Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY STUDIES OF RISK FACTORS AND PREVALENCE OF CKD IN NIGERIA ( 2006-2014 )

Introduction: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global health problem, responsible with a high magnitude of human suffering, huge economic loss and high mortality. The low and middle income countries such as Nigeria are equally and possibly more affected. The true prevalence rate of CKD is not known in Nigeria and some other LMIC countries due to absence of renal registries. Most of available data are single centre based hospital data of renal admissions. For proper renal policy formulation, there is need for reliable data on the magnitude of the problem of CKD/ESRD in developing countries such as Nigeria. We conducted a systematic analysis of community based CKD screening reports conducted in all geographic regions of Nigeria between 2006 to 2014, to determine the aggregate prevalence of risk factors and prevalence of CKD in Nigeria. Study objectives: To determine the aggregate prevalence of traditional risk factors and the prevalence of CKD in Nigeria to serve as a reliable date for renal policy formulation and planning in Nigeria. Study design: A retrospective systematic analysis of reports of community based CKD screening reports in Nigeria. Study methodology: Reports of community based CKD screening reports in all parts of Nigeria from 2006 to 2014, were manually and electronically searched. The aggregate percentage prevalence of CKD risk factors and percentage prevalence of CKD were determined. Results: Thirty (30) reports of CKD screening exercises, within the study period were accessed and found suitable for subsequent analysis. The studies were in 16(53.3%) rural and 14(46.7%) communities respectively, with a total of 17,107(99-1941) subjects, age range 14-84years. The aggregate mean age of subjects in all the studies was 43.4 ±4.4 years (range of mean ages: 28.3-51.5) years, and gender ratio of 1:1.5. Geographic distribution of study sites were North-west 3(10.0%), North-central 3(10.0%), North-east 1(3.3%), South-west 5(16.7%), South-east 3(10.0%) and South-south 15(50.0%). The aggregate percentage prevalence of risk factors of CKD were Obesity 27.5% (12.2-62.7%); Proteinuria 20.3% (3.7-69.1%); Hypertension 32.1% (13.6-57.3%) and diabetes mellitus 4.9 % (211.2%). respectively. The aggregate percentage prevalence of CKD (e-GFR <60mls/min/1.73m) in accordance with kidney disease outcome quality initiative (KDOQI) 1 definition, was 11.7% (1.2-32.6%). Statistically significant difference was found in the prevalence of CKD between the rural and urban communities (16.4% vs 7.0%; p<0.001) but not in the risk factors. The estimated adult burden of CKD in Nigeria is 14 million people while that of ERSD is 240,000 adults. Conclusions: The aggregate crude prevalence of CKD of 11.7% derived from a pool of 30 community based CKD screening reports across Nigeria is very likely to be closest to the true prevalence of CKD in Nigeria. We recommend government sponsored large scale multi-regional surveys of prevalence of CKD in Nigeria and the development of Renal registry for renal health planning.
Atmospheric pollution from ships and their impacts on local air quality in a port site in Shanghai

10 Growing shipping activities in port areas have generated negative impacts on climate, air quality and human health. To better evaluate the environmental impact of ship emissions, an experimental characterization of air pollutions from ships was conducted in Shanghai port in the summer of 2016. The ambient concentrations of gaseous (NO, NO2, SO2, O3) and particulate concentrations (PM2.5), particle size distributions and chemical composition of individual particles from ship emission were continuously monitored for 3 months. Ship emission plumes were visible at the port site in terms of clear peaks of gaseous 15 and particulate matter concentrations. The SO2 and vanadium particles numbers were found to correlate best with ship emissions in Shanghai port. Single particle data showed that ship emission particles at the port site mainly concentrated in smaller size range (< 0.4 μm) where their number contributions were more important than their mass contributions to ambient PM. Composition of ship emission particles at the portside suggested they were mostly fresh particles, with their mass spectra dominated by peaks of sulfate, elemental carbon (EC), metallic composition of V, Ni, Fe and Ca, and very low nitrate signals. 20 For some cases of plumes, the gaseous NOx composition in plumes has the evidence of atmospheric transformation by ambient O3, resulted ozone depletion in this area. Quantitative estimation in the present study show that in port region ship emissions contributed 36.4 % SO2, 0.7 % NO, 5.1 % NO2, -0.9 % O3, 5.9 % PM2.5, 49.5 % vanadium particles if land-based emissions were included, and 57.2 % SO2, 71.9 % NO, 30.4 % NO2, -16.6 % O3, 27.6 % PM2.5, 77.0 % vanadium particles if land-based emissions were excluded. 25
NEWCOMBE, G., G. A. CHASTAGNER, W. SCHUETTE and B. J. STANTON (1994): Mortality among hybrid poplar clones in a stool bed following leaf rust caused by Melampsora medusae f. sp. deltoidae. Canadian Journal of Forest

