Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Physico-chemical properties, fatty acid profile and nutrition in palm oil

The rapid expansion in world production of palm oil over the last three decades has attracted the attention of the oils and fats industry. Oil palm gives the highest yield of oil per unit of any crop. Palm oil is the major oil produced, with annual world production in excess of 50 million tonnes. Throughout the world, 90% of palm oil is used for edible purposes (e.g., margarine, deep fat frying, shortening, ice creams, and cocoa butter substitutes in chocolate); the remaining 10% is used for soap and oleo chemical manufacturing (fatty acids, methyl esters, fatty nitrogenous derivatives, surfactants and detergents). Two distinct oils are produced by oil palms (palm kernel oil and palm oil), both of which are important in world trade. Palm oil contains 50% saturated fatty acids. The saturated fatty acid to unsaturated fatty acid ratio of palm oil is close to unity and it contains a high amount of the antioxidants, β-carotene, and vitamin E. Palm oil contains a high proportion of palmitic acid as well as considerable quantities of oleic and linoleic acids. The physicochemical properties, fatty acid profile and nutrition in palm oils are reviewed.
Efficiency of Shipping Banks : A DEA Approach

The international transportation Industry involves various sectors, shipping being one with particular characteristics which differentiates it from others. Within this scope, commercial banks are one of the main entities that may offer the required funding in a market that is characterized by the need for large amounts of capital and high operating costs. Banks play a significant role and are required to assess a number of factors in order to limit the risk from loans as well as to establish an accurate risk-return ratio. The efficiency of banks involved in the shipping industry is particularly important since it may, on one hand, affect financial growth, and on the other, create systemic crisis that may affect the economy as a whole as it directly affects the borrowing and consequently the financial situation and investment activity the shipping companies. This paper presents an effort to assess the shipping banks’ efficiency, and the determination of those factors which affect their technical efficiency, through the application of Data Envelopment Analysis. The results of this research indicate the factors that affect the efficiency of the shipping banks such as ROA, ROE, total loan loss provision to total loans ratio, total deposits and total assets, providing significant information to be considered by management regarding factors on which they should further focus in order to maintain and/or reinforce technical efficiency. JEL classification: G21, D2, C14
What is the distance to the CMB?

The success of precision cosmology depends not only on accurate observations, but also on the theoretical model --- which must be understood to at least the same level of precision. Subtle relativistic effects can lead to biased measurements if they are neglected. One such effect gives a systematic shift in the distance-redshift relation away from its background value, due to the non-linear relativistic conservation of total photon flux. We also show directly how this shift follows from a fully relativistic analysis of the geodesic deviation equation. We derive the expectation value of the shift using second-order perturbations about a concordance background, and show that the distance to last scattering is increased by 1%. We argue that neglecting this shift could lead to a significant bias in the background cosmological parameters, because it alters the meaning of the background model. A naive adjustment of CMB parameter estimation if this shift is really a correction to the background would raise the H0 value inferred from the CMB by 5%, potentially removing the tension with local measurements of H0. Other CMB parameters which depend on the distance would also be shifted by ∼ 1σ when combined with local H0 data. While our estimations rely on a simplistic analysis, they nevertheless illustrate that accurately defining the background model in terms of the expectation values of observables is critical when we aim to determine the model parameters at the sub-percent level.
Patients’ Compliance with Tuberculosis Medication in Ghana: Evidence from a Periurban Community

Globally, an estimated 2 million deaths occur every year as a result of tuberculosis. Ghana records over 46,000 new cases annually despite numerous efforts to curb the disease. One major challenge associated with the control of the disease is patients’ noncompliance with medication. Despite the noncompliance setback, not much information is available on the issue. This paper, therefore, examines patients’ compliance with medication at the Suhum Kraboa Coaltar District in Ghana. A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out using interview schedules. Data were primarily retrieved from 40 treatment supporters, in addition to 110 previously treated persons registered in 2010 and 2011 with cases of pulmonary tuberculosis. Evidence from the study indicates that 63 percent of the previously treated persons complied with medication which is below the expected national target of at least 85 percent. However, those with treatment supporters significantly complied with medication. Depression, substance abuse, financial problems, and long duration of treatment were other issues that discouraged patients’ adherence to medication. Some patients also attributed supernatural explanations to the source of the disease which negatively affected compliance. Conclusively, future approaches aimed at controlling/eradicating tuberculosis in the district should consider counselling, economic empowerment packages, and detailed education for patients.
The Effect of Taxpayers Willingness and Banking Companies Financial Performances on Taxpayers Compliance Behavior Mediated by Optimal Tax Reporting (A Study from the Taxpayers of Banking Companies in Indonesia Stock Exchange for the Period of 2013-2015)

