Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Governance Crisis or Attitudinal Challenges? Generation, Collection, Storage and Transportation of Solid Waste in Ghana

Waste is a continually growing problem at global, regional and local levels and one of the most intractable problems for local authorities in urban centers. With continuous economic development and an increase in living standards, the demand for goods and services is increasing quickly, resulting in a commensurate increase in per capita waste generation (Narayana, 2008). In most developing countries, the problem is compounded by rapid urbanization, the introduction of environmentally unfriendly materials, changing consumer consumption patterns, lack of political commitment, insufficient budgetary allocations and ill motivated (undedicated) workforce. In Ghana, deficiencies in solid waste management (SWM) are most visible in and around urban areas such as Accra, Tema and Kumasi where equally important competing needs and financial constraints have placed an inordinate strain on the ability of the authorities to implement a proper SWM strategy in tandem with the rapid population growth. Consequently, most of the urban landscape is characterized by open spaces and roadsides littered with refuse; drainage channels and gutters choked with waste; open reservoirs that appear to be little more than toxic pools of liquid waste; and beaches strewn with plastic garbage. The insidious social and health impact of this neglect is greatest among the poor, particularly those living in the low-income settlements (UN-Habitat, 2010). The provision of such environmental services had typically been viewed as the responsibility of the central government. However, the costs involved, coupled with the increasing rate of waste generation due to high urban population growth rates, have made it difficult for collection to keep pace with generation, thus posing serious environmental hazards. Apart from the unsightliness of waste, the public health implications have been daunting, accounting for about 4.9% of GDP (MLGRD, 2010a). Data from the Ghana Health Service indicate that six (6) out of the top ten (10) diseases in Ghana are related to poor environmental sanitation, with malaria, diarrhea and typhoid fever jointly constituting 70%85% of out-patient cases at health facilities (MLGRD, 2010a). Launching a National Campaign against Malaria in 2005, a Deputy Minister of Health noted that “malaria remains the number one killer in the country, accounting for 17,000 deaths, including 2,000 pregnant women and 15,000 children below the age of five”, a quarter of all
Are Immigrants a Shot in the Arm for the Local Economy?

Most research on the effects of immigration focuses on the effects of immigrants as adding to the supply of labor. By contrast, this paper studies the effects of immigrants on local labor demand, due to the increase in consumer demand for local services created by immigrants. This effect can attenuate downward pressure from immigrants on non-immigrants' wages, and also benefit non-immigrants by increasing the variety of local services available. For this reason, immigrants can raise native workers' real wages, and each immigrant could create more than one job. Using US Census data from 1980 to 2000, we find considerable evidence for these effects: Each immigrant creates 1.2 local jobs for local workers, most of them going to native workers, and 62% of these jobs are in non-traded services. Immigrants appear to raise local non-tradables sector wages and to attract native-born workers from elsewhere in the country. Overall, it appears that local workers benefit from the arrival of more immigrants.
Association between TGF- β 1 -509 Gene Polymorphism with Aggressive Periodontitis

Aggressive periodontitis is a multifactorial disease characterized by progressive and relatively rapid destruction of tooth supporting tissues in otherwise healthy adolescents and young adults. It results from bacterial p laque and is influenced by environmental and genetic factors. Cytokines and growth factors play important roles in the pathogenesis of periodontitis. The aim o f the present study was to investigate the relationship between the growth factor TGF-β1 (-509, C/T) gene polymorphism and generalized aggressive periodontitis (GAP). This study included 24 subjects with GAP and 26 periodontally healthy controls. Extracted DNA fro m peripheral blood was evaluated by PCR- RFLP method. Data were analyzed using the chi-square and Fisher's exact tests.There was significant association between C/C genotype and GAP disease (p=0.011). The frequency of C/C genotype in patients and control subjects were 37.5% and 7.7%, respectively. The allele C was seen at 66.7% in the group with periodontitis and 48.1% in the healthy group (p=0.061). These results demonstrated that subjects with C/ C genotype of the TGF-β1 polymo rphism at -509 position might be more prone to the risk of developing aggressive periodontitis as compared to other genotypes.
Tribofilms: aspects of formation, stability and removal

