Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Managing Group Dynamics and Effectiveness of University Staff: Evidence from Nigeria

Research evidence linking managing group dynamic (GPD) to the effectiveness of academic and non-academic staff of Nigerian universities, is ostensibly scarce. While existing studies have majorly addressed the performance impact of group dynamics in general perspectives, there is a gap in gauging how managing dynamics in groups could lead to the effectiveness of staff of Nigerian universities. Built on two complementary theories, the study has sought to investigate the relationship between pooled constructs of group dynamics, including social integration (SI), team leadership (TL), interpersonal facilitation (IF), group efficacy (GE); and effectiveness of university staff in those measures as in productivity (PD), adaptability (AD), and flexibility (FL). The sample size of 253 staff was selected from 2050 staff, and a self-structured questionnaire was designed. Instrument reliability was confirmed for the individual construct of GPD and staff effectiveness (SE) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) which was used to validate the instruments. The frequency and percentage table, means, and standard deviations were engaged as descriptive tools. Linear and multiple regressions and variance inflation factor were designed to test hypotheses and relationships. Findings revealed a significant statistical relationship between the dimensions of GPD and measures of staff effectiveness except for the dimension of GPD (SI) with a weak aggregate predictive contribution. The study posited the need for management of the federal universities to forge integration with staff through adapting strategies of group dynamics to improve the effectiveness of academic and non-academic staff of universities. Especially, staff with innate creative ability and genius for innovation should be supported and motivated to reach their potential.
Long Term Norovirus Infection in a Patient with Severe Common Variable Immunodeficiency

Norovirus is the most common cause of acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis. Immunocompromised patients can become chronically infected, with or without symptoms. In Europe, common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is one of the most common inborn errors of immunity. A potentially severe complication is CVID-associated enteropathy, a disorder with similar histopathology to celiac disease. Studies suggest that chronic norovirus infection may be a contributor to CVID enteropathy, and that the antiviral drug ribavirin can be effective against norovirus. Here, a patient with CVID-like disease with combined B- and T-cell deficiency, had chronic norovirus infection and enteropathy. The patient was routinely administered subcutaneous and intravenous immunoglobulin replacement therapy (SCIg and IVIg). The patient was also administered ribavirin for ~7.5 months to clear the infection. Stool samples (collected 2013–2016) and archived paraffin embedded duodenal biopsies were screened for norovirus by qPCR, confirming a chronic infection. Norovirus genotyping was done in 25 stool samples. For evolutionary analysis, the capsid (VP1) and polymerase (RdRp) genes were sequenced in 10 and 12 stool samples, respectively, collected before, during, and after ribavirin treatment. Secretor phenotyping was done in saliva, and serum was analyzed for histo-blood group antigen (HBGA) blocking titers. The chronic norovirus strain formed a unique variant subcluster, with GII.4 Den Haag [P4] variant, circulating around 2009, as the most recent common ancestor. This corresponded to the documented debut of symptoms. The patient was a secretor and had HBGA blocking titers associated with protection in immunocompetent individuals. Several unique amino acid substitutions were detected in immunodominant epitopes of VP1. However, HBGA binding sites were conserved. Ribavirin failed in treating the infection and no clear association between ribavirin-levels and quantity of norovirus shedding was observed. In conclusion, long term infection with norovirus in a patient with severe CVID led to the evolution of a unique norovirus strain with amino acid substitutions in immunodominant epitopes, but conservation within HBGA binding pockets. Regularly administered SCIg, IVIg, and ~7.5-month ribavirin treatment failed to clear the infection.
The Effect of Job Crafting and Work Engagement toward Readiness for Change among Millennial Employees

: Indonesia has a demographic bonus where the millennial generation of employees is more dominant than the previous generation. Millennial employees as one of the organizational resources must be ready to face changes in order to improve organizational performance. There are various factors that can affect employee readiness for change, including job crafting and work engagement. This study aims to determine the effect of job crafting and work engagement toward the readiness for change among millennial. This study involved 150 employees, male or female, aged 23–39 years. The data collection method in this study used a Likert scale model using the Work Engagement Scale, the Job Crafting Scale, and the Readiness for Change scale. The results showed that partially job crafting and work engagement had a positive effect on readiness for change on millennial employees with t-count values of 6.375 and 2.851 with a significance of 0.000 (p<0.005). Simultaneously, the variables of job crafting and work engagement have a significant effect on the readiness for change of millennial employees with an F-count of 57.443 and a significance of 0.000; p<0.05). Job crafting and work engagement contributed to the readiness for change by 43.9% (R-square=0.439).
Immunohistochemical expression of CD8, CTLA4, and PD-L1 in NSCLC of smokers versus non smokers and its effect on prognosis