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of taxpayers willingness and financial performances of the banking companies on compliance behavior of corporate taxpayers mediated by optimal tax reporting, by referring to stakeholder theory, cognitive behavior theory, ability to pay theory, willingness to pay theory, and performance benchmarking method. The population was 42 active banking companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during the period of 2013-2015. A total of 33 samples of the banking companies was collected using the purposive sampling method. The analysis method used was Partial Least Square (PLS). Data were collected by using the technique of documentation taken from the audited banking companies' financial statements of 2013-2015 and from the summary of financial statement listed on the Indonesian Capital Market Directory. The results of the study found a significant effect that the optimal tax reporting mediated the effect of taxpayers willingness and banking companies’ financial performance on the compliance behavior of the corporate taxpayers (extending the theory of willingness to pay). But, the financial performances of the banking companies did not have a significant effect on the compliance behavior of the corporate taxpayers (rejecting the theory of ability to pay). Keywords: Willingness, Banking, Financial Performances, Tax Reporting, Compliance Behavior, Indonesia Stock Exchange.
The gas-test technique as a tool for predicting the energetic value of forage plants

Seventy-nine forages of known in vivo organic matter digestibility (OMD) out of which 45 of known voluntary dry matter intake (DMI) all measured with sheep, were submitted to the in vitro gas production (GP) technique. The aim was to study the prediction accuracy ( R 2 , RSD) of the nutri- tive value of the main components of forages that is, OMD, DMI and voluntary digestible organic mat- ter intake (DOMI). This accuracy was compared with that obtained with the pepsin cellulase method (Cellulase). It appeared necessary to consider the forages by category (grasses or legumes and green forages or hays) in order to obtain a better accuracy in OMD prediction. The "(a + b)" value of the GP model = a + b (1-e -ct ) used to fit the data did not appropriately predict OMD, which was much better predicted from the "c" value (related to the rate of fermentation) or by Cellulase. For grass hays, the OMD was already well predicted by GP 24 h 〈 CP (gas produced after 24 hours 〈 crude protein content). The accuracy of digestibility prediction was improved by adding CP as a complementary variable except with lucerne hays. The relationships between DMI and gas production (at a given time or at the end of fermentation) were fair and not really improved by adding CP content. However, the accuracy of DOMI prediction was slightly better with "c" 〈 CP than with Cellulase for green grasses and grass hays, although Cellulase was better for DOMI prediction of whole lucerne. Although the gas production technique was less efficient than Cellulase to predict OMD it is an interesting tech- nique for predicting voluntary DOMI, that is the global nutritive value of forages. prediction / organic matter digestibility / ingestibility / in vitro gas production / Cellulase / forages / ruminant
An analysis of drug abuse along the coastal region of Kenya

This study sought to examine the connection between youth and drug abuse which has raises several questions, like: Why are young people at risk of drug abuse? Why do young people use drugs? What is wrong with doing drugs? The study will try to answer some of these questions, but there is a need to start with the basics. In Kenya today more youth are abusing drugs than in any other time in history, and many of the youth are found most along the coastal town of Kenya. The objective of the study is to find the extent to which the damages has gone within the limits of coast town in Kenya such as Mombasa, Kilindi, Kilifi, Malindi, Kwale. The study used descriptive survey design. The target population of this study is 50 (10 for each town). Respondents were 45, among them are victims of drugs, parents, community leaders and teachers. Data were analyzed through descriptive opinion from the interview plus observation on activities involving the drug addicts in the region. There is an indication that over 60% of drug abusers are below 30 years of age. Key words: Drugs abuse, youth, coast region.
University of Groningen Critical Role of TLR7 Signaling in the Priming of Cross-Protective Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Responses by a Whole Inactivated Influenza Virus Vaccine Budimir,

