Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors Influencing Access to Integrated Soil Fertility Management Information and Knowledge and its Uptake among Smallholder Farmers in Zimbabwe

Abstract Purpose: The study evaluated how farmer acquisition, sharing and use patterns of information and knowledge interact with different socioeconomic factors to influence integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) technology uptake. Design/methodology/approach: The study was conducted as part of an evaluation of field-based farmer learning approaches introduced by SOFECSA in Zimbabwe. Building on emerging farmer interactive platforms, data were collected using farmer participatory research approaches. Findings: Over 90% of the farmers identified the national extension agents as the farmers' most preferred and reliable sources of information on ISFM, with farmer-to-farmer interactions ranking second. Non-governmental organisations and the print media emerged as the least trusted sources of agricultural technical information. Field-based learning centres, which enabled interactive evaluation of different ISFM options, constituted ~50%, indicating that they were major platforms for information and knowledge sharing. Uptake of ISFM was influenced by farmer resource group and farmers' visits to learning centres. Farmer experience and access to extension services were, in turn, the major factors influencing farmers' use of ISFM information. Approaches that support farmer-to-farmer interactions are required and learning centres are a suitable platform for such interactions to occur. Practical implications: The article brings to attention the role of learning centres in fostering adoption of ISFM technologies. Insights on the need to support and strengthen agricultural extension in rural smallholder communities are provided. Originality/value: This is a unique study exploring the role of farmer-oriented information and knowledge management in promoting complex technologies such as ISFM. A new dimension on the demands of new approaches for information dissemination to enhance knowledge sharing is presented.
Value of Conglomerates and Capital Market Conditions

This article studies variations in the value of diversification across time under various capital market conditions. I find that when external capital is more costly at the aggregate level, the value of conglomerates increases relative to focused firms. I also find that this increase is greater for financially constrained conglomerates, such as bank-dependent or small conglomerates. My findings support the theories on the advantage of diversification over focus. They suggest that the ability to substitute external capital markets with internal capital markets creates value for conglomerates when the financing cost in external markets is high, especially for those conglomerates that are financially constrained. Copyright (c) 2006 Financial Management Association International.
Anticipatory Income Smoothing: A Re-Examination

This paper reassesses evidence of anticipatory income smoothing reported in DeFond and Park (1997) in light of knowledge about the shortcomings in the model used to identify the managed component of reported earnings. Our tests demonstrate that the empirical results reported in DeFond and Park are implicitly guaranteed by the method used to classify firms based on the incentive to manage or not manage earnings. Results identical to those reported in DeFond and Park (1997) and interpreted in that paper as supportive of anticipatory income smoothing are obtained by simple random assignments of firms into groups where earnings management incentives are hypothesized to exist. The present paper adopts an alternative design, based on using analysts' forecasts as proxies for un-managed earnings (and forecast errors as proxies for discretionary accruals) which avoids the tautological nature of the research design in DeFond and Park. Our results indicate that patterns in measured discretionary accruals and relative earnings performance are consistent with the theory that managers smooth earnings based on both current-year results and expected next-year results. The prevalence and magnitude of this smoothing behavior, however, is considerably lower than inferred in DeFond and Park (1997). Key words: Earnings management; Smoothing
Optimal Inattention to the Stock Market

�Inattentive agents update their information sporadically, and thus respond belatedly to news. We generate optimally inattentive behavior by assuming that to observe the value of his investment portfolio the consumer must pay a cost that is proportional to the portfolio’s contempo raneous value. It is optimal for the consumer to check his investment portfolio at equally spaced points in time, consuming from a riskless trans actions account in the interim. The riskless transactions account that finances consump tion guarantees that funds are never unwittingly exhausted. � We show that the optimal interval of time between consecutive observations of the value of the portfolio is the unique positive solution to a nonlinear equation. Quantitatively, even a small observation cost (one basis point of wealth) implies a substantial (eight-month) decision interval under conventional parameter values.
Physiological Versus Single‐Rate Ventricular Pacing: A Double‐Blind Cross‐Over Study

