Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Child Occupant Safety in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis, Ghana: An Observational Study

Seating positions and restraint use influence the severity of injury among child passengers in the event of a crash. In light of this, legislation mandating age-appropriate child restraint use, in suitable seating positions was enacted, yet very little is known about its compliance level. This study therefore aimed to assess restriant use and seating positions among children riding in vehicles. Covert but unobstructed synchronised observations of restriant use and seating positions were conducted at 11 automated signalized intersections in the STM. Overall, 3849 occupants, comprising 1535 motorists and 2314 child passengers were clearly observed. A little over one third of the children were riding in the front seats, of which one-half were younger than 5 years of age. 1 in 5 of the children observed were riding on adults laps, with 42% in the front seats. Motorists’ belt use 50.6% (95% C.I=48.10-53.10) was significantly higher than children 6.6% (95% C.I=5.83-7.37). Restraint use among front-seated child passengers (14.0%; 95% C.I=12.63-15.37) was markedly higher than rear-seated ones (3.7%; 95% C.I=2.80-4.61). Children were twice as more (OR=2; 95%C.I=1.14-2.25) likely to be restrained when motorists were belted; and thrice as more (OR=3.18; 95%C.I=2.15-4.72) while travelling with a female motorist. Restriant use was prevalent in private cars, during rush-hours and increased with child’s age. Restriant use was incredibly generally low among children, with significant proportion riding in front seating positions. Efforts should be directed at elevating the understanding of parents concerning the importance of restraining younger children in the rear seats, alongside the provision of restraints at subsidized rates or preferably free of charge, while encouraging their use through well-planned and adequately resourced extensive public education and enforcement campaigns. Key words : Child restraint use, legislation, seating position, Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis, Ghana
PIT Tag Antennae Arrays as Fishery Monitoring Tools in Tropical Environments

Long-term monitoring of marine and estuarine fishes is labor intensive and subject to varying environmental conditions and spatio-temporal constraints. To better understand fish populations and increase predictive capabilities, scientists and managers need reliable long-term monitoring systems that collect data on populations through all environmental conditions and reduce the labor required for data collection. To collect long-term data on fish survival and movements, we adapted autonomous passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag antennae for use in tropical environments. These antennae function through all environmental conditions, accurately recording the unique identification number of each PIT tagged individual passing over an antenna, and only require labor for construction, data download, maintenance, and the marking of fish. Antennae have long life spans and function continuously, and PIT tags have a lifespan measured in decades, making this system ideal for long-term studies. The utility of this recapture system was demonstrated during a nursery habitat study in Charlotte Harbor, Florida USA. From November 2008 to February 2010, we marked 1,446 juvenile common snook (Centropomus undecimalis) with PIT tags (and a total of 3,810 snook since 2004). Between August 2008 and August 2010, the 11 antennae we constructed throughout four mangrove creeks recorded 362,880 PIT tag detections of 1,594 individual fish. The antenna array recaptured 83.7% of fish marked after antenna construction was complete. The detailed recapture information allowed for highly precise calculation of apparent survival and examination of long-term habitat use. In addition to discussing the data we have collected, this paper details how to design and construct customized PIT tag antenna systems and covers the issues and limitations associated with adapting these systems to tropical marine and estuarine environments. These systems may be especially useful in the tropics for monitoring juveniles of other species that use near shore nursery habitats such as mangroves.
Knowledge Acquisition and Administrative Employee Performance in Nigerian Universities

This paper examined the relationship between knowledge acquisition practices and performance of administrative employees in tertiary educational institutions in South-South Nigeria. The study had relied on a structured survey instrument adapted from existing literature and code named KAAEP-Q to obtain required data on the investigated phenomenon. This was served on the sample subjects that were selected through a random sampling exercise. The result from the analysed data showed a significant relationship between knowledge acquisition and administrative employee performance in the studied institutions. It was found that the knowledge acquisition influence the functional capability of administrative employees in higher educational institutions and knowledge acquisition has a high predictive capability for administrative employee performance (R = .736).
Title : Limitations in global information on species occurrences

