Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
USING WINTER COVER CROPS TO IMPROVE SOIL AND WATER QUALITY

This article reviews literature about the impacts of cover crops in cropping systems that affect soil and water quality and presents limited new information to help fill knowledge gaps. Cover crops grow during periods when the soil might otherwise be fallow. While actively growing, cover crops increase solar energy harvest and carbon flux into the soil, providing food for soil macro and microrganisms, while simultaneously increasing evapotranspiration from the soil. Cover crops reduce sediment production from cropland by intercepting the kinetic energy of rainfall and by reducing the amount and velocity of runoff. Cover crops increase soil quality by improving biological, chemical and physical properties including: organic carbon content, cation exchange capacity, aggregate stability, and water infiltrability. Legume cover crops contribute a nitrogen (N) to subsequent crops. Other cover crops, especially grasses and brassicas, are better at scavenging residual N before it can leach. Because growth of these scavenging cover crops is usually N limited, growing grass/legume mixtures often increases total carbon inputs without sacrificing N scavenging efficiency. Cover crops are best adapted to warm areas with abundant precipitation. Water use by cover crops can adversely impact yields of subsequent dryland crops in semiarid areas. Similarly, cooler soil temperatures under cover crop residues can retard early growth of subsequent crops grown near the cold end of their range of adaptation. Development of systems that reduce the costs of cover crop establishment and overcome subsequent crop establishment problems will increase cover crop utilization and improve soil and water quality.
Molecular phylogeny of Eriobotrya Lindl. (loquat) inferred from internal transcribed spacer sequences of nuclear ribosome.

Phylogenetic relationship of the genus Eriobotyra was investigated on the basis of the nuclear ribosomal DNA Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) sequence. A phylogenetic tree of 15 loquat accessions (species, varieties and types) was generated using Photinieae serrulata L. , Osteomeles anthyllidifolia Lindl. , Sorbus scopulina Hedl. , Malus prunifolia (Willd.) Barkh, and Pyrus pyrifolia (Burm.) Nakai as outgroups, and Rhaphiolepis indica (L.) Lindl. , as an ingroup. The study exhibited that loquat accessions formed a monophyletic group. In the consensus trees, loquat accessions were divided into six clusters, i.e., Cluster I: Eriobotyra seguinii Card. and E. henryi Nakai; Cluster II: E. cavaleriei Rehd and E. fragrans Champ; Cluster III: E. malipoensis Kuan, E. prinoides Rehd. & Wils.var. dadunensis H. Z. Zhang and E. japonica Lindl. ; Cluster IV: E.elliptica Lindl. , E.bengalensis Hook.f. , E.bengalensis Hook. f. forma angustifolia Vidal; Cluster V: E. salwinensis Hand-Mazz and Cluster VI: E. deflexa Nakai E. deflexa Nakai var. buisanensis Nakai, E. serrate Vidal and E. kwangsiensis Chun. In addition, it was suggested that E. cavaleriei Rehd could be treated as a variety under E. fragrans Champ.
Social mobility at the top: Why are elites self-reproducing?

This paper proposes an explanation for the decrease in social mobility that has occurred in the last two decades in a number of advanced economies, as well as for the divergence in mobility dynamics across countries. Within an intergenerational framework, we show that a two-tier higher education system with standard and elite universities generates social stratification, high social immobility and self-reproduction of the elite. Moreover, we show that the higher the relative funding for elite universities, the higher the elite self-reproduction, and the lower social mobility. We also analyse the impacts of changes in the weight of the elite and of the middle class upon social mobility. Our findings provide theoretical bases for the inverted-U profile of social mobility experienced in several countries since World War II and to the ‘Great Gatsby Curve’ relating social mobility to inequality.
Nurses and the Collective Care Practices Within the Family Health Strategy 1

This qualitative study identifies and analyzes the practices of nurses regarding collective care interventions in the context of the Family Health Strategy (FHS) and its knowledge development. Semi-structured interviews were held with nurses working in the FHS and thematic analysis was used to analyze data. The theoretical framework was based on the theories of institutional analysis and work processes. The results are arranged into two main themes: Conceptions that support collective care practices and Practices of nurses in collective care. The conclusion is that nurses actively participate both in proposing, coordinating, performing and monitoring these collective actions, though they are still predominantly guided by the traditional approach to health in general and specifically to health education.
Analysis of reaction time and lateral displacements in national level table tennis players: are they predictive of sport performance?

