Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Opportunities for Bioprospecting Genetic Resources in Ethiopia

Bioprospecting involves the search of biodiversity for valuable genetic or biochemical resources/information or both for purely scientific or commercial purposes. Objective:The aim of the study was to identify potential genetic resources for bioprospecting and assess opportunities for future bioprospecting in Ethiopia. Methods: Ethno-biological data and sector-based data were collected from the local and scientific community respectively by using preference ranking, direct matrix ranking, paired comparison, semi-structured interviews and field observations. Results: Local people obtained medicinal plant species more from wild vegetation (52.5%) than homegardens (40%) and market (7.5%). Stephania abyssinica, Ensete ventricosum and Urtica simensis were ranked as priority species among the potential genetic resources which were identified by the key informants. Arundinaria alpine (94), Hypericumre volutum (85) and Ensete ventricosum (102) were ranked first as multi-purpose genetic resources from each study area. Yushania alpine, Urtica simensis, Thymus schimperi and some mushrooms were identified with bioprospecting potential for commercialization by the key informants. Conclusion: The results in the present study indicate that the studied woredas (districts) in Ethiopia possess rich medicinal plant species, and the local people have rich ethno-biological knowledge. The results can be used as opportunities for bioprospecting.
Predictive Modeling of Sulfur Flower Buckwheat (Erigonum umbellatum Torrey) Using Non-Parametric Multiplicative Regression Analysis

Predictive Modeling of Sulfur Flower Buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum Torrey) Using Non-Parametric Multiplicative Regression Analysis D. Bracken Davis Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences Master of Science Impacts of humans on ecosystems in western United States have necessitated ecological restoration, which includes the development of native seed that can be used for revegetation efforts. Development of such seed sources are costly and time consuming. This study describes the use of non-parametric multiplicative regression analysis (NPMR) to develop a predictive model for occurrence of sulfur-flower buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum Torrey) population seed collection. This perennial forb species is of interest for seed source development in the western United States. Presence and absence data for E. umbellatum was taken from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Big Game Range Trend project as well as herbarium specimens across Utah, U.S.A. NPMR, a statistical niche modeling system that selects the best predictor variables and develops probability of occurrence estimates multiplicatively, was used to select predictor variables from spatially explicit data made available in a Geographic Information System (GIS). Two models were created using NPMR, one with a suggested default minimum average neighborhood size and the other with a less-restricted minimum average neighborhood size. GIS maps of models were created, artificially classified into low, medium, and high probability areas, and validated in the field in Tooele County, Utah. Of 68 possible physiographic, climatic, and soil variables provided for analysis, NPMR selected 4 variables for the default minimum average neighborhood model and 10 variables for the less restricted neighborhood model. The default model had a higher descriptive statistic (log β value) and mapped a larger area than the less restrictive neighborhood model. When increased minimum neighborhood sizes were selected during the development of the probability maps, the resulting areas of probability prediction decreased. The presence rates of E. umbellatum in field-validated test sites were 7.4%, 12.0%, and 28.6% for the low, medium, and high probability sites, respectively. Although presence rates of field validated data were lower than the predicted probability ranges for those same sites, presence rates increased with increased probability ranges. Using the generated model can reduce the cost and time necessary to locate plants compared to searching for species populations using an undirected approach.
Adsorption of Metal Clusters on Graphene and Their Effect on the Electrical Conductivity

When adsorbates are introduced in graphene, the electric conductivity is highly modified. This chapter discusses how to estimate the electrical conductivity of graphene sheets with adsorbates, using electronic structure calculations and some theoretical approaches. Also, we discussed how the clustering of adsorbates attached to the graphene can impact electrical conductivity. We will focus in using metallic clusters as adsorbates (M n ; M = Ag, Au, Pt, and Pd; n = 1, 2, 3, and 4). The electrical conductivity is found using theoretical approaches, which are summarized in this chapter. We compare these approaches between each other to determine which is the most appropriate for each system.
Influence of Compensation and Reward on Performance of Employees at Nakuru County Government

Human Resource Development is concerned with the provision of learning, development and training opportunities in order to improve individual, team and organizational performance. The objective of the study was influence of compensation and reward on performance of employees at Nakuru county government A survey was carried out within the 11 sub-counties in Nakuru County Government with the study adapting a descriptive research design. Stratified random sampling technique was employed on a target population of 6,400 respondents from the same geographical area of study. Simple random sampling was used to select the respondents that formed a sample size of 98 respondents. Primary data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules with a combination of open and closed questions. Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used to analyze the data. The findings indicated that there was a strong relationship compensation and reward on employee performance in the county government of Nakuru. The researcher therefore recommended training needs and other nonmonetary rewards practices in order to enhance employee performance.
Sub-national vulnerability measures:A spatial perspective

