Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of stand and tree attributes and silviculture on cone and seed productions in forests of Pinus pinea L. in northern Tunisia

The present work studied if cone and seed productions were related to tree and stand parameters (age, crown size, stand density and tree social status) in stone pine (Pinus pinea L.) stands in Mekna forest (III), Northern Tunisia. The cones were collected in summer 2011 on 10% of the trees sampled in the different trunk diameter classes. They were counted, weighted and classified according to their age (two or three-year-old) and healthy or damaged. Three cones (three-year-old) with different sizes (small, medium and large) per sampled tree were harvested and brought to the laboratory. Seeds were extracted from the cones and their number and total weight per cone were determined. Filled or empty seeds were recorded. The findings showed that cone and seed productions are conditioned by tree size, especially crown volume, age and social status. The number of filled or empty seeds depends on the cone weight. Data showed that cone and consequently seed productions in Mekna III forest were low to extremely low for the considered year. Problems could arise from this deficiency in the future, not only for nut market but also for stand regeneration and species conservation on a long term scale.
Corporate social responsibility and loyalty: Intervening influence of customer satisfaction and trust

Abstract This study investigated the relationship between value relevance and ethical standards as determinants of commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and customer loyalty with the intervening effect of customer satisfaction, corporate reputation, and trust. Multidimensional questionnaires were designed and the structural equation modeling was applied to investigate relationships. Our results provided a general picture of the theoretical process by which the sequential relationship between value relevance, ethical standards, commitment, trust, satisfaction, reputation, and loyalty. The commitment to CSR is positively influencing customer loyalty and customer satisfaction, trust, and corporate reputation also intervened in their relationships. This study is theoretical contributing as identified customer satisfaction, trust, and corporate reputation as intervening factors, while from the practical point of view, customer trust is important because it is considered as justification based on morality . It is, therefore, important that organizations should properly disseminate practical and moral information. This is a novel study in Pakistani context because it is a theoretical contribution in existing literature as well as in organizational CSR practices leading to customer satisfaction, trust, and loyalty.
Assessment of Diabetes Knowledge Using the Michigan Brief Diabetes Knowledge Test Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) represents a growing health threat globally. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) estimated that 387 million adults had diabetes in 2014, and this number is expected to continue to grow. In Saudi Arabia, the prevalence of T2DM over time has increased. Diabetes knowledge has been shown to improve self-management skills and glycemic control. The primary goal of this study was to assess diabetes knowledge and its impact on diabetes control and complications. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study at King Abdulaziz Specialist Hospital, Taif City, Saudi Arabia, Division of Endocrinology. T2DM patients older than 18 years who underwent a routine visit to the endocrine clinic between June and October 2014 were asked to participate. Baseline characteristics and measurement were obtained at the time of visit. Laboratory data were collected from the patients’ medical records. We excluded patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). We used the Michigan Brief Diabetes Knowledge Test to assess patients’ knowledge. Those patients who answered ? 65% of the questions were considered to possess good knowledge about diabetes. Results: A total of 264 patients participated; 131 (49.6%) were male and 132 (50.0%) were female. Approximately, half of the patients (44.7%) had had diabetes for at least 10 years, and 29.8% of patients had had the disease for 5 - 10 years. The cohort’s mean A1c was 8.56% and mean body mass index was 30.5%. Sixty-four percent of patients had only a high school education or less, and 38% had at least a college degree. Approximately, half of the cohort (41.7%) were considered to be low income, 37.9% were on oral medications only, and 41.3% were on insulin. The mean fraction of correctly answered knowledge questions was 48.26%. Twenty-eight percent of the participants thought that A1c reflected blood glucose control over the past week, and 44.3% did not know what A1c was. Approximately, one-third of patients (29.5%) believed that diet soda could be used to treat low blood glucose. Fifty-seven patients (21.6%) were considered to have good knowledge about diabetes. Conclusion: The majority (78.4%) of the screened T2DM patients had poor knowledge about diabetes. Poor knowledge was associated with higher A1c, a non-significant increase in the majority of measured cardiovascular markers, and less awareness of diabetes-related complications. J Endocrinol Metab. 2017;7(6):185-189 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jem473w
Chronic constipation as a risk factor of urinary tract infection in children

