors and cells over-expressing HA-RASSF1C developed significantly larger tumors compared to control cells expressing the vector back bone. We have confirmed the expression of HA-RASSF1A and HA-RASSF1C in tumor tissue using RT-PCR, western blotting and immunohistochemical analyses using HA-antibody. Together, our previous in vitro and current in vivo findings further support our hypothesis that RASSF1C, unlike RASSF1A, is not a tumor suppressor and rather it appears to function as tumor growth promoter in breast cancer cells.
Determinants of Audit Fees: Evidence from an Emerging Economy

This study sets out to examine factors influencing audit fees paid by non-financial companies listed on Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange (ADX). Data were collected from the 2011 annual and corporate governance reports published by the Emirati non-financial companies listed on ADX. Backward regression analysis is employed to assess the association between audit fees and certain company’s attributes. The findings show a direct relationship between audit fees and each of corporate size, business complexity and audit report lag variables. An inverse relationship has been detected between audit fees and each of industry type and audit committee independence. The findings also revealed that audit fees are not significantly influenced by company’s profitability, risk, and status of audit firm.
Evaluation of Biofungicides for Control of Powdery Mildew of Gerbera Daisy

ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS. Gerbera jamesonii, Podosphaera fusca, greenhouse daisies, ornamental diseases Powdery mildew caused by the fungus Erysiphe cichoracearum DC. or Podosphaera fusca (Fr.) S. Blumer is a common disease on gerbera daisies (Gerbera jamesonii Bolus ex. Hook f.) grown in Florida. This disease affects all parts of the plant and reduced plant quality is the main component of economic loss. The effect of calcium silicate, potassium silicate, and the biofungicide products Actigard (acibenzolar-S-methyl), K-phite (phosphorous acid), Milstop (potassium bicarbonate), Tricon (boron, orange oil and organic surfactants), Cease (Bacillus subtilis) and AgSil (potassium silicate) were evaluated in highly susceptible (‘Snow White’ and ‘Orange’) and moderately susceptible (‘Hot Pink’ and ‘Fuchsia’) gerbera cultivars. Results suggested that neither calcium silicate nor potassium silicate were effective in suppressing powdery mildew in gerbera daisy. The biofungicides products Actigard, Agsil, Cease, K-phite, Milstop and Tricon, suppressed powdery mildew of gerbera daisy compared with untreated plants; however, these products were not as effective as the fungicide program of Heritage alternated with Eagle. Among the biofungicide products tested K-phite, Millstop and Tricon were the most effective in reducing disease severity. Thus, biofungicide products may be used as an alternative to reduce the use of fungicides for suppressing powdery mildew of gerbera daisy.
Redescription of Pleurotomaria gerthi Weaver, 1931 (Gastropoda, Vetigastropoda), from the Early Cretaceous of Argentina: New Data on Its Age, Associated Palaeoenvironments and Palaeobiogeographic Affinities

Abstract Pleurotomaria gerthi Weaver, 1931 (Gastropoda, Vetigastropoda) from the Pilmatué Member of the Agrio Formation is redescribed and reillustrated on the basis of 38 newly collected specimens from nine localities in Neuquén Province, Argentina, including its type locality. The holotype housed in the C.E. Weaver collection is also refigured. Pleurotomaria gerthi-bearing levels, dated using a detailed ammonoid zonation, are late Valanginian—early Hauterivian. Taphonomic and sedimentological data gathered at three of the nine studied sections indicate that P. gerthi dwelled in shallow marine settings above the storm-weather wave-base. Associated palaeoenvironments are interpreted as inner shelf and inner carbonate ramp settings deposited under the influence storm currents and waves. The species lived on well-oxygenated soft sandy and patchy bioclastic substrates in normal marine warm-temperate waters within the photic zone, associated with a high-diversity macrofossil assemblage. Our study shows that its preferred habitat was the middle carbonate ramp, below the fair-weather wave-base, under low to moderate energy from episodic storm waves and currents. Pleurotomaria gerthi is endemic to the marine Andean basins of the western margin of southern South America and its oldest record is from the Tithonian of the Aconcagua-Central Chile Basin. It bears the closest morphological resemblance to Early Cretaceous species from the Tethyan Realm. During the Berriasian—Barremian interval, Pleurotomaria was a pandemic genus, with records in peri-Tethyan basins of Europe and India, as well as in north and south temperate marine basins in England and the western margin of South America.
USING A SOIL QUALITY INDEX TO ASSESS THE EFFECTS OF APPLYING SWINE MANURE COMPOST ON SOIL QUALITY UNDER A CROP ROTATION SYSTEM IN TAIWAN

