Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cumulative risk and newly qualified teachers’ professional well-being: Evidence from rural Ghana

The transition from student-teaching to full-time teaching is an understudied period in teachers’ careers. This paper uses a cumulative risk (CR) framework to assess personal and professional risks experienced by 135 student-teachers in rural Ghana during pre-service training and later as newly qualified teachers, and examines how risks relate to their professional well-being and learning outcomes of children in their classrooms. Higher CR was associated with lower teacher motivation and personal accomplishment. Furthermore, higher CR predicted lower child numeracy skills and socioemotional development over the school year. Implications for teacher professional development and improving educational quality are discussed.
Occurrence of γ-caseins in buffalo milk

Summary Using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and electrofocusing, it has been shown that 4 basic fragments were produced by action of plasmin on buffalo β-casein. These fragments were present in whole buffalo casein prepared from bulk milk. Their mol. wts, 20000, 16000 and 11000 (2 components) were determined by SDS-gradient polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. It is suggested that 3 of them are homologous to bovine γ1-, γ2- and γ3-caseins respectively, while the last one (mol. wt 16000), which has no counterpart in plasmin digest of bovine β-casein, could arise from a cleavage at bond 68–69.
Estimation of Monetary Policy Preferences in a Forward-Looking Model: A Bayesian Approach

In this paper we adopt a Bayesian approach towards the estimation of the monetary policy preference parameters in a general equilibrium framework. We start from the model presented by Smets and Wouters (2003) for the euro area where, in the original set up, monetary policy behaviour is described by an empirical Taylor rule. We abandon this way of representing monetary policy behaviour and assume, instead, that monetary policy authorities optimize an intertemporal quadratic loss function under commitment. We consider two alternative specifications for the loss function. The first specification includes inflation, output gap and difference in the interest rate as target variables. The second loss function includes an additional wage inflation target. The weights assigned to the target variables in the loss functions, i.e. the preferences of monetary policy, are estimated jointly with the structural parameters in the model. The results imply that inflation variability remains the main concern of optimal monetary policy. In addition, interest rate smoothing and the output gap appear to be, to a lesser extent, important target variables as well. Comparing the marginal likelihood of the original Smets and Wouters (2003) model to our specification with optimal monetary policy indicates that the latter performs only slightly worse. Since we are faced with the time-inconsistency problem under commitment, we initialize our estimates by considering a presample period of 40 quarters. This allows us to approach, empirically, the timeless perspective framework.
A cross-platform analysis of the equity crowdfunding Italian context: the role of intellectual capital

Does intellectual capital positively affect the success of the equity crowdfunding campaigns? This paper answers this question using an original dataset of 191 equity crowdfunding campaigns, gathered from Italian platforms over the period 2014–2018; special attention is dedicated to patents effect, R&D and team’s education level on funding success, as they may serve as signals of unobservable quality of equity crowdfunding campaigns. Then, following literature on success factors for crowdfunding, the paper analyzes the signaling role of equity share retained by founders and by their social network size. Results suggest that intellectual capital (i.e. patents, R&D, team’s education level), amount of equity retained by projects’ founders and size of their social network have a positive and significant impact on fundraising success and are perceived as quality signals of crowdfunding campaigns by external investors.
Weed Control in Processing Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) with Rimsulfuron and Thifensulfuron Applied Alone or with Chlorothalonil or Copper Pesticides

Combining herbicides and fungicides can improve production efficiency; however, there is little information on the effect of these mixtures on weed control and processing tomato crop response. Six field trials were conducted from 2002 to 2004 in Ontario to study the effect of rimsulfuron and thifensulfuron applied alone or in combination with metribuzin and with or without chlorothalonil or copper fungicides on processing tomato. There was no visual injury or reduction in marketable yield of processing tomato with rimsulfuron or thifensulfuron alone or when tank-mixed with chlorothalonil or copper hydroxide. Rimsulfuron, thifensulfuron, rimsulfuron plus metribuzin, and thifensulfuron plus metribuzin could be tank-mixed with chlorothalonil without areduction in weed control. However, efficacy of rimsulfuron and thifensulfuron were reduced when tank-mixed with copper hydroxide. The reduction in weed control incited by adding copper hydroxide was overcome with a low rate (150 gha -1 a.i.) of metribuzin for thifensulfuron but not rimsulfuron. Application of rimsulfuron and thifensulfuron alone or with low rates of metribuzin and chlorothalonil could provide tomato growers with a single-pass treatment for the control of troublesome weeds and diseases.
Annual weed competitiveness as affected by preemergence herbicide in corn

