Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How Nigerien SMEs can Build Internal Competencies by Learning from their Partners ? The Case of 2 isoft

One of the major challenges faced by SMEs in an uncertain environment is to constantly innovate to survive and grow. In this context, building competencies through inter-organizational learning is one of the most recommended solutions. The purpose of this paper is to understand this phenomenon based on a case study using a Nigerien high-tech SME. The results show the difficulties of partners’ cooperation, tacit knowledge acquisition and exploitation. They also reveal the ability of some SMEs to qualitatively change their stock of resources through the development of existing competencies or the creating of new ones.
An application of pre-trained CNN for image classification

Image Classification is a branch of computer vision where images are classified into categories. This is a very important topic in today's context as large databases of images are becoming very common. Images can be classified as supervised or unsupervised techniques. This paper investigates supervised classification and evaluates performances of two classifiers as well as two feature extraction techniques. The classifiers used are Linear Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Quadratic SVM. The classifiers are trained and tested with features extracted using Bag of Words and pre-trained Convolution Neural Network (CNN), namely AlexNet. It has been observed that the classifiers are able to classify images with very high accuracy when trained with features from CNN. The image categories consisted of Binocular, Motorbikes, Watches, Airplanes, and Faces, which are taken from Caltech 265 image archive.
Transient Myocardial Thickening in Cats Associated with Heart Failure

Background Cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and congestive heart failure (CHF) can have resolution of both left ventricular hypertrophy and CHF. Objectives To describe the clinical characteristics of cats with transient myocardial thickening (TMT) and CHF compared with a control population of cats without resolution of HCM. Animals A total of 21 cats with TMT, 21 cats with HCM. Methods Retrospective study. Clinical records at 4 veterinary centers were searched for TMT cases and a control group of cats with HCM and CHF. TMT was defined as initial maximal left ventricular wall thickness (LVWT) ≥6 mm with left‐sided CHF, with subsequent resolution of CHF, reduction in left atrium/aorta (LA/Ao), and LVWT<5.5 mm. HCM was defined as persistent LVWT ≥6 mm. Results Cats with TMT were younger (2 [0.4–11.4] years) than cats with HCM (8 [1.6–14] years) (P < 0.0001), and antecedent events were more common (15/21 versus 6/21, respectively) (P = 0.01). In cats with TMT, LVWT normalized from 6.8 [6.0–9.7] mm to 4.8 [2.8–5.3] mm and LA/Ao decreased from 1.8 [1.6–2.3] to 1.45 [1.2–1.7] after a mean interval of 3.3 (95% CI: 1.8–4.7) months. CHF recurred in 1 of 21 TMT and 15 of 21 cats with HCM. Cardiac treatment was discontinued in 20 of 21 cats with TMT and 0 of 21 HCM cats. All cats with TMT survived, whereas 8 of 19 cats with HCM died during the study period. Conclusions and Clinical Importance TMT occurs in younger cats, and antecedent events are common. The prognosis is better in cats with CHF associated with TMT than HCM.
Optimising Robustness of Consensus to Noise on Directed Networks

A major area of study in recent years has been the development of robotic groups that are capable of carrying out complicated and useful tasks and yet are comprised of relatively simple individuals following relatively simple rules. Despite the evidence from natural groups of animals, birds, fish and insects that such behaviour is possible, many challenges remain in the attempt to translate it into engineered systems. One important aspect of understanding and designing group behaviour is the analysis of the communication structure within a group and its effect on overall group performance. In this dissertation, we focus on understanding the role played by a directed communication graph in the ability of a group to maintain consensus in noisy environments. To this end, we relate a H2 norm that can be computed from a directed graph to the robustness of the group to noise. Using this relationship, we are able to compute bounds on the group robustness and analyse the capabilities of several families of graphs. The robustness of consensus to noise on undirected graphs is intimately related to the concept of effective resistance. We present a generalisation of this concept to directed networks and confirm that our new notion of effective resistance is a graphical property that depends on the connections between nodes in the graph. Furthermore, in certain circumstances effective resistance in directed graphs behaves in a similar fashion to effective resistance in undirected graphs, while in other situations it behaves in unexpected ways. We use effective resistance as a tool to analyse tree graphs, and derive rules by which local changes can be made that will guarantee that the robustness of the entire system will improve. These rules lead to the possibility of decentralised algorithms that allow individuals interacting over a tree graph to rearrange their connections and improve robustness without requiring knowledge of the entire group. iii Finally, we use our measure of robustness to analyse a family of interaction strategies within flocks of starlings. This analysis demonstrates that the observed interactions between the starlings optimise the tradeoff between robust performance of the group and individual sensing cost.
Combinations of feed additives affect ileal fibre digestibility and bacterial numbers in ileal digesta of piglets.

