Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Micro Economics Variables: Evidence on Credit Facility Obtained by SMEs in Nigeria

The study evaluated microeconomic variables namely interest rate exchange rate and inflation rate on credit facility obtained by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. The study employed ex post facto research design. Data were extracted from the Central Bank of Nigeria statistical bulletin from 1990 to 2018. The study found out that a significant relationship exists between the three independent variables namely interest rate, exchange rate, inflation rate and the dependent variable i.e credit facility. The study therefore concluded that the government should work and bring in policies that will reduce the interest rate, exchange rate and inflation rate in the country so as to help SMEs to grow.
Mecanismos celulares e moleculares que controlam o desenvolvimento e o crescimento muscular

Skeletal muscle consists predominantly of muscle fibers surrounded by a connective tissue layer. This tissue has a great plasticity, and the knowledge of the morphological characteristics, myogenesis, and growth dynamics is important to the understanding of its physiology and to the farm animal selection for meat production. Most skeletal muscles are derived from mesodermal precursor cells originated from the somites. During embryonic development, specification of mesodermal precursor cells to the myogenic lineage is regulated by positive and negative signals from surrounding tissues. Specification to the myogenic lineage requires the up-regulation of four muscle-specific transcriptional factors (MyoD, Myf5, myogenin, and MRF4), called myogenic regulatory factors (MRFs), which have a well-defined role in skeletal muscle development and differentiation. The MRFs belong to the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) super family of transcription factors, that forms heterodimers and bind to the E-box (CANNTG) DNA sequence motif found in the promoters of many muscle specific genes. Specification to the myogenic lineage requires the up-regulation of the MRFs MyoD and Myf5. Proliferative MyoD and/or Myf5 positive myogenic cells are termed myoblasts. Proliferating myoblasts withdraw from the cell cycle to become terminally differentiated myocytes that express the "late" MRFs, myogenin and MRF4. Specialized populations of myogenic stem cells, termed satellite cells, arise during the late stages of embryogenesis are highly active during the postnatal muscle growth, which may occur by muscle fiber hyperplasia or hypertrophy. Quiescent satellite cells do not express detectable levels of MRF; however, during muscle growth, in response to several growth factors, activated satellite cells proliferate and express the MRFs in a similar manner to muscle precursor cells during skeletal muscle development. Muscle growth mechanisms are controlled by the temporally expression of muscle growth related genes induced by the MRFs.
Safety Helmet Detection in Industrial Environment using Deep Learning

Safety is of predominant value for employees who are working in an industrial and construction environment. Real time Object detection is an important technique to detect violations of safety compliance in an industrial setup. The negligence in wearing safety helmets could be hazardous to workers, hence the requirement of the automatic surveillance system to detect persons not wearing helmets is of utmost importance and this would reduce the labor-intensive work to monitor the violations. In this paper, we deployed an advanced Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) algorithm called Single Shot Multibox Detector (SSD) to monitor violations of safety helmets. Various image processing techniques are applied to all the video data collected from the industrial plant. The practical and novel safety detection framework is proposed in which the CNN first detects persons from the video data and in the second step it detects whether the person is wearing the safety helmet. Using the proposed model, the deep learning inference benchmarking is done with Dell Advanced Tower workstation. The comparative study of the proposed approach is analysed in terms of detection accuracy (average precision) which illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed framework.
13 Translational Root Genomics for Crop Improvement

