Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Combining ability analysis for yield and its component characters in maize (Zea mays L.)

Line × tester analysis was carried out involving fourty two lines and three testers in maize for assessing the combining ability for yield and its component characters. Hybrids recorded significant variance for all characters studied. Variance due to parents were significant for characters viz., days to 50% tasseling, days to 50% silking, plant height (cm), ear height (cm), cob length (cm), cob girth (cm), number of grain rows per cob, number of grains per row, number of grains per cob, 100 grain weight (gm) and grain yield per plant (gm). The variance due to sca was higher than gca indicating the predominance of non-additive type of gene action for the above mentioned traits. Among the lines, the line RML 12, was identified as the best general combiner with higher per se performance for most of the yield contributing traits followed by RML1, RML 26, RML 27 and RML 34. Considering the testers, RML 48 was found as the best general combiner with better mean performance for most of the yield contributing traits followed by RML 47. Among the crosses, RML12 x RML48 was found to be the superior with positive significant sca effects and better mean performance for grain yield, cob girth, number of grain rows per cob and no of grains per cob. Similar superior positive significant sca effects with better mean performance were also observed in RML26 x RML48 (no of grains per cob, grain yield per plant and grain yield per plot), RML27 x RML48 (grain yield per plant, grain rows per cob, grains per cob) and RML37 x RML48 (cob girth, hundred grain weight, grain yield per plant and grain yield per plot.
Determinants of Capital Structure of Selected Insurance Companies in Ethiopia

The main objective of this study is to examine the determinants of capital structure of selected insurance companies in Ethiopia. To achieve the objective, researchers’ used only secondary data obtained from the annual financial statement of selected insurance companies, National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) and Ministry of Finance and Economic cooperation (MoFEC). In this study, one dependent variable (leverage) and nine independent variables, i.e. growth opportunities, business risk, size of the firm, tangibility of assets, liquidity, age, management efficiency, inflation and GDP was employed. Explanatory research design and purposive sampling method was employed in this study. The balanced panel data was analyzed by using descriptive, correlation and multiple regression analysis. From the regression results; age, business risk, firm growth, management efficiency, economic growth rate, and inflation are identified as the most important determinant factors of capital structure. Age, business risk, management efficiency, economic growth rate and inflation are positively related with capital structure; but, firm growth has negative relation with capital structure. However, liquidity, size and tangibility of assets had insignificant impact on capital structure. Finally, the study recommends that the management of the sample insurance companies shall devote their time and efforts on variables of age, business risk, management efficiency, firm growth, GDP and inflation in order to minimize the weighted average cost of capital. Keywords: Capital Structure, Determinants, Insurance Companies, Ethiopia
MESSENGER observations of a flux‐transfer‐event shower at Mercury

[1] Analysis of MESSENGER magnetic field observations taken in the southern lobe of Mercury's magnetotail and the adjacent magnetosheath on 11 April 2011 indicates that a total of 163 flux transfer events (FTEs) occurred within a 25 min interval. Each FTE had a duration of ∼2–3 s and was separated in time from the next by ∼8–10 s. A range of values have been reported at Earth, with mean values near ∼1–2 min and ∼8 min, respectively. We term these intervals of quasiperiodic flux transfer events “FTE showers. ” The northward and sunward orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field during this shower strongly suggests that the FTEs observed during this event formed just tailward of Mercury's southern magnetic cusp. The point of origin for the shower was confirmed with the Cooling model of FTE motion. Modeling of the individual FTE-type flux ropes in the magnetosheath indicates that these flux ropes had elliptical cross sections, a mean semimajor axis of 0.15RM (where RM is Mercury's radius, or 2440 km), and a mean axial magnetic flux of 1.25 MWb. The lobe magnetic field was relatively constant until the onset of the FTE shower, but thereafter the field magnitude decreased steadily until the spacecraft crossed the magnetopause. This decrease in magnetic field intensity is frequently observed during FTE showers. Such a decrease may be due to the diamagnetism of the new magnetosheath plasma being injected into the tail by the FTEs.
FACTORS THAT PREVENT PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS FROM UTILIZING COMPUTERS AND OTHER NEW TECHNOLOGICAL MEANS IN THEIR WORKPLACE: THE CASE OF PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN THE PREFECTURE OF MAGNESIA, GREECE

