Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extension agents\ marketing related services: The relevance to policy and training in Osun State, Nigeria

This study investigated the marketing related services provided to farmers by extension agents in Osun State, Nigeria. Data were collected from the extension agents in the services of Osun State Agricultural Development Projects, which is the government outfit to provide such services to farmers on one hand and their counterparts in the non-governmental organizations on the other hand. A validated questionnaire was administered to extension agents during the fortnightly training meeting. The data collected was summarized using frequency and percentages. The relationship between the dependent and independent variables were investigated using Spearman rank order correlation, Pearson Product Moment Correlation and regression analyses. Results of the study showed that the respondents had basic preservice training in agricultural related field and are provided with motorcycle to ease their transportation problems. Extension Agents in turn provide selected marketing related services to farmers especially those perceived as legitimate. A significant correlation exists between performance of marketing related services and the perceived legitimacy of the services(r=0.54). The number of marketing related services provided by extension agents significantly correlate with number of superior officers(r=0.6510). The other variables that negatively correlates with number of marketing related services provided by the extension agents are, rank (r = -0.578), years of experience (r=-0.321) and annual income (r = -0.335). The study suggest that performance of the marketing related extension services be backed by adequate policy statements and be included in the extension agents training curriculum. South African Journal of Agricultural Extension Vol. 35 (1) 2006: pp. 51-70
Is Currency Momentum a Hedge for Global Economic Risk?

This article investigates the potential link between momentum in currency returns and global economic risk as measured by currency return dispersion (RD). We find that the spread on zero-cost currency momentum strategies is larger and highly significant in high RD states compared to low RD states. Also, the relation between these momentum payoffs and global economic risk appears to increase linearly in risk. Further tests indicate that the same macroeconomic risk component in currency markets is present in global equity markets. Based on this evidence, we conclude that global economic risk as proxied by RD helps to explain currency momentum profits.
Choroidal Thickness in Children with Beta Thalassemia Major

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine whether there are differences in choroidal thickness in children with beta thalassemia major (&bgr;-TM). Methods Thirty-five patients with &bgr;-TM and 38 healthy children aged between 3 and 16 years participated in the study. After complete eye examinations were conducted on the participants, choroidal thickness measurements were performed using optical coherence tomography. Correlations between choroidal thickness and laboratory and clinical parameters, such as age, sex, hemoglobin and ferritin levels, duration of disease, type and duration of chelating therapy, visual acuity, intraocular pressure, central corneal thickness, and axial length were also evaluated. Results The mean ages for the study group and for the control group were 8.2 ± 2.7 and 7.9 ± 2.4 years, respectively. There were no statistical differences between groups in terms of visual acuity, intraocular pressure, central corneal thickness, or axial length (p > 0.05). Choroidal thicknesses at the foveal center were 286 ± 33 &mgr;m in &bgr;-TM patients and 335 ± 423 &mgr;m in the healthy control children. Choroidal thicknesses at each point within the horizontal nasal and temporal quadrants were thinner in the &bgr;-TM group. There was a positive correlation between choroidal thickness and hemoglobin levels and a negative correlation between choroidal thickness and ferritin levels (r = 0.924, p < 0.001 and r = -0.947, p < 0.001, respectively). There was no correlation between clinical or ocular characteristics and choroidal thickness. Conclusions Choroidal thickness was significantly thinner in all quadrants in children with &bgr;-TM. This thinning of the choroid may be the reason for the development of eye disorders in older patients with &bgr;-TM.
Telework in the European Union

This report examines the phenomenon of telework in the EU – particularly in the context of the European Framework Agreement on Telework, which was signed by the peak social partners in July 2002. The report first assesses the incidence of telework across the 27 EU Members States and Norway, highlighting the overall increase in telework usage. It goes on to examine the regulatory framework for telework, with a particular focus on the European Framework Agreement’s implementation in the context of national industrial relations systems and given the unique nature of this autonomous agreement. The report also looks at issues concerning the employment and working conditions of teleworkers – such as health and safety, data protection, access to training and the voluntary nature of telework. It concludes with an overview of the social partners’ position on telework.
Distributional Effects of Public Health Insurance Reform

This paper quantifies the effects of key parts of the 2010 health care reform legislation. I construct a lifecycle incomplete markets model with an endogenous choice of health insurance coverage and calibrate it to U.S. data. I find that the reform decreases the fraction of uninsured households by 94% and increases ex-ante household welfare by 2.3% in consumption equivalence. The main driving force behind the reduction in the uninsured population is the health insurance mandate, although I find no significant welfare loss associated with the elimination of the mandatory health insurance provision.
Hepatic steatosis in chronic hepatitis C: baseline host and viral characteristics and influence on response to therapy with peginterferon α‐2a plus ribavirin