Breeding of crop plants in the 21st century needs consciousness and awareness of climate change. For instance, both biotic and abiotic stresses need attention of breeders in order to breed crops showing resistance/tolerance to these stresses in a changing climate scenario. In developing countries, drought is the major abiotic stress and is already limiting crop productivity in several species. This tendency is going to worsen the situation in the years to come (Varshney et al. 2011a). Enhancing crop productivity in resource-poor dry land conditions is a formidable challenge. Conserving resources through management practices and engineering plants for superior extraction of these resources coupled with an increased efficiency of resource utilization deserve emphasis. Though resource conservation through management practices are equally important, development of superior resource use efficiency as a seed-based technology always has greater acceptance and adaptability. Roots, which are underground hidden parts of plants, are considered as first plant organs to be exposed, as well as to respond in stresses. However, among several parts of the plant, roots have received little attention of researchers so far despite their major role in plant–soil interactions (Sheshshayee et al. 2011). Thus, they seem to hold the key for the next plant breeding revolution, leading to improved crop productivity in environmentally challenged situations. Recent advancements in plant genomics are certainly of help in crop improvement efforts (Varshney et al. 2005) and genomics-assisted breeding applications such as marker-assisted selection (MAS) have been already used in developing superior cultivars in several crop species (Varshney et al. 2006, 2010; Gupta et al. 2010). The field of root genomics is an exciting and promising field of research and some technical advancements in plant-omics are believed to generate some useful data for pursuing translational research. Whole genome approaches such as microarrays or next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based transcript profiling or functional genomics approaches may provide some useful information about the type and nature of structural and functional genes involved in various aspects of root growth, development, and water and nutrient uptake. In addition, on the basis of whole genome sequence available for several crop species (for references, see Jackson et al. 2011; Morrell et al. 2012) or gene information available in model plant species, use of comparative genomics or bioinformatics approaches may provide interesting candidate genes. Once the details of these genes are known, some other approaches like overexpression, TILLLING (Targeting-Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes; Varshney et al. 2011b), qRT-PCR, gene-knockout mutant analysis may be used to further validate their utility in root trait improvement.
Sequence Tagged Site Marker-Assisted Selection for Three Bacterial Blight Resistance Genes in Rice

IR65598-112 and the two sister lines IR65600-42 and IR65600-96 are promising new plant type (NPT) rice lines with high yield potential. However, these lines are susceptible to bacterial blight caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo). To improve the resistance of the three NPT lines to Xoo, three bacterial blight (BB) resistance genes, xa5, xa13, and Xa21, were successfully transferred to the NPT lines via a marker-aided backcrossing procedure. Sequence tagged site (STS) markers for the two resistance genes were developed based on DNA sequences of their linked restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers (RG556 and RG207 for xa5 and RG136 for xa13). Marker polymorphism for xa5 was detected after digestion of RG556 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products with MaeII enzyme and digestion of RG136 PCR product with HinfI enzyme for xa13. The STS marker for Xa21 was designed previously from the sequence of a genomic clone RAPD248. Fifty-nine BC 3 F 2 near-isogenic lines (NILs) in the three NPT backgrounds containing one to three BB resistance genes in various combinations were developed through marker-assisted selection (MAS) for the resistance genes and phenotypic selection for the NPT. The BC 3 F 3 NILs having more than one BB resistance gene showed a wider resistance spectrum and manifested increased levels of resistance to the Xoo races, as compared with those having a single BB resistance gene. Results for two F 2 populations and the progeny testing of their F 3 lines showed that MAS reached an accuracy of 95 and 96% of identifying homozygous resistant plants for xa5 and xa13, respectively. These NPT NILs for BB resistance genes provided valuable materials for breeding and genetic studies of single-gene effects and interaction of several resistance genes. The results demonstrate the usefulness of MAS in gene pyramiding for BB resistance, particularly for recessive genes, such as xa5 and xa13, that are difficult to select through conventional breeding in the presence of a dominant gene such as Xa21.
EFFECT OF FIRM CHARACTERISTICS ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF LISTED COMMERCIAL BANKS IN KENYA

A country‘s economy relies majorly on the banking sector. This study examined the effect of firm characteristics on financial performance with a focus on listed banks in the Nairobi Securities Exchange for the period from 2010 to 2018. The bank characteristics examined were: capital adequacy, leverage, asset quality and bank size. The collected data was analyzed using STATA 11 and this was basically descriptive, correlation and regression analysis. The findings depicted a significant positive effect of capital adequacy on both returns on equity (ROE) and returns on assets (ROA). The findings further indicated a significant negative effect of asset quality on ROE but an insignificant negative effect on ROA. On leverage, the findings indicated a significant positive effect on ROE and an insignificant positive effect on ROA. The findings of this study indicated that bank size has a significant positive effect on both ROE and ROA. This study concluded that capital adequacy and bank size have a significant positive effect on performance. There were mixed findings on the effect of asset quality and leverage on performance. The study recommended that, listed commercial banks should maintain a considerable capital adequacy to be able to effectively absorb losses emanating from economic shocks.
Fungal specific primers for PCR‐amplification of mitochondrial LSU in lichens

