Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Revisiting the sustainability-innovation nexus: Lessons learned from the US

The relationship between innovation and corporate sustainability constitutes a long-lasting debate among policymakers and researchers. Despite the significant contributions to this field, extant literature does not provide clear answers. This can be attributed to the fact that prior studies do not incorporate the various aspects of innovation to measure their impact on sustainability performance. This study aims to cover this gap in the emerging literature by using a unique micro-level panel dataset consisting of a large number of firms scattered across the US states over the period 2007-2016. Our findings reveal that the basic mechanism for achieving corporate sustainability is through the innovation channel. We also argue that the quantity and value of innovation enhance the sustainability level, whereas these effects are strengthened in times of recession (global financial crisis). The empirical results survive robustness checks under alternative innovation measures and different econometric techniques dealing with endogeneity and reverse causality. Lastly, policy implications relating to the nature of corporate sustainability performance are also provided.
The use of bread yeast as a biocontrol agent for controlling seed-borne fungi of faba bean.

Present objective was to study this phenomenon on the common seed-borne fungi of faba bean in soil amended with composted organic wastes and infested with the most commonly isolated fungi from Vicia faba seed. In vitro studies showed that the yeast was effective in reducing the linear growth of Cephalosporium sp. , F. verticillioides, F. oxysporum,. F. solani, R. solani and V. dahliae. Pre- and post-emergence damping-off caused by Cephalosporium sp. , F. verticillioides, F. oxysporum, F. solani, R. solani and V. dahliae was reduced significantly when seeds of faba bean were coated with a water suspension (10(9) cfu mL-1) of the yeast before sowing in soil supplemented with compost type (1) (prepared by Mansoura manufacturer with organic waste from city garbage) or type (2) (consisted of 1 ton of horticultural waste and 100 kg sheep manure). Soil was artificially infested with the fungi isolated from faba bean seeds. The above treatment significantly increased plant growth parameters including height, shoot and root length, number of branches/plant, number of pods/plant, pod weight/plant, fresh weight and dry weight. Photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll A, chlorophyll B and carotenoids) were also increased by the treatments. Total phenols content in the treated plant leaves was higher than in the control plants.
Inheritance of siliqua strength in Brassica campestris L. I: Studies of F2 and backcross populations

The inheritance of siliqua strength was studied in Brassica campestris L. using F1, F2, and backcross generations of crosses between cv. Torch (shatter susceptible) and var. Yellow Sarson and var. Brown Sarson (shatter resistant) accessions. Shatter resistance (high siliqua strength) was recessive in all crosses. Crosses involving DS-17-D (var. Brown Sarson) indicated that siliqua strength is most likely controlled by two genes that show dominant epistatic interaction. Crosses of IB-5 and B-46 (both var. Yellow Sarson) each with cv. Torch indicated the likelihood of three genes controlling siliqua strength, two of which appeared to be epistatic over the third gene when dominant. In these crosses, the multivalve character appeared to be controlled by three genes, two of which were epistatic over the third gene resulting in multivalve character when the former two were recessive. Segregation for siliqua strength in the var. Yellow Sarson crosses was not independent of segregation for multivalve character.Ke.
Selectivity of the herbicide tembotrione to pearl millet

The present study was carried out to evaluate the selectivity of the herbicide tembotrione, applied at post-emergence of pearl millet. Two experiments were conducted, evaluating primarily the effect of the herbicide on three pearl millet cultivars (ADR-300, ADR-500 and ADR-7010) under greenhouse conditions. The hybrid ADR-7010 was later tested under field conditions, when increasing doses of tembotrione were applied at two stages of plant development (four and seven fully developed leaves). Under greenhouse conditions, the cultivars presented similar percentages of reduction of shoot dry matter accumulation, after tembotrione application at 75.5 g ha-1 at the four-expanded leaf stage . Under field conditions, tembotrione showed the highest phytotoxicity when applied at the early stages of hybrid ADR-7010. Tembotrione selectivity is dependent on the dose and developmental stage of pearl millet at the time of herbicide application. The use of tembotrione over growing millet in areas intended for grain production was found to be a viable alternative to weed control.
Altitudinal variability of the soil water content in natural and managed beech [Fagus sylvatica L.] forests

