Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EVALUATING POVERTY ERADICATION IN DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS : A CASE STUDY FROM NIGERIA

The phenomenon of absolute poverty assumed an increasing dimension in Nigeria after the civil war ended in 1970. The number of Nigerians living below poverty line increased from 17.7 million people in 1980 to 112.47 million in 2010. This is an alarming figure given that the total population of the country stands at about 170 million. Concurrently, the number of government’s anti-poverty institutions rose over the years, beginning from the 1970s.The most recent and longest in terms of sustainability is the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) – an amalgam of previous poverty alleviation initiatives. However, the impact of NAPEP on the welfare of the poor in quantitative terms is little known. The available studies on the effect of NAPEP are either merely descriptive or lack analytical depth and rigour. To correct this gap, the focus of this paper is to quantitatively evaluate the impact of NAPEP on poverty reduction in Imo State of Nigeria; and to undertake a binomial analysis of the perception of NAPEP interventions. The research design is based on the quasi-experimental approach, while appropriate econometric methodology was employed in the analysis. Some of the findings of the study are captured below: the objective quantitative evaluation indicates that poverty reduction through NAPEP is not statistically significant while the subjective evaluation indicates otherwise. Moreover, a supplementary analysis shows that the headcount index is 0.42. This is a move away from perfect targeting at the core poor. The paper recommends that NAPEP interventions should be directed wholly at the core poor as a step towards enhancing its impact on poverty eradication.
Evaluating the Memorability of Different Password Creation Strategies : A Systematic Literature Review

Due to its simplicity and deployability, password authentication is today's most common way of authentication. In conjunction with increasing numbers of accounts per user, the amount of passwords to be remembered is rising as well. This puts a noticeable strain on human memory which users attempt to mitigate by writing them down, reusing them or selecting overly simple ones. In order to prevent such behavior and the security issues it is accompanied by, finding ways to generate memorable passwords is imperative. The conducted systematic literature review aimed to identify to which extent different password creation strategies are facilitating the generation of memorable passwords. Several search term combinations were used to probe four scientific databases for peer-reviewed articles that satisfy distinct selection criteria. Afterwards, backward snowballing was conducted and references of already accepted publications were checked against identical selection criteria. Eventually, 61 accepted articles underwent a qualitative data analysis by means of grounded theory. The analysis showed that different composition strategies entailed substantial differences in memorability. Those that infused passwords with deeper meaning to the user were found easy to remember whereas failing to infuse meaning impeded recall. Overall, user-generated passwords turned out be more memorable than system-generated ones.
Flow Cytometry Analysis of DNA Ploidy and S-Phase Fraction in Salivary Gland Tumors of Egyptian Patients

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the DNA ploidy and S-Phase Fraction (SPF) of some Salivary Gland Tumors (SGTs) in Egyptian patients and to investigate the correlation between these two biological parameters and the presumptive behavior of these neoplasms. Methods: Flow cytometric analysis of DNA pliody and S-Phase Fraction (SPF) was done in 50 fresh tumor tissue sections of SGTs which diagnosed as 15 benign and 35 malignant tumors. Results: 93.3% of the benign SGTs tumors were diploid, while only 34% of malignant tumors were diploid and 66% were aneuploid. The malignant SGTs had higher SPF than the benign tumors but with no significant difference. There was no significant correlation of ploidy status or SPF with the tumor grades of mucoepidermoid carcinomas. Conclusion: DNA aneuploidy may be a key indicator for tumors activity and malignancy in SGTs, while the SPF has a minor role in the evaluation of SGTs activity.
A New Generalized Class of Linear Failure Rate Power Series Distribution: Model, Theory and Application