Abstract Competitiveness of weeds that survive a PRE herbicide application (escaped weeds) might be altered because of herbicide injury. As a result, potential crop yield loss may be reduced. Field experiments were conducted at Ashland Bottoms, KS, in 2001 and 2002 and at Rossville, KS, in 2002. The objectives were to quantify corn growth and yield response to Palmer amaranth or velvetleaf competition, with or without isoxaflutole (0.03 kg ha−1) or flumetsulam (0.04 kg ha−1) application, and to determine seed production of Palmer amaranth or velvetleaf as affected by PRE herbicide. Palmer amaranth and velvetleaf densities ranged from 0 to 6 and 0 to 32 plants m−1 of corn row, respectively. At Ashland Bottoms in 2002, corn height at tasseling decreased with increasing Palmer amaranth (1.58 cm weed−1 m−1) and velvetleaf (1.32 cm weed−1 m−1) density when no herbicide was applied. With flumetsulam application, each increase in velvetleaf density reduced corn height by 0.4 cm. Escaped Palmer amaranth and velvetleaf were shorter than untreated plants at corn tasseling. At Rossville in 2002, Palmer amaranth that escaped isoxaflutole or flumetsulam application caused 13% corn yield loss (YL) at a density of 3 plants m−1. In contrast, corn YL from untreated Palmer amaranth at the same density was 30%. At Ashland Bottoms in 2002, velvetleaf that escaped flumetsulam caused 3% corn YL at a density of 3 plants m−1 compared with 38% YL caused by untreated velvetleaf at the same density. Seed production of Palmer amaranth was independent of density or herbicide treatment, whereas production of velvetleaf seed increased with density, with or without flumetsulam. The study showed that corn YL from both Palmer amaranth and velvetleaf that escaped a PRE herbicide was less than from untreated weeds, but seed production by escaped weeds was similar to that of untreated weeds. Nomenclature: Flumetsulam; isoxaflutole; Palmer amaranth, Amaranthus palmeri S. Wats. , AMAPA; velvetleaf, Abutilon theophrasti Medicus, ABUTH; corn, Zea mays L. , ‘DKC53–34RR’, ‘Asgrow RX740RR’.
International Tourism, Higher Education and Economic Growth: The Case of North Cyprus

This study investigates the long-run equilibrium relationship between international tourism, higher education growth, real income growth and the direction of causality among these variables for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is not recognised by any country other than Turkey. Results reveal that international tourism and higher education are in a long-run equilibrium relationship with real income growth; international tourism and higher education have an inelastic, yet positively significant impact on real income growth in the long-run period. Finally, the results of the present study reveal that both the tourism-led growth and the higher education-led growth hypotheses are confirmed for North Cyprus.
Executive Compensation

T he two major perspectives that guide CEO compensation research include agency theory and managerialism. The latter is extended to the managerial power approach to executive compensation. These perspectives recognize the divergence of interests between the owners and management due to the separation of ownership and control in large firms. Agency theory advocates the use of two control mechanisms: executive monitoring and incentive alignment whereby management and shareholder interests are aligned with the management incentives–performance linkage. In addition to agency theory and managerialism, this paper examines the managerial power approach to executive compensation posited in Bebchuk and Fried’s highly acclaimed book titled Pay without Performance: The Unfulfilled Promise of Executive Compensation published in 2004. These authors’ major claims are that due to the powerful influence of the CEO, there is a lack of arm’s-length bargaining between the CEO and the board; therefore, a suboptimal executive compensation contract which does not link pay to performance results. Opposing perspectives to Bebchuk and Fried’s (2004) ideas are also presented. Due to the recent corporate scandals, abuses in executive compensation have received intense public scrutiny. Lawsuits involving executive compensation were launched against various companies such as Adelphia, Disney, Enron, HealthSouth, and Tyco. This paper examines the reform efforts in the area of executive compensation on the part of Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the exchanges, shareholder activists, institutional investors,
A Review of Rhinolophus (Chiroptera: Rhinolophidae) from Myanmar, Including Three Species New to the Country

