Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamics Among Financial Inclusion, Monetary Policy and Poverty Reduction in Nigeria

This study investigated the relationship among financial inclusion, monetary policy and poverty reduction in Nigeriausing impulse response and variance decomposition from vector autoregression (VAR) framework for the period of 1981-2015. The results of impulse response and variance decomposition revealed a strong relationship between poverty reduction and financial inclusion proxied by LASME compared to financial inclusion proxied by deposits of rural branches of deposit money banks (DRB), which was less significant in explaining variations in consumption per capita, a proxy to poverty reduction in Nigeria. The study concluded that high interest rate charged by deposits money banks hampered the access to loans and advances available for SMEs in Nigeria; and served as an impediment to poverty reduction as shown in the negative relationship between interest rate and poverty reduction. Finally, economic growth had not transcended to the poor in form of an improved standard of living by increasing the per capita consumption of the people. This is reflected in the negative relationship between economic growth proxied by gross domestic product and poverty reduction proxied by consumption per capita. The implications of the results were further discussed.
Clinical, Bacteriological and Radiological study of severe pneumonia in age group of 2 months to 5 years

Background: Acute respiratory infections (ARI) are one of the commonest causes of death in children in developing countries. The future health of children depends on preventing, diagnosing, treating and limiting Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Infection. The use of these clinical signs in the early detection and treatment of children with pneumonia by primary health care workers forms the basis for the case management strategy formulated by the World Health Organization (WHO) to control mortality and morbidity. Objectives: to study clinical, bacteriological and radiological features of severe pneumonia and to correlate clinical findings with radiological and bacteriological findings. Materials and Method: A prospective observational study among children between 2 months to 5 years of age. A detailed analysis of symptoms and signs such as fever, cough, rapid breathing, refusal of feeds, wheezing, respiratory rate, presence of fever and other signs of cyanosis, etc were noted. Investigations like Hemoglobin, Total WBC count, Differential WBC count, ESR, blood culture Chest X-ray and if require CT scan were done in all patients. Significance for the statistical tests was predetermined at a probability value of 0.05 or less. (p<0.05) Results: over a period of one and half year total 150 cases were included in the study, nearly all patients were presented with cough, tachypnea, fever, chest retractions and other signs. Positive radiological finding were seen in 80.66% of cases. Among bacterial pneumonia, defined radiologicaly; 63.15% had elevated WBC counts; 88.42% had neutrophilia, 67.27% had elevated ESR. Case fatality rate was 6.3% (9 cases). Conclusion: clinical diagnosis by WHO ARI criteria are very sensitive and still can be applied to hospitalized children. Chest X-ray is valuable aid in the diagnosis of pneumonia in children
Mini-enxertia da seringueira ( Hevea spp.). II. Problemas e avanços na técnica

Com o objetivo de contribuir para a viabilizacao da mini-enxertia da seringueira, foram promovidas alteracoes na tecnica, incluindo modificacoes no sistema de fixacao do enxerto, no esquema de irrigacao, e o desenvolvimento de tecnicas de desinfeccao dos brotos. Essas alteracoes resultaram na reducao do tempo para a enxertia e do espaco para a manutencao das plantas enxertadas, e na diminuicao da mortalidade dos enxertos causada por fungos.
Nutraceutical Properties of Milk Fat Globular Membrane

Milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) is a protein-lipid biopolymer that originates from the apical surface of mammary epithelial cells and surrounds fat globules in milk. During milk synthesis, fat droplets originate in the endoplasmic reticulum and travel directly to the cell’s apical surface. As they travel from the epithelial cells into the alveolar lumen, they pass through the apical membrane and are encapsulated in the plasma membrane complete with the exterior glycocalyx resulting in discrete globules. These milk fat globules have a nonpolar lipid core composed primarily of triglycerides that is surrounded by the MFGM which contains both membrane polar lipids and glycoproteins. While MFGM is in all dairy products containing milk fat, it is especially enriched in churn buttermilk, a co product of butter production. When milk fat is churned, the membrane surrounding the fat globules is disrupted, and the free fat released from the globules coalesces. This process ultimately results in a solid fat phase, butter, and an aqueous phase, also known as churn buttermilk. This material, buttermilk, has a long history of anecdotal health-promoting associations, yet it does not currently generate any added value in the market place for delivering nutritional benefit. MFGM has recently been shown in lipidomic and proteomic characterizations to have an interesting carbohydrate, lipid and protein profile. The phospholipids and membrane glycoproteins found in MFGM likely interact extensively with the gut epithelia during digestion, both physically and biochemically. Moreover, MFGM has a relatively high concentration of sphingolipids, which in purified form have been demonstrated to be protective against colon cancer. The unique composition of MFGM has led to the idea that it may have remarkable nutraceutical properties, however, few studies have tested this hypothesis. Recent studies from our laboratory have demonstrated that dietary MFGM improves gut barrier function in cell and animal models and is protective against colon cancer in a rodent model. In this chapter we will discuss the isolation, composition, biochemical properties and intestinal health promoting effects of the biopolymer MFGM.
The Inhibition of RNA-Polymerase II-Mediated Expression by the Non-Structural Protein NSs of the Oropouche Virus and Establishing an Oropouche Virus Minireplicon System

The OROV is a RNA virus that has a segmented, single stranded genome of negative polarity. It belongs to the Bunyaviridae family. Infection by the OROV causes an acute very debilitating febrile episode. This RNA virus is responsible for multiple and massive epidemic outbreaks in South America involving hundreds of thousands of infected people. The viruses of this family express a NSs protein as their major virulence factor, which inhibits the expression of IFN-β. IFN-β is a critical antiviral protein, whose expression, if inhibited, allows for the replication of virus particles. The experiments carried out in this thesis aim at characterizing the pathogenic mechanism of the NSs protein of the OROV. There are three transcriptional factors that are necessary for IFN-β gene expression and they are activated after viral recognition: IRF-3, NF-κB and AP-1. The OROV-NSs protein blocks the activation of the IFN-β promoter as well as the activation of the artificial IRF-3-, NF-κB- and AP-1-responsive promoters, and the constitutively active SV40 promoter. The inhibitory effect of the OROV-NSs does not lie in translation inhibition since mRNA can still be translated to protein in the presence of the NSs protein, irrespective of the cap-/IRES-status of the mRNA. Instead, the OROV-NSs inhibits IFN-β gene transcription probably by inhibiton of the RNAP II. A T7 polymerase based expression system can bypass the NSs inhibitory effect, showing certain specificity for inhibition of transcription mediated by mammalian RNAP II. In contrast to the NSs of its close relatives, BUNV and RVFV, the OROV-NSs does not influence the phosphorylation of the serine 2 (elongation and 3’-end processing) of the heptapeptide repeat at the CTD of the RNAP II. The OROV-NSs also does not prevent the phosphorylation of serine 5. Its transcription inhibitory effect is not due to the induction of degradation of the RNAP II. The OROV-NSs induces a reorganization of active RNAP II in the nucleus of some cells and is probably associated with the RNAP II-containing transcription complex. The second part of this thesis involved setting up a functional minireplicon system for the OROV, as this has never been done before. A minireplicon system is critical in understanding a viruses transcription and replication processes. Experiments carried out, showed that the functional OROV minireplicon system could not be established probably due to sequence errors either in the OROV-L ORF or in the NTRs of the OROV minigenome, which were present in the expression constructs due to the faulty OROV reference sequences in the international gene bank (NCBI).
Reconstruction de génomes ancestraux chez les vertébrés

