Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Foreign Direct Investment and the Nigerian Economy

Most economic rationale for granting special incentives for attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is based on the belief that FDI bridges the ‘idea gaps’ between rich and the poor nations in addition to the generation of technological transfers and spillovers. The study examines the applicability of FDI and the Impact they makes to the Nigerian economy hypothesis using empirical evidence from Nigeria were used. Empirical literature however finds controversial, the effects of FDI on productivity. In some literatures, it was revealed that multinational corporations are highly adaptive social agents and therefore, the degree to which they can help in improving economic activities through FDI will be heavily influenced by the policy choice of the host country. Data were collected for the period of more than 30 years. For analyzing the data both econometric and statistical method were applied. In order to evaluate the relationship between FDI and major economic indicators such as GDP, IIP and GFCF ordinary least square was used. The model revealed a positive relationship between FDI and those variables but FDI has not contribute much to the growth and development of the Nigerian economy and was evidence due to repatriation of profits, contract fees, and interest payment on foreign loans. The study therefore recommends human capacity building, infrastructural facilities and strategic policies to attract FDI inflow.
VOICES OF THE POOR

If poverty is so painful, why do the poor remain poor? Poor people are not lazy, stupid, or corrupt. Why then is poverty so persistent? Two strands of thinking seem essential to address this question: one is the realities, experiences, and perspectives of poor women and men themselves; and the second is understanding the informal and formal institutions of society with which poor people interact. With this in mind, we draw upon 78 Participatory Poverty Assessment (PPA) reports, which are based on discussions with poor women and men and other stakeholders. These studies were conducted in the 1990s in 47 countries around the world.
Size-related mating and reproductive success in a drosophilid: Phorticella striata (vol 42, pg 203, 1993)

Sarat C. Yenisetti and Sreedhara N. Hegde (2003) Size-related mating and reproductive success in a drosphilid: Phorticella striata. Zoological Studies 42(1): 203-210. Influence of male and female body size on mating preference in Phorticella striata is studied with the help of male and female choice experiments. In female preferential mating (female choice), males with long wings were observed to be successful mating with both large and small females, indicating the success of large over small males in male rivalry, which may also be due to selection by females. In male preferential mating (male choice) both large and small males preferred mating with large females. These results prove that size-assortative mating exists in the drosophilid P striata. Courtship latency, mating latency, copulation duration, fecundity, and fertility were studied using 4 different crosses (large male x large female; large male x small female; small male x large female; small male x small female). Courtship latency and mating latency were shorter for crosses in which 1 or both sexes were large. In the small male x small female cross the longest courtship and mating latencies were observed. Lower fecundity was noticed in the cross small male x large female cross, and differences in fecundity with the other 3 crosses were statistically insignificant. The large male x large female cross showed the highest fertility, and differences between the other 3 crosses were statistically insignificant. Correlations among longer copulation duration, higher fecundity, and the highest fertility exist only for the cross involving both sexes of the large size. This reveals that higher fertility depends on both duration of copulation and body size of both sexes involved. The number of ovarioles present in larger and smaller Phorticella was studied. As body size increases, the ovarole number also increases. In the light of results obtained in Phorticella striata, the authors support the hypothesis of `bigger the better' proposed by Hegde and Krishna (1997). http://www.sinica. edu.tw/zool/zoolstud/42.1/203.pdf.
Corporate social responsibility and executives' attitudes in Germany, Poland and Hungary

By examining executives’ cognitive concepts of responsibility and the CSR activities of companies in three latecomers to explicit Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – East and West Germany, Poland and Hungary – we show that the speci! c contexts matter for both. However, attitudes and activities are not in a deterministic relation. In (West) Germany, a neocorporatist concept of collective regulation is supportive of CSR, and implicit CSR is not driven out by an explicit CSR. In Poland and Hungary, the public discourse on CSR promoted by the EU has led to a ceremonial adoption of CSR by companies, while etatist and minimalist concepts of responsibility are relatively widespread. Substantive CSR is fostered by multinationals and executives who have studied in an Anglo-Saxon country. Yet, this seems not to be a peculiar feature of the Polish and Hungarian ‘dependent market economy’.
TOUCH INTERACTION WITH 3D GEOGRAPHICAL VISUALIZATION ON WEB: SELECTED TECHNOLOGICAL AND USER ISSUES

