Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Credit Information Sharing and Bank Loan Pricing: Do Concentration and Governance Matter?

The development of credit information sharing schemes in developing countries has gained significant attention in recent times along with ongoing financial sector reforms. In this paper, we provide first-hand evidence of the effect of credit information sharing on credit intermediation cost in these countries, and consequently ascertain the extent to which the credit information sharing–credit intermediation cost nexus may be accentuated by banking market concentration and governance quality. Using a large dataset covering 272 banks from 27 African countries over the 2004-2012 period, we uncover four new findings. First, we find that credit information sharing does reduce credit intermediation cost. Second, we show that the relationship between credit intermediation cost and credit information sharing is conditional on banking market concentration. Third, our findings suggest that governance quality moderates the effect of credit information sharing on credit intermediation cost. Finally, we find that banking market concentration reduces credit intermediation cost, but the effect is moderated by credit information sharing. Overall, our findings suggest that credit information sharing may serve as a useful policy tool for achieving financial sector stability in developing countries.
Lack of host specificity in gut colonization ability of human and chicken Escherichia coli isolates

The aim of this study was to investigate the possible existence of E. coli ecotypes specifically adapted to mammalian and avian intestines. E. coli isolates from chickens and humans were subjected to growth in lactose minimal media and allowed to colonize chicken’s intestines. Human isolates grew significantly faster (p=0.0188*) in lactose minimal medium; however, no differences were observed when one human and one chicken isolate colonized the chicken intestines. Results of this research showed that chicken isolates grew slowly comparing with human isolates, likely because the first were not exposed to milk as the second one. In addition, apparently chicken and human E. coli can equally colonize different host intestines which sign out the adaptability of this bacteria to different environments.
Production , Manufacturing and Logistics Integrating metaheuristics , simulation and exact techniques for production planning of a failure-prone manufacturing system

This paper considers a real-world production planning problem in which production line failures cause uncertainty regarding the practical implementation of a given production plan. We provide a general formulation of this problem as an extended stochastic knapsack problem, in which uncertainty arises from non-trivial perturbations to the decision variables that cannot be represented in closed form. We then proceed by describing a combination of exact optimization, simulation and a meta-heuristic that can be employed in such a setting. Specifically, a discrete-event simulation (DES) of the production system is developed to estimate solution quality and to model perturbations to the decision variables. A genetic algorithm (GA) can then be used to search for optimal production plans, using a simulationbased optimization approach. To provide effective seeding to the GA, we propose initialization operators that exploit mathematical programming in combination with the DES model. The approach is benchmarked against integer linear programming and chance-constrained programming. We find that our approach significantly outperforms contestant techniques under various levels of
Operations Research Models for Scheduling Railway Infrastructure Maintenance

In the last decades, maintenance of technical systems has become increasingly impor- tant in many industries. Such systems are transport systems (rail, bus, airplane), civil engineering systems (roads, buildings, bridges), health care (hospitals), communication systems, manufacturing plants, etc. Failures of these systems may cause expensive pro- duction losses and can have a negative e®ect on the environment and safety. For example, a train accident, crash of an airplane, collapse of a building, computer breakdown in an hospital, may cause large societal costs. Substantial environmental damage may result from a failure in the chemical industry and an unanticipated breakdown of a production system may cause large economic losses. By corrective maintenance, including repairs and replacements of the failed compo- nents, the failed system can be restored to an operational state. However, by preventive maintenance actions, including condition monitoring, inspections, small repairs, these failures can be prevented or their consequences can be reduced, but unfortunately the failures can never be totally eliminated. As Kobbacy and Murthy (2007) remark, over the last 50 years the approach to maintenance has been signi¯cantly changed. While over a hundred years ago, the focus was mostly on corrective maintenance, after the Second World War preventive maintenance gets increasingly more attention. The costs for maintenance has increased over the years as well.
Pharmacognostical And Pharmacological Activity of Punica Granatum (Pomegranate): An Overview

