Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Manufacturing Output and Foreign Direct Investment in Nigeria: A New Evidence

The study examined the impact of foreign direct investment on the Nigerian manufacturing sector over the period of 1970 to 2010. In evaluating the objectives, the study employed the classical linear regression model and discovered that within the period under review, FDI impacted negatively on the manufacturing sector. Although the paper found FDI to be negatively related to manufacturing output in Nigeria, this unhealthy relationship can be reversed if the country receives increased FDI inflows into critical sectors that support the necessary inputs and raw materials needed by the local industries. The study therefore recommends that competitive policies should be enacted by the government that will ensure proper functioning of the markets necessary to attract well targeted foreign investors in Nigeria. Also, foreign companies that kill local productive and manufacturing efforts should not be allowed to operate in Nigeria’s local business environment.
Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Diskussionspapiere What Determines Simultaneous Asset Bubbles ? An Empirical Analysis

The recent global financial crisis demonstrated that the simultaneous collapse of asset bubbles in different countries is a major challenge for monetary policy. In order to evaluate determinants of these simultaneous asset bubbles, we detect rational asset bubbles in corporate equity and real estate markets worldwide using forward recursive rightsided ADF tests. Then we create dummy variables for simultaneous asset bubbles and analyze potential determinants using gravity models and spatial economics. Our empirical analysis suggests that simultaneous asset bubbles depend positively upon potential asset demand, capital account openness, monetary conditions, cultural similarities and negatively upon informational frictions and exchange rate flexibility. These findings imply that monetary policy can impede the probability of simultaneous asset bubbles by ensuring sound monetary conditions and choosing a flexible exchange regime.
METABELIAN GROUPS WITH QUADRATIC DEHN FUNCTION AND BAUMSLAG–SOLITAR GROUPS

We prove that metabelian locally compact groups in a certain class have quadratic Dehn function. As an application, we embed the solvable Baumslag–Solitar groups in finitely presented metabelian groups with quadratic Dehn function. Also, we prove that Baumslag's finitely presented metabelian groups, in which the lamplighter groups embed, have quadratic Dehn function.
The teachers level of emotional intelligence some of the demographic variables for investigation

The study aims to examine the level of emotional intelligence of some of the demographic variables of the teachers working in the province of Gaziantep. Acar (2002) adapted to Turkish by Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Ability Scale 5-item scale used in grading and answered 87. The study evaluated data; descriptive statistical methods (frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation) were used. If more than two group comparisons of parameters between the groups one-way ANOVA and Turkey test were used for the determination of the group that is causing the difference. Emotional Intelligence scale, the overall confidence level was found to be 0.834. Total of 340 teachers participated in the study who served in the center of Gaziantep. This is 55.9% of teachers to 190 teachers in primary, 44.1% and 150 teachers are working at the high school. Teachers' mean levels of emotional intelligence the middle level was 3.28. Teachers' monthly income and significant differences in the levels of postgraduate training according to the variables of emotional intelligence have emerged. Teachers' emotional intelligence levels of age, gender, marital status variables did not show any significant change in. Emotional intelligence includes, interpersonal relations, stress management, understanding own feelings and understanding other people's feelings, adaptation to the conditions and environment capabilities. In this respect, emotional intelligence is of great importance. Emotional intelligence skills are advanced and senior teachers are expected to be peaceful and productive social life and work environment a happier.
Risk Management in Motorway PPP Projects: Empirical-based Guidelines

Abstract This paper deals with the topic of risk management in Public Private Partnership (PPP). The analysis of the related literature reveals that risks must be analyzed and managed on a context-specific approach, and that there is a lack of a comprehensive study on the appropriate risk mitigation strategies for each risk embedded in PPP projects. Focusing on the transport sector, based on the results of a Delphi survey, the paper provides guidelines for both public and private parties in defining a list of significant risks in PPP motorway projects, and identifying for them both the effective allocation and the suitable mitigation strategies. Results of the Delphi survey have been compared with the common practices on risk management applied in eight real motorway PPP projects.
TORQUE-LIMITED GROWTH OF MASSIVE BLACK HOLES IN GALAXIES ACROSS COSMIC TIME

