Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biochar Is Comparable to Dicyandiamide in the Mitigation of Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Camellia oleifera Abel. Fields

Research Highlights: Intensive nitrogen (N) application for agricultural purposes has substantially increased soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Agricultural soil has great potential in the reduction of N2O emissions, and applications of biochar and nitrification inhibitors may be useful for mitigating agricultural soil N2O emissions. Background and Objectives: Camellia oleifera Abel. is an important woody oil plant in China. However, intensive N input in C. oleifera silviculture has increased the risk of soil N2O emissions. As an important greenhouse gas, N2O is characterized by a global warming potential at a 100-year scale that is 265 times that of carbon dioxide. Thus, mitigation of soil N2O emissions, especially fertilized soils, will be crucial for reducing climate change. Materials and Methods: Here, we conducted an in situ study over 12 months to examine the effects of C. oleifera fruit shell-derived biochar and dicyandiamide (DCD) on soil N2O emissions from a C. oleifera field with intensive N application. Results: A three-fold increase of cumulative soil N2O emissions was observed following N application. Cumulative N2O emissions from the field with N fertilization were reduced by 36% and 44% with biochar and DCD, respectively. While N2O emissions were slightly deceased by biochar, the decrease was comparable to that by DCD. Conclusions: Results indicated that biochar may mitigate soil N2O emissions substantially and similarly to DCD under specific conditions. This result should be examined by prolonged and multi-site studies before it can be generalized to broader scales.
Zombie Credit and (Dis-)Inflation: Evidence from Europe

We show that cheap credit to impaired firms has a disinflationary effect. By helping distressed firms to stay afloat, “zombie credit” can create excess production capacity, and in turn, put downward pressure on markups and prices. We test this mechanism exploiting granular inflation and firm-level data from twelve European countries. In the cross-section of industries and countries, we find that a rise of zombie credit is associated with a decrease in firm defaults and entries, firm markups and product prices; lower productivity; and, an increase in aggregate sales as well as material and labor cost. These results hold at the firm-level, where we document spillover effects to healthy firms in markets with high zombie credit. Our partial equilibrium estimates suggest that without a rise in zombie credit post 2012, annual inflation in Europe during 2012-2016 would have been 0.45 percentage points higher.
Approaches of Nurses to Chronic Disease Patients with Pain

Aim and objectives. We preferred to perform a descriptive study in order to evaluate the pain assessment status of nurses caring for patients with pain and determine their methods in pain management. Background. Pain assessment has an important effect on determination, application, and outcome assessment of personalized pharmacological or non-pharmacological methods that can be used in pain management. Design. This research was conducted as a descriptive survey. Methods. A total of 153 nurses who provided pain relief to their patients between January-June 2012 constituted the study sample. In this study, written. informed consent was obtained from each nurse prior to the study. The data were collected by Personal Information Form (PIF) and Pain Management Methods Form (PMMF). Statistical analyses were done with SPSS package program using frequency and percentage values. Results: In the study, 52.9% of the nurses were found to apply no pain assessment. In pain management, 48.4% were observed to use only phamacological intervention, whereas 38.5% of the non-pharmacological interventions for pain relief were found to be a combination of touching, attention diversion, and talking about the pain. 5.9% of the nurses were found to do nothing for pain management despite having done a pain assessment. Conclusion: Most of the nurses do not perform pain assessment in patients with pain and generally prefer pharmacological methods for pain management.
Plot-Scale Effects of Ground-Based Skidding on Runoff and Soil Loss in Relation to Slopes and Leaf-On and Leaf-Off Periods in the Mixed Broadleaf Forests

Soil compaction and loss of surface litter from skid trails reduced the water absorption capacity in mineral soils, which reduced water infiltration and increased runoff, which then caused surface erosion. We hypothesized that ground-based skidding, different slope angle classes (0–20% and 20–40%), and forest canopy cover (leaf-on and leaf-off period) would be significantly effect on runoff and sediment loss. In order to measure the total runoff and the sediment loss, quadruplicate bounded runoff plot (2 m 2 ) was established on the skidding and the control sites, and two different slope angle classes on each site (totally 16 runoff plots with 20 rainfall events) in the Gorazbon district in Hyrcanian deciduous forests following Timberjack 450C skidding operations (32 machine passes) over one-year. The natural rainfalls were measured due to get more useful data. The skidding and the leaf-on and leaf-off period had statistically significant effects on runoff and sediments ( P < 0.05). There was a statistically significant difference between runoff and sediment loss in different leaf-on and leaf-off periods, with leaf-off period having the highest sediment loss, while the leaf-on period had the least. The slope angle classes and its interactions had no significant effect on runoff and sediment loss. The highest runoff of just over 1.6 mm was from a skid trail with a 20–40% slope in the leaf-off period, and the highest sediment production was 6.95 g in the skid trail with a 20–40% slope in the leaf-off period. In the Hyrcanian deciduous forest, fallen leaves (leaf-off period) were coincided with the highest and most erosive rainfall, which resulted in an increase in runoff and sediment yield.
NOR FARIZAL MOHAMMEDa*, ZURAIDAH MOHD SANUSIb, BANY ARIFFIN AMIN NOORDINc, AGUS HARJITOd

