Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does Irrigation enhance and food deficits discourage fertilizer adoption in a risky environment? Evidence from Tigray, Ethiopia

The northern Ethiopian highland in general and the Tigray region in particular is a drought prone area where agricultural production risk is prevalent. Moisture stress is a limiting factor for improved agricultural input mainly fertilizer use. Lack of capital and consumption smoothing mechanisms limits households’ investment in production enhancing agricultural inputs, possibly leading into poverty trap. Using a Cragg (Double Hurdle) model, we analyzed how rainfall risks, access to irrigation and food deficits affect the probability that farm households’ use fertilizer and given that the probability is positive and significant, the amount (intensity) of fertilizer use. Accordingly, we found that households were more likely to use fertilizer and that they used significantly higher amounts of fertilizer on their irrigated plots than on rain-fed plots. Furthermore, households with access to irrigation were more likely to use fertilizer, but the intensity (amount) of fertilizer they used was not significantly different from those households without access to irrigation. In investigating the effect of rainfall risk on fertilizer use, we found that fertilizer use was significantly higher in areas with higher average rainfall and in areas with lower rainfall variability. In general, irrigation was found significantly important for fertilizer adoption mainly in areas with low rainfall and high rainfall variability. Finally, we investigate the effect of food deficit on fertilizer adoption and found that both food self-sufficient and food deficit households were less likely to use fertilizer as coping mechanism. However, among those who decided to adopt, the food deficit households used higher amount of fertilizer than the food self-sufficient. Keywords: Tigray, irrigation, average rainfall, rainfall variability, food deficit, fertilizer use.
Stress intensity of a nursing students regarding to biosocial and academic characteristics - A cross-sectional study

Background/Objective: Different studies, in national and international context, have linked stress to the academic activities of nursing students. However, investigations relating environmental characteristics in this context were limited. So, we compared stress intensity regarding to biosocial and academic characteristics of nursing students. Method: It is a quantitative, analytical and cross-sectional study, conducted among 160 students of a Nursing Under- graduate course from Sao Paulo. A Form to Biosocial and Academic Characterization and the instrument for the Assessment of Stress among Nursing Students (ASNS) were applied. Data analysis was performed using the Mann- Whitney test to compare stress intensity by group of students (academic and biosocial data) in each ASNS domain. The significance level used was 5%. Results : We verified that Time Management represented higher stress to students who use the subway, are not family dependent to maintenance, have work activity, and does not perform sports, neither leisure activities. The Environ - ment represented higher stress to students who use public transport ( train and subway) and does not practice leisure activities . Those who do not perform this activity showed higher stress in Professional Education domain. Conclusion: The biosocial and academic context observed favors stress occurrence in nursing students. Therefore, we suggest performing studies that help students to choose more effective strategies to deal with stressors in order to live their training period with more satisfaction and less suffering.
Available Nitrogen in the Surface Mineral Layer of Natural Meadows

DŽELETOVIĆ ŽELJKO, MIHAILOVIĆ NEVENA. 2017. Available Nitrogen in the Surface Mineral Layer of Natural Meadows. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 65(5): 1483 – 1492. Based on a greenhouse experiment, we evaluated nitrogen availability in the surface mineral layer of soil under various natural meadow stands by analyzing the following soil characteristics: total organic C, total N, initial content of easily available N inorganic forms, mineralized N content obtained by aerobic and anaerobic incubations and A-value. The experiment was performed on a test plant and through the application of urea enriched with 5.4 % 15N. The investigated soils under natural meadows are characterized with comparatively high mineralization intensity and high N availability indices.
Genetic variability and heritability of acid-adaptive soybean promising lines