ABSTRACT Table tennis is a sport in which players perform technical actions at high speed. In this regard, response time (TTR), reaction time (RT) and movement time (MT) are key factors that can contribute to successful performance of table tennis players. The purposes of this study were to determine the magnitude of intra-subject and inter-subject variability in TTR based on player’s lateral dominance, to establish possible differences between sex, age group and ranking position for TTR, RT and MT, and to relate these results with table tennis performance by analysing the achieved position in the national ranking. A total of 116 Spanish national level players (71 males and 45 females) carried out the Take-Off Reaction Test in a table tennis court simulating real sport conditions. There were no intra-sex differences for the total sample when lateral dominance was checked. On the other hand, male players showed lower MT than females whereas female players showed significantly lower RT values than males. Moreover, and taken into account the correlation analysis, we can conclude that both lower RT and MT can be considered as key variables of performance in table tennis.
DETECTION OF RAILWAY BALLAST DAMAGE UNDER A CONCRETE SLEEPER BASED ON IMPACT HAMMER TEST

This paper focuses on the detection of ballast damage under a concrete sleeper based on the vibration measurement of the in-situ sleeper. The rail-sleeper-ballast system is modeled as a Timoshenko beam on an elastic foundation. Ballast damage reduces the ballast stiffness in supporting the sleeper. This paper reports the modeling of the rail-sleeper-ballast system and the Bayesian model updating of the ballast stiffness distribution under the sleeper utilizing the measured vibration data from an impact hammer test. The accuracy of the identified ballast stiffness distribution depends very much on the level of modeling error and measurement noise. In the proposed method, the Bayesian probabilistic approach is adopted to explicitly address the uncertainties associated with the model updating results. In order to study the feasibility of the proposed method, a segment of a full-scale ballasted track was built and tested under laboratory conditions. The experimental case study results are very encouraging showing that it is possible to apply the proposed method to detect the “region” of ballast damage and estimate the percentage reduction in stiffness. A discussion on the difficulties to be overcome before this approach can be put in real applications is given at the end of this paper.
Population gradient in the Sextans dSph: comprehensive mapping of a dwarf galaxy by Suprime-Cam

We present the deep and wide V and I-c photometry of the Sextans dwarf spheroidal galaxy (dSph) taken by the Suprime-Cam imager on the Subaru Telescope, which extends out to the tidal radius. The colour-magnitude diagram (CMD) reaches two magnitudes below the main-sequence (MS) turn-off, showing a steep red giant branch, a blue and a red horizontal branch (BHB and RHB, respectively), a sub-giant branch (SGB), an MS and blue stragglers (BSs). We construct the radial profile of each evolutionary phase and demonstrate that blue HB stars are more spatially extended, while red HB stars are more centrally concentrated than the other components. The colour distribution of SGB stars also varies with the galactocentric distance; the inner SGB stars shift bluer than those in the outskirts. The radial differences in the CMD morphology indicate the existence of the age gradient. The relatively younger stars (similar to 10 Gyr) are more centrally concentrated than the older ones (similar to 13 Gyr). The spatial contour maps of stars in different age bins also show that the younger population has a higher concentration and higher ellipticity than the older one. We also detect the centrally concentrated bright BS stars, the number of which is consistent with the idea that a part of these stars belongs to the remnant of a disrupted star cluster discovered in the previous spectroscopic studies.
A High Order Theory for Linear Thermoelastic Shells: Comparison with Classical Theories

