Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Poultry Litter as a Nutrient Source for Low Input Forage Systems

Despite high volumes of manure production in the Shenandoah Valley, there are still areas of forage production in the Shenandoah Valley that are nutrient deficient, because manures have traditionally been applied to higher value row crops. Furthermore, anecdotal reports have suggested that application of poultry litter to pastureland may increase the abundance of weeds. This study was conducted to compare the effects of poultry litter and inorganic fertilizers on soil fertility, aboveground botanical composition and soil seed bank composition of established mixed naturalized pastures. Two sites each had the following treatments applied for two consecutive years: 1) split application of litter: 3.36 Mg ha in spring and 3.36 Mg ha in summer; 2) inorganic fertilizer at same N, P and K rates as Trt. No. 1; 3) single application of litter: 6.72 Mg ha in spring; 4) inorganic fertilizer at same N, P and K rates as Trt. No. 3; 5) unfertilized control. Forage yield, soil pH, Mehlich 1 P (M1P), P balance, water soluble phosphorus (WSP), shifts in aboveground botanical composition, seed bank composition, and species richness (SPR) were monitored during this experiment. In addition, we examined whether poultry litter carries germinable weed seeds that can be transferred to forage systems after application. On average, soil pH was 0.2 higher for litter than chemical fertilizer treatments, but this difference was not significant. Mehlich 1 P and WSP both increased throughout the two years, but no significant differences were found amongst split and single application or litter and inorganic fertilizers. Phosphorus balance analysis indicated that forage yield did not remove adequate P to prevent environmental concerns, when using N based applications. Fertilization increased yield 3.5 Mg ha on average and yield responses to application timing and fertilizer types were similar. Desirable species abundance increased significantly (linear regression, P< 0.05) over time in both fertilizer and poultry litter application treatments. Furthermore at one site, Shenandoah County, poultry litter application actually reduced the number of weedy species in plots (P=0.04). Weedy plant abundance did not differ at either site, and no significant change in species richness (number of species/area) was observed at Rockbridge County for any treatment. No treatment effects were found for seed bank species richness and number of germinated seeds (m). No seedlings germinated directly from poultry litter collected from several sites in Virginia. Poultry litter was comparable to inorganic fertilizer in terms of increasing soil WSP, M1P, forage yield, and above ground composition of desirable forage species. Timing of application made no difference. Additionally, our results indicate that poultry litter has no viable seed and does not increase weed abundance in mixed naturalized pastures.
Lumiracoxib is effective in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee: a 13-week, randomized, double-blind study versus placebo and celecoxib

Objectives – The objective of this 13-week, multicentre, randomized, double-blind study was to compare the efficacy and safety of lumiracoxib with placebo and celecoxib for osteoarthritis (OA). Methods – After a 3 − 7-day washout period for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, 1702 patients with knee OA were randomized to lumiracoxib 200 or 400 mg once daily (od), celecoxib 200 mg od or placebo (2:2:2:1). A visual analogue scale (VAS) pain intensity ≥ 40 mm was required. Primary efficacy variables were OA pain intensity (VAS mm) in the target knee, patient’s global assessment of disease activity (VAS mm), and WOMAC © Pain subscale and Total scores at 13 weeks. OA pain intensity, patient’s and physician’s global assessment of disease activity, and WOMAC © (Total and all subscale scores) were analyzed by visit as secondary variables.
Effect of Board Characteristics on Stock Returns of Listed Consumer Goods Companies in Nigeria