ABSTRACT Background Identifying hig- risk non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients is the most contentious area in lung pathology for reducing cancer-related morbidity and mortality. Aim of the work Was to investigate the immunohistochemical expression of CD8, CTLA4, and PD-L1 among different NSCLC histopathological variants and it’s correlation with different clinicopathological variables. Material and Methods Expression of CD8, CTLA4, & PD-L1 was evaluated immunohistochemically in 45 NSCLC cases. Results Higher expression of CD8 tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) was significantly associated with better progression-free survival (PFS). The expression of CTLA4&PD-L1 on tumor cells was significantly associated with lower PFS. However, smoking status of the studied cases showed no statistically significant correlation with expression of any of the studied immunohistochemical markers. Conclusions Immunostaining for CD8, CTLA4, and PD-L1 could have a major role in the anticipation of PFS of NSCLC cases regardless of their smoking status.
A novel multi-dimensional reliability approach for floating wind turbines under power production conditions

Floating offshore wind turbines (FOWT) generate green renewable energy and are a vital part of the modern offshore wind energy industry. Robust predicting extreme offshore loads during FOWT operations is an important safety concern. Excessive structural bending moments may occur during certain sea conditions, posing an operational risk of structural damage. This paper uses the FAST code to analyze offshore wind turbine structural loads due to environmental loads acting on a specific FOWT under actual local environmental conditions. The work proposes a unique Gaidai-Fu-Xing structural reliability approach that is probably best suited for multi-dimensional structural responses that have been simulated or measured over a long period to produce relatively large ergodic time series. In the context of numerical simulation, unlike existing reliability approaches, the novel methodology does not need to re-start simulation again each time the system fails. As shown in this work, an accurate forecast of the probability of system failure can be made using measured structural response. Furthermore, traditional reliability techniques cannot effectively deal with large dimensionality systems and cross-correction across multiple dimensions. The paper aims to establish a state-of-the-art method for extracting essential information concerning extreme responses of the FOWT through simulated time-history data. Three key components of structural loads are analyzed, including the blade-root out-of-plane bending moment, tower fore-aft bending moment, and mooring line tension. The approach suggested in this study allows predicting failure probability efficiently for a non-linear multi-dimensional dynamic system as a whole.
The Influence of a Cold Front and Topography on the Initiation and Maintenance of a Precipitation Convective System in North China: A Case Study

By using the convection-resolving weather research and forecasting simulation, a convective rainfall event over the middle portions of the eastern foothills of the Taihang Mountains in North China is investigated in this study. The influences of the cold front and complex topography on the initiation and maintenance of the convective system are analyzed. Results show two reasons why the convective clusters are initiated near noon on the hillsides at an elevation of 800 m. First, a local topographic convergence zone usually appears on the eastern slope of the Taihang Mountains near noon in May. Second, such a topographic convergence zone is enhanced by a cold front system and then triggers the convective clusters. Subsequently, the convective cells strengthen when moving downslope and weaken when moving eastward on the plain. When moving downslope, the atmospheric stratification is convectively unstable, and the mountain–plains solenoid (MPS) is strong near the foot of the mountain. The large amount of water vapor carried by the MPS-induced easterly wind is forced to ascend by topographic obstructions, and therefore the convective cells develop. As a result, heavy rainfall occurs on the hillsides with an elevation of 200–600 m. When the convective cells move eastward on the plain, the atmospheric stratification is stable, and the MPS is weak. Thus, convective activities weaken. Moreover, the results reveal that the mesoscale convergence line, slope gradient and slope aspect of the local terrain, local atmospheric instability, and the MPS play different roles in maintaining the convective system at elevations of 200–600 m along the eastern foothills of the Taihang Mountains.
A comparative study of adjuvants effects on neonatal plasma cell survival niche in bone marrow and persistence of humoral immune responses

The neonatal immune system is distinct from the immune system of older individuals rendering neonates vulnerable to infections and poor responders to vaccination. Adjuvants can be used as tools to enhance immune responses to co-administered antigens. Antibody (Ab) persistence is mediated by long-lived plasma cells that reside in specialized survival niches in the bone marrow, and transient Ab responses in early life have been associated with decreased survival of plasma cells, possibly due to lack of survival factors. Various cells can secrete these factors and which cells are the main producers is still up for debate, especially in early life where this has not been fully addressed. The receptor BCMA and its ligand APRIL have been shown to be important in the maintenance of plasma cells and Abs. Herein, we assessed age-dependent maturation of a broad range of bone marrow accessory cells and their expression of the survival factors APRIL and IL-6. Furthermore, we performed a comparative analysis of the potential of 5 different adjuvants; LT-K63, mmCT, MF59, IC31 and alum, to enhance expression of survival factors and BCMA following immunization of neonatal mice with tetanus toxoid (TT) vaccine. We found that APRIL expression was reduced in the bone marrow of young mice whereas IL-6 expression was higher. Eosinophils, macrophages, megakaryocytes, monocytes and lymphocytes were important secretors of survival factors in early life but undefined cells also constituted a large fraction of secretors. Immunization and adjuvants enhanced APRIL expression but decreased IL-6 expression in bone marrow cells early after immunization. Furthermore, neonatal immunization with adjuvants enhanced the proportion of plasmablasts and plasma cells that expressed BCMA both in spleen and bone marrow. Enhanced BCMA expression correlated with enhanced vaccine-specific humoral responses, even though the effect of alum on BCMA was less pronounced than those of the other adjuvants at later time points. We propose that low APRIL expression in bone marrow as well as low BCMA expression of plasmablasts/plasma cells in early life together cause transient Ab responses and could represent targets to be triggered by vaccine adjuvants to induce persistent humoral immune responses in this age group.
Quantum energetic causal sets