Current influenza vaccines fail to induce protection against antigenically distinct virus strains. Accordingly, there is a need for the development of cross-protective vaccines. Previously, we and others have shown that vaccination with whole inactivated virus (WIV) induces cross-protective cellular immunity in mice. To probe the mechanistic basis for this finding, we investigated the role of TLR7, a receptor for single-stranded RNA, in induction of cross-protection. Vaccination of TLR72/ 2 mice with influenza WIV failed to protect against a lethal heterosubtypic challenge; in contrast, wild-type mice were fully protected. The lack of protection in TLR72/2 mice was associated with high viral load and a relative paucity of influenzaspecific CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses. Dendritic cells (DCs) from TLR72/2 mice were unable to crosspresent WIV-derived antigen to influenza-specific CTLs in vitro. Similarly, TLR72/2 DCs failed to mature and become activated in response to WIV, as determined by the assessment of surface marker expression and cytokine production. Plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) derived from wild-type mice responded directly to WIV while purified conventional DCs (cDCs) did not respond to WIV in isolation, but were responsive in mixed pDC/cDC cultures. Depletion of pDCs prior to and during WIV immunization resulted in reduced numbers of influenza-specific CTLs and impaired protection from heterosubtypic challenge. Thus, TLR7 plays a critical role in the induction of cross-protective immunity upon vaccination with WIV. The initial target cells for WIV appear to be pDCs which by direct or indirect mechanisms promote activation of robust CTL responses against conserved influenza epitopes. Citation: Budimir N, de Haan A, Meijerhof T, Waijer S, Boon L, et al. (2013) Critical Role of TLR7 Signaling in the Priming of Cross-Protective Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Responses by a Whole Inactivated Influenza Virus Vaccine. PLoS ONE 8(5): e63163. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0063163 Editor: Stephen Mark Tompkins, University of Georgia, United States of America Received February 9, 2013; Accepted March 28, 2013; Published May 2, 2013 Copyright: 2013 Budimir et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This study was financially supported by TI Pharma grant (T4-214-1) and Jan Kornelis de Cock Stichting grant (http://www.decockstichting.nl/subsidies. html). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: Louis Boon is Chief Scientific Officer at Bioceros. He declares that he does not have competing interests due to this appointment nor does this appointment alter his adherence to the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. * E-mail: a.l. w.huckriede@umcg.nl
Bulk deposition and throughfall fluxes of elements in the Bohemian Forest (central Europe) from 1998 to 2009

We measured element concentrations and fluxes in bulk precipitation (at two sites) and throughfall (at four sites) in Norway spruce mountain stands in the Bohemian Forest (Czech Republic) from 1998–2009, with the aim to evaluate net atmospheric inputs of nutrients to the area, and (together with previous data from 1991–1997) long-term trends in acidic deposition. The average net atmospheric inputs of nutrients were 11, 4, 9, 62, 62, 45, 26, and 0.7–1.3 mmol m–2 yr–1 for Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, NO3 –, NH4 +, total organic N, S, and total P (TP), respectively. The TP deposition was affected by a notable contribution from local dust and pollen sources. Throughfall pH increased from 3.6–3.7 in 1991–1994 to 4.7–5.0 in 2006–2009, due to average declines in the SO4 2– plus NO3 – concentrations by 202 μeq l–1 and the H+ concentration by 147 μeq l–1. The decline in throughfall concentrations of SO4 2–
Effectiveness of method improvements of OECD GD 75 – Evaluation by the ICP-PR Bee Brood Working Group

Background: The OECD Guidance Document No. 75 (2007) is a method to investigate potential effects of plant protection products on the brood of honeybees ( Apis mellifera L.), with the ‘brood termination rate’ (BTR, failure of individual eggs or larvae to develop) as the key endpoint. As in recent years a number of studies displayed a strong variability in BTRs, Pistorius et al. (2012) recommended some measures for improvements. First results in the season 2011 indicated that these measures led to lower BTRs and lower variability. The ICP-PR bee brood working group has evaluated the effectiveness of the recommended measures for improving the reliability of the method and the resulting BTRs and reports in this paper. Results: To evaluate the effectiveness of these measures a data analysis of a total of 62 studies was performed which were carried out in Germany and Switzerland between 2011 and 2014. Based on this analysis, the mean BTR in the control was 29.2% and this result did not display a distinct improvement compared to the historical data (34.7%) (Pistorius et al. 2012) and neither compared to the data of the bee brood ring-test (28.0%) (Schur et al. 2003). Moreover, the proportion of replicates (colonies) with BTRs ≤30% amounted to be 61.5% compared to 55.6% in the years before. And every 2nd study displayed BTRs >30% in two or more replicates. Also, the proportion of replicates (colonies) with BTRs ≤40% amounted to 76.9% compared to 68.3% in the years before and just 21.7% of the studies displayed BTRs >40% in two or more replicates. Conclusion: Overall, these findings highlight that the test method according to the OECD Guidance document in 2007was not be considerably improved with the recommended measures. But although the reliability of the method and a reliable interpretation regarding potential effects of a plant protection product (PPP) on bee brood was not given in all studies, it currently remains the only available test method to address the potential risk of a plant protection product on honeybee larval development in realistic worst-case (semi-field) exposure conditions. Among other factors, it is assumed that the limitations are most likely due to the confined semi-field conditions. Further work should investigate potential additional improvements in semi-field conditions and also brood termination rates in field conditions. Keywords: honeybees, bee brood test, OECD GD 75, brood termination rate
Non‐Traded Goods, Globalization and Union Influence

We study how globalization affects sector‐specific wages, employment levels and welfare in a model of general oligopolistic equilibrium with partly unionized labour markets. Globalization is modelled as either reducing trade costs in open sectors or opening up shielded sectors to trade. Both forms of globalization increase union coverage and lead to lower union wage premia in shielded sectors. Trade cost reductions furthermore lead to higher union wage premia in open sectors and to lower aggregate welfare, while an increased number of open sectors lowers the union wage premium in open sectors, and may increase welfare.
The art and science of cloning QTLs in plants