Detailed information on species distributions is crucial for answering central questions in biogeography, ecology, evolutionary biology and conservation. Millions of species occurrence records have been mobilized via international data-sharing networks, but inherent biases, gaps and uncertainties hamper broader application. In my PhD thesis, I presented the first comprehensive analyses of global patterns and drivers of these limitations across different taxonomic groups and spatial scales. Integrating 300 million occurrence records for terrestrial vertebrates and plants with comprehensive taxonomic databases, expert range maps and regional checklists, I demonstrated extensive taxonomic, geographical and temporal biases, gaps and uncertainties. I identified key socio-economic drivers of data bias across different taxonomic
Age and Cultural Differences in Cognitive and Affective Components of Subjective Well-Being

Dr. Yiwei Chen, Advisor Previous research suggests that subjective well-being (SWB) is experienced differently according to age and culture. The present study examined age and cultural differences in cognitive and affective components of SWB. Forty-two Chinese older adults, 47 Chinese young adults, 52 American older adults, and 47 American young adults completed surveys measuring self-life satisfaction, family’s life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect. It was found that older adults had lower negative affect than young adults in both China and U.S. It was also found that Americans had higher levels of self-life satisfaction, family’s life satisfaction, and positive affect than Chinese across age groups. Additionally, family’s life satisfaction was more related to self-life satisfaction for Chinese than for Americans. Findings are discussed in light of the Socioemotional Selectivity Theory and the theories of culture and self-construal.
Market Concentration, Firm Size and Innovative Activity A Firm-level Economic Analysis of Selected Indian Industries under Economic Liberalization

The economic liberalization in India was expected to boost the economy, particularly the industrial sector through faster technological development. The Schumpeterian hypothesis, which studies the relationship between market structure variables such as firm size and market concentration and their relationship with innovative activity, has been exhaustively tested in the context of the developed countries and India. An attempt is made in the paper to study this relationship with reference to India’s economic liberalization. Hoping to overcome some of the problems of the earlier studies conducted in India, the paper tries to develop a new analytical framework for studying this relationship. Innovative activity is conceptualized here as a combination of in-house R&D and the import of technology after India’s liberalization. Using probit and tobit models, the study analyses the firm-specific, product-specific and industry-specific factors which affect the investment decision to undertake innovation and the intensity of
Research Articles : Karyotype Analysis and Physical Mapping Using Two rRNA Genes in Dioecious Plant, Humulus japonicus Sieboid & Zucc

Using meiosis and mitosis chromosomes, we have karyotyped and physically mapped of Humulus japonicus. The somatic metaphase chromosome numbers were 2n = 2x = 14 + XX in female, 2n = 2x = 14 + XY1Y2 in male and 2n = 3x = 21 + XXX in triploid. The 5S and 45S rDNA genes were physically mapped on the metaphase chromosomes using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). One pair of 5S rDNA gene was detected on the short arm of chromosome 4 and two pairs of 45S rDNA gene were observed on the terminal regions of the short arms of chromosome 5 and 7 in both female and male plants. In addition, three pairs of two rDNAs were detected on the chromosome 4, 5 and 7 of triploid. At meiosis, a trivalent chromosome figure was clearly seen, of which Y1 and Y2 could be distinguished from X by their premature condensation and three chromosomes, Y1-X-Y2, the forms associated by terminal chiasmata.
Soil property v ariationS in relation to plant community and altitudinal zone in the rangelandS of epiruS, greece

