Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Consumer Perception of Government Regulations in the Marketing of Consumer Products in Nigeria

The Nigeria society is littered with consumer product regulatory policies and agencies, however the degree of relevance and efficiency of these agencies is a-judged low compared to expectations. This situation is traced to the poor level of cooperation that exists between these agencies and target beneficiaries of the policies. This work thus studied consumer product marketing environment with selected regulatory agencies, producers of consumer products and consumers as targets and sources of data of the purpose of ascertaining the perception of consumers of government regulations. Data were analyzed based on Likert ranking scale built on the use of the nominal, ordinal and interval scales as well as the Spearman’s rank correlation co-efficiency and analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistics. Identified as problems are paucity in the presentation of the stimuli of regulatory messages, poor choice of media, inability to optimize the attributes (characteristics) of target markets in message building, poor management of regulatory agencies personnel among others. Given these, the paper recommends efficiency in media choice and management, consumer market research for the optimization of the attributes of the target market in message planning and development, the creation of balance in message building based on the urban-rural imbalance of target market structure, efficiency in regulatory agencies’ personnel management and socialization effort in agencies’ personnel among others .
Peri-Operative High-Dose v Post-Operative Low Dose Steroid Therapy in the Management of Biliary Atresia: a Preliminary Report

Background: The use of high-dose steroid therapy peri portoenterostomy may have a positive impact on the frequency of cholangitis and survival rate. Methods: A prospective study was conducted on two groups of patients (less than three months of age) suffering from biliary atresia from 1999 to 2005. The patients in group I (G I) were managed peri-operatively by high-dose methylprednisolone while the other group (G II) received low dose methylprednisolone only post-operatively (2mg/k/day for 1 month). Infants in GI (n=30) received methylprednisolone for 3 successive days before operation (10-8-6mg/kg/day), and 10 mg/k at the day of operation respectively. Thereafter the dose was tapered in the next successive 6 days by 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 mg/kg/day and continued for one month. Results: Seventy two infants with biliary atresia were operated (39 girls and 33 boys). Twenty-six of the 30 patients (86%) in G I became jaundice-free within 90 days after portoenterostomy while only seven (15%) of the 42 patients in G II had normal bilirubin (P<0.0001). Episodes of postoperative cholangitis in G I were 20% (6 of 30), and 53% (24 of 42) in G II (P<0.005). The difference in 3-year survival rate between the two groups is also remarkable: Eighty seven percent (26 of 30) in GI versus 29% (13 of 45) in G II (P<0.005). Death related to biliary atresia occurred in 1 (3.3%) patient in GI compared with 12 (29%) patients in G II (p<0.005). Conclusion: These results provide strong evidence that perioperative high dose steroid therapy is not only safe in this patients population, but because of its anti-inflammatory and cholerrhetic effects has a positive impact on preventing recurrent cholangitis, and ultimately survival. Iran J Med Sci 2008; 33(2): 79-83.
Physiological aspects, growth and yield of Coffea spp. in areas of high altitude

Low temperature and water deficit are the major climatic limitations for the coffee plant, affecting metabolic performance, development and yield. This work aims at evaluating the physiological responses of Coffea spp. genotypes grown in high-altitude (734 m) areas under field conditions, using 3-to-4-year-old plants of C. arabica cv. Catucai Vermelho (785/15) and C. canephora cv. Encapa 8111 Clone 02 (02V). Predawn leaf potential water, net photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, internal-to-external CO2 concentration ratio, and chlorophyll a fluorescence (JIPTest) values were assessed in March (adequate temperature and water availability conditions), July (suboptimal temperature) and October (low water availability). The growth of orthotropic and plagiotropic branches and the number of nodes were monitored monthly for 13 months, whereas two years yield was evaluated. Low temperatures (July) affected photosynthesis of both genotypes, although 785/15 showed smaller after-effects by October and unaltered values of almost all fluorescence parameters throughout the year (reflecting a high functional stability), and a higher number of nodes with a potential positive impact on yield. The 02V plants also kept relevant photochemical functioning, maintaining the values of several JIPTest parameters, a branch growth higher than 785/15, and a similar yield to that found for 02V in some lowaltitude areas. Therefore, C. canephora was able to cope with moderate low temperature and water deficit constraints that prevail in areas of higher altitudes for part of the year, while maintaining yield performance. Therefore, this genotype shows considerable potential to be cultivated at higher altitudes than what is traditionally considered adequate for C. canephora.
In Vitro Sugar Accumulation in Juice Sacs of 'Shiranuhi' Mandarin

