Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Five Year Trend Analysis of Malaria Cases in Adama, Boset and Lume Districts of East Shawa, Oromia, Ethiopia

BackgroundMalaria is an infectious disease caused by Plasmodium parasites. Of the five human malaria parasites Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax are the two co-endemic predominant and widely distributed species in Ethiopia greatly affecting public health and socio-economic development. Even though enormous effort have been made countrywide to reduce the disease burden little has been reported about trends of malaria transmission in the several localities of malarious areas like East Shawa Zone of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. Thus, the present study was aimed at assessing five- year (2016-2020) trends of malaria transmission at Adama, Boset and Lume districts of East Shawa Zone of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. MethodsRetrospective data were collected from the central surveillance of East Shawa Zone Health Office. The data collected was analyzed from September 2020 to December 2020 to examine trends of malaria epidemiology in three malarious districts in the Zone. The result shows, although a remarkable decrease in slide positivity rate (SPR) from (47.8 to 7.9%) and prevalence rate (6 to 1%) in the area, a recent slight increase of malaria SPR and prevalence was observed. Male individuals, particularly the productive section of the society (fifteen years and above age group) were more infected (60%), where falciparum, vivax and mixed malaria cases accounted for (53%), (41%), and (6%) respectively. Conclusion and Recommendations: Although reduction of malaria incidence was recorded in the study area, and higher malaria prevalence compared to the report of the national malaria indicator survey and inconsistency of the reduction rate noted in the study area demands due attention in the sector.
Explaining municipalities’ (alternative) service delivery modes over time. The importance of coercive pressures

ABSTRACT Extant research explains why municipalities choose certain service delivery modes over others, but that research is mostly static and pays little attention to the impact of central governmental policy. This study aims to overcome these limitations by employing a longitudinal multiple-case study design and bringing in new institutional theory. This research uncovers and explains delivery modes used for household waste collection in nine Flemish municipalities from the 1960s onwards. It builds on well-known public choice and transaction cost motives on alternative delivery modes, but expands the set by looking at coercive isomorphism for additional explanatory power. The analysis reveals that, in addition to the importance of fiscal and economic efficiency motives, the choices made by the municipalities over time are profoundly influenced by (the evolution of) coercive pressures from the central government on the service characteristics.
Characterising the structural pattern of urban road networks in Ghana using geometric and topological measures

Road networks are an integral part of any human settlement, facilitating the movement of people, goods, and information. The structural arrangement of a road network can have a profound impact on its performance, mobility and access to critical infrastructure. This study takes advantage of a computational network science approach to examine the structural configuration of road networks using geometric and topological descriptions in districts covering 10 regional capitals in Ghana. The majority of urban road networks were found to follow a radial pattern at the global scale, with either a gridded or a branching configuration at the local scale. Only road networks in Accra and Kumsi are fine grained and of comparable density to other global cities, based on intersection and street densities. Structural indicators such as circuity, clustering, page rank, degree centrality, and betweenness centrality for urban roads in Ghana were found to be comparable to other global cities. Given the lack of adequate infrastructure for traffic monitoring in Ghana, the spatial distribution of betweenness centrality could be part of the critical resource to provide insight for traffic management. These findings provide the basis to inform transportation planning and management on critical issues, particularly, based on the spatial distribution of betweenness centrality it is possible to identify problematic locations within the road network which are most vulnerable to traffic congestion.
Public Opinion on Artificial Intelligence Development

In connection with the active role of Russia and other countries in the design and implementation of devices with artificial intelligence (AI), there is a need to study the opinion of different social groups on this technology and the problems that arise when using it. The purpose of this work is to analyze public opinion on AI, in Russia and various foreign countries, and the possible consequences of its implementation in different areas of human activity. The research has revealed students’ opinions about AI devices and the problems related to their development in Russia. The research methods adopted are a content analysis of foreign publications devoted to the study of public opinion on AI and a questionnaire survey. Overall, 190 students of the Ural Federal University enrolled in Bachelor’s and Master’s programs were interviewed. The analysis of publications devoted to the study of public opinion in the United States, Japan, and Western Europe, as well as the results of our survey, has led to the conclusion that the majority of people have only a vague idea of what AI devices are. Our study has revealed that 23.6% of the respondents know nothing about AI. 36% of the respondents believe that in the near future the most demanded specialists in the labor market will be those who create robots and control their work. The survey has also shown the important role of mass media and general and special education institutions in informing the population about the opportunities and problems that arise when devices that exceed human mental capabilities are created and enter the social fabric. Keywords: public opinion, artificial intelligence, subjects of public opinion, representations of social groups about artificial intelligence
Price Clustering, Preferences for Round Prices, and Expected Returns