A high order theory for linear thermoelasticity and heat conductivity of shells has been developed. The proposed theory is based on expansion of the 3-D equations of theory of thermoelasticity and heat conductivity into Fourier series in terms of Legendre polynomials. The first physical quantities that describe thermodynamic state have been expanded into Fourier series in terms of Legendre polynomials with respect to a thickness coordinate. Thereby all equations of elasticity and heat conductivity including generalized Hooke's and Fourier's laws have been transformed to the corresponding equations for coefficients of the polynomial expansion. Then in the same way as in the 3D theories system of differential equations in terms of displacements and boundary conditions for Fourier coefficients has been obtained. First approximation theory is considered in more detail. The obtained equations for the first approximation theory are compared with the corresponding equations for Timoshenko's and Kirchhoff-Love's theories. Special case of plates and cylindrical shell is also considered, and corresponding equations in displacements are presented.
Harnessing fishery-independent indicators to aid management of data-poor fisheries: weighing habitat and fishing effects

State indicators, e.g., mean size and trophic level of the fish assemblage, can provide important insights into the effects of fishing on ecosystems and the resource potential of the fishery. On coral reefs, few studies have examined the relative effects of fishing and other drivers, such as habitat, on these indicators. In light of habitat heterogeneity and increasing habitat degradation, this lack of understanding limits the usefulness of indicators for monitoring the effect of fishery management actions. Identifying thresholds or nonlinearities in relationships between fishing pressure and state indicators has been suggested as a basis for biomass-based targets to support management efforts in low research capacity contexts. Using data collected in Seychelles, we examined the relative influences of fishable biomass (proxy for fishing pressure) and the benthic habitat on fisheries-independent indicators characterizing attributes of the fish community important for fisheries production. We characterized the driver–indicator relationships, and compared local-scale relationships for Seychelles with large-scale relationships published for the Indian Ocean. We found that both habitat and fishing pressure influenced indicators, but habitat effects were particularly strong. This knowledge provides managers with the capacity to implement a diverse array of complementary management actions targeting these drivers. A number of the Seychelles scale driver–indicator relationships were linear, suggesting gradual changes in indicators in response to changes to drivers. This contrasted with relationships published for the Indian Ocean, which were characterized by thresholds below which exploitation is likely to have significant detrimental effects on the functioning of important ecosystem processes. These scale-specific differences are likely driven by the narrower range of fishing pressures found in Seychelles. Importantly, it indicates that, although biomass-based targets derived from large-scale relationships may provide a useful starting point for setting management targets, the local context must be considered.
NOTE ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF PHLEBOTOMINE SAND FLIES IN SOUTHERN ALBANIA

Zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a re-emerging disease in the Mediterranean area. We report one entomological investigation (May–October 2006) aimed to study the current species composition and seasonality of Phlebotomine sand flies in 10 districts of Albania. Standard blacklight traps (8W UV light manufactured in Onderstepport, SouthAfrica) employed for sampling Culicoides midges in the frame of bluetongue disease surveillance were used for the first time in Albania in Phlebotomine monitoring. A total of 1660 sand flies were collected and five species were identified, Phlebotomus tobbi, Phlebotomus neglectus, Phlebotomus perfiliewi, Sergentomyia minutae and Sergentomyia dentate. Among the species, which may act as Leishmania infantum vectors, P. tobbi and P. neglectus were the most abundant.
Evaluation of snow cover and snow depth on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau derived from passive microwave remote sensing