Previous comparisons of physiological and singie‐rale ventricular pacing are mostly based on open studies. The present investigation was designed to control possible biases of such a study design with the aim to investigate effects of the two pacing modes on maximal and submaximal exercise tolerance and the subjective feeling of well‐being of the patients. Forty‐four patients treated with a trio ventricular synchronous pacemakers for more than 12 months participated in the study. Their pacemakers were randomly programmed to one 3‐week long period of ventricular inhibited and a similar period of atrioventricular synchronous ventricular inhibited pacing. Thereafter, they went through echocardiography, symptom‐limited maximal exercise test and answered a questionnaire on subjective symptoms. The study was blind since neither the patients nor the physician conducting the exercise tests were informed of pacing mode. The mean maximal exercise toleronce increased 14% (p < 0.01) on atrioventricular synchronous pacing. Arterial lactate, respiratory rates and perceived exertion ratings during submaximal levels of exercise were higher on ventricular inhibited pacing, as well as symptoms scored during the two 3‐week periods. A majority of patients improved their functional class during atrioventricular synchronous pacing and preferred the physiological pacing mode.
Earnings and Occupational Attainment Among Immigrants

This paper examines the determinants of occupational attainment and the impact of occupation on earning among foreign-born men using the U.S. 2000 Census. Years of schooling and proficiency in English are the key factors determining access to high-paying occupations among immigrants. Foreign labor market experience, however, has a negative impact on current occupational status, especially among those in high-status jobs, due to the limited international transferability of skills acquired on the job.
Satisfaction with HR practices and commitment to the organisation: why one size does not fit all

This article examines the links between employees' satisfaction with HR practices and their commitment to the organisation. It draws on recently collected data to examine these links for three groups of employees: professionals, line managers and workers. Satisfaction with some HR practices appears to be linked to the commitment of all employees, while the link for others varies between the three employee groups. These findings pose a challenge to the universalistic model of HRM and have implications for those seeking to design practices that will improve organisational commitment.
Simple fitting of subject‐specific curves for longitudinal data

We present a simple semiparametric model for fitting subject‐specific curves for longitudinal data. Individual curves are modelled as penalized splines with random coefficients. This model has a mixed model representation, and it is easily implemented in standard statistical software. We conduct an analysis of the long‐term effect of radiation therapy on the height of children suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukaemia using penalized splines in the framework of semiparametric mixed effects models. The analysis revealed significant differences between therapies and showed that the growth rate of girls in the study cannot be fully explained by the group‐average curve and that individual curves are necessary to reflect the individual response to treatment. We also show how to implement these models in S‐PLUS and R in the appendix. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DEVELOPMENT ASPECT OF ICT AND INTERNET IN BANGLADESH AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF DOT FORCE REPORT ANALYSIS

In the developing countries information has not been considered as a basic need during last few decades. Now, initiatives are being taken by the government, NGO’s, donor agencies and even private agents. The DOT Force (The Digital Opportunity Task Force) report - Digital Opportunities for All: Meeting the Challenge suggests that when ICT is wisely applied, it offers enormous opportunities to narrow social and economic inequalities and support sustainable local wealth creation, and thus help to achieve the broader development goals that the international community has set. The ICT can play a vital role in developing countries like Bangladesh for development in the priority sectors like agriculture, education, health and infrastructure. The efforts are being hindered due to lack of strong and genuine political commitment at the national level to share the expertise and knowledge in a more human way and not the corporate way. Rather keeping all the backwardness, ICT is spreading in Bangladesh and a very good number of initiatives that aimed to bridge digital divide gap and share the resources & knowledge through regional cooperation have been advanced. ICTDP'B (Information Communication & Technology Development Program, Bangladesh) established with the vision to build Digital Network through Rural based Telecenters for Education & Information service based on internet on Agriculture, Health, Social, Education. The two main programs of the project are BDHealthInfo for Health sector and womenBD.com for the women community of the society. Building a virtual approach through regional co-operation is the main force of the initiatives.
Comparative fecundity and survival rates of Phlebotomus papatasi sandflies membrane fed on blood from eight mammal species

Female sandflies, Phlebotomus papatasi (Scopoli) (Diptera: Psychodidae), were fed via chicken membrane on heparinized blood from eight species of mammal (human, horse, cow, pig, dog, rabbit, guinea‐pig, hamster) and their reproductive success rates were compared. No appreciable differences between those fed on human and animal blood were detected with respect to the proportion of flies that fed successfully, mortality‐rate within 24 h, number of eggs laid per blood‐fed female or egg viability. When mass‐rearing sandflies for research purposes, membrane‐feeding avoids practical difficulties encountered if sandflies are allowed to feed on live hosts (i.e. anaesthesia, distress from handling and postfeeding inflammation) and reduction of sandfly fecundity due to host antibody interference. Use of animal blood also eliminates risks of accidental transmission of human blood‐borne pathogens, e.g. hepatitis B and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and is less expensive than maintenance of animals and their preparation for sandfly feeding.
Shifting competences and changing preferences: the case of delegation to comitology