Punica granatum (PG) Linn (Family Punicaceae) is also known as pomegranate in English and commonly known as Anar in Hindi, it is found in the nearby region of Iran and very often found in the Himalayas and northern region of India and also cultivated since the ancient times, all over the region of Africa, Europe, and Asia. The various parts of pomegranate plants like seeds, leaf, root, and rind, in the traditional medicine system, used to treat multiple disease ailments such as wound healing, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, decreases cancer risks, anti-arthritic, anti-proliferative and many more diseases.Punica granatum Linn. f. has an excellent level of pharmacological action, which very important according to the medicinal point of view. An enormous variety of phytochemicals such as alkaloids, flavonoids, saponin, carbohydrates, steroids, triterpenoids, carotenoids, amino acids, tannins, phenolics, and coumarins. This plant (PG) is very rich in phenolic compounds, due to the presence of such a wide variety of phytoconstituents. The whole plant was extensively used during the holistic medicine system in the treatment of the number of disease treatment.This review mainly focused on the large variety of essential pharmacognostic and pharmacological profile that is necessary to exhibit the crucial therapeutic activity and phytopharmacological properties of different parts of Punica granatum.
Impact du changement climatique sur les dynamiques des milieux montagnards Snowmaking in the French Alps Climatic context , existing facilities and outlook

Snowmaking facilities have been commonplace in the French Alps since 1974 and particularly since the 1990s. Now, nearly all resorts are equipped with snowmaking facilities, which guarantee snow for skiers and sufficient revenue for resorts. The effects of climate change have justified recent investments in new facilities, and research efforts are beginning to combine socio-economic and physically-based approaches. We carried out a survey in autumn 2014, collecting data from a representative sample of resorts in the French Alps. We found that 32% of maintained ski slope areas in the French Alps are now equipped with snowmaking facilities; our findings indicate that this proportion is likely to reach 43% by 2020, with most of the increase in “Very Large” resorts. Although “Medium” to “Very Large” resorts are currently equipped at similar levels, the projected development varies with resort size. “Very Large” resorts are planning the largest growth, with nearly 50% of their ski slopes equipped with snowmaking facilities by 2020. However, our analysis reveals a limited potential for snowmaking in the French Alps: since the 1960s, suitable conditions have decreased by several hours per year. Since the effects of climate change are expected to increase in the coming decades (all scenarios suggest an air temperature increase), ski resorts will have to produce snow in less ideal conditions, incurring greater costs as a result of decreased production efficiency.
A Design for a Manufacturing-Constrained Off-Axis Four-Mirror Reflective System

Off-axis reflective optical systems find wide applications in various industries, but the related manufacturing issues have not been well considered in the design process. This paper proposed a design method for cylindrical reflective systems considering manufacturing constraints to facilitate ultra-precision raster milling. An appropriate index to evaluate manufacturing constraints is established. The optimization solution is implemented for the objective function composed of primary aberration coefficients with weights and constraint conditions of the structural configuration by introducing the genetic algorithm. The four-mirror initial structure with a good imaging quality and a special structural configuration is then obtained. The method’s feasibility is validated by designing an off-axis four-mirror afocal system with an entrance pupil diameter of 170 mm, a field of view of 3° × 3° and a compression ratio of five times. All mirrors in the system are designed to be distributed along a cylinder.
Biomass Production and Potential Fixed Nitrogen Inputs from Leguminous Cover Crops in Subtropical Avocado Plantations