corporate firm's constituted board is expected to be a reliable internal tool to ensure good firm-performance for improved quality earnings. This study assessed the effect of board characteristics on stock-returns of quoted consumer-goods companies in Nigeria. Independent variables used were board-independence, board-size and board-financial-expertise, while the dependent variable was 'stock-returns'. The study adopted ex-post-facto research method; and used a purposive sample-size of sixteen (16) firms selected from a population of the twenty-three (23) consumer-goods companies quoted on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) as at 2020. From the annual financial reports of the selected firms, data were extracted for ten (10) years (2012 ‒ 2021); and analyses done using multiple regression technique. The study's model had good-fit and diagnostic tests revealed analytical robustness and reliable results. The pooled OLS regression result showed that board-characteristics could predict stock returns' behavior in the consumer-goods sector, since board-independence and board-financial-expertise had positive significant effect on stock-returns, though board-size revealed insignificant effect. Recommendations are: more independent directors should be encouraged on the board, in an attempt to improving monitoring activities that will curb boisterous management behavior; with anticipated possibility of good dividend payments to shareholders; furthermore, the firms' Board of Directors should focus on enhancing capacity to combat discretionary behavior of management activities ― inclusion of at least three accounting/financial experts might boost this campaign that will yield improved earnings quality.
Landuse Effects on Cirhanyobowa River Water Quality in D.R. Congo

Cirhanyobowa River in D.R. Congo, is extensively used as washing and drinking water source by surrounding population as well as by gorillas. The study was carried out in three sites on Cirhanyobowa River to evaluate the effect of landuse (forest, mining and agricultural) on Cirhanyobwa River water quality. Surface water temperature, DO, BOD 5, nitrogen and phosphorus were measured, and aquatic macroinvertebrates collected monthly for a period of one year and measured according to standards analytical and biological methods. Results have shown changes in water quality for the forest, mining and agricultural sites but slight changes in number of taxa at the forested and mining sites with respectively 43 and 42 species; and significant changes in agricultural site with 27 species. Chemical and physical parameters measured at the three sites did not seem sufficient to account for all observed differences in macroinvertebrate communities, suggesting some unmeasured toxicity. It was established that there is water quality deterioration along Cirhanyobwa River due to surrounding population anthropogenic activities.
THE W

Consider the Poisson equation on a convex polygonal domain and the ﬁnite element method of degree m ≥ 1 associated with a family of graded meshes for possible singular solutions. We prove the stability of the Ritz projection onto the ﬁnite element space in W 1 p , 1 < p ≤ ∞ . Consequently, we obtain ﬁnite element error estimates in W 1 p for 1 < p ≤ ∞ and in L p for 1 < p < ∞ . The key to the analysis is the use of the “index engineering” methodology in modiﬁed Kondrat (cid:2) ev weighted spaces. We also mention possible extensions and applications of these results.
Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use Emissions by Sources and Removals by Sinks

This report discusses new knowledge on anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) activities made available through the new FAOSTAT Emission database. The database is available globally, with country detail, for all agriculture, forestry and land sub-categories available in FAOSTAT and in the Forest Resources Assessment (FRA). GHG emissions are computed from official national activity data and geospatial analyses, applying international standard methodologies of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to ensure consistency with GHG Inventory processes established under the climate convention. The analysis shows increases in emissions of agriculture (from 4.6 to 5.0 Gt CO2 eq yr -1 in 1990s and 2000s; 5.3 Gt CO2 eq yr -1 in 2011), decreases in deforestation rates (from 4.6 to 3.8 Gt CO2 eq yr -1 in 1990s and 2000s; 3.7 Gt CO2 eq yr -1 in 2010), and decreases in forest sinks, albeit with a reversal since the mid-2000s (from -2.9 to -1.9 Gt CO2 eq yr -1 in 1990s and 2000s values; -2.1 Gt CO2 eq yr -1 in 2010). At the same time, the data show that GHG intensity of products (i.e., GHG emissions per unit commodity produced) decreased during 1990-2010, but that if no further mitigation measures and technical efficiency improvements are implemented, future emissions may further increase by up to 30% by 2050. Better information on AFOLU emissions is critical in many developing countries, given the potential to identify and fund actions that can usefully bridge national food security, resilience, mitigation and development goals into one coherent package.
Adult William's Syndrome: The Cause of an Unusual Vasculopathy and Biliary Abnormalities