Summary. Hepatic steatosis is common in hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐infected patients and may be associated with the metabolic syndrome. We studied steatosis in patients treated with peginterferonα‐2a plus ribavirin. Forty‐five of 207 patients (22%) had >5% hepatic steatosis at baseline. Significantly more patients with steatosis than without were HCV genotype 3 (51%vs 14%; P < 0.0001) had higher HCV‐RNA (P = 0.0045), body weight (P = 0.0176), body mass index (BMI, P = 0.0352) and serum triglycerides (TG) (P = 0.0364), hypertriglyceridaemia (P = 0.0009), elevated blood pressure/history of hypertension (P = 0.0229) and lower cholesterol (P = 0.0009). Significant steatosis predictors were genotype 3 (OR 9.04, 95% CI 3.85–21.21, P < 0.0001), HCV‐RNA (OR 2.96, 1.49–5.88, P = 0.0019) and triglycerides (OR 1.06, 1.02–1.11, P = 0.0071). In genotype 3 patients, HCV‐RNA was the only significant predictor (OR 11.15, 2.60–47.81, P = 0.0012). In non‐genotype 3 patients, hypertriglyceridaemia was the only significant predictor (OR 1.07, 1.02–1.12, P = 0.0041). 134 of 207 patients (65%) achieved an sustained virological response (SVR) with peginterferon α‐2a plus ribavirin, similar to the overall response rate. In genotype 3 patients with an SVR, steatosis decreased from 48% to 13% (baseline to end‐point). No change was seen in the steatosis rate in non‐genotype 3 patients with an SVR. This large and comprehensive analysis of a large data base from a multinational trial further adds to the observations that chronic HCV is associated with hepatic steatosis in approximately a fifth of patients. Further, features of the metabolic syndrome are associated with hepatic steatosis in most of these patients. Steatosis is significantly more common in genotype 3 compared with other genotypes, and in these patients, an SVR is associated with steatosis clearance.
NK Cells Stimulate Proliferation of T and NK Cells through 2B4/CD48 Interactions1

Few studies have addressed the consequences of physical interactions between NK and T cells, as well as physical interactions among NK cells themselves. We show in this study that NK cells can enhance T cell activation and proliferation in response to CD3 cross-linking and specific Ag through interactions between 2B4 (CD244) on NK cells and CD48 on T cells. Furthermore, 2B4/CD48 interactions between NK cells also enhanced proliferation of NK cells in response to IL-2. Overall, these results suggest that NK cells augment the proliferation of neighboring T and NK cells through direct cell-cell contact. These results provide new insights into NK cell-mediated control of innate and adaptive immunity and demonstrate that receptor/ligand-specific cross talk between lymphocytes may occur in settings other than T-B cell or T-T cell interactions.
Histone deacetylase inhibitors prevent oxidative neuronal death independent of expanded polyglutamine repeats via an Sp1-dependent pathway

Oxidative stress is believed to be an important mediator of neurodegeneration. However, the transcriptional pathways induced in neurons by oxidative stress that activate protective gene responses have yet to be fully delineated. We report that the transcription factor Sp1 is acetylated in response to oxidative stress in neurons. Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors augment Sp1 acetylation, Sp1 DNA binding, and Sp1-dependent gene expression and confer resistance to oxidative stress-induced death in vitro and in vivo. Sp1 activation is necessary for the protective effects of HDAC inhibitors. Together, these results demonstrate that HDAC inhibitors inhibit oxidative death independent of polyglutamine expansions by activating an Sp1-dependent adaptive response.
A prospective study of tobacco and alcohol use as risk factors for pharyngeal carcinomas in Singapore Chinese

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a rare disease in most populations; however, in areas of Southeast Asia and North Africa and in the Arctic, undifferentiated NPC is the most frequent pharyngeal malignancy. Although smoking and alcohol have been established firmly as synergistic risk factors for other pharyngeal carcinomas, previous studies on the association between these risk factors and NPC have not been consistent. Therefore, the authors analyzed this relation in a cohort of Singapore Chinese, which is a population with a high incidence of NPC.
Does Institutional Shareholding Affect Firm Value? An Empirical Analysis in Indian Market