Nitrogen (N) fertiliser is applied to perennial horticultural crops to increase yields, but subsequent N losses in subtropical plantations may be high due to intense rainfall and warmer temperatures. While legume cover crops could potentially contribute N to the tree crops and reduce fertiliser-N requirements, few studies have quantified potential fixed-N inputs from cover crops legumes in tropical or subtropical tree crop systems. To address this, we investigated growth and N fixation of summer-growing Pinto peanut (Arachis pintoi Krapov. & W. C. Greg cv. Amarillo) and winter/spring dominant white clover (Trifolium repens L. cv. Haifa) grown as a mixed species cover crop in two commercial subtropical avocado (Persea americana Mill. cv. Hass) plantations. Legume biomass was assessed prior to mowing of the inter-row (fortnightly in summer and every 6–8 weeks over winter) and N fixation was estimated using the 15N natural abundance technique. Biomass production was 7377 kg ha−1 (930 kg ha−1 for white clover and 6447 kg ha−1 for Pinto peanut) at the first site over the 14-month period from December 2014 to January 2016, and 4467 kg ha−1 (1114 kg ha−1 for white clover and 3353 kg ha−1 for Pinto peanut) at the second site over the same period. Estimation of N fixation was not possible at the first site, due to a lack of difference in isotopic discrimination between the legume shoots and the reference plant (kikuyu (Pennisetum clandestinum Chiov.)) material. While legume shoots accumulated 157 kg N ha−1 (38 kg ha−1 for white clover and 119 kg ha−1 for Pinto peanut) across the season at site 1, the % N derived from atmosphere (%Ndfa) in legumes was relatively low (50–60% in Pinto peanut during the warmer months and around 30% in autumn and early spring, and from 13 % in April to 69% in September for white clover). The low %Ndfa in the legumes may have been due to low rainfall or molybdenum (Mo) deficiency. Ultimately the legume cover crops contributed an estimated 50 kg fixed N ha−1, which could partially offset fertiliser N requirements of the tree crop. Our results demonstrate the need to quantify N fixation in legume cover crops to assess potential N benefits as opposed to relying on typical measurements of legume biomass and N accumulation.
Energy harvesting from wood floor vibration using a piezoelectric generator

Vibration can occur in wood floor systems as a consequence of a variety of human activities, ranging from common daily movements associated with individuals living in homes to high-intensity activities associated with sporting events that are held in large sports arenas. For example, the potential for harvesting energy from a wooden floor system in public buildings during daily rush hours could be substantial. In this pilot study, an energy harvesting system was developed to investigate the feasibility of harvesting energy from a vibrating wooden floor system. The purpose of this publication is to provide a summary of the experimental technique we developed and to present data obtained from its use.
4 . 3 OCEAN-ATMOSPHERE INTERACTIONS AND COUPLING ASSOCIATED WITH MEDITERRANEAN HEAVY RAINFALL EVENTS

Heavy rainfall events that often occur over the Mediterranean coastal areas in autumn are characterized by large amounts of precipitation (>100200 mm) in a short time (24h). These extreme events are favoured by a slow-evolving synoptic situation and by the Mediterranean basin nearcoastal reliefs. They are generally induced by quasi-stationary mesoscale convective systems (MCS) or frontal disturbances that stay over the same area for several hours to a few days. Sometimes, the two types of precipitating systems may combine. The Mediterranean Sea is an important source of heat and moisture for these systems. Moreover, the strong low-level winds that prevail during these events constitute a strong forcing on the oceanic mixed layer through momentum exchanges. The Meso-NH research model (Lafore et al. 1998) running with two nested grids at 10 and 2.5 km resolution respectively and coupled to its surface scheme SURFEX, is used here as a numerical laboratory to study energy exchanges at the air-sea interface and their impacts on the torrential rainfall forecast. This study concerns three heavy rainfall events that occurred over Southern France: i) Two MCS cases: over Aude, 12-13 November 1999 (Ducrocq et al. 2003) and over Gard, 8-9 September 2002 (Delrieu et al. 2005), and ii) a stationary frontal system with embedded convection over Hérault, 3 December 2003 (Lebeaupin et al. 2006). See Figure 1 for geographical names. Lebeaupin et al. (2006) have examined the sensitivity of these events to the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) for high-resolution and short range atmospheric forecasts. Various SST fields were tested as well as increasing or decreasing the analysed SST over the sea basin. The averaged value of SST overall the basin was found modulating the convection intensity and the precipitation amounts, and in some extent the stationarity of the precipitating systems. The SST effect relies how-
A Numerical Study of Particle Migration and Sedimentation in Viscoelastic Couette Flow