Soil quality indices (SQI) have been proposed in recent years as tools for assessing soil management practice effects on soil quality. In this paper, we report the result of our 4-year study on the use of a SQI to assess the effects of applying swine manure compost on soil quality. Cabbage (Brassica camperstris L.) and maize (Zea mays L.) were grown in rotation in plots applied with low, medium, and high rates of swine manure compost while the control received only chemical fertilizers. Selected soil physical, chemical, and biological properties (bulk density, aggregate stability, organic carbon content, soil pH, available N, P, and K, extractable Cu and Zn, and microbial biomass), all of which were identified as possible soil quality indicators, were monitored at regular intervals. Tissues of harvested crops were analyzed for Cu and Zn concentrations because they were anticipated to increase due to the high amounts of the metals in the manure compost. A SQI model was derived based on Mausbach and Seybold's research and on our soil database and research experience in Taiwan. Data from our manure application experiment were used to calculate the SQI values for the different treatments. Results revealed that application of swine manure compost improved the soil quality of surface soil as indicated by increased values of soil quality indicators, SQI, and yields of the crops. In addition, Cu and Zn levels in the soil and in the crop tissues did not increase to harmful levels. Thus, it seems that the SQI was an effective tool to assess the effects of swine manure compost application on soil quality. The soil indicators we found effective included the monitored properties except for bulk density. All of these soil properties were significantly increased by manure compost application. Long-term application of 40-60 tons ha−1 year−1 of manure compost may improve the soil quality and increase the yield of the crops without polluting the soil and crops with Cu and Zn.
The AGN luminosity fraction in merging galaxies

Galaxy mergers are key events in galaxy evolution, often causing massive starbursts and fueling active galactic nuclei (AGNs). In these highly dynamic systems, it is not yet precisely known how much starbursts and AGNs, respectively, contribute to the total luminosity, at what interaction stages they occur, and how long they persist. Here we estimate the fraction of the bolometric infrared (IR) luminosity that can be attributed to AGNs by measuring and modeling the full ultraviolet to far-IR spectral energy distributions (SEDs) in up to 33 broad bands for 24 merging galaxies with the Code for Investigating Galaxy Emission. In addition to a sample of 12 confirmed AGNs in late-stage mergers, found in the Infrared Astronomical Satellite Revised Faint Source Catalog, our sample includes a comparison sample of 12 galaxy mergers from the Spitzer Interacting Galaxies Survey, mostly early stage. We also perform SED modeling of merger simulations to validate our methods, and we supplement the SEDs with mid-IR spectra of diagnostic lines obtained with Spitzer’s InfraRed Spectrograph. The estimated AGN contributions to the IR luminosities vary from system to system from 0 per cent up to ∼91 per cent but are significantly greater in the later-stage, more luminous mergers, consistent with what is known about galaxy evolution and AGN triggering.
Global knowledge linkages and the innovativeness of local clusters: Evidence from the Guangzhou software cluster in China

The aim of this research is to examine the importance of the nature and spatial dimension of knowledge sources on innovation of local firms in a cluster based on the regional innovation system approach. First, we introduce the “local buzz” and “global pipeline” argument. Second, we propose a conceptual framework incorporating two spatial dimensions of knowledge sources: local knowledge networks and global knowledge linkages, which include knowledge flows from inward foreign direct investment (FDI) to local firms as a part of global knowledge linkages. Third, we use qualitative analyses and firm survey data from a Guangzhou software cluster to show that global knowledge linkages and local knowledge networks are of similar importance to the innovation of local firms in a cluster, especially for local innovative firms. Customers, competitors, consultants and new personnel are the four most important knowledge sources to the innovation of local firms from both local knowledge networks and global knowledge linkages. The local firms with knowledge more from global knowledge linkages are more innovative. Finally, some policy implications, based on the research, are identified.
Analysis of Perception and Adaptation to Climate Change by Farmers in Gulmi District, Nepal

