Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mean performance and genetic variability of maize single crosses

Maize is one of the high priority crops to feed the ever increasing population in Africa, however, its production is limited by shortage of high-yielding varieties coupled with biotic and abiotic stresses. This study was initiated to evaluate mean performance, estimate genetic variability, estimate heritability and genetic advance for maize single crosses. Fifty entries, consisting of 48 F 1 single crosses made from 24 inbred lines and two testers using line x tester design and two commercial check hybrids were used in the study. The experiment was conducted using an alpha lattice design with two replications at Ambo and Holeta Agricultural Research Center. Analysis of variance revealed the existence of significant genetic variation among genotypes for all studied traits except for plant aspect (PA). Location x entry interaction for most of the traits was not significant which suggests hybrid performance was consistent across the tested locations. Crosses L23 x T1 and L11 x T1 were the best performing genotypes for grain yield and some yield related traits. From analysis of genetic variability, ear height showed moderate GCV (10.71%) and PCV (11.24%) values whereas grain yield, ear per plant and ear aspect revealed medium PCV. Moderate to medium values of PCV and GCV indicated the existence of variability for such characters. However, for effective selection, the extent of heritability and genetic advance should be known. Accordingly, plant height and ear height revealed high heritability and genetic advance and so, selection may be effective for these characters. In conclusion, the genetic variability among crosses could be used in developing inbred lines via selection and the crosses with better performance could be used as single cross variety or as parents for synthetic variety.
Social Media and the Online Political Engagement of Immigrants: The Case of the Vietnamese Diaspora in Poland

This study investigates the political engagement of Vietnamese immigrants in Poland on social media. It employs the typology of online political participation as a theoretical framework to determine the pattern of online involvement in the political sphere staged by the migrant group. Through analysing materials relating to political discussions created daily on an online community of the Polish Vietnamese, collected by doing netnography, this study shows that the political activism on social media of Vietnamese immigrants in Poland exists and varies. Vietnamese-migrant users discuss homeland politics and express views about political issues in the host country as well as other countries by creating non-mobilising posts (Information and Diffusion), while being inclined to produce posts with calls for action (Instruction and Promotion) to criticise social injustice and mobilise equality. This study also found a growing critical attitude towards homeland politics among Vietnamese-origin individuals in the country. The findings have practical implications for associations and state actors in both the host and home countries to account for the evolvement of the migrant community. It is attributed to the recent considerable growth and development of the Internet and other communication technologies, especially the emergence of new social media. Previous studies show that online public spheres on social media lower costs and foster immigrants’ engagement in politics by facilitating accessibility, enhancing efficacy by its interactivity, enabling quick and effective reactions towards important political events, furthering the transmission of political messages to the recipients and stimulating political
The Impact of Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty in Luxury Hotels in Muscat

Purpose: The study aims to explore the service quality in the Omani luxury hotels to identify key attributes that can result in customer satisfaction and loyalty. The study's objectives were to assess guests' expectations of service quality in Muscat's luxury hotels, determine the key attributes discerned by guests in evaluating the service quality of luxury hotels in Muscat, and measure guests' satisfaction and loyalty towards the service offered in luxury hotels in Muscat. The research question was what effect does the service quality have on customer satisfaction and loyalty in luxury hotels in Muscat. Design/methedolgy/approach: The study adopted a descriptive research design to determine the impact of service quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Moreover, the study adopted quantitative research and used a survey questionnaire to collect the data and propose findings. Due to the testing of different theories rather than developing them, the research approach is considered a deductive approach. Findings: Results concluded that customers had very high expectations of service quality in Oman's luxury hotels. Guests ranked ten different service quality attributes; the results showed that 'physical facilities are visually appealing' ranked the most significant among all attributes. However, 'a wide variety of food' was the least important among all attributes. The results further revealed that all attributes of the five distinct dimensions had a potent influence on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Originality: This study is unique as no previous studies have been conducted in Oman, making it a one-of-a-kind study on Muscat's luxury hotels. This study's results will be valuable to hotel practitioners, the government, tourism development companies and future researchers.
Idiosyncratic Skewness Co-movement and Aggregate Stock Returns

