Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cryo-EM structures of remodeler-nucleosome intermediates suggest allosteric control through the nucleosome

The SNF2h remodeler slides nucleosomes most efficiently as a dimer, yet how the two protomers avoid a tug-of-war is unclear. Furthermore, SNF2h couples histone octamer deformation to nucleosome sliding, but the underlying structural basis remains unknown. Here we present cryo-EM structures of SNF2h-nucleosome complexes with ADP-BeFx that capture two potential reaction intermediates. In one structure, histone residues near the dyad and in the H2A-H2B acidic patch, distal to the active SNF2h protomer, appear disordered. The disordered acidic patch is expected to inhibit the second SNF2h protomer, while disorder near the dyad is expected to promote DNA translocation. The other structure doesn’t show octamer deformation, but surprisingly shows a 2 bp translocation. FRET studies indicate that ADP-BeFx predisposes SNF2h-nucleosome complexes for an elemental translocation step. We propose a model for allosteric control through the nucleosome, where one SNF2h protomer promotes asymmetric octamer deformation to inhibit the second protomer, while stimulating directional DNA translocation.
Crises, What Crises? New Evidence on the Relative Roles of Political and Economic Crises in Begetting Reforms

Abstract Crises beget reforms is a powerful hypothesis. But which type of crises – economic or political – are the main drivers of structural reforms? To answer this question, we construct measures of labour market and trade liberalisation and the two types of crises for a panel of about 100 developed and developing countries between 1960 and 2000. We find that political crises are more important determinants of structural reforms than economic crises. This finding is robust to the inclusion of interdependencies between crises, feedbacks between reforms, different estimators and various alternative measures of crises.
Referential, Quasi, and Expletive Subjects in L2 English of Persian Speakers

The present study sought to investigate the acquisition of referential, quasi and expletive subject pronouns, three different types of obligatory subjects in English, by adult Persian speaking L2 learners of English at different stages of L2 acquisition. A Grammaticality Judgment Test and a Translation Test were designed and developed to elicit the participants' knowledge of obligatory subjects in English. The results revealed that the L2 learners conformed to the natives in their performance on obligatory referential subjects and obligatory expletive subjects, but they did not conform to the natives in the case of obligatory quasi subjects. The obtained results can be accounted for by the fact that Persian as the L2 learners’ native language accepts referential and expletive subjects in certain structures, but no quasi subjects exist in Persian. This lends support to Smith and Tsimpli (1995) and Hawkins and Chan (1997) in that adult second language learners are not able to modify those functional features not already encoded in the entries of their native language.
Morphology of F-region vertical E·B drifts in the African sector using ionosonde measurements

F-region vertical velocities are derived from the ground-based ionosonde data for Ibadan (7.4°N, 3.9°E; dip 6°S: an equatorial station in the African zone), to study the general characteristics of electrodynamics of equatorial ionosphere, such as their variation with season, solar cycle, and magnetic activity at different local time sectors. The results show profound seasonal and geomagnetic effects. Except for equinoctial period, there is an excellent consistency in the magnitudes (nearly 20 m/s) and patterns of upward daytime F-region drifts at low and high solar activity periods. Evening F-region exhibits strong motion with absolute mean value for quiet-time (15 m/s) greater than on disturbed-time (10 m/s). The average downward quiet midnight-early morning hours sector value is well below than 10 m/s. The evening reversal time is earliest and latest during solstitial periods. Prereversal peak is season dependent and varies strongly with magnetic activity. We show that prereversal peak, daytime, and nighttime maximum drifts saturate at particular values of F10.7 cm solar radio flux index, effects not noticed with corresponding sunspot number. Our observations confirm several previous results from other equatorial sites utilizing different experimental techniques.
Ethiopian native chicken productivity, aims of production and breeding practices across agro-climatic zones