A new class of distributions called the beta linear failure rate power series (BLFRPS) distributions is introduced and discussed. This class of distributions contains new and existing sub-classes of distributions including the beta exponential power series (BEPS) distribution, beta Rayleigh power series (BRPS) distribution, generalized linear failure rate power series (GLFRPS) distribution, generalized Rayleigh power series (GRPS) distribution, generalized exponential power series (GEPS) distribution, Rayleigh power series (RPS) distributions, exponential power series (EPS) distributions, and linear failure rate power series (LFRPS) distribution of Mahmoudi and Jafari (2014). The special cases of the BLFRPS distribution include the beta linear failure rate Poisson (BLFRP) distribution, beta linear failure rate geometric (BLFRG) distribution of Oluyede, Elbatal and Huang (2014), beta linear failure rate binomial (BLFRB) distribution, and beta linear failure rate logarithmic (BLFRL) distribution. The BLFRL distribution is also discussed in details as a special case of the BLFRPS class of distributions. Its structural properties including moments, conditional moments, deviations, Lorenz and Bonferroni curves and entropy are derived and presented. Maximum likelihood estimation method is used for parameters estimation. Maximum likelihood estimation technique is used for parameter estimation followed by a Monte Carlo simulation study. Application of the model to a real dataset is presented.
Nanosyntax : A short primer to a new approach to language

Nanosyntax is a novel approach to the architecture of language, designed to make (better) sense of the new empirical picture emerging from recent years of syntactic research. It is a large-scale project, addressing a wide array of issues, ranging from big issues such as the modularity of language, to fine details, such as the derivation of allomorphy in irregular patterns of given languages and its interaction with syntactic structures. 1. The atoms of language are smaller than we thought The premise leading to the nanosyntactic project is very simple: Syntactic research has produced beautiful empirical generalisations over the last 30 years, and these generalisations have led to a profound change in the kind of mental representations (“syntactic structures”) attributed to speakers. This profound shift has however remained within the empirical and notational domain, disconnected from syntactic theory itself: the theory used on the new structures is largely similar to the theory used 20 years ago (despite terminological changes). That theory is however not a good fit with the new results – the starting question was thus simple: what is the new empirical picture telling us? What do we learn from those beautiful generalisations? A posteriori, the answer is surprisingly simple though with deep consequences: the new syntactic structures are much larger, and growing by the day, and as a result, their ingredients (their terminal nodes) are getting much smaller. This turns out to contradict a fundamental tenet of the field: the deeply ingrained assumption that the ingredients of syntactic structure (the terminal nodes) are lexical items, “words” or “morphemes”. The contradiction stems from the fact that orthodoxy views syntax as a way of arranging lexical items. But as syntactic structures grew, not only did their terminals become “much smaller”, they became submorphemic smaller than individual morphemes. As a consequence, the terminals cannot be lexical items (morphemes or words), and hence syntax cannot be a device to arrange lexical items into structures. The field is thus in a position in which its fundamental assumptions are at odds with the results of its best research. We therefore need to reconsider the orthodoxy, questioning the very premise that syntax operates on lexical items. Nanosyntax is the result of doing that. c © 2009 Michal Starke. Nordlyd 36.1, special issue on Nanosyntax, ed. Peter Svenonius, Gillian Ramchand, Michal Starke, and Knut Tarald Taraldsen, pp. 1– 6. CASTL, Tromso. http://www.ub. uit.no/baser/nordlyd/
Monetary policy reaction to uncertainty in Japan: Evidence from aquantile‐on‐quantileinterest rate rule

Japan’s episodes of lower bound of interest rates together with macroeconomic uncertainty for over the past two decades stands as a tremendous hurdle for the estimation of Taylor-type rule models. We demarcate our study from previous literature by conducting the estimations not only at various points on the conditional distribution of the interest rate but also at various quantiles of an additional regressor on top of inflation and output, viz., an uncertainty measure, by adopting a quantile nonseparable triangular system estimation. The results show that the reaction to uncertainty seems to have substituted the Bank’s reaction to inflation and output, lending support to the Brainard attenuation principle. In essence, faced with higher uncertainty, the monetary authority reacts by cutting (attenuating) its policy rate across all quantiles of uncertainty at all conditional quantiles of interest rate, with an increased response of the Bank of Japan to uncertainty at its lower quantiles when interest rate is at its lower conditional quantiles. A possible explanation is the greater concern of getting out from the lower bounds of interest rate.
Diagnostic value of Somatosensory Evoked Potentials in Cervical Myelopathy

