Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Insurance Premium And Economic Performance In Nigeria: A Variance Decomposition Approach

This study assessed insurance premium and Nigeria’s economic performance. It aimed at finding out the relationship insurance premium, investment and assets have with Nigeria’s GDP. Descriptive statistics, Augmented Dickey Fuller Unit Root Test, Johansen cointegration, OLS regression, variance decomposition and granger causality tests were adopted. Findings revealed that all the series are significant and but not normally distributed. The correlation matrix shows that there is high and positive correlation between the independent variables. The results of the unit root tests using Augmented Dickey-Fuller test show that all the variables do not have unit roots (that is, are stationary) at 5% in their first differences. The Johansen co-integration result confirms that there is long run relationship between insurance activities and economic growth in Nigeria. The OLS result suggests that 93.11 percent of the total variation found in GDP is explained by the presence of total assets, investments and premium of the insurance industry sector while the F-Statistics has a value of 163.1080 which is highly significant at 5% confidence level implying that insurance industry play significant role in development of the Nigerian economy. The Variance Decomposition for 10 period indicates that Insurance sector investment is more significant than premium for most of the periods. However, since premium represents revenue for the insurance industry it has positive impact on GDP for all the periods while GDP responds positively. This granger causality result shows that there is granger causality relationship between insurance premium, investment and assets have granger causality with GDP. From the findings, it recommends that insurance business authorities should review its reform policy and ensure that policies that will strengthen premium mobilization in Nigeria are put in place. Insurance companies need to invest more of their funds in productive sectors of the economy.
On the abundance of primordial helium

We have used recent observations of helium-4, nitrogen and oxygen from some four dozen, low metallicity, extra-galactic HII regions to define mean $N$ versus $O$, $^4He$ versus $N$ and $^4He$ versus $O$ relations which are extrapolated to zero metallicity to determine the primordial $^4He$ mass fraction $Y_P$. The data and various subsets of the data, selected on the basis of nitrogen and oxygen, are all consistent with $Y_P = 0.232 \pm 0.003$. For the 2$\sigma$ (statistical) upper bound we find $Y_P^{2\sigma} \le 0.238$. Estimating a 2\% systematic uncertainty $(\sigma _{syst} = \pm 0.005)$ leads to a maximum upper bound to the primordial helium mass fraction: $Y_P^{MAX} = Y_P^{2\sigma} + \sigma_{syst} \le 0.243$. We compare these upper bounds to $Y_P$ with recent calculations of the predicted yield from big bang nucleosynthesis to derive upper bounds to the nucleon-to-photon ratio $\eta$ ($\eta_{10} \equiv 10^{10}\eta$) and the number of equivalent light (\lsim 10 MeV) neutrino species. For $Y_P \le 0.238$ ($0.243$), we find $\eta_{10} \le 2.5 (3.9)$ and $N_\nu \leq 2.7 (3.1)$. If indeed $Y_P \le 0.238$, then BBN predicts enhanced production of deuterium and helium-3 which may be in conflict with the primordial abundances inferred from model dependent (chemical evolution) extrapolations of solar system and interstellar observations. Better chemical evolution models and more data - especially $D$-absorption in the QSO Ly-$\alpha$ clouds - will be crucial to resolve this potential crisis for BBN. The larger upper bound, $Y_P \leq 0.243$ is completely
Size and Efficiency in European Long–term Insurance Companies: An International Comparison

This paper explores the efficiency of European specialist and composite insurers transacting long-term insurance business. Value measures of insurance company inputs and outputs are utilised to undertake an exploration of the technical efficiency of European insurers. This is achieved by benchmarking the relative performance of insurers licensed to transact long-term business in fifteen European countries using data from Standard & Poor’s Eurothesys database for the years 1996-1999. Data Envelopment Analysis is utilised to generate three different efficiency measures for each long-term insurer (namely pure technical efficiency, scale efficiency, and mix efficiency. It is clear from the analysis that there are wide variations in all types of efficiency. The most efficient insurers in pure technical terms are likely to be either very large or very small (specialist) insurers. Mutuality and financial security are also conducive to technical efficiency. A comparison of average efficiency among fifteen European countries shows some striking international differences. Insurers transacting long-term business in the UK, Spain, Sweden and Denmark are likely to have highest average levels of technical efficiency. On the other hand UK insurers appear to have particularly low levels of scale and mix efficiency when compared to their European counterparts. Size and Efficiency in European Long-Term Insurance Companies Stephen Diacon, Ken Starkey and Christopher O’Brien
The origin of graben and ridges in Rachmaninoff, Raditladi, and Mozart basins, Mercury