A total of 1226 increment cores were sampled from two provenance trials of Pinus radiata D. Don planted in New Zealand (Kaingaroa) and Australia (Kangaroovale), to study variation and inheritance of wood density in selections from three mainland California natural populations: Año Nuevo, Monterey and Cambria. The study represents a back-to-back comparison of the same provenance and family material on contrasting sites between New Zealand and Australia. Monterey was significantly different to Año Nuevo and Cambria at Kaingaroa (p<0.05), and had slightly higher density, whereas all provenances were almost identical and not significantly Genetic variation between and within ex-situ native-provenance collections of Pinus radiata D. Don planted in Australia and New Zealand By L. BIAN1),5), W. J. GAPARE2),5),*), M. IVKOVIĆ2), P. JEFFERSON3) and H. X. WU2),4) (Received 11th June 2011) 1) The Key Laboratory of Forest Genetics & Biotechnology, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, People’s Republic of China. 2) CSIRO Plant Industry, GPO Box 1600, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. 3) Radiata Pine Breeding Company Ltd. PO Box 1127, Rotorua, New Zealand. 4) Umeå Plant Science Centre, Dept. Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-90183 Umeå, Sweden. 5) contributed equally. *) Corresponding author: WASHINGTON J. GAPARE. Telephone: +61 2 6246 4841, Fax: +61 2 6246 4564. E-mail: Washington. Gapare@csiro.au Bian et. al.·Silvae Genetica (2011) 60-6, 276-285 DOI:10.1515/sg-2011-0036 edited by Thünen Institute of Forest Genetics 277 different at Kangaroovale. However, there were significant differences for wood density at family level for Año Nuevo and Cambria at Kangaroovale. No significant provenance or family differences were detected for core length at either site. The estimates of heritability for wood density were all above 0.50 and generally higher at Kaingaroa than at Kangaroovale. Estimates of additive genetic correlations between wood density and core length were imprecise. Genotype site interactions for density appeared minor (estimated type-B genetic correlation=0.70) despite substantial differences in rainfall and soils. The similarity of Cambria to Año Nuevo for density is an interesting result because the genetic base of the present Australian and New Zealand plantations has been shown to be from Año Nuevo and Monterey. Infusion of Cambria material would increase the overall genetic base of the radiata pine breeding programs, with potential long-term benefits, despite the often disappointing growth performance of material collected from Cambria.
Spatial distribution of green peach aphid, Myzus persicae Sulzer and its parasitoid, Aphelinus asychis Walker in bell pepper under polyhouse conditions