European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) ranks as one of the most adaptive species among European indigenous trees. Variable interactions between the trees and soil water depend on both phenotypic plasticity of the species and natural conditions. They are controlled through stomatal regulation and the ability of beech trees to accelerate quickly their growth if available resources increase. However, the effect of forest density at various altitudes on the soil water content in beech stands has been studied rather scarcely. Therefore, we monitored soil moisture by means of Time Domain Reflectometry in series of natural and managed stands located on sites representing the lower altitude (200–550 m a.s.l.), middle altitude (550–1050 m a.s.l.) and higher altitude (1050–1300 m a.s.l.) zones of the natural beech belt in the Western Carpathians, Slovakia. Forest stand density, expressed in terms of basal area, i.e. the sum of cross section areas of the tree stems at 1.30 m height, was unchanged in natural stands, but it was reduced by 60% in the shelterwood stands. In the clear-cuts, all trees were removed. Total soil water content (SWC) under forest stands was calculated in mm as the product of soil moisture and soil depth, the latter acquired by electrical resistivity tomography. SWC differences between natural and shelterwood stands of the lower altitude, middle altitude and higher altitude zones averaged 18 mm, 36 mm and –3 mm, respectively. According to the Friedman test on ranks, followed by post-hoc multiple comparison testing, the difference was only significant within the middle altitude zone. In it, soil water consumption by the natural stand was limited only by the hormonally controlled seasonal regulation. The comparatively low water loss in the shelterwood stand resulted from a small rainfall interception by forest canopy and a decreased soil water uptake due to reduced basal area, leaf area index and simple age-size forest structure. In the lower altitude zone, the precipitation deficit and limited extractability of soil water were responsible for the absence of larger SWC differences. As opposed to that, low potential evapotranspiration prevented any noticeable SWC differences within the higher altitude zone.
Black girls navigate the physical and emotional landscape of the neighbourhood: Normalized violence and strategic agency

This article considers how young Black women living in gang-affected neighbourhoods in an urban area in England, UK navigate their safety in public and private spaces, and how these spaces overlap and intersect. Drawing on a project with 18 participants aged 14–19, the research seeks to understand how the participants inhabit, navigate and strategize for their safety through their narratives of life and survival in an unsafe neighbourhood. Findings indicate that they experience sexual harassment in public spaces and gang-associated sexual and physical violence as common, accepted aspects of their everyday realities, from as young as 12. The narratives suggest that participants navigate complex friendship groups to protect each other and their families through tight codes of trust, secrecy, privacy and conflict-management strategies. This article seeks to bring attention to how young women utilize their agency to illuminate the coping strategies they draw on to navigate their physical environments. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for interventions.
Late presentation of left atrial appendage erosion and perforation by an Amplatzer™ Amulet™ closure device: a case report

Abstract Background Percutaneous left atrial appendage (LAA) closure may reduce the risk of cardioembolic stroke in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation. Given the prophylactic nature of the procedure, identifying and managing complications are paramount. Case summary A 73-year-old man presented 14 months after percutaneous LAA closure with syncope and acute pericardial tamponade which required surgical exploration and haemostasis; the most temporally remote account of this complication albeit amongst very few case reports. Tissue erosion by the Amplatzer™ Amulet™ LAA closure device (Abbott, Plymouth, MN, USA) was noted at two separate anatomical locations, corresponding to the device disc and lobe, which has not been described previously. Discussion This case report highlights the anatomical relationship between the LAA and its surrounding structures, and the importance of recognizing the risk of late device erosion.
Experiences of family caregivers with day-care centers for elders in Southern China: a qualitative study