This study was conducted to characterize flock size, composition, productivity, motivational drivers, and breed selection criteria in village chicken production systems of lowlands, midlands, and highlands of Ethiopia. Data were collected at 360 rural households of which 120 were from lowland, 160 midland, and 80 highlands. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect the data using person to person interview method. Data were analyzed using the various statistical procedures of statistical analysis system (SAS) version 9.2. Higher flock size and productivity of chicken were obtained for midlands than the other agro-ecologies. The average flock size per household was 16.6. The average age at sexual maturity of hens was 7 months. Average number of egg production was 43 eggs per hen per year. Average hatching rate was in the range of 76 to 82%. Mortality occurred in the range of 27 to 39%. Although, village chicken has diverse use in Ethiopian rural community, the main motivations to keep village chicken were egg production followed by income generation. Eggs were mainly used for hatching, home consumption, and to generate a daily disposable income. The three most important breed selection criteria were egg production, morphometric characteristics, and mothering ability. Findings from this study can support the design of agro-ecology based breeding strategies aiming to improve native chicken production, productivity, and enhance their economic contributions to the farmers. Key words: Ethiopian native chicken, breed selection criteria, flock productivity, motivational drivers.
Evaluation of stability of elastomer packing exposed to influence of various biofuels

The aim of the European Union Member States is to reduce dependence on fuels derived from oil. For this reason, significant attention is paid to the use of organic products as a substitute or an additive in the fuel of petroleum origin. The usage of biofuels in conventional combustion engines is not easy due to the different properties of the products. The aim of the research was to determine the effect of biofuels on mechanical properties of O-rings type ACM (polyacrylate elastomer). The research was evaluated by the change of density, Shore A hardness, permanent deformation CS, tensile strength and deformation after exposure in the test environment for a period of 15 months. Comparing the O-rings immersed in standard diesel fuel it is clear that similar behaviour of the hardness shows are sunflower oil and canola oil. RME - Rapeseed Methyl Ester 20% and oil from Jatropha has a negative effect on the increase in hardness. Comparing the O-rings immersed in standard diesel fuel it is evident that except RME - Rapeseed Methyl Ester 20% other fuels have negative influence on permanent deformation CS.
Remittances and the Dutch Disease in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Dynamic Panel Approach

This paper investigates the effect of remittance inflows on the real exchange rate in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) using annual data from 1980 to 2008 for 34 SSA countries, generalised method of moments by Arellano and Bover (1995) and feasible generalised least squares by Parks (1967) and Kmenta (1971, 1986). We find that when cross-sectional dependence and individual effects are controlled for, remittances to SSA as a whole appreciate the underlying real exchange rate of recipient countries. However the Dutch-disease effect is not experienced via the loss of export competitiveness, because the exchange rate appreciation is mitigated by monetary policy positioning and overdependence on imports due to low levels of domestic production in these countries. We also find reverse causality between remittances and the real exchange rate. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
No-woman’s land? On female crime and incarceration, past, present, and future

The perception of penitentiaries as male institutions dates back to the late Middle Ages, when urban governments across Europe began constructing prisons as cogs in their growing machineries of justice. Already then, female incarceration contrasted sharply, intentionally, and symbolically with that of men, rendering women prison "incasts" in ways that parallel their marginal and vulnerable situation today. And yet few of the major pains of incarceration afflicting modern female prisoners seem to have been common to the experiences of their medieval predecessors. What made the difference, and how can it inform approaches to female inmates and female criminality in general?
A comparative analysis of upland and wetland yam production in Southwest, Nigeria

