Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Groundwater and poverty: exploring the connections

: Access to groundwater, the most reliable source of irrigation, can be a major mechanism enabling farmers to transition out of poverty. State-level data from India indicate that ground-water extraction rates and declines in poverty between 1956 and 1991 are closely correlated. In conjunction with field level information document the importance groundwater plays in reducing agricultural risks while also increasing productivity. This enables small farmers to accumulate assets, move out of poverty and often develop new, non-agricultural livelihoods. Loss of access to ground-water due to over-extraction or water quality problems can be a major factor increasing poverty. The impact of groundwater problems on poverty may depend, however, as much on the presence or absence of alternative livelihoods within the wider economy as on the direct implications for agriculture. This chapter explores the connections between the intensive use of groundwater and poverty using data from South Asia, Yemen and the USA.
Empirical Analysis of Non-Performing Loans and Liquidity of Deposit Money Banks: Nigeria Experience

Nigerian Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) tend to have suffered the plight of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) in recent times in no small quantum. Consequently, a large chunk of them have had to increase their loan loss provisions and this may dwindle their liquidity. This study investigates the effect of non-performing loans on liquidity of Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria. A panel regression analysis was performed on a data of 15 quoted DMBs from 2009 to 2019, in order to examine the correlation between the explained variable (banks’ liquidity) and Non-Performing Loans (NPL) while other explanatory variables- Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), Bank Size (BS), Loan Growth (LG), Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Inflation were taken into consideration. Data were extracted from the banks’ yearly financial statements and the World Bank Financial Statistics. Based on the empirical findings, the study found only four variables-Non Performing Loans, Capital Adequacy Ratio, Bank Size and Inflation significantly related at 5% significant level with banks’ liquidity while the other three; Gross Domestic Product, Loan Growth and Monetary Policy Rate were identified as insignificant. The finding also revealed that NPLs has negative effect on banks’ liquidity while CAR, BS and INF showed positive relationship. The study recommends strict compliance of banks with the NPLs tolerable limit set by the Central bank. It also suggests that the CBN take proactive measure to ensure the banks’ compliance with the minimum capital requirement. Keywords: Banks, Financial Institutions, Liquidity, Non-Performing Loans, Performance
Use of double hearing protection for occupational noise attenuation: a systematic review

Introduction: Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) is associated with continuous exposure to noise within the occupational environment and is the second most common disease among workers. Objective: To verify the effectiveness and benefit of using double hearing protection in attenuating occupational noise. Search Strategy: The search for scientific articles was carried out in the MEDLINE (Pubmed)
Hyperspectral diagnosis of nitrogen status in arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculated soybean leaves under three drought conditions

Precision diagnosis of leaf nitrogen (N) content in arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculated crops under drought stress, using hyperspectral remote sensing technology, would be significant to evaluate the mycorrhizal effect on crop growth condition in the arid and semi-arid region. In this study, soybean plants with inoculation and non-inoculation treatments were grown under severe drought, moderate drought and normal irrigation conditions. Leaf spectral reflectance and several biochemical parameters were measured at 30 d, 45 d and 64 d after inoculation. Correlation analyses were conducted between leaf N content and the original and first derivative spectral reflectance. A series of first-order differential area indices and differential area ratio indices were proposed and explored. Results indicated that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi improved leaf N content under drought stresses, the spectral reflectance in visible to red edge regions of inoculated plants was lower than that of non-inoculated plants. The first-order differential area index at bands of 638-648 nm achieved the best estimation and prediction accuracies in leaf N content inversion, with the determination coefficient of calibration of 0.72, root mean square error of prediction and relative error of prediction of 0.46 and 11.60%, respectively. This study provides a new insight for the evaluation of mycorrhizal effect under drought stress and opens up a new field of application for hyperspectral remote sensing. Keywords: leaf nitrogen content, hyperspectral remote sensing, mycorrhizal effect, soybean, drought stress DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe. 20181106.4019 Citation: Bi Y L, Kong W P, Huang W J. Hyperspectral diagnosis of nitrogen status in arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculated soybean leaves under three drought conditions. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2018; 11(6): 126–131.
Role of the forcing sources in morphodynamic modelling of an embayed beach