The article examines how changes of powers in the inter-institutional balance have affected the willingness of the Commission and the Council to delegate legislative power to comitology committees. Starting from the assumption that actors seek to maximize their institutional power in order to increase their influence over policy outcomes, we argue that changes of institutional rules affect their willingness to adopt legislation through comitology procedures. We examine the effects of the introduction of the 1999 comitology decision, which increased the competences of the Commission in the comitology procedure by abolishing the ‘double safety net’. We show that the Commission has proposed delegation to management and regulatory committees more extensively since the adoption of this decision. Surprisingly, the Council – which saw its own competences reduced by the decision – did not put up significant resistance to the more frequent use of delegation.
Class Size Reduction and Student Achievement: The Potential Tradeoff between Teacher Quality and Class Size

This paper investigates the effects of California's billion-dollar class-size-reduction program on student achievement. It uses year-to-year differences in class size generated by variation in enrollment and the state's class-size-reduction program to identify both the direct effects of smaller classes and related changes in teacher quality. Although the results show that smaller classes raised mathematics and reading achievement, they also show that the increase in the share of teachers with neither prior experience nor full certification dampened the benefits of smaller classes, particularly in schools with high shares of economically disadvantaged, minority students.
Women Aspiring to Administrative Positions in Kenya Municipal Primary Schools.

Even though female teachers in Kenya municipal primary schools are majority and highly qualified, they fill fewer administrative positions than men. This study assesses the extent of women's participation in leadership positions, society's perception of female leaders, selection criteria of educational administrators, and barriers that affect or hinder them from participation in leadership positions. Findings of this study reveal that gender socialization, beliefs in meritocracy, and the influence of patriarchy create a cycle of discrimination that disadvantage women in career advancement. Further, the existence of gender barriers disproportionately harms women’s advancement to senior positions of school administration. Finally, the study proposes remedial solutions to improve their involvement and participation in educational leadership.
Sourcing Through Auctions and Audits

Buyers often find that obtaining complete information about suppliers is costly. In such scenarios, there is a trade‐off between the costs of obtaining information and the benefits that accrue to the owners of such information. There are also various ways in which the missing information can be obtained or inferred. In this paper, we compare the efficiency of obtaining information via the classical mechanism design approach, which relies on the information available before the contracts are designed, with that of an “audit‐based” approach, which relies on the information obtained after the fact. In our model, a single buyer (the Stackelberg leader) wishes to procure a package of products or services from various competing suppliers that possess private cost information. We allow for arbitrary cost and revenue functions and can incorporate multiple cost and revenue drivers. We show how the buyer can optimize her profit and at the same time coordinate the channel by using a contract scheme involving auctions, audits, and profit sharing. We also examine the behavior of this mechanism when the supplier can exert effort to reduce cost but the cost of effort cannot be verified. We propose several mechanisms for different precontract informational scenarios and compare their performance.
Multimodal imaging findings in normal-appearing white matter of leucoaraiosis: a review

Leucoaraiosis (LA), also referred to as white matter hyperintensities (WMHs), are usually seen as patchy or confluent hyperintense areas on T2-weighted or fluid-attenuated inversion recovery MRI in the elderly. It is often asymptomatic in its early stages, yet its persistent evolution to more advanced stages may lead to substantial neurological dysfunction including dementia, stroke and death. Despite its clinical significance, the pathogenic mechanisms underlying LA development are uncertain. In patients with LA, the pathophysiological changes in white matter (WM) are suggested to be continuous from WMHs to its neighbourhood ‘normal-appearing white matter (NAWM)’ on conventional MRI sequences. Multimodal imaging studies revealed that the so-called ‘NAWM’ was actually abnormal with regard to underlying haemodynamic and microstructural changes. On the basis of positron emission tomography CT, xenon-CT, perfusion MRI, etc, the cerebral blood flow of NAWM was found to be significantly reduced in patients with LA, compared with healthy controls. Meanwhile, the integrity of microstructures and blood–brain barrier in NAWM was also demonstrated to be impaired with diffusion tensor imaging and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI studies, respectively. In addition,the integrity of NAWM correlated much stronger with cognitive performance than did WMHs load. It is reasonable to assume that the subtle injury of NAWM would be more reversible than WMHs themselves. Therefore, multimodal imaging modalities could be appropriately applied to future interventional studies targeting at early pathophysiological changes of NAWM. In this paper, we summarise current knowledge about NAWM of LA mainly acquired from multimodal imaging studies in vivo, and attempt to give options for future work.
CLINICAL PERSPECTIVES Benefits and Risks of Menopausal Estrogen and/or Progestin Hormone Use'l*