We combine cosmological hydrodynamic simulations with analytic models to evaluate the role of galaxy-scale gravitational torques on the evolution of massive black holes at the centers of star-forming galaxies. We confirm and extend our earlier results to show that torque-limited growth yields black holes and host galaxies evolving on average along the MBH–Mbulge relation from early times down to z = 0 and that convergence onto the scaling relation occurs independent of the initial conditions and with no need for mass averaging through mergers or additional self-regulation processes. Smooth accretion dominates the long-term evolution, with black hole mergers with mass ratios ≳ 1:5 representing typically a small fraction of the total growth. Winds from the accretion disk are required to eject significant mass to suppress black hole growth, but there is no need for coupling this wind to galactic-scale gas to regulate black holes in a nonlinear feedback loop. Torque-limited growth yields a close-to-linear star formation rate (SFR) relation for the black hole accretion rate averaged over galaxy evolution timescales. However, the SFR–AGN connection has significant scatter owing to strong variability of black hole accretion at all resolved timescales. Eddington ratios can be described by a broad lognormal distribution with median value evolving roughly as λMS∝(1 + z)1.9, suggesting a main sequence for black hole growth similar to the cosmic evolution of specific SFRs. Our results offer an attractive scenario consistent with available observations in which cosmological gas infall and transport of angular momentum in the galaxy by gravitational instabilities regulate the long-term co-evolution of black holes and star-forming galaxies.
Annoyance-Exposure Relation for Swine Odour

The goal of this project is to determine the odour annoyance-exposure correlation based on which setback distances can be determined. The odour annoyance is assessed by face-to-face interviews of residents living nearby swine operations. The odour exposure is quantified through dispersion modeling. Two dispersion models were used to predict the odour concentrations and frequencies at each household interviewed surrounding the odour source, and the predictions are then converted to odour hours to quantify the odour exposure. It appears that the odour annoyance could be assessed by face-to-face interviews with properly designed questionnaire. The dispersion models could be used to quantify the odour exposure. Although the results presented in this paper was preliminary and only limited data was collected, the plot of percentage of acceptability vs. odour hours predicted by dispersion models represented the trend of annoyance-exposure relationship for hog odour.
Title Living-donor liver transplantation for moderate or severe porto-pulmonary hypertension accompanied by pulmonary arterial hypertension : a single-centre experience over 2 decades in Japan

Background. Candidates for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) often have porto-pulmonary hypertension (PPHTN) with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Poor outcomes of PPHTN contraindicate OLT. There are no guidelines for living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) in PPHTN patients. Methods. We present our experiences of LDLT in six patients with moderate or severe PPHTN, along with our institutional guidelines. Three had liver cirrhosis and three were non-cirrhotic. Catheterization-studies were undertaken before, during and after LDLT, and the mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP), cardiac output (CO), pulmonary vascular resistance and total peripheral resistance (TPR) were monitored. Results. The results showed significant differences in CO and TPR between cirrhotic and noncirrhotic patients before, during and after LDLT. Cirrhotic patients showed systemic hyperdynamic state. Two cirrhotic patients showed poor responses to pre-transplant treatment and continued to have increased PAH and poor clinical courses after LDLT. LDLT has an advantage of flexible timing of LT. Currently in our institution, PPHTN patients with mPAP <40 mmHg were registered for LDLT after treatment and catheterization. However, LDLT was performed when mPAP was ≤35 mmHg, leading to improved outcomes. Conclusion. PPHTN patients with well-controlled PAH, or secondary PAH resulting from portosystemic shunts, may be appropriate candidates for LDLT after careful considerations.
The Relationship Between Empathy and Reading Fiction: Separate Roles for Cognitive and Affective Components

†Research suggests that both life-time experience of reading fiction and the extent to which a reader feels ‘transported’ by the narrative are associated with empathy. This study examined these relationships further by delineating empathy into cognitive and affective components. Thirty-three participants were tested on prior exposure to fiction, transportation, and different measures of cognitive empathy, affec tive empathy and helping tendency. The results revealed that exposure to fiction was associated with trait cognitive, but not affective, empathy, while the experience of being transported was associated with story-induced affective empathy. Story-induced affective empathy was also associated with helping tendency. The results are discussed by considering implications for relationships between reactions to fictional worlds and reactions to real-world behaviours.
Testing whether productivity mediates the occurrence of alternate stable states and assembly cycles in a model microcosm system

When do initial conditions, which reflect the assembly history of a community, affect the final community state? Comparative field studies and recent theory suggest that initial conditions matter at high productivity, because uninvasible alternate stable states and assembly cycles are more likely at high productivity. However, this prediction and the mechanisms behind it have not been tested experimentally. An alternative hypothesis is that initial conditions are relatively unimportant, and that communities generally are comprised of species with appropriate traits, which might vary with productivity. I assembled communities of protists and rotifers in laboratory microcosms from a species-rich, trophically-diverse species pool using all possible combinations of two initial conditions and four productivity levels. After communities approached their final states, invasions by the species that initially failed to persist tested the invasibility of those final states and tested for assembly cycles. I also examined how local (within-microcosm) diversity and regional diversity (total species richness of all microcosms of a given productivity level) varied with productivity. Comparative field work has used such scale-dependent diversity-productivity relationships as evidence for effects of assembly history. Productivity had a modest effect on final pre-invasion species composition, while initial conditions had a very weak effect. Most invasions failed, and the frequency of successful invasions and of post-invasion extinctions did not vary with productivity. Instead, species that were present most frequently pre-invasion were also the most successful invaders, and the least-likely species to go extinct post-invasion. Local and regional richness did not vary substantially with productivity. Overall, the results suggest that final communities are predictably comprised of species with appropriate traits, and are not an unpredictable outcome of initial conditions.
Ab initio investigation of the structure, stability, and atmospheric distribution of molecular clusters containing H2O, CO2, and N2O

