Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determinants of Capital Structure in Nigeria

Decision regarding optimum capital structure in terms of mixture of debt and equity in financing firms operation is one of the most challenging decisions to be made by firms’ financial managers. This study focused on determinants of capital structure in Nigeria with the aim of examining whether the identified determinants (profitability, liquidity, size, tangibility and growth) exert significant influence on capital structure in Nigerian listed Cement Manufacturing Companies, Oil and Gas Companies and Food and Beverages Companies. The study adopted ex post facto research design on the secondary data obtained from the annual reports and accounts of the sampled companies from 2007-2016. The data obtained from secondary source were analysed by using descriptive statistics, panel unit root test, multiple regression analysis and the Hausman specification test was conducted to choose appropriate model post estimation test was done to consider appropriateness of the chosen model. The results of the random effect model revealed that capital structure determinants identified in this study like profitability, liquidity, size, growth have no significant effect on capital structure, while only tangibility was found to exert significant effect on capital structure. All the variables apart from liquidity and sales growth have positive coefficient. The probability of the fstatistics which is less than 5% implies that all the determinants of capital structure identified have joint significant negative effect on gearing. The study therefore recommends that firms’ should improve on their profitability, liquidity, size, asset growth and sales growth so as to attain optimum capital structure.
Revisiting a Methodology for Efficient CNN Architectures in Profiling Attacks

This work provides a critical review of the paper by Zaid et al. titled “Methodology for Efficient CNN Architectures in Profiling attacks”, which was published in TCHES Volume 2020, Issue 1. This work studies the design of CNN networks to perform side-channel analysis of multiple implementations of the AES for embedded devices. Based on the authors’ code and public data sets, we were able to cross-check their results and perform a thorough analysis. We correct multiple misconceptions by carefully inspecting different elements of the model architectures proposed by Zaid et al. First, by providing a better understanding on the internal workings of these models, we can trivially reduce their number of parameters on average by 52%, while maintaining a similar performance. Second, we demonstrate that the convolutional filter’s size is not strictly related to the amount of misalignment in the traces. Third, we show that increasing the filter size and the number of convolutions actually improves the performance of a network. Our work demonstrates once again that reproducibility and review are important pillars of academic research. Therefore, we provide the reader with an online Python notebook which allows to reproduce some of our experiments1 and additional example code is made available on Github.2
Field occurrence of stink bug and its damage in soybean.

콩에 발생하는 노린재류의 피해실태와 약제방제효과를 구명하기 위하여 1997부터 1998년까지 경북농업기술원 전작포장에서 실시한 시험의 결과를 요약하면 다음과 같다. 1. 경북 남부지역 콩포장에 발생하는 노린재류는 톱다리개미허리노린재, 풀색노린재, 썩덩나무노린재, 가로줄노린재, 알락수염노린재 등 9증이었다. 2. 콩 품종별 노린재류의 피해립율은 두유콩, 신팔달콩2호, 삼남콩, 만리콩, 단경콩 등 단경품종군에서 15.2-27.0%, 한남콩, 장수콩, 푸른콩, 무한콩 등 장경품종 군이 36.1-50.0%였고, 피해협율도 같은 경향이었으며, 또한 100개체당 생충밀도는 단경품종군에서 5.0-12.5마리, 장경품종군에서는 10.3-30. 0마리로 단경품종군이 노린재류의 선호도가 낮았지만 노린재류에 대한 저항성을 보인 품종은 없었다. 3. 톱다리개미허리노린재, 풀색노린재는 대체로 기온이 높을때 발생밀도가 높아 협에 피해가 많았고, 썩덩나무노린재, 가로줄노린재, 알락수염노린재는 기온이 서늘할 때 발생이 많았으며 대체로 종실에 피해가 많았다. 4. 8월 24일부터 9월 17일 까지 10일 간격으로 3회 약제살포후의 노린재류 생충밀도는 100개체당 무처리 40. 3마리에 비해 아조포유제 3.7, 메프수화제 5.3, 나크수 화제 3. 0마리로 약제방제효과가 높았다. 5. 약제방제후 피해립율은 무처리 33.8%에 비해 약제처리구는 4.4-10.3%였고, 아조포유제 83.4%, 메프수화제 69.5, 나크수화제 87.0%의 방제가를 보였다. 수량은 ha당 무처리구 1. 92MT에 비해 약제처리구에서 38-45%증수되었다. 【This experiment was conducted to investigate to the degree of damage by stink bugs at the soybean fields of Kyong-buk Agricultural Research and Extension Services from 1997 to 1998. Thirty different soybean varieties including Hwangkeumkong were used. Stink bugs collected in the soybean fields were Riptortus clavatus, Nazara antennata, Piezodorus hybneri, Dolycoris baccarum, and Halyomorpha halys, etc. The damage rates by stink bug were 5.0-12.5% in determinate types and 36.1-50.0% in indeterminate ones, which indicated that stink bugs preferred indeterminate types to determinate ones. The control values to sting bugs by fenitrothion, triaazophos, and carbaryl, were 83.4%, 69.5%, and 87.0%, respectively. 】
Human Capital Based Performance Model – A Comprehensive Look at Managers Leadership Styles, Emotional Intelligence and Units Organizational Culture and its Impact on Branch Performance