Most empirical investigations into economic vulnerability focus on the national level. Although some recent contributions investigate vulnerability from a sub-national perspective they contribute to the literature in an aspatial manner, as they do not explicitly account for the relative locations of areas and for the potential of spillovers between contiguous areas. This paper extends the current literature on a number of important fronts. First, we augment a principle components model to take explicit account of spatial autocorrelation and apply it to South African magisterial district level data. Second, by comparing spatial and aspatial models estimates, our empirical results illustrate the presence and importance of spatial spillovers in local vulnerability index estimates. Third, we augment the methodology on the vulnerability intervention index and present results which highlight areas that are performing better and worse than would be expected. After accounting for spatial spillovers, the results illustrate a clear urban-rural vulnerability divide.
Secrecy Rate Region in the Interference Channel with Common Information

In this paper interference channel with common information and two confidential messages is investigated. There are two senders that need deliver their privative messages and a certain common message.The private messages must be confidential in their corresponding receivers. An achievable rate region and an outer bound for such a channel are obtained and it is shown that these rate regions include some existing results for some related channels.
Location-Based Services and Privacy Protection under Mobile Cloud Computing

Location-based services can provide personalized services based on location information of moving objects and have already been widely used in public safety services, transportation, entertainment and many other areas. With the rapid development of mobile communication technology and popularization of intelligent terminals, there will be great commercial prospects to provide location-based services under mobile cloud computing environment. However, the high adhesion degree of mobile terminals to users not only brings facility but also results in the risk of privacy leak. The paper introduced the necessities and advantages to provide location-based services under mobile cloud computing environment, stressed the importance to protect location privacy in LBS services, pointed out new security risks brought by mobile cloud computing, and proposed a new framework and implementation method of LBS service. The cloud-based LBS system proposed in this paper is able to achieve privacy protection from the confidentiality of outsourced data and integrity of service results, and can be used as a reference while developing LBS system under mobile cloud computing environment.
A Broadband Single-Feed Circularly Polarized Patch Antenna with Wide Beamwidth

A broadband single-feed circularly polarized patch antenna with wide beamwidth is presented. The patch is coupled to four asymmetric cross slots via a microstrip ring with eight matching segments underneath the ground plane, traversing through the arms of the cross slots in a serial manner. And a coupling slice instead of a resistive load is used as matching load of the microstrip ring for higher gain. Furthermore, a metal side wall surrounding the antenna is used to improve the isolation between adjacent elements in an array. Through optimizing the four asymmetric cross slots and eight matching segments, excellent performances are achieved by the proposed antenna, especially for the broadband and wide beamwidth. Measurement results show that the antenna has −10 dB reflection coefficient bandwidth of 29.7%, 3-dB axial-ratio bandwidth of 21.6%, and beamwidth of more than 90°. It can be considered as a good candidate for the element of arrays.
Sensitivity Analysis of Primary Pollutants on Generating Photochemical Oxidants over the Osaka Bay and its Surrounding Areas of Japan

In this paper an attempt has been made to elucidate the relationship between the formation of photochemical oxidants and the emission rate of the primary pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and reactive hydrocarbons (RH) over the Osaka Bay and its surrounding areas of Japan, by using a three-dimensional grid model. In Harima area, reduction in the primary pollutant emission led to simple decrease in the peak O 3 concentration, and OH and HO 2 radical concentrations. In Osaka area, unlike the Harima area, reduction in NO x emission led to an increase in OH and HO 2 radicals concentrations, and conversely to an increase in O 3 concentration. It has also been found that the time of peak O 3 concentration would appear earlier with reduction in NO x emission, and later with reduction in RH emission. Under meteorological calm condition, the variations of the time of appearance of peak O 3 due to the emissions reduction scenario are small. Sea breeze may be one of the important meteorological phenomena responsible for the transport of pollutants such as NO x , RH, and also O 3 in the polluted coastal areas. These important results suggest that a method for a well-balanced reduction in both NO x and RH emissions is essential for the improvement of air quality from photochemical pollution over the Osaka Bay and its surrounding areas of Japan.
Water uptake by fresh Indonesian peat burning particles is limited by water-soluble organic matter

Abstract. The relationship between hygroscopic properties and chemical characteristics of Indonesian biomass burning (BB) particles, which are dominantly generated from peatland fires, was investigated using a humidified tandem differential mobility analyzer. In addition to peat, acacia (a popular species at plantation) and fern (a pioneering species after disturbance by fire) were used for experiments. Fresh Indonesian peat burning particles are almost non-hygroscopic (mean hygroscopicity parameter, κ
Harmonic Impact of Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle on Electric Distribution System

