Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance

Firms use two mechanisms to regulate their operations: corporate governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Corporate governance, in financial economics, is specifically defined as a mechanism that protects and maximizes shareholder value. Many textbooks used in business schools identify maximizing shareholder value as the ‘ultimate goal’ of profit-making companies. The business practices across the world are converging on a shareholder-centric ideology (Engelen, 2002; Hansmann and Kraakman, 2001).
INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS AND LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION UNDER SMALL- HOLDER FARMER MANAGEMENT IN THE FACE OF CLIMATE CHANGE: A CASE OF GURUVE DISTRICT

Indigenous knowledge systems of livestock care and health care is the only asset in the hands of the small holder farmers to mitigate the impact of climate change on livestock production. This study explores the role of indigenous knowledge systems of livestock care and veterinary care in the face of climate change. Developing countries such as Zimbabwe bear the brunt of climate change due to poor mitigation capacity. Small holder farmers are more affected by climate change than large scale commercial farmers because it is difficult for them to diversify to other livestock species which are tolerant to climate shocks. However ethno-veterinary knowledge is not evenly distributed in society. Gender, age and social class are major determinants of the amount of knowledge that one has. The elderly have more knowledge on ethonoveterinary practices because the knowledge is experiential. Specialists like ethno veterinary herbalists also have more knowledge on ethno veterinary methods because of their specialized skills. Government departments like the department of Veterinary Services are stumbling blocks to the development and utilisation of ethno veterinary medicines because they dismiss them as unapproved and based on mythology. Instead, farmers are encouraged to use modern veterinary medicines. However, the use of ethonoveterinary methods persists because of their ready availability and affordability. Climate change has increased the number of disease in livestock; this makes ethonoveterinary medicine more relevant and useful to adapt livestock production to climate change. This study exposes the need for adaptive mechanisms if small livestock production is to remain viable under the growing threat of climate change.
The Clinical Characteristics and Prognosis of Chinese Patients With Primary Light-Chain Amyloidosis: A Retrospective Multicenter Analysis

Objective To retrospectively identify the critical characteristics and prognostic factors of primary light-chain amyloidosis. Patients and Methods: Data were collected and compared from 91 patients who were diagnosed with primary light-chain amyloidosis at four hospitals between January 2010 and November 2018. We analyzed the clinical characteristics and performed an overall survival (OS) analysis. Results: Patients (median age, 60 years) were diagnosed with organ involvement of the kidney (91.2%), heart (56%), liver (14.3%), soft tissue (18.7%), or gastrointestinal tract (15.4%), and 68.1% of patients had more than two organs involved. Patients were most commonly treated with bortezomib-based regimens (56%), and only one patient had autologous stem cell transplantation (auto-ASCT). The median OS was 36.33 months and was affected by the ECOG score, renal involvement, cardiac involvement, hepatic involvement and negative immunofixation in the serum and urine after treatment. Multivariate analysis indicated that cardiac involvement and negative immunofixation in the serum and urine after treatment were independent prognostic factors for OS. Conclusion: Cardiac involvement and the hematologic response to treatment were independent prognostic factors for OS in primary light-chain amyloidosis patients. The type and number of organs involved is more important than the number of organs involved for the OS.
Lack of Predictive Control in Lifting Series of Virtual Objects by Individuals With Diplegic Cerebral Palsy

To date, research on the motor control of hand function in cerebral palsy has focused on children with hemiplegia, although many persons with diplegic cerebral palsy (dCP) have asymmetrically decreased hand function. We explored the predictive capabilities of the motor system in a simple motor task of lifting a series of virtual objects for five persons with spastic dCP and five age-matched controls. When a person lifts an object, s/he uses an expectation of the weight of the object to generate a motor command. We asked the study subjects to lift a series of increasing weights and determined whether they extrapolated from past experience to predict the next weight in the series, even though that weight had never been experienced. Planning of precision grasp was assessed by measurement of the grip force at the beginning of the lifting task and by estimating the motor command. Execution of precision grasp was assessed by measurement of the time interval between the onset of grip and the onset of movement. We found that persons with dCP demonstrated a lack of predictive feed-forward control in their lifting movements: they exhibited a significantly longer time between onset of grip and onset of movement than the control subjects and they did not predict the weight of the next object in the lifting task. In addition, for subjects with dCP, the time between the onset of grip and the onset of movement of the dominant hand correlated strongly with the outcome of a hand function test. We postulate that a higher-order motor planning deficit in addition to execution deficit are evident in the subjects with spastic diplegic.
A preliminary radiotracking study of movements, activity patterns and habitat use of free-ranging Gaboon Vipers, Bitis gabonica

