Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mapping Poultry Value Chain Functions in Adwa Wereda, Central Zone of Tigray, Ethiopia

The objective of this study was to map poultry value chain functions in Adwa wereda, Central Zone of Tigray, Ethiopia. A total of 200 poultry producing sample households from four potential poultry producing Tabias of the wereda were surveyed. Descriptive statistics such as t-test, and chi-square were employed to examine the existence of statistically significant differences between the poultry market participants and non-participants. The core process, main actors and functions were identified in the poultry value chain map. In the poultry value chain map, 6 core processes (input supply, production, collection and transporting, marketing, processing and consumption) were identified. Keywords : Value Chain Mapping, Value Addition, Profit Margin, Econometric
Stellar and Nebular Diagnostics in the Ultraviolet for Star-forming Galaxies

There is a long history of using optical emission and absorption lines to constrain the metallicity and ionization parameters of gas in galaxies. However, comparable diagnostics are less well developed for the ultraviolet (UV). Here, we assess the diagnostic potential of both absorption and emission features in the UV and evaluate the diagnostics against observations of local and high-redshift galaxies. We use the Flexible Stellar Population Synthesis (FSPS) nebular emission model of Byler et al., extended to include emission predictions in the UV, to evaluate the metallicity sensitivity of established UV stellar absorption indices and to identify those that include a significant contribution from nebular emission. We present model UV emission-line fluxes as a function of metallicity and ionization parameter, assuming both instantaneous bursts and constant star formation rates. We identify combinations of strong emission lines that constrain metallicity and ionization parameters, including [C iii] λ1907, C iii] λ1909, O iii] λ1661,1666, Si iii] λ1883,1892, C iv λ1548,1551, N ii] λ1750,1752, and Mg ii λ2796, and we develop UV versions of the canonical “Baldwin Phillips Terlevich” diagram. We quantify the relative contribution from stellar wind emission and nebular line emission to diagnostic line ratios that include the C iv λ1548,1551 lines, and we also develop an observationally motivated relationship for N and C enrichment that improves the performance of photoionization models. We summarize the best diagnostic choices and the associated redshift range for low-, mid-, and high-resolution rest-UV spectroscopy in preparation for the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.
Distribution and downward flux of Trichodesmium in the South China Sea as influenced by the transport from the Kuroshio Current

The South China Sea (SCS) is an oligotrophic marginal sea in the tropical-subtropical western North Pacific. Its warm, stratified and nitrate depleted water is an ideal habitat for the nitrogen- (N) fixing cyanobacteria Trichodesmium. Its abundant presence was not revealed, however, by our results, compiled from 7 cruises conducted between 2000 and 2002 in the northern SCS covering 2 springs (March), 3 summers (June to July) and 2 falls (October). Averaged Trichodesmium density in the surface water was 77 x 10 3 trichomes m -3 with great spatial and temporal variations. No definite spatial distribution pattern was recognizable. Its depth- (0 to 60 m) integrated abundance was much lower in the springs (57 to 1360 x 10 3 trichomes m -2 ) than either in the summers (480 to 19 229 x 10 3 trichomes m -2 ) or falls (667 to 21308 x 10 3 trichomes m -2 ). This might be attributed to the relatively shallower nitracline and lower water temperature in the spring than the warm seasons. The year-round abundance was positively related to (p < 0.05) both nitracline depth and surface water temperature. In the warm seasons when the surface temperature ranged between 27.1 and 31.3°C, only the nitracline depth was significantly related to the Trichodesmium abundance. Nitracline depth that was greater in the Kuroshio water compared to the SCS water also plays a decisive role in controlling the Trichodesmium abundance in the 2 regions, being greater in the Kuroshio than in the SCS. A sediment trap system deployed near the Luzon Strait in the SCS collected Trichodesmium samples as deep as 374 m. It showed a maximum downward flux of Trichodesmium at 24.69 x 10 3 trichomes m -2 d -1 in September and decreased to <1 × 10 3 trichomes m -2 d -1 from December to March. The sinking rate, when expressed as percentage of the integrated abundance, was 0.1 to 0.3 and 0.05 % for the warm and the cold seasons, respectively. Despite its surface dwelling nature, Trichodesmium showed a downward flux when it was transported from the Kuroshio to the SCS where it became dissipated.
Returns to Education in Rural and Urban China: An Empirical Study

