Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Thrombocytopenia in plasmodium parasitized pregnant women in the niger Delta of nigeria

Background: Malaria infection during pregnancy is a major public health problem in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Hematological changes associated with malaria in pregnancy are not well documented, and have focused predominantly on anemia. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of Plasmodium parasitaemia on the platelet count of pregnant women in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Methods: In this observational study we reviewed the platelet counts from routine complete blood count (CBC) in a cohort of healthy (pregnant and nonpregnant) and malaria-infected pregnant women attending antenatal clinics. A platelet count of 100 × 10 9 /L was the threshold at two standard deviations below the mean for healthy Nigerian pregnant women used to indicate thrombocytopenia. Differences in platelet counts were compared based on malaria species and parasitemia in matched nonpregnant and pregnant women. Blood smears from Quantitative Buffy Coat malaria-positive samples stained with Giemsa were used for determination of parasite load and specie identification by light microscopy. Study design: This case control study evaluated the effect of malaria parasitemia on the platelet count of 50 plasmodium parasitized pregnant subjects. Fifty nonmalaria parasitized pregnant women and fifty nonpregnant and nonmalaria-infected subjects served as control. Results: The mean platelet counts ( × 10 9 /L) were significantly lower in pregnant subjects with an episode of Plasmodium falciparum malaria 111.3 ± 9.3 × 10 9 /L compared to nonparasitized and healthy nonpregnant controls (255.09 ± 24.10 and 270 ± 51.5 × 10 9 /L) respectively. Platelet count values were 112.5 ± 9.68 × 10 9 /L and 126.3 ± 16.7 × 10 9 /L for the primigravidae and multigravidae respectively. ( χ 2 = 10.46; P = 0.05). Parasite density was significantly higher among Plasmodium parasitized primigravidae compared to multigravidae 2150 (1638–2662) parasites/ µ L in primigravidae women compared to 1826 (1430–2222) parasites/ µ L in multigravid women. The mean parasite count in Plasmodium falciparum parasitized subjects was 2650 ± 234 parasites/ µ L, 95% confidence interval (2092–3118). Malaria parasite was found to exert a significant reduction in platelet density in parasitized subjects. This reduction was more pronounced in primigravidae and multigravidae. An inverse relationship was established between parasite density and platelet count (y = - 0.020 × + 86.2, r = - 0.3). Conclusion: There is need for a strengthened antenatal care system with increased awareness of the problem among communities most affected by malaria. Preventative strategies including regular chemoprophylaxis, intermittent preventative treatment with antimalarials and provision of insecticide-treated bed nets should be implemented as well as integration of malaria control tools with other health programmes targeted to pregnant women and newborns.
Optimizing hierarchical menus : a usage-based approach

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Evaluation of heavy metals pollution of Nokoue Lake

Toxic metals (cadmium, lead, copper and arsenic) assessment was carried out in water and sediments samples of Nokoue Lake. Except for water, a group of sediment samples was mineralized before the analysis with atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The second group of sediment samples was processed for texture analysis. The results revealed that for the physico-chemical characteristics, the pH is from 6.5 to 8.5. Four kinds of textures were identified: mud, sand, sandy mud and muddy sand. Heavy metals mean concentrations in water rose from 0.01 to 10.1 mg/L for lead and 5.84 to 8.47 for arsenic. In water, copper showed low concentrations in all sites and the values of cadmium were below the detectable limits. The mean concentrations in the sediments were: Cd (0.56 to 22.07 mg/L); Pb (3.2 to 13.94 mg/L); Cu (11.51 to 54.39 mg/L) and As (ND to 436.81 mg/L). Besides, the pattern of trace elements accumulation according to textures revealed that sandy mud and sand sediments recorded high concentrations of arsenic, mud registered high concentrations of cadmium and the sediment combining sand and mud registered high concentrations of copper. Besides, the correlation between heavy metal concentrations and pH except for arsenic. Key words: Nokoue Lake, pollution, heavy metal, texture.
Boards of Directors' Contribution to Strategy: A Literature Review and Research Agenda