Abstract Researchers have documented that individuals have a strong penchant for round numbers in a variety of settings, such as trading in financial markets. Beginning as early as the 1930s, empirical research has shown that security prices tend to cluster on round increments. This anomalous finding has persisted over time and in a wide range of different types of securities markets. We examine whether stocks with greater price clustering experience excess demand and consequently, negative return premia. Using a variety of traditional asset pricing tests, we find support for this argument as price clustering is associated with a robust, negative return premium. Our results are robust to transaction-level clustering, cross-sectional regressions, and multi-factor models.
Influence of Infections Before Transplantation on The Outcome after Liver Transplantation an a High-MELD Cohort

Peschel G1*, Ilkhtchoui R1, Zeman F2, Sinner B3, Scherer MN4, Schmid S1, Muller-Schilling M1 and Weigand K1 1Department of Gastroenterology, Endocrinology, Rheumatology and Infectious diseases, University Hospital Regensburg, Franz-Josef-Strauss-Allee 11, 93053 Regensburg, Germany 2Center for Clinical Studies, University Hospital Regensburg, Franz-Josef-Strauss-Allee 11, 93053 Regensburg, Germany 3Department of Anesthesiology, University Hospital Regensburg, Franz-Josef-Strauss-Allee 11, 93053 Regensburg, Germany 4Department of Surgery, University Hospital Regensburg, Franz-Josef-Strauss-Allee 11, 93053 Regensburg, Germany
An Empirical Investigation and Conceptual Model of Perceptions, Support, and Barriers to Marketing in Social Enterprises in Bangladesh

Existing studies on social enterprises offer conflicting and contrasting perspectives on the impact of social enterprises on developing countries. Although several studies focused on social enterprises in developing countries, an empirical study that examines how social enterprises develop marketing strategies in an increasingly interconnected digital marketing environment is lacking. The current study empirically investigated the effects of consumer perceptions on social enterprises’ marketing strategies in a developing country and, in particular, the perceptions of, and barriers to, social enterprises in Bangladesh. Drawing on the technology–organisation–environment framework and a social constructionist perspective, 22 in-depth interviews were conducted with individuals from social enterprises. The emergent data were analysed using thematic analysis. The current study proposed an enabler and impediment social enterprise conceptual framework. The present study suggests that social enterprise engenders self-reliance and community empowerment, however, technological imbalance and infrastructures are the key impediments to adoption of effective social enterprise. Our analysis contributes to the theory of social enterprises’ marketing strategies and barriers, and suggests practical lessons in managing social enterprises and the development of marketing strategies
Operations‐Related Structural Flux: Firm Performance Effects of Executives’ Appointments and Exits

Conceptualized as a meta‐construct, operations‐related structural flux (ORSF) refers to appointments and exits—voluntary or involuntary—of operations‐related executives, to and from the firm. This research leverages the contingency theory perspective to show that ORSF’s influence on firm performance is contingent on contextual circumstances of such executive changes, specifically, appointments and exits—voluntary or involuntary. Examining executive turnover data from North American public firms between 2000 and 2016, the authors find that the firm‐level context of operations executives’ turnover is consequential for firm performance. On average, operations appointments are adaptive, but operations exits, including those due to both voluntary and involuntary reasons, disrupt firm performance. However, parallel effects are not evident for marketing‐ and finance‐related appointments and exits. Furthermore, our study reveals that exit of one operations executive hurts firm performance (measured in terms of Tobin’s q) by 3.3%. A post‐hoc analysis finds that firm performance of the sample firms that witness involuntary operations‐related exits (IVOpE)is, on average, 9.2% lower than that of the sample firms that do not witness IVOpE. These results indicate the outsized influence of operations‐related executives, who collectively are generally responsible for much of a firm’s budget, workforce, resources, structures, and capabilities.
Two-sample tests for high-dimensional covariance matrices using both difference and ratio

By borrowing strengths from the difference and ratio between two sample covariance matrices, we propose three tests for testing the equality of two high-dimensional population covariance matrices. One test is shown to be powerful against dense alternatives, and the other two tests are suitable for general cases, including dense and sparse alternatives, or the mixture of the two. Based on random matrix theory, we investigate the asymptotical properties of these three tests under the null hypothesis as the sample size and the dimension tend to infinity proportionally. Limiting behaviors of the new tests are also studied under various local alternatives. Extensive simulation studies demonstrate that the proposed methods outperform or perform equally well compared with the existing tests.
A meta-analysis of the effect of the Early Start Denver Model in children with autism spectrum disorder