To further our understanding of sugar accumulation in ‘Shiranuhi’ mandarin [(C. unshiu × C. sinensis) × C. reticulate], we investigated the patterns of sugar uptake in juice sacs exposed to different concentrations of sucrose, fructose and glucose in vitro. Data was also collected on the change in weight and shape of the in vitro juice sacs over time. Soluble solids content, sugar content and acidity content were highest at 20% sucrose, fructose and glucose solution content; while fructose content was highest at 5% sucrose concentration. Furthermore, the juice sac’s fresh weight was highest at 5% sucrose and lowest at 20% fructose content. The shape of the juice sacs also differed in different sugar concentration and type. Overall, sucrose, fructose and glucose content in juice sacs increased with the sugar concentration. These results suggest that sugar translocation into juice sacs is actively induced by high sugar concentration in the medium. Thus, it can be concluded that sugar and acid accumulation in juice sacs increased with sugar concentration in vitro culture.
A new graph related to the directions of nearest neighbours in a point process

This paper introduces a new graph constructed from a point process. The idea is to connect a point with its nearest neighbour, then to the second nearest and continue this process until the point belongs to the interior of the convex hull of these nearest neighbours. The number of such neighbours is called the degree of a point. We derive the distribution of the degree of the typical point in a Poisson process, prove a central limit theorem for the sum of degrees, and propose an edge-corrected estimator of the distribution of the degree that is unbiased for a stationary Poisson process. Simulation studies show that this degree is a useful concept that allows the separation of clustering and repulsive behaviour of point processes.
The Impact of Operations Anticipations on the Quality of Supply Chain Network Design Models

This paper draws on the stochastic multi-period location-transportation problem (SMLTP) for studying the impact of various types of operations anticipations on the quality of the supply chain network (SCN) designs obtained. The problem solving approach used to design SCNs involves the modeling of facility location decisions and of network operations decisions. Most SCN design models are extensions of deterministic location- allocation models incorporating anticipations based on aggregate arc flow variables and demand zones. This is a crude approximation and it could lead to bad designs. In this paper, several alternative approximate anticipations are proposed and tested in order to analyze their impact on the quality of the designs obtained. More precise anticipations however yield more complex models, and the tractability and solvability of these models is an issue because of their size and their underlying combinatorial-stochastic structures. The paper explores various accuracy-solvability tradeoffs for the SMLTP and it makes recommendations on modeling issues leading to better SCN design methodologies.
A reactive GRASP with path relinking for the pick-up and delivery problem with cross-docks

The pick-up and delivery problem with cross-docks is the problem of serving a number of transportation requests using a limited heterogeneous vehicle fleet. Each request has to be picked-up from and delivered to a specific location. Cross-docks can be used to temporarily store a product, such that another vehicle can deliver the product to its final destination. Our task is to construct routes against the lowest cost such that all requests are handled and time, capacity and capability constraints are met. Very liberal routing policies are allowed, which makes that this thesis is as far as we know the first in literature that studies this problem. This thesis mathematically defines this problem and presents a heuristic for it that combines a Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure with a ruin and recreate method for local search and Path Relinking, Furthermore, this heuristic is embedded in an Ant Colony Optimization framework. The heuristic is tested on 21 instances with up to 25 requests. The results indicate that sizable cost decrease can be obtained by applying more liberal routing policies and a dynamic assignment of requests to cross-docks.
Hydrological flow paths during snowmelt: Congruence between hydrometric measurements and oxygen 18 in meltwater, soil water, and runoff