The importance of leadership cannot be underestimated for any type of organization, and much research has shown the essentiality of the component of emotional intelligence for effective leadership. Organizational culture is shaped by such crucial elements of the organization, which manage not just the resources, but essentially the human resources of the organization. The study aims at assessing the impact of leadership styles, emotional intelligence of leaders and organizational culture on organizational performance. The study adopts a descriptive research design, to explore the relationships between the variables under study, and outline their influence on the overall performance of the firm. The study supports the claim that leadership styles and emotional intelligence have a significant impact on the organizational culture, which further impacts the organizational performance. Moreover, a significant relationship between leadership styles and emotional intelligence is also found valid. Thus, the recognition of such relationships at work is critical for managers and leaders, of any sphere, of any kind/size of firms. The present research serves useful to leaders, managers, HR professionals, administration, and anybody interested in the sphere of improving organizational performance.
The food of some Australian anurans (Amphibia).

Analysis of the stomach contents of adults of three species of the genus Pseudophryne (Anura: Leptodactylidae) occurring in south-eastern New South Wales showed that the diet consists mainly of ants or termites. In P. corroboree differences in size and taxonomic categories of prey items were associated with the size of the predator. Seasonal variation in feeding activity of the adults, which was related to the seasonal change in temperature, was also revealed. Differences in diet of five species living in the same area were seen. Both P. corroboree and P. dendyi fed on similar food items. The stomach contents of Crinia signifera and juvenile P. corroboree were similar which suggested that they were feeding in the same zone. Hyla verreauxi, a large ground dwelling hylid appeared to feed on larger insect items.
Dinoflagellate Vulcanodinium rugosum identified as the causative organism of pinnatoxins in Australia, New Zealand and Japan

Rhodes L. , Smith K. , Selwood A. , McNabb P., Munday R. , Suda S. , Molenaar S. and Hallegraeff G. 2011. Dinoflagellate Vulcanodinium rugosum identified as the causative organism of pinnatoxins in Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Phycologia 50: 624–628. DOI: 10.2216/11-19.1 The producers of pinnatoxins E and F were first identified through systematic light microscopy-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) screening of New Zealand (NZ) dinoflagellate isolates. Pinnatoxins E, F and G were subsequently detected for South Australian (AUS) isolates, and a pinnatoxin G producer was recently identified from Okinawa, Japan. The NZ, AUS and Japanese isolates appear morphologically identical to Mediterranean field samples recently described as Vulcanodinium rugosum. Motile forms (24–32 µm long, 20–30 µm wide) have a wide, deeply incised cingulum displaced by 17% of the cell length and a deep sulcus. Photosynthetic motile cells have the same distinctive apical pore complex with raised collar and short canal plate. The reticulate thecal ornamentation resembles that of Bysmatrum because the three intercalary plates are connected. The posterior sulcal plate Sp does not touch the cingulum (as in Bysmatrum, Pentapharsodinium and Ensiculifera). The plate formula for the NZ, AUS and Japanese isolates is Po, X, 4′, 3a, 7″, 6c (5c + T), 5s, 5′″, 2″″. The dominant non-motile life-cycle stage comprises clusters of brown to black, spherical, unornamented, non-calcareous division cells (30–35 µm diameter). Genetically these isolates fall within the Peridiniales, closely related to the calciodinellid genera, Pentapharsodinium, Ensiculifera and Scrippsiella. The large subunit (LSU) rDNA and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences exhibit sequence differences compared to each other and to the French field material (96–97% LSU and 84–88% ITS similarity, respectively). This variation and pinnatoxin profile differences suggest a possible species complex.
Effects of radiotransmitters and breeding effort on harvest and survival rates of female mallards