In order to understand and to promote the educational integration and utilization of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), teachers need to be investigated in-depth, as substantial determinants of the educational process, and research interest ought to be concentrated on the factors that are inhibitory to their decisions concerning the pedagogical employment of ICT. Therefore, the present paper examines three interrelated factors that prevent primary school teachers from making use of computers and of other new technological means in their workplace. Through qualitative methodology and individual structured interviews, seven (7) teachers from public primary schools of equal number, in the prefecture of Magnesia, Greece, report a) the main problems encountered in the educational use of computers, b) their beliefs about the pedagogical value of the utilization of computers in the teaching process, and c) the “official policy” of their school of service regarding the usage of computers in instructional practice. According to the findings of this study, among others, a) the quantitatively and qualitatively inadequate or insufficient school infrastructure and technical support are ascertained, whilst highlighting b) the positive learning outcomes of the said use of computers, along with schoolteacher beliefs in favor of their confined employment. Finally, c) a range of existing school policy is observed, including the formal or informal encouragement of the voluntary use of computers, or the absence of corresponding guidelines. Overall, despite their limitations, the abovementioned results can be applied to pre-service and in-service teacher training, and in the formulation of the associated educational policy, taking into account the available national financial resources.
Use of Portfolio Assessment Technique in Teaching Map Sketching and Location in Secondary School Geography in Jos, Nigeria

This study investigated the use of portfolio assessment technique in teaching map sketching and location in geography in Jos, Nigeria. It adopted a quasi-experimental design. Two schools were selected using a table of random numbers from a population of 51 schools in Jos South and assigned to each of experimental and control group. The experimental group consisted of 49 students while the control group had 52 students. Three hypotheses were formulated for the study. Hypotheses one and three were tested using t-test for correlated samples statistics while t-test for independent samples statistical technique was employed in testing hypothesis two. The instrument used for data collection was a Geography Achievement Test (GAT). The two groups were given a pre-test after which the experimental group was taught map sketching and location using portfolio assessment technique while discussion method was employed to teach the control group. The same test was later administered on the two groups. The findings of the study revealed that portfolio assessment helped in improving students’ performance in map sketching and location, where the experimental group recorded higher mean gain scores of 33.32 as against1.65 gain scores recorded for the control group. Results of the t-test analysis revealed that a significant mean difference existed between the pre-test and post-test GAT mean scores of the experimental group. Gender was found not to have significant effect on the post-test GAT of the experimental group. The study recommended that teachers and schools should employ portfolio assessment technique in teaching to help improve performance in secondary school geography.
Behaviour of trace elements in arsenian pyrite in ore deposits

As-bearing pyrite is one of the main hosts for Au and other trace elements in epithermal, Carlin and mesothermal (orogenic) Au deposits. A review of our own and published SIMS, EMPA, LA-ICP-MS and PIXE analyses of pyrite from these deposits suggests that the solubility of Ag, Te, Hg, Sb and Pb in arsenian pyrite is controlled by As-content in a manner similar to that previously reported for Au by Reich et al., (2005). The trace elements can be divided into two groups that exhibit different solubility limits: i) Au, Ag, Te, Hg and Bi ii) Sb and Pb. HRTEM and HAADF-STEM observations reveal nanoparticles with compositions of Sb-As-Fe-Ni, Sb-Pb-Te, Pb-Bi, PbS and Ag in arsenian pyrite above the solubility limit. Most nanoparticles are between 5 and 200 nm, with some containing Pb reaching 500 nm. Pyrite from Carlin-type and epithermal deposits contains larger amounts of Sb and/or As than pyrite from higher-temperature orogenic gold/mesothermal deposits. This suggests that the solubility of trace elements in pyrite appears to decrease with increasing temperature.
Effects of Proprioceptive and Visual Disturbance on Inphase and Anti-phase Hand Performance

Methods: Fifteen physical education students of Shahid Beheshti University (aged 18-25 years) were participated in the study. Participants performed bimanual in-phase and anti-phase movements with their wrists at 3 levels of speed ranging from slow to fast and 4 different sensory conditions, including 1) Normal sensory input; 2) Masked vision; 3) Masked proprioception; and 4) Full sensory deprivation. Separate analyses of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures on speed and sensory conditions were conducted for the in-phase and anti-phase movement patterns, followed by post hoc analyses using the Bonferroni correction. The dependent variable was error of relative phase.
ROBUSTNESS OF THE HEADQUARTERS-CITY EFFECT ON STOCK RETURNS

Recent studies report that U.S. firms headquartered near each other experience positive comovement in their stock returns, a finding suggestive of local biases in equity trading activity. We investigate the robustness of these findings and find that including additional pricing factors in models for monthly stock returns materially reduces the magnitude of the headquarters-city effect in stock returns. Additionally, we find that an implicit null hypothesis of zero local return comovement is inappropriate as there is positive comovement between a stock's return and returns on portfolios of stocks from nonheadquarters cities, on average. Nevertheless, results benchmarked against estimates based on resampling methods indicate a significant and robust headquarters-city effect in stock returns. (c) 2008 The Southern Finance Association and the Southwestern Finance Association.
Determinants of Childbirth in Russia―A Micro‐Data Approach―