La genomique comparative est une discipline de la biologie qui s'interesse a l'evolution des genomes par le biais de la comparaison entre especes de leur structure et de l'information qu'ils contiennent. Implicitement, identifier des similarites entre deux genomes revient a decrire une propriete ancestrale qu'ils partagent encore de nos jours. L'abondance de donnees genomiques provenant de centaines d'especes differentes rend possible de nombreuses comparaisons de ce type, mais souvent restreinte a deux especes comparees l'une a l'autre, hors de tout cadre unifie et sans references particulieres. Ce travail de these decrit une nouvelle methode, appelee AGORA (Algorithms for Gene Order Reconstruction in Ancestors), pour reconstruire de maniere automatique et systematique l'ordre des genes et les caryotypes de toutes les especes ancestrales dans une phylogenie donnee. AGORA est capable de gerer les duplications de genes, les deletions, et les gains, et interprete de maniere realiste des phylogenies complexes de genes. Nous avons applique la methode chez 46 especes de vertebres sequencees et annotees (en utilisant 8 especes supplementaires en reference externe) pour reconstruire des ordres de genes ancestraux dans 43 genomes ancestraux sur pres de 600 millions d'annees d'evolution. Les performances d'AGORA ont ete mesurees par des simulations de genomes de vertebres, et par confrontation a des genomes ancestraux deja connus. Les donnees, presentees graphiquement dans un serveur web nomme Genomicus (http://www.dyogen.ens.fr/genomicus) fournissent un nouveau cadre unifie dans lequel les genomes ancestraux peuvent servir de reference naturelle auxquelles comparer les genomes modernes qui en descendent. A ce titre, ces donnees fournissent une nouvelle ressource pour etudier l'evolution de l'organisation de l'information genetique dans les genomes.
EFFECT OF MICROFINANCE SERVICES ON PERFORMANCE OF SMALL HOLDER RICE FARMERS IN NIGER STATE

A DESSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE (M.Sc.) IN RURAL FINANCE AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP, INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR RURAL FINANCE AND ENTREPPRENEURSHIP (ICERFE), DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL, ZARIA
Purification and Characterization of the Danaus Plexippus Cryptochromes

Abstract : Cryptochromes are flavoproteins that function as blue-light photoreceptors to regulate growth in plants and to entrain the circadian clock in animals. The photochemical and signaling mechanisms by which cryptochromes function are still undefined. Two cryptochromes identified in Danaus plexippus have shown distinct in vivo activities where DpCryl is similar to Drosophila melanogaster cryptochrome and DpCry2 is similar to mammalian cryptochromes. I purified and biochemically characterized both D. plexippus cryptochromes. DpCryl is the first animal cryptochrome to contain near-stoichiometric flavin. Photoreduction of FADox to FAD and fluorescence lifetime measurements showing an extremely short lifetime of flavin in DpCryl both suggest a novel photochemical mechanism for DpCryl. DpCry2 contained only trace amounts of flavin and both proteins contained sub-stoichiometric MTHF. Purification of DpCryl as the first animal cryptochrome with near-stoichiometric flavin will enable crucial in vitro biochemical and biophysical experiments that have never been conducted on an animal cryptochrome.
GROSS ANATOMY OF THE SPECIMENS OF THE SHELLED SACOGLOSSAN VOLVATELLA (=ARTHESSA) COLLECTED FROM OKINO-ERABU ISLAND, SOUTHERN KYUSHU, JAPAN (NUDIBRANCHIA)

This paper was formed as a summary of my observation on two preserved speci mens of a shelled sacoglossan presented to me by the courtesy of Prince HITACHI of the Emperor's Family who has collected them from Okino-erabu Island, Southern K yushu, during his visit to that Island in July, 1961. With the provisional identification of the specimens to Arthessa EvANs, 1950
Evaluation of long-term water management strategies for saving water and reducing nitrogen and phosphorus losses from agricultural fields: controlled drainage and surface flow constructed wetland case studies in Venice Lagoon drainage basin