Fungal specific primer sequences for the amplification of the large subunit of the mitochondrial ribosomal DNA (mtLSU) are presented in this paper. Fungal specific primers make the separation of fungal and algal cells prior to DNA-extraction from lichens unnecessary. This is especially useful in crustose and small foliose and fruticose lichens. An example from a complex of closely related species of the crustose lichen genus Biatora shows the usefulness of mtLSU-sequences for studies of infraspecific variability and lower level systematics of lichenized ascomycetes.
Lipid metabolism alteration contributes to and maintains the properties of cancer stem cells

Lipids, the basic components of the cell membrane, execute fundamental roles in almost all the cell activities including cell-cell recognition, signalling transduction and energy supplies. Lipid metabolism is elementary for life sustentation that balances activity between synthesis and degradation. An accumulating amount of data has indicated abnormal lipid metabolism in cancer stem cells (CSCs), and that the alteration of lipid metabolism exerts a great impact on CSCs' properties such as the capability of self-renewal, differentiation, invasion, metastasis, and drug sensitivity and resistance. CSCs' formation and maintenance cannot do without the regulation of fatty acids and cholesterol. In normal cells and embryonic development, fatty acids and cholesterol metabolism are regulated by some important signalling pathways (such as Hedgehog, Notch, Wnt signalling pathways); these signalling pathways also play crucial roles in initiating and/or maintaining CSCs' properties, and such signalling is shown to be commonly modulated by the abnormal lipid metabolism in CSCs; on the other hand, the altered lipid metabolism in turn modifies the cell signalling and generates additional impacts on CSCs. Metabolic rewiring is considered as an ideal hallmark of CSCs, and metabolic alterations would be promising therapeutic targets of CSCs for aggressive tumors. In this review, we summarize the most updated findings of lipid metabolic abnormalities in CSCs and prospect the potential applications of targeting lipid metabolism for anticancer treatment.
Implications of Habit Formation and Preference Change for Free Trade Patterns and Global Economic Growth

This paper constructs a neoclassical global economic growth model with any (finite) number of countries. The model is concerned with endogenous capital accumulation and dynamics of habits and preferences. The production side is based on the neoclassical growth theory, while the consumer behavior is modeled by Zhang’s approach. The habit formation and preference change are strongly influenced by the literature of Ramsey-type growth models with endogenous habits or/and time preference. The dynamics of J-country global economy is described by 2J nonlinear autonomic differential equations. We simulate the model for a three-country world economy. The global economy has a unique stable equilibrium for the chosen values of the parameters. The comparative analysis provides some insights into dynamics of economic globalization. JEL Classification : F11, F21, O41
PARTNER NOTIFICATION SERVICES IN KISII COUNTY, KENYA: EVALUATING BEHAVIOUR CHANGE COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

In the Eastern and Southern African region, between 40-50% of people living with HIV remain undiagnosed. Partner Notification Services (PNS) programme was established to scale-up HIV testing coverage. This paper describes the behaviour change communication strategies used to implement PNS; and analyses HIV testing patterns arising from the implementation of PNS.Drawing data from purposively selected respondents from three health facilities in Kisii County, the sequential mixed method design was used to qualitatively analyse the views of providers of partner notification services on the behaviour change communication strategies and to present a quantitative analysis of partner notification trends in the year 2018.The results identified the following behaviour change communication strategies: contract referral, provider referral, dual referral, passive referral, telephoning, the suggestion box, and charts. Though the strategies have impacted HIV testing, inherent setbacks could slow down the process. These include lack of prior assessment of the PNS policy environment, pre-requisite training and adequate facilitation on communication strategies in PNS implementation. To increase HIV testing coverage, the application of a mixture of the communication strategies rather than a mutually exclusive process is critical.
Game Theory for Strategic DDoS Mitigation