Radiotelemetry was employed to study daily movements, activity patterns, macrohabitat use, and substratum selection of four Gaboon vipers (Bitis gabonica), two adult males and two adult females. The study was carried out during the dry season (1st-20th of March, 1998) in south-eastern Nigeria. Transmitters, weighing approximately 4 g, were internally implanted. Gaboon vipers spent considerable time inactive below-ground. There was considerable nocturnal activity in the open in three of four specimens. and considerable above-ground activity during the early moming hours in ali the four radiotracked specimens . These vipers showed a significant preference for the clearings inside dryland rainforest patches, and avoided cultivated lands. Males used a wider spectrum of macrohabitats than females, these latter being confined almost exclusively to dry forest clearings. Home-ranges, calculated by minimum convex polygon method, averaged 1 . 6 ha in the males and 0.8 ha in the females. Average daily distances moved were significantly higher in males than in females. ln both sexes, average daily distances moved were significantly higher during night hours than during daylight hours. Courtships, matings, and sexual combats between males were sometimes observed during the study period. These vipers used sometimes the termite nests as shelters
Multi-Band ESCL Transmission Supported by Bismuth-Doped and Raman Fiber Amplification

Ultra-wideband transmission utilizesbandwidths beyond the standard C-band to enable significant network capacity upgrades. Upgrading the standard C-band to a C+L-band transmission scenario is already feasible, and exploratory transmission is being performed in the S-, E-, and O-bands to investigate quality of transmission (QoT) impairments in these spectral regions. In this article, experimental transmission through a SCL- and partial E-band spectral region is performed, with use of a hybrid amplifier that exploits discrete Raman amplification for the SCL-bands, and a bismuth-doped fiber amplifier (BDFA) for the E-band. Through this transmission bandwidth, we demonstrate that 36 Tbit/s transmission is possible, with 150 coherent channels over 70 km of standard, single-mode fiber. This result is compared to a wideband physical layer model that considers a realistic full spectral load transmission scenario, where the E-band is occupied by 74 channels, providing a total of 221 channels. This comparison demonstrates that, for both scenarios in this experiment, the greatest impairment is present within the S-band, and the addition of the E-band to a SCL-band scenario has a negligible impact upon the QoT within the C- and L-bands.
Screening for Ovarian Cancer: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Reaffirmation Recommendation Statement

DESCRIPTION Reaffirmation of the 2004 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendation statement on screening for ovarian cancer. METHODS A 2008 review of the literature commissioned by the USPSTF revealed no new evidence about the benefits of screening for ovarian cancer but provided some new data about observed harms of screening. A bridge search to 2011 focused on evidence from randomized, controlled trials. POPULATION This recommendation applies to asymptomatic women. It does not apply to women with known genetic mutations that increase their risk for ovarian cancer (for example, BRCA mutations). RECOMMENDATION The USPSTF recommends against screening for ovarian cancer in women (D recommendation).
Exploring default-interventionist interaction of thinking activity types on probability problem-solving

This research aims to determine the thinking activity types dominated by a mental process in producing answers characterized by automatic, unconscious, and subjective-empirical processes (system 1) in solving problems so that the default-interventionist interaction occurs. This research novelty is the formulation of the contents and thinking activity arrangement adapted to students' thinking when solving problems. The problem used in this research is a mathematical problem that triggers students to produce answers quickly with confidence that the answers are correct at a high level. Another problem is about probability because the mode of occurrence of students' learning difficulties at the secondary school level occurs when learning the concept of probability. This is qualitative research with a case study approach. The research subjects were students of Mathematics Education in semester 1. The results showed that thinking activity one could condition the occurrence of type 1 default-interventionist interaction. Thinking activity two could condition the occurrence of type 2 default-interventionist interaction. Thinking activity three could condition the occurrence of type 3 default-interventionist interaction. This research concluded that the default-interventionist interaction occurred because the content and arrangement of the thinking activity conditioned the subjects to pay attention to information gradually and change the subjects’ beliefs. Lecturers were recommended to produce, develop, and research thinking activities on topics other than probability at various levels of education. The default-interventionist interaction was essential to be conditioned when system one dominated students' thinking, causing difficulties.
Laparoscopic cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis: Any time is a good time