Roukos, Ch . , C. PaPanikolaou, i. Mountousis, s. kandRelis and F. Chatzithe odoRidis, 2011. soil property variations in relation to plant community and altitudinal zone in the rangelands of epirus, Greece. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 17: 806-815 epirus is a mountainous area in northwest Greece. Most of the rangelands extended there are overgrazed and eroded. this study was performed in order to assess soil property variations along with the dominant plant communities, the altitudinal zone and their interaction in the Preveza Prefecture grasslands in Epirus. Forty-eight field sites, with a west-southwest aspect divided into three different altitudinal zones, representing the typical rangeland conditions of this area were selected. t hese rangelands, based on the dominant species, were grouped into six plant communities (Bromus – Hordeum, Festuca – Lotus, Asphodelus, Pteridium, Phlomis, and Quercus). therefore, four representative soil samples from the surface layer were collected from each plant community area for the purposes of the experiment. soil texture, organic matter, electrical conductivity, ph, active Ca, no 3 -n, available P, exchangeable K, Cd, and Pb were analyzed and estimated. Soil texture showed significant differences among altitudinal zones, while soil organic matter, electrical conductivity, ph, active Ca, no 3 -n, available P, exchange able K, Cd, and Pb presented significant differences among plant communities. The results of this study showed that the soil’s physical and chemical properties are significantly affected by the altitudinal zone, although plant communities significantly affected mostly the soil’s chemical properties, indicating that each plant community created its own soil micro environmental conditions.
Molecular Characterization of Natural Fungal Flora in Black Olives: From Field to Table

In this study, molecular markers were used to determine fungal flora in black olive fruits from field surveys to the table, following the fermentation process. Field samples were collected from different locations of Canakkale province, including Gokceada (Imbros), where organic farming is employed. Some of the fruits from field samples were used for black table olive production and then fungal flora was tracked during the fermentation process. Fungal isolation was also conducted on some commercial samples. Fifty seven isolates from field samples, 56 isolates from the fermentation process and 17 isolates from commercial products were obtained. Among these isolates, 41 Alternaria, 43 Penicillium, 19 Aspergillus, 8 Monascus and 19 other genera were determined using amplified sizes of the Beta-tubulin gene region. Species level identification was carried out based on sequences of Beta-tubulin amplicons, which provided accurate identification, especially where the genera were morphologically highly similar. The occurrence and prevalence of fungal species changed in fungal collections from the field to the fermentation process. While Alternaria alternata was common in field samples, they were absent during fermentation. Many of these identified species, such as Penicillium expansum, Aspergillus niger and Monascus pilosus, which are known as potential toxin producers such as aflatoxin, ochratoxin A and citrinin, were found both in natural and fermented samples, even at the end of the fermentation process. These results showed that some fungal species which survive on olives from the field to the table are potential toxin producers and can be successfully characterized by amplification and sequencing of Beta-tubulin gene.
Non-Thermal Insights on Mass and Energy Flows Through the Galactic Centre and into the Fermi Bubbles

We construct a simple model of the star-formation- (and resultant supernova-) driven mass and energy flows through the inner ∼200 pc (in diameter) of the Galaxy. Our modelling is constrained, in particular, by the non-thermal radio continuum and γ-ray signals detected from the region. The modelling points to a current star formation rate of 0.04–0.12 M⊙ yr−1 at 2σ confidence within the region with best-fitting value in the range 0.08–0.12 M⊙ yr−1 which – if sustained over 10 Gyr – would fill out the ∼109 M⊙ stellar population of the nuclear bulge. Mass is being accreted on to the Galactic Centre (GC) region at a rate yr−1. The region’s star formation activity drives an outflow of plasma, cosmic rays and entrained, cooler gas. Neither the plasma nor the entrained gas reaches the gravitational escape speed, however, and all this material fountains back on to the inner Galaxy. The system we model can naturally account for the recently observed ≳106 M⊙‘halo’ of molecular gas surrounding the Central Molecular Zone out to 100–200 pc heights. The injection of cooler, high-metallicity material into the Galactic halo above the GC may catalyze the subsequent cooling and condensation of hot plasma out of this region and explain the presence of relatively pristine, nuclear-unprocessed gas in the GC. This process may also be an important ingredient in understanding the long-term stability of the GC star formation rate. The plasma outflow from the GC reaches a height of a few kpc and is compellingly related to the recently discovered Fermi bubbles by a number of pieces of evidence. These include that the outflow advects precisely (i) the power in cosmic rays required to sustain the bubbles’γ-ray luminosity in saturation; (ii) the hot gas required to compensate for gas cooling and drop-out from the bubbles and (iii) the magnetic field required to stabilize the walls of these structures. Our modelling demonstrates that ∼109 M⊙ of hot gas is processed through the GC over 10 Gyr. We speculate that the continual star formation in the GC over the age of the Milky Way has kept the supermassive black hole in a quiescent state thus preventing it from significantly heating the coronal gas, allowing for the continual accretion of gas on to the disc and the sustenance of star formation on much wider scales in the Galaxy. In general, our investigations explicitly reveal the GC’s important role in the Milky Way’s wider stellar ecology.
Comparing electron transport with gas exchange: parameterising exchange rates between alternative photosynthetic currencies for eukaryotic phytoplankton