Research Question/Issue: Over the last four decades, research on the relationship between boards of directors and strategy has proliferated. Yet to date there is little theoretical and empirical agreement regarding the question of how boards of directors contribute to strategy. This review assesses the extant literature by highlighting emerging trends and identifying several avenues for future research. Research Findings/Results: Using a content-analysis of 150 articles published in 23 management journals up to 2007, we describe and analyze how research on boards of directors and strategy has evolved over time. We illustrate how topics, theories, settings, and sources of data interact and influence insights about board–strategy relationships during three specific periods. Theoretical Implications: Our study illustrates that research on boards of directors and strategy evolved from normative and structural approaches to behavioral and cognitive approaches. Our results encourage future studies to examine the impact of institutional and context-specific factors on the (expected) contribution of boards to strategy, and to apply alternative methods to fully capture the impact of board processes and dynamics on strategy making. Practical Implications: The increasing interest in boards of directors’ contribution to strategy echoes a movement towards more strategic involvement of boards of directors. However, best governance practices and the emphasis on board independence and control may hinder the board contribution to the strategic decision making. Our study invites investors and policy-makers to consider the requirements for an effective strategic task when they nominate board members and develop new regulations.
Monetary Aggregates and Liquidity in a Neo-Wicksellian Framework

Woodford (2003) describes a popular class of neo-Wicksellian models in which monetary policy is characterized by an interest-rate rule, and the money market and financial institutions are typically not even modeled. Critics contend that these models are incomplete and unsuitable for monetary-policy evaluation. Our Banks and Bonds model starts with a standard neo-Wicksellian model and then adds banks and a role for bonds in the liquidity management of households and banks. The Banks and Bonds model gives a more complete description of the economy, but the neo-Wicksellian model has the virtue of simplicity. Our purpose here is to see if the neo-Wicksellian model gives a reasonably accurate account of macroeconomic behavior in the more complete Banks and Bonds model. We do this by comparing the models’ second moments, variance decompositions and impulse response functions. We also study the role of monetary aggregates and velocity in predicting inflation in the two models.
A Study Customer Satisfaction of E-Service Quality of Point of Sale (Pos)

This study examines the level of customer satisfaction and service quality of e-reader devices has stores and SPSS22 software was used for data analysis and correlation tests to determine the relationship of variables, the analysis of the test for identification of direct and indirect effects of variables has been used on customer satisfaction. The population of this study, shoppers and stores are Ardakan, Iran and sample its 200 stores and shops in the city which has customers randomly selected. The results show that the security apparatus reader has the greatest impact on their satisfaction. In addition the low cost; it is most concerned with customer satisfaction. The remarkable thing is that the devices meet the customer's card is the least that should be examined. Authorities can resolve individual complaints, the better the card reader devices can capture and customer satisfaction.
Geometric singular perturbation analysis of an autocatalator model

A singularly perturbed planar system of differential equations modeling an autocatalytic chemical reaction is studied. For certain parameter values a limit cycle exists. Geometric singular perturbation theory is used to prove the existence of this limit cycle. A central tool in the analysis is the blow-up method which allows the identification of a complicated singular cycle which is shown to persist.
IS CAPM A GOOD PREDICTOR OF STOCK RETURN IN NIGERIAN AIRLINES/AUTOMOBILE/ROAD/MARITIME SECTORS STOCKS?

This research is on testing the predictive power of Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) as enunciated by Sharpe (1964) in the determination of the required rates of return of Nigerian airlines services, automobile and tyre, road transport, and maritime stocks that coincides with the actual rates of return. As it were, there is no clear cut understanding on the belief with particular reference to Nigerian airlines services, automobile and tyre, road transport, and maritime stocks. In the light of the above assertion, the objective of this study is to find out the required rate of return of Nigerian airlines services, automobile and tyre, road transport, and maritime stocks from 2000-2012 and compare them with the actual rates of return in the corresponding periods to identify the valuation status of the stocks. Being an empirical study, analytical research design was adopted. The data used were secondary data, which were collected from the financial statements of the subject-firms, Nigerian Stock Exchange publications and Central banks of Nigeria publications. From the findings, there is no single correct prediction on all the stocks return by the CAPM. Keywords: Risk-free rate of return, historical equity beta, historical equity market risk premium, CAPM required rate of return to equity, actual equity return, actual market return, market risk, and valuation status.
Job Satisfaction of Academic Staff in the Higher Education: Evidence from Private Universities in UAE

