Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of induced soil compaction on the eco-morphological traits of early stage Bombax ceiba stumps.

Soil is one of the most important factor as far as agriculture and forestry is concerned. Soil quality performs a critical role in the progress and survival of societies in a specific region as it provides the basic necessities of life and other valuable products to the human beings (Hillel, 2009). For instance, soils have high degree of depletion rate because these are nonrenewable resources and their rate of development and reformation is very slow (Van-Camp et al., 2004). To handle the universal issues like food shortage, climatic instability, energy and water crisis sustainable use of soil is essential (Lal, 2009). Today’s agriculture and forestry, carried out on variety of soils are something very different from conventional ones. Rising demands for food and shelter have resulted in the mechanization of each and every operation right from start till the end almost in all developed countries. This mechanization of different operations in agriculture and forestry has resulted in soil compaction (Ishaq et al., 2001; Silva et al., 2008; Nawaz et al., 2013; Jourgholami et al., 2014). Deterioration of the land is a worldwide burning issue because of its extent and intensity. It has adverse effects on the climate and human food production resources (Duran and Pleguezuelo, 2008; Kormanek et al., 2015). Compaction of soil is referred to the process by which soil bulk density is increased and soil particles becomes compacted resulting in closer interaction with each other (SSSA, 1996). Soil compaction is the rearrangement of soil particles, which enhances the bulk density; reduces porosity and volume (Lindemann et al., 1982). Soil compaction occurs when soil particles come close together due to the pressure applied by external agents like intensive activities by human or by the use of heavy machinery etc. This can be measured on surface level or sub soil surface level, resulting in limited plant growth through different means (Jones et al., 2003). Moreover, soil is considered to be compacted when air filled pores are reduced resulting in limited root penetration and poor soil infiltration and drainage (Hillel, 1982). Soil compaction can be caused by vehicular traffic (Cassel, 1983; Smith, 2001), by natural calamity (Koolen and Kuipers, 1983), by pedestrian traffic (Patterson, 1977; Jim, 1993), by the hooves of livestock and wildlife (Rolf, 1994; Arbuckle and Lasley, 2013; Ferrara et al., 2015). Soil compaction caused by any mean results in increased bulk density. In Pak. J. Agri. Sci., Vol. 5X(X), xxx-xxx; 20XX ISSN (Print) 0552-9034, ISSN (Online) 2076-0906 DOI: 10.21162/PAKJAS/20.9528 http://www.pakjas. com.pk
The intergenerational transmission of health: Evidence from 6 generations in historical China, 1789-1909

We study the intergenerational transmission of health using linked registered data from China from 1789 to 1909. We first document the intergenerational correlations across 6 generations. We then identify intergenerational causal associations comparing children born from twin mothers or fathers. Our results stress the nurturing role of women in explaining the intergenerational transmission of health. In particular, we find a strong and persistent intergenerational elasticity between mothers and children, with an elasticity slightly above 0.20. The intergenerational correlation from fathers is much weaker and seems to be entirely driven by genetic factors. We conclude that nurture matters more for health transmission between mothers and their children, stressing the key role played by women in affecting children’s health outcomes in developing
REPRODUCTIVE FUNCTION AND ANTITUMOR ACTIVITY: DIFFERENT ROLES FOR THE HYPOTHALAMIC HORMONE GnRH

– The decapeptide GnRH (Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone), whose amino acidic sequence was discovered by Dr. A.V. Schally, was initially identified as the key hypothalamic hormone involved in the control of reproductive functions. GnRH, by binding to specific receptors (GnRH-R) at the pituitary level, stimulates the synthesis and secretion of the two gonadotropins (LH, luteinizing hormone and FSH, follicle stimulating hormone) and the downstream production of steroid hormones at the gonadal level. At present, these receptors represent the molecular targets of the standard pharmacological treatments for hormone-related tumors, such as androgen-dependent prostate cancer. Actually, chronic administration of synthetic GnRH agonists induces the desensitization of pituitary receptors and, subsequently, the suppression of testicular androgen production. The physiological role of GnRH in reproductive functions, and its regulation, represented a very important line of research for professor Martini and His colleagues. In the last three decades it has become increasingly clear that GnRH-R are expressed also in a wide range of tumors, both related and unrelated to the reproductive system; in particular GnRH-R are expressed in prostate cancers after development of resistance to androgen ablation therapy (castration resistant prostate cancer, CRPC), a tumor known to be refractory to standard chemotherapy. Activation of these receptors by means of GnRH agonists is associated with a significant antiproliferative/antimetastatic/antiangiogenic activity. These different biological effects at pituitary vs. prostate tissues are related to specific intracellular signal transduction pathways. Based on these observations, tumor GnRH-R are presently considered an effective molecular target for novel therapies (‘targeted’ therapies). In particular, GnRH-based bioconjugates, in which a standard cytotoxic drug is linked to a GnRH analog, have been developed. The rationale for this ‘targeted’ therapy is that the GnRH analog behaves as the targeting moiety by binding to GnRH-R in tumors, thus specifically delivering (targeting) the cytotoxic drug to tumor cells. At the level of tumor cells, the bioconjugate is internalized and degraded at the lysosomal level; in this way the anticancer drug is specifically released into the tumor cells to exert its cytotoxic effects, while sparing normal cells. In conclusion, GnRH-R are expressed not only at the pituitary level but also in a wide range of tumor tissues; these receptors are at present under investigation as an effective molecular target for the development of novel therapeutic strategies. PATRIZIA LIMONTA et al. 84
Banking Regulation, Market Liquidity, and the Macro–economy