The Rachmaninoff, Raditladi, and Mozart peak‐ring impact basins on Mercury display a distinctive pattern of tectonic features consisting of a central zone that is either devoid of tectonic landforms or contains small ridges, a medial annulus of prominent and predominantly circumferentially oriented graben, and a distal zone displaying graben that occur in a mix of orientations and that are less evident toward the peak ring. Here we use finite element models to explore three candidate scenarios for the formation of these tectonic features: (1) thermal contraction of the interior smooth plains, (2) isostatic uplift of the basin floor, and (3) subsidence following volcanic loading. Our results suggest that only thermal contraction can account for the observed pattern of graben, whereas some combination of subsidence and global contraction is the most likely explanation for the central ridges in Rachmaninoff and Mozart. Thermal contraction models, however, predict the formation of graben in the centermost region of each basin, where no graben are observed. We hypothesize that graben in this region were buried by a thin, late‐stage flow of plains material, and images of partially filled graben provide evidence of such late‐stage plains emplacement. These results suggest that the smooth plains units in these three basins are volcanic in origin. The thermal contraction models also imply a cooling unit ~1 km thick near the basin center, further supporting the view that plains‐forming lavas on Mercury were often of sufficiently high volume and low viscosity to pool to substantial thicknesses within basins and craters.
Port reduction in parametrized component static condensation: approximation and a posteriori error estimation

We introduce a port (interface) approximation and a posteriori error bound framework for a general component‐based static condensation method in the context of parameter‐dependent linear elliptic partial differential equations. The key ingredients are as follows: (i) efficient empirical port approximation spaces—the dimensions of these spaces may be chosen small to reduce the computational cost associated with formation and solution of the static condensation system; and (ii) a computationally tractable a posteriori error bound realized through a non‐conforming approximation and associated conditioner—the error in the global system approximation, or in a scalar output quantity, may be bounded relatively sharply with respect to the underlying finite element discretization.
Aspects of platelet disturbances in haemodialysis patients

Patients with mild-to-chronic kidney disease (CKD) exhibit a variety of haemostatic disorders, ranging from an increased clotting tendency and reductions in the levels of natural inhibitors of coagulation to defective fibrinolysis. In addition, platelet (PLT) abnormalities are common. In this minireview, we report on aspects of haemodialysis (HD)-induced PLT activation. It is demonstrated that PLTs from HD patients are exhausted due to repeated stimulation of HD treatment and recurrent release of PLT degranulation products. During HD, additional aberrations of the haemostatic process occur. Besides deviations of coagulation and fibrinolysis, PLT activation and a reduction in their granule content have been observed during HD treatment. As HD treatment is carried out three times per week, month after month, chronic HD patients may suffer persistently from coagulation defects and PLT disorders on top of the alterations induced by the uraemic state itself. PLT activation occurs together with thrombin and fibrin generation. However, macro fibrin depositions in clot devices are not demonstrated, microaggregates occur not only in the extracorporeal circuit (ECC) but are also present in the blood circulation. As vascular access thrombosis is a frequent complication in patients with HD treatment, it is believed that hypercoagulability could result from vascular changes combined with PLTs and activation of coagulation factors.
The Contemporaneity of Grounded Theory: Data and Emotional Reflexivity