Abstract. Snow cover on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP) plays a significant role in the global climate system and is an important water resource for rivers in the high-elevation region of Asia. At present, passive microwave (PMW) remote sensing data are the only efficient way to monitor temporal and spatial variations in snow depth at large scale. However, existing snow depth products show the largest uncertainties across the QTP. In this study, MODIS fractional snow cover product, point, line and intense sampling data are synthesized to evaluate the accuracy of snow cover and snow depth derived from PMW remote sensing data and to analyze the possible causes of uncertainties. The results show that the accuracy of snow cover extents varies spatially and depends on the fraction of snow cover. Based on the assumption that grids with MODIS snow cover fraction > 10 % are regarded as snow cover, the overall accuracy in snow cover is 66.7 %, overestimation error is 56.1 %, underestimation error is 21.1 %, commission error is 27.6 % and omission error is 47.4 %. The commission and overestimation errors of snow cover primarily occur in the northwest and southeast areas with low ground temperature. Omission error primarily occurs in cold desert areas with shallow snow, and underestimation error mainly occurs in glacier and lake areas. With the increase of snow cover fraction, the overestimation error decreases and the omission error increases. A comparison between snow depths measured in field experiments, measured at meteorological stations and estimated across the QTP shows that agreement between observation and retrieval improves with an increasing number of observation points in a PMW grid. The misclassification and errors between observed and retrieved snow depth are associated with the relatively coarse resolution of PMW remote sensing, ground temperature, snow characteristics and topography. To accurately understand the variation in snow depth across the QTP, new algorithms should be developed to retrieve snow depth with higher spatial resolution and should consider the variation in brightness temperatures at different frequencies emitted from ground with changing ground features.
Causes or Consequences? Earnings Management Around Seasoned Equity Offerings

Prior studies find that earnings management around seasoned equity offerings is negatively related to subsequent stock performance and attribute the finding to the issuing firms' use of inflated earnings to boost stock prices. We show in this paper that earnings management is not significantly related to concurrent abnormal returns. Rather, it is significantly positively related to prior abnormal returns. This suggests that, rather than a cause of stock price run-up, earnings management is likely a consequence of the stock overvaluation prior to the offerings, supporting the agency theory of overvalued equity (Jensen, 2005). We also show that when examining the relation between earnings management and subsequent stock performance, one has to be careful with the appropriate window for measuring earnings management.
Transarterial Chemoembolization versus Radiofrequency Ablation for Small Hepatocellular Carcinomas with Discrepant Features on Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Transarterial Chemoembolization versus Radiofrequency Ablation for Small Hepatocellular Carcinomas with Discrepant Features on Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Young Youn Cho, Jung Hee Kwon, Jeong-Hoon Lee, Jeong Min Lee, Jae Young Lee, Hyo-Cheol Kim, Jin Wook Chung, Won-mook Choi, Eun Ju Cho, Su Jong Yu, Yoon Jun Kim, Jung-Hwan Yoon, Chung Yong Kim, Hyo-Suk Lee Department of Internal Medicine and Liver Research Institute, and Department of Radiology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
Resonant-state expansion for optical systems with frequency dispersion

The resonant-state expansion (RSE) is generalised to open optical systems with an arbitrary dispersion of the dielectric constant. In the non-dispersive case we use frequency independent refractive index, moving onto to cases which display dispersion. The RSE converts the Maxwell wave equation into a linear matrix eigenvalue problem in the basis of unperturbed resonant states, in this way numerically exactly finding all relevant eigenmodes of the optical system. The present generalisation is verified by applying it to the analytically solvable system of a spherical metallic nano-particle in vacuum, with the dispersion of the dielectric constant described by the Drude model and extended with the addition of Lorentz poles. Approximating the frequency dispersion of the permittivity of materials with simple analytical functions is of fundamental importance for understanding and modeling the optical response of materials and resulting structures. In the generalised Drude-Lorentz model, the permittivity is described in the complex frequency plane by a number of simple poles having complex weights, which is a physically relevant and mathematically simple approach: By construction, it respects causality and represents physical resonances of the material, and can be implemented easily in numerical simulations. We report here an efficient method of optimising the fit of measured data with the Drude-Lorentz model having an arbitrary number of poles. We show examples of such optimisations for metals and semiconductors, for different frequency ranges. We use this to produce accurate parameters for us to realistically simulate large perturbations starting from dielectric materials such as sand, to dispersive materials such as gold and gallium arsenide. We also analyse the evolution of surface plasmons in gold and use the RSE to perturb gallium arsenide into the gain threshold.
Rating Accessibility of Packaging: A Medical Packaging Example