We study the effects of banking regulation on market liquidity, corporate funding, and welfare through the lens of a general equilibrium model. The model features heterogeneous banks that extend loans to firms and facilitate households’ bond purchases by “making markets”. Moreover, banks can trade loans in an interbank market. Standard frictions on this market give rise to pecuniary externalities. While regulation helps banks overcome these frictions, it also raises banks’ cost of funding bond inventory, inducing banks to widen bid–ask spreads on the bond market. By changing the relative return on assets, regulation also has costly distributional effects on households. We derive the welfare-maximising capital requirements in this environment, as well as the associated degree of market liquidity.
Consequences of booking market-driven goodwill Impairments

Under the fair-value-based goodwill impairment test of SFAS 142, a firm’s market value is often used as an important reference point for determining the existence of impairment. In fact, a belowone market-to-book ratio is considered by many, including external auditors and security lawyers, to be an indicator of goodwill impairment. As a result, firms can be pressured into recording goodwill impairment upon a temporary market value decline which is unsubstantiated by economic fundamentals. From a sample of goodwill impairments recorded during the period 2002-2009, we identify about a sixth of the sample firms which report impairment charges that are most likely market-driven and not backed by fundamentals. Validating our identification of market-driven impairments, we find that the impairment loss of these firms is associated with a return reversal in the subsequent year. It appears from our results that the market does not understand the difference between market-driven and other impairments and reacts equally negatively upon the initial announcement of the loss, resulting in a further price decline for firms with market-driven impairment. In addition, we find that, until the return reversal occurs, firms with market-driven impairment experience an increase in information asymmetry associated with the impairment loss. Finally, our results suggest that the managers of these firms exploit the delay in the market's reversal of the temporary undervaluation related to the impairment by engaging in share repurchases to a greater extent than normal. Overall, our findings shed light on the potential negative consequences of the imperfect implementation of fair value accounting.
Mid-Career Faculty: Trends, Barriers, and Possibilities

Mid-career faculty comprise the largest segment of the academia, yet there is scant empirical evidence for the policies and practices related to mid-career faculty. The aim of this study was to deepen our understanding of the lives of mid-career faculty working at institutions of higher education in the United States, with focus on their productivity, and to suggest implications for future research on the subject. Using data from the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF) in combination with an analysis of recent articles Anita G. Welch is the Associate Dean of Teachers College and Professor of Educational Studies at Ball State University. Jocelyn Bolin is a Professor in the Educational Psychology department at Ball State University. Daniel Reardon is an Associate Professor and Director of the Composition and English Teacher Education at Missouri University of Science and Technology. Rachel Stenger is a graduate student in Sociology at the University of Nebreska, Lincoln. Copyright © 2019 by The Journal of the Professoriate, an affiliate of the Center for African American Research and Policy. All Rights Reserved (ISSN 1556-7699) Mid-career Faculty/Welch et al. 23 related to mid-career faculty, this study identified factors related to the academic life of mid-career faculty. Results point to professional responsibilities (teaching and service) rather than personal factors (children and married life) as barriers to faculty productivity.
Activist Short-termism, Managerial Myopia and Biased Disclosure

