Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Control Functions on the Financial Performance of Saccos in Meru County

Purpose: To examine the effect of control functions on the financial performance of Saccos in Meru County. Methodology: The study adopted a cross-sectional mixed design method. The study targeted a sample size of 96 respondents arrived by multiplying 4 respondents in the 24 Saccos as a basis of analysis who were operation managers, senior risk managers, internal auditors and accountants in the 24 Saccos selected Saccos in Meru County. Data was collected through use of closed-ended questionnaires and the output presented descriptively by use of mean and standard deviation. Inferential statistics such as correlation coefficient β, coefficients of determination R and P-values was used from a multiple regression equation to measure the direction, strength and significance of the relationship between control activities and financial performance of Saccos. ANOVA was utilized to verify the goodness of fit of the model. Results: The study indicated that there was significant relationship between control functions and financial performance of Saccos in Meru County. Unique contribution to theory, policy and practice: The study contributed uniquely that there was a positive effect of control functions on the financial performance of Sacco banks in Meru County. The control functions should be readily available and continually updated by Sacco managers as they are the heart of the Saccos. If the functions are not working then it means the operations will eventually be paralyzed. This can be achieved by ensuring the guiding policies and guidelines are always available at the disposal of the user. Reviews should also be done regularly by Sacco regulators such as SASRA so as to ensure they are not outdated and to match the changing needs of the market and functional requirements. It is also recommended that physical control should always be done by operations heads in Saccos to avoid laxity from the operations. The approach of contingency theory to the study explained how the design and function of organizations are affected by conditional factors such as technology, organization customs, and the external environments. Different organizations have different organizational structure and their effectiveness is determined by a blend of the right type of organizational structure, organization size, environmental volatility, and technology. When the functions are well controlled by Sacco boards, updated performance of the entire system is enhanced.
The impact of sodium glucose co‐transporter 2 inhibitors on non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease

Affecting one fourth of the global population, non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the commonest chronic liver disorder. It encompasses the simple liver fat accumulation to more progressive steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis characterized as non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and in some cases cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. NAFLD regularly coexists with metabolic disorders, such as obesity and mostly type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A relatively new class of antidiabetic drugs, the sodium glucose co‐transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors exert their action by increasing the urinary glucose and calorie excretion leading to ameliorated plasma glucose levels and lower bodyweight. Recently, several animal studies and human clinical trial have emphasized the possible beneficial impact of SGLT2 inhibitors on NAFLD and its progression to NASH. In this present review, we summarize the current literature regarding the efficacy of the aforementioned category of drugs on anthropometric, laboratory, and histological features of patients with NAFLD. Conclusively, as SGLT2 inhibitors seem to be an appealing therapeutic opportunity for NAFLD management, we identify the open issues and questions to be addressed in order to clarify the impact in choosing antidiabetic medication to treat NAFLD patients associated with T2DM.
Influence of nanochitosan/zeolite composite on growth performance, digestive enzymes and serum biochemical parameters in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Protective effects of nanochitosan/zeolite composite besides zeolite and chitosan/zeolite composite on rainbow trout growth, digestive enzyme activities and biochemical parameters were studied. Nanochitosan/zeolite hybrid composites with three different ratio of nanochitosan:zeolite (35:100, 3.5:100 and 0.35:100) were synthesized and analysed by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), thermal gravim (TG) analysis and scanning electron microscope (SEM) methods. Prepared composites as well as zeolite and control diets were fed to rainbow trout (50 g) for a period of 60 days. The addition of treated diets significantly improved growth performance compared to the control diet. Supplemental zeolite could only enhance the amylase activity in fish intestine, whereas other treatment groups could increase the pepsin activity besides intestinal alkaline phosphatase, trypsin and amylase activities. No differences were observed for intestinal acid phosphatase and lipase activities among the experimental diets. Meanwhile, serum total antioxidant activity and lipid peroxidation product, indicated by malondialdehyde (MDA), significantly increased and decreased, respectively, with some doses of administration, indicating the elevated antioxidant status in treatment groups. Serum-specific marker enzymes, namely aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), were not affected in all groups. Meanwhile serum total protein in most treatment groups was significantly higher than the control group. Results showed that synthesized composites especially nanochitosan/zeolite composite at 5 g/kg had potential to enhance growth performance, digestive enzyme activities and some biochemical parameters in rainbow trout.
Exploring the role of the microbiota member Bifidobacterium in modulating immune-linked diseases

