Pest and disease incidence of coniferous species in Taman Saujana Hijau,Putrajaya urban park,Malaysia

Taman Saujana Hijau(TSH),Putrajaya is a 41-ha urban park planted with various coniferous species from around the world.Insect pests and disease incidences of this park are unknown and there is a need for an evaluation of the health status of this urban park.This study assessed the level of pest and disease incidents of coniferous species in 12 plots of 7 species(Araucaria bidwilii,Araucaria haterophylla,Araucaria cunninghamii,Pinus caribaea,Pinus merkusii,Podocarpus polystachyus,and Podocarpus costalis).Termites,canker disease,and foliar disease are three major problems.The highest pest and disease incidence(PnDI)was foliar disease with a 0.49 coefficient correlation between the total number of trees and the PnDI,followed by canker disease with 0.40,and termites with 0.36.Of the seven conifers,A.haterophylla was the most infected followed by A.bidwilii and A.cunninghamii.It was concluded that the incidence of pests and diseases in TSH was moderate.To our knowledge,this may be the first baseline inventory of pests and diseases of coniferous species in Malaysia.

Assessment of Good Agricultural Practices on Cocoa and Coffee Farms in Northern Haiti

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and presents a unique scenario for the food and agriculture industry, because there is no food safety legislation. The application of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) leads to improvements of quality, safety and sustainability of agricultural products. The purpose of the study was to assess the status of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) in cocoa and coffee farms in Northern Haiti. A general survey captured information about the farmer and the farm, and an audit checklist was used to assess compliance to GAPs. A total of 11 farms (n = 11) were audited, of which 7 were cocoa farms (64%) and 4 were coffee farms (34%) in the regions of Dondon, Limonade and Milot. Average overall audit scores for coffee farms (73%) were higher than for cocoa farms (55%). Farms affiliated with a cooperative scored higher (78%) than those that were not part of a cooperative (55%). The sections of the survey on “Practices related to premises and production site”, and the “use of agricultural inputs and chemicals” received the lowest scores but were confined to the cocoa farms. “Record keeping” plus “distribution, transportation, and traceability” were cause for concern with both the cocoa and coffee farms. Critical non-conformances included the access of livestock animals and domestic pets to processing and storage areas, the lack of control in the application of agricultural chemicals, a lack of safeguards on equipment and elevated surfaces, and washing of fresh cocoa beans to remove the mucilage with water that had not been treated or tested for potability. The root cause of the non-conformances, regardless of the commodity, was either related to poor physical and organizational infrastructures, or to a lack of technical training.

Determinants and rates of land degradation： Application of stationary time-series model to data from a semi-arid environment in Kenya

The causes of land degradation in the African drylands have been shown to vary. Some researchers consider climate to be the major contributor to degradation, with anthropogenic factors playing a minor role. Others reverse the significance of these two factors. A third group attributes land degradation to climate and anthropogenic factors equally. This study was undertaken to establish the factors influencing land degradation in a semi-arid environment in southeastern Kenya and the rate of change in vegetation types for a period of 35 years （1973-2007）. The reduction in grassland cover was used as an indicator of land degradation. Causes of land degradation were determined by a multiple regression analysis. A log-linear regression analysis was used to establish the rate of vegetation change. The multiple and log-linear regression analyses showed： （1） woody vegetation, livestock population and cultivated area to be the main contributors of reduction in grassland cover in the area, and （2） an increase in undesirable woody species, livestock population and cultivated area had a significant （P〈0.05） negative effect on grassland vegetation. Increased human population, low amounts of rainfall and drought showed no significant negative effect on grassland vegetation cover. In conclusion, human and livestock population growth and increased agricultural land have contributed to intensive crop cultivation and overgrazing in the semi-arid lands. This overuse of the semi-arid rangelands has worsened the deterioration of the natural grassland vegetation.

A Comparison of Residential Energy Demand Behaviour in Britain and Australia

This research highlights an interesting finding comparing energy use in the residential sector in the United Kingdom and Australia. Energy consumed per capita is largely similar, however the energy available is manifestly different. Australia is blessed with a greater abundance of energy than the United Kingdom. Particularly, in the main area of study in Australia, Victoria state, Brown coal is easy and cheap to access. It is therefore politically more difficult to argue that the population affords more expensive sustainable energy resources even though Australia is one of the countries that can readily produce this type of energy. Britain, however, is a net importer of energy. A large proportion of this energy is natural gas which is a fossil fuel, and therefore contributes to the negative effects of climate change. The findings of this research focus on what motivates residential users of energy to use energy more sustainably. It presents the conclusions of previous research as a backdrop, and reveals the complexity of occupant behaviour. Key drivers are financial incentives and the role of large organisations such as governments in influ-encing behaviour. This may take significant time.