The use of both 3D visualization and devices with touch displays is increasing. In this paper, we focused on the Web technologies for 3D visualization of spatial data and its interaction via touch screen gestures. At the first stage, we compared the support of touch interaction in selected JavaScript libraries on different hardware (desktop PCs with touch screens, tablets, and smartphones) and software platforms. Afterward, we realized simple empiric test (within-subject design, 6 participants, 2 simple tasks, LCD touch monitor Acer and digital terrain models as stimuli) focusing on the ability of users to solve simple spatial tasks via touch screens. An in-house testing web tool was developed and used based on JavaScript, PHP, and X3DOM languages and Hammer.js libraries. The correctness of answers, speed of users’ performances, used gestures, and a simple gesture metric was recorded and analysed. Preliminary results revealed that the pan gesture is most frequently used by test participants and it is also supported by the majority of 3D libraries. Possible gesture metrics and future developments including the interpersonal differences are discussed in the conclusion.
Frame assisted H2O electrolysis induced H2 bubbling transfer of large area graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition on Cu

An improved technique for transferring large area graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition on copper is presented. It is based on mechanical separation of the graphene/copper by H2 bubbles during H2O electrolysis, which only takes a few tens of seconds while leaving the copper cathode intact. A semi-rigid plastic frame in combination with thin polymer layer span on graphene gives a convenient way of handling- and avoiding wrinkles and holes in graphene. Optical and electrical characterizations prove the graphene quality is better than that obtained by traditional wet etching transfer. This technique appears to be highly reproducible and cost efficient.
Impacts of Community Forests on Livelihoods in Cameroon: Lessons from Two Case Studies

SUMMARY Community forestry is considered a tool for decentralisation and devolution and as efficient strategy to achieve the multiple goals of sustainable resource management and poverty alleviation. However, evidence worldwide has shown mixed results. A financial, economic and environmental cost-benefit analysis of two community forests in Cameroon revealed that community forests are economically and environmentally profitable, and benefit communities more, compared to a baseline situation. Sharp differences between the economic and financial returns highlight the importance of conditional factors. These include the communities' technical and managerial skills, access to finance, legal resources and market information, and the communities' capacity for vertical integration. The cases highlight the limitations of the current regulatory and policy framework as a determining influence on the exploitation of community forests and conclude there is a pressing need for institutional and organizational reforms within the governmental and support apparatus to increase the profitability and equity of community forestry.
The Measurement of Quality-Adjusted Price Changes

This paper considers three approaches to estimating quality-adjusted price changes: the dummy variable approach from a hedonic regression, a superlative or exact hedonic index (SEHI) approach and a matching technique. The dummy variable approach is prevalent in the literature and has been used as independent estimates of quality changes when commenting on sources of error in consumer price indexes (Boskin et al., 1996 and Hoffman, 1998). However, the availability of scanner data provides an opportunity to utilise data on the prices (unit values), volumes and quality characteristics of a much wider range of transactions and to consider methods less restrictive than the dummy variable approach. The practical use of SEHI and a matching techniques using scanner data is explored and the results from all three methods compared. JEL classification: C43, C81, D12, E31, L15, L68, O47
Dispersal of the Scotch broom gall mite Aceria genistae : implications for biocontrol

The gall mite Aceria genistae, a biological control agent of Scotch broom Cytisus scoparius, was first released in New Zealand in 2007. The dispersal ability of A. genistae was investigated to determine whether slow dispersal might limit its ability to control Scotch broom in forestry plantations, where a rapid impact of biocontrol is required. Transects were set up from the original release plants at four sites in Canterbury, New Zealand, and the presence or absence of galled plants was recorded at increasing distances from the release plants until no more galled plants could be found. The maximum dispersal rate recorded was 83.3 m/year, which is unlikely to be fast enough to greatly benefit forestry in New Zealand. Techniques may have to be developed to enhance mite dispersal in forestry plantations.
Isothermal compression of face-centered cubic iron

Abstract Isothermal compression curves of face-centered cubic iron (γ-Fe) were determined at high temperatures (1273 and 1073 K) up to 27 GPa by in situ X-ray diffraction experiments using synchrotron radiation and the Kawai-type multi-anvil apparatus. Fits of the third-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state to pressure-volume data yielded V0 = 48.997 ± 0.040 Å3, KT0 = 108.3 ± 2.4 GPa, and K′T = 5.8 ± 0.2 for 1273 K, and V0 = 48.600 ± 0.098 Å3, KT0 = 88.9 ± 5.1 GPa, and K′T = 8.9 ± 0.7 for 1073 K, where V0, KT0, and K′T are unit-cell volume, bulk modulus and its pressure derivative, respectively, at ambient pressure. The relatively large values of K′T are attributable to successive electronic spin state transitions from mixed-spin at lower pressures to low-spin at higher pressures. When discussing the constituents of Earth’s (or other planets’) solid inner core in terms of density and equations of state, one must carefully consider the influence of the electronic spin state.
Affective politics in gendered organizations: Affirmative notes on becoming-woman