Abstract. Kuswantoro H. 2017. Genetic variability and heritability of acid-adaptive soybean promising lines. Biodiversitas 18: 378-382. Genetic variability and heritability are very important in a variety improvement. The high genetic diversity can increase the probability on obtaining a new superior variety, while heritability can accelerate the selection process. In acidic dry land, genetic variability is also needed in order to increase such probability. The objective of this study was to estimate the genetic variability of acid-adaptive soybean promising lines. Ten advanced soybean-promising-lines derived from Tanggamus A— Anjasmoro varieties crossing were used as the materials. Results showed that the characters of days to flowering, the number of branches plant-1, the number of reproductive nodes plant-1, 100 grains weight and grain yield had broad genetic variability, while days to maturity, plant height and the number of filled pods plant-1 had narrow genetic variability. Characters of days to flowering, days to maturity, the number of filled pods plant-1 and 100-grain weight showed high broad sense heritability; characters of a number of branches plant-1, and the number of reproductive nodes plant-1 had moderate broad sense heritability; and plant height and grain yield had low broad sense heritability. Characters with broad genetic variability and high heritability can be used as sources in soybean variety improvement. The positive correlation between number of branches plant-1 with number of reproductive nodes plant-1 and number of filled pods plant-1 were significant. Significant positive correlations were also found between number of reproductive nodes plant-1 with number of filled pods plant-1. Negative correlations were found between weight of 100 grains with number of reproductive nodes plant-1 and number of filled pods plant-1. Similarly, negative correlations were also found between days to flowering with grain yield. Negative correlation between days to flowering and grain yield suggests to develop variety with early days to flowering.Keywords: Acid soil, genetic variability, heritability, soybeanÂ
Nonrelativistic Atomic Spectrum for Companied Harmonic Oscillator Potential and its Inverse in both NC-2D: RSP

A novel study for the exact solvability of nonrelativistic quantum spectrum systems for companied Harmonic oscillator potential and its inverse (the isotropic harmonic oscillator plus inverse quadratic potential) is discussed used both Boopp’s shift method and standard perturbation theory in both noncommutativity two dimensional real space and phase (NC-2D: RSP), furthermore the exact corrections for the spectrum of studied potential was depended on two infinitesimals parameters θ and θ¯ which plays an opposite rolls, this permits us to introduce a new fixing gauge condition and we have also found the corresponding noncommutative anisotropic Hamiltonian.
AYURVEDIC CONCEPT OF PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PITTAVRITTA VYANA VAYU

Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) refers to a complex of cyclical and recurrent physical, emotional and behavioral symptoms that occur specifically in luteal phase and remain for minimum three consecutive menstrual cycles. Up to 80% of women of child bearing age report with few mild symptoms of PMS prior to menstruation. But clinically significant PMS is seen only in 3 to 8% of women. Its more severe form, Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) has listed one among the Depressive mental disorders by American Psychiatric Association. Premenstrual Syndrome, an often neglecting medical condition due to social taboo of not discussing the issue of menstruation, was not considered as a disease earlier due to unawareness of the grave symptoms of the disease. Till now, the disease is a medical mystery with unknown cause and without any specific proved diagnosis and medication in modern medicine. This article is merely an attempt to relate PMS with Pittavritta Vyana Vata , which is an Avaranajanya Vyadhi . In Rituvyateetakala which is compared mainly with the luteal phase, there is Pittakopavastha and Vatasanchayavastha . With excess intake of Pittakar Nidan in Rituvyateetakala, Sanchita Vata specifically Vyana Vayu gets Avritta with Kupita Pitta and manifested in the form of Sarvanga Daha, Santapa, Klama etc. So the disease PMS can be managed and treated on the line of Pittavritta Vyana Vayu so as to provide relief from its deleterious effects and improve her family and social life.
Kernel PCA in nonlinear visualization of a healthy and a faulty planetary gearbox data

PCA (Principal Component Analysis) is a powerful method for investigating the dimensionality and extracting structure from multi-dimensional data, however it extracts only linear projections. More general projections – accounting for possible non-linearities among the observed variables – can be obtained using kPCA (Kernel PCA), that performs the same task, however working with an extended feature set. We consider planetary gearbox data given as two 15-dimensional data sets, one coming from a healthy and the other from a faulty planetary gearbox. For these data both the PCA (with 15 variables) and the kPCA (using indirectly 500 variables) is carried out. It appears that the investigated PC-s are to some extent similar; however, the first three kernel PC-s show the data structure with more details.
The mineral content of river saltbush (Atriplex amnicola) changes when sodium chloride in the irrigation solution is increased