[1] We present results from ab initio calculations for the structures and energetic properties of neutral clusters containing water, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide using the complete basis set CBS-Q multilevel procedure. Gas phase hydration energies ΔG0, enthalpies ΔH0, and entropies ΔS0 for the stepwise attachment of water onto clusters according to X·(H2O)n + H2O ↔ X·(H2O)n+1 (X = CO2, N2O, and H2O) are reported for n ≤ 4. In particular, our results demonstrate that values for the incremental hydration enthalpies and entropies of all three gases CO2, N2O, and H2O asymptotically approach values characteristic of bulk water (i.e., −44.0 kJ mol−1 for the enthalpy and −118.8 J K−1 mol−1 for the entropy of condensation) following attachment of around three to four water molecules. Our ab initio calculations indicate that water attachment onto CO2, N2O, and H2O is a thermodynamically favorable process, such that hydrated CO2·(H2O)n, N2O·(H2O)n, and H2O·(H2O)n clusters would form a significant atmospheric repository of these species.
EFFECTS OF COW DUNG ON MICROBIAL DEGRADATION OF MOTOR OIL IN LAGOON WATER

Accidental and indiscriminate discharges of petroleum products are of global environmental concern. The effectiveness of cow dung as a bioremediation agent was evaluated with a view to develop an alternative low cost strategy for bioremediation of motor oil contaminated water. Lagoon water artificially contaminated with motor oil, treated with 30gm non-sterile and sterile cow dung were designated TA1 and TA2 respectively. Similar polluted lagoon water treated with 40gm non-sterile and sterile cow dung were designated TB1 and TB2 respectively, while motor oil contaminated lagoon water without cow dung amendment served as control (CON). Samples collected were analysed chemically and microbiologically. The mean counts of microflora revealed an initial decrease between week 0 and 2 before assuming an increasing trend. The concentrations of motor oil recovered gravimetrically in TA1, TA2, TB1 and TB2 at week 10 were 0.01, 0.026, 0.014 and 0.031 gm/ml water respectively from initial co rresponding concentrations of 0.086, 0.086, 0.085 and 0.085 gm/ml water, representing percent degradations of 88.37, 69.77, 83.53 and 63.53% respectively at which time the corresponding value obtained for control was 22.99%. These results suggest that appl ication of cow dung in appropriate concentration could be very useful in bioremediation of motor oil contaminated lagoon water.
Derivation of Hawking radiation in dispersive dielectric media

Motivated by recent experimental efforts, we study a black hole analog induced by the propagation of a strong laser pulse in a nonlinear dielectric medium. Based on the Hopfield model (one pair of Sellmeier coefficients), we perform an analytic and fully relativistic microscopic derivation of the analog of Hawking radiation in this setup. The Hawking temperature is determined by the analog of the surface gravity (as expected), but we also find a frequency-dependent gray-body factor (i.e., a nonthermal spectrum at infinity) due to the breaking of conformal invariance in this setup.
Uncertainty and Risk Aversion: Implication for Tunisian Cereals Crops

The main aim of thi s paper is to give the key features for the estimation of production structures using dual approach and to assess risk prevalence in agricultural activity. A supply/demand model based on profit function in which land allocation is set endogenous and conditional on netputs’ prices is implemented within a dual approach. Aggregated data from Tunisian cereal crops sector are used and results was characterized, among others, by a low price elasticities of supply. In order to modelize risk non- neutrality into the implemented dual approach, Mean-variance utility function of profit is introduced thereafter to be the objective function for the producer’s optimization process rather than profit. Uncertainty was set as consequence of a weather variable variance and randomness of outputs’ quantities were set endogenous and conditional on weather variable variance as suggested by Just and Pope (1978) and Coyle (1999). The coefficient of risk aversion was significant and results from the Mean-Variance model shows several salient results relative to both weather and yield variability. The average Risk premium during the sample period was equal to 13.58 percent.
Determinants of Factors that Influence Small Ruminant Livestock Production Decisions in Northern Ghana: Application of Discrete Regression Model