Current approaches to the study of affective relations are over-determined in a way that ignores their radicality, yet abstracted to such an extent that the corporeality and differentially lived experience of power and resistance is neglected. To radicalize the potential of everyday affects, this article calls for an intensification of corporeality in affect research. We do this by exploring the affective trajectory of ‘becoming-woman’ introduced by Deleuze and Guattari. Becoming-woman is a process of gendered deterritorialization and a specific variation on becoming-minoritarian. Rather than a reference to empirical women, becoming-woman is a necessary force of critique against the phallogocentric powers that shape and constrain working lives in gendered organizations. While extant research on gendered organizations tends to focus on the overwhelming power of oppressive gender structures, engaging with becoming-woman releases affective flows and possibilities that contest and transgress the increasingly subtle and confusing ways in which gendered organization affects people at work. Through becoming-woman, an affective and affirmative politics capable of resisting the effects of gendered organization becomes possible. This serves to further challenge gendered oppression in organizations and to affirm a life beyond the harsh limits that gender can impose.
Effect of a compost mulch on seed germination and plant growth in a burnt forest soil from NW Spain

Abstract In this work, a revegetation experiment was performed on a forest soil artificially burnt in the laboratory, and the results of the soil without treatment were compared to those of the soil capped with an organic mulch. Plant biomass, as well as the vari-ation of pH, electric conductivity (EC), and phytotoxicity with depth, were recorded. Only a very low plant growth was observed in the uncapped soil. The substrate-amended soil had a higher production than the uncapped soil, despite showing an increased EC due to the mulch. The increase of pH or salinity during burning can be discarded as the cause of the different plant growth, because the values reached were not high enough to justify the negative effect observed. The determination of phytotoxicity after burning the soil at temperatures between 100oC and 500oC sug-gested that the problems observed for seed germination in the burnt soil might be linked to the formation of undetermined phytotoxic substances after soil heating at a temperature near 200oC. Although polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons followed the same trend as phytotoxicity with temperature, their concentrations in soil were too low to be the cause of the effects observed, so they can be discarded as playing an important role in phytotoxicity.
Links between friends’ physical aggression and adolescents’ physical aggression

Exposure to deviant friends has been found to be a powerful source of influence on children’s and adolescents’ aggressive behavior. However, the contribution of deviant friends may have been overestimated because of a possible non-accounted gene-environment correlation (rGE). In this study, we used a cross-lagged design to test whether friends’ physical aggression at age 10 predicts an increase in participants’ physical aggression from age 10 to age 13 years. Participants were 201 pairs of monozygotic twins who are part of the Quebec Longitudinal Twin Study. We performed two sets of analyses. In the first set of analyses, using twins as singletons, we found that teacher-rated friends’ physical aggression predicted an increase in each twin’s self-reported physical aggression from age 10 to age 13, above and beyond auto-regressive and concurrent links. Second, we used within-pair differences in regard to friends’ physical aggression to predict an increase in within-pair differences in physical aggression, thus accounting for family-wide influences, including a likely rGE at age 10. No significant association was found, however. These results suggest that part of the influence attributed to friends in past studies may have been due to common underlying genetic effects on both physical aggression and association with physically aggressive friends.
Sinapic Acid Degradation by the Yeast Rhodotorula glutinis

SUMMARY: The degradation of sinapic acid, a monomer of hardwood lignins, by the yeast Rhodotorula glutinis was studied. Syringic acid, 3-O-methyl gallic acid, gallic acid and 2,6-dimethoxy-1,4-benzoquinone were identified as degradation products. Glucose was shown to be required for the demethylation of the methoxy groups on the ring. Unlike in the bacterium Pseudomonas putida, ring cleavage seemed to occur via gallic acid and not via methyl gallic acid. Cell-free oxidative decarboxylase (hydroxylase) activity was detected; this enzyme might be ultimately responsible for the formation of dimethoxyquinone.
Frequency and consequences of feather holes in Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica

The relationship between feather quality, estimated through the prevalence and intensity of feather holes, and the breeding performance and survival of the Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica was studied over a 5-year period. In addition, we present some indirect data on the role of chewing lice in producing the feather holes. The balanced distribution of feather holes (high prevalence, low aggregation) corresponds with the pattern of distribution of lice on colonial birds, and in the Barn Swallow. Feather holes were significantly and positively associated with the arrival dates of the birds, as both males and females with an increased number of feather holes started laying later. Females that survived the winter had significantly fewer holes than non-surviving females, whereas there was no difference in feather hole number between surviving and non-surviving males. Given that there was no association between the number of feather holes and body condition indices, except for the tail length of male Barn Swallows, we suggest that the negative effect of feather holes on the fitness of the birds is mainly apparent during periods of intensive locomotor activity, such as migration. Alternatively, if feather holes are an indicator of quality, those birds with a high intensity of feather holes may have been of poor quality. These birds may have been less able to cope with the environmental conditions, resulting in the lower survival and later arrival of the birds to the breeding grounds. The negative relationship between the length of the outermost tail feathers of males and the incidence of feather holes suggests that the tail is a condition-dependent secondary sexual characteristic.
Extreme Value or Trolls on Top? The Characteristics of the Most Litigated Patents

