Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
( Ghana ) Local versus foreign bank performance : the case of Ghana

The purpose of this paper is to find the distinguishing characteristics and similarities, if any between foreign and local banks in Ghana and also to ascertain the firm-specific factors that contribute to the performance of these banks. The paired-sample t-test analysis is carried out to test the differences and similarities between the two categories of banks (local and domestic). Then, panel econometric technique is used to estimate the relationship between firm-specific characteristics and performance (i.e., return on assets) using an unbalanced publicly available data of 27 banks in Ghana between 2003 and 2012. Evidence indicates that both the local and foreign banks differ in terms of: profitability, size, interest income generation and revenue on commissions but similar on the following grounds: efficiency, market experience and knowledge and success in the market. Empirical results also indicate that market experience, size and ownership have significant negative impact on bank performance. On the other hand, success in the market as well as interest income is found to have a positive significant influence on bank performance. It is therefore, important for the banks to improve their efficiency and diversify their sources of income away from the heavy reliance on interest income.
Democracy and Multiculturalism

One of the most pressing issues facing liberal democracies today is the politicisation of ethnocultural diversity. Minority cultures are demanding greater public recognition of their distinctive identities, and greater freedom and opportunity to retain and develop their distinctive cultural practices. In response to these demands, new and creative mechanisms are being adopted in many countries for accommodating these differences. This chapter discusses some of the issues raised by these demands, focusing in particular on the difficulties, which arise in North America and Israel when the minority seeking accommodation is illiberal.Historically, liberal democracies have hoped that the protection of basic individual rights would be sufficient to accommodate ethnocultural minorities. And indeed the importance of individual civil and political rights in protecting minorities cannot be underestimated. Freedom of association, religion, speech, mobility, and political organisation enable individuals to form and maintain groups and associations, to adapt these groups to changing circumstances, and to promote their views and interests to the wider population. However, it is increasingly accepted that these common rights of citizenship are not sufficient to accommodate all forms of ethnocultural diversity. In some cases, certain ‘collective’ or ‘group-differentiated’ rights are also required. And indeed there is a clear trend within liberal democracies toward the greater recognition of such group-differentiated rights. Yet this trend raises a number of important issues, both theoretical and practical. How are these group rights related to individual rights? What should we do if group rights come into conflict with individual rights? Can a liberal democracy allow minority groups to restrict the individual rights of their members, or should it insist that all groups uphold liberal principles? These are genuinely difficult questions. Ethnocultural relations are often full of complications, which defy simple categories or easy answers. However, we can make some progress if we draw some distinctions between different kinds of groups, and different kinds of ‘group rights’. In this essay we first make a distinction between two forms of cultural pluralism: multination states and polyethnic states, and then make a further distinction between internal restrictions and external protections. The concept of internal restrictions concerns the rights of a group against dissenting members of the same group; whereas the concept of external protections concerns the rights of a group against the society at large. We proceed by probing the nature of liberal tolerance and then delineate the limits of state intervention.
Mapping the impact of exposure to maternal immune activation on juvenile Wistar rat brain macro- and microstructure during early post-natal development

Maternal immune activation is consistently associated with elevated risk for multiple psychiatric disorders in the affected offspring. Related to this, an important goal of our work is to explore the impact of maternal immune activation effects across the lifespan. In this context, we recently reported the effects of polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidylic acid–induced maternal immune activation at gestational day 15, immediately prior to birth, at gestational day 21 and again at post-natal day 21, providing a systematic assessment of plasma interleukin 6, body temperature and weight alterations in pregnant rats and preliminary evidence for gross morphological changes and microglial neuropathology in both male and female offsprings at these time points. Here, we sought to complement and extend these data by characterising in more detail the mesoscale impact of gestational polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidylic acid exposure at gestational day 15 on the neuroanatomy of the juvenile (post-natal day 21) rat brain using high-resolution, ex vivo anatomical magnetic resonance imaging in combination with atlas-based segmentation. Our preliminary data suggest subtle neuroanatomical effects of gestational polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidylic acid exposure (n = 10) relative to saline controls (n = 10) at this time-point. Specifically, we found an increase in the relative volume of the diagonal domain in polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidylic acid offspring (p < 0.01 uncorrected), which just failed to pass stringent multiple comparisons correction (actual q = 0.07). No statistically significant microstructural alterations were detectable using diffusion tensor imaging. Further studies are required to map the proximal effects of maternal immune activation on the developing rodent brain from foetal to early post-natal life and confirm our findings herein.
THE IMPACT OF ADULT EDUCATION AND TRAINING ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM IN SUCEAVA COUNTY