The study was performed to investigate the effect of combinations of feed additives consisting of either a combination of a probiotic and a prebiotic (synbiotic), or a combination of a probiotic and xylanase on ileal nutrient digestibility, ileal microbial metabolite concentrations, and microbial composition in ileal digesta of weaned piglets. In total, 12 six-week old barrows with an average initial body weight of 7.5 kg, fitted with an ileal T-cannula, were assigned to 3 dietary treatments. The basal diet was supplemented with a combination of 1 g probiotics ( Pediococcus acidilactici, Bactocell ® ) and 20 g prebiotics (oligofructose) (Pro/Pre) or 1 g probiotics (Pediococcus acidilactici, Bactocell ® ) and 0.5 g xylanase (Pro/Xyl) per kg diet. The supplementation of Pro/Xyl
Clinical studies of simvastatin in treatment of adult-onset obesity with asthma

Objective: To explore clinical value and significance of simvastatin in treatment of adult-onset obesity with asthma. Methods: 82 cases of adult-onset obesity with asthma enrolled in Qingdao Municipal Hospital from Jun 2015 to Aug 2016 were selected as the study objects and randomly divide them into control group and experiment group with 41 cases each. The patients in the control group were treated with budesonide and formoterol inhalation therapy while simvastatin treatment was added in the experiment group in addition to the above therapy. Then, we evaluate Asthma Control Test (ACT) of the two groups before and after treatment within 55 d, compare the patient’s pulmonary function recovery and observe serum leptin level of the two groups, record side effects and then compare the life quality of the patients. Results: With different treatment schemes, the ACT score, pulmonary function recovery level, serum leptin level, life quality of the patients turn out to be better in both two groups, while the effects in experimental groups were more excellent with a statistical significance (P<0.05); but no obvious side effects were found. Conclusion: Simvastatin has good effect in treatment of obese adults with asthma on improving lung function, reducing the patient’s serum leptin level, decreasing the incidence of adverse reactions, and improving the quality of life of the patients.
Formation and evolution of tar balls from northwestern US wildfires

Abstract. Biomass burning is a major source of light-absorbing black and brown carbonaceous particles. Tar balls (TBs) are a type of brown carbonaceous particle apparently unique to biomass burning. Here we describe the first atmospheric observations of the formation and evolution of TBs from forest fires. Aerosol particles were collected on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) grids during aircraft transects at various downwind distances from the Colockum Tarps wildland fire. TB mass fractions, derived from TEM and in situ measurements, increased from <1 % near the fire to 31–45 % downwind, with little change in TB diameter. Given the observed evolution of TBs, it is recommended that these particles be labeled as processed primary particles, thereby distinguishing TB formation–evolution from secondary organic aerosols. Single-scattering albedo determined from scattering and absorption measurements increased slightly with downwind distance. Similar TEM and single-scattering albedo results were observed sampling multiple wildfires. Mie calculations are consistent with weak light absorbance by TBs (i.e., m similar to the literature values 1.56−0.02i or 1.80−0.007i) but not consistent with absorption 1 order of magnitude stronger observed in different settings. The field-derived TB mass fractions reported here indicate that this particle type should be accounted for in biomass burning emission inventories.
Uses and Gratification Motivation for Using Facebook and the Impact of Facebook Usage on Social Capital and Life Satisfaction among Filipino Users