In in contesto di carenza idrica e di inquinamento delle acque superficiali causato dalle attivita agricole, devono essere identificate nuove pratiche di gestione delle risorse idriche che rispondano a queste problematiche e possano essere utilizzate in diversi ambienti. Il bacino idrografico della Laguna di Venezia (nell'Italia nord-orientale) e un'area sensibile all'inquinamento delle acque superficiali. La prevalenza di terreni pianeggianti e la presenza di una falda freatica superficiale, tuttavia, suggeriscono condizioni idonee per la realizzazione di due pratiche di gestione idrica per la riduzione dei carichi di N e P provenienti dalle aree agricole: il drenaggio controllato (controlled drainage: CD) e le wetland artificiali a flusso superficiale (surface flow constructed wetlands: SFCWs). Il monitoraggio di lungo periodo delle performance di queste pratiche e necessario per fornire risultati di validita generale, che non siano condizionati dalla variabilita meteorologica annuale. Questo lavoro valuta le performance di un sistema di CD e di SFCW in un esperimento di lungo periodo. Il CD e stato monitorato durante i periodi 1995-2002 e 2006-2013, in termini di bilancio idrico e di resa delle colture, e dal 2007 al 2013 anche per le perdite di N e P. La SFCW e stata monitorata dal 2007 al 2013 per la riduzione dei carichi di N e P. Il CD ha permesso di ridurre i deflussi idrici del 69% e ha determinato un aumento complessivo della resa di granella di mais del 26,3%, e della resa di mais da insilato del 4,0%. Le perdite di NO3-N e PO4-P nelle acque superficiali sono state ridotte rispettivamente del 92% e del 65%. La SFCW ha mostrato tassi di rimozione annui apparenti dell'83% e del 79% rispettivamente per NO3-N e N totale, e del 48% e del 67% rispettivamente per PO4-P e P totale. Sia il CD che la SFCW si sono rivelati efficaci nel ridurre i carichi inquinanti di N e P, ed il CD ha anche contribuito ad aumentare la resa delle colture attraverso il risparmio idrico. Per questi motivi, l'applicazione di queste due pratiche di gestione idrica e da prendersi in considerazione in questo ambiente.
GPS-free geolocation using LoRa in low-power WANs

Internet of Things (IoT) has been growing over the last few years in multiple applications and due to a growing need for geolocation and tracking capabilities, an innovative opportunity arises. Whereas geolocation is traditionally based on GPS units this paper reports on a design and implementation of a LoRaWAN tracking system which is capable exploiting transmitted packages to calculate the current position without the use of GPS or GSM. This is done using the low power technology LoRa where the geolocation is calculated applying a multilateration algorithm on the gateways timestamps from received packages. The whole system consisted of an end-node, four gateways, a server and a java application to store the obtained data in a MySQL database.
A REVIEW ON THE INDICATORS DISCLOSED IN SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING OF PUBLIC LISTED COMPANIES IN MALAYSIA

The paper provides the discussion on the indicators disclose in Sustainability Reporting among Public Listed Companies in Malaysia. Three key ideas which essential under the Sustainability field are studied which are economic performance, social performance and environmental performance. Organizations today is expected to be more responsible in managing their sustainability practices as stakeholders nowadays are very concern about organization roles in a society. Indicators disclosed in the economic, social and environmental aspect of sustainability show the quality of the organization’s sustainability reporting. An organization that actively reports their sustainability practices promote transparency and gain positive reputation from the stakeholders. Research in the field of Sustainability Reporting especially in Malaysia is still recognized as a new trend therefore more research is urged to fulfill the voids in this area. Keywords: economic performance, environmental performance, Global Reporting Initiative, social performance, sustainability, sustainability reporting
Advances in microbial food safety

1. Genomic and Poteomic Approaches for Studying Bacterial Stress Responses SHIVANTHI ANANDAN 2. Overview of Rapid Methods for the Detection of Food Borne Pathogens and Toxins PETER FENG 4. IMMUNOLOGICAL BIOSENSOR-BASED METHODS 5. Quorum Sensing and Food Safety 6. Recent Developments in Pre-and Post-slaughter Intervention Strategies for Control of Meat Contamination 7. Thermal Treatments to Control Pathogens in Muscle Foods with Particular Reference to Sous-vide Products 8. Recent Advances in Food Irradiation 9. Nonthermal Inactivation of Escherichia coli in Fruit Juices Using Radio Frequency Electric Fields DAVID J. GEVEKE, CHRISTOPHER BRUNKHORST, PETER COOKE AND XUETONG FAN 10. High Hydrostatic Pressure Processing 11. Pulsed Electric Field Technology: Efficacy and Mmechanism 12. Antibiotic Activities of Plant Compounds Against Non-resistant and Antibiotic Resistant Foodborne Human Pathogens 13. Uses and Limits of Microbial Testing 14. Predicting the Growth of Microbial Pathogens in Food 15. Modeling the Behavior and Fate of Microbial Pathogens in Beef Processing Particle Reduction Operations 16. Approaches for Modeling Thermal Inactivation of Foodborne Pathogens 17. Computational Tools in Predictive Microbiology 18. Industry Perspectives on Performance Standards 19. Regulatory Perspective on Enhancing the Safety of Foods: Needs and Challenges 20. FDA's Imported and Domestic Produce Surveys 21. Food as a Weapon of Terrorism
Perceived influence of inequality on the career development of emerging adults in South Africa