A man in his 50s was diagnosed with William’s syndrome (WS) following the investigation of severe vasculopathy and bile duct abnormalities. The vascular lesions included: right carotid artery hypoplasia, tortuous dilated left carotid artery, severe aortic hypoplasia, and pulmonary branch arterial stenoses. The bile ducts were dilated with damaged and inflamed intrahepatic ducts. The patient had been labeled with fetal alcohol syndrome as a consequence of his mother’s alcohol addiction. The etiology is thought to be the combined effects and his genetic condition and prenatal alcohol exposure.
Constraining Historical Earthquake Sequences With Coulomb Stress Models: An Example From Western Türkiye

Knowledge of earthquake source faults is crucial for the calculation of robust Coulomb stress models. However, source faults are often poorly constrained, especially for pre‐instrumental events, and these historical earthquakes are commonly studied with little or no consideration of other nearby events. We introduce an approach using Coulomb Stress Transfer (CST) modeling to investigate historical earthquake sequences and constrain possible source faults. Using historical and instrumental records from the Büyük Menderes Graben, western Türkiye, we create an ensemble of earthquake sequences featuring multiple rupture scenarios for individual earthquakes, and model both coseismic and interseismic CST. We filter and evaluate the models based on criteria to gain knowledge on historical earthquakes and their source faults and assess the current stress state and related seismic hazard of the investigated fault network. For our study area, the results provide further constraints on the source faults of several historical earthquakes, including the destructive MW 7.0 earthquake in 1899. The approach presented herein is applicable to other tectonically active areas where the causative faults of historical earthquakes are poorly constrained from existing data sets (e.g., paleoseismology, damage records), providing a new tool to help decipher historical earthquake sequences and improve modeling studies.
High crustal diversity preserved in the lunar meteorite Mount DeWitt 12007 (Victoria Land, Antarctica)

The meteorite Mount DeWitt (DEW) 12007 is a polymict regolith breccia mainly consisting of glassy impact‐melt breccia particles, gabbroic clasts, feldspathic clasts, impact and volcanic glass beads, basaltic clasts, and mingled breccia clasts embedded in a matrix dominated by fine‐grained crystals; vesicular glassy veins and rare agglutinates are also present. Main minerals are plagioclase (typically An>85) and clinopyroxene (pigeonites and augites, sometimes interspersed). The presence of tranquillityite, coupled with the petrophysical data, the O‐isotope data (Δ17O = −0.075), and the FeOtot/MnO ratios in olivine (91), pyroxene (65), and bulk rock (77) indicate a lunar origin for DEW 12007. Impactites consist of Al‐rich impact‐melt splashes and plagioclase‐rich meta‐melt clasts. The volcanic products belong to the very low titanium (VLT) or low titanium (LT) suites; an unusual subophitic fragment could be cryptomare‐related. Gabbroic clasts could represent part of a shallow intrusion within a volcanic complex with prevailing VLT affinity. DEW 12007 has a mingled bulk composition with relatively high incompatible element abundances and shows a high crustal diversity comprising clasts from the Moon's major terranes and rare lithologies. First‐order petrographic and chemical features suggest that DEW 12007 could be launch‐paired with other meteorites including Y 793274/981031, QUE 94281, EET 87521/96008, and NWA 4884.
PARTICIPATORY CROP IMPROVEMENT: EFFECT OF FARMERS' SELECTION CRITERIA ON DIVERSITY OF RICE GROWN IN UPLANDS OF NEPAL