We ﬁnd a strong co-movement pattern in ﬁrm idiosyncratic skewness. We, then, show that the common component in idiosyncratic skewness (CIS) is a powerful predictor of future market excess returns and it outperforms a battery of popular equity premium predictors, both in and out of sample. Further, CIS predictive power adds economic value out-of-sample to mean-variance investors for a wide range of relative risk aversion. Our results are robust across observation frequen-cies and out-of-sample evaluation periods. From a rational pricing perspective, we show that CIS predictive power stems from a discount rate channel. skewness, and ﬁnd that all our main results are conﬁrmed.
We live in the same world: A corpus-based study investigated through “transgender”

This paper analyzes the term “transgender” as it is used and described in news articles from online sources specifically the online news websites and supporting organization websites. It employs the Critical Discourse Analysis framework and corpus linguistic technique to analyze the frequencies with which the term “transgender’ is used in their articles. It is found that the term “transgender’ collocates with the terms culture, class, race, politics, gender inequality, discrimination, and human rights. Moreover, “transgender” is identified with women rather than with men, and the term “transgender woman” appear in the texts more frequently than “transgender man”. Certain social issues and concept such as transgendered youth, identity confusion, crimes and abuses also surfaced as important terms that relates with the term “transgender. ”
ASSESSING PHYTOTOXIC IMPACT OF MELILOTUS INDICUS L. ON THE GERMINATION AND SEEDLING EMERGENCE OF SORGHUM BICOLOR L. UNDER VARIOUS SALINE CONDITIONS

Sorghum is a very important cereal crop over the world and its average production is very low as compared to its potential yield due to the weed infestation and salinity. Therefore, a lab and greenhouse oriented study was carried out to assess the allelopathic impact of yellow sweet clover on the germination and seedling growth of sorghum at different saline conditions. In laboratory experiment, the aqueous extract of four different plant parts of Melilotus indicus (leaves, stem, root and whole plant) at different concentrations (5, 10, 15 and 20%). While in greenhouse soil bioassay, three different factors such as residue concentrations (0, 2 and 4%), salt concentrations (0, 4 and 8%) and decomposition period (2 and 4 weeks) were studied with completely randomized design with factorial arrangement having five replicates in lab experiment. Results indicated maximum inhibitory effect on seed germination was recoded when 20% extract of M. indicus was applied and maximum seedling growth was noted at control (distilled water). In the case of M. indicus parts, highest inhibition was noted when whole plant part water extract was applied at 20% concentration. In second greenhouse experiment, the results showed that M. indicus plant materials mixed with the soil and left for the period of two weeks for the fully decomposition caused non-significant impact on the seed germination of sorghum. 19.72%, 5.15% and 4.23% increase in germination, root growth and shoot length was noticed with the M. indicus root extract as compared to the whole plant extract. However, saline conditions showed inhibitory effect on germination when its level was increased. Germination and seedling emergence of sorghum significantly affected by the allelopathic potential of M. indicus and it was declined by the gradually increased of salt contractions in the soil.
Percutaneous Endoscopic Lumbar Discectomy Vs Open Lumbar Microdiscectomy: A Comparison of Patient-Reported Outcomes in a Retrospective Cohort Follow-Up Design during the First Years of Implementation of Endoscopic Lumbar Discectomy