Estimates of aquatic primary productivity derived from in situ active chl a fluorescence have rapidly gained popularity over the past 2 decades. This trend has been driven primarily by the need to improve upon 'conventional' carbon (C) uptake- or oxygen (O2) evolution-based productivity estimates that require water samples to be incubated ex situ. Unlike the conventional approaches to measuring productivity, chlorophyll fluorescence measurements inherently describe only the activity of photosystem II (PSII) in the light reactions; thus, the photosynthetic 'currency' of the fluorescencebased approach is an electron turnover rate for PSII (ETRPSII). A photosynthetic currency of electrons has limited ecological relevance but can be converted to a currency of carbon if an 'exchange rate', i.e. a value or factor of equivalence for any single time point, is applied. We used fast repetition rate fluorometry (FRRf), mass inlet membrane spectrometry (MIMS) and 14C uptake to determine ETRPSII, gross and net O2 evolution and C fixation measured simultaneously for 6 microalgal species and for different steady-state growth conditions. Quantifying the PSII reaction centre (RCII) concentration and the spectral dependency of the effective absorption cross section yielded an FRRf approach that provided a robust estimate of the ETRPSII and gross O2 evolution for all species and conditions tested; however, the ETRPSII exceeded carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake by a factor of 5.4 to 11.6. At least 3 species exhibited substantial light-dependent O2 cycling to account for 40 to 60% of the difference between the ETRPSII and CO2 uptake. The highly variable nature of the ETRPSII:CO2 uptake 'exchange rate' observed here highlights the need for future studies that rely on active fluorescence to examine aquatic productivity to focus towards a systematic description of how electrons are coupled to C fixation in nature. © Inter-Research 2009.
Factors Affecting Market Outlet Choice of Potato Producers in Eastern Hararghe Zone, Ethiopia

Selection of appropriate channel for delivering farm products is not an easy task. There are various constraints that limit households in choosing appropriate channels. In this regard, the current study was aimed at identifying factors affecting channel choice decisions of potato producers in Ethiopia. The analysis is based on primary data collected from 400 farm households selected from three randomly selected districts in eastern part of Oromiya region, Ethiopia. Multinomial logit model was employed for analyzing the data. The results indicated that farming experience, distance to the nearest market, access to market information, amount of potato sold, post-harvest value addition, and bargaining power of farmers affect channel choice decisions in one way or another. Putting in place and strengthening institutions that deliver timely and appropriate market information is among the major recommendations of this study. Keywords: Channel choice decision, Ethiopia, Market outlets, Multinomial logit, Potato Value Chain
Localization and Functional Characterization of a Novel Molluscan Adipokinetic Hormone

