Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regional Wage Inequality in Egypt: Relationships to Micro and Macro Indicators

Addressing regional disparities in Egypt is of paramount importance for the country’s success in achieving the pillars of its 2030 strategy, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper focuses on examining regional disparities in wages, not only in relation to the micro level characteristics of workers such as their level of educational attainment and acquired experience, but also with regard to the overall economic conditions of the region where they work. The paper compiled a novel dataset of Egypt’s governorates macroeconomic indicators that includes the shares of public investment funds, poverty and unemployment rates and analyzed the evolution of such indicators over the period (2008-2018). The second contribution of this paper was to estimate a Mincer wage equation for each region, using micro data from the last two rounds of the ELMPS, in addition to the analyzed macro-economic variables in the years 2012 and 2018. Moreover, the corrected regional wage gaps were estimated. To the best of the author’s knowledge, the inclusion of macro-level indicators into the Mincer wage equation was never empirically investigated in the Egyptian labor market. The results of the econometric estimation provided evidence for the significant impact of both poverty and public investments’ shares on the real hourly wage rate prevailing in Egypt’s different regions. In addition, the estimated returns to the different educational levels significantly differed from one region to another. The paper concluded by suggesting several policies that could help mitigate regional wage disparities in the lagging regions.
Numerical Modelization of the Flow in Centrifugal Pump: Volute Influence in Velocity and Pressure Fields

A 3D-CFD simulation of the impeller and volute of a centrifugal pump has been performed using CFX codes. The pump has a specific speed of 32 (metric units) and an outside impeller diameter of 400 mm. First, a 3D flow simulation for the impeller with a structured grid is presented. A sensitivity analysis regarding grid quality and turbulence models were also performed. The final impeller model obtained was used for a 3D quasi-unsteady flow simulation of the impeller-volute stage. A procedure for designing the volute, the nonstructured grid generation in the volute, and the interface flow passage between the impeller and volute are discussed. This flow simulation was carried out for several impeller blades and volute tongue relative positions. As a result, velocity and pressure field were calculated for different flow rates, allowing to obtain the radial thrust on the pump shaft.
Canada Warbler ( Cardellina canadensis ): novel molecular markers and a preliminary analysis of genetic diversity and structure

The effects of predicted declines and potential loss of individual populations on species-level genetic diversity is unclear. A number of taxa, including the Canada Warbler (Cardellina canadensis), share wide-ranging geographic distributions in North American boreal forests with trailing-edge populations extending into the southern Appalachian Mountains. Trailing-edge populations in the southern portion of a species’ ranges often harbor high levels of genetic diversity and unique genetic variants, and may be at risk of extinction from climate change. Climate change and other anthropogenic factors are causing declines in the Canada Warbler’s southern trailing-edge populations, and with no genetic studies to date, the effect on species-level genetic diversity is uncertain. Speciesspecific microsatellite markers for the Canada Warbler were developed and validated using samples from three populations, including a southern trailing-edge population, to investigate their utility for intraspecific population studies. Eight of the microsatellite markers were informative for assessing genetic diversity and preliminary analysis suggests that they have potential for characterizing intraspecific neutral genetic diversity and structure among Canada Warbler populations. La Paruline du Canada (Cardellina canadensis) : nouveaux marqueurs moléculaires et analyse préliminaire de la diversité et de la structure génétique RÉSUMÉ. Les effets des baisses prédites et des pertes potentielles de certaines populations sur la diversité génétique à l'échelle de l'espèce sont incertains. Un grand nombre de taxons, dont la Paruline du Canada (Cardellina canadensis), partagent des répartitions géographiques très vastes dans les forêts boréales nord-américaines avec certaines populations s'étendant à la marge de l'aire de répartition jusque dans le sud des Appalaches. Ces populations situées à la limite sud de l'aire d'une espèce présentent souvent un degré élevé de diversité génétique et des variations génétiques uniques, et pourraient être à risque d'extinction à cause des changements climatiques. Les changements climatiques et d'autres facteurs d'origine humaine sont responsables de baisses dans les populations situées à la limite sud chez la Paruline du Canada, et en l'absence d'études génétiques jusqu'à présent, l'effet de la diversité génétique à l'échelle de l'espèce est incertain. Des marqueurs microsatellites spécifiques à la Paruline du Canada ont été élaborés et validés au moyen d'échantillons provenant de trois populations, y compris une population située à la limite sud, afin d'examiner leur utilité pour des études populationnelles intraspécifiques. Huit des marqueurs microsatellites se sont avérés instructifs pour évaluer la diversité génétique, et une analyse préliminaire indique qu'ils ont du potentiel pour caractériser la diversité et la structure génétique neutre intraspécifique parmi les populations de Paruline du Canada.
Seasonal characterization of particle extinction coefficient and its relation with PM_(2. 5) mass concentration in Chengdu