The study presented a comparative analysis of upland and wetland yam production in southwest Nigeria. It made use of data obtained through the administration of copies of well structured questionnaire to 320 respondents selected by multistage, purposive and random sampling methods. Both parametric and non-parametric statistical tools were used to analyze the data. Majority (80.6% upland and 75.4% wetland) of the respondents were educated male youths of 49 years and below. Production output was statistically and significantly influenced by household size, farm size and cost of inputs for upland farms while it was statistically and significantly determined by gender, marital status, educational level, farm size, amount of credit obtained and cost of inputs for wetland farms. Gross margin, net farm income and net return on investment were ₦156,059,460; ₦150,504,020 and 1.01 (upland farms); ₦152,685,341; ₦147,384,681 and 0.92 (wetland farms) respectively implying a profitable enterprise. Production was most seriously constrained by lack of capital, scarcity/high cost of seed yams, and pests and diseases infestation. Production could improve if the constraints identified by the study are addressed through the formulation and implementation of sound policies such as the injection of more funds into yam production enterprise and articulated extension delivery system to educate farmers on yam minisett techniques.
Comparative study of antibiotic resistance in bacteria isolated from dog and chicken

The emergence of antibiotic resistance has caused a threat to both human and animal population. This research was designed to investigate and compare the antibiotic resistance of bacteria isolated from chicken and dogs. A hundred and twelve samples of freshly dead chicken and eighty nine blood samples of sick dogs were analyzed. Pure culture of isolates were identified using cultural, morphological and biochemical characteristic. In vitro, susceptibility of the identified isolates against antimicrobial agents were determined by the standard disk diffusion procedure. One hundred and six isolates were recovered from chicken while 27 isolates were recovered from dogs. The organisms isolated include E. coli, Haemophilus sp, Pasturella sp, Klebsiella sp, Enterobacter sp, Salmonella sp, Staphylococcus sp. , Micrococcus sp. , Pseudomonas sp, Proteus sp, and Listeria sp. The antibiotic resistance showed that, gram-negative bacteria showed more resistance to the antibiotics used in this research compare to the gram-positive bacteria. This trend was found in isolates from both dog and chicken. In like manner, the bacteria isolates recovered from chicken showed a greater resistance when compare with the bacteria isolates recovered from dog. The increased resistance found in poultry makes poultry a suspect of residual resistance gene and probably reservoir for transmission.
Distribution functions of magnetic nanoparticles determined by a numerical inversion method

In the present study, we applied a regularized inversion method to extract the particle size, magnetic moment and relaxation-time distribution of magnetic nanoparticles from small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS), DC magnetization (DCM) and AC susceptibility (ACS) measurements. For the measurements the particles were colloidally dispersed in water. At first approximation the particles could be assumed to be spherically shaped and homogeneously magnetized single-domain particles. As model functions for the inversion, we used the particle form factor of a sphere (SAXS), the Langevin function (DCM) and the Debye model (ACS). The extracted distributions exhibited features/peaks that could be distinctly attributed to the individually dispersed and non-interacting nanoparticles. Further analysis of these peaks enabled, in combination with a prior characterization of the particle ensemble by electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering, a detailed structural and magnetic characterization of the particles. Additionally, all three extracted distributions featured peaks, which indicated deviations of the scattering (SAXS), magnetization (DCM) or relaxation (ACS) behavior from the one expected for individually dispersed, homogeneously magnetized nanoparticles. These deviations could be mainly attributed to partial agglomeration (SAXS, DCM, ACS), uncorrelated surface spins (DCM) and/or intra-well relaxation processes (ACS). The main advantage of the numerical inversion method is that no ad hoc assumptions regarding the line shape of the extracted distribution functions are required, which enabled the detection of these contributions. We highlighted this by comparing the results with the results obtained by standard model fits, where the functional form of the distributions was a priori assumed to be log-normal shaped.
Spatial and temporal variations in active layer thawing and their implication on runoff generation in peat‐covered permafrost terrain