Case Study Evidence and Behavioural Analysis of Residential Energy Consumption in the UK

This paper investigates residential energy consumption in the UK by using a novel and topical approach based on behavioural analysis. A key lesson from recent advances in behavioural economics is that the responses of individuals to both policy incentives and uncertainty may differ from the predictions of classical rational optimising behaviour. By employing a focused case study approach using both quantitative and qualitative response analysis, it considers the motivations of residential householders in the UK to reduce fossil fuel use, with additional perspectives from UK landlords, a global environmental NGO, a senior politician, and two senior stakeholder strategy managers from a large energy company. Our interpretative behavioural analysis shows that a variety of incentives are necessary to encourage behaviour change. However, case study participants largely agree on the beneficial role of government regulation and efforts to “nudge” them in the right direction with regard to their energy use. As a means of more effectively reducing carbon dioxide emissions, we conclude that policy should focus on sustainable energy use. The findings allow us to understand why important recent policy initiatives such as the UK Green Deal failed to achieve their objectives and they suggest lessons for more effective incentive based policy making in the field of residential energy consumption.

Factors Affecting Teff (Eragrostis tef) Market Supply in Woliso and Becho Districts of South West Shoa Zone Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

This study was aimed to analyze teff (Eragrostis tef) market chain in south west Shoa zone with objective of factors affecting teff market supply using two stage ordinary least square approaches. The majority of Ethiopia’s population earns its livelihood primarily from agriculture. Cereals teff is the first in Ethiopia area coverage and production. Teff (Eragrostis tef) is a major staple food crop in Ethiopia. Both primary and secondary data were used in this study. Primary data was collected from 138 sampled farmers and 38 traders from both districts by using semi-structured interview. The OLS (ordinary least square) model results showed that seven explanatory variables significantly affected the quantity of teff supplied to the market supplied by smallholder producers. Age, education level and current market price were negatively and significantly affecting teff market supply. Distance to the nearest market, farm size, perception and quantity produced were positively and significantly influencing marketed supply of teff. Policy implications that were to take place highly recommendation those are relevant to improve teff marketing system in the study area which indicated production and market orientation were set based on the significant variables and raised problems by the stakeholders. To improve market supply of teff in the study area resolving the prevailing production problems deems a necessary condition.

Repealing the LIFO Inventory Accounting Choice? A Review of LIFO and Inventory Management

Researchers in the disciplines of both Operations and Accounting have studied Inventory Management, though in relative isolation. In this paper, one of our goals is to help inform researchers in Operations Management about an extensively debated question in inventory accounting: whether to repeal the LIFO (Last-In-First-Out) inventory accounting choice? This question has received extensive scrutiny from various stakeholders including academics, businesses, and different levels of governmental agencies such as US Congress. Specifically, we provide a literature review on how LIFO affects and is affected by inventory management. This is done by first reviewing the potential determinants of LIFO inventory accounting choice and then reviewing potential interactions between LIFO and inventory management. It is our hope that this review will help stakeholders have a more comprehensive understanding of LIFO before making their decisions.

“Waste-free Cities”Construction and Carbon Emission Reduction in China:Based on the Perspective of Circular Economy

Solid waste and carbon dioxide are important elements of environmental governance.Under the background of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals,the research on whether and how to promote the construction of“no waste cities”and carbon emission reduction is of great significance in China.The generation of solid waste and greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide has the same origin,which can be well coordinated to promote environmental governance.

The Symbiotic Relationship Unraveling the Interplay between Technology and Artificial Intelligence(An Intelligent Dynamic Relationship)

This article investigates the dynamic relationship between technology and AI(artificial intelligence)and the role that societal requirements play in pushing AI research and adoption.Technology has advanced dramatically throughout the years,providing the groundwork for the rise of AI.AI systems have achieved incredible feats in various disciplines thanks to advancements in computer power,data availability,and complex algorithms.On the other hand,society’s needs for efficiency,enhanced healthcare,environmental sustainability,and personalized experiences have worked as powerful accelerators for AI’s progress.This article digs into how technology empowers AI and how societal needs dictate its progress,emphasizing their symbiotic relationship.The findings underline the significance of responsible AI research,which considers both technological prowess and ethical issues,to ensure that AI continues to serve the greater good.