Daily PM2. 5 samples were collected in Chengdu for a period of one month in each of the seasons of 2011. Particle scattering coefficient and particle absorption coefficient were synchronously measured. The seasonal and daily variations in b sp and b ap and the relation between b ext( b sp+ b ap)and the PM2. 5 mass concentration was discussed based on above-measured data to investigate the causes of hazy weather. The results show that the annual b sp and b ap values were( 456 ± 237) Mm-1 and ( 96 ± 73) Mm-1,respectively,and that daily variation in b sp was influenced by metoroligical factors and transpotation of polltants from Chengdu suburban while daily variation in b ap was influenced by metoroligical factors and local motor emission in the urban aera. Good correlation between PM2. 5 and b ext was found( R2 0. 92),which suggests that the higher PM2. 5 concentration is the key impact factor for hazy weather.
Justification for the Choice of 1990 to 2009 Cut-Off Period Nigerian economy started suffering

This study examines the efficacy of Z-Score and operating cash flow as Corporate Insolvency prediction models in developing cash economy. The research specific objectives are to determine the predictive efficacy of Z-Score and operating cash flow in discriminating between would fail and going concern companies, identify more effective model for predicting Corporate Insolvency between Z-Score and operating cash flow and assess the predictive ability across industries of the two models. Sixty-two corporate financial statements possessing flow-based insolvency symptoms were tested. Tools of analyses employed are ANOVA, Loglinear Analysis, Fredman ANOVA and Percentages. Z-Score predictive ability across Services and Merchandising sectors is found to be very poor but very strong on Manufacturing and Oil Services, while Operating Cash Flow model is found to be more effective in predicting accurately Service and Merchandising Sectors. The predictive efficacy of the two models significantly varies as the year becomes closer to the year of corporate failure. It is recommended that across industrial sectors, Z-Score model should be used for testing business failures in Manufacturing and Oil Services while Operating Cash Flow model is better employed in solvency stress test for Merchandising, Transport & Aviation and Service industrial sectors.
Structural Characterization of Mg-Stabilized Amorphous Calcium Carbonate by Mg-25 Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy

Biogenic amorphous calcium carbonates (ACCs) play a crucial role in the mineralization process of calcareous tissue. Most biogenic ACCs contain Mg ions, but the coordination environment of Mg, which may influence the kinetics of the phase transformation of an ACC, remains poorly understood. We demonstrate that Mg-25 solid-state NMR can be used to probe the coordination shells of Mg in synthetic ACCs. The variation in Mg-25 chemical shifts suggests that Mg–O bond lengths increase as Mg content increases. On the basis of the Van Vleck second moments obtained from the double-resonance NMR experiments, we infer that the average number of carbonates surrounding the central Mg ion is in the range of 4–4.5 and that there is at least one water molecule coordinated to each Mg ion for the synthetic Mg-ACC samples. We suggest that the stability of Mg-ACC is owing to the structural water bound to Mg ions, which increases considerably the activation energy associated with the dehydration of Mg-ACC.
transcription-dependent promoter packaging High-resolution nucleosome mapping reveals Material