ABSTRACT With its massive older population, China faces challenges related to elderly support and care. One of the proposed solutions is to diversify elderly support systems. Towards this goal, the establishment of day-care centres is a new Chinese endeavour. This qualitative study was conducted among the family caregivers of elderly residents enrolled in day-care centres in Shenzhen, a Southern Chinese city, to explore and understand the experiences and factors that might affect family caregivers of frail elders enrolled in day-care centres. Twenty participants were recruited from these centres. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and were analysed via thematic analysis. The three major themes were: ‘I am a traditional person’: the impacts of ren and xiao, ‘caring made me tired’: mobility and environment barriers, and ‘I am not young’: relaxation feelings of family caregivers. The findings indicated that the day-care centres presented both challenges and opportunities to family caregivers, and the psychological and cultural services at these centres must be further enhanced.
Protective effects of dietary l‐carnitine on tilapia hybrids (Oreochromis niloticus × Oreochromis aureus) reared under intensive pond‐culture conditions

Tilapia hybrids of Oreochromis niloticus × O. aureus with a starting weight of 90 g were grown for 57 days in 18 floating net-cages set up in a fishpond (1.8 ha × 3 m deep; water temperature around 27 °C) at the Aquaculture Research Station in Dor, Israel. They were fed pellets of a commercial diet which contained 8.1 ppm natural l-carnitine. This diet was then supplemented with 150 or 450 ppm of l-carnitine. The results show that at the end of the 8-week feeding trail, l-carnitine supplementation did not influence weight gain. The subsequent histological characteristics of the pond fish were compared with those of a separated group of their siblings kept in an indoor tank in clean flow-through water. Normal and contact epi-microscopy, contact fluorescent microscopy and contact microfluorometry with various fluorescent probes revealed that the fish fed the diet with 150 ppm of supplementary l-carnitine showed the lowest permeability to fluorescein in gills, gut and skin epithelia, the highest activity in the system of active transport for organic anions, and the highest levels of the multixenobiotic resistance transporter (MXRtr) for lipophilic/amphiphilic xenobiotics. The MXRtr activity in the liver bile canaliculi and renal proximal tubules of this group of fish was much higher than that of the other groups except those from the indoor tank. The intralysosomal accumulation of neutral red in their head kidney macrophages was also significantly higher. The results suggest that a low level of l-carnitine enrichment provides several protective effects in fish reared under intensive pond-culture conditions.
Comparison and Evaluation of Support Vector Machine and Gene Programming in River Suspended Sediment Estimation (Case Study: Kashkan River)

Simulation and evaluation of sediment are important issues in water resources management. Common methods for measuring sediment concentration are generally time consuming and costly and sometimes does not have enough accuracy. In this research, we have tried to evaluate sediment amounts, using Support Vector Machine (SVM), for Kashkanriver, Iran, and compare it with common Gene-Expression Programming. The parameter of flow discharge for input in different time lags and the parameter of sediment for output dhuring contour time (1998-2018) considered. Criteria of correlation coefficient, root mean square error, mean absolute error and Nash Sutcliff coefficient were used to evaluate and compare the performance of models. The results showed that two models estimate sediment discharge with acceptable accuracy, but in terms of accuracy, the support vector machine model had the highest correlation coefficient (0.994), minimum root mean square error (0.001ton/day) , mean absolute error(0.001 ton/day) and the Nash Sutcliff (0.988) hence was chosen the prior in the verification stage. Finally, the results showed that the support vector machine has great capability in estimating minimum and maximum sediment discharge values. Keywords— Suspended Sediment, Kashkan, Support Vector Machine, Gene Expression Programing.
Validity and Reliability of the Persian Translation of Dutch Residency Educational Climate Test and Analysis of Residents’ Learning Climate in Four Major Departments of Shiraz Medical School