This study investigates the relationship between financial reporting quality and political influence in listed firms in Malaysia after the financial crisis. By utilizing 824 firm-year observations comprising large listed companies over a period of four years after the implementation of new corporate governance framework, the results show some evidence concerning financial reporting quality, featured by accounting conservatism (bad news being recognized earlier than good news) in Malaysia. The findings demonstrate that politically connected directors on the boards is negatively associated with financial reporting quality. This negative association is more pronounced in firms where the level of government ownership is higher. The result demonstrates that the accounting manipulation among public listed firms is still very much influenced by political connections even with the new enhancement of corporate governance initiatives after the financial crisis. JEL Classification: L15, P16, P26
Sources of output growth in Indian agriculture

While reviewing India's agricultural performance since Independence, Vaidyanathan (1994) cautioned that urgent attention 'should be paid to technological innovation and to removing non price and institutional constraints which do not permit the full exploitation of the chosen technology at the farm level. In the course of discussion of what agricultural reform measures should be included in the New Economic Policy, Ahluwalia (1996) identified technology as one of the most important issues. Though technology played a crucial role in alleviating India's poverty trap in the seventies, its contribution to agricultural growth has not been impressive. India's average growth rate of 2.3 per cent per annum of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) originating in agriculture over two decades of the green Revolution (1968-88) compares very modestly with trend growth rates for green revolution crops (paddy and wheat) in most other Asian countries over that period (Ahluwalia, 1991). China, Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar each achieved 4 per cent per annum. Indonesia followed closely with 3.9 per cent, while the Philippines and Pakistan recorded between 3.5 per cent and 4 per cent respectively. International comparisons reveal a wide gulf in India's performance between achievements in output and productivity. While India compares favourably in terms of total output, it compares poorly in terms of yield per hectare. For example, India has 60 million hectares of land under irrigation compared with just 47 million in China, but its foodgrain production is barely 40 per cent of China's output. Broadly, the following table shows India's relative world ranking in production and yields of a range of agricultural commodities:
Management Outcomes of Acute Appendicitis at Mettu Karl Hospital, Ethiopia

Background: Appendicitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the vermiform appendix. It is classified as a surgical emergency and many cases require removal of the inflamed appendix either by laparotomy or laparoscopy. Objectives: To determine the prevalence and management outcome of acute appendicitis in Mettu Karl Hospital. Methods: Retrospective review of hospital records of all 245 cases with acute appendicitis surgically managed in Mettu Karl Hospital. From January 1, 2014 through December 30, 2016 Secondary data was collected using structured check list, checked for its completeness, entered, edited, cleaned and analyzed by SPSS version 16.1. Descriptive analysis was used to describe socio-demographic variables and logistic regression was carried out to see the effect of independent variables on outcome of acute appendicitis. Significant factors were reported at p<0.05. The result was presented using tables, graphs and diagrams. Results: A 245 patients were operated for acute appendicitis. Of whom there were 150 (61.2%) males and 95 (38.8%) females giving male to female ratio of 1.57:1. Abdominal pain was main presenting compliant in 245 (100%) and right lower quadrant abdominal tenderness was the dominant physical finding in 201 (82%) of these patients. Appendectomy was done for 173 (70.6%) patients. The predominant postoperative complication was postoperative wound infection in 18/245 (7.4%). Death rate of patients due to appendicitis was 1/245 (0.4%). The average length of hospital stays was 6.5 days. Age of patients has statistically significant association with risk factors of (AOR=4.167, 95% CI: 5.212-3.332 P-value = <0.000), those patients whose ages <30 years were 4.167 times more likely to have affected when compared with patients older than 30 years of age. Conclusion and Recommendation: Acute appendicitis mainly affects the young population group in the second decades of life and males are more vulnerable and its prevalence was 245/576 (42.5%). The main presenting compliant, physical finding, intraoperative finding, and postoperative complication were abdominal pain, right lower quadrant abdominal tenderness, inflamed appendix, and postoperative wound infection respectively.
www.ssoar.info Problematic mobile phone consumption among young consumers: policy and research implications