We propose an approach to quantum theory based on the energetic causal sets, introduced in [1]. Fundamental processes are causal sets whose events carry momentum and energy, which are transmitted along causal links and conserved at each event. Energetic causal set models differ from other spacetime-free causal set approaches, e.g. Ref. [2] proposed causal sets based on quantum information processing systems, and Ref. [3] proposed causal sets constructed out of standard model particles. Fundamentally there are amplitudes for causal processes in energetic causal sets, but no space-time. An embedding of the causal processes in an emergent space-time arises only at the semiclassical level. Hence, fundamentally there are no commutation relations, no uncertainty principle and, indeed, no ~. All that remains of quantum theory is the relationship between the absolute value squared of complex amplitudes and probabilities. Consequently, we find that neither locality, nor non locality, are primary concepts, only causality exists at the fundamental level.
Job Satisfaction and Trade Union Membership in Germany

IZA DP No. 15459 JULY 2022 Job Satisfaction and Trade Union Membership in Germany* Using panel data from 1985 to 2019, we provide the first comprehensive investigation of the relationship between trade union membership and job satisfaction in Germany. Cross-sectional analyses reveal a negative correlation, while fixed effects estimates indicate an insignificant relationship. This is also true if we incorporate information on collective bargaining coverage or the existence of works councils in subsamples for which this data is available. To address the endogeneity of union membership, we generate information on the union density individuals faced in their industry and region. This time-variant IV suggests no causal impact of individual union membership on job satisfaction. Finally, using different estimation models, we investigate whether the effects vary by gender, age, birth year, and employment status. JEL Classification: I31, J28, J51
Surge dynamics of Shisper Glacier revealed by time-series correlation of optical satellite images and their utility to substantiate a generalized sliding law

Abstract. Understanding fast ice flow is key to assessing the future of glaciers. Fast ice flow is controlled by sliding at the bed, yet that sliding is poorly understood. A growing number of studies show the relationship between sliding and basal shear stress transitions from an initially rate-strengthening behavior to a rate-independent or rate-weakening behavior. Studies that have tested a glacier sliding law with data remain rare. Surging glaciers, as we show in this study, can be used as a natural laboratory to inform sliding laws because a single glacier shows extreme velocity variations at a subannual timescale. The present study has two main goals: (1) we introduce a new workflow to produce velocity maps with a high spatiotemporal resolution from remote-sensing data, combining Sentinel-2 (S2) and Landsat 8 (L8) and using the results to describe the recent surge of Shisper Glacier, and (2) we present a generalized sliding law and substantiate the sliding-law behavior using the remote sensing dataset. The quality and spatiotemporal resolution of the velocity time series allow us to identify a gradual amplification of spring speed-up velocities in the 2 years leading up to the surge that started in November 2017. We also find that surface velocity patterns during the surge can be decomposed into three main phases, and each phase appears to be associated with hydraulic changes. Using this dataset, we are able to highlight the rate-independent and rate-weakening relationships between resistive stress and sliding during the surge. We then discuss the importance of the generalized sliding relationship to reconcile observations of fast ice flow, and in particular, different surge behaviors. The approach used in this study remains qualitative, but if coupled with better bed-elevation data and numerical modeling could lead to the widespread quantification of sliding-law parameters.
The history of the lunar orbit