Percutaneous Endoscopic Lumbar Discectomy Vs Open Lumbar Microdiscectomy: A Comparison of Patient-Reported Outcomes in a Retrospective Cohort Follow-Up Design during the First Years of Implementation of Endoscopic Lumbar Discectomy. Journal of Spine Research and Surgery 4 (2022): 063-071. Abstract Background: The purpose of this study was to compare the patient-reported outcome of two different surgical techniques for lumbar disc herniation disea-se—percutaneous endoscopic lumbar transforaminal discectomy (PELD) versus open lumbar microdiscectomy (OLM)—in the first years of implementation of PELD in a clinical setting. Methods: Fifty-one patients were included and stratified according to surgical treatment. Patient records were reviewed, and the patient-reported outcomes were assessed using the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and the EQ-5D-3L. Results: OLM and PELD both significantly improved patient-reported outcomes for the patients. The OLM group had a significant larger improvement in ODI-score (p = 0.019) and EQ-5D-3L sum score, p = 0.009 compared to the PELD group. The OLM group was also the only group showing statistical significant improvement of EQ VAS-score (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The results of the current study favors the OLM procedure over PELD in the first years of implementation of PELD in a clinical setting. Other studies list the advantages of PELD as minimal invasiveness, shorter time of operation and time of in hospital admission. The narrow population, study limitations and retrospective study design should be taken into consideration when interpreting these results, and hence randomized controlled trials are needed.
Activation by IL-2 T Cell + Unique Features of Naive CD8

IL-2 has a pervasive inﬂuence on the immune system and dictates the survival and differentiation of multiple T cell subsets, including CD4 regulatory T cells, CD4 Th cells, and CD8 memory cells. IL-2 is synthesized by T cells during the early stages of the immune response and promotes T cell expansion and effector cell generation after initial activation via TCR signaling. Based on studies with activated T cell lines maintained in vitro, IL-2 is known to activate multiple signaling pathways that show considerable overlap with the pathways elicited via the TCR. In this paper, we have examined IL-2 signaling under TCR-independent conditions, namely by culturing puriﬁed resting naive CD8 T cells with IL-2 in the absence of Ag or APC. Under these conditions, we show in this study that IL-2 elicits a unique pattern of signaling associated with strong lymphocyte-speciﬁc protein tyrosine kinase/JAK3-dependent activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway with little or no involvement of STAT5, NF- k B, or the calcineurin/NFAT pathways. Such signaling induces marked proliferation associated with rapid and selective expression of eomesodermin but not T-bet and differentiation into long-lived central memory cells after adoptive transfer. The Journal of Immunology , 2013, 191: 5559–5573. both
Evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of the extracts from cashew nutshell and castor oil plant

Essential oils are natural extracts rich in bioactive compounds that possess antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiviral, Os óleos essenciais são extratos naturais ricos em compostos bioativos que possuem propriedades antioxidantes, antimicrobianas, antivirais, e insecticidas. Por esta razão, são investigados como uma possível alternativa ao uso de antibióticos. As soluções micelar e aquosa de extratos derivados do líquido da casca do caju e do ácido ricinoleico extraído da mamona foram testados para determinar a sua concentração inibitória mínima (MIC) e concentração bactericida mínima (MBC) contra bactérias comuns, tais como Enterococcus faecalis , Escherichia coli , Klebsiella pneumoniae , Staphylococcus aureus resistente à meticilina, e Staphylococcus epidermidis . O óleo de castanha de caju mostrou atividade contra bactérias Gram-positivas, tendo a suspensão micelar os melhores resultados. Nem a micelar nem a solução aquosa do extrato de mamona mostraram actividade antimicrobiana neste estudo.
How Do Competition and Capabilities Influence Managerial Performance?