Backgrounds/Aims Laparoscopic cholecystectomy within one week of acute cholecystitis is considered safe and advantageous. Surgery beyond first week is reserved for non-resolving attack or complications. To compare clinical outcomes of patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the first week and between two to six weeks of an attack of acute cholecystitis. Methods In an analysis of a prospectively maintained database, all patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis were divided into two groups: group A, operated within one week; and group B, operated between two to six weeks of an attack. Main variables studied were mean operative time, conversion to open cholecystectomy, morbidity profile, and duration of hospital stay. Results A total of 116 patients (74 in group A and 42 in group B) were included. Mean interval between onset of symptoms & surgery was five days (range, 1–7 days) in group A and 12 days (range, 8–20 days) in group B. Operative time and incidence of subtotal cholecystectomy were higher in group B (statistically not significant). Mean postoperative stay was 2 days in group A and 3 days in group B. Laparoscopy was converted to open cholecystectomy in two patients in each group. There was no incidence of biliary injury. One patient in group B died during the postoperative period due to continued sepsis and multiorgan failure. Conclusions In tertiary care setting, with adequate surgical expertise, laparoscopic cholecystectomy can be safely performed in patients with acute cholecystitis irrespective of the time of presentation.
Use of satellite remote sensing for coastal conservation in the Eastern African Coast: advantages and shortcomings

Abstract Landsat 5 TM imagery from 2005 was used to map (at a coarse descriptive resolution) coastal habitats along the Tanzania/Mozambique transboundary zone. The map (available at http://www.transmap.fc.ul.pt/) was a reference for the study of environmental and social aspects, and for conservation, was disseminated among local stakeholders, ENGOs and various decision-making authorities and managers, and was used in the development of a transfrontier conservation area. Large scale remote sensing constitutes a cost-effective approach for research and management, as, with limited human, technical, temporal, and financial resources, it provides synoptic views of territories and allows for the estimation of quantitative changes in land use.
Existence of positive solutions for a class of fractional Choquard equation in exterior domain

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>In this paper we show existence of positive solutions for a class of problems involving the fractional Laplacian in exterior domain and Choquard type nonlinearity. We prove the main results using variational method combined with Brouwer theory of degree and Deformation Lemma. </p>
Generalized anxiety disorder.

Since its inception as a diagnostic category in 1980, the definitional criteria for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) have been revised substantially in each edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). In DSM-III (American Psychiatric Association, 1980), GAD was a residual category (i.e., diagnosis was permitted only if criteria were not met for any other Axis I disorder); it was defined as the presence of generalized, persistent anxiety (continuous for a period of at least 1 month) as manifested by symptoms from at least three of four categories: (1) motor tension (e.g., muscle aches, GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER Timothy A. Brown Tracy A. O’Leary David H. Barlow
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Empirical Evaluation of Collective Rationality for Quota Rules in Judgment Aggregation

A major challenge in multiagent systems research is to design good aggregation rules for combining the judgments—or beliefs, or opinions—of different autonomous software agents collaborating with each other. If the chosen rule is too sophisticated, we may encounter algorithmic difficulties. But if it is too simple, we may encounter some of the paradoxes of social choice theory and end up with inconsistent information at the system level. We report on an empirical study aimed at improving our understanding of how frequently these paradoxes strike in practice for a class of simple aggregation rules, the uniform quota rules. Our results indicate that quota rules can be expected to work significantly better in practice than the still relatively scarce theoretical results may suggest.
Shear strength of ice-filled rock joints

Ice-filled rock joints are a common feature of high mountain permafrost areas. Warming of these joints in rock can lead to instabilities and rockfall events. In the following study, a series of direct shear tests was performed with artificial samples simulating ice-filled rock joints. The direct shear tests were carried out in two testing modes: constant strain and constant stress. In constant stress tests, the ice-filled joints show a parabolic relationship between normal stress and shear stress unlike the linear relationship usually found in mineral filled rock joints (Barton 1974). Constant stress tests were also conducted in which the samples were allowed to warm up until failure occurred while a constant normal stress and a constant shear test were applied. Different failure modes could be identified, either driven by breaking the connection of ice and concrete or ductile deformation of the ice or a combination of both.
Effects of experimental removal of barred owls on population demography of northern spotted owls in Washington and Oregon—2015 progress report