In this work, a systematic investigation of the migration of sedimenting particles in a viscoelastic Couette flow is presented, using finite element 3D simulations. To this end, a novel computational approach is presented, which allows us to simulate a periodic configuration of rigid spherical particles accurately and efficiently. To study the different contributions to the particle migration, we first investigate the migration of particles sedimenting near the inner wall, without an externally-imposed Couette flow, followed by the migration of non-sedimenting particles in an externally-imposed Couette flow. Then, both flows are combined, i.e., sedimenting particles with an externally-imposed Couette flow, which was found to increase the migration velocity significantly, yielding migration velocities that are higher than the sum of the combined flows. It was also found that the trace of the conformation tensor becomes asymmetric with respect to the particle center when the particle is initially placed close to the inner cylinder. We conclude by investigating the sedimentation velocity with an imposed orthogonal shear flow. It is found that the sedimentation velocity can be both higher or lower then the Newtonian case, depending on the rheology of the suspending fluid. Specifically, a shear-thinning viscosity is shown to play an important role, which is in-line with previously-published results.
Ameliorative Effect of Vitamin C against Monosodium Glutamate Induced Toxicity on Testes and Cauda Epididymal Sperm Reserves in Adult Male Albino Rats

Background: Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a commonly used food enhancer which causes a wide range of endocrinal disorders including reduced fertility rate in both sexes. Earlier studies have shown that chronic administration of MSG induces oxidative stress in some organs of experimental animals. Accordingly, this work was carried out to study the possible ameliorative effect of vitamin C on monosodium glutamate induced testicular toxicity in adult male albino rats. Study design: Sixty adult male albino rats were included in this study and divided into four main groups. Group I used as control group (10 rats). Group II (10 rats) received 100mg/kg/day vitamin C. Group III (20 rats) was subdivided into two subgroups (10 rats each): 100mg/kg/day and 4gm/kg/day MSG treated rats. Group IV (20 rats) was also subdivided into two subgroups and received both MSG and vitamin C in their previous doses. All animals were treated orally by gastric tube for two months. Body weight, serum testosterone level, cauda epididymal sperm reserves, histopathological examination using H&E stain and survivin immunostaining were studied. Results: There was a significant increase in the body weight (p<0.05) and in the percentage of sperm abnormal forms (p<0.05), while a significant reduction in the sperm count and motility (p<0.05) was noticed. These results were dose dependent. Animals treated with 4gm/kg MSG showed severely damaged seminiferous tubules with few primary spermatocytes in H&E stained sections and marked reduction in survivin expression in histochemical study compared to other groups. Moreover, there was significant improvement in all studied parameters on administration of vitamin C concomitant with MSG which was more observed with low MSG dose (100mg/kg). Thus, vitamin C holds a promise as an agent that can reduce MSG induced toxic effects in testes.
Challenges in Awake Craniotomy for Intrinsic Brain Tumors in Eloquent Cortex Research Article

Introduction Resection of brain tumor in the eloquent cortex always carries a high risk of potential impairment of speech, motor or sensory system. Overcautious surgery causes inadequate tumor removal whereas aggressive removal may cause irreversible neurological deficit to the patient. To overcome the risk a wake craniotomy has been proposed as surgical technique to facilitate maximum tumor removal with minimum neurological impairment. There is evidence that aggressive tumor removal improves disease free progression and life expectancy. Although awake craniotomy had been tried in the nineteenth century for epilepsy under local anesthesia but it did not gain popularity due to lack of advancement of anesthetic and surgical procedure. Due to progressive advancement in facilities the same old awake craniotomy has been revitalized to the present form [1].
A Dynamic Semantics for Vague Predicates