Investigations were carried out during October 2017March 2018 at the Experimental Farm of the Department of Entomology, Dr Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India in order to study the spatial distribution of Myzus persicae and its parasitoid, Aphelinus asychis Walker in bell pepper under poly house conditions. One month old bell pepper seedlings cultivar California wonder were planted in the field in the month of October, 2017. In the present study variance to mean ratio (σ/X), mean crowding (X*), ratio of mean crowding to mean (X*/X), ‘k’ of negative binomial, Taylor’s Power equation (σ=5.2646X for aphid and σ = 2.7871 X for parasitoid), Iwao’s patchiness regression and optimum number of samples (Nopt) required to achieve the desired precision were calculated for different densities. Green peach aphid, M. persicae appeared in the 47 standard week (57.47aphids/ plant and 0.65 parasitoids / plant during 2017) and persisted upto 4 standard week (2.79 aphids/ plant and 0.15parasitoids / plant during 2018 is ongoing) and followed a negative binomial distribution. Optimum number of samples (Nopt) required varied with mean density as well as precision level. The present study will be useful for developing a sampling plan of M. persicae and its parasitoids, A. asychis in bell pepper for its monitoring and management.
CEP Discussion Paper No 1636 July 2019 Retail Shocks and City Structure

This paper evaluates the consequences of opening out-of-town big-boxes on the commercial structure of cities. I use a discontinuity in a commercial regulation in Spain that restricts the entry of big-box stores in municipalities of less than 10,000 inhabitants for the period 2003 to 2011. I then use this discontinuity as an instrument for the big-box opening. The results show that three years after the big-box opening, around 15% of the grocery stores in the municipality have disappeared. However, some of the empty commercial premises are taken by other new small retailers in other sectors. As a result, the total number of retail stores in the municipality remains unchanged. These results show that a retail shock in the suburbs does not necessarily empty the city center but can also change only the composition of its commercial activity.
EasyChair Preprint No 658 Membrane Distillation-A New Approach for Treating Waste Water in NanoElectronics Industries

In this study, a novel industrial application of membrane distillation (MD) is presented for waste water treatment in the nano-electronics industries. Previously reported performance of a semi-commercial Air Gap Membrane Distillation (AGMD) module is employed to evaluate the system operation in the terms of thermal energy analysis. To comply with thermal power demand in the MD systems, different integration possibilities between the MD unit and waste heat sources namely condenser outlet water from heat recovery chiller, process cooling water exhaust from manufacturing tools and hot air from Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) abatement combustion system are identified. Along with the technical assessment, this feasibility study has also involved the economic evaluation of the industrial waste heat integrated MD systems including unit water treatment cost. Results show the techno-economic viability of the proposed MD system integrated with industrial waste heat sources.
MARKET-ORIENTED REFORMS OF EUROPEAN RAILWAYS: AN EVALUATION FROM THE CITIZEN PERSPECTIVE

In the last decades, market-oriented reforms of utilities have been widely implemented in the European Union, aiming at increase citizens’ welfare through raising service quality, improving efficiency and lowering fares. However, the reforms have not always achieved the results that were expected. Regulators and policy-makers intend to improve the analysis and understanding of real citizens’ decisions and perceptions, and to incorporate them into regulatory policies. An approach that has been used for this purpose is the citizen perspective (Fiorio and Florio 2007, 2011; Ceriani et al. 2011; Clifton et al., 2012, 2016). This approach focuses on analyzing citizens’ stated preferences as a way of evaluating reforms of public services. In this paper, I apply the citizen approach to the railway sector. Since the beginning of the 90s, the European Union has promoted several market-oriented reforms in order to transform railways into a competitive market. The reforms have been adopted at a different intensity depending on the country. The objective of this paper is to evaluate whether or not citizens are more satisfied with their national railways in countries where deeper reforms were applied. Using information gathered in the Special Eurobarometer survey on Rail Competition conducted in 2012, the model analize the probability of satisfaction with national railway systems through probit estimations.The findings suggest that citizens are less satisfied in countries where vertical separation between the infrastructure manager and the operator of services is higher. Regarding market liberalization, the results show that systems that allow competition between more than one operator on the same tracks, either through franchising or open access, present lower probabilities of citizen satisfaction. There is only evidence in favor of competitive tendering in the case in which the winner of the tender has the right to hold a monopolistic position in the market afterwards. Finally, privatization of the main service operator is found to be statistically non-significant. In a moment where the implementation of the 4 Railway package will mean a step further in the liberalization of railways, the conclusions provided by this work represent an invitation to revise and rethink actual Community policy on railway sector.
Eliminating the Individual Mandate: Effects on Premiums, Coverage, and Uncompensated Care

