Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reliability and Concurrent Validity of the International Personality item Pool (IPIP) Big-five Factor Markers in Nigeria

Background : The five-factor model (FFM) of personality is currently the most adopted model of personality assessment globally. This model has several versions and has been translated in to several languages. It has been used in several parts of the world but hardly or not at all in Nigeria. Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the internal consistency and concurrent validity of the IPIP in a Nigerian sample. Methods : The 100 items International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) by Goldberg and the Eyesenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) was administered to 50 adults in Kano. Their responses were coded and analysed using SPSS version 16 by determing their Cronbach alphas for the internal consistency and Pearson correlation for the concurrent validity. Significance was set at <0.05 and at two tails. Results: The mean Cronbach alphas for the IPIP and EPQ were 0.602 and 0.653 respectively. The concurrent validity of IPIP extraversion and with EPQ extraversion was 0.344 and significant (p=0.014). That of the IPIP emotional stability and EPQ neuroticism domain was also significant (r=0.412, p=0.004). The EPQ psychoticism domain correlated negatively and significantly with the IPIP agreeableness (r=-0.282; p=0.047) and conscientiousness (r=-0.012; p=0.935). Conclusion : The researchers concluded that the 100 item-IPIP is a valid personality assessment instrument in Nigerians. Key words: Five factor model; 100-item IPIP validation in Nigerians ; 90-item EPQ; personality assessment
Auditors Independence, Auditors’ Tenure and Audit Firm Size In Nigeria

This paper has been carried out to empirically examine the relationship between auditor’s tenure, audit firm size and auditor’s independence. A cross-sectional survey research design was used for the purpose of this paper with a sample size of fifty (50) audit firms in Edo and Lagos States in Nigeria. The statistical technique used for this paper was the binary logistic regression. From our findings, auditor’s tenure (TEN) does not compromise the independence of the auditors and audit firm size (AUD) does not also compromise the independence of the auditor. It was therefore recommended that to ensure that the independence of an auditor is not compromised, the length of audit tenure should not exceed 5years . Keywords : Audit tenure, audit firm size and auditor’s independence.
Analiza elemenata kvaliteta usluga u korporativnom bankarstvu

Customer orientation in the last couple of years has been experiencing an expansion in many service-based organizations including banks. The needs of financial services users are dynamically changing, making it necessary for banks to be oriented towards developing long-term relationships with their clients in order to become and remain profi table. The main objective of this research is aimed at studying attitudes of corporate clients – small and medium enterprises – on different elements of the service quality delivered by a banking institution. The results of the conducted study emphasize three key elements of a service offer in corporate banking, including, respecting and understanding a bank’s clients, professionalism and image. Such findings additionally confirm the necessity for modern banking institutions to embrace the concept of tight cooperation with clients, only possible if they are truly committed to the marketing orientation in their everyday business.
The Effect of Grain Number per Ear (Sink Size) on Source Activity and its Water-Relations in Wheat

Blum, A. , Mayer, J. and Golan, G. 1988. The effect of grain number per ear (sink size) on source activity and its water-relations in wheat. —J. exp. Bot. 39: 106-114. Work was done to evaluate the nature of sink-source relationships in wheat (Trilicum aestivum L.), when the strength of the sink was modified by the removal of half of the grain from the ear at about anthesis. The main hypothesis was that sink-source relationship would be modified by water stress and that a weaker sink would improve the drought resistance of the source. Two experiments were performed. The first experiment evaluated the effect of de-graining in two wheat varieties grown in the field. The second experiment (in the greenhouse) evaluated the effect of de-graining in plants subjected to water stress after anthesis by immersing the root system in a solution of polyethylene glycol (6 000), as compared with non-stressed controls. In both experiments measurements were performed after de-graining to provide data on leaf gas exchange, leaf water potential, osmotic adjustment of leaves and ears (greenhouse), the percent of stem weight loss as an index of stem reserve mobilization, final root weight (greenhouse) and ear weight components. De-graining caused a decrease in flag leaf stomatal conductance, carbon exchange rate {CER) and transpiration and an increase in flag leaf water potential. These effects were stronger with water stress. De-graining did not affect osmotic adjustment in the flag leaf but induced better adjustment in glumes and awns. De-graining decreased the percent of stem weight loss and increased final root weight, especially under drought stress. A weaker sink was, therefore, considered to improve plant drought resistance in terms of the maintenance of higher leaf water potential, a larger root, a better osmotic adjustment in the ear and, possibly, increased flag leaf longevity. The 'cost' of this improved drought resistance was in reduced flag leaf CER and reduced stem (and root? ) reserve mobilization. Key words—Drought resistance, carbon exchange rate, stomata, transpiration, osmotic adjustment, leaf water potential, root, awns, yield.
Development and Validation of a Solid-Phase Radioimmunoassay for Measuring Progesterone and Testosterone in Octopus Gonad Extracts