1 Background and Study Objectives 1 Experimental Study Areas 2 Methods 4 Owl Surveys and Demographic Monitoring 4 Barred Owl Removals 4 Data Summary and Analysis 5 Estimation of Proportion of Area Used and Intensity of Use by Barred Owls 5 Research Accomplishments and Preliminary Results 6 Owl Surveys and Demographic Monitoring 6 Spotted Owls 6 Barred Owls 7 Proportion of Area Used and Intensity of Use by Barred Owls 8 Barred Owl Removals 9 Schedule to Completion 11 Acknowledgments 12 References Cited 12 Appendix A. Pre-Treatment Distribution of Territorial Pairs of Northern Spotted Owls and Barred Owls in Two Experimental Study Areas in Washington and Oregon, 2015 14 Appendix B. Model Selection Results for Single-Season Analysis of Proportion of Area Used (ψ) and Detection Probability (p) of Barred Owls in Two Experimental Study Areas in Washington and Oregon, 2015 15 Appendix C. Model Selection Results for an Analysis of Intensity of Use of Sample Plots (λ) and Unconditional Detection Probability (r) of Barred Owls in Two Experimental Study Areas in Washington and Oregon, 2015 . 16
Element mobility during the formation of the Uzunisa-Ordu bentonite, NE Turkey, and potential applications

Abstract Dacitic andesitic calc-alkaline lavas and their pyroclastic rocks of Upper Cretaceous age are widespread in the Ordu area, eastern Black Sea Coast of Turkey. Ca-bentonite and Ca/Nabentonite deposits with significant economic potential formed in the broader region. The mineralogy and geochemistry of these deposits were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and chemical analyses. The parent rocks (PR) and bentonite samples were analysed for the major and trace element contents, including rare-earth elements, to understand the effect of differential alterations on element mobility. The bentonites contain mainly di-octahedral Ca-montmorillonite with minor amounts of illite, quartz, calcite, dolomite and feldspar. Primary K-feldspar and plagioclase phenocrysts were altered in the bentonite horizons, and were completely leached at greater depth. For this reason, the higher quality bentonites are found at deeper zones. Bentonite horizons are characterized by relatively high loss on ignition (LOI: 9.8–20.8%) and MgO content (3-5%) and low K2O (<0.5%) and Na2O (<2%) contents compared with the least altered parent rocks. Silicon, Ca, Mg, Mn and P are markedly enriched whereas Fe, Na, K and Ti are depleted in the bentonite samples. The chondrite-normalized rare earth element (REE) patterns show identical trends characterized by strong light rare earth element (LREE) enrichment in both the PR and bentonite samples. The LREE contents are higher than those of their heavy counterparts (HREE) in the samples. Alteration of the PR to bentonite is associated with intense chemical leaching and subsequent removal of K and Na in open-system conditions.
Air-conditioners condensate recovery system for buildings

Most conventional cooling systems produce water as a byproduct, which can be recovered and put to good use. In order to product cool air from a compressed refrigerant, a set of coils allow a hot, high-pressured refrigerant to dissipate its heat and condense into a liquid. An expansion valve is then typically used to evaporate and cool the refrigerant. This cool gas then runs through a set of coils that allows it to absorb heat and cool the air, which is blown over the coils and into the inside of the building. This process cools the warm coils, so when the warm air blowing past the coils reaches its dew point the moisture in the air condenses onto the coils, producing what is essentially distilled water. This byproduct of air conditioning units is called as Condensate drain water. The quality of condensate created by Air Conditioners is typically very high, having low amounts of suspended solids, a neutral to slightly acidic pH, and low temperatures. These characteristics make the condensate adequate for several non-potable uses such as irrigation, cooling tower make-up or toilet flushing. In addition to quality water, high recovery capacity is a major benefit of these systems. Although the amount of condensate produced can vary greatly and depends on the size and operational load of the Air-conditioning system as well as the ambient temperature and humidity within a particular region. A rule of thumb created by Karen Guz (Director of the Conservation Department for the San Antonio Water System, USA) is that 0.1 to 0.3 gallons of condensate per ton of air being chilled is produced every hour that the system is operating. Seizing this opportunity by replacing or supplementing potable water with the recovered condensate can considerably reduce a building’s demand for potable water. By implementing a condensate recovery system free, clean and unused water will be replacing costly, treated, high demand potable water. Decreasing the use of potable water within buildings plays a major role in conserving municipal sources. Moreover following potential LEED credits can be achieved. Water Efficient Landscaping a. WE Credit 1.1 b. WE Credit 1.2