This paper examines how threat of intervention by a short-term activist affects a myopic manager’s voluntary disclosure strategy when the manager can bias the disclosure at a cost. Since intervention by a short-term-oriented activist can decrease the firm’s liquidation value, the manager strategically discloses information about current firm value to deter intervention. When disclosing, the manager has an incentive to overstate current firm value, leading to an endogenous cost of voluntary disclosure. In equilibrium, only managers observing sufficiently high current firm value voluntarily disclose a biased report to the market. We find that as activist short-termism increases, the manager is less likely to disclose. However, increased managerial myopia may not always reduce voluntary disclosure. In equilibrium, how managerial myopia affects voluntary disclosure depends on the extent of activist short-termism. When activist short-termism is low, a less myopic manager is more likely to disclose, whereas when activist short-termism is high, a more myopic manager is more likely to disclose. This result suggests that increasing managerial horizon may not always be an effective way to reduce managerial myopic behavior induced by short-term shareholders.
A Robust Agrobacterium-Mediated Genetic Transformation Protocol for East African Coastal Farmer-Preferred Cassava Landraces

Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is the third biggest source of carbohydrates after rice and maize, feeding almost a billion people daily in the tropics. Recently it has been proposed as one of the more ideal biomass producers for biofuel production due to its high biomass yield and low input needs. A robust reproducible genetic transformation protocol is needed for germplasm improvement or functional genomics studies in cassava. In the present study we report, for the first time the establishment of a reproducible Agrobacterium-mediated transformation protocol for cassava landraces Mkombozi and Albert preferred by farmers in the coastal region of east Africa. Friable embryogenic calli (FEC) were produced using axillary buds and infected using Agrobacterium strain LBA4404 harboring the binary vector pCAMBIA2301. About 32–40 transgenic plants per 1 ml settled cell volume (SCV) were regenerated on selective medium. Histochemical GUS assays confirmed the expression of GUS gene in transformed calli, somatic embryos and transgenic plants. The presence and expression of the gusA gene were confirmed by PCR and RT-PCR analysis of transgenic plants.
Duck Farming : A Potential Source of Livelihood in Tribal Village

| The Khaki Campbell an improved breed of duck was intervened in tribal village of Saraitoli, Ranchi, Jharkhand. The investment cost and return on duck farming were collected by administration of a well-structured data sheet for growth, feed, egg production, egg weight, egg consumed, egg sold, live bird sold on the body weight basis by the stakeholders. The data were analyzed and accordingly production efficiency was calculated. The average age of bird laid first egg at 151±2.11 days and body weight was recorded 1553±17.26 g. The first laid egg weight was found 61± 0.26 g, whereas after 36 and 52 weeks, it was found 62± 2.23 g and 64± 3.57 g, respectively. The average total egg production per bird was recorded 126.58 ± 1.87 numbers. The total cost of production was found INR (Indian rupees) 430.23 per bird and production cost per kg of live weight was INR 182.98. The cost of feed, 30 days old ducklings and medicine, transportation cost, etc was calculated about 56.35 %, 41.84 % and 1.81% of the total production cost, respectively. The gross return per bird was found INR 726.15. The net returns per live bird including sell of egg and fresh live weight was INR 295.92. The proportion of egg and meat gross income accounts for 35.21 % and 64.76 %, respectively. The gross expenditure incurred of INR 42,592.70 and gross income of INR 71,889.00 was found in duck farming. The net income obtained from the duck farming was INR 2663.30 /household/year with benefit –cost ratio of 1:1.69. The meat -feed ratio was found 3.44. The result revealed that duck breed Khaki Campbell intervention improved tribal people’s source of income and significantly contributes to rural livelihoods.
Morphological Characteristics of the Goat Thyroid Glands among Summer and Winter Seasons

| Thyroid gland plays an important role where they produce thyroid and calcitonin hormones. The current investigation was performed on 20 healthy and freshly slaughtered adult male goats. The samples were collected then immediately fixed and processed for the histological and electron microscopical examination of thyroid gland in summer and winter seasons. Thyroid gland was surrounded by a connective capsule with fibrous septa dividing the parenchyma into lobules. Each lobule comprises of several thyroid follicles, also myoepithelial cells were surrounded these thyroid follicles. Semithin sections in the summer season showed that the parenchyma was formed from numerous numbers of inactive follicles, as opposed to the winter season where it had active thyroid follicles. Ultrastructural studies showed that in the summer season the thyroid follicles were lined with flattened to low cuboidal follicular cells, which had little cellular organelles. However, these follicles were lined with high columnar cells that engorged with the colloid droplets and other cell organelles in the winter season. Parafollicular cells were also found beneath the follicular cells that appeared elongated in shape with numerous darkly stained secretory granules.
Optimal Trend Ination

