Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Developing a decision support system to identify strategically located land for land reform in South Africa

Land reform is identified as a key tool in fostering development in South Africa. With two decades after the advent of democracy in South Africa, the land question remains a critical issue for policy makers. A number of frameworks have been put in place by the government to identify land which is strategically located for land reform. However, many of these frameworks are not well aligned and have hampered the government’s land reform initiative in promoting inclusive development. Strategically located land is herein defined as land parcels that are well positioned for the promotion of agriculture, human settlements, rural and tourism development. Accordingly, there is a need to develop a decision tool which facilitates the identification of strategically located land for development. This study proposes the use of geographic information systems (GIS), earth observation (EO) data and multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) to develop a spatial decision support system (SDSS) to identify strategically located land for land reform. The SDDS was therefore designed using GIS, EO data and MCDM to create an index for identification of strategically located land. Expert-led workshops were carried out to ascertain criteria for identifying strategically located land and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was utilised used to weight the criteria. The study demonstrates that GIS and EO are invaluable tools in facilitating evidence-based decisions for land reform. However, there is need for capacity building on GIS and EO in government departments responsible for land reform and development planning. The study suggests that there is an urgent need to develop sector specific criteria for the identification of strategically located land for inclusive development.
Financial inclusion and inclusive growth in Africa: What is the moderation role of financial stability?

Abstract This article aims to explore the interplay between financial stability, financial inclusion, and inclusive growth in 40 African countries during the period 2004–2020. It acknowledges that an unstable financial system has the potential to erode confidence and hinder the essence of financial inclusion in promoting inclusive growth. However, studies regarding the combined effect of financial inclusion and financial stability on inclusive growth are hard to find, especially in Africa. By examining the effects of financial inclusion on inclusive growth and the synergistic relationship between financial stability and inclusive growth, this study seeks to shed light on how these factors interact in the context of African economies. To cater for endogeneity issues, we used a two-step system generalized method of moment. Our result reveals three outcomes: First, financial inclusion promotes inclusive growth. Second, financial stability alone is less effective to enhance inclusive growth. Lastly, financial stability forms synergy with financial inclusion to further spike inclusive growth. It is recommended that policymakers should strive to enhance financial inclusion by promoting financial stability.
The history and welfare of working mules in the valleys of the Toubkal massif, in the High Atlas of Morocco

The appearance of the mule in the remote villages of the Toubkal National Park in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco can be traced back to the early years of the twentieth century. The mule population’s subsequent growth in numbers accompanied the shift away from a subsistence economy that was made possible by the appearance and growth of the mining and mountain tourism industries. This paper reviews this early history, drawing on the accounts provided by early explorers and anthropologists, before developing a mixed methods approach to evaluating the welfare of pack mules in two villages within the National Park. The first village is part of the main access route to the Toubkal, the principle summit of the National Park and therefore much visited. The second is a much more remote, under visited and less developed village. Ethnographic work, studying muleteering practice and undertaken over several years is reported here and supplemented by findings from a detailed survey of the mules of both villages. This allows the work undertaken and the lived realities of the working mule across several generations of inhabitants to be presented together with data about the primary welfare concerns identified on clinical examination. In village one, 72 mule owners and their mules were surveyed and examined. Many of these mules worked in tourism, providing a source of revenue for their families. This work was often undertaken by teenagers/young adults working their father’s mules. Tethering was widely practised and evidence of tethering injuries were identified in most mules. In the more remote village, 18 owners and their equids were surveyed and examined. In this population, mules were more likely to be worked locally in agriculture, building and to collect firewood. Bitting injuries associated with the use of the traditional bit were a significant concern in both villages. The universal use of a closed shoe was also in evidence in both villages; this was associated with atrophy of the frog and hoof imbalances. The reasoning for the use of the traditional bit and closed shoe are presented and alternatives discussed.
Realizing Anapole-FP Cavity Strong Coupling in a Silicon-Based Metasurface Hybrid System

Manipulation of light-matter interactions has great potential applications in optical modulators and optical switches. However, the strong coupling of anapole-cavity modes has not been involved yet. Here, we firstly propose a simple Si-based metasurface hybrid system to realize tunable strong coupling of anapole-Fabry-Pérot (FP) cavity via inserting a Si square nanocubes metasurface inside an FP nanocavity. A remarkable spectral splitting behavior is achieved with large Rabi splitting of 192 meV due to the strong resonant coupling between the anapole and FP cavity modes. The induced two hybrid energy states are respectively dominated by the anapole mode and cavity mode and can be tuned by the length of FP nanocavity and the thickness of SiO2 spacer, respectively. This Si-based metasurface system opens an avenue for designing optoelectronic devices that can manipulate light-matter interactions at nanoscales.
Analysis of Spatial Offensive Performance in Handball: Differences between Men's and Women's Senior World Championships