In this study I use a large sample of quarterly changes in equity holding by institutional investors and find strong evidence that the functions of institutional investors which were missing in India (Khanna and Palepu, 2000) are taking shape as external controllers of corporate governance. I provide a robust proof that foreign financial institutions (FIIs) have a positive influence on firm performance. For the first time I disintegrate domestic institutions into different categories and find that mutual funds’ influence on firm performance is divergent as compared to banks, financial institutions (FIs) and insurance companies. While the effect of mutual fund holdings on firm performance was inconclusive; equity holding by banks, FIs and insurance companies showed a negative impact. Empirical proof from this study also adds to the existing literature on the monitoring role of institutional investors in India. It is evident that FIIs are better monitors of corporate actions. The other groups of institutions are either poor monitors or do not monitor as changes in their shareholding does not have an influence on firm performance.
Online self-disclosure across cultures: A study of Facebook use in Saudi Arabia and Australia

This research aimed to gain a sophisticated understanding of self-disclosure on Facebook across two distinctive cultures, Saudi Arabia and Australia. This study utilised an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, consisting of a quantitative phase followed by a qualitative phase. Findings from both quantitative and qualitative data provide a broad understanding of the types of information that people self-disclose on Facebook, identifies factors that have a significant influence (either positive or negative) on such disclosure, and explains how it is affected by one's national culture.
Contrarian Strategies, Investor Expectations and Sentiments: The U.S. Evidence

This study documents that contrarian investment strategies offer superior returns because these strategies exploit investors’ expectation errors. The underlying source of these expectation errors may be due to biases on analysts’ earnings forecasts. We found both positive earnings surprises and negative earnings surprises significantly affect subsequent returns. Negative earnings surprises have less impact on value stocks relative to glamour stocks. This may contribute to the superior performance from value strategies. We also investigate whether investor sentiment can be an alternative source of value stocks’ superior performance. Our results conclude that when the investor sentiment is higher, the value stocks earn significant higher return than glamour stocks.
Interrelationships of growth hormone AluI polymorphism, insulin resistance, milk production and reproductive performance in Holstein-Friesian cows

Healthy multiparous Holstein-Friesian cows ( n = 22, parity: 2-4) from a large-scale dairy herd in Hungary were subjected to an intravenous glucose tolerance test 10-15 days after calving. AluI genotype of growth hormone, several plasma metabolites and metabolic hormones were determined, and current and previous lactation yields were recorded. We also used the Revised Quantitative Insulin Sensitivity Check Index (RQUICKI) and its modified version (RQUICKI BHB ) for the estimation of peripheral insulin sensitivity. The majority of cows ( n = 18) was leucine homozygous (LL), four were heterozygous (LV) and there were no valine homozygous (VV) animals in the population. Current average milk production was not different between AluI genotypes, but LV cows tended to have higher 305-day previous lactation yields ( P = 0.13). AluI polymorphism was not associated with any of the calculated glucose and leptin parameters of the intravenous glucose tolerance test ( P > 0.58). Heterozygous cows cyclic and showed signs of estrus during the study period. There were no differences between leucine homozygous and heterozygous animals in the onset of ovarian activity and in the time of first observed estrus ( P > 0.540). We conclude that Holstein-Friesian cows heterozygous for AluI polymorphism of the growth hormone gene may be more likely to develop insulin resistance during early lactation than leucine homozygous cows. Decreased insulin sensitivity could be part of a homeorhetic adaptation process that supports nutrient partioning for the use of the mammary gland and may allow LV cows to reach higher yields throughout lactation.
Influence of age at weaning and feeding regimes on the postnatal morphology of the porcine small intestine

The small intestinal mucosal epithelium is the interface between ingested nutrients and their distribution networks in the underlying vasculature and lymphatics. This review reports on the small intestinal mucosal surface changes in the piglet from birth to the time of natural weaning (> 54 days). Despite numerous publications on the morphological characteristics of the gastrointestinal tract, there is limited comparability among these due to substantial methodological differences. The comparability of the methodological designs used in this review was achieved by relativizing the data to the day of weaning. Weaning at 35 days or later had little to no effect on the intestinal mucosa. Early weaning at 28, 21, 14, 5, 3, and 1 day after birth was associated with dramatic structural changes in the mucosa. A frequent observation after early weaning was prominent villus atrophy. While the crypt epithelium responds to redress these dramatic changes, villus recovery to near preweaning status may be slow. The earlier a piglet is weaned, the greater the villus atrophy and the longer the time to recovery. A causal relationship between reduced feed intake in the first days after weaning, independent of the diet, and the morphological alterations of the intestine is apparent.
The Role of Partnerships in the Internationalisation Process of Small Knowledge Intensive Firms (SKIFs)