Rhinolophus stheno, R. acuminatus and R. macrotis are recorded from Myanmar for the first time based on authenticated voucher material. New data from recent surveys (2000–2003) are included for R. affinis, R. malayanus, R. lepidus, R. marshalli, R. pusillus, R. pearsoni, and R. thomasi. Additional records of R. rouxi and R. sinicus are listed on the basis of museum specimens. The status of R. subbadius, R. yunanensis, R. luctus, R. trifoliatus, R. coelophyllus, and R. shameli are reviewed. This brings the total number of Rhinolophus species known from Myanmar to eighteen and the number of all bat species to ninety-four. The possible reasons for the rich diversity of Rhinolophids are discussed.
Differences in the susceptibility of codling moth populations to Cydia pomonella granulovirus in the Czech Republic.

Zichova T. , Falta V. , Kocourek F. , Stara J., 2011. Diff erences in the susceptibility of codling moth populations to Cydia pomonella granulovirus in the Czech Republic . Hort. Sci. (Prague), 38: 21–26. Th e Cydia pomonella granulovirus is a very important agent for the biological control of the codling moth, Cydia pomonella, in both organic and integrated apple and pear production. Th ree populations of Cydia pomonella originating from three separate areas of the Czech Republic were tested for their susceptibility to Cydia pomonella granulovirus in laboratory bioassays at several concentrations of Cydia pomonella granulovirus. A sensitive laboratory strain was chosen as a control. Th e larval mortality was checked 14 days after the infection. Th e mortality of Cydia pomonella larvae was similar in specimens originating from both the wild populations and the laboratory strain. Decreased susceptibility to Cydia pomonella granulovirus was demonstrated neither in samples from locality without Cydia pomonella granulovirus treatment nor from a locality experimentally treated with Cydia pomonella granulovirus for several years during the registration process. However, one population experimentally treated for more than 10 years was partially resistant to Cydia pomonella granulovirus. Based on our fi ndings; the Cydia pomonella granulovirus biopesticides will be effi cient due to the high susceptibility of fi eld codling moth populations to Cydia pomonella granulovirus in the Czech Republic.
How CFO's Determine Management Accounting Innovation: An Examination of Direct and Indirect Effects

Although management accounting innovations such as Activity-Based Costing, the Balanced Scorecard and benchmarking have received much academic interest in recent years, our understanding of why some organizations adopt and implement such new management accounting systems (MAS) and others do not, is still underdeveloped. This paper contributes to the literature by examining the role of the CFO in MAS innovation. We hypothesize that individual differences between CFO's are predictive of organizations' use of innovative MAS. In addition, we propose that CFO characteristics moderate the extent to which organizations rationally adapt to (environmental) contingencies. To examine this second prediction we compare the effects of strategy and historical performance on the adoption of innovative MAS for organizations with different types of CFO's. We test our hypotheses using a combination of archival and survey data from the public healthcare sector in Spain. Our results are generally supportive of our hypotheses.
Central Bank Transparency, Exchange Rates, and Demand Imbalances

Abstract Do the benefits of central bank transparency depend on the structure of financial markets? We address this question in a two-country model with dispersed information among price-setting firms. The volatility of the real exchange rate is non-monotonic in the precision of public communications. Despite this non-monotonicity, under complete markets, greater provision of public information always improves welfare and full transparency is optimal. By contrast, under incomplete markets, more accurate public signals can decrease welfare by exacerbating the cost of cross-country demand imbalances. If the trade elasticity is low, optimal public announcements are intentionally imprecise.
Pollen grain expression of a gene controlling differences in osmoregulation in wheat leaves : a simple breeding method