Envisioned important advantage of participatory varietal selection (PVS) is increased adoption of improved cultivars due to speedy uptake by farmers. Conventionally adoption of improved cultivars is considered to have negative impact on biodiversity with declined the on-farm biodiversity. In contrast, participatory plant breeding techniques, including PVS, has been reported to increase biodiversity with some examples although increase process is not fully elucidated. As a part of International Rice Research Institute, Philippines and Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Nepal collaborative project, PVS was practiced in four villages of Sundar Bazaar, Lamjung, Nepal. Eight genotypes, (IR-55435-5, Ghaiya-2, Bindeshwori, Radha-32, B6149-MR-7, NR1824-21-1-1, IR55539-2, Radha-4 ) five each for direct seeded and transplanted rainfed rice, alongwith local checks (Phakhe Jhinuwa and Gokule Mansuli) were grown in farmers’ field in mother and baby trial design. Situation of onfarm diversity, farmers’ selection criteria, and socio-economic conditions were studied using participatory tools including household survey, farmers’ group discussions, farmers’ field days and on-farm experimentation. Before PVS, considerable diversity was found for transplanted rainfed rice (Varietal Diversity Index; VDI; 0.64) in contrast to very low diversity of direct seeded rice (VDI = 0.01). Following first cycle of PVS, there was tremendous increase in diversity of direct seeded upland rice (VDI = 0.65) whereas there was considerable increase in transplanted rainfed rice (VDI = 0.81). Difference in adoption of cultivars was found connected with difference in selection criteria which was eventually based on socio-economic context of farmers. Consequently, increase in varietal diversity of upland rice is related with diversity in selection criteria and priority linked with difference in socioeconomic conditions.
Pleistocene shore lines on the islands of Oahu and Maui, Hawaii

INTRODUCTION Oahu, comprising 598 square miles, and Maui, comprising 728 square miles, are two of the major islands of the Hawaiian group, about 58 miles apart, with Molokai lying between them. Both are volcanic doublets. Oahu is noted for its port of Honolulu, and Maui for its dormant eroded crater of Haleakala. Surrounding Oahu is a narrow coastal plain which emerged from the sea in Pleistocene time, and which, in places, reaches 6 miles in width. It consists of reef limestone and terrigenous deposits. Surrounding all but the east and west ends of Oahu is a fringing reef. Notably different from Oahu is Maui, which has only a few narrow strips of coastal plain, and these contain no reef limestone. The absence of emerged reefs on Maui is, however, not surprising in view of the relative paucity of living reef at the present time. The shore lines described below were .
Understanding the Influence of Demographic Variables on Financial Literacy

: Financial literacy reflects individuals’ capability to make wise financial decisions, hence achieve financial prosperity. The massive marketing of financial products, easy access to the loan as well as the practice of using credit card imprudently requires an adequate knowledge on financial management hence increase the significance of financial literacy. Financial literacy level among Malaysian is considered as far from the needed levelas proven by recent reports of the increase in bankruptcy cases, involvement in business scams and the level of household debts which is recorded as the highest among the developing countries in Asia.TheMalaysian Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency (AKPK) revealedthat most people who have sought counsellingarethose with poor financial planning, ignorance and lack of financial discipline, as well as the result of the spiralling cost of living and they came from various backgrounds. Perhaps, not surprisingly that the level of financial literacy among educated is considered just as low tomoderate. This issue has motivated this study to review available literatures on financial literacy among the educated, in this case, the school teachers. The objectives of this study are to examine if there are sufficient studies on financial literacy among the school teachers and to determine the factors that affect the financial literacy. As a result of the analysis, this paper presents recurrent themes that could be extended for future financial literacy research.
Effects of Training and Development on Employee Retention in Bauchi State Metropolis Banks