This paper uses the micro-data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) to identify factors that explain fertility between 1995 and 2004. An overview of nationwide birth dynamics in post-Soviet Russia shows that not only do changes in economic conditions move in lockstep with the overall birth rate trend, as has been pointed out by numerous researchers, but so too do proximate determinants of fertility, and suggests that rises and falls in the total fertility rate in Russia are also affected by factors such as demographic timing effects. Although few studies employing micro data have been conducted, it is frequently argued that the shrinking of the economy during the transition to the market economy was the reason for the decline in the birth rate. However, many demographic researchers and sociologists, particularly in Russia itself, attribute the drop in the country fs birth rate from the 1990s to the long-term population trend, a view that also has widespread acceptance. While the previous studies all used fertility data up to 2001, this paper analyses data up to 2004, which is significant as the birth rate has shown a sustained rise since 2001. It was shown that household income levels do not have a significant impact on birth probability, and this may indicate the possibility that economic growth did not lead directly to the recovery in the birth rate. This suggests that social conditions in the broad sense may have caused the birth rate to rise. Finally, the paper examines, from a demographic perspective, the measures to encourage couples to have children that were introduced in the last days of the Putin Administration, which ended in May 2008.
The role of quantization effects on the operation of 50 nm MOSFET and 250 nm FIBMOS dvice

We investigate quantum mechanical space quantization effects in conventional MOSFET devices and asymmetric device structure fabricated via focused ion beam technique (FIBMOS device). We find that the inclusion of the quantum mechanical space-quantization effects along the growth direction gives rise to larger average displacement of the carriers from the semiconductor-oxide interface and reduced sheet electron density. This, in turn, leads to threshold voltage shift on the order of 150 to 200 mV, which affects the magnitude of the on-state current and gives rise to transconductance degradation.
On the commutant and orbits of conjugation

In this note, we analyse the relationship between the commutant of a bounded linear operator A and the algebra of similarity B A that was introduced in the late 70s as a characterization of nest algebras. Necessary and sufficient conditions are also obtained for an operator to commute with real scalar generalized operators in the sense of Colojoara-Foias in Banach spaces. In the second part, we analyse the relationship between the generalized inverse, the generalized commutant and the orbits of conjugation.
A systematic evaluation of semantic representations in natural language processing

A SYSTEMATIC EVALUATION OF SEMANTIC REPRESENTATIONS IN NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING In the studies of semantics, the main aim is to address meaning. In a computational manner, this goal is accomplished through the encoding of language constructs. These encodings are in the form of information-theoretic measures and vector representations. We have focused on the representation of words. In word representations, the earlier approaches depend on counting the statistics between word and its accompanied words, whereas the current methods are based on learning approaches. At this point, we have investigated the relation between these two approaches. We have realized that both approaches use context as the normalization factor. We support our idea by evaluating word representations on some Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks. Furthermore, we have studied the polysemous words which carry more than one meaning. The word representation of the polysemous word provides a representation that covers more than one meaning. To overcome this issue, we provide a method to create a representation for each sense of polysemous word.
Stellar envelopes of globular clusters embedded in dark mini-haloes

We show that hard encounters in the central regions of globular clusters embedded in dark matter (DM) haloes necessarily lead to the formation of gravitationally-bound stellar envelopes that extend far beyond the nominal tidal radius of the system. Using statistical arguments and numerical techniques we derive the equilibrium distribution function of stars ejected from the centre of a non-divergent spherical potential. Independently of the velocity distribution with which stars are ejected, GC envelopes have density profiles that approach asymptotically $\rho\sim r^{-4}$ at large distances and become isothermal towards the centre. Adding a DM halo component leaves two clear-cut observational signatures: (i) a flattening, or slightly increase of the projected velocity dispersion profile at large distances, and (ii) an outer surface density profile that is systematically shallower than in models with no dark matter.
Impacts of groundwater extraction on salinization risk in a semi-arid floodplain