ABSTRACT Commercially available radioimmunoassays (RIA) with 125I-labeled hormones were adapted, developed and validated to quantify progesterone and testosterone in gonad extracts of Octopus maya, considered an easily domesticated species with potential in aquaculture. Development of the RIAs was divided into four phases: (1) extraction of progesterone and testosterone from gonads, (2) preparation of gonad extracts for RIA, (3) standards preparation, and (4) RIA procedure. Hormones were extracted twice with 15 mL of diethyl-ether each time. The recovered hormone and the solvent effect on extraction were evaluated. RIAs were validated based on specificity, sensitivity, accuracy, precision and reproducibility. Serially diluted gonad extracts were parallel to the standard curves of each hormone, indicating specificity. Sensitivities for both hormones were less than 0.1 ng·g-1, and did not change by more than 20% during the 125I half-life. Accuracy was 102.25 ± 11.22% for progesterone and 81.62 ± 6.24% for testosterone. For both hormones, precision was close to 13% and reproducibility 17%. The precision/reproducibility ratio indicated a system with good stability. The amounts of the hormones recovered increased when the number of extractions was increased. Hormone concentrations also increased when the volume of diethyl-ether used per extraction was increased. The range of progesterone and testosterone concentrations quantified in this study is in agreement with the range found in other octopuses. Finally, the developed and validated RIAs meet the requirements for quantification of progesterone and testosterone in Octopus gonad extracts and show that it is possible to use 125I-labeled hormone as well as the plastic coated-tubes from commercial RIA kits to analyse variations in hormone levels associated with gonad developmental stages and the reproductive cycle of octopuses, allowing exploration of their possible functions.
Comparative Analysis Of Carrying CapacityIndices For The Central Aegean Islands

The tourist industry is one of the most important economic activities in Greece. The country receives over 14 million visitors per year. In an era where tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors of the developing countries the competition with existing tourism destinations, such as Greece, will intensify. Greece has enjoyed increasing numbers and revenues from tourism due to the unique environment both natural and man-made making it a high profile tourist destination. However, it is already clear, that the uncontrolled growth of the industry can bring serious environmental and social problems, leading to a decline in the quality of tourist product and services provided. Such negative effects can be controlled and reduced using environmental and tourism indices to estimate the impact of tourism and other businesses on the environment. The purpose of this paper is to apply the principles of coastal environmental management for the Islands in the central Aegean Sea islands via the carrying capacity assessment methodology in order to develop environmental performance indicators necessary for formulating a novel sustainable development policy proposal for Greek tourism.
Using groupwork in the designing and playing of board games in occupational health and safety

Abstract: In order to ensure the safety and health of workers, Occupational Health and Safety practitioners must have an excellent understanding of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and Regulations. They must therefore be able to interpret statutes and legislation which ensure that all sorts of work activities are carried out safely and with minimal risk. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the designing and playing of the board games as an educational intervention in Occupational Health and Safety within a groupwork context in a diverse classroom at a tertiary institution in South Africa, and report on students’ reflections of the process. Using groupwork, the boardgame exercise proved to be an effective teaching methodology and deep learning was achieved by designing, playing, and being assessed on the games. The use of groupwork also promoted improved relations and interactions, and effective teamwork. Valuable lessons in communication, collaboration and conflict resolution were also learned.
Characterization of polyamine transporters from rice and Arabidopsis

Dr. Paul F. Morris, Advisor Uptake and compartmentation of polyamines in plants is crucial for many developmental processes and resistance against biotic and abiotic stresses. Transport of polyamines is a poorly understood component of polyamine homeostasis in plants. In this study, a comparative genomics approach was used to identify and characterize putative polyamine uptake transporters (PUTs) in rice and Arabidopsis thaliana genomes which translocate polyamines. We identified three and four candidate transporter genes A. thaliana and rice, respectively. These genes are predicted to be membrane proteins with 9-12 transmembrane domains. Functional analysis of PUTs, using yeast complementation assay, demonstrated that all the PUTs tested transported polyamines and paraquat into the cells. Kinetic analysis and competition assays with alternate substrates revealed that all the genes except OsPUT3.2 are high affinity spermidine transporters with Kms ranging from 0.9 μM to 15 μM. Semiquantitative RT-PCR PUTs showed differential expression at the tissue level suggesting their specialized in plant growth and development. Expression analysis using promoter-GUS transgeni lines showed that AtPUT2 is expressed in the vascular tissues of leaves, roots, flower flower buds indicating that this transporter may be involved in long distance transport of polyamines to the developing plant organs. Strong expression of AtPUT3 in root vascular tissue and lack of expression in the root hairs and root tips suggests that this gene may facilitate the long distance polyamine transport and redistribution within the plant. The in
Morphology and taxonomy of five Cephaleuros species (Trentepohliaceae, Chlorophyta) from Japan, including three new species