There has been widespread speculation that breeding activity places adult female mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) at heightened risk of harvest due to insufficient time to complete the wing molt or recover body condition prior to onset of hunting and autumn migration. We tested the hypotheses that breeding females have higher rates of harvest and reduced prospects for survival by estimating band recovery rates (f) and annual survival (S) in relation to individual measures of breeding effort for 3,055 adult female mallards that had been banded and radiomarked during the breeding season in the Prairie-Parkland Region of Canada, 1993–2000. Birds that had been marked with external prong-and-suture transmitters had lower estimated survival rates (S = 0.518, SE = 0.118) than birds marked with implant transmitters (S = 0.731, SE = 0.061), but rates for birds marked with implant transmitters did not differ from expectations based on other studies for females marked only with legbands. After excluding external transmitters, we found that recovery rates were unaffected by any measures of reproductive effort, but annual survival was lower for females that tended broods to 60 days of age (S = 0.474 ± 0.115) versus females that never hatched a nest (S = 0.654 ± 0.042). Telemetry data indicated that brood-rearing females experienced extremely low mortality, so reduced survival of females that raised broods presumably resulted from insufficient time to molt and prepare for autumn migration. Management efforts that promote successful early nesting attempts may also improve adult female survival by allowing females more time to molt and prepare for autumn migration, whereas hunting regulations designed to protect late-breeding females may prove ineffective if such individuals have higher natural mortality. © 2012 The Wildlife Society.
The evolution of financial intermediation: Evidence from 19thcentury Ontario microdata

Microdata for Ontario decedents in 1892 and 1902 is analyzed to help explain the dramatic growth of the Canadian banking system in the late 19th century. Combining data from probate inventories with census data at the township level, we find that the expansion of deposit banking happened at the extensive rather than intensive margin and was correlated with the expansion of the branch network of the banking system, although we cannot assign causation. Wealth and urbanization help to explain the growth of deposit banking but the significance of a dummy variable for 1902 points to other time-correlated factors such as innovations in transportation and financial innovations that lowered costs and facilitated access to banking services. Résumé. L’évolution de l’intermédiation financière : résultats à partir de micro-données pour l’Ontario au 19e siècle. Les auteurs analysent les micro-données pour les personnes décédées en Ontario en 1892 et en 1902 pour tenter d’expliquer la croissance dramatique du système bancaire canadien à la fin du 19e siècle. En combinant des données provenant d’inventaires après décès avec celles de recensements au niveau des cantons, on découvre que l’expansion du système bancaire va se produire à la marge extensive plutôt qu’à la marge intensive, et être co-reliée à l’expansion du réseau de succursales du système bancaire – encore qu’on ne puisse assigner un lien de causalité. Richesse et urbanisation aident à expliquer la croissance des banques de dépôts, mais la signification de la variable fictive pour 1902 pointe vers des facteurs comme l’innovation dans le transport et l’innovation financière qui ont réduit les coûts et facilité l’accès aux services bancaires. JEL classification: N2, G2 The authors would like to thank Sally Hermansen for producing the maps included in the paper and to acknowledge the helpful comments of Ann Carlos and Ian Keay and of discussants at the Meetings on the Canadian Network for Economic History, June 2011, Ottawa. As well, the authors thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments during the revision of this paper. All errors remain our own. Livio Di Matteo acknowledges the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Corresponding author: Livio Di Matteo, ldimatte@lakeheadu.ca 964 L. Di Matteo and A. Redish
American Based Research Journal Vol-7-Issue-2 Feb-2018 ISSN (2304-7151)