This paper presents the harmonic effects of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) on the IEEE 37-bus distribution system at different PHEV penetration levels considering a practical daily residential load shape. The PHEV is modeled as a current harmonic source by using the Open-Source Distribution System Simulator (OpenDSS) and DSSimpc software. Time series harmonic simulation was conducted to investigate the harmonic impact of PHEV on the system by using harmonic data obtained from a real electric vehicle. Harmonic effects on the system voltage profile and circuit power losses are also investigated by using OpenDSS and MATLAB software. Current/voltage total harmonic distortion (THD) produced from the large scale of PHEV is investigated. Test results show that the voltage and current THDs are increased up to 9.5% and 50%, respectively, due to high PHEV penetrations and these THD values are significantly larger than the limits prescribed by the IEEE standards.
Types of Crime and Types of Mechanisms

Using a longitudinal data set of 317 neighborhoods from 1996 to 2002 in Utrecht, The Netherlands, this study tests whether types of crime differentially impact (a) the mechanisms of social disorganization theory and (b) residents’ mobility behavior and attitudes toward the neighborhood. Neighborhoods with more cohesion have less violence 2 years later. Also, neighborhoods perceiving more violence experience lower levels of cohesion 2 years later. Higher levels of perceived violence were most important for explaining who moves out of the neighborhood, as such neighborhoods had more non-Whites and more lower income households at the next time point. Burglaries (a crime that occurs in private space) appear to increase residents’ sense of feeling responsibility for the neighborhood.
Mezclas asfálticas modificadas con un elastómero (caucho) y un plastómero (tiras de bolsas de leche con asfalto 80-100)

La adicion de productos industrializados como el caucho y el plastico podrian hacer parte constitutiva de la estructura de un pavimento al dar a las mezclas asfalticas un mejor comportamiento mecanico y por ende una mayor duracion de vida. Se debe ser conscientes que se vive en la cultura del usar y tirar, y en la basura de cada dia estan los recursos que dentro de poco tiempo haran falta. Se trata, en definitiva, de que se ponga en practica la consigna de las tres erres, reducir, reutilizar y reciclar, en este orden de importancia. Mediante esta investigacion se puede llegar a una reduccion en los residuos solidos y adicionalmente mejorar el desempeno de los pavimentos en Colombia. En la presente investigacion de la mezcla modificada con caucho y plastico, se realizo la caracterizacion dinamica de la mezcla asfaltica con los optimos de adicion de plastico proveniente de bolsas de leche y de caucho proveniente de las llantas usadas, logrando una reduccion del ahuellamiento del 8%, un aumento del modulo dinamico del 14%, lo cual significa para un diseno mecanicista de pavimentos un incremento de la durabilidad del 25%.
An international comparison of phase angle standards between the novel impedance bridges of CMI, INRIM and METAS

We report here the results of a comparison of electrical impedance standards aimed at evaluating four novel digital impedance bridges developed by the national metrology institutes CMI, INRIM and METAS. This comparison, which is the first of its kind, involved phase angle impedance standards developed by TÜBITAK UME with phase angles of ± and ±, and magnitudes ranging from about 100 Ω to 1 MΩ. The comparison demonstrated agreement among the measurement results obtained with the different bridges, and allowed us to gather information on the stability of the phase standards and on more critical aspects related to the characterization of the bridges.
Factor Productivity in theArgentineanAgriculture

This paper is aimed at investigating the endogeneity of the total factor productivity in the Argentinean agriculture. In a simple model of endogenous technological change, the implementation of new techniques of production would depend upon sectoral relative prices, and upon the overall endowment of capital and land relative to labor. It is found that the estimations using data covering the years 1939-1984 do not reject the hypothesis of endogeneity of technological change as a function of the aforementioned variables. It is also found that the fiscal deficit negatively affects the implementation of new techniques. 1 The coefficient of labor in the value added of the agricultural sector (cereals and oilseeds, livestock and fisheries) is 0.28 according to the estimates of the 1973 input-output matrix data, a value that is very close to the estimate used in this paper. Alberto Herrou Aragón 8
A Semantic Network Analysis of Changes in North Korea's Economic Policy

To shed light on the inner workings of policymaking in North Korea, this study examined the process behind economic policy change through an analysis of the official state economics journal. Semantic networks are used to trace the introduction and evolution of policies during four distinct economic periods in North Korean history between 1986 and 2009. Although reform is catalyzed by political and economic crises, the emergence of new policy topics occurs incrementally prior to change. Specifically, new policy discourse tends to emerge in gradual and cautious ways but policy change occurs swiftly in periods of crisis. During periods of stability, the state retreats to the centralized socialist economic system, often through coercion and force. This view of the policy process suggests that foundations of economic reforms in North Korea are yet weak and instable, and policy reform will continue to be vulnerable to the political influence of conservatives.
Using Parametric Statistical Performance Measure for Quality Assessment of multiobjectuve Multistage Ant Colony Optimization system