Background: As one of the most important components of curriculums, the educational environment provides learners with a forum in which they can learn communication skills and other abilities such as critical thinking and clinical problem-solving. To improve this environment and consequently upgrade medical education, the current environment must be evaluated. Objectives: In a quest to adapt a valid and reliable instrument for this purpose, this study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the Persian translation of Dutch Residency Educational Climate test (D-RECT) to measure the quality of the educational environment in the main clinical wards of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, a forward Persian translation of the D-RECT questionnaire was translated and back-translated by two bilingual expert panels, and its reliability was determined in a pilot study. Then, 100 residents working at internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, and gynecology wards were selected randomly to fill out the questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21 software. Results: The Persian translation of D-RECT had acceptable validity, reliability, internal consistency, and reproducibility. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by Cronbach’s α of 0.95. Convergent validity was 0.61 to 0.90. Among the wards evaluated in this study, the educational environment was significantly better in the pediatric ward than in the other wards. Conclusions: The Persian translation of D-RECT validated in the studied departments seems to be an effective, valid, and reliable instrument for evaluating and comparing the quality of the current educational environment for residents in Iran. This evaluation can help improve training.
Preliminary Study of the Optimum Dietary Riboflavin Level in Sea Cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka)

A 14-wk feeding trial was carried out to evaluate the optimum dietary riboflavin (vitamin B2) level in juvenile sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus. A total of 360 sea cucumbers averaging 1.49 ± 0.07 g (mean ± SD) were randomly distributed into 18 rectangular plastic tanks, and each tank was then randomly assigned to one of three replicates of six diets containing 0.29 (B20), 4.22 (B24), 8.93 (B29), 17.9 (B218), 56.7 (B257), and 577 (B2577) mg riboflavin/kg diet. At the end of 14 wk of feeding trial, average weight gain (WG) of sea cucumbers fed B29, B218, B257, and B2577 diets were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that of animals fed B20 diet. WG of sea cucumbers fed B218, B257, and B2577 diets were significantly higher than those of animals fed B20 and B24 diets. Specific growth rate of sea cucumbers fed B29, B218, B257, and B2577 diets were significantly higher than those of animals fed B20 and B24 diets. Feed efficiency of sea cucumbers fed B29, B257, and B2577 diets were significantly higher than those of animals fed B20 and B24 diets. Although significant differences were recorded in proximate composition of sea cucumbers fed the experimental diets, no clear trends were observed. The ANOVA test suggested that the optimum dietary riboflavin level in sea cucumber could be 17.9 mg/kg diet but broken-line analysis of WG indicated a level of 9.73 mg riboflavin/kg diet. Therefore, these results may indicate that the optimum dietary riboflavin level in sea cucumber could be higher than 9.73 mg/kg diet but lower than 17.9 mg/kg diet.
The phytoplankton biodiversity of the coast of the state of São Paulo, Brazil

O objetivo deste estudo e compilar o inventario de quase 100 anos de pesquisa sobre a composicao de especies do fitoplâncton do litoral do Estado de Sao Paulo, Brasil. O retrato atualizado da biodiversidade local e necessario para establecer um dignostico para comparacoes futuras. Este tipo de informacao encontra-se dispersa em antigas publicacoes e em material considerado como "literatura cinza" e requer atualizacao nomenclatural. Vinte e seis publicacoes foram consideradas neste estudo. O registro mais antigo e de 1913 (? ) e o mais recente de 2002. Esta lista de especies, compilada a partir de dados preteritos, foi complementada com dados primarios coletados entre agosto de 2004 e julho de 2006 nas zonas de arrebentacao de 20 praias paulistas e em area de maricultura da praia da Cocanha em Caraguatatuba. A lista de especies completa inclui 572 taxons: a maioria de diatomaceas (82%), seguidas por dinoflagelados (16%), com uma pequena contribuicao de silicoflagelados, cocolitoforideos, ebriideas e cianobacterias. As areas mais estudadas foram: Ubatuba, Sao Sebastiao, Santos e Cananeia. O levantamento atual tem uma cobertura espacial mais abrangente. Ao longo dos anos, os objetivos dos estudos preteritos variaram desde puramente taxonomicos ate investigacoes de aspectos funcionais do ecossistema. Desta forma, os inventarios mais longos e a maioria dos primeiros registros foram publicados antes de 1980 e as publicacoes mais recentes fazem mencao apenas a especies mais abundantes/frequentes. Microscopia eletronica foi empregada pela primeira vez no levantamento atual e novos registros incluem 38 diatomaceas, 42 dinoflagelados, 1 silicoflagelado, 1 ebriidea e 2 cianobacterias. O uso e interpretacao deste inventario exige cautela. Se por um lado, nao e viavel questionar a identificacao feita por outros pesquisadores, por outro lado, a capacidade de amostrar, analisar e identificar especies evoluiu ao longo do tempo. Algumas consideracoes sobre esta questao sao apresentadas.
Exploring the Effects of Cover Crop Use on Farm Profitability in Central Indiana