The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of corporate diversification on capital structure. The study used longitudinal research design. Using a panel data model, the study estimated the effect of product and geographical diversification on the firm capital structure. A sample of 49 firms consistently trading in Nairobi security exchange between 2009 and 2014 was used. Using random and fixed effect, the study found that product diversification has no significant effect on capital structure, while geographic has a significant negative effect on capital structure. This infers that geographically diversified firms are using more but less risky debts than more product-diversified firms
CONTROL OF SAN-JOSE SCALE, TERRAPIN SCALE, AND EUROPEAN RED MITE ON DORMANT FRUIT-TREES WITH SOYBEAN OIL

Emulsions of degummed soybean (Glycine max L.) oil were compared to a petroleum oil emulsion for efficacy against winter populations of San Jose scale [Quadraspidiotus perniciosus (Comstock); Homoptera: Diaspididae] and European red mite [Panonychus ulmi (Loch); Acari: Tetranychidae] on dormant apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) trees and terrapin scale [Mesolecanium nigrofasciatum (Pergande); Homoptera: Coccidae] on dormant peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch. ] trees. In laboratory tests, more than 94% of San Jose scale was killed on stems dipped for 1 second in 5.0% or 7.5% soybean oil or 5.0% petroleum oil. Mortality of terrapin scale exceeded 93%on peach stems dipped for 1 second in 7.5% soybean oil or 5.0% petroleum oil. No European red mite eggs survived on apple stems dipped for 1 second in 2.5%, 5.0%, or 7.5% soybean oil, or 5.0% petroleum oil. In field tests, >95% of San Jose scale died on apple trees sprayed with one application of 2.5% petroleum oil or 5.0% soybean oil; two applications of these treatments or 2.5% soybean oil killed all San Jose scales. One or two applications of 2.5% petroleum oil or 5.0% soybean oil killed 85% and 98%, respectively, of the terrapin scales on peach trees. Soybean oil shows promise as a substitute for petroleum oil for winter control of three very destructive fruit tree pests
Incorporation of Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) in Feed for Developing Eco-friendly Low Cost Feed of Mirror Carp, Cyprinus carpio var. specularis (Linnaeus, 1758)

This study was conducted to develop low cost eco-friendly feed incorporation with water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes meal, and to evaluate the effects on growth performance and production economy of mirror carp, Cyprinus carpio var. specularis aquaculture. Mirror carp at average weight of 21.34±0.17 g were fed with three different experimental diets with 0% water hyacinth meal (WH0 diet), 15% (WH15 diet) and 25% (WH25 diet) for 12 weeks in six different experimental ponds. Fish were fed two times daily at a rate of 4% of their body weight during the entire experimental period. The water quality parameters of the experimental ponds were monitored every 2 weeks interval. The water quality parameters were found at acceptable limit. The result indicated that growth performance tended to decrease with increase in inclusion level of water hyacinth meal. The weight gain and specific growth rate (SGR %,bwd/day) were significantly higher (P<0.05) in fish groups fed WH0 and WH15 diets than WH25 group. Also, the feed conversion ratio (FCR) was significantly higher in fish group fed WH25 diet than fish groups fed WH0 and WH15 diets. The fish groups fed WH0 and WH15 diets had no significant difference in weight gain (WG), SGR and FCR. The production was found significantly higher in WH0 fish group than other groups. However, the cost benefit ratio (CBR) was found significantly higher in WH15 (15% water hyacinths meal based diet) fish group than other groups. Analysis of proximate composition of the whole fish fed with different diets did not show any significant difference (P>0.05). The cost of feed production decreased as the incorporation level of water hyacinth increased. Result indicated that incorporation of 15% water hyacinth meal in a diet was the best as a practical diet of mirror carp for reducing feed cost and increasing profit.
Effects of interfaces on aggregates of peptides derived from pancreatic islet amyloid polypeptide