Streamflow generation in boreal catchments remains poorly understood. This is especially true for snowmelt episodes, which are the dominant hydrological event in many seasonally snow covered regions. We examined the spatial and temporal aspects of flow pathways by linking detailed oxygen 18 observations of stream, melt, soil, and groundwater with hydrometric measurements in a small catchment in northern Sweden during the snowmelt period. The results demonstrate that soil horizons below 90 cm were hardly affected by the approximately 200 mm of snowmelt water infiltrating into the soil during the spring. The approximately sixtyfold increase in runoff, from 0.13 mm d−1 to 8 mm d−1, was generated by a 30–40 cm rise of the groundwater level. The total runoff during the snowmelt period from late April to late May was 134 mm, of which 75% was preevent water. Mass balance calculations based on hydrometric and isotopic data independently, both using upscaling of a hillslope transect to the entire 13‐ha catchment, provided similar results of both water storage changes and the amount of event water that was left in the catchment after the snowmelt. In general, groundwater levels and runoff were strongly correlated, but different functional relationships were observed for frozen and unfrozen soil conditions. Although runoff generation in the catchment generally could be explained by the transmissivity feedback concept, the results suggest that there is a temporal variability in the flow pathways during the spring controlled by soil frost during early snowmelt.
A corpus-based lexical analysis of Chinese medicine research articles

This study investigates the usefulness of two academic word lists - Coxhead’s (2000) Academic Word List (AWL) and Gardner & Davies’ ( 2014 ) Academic Vocabulary List (AVL) - for students of English for Chinese Medical Purposes. The two academic word lists were evaluated in terms of the coverage they achieved in a corpus of Chinese medical research articles (CMRAs) written in English. The AWL was found to cover 10.64% of tokens in the corpus, while the AVL was found to cover 21.17% overall. In both cases, the majority of the coverage was achieved by a relatively small subset of the lexical items on the lists. Analysis of the most frequently used words that are not included in the General Service List, Academic Word List and Academic Vocabulary List in the CMRAs shows that a small number of such words achieve a high level of coverage, suggesting that they should be given a great deal of attention by learners in this discipline. This suggests that a discipline-specific listing would be of great benefit to learners in this discipline. A list of the most prominent 100 off-list lexical items is provided.
Modelling issues of a holistic finite element approach in the virtual engineering design process

In the paper methods for the coupling of different meshed local domains of a product model, which occur in an adaptivity process are compared. The properties of the applied coupling methods are demonstrated on finite element models from structural mechanics to point out the advantages and disadvantages of the methods in a model adaptivity process in the field of automotive engineering. (© 2009 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Surface wave resonances supported on a square array of square metallic pillars

A family of transverse-magnetic surface waves is shown to be supported at microwave frequencies by a square array of subwavelength square cross-section metal pillars on a conducting ground plane. These surface waves are experimentally characterised with a collimated microwave beam apparatus that utilises a pair of two-dimensional parabolic mirrors positioned on the sample surface. The dispersion of the modes, each associated with a quantisation of the electromagnetic field in the depth of the slits, is fully characterised and compared with the predictions of finite element modelling.
Frequency-reconfigurable water antenna of circular polarization

A circularly polarized frequency-reconfigurable water antenna with high radiation efficiency is proposed based on the design concept of combining a frequency-reconfigurable radiating structure with a frequency-independent feeding structure. In this letter, a resonator made of distilled water and an Archimedean spiral slot are employed as the radiating and feeding structures, respectively. The operating frequency of the antenna can be continuously tuned over a very wide range while maintaining good impendence matching and circular polarization by changing the dimensions of the water resonator. A prototype antenna is designed, fabricated, and measured. Simulated and measured results demonstrate that the designed antenna exhibits a wide tuning frequency range from 155 MHz to 400 MHz with an average radiation efficiency of about 90% and good circular polarization.
Saharan Migrant Shepherds : Znāga Social Status and the Global Age