Job satisfaction in a work place is a feeling of contentment that a n employee derive from his role and responsibilities in the workplace and is dependent upon a number of factors, pertaining to personal, organizational and environmental factors. Considering the job profile and the demand for quality education among universities, the job satisfaction of academic staff in higher education is also affected. This paper aims to examine the job satisfaction of academic staff in higher education as well as private universities in UAE. This study adopts a quantitative research methodology using survey according to 5-point Likert scale instrument. The survey has been divided into ten internal and external factors to determine job satisfaction of academic staff. The data obtained from the survey has been analysed by using statistical and regression analysis. The study concludes that the academic staff of the private universities in UAE has been significantly satisfied with their jobs. It also found that only few factors have positively influenced job satisfaction, especially, supervisor support, promotion and support from colleagues. On the other hand, the study found that recognition and rewards for work done had a negative impact on job satisfaction of academic staff. This study has important implications for higher education management in the development of job satisfaction of academic staff in the UAE. The authors determined that the selected factors, with few exceptions, behaved accordingly to what was expected.
Physical and Social Factors in Management of Community Based Water Storage Structures in Gujarat: An Institutional Analysis of Local Governance

Policy intervention in the management of community based water storage structures (CBWS) depends on identifying the factors governing collective action and institutions. Institutional factors not only have a direct bearing on the functioning of CBWS but also often interact with physical and technical factors to influence their sustainability. The present study has examined these issues taking sustainability of CBWS as a function of two components, financial viability and CBWS functionality to draw policy implications in Indian context. Data collected from field surveys revealed that Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) functionality, perception about change in water collection time and number of households served by the water resource significantly affected financial viability of CBWS. The CBWS functionality was, similarly, found to be significantly affected by factors like accessibility and use restriction with respect to the CBWS. PRI functionality in respect of community resource management, therefore, need to be addressed through better representation of women and weaker section of the community in management of these resources as these sections of society are largely affected by their management. Factors such as use restriction of community water source which affected the physical status of the resource and catchment land use and storage to catchment ratio, which affected operational status of the source, are critical while designing location and size of the water resource such as pond.
The Tourism Industry in Italy during the Great Recession (2008-12): What Data Show and Suggest

– The purpose of this article is to describe the evolution of the tourism industry in Italy during the recent years of the so-called ‘Great recession’ (2008-12). We highlight the most prominent features of the changes occurred in both the supply and the demand side, over these years. We describe the differences across different categories of accommodation structures, different kinds of destinations and different regions. The issue of “resilience” is used to explain the different degrees of success in responding to the national adverse shock hitting the industry. However, our interpretation is that deep structural changes in the demand and supply sides of the tourism industry, rather than specific resilient adjustments, have occurred in these years of recession.
The Ejido System and Economic Growth of the Mexican States

Building on previous work by Chiquiar (2005) we study the impact of the ejido communal property system on economic growth in the Mexican states. The average growth rate of state per capita GDP is negatively related to the share of state land in the communal ejido system during some of the sub-periods examined. The negative relation suggests that the misallocation of resources related to the limited property rights of ejidatarios has been a binding constraint on the growth of the Mexican states at times during the 1970-2012 period. We also examine the conditional convergence or divergence of the Mexican states for 2003-2012 and 2005-2012 and find that definite conclusions cannot be drawn. Whether state GDP per capita converged or diverged depends on whether the estimations start with 2003 or 2005 and, interestingly, on the specific ejido variable included in the model.
The Relation between Sovereign Credit Default Swap Premium and Banking Sector Risk in Poland

We investigate causality between returns on sovereign CDSs and bank equities for Poland between 2004 and 2014 to provide evidence on contagion between sovereign and banking sector risk pricing. We find some evidence of contagion from Polish sovereign CDS returns to bank equity returns during the crisis period. We benchmark the results for Poland against a sample ofWestern European countries. We document strong negative correlation between sovereign CDS and bank equity returns for individual countries as well as strong commonality of both sovereign and banking sector risks across different countries. We do not however find a clear pattern of contagion between these two markets across European countries. To further investigate drivers of CDS and bank equity returns, we conduct principal component analysis and we find that first three principal components explain as much as 97% of variation with the third principal component mostly associated with Polandspecific risk.
Power Deposition into the Discharge Channel of a Hall Effect Thruster