The prevalence of urinary tract infection (UTI) in children is still quite high. In Dr. Sardjito General Hospital, Yogyakarta the incidence of UTI is reported about 3.5%. One of the risk factors of the incidence of UTI is chronic constipation. However, it is often not a concern in the management of UTI pediatric patients. The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of chronic constipation in increasing the risk of UTI in children. This was an observational study with case-control design. Children with symptoms of UTI who visited at the Installation of Child Health, Dr. Sardjito General Hospital, Yogyakarta underwent dipstick urinalysis test and urine culture examination. Patients who showed positive urine culture was included in the case group, meanwhile patients who showed negative urine culture was included in the control group. All patients were then asked the history of the chronic constipation. The association between the constipation and the incident of UTI was evaluated using bivariate analysis continued by multivariate analysis. One hundred and twenty eight eligible subjects consisting 64 subjects in each group were involved in this study. Statistical analysis showed that children with chronic constipation have a 3.77 times higher risk of UTI (OR=3.77; 95%CI=3.21-4.32) compare to those without constipation. Furthermore, the chronic constipation remained to be independent risk factor of UTI. The incidence of UTI increased 3.99 times higher in children with constipation compare to those without constipation (aOR=3.99; 95% CI=1.028-15.48). In conclusion, chronic constipation has been proven to be a risk factor of UTI in children
A comparison of horizontal versus vertical camera placement to detect feral cats and mustelids

Invasive predators are a threat to biodiversity in New Zealand. However, they are often difficult to monitor because of the animals’ cryptic, mobile behaviour and low densities. Camera traps are increasingly being used to monitor wildlife, but until recently have been used mainly for large species. We aimed to determine the optimal camera alignment (horizontal or vertical) for detecting feral cats (Felis catus) and mustelids (Mustela furo, M. erminea and M. nivalis). We deployed 20 pairs of cameras, each pair with one horizontal and one vertical camera. We compared the number of photos of target species, non-target species, and false triggers (i.e. camera triggered with no animal present) between camera orientations. Horizontally oriented cameras captured approximately 1.5 times as many images of the target species compared with vertically oriented cameras, and also detected more non-target animals. Orientation did not have a significant effect on the number of false triggers.
RESEARCH ARTICLE EFFECT OF PH ON MELANOIDIN EXTRACTION FROM POST METHANATED DISTILLERY EFFLUENT (PMDE) AND ITS DECOLORIZATION BY POTENTIAL BACTERIAL CONSORTIUM

Melanodins are amino-carbonyl complex, predominantly present in sugarcane molasses based distillery wastewater as major source of colourant. The indiscriminate discharge of post methanated distillery effluent (PMDE) from distilleries is a major source of soil and water pollution which directly or indirectly affects the animals and human beings. Adequate treatment is therefore imperative before the effluent is discharged. The effect of pH on melanoidin extraction from PMDE and its decolorization by a developed potential consortium of Proteus mirabilis (IITRM5; FJ581028), Bacillus sp. (IITRM7; FJ581030), Raoultella planticola (IITRM15; GU329705) and Enterobacter sakazakii (IITRM16, FJ581031) was studied. Melanoidin was extracted with isopropanol at different pH. The most effective pH for melanoidin extraction was noted at pH 11.0 (2.87%, w/v) from PMDE of color range 80000-85000 Co-Pt with high BOD (29120±10.00 mg/l) and COD (58018.33±23.63 mg/l). Subsequently, the maximum de-colorization (70.00%) of PMDE was noted in the presence of glucose (1%, w/v), peptone (0.05%) at pH 7.0 and minimum at pH 11.0 (11.66%, w/v) within 168 h bacterial incubation. Further, the results also revealed that the pH directly affected melanoidin extraction and bacterial de-colorization of PMDE. The cultures of these strains have better color removal ability after melanoidin extraction and thus can be utilized for bioremediation of PMDE affected sites.
HAIL DAMAGE: PHYSICAL METEOROLOGY AND CROP LOSSES

Hail damage is a rare and potentially devastating category of environmental plant injury in Florida. A severe hailstorm swept through Central Florida on the afternoon of Saturday, March 30, 1996, causing total damages approaching $25 million. Hailstones with diameters exceeding 4.5 in were reported by some storm observers. Nearly all hailstones observed were roughly spherical in shape. Shifted gamma distribution analysis confirmed that hailstones of this size were reasonable given the observed hail size distribution. Calculations of ice density, air density, drag coefficients, gravitational acceleration and the energy required to lacerate citrus rinds in the observed "inverted-V" pattern indicated that the terminal velocity of many hailstones at impact exceeded 100 mph. Many individual fruits were ripped completely in half by the hailstone shock, while leaves and branches were extensively tattered and torn from the trees. Some growers had signed crop sales contracts just prior to March 29, 1996, with harvests scheduled for the beginning of April, 1996. Unfortunately, damage to fruits from this hailstorm rendered these crops unharvestable. Estimated economic crop damages in some grapefruit and orange groves were 100% (approximately 700 boxes per acre). An estimated spot value of $3.00 to $3.50 per grapefruit box thus resulted in some insurance-adjusted crop losses approaching $1500 per acre. This paper presents a review of hailstorm meteorology and photodocumented evidence of one of the worst hailstorms damaging citrus in recent Florida history.
Are We Moving Back to the City? Examining Residential Mobility in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area