Source localization in signed networks with effective distance

While progress has been made in information source localization,it has overlooked the prevalent friend and adversarial relationships in social networks.This paper addresses this gap by focusing on source localization in signed network models.Leveraging the topological characteristics of signed networks and transforming the propagation probability into effective distance,we propose an optimization method for observer selection.Additionally,by using the reverse propagation algorithm we present a method for information source localization in signed networks.Extensive experimental results demonstrate that a higher proportion of positive edges within signed networks contributes to more favorable source localization,and the higher the ratio of propagation rates between positive and negative edges,the more accurate the source localization becomes.Interestingly,this aligns with our observation that,in reality,the number of friends tends to be greater than the number of adversaries,and the likelihood of information propagation among friends is often higher than among adversaries.In addition,the source located at the periphery of the network is not easy to identify.Furthermore,our proposed observer selection method based on effective distance achieves higher operational efficiency and exhibits higher accuracy in information source localization,compared with three strategies for observer selection based on the classical full-order neighbor coverage.

Nexus between financial innovation and economic growth in South Asia: evidence from ARDL and nonlinear ARDL approaches

This study examined the relationship between financial innovation and economic growth in Bangladesh,India,Pakistan,and Sri Lanka for the period Q11975 to Q42016.The autoregressive distributed lag(ARDL)bounds test was used to gauge long-run relationships,and the nonlinear ARDL(NARDL)test was used to explore asymmetry between financial innovation and economic growth in the sample of Asian countries.The findings from the bounds tests revealed long-run cointegration between financial innovation and economic growth in the sample countries.Furthermore,NARDL confirmed that positive changes in financial innovation linked positively with economic growth and vice versa in the long run.In the short run,however,the study found mixed behaviors in the case of positive and negative changes in financial innovation.To investigate directional causality,the Granger causality test under an error correction model was employed.The Granger causality results supported the feedback hypothesis in both the long run and short run.Thus,financial innovation boosts economic growth in the long run by stimulating financial service expansion,financial efficiency,capital accumulation,and efficient financial intermediation,which are essential for sustainable economic growth.

Financial innovation and economic growth in Bangladesh

Background:This study provides evidence for the financial innovation in the financial system that resulted in the economic growth of Bangladesh from 1980-2016.Methods:To capture the influence of financial innovation on economic growth,we estimated the long-run cointegration by applying Autoregressive Distributed Lag(ARDL)bound testing and Granger causality-based Error Correction Model(ECM)to capture the directional association.Results:The Test of Cointegration satisfied the existence of a long-run association between economic growth and the financial innovation proxies,which were the Domestic Credit to the Private Sector(DCB)as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product and the Broad-to-Narrow Money(M2/M1)as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product.Our results showed that in the long run,credit circulation to the private sector and monetary management play important roles in economic growth.We also found that the coefficients of the financial innovation proxy variables were positive and statistically significant both in the short run and long run.We also ran Granger causality tests to investigate the directional effect.This study confirmed the feedback causality between the economic growth and 2 proxies of financial innovation in the short and long run.The gross capital formation and trade openness contribute significantly to explaining the economic growth in Bangladesh.Conclusion:The government of Bangladesh should encourage financial innovation in the financial system,especially at financial institutions,so that access to financial services can easily provide for equitable development.The government should also encourage financial innovation in the capital market,which will assist in raising longterm capital for investment and expedite overall economic growth.

Game Theory Based Decision Coordination Strategy of Agricultural Logistics Service Information System

Under the background of“Internet plus”rapid development,the agricultural logistics industry should apply information technology to every link of the agricultural product logistics industry chain.By making full use of the decision making module of the agricultural logistics information system,we can realize the full sharing of information and data resources,which makes the decision-making scheme of the agricultural logistics information system more optimized.In real economic society,the uncertainty and mismatch between the customer’s logistics service demand and the logistics service capability that the logistics service function provider can provide,that is,when the two information are asymmetric,how to use the third-party contract to coordinate the income and profit distribution of the two,to make the information system decision making more reasonable?This paper mainly studies the coordination scheme of agricultural logistics information system decision making under uncertain output and demand information by introducing the spot market.A joint coordination strategy based on revenue sharing and penalty feedback contracts proposes decentralized decision making based on game theory.Experiments show that the flexible ordering strategy proposed in this paper can reduce the logistics service supply chain’s uncertainty and significantly improve the logistics service supply chain’s overall income level through coordination contracts.

Process-oriented organizational structure and its application in real estate development enterprises in China

This paper analyzes the shortcomings of the current organizational structure of real estate development enterprises in China. Integrating the idea of Business Process Reengineering （BPR） with organizational reformation, the authors bring out a process-orlented organizational structure. A further study on the application of process-oriented organizational structure in real estate development enterprises is carried out in a test case. Using residence-development process as an example, the authors illustrate the composition and operation of the business process system of real estate development enterprises.

An Application of Wavelet Analysis to Meat Consumption Cycles

The existence or nonexistence of changes in meat consumption cycles is critical to meat industry. If the change is existent, there is a need to understand what motivates the change to identify the most appropriate response. Wavelet analysis is considered here as a promising technique that may lead to a better understanding of characteristic patterns and changes in the meat consumption cycles.