Few previous work has been undertaken in understanding issues surrounding dexterity and access to packaging. Researchers had access to users who had known dexterity issues and had been advised by their doctor to decant their medication into bottles rather than use unit‐dose blister packaging. Hence, it was decided to use a range of techniques to understand this problem. It was further proposed to develop a methodology by which the relative performance of packaging could be assessed with respect to dexterity issues.
Training Vouchers and Labor Market Perspectives

This study evaluates the provision of training vouchers to the unemployed. Since 2003 all long-term public sponsored training programs in Germany are assigned through a voucher system. The present paper is the first to study the labor market outcomes of being awarded with such a voucher. We find positive eects on employment and earnings after a long lock-in period of three years. Our results suggest that four years after the training voucher is awarded, voucher recipients face on average a 3.5 percentage points higher employment probability and e50 higher earnings per month than comparable non-recipients. The positive eects are driven by those individuals who redeem the voucher and in particular by those who participate in courses that lead to a vocational degree. Furthermore, we find eect heterogeneity by gender and education.
Incompatibility of sulphate compounds and soluble bicarbonate salts in the Rio Cruces waters: an answer to the disappearance of Egeria densa and black-necked swans in a RAMSAR sanctuary

The Carlos Anwandter Sanctuary, a RAMSAR site, is situated downstream from the junc- tion of the Rio Cruces and Rio Calle-Calle near Valdivia in Southern Chile. The Rio Cruces was a bicarbonate-rich aquatic ecosystem until January 2004, when a pulp mill began pouring >40 t of sulphate (SO4) and 6 to 9 t of H2SO4 each day into the River. Soon after, black-necked swans, which take refuge in the Sanctuary, began to die and emigrate. Previous studies showed that the food of the birds, the submerged vascular plant Egeria densa, had been eliminated from areas of the Sanctuary af- fected by the mill's effluent. Here we describe the cause of this loss of plants and birds. E. densa is a C4 plant that uses calcium bicarbonate to compensate for low concentrations of CO2 in its local environ- ment. Without calcium bicarbonate in the water, the plant photorespires, loses turgor, turns brown and dies. Here we demonstrate that the sulphate and acid dumped into the river by the pulp mill caused an anionic/cationic disequilibrium resulting in the precipitation of both Mg 2+ and Ca 2+ oxides — as brucite and portlandite — and other metallic (Fe, Al, Cu) oxides which enhanced the concentration of H + , thus perpetuating the ionic disequilibrium. Further, aqueous sulphate under light acidic conditions could precipitate gypsum, thus further removing calcium from the water. An ecologically and statistically significant loss of calcium bicarbonate (ANOVA, p < 0.05) is shown: samples of water affected by the mill's effluent contained 37% less (HCO3) - than those collected outside the area affected by the effluent. In a microcosm experiment, E. densa samples were exposed to no sulphate (4 replicates: control), 2.5 g l -1 of K2SO4 (4 replicates: Treatment 1), 4.9 g l -1 of K2SO4 (4 replicates: Treatment 2), and 9.8 g l -1 of K2SO4 (4 replicates: Treatment 3). Plants in the control microcosms produced oxygen through photosynthesis at a rate of 0.24 ml O2 g -1 h -1 . Plants in Treatment 1 produced oxygen at half the rate of the controls: 0.11 ml O2 g -1 h -1 . Plants in Treatment 2 produced oxygen at a rate of 0.003 ml O2 g -1 h -1 or 2 orders of magnitude lower than plants in the control microcosms. After only 8 h of exposure to the experimental conditions of Treatment 3, the plants produced oxygen at a rate of only 0.0001 ml O2 g -1 h -1 or 3 orders of magnitude lower than controls. Differences in oxygen production among the controls and treatments were statistically significant (ANOVA, p < 0.05).