Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of the Parenting Preparation Program on Maternal Role Competence: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: The maternal sense of competence refers to the mother's sense of ability to care for the baby. Maternal competence can affect the mother's parenting capacities. Maternal preparation programs are aimed to increase mothers' knowledge and improve their maternal competence. This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the effect of a maternal preparation program on maternal role competence. Materials and Methods: A systematic search was conducted using the following MeSH terms: “education”, “program”, and “parenting sense of competence” in databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Central, and Scopus, from inception till July 2022. All Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) published in any language were extracted. Articles were screened based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The quality of the included articles was assessed by two qualified reviewers based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Results: Of the 170 published works that were retrieved in the initial stage, five articles including 647 first-time mothers were analyzed. A meta-analysis showed that parenting preparation program interventions increased maternal role competence in first-time mothers as opposed to those who received routine care Mean Difference (MD) = 3.31, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) [2.07, 4.55]. Conclusions: The results of this study encourage health policymakers to develop maternal preparation programs for first-time mothers and their children.
A probabilistic semantics for modal QAD in standard Arabic

Abstract Gradable Epistemic Modals (GEMs) such as certain or likely have been analyzed to have the semantics of gradable adjectives, which constrain their epistemic modality. This squib analyzes the modal use of the sentential particle qad in Standard Arabic which has the following puzzling behavior: particle qad gives rise to the certainty/likelihood modality meaning only when it is composed with the tense expression of its propositional complement. Modal qad then manifests itself as an extreme, non-gradable modal with no lexically encoded but grammatically derived scale meaning. A probabilistic semantics is proposed to derive the truth conditions of the epistemic modal meaning of qad based on a monotonic, probabilistic time-world branching model. The analysis assigns maximum degree of likelihood to qad in the past tense which triggers certainty. It also assigns a minimum degree of likelihoods to qad in the present tense which triggers possibility.
Galling insect communities mediate the effects of fire on their associated parasitoid communities

Understanding fire effects on multitrophic levels is critical to the context of changes in fire regime and climate. Insects located at higher trophic levels, like parasitoids, are more vulnerable to habitat changes than insect herbivores because they need well‐established populations of their hosts to survive. Currently, fire effects on parasitoids and their interactions with their hosts are unknown. Our aim was to study the changes in abundance, richness and species composition, as well as the food web structure in a system involving parasitoids and galling insects under different fire scenarios. We asked whether potential changes in abundance, species richness and composition of parasitoid communities are explained by galled plant abundance, species richness and composition of galling insects, and how fire affects the structure of galling insect–parasitoid food webs. The highest parasitoid richness was found in the 9 years after fire scenario, whereas parasitoid abundance was not affected by fire. The parasitoid species composition in the 9 years after fire scenario was different from that in the unburned and 3 years after fire scenarios. Parasitoid communities were modulated by galled plant abundance, species richness and composition of galling insect communities. Vulnerability was significantly higher in 9 years after fire scenarios, but it increased with increasing network size. Fire affects the community of parasitoids through changes in their host communities. Differences in exclusivity to fire scenarios and diet specialisation of parasitoid species and galling insect richness may explain the patterns found. Our study supports evidence that fire creates habitats heterogeneous in the availability of hosts shaping the parasitoid communities, with a bottom‐up effect in food webs. Additionally, in burned areas were recorded unique galling insect–parasitoid interactions.
Polymorphisms at Candidate Genes for Fat Content and Fatty Acids Composition: Effects on Sheep Milk Production and Fatty Acid Profile Using Two Dietary Supplementations