We identify the patents litigated most frequently between 2000 and 2007, and compare those patents to a control set of patents that have been litigated only once in that period. The results are startling. The most litigated patents are far more likely to be software and telecommunications patents, not mechanical or other types of patents. They are significantly different from once-litigated patents in ways that signal their value up front. And they are disproportionately owned by non-practicing entities (aka trolls). The results don’t answer all the policy questions; we offer only one important piece of a larger mosaic. But they have significant implications for debates over patent reform, since we show both that the most litigated patents are the most valuable ones and that they are most commonly in the hands of companies other than the ones building new products.
Quantitative trait loci for metal accumulation in maize leaf.

Maize, as a major crop, has been investigated for decades for metal accumulation, but not in the context of leaf ionome to identify putative genetic factors participating in the control of metal accumulation. Our objectives were to analyze variation for copper (Cu), iron (Fe), potassium (K), manganese (Mn), magnesium (Mg), and strontium (Sr) concentrations in leaves of a maize mapping population, and to detect and determine the effects of quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with the metal concentrations. Ear-leaf samples at the beginning of the silking stage was taken for elemental analysis (ICP-OES) of 290 F4 lines of a biparental population (B84×Os6-2) grown in field trials in Croatia. The population and parents differed significantly in Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, and Sr concentrations. The population was mapped using sets of 56 SNP and 65 SSR polymorphic markers. Eleven significant QTLs were detected for all six metal concentrations. Of them, QTLs for Cu, Fe, and Mg were colocalized on chromosome 5 in the region of ys1 gene. Significant dominant effect of these QTLs supports the involvement of ys1 in accumula¬tions of these metals. Some QTLs had no obvious candidate genes offering the possibility of identifying unknown genes that affect metal accumulation.
HOUSEHOLDS’ VULNERABILITY TO POVERTY IN IBADAN METROPOLIS, OYO STATE, NIGERIA

This paper empirically assessed vulnerability to poverty at the household level using a two-period panel data set obtained from 150 households sampled from two local government areas within Ibadan Metropolis. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, poverty indices and probit regression analysis. Analysis of the socio-economic characteristics and their relationship with vulnerability to poverty revealed that large-sized households headed by men who were old, widowed, self-employed, uneducated or who had only primary school education and no access to any form of credit, were more vulnerable than other households. The estimated probit regression model showed that marital status and tertiary education status of respondents reduced vulnerability to poverty while primary education status and household size enhanced households vulnerability to poverty.
Unmet social support needs among older adults with cancer

Adequate social support for older adults is necessary to maintain quality of life and reduce mortality and morbidity. However, little is known regarding the social support needs of older adults with cancer. The objective of the current study was to examine social support needs, specifically the unmet needs, among older adults with cancer.
Historicising Contemporary Bisexuality

Contemporary bisexuality has a distinctively modern history that begins in the middle of the 19th century and develops through a matrix of three interconnected definitions, as combinations of biological, psychical, and sexual categories: male/female, masculine/feminine, and heterosexual/homosexual. Due in part to bisexuality's marginality in theories of sexuality, recent theorisations of bisexuality have often been reluctant to historicise the category of bisexuality itself. However, bisexuality's origins in the 19th century, particularly its relation to Darwinism and theories of evolution, continue to shape how it is articulated in the early 21st century.
Causes of health inequalities in Uganda: Evidence from the demographic and health surveys

Despite sustained macroeconomic growth and impressive income poverty reduction in Uganda, the country’s total child nutrition status remains poor. More so, wide within country disparities in stunting and underweight rates exist across the country. This study exploredthe determinants of child nutrition status and in Uganda using three rounds of the Uganda demographic and health surveys undertaken during 1995–2006.The surveys are nationally representative and capture anthropometric indicators for children aged below 5 years. The study investigated the determinants of health inequalities focusing on child health status through a combination of decomposition and regression analysis. Our results show that household welfare status remains a key determinant of child health status and inequalities in health. Furthermore, the results show that individual maternal education matters more in enhancing child health than does community knowledge about health.