In the late twentieth century 300 Mauritanian shepherds travelled to the United Arab Emirates in order to tend the herds of some of this country’s most prominent leaders. These low-tech subjects of global migration flows were particularly valued and sought after by their Emirati employers for their expertise in raising camels. I will here present some of the agents involved in this transit, focusing on the reintegration of these shepherds in Mauritanian stratified tribal spheres, following their widespread return to the Sahara. The possibility of a statutory reconversion (after a financially rewarding experience in the Gulf) will be central to the discussions essayed in this article, given the pervasive designation of these shepherds as a ‘tributary’ (znāga) group, through the application of the tripartite model which, to a large extent, still defines Mauritania’s arabophone population.
Bulk density, chemical composition and in vitro gas production parameters of Iranian barley grain cultivars grown at different selected climates

Barley grain varieties adapted to grow under different climates of Iran (16 cultivars named Bahman, Makoeei, CB-79-10, Sahand, Reyhan03, Reyhan45, Fajer, Nosrat, Valfajer, Kavir, MB-82-12, AB-23-14, Nimrooz, Jenob, Dasht and Sahra) were provided (10 samples per each cultivars). Samples were assessed for bulk density (BD), chemical composition including organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and soluble sugar. An in vitro gas production technique was also used to examine the effect of the cultivars evaluated on gas production parameters of the barley grains evaluated. Approximately, 200 mg of each sample was weighed into a 120-ml serum vial (n=4). Gas production was recorded at 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72, and 96 h after the incubation. Data of 24 h gas production were also used to estimate the organic matter digestibility and metabolizable energy of the cultivars. Crude protein, soluble sugar, EE, ash, NDF and ADF concentrations of the barley samples investigated was on average of 108, 35, 30, 24, 238.4 and 72 g/kg, respectively; while the difference was significant (P< 0.001) among the cultivars. Dasht had the highest crude protein (CP) and the lowest NDF; while Makooei and Sahra showed the highest NDF and BD, respectively. The average of bulk density was 679 kg/m3 (from 615 to 720); there was a negative correlation between the bulk density and ADF (r = -0.77 and P< 0.001), while the correlation between the bulk density and metabolizable energy was positive (r = 0.69 and P< 0.05). Organic matter digestibility of the samples evaluated ranged from 75 to 81% (mean= 78%) and there was a significant differences (P< 0.01) among the cultivars. Key words: Barley grain, digestibility, metabolizable energy, gas production.
A model system to screen for candidate plant activators using an immune-induction system in Arabidopsis

To develop a screening system for plant activators, which are novel substances that protect plants by enhancing their inherent disease-resistance mechanisms, we utilized a GUS reporter gene system using promoters of the defense- related genes, PR-1 and PR-4. To validate the strategy, we performed subsequent analysis using an Arabidopsis microarray consisting of 1200 full-length cDNA clones representing putative defense-related and regulatory genes. Benzo(1,2,3)thiadiazole-7-carbothioic acid S-methyl ester and 2,6-dichloroisonicotinic acid activated plant defense responses via the salicylic acid (SA)-dependent signaling pathway, and b-aminobutyric acid triggered a primed state in the plant that enables more efficient activation of the SA-, jasmonic acid- and ethylene-signaling pathway. These results suggest that this novel system can be used to screen for candidate plant activators.
Collaboration and Supply Chain in Mexican Manufacturing SMEs