Youth represents a largest segment for both telecom operators and mobile phones manufacturers in Pakistan. However, there is relatively a little research regarding the inappropriate and problematic mobile phone consumption among youth. This paper with the help of extant literature argues that young consumers are generally involved in problematic mobile phone consumption than any other age group. This warrants a thorough research on different aspects of problematic mobile phone consumption patterns among young consumers for better consumer policy making and for their wellbeing. Present article proposes some potential research areas with regards to young mobile phone consumers and provides a few suggestions to protect young consumers from the negative consequences of mobile phone consumption.
Reciprocity and Related Bivariate Patterns in Large Phone and SMS Networks

In a mobile communication network, if user i calls/texts user j n times, what can we say about the number of times j calls/texts i? Also, given a user has k contacts, can we say anything about the total number/duration of his/her phone-calls/SMSs? In this work, we study two real communication networks of millions of users registered to an anonymous mobile phone company in a large city: a Mobile Call Graph(MCG) and a Mobile Text Graph(MTG) and answer these questions. Such real graphs were found to exhibit many common patterns for example in degree distribution of nodes. Those patterns are usually modeled by univariate distributions such as power laws, log-normals, double Pareto log-normals, etc. In this paper, we take one step ahead and study bivariate distributions. Our main contributions are: (1) we observe bivariate patterns in (a) the joint distribution of weights on reciprocated edges, Prob(wij , wji); and (b) the joint distribution of degree and strength of nodes, Prob(k, s) in the MCG and MTG. We observe that these patterns show skewed characteristics and so summarization by the mean and the median often give different, even conflicting insights. Instead, (2) we propose two bivariate functions, namely the Triple Power-Law(3PL) and the Cascaded Log-Normal(CLN), to fit the observed patterns in (a) and (b), respectively. We show how to estimate parameters of the proposed functions and that our fitting of parameters can model the real distributions in MCG and MTG with up to 2M nodes and 42M edges well.
Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth in the Short Run and Long Run: Empirical Evidence from Developing Countries

A contribution of foreign direct investment to economic growth is possibly one of the widely examined topics in academic research in the last five decades. However, few studies have examined both the short run and long run impacts of this effect concurrently for developing and emerging markets, in particular during the period of economic turmoil that includes the global financial crisis. As such, this paper examines and provides additional and relevant quantitative evidence on the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth, both in the short run and the long run in developing countries of the lower-middle-income group in 2000–2014. Various econometric methods are employed such as the panel-based unit root test, Johansen cointegration test, Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), and Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) to ensure the robustness of the findings. The results of this study show that FDI helps stimulate economic growth in the long run, although it has a negative impact in the short run for the countries in this study. Other macroeconomic factors also play an important role in explaining economic growth in these countries. Money supply has a positive effect on growth in the short run while total credit for private sector has a negative effect. In addition, long-run economic growth is driven by money supply, human capital, total domestic investment, and domestic credit for the private sector. Based on these results, recommendations for the governments of these countries have been developed.
NKS-374, A summary of studies on debris bed coolability and multi-dimensional flooding

A summary of the results of the experimental debris bed coolability studies in the COOLOCE programme at VTT is presented in this report. The experiments addressed the effects of the debris bed geometrical shape, which is a result of the melt jet fragmentation and solidification in a water pool. Six variations of the debris bed geometry with different flooding modes were examined in the experiments, including a top-flooded cylinder and five beds with more complex, heap-like geometries. Dryout heat fluxes of the different geometries and flooding modes were compared. In addition, the key question of transferring the experimental results and the small-scale simulations onto a reactor scale is briefly considered. A simulation case modelling a conically-shaped debris bed of 200 tonnes of corium in a generic containment geometry is presented. The large-scale simulation shows dryout characteristics similar to those of the earlier small-scale simulations of the experimental beds. The post-dryout behaviour of a multi-dimensionally flooded bed, which may reach steady-states even when local dryout has occurred, is clearly illustrated in the simulation.
Catalytic Decomposition of Oleic Acid to Fuels and Chemicals: Roles of Catalyst Acidity and Basicity on Product Distribution and Reaction Pathways