Recent technical progress in the area of molecular biology and genomics have made possible the molecular dissection of major loci (Quantitative Trait Loci: QTLs) responsible for the genetic control of quantitative traits. Until now, most plant QTLs have been cloned through a positional cloning approach after their identification in experimental crosses. In some cases it has been possible to establish an association between sequence variation at a candidate gene and a phenotype by the analysis of existing genetic accessions. Several refinements of these strategies are made possible by deploying appropriate genetic materials and the latest developments in genomics platforms (e.g. transcriptomics) which allow us to identify eQTLs (expression QTLs), i.e. functional polymorphisms influencing the level of expression of a particular gene. A strategy based on reverse genetics could also be deployed to clone QTLs. We foresee that while QTL analysis and cloning addressing naturally occurring genetic variation will shed light on mechanisms of plant adaptation, more emphasis on approaches relying on candidate gene identification and reverse genetics will accelerate the pace of discovery of the genes underlining QTLs. Although QTL cloning is still in its infancy, further refinement of genomics tools and platforms will make QTL cloning a more routine procedure.
Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus Transmission and Disease among Juvenile Chinook Salmon Exposed in Culture Compared to Environmentally Relevant Conditions

The dynamics of IHNV infection and disease were followed in a juvenile Chinook salmon population both during hatchery rearing and for two weeks post-release. Cumulative weekly mortality increased from 0.03%–3.5% as the prevalence of viral infection increased from 2%–22% over the same four-week period. The majority of the infected salmon was asymptomatic. Salmon demonstrating clinical signs of infection shed 1000 pfu mL-1 of virus into the water during a 1 min observation period and had a mean concentration of 106 pfu mL-1 in their mucus. The high virus concentration detected in mucus suggests that it could act as an avenue of transmission in high density situations where dominance behavior results in nipping. Infected smolts that had migrated 295 km down river were collected at least two weeks after their release. The majority of the virus positive smolts was asymptomatic. A series of transmission experiments was conducted using oral application of the virus to simulate nipping, brief low dose waterborne challenges, and cohabitation with different ratios of infected to naive fish. These studies showed that asymptomatic infections will occur when a salmon is exposed for as little as 1 min to >102 pfu mL-1, yet progression to clinical disease is infrequent unless the challenge dose is >104 pfu mL-1. Asymptomatic infections were detected up to 39 d post-challenge. No virus was detected by tissue culture in natural Chinook juveniles cohabitated with experimentally IHNV-infected hatchery Chinook at ratios of 1:1, 1:10, and 1:20 for either 5 min or 24 h. Horizontal transmission of the Sacramento River strain of IHNV from infected juvenile hatchery fish to wild cohorts would appear to be a low ecological risk. The study results demonstrate key differences between IHNV infections as present in a hatchery and the natural environment. These differences should be considered during risk assessments of the impact of IHNV infections on wild salmon and trout populations.
Role of Self-Determined Goals in Predicting Recidivism in Domestic Violence Offenders

Objective: This study investigated the role of self-determined goals in predicting recidivism in domestic violence offenders. Method: The study was a posttest design with an annual follow-up of recidivism data of 88 court-mandated batterers who attended a solution-focused, goal-directed treatment program. We hypothesized that goal commitment, goal specificity, and goal agreement would predict recidivism, and that confidence to work on goals would affect the degree to which these factors predicted recidivism. Results: The recidivism rate for program participants was 10.2%, and the final model accounted for 58% of variance in recidivism. The model indicated that goal specificity and goal agreement positively predicted confidence to work on goals, which negatively predicted recidivism. Conclusions: Significance of the study was discussed with respect to the potential positive impact of utilizing self-determined goals, language of “self-determination,” and “strengths and solutions” in batterer treatment as well as advances in social work intervention research.
TRANSNATIONAL SOLIDARITY AND PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR THE EU ENLARGEMENT

Transnational Solidarity and Public Support for the EU Enlargement. What makes people support the European Union project has been a topic of constant research in the social sciences during the last decades. The key explanations of attitudes towards EU integration and enlargement processes are mainly related to identity issues, trust in political institutions, post-materialism, cognitive mobilization and utilitarianism. This paper revisits these explanations and adds a new ingredient to the debate, namely the role of solidarity in confining sceptical attitudes towards enlargement. We hypothesize that a deficit of transnational solidarity at the level of citizens is related to an attitude of reluctance about further EU enlargement. For this purpose, we employ a multilevel approach on individual- level data from the European Values Study 2008 - 2009 and contextual data for 42 countries. Our findings support the idea of a significant, positive relation between transnational solidarity and pro-enlargement attitudes. Sociologia 2014, Vol. 46 (No. 3: 261-282)