There has been much attention paid to the lubricant additives zinc dialkyldithiphosphate and molybdenum dialkyldithiocarbamate as the most commonly used antiwear/antioxidant and friction modifiers. The mechanism by which they function has been the subject of much research work. As a result of these efforts the tribofilms formed from the above additives are fully chemically characterized but understanding the physical properties and the dynamics of their formation, stability and removal is still not satisfactory and needs more research. This paper reviews the general characteristics of tribofilms formed from these additives in single component systems and also on their interactions as well as the current understanding of the dynamics of their formation. Experimental work is then presented alongside discussion of the literature to present a current status of understanding of the stability and the removal of tribofilms. The effect of temperature and additive interactions on the thickness of the steady state tribofilms, and consequently the effect on friction performance, is evaluated. The results of this study show that temperature and additive interactions play a significant role on the dynamic process of tribofilm formation as well as its chemical properties. This study also highlights the areas in which further development is needed to ensure progress in understanding of the tribofilm's formation and removal processes.
Antioxidant and Anticancer Activities of Different Constituents Extracted fromEgyptian Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) Peel

Different extracts and their fractions of the Opuntia ficus-indica peel were evaluated for anticancer and antioxidant activities. The anticancer activity was tested using trypan blue technique against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells (EACC). Antioxidant activity was determined using the, α- diphenyl- β-picrilhydrazyl radical-scavenging assay system, and compared with those of the positive controls of butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). Chloroform and ethanol extracts exhibited the strongest antioxidant and anticancer activity in the assay system. The ethanolic extract was further separated into nine fractions, designated as (E1-E9), by TLC. In most cases, E8 and E9 fractions have the strongest antioxidantandanticanceractivitiesthereforethesetwofractionswereidentifiedusingdifferent spectroscopic tools (MS, IR, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR). The compounds were chemically identified as 17-hydroxy betanin and betanin. The total phenolic contents, tannins, flavonoids, betanins and reducing powers of the different extracts, and their fractions, were also measured. The antioxidant and anticancer potency showed significant relationship with the total phenolic content.
Ultrasonication-enhanced microbial safety of sprouts produced from selected crop species

Summary Seed sprouts are susceptible to microbial contamination; therefore, use of an effective sanitization treatment on these products is of great importance. This study investigated the effects of ultrasonication, heating and chemical washing on sanitization of nine crop seeds and the microbial safety of sprouts produced from decontaminated seeds. Most of the sanitization treatments improved seed germination (except dry heating), reduced microbial loads on produced sprouts, and increased sprouts yield. However, only ultrasonication treatment reduced both the total aerobic counts and total coliforms counts to < 3 log 10 CFU g -1 level on produced alfalfa, mung bean pea and radish sprouts. The sprouts produced from ultrasonication-treated alfalfa, mung bean, pea and radish seeds also outyielded their respective non-treated sprouts by 88, 25, 73 and 56 %. Therefore, ultrasonication can be used as a seed sanitization treatment for producing alfalfa, mung bean, pea and radish sprouts.
Does the Mesh Size of the Plankton Net Affect the Result of Statistical Analyses of the Relationship Between the Copepod Community and Water Masses

We examined if the results of statistical analyses of the relationship between copepod communities and water masses would be affected by the mesh size of the plankton net, by comparing abundance and species composition of copepods in plankton samples collected by plankton nets of different mesh sizes. Our samples were collected during the summer of 2006 in the East China Sea (ECS) by plankton nets with mesh sizes of 100 and 330 μm. The abundance of copepods collected by the 100 μm-mesh plankton net was about two orders of magnitude higher than that collected by the 330 μm-mesh plankton net. The difference in abundance was mainly due to the loss of small-sized copepods in the samples collected by the plankton net with the larger mesh. Species richness was higher in samples collected by the 100 μm-mesh net and Pielou's evenness was generally higher in samples collected by the 330 μm-mesh net. Although species composition of copepods varied in samples collected by plankton nets with different mesh sizes, the statistical analysis of the relationship between the copepod community and the water masses in these samples appeared not to be affected.
A Review of The Risks and Benefits of Cosleeping

Cosleeping” is defined as a child sleeping in the same bed as an adult within arm’s reach. The literature on cosleeping identifies a number of risks and benefits to infants, but many questions remain unanswered. Proponents of cosleeping assert that the research supports the benefits of cosleeping. Proponents report reduced rates of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), increased rates of breastfeeding, the instinctive nature of cosleeping. Opponents of cosleeping generally report opposite findings and theories: cosleeping increases the rates of SIDS and leaves children at risk of suffocation, entrapment, overlaying, and rebreathing carbon dioxide. A large portion of the literature reported relates to cosleeping differences across cultures. Additionally, the thesis reports the limited long-term or retrospective studies that have been conducted have not found lasting positive or negative effects of cosleeping. Examining this question further can provide us with additional insight into this controversial issue. This thesis carefully and fully examines the research that has been completed regarding cosleeping and offers suggestions for future research.
A Potent Chitinolytic Activity of Marine Actinomycete sp. and Enzymatic Production of Chitooligosaccharides