This paper focuses on the returns to education in China, and it aims to determine the returns rate difference between those in the rural and urban areas. Mincer’s model has been used as the base for the returns rate calculation. OLS has been chosen as the estimator for the regression analysis. The data set selected for analyzing was CHIP 2013, which is one of the latest national level education and income surveys conducted in China. The empirical analysis results showed that the rate of returns to education for the general samples was 13.9%. This, therefore, was higher than the rate (around 10%) in 2000-2010 in China. Meanwhile, the significant difference between rural (3.7%) and urban (25.6%) areas has been detected. The gender equality testing showed that in rural areas, the rate of returns to education for females (9.1%) was much higher than males (2.5%). The results provided an overview of the current situation regarding the educational investment in China. It also pointed out the income and educational inequality between rural-urban and male-female.
Best Practice Life Expectancy: An Extreme value Approach

Background: Whereas the rise in human life expectancy has been extensively studied, the evolution of maximum life expectancies, i.e., the rise in best-practice life expectancy in a group of populations, has not been examined to the same extent. The linear rise in best-practice life expectancy has been reported previously by various authors. Though remarkable, this is simply an empirical observation. Objective: We examine best-practice life expectancy more formally by using extreme value theory. Methods: Extreme value distributions are ﬁt to the time series (1900 to 2012) of maximum life expectancies at birth and age 65, for both sexes, using data from the Human Mortality Database and the United Nations. Conclusions: Generalized extreme value distributions offer a theoretically justiﬁed way to model best-practice life expectancies. Using this framework one can straightforwardly obtain probability estimates of best-practice life expectancy levels or make projections about future maximum life expectancy. Comments: Our ﬁndings may be useful for policymakers and insurance/pension analysts who would like to obtain estimates and probabilities of future maximum life expectancies.
Evaluation of chemical, botanical and cultural management options of termite in Tanqua Abergelle district, Ethiopia

The study was carried out to evaluate the effect of botanical, chemical and cultural methods on the management of termite in seedling beds of hot pepper in Tanqua Abergelle district of Sheka Tekli during 2015-2016. The experiment comprised of treatments including Neem Leaf extract, wood ash, Dursban and control and each treatment was applied at 40 kg ha-1, 10000 kg ha-1, and 0.5 L ha-1 respectively. The experiment was designed through Randomized Complete Block Design and each treatment was replicated thrice. The treatments were applied directly on seedling beds while seeds were sown. Data was collected after six weeks of sowing pepper seeds. The numbers of healthy seedlings were significantly affected by the application of treatments. Hence, the highest number of seedlings at six weeks after sowing (1658250 seedlings ha-1) and transplanting (1505490 seedlings ha-1) were recorded on plots treated with dursban and neem leaf extracts respectively. Likewise, lower NUMBER of seedlings damage was recorded on beds treated with dursban (504510 seedlings ha-1) and Neem leaf powder (623100 seedlings ha-1) compared with untreated experimental plots. The highest net return (74020 Birr) with a marginal rate of return (42.64 Birr) was obtained with application of neem leaf extract. Thus, the application of neem leaf extract alone or interchangeably with dursban should be promoted to farmers of Tanqua Abergelle district and other location with the same environmental conditions to easily manage termite on the seedling of hot pepper. Key words: Termite, pepper seedling, damage percentage, control method.
Learning whether other Traders are Informed

In standard rational expectations models, investors know whether others are informed, and therefore know how to update their beliefs using prices. We develop a dynamic model in which investors must learn whether others are informed and, therefore, learn how to use the information in prices. We show that the price is a non-linear function of the underlying signal, and expected returns and volatility are stochastic and persistent, even though shocks to fundamentals and signals are i.i. d. The price reaction to information about dividends is asymmetric: the price reacts more strongly to bad news than it does to good news. The model also generates volatility clustering in which large return realizations, which are associated with dividend surprises, are followed by higher volatility and higher expected returns.
Development of methods to investigate poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 activity and DNA base-excision repair in relation to cancer and ageing

Summary The work presented here comprises the development of a new immuno-dot-blot method to detect poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation capacity in cells and the automation of the fluorescence detected alkaline DNA unwinding (FADU) assay to measure DNA strand breaks and repair. Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) is involved in DNA base-excision repair and the maintenance of genomic stability, but emerges to have many more functions in cellular physiology and pathophysiology. Cellular poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation capacity is correlated with maximal life span in mammalian species and a with longevity in humans. In this work a new, non-isotopic, simple and reliable method for the assessment of poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation capacity is presented. In experiments comparing fibroblasts from wild-type mice (PARP-1+/+) with those from PARP-1 knockout mice (PARP-1-/-) we could demonstrate that the p(ADPr) formation assessed in this assay is due almost exclusively to PARP-1 and only in trace amounts to PARP-2 or other members of the PARP enzyme family. Here an automated simplified version of the FADU assay is described, that posesses very high reproducibility. To investigate if DNA base-excision repair capacity or half-life time can be correlated with the life span of mammals, a preliminary set of comparative experiments on g-irradiated human and rat blood cells was performed. The percentage of lesions repaired during the first 50 min after irradiation was significantly lower in the rat cells (17 vs 45 ). These data suggest that there might exist a correlation between DNA base excision repair and mammalian longevity. We have also performed experiments comparing DNA base excision repair in PARP-1-/- and in PARP-1+/+ fibroblasts. DNA repair was found to be dramatically impaired in PARP-1-/- cells but very active in PARP-1+/+ cells. These results represent additional clear evidence for the involvement of PARP-1 in base excision repair.
Phytochemicals and functional foods. Current situation and prospect for developing countries