Chenopod shrubs accumulate Na, K and Cl. There is little information available on factors affecting the accumulation of these and other minerals in the plants. In this experiment, the accumulation of Na, Cl, K, Ca, S, P, Mg, Cu, Zn and Mn was analysed in river saltbush (Atriplex amnicola). Six different river saltbush genotypes (cloned from different geographical regions) were grown in the glasshouse and irrigated with 1 of 5 NaCl concentrations (0, 50, 100, 200 or 400 mM). There were 6 replicates of each treatment (180 plants in total). Plants were harvested, dried and analysed after 8 weeks of treatment. Increasing the NaCl applied increased (P < 0.05) the concentrations of Na (+290%), Cl (+260%) and Mn (+36%) but decreased (P < 0.05) K (-47%), S (-18%), Ca (-46%), Cu (-43%) and Zn (-45%). Na and K concentrations in young river saltbush grown in the low NaCl irrigation solution were not high enough to depress intake or production of ruminants. At NaCl concentrations above 100 mM, the Na and K concentrations in the plants would be predicted to significantly depress intake and growth. The S and Mg concentrations in young river saltbush plants, at all levels of NaCl treatment, were above maximum tolerable levels for ruminants and may depress intake and production. The depression in concentration of K, Ca, Cu and Zn at high NaCl treatments may also predispose ruminants to deficiencies or imbalances depending on the fertility of soil and water.
An Action Generator for Small Humanoid Robot based on Inverse Kinematics

In order to complete some special tasks for a small humanoid robot, complex and irregular actions must be generated in advance. This work develops an action generator for small humanoid robot based on the inverse kinematics. A simulation model of the robot is established for getting the pose information and observing the response when the pose has been changed. The linear interpolation of the pose information in the key frames of an action are used to generate the action and the count of frames between two key frames is used to control the action speed. According to the experiments, the proposed method has a better accuracy and good performance on the real robot.
An Assessment of the Forecast of Future Earnings and its Impact on Financing through Retained Earnings Considering Payable Dividends in Pharmaceutical Companies Listed in Stock Exchange

Forecasting earnings have a valuable status for investments so that the idea of creating highly efficient business without access to and the presence of predictable earnings seems impossible . In other words, forecasts have become much more important than their past periods. Accordingly, in this study, future earnings and their impact on financing through retained earnings was assessed with regard to the payable dividends for 26 pharmaceutical companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange for the time period of 2005 to 2012. The investigation of linear correlation matrix of these variables shows a positive relationship between financing through retained earnings and forecasting earnings of companies and negative relationship between payout dividends and forecasting earnings. The results of this study showed that forecasting earnings has a positive impact on financing through retained earnings of these companies and in the opposite direction, payout dividends had a negative impact on this variable.
PRE/PERINATAL ADVERSITIES AND BEHAVIOURAL OUTCOMES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM THE VANCOUVER LONGITUDINAL STUDY

Several pre/perinatal factors (e.g., birth complications, maternal substance use, low birth weight) have been associated with early neuropsychological deficits and negative behavioural outcomes in infancy, childhood, and adolescence. The current study examines the relationship between maternal substance use during pregnancy and its impact on physical aggression and sexual behaviours in a sample of preschoolers. This study is based on a sample of children ( n = 129), boys and girls, recruited as part of the KD-BEAR project, an ongoing longitudinal study conducted in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The sample consisted of clinical referrals for an externalizing disorder and children recruited in daycares located in at-risk neighbourhoods. Semi-structured interviews were completed with the primary caregiver. A series of structural equation modelling showed that children showing higher levels of physical aggression and sexual behaviours were more likely to have been exposed to maternal substance use and pregnancy-related complications. Implications of the study are discussed in light of the scientific literature on the early prevention of aggression and violence.
A Comparison of T wo M ethods for S pectral A nalysis of W aves

