Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impacts of altered benthic invertebrate communities on the feeding ecology of yellow perch (Perca flavescens) in metal-contaminated lakes

Metal contamination can disrupt trophic links in food webs by altering the taxonomic composition and size structure of benthic macroinvertebrate communities. Benthic macroinvertebrates and yellow perch (Perca flavescens) were collected from six lakes along a gradient of cadmium (Cd) and copper (Cu) contamination in Quebec, Canada. The two most contaminated lakes had significantly lower densities of several benthic macroinvertebrate taxa and signif- icantly lower Shannon's index than less contaminated lakes. The stomach contents of perch from the most contami- nated lakes were less diverse, with a greater reliance on chironomids and (or) zooplankton than perch from other study lakes. The size of prey in perch from the most contaminated lakes did not increase with age and the mean prey size was smaller than in other, less contaminated lakes. Perch from lakes with medium to low levels of contamination weighed significantly more than perch from lakes with high levels of contamination. This reduction in growth is attrib- uted to the increased costs of foraging on a simplified prey base in metal-contaminated systems. Resume : La contamination par les metaux peut perturber les liens trophiques dans les reseaux alimentaires en modi- fiant la composition taxinomique et la structure en taille des communautes de macroinvertebres benthiques. Nous avons preleve des macroinvertebres benthiques et des perchaudes (Perca flavescens) dans six lacs le long d'un gradient de contamination au cadmium (Cd) et au cuivre (Cu) au Quebec, Canada. Dans les deux lacs les plus contamines, la den- site de plusieurs taxons de macroinvertebres benthiques est significativement plus basse et l'indice de Shannon est significativement plus faible que dans les lacs moins contamines. Les contenus stomacaux de perchaudes provenant des lacs les plus contamines sont moins diversifies et sont plus domines par les chironomides et (ou) le zooplancton que ceux des perchaudes des autres lacs etudies. Dans les lacs les plus contamines, la taille des proies n'augmente pas en fonction de l'âge des perchaudes et la taille moyenne des proies est plus faible que dans les autres lacs moins contami- nes. Les perchaudes provenant des lacs a contamination moyenne a faible pesent significativement plus que les per- chaudes des lacs a forte contamination. Nous attribuons cette reduction de la croissance aux couts accrus de la recherche de nourriture dans un reseau de proies simplifie dans les systemes contamines par les metaux.
An Empirical Analysis of the Board of Directors, Audit Committee and Compensation Committee Verfasserin

Corporate scandals (e.g. Enron, WorldCom) have evoked outrage in the public as well as in shareholders and regulators. Managers with insider information extracted enormous amounts of money by betraying both their company and their shareholders. Three economic actors were to blame first the executives, second the auditor and third and most importantly the board of directors. In reaction to these corporate scandals new regulations concerning corporate governance emerged (e.g. SOX 2002, NYSE Corporate Governance Regulations). Shareholder activists as well as institutional investors demand their representatives within the corporation which are responsible for protecting shareholder interests namely the board of directors to be structured and act in compliance with corporate governance regulations. This issue similarly attracted the interest of academics as the growing amount of academic literature dealing with executive compensation, the board of directors or the various committees shows. Theoretical assumptions are mostly in accordance with corporate governance regulations however empirical findings are inconclusive. The aim of this work is to investigate the relationship between the board of directors and its subordinate audit and compensation committee with CEO compensation. First academic literature agency theoretic assumptions about CEO compensation are discussed, followed by alternative approaches (e.g. human capital theory, stewardship theory). In the next section the board of directors as well as the audit and the compensation committee are analyzed and hypotheses about the association with CEO compensation are developed and subsequently tested in the empirical part of this study. Positive coefficients were found for company size, board size, audit committee size, gray directors serving on the audit committee, and compensation committee size. Negative coefficients were found for percentage of insiders on the company board, company performance measured as ROA, the percentage of insiders serving on the audit committee and director overlap between compensation committee and audit committee.
Single dose Methotrexate injection, could be a safe and effective treatment for early cases of tubal ectopic pregnancy, with minimal maternal health hazards