The gut-associated microbiota is essential for multiple physiological processes, including immune development. Acquisition of our initial pioneer microbial communities, including the dominant early life genus Bifidobacterium, occurs at a critical period of immune maturation and programming. Bifidobacteria are resident microbiota members throughout our lifetime and have been shown to modulate specific immune cells and pathways. Notably, reductions in this genus have been associated with several diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease. In this review, we provide an overview of bifidobacteria profiles throughout life and how different strains of bifidobacteria have been implicated in immune modulation in disease states. The focus will be examining preclinical models and outcomes from clinical trials on immune-linked chronic conditions. Finally, we highlight some of the important unresolved questions in relation to Bifidobacterium-mediated immune modulation and implications for future directions, trials, and development of new therapies.
The Occurrence, Hemolytic, Cytotoxic Activity and Antibiotic Susceptibility of Aeromonas hydrophila Isolated from Fish Samples in Baghdad

In this study a total of 60 samples of lived fishes (common carp) and frozen fishes were collected from 15 local markets in Baghdad city ,for isolation of Aeromonas hydrophila to determine the hemolytic ,cytotoxic activity of the isolates and their antibiotic susceptibility , 65% of our samples were found to be positive for Aeromonas hydrophila isolation 76.6% were in life fish samples and 53.3% in frozen fish 94.87% exhibited α and β hemolysis, 100% of life fish isolates show β hemolysis while frozen fish isolates show 85.7% β hemolysis and 14.3% α hemolysis , 97.43% of isolates show cytotoxic effect on Vero cells the highest frequency occur in the isolates of life fish group 60.50% , all isolates were 100% resistant to pencillin , ampicillin , Cloxacillin and Bacitracin in sensitivity test , and the resistance to other antibiotics appear to oxytetracycline 56.5% ,tetracycline 33.4% ,cephoxetin 30.8% , chloramphinicol and kanamycin 28.2% , at last the isolates show resistant to streptomycin and rifampicin in 23.1% and 15.4% respectively. These results demonstrated the presence of virulent food borne Aeromonas hydrophila in fish with multiple antibiotic resistance in Baghdad markets.
AFLP-Based Analysis of Variation and Population Structure in Mutagenesis Induced Faba Bean

Genetic diversity enrichment is urgently necessary to develop climate-resilient faba bean cultivars. The present study aimed to measure the enrichment of genetic diversity and changes in the population structure of faba bean, following induced mutagenesis. 120 samples, including 116 M2 mutant plants, generated by exposing the ILB4347 accession to four mutagen treatments (25 and 50 Gray gamma radiation and 0.01%, and 0.05% diethyl sulfate) and four reference genotypes were characterized using 11 amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) primer combinations. The AFLP markers generated 1687 polymorphic alleles, including 756 alleles (45%) that were detected infrequently (f ≤ 0.1). The total allele count of the mutant plants ranged from 117 to 545. We observed a wide range of banding patterns and counts among the mutant plants, showing the high genetic diversity induced by mutation. Mutations also changed the population structure, by altering 31.78% of the total membership coefficient (Q). Although mutations changed the population structure, Nei’s genetic distance showed that the mutant population remained closely related to its control parent. This is the first report examining genetic diversity and population changes in faba bean mutant populations and, thus, could facilitate the application of induced mutagenesis during faba bean breeding.
Conformity of Annual Reports to an Integrated Reporting Framework: ASE Listed Companies

The objectives of this study are to determine the level of conformity between Current Issued Reports (CIRs) and Integrated Report (IR) elements of the Amman Stocks Exchange (ASE) listed companies, as well as to determine whether the investigated corporate characteristics (size, age, quality assurance (QA), earning per share (EPS), industry type, foreign ownership (FO)) of these companies have any impact on the conformability of CIRs. It is worth mentioning that (QA), and (EPS), have never been examined by looking at its association with corporate disclosures, and IR in particular. Based on adoption of the IR framework and using the method of content analysis, corporate annual reports and other stand-alone reports of 82 companies in 2017 and 2018 within the financial, industrial, and services sectors, were chosen for this study. The findings of the study provide an answer to the research question and show that sectors vary in their levels of conformity. It reveals that the service sector shows the lowest conformability compared to other sectors, whereas the financial firms conform 65%, followed by the industrial sector. It also finds a positive association between CIRs conformability and variables of size, age of company and quality assurance. However, EPS, FO and type of industry were found to have no impact on the conformability of CIRs to the IR framework. This study has contributed to IR research, which, as a field, has previously received very little recognition among scholars in Jordan. Moreover, IR still does not exist in Jordan’s business practices.
Energy Budgeting, Data Envelopment Analysis and Greenhouse Gas Emission from Rice Production System: A Case Study from Puddled Transplanted Rice and Direct-Seeded Rice System of Karnataka, India