Mitigating DDoS attacks on the networks is an important security challenge for the Internet Service Providers. Recent work has shown a flexible and elastic DDoS defense mechanism via Software Defined Networking/Network functions virtualization and such systems are showing increasingly efficient performance. However, an intelligent attacker can exploit the system by dynamically adapting the attack profile which a static defense cannot adequately handle. We propose a game theoretic model for a dynamic deceptive defense. We decompose the problem in two phases. The first phase focuses on optimising the defense while trying to deceive the attacker with dynamic adaptations in the defense strategy. The second phase consists of optimising the resource allocation in order to execute the pre-computed defence strategy. We show analytical and numerical results showing the efficiency of our computation algorithms.
Student Intervention System using Machine Learning Techniques

Now a days, the educational institutes are adopting technologies for betterment of student’s quality, in respect to teaching methodologies etc. For which the huge information available with educational institutes can be used to predict student’s future in academics. The main objective of this paper is to predict the student performance in the examination and also to predict the student will graduate or not. Hence forth we are using statistical analytical method which is F1 score. F1 score or F measure is used to test the prediction accuracy by considering precision and recall to compute the score. To fulfill this requirement in machine learning, classification technique is used. The dataset used in this analysis contains 395 student records, having attributes, such as age, health, internet, school, father job, mother job etc. Using support vector machines (SVM), Decision Tree and Naïve Bayes (NB) classification algorithms F1 score is calculated for each algorithm. Based on the analysis done the F1 score of support vector machine is giving the better prediction compared to rest of the two algorithms.
Droop Control Method Based on Generation Cost in DC Microgrid

This paper presents a linear droop control scheme based on the generation costs of DGs in an autonomous DC microgrid. Unlike the proportional power sharing of the conventional droop control, in the proposed control algorithm, the minimum output voltage range is adjusted and the droop coefficients are regulated according to the generation costs of DGs. As a result, the DGs with lower costs supplies more power in comparison with those with higher costs. Therefore, total generation cost of the system is reduced significantly. The proposed method is simple to implement and it does not require the centralized controller and communication links.
A Cross-cultural Comparison of Song Lyrics Using NLP Techniques

Song lyrics reﬂect topical interests and other characteristics of the society in which they are produced and received. The content and style of lyrics can therefore shed light on the question of cross-cultural similarity or diversity in diﬀerent societies. Using a variety of natural language processing techniques, both standard and novel, I analyze a corpus of song lyrics from multiple small-scale societies and several corpora from larger, modern societies (both western and non-western). The results show that the songs from small-scale societies diﬀer from their large-scale counterparts in topic, pronoun usage, lexical diversity, and sentiment. In terms of the same features, the lyrics from large-scale societies resemble each other, despite diﬀerences in geographical location, language, genre, and performance context
Genetic characterization and life cycle of the diatom Fragilariopsis kerguelensis

The planktonic diatom Fragilariopsis kerguelensis plays an important role in the biogeochemical cycles of the Southern Ocean, where remains of its frustules form the largest deposit of biogenic silica anywhere in the world. We assessed the genetic identity of 26 strains, from cells collected at various sites in the Southern Ocean, using three molecular markers, LSU and ITS rDNA and rbcL. The LSU sequences were identical among the tested strains, ITS sequences were highly similar, and only one base pair difference was detected among the rbcL sequences. These results, together with a large number of successful mating experiments demonstrated that the strains belong to a single biological species. We investigated the mating system and life cycle traits of F. kerguelensis. Cell size diminished gradually in clonal strains. Gamete formation only occurred when strains of opposite mating type – within a cell size range of 7–36 µm – were mixed together. Two binucleate gametes were formed in each gametangium and gamete conjugation produced a zygote that had four nuclei and was surrounded by thin siliceous scales. Two out of the four nuclei subsequently degenerated and the zygote expanded to form an auxospore surrounded by a transverse and a longitudinal perizonium. Staining with the fluorochrome PDMPO provided for the first time a clear demonstration that the longitudinal perizonium is formed after auxospore expansion is complete. Initial cells produced within the mature auxospores were 78–101 µm in length. Various authors have shown that the average valve size of F. kerguelensis varies in sediment samples collected in regions and seasons with different primary production regimes and this parameter has thus been proposed as a biological proxy for palaeo-productivity. A better understanding of the life cycle of F. kerguelensis should help the design of future investigations aimed at testing the link between cell size distribution in the natural environment and the role that environmental factors might have in the regulation of population cell size.
Myocardial Injury Non-Related Atherosclerotic Plaque Disruption in Patients Younger than 40 Years Old