Facebook is considered as the leading social network that has attracted millions of users across countries. However, the motivations for using Facebook may differ with each country. This study is an attempt to examine the motives that motivates Filipinos to use Facebook and the impact of their usage to their social capital and life satisfaction. The findings of the study suggest a significant degree on the identified motivations of seeking friends, entertainment, information, and convenience, social capital and life satisfaction aside social support.
Capacity Expansion and Replacement in Growing Markets with Uncertain Technological Breakthroughs

The capacity in electronics and other industries. Managers must consider the impact of future technologies while making acquisition and replacement decisions in such environments. We consider a problem where a sequence of technological breakthroughs are anticipated but their magnitude and timing are uncertain. A firm, operating in such an environment, must decide how much capacity of the current technology to acquire to meet future demand growth. It must also determine whether to upgrade any of the older vintages. We formulate this problem and present some structural results. Using these results, we then develop a highly efficient regeneration point-based dynamic programming algorithm. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is illustrated through a computational study. The sensitivity of the first period decision to various parameters is also explored.
New Phreodrilidae (Annelida: Clitellata) from Tasmanian estuaries

A new species of Phreodrilidae from Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania is described. Astacopsidrilus ostiensis sp. nov. is unique in possessing the combination of long, tightly folded atria, modified spermarhecal chaetae and ventral chaetae that are almost simple pointed. These are the first phreodrilids to be recorded from estuarine or intertidal habitats, other than two species collected from beaches, on Subantarctic Campbell Island, for which the habitat data are ambiguous. The existence of other Phreodrilidae from Tasmanian estuaries, of which we do not have sufficient material for description, is noted.
Exceptional Epiphyte Diversity on a Single Tree in Costa Rica

An exhaustive survey of vascular epiphytes on a single mature canopy tree in a Costa Rican tropical premontane wet forest revealed an extraordinary level of epiphyte diversity. A total of 126 morphospecies representing at least 52 genera and 21 plant families were found growing epiphytically on the phorophyte (host tree), accounting for more than 1% of the entire vascular flora of Costa Rica. This is considerably higher than most other epiphyte surveys of single trees. Angiosperms accounted for 64% of the species while leptosporangiate ferns accounted for 36%. Consistent with earlier studies, orchids contributed less than would be expected from their global representation, while ferns contributed more significantly to species diversity. Fewer species were found on the tree trunk (58 species) than in the crown (85 species), and little species overlap occurred between these two regions (17 species), suggestive of niche partitioning. Three species and 11 individuals per m 2 were recorded on the trunk of the phorophyte. Our results underscore the important contributions of epiphytes to overall biodiversity, and highlight the necessity of including epiphytes in future biodiversity assessments.
SCREENING FOR DEMENTIA USING LONGITUDINAL MEASUREMENTS OF COGNITION