The energy consumption pattern and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission of any rice production system is important to know the sustainability of varied cultivation and establishment technique. This study was conducted to determine the energy use pattern, GHG emission and efficiency of rice farms in puddled transplanted (PTR, rainfed) and direct-seeded rice (DSR, irrigated) production systems in Karnataka, India. The energy indices and GHG emission of different input and output in a rice production system were assessed by using energy and carbon equivalence. The efficiency of PTR and DSR farms were identified using data envelopment analysis (DEA) and energy optimization was ascertained. The key finding was excessive use of non-renewable energy inputs was observed for the PTR (92.4%) compare to DSR (60.3%) methods. The higher energy use efficiency (7.3), energy productivity (0.3 kg MJ−1) and energy profitability (6.3) were mainly attributed to the large decrease in energy inputs under DSR. The DEA showed efficiency for 26 PTR farms in comparison for 87 DSR farms. The mean technical efficiency value highlighted the scope for saving energy by 6% and 2% in PTR and DSR, respectively and showed an economic reduction of $405.5/ha with PTR versus $163.3/ha with the DSR method if these inefficient farms perform efficiently. The GHG emissions revealed that the total emissions for PTR versus DSR production caused by on-farm emissions were 86% and 65%, respectively. The DSR method also had a higher carbon efficiency ratio and carbon sustainability index (10.1 and 9.1, respectively). Thus, adoption of DSR method is imperative for reduction of energy consumption and GHG emissions to achieve the carbon sustainability.
Likelihood Approach for Bayesian Logistic Weighted Model

Increasing the response rate and minimizing non-response rates represent the primary challenges to researchers in performing longitudinal and cohort research. This is most obvious in the area of paediatric medicine. When there are missing data, complete case analysis makes findings biased. Inverse Probability Weighting (IPW) is one of many available approaches for reducing the bias using a complete case analysis. Here, a complete case is weighted by probability inverse of complete cases. The data of this work is collected from the neonatal intensive care unit at Erbil maternity hospital for the years 2012 to 2017. In total, 570 babies (288 male and 282 females) were born very preterm. The aim of this paper is to use inverse probability weighting on the Bayesian logistic model developmental outcome. The Mental Development Index (MDI) approach is used for assessing the cognitive development of those born very preterm. Almost half of the information for the babies was missing, meaning that we do not know whether they have cognitive development issues or they have not. We obtained greater precision in results and standard deviation of parameter estimates which are less in the posterior weighted model in comparison with frequent analysis.
Antibacterial Investigation using Spectrophotometric Assay of the Polar Leaf Extracts of Ficus capensis (Moraceae)

This study was designed to explore new antibacterial agent(s) from the defatted methanol and water extracts of Ficus capensis. The extracts were obtained using various solvents, namely, cyclohexane, dichloromethane, methanol, and water by serial exhaustive extraction, after which both extracts were challenged with pure clinical isolates of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Burkolderia cepacia viz-a-viz standard antibiotics of chloramphenicol, gentamicin, and amoxicillin at 25 μg/ml, 50 μg/ml, and 100 μg/ml concentrations using spectrophotometric method. Using the zone of inhibition as an inhibitory parameter, both extracts of F. capensis showed promising antimicrobial activity in a concentration-dependent manner comparable to the standard antibiotics for all tested microorganisms. This research holds promise for the exploration of various potentially active secondary metabolites which would help in developing pharmaceuticals, especially antibacterial drugs, for combating common microbial infections. This validates the use of the plant leaves in the treatment of broad-spectrum microbial infections in ethnomedicine.
Production responses in adult ewes to long-acting anthelmintic treatment pre-mating: relationship with body condition score

ABSTRACT A trial was conducted to investigate the response of mixed age ewes of different body condition scores (BCS) to a pre-mating treatment with long-acting anthelmintics. Three hundred Poll–Dorset Texel cross ewes were divided into three groups of 100 and treated pre-mating with either a 100-day controlled-release capsule containing abamectin, albendazole, selenium and cobalt, a long-acting injectable formulation of moxidectin or remained untreated. Initially, ewes of lower BCS showed a significantly larger response in liveweight gain and a BCS increase which approached significance. However, these benefits did not persist following the expiry of the anthelmintics. Although treated ewes gave birth to more lambs, by weaning there was no significant difference between treatment groups in any of the measured variables and no significant influence of ewe BCS at treatment. The results are similar to earlier studies which showed that the benefits measured at the end of a long-acting anthelmintic treatment may not persist and may over-estimate the true benefit. Although there was a temporary benefit to treatment of low BCS ewes the data in general supports the view that many factors contribute to low BCS in ewes and parasites are often only a minor contributor.
Adaptive Learning through Temporal Dynamics of State Representation