Objectives: To examine and analyse the intervention effects of the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) on children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods: This meta-analysis evaluated the effect sizes in four major domains of measurement (autism symptoms, language, cognition, and social communication). A total of 624 participants with ASD were included in 11 high-quality randomized controlled trial studies. Results: The results indicated that the ESDM intervention resulted in significant improvement with moderate effect sizes in the cognition (g = 0.28), autism symptoms (g = 0.27), and language (g = 0.29) domains. The effect sizes of autism symptoms and language were moderated by country (Western versus Asian countries). However, there were no significant effects observed for the social communication domain. Conclusion: The ESDM intervention significantly improved autism symptoms, language, and cognition. The effect sizes of autism symptoms and language were larger in Asian countries than in Western countries.
PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING, ANTIBACTERIAL, AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF CASSIA MONTANA HEYNE EX ROTH LEAF EXTRACTS

Objective: The leaf extracts of Cassia montana (Caesalpiniaceae) were being used for leucorrhea and rheumatic pains used by the certain tribal people in Andhra Pradesh. The present studies focused on the antibacterial, antioxidant activity of leaf extracts of C. montana which provide the scientific basis for its folklore applications in various ailments. Methods: Ethyl-alcohol and water extracts of C. montana (leaf) were screened for phytochemicals, antimicrobial activity and antioxidant activity using in vitro methods. The total phenolics were estimated using Folin–Ciocalteu reagent with reference to gallic acid, whereas the antioxidants of the extracts were quantified using ammonium molybdate reduction assay with reference to the ascorbic acid. The antibacterial activity was studied by disk-diffusion method and the radical scavenging assay by DPPH discoloration method with reference to ascorbic acid. Results: The leaf extracts were tested for antibacterial, antioxidants, and phytochemical screening and found the significant phytoconstituents as steroids, lignins, flavonoids, phenols, glycosides, tannins, cardiac glycosides, and reducing sugars in ethanol and aqueous extracts. The tested extracts exhibited significant antibacterial activity. It is also observed that ethanolic extracts are more effective with minimum inhibition concentrations values at 28 and 32 μg/disk against Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus followed by Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa with 80 and 90 μg/disk. Total polyphenols quantified in alcohol and water extracts with reference to the gallic acid is 108 and 267 mg/g dry weight of leaf, respectively. Total antioxidants quantified in alcohol and water extracts with reference to the ascorbic acid is 70 and 85 mg/g dry weight of leaf, respectively. The tested extracts were exhibited strong effect on the discoloration of DPPH indicated the significant scavenging activity. Conclusion: The present study revealed that the tested extracts were exhibited significant anti-bacterial antioxidant activity along with the diversified phytochemicals. Hence, the leaf extracts of C. montana were having potential role in the treatment of ethno botanical health claims.
On the Rainfall Triggering of Phlegraean Fields Volcanic Tremors

We study whether the shallow volcanic seismic tremors related to the bradyseism observed at the Phlegraean Fields (Campi Flegrei, Pozzuoli, and Naples) from 2008 to 2020 by the Osservatorio Vesuviano could be partially triggered by local rainfall events. We use the daily rainfall record measured at the nearby Meteorological Observatory of San Marcellino in Naples and develop two empirical models to simulate the local seismicity starting from the hypothesized rainfall-water effect under different scenarios. We found statistically significant correlations between the volcanic tremors at the Phlegraean Fields and our rainfall model during years of low bradyseism. More specifically, we observe that large amounts and continuous periods of rainfall could trigger, from a few days to 1 or 2 weeks, seismic swarms with magnitudes up to M = 3. The results indicate that, on long timescales, the seismicity at the Phlegraean Fields is very sensitive to the endogenous pressure from the deep magmatic system causing the bradyseism, but meteoric water infiltration could play an important triggering effect on short timescales of days or weeks. Rainfall water likely penetrates deeply into the highly fractured and hot shallow-water-saturated subsurface that characterizes the region, reduces the strength and stiffness of the soil and, finally, boils when it mixes with the hot hydrothermal magmatic fluids migrating upward. The structural collapse of the saturated fractured soil and the mixing of the meteoric fluid with the hot deep fluids triggers the local seismic activity.
The Impact of Financial and Trade Credit on Firms Market Value

This study employs data from CRSP/Compustat files for the period from 2003 to 2017 and applies a panel data analysis. The results of this study show a positive relationship between trade credit and the firm’s market value, however, the results show a negative relationship if we test the impact of financial credit on the firm’s market value. The results have direct policy implications for investors, the firm’s management, and financial strategy. An implication of our study is that using trade credit as a source of financing may give a positive signal of the firm’s creditworthiness and increase the firm’s market value. Also, the results of our study indicate that the benefits of using trade credit may outperform the cost of using it as a source of finance. Prior studies examine the impact of financial leverage on the firm’s value, however, this study contributes to the existing studies that examine the factors that affect the firm’s market value by examining the impact of using trade credit finance on the firm’s market value. The main limitation of this study is that the results are based on listed firms, using data from unlisted firms is not available. the CF is positive and statistically significant at 1%, which indicates the importance of cash flow on Tobin’s Q value. The results also show that the coefficients of SIZE and ROA have a negative effect on Tobin’s Q value. The coefficient of DIV is positive but not statistically significant at a conventional level.
Improving available phosphorus in acidic soil using biochar

