Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Leadership Succession and Individual Performance in Nigerian Commercial Banks

Leadership succession can play a very important role in ensuring better performance of individuals in an organization. However, in Nigerian context especially in the banking sector this issue receives less attention from past researchers. Thus, this is a dire need to explore this issue in the future. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between leadership succession and individual performance in the Nigerian banking industry. The paper proposed to provide a framework that will examine the relationship between leadership succession and individual performance in the Nigerian Banking sector. Keywords: Leadership succession, individual performance, commercial banks, Nigeria
Virus Production Protein Modulates M Oligomerization and Respiratory Syncytial Virus Matrix ( M ) The Thr 205 Phosphorylation Site within

Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in infants and the elderly worldwide; however, there is no licensed RSV vaccine or effective drug treatment available. The RSV matrix (M) protein plays key roles in virus assembly and budding, but the protein interactions that govern budding of infectious virus are not known. In this study, we focus on M protein and identify a key phosphorylation site (Thr205) in M that is critical for RSV infectious virus production. Recombinant virus with a nonphosphorylatable alanine (Ala) residue at the site was markedly attenuated, whereas virus with a phosphomimetic aspartate (Asp) resulted in a nonviable virus which could only be recovered with an additional mutation in M (serine to asparagine at position 220), strongly implying that Thr205 is critical for viral infectivity. Experiments in vitro showed that mutation of Thr205 does not affect M stability or the ability to form dimers but implicate an effect on higherorder oligomer assembly. In transfected and infected cells, Asp substitution of Thr205 appeared to impair M oligomerization; typical filamentous structures still formed at the plasma membrane, but M assembly during the ensuing elongation process seemed to be impaired, resulting in shorter and more branched filaments as observed using electron microscopy (EM). Our data thus imply for the first time that M oligomerization, regulated by a negative charge at Thr205, may be critical to production of
Effects of Neighborhood’s Built Environment on Physical Activities in Gated Communities: A Review

The emergence of gated communities throughout the world has generated significant academic interest. Several studies have been carried out that can be found in the body of literature, which have attempted to investigate the various aspects of life within the gated communities. The range of subjects studied within this context includes the types of gated communities, the associated social and governance issues, the travel patterns, and the daily physical activities. The focus of most of these studies, however, has been on the social and governance issues while a little research on the mobility pattern (i.e. walking, cycling and public transport) and physical activities in gated communities has been reported, the available literature suffers from major shortcomings such as identification of suitable indicators to investigate whether these communities have same effects on mobility patterns and physical activities as non-gated communities. The present paper, therefore, attempts to identify the methods for objective as well as subjective study of the mobility patterns and neighborhoods design which affect the physical activities through a systematic review of available literature. The paper identifies suitable indicators to investigate the rate of physical activity in gated communities. Attempt will be made to clearly chart the differences as well as similarities between the issues concerned with physical activity in gated communities and non-gated communities and attempts to introduce new objectives for future studies. The findings of this study are expected to help design an investigation into the merits or otherwise of the active living neighborhoods.
Medical Cannabis-Using Patients in Urban Washington State Reveals Managed Chronic Illness and Prospectively Surveying Health-Related Quality of Life and Symptom Relief in a Lot-Based Sample of

Objectives: To characterize health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in medical cannabis patients. Methods: Short Form 36 (SF36) Physical Health Component Score and Mental Health Component Score (MCS) surveys as well has CDC (Centers for Disease Control) HRQoL-14 surveys were completed by 37 qualified patients. Results: Mean SF-36 PCS and MCS, normalized at 50, were 37.4 and 44.2, respectively. Eighty percent of participants reported activity/functional limitations secondary to impairments or health problems. Patients reported using medical cannabis to treat a wide array of symptoms across multiple body systems with relief ratings consistently in the 7-10/10 range. Conclusion: The HRQoL results in this sample of medical cannabis-using patients are comparable with published norms in other chronically ill populations. Data presented provide insight into medical cannabisusing patients’ self-rated health, HRQoL, disease incidences, and cannabis-related symptom relief.
Experiences in using the EF-Scale since its inception