2 Abstract: locally isolated Marine Streptomyces sp. were screened for chitinolytic activity on agar plates containing colloidal chitin. The strain showed the highest activity on a colloidal chitin screening agar plate and thin- layer chromatography was identified as a strain of Streptomyces that may be designated Streptomyces champavatii AZ-1due to the production of champamycin A, B and champavatin. The strain AZ-1 produced a multi-chitinolytic enzyme complex, extracellular and cell bound activities on submerged and solid-state fermentation after 144, 168 h incubation times at 37°C. Chitinases secreted in the culture supernatant were partially purified. The optimal temperature and pH of the enzymes were 37°C and pH 5, 5.5, respectively. Production of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc) and N-acetyl chitooligosaccharides is important to biotechnology sectors, facilitating its potential use in medical application as antitumor. N-acetyl chitooligosaccharides were produced from colloidal chitin by use of crude enzyme obtained from St. champvatii AZ-1that produced a good yield 5 6 of chitopentaose (Glc-NAc) and chitohexaose (GlcNAc) .
The potential economic impact of Guinea-race sorghum hybrids in Mali: A comparison of research and development paradigms

Rural Malians depend on sorghum as a staple food. Despite long-term investment in sorghum improvement, achieving major gains in sorghum yields has posed challenges. We assessed the potential economic impact of the first Guinea-race sorghum hybrids developed and diffused using participatory plant breeding with decentralised, farmer-based seed systems. We compared this approach to formal plant breeding with a centralised, state-managed seed system – the sole approach pursued in Mali prior to 2000. To incorporate risk, we augmented the economic surplus model by applying Monte Carlo sampling to simulate distributions of model parameters. A census of sorghum varieties in 58 villages of the Sudanese Savanna served as the adoption baseline. Our findings indicate that research on sorghum hybrids with the new approach is a sound investment. Public and private actors need to continue investing in innovative ways to expand the sorghum seed system. The sensitivity of results to the price elasticity of supply suggests commercialisation opportunities.
Impact of External Business Environment on Organisational Performance of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Osun State, Nigeria

The paper examined the impact of external business environment on organizational performance of Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Nigeria. It also reviewed literature on MSMEs, business environment and organizational performances. Secondary sources of data were utilized for the study. The findings from reviewed literature showed that the external business environment (economic, political, legal, socio-cultural environment, demographic, natural, technological, global and financial environment) have influence on MSMEs operators in Nigeria. It was also discovered that there exists relationship between SMEs and the environment in which it occurs. The study concluded that SME operators should understand all these types of external business environment and their implications on organizational performance of their business activities in order to identify opportunities and threats to their businesses and update their knowledge, understanding and skills to meet the predicted changes in realm of their enterprises.
Money never sleeps – overnight returns in equity markets

The present research analyses overnight returns’ outperformance in relation to daytime returns. In a first stage, it will be assessed whether these returns are robust throughout time, markets and across different scopes of analysis (e.g. weekdays, months, states of the economy). In a second stage, several hypothesis will be empirically tested, in an attempt to understand what drives non-trading period returns (e.g. liquidity, market volatility). Even though several authors have analysed overnight returns and suggested several explanatory factors, there seems to be no consensus in the literature regarding its drivers.
Simulations of Stratus Clouds over Eastern China in CAM5: Sensitivity to Horizontal Resolution

This paper evaluates the simulations of stratus clouds over eastern China (EC) in the Community Atmosphere Model, version 5 (CAM5), with an emphasis on the impact of changing horizontal resolutions on the performance.CAM5inallexperimentsgenerallysatisfactorilysimulatesthecloudradiativefeaturesoverEC, including the spatial distributions of the continental shortwave cloud radiative forcing (SWCF) and stratus regimes, the responses of SWCF to the dynamic and thermodynamic ambient environment, and several relations in the environmental fields that are favorable to the stratus formation. Meanwhile, all experiments suffer from similar biases. Models tend to underestimate the stratus amount because of a corresponding underestimate of stratus occurrence frequency, while the stratus amount when present (AWP) is generally higher than that in the observation. Models also simulate similar errors in the environmental fields. The differencesbetweenlow-andhigh-resolutionexperimentsaredistinct. Anincreaseofresolutionenhancesthe SWCF in southern China, but the skill deteriorates in the Sichuan basin. Correspondingly, the stratus amount increases in southern China from low- to high-resolution experiments, mainly because of more stratus occurrences, which are found to be related to the better represented environmental fields in the high-resolution experiments, especially the dynamic component. Several relations in the ambient environment are also slightly improved in the high-resolution experiments. Meanwhile, the reason for the decrease of stratus AWP within the Sichuan basin, which is mainly responsible for the decreased stratus amounts and weaker SWCF from low- to high-resolution experiments, is also discussed.
The Role of Screening and Cross-Selling in Bank-Firm Relationships