The aim of this study was to carry out a descriptive analysis of the main performance variables of national teams that competed in the Men's (Germany-Denmark 2019) and Women's (Germany 2017) senior handball World Cups, and to compare the spatial offensive performance indices of laterality and depth according to the gender of players, considering for this purpose the total number of throws made according to the finishing area. A documentary study was carried out based on the total number of throws made in 192 male and 154 female games of 48 national teams belonging to 33 countries, which participated in previous World Cups. The data were collected from the International Handball Federation (IHF) statistics. The results showed that the areas from which the highest number of shots were taken in both World Cups were the central and shallow areas of the field. Several gender differences were observed. More specifically, male teams made much more attempts from the left side area than female teams (data), who finished from the right side (data). The depth index reflected that, although the dominant execution by gender was from deep offensive zones, men's teams finished more often from the 1st offensive line, while female teams finished from the 2nd offensive line. This information will be useful for coaches in designing training tasks and for players in improving decision making.
The Flow and Fracture of Cracked Ice: Experiments to Aid Modeling

Abstract : The ultimate goal of this work is to contribute new physical insight to the development of the next generation sea ice model, PIPS 3.0. More specifically, it is to understand the processes underlying the deformation of first-year sea ice covers, from the formation of oriented leads to the frictional sliding of individual floes. The objective is to test the hypothesis that first-year sea ice covers deform through a combination of continuum and granular flow. It is suggested that continuum flow controls deformation until slip lines develop, at which point granular flow governs. With this in mind, the near-term objectives are to study and understand the mechanical behavior of columnar sea ice deformed in the laboratory under controlled conditions and then to compare behavior on the small scale with that on the large scale. The second hypothesis to be tested is that the physical processes underlying the compressive failure of ice are independent of spatial scale.
Plio‐Pleistocene denitrification in the eastern tropical North Pacific: Intensification at 2.1 Ma

Global climate has changed substantially over the past ∼4 million years (Ma) toward, on average, colder conditions and higher amplitude oscillation between glacial and interglacial periods. Corresponding changes in marine biogeochemistry could have linked oceanic circulation changes to the global carbon cycle, but remain poorly understood. We report a high‐resolution, 4‐Ma‐long δ15N record from Ocean Drilling Program Site 1012 on the California margin, which monitors denitrification intensity in one of the principal Oxygen Minimum Zones (OMZs) of the open ocean. The δ15N record demonstrates that eastern tropical North Pacific (ETNP) denitrification was weak for much of the late Pliocene. Though there was no apparent change associated with Northern Hemisphere glaciation (NHG) at ∼2.7 Ma, denitrification strengthened substantially (by ∼2‰ in δ15N) at ∼2.1 (Ma). Since 2.1 Ma, intense denitrification in the ETNP occurred during interglacial periods and was generally very climate‐sensitive. We infer that two oceanic changes, the shoaling of the thermocline in the eastern Pacific (and thus the strengthened Walker circulation) and the development of a modern‐like frontal system in high‐latitude southern ocean around ∼2.1 Ma provided favorable conditions for intensification of ETNP denitrification that was also likely mirrored south of the equator. Intermediate water circulation changes likely created the poorly ventilated zones susceptible to the suboxic condition required by denitrification. 2.1 Ma thus marks a critical point for the reorganization of the ocean's nitrogen cycle in which open ocean denitrification became a significant loss term during interglacial phases of climate. Given linkage between the ocean's N and C cycle, ETNP denitrification changes probably contributed to Plio‐Pleistocene climatic changes.
Analysis of Momentum and Impulse Misconceptions of College Students Using Four-Tier Diagnostic Tests

This research aims to discover misconceptions about momentum and impulse concepts. The research method used in this research is a mixed method. The subjects of this research were students majoring in physics from the classes of 2019, 2020, and 2021 who had taken the basic physics course I, with a total sample of 44 students. The instrument used was 15 four-level multiple diagnostic tests. Research data was obtained based on student answer patterns on a four-level multiple-choice test. The results of the research show that students' conceptual understanding of momentum and impulse material using the four-level diagnostic test is still relatively low, as seen from the percentage of students who partially understand the concept at 46%, understand the concept at 30%, negative misconceptions at 10%, positive misconceptions at 9%, and positive misconceptions at 5%. Some of the misconceptions experienced by students regarding the concepts of momentum and impulse include: first, students assume that only mass influences the amount of momentum; second, they assume that the total momentum of a system of isolated objects is not constant; third, assume that the total momentum of a system of isolated objects is not constant, the fourth assumes that two objects of the same mass have different speeds, the sixth assumes that changes in the speed of a particle are only influenced by force and time and the last, namely the seventh, assumes that the process of collisions on smooth surfaces will move all objects.
The Influence of Service Quality, Price, and Convenience on Purchase Decisions of Gofood Services (Study on University of Muhammadiyah Gresik Students)