Understanding of phosphorus (P) retention and release mechanisms provides crucial information for the effective management of phosphorus to enhance crop production and sustain soil. In acidic soil, available phosphorus is fixed by aluminum and iron. To overcome this problem, soils are limed to fix aluminum and iron. But this practice is not economical for small scale farmers and also it is not environmentally friendly. This study was conducted to improve phosphorus availability using biochar produced from coffee husk and corn cob to fix aluminum and iron instead of phosphorus. Acidic soil samples were mixed with biochar applied at the rates of 0, 5, 10 and 15 t ha-1 and incubated in laboratory for 2 months at ambient temperature. The results showed significant effects (p<0.01) on selected soil chemical properties by increasing soil pH and reduced exchangeable acidity, exchangeable aluminum, and exchangeable iron in a way that enhanced the availability of phosphorus. Due to the incorporation of biochar the available P level increased to a level ranging 3.64±0.34 -23.21±0.07 mg/kg after an incubation period of 2 months and it increased by 84.3% available phosphorus when coffee husk biochar produced at 500°C temperature was applied at a rate of 15t/ha. Moreover, further field researches are needed to evaluate the effect of biochar on availability, the fate and uptake of available P in soil. Key words: Fixation, biochar, feedstock, acidic soil, pyrolysis temperature.
Effect of different micronutrients on growth and yield of cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.) cv. Pusa Sharad

A Field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of different micronutrients on growth and yield of cauliflower. The whole research experiment was carried out for two years (i.e., rabi season 2017-18 and 2018-19 at Research cum Instructional farm of Horticulture, Department of Vegetable Science, IGKV, Raipur. The experiment was laid down under randomized block design in three replication, and consisting of fifteen treatments. The important growth parameters and curd yield encompassed in the study were plant height (cm), number of leaves plant-1, width of leaves (cm), length of leaves (cm),length of root (cm), stem length (cm), stem diameter (cm), days to first curd initiation, days of 50% curd maturity and curd yield (q ha-1). The experimental findings revealed that almost all the treatments showed a positive effect on growth and yield, however treatment T5 (100% RDF + Borax @ 20 kg ha-1 + Ammonium molybdate @ 2 kg ha-1 + ZnSO4 @ 25 kg ha-1) exhibited most significant influence on all above mentioned parameters when compared to T1- Control (100% RDF). Therefore, on the basis of experimental it can be concluded that the application of micronutrients is an effective approach in cauliflower to enhance the growth, curd maturity and curd yield.
Fertility Intentions of Childbearing-Age Migrant Women With One Child and Its Influences

Rural-to-urban migrant women of childbearing-age with one child are the important research objects for studying China’s two-child policy, the second child's willingness to give birth directly affects the supply and allocation of public health and family planning services in the inflow area. While the determining factors on fertility intentions of rural-to-urban migrant women remains understudied. We used the 2017 national monitoring survey data of the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) for the analysis. Migrant women aged 20-49 with one child (24,767) from the CMDS 2017 were included in this study. Logistic regression was used to estimate the risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The results showed that the logistic regression analysis showed fertility intentions in Chinese childbearing women was specifically related to 30–39 age group (P = 0.004), in spring (P < 0.0001) or in winter (P = 0.006), small and medium-sized cities (P = 0.044) and middle school education level (P = 0.027).
Applying a Comprehensive Action Determination Model to Examine the Recycling Behavior of Taipei City Residents

With the occurrence of rapid global economic growth concerns about waste and its related effects on the environment are on the rise. There has been an increasing focus towards sustainable development and waste recycling as part of environmental sustainability strategies, and the encouraging of recycling behavior has received considerable attention from various environmental stakeholders. While numerous studies have used grounded theories such as the theory of planned behaviors and the norm activation model to examine environmental behaviors, a lack of consideration of other important variables in these studies has been revealed. This study aimed to address this gap by adopting the comprehensive action determination model, which comprises a wider group of influencing variables related to norms, intentions, situations, and habits. This model was tested using structural equation modelling with a sample of 386 valid questionnaires collected from Taipei City residents in the domain of recycling behaviors. Results indicated that awareness had a positive influence on personal norms towards recycling behaviors; social norms had a positive influence on personal norms towards recycling behaviors; attitudes had a positive influence on recycling intentions; social norms had a positive influence on recycling intentions; personal norms had a positive influence on recycling intentions; perceived behavior control had a positive influence on recycling intentions; recycling intentions had a positive influence on recycling behavior; and recycling habits had a positive influence on recycling behavior. However, findings did not support the positive impact of perceived behavioral control on recycling behavior.