Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect Of Equity Financing Options On Growth Of Small Businesses In Accra Metropolis

- Equity financing is especially critical for businesses with a high risk-to-reward profile, such as startups and small businesses. The purpose of this study was to find out the effect of equity financing options, specifically internal and external equity, on small business growth in the Accra metropolis. This study used an explanatory research design. The population of the study was 257 small businesses in the Accra Metropolis registered with the Ghana Enterprise Agency. The statistical tools for analysis were the Statistical Product for Service Solution (SPSS version 24) and Smart PLS (version 3). The study's findings revealed that, while both internal and external equity had a significant and positive effect on small business growth. Small businesses prefer internal equity to external equity and resort to debt, particularly in the form of trade credit and bank loans (after exhausting internal equity options such as personal savings and support from family and friends) before considering external equity financing options (such as accelerators, angel investors, crowdfunding, and venture capital) which are yet to gain acceptance
Clinicopathological Outlines of Post-COVID-19 Pulmonary Fibrosis Compared with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

This review brings together the current knowledge regarding the risk factors and the clinical, radiologic, and histological features of both post-COVID-19 pulmonary fibrosis (PCPF) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), describing the similarities and the disparities between these two diseases, using numerous databases to identify relevant articles published in English through October 2022. This review would help clinicians, pathologists, and researchers make an accurate diagnosis, which can help identify the group of patients selected for anti-fibrotic therapies and future therapeutic perspectives.
Climate Change Impacts on Crop Yield of Winter Wheat (Triticum aestivum) and Maize (Zea mays) and Soil Organic Carbon Stocks in Northern China

Agricultural system models provide an effective tool for forecasting crop productivity and nutrient budgets under future climate change. This study investigates the potential impacts of climate change on crop failure, grain yield and soil organic carbon (SOC) for both winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and maize (Zea mays L.) in northern China, using the SPACSYS model. The model was calibrated and validated with datasets from 20-year long-term experiments (1985–2004) for the Loess plateau, and then used to forecast production (2020–2049) under six sharing social-economic pathway climate scenarios for both wheat and maize crops with irrigation. Results suggested that warmer climatic scenarios might be favourable for reducing the crop failure rate and increasing the grain yield for winter wheat, while the same climatic scenarios were unfavourable for maize production in the region. Furthermore, future SOC stocks in the topsoil layer (0–30 cm) could increase but in the subsoil layer (30–100 cm) could decrease, regardless of the chosen crop.
The Immunomodulatory Role of Cell-Free Approaches in SARS-CoV-2-Induced Cytokine Storm—A Powerful Therapeutic Tool for COVID-19 Patients

Currently, there is still no effective and definitive cure for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the infection of the novel highly contagious severe acute respiratory syndrome virus (SARS-CoV-2), whose sudden outbreak was recorded for the first time in China in late December 2019. Soon after, COVID-19 affected not only the vast majority of China’s population but the whole world and caused a global health public crisis as a new pandemic. It is well known that viral infection can cause acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and, in severe cases, can even be lethal. Behind the inflammatory process lies the so-called cytokine storm (CS), which activates various inflammatory cytokines that damage numerous organ tissues. Since the first outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, various research groups have been intensively trying to investigate the best treatment options; however, only limited outcomes have been achieved. One of the most promising strategies represents using either stem cells, such as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)/induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), or, more recently, using cell-free approaches involving conditioned media (CMs) and their content, such as extracellular vesicles (EVs) (e.g., exosomes or miRNAs) derived from stem cells. As key mediators of intracellular communication, exosomes carry a cocktail of different molecules with anti-inflammatory effects and immunomodulatory capacity. Our comprehensive review outlines the complex inflammatory process responsible for the CS, summarizes the present results of cell-free-based pre-clinical and clinical studies for COVID-19 treatment, and discusses their future perspectives for therapeutic applications.
Formal Management Referrals Compared to Self-Referrals to Counseling from an External Employee Assistance Program (EAP) in the United States 2017-2023: Profiles of User Characteristics and Work and Clinical Outcomes at Before and After Treatment

: This applied naturalistic study examined the background and service use characteristics and also the work and clinical outcomes of employees who were formally referred by their employer to use brief counseling services from an employee assistance program (EAP) at CuraLinc Healthcare. The data was from 41,986 employees who worked at over 1,750 different employers located in the United States. The study period spanned 7 years, from January of 2017 through March of 2023. The majority of employees voluntarily used EAP counseling, with about only 3% of the total clients being formally referred to use the EAP by their employer – typically due to issues related to employee job performance or substance abuse. The two types of referral clients (Formal Management Referral or FMR n = 1,215 and Self/Other Referral or SOR n = 40,771) were similar or had only small differences on most of the profile factors. Factors with meaningful differences included the reason why the service was used (i.e., presenting issues of alcohol, drug, work stress and anger management were far more common among formal referrals than SOR; 77% > 13%
5 Digital Media and the Developing Brain