This review updates and attempts to present the complex panorama of bioactive phytochemicals and functional foods. For such purpose and given the breadth of the field, it was necessary to survey a large volume of scientific literature. The different types of studies used to provide evidence for efficacy are described. The different groups of health-promoting substances (carotenoids, phenolic compounds, phytosterols and phytostanols, tocotrienols, organosulfur compounds, nondigestible carbohydrates) are presented with a discussion of the dietary sources and the chemical and biological properties that explain their modes of action. Functional foods of plant origin (broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, oat, flaxseed, tomato, soybean, citrus, berries, tea, grapes and wine, garlic) are discussed in terms of their health effects, the phytochemicals responsible and the body of evidence supporting such effects. The review emphasizes the importance of consuming fruits and vegetables for the general state of health of the population and points out some technical and scientific opportunities that can be explored in developing countries.
Willingness-to-Pay for Alternative Fuel Vehicle Characteristics: A Stated Choice Study for Germany

In the light of European energy efficiency and clean air legislations, as well as an ambitious electric mobility goal of the German government, we examine consumer preferences for alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs), based on a Germany-wide discrete choice experiment among 711 potential car buyers. We estimate consumers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) and contingent variation (CV) for improvements in vehicle purchase price, fuel cost, driving range, refueling infrastructure, CO2 emissions and governmental monetary and non-monetary incentives, hereby accounting for diminishing marginal returns for some of the attributes and taking taste differences in the population into account by applying a latent class model with 6 distinct consumer segments. Our results indicate that almost 36% of the consumers are open-minded towards at least one AFV option, with 15% being AFV-affine insomuch that they show a high probability of choosing AFVs despite their current shortcomings. Our results suggest that German car buyers’ WTP for improvements of the various vehicle attributes varies considerably across consumer segments and that the vehicle features have to meet some minimum requirements so that AFVs are shortlisted. Furthermore, the CV values show that decision-makers in the administration and industry should focus on the most promising consumer group of ‘AFV aficionados’ and their needs, that some vehicle attribute improvements could increase AFV demand rather cost-effectively, and that consumers would accept surcharges for some vehicle attributes at a level, which could enable their economic provision and operation (e.g. fast-charging infrastructure), while others might need governmental subsidies to substitute the insufficient consumer WTP (e.g. battery capacity).
Amiodarone and digitalis: An odd couple in a tachycardiomyopathic patient

Amiodarone is one of the most used anti-arrhythmic drug for rate and rhythm control in atrial fibrillation. Unfortunately, it has also well-known pro-arrhythmic properties and it has been reported as a common cause of malignant ventricular tachyarrhytmias, especially torsade de pointes. Proarrhytmic effects of amiodarone are greatly increased by other concomitant factors, such as ventricular dysfunction and concomitant treatment with digitalis. Current evidence shows how amiodarone and digitalis together are associated with torsade de pointes in ischemic patients with heart failure. The present case report describes, for the first time, how amiodarone and digital can concur in producing torsade de pointes also in a tachycardiomyopathic patient with no coronary artery disease.
The Risk Effects of Acquiring Distressed Firms

We examine the impact of distressed acquisitions on acquirer volatility and default risk for a worldwide sample of distressed firms using several risk measures. We find that, on average, absolute levels of historical and implied volatility do not change following a distressed acquisition. However, distressed acquisitions generate a significant increase in relative total, systematic and idiosyncratic volatility and default risk, hence risk rises for both shareholders and bondholders. In particular, we show that high market-to-book acquirers, frequent acquirers, low-risk acquirers, higher acquisition premia and deals closed during bull markets are associated with higher levels of post-acquisition risk. Interestingly, high-risk acquirers experience a significant reduction in volatility and default risk. Consequently, risk changes cannot exclusively be explained by transferring risk from distressed target to acquirer. Our results suggest that bidder pre-acquisition levels of performance and risk and market conditions affect the type of distressed acquisitions and consequently the risk effects in such transactions.
Latex Gloves: Protecting Browser Extensions from Probing and Revelation Attacks