Since the beginning of 2007, the EFScale has become the standard by which the NWS rates tornado intensity. Over this time period, numerous damage surveys have been completed by surveyors, including the authors, creating an experience base from which an assessment can be made of, its value, issues resulting from its inadequacies, needed improvements. As the adoption of the F-Scale has become widespread from the 1970’s to the 1990’s, engineers have become increasingly concerned that the wind speeds at the high end of the F-Scale were too high. The Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF-Scale) was designed primarily to lower the wind speeds associated with the high ratings and to add more Damage Indicators (DIs) (McDonald et al. 2003 and WSEC, 2004). The steering committee involved in creating the EF-Scale desired a climatological continuity in tornado ratings as the new scale became adopted. Therefore, the only choice was to change the relationship between wind speed and Degree of Damage (DOD) while attempting to maintain the relationship between DOD and rating. As will be mentioned later in this paper, this strategy creates problems when building construction standards change within a DI. The EF-Scale brings to surveyors a more comprehensive set of damage descriptions to 28 DIs vs a few DIs associated with the F-Scale. Damage surveyors identify the DI, then the DOD, to derive an expected wind speed. Adjustments to the wind speed estimate are made based on the surveyor’s estimate of the DI’s structural integrity. The final rating comes out of the wind speed estimate. Ideally, there should be less subjectivity concerning the derivation of an EF-Scale rating, and there should be many more data points from which to construct a more precise map of tornado intensity. In reality, the experience gained by multiple surveys indicates that while the EF-Scale provides many more points for wind speed estimation, there is still just as much subjectivity in determining wind speed estimates as with the F-Scale. This paper describes the advantages the EF-Scale brings to damage surveyors, issues with the chosen DODs, and then suggestions for improvements to the EF-Scale including consideration of an evolution to a superior wind speed/energy scale.
Transcriptomics of C 4 photosynthesis in rice paddy 1 2

Running head: Transcriptomics of C4 photosynthesis in rice paddy 1 2 Julian M. Hibberd 3 Department of Plant Sciences 4 University of Cambridge 5 Cambridge CB2 3EA 6 United Kingdom 7 +44 (0) 1223 766547 8 jmh65@cam.ac. uk 9 10 Research Area: Biochemistry and Metabolism 11 12 Secondary Research Area: Systems and Synthetic Biology 13 Plant Physiology Preview. Published on November 9, 2015, as DOI:10.1104/pp.15. 00889
KRAS oncoprotein expression is regulated by a self-governing eIF 5 A-PEAK 1 feed-forward regulatory loop Running title : eIF 5 A-PEAK 1 signaling regulates KRAS protein expression

There remains intense interest in tractable approaches to target or silence the KRAS oncoprotein as a rational therapeutic strategy to attack pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and other cancers which overexpress it. Here we provide evidence that accumulation of the KRAS oncoprotein is controlled by a self-regulating feed-forward regulatory loop that utilizes a unique hypusinated isoform of the translation elongation factor eIF5A and the tyrosine kinase PEAK1. Oncogenic activation of KRAS increased eIF5A-PEAK1 translational signaling, which in turn facilitated increased KRAS protein synthesis. Mechanistic investigations shows that this feed-forward positive regulatory pathway was controlled by oncogenic KRAS-driven metabolic demands, operated independently of canonical mTOR signaling, and did not involve new KRas gene transcription. Perturbing eIF5A-PEAK1 signaling, by genetic or pharmacologic strategies or by blocking glutamine synthesis, was sufficient to inhibit expression of KRAS, eIF5A, and PEAK1, attenuate cancer cell growth and migration, and block tumor formation in established preclinical mouse models of PDAC. Levels of KRAS, eIF5A, and PEAK1 protein increased during cancer progression with the highest levels of expression observed in metastatic cell populations. Combinatorial targeting of eIF5A hypusination and the RAS-ERK signaling pathway cooperated to attenuate KRAS expression and its downstream signaling along with cell growth in vitro and tumor formation in vivo. Collectively, our findings highlight a new mechanistic strategy to attenuate KRAS expression as a therapeutic strategy to target PDAC and other human cancers driven by KRAS activation. Research. on January 10, 2018. © 2018 American Association for Cancer cancerres.aacrjournals. org Downloaded from Author manuscripts have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but have not yet been edited. Author Manuscript Published OnlineFirst on January 10, 2018; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-17-2873
3D Geometric Characterization of Moved Masses in Sea Cliffs Using Point Clouds