We estimate that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) as enacted would reduce the number of uninsured by nearly half, from 50 million nonelderly people to 26 million. The federal legal requirement for most Americans to be covered by a health insurance plan that meets certain minimal standards or face a penalty—the so-called individual mandate—is an important part of achieving this reduction. Under health reform without a mandate, between 40 and 42 million would remain uninsured.
Calabi – Yau threefolds with infinite fundamental group

The present article surmmarizes our recent results [8, 9] about Calabi–Yau threefolds with infinite fundamental group. This class of Calabi–Yau manifolds is relatively simple yet rich enough to display the essential complexities of Calabi–Yau geometries, and thus it provides good testing-grounds for general theories and conjectures.
Review : The effects of mindfulness-based interventions on cognition and mental health in children and adolescents – a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Darren L. Dunning, Kirsty Griffiths, Willem Kuyken, Catherine Crane, Lucy Foulkes, Jenna Parker, and Tim Dalgleish Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK; Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK
RNN-based Human Pose Prediction for Human-Robot Interaction

In human-robot collaborative scenarios human workers operate alongside and with robots to jointly perform allocated tasks within a shared work environment. One of the basic requirements in these scenarios is to ensure safety. This can be significantly improved when the robot is able to predict and prevent potential hazards, like imminent collisions. In this paper, we apply a recurrent neural network (RNN) to model and learn human joint positions and movements in order to predict their future trajectories. Existing human motion prediction techniques have been explored in a pseudo scenario to predict human motions during task execution. Building upon previous work, we examined their applicability to our own recorded dataset, representing a more industrial-oriented scenario. We used one second of motion data to predict one second ahead. For better performance we modified the existing architecture by introducing a different output-layer, as opposed to common structures in recurrent neuronal networks. Finally, we evaluated the artificial neuronal network performance by providing absolute positional errors. Using our method we were able to predict joint motion over a one second period with less than 10 cm mean error.
Sunt Bark (Acacia nilotica) Powder Combination Tanning for Manufacture of Upper Leather

† When certain polyphenols and polycarboxyl group compounds are combined with metallic salts (not including chromium) a combination tanned leather is produced vegetable tannins with metal salts has been used for thousands of years. The shrinkage temperature of semi-metal tanned leather is much higher than expected. This is an example of synergy, when the total effect is greater than the sum of the parts. In this study, combination tanning process based on Sunt (garad) bark – Aluminum tannage for the production of upper leathers is presented. The bark powder of Acacia nilotica (Sunt bark) from Sudan has been utilized in the combination tanning system with aluminum. Both tanning methodologies Sunt bark followed by Aluminum (Sunt bark -Al) and Aluminum followed by Sunt bark (Al- Sunt bark) have been attempted. All combinations tanning systems resulted in leathers with shrinkage temperature above 90oC. However, Al- Sunt bark leathers tanned using 2% Al2O3; followed by 20% Sunt bark resulted in shrinkage temperature of 96oC. It is seen that combination tanning using Sunt bark (20%) followed by Aluminum (2% Al2O3) resulted in leathers with shrinkage temperature of 100oC, which is 16oC more than the control (Sunt bark tanned) leathers. The spent tan liquor analysis shows significant reduction in COD and TDS loads compared to a conventional vegetable tannage. Sunt bark -Al combination system resulted in leathers with good organoleptic and strength properties. The work presented in this paper established the use of Sunt bark - aluminum combination tanning system as a suitable alternative for chrome-free tanning system.
WP / 19 / 82 Global Declining Competition

Using a new firm-level dataset on private and listed firms from 20 countries, we document five stylized facts on market power in global markets. First, competition has declined around the world, measured as a moderate increase in average firm markups during 20002015. Second, the markup increase is driven by already high-markup firms (top decile of the markup distribution) that charge increasing markups. Third, markups increased mostly among advanced economies but not in emerging markets. Fourth, there is a non-monotonic relation between firm size and markups that is first decreasing and then increasing. Finally, the increase is mostly driven by increases within incumbents and also by market share reallocation towards high-markup entrants. JEL Classification Numbers: D2, D4, E2, F6, L1, L4
The Impact of Sucrose Concentration on Root Growth and Development in Fig ( Ficus carica L . ) In Vitro *