first method is described as a conservative medical method in which we use a chemotherapeutic agent (Methotrexate) to eradicate the ectopic tubal conception, whereas the second method implies a conservative laparoscopic surgery in which overwhelming efforts are done in order to maintain a tube affected by ectopic pregnancy as healthy as possible following removal of the ectopic pregnancy mass. The fallopian tubes are assessed for patency and tubal lumen contour and pattern 3 months following successful treatment, in order to detect which method would lead to a high cure rate with the least tubal detrimental effect. Patients and Methods: In the current study, 58 patients diagnosed with tubal ectopic pregnancy were given Methotrexate as a first choice chemotherapeutic agent aiming to resolve the ectopic pregnancy, whereas 58 patients with the same condition gone directly through laparoscopic salpingostomy, with the aim of maintaining patent healthy tube finally after successful treatment. Results: The study revealed no significant difference for either treatment modalities in affecting the rate of bilateral tubal obstruction, or tubal patency with a recognized tubal defect with a p >0.05. On the other hand, cases with unilateral tubal obstruction involving the affected tube were remarkably increased in the methotrexate group (13 cases) out of 52 cases with successful treatment compared to 6 cases successfully treated by salpingostomy (6 cases) out of 52 cases successfully treated, with a p<0.05 . Conclusion: In conclusion, single dose methotrexate has proven to be a safe, effective and reasonably convenient treatment for most patients, shown during counseling to be so worry about surgery and its potential detrimental consequences on their future fertility. Yet, it should be obviously highlighted that such concepts and perspectives for keeping fertility can’t be taken as for granted and a guarantee for a healthy patent tube as it is quite obvious that even with successful elimination of the chorionic tissue in the tube, the affected tube might still be blocked and with a significant rate further exceeding the excepted rate with laparoscopic salpingostomy.
METHODS OF MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF THE PROCESSES OF ELECTRODE METAL DROP FORMATION AND TRANSFER IN CONSUMABLE ELECTRODE WELDING (Review)

Processes of welding wire heating and melting, electrode metal drop formation and transfer in consumable electrode welding largely determine welding efficiency and quality. In its turn, the nature of metal melting and transfer with this welding process is determined by a large number of such physical phenomena as heat and mass transfer, gas(hydro)dynamics, electromagnetic processes, running in arc plasma, on the surface and in the volume of molten electrode metal-drop. This paper gives a review of currently available methods of theoretical investigation and mathematical modelling of the above processes, allowing prediction of such characteristics of electrode metal transfer as drop volume and shape, their thermal and gas-dynamic state, detachment frequency, etc. Advantages and disadvantages of the considered models are analyzed and main directions of their further development are outlined. 37 Ref. , 11 Figures.
Frequency of the Causes of Postmenopausal Bleeding, Results of a Tertiary Referral Center in Turkey

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to determine the frequency of etiologic factors that causes postmenopausal bleeding. STUDY DESIGN: For the purpose, a total number of 200 women with postmenopausal bleeding were included in the study. Medical records regarding history, physical examination, and endometrium biopsy of these cases were retrospectively analyzed. The frequency of etiologic factors and relevancy of pathological results with demographic factors were determined. RESULTS: Most frequent histopathologic diagnosis of the women with postmenopausal bleeding were established as endometrial atrophy, endometrial polyp, inadequate material, cancer, proliferative endometrium, endometrial hyperplasia, and other disorders respectively. Contrarily the previous studies, our study showed that estrogen replacement therapy was not a reason for postmenopausal bleeding. CONCLUSION: Although endometrial atrophy is the most frequent cause, postmenopausal bleeding should promptly be evaluated since endometrial hyperplasia and cancer are frequently the underlying cause. We found that premalignant and malignant lesions were related to the patients’ BMI (body mass index), duration of postmenopause, the presence of diabetes, determination of thick endometrium by ultrasonography.
Comparative study between local anesthesia and general anesthesia in the treatment of primary spontaneous pneumothorax.

Background There is increasing interest in non-intubated video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). At present, this method is used in various types of thoracic surgery. Especially, simple wedge resection via VATS is thought to be an optimal indication of non-intubated VATS. This study was performed to evaluate the usefulness of VATS bullectomy under local anesthesia by comparison with bullectomy under general anesthesia. Methods A total of 183 cases of wedge resection under general anesthesia and 52 cases of wedge resection under local anesthesia were examined. Medical records were retrospectively reviewed to assess the feasibility, usability, and cost effectiveness of wedge resection under local anesthesia. The preoperative clinical parameters, including age, sex, and the number of pneumothorax episodes and previous operations, were used to match cases and controls. Results There were no significant differences between the local and general anesthesia groups in operative time (57.5±23.1 and 56.6±25.6 min, respectively; P=0.857), type of operation [single-incision thoracoscopic surgery (SITS), n=48 and n=47, respectively; multi-port-VATS (M-VATS), n=4 and n=5, respectively; P=0.730], or chest tube indwelling time (3.6±1.5 and 4.4±2.5 days, respectively; P=0.064). The mean times from arrival at the operating room (OR) to skin incision (16.4±12.3 and 46.4±17.2 min, respectively; P<0.001), and from the end of surgery to arrival at the general ward (36.0±25.6 and 58.1±20.9 min, respectively; P<0.001) were significantly shorter in the local anesthesia group than the general anesthesia group. The total cost was significantly lower in the local anesthesia group than in the general anesthesia group (4,890.6±717.1 and 5,739.1±1,154.6, respectively; P<0.001). Conclusions Local anesthesia shortened the overall hospital stay by reducing the interval between admission and surgery, allowing immediate ambulation after surgery. In addition, this method reduced costs by avoiding the need for anesthesia.
YIELD OF FABA BEAN (Vicia faba, L