Orientation: The South African economic sphere is under severe pressure to create employment for the youth of South Africa. With the strong influence that inequality has on most of the South African emerging adults’ career development, inequality becomes a fundamental issue that should be investigated in the specific context where it is manifested. Understanding the influence of inequality on the career development of emerging adults in South Africa will inform career development and employability interventions that seek to bridge the inequality gap. Research purpose: The purpose of this research was to gain a deeper understanding of the influence of inequality on the career development of emerging adults in South Africa. Motivation for the study: The inherent nature of inequality in the South African work context and the resulting lack of career development opportunities for previously disadvantaged emerging adults, amplifies the need to close the knowledge gap. The knowledge gap refers to the breach between the requirements of the workplace and
Queer in Europe during the Second World War

At the height of the Second World War, Switzerland decriminalised homosexuality. At the same time, France chose to introduce a law punishing homosexual relationships in certain circumstances. These two examples illustrate contradictory attitudes adopted by European states towards homosexuals during the Second World War. Going beyond the issue of the persecution of homosexuals and the central role played by Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1945, this book is the first to examine the daily lives of homosexual men and women in wartime. By bringing together European specialists on the subject, it relates a different history, one which was indeed marked by repression but also by enlistment in armies at war and resistance groups, not to mention collaboration. Chapter by chapter, it enables us to better understand why the Second World War was a turning point for gays and lesbians in Europe and why our continent is a leader in the fight against discrimination.
Suscetibilidade de gentipos de feijo ao vrus-do-mosaico-dourado

The objective of this work was to evaluate the susceptibility of common bean genotypes in relation to the golden mosaic virus, transmitted by the whitefly (Bemisia tabaci). The genotypes were cultivated in dry and water growing seasons, with and without application of the granulated systemic Aldicarb insecticide (3.0 kg ha -1 of a.i.). The experimental design was a randomized blocks in a 14x2 factorial scheme, represented by the genotypes and insecticide application, respectively, with four replications. The highest whitefly infestation and golden mosaic virus incidence occurred on dry growing season, and caused reduction on bean yield. The genotypes presented different degrees of susceptibility to the mosaic virus and to the vector insect. The most tolerant genotypes were IAPAR 57, IAPAR 65, IAPAR 72, Onix, Apore and 606 (5)(214-17). Insecticide application controlled the vector insect in both growing seasons, and provided yield increment.
Increasing growth and yield of ‘thompson seedless’ vines by trellising

Not available – first paragraph follows: The five-year summary of results of a trellising tria1 with ‘Thompson Seedless’ vines grown in the San Joaquin Valley showed that a wide, four- wire double crossarm trellis increased vine growth by 38 percent, crop yields by 20 percent, and soluble solids by nearly 3 percent, when compared with a one-wire trellis. When a two- wire single cross-arm trellis was compared with a one- wire trellis the gain in vine growth was 14 percent, yield was enchanced by 13 percent, and soluble solids were the same.
Common Grasses of Meerut

This study deals with the common grasses of Meerut with particular reference to an area of about 15 km in radius with Meerut College as the centre. A total of 82 species representing 50 genera have been listed from this area. Of these 26 genera and 44 species belong to the Panicoideae and 24 genera and 38 species to the Pooideae. The Panicoideae is represented by all the three tribes, while the Poodeae by only 14 tribes.
Kinematics of OB-associations in the 3-kpc solar neighborhood

Abstract We use Gaia (DR1, DR2) stellar proper motions to study the kinematics of OB-associations. The average one-dimensional velocity dispersion inside 18 OB-associations with more than 10 Gaia DR1 stars is σv = 3.9 km s−1. The median virial and stellar masses of OB-associations are equal to 7×105 and 9 × 103 solar masses, respectively. The median star-formation efficiency is ε = 2.1%. We have found the expansion in several OB-associations. Models of the Galaxy with a two-component outer ring R1R2 can reproduce the average residual velocities of OB-associations in the Perseus, Sagittarius and Local System complexes.