Since the mid-seventies, supervaluationism has been supported because of its capacity to give a conservative semantics for vague predicates and to avoid the so-called sorites paradox. As many opponents point out, however, this framework has something elusive and leaves several things unexplained. Dynamic semantics, which I present here, is introduced to interpret the elusiveness positively from an information-theoretic point of view. Thus the aim of the paper is to present a dynamic semantics for vague predicates as a revised version of supervaluationism. 1. Characteristics of Vague Predicates Vague predicates are ubiquitous in natural languages. Thus vagueness should be paid more attention for any attempt to provide semantics for natural languages. Here I shall argue three characteristics of vague predicates to rehearse the following sections. The first and essential characteristic is that vague predicates have borderline cases. In the case of 'heap', a grain of sand cannot make a heap whereas one million sands can. Concerning intermediate numbers of sands, however, there are border line cases in which we cannot judge whether definitely they make a heap or definitely not. Thus vague predicates have three types of cases, namely 'positive', ' negative', and 'indeterminate' cases, which are neither positive nor negative. The second and local characteristic is that vague predicates have a principle of tolerance. This feature of vague predicates is emphasized by Dummett [2] and Wright [12]. They introduce the notion of 'observational predicates' in order to explain it. They are predicates concerning sense data; they predicate objects based on a subject's impressions caused by her direct observations of them. Take 'red' as an example in the following.1 (1) Thought Experiment on Color Spectrum 1 Condition: Suppose there is a large screen where the following color spectrum is projected, that is, the leftmost portion of it is definitely red, the rightmost one is definitely orange, and between them is a uniform and gradual transi* Graduate School of Human Informatics , Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi-ken, 464-8601, Japan
The Effects of Vitamin E on Antioxidant Enzyme Activity in HepG 2 Cells

It is aimed to investigate the effect of vitamin E, powerful antioxidant (alpha-tocopherol succinate) on antioxidant enzyme activities in hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells. The hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG2 was used and the cells were cultured in the absence (control) or presence of different dose of vitamin E (50 mM, 50 μM and 10 μM vitamin E) for 24 h. The effect of vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol succinate) on catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) enzyme activities in hepatocarcinoma cells were measured by spectrophotometry. A significant decrease in GPx activity was detected in 50 mM vitamin E treated HepG2 cells. However a significant decrease occurred in 10 μM and 50μM vitamin E applied HepG2 cells. SOD activity in study groups were lower than in control cells. In addition to this, the decrease in SOD activity in 50 mM vitamin E applied cells was significant. CAT enzyme activity in 50 μm vitamin E applied HepG2 cells was higher and, in 10 μM and 50 mM vitamin E applied HepG2 cells were lower than in control group. It was determined that vitamin E has a dose-dependent effect on antioxidant enzyme activity in HepG2 cells.
QuMAsim : A Quantum Architecture Simulation and Verification Platform

Quantum microarchitecture is a key component in bridging the gap between quantum software and quantum hardware of a fully programmable quantum computer. Confronting the control problem of superconducting quantum processors, an experimental microarchitecture (QuMA) has been proposed in previous work. As the size of the target quantum chip continues to evolve, the complexity of QuMA scales up accordingly. This increase in complexity has led to a growing challenge in QuMA’s design, development, and verification. To solve these problems, we build a QuMA simulator which can automate the current QuMA verification process and accelerate the design phase of QuMA. We called this simulator QuMAsim. The first version of QuMAsim is based on CC-Light, an instance of QuMA for controlling a surface-7 superconducting qubit chip. Then this simulator is extended to be self-configurable for different quantum chips. Several applications are built based on this simulator. The verification platform consists of the simulator, the VHDL implementation of QuMA and a validator is designed to automate the verification procedure. In addition, we built a quantum virtual machine based on QuMAsim, which includes other quantum software and simulators to simulate the execution of quantum algorithms on each layer of the quantum computer. We demonstrate the potential of QuMAsim by performing some experiments with it and its applications, including the gearbox circuit simulation. QUMASIM: A QUANTUM ARCHITECTURE SIMULATION AND VERIFICATION PLATFORM