Two field experiments were carried out in the Agricultural Research Station, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, El-Khattara Region, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt, during the two winter seasons of 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 to find out the response of faba bean (improved Giza 3 cv.) to three planting densities (80000, 100000 and 120000 plants/fad.), three humic acid rates (zero, 2 and 4 kg humic acid/fad.) and four phosphorus levels (zero, 15.5, 31 and 46.5 kg P2O5/fad.). The results of the combined analysis revealed that increasing planting density significantly decreased number of pods and branches/plant, and seed weight/plant as well as protein yield/fad. , while, plant height and biological yield/fad. , were significantly increased by increasing plant densities up to 120000 plants/fad. The highest value of seed yield/fad. , was obtained by planting faba bean on density 100000 plants/fad. Results of the combined analysis also showed that, increasing humic acid rates up to 4 kg/fad. , significantly increased number of pods/plant, weight of seeds/plant and protein yield/fad. , but, hundred seed weight, plant height and number of branches/plant were not affected by the application of humic acid. Meanwhile, biological and seed yields/fad. , were responded to the application of humic acid rate up to 2 kg/fad. In general, application of phosphorus fertilizer up to 46.5 kg P2O5/fad. , significantly increased all traits under study such as number of branches and pods/plant, weight of seeds/plant, seed and biological yields/fad. , and protein yield/fad as compared to other rates (combined data), while, hundred seed weight significantly increased by increasing P levels up to 31 kg P2O5/fad. Interaction results showed that, faba bean plants received 31 kg P2O5/fad. , and 2 kg humic acid/fad. , or received 2 kg humic acid under medium density (100000 plants/fad.) produced the highest value of seed yield/fad.
Characterization of Real Internet Paths by Means of Packet Loss Analysis

The behaviour of the routers’ buffer may affect the Quality of Service (QoS) of network services under certain conditions, since it may modify some traffic characteristics, as delay or jitter, and may also drop packets. As a consequence, the characterization of the buffer is interesting, especially when multimedia flows are transmitted and even more if they transport information with real-time requirements. This work presents a packet loss analysis with the aim of determining the technical and functional characteristics of the real buffers (as, e.g., behaviour, size, limits, input and output rate) of a network path. An improved methodology is considered in which two different buffers are concatenated. It permits the estimation of some parameters of the intermediate buffers (size, input and output rate) in a network path including different devices across the Internet. The method presented in this paper permits the characterization of commercial router buffer by means of the analysis of the dropped packets in the buffer. Keywords-Buffer size; queueing; unattended measurements.
IONIZED GAS TOWARD MOLECULAR CLUMPS: PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF MASSIVE STAR-FORMING REGIONS

We have conducted a search for ionized gas at 3.6 cm, using the Very Large Array, toward 31 Galactic intermediate- and high-mass clumps detected in previous millimeter continuum observations. In the 10 observed fields, 35 H ii regions are identified, of which 20 are newly discovered. Many of the H ii regions are multiply peaked indicating the presence of a cluster of massive stars. We find that the ionized gas tends to be associated toward the millimeter clumps; of the 31 millimeter clumps observed, nine of these appear to be physically related to ionized gas, and a further six have ionized gas emission within 1′. For clumps with associated ionized gas, the combined mass of the ionizing massive stars is compared to the clump masses to provide an estimate of the instantaneous star formation efficiency. These values range from a few percent to 25%, and have an average of 7% ± 8%. We also find a correlation between the clump mass and the mass of the ionizing massive stars within it, which is consistent with a power law. This result is comparable to the prediction of star formation by competitive accretion that a power-law relationship exists between the mass of the most massive star in a cluster and the total mass of the remaining stars.
INFLUENCE OF LEAN INVENTORY MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES ON PERFORMANCE OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN NAIROBI CITY COUNTY KENYA