Abstract. In the lower River Murray in Australia, a combination of a reduction in the frequency, duration and magnitude of natural floods, rising saline water tables in floodplains, and excessive evapotranspiration have led to an irrigation-induced groundwater mound forcing the naturally saline groundwater onto the floodplain. It is during the attenuation phase of floods that these large salt accumulations are likely to be mobilised and discharged into the river. This has been highlighted as the most significant risk in the Murray–Darling Basin and the South Australian Government and catchment management authorities have subsequently developed salt interception schemes (SIS). The aim of these schemes is to reduce the hydraulic gradient that drives the regional saline groundwater towards the River Murray. This paper investigates the interactions between a river (River Murray in South Australia) and a saline semi-arid floodplain (Clark's floodplain) that is significantly influenced by groundwater lowering due to a particular SIS. The results confirm that groundwater extraction maintains a lower water table and a higher amount of fresh river water flux to the saline floodplain aquifer. In terms of salinity, this may lead to less solute stored in the floodplain aquifer. This occurs through three mechanisms, namely extraction of the solute mass from the system, reducing the saline groundwater flux from the highland to the floodplain and changing the floodplain groundwater regime from a losing to a gaining one. It is shown that groundwater extraction is able to remove some of the solute stored in the unsaturated zone and this can mitigate the floodplain salinity risk. A conceptual model of the impact of groundwater extraction on floodplain salinization has been developed.
The Gulf of Manfredonia: a new neritic foraging area for loggerhead sea turtles in the Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is an important foraging area for the loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta, but neritic habitats for this species along the Italian coast were identi- fied in the northern shallow area only. The Gulf of Manfredonia is a relatively wide shallow area in the south-west Adriatic and its features and preliminary information make it a potential foraging ground for turtles. In order to assess sea turtle occur - rence in the area, we monitored seven bottom trawlers based in the port of Manfredo- nia during the period Oct 2010 - Jul 2011 through a voluntary logbook programme, resulting in a total of 62 turtle captures during 617 fishing days. Since a turtle capture represents a rare event during such sampling, data were analysed by a zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) model. Results indicate that: (i) the Gulf is a neritic foraging ground for loggerhead turtles which occur there with a relatively high density comparable to oth- er Mediterranean foraging grounds, (ii) it is frequented by a wide range of size classes, including small juveniles as well as adults, (iii) the highest occurrence is during the period Jun-Dec, (iv) over 1700 turtle captures occur in the Gulf annually. Preliminary findings about recaptured individuals suggest that part of the turtles are resident in the area. The peculiar features of the Gulf of Manfredonia and the collaboration of the fishing fleet, make it a valuable index site for studying current trends of sea turtle populations at sea as well as other aspects of sea turtle biology and conservation.
Language Learning Strategies Use and Challenges Faced by Adult Arab Learners of Finnish as a Second Language in Finland

Adult Arab learners of Finnish as second language (FSL) often encounter communication difficulty when dealing with official documents. They also cannot help their children in their school homework. FSL proficiency is an essential requirement to get an employment and to obtain the Finnish citizenship. The aim of this paper is to explore the use of the language learning strategies by a number of adult Arabs learning FSL in Finland. In addition to issues and difficulties related to the learning process encountered by this category of learners. Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for language learning was used for the purpose of data collection and SPSS programme was employed to analyse data collected from the questionnaire, however, interview data were analysed manually. 30 (20 male and 10 female) adult Arab FSL learners taking beginning level course in Finnish at Helsinki School for Adult Learners participated in the current study. The results showed that adult Arab learners of Finnish used the language learning strategies at medium level with the average of (m=3.25). The results also showed a number of challenges that impede their second language learning process like the low literacy level of the learners, lack of communication with the Finnish society, and difficulties in reading and writing in Finnish.
F-FDG PET / CT in the evaluation of adrenal masses in lung cancer patients

1Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Treatment, Tianjin Tumor Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China; 2Oncology Center, Third People’s Hospital of Jiujiang City, Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, China; 3Division of Urology and Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina; 4Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Jinan, Shandong Province, China, e-mail cwsd2000@yahoo.cn
Effects of storage conditions on the fatty acid composition of the butter of tallow tree (Pentadesma butyracea)

Objective : In this study, the effect of various storage conditions of the kernel of P. butyracea on the fatty acid profile of the derived butter was evaluated. Methodology and results : An experimental design was set up to assess the effects of kernel boiling, the packaging material and the storage duration on the kernel butter yield and water activity; and on the fatty acid composition of derived butter. The fatty acid composition of the butter varied significantly according to the storage conditions of the kernels. The palmitic, stearic and linoleic acids content of the butter tend to increase because of the storage duration while the oleic acid decreases during storage. Conclusions and Application of results: The kernels dried without boiling, stored in jute bag for a duration of less than 6 months provided a butter with optimum yield and less modifications in its fatty acid composition. Pentadesma butyracea butter from kernels stored in jute bags maintains its physicochemical quality, thus these packaging materials should be recommended. Key words : Pentadesma butyracea , oil seed, storage, butter, fatty acid