The incidence rate of Alzheimer’s disease increases exponentially with age (Brookmeyer, Gray, and Kawas, 1998). The authors estimate that the number of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease will nearly quadruple in the next 50 years. Consequently, as the population of the United States ages, this disease will impose an immense strain on the US health care system. Treatments that could postpone the onset of this disease would have a considerable impact. Thus it would be beneficial to be able to predict when a patient is at increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT) (Benton, 1974), a test of immediate recall of geometric figures, has been used as an indicator for dementia, for detecting brain injuries in children, and for other purposes. Subjects are required to reproduce geometric designs from memory after 10 seconds of study. On each test there are 10 separate designs with one or more figures, and the score is the total number of errors in reproduction. The test requires spatial conception, immediate recall, and visuomotor reproduction. Studies indicate that performance on tests of visual memory declines with age with even sharper declines after age 70 (Arenberg; 1978, 1987). In the United States, we have an aging population such that by 2020 it is predicted that an increasing number will be among the “oldest old”. This is expected to result in an even greater increase in the number of individuals being diagnosed with dementia. The aim of this study is to examine whether changes in performance (as measured by increases in error rates on the Benton Visual Retention Test) predict dementia, in particular, of the Alzheimer’s type. We demonstrate a method of classification based on longitudinal trends in BVRT using a linear mixed-effects (LME) model. The procedure first fits a LME model to the data to describe the longitudinal trends in BVRT. This LME model contains terms that differentiate longitudinal changes between the normal and dementia groups. Then, based on an individual’s longitudinal data, posterior probabilities are calculated for membership in the two groups sequentially after each BVRT measurement. The subject is classified as a dementia case once the calculated probability becomes larger than some cutoff value. Based on an individual’s predicted starting level of BVRT and the predicted rate of change in BVRT, a cross-validation study of the current BVRT data set is performed in order to classify each individual into a pre-clinical diagnosis state of normal or dementia.
Evaluation and combination of pitch estimation methods for melody extraction in symphonic classical music

The extraction of pitch information is arguably one of the most important tasks in automatic music description systems. However, previous research and evaluation datasets dealing with pitch estimation focused on relatively limited kinds of musical data. This work aims to broaden this scope by addressing symphonic western classical music recordings, focusing on pitch estimation for melody extraction. This material is characterized by a high number of overlapping sources, and by the fact that the melody may be played by different instrumental sections, often alternating within an excerpt. We evaluate the performance of eleven state-of-the-art pitch salience functions, multipitch estimation and melody extraction algorithms when determining the sequence of pitches corresponding to the main melody in a varied set of pieces. An important contribution of the present study is the proposed evaluation framework, including the annotation methodology, generated dataset and evaluation metrics. The results show that the assumptions made by certain methods hold better than others when dealing with this type of music signal, leading to a better performance. Additionally, we propose a simple method for combining the output of several algorithms, with promising results.
NPHS 2 Functional Variant ( R 229 Q ) in Primary Nephrotic Syndrome : A Study from South India

748 Copyright © 2016 Helix ISSN 2319 – 5592 (Online) NPHS2 Functional Variant (R229Q) in Primary Nephrotic Syndrome: A Study from South India *1 Parveen Jahan, Asra Tabassum Jaffer, 3 Wali Unnisa, 4 Un Mahwish, 5 G Sumanlatha, 6 S Someswar Rao, 7 D Sreebhushan Raju *Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Department of Genetics, Osmania University, Hyderabad, 6 Department of Nephrology, Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad *Email: dr.pjahan@gmail.com
Effect of Interface Structure on the Microstructural Evolution of Ceramics

Abstract : The interface atomic structure was proposed to have a critical effect on the microstructure evolution during sintering of ceramic materials. In liquid-phase sintering, spherical grains show the normal grain growth behavior without exception, while angular grains often grow abnormally. The coarsening process of spherical grains with a disordered or rough interface atomic structure is diffusion-controlled, because there is little energy barrier for atomic attachments. On the other hand, kink-generating sources such as screw dislocations or two-dimensional (2-D) nuclei are required for angular grains having an ordered or singular interface structure. Coarsening of angular grains based on 2-D nucleation mechanism could explain the abnormal grain growth behavior. It was also proposed that densification process is closely related to the interface atomic structure. Enhanced densification by carefully chosen additives during solid state sintering was explained in terms of the grain boundary structural transition from an ordered to a disordered open structure.
Safety and efficacy of MVA 85 A , a new tuberculosis vaccine , in infants previously vaccinated with BCG : a randomised , placebo-controlled phase 2 b trial