The pervasiveness of modern digital media in the lives of children and teens has raised important questions about how exposure to, and involvement with, such media might interact with the developing brain. The framing of these questions reflects differing implicit beliefs about the direction of causality in this relationship. Some questions assume that facets of brain development can predispose youth to digital media involvement. It is tempting to ask, for example, whether maturational processes taking place within the brain might prejudice a given age group to become especially enmeshed with digital media, or whether individuals whose brain development lags behind (or is relatively more precocious than) that of their peers also incur greater vulnerability to the consequences of digital media use. Conversely, questions can be posed with the underlying assumption that digital media environments can themselves impact subsequent brain development. We might wonder, for instance, whether digital media experiences have the potential to fundamentally “rewire” the cabling patterns in developing brains, or to stunt or alter the normative developmental processes that lead to a “mature” functional brain. Seeking answers to questions like these carries obvious importance in informing how we, societally and individually, approach the introduction and management of digital media in the lives of our children and teens. In this chapter, we explore evidence that shapes our current understanding of the relationship between the developing brain and digital media experiences. Although there are many tools that can be applied to the question of how the developing brain affects, and is affected by, digital media behaviors, noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods have produced many of the key insights, and are the central source of evidence discussed in this chapter. Broadly, MRI methods can be broken down into structural and functional approaches. Structural MRI methods are used to characterize the static anatomical and structural properties of an individual’s brain, and include morphometric methods that detail the specific qualities (e.g., thickness, volume) of the gray matter that comprises the brain’s outer cortex and major subcortical nuclei, and diffusion-weighted imaging methods that can characterize the cabling patterns formed by the brain’s white matter pathways. Meanwhile, functional MRI methods, including task-based functional MRI (fMRI) and intrinsic connectivity approaches such as resting-state fMRI
Four-Dimensional In Vivo Dosimetry By Dose Reconstruction Using Continuous Epid Images And Phase Sorting Method

In vivo dosimetry is widely used for patient specific dose evaluation and treatment verification in external beam radiation therapy (EBRT). There is a growing interest in using an electronic portal imaging device (EPID) for in vivo dosimetry, by correlating pixel values of measured EPID images to three-dimensional (3D) dose in the patient. In this research, a noniterative dose reconstruction method has been employed, which utilizes phantom and EPID response functions calculated from pre-acquired Computed Tomography (CT) image and simulated EPID image from Monte Carlo (MC) simulation. The accuracy of reconstructed dose, however, is limited by that of the simulated EPID image. In this study, a previously proposed density scaled model in XVMC code has been improved by physically relevant effective atomic number modeling and employing realistic phase space data. The new model has been tested under various field sizes and phantom thickness, including homogeneous and heterogeneous media. It has been shown that the calculated EPID images from the new EPID model are agreeable to the measured EPID images after field size and phantom thickness factors applied.
E2 ? SL2 FOR MOST LAURENT POLYNOMIAL RINGS

It is not known whether or not SL2(R) and E2(R) are equal for R = Z[t, t-1], Zthe ring of rational integers, orforR = K[t1, t-1 , t2, t2j1], K a field. (E2(S) is the subgroup of SL2(S) generated by the elementary matrices (O '), (1 ? ), a E S. ) We discuss this question for related Laurent polynomial rings R = S[tj, tl-1, . , tk, tk]. Our results show that for "most" Laurent polynomial rings R, SL2(R) ? E2(R) and moreover any generating set for S12(R) must contain infinitely many elements not in E2(R). Suslin [9] has proved that for n 2 3 and arbitrary k, SLn(R) = E,(R) forR equal to Z[tl, t11, . , tk, tkJl], orK[tj, t1-1, . , tk, tk ]. By contrast we state
The Social Support, Maternal Stress, and Social-Emotional Development of Preschool Children among Working Mothers’ Family during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many changes that have forced working mothers to adapt. This is more challenging if working mothers have preschool children. This study aimed to analyze the effect of social support and maternal stress on the social-emotional development of preschool children among working mothers’ families during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study involved 70 mothers who worked formally or informally, had children aged 4-6 years, came from intact families, and were domiciled in DKI Jakarta and West Java. Sample selection was made by voluntary sampling, and data were collected self-administered using an online questionnaire. Based on the independent sample T-test, there was no significant difference between formal and informal working mothers on social support, maternal stress, and children's social development. The regression test results showed that social support could improve children's social-emotional development. Conversely, maternal stress can reduce children's social-emotional development. Another finding is that girls have better social-emotional development than boys. The study results have implications that working mothers must have good stress management and coping strategies so that children's social development can develop properly.
Effect of adding lactic acid bacteria to maize silage on nutritive quality, fermentation properties and in vitro digestibility