This paper is focused on using parametric statistical test of the results in the field of population-based techniques. It proposes a Parametric Statistical test as a performance measure for quality assessment for Multiobjectuve Multistage Ant Colony Optimization MM-ACO system that optimize a fuzzy multi-objective resource allocation problem (FM-RAP), where the experimental analysis on the performance of a proposed algorithm is a crucial and necessary task to carry out in this research. Our approach has two characteristic features. Firstly, a set of nondominated solutions is obtained by exploring the optimal Pareto frontier using different cut level and subsequently, based on the parametric statistical test, performance measure for the quality assessment was implemented in order to establish the viability of our algorithm, and to compare the results obtained by running our algorithms with the results obtained from applying particle swarm optimization Furthermore, we provided an example of optimum utilization of human resources in reclamation of derelict land.
MEASURING AND MODELLING INTERNET BANKING SERVICE QUALITY IN SOUTH AFRICA Ephrem Habtemichael

The purpose of this study was to develop a measuring and modelling instrument of Internet banking service quality (IBSQ) for the South African banking sector. Snowball and convenience sampling, both non-probability techniques were used to recruit participants for the study. A total of 310 Internet banking customer responses were utilised in the analysis. Using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), eight determinant factors that explained IBSQ were extracted. Following this, the study determined the causal relationship amongst IBSQ, customer value, satisfaction and loyalty through correlation analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM). The proposed model indicates that IBSQ, comprising eight factors, positively influences customer value, satisfaction and loyalty. The model found customer satisfaction to be a predictor of customer loyalty in an Internet banking context. Contrary to the hypothesised model, the influence of customer value was limited to customer satisfaction. The influence of customer value on customer loyalty was found to be rather weak; it influenced customer loyalty only indirectly through customer satisfaction. Understanding the intricate relationships amongst service quality, customer value, satisfaction and loyalty will definitely enhance banks’ understanding consumer behaviour and decision making in this digital era. The model may assist bankers to measure, manage and improve IBSQ. Banks could utilise this measurement model to design and improve their Internet banking services.
Short-Term Traffic Flow Local Prediction Based on Combined Kernel Function Relevance Vector Machine Model

Short-term traffic flow prediction is one of the most important issues in the field of adaptive traffic control system and dynamic traffic guidance system. In order to improve the accuracy of short-term traffic flow prediction, a short-term traffic flow local prediction method based on combined kernel function relevance vector machine (CKF-RVM) model is put forward. The C-C method is used to calculate delay time and embedding dimension. The number of neighboring points is determined by use of Hannan-Quinn criteria, and the CKF-RVM model is built based on genetic algorithm. Finally, case validation is carried out using inductive loop data measured from the north–south viaduct in Shanghai. The experimental results demonstrate that the CKF-RVM model is 31.1% and 52.7% higher than GKF-RVM model and GKF-SVM model in the aspect of MAPE. Moreover, it is also superior to the other two models in the aspect of EC.
Differential butterfly performance on host plant variants from populations under intense vs. low mammalian herbivory

Evolutionary interactions between a pair of species can be modified by the presence of another species that interacts with either or both species. However, only a few studies have demonstrated such complex interactions. Here, we report a case where a population of the red admiral butterfly (Vanessa indica) is assumed to change fitness traits in response to an evolutionary change in its major host plant, the Japanese stinging nettle (Urtica thunbergiana), caused by intense browsing pressure from sika deer (Cervus nippon). Nara Park (NP) in Japan has been home to several hundred protected sika deer for approximately 1200 yr, and their intense browsing pressure is assumed to have selected for heavily haired nettles that are more resistant to deer browsing compared to normal lightly haired nettles occurring in areas with low densities of sika deer. We found that the water and nitrogen contents of leaves are lower and the specific leaf mass is higher in heavily haired nettles at NP compared to the lightly haired nettles at the Takatori Castle Site (TCS) 30 km south of NP. Feeding experiments showed that V. indica larvae from NP reared on heavily haired nettles reach a greater adult body mass and relative abdomen mass than those from TCS, suggesting the possibility that the NP V. indica population has adapted to the heavily haired, nutritionally poorer variant. Analysis of the nucleotide sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene of V. indica from NP and nearby locations including TCS found one haplotype exclusive to NP, suggesting that movement of this butterfly is somewhat restricted. However, analysis using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers showed no genetic differentiation between the seven V. indica populations including the NP and TCS populations. These results suggest that adaptation of the NP population to the heavily haired nettle occurred in a relatively short period. Our study demonstrates a rare example of an indirect evolutionary impact of one herbivore (sika deer) on another herbivore (red admiral butterfly) through an evolutionary change in their shared food plant (Japanese nettle).