This study aims to test the effect of service quality, price, and convenience on purchasing decisions for GoFood services. The method used in this study is a quantitative approach, through a questionnaire using a Likert scale. The population in this study were active students at Muhammadiyah University of Gresik. The sampling technique in this study used purposive sampling with a total sample of 100 respondents. The data collection technique used a questionnaire which was processed using SPSS version 25. The analytical model used in this study was a multiple linear regression analysis model. To find out the significance of the research variables partially on purchasing decisions, a t-test technique is used using a level of 5% or 0.05. The results show that service quality and convenience partially have a significant effect on purchasing decisions, and price partially has no significant effect on purchasing decisions.
The Impact of Sawmill Activities on Surface Water Quality in the Pessu Market Section of the Warri River

Solid waste serves as a substantial contributor to environmental contamination by introducing chemical substances into the environment in quantities that exceed acceptable limits. This study aims to ascertain the impact of sawmill activities on the surface water quality in the Pessu market section of the Warri River. Surface water samples were collected from 6 sampling points upstream and 6 sampling points downstream. Sampling and analysis of the surface water was done according to standard methods and procedures. The results of this study showed pH in the ranges of 6.5 – 6.91 and 6.81 – 7.09; turbidity ranged from 44.61- 90.89 NTU and 39.88 – 84.20 NTU; iron varied from 2.70 – 5.62 mg/L and 0.55 – 4.89 mg/L; Cadmium ranged from 0.54 – 0.60 mg/L and 0.55 – 0.74 mg/L for the upstream and downstream respectively. Water quality index result revealed that the water is not suitable for drinking. Turbidity, iron, and cadmium exceeded WHO standard limits for drinking water quality. The exceedances observed in this study are an indication that the sawmill activities may have a negative impact on the surface water quality in the study area. It is therefore recommended to carry out measures to mitigate these exceedances observed.
Genetic Diversity of Merozoite Surface Antigens in Global Babesia bovis Populations

Cattle can be severely infected with the tick-borne protozoa Babesia bovis, giving rise to serious economic losses. Invasion of the host’s RBCs by the parasite merozoite/sporozoites depends largely on the MSA (merozoite surface antigens) gene family, which comprises various fragments, e.g., MSA-1, MSA-2a1, MSA-2a2, MSA-2b and MSA-2c, highlighting the importance of these antigens as vaccine candidates. However, experimental trials documented the failure of some developed MSA-based vaccines to fully protect animals from B. bovis infection. One reason for this failure may be related to the genetic structure of the parasite. In the present study, all MSA-sequenced B. bovis isolates on the GenBank were collected and subjected to various analyses to evaluate their genetic diversity and population structure. The analyses were conducted on 199 MSA-1, 24 MSA-2a1, 193 MSA-2b and 148 MSA-2c isolates from geographically diverse regions. All these fragments displayed high nucleotide and haplotype diversities, but the MSA-1 was the most hypervariable and had the lowest inter- and intra-population gene flow values. This fragment also displayed a strong positive selection when testing its isolates for the natural selection, which suggests the potential occurrence of more genetic variations. On the contrary, the MSA-2c was the most conserved in comparison to the other fragments, and displayed the highest inter- and intra-population gene flow values, which was evidenced by a significantly negative selection and negative neutrality indices (Fu’s Fs and Tajima’s D). The majority of the MSA-2c tested isolates had two conserved amino acid repeats, and earlier reports have found these repeats to be highly immunogenic, which underlines the importance of this fragment in developing vaccines against B. bovis. Results of the MSA-2a1 analyses were also promising, but many more MSA-2a1 sequenced isolates are required to validating this assumption. The genetic analyses conducted for the MSA-2b fragment displayed borderline values when compared to the other fragments.
APPLICATION OF GPS AND GIS TO MAP CHANNEL FEATURES IN WALNUT CREEK, IOWA 1

ABSTRACT: A 12‐km reach of Walnut Creek was mapped at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Jasper County, Iowa to identify and prioritize areas of the stream channel in need of further investigation or restoration. Channel features, including streambank conditions, bottom sediment materials and thickness, channel cross‐sections, debris dams, tile lines, tributary creeks, and cattle access points, were located to one‐meter accuracy with global positioning system (GPS) equipment and described while traversing the stream. The GPS data were exported into a Geographic Information System (GIS) format, and field descriptions were added to create a series of coverages. Channel features were coupled with existing land cover data for analysis.
Enhancing Subjective Wellbeing in Older Individuals with Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Trial of a Positive Psychology Intervention