The distribution of frost table depths on a peat‐covered permafrost slope was examined in a discontinuous permafrost region in northern Canada over 4 consecutive years at a variety of spatial scales, to elucidate the role of active layer development on runoff generation. Frost table depths were highly variable over relatively short distances (0.25–1 m), and the spatial variability was strongly correlated to soil moisture distribution, which was partly influenced by lateral flow converging to frost table depressions. On an interannual basis, thaw rates were temporally correlated to air temperature and the amount of precipitation input. Simple simulations show that lateral subsurface flow is governed by the frost table topography having spatially variable storage that has to be filled before water can spill over to generate flow downslope, in a similar manner that bedrock topography controls subsurface flow. However, unlike the bedrock surface, the frost table is variable with time and strongly influenced by the heat transfer involving water. Therefore, it is important to understand the feedback between thawing and subsurface water flow and to properly represent the feedback in hydrological models of permafrost regions.
Design Framework of Household Appliance for Users’ Sustainable Behaviors

Abstract Residential sectors consume one-fifth of global energy that all sectors have actively invested in the enhancement of residential energy efficiency. User behaviors could affect residential energy efficiency that it is regarded as a foresighted research to change unsustainable behaviors with product design. This study aims to discuss the psycho-social determinants in individual energy-saving behaviors and ensure the product design strategies and methods of the mapping determinants to reduce the difference between sustainable design intention and real product operation. With the mode for goal-directed behaviors to study the determinants in household appliance energy-saving behaviors, personal desire could directly affect energy-saving Behavioral Intention and individual Perceived Behavioral Control, Positive Anticipated Emotion, Attitude, and Frequency of Past Behavior would indirectly affect energy-saving behavioral intention through personal desire. The design strategies of ego-information, ego-feedback, and ego-selectivity are the best household appliance intervention design strategies in energy-saving behaviors. Based on the research results, a product designer could establish the mapping relation matrix between product design intervention strategy as the tactic, and psycho-social determinants in energy-saving behaviors as the objective to design the more practicable household appliance for sustainable behaviors.
Determinants of Capital Structure: Empirical Evidence from Turkey

The primary aim of this study is to identify the firm-specific determinants of the capital structure of non-financial firms in Turkey and to test whether the determinants offered by financial theory are able to provide convincing explanations for non-financial firms in Turkey. Because the relationship between liquidity and capital structure is not well examined for Turkish market in the context of capital structure theories, we include liquidity as independent variable in our models in addition to profitability, growth, non-debt tax shields, size, tangibility, and risk. We use panel regression as econometric model and cover the period from 2009 to 2016. Our results show that profitability, non-debt tax shield, size, tangibility, and liquidity are significant determinants of the capital structure, size being the most robust one. On the other hand, growth and volatility are not significantly related with the leverage. Moreover, we conclude that capital structure decisions of non-financial firms in Turkey are mostly consistent with the hypothesis of pecking order theory rather than trade-off theory.
Outsourcing and structural change. Application to a set of OECD countries

The examination in this paper aims to bridge outsourcing and structural change analyses in order to obtain more accurate insights into the extent of outsourcing and to extract more reliable policy recommendations for dealing with its effects. We do this by applying a ‘battery’ of outsourcing measurements to a group of OECD countries from 1980 to the mid 1990s. Expected results (e.g. the idiosyncratic outsourcing patterns of the UK) are confirmed on a more systematic and comparable basis, while original results (e.g. the low integration of business services in manufacturing in the former socialist economies) are based on the exploitation of new data.
THE EFFECT OF DIETS INCORPORATING MUCUNA (Mucuna pruriens) SEED MEAL ON THE PERFORMANCE OF LAYING HENS AND BROILERS