Simple Summary The fat component of sheep milk exhibits significant variability. While nutrition is widely acknowledged as the main factor affecting fat yield and fatty acid profile in ruminants’ milk, genetic factors also contribute to this variation at breed and individual levels. This study aimed to examine the impact of genotypes and feed integration on milk quality in Valle del Belìce sheep. To achieve this aim, two polymorphic lipogenic genes (DGAT1 and SCD) and the impact of two dietary supplementations (carob pulp and barley grain) were investigated. Carob pulp, a local agro-industrial by-product rich in carbohydrates and tannins, was selected due to its potential to positively affect ruminant metabolism, suggesting a viable and sustainable alternative for ruminant feeding from economic and environmental perspectives. The genotype at the DGAT1 locus significantly affected both the milk urea content and milk fatty acid composition. The carob pulp supplementation, compared to barley, increased the fat percentage but worsened the milk fatty acid profile in terms of healthy properties. The interaction between genotypes and diet was not evident. Abstract The nutritional value of sheep’s milk and its derivatives is influenced by the lipid fraction, which is affected by diet and genetics. This study aimed to explore the genetic variations in the DGAT1 and SCD genes and assessed the impact of the DGAT1 genotype on milk quality in Valle del Belìce sheep, considering diet supplementation with carob pulp and barley grain. Among the potentially polymorphic sites, only DGAT1 g.127 C > A and SCD g.87 C > A showed variability. The DGAT1 genotype did not significantly impact milk yield and composition, except for higher urea content in the CA genotypes than in the CC ones. Carob pulp increased the milk fat content compared to barley grain. Genetic variation in DGAT1 was associated with changes in the milk fatty acid profile; specifically, the CA genotype exhibited higher levels of short-chain fatty acids and lower levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids compared to the CC genotype. Carob pulp supplementation increased saturated fatty acids and reduced unsaturated fractions, leading to milk with higher atherogenic and thrombogenic indices. No significant interaction was found between genotype and diet. This study provides insights into the genetic and dietary factors influencing sheep’s milk composition. Further research is needed to understand the impact of these genetic variations on milk production and composition, as well as to determine optimal levels of carob pulp for improving fat percentage and promoting sustainable sheep breeding practices.
Co-Inheritance of Pathogenic Variants in PKD1 and PKD2 Genes Determined by Parental Segregation and De Novo Origin: A Case Report

Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is the most common hereditary renal disease, and it is typically caused by PKD1 and PKD2 heterozygous variants. Nonetheless, the extensive phenotypic variability observed among affected individuals, even within the same family, suggests a more complex pattern of inheritance. We describe an ADPKD family in which the proband presented with an earlier and more severe renal phenotype (clinical diagnosis at the age of 14 and end-stage renal disease aged 24), compared to the other affected family members. Next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based analysis of polycystic kidney disease (PKD)-associated genes in the proband revealed the presence of a pathogenic PKD2 variant and a likely pathogenic variant in PKD1, according to the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) criteria. The PKD2 nonsense p.Arg872Ter variant was segregated from the proband’s father, with a mild phenotype. A similar mild disease presentation was found in the proband’s aunts and uncle (the father’s siblings). The frameshift p.Asp3832ProfsTer128 novel variant within PKD1 carried by the proband in addition to the pathogenic PKD2 variant was not found in either parent. This report highlights that the co-inheritance of two or more PKD genes or alleles may explain the extensive phenotypic variability among affected family members, thus emphasizing the importance of NGS-based techniques in the definition of the prognostic course.
MODERATING INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT ON THE LINK BETWEEN TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND PERFORMANCE OF MICROFINANCE BANKS IN KENYA

The organisational performances of microfinance banks in Kenya remain pertinent for both micro and macro-economic development in the country. However, according to central bank of Kenya, annual report and financial statements 2019 to 2020 and bank supervision annual report 2020, the microfinance banks recorded a combined loss before tax of KSh 1.0 billion in the year ended June 2020, compared to a loss of KSh 0.7 billion in the previous year ended June 2019. The purpose of this study was to assess the moderating influence of external environment on the link between transformational leadership and performance of microfinance banks in Kenya. The study was anchored on transformational leadership theory, open systems and stakeholder theories. The study adopted positivism research philosophy and applied cross-sectional survey design. The study’s target population was the 14 microfinance banks as listed by the central bank of Kenya as of 31 st December 2020. The study applied stratified proportionate random sampling and questionnaires were used to collect data from 366 respondents. Primary data was analysed using inferentially analysis. The model results revealed that there is a strong, positive and statistically significant relationship (R = 0.734, p < 0.05), between transformational leadership, external environment and performance. The model further shows R-squared = 0.539 t his means that 53.9% of variation in performance can be explained by a unit change in transformational leadership and external environment. This study finding revealed that external environment significantly moderates relationship between transformational leadership and performance of microfinance banks in Kenya. The study recommends that microfinance banks adopt the use of dec ision support systems to increase the manager’s effectiveness in decision making and that the use of computerized information system makes the banking services to the customers more efficient and the use of computerized information system increases the banking staff effectiveness respectively
Statistica Sinica Preprint No : SS-2015-0387 R 2 Title A New Reduced-Rank Linear Discriminant Analysis Method and Its Applications

We consider multi-class classification problems for high dimensional data. Following the idea of reduced-rank linear discriminant analysis (LDA), we introduce a new dimension reduction tool with a flavor of supervised principal component analysis (PCA). The proposed method is computationally efficient and can incorporate the correlation structure among the features. Besides the theoretical insights, we show that our method is a competitive classification tool by simulated and real data examples.
PsFT, PsTFL1, and PsFD Are Involved in Regulating the Continuous Flowering of Tree Peony (Paeonia × lemoinei ‘High Noon’)