A method of calculating the past states of the earth-moon system is developed. The method is based on the existence of three distinct time scales for dynamical change. The short time scale is determined by the revolution periods of the sun and moon about the earth or, equivalently, by the year and current month. The intermediate time scale is set by the precessional motions of the lunar orbit plane and the earth's equator plane. The rate at which tidal friction alters the state of the earth-moon system defines the long time scale. The equations of motion governing the earth-moon system are successively averaged over the short and then the intermediate time scales. These averaged equations are then integrated back a short interval on the long time scale. The equations of motion appropriate to this new state of the earth-moon system are then re-averaged on the short and intermediate time scales, and once again the averaged eqations are stepped back on the tidal time scale. The first step in this procedure (i.e. averaging on the short time scale) is performed analytically, whereas the calculations on the intermediate and long time scales require the use of a large computer. At present, the inclination of the lunar orbit plane to the ecliptic remains nearly constant during the precessional motion. On the other hand, if the moon's semimajor axis were ever less than 10R⨁, the inclination of the lunar orbit plane would have maintained a fixed value with respect to the earth's equator plane. The current investigation shows that this inclination could never have been less than 10° and, therefore, that the moon could never have moved on an equatorial orbit. This result contradicts theories that postulate fission of the earth to form the moon and also those which propose that the moon formed by accretion within 10R⨁
Unemployment Insurance in Transition and Developing Countries: Moral Hazard vs. Liquidity Constraints in Chile

Abstract One of the most complex policy issues that developing countries will face as a result of the employment crisis caused by the Covid crisis is the question of how they can better protect the unemployed. However, the analysis of unemployment insurance (UI) in developing economies with large informal sectors is in its infancy, with few papers providing solid empirical evidence. This paper therefore makes several contributions: first, it applies Chetty’s 2008 landmark work on UI to a transition economy (Chile) and shows that the moral hazard effects expected by policy makers, who designed the system are minimal, while liquidity effects were entirely neglected. Second, it demonstrates that it is not enough merely to quantify effects such as moral hazard, but to understand their causes as unemployment generated by moral hazard or liquidity constraints has different welfare implications and should therefore result in different policies. By means of an RDD, this paper analyses the Chilean UI system using a large sample of administrative data, which allows for an extremely precise analysis of how the system works, thus providing invaluable empirical lessons for other countries.
The Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Anti-Viral Agents for Non-Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

This network meta-analysis compared the clinical efficacy and safety of anti-viral agents for the prevention of disease progression among non-hospitalized patients with COVID-19. PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov and the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform were searched from their inception to 28 May 2022. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that investigated the clinical efficacy of anti-viral agents for non-hospitalized patients with COVID-19 were included. Three RCTs involving 4241 patients were included. Overall, anti-viral agents were associated with a significantly lower risk of COVID-19 related hospitalization or death compared with the placebo (OR, 0.23; 95% CI: 0.06–0.96; p = 0.04). Compared with the placebo, patients receiving nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir had the lowest risk of hospitalization or death (OR, 0.12; 95% CI: 0.06–0.24), followed by remdesivir (OR, 0.13; 95% CI: 0.03–0.57) and then molnupiravir (OR, 0.67; 95% CI: 0.46–0.99). The rank probability for each treatment calculated using the P-score revealed that nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir was the best anti-viral treatment, followed by remdesivir and then molnupiravir. Finally, anti-viral agents were not associated with an increased risk of adverse events compared with the placebo. For non-hospitalized patients with COVID-19 who are at risk of disease progression, the currently recommended three anti-viral agents, nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir, molnupiravir and remdesivir, should continue to be recommended for the prevention of disease progression. Among them, oral nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir and intravenous remdesivir seem to be the better choice, followed by molnupiravir, as determined by this network meta-analysis. Additionally, these three anti-viral agents were shown to be as tolerable as the placebo in this clinical setting.
UAV-Enabled Secure Multiuser Backscatter Communications With Planar Array

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-enabled backscatter communications (BackComm) is deemed to be a vital technique enabling the data transmission over massive battery-less devices for Internet of Things (IoT). However, the UAV-enabled Backcomm suffers from information leakage due to the broadcasting nature of wireless channels. To cope with the security issue, in this paper, a UAV-enabled multi-user secure BackComm system is developed using analog beamforming (ABF) and randomized continuous wave (RCW) techniques, where the multiple users are supported by the multi-carrier RCW over a single low-complexity radio frequency (RF) chain. By exploiting the RCW transmitted towards backscatter, the eavesdropping link can be eroded without any specific jamming signals. The closed-form of the secrecy rate is studied with the approximations, which is then maximized by jointly optimizing the beamforming together with the UAV’s location and the RCW settings. Simulation results are carried out to confirm the accuracy of the proposed approximation, while the convergence behavior of the optimization algorithm is analyzed. As a result, it can be shown that the secrecy rate can be significantly improved compared with the benchmark schemes.
An experimental game to examine pastoralists' preferences for human–lion coexistence strategies

1. Reconciling conflicts between wildlife conservation and other human activi-ties is a pervasive, multifaceted issue. Large carnivores, such as the African lion Panthera leo are often the focus of such conflicts as they have significant ecological and cultural value but impose severe social and financial costs on the communities that live alongside them. 2. To effectively manage human– lion conflict, it is vital to understand stakeholder decision- making and preferences regarding mitigation techniques and coexistence