This research assesses the extent to which there is evidence of population re-centralization or back to the city moves by tracking the historical trend of household and income mobility in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. County-to-county migration data and four migration efficiency measures are used to investigate net flows of households and income in the region. The results show a nascent tendency of back to the city movement; however, the redistri- bution of households and income in the metropolitan area is more complex.While the region's core may be starting to gain households and income, there are still significant flows into the region's most distant suburbs.The results of this research have implications for transportation, housing, and economic development policy making in Washington, DC and other regions. The study also offers a unique example of how to study household and income redistribution within U.S. metropolitan areas. grow_543 48.71
Clarifying the Link between Parental Psychological Control and Adolescents’ Depressive Symptoms: Reciprocal versus Unidirectional Models

Research has demonstrated consistent positive associations between perceived parental psychological control and adolescents’ depressive symptoms, but the direction of influence remains unclear. Using a cross-lagged longitudinal design in two samples of late (Study 1, N = 396) and middle (Study 2, N = 724) adolescents, this study compared three models, that is, a psychological control effects model, an adolescent adjustment effects model, and a reciprocal model. Structural equation modeling analyses generally favored the reciprocal model over each of the unidirectional models. The cross-lagged effects of perceived psychological control remained significant after controlling for two important parenting dimensions (i.e., parental responsiveness and behavioral control; Study 1) and were found in all types of parent-adolescent dyads except for the mother-daughter dyad (Study 2). Implications for the understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the deleterious effects of parents’ psychological control on adolescent adjustment are discussed.
Understanding ISO’s 9001 Benefits and Research through an Operations Strategy Framework

Despite the success that the ISO 9001 standard has achieved it has been extensively criticized and empirical studies have shown controversial results about its impact on performance. Our conceptual study was motivated by the mentioned dilemma about ISO 9001 effectiveness, and the controversy that this dilemma raises in literature on the one hand and on the other by almost exponential growth of certifications among companies world-wide. It is our opinion that in order to understand results related to ISO 9001 implementation we need to take a step back from empirical research and instead try to analyze iso conceptually by taking into account also the results of empirical studies implemented in the past. The purpose of the paper is to clarify the purpose of implementation of ISO 9001 and, in relation to this purpose, to analyze different possible benefits resulting from its implementation. In order to achieve this purpose our goal is to analyze the criticism of the old ISO 9001:1994 by using a specific framework of the operations strategy theory. The paper emphasises that in accordance with its conformance purpose, ISO 9001 is successful in building conformance capability and that by using ISO 9001 practices companies can also benefit in relation to production economics through improved process efficiency and to other competitive capabilities. It also emphasises that empirical results expected from ISO 9001 implementation are strategy contingent and therefore this should be taken into account in designing empirical studies about iso’s benefits.
Effect of Child Labor and Performance on Child Relationship with Head in Rural Areas of Niger State, Nigeria

In assessing the impact of child labor hours and educational performance on child relationship with head, an analytical model was developed based on the theories of Basu and Van (1998), and Fan (2011). Empirical data were obtained from socio-economic survey (SES) 2014, with a sample size of 845 primary school pupils ranging from 10 to 14 years of age from 435 households in Suleja local government rural districts. The result from logit analysis shows that non-biological child engage in more hours of work than the biological child. Equally, children from the households that earn income below subsistence level work more hours, with negative impact on performance than those from households that earn income above subsistence. The use of extra-curricular activities social capital was therefore recommended to curb to reduce child participation in labor and enhance child school performance.
Small-Scale Vertical Movements of Summer Flounder Relative to Diurnal, Tidal, and Temperature Changes

Abstract Observation of animal movements on small spatial scales provides a means to understand how large-scale species distributions are established from individual behavioral decisions. Small-scale vertical movements of 14 Summer Flounder Paralichthys dentatus residing in Chesapeake Bay were observed by using depth data collected with archival tags. A generalized linear mixed model was employed to examine the relationship between these vertical movements and environmental covariates such as tidal state, time of day, lunar phase, and temperature. Vertical movements increased with warming water temperatures, and this pattern was most apparent at night and during rising and falling tides. Fish generally exhibited greater vertical movements at night, but the difference between vertical movements in the day and those at night decreased as fish increased in size. Results from this study fill a void in understanding the small-scale movements of Summer Flounder and could be incorporated into individual-based models to investigate how species distributions develop in response to environmental conditions.
Engaged Problem Formulation of IT Management in Danish Municipalities