Tree peonies are an economically important crop with flowers of high ornamental value. Most tree peony cultivars in gardens are once-flowering, and the continuous flowering (CF) trait has been revealed only in a few tree peony cultivars, such as ‘High Noon’ (‘HN’). However, the molecular mechanism underlying its CF remains unclear. Here, we demonstrated that PsTFL1 functions as a floral inhibitor via the ectopic expression of PsTFL1 in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants. Our findings suggest that PsFT and PsTFL1 interact with PsFD, and the detected interactions may occur in the nucleus. Compared with the non-CF variety, the gene expression patterns of PsFT, PsTFL1, and PsFD during the flower development indicate that these three genes may be related to the CF habit in tree peony ‘HN’. These findings will aid future investigations of CF behavior and promote the breeding of tree peonies and other perennial woody plants.
Factors that Influence the Probability of Rejection of Government Accounts in Pernambuco Municipalities

Objective : Check what are the factors that influence the probability of rejection of government accounts judged by the Pernambuco State Audit Court (TCE/PE). Method: Logistic regression was used to verify the probability of rejection of government accounts based on the profile of mayors and socioeconomic characteristics of municipalities. Originality/Relevance: This research innovates by testing variables that make it possible to help mayors and society to observe what characteristics of public managers and municipalities are a desired profile in order to reduce the number of rejected accounts, promoting good governance practices and greater participation of social control in the use of public resources. Results: The findings suggest that political experience and education level are the factors that most influence, respectively, increasing and decreasing, the probability of rejection of municipal government accounts. With regard to the variables related to the socioeconomic characteristics of the Municipalities, the results suggest that an increase in the Financial Performance Index of the Municipality, in the GDP per capita and in the Firjan Municipal Development Index, decrease the probability of rejection of the government accounts judged by the TCE/PE. Theoretical/Methodological Contributions : It contributes by expanding the list of research on the subject, analyzed from the perspective of a quantitative methodology, exploring new results with a local sample and inferring possibilities to identify factors that influence account rejection.
Effect of Sterilization on the Dimensional and Mechanical Behavior of Polylactic Acid Pieces Produced by Fused Deposition Modeling

To successfully implement additive manufacturing (AM) techniques for custom medical device (MD) production with low-cost resources, it is imperative to understand the effect of common and affordable sterilization processes, such as formaldehyde or steam sterilization, on pieces manufactured by AM. In this way, the performance of low-risk MDs, such as biomodels and surgical guides, could be assessed for complying with safety, precision, and MD delivery requirements. In this context, the aim of the present work was to evaluate the effect of formaldehyde and steam sterilization on the dimensional and mechanical stability of standard polylactic acid (PLA) test pieces produced by fused deposition modeling (FDM). To achieve this, PLA samples were sterilized according to the sterilization protocol of a public hospital in the city of Bucaramanga, Colombia. Significant changes regarding mechanical and dimensional properties were found as a function of manufacturing parameters. This research attempts to contribute to the development of affordable approaches for the fabrication of functional and customized medical devices through AM technologies, an issue of particular interest for low- and middle-income countries.
Unemployment and remittances nexus in Ghana: The gender perspective

Abstract The present study aims at investigating the nexus between unemployment and remittances in Ghana, with a focus on the gender perspective. Using time-series data spanning from 1990 to 2021, the ARDL model is estimated. According to the findings, remittances, inflation, FDI, exports of goods and services, and gross capital formation all have a long-run association with the unemployment rate. Remittances positively correlate with unemployment in the long run. All else being equal, remittances in Ghana tend to also increase female unemployment in the long run. In the short run, while the contemporaneous coefficient is negative, the lagged remittance positively correlates with the unemployment rate in Ghana. The lagged remittance further positively correlates with female and male unemployment in the short run. Finally, we also found a mediating effect of GDP on remittances in reducing the unemployment rate in Ghana. The study therefore recommends that, for remittances to reduce unemployment in the short run, policymakers ought to incentivize deposits of remittances in Ghanaian banks using attractive interest rates. As a result, this might encourage savings, investment, and economic growth, which would eventually result in a decrease in the unemployment rate in the long run.
Instance Segmentation of Lotus Pods and Stalks in Unstructured Planting Environment Based on Improved YOLOv5