Material Supplemental http://genome.cshlp. org/content/suppl/2009/10/22/gr.098509. 109.DC1. html P<P Published online October 21, 2009 in advance of the print journal. Open Access Freely available online through the Genome Research Open Access option. service Email alerting click here top right corner of the article or Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article sign up in the box at the
Control in the π-Calculus [ Extended

This paper presents a type-preserving translation from the call-byvalue λμ-calculus (λμv-calculus) [23] into a typed π-calculus, and shows it is fully abstract up to natural consistent contextual congruences in respective calculi. The full abstraction is proved via an inverse transformation from the typed π-terms which inhabit the λμv-types into the λμv-calculus [23] (the so-called definability argument), using proof techniques based on games semantics and process calculi. While there are different notions of control which would be represented as distinct forms of typed interactions in the π-calculus, surprisingly the full-control, the λμ-calculus originally introduced by Parigot [24] and whose call-by-value version is later studied by Ong-Stewart [23], has a particularly simple representation as a subset of the linear π-calculus introduced in [31]. Since we already know quite a few properties about the linear π-calculus, for example the strong normalisability is instantly derived for the subcalculus for control from our result in [31]. A tight operational correspondence assisted by the definability result, as we have shown in this paper, would open a possibility to use typed π-calculi as a tool to investigate and analyse various control structures in a uniform setting, possibly integrated with other language primitives and operational structures. In the rest of the extended abstract, we first introduce the linear π-calculus with control, present the embedding of the call-by-value λμ-calculus, then outlines the definability arguments. We then discuss how the definability leads to an equational full abstraction for suitably defined behavioural equivalence for the λμ-calculus. The extended abstract concludes with further topics and open issues on the connection between the calculi with control and the linear/affine typed π-calculi [2, 3, 11, 31].
Effect of silicon on photosynthetic gas exchange, photosynthetic pigments, cell membrane stability and relative water content of different wheat cultivars under drought stress conditions

ABSTRACT This study aims to explain the effects of silicon (Si) foliar application on gas exchange characteristics, photosynthetic pigments, membrane stability and leaf relative water content of different wheat cultivars in the field under drought stress conditions. The experiment was arranged as a split-split plot based on randomized complete block design with three replications. Irrigation regime (100%, 60%, and 40% F.C.), silicon (control and Si application) and wheat cultivars (Shiraz, Marvdasht, Chamran, and Sirvan) were considered as main, sub and sub-sub plots, respectively. This study was carried out at the Research Farm of the Collage of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Iran, during 2012–2013 growing season. The results showed that foliar application of silicon increased the leaf relative water content, photosynthesis pigments (chlorophyll a, b and total chl and carotenoids), chlorophyll stability index (CSI) and membrane stability index (MSI) in all wheat cultivars, especially in Sirvan and Chamran (drought tolerant cultivars), under both stress and non-stress conditions. However, more improvement was observed under drought stress as compared to the non-stress condition. In contrast, these parameters decreased under drought stress. Si significantly decreased electrolyte leakage in all four cultivars under drought stress conditions. Furthermore, the intercellular carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration (Ci) increased under drought stress. Si application decreased Ci especially under drought stress conditions. Net photosynthesis rate (A), transpiration rate (E) and stomatal conductance (gs) were significantly decreased under drought conditions. Under drought, Si applied plants showed significantly higher leaf photosynthesis rate, transpiration rate, and stomatal conductance. Intrinsic water use efficiency (WUEi) and carboxylation efficiency (CE) decreased in all cultivars under drought stress. However, the silicon-applied plants had greater WUEi and CE under drought stress. The stomatal limitation was found to be higher in stressed plants compared to the control. Exogenously applied silicon also decreased stomatal limitation. Overall, application of Si was found beneficial for improving drought tolerance of wheat plants.
Synthesis and properties of a millable polyurethane nanocomposite based on castor oil and halloysite nanotubes