ABSTRACT This article focuses on why it is important to connect the perspectives of Glaser and Strauss again. Grounded theory (GT) was conceived to innovate empirical research. Research, Glaser and Strauss argued, should be generated from the field and not created on the base of theoretical presuppositions; however, Glaser and Strauss eventually disagreed on that topic. While Glaser was convinced that codes emerge from the data, Strauss emphasized that theoretical concepts are relevant while coding. This article reflects the relation between data and theoretical concepts. While adopting a constructivist approach, I argue: if nothing emerges from data, nothing can be conceptualized. Only in the dialectic of emerging and constructing can research be conducted adequately . The dialectic of emergence and conceptualization will be illustrated on examples from my empirical study of processes of emotional reflexivity in contexts of migration . In these cases, Glaser's and Strauss' conflict may be somewhat of a false dilemma.
Single Administration of Ultra-Low-Dose Lipopolysaccharide in Rat Early Pregnancy Induces TLR4 Activation in the Placenta Contributing to Preeclampsia

Balanced immune responses are essential for the maintenance of successful pregnancy. Aberrant responses of immune system during pregnancy increase the risk of preeclampsia. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) plays a crucial role in the activation of immune system at the maternal-fetal interface. This study aimed to generate a rat model of preeclampsia by lipopolysaccharide (LPS, a TLR4 agonist) administration on gestational day (GD) 5 as rats are subjected to placentation immediately after implantation between GDs 4 and 5, and to assess the contribution of TLR4 signaling to the development of preeclampsia. Single administration of 0.5 μg/kg LPS significantly increased blood pressure of pregnant rats since GD 6 (systolic blood pressure, 124.89 ± 1.79 mmHg versus 119.02 ± 1.80 mmHg, P < 0.05) and urinary protein level since GD 9 (2.02 ± 0.29 mg versus 1.11 ± 0.18 mg, P < 0.01), but barely affected blood pressure or proteinuria of virgin rats compared with those of saline-treated pregnant rats. This was accompanied with adverse pregnancy outcomes including fetal growth restriction. The expression of TLR4 and NF-κB p65 were both increased in the placenta but not the kidney from LPS-treated pregnant rats, with deficient trophoblast invasion and spiral artery remodeling. Furthermore, the levels of inflammatory cytokines were elevated systemically and locally in the placenta from pregnant rats treated with LPS. TLR4 signaling in the placenta was activated, to which that in the placenta of humans with preeclampsia changed similarly. In conclusion, LPS administration to pregnant rats in early pregnancy could elicit TLR4-mediated immune response at the maternal-fetal interface contributing to poor early placentation that may culminate in the preeclampsia-like syndrome.
Cancer Detection Using adaptive Neural Network

We present a system which detects the cancer stage using clustering techniques. The task is accomplished using Adaptive Resonance Neural Network (ARNN), a special case of unsupervised learning. A vigilance parameter (vp) in ARNN defines the stopping criterion and hence helps in manipulating the accuracy of the trained network. To demonstrate the usefulness of ARNN, we used Wisconsin breast cancer database. The database available in the UCI database repository contains 699 cases out of which we used 600 cases to train the network. In this dataset there are 375 benign cases and 225 as malignant cases. We see that at vp=0.2 the network has Recall (i.e. true negative rate) is 75% and average Accuracy=82.64% and Precision is 79%.
Culture, trust, and social networks

Although the role of trust in group processes has been well established, less is known about the role of trust in social network processes. Trust, conceptualized to have generalized and particularistic aspects, was measured by generalized trust (people can be trusted in general) and relationism (people can be trusted if one has relationships), and their relations with social network characteristics of network homogeneity (extent to which one has a number of friends with similar attitudes) and network closure (extent to which one's social network is closed) were examined in three Western (Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom) and two East Asian countries (Japan and Korea). Although generalized trust was shown to be positively related to network closure across the five countries, generalized trust and relationism had different relations with network homogeneity in different cultures. The results were interpreted in terms of social institutional and cultural differences.
Disaster Management Policy and People with Disabilities in the United States and Jamaica

ix Chapter 1: Problem Definition and Research Question.1 Disability and Disaster: A Social Work Concern . 4 Disability and social work.4 Emergency management and social work . 4 Communities of Study: Jamaica and Virginia . 5 Jamaica.5 The United States . 7 Comparing Jamaica and Virginia . 10 Defining Disaster.11 Defining Disability . 14 Disability and Disaster . 18 Research Question . 21 Chapter 2: Literature Review.23 Disability and Disaster in to Social Work . 24 Personal Preparedness Trends . 28 Realistic expectations . 29 Lessons from people with disabilities who have experienced a disaster . 30
Involvement of rostral prefrontal cortex in selection between stimulus‐oriented and stimulus‐independent thought