Objectives: This pilot study aims to explore the potential of a positive psychology intervention (PPI) in enhancing the subjective well-being of older individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a precursor to dementia. Design and Setting: A randomized trial was conducted, initially recruiting 51 participants aged 65 and above from the Greek Association of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders in Thessaloniki, Greece. The study employed a control-experimental group setup. To ensure randomization, each participant was assigned a unique number, and a random number generator was used for group allocation. Participants: A total of 41 eligible participants with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were included in the study after screening. Intervention: The intervention consisted of a 3-week positive psychology program (PPI) where the PERMA Profiler questionnaire was administered at three intervals: pre-intervention, post-intervention, and one month after completion. Main Outcome Measures: The subjective well-being of participants. Results: The analysis, conducted mainly through mixed-measures ANOVAs, supported the study’s hypotheses, revealing that the 3-week PPI led to increased PERMA model scores and overall well-being, which persisted even after one month. Conversely, non-participants experienced declines in most domains except for Positive Emotion and Meaning, which demonstrated improvement and recovery during follow-up. Conclusions: These findings suggest the potential of PPI in enhancing the subjective well-being of older adults with amnestic MCI, with implications for addressing dementia-related challenges. Further investigation is warranted to pinpoint PPI effects on MCI and tailor interventions for improved subjective well-being.
Digestive Tract Cancer-Related Adverse Events Correlated with Proton Pump Inhibitors Use: A Pharmacovigilance Study of the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System

Background. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are widely used to treat digestive system diseases. Previous studies have suggested conflicting results between PPI treatment and the risk for digestive tract cancers (DTCs). This study aimed to assess the effect of PPI use on DTCs by data mining of the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database. Method. This study examined the correlations between six PPI agents and DTCs by mining the FAERS database from January 2004 to September 2021 by using OpenVigil 2.1. The reporting odds ratio (ROR) defined as the ratio between the odds of reporting a specific adverse event for one drug divided by the corresponding odds for all other drugs, with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), was used to detect statistically significant correlations between PPIs and DTCs. High-level terms (HLTs) and preferred terms (PTs) were defined by the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities 24.0 (MedDRA24.0). Result. A total of 2553 DTC adverse event reports were screened, with positive signals obtained from gastric neoplasms malignant (GNM) (ROR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.01–1.18) and bile duct neoplasms malignant (BDNM) (ROR: 1.80, 95% CI: 1.44–2.25). Esomeprazole showed the strongest signal (ROR: 1.85, 95% CI: 1.66–2.06) for GNM, while rabeprazole for BDNM (ROR: 2.94, 95% CI: 1.32–6.56), and female PPI users had a higher risk of BDNM (ROR: 2.44, 95% CI: 1.77–3.35). Among subordinate PTs, adenocarcinoma gastric and the combination of “bile duct cancer” and “cholangiocarcinoma” were highly correlated with PPI use. Conclusion. By mining the FAERS database, we provided important clues for the correlation between PPI use and DTC risk.
The Effects of a Short-Term Combined Exercise Program on Liver Steatosis Indices and the Lipidemic and Glycemic Profile in NAFLD Individuals: A Pilot Study

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a very common liver disease associated with obesity, unhealthy diet, and lack of physical exercise. Short-term aerobic or resistance exercise has been shown to result in reduced liver fat in patients with NAFLD; however, the impact of the combination of these types of exercise has received less attention. This study investigated the effect of a short-term (7 days) concurrent exercise training program performed daily on liver steatosis indices, as well as the glycemic and lipidemic profile of overweight/obese sedentary volunteers. Twenty adult patients (age: 47.3 ± 12.3 yrs, body mass index: 32.4 ± 3.4 kg/m2) with NAFLD, detected by ultrasound and hematological indices, participated in the study. Pre- and post-exercise intervention assessment included body weight (BW), waist circumference (WC), hip/waist ratio (H/W), Homeostasis Model Assessment Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR), blood lipids, and steatosis indices. Fatty Liver Index, Lipid Accumulation Index, WC, H/W, triglycerides, and total cholesterol were improved (p < 0.05) post-exercise, while no differences (p > 0.05) were observed in BW, HOMA-IR, HDL, LDL, Hepatic Steatosis Index, and Framingham Steatosis Index compared to pre-exercise values. It is concluded that a 7-day combined exercise program can have beneficial effects on hepatic steatosis and central adiposity indices, independently of weight loss, in patients with NAFLD.