People adjust their learning rate rationally according to local environmental statistics and calibrate such adjustments based on the broader statistical context. To date, no theory has captured the observed range of adaptive learning behaviors or the complexity of its neural correlates. Here, we attempt to do so using a neural network model that learns to map an internal context representation onto a behavioral response via supervised learning. The network shifts its internal context on receiving supervised signals that are mismatched to its output, thereby changing the “state” to which feedback is associated. A key feature of the model is that such state transitions can either increase learning or decrease learning depending on the duration over which the new state is maintained. Sustained state transitions that occur after changepoints facilitate faster learning and mimic network reset phenomena observed in the brain during rapid learning. In contrast, state transitions after one-off outlier events are short lived, thereby limiting the impact of outlying observations on future behavior. State transitions in our model provide the first mechanistic interpretation for bidirectional learning signals, such as the P300, that relate to learning differentially according to the source of surprising events and may also shed light on discrepant observations regarding the relationship between transient pupil dilations and learning. Together, our results demonstrate that dynamic latent state representations can afford normative inference and provide a coherent framework for understanding neural signatures of adaptive learning across different statistical environments. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT How humans adjust their sensitivity to new information in a changing world has remained largely an open question. Bridging insights from normative accounts of adaptive learning and theories of latent state representation, here we propose a feedforward neural network model that adjusts its learning rate online by controlling the speed of transitioning its internal state representations. Our model proposes a mechanistic framework for explaining learning under different statistical contexts, explains previously observed behavior and brain signals, and makes testable predictions for future experimental studies.
External debt and growth: role of stable macroeconomic policies

This study aims to examine the impact of external debt on economic growth in Bangladesh within a broader macroeconomic scenario. ,In the process of doing so, it assesses the empirical cointegration, long-run and short-run dynamics of the concerned variables for the period of 1980–2017 applying the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration. First, debt-gross domestic product linkage explores the impact of external debt impact on economic growth using a set of macro and country risk variables, and then this linkage is also analyzed along with a newly formed macroeconomic policy (MEP) variable using principal component analysis. ,The study results reveal the negative impact of external debt on GDP growth, but the larger positive impact of MEP index indicates that this adverse effect of debt can be mitigated or even nullified by sound MEP and appropriate human resource policy. ,The dynamic effects of different shocks (external debt and macro policy variable) on economic growth by vector autoregression impulse response function also confirm our ARDL findings.
Anthocyanins participate in the protection of wheat seedlings against cadmium stress

Due to anthropogenic activity, the environment is contaminated with high levels of cadmium, which is a dangerous heavy metal. At very low concentrations, cadmium is bioaccumulative and toxic to animals and plants, generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) that are destructive to cells of organisms. Anthocyanin pigments are natural antioxidants produced in various plant tissues and play a protective role under different environments. In the present study, the putative role of anthocyanins that accumulate in the grains and shoots of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in response to cadmium-induced toxicity (25 and 50 μM CdCl2) was studied at the seedling stage. For this purpose, a set of near-isogenic lines carrying different alleles of the Pp (purple pericarp) and Rc (red coleoptile) genes was used. The lines responded differently to Cd treatment. The observed changes in anthocyanin metabolism under stress conditions were dependent on the alleles of the Rc genes that determine coleoptile pigmentation and on.
Building an expert system for printer forensics: A new printer identification model based on niching genetic algorithm

Inside digital forensic science, expert systems are utilized to clarify suspicions where normally one or more human experts would need to be consulted. Expert systems‐based printer identification is provided with the objective of distinguishing the printer that produced a suspicious or questioned document. The arising problem is that the extraction of many features of the printed document for printer forensics sometimes increases the time and decreases the classification accuracy as many of the printed document descriptors may emanate to be recurring and non‐valuable. Therefore, the distinct combinatorial collection of features (knowledge base) will demand to be acquired in order to preserve the essence of operative features' fusion to accomplish the maximum accuracy. This paper presents a bio‐inspired expert system for printer forensics that integrates both texture features conveyed from the grey level co‐occurrence matrix of the printed letter ‘WOO’ and niching genetic search to select the good enough reduced feature set. This combination intends to realize high classification precision relies on a trivial collection of discriminative descriptors. Niching methods extend genetic algorithms to domains that require the location and maintenance of multiple solutions based on adjusting the crossover ratio and occurrence of mutation of each individual and employs the slope of the individuals to choose their mutation value. For categorization, the scheme exploits k‐nearest neighbours (KNN) to distinguish the brand of the printer for its simplicity. Results confirm that the suggested approach has high classification accuracy and needs less computation time.