In the context of knowledge economy, education is an important vector for creativity and innovation, to the extent that it is properly carried out on different levels, combining theory with practice. Nowadays, travel and tourism industry is, worldwide, the most dynamic sector and the most important generator of jobs. Since it creates an unprecedented number of jobs, tourism provides part-time and seasonal jobs for people looking for a flexible job. But lately, employers in the tourism field argue that one way to achieve sustained employment in this industry is implementing the ”multiple qualifications” policy, meaning that they are searching for staff with several trainings. The link between sustainable development and education is complex, as recent research has shown that education is helping countries meet their sustainable development goals. Given the fact that sustainable development is related to training and providing qualified staff for the tourism field, we conducted in our paper a statistical survey that included: collection and observation of the statistical data on adult training in Suceava County (obtained from the Authorization Commission for Adult Training Providers of Suceava County), in the period 2004 - 2013, systematization and processing of the data, analysis and interpretation of results and conclusions.
Effect of Rootstocks and Grafting Methods on Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) Production

The present study was carried out at a private nursery in Mansoura city and a private farm at Zayyan region, Belqas district, Dakahlia Governorate during the two summer seasons of 2014 and 2015 to study the effects of different rootstocks and grafting methods on growth, yield and fruit quality of watermelon cv. Aswan F1. The experiment included thirteen treatments resulted from the combinations of four rootstocks [Jumbo F1 and Nun 6001 F1 hybrids (Cucurbita maxima × Cucurbita moschata), Bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria Standl.) and Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata L.)] and three grafting methods [ Hole insertion (HIG), Splice (SG) and Tongue approach (TAG)] as well as non-grafted plants (control). The treatments were arranged in a randomized complete blocks design with three replicates. The results indicated that grafting, especially onto Jumbo rootstock using Tongue approach grafting method, recorded the greatest values of vegetative growth parameters (lateral stems number, leaves number and foliage dry matter %), female flowers number and early and total fruit yield compared to non-grafted plants in both seasons. Grafting combinations didn’t show any significance differences with regard to sex ratio. Furthermore, there was a balance between number of fruits per plant and average fruit weight which eventually led to early and total yield increasing compared to non-grafted plants in both seasons. The highest values of total soluble solids (TSS), reducing sugars, vitamin C and Lycopene were estimated in the fruits of grafted plants onto Jumbo rootstock compared to other rootstocks in both seasons. On the other hand, the grafting methods had insignificant effects on fruit quality during both seasons. Therefore, the using of Jumbo as rootstock and Tongue approach as grafting method may be a successful strategy to increase vegetative growth, yield and fruit quality of watermelon cv. Aswan F1 under similar conditions of this study.
Even Minkowski valuations

A new integral representation of smooth translation invariant and rotation equivariant even Minkowski valuations is established. Explicit formulas relating previously obtained descriptions of such valuations with the new more accessible one are also derived. Moreover, the action of Alesker's Hard Lefschetz operators on these Minkowski valuations is explored in detail.
Asset correlation for portfolio credit risk: Sector, region and structured product estimates

In this paper Moody’s databases of corporate issuers of long term bonds and structured products are used to estimate asset correlations across a generous group of sectors, world regions and products. The estimation of a dynamic factor model for default risk, is performed using both Monte Carlo maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods. Results on the later case, show signiflcant difierences in the estimated asset correlations across groups. These flndings are in line with some of the objectives of the Basel 2 accord, in particular accounting as much as possible for the heterogeneity of the issuers in credit portfolio analysis. However, this is more adequately accomplished with a two factor model rather than the one factor setup proposed by the Basel 2 framework. Results reinforce the importance of unobserved factors in this type of models and also indicate that the levels of the implied correlations critically depend on the latent state variable used to capture the dynamics of the default events as well as other assumptions on the statistical model.
Longitudinal single cell transcriptomics reveals Krt8+ alveolar epithelial progenitors in lung regeneration