SUMMARY The effect of incorporating Mucuna (Mucuna pruriens) seed meal on the performance of laying hens and broilers was investigated. In the first experiment, one hundred 18-week old black Nera birds were randomly allocated on body weight basis to 4 experimental diets. In diets 1, 2, and 3, 40% soybean meal was replaced with autoclaved (AMSM), raw (MSM) and roasted (RMSM) Mucuna seed meal, respectively. As soybean meal contained 15% of the diets in the control diet (Diet 4), the level of Mucuna seed meal in the diets was 6%. Each dietary treatment had 25 birds distributed to 5 replicates of 5 birds. The feed consumption of laying hens fed the raw Mucuna seed diet was reduced (P<0.05) while the feed consumption of birds on the control, AMSM and RMSM Mucuna seed treatments was similar. None of the Mucuna diets had effect on egg size as the egg weights, lengths and widths were similar across all the treatments. Egg yolk index did not significantly change by feeding any form of Mucuna diet. There were no meat or blood spots in the eggs. In the second experiment, 160 day-old broiler chicks were randomly allocated to four dietary treatments in a completely randomized design. The diets were formulated in a way that roasted Mucuna seed meal (RMSM) replaced soybean meal in a conventional broiler diet by 0, 33.3, 66.7 and 100% at both the starter and finisher phases. The final levels of RMSM in the diets were therefore 0, 6, 12 and 18% at the starter phase and 0, 5, 10 and 15% at the finisher phase. For broilers, 12 and 18% RMSM reduced (P<0.05) body weight gain and feed consumption at the starter and finisher phases. None of the levels of RMSM affected efficiency of feed utilization, or weights of gizzards and hearts. Addition of 6% RMSM had no effect on the organ weights but weights of air sacs, small and large intestine and caeca were reduced while those of liver and spleen were increased at 12 and 18% RMSM. The 18% RMSM resulted in various degenerative syndromes in the organs of the birds. Results of the studies suggest (i) that 6% processed Mucuna seed meal in the diets of layers had no adverse effect on egg qualities and (ii) broilers raised on diets containing 6% RMSM performed as well as those fed on sole soybean meal diet. Levels higher than 6% caused a reduced performance of the birds because the antinutritional factors in Mucuna disrupted the digestive tract and organs.
Modelling the effects of dust evolution on the SEDs of galaxies of different morphological type

We present photometric evolution models of galaxies, in which, in addition to the stellar component, the effects of an evolving dusty interstellar medium have been included with particular care. Starting from the work of Calura et al., in which chemical evolution models have been used to study the evolution of both the gas and dust components of the interstellar medium in the solar neighbourhood, elliptical and irregular galaxies, it has been possible to combine these models with a spectrophotometric stellar code that includes dust reprocessing (GRASIL) to analyse the evolution of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of these galaxies. We test our models against observed SEDs both in the local universe and at high redshift, and use them to predict how the percentage of reprocessed starlight evolves for each type of galaxy. The importance of following the dust evolution is investigated by comparing our results with those obtained by adopting simple assumptions to treat this component.
Impact of Bank Credit on Economic Growth in Nepal

This study examines the impact of commercial bank credit to the private sector on the economic growth in Nepal from supply side perspectives. The study has applied Johansen co-integration approach and Error Correction Model using the time series data for the period of 1975-2013. The empirical results show that bank credit to the private sector has positive effects on the economic growth in Nepal only in the long run. Nevertheless, in the short run, it has been observed a feedback effect from economic growth to private sector credit.
Parallel Algorithms for Spatial Rainfall Distribution

This paper proposes parallel algorithms for precipitation of flood modelling, especially applied in spatial rainfall distribution. As an important input in flood modelling, spatial distribution of rainfall is always needed as a pre-conditioned model. In this paper two interpolation methods, Inverse distance weighting (IDW) and Ordinary kriging (OK) are discussed. Both are developed in parallel algorithms in order to reduce the computational time. To measure the computation efficiency, the performance of the parallel algorithms are compared to the serial algorithms for both methods. Findings indicate that: (1) the computation time of OK algorithm is up to 23% longer than IDW; (2) the computation time of OK and IDW algorithms is linearly increasing with the number of cells/ points; (3) the computation time of the parallel algorithms for both methods is exponentially decaying with the number of processors. The parallel algorithm of IDW gives a decay factor of 0.52, while OK gives 0.53; (4) The parallel algorithms perform near ideal speed-up.