Sea cliff monitoring studies aim to classify cliff sections according to their susceptibility to rock fall so that risk prevention measures can be taken. The classification relies on inventories of well-characterized, past mass movements. Since the surface of a cliff is almost vertical and very irregular in all three space directions, a simple difference between two Digital Terrain Models does not yield the required volumes. A new approach to automatically estimate the volumes of lost masses in 3D point clouds is presented. Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning and Close Range Photogrammetry, very dense 3D point clouds can be obtained to describe the geometry of a sea cliff face. When generated periodically, these can be used to detect changes on the cliff due to erosion. Some of the variables needed to assess cliff susceptibility are location, the affected area and the volume of lost masses. The evaluation of the algorithm yielded a theoretical value for accuracy of ±10% for the volume calculated, which was confirmed by a test using a known volume. This accuracy satisfies the usual requirements of the inventories for cliff evolution studies, and the algorithm represents a significant advance in the geometric characterization of moved masses in 3D for extensive cliff faces.
Female participation in the labour market: The case of the informal sector in Kenya

The informal sector has become increasingly important as a source of income and employment in Kenya. This contrasts with the declining performance of the formal sector, and underscores the sector’s potential for absorbing the country’s increasing labour force as more households become dependent on it. One important attribute of the sector is that it has become a major employer of the female labour force in the country. This study investigated the factors determining the participation of women in informal sector activities given a range of other available labour market options. The results show that education is one of the important factors determining women’s participation in the different categories of the labour market. The study concludes that efforts to address the problem of women’s access to the labour market should focus on improving their access to education as one of the important factors for improving their human capital. Given the nature of the informal sector, and the fact that access to the labour market is an outcome of the interaction between demand and supply, addressing female participation in the sector may require addressing the demand side of the Kenyan labour market in addition to the factors expected to explain labour market participation.
Enhancement of the Optical Performance by Optimization of Optical Sheets in Direct-illumination LCD Backlight

The structure of the prism sheet and the reflective polarizer sheet in the direct - illumination liquid crystal display (LCD) backlight is optimized and fabricated. The apex angle of the prism sheet was changed from 90 degree to 96.5 and 101.5 degree and the angular spread of the diffuser films attached on the reflective polarizer sheet was changed from 7 to 1.5 degrees. The measured view angle, the normal luminance, and the contrast ratio from the optimized backlight unit showed improved optical performances.
New aromatic-aliphatic co-polyesters: Effect of the Structural Characteristic on the thermal Properties

Despite progress in the development of biodegradable polyesters, little attention has been given to aliphatic/aromatic copolyesters. Therefore, a series of such co-polyesters has been synthesized by polycondensation of hydroxytelechelic poly( e-caprolactone) and bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate, using a two-step method and a one-step method providing regular and random distributions of starting co-monomers in the co-polyester chains, respectively. The co-polyesters have been characterized by 1H and 13 C NMR, UV-visible absorption spectroscopy and SEC measurements. The chemical composition of the aliphatic/aromatic co-polyesters strongly influences the material characteristics. Even with an identical molar co-monomer composition, the properties of the obtained co-polyesters depended on the synthesis method and therefore on the co-monomer distribution along the polymer chain. The thermal properties of synthesized co-polyesters were studied using DSC and TGA, demonstrating the influence of aromatic rings spread along the macromolecular polyester chain.
Teikyo University Graduate School of Public Health , Tokyo , Japan Masao Tomonaga The Japanese Red Cross Nagasaki