The deposition of energy into the discharge channel of a 4.5 kW Hall effect thruster from the discharge plasma is investigated. An array of 35 thermocouples is placed along the inner and outer walls of the discharge channel at a spatial resolution sufficient to enable multiple temperature measurement locations within the positive gradient portion of the radial magnetic field profile. Temperature profiles of the inner and outer discharge channels are measured at Hall effect thruster discharge power levels ranging from 0.63 to 2.83 kW, which correspond to peak wall temperatures of 578–813 K. The peak in the wall temperature profile occurs at nearly the same axial location as the peak in the wall radial magnetic field profile. The energy flux from the plasma to the channel walls varies between 0.1 and 90 W/cm2±2% for Hall effect thruster operating conditions from 0.63 to 2.83 kW. Approximately 13±2% of the discharge power is deposited into the discharge channel wall at all Hall effect thruster operating con.
Interactive comment on “ DebrisInterMixing-2 . 3 : a Finite Volume solver for three dimensional debris flow simulations based on a single calibration parameter – Part 2 : Model validation ” by A . von Boetticher

the authors of this paper involved experiments that I performed myself at the USGS debris-flow flume (with much assistance from colleagues). Thus, I’m very familiar with these experiments. However, the authors did not contact me about their intent to use the results of these experiments in the manner that they did. If they had, I could have provided information that may have helped them avoid misunderstandings that seem evident in this paper. Below, I elaborate these matters in my detailed comments regarding section 2.3 of the paper.
Artificial neural networks (ANN) based algorithms for chlorophyll estimation in the Arabian Sea

In-situ bio-optical measurements were collected during six ship campaigns in the north eastern Arabian Sea using SeaWiFS Multi-channel Profiling Radiometer (SPMR). An artificial neural network (ANN) based algorithms were constructed to estimate oceanic chlorophyll concentration using in-situ data. The different ANNs were obtained by systematic variations of architecture of input and hidden layer nodes for the Arabian Sea training data set. The performance of individual ANN-based pigment estimation algorithm was evaluated by applying it to the remote sensing reflectance data contained in validation data set. The performance of the most successful ANN was compared with commonly used empirical pigment algorithms. Compared to e.g. the SeaWiFS algorithms Ocean Chlorophyll-2 (OC2) and Ocean Chlorophyll-4 (OC4), the square of the correlation coefficient r 2 is increased from 0.69 for OC4, respectively 0.70 for OC2 to 0.96 for ANN algorithm. The RMS error of the estimated log-transformed pigment concentration dropped from 0.47 for OC2, respectively 0.41 for OC4 to 0.11 for ANN-based pigment algorithm.
A comparative experimental study on gas generation from saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons isolated from a Cambrian oil in Tarim basin

The saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons isolated from a Cambrian oil (TZ62well) in the central Tarim basin were pyrolyzed in sealed gold tubes to investigate how the gases generated from them would vary in compositions of constituents and their carbon isotopes. The results illustrates that the gases from the cracking of saturates are much drier and more enriched in 12C than the gases from the cracking of aromatics at the same levels of thermal maturity. The dryness index of the gases (defined as the volume percentage of C1 to C1–5) from the cracking of saturates ranges from 26.2% to 90.6% whereas it is never lower than 60.6% for the gases from the cracking of aromatics throughout the experiment. The methane from the saturates shows a larger carbon isotope change, ranging from –54.8‰ to –35.5‰, than the methane from the aromatics whose carbon isotopes range from –37.4‰ to –32.2‰ throughout the experiment. The above experimental observations indicate that the cracking of crude oils with different bulk compositions could produce gases that have distinct constituents and carbon isotopic compositions.
Biological Features of Sentinel Crab Podophthalmus vigil (Fabricus, 1798) in Terengganu Coastal Water, Malaysia

Biological features of size at maturity, fecundity of berried female, size distribution, relationship of Carapace Width (CW) and Body Weight (BW) and sex ratio of sentinel crab, Podophthalmus vigil from Terengganu coastal water, Malaysia of South China Sea were studied. Sexual maturity (CW50) was achieved at 11.51 cm for male and 9.53 cm for female. The mean fecundity was 312613.50±89835.08 eggs. Size distribution of male and female was slightly different with males have size range from 8.0 to 18.9 cm CW, while females ranged between 7.0 to 11.4 cm CW. The mean CW and BW of P. vigil males were significantly greater than that of females. The CW-BW relationship for males P. vigil was attained as BW = 46.892e (R = 0.1155) and for females was estimated as BW = 6.3117e (R = 0.5523). Finally, the sexual ratio of P. vigil for male to female was 1: 0.65. The data obtained from this study can be used as the baseline data for future study on P. vigil fishery and aquaculture management in Malaysia coastal water especially and within the Indo-pacific region generally.