Suto Y. and Ohtani S. 2009. Morphology and taxonomy of five Cephaleuros species (Trentepohliaceae, Chlorophyta) from Japan, including three new species. Phycologia 48: 213–236. DOI: 10.2216/07-31.1 Five species of the genus Cephaleuros, including three new species, were collected on leaves, green twigs, and fruits of various woody plants from Japan. The three new species grow subcuticularly. Cephaleuros aucubae sp. nov. forms thalli in a thin layer or a raised spot showing open-filamentous growth, growing only on Aucuba japonica. Cephaleuros japonicus sp. nov. forms more or less a circular disk with pseudoparenchymatous growth in the central portion and open-filamentous growth in the marginal portion. It is one of the most common species in Japan, growing frequently on Camellia japonica, Cleyera japonica, Eurya japonica, and Symplocos lucida. Cephaleuros microcellularis sp. nov. forms a circular raised disk with pseudoparenchymatous growth, growing on Persea japonica and Symplocos lucida. Small filamentous and gametic cells and concentric zonal rings of gametangia and setae characterize the species. We present the first report of Cephaleuros biolophus in Japan. This species is characterized by subcuticular, subepidermal, and intramatrical growth, growing frequently on Castanopsis cupsidata var. sieboldii, Myrica rubra, and Quercus spp. The sporangiophores which project from the lower leaf surface, produce head cells and sporangiate-laterals terminally and laterally. Cephaleuros virescens, which so far has been the only known species in Japan, grows subcuticularly and forms a circular raised disk with pseoudoparenchymatous growth, inhabiting frequently Magnolia grandiflora and Persea thunbergii.
Design of large scale applications of secure multiparty computation : secure linear programming

Secure multiparty computation is a basic concept of growing interest in modern cryptography. It allows a set of mutually distrusting parties to perform a computation on their private information in such a way that as little as possible is revealed about each private input. The early results of multiparty computation have only theoretical signi? cance since they are not able to solve computationally complex functions in a reasonable amount of time. Nowadays, e? ciency of secure multiparty computation is an important topic of cryptographic research. As a case study we apply multiparty computation to solve the problem of secure linear programming. The results enable, for example in the context of the EU-FP7 project SecureSCM, collaborative supply chain management. Collaborative supply chain management is about the optimization of the supply and demand con? guration of a supply chain. In order to optimize the total bene? t of the entire chain, parties should collaborate by pooling their sensitive data. With the focus on e? ciency we design protocols that securely solve any linear program using the simplex algorithm. The simplex algorithm is well studied and there are many variants of the simplex algorithm providing a simple and e? cient solution to solving linear programs in practice. However, the cryptographic layer on top of any variant of the simplex algorithm imposes restrictions and new complexity measures. For example, hiding the number of iterations of the simplex algorithm has the consequence that the secure implementations have a worst case number of iterations. Then, since the simplex algorithm has exponentially many iterations in the worst case, the secure implementations have exponentially many iterations in all cases. To give a basis for understanding the restrictions, we review the basic theory behind the simplex algorithm and we provide a set of cryptographic building blocks used to implement secure protocols evaluating basic variants of the simplex algorithm. We show how to balance between privacy and e? ciency; some protocols reveal data about the internal state of the simplex algorithm, such as the number of iterations, in order to improve the expected running times. For the sake of simplicity and e? ciency, the protocols are based on Shamir's secret sharing scheme. We combine and use the results from the literature on secure random number generation, secure circuit evaluation, secure comparison, and secret indexing to construct e? cient building blocks for secure simplex. The solutions for secure linear programming in this thesis can be split into two categories. On the one hand, some protocols evaluate the classical variants of the simplex algorithm in which numbers are truncated, while the other protocols evaluate the variants of the simplex algorithms in which truncation is avoided. On the other hand, the protocols can be separated by the size of the tableaus. Theoretically there is no clear winner that has both the best security properties and the best performance.
Epidemiology and Prevention Predictors of Early and Late Enrollment in Cardiac Rehabilitation, Among Those Referred, After Acute Myocardial Infarction