The study applied Multinomial Logit (MNL) model to survey data from a sample of 249 farm households in northern Ghana. The model was used to investigate factors that influence farm families’ decisions to raise a particular small ruminant species (i.e., sheep or goat or both). The MNL analysis indicates that the probability of raising sheep, goat or both animals was influenced by agro-ecological zone, sex and religious background of farmers, risk attitude and income from small ruminant production. In devising strategies (to select farm households) to improve subsistent small ruminant production system, livestock technical staffs must recognize important demographic and farm characteristics as well as risk and income perceptions associated with sheep and goat of the households. In addition, such programs must be supported with improved livestock housing technology that can provide opportunities to control sheep and goat production risks, including theft or predator attacks, disease infestation and exposure to harsh environmental conditions (rains and sun rays). Keywords: Multinomial logit model, small ruminant, farm household, northern Ghana
Thyroid Dysfunction in Patients with Systemic Connective Tissue Disease

Thyroid Dysfunction in Patients with Systemic Connective Tissue Disease Background. Alterations in the circulating thyroid hormone concentrations constituting the euthyroid sick syndrome (ESS) are frequently associated with systemic non-thyroidal diseases such as systemic connective tissue disease (SCTD). Aim. to elucidate the pattern of thyroid dysfunction in patients with SCTD. Subjects and Methods. Thirty patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and thirty rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in addition to 30 healthy age- and sex- matched controls were recruited from the Internal Medicine Department of Ain- Shams University Hospital. Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), thyroid hormones including T3 and T4, antithyroglobulin antibodies (ATGAb), thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb), ESR, RF, ANA, LE cells and CRP were determined. Results. 46.6 percent of SLE patients showed thyroid dysfunction compared to 16.6% of RA (P<0.05). In SLE group, 20% had euthyroid sick syndrome, 16% had hypothyroidism (10% subclinical and 6% overt), and 9% had hyperthyroidism (3% subclinical and 6% overt). However in RA, 13% had hypothyroidism (10% subclinical and 3% overt) and 3% had subclinical hyperthyroidism. TPOAb was found in 16% of SLE and 6% in RA patients. Also ATGAb was found in 6% of SLE and 30% in RA patients and 10% of controls, but the titers were higher in the patients. Conclusion. Thyroid dysfunction was common in patients with SCTD and they were associated with antithyroid antibodies.
Sensitivity study of the generation of mesoscale eddies in a numerical model of Hawaii islands

The oceanic circulation around the Hawaiian archipelago is characterized by a complex circulation and the presence of mesoscale eddies west of the islands. These eddies typically develop and persist for weeks to several months in the area during persistent trade winds conditions. A series of numerical simulations on the Hawaiian region has been done in order to examine the relative importance of wind, inflow current and topographic forcing on the general circulation and the generation of eddies. Moreover, numerical cyclonic eddies are compared with the one observed during the cruise E-FLUX (Dickey et al., 2008). Our study demonstrates the need for all three forcings (wind, inflow current and topography) to reproduce the known oceanic circulation. In particular, the cumulative effect plays a key role on the generation of mesoscale eddies. The wind-stress-curl, via the Ekman pumping mechanism, has also been identified as an important mechanism upon the strength of the upwelling in the lee of the Big Island of Hawaii. In order to find the best setup of a regional ocean model, we compare more precisely numerical results obtained using two different wind databases: COADS and QuikSCAT. The main features of the ocean circulation in the area are well reproduced by our model forced by both COADS and QuickSCAT climatologies. Nevertheless, significant differences appear in the levels of kinetic energy and vorticity. The wind-forcing spatial resolution clearly affects the way in which the wind momentum feeds the mesoscale phenomena. The higher the resolution, the more realistic the ocean circulation. In particular, the simulation forced by QuikSCAT wind data reproduces well the observed energetic mesoscale structures and their hydrological characteristics and behaviors.
A comparative study of metformin and glyburide in gestational diabetes mellitus

Background: Incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is increasing worldwide. GDM provides a window of opportunity for the primary prevention of the type 2 diabetes by preventing transgeneration transmission to fetus. Insulin in management of GDM has many drawbacks, so use of OHAs has been increased worldwide. Methods: Randomized control trial was performed in patients with GDM who required medical management. Subjects were randomized into two groups and treated with Metformin and Glyburide, results were compared. Results: While comparing efficacy of metformin and glyburide in this study for maternal variables; the failure rate of metformin was found to be 9.39 times higher compared to glyburide. Glyburide was associated with 9.5 times more risk to develop hypoglycemia in mother compared to metformin. While comparing neonatal variables nursery admission was found to be more and statistically significant in neonates whose mother has received glyburide compared to metformin (p=0.03, RR=2.26). Though statistically insignificant, LGA fetuses and neonatal hypoglycemia were 2.1 times more in glyburide group compared to metformin. Conclusions: Though glyburide can be effective alternative to metformin and insulin for GDM, it is associated with higher risk of maternal hypoglycemia, neonatal hypoglycemia, LGA fetuses and higher rate of nursery admissions compared to metformin. Higher adverse neonatal outcomes with glyburide use question the widespread use of glyburide as first line management modality in GDM and also as an alternative to insulin as advised by many groups.