Recently, a dominant hypothesis has emerged to suggest gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), corazonin (CRZ), adipokinetic hormone (AKH), AKH/corazonin-related peptide (ACP), and red pigment-concentrating hormone (RPCH) all share common ancestry to form a GnRH superfamily. The aim of this thesis was threefold. Specifically, it aims first to examine the anatomical distribution of a novel AKH, termed Aplysia-AKH (ap-AKH), in the opisthobranch mollusk, Aplysia californica. Second, in vivo functions of ap-AKH were investigated. Lastly, ap-AKH was compared to a related Aplysia peptide, Aplysia-GnRH (apGnRH) in distribution and function. To achieve these aims, the first research chapter (Chapter 2) examines ap-AKH transcript and mature peptide localization in the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral tissues of A. californica. Results show that ap-AKH mRNA and peptide are localized exclusively in the CNS, with abdominal, cerebral, and pleural ganglia being the primary sites of ap-AKH production. However, ap-AKH-positive fibers were found throughout the CNS, suggesting diverse neuromodulatory roles. The distribution of ap-AKH differs markedly from that of ap-GnRH. Chapter 3 examines in vivo physiological changes induced by ap-AKH injections. ap-AKH significantly inhibited feeding, reduced body mass, increased gut motility, and reduced gonadal mass. The in vivo effects of ap-AKH differed substantially from ap-GnRH, but both peptides suppressed feeding, raising the possibility of some functional overlap. Overall, the distinct distribution and physiological effects of ap-AKH suggest ap-AKH has diverged functionally from ap-GnRH over the course of evolution. Further, that both ap-AKH and ap-
How the Neoproterozoic S-isotope record illuminates the genesis of vein gold systems: an example from the Dalradian Supergroup in Scotland

Abstract The genesis of quartz vein-hosted gold mineralization in the Neoproterozoic–early Palaeozoic Dalradian Supergroup of Scotland remains controversial. An extensive new dataset of S-isotope analyses from the Tyndrum area, together with correlation of the global Neoproterozoic sedimentary S-isotope dataset to the Dalradian stratigraphy, demonstrates a mixed sedimentary and magmatic sulphur source for the mineralization. δ34S values for early molybdenite- and later gold-bearing mineralization range from −2 to +12‰, but show distinct populations related to mineralization type. Modelling of the relative input of magmatic and sedimentary sulphur into gold-bearing quartz veins with δ34S values of +12‰ indicates a maximum of 68% magmatic sulphur, and that S-rich, SEDEX-bearing, Easdale Subgroup metasedimentary rocks lying stratigraphically above the host rocks represent the only viable source of sedimentary sulphur in the Dalradian Supergroup. Consequently, the immediate host rocks were not a major source of sulphur to the mineralization, consistent with their low bulk sulphur and lack of metal enrichment. Recent structural models of the Tyndrum area suggest that Easdale Subgroup metasedimentary rocks, enriched in 34S, sulphur and metals, are repeated at depth owing to folding, and it is suggested that these are the most likely source of sedimentary sulphur, and possibly metals, for the ore fluids.
Nickel-based catalysts: Dependence of properties on nickel loading and modification with palladium

The aim of this study was comparative analysis of catalysts with 5 and 20 wt. % Ni loading, with and without Pd additive, and it included: determination of reduction degrees, investigation on microstructure by scanning electron microscopy and chemical analysis by energy-dispersive spectroscopy. Ni/Al2O3 and Ni-Pd/Al2O3 catalysts supported on α-Al2O3-based foams were synthesized by aerosol assisted impregnation. Impregnation of the foams by ultrasonically aerosolized chlorides was followed by drying at 473 K and hydrogen reduction at 533 and 633 K. Lower Ni loading resulted in higher reduction degrees. Ni loading of 20 wt. % enabled relatively uniform coverage of the foam with a metallic coating. With activity modifier (Pd), nearly complete reduction was achieved at both temperatures. Reduction degrees reached 99.4 and 98.2 wt. % at 533 K for 5 and 20 wt. % of Ni, respectively. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 34033: Innovative synergy of by-products, waste minimization and clean technologies in metallurgy]