This study aimed to determine the effects of adding lactic acid bacteria to maize silage on the nutritionalf quality, its fermentation properties and its in vitro organic matter digestion (IVOMD). In the study, pre-fermented juices (PFJ) prepared from different water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) sources at the rate of 5% and commercial homofermentative and heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were added to silages. Groups were designed as (I) control, (II) Glucose-PFJ, (III) Fructose-PFJ, (IV) Sucrose-PFJ, (V) Molasses-PFJ, (VI) Homofermentative LAB (HoLAB) and (VII) Heterofermentative LAB (HetLAB). When the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) count, lactic acid (LA), acetic acid (AA), LA/AA ratio, pH and yeast values of the natural fermented lactic acid bacteria liquids prepared by adding 5% different easily soluble carbohydrate sources to meadow grass fermentation values of the groups were examined, the differences between them were statistically significant. The differences between the groups in the CA, ADF, IVOMD and methane (CH4) values of the silage groups prepared by adding PFJ were found to be statistically significant. The differences in the fermentation characteristics of the silages (pH, ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N), LA, AA, LA/AA, CO2 and total yeast mold after aerobic stability) were statistically significant. When all parameters were examined, it was concluded that the addition of PFJ, which is prepared by adding 5% fructose to the meadow grass plant, to the maize silage has positive effects on IVOMD, ME, CH4, LA and yeast-mold and can be used instead of commercial inoculants.
Heavy social media use and psychological distress among adolescents: the moderating role of sex, age, and parental support

Background Despite increasing evidence that social media use is associated with adolescents’ mental well-being, little is known about the role of various factors in modifying the effect of this association during adolescence. This study examined the association between social media use and psychological distress among adolescents and explored whether sex, age, and parental support moderate this association. Methods Data came from a representative sample of middle and high school students in Ontario, Canada. Cross-sectional analyses included 6,822 students derived from the 2019 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey. Results Our results showed that 48% of adolescents used social media for 3 h or more per day, and 43.7% had moderate to severe psychological distress, with a higher prevalence among females (54%) than males (31%). After adjustment for relevant covariates, heavy social media use (≥3 h/day) was associated with increased odds of severe psychological distress [odds ratio (OR): 2.01; 95% confidence interval (CI):1.59–2.55]. The association of social media use with psychological distress was modified by age (p < 0.05) but not sex or parental support. The association was stronger among younger adolescents. Conclusion Heavy social media use is associated with higher levels of psychological distress, with younger adolescents being the most vulnerable. Longitudinal studies are recommended for future research to examine in more depth the role of sex, age, and parental support in the association between social media use and psychological distress to better determine the strength and of the association.
New Ruthenium-Cyclopentadienyl Complexes Affect Colorectal Cancer Hallmarks Showing High Therapeutic Potential

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is among the most deadly cancers worldwide. Current therapeutic strategies have low success rates and several side effects. This relevant clinical problem requires the discovery of new and more effective therapeutic alternatives. Ruthenium drugs have arisen as one of the most promising metallodrugs, due to their high selectivity to cancer cells. In this work we studied, for the first time, the anticancer properties and mechanisms of action of four lead Ru-cyclopentadienyl compounds, namely PMC79, PMC78, LCR134 and LCR220, in two CRC-derived cell lines (SW480 and RKO). Biological assays were performed on these CRC cell lines to evaluate cellular distribution, colony formation, cell cycle, proliferation, apoptosis, and motility, as well as cytoskeleton and mitochondrial alterations. Our results show that all the compounds displayed high bioactivity and selectivity, as shown by low half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) against CRC cells. We observed that all the Ru compounds have different intracellular distributions. In addition, they inhibit to a high extent the proliferation of CRC cells by decreasing clonogenic ability and inducing cell cycle arrest. PMC79, LCR134, and LCR220 also induce apoptosis, increase the levels of reactive oxygen species, lead to mitochondrial dysfunction, induce actin cytoskeleton alterations, and inhibit cellular motility. A proteomic study revealed that these compounds cause modifications in several cellular proteins associated with the phenotypic alterations observed. Overall, we demonstrate that Ru compounds, especially PMC79 and LCR220, display promising anticancer activity in CRC cells with a high potential to be used as new metallodrugs for CRC therapy.
Polarimetric Radar Observations of Precipitation Type and Rate from the 2–3 March 2014 Winter Storm in Oklahoma and Arkansas