The sensitivity of a 2DH coastal area (XBeach) and a reduced-complexity (Q2Dmorfo) morphodynamic models to using different forcing sources is studied. The models are tested by simulating the morphodynamic response of an embayed beach in the NW Mediterranean over a 6-month period. Wave and sea level forcing from in-situ data, propagated buoy measurements, hindcasts as well as combinations of these different data sources are used and the outputs are compared to in-situ bathymetric measurements. Results show that when the two models are calibrated with in-situ measurements, they accurately 5 reproduce the morphodynamic evolution with a "Good" BSS (Brier Skill Score). The wave data propagated from the buoy also produces reliable morphodynamic simulations but with a slight decrease in BSS. Conversely, when the models are forced with hindcast wave data the mismatch between the modelled and observed beach evolution increases. This is attributed to a large extent to biased mean directions in hindcast waves. Interestingly, in this small tide site the accuracy of the simulations did not depend on the sea-level data source, and using filtered or non-filtered tides also yielded similar results. These results 10 have implications for long-term morphodynamic studies, like those needed to validate models for climate change projections, emphasizing the need of using accurate forcing sources such as those obtained by propagating buoy data.
Urinary tract infection prevention after midurethral slings in pelvic floor reconstructive surgery: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Synthetic midurethral slings are the most common procedures currently performed for stress urinary incontinence in women. Infection is a frequent complication of urogynecologic surgery. We performed a systematic review and meta‐analysis to identify interventions that successfully prevent infections, including urinary tract infection (UTI) and/or bacteriuria, compared with no intervention, in women undergoing midurethral sling surgery with or without concomitant pelvic reconstructive procedures for prolapse.
Veterinary Science and Technology

There is a demand for new alternative strategies to improve the health and production of poultry. One of these approaches is the magnetization of the drinking water. Therefore, this review discussed the different effects of magnetized water on poultry production traits, carcass traits, immune response, antimicrobial activity, blood parameters, and oxidative stress. Exposure of water to diverse magnetic fields positively rearranges the chemical structure and consequently improves its quality. Broilers that received magnetized water showed an improvement in the body weight gain and feed conversion ratio. Layers revealed an increase in egg quantity and quality, and breeders exhibited a rise in the fertility and hatchability parameters. Improvement of the dressing and carcass traits has been shown after providing magnetized water. Moreover, magnetized water may enhance humoral immunity, decrease the pathogenic microbial load, and increase the beneficial bacterial populations. Amelioration in the liver and kidney enzymes and other blood parameters as well as relieving of oxidative stress were also detected in birds supplied with magnetized water. In conclusion, further research in this area and also more encouragement of poultry farmers to treat birds with magnetized water are recommended.
The Use and Challenges of Learner-Centered Pedagogy: Basic School Teachers’ Perspective

The purpose of the study was to identify the instructional strategies that basic (primary) school teachers often use in learner-centered pedagogy and examine the challenges associated with the implementation of learner-centered pedagogy. A mixed-method research design was used to study basic school teachers’ use of learner-centered pedagogy and the challenges they face in the implementation of learner-centered pedagogy. The sample for the study consisted of 53 public school teachers and 32 private school teachers selected through convenience sampling. A Use of Learner-Centered Pedagogy Questionnaire (ULCPQ) was administered to the sample. After the analysis of the quantitative data collected with the ULCPQ, a semi-structured interview guide named Challenges of Learner-Centered Pedagogy (CLCP) was administered to 15 basic school teachers at their convenience. The study found that the top three learner-centered instructional strategies used by the participants are discussion, brainstorming, and cooperative learning instructional strategies. In their application of learner-centered instructional strategies, the participants for the study reported that there are four key challenges to the use of learner-centered instruction. The four challenges are inadequate teaching and learning resources, inadequate time, weak teacher knowledge of learner-centered instruction, and large class size.
GeoTerrace-2023-106 Geoelectrical inhomogeneities of the Pre-Dobrudzha Depression and Northern Dobrudzha as markers of the Trans-European Suture Zone

SUMMARY For the first time, a geological and geoelectrical interpretation of the three-dimensional resistivity distribution model in the interior of the Earth's crust and upper mantle was carried out for the Predobrudzha Trough and adjacent areas. It was built on the basis of experimental observations of the Earth's low-frequency electromagnetic field, which were carried out in 2009-2012. In this paper we considered confidently indicates that the detected anomalies of high electrical conductivity are confined to sub-vertical channels (from the surface to 10 km) that are galvanically connected with sediments, or sub-vertical contact zones of different resistivity, which are observed not only in the Earth's crust (10-40 km), but also at crust/mantle depths (40-60 km) and in the upper mantle (110-160 km), and may cause the inflow of ultra-deep fluids. The territory of Dobrudzha and the Pre-Dobrudzha Trough, as well as the entire southwestern margin of the East European craton, is abundant in anomalous objects of high electrical conductivity in the crust, and the distribution of electrical conductivity in the upper mantle reflects the position of the zone of articulation of the East European craton and the Scythian plate of different ages. Such a geoelectrically regional structure in a fairly wide and long area is a marker of the Trans-European suture zone.
Housing, Theory and Society