Procurement managers are bound to embrace the essence of adopting lean production which is a business initiative to reduce waste in manufacture production. To this extent therefore, this initiative leverage companies to achieve long term competitive advantages by putting in place the proper production systems and technologies particularly with regard to product quality, shortening product design time, the reducing of wastage improving end customer satisfaction and inventory management. The study was guided by the following objectives, the material requirement planning, the just in time technique, Analysis based costing and vendor managed inventory. The research objectives and research questions set out and the scope of study limited to manufacturing firms in Nairobi County, Kenya. The research used descriptive research design. Data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics where regression analysis was used to establish the effect of independent variables on the dependent variable. The population was 455 respondents drawn from manufacturing firms in Nairobi County with a sample size population of 213. The data was analyzed with SPSS version 23. The study findings showed that the four variables had a significant influence on firm performance. The study recommended that a similar research should be conducted with an aim at investigating the effects of inventory management techniques on firms’ performance with other variables or of other firms in other sectors, including the service industry in the Kenyan market. The study indicated that there had been limited amount of research on effects of lean inventory management techniques on firms’ performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya. Thus, the findings of this study served as a basis for future studies on lean inventory management. The lean inventory management techniques and firm performance of manufacturing firms had not been widely studied which presented gaps in African and Kenyan contexts. Key Words; Material Requirement Planning, Just in Time, Vendor Managed Inventory System, ABC Analysis Performance CITATION: Rono, E. , & Miroga, J. (2019). Influence of lean inventory management techniques on performance of manufacturing firms in Nairobi City County Kenya. The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 6 (4), 527 – 541.
DEBT/ASSET RATIO AS EVIDENCE OF PROFIT-SHIFTING BEHAVIOUR IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC

Companies use different methods and techniques to transfer taxable profits to tax havens. The paper aims at analysing the influence of the relocation of the registered office of Slovak companies in tax havens in relation to the leverage ratio and the ratio of debt per sales and to verify the use of debt by Slovak firms in the transfer of profits. In evaluating these indicators, we chose two approaches. We first analysed the change of indicators only for those firms that transferred their seat to lower tax jurisdiction. The analysis is complemented by a different view, when the selected indicators are compared to a group of businesses with a link to tax havens and with no link to tax havens. Our empirical results clearly indicate the tendency that firms in Slovakia benefit from the possibility of transferring profits to lower tax jurisdictions via debt channels. The median values of debt ratio after the transfer of the registered office to tax havens increased by 7.8%. The median value of the tracking indicator is 1.2 times higher for firms with tax haven links than for companies without links to tax havens.
Water vapour adjustments and responses differ between climate drivers

Abstract. Water vapour in the atmosphere is the source of a major climate feedback mechanism and potential increases in the availability of water vapour could have important consequences for mean and extreme precipitation. Future precipitation changes further depend on how the hydrological cycle responds to different drivers of climate change, such as greenhouse gases and aerosols. Currently, neither the total anthropogenic influence on the hydrological cycle nor that from individual drivers is constrained sufficiently to make solid projections. We investigate how integrated water vapour (IWV) responds to different drivers of climate change. Results from 11 global climate models have been used, based on simulations where CO2, methane, solar irradiance, black carbon (BC), and sulfate have been perturbed separately. While the global-mean IWV is usually assumed to increase by ∼7 % per kelvin of surface temperature change, we find that the feedback response of IWV differs somewhat between drivers. Fast responses, which include the initial radiative effect and rapid adjustments to an external forcing, amplify these differences. The resulting net changes in IWV range from 6.4±0.9 % K−1 for sulfate to 9.8±2 % K−1 for BC. We further calculate the relationship between global changes in IWV and precipitation, which can be characterized by quantifying changes in atmospheric water vapour lifetime. Global climate models simulate a substantial increase in the lifetime, from 8.2±0.5 to 9.9±0.7 d between 1986–2005 and 2081–2100 under a high-emission scenario, and we discuss to what extent the water vapour lifetime provides additional information compared to analysis of IWV and precipitation separately. We conclude that water vapour lifetime changes are an important indicator of changes in precipitation patterns and that BC is particularly efficient in prolonging the mean time, and therefore likely the distance, between evaporation and precipitation.
Satellite Selection in the Operational GBAS Context

When incorporating multiple constellations into future Ground Based Augmentation Systems (GBAS) a problem with limited VDB (VHF Data Broadcast) capacity might arise. Apart from that, the number of airborne receiver tracking channels could be insufficient to use all satellites in view as well. One way to overcome these issues is to perform any kind of satellite selection to limit the number of used satellites with least possible influence on performance. While the general process of how to select most useful satellites efficiently has been largely covered lately, this paper focuses on the incorporation of such algorithms into GBAS. It investigates different factors that constrain the approach of simply selecting "the best set in every epoch independently" and shows how to overcome some limitations. These constraints include limitations in satellite visibility, loss of satellites during approach (i.e. in curves) and convergence times in the airborne processing until satellites are of use. Various protection level simulations are performed to show the influence of the named factors on the nominal performance. Additionally, this paper describes methods how airborne users can perform stand-alone selection in a most efficient way and later transition into GBAS, which requires using the satellites actually provided with corrections from the ground. Taking into account all these contextual influences on top of the selection process, results show satellite selection is still applicable in GBAS ground stations.