Lung injury activates quiescent stem and progenitor cells to regenerate alveolar structures. The sequence and coordination of transcriptional programs during this process has largely remained elusive. Using single cell RNA-seq, we first generated a whole-organ bird’s-eye view on cellular dynamics and cell-cell communication networks during mouse lung regeneration from ∼30,000 cells at six timepoints. We discovered an injury-specific progenitor cell state characterized by Krt8 in flat epithelial cells covering alveolar surfaces. The number of these cells peaked during fibrogenesis in independent mouse models, as well as in human acute lung injury and fibrosis. Krt8+ progenitors featured a highly distinct connectome of receptor-ligand pairs with endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and macrophages. To ‘sky dive’ into epithelial differentiation dynamics, we sequenced >30,000 sorted epithelial cells at 18 timepoints and computationally derived cell state trajectories that were validated by lineage tracing genetic reporter mice. Airway stem cells within the club cell lineage and alveolar type-2 cells underwent transcriptional convergence onto the same Krt8+ progenitor cell state, which later resolved by terminal differentiation into alveolar type-1 cells. We derived distinct transcriptional regulators as key switch points in this process and show that induction of TNF-alpha/NFkappaB, p53, and hypoxia driven gene expression programs precede a Sox4, Ctnnb1, and Wwtr1 driven switch towards alveolar type-1 cell fate. We show that epithelial cell plasticity can induce non-gradual transdifferentiation, involving intermediate progenitor cell states that may persist and promote disease if checkpoint signals for terminal differentiation are perturbed.
Αlpha- actinin- 3’s role in the genetic control of muscle strength and performance

The α-actinin-3 gene (ACTN3) R577X polymorphism is one of the most highly studied genetic variations associated with human skeletal muscle function and performance. This chapter summarizes the current research in ACTN3 R577X and discusses the molecular mechanisms that underlie the consequences of a-actinin-3 deficiency, with new insights into implications for the general population beyond athletic performance — in healthy ageing, muscle disuse, and disease. The α-actinins are a family of four actin-binding proteins that have evolved from repeated gene duplication events to perform similar roles in different cell types. The role of sarcomeric α-actinins in the maintenance of ordered myofibrillar arrays in skeletal muscle make them prime candidate genes for human muscle disease. The varied allele frequencies observed between the different ethnic groups and specialized protein expression in fast glycolytic muscle fibers suggest that selective forces may be acting on the ACTN3 577X allele during modern human evolution.
Submicroscopic Structure of Bovine Articular Cartilage in Prenatal and Early Postnatal Period

Ho r k y D. : Subm~c~o~cop~c StAuct~e 06 Bov~ne Anticul~ C~ge ~n P~enata1 and E~y Po~~natal Peftvtod. Acta vet.Brno,56,1987:3-18. The bovine joint cartilage was studied in 14 subjects of both sexes from the 36th week of prenatal development till the end of the third month after birth using transmission and scanning electron microscopes. Between weeks 36 ahd 39, pericellular and intercellular matrix differentiated in the intercellular substance of the superficial layer of the cartilage. In the middle layer the fibrillar component was mostly represented by collagen fibrils. In the deep layer of the cartilage, these fibrils surrounded the cells and coursed irregularly in t.he intercellular matrix. From birth till the end of the third month of the cellular component and the intercellular substance of the joint cartilage acquired all substantial features of a differentiated tissue. Especially the fibrilar component of the superficial cartilage layer showed a typical arrangement in layers of collagen fibrils deposited in parallel with the surface of the cartilage. The filaments crossed at nearly right angles. After the third month only quantitative changes occurred consisting in the increased amount of fibrilar component as compared to the adult cartilage. In scanning electron microscope the groups of chondrocytes were separated from each other and from their surroundings by indentations. Subm~c~o~cop~c ~~~c~~e, cattle, car~age taye~, hip
Role of temporal envelope and fine structure cues in speech perception: A review

Over the last few decades, a variety of evidence has been presented to support the idea that, for normal-hearing listeners, both temporal envelope (E) and temporal fine structure (TFS) cues play a role in speech identification. E cues in a few frequency bands seem to be sufficient for good speech identification in quiet, but TFS cues appear to play an important role when background sounds are present, especially for “glimpsing” speech in the temporal minima of fluctuating background sounds. There is also evidence that cochlear damage associated with mild to moderate hearing loss may severely degrade the ability to use TFS cues while preserving the ability to use E cues in speech stimuli. This is consistent with the relatively preserved ability of hearing-impaired listeners to identify speech in quiet when audibility is controlled for, and the substantial deficits observed for these listeners when speech is masked by uctuating background noise.
Morphological and Molecular Identification of Pratylenchus goodeyi Associated with Banana in Tanzania