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate brain activity while healthy subjects performed three different tasks, each of which alternated between: (i) phases relying on stimulus‐oriented thought (i.e. cognitive processes provoked by incoming sensory information); and (ii) phases relying on stimulus‐independent thought (i.e. cognitive processes that were not related to any information in the immediate sensory environment). Within each task, the two phases were matched as closely as possible. In all three tasks, lateral rostral prefrontal cortex was transiently activated by a switch between stimulus‐oriented and stimulus‐independent thought (regardless of the direction of the switch). Medial rostral prefrontal cortex consistently exhibited sustained activity for stimulus‐oriented vs. stimulus‐independent thought. These results suggest the involvement of rostral prefrontal cortex in selection between stimulus‐oriented and stimulus‐independent cognitive processes.
Evaluation of the Effects of Pair Programming on Performance and Social Practices in Distributed Software Development

Context. Agile methods address the challenges of an unpredictable world by relying on “people and their creativity rather than on processes”, accelerate delivery of software and considered as a reaction to plan-based or traditional methods. Distributed software development helps to access a pool of skilled personnel, completion of tasks around the clock and more. Incorporating of agile methods in distributed software development could help to solve some problems of distributed software development such as lack of communication and its dependencies, close collaboration and so on. Objectives. In this study we investigate the proposed benefits of pair programming, an XP development technique used by agile, and its effects on performance and social practices in distributed software development. Methods. Systematic literature review and an experiment are utilized to fulfill the objectives of this study. In the systematic review a sub-set of the research articles are selected relevant to the subject of this study from the electronic sources including, ACM Digital Library, IEEE, Xplore, EiVillage (Compendx, Inspec), Science Direct and ISI Web of Science. Experiment is conducted to investigate the pair programming effects on performance and social practices. Results. Many proposed benefits of pair programming in existing literature are identified and reported in both collocated and distributed settings. Pair programming is reported as an effective software development technique as well as a pedagogical tool. Experimental results showed that pair programming also effects performance in distributed software development, and positively impacts the social practices (human or social factors). Conclusions. There are many benefits of pair programming reported in collocated settings and less in distributed software development. Pair programming impacts the performance and social practices positively. However, we also conclude that the effective use of pair programming in distributed software development will yield the concrete results as well as the programmers’ pairs should be trained, experienced and well motivated for an effective use of pair programming and to overcome the challenges of distributed software development.
Risk factors for diabetic retinopathy: Findings from The Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study

Objective: To assess prevalence, potential risk factors and population attributable risk percentage (PAR%) for diabetic retinopathy (DR) in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Methods: A population-based study, using a stratified, random, cluster, systematic sampling strategy, was conducted in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India during 1996 and 2000. Participants from 94 clusters in one urban and three rural areas representative of the population of Andhra Pradesh, underwent a detailed interview and a comprehensive dilated ocular evaluation by trained professionals. DR was defined according to the international classification and grading system. For subjects more than or equal to 30 years of age, we explored associations of DR with potential risk factors using bivariable and multivariable analyses. Population attributable risk percent was calculated using Levin’s formula. Results: Diabetic retinopathy was present in 39 of 5586 subjects, an age-gender-area-adjusted prevalence of 0.72% (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.49%–0.93%) among subjects aged ≥ 30 years old, and 0.27% (95% CI: 0.17%–0.37%) for all ages. Most of the DR was either mild (51.3%) or moderate (35.9%) non-proliferative type; one subject (2.6%) had proliferative retinopathy. Multivariable analysis showed that increasing age, adjusted odds ratio (OR); 4.04 (95% CI: 1.88–8.68), middle and upper socioeconomic status group (OR); 2.34 (95% CI: 1.16–4.73), hypertension (OR); 3.48 (95% CI: 1.50–8.11) and duration of diabetes ≥ 15 years (OR); 8.62 (95% CI: 2.63–28.29) were significantly associated with increasing risk of DR. The PAR % for hypertension was 50%; it was 10% for cigarette smokers. Conclusions: Extrapolating the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in our sample to the Indian population suggests that there may be an estimated 2.77 million people with DR, approximately 0.07 million people with severe DR. As the population demographics change towards aging, this number is likely to increase further. Health care programs in India need to examine strategies to prevent diabetes and DR, as well as create the infrastructure required to manage this condition.
Herschel : the first science highlights Special feature L etter to the E ditor Predicted colors and flux densities of protostars in the Herschel PACS and SPIRE filters