Accurate segmentation of lotus pods and stalks with pose variability is a prerequisite for realizing the robotic harvesting of lotus pods. However, the complex growth environment of lotus pods causes great difficulties in conducting the above task. In this study, an instance segmentation model, LPSS-YOLOv5, for lotus pods and stalks based on the latest YOLOv5 v7.0 instance segmentation model was proposed. The CBAM attention mechanism was integrated into the network to improve the model’s feature extraction ability. The scale distribution of the multi-scale feature layer was adjusted, a 160 × 160 small-scale detection layer was added, and the original 20 × 20 large-scale detection layer was removed, which improved the model’s segmentation accuracy for small-scale lotus stalks and reduced the model size. On the medium-large scale test set, LPSS-YOLOv5 achieved a mask mAP0.5 of 99.3% for all classes. On the small-scale test set, the mAP0.5 for all classes and AP0.5 for stalks were 88.8% and 83.3%, which were 2.6% and 5.0% higher than the baseline, respectively. Compared with the mainstream Mask R-CNN and YOLACT models, LPSS-YOLOv5 showed a much higher segmentation accuracy, speed, and smaller size. The 2D and 3D localization tests verified that LPSS-YOLOv5 could effectively support the picking point localization and the pod–stalk affiliation confirmation.
Audio-Frequency Electromagnetic Tomography for Reservoir Evaluation

A tomographic inversion scheme is developed for interpreting audio-frequency electromagnetic (EM) measurements and for understanding the characteristics of the EM inverse problem. The formulation of this new approach, called EM diffusion tomography, is related to the recent developments in acoustic diffraction tomography. In the frequency domain, however, the significant mathematical difference between the acoustic and the electromagnetic problems is the background wave number which in the acoustic case is real while in the electromagnetic case is complex. By extending the acoustic image reconstruction formulation through the introduction of an inverse Laplace transform as a replacement for the inverse Fourier transform, the method can now be applied to map electrically conductive targets such as saline fluid filled fracture zones in reservoir environments. Since these conductors usually have a small conductivity-thickness product, the Born or Rytov weak scattering approximation can be applied to simplify the problem. This approach is first investigated using a model of two-dimensional (2-D) Cartesian geometry. Following this simple and useful model and using an additional far field approximation, more complex and realistic 2-D cylindrical symmetry and three-dimensional problems are solved. These last two cases are found to be identical to the 2-D Cartesian one if a geometrical correction factor is applied to the data. Therefore, the pro~ perties of the reconstructed images for all three models are similar. The reconstructed conductivity image is found to be a band limited version of the actual conductivity distribution in the wave number domain. The inversion quality can therefore be inferred from the wave number domain coverage which is related to the source-receiver array arrangement and the background wave number or operating frequency. The cross-hole sourcereceiver configuration has a lower wave number domain coverage and thus a poorer space
Foreign ownership and national governance quality affect liquidity risk – case in Vietnam

Abstract The paper aim to examine the impact of foreign ownership and national governance quality on liquidity risk in Vietnam’s listed commercial banks from 2010 to 2021, covering the COVID-19 outbreak. Using the two-step generalized method of moments regression model (GMM), the findings indicate that foreign ownership deteriorates liquidity risk, while national governance quality has a positive effect on liquidity risk. In particular, the study highlights the positive impact of COVID-19 on liquidity risk because of the unpredicted demand for cash withdrawals by customers, which led to a shortage of cash holdings in commercial banks. Consistent with agency and neo-institutional theories, the findings are robust to a series of endogenous checks using an alternative regression method, such as pooled ordinary least squares, and the generalized method of the moments regression model.
Early-Stage RTL Power Estimation and Exploration

—Power management strategies, which were once used for a few applications, have become ubiquitous. Based on Moore’s Law, the number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years, emphasizing the importance of early-stage power exploration. Designers can no longer hold up until the end-most netlist to get accurate power numbers. Estimating power consumption early in the design process is imperative to tackle these issues. This paper addresses the problem of robust early estimation of power since visibility is needed from the start of register transfer level (RTL) coding. Voltage domains, switchable power domains, and clock-gating techniques are examples of common power-saving approaches. Although voltage and power domains necessitate unique logic circuits and complicate power grid architecture, it is necessary to ensure that they are adequately met. The power estimation and exploration solution aid in estimating data across different intellectual properties (IPs) and circuits. These configurations entail conducting power estimates, profiling, and reduction iteratively to assess and enhance the power efficiency of the design. This paper aims at finding the significant power loopholes at the preliminary stage of the RTL, a time when the most rewarding modifications can be made, thereby saving both power and overall turnaround time.