The use of bio-based materials has recently attracted a lot of attention in the area of polymer synthesis. In this work, a bio-based millable polyurethane (MPU) based on castor oil and its nanocomposites containing a very low content of halloysite nanotubes have been successfully prepared. These MPU/HNT nanocomposites showed higher tensile strength and elongation at break compared with the pristine MPU material. The tensile strength and Young’s modulus of the MPU/HNT nanocomposites were improved by 35% and 63% by incorporating only 0.5 wt% of the HNTs, respectively, which was primarily attributed to the formation of covalent bonds between the OH groups of the HNTs and the NCO groups of 2,4-toluene diisocyanate (TDI). The nanostructure of these MPU nanocomposites was characterized by spectroscopy studies and direct microstructural analysis.
Learning Invariant Object and Spatial View Representations in the Brain Using Slow Unsupervised Learning

First, neurophysiological evidence for the learning of invariant representations in the inferior temporal visual cortex is described. This includes object and face representations with invariance for position, size, lighting, view and morphological transforms in the temporal lobe visual cortex; global object motion in the cortex in the superior temporal sulcus; and spatial view representations in the hippocampus that are invariant with respect to eye position, head direction, and place. Second, computational mechanisms that enable the brain to learn these invariant representations are proposed. For the ventral visual system, one key adaptation is the use of information available in the statistics of the environment in slow unsupervised learning to learn transform-invariant representations of objects. This contrasts with deep supervised learning in artificial neural networks, which uses training with thousands of exemplars forced into different categories by neuronal teachers. Similar slow learning principles apply to the learning of global object motion in the dorsal visual system leading to the cortex in the superior temporal sulcus. The learning rule that has been explored in VisNet is an associative rule with a short-term memory trace. The feed-forward architecture has four stages, with convergence from stage to stage. This type of slow learning is implemented in the brain in hierarchically organized competitive neuronal networks with convergence from stage to stage, with only 4-5 stages in the hierarchy. Slow learning is also shown to help the learning of coordinate transforms using gain modulation in the dorsal visual system extending into the parietal cortex and retrosplenial cortex. Representations are learned that are in allocentric spatial view coordinates of locations in the world and that are independent of eye position, head direction, and the place where the individual is located. This enables hippocampal spatial view cells to use idiothetic, self-motion, signals for navigation when the view details are obscured for short periods.
Genome-Wide Association Studies Reveal Neurological Genes for Dog Herding, Predation, Temperament, and Trainability Traits

Genome-wide association study (GWAS) using dog breed standard values as phenotypic measurements is an efficient way to identify genes associated with morphological and behavioral traits. As a result of strong human purposeful selections, several specialized behavioral traits such as herding and hunting have been formed in different modern dog breeds. However, genetic analyses on this topic are rather limited due to the accurate phenotyping difficulty for these complex behavioral traits. Here, 268 dog whole-genome sequences from 130 modern breeds were used to investigate candidate genes underlying dog herding, predation, temperament, and trainability by GWAS. Behavioral phenotypes were obtained from the American Kennel Club based on dog breed standard descriptions or groups (conventional categorization of dog historical roles). The GWAS results of herding behavior (without body size as a covariate) revealed 44 significantly associated sites within five chromosomes. Significantly associated sites on CFA7, 9, 10, and 20 were located either in or near neuropathological or neuronal genes including THOC1, ASIC2, MSRB3, LLPH, RFX8, and CHL1. MSRB3 and CHL1 genes were reported to be associated with dog fear. Since herding is a restricted hunting behavior by removing killing instinct, 36 hounds and 55 herding dogs were used to analyze predation behavior. Three neuronal-related genes (JAK2, MEIS1, and LRRTM4) were revealed as candidates for predation behavior. The significantly associated variant of temperament GWAS was located within ACSS3 gene. The highest associated variant in trainability GWAS is located on CFA22, with no variants detected above the Bonferroni threshold. Since dog behaviors are correlated with body size, we next incorporate body mass as covariates into GWAS; and significant signals around THOC1, MSRB3, LLPH, RFX8, CHL1, LRRTM4, and ACSS3 genes were still detected for dog herding, predation, and temperament behaviors. In humans, these candidate genes are either involved in nervous system development or associated with mental disorders. In conclusion, our results imply that these neuronal or psychiatric genes might be involved in biological processes underlying dog herding, predation, and temperament behavioral traits.
Expression of KNUCKLES in the Stem Cell Domain Is Required for Its Function in the Control of Floral Meristem Activity in Arabidopsis