The roles of catalyst acidity and basicity playing in catalytic conversion of oleic acid were studied in a fixed-bed micro-reactor at atmospheric pressure. The chemical compositions of the petroleum-like products were obtained and the reaction pathways of different catalysts are discussed. The metal oxides are suitable for upgrading oleic acid into organic liquid products (OLPs). Over 98% oxygen was removed when CaO, MgO, and TiO2 were implemented, whereas a minimum oxygen removal lower than 20% was obtained by using quartz. The oxygen removal was 73% by alumina; however, the light oil yield (to feed) and the valuable product yield received were the highest in all investigated catalysts. The hydrocarbons in OLPs, overwhelmingly presenting in the product, were found to be alkenes and cycloalkenes, followed by saturated hydrocarbons, and then aromatics lower than 4%. For Lewis acidic catalysts, higher acidity of the catalyst is beneficial to deoxygenation but also secondary cracking. CaO has higher dehydrogenation capability than MgO does.
Association between Vitamin D Deficiency and Occurrence of Miscarriage among Women

Background: Vitamin D deficiency is a common problem in reproductive-aged women especially in the Arab nation. The association of vitamin D deficiency and miscarriage is still unclear. The aims of this study were to identify risk factors for vitamin D deficiency and to examine the association of vitamin D deficiency and occurrence of miscarriage. Design: A descriptive correlational research design was adopted. Setting: The study was conducted at the obstetrics and gynecology clinic at Shaqra general hospital, Saudi Arabia. Subjects: A total of 200 women in the child bearing age and diagnosed with abortion were recruited. Tools: Two tools were used; Structured interview questionnairewhich included: socio-demographic characteristics as well as obstetric history; and Vitamin D risk factors assessment questionnaire. Results: the mean age of the study sample was 37±5.37 years old. Sixty one percent of the sample had more than two abortions and 77% had abortion in first trimester. The reported non-modifiable risk factors for vitamin D deficiency were; dark skin (55%), and genetic mutation (47%). While, the modifiable risk factors were inadequate sun exposure (74%), malabsorption syndrome (20%), obesity (38.5%), low vitamin D diet (59.5%), and low socioeconomic status (14.5%). Fifty nine had insufficient vitamin D in the blood. There was a relationship between occurrence of recurrent abortion and vitamin D deficiency (p< 0,000) especially during first trimester. In conclusion: There was association between Vitamin D level and first-trimester miscarriage, indicating that vitamin D concentrations in the first trimester were associated with increased risk for a subsequent miscarriage. Recommendation: Modification of Vitamin D status among women may substantially reduce the frequency of miscarriage. Preconception intervention programs to focus on raising vitamin D levels in these women should be carried out in order to prevent vitamin D deficiency-linked miscarriage.
Trajectories of drug use among French young people: Prototypical stages of involvement in illicit drug use

Abstract Aims: This study investigated patterns and trajectories of substance use, with a special focus on illicit drugs other than cannabis. It examined both patterns and trajectories of use among a general population-based sample. Methods: We used data from the 2011 French ESCAPAD survey of French 17-year-olds to assess exposure and age of initiation of 14 licit and illicit drugs (N=23,882). Latent class analysis (LCA) and survival analyses were performed. Results: The results of the LCA showed that patterns of illicit drug use clearly distinguished between two groups of other illicit drugs: 1) amphetamines/speed, cocaine, ecstasy/MDMA, magic mushrooms, poppers, and solvents; 2) crack/freebase, GHB/GBL, heroine, LSD, and ketamine. Survival analyses highlighted that trajectories involved the first group before the second one. Conclusions: Prototypical drug use patterns and trajectories should include a distinction between two groups of illicit drugs. Preventive actions should focus on young people in their early teens, since very young users are more likely to progress to illicit drug use, and further studies should include this distinction instead of aggregating other illicit drugs into a single category.
Analysis of river / sea transportation of iron ore bulk in Douro River

This work presents a feasibility study and analysis of the transport of iron-ore by river-sea bulk carriers from a river terminal in river Douro to a sea terminal in Aveiro. The transport problem is divided in two parts. First the preliminary ship design in order to obtain the river-sea bulk carrier main dimensions, cargo capacity, power requirements and design speed. This is made by the means of non-linear optimization considering the route limitation and using a ship synthesis model. The second part is the analysis of the entire transport system (terminals, ship and route). This is made by means of simulation considering several scenarios with different terminal configurations and cargo equipment. The scenarios are compared by performance measures such as: annual cargo throughput, port time, waiting times, berth times and rate of equipment utilization in the terminals. With these results it’s possible to identify the parameters that can benefit these transport system, making this simulation model an excellent tool for analyzing this transport problem or others of the same kind.