There is important evidence that Small Knowledge Intensive Firms (SKIFs) have demonstrated some unique characteristics in their internationalisation process. The process takes place earlier in the life of the firm and develops due to the role played by partnerships. The paper analyzes three different SKIFs through a cross case study method. We build on different process based models that have studied the internationalisation process of international ventures. The findings show that the SKIFs internationalisation consists of a series of phases characterised by triggering factors. The paper sheds new light into which type of partnerships mostly matter in the growth of SKIFs.
Corporate Financial Distress and Recovery: The UK Evidence

We analyse the strategies undertaken by financially-distressed companies and test the hypothesis that the probability of corporate recovery is positively related to the adoption of cash based strategies. We show that, companies that recover from financial distress are focused, diligent and adopt more cash generating or cash conserving strategies such as business retrenchment, closures, dividend omissions and cuts. We follow the financial performance of these companies in the post distress period and find evidence that corroborates our findings as companies that recover are better at tightening their cost policies and conserving cash.
Are organizational innovation practices complements or substitutes for technological innovation performance

We empirically investigate the pattern of complementarity between four organizational practices. Firm-level data were drawn from the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) carried out in 2008 in Luxembourg. Supermodularity tests confirm the crucial role of organizational innovation in raising firms’ technological innovation. The pattern of complementarity between organizational practices differs according to the type of innovation, i.e. product or process innovation, but also according to whether the firm is in the first stage of the innovation process (i.e. being innovative or not) or in a later stage (i.e. innovation performance in terms of sales of new products).
Early Detection of Left Ventricular Contractility Abnormalities by Two‐Dimensional Speckle Tracking Strain in Chagas' Disease

Chagas' disease is an important cause of heart failure, and early identification of cardiac involvement may help to identify patients at risk for disease progression. Two‐dimensional (2D) speckle tracking (ST) strain seems to be a useful tool to detect incipient ventricular dysfunction. This study aims to analyze if 2D strain can detect contractility abnormalities in asymptomatic patients with Chagas' disease.
Waterlogging effects on growth and yield components in late-planted soybean.

A major agronomic problem in the southeastern USA is low yield of late-planted soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr. ]. This problem is aggravated by the adverse effect of waterlogging on crop growth. Our objectives were to identify soybean growth stages sensitive to waterlogging; identify yield components and physiological parameters explaining yield losses induced by waterlogging; and determine the extent of yield losses induced by waterlogging under natural field conditions. Greenhouse and field studies were conducted during 1993 and 1994 near Baton Rouge, LA, (30 degrees N Lat) on a Commerce silt loam. Waterlogging tolerance was assessed in cultivar Centennial (Maturity Group VI) at three vegetative and five reproductive growth stages by maintaining the water level at the soil surface in a greenhouse study. Using the same cultivar, we evaluated the effect of drainage in the field for late-planted soybean. Rain episodes determined the timing of waterlogging; redox potential and oxygen concentration of the soil were used to quantify the intensity of waterlogging stress. Results of the greenhouse study indicated that the early vegetative period (V2) and the early reproductive stages (R1, R3, and R5) were most sensitive to waterlogging. Three to 5 cm of rain per day falling on poorly drained soil was sufficient to reduce crop growth rate, resulting in a yield decline from 2453 to 1550 kg ha-1. Yield loss in both field and greenhouse studies was induced primarily by decreased pod production resulting from fewer pods per reproductive node. In conclusion, waterlogging was determined to be an important stress for late-planted soybean in high rainfall areas such as the Gulf Coast Region.
The Biliary Tract

titioner and is one of the senior consulting obstetricians and gynaecologists in the Royal Free Hospital Group of hospitals. Her experience is enormous. The language Miss Landau uses in her book is simple, concise and very easy indeed to read. The book is, perhaps, rather on the short side but that is not a great disadvantage. It is worthwhile reading for anyone who wishes to know what to say to the menopausal patient, and it can very safely be recommended to the patient to buy to read herself. The only slight adverse criticism is, does the menopause really start at 40 ? E.S.
Newton geodesic optimization on special linear group

The Riemannian exponential map on a noncompact Lie Group, which is determined by a Riemannian metric, is different from the Lie group exponential map determined by one-parameter subgroups. The Riemannian exponential map which represents the geodesic of the optimal transformation is obtained in terms of the minimal geodesic equation on SL(n, R). Generally, the Newton optimization method on Lie group is independent of the connection but with the one-parameter group. Based on the parameterization of the manifold with the Riemannian exponential map, we propose an intrinsic Newton optimization method on special linear group and prove its locally quadratic convergence to critical point of the cost function. Our approach is slightly superior to the counterpart based on Lie group exponential map. We demonstrate this by an image registration example.