The environment in which an organization operates namely, new entrants, substitute products, abundance of competitors with diverse strategies, lack of differentiation, origins and personalities (Porter, 1979), dictates how the company should plan its internal business processes as well as its learning and growth development to satisfy customers and thus achieve enterprise performance. For this study, we collected data until February 2009 by surveying American and Canadian companies using the Dunn and Bradstreet database. We used OLS regression to test hypothesized relation between the variables. We find that there is a positive relationship between Learning & growth (LG) and Technological dynamism (TD); and LG and Environmental competitiveness (EC); but a weak positive relationship between LG and Internal business process (IBP). These results support our argument that firms that confront external environment need to invest in IBP in order to succeed. We found that LG has a strong positive relationship with EC but not significant relationship with TD. While LG has a strong positive influence on Customer satisfaction (CS), IBP shows a very weak positive relationship but Financial Performance (FP) has a strong positive relationship with EC, IBP, and CS, but a relatively weak positive relationship with TD and LG. This means that a competitive environment with fast moving technology influences firms to invest in internal processes and human resources which in turn creates customer satisfaction thus have better operating results. Before the results could be generalized, more research is warranted.
Research Online Research Online Removal of trace organic contaminants by an MBR comprising a mixed Removal of trace organic contaminants by an MBR comprising a mixed culture of bacteria and white-rot fungi culture of bacteria and white-rot fungi

Abstract The degradation of 30 trace organic contaminants (TrOC) by a white-rot fungus-augmented membrane bioreactor (MBR) was investigated. The results show that white-rot fungal enzyme (laccase), coupled with a redox mediator (1-hydroxy benzotriazole, HBT), could degrade TrOC that are resistant to bacterial degradation (e.g. diclofenac, triclosan, naproxen and atrazine) but achieved low removal of compounds (e.g. ibuprofen, gemfibrozil and amitriptyline) that are well removed by conventional activated sludge treatment. Overall, the fungus-augmented MBR showed better TrOC removal compared to a system containing conventional activated sludge. The major role of biodegradation in removal by the MBR was noted. Continuous mediator dosing to MBR may potentially enhance its performance, although not as effectively as for mediator-enhanced batch laccase systems. A ToxScreen3 assay revealed no significant increase in the toxicity of the effluent during MBR treatment of the synthetic wastewater comprising TrOC, confirming that no toxic by-products were produced. 2013 Elsevier Ltd. Abstract: The degradation of 30 trace organic contaminants (TrOC) by a white-rot fungus-augmented membrane bioreactor (MBR) was investigated. The results show that white-rot fungal enzyme (laccase), coupled with a redox mediator (1-hydroxy benzotriazol, HBT), could degrade TrOC that are resistant to bacterial degradation (e.g. diclofenac, triclosan, naproxen and atrazine) but achieved low removal of compounds (e.g. ibuprofen, gemifibrozil and amitriptyline) that are well removed by conventional activated sludge treatment. Overall, the fungus-augmented MBR showed better TrOC removal compared to a system containing conventional activated sludge. The major role of biodegradation in removal by the MBR was noted. Continuous mediator dosing to MBR may potentially enhance its performance, although not as effectively as for mediator-enhanced batch laccase systems. A ToxScreen3 assay revealed no significant increase in the toxicity of the effluent during MBR treatment of the synthetic wastewater comprising TrOC, confirming that no toxic by-products were produced.
Information Technology Service Management for Cloud Computing

The service orientation in Information Technology (IT) has long roots. The best way to offer outsourced IT services has been subject to some debate and the concepts have evolved considerably over time. Cloud Computing, with separated software and infrastructure entities, offers now a more competitive framework and represents a major shift in the market place. Cloud Computing companies, however, still face several challenges. Trust in security and data privacy are seen as the biggest concerns in Cloud Computing [1]. The purpose of this work is to conduct an Information Technology Service Management Systems analysis. The first part will introduce the concept of Cloud Computing, then we discuss the importance of Service Management in Information assessment of the Service Management Systems with the aim of identifying possible deficiencies related to the ISO/IEC 20000 requirements
Aerodynamic Mechanism of Improvement of Flutter Stability of Truss-girder Suspension Bridge Using Central Stabilizer