Current evidence is reviewed here on risks and benefits of estrogen and progestin use by peri- and postmenopausal women in relation to the following conditions: endomettial cancer, breast cancer, osteoporosis, and coronary artery disease (CAD). On balance, estrogen therapy appears to be beneficial for menopausal women, as it probably reduces the risks of CAD and osteoporosis, two of the major causes of mortality and morbidity. Although unopposed estrogen therapy increases the risk of endometrial cancer, that cancer is relatively rare and is not fatal in the vast majority of cases associated with estrogen use. Definitive conclusions about the relation of menopausal estrogens to breast cancer cannot be drawn due to inconsistent evidence to date. Although evidence from randomized controlled trials is lacking, biochemical and clinical evidence suggest that progestin supplementation is associated with a reduction in endometrial cancer risk in women taking menopausal estrogens. Progestin supplementation also may augment the beneficial effects of estrogens in providing protection against osteoporosis, although this effect is not yet well established. There is little direct evidence bearing on the relation of menopausal progestins to breast cancer. Although studies of CAD per se are lacking at present, progestins probably unfavorably alter lipoprotein profiles, thereby increasing a user’s risk of CAD. Given the relatively high incidence and mortality of CAD in postmenopausal women, any negative effects on CAD risk could potentially counterbalance beneficial effects on other causes. We conclude that estrogen replacement therapy is of potential benefit to postmenopausal women, but that the question of progestin supplementation requires further study, particularly for CAD risk.
Repeat prostate biopsies following diagnoses of prostate intraepithelial neoplasia and atypical small gland proliferation.

OBJECTIVE To assess the incidence of diagnosis of high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia or prostate intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN), and atypical small gland proliferation (ASAP) at a uropathology reference center. To assess the indexes and findings on repeat biopsies. MATERIALS AND METHODS Diagnoses of PIN, ASAP or PIN + ASAP established between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2003 were searched in our database. We studied repeat biopsies performed up to August 31, 2004. RESULTS Of 1420 biopsies, ASAP was diagnosed in 26 (1.8%) patients, PIN in 142 (10%) and PIN + ASAP in 40 (2.8%). Repeat biopsies were performed in 98 patients, 16 (61.5%) with ASAP, 53 (37.3%) with PIN and 29 (72.5%) with PIN + ASAP. Carcinoma was diagnosed in 7 cases (43.8%) following a diagnosis of ASAP, 12 (41.4%) of PIN + ASAP and 7 (13.2%) of PIN. The mean interval between repeat biopsies was 299.6 days. There was no difference between groups where cancer was or was not diagnosed on repeat biopsy in relation to age and serum PSA levels. CONCLUSION Despite explicit recommendations of repeat biopsy on pathology reports and the high incidence of adenocarcinoma on repeat biopsy, re-intervention rates following a diagnosis of PIN, ASAP, PIN + ASAP are low in our setting. The diagnosis that most frequently led to repeat biopsy was PIN + ASAP. Adenocarcinoma was most often diagnosed after the initial diagnosis of ASAP.
Does the Labour Market Explain Lower Female Schooling in India?

Labour market discrimination against women and parental discrimination against daughters are two of the most commonly cited explanations of the gender gap in education in developing countries. This study empirically tests the labour market explanation for India using household survey data collected in urban Uttar Pradesh in 1995. It estimates workforce participation functions and selectivity-corrected earnings fluctuations, and calculates the rates of return to education for the two sexes. Using the Blinder-Oaxaca method, the gross gender difference in earnings is decomposed into the part that is explained by men and women's differential characteristics and the part that is due to labour market discrimination. The results reveal that there is substantial omitted family background bias in the estimates of returns and that, contrary to received wisdom, the rates of returns to education rise by education level. The analysis suggests that, as well as overall labour girls face significantly lower economic rates of returns to education than boys.