he study examined the relationship between training T and development and employee retention in some selected banks within Bauchi metropolis. Banks in Nigeria are faced with myriad of problems related to training and development and employee retention. For instance, ninety-seven percent of banks in the country do not allow employees to have required external training or developmental training. In fact, if an employee develops a personal ambition for further training or self-development; the banks would rather he/she tendered a resignation before he or she embarks on such developmental studies. In a style of a qualitative research, descriptive-casual survey method was adopted. Data were collected from the administration of questionnaire and were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The findings shows that training and development has a positive relationship with employee retention. This means that a positive relationship exists between training & development and employees' retention. It implies that the more the training and development of the bank employees, the higher the chances of the employees' being retained. As part of the conclusion, the research result revealed that the p-value of training and development is less than 0.05 level of significance. This implies that training and development has significant effect on employee retention. The research recommends that a dissatisfied employee cannot work effectively to achieve the organizational goals. Therefore, banks should value their employees as assets and not liabilities. Again, they should discourage outsourcing in their system. This is because the contract or outsourced staff provide cheap labour which will affect the level of trust and trust when undermined could create room for dishonest practices and fraud which inevitably leads to bank collapse.
Assessing the long-term impacts of forest harvesting and high intensity broadcast burning on soil properties at the Warra LTER Site

At the Warra Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Site, soil samples from 0–50 mm, 50– 100 mm, 100–200 mm and 200–300 mm were taken from a clearfelled coupe (WR008B) before harvesting in 1998 and again in 2000, nine months after a high intensity regeneration burn. Analyses conducted included soil bulk density, pH, total organic C and total N and P. The effect of harvesting and burning was found to be most pronounced in the upper 50 mm of soil. Bulk density increased from 0.58 Mg/m 3 to 0.70 Mg/m 3 , while there was a loss of 3850 kg C/ha and 107 kg N/ha. A total of 13 kg P/ha was added. The changes were smaller at the 50–100 mm depth, with losses of 1470 kg C/ha and 72 kg N/ha and addition of 5 kg P/ha. Only minor changes were apparent at the 100– 200 mm and 200–300 mm depths. A series of permanent sample plots was established on this coupe to assess the longer term impact of forest harvesting and burning on soil chemical and physical properties. The location of all the post-burn sampling plots has been mapped using GPS to enable researchers in the future to quickly relocate and utilise these plots.
Characteristics of Anomalous Sign and Prediction of Summer Precipitation in the Middle Reaches of Yellow River

Using 61 station precipitation data in the middle reaches of Yellow River,characteristics and ambient field of summer precipitation in the middle reaches of the Yellow River are analyzed and one prediction model is established in this paper.The research result reveales that summer precipitation in the middle reaches of Yellow River is mainly affected by the East Asian jet stream,the West Pacific subtropical high and the low trough in the vicinity of Lake Baikal.That is,when the East Asian jet stream and the West Pacific subtropical high are stronger,lying more northward,and the Baikal trough is deeper,more rains fall in this region,and vice versa.Besides,the autumn Southern Oscillation,the North African subtropical high,the South China Sea subtropical high,the Northern Hemisphere subtropical high and the Northern Hemisphere polar vortex can all exert an impact on the summer circulation and precipitation in the middle reaches of Yellow River.Therefore,a forecast model for summer precipitation in the middle reaches of the Yellow River is established by using the above factors.Assessment shows that this model has good prediction ability and can be used for quantitative prediction of summer precipitation in the middle reaches of Yellow River.
Age and stage based analysis of the population dynamics of beluga whales, Delphinapterus leucas, with particular reference to the northern Quebec population

The vital rates of beluga, Delphinapterus leucas, harvested in northern Quebec are within the range reported by previous studies in Alaska and the Canadian and Soviet Arctic. Small sample size and inadequate estimates of survivorship rates prevent meaningful calculation of population growth rate. The pattern of changes in vital rates over the life cycle of beluga and analysis of errors associated with stage classification indicate that the demographic information in a 6 x 6 age-grouped Lefkovitch matrix is similar to that in a 38 x 38 age class Leslie matrix. A 3 stage, length-based model composed of newborns, juveniles and adults contains less demographic information than the larger matrices, but is superior to a juvenile/adult classification scheme. The 3 stage model applied to length frequency data from aerial photographic censuses should provide an alternate method of demographic analysis when harvests are small or absent. Colour is a poor criterion for stage classification.