We consider the evolution of spectra of random waves over periods of three days. Two segmentation methods are used: Detection of Changes by Penalized Contrasts (DCPC) proposed and developed by Lavielle (1998, 1999) and Smooth Localized complex EXponentials (SLEX) proposed in Ombao et al. (2001). We compare the results obtained with both methods. In each case the intervals obtained are considered stationary and the corresponding spectra are obtained. For both sets of intervals the classical Fourier spectrum is obtained using the WAFO software. We compare some of the spectra obtained. We also apply both methods to the Hurricane Camille wave height data.
SAFETY AND SHELF-LIFE OF WIDELY DISTRIBUTED VACUUM PACKED, HEAT TREATED SAUSAGES

Laboratory of Meat and Meat Products Technology and Quality Control, Department of Food Technology, Technological Educational Institution (T.E.I.) of Athens, Athens, Greece; Department of Microbiology, Infectious & Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Trakia University, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria; 3 National Agricultural Research Foundation-Institute of Veterinary Research, Athens, Greece; 4 Laboratory of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Thessaly, Greece.
Spectral analyses of movements made by the cephalic appendages of copepods

Movements of Calanus helgolandicus, Centropages typicus and Ternora longicornis cephalic appendages, which are involved in feeding and swimming, were investigated. When considered together, results of limb beat traces and of spectral and autocorrelation analyses show that the movements of copepods cephalic limbs are dependent upon the species, and are indicative of sensory feeding behaviour. T. longicornis exposed to mechanosensory stimulation, in the form of Sephadex beads, phytoplankton cells or natural particles, produced appendage-movement traces varying in beat frequency and amplitude. Particle size had the greatest influence on appendage movements. Chemical stimulation in the absence of particles (dissolved free amino acid cocktails) generally increased the appendage beat frequency, but did not cause fluctuations in beat amplitude such as occurred with particles. Analyses of the movements of the first maxillae indicate that for filter-feeding calanoid copepods, mechanoreception contributes to parbcle handhng, and chemoreception contributes both to an increase in the speed of the feeding current and the recognition of food. During feeding In copepods, it is likely that mechanoand chemoreception are complementary and act in conjunction.
An Analysis of Accrual Anomaly in Case of Karachi Stock Exchange

This study investigates the existence of accrual anomaly by using a sample of 340 non-financial firms listed at Karachi Stock Exchange. The objective of the study is to examine the persistence of the accruals and cash flow components and their respective effect on future stock prices and a hedge portfolio returns. The results indicate that the continuity and durability in earnings turns out to be dependent on the accrual and cash flow components of earnings’ magnitudes. Therefore, the efficient market hypothesis which states that all publicly available information is reflected in stock prices fails to hold. In addition, the failure of stock prices to comprehend the different properties of the constituents of earnings looks like investors inability to differentiate between the two components. The non-existence of market efficiency does not qualify that investors are irrational or the opportunities of earning profits are not exploited. But normal returns can be earned by opting for an active investment strategy which fully utilises the analysis of financial statements. The study concludes that accrual anomaly exists in Karachi Stock Exchange.
Cooked poultry meat and products as a potential source of some food poisoning bacteria

This study was conducted in Assiut, Egypt, to investigate the prevalence rate of Listeria spp. , Staph. aureus, Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter spp. in ready to eat (RTE) chicken meat and products. A total of 135 RTE chicken samples comprised of 50 chicken frankfurters, 35 chicken shawerma, 25 chicken breast and 25 chicken thigh which were collected randomly from different restaurants. The achieved results declared that Staph. aureus was the most predominant one; isolated from 22 (16.3%) from examined samples followed by L. monocytogenes was detected in 9 (6.7%) in cooked chicken samples. Salmonella was isolated from 6 (4.4%). The most prominent Salmonella serovars were S. Enteritides while, Campylobacter spp. was isolated from 3 (2.2%) of the samples. C. jejuni was the only strain isolated. Conclusion: RTE cooked chicken meat and products can be contaminated with a wide variety of pathogenic food poisoning microorganisms as Staph. aureus, L. monocytogenes, S. Enteritidis, S.Typhimurium and C. jejuni during processing, so it could be considered as an important public health risk. These results signify the importance of sustained surveillance of foodborne pathogens in cooked chicken meat to minimize the risk of contamination and protecting consumers against outbreaks of food poisoning.
A deep near-infrared spectroscopic survey of the Scutum-Crux arm for Wolf-Rayet stars