In order to analyze the aerodynamic mechanism of central stabilizers,firstly,a data processing method for identification of the bridge aerodynamic derivatives in time domain was presented based on three degrees of freedom coupling forced vibration method and 18 aerodynamic derivatives were identified at truss-girder section with and without central stabilizer.Regarded identified aerodynamic derivatives as input parameters,a multimode-based flutter analysis for predicting the lowest critical flutter velocity of Aizhai Bridge was then carried out by using the software NACS.Aerodynamic mechanism of central stabilizer was verified by energy principle.The results show that influences of central stabilizer on aerodynamic property mainly incarnate that aerodynamic derivatives A*2 decreases negative aerodynamic damping.The extent of mode coupling between vertical-bending mode and torsional mode increases when using the central stabilizers.It makes flutter mode shift from single degree of freedom torsional vibration to coupling vibration between vertical-bending mode and torsional mode so that flutter frequency is decreased and flutter critical wind velocity is increased.
VII in CTLs Expression and Function of Synaptotagmin

The Ca 2 (cid:1) sensor synaptotagmin (Syt) VII regulates the exocytosis of conventional lysosomes in several cell types. In CTLs, the Ca 2 (cid:1) -regulated exocytosis of lytic granules/secretory lysosomes is responsible for the perforin/granzyme-mediated lysis of target cells. To investigate the role of Syt VII in CTL effector function, the expression and function of Syt VII were examined in wild-type and Syt VII-deﬁcient mice. In comparison with Syt VII (cid:1) / (cid:1) controls, Syt VII (cid:2) / (cid:2) animals were impaired in their ability to clear an infection with the intracellular pathogen Listeria monocytogenes . When isolated CTLs were examined, we found that Syt VII is expressed upon CTL activation and localizes to granzyme A-containing lytic granules. Syt VII-deﬁcient CTLs have no defects in proliferation and cytokine production, and their lytic granules contain normal amounts of perforin and granzyme A and polarize normally at the immunological synapse. However, despite normal conjugate formation with target cells, CTLs from Syt VII (cid:2) / (cid:2) mice exhibit reduced effector activity, when compared with controls. Treatment of Syt VII (cid:1) / (cid:1) or Syt VII (cid:2) / (cid:2) CTLs with an inhibitor of the perforin-mediated lytic pathway resulted in comparable levels of cytotoxic activity, suggesting that Syt VII regulates perforin-mediated cytolytic CTL responses. The Journal of Immunology, 2007, 178: 1498–1504.
Experimental characterization of airflows in aircraft cabins, Part II: Results and research recommendations. Discussion

Air distribution is one of the most important factors determining thermal comfort and transport of airborne contaminants in aircraft cabins. Improvement of air quality in such airspaces is limited by the difficulties in simultaneously measuring the air velocity profile within the entire flow field. Measurement of the airflow field using a new technique, volumetric particle streak velocimetry (VPSV), within aircraft cabins, therefore, has value both theoretically and practically. In this project, quantitative full-cabin air velocities in a full-scale aircraft cabin section were measured under nine experimental conditions (e.g., iso- and nonisothermal, different obstruction configurations). Obstruction configurations in the cabin had a substantial effect on the air velocity at the passenger breathing level. At 100% passenger occupancy capacity, air speed at the passenger breathing level had the least variation and the empty cabin had the largest. A cold fuselage wall under in-flight conditions increased the air speed and may induce drafts for passengers at window seats. The highest air speeds at the window seats were measured at 0.538, 0.382, and 0.228 m/sfor empty, 50%, and 100% occupancy, respectively. Air speeds higher than 0.3 m/s could cause an uncomfortable draft for temperature-sensitive passengers. Some seats downstream from the supply air jet had air speeds as low as 0.034 m/s. Air velocity data presented in this paper are best treated as snapshots rather than mean values for one model of aircraft. Although pollutant concentrations or air ages were not measured at the point of velocity measurements in this study, such low air speed could indicate long mean air age and poor ventilation effectiveness. Further investigations are needed to establish zonal net air exchange rate and local (individual passenger) ventilation effectiveness.