Municipalities’ effectiveness in managing information technology (IT) is increasingly important in adhering to their responsibilities for providing services to citizens. While the municipalities’ difficulty in managing IT has been well documented, it is more elusive what specific problems are most relevant in contemporary municipal IT management practice. On this basis, we present an engaged scholarship approach to formulate IT management problems together with municipalities – not for municipalities. We have come to understand such engaged problem formulation as joint researching and defining of a contemporary and complex problem by researchers and those who experience and know the problem. We present the formulated IT management problems and discuss the engaged problem formulation process in relation to engaged scholarship. Furthermore, we discuss how engaged problem formulation may contribute to action research when making sense of ill-structured problems by involving multiple stakeholders.
Examining the Relationships between Labour Market Mismatches, Earnings and Job Satisfaction Among Immigrant Graduates in Europe

This paper uses graduate survey data and econometric methods to estimate the incidence and wage/job satisfaction effects of over-education and overskilling among immigrants graduating from EU 15 based universities in 2005. Female immigrants with shorter durations of domicile were found to have a higher likelihood of overskilling. Newly arrived immigrants incurred wage penalties' which were exacerbated by additional penalties resulting from overskilling in the male labour market and overeducation in the female labour market. Established immigrants were found to enjoy a wage premia, particularly within the male labour market, with no evidence of disproportionate wage impacts arising as a consequence of mismatch. Female immigrants were generally found to have a significantly lower probability of being job satisfied relative to native female graduates.
Analysis of Pig Marketing in Zango Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria

Summary This study examines the profitability and efficiency of pig marketing in Zango Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. A market survey of 50 pig traders from an urban market (Katsit) and two rural markets (Zonkwa and Samaru Kataf) was conducted to evaluate the structure, conduct and performance of the markets. Data were collected from the respondents through the use of a structured questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed using Gini Coefficient, marketing margin and marketing efficiency. Empirical finding indicated that producer’s share of what the final consumer paid was high (61%). The average marketing margin was 39%. The retailers had higher market margin than the wholesalers. The margin at Katsit (41.5%) was higher than Zonkwa (36.74%) and Samaru-Kataf (38.5%). Katsit market was more efficient than both Zonkwa and Samaru markets. Pig marketing is therefore, profitable but inefficient as shown by the market margin and efficiency analyses. The pig market was found to be oligopolistic. There were many buyers and sellers. Entry into marketing of pigs was easy except for the high size of operating capital. The market was found to be vertically integrated as various participants played some other roles besides their principal roles. Flow of information was free and widespread between assemblers and wholesalers. The market structures measured by Gini Coefficient of 0.59 for wholesalers and 0.66 for retailers indicated that there was a high degree of concentration in the market. The problems confronting pig marketers were also highlighted.
The Relationships between Conflict Management Styles, Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment among Workers in Public and Private Sectors

Conflict is inevitable in all living organisms, it is a natural phenomenon and social occur among humans wherever and when they are. There is evidence of existence of conflict since the beginning of the creation of what happened between Adam's Son Cain and Abel, and ended up killing someone. The study aimed to investigate relationships between styles of managing conflicts, job satisfaction and organizational commitment in a sample of private, and public organizations. The study conducted on a sample of (329) persons, 198 (60.2%) public organization who are employees of a university and private sector sample of 131 (39.8%) workers in different industrial factories. Used conflict management styles questionnaire prepared by the researcher, besides job satisfaction and organizational commitment. MANOVA statistics such as the differences between the two groups (private, public), also, differences between two groups correlation coefficients. The results showed significant differences between the two groups on the style of avoidance, there are no significant differences in satisfaction and organizational commitment. The Results of the study also showed a positive relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment in a private sector sample only. It also found significant relationships between conflict management styles and both job satisfaction and organizational commitment, in public sample than private sector sample. Finally, there were differences between correlation coefficients between conflict management styles showed job satisfaction, organizational commitment, implications of the study for future research, as well as practical implications.
A Welfare Perspective on the Fiscal-Monetary Policy Mix: The Role of Alternative Fiscal Instruments

The need of fiscal consolidation is likely to dominate the policy agenda in the next decade; starting from statistical evidence on the conduct of fiscal policy in the EMU area over the last decade, this paper addresses the optimality of alternative fiscal consolidation strategies. We explore the welfare properties. In this paper we explore the welfare properties of debt-targeting fiscal policy implemented through, alternatively, distortionary taxation on consumption, labour and capital income or productive and wasteful government expenditure. We build a general equilibrium model with various distortions in order to evaluate the welfare ranking of alternative fiscal policy configurations under different monetary policy regimes. Our results show the welfare superiority of fiscal adjustments based on productive government expenditure, whereas the use of a capital income tax rate as fiscal instruments yields the highest welfare loss.