Amaç: Koroner arter hastalığı nedenli miyokard infarktüsü (MICAD), miyokardiyal hasarın önde gelen nedenidir. Aterosklerotik plak bozulmasına bağlı olmayan miyokardiyal hasar (MICAD olmayan) nadir ve heterojen bir tanıdır. Genç hasta popülasyonunda MICAD iyi bilinmesine rağmen, MICAD olmayan miyokardiyal hasar tam olarak tanımlanmamıştır. Çalışmamızda 40 yaşından genç hastalarda MICAD olmayan miyokardiyal hasarın prevalansı, etiyolojisi ve beş yıllık mortalitesini araştırmayı amaçladık. Hastalar ve Yöntem: Ocak 2010 ile Aralık 2014 arasında 40 yaşından genç akut miyokardiyal hasarı olan 292 hastayı retrospektif olarak çalışmamıza dahil ettik. Klinik, demografik, laboratuvar, anjiyografik özellikler ve beş yıllık tüm nedenlere bağlı mortalite, MICAD olmayan miyokardiyal hasar (n= 78) ve MICAD (n = 214) hastaları arasında karşılaştırıldı. Bulgular: Hasta yaşlarının medyan değeri 36 idi. MICAD olmayan grup, MICAD grubundan daha gençti [32 (28-37) vs 37 (34-39)]. MICAD olmayan grupta kadın hastaların oranı, MICAD grubuna göre daha yüksekti (% 24.4'e karşılık % 10.3). MICAD olan hastaların çoğu ST elevasyonlu MI (% 77.1) ile başvururken, MICAD olmayan hastaların çoğu ST elevasyonu olmayan MI ile (% 89.7) başvurdu. MICAD olmayan miyokardiyal hasarın en sık görülen etiyolojileri miyokardit (% 32) ve vazospazm (% 9) idi. Yaş, kadın cinsiyet, sigara içmemek ve dislipidemi yokluğu, MİCAD olmayan miyokardiyal hasar için bağımsız öngördürücülerdi. MICAD olmayan grupta beş yıllık tüm nedenlere bağlı mortalite, MICAD grubundan anlamlı derecede daha düşüktü (% 2.6'ya karşılık% 10.3) (log-rank testi p = 0.04). Sonuç: MICAD olmayan miyokardiyal hasar, farklı yaşlarda farklı etiyolojilere sahip heterojen bir grup hastayı temsil etmektedir. MICAD olmayan grubun düşük mortalite oranına rağmen, MICAD olmayan miyokardiyal hasarın yönetiminde farklı tanı ve tedavi stratejileri gerekmektedir.
International Symposium of the CIB W92 on Procurement Systems

Global construction projects that involve collaboration between participants from multiple countries result in unique challenges that are not faced on intra-national projects. Why is this so? Evidence from anecdotes and case studies suggest that institutional differences— i.e. differences in work practices, legal regulations and cultural values—contribute to increased costs on global projects. This paper outlines a research agenda that will help shed light on how these institutional differences lead to challenges and increase costs on global projects. Institutional theory is a branch of Organization theory that can help us understand and address some of these issues. However, there are gaps in the application of institutional theory to the problem of global projects. We identify some of these gaps and propose a methodology by which to gain new insights into this phenomenon.