Sticky price models featuring heterogeneous rms and systematic rm-level productivity trends deliver radically di¤erent predictions for the optimal ination rate than their popular homogenous- rm counterparts: (1) the optimal steady-state ination rate generically di¤ers from zero and (2) ination optimally responds to productivity disturbances. We show this by aggregating a heterogenous- rm model with sticky prices in closed form. Using rm-level data from the U.S. Census Bureau, we estimate the historically optimal ination path for the U.S. economy. In the year 1977, the optimal ination rate stood at 1.5%, but subsequently declined to around 1.0% in the year 2015. Ination rates up to twice these numbers can be rationalized if one considers product demand elasticities more in line with the trade literature or if one considers rms that (partially) index prices to lagged ination rates. Keywords: optimal ination rate, sticky prices, rm heterogeneity JEL Class. No.: E52, E31, E32 We would like to thank Matthias Kehrig for supporting us through access to the LBD database during early stages of this project. We also thank Pierpaolo Benigno, Saki Bigio, V.V. Chari, Argia Sbordone, Stephanie Schmitt-Grohé, Michael Woodford, seminar participants at the 2016 CSEF-CILUCL conference in Alghero, the 12th Dynare conference in Rome, 2016, the 2016 EUI Workshop on Economic Policy Challenges, Florence, the 2016 German Economic Association (VfS) meeting, the 2017 SNB Research Conference, the 2017 ECB conference on "Understanding Ination", and the 2017 EABCN meeting at the Banque de France for comments and suggestions. Special thanks go to the editor John Leahy and anoynmous referees for very valuable suggestions on how to improve the paper. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reect the views of the Deutsche Bundesbank, the Eurosystem, or their sta¤. Any remaining errors are our own.
Active Learning for Imbalanced Datasets

Active learning increases the effectiveness of labeling when only subsets of unlabeled datasets can be processed manually. To our knowledge, existing algorithms are designed under the assumption that datasets are balanced. However, many real-life datasets are actually imbalanced and we propose two adaptations of active learning to tackle imbalance. First, we modify acquisition functions to select samples by taking advantage of a deep model pretrained on a source domain. Second, we introduce a balancing step in the acquisition process to reduce the imbalance of the labeled subset. Evaluation is done with four imbalanced datasets using existing active learning methods and their modifications introduced here. Results show that our adaptations are useful as long as knowledge from the source domain is transferable to target domains.
ASSESSMENT OF PH AND MOISTURE CONTENT IN AGRICULTURAL SOILS OF FARIDABAD, HARYANA

The soil is one of the most important and complex natural resource which fulfill the basic need of all livings on this earth, as it supplies nutrients to plants and then to animals through the food chain. The mere presence of nutrients in the soil does not ensure their availability to the plants growing in the soil. The availability of nutrients to plants through the soil is a function of various physical and chemical parameters of the soil such as pH, EC, moisture, Organic carbon, CEC etc. Out of these parameters pH is one of the most important parameter as it is a logarithmic factor and small variation in the pH value of soil has a great impact on the nutrients and heavy metals availability in plants. So in the present study soil samples collected from Faridabad city national capital region, Haryana has been analyzed for pH and moisture content during summer and winter. Here an attempt has been made to understand the effects of pH and moisture content on nutrients availability to plant.
Nutrition Knowledge and Practices in Management of Stage 5 Chronic Kidney Disease by Adult Patients at Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya

This study sought to determine nutrition knowledge and its association with practices in management of stage 5 chronic kidney disease (CKD) among renal adult patients in Kenyatta National Hospital. A cross-sectional analytical design was used to facilitate collection of qualitative and quantitative data and enable identification of associations between variables. Cochran formula was used to calculate a sample of 110 respondents. A research administered questionnaire with closed ended questions was used to collect information. Descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage were used to describe demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the population. Inferential statistics were done using chi square with an alpha of 0.05 to test association between independent and dependent variables. Most participants had moderate knowledge levels whereas more than half of the participants (66%) indicated poor nutrition management practices of their condition. There was significant association between period on dialysis in months and practices in management of stage 5 chronic kidney disease. Knowledge on importance of diet in management of stage 5 CKD (<0.001), moderation of fluid intake (<0.001), reduction in salt/ sodium intake (<0.001), and moderation in protein intake (<0.004) were significantly associated with nutritional management practices of stage 5 CKD. The study concluded that Knowledge levels were low in identifying foods rich in phosphorus, calcium and fat soluble vitamins. Practice scores were also poor despite moderate nutrition knowledge levels. Patients’ knowledge on nutrition management of their condition may be achieved through frequent and consistent nutrition education and counseling including follow ups. Key Terms: Knowledge, Practice, chronic kidney disease, nutrition management