Recent experimental studies indicate that oligomeric complexes of misfolded proteins and peptides are the primary agents of cytotoxicity in amyloid-related diseases. Given the prevalence of mixed-polarity interfaces in physiological environments, an understanding of the mechanisms of interactions between amorphous (pre-fibrillar) aggregates and surfaces is important for completing our knowledge of the behaviour of peptide aggregation phenomena. We have employed fully solvated molecular dynamics simulations to study the morphology, interactions and peptide conformations of disordered aggregates of the amyloidogenic NFGAIL (derived from human islet amyloid polypeptide) and non-amyloidogenic AGAIL peptides upon adsorption to vapour–water, decane–water, bilayer and solid–water interfaces. All of the interfaces studied promote elongation and surface-spreading of both peptide aggregates, with the liquid–liquid interface being particularly efficient at altering the gross morphology of disordered aggregates. NFGAIL aggregates are more effective at disrupting lipid bilayers compared to AGAIL. Additionally, the interfaces studied cause greater changes in peptide conformations within the NFGAIL aggregates compared to AGAIL. We propose that simulations may elucidate the capability of interfaces to effect changes in the behaviour of disordered peptide aggregates, which may also serve to provide measures of the intrinsic fibrillogenicity of a given peptide sequence.
COMPARATIVE AVIAN FAUNAL DIVERSITY OF JIWANI COASTAL WETLANDS AND TAUNSA BARRAGE WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, PAKISTAN

This study was undertaken to compare the population of avifauna of Jiwani Coastal Wetlands Complex and Taunsa Barrage Wetland. In one year study period the number of species recorded at Jiwani Coastal Wetland was 109, representing 16 orders and 38 families and at Taunsa Barrage was 110 which belongs to 45 families. At Taunsa Barrage Ardeidae remain dominant while syllviidae were the family which has greatest bird species found at the study site. The family Oriolade had only one bird species, while out of 110 species, 66 were resident, 8 were breeding resident, 34 were winter visitor and only 2 were summer visitor. At Jiwani Coastal Wetland out of 109 bird species, 77 species were migratory and 32 species were recorded as resident. The common species found at both the study sites were 49. The most critical threat facing the birds is the destruction and fragmentation of habitat. Fishing activities and illegal hunting by local people are also the major threats to the avifauna
Deep Convolutional Approaches for the Analysis of COVID-19 Using Chest X-Ray Images From Portable Devices

The recent human coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a respiratory infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Given the effects of COVID-19 in pulmonary tissues, chest radiography imaging plays an important role in the screening, early detection, and monitoring of the suspected individuals. Hence, as the pandemic of COVID-19 progresses, there will be a greater reliance on the use of portable equipment for the acquisition of chest X-ray images due to its accessibility, widespread availability, and benefits regarding to infection control issues, minimizing the risk of cross-contamination. This work presents novel fully automatic approaches specifically tailored for the classification of chest X-ray images acquired by portable equipment into 3 different clinical categories: normal, pathological, and COVID-19. For this purpose, 3 complementary deep learning approaches based on a densely convolutional network architecture are herein presented. The joint response of all the approaches allows to enhance the differentiation between patients infected with COVID-19, patients with other diseases that manifest characteristics similar to COVID-19 and normal cases. The proposed approaches were validated over a dataset specifically retrieved for this research. Despite the poor quality of the chest X-ray images that is inherent to the nature of the portable equipment, the proposed approaches provided global accuracy values of 79.62%, 90.27% and 79.86%, respectively, allowing a reliable analysis of portable radiographs to facilitate the clinical decision-making process.
Validation and Psychometric Properties of the Arabic Psychological Well-Being Post-Traumatic Changes Questionnaire

Psychological Well-Being Post-Traumatic Changes Questionnaire (PWB-PTCQ) is an instrument for measuring positive changes after trauma that has shown reasonable psychometric properties in its original version in English. The aim of this study was to translate and validate the psychometric properties of an Arabic Psychological Well-Being Post-Traumatic Changes Questionnaire (A-PWB-PTCQ). A descriptive correlational design was used to conduct the study among 357 participants sampled from the Saudi population. Participants reported different traumatic events ranged between 59.5 % for sudden death of close person to 23.3% assault or attempted sexual assault incidents. The A-PWB-PTCQ demonstrated excellent internal consistency at 0.93 and test-retest reliability at 0.92. All inter-item and item-to-total correlations for the PWB-PTCQ scale were above the recommended criteria of 0.30. The A-PWB-PTCQ also showed a significant negative correlation with the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale for DSM-5 (PDS-5) (-0.46, p <.001), and those with clinical levels of PTSD had significantly lower scores on the A-PWB-PTCQ (t= 7.62, p <.001) than individuals with subclinical levels of PTSD. The A-PWB-PTCQ was found to be a valid and reliable instrument for measuring the Psychological Well-Being Post-Traumatic Changes among the Arabic population.