Cover crop use provides a myriad of benefits to soil health. Despite strong agronomic evidence of the benefits of using cover crops, farmers have been slow to adopt cover crop systems. Surveys show that this is due to a lack of understanding on how cover crop use will impact the farm, and limited economic analysis on the effects of cover crop use on the farm. In this thesis, a variable-rate nitrogen study was analyzed to determine the relationship between applied nitrogen fertilizer and corn yields, and how a cover crop treatment impacts that relationship. Data were obtained from a case farm in Central Indiana. Production information was then translated into a partial budget to see how the use of the different cover crop treatments impacted net return per acre for corn production on the farm. Net returns were analyzed using both historical corn and nitrogen prices and stochastic modelling. Results showed that the final impact on farm net return per acre associated with adoption of a cover crop system varies among cover crop species. Implementing annual rye resulted in a negative change to net return; while cereal rye and an oats and radish blend resulted in a positive change to net return. When additional benefits of cover crop use; such as drought tolerance, carbon content, and erosion reduction; are included, all three cover crop species resulted in a substantial increase in net return. This information will be of interest to farmers as a source to draw upon when making decisions regarding their own farms. Further research is needed to fully understand the relationship between cover crop use and farm profitability, particularly for farms at the early stages of adoption.
Commonality in Liquidity and Multilateral Trading Facilities

We use the introduction of two multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) to examine the impact of market fragmentation on commonality in liquidity. We find that the introduction of MTFs following the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive increases the comovement of stocks’ liquidity with MTF liquidity, while the comovement with the home market liquidity generally decreases. We also find that the higher the MTF trading volume or the number of MTFs trading a stock, the stronger the effect. Further, we find that the commonality in liquidity remains unchanged for a matched control sample of stocks that do not trade on MTFs.
The sabulicolous therophytic associations in Sicily: new insights through the statistical approach, stressing the continuum versus discrete model of plant communities

Abstract This study presents an updated syntaxonomic review of the annual psammophilous plant communities from coastal dunes and inland territories of Sicily. A total of 301 relevés were collected. The relevés data were analysed using classification (WPGMA, similarity ratio) and ordination methods (detrended correspondence analysis and principal component analysis). Eighteen plant communities were recognized, four of which are described here for the first time (Rostrario littoreae-Tuberarietum villosissimae, Filigini asterisciflorae-Loeflingietum hispanicae, Astragalo kamarinensis-Coronilletum repandae, Sileno coloratae-Ononidetum variegatae cutandietosum maritimae). The surveyed associations are ascribed to the following orders: Cutandietalia maritimae (annual associations of semi-fixed dunes) and Malcolmietalia (inland sandy soil communities). Moreover, for this latter order, a new alliance, Filagini asterisciflorae-Linarion humilis, that groups the therophytic communities from fossil dunes and deep sandy soils of the inland of the Sicily, is proposed. Another aim of this study is to check and compare the discrete model of plant community against the continuum model along environmental gradients.