This paper presents a monopolistic competition model of a bank choosing the optimal level of the screening effort in the presence of cross-selling activities. We demonstrate that, in absence of informational synergies, the larger is the range of services that the bank produces, the lower is the optimal screening effort. The paper also analyses the impact of competition in the lending market on cross-selling activities and finds that, for sufficiently low levels of transportation costs, an increase in competition in the lending market increases the expected profitability of services, thus increasing banks’ incentives to engage in cross-selling activities.
Importance of Varietal Improvement for Blast Disease Control in Africa

In Africa, rice is the staple food in Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone. In other countries, rice is replacing traditional grain crops (sorghum, millet, maize). So there is a growing demand for rice. Growth in demand for rice is double the rate of population growth. At the same time, production is insufficient to cover the needs and governments have to import rice, enlarging the trade deficit. In 2008, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) imported for more than $US 3.6 billion of rice, mainly from Asia, to fill the gap between production and consumption. However, Africa cannot continue to rely on imports, as Asia may soon not be able to export rice and may even become a net importer (Seck et al., 2010). The recent dramatic decrease in world rice availability and increase in prices indicate that importing rice is no longer a sustainable strategy. Therefore, African countries are developing their largely unexploited rice potential to boost domestic production. However, both the development of new areas and the intensification of rice cultivation will bring new problems, among which rice diseases are important. Rice blast disease is a major constraint to rice cultivation. Rice blast disease, caused by Magnaporthe oryzae B.Couch, anamorphe Pyricularia oryzae Cav. , is known to occur in most rice-producing areas of the world (Ou, 1985). The disease results in yield loss as high as 70–80% when predisposition factors (high mean temperature, relative humidity higher than 85–89%, presence of dew, drought stress and excessive nitrogen fertilization) favor epidemic development (Piotti et al., 2005). Losses of almost 80% were reported in the 1970s in West Africa (Delassus, 1973). Particularly dangerous in upland rice, it also causes serious damage in rainfed lowland and irrigated systems, mainly when farmers seek to intensify production by the use of improved varieties and fertilizers. Therefore, blast constitutes one of the main constraints to intensification for increasing rice production in Africa. The Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice), in collaboration with national agricultural research systems (NARS) and advanced institutions, seeks to develop integrated management of the three main diseases of rice in order to secure small-scale farmers’ rice production. This paper focuses on blast disease management through varietal improvement.
Youth attitude to some human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) preventive measures in some institutions of higher education in Nigeria

Youth attitude to some human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a world-wide epidemic that has given governments around the world sleepless nights. The case of sub-Sahara Africa is particularly worrisome. More than half the world cases are believed to be in this region. Nigeria as one of the countries in this region is not speared the devastating spread of the virus and young people are particularly vulnerable. This research focused on attitudes of young people towards some preventive measures of HIV/AIDS transmission in some tertiary institutions in the southern part of Nigeria. Samples of size 50 were randomly taken from four institutions and the data obtained were tabulated and analyzed using the chi-square test. It was discovered that response to these measures is poor. Majority of the youths are aware of the preventive measures but they appear to be indifferent to them. Key words: Attitude, preventive measures, Youth attitude to some human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), institutions of higher learning.
Competition for Deposits, Fragility, and Insurance

Abstract In the presence of economies of scale, depositors' expectations are shown to give rise to vertical differentiation and to yield multiple market equilibria, some of which exhibit institutional or systemic collapse. This fragility is due to a coordination problem among depositors and not to bank competition. Nevertheless, failure perceptions do influence rivalry which in turn affects the failure probability in particular equilibria. Deposit insurance improves welfare by preventing collapse, extending the market, and minimizing frictions. However, deposit insurance also may induce fiercer competition for deposits and increase the deadweight losses associated with failing institutions. The welfare impact of deposit insurance is shown to depend on market structure, and is thus ambiguous even in a world of full liability and no moral hazard in bank investments.Journal of Economic LiteratureClassification Numbers: G21, G28.