Cooperation among Asymmetric Countries:A Study for the Role of Side Payment in International Environmental Agreements

By a survey of a range of existing literatures, this article makes a rough summary for previous theoretical findings about the role of side payment in international environmental agreements. If countries are symmetric, we can hardly exploit the transfer to enhance international cooperation. On the contrary, under asymmetric countries assumption, the side payment is often helpful to obtaining better global outcome in environmental issues. Even though no general theoretical conclusion can be claimed so far, many meaningful implications will be revealed with the going on of this article.

Descriptive Epidemiology of Multidrug Resistance Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Bangladesh

Background: The number of reported MDR-TB cases has been increasing in recent years. Objectives: To describe the epidemiological profile of MDR-TB cases in Bangladesh. Design: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Settings: The study was conducted among the multi drug resistant tuberculosis patient admitted in the National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital (NIDCH) Dhaka, Bangladesh. Samples: 148 confirmed cases of MDR-TB. Materials and Methods: Hospital admitted MRD-TB cases were randomly chosen from the above mentioned hospital. Semi-structured and pretested questionnaire were introduced by researcher. Clinical and treatment data i.e. duration of TB drug intake, report of sputum, X-ray and blood test etc. were extracted from the hospital record. Results: Study found, majority of the participants (56.1%) were in the age group of 16 - 30 years. 64.2% of the study subjects were married. Majority of the participants education were whether under primary or primary level. 24.3% participant’s family member and 14.5% of neighbor were having TB. Most common comorbidity were diabetes, pulmonary infection, hearing loss, psychiatric symptoms, chest pain, joint pain etc. 63.5% respondent had high degree of AFB for sputum positivity and more than 98% had positive finding in X-ray chest. On an average ESR was low and also few cases of extremely low ESR were found. 71.6% were under twenty four months regimen. Conclusion: We can conclude that, many possible factors for MDR-TB. There is an urgent need for further study to confirm the exact factors in Bangladesh and address those immediately.

Hybrid Enterprise Modelling: Integrating Modelling Mechanisms for Socio-Technical Systems Analysis and Design

Nowadays, Model Driven Development (MDD) is a powerful technique for modelling complex systems and also for aligning business and information technology (IT), giving designers the ability to execute business models as they are intended to be run and behaved in the business environment. The Object Management Group (OMG) adopted many business standards into the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) environment e.g. Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Business Rules (SBVR), the Business Motivation Model (BMM), Business Process Modelling and Notation (BPMN) and Organisational Structure Model (OSM). These can work together to model different aspects of the enterprise at the business level. However, these models lack reasoning and dynamic simulation: there is no significant way to simulate discrete and continuous time system behaviour or to build arguments for reasoning about the design options within the OMG specifications. In this paper we propose an approach to overcoming this problem, by integrating a set of modelling tools into one single platform, taking advantage of meta-modelling techniques to integrate new tools with the OMG specifications in a model driven environment. The prospective framework should be able to tackle advanced analysis and design problems by intertwining design, reasoning and simulation to achieve a higher level of design maturity through implementing the desired scenario.

Predicting abnormal trading behavior from internet rumor propagation:a machine learning approach

In 2021,the abnormal short-term price fluctuations of GameStop,which were triggered by internet stock discussions,drew the attention of academics,financial analysts,and stock trading commissions alike,prompting calls to address such events and maintain market stability.However,the impact of stock discussions on volatile trading behavior has received comparatively less attention than traditional fundamentals.Furthermore,data mining methods are less often used to predict stock trading despite their higher accuracy.This study adopts an innovative approach using social media data to obtain stock rumors,and then trains three decision trees to demonstrate the impact of rumor propagation on stock trading behavior.Our findings show that rumor propagation outperforms traditional fundamentals in predicting abnormal trading behavior.The study serves as an impetus for further research using data mining as a method of inquiry.

Spillover and crossover from work overload to spouse-rated work-to-family conflict:The moderating role of cross-role trait consistency

While most previous research in social psychology shows benefits of individuals’consistency in personality across different social roles,the current study brings the concept of cross-role trait consistency to the context of management and examines its dark side.Data from 197 couples showed that an employee’s work overload was positively associated with his/her spouse’s perception of how much the employee’s work interfered with family life.This relationship was mediated by the employee’s job burnout.More importantly,this mediating relationship was moderated by the employee’s cross-role trait consistency.These findings indicate that work overload may affect spouses’perception of employees’work-to-family conflict through job burnout,with the transmission of burnout on work-to-family conflict stronger among employees high in cross-role trait consistency.Thus,cross-role trait consistency appears to strengthen negative spillover and crossover from work to family.Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.