Upcoming surveys with the Herschel Space Observatory will yield far-IR photometry of large samples of young stellar objects, which will require careful interpretation. We investigate the color and luminosity diagnostics based on Herschel broad-band filters to identify and discern the properties of low-mass protostars. We compute a grid of 2016 protostars in various physical congurations, present the expected flux densities and flux density ratios for this grid of protostars, and compare Herschel observations of three protostars to the model results. These provide useful constraints on the range of colors and fluxes of protostar in the Herschel filters. We find that Herschel data alone is likely a useful diagnostic of the envelope properties of young stars.
VLT-FLAMES Analysis of 8 giants in the Bulge Metal-poor Globular Cluster NGC 6522: Oldest Cluster in the Galaxy? ⋆ Analysis of 8 giants in NGC 6522

Context. NGC 6522 has been the first metal-poor globular cluster identified in the bulge by Baade. Despite its importance, very few high-resolution abundance analyses of stars in this cluster are available. The bulge metal-poor clusters may be important tracers of the early chemical enrichment of the Galaxy. Aims. The main purpose of this study is to determine metallicity and elemental ratios in individual stars of NGC 6522. Methods. High-resolution spectra of 8 giants of the bulge’s globular cluster NGC 6522 were obtained at the 8m VLT UT2-Kueyen telescope with the FLAMES+GIRAFFE spectrograph. Multiband V,I, J,Ks photometry was used to derive effective temperatures as reference values. Spectroscopic parameters were derived from Fe i and Fe ii lines, and adopted for the derivation of abundance ratios. Results. The present analysis provides a metallicity [Fe/H] = −1.0 ± 0.2. The α-elements oxygen, magnesium and silicon show [O/Fe] =+ 0.4 ± 0.3, [Mg/Fe] = [Si/Fe] =+ 0.25 ± 0.15, whereas calcium and titanium show shallower ratios of [Ca/Fe] = [Ti/Fe] =+ 0.15 ± 0.15. The neutron-capture r-process element europium appears to be overabundant by [Eu/Fe] =+ 0.4 ± 0.4. The neutron-capture s-elements lanthanum and barium are enhanced by [La/Fe] =+ 0.35 ± 0.2 and [Ba/Fe] =+ 0.5 ± 0.5. The large internal errors, indicating the large star-to-star variation in the barium and europium abundances, are also discussed. Conclusions. The moderate metallicity combined to a blue horizontal branch (BHB), are characteristics similar to those of HP 1 and NGC 6558, pointing to a population of very old globular clusters in the Galactic bulge. Also, the abundance ratios in NGC 6522 resemble those in HP 1 and NGC 6558. The ultimate conclusion is that the bulge is old, and went through an early prompt chemical enrichment.
Spatiotemporal Association Between Temperature and Assaults: A Generalized Linear Mixed-Model Approach

We aim to analyze the association between temperature and assault at highly disaggregated spatial units with great temporal resolution to investigate their spatiotemporal dynamics. We applied generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) to assault and weather data from 2015, aggregated weekly at 424 subdistricts in Seoul, South Korea, controlling for various socioeconomic and environmental variables. Analyses revealed a positive and significant linear association between temperature and assaults and a few small but significant interaction effects that relate to an increase in assaults. A more enhanced understanding of the spatiotemporal relationship between temperature and crime would provide useful implications for targeted crime prevention and resource allocations.