Banana ( Musa sp. [L]) is an important staple food and cash crop for about 30 percent of the total population in Tanzania. Root lesion nematodes, particularly Pratylenchus goodeyi, are among the major pests affecting banana production in Tanzania. A combination of morphological and molecular approaches is required for accurate identification of nematodes. In this study, 80 P. goodeyi isolates affecting bananas in Tanzania were identified. Sequence analysis of part of the small subunit (SSU), large subunit (LSU) and internal transcribed spacers (ITS) regions of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) confirmed the morphological identification of P. goodeyi . DNA sequences were analysed using Geneious version 11.0 software and phylogenetic relationship was constructed using Bayesian inference (BI) method. Morphological identification shows that P. goodeyi in this study resembles P. goodeyi identified from other parts of the world and their sequences clustered closely (98.6 – 99.9 % similarity) with other P. goodeyi sequences in the GenBank. The results obtained from this study will provide an insight on the presence of harmful root lesion nematodes in Tanzanian bananas, contributing to further studies aimed at developing efficient nematode management strategies in Tanzania. Keywords: Genetic variation; Morphology; Musa sp. ; Root lesion nematode;
Soil organic carbon stocks in the dominant soils of the Miombo woodland ecosystem of Kitonga Forest Reserve, Iringa, Tanzania

*Corresponding Author’s E-mail: hbashelu@yahoo.com Tel: +255-784413162 Few studies have determined the soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in the Miombo woodlands ecosystem in Tanzania. Standard field and laboratory procedures were used to evaluate SOC storage in the Miombo woodlands ecosystem of Kitonga Forest Reserve Iringa, Tanzania. A study area of 52 km 2 was selected and ten soil profiles were studied. Representative sampling points were geo-referenced and soil samples collected from natural horizons to the depth of 60 cm. Results show that the total soil organic carbon stocks in soil profiles varied from 19.4 to 28.9 Mg C ha-1 in leptosols; from 45.6 to 80.1 Mg C ha-1 in fluvisols; and from 33.9 to 134.6 Mg C ha-1 in cambisols. The SOC increased significantly (p< 0.05) with increasing elevation, horizon thickness and % clay, but it decreased significantly (p< 0.05) with increasing slope gradient and increasing % sand. The areal distribution of the soil types was 61%, for cambisols, 19% for leptosols, 11% for fluvisols and 9% for natural forest which was not surveyed because of inaccessibility. Proper management of Miombo woodlands would increase the SOC storage and contribute to climate change regulation.
The treatment of mixing in core helium-burning models - III. Suppressing core breathing pulses with a new constraint on overshoot

Theoretical predictions for the core helium burning phase of stellar evolution are highly sensitive to the uncertain treatment of mixing at convective boundaries. In the last few years, interest in constraining the uncertain structure of their deep interiors has been renewed by insights from asteroseismology. Recently, Spruit (2015) proposed a limit for the rate of growth of helium-burning convective cores based on the higher buoyancy of material ingested from outside the convective core. In this paper we test the implications of such a limit for stellar models with a range of initial mass and metallicity. We find that the constraint on mixing beyond the Schwarzschild boundary has a significant effect on the evolution late in core helium burning, when core breathing pulses occur and the ingestion rate of helium is fastest. Ordinarily, core breathing pulses prolong the core helium burning lifetime to such an extent that models are at odds with observations of globular cluster populations. Across a wide range of initial stellar masses ($0.83 \leq M/\text{M}_\odot \leq 5$), applying the Spruit constraint reduces the core helium burning lifetime because core breathing pulses are either avoided or their number and severity reduced. The constraint suggested by Spruit therefore helps to resolve significant discrepancies between observations and theoretical predictions. Specifically, we find improved agreement for $R_2$, the observed ratio of asymptotic giant branch to horizontal branch stars in globular clusters; the luminosity difference between these two groups; and in asteroseismology, the mixed-mode period spacing detected in red clump stars in the \textit{Kepler} field.
Global invariants for strongly pseudoconvex varieties with isolated singularities: Bergman functions

Let M be a strongly pseudoconvex manifold which is a resolution of strongly pseudoconvex variety V with only isolated singularities. We define a Bergman function BM on M which is a biholomorphic invariant of M . The Bergman function BM vanishes precisely on the exceptional set of M . Hence BM can be pushed down and we obtain a Bergman function BV which is a biholomorphic invariant of V and vanishes precisely on the singularities of V . This Bergman function not only can distinguish analytic structures of isolated singularities, but it can also distinguish the CR structures of the boundaries of V . As an application, we define a continuous numerical invariant on strongly pseudoconvex CR manifolds in V = {(x, y, z) ∈ C 3 : xy = z2}. We show that our invariant varies continuously in R when the CR structure of strongly pseudoconvex CR manifold changes in V . Our global numerical invariant is explicitly computable. Moreover we show that the Bergman function allows us to determine the automorphism groups of these CR manifolds.