Background—Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a Class I recommendation. Although referral to CR after an AMI has recently become a performance measure, many patients may not participate. To illuminate potential barriers to participation, we examined the prevalence of, and patient-related factors associated with, CR participation within 1 and 6 months after an AMI. Methods and Results—We studied 2096 AMI patients enrolled from 19 US sites in the Prospective Registry Evaluating outcomes after Myocardial Infarction: Events and Recovery (PREMIER) registry. Analyses were limited to those patients referred for CR at the time of AMI hospitalization. A multivariable, conditional logistic regression model, stratified by hospital, was used to identify sociodemographic, comorbidity, and clinical factors independently associated with CR participation within 1 and 6 months of AMI hospital discharge. Only 29% (419/1450) and 48.25% (650/1347) of AMI patients who received referral for CR participated within 1 and 6 months after discharge, respectively. Women (odds ratio [OR], 0.61; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.44–0.86), uninsured (OR, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.21–0.71), and patients with hypertension (OR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.43–0.78) and peripheral arterial disease (OR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.22–0.85) were less likely to participate at 1 month. At 6 months after AMI, older patients (OR, 0.85 for each 10-year increment; 95% CI, 0.74–0.97), smokers (OR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.44–0.80), and patients with economic burden (OR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.38–0.81) were less likely to participate. Caucasians (OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.16–2.58) and educated patients (OR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.42–2.30) were more likely to participate at 6 months. Patients with previous percutaneous interventions were less likely to participate at both 1 and 6 months post-AMI. Conclusions—Among patients referred for CR post-AMI, participation remains low both at 1 and 6 months after AMI. Because CR is associated with beneficial changes in cardiovascular risk factors and better outcomes after AMI, more aggressive efforts are needed to increase CR participation after referral. (Circulation. 2012;126:1587-1595.)
Correlation and Path Coefficient Analyses of Seed Yield and its Contributing Traits in Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp

Aims: It is utmost desire for plant breeders to know the extent of relationship between yield and its various components, which will inevitably facilitate selection of desirable characteristics. This research focused on computing the correlation coefficients and path coefficients of yield and its contributing traits in pigeon pea landraces Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp. Methods: Seeds of two varieties of locally grown pigeon pea were sown in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) in ten replications. The field study was done at the University of Calabar Experimental Farm, University of Calabar, Calabar, South-South, Nigeria, during the 2009-2010 growing season. Correlation coefficients and path coefficients (partitioned into direct and indirect effects) were estimated on yield and its contributing traits. Results: Correlation results revealed that there was significant positive correlations between plant height plant -1 and number of leaves plant -1 (0.926**), leaf area plant -1
Tethyan vicariance, relictualism and speciation: evidence from a global molecular phylogeny of the opisthobranch genus Bulla

Aim Our aims were: (1) to reconstruct a molecular phylogeny of the cephalaspidean opisthobranch genus Bulla, an inhabitant of shallow sedimentary environments; (2) to test if divergence times are consistent with Miocene and later vicariance among the four tropical marine biogeographical provinces; (3) to examine the phylogenetic status of possible Tethyan relict species; and (4) to infer the timing and causes of speciation events.
Effect of fungal elicitor on carbon and nitrogen status and triterpenoid production in cell suspension cultures of Betula platyphylla Suk.

-1 DW in the 1-day elicitated cells, which was two fold higher than that of the control. The response of carbon and nitrogen status to the fungal elicitor was 18.62% decreased sucrose, 307.79% decreased soluble proteins, 146.93% increased total soluble sugar, 484.54% increased glucose, slightly increased total amino acids and 906.96% (about 9-fold) increased C/N ratio in the 1-day elicitation, which slowly equals the control with increasing incubation time. These results indicate that changes in carbon and nitrogen status were activated or were partially directed towards triterpenoid production, especially C/N ratio.
Effective Mentor Suggestion System for Online Collaboration Platform

Accelerated growth of the World Wide Web has resulted in the evolution of many online collaboration platforms in various domains, including education domain. These platforms, apart from bringing interested stakeholders together, also provide innovative and value added services such as smart search, notifications, suggestions, etc. Techpedia is one of such a platform which facilitates students to submit any original project description and aims to nurture the project idea by mentoring, collaborating and recognizing significant contributions by the system of awards and entrepreneurship. An important aspect of this platform is its ability to suggest a suitable mentor to a student’s project. We propose an elegant approach to find an appropriate mentor for a given project by analyzing the project
Assemblage des complexes ribonucléoprotéiques

Les interactions ARN-proteines interviennent dans de nombreuses fonctions. Ces interactions se font le plus souvent au sein d’assemblages macromoleculaires complexes. Des developpements methodologiques recents ont permis des avancees importantes dans la comprehension de la specificite de ces interactions. L’objectif de cet article est d’exposer les differentes techniques d’etude des complexes ARN-proteines ainsi que les dernieres donnees concernant l’utilisation therapeutique des ARN.