Climate change is a global challenge, highly affecting the developing countries with low adapting capacity, of which Nepal is not an exception. Climate change highly affects agriculture and livelihoods of farmers in Nepal. Its objectives are farmer's perceptions, witnesses and experiences on effects of climate change on agriculture and adaptations by farmers. Primary informations collected through structured questionnaire of household survey by selecting samples randomly. Information on primary and secondary data sources verified scientifically by trend analysis of climatic data. Most farmers depending on subsistence agriculture have a perception of climate change and respond to the changes based on their own local knowledge and experiences on farming. They are practicing both agricultural and non-agricultural adaptations at individual level. Consequently, appropriate technologies and sustainable community based adaptation strategies built on farmers knowledge, experiences and situation to cope with increasing effects of climate change on agriculture are necessary in the coming years.
Finding semantically related words in Dutch: co-occurrences versus syntactic contexts

Despite the growing interest in distributional approaches to semantic similarity, the linguistic differences between their results are still unclear. In this paper we use six vector-based techniques to retrieve semantically related nouns from a corpus of Dutch, and investigate them from a computational as well as a linguistic perspective. In particular, we compare the results of a bag-of-word model with a syntactic model, and experiment with different context sizes and means of reducing the dimensionality of the vector space. We find that a full syntactic context model clearly outperforms all other approaches, both in its overall performance as in the proportion of synonyms it discovers.
An apparatus with a horizontal capillary tube intended for measurement of the surface tension of supercooled liquids

New experimental apparatus for measurement of the surface tension of liquids under the metastable supercooled state has been designed and assembled in the study. The measuring technique is similar to the method employed by P.T. Hacker [NACA TN 2510] in 1951. A short liquid thread of the liquid sample was sucked inside a horizontal capillary tube partly placed in a temperature-controlled glass chamber. One end of the capillary tube was connected to a setup with inert gas which allowed for precise tuning of the gas overpressure in order of hundreds of Pa. The open end of the capillary tube was precisely grinded and polished before the measurement in order to assure planarity and perpendicularity of the outer surface. The liquid meniscus at the open end was illuminated by a laser beam and observed by a digital camera. Application of an increasing overpressure of the inert gas at the inner meniscus of the liquid thread caused variation of the outer meniscus such that it gradually changed from concave to flat and subsequently convex shape. The surface tension at the temperature of the inner meniscus could be evaluated from the overpressure corresponding to exactly planar outer meniscus. Detailed description of the new setup together with results of the preliminary tests is provided in the study.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Performance: An Empirical Analysis of the Quantity-Quality Trade-off on French Data *

This paper studies how different form of CRS dimensions affects corporate economic performance. We rely on various indicators CSR to examine whether firms rely on different business forms of CSR, in terms of quality versus quantity of practices, and we also determine the sectoral determinants of such trade-offs. Our empirical analysis is based on an original database including more than 4386 French firms in manufacturing and services in 2006. Our results show that isolated and aggregated CSR dimensions impacts positively firm performance. The interaction between the various CSR dimensions also affects positively firm performance but with a much stronger impact, suggesting that synergies among CSR practices matter a lot for firm performance. The sectoral dimension also matters. Actually, these results suggest a form of quantity-quality trade-off in the service sector whereby firms find it profitable to invest simultaneously in consistent CSR dimensions allowing them to exploit synergies, but they do not find it profitable to simply invest in isolated practices.
Discussion Paper 2015-047 TERES-Tail Event Risk Expectile based Shortfall

A flexible framework for the analysis of tail events is proposed. The framework contains tail moment measures that allow for Expected Shortfall (ES) estimation. Connecting the implied tail thickness of a family of distributions with the quantile and expectile estimation, a platform for risk assessment is provided. ES and implications for tail events under different distributional scenarios are investigated, particularly we discuss the implications of increased tail risk for mixture distributions. Empirical results from the US, German and UK stock markets, as well as for the selected currencies indicate that ES can be successfully estimated on a daily basis using a one-year time horizon across different risk levels. JEL classification: C13, C16, G20, G28
The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets

We report the discovery of four super-Earth planets around HD 215152, with orbital periods of 5.76, 7.28, 10.86, and 25.2 d, and minimum masses of 1.8, 1.7, 2.8, and 2.9 M⊕ respectively. This discovery is based on 373 high-quality radial velocity measurements taken by HARPS over 13 yr. Given the low masses of the planets, the signal-to-noise ratio is not sufficient to constrain the planet eccentricities. However, a preliminary dynamical analysis suggests that eccentricities should be typically lower than about 0.03 for the system to remain stable. With two pairs of planets with a period ratio lower than 1.5, with short orbital periods, low masses, and low eccentricities, HD 215152 is similar to the very compact multi-planet systems found by Kepler, which is very rare in radial-velocity surveys. This discovery proves that these systems can be reached with the radial-velocity technique, but characterizing them requires a huge amount of observations.