Browser extensions enable rich experience for the users of today's web. Being deployed with elevated privileges, extensions are given the power to overrule web pages. As a result, web pages often seek to detect the installed extensions, sometimes for benign adoption of their behavior but sometimes as part of privacy-violating user fingerprinting. Researchers have studied a class of attacks that allow detecting extensions by probing for Web Accessible Resources (WARs) via URLs that include public extension IDs. Realizing privacy risks associated with WARs, Firefox has recently moved to randomize a browser extension's ID, prompting the Chrome team to plan for following the same path. However, rather than mitigating the issue, the randomized IDs can in fact exacerbate the extension detection problem, enabling attackers to use a randomized ID as a reliable fingerprint of a user. We study a class of extension revelation attacks, where extensions reveal themselves by injecting their code on web pages. We demonstrate how a combination of revelation and probing can uniquely identify 90% out of all extensions injecting content, in spite of a randomization scheme. We perform a series of large-scale studies to estimate possible implications of both classes of attacks. As a countermeasure, we propose a browser-based mechanism that enables control over which extensions are loaded on which web pages and present a proof of concept implementation which blocks both classes of attacks.
Financial Development and Economic Growth: New Evidence From Panel Data

This study provides new evidence on the role of financial development in accounting for economic growth. To derive feasible policy implications, we estimate not only unbalanced panel regressions with period fixed effects, but also variance decompositions of annual GDP growth rates to examine what proxy measures are most important in economic growth over time and how much they contribute to economic growth across geographic regions and income groups. We find strong linkages between financial development and economic growth in high-income OECD countries, but not in South Asian and Sub-Saharan African regions. Therefore, it may be necessary to make different efforts to achieve steady economic growth across geographic regions and income groups.
Toward a cognitive historiography of mathematics education

In recent years, the cognitive approach to mathematics education and the history of mathematics has seen a rapid development. This development favors the emergence of a new interest in the historiography of mathematical teaching and learning. Here we provide a motivation for the introduction of this approach into the history-oriented approach to mathematics education. We shall concentrate on the concepts of “practices of knowledge” and “cultural practice” as employed in relevant mathematical and scientific studies, aiming at showing their meaning and role in the renewed historiography of mathematical teaching and learning.
Counterfactual thoughts about experienced, observed, and narrated events

Four studies show that observers and readers imagine different alternatives to reality. When participants read a story about a protagonist who chose the more difficult of two tasks and failed, their counterfactual thoughts focused on the easier, unchosen task. But when they observed the performance of an individual who chose and failed the more difficult task, participants' counterfactual thoughts focused on alternative ways to solve the chosen task, as did the thoughts of individuals who acted out the event. We conclude that these role effects may occur because participants' attention is engaged when they experience or observe an event more than when they read about it.
Transcriptomic Response of Salmonella Typhimurium Heat Shock Gene Expression Under Thermal Stress at 48 °C

Salmonella enterica has been associated with a variety of food products, and thermal treatments are commonly used to reduce or eliminate pathogens from these foods. While the physiological response of Salmonella to a wide range of lethal and sublethal heating temperatures has been examined, only limited information is available at the transcriptional level. The objective of this study was to investigate the transcriptional profile of Salmonella Typhimurium when subjected to thermal shock at 48 °C (10 min). Transcriptomic analysis was performed using partial microarrays (1152 genes) consisting of quorum sensing, virulence, membrane, and stress related genes. Apparent Salmonella viability based on the optical density decreased in response to thermal exposure. Transcriptomic analysis revealed induction of several heat shock and stress related genes due to thermal exposure at 48 °C. This research reveals that there is an impact of exposure to a sublethal temperature (48°C) on the subsequent transcriptional responses of S. Typhimurium.
Entrainment of frequency in singularly perturbed systems

Conditions are obtained to insure the existence of entrainment of frequency under the following constraints: (i) the difference between the forcing frequency and the natural frequency is not small; (ii) the forcing term is not small; (iii) the amplitude of the entrained oscillations is required to be almost the same as the amplitude of the natural frequency oscillations. Such entrainment of frequency occurs in electrically active cells; for example, the Purkinje fiber has a natural frequency of oscillation but is affected by periodic pacemaker impulses. It is shown that classes of singularly perturbed differential equations (Lienard equations), where the natural oscillation is a relaxation oscillation, satisfy the derived conditions.