En un ambiente de los negocios demasiado incierto, insertados en un mercado cada vez mas competitivo y en una economia globalizada, la colaboracion surge como una alternativa no solamente para eficientar la cadena de suministro, sino ademas como una estrategia empresarial que puede generar un mayor nivel de crecimiento de las organizaciones, en especial de las pequenas y medianas empresas. Asimismo, las actividades de colaboracion estan siendo adoptadas e implementadas por un numero cada vez mayor de empresas, y no solo son sinonimo de intercambio de informacion, sino tambien de buenas practicas de comunicacion, compartir riesgos y generacion de conocimiento. Por lo tanto, el objetivo central de este estudio de investigacion es conocer los efectos que ejercen de las actividades de colaboracion en la cadena de suministro de las pequenas y medianas empresas, considerando para ello una muestra de 346 empresas asentadas en el Estado de Aguascalientes (Mexico). Los resultados obtenidos muestran que las actividades de colaboracion tienen efectos positivos significativos en la cadena de suministro de las pequenas y medianas empresas de Aguascalientes.
Marginal Methods for Multivariate Failure Times Under Event-Dependent Censoring

Many chronic diseases put individuals at increased risk of several different types of adverse clinical events. Typically these events are combined to define composite events which are then used as the basis of treatment evaluation. A potentially more efficient approach is to conduct separate marginal assessments of the effect of treatment on each component and then to synthesize this information across each type of event. While there is considerable potential for more powerful tests of treatment effect in this setting, it is possible that dependent censoring can cause problems. This happens when the occurrence of one type of event increases the risk of withdrawal from a study and hence alters the probability of observing events of other types. The purpose of this article is to formulate a model which reflects this type of mechanism, to evaluate the effect on the asymptotic and finite sample properties of marginal estimates, and to examine the performance of estimators obtained using flexible inverse probability weighted marginal estimating equations. Data from a motivating study are used for illustration.
Quantitative Trait Loci and Candidate Genes Affecting Fatty Acid Composition in Cattle and Pig

Investigations into fatty acid composition in meats are becoming more important due to consumer demand for high quality healthy food. Marker-assisted selection has been applied to livestock to improve meat quality by directly selecting animals for favorable alleles that affect economic traits. Quantitative trait loci affecting fatty acid composition in cattle and pigs were investigated, and five candidate genes (ACACA, FASN, SCD, FABPs, and SREBP-1) were significantly associated with fatty acid composition. The information presented here should provide valuable guidelines to detect causative mutations affecting fatty acid composition in cattle and pigs.
Acute toxicity of two pesticides Diazinon and Deltamethrin on Tench (Tinca tinca) larvae and fingerling

Diazinon and deltamethrin are common useful agricultural pesticides in the world. The present research compared the acute toxicity of diazinon and deltamethrin to tench larvae and fingerling. LC50 of 24 h, 48-h, 72 h and 96 h were determined using a probit. Fish samples (21 fish in each test group) were exposed to different concentrations of diazinon and deltamethrin (diazinon: for fingerling between1-20 ppm and larvae 0.25-2 ppm, deltamethrin: for fingerling between 0.01-0.2 ppm and larvae 0.0025-0.02) for 96 h and mortality were recorded. The LC50 96 h of diazinon for fingerlings and larvae were 6.77 and 0.63, respectively. The LC50 96 h of deltamethrin for fingerlings and larvae were 0.07 and 0.005 ppm, respectively. According to the results, larvae are more sensitive than fingerlings, LC50 values indicated that deltamethrin is more toxic than diazinon to Tinca tinca, so we suggest to use diazinon instead of deltamethrin in agriculture.
Managing Quality of Experience on a Commercial Mobile TV Platform

The user perceived quality or Quality of Experience (QoE) is of significant importance to multimedia service providers because of its relevance for efficient management of provided services. However, due to its subjective nature, QoE is difficult to estimate. Subjective methods are costly and impractical, while objective methods do not correlate precisely with the subjective perception. In addition to the challenges in estimating QoE, further challenges are presented in determining the means of managing the QoE in today’s complex and varied multimedia distribution systems. As a result of the high number of components and parameters that affect the perceived quality, from content creation to delivery and presentation, the QoE aware management in these highly versatile environments becomes increasingly difficult. We present a method that uses limited initial subjective tests to develop prediction models for QoE as perceived by the viewers. This minimizes the complexities associated with subjective methods while maintaining the accuracy. Further we present a method of calculating the QoE remedies for managing the QoE per stream, based on the QoE prediction models.