The possibility that a gene conditioning differences in osmoregulation in wheat leaves (or) is also expressed in pollen grains was investigated in order to differentiate heterozygous and homozygous lines for use in backcross breeding. The difference in osmoregulation in leaves was expressed as a difference in solute accumula- tion which was calculated from responses of osmotic potential and relative water content to reductions in water potential caused by droughting plants in pots. A corresponding allelic difference was found in pollen grains. It was demonstrated by a difference in relative size, and solute accumulation, after stressing using polyethelene glycol solution. The response occurred only after addition of a small quantity of potassium chloride, and the maximum response occurred at concentrations of approximately >0.2 mM (at least to 10 mM). This suggests that or may con- dition high affinity potassium transport. Single-gene control was confirmed using pollen responses, and pollen grain expression was further demonstrated by the use of pollen responses, to identify alleles and thus manipulate leaf responses in a backcross breeding study. Because the differences in pollen grain size may be readily observed without measurement using a microscope with relatively low magnification, and because the pollen grains are easily sampled at flowering, the pollen response is suitable as a routine test in plant breeding involving pedigree or back- cross methods.
Photoperiodic Effects on Vegetative and Reproductive Growth of Vaccinium darrowi and V. corymbosum Interspecific Hybrids

Experiments were conducted with V. darrowi and two cultivars of southern highbush blueberry, 'Sharpblueʼ and 'Misty,ʼ to test whether V. darrowi and cultivars derived from it are photoperiodic with respect to fl ower bud initiation. Plants of each cultivar were grown under three different photoperiod treatments (long days (LD) = 16-hour photoperiod; short days (SD) = 8-hour photoperiod; and short days + night interrupt (SD-NI) = 8-hour photoperiod with 1-hour night interrupt) at constant 21 °C for 8 weeks. Vegetative growth was greatest in the LD plants of both cultivars. Flower bud initiation occurred only in the SD treatments, and the lack of fl ower bud initiation in the SD-NI treatment indicates that fl ower bud initiation is a phytochrome mediated response in Vaccinium. Previously initiated fl ower buds on the V. darrowi plants developed and bloomed during the LD treatment, but bloom did not occur in the SD and SD-NI treatment plants until after those plants were moved to LD. These data indicate that fl ower bud initiation in both V. darrowi and southern highbush blueberry is photoperiodically sensitive, and is promoted by short days, while fl ower bud development is enhanced under long days.
Arguments concerning the basal evolution of the Bryozoa

The number of tentacles per unit of body volume decreases with increasing body size in the Bryozoa. The ranges of zooid sizes and of tentacle numbers of the Phylactolaemata do considerably overlap with those of the Gymnolaemata s. l. , but only the phylactolaemes form horseshoe-shaped lophophores. Therefore, the lophophore form in the Bryozoa does not simply depend on body sizes but on differences in the genomes in the two sub-classes. A lining-in of similar or similar seeming external shapes of zooids has no persuasive power unless it is combined with convincing arguments concerning the accompanying emendations of the internal anatomy. Economizations and attained degrees of functional effectivity provide main guide-lines for the argumentation and for testing the probability of discussed cases of evolutionary branching during attempts to reconstruct alterations of the internal anatomy. Recapitulative arrangements may play an important role in this context. Statistics on “phens” cannot help to solve these problems. Comparison of the forms of the body bending, of the modes of ontogenetioal displacement of the polypide, and of the arrangements of the body musculature in combination supports the interpretation that the Stenostomata and the Eurystomata have a common root with primarily erect, uncalcified forms and thus most probably are a monophyletic group of Gymnolaemata s. l. originating in phylactolaeme like ancestors. Omitting the Phylactolaemata (as a linking group with many plesiomorph features) in attempts to reconstruct the bryozoan evolution drastically increases the amount of morphological differences between the Gymnolaemata s. l. and the Phoronidae, which are commonly accepted to have pre-served the most morphological characteristics of the bryozoan ancestors. It must be warned of an overestimation of the possible role of the fossil record for the reconstruction of the bryozoan phylogeny, which strongly demands the aids by investigations also on Recent species.
Exploring entrepreneurial characteristics, motivations and behaviours in equity crowdfunding: some evidence from Italy