Exposure to ionizing radiation is a known environmental risk factor for a variety of cancers including hematological malignancies, such as leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, and multiple myeloma. Therefore, for Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors (surviving victims who were exposed to ionizing radiation emitted from the nuclear weapons), several cancer-screening tests have been provided annually, with government support, to detect the early stage of malignancies. An M-protein screening test has been used to detect multiple myeloma at an early stage among atomic bomb survivors. In the screening process, a number of patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), in addition to multiple myeloma, have been identified. In 2009 and 2011, we reported the ageand sex-specific prevalence of MGUS between 1988 and 2004 and the possible role of radiation exposure in the development of MGUS using the screening data of more than 1000 patients with MGUS among approximately 52,000 Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors. The findings included: (1) a significant lower overall prevalence (2.1%) than that observed in Caucasian or African-origin populations; (2) a significantly higher prevalence in men than in women; (3) an age-related increase in the prevalence; (4) a significantly higher prevalence in people exposed to higher radiation doses only among those exposed at age 20 years or younger; and (5) a lower frequency of immunoglobulin M MGUS in Japanese patients than in patients in Western countries. The large study of MGUS among Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors has provided important findings for the etiology of MGUS, including a possible role of radiation exposure on the cause of MGUS and an ethnicity-related difference in the characteristics of MGUS. Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma & Leukemia, Vol. 14, No. 1, 18-20 a 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Combining Spot and Futures Markets: A Hybrid Market Approach to Dynamic Spectrum Access

Dynamic spectrum access (DSA) is a new paradigm of secondary spectrum utilization and sharing. It allows unlicensed secondary users (SUs) to exploit the under-utilized radio spectrum licensed to primary users opportunistically. Market mechanism is a widely-used promising means to regulate the consuming behaviours of users and, hence, achieve the efficient allocation and consumption of limited resources. In this paper, we propose and study a hybrid secondary spectrum market consisting of both the futures market and the spot market, in which SUs (buyers) purchase under-utilized licensed spectrum from a primary spectrum regulator (PR), either through predefined contracts via the futures market, or through spot transactions via the spot market. We focus on the optimal spectrum allocation among SUs in an exogenous hybrid market that maximizes the secondary spectrum utilization efficiency. The problem is challenging due to the stochasticity and asymmetry of network information. To solve this problem, we first derive an off-line optimal allocation policy that maximizes the ex-ante expected spectrum utilization efficiency based on the stochastic distribution of network information. We then propose an on-line VCG auction that determines the real-time allocation and pricing of every spectrum based on the realized network information and the prederived off-line policy. We further show that with the spatial frequency reuse, the proposed VCG auction is NP-hard; hence, it is not suitable for on-line implementation, especially in a large-scale market. To this end, we propose a heuristics approach based on an on-line VCG-like mechanism with polynomial-time complexity, and further characterize the corresponding performance loss bound analytically. We finally provide extensive numerical results to evaluate the performance of the proposed solutions.
Pathway-Catenin / BCL 9 β Therapeutic Tool by Targeting the Oncogenic Wnt / miR-30-5 p Functions as a Tumor Suppressor and Novel