Methods In our double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled phase 2b trial, we enrolled healthy infants (aged 4–6 months) without HIV infection who had previously received BCG vaccination. We randomly allocated infants (1:1), according to an independently generated sequence with block sizes of four, to receive one intradermal dose of MVA85A or an equal volume of Candida skin test antigen as placebo at a clinical facility in a rural region near Cape Town, South Africa. We actively followed up infants every 3 months for up to 37 months. The primary study outcome was safety (incidence of adverse and serious adverse events) in all vaccinated participants, but we also assessed efficacy in a protocol-defined group of participants who received at least one dose of allocated vaccine. The primary efficacy endpoint was incident tuberculosis incorporating microbiological, radiological, and clinical criteria, and the secondary efficacy endpoint was M tuberculosis infection according to QuantiFERON TB Gold In-tube conversion (Cellestis, Australia). This trial was registered with the South African National Clinical Trials Register (DOH-27-0109-2654) and with ClinicalTrials.gov on July 31, 2009, number NCT00953927
BACULA OF SOME NEOTROPICAL BATS

Les auteurs ont rechercha la prosence d'un baculum chez 56 espaces de chauves-souris appartenant a 5 famüles difforentes. Les Noctilionidos et les Phyllostomatidos (sensu lato} examines n'ont pas d'os ponien mais on rencontre cet os chez tontes les especes e"tiidi£es des Emballonuride's, Natalidos et Vespertilionidos. Les bacula de 7 Emballonurid^s, d'un Natalidd et de 7 Yespertilionidos sont figure's et brievement docrits.
Two Ways to Increase the Pulse Duration of the Solid Pulse-Forming Line Based on Dispersion Analysis

Solid dielectrics have been widely investigated as potential attractive candidates in compact portable pulsed-power systems. Slow-wave structure with good dispersion characteristics and broad transmission band can be used to increase the pulse duration while the size of pulse-forming line (PFL) decreases. In this paper, we present two different slow-wave structures, the tape helix for coaxial-line and the meander-line structure for the planar line, to increase the pulse duration of solid PFLs based on dispersion analysis. At first, the characteristic impedances, electric length, and dispersion curve of the PFL with the slowwave structure are calculated by the electromagnetic dispersion theory. Based on the theoretical calculations, the PFLs are designed and simulated by the electromagnetic field tool. Finally, some test results on the PFLs are introduced. Currently, both the Al2O3 (εr = 9.3) helical PFL and the glass-ceramic (εr = 225) meander-line PFL can deliver a pulsewith 50-ns width, of which the dimension is φ 67 mm × 305 mm and 95 mm × 95 mm × 4 mm, respectively.
Description of Rhabditis (Pelodera) pseudoteres n. sp. (Rhabditidae: Nematoda) with a redescription of its sibling R. (P.) teres (Schneider, 1866)

SUMMARY R. pseudoteres n. sp. , a sibling species of R. teres (Schneider, 1866) is described. Although morphological differences are very minute, the status as distinct species was confirmed by cross-mating experiments in the laboratory. Differences are more obvious in the behaviour of dauer juveniles (J3); however, the possible role of " waving " behaviour in the life cycle of R. pseudoteres n. sp. remains unknown. R. teres and R. pseudoteres n. sp. have been treated as a single species in the past (R. teres). Therefore the literature was reviewed in order to find out if former studies were done with R. teres or its sibling R. pseudoteres n. sp.
The Relationship between Human Skills and Effectiveness of Managers in secondary schools of Hashtrood, Iran

This research was performed to investigate the relationship between human skills and effectiveness of schools managers from the viewpoint of teachers. The research method was descriptive-correlative. The statistical population was all of 316 secondary schools teachers in Hashtrood. The random sampling method was used (n=176). For gathering data, two closeended researcher-made questionnaires (One for human skills and one for effectiveness) were used and their reliabilities were acquired by Cronbach’s Alpha technique (0.93 & 0.96). Pearson’s Correlation was used for analyzing of the data. The results of this research showed that: There were significant relationships between human skills (listening skill, trusting in teachers, encouraging teachers participate in decision-making, attention to the individual differences, providing a favorable work place) and effectiveness of managers.