With a view to control of ecological condition, in vitro culture is a convenient method to biological studies in plants. Sucrose is a very important component of in vitro culture media, serving as a source of carbon and energy. The effect of sucrose concentration was studied under in vitro laboratory culture of Aboudy fig cultivar Ficus carica L. Sucrose with three concentrations (1, 3 (control) and 5%) in MS medium supplemented with 0.1mg/l 1-Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) were investigated. Results showed that sucrose concentration at 1% gave the best results regarding shoot length (cm) and leaves number, although that sucrose at 3% gave the highest proliferation rate. Where as sucrose at 5% gave the highest rate of root growth estimated as root number (28.66) or root
Thanks ! Title Iodine intakes and status in Irish adults : is there cause for concern ?

I is an important mineral for health, required for the production of key thyroid hormones, which are essential for cellular metabolism, growth and physical development. Hence, adequate I is crucial at all stages of life, but imperative during pregnancy for fetal brain development and during a child’s early life for neurodevelopment. Within Ireland, limited information exists on population I intakes and status. Therefore, the purposes of the present analysis were to estimate dietary I intakes and to analyse urinary iodine (UI) status using the cross-sectional National Adult Nutrition Survey 2008–2010 and the most recent Irish Total Diet Study. Median I intakes in the total population (n 1106) were adequate with only 26% of the population being classified as below the estimated average requirement (EAR). Milk consumption was the major source of I in the diet, contributing 45% to total intake. Likewise, median UI concentrations (107 μg/l) indicated ‘optimal’ I nutrition according to the WHO cut-off points. In our cohort, 77% of women of childbearing age (18–50 years) did not meet the EAR recommendation set for pregnant women. Although I is deemed to be sufficient in the majority of adult populations resident in Ireland, any changes to the current dairy practices could significantly impact intake and status. Continued monitoring should be of priority to ensure that all subgroups of the population are I sufficient.
UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST CONTRIBUTION OF CUSTOMER SERVICE TO CUSTOMER RETENTION OF SELECTED BANKS OF AKIM ODA EBENEZER

In today’s highly competitive market, it is expected of banks to deliver on promises, a fast and reliable service consistently. Anything shot of good quality service get customers dissatisfied. While dissatisfied customers are less likely to repeat transaction with the service provider, satisfied customers are more likely to repeat transactions and go ahead to share positive word-of-mouth. On this basis, the study sought to examine the perception of customers on service quality, and factors that lead to repeat purchase or customer retention of selected banks of Akim Oda. The research design used for this study is non–experimental research because independent variable could not be controlled by the researcher. The type of nonexperimental research adopted was survey that made use of both quantitative and qualitative methods. The survey aimed at obtaining 160 customers’ expectations and perception of service quality of Ghana Commercial Bank Limited, Barclays Bank Ltd and South Birim Rural Bank Ltd. The service quality scale instrument was the main instrument used, both in the questionnaire and the interview guide. Collected data were analyzed using analytical tools and procedures embedded in the Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS) software and Microsoft excel to create appropriate tables and graphs that answer the research questions. Conclusions drawn are that customers’ perception of service quality of BBL and SBRB exceed their expectation hence, satisfied and are more likely to repeat a transaction. Conversely, GCB's service quality fell short of customers’ expectation. Hence, the customers are dissatisfied with the bank’s service quality offering and are less likely to repeat transaction. It is therefore recommended that GCB should improve their service quality offers to boost customer retention. SBRB and BBL service quality offers generally exceeded customers’ expectation however should not be complacent but continue to even offer better service to their customers. iii © University of Cape Coast https://erl.ucc. edu.gh/jspui Digitized by Sam Jonah Library