AbstractA powerful winter storm affected the south-central United States in early March 2014, accompanied by elevated convective cells with hail and high rates of sleet, freezing rain, and snow. During portions of the event the thermal profile exhibited a shallow surface cold layer and warm, unstable air aloft. Precipitation falling into the cold layer refroze into ice pellets and was accompanied by a polarimetric refreezing signature and numerous crowdsourced surface ice pellet reports. Quasi-vertical profiles of the polarimetric variables indicated an enhanced reflectivity factor ZHH below the melting layer bright band and enhanced low-level differential reflectivity ZDR values coincident with surface ice pellet reports. Freezing rain rate was highest in areas with high ZHH and specific differential phase KDP values at low levels. High snow rates were most closely associated with 1- and 1.5-km ZHH values, though KDP and ZDR also appeared to show some ability to distinguish high snow rate. Numerous eleva.
METHODS FOR VERIFIED SOLUTIONS TO CONTINUOUS-TIME ALGEBRAIC RICCATI EQUATIONS

We describe a procedure based on the Krawczyk method to compute a verified enclosure for the stabilizing solution of a continuous- time algebraic Riccati equation AX + XA + Q = XGX, building on the work of (B. Hashemi, SCAN 2012) and adding several modifications to the Krawczyk procedure. Moreover, we describe a new O(n 3 ) direct method for verification, based on a fixed-point formulation of the equation inspired by the ADI procedure. The resulting methods are tested on a number of standard benchmark examples, and are competitive with the state-of-the-art methods for the same problem.
Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma in the HIV Setting

Simple Summary Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is one of the most frequent HIV-related neoplasms, and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common subtype. In people with HIV (PWH), DLBCL classically presents with aggressive characteristics. As in the general population, HIV-related DLBCL is a heterogeneous disease that includes morphological and molecular subtypes. When combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) became widely available, a strong improvement of the immune function and a better management of infectious complications during lymphoma treatment were observed in PWH with lymphoma. Moreover, the concomitant treatment of cART with chemotherapy was shown to be beneficial. These changes have led to a marked improvement in prognosis for PWH with DLBCL, approaching that of the general population. Abstract Despite the widespread use of combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) and the subsequent decrease in AIDS-defining cancers, HIV-related lymphomas remain a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in people with HIV (PWH). Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) subtype in PWH. This lymphoma is a heterogeneous disease including morphological variants and molecular subtypes according to the cell of origin or the mutation profile. In the pre-cART era, treatment with standard-dose chemotherapy induced high rates of toxicity and outcomes were very poor. The introduction of cART and the incorporation of infection prophylaxis allowed the use of conventional intensive chemotherapy regimens used in the general population, such as R-CHOP or R-EPOCH. The use of cART during chemotherapy treatment was initially controversial due to the potential risk of adverse drug–drug interactions. However, the availability of current cART regimens with less potential to cause drug interactions and evidence that cART improves survival rates in NHL strongly support the use of cART in PWH with DLBCL. Consequently, interdisciplinary collaboration between HIV specialists and hemato-oncologists for the management of potential interactions and overlapping toxicities between antiretroviral and antineoplastic drugs is crucial for the optimal treatment of PWH with NHL.
Mean and Variance Modeling of Under- and Overdispersed Count Data

This article describes the R package CountsEPPM and its use in determining maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters of extended Poisson process models. These provide a Poisson process based family of flexible models that can handle both underdispersion and overdispersion in observed count data, with the negative binomial and Poisson distributions being special cases. Within CountsEPPM models with mean and variance related to covariates are constructed to match a generalized linear model formulation. Use of the package is illustrated by application to several published datasets.
Building relationships with consumers: consumer research as formative objects

ABSTRACT How do advertising agencies consume and produce consumer research, and what role do those practices play with their clients? To answer this question, this article introduces formative objects, an analytical concept for identifying practices around the formation of exchange relationships in the knowledge economy. Drawing on nine months of ethnographic research and 68 interviews conducted across three U.S. advertising agencies, the article illustrates practices around the production and transformation of consumer research as a formative object across three steps: (1) agency employees negotiate what kinds of consumers matter with their clients; (2) they produce consumer research in ways that generate particular types of aesthetic materials; and (3) they use these materials to craft representations of the consumer to serve as formative objects, facilitating the exchange of campaign ideas and money between agency and client. The article contributes to our knowledge of practices in advertising specifically and the knowledge economy generally.