PurposeThis study explores entrepreneurial decision-making in the equity crowdfunding (ECF) context, and it aims to shed some light on the relationship among three aspects: entrepreneurial characteristics (i.e. entrepreneurial alertness and entrepreneurial self-efficacy), entrepreneurial motivations (i.e. promotion, improvement of networking and acquisition of product and market knowledge) and entrepreneurial behaviours (i.e. campaign characteristics in terms of communication and offerings). Design/methodology/approachThe hypotheses testing and analysis were conducted using the partial least squares approach to structural equation modelling, and data were collected from the overall population of Italian ECF platforms.FindingsOur results highlight that entrepreneurial characteristics may be central in ECF because of their significant impact on some motivation entrepreneurs have to adopt ECF, which in turn have an impact on meaningful campaign characteristics that can influence ECF performance.Originality/valueThe current literature is mainly focused on investors' decisions, while a neglected perspective until now has been that of entrepreneurs. This study is among the first to focus on entrepreneurs in the ECF context, and, to the best of our knowledge, it is the first study to investigate the entrepreneurial decision-making process. The added value of this research lies in the analysis of the entrepreneurial aspects underlying entrepreneurial decisions to use ECF.
Weed management and conservation tillage for improving productivity, nutrient uptake and profitability of wheat in soybean (Glycine max)-wheat (Triticumaestivum) cropping system

The effect of tillage, crop establishment and weed management was studied on the performance of wheat grown after soybean at New Delhi, India during 2010-11 to 2011-12. Sixteen treatment combinations involved 2 tillage, viz. conventional tillage (CT) and zero tillage (ZT), two crop establishment practices, viz. raised-bed and flat-bed and four weed management, viz. isoproturon + hand weeding, mesosulfuron+ iodosulfuron, soybean stover + isoproturon and unweeded control. Population density and dry weight of weeds was significantly more under raised-bed than flat-bed, particularly under ZT condition, while under flat-bed, the differences between CT and ZT were on par. Weed control efficiency was the highest (90.7-91.4%) under isoproturon + hand weeding and significantly higher than other treatments (86.5-90.2%). Yield losses under unweeded control were 23.1-26.1%. Grain yield of wheat under ZT-flat-bed (4.46-4.73 ton ha -1 ) was equal to that under CT-flat-bed (4.44-4.79 ton ha -1 ), which was comparatively more than raised-bed conditions. All weed control practices were on par and equally effective improving the yield of grain (19.2-27.5%) as well as straw (14.0%) compared with unweeded control. Nutrient uptake by crop decreased linearly with increase in nutrient removal by weeds. The highest net benefit: cost ratio was under ZT-flat-bed and mesosulfuron + iodosulfuron (3.04) followed by soybean stover mulch + isoproturon (2.84). It was concluded that wheat can be grown underzero-till condition with post-emergence herbicide application for realizing higher productivity and profitability in the Indo-Gangentci plains of India.
Secret and Overt Information Acquisition in Financial Markets

We study the observability of investors' information-acquisition activities in financial markets. Improving observability leads to two strategic effects on information acquisition: (1) the pricing effect, which arises from interactions between investors and the market maker and can encourage or discourage information acquisition, and (2) the competition effect, which concerns interactions among investors and always encourages information acquisition. We apply our theory to study voluntary and mandatory disclosures of corporate site visits. When the competition effect dominates, investors voluntarily disclose their visits. When the pricing effect dominates, mandatory disclosure is effective. Our analysis sheds novel light on Regulation Fair Disclosure.