Background Cervical myelopathy is a condition caused by narrowing of the spinal canal leading to cord dysfunction. The most common causes are congenital stenosis and degenerative stenosis caused by spondylosis. Objectives To confirm the diagnosis of cervical myelopathies using somatosensory evoked potentials and possibly to localize the level of the lesion. Methods An electrophysiological study had been carried on 61 patients with cervical myelopathy (41 female and 20 male) aged 48.66±11.72 years and 41 healthy volunteers aged 44.8±10.53 years. Sensory and motor nerve conduction study and somatosensory evoked potential for all were done to evaluate the peripheral nerves and sensory central pathways. Results No significant difference was demonstrated in the sensory and motor nerve conduction studies from the healthy subjects. Somatosensory evoked potentials showed statistically highly significant changes in the N13, N20 latencies, amplitudes and N13-N9 and N20-N13 central sensory conduction times of median nerve on both sides. N13 latency has the highest specificity and sensitivity among the somatosensory evoked potentials parameters. Those patients who had prolonged central sensory conduction time between N20-N13 suggests an upper cervical lesion while those having prolonged central sensory conduction time between N13-N9 suggest lower cervical cord and/or cervical root affection. Conclusion Motor and sensory conduction studies are usually normal in CM. Among SSEPs parameters, N13 latency was prolonged bilaterally, CSCT abnormal bilaterally, N13-N9 and N20-N13 latencies unilaterally (Right side). Mononeuropathies, polyneuropathies, radiculopathies and plexopathies should be excluded before diagnosis of CM was made.
A comparative study of Information Extraction tools used for Biological database

The Internet presents a huge amount of biological data. It is difficult to extract relevant data from various sources. Therefore, the availability of robust, flexible Information Extraction (IE) systems and tool that transform the Web pages into program-friendly structures such as a relational database. This paper made a study on information extraction tools. Which can be used for Biological databases. The tools have been classified based on four categories such as tools for Manually constructed Information Extraction, Supervised Wrapper Induction System, Semi supervised Information Extraction Systems, Unsupervised Information extraction Systems. Finally we made a comparative study on the Information Extraction tools used for Biological database based on the technique used such as scan Pass, Extraction Rules Type, Features used, Learning Algorithm and Tokenization Schemes.
FAST AUTOMATIC DIFFERENTIATION

Many publications have been devoted to the technique of fast automatic di erentiation (FAD), used for di erentiating multivariate functions. We refer to the proceedings of the rst SIAMWorkshop on the Automatic Di erentiation of Algorithms which was held in Brekenridge, Colorado, in 1991 (see [9]). An overview of the history and the state of the art of automatic di erentiation and related techniques is given by Iri in [11]. In many cases, FAD is far superior to symbolic di erentiation or to divided di erences approximation. Having studied literature on FAD, we realized that this approach was very similar to one we used for solving discrete optimal control problems with delay. We looked for more general expressions that would include the FAD formulas as a special case, but that could also be used for gradient calculations in systems that arise from discrete approximation of continuous systems governed by di erential equations. Our preliminary results in this eld were published in [1], [4] [7]. This paper extends the FAD approach further to complex processes described by explicit and implicit expressions. We then apply the approach to optimization of a control system governed by a partial di erential equation. The mathematical model of the control system is approximated by a corresponding optimal parameter selection problem which, in turn, can be viewed as a mathematical programming problem and hence can be solved by existing optimization algorithms. Using the generalized FAD expressions, we derive the exact gradient of the objective functional. Once this is accomplished, e cient gradient type algorithms for solving mathematical programming problems can be easily applied (see [6, 7]) to solving the parameter selection problem. These gradient algorithms usually require signi cantly fewer iterations and function evaluations than derivative-free methods which only use function values. The described approach enables us to nd formulas for exact gradients in various complex problems and to use them in numerous minimization algorithms. In Section 2 we present general expressions, from which we obtain the so-called forward and reverse di erentiation expressions as a special case. We introduce the auxiliary function and use a canonical form which turns out to be very convenient for the representation of reverse expressions. In Section 3 we consider the algebraic complexity of computing a function of several variables and its partial derivatives with respect to all the variables. If FAD is used, then the ratio of the computer time for calculating all partial derivatives of an elementary function to the time for calculating the underlying function value is bounded above by 3. In Section 4 the di erentiation expressions are applied to the rounding error estimation. In Section 5 we derive the expressions for the gradient of a function de ned by the solution of an initial value problem for ordinary di erential equation. We discretize the problem and, applying the expressions from Section 2, we obtain the gradient by using forward and reverse
Low power CMOS dynamic latch comparators