Among West European cities, Vienna stands out as a case that has developed a particularly large decommodi ﬁ ed housing stock over the twentieth century. The city ’ s housing model has also shown greater stability against wider recommodi ﬁ cation trends since the 1980s. This paper centres on two policy changes since the mid-1990s: ﬁ rst, the local government has ceased to provide council housing and is now entirely relying on non-pro ﬁ t associations for the provision of social rental housing. Second, the national government has liberalized rent regulation in the private rental market. The ﬁ rst part of the paper introduces these changes, discusses how they represent steps towards greater market in ﬂ uence and how they put pressure on decommodi ﬁ ed housing, particularly since the mid-2000s. The second part argues that the reforms have initiated a dualization trend among low-income households, forging a division between market insiders and outsiders. The third part re ﬂ ects whether the policy changes mean that Vienna is also increasingly incorporated into broader recommod-i ﬁ cation trends. We argue that substantial decommodi ﬁ cation policies have remained in place, although they have been severely weakened by recommodi ﬁ cation attempts. Representations of Vienna as an exceptional case without signi ﬁ cant recommodi ﬁ cation, however, should be questioned.
RELATABLE AND

In the present study, we examined how the perceived attainability and relatability of moral exemplars predicted moral elevation and pleasantness among both adult and college student participants. Data collected from two experiments were analyzed with Bayesian multilevel modeling to explore which factors significantly predicted outcome variables at the story level. The analysis results demonstrated that the main effect of perceived relatability and the interaction effect between attainability and relatability shall be included in the best prediction model, and thus, were deemed to predict the outcome variables significantly. The main effect of relatability as well as its interaction with attainability positively predicted elevation and pleasantness. We discussed educational implications of the findings in terms of how relatability may be the first point of emphasis for moral educators to focus on and attainability can then bolster the effectiveness. These relatable and attainable moral exemplars can be sources for moral elevation and pleasantness, which promote motivation to emulate moral behavior presented by the exemplars.
Journal Of Clinical Practice and Medical Case Report

Background Studies on congenital cardiac malformations in Asian-Indian children with regard to echocardiogram diagnosis of acyanotic and cyanotic cardiac defects are limited hence warranted. Aim The study was undertaken to determine incidence of acyanotic and cyanotic congenital cardiac defects confirmed by echocardiogram in children with relation to age and sex in pre-operative cases. Method A prospective study was undertaken among101children with congenital cardiac malformations attending out-patient and inpatient department at VIMS&RC and Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research of Cardiology (SJICR), Bangalore over 13 months period from March 2004 to February 2005 and July 2006. The inclusion criteria were congenital cardiac malformations in children aged 2-14 years, both male and female. Diagnosis was confirmed based on clinical examination,
1 Lucanthone, a Potential PPT1 inhibitor, Perturbs Stemness, Reduces Tumor Microtube Formation and Slows the Growth of Temozolomide-Resistant Gliomas in Vivo

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most frequently diagnosed primary CNS tumor in adults. Despite the standard of care therapy which includes surgical resection, temozolomide chemotherapy, radiation and the newly added tumor treating fields, median survival remains only ~20 months. Unfortunately, GBM has a ~100% recurrence rate, but after recurrence there are no FDA-approved therapies to limit tumor growth and enhance patient survival, as these tumors are resistant to TMZ. Recently, our laboratory reported that lucanthone slows GBM by inhibiting autophagic flux through lysosome targeting and decreases the number of Olig2+ glioma stem-like cells (GSC) in vitro and in vivo. We now additionally report that lucanthone efficiently abates stemness in patient-derived GSC and reduces tumor microtube formation in GSC, an emerging hallmark of treatment resistance in GBM. In glioma tumors derived from cells with acquired resistance to TMZ, lucanthone retains the ability to perturb tumor growth, inhibits autophagy by targeting lysosomes and reduces Olig2 positivity. We also find that lucanthone may act as an inhibitor of palmitoyl protein thioesterase 1 (PPT1). Our results suggest that lucanthone may function as a potential treatment option for GBM tumors that are not amenable to TMZ treatment.
UPDATE IN INTENSIVE CARE : TRANSPLANTS Advances in immunosuppression after lung transplantation