Wnt/b-catenin signaling underlies the pathogenesis of a broad range of human cancers, including the deadly plasma cell cancer multiple myeloma. In this study, we report that downregulation of the tumor suppressor microRNA miR-30-5p is a frequent pathogenetic event in multiple myeloma. Evidence was developed that miR30-5p downregulation occurs as a result of interaction between multiple myeloma cells and bone marrow stromal cells, which in turn enhances expression of BCL9, a transcriptional coactivator of the Wnt signaling pathway known to promote multiple myeloma cell proliferation, survival, migration, drug resistance, and formation of multiple myeloma cancer stem cells. The potential for clinical translation of strategies to reexpress miR-30-5p as a therapeutic approach was further encouraged by the capacity of miR-30c and miR-30 mix to reduce tumor burden and metastatic potential in vivo in three murine xenograft models of human multiple myeloma without adversely affecting associated bone disease. Together, our findings offer a preclinical rationale to explore miR-30-5p delivery as an effective therapeutic strategy to eradicate multiple myeloma cells in vivo. Cancer Res; 74(6); 1801–13. 2014 AACR.
Patients Undergo Feasibility and Precision of Subcutaneous Continuous Glucose Monitoring in ing CABG Surgery

Objectives: To evaluate if subcutaneous continuous glucose monitoring (sCGM) is feasible in cardiac surgery and if reliable glucose values are reported under hypothermic extracorporeal circulation. Design: Feasibility trial. Setting: University hospital. Participants: Ten consecutive patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. Interventions: Prior to surgery, during hypothermic extracorporeal bypass, and 48 hours postoperatively, arterial blood glucose samples were compared with sCGM every 30 minutes. Statistical analysis utilized Clarke ́s error grid and Bland-Altman plot. Measurements and Main Results: Three hundred fiftyone pairs of glucose measurements were recorded including 59 during hypothermic extracorporeal circulation. Agreement between these measurements was acceptable, with a
The carrier blocking effect on 850 nm InAlGaAs/AlGaAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

In this study, the carrier blocking effect on 850 nm InAlGaAs/AlGaAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting layers (VCSELs) was theoretically and experimentally investigated. By means of inserting a high-bandgap electron blocking layer, which was either 10 nm thick Al0.75Ga0. 25As or 13 nm thick Al0.9Ga0. 1As, on the p-side of a quantum-well active region, the laser output performance was theoretically found to be improved. VCSELs with and without an electron blocking layer were also experimentally demonstrated. It was found that the threshold current was reduced from 1.47 to 1.33 mA and the slope efficiency was increased from 0.37 to 0.53 mW mA−1 by inserting a 10 nm thick Al0.75Ga0. 25As electron blocking layer. Also, the device became less sensitive to the device temperature, where the amount of increase in the threshold current at an elevated temperature of 95 °C was only 0.27 mA and the slope efficiency dropped by only 24.5%. A peak frequency response of nearly 9 GHz at 5 mA, measured from relative intensity noise (RIN), was obtained in these VCSEL devices.
Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Nuclear Magnetic Relaxation Time Analyses of Molecular Mobility and Compatibility of Plasticized Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) Copolymers

The molecular mobility and compatibility of plasticized polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) were investigated, focusing on changes due to copolymerization using either flexible poly (butylene succinate) (PBS) or rigid poly(lactic acid) (PLA) units. For the case of a poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) unit in plasticized PHA, copolymerization of either PBS or PLA decreased 1H and 13C spin-lattice relaxation times in the laboratory frame (T1H and T1C) in the same manner, while PBS produced a lower 1H spin-lattice relaxation time in the rotating frame (T1ρH) than PLA. Both the signals of 1H MAS (magic-angle spinning) and 13C PST (pulse saturation transfer) MAS nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra were sharpened and increased by copolymerization with PBS. A variable temperature relaxation time analysis showed that the decrease of T1H values was dominated by the 1H spin diffusion via the interface between PHB and the added polyester because of the good compatibility. Meanwhile, the decrease of T1C values was dominated by increasingly rapid molecular motions of PHB because of the lowered crystallinity due to the plasticization. Slow molecular motions (kHz order) were enhanced more by the addition of PBS than PLA, although rapid molecular motions (MHz order) were enhanced by either polyester. Several NMR parameters were beneficial for analyzing the manufacturing process as the indexes of polymer compatibility and molecular motions.