The paper proposes three new low power CMOS dynamic latch comparators suitable for pipeline analog-to-digital converters. All three use the same differential comparing circuit that can be modeled as variable resistors to trigger the switching behavior of a cross coupled latch. However, their dynamic behaviors during the reset phase are different. The first one precharges the two outputs at HIGH state. The second one discharges the outputs at slightly above the threshold voltage. The third one uses charge sharing to attain approximately half the supply voltage at both outputs. Preliminary simulation shows that the charge sharing technique yields lowest power consumption of 90 /spl mu/W at 100 MHz. All three comparators have an offset voltage in the range of 30-150 mV.
Evaluation of Genetic Variation among Indian Mustard ( Brassica juncea L . ) Genotypes by SDS-PAGE Method

A comparative study of total seed protein profile was carried out to determine the extent of genetic variability amongst 53 genotypes of Indian mustard [(Brassica juncea L.) germplasm using sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) technique. Total seed protein was estimated. To estimate genetic diversity, 12 different types of protein bands were obtained based on the banding pattern of all the genotypes; seven (58%) were polymorphic and five were monomorphic. The protein size base polymorphism revealed the range of protein bands based on their molecular weights which ranged from ~10 kDa to ~180 kDa. Dendrogram was constructed using UPGMA method which divided the genotypes into five groups: group I had 18 genotypes, group II 17 genotypes, group III 3 genotypes, group IV 13 genotypes and group V 2 genotypes. Among the studied genotypes, similarity coefficient values ranged from 17% to 100%. Highest similarity coefficient (i.e., 100%) was recorded between Bj765 and Bj785, Bj790 and Bj791, Bj790 and Bj794. The observed clusters based on this study exhibited a genetic diversity among these genotypes of Indian mustard on Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) level. Thus, this study revealed that the SDS-PAGE method plays a key role in the study of protein based variation among different genotypes of plant species.
Speech Perception in Middle-Aged Adults : Results From Our Laboratory Study 1

Purpose: This research forum article summarizes research from our laboratory that assessed middle-aged adults’ ability to understand speech in the presence of competing talkers. Method: The performance of middle-aged adults on laboratory-based speech understanding tasks was compared to that of younger and older adults. Results: Decline in the ability to understand speech in complex listening environments can be demonstrated
THE EFFECT OF HARVESTING ON SOME AGRONOMIC AND QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF PEANUT GROWN IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION OF TURKEY