Immunosuppression in transplantation has experienced changes in recent years as a result of the introduction of new drugs that act upon the different pathways of the host immune response with the purpose of securing more individualized immune suppression, with fewer side effects. Although following in the steps of other solid organ transplant modalities, lung transplanta-tion, because of its special characteristics, has not yielded similar middle-and long-term results. Improved understanding of the underlying rejection mechanisms, the pharmacodynamic control of drugs, new administration routes designed to reduce the side effects, and new drug substances or immune modulating processes will all contribute to improve the expectations associated to lung transplantation in the near future. nuevos fármacos o procesos inmunomoduladores contribuyen a mejorar las expectativas de este trasplante en un próximo futuro.
Factors Explaining Net Interest Margins and Spreads in Turkish Banking

In the aftermath of destruction created by the 2001 crisis, Turkish banking system went through a recovery phase in which the efficiency of financial intermediation improved along with strong regulations, structural renovations and reforms. This paper employs net interest margin and spread as indicators of financial intermediation efficiency and explores their determinants for Turkey, using a bank-level panel dataset extending from 2002 to 2013. Empirical results suggest that bank characteristics explain most of the variation in Turkish deposit banks’ net interest margins, whereas net interest spreads are mostly explained by market characteristics and macroeconomic factors. This study provides evidence of foreign banks operating in Turkey charging higher spreads than their domestic peers on average, but their presence creates a positive spill-over effect on the efficiency of the overall banking system. The results also indicate that in higher levels of geographical diversification, expansions of banks’ branch networks improve the efficiency of financial intermediation in the form of lower spreads. Unlike the common view in the literature, this study finds a negative relation between market concentration and net interest margins/spreads in Turkey, whereas individual market shares of banks do not exhibit a significant impact on these indicators.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY: APPLIED BUSINESS AND EDUCATION RESEARCH

The study aims to describe the relationship between trainings and development of business educators and their performance in one of the state universities in Zamboanga Peninsula. Data mining technique was used in determining the profile of business educators, the number of seminars and trainings attended, and performance rating. Business instructors included the part-time, temporary and permanent faculty members. Results of the study revealed that faculty received more trainings related to instructions but very few in research, extension and production. Business educator’s performance were mostly very satisfactory across the four core functions despite the limited number of trainings received on some functions particularly to the new and young faculty. Further, there is a significant difference on the performance rating based on their employment status. However, study reveals that trainings and development have no significant relationship with performance. The study provides significant managerial implications on the evaluation of faculty performance and highlights the need to develop a framework for training and development. Moreover, the study recommends the need for the administration to revise its performance evaluation tool to obtain a more concrete and objective analysis in gauging how well the university performs in achieving its goals and targets.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY: APPLIED BUSINESS AND EDUCATION RESEARCH

One of the fundamental mathematics concepts expected of a high school student to master is integers. However, many students exhibit misconceptions in operating integers which affect their performance as they advanced to the higher level of mathematics. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of the intervention on students’ mastery level and analyze the misconceptions in operations on integers. In this study, a quasi-experimental one-group pretest-post-test design was employed. A total of fifty-six (56) grade 7 students were conveniently chosen of which twenty-six (26) were males and thirty (30) were females. Among these, twenty-nine (29) students belonged to Grade 7A, and twenty-seven (27) students belonged to Grade 7B. The data collected were analyzed using JAMOVI, an open statistical software. The Mean Percentage Score (MPS) was calculated to determine the mastery level exhibited by the students. Results revealed significant increase in the mastery level of grade 7 students after the intervention. In addition, there were no significant differences in the mastery level of the students in terms of the gender and section. Although the mastery level of the students improved, there were re-curring misconceptions observed after the intervention. The researchers suggest further study evaluating the benefits of intervention in addressing the students' misconceptions in the four fundamental operations on integers.
Nest site selection and brood home ranges of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in the Centennial Valley, Montana

The purpose of this study was to estimate fine-scale nest site selection of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in the Centennial Valley, MT. A total of 90 nests were found during 2014-2015 using radio-collared sage-grouse. Vegetation surveys were conducted at nests (n=90) and random sites (n=89) that measured the nest shrub and the cover available within 3 m of the nest. The majority of the nests were located under sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) plants with 45% under mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana), 21% under three-tip sagebrush (A. tripartita), and 20% under basin big sagebrush (A. tridentata ssp. tridentata). Generalized linear models (GLMs) were used to estimate nest site selection. The top model contained nest shrub morphological characteristics and the cover provided by the nest shrub. None of the habitat variables associated with herbaceous cover received support for inclusion in our models. Residual cover (i.e. grass from previous year) provided concealment for only 4% of the nest bowl. Mountain big sagebrush and three-tip sagebrush shrubs provided twice the amount of lateral cover that basin big sagebrush shrubs provided. Managers should focus on conserving mountain big sagebrush and three-tip sagebrush habitats because they were more likely to meet those shrub characteristics that were selected for nesting. 14