In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the zinc-finger transcription factor KNUCKLES (KNU) plays an important role in the termination of floral meristem activity, a process that is crucial for preventing the overgrowth of flowers. The KNU gene is activated in floral meristems by the floral organ identity factor AGAMOUS (AG), and it has been shown that both AG and KNU act in floral meristem control by directly repressing the stem cell regulator WUSCHEL (WUS), which leads to a loss of stem cell activity. When we re-examined the expression pattern of KNU in floral meristems, we found that KNU is expressed throughout the center of floral meristems, which includes, but is considerably broader than the WUS expression domain. We therefore hypothesized that KNU may have additional functions in the control of floral meristem activity. To test this, we employed a gene perturbation approach and knocked down KNU activity at different times and in different domains of the floral meristem. In these experiments we found that early expression in the stem cell domain, which is characterized by the expression of the key meristem regulatory gene CLAVATA3 (CLV3), is crucial for the establishment of KNU expression. The results of additional genetic and molecular analyses suggest that KNU represses floral meristem activity to a large extent by acting on CLV3. Thus, KNU might need to suppress the expression of several meristem regulators to terminate floral meristem activity efficiently.
The Hitchhiker Guide to CD4+ T-Cell Depletion in Lentiviral Infection. A Critical Review of the Dynamics of the CD4+ T Cells in SIV and HIV Infection

CD4+ T-cell depletion is pathognomonic for AIDS in both HIV and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infections. It occurs early, is massive at mucosal sites, and is not entirely reverted by antiretroviral therapy (ART), particularly if initiated when T-cell functions are compromised. HIV/SIV infect and kill activated CCR5-expressing memory and effector CD4+ T-cells from the intestinal lamina propria. Acute CD4+ T-cell depletion is substantial in progressive, nonprogressive and controlled infections. Clinical outcome is predicted by the mucosal CD4+ T-cell recovery during chronic infection, with no recovery occurring in rapid progressors, and partial, transient recovery, the degree of which depends on the virus control, in normal and long-term progressors. The nonprogressive infection of African nonhuman primate SIV hosts is characterized by partial mucosal CD4+ T-cell restoration, despite high viral replication. Complete, albeit very slow, recovery of mucosal CD4+ T-cells occurs in controllers. Early ART does not prevent acute mucosal CD4+ T-cell depletion, yet it greatly improves their restoration, sometimes to preinfection levels. Comparative studies of the different models of SIV infection support a critical role of immune activation/inflammation (IA/INFL), in addition to viral replication, in CD4+ T-cell depletion, with immune restoration occurring only when these parameters are kept at bay. CD4+ T-cell depletion is persistent, and the recovery is very slow, even when both the virus and IA/INFL are completely controlled. Nevertheless, partial mucosal CD4+ T-cell recovery is sufficient for a healthy life in natural hosts. Cell death and loss of CD4+ T-cell subsets critical for gut health contribute to mucosal inflammation and enteropathy, which weaken the mucosal barrier, leading to microbial translocation, a major driver of IA/INFL. In turn, IA/INFL trigger CD4+ T-cells to become either viral targets or apoptotic, fueling their loss. CD4+ T-cell depletion also drives opportunistic infections, cancers, and comorbidities. It is thus critical to preserve CD4+ T cells (through early ART) during HIV/SIV infection. Even in early-treated subjects, residual IA/INFL can persist, preventing/delaying CD4+ T-cell restoration. New therapeutic strategies limiting mucosal pathology, microbial translocation and IA/INFL, to improve CD4+ T-cell recovery and the overall HIV prognosis are needed, and SIV models are extensively used to this goal.