This study was conducted at the experimental area of the Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Cukurova University as a main crop in 2013 and 2014. The objective of this study was to determinate the effect of harvesting dates on yield and some agronomic traits, seed and oil quality of peanut (Arachis hypogea L.) grown in the Mediterranean region. The experimental design was a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The Halisbey peanut variety (Virginia market type) was used as a plant material in this research. Pod yield per hectare, shelling percentage, 100-seed weight, protein and oil percentage, fatty acids (palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acids) composition and oil quality (oleic acid to linoleic acid ratio, iodine value) traits were investigated. According to a two-year average, the highest pod weight (84.24 g plant) and pod number (36.83 no. plant) per plant was obtained when the plants were harvested at 180 days after planting (DAP). The shelling percentage and 100-seed weight increased when the harvesting was delayed. The highest pod (8002.6 kg ha) was obtained when the plants were harvested at 180 DAP. The oil and protein percentage ranged from 48.66-49.66% and 24.65-25.89% respectively. The oleic and linoleic acid content varied between 51.54-54.94% and 24.65-26.78%, respectively. Oleic acid to linoleic acid ratio (O/L) increased when the harvesting time was delayed.
Antibacterial activity of ginger extracts and its essential oil on some of pathogenic bacteria

The antimicrobial activity of ginger extracts ( cold-water, hot-water, ethanolic and essential oil ) against some of pathogenic bacteria ( Escherichia coli , Salmonella sp , Klebsiella sp , Serratia marcescens, Vibrio cholerae , Staphylococcus aureus , Streptococcus sp) was investigated using Disc diffusion method , and the results were compared with the antimicrobial activity of 12 antibiotics on the same bacteria . The results showed that the ginger extracts were more effective on gram-positive bacteria than gram-negative . V. cholerae and S. marcescens,were the most resistant bacteria to the extracts used , while highest inhibition was noticed against Streptococcus sp (28 mm) . The ethanolic extract showed the broadest antibacterial activity ( 11 to 28 mm ) , in comparison with moderate activity of essential oil , it was observed that the cold-water extract was more effective on the bacteria than hot-water extract . Ginger ethanolic extract presented higher diameter of inhibition zone for Streptococcus sp than in Ciprofloxacin , Cefotaxime , Cefalotin , Cephalexin and Cephaloridine , also it was found a similarity between the higher inhibition zones of ethanolic extract of ginger and some antibiotics for S. aureus , E. coli , Salmonella sp and Klebsiella sp . V. cholerae and S. marcescens,also highly resistant to antibiotics . Phytochemical analysis of ethanolic extract of ginger revealed the present of glycosides, terpenoids, flavonids and phenolic compounds
Osteosarcoma therapy : what is the way forward ?

At the start of the twentieth century, the prognosis of osteosarcoma, the most common primary bone sarcoma, was grim, with a 5-year overall survival rate of onlyB20% in the year 1910, with little change over the next 50 years. However, beginning in the 1960s, the situation began to improve, thanks to surgical approaches combined with polychemotherapy, and by the 1980s the survival rate reached about 60%. Unfortunately, since then, the survival rate has leveled off. ‘After 30 years of lack of progress,’ wrote the authors of a recent meta-analysis of osteosarcoma outcomes, ‘we should re-evaluate our treatment paradigms and think along different lines, especially in regard to the current players behind drug and medical technology development, as well as our own attitudes toward disease treatment and outcomes we deem appropriate. ’ In Recent Advances in the Therapy of Osteosarcoma, a recent IBMS BoneKEy webinar, presenter Bruno Fuchs (University of Zurich, Switzerland) and a distinguished panel outlined key components of a research agenda that may make further improvements in the clinic possible. Key to that agenda, they said, will be a better understanding of the biology of osteosarcomas made feasible by an increased number of preclinical studies. For any new drug candidate, ‘we have to establish a very strong basis through in vitro and in vivo analysis before bringing that drug into patients,’ Dr Fuchs said. The message of the webinar was that with a better grasp of osteosarcoma biology gained through well-organized international research efforts, along with better orchestrated efforts on the clinical side, investigators have reason to be hopeful for the future treatment of these rare tumors. Panelists for Recent Advances in the Therapy of Osteosarcoma included Anne-Marie Cleton-Jansen (Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands) and Fernando Lecanda (University of Navarra, Spain). The panel discussion was moderated by Dominique Heymann (INSERM, University of Nantes, France). The webinar is available on the BoneKEy Knowledge Environment at: http://www.nature. com/bonekey/webinars/ index.html? key=webinar26.