We present an NTT/SOFI spectroscopic survey of infrared selected Wolf-Rayet candidates in the Scutum-Crux spiral arm (298 < l < 340, |b| < 0.5). We obtained near-IR spectra of 127 candidates, revealing 17 Wolf-Rayet stars - a ~13% success rate - of which 16 are newly identified here. The majority of the new Wolf-Rayet stars are classified as narrow-lined WN5-7 stars, with 2 broad-lined WN4-6 stars and 3 WC6-8 stars. The new stars, with distances estimated from previous absolute magnitude calibrations, have no obvious association with the Scutum-Crux arm. Refined near-infrared (YHJK) classification criteria based on over a hundred Galactic and Magellanic Cloud WR stars, providing diagnostics for hydrogen in WN stars, plus the identification of WO stars and intermediate WN/C stars. Finally, we find that only a quarter of WR stars in the survey region are associated with star clusters and/or HII regions, with similar statistics found for Luminous Blue Variables in the Milky Way. The relative isolation of evolved massive stars is discussed, together with the significance of the co-location of LBVs and WR stars in young star clusters.
TARGETING TYROSINE KINASE INHIBITOR-INSENSITIVE CML STEM/PROGENITOR CELLS BY EFFECTIVE INHIBITION OF A NOVEL PP2A-AHI-1-BCR-ABL-JAK2 COMPLEX by

ii PREFACE . iv TABLE OF CONTENTS . v LIST OF FIGURES. vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . xii DEDICATION . xiii CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND . 1 1.
Effect of Aloe vera gel on Small Intestinal Motility and Transit in Alloxan - Induced Diabetic Rats

The use of Aloe vera gel in the management of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is widely known in Nigeria. Since DM is associated with altered small intestinal motility and transit, this study therefore seeks to ascertain the impact of treatment of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) with Aloe vera gel on small intestinal motility and transit. Thirty two male albino wistar rats weighing 180 - 200 g were randomly assigned 1 of 4 groups, with group 1 serving as control, group 2 - test 1 (diabetic untreated), group 3 - test 2 (diabetic treated) and group 4 - test 3 (treated control). The dose of Aloe vera gel used was 0.4 ml/100g daily, per oral route. After 21 days of administration, animals were sacrificed and intestinal motility and transit experiments were carried out on the isolated rat ileum using appropriate methods. Acetylcholine (ACh) and atropine were used to challenge the isolated rat ileum. Results obtained showed that test 1 had altered pattern of small intestinal motility compared to control when ACh was used to challenge the rat ileum. Test 2 showed a contraction pattern similar to that of control, while test 3 recorded a rather reduced contraction compared to control. In response to atropine, percentage relaxation in test 3 was significantly (p<0.01, p<0.001, p<0.001) higher compared to control, test 1 and 2 respectively. Percentage transit in test 1 and 3 was significantly (p<0.001) reduced compared to control. It was also significantly (p<0.05) reduced in test 2 compared to test 1. We therefore conclude that Aloe vera gel mitigates the altered small intestinal motility caused by T1DM, but potentiates the reduction in small intestinal transit caused by T1DM.
A Game-theoretic Approach to Leasing Agreements can Reduce Congestion

Leased cars with pre-paid fuel are a significant part of traffic today in many countries. Incentivized to drive as much as possible, their users contribute to pollution, congestion, and other negative societal effects. Calls for change of these leasing arrangements, by environmental organizations and others, are often rejected due to alleged economic rationales. We analyze from a game-theoretic perspective an alternative leasing model, where each driver pays for her own fuel. We show the emergence of a unique equilibrium in which everybody gains: the drivers, their employers who are paying for fuel, and, of course, the environment.